But though we cannot accept the statement that Polo was taken prisoner at Ayas, in the spring of 1294, we may accept the passage as evidence from a contemporary source that he was taken prisoner in some sea-fight with the Genoese, and thus admit it in corroboration of the Ramusian Tradition of his capture in a sea-fight at Curzola in 1298, which is perfectly consistent with all other facts in our possession.
[1] In this part of these notices I am repeatedly indebted to Heyd. (See supra, p. 9.)
[2] On or close to the Hill called Monjoie; see the plan from Marino Sanudo at p. 18.
[3] "Throughout that year there were not less than 40 machines all at work upon the city of Acre, battering its houses and its towers, and smashing and overthrowing everything within their range. There were at least ten of those engines that shot stones so big and heavy that they weighed a good 1500 lbs. by the weight of Champagne; insomuch that nearly all the towers and forts of Acre were destroyed, and only the religious houses were left. And there were slain in this same war good 20,000 men on the two sides, but chiefly of Genoese and Spaniards." (Lettre de Jean Pierre Sarrasin, in Michel's Joinville, p. 308.)
[4] The origin of these columns is, however, somewhat uncertain. [See Cicogna, I. p. 379.]
[5] In 1262, when a Venetian squadron was taken by the Greek fleet in alliance with the Genoese, the whole of the survivors of the captive crews were blinded by order of Palaeologus. (Roman. ii. 272.)
[6] See pp. 16, 41, and Plan of Ayas at beginning of Bk. I.
[7] See Archivio Storico Italiano, Appendice, tom. iv.
[8] Niente ne resta a prender
Se no li corpi de li legni:
Preixi som senza difender;
De bruxar som tute degni!
* * * *
Como li fom aproximai
Queli si levan lantor
Como leon descaenai
Tuti criando "Alor! Alor!"
This Alor! Alor! ("Up, Boys, and at 'em"), or something similar, appears to have been the usual war-cry of both parties. So a trumpet-like poem of the Troubadour warrior Bertram de Born, whom Dante found in such evil plight below (xxviii. 118 seqq.), in which he sings with extraordinary spirit the joys of war:—
"Le us die que tan no m'a sabor
Manjars, ni beure, ni dormir,
Cum a quant ang cridar, ALOR!
D'ambas la partz; et aug agnir
Cavals voits per l'ombratge. … "
"I tell you a zest far before
Aught of slumber, or drink, or of food,
I snatch when the shouts of ALOR
Ring from both sides: and out of the wood
Comes the neighing of steeds dimly seen. … "
In a galley fight at Tyre in 1258, according to a Latin narrative, the Genoese shout "Ad arma, ad arma! ad ipsos, ad ipsos!" The cry of the Venetians before engaging the Greeks is represented by Martino da Canale, in his old French, as "or à yaus! or à yaus!" that of the Genoese on another occasion as Aur! Aur! and this last is the shout of the Catalans also in Ramon de Muntaner. (Villemain, Litt. du Moyen Age, i. 99; Archiv. Stor. Ital. viii. 364, 506; Pertz, Script. xviii. 239; Muntaner, 269, 287.) Recently in a Sicilian newspaper, narrating an act of gallant and successful reprisal (only too rare) by country folk on a body of the brigands who are such a scourge to parts of the island, I read that the honest men in charging the villains raised a shout of "Ad iddi! Ad iddi!"
[9] A phrase curiously identical, with a similar sequence, is attributed to an Austrian General at the battle of Skalitz in 1866. (Stoffel's Letters.)
[10] E no me posso aregordar
Dalcuno romanzo vertadé
Donde oyse uncha cointar
Alcun triumfo si sobré!
[11] Stella in Muratori, xvii. 984.
[12] Dandulo, Ibid. xii. 404–405.
[13] Or entram con gran vigor,
En De sperando aver triumpho,
Queli zerchando inter lo Gorfo
Chi menazeram zercha lor!
And in the next verse note the pure Scotch use of the word bra:—
Sichè da Otranto se partim
Quella bra compagnia,
Per assar in Ihavonia,
D'Avosto a vinte nove di.
[14] The island of Curzola now counts about 4000 inhabitants; the town half the number. It was probably reckoned a dependency of Venice at this time. The King of Hungary had renounced his claims on the Dalmatian coasts by treaty in 1244. (Romanin, ii. 235.) The gallant defence of the place against the Algerines in 1571 won for Curzola from the Venetian Senate the honourable title in all documents of fedelissima. (Paton's Adriatic, I. 47.)
[15] Ma sé si gran colmo avea Perchè andava mendigando
Per terra de Lombardia
Peccunia, gente a sodi?
Pone mente tu che l'odi
Se noi tegnamo questa via?
No, ma più! ajamo omi nostrar
Destri, valenti, e avisti,
Che mai par de lor n' o visti
In tuti officj de mar.
[16] In July 1294, a Council of Thirty decreed that galleys should be equipped by the richest families in proportion to their wealth. Among the families held to equip one galley each, or one galley among two or more, in this list, is the CA' POLO. But this was before the return of the travellers from the East, and just after the battle of Ayas. (Romanin, ii. 332; this author misdates Ayas, however.) When a levy was required in Venice for any expedition the heads of each contrada divided the male inhabitants, between the ages of twenty and sixty, into groups of twelve each, called duodene. The dice were thrown to decide who should go first on service. He who went received five lire a month from the State, and one lira from each of his colleagues in the duodena. Hence his pay was sixteen lire a month, about 2_s._ a day in silver value, if these were lire ai grossi, or 1_s._ 4_d._ if lire dei piccoli. (See Romanin, ii. 393–394.)
Money on such occasions was frequently raised by what was called an Estimo or Facion, which was a force loan levied on the citizens in proportion to their estimated wealth; and for which they were entitled to interest from the State.
[17] Several of the Italian chroniclers, as Ferreto of Vicenza and Navagiero, whom Muratori has followed in his "Annals," say the battle was fought on the 8th September, the so-called Birthday of the Madonna. But the inscription on the Church of St. Matthew at Genoa, cited further on, says the 7th, and with this agree both Stella and the Genoese poet. For the latter, though not specifying the day of the month, says it was on a Sunday:—
"Lo di de Domenga era
Passa prima en l'ora bona
Stormezam fin provo nona
Con bataio forte e fera."
Now the 7th September, 1298, fell on a Sunday.
[18] Ma li pensavam grande error
Che in fuga se fussem tuti metui