Things in Aquitain began in the meantime to take a more peaceful turn than our warlike singer could wish or expect. King Henry appeared on the scene as peacemaker between his sons, and by his command young Henry had to declare himself satisfied with a money compensation for his claims of overlordship. This compliance drew on him the momentary indignation of the troubadour, who calls him ‘a king of cowards;’ and adds that ‘not by lying asleep will he become master of Cumberland, or King of England, or conqueror of Ireland.’ The defection of their leader proved fatal to the league of the barons, who separately tried to make their peace with Richard and quietly submitted to his punishing wrath. Not so Bertran de Born. His first impulse was to give utterance to his contempt for the nobles who by their want of courage and union destroyed their last chance of safety. ‘I will sing a _sirventes_,’ Bertran exclaims, ‘of the cowardly barons, and after that not waste another word upon them. More than a thousand spurs have I broken in them, and never could I make them trot or gallop. Now they allow themselves to be robbed without saying a word. God’s curse upon them!’ His next thought must have been to find a new head and centre for such remnants of the rebellious forces as still remained unsubdued. In this endeavour he was more successful than might have been expected under the circumstances. Geoffrey, Henry’s younger brother, who had been commissioned by the King to facilitate the reconciliation between Richard and his barons, suddenly declared himself in favour of the latter, and began to invade Poitou with all the forces at his disposal. We have no direct evidence of Bertran’s active participation in this affair. But we know of his intimacy with Geoffrey, whom, after the desertion of the cause by young Henry, he hails as a worthy pretender to the crowns of England and Normandy. We are therefore justified in conjecturing that the bold troubadour’s advice may have had much weight with a prince of Geoffrey’s ambition.