[733] Bohadin, 242, 243; cf. _Gesta_, 189; R. Howden, iii. 127, 128; _Est._, ll. 5513-39; _Itin._, 243; R. Diceto, ii. 94; R. Devizes, 52. All the authorities, Bohadin included, who give a date at all make it Tuesday, August 20, except the _Itinerarium_, which unaccountably says “die Veneris proximo post Assumptionem Beatae Mariae,” _i. e._ Friday, August 16. [734] Letter of Richard in R. Howden, iii. 131. [735] Bohadin, 243. As to the way in which the Frank soldiers had treated the corpses, the statements in _Gesta_, 189 (copied in R. Howden, iii. 128) must be compared with Bohadin, _l.c._, whence it appears, first, that whatever was done to the bodies did not shock him, for he makes no comment on it; and secondly, that the Saracens who went to look at them next morning could quite well have taken them away then, if they had chosen to do so. [736] Bohadin, 242. [737] “Quibus sub hac conditione vita concessa est, si Saladinus pro redemptione eorum 70,000 bisantiorum dare vellet,” R. Coggeshall, 32. “Qui [Caracois et Mestocus] ... cum per interpretes deditionem urbis promitterent et capitum redemtionem, rex Anglorum volebat viribus vincere desperatos, volebat et victos pro redemtione corporum capita solvere, sed agente rege Francorum indulta est eis tantum vita cum indemnitate membrorum, si post deditionem civitatis et dationem omnium quae possidebant Crux Dominica redderetur.” R. Devizes, 51. [738] _Gesta_, 179, followed by R. Howden, iii. 121. [739] See the curious statement in a letter written about this time by El-Fadhel, one of Saladin’s secretaries, to the Divan at Bagdad: “The number of barbaric tongues among these people from the west is outrageous, and outdoes everything that can be imagined. Sometimes, when we take a prisoner, we can only communicate with him through a series of interpreters—one translates the Frank’s words to another, who translates them again to a third.” Abu Shama, _Hist. des Crois._, iv. 15. [740] “Si fud la chose esguardee A un concile ou assemblerent Li halt home, qui esguarderent Que des Sarazins ocireient Le plus,” etc., _Est._, ll. 5524-7; cf. _Itin._, 243. The _Gesta_, 189, and R. Howden, iii. 128, say expressly that the duke of Burgundy caused the French king’s share of the prisoners to be slaughtered likewise. [741] “E dont furent li cop vengie De quarels d’arbaleste a tor, Les granz merciz al Creator!” _Est._, ll. 5540-2; cf. _Itin._, _l.c._