A History of the Crusades-Vol 2 by Steven Runciman

flotilla of forty galleys, provided
by the ports of Provence. His young son, Pons, travelled with him. His first
visit was to Genoa, from whom he hoped to obtain the naval help needed for the
reduction of Tripoli. William-Jordan had also tried to arrange an alliance with
the Genoese; but his embassy found Bertrand already accepted as the Republic’s
ally. Genoa had promised to aid Bertrand to take over his father’s conquests in
the East and to crown them with the capture of Tripoli, in which they would be
given the favoured commercial position. When Bertrand sailed on eastward in the
autumn, a Genoese squadron sailed with him.
    Next, Bertrand planned to visit Constantinople,
to secure the support of his father’s friend, the Emperor. Storms obliged his
fleet to put into the Gulf of Volo, to the harbour of Almyro, where his men
made an excellent impression by abstaining from the usual Western habit of
pillaging the countryside. Consequently, when he arrived at Constantinople,
Alexius was prejudiced in his favour and received him as a son. Bertrand was
given many valuable presents and the promise of imperial favours to come. In
return he swore allegiance to the Emperor.
    From Constantinople Bertrand and his allies
sailed to Saint Symeon, the port of Antioch, and sent an envoy to Tancred to
ask for an interview. Tancred at once came down to see him. But their
conversation did not go smoothly. Bertrand arrogantly demanded that Tancred
should hand over to him the portions of the city of Antioch that his father
once had held. Tancred replied that he would consider this if Bertrand would
assist him in the campaign on which he was about to embark against Mamistra and
the Byzantine cities of Cilicia. To Bertrand, who had just sworn an oath of
allegiance to Alexius and who counted on Byzantine subsidies, the proposition
was unacceptable; but he offered instead to conquer for Tancred the town of
Jabala, in which Fakhr al-Mulk had taken refuge. Tancred insisted on
co-operation in the Cilician expedition; and when Bertrand categorically
refused because of his oath to the Emperor, Tancred ordered him to leave his
principality and forbade his subjects to sell him supplies. Bertrand was
obliged to move on down the coast, and sailed into Tortosa harbour.
     
    1109: Bertrand
and William-Jordan
    Tortosa was held by one of William-Jordan’s
lieutenants; who at once admitted Bertrand into the town and gave him all the
provisions that he required. Next day Bertrand sent a messenger to
William-Jordan’s headquarters at Mount Pilgrim, requiring the surrender of all
his father’s inheritance in the lands of La Chamelle, that is to say the
principality of Homs that Raymond had hoped to found. But William-Jordan had
recently won a signal success. When the Egyptians took over Tripoli, the town
of Arqa, under the leadership of one of Fakhr’s favourite pages, had placed
itself under the protection of Toghtekin of Damascus. Toghtekin set out in
person to inspect his new dependency; but the winter rains delayed his progress
through the Buqaia. While waiting for the weather to improve, he attacked
certain forts that the Christians had built near the frontier. William-Jordan,
with three hundred horsemen and two hundred native infantrymen, crept over the
shoulder of the Lebanon and fell on him unexpectedly, near the village of Akun.
The Damascene army, with Toghtekin at its head, fled in panic to Homs, pursued
by the Franks, who could not venture to attack the city, but then turned
northward to raid the territory of Shaizar. The Munqidhite brothers, Murshid
and Sultan, emirs of Shaizar, hearing that the Frankish army was small, came
out in the confident expectation that it could easily be captured. But the
Franks attacked at once so fiercely that the men of Shaizar broke and fled.
William-Jordan then returned to Arqa, which capitulated to him after a siege of
only three weeks.
    Encouraged by these victories, William-Jordan
was in no mood to abdicate in