cens had in foregoing times
taken from the Christians the city of Antioch, and of Tripoli, and of
Tyre, and many other towns which the Christians held on the seashore,
the city of Acre had greatly increased, both in folk and in power,
forasmuch as no other city was held by the Christians in Syria; so
that the kings of Jerusalem, and of Cyprus, and the princes of
Antioch, and of Tyre, and of Tripoli, and the Orders of the Templars
and the Hospitallers, and other Orders, and the Pope's legates, and
they which had gone over seas from the kings of France and of England,
all gathered at Acre, and there were there seventeen hereditary
lordships, which was a great confusion. And at that time there was
truce between the Christians and the Saracens, and there were there
more than 18,000 pilgrims who had taken the cross; and their pay not
being forthcoming, and because they could not get it from the lords
and states which had sent them forth, part of them, which were wild
and lawless men, scrupled not to break the truce, and to rob and to
slay all the Saracens which were in Acre, under the security of the
truce, with their merchandise and victuals; and in like manner they
went through many villages round about Acre, robbing and slaying the
Saracens. For the which thing, the soldan holding himself much
aggrieved, sent his ambassadors to Acre to those lords, demanding
compensation for the wrongs that had been committed, and that for his
honour and the satisfaction of his people, there should be sent to him
as prisoners some of the chiefs and leaders of them which had broken
the truce, to the end that he might execute justice upon them, the
which requests were denied him. Wherefore he came with his army, as we
have said, and because of the multitude of his people, by force they
filled up part of the moats, which were very deep, and took the outer
circle of the walls; and the next circle they caused in part to fall
by the aid of mines and engines; and they took the great tower, which
was called Accursed, because it had been foretold that by it Acre
should be lost. But with all this they could not take the city, for
albeit the Saracens broke down the walls by day, by night they were
repaired and stopped up with planks, or with sacks of wool and of
cotton, and vigorously defended on the day following, by the wise and
valiant brother, Guillaume de Beaujeu, master of the Temple, which was
captain-general of the war and of the defence of t