John of Joinville

“Jules Michelet, History of France, tr. G. H. Smith (New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1882), vol. 1”

“{{Wikipedia-inline}}”

“When the Old Man rode forth, he was preceded by a crier who bore a Danish axe with a long handle, all covered with silver, and stuck full of daggers, who proclaimed, "Turn from before him who bears the death of kings in his hands."”

“Behind the admiral was a bachelor, (bacheler,) well equipped, who held in his hand three daggers, the one of which went into the handle of the other; and, had the admiral been refused, he would have presented them severally to the king in token of defiance. Behind him who held the three knives was another who held a bougueran, (a piece of cotton cloth,) twisted round his arm, which he would have presented to the king, to signify that it was his winding-sheet, had he refused the request of the Old Man of the Mountain.”

“[The king was told that the admirals had deliberated on making him sultan of Babylon] ... And he told me, that he would not have refused. And know that the scheme fell to the ground for no other reason than that they said the king was the stanchest Christian in the world; and it was mentioned in proof, that when they took their leave of him, he took up his cross and signed his whole body; and they said that whoever made him soldan, he would slay them all, or force them to turn Christians.”

“There, where I was on foot with my knights, the king came, wounded, with all his battle, and with great sound and noise of trumpets and nakirs, and halted on a raised way; but never was so goodly a man at arms seen, for he topped all his people from the shoulders upward, and had a golden helm on his head, and a German sword in his hand.”

“The good count of Soissons laughed at me, saying, "Seneschal, let this rabble hoot, as by God's coif (this was his usual oath) we shall live to speak of this day in ladies' chambers."”

“Whenever our sainted king heard that they were throwing the Greek fire at us, he rose, in his bed, and stretching out his hands towards our Lord, exclaimed with tears, "O! gracious God, (Biau Sire Diex,) preserve my people to me."”

“The common people took up with prostitutes, whence it happened that the king dismissed numbers of his attendants when he returned from our imprisonment; and, having inquired the reason, he told me that he knew for certain that they had pitched their huts a small stone's throw from his tent, and that in the time of the greatest mishaps the army had ever been in. ... The barons who ought to have kept their substance for good use in fit time and place, gave great feasts and costly meats, (outrageuses viandes,) &c.”