Excerpt from The Court of a Saint Long the road which borders the meadows between Paris and Montl'hery there was, on a spring morning of the year 1227, an air of great bustle and commotion. From the gates of the city Since daybreak bands of men had been marching out till the road was an avenue, not of the straight poplars of the Seine country, but of armed men. Stout burghers in imposing if unaccustomed armour lined the way, followed by men with maces and cross-bows. Among them moved not a few knights with shining helmets and shields, and squires in charge of those heavy masses of tapestry beneath which lurked the horses of the Middle Ages. Here and there were glimpses of the ragged smocks and bright pitchforks of peasants from the fields, the gay head-dresses of women, the white and black cowls of passing monks. In the foreground of these moving figures may be pictured the prancing dogs and dignified flowers of a Botticelli or Filippo Lippi, in the background, the white towers and the white walls of Paris. In that eager crowd every face was turned towards the far-away turrets of Montl'hery. Above all the noise and gossip rose one persistent rumour, of how the lord King and his mother were returning to Paris, of how the lords of Champagne and Boulogne, of Dreux and Brittany. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.