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Presented to Master
Thomas St. Lawrence
Stephenson as a Birthday
present from the Crew
of the yacht "Northumbria"
Sept. 12th 1841[1]
[Illustration: In vain were all attempts to drag him from his steed;
before his mighty battle-axe the Saracens seemed to fall as corn before
the reaper.--p. 169.]
THE
BOY CRUSADERS:
=A Story of the Days of Louis IX.=
BY
J. G. EDGAR,
AUTHOR OF 'THE BOY PRINCES,' ETC.
=Eight Full Page Illustrations.=
=Edinburgh:=
GALL & INGLIS, 6 GEORGE STREET.
PREFACE.
AMONG the many adventurous enterprises which rendered the age of
feudalism and chain-armour memorable in history, none were more
remarkable or important than the 'armed pilgrimages' popularly known as
the Crusades; and, among the expeditions which the warriors of mediaeval
Europe undertook with the view of rescuing the Holy Sepulchre from the
Saracens, hardly one is so interesting as that which had Louis IX. for
its chief and Joinville for its chronicler.
In this volume I have related the adventures of two striplings, who,
after serving their apprenticeship to chivalry in a feudal castle in the
north of England, assumed the cross, embarked for the East, took part in
the crusade headed by the saint-King of France, and participated in the
glory and disaster which attended the Christian army, after landing at
Damietta--including the carnage of Mansourah, and the massacre of
Minieh.
In writing the 'Boy Crusaders' for juvenile readers, my object has
been--while endeavouring to give those, for whose perusal the work is
intended, as faithful a picture as possible of the events which
Joinville has recorded--to convey, at the same time, as clear an idea as
my limits would permit, of the career and character of the renowned
French monarch who, in peril and perplexity, in captivity and chains, so
eminently signalised his valour and his piety.
J. G. E.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. A FEUDAL CASTLE 9
II. THE BROTHERS-IN-ARMS 14
III. THE HEIRS OF THE ESPECS 21
IV. ST. LOUIS 28
V. TAKING THE CROSS 36
VI. EMBARKING FOR THE EAST 41
VII. THE ARMED PILGRIMS AT CYPRUS 45
VIII. EASTWARD 49
IX. AN ADVENTURE 55
X. ON THE LADDER OF LIFE 60
XI. THE VOYAGE 68
XII. AT DAMIETTA 74
XIII. INCURSIONS 82
XIV. A RENEGADE 88
XV. CAPTURE OF A CARAVAN 96
XVI. A COUNCIL OF WAR 103
XVII. FACE TO FACE 109
XVIII. DELAY AND DANGER 113
XIX. THE CAPTIVE 119
XX. PASSING THE ACHMOUN 124
XXI. THE CARNAGE OF MANSOURAH 128
XXII. THE BATTLE 136
XXIII. HOW JOINVILLE KEPT THE BRIDGE 142
XXIV. THE FIRST FRIDAY IN LENT 150
XXV. MORTIFICATIONS AND MISERIES 158
XXVI. THE MASSACRE OF MINIEH 165
XXVII. JOINVILLE IN PERIL 173
XXVIII. NEWS OF DISASTER 181
XXIX. A WOUNDED PILGRIM 185
XXX. ST. LOUIS IN CHAINS 191
XXXI. THE TRAGEDY OF PHARESCOUR 199
XXXII. PERILS AND SUSPENSE 204
XXXIII. ACRE 210
XXXIV. A RESCUE 214
XXXV. MISSION TO BAGDAD 222
XXXVI. THE LAST OF THE CALIPHS 229
XXXVII. A RECOGNITION 234
XXXVIII. WOE TO THE CALIPH 240
XXXIX. IN THE LION'S MOUTH 246
XL. END OF THE ARMED PILGRIMAGE 253
XLI. A SUDDEN DISCOVERY 260
XLII. HOMEWARD BOUND 266
XLIII. A ROYAL VISIT 272
XLIV. THE FEAST OF KINGS 279
THE BOY CRUSADERS.
CHAPTER I.
A FEUDAL CASTLE.
IT was the age of chain armour and tournaments--of iron barons and
barons' wars--of pilgrims and armed pilgrimages--of forests and forest
outlaws--when Henry III. reigned as King of England, and the feudal
system, though no longer rampant, was still full of life and energy;
when Louis King of France, afterwards canonised as St. Louis, undertook
one of the last and most celebrated of those expeditions known as the
Crusades, and described as 'feudalism's great adventure, and popular
glory.'
At the time when Henry was King of England and when Louis of France was
about to embark for the East, with the object of rescuing the Holy
Sepulchre from the Saracens, there stood on the very verge of
Northumberland a strong baronial edifice, known as the Castle of Wark,
occupying a circular eminence, visible from a great distance, and
commanding such an extensive view to the north as seemed to ensure the
garrison against any sudden inroad on the part of the restless and
refractory Scots. On the north the foundations were washed by the waters
of the Tweed, here broad and deep; and on the south were a little town,
which had risen under the protection of the castle, and,--stretching
away towards the hills of Cheviot,--an extensive park or chase,
abounding with wild cattle and deer and beasts of game. At an earlier
period this castle had been a possession of the famous house of Espec;
and, when in after days it came into the hands of the Montacute Earls of
Salisbury, Edward III. was inspired within its walls with that romantic
admiration of the Countess of Salisbury which resulted in the
institution of the Order of the Garter. During the fifth decade of the
thirteenth century, however, it was the chief seat of Robert, Lord de
Roos, a powerful Anglo-Norman noble, whose father had been one of the
barons of Runnymede and one of the conservators of the Great Charter.
Like most of the fortresses built by the Norman conquerors of England,
Wark consisted of a base-court, a keep, and a barbican in front of the
base-court. The sides of the walls were fortified with innumerable
angles, towers, and buttresses, and surmounted with strong battlements
and hornworks. For greater security the castle was encompassed, save
towards the Tweed, with a moat or deep ditch, filled with water, and
fortified with strong palisades, and sharp stakes set thick all around
the walls. Over the moat, at the principal gate, was the drawbridge,
which was almost always raised, and the gate-house, a square building,
having strong towers at each corner. Over the entrance and within the
square of the gate-house was an arched vault, and over it was a chamber
with apertures, through which, on occasion of an assault, the garrison,
unseen the whilst, could watch the operations of the foe, and pour
boiling water or melted lead on the foremost assailants. On the west
side were the outworks, consisting of a platform with a trench half a
mile in length, and breastworks, and covered ways, and mounds. The roofs
of the building were bordered with parapets, guard walks, and sentry
boxes.
But the whole space was not appropriated to works intended to ensure the
stronghold against the assault of foes. Near the mound was the chapel
dedicated to St. Giles. Under the outer wall was a military walk, five
yards wide, and forty-eight yards in length. Underneath the walls, on
the brink of the river, was a beautiful terrace, called the Maiden's
Walk, where the lady of the castle and her damsels, after their labours
at the loom, were wont to take air and exercise on a summer evening, ere
the vesper bell rang, and the bat began to hunt the moth. Within the
precincts of the building was the tiltyard, a broad space enclosed with
rails, and covered with sawdust, where young men of gentle blood, in the
capacity of pages and squires, acquired the chivalrous accomplishments
which the age prized so highly.
In fact, the castle of Wark, like most feudal castles of that century,
was a school of chivalry, whither the sons of nobles and knights were
sent to serve their apprenticeship as warriors, taught their duty to God
and the ladies, and trained to the skill in arms which enabled them to
compel the respect of one sex and influence the hearts of the other.
First, on foot, they were taught to attack the pel, an imaginary
adversary, which was simply the stump of a tree six feet in height;
then, on horseback, they were made to charge the quintain, a wooden
figure in the form of a Saracen, armed in mail and holding a sabre in
one hand and a shield in the other, and so constructed to move on a
pivot that, unless the youth was dexterous enough to strike the face or
breast, it revolved rapidly, and dealt him a heavy blow on the back as
he was retiring. As the lads became more expert they tilted at each
other with blunt lances, practised riding at the ring, and learned to
excel as equestrians by riding in a circle, vaulting from their steeds
in the course of their career, and mounting again while they galloped.
At the same time they were trained to acquit themselves with credit in
those encounters celebrated as combats at the barriers. At the sieges of
cities, during the middle ages, knights of the besieging army were in
the habit of going to the barriers, or grated palisades of the fortress,
and defying the garrison to break a lance for the honour of their
ladies. Indeed, this was so fashionable, that an army could hardly
appear before a town without the siege giving rise to a variety of such
combats, which were generally conducted with fairness on both sides.
This mode of attack was early taught to the apprentice to chivalry, and
assiduously practised by all who were ambitious of knightly honour.
Nor did the exercises of the tiltyard end at this stage. At the time of
which I write, the name of Richard Coeur de Lion was famous in Europe
and Asia; and his feats in arms were on every tongue. One of his great
exploits at the battle of Joppa was especially the admiration of the
brave. It seems that, when the Crusaders were surrounded and almost
overwhelmed by the swarming host of Saladin, Richard, who, up to that
moment, had neither given nor received a wound, suddenly sprang on his
charger, drew his sword, laid his lance in rest, and with his sword in
one hand, and his lance in the other, spurred against the Saracens,
striking sparks from their helmets and armour, and inspiring such terror
that his foes were completely routed. Naturally such an exploit made a
strong impression on the imagination of aspirants to warlike fame, and
the youth who had the dexterity and the equestrian skill to imitate it
in mimic fray was regarded with admiration and envy.
Now our concern with Wark, and its tiltyard, is simply this--that,
within the castle, there were trained in the exercises of chivalry, and
qualified for its honours, two striplings, who, when St. Louis took the
Cross, and undertook a holy war, embarked for the East, and figured,
during a memorable expedition, as the Boy Crusaders.