The Lord of Joinville Cautions His Muslim Captor Never to Trust Apostates

May 30, 2019

Jean de Joinville

He [the chief emir of the galleys] caused my mariners to be brought before me, and told me they had all denied their faith; and I told him never to place confidence in them, for lightly as they had left us so lightly, if time and opportunity occurred, would they leave their new masters. And the emir made answer that he agreed with me; for that Saladin was wont to say that never did one see a bad Christian become a good Saracen, or a bad Saracen become a good Christian.

Geoffroy de Villehardouin and Jean de Joinville, Memoirs of the Crusades, trans. Sir Frank Marzials (New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., n.d.), 217.

Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 678

 

Share

Previous post:

Next post: