A.D. 1248.] DEPARTURE OF JOINVILLE FOR THE HOLT LAND. 381 my presence while they consul ted together, I withdrew, and would only listen to what they might say to me without the restraint of fear. I likewise adopted this measure, because I was unwilling to carry with me one single penny wrongfully ; and to fulfil any demands that might be made, I had mortgaged* to friends a great part of my inheritance, so that there did not remain at the utmost more than twelve hundred livres of yearly revenue from my lands ; for my lady-mother was still living, who held the best of my estate in dower. I set ont, I before said, with my nine knights, having three banners : and I have mentioned the things above, because if it had not been for the aid and assistance of God, who never forgot me, I should never have been able to support such a burden as I bore for six years, the time I was on my pilgrimage in the Holy Land. When I was on the point of departure, John, lord d'Apremont, and the count de Salebruche, sent to me to inquire if I were willing to join parties, and embark together, for that they were ready to march, and their company consisted of ten knights. I cheerfully assented, and we ordered a * The devotion of our first crusaders in the Hoir Land, added to their courage and desire of acquiring glory and reputation in the wars, were so extraordinary, that they not only made no difficulty in abandoning their families and country, but eren alienated or mortgaged the fairest parts of their possessions. The history of these wars informs us, that Godfrey de Bouillon; Raymond, count de St. Gilles; William» duke of Normandy; Roëmond, duke de la Puglia; Harpin, count de Bourges, snd other great lords, sold or mortgaged their duchies or counties, to supply tin means for the expense of so great an enterprise. Such was the height of their ferrour ; and in imitation of them, and following the example of his ancestors, the lord de Joinrûle did not fail to mortgage tue better part of his estates, although they were then but small, on account of bis mother's enjoying the larger share for her dower. The facility with which the crusaders · sold or mortgaged their lands, to afford them the means of undertaking these expeditions, gare rise to the spirited reply which king Philip Augustus made to John, king of England, who baring put on the cross, afterwards sent his ambassadors to Philip, to demand " that he would be pleased to restore to him some portion of the land, which he had gained from him in war, for a fixed amount of money." The king gare them this witty answer : " It is a strange and unheard-of thing, for one marked with the cross to wish to become a purchaser; when he ought rather to sell, if he entered upon his pilgrimage as became him.''