A letter from Count Stephen of Blois (07/1097)

Translated letter:

Count Stephen to countess Adela, his sweetest friend, his wife, whatever his mind can imagine better or more favorable. Be it known to your love that I made the blessed journey to Byzantium (1) with all honor and physical health. I took pains to send you a relation of my life and pilgrimage by letter from Constantinople, but in case something unfortunate happened to the messenger, I am rewriting the letter to you. I got to the city of Constantinople with great joy, by the grace of God. The emperor [Alexius I Comnenus] received me worthily and most honorably and lovingly, like a son, and bestowed extensive and very precious gifts on me; in the whole of God’s army, there is no duke, no count, or any other important person whom he trusts or favors more than me. Indeed, beloved, his imperial dignity has very often advised me that we commend one of our sons to him: he has truly promised that he will bestow such and so much illustrious honor on him that he will not envy me at all. In truth, I tell you there is no such man living under heaven today. For he enriches all our princes most generously, consoles the knights with gifts, and restores all the poor with feasts. In Nicaea there is a castle called Civetot, with an arm of the sea running beside it, through which the emperor’s ships sail day and night to Constantinople, bringing food to the castle for the poor. In our time, it seems to us, there has not been a prince so illustrious by universal reputation for his customs. Your father, my love, gave many and great gifts, but that was almost nothing compared to this. I took delight in writing you these little things about him so that you might know something of who he is. After ten days, indeed, during which he kept me with him with great reverence, I departed from him as if from a father. He ordered ships prepared for me in which I very swiftly crossed the tranquil branch of the sea that surrounds the city. Some say that the branch of the sea at Constantinople is wild and dangerous, which is false; for there is less risk there than in the Marne or the Seine. From there to another, which is called the arm of St. George; that one, since we could not find an adequate supply of ships, we conquered by ascent. We made our way to Nicomedia a city desolated by the Turks, in which the blessed martyr Pantaleon suffered for Christ, where the aforesaid arm of the sea begins and ends. Thence in haste to the great city Nicaea, blessing God. My love, more than three hundred high towers with wondrous walls enclose Nicaea. We found the Turks there to be bold fighters: the unending army of God encountered mortal conflict there with the Nicaeans for four weeks. A little before we came to the army, Suleiman, prince of the Turks, suddenly rushed in prepared for war with a great army against us, thinking he could force his way into the city to help his people. But God’s mercy made his evil intent turn out otherwise than he thought. Our people prepared very swiftly and received the Turks with fierce spirits; they immediately turned their back and took flight. We followed them passionately and killed many of them and put them to flight wounding and killing them over a great space of earth and but for the steep mountains unknown to us, they would have incurred great and irreversible damage. And no one of our men perished; but afterwards our common great army engaged in many and very fierce encounters; it killed many Turks, even major ones, with bows and crossbows. Some of our people were killed, but truly not many; no knight of note except Baldwin of Flanders, count of Ghent. Our princes worthy of God seeing that Nicaea, enclosed by towers as we said, could not be conquered by arms alone, constructed very high wooden towers with battlements and different machines at great labor. When the Turks saw that, they were overcome by fear and yielded the city to the emperor by messenger on the condition that they be permitted safe conduct to leave, naked [unarmed] but alive in the emperor’s chains. When the emperor heard that, he came close to us though he did not dare to enter his Nicaea, lest the endless crowd of people oppress him with their joy whom they venerated as a pious father. He disembarked on the shore of a certain island, to which all our princes rushed, except count [Raymond] of St. Giles and me, to celebrate such a victory with him and he received all of them with enormous affection, as he should. And he was very happy that I had remained in the city lest a hostile crowd of Turks fall on the city and our army; higher truly and more easily because I had remained, he received a golden mountain of loot. The great emperor stayed on that same island and disposed that the knights have what was more precious from the spoils of the city of Nicaea, that is gold, gems, silver, cloths, horses and such; all the food was distributed to footsoldiers; and he dispensed wealth from his own treasures to the princes. So, as we said, with God triumphing, greatest Nicaea yielded on the 13th kalends of July. We read that in the primitive church the holy fathers had a holy synod at Nicaea; and there, when the Arian heresy was destroyed, they confirmed the faith of the Holy Trinity, guided by the Holy Spirit; and what teaching of error was committed because of the sins of the pastors, now with the help of God, the teaching of truth is done by his sinner servants. I tell you, my beloved, that from Nicaea, which I have spoken so much about, we shall reach Jerusalem in five weeks, unless Antioch prevents us. Fare well.

Original letter:

Stephanus comes Adelae comitissae, dulcissimae amicae, uxori suae, quidquid mens sua melius aut benignius cogitare potest. Notum sit dilectioni vestrae, Romam me cum omni honore omnique corporea sospitate iter beatum tenere. Vitae meae ac peregrinationis seriem a Constantinopoli litteratorie tibi mandare curavi; sed ne legato illi aliquod infortunium contigerit, tibi has rescribo litteras. Ad urbem Constantinopolim cum ingenti gaudio, Dei gratia, perveni. Imperator vero digne et honestissime, et quasi filium suum, me diligentissime suscepit, et amplissimis ac pretiosissimis donis dotavit; et in toto Dei exercitu non est dux, neque comes, neque aliqua potens persona, cui magis credat vel faveat quam mihi. Vere mihi dilecta, ejus imperialis dignitas me persaepe monuit et monet ut unum ex filiis nostris ei commendemus: ipse vero ei tantum tamque praeclarum honorem se ei attributurum promisit, quod nostro minime invidebit. In veritate tibi dico, hodie talis vivens homo non est sub coelo. Ipse enim omnes principes nostros largissime ditat, milites cunctos donis relevat, pauperes omnes dapibus recreat. Prope Nicaeam civitatem est castrum nomine Civitot, juxta quod maris currit brachium, per quod naves propriae imperatoris die noctuque usque Constantinopolim current, quae inde pauperum cibos usque ad castrum ferunt, qui eis innumeris quotidie distribuuntur. Nostris quoque temporibus, ut nobis videtur, non fuit princeps universa morum honestate adeo praeclarus. Pater, mi dilecta, tuus multa et magna tradidit, sed ad hunc pene nihil fuit. Haec parva de eo tibi scribere dilexi, ut paululum quis esset cognosceres. Post dies vero decem, per quos me secum venerabilissime habuit, ab eo quasi a patre discessi. Ipse vero mihi naves praecepit praeparari, per quas tranquillum maris brachium quod eamdem circumdat urbem citissime transivi. Quidam illud Constantinopolitanum maris brachium saevum ac periculosum dicebant, quod falsum est; nam in eo, plusquam in Marna et Sequana, minime dubitandum est. Inde ad aliud, quod Sancti Georgii Brachium dicitur; illud quidem, quia navium copiam reperire minime potuimus, ascensu superavimus. Ad Nicomediam urbem desolatam a Turcis, in qua beatus martyr Pantaleon pro Christo passus est, ubi praedictum maris brachium caput et finem habet, iter nostrum direximus. Deinde ad maximam urbem Nicaeam, Deum benedicentes, cucurrimus. Nicaeam autem, mi dilecta, plusquam trecentae altae turres cum muris mirificis claudunt. Turcos in ea audaces propugnatores invenimus: ubi infinitum Dei exercitum per quatuor septimanas cum Nicaenis mortiferum conflictum habere reperimus. Solimannus, Turcorum princeps, paulo antequam nos ad exercitum veniremus, cum magno exercitu in nostros, paratus ad bellum, subito irruerat, aestimans se quodam impetu posse irrumpere in urbem, ut subveniret suis: quae prava intentio aliter, quam putavit, Dei misericordia evenit. Nostri autem velocissime parati, Turcos animis ferocibus receperunt: qui statim vertentes terga, se in fugam omnes dederunt. Nostri eos acerrime insequentes, multos de eis interfecerunt, et per magnum spatium terrae, vulnerando, occidendo eos fugarunt; et nisi essent ardui montes nostris innoti, eadem die in magnum et in immedicabile damnum corruissent. De nostris omnibus nemo tamen periit; sed postea noster communis magnus exercitus multos acerrimosque congressus exercuit; cum balistis et arcubus multos ex Turcis, etiam de majoribus, interfecit. De nostris quidam occisi sunt, sed vere non multi; nominativus miles nullus, nisi Flandrensis Balduinus, comes de Ganz. Videntes igitur Deo digni principes nostri Nicaeam adeo, ut diximus, turrigeratam, armis tantum non posse superari, ligneas altissimas turres cum propugnaculis et diversis instrumentis grandi labore construxere. Quod Turci aspicientes, timore subacti, urbem imperatori per nuntios reddiderunt, ea conditione ut nudos de civitate eis liceret per conductum exire, et vivi in imperatoris vinculis haberentur. Quod audiens venerabilis imperator, ad nos usque prope pervenit: in suam autem Nicaeam intrare minime audens, ne eum infinita turba populorum, quem tanquam patrem pium venerabantur, exsultando opprimeret. In marina quadam insula prope nos secessit: ad quam omnes principes nostri, praeter me et comitem Sancti AEgidii, cucurrerunt, ut cum eo de tanta victoria congratularentur, quos omnes nimio, ut debuit, affectu recepit. Et quia ne casu superveniret civitati et exercitui nostro inimicissima Turcorum turba, me remansisse apud urbem gavisus est valde: altius vero atque levius, quod tunc remansi, ipse recepit quasi aureum montem ex praedis factis. In eadem qua manebat insula magnus imperator de spoliis Nicaeae urbis sic ordinavit pretiosiora, ut scilicet aurum, gemmas, argentum, pallia, equos et hujusmodi milites habeant; omnia vero victualia peditibus distribuantur; principes cunctos de propriis thesauris suis se ditaturum disposuit. Sic, ut praediximus, Deo triumphante, reddita est maxima Nicaea xiii kal. Julii. Legitur in primitiva Ecclesia sanctos patres apud Nicaeam sanctam synodum celebrasse; et ibi Ariana haeresi destructa, Sanctae Trinitatis fidem, Spiritu Sancto ducente, eos confirmasse: et quae, peccatis pastorum exigentibus, facta fuerat magistra erroris, nunc, Deo propitiante, per peccatores servos suos facta est discipula veritatis. Dico tibi, mi dilecta, quia de saepedicta Nicaea usque Jerusalem per quinque septimanas perveniemus, nisi Antiochia obstiterit nobis. Valete.

Scholarly notes:

(1)Stephen uses "Romam," for which Gerald Bond, in his translation of the first paragraph of this letter, gives Romania, that is Byzantium, which is the court Stephen describes here, (The Loving Subject, Desire, Eloquence, and Power in Romanesque France [Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995], 133).

Printed source:

Recueil des Historiens des Croisades, Historiens Occidentaux, (Paris: Imprimerie impériale, 1866), v.s, 885-87

Date:

07/1097