Page:Tirant lo Blanch; a study of its authorship, principal sources and historical setting (IA cu31924026512263).pdf/158

 *ments. Shortly after his return, he was sent to the town of Calais and made Captain of that place. Longing for a little excitement, he made up a tournament of his own. Three days in succession, mounted on his caparisoned steed, he went out on the field, and each day he returned victorious. Later he was sent as ambassador to Constance in Germany, to attend the well-known Council of Constance. There he was challenged by some great duke, who was slain in the encounter. The German emperor expressed his admiration for him by saying that "no Christian prince hath such another knight for Wisdom, Nurture, and Manhood; that if all courtesy were lost, yet it might be found again in him." His principal military activities were in the war against the French. In 1416 he was sent to relieve Harfleur; was at the siege of Caen; captured several places; was made Captain of Beauvais; and was present at the siege of Rouen. When that city finally fell, the capitulation was made to him. He was appointed to several offices at home and abroad, his last and most important one being the Governorship of France and Normandy. In the year 1439 he died in the castle of Rouen at the age of fifty-eight.

A strong resemblance between Richard de Beauchamp and Guy of Warwick is evident. Is it not probable that this similarity was to some degree instrumental in causing Martorell to give the William of Warwick episode a setting of the fifteenth century? There are several references made to deeds of William of Warwick which cannot be found in the English romance, Guy of Warwick. One of them, however, concerns without doubt Richard de Beauchamp. When the hermit-king told the countess where the arms were that he desired, she begged him to reveal to her how he happened to know so much about her husband. He answered that he was with the earl when the latter,