ABSTRACT
And the Lord King of Aragon came by his journeys to Barcelona and there also convened Cortes and com manded that all they of Catalonia should be at Barcelona by a fixed day.
CHAPTER CXII.
W it h that the Cortes were convoked, of richs homens and prelates and knights and citizens and townsmen; and the Lord King called En Ramon Marquet and En Berenguer Mallol, who had come from Sicily with the galleys with which they had accompanied my Lady the Queen and the Lords Infantes. And he commanded them to have, incontinent, ten galleys made, so that they should not be short of galleys. And En Ramon Marquet and En Berenguer Mallol said to the Lord King : " Lord, what is this you say ? You know that your enemies are having a hundred and twenty galleys made, and you will not have more than ten made ? " And answered the Lord King and said: “ Do you not know that We have full eighty in Sicily which, when We need them, will come ready equipped ? ” Said
they: “ Lord, we should think it well that at least fifty galleys were made here, for one cannot know whether those that are in Sicily would come in time when we need them, for, owing to matters there, they might delay. The power of the Church and of the King of France and King Charles and of their supporters is so great that we believe that they will give us enough to do there and here, even if we had fifty galleys between Valencia and Tortosa and Tarragona and Barcelona, and even if we had more. But, yet, Lord, if you had fifty galleys fitted out in Catalonia we would trust fully that, with the help of God and your good fortune, we would overcome all those of the enemy.” And the Lord King answered: “ Notables, you speak well, but it is much better that the enemy should not know that we have galleys here, for if they knew that we have them here and that there are fifty, theirs would come all together ; and it would be a hard task and a great danger to fight them all, for there are very select people in those galleys, as well Provencals as Gascons and Genoese and many others. But if they know that we have not more than ten galleys, they will come believing themselves safe and will think nothing of our forces, and therefore they will come disparted and you, with these ten galleys, will go attacking here and there at your will. And whilst they thus go along, despising our power and our galleys, these other galleys will come from Sicily and will go and attack where the greater part of their fleet will be. And so, with the help of God, we shall get the better of our enemies by show ing only a small force. And it is thus in w ar; man must commend himself to God and then, with his help, choose the best and most profitable way and make no boast.”
