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Wolff, R. L.; Hazard, H. W. (ed.) / Volume II: The later Crusades, 1189-1311
(1969)
III: The Crusades of Frederick Barbarossa and Henry VI, pp. 86-122
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Page 113
Ch. III THE CRUSADES OF FREDERICK I AND HENRY VI 113 walls of the fortress. There was a general massacre of those found in the city ("he took the city and killed the citizens"). Meanwhile, unaware of his son's victory, the emperor Frederick and his troops outside the city were surrounded by Turkish contingents. The situation at first appeared hopeless. The clergy "offering themselves as a living sacrifice to the high priest . . . put their stoles about their necks." Frederick himself, "that glorious emperor of the Romans . . . whose like the whole world could not find", stood in the midst of the troops knowing full well that their doom was impending. He is reported to have said to them with grave concern that he would gladly lose his own head if only they "could come as a whole to Antioch", and to have urged them: "But why do we tarry, of what are we afraid? Christ reigns. Christ conquers. Christ commands," and "leading his men like a lion was first to spring upon the enemy", and "so put them to flight that not one of them raised his hand against him. . . . If the weakness of the knights, who languished from hunger, had not stood in the way, the fortress itself would have been taken by storm that night. The knights, however, had labored for about fourteen days under unbelievable and unheard-of want and hunger." Thereupon Frederick and his troops joined his son and the troops in the city. "There the madness of our stomachs was somewhat soothed by spoils of the enemy." There was not only wheat and barley, but also gold and silver, jewels, and purple cloth to a reckoning of more than one hundred thousand marks. There was also the satisfaction of capturing the dowry of Saladin's niece in the sultan's palace.34 Frederick was as anxious to get beyond Iconium as he had been to get beyond Adrianople. Proposals of peace from Kilij Arslan and his son were quickly entertained, and it was arranged upon the reception of twenty distinguished Turkish hostages and the provision of adequate supplies. The Germans left Iconium on the 23rd, pitched camp near the garden and pleasure-ground of the sultan, and spent three days supplying themselves at the market set up there, purchasing some six thousand horses and mules, bread and meat, butter and cheeses. By the 26th they were on their way again, and only the threat to execute the hostages kept the army from being harassed again by "wild Turks". On May 30 they arrived at Laranda (Karaman), "a beautiful city which divides Cilicia, that is, Armenia, from Lycaonia".35 34 Ansbert, p. 86, lines 26-30. Saladin's niece, daughter of al-'Adil, was believed by the crusaders and chroniclers to be his daughter. She was the wife of Kai-Qobad (I). 35 Ibid., p. 88, lines 26-27.
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