ANST - FW: Musing on August 20th -- The Gall of these Franks!

[j'lynn yeates]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1


- -----Original Message-----
From: Ellsworth Weaver [mailto:astroweaver at yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, August 21, 2000 15:11
To: 2thpix at surfari.net
Subject: Musing on August 20th -- The Gall of these Franks!


Dear Folk,

Today August 20, 1191, Good King Richard I, the Lionheart, King of
England and Normandy, ordered the slaughter of approximately 2700
men,
women, and children hostages in front of their families and friends
outside the walls of Acre. It was all done for good and religious
reasons.

You might remember that Saladin had become master of all the Holy
Land
after the Battle of the Horns of Hattin ("A Short Stroll to Tiberias"
in my July 4th Musings) in 1187. Along with the ruination of the
Crusader Kingdom and loss of the Templars, the Latin East had lost
the
True Cross which was carried into battle. Before we get to all that
killing, might we talk about the True Cross?

The True Cross is described as being part of the cross of Golgotha
encased in gold and studded with priceless gems. The legend of the
True
Cross begins in the year 326 CE when it was allegedly discovered by
Constantine I's mother, the Empress Helena.

Helena was a definite piece of work in-and-by-herself. In 326 CE she
decided to tour Israel, or what was left of it and, with the help of
Bishop Macarius, designate some holy spots. One gets the picture of
an
elderly lady, guided by "her angels," wandering around the rocks and
stone pointing to the exact spot Jesus was born, where He was
baptized,
where Ezekiel saw the Wheel. All the while the bishop was saying,
"How
wonderfully perceptive of you, Empress! If only we had the funds to
build a shrine here." Jingle-jingle-clink. But perhaps I am just a
jaded sinner, myself.

Anyway, the good lady found a cavern with three crosses stacked in
it.
That cavern was nearby where her Savior was crucified and buried. One
of these three crosses must have been the True Cross. But how to
tell?
A less pious woman would have grabbed all three as the real deal. A
less Scientific man than Macarius would have picked one at random.
Instead they conducted an experiment. The bishop put a sick woman on
each cross in turn. When she was placed on the first two crosses,
nothing much happened. However, when she was placed on the third
cross,
she was cured.

Marvel on that for awhile if you would, folk. Sure a good thing that
they tried that third cross last. I mean, if the first one had cured
her, how could they have tested the other two? What if they were all
miraculous crosses? What kind of sickness did the lady have? Was it
really bad like cancer or was it a slight queasiness after listening
to
an afternoon of Andrew Lloyd Webber? No one tells you such things and
I
think they should. Maybe she was cured on the second cross but it
just
took awhile. Should they have found three different ladies with the
same sort of disease and put them on simultaneously? Not even the
Byzantines would make three folks listen to "Cats." What do you
think?


That experiment was enough to convince Empress Helena that the third
cross was the one on which Jesus had been crucified. Hmmm. That cross
did not help Jesus much. That sounds impious of me. Sorry.

The good bishop Macarius had the True Cross put in the Church of the
Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem where it stayed until 614 CE until King
Chrosroes II of Persia took Jerusalem and collected the True Cross
for
himself. In 627 CE Byzantine Emperor Heraclius grabbed it back when
he
whomped Chrosroes. Herc brought it back with him to Constantinople
and
then took it to Jerusalem. When things got nasty in the Holy Land in
1009 CE, the Christians hid the relic. We know that they brought it
out
in 1099 for the First Crusade.

Some say that Saladin after the Battle of Hattin and the capture of
Jerusalem, would ride his horse through the streets of Damascus with
the captured True Cross tied to his horse's tail and dragging in the
dust. Personally, I think that was all just agi-prop (propaganda to
get
folks upset.) Saladin would never abuse his horses by tying things to
their tails.

How does this all tie in with Richard? Well, Richard was on a holy
mission to restore the Holy Land and to reclaim the True Cross.  Who
had the True Cross? Saladin! Back then to Acre.

As Richard was on his way to the Holy Land, he had to stop off and
free
his sister Joanna from a nasty guy, Tancred, in Sicily and then meet
with mom, Queen Eleanor, and her pick for his bride, Berengaria of
Navarre, to get himself married in Cyprus. That unpleasantness over,
Richard sailed toward Acre where King Philip of France and Conrad of
Montferrat (now styling himself King of Jerusalem) were laying siege
to
a city and its Moslem garrison since April 20th.

Richard got there on June 8th. Philip and Conrad were glad for the
reinforcements. Richard took command even though it was supposed to
be
a joint operation. Richard was just that way.

It wasn’t a nice clean siege. Saladin had his troops outside and very
nearby. Whenever the Crusaders got really involved in besieging –
loading up the catapults, building siege towers – Saladin would send
a
bunch of raiders over to attack the Christian camps. Nothing like
your
cot and food supplies burning to take your mind off doing battle.
However, the Crusaders were a disgustingly persistent lot and by June
it was pretty clear that Saladin was not going to be able to rescue
the
garrison. His force was just not big enough for a pitched battle
against the boatloads of fresh Frankish knights.  In July the walls
were breached. On July 11th, the Moslems in Acre offered to
surrender,
to return over two thousand prisoners, to pay two hundred thousand
gold
pieces, and to return the True Cross. The Crusaders agreed and the
Moslems sent a swimmer off to carry the news to Saladin.

Now, the Moslem folk in Acre did not have all of that to give right
that minute. Saladin had the Christian prisoners. Neither Acre nor
Saladin had that kind of money. The True Cross? "Ah, that is around
here somewhere. Ali, where did you put that True Cross?"  Saladin
would
not have agreed to those terms but the garrison made the agreement
and
Saladin tried to stick by it. Honor demanded it.

The Moslem garrison marched out of Acre on July 12th and the
Crusaders
moved in immediately. They occupied a city full of people who had
little to do with the soldiers who just left. With the city secure,
King Philip decided he was going back home to France because he had
been sick almost the entire time he had been in the Holy Land. To his
credit, he did leave most of his soldiers behind when he left on July
31st.

Richard grew tired of waiting at Acre. It seemed that Saladin was
dragging his feet. When Saladin sent his first installment on the
agreed amount, not all of Christian prisoners were released. And
where
the heck was the True Cross? Richard waited a week and then gave the
order.

Two thousand seven hundred prisoners were killed -- men, women and
children. They were executed outside the city walls; Saladin's
soldiers
could see the butchery, which took all day, and tried to rescue them.
Even as the prisoners were being slaughtered, a battle was fought,
but
the Muslims were driven back and all the prisoners died.

The Christians had heard that the Moslems of Acre had swallowed their
gold. You can guess what the pious folk were doing with butcher
knives
among the fallen Moslem citizens. Oh, we are also assured that those
same butchers were careful to preserve the gall bladders to use as
medicine. Comforting, isn’t it? Muslim chroniclers at the time talk
about those killed as martyrs for the faith.

August 22, Richard led his army out of Acre. I guess he killed the
prisoners because he could, because he wanted to leave and probably
could not pack enough picnic baskets for everyone. I know, you might
say he could have really shown some class by releasing the folks.
Richard was just not that way. Saladin, I am afraid, was much more
chivalric than his enemies

After Richard’s brutality at Acre, Saracen mothers for many years
would
quiet and frighten children by telling them if they did not behave
"Richard would come for them".

Despite all the Crusaders’ efforts, especially those of Richard I’s,
the True Cross remained in Moslem hands. The whole beam somehow
disappeared; probably packed in a crate somewhere like at the ending
of
the first Indiana Jones movie. Now and again, a fragment or two would
make its way back to Europe. Fact is, there was so much wood labeled
True Cross in Europe after a time, there could have been a second
Noah’s ark built from them.

So what have we learned from this? Wealthy patrons can be of great
value to the Church? Moslem gall bladders are useful in medicine?
Sometimes other folks agree to things for you which really are
embarrassing? How about something my dad used to always say, "Son, if
you can’t be anything else, you can always be a horrible example."
And
I know that some of you believe I have followed that advice. I know
Richard the Lionheart did.

Hey, if you are besieging Antioch, wrasslin’ with the Saracens, or
just
forwarding these columns to others, keep my name and sig attached.
Oh,
you might want to check out my Archives. I have been finding snips I
sent out in June you may not have read.

Keep away from my gall bladder, knave,
J.  Ellsworth Weaver

SCA – Sir Balthazar of Endor, DL
AS – Polyphemus Theognis
TRV – Sebastian Yeats



=====
SmileWeavers Astrology Charts & Interpretations
Modern & Medieval (but always discreet)
If you are interested, contact me at
astroweaver at yahoo.com or 805.473.8867

Read back issues of Musings at http://www.surfari.net/~2thpix/amuse/

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail – Free email you can access from anywhere!
http://mail.yahoo.com/

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: PGP Personal Privacy 6.5.3
Comment: public key for jyeates at realtime.net at certserver.pgp.com

iQA/AwUBOaCf0c50zdvN3Vp0EQKwVQCfRg68aO5a13JEl+3MBivEa9sTYBYAnjRK
UN3Q1hNcQPrdEeOEs/bPVA3e
=w1lz
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

============================================================================
Go to http://lists.ansteorra.org/lists.html to perform mailing list tasks.