Chivalry

From one of the chronicles of the First Crusade, here is a description of Raymond of St. Gilles, Count of Toulouse, one of the Crusade's leaders. As his men march across the Balkans they are harassed by local soldiers, and Count Raymond has taken personal command of the rear guard:

Let us not pass over a certain illustrious act of the Count. When the Count with some of his knights had been hedged about for some little time by the Slavonians, he made a charge upon them and captured as many as six of them. And when, on this account, the Slavonians pressed upon him the more violently, and the Count was compelled to follow the army, he ordered the eyes of some of the prisoners to be torn out, the feet of others to be cut off, and the nose and hands of still others to be slashed, so that while the pursuers were thus moved at the sight and preoccupied with their sorrow, the Count count safely escape with his companions. And thus, by the grace of God he was delivered from the straits of death and this difficult situation.

Indeed, what courage and wisdom the Count displayed in this region is not easy to relate!

-- Raymond de'Aguilers