Saracen Easter Eggs!

In 1250 a French army on Crusade led by King Louis was forced to surrender by the Sultan of Egypt. The king and his army had to ransom their way out. One group waited all day to be released. Finally at the end of the day they were told they could leave. The prisoners, understandably, wanted to leave as fast as possible, but their captors insisted they stay for some dinner. One of the French prisoners would later write:

"The food they gave us consisted of cheese fritters, baked in the sun to keep them free from maggots, and hard-boiled eggs cooked three or four days before, the shells of which, in our honour, had been painted in various colours. "

The writer, Jean de Joinville, had been held for some time by the Saracens and he reports many terrible things they did. But, like Cervantes, though he thought he had suffered much in captivity he does not seem to think badly of the Muslims. In fact he points out several instances of kindness and respect shown to the prisoners (like the gift of food) and comments when a Saracen is honorable or brave.

I have not forgotten my intention to write about Cervantes and the Muslims, but I have decided that I will have to go back to the beginning, AD 711, to tell the story right.