[844] Place from R. Howden, iii. 179, who gives the date as S. Hilary’s Day, January 13. The _Est._, _l.c._, and _Itin._, 308, say merely that it was after Epiphany. [845] _Est._, ll. 7761-80; _Itin._, _l.c._ [846] Ibn Alathyr, _Recueil Hist. Orient._, II. i. 55, 56. The comments on the difficulties in the way of an effective blockade which he ascribes to Richard are almost verbally identical with those of the Knights as reported in _Estoire_ and _Itinerarium_. [847] Ibn Alathyr, _l.c._, 55; _Est._, ll. 7841-2; _Itin._, 310. The exact date of the retirement is questionable, owing to the doubt as to the date of the council. Ibn Alathyr (_l.c._) says the host withdrew from Beit Nuba on 20 Dulheggia = January 8; Abu Shama (_Recueil_, V. 49) quotes from “_Récit du Cadi_” a statement that the withdrawal was on 22 Dulheggia (= January 10), but there is no such thing in the printed editions of Bohadin. Perhaps Ibn Alathyr and Roger of Howden may have erred in different ways from making one and the same mistake, viz., assuming that the return to Ramlah took place on the same day as the council, which is not necessarily implied in any of the chronicles, Frank or Mussulman. [848] _Est._, ll. 7799-810; _Itin._, 309. [849] _Est._, ll. 7811-42; _Itin._, 310. [850] Otherwise called Yabneh, Jafna, in older days Jamnia, and, earlier still, Jabneel (Joshua xv. 2). [851] _Est._, ll. 7843-95; _Itin._, 311, 312. Both these writers say the host spent a night at Ibelin on its way to Ascalon. Imad-ed-Din (_apud_ Abu Shama, 51) says “the Franks marched upon Ascalon on 3 Moharrem,” _i. e._ January 20, the date given in _Itin._, 312, as that of the arrival there. I venture to think that the difficulty suggested by Stubbs (_Itin._, _l.c._, note 2), as to reconciling these dates with the statement in _Itin._, 311, that the duke of Burgundy stayed eight days at the Casal des Plains, is an imaginary one. Those eight days need not be crowded in before the setting out of the rest of the host; the two parties may have gone in opposite directions almost at the same time, since we shall find that they did not come together again until several weeks later. [852] _Est._ ll. 7967-8077; _Itin._, 315-17. [853] “Ipse manibus aedificando,” _Itin._, 317. We shall presently find an unimpeachable eye-witness testifying to having seen the king performing a no less arduous manual labour at Darum. [854] Imad-ed-Din, _apud_ Abu Shama, 50. [855] See William of Tyre’s description of Darum: “Castrum in Idumaea (ipsa est Edom) situm, trans torrentem illum qui dicitur Ægypti, qui etiam terminus est Palestinae et praedictae regionis,” lib. xx. c. 19. The earlier frontier—like the later one—was further to the south-west, and the “river of Egypt” then was the Wady el Arish, or, earlier still, another stream yet further westward. [856] _Est._, ll. 8092-141; cf. _Itin._, 318, 319. [857] _Est._, ll. 8143-54; _Itin._, 319, 320.