I expected him to recover my inheritance of
Comminges from the
count of Armagnac who is not only in possession of it but who has imprisoned my sister, but he will do nothing about it for he is a soft knight who cares only for the pleasures of food and drink and extravagant behaviour. As soon as he becomes count, he claims that he will sell the greater part of his estates so that he may do as he pleases, for which reasons I cannot live with him. I have therefore brought my
daughter with me, whom I now deliver into your charge, appointing you as her protector and guardian to nurture and defend her. I know that you will not fail me in this on account of our blood relationship. I do not trust anyone to protect my daughter
Jeanne, save you. I took great pains to prise her out of the grasp of her
father, my husband, and to get her out of the country. Because I am aware that the
Armagnacs, your enemies and mine, would not hesitate to snatch my
daughter and bear her off, since she is heiress to
Comminges, I have brought her here to you. I beg of you not to fail me in this matter. I firmly believe that when her
father, my husband, finds out that I have left her in your care, he will rejoice - for he has often remarked to me in the past that this girl was the cause of a great deal of anxiety and trouble to him."'
'When the
count of Foix had heard his cousin, my lady
Aliénor, express herself in these terms, he was greatly pleased, immediately thinking to himself - for he is a far-sighted and intelligent man - that this
girl would yet prove to be of considerable use to him and would either enable him to establish a stable peace with his enemies, or to arrange such a noble marriage for her that his enemies would have additional cause to fear him. So he replied, saying,
"My lady and cousin, I will gladly do as you have asked, for it is my duty as your blood relation; and as for your
daughter, I will care for her and think of her as if she were my own."
"My deepest thanks, my lord," said the
lady.'
'Thus, as I am describing to you, the
young lady of Boulogne remained at the court of the
count of Foix at
Orthez, which she has never since left. The
lady, her mother, continued on to the kingdom of
Aragon. She has since returned to visit her two or three times, but has never asked to have her back, for the
count of Foix treats her as if she were his own daughter.'
'I will tell you the method he devised, after being on bad terms with the
duke of Berry, to regain his good graces. The
duke of Berry is a widower at present and strongly desires to marry. It seems to me, from what I have heard in
Avignon from the
pope who spoke to me about it and who is her father's first cousin, that the
duke of Berry will yet make his request concerning the girl, for he wants her for his wife.'
SHF 3-18 sync'Holy Mary!' said I to the
knight. 'Your words are such a joy to me and are doing me much good even as you speak. You will not have wasted them, for they will all be recorded for posterity, in history and chronicle, along with everything I do and take forward, if God allows me to return in safety to the county of
Hainaut, and to the town of
Valenciennes where I come from. But one thing vexes me in particular.'
'And what is that?' asked the
knight.
'By my faith I will tell you. It is that so noble and valiant a prince as the
count of Foix does not possess an heir by his lawful wife.'
'God help me, no he does not,' said the
knight, 'for if he had a living heir, as he once did, he would be the happiest lord in the world and all his people equally joyful.'
'Did his estates then find themselves without an heir?'
'Oh no,' he replied. 'The
viscount of Castelbon, his first cousin, is his heir.'
'And does he bear arms valiantly?' I asked.
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