Thus, in that year of our gracious Lord 1102, Stephen de Blois fell at Ramlah. It may be his wife thereafter slept content. The Lord passed judgment on Stephen according to His great lenience, allowing this wealthy prince to compensate for doubtful conduct.
Arab histories say King Baldwin eluded capture by hiding flat on his belly in a thicket of reeds. They set fire to the reeds but he escaped and for two days wandered about north of Ramlah, his body scorched. At length he got across the plain to Arsuf where he found an Englishman called Goderic with a boat.
The queen of Jerusalem and her ladies were at Joppa when they heard of King Baldwin’s defeat. Thinking him dead, they planned to board ship while they could before Egyptians came to seize them. But an Egyptian fleet broke the horizon so all in the city commended their souls to God. That same day al-Afdal’s cavalry rode to the very walls of Joppa and they saw what looked to be King Baldwin’s severed head on a lance. Next, down from the north sailed Goderic with King Baldwin’s standard at the mast and the king himself aboard, for the head was that of Gerbod de Winthinc who narrowly resembled him. All at once a fortuitous breeze favored the passage of Goderic’s boat, carrying it swiftly inside the harbor. What is this if not benevolent Providence?
Ibn al-Athir tells how the vizier sent forth a new expedition which failed. Yet another. Each failed because those who are one with Him, who hold Him close, cannot be overcome. The wickedness of their belief robbed and punished these Babylonians, sowed disarray among their forces. Nor could they slip the hand of fate. It was prophesied of a Saracen general that he would meet death by falling off a horse. Therefore he ordered paving stones removed from the streets of Beyrouth where his horse might stumble. Yet during combat the animal reared for no cause and threw him. He fell dead among his troops. Who shall cheat so vast a thing?
Baldwin moved to secure the land. He entrusted the fief of Galilee to Lord Hugh of Saint-Omer who had been his neighbor in France. This lord built castles from which to raid Muslim caravans. Toghtekin, atabeg of Damascus, came down like a storm while Hugh was returning from a raid, fatally wounded him and scattered his people. Baldwin next entrusted the fief to Gervase de Basoches, a knight celebrated for audacity. It is said that when Gervase with two other knights encountered a large troop of infidels he ripped apart his undertunic and fastened it like a banner on his spear. Then beseeching God for aid, ordering his companions to do the same, they cried out loudly and spurred forward. The pagans turned to flee, leaving themselves mortally vulnerable to three bold pilgrims in the service of Christ. However, Toghtekin managed to capture Gervase and sent word that he would be released in exchange for three cities. Acre. Tiberias. Haifa. Baldwin thought such terms extravagant. Therefore, during some Turk festival Gervase was urged to repudiate and abjure the true faith. He said he would not. So he was bound to a tree in the midst of a field, his body torn by a hail of arrows from every side. They cut away the crown of his head to make a drinking cup for Toghtekin. This according to Abbot Guibert. Or it may be that the atabeg himself slew this valiant knight, scalped him because of his flowing white hair and carried the scalp on a pole. However it was, Gervase de Basoches entered that pantheon of martyrs whose name will be honored throughout eternity.
In the year of our Lord 1106 while King Baldwin was engaged on the frontier of Galilee these enemies of God surprised and murdered certain Christians near Joppa. Roger de Rozoy, who was governor, rode out against them but unluckily fell into ambush. He got back to Joppa with his head on his shoulders where it belonged, yet forty of his sergeants entered Paradise. Misbelievers next surprised Chastel Arnaud, an unfinished castle near Jerusalem, and slaughtered the workmen. Later they felt bold enough to assault Jerusalem itself and touched the walls, after which they retired with little show. There could be no doubt these black gentiles meant to recoup what they had lost.
One day when as usual King Baldwin fought his enemies it happened that some Ethiop lurked behind a rock and struck the king very hard in the back, wounding him almost to death. Yet the leeches attended him well, and being the steward of God’s ministry he recovered. How equitable the judgment of our Lord.
King Baldwin suffered many wounds. According to Abbot Guibert, he generously rode forth to rescue a foot soldier whose bravery delighted him and was dealt a blow piercing him to the vitals. Then the leech who was summoned did not want to apply a soothing cataplasm for fear the skin might grow smooth on top while putrid matter rankled within. This he foresaw partly through conjecture, partly through experience. He besought the king to have some captive likewise injured and afterward slain, by which he might inspect the corpse and perpend how things might be with the king’s deep wound. King Baldwin shrank from this, repeating the words of Emperor Constantine who declared he would not be the cause of any
