Innihald
Raoul De Cambrai. An Old French Feudal Epic. Translated by Jessie Crosland.
Raoul de Cambrai is a 12th -13th century French epic poem (chanson de geste) concerning the eponymous hero's battles to take possession of his fief and of the repercussions from these battles. It is typically grouped in the "rebellious vassals cycle", or "Geste of Doon de Mayence".
Raoul de Cambrai, the posthumous son of Raoul Taillefer, count of Cambrai, by his wife Alais, sister of King Louis d'Outre-Mer, whose father's lands had been given to another, demanded the fief of Vermandois, which was the natural inheritance of the four sons of Herbert, lord of Vermandois. On King Louis's refusal, he proceeded to war. The chief hero on the Vermandois side was Bernier, a grandson of Count Herbert, who had been the squire and firm adherent of Raoul, until he was driven into opposition by the fate of his mother, burned with the nuns in the church of Origny. Bernier eventually slew the terrible Raoul in single fight, but in his turn was slain, after an apparent reconciliation, and the blood-feud was left for his sons.
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