11. CHAUCER'S KNIGHT AND HIS EXPLOITS 

 IN THE SOUTH 



The Knight's adventures in tlie South were distributed through 

 the Mohammedan lands which bordered the Mediterranean on 

 the east, south, and west, where, hke his adversary, 'banished 

 Norfolk,' he was to be found 



Streaming the ensign of the Christian cross 

 Against black pagans, Turks, and Saracens. 



His exploits were performed at Palatia, Satalia, and Ayas, on the 

 eastern coast; at Alexandria, Tlemqen, and in Morocco, on the 

 southern; and at Algeciras, where the Pillars of Hercules still 

 said, A''^ phis ultra. Thus the range of his crusading territory — 

 to say nothing of Prussia, Lithuania, and Russia — was nearly 

 2300 miles from end to end. The period within which fall the 

 historic exploits which Chaucer had in mind extends from 1343 

 to about 1367. 



At Alisaundre he was, whan it was wonne. . . . 



In Gernade at the sege eek hadde he be 



Of Algezir, and riden in Belmarye. 



At Lyeys was he, and at Satalye, 



Whan they were wonne ; and in the Crete See 



At many a noble armee hadde he be. 



At mortal batailles hadde he been fiftene, 



And foughten for our feith at Tramissene 



In listes thryes, and ay slayn his fo. 



This ilke worthy knight had been also 



Somtyme with the lord of Palatye, 



Ageyn another hethen in Turkye : 



And evermore he hadde a sovereyn prys. 



Alexandria, October 10, 1365. Pierre I of Lusignan, King of 

 Cyprus, with 108 vessels of his own, and 10 from Rhodes, 

 arrived on Oct. 9 at Alexandria, said by a contemporary to be 

 as thickly populated as Paris, as beautiful as Venice, and as 

 strong as Genoa. An engagement took place on the loth, and 

 Alexandria fell, but his Continental auxiliaries, realizing that 

 they could not hold the city, decided the king to evacuate it after 

 three days of pillage. There were present knights from Provence, 



