[1046] Rollo was invested in his new duchy of Normandy, A.D. 912. William invaded England, A.D. 1066.
[1047] Vid. Hist. des Troubadours, 3 tom. passim, & vid. Fableaux ou Contes du XII. & du XIII. Siécle, traduits, &c. avec des Notes historiques & critiques, &c. par M. le Grand. Paris, 1781, 5 tom. 12mo.
[1049] See a pathetic song of his in Mr. Walpole's Catalogue of Royal Authors, vol. i. p. 5. The reader will find a translation of it into modern French, in Hist. littéraire des Troubadours, 1774, 3 tom. 12mo. See vol. i. (p. 58) where some more of Richard's poetry is translated. In Dr. Burney's Hist. of Music, vol. ii. p. 238, is a poetical version of it in English.
[1050] Mons. Favine's Theatre of Honour and Knighthood, translated from the French. London, 1623, fol. tom. ii. p. 49. An elegant relation of the same event (from the French of Presid. Fauchet's Recueil, &c.) may be seen in Miscellanies in prose and verse: by Anna Williams, London, 1766, 4to. p. 46. It will excite the reader's admiration to be informed that most of the pieces of that collection were composed under the disadvantage of a total deprivation of sight.
[1051] Favine's words are, "Jongleur appellé Blondiaux de Nesle," Paris, 1620, _4to_. p. 1106. But Fauchet, who has given the same story, thus expresses it, "Or ce roy ayant nourri un Menestrel appellé Blondel, &c." liv. 2, p. 92. Des anciens Poëtes François. He is however said to have been another Blondel, not Blondel (or Blondiaux) de Nesle: but this no way affects the circumstances of the story.
[1052] This the author calls in another place, An ancient MS. of old Poesies, written about those very times. From this MS. Favine gives a good account of the taking of Richard by the duke of Austria, who sold him to the emperor. As for the MS. chronicle, it is evidently the same that supplied Fauchet with this story. See his Recueil de l'Origine de la Langue & Poesie Françoise, Ryme, & Romans, &c. Par. 1581.
[1053] Tribales. "Retrudi eum præcepit in Triballis: a quo carcere nullus ante dies istos exivit."—Lat. Chron. of Otho of Austria: apud Favin.
[1054] Comme Menestrels s'accointent legerement.—Favine. (Fauchet expresses it in the same manner.)
[1055] I give this passage corrected, as the English translator of Favine's book appeared here to have mistaken the original:—Scil. "Et quant Blondel eut dit la moitie de la Chanson, le Roy Richart se prist a dire l'autre moitie et l'acheva."—Favine, p. 1106. Fauchet has also expressed it in nearly the same words. Recueil, p. 93.