The Deeds of Philip Augustus, by Rigord

[1] The deeds of Philip Augustus, the most Christian king of the Franks.

In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 1165, Philip, king of the Franks, was born in the month of August, eleven before the Kalends of September, on the feast day of Timothy and Symphorian.²⁹ He ought to be called “Given by God” due to the circumstances of his birth, because although his most religious father, King Louis [VII], had conceived a number of daughters by his three wives,³⁰ he was unable to have a male heir to the kingdom.³¹ At last, along with his wife, the illustrious queen Adele,³² and all the clergy and people of the entire kingdom, he turned to alms and prayer and asked God for a son, not asserting that he was worthy of this but trusting only in God’s mercy, and saying, “I beseech you, O Lord, remember me³³ and enter not into judgment with your servant, for in your sight no man living is justified,³⁴ but be merciful to me, a sinner,³⁵ and if I have sinned³⁶ as other men, yet Lord, be sparing lest all that I have done before you perish. Have mercy on me, O Lord, according to your great mercy³⁷ and give to me a son, an heir to the kingdom of the Franks and a strong leader lest my enemies say, ‘Your hope has come to nothing, and your alms and prayers are naught.’³⁸ But you, O Lord, do with me according to your will and at the end of my days³⁹ and command my spirit to be received in peace.”⁴⁰ Thus did he pray with all the clergy and people of the entire kingdom, and their prayers were heard in the sight of the Lord.⁴¹ And so was given to him by God a son⁴² named Philip, whom he caused to be raised most religiously and to be instructed fully in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. He had him most solemnly crowned at Reims. And living himself for hardly a year thereafter, he saw him ruling most gloriously on the throne of the kingdom of the Franks.⁴³

King Louis had a vision about him like this, in a dream, even before his birth. It seemed to him that Philip, his son, was holding a golden goblet in his hand, full of human blood, and from it he was toasting all his leading men and they all drank of it.⁴⁴ At the very end of his life he recounted this vision to Bishop Henry of Albano, legate of the Apostolic See to France,⁴⁵ making him swear in God’s name⁴⁶ that he would not reveal this to anyone before the king’s death. When King Louis died, Bishop Henry made the vision widely known among the clergy.⁴⁷

Thus Philip’s father, the most Christian King Louis, happily went to the Lord in the first year of his son’s reign, in the city once known as Lutetia and now called Paris. We will speak further of this later on. Now let us turn our pen to the deeds of the first year of the reign of Philip Augustus, the illustrious king of the Franks.

[2] The deeds of the first year of the reign of Philip Augustus, king of the Franks.⁴⁸

In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 1179, Louis [VII], the most Christian king of the Franks, now almost sixty years old,⁴⁹ mindful of the shortness of human life and feeling himself in ill health and suffering from partial paralysis, convened a general council of all the archbishops, bishops, abbots, as well as barons of the entire kingdom of the Franks, in Paris at the palace of our venerable father Maurice, the bishop of Paris.⁵⁰ When everyone had taken their places, King Louis entered the chapel alone, and after praying to the Lord, as was his custom in all matters, he summoned one by one the archbishops, bishops, abbots, and all the leading men of the kingdom, and informed them that he planned, with their advice and consent, to raise his most beloved son Philip “Given by God” to be king at the coming feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.⁵¹ The prelates and leading men of the kingdom, hearing the will of the king, being of one mind, exclaimed one and all, “So be it!” Thus ended the council.

As this feast of the most Blessed Virgin Mary approached, the most Christian King Louis came to Compiègne⁵² with his most beloved son Philip. There, as God would have it, matters turned out differently than he had hoped. For while the king delayed, as we have learned from many people, the renowned Philip went into the woods, with his father’s permission, to hunt with the royal huntsmen. Just as he entered [the woods], he encountered a boar. At this sight the hunters quickly released the dogs and set off after the boar through the wilds of the woods and of the vast wilderness,⁵³ sounding their horns in pursuit down the woodland trails.

[3] Meanwhile Philip, astride the fastest horse, had outdistanced all the others and followed the boar alone for some time along another hidden path. After a little while he looked about and realized, as darkness came on, that no other hunter was around. Seeing that he was indeed left all alone in the wide empty woods, he quite reasonably began to worry as he wandered here and there, wherever his horse carried him. At last, now very anxious, looking high and low but seeing no one, with a groan and sighs he crossed himself and with great feeling commended himself to God, to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and to the most Blessed Denis, the patron and defender of the kings of the Franks. When he finished his prayer he looked to his right and suddenly saw in the distance a woodsman, a really quite large man, fanning coals in a fire. He was terrible to behold, all covered with black soot, with an ugly face and a huge ax slung over his shoulder. When Philip first saw him, he was afraid for a moment, like a boy. But his great heart soon overcame his fear, and he went up to the man and greeted him kindly. When the woodsman learned who he was and whence he came and why he was there, understanding that he was his lord, he put aside what he was doing and immediately led him back to Compiègne by the most direct route.

As a result of this frightening experience Philip “Given by God” fell seriously ill. For this reason his royal elevation to the throne was put off until All Saints’ Day.⁵⁴ But our Lord Jesus Christ, who never abandons those hoping in Him,⁵⁵ restored him to his former good health after a few days,⁵⁶ on account of the prayers and worthiness of his most holy father, Louis, who was praying continuously to the Lord on his behalf both night and day,⁵⁷ and because of the prayers of the entire Church. So, upon the arrival of All Saints’ Day, with all the archbishops, bishops, and barons of his land gathered together, Philip was crowned at Reims by the reverend William, archbishop of Reims, cardinal-priest of Saint Sabina, legate of the Apostolic See, the king’s own uncle.⁵⁸ Also present was Henry, king of England,⁵⁹ who out of due submission humbly held one side of the crown on the French king’s head,⁶⁰ as all the archbishops, bishops, and other leading men of the kingdom and all the clergy and people shouted and proclaimed, “Long live the king, long live the king!”

Philip had just turned fourteen on the feast of Timothy and Symphonian, so that his fifteenth year had begun to roll by.⁶¹ Thus he was anointed in the fifteenth year of his life, on the feast of All Saints, while his father, the most Christian King Louis, was still living but sorely weighed down by bad health; that is, by paralysis which prevented his getting about.

[4] About his decree on gamblers.

We have decided, however, to write only briefly about the things which he did at the start of his reign, so that the chatter of our book and the exceeding plainness of our speech may not offend the refined ears of our audience.

From his earliest youth Philip had the fear of the Lord as his guide in schooling, because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,⁶² and he requested in prayer and humbly beseeched the Lord to guide his every deed and step. He loved justice as though it were his own mother. He sought to exalt mercy above judgment.⁶³ He never allowed truth to leave his side. More than all other kings, his home was a scene of marital fidelity.⁶⁴ Now in all truth, since it pleased him from his earliest youth to develop these renowned virtues in himself, it came to pass as time went on that just as the king himself feared and revered God,⁶⁵ so he insisted that these virtues be adopted by everyone residing at his court. And what is even more marvelous, he so detested the mighty curses that gamblers at courts and in gambling dens often produce that if by chance a knight or some other person was playing in the king’s presence and suddenly let out a curse, straightaway at the king’s order he would be tossed in the river or some lake. And he ordered that such a rule should be most vigorously observed by everyone from then on. Well done, what virtue!⁶⁶ From such beginnings, similar ends will result. And thus the hand of the Lord was with him.⁶⁷

[5] On the king’s hatred for the Jews.

A few days after the new king returned to Paris following his holy anointing,⁶⁸ he undertook a project which he had long considered but feared to carry out due to an excess of respect shown to his most Christian father. For he had quite often heard from boys reared with him in the palace, and had stored firmly in his memory, that each year the Jews of Paris would cut the throat of a Christian.⁶⁹ They would do this out of disdain for the Christian religion, as though in sacrifice,⁷⁰ hiding in underground crypts, on Maundy Thursday or during that holy week.⁷¹ And continuing to perpetrate this sort of diabolical deception, many times in his father’s day they had been caught and burned alive.⁷² Saint Richard, whose body rests in the church of Saint-Innocent-des-Champeaux,⁷³ was slain and crucified in this way at Paris by the Jews, and went happily to the Lord in martyrdom.⁷⁴ We have heard that many miracles have occurred there, brought about by the Lord through prayer and through the intercession of Saint Richard, to the honor of the Lord. And because, after careful inquiry, the most Christian King Philip learned more fully from his elders these and countless other unspeakable things about the Jews, such was his burning zeal for God that at his command the Jews throughout all of France were seized in their synagogues, sixteen before the Kalends of March, which was a Saturday, in the very year in which he took the holy reins of the kingdom of the Franks by his consecration at Reims.⁷⁵ And they were then stripped of their gold and silver and their clothes just as the Jews had themselves stripped the Egyptians when leaving Egypt.⁷⁶ This foreshadowed their own exile which followed afterward in the course of time as God so arranged.

[6] On King Philip’s first war for the defense and liberty of churches.

About a month after Philip Augustus had received holy unction,⁷⁷ it happened that Ebbe [VI] of Charenton, in the region of Bourges, began to tyrannize churches of God and to crush with oppressive exactions the clergy who were serving God there. The clergy, unable to withstand his rage, sent envoys to the most Christian King Philip Augustus, protesting the violence done to them by this Ebbe and humbly seeking justice from the king. After the king heard the complaint of these religious men, burning with zeal for God in defense of churches and the freedom of the clergy, he marched forth with a strong force and devastated [Ebbe’s] lands and plundered them; and [the king] so suppressed [Ebbe’s] audacity that [Ebbe], driven by necessity, seeing that it was impossible to escape the hand of the king,⁷⁸ fell down at the king’s feet,⁷⁹ begging his forgiveness and promising upon his solemn oath that he would most fully recompense all churches and clergy serving God to the wish and satisfaction of the king and would behave himself in such matters.

Philip “Given by God” waged this first war at the start of his reign in his fifteenth year, and consecrated it to the Lord.⁸⁰ He is called “Given by God” because as king he was given by God for the liberty of churches and clergy and for the protection of the entire Christian people.⁸¹

[7] On the second war for the defense and liberty of churches.

Thereafter, in the same, that is to say the first, year of his reign, the children of iniquity⁸²—that is, Humbert of Beaujeu⁸³ and the count of Chalon,⁸⁴ along with their accomplices—rose up against the churches of God, prompted by the old serpent,⁸⁵ the enemy of the human race. Since these men dared to impose grievously upon churches, contrary to royal exemptions, the clergy and religious men who ceaselessly serve God there reported all these evil deeds to their lord, the most Christian king of the Franks. Then, for the defense of churches and the liberty of the clergy, the king assembled an army and entered their lands and seized great amounts of property, and he so smashed their arrogance and their tyranny that by God’s arrangement, although against their will, he returned everything and made full restitution to the churches. He reestablished a period of peace for the clergy and those serving the Lord there while humbly commending himself to their prayers.

Indeed, it is right that the universal Church should pray for the most Christian King Philip, for it is he who tirelessly stands for this Church, protecting her from enemies and defending her by expelling the Jews, who are the enemies of the Christian faith, and driving out heretics, who misunderstand the catholic faith. Indeed his good works are established in the Lord, and so all the church of the saints shall declare his words and deeds.⁸⁶

[8] On the conspiracy of certain leading men against the king.

Later in the first year of the reign of Philip Augustus, the fifteenth year of his life, certain conflicts arose; that is, hatreds that developed among the leading men of the realm. Certain of his leading men (principes),⁸⁷ at the instigation of the devil, the enemy of the Church’s peace, dared to form a conspiracy against their lord King Philip Augustus. These men assembled an army and began to plunder the king’s lands. Seeing these things, the most Christian King Philip, inflamed with a very great fury,⁸⁸ led an army of vast extent against these men. And after a few days he routed them and so bravely and powerfully chased them out that, as God miraculously arranged it, he brought them all to heel and most powerfully forced them to obey his will.⁸⁹

Truly the Lord, who gives and restores all good things, leaves no good deed unrewarded. For the most Christian King Philip Augustus fiercely waged his first two battles at the start of his reign to defend churches and the liberty of the clergy, in honor of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin and Mother of God Mary. And so our Lord Jesus Christ, who does not abandon them that hope in Him,⁹⁰ stood by him in the deceit of them that overreached him, and kept him safe from his enemies, and defended him from seducers.⁹¹ And He turned the struggle in his favor so that he conquered all his foes, and He gave him might against those who unjustly connived to overthrow him. For the Lord is the One who brings to nothing the counsels of nations, rejects the devices of peoples, and casts away the counsels of princes.⁹² This man is not abandoned by God in the day of battle,⁹³ for the angel of the Lord, standing on his right side,⁹⁴ breaks the heads of his enemies.⁹⁵ And why is this?⁹⁶ Because he continues always in the commands of the Lord.⁹⁷

[9] The deeds of the second year of the reign of Philip Augustus, king of the Franks.⁹⁸

In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 1180, four before the Kalends of June,⁹⁹ on that day on which our Lord Jesus Christ ascended to heaven on swelling clouds,¹⁰⁰ in the church of Saint-Denis, on the advice and counsel of a certain good man¹⁰¹ who was observed to have the zeal of God,¹⁰² this King Philip put on the crown for the second time.¹⁰³ And then was anointed his wife Isabelle,¹⁰⁴ the venerable queen, the daughter of Baldwin [V] the illustrious count of Hainaut,¹⁰⁵ the niece of Philip the great count of Flanders,¹⁰⁶ who respectfully brought the sword before the lord king on that day, as is the custom.¹⁰⁷ While these things were solemnly happening in the church of the most Blessed Denis, and while the king and queen, on bent knees and with heads bowed before the great altar were humbly receiving the nuptial blessing from the venerable Guy, archbishop of Sens,¹⁰⁸ in the presence of bishops and barons, there occurred an event worthy of recall which we believe should be mentioned here.

As these things were going on, a great throng of people had gathered from the surrounding cities, suburbs, towns, and villages. Greatly rejoicing to see such a solemn occasion and to behold the king and queen distinguished with the crown, the crowd got out of hand. A knight, one of the royal officials, with his staff in hand, tried to restore order by lashing about with the staff to the right and the left. With one blow he suddenly smashed the three lamps which were hanging above their heads, before the great altar. And the oil of these lamps, which dripped down upon the heads of the king and queen, was a sign, we believe, of the fullness of the gifts of the Holy Spirit miraculously sent from heaven to increase the fame of [the king’s] name and to spread his glory far and wide across the earth.¹⁰⁹ For Solomon in the Song of Love seems to have said prophetically, Your name is as oil poured out,¹¹⁰ as though he were saying the fame and glory and wisdom of your name will be spread¹¹¹ from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth.¹¹² And kings will bow their heads before him and many nations will serve him.¹¹³ From these and other things of this sort, we can see that these deeds, which happened around the king at God’s direction, should be interpreted in this way.

[10] On the death of the most pious King Louis [VII].

In this same year, fourteen before the Kalends of October, on a Thursday,¹¹⁴ Louis, the most pious king of the Franks, died in the city which is now called Paris and is now the head of the kingdom of the Franks. Thus it came to pass, perhaps as God so arranged it, that the person who was king and head of the whole kingdom of the Franks happily went to the Lord in his palace in the city which is the head of the kingdom of the Franks. And thus it would become clear to everyone that he was passing in glory from a palace to the Palace, from a kingdom to the Kingdom, from an earthly palace to the expanse of the celestial paradise, from a realm that passes away to the eternal Realm that eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has the human mind been able to grasp, what things God has prepared from eternity for them that love Him in truth.¹¹⁵ His body was entombed in the church of Sainte-Marie-de-Barbeau, which he himself had founded.¹¹⁶ There, in honor of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Blessed Mother of God, the Virgin Mary, and of all the saints, saintly and religious men celebrate the divine office day and night for his soul, for that of all his predecessors, and for the state of the kingdom of the Franks. In this same church over the king’s burial place, Adele, the aforesaid and renowned queen of the Franks, the mother of Philip Augustus, king of the Franks, had constructed a tomb made with marvelous skill from stones that were most delicately decorated with gold, silver, bronze, and precious gems. Such a work of such delicacy has not been found in any kingdom since the time of Solomon.¹¹⁷

But, enough of such matters. Let us turn to those things the king did, inspired by the Lord, concerning the treacherous Jews.

[11] The reasons why the most Christian King Philip, ever Augustus, expelled the Jews from the whole of France. Here the first reason is specified.

At that time a great multitude of Jews was living in France. Because of the lengthy peace and the generosity of the French people, they had gathered there long ago from various parts of the world. For the Jews had heard of the French kings’ might against their foes and their great goodness toward their subjects. Therefore, their elders and those more learned in the law of Moses, whom the Jews call didascali,¹¹⁸ decided to come to Paris. There, by long association and usage, they grew so wealthy that they claimed nearly half the whole city for themselves. Moreover, against the decree of God and the established Church, they employed in their homes Christian servants and maids who thus were falling away from the faith of Jesus Christ and becoming Judaized with these Jews. And because the Lord, through Moses in Deuteronomy, had said, You shall not lend to your brother, but to the stranger,¹¹⁹ the Jews, wickedly interpreting stranger to mean all Christians, loaned their money to these Christians in usury. And they oppressed the citizens, knights, and peasants from the suburbs, towns, and villages so much that most of them were forced to give up their property. Others in Paris, constrained by their bond, were kept in the homes of the Jews as though held captive in prison. Upon hearing of this, the most Christian King Philip, moved by piety, went to a certain hermit named Bernard,¹²⁰ a holy religious man who at that time lived in the woods of Vincennes, and asked him what to do. On his advice, [the king] absolved all the Christians of his kingdom from their debts to the Jews, retaining one-fifth of the entire amount for himself.¹²¹

[12] Here the second reason is specified.

The height of [the Jews’] damnation was their use of ecclesiastical implements consecrated to God, such as gold and silver crosses bearing the image of our crucified Lord Jesus Christ, and vessels which, because of the churches’ pressing need, had been left as security with them. In great insult and affront to the Christian religion, their children drank their wine and ate sopped bread from the vessels in which the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ had been prepared.

They did not recall the story which can be read in the Book of Kings, wherein Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, in the eleventh year of the reign of Sedecias, the king of Jerusalem, captured the holy city of Jerusalem through his military commander Nabuzardan, because of the sins of the Jews. He plundered the Temple and carried away with him the valuable vessels dedicated to God which the most wise Solomon had made.¹²² But Nebuchadnezzar, although a gentile and an idolater himself, nevertheless feared the God of the Jews and did not wish to drink from these vessels or turn them to personal use. Indeed he saw that they were kept like a holy treasure in his temple right next to his idol. But Balthazar came along, who was the sixth to rule after him, and he made a great feast for his nobles; he commanded that they should bring the vessels which his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar had brought away out of the Temple of the Lord, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines, drank in them. In that same hour did our Lord, angry with Balthazar, show to him the sign of his doom, that is, the hand writing on the wall¹²³ before him Mane, Techel, Phares, which, when interpreted, means, number, weight, division. That same night Babylon was captured by Cyrus and Darius, and Balthazar was slain amid his feast,¹²⁴ just as Isaiah had long before predicted: Prepare the table. Behold in the mirror, that is, on the wall, them that eat and drink from vessels of the Lord: Arise, princes,¹²⁵ take arms, for the state has been captured! And at once, as the Medes and Persians overran them all unawares,¹²⁶ Balthazar was slain amid his feast. Who then would dare to cloud over what God chooses to reveal?

[13] Here the third reason for the expulsion of the Jews is specified.

At this time therefore, as the Jews were afraid that their homes would be searched by the king’s agents, it happened that a certain Jew then staying in Paris was holding some items as security for church loans. Specifically, he had a golden, gem-encrusted cross and a book of the Gospels marvelously adorned with gold and precious stones. He put these in a bag, together with silver cups and vessels, and—oh, for shame!—most wickedly threw it into the deep latrine where he usually relieved his bowels. Shortly thereafter, by the Lord’s revelation, the Christians found all these items and returned them to the church which owned them, with the greatest joy and respect, after a fifth part of the whole had been paid to the lord king.

This year can by all rights be called a jubilee year, since according to the old law all property in a jubilee year was returned unencumbered to the original owners and all debts were forgiven.¹²⁷ And thus, by this release of obligations, brought about by the most Christian king, the Christians living in the kingdom of France enjoyed lasting freedom from the debts of the Jews.

[14] Deeds of the third year of the reign of Philip Augustus, king of the Franks.¹²⁸

In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 1182, in the month of April, which is called Nisan by the Jews,¹²⁹ there went out a decree¹³⁰ from the most serene king Philip Augustus that all Jews should be prepared to leave his kingdom before the next feast of St. John the Baptist.¹³¹ And he then granted them permission to sell all their household goods unto the time appointed¹³²—that is, the feast day of St. John—reserving their properties for himself and the kings of the Franks who would succeed him; specifically their houses, fields, vineyards, barns, presses, and the like. When the perfidious Jews heard this, some of them, born anew of water and the Holy Spirit,¹³³ turned to the Lord and carried on in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. To them, the king, because of his devotion to the Christian religion, restored entirely all of their property and gave them their freedom forevermore.¹³⁴ Others, imbued with their ancient error, and persisting in their perfidy, began to entice the leading men of the land—that is, the counts, barons, archbishops, and bishops—with gifts and large promises, trying to determine if, by their counsel and the promise and offer of great sums of money, they might somehow make the king turn away from his fixed decision. But the merciful and compassionate God,¹³⁵ who does not forsake them that hope in Him¹³⁶ and humbles those who presume their own strength,¹³⁷ by a flood of grace sent down from heaven, so fortified the king’s mind, which was alight with the fiery force of the Holy Spirit, that he could not be softened by entreaties or promises of worldly wealth. And truly, we can adapt something said about the blessed Agatha, “Sooner will rocks soften and iron turn to lead than will the mind”¹³⁸ of the most Christian king abandon its purpose inspired by God.¹³⁹

[15] On the defeat of the leading men.

Therefore the infidel Jews marveled at the fortitude of King Philip and his immovable constancy in the Lord,¹⁴⁰ when they perceived the defeat of the leading men through whom they had easily bent the king’s predecessors to do as they wished. Thunderstruck and nearly dumbstruck, subject to no little wonderment, they went about crying out “Scema Israhel!” that is, “Hear, O Israel!”¹⁴¹ and ran off to sell all their household goods. For the time now was approaching¹⁴² when by the king’s decree they were bound to leave all of France, for it could not be put off for any reason. Then the Jews, rushing to do as the king ordered, sold off their movable possessions in wondrous haste. All interests in immovable property were assigned to the royal treasury.¹⁴³ Therefore, because their possessions had been sold, the Jews had money for their travels. And they left with their wives and children and their entire households in the abovementioned year of our Lord 1182 in the month of July, which is called Tamuz by the Jews,¹⁴⁴ in the third year of the reign of King Philip Augustus and in the seventeenth year of his life, which had begun in the previous month of August, that is, on the feast of St. Symphorian, eleven before the Kalends of September.¹⁴⁵ And thus the seventeenth year of the king’s life came to an end the following month, after the expulsion of the Jews, that is, in August. They had departed, as we said, in the month of July, and thus only three weeks or fifteen days were left until the end of his seventeenth year.

[16] How King Philip, ever Augustus, had the synagogues of the Jews consecrated as churches to God.

When the expulsion of the perfidious Jews and their dispersal throughout the world had been accomplished, King Philip, ever Augustus, mindful of what they had done, in the year of the Lord’s incarnation 1183 and at the start of his eighteenth year, more gloriously completed, thanks to God, the work he had gloriously begun. For he ordered that all the Jews’ synagogues—which is what they called these supposed schools where the Jews gathered daily for duplicitous sermons ostensibly about their concocted religion—be made clean. And then, against the will of all the leading men, he had these same synagogues consecrated as churches to God, and he directed that altars there be consecrated in honor of our Lord Jesus Christ and of the Blessed Mother of God, the Virgin Mary. For, indeed, it was his upright and considered opinion that where the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth had been maligned from day to day, as we are told by Jerome in his introduction to the Book of Isaiah,¹⁴⁶ that in that same place the clergy and all the Christian people should praise God, who alone does great wonders.¹⁴⁷

[17] On the founding of the prebends at Orléans.

When all the knights of France and the citizens and other townspeople observed the miraculous works of the king, which were coming to pass in their own time, as God ordered, and when they considered their king, an ingenious young man,¹⁴⁸ and marveled at his deeds, they blessed the Lord,¹⁴⁹ who gave such power to men.¹⁵⁰ And, if you wish to consider diligently the matter,¹⁵¹ you will find in him those same four glorious virtues that Moses said were to be foremost in choosing a leader—that is, power, fear of God, love of truth, hatred of greed.¹⁵² With offense to no one, I say that this man is careful in speech, just in judgments, sharp in answers, prudent in counsel, true in promises, energetic in deeds, fierce to his foes, dutiful to his subjects, famous in generosity, renowned in all honest things.

Led by his example and desiring to emulate their head, that is, the king, the citizens of Orléans founded perpetual prebends in a church which had once been the synagogue in Orléans.¹⁵³ Designated clergy perform divine offices there day and night on behalf of the king, all Christian people, and the state of the kingdom of the Franks. We have seen that this same thing has been done in a church in Étampes, which had been a synagogue.

We have learned from the deeds of the kings of the Franks that on another occasion, but many, many years earlier, another such exile or expulsion of the Jews was brought about.

[18] The first exile of the Jews, which is placed last in our story.

In the Deeds of the Franks,¹⁵⁴ we read that at the time of Dagobert, the most eloquent king of the Franks,¹⁵⁵ the emperor Heraclius ruled the empire of the Romans.¹⁵⁶ He was a man most wise in the liberal arts and especially in astronomy, which flourished widely at that time. But as the number of the faithful grew, the study of astronomy fell away from common use and was eliminated by congregations of the faithful as idolatrous. Heraclius wrote to Dagobert, the most outstanding king of the Franks, that he should drive all of the Jews from his kingdom. And this was done, because that same emperor had foreseen through astronomical indications, to which he gave constant attention, that the Roman Empire was to be destroyed by a circumcised people.

He had thought this was going to be done by the Jews, but it is now clearly discernible that it was done by the people of Hagar, whom we call the Saracens,¹⁵⁷ since it is known that his empire was seized and violently plundered by these people, and Methodius says it will happen once again in the end of times.¹⁵⁸ These people are the Ishmaelites, who are descended from Ishmael. They are all circumcised, because, as it is written, their father, Ishmael, son of Abraham, was circumcised.¹⁵⁹ The martyr Methodius has even left us writing about them. For it will come to pass in the end of times—that is, around the time of Antichrist—that they will come out yet once more¹⁶⁰ and they will have the earth through eight weeks of years, that is, for fifty-six years. And because of the trials and tribulations which Christians will endure at that time, their path will be called “the way of hardship.”¹⁶¹ “They will slay priests in holy places, and sleep with women there as well.”¹⁶² “They will tie their mounts to the tombs of the saints”¹⁶³—that is, in churches—and make their stables by the bodies of the martyr saints. And this will be because of the wickedness of the Christians who will then be there. Josephus even says that the whole earth will be their abode, and he is witness that they will even hold the islands of the sea.¹⁶⁴

Having briefly touched on these things, God willing, let us return to the examination of the deeds of the fourth year of the reign of Philip Augustus, king of the Franks.

[19] The deeds of the fourth year of the reign of Philip Augustus, king of the Franks.¹⁶⁵

So in that same year, which was the year of our Lord’s incarnation 1183 and the fourth year of the reign of the most Christian King Philip, it came to pass that that king, in response to the entreaties of many people, and especially to the proposal of a particular official who at that time seemed to be very devoted to advancing the king’s interests in Paris, bought for himself and his successors the markets possessed by lepers who lived outside the city,¹⁶⁶ and moved [these markets] into the city, that is, within the open market space known as the Champeaux.¹⁶⁷ He had two large structures built there, which the people call Les Halles, for the convenience and the greatest advantage of occupants. This was done through the management of the abovementioned official, who was truly outstanding at this kind of business, so that when it rained the merchants could sell their wares good and dry, and at night they could keep them safe from attack by robbers. As a greater safeguard for these halles, [the king] ordered that a wall be built around them, directing that there be a sufficient number of gates which would always be shut at night. And between this outer wall and the merchants’ halles he erected covered booths so that the merchants would not have to halt their commerce and thus suffer losses when it rained.

[20] On the circuit of the wall around the forest of Vincennes.

At this same time Philip Augustus, king of the Franks, desiring the expansion and development of the kingdom, built an excellent wall around the forest of Vincennes, which during all the time of his predecessors had not been fenced off and remained wide open to all passersby. Upon learning of this, Henry [II], king of the English, who had succeeded King Stephen on the throne of England,¹⁶⁸ arranged to have wild animals gathered from throughout Normandy and Aquitaine; that is, fawns and does and woodland goats. With great care he had them loaded onto a large boat, cleverly sheltered there and provided with forage, and he sent them down the Seine, a long trip by water, to his lord King Philip in Paris. The most Christian king courteously entertained¹⁶⁹ this present and had them enclosed in the forest of Vincennes beside the aforesaid city, with garrisons constantly there to keep it.¹⁷⁰

[21] Events.

At this time many heretics were burned alive in Flanders by William, reverend archbishop of Reims, cardinal-priest of Saint Sabina, legate of the Apostolic See, and by Philip the worthy count of Flanders.¹⁷¹

[22] Another event.

In that same year, in the province of Quercy, in the castle called in the vernacular Martel, thirteen before the Kalends of June, Henry the Young King of England died. His body was taken to the city of Rouen in the province once known as Neustria but which is now called Normandy.¹⁷²

[23] On the death of mercenaries near the city of Bourges.

In that same year, seven thousand mercenaries or more were slain in the province of Berry by the inhabitants of the region who had joined together as one against the enemies of God.¹⁷³ These [mercenaries] were villainously leading away prisoners and plundering the king’s land, hauling away spoils and—for shame!—sleeping with the wives of the captives as they watched. And, what is worse,¹⁷⁴ they were burning down churches consecrated to God. They led away captured priests and religious men, and in mockery, while torturing them, they scornfully called them their chorus, saying, “Sing to us, chorus, sing!”¹⁷⁵ And straightaway they gave them blows¹⁷⁶ or vilely beat them down with huge clubs. Some were so badly thrashed that they gave up their blessed souls to God. Others, redeemed out of long imprisonment, ransomed for money, returned half-dead to their own. How will we ever be able to relate what follows without weeping and sighing?

[24] On the same.

Therefore at this time, as a result of our sins, these mercenaries attacked and plundered the churches. With dreadful daring and at the devil’s bidding, and with hands defiled by human blood, they took out from the vessels the body of Our Lord which, serving the pressing need of the sick, was set aside there in vessels of gold and silver as was befitting, and—for sorrow!—they vilely flung it down, and stamped upon it with their feet.¹⁷⁷ And from the sacred linen cloth called the corporal¹⁷⁸ their concubines made scarves for their heads. With no respect, they carried off the gold and silver vessels in which [the body of Our Lord] was kept and prepared, and hacked them to pieces with hammers and stones.

Seeing all this, the local inhabitants sent letters to their lord Philip, the most Christian king of the Franks, informing him of these evils. When he heard this,¹⁷⁹ burning with God’s zeal, he dispatched his army to aid them. At the arrival of the king’s army, together they attacked the enemy and slew them all, from the least to the greatest,¹⁸⁰ and from the spoils many were enriched. The people, seeing what was done,¹⁸¹ came back glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen.¹⁸²

[25] On the miraculous restoration of peace between Count Raymond of Saint-Gilles and the king of Aragon.

There had arisen, however, a great dissension,¹⁸³ developed now from years long past, between the king of Aragon and Count Raymond of Saint-Gilles,¹⁸⁴ which by the prompting of the devil, the enemy of the human race, could not in any way be laid to rest. But the Lord, hearing his poor people crying out in such oppression and long suffering,¹⁸⁵ sent them a savior;¹⁸⁶ not an emperor, not a king, not a prince of the church, but a certain poor man named Durand.¹⁸⁷ It is said that the Lord appeared to him in the city of Anicius, which is now commonly called Le Puy, and gave him a scroll on which there was a picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary sitting upon a throne and holding an image of our Lord Jesus Christ depicted as a boy and encircled by this inscription: Lamb of God, you who takes away the sins of the world,¹⁸⁸ give us peace.¹⁸⁹ Now, when all the leading men, great and small, with all the people, heard of these things that had come to pass by the Lord’s instigation, they gathered together at Le Puy on the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Mary as is wont to be done every year.¹⁹⁰ Then the bishop of that city,¹⁹¹ together with the clergy and the people and the whole multitude¹⁹² gathered for the feast, took Durand, a poor and common carpenter, and put him in a prominent spot in the midst of all the people and listened intently to him. As he most bravely related to them the Lord’s command to make peace among themselves, and while he showed as a sign to all the scroll with the picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary, lifting up their voice with weeping,¹⁹³ shouting out their astonished response to the holiness and mercy of God, and laying their hands upon the sacrosanct Gospels, with a most ready mind¹⁹⁴ they solemnly swore to the Lord their promise that they would maintain the peace in every way possible. And, to indicate that the peace was to be maintained, the abovementioned image of the Blessed Virgin was stamped in tin and placed on their chests, with white linen hoods like the scapulars of the white monks, as a sign of their confederation. And, what is even more wondrous, all those wearing this kind of hood with this sign were so secure that if someone had killed the brother of another member in some fashion or other, and if the surviving brother, wearing the sign just mentioned, had observed his brother’s murderer, he would instantly put his brother’s death out of his mind and welcome that man with the kiss of peace, and with lamentations and tears¹⁹⁵ would lead him into his own home and provide necessary sustenance.¹⁹⁶

Can it not be said in this instance that in some sense the prophecy of Isaiah [11:6] has again been fulfilled: The wolf will dwell with the lamb and the leopard will lie down with the kid. The calf and the lion and the sheep and the bear will feed together, and a little child will lead them? Surely by these beasts who live by prey and by flesh we understand wicked men; that is, killers and plunderers. By the remaining flocks [we understand] plain and gentle folk. And of these the prophet said that Christ tells them to live together and to keep the peace. And why is this? Because the earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord.¹⁹⁷ This reconciliation of peace, accomplished through the man of God, was most strongly maintained for some time throughout Languedoc.¹⁹⁸

[26] The deeds of the fifth year of the reign of Philip Augustus, king of the Franks.¹⁹⁹

In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 1184, in the fifth year of the reign of Philip Augustus, when he was twenty years old, a dispute arose, such as often happens in changing times, between the most Christian Philip, king of the Franks, and Philip, count of Flanders, over a certain land which is commonly called the Vermandois.²⁰⁰ For the king was claiming that all of the Vermandois, with its forts, towns, and villages, belonged legally to the kings of the Franks by valid right of succession. Further, he was asserting that he would show this by the clergy and the laity; that is, the archbishops, bishops, counts, viscounts, and other leading men. In answer, the count of Flanders replied that he had long held this land during the lifetime of the most Christian King Louis [VII] of blessed memory, and that he had held it for a very long time without disturbance, in peace; and he was firmly asserting that as long as he lived he would never give it up. It seemed to the count that he would easily be able to reverse the king’s view of the matter with many promises and blandishments, for he was yet a boy.²⁰¹ Indeed the hand of the leading men, as it was said, was on his side. But, as the proverb goes, “they conceived the wind, and wove the webs of spiders.”²⁰² Finally, upon the advice of the leading men and the barons, Philip Augustus summoned all the leading men of his land²⁰³ to gather at Karnopolis, the most beautiful castle called in the vernacular Compiègne. After holding counsel with them, he assembled a vast army near the city called Amiens. When the count of Flanders learned of the arrival of the king, his heart lifted up.²⁰⁴ And gathering an army against the king, he advanced in arms against the king his lord, and swore that he would defend himself from all,²⁰⁵ with the strength of his arm.²⁰⁶

[27] On the same.

Therefore, in the fifth year of the reign of Philip Augustus and in the twentieth year of his life, the king went forth²⁰⁷ with his army over all that land and covered the face of the earth like locusts.²⁰⁸ When the count of Flanders beheld the exceedingly strong and mighty army of the king,²⁰⁹ his spirit was terrified²¹⁰ and the heart of his people melted away and they sought refuge in flight.²¹¹ Then the count took counsel with his men and summoned by messengers Thibaut, count of Blois, the seneschal of France and leader of the king’s army, and also William, archbishop of Reims, both uncles of the king.²¹² Since both were loyal men of the king, the management of affairs was put in their hands at that time. Through these intermediaries, the count of Flanders addressed the king in this fashion: “Lord, may your scorn for us fade away. Come to us in peace and employ our services as best you please. The land which you claim, that is, the Vermandois, I restore to you in whole, my lord, freely and without any reservation, with all the forts and villages belonging to it. However, if it pleases your royal majesty, I ask that the castle of Saint-Quentin and the castle called Péronne be released to me, by royal gift, for my lifetime. And after I am gone may they revert to you or to your heirs and successors, that is, of the kingdom of the Franks, without reservation.”

[28] On the restoration of peace between the king and the count.

Upon hearing this, Philip, the most Christian king of the Franks, called together all the archbishops, bishops, abbots, counts, viscounts, and all the barons who had come together with the sole intention of conquering this man’s savagery and bringing down his pride. Turning to them for counsel, they all answered, as if with one voice, by praising what the count of Flanders was suggesting the king should do. After that, the count of Flanders was led in. And in the presence of all the nobility and the whole crowd there assembled, he justly returned to King Philip the land in question; that is, the Vermandois, which he had unjustly occupied for so long. And straightaway, in the presence of all, when the land was returned, he was placed in possession of [the two castles]. Moreover, he swore before the king that, in accordance with the king’s will and command, he would make good, in whole and without delay, all the losses which he had caused to Count Baldwin of Hainaut and the king’s other friends.²¹³

And thus peace was restored between the king and the count [of Flanders], as though by a miracle, for it was concluded without shedding human blood. One and all who witnessed this, filled with excessive joy, praised and blessed God²¹⁴ who preserves all those that hope in Him.²¹⁵

[29] Of the miracle done by the Lord for Philip, king of the Franks.

Among the other wondrous things which the Lord deigned to show to men on earth on behalf of his servant King Philip, we believe this one, worthy of greater wonder, is worthy to relate. Some good churchmen of Amiens have told us that while the most Christian king was encamped with his army near the castle which is called Boves, the horses that were hauling wagons all over the fields, and men as well as horses from the whole army, trampled down the harvest. And they harvested most of it by sickle and fed it as fodder to their horses, such that for that year almost no crops were left growing above ground. It was the season when the harvest produces ears of grain and flowers forth, that is, around the feast of St. John the Baptist.²¹⁶ But when peace was reestablished, certain canons of Amiens, who were accustomed to gather the crops of their prebends in the spot where the army of the king had been,²¹⁷ saw that the harvest was flattened and trampled to destruction under the horses’ hooves. Grieving over the loss of their crops, they began to complain to their dean and chapter, humbly seeking and insisting that according to law the following should be done; namely, that for that year they deserved, in the name of fraternity, that the crops of the prebends lost to them from their allotted lands should be supplied from all the others that were held in common. Finally, the dean, upon the advice of the assembled chapter, asked that they patiently wait until the gathering of the harvest and the flaying of the grain, until they could carefully gather what was left of the harvest that had been trampled down by the army of the king of the Franks. And if it did not amount to the usual crop, the chapter would make it up to them in full. Well, marvel of marvels and beyond belief! As the days went by and through the miraculous work of the Lord, it came to pass that, contrary to what everyone thought, the harvest that had been trampled by the king’s army was fully and abundantly restored that year, so that, after the flaying of the grain and the winnowing floor, they found a hundred times the estimate not only of the ears which been trampled down, but also of what had been cut with the sickle and fed to the horses of the whole army! Where, however, the army of the count of Flanders had been gathered, all the plants were withered, and not a blade of grass was found there that year.

Are not these and other things which the Lord accomplishes for his servant, the most Christian King Philip, worthy to be recorded in the book of his deeds? Beholding such a miracle, the canons of Amiens, with all the people, were in fear of the king, seeing that the wisdom of God was in him²¹⁸ which instructed and teaches him²¹⁹ what it wishes done with the help of Him who is the leader and origin of all.

[30] On the messengers from Jerusalem sent to Philip, king of France.

In that same year, seventeen before the Kalends of February,²²⁰ a Wednesday, there came to Paris the patriarch of Jerusalem, Heraclius,²²¹ who had been sent to Philip Augustus, the most Christian king of the Franks, with the prior of Outremer for the Hospital²²² and the grand master of the Temple.²²³ At that time the Saracens had entered the lands of the Christians of Outremer with a great army, and had slain many of them and had led many more away as captives. They had captured Jacob’s Ford, a very powerful settlement of the Christians.²²⁴ There they had killed most woefully many of the brothers of the Hospital and knights of the Temple and had led others away with them in captivity. For this reason, all of the Christians of Outremer, fearing lest the Saracens in their growing boldness seize the holy city of Jerusalem and outrage with pollution the Temple of the Lord’s Sepulcher, sent the patriarch with the abovementioned two masters to France. They carried the keys of the city of Jerusalem and the Holy Sepulcher of the Lord to the most Christian king of the Franks, asking and humbly beseeching that he, by the inspiration of God and for the love of the Christian religion, might deign to offer help to the city of the forlorn land of Jerusalem. They endured many dangers at sea, repeated pirate attacks, and a long march overland, during which the master of the knights of the Temple succumbed to death.²²⁵ The remaining two men, however, with the Lord leading their way, arrived at Paris. There Maurice, the venerable bishop of Paris, received the patriarch like an angel of God,²²⁶ with a solemn procession and by the clergy and the people of the whole city. The next day [Heraclius] celebrated Mass in the church of Notre-Dame and preached before the people.

[31] On the messengers received kindly by the king.

As he learned of this, Philip Augustus, king of the Franks, laying aside all other business, hastened to meet the messengers, and he received them honorably with the kiss of peace. He particularly instructed his prévôts and administrators that they should provide funds from his revenues to meet their expenses wherever in his land they might go. He was moved by paternal piety upon learning why they had come, and he ordered that a general council of all archbishops, bishops, and leading men of his land assemble at Paris. A common council was held with them all, and by royal authority he instructed the archbishops, bishops, and all ecclesiastical prelates that they should encourage his subjects through frequent preaching and instruction to go off to fight at Jerusalem and defend the faith of the Christians against the enemies of the cross of Christ. Philip himself was then very busy with governing the kingdom of the Franks by himself, since he and the venerable queen Isabelle, his wife, had not yet produced a much desired child.²²⁷ Therefore, upon the advice of his leading men, he devoutly dispatched to Jerusalem powerful knights with a host of armed foot soldiers, and he provided adequate funds from his own revenues, as I have learned from common report.

[32] On the duke of Burgundy.

Meanwhile Hugh, duke of Burgundy,²²⁸ had gathered an army, laid a most forceful siege to a castle called Vergy at the ends of his land,²²⁹ and fortified four forts against it roundabout.²³⁰ He was alleging that this castle was within his jurisdiction and insisting, as though upon a sworn oath, that he would not abandon his siege through any accord until he should bring that castle within his own power and domain. Now, when Guy, the lord of the castle, saw the duke’s resolute intention, and saw that the duke was working to deprive him entirely of the castle, he dispatched his messengers to Philip Augustus, the most vigorous king of the Franks. In his letter he laid out his desire that as soon as the king should come, he would convey the castle, that is, Vergy, to the king and to his successors to have forever. Now the ever august king, when he had seen and heard this letter, gathered an army and made haste to come to his aid to deliver the poor from the hand of them that are stronger, besieged and hemmed in by plunderers.²³¹ The king arrived as though from nowhere, lifted the siege, and leveled the four outposts which the duke had built. Having recovered the castle and garrisoned it with guards, he absorbed it into his domain forever and added it to the kingdom of the Franks. Shortly thereafter, Guy of Vergy did homage to the king, and upon public oath he pledged perpetual fealty to the king and his successors.²³² When this was done, the king forthwith restored the castle of Vergy, with all rights pertaining to it preserved in their entirety, to Lord Guy and his heirs. He kept lordship over it, however, for himself and his heirs.

[33] Events.

In this same year there was a partial eclipse of the sun on the first day of May, in the ninth hour, when the sun was in Taurus.²³³

[34] On the campaign of King Philip against the duke of Burgundy for the defense of the churches.

Following these events, after a short time, the bishops and abbots and other churchmen from all of Burgundy sent messengers to the most Christian King Philip Augustus complaining of this same Hugh, duke of Burgundy, on many counts, and seeking justice from the king. For long ago the most pious kings of the Franks, afire with the zeal of the Christian faith, like Charlemagne and his successors,²³⁴ having driven out the Saracens, the foes of the Christian faith, and after much sweat and hard work, reigning in peace, established with their own hands churches and a host of monasteries in honor of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and all the saints. They allocated to these same churches as a dowry, out of their own revenue, adequate income from which the clergy honestly serving the eternal God there could obtain their basic subsistence. Some of these kings, while they lived, chose burial for themselves in these churches which they had founded, giving them every sort of immunity, such as Clovis, first of all the kings of the Franks to accept the faith of the Christians,²³⁵ who was buried with the venerable queen Clotilda, his wife,²³⁶ in the church of Saint-Pierre at Paris, which he himself had founded and which, by a change of name, is now called the church of Sainte-Geneviève.²³⁷ Childebert was buried in the church which was once founded in honor of Saint Vincent the Martyr,²³⁸ and which is now called the abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés.²³⁹ Clothar I was buried in the church of Saint-Médard of Soissons,²⁴⁰ but this Clothar was not the father of Dagobert.²⁴¹ Dagobert is buried at the right side of the great altar in the church of the most Blessed Denis, which he himself founded.²⁴² Louis [VII] of holy memory, the father of our king Philip Augustus, was buried in the church of Notre-Dame of Barbeau which he himself founded.

[35] On the freedom of churches granted by kings.

Therefore, since the kings of the Franks desired to protect forever these said churches in their freedom, when they handed over lands to various nobles for their management and care they proclaimed that they were keeping the churches under their own power and protection, lest the nobles to whom the care and management of the land was entrusted should presume to load any burdens, taxes, or other exaction on the churches or the clergy there serving the Lord. Now, in all truth, because the duke of Burgundy had sorely oppressed the churches of the lands rendered to him with frequent burdens of this sort, contrary to royal immunities, King Philip, having heard the complaint of the churchmen, gave warning two or three times in the presence of his friends, most kindly, that, out of concern for God and the faith which [the duke] owed to the kingdom of the Franks, he should return what he had taken and henceforth cease such presumption. And if he were unwilling to return the money to the churches, [the king] would punish him most severely.

[36] On the siege of Châtillon.

The duke of Burgundy, observing the intent of the most Christian king and his steadfast conviction in the Lord by word and deed, was much disturbed, and he left the court and returned to Burgundy. The royal majesty directed him to return to the churches immediately a total of thirty thousand Parisian livres which he had forcefully taken from them, and to make satisfaction to the king for the violence he had done. Since the duke was unwilling to do this and was obstructing with delaying tactics, Philip ever Augustus, king of the Franks, marshaled his army and moved against him. This knight of Christ, going to do battle, invaded Burgundy in defense of the churches and the liberty of the clergy, and he laid siege to the castle known as Châtillon,²⁴³ since the people as with the priest were being trampled upon.²⁴⁴ After some two or three weeks, when siege engines surrounded the castle, the king launched a vigorous assault. Many men were killed both inside and outside the castle. Others were wounded but restored to their former health by the blessing of medicine. Finally the victorious king took the aforesaid castle, that is, Châtillon, and had it well fortified and garrisoned with his own men.

[37] On the restoration of peace.

The duke of Burgundy, seeing that he could not oppose the king,²⁴⁵ received some very sound advice and came and threw himself at the feet of the king²⁴⁶ and sought his forgiveness. And he promised that he would make full and complete satisfaction to all the churches and clergy there serving God, in accordance with the judgment of the king’s court. But Philip Augustus, most wisely understanding that wickedness of men was great on the earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times,²⁴⁷ wished to safeguard both the churches and himself in the days to come. For the king had indeed heard from many people who had had long familiarity with his father, Louis [VII] of good memory, that this very duke of Burgundy had often offended that king, and had very often been summoned before the court, where he would give assurance that he would obey royal orders to the best of his ability and behave himself in matters like this; but as soon as he was back in Burgundy, he would once again fearlessly offend the most pious king Louis. Being well instructed by these and similar experiences, King Philip took an appropriate guarantee as a bond, specifically three excellent castles, on the understanding that he would hold and keep them until such time as the duke entirely repaid the thirty thousand livres to the churches. But a short time later, upon sounder advice from his friends, the king gave the three castles back to the duke. Moreover, because the duke was not able to pay the said amount of money from his own property, he granted to the duke by royal gift a fief pertaining to Vergy. And so peace was restored and Philip, ever Augustus, returned in glory to his palace in Paris, praising and extolling the Lord.

[38] That King Philip commands that all roads and squares of Paris be paved.

A few days later it happened that King Philip, ever Augustus, was spending a little time at Paris. While engaged in the affairs of the kingdom, he was walking about the royal hall. And when he came to the windows of the palace, where it was his custom to divert himself by gazing out over the river Seine, the horse-drawn carts crossing the city were churning up the mud and causing an unbearable stench.²⁴⁸ The king, walking about the hall, could not bear this.²⁴⁹ And so he conceived a very difficult but quite necessary project, one which none of his predecessors had yet dared undertake because of the excessive effort and expense of the endeavor. He summoned together leading citizens and the prévôt of the town, and by royal authority he commanded that all of the squares and streets of the entire city of Paris be paved with strong, hard stones. The most Christian king was thus aiming to do away with the ancient name of the city, for it had once been called Lutetia from the stench of the mud (lutum). But, rejecting such a name based on stench, people had then called the place Paris, after Paris Alexander, the son of the king of Troy.²⁵⁰

We read in the History of the Franks²⁵¹ that the first of all the kings of the Franks who ruled among them in royal fashion was Pharamond, the son of Marcomer, who was the son of Priam the king of Austria.²⁵² This Priam, king of Austria, was not Priam the great, king of Troy, but he was descended from his son Hector through Francion, the son of Hector,²⁵³ as the chart below reveals:²⁵⁴

Since many often question the origin of the kingdom of the Franks, just how and in what way the kings of the Franks may be said to have descended from the Trojans, we have therefore worked it out rather more carefully with sufficient clarity, in this history of ours, insofar as we have been able to gather it from the History of Gregory of Tours, the Chronicles of Eusebius and Hydatius, and from the writings of many others.²⁵⁸

[39] After the fall of Troy, a whole host fled and then split into two peoples. One of these selected for their king a certain Francion, who was grandson of Priam the king of Troy, and specifically the son of Hector. The other group followed Turcus, the so-named son of Troilus, [another] son of Priam.

And this is how, as the story goes, these two peoples got their names, and why even today they are called Franks and Turks. Traveling out of Thrace they settled on the banks of the Danube. But, after a short while, Turcus moved with his people away from his blood relative Francion into lower Scythia, and there he ruled. From this person [Turcus] have descended the Ostrogoths, the Visigoths, the Vandals, and the Normans.

Francion, however, remained with his people on the Danube and built a city there which they called Sicambria. He and his descendants after him ruled there for 1,507 years, up until the time of the emperor Valentinian, who ruled in the 376th year after our Lord’s incarnation.²⁵⁹ They were then driven out, because they refused to pay tribute to the Romans according to the practice of other peoples. Having set out from there with Marcomer (son of Priam king of Austria), Sunno (son of Antenor), and Genebaud as their leaders,²⁶⁰ they came and established their home on the banks of the Rhine on the border of Germany and Alemania, which is called Austria. This same Valentinian tried often thereafter to conquer them, through many battles, but he could not. And he called them Franks from the northern dialect, as though from feranci (ferocious). From that point in time the valor of the Franks grew to such an extent that they finally brought under their dominion all of Germany and Gaul all the way to the Pyrenees mountains and beyond. But, later on, when the leaders Sunno and Genebaud remained behind in Austria, Marcomer, the son of Priam the king of Austria, who had descended from Francion, the grandson of Priam the king of Troy (through many successive generations which it would be long to list here), came to Gaul with his followers.

Now others had fled from the fall of Troy, such as the seer Helenus, the son of Priam, who settled with twelve hundred men in the kingdom of Pandras, the king of the Greeks.²⁶¹ But afterward Brutus migrated with his followers into England. Indeed Antenor decided to settle around the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea with twenty-five hundred men. Aeneas, sailing the sea with thirty-four hundred men, was with great effort thrown upon Italy. These and many others of Priam’s blood relatives were spread through far-flung places after the fall of Troy. Aeneas, together with his son Ascanius, came to Italy by ship, where Ascanius married Lavinia, the daughter of King Latinus, from whom he begot a son named Silvius. He indulged in a secret love affair and begot of his mother’s niece a son, Brutus. He was joined by the offspring of Helenus, the son of Priam, and by Corineus, who was a descendant of Antenor, and then sailed to the island of Albion which he called Britannia after his own name. Appreciating the pleasant climate of the island, he founded the city of London in the likeness of Troy and called it Trinovantum, that is, New Troy. All the kings of England, which was first called Britannia by Brutus himself, are said to descend from him.

And observe that there were kings in Austria all the way until Childeric [III] the son of Clovis [III] the son of Dagobert [III].²⁶² But then, as the kings declined, leaders called mayors of the palace began to rule, such as Pepin, Charles Martel, and others.²⁶³

Marcomer, the son of Priam the king of Austria, came to Gaul with his followers. There he found plain-dwelling people who had descended from the fall of Troy and who had come with Francion and lived in Sicambria around the river Tanais by the Meotides swamps and they grew into a great nation over many years.²⁶⁴ But 235 years later some twenty-three thousand of these Trojans left Sicambria under the leadership of a man named Ibor, seeking accommodations wherever they could. Crossing through Alemania, Germany, and Austria, they came into Gaul. Settling down there, they established themselves at Lutetia in the 895th year before the incarnation of our Lord. They named themselves after Paris Alexander, son of Priam, calling themselves Parisii. In that spot they carried on a simple existence for a long time. According to others they were called Parisii from a Greek name Parisia, which translates as “boldness.” Now from the time these people left Sicambria they were there for 2,070 years until the time of the emperor just mentioned, Valentinian. In those days there was no king in Gaul but everyone did that which seemed right to himself.²⁶⁵ They were subject to the Romans, however, and as was their custom they used to appoint a consul every year to govern the populace.

[40] At that time Marcomer came into Gaul with his followers. When the Parisii heard that he was descended from the Trojans, he was welcomed with honor among them. Because he taught them the use of weapons and because he had built walls around their cities due to the frequent attacks of robbers, they made him the defender of the whole of Gaul. He honored with the diadem his son Pharamond, a vigorous knight, the first king of the Franks. He desired that the city of the Parisii, which was then called Lutetia, be called Parisius from the name of Paris, in order to honor the son of the king of Troy, for whom the people had been named and in order to further please them. For all of the Trojans who had descended from the fall of Troy greatly desired that their name be spread far and wide through the entire world. Pharamond was the father of Clodius. Clodius begot Merovic, and all of the kings of the Franks were called Merovingians after this competent king. Merovic begot Childeric. Childeric begot Clovis, the first Christian king.²⁶⁶ We will list here the names of the kings of the Franks descending from him according to strict historical sequence.

[41] Clovis begot Clothar [I].²⁶⁷ Clothar begot Chilperic [I],²⁶⁸ and he Clothar [II].²⁶⁹ His son was Dagobert I.²⁷⁰ This Dagobert had Pepin as mayor of the palace.²⁷¹ Dagobert founded the church of the holy martyr Denis and conferred many gifts on this same church. Dagobert begot Clovis [II],²⁷² and he begot Clothar [III],²⁷³ Childeric,²⁷⁴ and Theuderic [III].²⁷⁵ The mayor of the palace to Clothar was Ebroin.²⁷⁶ These three were brothers, the sons of Saint Baltilda²⁷⁷ and Clovis [II], who was the son of Dagobert I. Childeric begot Dagobert, and he Theuderic, and he Clothar.²⁷⁸ Then Ansbert ruled,²⁷⁹ who begot Arnold, who begot Saint Arnoul who was later the bishop of Metz.²⁸⁰ He fathered Anchises or Ansegisel or Ansedun,²⁸¹ who fathered Pepin [II], the mayor of the palace, who fathered Charles Martel, who fathered King Pepin [III],²⁸² who fathered Charlemagne the emperor.²⁸³ He was father to Louis the Pious the emperor.²⁸⁴ His son was the emperor Charles the Bald.²⁸⁵ He brought to the church of the thrice-Blessed Denis²⁸⁶ the nail and the Crown of Thorns, and the arm of the old saint Symeon, and the golden crest of immense value with very costly gems,²⁸⁷ and a golden cross with precious stones eighty marks in weight, and many other extremely precious gifts, which he gave the aforesaid church [of Saint-Denis] and which it would be long to recite here. Charles the Bald fathered King Louis [II],²⁸⁸ who fathered Charles the Simple.²⁸⁹

In this same period, the Danes sailed over the ocean from Scythia and captured Rouen. They had a leader named Rollo,²⁹⁰ who brought much grief to the churches of God. He brought under his control the whole of Neustria,²⁹¹ calling it Normandy after the name of his people. In the barbarian tongue, northern peoples were called Normanni, since they first came from that part of the world; for Nort is north, and then a person is called man. Charles the Simple made a pact with them and married his daughter to Rollo and granted to him Normandy along with her. Now this Rollo was baptized in the year of the Incarnation 912 and took the name Robert. And from then on the people of Normandy, believing in Christ, have belonged to the Christian faith.

Thereafter, with many years gone by, William, who was called the Bastard, duke of Normandy, conquered England and there ended the line of kings descended from Brutus.²⁹² After this, Humphrey, the seventh in succession from him, conquered Apulia. Then Robert Guiscard, his son, added Calabria, [and] Bohemond brought in Sicily.²⁹³

Charles the Simple fathered Louis [IV],²⁹⁴ and he fathered Lothar,²⁹⁵ who fathered Louis [V],²⁹⁶ the very last of this royal bloodline.²⁹⁷ Upon the death of Louis, the nobles of the Franks made Hugh, duke of Burgundy, king over themselves; [this Hugh] was the son of the great duke Hugh, and was called Capet.²⁹⁸ He fathered Robert [II],²⁹⁹ who fathered Hugh, Henry [I], and his brother Eudes.³⁰⁰

Now this king Henry heard some rumors that in Germany, in the city of Regensburg, that is, Ramabroc, in the abbey of Saint-Emmeran Martyr, there had been found a certain body which they said was that of Denis the Areopagite.³⁰¹ He sent off his envoys bearing a letter to the emperor Henry [III],³⁰² asking that he delay the excavation of that body until it should most thoroughly be established by means of reliable envoys whether or not the body of the holy martyr Denis the Areopagite, the archbishop of Athens and disciple of the apostle Paul, was in France in the church that King Dagobert had founded. Upon being so informed, the emperor dispatched great and wise men to France so they might learn the truth of this matter. Upon the arrival of these emissaries of the emperor, King Henry called together the archbishops, the bishops, and the barons of the whole realm, and together with his most dear brother Eudes sent them to the church of the most blessed martyr Denis. After a prayer had been said, the three silver reliquaries which had been most carefully sealed—those of Denis, Rusticus, and Eleutherius—were brought before all the assembled people.³⁰³ The reliquary of the blessed martyr Denis was then opened and his entire body was found therein, along with his head;³⁰⁴ that is, excepting the two bones of his shoulder that are in the church of Vergy, and a certain bone from his arm which Pope Stephen III³⁰⁵ carried with him to the church in Rome and placed in the church which is today called the School of the Greeks.³⁰⁶ All the assembled people beheld this, amid tears and sighs, lifting up pure hands unto the Lord,³⁰⁷ commending themselves to God and the Blessed Virgin and the holy martyrs, and they departed in joy. Then the emissaries who had been sent returned with all speed to the emperor and assured him most fully as to what they had seen and heard. This was all done in the time of Pope Leo IX in the year of our Lord 1050.³⁰⁸

Philip [I]³⁰⁹ reigned after King Henry. He was the father of Louis [VI] the Fat,³¹⁰ who was the father of Philip who was killed by a pig.³¹¹ He was succeeded by [Philip’s] brother King Louis [VII] the Pious, who was the father of Philip Augustus.

[42] Now, in all truth, since we have briefly delineated the family succession of the kings, let us establish the period of time in which the Christian kings began to rule in France, according to the chronicles of Hydatius and Gregory of Tours, through the years of our Lord’s incarnation. It is to be known that Saint Martin, bishop of Tours, departed from this world to the Lord in the eleventh year of the reign of the emperor Arcadius,³¹² which is the 407th year from the incarnation of our Lord.³¹³ And from the passing of Saint Martin up until the death of Clovis, the first Christian king of the Franks, there flowed 112 years. Therefore, from the incarnation of our Lord up until the death of Clovis there flowed 518 years.³¹⁴ From the passing of Clovis up until the seventh year of the reign of Philip Augustus there flowed 667 years. It results, therefore, that the seventh year of the reign of Philip Augustus is the 1186th year of our Lord’s incarnation.³¹⁵

[43] Again, another demonstration of the same.

In the time of Aod,³¹⁶ the fourth judge of Israel, Troy was built and stood 185 years. In the thirteenth year of Abdon,³¹⁷ who was the twelfth judge of Israel from Joshua, Troy was captured. From the fall of Troy up until the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ there flowed 1,176 years. And from the incarnation of our Lord up until the passing of Saint Martin there flowed 445 years.³¹⁸ And from the passing of Saint Martin up until the passing of Clovis there flowed 112 years. And from the fall of Troy up until the start of the reign of Clovis there flowed 1,660. And observe that Marcomer began to rule in Gaul in the year of our Lord 376. Therefore, from that time there flowed 810 years of the incarnation of the Lord, until the sixth year of the reign of Philip Augustus, king of the Franks. We have judged that these matters should be inserted into our history without prejudice to the rest, because we believe that all the kings of the Franks have descended from these ancient roots.

[44] The deeds of the sixth year of Philip, king of the Franks.

In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 1185, the sixth year of the reign of Philip Augustus, the twenty-first year of his age, in the middle of Lent,³¹⁹ an earthquake occurred in Languedoc (Gothia), in the city which is called Uzès.³²⁰ And in the following month of April, on the fifth of that month, there was a partial eclipse of the moon during the vigils of the Sunday of the Passion.³²¹ On the following Easter, Gerard, prévôt of Poissy, deposited eleven thousand marks of silver of his own property in the king’s treasury and then left the court. Walter the Chamberlain replaced him.³²²

[45] Of the abbot of the Blessed Denis.

At that time, William of Gap was governing the church of the Blessed Denis in a lukewarm fashion.³²³ The most Christian king, being greatly displeased,³²⁴ was looking about to find another leader for that church. One day, however, while on the business of the kingdom, the king was passing through the town of the Blessed Denis,³²⁵ and he stopped at the abbey of the Blessed Denis just as though at his own chamber. The abovementioned abbot, learning of the arrival of the king, was terrified, for at that time the king was seeking from him one thousand marks of silver. Gathering together all the brothers of the chapter, six before the Ides of May, after Nones, on a Saturday,³²⁶ he abdicated his position as abbot. After this, while the monks remained there with the venerable prior Hugh, some of the brothers chosen by the chapter meeting told the lord king what had occurred, and asked him for the right to freely choose another [abbot]. With his usual kindness, the king at once granted them the right of free election, asking and kindly beseeching them that, giving thought to God and the honor of the king, they should choose without rancor or discord a competent and upright person of proven morals for such an illustrious church, which is the crown of the kingdom of the Franks and the burial place of kings or emperors. These brothers returned to the chapter and related the king’s commands. And straightaway, by the hand of the Lord, it came to pass that Hugh, the venerable prior of that same church, was elected abbot by all the brothers speaking as one.³²⁷ And right away, his election was confirmed by the most Christian king at that same chapter meeting, in the presence of the clergy and the people. One condition and royal prohibition was added; namely, that in this change or advancement no gift whatsoever was to be given or promised to anyone of the royal family or the clergy or the laity or to any other person from the court.

[46] On the blessing of the abbot of the Blessed Denis.

Then the venerable Hugh, elected for the church of the Blessed Denis, understanding that his advancement was done by God alone and not by man, and desiring to maintain wholly intact the ancient worthiness of the church of the most Blessed Denis, most kindly called upon two bishops, that is, of Meaux and Senlis,³²⁸ to celebrate the ceremony of his benediction in that same church. These two, and especially the bishop of Meaux, were bound by turns to attend upon the church of the Blessed Denis in the consecration of altars or the ordination of monks, according to the constitution of the ancient Roman Church. And so the benediction was solemnized by the said bishops in the church of the Blessed Denis, while seven abbots stood in attendance with a vast host of clergy and the people, fifteen before the Kalends of June, a Sunday.³²⁹

[47] On the king of Hungary’s messengers sent to the king.

But while these matters were occurring in France, envoys were dispatched from Bela [III], the king of Hungary, Pannonia, Croatia, Avaria, Dalmatia, and Rama,³³⁰ to Philip Augustus, the most Christian king of the Franks. For the king of Hungary had heard that Henry the Younger, king of England, the son of King Henry [II], under whom the glorious martyr Thomas, bishop of Canterbury, had suffered,³³¹ had been taken from our midst by the call of the Lord.³³² The king of Hungary passionately desired to marry [Henry the Younger’s] widow, whose name was Marguerite—that is, the sister of Philip, king of France—both because of the ancient worthiness of the kings of the Franks and because of the wisdom and faith of the queen, of which he had come to know by her far-flung reputation.³³³ Meanwhile, the emissaries of the king of Hungary arrived at Paris and humbly laid his request before King Philip. He kindly accepted their request and called an assembly of archbishops, bishops, and the greater men of the realm, whose counsel and wisdom he often employed in transacting affairs. After consultation with them, in the presence of the bishops and abbots of his land, the king honorably handed over his most beloved sister Marguerite, the former queen of England, to the emissaries. And he granted her to Bela, king of Hungary, in lawful wedlock, and he amply bestowed royal gifts upon the emissaries. With the king’s permission, the emissaries together with the queen then returned happily to Hungary.³³⁴

[48] On the death of Geoffrey, count of Brittany.

It came to pass at this time that Geoffrey, the famous count of Brittany, son of King Henry [II] of England, fell sick upon his arrival in Paris.³³⁵ Upon learning this, King Philip, who was extremely fond of him, summoned all the physicians who were then in Paris and instructed them to exercise such care and effort as they were able upon the count. For several days the doctors worked away, but in vain. Fourteen before the Kalends of September he went the way of all flesh.³³⁶ The citizens and knights of Paris watched over his body with honor and reverence in the church of Notre-Dame until the king’s arrival, while the canons and clergy of the church celebrated the necessary funeral rites with solemn devotion. The next day the king, with Count Thibaut, seneschal of France,³³⁷ arrived at Paris and arranged that [Geoffrey’s] body, embalmed with aromatic scents and placed in a lead sarcophagus,³³⁸ be buried in the same church before the great altar by the most reverend Maurice, bishop of Paris,³³⁹ amid the assembled abbots, religious men, and clergy of the whole city.

[49] On the establishment of four prebends.

When the burial service had been most solemnly completed, the most Christian King Philip returned to the palace, accompanied by Count Thibaut [of Blois], Count Henry [of Champagne], his mother [Marie] the countess of Champagne,³⁴⁰ and the former queen of England, Marguerite, sister of the said king, since she had not yet left with the Hungarians.³⁴¹ The death of such a prince weighed heavily upon the king, and the nobles just mentioned and many others followed so that they might console him. Being consoled by his friends, and bringing to mind the last deeds of the deceased, he turned his mind to consideration of works of charity and mercy in the fashion of his father’s kindness. And he established in perpetuity four priests in the church of Notre-Dame where the count had been buried, so that they might pray for himself, for the soul of his most holy father, Louis [VII], and for the soul of his beloved count of Brittany. Out of his own income he dedicated funds adequate to support two priests, while the countess of Champagne pledged for the third, and the chapter of Notre-Dame promised to allot [funds] for the fourth.

[50] Happenings.

At the start of the year of our Lord’s incarnation 1187, the sixth year of Philip’s reign, eight before the Kalends of March,³⁴² in the eleventh hour of the following night, there was an almost complete eclipse of the moon, which was then in the eleventh degree of Libra, while the sun was then in the eleventh degree of Aries, with the head of the Dragon in the fourth degree of Aries. Truly, part of the moon was darkened; it was a sort of red color, and misshapen. This eclipse lasted for two hours.

[51] On the erection of a wall around the cemetery in the Champeaux.

Among the most Christian King Philip’s many fine works, we have deemed it worthwhile to record here some that are worthy of remembrance. One day, while King Philip was staying at Paris, word came to his ears concerning repairs to the cemetery which is in the Champeaux, next to the church of Saint-Innocent.³⁴³ Since ancient times the cemetery had been a large area open to all foot traffic and full of goods for sale, where the citizens of Paris would bring their dead for burial. But now the bodies of the deceased could hardly be buried there decently, because of storm waters and the excessive overflow of stinking mud. Philip, the most Christian king, ever intent upon good works, seeing therefore that this project was right, decent, and necessary, ordered that the cemetery be entirely enclosed with a stone wall, and that adequate gates be built into the wall which were to be closed at night because of the machinations of passersby. It was his admired and pious opinion that a cemetery in which so many thousands of people lay buried should be most splendidly cared for by God-fearing posterity.

[52] On the king’s garments given to the poor.

Throngs of entertainers often gather in the courts of kings or other nobles, where they are accustomed to compete in the production of merriment laced with fawning praise, in order to obtain from these nobles gold, silver, horses, or the garments which nobles are accustomed to change frequently. And to better please them, they do not blush to perform openly whatever they think might be appealing to the nobles, such as all kinds of pleasures, pleasantries, laughter-provoking witticisms, and other such inflated follies. We have seen, once upon a time, that certain nobles, as soon as they were asked, gave to minstrels—that is, minions of the devil—garments of deep design and most skillful workmanship, in various floral patterns, for which they had paid twenty or thirty marks of silver and had hardly used for even seven days. For shame! Surely for the price of these garments twenty or thirty poor people could have been fed for the whole year. But the most Christian King Philip Augustus, seeing that all such things are vain and harmful to the salvation of the soul, remembered what he had once learned from holy and religious men; that to give to entertainers is to make sacrifice to devils. With most zealous thought for our Lord God, he promised that as long as he lived, inspired by God, he would bestow his own garments upon the poor, since alms deliver from all sin³⁴⁴ and display great faith before God in all who give them. “I was naked,” says the Lord, “and you covered me.”³⁴⁵ It is better to clothe the naked Christ than to fall into sin by giving garments to flatterers. If the nobles would consider these things daily, fewer flatterers would run through the world. Therefore, let the lesser nobility behold the merciful and pious king, and by observing his deeds let them learn from him piety and mercy, since they should know for certain that merciless judgment will come to one who has done no mercy.

[53] On astrologers’ false prophecy about winds.

In that same year, eastern and western astrologers—that is, Jews as well as Saracens and even Christians—sent letters throughout various parts of the world, predicting and insisting without doubt that in September there would be a storm of mighty winds, an earthquake, the death of men, and plots and strife, warning of upheaval to kingdoms and many other things of this sort. But later the course of subsequent events demonstrated quite clearly otherwise than they foretold by divination. The tenor of these letters was as follows.³⁴⁶

[54] Their letters.

“God has known, and the science of mathematics has shown, that in the year of our Lord 1186, the year 582 of the Arabs, the superior and inferior planets will meet in the sign of Libra in the month of September.³⁴⁷ In this same year, however, before this conjunction, there will be a partial eclipse of the sun, all fire-colored; that is, in the first hour of the twenty-first day of the month of April. Before this a total eclipse of the moon will occur, in the same month of April on the fifth day; that is, in the first hour of the night which will come before the Wednesday. Therefore in this said year, with the planets assembling in Libra, that is, in a windy and atmospheric sign also containing the tale of the Dragon, a marvelous earthquake will occur in areas especially prone to them, and it will destroy places used to earthquakes and liable to outbreaks of destruction. For from the areas of the West there will arise a strong and violent wind,³⁴⁸ blackening the air and befouling it with fetid poison. Then death and sickness will seize many, and thundering will be heard, and voices in the air striking terror in the hearts of those who hear them. And the wind will sweep up the sand and dust from the surface of the earth and will cover the cities of the plains and especially those in sandy areas, that is, in the fifth climate zone.³⁴⁹ And Mecca, Basra, Baghdad, and Babylon will be completely destroyed, and nothing will be left but what is covered with earth; and they will be destroyed with sand and dust, so that the regions of Egypt and Ethiopia will be made uninhabitable. And from the West the destruction will stretch all the way to areas of the East. In the western regions, indeed, strife will arise, and unrest among the people. And one from among them will gather armies without number and will wage war along the banks of the waters, in which such heaps of slaughter will be accomplished that the flow of pouring blood will be equal to the swelling waves. Let it be known for certain, however, that the coming conjunction points to the upheaval of kingdoms,³⁵⁰ the superiority of the Franks, doubt and ignorance among the Jews, the destruction of the Saracen people, and the greater holiness and exaltation of Christ’s law, as well as a fuller lifetime for those who will be born hereafter, if God will have wished it.”³⁵¹

[55] Again, another letter about the same thing.³⁵²

“The wise men of Egypt have foretold the signs which will arise in the time when the planets come together, the tail of the Dragon being with them in the sign Moranaim, in the month of Elul,³⁵³ on the twenty-ninth day of the same month, in the year 4946 from the beginning of the world according to the Hebrews, on Sunday. And on the following night, about midnight,³⁵⁴ the following signs will begin and they will continue up until the following Wednesday at noon. From the great sea will arise a great strong wind, shaking the hearts of men, and it will sweep up sand and dust from the surface of the earth to such an extent that it will cover trees and towers; and this is because this conjunction of the planets will be in Libra, that is, in a clearly atmospheric and windy sign. And according to the judgment of these wise men, this conjunction points to a most powerful wind, smashing mountains and cliffs; crashing and thunder and voices will be heard in the air,³⁵⁵ striking fear into the hearts of men, and all the cities—that is, in the fifth climate zone—will be buried in sand and dust. For the wind will begin from a corner of the West and will extend to the corners of the East, seizing all the cities of Egypt and Ethiopia; that is, Mecca, Basra, and Raham and Alep, and Sinnaar and the lands of the Arabs, and all the land of Elam, Rama, Kirman and Segesta, and Calla and Norozatan, and Chebil and Tanbrasten, and Barach,³⁵⁶ because all these cities or regions are embraced under the sign Libra, as are also the lands of the Romans.

And after such an onslaught of winds will follow five miracles. First, there will arise from the East a certain man, most wise in foreign wisdom; that is, in the wisdom which is above man. And he will walk in justice and teach the law of truth, and call back many men from the shadows of ignorance to upright morals, and from disbelief to the road of truth, and he will teach sinners the paths of justice,³⁵⁷ and he will not be exalted by this so that he will be counted among the prophets. Second, a certain man will come out of Elam, and he will bring together many strong armies and cause great carnage among the peoples, and he will not live long. Third, there will arise a certain other man, saying that he is a prophet, holding in his hand a book and saying he is sent by God,³⁵⁸ and by his prophecies and foretelling he will lead many people astray. And he will seduce a great many nations,³⁵⁹ and what he will have prophesied to the peoples will be turned back upon himself; and this man will not live long either. Fourth, a comet will be seen in heaven; that is, a star trailing long hair or a tail. And this apparition will indicate climaxes and upheavals, harsh battles, withholding of the rains and desiccations of the lands, violent fighting and flowing of blood in the land of the East, and crossing the Hebros River³⁶⁰ it will reach to the boundaries of the West. Just men and men of faith will be oppressed and endure persecutions to such an extent that their houses of prayer will be demolished. Fifth, there will be an eclipse of the fire-colored sun, such that its whole shape will be darkened. And the darkness over the earth in the time of the eclipse will be like at midnight when the moon does not shine and the rain falls.”

Let what has been said about these letters be sufficient for the time being. Now, let us return to the deeds of the sixth year of the reign of Philip Augustus.

[56] On the war between King Philip of France and King Henry of England.

Then, in that same year discussed above [1186], a dispute arose between the most Christian King Philip and King Henry [II] of England. For from the moment Philip first met Richard,³⁶¹ Henry’s son and the count of Poitou, [Philip] kept demanding that [Richard] do homage for the whole county of Poitou. At his father’s direction, Richard pretended day after day that he would do so. In addition, King Philip was demanding from the king of England the castle called Gisors and other nearby castles which had been given over by his father, King Louis [VII], as dowry for [Philip’s] sister Marguerite, when he had joined her in marriage to the famous King Henry [the Younger], son of the elder Henry.³⁶² This dowry had been granted to [the younger] King Henry on the condition that if he received offspring from her, he would hold the property for his lifetime, but that after his death it would descend to his offspring. If, however, he were to have no children by Marguerite, the dowry would without question revert to the king of France upon the death of [the younger] King Henry. The king of England had often been summoned over these matters by King Philip, but from day to day he repeatedly put off attendance at the king’s court for judgment in the matter by offering contrived delays. The most Christian King Philip, however, understood the cunning machinations of the king of England. And very clearly foreseeing that further delay would be harmful to him and his people, he determined to invade the king of England’s land with a host of armed men.

[57] The deeds of the seventh year of the reign of Philip, king of France.

It came to pass then, in the seventh year of Philip’s reign and the twenty-second year of his age, which is the year 1187 of our Lord’s incarnation,³⁶³ that King Philip gathered an army beyond number in the district of Bourges. With a strong army³⁶⁴ he invaded the borders of Aquitaine and plundered that land. And he seized the castle called Issoudun, and Graçay, and a great many other fortifications, and plundered the surrounding lands all the way to Châteauroux.³⁶⁵ Upon learning of this, Henry, king of England, and Richard, count of Poitou, gathered a great army and boldly advanced toward Châteauroux against the king of France, their lord. It was their wish, if they could, to violently expel King Philip and his entire army from the siege of Châteauroux. But seeing the determination and stout resolve of the Franks, they laid out camp against them.³⁶⁶ King Philip was enraged, as were all his warriors, and he called his troops into battle formation against them. They, however, feared the stout resolve of King Philip and the firm bravery of the Franks, and sent to King Philip competent men as well as clerics accompanying the legates of the Roman Church, who at that time had been sent from the side of the supreme pontiff to the regions of France to reestablish peace. These men established by formal pledge on behalf of the king of England and his son Richard that they would fully settle the entire question on all points, in accordance with the decision of the court of the king of France. When this was done a truce was established and everyone returned home.

[58] On the statue of the Blessed Virgin which a mercenary smashed.

While the king was engaged in the siege of Châteauroux, an event worth mentioning occurred.³⁶⁷ One day Richard, the count of Poitou, had sent a large detachment of mercenaries to help Châteauroux. While they were assembled there in the town square in front of the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, they began to play a game of dice. Among them was one of the sons of the devil,³⁶⁸ filled with a demon. Since he was losing badly the money which he had gotten badly, he broke forth with blasphemous abuse of God and the Virgin Mary. Furiously raging in anger, lifting up his eyes,³⁶⁹ he saw above the church portal a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary holding the child Jesus in her arms, a stone sculpture as is often found in churches to stimulate thoughtful devotion in the people. As he beheld this, with wild and bloodshot eyes, redoubling his blasphemous curses with fearful boldness against God and our Lady—oh, for shame!—this woebegone Judas, before everyone’s eyes, hurled a stone at the statue and most wickedly smashed off the arm of the statue of the child Jesus and knocked it to the ground. Now, from this break, as we have heard from many people who were at the siege, blood came flowing freely down to the ground, and many there gathered it up and were rewarded by being cured of various diseases. John, who is called Lackland, the younger son of the king of England,³⁷⁰ who was on a mission for his father, arrived by chance and carried off with him the still bloodied arm of the statue in reverent honor as a relic. The wretch of a mercenary, however, who had so shamefully smashed the statue of the Blessed Virgin, was seized that same day by the demon that had earlier driven him on, and he ended his life most pitifully.³⁷¹ The other mercenaries who saw what had happened were struck with fear.³⁷² And praising God,³⁷³ who leaves no wicked deed unpunished, they departed from Châteauroux, exalting the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with the highest praises. The monks of that place, seeing the miracles which God was there bringing about day by day, took this statue inside the church because it was not knocked to the ground, amid hymns of praise, where unto this day³⁷⁴ many miracles are occurring to the honor of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary.

[59] On the envoys sent from Jerusalem to the king of France.

Now, while these things were happening,³⁷⁵ envoys came from Outremer to King Philip. They told him with sighs and groans that, on account of the sins of the Christians, Saladin, the king of Syria and Egypt,³⁷⁶ had invaded the lands of the Christians of Outremer and had most pitifully slaughtered many thousands of Christians. He had cruelly slain with the sword³⁷⁷ many Templar and Hospitaller brothers, together with the bishops and barons of the land, and had captured the Holy Cross and the king of Jerusalem.³⁷⁸ And, after a few days time, as the evil spread, [Saladin] had brought under his control the holy city of Jerusalem, and all the Promised Land except Tyre, Tripoli, and Antioch, and a few particularly strong castles which he was unable to take.

[60] On the birth of Louis, the son of Philip Augustus.

In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 1187, on the fourth day of September, in the third hour, there was a partial eclipse of the sun in the eighteenth degree of the Virgin, and it lasted for two hours. On the following day, that is, the fifth day of September, Louis was born, the son of Philip Augustus, the famous king of the Franks, on a Monday in the eleventh hour of daylight.³⁷⁹ Upon his birth the city of Paris, where he was born, was filled with such joy that every night for seven days, by the light of flaming torches, the people of the whole city ceaselessly offered due praise to their Creator and led choruses in song. At the very hour of his birth, messengers were dispatched through all the provinces³⁸⁰ announcing to the far corners of the kingdom the joys of such a king. They were overflowing with joy, praising and blessing God,³⁸¹ who deigned to bring forth such and so fine an heir to the kingdom of the Franks.

[61] On the frequent death of popes.

In the same year, on the feast of St. Luke, in the month of October, Pope Urban III went to the Lord,³⁸² having held the see for a year and a half. Gregory VIII followed him for one and a half months.³⁸³ Clement III, a Roman, came after him that same year.³⁸⁴ Now observe that such a frequent change of supreme pontiffs could not happen for any reason unless by their own sins, and by the disobedience of their subjects unwilling to return [to them] by the grace of God.³⁸⁵ No one returns from Babylon—that is, from the welter of sinners—by his own powers of knowledge, unless the grace of return is lavished upon him from on high. For the world itself grows old; indeed, all practice of government grows old and falls into old age, and it slips back as though into childhood to pour forth a flood of its wishes.

And note that in the very same year of our Lord when the Lord’s Cross in Outremer was captured by this same Saladin, babies who were born since that time have only twenty-two teeth, or only twenty, when before then they would usually have thirty or thirty-two.³⁸⁶

[62] That with the inspiration of God, King Philip and King Henry of England take the cross.

At the arrival of the feast of St. Hilary, which falls on the thirteenth day of January, a meeting was held between King Philip of France and King Henry of England, between Trie and Gisors.³⁸⁷ And here it came to pass, contrary to everyone’s expectations, through the miraculous agency of the Lord, that these two kings, who had been sent to the same location by heaven through the prompting of the Holy Spirit, took up the sign of the Holy Cross³⁸⁸ for the liberation of our Lord’s sepulcher and the holy city of Jerusalem. And many archbishops, bishops, counts, dukes, and barons did so with them; that is, Walter the archbishop of Rouen,³⁸⁹ Baldwin the archbishop of Canterbury,³⁹⁰ the bishop of Beauvais,³⁹¹ the bishop of Chartres,³⁹² the duke of Burgundy,³⁹³ Richard count of Poitou, Philip count of Flanders, Thibaut count of Blois, Rotrou count of Perche,³⁹⁴ William des Barres count of Rochefort,³⁹⁵ Henry count of Champagne, Robert count of Dreux,³⁹⁶ the count of Clermont,³⁹⁷ the count of Beaumont,³⁹⁸ the count of Soissons,³⁹⁹ the count of Bar,⁴⁰⁰ Bernard of Saint-Valéry,⁴⁰¹ Jacques of Avesnes,⁴⁰² the count of Nevers,⁴⁰³ William of Mello, Dreux of Mello,⁴⁰⁴ and many others afire with the zeal of God whose names it would take long to include here. And on this very spot these two kings devoutly erected a wooden cross in memory of these events, founding a church. And they struck a treaty between themselves, and called the spot the Holy Field, because it was there that they had been signed with holy crosses. And from the report of many people we have learned that they allocated an income sufficient for two priests to serve God there, and they granted that the church, with everything pertaining to it, should be held in perpetuity by the nuns of Fontevraud.⁴⁰⁵

[63] The deeds of the eighth year of the reign of Philip, king of the Franks.⁴⁰⁶

In the year of our Lord 1188, in the month of March, in the middle of Lent,⁴⁰⁷ King Philip held a general council at Paris, calling together all the archbishops, bishops, abbots, and barons of the whole realm. And there a host of knights and soldiers beyond count were enrolled in the crusade. And, because of the present necessity regarding the city,⁴⁰⁸ for the king was very anxious to leave for Jerusalem, he decreed, with the consent of the clergy and the people, that a certain tithe would be collected from everyone, just for that year. This was called the Saladin tithe, which we will set down in this book. ⁴⁰⁹

[64] Enactment of the tithe.

In the name of the holy, undivided Trinity, amen. It has been enacted by Lord Philip, king of the Franks, upon the advice of the archbishops, bishops, and barons of his land, that the bishops and prelates, the clergy of conventual churches, and the knights who have taken the sign of the cross, shall have relief from repaying debts [contracted with] Jews as well as Christians before the king took the cross, starting from the next feast of All Saints following the day of our lord king’s departure and lasting for two years;⁴¹⁰ such that, specifically, on the first feast of All Saints the creditors will have a third of the debt owed, and on the following feast of All Saints another third of the debt owed, and on the third feast of All Souls the final third of the debt owed. Interest, however, will not accrue on prior debts for anyone, starting from the day on which that person took the cross.

If a knight taking the cross is a legitimate heir, a son, or a son-in-law of a knight not taking the cross, or of any widow, and if he is a dependent of his father or mother, then his father or mother will have the relief of his or her debt in accordance with the enactment made.

If, however, their son or son-in-law, their legitimate heir taking the cross, is outside the family,⁴¹¹ or indeed if he is not a knight and has not taken the cross, his parent will not have this relief.

Debtors who have lands and revenues will assign to their creditors lands and revenues from which the creditors may receive what is owed them at the above-stated times. [They will do this] within fifteen days of the next feast of St. John the Baptist,⁴¹² according to the process just described, through the agency of the lords in whose dominion the lands subject to debt may lie. The lords may not refuse the assignments unless they themselves will have satisfied the creditor from their own funds. Let those individuals who possess no lands or revenues adequate to make an assignment covering their debt [instead] execute for their creditors a promise, through sworn guarantors or pledges, to pay the debt at the stated times. And if, within fifteen days of the next feast of St. John the Baptist, they have not made their promise to pay through assignment of land, or through guarantors or pledges if they have no land, as is thus required, they will not have the relief granted to others.

If one of the clergy or a knight taking the cross is in debt to a cleric or a knight taking the cross, he will have this relief from his debt until the next feast of All Saints, provided good security is posted for so doing at that time.

[65] On the same.

If anyone who has taken the cross eight days before the Purification of the Blessed Mary⁴¹³ or thereafter will have assigned to another gold or silver or grain or other movable pledge, the creditor will not be required to give the relief with respect to this.

If anyone buys crops of the land for a year at a fixed price from someone not taking the cross, [that price] remains good.

If a knight or cleric has pledged or assigned for some years his land or revenue to any townsman who has taken the cross, or to a cleric or knight who has not taken the cross, the debtor in this year will take the crops of the land or revenue; and the creditor, after the term of years for which the pledge or assignation was due to apply is complete, will hold it for one year [more] in compensation for that year, in such a manner, however, that the creditor will have half of the crop in this [additional] year for his cultivation if he has cultivated the pledged lands or vineyards.

All contracts made since the eighth day prior to the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, or made thereafter, will be valid.

Concerning all debts for which the relief is given, the debtor will be obliged to provide a sworn guarantee just as good or better than that which he had previously given. And, if a disagreement should arise as to the guarantee, a sworn guarantee just as good or better than before will be given, upon the advice of the lord of the creditor. And, if the sworn guarantee is not corrected by the lord, it must be corrected upon the advice of the prince over the land.

If there is a lord or prince in whose jurisdiction the said creditors and debtors will have been unwilling to carry out, or to arrange to be carried out, the prescribed measures concerning the relief to be given to debtors or assignments to be made, and if he has been warned by his metropolitan or bishop and within forty days has still not corrected it, he will be subject to excommunication by the same [metropolitan or bishop].

However, so long as the lord or prince will try to show, in the presence of his metropolitan or bishop, that he has not failed the creditor or indeed the debtor in this matter, and if he is ready to carry out what is there prescribed, the metropolitan or bishop may not excommunicate him.

No one having taken the cross, either cleric or knight or any other person whatsoever, is answerable as to the source of his right to a property, from the day that he takes the cross until the day that he returns from his promised journey, unless it concerns a matter in which he was involved before he had taken the cross.

[66] On the same.

The main points concerning the tithe enactment are that all persons not having taken the cross, whoever they may be, will pay this year at least one-tenth of the value of all their movable property and revenue, except those of the Cistercian order, the Order of the Carthusians, the Order of Fontevraud, and those of lepers, as to their own property.

No one will lay a hand on any commune unless he will have been the lord of this same commune.⁴¹⁴

Such right, however, as anyone previously had in any of the communes he will continue to have.

He who exercises high justice over an area of land will have the tithe of this land. It will be understood that those who are going to pay the tithe from the whole value of their movable property and revenues will pay the tithe, making no exception for debts previously incurred. For indeed after the payment of the tithe they can pay the debts from what is left.

All the laity, both knights as well as others, will give the tithe bound by the prescribed oath and subject to anathema, and the clergy will pay their tithe subject to excommunication.

A knight who has not taken the cross, who is the liege man of a lord who has taken the cross,⁴¹⁵ will give [his lord] a tenth of his movable property and of the fief which he holds of him. If, however, he holds no fief from him, he will give his liege lord a tenth of his movable property. He will give a tenth of each fief which he holds to each individual from whom he holds the fief. And, if he has no liege lord, he will give the tenth of his movable property to the person in whose fief he resides.

If a person imposing the tithe on his land should encounter the property of a person upon his land other than one whom he may tithe, and the owner thereof can prove his legal ownership, then he will be unable to subject that property to the tithe.

A knight who has taken the cross, who is the legal heir as son or son-in-law of a knight who has not taken the cross, or the widow of such, will have the tithe of his father or mother.

No other person will seize property pertaining directly to archbishops or bishops or chapters or churches, save only the archbishops or bishops or chapters and churches which directly control them.

If bishops collect the tithe, they will give the same to those to whom they ought.

Whoever has the ability to pay a tax or tithe as required, and is unwilling to do so, may be seized by the person to whom he should pay the duty or tithe, so that then he would make satisfaction. He who will have seized him for this purpose cannot be excommunicated.

Whoever will have given his tithe piously, lawfully, and without coercion will receive his reward from God.⁴¹⁶

[67] On the breaking of the treaty done by Count Richard.

Two or three months after these things occurred, that is, between Pentecost and the feast of St. John,⁴¹⁷ Richard, count of Poitou, having assembled an army, entered the land of the count of Toulouse, which [the latter] held from the king of the Franks, and he seized Moissac and other castles which belonged to the count of Toulouse.⁴¹⁸ When he heard of this, Raymond, count of Toulouse, sent his envoys to the most Christian King Philip, explaining to him all the wrongs that had been done to him by the count of Poitou, contrary to justice and to the established treaty. For Count Richard was breaking the treaty which had been made the previous year, between Chaumont and Gisors, and confirmed by oath,⁴¹⁹ between Philip king of the Franks, Henry king of England, and Richard himself, which was as follows: That each one’s land should remain unchanged from the state it was in when he took the cross, until such time as he should return to his own land, in joy, when his service to the Lord overseas in the Holy Land would be complete. When King Philip, ever Augustus, learned of the breaking of the treaty which the two kings had struck between themselves, filled with anger he gathered a host of soldiers and suddenly invaded their lands. He seized the noble castle Châteauroux, and Buzançais, and Argenton, and he laid siege to a fourth castle which is called Levroux. While the king was briefly occupied by the siege, something occurred which is indeed worthy of mention.

[68] On the miraculous swelling of a certain stream.

There was a certain stream in front of the abovementioned castle [of Levroux], in which sufficient water could usually be found when it rained. It had dried up, however, because of the excessive summer heat. Yet when the king and his whole army were suffering greatly from lack of water and great thirst—for it was indeed summer—suddenly, from out of the bowels of the earth, without any rain, the water of the stream miraculously swelled so much that it rose up to the saddle straps of the horses, and the whole army and the animals were refreshed. The people who witnessed this were overjoyed at such a miracle, and praised God,⁴²⁰ who has done all things that he wished in the sea and in all the depths.⁴²¹ And the water lasted as long as the king was involved in the siege. After a few days, he took the castle, that is, Levroux, and he gave it as a gift to his cousin Louis, the son of Count Thibaut.⁴²² Upon his departure the waters returned to their former place⁴²³ and have not appeared since.

[69] On the destruction of Montrichard.

Departing from there,⁴²⁴ they came to Montrichard and laid siege to it. There the king took some time in the siege. Having surrounded the place with his siege engines, he captured it with great effort, burned the whole town, and utterly destroyed a very strong tower with fifty knights in it. From there, King Philip captured Palluau, Montrésor, and Le Châtelet, and he brought under his control La Roche Guillebaud, Culan, and Montluçon and whatever rights the king of England held in all of Berry and the Auvergne.⁴²⁵ Learning of this, the king of England was exceedingly angry,⁴²⁶ and led his army back through the Norman borderlands toward Gisors.⁴²⁷ When Philip, king of France, learned of this, he followed him; and as he passed he captured Vendôme, and pursued [King Henry] to the castle which is called Troo. He chased the king of England, together with his son Richard, out of this castle in disgrace, and then burned down the whole town. The king of England, crossing the abovementioned borderlands [of Normandy], then burned the castle of Dreux, and on his way he destroyed many villages in the countryside all the way to Gisors. Finally, with the arrival of winter, a truce was agreed upon, and both sides rested from the war.

[70] That Richard, count of Poitou, rendered homage to King Philip.

While all these things were going on, Richard, count of Poitou, asked his father for the wife who was his by right;⁴²⁸ that is, the sister of Philip, king of the Franks. She had been given to [Henry II] to be her guardian, by King Louis [VII] of good memory, and with her [Richard] also asked for the kingdom. Indeed, it had been agreed that whichever of the king of England’s sons should marry her would also receive the kingdom when the king himself died. Richard was asserting that this was his by right, for after his brother Henry, he was the eldest son. In response, the king of England, greatly upset, decreed that he would never do this. For this reason, Richard, count of Poitou, clearly angered, turned away from his father and went over to the most Christian king of the Franks. And in the presence of his father,⁴²⁹ he rendered homage to King Philip and confirmed the treaty by oath.

[71] Happenings.

In this same year 1188, on the second day of February, a Thursday,⁴³⁰ there was a total eclipse of the moon in the fourth hour of the night and lasting for three hours. Also four before the Ides of February,⁴³¹ when I was at Argenteuil,⁴³² in the full moonlight,⁴³³ shortly before dawn, on a very calm night, the moon, which stands for the Church, was suddenly seen to come all the way down to earth and, after a brief pause, as though reinvigorated, to climb up again by degrees all the way to the place from which it had descended. This was seen by certain religious brothers, Robert of Gisors, prior of this same church [of Argenteuil], and J. of Chartres, sacristan of the church of the Blessed Denis, and many other brothers, who related it to us.

[72] Verses of a certain person.

In this same year verses about King Philip were spoken as though prophetically by a certain poet:

[73] Deeds of the ninth year of Philip, king of the Franks.⁴³⁵

In the year of our Lord 1189, in the month of May, King Philip, ever Augustus, led his army at Nogent[-le-Rotrou] and then seized La Ferté-Bernard along with four other very strong castles. And with a strong army⁴³⁶ he captured the most powerful city of Le Mans, from which he expelled Henry, king of England, with seven hundred armed knights, in disgrace; and he pursued him with chosen warriors all the way to the castle called Chinon.⁴³⁷ Returning to Le Mans, he set his sappers to work undermining the wall,⁴³⁸ for he always brought them along in his train, and after great effort he captured the very strong, well-fortified tower. A few days later he led his army toward the city of Tours. There, having pitched his tents⁴³⁹ on the banks of the Loire, the king went alone to survey the river. And by testing the depth of the river with his spear, he found a ford—a thing unheard-of for ages—and he marked it by posts on the right and the left in the river, so that his whole army could wade over, behind him, between the two markers; and he crossed the Loire first, at the head of all the others. When the whole army then beheld the lowering depth of the river which had miraculously come about, they at once pulled up stakes, folded tents, and one and all, from the least to the greatest,⁴⁴⁰ followed their king through the ford. When all the arms and baggage train were gathered across, the river immediately returned to its former depth. The citizens of Tours saw this and feared the king.⁴⁴¹ This came to pass on the vigil of St. John the Baptist.⁴⁴² And then, truly, as the king was surveying the weaknesses of the city’s defense, his ruffian retainers, who usually launched the first assaults on fortifications, charged the city. And as he looked on, they scaled the walls with ladders and took the city by surprise. Hearing this, the king and his whole army took back the entire city, setting guards there.⁴⁴³ And in that very place, for some days, they gave solemn thanks to God.

[74] On the death of Henry, king of England.

Twelve days later, that is, on the octave of the apostles Peter and Paul, Henry king of England died at Chinon.⁴⁴⁴ He ruled successfully in every respect up until the time of Philip, king of the Franks, whom the Lord sent as a bit in his mouth, to vindicate the blood of the blessed martyr Thomas of Canterbury,⁴⁴⁵ so that through grief He might give him understanding and return him to the bosom of the mother church. [Henry] was buried at Fontevraud, in a certain abbey of nuns.⁴⁴⁶

Richard his son, the count of Poitou, succeeded him. In that same year, when he first arrived at Gisors the whole castle went up in flames. And as he left the fortification the next day, as all his company was crossing over in disarray, the wooden bridge collapsed beneath his feet, so that Richard, horse and all, plummeted into the moat. A few days later, the peace which had been discussed between King Philip and Henry, king of England, now no more, was concluded and established between King Richard and King Philip.⁴⁴⁷ Then, for the sake of peace, King Philip gave back to Richard, king of England, the cities of Tours and Le Mans, and also Châteauroux with all its fiefs. In exchange, King Richard delivered to Philip, king of the Franks, and to his successors, forever free and clear, the entire fief pertaining to Graçay, and the entire fiefs pertaining to Issoudun, and the entire fief that he held in Auvergne.

[75] On the death of the queen, the wife of Philip, king of the Franks.

In that same year 1189, in the tenth year of the reign of Philip,⁴⁴⁸ on the Ides of March,⁴⁴⁹ Queen Isabelle, wife of Philip, king of the Franks, died. She was buried in the church of Notre-Dame at Paris. The venerable Maurice, bishop of Paris, erected an altar in her memory in that same church.⁴⁵⁰ And the most Christian king, ever Augustus, motivated by piety, for the sake of her soul and the souls of all their predecessors, founded there a living for two priests in perpetuity, and set aside fifteen Parisian pounds per year for each of them, forever.⁴⁵¹

[76] That King Philip received the scrip and staff of pilgrimage in the church of the Blessed Denis.

In the year of our Lord 1190, on the feast of St. John the Baptist,⁴⁵² King Philip went with an enormous retinue to the church of the blessed martyr Denis to receive permission [to depart]. From ancient times it was the practice of the kings of the Franks that whenever they campaigned against their enemies they would take the battle standard from above the altar of the Blessed Denis and carry it with them, for care or protection, and they would unfurl it in the foremost rank of battle. Time and again, the enemy, terrified upon seeing it, turned and fled. And so the most Christian king, humbly prostrate in prayer upon the marble pavement before the bodies of the sainted martyrs Denis, Rusticus, and Eleutherius, commended himself to God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the holy martyrs and all the saints. Finally, in tears, he rose from prayer and with great devotion received there his pilgrim’s scrip and staff from the hand of Archbishop William of Reims, his uncle and legate of the Apostolic See.⁴⁵³ Then he received with his own hands, from above the bodies of the saints,⁴⁵⁴ two magnificent silk standards and two great battle flags emblazoned fittingly with gold-embroidered crosses in memory of the holy martyrs, for protection as he was going forth to fight the enemies of the cross of Christ.⁴⁵⁵ Finally, commending himself to the prayers of the monks and having received the blessing of the nail, the Crown of Thorns, and the arm of Saint Simeon the Elder,⁴⁵⁶ he departed, and on the Thursday after the octave of St. John the Baptist, together with Richard, king of England, he arrived at Vézelay.⁴⁵⁷ And there, receiving permission from all his barons, he entrusted the care and guardianship of the whole kingdom of the Franks, together with his beloved son Louis,⁴⁵⁸ to his most beloved mother, Adele, and to his uncle, Archbishop William of Reims. A few days later he came to Genoa, where he had arranged that ships and their requisite supplies and weapons should be most carefully made ready. Richard, king of England, and all his forces, however, set sail from Marseille.⁴⁵⁹ And thus the said catholic kings, entrusting themselves to the winds and the sea, to defend holy Christianity and out of their love of our Lord Jesus Christ, arrived at Messina⁴⁶⁰ after many great perils.⁴⁶¹

But before King Philip departed the kingdom of the Franks,⁴⁶² assembling his friends and close associates in Paris, he executed his testament and set in order the whole kingdom in this fashion.⁴⁶³

[77] In the name of the holy and indivisible Trinity, amen. Philip, by the grace of God king of the Franks: It is the duty of kings to plan for the well-being of their subjects in all ways, and to place the public good before their own. Therefore, since with deepest longing and all our strength we are taking up our vow of pilgrimage for the aid of the Holy Land, by the prompting of the Most High, we have decided how the business of our kingdom which must be carried out in our absence ought to be handled; and, should something befall our mortal self, how the final affairs of our life should be arranged.

Therefore, we first instruct that our baillis install for each prévôt within our jurisdiction four prudent men, who are lawful and of sound reputation;⁴⁶⁴ and that no business of the place be carried out without their advice, or the advice of at least two of them, except that at Paris we have appointed six lawful and upright men whose names are these, T. A. E. R. B. N.⁴⁶⁵

And in our lands we have assigned our baillis, labeled by their individual names, who in their bailliages⁴⁶⁶ will establish each month one day which is called the day of assize, when all those who bring a claim will receive their legal rights through them and justice⁴⁶⁷ without delay, and we will receive our legal rights and our justice, and the forfeits which are properly ours will be recorded there.

Furthermore, we wish and direct that our most beloved mother, Queen Adele, establish, together with our most beloved uncle the faithful William, archbishop of Reims, one day every four months at Paris, when they may hear the claims of the people of our kingdom, and they may decide them to the honor of God and the good of the kingdom.

We instruct, moreover, that on this day our baillis from each of our areas who will hold assizes will be present before [the queen and archbishop], so that they may report to them personally the affairs of our land.

If, however, any of our baillis will have done wrong, except in a case of murder or rape or homicide or treason, and this becomes known to the archbishop and the queen and the others who will be present, we direct them to hear the misdeeds of our baillis, so that each year, and here three times a year, they may inform us in their letters to us on the abovementioned days⁴⁶⁸ which bailli has done wrong, and what he has done, and what money or gift or service he received, and from whom, because of which our people have lost their right or we ours.

In a similar fashion let our baillis inform us about our prévôts.

However, the queen and the archbishop will have no power to remove our baillis from office, except for murder, rape, homicide, or treason; nor the baillis the prévôts, except for one of these offenses. We, however, with the guidance of God, will punish him, after the abovesaid persons have told us the truth of the matter, in a way that will reasonably deter others.

Likewise the queen and the archbishop will report to us three times each year concerning the state and affairs of the kingdom.

If by chance an episcopal see or a royal abbey should fall vacant, we desire that the canons of the church or the monks of the vacant monastery come before the queen and the archbishop, just as they would come before us, and ask them for a free election. And it is our desire that they grant this to them without objection. Indeed, we warn the canons, as well as the monks, to select a shepherd who would be pleasing to God and useful to the realm. Let the queen and the archbishop, however, keep the regalia in their hands until such time as the person chosen is consecrated or blessed, and then let the regalia be returned without objection.⁴⁶⁹

Moreover, we instruct that if prebends or ecclesiastical benefices will become vacant, when the regalia have come into our hands, the queen and the archbishop should bestow them upon upright and educated men as best and most rightly as they can, with the advice of Brother Bernard,⁴⁷⁰ always, however, respecting dispositions we have previously made to certain others as shown by our letters patent.

And also we forbid that any church prelates or any of our men should pay taille or tolte⁴⁷¹ as long as we will be in the service of God. Should the Lord God work his will with us and our death come about, we strictly forbid that any person of our land, whether clergy or laity, pay taille or tolte until our son—may God see fit to keep him safe and sound in his service—shall reach the age when he will be able to rule the kingdom by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

Should some person choose to war upon our son and his own income does not suffice, then let all our people help him with their person and their property, and may the churches render to him such aid as they have been accustomed to do for us.

We forbid our prévôts and baillis to seize any man or his property, so long as he wishes to provide good bondsmen for his pursuit of justice in our court, unless it be for homicide, murder, rape, or treason.

Moreover, we instruct that all our income and services and profits be brought to Paris at three times: first, at the feast of St. Remi; second, at the Purification of the Virgin; third, at Ascension,⁴⁷² and let it be delivered to our abovementioned townsmen and to Peter the Marshal.⁴⁷³ Should it happen that one of these should die, William of Garland should choose another in his place.⁴⁷⁴

At [these three] receipts of our property our cleric Adam will be present,⁴⁷⁵ and he will record them. Let each one have their key and to each chest in which our property will be placed in the Temple,⁴⁷⁶ and let the Temple have one key. From this, our property, so much will be sent to us as we specify in our letters.

If it should happen that we die on the path we have taken, we instruct that the queen and the archbishop and the bishop of Paris and the abbots of Saint-Victor⁴⁷⁷ and Cernay⁴⁷⁸ and Brother Bernard will divide our treasure into two parts. Let them distribute one half, according to their judgment, for the repair of churches which have been destroyed during our wars, so that the service of God may be performed in them. From the same half they will give to those who have been impoverished from our tailles, and they will give what is left to whomever they wish and whom they believe to be most in want, all this for the good of our soul and the souls of our father, King Louis, and of our predecessors. Concerning the other half, we instruct the guardians of our property and all the men of Paris that they guard it for the use of our son until he reaches an age and understanding when, with God’s aid, he will be able to rule the kingdom.

If, however, it should happen that both we and our son die, we instruct that our property be distributed by the hand of the aforesaid seven, for our soul and the soul of our son, in their best judgment. Immediately upon certitude of our death we wish that our property, wherever it should be, be taken to the house of the bishop of Paris and there be kept under guard and thereafter with it will be done as we have directed.

We also instruct the queen and the archbishop that they should keep within their own power all the offices which, while they are vacant, belong to our gift, and which they are honestly able to hold, as of our abbacies, deanships, and other such worthy positions, until we will have returned from service to God. And those which they are unable to keep, let them bestow them according to God and award them upon the advice of Brother Bernard, and let them do this for the honor of God and the good of the kingdom. If, however, we die along the way, we wish that they should give these offices and worthy positions of the church to those persons who seem to them to be more worthy.

So that it may remain sound and lasting, we instruct that the present act be confirmed by the authority of our seal and the monogram of the royal name written thereunder. Done at Paris in the year of the Incarnate Word 1190, in the eleventh year of our reign, in our palace, in the presence of those whose names are placed hereunder and signed: Count Thibaut [of Blois], our seneschal; Guy, butler;⁴⁷⁹ Matthew, chamberlain;⁴⁸⁰ Raoul, constable.⁴⁸¹ Done while the office of chancellor was vacant.”⁴⁸²

[78]⁴⁸³ He also instructed the citizens at Paris that the city of Paris, which the king greatly loved, be enclosed with the very best wall, with towers and gates properly and carefully arranged. This was accomplished in a short space of time, and we have seen the completed work.⁴⁸⁴ And he ordered that the same thing be done in other cities and castles throughout his realm.

Now let us return to the deeds which were accomplished between the said kings at Messina and the state of affairs in the lands beyond the sea.

[79] When King Philip came to Messina in the month of August [1190] he was honorably received in the palace of King Tancred.⁴⁸⁵ And King Tancred gave him abundantly from his stores of food, and he would have given him gold without end if he could have married one of his daughters to either Philip or his son Louis. But out of his friendship for the emperor Henry [VI],⁴⁸⁶ King Philip passed over both offers of marriage. Afterward, a dispute which the king of England had with King Tancred over the dowry of [the king of England’s] sister⁴⁸⁷ was put to rest by the mediation and effort of King Philip, in the following way: The king of England received from King Tancred forty thousand ounces of gold, of which Philip received a third. He was due half, but for the sake of the peace among them he agreed to a third. On behalf of the king of England, certain nobles also pledged, on oath, one of the daughters of King Tancred in marriage to Arthur, who was to be duke of Brittany.⁴⁸⁸ Then Philip, king of the Franks, celebrated the birth of our Lord at Messina,⁴⁸⁹ and bestowed many great gifts upon the impoverished knights of his land who had lost all their property when a storm had arisen at sea: to the duke of Burgundy he gave a thousand marks; to the count of Nevers, six hundred; to William des Barres, four hundred marks; to William of Mello, four hundred ounces of gold; to the bishop of Chartres, three hundred; to Matthew of Montmorency, three hundred; to Dreux [of Mello], two hundred,⁴⁹⁰ and he gave two hundred to many others, the names of whom would take long to relate. Everything found for sale there at that time was very expensive. A bushel of grain cost twenty-four Angevin sous, a bushel of barley eighteen sous, wine fifteen sous, and a chicken twelve deniers. For this reason the king sent to the king and queen of Hungary for help in provisioning.⁴⁹¹ Afterward, he sent to the emperor at Constantinople⁴⁹² for passage to the Holy Land; and if the king, God willing, should return through the land of the emperor, that the emperor should provide him safe passage, and the king should provide good guarantee of peaceful entry and exit of his lands.⁴⁹³

[80] A few days later, the king of the Franks pushed the king of England to be ready to sail in mid-March, to cross the sea together. [The king of England], however, answered that he was unable to make the crossing until August. Again, however, the king of the Franks issued orders and warned him, as one of his own men, to cross the sea with him just as he had sworn. And, if he so wished, [the king of England] should marry the daughter of the king of Navarre, whom the mother of the king had brought along,⁴⁹⁴ at Acre. If, however, he was unwilling to make the crossing, then he would marry [Philip’s] sister as he was bound by oath to do.⁴⁹⁵ The king of England then flatly declared he would not do the one or the other. Then the king of the Franks imposed upon the others, who were bound to him by oath, to do as they had sworn. Geoffrey of Rancon and the viscount of Châteaudun⁴⁹⁶ answered on behalf of the others and agreed to do as they had sworn and would go whenever he wished. Then the king of England was exceedingly angry⁴⁹⁷ and swore that he would disinherit them. The course of events proved this to be true. From this moment, disharmony, envy, and enmity began to grow between the two kings.

However Philip, king of the Franks, greatly desired to complete the journey which he had begun, and he set sail in the month of March. And after a few days, with favorable winds, on the eve of Easter he sailed into Acre with all his forces.⁴⁹⁸ And like an angel of the Lord,⁴⁹⁹ he was welcomed with hymns of praise, great weeping, and with extreme joy by the entire army which had sat in siege of Acre for a long time. At once he pitched his tents⁵⁰⁰ and made his headquarters near the walls of the city, such that the enemies of Christ could fire arrows from bows and bolts from crossbows as far as his headquarters and even beyond. Then, bringing up his catapults, stone slings, and other engines, he had so damaged the walls of the city before the arrival of the English king that nothing was left to do to take the city, except for the assault itself. The king of the Franks did not want to assault the city without the king of England. But as soon as the king [of England] came,⁵⁰¹ the king of the Franks told him that everyone was agreed upon an assault. The king of England, speaking from the bottom of his heart, advised that the assault be carried out, and that he would commit all the forces he could. The next morning, King Philip wanted to begin the assault with his men, but the king of England would not allow his forces to go, and he forbade the Pisans, who were sworn to him, to make the assault, and thus the assault failed. After this, however, upon the recommendation of both sides, general commanders were chosen from each side, wise men of experience, by whose advice and judgment the combined army would be directed. And by the faith which they owed to God and their pilgrimage, the two kings swore and promised to the commanders that they would do whatever they advised. Thereafter these mediators announced that the king of England should send his troops to the assault, place a garrison at the barricades, and see that his catapults and other engines were brought to bear, because the king of the Franks was doing all of these things. Since [the king of England] flatly refused to do this, King Philip absolved his forces from the oath he had made as to the command of the army.

The king of England and his forces, as they were coming by sea, crossed by way of the island of Cyprus, and they seized the island with its emperor and his daughter and carried away all their treasure.⁵⁰² At last their ships spread their sails before the wind, leaving the island well garrisoned with [the king’s] forces. And Richard encountered head-on one of Saladin’s ships, which was amazingly well supplied and heading to the relief of the city [of Acre]. On board there were countless glass jugs full of Greek fire,⁵⁰³ 150 siege engines, and a vast abundance of bows and weapons, as well as the bravest of warriors. The king of England and his forces killed them all, and the battered ship sank.⁵⁰⁴ Our forces seized another of Saladin’s ships at Tyre, because it ran out of wind. On board was a supply of weapons and a few men, and it likewise was on its way to the relief of the city of Acre.

[81] In this same year [1190], Frederick [I], the most Christian emperor of the Romans and of the Germans,⁵⁰⁵ coming with his son the duke of Bohemia and all his army to Outremer, went the way of all flesh between Nicaea, a city of Bithynia, and Antioch, leaving no little grief for all Christians and leaving his entire army to his son, the duke of Bohemia.⁵⁰⁶ He escaped the land of the Turks with a few men and came with them to Acre, where he shortly finished his life in the course of nature.⁵⁰⁷ The emperor Frederick was succeeded by his son Henry [VI],⁵⁰⁸ a man vigorous in accomplishments, fierce to his foes, and generous and kind to all approaching him.

[82] In the year of our Lord 1191, fifteen before the Kalends of May, Pope Clement [III] died. He had been pope for two years and five months. The Roman Celestine [III] succeeded him.⁵⁰⁹

[83] In that same year, in the months of August, June, and July, the weather was so wild, due to excess rains, that crops in the fields sprouted ears and leaves before they could be harvested.

[84] In that same year, on the twenty-third day of June, the vigil of St. John the Baptist, while the kings were engaged in the siege of Acre, there was an eclipse of the sun in the seventh degree of Cancer, the moon then being in the sixth degree of the same sign, and tail of the Dragon in the twelfth, and it lasted for four hours.

In the next month, ten before the Kalends of August,⁵¹⁰ Louis, the son of King Philip, fell sick with a most grave illness. The doctors called it dysentery, and everyone despaired for his life. The holy monastery of the Blessed Denis, by common agreement, after fasting and giving prayer in deep devotion, carrying with them the nail and our Lord’s Crown of Thorns and the arm of Saint Simeon the Elder, with a procession of the clergy and the people barefoot and tearfully praying to the Lord, came to the church of Saint-Lazare near Paris.⁵¹¹ There, after prayer and an offering by the people who were following them, they were met and joined by the whole assembly of Parisian religious houses and Maurice the venerable bishop of Paris, with his canons and clergy and a host without number of students and people joining together carrying the relics and bodies of the saints with them, everyone barefoot and crying and weeping.⁵¹² And assembled all together, singing with much lamentation and sighs,⁵¹³ they came to the palace of the king, where the boy lay ill. And there a sermon was preached to the people, with a vast outpouring of tears. As the people earnestly prayed to the Lord for him, and as the boy’s whole stomach was touched with the sign of the cross by the nail, the Crown of Thorns, and the arm of Saint Simeon the Elder, that very day he was freed from the threatening danger. And his father, King Philip, then in Outremer, that same day and hour was cured of a similar sickness.

Then, after the boy Louis kissed the relics and received the blessing, all of the processions came to the church of Notre-Dame. Having completed their prayers and offerings to the Lord there, the procession of Notre-Dame with all the other processions led the monks of the Blessed Denis with hymns and praises and great thanksgiving to the Lord⁵¹⁴ all the way to the gate of the town. And there they blessed one another with the relics, and everyone returned home. The canons of Notre-Dame returned with the people, rejoicing, because in their own time these relics of the Blessed Denis had been carried down to Paris.⁵¹⁵ For it is nowhere recorded in any written record that until that time for any imminent danger were they ever carried beyond the town of the Blessed Denis. Nor should we pass over in silence the fact that on that same day, because of the prayers of the clergy and the people, calm and temperate weather was restored to all the land. For the Lord had rained over the land for a long time, due to the sinfulness of men.

[85] In that same year the bishop of Liège,⁵¹⁶ fleeing the face of the emperor Henry, stayed a short while at Reims. He was received with honor by William, the reverend archbishop of Reims, who lodged him in his own residence and supplied his every need. But after a few days, at the instigation of the devil, some knights arrived, sent by the emperor to the said bishop of Liège. In truth they were minions of a satanic plan. The bishop, however, as a kind and holy man, received them with honor and sat them down at his own table like friends and members of his household. They claimed that they had been unjustly exiled from their lands by the emperor, and they spoke heart to heart, in guile and cunning. For they had conceived a plot, and soon they carried out this iniquity.⁵¹⁷ After a few more days had gone by, they led the bishop out beyond the city, as though going for a walk. And whipping out their swords, they most foully slew the anointed of the Lord, for he had been canonically elected and duly consecrated, albeit against the wishes of the emperor. The knights took flight and returned, as fast as they could, to the emperor.

[86] In that same year Count Thibaut the pious and merciful seneschal of the king of the Franks, the count of Clermont, the count of Perche, the duke of Burgundy, and Philip the count of Flanders all went the way of all flesh, summoned by the Lord at the siege of Acre.⁵¹⁸ The land of the count of Flanders, for he had no other heir, passed to his nephew Baldwin, the son of the count of Hainaut, who subsequently was made emperor of Constantinople.⁵¹⁹

[87] In that same year, eight before the Kalends of September,⁵²⁰ upon the advice of Lord William the archbishop of Reims, Queen Adele, and all the bishops, the bodies of the most blessed martyrs Denis, Rusticus, and Eleuthrius, with the most exquisite silver reliquaries in which they were contained, very carefully sealed, were brought out and placed upon the altar. And beside them were joined the bodies of other saints that rested in the same church, so that all the faithful assembled for the holy sight, with groans and sighs, lifting up their pure hands with Moses,⁵²¹ might pour forth prayers to the Lord for the liberation of the Holy Land, and for the king of the Franks and all his host. For Christians do not place their faith in the power of weapons, but in the power and mercy of Christ; they realize power not in themselves but in God, overcoming infidel peoples and annihilating enemies of the cross of Christ.

On the next feast of the Blessed Denis,⁵²² when the silver reliquary that contained the body of the most sacred martyr Denis was opened in the presence of the venerable bishops of Senlis and of Meaux,⁵²³ Adele the queen of the Franks, and many abbots and men of religion, the whole body was found, along with the head, as we have said before, and it was displayed most piously to all the faithful of God who had come from far-off places to pray. And in order to be rid of the error of the people of Paris,⁵²⁴ the head of the holy martyr Denis was reverently retained and placed in a silver casket, while the bodies of the saints with their reliquaries were piously put back in the marble tomb under the altar from whence they had been brought forth. The head, however, was displayed all year long to all pilgrims, in order to arouse the devotion of the faithful. And on the next feast of the Blessed Denis it was placed back in its reliquary with the body.

[88] While these things were happening in France, Philip, king of France, with the aid of those faithful to God, was attacking Acre. He had so smashed the walls of the city with his trebuchets and mangonels that he forced the enemies of the cross of Christ⁵²⁵—that is, Saladin’s guards who were within, specifically the satraps Limathosius and Carachosius⁵²⁶ with a host of their soldiers—to surrender the city under terms.⁵²⁷ Bound by solemn oath of their law, they promised that in exchange for being allowed to leave in safety they would return without fail the true cross of our Lord, which Saladin possessed, to the king of the Franks and the king of England, before being freed by these kings, and [they would return] all the Christian captives who could be found in their land.

In the battle, Albric,⁵²⁸ a great-hearted man and marshal of the king of the Franks, a mighty combatant, was caught by the pagans within the town gate and slain.⁵²⁹ The tower known as the Maudite,⁵³⁰ however, which for a long time caused much misery for our forces, had been undercut by the king’s sappers, and their tunnel was held up only by wooden supports, so all that was left to do to bring down the tower was to set fire to them. When the pagans saw that they could not hold out against the kings, princes, and other Christians, they held a conference with the kings and princes and, upon the above terms and with the promise of safe conduct, they turned over the city of Acre, with all its weapons, arms, and abundant supplies of provisions, to our kings and princes in the month of July. The Christian people entered the city, and weeping for joy and tearfully raising both hands to heaven, they said in a clear voice, “Blessed be the Lord, our God,⁵³¹ who has beheld our efforts and our labors and has humbled beneath our feet the enemies of the Holy Cross presuming in their own strength.”⁵³² The Christians divided among themselves the provisions found there, giving the greater part to the contingents with many troops and the smaller to those with fewer. The kings, however, received all captives by lot, dividing them between themselves in equal scale. But the king of the Franks assigned his part to the duke of Burgundy, with a large amount of gold and silver and vast supplies of provisions, and entrusted to him all of his armed forces.⁵³³

For the king was then suffering from a grave illness, and moreover he was extremely suspicious of the king of England, because [the king of England] was frequently sending messengers to Saladin and exchanging gifts with him, without informing the king [of France].⁵³⁴ Philip thus held a general council with his leading men, put his troops in order and, crying with tears in his eyes, received approval from his men and entrusted himself to the winds and the sea.⁵³⁵ He embarked on just three galleys which had been prepared for him by Rufus of Genoa, and as God so willed, he was carried to the region of Apulia.⁵³⁶ When he had to some small degree recovered his health, though certainly still weak, he took to the road with a few followers. Crossing through the city of Rome, he visited the shrines of the apostles and received the blessing of the Roman pope Celestine [III], before returning to France around the time of our Lord’s nativity.⁵³⁷

[89] The king of England, who remained in Outremer, was constraining the captives whom he held himself, that is, Limathosius and Carachosius, and others whom other princes held, to do as they had promised—to restore to holy Christendom, without delay, our Lord’s Cross which Saladin possessed, as well as all Christian captives, just as they were bound to do by the oath of their law. But because they were unable to accomplish what they had sworn to do, the king of England, exceedingly angry,⁵³⁸ had some five thousand or more pagan captives taken outside the city and beheaded.⁵³⁹ But he kept back those of rank and wealth, for whom he gained a vast amount of money in ransom and then set them free. Indeed he sold the island of Cyprus, which he had seized during his crossing, to the Templars for twenty-five thousand silver marks. Later it was taken back from them, and he sold it again to Guy, the former king of Jerusalem, to have forever.⁵⁴⁰ He utterly destroyed the city of Ascalon, at the request of the pagans who were offering a large amount of gold.⁵⁴¹ He seized the battle standard of the duke of Austria from a certain prince outside of Acre, smashed it most wickedly, and threw it into a deep latrine to insult and dishonor the duke.⁵⁴² But, since we have not intended to write the history of the king of England or his deeds, let us turn our pen to those matters we are covering concerning our king, Philip.

[90] After Philip, king of the Franks, had returned to France, he observed the birth of our Lord at Fontainebleau.⁵⁴³ Then, after a few days, he hastened to the church of the blessed martyr Denis to pray. There the holy monastery assembled with their abbot Hugh and led [the king] into the church in procession with hymns of praise. After praying, he lay flat down before the bodies of the saints and gave thanks to God and the blessed martyrs, because He had freed him from such great dangers, and upon the altar he made an offering of a silken mantle of finest quality as a mark of loving charity.

In the same year, a few months later, fifteen before the Kalends of April,⁵⁴⁴ when he was staying at Saint-Germain-en-Laye,⁵⁴⁵ he learned of the scandalous death of a certain Christian brought about by the Jews. And, in deep feeling for the Christian faith and religion, he suddenly set off, though no one in his household knew where he was headed, and at top speed he came flying to the castle called Brie.⁵⁴⁶ There he garrisoned the castle gates, rounded up eighty or more Jews, and had them burned. The countess of this castle⁵⁴⁷ had been corrupted by the large gifts of the Jews, and had handed over to them a certain Christian whom they had falsely charged with theft and homicide. Moved by ancient hatred, the Jews tied his hands behind his back, crowned him with thorns,⁵⁴⁸ flogged him through the town, and, thereafter hanged him on a gibbet,⁵⁴⁹ even though they themselves had said at the time of our Lord’s passion, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death.⁵⁵⁰

[91] In that same year, on the eve of the Ides of May,⁵⁵¹ at Nogent in Perche,⁵⁵² battle lines of knights were seen descending from the sky to the ground where, after a marvelous combat, they suddenly vanished. The local inhabitants observing this were struck with great fear⁵⁵³ and returned beating their breast.⁵⁵⁴

[92] In the year of our Lord 1192, on the twentieth day of November,⁵⁵⁵ there was a partial eclipse of the moon after midnight, in the sixth degree of Gemini, which lasted two hours. In the following month of May, six before the Ides of that month,⁵⁵⁶ during Rogation time,⁵⁵⁷ a certain priest, an Englishman named William, mighty in the holiness of his life and ways, passed to the Lord at Pontoise.⁵⁵⁸ A the time of his death, as the Lord brought it about, many miracles came to pass at his tomb; the blind were enlightened, the lame cured. Others indeed were restored from various diseases back to good health. The fame of such a man, spread throughout the world, caused many people from far-flung regions to come on pilgrimage to the place of his burial.

[93] In that same year, as wickedness grew among the Christians, letters were brought from Outremer to King Philip at Pontoise, to the effect that Assassins were being sent to kill King Philip at the instigation and order of Richard, king of England.⁵⁵⁹ For at that time in Outremer they had killed the marquis,⁵⁶⁰ a relative of the king, a vigorous warrior who had ruled the Holy Land by his strength and might with great effort before these kings [of France and England] came there. Now King Philip was extremely angry after hearing these letters. He left that castle at once and was very upset for many days. Since the mind of the king was much disturbed by such rumors and he became more and more anxious each day, he acted upon the advice of his household and sent his own envoys to the Old Man, the king of the Assassins, so that he might more fully and carefully learn the truth from him. Meanwhile the king [of France], for greater caution, instructed his bodyguard to have brass-bound clubs always in hand, and to stand a rotating watch over him through the night. When his envoys returned, the king learned from the Old Man’s letters and from the report of his envoys and the careful investigation made by them as to the truth of the matter: that the rumors were indeed false. And now that the false rumor was dismissed, his mind was relieved of the false suspicion.

[94] The king of England, now intending to return to his own land, handed over to his nephew Henry, a very fine young man,⁵⁶¹ all the lands which the Christians then held in Outremer, and gave his army to him as well. [The king of England] set sail⁵⁶² and a storm arose. It happened that the wind took the ship he was in toward the region of Istria to a spot between Aquileia and Venice. He was shipwrecked there, as God allowed, and escaped with just a few followers. A certain Mainard of Görtz⁵⁶³ and the people of that area heard that he was in their land. Carefully considering the discord this king had caused in the Promised Land in the accumulation of his own damnation, they pursued him, intending to take him prisoner, contrary to the customs afforded all pilgrims traveling in peace through whatever Christian lands.⁵⁶⁴ As the king took flight they captured eight of his knights. Thereafter the king traveled to a town in the archbishopric of Salzburg which is called Friesach, where Frederick of St. Sowe⁵⁶⁵ seized six of [Richard’s] knights as the king hurried to Austria by night, with only three knights. Duke Leopold of Austria, however, a blood relation of the emperor, posted watch over the main road and put guards everywhere.⁵⁶⁶ He took the king into custody in a suburb outside Vienna, in a house that was being watched, and he seized all his possessions. The following month, December [1192], he handed him over to the emperor [Henry VI]. Richard was unjustly imprisoned by him for almost a year and a half, and there he was saddled with a multitude of costs and much expense. In the end he paid a ransom of two hundred thousand silver marks to the emperor, and crossed the sea to England.⁵⁶⁷ He was afraid that he might be again captured by the king of France, whom he had deeply offended, if he traveled through his country.⁵⁶⁸

[95] Henry, the count of Champagne, an ingenious youth,⁵⁶⁹ was a famous man and nephew to both kings through their sister.⁵⁷⁰ When he saw the land of Outremer so abandoned by the departure of these two kings, he was moved, by the inspiration of God, by paternal piety, and by the prayers of the many who remained there in the service of God, to stay there with his forces, and by great effort and sweat and in the greatest want to carry on the honor of Jesus Christ, and if the occasion should arise, to lay down his soul for Christ, rather than to return in shame to his own country without having visited the Lord’s tomb. Realizing this, the knights of the sacred Temple and the Hospital of Jerusalem and the many other pilgrims who had come together to liberate the Holy Land, who appreciated the count’s heartfelt, unshakable constancy in the Lord, unanimously elected him king of the supreme city of God. And they gave him the daughter of the king of Jerusalem as his wife,⁵⁷¹ praising and blessing the Lord⁵⁷² who had raised up from the blood of the kings of the Franks a savior and liberator of the Holy Land.

[96] In the year of our Lord 1193, on the eve of the Ides of April,⁵⁷³ King Philip with his assembled forces seized Gisors, and quickly brought under his control all of the Norman Vexin which the king of England was holding unjustly.⁵⁷⁴ Once Gisors had been conquered and the entire march of Normandy returned to his control, King Philip restored Châteauneuf to the Blessed Denis, since Henry, king of England, and then his son Richard, had occupied this place by force for a long time.

[97] At that time Saladin, king of Syria and Egypt, passed away at Damascus.⁵⁷⁵ His two sons succeeded him: one named Saphadin controlled Syria; the other, named Meralicius, Egypt.⁵⁷⁶

[98] In that same year, on the feast of the Blessed Denis,⁵⁷⁷ a certain boy who had died suddenly was most piously carried by his parents to the church of the most blessed martyr Denis. With tears and lamentations they placed him on the altar before the bodies of the saints, and cried out, “Saint Denis, help us!” And through the intercession and merits of the holy martyrs, the little boy was brought back to life by God, before the whole assembled people.

[99] At this time, King Philip sent a venerable man, Stephen, bishop of Noyon,⁵⁷⁸ off to Cnut, king of the Danes,⁵⁷⁹ to ask and beseech him that he might consent to send him one of his sisters, whom he would make his lawful wife. Considering this request, Cnut, king of the Danes, happily agreed, and he handed over to the envoys of the king of the Franks his very beautiful sister, Ingeborg,⁵⁸⁰ a saintly girl adorned with a good character, and he honored her with fine gifts. Given leave to depart, they entrusted themselves to the wind and sea and arrived at Arras. Philip, king of the Franks, sped there with great joy, accompanied by the bishops and foremost men of the kingdom, and he married in lawful wedlock the long-desired Ingeborg, and had her crowned queen of the Franks.⁵⁸¹ But—a strange thing! On that very day—by the work of the devil!—the same king, snared, as it is said, by the spells of sorceresses, began to loath the wife whom he had for so long desired. A few days later, after a line of consanguinity through Charles, count of Flanders, was worked out by the bishops and barons, this marriage was annulled by a church judgment.⁵⁸² Queen Ingeborg, however, was unwilling to return to the Danes, and resolved to remain in religious places in areas of Gaul, preferring to preserve marital chastity for the rest of her life rather than stain her first bonds of matrimony by marrying another.⁵⁸³ But, since it was alleged that in this way the marriage had been unjustly nullified, the Roman pope Celestine [III], at the insistence of the Danes, sent his legates into France; that is, Melior the cardinal-priest and Cencius the subdeacon.⁵⁸⁴ They came to Paris and convened a council of all the archbishops, bishops, and abbots of the whole kingdom, where they sought the reestablishment of the marriage between King Philip and his wife, Ingeborg.⁵⁸⁵ But because they had become dumb dogs not able to bark,⁵⁸⁶ afraid for their own hide, they brought nothing to perfection.⁵⁸⁷

[100] In that same year, four before the Ides of November,⁵⁸⁸ there was a total eclipse of the moon in the first hour of the night, and it lasted for two hours.

[101] In that same year a certain possessed person was miraculously cured in the church of the blessed martyr Denis.

[102] When the month of February [1194] arrived, King Philip assembled his army and again entered Normandy. He took the city of Evreux, brought Neubourg and Vaudreuil and many other strongholds under his rule, and destroyed a large number of them; and he captured many knights and laid siege to Rouen.⁵⁸⁹ But, considering the fortifications of the place and the loss of his men, and realizing that he would accomplish nothing there, inflamed with a great fury,⁵⁹⁰ he burned his mangonels, trebuchets, and other siege engines, and left. Finally, as Lent arrived, he ended his campaign.⁵⁹¹ Then John, called Lackland, brother of the king of England, entered into a treaty with Philip, king of the Franks.⁵⁹² But [John] did this in deceit, as the result of the affair later made clear.

[103] In the year of our Lord 1194, Michael, dean [of the cathedral chapter] of Paris, was elected patriarch of Jerusalem. But the Lord arranged things otherwise, and fifteen days later he was elected once again, [this time] by the clergy of Sens as archbishop, with the agreement of King Philip and of all the people of the city, and he was consecrated as archbishop eight before the Kalends of May.⁵⁹³ It is not in our power to explain here to what extent and how well he prospered before becoming archbishop, in terms of the management of the schools at Paris and the distribution of alms and many other goods.

[104] In that same year, a little three-year-old boy from Courneuve who had happened to drown was brought back to life by the prayers and merits of the blessed martyr Denis.

[105] Three months later, six before the Ides of May,⁵⁹⁴ King Philip once more assembled his army and entered Normandy and laid siege to Verneuil. After three weeks, when he had battered down a part of the walls, news came that the city of Evreux, which the king had fortified and was holding, had been captured by the Normans. The king’s knights had been taken prisoner there and many had been disgracefully beheaded. On hearing this, the king, upset and inflamed with a great fury,⁵⁹⁵ left the siege [of Verneuil]. He drove off the Normans and leveled the city [of Evreux] and in his violent mood he even destroyed God’s own churches.⁵⁹⁶ His army which had remained at the siege [of Verneuil], seeing that the king was gone and that the enemy was coming on, suddenly pulled up tents and folded pavilions and went off following the king, leaving behind the greater part of its provisions. Those who had been besieged then came out and were enriched by all the provisions and spoils of the Franks which had been abandoned in their haste.

[106] In that same year, seventeen before the Kalends of June,⁵⁹⁷ William, count of Leicester,⁵⁹⁸ a brave and greathearted man, was taken prisoner by King Philip and imprisoned at Étampes. Meanwhile the king of England with his army took [the castle of] Loches and expelled the canons of Saint-Martin of Tours, violently plundered their possessions, and did much wickedness to God’s churches in those regions.

[107] In that same year, in the region of Beauvais, between Clermont and Compiègne, there occurred such rain, thunder, lightning, and storms as was beyond the memory of anyone alive. Stones falling from the heaven the size of eggs, square and triangular, mixed with rain, utterly destroyed the fruit trees, vines, and crops. In many places villages were destroyed by lightning and burned. Crows in great numbers were seen in a storm of this sort, flying from place to place carrying live coals in their beaks and setting fire to houses. Individuals of both sexes were killed by thunderbolts, which presented a miraculous sight to observers, and many other frightful things were shown on that day. A prodigious event ought well to terrify men and keep them from wickedness. We have heard that on the same day the castle of Chaumont in the bishopric of Laon was destroyed by lightning.

In that same year the church of Notre-Dame at Chartres caught fire and burned.⁵⁹⁹

In that same year a certain man of Vierzon was freed from prison at Rouen by the prayers of the Blessed Denis.

[108] Philip, king of the Franks, upon learning that the king of England had expelled the clergy from the church of Saint-Martin of Tours and had plundered their goods, in turn seized all of the churches which were in his land but belonged to bishoprics or abbeys which were in the power of the king of England. And at the prompting of certain wicked men, he threw out the monks or clergy who were serving God there, and he turned their revenues to his own use. And indeed he severely oppressed his own churches in his own kingdom at that time with heavy and unaccustomed financial burdens. He heaped up many stores of wealth in various places, content to spend only modestly, saying that the kings of the Franks, his predecessors, lived as poor men who in times of need spent nothing on their hired troops and so, amid pressing warfare, had suffered no modest loss to their kingdom. In amassing this wealth, however, the king’s primary goal was the liberation of the Holy Land of Jerusalem from the pagans, and the restitution of the Christians, and the vigorous defense of the kingdom of the Franks from its foes—even though some individuals who understood less, not knowing the will and intent of the king, accused him of excessive greed and grandeur. But, because he had learned from wise men that there is a time to gather and a time to scatter what has been gathered,⁶⁰⁰ as opportunity came his way, he gathered much so that in time of need⁶⁰¹ he might distribute the most to a greater number. He made this very clear in the fortification of cities, the repair of walls, and the construction of countless castles.

[109] Afterward, while King Philip and his army were crossing the land of Count Louis [of Blois],⁶⁰² the king of England with a large force of armed knights quite unexpectedly charged out of the woods and forcefully carried off King Philip’s packhorses, which were loaded with money, much silver, and various equipment.⁶⁰³ While these things were going on in the land of Count Louis of Blois, John Lackland, Count David, and the count of Arundel⁶⁰⁴ with their army and the citizens of Rouen laid siege to Vaudreuil, which King Philip had fortified and was holding.⁶⁰⁵ A week later, at night, King Philip arrived with a few crossbowmen, and at the break of day he charged their castle. The Normans flew off in haste and headed into the woods, abandoning their trebuchets, mangonels, and other apparatus of war, along with a huge supply of provisions. Quite a few of the Normans were killed in battle while fleeing, and more were captured and ransomed.

[110] In the same year the emperor Henry brought under his rule the whole of Apulia, Calabria, and Sicily, which pertained to him by the law of inheritance on behalf of his wife.⁶⁰⁶

[111] In the same year, Raymond [V] of Toulouse died. He was succeeded by his son Raymond [VI], a relative of the king of the Franks through Constance, the sister of King Louis [VII].⁶⁰⁷ In an unusually disturbed spell of weather, tornadoes, storms, and hail destroyed the vineyards and harvests; and a fierce famine ensued in the following year.

[112] In the year of our Lord 1195, in the month of July, the truce was broken by the king of England and war was renewed. Then King Philip completely leveled the town of Vaudreuil, which he had fortified and had been holding. A few days later, that is, thirteen before the Kalends of September,⁶⁰⁸ he gave his sister Alix, whom the king of England, Richard, had repudiated, to the count of Ponthieu in marriage.⁶⁰⁹

[113] At that time, Emir Momelin, king of the Moabites,⁶¹⁰ that is, “king of the faithful,” invaded Spain with a vast number of Moabite warriors and plundered the lands of the Christians. Alfonso [VIII], the king of Castile,⁶¹¹ rode out against him with a host of troops. Battle ensued, and he was defeated and escaped with only a few Christians.⁶¹² It is said that in this battle more than fifty thousand Christians were slain. This misfortune befell the Christians because King Alfonso ruthlessly oppressed his knights while empowering peasants. For this reason, when the knights were at a loss, having neither horses nor weapons, the peasants, unskilled in arms, turned and fled. And as they fled in haste, the Moabites cut them down from behind in pitiful slaughter.

[114] While these things were happening in Spain, Richard, king of England, assembled his forces from all over and besieged the castle called Arques, which the king of the Franks had fortified and was holding. But, after the passage of a few days, the king of the Franks arrived with six hundred chosen French knights, drove off the Normans, destroyed the village called Dieppe, led away the men, and burned their ships. But as King Philip was returning with his men and crossing the woods, which are commonly called forests, the king of England, completely unforeseen, suddenly emerged from these forests with his troops and slew some men of the rear guard. Mercadier, who was then leader of [Richard’s] mercenaries,⁶¹³ with his forces destroyed the outskirts of Issoudun, in the area of Bourges, and took the fortification and strengthened it with his men to the advantage of the king of England. After a short while a truce was arranged, and each king ceased the campaign.

[115] In this same year there was such unseasonable weather with such pouring rain that the crops germinated in the ears and hull before the time of harvest. With the havoc of the unseasonable weather the previous year and then the uncontrolled flood of rain, such a period of scarcity followed that a bushel of wheat was sold at Paris for sixteen sous, of millet for ten sous, a mixture [of the two] for thirteen or fourteen sous, and a bushel of salt for forty sous. For this reason King Philip, moved by piety, gave orders that far greater alms be distributed to the poor from his own resources, and by earnest correspondence he pressed the bishops and abbots and the general populace to do the same. The monastery of the Blessed Denis distributed to the poor all the silver which it was able to lay hands on.

[116] In that same year a certain priest named Fulk [of Neuilly] began to preach in Gaul.⁶¹⁴ And by means of his preaching and frequent warnings to the populace, many were called away from their usurious practices, and the interest [they had collected] was returned to poor Christians.

[117] In the following month of November [1195], as its term was reached, the truce ended and war began again. Philip gathered his forces in the region of Berry near Issoudun. Opposing him there was the king of England and his army. Just as each army was girding for imminent battle, against the expectations of all who were there, by the miraculous work of the Lord—who changes when He wills the plans of kings and brings to nothing the designs of people,⁶¹⁵—it happened that the king of England laid down his arms, and with a few followers swiftly approached the king of the Franks. There, before all, he did homage to King Philip for the duchy of Normandy and for the counties of Poitou and Anjou. After that, in the same place, each king swore an oath to maintain the peace. And for the rest, a conference was planned between the kings concerning the establishment and strengthening of peace, [to be held] during the octave of Epiphany,⁶¹⁶ between Vaudreuil and the castle of Gaillon. And thus each of their armies returned home rejoicing. King Philip, not unmindful of his patron and protector, the Blessed Denis, hastened to the church of the most blessed martyr as quickly as possible. There he humbly offered upon the altar a cloak of costly silk, in token of his love and in thanks to God and the blessed martyrs.

[118] Indeed when the month of January [1196] came, on the fifteenth day of that month, at a gathering of archbishops, bishops, and barons from both sides, at the same place, peace was reestablished most firmly between the two kings. And it was confirmed by oaths and exchange of hostages as surety from both sides, in accordance with the understanding contained in the original agreement.

[119] In the year of our Lord 1196, in the month of March, a huge, sudden flood of waters and rivers in many areas destroyed many villages, killed the inhabitants, and smashed the bridges of the river Seine. The clergy and people beheld the threatening prodigies of the Lord, which were then in the heaven above, and the signs on the earth beneath.⁶¹⁷ And fearing another fresh cataclysm, the faithful populace devoted to God cried to the Lord⁶¹⁸ with groans, tearful lamentations, and constant fasting and prayers as they advanced in barefoot procession, so that He might spare them when they had reformed, and deflect mercifully from them the lash of this wrath, and deign to hear them with pity in their penance and fitting amends. King Philip, as though but one of the people, followed behind these processions, humbly sighing and crying. The holy monastery of the Blessed Denis, carrying the nail of our Lord and the Crown of Thorns and the arm of Saint Simeon the Elder, came with sighs and tears crying to the Lord⁶¹⁹ and blessing the waters in the sign of the cross, saying,

[120] “By these signs of his holy Passion may the Lord send these waters back to their own place.” And, after a few days, when the Lord was appeased, the waters returned into their channel.⁶²⁰

[121] In that same year, in the month of May [1196], John, prior of the church of the Blessed Denis, was made abbot of Corbie.⁶²¹

[122] In that same year, in the month of June, Baldwin, count of Flanders,⁶²² did homage to King Philip at Compiègne in the presence of William, archbishop of Reims, and Marie, countess of Champagne,⁶²³ and many others.

[123] In that same year and month, King Philip took a wife, Marie by name, the daughter of the duke of Méran and Bohemia, the marquis of Istria.⁶²⁴

[124] A short time afterward, Richard, king of England, made war upon Philip, king of the Franks, without regard to the oaths and treaties mentioned above. He seized by trick the castle of Vierzon, in the region of Berry, and leveled it. He had sworn to the lord of Vierzon that he would do him no harm. Because of this, the king [of France] assembled his army and forcefully besieged the castle which is called Aumale. While King Philip was engaged there, the king of England took back the castle called Nonancourt by trick and treason, for he paid off the garrison of knights. Then, placing his own knights and crossbowmen there, well supplied with arms and provisions, [King Richard] turned back toward the king [of France] with his Norman troops and mercenaries. Now the king of the Franks had surrounded the abovementioned castle [of Aumale] with his trebuchets and mangonels, and assaulted it vigorously for more than seven weeks. Those inside, for their part, were staunch defenders who were fiercely resisting the Franks, and they sometimes made no small slaughter of them. One day, as the king of England was attacking the enemy, he was surprised by the sudden arrival of the Franks and he turned and fled. As the king of England took flight, Guy of Thouars,⁶²⁵ a man powerful in war and fierce in combat, was taken prisoner with other knights. The Franks returned to the siege and attacked the castle more fiercely by day and night. Finally, after the tower was broken and the walls smashed by the trebuchets and mangonels, the warriors within gave King Philip a sum of silver, having agreed to terms allowing them to depart unharmed, in peace, and with their property, horses, and weapons. This was done, but some of the Franks, not knowing the king’s objective and will, said it was a mistake. When these [defenders of the castle] had departed and been led back to their own forces with their property in safety, King Philip destroyed the castle right down to the ground. Finally, a few days after coming to Gisors, they laid siege to Nonancourt. Surrounding it with siege engines and attacking it fiercely by day and night, in a relatively short time, in a marvelous battle, he took the oft-mentioned castle together with its fifteen knights, eighteen crossbowmen, many other prisoners, and an ample supply of provisions. He entrusted all this to the care of Count Robert.⁶²⁶

[125] In this same year, three before the Ides of September,⁶²⁷ Maurice, of venerable memory, bishop of the Parisians, father of the poor and orphaned, went happily to the Lord.⁶²⁸ Among his innumerable good deeds, he founded four abbeys and endowed them most piously with his own funds—that is, Hérivaux, Hermières, Yerres, Gif⁶²⁹—and many other things which would be long to relate. At the end he bestowed all his wealth upon the poor. Because he believed fervently in the resurrection of the body, about which he had in his life heard many experts express doubts, and desiring at his death to call them back from their disbelief, he ordered⁶³⁰ that a scroll be written containing this text: “I believe that my Redeemer lives and on the last day I shall rise out of the earth and in my flesh I will see my Savior. Whom I myself shall see, and not another, and my eyes shall behold. This, my hope, is laid up in my bosom.”⁶³¹ In his final moments, he instructed that this scroll be unrolled upon his breast by his faithful friends and followers, so that all literate men gathering at his burial on the day of his death and reading this holy text would believe most fervently in the shared resurrection of all bodies, and would doubt no more thereafter.

Eudes of Sully, the brother of Henry the archbishop of Bourges, succeeded him,⁶³² a man most unlike his predecessor in life and morals.

[126] In the year of our Lord 1197, Baldwin, count of Flanders, openly abandoned his allegiance to the king of the Franks and allied himself to Richard, king of England. He violently attacked the king of the Franks and his land. In a similar fashion, Renaud, the son of the count of Dammartin, allied with the king of England.⁶³³ The king of the Franks had given him in marriage the countess of Boulogne with her county, out of his great love and friendship for him. But—inspired by the devil—scorning the homage he had sworn, violating pacts and oaths, he attacked his lord, the king of the Franks, in war. Allied with mercenaries and other enemies of the kingdom of the Franks, he plundered lands, took spoils, and brought much evil to the kingdom of the Franks.

[127] That same year, nine before the Kalends of November,⁶³⁴ a Saturday, Hugh Foucaud, abbot of the Blessed Denis, passed away, at the third hour of the morning.⁶³⁵ Hugh of Milan, prior of Notre-Dame of Argenteuil, succeeded him.⁶³⁶

[128] In that same year, Henry [VI], emperor of the Romans, passed away.⁶³⁷ By this time he had brought Sicily under his rule through tyranny, having crushed many great and noble men there and butchered archbishops and bishops in violation of the Christian religion. Like his predecessors, he had always exercised his tyranny against the Roman Church. For this reason Pope Innocent III⁶³⁸ opposed the promotion of [Henry’s] brother Philip [of Swabia], and excommunicated all of his supporters. [Innocent] himself forcefully supported Otto, the son of the duke of Saxony, and had him crowned king of Germany at Aachen.⁶³⁹

[129] At this time, Henry [II], count of Troyes, died at Acre.⁶⁴⁰ He had been made king of Jerusalem in Outremer after the return of the two kings. Thibaut, his brother, succeeded him in the county of Troyes.⁶⁴¹

[130] In that same year, six before the Ides of January,⁶⁴² Pope Celestine III went to the Lord. He was succeeded by a Roman, Innocent III, who previously had been called Lothar.⁶⁴³

[131] In March of that same year, Marie, the famous countess of Troyes, died.⁶⁴⁴ She was the sister of Philip, king of the Franks, by her father; and sister of Richard, king of the English, by her mother. And she was the mother of the two men mentioned above, that is, Henry, king of Jerusalem, and Thibaut [III], count of Troyes.

[132] In that same year, that is, in the third year after the priest Fulk [of Neuilly] started to preach,⁶⁴⁵ the Lord Jesus Christ began to perform many miracles through this priest. He restored sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the mute, walking to the lame,⁶⁴⁶ all by means of prayer and the laying on of the priest’s hand. And he did many other things which it would be long to relate here, and which we pass over because of people’s excessive mistrust.

[133] In the year of our Lord 1198, the oft-mentioned Fulk joined with another priest in the office of preaching. His name was Peter of Roissy, also from the diocese of Paris,⁶⁴⁷ a man quite well educated and, as it appeared to us, a man full of the spirit of God.⁶⁴⁸ He was dedicated to daily divine preaching and brought back many people from the sin of usury and called back a host of men from the stench of wantonness. He redirected into chaste marriage women who had been living in brothels and exposing themselves to all who crossed their path, not out of personal inclination but shamelessly for vile gain. Other women, refusing marriage and devoutly desiring to serve only God, were brought together and took on the habit of regular religious observance in the new abbey of Saint-Antoine at Paris, which had been established at that time for their sake.⁶⁴⁹ But should someone wish to know with what purpose each one will have preached, let him await the end. For it is the end which most clearly proclaims the purposes of men: your goal defines the end of your effort.⁶⁵⁰

In addition to these two, Herluin, a monk of the Blessed Denis at Paris, a man deeply learned in Holy Scripture, preached in the villages on the coast of Brittany. Because of his ministry and work of preaching, a vast host of Bretons received crosses from his hand;⁶⁵¹ and suddenly, ahead of other pilgrims,⁶⁵² having crossed the sea, they came to Acre, led by this same monk. But there they broke into many factions and, having no one to direct them, they accomplished nothing.

In this year, there appeared new things without number. At Rozay-en-Brie, in the sacrifice on the altar, the wine was seen to change into blood and the bread into flesh.

In the Vermandois a certain knight who had been dead came back to life. And thereafter he predicted many future events to many people, and he lived a long while afterward without food or drink.

In Gaul, around the feast of St. John the Baptist,⁶⁵³ dew falling from the sky at night imbued the ears of corn with honey, so that many people chewing the ears most distinctly tasted honey.

During a great storm a thunderbolt killed a certain man at Paris, and hail suddenly damaged the crops and vines in other places.

A few days later, in the month of July, such a powerful storm arose that it completely destroyed the crops, vineyards, and woods from Tremblay all the way to the monastery at Chelles and surrounding areas.⁶⁵⁴ Stones were seen falling from the sky the size of large nuts, and in some places the size of eggs and even larger, according to rumor.

A popular rumor spread, saying that Antichrist was born in Babylon and the end of the world was near.

During the three preceding years, crop failures due to the great flood of rain denied sustenance to the people, and this brought France into a time of famine.

In this same year, in the month of July [1198], against everyone’s advice and even against the king’s own edict, King Philip brought back the Jews to Paris and severely beset the churches of God.⁶⁵⁵ For this reason, in the following month of September, on the vigil of St. Michael,⁶⁵⁶ punishment followed.⁶⁵⁷ For while the king of the Franks was unprepared, the king of England with a force of fifteen hundred armed knights, many mercenaries, and a vast host of armed foot soldiers unexpectedly laid waste to the Vexin around Gisors, destroyed the fortress which they call Courcelles, and burned and plundered many rural villages. King Philip, burning with a towering rage, then tried to reach the castle of Gisors with only five hundred knights. But because of the enemy blocking the way, no route was open to him. When he saw this, his brave spirit overtook his equanimity and he launched a furious charge right into the battle lines of the enemy. With only a few knights, he fought the enemy bravely and by the mercy of God⁶⁵⁸ he came out unharmed and made it to Gisors, though many of his knights were taken prisoner and many others fled. In fact the names of the men captured in this melee were Alain of Roucy,⁶⁵⁹ Matthew of Marly,⁶⁶⁰ William of Mello the younger,⁶⁶¹ Philip of Nanteuil,⁶⁶² and many others whose names we have not wished to write, for we are too sick at heart. And thus the king of England returned in triumph from this engagement and divided up the spoils.

Now the king of the Franks was greatly upset by what had happened. He assembled his forces, but he did not bring to mind his offense of God.⁶⁶³ He invaded and laid waste to Normandy all the way to Neubourg and Beaumont-le-Roger, and carried off much plunder. But at once he dismissed his army so that each man went home, and many people thought this hardly a prudent thing to do. When the king of England heard of this, a few days later he carried away great plunder from the district of Beauvais and the Vexin with his mercenaries led by Mercadier. He ambushed and took prisoner the bishop of that very city [of Beauvais],⁶⁶⁴ a strong warrior, and William of Mello, who were hotly pursuing him to recover the plunder, and he imprisoned them for a long time. And the count of Flanders also seized Saint-Omer at that time.

[134] Philip, duke of Swabia, brother of Emperor Henry, took control of the greater part of the empire. In opposition to him, Otto, the son of the duke of Saxony,⁶⁶⁵ with the help of his uncle Richard king of England, the count of Flanders, and the archbishop of Cologne, was crowned king of Germany at Aachen. The king of the Franks, Philip, now allied himself to this Philip, the German king and duke of Swabia, hoping with his help to subdue the count of Flanders more easily to deal with the king of England.

While these things were going on, Pope Innocent III sent to France his legate, Peter of Capua, cardinal-deacon of Santa Maria in Via Lata, to reestablish peace between Philip, king of the Franks, and Richard, king of England. Arriving in France around the nativity of our Lord,⁶⁶⁶ this venerable man was unable to reestablish the peace, which seemed beyond repair. But, based on a foundation of faith between the two kings, he obtained a five-year truce from them. But he was never able to secure it by hostages, because of the deceits of the king of England.

[135] The deeds of the nineteenth year of Philip, king of the Franks.⁶⁶⁷

In the year of our Lord 1199, six before the Ides of April,⁶⁶⁸ Richard, king of England, died after being gravely wounded outside of the city of Limoges. He had besieged a castle which the people of Limoges call the castle of Châlus-Chabrol. In the first week of Our Lord’s Passion,⁶⁶⁹ after a certain treasure had been discovered there by a certain knight, Richard, out of excessive greed, hotly demanded that the viscount of Limoges turn it over to him. For the knight who had found the treasure had fled to the viscount.⁶⁷⁰ So, while the king was busy besieging the castle and assaulting it vigorously each day, a certain crossbowman, from out of nowhere, fired a bolt and mortally wounded the king of England. And a few days later he went the way of all flesh. He was buried and rests next to his father at Fontevraud in a certain abbey of nuns. The aforementioned treasure, so it was said, was [a representation of] a certain emperor with his wife, sons, and daughters, done in the purest of gold, showing them sitting together at a golden table and providing a clear memorial to their descendants at that time. King Richard was succeeded by his brother John, who was called Lackland. He was crowned at Canterbury on the following feast of the Ascension of our Lord.⁶⁷¹

[136] At that time the king of the Franks, with matters now turning in his favor, seized the city of Evreux with its surrounding fortresses, that is, Avrilly and Aquigny, garrisoned them with his men, and laid waste Normandy all the way to Le Mans. Arthur, count of Brittany, the nephew of the king of England, then still a boy, invaded the boundaries of Anjou with a strong force and seized the county of Anjou. And when he met the king of the Franks at Le Mans, he did homage to him and confirmed by oath his loyalty in all things, as did his mother.⁶⁷² While these and other matters were happening there, Philip, count of Namur,⁶⁷³ the brother of the count of Flanders, was taken prisoner by Robert of Belesio and Eustashe of Neuville, together with twelve knights, in the month of May, near the castle they call Lens. And he was handed over to King Philip with Peter of Douai, a cleric who had worked many wrongs against the king.⁶⁷⁴ Moreover, the bishop-elect of Cambrai had been taken prisoner by Hugh of Hamelincourt. For this reason Peter [of Capua], the aforementioned legate of the Roman Church, placed all of France under interdict.⁶⁷⁵ But, after three months went by, the king, having received more reasonable advice, returned the said Peter [of Douai] to the holy church. Eleanor [of Aquitaine], the former queen of England, rendered homage to King Philip at Tours for the county of Poitiers which came to her by the law of inheritance.⁶⁷⁶ And then the king led Arthur to Paris, six before the Kalends of August.⁶⁷⁷ Three days later, that is, three before the Kalends of August,⁶⁷⁸ [King Philip] went humbly on pilgrimage to the church of the Blessed Denis. And there in pledge of his love and devotion to God and the blessed martyrs he humbly laid a silk cloak upon the altar. In the month of October, the truce between the two kings was reaffirmed by oath [to last] until the following feast of St. John.⁶⁷⁹ The same was also done between Baldwin, count of Flanders, and Philip, king of the Franks.⁶⁸⁰

[137] In this same year, Henry, archbishop of Bourges, died.⁶⁸¹ William, abbot of Chaalis, succeeded him.⁶⁸² Then in the following month, that is, November, Michael, archbishop of Sens, a theologian filled by God, went to the Lord.⁶⁸³ He was succeeded by Peter of Corbeil, who had once been the teacher of Pope Innocent [III]. Through [Innocent’s] hand and authority he warranted to become first the bishop of Cambrai and then of Sens.⁶⁸⁴

[138] In that same year, in the month of December, on the feast of St. Nicholas,⁶⁸⁵ the abovementioned cardinal, Peter [of Capua], convened a council of all the bishops, abbots, and priors of the whole realm, at Dijon. But because he was working against the king of France to place the kingdom under interdict, the king’s envoys appealed this to the See of Rome.⁶⁸⁶ The cardinal, however, undeterred by the appeal, imposed his sentence in that same place and in the presence of all the bishops, but he decreed that it not be made public until twenty days after the nativity of our Lord.⁶⁸⁷ When twenty days had passed after the nativity, the whole land of the king of the Franks lay under interdict. Upon learning of this, the king was fiercely angry that his bishops had agreed to the imposition of the interdict;⁶⁸⁸ and he threw the bishops out of their own sees, ordered that their canons and clergy be stripped of their property and thrown out of his land, and confiscated their property. Even the priests who remained in the parishes were all thrown out, and he confiscated their goods. To top off all this wickedness, he shut up in his castle at Étampes his lawful wife, Ingeborg, the holy queen, adorned by every virtue and character, now deprived of the comfort of her whole court.⁶⁸⁹ He did one more thing which upset all of France. He levied a third upon his knights, who once were accustomed to rejoice in their freedom, and also upon their men; that is, he forcefully seized a third part of all their goods. And he squeezed unbearable taxes and unheard-of levies from his townspeople.

[139] The deeds of the twentieth year of Philip, king of the Franks.⁶⁹⁰

In the year of our Lord 1200, in the month of May, on the Ascension of our Lord,⁶⁹¹ peace was reestablished between Philip, king of the Franks, and John, king of England, at a place between Vernon and the island of Andely.⁶⁹² Just how and on what terms this peace was established between them, and how the land was divided between them, is more fully contained in the original documents that they executed and duly sealed.⁶⁹³ And then, on the following Monday, at that same place, Louis, the only born son of the king of the Franks, married Blanche, the daughter of Alfonso of Castile and niece of John, king of England.⁶⁹⁴ And upon this wedding John, king of England, gave over to this Louis, and to his heirs in perpetuity, his claim to all the fortifications, cities, castles, and lands that the king of the Franks had seized. And, after his own death, if he himself should die without a legitimate heir, he conceded all his lands on the other side of the sea to this same Louis, all objections notwithstanding.⁶⁹⁵

[140] In the year of our Lord 1201 [sic],⁶⁹⁶ upon the nativity of the Blessed Virgin, Octavian, [cardinal]-bishop of Ostia and Velletri, came to France as legate.⁶⁹⁷ By means of his stern warning the lord king took back his wife, Ingeborg, into some sort of grace, and set aside his concubine⁶⁹⁸ for the time being. A council was then convened at Soissons by Octavian and John of Saint-Paul, cardinal-priest and the legate of the Apostolic See. King Philip was there with the archbishops, bishops, and nobility of the whole kingdom in the month of April [1201],⁶⁹⁹ and the issue of confirming the marriage to Queen Ingeborg or ending it was debated for fifteen days. After many and various arguments by the legal experts, the king was at the end of his patience with the endless delay, and he packed up and left with his wife, Ingeborg, early in the morning, leaving the cardinals and bishops there without saying goodbye. He informed them through his envoys that he was taking his wife with him as his wife, and that he no longer wished to be separated from her. When this was known, the council came to an end, and the cardinals and bishops were dumbfounded, for they had come together to arrange a divorce. So John of Saint-Paul went home very much abashed. Octavian, however, remained in France. And so King Philip in his turn escaped the hands of the Romans.

[141] In that same year, nine before the Kalends of June,⁷⁰⁰ Thibaut [III], count of Troyes, died at the age of twenty-five. Since he had no male heir, the king of the Franks took his land under his guard and care, along with his wife and only daughter. But shortly thereafter a son was posthumously born to [Count Thibaut], for his wife had been left pregnant at the time of his death.⁷⁰¹

[142] In that same year, on the eve of the Kalends of June,⁷⁰² John, king of England, came to France. He was received most honorably by King Philip, and most gloriously welcomed in the church of the Blessed Denis with hymns, praises, and a solemn procession. Thereafter the king of the Franks led him into Paris with great respect, and he was received with honor by the citizens, lodged in the king’s palace, and attended to most devotedly in all respects. All of the different wines of the lord king were set before him and his people, and he was freely invited to drink from them. In addition, King Philip courteously bestowed upon John, king of England, precious gifts, gold, silver, a variety of garments, Spanish warhorses, palfreys, and other very valuable gifts. And so, in sound peace and delight and with the king’s accord, he said farewell and took his leave.⁷⁰³

[143] In that same year, before the legate Octavian returned to Rome, the king’s concubine, Marie, upon the summons of the Lord, went the way of all flesh.⁷⁰⁴ The king of the Franks had a son named Philip and a daughter named Jeanne by her.⁷⁰⁵ He had her and kept her for five years, contrary to the law and God’s decree. After Marie’s death, upon the request of the king of the Franks, Pope Innocent III ordered that these children be [made] his legitimate heirs, and thereafter confirmed this in writing.⁷⁰⁶ This deed dissatisfied very many people at that time.

[144] In that same year, King Philip gathered his army and came to Soissons, for he had intended to ravage the land of the count of Rethel⁷⁰⁷ and the land of Roger of Rozoi.⁷⁰⁸ Through their tyranny they were robbing the churches of God and stealing their goods, and were unwilling to make restitution in accordance with the order which the lord king directed to them by letters and by envoy. But, when they learned of the king’s arrival, they hastened to meet him and gave guarantees, with oaths and hostages, that they would entirely restore all that had been carried off from the churches, in accordance with the king’s desire, and that they would make satisfaction to the lord king for their crimes. The king returned to Vernon and there, between Vernon and the island of Andely, he conferred with the king of England in the following fashion.⁷⁰⁹

[145] The king of the Franks warned John, king of England, as his liege man, that he should come to Paris fifteen days after Easter to answer fully those matters with which the king of the Franks should charge him concerning the counties of Poitou and Anjou and the duchy of Aquitaine.⁷¹⁰ But, since the king of England did not appear himself on the appointed day and chose not to send an adequate response, the king of the Franks, after taking counsel with his barons and leading men,⁷¹¹ gathered his forces and invaded Normandy. He completely destroyed a certain small stronghold called Boutavant.⁷¹² Then he seized Argueil and Mortemer, and finally he forcibly brought under his control Gournay and the entire land which Hugh of Gournay was holding.⁷¹³ In that same place he made Arthur a knight, bestowing on him the county of Brittany, which pertained to [Arthur] by the law of inheritance, and he added the counties of Poitou and Anjou, which [Arthur] would acquire by right of arms. And to help him, [King Philip] gave him two hundred knights with a large sum of money. For this reason the king received Arthur as his liege man forever. With the king’s accord, Arthur departed in the month of July. A few days later, because he entered the lands of the king of England too boldly with too few troops, the king of England with a vast host of soldiers overcame Arthur by surprise, engaged him and his men, and took him prisoner,⁷¹⁴ together with Hugh Le Brun, Geoffrey of Lusignan,⁷¹⁵ and a great many other knights. When King Philip received word of this, he abandoned his siege of the castle of Arques. Coming with his army to Tours, he seized the city and set it on fire. The king of England, arriving once more with his forces, after the departure of the king of the Franks, completely destroyed this same city with the entire castle. Then after some days had passed, the king of England captured the viscount of Limoges and led him away with him. In truth, Hugh Le Brun, the viscount of Thouars, Geoffrey of Lusignan, and the viscount of Limoges were liege men of the king of England. But because [King John] had carried off by deceit the wife of Hugh Le Brun, that is, the daughter of the count of Angoulême, and had done many other foul deeds to the Poitevins, they had renounced their fidelity to him and allied themselves to the king of the Franks by oath and even by rendering hostages. As winter came on, each ceased campaigning, though without peace or truce and with their positions fortified.

[146] We have decided that at this point should be included some noteworthy deeds done at Constantinople by the barons of the Franks; specifically Baldwin count of Flanders,⁷¹⁶ Louis count of Blois,⁷¹⁷ Stephen of Perche,⁷¹⁸ the marquis of Montferrat,⁷¹⁹ and many other great men and mighty warriors.⁷²⁰ Upon the death of Richard, king of England of great renown, they took up the cross to liberate the Holy Land, having summoned to their side by oath the doge of Venice with his Venetian troops and fleet.⁷²¹ So that the chain of events might be clearer to you, we have endeavored to relate the matter more fully in the present text.

In our own time the most holy Emperor Manuel, known for great generosity, was ruling at Constantinople, and he had a son named Alexius, to whom was given in marriage Agnes, the daughter of Louis [VII], the most Christian king of the Franks.⁷²² After the death of the emperor Manuel, his uncle Andronic, led by a lust to rule, killed Alexius by having him thrown into the sea. Agnes, his wife, lived on in holy widowhood.⁷²³ Having become emperor in such tyrannical fashion, Andronic ruled for seven years, or a little less. Finally, Isaac [II]⁷²⁴ took him by surprise, had him bound to a post in the crossways at Constantinople as an archery target, and had him shot full of arrows because of his vast wickedness. After this, Isaac was made emperor. He had a brother, Alexius [III], who was a tough warrior but unjust. Isaac entrusted to him, as though to his dearest brother, all the power of the empire, except for the crown itself and the imperial title. At last—and it was the work of the devil!—prompted by envy of aggrandizing command and having solidified the support of the more powerful leaders of the empire by many lavish gifts, [Alexius III] cruelly blinded his lord and brother, the emperor Isaac, and dared to usurp for himself the name of emperor. He gave orders that the son [Alexius IV] of the blinded emperor be blinded. But, by the mercy of God,⁷²⁵ the son was freed from his squalid jail and escaped from Greece, making his way through Germany to his sister and her husband Philip, king of Germany.⁷²⁶ And this splendid youth [Alexius IV] encountered a Frank coming into Italy. Finally, when the Franks had arrived at Venice, this youth dispatched able envoys who, presenting the very sad case of father and son, proposed, with many entreaties, that if they would restore the throne to the father and son, they in turn would relieve [the Franks] of the debt of thirty-three thousand marks of silver they owed to the Venetians, and they would also pay the amount [the Franks] had paid for the sea transport, and the youth himself with the force of the empire would go with them to liberate the Holy Land, and would sufficiently provision the army from his own funds. He would also submit and unify the Church of Constantinople to the Church of Rome and to the lord pope, just like a body’s limb to its head. Therefore the youth was summoned, and he gave a solemn oath to keep to the letter of his envoys’ proposals. At once these strong and faithful men entrusted themselves to the winds and the open sea, and with this youth they sailed off through the midst of the sea’s waves, landing quite safely at Constantinople.

[147] The Greeks who were outside the city observed the boldness of the Franks and their solid trust in the Lord, and they fled without any engagement, retreating within the walls of the city. The Franks tightly and bravely besieged the city by land and sea for seven days, and in many and various engagements were achieving victories. At last, on the eighth day, the emperor [Alexius III], who had been hiding within [the city walls], came forth with fifty thousand horsemen and an innumerable host of foot soldiers and formed his battle lines to engage the Franks. Now the Franks were very few in number compared to the Greeks. Nevertheless, they were eagerly awaiting combat, for they were exceedingly sure of victory. The traitorous tyrant took a good look at the intrepid boldness of the Franks, and at once he ran fleeing with his forces back within the walls, vowing amid many threats that he would fight the next day. But that night he secretly fled, without his wife or his children. The following day the Franks vigorously attacked the city, climbing over the walls with ladders, and those most worthy of praise hurled themselves down from the walls among the Greeks and made no small slaughter of the Greeks. Now, because the Venetian doge had thought that the Greek host was handing the Franks death and destruction, when he heard what was going on, he immediately came vigorously and powerfully with his fleet to aid the Franks, like one most ready for the fight. Among them the doge himself, though an old man weak in body, was still fiery and brave in spirit.⁷²⁷ He was first to fearlessly take his helmet and join the fighting Franks.

As the Franks realize this, with fresh and renewed energy, fiercely burning for the fray—as the impious traitor and tyrant fled with his heretics, who partook of fermented bread and rebaptized our children⁷²⁸—the city of Constantinople is seized by the Franks and Venetians in a mighty effort.⁷²⁹ The youth’s father [Isaac II] is freed from prison, and at once takes over the palace. The youth [Alexius IV] is presented victoriously and hailed with worthy and overdue praises from the clergy and the people, in both the greater church⁷³⁰ and the imperial palace, and is solemnly crowned with the most precious diadem. As soon as the youth, the son of the blind Isaac, takes command, he immediately releases the Franks from their debts to the Venetians. From the imperial treasury he liberally provisions the army of the Franks. The doge of the Venetians, together with his Venetian forces, swore that they would provide sea transport and maintain their fleet for the Franks, promising that, should God bless the Franks, for which they were doubtless hoping, they would not leave them until the enemies of Jesus Christ had been utterly undone and defeated. They were led to make such a promise by the munificence of the emperor, who had paid them one hundred thousand marks of silver for the service thus far given the Franks, and what was to be provided thereafter.

After the boy emperor [Alexius IV] died in the war, upon the advice of the Venetian doge and the other princes, with the agreement of the clergy and the people, Baldwin, count of Flanders, was elected emperor by the Franks and subsequently crowned.⁷³¹ Thereafter the Eastern Church, with the acquiescence and concession of his nobility, was subjoined by this emperor and united to the Holy Roman Church and the lord pope as a limb to its head. We have seen these things written in their letters, and we have read them hoping, God willing, that in the future [they will accomplish] greater and better things in the Holy Land, when one will pursue a thousand, and two will drive away ten thousand.

[148] Deeds of the twenty-second year of Philip, king of the Franks.⁷³²

In the year of our Lord 1202 [sic], within fifteen days after Easter,⁷³³ the king of the Franks gathered his army and invaded Aquitaine, and as the forces of Poitou and Brittany came to aid him, he took many fortifications. Then the count of Alençon⁷³⁴ joined in league with King Philip and turned over all his land to the king’s guardianship. Returning then into Normandy with his army, [King Philip] took Conches, the island of Andely, and Vaudreuil.

While these matters were in progress in France, Pope Innocent III sent the abbot of Casamari⁷³⁵ to the king of the Franks and the king of England to restore peace between them. In accordance with the lord pope’s order, joined by the abbot of Trois-Fontaines,⁷³⁶ they set before each king the apostolic order directing that, having gathered the archbishops, bishops, and leading men of the whole kingdom, preserving the jurisdiction of each king, they should make peace and restore to their original condition the abbeys of monks and nuns and the other churches ruined by their wars. When this order became known, at Mantes, on the octave of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary,⁷³⁷ an appeal was lodged by the lord king while the bishops, abbots, and barons were assembling, and they returned the case for the consideration of the highest pontiff.⁷³⁸

On the last day of this month,⁷³⁹ the king of France gathered his army and laid siege to Radepont.⁷⁴⁰ After fifteen days, having set movable wooden towers and a large number of other engines around the town, he vigorously attacked and seized it. In the castle he took prisoner twenty knights—tough defenders—and a hundred sergeants and thirty crossbowmen. Recouping his forces and bringing the army up to strength, he laid siege to [the Château] Gaillard. This was a very strong castle built by King Richard on a high rock over the river Seine next to the island of Andely.⁷⁴¹ The king of the Franks and his army spent five months and more on this siege. He was unwilling to storm the castle, out of concern for the loss of his men and also for the destruction of the walls and tower. He preferred to force those inside to surrender because of famine and lack of provisions. But, since he suspected that they would flee, he began to have a great ditch dug around the castle, such that his entire army could pitch its tents inside the ditch, and he raised ten wooden towers around it. Finally, as the feast of St. Peter’s Chair arrived,⁷⁴² having set up his trebuchets and mangonels and movable wooden towers and rams, he began to storm the castle very fiercely. Those inside looked to their defense and fought the Franks bitterly. After fifteen days, on the eve of the Nones of March,⁷⁴³ as the walls were breached and broken, the Franks captured the said castle in a great battle. Thirty-six knights, famous men and strong defenders, were made prisoner there.⁷⁴⁴ Indeed, four knights had been killed in the siege.

[149] In the year of our Lord 1203 [sic], six before the Nones of May, Philip, king of the Franks, gathered his army and invaded Normandy.⁷⁴⁵ He seized Falaise, a very strong castle, and he took Domfront and a magnificent stronghold which people call Caen, with all the surrounding land all the way to Mont-Saint-Michel at Peril de la Mer, bringing it all under his dominion. Thereafter the Normans, seeking pardon of the king, handed over to him the cities which they were guarding; that is, Coutances, Bayeux, Lisieux, and Avranches, with their forts and suburbs (for he already possessed Sées and Evreux). Nothing was left in all Normandy except Rouen, the capital of Normandy, a very wealthy city full of nobility, and Verneuil and Arques, well-fortified towns located in the strongest place and garrisoned by tough warriors. Having first fortified the cities and fortresses, the king then returned from Caen and laid siege to Rouen. The Normans realized that they could not defend themselves, nor were they expecting support from the king of England. Thus they adopted a more reasonable plan, a cautious effort to maintain fealty to the king of England. They humbly sought from the king of the Franks thirty days before he would assault the city [of Rouen], Verneuil, and Arques—that is, those castles allied with the people of Rouen—a period up until the next feast of St. John the Baptist,⁷⁴⁶ so that in the meantime they could send envoys to the king of England, asking him to deign to send help to them now in such dire straits. If, however, he did not, they obligated themselves, having given sixty sons of the citizens of Rouen as hostages on these terms, to turn over the city and the named castles to the most victorious Philip, king of the Franks. When the feast of St. John came and went with no relief from the king of England, they handed over to the king of the Franks, just as they had promised, without objection, the most magnificently wealthy city of Rouen, the capital and head of all of Normandy, together with the two named castles.⁷⁴⁷ It had been 326 years since his predecessors, that is, the kings of the Franks, had possessed this city with all of Normandy, in the time of Charles the Simple. The Dane, Rollo, had arrived with his hordes and taken it from [Charles] by right of conquest.⁷⁴⁸

[150] Some while later, on the feast of St. Lawrence,⁷⁴⁹ King Philip gathered his army, invaded Aquitaine, and recovered the city of Poitiers with all the surrounding territory, that is, the castles, fortified towns, villages. And the barons of that land swore fidelity to him as they were accustomed to do to their liege lord. With winter approaching, he gave up on La Rochelle, Chinon, and Loches. Putting a siege in place around Loches and Chinon, he returned to France.⁷⁵⁰

[151] As the celebration of Easter arrived in the year of our Lord 1204 [sic],⁷⁵¹ King Philip summoned the counts, dukes, and officials of the power of the Franks.⁷⁵² He assembled many thousands of foot soldiers, paid the mounted archers, and had the whole expedition of knights set out, together with those things which would suffice to supply the armies with adequate provisions. Having gone forth he came to Loches with wagons, horsemen, archers, and siege engines beyond count. Placing them around the castle he stormed it forcefully and took it. He took prisoner the fighting force within, about 120 knights and sergeants. He gave the castle to Dreux of Mello,⁷⁵³ having established fealty and fortified the castle.

[152] He then led his whole army to Chinon, where he pitched tents and mounted his siege engines. And within a few days he forcefully stormed the castle and took it. He transferred the very brave defenders taken prisoner in the garrison—the knights, crossbowmen, and no few foot soldiers—to prison at Compiègne. After having established guards there, King Philip, ever Augustus, returned to France around the time of the feast of St. John the Baptist.⁷⁵⁴

[153] In the year of our Lord 1205, Philip, king of the Franks, as a pledge of his affection and love, conveyed to the church of the Blessed Denis the Areopagite, with dreadful reverence, having fasted and prayed, the most precious relics which Baldwin, emperor of Constantinople,⁷⁵⁵ had received from the holy chapel of the emperors, which they called the Boucoleon;⁷⁵⁶ specifically, a piece of the Holy Cross from which the Savior of the world hung, about a foot in length and of a size that someone could encircle it between thumb and index finger; some hair of our Lord Jesus Christ when he was a boy; a single thorn from our Lord’s Crown of Thorns; a rib of the holy apostle Philip with one of his teeth; a piece of the white linen cloth in which the Savior was wrapped in his cradle; a piece of his purple robe. The Cross was placed in a precious gem-encrusted golden reliquary made to its dimensions. The other relics listed were placed and are kept in another golden casket. The most Christian king of the Franks gave over all of these relics by his own hand to Henry, abbot of the Blessed Denis,⁷⁵⁷ at Paris seven before the Ides of June.⁷⁵⁸ The abbot received them with tears of joy in his eyes. And enthralled by royal generosity, singing psalms and prayers, he proceeded to the Lendit.⁷⁵⁹ There a procession of monks of the Blessed Denis, dressed in silk albs and cloaks, barefoot, met them with all the clergy and people. After a blessing with the relics was given there, with hymns and prayers and the ringing of all the bells, they were stored in the church of the thrice-Blessed Denis in large reliquaries covered with pure gold and precious gems, above the bodies of the holy martyrs, with the head of the most precious martyr Denis and the scapula of Saint John the Baptist.⁷⁶⁰

Blessed be God in all things who granted to me, his servant, though unworthy and a frail sinner, now entering old age, to behold these things by divine goodness.⁷⁶¹

[154] In the year of our Lord 1206 [sic], on the eve of the Kalends of March,⁷⁶² there was a partial eclipse of the sun, in the sixth hour of the day,⁷⁶³ in the sixteenth degree of Pisces. The following June, on the eve of the Nones of that month,⁷⁶⁴ Queen Adele, the mother of the oft-named Philip, king of the Franks, died at Paris. Thereafter she was buried at Pontigny, in Burgundy, next to her father, Thibaut, count of Troyes and Blois, who founded that abbey, as we have learned from the report of many people.⁷⁶⁵

[155] In this same year, in the month of June [1206], King Philip once again gathered his army and invaded Poitou, for he had heard that John, king of England, had gone to La Rochelle with a strong army. At this time Louis, the only son of King Philip, was ill for some time, but swiftly regained his health through God’s mercy. Then King Philip took his army to Chinon and fortified the city of Poitiers, as well as Loudun and Mirebeau and the other places he held there. And having stationed an adequate number of knights and sergeants there, he returned to Paris. John, king of England, then seized the city of Angers and totally destroyed it. The viscount of Thouars forsook his allegiance to the king of the Franks and allied himself with the king of England.⁷⁶⁶ On learning this the king of the Franks returned with a strong force to Poitou, and positioning his troops as though for combat, he laid waste the land of the viscount of Thouars while the king of England was at Thouars. At last, a truce was established, to begin on the feast of All Saints and last for two years,⁷⁶⁷ and King Philip returned to France and John to England.

[156] In that same year, in the month of December [1206], as the sins of mankind required, such a flood of waters and rivers occurred at Paris as had never been seen by men of that time or had been heard of by their forefathers. It knocked over three arches of the Petit-Pont,⁷⁶⁸ swept away a host of homes, and wreaked vast damage in many places. Therefore the monks of the Blessed Denis formed a procession with their abbot, Henry, and all the clergy and people; and, going barefoot, they blessed the waters with the nail, our Lord’s Crown of Thorns, and the most sacred wood of our Lord’s Cross. When the blessing was done, after great shedding of tears, right away the waters began to abate.⁷⁶⁹ Blessed be God in all things, who preserves those that hope in Him.⁷⁷⁰

[157] In the year of our Lord 1207, King Philip gathered his army, went into Aquitaine, and laid waste the land of the viscount of Thouars. He captured Parthenay, overran a host of surrounding strongholds, and left them, now fortified, in the care of his marshal and William des Roches.⁷⁷¹ The king then returned to Paris.

[158] In the following year, that is, 1208, Eudes, bishop of Paris, died three before the Ides of July.⁷⁷² He was succeeded by Peter, treasurer of Tours.⁷⁷³

In that year, the abovementioned marshal and William des Roches, having mustered nearly three hundred knights, surprised and defeated the viscount of Thouars and Savery of Mauléon,⁷⁷⁴ who had entered the lands of the king with a strong force and were carrying off much plunder. Forty knights or more were taken prisoner in this engagement; specifically, Hugh of Thouars,⁷⁷⁵ the brother of the viscount; Aimery of Lusignan, the son of the viscount; Porteclie;⁷⁷⁶ and many other bold warriors whose names we do not want to list. They sent all these prisoners to their lord, the king of the Franks, at Paris, under close guard. At length a truce was established and they retired from campaigning.

[159] In this same year, a certain count palatine (who is called a “landgrave” in their language, that is, a count of the palace) slew Philip, the Roman emperor.⁷⁷⁷ After his death, Otto, the son of the duke of Saxony, was attempting to acquire the empire through the efforts and authority of Pope Innocent III.

[160] In this same year [1208], Pope Innocent III sent to France his legate, Galon, cardinal-deacon of the title of Santa Maria in Portico, an expert in law, distinguished by his lofty ethics, a most hardworking overseer of all the churches, and devoutly dedicated to the church of the Blessed Denis.⁷⁷⁸ In these days Pope Innocent wrote to Philip, king of the Franks, and to all the leading men of his kingdom, ordering and directing that, as true catholic men, faithful to Jesus Christ, they should invade with a strong army the land of Toulouse, Albi, and Cahors, parts of Narbonne and Beziers, and many other neighboring lands, and they should destroy the heretics who lived in those lands.⁷⁷⁹ And, should they meet death on the way or in combat against these people, this same pope, on behalf of God and by authority of the apostles Peter and Paul and on his own authority, absolved them of every sin done from the day of their birth for which they will have confessed and not done penance.⁷⁸⁰