The San Francisco call., 1908-08-02

et 1905 by the xew York Herald An r4vhtz reserved
= o. You see. they have carried away the sword
FROM the Black Princes tomb IN that "rAyre
church of Canterbury" and none may tell you
- where it lies today.
some there may who that Cromwell
had it, hut deeper students the story and ask If
such a sword should rot ftly decorate the shrine of
Margaret OF Angoueme serve in lieu of eptaph for
that ane rogue of a man. Bernard dc Guescln. Ahl
tI.s. merry villain WHO saved France from the Plan
tagenets-this wild wolf of this brigand, this
pirate. this father of all outaws-why has history
done no better by him? Read upon the scrolls of
Crecy and Potiers the paeans of prince archer,
but you Shall not~read Bernard. The fruits
victories Of battles but not of war; the glory of
and arms the recorder for his banquet but
not the story of Bernard Guesclin.
And yet what life for some later day of Fros-
sart probing scholar who lantern and muck
rake in hand, win delve where Bernard ruled: will
search the scrip: that Spain France may hide,
and say this was the constable France, this
was the real figure of the hundred years war.
teli you Margaret
gouleme that by one incident in life of lives your
imagination may answer for the others
This would have been when Edwards ruled in
Guienne; after that a. defeated French at
Poitiers seemed TO make himself master of all
France. Here you shall chivalry at all. no
warfare that knights should have made but going
and from of troop of bandits rapne robbery
and murder. Was not this great country the
Garonne then as now the fairest and richest in all
France? DO we not read that of Bordeaux
surpassed even those of Paris in their emblems of
civilization great spreading, fertile
land. the home of mobiles merchants of rich
vineyards and smiling helds-to this Edward, the Black
Prince carried his wife Joanna, here that lady
often have wished herself back England, when
carousal followed victory and debauch
fame
There can be no shilly shaIy when these years are
be discussed any Crecy and Poitiers to
hide their shame AS band of guerrillas princes
knights spread themselves abroad fair Guienne
troop of outlaws they behaved toward simple
people Costly plate. furniture splendid carpets
unknown almost IN western Europe that time
heaped up in their plunder wagons. Many
house rnourned daughter dead; many wife
carried TO English her husband nigh,
live And this. behold, under the aegis of Edward
son, whose you visit that "fayre church o
Canterbury" whose sword very shame lies y
longer Ia its scabbard:
Now, all things were done after the Black
Prince taken King prisoner and his father
had come to believe that he lord o France be-
all contention betwixt nations In truth he
further from being lord of great
try. though It king prince should
dispute the sovereignty with him. the
pie soldier OF Rennes who had adventured in
many lands, defeated Charles the Bad at Cocherel
and been taken prisoner at the battle of Jajera by
the very prince he soon to humiate This
Bernard de Guesclin. bandit soldier the
burner of castles the destroyer of
but half hero, to the English devil appointed
by the powers OF darkness for undoing Of their
pleasures.
No longer, this fair game of love and wine
10 be played IN all delight upon the banks old
rome Let knight of the silver Spur drag to
his tent perchance body would swing from the
nearest tree tomorrow. Let the prince take fancy
TO this castle that Bernard would
fling torch at it before the month Skirmsh.
and counter sxirmish-men slaughtered love
nquor-solders down the a1tars towns
onlaged, churches burned. this campaign they
Raged in Guienne while Poiters was upon every
tongue and Crecy yet famous victory
Here out marvel for the historian. We
read of concerted action upon part Edwards
son and his knights to rid themselves maurader
dangerous Raids there wild foray counter
foray-but Of campaigning evidence. In truth
the black prince to have pleased
with the wines and the luxury the south to have
made any against the merry Bernard His one
encounter with. the famous raider is story of a
woman's passion and a weman's But it does
the prince great credit, the records here
witness.
Now. this would have been when 'nglish court
kept Angouleme the Lady Margaret of that
city almost for a saint. Her beauty has
been sung down through the stories, not