Chapter XXXII: Of the Great Deeds of Prowess of Riccar Loghercio of the Isle

Riccar Loghercio was Lord of the Isle, and was a great gentleman of Provence, and a man of great courage and prowess.

And when the Saracens came to attack Spain, he was in that battle called the Spagnata, the most perilous battle that there has been since that of the Greeks and the Trojans. Then were the Saracens in great number, with many kinds of engines, and Riccar Loghercio was the leader of the first battalion. And as the horses could not be put in the van for fear of the engines, he bade his followers turn the hindquarters of their horses towards the enemy; and they backed so long that they found themselves in the enemy’s midst.

And so the battle proceeded and they continued to slay right and left, so that they utterly destroyed the enemy.

And when, on another occasion, the Count of Toulouse was fighting against the Count of Provence, Riccar Loghercio descended from his steed, and mounted on a mule, and the Count said: What does this mean, Riccar? Messer, I wish to show that I am good neither for pursuit nor for flight.

Herein he showed his great liberality, which was greater in him than in any other knight. [66]