The
count was there on the road, armed and with all his men arrayed for battle. As they came out, they were received by men who brought them before the
count. The
count sent them off to different locations, and to different castleries and sensechalcies. He sent his cousin
Jean d'Armagnac,
Bernard d'Albret,
Monaut de Barbazan,
Raymond de Bénac,
Benoît de la Cornille and around twenty of the most distinguished men there, back with him to
Orthez. Before they escaped his clutches, he had one hundred thousand francs twice over from them.'In just the way I have told you, good master, was the wall you see here before you broken through for the men of
Armagnac and
Albret, and afterwards repaired and rebuilt.'
With that we returned to the inn and found supper ready. We stayed there that night and the next day mounted our horses and rode upstream along the
Garonne. We passed through
Palaminy then entered the
lands of the counts of Comminges and Armagnac. Facing us and on the opposite side was the
Garonne and the territory of the
count of Foix.
SHF 3-8 syncAs we rode on, the
knight pointed a town out to me, which seemed relatively strong and well-appointed, called
Martres-Tolosane, belonging to the
count of Comminges. On the other side of the river and up in the mountains he showed me two castles belonging to the
count of Foix, one called
Mauran and the other
Montclar. As we rode between these towns and castles, in a beautiful meadow running alongside the
river Garonne, the
knight said to me,
'Master
Jehan, several times I have seen admirable and hard-fought skirmishes and worthy confrontations here between the men of
Foix and
Armagnac, for there was not a single town or castle unprotected by men-at-arms, constantly pursuing each other.
Down there you can see some shacks. The
Armagnacs erected a fortified village
1 facing these two castles, with men-at-arms to protect it, who wrought much havoc in the lands of the
count of Foix on the other side of the river. I will tell you what he did about that.'
'One night the
count of Foix sent
Sir Pierre de Béarn, his brother, there with two hundred lance, along with four hundred peasants all laden with faggots. They piled the faggots up against the fortified village along with a large amount of wood cut from the surrounding hedges and bushes. They set it alight and the fortified village was burnt with all those inside it, as none were given quarter. Since then no one has dared to return to it.'
We passed the entire day in such conversation, riding upstream alongside the
river Garonne, and catching sight of several impressive castles and forts on both sides of the river. All those on the far bank, to the left-hand side, belonged to the
count of Foix, and all those on our side to the
count of Armagnac. We passed
Montpezat, a very handsome and strong castle sitting high up on a rock, with the road and town below it. Outside the town, the range of a crossbow away, is a pass known as
La Garde, with a tower on the path between the rock and the river. Below the tower at the pass itself is an iron portcullis so that six people would be able to protect the pass against any number of men, for only two at a time can ride forward on the path between the rock and the river.
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