before the fleet in galleys, and being daily entertained by the maritime towns, taking along with them the larger ships and busses of that sea, arrived prosperously at Messina.* So great was the splendour of the approaching armament, such the clashing and brilliancy of their arms, so noble the sound of the trumpets and clarions, that the city quaked and was greatly astounded, and there came to meet the king a multitude of all ages, people without number, wondering and proclaiming with what exceeding glory and magnificence that king had arrived, surpassing the king of France, who with his forces had arrived seven days before. And forasmuch as the king of France had been already received into the palace of Tancred, king of Sicily, within the walls, the king of England pitched his camp without the city. The same day the king of France, knowing of the arrival of his comrade and brother, flies to his reception, nor could their gestures sufficiently express in embraces and kisses how much each of them rejoiced in the other. The armies cheered one another with mutual applause and intercourse, as if so many thousand men had been all of one heart and one mind. In such pastimes is the holiday spent until the evening, and the weary kings departing, although not satiated, return every one to his own quarters. On the next day the king of England presently caused gibbets to be erected without the camp to hang thereon thieves and robbers. The judges delegated spared neither sex nor age: the cause of the stranger and the native found the like law and the like punishment. The king of France, whatever transgression his people committed, or whatever offence was committed against them, took no notice and held his peace; the king of England esteeming the country of those implicated in guilt as a matter of no consequence, considered every man his own, and left no transgression unpunished, wherefore the one was called a Lamb by the Griffones, the other obtained the name of a Lion.
Sect. 21. The king of England sent his messengers to the king of Sicily, demanding Johanna his sister, formerly queen of Sicily, and her dowry, with a golden seat and the whole legacy which King William had bequeathed to his father, King Henry, namely, a golden table of twelve feet in length, a silk tent, a hundred of the best galleys with all their necessaries for two years, sixty thousand silinas of wheat, sixty thousand of barley, sixty thousand of wine, four and twenty golden cups, and four and twenty golden dishes. The king of Sicily, setting little by the demands of the king of the English, and still less considering his own exigencies, sent him back his sister with the ordinary furniture of her bed, having given her, however, with royal consideration, a thousand thousand terrini for her expenses. On the third day following, the king of England, having passed over the great river Del Far, which separates Calabria from Sicily, entered Calabria in arms, and took therein the well-fortified town which is called La Banniere, and having expelled the Griffones, established his sister there, and secured the place with an armed garrison. Again the king took a very strong castle, which is called the Griffones’ Monastery, on the same river Del Far, situated between La Banniere and Messina, and fortified it when taken; and having without mercy despatched by various tortures the Griffones who had resisted, caused them to be exhibited as a gazing-stock to their friends. Wido, king of Jerusalem, sent word to Philip, king of the French, and Richard, king of the English, whilst wintering in Sicily, that the residue of the Christians who lay before Acre would, on account of their weakness and the violence of the pagans, either be obliged to depart or perish, unless very shortly sustained. To aid whom, the kings sent forward Henry, count of Champagne, and Baldwin, archbishop of Canterbury, and Hubert, bishop of Salisbury, and Ralph de Glanville, with a strong army; of whom Archbishop Baldwin and Ralph de Glanville died at the siege of the city, which the Latins call Acre and the Jews Accaron, while the kings still remained in Sicily.
Sect. 22. The Griffones, before King Richard’s arrival in Sicily, were more powerful than all the mighty of that region, and having moreover always hated the people beyond the Alps, and now irritated by recent occurrences more inveterate than ever, kept the peace with all who claimed the king of France for their master, but sought to wreak the entire vengeance of their wrongs on the king of the English and his tailed* followers, for the Greeks and Sicilians followed that king about and called them tailed English. Thereupon all intercourse with the country is denied the English by proclamation; they are murdered both day and night by forties and fifties, wherever they are found unarmed. The slaughter was daily multiplied, and it was madly purposed to go on until they should either destroy or put them all to flight. The king of England, excited by these disorders, raged like the fiercest lion, and vented his anger in a manner worthy that noble beast. His fury astounded his nearest friends, and his whole court, the famous princes of his army sat around his throne, each according to his rank, and if any one might dare to raise his eyes to look him in the face, it would be very easy to read in the ruler’s countenance what he silently considered in his mind. After a long and deep silence, the king disburdened his indignant lips as follows.
Sect. 23. “O, my soldiers! my kingdom’s strength and crown! who have endured with me a thousand perils, you, who by might have subdued before me so many tyrants and cities, do you now see how a cowardly rabble insults us? Shall we vanquish Turks and Arabs? shall we be a terror to nations the most invincible? shall our right hand make us a way even to the ends of the world for the cross of Christ? shall we restore the kingdom to Israel, when we have turned our backs before vile and effeminate Griffones? Shall we, subdued here in the confines of our own country, proceed further, that the sloth of the English may become a by-word to the ends of the earth? Am I not right, then, O my friends, in regarding this as a new cause of sorrow? Truly, methinks I see you deliberately spare your pains, that perchance you may the better contend with Saladin hereafter. I, your lord and king, love you; I am solicitous for your honour; I tell you, I warn you again and again, if now you depart thus unrevenged, the mention of this base flight will both precede and accompany you. Old women and children will be raised up against you, and assurance will yield a double energy to every enemy against the runaways. I know that he who saves any one by constraint, does the same as kill him; the king will retain no man against his will. I am unwilling to compel any one of you to stay with me, lest the fear of one should shake another’s confidence in the battle. Let every one follow what he may have chosen, but I will either die here or will revenge these wrongs common to me and you. If hence I depart alive, Saladin will see me only a conqueror; will you depart, and leave me, your king, alone to meet the conflict?”
Sect. 24. The king had scarcely well concluded his harangue, when all his brave and valiant men burst out, troubled only that their lord appeared to mistrust his men. They promise that they will comply from their souls with whatever he shall enjoin; they are ready to penetrate mountains and walls of brass, should he but give a nod: all Sicily, at his command alone, shall be subjected to him by their labour; if he should but desire it, as far as the Pillars of Hercules shall be steeped in blood. As the clamour, hushed by the ruler’s gravity, subsided, “I am pleased,” said he, “with what I hear; you refresh my spirits by your readiness to cast off your disgrace. And, as delay has always been hurtful to those who are prepared, we must make haste, so that whatever we design may be sudden. Messina shall be taken by me in the first place, the Griffones shall either ransom themselves, or be sold. If King Tancred do not more speedily satisfy me for my sister’s dowry and the legacy of King William, which fails to me in right of my father, after the depopulation of his kingdom, he shall be compelled to restore them fourfold. Whatever belongs to the inhabitants shall be a prey for everybody to whom it shall fall; only with my lord the king of the French, who lodges in the city, and with all his followers, shall perfect peace be preserved. Let two thousand bold knights,* the choice of the entire army, and a thousand foot, archers, be made ready within two days. Let the law be enforced without remission; let the footman, who flies full speed, lose his foot, the knight be deprived of his girdle. Let every man, according to military discipline, be disposed in line in exact array, and on the third day, at the sound of the horn, let them follow me. I will head them and shew them the way to the city!” The assembly separated with the greatest applause; the king, having relaxed the sternness of his countenance, was seen returning thanks for their good-will with his wonted affability of expression.
Sect. 25. It wonderfully fell out that not even the king’s enemy could pretend that his cause was unjust. On the
