Chapter XXXV

THE COUNT DE LISLE, LIEUTENANT FOR THE KING OF FRANCE, IN GASCONY, LAYS SIEGE TO THE CASTLE OF AUBEROCHE.

We will now return to the Count de Lisle, whom we left in La Réole. As soon as he was informed that the Earl of Derby had returned to Bordeaux, and had taken up his residence there, he did not think it probable he would undertake any more expeditions this season. He sent letters therefore to the Earls of Perigord, of Carmain, of Comminges, of Bruniguel, and to all the barons of Gascony that were in the French interest, to desire that they would collect as many people as they could, and come with them properly armed, by an appointed time, to meet him at Auberoche, as he intended to besiege it. They all obeyed his summons; for he was as a king in these parts of Gascony. The knights who were in Auberoche were not aware of this until they found themselves so closely besieged on all sides that no one could go out of the garrison without being seen. The French brought from Toulouse four large machines, which cast stones into the fortress night and day; and they made no other assault: so that in six days’ time they had demolished all the roofs of the towers, and none within the castle dared to venture out of the vaulted rooms on the ground-floor. It was the intention of the army to kill all within the castle, if they would not surrender themselves unconditionally.

News was brought to the Earl of Derby, that Auberoche was besieged; but he did not imagine his friends were so hard pushed. When Sir Frank van Halle, Sir Alain de Finefroide, and Sir John Lendal, who were thus besieged, saw how desperate their situation was, they asked their servants if there were not one among them who would, for a reward, undertake to deliver the letters they had written to the Earl of Derby at Bordeaux. One from among them stepped forward, and said he would be the man who would cheerfully undertake the commission, not through lust of gain, but from his desire to deliver them from the peril they were in. The following night the servant took the letters, sealed with their seals, and sewed them up in his clothes. He was let down into the ditches: when he was at the bottom, he climbed up the opposite side, and took his road through the army, for he could not avoid passing through it. He was met by the first guard, but was not stopped, for he understood the Gascon language well, and named one of the lords of the army, as if belonging to him; so he was suffered to pass on: but he was afterwards arrested, and detained under the tents of some other lords, who brought him to the main watch. He was interrogated, searched, and the letters found upon him, and guarded until morning, when the principals of the army assembled in the tent of the Count de Lisle, where the letters were read. They were rejoiced to find that the garrison were so much straitened that they could not hold out longer; and, seizing the

servant, they hung the letters round his neck, thrust him into one of the machines, and flung him into Auberoche. The valet fell quite dead amid the other valets of the castle, who were much terrified at it.

About this time the Earl of Perigord, his uncle Sir Charles de Poitiers, the Earl of Carmain, and the Lord of Duras, mounting their horses, rode as near to the walls of the castle as they could, and, calling out to those within by way of derision, said, “Gentlemen, inquire of your messenger where he found the Earl of Derby, and whether he is prepared to assist you, since your man was so eager to quit your fortress, and has returned as quickly.” Sir Frank van Halle replied, “By my faith, gentlemen, if we be so closely confined in this place, we will sally forth whenever it shall please God and the Earl of Derby. I wish to heaven he were acquainted with our situation, for, if he were, the proudest of you all would be afraid of standing your ground; and, if you will send any one to give him this information, one of us will surrender himself to you, to be ransomed as becomes a gentleman.” The French answered, “Nay, nay, matters must not turn out so. The Earl of Derby, in proper time, shall be made acquainted with it; but not until our engines have battered your walls level with the ground, and you shall have surrendered yourselves to save your lives.”--“That, for certain, will never happen,” said Sir Frank van Halle; “for we will not surrender ourselves, should we all die upon the walls.” The French lords then rode on, and returned to their army. The three English knights remained in Auberoche, quite confounded by the force of these engines, which flung such quantities of stones that in truth it seemed as if the thunder from heaven were battering the walls of the castle.