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In vain were all attempts to drag him from his steed; before his mighty battle-axe the Saracens seemed to fall as corn before the reaper.—p. 169.

THE

BOY CRUSADERS:

A Story of the Days of Louis IX.

BY

J. G. EDGAR,

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PREFACE.

In this volume I have related the adventures of twostriplings, who, after serving their apprenticeship tochivalry in a feudal castle in the north of England,assumed the cross, embarked for the East, took part inthe crusade headed by the saint-King of France, andparticipated in the glory and disaster which attended theChristian army, after landing at Damietta—includingthe carnage of Mansourah, and the massacre of Minieh.

In writing the 'Boy Crusaders' for juvenile readers,my object has been—while endeavouring to give those,for whose perusal the work is intended, as faithful apicture as possible of the events which Joinville hasrecorded—to convey, at the same time, as clear an ideaas my limits would permit, of the career and characterof the renowned French monarch who, in peril and perplexity,in captivity and chains, so eminently signalisedhis valour and his piety.

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CONTENTS.