740

Nov. 1-30. B. de Blancafort pauperis militiae Templi minister humilis writes to King Louis VII of France. Louis already knows that King Amalric made war in Egypt, taking with him the relic of the True Cross. Nur ad-Din had sent Syraco [Shirkuh] with a great army to the kingdom of Cairo [regnum Babyloniorum] with the intention of uniting Old Cairo [Babylon] and Damascus. Syraco [the above-named Turcus], who had occupied the strong city of Berbesium [Bilbais] and had garrisoned it with 30000 warriors, was forced to withdraw. But on returning to the Holy Land the Christians discovered that the city of Paneas, one of the strongest in the kingdom of Jerusalem, had been betrayed and occupied by the Turci and that Antioch had suffered the defeat of its army and is in danger of falling to Graeci or Turci. King Amalric cannot defend Antioch, Tripoli, Jerusalem and Cairo [Babylon] at the same time, whereas Nur ad-Din has at his disposal enough forces to attack all of them. Frater Heustercanis, Louis’s friend, is sick and cannot travel. B. is sending frater Walterus in his place to deliver his messages.