prince was residing.

They informed the attendants who received them at the monastery that
they had been sent by the King of France with a message to the prince.
The attendants, who were officers of the prince's court, informed the
prince of the arrival of the strangers, and he ordered them to be
brought into his presence.

The commissioners, on being brought before the prince, bowed very low
in token of reverence, and presented their credentials. The prince,
after reading the credentials, and examining the seals of the King of
France by which they were authenticated, said to the commissioners,

"It is very well. These papers show that you are duly commissioned
embassadors from the King of France. You are welcome to our court. And
you can now proceed to communicate the message with which you have
been charged."

Of the two commissioners, one was a lawyer, and the other a knight.
The knight bore the singular name of Caponnel de Caponnal. The lawyer,
of course, was the principal speaker at the interview with the prince,
and when the prince called for the communication which had been sent
from the King of France, he drew forth a paper which he said contained
what the King of France had to say, and which, he added, they, the
commissioners, had promised faithfully to read in the prince's
presence.

The prince, wondering greatly what the paper could contain, ordered
the lawyer to proceed with the reading of it.

The lawyer read as follows:

"Charles, by the grace of God, King of France, to our nephew
the Prince of Wales and Aquitaine, health.

"Whereas several prelates, barons, knights, universities,
fraternities, and colleges of the country and district of
Gascony, residing and inhabiting upon the borders of our
realm, together with many others from the country and duchy
of Aquitaine, have come before us in our court to claim
justice for certain grievances and unjust oppressions which
you, through weak counsel and foolish advice, have been
induced to do them, and at which we are much astonished;

"Therefore, in order to obviate and remedy such things, we
do take cognizance of their cause, insomuch that we, of our
royal majesty and sovereignty, order and command you to
appear in our city of Paris in person, and that you show and
present yourself before us in our chamber of Paris, to hear
judgment pronounced upon the aforesaid complaint