Stories of Charlemagne and the Twelve Peers of France by Alfred John Church

For seven years King Charles the Great tarried in Spain. He / conquered the whole land from the sea to the mountains, saving / Saragossa only, of which Marsilas, a heathen, was King. Marsilas / called together his nobles, and said to them, "This King Charles will / be our destruction, for we have no longer an army wherewith to meet / him. Give me counsel, as wise men should, so that I may be saved / from death or disgrace."

Now the wisest of the heathens was a certain Blancandrin, a man / valiant in war and good at counsel. "Fear not," said he, "fear not, / O King. Send a message to King Charles promising him faithful / service and friendship. Send also a present to him. Let there be / lions and bears, and dogs, seven hundred camels, and a thousand / falcons. Send also four hundred mules laden with gold and silver, / that King Charles may have wherewithal to pay his soldiers. And tell / him that if he will return to France, you will follow him, and there, / on the Feast of St. Michael, will be converted to the Christian / Faith, and will be his vassal in all honour. If he ask for hostages, / let him have them, ten or twenty, as he may desire. See, I offer my / own son to be one of them, whatever may befall him. Better that they / should lose their heads than that we should lose our lordship and our / lands, and be brought to beg our bread. " And all the chiefs of / heathenry said: "It is well; we will willingly give the hostages."

Blancandrin spake again: "By this right hand and by this beard I / swear that the end of the matter will be this: You will see the / French raise their camp in all haste and go back to their own land. / On the Feast of St. Michael King Charles will make a great / entertainment. But when he neither sees you nor hears any tidings of / you, he will fall into a great rage, and will smite off the heads of / the hostages. If it be so, it is better that they should lose their / heads than that we should lose this fair land of Spain. " And all the / chiefs of heathenry said: "It is well said; so let it be."

Then said King Marsilas to certain of his lords -- ten they were in / number, and these the most villainous of the whole company -- "Take / olive-branches in your hands, and go and say to King Charles, 'King / Marsilas prays you to have pity upon him. He promises that, before a / month is past he will come with a thousand loyal followers, and will / receive the faith of Christ, and will become your vassal in all / honour. Also he says, that if you seek for hostages you shall have / them. " Then the King gave the ten lords ten white mules, whereon to / ride. They had reins of gold and saddles of silver. So the ten / lords departed from Saragossa, and came to King Charles at the city / of Cordova.

They found King Charles in great mirth and joyfulness. He had newly / taken the fair city of Cordova, having broken down the walls and / towers with his engines of war, and with the city he had taken a / great spoil of gold and silver. Of the people, too, there was not / one but had to make his choice between Christian baptism and death. / Now he was sitting with his barons in a great orchard. Some played / at cards, and some of the graver sort at chess, and the young men / fenced with each other. As for the King himself, he was sitting / under a thorn on a great chair of gold, a right noble man to see, / with his long, white beard. When the heathen ambassadors saw him / they lighted down from their mules, and paid him homage. Then said / their leader, Blancandrin, "Glory to the name of God! Our master, / King Marsilas, bids us say that, being persuaded that the law by / which you live is the law of salvation, he would fain win your favour / even by the half of his treasures. He sends therefore lions and / bears, camels and falcons, four hundred mules laden with gold and / silver, wherewith you can pay all your soldiers. Moreover, he says / that when you shall have returned to your own country he will follow / you thither, and will be obedient to your law, and do you homage for / his kingdom of Spain."

When King Charles heard these words he bent his head as one deep in / thought. So he tarried awhile, for his speech was never hasty. At / last he spoke: "You have said well. But your King has long been my / enemy. How can I trust these promises? " Blancandrin made answer, / "You shall have hostages, Sire -- ten, fifteen, twenty, as you will. / My own son shall be one of them, and the others shall be of the / noblest of the land. So you may rest assured that at the Feast of / St. Michael next ensuing my master shall come to you at your palace / at Aachen, and shall there consent to become a Christian."

"He will do well," said King Charles; "tis thus only that he shall / save his soul. " Then he commanded that the white mules should be put / into stalls, and that a tent should be pitched in the orchard, and / the ambassadors have such entertainment as was meet.

The day following King Charles rose early, and having heard mass sent / for his nobles, for he would do nothing without the counsel of the / wise men of France. So the nobles came, Ogier the Dane among them, / and Turpin the Archbishop, and Count Roland, and with him Oliver, his / closest friend, and Ganelon, the same that was the traitor.

Then said the King, "My lords, King Marsilas has sent an embassy to / me with many and rich gifts, lions and bears, and camels, and / abundance of gold and silver. Only he makes this condition -- that I / go back to France; and he promises that he himself will come thither, / even to Aachen, and will there profess himself a Christian and also / do homage for his kingdom. But whether he speaks the truth, that I / know not. What think you, my lords?"