THE ROYAL HOUSE OF FRANCE - outriders poetry project

51
© 2009 Max Wickert
Brandoria, entered and tempted by the fiend, being a young woman filled with lust rather than true
love, brooding in her burning thought, did not see how she might be able to kill the duke and give
his domain to a new lover, for she feared that if she revealed her plan to any lord, that lord would
betray her as she had betrayed her own. For many days she remained in that frame of mind. At last
she called to mind that Duke Guy had killed Count Rainier of Maganza, and how Count Rainier had
left behind two sons, that is Dudon and Alberic . They were thirty-five years old, very handsome
men, and neither of them yet had a wife. She thought within herself: “These men will be delighted to
avenge their father, and they are very young. Let Dudon make common cause with me, and I shall
make common cause with him.”
Having conceived of this plan, one day when Duke Guy had gone out to hunt, she called a trusted
servant, whose name was Anthony (but who was called Gascon since he was from Gascony) and
said to him: “Gascon, it behooves you to serve me in an embassy.” He cast himself on his knees
before her, and professed himself completely at her disposal. She made him swear and promise
never to reveal his mission, and he so swore.
Said Brandoria: “You must go to Maganza, no matter how long the journey, for I will make your
service worth while, and take this letter from me to Dudon.” Anthony said: “O my lady, he is Duke
Guy’s deadly enemy!” Said Brandoria: “This I know better than you. Go and obey my command,
for you must know that I little love this disgusting, white-haired old man.”
The servant at once understood these words of hers. He took the letter and embarked from the
port of Hampton, and arrived by ship at the port of Chalons, then at Ponthieu and at Strasbourg,
crossed the Rhine, reached Dudon’s court at Maganza, and concluded his mission in secrecy.