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For which thou whipp'st her.
This prurience is felt even more strongly in the writings of Imad ad Din, Saladin's chancellor. He gives a portrait of Frankish women immigrants that contains some of the most remarkable pornographic imaginings in literature, only the least lurid part of which is recounted here.20
During the siege of Acre (1189-1), he says, three hundred lovely Frankish women full of youth and beauty, having assembled beyond the sea, arrived offering themselves for sin.
(They may have indeed been camp followers - or perhaps women emigrating in search of favourable marriage, adventure, or any of the other myriad of reasons why a young woman leaves home). Imad ad Din was in no doubt, however, that these women were prostitutes who had consecrated their bodies to the physical sustenance of their expatriate brethren.
...Each one trailed the train of her robe behind her and bewitched the beholder with her radiance. She swayed like a sapling, revealed herself like a strong castle, quivered like a small branch, walked proudly with a cross on her breast, sold her graces for gratitude, and longed to lose her robe and her honour...They interwove leg with leg, slaked their lovers' thirsts... They contested for tree-trunks, wandered far and wide to collect fruit, and maintained that this was an act of piety without equal, especially to those who were far from home and wives...
What was worse from Imad ad Din's point of view was that although many of the besieging Arabs were shocked by such loose behaviour, a few foolish mamelukes and ignorant wretches slipped away from the Islamic army and followed the people of error, although, he claims, many of these deserters later repented of their sins and tried to retrace their footsteps.
Undoubtedly, the Arab men were fascinated by European women, many of whom were blonde haired, pale of skin and blue eyed. Such is the nature of humanity, to long for the exotic. And fraternisation between the sexes of the two armies continued apace with the long, terrible siege itself, just as it did throughout the two centuries during which the Franks occupied the Holy Land.
( Other confirmation of the fraternisation comes from the famous account of how the soldiers on both sides tired of the interminable fighting, and instead sent their children to do battle in their place. These children fought with great courage. The vanquished children were considered prisoner, and their parents gave two pieces of gold as ransom. "It was no use for the victor to make difficulties about accepting them; he was told that the vanquished was his prisoner and he took the money.")21
Imad ad Din's claims about increased sexual activity in Acre might well be dismissed, were it not for confirmation of his accusations from the European chroniclers. One of the problems faced by Richard Coeur de Lion, after he had arrived in Acre in 1191 and managed to break the siege within a few weeks of his landing, was to tear his men away from the delights of life amongst the women of Acre, as commemorated in the poetry of Ambroise.
So delightful was the town,
So good the wine, so fair the maids,
That the soldiers laid them down
And forgot their warlike raids.
Wine and women cast their spell
Sunk in pleasures did they dwell.
Lechery and vice and sin
All were found that town within,
So that wise men looked with shame
On what the soldiers thought a game.22
Due to this reluctance of the men to leave their women Richard was forced to march with a greatly reduced army on his southward campaign, and consequently his true genius as a general was revealed when he led this miniature army to victory over Saladin. Richard fought a disciplined battle on the sands between Acre and Arsuf, keeping his men tightly bunched and in a formation so that they gave each other physical protection as well as moral support.
But the women who arrived at Acre were not only camp followers.
There were also women who came as warriors in their own right. According to Imad ad Din, a noble woman - he calls her a queen - arrived accompanied by five hundred knights with their horses and money, pages and valets. She paid all their expenses and treated them generously out of her own wealth. They rode out when she rode out, charged when she charged, flung themselves into the fray at her side, their ranks unwavering as long as she stood firm.23
Who was this unnamed woman? The available records do not say, but the story is confirmed in the Itinerarium Regis Ricardi.24
Nor do the sources tell us who were the Frankish women who charged into battle at Acre in cuirasses and helmets, dressed as men, who encountered the thick of battle and acted like brave men. Imad says that during battle, more than one women rode out like a knight and showed male endurance, despite the weakness of her sex. Clothed in armour, they were not recognised as women until they were stripped by captors.25
Some of these captives, he says, were sold as slaves, so that everywhere (in Arab lands) was full of old women.
Other accounts of the physical bravery of Frankish women during the siege include an account written by Beha ad Din. When the fall of Acre became inevitable, Saladin loosed a last desperate attack on the Frankish camp. During the ensuing bloody struggle, Muslim soldiers saw a woman dressed in a green mantle who shot at them with a hand bow. She killed many Arabs before she was overcome and killed. Her bow was taken and carried to Saladin, who was clearly deeply impressed by her story.26
Thus, the Frankish women were involved in the greatest struggles of their age, as generals, courtesans, warriors, labourers, mothers and lovers.
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