[15] This letter of Bibars, which was written by his secretary, the author of the life we have of this sultan, does not only speak of the taking and the destruction of Antioch, but of the ravages committed by the Mamelukes in the territory of Tripoli. This letter is of great length, but we find in it more declamatory sentences and Oriental figures than facts for the pen of the historian.
[16] Sirvente is a kind of poem peculiar to the troubadours.
[17] This sirvente, which is attributed to a knight of the Temple, has been translated by the Abbé Millot, who appears to have altered the sense of it. It is printed in the fourth volume, p. 131, of the Choix des Poésies des Troubadours, by M. Raynouard, perpetual secretary to the French Academy. We make use of a literal translation that M. Raynouard has kindly communicated to us.
[18] These details, as well as the most of those that precede them, concerning the Mussulmans, are taken from the valuable chronicle of Ibn-Ferat.
[19] “He was of opinion,” says William de Nangis, “that the kingdom of France had undergone great disgrace in the first pilgrimage.” Le père Maimbourg expresses himself thus upon the king’s determination:—“St. Louis, great saint as he was, could not help thinking that much shame lay upon him for having succeeded so ill in Egypt.”
[20] Hist. de St. Louis, by Filleau de la Chaise.
[21] See the letters of Clement, in Duchesne, epist. 269.
[22] Joinville, when present at the mass in the chapel, heard two knights conferring; one said, that if the king took the cross, it would be one of the most fatal days ever seen in France; for if we take the cross, we shall ruin the king; and again, if we take the cross, we shall lose God’s grace, because we do not take the cross for the sake of him.
[23] When our readers look back to the means employed in former crusades to extort money from all classes, as well as from the clergy, we think they will partake of our surprise at this assertion. The clergy had been, in most cases, the recipients of the taxes upon the laity, and according to our author himself, had not always proved trustworthy collectors.—Trans.
[24] All these details upon the tenths are of great importance for the history of the crusades: for this negotiation the following authorities may be consulted: Raynaldi, No. 59; the Spicilège, vol. xiii. p. 221; the Supplement to Raynaldi, book lxix. No. 42; Fleury’s Ecclesiastical History, and the Acts of Rymer.