Stewart Binns - Anarchy

‘It is true. I remember the knight.’

The voice came from a dark corner of the King’s tent, from Hodierna – his sister, and wife of Prince Roger – the woman I had met in Antioch with Livia. I had not noticed she was there.

‘So you are the knight who managed to get her away during the battle. Is it true that the Prince had raped her?’

‘Yes, sire.’

‘You see, Gentlemen, such is the evil that besets this realm…’

He paused and looked at Hugh. My words had added weight to the plan that had already formed in his mind.

‘This man could be very useful to our cause.’

He then turned to me.

‘Do you speak their language?’

‘Yes, Your Majesty, well enough.’

‘Hugh, I am going to send Eustace Grenier – Lord of Caesarea and Sidon, and my Constable of Jerusalem – to the Venetians. He is an excellent soldier and wise counsel. We need the Venetian navy and a mountain of silver for the siege. I want your young Templar, Harold here, to go with him to help him negotiate with the Doge.’

For obvious reasons, I was worried about accepting such a commission.

‘Sire, forgive me, but when I returned to Venice, the Doge declined to see me. I fear he believes I should have done more to protect the Lady Livia.’

‘He will have had time to reflect on that, I’m sure it will be different when you return. You did all you could – to get her away from the slaughter at Sarmada was a miracle. Besides, you will be in Venice with a very lucrative proposal from me. Venetians never miss an opportunity to strike a profitable deal.’

And so, in a turn of events that I could never have foreseen, by the middle of 1120, we were back in Venice. Only a day after our arrival, we had an audience with Domenico Michele, the Doge of Venice. It was a meeting I was not looking forward to. The last time I had been in the Doge’s palace was on the day when I first saw Livia – a moment of rapture still vivid in my memory.

When we were introduced, the Doge acknowledged me with only a perfunctory nod. But at least he had not refused to allow me to accompany Eustace Grenier. The Constable had brought a very generous offer from the King, which made the negotiations go well.

The trading agreement with Antioch was confirmed by Baldwin as Regent and extended to the whole of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Venice would be granted one third of the Lordship of Tyre upon its capture and an annual payment of 300 gold bezants from the royal treasury at Acre. The Venetians would also be exempt from all taxation on their holdings in the Holy Land and be granted a parcel of land in every town or city in the realm, which would be made up of one street, one market square, one church, a bakery and a bathhouse. It was an offering that made the Doge’s eyes visibly widen as he heard it.

In exchange, he promised to build a navy of eighty ships, fully manned by newly recruited and trained marines, which would remain in Tyre as a standing navy to protect Venice’s interests in perpetuity. Although it would take two years to build, he was true to his word. The fleet would be ready by the end of 1122, and we planned to sail for the Levant at the beginning of January 1123.

Eadmer and I spent the long months while the ships were being built helping with the training of the new marines. In the company of earnest young men from all over the Mediterranean, we enjoyed our time in the familiar surroundings of the Arsenale watching the Holy Land’s Grand Fleet being built.

I did not expect to see the Doge again, but just before we left for the Holy Land, I was summoned to the palace. The Doge was walking along his private terrace overlooking the Grand Canal as I was ushered in.

He was alone and appeared pensive.

‘Walk with me, Harold of Hereford.’

I bowed and began following him, a polite distance in his wake.

‘Lady Constance has told me a good deal about the circumstances of Lady Livia’s death and what preceded it.’

He stopped and looked me in the eye.

‘Were you in love with my sister?’

I hesitated and looked away, across the Canalazzo towards the east.

‘You can answer honestly. I bear you no grudge.’

‘Yes, Serenity. I regret Lady Livia’s passing with every breath I take.’

‘And yet Constance tells me that you never wavered from your duty to deliver my sister to her intended bridegroom.’

‘That is so, Serenity.’

I wanted to tell him how much I regretted the choices I had made, and the pain I had caused my beloved, but knew I could not; it would have been unkind to add more detail to his burden.

‘Thank you for doing what you did to try to save her. I know my sister was strong-willed and impetuous; you must have been a great comfort to her.’

Domenico Michele had tears in his eyes. He took a deep breath.

‘They say Roger of Salerno died a painful death at Sarmada.’

‘I believe so, Serenity.’

He nodded in approval and held out his hand for me to kiss his Doge’s ring, which I did willingly.

As I turned to leave, I was gratified to see that his tears had been replaced by a faint smile. It was a comforting end to a painful chapter in my life.

As we prepared for the Siege of Tyre, I was told by one of the King’s advisers, a learned man called Barisan of Ibelin, that Alexander the Great had laid siege to Tyre many hundreds of years earlier. I made sure word of that was spread among the men, for those who had heard of the exploits of the mighty Macedonian would surely be inspired by his deeds.

The Venetians had brought timber from the forests of the Alps and we began to construct siege towers, catapults and scaling ladders. Most importantly, the Venetian navy blockaded the port, while King Baldwin’s men closed the roads to the south, thus isolating the Fatimid defenders of Tyre from the outside world.

Barisan’s description of Alexander’s siege offered King Baldwin a model for how to conduct his assault and acted as inspiration for all the sappers and engineers. Because the city’s citadel was located on a small craggy island just off the coast, Alexander had built a stone causeway, almost 1,000 yards in length, stretching out to the island. This allowed him to position his siege artillery within range of the walls. As the causeway approached the walls, however, the water became much deeper, so Alexander had constructed two huge towers with catapults on the top, to clear defenders off the walls, and ballista below to hurl rocks at the walls.

After many months of bitter fighting and countless attempts to breach the walls, Alexander finally prevailed. Unfortunately for the Tyrian defenders, they had made the mistake of executing several captured Macedonians on the walls of the city in full view of their comrades before hurling their bodies back into the Macedonian camp. So when the citadel fell, at the cost of over 6,000 Tyrian defenders, Alexander ordered that 2,000 more be crucified on the beach. The rest of Tyre’s population, over 30,000 souls, were sold into slavery.

The great Macedonian’s causeway was still intact. It had later been completed up to the city’s gates by the Romans, making our task a lot easier than it might otherwise have been.

King Baldwin’s opening gambit was a generous one: he offered safe passage to Egypt for the Fatimid garrison and the entire population, if they relinquished the city peacefully. The offer was refused, but with a grisly message. A small population of Armenian Christians – at least 200 men, women and children – lived in the city, and had done so for many years. The Emir of the city, al-Malik, ordered them to be rounded up, blinded by hot irons, placed in carts and wheeled out of the city. Baldwin took pity on them and had them escorted to Jerusalem, but his anger at the Fatimid Emir knew no bounds and he swore to exact an appropriate revenge.