a
man of the world, being king over so great a realm and dominion, but
also as becomes a man of religion, ever working for the good of Holy
Church and of Christianity, not fearing the great toil and cost which
he endured in the expedition over seas when he and his brothers were
taken prisoners at Monsura by the Saracens, as we made mention before;
set his heart, as it pleased God, on going once more against the
Saracens and the enemies of the Christians; and this he carried out
with great zeal and preparation, taking the cross and gathering
treasure, and calling upon all his barons and knights and good men of
his realm. And this done, he set forth from Paris and came into
Provence, and from there with a great fleet he set sail from his port
of Aigues Mortes in Provence with his three sons, Philip and John and
Louis, and with the king of Navarre, his son-in-law, and with all his
chief men, counts and dukes and barons of the realm of France, and his
friends from without the realm. And on his expedition there afterwards
followed him Edward, son of the king of England, with many Englishmen
and Scots and Frisians and Germans, more than 5,000 horse; the which
army and crusade was an almost innumerable company on horse and on
foot, and were reckoned 200,000 fighting men. And believing it to be
the better course they determined to go against the kingdom of Tunis,
thinking that if it could be taken by the Christians they would be in
a very central place whence they could more easily afterwards take the
kingdom of Egypt, and could cut off and wholly impede the force of the
Saracens in the realm of Ceuta, and also that of Granada. And the said
host with their fleet passed over safe and sound and came to the port
of the ancient city of Carthage, which is distant from Tunis fifteen
miles; the which Carthage, whereof some part had been rebuilt and
fortified by the Saracens in defence of the port, was very soon
stormed by the Christians. And when the Christians would have entered
into the city of Tunis, as it pleased God, by reason of the sins of
the Christians, the air of those shores began to be greatly corrupted,
and above all in the camp of the Christians, by reason that they were
not accustomed to the air, and by reason of their hardships and the
excessive crowding of men and of animals, for the which thing there
died first John, son of the said King Louis, and then the cardinal of
Albano, which was there for the Pope, and afterwa