ABSTRACT
A n d when they of Cagliari saw count Ner dead and themselves in such disaster, they, one very hot day, at noon, when they of the host of castle Bonaire and the Lord Infante and the others were sleeping or eating, put armour on their horses and apparelled, horse and foot, issued forth, without they of the siege at Bonaire knowing anything about it. The first to see them were Catalan fishermen, who saw them come down from the castle of Cagliari and began to cry :— “ At them ! to arms ! to arms ! ” The Lord Infante, who had been sleeping with his épaulières on, heard the cry and put on his iron cap and seized his shield and hung it round his neck. He always had two of his horses ready saddled, and he mounted one ; and the first to be at the gate of the siege
was he, but soon there were with him more than two thousand followers, what with almugavars and retainers and seamen ; and so likewise knights attended him, some in armour and some without. The Catalans and Aragonese have that advantage over other people, that the horsemen, whenever they are engaged in a war, go about with the épaulières on and their iron caps near at hand, and they keep their horses ready saddled. And as soon as they hear a disturbance, they have nothing more to do but to take their shields and their iron caps, and they mount their horses and consider themselves as well armed as the other knights wearing hauberk or cuirass. And the men afoot all keep their lance and their dart at the door of their lodging or tent and at once run to the lance or dart when they hear anything, and as soon as they have their lance or dart they are fully armed. And so, when they heard the noise, they were at once upon the enemy, so that to say and to do was all one. They of Cagliari had expected they would be as long putting on their armour and arraying themselves as they were themselves, wherein they found they were mistaken. The Lord Infante with the chivalry came thus to meet them and it was unfortunate for the Pisans that they had come so far expecting to enter the gate of castle Bonaire. The Lord Infante attacked them so vigorously that, soon, they of the castle of Cagliari had to turn. Should I tell you more âbout it ? The Lord Infante with the admiral, who is of the most accom plished knights of the world, and with the others pro ceeded to overthrow horses and to attack with lances, and when the lances were broken, you would have seen them giving, mace in hand, the most desperate blows of the world. And of the footsoldiers I need not tell you ; they did nothing but transfix horsemen and men afoot with their lances. And they did so much that, of full five hundred horse who had issued forth and full three
thousand foot, there did not remain two hundred horse men ; for all the rest had been killed. And of men afoot not a hundred escaped, and if they had had a larger field, and had not reached the castle of Cagliari so soon, not one would have escaped. And so this fight was as good as the battle which destroyed those of the castle of Cagliari, and you m ay understand with what ardour they of the Lord Infante came to the fight when En Gilabert de Cen tellas and others entered Cagliari mingled with the enemy, hitting and stabbing, remembering nothing else, but only to attack. In consequence of which the Pisans committed a great crime, for, after they had made them prisoners, they killed them. And such crimes they and all men of the Communes are ready to commit ; it displeases God, Who commiserates them.
