CHAP. II.]

ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM.

171

in the archives of the order in friendly deposit for

safety, and were now restored to the lawful

. , „ 1271

owner, m the presence of many great per-sonages, among whom was the Grand Master of theTemple . 1

Prince Edward, whose declaration may have beena little exaggerated, though no doubt he was wellaware that obedience in a crusade could never beconsidered an act of homage from England, arrivingat Carthage a few days after the King of France’sdeath, did not indeed raise the French, or any otherarmy, to two hundred thousand men, as a chro-nicler pretends, with prodigious exaggeration ; 2 yetnot without satisfaction can an Englishman relatethat ours was the only prince in Europe who, onthat occasion, kept his promise, and refusing tosign the Tunis treaty,went to Acre with his corps ofone thousand picked men; though so small a forcecould not do much. Yet is his name sacred as thelast prince that ever went on a crusade . 3 Afterstaying at Acre about a month, he went with hisown, together with the Christian army of seventhousand, on an expedition up the country, andtook Nazareth, and returning to Acre, was assailed

1 Cod. Dipl. Geros., i., Hum. clii.—Appendix, xcviii.

2 Zamfleit.—Bib. Crois., i. 338.

3 Midland : Hist., v. 95.