Night Pilgrims Read online

  The Ayyubid Sultan, Malik-al-Kamil, a Sunni in charge of a largely Shia army, and the nephew of the great Salah-al-Din (called Saladin by Europeans), ruling Egypt at the time, was tolerant of most pilgrims, but unwilling to provide any special protection for them; his policy was that Christian pilgrims should look to other Christians for housing and supplies. He apparently lost some of his cordiality with the European presence in his country, twice ordering all non-pilgrims and non-merchants to leave, dictates that were sporadically enforced and that led to an upsurge in conversions to Islam among the Europeans wishing to remain in Egypt. Islam granted access to Christian holy sites to pilgrims since Christians and followers of Islam were “people of the Book,” meaning that they both traced their religious origins to Abraham and Judaism. This genial policy was often more observed in the breach than in practice, but that did not mean that open hostility was a common response to pilgrims; there was a lot to be gained through acceptance of pilgrims in the country, including an influx of money as well as access to information about conditions in Europe: in the fifty years before the time of this book, money was slowly replacing service and barter as the rate of exchange, a development much favored by mercantile states active in international trade, a shift that made the expansion of pilgrimages more readily accessible for many with an urge to travel. Money as much as the European Crusaders made the Crusades a viable venture, and the expanding wealth from mining in central Europe fueled them both militarily and commercially, for the Crusades were a vastly profitable enterprise, and when the pilgrimage craze caught on at the end of the Third Crusade, the floodgates opened. The pilgrims came in droves, in spite of cultural, linguistic, and religious differences; the chance to see the new and wonderful overcame almost all difficulties.

  Languages and customs were not the only confusing factors impacting travel: calendars were not coordinated, and although the Middle East lacked the one hundred or so calendars being used in China at this time, there was also no regulatory body to adjust and correct calendars as there was in China, where distributing an erroneous calendar was a capital offense. The Orthodox Christian calendar did not align with the Roman Catholic one, and neither meshed well with the Islamic lunar calendar. Parts of Egypt kept to the old calendar left over from Pharaonic times, observing three seasons (Planting, in the autumn and winter, Harvest, from early to late spring, and Inundation, the annual Nile flood through the summer) and dating an event by the number of years of the reign of the present ruler. Working out when a thing was to be done, or when a specific occasion had taken place, often required careful calculation, and even then, accuracy was not guaranteed. Almost all Christian rulers at the time maintained an astrologer or two, as much to sort out dates as to decide what stellar influence was impacting the rulers’ lives. Many Christian countries did not begin the new year on January 1st: Russian Christians’ New Year was September 1st, several of the Italian city-states began the year on the Vernal Equinox, March 20th or 21st, depending on the calendar being used, or on the Feast of the Virgin Mary, then celebrated on the 24th or 25th of March. The Coptic Church kept to its links to Pharaonic Egypt, starting the year on August 29th or 30th, and identifying three seasons, although during the height of the Crusades, the Copts also applied the Gregorian Calendar in documents involving Roman and Orthodox Christians, and I have followed their excellent example. Rome followed the old Imperial Roman calendar—as we do today, with a few post-Gregorian adjustments—so dates could easily become confused. For the sake of clarity rather than historical accuracy, this book keeps to the modern Western calendar in most instances.

  These events took place during the Medieval Warm Period, which allowed agricultural expansion in Europe, thanks to the slight rise in world temperatures, but in hotter climates, the impact was less beneficial: the Sahara and other deserts expanded and many oases dried up as streams went underground, and the savannah margins to the fertile regions along the Nile narrowed to strips or dried up and blew away as sand encroached on scrub-grazing land, creating new areas of depopulated villages as well as driving more of the population to the river for their livelihoods as fishermen, watermen, boatmen, and bird-hunters. Fortunately, the Nile still provided the annual Inundation and brought a new load of topsoil to the narrowing band of the arable land which was developed with intensified farming techniques. This led to an increase of irrigation in the fertile swaths along the Nile, and made stored granaries and similar caches the target of military seizures, Islamic and Christian alike, as armies sought out food for their men and animals, as did bands of robbers and unlucky farmers whose lands had been claimed by the desert. The Crusaders were supposed to provide or buy their supplies, not steal them; the Popes who called for the Crusades made that plain, but no one actually expected the Crusaders to live up to this high moral stance, and they were as eager to pilfer and raid as the most experienced bandit. Food was seized whenever possible, and the Crusaders themselves had established squads within their companies whose sole job was procuring food for humans and animals, and were recognized for their skills in pilferage. Another aspect of the Medieval Warm Period that imposed on Crusaders came from the obduracy of the Crusaders themselves: they brought European-style warfare to the Middle East and Egypt, meaning they fought in iron and steel chain-mail—though by the Fifth Crusade, solid iron or steel breastplates were becoming the upper-body protection of choice—worn over thick padding, with metal helms and coifs to protect their heads, and went into battle so armed in 115-degree or higher heat, where they succumbed to heatstroke and dysentery in significant numbers, conditions that often proved fatal, since the monks who served as nurses had no practical means of treating either malady beyond administering salted fish and prayers.

  During the later Crusading years, England still owned a large slice of western France, and the English King, starting with Richard I “Lionheart,” encouraged English knights and lesser nobility to accept fiefs and estates in the English lands of France to keep the territory English. These Anglo-French titled men and promoted soldiers were largely centered in the Aquitaine, and were heavily tied into French politics as well as English, which occasionally led to disputes between the French and English that erupted into brush-fire battles. To ensure the Pope’s support for maintaining the English presence in France, the English Kings usually encouraged the nobility and knights to participate in or financially support the Crusades. Even in the interbellum years when no Crusade was actively going on, the English and Anglo-English presence in the Holy Land and Egypt continued, through trade and pilgrimages, and various kinds of chicanery.

  All through the Crusades there was a thriving black-market business in holy relics, and with the increase in pilgrims, the relic business exploded throughout the Middle East, into Egypt, and, for a century, south into Nubia and Ethiopia, where the remoteness of the source added to the value of the relics obtained. One especially sought-after relic was the hand of the Apostle Philip: several mummified hands were accepted as the real thing, including one that had come from a baboon. Not only did pilgrims seek all manner of relics out for themselves, but for the pilgrim bringing back an important relic from the Holy Land or from any sacred Christian site to donate to the Church, prestige and indulgences—religious documents exonerating and forgiving the holder from sins committed or forthcoming sins—would be the rewards. One of the most popular relics that pilgrims bought was pieces of the True Cross; whole forests must have been used to supply the demand for that relic, for thousands of wooden bits were sold to Crusaders and pilgrims throughout the Crusading decades, all purporting to be genuine. Vials of the Virgin’s milk were also much sought after. Very important relics were so valued by the Roman Church that often agents were dispatched to steal them from other churches, a risky act, since most Medieval Christians would kill to protect their relics. The Orthodox Church was not as focused on relics as the Roman Church was: the Orthodox churches valued icons with much the same fervor as Roman churches regarded relics; icons deemed to
be especially powerful were also targets of theft; many households had a private iconostasis, or screen for icons, which was constantly guarded by a slave. In Orthodox churches, novices guarded the icons, and the penalty for failure to stop a robbery was immurement—being walled up alive in the monastery’s foundation.

  In 1228, a Sixth Crusade was undertaken, led by the excommunicated Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II, who dealt with the contending successors to the Sultanate of Egypt more through diplomacy than force of arms, and with greater success than he brought to his attempts to reconcile with the Pope; Frederick II spoke fluent Arabic and lived in a Middle Eastern manner. He culminated his successes in the Middle East by crowning himself King of Jerusalem in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher on March 18, 1229, which title he claimed through his 1225 marriage to Iolande, daughter of King Jehan, Count of Brienne, who had claim to that kingdom; Frederick’s wife did not live to see him crowned, and Frederick returned to Italy three months later to continue his disputes with Pope Gregory IX, a conflict which ended in July of 1230 with the Treaty of San Germanno—no relation.

  * * *

  There are a number of people who provided information and insight to the preparation for this book, and I am taking this opportunity to thank them: to David Blaize for information on the logistics of the Crusades; to Amelia Crowley for information on the Medieval Coptic Church, in particular its ties to ancient Egyptian rites; to E. J. Eduard for explaining the pilgrims’ routes from Egypt to Ethiopia, and where the riskiest places were on those routes, and who believes that the Europeans of the period called those who lived in the highlands Ethiopians and those who lived in the lowlands Abyssinians; to J. G. Jeffers for information on various boats, barges, and other water-craft used on the Nile in this period; to Leslie Kim for information on the environmental shifts during the Medieval Warm Period, particularly its impact on northeastern Africa; to Walter Mendip for statistics on the demographics of European pilgrims; to Maria Obdach for information on languages and language proliferation in Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan in the thirteenth century; to Shawnia Visson for steering me toward two useful Web sites on Coptic and Ethiopian sacred texts, and then answering my questions about changes in the liturgy and rites over the centuries; and to Ingmar Wellerhavn, for explaining Medieval pronunciation of and spelling variations in regional personal names. I’m grateful to all of you for your time and expertise; any errors I have made are mine, and should not reflect badly on these good people’s knowledge and generosity.

  On the publishing side, my thanks to the incomparable Wiley Saichek, who does so much to publicize these Saint-Germain books online; to my agent, Howard Morhaim, for handling the business end, and for negotiating the e-publishing contract for the electronic reprints of much of the Saint-Germain backlist and the Olivia books; to Robin Dubner, attorney-at-law, who protects Saint-Germain; to Elinor Wainwright, for helping me chase down spare copies of the books in this series; to Paula Guran, the diligent webmastrix (webmistress sounds so black-leather-and-riding-crops) for my Web site, www.ChelseaQuinnYarbro.net; to the Yahoo chat group; to my recreational readers Angelica S. Johnson, William Penbury, and Glen Yao; to good pals and Ph.D.’s all, Sharon Russell, Stephanie Moss, and Elizabeth Miller and her Canadian chapter of the Transylvanian Society of Dracula; to DragonCon; to the Horror Writers Association for listing Hotel Transylvania among the six novels nominated as Vampire Novel of the [Twentieth] Century; to Lindig Harris for her continuing support of this series; to the Albuquerque crowd, Libba and Spencer in particular, with a second thanks to Libba for proofreading my pages; to Peggy, Charlie, Steve, Marc, Jim, Patrick, Mary-Rose, Megan, Shawn, Christine, Cheryl, Robert, Alice, Maureen, David, Bill, Suzon, Marsha, and Gaye, as well as Peter, Ingrid, and Eggert; to the Costco Angel; to Libba and Spencer again, and to Beth, Glenn, Rini and Barrett, Angelique, and Christine; to Tom Doherty and Tor; my editor, Melissa Singer; and to the readers and booksellers who have supported the series for more than three decades, and counting.

  CHELSEA QUINN YARBRO

  Richmond, California

  15 March 2012

  PART I

  RAKOCZY, SIDI SANDJER’MIN

  Text of a letter from Sieur Horembaud du Langnor at Alexandria to Rakoczy, Sidi Sandjer’min, written in Latin, and carried up-river to the Monastery Church of the Visitation; delivered twenty-three days after it was written.

  To the renowned European teacher known here as Rakoczy, Sidi Sandjer’min, greetings from Sieur Horembaud du Langnor, once Crusader, now penitent, bound for the churches and shrines in the far south, on the Feast of the Circumcision, in the Year of Grace, 1225.

  I am told by several well-informed Christians here in Alexandria that you are the man I must address in this predicament. I am seeking a translator and guide to assist in my pilgrimage to the south, into the mountains beyond the ancient Empire of Axum, which will set out from your monastery within a month of my arrival in that place. You, I am informed, know well the ways of the Nile and have many languages at your command, which will be most useful: I am intending to find a number of like-minded Christians to accompany me and my servants on my journey to the Christians of the Horn. As few Europeans are willing to guide us, lacking sufficient knowledge to undertake this pilgrimage, I believe it is God’s intention that you will accept the commission, for it is said you understand the risks of journeying beyond the limits of Egypt; you are vastly traveled, or so I have heard, and that would mean that you are especially well-prepared to supervise our journey. Also, you know the customs of the Christians of the region, and will be able to assist us in showing proper regard for their ceremonies, and to be able to lead us to the holiest shrines and churches.

  I would expect that we will be gone on this pilgrimage for a year or so. Those who have made the journey themselves have told me that it will take that long to travel into the mountains beyond the desert, to visit the holy sites, make proper obeisance at each of them, and to return; I have heard that after we leave the Nile to cross overland, we must travel at night, due to the fierceness of the sun in the day, which I trust will not lessen your ability to guide us, until we reach the mountains, where, I have been told, at the height of summer, rains begin, and until autumn, the rainfall continues, and slows travel in those distant places. All those going must be prepared for hardships, but such devotion is pleasing in God’s sight, or so the priests have said.

  It is important to me to do this, for unless I perform this penance, I may not lead my troops again, by order of the Bishop of Acre. This was due to an error from local guides who assured me that there were Islamites in the town we had reached, and said they were preparing to poison the wells. As soldiers loyal to the Church and Christ, we went in and killed the people, and only then discovered that the people of the town were Christians of the Eastern Rite, and that we bore their deaths on our souls. I am eager to rejoin my troops so that we may stem the tide of Islamites that plagues the Holy Land, as any true Christian in this place would be, and therefore I have decided to address a European to guide me and my pilgrims, so that we should not be tempted to sin again, and who could offer testimony that the terms of my penance have been fulfilled. All those who have been on Crusade know to their costs how easily one can transgress. To that end, I am hoping to secure relics for Saunt-Adrien-le-Berger in the Aquitaine, where my fief is located; relics will surely help me in being restored to command of my troops and bring distinction to my family. I long for battle in the cause of Our Lord, Who made me to be a warrior in His Name. To wear armor again, to wield my sword in the name of the Savior: what Christian knight can ask for more?

  Not that pilgrims can go armed into those lands beyond Egypt, for that has been forbidden since the First Crusade, when only unarmed Christians were allowed to enter Jerusalem, which stricture is still in force there. Hunting weapons are allowed, but the weapons of war and the armor that goes with them are not, and failure to comply with this order of disarmament brings a most unpleasant death. Enforcement
of these restrictions is severe, by all reports. We will need to find men to accompany us who are skilled hunters, not Europeans, which would make us more vulnerable to attack and capture, but from Egypt and Christian. I am not minded to trust any Islamic hunter in our numbers, for they will put their faith ahead of ours. Since you are already among Christians, the search should not be a difficult one. I will leave such things up to you. God has pointed the way to you, and I will bow to His Will, as will you, for the sake of our faith—if you are the man I have heard you are: you are the man I seek; if you will pray, you will learn what God has revealed to me, and you will place yourself in my service, for it is the service of God.

  In recognition of your station, I authorize you to bring with you up to six men, and will bear the cost for their travels; food, water, and shelter will be their concern, and yours, to the limits of my purse. When I and my pilgrims arrive where you are, you will advise us on what we need for our journey and where to obtain it; I have two servants with me, one of whom is a fine judge of camels and should be able to find worthy beasts for us once we need them. This is an endeavor worthy of any Christian, and one that many saints have undertaken. It is unfortunate that we must travel in summer, and therefore at night, as I have stated, but God has willed it so, and we must take His Gifts as He offers them. Be ready to receive us and we will welcome you to our numbers as a guide and translator, although we must ask that you do not associate in too familiar a fashion with the pilgrims, for that might distract them from their holy purpose, to the successful conclusion of which we now must turn our prayers and our purpose.