In consequence of my wounds I fell victim to a malady that afflicted legs and head and caused rheum to drip from my nostrils, so during the middle of Lent I took to bed very ill. The priest who came to sing mass was similarly afflicted and at the moment of consecration he turned pale. I got up as best I could and held him in my arms and told him to proceed if he felt able. At length he managed to complete the sacrament but I think he never again sang mass. During this period we had no fish to eat except eels, loathsome creatures that had been gorging on corpses. Because of such hazardous food, I believe, together with the unhealthful climate, many fell sick. Arms and legs withered, bloomed with brown or purple spots that one might find on a mouldy boot or saddle. Teeth loosened in the mouth and whoever was stricken by this malady could not hope to recover. When he bled from the nostrils he understood that he was finished.
One thing we did not know was that Sultan Ayub died at Mansourah. Indeed this was kept secret from his own people. He reigned ten years, but suffered a fistula in the lung. They say it was Ayub who gave dignity to the slaves by organizing them into a militia. Thus, inadvertently, by conferring status he prepared them to seize control of government. How often we see the beginning but cannot imagine the consequence. Now when Ayub died his favorite wife Chegeret ordered everyone to keep quiet until Prince Turanshah arrived from Syria. She may have been so counseled by a most powerful emir, Fakhr al-Din, upon whom she depended for advice. This emir twenty years previous had gone to Sicily at the request of Sultan al-Kamil to acquaint himself with Emperor Frederick and learn about Christians. I am told that from Mansourah he despatched a letter to Cairo saying the people must be ready to sacrifice their lives. His letter was read out loud in a mosque, which brought forth groans and sighs. Many decided to leave Cairo, thinking they could not withstand us, but those with more courage resolved to join the army at Mansourah. Fakhr al-Din was himself a brave man. On Shrove Tuesday when we crossed the ford and charged the infidel camp he was enjoying a bath while an attendant dyed his beard with henna. He at once mounted a horse and came flying against us, albeit his mount had neither saddle nor bridle. I believe some Templars despatched him.
As if we had not trouble enough, the Saracens anchored galleys between our camp and Damietta so that no one dared sail up the river with provisions. We knew nothing of this and were puzzled until a ship belonging to the Comte de Flandre by good luck slipped the blockade. We then learned something else. Several of our galleys had been captured as they came upriver and all aboard murdered. Thus our supplies dwindled and we had no idea what to do. His majesty after consultation with the barons said we must retreat downstream. Yet as we began to make preparations these Babylonians gave us no rest. They used every means to find out our condition, being especially anxious to take prisoners. One of them who was a very powerful swimmer scooped out a melon and fitted this over his head. Then he swam slowly past our camp and a sergeant leapt into the Nile to seize the melon. But the Egyptian caught hold of him and carried him off. We did not see him again.
Our situation growing more perilous by the day, we thought to arrange a truce. We proposed this agreement. If we might have the kingdom of Jerusalem we would surrender Damietta. The sultan should look after Christians in Damietta who were too sick to travel and he would not destroy the salt meat we had stored. He might hold all property belonging to us until it could be retrieved. Such terms seemed reasonable to us. Emissaries from the sultan wished to know what security we would give. We offered to leave as hostage either of his majesty’s brothers, the Comte d’Anjou or the Comte de Poitiers. But the emissaries said they would come to no agreement unless King Louis himself were left as pledge. Upon hearing this, Lord Geoffrey de Sargines declared he would sooner these misbelievers finished us or took us captive than be reproached throughout eternity for having pawned our king.
While we debated these terms, beseeching God for wisdom, more of our people sickened, racked by wasting of the gums so they could not chew or swallow. Barbers cut away the rotted flesh. While this was done one could hear pitiful moans as though women in labor cried out.
Now it was evident that we should die if we remained at this place. Common lackeys wore breastplates and stood guard because so many knights and sergeants lay ill or had given up the ghost. Therefore his majesty decided to strike camp on Tuesday after the octave of Easter and retrace the Nile to Damietta. Sick and wounded should go aboard galleys. At this time his majesty was gravely weakened by flux. I do not know how often he fainted. He appeared pale unto death. More than once he had been lifted from his mount and the seat of his drawers snipped open, his bowel a putrid stream. Those attending him could scarcely draw breath on account of the stench. Yet he would not board a galley to escape. Please God, he said, he would not desert his people.
Late in the afternoon I embarked with two knights and my servants, expecting to go downstream on the current. But our mariners objected. The sultan’s galleys are between us and Damietta, they said, so we will be caught and
