I. Now men may know and prove that for fair deeds God gives a fair guerdon, for He has bestowed on the noble Marquis a recompense and gift, granting him to surpass in worth even the best, so that the Crusaders of France and Champagne have besought God for him, as the best of all men, to recover the Sepulchre and the Cross whereon lay Jesus, who would have him in His fellowship; and God has given him true vassals and land and riches and high courage in abundance, so that he may the better perform his task.
II. So great is his honour and his wish to be honoured that he honours God and worth and munificence and himself, and were there a thousand barons in his company, he would know how to be honoured by all, for he honours his own and he honours strangers, so that he is exalted when the others are abased. With such honour has he taken the cross that no further honour seems wanting, for it is with honour that he would possess this world and the next, and God has given him the power, the wit and the wisdom to possess both, and for this he strives his utmost.
III. He who made air, sky, land and sea, cold and heat, rain, wind and thunder desires all good men to cross the sea under his guidance, as He guided Melchior and Gaspar to Bethlehem; for the Turks take from us the plain and the mountain, and God has no mind to break silence. But it behoves us, for whom He was put on the Cross, to go yonder, and whoever remains here will live an ignoble life and die a perilous death, for we stand in great and fearful sin, from which each will be delivered if he bathes in the river Jordan.
IV. For our salvation God permitted Himself to be sold, and He suffered death and accepted the Passion, and for us the felon Jews outraged Him, and He was beaten and bound to the column, and was raised on to the beam which stood in the mire, and was scourged with knotted scourges and crowned with thorns on the Cross; wherefore he is hard of heart who does not grieve for the hurt done to us by the Turks, who purpose to hold the land where God willed to dwell, alive and dead. So it falls to us to wage a great war and a great combat.
V. But we are so troubled by our sin that we live as though we were dead, I know not how. For there is no man so bold and so valiant but that his every joy is countered by a sorrow, and there is no honour which does not turn to shame, for even the most fortunate pays for each pleasure with a thousand vexations. But God, for whom we make the sign of the cross, is joy, and he who wins Him cannot lose. So, if it please Him, I would rather die yonder than remain alive here in peril, though I were lord of Germany.
6. May Saint Nicholas of Bari guide our fleet, and let the men of Champagne raise their banner, and let the Marquis cry “Montferrat and the lion!” and the Flemish Count “Flanders!” as they deal heavy blows; and let every man strike then with his sword and break his lance, and we shall easily have routed and slain all the Turks, and will recover on the field of battle the true Cross which we have lost. And let the valiant kings of Spain ensure that great armies vanquish the Moors, for the Marquis prepares to assemble his host and lay siege against the Sultan, and will soon pass through Romagna.
VII. Our Lord commands and tells us all to go forth and liberate the Sepulchre and the Cross. Let him who wishes to be in His fellowship die for His sake, if he would remain alive in Paradise, and let him do all in his power to cross the sea and slay the race of dogs.
VIII. Fair Knight, for whom I compose melodies and verse, I know not whether for your sake I should refrain or should take the cross, nor do I know how I am to go or how I am to remain; for your fair person delights me so greatly that I die if I look on you, and when I cannot look on you I think I die again, companionless in every company save yours.
