The time is come, the day is arrived, in which it will be put to the test who are the men worthy of serving the Eternal: he calls, but he only calls upon the gallant and the brave. They shall be ever his, who, knowing faithfully how to suffer, devote themselves, and fight, shall be full of frankness, generosity, courtesy, and loyalty. Let the cowardly and the avaricious remain where they are; God only wants the good: he is willing that they should save themselves by their own high deeds. What a worthy and glorious salvation!
If ever William Malespine appeared brave among us, he has now furnished God himself with the proof of it; he took the cross the first, he took the cross voluntarily, to deliver the holy sepulchre and the sacred heritage. What shame! how wrong it is of the kings and the emperor that they do not deign to conclude treaties and truces with one another, in order to be able to succour the kingdom of the law, the holy light, and the tomb and the cross which the Turks have so long retained. The repetition alone of this disaster overwhelms us with profound sadness—(Aimerie de Peguilhan: Evas pana.)
It will soon be known what gallant men entertain the noble ambition of meriting the glory of this world and the glory of God. Yes, they may obtain the one and the other, they who devote themselves to the pious pilgrimage to deliver the holy tomb. Great God, what grief! the Turks have assailed and profaned it! Let us be sensible, even to the depths of our hearts, of this mortal disgrace; let us clothe ourselves with the sign of the Crusaders, let us pass over the seas; we have a safe and courageous guide, the sovereign pontiff Innocent himself.
Yes, every one is invited thither, every one is required; let every one march forward and cross himself in the name of that God who was crucified between two thieves, when he was so unjustly condemned by the Jews. If we still set a value on loyalty and bravery, we must fear the opprobrium of leaving Christ thus disinherited; but we love, we wish for that which is evil, and despise that which would be good and useful. But what! life, in our countries, is for us, nothing but a continual danger; and death, in the Holy Land, is for us eternal happiness.
Ah! ought we to hesitate to suffer death in the service of God, of that God who deigned to suffer for our deliverance! Yes, they shall be saved with St. Andrew, they who shall march towards Mount Tabor: let no one feel dread in the passage of this fleshly death. That which is to be feared is spiritual death, which delivers us up to the place where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, as St. Matthew shows and assures us.
Signor, saciez-tu or ne s’en ira
En cele terre u diex fu mors et vis,
Et ki la crois d’outre mer ne prendra
A paines mais ira en Paradis:
Ki a en soi pitié et ramembrance
Au haut Seignor, doit guerre sa vengeance,
Et delivrer sa terre et son pays....
Or s’en iront cil vaillant bacheler
Ki aiment Dieu et l’oneur de cest mont
Ki sagement voilent à Dieu aler,
Et li morveux, li cendreus demourront:
Avugle sunt, de ce ne dont je mie,
Ki au secours ne font Dieu en sa vie
Et por si poc pert la gloire del mont.
Diex se laissa per nos en crois pener;
Et nous dira au jour où tuit venront:
“Vos, ki ma crois m’aidâtes à porfer,
Vos en irez là où li angele sont;
Là me verrez, et ma Mère Marie;
Et vos, par qui je n’oi onques aie,
Descendez tuit en enfer le parfont.”[167]
—Thibault, king of Navarre. He took the cross in 1236; he set out from Marseilles in the month of August, 1238 or 1239.
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