“In the map of the Holy Land, by M. Robert, after the manuscripts of the Sieurs Sanson, there is a city of Sarona, situated between Lidda and Antipatris, towards the centre of the present forest. He makes this city a royal city of the Hebrews. He places, as M. D’Anville does, the city of Thamnath Sara; and at a short distance to the north, a city of Ozensara.
“The resemblance of these different names leads me to think they may be all formed from the primitive Sar, which, in many languages, signifies oaks, woods, forests as Diodorus points out, in book v., when saying that the Gauls gave the name of Saronides to certain philosophers of their country, because they dwelt in forests of oaks, and taught under the shade of those trees. We have preserved this sar in the word sarman, the wood of the vine; in serpe (or sarpe, low Breton), an instrument to cut wood; surbacane, a perforated stick, to throw small arrows or other projectiles; sarse, a wooden cask; esserter, or essarter, to pull up bushes in a place about to be cultivated.
“I leave it to pens more versed than mine in the science of etymology, to follow this subject in a more learned and certain manner.
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No. 19.
Ralph Dicet.
Ralph Dicet was of London, and lived, as it is said, in the reign of John; he was a man remarkable for his piety and learning.
He says: “In 1185, the king of England (Henry II.) convoked the conventual abbots, the counts and barons, near the Fountain of the Clerks,[136] at London.
“After having heard the patriarch, and the master of the Hospitallers, the king entreated all who were present to send to Jerusalem all the assistance in their power. They then deliberated whether it was proper for the king to go in person to Palestine, or whether he ought to remain in England, to govern it, as he had engaged to do, before the assembled church. The king promised to furnish succours, in men and money, to repress all violences and iniquities of every kind, and that equity and mercy should preside over all judgments. It appeared most prudent for the king to govern his kingdom with suitable moderation, and to defend it from the irruptions of the barbarians.
“In the same year, the kings of France and England had an interview at Gisors, where they received the cross from the hands of the archbishop of Tyre. It was agreed that all the French Crusaders should wear a red cross, those of England a white cross, and those of the counts of Flanders a green one.[137]