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FRIEDERICH WERNER
The Templars in Cyprus
page 38
•C. II.j
Tilt: Y» MIX»»» IX YIBt -.
M-.UY.
Ah truc 1 'ti« truo! —but through whose fault KM it ? I'll tell thee all !
Fbjixk.
If you would first permit— M IJIY.
No—now it must ho—for m_\ heart will feci
.More light when I've related to tho son,
In its true coh'tirn, all I owo his father.
His wooden leg resulted from my rashness,
In the last holy war—quite forty yenrs
.Since then hn\o down already—wo two served,
Heard leu s and IKIIII, two lads of noble birth,
l'iulcr tho bravo Count Robert of Artois,
Who, too adventurous brother of St. l/oui-,
Ixft at Mansoura victory and his life.1
I should have gained already tho Red Cross -,
lint it was far above my ]oor deserts.
Thy father, though rot many years my senior,
Was far beyond mo in a wise discretion ;
He often warned mo; yet I ever fought
I'nhecding, in tho thickest of tho fray.—
My spirit burnt within mo to set frco
Tho Saviour's tomb, or find my own tomb there.
At GHZ!»,j onco surrounded in a mêlée,
And at a distance from my company,
A Mamcluko in the shoulder wounded mo—
God eo*o his soul, ho was a valiant blade !—
And stunned I fell to earth. Hut Henry saw,
And liko a startled lion hewed his way
Through the throng'd Saracens. His black horse fell,
He fought on over me, tho seeming dead,
Hi body was never found. Fellow-viclims of his rashness, fell the } arlnf N»l bury and other leaders, and 1,500 Templars, Hospitaliers, and Ku/ltxh ; and this disaster was followed by the captivity of St. Louis • ni th.- surrender of Damictta, which he bad taken at toe commence-•stent of the Crusades, by the aid of the Christian supremacy.—Tram.
' At the battle of Gaza, 3la knights and 324 serving brothers of the Temple are said to have fallen, as well as the Grand-Master Herman de lVrigord.— Train.
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