I 'cannot tell you of all the good strokes that were there stricken,
nor of all the wounded, nor all the dead. But before the fight was
over, there came into it a knight of the following of Henry, the
brother, of Count Baldwin of Flanders and Hainault, and his name was
Eustace of Marchais; and he was armed only in padded vest and steel
cap, with his shield at his neck; and he did so well in the fray that
he won to himself great honour. Few were the days on which no sorties
were made; but I cannot tell you of them all. So hardly did they hold
us, that we could not sleep, nor rest, nor eat, save in arms.
Yet another sortie was made from a gate further up; and there again
did the Greeks lose heavily. And there a knight was slain, whose name
was William of Gi; and there Matthew of Wallincourt did right well,
and lost his horse, which was killed at the drawbridge of the gate;
and many others who were in that fight did right well. From this gate,
which was beyond the palace of Blachernae, the Greeks issued most
frequently, and there Peter of Bracieux gat himself more honour than
any, because he was quartered the nearest, and so came most often into
the fray.
ASSAULT OF THE CITY
Thus their peril and toil lasted for nearly ten days, until, on a
Thursday morning (I7th July I203) all things were ready for the
assault, and the ladders in trim; the Venetians also had made them
ready by sea.
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