The
count of Foix expressed his great gratitude to the
king for this gesture of signal affection and for the unsolicited gift of
Bigorre, but there was nothing that
Sir Roger d'Espagne could say or do to make him accept it. He retained the
castle of Mauvezin, though, since it is free land; neither the castle nor its dependencies are held of anyone save God; moreover in former times it had been part of the
count's inheritance.'
'The
king of France, with the
duke of Anjou acting as intermediary, granted it to him formally in order to please him, the
count of Foix swearing an oath, however, promising that he would hold it on the condition that no man hostile to the interests of
France would ever be put in charge of it. And in truth he has had it well guarded, and the garrison of
Mauvezin are as afraid of the
English as any other
French garrison in
Gascony, save that the
Béarnais would not dare to cross the
count of Foix.'
SHF 3-16 sync
Third Book, Chapter 12 [1388-(1380-1381)]
Concerning the peace established between the count of Foix and the duke of Berry and the outbreak of the war between the counts of Armagnac and of Foix.
I was overjoyed with the tales
Sir Espan de Lyon was telling me for they truly delighted me and I committed them all to memory with ease. And as soon as we dismounted together at the inns we stayed at, I would write them up, whether it was morning or evening, in order that I might have better memory of them in the future, for there is nothing like the written word for preserving the recollection of such things. So that morning we rode out as far as
Morlaàs, but before we reached it, I struck up the conversation again, saying,
'My lord, I neglected to ask you, while you were telling me the business about
Foix and
Armagnac, how the
count of Foix managed to keep himself out of the
duke of Berry's way, given that Berry married a
daughter and
sister of the
counts of Armagnac, whether the
duke of Berry has ever made war on him, and how the
count managed the situation.'
'I will tell you,' replied the
knight. 'In the past, the
duke of Berry has wished him all the harm in the world; indeed the
count of Foix was the one lord alive in the world whom he was determined to get the better of. Now, however, for reasons you will hear of when you are at
Orthez, they are fast friends.'
'And my lord,' said I, 'was there any reason for the
duke's hatred for him?'
'God help me, no!' exclaimed the
knight. 'but I shall tell you what was behind it.'
'When
king Charles of France, father of the present
king Charles, had left this world, the kingdom of
France was divided into two parts for the purpose of its government. For
my lord of Anjou was eager to go across to
Italy, which he duly did, thus relinquishing his responsibilities for governing the country and investing instead his brothers the
duke of Berry and
duke of Burgundy. The
duke of Berry received the government of the
Languedoc, while the
duke of Burgundy assumed responsibility for the
Languedoïl and all of
Picardy. When the inhabitants of the
Languedoc heard that
my lord of Berry was to govern them, they were all dismayed, especially those of
Toulouse and its dependencies, for they knew that the
duke was irresponsibly generous, ready to take gold and silver wherever he could, and that he would oppress the people severely. Moreover there were still some
Bretons in the
Toulousain, around
Carcassonne and in the
Rouergue whom the
duke of Anjou had left behind there, and who were pillaging the whole country. And word was going about that the
duke of Berry was supporting them there, the better to control the chartered towns. The
duke was not in the
Languedoc at the time I am describing to you, but was with the
king at war in
Flanders.'
pb 217 v