‘But I would wish your senior captains to swear the oath too.’
‘When I pledge it is on behalf of them all.’
The silence was long, for here again was a problem about which it had to be considered if it was worth making a stand. Eventually Alexius nodded, having decided it was not, stood himself and descended to ground level, where he removed the heavy diadem and handed it to a grovelling eunuch.
‘There is something I wish to show you.’
Alexius turned and left the chamber, Bohemund alone following to a door through which the Emperor had disappeared. On entry the Norman was dazzled by the light of hundreds of candles, but it was not their illumination that hurt the eyes so much as the way that reflected off what was stacked in the room, objects of gold and silver in a quantity Bohemund had never seen assembled in one place, bolts of the finest silk dyed in a multitude of colours, trays which on closer examination were covered in precious stones. Try as he might to maintain his composure, it could not be done; Bohemund actually gasped, for all the revenues of his domains, which were substantial, would not add up to this is in a decade.
‘You will have heard that I rewarded Hugh of Vermandois and Godfrey of Bouillon for their oath of loyalty to me.’ That got a cautious nod, for it had been used to tell both men how they stood in imperial regard, the Frenchman with his derisory ring and de Bouillon with his casket of coins. ‘So that you will know how highly I regard your acceding to the same, I wish that you will accept the contents of this small chamber as a reward for the services I know you will render to me in the future.’
‘This is all for me?’
‘It is,’ Alexius replied. ‘And may it let you consider what you might gain by keeping to the oath you just took.’
Bohemund nodded, but he was thinking, as well as securing supplies he must find a ship and a trusted captain to take this treasure back to Bari. There was too much to transport over the terrain they were about to cover and its value in his homeland vault would be much greater than it would be in Constantinople.
C HAPTER S EVEN
T he camp to which Tancred led the army was as well ordered as the sea crossing that got them to the shores of Asia Minor, ample open barges for horses that made easier the loading and unloading, given they never lost sight of the sky or the Bosphorus shore; not that it was simple, transporting horses over water was a skill that the Normans had learnt in Calabria. They could not have conquered Sicily without it and much of the lesson came from how to sedate the most awkward and skittish animals with potion provided by Basilian monks. Such tricks had been passed by to their fellow Normans at home and the
Guiscard
had always claimed that, without his aid, the man they called the Conqueror would never have got his mounted knights to the battlefield of Senlac.
Assembled on the Galata side it was a full day’s march to the camp at which Alexius had decreed the Crusaders should assemble. Aware of their coming the Byzantine officials who controlled theprovince had already designated an area in which they could pitch their tents and set up horse lines in close proximity to running water, this from specially dug shallow canals, and to get there the Apulians were obliged to pass through what was, in many respects, very like a Roman legionary encampment of ancient times.
A main roadway ran through the centre with an oration platform in front of a series of large pavilions on one side and a parade space opposite, while the tents, cooking and latrine pits of the previous arrivals lay beyond. The sight of their fellow Christians, especially the fabled Norman warriors, engendered much curiosity amongst the men of Lotharingia and Central France, bringing them to stare, and being soldiers the new arrivals were the subject of much diminishing ribaldry, which had the commander and his captains needing to enforce restraint on men
‘When I pledge it is on behalf of them all.’
The silence was long, for here again was a problem about which it had to be considered if it was worth making a stand. Eventually Alexius nodded, having decided it was not, stood himself and descended to ground level, where he removed the heavy diadem and handed it to a grovelling eunuch.
‘There is something I wish to show you.’
Alexius turned and left the chamber, Bohemund alone following to a door through which the Emperor had disappeared. On entry the Norman was dazzled by the light of hundreds of candles, but it was not their illumination that hurt the eyes so much as the way that reflected off what was stacked in the room, objects of gold and silver in a quantity Bohemund had never seen assembled in one place, bolts of the finest silk dyed in a multitude of colours, trays which on closer examination were covered in precious stones. Try as he might to maintain his composure, it could not be done; Bohemund actually gasped, for all the revenues of his domains, which were substantial, would not add up to this is in a decade.
‘You will have heard that I rewarded Hugh of Vermandois and Godfrey of Bouillon for their oath of loyalty to me.’ That got a cautious nod, for it had been used to tell both men how they stood in imperial regard, the Frenchman with his derisory ring and de Bouillon with his casket of coins. ‘So that you will know how highly I regard your acceding to the same, I wish that you will accept the contents of this small chamber as a reward for the services I know you will render to me in the future.’
‘This is all for me?’
‘It is,’ Alexius replied. ‘And may it let you consider what you might gain by keeping to the oath you just took.’
Bohemund nodded, but he was thinking, as well as securing supplies he must find a ship and a trusted captain to take this treasure back to Bari. There was too much to transport over the terrain they were about to cover and its value in his homeland vault would be much greater than it would be in Constantinople.
C HAPTER S EVEN
T he camp to which Tancred led the army was as well ordered as the sea crossing that got them to the shores of Asia Minor, ample open barges for horses that made easier the loading and unloading, given they never lost sight of the sky or the Bosphorus shore; not that it was simple, transporting horses over water was a skill that the Normans had learnt in Calabria. They could not have conquered Sicily without it and much of the lesson came from how to sedate the most awkward and skittish animals with potion provided by Basilian monks. Such tricks had been passed by to their fellow Normans at home and the
Guiscard
had always claimed that, without his aid, the man they called the Conqueror would never have got his mounted knights to the battlefield of Senlac.
Assembled on the Galata side it was a full day’s march to the camp at which Alexius had decreed the Crusaders should assemble. Aware of their coming the Byzantine officials who controlled theprovince had already designated an area in which they could pitch their tents and set up horse lines in close proximity to running water, this from specially dug shallow canals, and to get there the Apulians were obliged to pass through what was, in many respects, very like a Roman legionary encampment of ancient times.
A main roadway ran through the centre with an oration platform in front of a series of large pavilions on one side and a parade space opposite, while the tents, cooking and latrine pits of the previous arrivals lay beyond. The sight of their fellow Christians, especially the fabled Norman warriors, engendered much curiosity amongst the men of Lotharingia and Central France, bringing them to stare, and being soldiers the new arrivals were the subject of much diminishing ribaldry, which had the commander and his captains needing to enforce restraint on men
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