Then the story itself is plunged into in right style. When the chapel was blessed at Aix and the minster dedicated and made, there was a mighty court held. Poor and rich received justice; eighteen bishops, as many archbishops, twenty-six abbots, and four crowned kings attended; the Pope of Rome himself said ma.s.s; and Louis, son of Charlemagne, was brought up to the high altar where the crown was laid. At this moment the people are informed that Charles feels his death approaching, and must hand over his kingdom to his son. They thank G.o.d that no strange king is to come on them. But when the emperor, after good advice as to life and policy, bids him not dare to take the crown unless he is prepared for a clean and valiant life, the infant (_li enfes_) does not dare. The people weep, and the king storms, declaring that the prince is no son of his and shall be made a monk. But Hernaut of Orleans, a great n.o.ble, strikes in, and pretending to plead for Louis on the score of his extreme youth, offers to take the regency for three years, when, if the prince has become a good knight, he shall have the kingdom back, and in increased good condition. Charlemagne, with the singular p.r.o.neness to be victim of any kind of "confidence trick" which he shows throughout the _chansons_, is turning a willing ear to this proposition when William of Orange enters, and, wroth at the notion, thinks of striking off Hernaut"s head. But remembering
"Que d"ome occire est trop mortex pechies,"
he changes his plan and only pummels him to death with his fists, a distinction which seems indifferential. Then he takes the crown himself, places it on the boy"s head, and Charles accommodates himself to this proceeding as easily as to the other proposal.
Five years pa.s.s: and it is a question, not of the mere choice of a successor or a.s.sessor, but of actual death. He repeats his counsels to his son, with the additional and very natural warning to rely on William. Unluckily this chief, who is in the earlier part of the _chanson_ surnamed Firebrace (not to be confounded with the converted Saracen of that name), is not at the actual time of the king"s death at Aix, but has gone on pilgrimage, in fulfilment of a vow, to Rome.
He comes at a good time, for the Saracens have just invaded Italy, have overthrown the King of Apulia with great slaughter, and are close to Rome. The Pope (the "Apostle") hears of William, and implores his succour, which, though he has but forty knights and the Saracens are in their usual thousands, he consents to give. The Pope promises him as a reward that he may eat meat all the days of his life, and take as many wives as he chooses,--a method of guerdon which shocks M.
Gautier, the most orthodox as well as not the least scholarly of scholars. However, the Holy Father also wishes to buy off the heathen, thereby showing a truly apostolic ignorance of the world. Galafre, the "admiral," however has a point of honour. He will not be bought off.
He informs the Pope, calling him "Sir with the big hat,"[35] that he is a descendant of Romulus and Julius Caesar, and for that reason feels it necessary to destroy Rome and its clerks who serve G.o.d. He relents, however, so far as to propose to decide the matter by single combat, to which the Pope, according to all but nineteenth century sentiment, very properly consents. William is, of course, the Christian champion; the Saracen is a giant named Corsolt, very hideous, very violent, and a sort of Mahometan Capaneus in his language. The Pope does not entirely trust in William"s valour, but rubs him all over with St Peter"s arm, which confers invulnerability. Unfortunately the "promontory of the face" is omitted. The battle is fierce, but not long. Corsolt cuts off the uncharmed tip of William"s nose (whence his epic surname of Guillaume au Court Nez), but William cuts off Corsolt"s head. The Saracens fly: William (he has joked rather ruefully with the Pope on his misadventure, which, as being a recognised form of punishment, was almost a disgrace even when honourably incurred) pursues them, captures Galafre, converts him at point of sword, and receives from him the offer of his beautiful daughter. The marriage is about to be celebrated, William and the Saracen princess are actually at the altar, when a messenger from Louis arrives claiming the champion"s help against the traitors who already wish to wrest the sceptre from his hand. William asks the Pope what he is to do, and the Pope says "Go":
"Guillaumes bese la dame o le vis cler, Et ele lui; ne cesse deplorer.
Par tel covent ensi sont dessevre, Puis ne se virent en trestot leur ae."
[Footnote 35: "Parlez a moi, sire au chaperon large."--_C.L._, l.
468.]
Promptly as he acts, however, he is only in time to repair, not to prevent, the mischief. The rebels have already dethroned Louis and imprisoned him at St Martins in Tours, making Acelin of Rouen, son of Richard, Emperor. William makes straight for Tours, prevails on the castellan of the gate-fortress to let him in, kicks--literally kicks--the monks out of their abbey, and rescues Louis. He then kills Acelin, violently maltreats his father, and rapidly traverses the whole of France, reducing the malcontents.
Peace having been for the time restored at home, William returns to Rome, where many things have happened. The Pope and Galafre are dead, the princess, though she is faithful to William, has other suitors, and there is a fresh invasion, not this time of heathen Asiatics, but led by Guy of Germany. The Count of Orange forces Louis (who behaves in a manner justifying the rebels) to accompany him with a great army to Rome, defeats the Germans, takes his _faineant_ emperor"s part in a single combat with Guy, and is again victorious. Nor, though he has to treat his pusillanimous sovereign in an exceedingly cavalier fas.h.i.+on, does he fail to have Louis crowned again as Emperor of Rome.
A fresh rebellion breaking out in France, he again subdues it; and strengthens the tottering house of Charles Martel by giving his own sister Blanchefleur to the chicken-hearted king.
"En grant barnage fu Looys entrez; Quant il fu riche, Guillaume n"en sot gre,"
ends the poem with its usual laconism.
[Sidenote: _Comments on the_ Couronnement.]
There is, of course, in this story an element of rough comedy, approaching horse-play, which may not please all tastes. This element, however, is very largely present in the _chansons_ (though it so happens, yet once more, that _Roland_ is accidentally free from it), and it is especially obvious in the particular branch or _geste_ of William with the Short Nose, appearing even in the finest and longest of the subdivisions, _Aliscans_, which some have put at the head of the whole. In fact, as we might expect, the _esprit gaulois_ can seldom refrain altogether from pleasantry, and its pleasantry at this time is distinctly "the humour of the stick." But still the poem is a very fine one. Its ethical opening is really n.o.ble: the picture of the Court at Aix has grandeur, for all its touches of simplicity; the fighting is good; the marriage scene and its fatal interruption (for we hear nothing of the princess on William"s second visit to Rome) give a dramatic turn: and though there is no fine writing, there is a refres.h.i.+ng directness. The shortness, too (it has less than three thousand lines), is undoubtedly in its favour, for these pieces are apt to be rather too long than too short. And if the pusillanimity and _faineantise_ of Louis seem at first sight exaggerated, it must be remembered that, very awkward as was the position of a Henry III. of England in the thirteenth century, and a James III. of Scotland in the fifteenth, kings of similar character must have cut even worse figures in the tenth or eleventh, when the story was probably first elaborated, and worse still in the days of the supposed occurrence of its facts. Indeed, one of the best pa.s.sages as poetry, and one of the most valuable as matter, is that in which the old king warns his trembling son how he must not only do judgment and justice, must not only avoid luxury and avarice, protect the orphan and do the widow no wrong, but must be ready at any moment to cross the water of Gironde with a hundred thousand men in order to _craventer et confondre_ the pagan host,--how he must be towards his own proud va.s.sals "like a man-eating leopard," and if any dare levy war against him, must summon his knights, besiege the traitor"s castle, waste and spoil all his land, and when he is taken show him no mercy, but lop him limb from limb, burn him in fire, or drown him in the sea.[36] It is not precisely an amiable spirit, this spirit of the _chansons_: but there is this to be said in its favour, there is no mistake about it.
[Footnote 36: _C.L._, ll. 72-79, 172-196.]
[Sidenote: _William of Orange._]
It may be perhaps expected that before, in the second place, summing the other branches of the saga of this William of Orange, it should be said who he was. But it is better to refer to the authorities already given on this, after all, not strictly literary point. Enormous pains have been spent on the identification or distinction of William Short-nose, Saint William of Gellona, William Tow-head of Poitiers, William Longsword of Normandy, as well as several other Williams. It may not be superfluous, and is certainly not improper, for those who undertake the elaborate editing of a particular poem to enter into such details. But for us, who are considering the literary development of Europe, it would be scarcely germane. It is enough that certain _trouveres_ found in tradition, in history freely treated, or in their own imaginations, the material which they worked into this great series of poems, of which those concerning William directly amount to eighteen, while the entire _geste_ of Garin de Montglane runs to twenty-four.
[Sidenote: _The earlier poems of the cycle._]
For the purposes of the _chansons_, William of the Strong Arm or the Short Nose is Count, or rather Marquis, of Orange, one of Charlemagne"s peers, a special bulwark of France and Christendom towards the south-east, and a man of approved valour, loyalty, and piety, but of somewhat rough manners. Also (which is for the _chanson de geste_ of even greater importance) he is grandson of Garin de Montglane and the son of Aimeri de Narbonne, heroes both, and possessors of the same good qualities which extend to all the family.
For it is a cardinal point of the _chansons_ that not only _bon sang cha.s.se de race_, but evil blood likewise. And the House of Narbonne, or Montglane, or Orange, is as uniformly distinguished for loyalty as the Normans and part of the house of Mayence for "treachery." To ill.u.s.trate its qualities, twenty-four _chansons_, as has been said, are devoted, six of which tell the story before William, and the remaining eighteen that of his life. The first in M. Gautier"s order[37] is _Les Enfances Garin de Montglane_. Garin de Montglane, the son of Duke Savary of Aquitaine and a mother persecuted by false accusations, like so many heroines of the middle ages, fights first in Sicily, procures atonement for his mother"s wrongs, and then goes to the Court of Charlemagne, who, according to the general story, is his exact equal in age, as is also Doon de Mayence, the special hero of the third great _geste_. He conquers Montglane, and marries the Lady Mabille, his marriage and its preliminaries filling the second romance, or _Garin de Montglane_ proper. He has by Mabille four sons--Hernaut de Beaulande, Girart de Viane, Renier de Gennes, and Milles de Pouille. Each of the three first is the subject of an existing _chanson_, and doubtless the fourth was similarly honoured.
_Girart de Viane_ is one of the most striking of the _chansons_ in matter. The hero quarrels with Charlemagne owing to the bad offices of the empress, and a great barons" war follows, in which Roland and Oliver have their famous fight, and Roland is betrothed to Oliver"s sister Aude. _Hernaut de Beaulande_ tells how the hero conquers Aquitaine, marries Fregonde, and becomes the father of Aimeri de Narbonne; and _Renier de Gennes_ in like fas.h.i.+on the success of its eponym at Genoa, and his becoming the father of Oliver and Aude. Then we pa.s.s to the third generation (Charlemagne reigning all the time) with the above-named _Aimeri de Narbonne_. The events of this come after Roncesvalles, and it is on the return thence that, Narbonne being in Paynim hands, Aimeri, after others have refused, takes the adventure, the town, and his surname. He marries Hermengart, sister of the king of the Lombards, repulses the Saracens, who endeavour to recover Narbonne, and begets twelve children, of whom the future William of Orange is one. These _chansons_, with the exception of _Girart de Viane_, which was printed early, remained much longer in MS. than their successors, and the texts are not accessible in any such convenient _corpus_ as De Jonckbloet"s though some have been edited recently.
[Footnote 37: M. Jonckbloet, who takes a less wide range, begins his selection or collection of the William saga with the _Couronnement Loys_.]
Three poems intervene between _Aimeri de Narbonne_ and the _Couronnement Loys_, but they do not seem to have been always kept apart. The first, the _Enfances Guillaume_, tells how when William himself had left Narbonne for Charlemagne"s Court, and his father was also absent, the Saracens under Thibaut, King of Arabia, laid siege to the town, laying at the same time siege to the heart of the beautiful Saracen Princess Orable, who lives in the enchanted palace of Gloriette at Orange, itself then, as Narbonne had been, a pagan possession. William, going with his brothers to succour their mother, captures Baucent, a horse sent by the princess to Thibaut, and falls in love with her, his love being returned. She is forced to marry Thibaut, but preserves herself by witchcraft as a wife only in name.
Orange does not fall into the hand of the Christians, though they succeed in relieving Narbonne. William meanwhile has returned to Court, and has been solemnly dubbed knight, his _enfances_ then technically ceasing.
This is followed by the _Departement des Enfans Aimeri_, in which William"s brothers, following his example, leave Narbonne and their father for different parts of France, and achieve adventures and possessions. One of them, Bernart of Brabant, is often specially mentioned in the latter branches of the cycle as the most valiant of the clan next to Guillaume, and it is not improbable that he had a _chanson_ to himself. The youngest, Guibelin, remains, and in the third _Siege of Narbonne_, which has a poem to itself, he shows prowess against the Saracens, but is taken prisoner. He is rescued from crucifixion by his aged father, who cuts his way through the Saracens and carries off his son. But the number of the heathen is too great, and the city must have surrendered if an emba.s.sy sent to Charlemagne had not brought help, headed by William himself, in time.
He is as victorious as usual, but after his victory again returns to Aix.
[Sidenote: _The_ Charroi de Nimes.]
Now begins the _Couronnement Loys_, of which the more detailed abstract given above may serve, not merely to make the individual piece known, but to indicate the general course, incidents, language, and so forth of all these poems. It will be remembered that it ends by a declaration that the king was not grateful to the King-maker. He forgets William in the distribution of fiefs, says M. Gautier; we may say, perhaps, that he remembers rather too vividly the rough instruction he has received from his brother-in-law. On protest William receives Spain, Orange, and Nimes, a sufficiently magnificent dotation, were it not that all three are in the power of the infidels.
William, however, loses no time in putting himself in possession, and begins with Nimes. This he carries, as told in the _Charroi de Nimes_,[38] by the Douglas-like stratagem (indeed it is not at all impossible that the Good Lord James was acquainted with the poem) of hiding his knights in casks, supposed to contain salt and other merchandise, which are piled on cars and drawn by oxen. William himself and Bertrand his nephew conduct the caravan, dressed in rough boots (which hurt Bertrand"s feet), blue hose, and coa.r.s.e cloth frocks. The innocent paynims give them friendly welcome, though William is nearly discovered by his tell-tale disfigurement. A squabble, however, arises; but William, having effected his entrance, does not lose time. He blows his horn, and the knights springing from their casks, the town is taken. This _Charroi de Nimes_ is one of the most spirited, but one of the roughest, of the group. The catalogue of his services with which William overwhelms the king, each item ushered by the phrase "Rois, quar te membre" ("King, bethink thee then"), and to which the unfortunate Louis can only answer in various forms, "You are very ill-tempered" ("Pleins es de mautalent"; "Mautalent avez moult"), is curiously full of uncultivated eloquence; while his refusal to accept the heritage of Auberi le Bourgoing, and thereby wrong Auberi"s little son, even though "sa marrastre Hermengant de Tori" is also offered by the generous monarch with the odd commendation--
"La meiller feme qui onc beust de vin,"
is justly praised. But when the venerable Aymon not unnaturally protests against almost the whole army accompanying William, and the wrathful peer breaks his jaw with his fist, when the peasants who grumble at their casks and their oxen being seized are hanged or have their eyes put out--then the less amiable side of the matter certainly makes its appearance.
[Footnote 38: Jonckbloet, i. 73-111.]
[Sidenote: _The_ Prise d"Orange.]
William has thus entered on part, though the least part, of the king"s gift to him--a gift which it is fair to Louis to say that the hero had himself demanded, after refusing the rather vague offer of a fourth of the lands and revenues of all France. The _Prise d"Orange_[39] follows in time and as a subject of _chanson_, the _Charroi de Nimes_. The earlier poem had been all sheer fighting with no softer side. In this William is reminded of the beautiful Orable (wife, if only in name, of King Thibaut), who lives there, though her husband, finding a wife who bewitches the nuptial chamber unsatisfactory, has left her and Orange to the care of his son Arragon. The reminder is a certain Gilbert of Vermandois who has been prisoner at Orange, and who, after some hesitation, joins William himself and his brother Guibelin in a hazardous expedition to the pagan city. They blacken themselves with ink, and are not ill received by Arragon: but a Saracen who knows the "Marquis au Court Nez" informs against him (getting his brains beaten out for his pains), and the three, forcing a way with bludgeons through the heathen, take refuge in Gloriette, receive arms from Orable, who has never ceased to love the Marquis, and drive their enemies off. But a subterranean pa.s.sage (this probably shows the _chanson_ to be a late one in this form) lets the heathen in: and all three champions are seized, bound, and condemned to the flames. Orable demands them, not to release but to put in her own dungeons, conveniently furnished with vipers; and for a time they think themselves betrayed. But Orable soon appears, offers them liberty if William will marry her, and discloses a second underground pa.s.sage.
They do not, however, fly by this, but only send Gilbert to Nimes to fetch succour: and as Orable"s conduct is revealed to Arragon, a third crisis occurs. It is happily averted, and Bertrand soon arriving with thirteen thousand men from Nimes, the Saracens are cut to pieces and Orange won. Orable is quickly baptised, her name being changed to Guibourc, and married without further delay. William is William of Orange at length in good earnest, and the double sacrament reconciles M. Gautier (who is constantly distressed by the forward conduct of his heroines) to Guibourc ever afterwards. It is only fair to say that in the text published by M. Jonckbloet (and M. Gautier gives references to no other) "la curtoise Orable" does not seem to deserve his hard words. There is nothing improper in her conduct, and her words do not come to much more than--
"I am your wife if you will marry me."
[Footnote 39: Jonckbloet, i. 112-162.]
_La Prise d"Orange_ ends with the couplet--
"Puis estut il tiex x.x.x ans en Orenge Mes ainc un jor n"i estut sanz chalenge."
[Sidenote: _The story of Vivien._]
Orange, in short, was a kind of Garde Douloureuse against the infidel: and William well earned his t.i.tle of "Marchis." The story of his exploits diverges a little--a loop rather than an episode--in two specially heroic _chansons_, the _Enfances Vivien_ and the _Covenant Vivien_,[40] which tell the story of one of his nephews, a story finished by Vivien"s glorious death at the opening of the great _chanson_ of _Aliscans_. Vivien is the son of Garin d"Ansene, one of those "children of Aimeri" who have sought fortune away from Narbonne, and one of the captives of Roncesvalles. Garin is only to be delivered at the cost of his son"s life, which Vivien cheerfully offers. He is actually on the pyre, which is kindled, when the pagan hold Luiserne is stormed by a pirate king, and Vivien is rescued, but sold as a slave. An amiable paynim woman buys him and adopts him; but he is a born knight, and when grown up, with a few allies surprises Luiserne itself, and holds it till a French army arrives, and Garin recovers his son, whom he had thought dead. After these _Enfances_, promising enough, comes the _Covenant_ or vow, never to retreat before the Saracens. Vivien is as savage as he is heroic; and on one occasion sends five hundred prisoners, miserably mutilated, to the great Admiral Desrame. The admiral a.s.sembles all the forces of the East as well as of Spain, and invades France. Vivien, overpowered by numbers, applies to his uncle William for help, and the battle of Aliscans is already half fought and more than half lost before the actual _chanson_ of the name begins. _Aliscans_[41] itself opens with a triplet in which the "steel clash" of the _chanson_ measure is more than ever in place:--
"A icel jor ke la dolor fu grans, Et la bataille orible en Aliscans: Li quens Guillaumes i soufri grans ahans."
[Footnote 40: _Enfances Vivien_, ed. Wahlen and v. Feilitzer, Paris, 1886; _Covenant Vivien_, Jonckbloet, i. 163-213.]
[Footnote 41: Jonckbloet, i. 215 to end; separately, as noted above, by Guessard and de Montaignon, Paris, 1870.]
[Sidenote: _Aliscans._]
And it continues in the same key. The commentators declare that the story refers to an actual historical battle of Villedaigne. This may be a fact: the literary excellence of _Aliscans_ is one. The scale of the battle is represented as being enormous: and the poet is not unworthy of his subject. Neither is William _impar sibi_: but his day of unbroken victory is over. No one can resist him personally; but the vast numbers of the Saracens make personal valour useless. Vivien, already hopelessly wounded, fights on, and receives a final blow from a giant. He is able, however, to drag himself to a tree where a fountain flows, and there makes his confession, and prays for his uncle"s safety. As for William himself, his army is entirely cut to pieces, and it is only a question whether he can possibly escape. He comes to Vivien"s side just as his nephew is dying, bewails him in a very n.o.ble pa.s.sage, receives his last breath, and is able before it pa.s.ses to administer the holy wafer which he carries with him. It is Vivien"s first communion as well as his last.
After this really great scene, one of the finest in all the _chansons_, William puts the corpse of Vivien on the wounded but still generous Baucent, and endeavours to make his way through the ring of enemies who have held aloof but are determined not to let him go.
Night saves him: and though he has to abandon the body, he cuts his way through a weak part of the line, gains another horse (for Baucent can carry him no longer), and just reaches Orange. But he has taken the arms as well as the horse of a pagan to get through his foes: and in this guise he is refused entrance to his own city. Guibourc herself rejects him, and only recognises her husband from the prowess which he shows against the pursuers, who soon catch him up. The gates are opened and he is saved, but Orange is surrounded by the heathen. There is no room to tell the full heroism of Guibourc, and, besides, _Aliscans_ is one of the best known of the _chansons_, and has been twice printed.
[Sidenote: _The end of the story._]
From this point the general interest of the saga, which has culminated in the battle of Aliscans, though it can hardly be said to disappear, declines somewhat, and is diverted to other persons than William himself. It is decided that Guibourc shall hold Orange, while he goes to the Court of Louis to seek aid. This personal suit is necessary lest the fulness of the overthrow be not believed; and the pair part after a scene less rugged than the usual course of the _chansons_, in which Guibourc expresses her fear of the "damsels bright of blee," the ladies of high lineage that her husband will meet at Laon; and William swears in return to drink no wine, eat no flesh, kiss no mouth, sleep on his saddle-cloth, and never change his garments till he meets her again.
[Sidenote: _Renouart._]
His reception is not cordial. Louis thinks him merely a nuisance, and the courtiers mock his poverty, distress, and loneliness. He meets with no hospitality save from a citizen. But the chance arrival of his father and mother from Narbonne prevents him from doing anything rash.
They have a great train with them, and it is no longer possible simply to ignore William; but from the king downwards, there is great disinclination to grant him succour, and Queen Blanchefleur is especially hostile. William is going to cut her head off--his usual course of action when annoyed--after actually addressing her in a speech of extreme directness, somewhat resembling Hamlet"s to Gertrude, but much ruder. Their mother saves Blanchefleur, and after she has fled in terror to her chamber, the fair Aelis, her daughter, a gracious apparition, begs and obtains forgiveness from William, short of temper as of nose, but also not rancorous. Reconciliation takes place all round, and an expedition is arranged for the relief of Orange. It is successful, but chiefly owing to the prowess, not of William, but of a certain Renouart, who is the special hero, not merely of the last half of _Aliscans_, but of nearly all the later _chansons_ of the _geste_ of Garin de Montglane. This Renouart or Rainouart is an example, and one of the earliest, perhaps the very earliest, of the type of hero, so dear to the middle ages, who begins by service in the kitchen or elsewhere, of no very dignified character, and ends by being discovered to be of n.o.ble or royal birth.
Rainouart is thus the ancestor, and perhaps the direct ancestor, of Havelok, whom he especially resembles; of Beaumains, in a hitherto untraced episode of the Arthurian story, and of others. His early feats against the Saracens, in defence of Orange first, and then when William arrives, are made with no knightly weapon, but with a _tinel_--huge bludgeon, beam, "caber"--but he afterwards turns out to be Guibourc"s, or rather Orable"s, own brother. There are very strong comic touches in all this part of the poem, such as the difficulty Rainouart finds in remounting his comrades, the seven nephews of William, because his _tinel_ blows are so swas.h.i.+ng that they simply smash horse and man--a difficulty overcome by the ingenious suggestion of Bertrand that he shall hit with the small end. And these comic touches have a little disturbed those who wish to find in the pure _chanson de geste_ nothing but war and religion, honour and generosity. But, as has been already hinted, this is to be over-nice.