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AT

Florence of Biscay.

T the time when Froissart was at the castle of Orthes, he felt some curiosity as to a knight who stood in the same relationship to Gaston Phoebus de Foix as Evan had stood towards Gaston the younger, and applied for information to the squire who had revealed to him the domestic misfortunes of the husband of Agnes of Navarre.

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'I once asked him,' says the chronicler, 'about Sir Peter de Béarn, bastard brother to the count, who seemed to me a knight of great valour, and if he were rich or married. Married, indeed, he is," replied he, "but neither his wife nor children live with him." "For what reason?" said I. "I will tell you," replied the squire. 'Sir Peter de Béarn has a custom, when asleep in the night-time, of rising, arming himself, drawing his sword, and fighting, as if he were in actual combat. The chamberlains and valets, who sleep in his chamber to watch him, on hearing him rise, go to him and inform him what he is doing; of all which he tells them he is ignorant, and that they lie. Sometimes they leave neither arms nor sword in his chamber, when he makes such a noise and clatter, as if all the devils in hell were there. They therefore think it best to replace the arms; and sometimes he forgets them, and remains quietly in his bed." I again asked if he had a large fortune with his wife. "Yes, in God's name, had he," says the squire; "but the lady keeps possession of it, and enjoys the profits, except a fourth part, which Sir Peter has." "And where does the lady reside?'

Her

"She lives with her cousin, the King of Castille. father was Count of Biscay, and cousin-german to Don Pedro, who put him to death."

It must be confessed there is much difficulty in reconciling this account of the wife of Sir Peter of Béarn with the statements of genealogists. In fact, it appears that in 1287 Diego Lopez Diaz de Haro, high steward and standardbearer to King Sancho, was made Count of Biscay, with command over all the country from Burgos to the sea; but that, afterwards displaying a dangerous ambition, he was in 1289 slain at court in the king's presence. However, he left a daughter, who, having been espoused by the king's brother, had a son, John, who was recognised as Count of Biscay, in right of his mother, and surnamed Cocles, because he had lost an eye while battling with the Moors. But John, like his predecessor, showed himself refractory, and met with a similar punishment. In 1327 he was killed by the king's order; and his pretensions were inherited by his daughter Mary.

In 1329 John de Lara espoused Mary of Biscay, and in her right became lord of that province, the inhabitants of which differed from other Spaniards in customs as well as language, making the women drink before the men, ever after a King of Castille attempted to poison his son in a cup of wine; holding themselves free from the payment of taxes, and not allowing any prelate to come among them; and he had a son, Nugna, and two daughters, Joan and Isabel. On the 28th of November, 1351, John de Lara and his countess ceased to live. Nugna died some time after his parents. Joan, who was wife of Tellio de Castell, was put to death in 1359. Isabel, who was wife of John de Arragon,

*

* When Ferdinand the Catholic,' says Anderson, 'came in progress hither, the people rose and drove back his companion, the Bishop of Pampeluna, from the king's presence, and gathering all the dust on which they thought the bishop had trod, threw it into the sea.'

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was put to death in 1361; and Peter the Cruel took possession of Biscay and its dependencies, and annexed them to the crown. Such are the particulars as to the house of Biscay furnished by genealogists.*

It appears, however, from the narrative of Froissart, that there was a survivor; that the survivor was a damsel; and that the damsel's name was Florence; that Florence was a lady of honour to Blanche of Bourbon; that, with regard to the murder of that illstarred princess, she spoke with more courage than prudence; and that King Peter, who was then gratifying his savage propensities without fear or scruple, wished to seize and imprison her. Florence, however, received warning from her friends that she was in danger, and that if she valued life and liberty she must lose no time in saving herself.

'Lady,' said they, 'fly; for if Don Pedro lay hands on you, he will put you to death, or at least imprison you; for he is much enraged that you should say he strangled his queen, sister to the Duke of Bourbon and the Queen of France, in her bed; and your evidence is more readily believed than any other, inasmuch as you were of her bedchamber.'

Not having any fancy for trusting to Peter's tender mercies, Florence took the advice. Hastily preparing for a journey, she escaped with a few attendants, passed through Biscay, and, reaching the territories of the Count of Foix, threw herself on his protection. The count, who is described as 'kind and affectionate to all ladies and damsels,' his own wife of course excepted, regarded her with compassion, detained her at his court, and placed her under the auspices of the Lady de la Karasse, a great baroness of the country, and provided her with everything suitable to her rank.

The chivalrous courtesy which the Count of Foix exhibited to Florence of Biscay was not perhaps wholly

* See Anderson's Royal Genealogies, p. 713.

disinterested. Though a fugitive, she was an heiress, who might yet enjoy her own;' and Gaston Phoebus was not unmindful of his brother Sir Peter, who was much in his good graces.' In any case, he determined on making a match, and succeeded in his object. Sir Peter married Florence; and, when that revolution which placed Henry of Trastamare on the throne of Castille occurred, the count exercised his influence so effectually that the lady had her lands restored.

For a time all seemed to go well; and Florence, residing with her husband at the castle of Languedudon, in Biscay, became mother of a son, who was named Peter, and a daughter, who was named Adrienne. But suddenly matters changed for the worse. Sir Peter fell into the habit of fighting in his sleep, and caused such alarm by his outrageous conduct on such occasions, that Florence became as anxious to get back to Castille as at an earlier period she had been to leave it.

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'The first time it happened,' says Froissart, was on the night following a day when he had hunted a wonderfully large bear in the woods of Béarn. This bear had killed four of his dogs, and wounded many more, so that the others were afraid of him; upon which Sir Peter drew his sword of Bordeaux steel, and advanced on the beast with great rage, on account of the loss of his dogs. He combated him a long time with much bodily danger, and with great difficulty slew him.

'When he returned to his castle of Languedudon, and had the bear carried with him, everyone was astonished at the enormous size of the beast, and the courage of the knight who had attacked and slain it. When the Countess of Biscay, his wife, saw the bear, she instantly fainted, and was carried to her chamber, where she continued very disconsolate all that day and the following day, and would not say what ailed her.'

Meanwhile Sir Peter commenced his somnambulations

in a style which must have rendered him most perilous to the inmates of the castle; and when it was found that the knight was given, 'when asleep in the night-time, to rise, arm himself, draw his sword, and to begin fighting, as if he were in actual combat,' his lady not unnaturally began to think of escaping with her children, and to persuade herself that a little pious fraud was excusable under the circumstances. At all events, on the third day she sounded her husband on the subject.

'I feel,' said she, 'that I shall never recover my health till I have made a pilgrimage to St. James's shrine at Compostella. Give me leave, therefore, to go thither, and to carry my son Peter and my daughter Adrienne with me, I request you.'

Sir Peter offered no objection to the proposed pilgrimage of his spouse; and Florence, resolved not to cause any alarm, packed up all her jewels and plate unobserved, and, taking her children with her, left the castle of Languedudon. Instead of returning, however, she went on a visit to her cousins, the King and Queen of Castille; and, once safe at the court of Castille, she made no secret of her determination neither to return nor send her children.

'It is rumoured,' said the squire,' the lady was afraid of something unfortunate happening the moment she saw the bear, and this caused her fainting; for that her father once hunted this bear, and during the chase a voice cried out, though he saw nobody, "Thou huntest me, yet I wish thee no ill, but thou shalt die a miserable death." The lady remembered this when she saw the bear, as well as that her father had been beheaded by Don Pedro without any cause; and she maintains that something unfortunate will happen to her husband; and that what passes now is nothing to what will come to pass.

'I have told you the story of Sir Peter de Béarn, in compliance with your request,' said the squire. It is a well-known fact, and what do you think of it?'