390 JOINVILLE'S MEMOIRS OF SAINT LOUIS rx. £PT. Π. king on the Friday, to ask for the galley which he had ordered for us ; but Sir John de Belmont replied, in the presence of the king, that we should not then hare it ; from which may be known, that the good king had as much trouble in keeping his own people in peace together, as in his ill-fortunes and losses. When our people saw that we were not bringing back the galley, they dropped into the boat with all their weight, and when the sailors perceived the boat was gradually sinking, they retired intp the ship, abandoning my knights in the boat. On seeing this, I called ont to the captain, and asked how many there were overweight for the boat He said, too many by eighteen so armed. I then instantly discharged so many from the boat, and put them in the ship with my horses. As I was thus arranging these men-at-arms, a knight, belonging to the lord Airart de Brienne, named Plouquet, wanting to descend from the ship to the boat as it was pushing οΐζ fell into the sea and was drowned.* We then began to sail after the boat of the king's large ship, and made for land ; but when those attached to the king, who were hastening to land like ourselves, saw that we made more speed than they, they cried out for us to wait for the arrival of the standard of St. Denis ;t but I would not attend to * After these words the Poitiers edition sddst " And I must relate a marvellous event which happened in my little boat. 1 had taken with me two valiant knights bachelor, whose names were Villains de Vergy and William de Dam martin. They bore so great a hatred to each other, that it could not be exceeded, insomuch that they had several times fought, and there was no way of appeasing their rage. But when my boat was on the point of leaving the ship for land, on a sudden these two bachelors, without saying one word, ran and embraced each other, weeping through affection, and mutually asking pardon for their offences. I mention this to shew that the danger of death extinguishes all hatred and rancour." f That is to say, the vessel which bore the standard of St. Denis, for, further on, " the galley arrived with the standard of St. Denis ; " and directly afterward, 1 1 when the good king Saint Louis knew that the standard of St. Denis was landed.99 This standard of St. Denis waa no other than the oriflamme. This name wss given to it because it was slit np from the bottom to resemble flames, or perhaps from its being of a red colour : when it fluttered in the wind, it appeared at a distance like flames ; and, beside, the lance to which it was fixed was gilded. The oriflamme waa the particular banner of the abbot end monastery of St. Denis, which waa borne in their wars by their proxies, who, in quality of defenders or protectors of monasteries and churches, undertook to lead their vassals in the