ABSTRACT
After the Jerusalem pilgrims returned home, the citizens of Assur, commonly called Arsuf, listened to the advice of envious men and they utterly refused to grant the city and the revenue which they had agreed to pay each year to Duke Godfrey when they were alarmed at his victory near Ascalon. They were unjustly holding on to his hostages, given in earnest of friendship, and rejoicing at the return of their own men who, keeping bad faith, escaped the duke’s custody. Because of this the duke was angry, and so were the others who had stayed with him, both noble and humble: William of Montpellier, Warner of Grez, Geldemar Carpenel, Wicher the Swabian, and all the Christian cavalry and infantry surrounded the city of Arsuf with three thousand men,1 spreading out their tents all around it. With their tents pitched on all sides they prepared siege engines and mangonels, spending six weeks constructing them.
