The Deeds of God through the Franks
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Guibert of Nogent >> The Deeds of God through the Franks
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tall trees offered no protection for many of them, nor were they able
to escape our arrows. Swift blows created massive destruction.[226]
All those whom flight could not protect were dead or almost dead from
the blows of our arrows and swords, which cut them down like cattle.
The count of Saint-Gilles, near the shore, from which he had launched
his own army against the enemy, attacked them like a storm, with such
vehemence that many of them, trying to escape from the blades,
voluntarily plunged into the sea.
When the victory had been won, thanks to God's leadership, the prince
of the Babylonian army, who, in their language, is called an emir,
was confounded, and, unable to control his astonishment at what had
happened to him, lamented at great length. He thought about the
great amount of supplies that he had brought, and the superb, strong,
fine-looking young men, the noble arms, the power of his allies, and,
I should have said, all the knights; in addition, he saw that they
had what would make the most sluggish of men secure, that is, they
had fought in front of their own city's gates, to which they could
surely retreat, and, what made it even safer, in their own land. And
he looked upon the Franks, in every way inferior in military might,
whose young men had been weakened by long hunger, whose swords were
rusty, whose lances were darkened, whose few remaining troops were
worn out, all of whose leaders were exhausted by bitter suffering, as
they rode on horses racked with every kind of disease, and, to put it
briefly, he marveled that these poor wretches, a band of exiles, had
conquered the countless soldiers of his own nation, and that the
glory of the entire East had been brought down by the least of men.
Our victory was also aided by the fact that, when the cry for retreat
spread through the enemy's army, the emir in charge of Ascalon,
seeing the Babylonian prince turn to flee, ordered that all those who
fled should be prevented from entering his city. The enemy was very
much astonished that the Franks had chosen not to fight before the
walls of Jerusalem, but had marched for nearly two days to meet them.
While the Franks were thanking God, as was right, for such a victory,
Robert, the count of Normandy, a man of remarkable generosity, even
in his impoverished exile, bought for twenty silver marks, from the
man who had captured it, the spear, which, as we have said, was
covered with silver, and which had stood before the prince of Babylon
as his standard. He then gave it, to stand at the Tomb of the Lord,
as a symbol of such a victory, to Arnulf, who was called the
Patriarch. They say that the sword which had belonged to this prince
was bought by someone for sixty besants. In addition, a large fleet
had followed the army to Ascalon so that, after the Franks had been
defeated and made captives, they might buy them from the victors, and
carry them off to be sold throughout the furthest kingdoms of the
East. However, when they saw the Egyptians shamefully fleeing, they
set sail instantly, and made their way into the interior by sea.
Finally, after having slaughtered the Saracens, and the Egyptians as
well, the Franks returned to the abandoned tents and collected booty
beyond count. They brought out a horde of gold and silver, the
wealth of the Assyrian nobility, and whatever precious household
goods they had, as well as all kinds of animals, and a collection of
various arms. They kept whatever could be used, and burned the rest.
Then they returned to Jerusalem, with overwhelming joy, pouring out
unnumbered tears of gratitude in memory of the passion and burial of
the Lord. As a result of this fortunate turn of events, the Franks
were now so prosperous that those who had begun the journey in
poverty and without enough to sustain them on the pilgrimage, now
returned from it laden with gold, silver, horses, and mules. They
won this glorious battle on August 13.
Since we offered, at the beginning of this volume, examples from
Scripture which we thought were relevant to such an enterprise, we
may now be able to find something in the words of the prophet
Zechariah that fits the siege of Jerusalem. He says, "The Lord, who
stretches forth the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth, and
forms the spirit of man within him, speaks." He stretches the skies
who spread (the influence of) the church, as he propagated his seed
from the East, according to Isaiah,[227] by means of the apostles,
even as he had to gather the church through them from the West. He
lays the foundations, since he permits the pagans to persevere in
their heard-hearted falsehood. He places the spirit within man when
he grants innate reason in the mind of every true believer. "Behold
I shall make Jerusalem the lintel of intoxication unto all the people
roundabout."[228] The lintel rises about the door; house is entered
through the door; drinking is harmful to the stomach. If we call the
door faith in the Lord Jesus, through whom we come to the Father,
then the Church of Jerusalem, because both the Law and the Word of
the Lord came from it, we may correctly call the lintel, because it
gave rise to these things. For Paul, after fourteen years, returned
to it, to confer with Peter and the others about the Gospel, "lest he
had run, or should run, in vain."[229] But this is the lintel of
drunkenness unto all the people roundabout, since all nations were
disgusted and nauseated by those things in which the traces of our
faith resided. "But Judah will be in the siege against Jerusalem.
"[230] He says not only that it will be a terror to foreigners, but
that Judah, that is, the faithful people, will besiege Jerusalem,
acknowledging that it will be trodden by the nations. "In that day I
shall place Jerusalem as a heavy rock upon all people."[231] If I
may take the part for the whole, in accordance with the frequent
practice of Scripture, Jerusalem becomes a heavy weight for all the
people because it recently imposed upon all people who are called
Christian the weight of a very great labor for her liberation. "All
that lift up Jerusalem will be cut in pieces, and all the kingdoms of
the earth will be gathered together against it"[232] Who are those
who will lift it up, if not those who, after the times of nations
have ended, lift it up from its own destruction? The Lord says,
"Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of
the Gentiles be fulfilled."[233] They will be torn apart because no
one can say or even imagine how great the labor, the suffering, the
misery of hunger and thirst would be that they endured in the siege.
And, to speak like Ezekiel, "every head was made bald, and every
shoulder was peeled;"[234] that is, perhaps, either by the steady
attack of siege-machines, or by carrying heavy weights. But after
Jerusalem has been raised, "all the kingdoms of the earth will gather
against her," which should not be taken allegorically, but, as the
story that has just been told, was offered as something visible to
heavenly eyes. For what kingdom of the East did not send its men to
war, bringing every kind of siege-engine, which I did not mention
earlier, and everything necessary to besiege a city? They brought,
in addition to soldiers, merchants to buy the Franks, since they
expected that the pagans would win because of the great size of their
forces, and perhaps they had heard that the number was greater than
Kherboga actually had. "On that day, God says, I will smite every
horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness."[235] If the
horse is taken to mean earthly honor, the rider of the horse is
undoubtedly to be understood as he who is preeminent in honor. All
honor is astonished because every power or kingdom, stupified by
God's army, dares do nothing. Every prince went mad, because he did
not know what to do, nor where to turn; deprived of force, each
learned what the strength of God's army was. "And I will open my
eyes upon the house of Judah, and I will smite every horse of the
people with blindness."[236] If Judah is the confessor, I may
certainly call them confessors who have never chosen to abandon the
origin of their faith, that is, the Franks, upon whom the entire
weight of the journey fell. God opened his eyes upon them when he
showed the grace of his goodness to them by bringing about this
outcome. He struck the horses of the people with blindness when he
punished the arrogance of the Gentiles by showing them his
displeasure. In Sacred Scripture the horse often stands for pride.
For what greater blindness is there than to make war on the sons of
God? What is more blameful than to fail to acknowledge God, to glory
in one's own ignorance, and to war against the faithful? But why
exercise the license of allegory, piecing words together, when
historical truth prevents us from going astray in belief? Didn't we
say earlier that the enemy was struck with blindness, and overcome
with astonishment at the swords which threatened them? And I marvel
that the horse was able to see well enough to move when its rider had
clearly gone mad. "And the leaders of Judah shall say in their heart:
The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my confident in the Lord of
hosts, their God."[237] Whom should I call the leaders of Judah,
unless they be the leaders of that faithful army, who prayed that the
inhabitants of Jerusalem be confident, when they ardently desired to
restore the holy city by means of the strength of the Christian army,
so that Christianity might grow, the Lord's memory be honored, and
the Gentiles everywhere be attacked? But their strength is said to
be in the Lord of armies, which can be seen today, when a small force
of men assembles against all of the pagan kingdoms. Everything they
did was foreseen by Him who rules the heavenly powers. At this point
one should add, "Their God," since their thoughts were not directed
to any but their own God, that is, the Christian God. "In that day
will I make the governors of Judah like a fiery furnace among the
wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all
the people round about, on the right hand and on the left."[238] On
this day, I say, of faith or of divine prosperity, the leaders who
govern the Christian people, either externally in arms, or internally
by means of spiritual doctrine, will become the furnace. That is,
burning internally with heavenly love, they consume the wood of
sinners among the Gentiles, while externally, they consume the
evil-doers in battle as though they were straw. We have no doubt
that God did not undertake this merely to liberate one city, but to
scatter the seeds that will grow long and far against the madness of
the Antichrist. They devour all the people round about, on the left
and on the right, for they bring all those on the right into the
piety of Christianity, while they destroy the wicked, those who are
recognized as belonging to the left, and who are worthy of vengeful
destruction. "And Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own
place, in Jerusalem."[239] If Jerusalem is the Church, its place is
the faith of Christ, therefore Jerusalem inhabits Jerusalem, since
the terrestial city is restored so that she may long for a vision of
heavenly peace, since she she has a place, since she clings
steadfastly to Christ. "The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah,
as in the beginning, that the glory of the house of David and the
glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves
against Judah."[240] The Lord saves the tents of Judah in the
beginning, since He, after having accomplished miracles for our
fathers, also granted glory to our own times, so that modern men seem
to have undergone pain and suffering greater than that of the Jews of
old, who, in the company of their wives and sons, and with full
bellies, were led by angels who made themselves visible to them. I
say that today's men are the ones whom he more truly saves, because
he truly receives as his children those whose bodies he has allowed
to be slain, and whom he punishes in the temporal world. He says,
"That the glory of the house of David may not glorify itself," that
is, that the ancients, who excelled in their victories in war, may
refrain from excessive pride, when they think of how modern men have
done better than they. "The glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem
may magnify itself against Judah," opposes to modern accomplishments
the pride of those who once reigned in Jerusalem and did famous
things. By David, who was the most powerful, he expresses whatever
generates the greatest pride, as though he were saying that although
David had been the most celebrated in warfare, and some of the kings
who succeeded him sought glory, they could in no way equal what our
own men have done. The word "to dwell" *(habitare)* however, we
say means "to dominate," since it is the frequentive of the word "to
have" *(habeo, habes)*. David raising himself up in glory
against Judah, and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem are
mentioned because they are the material in which those who wish to
make little of our deeds take pride. "In that day shall the Lord
defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem."[241] And did he not today also
protect that meager band whom he guarded in the midst of countless
pagans? They make bold, armed attacks on the neighboring nations
every day, who have all they can do to protect themselves against
their attacks, without presuming to go on the attack themselves.
"And he who has offended among them in that day shall be as David,
and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord
before them."[242] Certainly David, whose punishment is not
described in the present passage, is not to be considered seriously
at fault. Therefore whoever of us shall offend is like David, for
God does not permit his lechery or his pride to go unpunished, as the
deeds related above indicate. And soon, in the course of their
sinning, he inflicted upon them the punishment that they very much
deserved, either hunger, or some other kind of torment. Therefore
the house of David become like the house of God, because it was
returned to spiritual grace by means of divine censure. Those like
David, upon whom God imposes his paternal correction, may still be
embraced by his spirit. In the sight of God he becomes like an angel,
for when through imminent punishment man sees himself banished by
God's authority from his own affections, he then burns more ardently
to love God. When he understands that he is being punished like a
child, he loves like an angel. The sight of God is the pious emotion
of the inner man. "And it shall come to pass in that day that I will
seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem." We
generally seek for things that are not visible to us. Why would God
seek unless to propose the things that should be done according to
eternal providence? Therfore God seeks "to destroy all the nations
that come against Jerusalem,"[243] and, "in that day," because in his
fine judgment he foresees and ordains that those who resist the faith
are struck with eternal damnation, or are destroyed or diminished
according to the extent of their own weakness. Therefore he says,
"thou shalt break them like potter's vessel,"[244] whom you shall
rule "with a rod of iron."[245] But God does this by internal
illumination, which is certainly what is meant by "day," but this is
something which cannot be expressed in rational terms. "And I will
pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
the spirit of grace and of supplications."[246] I have said that the
inhabitants of Jerusalem were the house of David, whom omnipotent God,
although he has granted and still grants them many victories,
subdued and continues to subdue with frequent misfortunes. While he
does not permit them to despair at their continual misfortunes, nor
does he allow them to grow prideful at their frequent good fortune,
the sacred distributor necessarily pours the spirit of grace and
prayers upon them, so that, while no prosperity, even the most
satisfying, seems to smile upon them without soon being followed by
adversity, the soul always filled with anxiety is compelled to place
its hope in Him who aids them in every circumstance. Now, laying
aside all mystery, we may think how this material Jerusalem was so
often in doubt and fear, since she was, according to Ezekiel,[247]
"set in the midst of the nations, with nations around her," a tiny
city surrounded by countless nations. And while they steadily fear
the attacks of barbarian nations, since they are not utterly stupid,
they are never without the grace of the fear and love of God, these
people who never lack matter for pious affection and prayers. Of
course, with the arrows of adversity the Omnipotent is accustomed to
compel his people to remember him; by stimulating the flesh he
customarily inflames their minds, and while they fear destruction
they are always ready to invoke the aid of God with their vows and
prayers.
We have said many times, and do not hesitate to repeat, that this had
never been accomplished in any age. If some one cites the sons of
Israel and the miracles God performed for them, I shall offer
something more miraculous: an open sea filled with Gentiles; a cloud
of divine fear rising from a column among them; I shall point to the
light of divine hope offered to those whom Christ inspired, himself a
column of uprightness and strength, those who were comforted by the
food of the word of God only, like divine manna, when they had no
earthly hope. Those men spurned the heavenly food that they were
offered, and looked back in their minds and with their voices to the
Egypt they had left behind, but our men never looked back, but
instead eagerly embraced whatever poverty and suffering came upon
them. Certainly the steady, destructive starvation endured at
Antioch was also accompanied by noble scenes. In the midst of every
kind of poverty, than which nothing more painful had ever been
endured by men, how bravely did those men who did not refrain from
participating in this Christian drama perform. Those who were
present report that while the city was under siege, and the besiegers
and the inhabitants of the city were fighting hand-to-hand, it
frequently happened that, when the men withdrew on both sides, and
wisely and reasonably refrained from fighting, a contingent of boys,
some from the city, and some from our own camp, marched out and met
each other, to fight in a worthy manner. As we said at the beginning
of this history, when the expedition to Jerusalem spread throughout
the Western lands, fathers set out on the journey together with their
little sons. When it happened that the parents of some of them died,
the little boys continued to follow the army, and they grew
accustomed to the hardships. Their ability to tolerate privation was
in no way inferior to that of their elders. When they set up their
battle lines, they appointed leaders from among themselves, and they
called them Hugh the Great, Bohemund, the count of Flanders, the
count of Normandy, with different person playing each role. Whenever
they saw that their subjects were suffering from lack of food, they
went off to ask for food from the princes after whom they were named,
and these princes gave them enough supplies to nourish them properly
in their need. This remarkable army often challenged the city's
children, using long reeds as spears, weaving shields out of twigs,
and brandishing small arrows and missiles, according to what each
could do. As their elders looked on, both from the city and from the
encampment, the city children came out of the gates of the wall, and
our children came from the tents, to face each other in the middle of
the field. There one could see the shock of combat, the shouts on
both sides, and the bloody blows, delivered without mortal danger.
Often these preliminaries incited the hearts of the adults to go to
battle. For when they watched the souls burn within those weak limbs,
and they saw such frail muscles eagerly wielding arms, the adults
groaned at the sight of children on both sides being wounded, and
moved the children off the battle field, rushing forward themselves
to renew their usual fighting. Thus the Lord's army was scarcely
found at rest; every day some were practicing, while others were
fighting.
There was another kind of man in this army, who was bare-footed,
carried no arms, and was not permitted to have any money. Dirty,
naked, and poor, he marched in front of everyone, feeding on the
roots of herbs, and on the most wretched things that grow. A Norman,
well-born, said to have been formerly a knight, but now a
foot-soldier, he saw them wandering without a leader, and laid aside
his arms and the clothing he wore, wishing to declare himself their
king. He had himself called Tafur, a term taken from the barbarian
language. Among the pagans they are called Tafur whom we call, to
speak less literally, Trudennes, that is, men who kill time, that is,
who pass their time wandering aimlessly here and there. It was the
Tafur's custom, whenever the people he was leading arrived at a
bridge to be crossed, or at a narrow pass to be traversed, to rush
forward to observe very carefully, and if he saw that anyone of his
men possessed two deniers, he would quickly separate him from the
general group, order him to purchase arms, and assign him to the
section of the army that bore weapons. However, those in whom he saw
a love of the simple life, who had no impulse or desire to save money,
he made members of his inner circle. Perhaps some might think that
these men were not useful for the general good, and that he could
have fed others what he was uselessly giving to them. But no one can
describe how useful they were in carrying food, in collecting tribute,
in hurling stones during the sieges of cities. They were better at
carrying heavy burdens than the asses and mules, and they were as
good at hurling projectiles as the machines and launchers. Moreover,
when pieces of flesh were found among the pagan bodies at Marra, and
elsewhere, during a terrible famine, a hideous rumor (based on
something that had been done furtively and very rarely) circulated
widely among the pagans, that there were some men in the Frankish
army who eagerly fed upon the corpses of Saracens. To circulate this
rumor among them even more vividly, the men carried the battered
corpse of a Turk out in full view of the other Turks, set it afire,
and roasted it as if the flesh was going to be eaten. When they
learned what had happened, thinking that the charade was real, they
grew even more afraid of the fearlessness of the Tafurs than of our
other leaders. Like the ancient pagans, the Turks were tormented
more by unburied bodies than any Christian seems to be concerned with
his soul or fears damnation. To incite their wrath even more
fiercely, at the siege of Antioch the Bishop of Puy promulgated an
edict throughout the army, offering an immediate reward of twelve
deniers for every decapitated Turkish head brought to him. When the
bishop received the heads, he ordered them placed on long poles,
before the walls of the city, where the enemy could see them. When
they saw this, they squirmed in anguish. The bishop also did
something there, after consulting with our leaders, that I should not
pass over silently; when the inhabitants of the city understood that
our men were struggling because of the scarcity of food, our men
proceeded to yoke bulls to the plow, to dig up and seed the ground in
sight of the city. By this means the inhabitants of the city
understood that no cause could compel them to abandon the siege that
they had undertaken, since they were in the process of growing food
for the next year. These and other remarkable things were done on
this expedition, which we think can be described in their entirety by
no one. No one in any age has ever heard that any nation, without a
king, without a prince, departed from its own lands and that, under
God only, both the lowly and the great learned to carry the yoke, so
that the servant did not serve a master, nor did the lord claim
anything more than brotherhood from the servant. Thus, I say, we
cannot offer examples from the past to match this, nor do we think
that anything like this will occur in the future. Our argument is
based most of all on the fact that, after the capture of Jerusalem,
we saw so many Christian nations moving, so many people of great
dignity, so many battalions of noble knights, such a great number of
foot-soldiers setting out after those who had preceded them and
opened the way, that we understood that in wealth and in number we
might judge that this second movement was scarcely inferior to the
first. For who could describe how great a crowd of nobles, burghers,
and peasants, from Frankish lands alone (of the others I say nothing)
accompanied count Stephen, whom we mentioned earlier, and Hugh the
Great, brother of king Philip, when, later on, they again undertook
the journey to the tomb of the Lord? Not to speak of the count of
Burgundy, what shall I say of the count of Poitou, who brought not
only a large group of knights, but a crowd of young girls as well?
When his renown had been established everywhere, he came to
Constantinople and held a conference with the tyrant Alexis, the most
abominable of men. This wretched traitor informed the Turks by
letters of his arrival, before the count had left the royal city.
"Lo," he said, "the fattest sheep from France are moving in your
direction, led by a foolish shepherd." What more can I say? The
count went beyond the borders of the tyrannical prince; suddenly
before him stood an army of Turks, who scattered, preyed upon, and
conquered the disorganized foreigners. There Hugh the Great, struck
in the knee by an arrow, after a long illness died, and was buried at
Tharsa in Cilicia. They say that these things were done in the
province called Satyria.[248]
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