Page:Readings in European History Vol 1.djvu/237

 The Development of France 201 For example, Guy Troussel, son of that violent man and troubler of the kingdom, Milo of Montlhe'ry, came back home from an expedition to the Holy Sepulcher, weakened by the hardships of the long journey and by many trials. He had been moved by exceeding great fear of Corbaran, 1 and had descended from the wall of Antioch and left the army of God beleaguered within, and so he was forsaken by all. Fearing that his only daughter might in consequence be deprived of her heritage, he yielded to the desire and per- suasions of Philip, the king, and of Louis, his son, who ardently longed for his castle, and gave his daughter in marriage to Philip, the king's younger son. . . . When the castle of Montlhe'ry fell in this wise into their hands, the king and his son rejoiced as if they had plucked a straw from their eyes or had torn down bars by which they had been confined. And, indeed, we have heard the father say to his son Louis, " Go, son Louis, keep that tower with all vigilance, whose ravages have well-nigh made us grow old, and whose wiles and criminal frauds have never let me rest in good peace and quiet." Indeed, its unfaithfulness made the faithful faithless, the faithless most faithless. It brought together the treacherous from far and near, and no ill was done in the whole king- dom without its support. And since the territory of Paris was commanded on the river Seine by Corbeil, midway by Montlhe'ry, on the right by Chateaufort, there resulted such confusion and chaos in the communications between the men of Paris and of Orleans that neither could go to visit the others without the consent of these faithless men, unless they traveled with a strong guard. But the marriage of which we have spoken tore down the barrier and made travel easy between the two cities. Suger well understood the duties of a monarch in that disorderly period, and gives many illustrations of the obstacles to be overcome before a real kingdom of France could be created. 1 I.e. Kerbogha, Emir of Antioch. How the French king gained pos- session of the castle of Montlhery, which had long troubled the peace.