Arthurian Romances

by Chretien de Troyes

  ‘But I have waited so long for happiness and good fortune.’

  Without hesitation her nurse assured her that she would help her with everything and that there was no reason to doubt or be afraid. She said that once she started she would go to great lengths to provide her with a potion to drink that would make her cold, colourless, pale and stiff, and that would mask her power of speech and breathing, though she would in fact be quite alive and healthy and would feel no ill effects. Once Fenice had taken the potion everyone who saw her would be entirely convinced that her soul had left her body, and she could spend an entire day and night in her coffin or tomb without any harm.

  After Fenice heard this, she answered in reply: ‘Nurse, I entrust myself to your care and rely upon you. I am in your hands; take care of me, and tell all these people I see here to depart, for I am sick and they’re disturbing me.’

  Politely she said to them: ‘Lords, my lady is ill and wishes you all to leave, for you are talking very loudly and the noise is bad for her. She will have no rest or repose as long as you’re in this room. I can’t remember her having had any malady that I’ve heard her complain of more: this one is so violent and overwhelming. Go away now, but please don’t feel insulted.’

  They all departed at once, as soon as she requested. Meanwhile Cligés had summoned John to his house with all due haste and spoke to him privately: ‘John, do you know what I want to tell you? You are my serf and I your master, and I can sell or give you away – both you and all you have – for you are mine to dispose of. But if I can trust you in an affair I have in mind, you and your heirs will be free for ever.’

  Eager for his freedom, John replied immediately. ‘My lord,’ he said, ‘there is nothing I would not do at your bidding to secure freedom for myself and my wife and children. Give me your command; no task is so hard that it would be any problem or pain for me, or give me any difficulty. Besides, I would have to do your bidding and lay aside my own affairs anyway, whether I liked it or not.’

  ‘That is true, John, but this is something that my mouth dares not utter unless you swear and promise and assure me on your oath that you’ll help me faithfully and never betray my secret.’

  ‘Willingly, my lord,’ said John. ‘You may place your trust in me, for I promise and swear to you that as long as I live I’ll not say anything that I think might cause you suffering or harm.’

  ‘Oh, John, even were it to mean my death, I would not dare tell any man what I am about to ask your help with; I would rather let my eye be plucked out. But I have found you to be so loyal and prudent that I shall tell you what is in my heart. I feel confident that you will please me, both in helping me and in keeping my secret.’

  ‘So help me God, I truly will, my lord.’

  Then Cligés explained and told him their plan in all its details. And when he had told him everything – just as you who have heard my story know it – then John assured him that he would use all his best skills to build a tomb for Fenice. Then he told Cligés that if he would agree to accompany him he would like to take him to see a certain house he had built which not even his wife or children had ever seen, where he worked and painted and sculpted in complete privacy. He would show him the finest and most beautiful spot he had ever seen.

  ‘Then let’s go there!’ said Cligés.

  In an out of the way spot below the town John had made use of all his skills in the construction of a tower. He took Cligés there with him and led him through the various levels, which were painted with beautiful and brightly coloured images, showing him the rooms and fireplaces as he led him up and down. Cligés inspected the isolated house where no one lived or frequented; he crossed from one room into another until he was convinced he had examined them all. He found the tower very pleasing and commented on its great beauty: his lady would be quite safe here all the days of her life, for no one would know she was there.

  ‘You are quite right, my lord, no one will know she’s here. But do you think you have already seen all my tower and my clever inventions? There still remain secret areas that no man could ever discover. And if you should care to try to look as closely as you can, no matter how clever and methodical you are, still you would find no more apartments unless I pointed them out and showed them to you. I tell you that this place does not lack baths, nor anything that a lady needs, as far as I can remember or recall. The lady will be very comfortable here. As you will see, this tower has a vast underground room which has no visible door or entry-way on any side. The door is carved so skilfully and ingeniously out of the solid rock that you cannot find the lines of the join.’

  ‘These are wonders that you’ve described,’ said Cligés. ‘Lead on and I will follow, for I am eager to see all this.’

  Then John went ahead, leading Cligés by the hand to where there was a door in the polished rock, all decorated and painted over. Still holding Cligés by the right hand, John stopped at the wall.

  ‘My lord,’ he said, ‘it is impossible to see any door or opening in this wall, so do you think there is any way anyone could pass through without breaking or knocking it down?’

  Cligés replied that he did not believe so, and would never believe it unless he saw it. Then John told him that he would see it and he would open the door in the wall for him. And John, who had crafted the work, released the door in the wall and opened it without damaging or breaking down the wall. Then in single file they descended a spiral staircase to a vaulted apartment where John worked at his creations, whenever it pleased him to work.

  ‘My lord,’ he said, ‘of all the men God ever created, only the two of us have ever been where we are now. As you will shortly see, the place is most agreeable, and I suggest that this should be your refuge and that your sweetheart be concealed here. These quarters are suitable for such a guest: for there are bedrooms, and baths with tubs of hot water brought through underground pipes. Anyone looking for a comfortable spot to house and conceal his sweetheart would have to go far before finding anything so pleasant. You’ll consider it most suitable once you’ve seen it all.’

  Then John showed him everything – beautiful bedchambers and painted vaults – pointing out many examples of his handiwork, which greatly pleased Cligés. After they had explored the whole tower, Cligés said: ‘John, my friend, I grant freedom to you and all your heirs and place myself entirely in your hands. I wish my sweetheart to live alone here, without anyone knowing of it except me, you, and her.’

  John replied: ‘I thank you, my lord. We’ve been here long enough now. Since we have no more business here, let’s be on our way back.’

  ‘You are quite right,’ said Cligés; ‘let us be off!’

  Then they left the tower and started for town, where on their return they heard everyone whispering: ‘Don’t you know the unbelievable news about my lady the empress? May the Holy Spirit give health to the noble, prudent lady, for she is lying grievously ill.’

  As soon as Cligés heard the rumour, he rushed to the court. There was no happiness or joy there, for everyone was sad and dejected on account of the empress, who was pretending to be sick since the illness she complained of caused her neither pain nor suffering. She told everyone that as long as she was suffering from this illness, which caused pains in her heart and head, she wanted no visitors allowed in her room except the emperor and his nephew: to these two she dared not refuse admittance. But she did not really care whether her husband the emperor came. For Cligés she was obliged to undergo much suffering and danger, and she was upset that he did not come to her, for the only thing she wanted was to see him. Soon Cligés would be with her to tell her what he had seen and discovered. And indeed soon he was there to tell her, but he did not stay long because Fenice – so that people would think she hated what in reality pleased her – cried out: ‘Go away! You’re insufferable! You’re unbearable! Go away! I’m so sick I’ll never get up again.’

  Cligés, though pleased to hear this, went away looking more upset than anyone you have ever see
n. He looked very sad outwardly, but his heart was happy within, in anticipation of his joy.

  Without being sick, the empress moaned and pretended she was ill; and the emperor, who believed her, was in a constant state of grief and summoned doctors to care for her; but she did not want anyone to see her and refused to let anyone touch her. The emperor had good cause to be distressed when he heard her say that there would only be one doctor, who alone could easily restore her health whenever he wished. He held the power of life and death over her, so she placed her health and life entirely in his hands. Everyone thought she was referring to God, but that was not at all her intent, for she was thinking only of Cligés: he was her god, who could restore her health or cause her death.

  Thus the empress took care that no doctor should become suspicious, and in order to deceive the emperor more completely she refused to eat or drink, until she became all pale and livid. Her nurse tended to her and, meanwhile, with wondrous guile searched secretly and without arousing anybody’s notice through all the town until she found a woman who was dying of an incurable disease. To perfect her deception, she went often to visit the woman, promising to cure her of her illness; every day she took a urinal in which to examine her urine, until she saw that no medicine would be of help. On the very day that the woman died Thessala brought this urine back with her, carefully guarding it until the emperor arose.

  She went immediately to him and said: ‘At your command, my lord, summon all your doctors, for my lady, exhausted by this malady, has passed some water and wants the doctors to examine it, but not in her presence.’

  The doctors came into the great hall and found the urine to be foul and colourless. They each gave their opinion until they all agreed that she would never recover and was not likely to live to see the hour of nones when, if she survived that long, God would come to take her soul to Himself. They whispered this among themselves, but then the emperor spoke out and implored them to tell him the truth. They replied that they had no faith in her recovery and that she will have yielded up her soul before the hour of nones. Upon hearing these words, the emperor could scarcely keep himself from falling to the ground in a faint, along with many of the others who heard it too. No one ever suffered more from grief than did the people throughout the palace.

  I shall speak no more of the grief. You will hear what Thessala was preparing, as she blended and stirred her potion. She blended it and mixed it, for she had provided herself well in advance with everything she knew was needed for the potion. A little before the hour of nones she gave Fenice the potion to drink. As soon as she had swallowed it, her vision blurred, her face became pale and white as if she had lost her blood. She could not have moved foot or hand if they had flayed her alive; she did not budge or speak, though she could clearly hear the emperor’s lamentations and the crying that filled the hall.

  Throughout the town the weeping people cried out, saying: ‘God, what woe and what vexation foul Death has caused us! Rapacious Death! Ravenous Death! Death, you are more insatiable than a she-wolf! You could have taken no worse bite out of this world. What have you done, Death? May God damn you for having put out the light of beauty. You have slain the best and holiest creature, as long as she lived, that God ever used his talents to shape. God is much too patient when he allows you power to destroy his creatures. But now God should grow angry and cast you from his kingdom, for you have grown too audacious, too proud, and too impudent.’

  Thus all the people raged, wringing their hands and beating their palms, while the priests read their Psalters, praying God to have mercy on the soul of the good lady.

  In the midst of the tears and the cries, so the book affirms, three venerable physicians arrived from Salerno,19 where they had long resided. Because of the great lamentation they stopped and inquired the reason for the cries and tears, and why people were so crazed and distraught.

  In their grief, they replied: ‘God! My lords, you don’t know? Every nation, one after another, would go mad with grief like us, if they knew of the great sorrow and affliction, the sadness and immense loss we have suffered this day. God! Where are you from, then, not to know what has just happened in this city? We will tell you the truth, for we wish to accompany you to the sad sight that is the cause of our grief. Do you not know how cruel Death, who covets and seeks all things and is always lying in wait for what is best, has committed today a mad act, as she often does? God had illumined the world with a special light and brightness. But Death cannot refrain from going about her business: every day, as best she can, she erases the best creature she can find. Now she has tested her power and taken more excellence in one body than in all she has left behind. She would not have done any worse if she had taken all the rest of us, if only she had left alive and well this victim she has led away. Beauty, courtesy, wisdom, and the manifold goodnesses a lady can possess have been seized and stolen away from us by Death when she destroyed the many fine qualities of my lady, the empress. In this, Death has slain us all.’

  ‘Almighty God,’ said the doctors, ‘clearly You must be angry with this city not to have brought us here sooner. Had we come yesterday, Death would have had cause to gloat had she been able to snatch anyone from us.’

  ‘My lady would never have allowed you to see her or care for her, my lords. There were many good doctors here, but it never pleased my lady for any one of them to see her and tend to her malady. No, upon my word, she would not allow it at all.’

  Then they remembered Solomon, whose wife so detested him that she deceived him by faking death;20 perhaps this woman had done the same. But if there was any way that they could arrange to examine her, no man alive could keep them from exposing the whole truth if they saw any trickery.

  They went immediately to the court, where the outcry and clamour was so great that you could not have heard God’s thunder. Their chief and the most learned among them drew near the coffin – no one said, ‘Don’t touch her!’ and no one pulled him away – and placed his hand on her breast and side and felt, beyond any doubt, that life was still in her body. He had clearly seen this and was certain of it. Seeing the emperor before him desperate arid about to die of grief, he called out and said to him:

  ‘Emperor, take comfort. I am certain from what I have observed that this lady is not dead. Cease your grief and be comforted! If I do not restore her to you alive, then you may kill or hang me.’

  Immediately all the clamour in the great hall ceased and the emperor told the doctor that if he restored the empress to life he had only to give his orders and whatever he asked would be his: the emperor himself would be subject to him. But he would be hanged like a common thief if he had lied in the slightest.

  The doctor replied: ‘I accept your terms. You should not show me any mercy if I cannot make her speak to you here. Without any delay or second thoughts have this hall cleared for me, let no one remain! I must examine in private the malady that afflicts the lady. Only these two doctors, who are my associates, shall remain here with me; everyone else must leave.’

  John, Cligés, and Thessala could have tried to countermand this order, but everyone there might have become suspicious had they attempted to dissuade them. So they held their silence, approving what they heard the others approving, and left the hall.

  Then the three doctors roughly ripped open the lady’s shroud, without using a knife or scissors, and said to her: ‘Lady, don’t be alarmed or afraid, but speak in perfect confidence. We know for a fact that you are sound and healthy, so be sensible and accommodating and don’t lose heart. If you seek our aid, all three of us promise to help you to the best of our abilities, for better or for worse. We will be perfectly loyal to you, whether in keeping your secret or helping you out. Don’t make us say any more! Since we have put our skill and service entirely at your disposal, you should not refuse it.’

  In this way they sought to trick and deceive her, but to no avail for she had no use or desire for the service they promised her; all their efforts were in vain. And
when the physicians saw that no amount of cajoling or begging would achieve anything, they took her out of the coffin and beat and struck her. But this was madness, for they could not get a word from her. Then they threatened her and tried to frighten her, saying that if she refused to speak she would soon regret her folly because they would do to her such unbelievable things the likes of which had never been done to a wretched woman’s body.

  ‘We are positive that you’re alive and will not deign to speak to us. We are positive that you are faking death in order to deceive the emperor. Don’t be afraid of us! You have already felt our anger so now, before we’ve hurt you more, tell us your plans, for your behaviour is reprehensible. And we will help you in any undertaking, whether wise or foolish.’

  But it was no use, for she would not be moved. Then they struck her again with their straps, raising welts all down her back, and beat her tender flesh until the blood poured forth. When they had beaten her with their straps until her flesh was raw and the blood was flowing freely from her open wounds, still they could not get even a moan or word from her, nor did she stir or move. Then they said they must go to fetch lead and fire; they would melt down the lead and pour it in her palms rather than fail to break her silence. They sent for and procured fire and lead, lit the fire, and melted down the lead. And so these coarse scoundrels tortured and abused the lady by pouring the hot, boiling lead straight from the fire into her palms. But it was not enough for them that the lead burned right through her palms; no, the dastardly cowards said that if she did not talk soon they would put her on a grate until she was grilled to a crisp. Still she remained silent and sacrificed her body to their beatings and abuse.