II.
95.)
NOTE 4. - Very like this is what the Romance of Coeur de Lion tells of the
effects of Sir Fulke Doyley's mangonels on the Saracens of Ebedy: -
"Sir Fouke brought good engynes
Swylke knew but fewe Sarazynes -
* * *
"A prys tour stood ovyr the Gate;
He bent his engynes and threw thereate
A great stone that harde droff,
That the Tour al to roff
* * *
"And slough the folk that therinne stood;
The other fledde and wer nygh wood,
And sayde it was the devylys dent," etc.
- Weber, II. 172.
NOTE 5. - This chapter is one of the most perplexing in the whole book,
owing to the chronological difficulties involved.
SAIANFU is SIANG-YANG FU, which stands on the south bank of the River Han,
and with the sister city of Fan-ch'eng, on the opposite bank, commands the
junction of two important approaches to the southern provinces, viz. that
from Shen-si down the Han, and that from Shan-si and Peking down the
Pe-ho. Fan-ch'eng seems now to be the more important place of the two.
The name given to the city by Polo is precisely that which Siang-yang
bears in Rashiduddin, and there is no room for doubt as to its identity.
The Chinese historians relate that Kublai was strongly advised to make the
capture of Siang-yang and Fan-ch'eng a preliminary to his intended attack
upon the Sung. The siege was undertaken in the latter part of 1268, and
the twin cities held out till the spring [March] of 1273.
