THE ROYAL HOUSE OF FRANCE - outriders poetry project

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© 2009 Max Wickert
once, forced the seal, and said: “Hear me, my lords, for this letter seems no trifling message.” Then
he read the letter that follows hereafter.
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“We, Marsilius, by the grace of God Lord of Spain, Cantabria, Southern Navarre and Aragon, who
stand in fear of no man, to you, Charles, Lord of France and Germany, Emperor of Rome, whom
none (as we deem) exceeds in greatness: We send our greetings to your realm in sincerest love and
with the best intentions, devoid of all malice.
We have heard and understood that some of your people, with a great armed power, have
approached Navarre, but we do not know whether they intend peace or war. We have also learned
that you have sent letters and charters to all subjects in your lands, which seems to us like a
preparation for war.
We are therefore greatly alarmed, for we do not know your intentions. It is no marvel that we
should be alarmed, for as a lion among all other beasts, so are you among rulers. Therefore we
request you by this letter to send us word whither you intend to go, for we will then provide you
with numerous men furnished with lances and arrows, though not to any purpose that we consider
unwise.
If, however, you fail to tell us where you mean to go, we shall not be so fainthearted as to leave our
domains unprotected, or to omit sending for help into the lands of all our friends, who can easily
furnish us with a hundred thousand knights. We desire you to be well aware of one thing else: Your
destination might be one that we cannot permit; but if so, it would be better, for both you and us, to
put us on notice to be on our guard against you. We will credit such a message from you more