The Deeds of God Through the FranksGuibert, Abbot of Nogent-sous-Coucy
History
The Deeds of God Through the Franks
Guibert, Abbot of Nogent-sous-Coucy
Crusades -- First, 1096-1099
After killing many of them, and capturing thirty horses, they brought
the victory back to the army, which took pleasure in their glorious
deed. At dawn, on the second day of the next week, the outer,
smaller wall of the city was attacked with such force and with such
teamwork that both the city and its outskirts would have immediately
fallen to the Franks, if they had not lacked ladders. After the
outer wall was broken, and a broad passage opened through its rubble,
the ladder they did have was extended towards the battlements of the
main wall. Some of our knights climbed it quickly and began to fight
at long range. And when the arrows ran out, they fought with lances
and swords; both the defenders of the city and the besiegers battled
hand-to-hand with steel. Many of our men fell, but more of their men.
One should know that while Antioch was under siege, Jerusalem was
held by the Turks, under the authority of the king of Persia.
Moreover, the emperor of Babylon, as I mentioned previously, had sent
ambassadors to our army, for the sole purpose of determining the
condition of our enterprise. When they saw the terrible need that
afflicted the Christian army, and when they discovered that the
nobles had become foot-soldiers because of a lack of horses, they
considered us valueless in a struggle against the Turks, whom they
hated intensely. The king of Persia had taken great part of the
Babylonian empire, which was very large, for his people were wiser
and more energetic in military matters. When the Babylonian prince
heard, however, that the Franks--that is, God working through the
Franks--had taken Antioch, and had defeated Kherboga himself,
together with the pride of Persia, before the walls of Antioch, he
quickly gathered his courage, bore arms against the Turks, and laid
siege to them in Jerusalem, which they occupied. Then, I don't know
whether by force or by some agreement, they entered the town, and
placed many Turks, whether to guard it or to take charge of it I
don't know, in the tower bearing the name of David, which we think
more correctly should be called the tower of Zion. In any case,
during the siege they harmed none of us, merely watching peacefully
over their assigned tower. As a result, our men fought only with the
Saracens.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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