Page:Tirant lo Blanch; a study of its authorship, principal sources and historical setting (IA cu31924026512263).pdf/36

 reunited couple and offered up to heaven infinite praise and thanks. Then, in a triumphant procession, they returned to the castle, where a sumptuous banquet was served. (Chap. 26)

Nine days later there arrived four hundred carts laden with gold and silver, all of which had been taken from the Moors. The Duke of Bedford, the Duke of Gloucester, the Earl of Salisbury, and the Earl of Stafford were put in charge of this immense treasure. A meeting of the General Council was ordered for the next day. (Chap. 26)

At this council the earl gave instructions concerning the distribution of the booty, and restored to the former ruler the crown, scepter, and royal robes. He himself immediately put on again the garb of the Franciscan order. The reinstated king begged him to remain at his court. He offered him the principality of Wales, but he would not accept it. All the members of the council besought him to stay, but he answered that he must return to serve God. When the king realized that he could not induce him to dwell amongst them, he gave half of the kingdom of Cornwall to the earl's son, to whom was also granted the privilege of wearing an iron crown. The hermit gave thanks to the king for the gift and the honors bestowed on his son, and then bade farewell to His Majesty and his court. He went to a small villa in his county, where he remained several days. The king sent him thirty carts loaded with the most precious things contained in the booty captured from the Moors, but he refused to accept any of it. When the king left the city of Warwick he sent for the earl's son, and, at the city gate, he appointed him Grand Constable of all England. Then the king departed for London. (Chap. 27)

The Countess visited her husband, the hermit, in the villa, and finally persuaded him to have a hermitage built, which was to consist of a church, with an apart