THE ROYAL HOUSE OF FRANCE - outriders poetry project

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© 2009 Max Wickert
Then Rambald had the duchess and Galiziella summoned, and said that he wished to give Gabriella
as a spouse to his elder son, Bertram. She replied: “If Bertram asks and desires me to be his wife, let
him arm himself, and I too will arm, and we will break a lance in the lists. If he overthrows me, I
shall be content to become his wife; but if I overthrow him, I will refuse, for I do not wish to be
married to a man who cannot chastise me. You know very well that this would not be reasonable.
But Richier has overthrown me, and if he wants me, I am content, for he is able to chastise me.”
Bertram did not wish to fight, because he had heard Richier say that he had never suffered a harder
blow than the one that Galiziella had given him. Thus Bertram did not get her for a wife.
Then Richier asked his father for her, and his wish was granted. On the next morning he had her
baptized and gave her the name of Constance. Yet she continued to be called Galiziella. Returning
to the palace, he married her in Christian fashion, and a great feast was held in the city. On the third
night, she conceived two children. One was a boy and the other, a girl, according to some accounts;
but our author does not mention children, though he says that she was pregnant when the city was
lost. Bertram secretly hated Richier and desired his death like the traitor and patricide and cursed
fratricide that he was. Richier was not aware of this and trusted him more than can be told, not
thinking that he would betray him as he did.
Betrayal and Tragedy
33
King Anglant, during his siege of the city of Reggio, hemmed it in more and more each day. The
whole realm of Apulia and Calabria became his prey, and its villages burnt and destroyed. The
Saracens laid waste that whole region of Italy. King Anglant knew that extremely high mountains
rose between his camp and Rome and held counsel with his lords, deciding for the security of his
camp which lay high up in the Aspramont (that is to say, the Calabrian alps) a fortress should be