398 JOINVILLE'S MEMOIRS OF SAINT LOUES IX. QPT. IL We, and several more, were much grieved at the loos of such a man ; but when it was told the king, he replied, that he did not wish for any one's service who would not attend to him, and obey his orders better than the lord d'Entrache had done ; and that through his own fault he had caused his death. I must inform you that the sultan gave for every head* of a Christian that was brought to him a besant of gold ; and these Saracen traitors entered our camp during the night, and wherever they found any asleep they cut off their heads. They once surprised the watcht of the lord de Courtenay, and cut off his head, leaving the body lying on a table. They were likewise well informed of the manner of oar encampment : for the engagements between us brought each party near to the other in the evenings ; and the Saracens, in value; whence ancient writers have included them among the richest furniture. In the last will of Jane, queen of France and Navarre, in the year 1304, sheets, coverlids, and counterpanes are named among the furniture of value ; but our old writers particularly speak of those rich coverlids of exquisite skins when on the subject of the ceremonies need in times of peace on the creation of knights; for after they had been bathed, they were laid in a rich state bed under the finest coverlids, and were there visited by their friends. The author of the "Ordene de Chevalerie," after telling us how Saladin waa put into the bath by Hues Tabarie, before he gave him the order of knighthood, adda, ** that be led him to his new bed, and having laid him therein, said to him, ' Sire, this bed gives you ... . to the great city of Paradise, which you must conquer by your chivalry;* and when he had reposed himself, he made him rise, and clothed him with a white robe of fine linen or silk." The same ceremonies are observed in creating knights of the Bath, according to the customs of England, related by Edward Biase, in his notes on Nicholas Upton, page 21. " This done, the squires directors take the noviciate out of the bath, and put him to bed, until he be dry ; and this bed must be plain, and without curtains." * The Turks to this day follow the same custom, as our countrymen witnessed when they signalized their valour in the last wars between the emperor of Germany and the Grand Signor. See Gaufrid. Malaterra, 1. 2, ch. 46. f In the Chronicle of Bertrand du Guesclin : — " Y avoit une gaite toute jour ajournée, Qui sonnoit un bacin, quant la pferre est levée." These verses inform us, that he who acted as sentinel on the watchtowers, and rang the alarm bell in cases of danger, was thence called Bachinator, in some of the ordinances of King Edward, relative to the office of seneschal of Gascony.