He was also curious, and enquired over two nights, about the lands from which these men he had adopted as allies came from, the ongoing dispute between Greek Orthodoxy and Latin Rome, the places they lived and the customs by which they led their lives. And he probed, if not too strongly, to seek their motives for coming this way, which exposed no more than their complexity; some had genuinely come for the sake of their souls, others in search of a better life or to drive back the infidel, a few with dreams of fabulous wealth which, under careful questioning, they could not disguise.
‘On the morrow,’ he said to Tancred before they retired, ‘it may be that all the dreams you Normans hold can be met.’
Mamistra was three times the size of Adana and judging by the number of churches and mosques very much more prosperous as well, but its walls were in poor repair, worse than those of Tarsus. It sat on the River Pyramus, which Oshin informed them flowed strongly to the sea except in high summer. Thus every trader in Cilicia flocked towards it to exchange the goods they wished to trade for that which could be brought in from around the Mediterranean. In that exchange and the customs dues charged lay its wealth and, given such income, the Turks should have better protected it, and certainly the fortifications should have been better maintained.
‘It is a mystery, Lord Tancred,’ Oshin replied, when the very obvious point was made. ‘Perhaps my fellow Armenians do not threaten, they are too busy trading and profiting to think of freedom. As for the walls, how long is it since the Turks had anything to fear, and the Governor would care more for the weight of his purse than the strength of his defences.’
The customary invitation to open the gates for the sake of their lives was offered and rejected, so the combined force made ready to attack, selecting a part of the walls away from the main gate in such a parlous state that they looked as though a hefty push would knock them down. The dismounted Normans carried ladders forward and if they were met with arrows the effect was hardly as frightening as they had previously experienced — the aim was terrible — and in any case their mail and shields protected them from most of the harm.
With real brio, led by Tancred and Robert, they got onto the battlements and began to fight to control them, which allowed Oshin’s Armenians to approach in relative safety. As Tancred’s men began to expand the area of combat, in execution of the standard tactics of seeking one of the towers, their allies got in the conflict and proved to be worthy supporters. It was a loud blowing horn that caused a slight let-up, with Oshin riding forward, leading Tancred’s mount, to shout to him that there was a truce flag flying above the tallest minaret.
‘Hold your positions, Lord Tancred, but push no more. I think our Turks are ready to seek to save their skins, so I beg you to join me in talking to them.’
Looking around him and the many dead who had already fallen to Norman weapons, not a few of them to his own, Tancred calculated that with a bit more effort they might achieve that rare event, the taking of a fortified place on the first assault; he was loath to depart from that.
‘Talk to them, Oshin, speak for us all.’
‘That would not be fitting. If Mamistra falls it does so to you. Come and bring with you your banner.’
‘Take over, Robert, and hold the ground we have gained.’
Bloodstained and sweaty Tancred clambered down and mounted his horse, bringing in his own hand the de Hauteville flag. He and Oshin rode to the main gate to find a splendidly clad and swarthy individual on the barbican waiting to parley with them and he was seeking terms. Two notions were uppermost in Tancred’s mind: the way Gokham Bey had betrayed him to Baldwin at Tarsus, and the fact that his and Oshin’s men were still on the walls and in a position to press home the attack.
So pleas for time were denied; the Governor of Mamistra was given one glass of sand to get him and his Turks, military and civilian, out of the town on pain of death for all, including his wives and children. Nor was Tancred, egged on by Oshin, prepared to play the normal Turkish game of extended negotiations. He dismissed out of hand the man’s attempts to bargain and swore he would personally make his death so painful that he would seek to convert to save himself.
‘Take nothing,’ Tancred added. ‘Only what you wear and what you must ride. Your men must leave their weapons also, and if you abide by those terms I swear on the soul of Jesus Christ our Saviour that you will not be harmed.’
For a man that had no choice habit made him seek amelioration, until Oshin spoke up and began to describe what the people of Adana had done to their Turks. Argument ceased then, and for such a dark-skinned fellow it was strange how pale he had gone. Within the required time the Turks moved out, a long and slow caravan of horses, carts, women, each sat on an ass, children walking beside them, but no possessions of any size. When the last donkey left, Tancred called his men off the walls and with Oshin at his side rode into Mamistra to the cheers of the Armenian population.
The treasury of Mamistra was intact, as were all the furniture and artefacts held by the Governor of a wealthy trading city: chests of coins, gold, silver and bronze, beautifully crafted objects that would yield a fortune on their own. Now Tancred could still those moaning tongues and reward his lances with the kind of booty they had craved since leaving Apulia.
He too would gain much, wealth greater than he had ever possessed, for Oshin refused to take any share. Yet the pleasure in that was topped by the cheering sight of his banner flying over the city, its red background and blue and white chequer telling all who saw it that a de Hauteville was the Lord of Mamistra.
It was only two days before that was spotted by Baldwin of Boulogne, who stopped his men by the river and made camp. After that banner, the first thing he would have espied was much work being done on repairing the walls, tasks at which the Normans, endemic castle builders, were extremely adept. He would have wondered, while they toiled at the masonry, as to the identity of the men who were standing guard, for he would have no idea, even if he had been refused entry to Adana, that the man who commanded there was now here with half his forces. He took his time, but eventually Baldwin was obliged to ride towards the closed gates and ask to speak to Tancred.
‘I come in peace.’
Getting no reply Baldwin asked that he and his men be allowed to enter.
‘Denied, which is, you must admit, a fair response to Tarsus.’
‘You were too arrogant, Tancred, unwilling to share as you should, for we are brothers in our endeavour. I acted as was necessary, and had you lingered you would have found me generous.’
‘As generous as you wish me to be here?’
Try as he might to contain himself, Baldwin’s natural bellicosity broke through and he positively snapped his response. ‘As generous as you should be here!’
‘And if I decline?’
‘Then count my lances.’
‘I suggest instead that you ride around the walls and observe that not all the men upon them are Normans. If you mean you outnumber me, you will learn that is no longer the case, and besides that, I sit behind these walls and if you wish to enter there is only one way you can do it. I will hazard that after you try, we Normans will outnumber you, for your lances will die on these battlements.’
‘You would fight your fellow Crusaders?’
‘Only if they seek to fight me.’
‘I demand that you share with us that which you have taken here.’
‘No, Baldwin, what I have here is mine. Ride on, I suggest, and do that for which we were sent. Make sure the Belen Pass is clear.’
‘I will camp by the river overnight, Tancred, and in the morning I will come again and I expect a different answer.’