TALES OF CHARLEMAGNE: THE EMPEROR SURROUNDED

These are the legends about Charlemagne and his Paladins, not the actual history, so there will be dragons, monsters and magic. 

FOR MY FIRST CHAPTER ON CHARLEMAGNE’S PALADINS CLICK HERE.

During each December through at least Twelfth Night in January Balladeer’s Blog covers tales of Charlemagne and his Paladins.

THE EMPEROR SURROUNDED – When we left Emperor Charlemagne, he and his army were surrounded on all sides by the forces of Islam which had invaded the land of the Franks from both Moorish Spain and from North Africa. NOTE: Not all Tales of Charlemagne involve clashes with Muslims, in fact most involve his Paladins fighting giants, dragons, sorcerers, etc. However, this one does happen to feature them in such a clash.  

Charlemagne and his men have been waiting in vain for the return of his two most prominent Paladins – his nephews Roland and Reinold. That pair were still making their separate ways to Charlemagne’s aid after surviving encounters with monsters and dark magicians. 

Every day now the fighting on the battlefield ended with the Emperor and his troops either driving off their advancing enemies or being forced to yield ever more territory to the invaders who closed in on them from all sides.

At last Reinold (at right) arrived leading the army from England which had landed on Frankish soil to help Charlemagne against the foes who would inevitably invade England itself if the Emperor were to fall. (Roland had been drawn off course by his battle last installment with the Tartar Prince Mandricardo who was clad in the armor of Hector, so he had still not arrived.)

Astride his horse Bayard and wielding his sword Flamberge, Reinold led his allies against the Muslim armies. Charlemagne simultaneously rallied his troops to try fighting their way to link up with Reinold.

In this day’s battle the Saracen leader who most distinguished himself was Prince Dardinel of Zumara. Dardinel alone had been able to avoid being routed by Reinold and the English army. Inevitably, that Paladin and the Zumaran prince found each other among the chaos and engaged in single combat.

After a prolonged deadlock, Reinold gained the advantage and left Dardinel dead on the ground. Word of this monumental loss spread throughout the invading armies and a disorganized retreat resulted.

The Muslims were driven from the field in all directions by the combined might of Charlemagne’s main army and the Englishmen led by Reinold. Eventually, King Marsilius, whom we’ve met before in earlier installments, prevented a disaster for the enemies of the Emperor by forging his panicked mob into an organized retreat.

Marsilius and his armies regained their camp of several days earlier and assembled to withstand whatever the next day’s fighting might bring. For his part, Emperor Charlemagne organized all forces available to him into a proper siege of the enemy camp. 

*** I’ll be examining more tales of Charlemagne soon, picking up from this one. 

FOR LINKS TO THE PREVIOUS CHARLEMAGNE INSTALLMENTS CLICK HERE.