When the abbot said that he would take him there at his own expense, the man was overjoyed that it would not cost him anything and set out on the road with the
Mongat, attended only by one varlet. They had barely gone three leagues beyond
Montpellier when the
Mongat made him a prisoner, leading him a very roundabout way along disused roads to the garrison of
Lourdes where he held him and later ransomed him for five thousand francs.'
'Holy Mary, my lord!' said I to the
knight. 'Was this
Mongat an accomplished man-at-arms?'
'That he was,' he replied, 'and it was arms which killed him, at a place we shall pass in three days' time, called the
Pas de l'Arrêt in
Bigorre, below a town named
Cieutat.'
'I will remind you of it when we reach that spot,' said I to the
knight.
From there we rode as far as
Montesquieu, a well fortified town belonging to the
count of Foix, which the
Armagnacs and the
Albressians once took by surprise but only held for three days.
In the morning we left
Montesquieu and rode towards
Palaminy, a fortified town on the
Garonne belonging to the
count of Foix. When we were very close to it, we thought to cross the bridge over the
Garonne to enter the town, but we could not, for the day before it had rained relentlessly in the
mountains of Catalonia and Aragon so that another river originating in that land, called the
Salat, had become so swollen and fast-flowing that it had surged into the
Garonne and carried away an arch of the bridge which is made entirely of wood.
As a result we were forced to return to
Montesquieu for dinner and remain there for the rest of the day. The following day the
knight was advised that he could cross the river by boat outside the town of
Cazères. So we rode there and came to the river bank, where our efforts enabled us and our horses to cross. I can tell you that our crossing of the
river Garonne was both difficult and dangerous, for the boat was only big enough to carry two horses at once with their riders and the men steering the boat. Once we were across we made for
Cazères and remained there for the day. While the servants were preparing supper,
Sir Espan de Lyon said to me,
'Master
Jehan, let us go and take in the town.'
'With pleasure, sir.' I replied.
We walked through the town and came to the
Palaminy gate. On passing through it we came out above the moat. The
knight indicated a section of the town wall to me and said,
'Do you see that wall there?'
'Yes, sir. Why do you ask?'
'I will tell you. Can you see that it is newer than the rest?' said the
knight.
'So it is.' I answered.
'I will relate to you what caused this to happen, about ten years ago. No doubt you have heard on some other occasion about the wars between the
count of Armagnac and the
count of Foix, and how, for the sake of the land of
Béarn which the
count of Foix holds, the
count of Armagnac has fought him and is still fighting him, although at present he is holding off due to the truce agreed between them. I can tell you that the
Armagnacs and the
Albressians gained nothing; rather they lost a great deal and often.
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