THE ROYAL HOUSE OF FRANCE - outriders poetry project

igged at the port which is called Dunkirk 17 and which lies by the sea facing England midway
53
© 2009 Max Wickert
between Flanders and France. Dudon then departed from Maganza, and crossed the Rhine, and
marched through Flanders, having disguised all the arms and ensigns so as not to be recognized; and
his brother Alberic went with him. They mustered eight thousand knights and passed Liege and
Antwerp and, having reached Dunkirk, secretly and swiftly embarked.
They sailed and in a few days reached England and disembarked by night on certain beaches far
from the port and rode toward Hampton. They lay in wait in a great forest near Hampton, to which
Brandoria had commanded Anthony to bring them. When they lay in wait, Dudon called Anthony
and said: “Go to the city and tell Brandoria how we have come, and that she should not delay lest
we be discovered by the peasants of the countryside.” The messenger went to the city and entered it
as soon as the gates were opened. As soon as Brandoria had risen, he went to her and told her
everything, and she replied, saying: “Tomorrow morning I shall send him off to hunt. Bid them be
of good cheer and have no fear, and assure them that they shall not be discovered.” And Anthony
returned to them. They secretly waited in the forest, which was large, and prepared their ambush in
three separate parts of the wood so that it might not fail.
3
The duchess Brandoria, after she had sent the message, at once feigned feeling ill-disposed and
began to say that she was with child, and that she had felt that she was with child for many days
past, considering the time since the duke last lay with her. She therefore sent for Duke Guy and said
to him: “I am with child and I have a great desire for some wildfowl taken by your hand.” Laughing
with pleasure at hearing her say that she was pregnant, the duke offered to go to the woods to get
17 Dunkirk: orig. Oregiaco (L. Oregiacum, capital of the Atrebati in Roman times). I have taken the license of
substituting the more familiar Dunkirk for this obscure place-name.