DISCORD AMONG THE CRUSADERS

DISCORD AMONG THE CRUSADERS OF THOSE WHO ACCEPT THE PROPOSALS OF THE YOUNG ALEXI

Then arose much debate. The abbot of Vaux, of the order of the Cistercians, spoke, and that party that wished for the dispersal of the host; and they said they would never consent: that it was not to fall on Christians that they had left J their homes, and that they would go to Syria.

And the other party replied: “ Fair lords, in Syria you will be able to do nothing; and that you may right well perceive by considering how those have fared who abandoned us, and sailed from other ports. And be it known to you that it is only by way of Babylon, or of Greece, that the land oversea can be recovered, if so be that it ever is recovered. And if we reject this covenant we shall be shamed to all time.”

There was discord in the host, as you hear Nor need you be surprised if there was discord among the laymen, for the white monks of the order of Citeaux were also at issue among themselves in the host. The abbot of Loos, who was a holy man and a man of note, and other abbots who held with him, prayed and besought the people, for pity’s sake, and the sake of God, to keep the host together, and agree to the proposed convention, in that “ it afforded the best means by which the land oversea might be recovered;” while the abbot of Vaux, on the other hand, and those who held with him, preached full often. and declared that all this was naught, and that the host ought to go to the land of Syria, and there do what they could.

Baldwin Count of Flanders

Then came the Marquis of Montferrat, and Baldwin Count of Flanders and Hainault, and Count Lewis, and Count Hugh of St. Paul, and those who held with them, and they de cleared that they would enter into the proposed covenant, for that they should be shamed if they refused. So they went to the Doge’s hostel, and the envoys were summoned, and the covenant, in such terms as you have already heard, was confirmed by oath, and by charters with seals appended.

And the book tells you that only twelve persons took the oaths on the side of the Franks, for more (of sufficient note) could not be found. Among the twelve were first the Marquis of Montferrat, the Count Baldwin of Flanders, the Count Lewis of Blois and of Chartres, and the Count of St. Paul, and eight others who held with them. Thus was the agreement made, and the charters prepared, and a term fixed for the arrival of the heir of Constantinople; and the term so fixed was the fifteenth day after the following Easter.