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JOHN LORD DE JOINVILLE
Memoirs of Louis IX, King of France
page 153
ampl y performed it without seeking to do more than the kin g of France had done. This Richard, king of England, performed sucu deeds of prowess when he was in the Holy Land, that the Saracens,
o n seeing their horses frightened at a shadow or bush, cried ont to them, "What, dost think King Richard is there?" Thi s they were accustomed to say, from tbe many and man y times he Jiad conquered and vanquished them. In lik e manner, when the children of the Turks or Saracens cried, their mothers said to them, "Hush, hash! or I will bring King Richard of England to you and from the fright these words caused they were instantly quiet.
I must eay something more of this Hugh, duke of Burgundy. He was personally brave and chivalrous, but never reputed very wise toward God or man, as appears from wha t has just been told of him ; and, in allusion to him, the great king Philip said, when he was told that the count John de Chalons had a son whom he had christened Hugh, "May God, out of his goodness, qiake him a preukomme as well as a preudhomme.n* There is much difference between these two characters, for many a knight among the Christians and Saracens is bold enough, but of little discretion, who neither fears nor loves God ; and it was said that God had been very gracious to that knight, who, by hie actions, shewed he united both these qualities. But the person of whom I am speaking might well be called a preudhomme, for he was sufficiently bold and personally enterprising, but not mentally so, for he feared not to sin, nor to behave ill toward his God.
O f the immense sums it cost the king to enclose Jaffa, it does not become me to speak, for they were countless. H e enclosed the town from one side of the sea to the other ; and there were twenty-four towers, including small and great. The ditches were well scoured, and kept clean
* Saint Louie made this distinction between preuhomme and preudhomme. The first was valiant and personally bold ; the second, prudent, discreet, having a good conscience, and the fear of God. The words preu and preuhomme are derived from the Latin probue, which, in the writers of the middle ages, signified a 4 4 valiant man and from this the French have formed their word preux. From this word we have formed
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"pronssee," the English " prowess," the Spaniards prozza," the Italians
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prodezza."
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