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- BIOGRAPHY
Jacques was born about 1150, the son of Nicolas, sire d'Avesnes and Mathilde (Mahaut) de La Roche. About 1180 he married Ameline de Guise, daughter of Bernhard/Bouchard de Guise and his wife Alix. Jacques and Ameline had seven children of whom two sons and three daughters would have progeny.
Constable of Flanders, Jacques joined the Third Crusade under Richard 'the Lionheart'. On 7 September 1191 the Crusaders confronted Saladin's forces near Arsuf in Palestine. This extract from _The History of the Crusades_ by Joseph François Michaud (1853) graphically describes the battle in which Jacques lost his life:
'The Crusaders advanced towards the city of Arsuf, marching over a long but narrow plain, intersected by torrents, ravines, and marshes, and covered in many places with fragments of rock, marine plants, and reeds. They had the sea on their right, and on the left rose the steep mountains of Naplouse, defended by the inhabitants of the country and the troops of Saladin. At every passage of a torrent, at every dune or hillock of sand, at every village, a fresh contest had to be sustained, whilst the Mussulman archers, placed upon the heights, annoyed them unceasingly with their arrows. Richard 'the Lionheart's army marched in order of battle; the cavalry being placed in the centre; whilst the foot, closing their ranks, presented an impenetrable wall to the enemy, and braved their constantly renewed attacks.
'The army of the sultan got in advance of the Crusaders, and laid waste everything in their way; exhausting their efforts and ingenuity to retard, or entirely stop their march. Across the plain of Arsuf flowed a torrent which cast itself into the sea near the ramparts of the city; and not far from this torrent, a wood of oaks, which historians call the forest of Sarun, and which is believed to be the forest celebrated by Tasso, extended along the declivities of the mountains of Naplouse: it was upon this spot Saladin awaited the Crusaders to offer them decisive battle.
'A part of his army covered the heights, whilst the remainder encamped upon the banks of the torrent of Arsuf. The Christians soon arrived in face of their enemy, and drew up in order of battle. The Danes, Flemings, and Tuscans, commanded by Jacques d'Avesnes, formed the van. Richard marched in the centre, at the head of the English, Normans, Gascons, the Syrian troops, and those of the count of Champagne the rear-guard was composed of French and Germans, under the orders of the duke of Burgundy and Leopold of Austria. Whilst the archers were showering their arrows from a distance, Saladin passed through the ranks, and roused the courage of his soldiers, who replied him with the cries of Allah ac bar! -- God is powerful. Profound silence prevailed in the Christian army; the black cuirasses of the Crusaders seeming to darken the horizon, whilst sixty thousand swords gleamed out from amidst clouds of dust. All at once the Christian infantry opened their ranks, and the cavalry rushed forward towards the enemy, drawn up on the banks of the torrent of Arsuf. Jacques d'Avesnes, who commanded them, penetrated twice into the closely-pressed ranks of the Saracens, and twice was compelled to retreat in disorder. At the third charge his leg was severed by the stroke of a sabre, but he still pursued the infidels, when the arm with which he fought was struck off at a blow. The Christian hero fell amidst the enemy, calling aloud upon Richard, and conjuring him to avenge his death.'
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