In the discussion of the relation between Muntaner’s Chronica and Tirant lo Blanch, we have intimated that Tirant’s landing at the castle of Rhodes was copied in a general way from Roger de Flor’s successful attempt to bring relief to the besieged city of Messina. In the analysis we have remarked that Tirant waited at the castle of Saint Peter for favorable weather conditions to run the blockade. This castle was built on the shores of Asia Minor, in or about the year 1402, under the direction of the Grand Master de Naillac; consequently the date of the siege of Rhodes in Tirant lo Blanch cannot be assigned to a period before that year.
CHAPTER IV
TIRANT JOINS THE EXPEDITION OF THE KING OF FRANCE AGAINST THE INFIDELS
Some of the facts concerning this expedition are: the King of France set sail from Aiguesmortes; his son, Philip, who was in charge of the fleet of the King of Sicily, took part in this enterprise; at Tripoli in Syria, Tirant, fully armed, leaped from his vessel into the water and was the first to set his foot on the hostile shore; the stock of provisions was replenished on the island of Cyprus; and towards the close of this military enterprise, Tunis was taken.
The following historical facts indicate that the story of the expedition was based on the Crusades of Louis IX. Saint Louis set out on his Crusades from Aiguesmortes; he had a son named Philip who accompanied him on the second Crusade; in Cyprus, an abundance of provisions had been stored in advance for the use of the first Crusade; when the king arrived at Damietta, he leaped into the water and was among the first to step on Saracen soil; and Tunis was captured at the time of the second Crusade and was obliged to pay tribute to the King of Sicily, although this last event happened after the death of the French king.
Perhaps the most striking of these coincidences is the one in which these heroic figures leap into the water. Joinville, in his Histoire de Saint Loys, describes this incident in the following words:
Quant le bon roy Saint Loys sceut, que l’enseigne saint Denis fut arrivée à terre, il sortit de son vessel, qui ja estoit près de la rive, et n’eut pas loisir que le vesseau, où il estoit, fust à terre: ains se gette ... en la mer, et fut en eauë jusques aux espaulles.[75]
[75] Histoire de Saint Loys, par Jehan Sire de Joinville, Collection Complète des mémoires par M. Petitot, Paris, 1819; Tome II, p. 218.
A variant of this passage reads: “sailli en la mer tout armé, l’escu au col, le glaive au poing, et fu des premiers à terre.”[76] When the details of this incident had become somewhat dim in memory, the following picture remains: