The
king of Navarre pledged to settle the ransom of the
lord of Albret, whom the
count of Foix was holding in prison, for the sum of fifty thousand francs. The
count of Foix, who knew the
king of Navarre to be devious and cunning, refused to give him credit for the sum. The
countess of Foix became extremely angry and offended by her
husband's attitude and said to him,
"My lord, you do little honour to my noble
brother by refusing him credit for these fifty thousand francs. Even if you never have
Armagnacs or
Albressians in your power again as you have had in the past, his word should be enough. Moreover you know full well that you still owe my lord and
brother fifty thousand francs for my marriage settlement, so you have nothing to lose."'
'"
Lady," said he, "you are right, but if I thought for one moment that the
king of Navarre might weasel out of this payment in that fashion, then the
lord of Albret would not leave
Orthez until I was paid down to the last penny. However, since you ask it of me, I will do it, not out of love for you, but for love of my
son."
Whereupon, on assurances given by the
king of Navarre, who made himself responsible for the debt to the
count of Foix, the
lord of Albret was released. He allied himself with the
French and came into
Franceto marry the
duke of Bourbon's
sister. He paid the fifty thousand francs at his convenience to the
king of Navarre, to whom he was obliged for the sum, but who did not in turn send the money on to the
count of Foix. The
count then said to his
wife,
"
Lady, you must go to
Navarre to your brother, the
king, and tell him I am most displeased that he has not sent on to me the money he has received which is mine."
The
lady replied that she was very willing to go and left the
count with her retinue and came to her
brother at
Pamplona, who received her there with joy. The
lady delivered her message justly and accurately. When the
king had heard her he replied, saying,
"My dear
sister, the money is yours, for the
count of Foix owes it to you as your dowry, and it will never leave the kingdom of
Navarre while I am in charge of it."
"Oh, my lord! This is a sure way to stir up great hatred between my lord and ourselves. If you stand by your decision, I shall not dare go back to
Foix, for my lord would surely kill me, saying that I had deceived him."
"It is not for me to say what you should do, whether you should stay or go back," said the
king, who was determined not to part with the money. "I am in charge of this money. I am holding it for you but it will never leave
Navarre."'
'The
countess of Foix could get nothing more from him so she stayed in
Navarre, not daring to return. The
count of Foix recognised the
king of Navarre's malevolence and began to be greatly displeased with and to detest his
wife. Yet she could not be blamed for failing to return after she had delivered the message. The
lady did not dare, for she knew how ruthless her
husband could be when something displeased him. Things remained as they were.
Gaston, the son of my lord the
count of Foix grew up and became a handsome young man and was married to the
daughter of
the count of Armagnac. This
young lady was the sister of the present
count and of
Sir Bernard d'Armagnac. Thanks to this marriage there should have been peace between
Foix and
Armagnac. The
young man must have been about fifteen or sixteen years old and was a handsome squire, resembling his
father very closely in physique. He became possessed by a strong desire to travel to the kingdom of
Navarre to see his
mother and his
uncle, a most unhappy thing both for him and for this country. When he arrived in
Navarre he was made very welcome. He stayed for a while with his
mother, then took his leave of her since he could not persuade her by any word or plea to return with him to
Foix.
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