His three brothers took the cross, followed by the duke of Burgundy, the count of Flanders, Count Hugh of Saint-Pol and his nephew Gautier, to say nothing of other high lords. Yet nearly four years would pass before they embarked. There was reason. Our king left little to chance. He did not think any port acceptable, hence he ordered the building of Aigues-Mortes, by which is meant dead waters.
I myself took the cross with our beloved king. But since I did not know how long I would be oversea, the enterprise attending with danger, I wished to make a settlement of my affairs before I left Joinville. It seemed to me that I should leave everyone satisfied with my conduct so that I might honorably enjoy the fruits and pardons merited by crusaders through concessions of the sovereign pontiff. Therefore I gathered neighbors and friends, giving all to understand that if any felt censorious or the least misemployed I stood ready to make amends. Afterward I traveled to Metz in Lorraine to mortgage my estates because at that time my mother Béatrice was alive and enjoying the great part of my fortune as her dower.
Anon, the king summoned his barons to Paris.
As I was entering the city I noticed a tumbrel holding the bodies of three men, sergeants from the Châtelet who had been robbing citizens and were slain by a cleric. They had robbed this cleric of all save his shirt, whereupon he rushed back to his lodging and got his crossbow and a child to carry his sword and went after them shouting he meant to kill them. He fixed his crossbow and shot one through the heart whereat the others lifted their heels to the moonlight. He got his sword from the child and ran after them. One thought to escape by wriggling through a hedge and the cleric hacked off his leg. Both pieces of this rogue lay in the tumbrel, his leg wearing a boot. The last robber was begging admittance to a house when the cleric arrived and split his head open to the teeth. So the provost was carting off these villains to show King Louis, along with the cleric who had surrendered, in order to find out what the king wished to do. I heard some time after that his majesty came out from chapel and paused on the steps to consider the dead thieves. He told the cleric that what he had done had lost him all chance to become a priest. However, his majesty said, I will take you into my service and you shall go with me oversea. King Louis did this because the young man was courageous but also to let people know he would not approve misconduct. Then his subjects called upon God to grant the king a long and fruitful life because they understood the wisdom of what he said.
His majesty wanted the barons to swear fealty, promising that if anything happened to him oversea they would remain loyal to his children. I refused. I told him I could not take the oath because I was not his vassal. Soon afterward I returned to Joinville. My cousins, the count of Sarrebruck and his brother Gobert d’Apremont, had joined with me to make up a party of twenty knights. We arranged that our baggage should be sent by cart to Auxonne, thence by way of the Saône and the Rhône to Marseille where we had engaged a ship. Therefore we would not embark with the king at Aigues-Mortes but some leagues distant at Roche-de-Marseille.
On the day of my departure I summoned the abbot of Cheminon, a most worthy white monk. I am told that one night as he slept in his dormitory he felt warm and threw aside the cover, whereupon the Holy Virgin approached and drew it across his chest so the night wind would not make him ill. If the story be true, God knows. From this monk I got my wallet and pilgrim staff. I then left Joinville castle afoot, in my shirt, with legs bare, to visit Blécourt and Saint-Urbain, which has many fine relics. Not once did I look back, fearing that my heart might wither away if I glimpsed my children.
My companions and I paused to eat at Fontaine-l’Archevêque where the abbot presented us with a quantity of jewels. Thence to Auxonne, downstream on boats with our equipment while the horses were led along the bank. We passed the ruin of a castle that was called Roche-de-Glun, destroyed by his majesty because the lord of this castle had robbed pilgrims and merchants. So in due time to Marseille and prepared for the voyage.
Horses were admitted to our vessel by means of a door in the side, which was then shut and tightly caulked because it would be submerged when we were loaded just as the bottom of a floating barrel is submerged. When this was done and all in readiness the master mariner told priests and clerics to advance, bidding them sing Veni Creator Spiritus. Once they finished singing he cried aloud to his people. In God’s name, unfurl the sails!
Thus, on the twenty-seventh day of August in that year of our Lord 1248, we cast off.
Presently the wind took us. Behind us the land
