[Sidenote: Death of Bayard.] Thus adjured, Renaud, with breaking heart,
finally consented. The treaty was signed, and Bayard, with feet heavily
weighted, was led to the middle of a bridge over the Seine, where the
emperor had decreed that he should be drowned. At a given signal from
Charlemagne the noble horse was pushed into the water; but, in spite of the
weights on his feet, he rose to the surface twice, casting an agonized
glance upon his master, who had been forced to come and witness his death.
Aya, seeing her son's grief, drew his head down upon her motherly bosom,
and when Bayard rose once more and missed his beloved master's face among
the crowd, he sank beneath the waves with a groan of despair, and never
rose again.
Renaud, maddened by the needless cruelty of this act, now tore up the
treaty and flung it at the emperor's feet. He then broke his sword
Flamberge and cast it into the Seine, declaring that he would never wield
such a weapon again, and returned to Montauban alone and on foot. There he
bade his wife and children farewell, after committing them to the loyal
protection of Roland. He then set out for the Holy Land, where he fought
against the infidels, using a club as weapon, so as not to break his vow.
This evidently proved no less effective in his hands than the noted
Flamberge, for he was offered the crown of Jerusalem in reward for his
services. As he had vowed to renounce all the pomps and vanities of the
world, Renaud passed the crown on to Godfrey of Bouillon. Then, returning
home, he found that Clarissa had died, after having been persecuted for
years by the unwelcome attentions of many suitors, who would fain have
persuaded her that her husband was dead.
[Sidenote: Death of Renaud.] According to one version of the story, Renaud
died in a hermitage, in the odor of sanctity; but if we are to believe
another, he journeyed on to Cologne, where the cathedral was being built,
and labored at it night and day. Exasperated by his constant activity,
which put them all to shame, his fellow-laborers slew him and flung his
body into the Rhine. Strange to relate, however, his body was not carried
away by the strong current, but lingered near the city, until it was
brought to land and interred by some pious people.
Many miracles having taken place near the spot where he was buried, the
emperor gave orders that his remains should be conveyed either to
Aix-la-Chapelle or to Paris. The body was therefore laid upon a cart, which
moved of its own accord to Dortmund, in Westphalia, where it stopped, and
where a church was erected in honor of Renaud in 811. Here the saintly
warrior's remains were duly laid to rest, and the church in Dortmund still
bears his name. A chapel in Cologne is also dedicated to him, and is
supposed to stand on the very spot where he was so treacherously slain
after his long and brilliant career.
CHAPTER X.
HUON OF BORDEAUX.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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