If this emissary had a sharp eye and any military knowledge he would soon see how small was the actual crusading army and how much of what looked formidable was in fact made up of thousands of useless pilgrims.
‘Make it so,’ he finally replied, leaving Tancred to pass on a message: his pride would not allow him to do so himself.
So the instructions were issued: their camp was to be set up well beyond the crusading perimeter and they should depart eastward as soon as the first hint of light coloured the morning sky and be not visible to any western eye at full daylight.
Progress to the coast was not only peaceful, it became like a victory parade as the inhabitants of every settlement passed came out to line their route and prostate themselves, with food as gifts and even sometimes a path strewn with leaves of palm. When another embassy arrived, this time ahead of their line of march and from the Emir of Tripoli, it underlined how much alarm was caused by their approach.
Again, the usual gifts of gold and horses were proffered, as well as an offer of amity that would allow the host and the pilgrims to make camp north of the ancient port city. Their soldiers would be allowed to use the markets in constrained numbers, while the men of rank would be treated as the Emir’s honoured guests should they choose to reside within.
‘I will do so only with an army around me and holding the walls,’ Normandy proclaimed, when this was relayed to him. ‘I would no more trust an Arab than I would my own blood brother.’
This time the embassy from Tripoli marched onwards with the host, a multitude that saw, a few days later, in the blue water of the Mediterranean, something to be savoured. Soon the shallow waters and wavelets were full of splashing Latins, knights — some mounted — and pilgrims alike, with Raymond of Toulouse on his knees.
Peter Bartholomew was at his side, something he tried to be often, the Holy Lance held up as he prayed for thanks to God. Those who followed Raymond, Bartholomew and the relic were only brought to more moderation by the call to prayer and Mass, a temporary altar having been set up on the beach by Narbonne.
That was soon followed by the construction of a proper camp and one that had about it an air of permanence, so unlike those set up since Ma’arrat. Expecting a conference, both Normandy and Tancred were confused and a little put out when Raymond retired to his tent and showed no indication of wanting to include them in what his thoughts were for the next act.
From the seafaring traders of Tripoli came confirmation of what Tancred had suspected: his uncle had chased Raymond’s Provencal knights out of the Bridge Gate, though he had left them the Governor’s Palace, which had no tactical value. Subjected to Provencal rage at this news, all he could do was listen to it in stoical silence; what had Raymond expected?
Of more importance was the fact that instead of marching south, Godfrey de Bouillon and Robert Flanders were more intent on making secure the whole of Northern Syria. The effect of this on Raymond, the utter repudiation of his claims to any kind of leadership, was equally a cause of rage.
Better news arrived with an embassy from the Fatimid ruler of Cairo, the Vizier al-Afdal, which finally had Raymond call upon Tancred and Normandy to join him in facing them. Hearing of the fate of Kerbogha and knowing how such a defeat had thrown their Abbasid rivals into disarray, they had marched on Jerusalem, which was now in their possession.
If this apparently meant a more friendly ruling polity in that city, any enthusiasm was soon dampened: the Sultan in Cairo was no more willing to surrender the city to the Christians than their religious adversaries in Baghdad. Yes, pilgrims were welcome in certain numbers — knights too, if unarmed — and would be respected, but no one should approach Jerusalem carrying weapons as that would be seen as an act of war.
Raymond was in no position to issue threats to counter such a sanction, though he did try. He hinted that when he was joined by his noble confreres, who at this very moment were making the move from Antioch to join him, and when the Emperor Alexius, the ally of the Crusaders, brought his full forces to join with the Crusade, the Fatimids might see it as better for themselves to hand over the Holy City, lest risk the fate of Kerbogha.
His words had no effect on these emissaries from Cairo: somehow they knew them to be hollow. There was no concession offered, just a repetition that they held Jerusalem and that the wishes of their ruler should be not only respected but obeyed, a word which had the Count of Toulouse spluttering with indignation when they departed, loudly declaring that from the Holy City to Cairo was a distance Moses had covered and perhaps his footsteps might be followed by the sword and warriors of Rome.
Relations with the Emir of Tripoli were much more fruitful; now with the Crusade on his doorstep he was determined to avoid any kind of confrontation which would see his personal rule and his city destroyed. He offered to pay Raymond a regular tribute in gold to be left in peace and to that was added another success achieved at no cost.
Raymond, ignoring the Apulians and Normans, had sent a small part of his army under the Count of Turenne north to the next port of Tortosa, which they found strongly held and in no mood to negotiate; the demand to open the gates was refused. This led Turenne to employ the overnight tactic of lighting increasing numbers of fires, as if he was in receipt of constant reinforcements, indeed that the whole host might be outside the walls come dawn.
Even Turenne was surprised by the extent of success his bluff achieved; like the high fortress of Hisn al-Akrad, dawn showed open gates and supplicant emissaries, the entire contingent of armed citizenry having decamped, which allowed Raymond’s men to occupy a town with full storerooms and a fine harbour.
Even better, the emir of the next port up the coast, in terror, for his neighbours in flight had descended on him, sent an offer of abject surrender. There was gold, a herd of horses, as well as a willingness to accept a Crusader garrison. Soon the Occitan banner of Raymond of Toulouse was flying above the walls of both.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
News travelled swiftly in both directions by sea and the arrival of Raymond on the coast was known to Bohemund and his fellow nobles within days, soon followed by the successes he had enjoyed in subduing the nearby enclaves, which seemed to them remarkably similar in territorial ambition to that which he had previously sought to achieve at Albara and Ma’arrat, as well as on the Jabal as-Summaq.
This was especially deduced since no word came from the Count of Toulouse himself seeking that they rejoin the march on Jerusalem, not that they would have obliged him, being busy themselves in securing Northern Syria and still, as they had been at the turn of the year, unwilling to accede a claim to leadership yet to be set aside.
Nor did it seem, in Raymond’s camp, that there was any urgent intention to do that either, for he had found a way of filling his coffers, always with Toulouse a pressing concern, by squeezing tribute out of the towns north and south of Tripoli to add to that which he was receiving from that city and its emir.
If there was avarice in this there was an absence of greed in the host: what monies came in were placed in a central fund prior to distribution, Normandy and Tancred naturally receiving the shares due to their standing, money going to every lance and foot soldier, with even enough spent to feed the pilgrims.
If such delay in the Crusade frustrated the Duke of Normandy, he was mollified by the amounts of money he received, so great as to promise he could acquire enough over time to pay off his mortgage to his brother, King William, and recover his territories.