THE CHRONICLE OF JAMES I OF ARAGON
John Forster, trans.
CCCCLIX.
Thence I went to Liçana,(1) taking two "fonevols" with me. A "brigola"(2) was set up in the place. Don Ferran Sanchez de Castro held the castle for Don Ferris in pursuance of certain obligations and oaths taken by the Aragonese barons to exchange castles one with another and hold against me. He begged me to consent to his sending out of it his men who were there, because, said he, Don Ferris de Liçana wished to garrison the castle with his own men. I agreed to that, for I preferred that Don Ferris's men should be there, since he persisted in doing me harm, while Ferran Sanchez [de Castro] would voluntarily come over to me. The men whom it was wished to put into Liçana instead of the others were then in Alcolesa,(3) and Don Ferris sent in a nephew of his to command them. Some knights and other men of birth went in with him, principally those who had done me most harm, and had ravaged the land with or without him. As they marched by my tent, in order to enter Liçana, as agreed, I recognised some of them who had served in my train. I asked them, "How is it you are going into Liçana ? and for whom?" They said, "We are [581] going for Don Ferris de Liçana, who is our lord ; since he has ordered it we must obey him and do his will." I said, "I tell you what ; I will make a prophecy to you : in such wise do you go there that you will never do harm to me nor to any one else." They said, "It will be as God pleases." I replied to them, "God pleases what I tell you, for your sin will bring on you this, that you will do no harm to me or to any one else."
CCCCLX.
Then they went up into the place, and I sent for two "fonevols," and began setting them up against the walls. They asked for a truce, which I was content to give them while the engines were getting ready ; but when one of my "fonevols " was in position, they set up their "brigola," and, regardless of the truce they had made with me, began to shoot. They thought they could reach the camp, but they could not; besides that, the cord of their "brigola " got entangled round the beam. Meanwhile I had caused several slings to be made for the men of my army, and had set up the "fonevol" a little in the rear, so that it might go forward when I wished it to advance. When the besieged, as I say, had shot once with their "brigola," and the cord was entangled, I called all to arms and to attack. Then my men, with their crossbows and slings, did such [582] execution that those within the town could not work, nor disentangle the rope, or lower the beam of the "brigola," whatever they might do.
CCCCLXI.
Meantime the "fonevol" was pushed forward so that it could reach the "brigola." The master of the "fonevol" shot the first stone and missed the "brigola." I myself went to take charge of it, shot, and hit the "brigola" so hard that its box was broken, and after that blow the besieged could no longer use it. That very evening, after sunset, the master who worked the "fonevol" shot and broke a beam on(4) one side of the "brigola."
CCCCLXII.
Next day I had another "fonevol" set up beside the first, and shot for five or six days, and so damaged the castle that the besieged could no longer defend themselves ; for the roofs were broken in, and the stones that fell inside did more harm even than those that struck the wall. So one night, as I was lying in bed (it was the watch of the Infante En Pedro's company), En Berenguer de [583] Viller(5) came up to me and asked, "Are you asleep?" "No," said I, "what is the matter?" "My lord, those inside the place have parleyed ; they say that if you will receive them to quarter, they will surrender the castle." I said, "They may leave talking about that, for I certainly will not receive them to quarter for two reasons : one, because they have done me great harm and wrong, and caused me great outlay and expense ; the other, because those in the place are some of the worst criminals whom Don Ferris had about him. But if they will come to me unconditionally, and in such wise that it may be as I like, either give them quarter or not, then I will receive them, not otherwise."
CCCCLXIII.
When next day came, as I was standing on a hillock near the ditch, I, the Infante, and a great party of knights, a knight and an esquire, without a safe-conduct, came out of the castle across the ditch. The people of the camp gathering round them, the knight said, "My lord, the Alcaide and those in the place greet you well, and tell you that they will yield to you on quarter, and surrender the castle to you." Hearing that proposal of theirs, I took no one's counsel on it, because I had [584] already made up my mind what to do with them. So I made answer immediately that I would do nothing of the sort ; if they surrendered unconditionally, so that I might do with them as I pleased, even to execute them, I would accept their surrender; if not, let them defend themselves, I would have them at last. They said they would go back, and they went.
CCCCLXIV.
After a time they came again and said they put themselves in my power to do with them as I pleased: telling me to order men to go and take possession of the castle, since from that moment they surrendered it. I took to witness some knights and other people who happened to be there present, that I took them to be dealt with at my discretion, and on no other terms. Then they surrendered the castle ; and I hanged over the castle wall those whom it was fit to hang, and on the others, men of birth, we did justice as it ought to be done on men who act so to their lord.(6) [585]
CCCCLXV.
When that was done, I went to Tarazona, where, in four or five places of the town, false gold coin was made of mine, and of the King of Castile's. Whilst I was there, at Tarazona, I caused an inquisition to be made in two quarters of the town, respecting the coins struck for me, as there had been much talk of it among the people. I made the workmen come before a judge of mine, named Miçer Ombret,(7) accompanied by another. The inquisition at an end, they came to lay their report before me. The judges laboured at it for four days without finding out anything about the coinage, where the coins were made and so forth. One day, on my return from hunting, Miçer Ombret came to me and said, "My lord, what more do you wish us to do? We can find out no trace of the coinage, nor where the coins are made." I said to him, "How can that be? It is a notorious fact that coin is made here, at Tarazona, and yet you cannot find out the truth? Great marvel is it to me; if the bushes could speak they might tell us, for since no mint-house can be found, the coin must be made somewhere among the bushes and torrents of this neighbourhood." [586]
CCCCLXVI.
I was in the town, in my own house, thinking how the matter could be discovered, when lo! there came a man who said he wished to speak to me in secret. I sent out of the room all those who were there, and he remained alone with me. He said that a man, whom I well knew, sent to greet me, and that if I would only ensure his safety, he would put me on the way of finding out the truth about the coins; but I was not to do harm to him in person or goods. I told him that he should disclose who it was, and if, through his means, I found out the truth, as he said, I would willingly ensure his safety. The man desired to have a written agreement that no harm should be done to him, and that he would bring the guilty parties before me. An agreement was accordingly made under my hand and his; and when that was done, I said to him, "Now since the agreement is made and signed, tell me who the man is." He said, "Marques." I did not know well who he could be, and asked, "Who is Marques?" He replied, "Marques, the clerk, the brother of Domingo Lopez, the man who had Pedro Perez killed as he was leaving Tudela."
CCCCLXVII.
I then sent for Miçer Ombret, and he came immediately to me. I said to him, "Miçer Ombret, [587] I believe I have found what you and I were seeking." He asked, "What is it?" I said, "The matter of the coin." "I am right glad and content," said Ombret, "for it vexed me much not to be able to find it out." I said, "I have promised not to hurt the man, for, after all, it is better to pardon one and learn the truth, than to leave the business unfinished." I then sent for the man who had made the disclosure, and said to him: "Friend, where is Marques? Could I see him now?" He replied, "No, you cannot; he is not in the town; but I can bring him before you go to bed." I said, "Do so, and I will thank you much, and you will get the more by it, for you have put me on the track of this business. Go then, and look to yourself; " and the man went away.
CCCCLXVIII.
When I was about to go to bed that very night the man came again, and I went into my chamber with him, and with Marques, who had come along with him. Marques said, "We humble ourselves before you, my lord." I saluted him. I had ready by me a volume of the Gospels, on which he (Marques) was to swear, and had also Bonanat, one of my scriveners, to write down what he said. I first made Marques swear to speak the truth, not to keep it back from me for love or fear, for what [588] might be given or promised, or for fear of any man ; and if he knew more than I asked him for, to say it at once. He said, "Grant me pardon, my lord, and I will tell you the whole truth as to this business, how it has been, and how not." I said I would willingly pardon him, if he told me the truth about it, and that, moreover, it should get him favour with me. He kissed my hand for the grace I did him, and said that as I pardoned him he would tell me the truth, for he himself had been one of the actors and accomplices in it all. I said, "Welcome to you, since you begin so well;" and he went on to say first about the King of Castile's coin, and then about mine. He told how he had made, and was actually making, false "morabatins," and in what place, who were his accomplices in the affair, and what knights were in it, Then he told me farther I was to send for those whom he named, and if they denied the fact, place him behind a curtain, where he should stand, and he would then come out and make them speak the truth. "They will not dare to deny it when I am placed before them." I did as Marques said, for there was no better way to arrive at the truth.
CCCCLXIX.
Next morning I sent for one of them, who came well instructed by the others, and began by flatly [589] denying the fact. I said, "How can you deny it ? Were you not in such a place, with such and such persons, as I can prove it ?" He said, "My lord, if you can prove that to me, I cannot help it." And thereon I made Marques come out of his hiding-place, and he said to him,(8) "Friend, were you not with me at such a place, at which we talked of the false gold coin, how we should do it, and how not?2 And do you not know that of our councils were Don Such-an-one, and Don Such an-one, and Don Such-an-one?" When the man heard that he suddenly changed colour. I saw that, and said to him, "You have sinned, first against God, then against me, who am your born lord, in thus denying the truth. You shall be brought to judgment; if you persist in denying the truth, it shall be proved against you, and you will fall under the penalty of the law. If, on the contrary, you now tell me the truth, and confess your guilt, you may, perhaps, find mercy in me ; for by truth man finds mercy in God, and in his lord on earth."
CCCCLXX.
Then the man began to speak out, and his account of the business agreed perfectly with that [590] of Marques. Both disclosed who their accomplices were. In this manner I went from one to another, until such evidence was produced that I knew for certain how the thing was, or was not, in what place the false coin was made, who made it, and what sort of people were concerned in the affair. It was further proved that the sacristan, the brother of Pedro Perez, had made false "morabatins" of copper, and had lined them over with gold leaf; and it was likewise found that they first went into the hands of Ramon Ramirez at Santa Eulalia, who took care to pass them as good ones. And, moreover, that the false coin was made at Tortelles,(9) at the town of Tarazona, and at many other places. So I had to do justice on Don Pedro Ramirez, on his son, and on Donna Elfa de Tortelles [his wife], all of whom were cast into the river and drowned. The others were executed in the way proper in each case, and their property confiscated, as of people who dared make false coin in my country and in the King of Castile's. As the sacristan was a clerk, I gave him up to the bishop, who kept him in a prison, where he died. When I had accomplished that, [591] that is, the punishment of so great a crime as the people of the country had taken to, I departed thence, and went to Zaragoza.
CCCCLXXI.
When I had been some time in Zaragoza I departed for the kingdom of Valencia, where I had not been for a good while. I kept Christmas at Alcañiz, and New Year's Day at Tortosa. At Valencia there came a message that my daughter, the Infanta Doña Maria, was dead. It was my wish that she should be buried with her mother at Vallbona, but the Zaragozans, in spite of the barons and knights (who were ready to fulfil my commands), buried her in Saint Saviour's, at Zaragoza. When I knew they had buried her, I stayed in the kingdom of Valencia.
CCCCLXXI I.
Then the Bishop of Zaragoza, Don Sancho Martinez de Oblites, and Don Sancho Baldovi,(10) who were my daughter's executors, came to me, and said they wished to show me her will. I heard it read, and found by it that she had bequeathed one thousand marks for discharging debts and damages, and also to distribute among her women servants and people [592] of her household, whom she wished to assist. They told me, moreover, that she had left nothing but her jewels, wherefore they brought this to my knowledge, as they would rather I had them than any one else, for they had once been mine. I told them that I would willingly pay the value of them into their hands, and that I consigned to them Daroca, Barbastro, and Roda, from the revenues of which they were to pay themselves the thousand marks ; and so I got the jewels that belonged to my daughter.
CCCCLXXIII.
When that was over, En Ramon de Cardona and some other barons of Catalonia went to war with me for the business of the Count of Urgel, who was dead. They wished to possess themselves of that county by force ; and I opposed it. The executors of the count had many times requested and demanded of me to lend them, on security of the revenues of that county, a sum of money, wherewith to solve the count's debts and liabilities ; and at their request I had lent them money to pay what he owed, and fulfil his bequests, and upon which En Ramon de Cardona, and other Catalonian barons with him, made war on me. While I was there [in Catalonia],(11) and keeping the feast of Omnium Sanctorum (All Saints), my son, the Infante Don [593] Sancho, whom the Pope had made Archbishop of Toledo, sent me messengers and letters earnestly praying me to go at Christmas to Toledo, when he was to say mass ; and in his letters he said that he would gladly come to me, as to his father and his lord, but that I was to forgive his not coming at once, as he had to make preparations at Toledo for my reception. He would, he said, meet me at Calatayud, and thence go into Castile with me. He, moreover, asked me to stay with him at Brioga (Brihuega), Alcalá, and other places he owned on that road. I recognised the claim he had on me, as his father, hehaving been always a loving and dutiful son, and assented to his proposal. As, however, Christmas was so near, I left at Cervera my son, the Infante Don Pedro, to keep watch on that frontier.
CCCCLXXIV.
When the feast of Omnium Sanctorum (All Saints) had passed, I went to Aragon, and arrived at Calatayud sixteen days before Christmas. The King of Castile, knowing that I was going to Toledo, came out to meet me at the Convent of Dorta,(12) and did not part from me till I was at Toledo. I stayed there eight days. [594]
CCCCLXXV.
On the fifth day of my being there, there came a message from Jacme Alarich,(13) my man, whom I had sent to the King of the Tartars, saying that he had come back, and brought me good news. There came with him two Tartars, both men of great influence in their country, though one was of more importance and power than the other, and they invited me to go to the East, and conquer the Holy Land. I told the King of Castile of it. The king thought the thing very great and marvellous, but difficult to accomplish, and fraught with danger. The Tartars, he said, were very deceitful; he feared, when I got there among them, they would not perform what they had promised through their messengers. The business was, no doubt, a very great one. He (the King of Castile) knew well that if Our Lord would conduct me in it, I could succeed ; but if I failed, everything would be lost. No king in the world had ever achieved so glorious and honourable an enterprise as to conquer the whole of the Holy Land beyond seas, and the Sepulchre [of Our Saviour] ; but he could not advise me to undertake it for anything in this world.
CCCCLXXVI.
I told him I thanked him much for his advice, which showed to me that he loved me. What he [595] said to me was certainly true - the business was a mighty one ; no king on this side of the sea had hitherto had intercourse or friendship with the Tartars : for one thing, because their power had only begun a little time since ; for another, because of their not having sent similar messages before offering friendship to any Christian king, except me. That the king of that country should have sent a message, distinguishing and selecting me among others, seemed the work of God, who desired to commend that undertaking to me. Since God willed it, I would not, for regard of consequences, or out of fear for myself, nor for what it might cost me hereafter, forsake the enterprise, but would attend to it with all my strength and power, so that God might be satisfied with me for the good will I had shown to obey His commands. Wherefore I prayed the king [Don Alfonso] to be content, for, after all, my honour would be his. And if God thereby gave me much gain, he who had many sons might rely on his having part of the gain I might make there. "It seems to me," I said, "that God wills it, and since God wills it, ill cannot come of it." And King Alfonso replied, "May it be God's will, and may good come to you of it."(14) [596]
CCCCLXXVII.
The conference(15) between me and the King of Castile at an end, I left Toledo next day, and went to a village called Illescas. The King of Castile went to another village in the neighbourhood ; and all the other barons, the Master of Uclés, and the Master of the Hospital, he who was the Grand Master for all Spain, spoke of our business, and talked of nothing else but what they had heard me say about the projected expedition. The Master of the Hospital then came up (his name was Brother Gonsalvo Perero, and he was a native of Portugal), and said he wished to speak with me. I went out of the road and took him aside, and he said to me that my intentions were certainly laudable, and my courage good, since I was determined to serve God, that he wished to help me with all he could get from the Hospital in the five kingdoms of Spain. He then asked me to ask the King of Castile to accompany me in the expedition, and allow him (the Grand Master) to take from his country whatever the Hospital possessed therein, and was needed for the enterprise. I thanked him for his offer, and especially for his approval of what I wished to undertake for the service of God, and promised to [597] speak with the King of Castile. I would immediately call upon him: he should keep in sight that I might come when I wanted him.
CCCCLXXVIII.
Thereupon I sent a message to the king, who was ahead of me, hunting, to wait for me. When I arrived where he was, I took him aside and said, "King, the commander has offered me his help in this expedition ; if you will command and say to him that it pleases you, he will do his utmost to help us." Forthwith the King of Castile sent for the commander, and he came. The king said to him in my presence, " Commander, the aid and service you may do the King of Aragon pleases me as much, or more, than if it were done to myself. I further pray and command you to do what you offer." I said, "Commander,(16) it seems to me as if the king wished you to speak," and he said, "My lord, I see well that the king wishes and orders it." There was an end to the conference that day, and I gave the king great thanks, for I saw plainly that he wished to help me as much as he could.
CCCCLXXIX.
Next morning the King of Castile came out of one village, and I of another, and I rode to [598] Daymus, and saw his banner on the road where I was to travel. The king was there ; he saluted me, sent for Don Manuel, Don Gil Garcéz, and Don Juan Garcia, and said, "King, this expedition of yours that you wish to undertake, God knows well that it grieves me in one respect, and pleases me in another ; it grieves me that you should put yourself to such great risk, against such terrible people, and so far off; and it will please me if you can do such great good to Christendom as you think. May it please God that it be so ! And since you have it so much at heart that I cannot hinder or dissuade you from it, I am unwilling that you should go thither without proper help from me : for so did you behave towards me when I needed you to help me against the Saracens. I will aid you with a hundred thousand gold 'morabatins,' and a hundred horse." I said to him that I would willingly accept this aid, from no one in the world, except from the Church ; but that I was so deeply bound to him, that I could not well refuse his offer of aid, and that though I had determined not to have it I thanked him much for it.
CCCCLXXX.
Next day we passed through Uclés, to which the Master had invited us. When I was about to leave [599] he offered to go with me, and attend the expedition with a hundred knights. I told him that I thanked him much for them. Next day Don Gil Garcés offered to go with all the forces he could raise ; but neither the one nor the other kept his word. When the time for parting with the King of Castile came, he said to me, "Take these sixty thousand 'besants,' which the King of Granada has just sent me. I give them to you on account of what I have promised you ; the rest will come soon." I took them, and left behind to receive the rest Friar Pedro Peyronet and Pedro Gilabert,(17) to whom the king gave them. I went to Moya that day, and thence to Valencia.
CCCCLXXXI.
When I was at Valencia,(18) there came to me Jacme Alarich with the Tartars, and with him another ambassador there was from Greece, and told me on behalf of the former, or of Great Khan,(19) who is the [600] King of the Tartars, that he had the desire and the will to help me: that I should go to Alayas,(20) or any other place, and he would come to meet me; I should find in his country all I needed, victuals and engines of war,(21) and so I, together with him, could easily conquer the [Holy] Sepulchre. He said he would furnish me with supplies. The other, the messenger from Palialogo (Palæologus), Emperor of the Greeks, said that his master would likewise send me supplies by sea.
CCCCLXXXII.
Thereon I busied myself in providing and getting ready for my voyage, so that seven months after that I was at Barcelona, about to cross the sea. Thereon the Queen of Castile sent me word to wait for her, and that she would come to Horta (Huerta), as she actually did, with her sons. My own sons, the Infante En Pedro, the Infante En Jacme, and the Archbishop of Toledo, were there also. All prayed me during two consecutive days, weeping and crying, not to depart ; but they could not prevail with me to remain, and I went back to Barcelona to make my passage. I had then with me, between knights and horsemen, full eight hundred or more.(22) [601]
CCCCLXXXIII.
Before starting for the East, I went to Mallorca, to see if there was any shipping there, and to ask the people of the town if they would help me in my expedition. I crossed over with one galley and a "sagetia,"(23) or smaller vessel. When there, I asked them to assist me; they said they would do what I wished, and that I had only to say what it was. Perceiving their good will to help me, of seventy thousand sous that I had intended to ask for I only asked them for fifty thousand. They gave them willingly, and with pleasure. With what they gave me I hired three ships, and got besides, from the Almoxerif of Minorca, a thousand oxen and cows. I then returned, and on the first of August was again at Barcelona.
CCCCLXXXV.
On the third or fourth day before Saint Mary's, in September,(24) I set sail. We were all that night beating to windward, more than forty miles out at sea. In the morning En Ramon Marquet came to me and said, "My lord, it seems to me as if we ought to return to the land, that all the fleet may [602] be collected together, and may keep us in sight ; otherwise they will miss you on the sea, and be unable to follow you." I saw that he was right, and did as he suggested. When I went back, I found only one galley, for the rest of the fleet had gone on to Sitges.(25) I went to sea again with that galley, and the other ships made for Minorca. In the morning I saw them, some seventeen sail, twenty-five miles off, in the waters of Minorca. We proceeded all that day, and all that night; and next day, at vespers, an east wind arose,(26) and made a blue and red arc, one of those called Saint John's.(27) A waterspout rose and fell into the sea, which turned white from black it was before. Then came the east wind, which began at sunset, and there was a great deal of it during the night, so that all the time it blew we had to furl the sails. We, moreover, saw no sail nor ship. This was on Saturday, the night before Saint Mary's, in September.(28)
CCCCLXXXVI.
When Sunday came the wind changed to the south-east and lasted all day till midnight; then it [603] changed again to the south-west, and on Monday the weather was worse than on Saturday or Sunday : all the four winds meeting and fighting one another. This lasted all day on Tuesday and all night into Wednesday, when still the bad weather did not abate. So that sailors, who had crossed the sea twenty or twenty-five times, said they had never met with such bad weather.
CCCCLXXXVII.
When day came, I saw the ship of the Templars close upon mine; they spoke to us and said that they had broken their rudder, and asked us for one : we sent it to them. En Ramon Marquet said we should not do it, for our ship ought not to be without a spare rudder. The Templars' ship than went away, and we lost sight of them at night. At vespers we saw the ship of the Sacristan of Lerida, who was afterwards Bishop of Huesca. She passed under our stern, as well as that of the Commander of Alcaniz, one of the knights of Calatrava. I called together En Ramon Marquet and Galceran de Pinós, and some more knights who were in the ship with me, and told them to listen to what I had to say. I spoke thus : "Ramon Marquet, it seems to me that it is not Our Lord's will that we should go beyond sea, as once [604] before, when we had prepared to go;(29) for this bad weather has already lasted seventeen days and eighteen nights, and we cannot even get together the fleet." This was eight days after Michaelmas.
CCCCLXXXVIII.
Thereupon there came the Bishop of Barcelona, the Master of the Temple, and the Master of the Hospital in Aragon, and all the chief men (prohomens) of Barcelona, and the masters of the ships, and the sailors, and entreated me, in the name of God and of Saint Mary, not to continue the voyage, for they feared that the great fogs there are at Acre in the beginning of winter might make us miss the land. If we did miss it, they were afraid of what might happen to us. "We dare not," they said, "advise you to make this voyage, and put yourself in danger of death." And thus, because of their prayers, and because I knew that they said the truth, I stayed. The Bishop then said, "We have already spent at sea two months, when a lesser time would have been sufficient for the passage had the wind been prosperous. Since in that time we could not cross, and Our Lord delayed us through the season, it is clear that our voyage was not agreeable to Him. We could endure the bad [605] weather, if time remained for our voyage; but since He will not give us a wind to impel us where we want to go, it seems to us as if it was not His pleasure we should go there." I told them that I would see if on that night the weather and wind did improve or not ; if it did, we would go on : if not, we could not put force on Our Lord. When the night came we managed as well as we could with the wind there was from the south-west till the dawn ; when the sun rose there was an east wind in our teeth, so that we could not go ahead.
CCCCLXXXIX.
So when I saw that it was not God's pleasure to make the weather better for us, I made signal to the ship of the Sacristan of Lerida, who became afterwards Bishop of Huesca, to that of Calatrava, and to that of En Pedro de Queralt, to go back, and tack at the same time as we did ; but the [main]yard of the Sacristan's ship came down and fell on deck. If, peradventure, any one should ask why my ship and those that turned back with me did not cross the sea, as others did, the reason is, that they had such a wind that they could easily tack on it and make the voyage, whereas we ourselves could not face the wind, because we were lower than they were.(30) All [606] the time that the storm lasted - full three days and nights - I never ceased, whenever I could be private and alone in the place where I slept (which on board ship is called Paradise), praying Our Lady Saint Mary of Valencia to intercede with her dear Son that if our passage to the Holy Land seemed good to Him, He should let me make it, and give us fair wind ; for I certainly would not abandon it for any harm that might come to me and my people ; but if He thought that it was not for our good, nor for that of Christianity, that she would send us back to the altar of Saint Mary of Valencia. It so pleased her: for we got safe to the port of Aiquesmortes; and when we were within two miles of land, a wind came out of the entrance of the port, which made us haul down our sails, and beat off all that evening and night, so that we came to Agde (Acde). I prayed again to God's mother that nowhere, in my land, or elsewhere, might we land but in some place near a church consecrated to her, that I might make suitable offering, and give thanks for the mercy shown us in taking us out of that danger, and that I might worship at her altar. [607]
CCCCXC.
When the next day came we had a west wind,(31) gentle and fair, which took us into port. Next morning I went to the church of Our Lady Saint Mary of Vallvert,(32) to thank her for the grace and favour she had done us all in taking us out of that danger in which we had been. Whilst we were in that port, a head cook of mine, who had been outside in a boat, told me that he had met Friar Pedro Cenre and Friar Ramon Marti, coming from Tunis. They asked him what the ship was. They were told that the ship was the king's, who had turned back for stress of weather. I expected them to wait for me, but they went off to Montpellier. Next day I went to Vallvert to give thanks to Our Lady Saint Mary for the grace she had done us. The Bishop of Maguelonne,(33) and the son of En Ramon Guancelm,(34) came out to meet me. They told me, as soon as they came, that if I wished it, they would go to sea with me, and that we could renew our supplies of provisions there. The fleet, they said, would be greatly discouraged if I were not with it. [608]
CCCCXCI.
I said to them, "What assistance would you give if we went to sea again?" The son of En Ramon Guancelm then said, "I will follow you with ten knights." Then the Bishop of Maguelonne said he would follow me with twenty ; and they added that unless I again tried to cross the sea, people would talk a great deal about it. I answered them that people did certainly talk a great deal too much ; I did not care what they said : our Lord knew that I was forced to do what I did, and that nothing in the world grieved me more, nor so much, as to be obliged to abandon my enterprise ; "Yet I wonder much at your saying such a thing, for in my ship alone there are no less than fifteen knights lost and disabled, and I believe that in the other ships there are as many as a hundred dead and disabled. Were I to go to sea again with only thirty fresh, knights, to replace those who are dead or disabled, that would not be right. And I have left the sea with such damage on account of the bad weather, that for nothing in the world would I go back to it, not for anything that could be done. But I should like you to tell me : with whom have you consulted on this matter?" They said, "With En Ramon March,(35) and with others who talked of it." [609] I said, "When will En Ramon March be here? " They said, "On the morrow." I said, "I will see En Ramon March, and speak with him before you ; and then I will see what his advice is."
CCCCXCII.
Next day En Ramon March came to me at Vallvert. I sent immediately for the Bishop of Maguelonne, and for En Ramon Guancelm, and said to him : "En Ramon March, the Bishop and En Ramon Guancelm have said this to me, with your approval, as they say, and I wish to know if it is your opinion - that I should proceed again across the sea." "My lord," said he, "I could give you advice in other matters : but you know more about war than I do. And what you consider good advice is no doubt the best. What you do not know, neither I nor any one else will know." And the Bishop and En Ramon Guancelm felt reproved for what they had said to me. So I took no more notice of what they had said.
Thence I went to Montpellier, and the day after my arrival there, sent for the consuls(36) and for fifty or sixty of the chief men of the town to come to me. They came, and I told them how I had suffered on the sea, that it seemed our Lord did not wish that I should cross it, for I had tried it once before [610] without success. I had sailed to Barcelona another time intending to cross, when the ships for seventeen or eighteen days were in danger of being driven on shore by the great sea from the southeast and the Provençal wind.(37) As it would lengthen the book to repeat much of what was said on the occasion, I will pass on to what is most important. I told them the business had already cost me much money, but that I relied on their helping me so that I should be content. This I once asked them to do through the Franciscans of Montpellier, at the same time offering them good pledges for repayment. I would do to their satisfaction, and they should help me for the expedition I intended making for the service of God, but which, as they well knew, had entirely failed. Since God had brought me to the town of Montpellier, I prayed them very earnestly to help me. They said they would deliberate, and next day would give me the answer.
CCCCXCIII.
Next day they came before me, and the answer they made was in this wise : that they knew well how grievous it was to me not to have crossed the sea. It was quite true that I had once asked them [611] on a previous occasion for aid ; but they denied having said to the Franciscans that they were ready to help me. This, however, was their final resolution : should I cross the sea they would willingly pay me sixty thousand sous tournois.(38) I said, "Barons, you have made to me the most novel reply that ever a subject made to his lord, not to say to such a lord as I am to you. And I marvel at the little sense and judgment of the people of Montpellier, that you should think to satisfy me with such an answer. You would actually give me more to leave you than to remain with you in the land ! My subjects of Aragon and Catalonia would indeed give me a thousand thousands of sous(39) for remaining in their land ; and I marvel greatly how you can offer me money on condition I leave you and go to another land, where I may be killed or taken prisoner."
CCCCXCIV.
I departed thence and came to Catalonia; then I entered Aragon and went to Zaragoza. When I was there, there came to me messengers from the King of Castile (Alfonso), who prayed me to go and [612] attend the marriage of my grandson, Don Fernando;(40) as God had sent me back to my country, he prayed it very earnestly. I considered that it was a fitting thing to do, and consented ; promising to be there on the day for which he had asked me. I then went to Tarazona, and the King of Castile went to Agreda. I left Tarazona and went towards Agreda, and met half way the King of Castile, who came out to meet me; and he rejoiced greatly at my sight, embracing me thrice, weeping for joy. We entered Agreda, and then went through Soria to Burgos, by convenient stages. One day that we were on the road, talking of his achievements [against the Moors] and my own, I told him that I begged him, when he again undertook anything, not to do it without my advice, and if he failed, to come to me in time ; I could put it right for him. He thanked me much, and said he would do so.
CCCCXCV.
Then we went together to Burgos, where the Castilian barons were already assembled ; that is to say, the King's uncle, Don Alfonso de Molina,(41) his own brother Don Philip, Don Nuño Gonsalvez de Lara, and all the bishops and nobles of Castile. The [613] daughter(42) of the King of France also came there, with the Count Dodo,(43) brother of Don Juan Dacre, a bishop, and other nobles. Here Don Fernando took to wife the daughter of the King of France. The King of Castile made him a knight, and Don Fernando made knights of his brothers, but not of Don Sancho(44); for I myself begged him to make the other brothers knights, but not him. The King of Castile said to me that Don Fernando and the other brothers wished it, and since they wished it, he might well make them all knights. I told him before Don Philip, Don Nuño, and the rest of the barons, that whoever counselled that Don Fernando should make all his brothers knights gave him bad advice. The King replied that all his sons desired it, and so Don Fernando might well do it. I told him that he would set wrath and enmity among them : that whenever they did amiss he (Don Fernando) would remind them that he had made them knights, and they would feel scorn and anger at it. I asked them if they wished it, and they said yes. Don Sancho was near me, and I told him in his ear not to do it on any account. He said he would do as I advised. [614]
CCCCXCVI.
I asked Don Sancho before them all, "Don Sancho, do you wish to be knighted by Don Fernando?" "Grandfather, what you wish, I wish." I said, "My wish is, that you take knighthood from your father, and from no one else." He said, "My lord, so it pleases me, and I will do as you wish and advise." The King accordingly made Don Fernando a knight, and Don Fernando made his brothers knights, except Don Sancho. He made also knights of Don Lope Diaz de Vizcaya and many other sons of nobles. I stayed at Burgos fifteen days, more or less.
CCCCXCVII.
One day, while I was there, Don Alfonso de Molina sent to tell me that he was not well, and I went to see him. On returning to the Hospital of Burgos, where I had quarters, I met Don Nuño Gonsalvez de Lara, who came to me. I went aside with him, and made the others ride forward along the Rambla of Burgos, and went to my quarters, all the time conversing with him. He offered to do me service, more than to any one else m the world. There were things, he said, in which he would rather serve me than himself; if I but sent him a letter, he would come to me at once with a hundred [615] or two hundred knights, and I might take from him whatever I needed. Strongly suspecting what Don Nuño's intention was, and what he wanted of me, I answered him with the following reasoning : "Don Nuño, I know that the King of Castile loves you not, and brings charges against you, and against other barons of Castile. And I know also that you bring charges against him, and have not that good will for him you and others should have. Whether that is by your fault or his, I cannot say ; but, certainly, this is better time than any other for healing the wound, and I have a better reason for interfering in his affairs than any man has. What others would not dare to tell him, I can say as plainly to him as to a simple knight. And do you believe surely, that if the King has done you wrong, I will at once say so to him, and will make him repair it. If he will not, I will show myself so dissatisfied with him, that you will see he will do it at last. If not, I will be so angry with him, that you shall have to thank me for what I will do." After that, I found Don Nuño next day much contented with the King, who, he said, had given him heritages, had married(45) him, and had done all duties of a lord towards his vassal; so much so, that it seemed to me that I ought not to interfere after what he said. [616]
CCCCXCVIIa.
Then I departed for Tarazona, and the King of Castile followed me part of the way, not wishing to leave me as long as I might be in his country. I asked him to keep the next Christmas with me. At first he made some excuses, but yielded at last to my entreaties, and he came with me to Tarazona. As it was becoming, I furnished him and those with him with everything they needed ; so that every Castilian baron had in his tent bread, wine, wax, salt meat,(46) fruit, and everything he needed, so that one had not to ask another for anything. And I so managed, as before said, that there was not one to whom I did not give his full portion of partridges, dried grapes, and everything else he asked for.(47)
CCCCXCVIII.
The King of Castile and his suite stayed there seven days with me, and in those seven days I gave him advice as to seven things he was to observe in the conduct of affairs. First, that when he had given his word to any one, he should in any case fulfil it; it was better to bear the shame of saying no to one, who asked for something, than to grieve at heart for having to fulfil a [617] promise. Another counsel was, that he should look well before he signed a grant, and think first whether he could and should do it or not. The third was that he should keep all his people attached to him, for it was a fair and good thing for any king to keep in his grace and pleasure all the people with which God had intrusted him. The fourth was, that if some only were to be kept in his grace, and he could not keep the others, he should keep at least two parties : the church, and the people and cities of the country. For they are those whom God loves more, even, than the nobles and the knights, for the knights revolt sooner against their lord than the others. If he could keep with him all of them, well and good ; if not, he should keep those two parties, for with their help he could easily destroy the others. The fifth counsel was this : God had given him Murcia, and I, with the help of our Lord, had assisted him to take and conquer it. Now the grants I had made to the settlers of Murcia, and those he himself had afterwards made, were not well kept: on the contrary, they had been broken, and some of the settlers had lost their land. They had received some twenty or thirty "tafullas,"(48) fifty he who had received most; [618] but fifty "tafullas" were only two "jovadas" of the measurement of Valencia, that is twelve "cafices" of seed corn ; and yet Murcia was by far the best town in all Andalucia,(49) except Seville. He was very wrong in letting people think and say that he knew not how to allot lands to settlers. Murcia would never be prosperous unless he did do one thing, which was to people it with one hundred men of importance, who might receive him properly when he came into the city. "Those (I said) you should take care that they have good heritages therein. A man of some importance is not sufficiently endowed with a hundred 'tafullas,' nor with two hundred. Let artisans and workmen have the rest of the land, and in this way you will have a goodly town for yourself. If, perchance, you have made grants to men who do not reside in Murcia, make terms with them, and give their land to the proper settlers." Another counsel was, never to punish any one in secret; it did not become a king to punish his vassals in secret. This passed at Tarazona.(50)
CCCCXCIX.
The King of Castile then left Tarazona and went to Fitero, whence came word to me that he was very [619] ill of a kick which a horse have given him in the leg at Burgos. I immediately went there, and with me four or five knights and my own train. I saw him and comforted him. I had with me at the time a surgeon doctor named Master John ; I besides carried with me everything that was needed, and stayed with him three or four days, when he begged me earnestly to go back, as he considered he was cured. He thence went into Castile, and I went to Calatayud for a month or more.
D.
After a month I came into the kingdom of Valencia, and found that there had been a dispute and contention between my lieutenant and another officer named Guillen Scriva;(51) I gave judgment in favour of the former. Then En Guillen Scriva and others brought charges against that same lieutenant (batle), and I heard also the case, and gave judgment on it, and punished them both, so that the city remained in peace and good order.
DI.
Then came a message that the King of Castile desired to see me, and asked for an interview between Requena and Bunol. I answered that I was willing and content; and I went out to see [620] him, with the intention of showing him my new kingdom of Valencia. I set out for Bunol, and thence on the road to Requena, and received him and the Queen [my daughter] well and fairly, and joyfully and honourably. I prayed the King to come into Valencia, and he agreed, which pleased the Queen, my daughter, much ; for since I had married her to the King of Castile (Alfonso), she had not entered my country.(52) Before the King and Queen entered, I arranged how they should be received by the bishops, the knights, and the good men of the city. Many shows and games, of various and wonderful devices, were made.(53) The town was well decorated with hangings, and beds [for the men] set up in the squares. The King entered it, and was well and joyfully received, so that he could not have had a better reception in any town which had been settled for a hundred years. Indeed, as he was so well entertained, and so abundantly supplied with all he needed, game and every article of food, he was joyful and contented beyond measure.(54)
DII.
Then the King of Castile departed from [621] Valencia, and I went with him as far as Villena.(55) There he prayed me to stay with him three days, and I did so. Then I took leave of him ; he went towards Murcia and I towards Xativa, and thence to Denia. At the latter place I made a settlement, called Orimbloy, and another in the valley of Albaida, called Montaberner.(56)
DILI.
One day I made an excursion towards Biar ; and whilst I was at Otinyen (Ontenient) there came to me certain men of Suera,(57) and said that by lying in wait in ambush(58) for them with knights and footmen, En Artal de Luna had killed twenty-seven of their men.(59) On that I returned to Valencia, and then went into Aragon. When I got to Torrellas, near Camarena, a village of Teruel, my son, the Infante En Jacme, came to me and the Abbot of Poblet with him, and told me there, in Torrellas, how the King and Queen of France had proposed to him a marriage with the [622] Countess of Nines;(60) that the King and Queen had promised her to him, and had fixed a day for the marriage. He, therefore, begged of me, as a proof of my love and favour as his father and lord, that I should grant him wherewith to perform the engagement he had formed with credit to myself and to him. I went the next day to Camarena, and thence into Teruel. And there I gave him sixty thousand gold sous in aid towards the expenses of his marriage.
DIV.
Thence I went to Zaragoza, and sent for Don Artal de Luna to come to me on the eve of Saint Mary, in August.(61) Next day I summoned(62) him to appear before me. On the third summons that was made Don Artal came, and the people of Suera brought forward their charge against him for killing their people from the ambush. Don Artal then asked me to give him as his advocate Don Juan Gil Terim.(63) This I granted, and the suit between them began. It ended thus: one day I was in Exea; Don Pedro Cornel and other friends of Don Artal's came to me, and prayed me to accept his submission. [623] After deliberation, I accepted it in this wise. I ordered him first to make amends for the injury he had done to the people of Suera, by giving them twenty thousand sous ; that he and the knights who were in the business should leave the kingdom for five years ; that the men of Esla [who had aided Don Artal] should also leave it for three years ; and that a scribe of his, who had done all the mischief, should be banished from my kingdom for ever. I distributed ten thousand sous among the orphans, and the widows who had lost their husbands in the business, and went to Zaragoza.
DV.
At Zaragoza there came to me a pressing message from the King of Castile, that I should see him on great business, which he needed to settle with me, concerning our affairs in common. I sent, forthwith, En Jacme Saroca,(64) Sacristan of Lerida, who was a notary of mine, to say that I had my hands full of business, and could not possibly go to him. If he wished to say anything to me, he should say it to the Sacristan of Lerida ; indeed, I would do as much upon a letter from him as if I saw him in person. The King sent word to say that he did not wish for that, but rather he prayed me to see him in any wise : there were things that he would say to no man in the world but myself.
1. A small castle near Barbastro, owned by Don Ferriç.
2. About this and other engines of war consult the Appendix.
3. In the Barcelona edition AIcoleja.
4. "E en aquel vespre ans que fos nuyt aquel qui fonejaua ach los trenchat una pertxa de la una guauta de la brigola." Fonejar is to work a slinging engine; funda, fundibulum, fonevol.
6. "Penjam per lo mur del Castell aquells que seyen a penjar, e dels altres de paratge faem aquella justicia ques deu fer domens que aytal cosa fan a lur senyor." Meaning that the "men of birth" were put to death in a less ignominious way than by hanging, that is, by taking their heads off. Zurita (Annales, lib. iii. c. 71) sums up the statement as to all: "E mandó hacer j usticia dellos con castigo de muerte."
7. In the Barcelona edition, Umbert.
8. This address, as many of those in this business, is reported in the Chronicle in Spanish, or at least in the language then in use in Aragon: "Amigo, no fuestes nos en tal logar con mi, e que faulariamos de esta cosa como lo farianmos ni como no?"
9. Here the modern edition of Barcelona has Tortoles. " E que sen faya en Tortoles, e enla vila de Taraçona, e en altres logars molts." Could the author mean Tortosa ? Lower down, however, the name Tortoles (written Tortolles and Torrelles) appears in connexion with that of Dona Elfa, the wife of Pero Ramirez, whence I conclude that Tortosa cannot be meant.
10. "Sanxo Martineç Doblites, e en Pong Baldoui " in the edition of Barcelona.
11. Zurita (Annales, iii. c. 74) states that the place was Cervera.
12. Dorta for d'orta is no doubt meant for Huerta, in Castile.
13. In the Barcelona edition Dalarig; he was a native of Perpignan.
14. Zurita (Annales, iii. c. 74). Alfonso's Chronicle says nothing of this interview, but the Aragonese and Catalonian writers, such as Beuter, Desclot, Miedes and others, minutely refer to James's endeavours to go on Crusade to the Holy Land. See also Fernandez de Navarrete, Memorias de la Real Academia de la Historia, torn. v.
15. The Barcelona edition has two chapters following each other with No. 477.
16. "Comanador " say both the editions.
17. Guilabert, and Guil for Gil is the reading in the Barcelona edition.
18. This paragraph, which in the edition of 1557 is numbered 481, and in that of Barcelona has number 482, is thus headed : "The Glorious King En Jacme, when he had heard the messengers of the Great Khan and of Palæologus Emperor of the Greeks determined to pass beyond seas, and to conquer the Holy Sepulchre."
19. "Que ell hauia cor e volentat dajudar nos," thus in both editions of the Chronicle, but the contrary must be meant ; it was the Khan who solicited the aid of James. As to the Khan himself, his name was Abaga-Khan ; he was the son of Holagú Khan, and had married a daughter of the King of Constantinople, Palælogue.
20. "Alayas," which Ch. de Tourtoulon conjectures is Alaia or Alanieh, in Asian Turkey, Jacme I., le Conquerant, vol. ii. p. 392.
21. "Que ell nos bastaria de geyns (genyi ?) e de conduyt."
22. The Spanish translation makes the number 1,300. A similar discrepancy occurs before.
23. Sagetia in Catalan is equivalent to saetia in Spanish. Both words are derived from the Arabic, Xathia, (Arabic letters in book), a ferryboat for the crossing of rivers, (Arabic letters in book), meaning the bank of a river.
24. Nativity of the Virgin, 8th September.
25. Ves (vers ?) la mar de Ciges.
26. "Levas j orre temps de levant" in the edition of 1557 ; the modern one has : "levas vent a llevant."
27. "E feu j arch blau e vermejl daquests quen dien de sent Marti"; in the other, "de Senct Ioan."
28. Of this chapter, and the following, the Barcelona edition, which is by far the more correct, makes only one, CCCCLXXXV., and thus is the difference, above noticed, between the two made up.
29. This would imply that a first attempt to cross had already been made ; but the fact is not recorded by any historian that I know.
30. "E si per auentura negun demanaua per cal rao no passa la nostra nau ni aqueles que ab nos sen tornaren aixi corn les altres hi passaren, aquesta es la rao: car ells hauien lo vent del lebeg tan complit, ques podien sobrepujar al vent pero quan erem puys bays que ells no eren a orçar per fer lur viatge e nos no." I can offer no clearer translation of this passage than the above. Consult Zurita, Annales de Aragon, iii. 74, and p. 386 of the Spanish version, and Navarrete, Memorias de la Real Academia de la Historia, vol. v. Lebeg, in Spanish lebeche, is the ventus Lybicus of the ancients.
31. "Nos haguem el garbí dole, e amoros." Garbf, the west wind, from garb, (Arabic letters in book), west, whence algarbe, garbino, almagreb, &c.
34. The modern Barcelona edition has twice "Gaucelm."
35. Elsewhere Marchet and Marquet.
36. In 1239 Montpellier was governed by consuls elected by the citizens under a "bayle," who was at the same time James's lieutenant.
37. "Per la gran mar que hi faya daxeloch e de vent á la Provença.." Daxeloch is for da xeloch in Span, xaloque, i.e. the "sirocco," or south-east wind, from the Ar, (Arabic letters in book).
38. Lx. milia sous de torneses, i.e. touronnais, from their being struck at Tours in France.
39. Car los meus homens Darago e de Cathalunya me darien "M. millia sous," &c, i.e. one million.
40. Don Fernando de la Cerda, son of Alfonso X. and Violante, or Yoland, the daugnter of James.
41. The brother of St. Ferdinand.
42. Blanche, daughter of St. Louis, who was married to Don Fernando in November, 1269.
43. I presume that this Count Dodo is no other than Jean d'Eu, (Odo?) the brother of Jean de Brenne, or d'Acre, king of Jerusalem.
44. Alfonso's second son, who, after the death of the eldest, Don Fernando, became heir to the crown, under the appellative of Sancho, el Bravo.
45. Casat here is perhaps used in the Provençal sense for established, set up.
47. In the edition of 1557 : provided one thing did not prevent the other, " per tal que la j. no embargas laltre."
48. "Tafulla" and "tahulla" is a land measure much used in Valencia and Murcia. It generally applies to irrigated rather than to arable land. The word is no doubt Arabic, perhaps, too, Berber, but the root is not to be found in the dictionaries we have of those languages. As to Cafíz, see note 3 at page 25.
49. The word is here used for "Andalus," i.e. that portion of the Spanish Peninsula still occupied by Arabs and Moors.
50. "E aço fon en Taraçona," which last sentence the modern edition suppresses entirely.
51. In the modern edition "Escrivá."
52. Since her marriage to Alfonso, in 1246, Doña Violante had not seen her father.
53. "E faeren fer jochs molts, e de maraueyloses, e de diverses [fayçons] e fo la vila be encortinada, e lits per les places de la vila."
54. Zurita {Anales, iii. c. 76) gives a full account of the entertainment.
56. "Faem una pobla." All the names in the geography of the Peninsula beginning with Pobla, or Puebla, Pola, &c, as Puebla de Alcocer,Puebla de Don Fadrique, Pola de Lena, and others, indicate the settlement of Christians in a village or town abandoned by the Moors.
58. "En un aguayt e celada." Aguayt, guaita, &c. (in Sp. acecho), are from the French "guet."
59. Suera was a recently conquered town in the kingdom of Valencia, still inhabited by Moors living under the faith of a capitulation.
61. The Assumption of the Virgin, 15th August.
62. E en laltre dia nos preycam. The verb "preycar" is not here intended for "preaching" as it would at first appear, but for proclaiming, or summoning Don Artal to appear before the court; in Spanish, "pregonar," which, as well as "preycar," come from the Lat. predicare.
64. The edition of 1557 Caroca, probably a misprint for Caroca ; the modern one of Barcelona has Saroca.