Prof. Paul Hayams, Cornell
University
translation of Rigord’s Deeds
of Phillip Augustus
RIGORD AND HIS "DEEDS
OF PHILLIP AUGUSTUS" (for the years 1179-1189)
Rigord was born in Languedoc (perhaps Nimes)
around 1145/50. He was a physician by profession and was still practicing in
the South-West when he began to write. By 1189 he had become a monk first at Argenteuil then at the mother house St. Denis near Paris, the great center
of Capetian historiography. He died around 1209.
In 1196 he had already offered
an early version of the "Deeds" to the king. In 1200 he prepared an
abbreviated version for Prince Louis (VIII). There was also a sketch history of
the kings of the Franks designed to assist visitors to view the royal tombs at
St. Denis and take away the intended messages. It is unfortunate that the
latter part of this is now lost, since the arrangement and identification of
these tombs was a highly charged matter at just around this time.
His reputation stands or
falls, however, by the "Deeds", a work that seems to have gone
through various rewritings and was continued to within a year or so of the
author's death. There is a fair amount of eye-witness testimony. But he also
drew upon his abbey's archives and either both used and on occasion transcribed
into his texts various kinds of documents and letters and even such public acts
as royal ordinances and Phillip's will. Among the predecessors on whose work he
also drew was Geoffrey of Monmouth, not a name to inspire either confidence or
any special respect for Rigord's critical faculties. He certainly began his
work in the spirit of panegyric, entitling himself "Chronicler (Chronographus)
of the king of the Franks" but his view of his patron may, like those of
his English contemporary Jocelin of Brakelond, also a Benedictine monk, have
developed over time. Modern readers can try and make their own minds up
on such questions from this translation. There must have been a fair number of
medieval readers too. But when Guillaume le Breton wrote a continuation, he
attached a brief summary of Rigord, claiming that "he is possessed by few
and still not communicated to the multitude". A French translation was
incorporated into the multi-volume Grandes Chroniques de France
after 1274.
Gabrielle Spiegel, The
Chronicle Tradition of Saint-Denis (1978) gives an excellent account of
the broader context in which Rigord operated, and in English too. Two French
articles by Elizabeth Carpentier, in Cahiers de civilisation médièvale
25 (1982), 3-30 and in Annales ESC 41 (1986), 325-46, may help
further. John W. Baldwin, The Government of Phillip Augustus
(1986) covers rather more ground than its modest title suggests and comments
directly on Rigord's testimony at various points, eg pp. 100, 396-7.
[Hyams] My translation, though as accurate as I can make it, is a fast and free
one, whose main aim is to make this fascinating text conveniently accessible in
English. The scholarly will, if they use it at all, find that it sends them
back to the Latin original. To speed up download time I have split Rigord's
text, mostly by the years he covers,. To date, only the following year sections
are available, taking the story up to 1192. I hope in due course to complete
Rigord's first recension which goes up to 1196.
1. In the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1165 was
born Phillip, king of the French, in the month of August, the 11th kalends of
September [Sunday, August 22], on the feast of Timothy and Symphorian. He was
to be nicknamed [Augustus] by God's grant, because his most holy father king
Louis ,having received a numerous progeny of daughters from three wives, had
been unable to have a masculine successor for the realm. Finally he, with his
wife the illustrious queen Adela [of Blois] and the whole clergy and people of
his realm he turned to prayer and petitioned for a son from God, not in
reliance on his merits but trusting in the mercy alone of God.
"I beseech thee, O Lord", he said, " remember me, and thou
shalt not enter into judgement on thy servant because no-one alive shall be
justified in thy sight. But be gracious to me, a sinner. And, if I have sinned
like other men, nevertheless, Lord, spare [me] lest the things which I did in
your presence perish before thee. Have mercy on me, Lord, according to thy
great mercy, and give me a son and heir for the kingdom of the Franks, a
strenuous ruler, lest my enemies say: Thy hope is in vain, and thine alms
and prayers perish. [Tob., ii. 22] But do with me, Lord, according to thy
will, and order my soul to be received in peace at the end of my days."
Thus were his prayers with those of the whole clergy and people of the
realm found acceptable in the Lord's sight, and God gave him a son named
Phillip, whom he had brought up in most holy manner and fully taught in the
faith of Our Lord Jesus Christ. He had him solemnly crowned at Rheims and lived scarcely a year afterwards
to see him reigning in glory over the land of the kingdom of the Franks. [King
Louis had had a dream about him before his birth. It seemed to him that his son
Phillip held in his hand a gold chalice, full of human blood, from which he
drank with all his princes and all were drinking from it. At the very end of
his life, he recounted this dream to Henry, bishop of Albano, legate of the
apostolic see in France,
adjuring him in God's name not to reveal it to anybody before the king's death.
When king Louis had died, bishop Henry told the story of the vision to many
religious men. [Gerald of Wales, De instruction principum, has a fuller
version of this story] In the first year of Phillip's reign, king Louis his
father happily migrated to the Lord in the city which was formerly called
Lutetia and is now Paris.
But we shall say more about these things below. We turn our pen now to the
deeds of the first year of Phillip Augustus, illustrious king of the Franks.
Deeds of the
First Year
2. In the year of the Lord’s
Incarnation 1179, Louis the most Christian king of the Franks, scarcely at the
age of three score and ten, considering the brevity of human life and feeling
his health burdened by a certain degree of paralysis, summoned a general
council of all the archbishops, bishops, abbots and barons from the whole realm
of the Franks to Paris and the palace of our venerable father, Maurice, bishop
of Paris. When everyone was present, king Louis entered the chapel on his own
first, as he was accustomed to do in all his works, to pour out his prayers to
the Lord. He then called in one by one the archbishops, bishops, abbots and all
the princes of the realm, and communicated to them his counsel, that it was his
wish, with their counsel and will, to raise up his most beloved son Phillip
given by God to be king of the Franks on the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin
Mary. When they heard the king’s will, the prelates and princes all with one
voice shouted “Fiat! Fiat!” [“Let it be done”] And so the council was
dissolved.
3. When the
aforementioned feast of the Blessed Virgin came along, the most Christian king
Louis came with his most beloved son to Chartres,
where things turned out, by God’s ordaining, otherwise than he had hoped. While
the king stayed there, as we have learned from the accounts of many people, the
renowned Phillip got his father’s permission to enter the forest to hunt with
the royal huntsmen. As soon as he was within, he found a boar, whom the
huntsmen unleashing their hounds at once pursued through the forest byways and
the wastes of solitude, sounding their horns and charging along the forest
paths. Meanwhile Phillip sitting astride the fastest horse got separated from
the rest and long pursued the boar at the speediest pace along a different
hidden path. As the day drew to a close, none of the huntsmen knew where he was
even after looking for him for a while. He saw that he was left all alone in
that vast solitude of forest and, not unnaturally, began to be afraid. Riding
this way and that, wandering alone wherever his horse took him, looking this
way and that but seeing nobody, he finally became very concerned. Finally he
signed himself with the holy cross on his forehead and commended himself with
groans, sighs and much emotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the very blessed Denis
patron and defender of the kings of the Franks. His prayers over, he looked to
his right and suddenly saw at a distance a peasant of noble stature blowing at
the coals on a fire. He was a horrible sight, blackened by the coals, misshapen
of face and carrying a great axe on his shoulders. When Phillip first saw him,
he was a little afraid, like a child. But the greatness of his soul overcame
his fear; he went up to him and greeted him in friendly style. Once the peasant
heard who he was, where he had come from and why, and recognizing him to be his
lord, he quickly took him back to Chartres
by a direct way. Phillip then by God’s gift fell quite ill from this fearful
experience and as a result his elevation was put off until the feast of All
Saints. But our Lord Jesus Christ who never abandons those who believe in Him
restored him to his previous good health after a few days, through the prayers
and merits of his most holy father Louis, who prayed to God incessantly day and
night, and through the prayers of the universal Church. [Rigord does not
mention that Louis even crossed the Channel to pray at Becket’s tomb in Canterbury.]
4. At the festivities
for All Saints, Phillip Augustus assembled the archbishops, bishops and all the
barons of his land and was crowned at Rheims by
the reverend William, archbishop of Rheims,
cardinal priest of St. Sabina and legate of the apostolic see, the king’s
uncle. Henry [II] king of England
was present and in due dependence (“ex debita subjectione”) humbly supported
the crown on the head of the king of France, while all the princes of
the realm and the whole of the clergy and people shouted “Long live the king!
Long live the king!”. He had reached the age of 14 at the feast of Timothy and
Symphorian just passed and entered his fifteenth year. He was thus anointed
king in the fifteenth year of his age, on the feast of All Saints, while his
father the most Christian king Louis still lived albeit gravely hampered by
sickness, a paralysis which totally prevented him from walking.
5. We have decided to
write little about the things he did at the start of his reign, for fear that
the size of the volume and its great simplicity of style might disgust the
listeners’ delicate ears. He had from an early age the fear of the Lord as his
teacher, for “fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” [Ps., cx. 10], and
he asked in his prayers and humbly begged the Lord to guide all his acts and
steps. He loved justice as if she were his own mother. He struggled to exalt
mercy in his judgements. He never allowed truth to leave his side. He practiced
conjugal continence in his own house better than all other kings. And because
it had pleased him to work from a tender age at these virtues, it gradually
came about that, just as the king loved and revered God, so he ordered
observance from all at his court. What is even more surprising, he so hated the
terrible oaths which were frequently sworn by gamblers in courtyards and
taverns that when some knight or other gambler chanced to fall into an oath in the
king’s presence, the offender was at once thrown by the king’s order into a
lake or river, and he ordered this edict to be most carefully observed in
future. Blessed virtue! When the beginnings are like this what kind of end can
we expect? For the hand of God was with him.
6. A few days after
the holy anointing, the new king returned to Paris. He started the job which he had long
borne in mind but had feared to complete, because of the great reverence which
he showed to his most Christian father. For he had heard many times from the
boys who were fostered with him in the palace – and commended to memory without
ever forgetting it – that the Jews who lived in Paris every year slit the
throat of one Christian in the hidden underground caverns on Maundy Thursday or
during the Holy Week of penitence, as a kind of sacrifice in contempt of the
Christian religion, and that many who long persevered in this kind of
wickedness by diabolical seduction, had been burned at the stake in his
father’s time. St. Richard, whose body rests in the Church of the Holy
Innocents in the Little Field of Paris (petit champ?), after being killed in
this way by the Jews and fixed to a cross, happily migrated to the Lord in
martyrdom, a fact which we heard when God worked many miracles to the Lord’s
honor and by the intercessions of St. Richard. And because the most Christian
king Phillip learnt by careful investigation of the older people (majoribus)
these and many other scurrilous things about the Jews, which inflamed him with
the zeal of God, the Jews were arrested in their synagogues all over France at
his order on the fourteenth of February [1180] and despoiled of their gold,
silver and vestments, just as the Jews themselves had despoiled the Egyptians
on their exodus from Egypt. By this was signified their coming expulsion, which
followed in time by God’s disposition.
7. It happened about a month
of days after Phillip Augustus’ anointing that Hèbes [VI] of Charenton “in pago
Bituricensi” [Bétracq, Basses Pyrenees?] began to play the tyrant over the
churches of God and to oppress the clergy serving God there with heavy
exactions. When the clergy could not bear his savagery, they sent messengers to
the most Christian king Phillip Augustus complaining of the acts of violence
done them them by Hèbes and humbly seeking the king’s justice. As soon as the
king heard the plaint of the religious men, he lit with Gods zeal for the
defense of the churches and the liberty of the clergy, moved in arms against
the tyrant, wasted his lands with a strong hand and took booty. He so repressed
Hèbes’ boldness that this latter seeing that he could not escape the king’s
hand threw himself down at the king’s feet to seek his pardon and promised
under public oath that he would do full satisfaction to all churches and the
clerics serving God in them according to the king’s will and choosing and would
restrain himself in future from similar acts. Phillip waged this first war
consecrated to God at the very beginning of his reign and at the age of fifteen
years.
8. Then in that same
first year of his reign, at the instigation of the ancient serpent, enemy of
humankind, sons of iniquity, Humbert [III] of Beaujeu [Basses Alpes?] and the
count of Chalon [Guillaume III] came out against the churches of God together with
their accomplices. Since they had dared to burden these churches heavily and in
breach of their royal immunities, the clergy and religious serving God there
reported all these evils to their lord, the most Christian king of the
Franks.The king then assembled an army for the defense of the churches and the
liberty of the clergy, entered their land and took great booty. With God’s help
he so smashed their pride and tyranny that he forced them to restire against
their will absolutely everything they had taken from the churches, and restored
peace to the clergy serving God there humbly commending himself to their
prayers. He is the one who assiduously stands for the church [Cluny], protecting and defending her from her
enemies, by exterminating the Jews as enemies of the Christian faith and by
driving out the heretic who felt badly about the catholic faith. [Reminiscence
of the coronation oath?] For his good works were founded in the Lord, and the
whole Church of the saints ought therefore to recount his deeds.
9. Next in the first
year of the reign of Phillip Augustus and the fifteenth of his age, there arose
rivalries, or enmities, among the princes of the realm. Certain of his princes,
at the instigation of the Devil enemy to ecclesiastical peace, dared to conspire
against their lord Phillip Augustus. They assembled an army and began to waste
the king’s lands. The most Christian king Phillip seeing this was seized by a
great fury and led against them an army of infinite multitude so that after a
few days he put them all to flight and pursued them with such strength and
vigor that, by God’s miraculous aid, he reduced them all to obedience and most
powerfully compelled them to perform his whole will. But yet the Lord of all,
He who duly repays and avenges good men and leaves no good thing unrewarded,
because the most Christian king Phillip Augustus had most strenuously waged the
first two battles at the start of his reign for the honor of our Lord Jesus
Christ and God’s blessed mother and virgin Mary, therefore our Lord Jesus
Christ, who does not abandon those who hope in him, was present to defeat
those surrounding him and guarded him from his enemies and preserved him from
the seducers and gave him the battle so that he conquered all his adversaries
[Sap. X. 12], and had power against those who were toiling to oppress him
unjustly. For He is the Lord who dissipates the counsels of the nations, he
reproves the intentions of the peoples and counsels of princes [Ps., xxxii.
10]. For this man was not abandoned by God on the day of the battle, because
the angel of the Lord standing on his right hand smashed the heads of his
enemies [Ps. lxviii. 22]. And why so? Because he persisted faithfully in
the commands of the Lord [Ecclesiastic., xxii. 23].
Deeds of the
Second Year of Phillip Augustus, king of the Franks
10. In the year of
the Lord's incarnation 1180, 4th kalends june, on that day when our Lord Jesus
Christ ascended to the heavens carried up by the clouds, in the church of St.
Denis, at the suggestion and on the counsel of a certain good man who appeared
to have the zeal of God, the same king Phillip the second laid on himself the
diadem, and then was anointed queen the venerable Elizabeth his wife, daughter
of Baldwin illustrious count of Hainaut, niece of Phillip the great count of
Flanders, who on that day, as the custom is, honorably carried the sword before
the lord king. But, while these things were being solemnly carried out in the
church of St. Denis, and the king was kneeling with the queen at the high altar
their heads bowed to receive the nuptial blessing from the venerable archbishop
Guy, with many bishops and barons standing around them, something worthy of
memory happened which we consider useful for insertion into this work. A great
crowd of the people from the cities, suburbs, towns and villages around had
gathered to see so great a solemnity with great joy, when they caused a
disturbance to see the king and queen wearing their crowns. A certain knight,
one of the king's officials holding his wand in his hand, was waving it to and
fro to calm the tumult, when with one blow he broke three lamps hanging over
their heads by the high altar and their oil spilt all over the heads of the
king and queen. We believe this to have been miraculous and to spread the fame
and glory of his name in all the land about. Concerning which the Song of
Solomon's love seems to have prophesied: The oil poured out thy name
[Cant., i. 2]. As if to say, the fame and wisdom of thy name shall be spread from
sea to sea, and from the river the ends of the lands of the globe; and kings
will bow their heads before him and many peoples will serve him [Ps., lxxi,
8 and 11]. We may conjecture from these and other things of the same kind that
those things which were done about him by God's will can be understood in this
way.
Of the death of the most pious king
Louis
11. In the same year,
14 kalends October, on a Thursday, there died Louis most pious king of the
Franks in the city which is now called Paris
and is the capital of the kingdom of the Franks. By chance and the Lord's
provision it so happened that he who was king and head (caput) of the whole
kingdom of the Franks happily migrated to the Lord in his palace in the city
which is capital (caput) of the kingdom of the Franks. It was thus made
manifest to all that he was crossing in glory from palace to palace, from
kingdom to kingdom, from the terrestrial palace to the latitude of the
celestial paradise, from the transitory kingdom to the eternal kingdom which
neither an eye saw nor an ear heard nor could a human mind comprehend, that God
prepared since eternity for those who love Him in truth [I Cor., ii. 9].
His body was gloriously buried in the church of St. Mary
at Barbeaux [Seine-et-Marne, a Cistercian abbey], which he founded. There day
and night are celebrated, to the honor of our Lord Jesus Christ and the blessed
mother of God and virgin Mary and of all the saints, offices for his soul and
those of all his predecessors and for the state of the kingdom of the Franks.
The illustrious Adela, queen of the Franks, mother of the said Phillip Augustus
king of the Franks, had built in the same church over the king's grave a
sepulcher of stone slabs, gold and silver, most subtly decorated with brass and
gems. No such work of so great subtlety was ever found in the kingdoms of the
world since the days of Solomon. But enough of these things; we now turn to
what was done at God's inspiration by the king about the perfidious Jews.
Here is placed the first reason why the
most Christian king Phillip expelled (exterminavit) the Jews from the whole of France
2. At that time there
lived in France
a very great multitude of Jews who had gathered there over a long period from
the various parts of the world on account of the lasting peace and the generosity
(liberalitatem) of the French. For the Jews heard that the kings of the kingdom
of the Franks were strong against their enemies and kind (pietatem) towards
their subjects. So their elders and those more learned in the law of Moses,
called by the Jews themselves "didiscali" decided to come to Paris
and lived there for a long time and grew so rich that they claimed almost half
of the whole city and -- which is against God's decree and the Church's
regulations -- had in their houses as servants Christian men and women, who
manifestly moving away from the Christian faith judaized with the Jews
themselves. And because the Lord had said in the book of Deuteronomy: Thou
shalt not lend [at interest] to your brother but to the stranger [Deut.,
xxiii. 19], the Jews, wickedly understanding "stranger" to mean any
Christian, passed their money to the Christians under usury and so burdened the
citizens and knights and countrymen of the suburbs, towns and villages that
many of them were forced to dispose of their possessions. Others were bound
under oath in the houses of the Jews and held prisoner almost as if in jail.
When the most Christian king Phillip heard this, he was moved by benevolence
(pietate) and asked a certain hermit named Bernard [de Bré] a holy and
religiouis man who was living at that time in the forest of Vincennes
for advice on what to do. At his suggestion he released all Christians in his
realm from debts to the Jews, keeping for himself a fifth part of the whole
sum.
A second reason is placed here
13.
Church ornaments dedicated to God, gold and silver
crosses bearing the image of the crucified Lord Jesus Christ and chalices were
deposited with them by way of pawn because of the pressing needs of the
churches. To further increase their damnation, they treated these so vilely in
censure and reproach to the Christian religion, that their children ate their
eggs cooked in wine and drank from chalices that had contained the body and
blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, forgetting what is to be read in the book of
Kings [4 Reg., xxv], how Nebuchednezar king of Babylon, in the eleventh year of
the reign of the reign of king Zedekiah of Jerusalem, through his general
Nabuzardan and because of the sins of the Jews, took the holy city of Jerusalem
and despoiled the temple and took away with him the precious vases consecrated
to God which the most wise Solomon had made. Nut Nebuchednezar, though a
gentile and an idolater, nevertheless feared the God of the Jews and was
unwilling to drink from those vases nor to transfer them to his own use.
Instead he ordered them to be preserved in his own temple next to the idol as a
sacrosanct treasure. It was only at the accession of Balthazar, who reigned
sixth after him, that when he offered a great feast to his nobles and princes,
he ordered the vases which his grandfather Nebuchednezar had taken from the
temple of the Jews to be brought out, and the king and his nobles and wives and
concubines drank out of them. The Lord was angered against Balthazar that very
same hour, and showed him the sign of his destruction, that is the hand writing
against him on the wall "Mane, Techel, Phares", which was to be
interpreted as number, weight (in the balance), division [Daniel, v]. That same
night Babylon was captured by Cyrus and Darius and Balthazar was killed at that
feast as Isaiah had long ago prophesied: "Lay out the meal, see in the
mirrors (that is on the wall) those eating and drinking from the vases
of the Lord: rise up, princes, and take out your arms" [Is., xxi. 9]
because the city is taken. And at the unexpected arrival of the Medes and
Persians, Balthazar was immediately killed at that feast. Who shall dare to
cover up what the Lord deigns to reveal?
The third reason for the ejection of the
Jews is placed here
14. At that time
therefore when the Jews were afraid that their house might be searched by the
king's officials, it happened that a certain Jew who was then living in Paris
and had some church ornaments, a gold cross augmented with gems and a Gospel
book wonderfully decorated with precious stones, as well as silver goblets and
other vases, put these in a sack and most vilely threw it down into a deep pit
in which he was (alas!) accustomed to empty his bowels. All of this was soon
afterwards revealed by God and found there by Christians.A fifth of the whole
debt having been paid to the king, they were carried with the freatest joy and
honor back to their own church.
That year can deservedly be called a jubilee. Just as under the Old Law
all possessions reverted free to their former possessors, and all debts were
remitted, so by a great release of debts made by the most Christian king, the
Christians dwelling in the kingdom
of France achieved
perpetual liberty.
Deeds of the
third year of the reign of Phillip Augustus, king of the Franks
15. In the year of
the Lord's incarnation 1182, during the month of April which is called by the
Jews Nisan, an edict came out from the most serene king Phillip Augustus that
all Jews of his realm should prepare to leave by the feast of St. John the
Baptist following. They were then given license by the king to sell all their
household effects in the intervening time, that is, before the feast of St. John's, with their
possessions in the sense of houses, fields, vineyards, barns, wine-presses, and
that kind of thing, being reserved to himself and the future kings of the
Franks. When they heard this, some of the perfidious Jews were reborn from the
water with the Holy Spirit, and once converted to the Lord persevered in the
faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. To these the king out of respect for the
Christian religion restored and granted them in perpetual liberty all their
possessions complete. Others blinded by their ancient error persisted in their
perfidy and sought to entice the princes of the land, counts, barons,
archbishops and bishops among them, with gifts and great promises, to see if
they could by their advice and suggestions and the promise of an infinite
amount of money call the king's mind back from so firm a decision. But the compassionate
and merciful Lord, who does not abandon those who place their hopes in Him and
who humiliates those who presume upon his powers, so strengthened with the Holy
Spirit the enlightened mind of the king, with an infusion of His grace, that
neither prayers nor promises of temporal goods could soften it. I confess that
one might appropriately adapt to this what we read concerning the Blessed
Agatha: "Stones can more easily be softened, and iron converted to
lead, than the mind of the most Christian king recalled from a divinely
inspired decision" [Acta SS., 5 Febr., I.
615, col. 2. 4.].
On the princes' setback
16. When the infidel
Jews saw that the princes, through whom they were accustomed to bend the will
of other, previous kings easily to do their will, had suffered a setback, they
wondered at king Phillip's magnanimity and firm constancy in the Lord. Stunned
and almost stupefied by wonder, they cried out "Shema Yisrael", that
is "Hear O Israel" and hurried to sell their furniture. For the time
was approaching when they were bound by the king's command to get out of all France (de tota
Francia), and this could on no grounds be put off longer. The Jews then had all
they could do to fulfill the king's orders and sold off their movable property
with amazing speed, for all their (landed) possessions devolved to the royal
fisc. So having sold their things, the Jews had the expenses for the journey
and left with their wives and sons and their whole following in the aforesaid
year 1182, in the month of July, which the Jews call Tamuz, the third year of
king Phillip Augustus' reign with the 17th year of his age having begun the
previous August on the feast of St. Symphorian, the 11th kalends of September.
And so the seventeenth year of the king's age ended the month following the
Jews' expulsion, August. For they left in the month of July as said above, so
only three weeks or twenty-one days remained to the end of the seventeenth
year.
That Phillip the king "semper
Augustus" had the Jews' synagogues dedicated to God as churches
17. Once the infidel
Jews had been ejected and dispersed throughout the whole world, king Phillip
"semper Augustus" quite aware of what he was doing completed with
God's help the work begun in glory in even more glory. For he ordered that all
the synagogues of the Jews be cleaned up and, against the will of all the
princes, had the same synagogues dedicated to God as churches, with altars
consecrated in them to the honor of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the blessed
mother of God and virgin Mary. These same "synagogues" were called
schools by them, and the Jews gathered there daily for the sake of counterfeit
prayer in the name of the fabricated religion, He decided after pious and
honest consideration that, where the custom had been indeed, on the witness of
Jerome on Isaiah, to blaspheme day in and day out against the name of Jesus
Christ the Nazarene, God who alone performs great wonders should be praised by
the clergy and the whole Christian people.
Deeds of the fifth year of the reign of Phillip king of the
Franks
26. In the year of the Lord's incarnation 1184, the fifth year of
Phillip Augustus' reign, the twentieth of his age, there arose a quarrel, as
has tended to happen recently, (que in novis rebus accidere solet) between
Phillip the most Christian king of the Franks and Phillip count of the Flemings
over a certain territory commonly called Vermandois. For the king asserted that
the whole of Vermandois with its castles, towns and villages belonged in
successoral title to the kings of the Franks by hereditary right, and he
committed himself to prove this all by clerics and laymen, viz. Archbishops,
bishops, counts, vicomtes and other princes. The count of Flanders on the other
hand responded that he had long held the said lands in the lifetime of the most
Christian king Louis of blessed memory and had possessed them in peace without
any challenge through many times, and stated in the firmest terms that he would
never give them up while he lived. For it appeared to the count that he could
easily turn back the king's mind with promises and fine words because he was a
boy. The hand of the princes was certainly with him, as it is said, but as we
say in the proverb they blew up a wind "and wove a spider's web"
[Is., xi. 9]. Finally on advice from the princes and barons, Phillip Augustus
summoned all the princes of his land to "Karnopolim", a most
beautiful castle commonly called Compiègne [Compans, Seine-et-Marne seems to
fit the Latin better but the editor identified the place.]. He exchanged
counsel with them there and then assembled an army of infinite size in the
direction of the city called Amiens [Somme]. The count of Flanders, when he heard of the
king's arrival exulted in his heart, assembled his forces against the king, and
swore on the right arm of his courage (in brachio fortitudinis sue) that he
would defend himself in all things.
More on the same
27. And so in the 5th year of the reign of Phillip Augustus and the
twentieth of his age, he king went forth with his army and they covered the
face of the earth like locusts [Judith, ii. 11]. When the count of Flanders saw that the king's army was very great and
strong, his spirit was terrified [Dan., ii. 1] and the heart of his
people turned to water, seeking protection in flight. The count consulted his
men and then summoned through intermediaries the king's general, Thibault count
of Blois, William, archbishop of Rheims, the king's uncles to whom as the
king's most trusted familiars the job of carrying on public business had been
committed at that time. With these as mediators, the count of Flanders
spoke to the king in this manner:
"Let your anger towards
us diminish, o Lord. Come to us in peace and make use of our service as please
you. I restore to you in full, O my Lord King, the land you seek, the
Vermandois, with all its castles and towns and other appurtenances, freely and
without any procrastination. But if it please your royal majesty, I request
that the castle
of Saint-Quentin and the
castle called Péronne [Nord] be handed over to me by royal grant as long as I
live, and after my death to devolve to you or your heirs, the successors to the
kingdom of the Franks, beyond any further argument."
On the restoration of peace between the king and the count
28. When Phillip,
most Christian king of the Franks, heard this, he assembled all the
archbishops, bishops, counts, vicomtes and all the barons who had gathered
together as one at his call to smash savagery and pride. After taking counsel
with them, they all answered as if with a single voice that he should do what
the count of Flanders was offering to the
king. Once this was done, the count of Flanders was brought in and he justly
restored to king Phillip in the presence of all the princes and the whole crowd
there assembled the said land of Vermandois, which he had for so long possessed
unjustly, and immediately after the return put him in possession. Besides this,
he delivered an oath to the king that he would restore completely and without
delay all the losses he had caused to Baldwin, count of Hainaut and others of
the king's friends, according to the king's will and order. And in this way was
peace between the king and the count restored as if by a miracle, for it was
achieved without the shedding of human blood. When the people saw this, they
were filled with a great joy and blessed with praises God who makes safe those
who place their hopes in Him. [Henry II of England was among those present at
Aumale when this was concluded, 7 November 1185.]
On a miracle wrought by the Lord on behalf of Phillip king
of the Franks
29. Among the other things full of wonder which the Lord deigned to
display for king Phillip to the men on his lands, we have thought proper to
write down this one as worthy of even greater wonder. Certain good men, canons
of Amiens have told us that while the most Christian king was staying with his
army near a castle called Boves [Somme, arr. of Amiens], and they were dragging
horse carts one at a time (passim) through the fields, the whole army, both men
and horses, trampled the harvest under foot, collected the greater part of it
with sickles for fodder and gave it to the horses to eat. The result was that
scarcely anything green remained that year on the land. It was the time when
the harvest is in the ears of corn and producing flowers, around St. John the Baptist's
[June 24]. But after the restoration of peace, some canons of Amiens,
accustomed to collect the fruits of their prebends in the place where the
king's army was, saw the harvest broken up by the horses' hooves and crushed to
the point of total destruction and grieving for the loss of their revenues,
thought to make complaint before the Dean and Chapter, humbly petitioning and
asserting as their right that they [the Dean and Chapter] should in that year
see fit to restore to them for the sake of brotherhood and from the common
stock of all the other prebends the losses from their prebends. The Dean took
counsel with the Chapter and at length asked them to bear matters with patience
until the grain was harvested and threshed, and have carefully collected up
whatever was left from the crops crushed by the army of the king of the Franks.
Then if there were any shortfall from the usual level of fruits of the harvest,
the Chapter would make it up to them in full. A wonderful thing and much to be
amazed at! In the following days and weeks, by the miraculous workings of God,
it turned out against everyone's expectations that the crops crushed by the
king's army were so fully and abundantly restored that year that they found a
hundred-fold increase, not just on the crushed ears but even on the things cut
off by sickle and given to the horses to eat. But in the area where the count
of Flanders' army had been drawn up, there all
growing things were dried up so that no vegetation was found there that year.
Are not these and other things which He did for his servant (servo), the most
Christian king Phillip, worthy of being written down in the book of his deeds?
When the canons of Amiens saw so great a miracle, they and the whole of the
people feared the king, seeing the wisdom of God to be present in him
[III Reg., iii. 28] which instructs him and teaches him to do whatever he
wishes, with the help of Him who is prince and origin (principium) of all.
On the embassy sent from Jerusalem to Phillip king of
France
30. In that same year, on the 17th kalends February, feria iiii,
Heraclius patriarch of Jerusalem, the Prior of the Hospitallers in Outremer and
the great Master of the Temple were sent to Paris and came to the most Christian
king of the Franks, Phillip Augustus. At that time the Saracens had entered
with a great army the lands of the Christians in Outremer, killed many of them
and took many away as captives. They took Jacob's Ford, a certain very strong
fortification of the Christians, killed there in wretched circumstances many
knight brothers of the Hospital and Temple
and dragged others off with them into captivity. For this reason, all the
Christians of Outremer, afraid that the Saracens thus emboldened would take the
holy city of Jerusalem and profane the Temple with the Lord's Sepulcher, sent
the patriarch with the two masters mentioned above to France, bearing the keys
of the city of Jerusalem and of the Lord's Holy Sepulcher to the most Christian
king of the Franks, Phillip, asking him and humbly praying that he would, at
God's instigation and out of love for the Christian religion, see fit to lend
assistance to the desolate land of the city of Jerusalem. They faced the many
dangers of the sea, frequent attacks from pirates and a long haul across land,
during which the Master of the Temple
died. The two survivors reached Paris,
God leading them. There the patriarch was received by Maurice, bishop of Paris,
his clergy and the whole community of the city. The next day he celebrated mass
in the Church of the Blessed Mary and gave a sermon to the people.
On the king's kindly reception of the embassy
31. When Phillip Augustus, king of the Franks, heard this, he set aside
all other business, went at once to the envoys, received them honorably with
the kiss of peace, and sent most careful orders to his prévôts and baillis
(prepositis terre sue sive dispensatoribus) to advance to them their sufficient
expenses wherever they went through his lands from the royal rents. Now that he
had heard why they had come, his paternal piety was aroused and he ordered a
general council of all archbishops, bishops and princes of his land to be held
at Paris. After
celebrating this council together, he commanded the archbishops, bishops and
all prelates of churches by royal authority to admonish their subject people by
frequent sermons and exhortations to seek Jerusalem
in order to defend the Christian faith and fight the enemies of the cross. For
he, king Phillip, ruled the kingdom of the Framnks at that time vigorously and
on his own. He had not yet received the desired heir from his wife the
venerable queen Elizabeth, and so on the princes' advice devoutly sent off to
Jerusalem fighting knights with a great multitude of armed foot, adequately
funded from his own rents, as we have learned from report (fama referente).
On the Duke of Burgundy
32. In the meantime, Hugh duke of Burgundy assembled his army on the frontiers
of his lands and laid a most vigorous siege to a castle called Vergy which he
ringed with four fortifications. He claimed that this castle belonged to his
jurisdiction and promised as if under oath that under no circumstances would he
give up the siege until he had transferred that castle back into his power and
lordship. Guy [de Vergy. Actually, his son Hugh had held the castle since
1179.], the lord of the castle, seeing the firmness of the duke's intention and
that the duke would strive in every way possible to take the castle away from
him, sent messengers to Phillip Augustus, most vigorous king of the Franks,
informing him by his letters of his will that he would swiftly hand over the
castle of Vergy to the king and his successors to hold permanently. The king
"semper Augustus", after seeing and hearing the letters summoned his
army hastened to his aid, to liberate from the hand of stronger men the needy
enclosed and under siege by those out to despoil them. The king turned up
unexpectedly to break up the siege and completely overturned those four
fortifications which the duke had had raised, received the castle, placed
keepers in it, transferred it in perpetuity to his lordship and added it to the
kingdom of the Franks. A little after this, Guy de Vergy did homage to the king
under oaths and promised perpetual fidelity to his successors (perpetuam
fidelitatem firmavit). Once that was done, the king immediately restored the
castle of Vergy with everything belonging to it complete to the lord Guy and
his heirs, lordship however reserved to the king and his successors.
Incidentals. In the same year, there was a total eclipse of the sun on
the first day of May, at the ninth hour, with the sun being in the sector of
the bull.
On King Phillip's army against the duke of Burgundy for the defense
of churches
33. A short time after these things, messengers were sent by the bishops and abbots
and other religious in the whole of Burgundy
to the most Christian king of the Franks, Phillip Augustus. They carried many
complaints against Hugh the duke of Burgundy
already mentioned and demanded justice of the king. For of old the most pious
kings of the Franks inflamed with zeal for the Christian faith, as when Charles
and his successors having expelled the Saracens as enemies of the Christian
faith and, reigning in peace with much sweat and labor, founded with their own
hands many churches and monasteries in honor of our Lord Jesus Christ and of
Mary, God's blessed mother and virgin, and of all the saints, and assigned to
them from their own rents adequate rents for an endowment so that the clergy
perpetually serving God in proper manner there could obtain the necessary food.
Some of them indeed chose during their lifetimes burial in the churches which
they had founded, granting them every kind of immunity, as Clovis, who was
first of all the kings of the Franks to accept the faith of the Christians, was
buried with the venerable queen Clothilda, his wife, in St. Peter's Church in
Paris, now known by a change of name as the church of Sainte-Geneviève, which
he had founded. Childebert was buried in the church which was formerly founded
in honor of the martyr Saint-Vincent, which is now called the abbey of
Saint-Germain-des-près. Chlothar I lies in the church of Saint-Médard at Soissons, but that Chlothar
was not the father of Dagobert. Dagobert was buried in the church of Saint-Denis
which he founded, on the right hand side of the greater altar. Louis of pious
record, father of Phillip Augustus our king, was buried in the church of
Saint-Marie of "Barbeel" which he founded.
On the liberty granted to churches by the kings
34. And so when the kings of the Franks handed over lands to the
custody of certain princes, out of a desire to keep these churches for ever in
their liberty, they decided to retain them under their power and protection, so
that the princes to whom the land had been transferred (delegabatur) should not
presume to burden either the churches or the clergy serving God there with any
carrying services or tallages or other exactions. Yet, because the duke of
Burgundy had heavily oppressed the churches on the lands committed to him with
frequent exactions of just this kind, king Phillip listened to the churches'
complaint, warned the duke in most benign manner before all his friends that he
should at the instigation of God and by the faith which he owed to the kingdom
of the Franks, restore what he had taken from the churches, and never presume
to take such things in future, and that he would punish him severely if he
would not restore that wealth to the churches.
On the siege of Châtillon-sur Seine
35. When the duke of Burgundy saw
the will of the most Christian king in all his deeds and his firm constanmcy in
the Lord in his pronouncements, he left the court much disturbed and returned
to Burgundy.
For the royal majesty had ordered him to restore to the churches the sum of
thirty thousand livres of Paris,
violently seized from the churches and in addition to do satisfaction for the
violence to the king. When the duke showed himself unwilling to do this by his
petitions for obstructive delays, Phillip "semper Augustus", king of
the Franks, moved in force against him and entered Burgundy as a knight of Christ with an army
ready to fight. In defense of the liberty of churches and clergy (then being
crushed for both the populace and the priests), he besieged the castle which
they call Châtillon, and after a fortnight or three weeks,having constructed
machines around it, had the castle stormed. In this battle, some both of the
besieged and the besiegers fell, others were wounded but restored to health as
before by the benefits of medicine. Finally the king, having gained the castle
by the victory, had it fortified and placed keepers in it.
On the restoration of peace
36. The duke of Burgundy
saw that he could not resist the most Christian king, took sensible counsel and
then came to throw himself at the king's feet, seeking his pardon and promising
that he would make full satisfaction for all the churches and the clerics
serving God in them by the judgement of the king's court. But Phillip Augustus
saw clearly enough that there was great malice among the men of the land and
that all his thought was inclined towards evil for all time. He therefore
wished to make precautions for the future for himself and the churches. The
king had heard from many who had had prolonged contact with his father, Louis
of good memory, that this duke of Burgundy had often offended that king and,
freqently came to court on summons and gave security to the king that he would
obey royal commands in every way he could and in future obey him in future.
King Phillip, adequately forewarned by these and other things of the kind, took
from the duke of Burgundy sufficient security
(cautionem), three of his best castles by way of gage, on terms by which the
king was to have and possess them until he had fully restored the sum mentioned
above of thirty thousand livres to the churches. A little later, the king took
more intelligent counsel with his friends and restored those three castles to
the duke, then because he could not repay the sum to the churches from his own
resources, he granted him by royal gift a fee from the lordship of Vergy. Thus
peace was restored, and king Phillip "semper Augustus" returned with
his men in glory to his palace in Paris,
praising and magnifying the Lord.
That king Phillip ordered all the streets and roads of Paris top be paved over
37. It happened
after a few days that king Phillip
"semper Augustus" staying for a while in Paris
was walking about the royal hall deep in thought about the affairs of the
realm, when he came to palace windows from which he was accustomed sometimes to
look out at the river Seine for the
refreshment of his soul. Horse-drawn carriages crossing through the city
churned up the mud. The king walking about his hall could not bear the
intolerable stench they caused. He therefore took on a hard but very necessary
task which none of his predecessors had dared to attempt because of its great
expense and difficulty. He called together the burgesses and prévôt of the city
and ordered by royal authority that all the streets and roads of the whole city
of Paris should
be covered with hard and strong stones. The most Christian king was trying to
take away from the city its ancient name; for it had been called
"Lutea" from the stink of the mire (a luti fetore). But the heathens
hated that name on account of the stink, and so long ago called it Paris after Alexander Paris, son of Priam king of Troy. For we have read in
the Deeds of the Franks that the first of all the kings of the Franks to reign
over them in royal style was Faramond son of Marcomirus, son of Priam king of Austria. This
Priam king of Austria [Here and later, Rigord confuses Austria with Austrasia,
the northern-most of the four great regions in the old Frankish empire.] was
not the great Priam king of Troy, but a descendant of Hector his son through
Francio son of Hector.
Deeds of the sixth year of the reign of king Phillip Augustus
40. In the year of the Lord's
incarnation 1185, the 6th year of Phillip Augustus' reign, 21st of his age, in
the middle of Lent, there was an earthquake in Gothis in the city called Uzès
[March 20 1186]. And in the following month, April, on the ninth day, the
vigils of Palm Sunday, there was a partial eclipse of the moon [April 5 1186].
And at the following Easter, Gerard, prévôt of "Pixiaco" added eleven
thousand marks of silver from his own (patch) to the king's treasures and so
left the court. Walter the chamberlain was put in his place.
On the abbot of St. Denis
41. At that time, William a "Vapincensis" by birth was
ruling the church
of St. Denis in a rather
half-hearted manner. The most Christian king took this seriously and attempted
to provide another ruler for the church. One day when the king was passing
through the town of St. Denis
on royal business, he descended on the abbey as one does on one's own chamber.
When the abbot heard of the king's arrival, he was very scared (for the king
was currently seeking a thousand marks of silver from him), so he assembled the
brothers in the chapter house on a Saturday, the 6th Ides of May after noon,
deposed himself and gave up the abbey. Most of the monks stayed there (in the
chapter-house) with Hugh the venerable prior, but some deputed by the whole
body went off to report to the king what had happened and seek from him a free
election. The king with his usual generosity at once granted them a free
license to make an election, asking and praying them in the most kindly manner
to choose, in pursuance of God's lead and the king's own honor, without
dissension or discord some honest person, tested in good morals, and
appropriate to so famous a church, which is both the (corona) site for
coronations for the kingdom of the Franks and the burial place of kings and emperors.
The monks bore the king's orders back to the chapter house and at once, by
God's provision, Hugh the venerable prior of the same house was unanimously
chosen as abbot. The election was immediately confirmed by the most Christian
king right there in the chapter house in the presence of clergy and people, on
this condition added by royal prohibition, that he should not give or promise
in the first flush of his promotion (in illa novitate seu promotione) any gift
to anyone in the royal family, cleric or layman.
On the consecration of the abbot of St. Denis
42. Then the venerable Hugh
abbot-elect of the church of St. Denis, judging his promotion to have been made
by God alone and not by any human, and desiring to conserve the ancient dignity
of the church of St. Denis in full, invited two venerable bishops, those of
Meaux and Senlis, to celebrate his consecration (benedictionem) in the church.
By the ancient regulations of the Roman Church, these two were bound each in
turn to assist with the consecration of altars and the ordination of monks,
especially the bishop of Meaux. That consecration was celebrated by the bishops
in the church of St. Denis in the presence of 7 other abbots and a great crowd
of clergy and people on the 15th kalends June, a Sunday.
On the messengers sent by the king of Hungary to the
king
43. While these things were going
on in France, Bela king of Hungary,
Pannonia, Croatia,
Avaria, Dalmatia, and "Rame" sent
messngers to Phillip Augustus, the most Christian king of the Franks. The king
of Hungary had heard that Henry (III) the young king of England, son of the
king Henry (II) under whom Thomas bishop of Canterbury suffered glorious
martyrdom at God's call, had been taken from our midst [ie died.]. He wanted
most dearly to be joined in matrimony with the widow, Margaret by name, sister
of Phillip king of France, on account both of the ancient dignity of the kings
of the Franks and the queen's own wisdom and piety, of which he had learned
from many reports. The king of Hungary's
messengers now came to Paris
and humbly presented his petition to king Phillip. He received the petition
with kindness and summoned the archbishops, bishops and greater princes of the
realm whose advice and wisdom he often and routinely used in doing his business.
After due consultation with them, he granted his most beloved sister Margaret,
former queen of England, to king Bela of Hungary as his legitimate wife, the
bishops and abbots of the land handing her over honorably to the messengers. He
lavished royal gifts quite adequately on these messengers and they returned
rejoincing with the queen to Hungary.
[English chroniclers tell a somewhat different story!]
On the death of Geoffrey, count of Britanny
44. At the same time as all this, it
happened that the illustrious Geoffrey, count of Britanny, son of Henry (II)
king of England, came to Paris and fell onto a bed of sickness. Phillip loved
him very tenderly. When he heard of the illness, he summoned all the doctors
dwelling in Paris
at the time and ordered them to furnish all care and diligence they could to
the count. Even so after a very few days of incessant labor by the doctors, on
the 14th kalends September, he went the way of all flesh. [August 19 (or
possibly 21) 1186. Geoffrey may have been preparing to defect to Phillip and do
him homage for Britanny.] The citizens and knights of Paris
guarded his body with honor and reverence in the church of St. Mary's
[Notre Dame] until the king arrived, while the church's canons and clergy
celebrated the funeral services most devotedly. The next day, the king came to
Paris with Thibault, seneschal of France, and had his body preserved with
aromatic herbs and buried in a lead sarcophagus before the great altar in the
same church by the most reverend Maurice, bishop of Prais and an assembly of
abbots, religious and clergy from all over the city.
Of the war between Phillip king of France and Henry king of
England
50. In the same year as above, a
quarrel arose between the most Christian king Phillip and king Henry (II) of England. King
Phillip sought from Henry's son Richard (I), count of Poitou, personal homage
for the whole county, and Richard under instructions from his father kept
putting off doing this from day to day. Secondly, the same king Phillip sought
from the king of England a castle called Gisors, and another castle close by
which his own father, king Louis (VII), had handed over as dowry for Margaret
his (Phillip's) sister, at the time when he joined her in matrimony to the
illustrious king Henry, the older Henry's son [The young king Henry now dead.].
That dowry was granted to king Henry to possess during his lifetime on
condition that it should devolve after his death to any offspring that came
from the union. But if he did not receive an heir from Margaret, the dowry
would revert without any argument to the king of France on [the young king] Henry's
death. The king of England
had frequently been summoned (formally to his court) by king Phillip concerning
these matters, but had always raised false delays and put off standing to
judgement of the [French] king's court. When the most Christian king Phillip
saw the cunning tricks and dodges of the English king and shrewdly realized how
damaging delay would be to him and his people, he decided to enter the lands of
the king of England
with an armed multitude.
Deeds of the seventh year of king
Phillip of France
51. It happened in the seventh year of Phillip's reign, the
twenty-second of his age (the year of the Lord's incarnation 1187) that king
Phillip collected an innumerable army "in pago Bituricensi", and
entered in strength the territory of Aquitaine, wasted that land took the
castle called "Eisenoldum" and "Crazzacum" and destroyed
many other fortifications and lands right up to Châteauroux. When they heard of
this, Henry king of England
and Richard count of Poitou collected a large
army and dared to bring it to Châteauroux against the king of France their
lord. For they wished if they could to chase away king Phillip and his army
forcibly from the siege of Châteauroux. But instead they witnessed the
constancy and great-heartedness of the Franks and found the castles prepared
against them. King Phillip was indignant and had all his warriors set up a
battle-line of fighting men against them. So in fear of the great-heartedness
of king Phillip and the usual bravery of the Franks, they sent diligent and
pious men with legates of the holy Roman church who had been sent to king
Phillip at that time to restore peace to the parts of France. The messengers presented
security and confirmed on behalf of the king of England
and Richard his son that they would make full amends in all things concerning
the whole dispute by judgement of the king of France's court. And when that was
done and a truce declared, each went back to his own lands. [A two-year truce
was concluded on June 23 1187. Richard broke this later.]
On the mercenary who struck an image of
the Blessed Virgin
52. While the king was still besieging Châteauroux,
there occurred another incident worth relating. One day Richard count of Poitou sent a multitude of mercenaries
["Coterellorum" can mean brigands] to aid Châteauroux. While there,
they were deployed in front of the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and
began to play dice with chips of mosaic. One of them, a son of iniquity full of
the devil, burst out into blasphemies against the Blessed Virgin and God,
because he was losing in an evil way the coins he had acquired by evil ways. He
then raised his eyes in furious anger and and saw on the church porch an image
of the most blessed virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus in her arms, in the
way you often find sculpted in stone on churches to stir the memory and
devotion of lay people (pro excitanda memoria seu devotione laicorum). When his
eyes saw this, his grim look lightened, and (alas!) he redoubled his words of
blasphemy at Our Lady and at God and then, this unhappy Judas in the sight of
all threw at the image a stone which most vilely broke off the arm of the image
of the child Jesus so that it fell to the ground. From the fracture point, as
we have heard from many people who were present at the siege, blood flowed
abundantly onto the ground; many bystanders collected this and with it earned
cures from various sicknesses. John known as Lackland, the king of England's younger
son, who had arrived there by chance sent by his father, carried off this
bloody arm from the image in honor and reverence as a relic. But the
unfortunate mercenary who had struck the image of the Blessed Virgin in so
ignominious a fashion ended his life most wretchedly that very day, snatched by
the demon who had previously been troubling him. The other mercenaries seing
what had happened and crushed in fear, gave out praises to God who lets no
crime go unpunished, and extolled the Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of God, with
immense praises, then left Châteauroux. The local monks saw miracles done there
daily by God's power and so formally translated the image with hymns and
prayers of praise inside the church, where many miracles are done to the present
day to the honor of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary.
On the messengers sent by the people of
Jerusalem to the king of France
53. While these things were going on, messengers came
from Outremer (de transmarinis partibus) to king Phillip and announced to him
with groans and sighs that Saladin, king of Syria and Egypt, had because of the
sins of the Christians invaded the Christian lands of Outremer, killed many
thousand Christians in misery, cruelly put to the sword many Templars and Hospitallers
with the bishops and barons of the land, taken the Holy Cross with the king of
Jerusalem and within a few days of growing iniquity conquered the holy city of
Jerusalem and the whole Promised Land, except for Tyre, Tripoli and Antioch and
a few very strong castles which they could never have.
On the birth of Louis (VIII) son of
Phillip Augustus
54. In the year of the Lord's incarnation 1187, on
the fourth day of September, at the third hour, there was a partial solar
eclipse in the eighteenth degree of the virgin that lasted two hours. On the
next day, the fifth of September, Louis son of Phillip Augustus the renowned
king of the Franks was born, on a Monday [actually Saturday!], at the eleventh
hour of the day. The city of Paris
where he was born was filled with such great joy by his birth that for seven
days (and each night by the light of wax torches) the whole population of the
city paying did not cease singing and dancing due praises to their creator.
From the very hour of his birth, they sent out couriers through all the
provinces to announce the joys of so great a king to strangers. They took
immense pleasure in rejoicing and blessed with their praises the God who had
deigned to raise up such a fine heir for the kingdom of the Franks.
On the frequent changes of popes
55. That same year, on the feast of St. Luke in
October, pope Urban III migrated to the Lord after a year and a half on the
papal throne. Gregory VIII succeeded him for a month and a half, and then in that
same year there succeeded to him Clement III, a Roman by birth. [These details
are not quite accurate. Urban's pontificate ran from November 25 1185 to
October 20 1187, and Gergory VIII was elected October 21 and died December 17
1187.] And note that so frequent a change of popes could happen for no reason
other than because of their sins and the disobedience of subjects unwilling to
return through the grace of God. For concerning Babylon, i.e. the confusion of sinners,
nobody comes back by his own strength or knowledge unless more is bestowed upon
him to help him leave. (De Babylone enim, id est, de confusione peccatorum,
nemo suis viribus aut scientia revertitur, nisi exeundi gratia desuper ei
largiatur.) For the world grows old, it grows old with the whole exercise of
its government (regiminis usus) and it declines into old age, and it slips back
as if in a repeat of childhood, so that the flow (profluvium) of its will flows
forth in everything. Note too that from the same year of the Lord when the Lord's
Cross was captured by that same Saladin in Outremer, babies born from that time
had only 22 teeth or even 20 when they used to have 30 or 32.
That at the prompting of God king
Phillip and Henry king of England
took crosses
56. At the celebration of the feast of St. Hilary on January 13th
a conference was held between the king of France Phillip and Henry king of
England, between "Tria" [Trie-Château, Oise or Triel-sur-Seine, Seine
et Oise?] and Gisors, where it came about, by the Lord's miraculous workings
and against everyone's expectations, those two kings by the secret inspiration
of the Holy Spirit assumed the sign of the holy cross in the same place for the
liberation of the Lord's holy sepulcher and of the holy city of Jerusalem, and
many archbishops, bishops and counts, dukes and barons with them. Among them
were Walter, archbishop of Rouen, Baldwin archbishop of Canterbury, the bishops
of Beauvais and Chartres, the duke of Burgundy, Richard count of Poitou,
Phillip count of Flanders, Thibault count of Blois, Rotrou count of La Perhce,
Guillaume des Barres count of Rochefort, Henry count of Champagne, Robert count
of Dreux, the counts of Clermont Beaumont, Soissons, Bar, Bernard of St.
Valèry, Jacques d'Avesne, the count of Nevers, Guillaume de Merlot and many
others inflamed with God 's zeal whose names would be too long to list here.
And the two kings piously erected in the same place a stone cross in memory of
this deed and founded a church there, striking a perpetual alliance between
them and calling the place "The Holy Field" because they were signed
with the holy crosses there. And they assigned adequate rents for two priests
to serve the Lord there, as we have learnt by the report of many, and granted
the church with everything belonging to it to the nuns of Fontevrault to hold
in perpetuity.
The deeds of the eighth year of the reign of Phillip king of
the Franks
57. In the
year of the Lord 1188, in the month of March, the middle of Lent, King Phillip
celebrated a general council at Paris,
to which he summoned all the archbishops, bishops, abbots and barons of the
whole realm. At it an innumerable multitude of knights and foot-soldiers were
signed with the most sacred cross. And on account of the emergency (for the
king aspired to make the Jerusalem journey from the city), he decreed with the
assent of clergy and people that certain tithes were to be taken from everyone,
called the Saladin Tithes and which we have placed in the present book.
On the breach of treaty committed by count Richard
60. Two or three months after these
things were done, between Whitsun and the feast of St. John's [June 5-24,
1188], Richard count of Poitou assembled an army, entered the lands which the
count of Toulouse held from the king of the Franks, and took Moissac and other
castles belonging to the count of Toulouse. When Raymond, count of Toulouse heard of this, he sent messengers to the most
Christian king Phillip, to report all the evil things done to him by the count
of Poitou against right and the treaty which had
existed before. For count Richard had broken the pact made and confirmed on
oath the year before between Chaumont and Gisors between Phillip king of the
Franks and Henry king of England
with the same Richard. It ran like this: that their lands should remain in the
state they were when the kings had taken the cross, until each of them returned
home joyfully after performing the Lord's service across the sea in the Holy Land. When king Phillip "semper Augustus"
heard about the breach of the treaty which the two above-mentioned kings had
struck between themselves, he was much moved and so collected a multitude of
armed men and swiftly entered their lands to take Châteauroux and
"Busenzacum" and "Argentonum" and besieged a fourth one called
"Leurosium". It was while the king was there for a short stay during
the siege that something happened worthy of memory.
On the miraculous growth of a torrent
61. There was a torrent before this castle in which you would find
sufficient water after heavy rains but which was now all dried up from the
boiling heat of summer. But when the king and his whole army were deeply
afflicted with thirst and lack of water (for it was summer), the water of the
torrent suddenly and miraculously burst forth, without any rain, from the deep
bowels of the earth so that its level reached the horses' harness enough to
revive the whole army with their animals. The populace, seeing this and bowled
over by joy at so great a miracle, praised God who did everything he wished in
the sea and in every abyss. And the water lasted as long as the king was at the
siege. After a few days he took the castle, "Leurosium", and granted
it to his kinsman, Louis son of count Thibaut. Once he went away, the waters
returned to their previous place and did not appear again.
On the total demolition of
"Monte Tricardo"
62. After leaving
there they came to besiege "Mont Tricard", where the king stayed a
while on siege, erecting machines all round it until he took it with the
greatest labor, set the whole town on fire and totally demolished the very
strong keep in which there had been fifty armed knights. He then took
"Paluellum" and "Montesorium" and "Castelletum",
and "Rupem Guillebaldi" and "Cullencem" and "Montem
Luzzonis" and king Phillip subjugated to himself whatever right the king
of England had in
"Bituria" and Auvergne.
The king of England was much
angered when he saw this, and marched his army back through the march of Normandy towards Gisors.
Phillip king of France
followed him as soon as he heard the news, took "Vindocinum" on the
way and pursued the king right up the castle called "Trou" from which
he ejected in shame the king of England
along with his son Richard and burnt the whole town. But the king of England then
passed through theat march and burnt the castle of "Drocarum" and on
the route destroyed many rural villages right up to Gisors. Things finally
quietened down with the arrival of winter when each granted the other a truce.
That count Richard of
Poitou did homage to king Phillip
63. While these things were going on, Richard count of Poitou requested from his father the wife rightfully due
to him, the sister of Phillip king of the Franks who had been handed over into
his custody by Louis of good memeory, and with her he requested the kingdom.
For so it was in the agreements, that whichever of the sons of the king of England had her
as his wife should have the kingdom after the king's death. Richard said that
she was rightfully his, since he was the eldest now that his brother Henry was
dead. The king of England
was very disturbed to hear this and determined that no way would he do this.
This so upset Richard, count of Poitou, that
he ostentatiously left his father, transferred himself to the most Christian
king of the Franks and in the presence of his father did homage to king Phillip
and affirmed the pact under oath. [November 18 1188, between Bonmoulins and
Soligny.]
Deeds
of the ninth year of Phillip king of the Franks
66. In the
year of the Lord 1189, in the month of May, king Phillip "semper
Augustus" marched his army to Nogent and there captured La Ferté-Bernard
[Sarthe] with four other very strong castles and took with a mighty hand the
very strong city of Le Mans, out of which he chased with a fair degree of
disgrace Henry king of England with 700 armed knights.n1
He then turned in pursuit with a select group of warriors to the castle of Chinon, a very powerful and well
fortified keep, which he took with much labor thanks to the miners he had
brought with him undermining the wall. A few days later, he led his army off
towards the city of Tours and pitched tents
there on the banks of the Loire. The king on
his own then examined the river and, by prodding the waters with a lance,
something unheard of by laymen (a seculis), found a ford, placed markers in the
river on left and right so that the whole army could ford it between the two
lines of markers after him, and was himself first to cross the Loire before
anyone else. The whole army seeing the diminution of the waters (which happened
miraculously in a moment) at once pulled up their stakes, struck their tents,
and all from the least to the greatest followed the king across the ford. When
all had gathered with their equipment and utensils, the waters of the river
reverted to their previous state! The citizens of Tours were afraid of the king when they saw
this. And this happened on the eve of St. John the Baptist [June 23].While the
king was surveying the city's fortifications, his camp-followers (ribaldi)
accustomed to be the first to charge battlements, seeing what he was doing,
mounted an improvised assault, scaled the walls with ladders and took the city.
When the king heard of this, he and the whole army received the city complete,
placed a garrison (custodes) over it, and gave solemn thanks to God for several
days there.
Of the death of Henry king of England
67. Twelve days later, on the octave
of the apostles Peter and Paul, Henry king of England died at Chinon. [July 6
1189] He had been quite successful up to the times of Phillip king of the
Franks, whom the Lord placed in his mouth as a bridle (or curb)n2
in vengeance for the blood of the blessed Thomas of Canterbury, so that through
this harassment He should give him understanding and bring him back into the
bosom of Mother Church. He was buried at Fontevrault in the nunnery. He was
succeeded by his son, Richard count of the Poitevins. At Richard's first entry
into Gisors the same year the whole castle burnt down; on his departure from
that castle the next day the wooden bridge broke under his feet, so that, though
all his companions crossed safely, Richard fell with his horse into the moat. A
few days later [July 22 at Gisors] the peace which had been negotiated between
king Phillip and king Henry (now taken from our midst) was perfected and
completed. King Phillip then for the good of peace returned to Richard king of England the city of Tours
and Le Mans and
even Châteauroux with its whole fee. For this, king Richard renounced
(quitavit) in perpetuity to Phillip king of the Franks the whole fee attached
to "Crazzacum" and all the fees attached to "Eisenoldum"
and all those which he had in Auvergne.
Of the death of the queen, wife to king Phillip
68. In that same year 1189, the tenth
of Phillip's reign, on the ides of March, , queen Elizabeth, wife of Phillip
king of the Franks died [March 15 1190, in childbirth]and was buried in the
church of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary in Paris [Notre Dame]. Maurice the
venerable bishop of Paris erected an altar in the same church to her memory,
and the most Christian king "semper Augustus" at the urging of his
piety established there in perpetuity for the remedy of her soul and those of
all her predecessors two priests, to each of whom he assigned each year for
ever fifteen pounds Parisn3
for their food.
That king Phillip received in the church of Saint-Denis
the staff and scrip (sporta) of pilgrimage
69. In the year of the Lord 1190, on
the feast of St. John
the Baptist, came to the church of the blessed martyr Denis with the greatest
company to receive license. For the kings of the Franks had been accustomed of
old that, whenever they took up arms against their enemies, they carried with
them the banner from the altar of the Blessed Denis for their safety and
protection and placed it in the first rank of the fighting.n4
Oftentimes, when their opponents saw this and recognized it, they were
terrified and turned tail. The most Christian king therefore humbly prostrated
himself in prayer on the marble pavement before the bodies of the holy martyrs
Denis, Rusticus and Eleutherius, and commended himself to God and the Blessed
Virgin Mary and the holy martyrs and all the saints. When at length he arose
tearfully from his prayers, he received with great devotion the pilgrim's scrip
and staffn5
from the hand of William, archbishop of Rheims,
his uncle and legate of the apostolic see. He then accepted with own hands
standing on the bodies of the saints (?) two exceedingly fine silk battle
standards and two great banners properly embroidered with orphrey crossesn6
Finally commending himself to the prayers of the monks, he accepted the
benediction of the key and the Crown of Thorns and the arm of St. Simeon, and
left reaching Vezelay with king Richard on the Wednesday after the octave of
St. John the Baptist. [July 4] There he received the license of all his barons,
he entrusted the custody of the whole kingdom of the Franks along with his most
beloved son Louis to his very dear mother Adela and his uncle William,
archbishop of Rheims. A few days later he came to Genoa where he had ships and all the
necessary supplies and utensils most carefully prepared. Richard king of England set
sail from Marseille with all his men. Thus the said catholic kings committed
themselves to the winds and sea to defend holy Christianity and for love of our
Lord Jesus Christ and came to Messina
despite many and great dangers.
[Phillip's testament and regency arrangements]
70. Before king Phillip left the
kingdom of the Franks, however, he summoned his friends and intimates to Paris and drew up a
testament and ordinance for the whole realm in the following words:
o
In the name of the
holy and individual Trinity, amen. Phillip by the grace of God, king of the
Franks. The royal office exists to provide for the needs of subjects by all
means and to place the public before (the king's) private interest. Since,
therefore, we have embraced with deep desire a vow for our pilgrimage to aid
the Holy Land with all our strength, we have decided on the counsel of the Most
High to set down how the necessary business of the kingdom should be managed in
our absence and to make final dispositions for our life in case we should we
end it on the way.
o
In the first place, we
order that our baillis through the prévôts in our (potestatibus)
place four prudent men, lawful and of good reputation, without whose counsel
(or as a minimum that of two of them) the business of each town is not to be
carried on, except that we appoint six trustworthy and lawful men for Paris
whose names are these, T[hibaud le Riche], A[thon de la Grève], E[brouin le
Changeur], R[obert de Chartres], B[audoin Bruneau?] and N[icolas Boisseau].
o
And we have placed in
our lands which are specified by name baillis, who are to fix
each month in their bailliage [bailiwick] one day to be called an assize, on
which all those who put forward a complaint (clamorem) are to receive their
right through them (the baillis) and to get justice without delay, and we too
are to get our rights and our justice. The fines (forefacta) which are our own
are to be registered (scribentur) there.
o
In addition we will
and command that our most dear mother, queen Adela, with our dearest uncle and
faithful vassal William, archbishop of Rheims shall fix a day once every four
months, on which they will hear the complaints of the men of our realm in Paris
and determine them to the honor of God and in the interests of the realm.
o
We command too that on
that day there be before them from each of our vills the baillis
who will hold the assizes, so that they may report in their presence on the
business of our land.
o
If, moreover, any of
our baillis should err (deliquerit), otherwise than by murder or
rape or homicide or treason, and this is established as fact by the archbishop
and queen and by the others who are present to hear the misdeeds (forefacta) of
our baillis, we command them to inform us by letters each year
and three times a year which bailli has so erred, what he did,
what he received and from whom, whether money or gift or service, on account of
which our men lost their right or we lost ours.
o
Our baillis
shall similarly inform us concerning our prévôts.
o
The queen and the
archbishop may only remove our baillis from their bailliages for
murder or rape or homicide or treason. Nor can the baillis remove
the prévôts except for one of those offenses. But we shall by God's counsel
take on them such retribution, after the aforesaid men have reported to us the
truth of the matter, as should reasonably deter others.
o
The queen and the
archbishop shall similarly inform us on the state of our realm and its business
three times a year.
o
Should any royal
episcopal see or abbey chance to fall vacant, we will that the canons of the
vacant church or the monks of the vacant monastery come before the queen and
the archbishop, as they might have come before us, and seek from them a free
election, and we sill that they grant them this without argument (sine
contradictione). But we warn the both canons and monks to choose the kind of
shepherd who will please God and be helpful (utilis) to the realm. The queen
and the archbishop are to hold the regalia in their hand in the meantime, until
the elect is consecrated or receives benediction and the regalia are then to be
rendered up to him without argument.
o
We command in addition
that should any prebends or ecclesiastical benefice fall vacant when the
regalia come into our hand, the queen and archbishop should confer them on
decent and literate men, as they best and most decently can on the advice of
Brother Bernard, saving however any grants of ours which we have made to anyone
by our letters patent.
o
We also prohibit all
prelates of churches and our men from giving any taille or other arbitrary
exaction (toltam) while we are on God's service. And if the Lord God should do
his will on us and we happen to die, we most strictly prohibit all the men of
our land, both clergy and laity, from giving any taille or other arbitrary
exaction until our son (whom may God deign to keep safe and sound for His
service!) reaches by the grace of the Holy Spirit an age when he is capable of
ruling the realm.
o
Moreover, if anyone
wishes to make war on our son and the rents that he has are inadequate, then
all our men are to aid him with their bodies and goods (averis), and the
churches are to give such aid to him as they were accustomed to give to us.
o
In addition we
prohibit our prévôts and baillis from arresting any man or his movable goods,
so long as he is willing to give good sureties (fidejussores) that he will
pursue justice in our court, except for homicide or rape or treason.
o
We command besides
that all our rents and services and offerings (obventiones) are to be carried
to Paris at
three dates: first on the feast of St. Rémi, secondly on the Purification of
the Blessed Virgin, thirdly at Ascension. And all is to be handed over to our
aforesaid burgesses and to P. the marshal. If any of them happen to die, G. de
Garlande will substitute another in his place.
o
Adam our clerk is to
be present at receptions of movable goods (averi) and to register them. And
each [of the ministers named earlier?] is to have every key for each chest in
which our treasure (averum) is placed in the Temple, and one (to the) Temple
(itself).From this treasure as much is to be sent to us as we order in our
letters.
o
If we happen to die on
the road, we command that the queen and the archbishop and the bishop of Paris and the abbots of
Saint-Victorn7
and Vaux-de-Cernay and Brother B.n8
should divide our treasure (thesaurum) into two parts. They should distribute
one half to repair those churches which have been destroyed through our wars
(guerras), so that God's service may be done in them. From the same half, they
are to give to those who were ruined by our taxes (tallias) and give what
remains to whomever they wish, those whom they believe to have done the most for
the remedy of our soul and that of our father king Louis and of our ancestors.
Concerning the other half, we command the keepers of our treasure (averi) and
the all the men of Paris
that they keep it for the use of our son until he come of an age when with
God's counsel and his own good sense (sensus suo) he is capable of ruling the
realm.
o
But if both we and our
son happen to die, we then command that our treasure (averum) be distributed by
the hand of aforesaid seven men at their judgement for our soul and that of our
son. We wish that, as soon as there is certainty about our death, our treasure
(averum) be carried to the bishop of Paris'
house and kept there and that what we have disposed be later carried out on it.
o
We also command the
queen and archbishop to retain all vacant honors in our gift, such as our
abbeys and deaneries and certain other dignities, which they can decently do,
and hold them in their hand until we return from God's service. And they should
grant and assign those they cannot retain according to God and by the counsel
of Brother B. and do this to the honor of God and the utility of the realm. If,
however, we die on the road, we wish that they give the honors and dignities to
those who seem more worthy.
o
We have commanded that
the present document be confirmed with the authority of our seal and the
monogram (karactere) of the royal name appended below.n9
Done at Paris
in the year of the incarnate word 1190, the eleventh of our reign, in the
presence of those whose names are placed below, and with the seals of count
Thibault our seneschal (dapiferi), Guy the butler, Matthew the chancellor,
Raoul the constable. While the chancery was vacant ...
[Oeuvres de Rigord et de Guillaume le
Breton, ed. H. Francoise Delaborde, I (Libr. Renouard: Paris, 1882).
Translation © Paul R. Hyams 1998]
[Oeuvres de Rigord et
de Guillaume le Breton, ed. H. Francoise Delaborde, I (Libr. Renouard: Paris, 1882). Translation
© Paul R. Hyams 1998]