|
The
marshal enters Catherine's room completely drunk and it is
thanks to Poitou, his young page (and lover), that Catherine
escapes with her life. After being locked in her room for
days, Catherine sees the funeral pyre and runs to the door,
which, to her surprise, is open. She finds Jean de Craon, a
broken man, who helps her and Sara escape and gives her the
horse Morgana, saying:
«
You
are not only beautiful Dame Catherine, but also brave, noble
and honest
»...
|
Near
Bourges...
|
Catherine decides to go to Bourges with her friends, hoping
to find refuge with Maître Jacques Cœur and his wife. They
have to hide again and again because heralds are on their
way who gather the inhabitants of the villages and inform
them that Georges de la Trémoilles and Gilles de Rais are
looking for two criminals, a Catherine de Brazey, a spy for
the English, and a witch named Sara who is to be burned at
the stake..... Twenty gold coins will be given to the one
who has a clue and one hundred gold coins to the one who
catches them... They disguise themselves as monks and can
thus reach Jacques Coeur without being caught.. ... |
|
Maître Cœur is delighted to see Catherine and of course
hides her from the henchmen of Georges de la Trémoille
and Gilles de Rais. The king and his court are also
at Bourges at the moment. Catherine tells him that Arnaud
de Montsalvy is being held prisoner by La Trémoille.
Jacques believes that Arnaud has deserted to the English
because he has disappeared. Catherine explains to him how
things stand... he promises to help her... |
|
The
furrier has connections at court and discovers that Arnaud's
brother in arms is in Bourges - he sends him a message. Jean
Poton de Xaintrailles arrives as quickly as he can and wants
to know from Catherine where his friend is. Of course, he
never believed for a moment that Arnaud had become a
traitor. Together with Barnaby, they disguise themselves and
discover that Arnaud is held prisoner in the castle of
Sully-sur-Loire... Xaintrailles vows to bring Arnaud back to
Catherine...! |
|
Xaintrailles and Barnabé manage to free Arnaud from the
oubliette. He is in a pitiful state. They load him onto a
cart so as not to make any noise and take him to Jacques
Cœur. When Catherine wants to see him, her friends prevent
her from doing so. They have to cut the clothes off his body
and see that he has been tortured many times. He is in a
state of desolation and delirium... |
|
When he opens his eyes, he also seems to have gone
blind...The furrier sends for Rabbi Moshe ben Yehuda to
attend to Arnaud. He is the best trained doctor in town and
no one else can treat his guest better. He recommends what
to do because he can no longer come... La Trémoille chases
all the children of Israel out of the town and they have to
leave all their belongings behind... after which Catherine
has a nervous breakdown... she shouts: La Tremoille... La
Trémoille... again and again, HIM... Stop him! Stop him... |
|
In his delirium, he still thinks he is in the dungeon at
Château-sur-Loire and Catherine and Xaintrailles learn that
he has been tortured because of the Countess de la Trémoille
as he wants nothing to do with her, but is repelled by
her.... It takes five days for the patient to wake up... he
tells Catherine how afraid he was never to see her again... |
|
Arnaud asks Catherine to be his wife. They are married by
brother Étienne in the church. The witnesses are Jean Poton
de Xaintrailles, Sara, Jacques Cœur, his wife Macée and
Barnaby... Catherine is now the Countess of Montsalvy and
she swore to herself that she would wear it proudly, without
fail, whatever the price she had to pay for it...(Juliette Benzoni
in : Belle Catherine) |
|
Happy to be finally united as husband and wife, they want to
go up to Montsalvy as soon as possible, Arnaud wants to
present his wife to his mother... towards morning... the
soldiers arrive at Maître Coeur's house, rumbling. Someone
has betrayed them..they can hide in the underground cellar
of the Coeurs, where Jacques keeps his goods....
Xaintrailles gives them horses and they say goodbye to their
friends. |
Retour à
Montsalvy
|
They reach the Auvergne and Montsalvy is not far... they see
smoke rising... Arnaud gallops towards his castle..... but
the castle of Montsalvy has been razed to the ground.... He
finds a parchment attached to a wall with the text: In the
name of the King... "Wanted in the name of the King, Arnaud
de Montsalvy, traitor and felon" ... The young man is beside
himself and cries out: "Damn King Charles VII who rewards
his servants like this"! He fears that his mother is buried
under the rubble of the castle... |
|
But
his mother, Countess Isabelle de Montsalvy, is alive. She
has found refuge with her faithful servants, Saturnin, the
bailiff of Montsalvy, and Donatienne his wife. He leads them
to her modest house where Arnaud kneels before his mother
and embraces her. She notices Catherine and Arnaud says:
"Mother, this is my wife Catherine". The Countess embraces
Catherine warmly. But there is also a dark-haired girl who
kisses Arnaud furiously. It is his cousin Marie de Comborn
who yells at Catherine, saying that she was destined to
marry Arnaud all along... and she will anything to get him
back... |
|
At
dinner, the situation gets worse. Marie says that she knows
all the families in Auvergne but has never heard of her.
Catherine, who was very disturbed by this girl,
spontaneously tells her that she is from Paris and that she
also spent her youth in Burgundy. The Countess Montsalvy
pales and Arnaud quickly explained that Catherine had been
married to Garin de Brazey in her first marriage. Whereupon
the Countess coldly defends her niece, who could not have
known that. But Arnaud does not give in. He says that they
have to accept that Catherine is his wife and that it all
started with Michel's death... and they will talk about it
later...
where later Arnaud defends his wife against his mother's
prejudices. |
|
By
chance, Bernard d'Armagnac, a childhood friend of Arnaud's,
was on his way to Carlat with armed men. He proposes to
Arnaud to go to Carlat with his people, as it is not safe
for him and his family in Montsalvy at the moment. Cadet
Bernard offers Arnaud to defend his fortress in his absence
as Governor ..... even against the king - if necessary...
Arnaud accepts, also because Catherine has told him that she
is expecting his child.... |
Fortress
Carlat
|
Arnaud, Catherine, Dame Isabelle, Sara, Barnabé and Marie
Comborn accompany Count Bernard to Carlat. The fortress is
in a state of desolation. Marie, who Arnaud had wanted to
send Marie back to her brother, cannot suppress his
jubilation. She pursues Catherine with her hatred and swears
that she will take Arnaud away from her.... |
|
On the first night in Carlat, after Arnaud and Catherine
have made love, he gets up and goes to drink a goblet of
wine... and notices something on his arm - instead of
returning to bed, he leaves his wife... Catherine doesn't
understand what has happened and suffers in silence as her
husband doesn't come to the bedroom the following nights
either! The devious Marie has noticed..... Sara, who knows
the truth, tries to comfort Catherine. At dinner, Arnaud
doesn't want to be touched anymore... and he slaps his
cousin who is acting like a madwoman... he leaves the room
and she runs after him......... |
|
Catherine runs after them to the battlements. When she sees
the girl throwing herself at Arnaud, Catherine loses her
temper. But Marie turns around and wants to strangle
Catherine - Barnaby who was following them intervenes. He
separates the two and Marie runs back to Arnaud. He tells
her that she is crazy and that he only loves Catherine, and
he chases her away never to return... But Marie is mad with
rage - she screams and curses, runs and throws herself into
the depths that are her certain death. |
|
Catherine learns the whole truth from Arnaud. That he is a
leper and that he probably caught it in the dungeon of
Sully-sur-du château of Georges de la Trémoille... He has
sent for his brother in arms, the Scottish Knight Hugh
Kennedy, to replace him as Governor... Catherine says she
will go with him and never leave him, but Arnaud says she
must think of their child and his mother... |
|
Isabelle de Montsalvy, who has already lost her first son
Michel in a cruel way, is put to the test once again.
Catherine says that she is ready to give her all the
tenderness and respect that she could no longer give to her
son... The Comtesse tells Catherine that from now on she
will be her daughter... Sobbing, Catherine lets herself be
embraced by the proud and courageous woman.... |
|
When all is settled, all that remains is to go to the church
where a mass is celebrated for the proud Arnaud de Montsalvy
who must now go to the Valley of the Lepers... Deeply
veiled, Catherine, his mother, Isabelle, Sara, Barnaby and
Sir Hugh Kennedy attend the mass... The Scottish soldiers
make a Guard of honour for the knight and as Arnaud comes
out, his wife approaches him. Catherine has cut her long
golden hair during the night and gives it to the sick man on
his way to the valley of the lepers... Catherine swears that
she will avenge Arnaud... |
Farewell
life
!...
Farewell
love !...
~
Arnaud
de
Montsaly
~
~~~~~~~~~~
«
BLUEBEARD
»
Benoît
Brionne
in the
role of
Gilles
de Rais
THE
MERCHANT
Philippe
Murgier
in the
role of
Jacques
Coeur
THE
FAITHFUL
SERVANTS
Saturnin,
le
baillif
of
Montsalvy
and his
wife Donatienne
MARIE DE
COMBORN
the
cousin
of Arnaud
de
Montsalvy
top
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