click on each quote
to see enlarged
|
|
|
|
Catherine Legoix
Book 1 |
Michel de Montsalvy
Book 1 |
Jean de Xaintrailles
Book 1 |
Abou-Al Khayr
Book 1 |
|
|
|
|
|
coming soon
! |
coming soon
! |
|
Barnaby the
Cockleshell man
Book1 |
|
|
Philippe of Burgundy
Book 2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sara
Book 2 |
Queen Yolande
Book 2 |
Catherine
Book 2 |
Catherine
Book 2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Garin de Brazey
Book 2 |
Jean de Xaintrailles
Book 2 |
Catherine to Arnaud
Book 2 |
Joan of Arc
Book 2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Catherine & Gilles de
Rais
Book 3 |
Arnaud de Montsalvy
Book 3 |
Jean de Xaintrailles
Book 3 |
Arnaud de Montsalvy
Book 3 |
|
|
|
|
coming soon
! |
|
|
coming soon ! |
|
La Hire
Book 3 |
Bernard the Younger
Book 3 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
coming soon ! |
|
Pierre de Brézé
Book 4 |
Fero, the GypsyLord
Book 4 |
|
Sara to Catherine
Book 4 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gauthier Stronghitarm
Book 5 |
Abou-Al Khayr
Book 5 |
Arnaud de Montsaly
Book 5 |
Princess Zobeïda
Book 5 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Comtesse Ermengarde
Book 5 |
dedicated to
Juliette Benzoni webmaster 2009 Book 5 |
Gauthier the Viking
Book 5 |
Arnaud de Montsalvy
Book 5 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Abott Bernard
Book 6 |
Marie Rallard
Book 6 |
Jean de Dunois
Book 6 |
Le Dauphin
Book 6 |
|
|
|
|
|
coming soon
! |
coming soon
! |
|
Jacques Coeur
Book 6 |
Béranger de
Roquemaurel
Book 6 |
Book 6 |
Gauthier de Chazay
Book 6 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
coming soon
! |
|
Josse Rallard &
Gauthier
Book 7 |
Sara & Catherine
Book 7 |
Catherine & Arnaud
Book 7 |
Arnaud de Montsalvy
Book 7 |
" The little golden-haired girl!...I noticed
you earlier on when they were tying me up!" |
Michel de Montsalvy to little Catherine
Legoix |
|
" I was just thinking of my own
countryside. I was thinking about it on the way
to
Montfauson as well. I realized that I would
never see it again and I think it was that
which distressed me most!" |
Michel de Montsalvy to little Catherine
Legoix |
|
" You will have fame, love and
everything...but you will pay dearly for it all.
And then...how strange? You will meet an angel!" |
Sara to Catherine
|
|
"I am not of noble birth, but neither am I
low-born. I am not a servant. And just because
I have been arrested is no reason to treat me
like one. |
Catherine to Duke Philippe of Burgundy
|
|
"I would rather find out first who you are, but
it would be churlish to make such a lovely
a lady repeat the same question twice. My name
is Arnaud de Montsalvy, Lord of the
Châtaignerie in Auvergne and I am captain in the
service of the Dauphin Charles." |
Arnaud de Montsalvy to Catherine
|
|
"Forget that I saw your eyes change colour, and
felt your body tremble und my hands?
Forget your beautiful body and the sweet taste
of your lips? If I lived to a hundred that
would be asking too much of me, Catherine... |
Arnaud de Montsalvy to Catherine |
|
"One day, you will go down on your knees
in front of me to beg my forgiveness for words,
Arnaud de Montsalvy, Seigneur de la Châtaignerie.
But you will get neither pardon nor
mercy from me." |
Catherine to Arnaud de Montsalvy |
|
"I, Arnaud de Montsalvy, Seigneur de la
Châtaignerie and Captain in the service of King
Charles VII, whom may God preserve, am come
before you, Duke of Burgundy, to bring
you my gage of battle. As traitor and felon, I
challenge you to single compat at whatever
time and place you may choose and with the
weapons of your choice. But I demand that it
shall be a fight to death... |
Arnaud de Montsalvy to Duke Philippe of
Burgundy |
|
"I thank you, Milord Duke, but as far as I am
concerned, my enemies are enemies and
foremost among them I place my King's enemies. I
only drink with my friends. |
Arnaud de Montsalvy to Duke Philippe of
Burgundy |
|
"You again! Have you taken it into your head
to rush to my bedside whenever I get
a little bruise or cut? If that's the case, my
dear, you are going to have a busy time..." |
Arnaud de Catherine to Catherine de Brazey |
|
"I love you, I have always loved you since
the moment I firs saw you. |
Catherine de Brazey to Arnaud de Montsalvy
|
|
"Forgotten you? Never! I cursed you and hated
you..or at least I tried to. But how
could I forget you? What man having once held
Beauty in his arms could ever forget her |
Arnaud de Montsalvy to Catherine |
|
"Struth, messire, I deeply regret that
you are so loyally attached to my cousin
Charles, for I
should like to have made your
fortune.! |
Duke Philippe to Arnaud de Montsalvy |
2 : CATHERINE
"A
woman like you is made for love. I've been
trying to din that into you for months now. So
Arnaud is getting married, is he? So much for
that! You can take him as a lover the moment
this imbecile war is over...and be as happy as
you like...
Ermengarde de Châteauvillain to Catherine
"This
was not the kind of souvenir I had expected to
take away with me my sweet...It looks as it will
be the biggest bump on the head I ever had...the
only one I shall cherish, at all event"
...
Philippe of Burgundy to Catherine
"I
shall always be glad I rescued you. But there is
nothing you can do for me, Catherine. I am going
to stay here in the Abbey. I have already asked
the Abbot to receive me as a monk and he has
agreed. He is a man after my own heart. I shall
be proud to obey him."
Landry
Pigasse to Catherine
"You were wonderful...but forbidden,
inaccessible to me...for ever! And I loved you,
I loved you like a madman I all became...
Garin de Brazey to Catherine
"The most beautiful Lady of the West! That
is the name which he, whom they call the Great
Duke of the West, has been pleased to bestow on
me. Three years...Truly, Jean there is no woman
more lonely than I...
Catherine to Jean Van Eyck Chapter Ten
..."so Messire de Montsalvy felt he
ought to say farewell, did he? What an honour!
What an extraordinary mark of esteem from a man
of such tender pride!"...
Catherine to Arnaud de Montsalvy
..."Arnaud, yours is the only respect I care
about. Have you really made up your mind to hate
me all your life?"
Catherine to Arnaud de Montsalvy
"I haven't got the right to love you,
Catherine, because the souls of my ancestors
would rise up and condem me, but I do have the
right to make sure you are save and well"!
Arnaud de Montsalvy to Catherine
" A Montsalvy, eh? Michel's brother, I suppose!
And you really thought I'd believe your little
story? Do you take me for a simpleton, or do you
think I've lost my memory? Release her? Your
accomplice?...Do you think I would, knowing how
devoted
she and her family have always been to the
Montsalvy's?"
Bishop of Beauvais (Pierre Cauchon) to
Arnaud
...You don't know what you have just done for
me, Bishop. Otherwise, I think you would have
thought better of it. Catherine, my love...my
one and only love...can you ever forgive me?
Arnaud de Montsalvy to Bishop Beauvais
and Catherine
...I have nothing to forgive you...because now,
at last, I can tell you that I love you...
Catherine to Arnaud de Montsalvy |
3 : BELLE CATHERINE
"Lady, I owe you my life. Do with me what you will...but allow me to
serve you. The fairest lady may have a faithful dog"
Gauthier the Norman, to Catherine
"Can you hide me and my two servants? I am hunted,
cornered...and I am pregnant. And can you help me find Xaintrailles or
La Hire?...assuming that they are not in prison too"
Catherine to Jacques Coeur
"Od's Blood! That's good news! A little Montsalvy! We'll have a
great baby and I'll be godfather...you owe me that Catherine."
Jean de Xaintrailles to Catherine
" I am a Montsalvy and my patents of nobility give me the right to
speak to the King, when I want without seeking an audience."
Arnaud de Montsalvy to Jean de Xaintrailles
"Remember, in the hours of pain and sorrow, which still await you,
the old pilgrim from Compostela and to whom you brought help, and who
will pray for you..remember Barnaby...
Blind Pilgrim to Catherine and Arnaud
"My heart is full of love and gentleness, the ice is like a
flowering mead and all the snow is green...
Arnaud de Montsalvy, singing to Catherine
"Why so sad, Catherine? Our home is destroyed, but the family is
intact. We have shelter...and I love you!
Smile at me, my heart. When you are sad, the whole world is dark.
Arnaud de Montsalvy to Catherine his wife
"I would recommend you to use other terms when you speak of my wife.
And I expect you to rembember this: you are my mother and I respect you
and I love you, but she is my wife, flesh of my flesh, the breath of
life to me and nothing, no one, will make me give her up."
Arnaud de Montsalvy to Isabelle de Montsalvy his mother
"Sir Count! I owe you more than my life, since I owe you also that
of my beloved husband. I will not forget and, for these great gifts, I
give you thanks. May I add, that I would love to know who you are?"
Catherine de Montsalvy to Bernard d'Armagnac
"Little one, you'll always need more courage. More, perhaps than you
know, but you will not fail, because you are his wife."
Sara to Catherine de Montsalvy
"To the wife of a dear friend, to one who bas been entrusted to
my keeping, and is dearer to me than my own kith and kin. Even if it
brings down your anger upon me I cannot forgo the duty Montsalvy laid
upon me or break my word. You see your husband is my brother-in-arms"!
Sir Hugh Alan Kennedy to Catherine de Montsalvy
"Michel remains with you...and I...if you want me. I do not know how
to say these things, and I know that you have never loved me. However, I
am ready to give you all the respect and tenderness I can no longer give
to him...
Catherine de Montsalvy to Isabelle de Montsalvy her mother-in-law |
4 : CATHERINE: HER GREAT
JOURNEY
"No mother, I
shall not keep the black diamond. It is an accursed jewel.
It has
brought nothing but misfortune."
Catherine to Dame Isabelle
"No!...God is my witness that I love you too and that
I would tear this love from
my breast if I could, because it is killing me. But you must
go!"
Arnaud de Montsalvy to Catherine his wife
"And what is left to me of it?
I am all alone, always aone - I have no more love,
no husband...
Catherine de Montsalvy to Gauthier her faithful servant
"Monseigneur, your welcome has moved and touched me more
than I can say. But
I beg you to make use of me exactly as you would havae made
use of my beloved
husband had it pleased God to spare him! My only remaining
desire on this earth
is to avenge him and restore to my son what is rightfully
his!"
Catherine to Queen Yolande and her Chevaliers
"I shall call you Tchalai...which means "star" in our
tongue...but until we get there you are still Catherine, as you
always were!
Sara to Catherine de Montsalvy
"You must realize that I have given a part of this heart
to your husband, that Arnaud
all stiff with pride and passion and suffering whom I saw
one night, weeping like a
child for his shattered life and condemned love...
Sara to Catherine de Montsalyv
"Stop...you know very well no man will ever take his
place...and that I'll never love
another as I loved him...as I still love him!"
Catherine to Sara
"...on your knees! And ask God to pardon you for the evil
you have done, for torturing
my husband, betraying Jeanne d'Arc, pillaging the kingdom,
sacrificing so many
innocent lives...
Catherine to Catherine de la Trémoille
Every time I see you, you look more beautiful,
Catherine...Why do you refuse to allow
me to care of you for always?"
Pierre de Brézé to Catherine de Montsalvy
"There are so few pretty women, and now you are
wanting to leave us! What is there
so attractive about this Auvergne of yours?"
King Charles VII to Catherine
"You were rightly destined for our family, Catherine. Almost
by instinct you seem to
have stumbled on the old tradition by which the châteleines
of Montsalvy would go
to Puy, in times of war and danger, to implore divine help
and offer their most
beautiful jewels to the Madonna. Go, my daughter, you think
as a true Montsalvy would!"
Isabelle de Montsalvy to Catherine |
5 : CATHERINE: A TIME FOR
LOVE
" God demands, that we should show
mercy to others and pity for their afflictions! Where's
the great merit in undertaking this long penance when
one is in perfect health? It would be
better, sire, if you offered your arm instead of these
reproaches!"
Catherine de Montsalvy to Gerbert Bohat
"So you have won in the end? It has been written
somewhere Catherine, that you should constantly
surprise me. What alchemy did you resort to, to tame the
intractable Messire Arnaud?
Comtesse Ermengarde de Châteauvillain to Catherine
...I have come to offer you my services by
way of reparation. If you will allow me to, I will serve
you
and defend you...I am a beggar, but I am strong and I
can wield a sword like a gentleman. On the roads
as these one can always do with a strong arm. Will you
then pardon me, and take on as your servitor?
I swear to to serve you faithfully, 'pon my eternal soul...
Josse Rallard to Catherine de Montsalvy
"Breathe then...but listen to me Catherine! I know
what you must be suffering now, but I forbid you
to say that you are dead and that your life is finished!
All men do not forget so easily. There are some
capable of a greater love than you could dream of!"
Jan Van Eyck to Catherine de Montsalvy
"The Gods of my people are witness that I have
never loved you as I do now! But it is by virtue of this love that I must now beg you to forget. If you don't
my life will be hell...and I would have to leave you..
Gauthier Stronghitarm (Malencontre) to Catherine
"O woman of a single love! Like a moth you prefer to die
in the flame to living
in the dark, am I not right? Half your heart is here.
Who can live with only half heart?
Abou-al-Khayr to Catherine de Montsalvy
" I shall give the wind a blossom picked from your
own flowering face, and I shall breathe the scent of
the paths where you walk! You are the essence of all the
flowers in this garden, Light of Dawn, and your
eyes are as clear as lipid water. Who taught you love, O
most scented rose?"
Caliph Muhammad VIII to Light of Dawn (Catherine)
" You are too talkative and to inquisitive,
yellow-haired woman! And you are trying my patience.
Thank
Allah that I have no desire to distress my brother by
breaking a toy of his before he has had time to get
weary of it! But you had better hold your tonque and
keep your eyes veiled if you want to keep both
the one and the others! Blind and dumb, you would be fit
only for the stray dogs in the market-place.
Princess Zobeida to Light of Dawn
"Don't count your chickens too soon, Zobeida...I am
not dead yet. It is not the custom among us for
brothers to kill their sisters, or husbands their wives.!
Catherine de Montsalvy to Princess Zobeïda
"Poor little one! You were so frightened...so
frightened! That evil woman! I knew she was capable of
anything...and that was why I stayed outside,
watching...but something as vile as that! Now calm
yourself
I am here...I will look after you...! We shall flee
together, and return home...I love you..."
Arnaud de Montsalvy to Catherine his wife
"If your husband had been held prisoner in the heart
of darkest Africa you would have found some way
of rescuing him. Though of course I should have had to
make a longer journey then...
Jacques Coeur to Catherine de Montsalvy
"The dark years, of which you have known too many,
are ended. You have a long life of love and happiness
before you...and the happy task of setting a whole new
generation of thoroughbred Montsalvy's on their
feet! Gentlemen and ladies, I ask you to rise now and
drink to the happiness of Catherine and Arnaud de
Montsalvy, a long life, and great times to the bravest
of Christians Knights and the
fairest lady of the West!"
Jean de Xaintrailles to Catherine & Arnaud and their
guests at Montsalvy |
6 : A TRAP FOR CATHERINE
"It was not wise of you to celebrate the
baptism of your daughter Isabelle with such great
festivities!
No doubt is was splendid to entertain the old Queen and the
Constable but it gave some of us a chance
to estimate the wealth of your castle and its contents. Ah
they are a fine sight, all those great tapestries
and silken sheets and huge dresses loaded with gold and
silver plate! By my faith, I want my share!"
Bérault d'Apchier to Catherine de Montsalvy
"Augustin says "a lord" - but his daughter thinks of
Messire Arnaud. You've only to see how she looks at
him when he rides through the town. Like a cat at a cream
pot! And when she makes her curtsy to him, it's a
wonder she doesn't fall flat on her face!"
Marie Rallard to Catherine de Montsalvy
"You must answer to me, now, Gervais. But do not
deceive yourself. My conditions are the same as
Dame Catherine's. With this difference only, that I shall
add to it absolution from your sins if your
repentence is sincere...before I hang you."
Abbot Bernard d'Olt Calmont to Gervais Malrat
"By St Quentin, St Omer and every other saint in
Flanders, Catherine, you'll never change! Your
imagination
is always running way ahead of your pretty nose, and
just as freely as in the days when you dressed
up as a gypsy and dyed your hair black to mount an attack on
that fat devil La Trémoille and lead him to his
ruin! You run on and on! But, good God, have I ever given
you cause to doubt my friendship!"
Tristan l'Hermite to Catherine de Montsalvy
"What man worthy of the name could stand by with
folded arms and look the other way when his
brother's murderer walked past? Not my husband, that I do
know! The Montsalvy's have blood in
their veins, warm, red blood which they do not hesitate to
spill generoulsy for king and country!"
Catherine de Montsalvy to Tristan l'Hermite
"So Madame de Montsalvy, you have come! I was
scarcely expecting you and, to be quite honest
with you, I'm not at all glad to see you. I may say it's the
first time."
Constable Arthur de Richemont to Catherine de Montsalvy
"Arnaud always needs me, always! But no one ever
thinks of asking whether I might need Arnaud!
I am his property, his rest and recreation, his mistress of
his house and his chief vassal, his mistress
and his servant, and everyone thinks it perfectly natural
and fair and right that I should perform all
this unflinchingli!
Catherine de Montsalvy to Tristan l'Hermite
"Do not thank me! I am not doing this for you, still
less to save that troublesome husband of yours
who had better take care in future not to give men cause to
talk of him except on the field of
battle - escpecially when I am king! For I shall know
how to control my nobles, I promise you!"
Le Dauphin, future King Louis XI to Catherine de Montsalvy
"The Lady of Montsalvy has no business with new
jewellery while her people are in want. I've
told you what ravages we have suffered this spring. It has
been so bad that I was intending
to ask you to pay us our revenues in kind: in corn and seed,
cloth, wool, hide, fodder and all
the other things we may be short of next winter"!
Catherine de Montsalvy to Jacques Coeur
"He? Dead? Come, come! You don't believe a word of it
and nor do I! When that man dies,
something is bound to happen - earthquake or flood, I don't
know, but some extraordinary
event there must be to tell the world!"
Queen Yolande d'Anjou to Catherine de Montsalvy
"I make war
Catherine, and this is what war is! All war is like this,
however much it hurts
you to believe it. I'm doing no more than I've always done,
what they all do, La Hire
Xaintrailles and all the rest you are so fond of."
Arnaud de Montsalvy to Catherine his wife
"When you went away, Seigneur Comte, I was already
Dame Catherine's page. I am so
still and I have followed her wherever she has gone to serve
and aid her as best I could. But
you Messire - are you still the man she loved so deeply?"
Béranger de Roquemaurel to Arnaud de Montsalvy
"I won't let him die! I won't! He can't! It must'nt
end like this between us, in hatred and
anger! God cannot do that to me! He is mine - only mine!
I've spent my whole life for him,
for love of him! It's not possible...! Save him! Oh please
...save him? I'm the one who is dying.!
Catherine de Montsalvy to Gauthier de Chazey
"My love, I want so much to stay, to stay with you
always - even in the grave! I wish I could
die too! But there are the children, our children - they
need me, you see! I must go back to
them - to our home - for their sake! I must go away and
leave you, my darling...."
Catherine de Montsalvy to her unconscious husband Arnaud de
Montsalvy |
7 : THE
LADY OF MONTSALVY
first time ever
published in English June 2021
‘You’re
not stupid or retarded,’ he cried, ‘but you’ve
suffered too much – and anguish and clear
thinking have never been good companions.
Therefore, trust us instead, our lady! You know
that we would go all the way to hell if we
thought it possible to bring back your lord
husband, and a little happiness at the same
time! |
Gauthier de Chazay to Catherine de Montsalvy
|
|
"I am the lady of
Montsalvy and I have come to see my uncle Mathieu -
conduct me to him! The reverend mother abbess, whom you aloud yourself to
throw out of the house is my own
sister. But I would like you to know that you will have
much more difficulty to get rid of me!" |
Catherine de Montsalvy to Amandine La Verne
|
|
"Shall I continue, Sire? It seems to me,
you have ordered me to undress...exactly as if I was a
whore, brought to you for your pleasure!" |
Catherine de Montsalvy to King René
d'Anjou |
|
"My God, how
stupid I am, but of course we know each other!
You are much too beautiful to be forgotten
Madame! Is it not so, that we met at King
Charles Court the first time? |
The false Jeanne
d'Arc to Catherine de Montsalvy
|
|
"You have
cried...and only a short while ago! When I met
you, you never cried! However, Seigneur Arnaud
had not yet given you the immense honour then,
to take you for his wife!" |
Jean Van Eyck
to Catherine de Montsalvy
|
|
"I want you to make love to me, that you love me
one more time, the way only you can make love! I
want to give you this whole night...and I want
to know if the love of a man can do also
something else to me than horror!... |
Catherine de Montsalvy to Duke Philippe of
Burgundy |
|
"I have had that honour, since
I saw him twice fighting: once at Azincourt and another time
at Arras in a duel. A rude fighter - a great warrior...and
the most abominable character I
have ever known!" |
Jean de Saint-Rémy to Gauthier de Chazay -
about Arnaud de Montsalvy |
|
"I am not your mistress anymore.
Remember, Philippe! At Lille I told you clearly
that it was a good-bye...definitely! I do not
have the habbit of successives good-bye's... |
Catherine de Montsalvy
to Duke Philippe of Burgundy |
|
" I have not come back to
start a revolution, Gauberte. I came back to
take back my place and I will take it back,
believe me!" |
Catherine de Montsalvy to Gauberte
|
|
"It looks as if you are having guests Messire, but you will
have to find another logis for her, than
the rooms of our lady. They are not available!" |
Sara to Arnaud de Montsalvy
|
|
"I would go so far to say that he loves her too much,
that this love poisons his life because it forces
him not only to think about himself, his life as a man
of war, or great heroic actions. His Catherine
he carries in himself in the depth of his soul - like a
crossbowbold which cannot be taken out. Never will
he be able to pull it out - and he knows that.
|
Josse Rallard to Gauthier de Chazay |
|
"It's not about you, Arnaud de Montsalvy, and I have
already said it! It's about two women..particucalry one...whom you have not given one reason to
sacrifice her life for you! Do come here
Dame Catherine! Do come here, my child..my poor child! |
Abbot Bernard to Arnaud de Montsalvy
|
|
"I beg you, answer me! In the name of the living God, tell
me the truth, your truth! Do you still
love me? Has there remained some of the previous love, from the
past? |
Catherine to Arnaud her husband
|
|
"My sweet...my incomparable! Do I still love you? But I have
adored you my whole life, and I will
never stop loving you...never! As long as there remains a
thought, a breath within me. I will go on
loving you. |
Arnaud to Catherine his wife
|
|
THE END
finished at Saint-Mandé 3 September 1978
see also → quotes from some of the
other books by Juliette Benzoni
return
© 2008
- 2024 Linda Compagnoni Walther
non profit site
all rights reserved
|