The Angel Asrael
Page 29
7 This was one of several of Berthoud’s early stories pirated in English translation, by the Irish novelist Thomas Colley Grattan, who entitled his plagiarism “The Orphan of Cambray” (1832).
8 Valentina Visconti, Duchesse d’Orléans (1371-1408) adopted the motto in question in 1407 following the murder of her husband. A rough translation would be “I no longer care about anything; nothing any longer means anything to me.”
9 I have left the term mulquinier untranslated because it does not have a precise equivalent in English; it pertains to the manufacture, preparation and marketing of fine thread for weaving, but it would be oversimplified to describe the mulquiniers simply as “spinners” or “weavers.” The initial industrialization of that craft was very closely associated with Cambrésis, which was its first great center in Medieval Europe. Although I have translated the French serment as “guild,” it is also worth bearing in mind that French industrial corporations of that kind were more highly-organized and elaborately structured than their English equivalents, and their “kings” were individuals of great importance—hence their possession of their own “court jesters.”
10 Berthoud did not invent this narrative device, which was to become the hoariest of the clichés of popular, mocked by Paul Féval as “her mother’s cross,” but this is one of its earlier uses in prose fiction.
11 This reference is false, Froissart’s Chronicle makes no reference the incident involving the Earl of Kent and the English Queen featured in the story, which does not appear to have any historical basis.
12 Joseph Le Glay (1785-1863) was a physician and antiquarian who became archivist of Cambrai in 1822 and the city’s librarian four years later; Berthoud knew him well and was also a friend of his son Edward Le Glay (1814-1894), the author of a Histoire des Comtes de Flandres (1843).
13 Presumably the Swiss jurist Karl Ludwig von Haller (1768-1854).
14 The poet Casimir Delavigne (1793-1843) became enormously successful following the publication of the impassioned patriotic poems he published after the Battle of Waterloo; he subsequently became the royal librarian. “L’me du Purgatoire” was published in the Revue de Paris in 1829.
15 Charles de Valois (1270-1325), the third son of Philippe III and younger brother of Philippe de Bel, quarreled with the latter’s chamberlain, Enguerrand de Marigny (1260-1315) in 1311 and pursued a relentless vendetta against him thereafter, eventually framing him with various false charges and having him executed for sorcery, following an evil example set by his brother’s destruction of the Templars.
16 The author presumably has the Welsh epigrammatist John Owen (1564-c1625) in mind, but the quotation is fictitious.
17 Author’s note: “Louis XI had expelled René from Anjou at the moment when the overconfident old man had least expected that perfidy. ‘Where is the hand,’ said a chronicler of the epoch, ‘that could satisfactorily describe the plaints, regrets and lamentations of the poor folk at the departure of the easy-going King of Sicily, so curious and such a vigilant tutor of the land, amorous of pace and concord, sustainer of the poor, director and support of honorable Ladies and Damoiselles, and all benign and merciful brothers?’”
18 Author’s note: “These bold words of Marini’s ought not to astonish; that preacher dared, one day, from the pulpit, to reproach René for his liking for ballads. The good King was not annoyed. See L’Hist. de René d’Anjou by M. le Vicomte L. F. De Villeneuve Bargemont.”
19 Author’s note: “Jean Binée refused an honorable and important position that the king had offered him. The letter has been conserved in which he enters into details full of candor and naivety to prove to René that he would fulfill the functions of the post poorly and does not have the qualities necessary to acquit it worthily. ‘So I simply cannot serve you,’ he says, ‘at least as the estate and office require.’ Jehan Cossa was René’s ambassador to Louis XI when that Prince took possession of Anjou. The faithful servant trued to protest against that infraction of all human rights. ‘If the ambassador of the King of Sicily does not withdraw in all haste,’ said Louis XI coldly, turning to his satellites, let someone sow him up in a sack and throw him in the river.’”
20 Author’s note: “Cardinal de Bar, René’s uncle, gave him an entirely martial education, for in that era, prelates often took up arms. ‘And on the battlefield,” says Monstrelet, ‘they were obliged to wear a basinet for a miter, a piece of steel for a chasuble and a battle-ax for a cross.’ The Bishop of Amiens was Conrad Brayer de Boppau, who always remained linked to René by narrow amity.”
21 Author’s note: “Antoine d’Anjou, the elder son of the good King, perished at Barcelonne in the midst of the most splendid triumphs, mourned by the Aragonnais, who adored him. Nicolas d’Anjou, his sister Yolande and Ferry Vendemour did not long survive their brother. Marguerite married Henri VI of England and reestablished that weak King devoid of courage to the throne twice. Her husband and son perished before her eyes; she retired to France, ‘where she died,’ says Voltaire, ‘the unhappiest of queens, wives and mothers.’”
22 Author’s note: “Bertrand d’Alamanon, born in Aix. This is the translation of one of his songs, full of grace and naivety: ‘You want to know why I am making a demi-song; it’s because I only have a demi-subject to sing; there is only love on my part; the lady I love does not love me; but for lack of the ayes that she refuses me I take the nays that she lavishes upon me. Hope next to her is better than enjoyment next to another, and, unable to resist the Empire of Amour, I know no means to soothe my troubles but thinking that one day she might perhaps love me.’ (see Le Dict. des Poètes franc., by M. Philippon de la Madelaine, and L’Hist. des Troub. by Abbé Millot.”
23 Author’s note: “The celebrated Barbezan made every effort to defer a battle that would decide René’s fate. ‘He who is afraid retreats!’ said young de Commercy. ‘Let’s march to combat!’ cried the old warrior. ‘I’ll attack enemies so forcefully that those who insult me will not dare to place the head of their horse where the tail of mine will be.’ The battle was lost and Barbezan was killed after prodigies of valor. Lying on the battlefield bathing in his own blood, but still breathing, he sees de Commercy passing, spurring his horse to flee as quickly as possible. Full of indignation, Barbezan lifts his dying head and reanimates his strength in order to address reproaches to the unworthy knight. ‘I promised my darling,’ replied the latter, coldly. ‘In fact,’ says an old chronicler, ‘the youth had to go, at vespers, to see a certain Agathe, whom he had promised that he would quit the battle and come to her bedroom—which is better, she said, than a field where there is nothing but blows and pikes.’ The place where Barbezan fell and died, marked by two elms hollowed out by time, is still celebrated and sacred. A rustic bridge and a small hill bear his name, which is not forgotten by the simple villagers, who still repeat it today with veneration.” The reference is to Arnaud de Barbazan, “le chevalier sans reproche,” who was René d’Anjou’s most faithful supporter and became a model of knightly loyalty in consequence.
24 Berthoud did publish a collection called Contes misanthropiques (tr. as Misanthropic Tales) in 1832, but it does not contain the quotation reproduced here. It might be from a story belatedly omitted from the collection, but it is more likely that Berthoud simply improvised it ad hoc for the purposes of the present story, as he often did.
25 Berthoud’s use of the term “talion” here is enigmatic, and seems to have no warrant in any dictionary, but it is possible that it is a contraction of “tabellion,” meaning scrivener or clerk, usually in a legal context.
26 There is an 1813 vaudeville entitled Elle et Lui, but the quoted lines do not appear in it.
27 The reference appears to be fictitious.
28 The references is presumably to Lettres flamandes ou Histoire des variations et contradiction de la prétendue religion naturelle, published anonymously in Lille in 1752, allegedly the work of Charles-Louis Richard and Joseph-Robert-Alexandre Duhamel, but the quotation is f
ake.
29 Fake, unsurprisingly.
30 It is not obvious which of the five Comtes de Flandre with this name is referenced in the ballad, since none was conventionally credited with the nickname in question, but it is most probably the first, previously celebrated in the ballad “Beauduin Bras-de-Fer.”
31 Simon Brade-vie was Simon de Marlis, who died in 1305, and whose presence in the present story is therefore anachronistic. An account of him is given in Le Carpentier’s Histoire de Cambrai et de Cambrésis (1664), previously mentioned as key source from which Berthoud drew raw materials.
FRENCH SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY COLLECTION
105 Adolphe Ahaiza. Cybele
102 Alphonse Allais. The Adventures of Captain Cap
02 Henri Allorge. The Great Cataclysm
14 G.-J. Arnaud. The Ice Company
152 André Arnyvelde. The Ark
153 André Arnyvelde. The Mutilated Bacchus
61 Charles Asselineau. The Double Life
118 Henri Austruy. The Eupantophone
119 Henri Austry. The Petitpaon Era
120 Henri Austry. The Olotelepan
130 Barillet-Lagargousse. The Final War
180 Honoré de Balzac. The Last Fay
193 Mme Barbot de Villeneuve. Beauty and the Beast
194 Mme Barbot de Villeneuve. The Naiads
103 S. Henry Berthoud. Martyrs of Science
189 S. Henry Berthoud. The Angel Asrael
23 Richard Bessière. The Gardens of the Apocalypse
121 Richard Bessière. The Masters of Silence
148 Béthune (Chevalier de). The World of Mercury
26 Albert Bleunard. Ever Smaller
06 Félix Bodin. The Novel of the Future
173 Pierre Boitard. Journey to the Sun
92 Louis Boussenard. Monsieur Synthesis
39 Alphonse Brown. City of Glass
89 Alphonse Brown. The Conquest of the Air
98 Emile Calvet. In A Thousand Years
191 Jean Carrère. The End of Atlantis
40 Félicien Champsaur. The Human Arrow
81 Félicien Champsaur. Ouha, King of the Apes
91. Félicien Champsaur. The Pharaoh’s Wife
133 Félicien Champsaur. Homo-Deus
143 Félicien Champsaur. Nora, The Ape-Woman
03 Didier de Chousy. Ignis
166 Jacques Collin de Plancy. Voyage to the Center of the Earth
97 Michel Corday. The Eternal Flame
182. Michel Corday & André Couvreur. The Lynx
113 André Couvreur. The Necessary Evil
114 André Couvreur. Caresco, Superman
115 André Couvreur. The Exploits of Professor Tornada (Vol. 1)
116 André Couvreur. The Exploits of Professor Tornada (Vol. 2)
117 André Couvreur. The Exploits of Professor Tornada (Vol. 3)
67 Captain Danrit. Undersea Odyssey
184 Gaston Danville. The Perfume of Lust
149 Camille Debans. The Misfortunes of John Bull
17 C. I. Defontenay. Star (Psi Cassiopeia)
05 Charles Derennes. The People of the Pole
68 Georges T. Dodds. The Missing Link and Other Tales of Ape-Men
125 Charles Dodeman. The Silent Bomb
49 Alfred Driou. The Adventures of a Parisian Aeronaut
144 Odette Dulac. The War of the Sexes
188. Alexandre Dumas & Paul Lacroix. The Man who married a Mermaid
145 Renée Dunan. The Ultimate Pleasure
10 Henri Duvernois. The Man Who Found Himself
08 Achille Eyraud. Voyage to Venus
01 Henri Falk. The Age of Lead
51 Charles de Fieux. Lamékis
154 Fernand Fleuret. Jim Click
108 Louis Forest. Someone Is Stealing Children In Paris
31 Arnould Galopin. Doctor Omega
70 Arnould Galopin. Doctor Omega & The Shadowmen
112 H. Gayar. The Marvelous Adventures of Serge Myrandhal on Mars
88 Judith Gautier. Isoline and the Serpent-Flower
185 Louis Geoffroy. The Apocryphal Napoleon
163 Raoul Gineste. The Second Life of Dr. Albin
136 Delphine de Girardin. Balzac’s Cane
146 Jules Gros. The Fossil Man
174 Jimmy Guieu. The Polarian-Denebian War 1
175 Jimmy Guieu. The Polarian-Denebian War 2
176 Jimmy Guieu. The Polarian-Denebian War 3
177 Jimmy Guieu. The Polarian-Denebian War 4
178 Jimmy Guieu. The Polarian-Denebian War 5
179 Jimmy Guieu. The Polarian-Denebian War 6
57 Edmond Haraucourt. Illusions of Immortality
134 Edmond Haraucourt. Daah, the First Human
24 Nathalie Henneberg. The Green Gods
131 Eugene Hennebert. The Enchanted City
137 P.-J. Hérault. The Clone Rebellion
150 Jules Hoche. The Maker of Men and his Formula
140 P. d’Ivoi & H. Chabrillat. Around the World on Five Sous
107 Jules Janin. The Magnetized Corpse
29 Michel Jeury. Chronolysis [NO LONGER AVAILABLE]
55 Gustave Kahn. The Tale of Gold and Silence
30 Gérard Klein. The Mote in Time’s Eye
90 Fernand Kolney. Love in 5000 Years
87 Louis-Guillaume de La Follie. The Unpretentious Philosopher
101 Jean de La Hire. The Fiery Wheel
50 André Laurie. Spiridon
52 Gabriel de Lautrec. The Vengeance of the Oval Portrait
82 Alain Le Drimeur. The Future City
27-28 Georges Le Faure & Henri de Graffigny. The Extraordinary Adventures of a Russian Scientist Across the Solar System (2 vols.)
07 Jules Lermina. Mysteryville
25 Jules Lermina. Panic in Paris
32 Jules Lermina. The Secret of Zippelius
66 Jules Lermina. To-Ho and the Gold Destroyers
127 Jules Lermina. The Battle of Strasbourg
15 Gustave Le Rouge. The Vampires of Mars
73 Gustave Le Rouge. The Plutocratic Plot
74 Gustave Le Rouge. The Transatlantic Threat
75 Gustave Le Rouge. The Psychic Spies
76 Gustave Le Rouge. The Victims Victorious
109-110-111 Gustave Le Rouge. The Mysterious Doctor Cornelius
96 André Lichtenberger. The Centaurs
99 André Lichtenberger. The Children of the Crab
135 Listonai. The Philosophical Voyager
157 Ch. Lomon & P.-B. Gheusi. The Last Days of Atlantis
167 Camille Mauclair. The Virgin Orient
72 Xavier Mauméjean. The League of Heroes
78 Joseph Méry. The Tower of Destiny
77 Hippolyte Mettais. The Year 5865
128 Hyppolite Mettais. Paris Before the Deluge
83 Louise Michel. The Human Microbes
84 Louise Michel. The New World
93 Tony Moilin. Paris in the Year 2000
11 José Moselli. Illa’s End
38 John-Antoine Nau. Enemy Force
156 Charles Nodier. Trilby * The Crumb Fairy
04 Henri de Parville. An Inhabitant of the Planet Mars
21 Gaston de Pawlowski. Journey to the Land of the Fourth Dimension
56 Georges Pellerin. The World in 2000 Years
79 Pierre Pelot. The Child Who Walked On The Sky
85 Ernest Perochon. The Frenetic People
161 Jean Petithuguenin. An International Mission to the Moon
141. Georges Price. The Missing Men of the Sirius
165 René Pujol. The Chimerical Quest
100 Edgar Quinet. Ahasuerus
123 Edgar Quinet. The Enchanter Merlin
192 Jean Rameau. Arrival in the Stars
60 Henri de Régnier. A Surfeit of Mirrors
33 Maurice Renard. The Blue Peril
34 Maurice Renard. Doctor Lerne
35 Maurice Renard. The Doctored Man
36 Maurice Renard. A Man Among the Microbes<
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37 Maurice Renard. The Master of Light
169 Restif de la Bretonne. The Discovery of the Austral Continent by a Flying Man
170 Restif de la Bretonne. Posthumous Correspondence 1
171 Restif de la Bretonne. Posthumous Correspondence 2
172 Restif de la Bretonne. Posthumous Correspondence 3
186 Restif de la Bretonne.The Story of the Great Prince Oribeau
187 Restif de la Bretonne.The Four Beauties and the Four Beasts
41 Jean Richepin. The Wing
12 Albert Robida. The Clock of the Centuries
62 Albert Robida. Chalet in the Sky
69 Albert Robida. The Adventures of Saturnin Farandoul
95 Albert Robida. The Electric Life
151 Albert Robida. Engineer Von Satanas
46 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. The Givreuse Enigma
45 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. The Mysterious Force
43 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. The Navigators of Space
48 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. Vamireh
44 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. The World of the Variants
47 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. The Young Vampire
71 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. Helgvor of the Blue River
24 Marcel Rouff. Journey to the Inverted World
158 Marie-Anne de Roumier-Robert. The Voyages of Lord Seaton to the Seven Planets
132 Léonie Rouzade. The World Turned Upside Down
09 Han Ryner. The Superhumans
124 Han Ryner. The Human Ant
181 Han Ryner. The Son of Silence
183 Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin. The Crocodile
190 Nicolas Ségur. The Human Paradise
122 Pierre de Selenes. An Unknown World
19 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 1. News from the Moon
20 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 2. The Germans on Venus
63 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 3. The Supreme Progress
64 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 4. The World Above the World
65 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 5. Nemoville
80 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 6. Investigations of the Future
106 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 7. The Conqueror of Death
129 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 8. The Revolt of the Machines
142 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 9. The Man with the Blue Face