Membra beata cluunt, podice fusa suum.
Quum talos ori, tum quod sus fudit odori,
Digno qui celebrat cultor honore ferat.
He who has lived by the pig is chewed to death by the pig and the
limbs which were called blessed have become pigs' excrement. May
those who wish to honor him carry to their mouths his heels, which
the pig has poured forth in stench.
What if there is some truth in what the Manicheans say about
purification, that in every food something of God is present and that
part of God is purified by chewing and digesting, and the purified
part is turned into angels, who are said to depart from us in
belching and flatulence: how many angels may be believe were produced
by the flesh eaten by these pigs and by the great farts they let go?
But, laying aside the comic remarks intended to mock his followers,
my point is that they did not think that he was God, but a just man
and leader, through whom divine laws might be transmitted. They
imagined that he had been taken up into heaven, with only his heels
left as a monument for his faithful adherents, who visit them with
great veneration, and condemn eating pork, because pigs consumed
their lord with their bites.
After the pagan heresy had grown strong over a long time, and for
many generations, the people whom we have mentioned above invaded
Palestine, Jerusalem, and the Holy Sepulchre, and captured Armenia,
Syria, and the part of Greece that extends almost to the sea which is
called the Arm of Saint George. Among all the Eastern kingdoms, the
Babylonian empire was from ancient times the most powerful, and ruled
over many kingdoms. However, the kingdom of the Parthians, whom we,
because of changes in the language, call the Turks, is pre-eminent in
military matters, in horsemanship, and in courage, although it is a
very small country. And so the Babylonian emperor occupied the areas
we just mentioned with a large army, but in the course of time he
lost them, as the Turks grew in number, and the Assyrians were
defeated. More energetic, and in command of an astute boldness, they
were attacking the empire of Constantinople and seemed about to
besiege the city, when the emperor of the Greeks, frightened by their
frequent and relentless incursions, sent a letter to France, written
to the elder Robert, count of Flanders,[71] offering him reasons that
might urge him to defend endangered Greece. He did not approach him
because he thought that Robert, although extremely wealthy, and
capable of raising a large force, could alone supply enough troops
for the task, but because he realized that if a man of such power
went on such a journey, he would attract many of our people, if only
for the sake of a new experience, to support him. This count was
truly as wise in military matters as he was perspicacious and
discriminating in literary matters. He had once before gone to
Jerusalem, for the sake of prayer, and, happening to pass through
Constantinople on the way, had spoken with the emperor; as result, on
the basis of the great feeling of trust he had developed for him, the
emperor was impelled to call upon him for aid. Since inserting the
letter itself in this little work would produce a tedious effect, I
have preferred to offer some of what was said, but clothed in my own
words.
He complained that, "after Christianity was driven out, the churches
which the pagans held had been turned into stables for horses, mules,
and other animals. It was also true that they had set up in them
temples, which they called Mahomeries, and they carried out all kinds
of filthy activity in them, so that they had become not cathedrals,
but brothels and theaters. Moreover, there would be no purpose to my
mentioning the slaughter of Catholics, since the faithful who died
received in exchange eternal life, while those who survived led lives
wretchedly bound by the yoke of slavery, harsher, I believe, than
what those who died endured. They took virgins and made them public
prostitutes, since they were never deterred by shame or feeling for
marital fidelity. Mothers were violated in the presence of their
daughters, raped over and over again by different men, while their
daughters were compelled, not only to watch, but to sing obscene
songs and to dance. Then they changed places, and the suffering,
which is painful and shameful to speak of, was inflicted upon the
daughters, while the filthy activity was adorned by the obscene songs
of the unfortunate mothers. Finally reverence for all that was
called Christian was handed over to the brothel. When the female sex
was not spared (an action which might be excused since it is at least
in accord with nature), they became worse than animals, breaking all
human laws by turning on men. Their lust overflowed to the point
that the execrable and profoundly intolerable crime of sodomy, which
they committed against men of middle or low station, they also
committed against a certain bishop, killing him. How can this urgent
lust, worse than any insanity anywhere, which perpetually flees
wisdom and modesty, and is enkindled more powerfully the more it is
quenched, control itself among human beings, whom it befouls with
couplings unheard of among beasts, actions to which Christians may
not give name. And although, according to their own judgment, these
wretches may have many women, that is not enough, but they must stain
their dignity at the hog-trough of such filth by using men also. It
is not surprising that God could not tolerate their ripe wantoness,
and turned it into grief, and the earth, in its ancient way, cast out
the excrement of such destructive inhabitants." Therefore, after he
had expressed his great fears about the siege of Constantinople,
which would follow the crossing of the Arm of Saint George by his
enemies, he added, among other remarks, the following: "This great
city is most deserving of every kind of help if for no other reason
than to prevent the six apostles whose bodies are buried here from
being burned by unbelievers, or buried in the swirling sea." And
certainly nothing is more true. For that city, not only superior for
its monuments of the saints, but also famed for the merit and renown
of its founder, and particularly for the divine revelation which
transformed it from a very old little town into a miraculous city and
a second Rome, is worth of having the whole world come together to
help it, if that were possible. Then, after speaking of the apostles,
the emperor said that they had the head of John the Baptist, which
(although it was not true) seemed to be covered with hair and skin,
as though alive today. Now if this were true, one would have to
investigate the head of John the Baptist that is glorified by the
monks at Angers. Now we are certain that two John the Baptists did
not exist, nor did the one man have two heads, which would be impious
to say. In this matter, one should consider the frequent but not
deadly error, which particularly assails the churches of France,
regarding the bodies of saints: two different places claim to have
the same martyr or confessor, but a single entity cannot occupy two
spaces simultaneously. This mistaken contention arises from the fact
that saints are not permitted to enjoy the peace of the permanent
burial they deserve. And I do not doubt that their bodies are
covered with silver and gold out of motives lower than piety; open
and extremely foul avarice drives them to collect money by displaying
bones and dragging around wagons. These things would stop if, as in
the case of the Lord Jesus, their limbs were shut up in locked tombs.
However, setting these things aside, let us go on. The emperor added
that if neither the prevention of such evil, nor the love of the
aforementioned saints inspired them to perform this task, then at
least greed for gold and silver, of which there was a plentiful
supply in his region, might entice them. Finally he offered an
argument that has no power over men with self-control, saying that
they would be drawn by the pleasure of seeing the most beautiful
women, as though the beauty of Greek women were so great that they
would be preferred to the women of Gaul, and for this reason alone,
the Frankish army would march to Thrace. While this foul tyrant was
offering this argument, he should have kept in mind that for this
very reason the most powerful adversity had descended upon him and
his people; in well-known proclamation, he had issued an order
throughout the land that families with several daughters give one of
them up to prostitution, and place in his own treasury money gained
from the disgusting experience. In addition, he had issued another
edict, ordering families with several sons to have one castrated,
thus rendering their bodies, deprived of virility, weak and
effeminate, no longer fit for military service. Even worse, they
were cut off from producing progeny for the future, who might have
been looked for as aid against their enemies. Therefore he who had
brought destruction upon himself was now compelled to seek help from
foreigners. In addition, one should note that this emperor had
received the purple not by legitimate succession, but because he had
been one of the officers of the palace, under the ruler whose name,
unless I am mistaken, was Michael, who had put him in charge of the
larger group of Western soldiers, whose natural probity made them the
best of the emperor's men, and the emperor's bodyguard. Gathering
boldness from the men he commanded, he undertook a coup against his
own prince. Invading the city of Constantinople, he captured his
ruler, cruelly deprived him of his eyes, and placed him under close
guard in a certain town. Then he usurped imperial power entirely
without legal right. Compelled by necessity, as we said above, he
sought the Franks. But after he saw such remarkable leaders
assembled, distinguished both for their impeccable conduct and
military ability, he envied the size of the forces, but envied their
wisdom even more. When they successfully completed what they had set
out to do, his envy of the ability of our men grew even greater;
after the victory at Jerusalem, the emperor feared that they might
turn their victorious arms against him, especially since they had
learned that, among the nations in that area, he was their most
powerful rival. We also heard, however, before the beginning of the
journey had been announced, that the emperor's mother, a sorceress,
had predicted that a man of Frankish origin would take his empire and
his life from him. Judging by events, Bohemund tried to fulfill this
oracle, attacking the emperor with such force, and compelling him so
often to flee from battle, that a large part of the provinces fell
into his hands. Since his family was from Normandy, a part of France,
and since he had obtained the hand of the daughter of the king of
the Franks, he might be very well be considered a Frank.
HERE ENDS THE FIRST BOOK OF THE DEEDS OF GOD AS PERFORMED BY THE
FRENCH.