ly Edgar was nephew; Edgar travelled to Jerusalem in 1102, in
company with Robert, the son of Godwin, most valiant knight. Being
present in Rama, when King Baldwin was there besieged by the Turks, and
not being able to endure the hardships of the siege, he was delivered
from that danger, and escaped through the midst of the hostile camp,
chiefly through the aid of Robert; who, going before him, made a lane
with his sword, slaying numbers of the Turks in his heroic progress.
Towards the close of this chivalric enterprize, and becoming more fierce
and eager as he advanced, Robert unfortunately dropt his sword; and while
stooping to recover his weapon, he was oppressed by the multitude, who
threw themselves upon him, and made him prisoner. From thence, as some
say, Robert was carried to Babylon in Egypt, or Cairo; and refusing to
renounce his faith in CHRIST, he was tied to a stake in the market-place,
and transpierced with arrows. Edgar, having thus lost his valiant knight,
returned towards Europe, and was much honoured with many gifts by the
emperors both of Greece and Germany, both of whom would gladly have
retained him at their courts, on account of his high lineage; but he
despised all things, from regard to his native England, into which he
returned: And, having been subjected to many changes of fortune, as we
have elsewhere related, he _now_ spends his extreme old age in private
obscurity.

[1] Hakluyt. I. 44. W. Malmsb. III. 58.

SECTION III.

_Some Circumstances respecting the Siege of Joppa, about the year_
1102[1].

In the second year of Baldwin, king of Jerusalem, Joppa was besieged by
the Turks of Cairo; and Baldwin embarked from the town of Assur, in a
vessel called a _buss_, commanded by one Goderic an English freebooter,
intending to proceed to the relief of the besieged. Fixing the royal
banner aloft on a spear, that it might be seen of the Christians, they
sailed boldly towards Joppa, with but a small company of armed men. The
king knew that the Christians in Joppa were almost hopeless of his life
and safety, and he feared they might shamefully abandon the defence of
the place, or be constrained to surrender, unless revived by his presence.
On perceiving the approach of the royal banner of King Baldwin, the naval
forces of the Turks, to the number of twenty gallies and thirteen ships,
usually called _Cazh_, endeavoured to surround and capture the single
vessel in which he was embarked. But, by t