They sought their leave and, gaining it, they tackled
Their journey home, with no desire to tarry.
They climbed the hills, they clambered down the valleys,
And had their fill of woes that come with travel.
Back home again, as soon as they had anchored,
They sought their king and found him in his palace,
2190 Together with one hundred of his barons,
Both brave and wise, in one assembly gathered.
59. How his envoys reported back to the Eastern king
THE MESSENGERS were men of hardy ilk:
Through hill and vale they journeyed on until
They reached their town that Constantine had built,
And found their king with all his baronage.
His heart was glad – because he had and hid
His daughter there, alive and well with him!
If mighty Charles the King had known of this,
He would himself have breathed a sigh of bliss:
2200 He loved her more than any living thing.
The envoys said: “Fine Emperor and king:
We’ve spoken with King Charlemagne and with
His counsellor Duke Naimon, who of wit
Must truly be the wisest man there is!
The King refused to send the gold you wish.
He didn’t fear your threat of war one bit,
And met your charge, at once, by saying this:
‘My land is filled with heroes to the brim!
With them in hand I’m not in fear of his!’
2210 On hearing this, the Eastern monarch quipped:
“Before too long, if God will let me live,
King Charles will know without a doubt, I think,
Which hand of ours may claim the stronger grip!”
60. How the Eastern king assembled his forces
THE EASTERN KING, on hearing from his envoys
The fierce response that Charlemagne had sent him,
Was most dismayed, but not afraid whatever.
Advised at once by all of those attending,
He called to arms the forces of his empire.
No fortresses or cities were exempted
2220 From sending forth their full amount of levies.
Within a month already he’d assembled
Some sixty thousand men, well-armed and ready.
If all advanced on Charlemagne, God help him!
61. How the Eastern king prepared for war
THE EASTERN KING, with no delaying, sent
His call to arms across his mighty realm.
No fortresses or cities were exempt
From sending forth their levied complement.
In helms of green, his liegemen, kin and friends
Surrounded him – some sixty thousand men,
2230 With palfreys and swift-running destriers.
The king did more: fair Blancheflor was dressed
At his decree to look her regal best,
As was indeed her little son as well.
With all astir, good Varocher himself
Could not for long contain his wish to help,
And made himself a weapon there and then
That filled his heart, and hand, with great content:
A mighty club, all gnarled from end to end,
A pounding pole of fearsome weight and length
2240 He carried hence no matter where he went!
The Eastern king arranged his ranks and left
For lovely France with anger in his breast.
God help the French and Charlemagne, who yet
Was caught inside the trap Macaire had set!
62. How the Eastern king advanced on Paris
THE KING WHO HELD Constantinople’s shore
And every shire, advanced his army north.
He took with him his daughter Blancheflor,
Together with her handsome little boy
And Varocher who, no way overawed
2250 By any there, was many’s peer and more!
The army rode, and, zealous in their cause,
Arrived in France before they called a halt
Upon the fields outside the city walls
Of Paris, and erected tents galore.
On seeing this, King Charles the Emperor
Wept bitterly from dusk to early dawn.
He summoned then the duke his counsellor:
“Naimon,” he sighed, “my heart is sad and sore
To see myself embroiled in such a war!
2260 Alas my eyes e’er saw you, Blancheflor!
Ah, Lord Macaire, so fawning and so false,
Alas the day I welcomed you to court!
You paid me back with treachery and scorn
That reft from me a wife, her honour shorn,
And Aubri’s life, so wrongfully cut short!”
Duke Naimon cried: “You sound surprised, my lord,
And yet you knew how many times before
The clan Mayence had robbed and cheated yours,
And brought your plans and many a man’s to naught!
2270 May God above rain curses on them all!”
63. How Naimon spoke out
DUKE NAIMON SPOKE, without the slightest smile:
“True Emperor,” he cried, “are you surprised?
The clan Mayence and those to them allied
Have put us in so deep a hole this time
I do not know, in truth, what to advise!
We tripped ourselves and now we’re trapped inside
A pit so deep my wits can’t see the light!
We’re caught in here, surrounded by such knights
Who should befriend and help us out, by rights,
2280 Yet sit around to watch us starve and die!
And if we don’t, they’ll give us such a fight
As France before has never had to bide.
May God above and blessed Mary shine
Their wisdom’s light, for I have failed with mine!
When I recall that all my geste alike
Were brought to naught by treachery and lies,
My anger’s such it drives my reason blind!
So help me God, a man in such a mind
Should not be asked to offer counsel, Sire!”
64. How Naimon continued to speak out
2290 THE DUKE SPOKE ON, his face a mask of anguish:
“Lord Emperor, nor I or any baron
Can see a way out of this sombre matter.
When I recall how justice was miscarried
With Blancheflor, his daughter, in this palace,
How much she bore in sore alarm and sadness,
I’m not surprised her father is so angry
He’ll not relent or take a penny’s ransom.
No better route remains for us to travel
Than out of here, prepared as best we can do
2300 To save our lives upon the field of battle.
I’d rather strive in sunlight than in shadows!”
Said Charlemagne: “I’m with you there, good vassal!”
On saying this, he called to arms his barons,
And knights galore bestrode their horses’ saddles,
As he bestowed the Oriflamme, his standard,
On Ysoré, and Ogier and Fagon,
And Beliant of Besançon, his captains.
He ordered these to carry forth his banner
And fly it high before the Eastern magnate.
65. How Charlemagne armed his men
2310 THE KING HIMSELF had no desire to wait.
He set his ranks and armed them straightaway �
�
Some thirty thousand men on destriers –
And gave his flag, the famous Oriflamme,
To Isoré, Naimon and Ogier.
The bars were raised to open up the gates,
And then they left, whoever wept or wailed.
On learning this, the king beneath whose sway
The Eastern See and all its cities lay,
Bade all his knights to saddle up the same:
2320 Ten thousand more he had than Charlemagne!
You’d like to know, I’m sure, of Varocher:
Well, he was not too badly off, I’d say.
He had no mount, no mare or destrier,
But followed in the infantry’s brigade,
His mighty club held closely all the way.
And as he looked upon the hosts arrayed,
He thought at once about his home again –
About his wife and children left that day
He’d found the queen inside a woodland-glade,
2330 Then risked his life to guide and keep her safe.
Though, if you’d seen his swinging pole upraised,
He would have seemed more Satan-like than saint!
He didn’t ride, in front, beside the great,
But strode behind with all the squires, and made
Himself their lord and warden well-obeyed!
As such, he did one wondrous thing that day:
He knew the tracks and how to find his way
Both back to town and all around the plain
Where Charles’s knights of greatest might were placed.
2340 And so, at dawn, when morning still was grey,
In squire’s disguise he swiftly slipped his way
Inside the camp where Charles himself was lain,
Right up to where their richest tents were placed,
And where he knew the finest horses grazed.
Upon the best he slipped a leading-rein
And led it off, whoever wept or wailed!
And then, when back among his rank again,
He cried aloud: “Mountjoy, young knights and brave!”
With ringing voice he roused them all awake:
2350 “You slugabeds! Come rise and shine today!
For I’ve just been to Charles’s camp and claimed
For my delight his finest destrier!
Now Charles himself won’t have the choice you may!”
On hearing this, the squires were most amazed
Until they rose and saw the plunder gained!
If you had seen those youngsters rise and race
To seize their arms and steal a horse that they
Could spur against the ranks of Charlemagne!
So when the King prepared himself that day,
2360 Not only his but every destrier
Of highest worth had gone without a trace!
Duke Naimon spoke, to vent his own dismay:
“So many times I’ve told you, Charlemagne:
The clan Mayence has brought you naught but pain!
The only clan we trusted well, in faith,
Was that of him whom now you stand against!
He wants the Queen his daughter fair of face,
So you must strive to give him what he craves–
If not, the price that France will have to pay
2370 Will be so high we’ll die before it’s raised!”
The King replied: “What measures can we take
So peace and love may be restored again?”
Duke Naimon said: “Our peril is so grave
I do not know, in truth, what will avail.”
66. How the battle started
KING CHARLEMAGNE was filled with bitter anguish:
His face a mask of wild regret and anger,
He dressed himself and armed himself for battle,
As Naimon did and all the Frankish vassals
2380 Among the ranks that both of them had gathered.
And those who fought beneath the Eastern banner
Bestrode alike their rested steeds and rapid.
The fight began amidst a mighty clamour
Of gallant knights defending and attacking
With cutting swords or lances that they brandished.
The Eastern knights were nothing loath or lacking,
And Charles himself showed unremitting valour,
Duke Naimon too and Ogier the gallant.
Amid the press an Eastern baron galloped,
2390 A daring knight of great prowess and stature,
A nephew, and the most beloved clansman
Of him who ruled Constantinople’s allods,
And of the Queen, whose tender heart he gladdened.
Well-known to all as noble Floriādas,
The Eastern realm contained no finer baron.
He joined the fray, in angry mood and manner,
To strike a Frank so viciously he battered
His shield apart and tore his mail to tatters.
He thrust his spear from midriff through to backbone
2400 And flung him dead, to Charles’s bitter sadness,
Who’d loved the man, as clansman and companion.
67. How the battle raged
THE EASTERN KNIGHT was full of fierce prowess:
A mighty man, of rampant ruthlessness,
Adept at war and every art of death.
On bringing down the knight from Blois, he yelled
To all his clan: “What are you doing, men?
Come, join me in fair Blancheflor’s revenge,
Whom Charlemagne defamed with such contempt!”
And so they did, at his abrupt behest.
2410 How fierce a din you would have heard, my friends,
If you had been between those forces then!
And you’d have seen enormous blows that reft
So many knights of helmets and of heads!
Alas the day that Charlemagne’s largesse
Gave welcome to that false, benighted geste
The clan Mayence, and all it ever bred,
Who brought him naught but sorrow and regret!
Thank God the Lord they gathered in the end
The crop of shame their evil seed had spread:
2420 The best of them endured the worst of deaths!
The first of them was Ganelon, the wretch
Who sold the lives of twenty thousand men
At Roncevaux, the day that Roland fell
With Peers Twelve to overwhelming strength.
But now Macaire had done his share so well
That Christendom was fighting with itself –
And nobody in all the world could help!
68. How Ogier the Dane met Floriādas in battle
THE FIGHT WAS HUGE, the fighting full of spite.
If you had seen that vast array of knights
2430 Who’d boldly left their Eastern realm behind
And come to fight for what they thought was right,
By striking blows with swinging blades of iron!
The man they struck had little need, or time,
To beg for his or for his horse’s life!
If you had seen young Floriādas fly
To meet head-on with Ogier, the fine
And gallant Dane who never shunned a fight.
When both arrived such fierce intent combined
It shattered shields and battered hauberks white,
2440 Though both were strong and neither’s mail was sliced.
With lances snapped, they passed each other by
On speedy steeds that never halted stride.
As angry then as savage boars they
plied
Both rein and spur to meet again and strike.
With brandished swords, whose hilts were gold-incised,
They bartered blows of such enormous might
Upon their helms that sparks began to fly –
But not, thank God, the heads that lay inside!
The shields of both, in quartered fields designed,
2450 Were struck to ground and shattered through the splice
In such a duel between two Christian knights
As none could tell or well enough describe!
Without a doubt one surely would have died,
If Charlemagne the brave had not arrived
To help his man, with Duke Naimon the wise,
And then a band of gallant Eastern knights,
Who rushed to save young Floriādent’s life.
Both parties dragged their champions aside.
The battle’s heat, around them, grew so high
2460 That no one’s skill could tell how high it climbed!
Fair Blancheflor, the Queen so bright of eye,
Was in a lodge, where, at her father’s side,
She wept and wailed in great distress of mind.
As she beheld so many barons die
Whom she had known and ruled as Charles’s wife,
She turned her head and with a heavy sigh
She said: “My lord, how terrible a price
Your men exact from many guiltless knights
Who were my friends and still are friends of mine!”
2470 “It can’t be helped!” the Eastern king replied:
“I must avenge the shame our name abides
From him to whom I gave you as a bride.
So, do not grieve for what must be, my child.
For Charlemagne to shame you so and drive
You out of France, your dower-land by right,
Is an offence that no expense can buy!”
69. How the Eastern King spoke to his daughter
“I CAN’T FORGET,” the Eastern king continued,
“That Charlemagne so shamed you, you were driven
Away from France to live a chance existence,
2480 Not like a queen, but some discarded mistress!
That’s an offence that no expense can limit!”
Said Blancheflor: “But nonetheless, consider
That Charlemagne still thinks that I am missing.
He doesn’t know that I am safely with you –
For, if he did, I’m sure that his contrition
At wronging me would strongly be admitted,
And speed him forth to plead for your forgiveness.”
The king replied: “But I shall never give it
Before he’s paid a price I deem sufficient!”
Heroines of the French Epic Page 43