haps, but with great and consummate prudence, though there are some who wound his fair fame, accusing him of excessive parsimony. Wherefore, last year, when the Turks had taken him, while riding a short distance from Jerusalem, his people grieved but Httle for him, and for nearly a year it remained unknown, both to subjects and even to tale-bearers, whither he was taken, or whether or not he breathed the vital air. However, the people of Jerusalem, nothing discouraged on account of his absence, refused either to elect a king or to discontinue the order or command of the soldiers, till the certainty of the matter could be known. At last, the place where he lay captive being discovered, some knights of surpassing boldness, assuming the guise of merchants, and hiding weapons beneath their garments, entered the town, and rescued the king from jeopardy; protesting, that they did not act thus through respect for his niggardliness, but out of gratitude to Gozelin of Turbexhel,[1] who never hesitated to bestow all he possibly could upon the military. He has now lived long, a provident man, and subject to no other imputation.[2] The principality of Antioch pertains to the son of Boamund, of whom I proceed to speak.
Boamund[3] was the son of Robert Guiscard by a Norman woman; he had another son named Roger, born of an Apulian, who was, by his father, surnamed "Purse," because his paternal and attentive observation had discovered, that, from a mere child, he had pleasure in counting money. As to Boamund, who was somewhat older, he never could retain anything, but even gave away his childish presents. Roger, therefore, received Apulia, which seemed to belong to him
- ↑ This account appears in some measure incorrect, Gozelin and the king were both confined in the same castle. On its being seized Gozelin escaped, and collected troops to liberate his friends, who were now themselves besieged. But ere his arrival, the Turks had made themselves masters of the fortress and carried off the king, who did not recover his liberty for some time, and then onlv by paying a considerable ransom. Fulch. Carnot. et Will. Tyr. ap. Gesta Dei.
- ↑ Baldwin died 21st August, a.d. 1131.—Hardy.
- ↑ Boamund was baptized Mark; but his father hearing a tale related of a giant named Buamund, gave him that appellation. When, after his captivity, he returned to France, many of the nobility requested him to stand for their children; this he acquiesced in, and giving them his own name, it became frequent in these parts, though before nearly unknown in the West. Ord. Vital, p. 817.
