and
the power of Alfonso in Aragon and Catalonia, was able to keep in check
any serious attempt that the Count of Toulouse might have meditated on [60]
Aquitaine. On the other hand, Henry had also to deal with a formidable
adversary in the person of the French king, his lawful suzerain in
France. Louis VII. (or Philippe Auguste) was able to turn the constant
revolts that broke out in Aquitaine to his own ends. These circumstances
are sufficient to account for the warlike nature of Bertran de Born's
poetry. The first _sirventes_ which can be dated with certainty belongs
to 1181, and is a call to the allies of Raimon V, Count of Toulouse, to
aid their master against the King of Aragon. What Bertran's personal
share in the campaign was, we do not know. He was soon involved in a
quarrel with his brother Constantin, with whom he held the castle of
Hautefort in common. Constantin was driven out and succeeded in
persuading the Count of Limoges and Richard, Duke of Aquitaine, to help
him. Richard, however, was occupied elsewhere, and Bertran survived all
attacks upon the castle. In 1182 he went to the court of Henry II.,
during a temporary lull in the wars around him; there he proceeded to
pay court to the Princess Matilda, daughter of Henry II., whose husband,
Henry of Saxony, was then on a pilgrimage. He also took part in the
political affairs of the time. Henry II.'s eldest son, Henry "the young
king," had been crowned in 1170 at Westminster, and was anxious to have [61]
something more than the title, seeing that his brother Richard was Duke
of Aquitaine, Count of Poitou, and practically an independent sovereign.
Bertran had not forgotten Richard's action against him on behalf of his
brother Constantin, and was, moreover, powerfully attracted by the open
and generous nature of the young king. He therefore took his side, and
on his return to Limousin became the central point of the league which
was formed against Richard. Henry II. succeeded in reconciling his two
sons, the young Henry receiving pecuniary compensation in lieu of
political power. But the young Henry seems to have been really moved by
Bertran's reproaches, and at length revolted against his father and
attacked his brother Richard. While he was in Turenne, the young king
fell sick and died on June 11, 1183. Bertran lamented his loss in two
famous poems, and soon felt the material effects of it. On June 29,
Richard and the King of Aragon arrived before Hautef