Note 342 — BOOK VIII.

Omad says that the Mussulmans surrounded the army of their enemy as the eyelashes surround the eye. The Mussulman authors speak highly of Jacques d’Avesnes. All the historians of Saladin do not agree as to his defeat, and say that Richard got possession of Jaffa after being conquered. Aboulfeda is more honest; Tabary agrees also that the Mussulmans were put to flight; the same historian adds to his faithful account the following remarkable circumstance: “Near the Mussulman army was a thick wood, into which they retreated. The Franks believed that this retreat was a stratagem, and did not dare to pursue their enemies, whom they might have destroyed if they had followed up their victory.” For these authors, see the Latin extracts of Dom Berthereau.