The White Knight: Tirant Lo Blanc | Page 7

so that I can

serve you. I would rather die than go on living without you. Just when I
was thinking that all my misfortunes were over, I see that my
unhappiness is only increasing. I'm left with only this poor son as a
pledge from his father, and his sad mother must be consoled with him."
She seized her small son by the hair and pulled it, and then slapped his
face, saying:
"Cry, my child, for your father's departure, and you will be good
company to your mother."
The tiny infant, who had been born only three months before, burst out
crying. The count, seeing both mother and child in tears, felt deeply
grieved, and he could not hold back his own tears. And for some time
he could not speak, while all three of them wept.
The count took his leave of her, kissing her again and again, tears
running freely from his eyes. He said farewell to the other ladies, and
when he left he took only one squire with him.
Leaving his city of Warwick, he boarded a ship, and sailed with a good
wind, and as time passed he arrived safely at Alexandria. There he
disembarked and made his way to Jerusalem. When he reached
Jerusalem he confessed his sins, and with great devotion he received
the precious body of Jesus Christ. Then he entered the holy sepulchre
of Jesus Christ and prayed there fervently and tearfully, with great
contrition for his sins.
After visiting all the other sanctuaries, he returned to Alexandria. Then
he boarded a ship and went to Venice. When he was near Venice he
gave all the money still in his possession to his squire who had served
him well, and he arranged a marriage for him so that he would not want
to return to England. Then he had his squire spread the news that he
had died, and he arranged for merchants to write to England that Count
William of Warwick had died while returning from the Holy Land of
Jerusalem.
When the countess heard the news, she felt deeply grieved, and went

into mourning, and she arranged for the funeral rites that such a
virtuous knight deserved. With the passing of time, the count returned
alone to his own land, having let his hair grow down to his shoulders,
while his beard, completely white, reached to his waist. He was dressed
in the habit of the glorious Saint Francis, and lived from charity, and he
secretly entered a devout hermitage of Our Lady which was very close
to his city of Warwick.
This hermitage was in a lovely spot on a high mountain, with a dense
thicket of trees, and a clear running spring. The count retired to this
solitary place, and lived alone to escape the materialistic world and to
do penance for his sins. Living from charity, he went to his city of
Warwick once a week to beg for alms. With his thick beard and long
hair the people there did not recognize him, and he went to the countess,
his wife, to beg. When she saw him asking for charity so humbly, she
made them give him more than they gave any of the others. And he
spent his poor, miserable life this way for some time.
Some time later the great King of Canary was filled with anger because
some pirate ships had plundered a village that belonged to him. He left
his land with a large armada, and sailing with a favorable wind he
reached the fertile, peaceful shores of England.
In the dark of night the entire fleet entered the port of Southampton and
all the Moors went ashore very quietly. When they were on land, they
put their troops in order and began to attack the island.
When the peace-loving king received the news, he gathered as many
men as he could to put up a resistance, and went into battle with the
Moors. The fighting was great, indeed: many men died, especially the
Christians. Because the Moors were greater in number, the forces of the
English king were destroyed. He had to retreat with his remaining men,
and he took refuge in a city called Saint Thomas of Canterbury where
that holy body now rests.
The King of England mustered more men, and he learned that the
Moors were conquering the island, killing many Christian men and
dishonoring the women and young girls, making captives of them all.

When this Christian king discovered that the Moors held the pass near a
watercourse, he placed his forces in a passage at the hour of midnight.
But he did not do it very secretly, and the Moors heard of it, and held
back until it was broad daylight. Then they pressed them in