During the week that he lay in hiding, one of his companions called Durassier (4) made love to the Countess. At the beginning she spoke to this new lover, as she had spoken to the first, with harsh and haughty speech that grew milder day by day, insomuch that when the time was come for dismissing the first prisoner, she put the second into his place. While he was there, another companion of his, named Valnebon, (5) did the same as the former two, and after these there came yet two or three more to lodge in the sweet prison.
4 This in all probability is the doughty James Galliot de
Genouillac, who—much in the same way as in our own times
the names of the “Iron Duke” and the “Man of Iron” have been
bestowed on Wellington and Bismarck—was called by his
contemporaries the “Seigneur d’Acier” or “Steel Lord,”
whence “Durassier”—hard steel. Born in Le Quercy in or
about 1466, Genouillac accompanied Charles VIII. on his
Italian expeditions, and, according to Brantôme, surpassed
all others in valour and influence. He greatly distinguished
himself at the battle of Fornova (1495), and in 1515 we find
him one of the chief commanders of the French artillery. For
the great skill he displayed at Marignano he was appointed
Grand Master of the Artillery and Seneschal of Armagnac, and
he subsequently became Grand Equerry of France. At Pavia,
where he again commanded the artillery, he would have swept
away the Spaniards had not the French impetuously charged
upon them, preventing him from firing his pieces. Most of
the latter he contrived to save, severe as was the defeat,
and he effectually protected the retreat of the Duke of
Alençon and the Count of Clermont into France. Genouillac
died in 1546, a year after he had been appointed Governor of
Languedoc.—B. J. and Ed.
5 Valnebon is an anagram of the name Bonneval, and Queen
Margaret evidently refers here to a member of the Bonneval
family. In the time of Charles VIII. this illustrious
Limousin house had two principal members, Anthony, one of
the leading counsellors of that king (as of his predecessor
Louis XI. and his successor Louis XII.), and Germain, also a
royal counsellor and chamberlain. The heroes of the above
story being military men and old friends and comrades, it is
probable that the reference is to Germain de Bonneval, he,
like Chastillon and Genouillac, having accompanied Charles
VIII. on his expedition into Italy. Germain de Bonneval,
moreover, was one of the seven noblemen who fought at the
battle of Fornova, clad and armed exactly like the French
king. He perished at the memorable defeat of Pavia in 1525.
From him descended, in a direct line, the famous eighteenth
century adventurer, Claud Alexander, Count de Bonneval.—B.
J. and Ed.
This manner of life continued for a long time, and was so skilfully contrived that none of the lovers knew aught of the others; and although they were aware of the love that each of them bore the lady, there was not one but believed himself to be the only successful suitor, and laughed at his comrades who, as he thought, had failed to win such great happiness.
One day when the gentlemen aforesaid were at a banquet where they made right good cheer, they began to speak of their several fortunes and of the prisons in which they had lain during the wars. Valnebon, however, who found it a hard task to conceal the great good fortune he had met with, began saying to his comrades—
“I know not what prisons have been yours, but for my own part, for love of one wherein I once lay, I shall all my life long give praise and honour to the rest. I think that no pleasure on earth comes near that of being kept a prisoner.”
Astillon, who had been the first captive, had a suspicion of the prison that he meant, and replied—
“What gaoler, Valnebon, man or woman, treated you so well that you became so fond of your prison?”
“Whoever the gaoler may have been,” said Valnebon, “my prisonment was so pleasant that I would willingly have had it last longer. Never was I better treated or more content.”
Durassier, who was a man of few words, clearly perceived that they were discussing the prison in which he had shared like the rest; so he said to Valnebon—
“On what meats were you fed in the prison that you praise so highly?”