Chapter 110 [part 2 of 2]

[What happened during the first day of battle, and how the day ended.] 

[An 1878 depiction of the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa of 1212, by Francisco de Paula Van Halen, at the Prado Museum, on display in the Senate of Spain.]
 
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The Emperor arrived on a large horse, armed as has been described, and because he was large of body and rode before his men, he looked so good to everyone who saw him that they were amazed, and he attracted a great deal of attention. And the first man he found before him was Balais of Carsante, and he charged at him so fiercely that he broke his lance on Balais’ shield, and then the Emperor ran into him with his horse, which was very fresh. Because Balais’s horse was tired, it could not withstand such a hard blow and fell with its rider in such a way that he was badly bruised. The Emperor, with this accomplishment, became very proud, put his hand on his sword, and began to shout:

“Rome, Rome, have at them, my knights, and let no man escape.”

Then he entered the thick of the battle, giving great and mighty blows to everyone he found before him in the manner of a fine knight, and as he went that way doing great harm, he encountered Sir Cuadragante, who himself was riding with his sword in hand attacking and bringing down everyone he reached. When they saw each other, they rode at full speed toward each other, swords raised, and struck each other on top of their helmets. Sparks flew from the helmets and the swords. But because Sir Cuadragante was stronger, the Emperor was so injured by the blow that he lost his stirrups and had to hold onto the horse’s neck, and was left quite stunned.

As it happened, at that moment Constancio, Brondajel de Roca’s brother and a fine young knight, found himself there, and when he saw his lord the Emperor in such a state, he spurred his horse and went for Sir Cuadragante with his lance ready to attack, struck his shield and pierced it, giving him a minor injury on his arm. When Sir Cuadragante returned the attack with his sword, the Emperor had time to turn away toward where his men were.

When Constancio saw that he was safe, he did not stop. Instead, because he and his horse were fresh, he quickly left and went toward where Amadis was, and when he saw the amazing things he was doing and all the knights that he left on the ground wherever he went, he was so frightened he could only believe Amadis was some devil who had come to destroy them. As he was watching, he saw how a knight, the governor of the principality of Calabria for Salustanquidio, attacked and injured Amadis’s horse on the neck with his sword. Amadis gave him such a blow on the top of his helmet that both the helmet and his head were cut into two, and he immediately fell dead on the ground, which gave Constancio great sorrow, because he was a very good knight.

He shouted to Floyan:

“Attack this man, capture him or kill him, for he is destroying us without pity!”

Then they rode together at him and gave him great blows with their swords. But Amadis gave such a blow to Constancio on the boss of his shield that he cut it into pieces, and the sword did not stop there. Instead it reached his helmet and the blow was so great that Constancio was stunned and fell from his horse. When the Romans protecting Floyan saw him with Amadis, and Constancio on the ground, more than twenty knights united to attack him, but they could not knock him from his horse, and they did not dare to stop in front of him because anyone he could reach only needed one blow to be brought down.

At that stage of the battle the Romans, as they had the greater numbers, had something of an advantage. Grasandor and the mighty Sir Florestan came to the rescue, arriving when the Romans had surrounded Agrajes, Sir Bruneo, and Angriote, having killed their horses. Lasindo, Gandalin, Gavarte of the Fearful Valley, and Branfil, who happened to find themselves together, had come to help them, but the crowd of men around them was so great that these men I speak of, although they brought down and killed many knights and put themselves in great danger, could not reach them. When Sir Florestan drew near and saw such a press of men, he realized there would have to be a good reason for it. And when he came closer, he recognized the knights who were rescuing Agrajes and his companions.

When Lasindo saw him, he said:

“Oh, my lord Sir Florestan, help us here! If not, your friends are lost.”

When he heard that, he said:

“Then come to me, and we will attack those who do not dare to wait for us.”

Then he entered the press of men, knocking down and killing those he could reach until his lance broke. Then he put his hand on his sword and gave great blows with it, terrifying all those who were there. And those knights of whom I told you went with him until they reached where Agrajes and his companions were on foot, as ye have heard.

Who could tell you what happened in that rescue and what those who were surrounded had done? Truly, it cannot be recounted how so few as they were could defend themselves against so many who wished to kill them. But even with all that, they were in great danger of losing their lives if fate had not brought Amadis there, whom Floyan and his men had fled. Of the twenty knights that I told you about who rescued Constancio, Amadis had killed and brought down six, and when he saw that they had fled and he heard the great shouting that came from that press of men, he went there.

When he arrived, he immediately recognized their armor and began to call his men, and he united more than four hundred knights. And as there was the greatest melee of the entire day, there also arrived from the Romans’ side Floyan, Arquisil, and Flamineo with all the men they could, and the bravest and most dangerous battle began that man has ever seen.

There ye would have seen Amadis do amazing things that no other knight had ever been seen or heard of doing, and both his opponents in his own men were very amazed at how many he killed and unhorsed. Due to all the shouting and the noise, the Emperor and all the other knights who were riding in battle approached. Sir Cuadragante, who was in another area, was told by a mounted crossbow man what was happening, and immediately he united more than a thousand knights who were waiting for him in his column and told them:

“Now, my lords, show your skills and follow me, for our help is greatly needed.”

They all went with him, he in the lead, and when they arrived at the melee, there were so many men from one end to the other that they could hardly reach their enemies. And when he saw this, he brought his men into a close, very effective formation made up of fine knights who attacked a flank so forcefully that at their arrival more than two hundred knights went to the ground, and I can tell you that those whom he struck a proper blow could not have been saved by a physician.

When Amadis saw what Sir Cuadragante and his men were doing, he was astonished and entered into the fray with the enemy so forcefully, giving such mighty blows, that he left no man in his saddle. But at that moment Arquisil, Floyan, Flamineo, and the many other men with them fought so forcefully that few could have done better than they did, and they struggled as hard as they could to bring death to Agrajes and the companions with him on foot, and to Sir Florestan and the other men we told you of who were alongside them to defend them, for after they passed through the great press of men and reached them, they could never be driven away by the knights who came at them or by the blows they gave them.

When they saw the great harm that their men were doing to their enemies, they pressed hard on the Romans, both Sir Cuadragante’s men and those of Amadis and Sir Gandales, who had suddenly come with fully eight hundred knights of those he commanded. The Emperor was shouting orders, for after Sir Cuadragante had given him that great blow with his sword, he put more effort into directing his men than fighting. But against his will, they were making the Emperor lose ground, so Agrajes, Angriote, and Sir Bruneo, who had suffered great toil and danger, could acquire horses to mount.

They immediately entered into the fray against the Romans, who were withdrawing, and followed them until they reached the column led by King Arban of North Wales. By then, the sun had already set, and because of that King Arban combined the Romans with his men and did not wish to enter in battle, as King Lisuarte had ordered, because of the hour and because his opponents still had many men who could fight, and he was afraid of suffering some reverse, since he believed the Emperor and his men had done enough for the first battles.

And due to that and because night had come over them, which was the main reason, they withdrew with the Romans and stopped their enemy, who did not pursue them, so the battle ended with a great deal of damage on both sides, although the Romans had received the worst.

Amadis and those on his side, who controlled the field, had their injured men taken away, and his men despoiled the rest, leaving the Romans injured and dead on the field, whom they did not wish to kill, but many of them died for lack of aid.

When the knights on both sides returned to their camps, there were some men of religious orders who had come to the battle to aid the souls of those who needed it, and when they saw the great destruction and heard the shouts of the injured asking for pity and mercy, they agreed on both sides to put themselves at the service of God and work for a truce so that the injured might be helped and the dead buried. And so they did, and some spoke with King Lisuarte and the Emperor, and others with King Perion, and they all considered it good for a truce to be established for the following day.

The night passed, carefully guarded, and they cared for the injured and rested from the great labors they had undertaken. When morning broke, many came to seek their family members, and others their lords, and there you would have witnessed such lamentation from both sides that to hear it would cause great sorrow, and even more to see it. All those who were alive were taken to the Emperor’s camp, and the dead were buried, and the field was cleared.

And so they spent the day preparing their arms and caring for their horses, and Sir Cuadragante’s injury to his arm was treated. They saw that it was minor, but another knight who would have suffered such an injury and was not like him would not have put on armor or returned to his labor, while he, because of it, did not wish to fail to help his companions in the next battle.

Night came and they all took shelter in their tents, and at dawn the next day they got up to the sound of trumpets, heard Mass, then all the knights were armed and mounted horses, and each captain assembled his men. And by one side and by the other it was agreed that the vanguard would be taken by the battalions who had not yet fought, and so it was arranged.

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Chapter 109 [part 2 of 2]

[How Gandalin became a knight, and what Amadis told him.] 

[Promotional photo for the Battle of Nations. The 2016 historic medieval battle full-contact armored competition will take place in Prague, Czech Republic, May 6 to 9.]

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Now we shall tell you of the armor worn by King Perion and Amadis and some of the great lords on their side. King Perion wore armor whose helmet and shield were very shiny and bright and of very fine steel, with a surcoat of very bright red silk, and mounted a fine horse that his nephew Sir Brian of Monjaste had given him, for his father, the King of Spain, had sent twenty very handsome horses to be distributed among the knights; and he rode beneath the flag of the Emperor of Constantinople.

Amadis wore the green armor strewn with golden lions he had worn when he killed Famongomadan and his son Basagante, who were the two mightiest giants that could be found in the world. He was very fond of that armor because he wore it when he left Poor Rock and went to see his lady at Miraflores Castle, as the second book of this story recounts.

Sir Cuadragante wore brown armor decorated with silver flowers and rode one of the Spanish horses. Sir Bruneo of Bonamar did not wish to change his armor, which had the figure of a damsel on the shield and a knight on his knees in front of her, who seemed to be asking for a boon. Sir Florestan, the fine and great jouster, wore red armor decorated with golden flowers and rode on a large horse from Spain. Agrajes’ armor was of a fine pink color and on his shield was the hand of a damsel clutching a heart. The noble Angriote did not wish to change from his armor enameled with blue and silver. And all the others, of whom no mention will be made so as not to annoy the readers, wore very fine armor of the colors most to their liking, and so they all came out on the field in good order.

When all of the men were assembled, each one with his captain as ye have heard, they rode slowly through the field as the sun rose and shone on the armor, and as it was all new and fresh and bright, it gleamed in such a way that it was nothing but amazing to see it.

And at that time Gandalin and Lasindo, Sir Bruneo’s squire, arrived in white armor as befitted new knights. Gandalin went to where his lord Amadis was, and Lasindo to Sir Bruneo. When Amadis saw him cominge left the column to go to him, and asked Sir Cuadragante to stop the men until he made that squire a knight. And he took Gandalin and went to where his father King Perion was, and on the way he told him:

“My true friend, I urge thee that today in this battle thou shouldst try to tread carefully and not leave my side so that if it is necessary I can come to thy aid. For although thou hast seen many battles and great confrontations, and thou mayest believe that thou knowest what thou must do and needest nothing other than courage, do not believe it, for it is a very different thing to watch than do. Each man will think when he sees things that he could do them better than he who is doing them if he were in his place, and later when he himself is doing them, many difficulties come before him that distress him because he is not accustomed to them and he finds much that he had not expected.

“This is because everything is in the execution, although something can be learned by watching. And as thy beginning shall be in such high deeds at arms as we have before us, and thou must protect thyself from so many others, it is necessary to defend thy life as well as thy honor, which is more valuable and should be held more dearly, and that with great discretion and wisdom and not giving such full reign to thy courage that it obscures thy mind, thou mayest attack our enemies, and I shall take great caution in watching out for thee when I can. Do the same for me each time thou seest that it is necessary.”

When he heard this, Gandalin said:

“My lord, everything shall be done as ye order as much as I can and my wisdom permits me, and may it please God for it to be so, for it would be easy for me to place myself where your help would be necessary.”

And so they arrived to where King Perion was, and Amadis told him:

“My lord, Gandalin wishes to be made a knight, and I would be very pleased if it were by your hand, but since it pleases him to be by my hand, I ask for the sword to come from your hand because, when he needs it, he may remember the great honor he received and who gave it.”

The King looked at Gandalin and recognized his son Sir Galaor’s horse, and tears came to his eyes and he said:

“Gandalin, my friend, how did thou leavest Sir Galaor when thou departed from him?”

And he told him:

“My lord, much improved in his illness, but with great pain and sorrow in his heart, for no matter how ye hid your departure from him, he knew it, although not its reason, and he tried to get me to tell him the truth if I knew it, and I told him, my lord, that from what I had learned about it, ye went to help the King of Scotland, Agrajes’ father, who had an issue with some of his neighbors. I did not wish to tell him the truth because in this situation and his being in such difficulty, I thought that was for the best.”

The King’s sighed from the depths of his heart, as one who loved him and bore him deep within himself, and thought that except for Amadis, there was no better knight in the world than him, both in courage and in all other things that a good knight must have, and he said:

“Oh, my dear son! May it please our Lord that I do not see thy death, and that I see the honorably relieved of this great affection that thou hast for King Lisuarte because, being free, freely thou mayest help thy brothers and thy lineage.”

Then Amadis took the sword brought by Durin, brother of the damsel of Denmark, which he had ordered him to bring, and gave it to the King, and Amadis made Gandalin a knight and kissed him and placed his right spur on him, and the King belted on his sword, and so he was armed by the two best knights who ever bore weapons. Amadis took him and returned to Sir Cuadragante, and when they arrived, he came to embrace Gandalin to give him honor, and told him:

“My friend, may it please God that your knighthood be as well employed by you as until now has been the virtue and good habits that a fine squire ought to have, and I believe it shall be so because a good beginning usually brings a good ending.”

Gandalin bowed, considering the honor he was given a boon.

Lasindo was knighted by the hand of his lord, and Agrajes gave him his sword. And ye may believe that these two new knights made their commencement with such feats of arms in this battle and suffered such great danger and labor that for all the days of their lives they won honor and great glory, as this story shall tell you with more detail farther on.

As the battalions moved forward, as I say, they did not get far before they saw their enemy before them coming in the columns ye heard of earlier. When they were close to each other, Amadis recognized the flag that the Emperor of Rome had carried in the front, and he felt great pleasure because the first blows would be with them, for although he had lost his love for King Lisuarte, he always remembered having been in his court and the great honors he had received from him; above all, what he most feared and was troubled by was that Lisuarte was father to his lady, whom he was so afraid to anger. In his heart he had decided that if he could do so without much danger to himself, he would avoid wherever King Lisuarte might be so as not to encounter him or anger him, although he knew well from the past that he should not expect such courtesy from him, instead to have him seek him out for death as a mortal enemy.

But of Agrajes, I tell you that his thoughts were very different from those of Amadis, for he asked nothing of God except to guide him were he could bring Lisuarte death and destroy all his men, for he could always see before him the discourtesy and lack of gratitude that had been done to him at the island of Mongaza, and what Lisuarte had done to his uncle Sir Galvanes and those on his side, for although Lisuarte had given him that island, he held it as more of a dishonor than an honor since he did so after having been defeated, and all the honor remained with the King. And if he had found himself there at that time, he would not have consented to his uncle taking it; instead he would have given him another one in his father’s kingdom. And with his great rage, he often would have lost himself in the battle by entering in the greatest skirmishes to kill or capture King Lisuarte, but as the other man was courageous and accustomed to such things, he did not have much concern for him, nor did he fail to fight everywhere as necessary, as shall be told farther on.

As the battalions were ready to attack each other, only waiting for the sound of the trumpets and bugles, Amadis, who was in the vanguard, saw a squire coming on a horse as fast as he could from the other side, and shouting to ask if Amadis of Gaul was there. Amadis gestured for him to come. The squire did so, and when he arrived, Amadis said:

“Squire, what do ye wish, for I am he whom ye seek.”

The squire looked at him and it seemed to him he had never seen such a fine knight and horse, and told him:

“My good lord, I fully believe what ye tell me, for your appearance gives testimony to your great fame.”

“Now tell me what ye wish,” Amadis said.

The squire told him:

“My lord, Gasquilan, King of Suesa and my lord, would have ye know that in the past when King Lisuarte was at war with you and with Sir Galvanes and many other knights from your side and his over the island of Mongaza, Gasquilan came to King Lisuarte with the desire to fight with you, not out of any enmity for you, rather for the great fame he heard of your great deeds in knighthood. He was in that war until, badly injured, he returned to his land, having learned that ye were not in the place where his desire could have been carried out. Now King Lisuarte has let him know about this war in which ye are, where, given its cause, a great battle cannot be avoided. He has come to it with the same desire, and he says to you, my lord, that before the battalions attack each other, to break two or three lances with him, which he shall gladly do, because when the battalions attack, he will not be able to encounter you at his will, for he will be obstructed by many other knights.”

Amadis told him:

“Good squire, tell your lord the King that everything he sent you to tell me I knew at the time when I could not be in that war, and that what he wishes I consider to be from the grandeur of his courage rather than from any enmity or ill will, and that although my deeds are not as admirable as their fame, I am very pleased that a man of such high means and renown holds me so highly, and that, since his quest is more from his will than from his needs, I would wish, if it pleases him, that he test himself in a way more to his honor and advantage than to my gain or loss. But since he has sent you to tell me what he would most prefer, then I shall do what he asks.”

The squire said:

“My lord, my lord the King knows well what ye did to his father Madarque, the giant of Sad Island, and how ye defeated him to rescue King Cildadan and your brother Sir Galaor, and although this involves him as a question of his father to whom he is so closely akin, knowing the great courtesy that ye afforded him, he would rather give you thanks than harm, and if he has a great desire to test himself against you, it is nothing else than the great envy he has for your great skills, and he realizes that if he defeats you, his praise and fame would be higher than that of all the knights of the world, and if he were defeated, it would not be a great disgrace or shame to be done by the hand of he who has defeated so many knights and giants and other unnatural wild beasts.”

“Since it is so,” Amadis said, “tell him that as I have said, if this which he asks would give him the most contentment, I am ready to do it.”

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Chapter 106 [part 2 of 2]

[What Arquisil asked of Amadis, and what this would mean.] 

[From an illustration of Cantiga 181 of the Cantigas de Santa Maria of King Alfonso X.]
 
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And so it was that, when the valiant Amadis and many other great lords and brave knights were in King Perion’s tent, Arquisil was among them and still had not been told where he would be held prisoner. He stood up and told the King:

“My lord, may Your Grace hear me speak with Amadis of Gaul in the presence of these knights.”

The King told him he would gladly hear whatever he thought it good to say. Arquisil recounted everything that had happened in the battle that Sir Garadan and he and his other companions had fought against Amadis and the knights of the King of Bohemia, and how they were defeated and injured and Sir Garadan was killed, and how Amadis with his restraint saved him from the hands of those who with great desire and intention meant to kill him, and how at his plea and petition he was released and allowed to leave so he could give some aid to his companions who were very badly injured, leaving as a pledge his faith and word as his prisoner to come to him whenever he was summoned, as the third part of this story has told more extensively, and how now he was called by Amadis, and he had come as they all had seen to fulfill his word and be wherever he was ordered and directed to go.

But if Amadis, making use of generosity and great restraint and virtue, as was his custom for all those in need of his grace and aid, were to give him permission so that in that coming battle, so prominent in the world, he could serve his lord the Emperor as he ought, he would promise as a loyal and good knight before Amadis and all those present that if afterwards he were alive, he would go where he was ordered to fulfill his imprisonment.

Amadis, who at that time was also standing to give him honor, answered:

“Arquisil, my noble lord, if I were to pay heed to the arrogant and overblown words of your lord the Emperor, I would treat everyone connected with him with great rigor and cruelty without fearing that I would fall into excess. But ye are without fault, and the times have brought us to such a situation where every man’s virtue will be shown to us, so I hold it well that ye have come when ye were asked for, and I give you license to be in that battle, from which, if ye leave without danger, ye must be at this island within ten days to comply with what shall be ordered by myself or by others on my behalf.”

 Arquisil thanked him for that very much, and he promised to do so.

Some shall ask why so much has been made of a knight of so little renown in such a great story. I say the reason is this: because this man dealt with every confrontation that came to him with great courage, as further on ye shall hear, and because, due to his great lineage and noble condition, he came to be Emperor of Rome, and he always held Amadis, who was the main reason that he had reached such a great sovereignty, as a true brother, as at the appropriate time shall be told at greater length.

Then when those lords had left and gone to their tents and quarters, Arquisil put on his armor, mounted his horse, bid farewell to Amadis and all those who were with him, and he returned on the road on which he had come. And the story does not tell of anything happening to him except that he arrived at the Emperor’s army, where everyone was very pleased to see him again. And although they asked him about many things, he only wished to speak of the great courtesy that he had received from the very noble knight Amadis, of whom ye may well believe that his courtesy was such and so great that it would be hard to find the like in any knight at that time.

And I wish ye to know the reason why those knights took such long journeys without encountering adventure as in times past, and it was because they all thought of nothing else except to provide and prepare all things necessary for the battle, for it seemed to them, given the grandeur of that confrontation, to become involved in other quests that might interfere would result in infamy.

When Arquisil arrived at the encampment, he spoke privately with the Emperor and told him the truth about everything, both about his opponents’ large number of men and about the outstanding knights with him, of whom he recounted by name almost all, and how Amadis of Gaul had given him permission to fight in that battle and was not very troubled by it. Arquisil said he had learned that Amadis, knowing that the Emperor would be coming there with his army, soon planned to march toward it without fear; Arquisil advised him of all that because by doing so he best fulfilled his service.

The Emperor listened to this, although he was very arrogant and changeable, as ye have heard, and he was also sure of himself in everything that he did, but he knew the virtue of that knight, for whom he had not much love, and that Arquisil had told him nothing but the truth. And when he heard it, he was dismayed as those who employ their valor more in words than in deed tend to be. The Emperor no longer wished to be involved in that affair, for he fully understood the great difference between one side and the other, and he had never thought that given his great strength along with that of King Lisuarte, Amadis would have the ability or preparations to leave Firm Island; instead the Emperor and King could lay siege by land and sea so that either through hunger or some other means Patin could take back Oriana and avenge the harm and injury that had been done to his honor.

And from there on, showing more courage then he secretly felt, he made sure to concur with the will of King Lisuarte and all his noblemen.

So they were encamped for two weeks reviewing the troops and receiving the knights that came to them every day, and they found that they had all the following: the Emperor brought 10,000 knights; King Lisuarte 6,500; Gasquilan, King of Suesa, 800; and King Cildadan, 200.

Everything having been prepared, the Emperor and the Kings gave orders to break camp and for the men to wait in the great meadow from which they would march. And so it was done, and they were all placed in their battalions. The Emperor put his men into three columns. The first he gave to Floyan, brother of Prince Salustanquidio, with 2,500 knights. He gave the second to Arquisil with an equal number, and he was left with 5,000 to follow them. And he asked King Lisuarte to approve of his men taking the vanguard, which he did, although Lisuarte would rather have done that himself, because he did not consider those men highly, and he was afraid their lack of discipline might cause some great reversal. But he agreed to give him that honor, which in such cases is looked upon badly because all affection should be laid aside to follow where reason guides.

King Lisuarte put his men into columns. In one with King Arban of North Wales he put 3,000 knights, and with him were his son Norandel, Sir Guilan the Pensive, Sir Cendil of Ganota, and Brandoivas. And from his men he gave 1,000 knights to King Cildadan and Gasquilan, and with another 1,000 made another column. And of those knights with him, he gave his standard to the worthy Sir Grumedan, who had great sorrow and anguish in his heart over the poor decision the King Lisuarte had made by allowing troops he considered unworthy to take the lead.

When this was done in the columns had been formed, they moved across the field behind the supply wagons which with its billeters was going to set up the next camp.

What could I tell ye of the knights and fine shining armor of such variety that they wore? Truly, it would be very laborious to recount. It will only be spoken of what the Emperor and the Kings and other outstanding knights wore, and this shall be told on the day of the battle when they armed themselves for it. Now we shall not speak of that until its proper time, and now it must be told what King Perion and the lords with him did in the encampment on Firm Island.

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How Esplandian almost killed his father Amadis

From Chapter 28 of The Exploits of Esplandian. 

“The exploits of the virtuous knight Esplandian, son of Amadis of Gaul”
 
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In the early versions of Amadis of Gaul, now lost, Amadis is tragically killed by his son Esplandian in combat – explained a bit more in depth here. However, in the 1508 version, that battle is never fought. Instead, in a sequel to Amadis of Gaul, called The Exploits of Esplandian, the son goes off to serve the glory of God by fighting infidels ... but an echo of their fateful encounter in the earlier tale is included in that novel:

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When Esplandian left the city of London [in the company of the doctor Elisabad and others ...] he took the road straight to Firm Island intending to avoid any joust or battle that might offer itself because neither desire nor ire burned in him except to make war on the enemies of the faith. And after they had gone three leagues, they entered a forest, and before they could leave it, almost another three lay ahead of them. After they had ridden for a while, they arrived at the great river that crossed the forest, over which there was a great bridge. [...] They saw a knight leave the riverbank on a large and beautiful horse, fully armed, with a lance in his hand as if he wished to joust. When they drew near him, the knight from the riverbank said:

“Knight, do not come forward, because I am the guardian of this bridge, which I must be to keep my word, but if ye cross it by force of arms, I will be free of my promise and ye from the labor of seeking another passage.”

Esplandian told him:

“If in the time of my father, who sought adventures in this land, and of the other famous knights who for such causes fought, this might come to pass and ye could test your fate as fortune might give you it; but I say to you, my lord knight, I would not wish his honor nor his fame, nor for God to give me such a path. Ye may block our way, but ye cannot block the countryside, which is exceedingly wide.”

Then he turned away, but the knight told him:

“In vain is your labor. Do ye think to find a place to ford the river before night falls?”

When Esplandian heard this, he said, somewhat angry:

“Knight, according to that, I cannot avoid doing battle with you. Well, if that is so, I wish to see if your hindrance will be a greater obstacle then taking the long way around.”

Then he laced on his helmet, put his shield around his neck, took up his lance, and said:

“Now make way or protect yourself for me!”

The other knight said nothing and instead had his horse gallop at him as fast as it could go. Esplandian did the same toward him, and their shields met the great blows of the lances and broke them without doing much harm. And as the horses were sturdy and the knights sought victory, they met so bravely, their shields and helmets striking against each other, that both crashed to the ground from their horses in such great falls that the doctor thought they were dead. But soon Esplandian got up and put his hand on his sword, with great shame for having fallen thus, and went at the other knight, who was ready to attack, and they began the bravest fight between each other that men had ever seen.

The doctor Elisabad watched them and said:

“Oh, holy Mary! What will become of this? For this is some devil in the form of a knight who has come to meet us in our confusion.”

The knights continued to battle for a full hour without resting or doing anything other than giving each other the most deadly and fierce blows that they could, so that their shields were in pieces and their chain mail torn and broken in many places, and so much blood flowed from them that the field was colored red. Then the knight of the bridge pulled back a little and said:

“Knight, leave this road and abandon the battle because, as ye are the best of all those I have tested myself against, it would be a great sorrow if ye were to lose your life here.”

Esplandian told him:

“If ye, knight, were such that ye considered me more virtuous than cowardly, it might be that ye said what ye did to make my will content, but knowing that ye have me in such difficulty that I believe the final glory will be the death of both of us, do not think of anything but defending yourself, and hold for certain that until death or defeat takes one of us from here, there shall be no other chance to rest from me.”

Then they attacked each other and returned to their battle with much more anger and strength than before, which went on for two long hours without either of them showing any weakness and each one of them testing all their strength. The noise of the blows was as if twenty knights were fighting there. Many times they struggled hand to hand, leaving their swords on their chains, but since they could not knock each other down, in the end they attacked each other again very cruelly.

When the doctor Elisabad saw them with such ire and in such danger he said:

“My friend Sargil [Esplandian’s squire], I think that Esplandian has found the grave at his tender and handsome age. My Lord God, protect him by Thy mercy, because his desire is none other than to expand Thy holy law!”

Sargil was terrified and tears fell down his cheeks to see the great difficulty in which his lord was. But it did not last much longer, because before the third hour was over, the knight of the bridge was in such a bad way and his weapons and armor so damaged that there was nothing for him except death. Esplandian attacked with great blows and continued so lively and lightly that he did not give him a single moment of rest; and those watching knew that if the knight of the bridge continued fighting any longer he would be dead.

When Esplandian saw that he was thus, his rage burned to see him in such difficulty, and he said:

“Sir knight, I have received great harm from you, and ye wished death to come to me unjustly; but I shall make you go first.”

Then he raised his sword to strike with all his strength, but the other knight, who could no longer raise his own sword, shouted and said:

“No more now, for I recognize my defeat.”

Esplandian held back the blow and said:

“Then say who ye are.”

The knight told him:

“Have the doctor Elisabad come, who shall be very necessary.”

Then the sword fell from his hand and he sat on the ground, for he could no longer stay on his feet. Esplandian called the doctor, telling him the knight wanted him. The doctor arrived, dismounted his palfrey, and went to him. He had lost consciousness due to all the blood he had lost from the great blows he had received. When Elisabad took off his helmet, he recognized him as Amadis, which astonished him. When Esplandian saw him, he threw his sword on the ground and, taking off his helmet, began to weep very bitterly and say:

“Oh misfortune and misery! What have I done?”

And he fell senseless next to his father. When the doctor saw the father and son, he began to curse repeatedly because great misfortune had brought him to such a state that before himself he saw the two people whom he most loved in the world at the point of death. And as he saw that he could do little for them there, he called for Sargil to come and help him. And as no one in the entire world was his equal in his profession, he provided medical care to Amadis’s injuries as no one else knew how to do.[...]

And so as ye have heard it came to pass the cruel and harsh battle between Amadis and his son, of which some say that in it Amadis died of those injuries, and others that he died in the first encounter with the lance, which passed through him front to back; when Oriana learned of it, threw herself from a window. But it was not so, for the great doctor Elisabad cured his wounds. And soon after, King Lisuarte and his wife the Queen renounced their kingdoms and retired, as shall be told further on. And Amadis and Oriana were very prosperous monarchs of Great Britain and Gaul, and they had another son, who was named Perion, and a daughter who was no less beautiful than her mother, and who married a son of Arquisil, the Emperor of Rome.

But the death that overcame Amadis was none other than this: his great deeds were forgotten almost as if they were buried beneath the earth, while those of his son flourished which such fame and such glory that they seemed to reach the height of the clouds.

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Chapter 93

How Amadis and Agrajes and all the knights of high estate that were with him went to see and console Oriana and the ladies with her, and what happened.

[Brooch depicting two lovers enclosed in a love-garden fence from the collection of the treasures of the Order of the Golden Fleece at Kaiserliche Schatzkammer Museum in Vienna.]
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As the knights arrived to see Oriana, they greeted her with great reverence and obedience, and then all the other ladies. She received them with good will, as one who was of great noble birth and upbringing. Amadis told Sir Cuadragante and Brian of Monjaste to go to Oriana, and he went to Mabilia, and Agrajes to where Olinda and other ladies were, and Sir Florestan to Queen Sardamira, and Sir Bruneo and Angriote to Grasinda, for they greatly loved and esteemed her, and the other knights to other ladies and damsels, each to the one who most pleased him and from whom he hoped to receive the most honor and favor. And so they were all speaking with great pleasure about the things they most enjoyed.

Then Mabilia took her cousin Amadis by the hand and went to one end of the hall and said so that everyone could hear:

“My lord, have Gandalin called so that in your presence I may tell him what to say to my aunt the Queen and my cousin Melicia, and ye can order him to do that since on your command he is going to see King Perion of Gaul.”

When Oriana heard this, she said:

“Well, I would also like him to take my message to the Queen and her daughter along with yours.”

Amadis had Gandalin called, who was in the garden waiting with the other squires, for he knew well that they were going to call him. When he came in, he went to the end of the hall where Amadis and Mabilia were, and they spoke with him for a while. And Mabilia said to Oriana:

“My lady, I have finished with Gandalin, if ye wish to say something to him.”

Oriana turned to Queen Sardamira and told her:

“My lady, take her with you to Sir Cuadragante while I speak to that squire.”

And taking Sir Brian of Monjaste by the hand, she went to where Mabilia was. And when she arrived, Sir Brian of Monjaste told her, as one who was very entertaining and prudent in all things regarding chivalry:

“Since I have been chosen to be the ambassador to your father, I do not want to be present at the embassy of damsels, for I fear, since ye ladies are full of trickery and humor in everything ye to do, ye will put me in a situation that requires more courtesy than what those knights have ordered me to say.”

Oriana told him as she laughed very beautifully:

“My lord Sir Brian, that is why I have brought you here with me so that seeing us might somewhat temper your anger with my father, but I am afraid that your heart is not so easily subject or fond of women’s things, and in no way might they deflect or stand in the way of your intentions.”

That very beautiful Princess said this in jest with so much good grace it was a wonder, because Sir Brian, although he was a young and very handsome man, was more given to weapons and dealing with knights than to submit or involve himself with any woman, although in any matter involving their protection and aid, he would place himself in every confrontation and danger so they might achieve what was their right. He loved all women and all women loved him, but he loved no woman in particular.

Sir Brian told her:

“My lady, for that reason I wish to remove myself from your presence and flattery so that I do not lose in a short period of time when I won at such length.”

And so as they were all laughing, he left Oriana and went to where Grasinda was, who very much wanted to meet him because of what she had heard about him.

When Amadis found himself before his lady, whom he so much loved and had not seen for such a long time, not counting their encounter at sea because it had occurred during such a great commotion and amid so many people, as the third book of this story has told, all his flesh and his heart trembled with pleasure at her great beauty and because she looked happier than he had hoped to find her. He was so lost that he could not speak or say a thing, and Oriana, whose eyes never left him, immediately understood what was happening and came to him, took him by the hands underneath his cloak, and squeezed them as a sign of great love as if she had embraced him, and she told him:

“My truly beloved above all the others in the world, although my fate has brought me the thing that I desired most in the world, which is to be within your power where never my eyes as well as my heart could be separated from you, my great misfortune has wished it to be in such a manner that now more than ever I am required to avoid conversation with you because this situation, which will be so notorious and well known throughout the world, must be presented to everyone in keeping with the reputation that the grandeur of my estate and virtue that I am obliged to maintain.

“It may seem that ye, my beloved friend, more by following the nobility that ye always sought in helping those in trouble who need rescue, always upholding righteousness and justice, than for any other cause, ye were moved to undertake such a great and important enterprise as this one seems to be. If the main cause, which is our love, were to become publicly known, then all your men as well as all your opponents would judge things differently. For that reason it is necessary that what with great anguish and effort we have kept hidden until now, from here on we must maintain, even if it requires greater travail.

“As a solace for that let us consider our freedom and do that which might satisfy the will of our desires whenever it seems most agreeable to us, but may that be when we can find no other solution. And so let us continue until God is pleased to bring us the end that we wish.”

Amadis told her:

“Oh, my lady, by God no reason or excuse needs to be given for being in your service, because I was born in this world for no other reason than to be yours and to serve you while this body has a soul. For me there is no other wish or good fortune except to follow whatever your will may be. And, my lady, what I wish as a reward for my mortal sufferings and desires is nothing other than to have it always in your mind to order me in whatever way I may serve you, for this would be a great part of the remedy and rest that my impassioned heart needs.”

And as Amadis said that, Oriana was watching him, and she saw tears fall from his eyes until his entire face was wet, and she told him:

“My good friend, what ye tell me is the same as what I hold, and it is not new to me to believe that ye follow my will in everything, just as I would wish to content and satisfy yours, which the Lord, from whom nothing is hidden, knows. But, as I said, it must be that for now we will suffer. And while He is resolving it, if ye wish my love with the affection that ye always have, I ask you to set aside anxiety and fatigue from your heart, for now it cannot be long before in some way or another our secret becomes known, and at peace or at war we shall be together in the way that for so long we have desired.

“And since we have been speaking for a long while, I wish to return to those other noble knights so there are no suspicions. And my lord, wipe those tears from your eyes as secretly as ye may and remain with Mabilia, for she will tell ye something that ye do not know, my lord, and that until now I have not had the opportunity to tell you, and it will give your heart great pleasure and joy.”

Then she had Sir Cuadragante and Brian of Monjaste called, and with them she returned to where she had been previously. Amadis remained with Mabilia, and she told him everything about Esplandian, how he was the son of Amadis and Oriana, and everything that had happened during his birth and his upbringing, how the damsel of Denmark and her brother Durin had been bringing him to be raised in Miraflores and they lost him, and the lioness took him, and how he was brought up in a hermitage. She recounted all this extensively, and nothing was left out, as the third part of this great story has told. Amadis could not have been happier to hear this, and for a long time he could not speak, and after the great upsetting joy that his heart felt had passed, he told her:

“My lady and my good cousin, know that when I was with the very noble lady Grasinda, and the knights Angriote de Estravaus and Sir Bruneo arrived, it happened that Angriote told me everything about Esplandian, but he did not know whose son he was. Immediately I remembered the letter that ye sent with my foster father Gandales to this island in which ye told me that my lineage had increased, and I thought, given when it was that ye had written me and what it said, and how no one knew where or whose son that young nobleman was, he might be the son of myself and Oriana, but this was a mere suspicion and not at all a certainty.

“But now that I know it for sure, ye may believe, my lady and beloved cousin, that I am more happy about that than if I had been made lord of half the world. And I do not say this because that young man is so extraordinary but because he is the son of such a mother whom God has made noteworthy and unique both in her beauty and in all the other virtues that a good lady ought to have above all other ladies who were born into this world, and so He would wish that all things that proceed from her would be extraordinarily sweet and bitterness be relegated to others, which through experience I have tested and known and may say is true.

“Oh, my lady cousin, if I could recount for you the anguish and great distress that during this time when ye did not see me, my miserable heart has suffered, then without a doubt ye could believe that in comparison to them, all the dangers and confrontations that in those foreign lands I experienced could not be judged as anything more than the fear and frights of dreams, or something that holds no effect or truth. And God, wishing to have pity on me, brought me a time when I could save her from a great confrontation and myself from the most painful death that any knight has ever died of, and from where my heart until now never found any rest or repose. It is now secure, because from this nothing else can be achieved except to win her with the full satisfaction of both our desires or to lose our lives and with that all temporal things will come to an end.

“Since my good fortune has wished to solve and relieve my fatigue, it is very right that we all work to remedy hers, as someone who has never seen herself in such a situation or could have known what would befall her, for I believe that her anxiety can only be very great. And ye, my lady, who in the past has been the greatest support for her life, now counsel her and encourage her, explaining to her that neither before God nor her father is she responsible for what happened, and no person in the world can rightly blame her.

“If she fears the great power of her father and of the Emperor of Rome, my lady, ye may tell her that there are so many of us in her service with such skills that if I did not fear her anger, I would seek them out in their own kingdoms. As soon as Sir Cuadragante and Sir Brian of Monjaste return from their trip to see her father, we will find out if he wishes peace or if we will have war, as she will be able to see. And meanwhile always tell me of whatever might be most in her service and pleasure, so that her will may be fulfilled.”

Mabilia told him:

“My lord, if I wished to tell you what I have gone through after ye left this land to console and remedy her anguish and pain, especially after the Romans came to my father’s court, it would be a never-ending story. And for that reason, because ye are fully aware of the great love she has for you, I will leave off speaking any more of it. And my lord, what ye would have me do, I always do, although her discretion has increased so much that both in things she has known from birth according to the condition and weakness of women, and in all the other things that are new and strange to us, she understands and recognizes with the spirit and heart that her royal estate requires, although not regarding you, which makes her lose all her senses. In everything else she has enough discretion to console everyone in the world. And if anything would give her pleasure, ye will always be advised by me.”

With that they finished speaking and returned to where Oriana was. Gandalin bid them farewell and went out to sea to go to Gaul, which shall be told of in its proper time. After these lords had spent a long time with the Princess Oriana and the ladies who were with her, speaking of many things of great pleasure and being very encouraging, they bid farewell to them and returned to their lodgings, where they enjoyed everything necessary in great quantity, and where they could see all the marvels of that island, and nothing like them could be found in any other part of the world. These marvels had been created and designed by the great and wise Apolidon, who placed them there when he was lord of the island.

But now the story shall cease to speak of that in order to tell about King Lisuarte, who knew nothing of all this.

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Chapter 92

How Gandalin spoke with Mabilia and Oriana, and what they told him to say to Amadis. 

[Detail of the monument to Christopher Columbus in Madrid at the Plaza de Colón. It was erected between 1881 and 1885 of white marble, with sculptures by Jerónimo Suñol and a gothic pedestal by Arthur Mélida. Photo by Sue Burke.]
 
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This story tells how those messengers departed, as ye have heard, and Gandalin was very anxious to go where his lord had ordered, but Amadis told him not to leave until he had seen his cousin Mabilia. He immediately went to Oriana’s chambers, which were in that tower ye have heard of, where no man could enter except with special permission because it was guarded and protected by ladies and damsels. When he came to the garden’s gate, he had them tell Mabilia that Gandalin was there and would be leaving for Gaul and wished to see her before he left. When she learned that, she told Oriana, and when she heard that, she was very pleased and ordered him to be let in. When he came to Oriana, he knelt before her and kissed her hands. Then he went to Mabilia and told her what his lord had ordered him to say.

Mabilia told Oriana loud enough so that all could hear:

“My lady, Gandalin is leaving for Gaul. See if ye wish him to say anything to the Queen and to my cousin Melicia.”

Oriana said she would be pleased to send a message with him, and she came to where they were, secluded from the others, and told him:

“Oh, my friend Gandalin! What dost thou make of my misfortune? The thing that I most wanted in the world was to be where I would never take my eyes off thy lord, and such has been my fate that I have been placed in his power in a way that I do not dare see him without his honor and mine being greatly diminished. Thou mayest believe that my suffering heart feels great fatigue from this, and if thou wert able to feel it too, thou wouldst have great pity for me. And so that he may know this, both for his consolation and to absolve me, thou must tell him to find a way for him and all the knights to come to see me so that in front of all of them, with no one understanding what they hear, he may speak to me. And this could be done under the pretext of thy departure.”

Gandalin told her:

“Oh my lady, it is so right for you to think of what could help this knight, for so many times during the journey that we took I have had to keep him alive. If I were to tell you of it, your soul would suffer much greater pain and anguish than it feels now, for it is true, my lady, that the great feats of arms he did in those foreign lands were many and were such that they could not have been done nor even conceived of by any other person, and yet they did not put his life in even one-thousandth of the danger of death as your memory and the impossibility of seeing you. And since to speak of this would be futile because it is endless, it only remains for you, my lady, to have pity on him and console him, because from what I have seen and truly believe, his life depends on yours.”

She told him:

“My good friend, thou canst say very truthfully that without him I could not live nor would I wish to, for my life would be more painful and grim than death. Let us speak no more of this, so that thou mayest leave quickly and go to him and tell him what I have ordered thee.”

“So it shall be done my lady, and he shall carry it out.”

With that he bid them farewell, and he went to his lord. But first, Oriana told him in front of all the other ladies there that he should not leave until she gave him a letter for Queen Elisena and another for her daughter Melicia, and he told her he would do that, and he asked her to give it to her soon, because all the other messengers had left, and there was no one left besides him. And so he went to Amadis and told him everything that Oriana had said in her reply, and how she had sent him to say that he and all those lords should come to see him under some excuse because she wished to speak to him.

After he heard this, Amadis thought for a while, then told him:

“Dost thou know how this could best be done? Speak with my cousin Agrajes and tell him that when thou wert speaking with Mabilia about whether she had anything to send to Gaul, she told thee that it seemed to her it would be good if there were a way for all the lords that are here to come to see and encourage Oriana because, given the seriousness of the situation she is in and how disquieting it is for her, she needs their encouragement. And by any means thou might find, thou shouldst tell her, because it would be much better for her to order this herself.”

And then he told him:

“Tell me, how did my lady seemed to thee? Is she sad to find herself in this situation?”

Gandalin told him:

“My lord, ye already know of her great courage and how she can show nothing else but the virtue of her noble heart, but, certainly, her face seems more sad than happy to me.”

Amadis raised his hands up to Heaven and said:

“Oh most powerful Lord, may it please You to give me a way that I may provide the remedy suitable for the honor and service of this lady, and that my death or life be guided as fate would have it.”

Gandalin told him:

“My lord, do not be dismayed, for in this as in all other things, God has always done more to further your honor than for any other knight, and so with much righteousness and justice He shall do the same for you in this.”

Gandalin departed from Amadis and went to Agrajes and told him everything that his lord had ordered and what he thought best. Agrajes told him:

“My friend Gandalin, it would be very right to do what my sister has asked for, and it shall be done immediately. It has not been done already for no other reason than because these knights only knew it was Oriana’s will to carry out the most honest life she could. It would be good if we went to tell this to my cousin Amadis.”

And with Gandalin, he went to where Amadis was lodging and told him what his sister Mabilia had sent Gandalin to say. Amadis answered, as if he knew nothing, that he would agree with whatever she thought best. Then Agrajes spoke with the knights in such a way that they did not know that Oriana wanted it, saying they should go to see her and console her, telling them that in situations like this the most courageous need solace, and even more so feeble women.

They all held that as good, and they were very pleased about it, and they agreed to see her the next day in the afternoon. And so they did, dressed in their very best fighting apparel, on finely adorned palfreys and with their swords all decorated with gold, and thus arrived at the chamber where Oriana was. And as they were all handsome young men, they looked so good that it was a wonder. Agrajes had already sent word to her that they wished to see her, and she sent for Queen Sardamira and Grasinda and all the princesses, ladies, and damsels of great estate to be with her so that together they could all receive them.

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Chapter 91

What Amadis sent to the King of Bohemia. 

[Detail of the eastern tower of the Charles Bridge in Prague. Its construction began in 1357. Photo by Sue Burke.]
 
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Amadis, as the one who bore the weight of great duty, especially regarding his lady, never thought about anything but how to acquire what would be needed, and he had a mission for Isanjo, a very honorable knight with great discretion. When Amadis won Firm Island, he found him serving as its governor, a position held by members of his family, as the second book of this story has told in greater detail.

Amadis took him aside and told him:

“My good lord and great friend, I have known your virtue and good sense and constant desire to protect my honor since I first met you, something which I must reward when the time comes. I have thought about giving you a little work, because considering who I would send you to, no other messenger is appropriate. Ye would need to go immediately to King Tafinor of Bohemia with my letter and the credentials that shall be given to you, and in great detail ye should tell him what has happened and how much faith and hope I have in his favor. And I trust in God that your diplomacy will achieve great success because he is a very noble king and, with great love and affection, he offered to put himself at my disposal when I left his court.”

Isanjo answered:

“My lord, I am willing and prepared to be at your service and to do much more, and so this journey I hold more as an honor than as a difficulty or labor. And as for me, my lord, ye may be sure that in this as in everything that augments your estate I would place my person even at the point of death. In this, my lord, the documents need only be created and I shall leave whenever you consider it best.”

Amadis thanked him with great love, understanding that the good will with which he responded ought not be considered as anything inferior to good deeds, for deeds spring from good will and good will is fundamental to good works.

With that arranged, Amadis wrote a letter to the King, and it said:

“Noble King Tafinor of Bohemia, if in the time when I was in your court as a knight errant I was able to be of some service to you, I consider myself well paid by the honors and good deeds that I received from you as well as from all your people. And if now I write in hopes of your kindness by asking for your help in my time of need, I do so thinking of nothing other than knowing of your noble will and great virtue. During the brief time I found myself in your court, I always saw you ready to pursue every just thing in accord with all virtue and good conscience. Because this knight shall explain the situation on my behalf more extensively and how it came about, I ask hope after giving him credence, the consequence of his envoy will have the effect on you that such a request from you would have on me.”

When the letter and the credentials were read, Isanjo prepared a ship and departed immediately as he had been ordered. And it may be said that his journey was well employed, given the men that this good King sent to Amadis, as shall be recounted farther on.

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Chapter 89

How Amadis sent a messenger to Queen Briolanja. 

 [Portrait of Simon de Varie by Jean Fouquet in a 1455 prayer book at the J. Paul Getty Museum.]
 
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The story says that after Amadis had dispatched the doctor Elisabad and had lodged Grasinda with Princess Oriana, he had Tantiles called, the majordomo of the beautiful Queen Briolanja, and he told him:

“My good friend, I would hope that on my behalf ye would labor is carefully in things for me as I would in things for you, and that is because, considering the extreme in which I have placed my honor, and how much it could be improved with careful preparation, and on the contrary how it could be discredited, I wish you to go to your lady and, since ye have seen everything and can tell her what she needs to know, try hard to have her order all her people and friends to be prepared for when they will be needed. And tell her that she knows that what involves me involves her, since if I were to fail, she would lose my services.”

Tantiles answered him:

“My Lord, I shall immediately do as ye order, and ye may be very sure that nothing would give my lady the Queen such pleasure as to know that the time had come to show you the great love and goodwill that she has to secure for you all ye would wish to ask from her and her entire kingdom. And have no worries about this, for I shall come when it is necessary with everything properly prepared that a great lady such as she is must send to he whom, after God, gave her her entire realm.”

Amadis thanked him sincerely and gave him a letter of credentials that was sufficient for him as a person who governed all her estate. Tantiles immediately went out to sea in the ship he had arrived in and did what shall further on be told.

After this was done, Amadis took Gandalin aside and told him:

“My friend Gandalin, thou hast seen how I need friends and family in this dire situation I could not avoid being placed in, and although I would feel very troubled to see thee depart from me, reason obliges me to do so. Thou hast seen how all these knights have agreed that all our friends be asked and advised so that when the time comes, they can sustain our honor. And although I have great hopes that many of them for whom I have done a great deal will wish to pay the debt they owe me, as thou knowest, I have even greater hopes in my father, King Perion, for he rightly or wrongly ought to provide aid for my concerns.

“Thou better than anyone else and without any difficulty canst tell him about everything that has happened to me, and how although there are many famous knights of grand lineage here, they all follow me and only me in their will and thoughts. It would be good if thou wert to leave soon to see him and tell him what thou hast seen and learned about the need in which I find myself. And in addition to these things, tell him that although I do not fear any armed force anywhere in the world in view of our own, it would be a hardship for him if I as his oldest son could not respond to these two princes if they were to attack me in the form and manner that I would be called to do.

“And because I understand that thou art aware of everything, it will not be necessary for me to tell thee more, except that before leaving, go speak with my cousin Mabilia to see if she would send something to her aunt and my sister Melicia, and see how my lady Oriana is, because although she would hide her feelings to others, only to thee would she reveal her true desire and will. And when this is done, leave immediately with these credentials that I have written for thee, which say:

“Thou shalt tell my lord the King that His Highness already knows how, after God wished by his hand that I became a knight, I never aspired to any other thing than to be a knight errant, and to do everything in my power to right the many wrongs and injustices that have been received especially by ladies and damsels, who above all else ought to receive aid. Because of that, I have placed my person in great labor and danger, without any other interest or hope except to serve God and to earn fame and praise. With this desire when I left his kingdom I went to travel to foreign lands, looking for those who needed my protection and defense and seeing new sights, where I had many adventures, as thou canst well tell him if he would wish to know of them.

“After much time had passed, I returned to this island and learned that King Lisuarte, with no fear of God and against the advice both of his own people and of others who were concerned for his honor and wished to serve him, with great cruelty and with a great loss to his reputation, wished to disinherit his daughter, the Princess Oriana, who after his days were done should be the lady of his realm, and instead to make a younger daughter the heir, who had no right to them, and to give Oriana to the Emperor of Rome as his wife. The Princess objected to this to all those who saw her and to others by messenger with great weeping and anguish so that they might have pity for her and not consent to the great injustice that was her disinheritance, and the just Judge, the Emperor of all things, heard her, and by His will and permission many princes and great knights were brought together on this island to give her help, for I, when I came, found them and from them learned of the great violence that was happening.

“Their agreement and advice held that since in things of this kind, more than in any other, knights are most obliged to act, and in this particular one they had to come to her aid. All that we had achieved until then with great personal danger and effort we would otherwise lose to this singular cause, since not merely reason required it but given the size and nature of the cause, our loss would be attributed more to cowardice and a lack of effort. And so it was done. In the battle the Romans were defeated and many of them killed and others taken prisoner, and we rescued the Princess along with all her ladies and damsels. We have agreed to send Sir Cuadragante of Ireland and my cousin Sir Brian of Monjaste to King Lisuarte to ask him on our behalf to be reasonable. If by chance he does not wish to do so, in the face of that danger, first his help and then the help of all our friends will be necessary, so I ask him to be ready with all of the men that he can when he is called for.

“And give my regards to my lady the Queen and ask her to send my sister Melicia here to accompany Oriana, so her nobility and great beauty will become known to all those who shall see her rather than just having heard of her.”

This done, he told him:

“Make preparations to go in any of these ships that thou findest best provisioned, and take someone to guide thee, and speak with my cousin Mabilia first, as I told thee.”

Gandalin said he would do so.

Agrajes spoke with Sir Gandales, Amadis’ foster father, and asked him to go see his father, the King of Scotland. In case the trouble of writing a letter was not necessary, because he had been in his service for such a long time and so trustworthy in all things that he was considered more a family member and advisor than a vassal. So it can be believed that this knight with full affection and diligence would procure with this trip its purpose for his foster son Amadis, who was the thing he most loved in the world. And what he did shall be told of further on.

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Chapter 88

What Amadis said to Grasinda, and how she responded. 

[Saint Luke, the patron saint of doctors. Detail of the Saint Luke Altarpiece by Andrea Mantegna, 1453.]
 
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Amadis went to see Grasinda, whom he dearly loved and esteemed both for who she was and for the many honors he had received from her. He did not think these had been repaid, although he had done for her all the things that this story has recounted. He believed there was a great difference between men who do great feats out of virtue without much knowledge of those who benefit, and men who receive satisfaction and payment from those who benefit, because the former has a generous heart, and the latter, although he may be recognized and thanked, created a debt and was repaid.

Seated with her on an estrado, he told her:

“My lady, if I have not given you the kind of service and pleasure that I wish and desire and that your virtue deserves, I hope I may be pardoned, because as ye have observed, these troubled times are the reason for that. And because your nobility will understand that, I shall not speak of it. I have decided to speak to you and to ask if ye would favor me by telling me the goal of your desires and intentions, because ye left your lands a long time ago, and I do not know if your spirit is suffering any distress over that. If I were to learn this is so, the means to solve that shall be placed at your command.”

Grasinda told him:

“My lord, if I did not believe that your companionship and friendship had not brought me greater honor than anything that could have come my way, and that all the service and pleasure that ye received in my house was repaid and satisfied, if it indeed gave you any contentment, the person with the poorest judgment in the world would notice. And because this is true and well known by all, my lord, I wish that all my desires as I have them be manifest to you. I have seen that although many princes and knights of great valor have come together here to aid this Princess, my good lord, ye are the one whom they all look to and obey, so that in your wisdom and courage they have placed all the hope and good fortune they expect. Given your great courage and position, ye cannot avoid taking charge of everything, because it should and must fall upon no one else but you.

“So it is necessary for your friends and supporters to do all they can to sustain your honor and great estate. Because I hold myself by my own will to be one of your important friends and supporters, I wish to put my desires into practice, and I have agreed with the doctor Elisabad to send him to my lands, and with great care to have all my vassals and friends prepare and supply a great fleet for whenever it may be needed to serve at your orders, my lord. And meanwhile, I shall remain in the company and service of this lady, with the others who are with her, and I shall not part from her nor from you until the conclusion of this matter tells me what I should do.”

When Amadis heard this, he embraced her laughing and said:

“I believe that if all the virtue and nobility in the world were to be lost, it could be recovered in you, my good lady. And if that is what pleases you, so it shall be done. In your service and at my request, the doctor Elisabad must go to see the Emperor of Constantinople with a message from me, although it will be a hardship for him. Considering the gracious offer that the Emperor gave me and the discontent that many told me there he has with the Emperor of Rome, and knowing that the dispute is principally with him, I am sure that given his great and accustomed virtue he will send me help equal to the good service I have given him.”

Grasinda agreed with that, and given the great affection the doctor had for him, she would not need to order him to perform that service, for making such a journey with the message for such a person would be more of an honor and pleasure than a labor.

Amadis told her:

“My lady, since it is your will to remain here with that Princess, ye should be with her and in her chambers along with the other princesses and great ladies, and so ye shall be there and from her ye shall receive the honor and courtesy that your great virtue deserves.”

Then he had his foster father Sir Gandales called, and asked him to go to Oriana and tell her of that lady’s great willingness to be at her service, and to ask her on his behalf to accept her and give her that same honor that she was giving the highest ladies with her. This was done, and Oriana received her with the same love and goodwill that she was accustomed to give to such people, not just for her present service but for what she had done in the past for Amadis by giving him what he needed to go to Greece and above all for the gift of the doctor Elisabad. As this story has told in its third part, by treating the grave injuries that Amadis suffered when he killed the Endriago, second only to God, Elisabad gave life to him and to her, for she could not survive a single day after his death.

After this was done, Grasinda gave Doctor Elisabad everything necessary for him to carry out what had been agreed to, and she asked and ordered him that, considering what Amadis wished him to do, he should begin work on it, giving it all the importance that it deserved. The doctor responded that although he might have to expose himself to danger and travail, he would not fail to fulfill the order. Amadis thanked them deeply and then decided to write a letter to the Emperor, which said:

Letter from Amadis to the Emperor of Constantinople

“Most high Emperor: I, the Knight of the Green Sword, who by his own name is called Amadis of Gaul, send you my respects and remind you of the offer that more by your great virtue and nobility than for my services ye were pleased to give me. Now the time has come in which this is necessary especially from Your Majesty as well as from all my friends and supporters who wish to pursue justice and righteousness, as the doctor Elisabad shall tell you about more extensively. I beg you to give faith to his mission so that it may have the same effect that I myself and all those who must protect and obey would place at your own service.”

When the letter was finished and the full accreditation was given to the doctor, as shall be told later, he took leave of him and of his lady Grasinda, and went to sea to begin his voyage, which he concluded successfully and which in its time shall be told.

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Chapter 83

How by agreement and on order of Princess Oriana, the knights took her to Firm Island. 

[The Wheel of Fortune. From Troy Book and Siege of Thebes by John Lydgate, c. 1457, at the British Library.]
 
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After Amadis and the other knights left the ship carrying Salustanquidio and saw that they had control over the entire Roman fleet without opposition, they all met on Sir Florestan’s ship. They agreed that since Oriana wished to go to Firm Island, which seemed wise to them, they should do so immediately. They ordered that all the prisoners be put on a ship guarded by Gavarte of the Fearful Valley and Landin, Sir Cuadragante’s nephew, with a great many knights to watch over them.

They ordered that the spoils, which were plentiful, be placed in another ship, to be guarded by Sir Gandales, Amadis’s foster father, and Sadamon, one of the most sensible and faithful knights there was. In all the rest of the ships they split up the men at arms and sailors to take them to port, and they still had all the ships that had left Firm Island.

When everything was ready, they asked Sir Bruneo of Bonamar and Angriote d’Estrauvaus to let Oriana know that they would carry out what she had ordered, so she would feel content. Those two knights got on a boat to go to the ship where she was, and entered her chamber. They knelt before her and told her:

“Good lady, all of the knights who came to rescue you in your service wish you to know that the fleet is ready and prepared to leave. They wish to know your will, which they will carry out with complete devotion.”

Oriana told them:

“My good friends, if I am never able to reward you for this love that ye all show me and what ye have done for me, I would now despair of my life. But I have faith in our Lord that by His mercy, He would wish it be done just as it is my will. And tell these noble knights that our agreement should be carried out, which is to go to Firm Island, and when we arrive, we shall hold counsel about what should be done. I have faith in God, who is the just Judge and knows all things, that He will guide what now seems so shattered and turn it into great honor and pleasure. All things just and true, like this, may seem harsh and laborious at the beginning, as things seem now, but in the end we should only hope for good results. And things that are unjust and false yield only lies and disloyalty.”

The two knights returned with that answer. When those awaiting the reply heard it, they ordered the trumpets to sound, of which the fleet had many, and with great joy and with the shouts of the common men, they set sail. All the great lords and knights were very happy and had great spirit, since it had been their desire to remain with each other and the princess after they had successfully achieved what they had begun. As they were all of fine lineage and accomplished at deeds at arms, their courage and hearts grew knowing that their side was in the right and seeing that they were in discord with two such high princes, for they only expected to gain great honor whether things went well or poorly, since great deeds are always praised and remembered wherever they happen.

And as they all wore very fine armor and were great in number, even to those who did not know of their grand and great deeds, they would have seem like the army of a great emperor, for truly it would be hard to find in the house of any prince, no matter how grand he was, so many knights of such lineage and such worth.

Then what can be said here except that thou, King Lisuarte, should have thought about the time when thou wert a prince without inheritance. Thou ventured out into great reigns and realms, making use of thine intelligence, strength, virtue, temperance, and precious honesty more fully than any of the mortals of thy time did. Then thou took the diadem and precious crown and made thyself lord of so many knights, for which in all parts of the world thou wert praised and held in great esteem. It is not known if thou lost this because thy same fate was turned into misfortune, or whether thou suffered a great reversal in thy esteem and honorable fame from thy lack of understanding, for it is in the hand of God to give this to thee or to take it from thee.

Instead, I testify that I believe it occurred so that thou wouldst suffer, reduced from that height in which thou wert placed, so thou should especially regret those prosperous times when thou faced no opposition that might hurt thee.

And if thou hast complaints over this, complain to thyself, for thou wished to subject thy ears to men of little virtue and less truth, believing what thou heard from them instead of what thine own eyes saw. And along with this, without any pity or conscience, thou gave such latitude to thy free will that, not letting thy heart be touched by the admonishments of many people or the painful sobbing of thy daughter, thou wished to disinherit her and place her in tribulation, she whom God had adorned with so much beauty, nobility, and virtue, exceeding all women of her time. If anything in her honor could be reproached, given her excellence and sound thinking, in the end, the outcome should be more attributed to the permission of God, who wished it so according to His will, rather than to any error or sin, since if the wheel of fortune turned against thee, thou wert the one who let it loose from its mechanism.

Returning to our purpose, as ye have heard, the fleet was sailing in the sea, and in seven days at dawn it entered the port of Firm Island, where as a sign of joy many shots were fired from their cannons. When the island’s populace saw so many captured ships, they were alarmed, and everyone with their weapons rushed to the docks. But as soon as they arrived, they knew the ships belonged to their lord Amadis by the pendants and flags that flew from the crow’s nests, which were the same as those he had taken with him.

And then they launched boats, and men got out, Sir Gandales among them, to arrange for lodgings as well as to have a bridge of boats made from the land to the ships so Oriana and the ladies could disembark.

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Chapter 81 [part 2 of 2]

[What the knights decided to do to keep Oriana safe.] 

[A detail of a depiction of Ulysses arriving at Crete, from the Histoire ancienne jusqu'à César, made in Naples in 1330-1340. From the British Library.]
 
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Amadis left the chamber where Oriana was and went to see Landin of Fajarque, who had been fighting the Romans on the forecastle. They had surrendered, and Amadis ordered that since they had given themselves up as prisoners, none should be killed.

Then he boarded a very beautiful galley, joining Enil and Gandalin and forty knights from Firm Island, and ordered the galley be brought to where he could hear the battle cry of Agrajes, who had gone to Salustanquidio’s large ship. When he arrived, he saw that Agrajes had already attacked, and Amadis had his galley alongside so he could also board it, helped by Sir Cuadragante.

The press and noise were great because Agrajes and his companions were fighting and killing cruelly. But when the Romans saw Amadis, they jumped into skiffs or the water, where some died and others reached ships that had not yet been defeated. Amadis hurried forward asking for his cousin Agrajes, found him, and saw that he had Salustanquidio at his feet and had given him a large wound on his arm. The Roman was pleading for mercy, but Agrajes, who knew how he loved Olinda, would not stop attacking and trying to kill him, for he despised him.

Sir Cuadragante told him not to kill him because they would get a good ransom for him, but Amadis said, laughing:

“My lord Sir Cuadragante, let Agrajes carry out his will, for if we stop him, all of us he finds will be dead, for he will not leave any man alive.”

And as he spoke, Salustanquidio’s head was cut off. The ship was taken, and the flags of Agrajes and Sir Cuadragante were placed in the forecastle and quarterdeck, both well protected by the many good and brave knights on board. This done, Agrajes quickly went to the chamber where they said his lady Olinda was, who was asking for him.

Amadis and Sir Cuadragante, together with Landin and Listoran of the White Tower, went to see how Sir Florestan and those with him were faring. They boarded the galley Amadis had brought, then they met one of Sir Florestan’s galleys, where there was a knight, a relative on his mother’s side named Isanes, who told them:

“My lords, Sir Florestan and Gavarte of the Fearful Valley want you to know that they have killed or taken prisoner everyone in those ships, and they are holding the Duke of Ancona and the Archbishop of Talancia.”

Amadis, who took great pleasure in hearing that, sent him to say that they should bring all their galleys alongside the one he had taken, where Oriana was, and they would hold a council to decide what to do. First they searched everywhere and saw that the Roman fleet had been destroyed. No one on it had escaped, even though they had tried to in some skiffs, but they had been overtaken and captured, so no one could carry the news about the battle to land.

They went directly to Oriana’s ship, where Brondajel de Roca was prisoner. They came on board and took off their helmets and gloves, and washed off the blood and sweat. Amadis asked about Florestan, whom he did not see there. Landin of Fajarque told him:

“He went to Queen Sardamira in her chamber, who was calling for him to be summoned to help her, and now she is at Oriana’s feet begging for mercy and asking not to be killed or dishonored.”

Amadis went there and asked for Queen Sardamira, and Mabilia pointed her out, for she was embracing her, and Sir Florestan was holding her hand. Amadis came before her very humbly and wished to kiss her hands, but she pulled them back. He told her:

“My good lady, fear nothing, for you have at your service and command Sir Florestan, whom we all respect and obey, and everything shall be done as ye wish, to say nothing of our desire, which is to serve and honor all women, each as she deserves. And as you, good lady, among all others are noteworthy and esteemed, so your contentment should rightly be our chief concern.”

The Queen said to Sir Florestan:

“Tell me, my good lord, who is this knight who is so respectful and is your dear friend?”

“My lady,” he said, “this is Amadis, my lord and my brother, with whom we all came here to rescue Oriana.”

When she heard this, she stood up before him with great pleasure and said:

“My good lord Amadis, if I did not receive you as I should, do not blame me, for it was because I did not know who you were. And I thank God that in such tribulation He has placed me in your courtesy and in the protection and aid of Sir Florestan.”

Amadis took her by the other hand and brought her to the estrado where Oriana was and had her sit there. And he sat beside his cousin Mabilia, for he deeply wished to talk with her. But in all the while, Queen Sardamira, although she knew the Roman fleet had been defeated and destroyed, and many of its men dead and the rest prisoners, had still not learned about the death of Prince Salustanquidio, for whom she had good and faithful love and who she considered the greatest and foremost of all the men in the Kingdom of Rome, nor did she learn of this for some time.

And sitting there as ye hear, Oriana said to Queen Sardamira:

“My lady and Queen, although I was angered by the words that you said to me at first because they concerned a matter that I abhorred, I saw how you ceased to speak of that. Due to the kindness and courtesy in everything that has happened between us, I tell you that I shall always love you and honor you with all my heart, for ye could do nothing about what gave me sorrow, and what came to me from your noble and proper virtue gave me contentment.”

“My lady,” she said, “as such is your understanding, I shall not try to excuse myself.”

As they were speaking, Agrajes arrived with Olinda and the damsels that had been made to accompany her. When Oriana saw her, she stood up and embraced her as if she had not seen her for a long time, and she kissed her hands. She turned to Agrajes and embraced him with great love, and she also received in the same way all the knights with him, and she said to Gavarte of the Fearful Valley:

“My beloved Gavarte, ye have fulfilled the promise you gave me, and the Lord of the world knows of the thanks and the desire I have to reward you.”

“My lady,” he said, “I have done what I ought as your vassal, which I am. My lady, as my rightful ruler, when you are far from me, remember me, for I shall always be at your service.”

By then all the most honorable knights had arrived, and they went to one end of the ship to take counsel. Oriana called Amadis to come next to the estrado and very quietly told him:

“My truly beloved, I ask and order you for the true love that you have for me, now more than ever to keep our love secret. Do not speak to me privately but in front of everyone, and if you wish to tell me something in secret, do so through Mabilia. And try to take us from here to Firm Island, because when I am in a safe place, God will help me because He knows I am in the right.”

“My lady,” Amadis said, “I live only with the hope to serve you, and if I did not have that, I would not have life. As you order, so it shall be. And as for going to the island, it would be good if you were to send Mabilia to say that to these knights, so it would seem more like it came from your desire and will than from mine.”

“So I shall,” she said, “and it seems wise. Now go join those knights.”

Amadis left, and the knights spoke about what they ought to do next, but as they were many, their ideas were varied. Some thought they ought to take Oriana to Firm Island, others to Gaul, others to Scotland, which was Agrajes’ home, so they did not agree. At that time Princess Mabilia came with four damsels. They all received her well and had her stand in front of them. She said:

“My lords, Oriana asks you, for the kindness and love that ye have shown by rescuing her, to take her to Firm Island, for she wishes to remain there until she is on more loving terms with her father and mother. And she asks you, my lords, to bring to a fine end that which ye have begun so well, considering her extraordinary fate and the effort made for her, and to do for her what ye have always done for other damsels who are not of such high estate.”

“My good lady,” Sir Cuadragante said, “the fine and courageous Amadis and all the knights who have participated in her rescue are willing to serve her unto death, both ourselves and our families and friends, who can and will be many. We are all united to protect her from her father and the Emperor of Rome, if they do not come to reason and do justice for her. And tell her that if God wills, it shall be done just as I have said. She should hold that firmly in her thoughts, for with God’s help, we shall not fail her. This service has been rendered to her with deliberation and effort, and she shall be aided with even greater effort and agreement until her safety and our honor are satisfied.”

All the knights agreed with what Sir Cuadragante had said, and with great commitment they pledged that they would never abandon that quest until Oriana was free and her reigns were restored, which she was certain to have if she outlived her mother and father.

Princess Mabilia bid them farewell and went to Oriana, who felt consoled when she learned the answer to her message, and she believed that with the permission of the just Judge, she would be guided to the end she desired.

With that agreement, all the knights went to their ships to order the distribution of the prisoners and spoils, which were many. They left Oriana and Queen Sardamira with their damsels and Sir Bruneo of Bonamar, Landin of Fajarque, Sir Gordan, brother of Angriote de Estravaus, his nephew Sarquiles, Orlandin, son of the Count of Urlanda, and Enil, who had suffered three wounds, which he had kept hidden as one who was courageous and able to suffer great travail. These knights were charged with guarding Oriana and the other high-born ladies with her, accompanying them until they were brought to Firm Island, where they had agreed to go.

THUS ENDS THE THIRD BOOK OF THE NOBLE AND VIRTUOUS KNIGHT AMADIS OF GAUL.

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