A. +Source.+--Continuation of _Matthew Paris_ (attributed to William
Rishanger), vol. iii., pp. 375 _et seqq._ (Bohn's Libraries.)
A.D. 1270.--In the month of May in this year, the King's son Edward set
out on his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, taking with him his wife
Eleanor, and accompanied by his brother-in-law Edmund, by four Earls,
the same number of Barons, and many other nobles.... Edward then arrived
in France with his fleet, but, learning that the King of France had
started for the Holy Land, he followed him by sea, and after a voyage of
ten days, arrived safely at Tunis, and landed with all his companions
and followers. There he was met by the King of France and his nobles,
who received him joyfully, and admitted him to the kiss of peace. In the
month of August the sickness which raged about the sea-coast did great
havoc in the army of the Christians. At Tunis, amongst the chiefs of the
army, in the first place, there died John, Count of Nevers, the son of
the French King, and the Cardinal Albano, legate of the Apostolic See.
Soon afterwards, on the day after the Feast of S. Bartholomew the
Apostle, St. Louis, the most Christian King of the French, passed from a
temporal kingdom to an eternal one.... He was succeeded in his kingdom
by his son Philip. At the time when the army was in a state of
desolation, in consequence of the King's death, Charles, King of Sicily,
arrived, who had been sent for by the King before his death. Although
the Saracens were evidently much more numerous than the Christians, they
never dared to attack the Christians in the open field, but caused them
much annoyance and inconvenience by their stratagems. Amongst their
devices, one was as follows. The country being sandy, and very dusty in
the dry seasons, the Saracens placed several thousands of their people
on an eminence in the neighbourhood of the Christians, and when the wind
was blowing in the direction of the latter, they stirred up the sand and
dust, which caused great annoyance to the Christians. But at length
rain, coming on, laid the dust, and the Christians got ready their
different engines of war, and made preparations for attacking Tunis by
land and sea. The Saracens, on seeing this, entered into a treaty with
them, and agreed to set at liberty all the Christians who were captives
in that country. They also allowed the faith of Christ to be preached
freely by the Preacher and Minorite brethren, and by all others soever,
in all the monasteries founded in honour of Christ in the cities of that
kingdom; also that all who chose to be baptized should be at liberty to
be so. The expenses of the two Kings then having been paid, and the King
of Tunis having acknowledged himself tributary to the King of Sicily, a
truce for several years was arranged, and the King of Sicily prepared to
re-embark with his army. But the Divine vengeance followed him, and, as
he was endeavouring to return, the sea engulfed almost his whole army,
the treasure he had taken from Tunis, and all his movable property....
When Edward heard of the terrible vengeance which the Lord had inflicted
on Charles, King of Sicily, the brother of Louis, the late King of
France, and when he considered that this disaster had happened not
without a cause, he struck his breast and cried, swearing by God's
blood, his usual oath: "Although all my companions in arms and
countrymen should desert me, yet I, with Fowin, my palfrey-keeper" (for
such was his name) "will enter Ptolemais or Acre, and will keep my
compact and my oath, though my soul shall be separated from my body in
so doing." All the English who were with him, and heard this
declaration, promised that they would go with him. He then at once set
sail for Acre, and, on his arrival there, found that the city was to be
surrendered to the Saracens in four days from that time. By his arrival
the Soldan of Babylon was disappointed in his expectations; and although
he had begun to besiege the city, he returned to his own country with
his army.
A.D. 1271.--In this year, whilst the King's eldest son Edward was
staying at Acre, a certain Emir of Joppa (a rank which corresponds to
that of an Earl amongst us), and a Saracen by birth, was seized with an
affection for him, on account of his fame for valour, and frequently
sent letters and messages of commendation to him by a certain Hassatut,
or Assassin, named Anzazim. This man had been educated from his boyhood
in subterranean places, where he had been taught to make a sudden attack
on any Prince of the adversaries of his sect, and had been given to
understand that, even if he should be slain in his attempt, he would,
for such an action, receive new life amidst the joys of Paradise. On one
occasion of his coming to Edward, as he had been often accustomed to do,
with letters, he pretended that he wanted to reveal some secrets to him.
Everyone then having been excluded from the room, the assassin, whilst
Edward was leaning against the window and directing his attention
outside, suddenly drew a poisoned knife and wounded him twice in the
arm, and a third time under the armpit. Edward at once hurled the
assassin to the earth with his foot, and, wrenching the knife from his
hands, slew the villain with it. In wresting away his knife, however, he
wounded himself severely in the hand, and as the poison entered and
spread in the wounds, they were only cured with great difficulty, and by
the application of many and various remedies. Some say that Edward, on
finding himself suddenly wounded, having nothing to defend himself with,
seized the tripod which supported his table and brained the ruffian. He
then summoned his attendants, and after explaining the particulars of
his mishap, he ordered the body of the wretch to be hung on the walls of
the city, by the side of a live dog, that the sight of this spectacle
might strike fear into others.
B. +Source.+--_Matthew of Westminster_, vol. ii., p. 455. (Bohn's
Libraries.)
A.D. 1272.--This year, when Edward had been a long time waiting in Acre
for aid from the Christians and the Tartars, because he had formed the
design of overwhelming the Saracens with a mighty force, seeing that he
was deceived by both parties, because the Christians had returned to
their own land, and because the Tartars, who are also called Moallians,
were perishing under domestic tyranny, he dismissed all his mercenary
forces at Acre, and, crossing the sea, landed in the kingdom of Sicily,
where he was met with honour by King Charles, who conducted him to
Civita Vecchia, where the Roman Court was residing, and where Edward
related to Pope Gregory, who was now become his lord, from having lately
been his friend, all the perils of the Holy Land.