Page:Readings in European History Vol 1.djvu/250

214 Readings in European History our Lord to grant the king a long and happy life and defend him from his enemies. And God did even so, as you shall hear. HOW Louis got the better of his many enemies at home, and MS knights" m 1 2 4$ went on a crusade directed against the sultan fought in of Egypt, who had gained possession of Jerusalem four years before. Joinville accompanied his king and gives many vivid accounts of the fighting in Egypt. While I was on foot with my knights, and wounded, as I have just been relating, the king came along with his own body of troops, amidst a great shouting and noise of trum- pets and kettledrums, and halted on the highroad. Never have I seen knight so noble, for he stood head and shoul- ders above all his attendants, a golden helmet on his head, and in his hand a German sword. As soon as he came to a halt th$ good knights in his fol- lowing, whom I have already named to you, rushed pell mell upon the Turks. And then followed a splendid feat of arms ; none drew bow or crossbow, but it was a combat at close quarters, with sword and battle-ax, between the Turks and our people, all mixed up together. One of my squires, who had escaped [from a previous encounter] with my banner and returned to me, loaned me one of my Flemish stallions, which I mounted and rode off side by side with the king. [In the midst of a council of war as to the course to be pursued] the constable, Mo.n seigneur Imbert de Beaujeu came to the king to tell him that his brother, the count of Artois, was defending himself in a house at Mansourah and needed aid. The king said, " Constable, go you ahead and I will follow you." And I said to the constable that I would go with him and be his knight, for which he thanked me heartily. So we set out for Mansourah. . . . As we came down along the river bank, between the brook and the river, we saw the king near the river, and that the Turks were pushing back our troops toward the river, driving them on with furious strokes of battle-ax and sword. So