Passage to Kings and Crusaders

 A New Excerpt.
                                                     

Beside the Walls of Acre


The French Marshall named Sir Aubery Clements rallied up his men saying, ''Today we fight for France! Today we fight for Christendom and Acre! Today is the day we shall conquer.'' He saw the crusader ladders being placed on the walls. ''Before I climb up this ladder,'' he said, ''God shall give us victory.'' He paused, and spoke again. ''Either I shall die today,or God willing, I will enter Acre." The ladder went up, and he swallowed as he climbed;his foot stumbled, but he remembered that Godfrey's men had done the same, except for the fact that they had climbed up Jerusalem, not Acre. He was half way up the ladder when he saw burning oil from the walls above fall upon the men below him. His sword was in his scabbard, and his shield was tied to his back so that both his hands were on the ladder. A Saracen arrow came, and knocked his helmet off, but he continued climbing. He was now at the top of the ladder, but many crusaders below him were anxious to climb, and so the ladder began to shake. It collapsed, but Aubery leaped off it onto the wall where he pulled himself up. He came face to face with Saracens, where he found that he was alone. He raised his banner. ''For the cross against the Crescent!'' He yelled. Suddenly, a Saracen arrow pierced him in the heart, thus sending him to the ground. He arose, slaying some Saracens, but another arrow came and hit and pierced his side. He remembered the song his mother often sang to him:

"Knight of valor fight for their King,
they are loyal to Him and not to treason,
that is why they slay the heathen!"

He saw an African with a scarred face, and with rotten teeth come forward slowly with a hatchet toward him. The hatchet came down, and was hitting Aubery's stomach, and thus his spirit left him, though he felt little pain.

From Kings and Crusaders, Part Two, Chapter Twelve: "The Wall Is Breached."

825th anniversary of Arsuf

On this day, 825 years ago, was the great triumphant Battle of Arsus on September 7, 1191. Richard the Lionheart's Crusader forces were outnumbered by Saladin's, 3 to 1, yet the English and French and Military orders did not given in. When they were being rained down by arrows from the Saracens, Richard held tight formation, until unexpextedadly, Garnier de Nablus, the Grand Master of the Hospitalilers led a successful charge against the enemy, and the crusaders then followed with a great charge that broke their forces in two. The battle is told in full story with it's climatic history and sheer shiver enticement in Joshua's second book, The Journey to Jerusalem. As you remember the battle today, remember the Lionheart, but also those whom gave their lives for the Cross of Christ.