United States or Saint Pierre and Miquelon ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"My father ran the Bagaudy, and I now run the Vagrery, but both to the one cry 'The devil take the Franks! and 'Long Live Gaul! "Aëlian and Aman, Bagauders in their days, as we in ours are Vagres, in revolt against the Romans, as we against the Franks Aëlian and Aman, put to death two centuries ago in their old castle near Paris, they are our prophets.
I have told Yvon the neat-herd, whom I met this morning in the fields, not to put this parchment into your hands until night, to the end that I may have twelve hours the lead, and may thus escape your efforts to overtake me. I am going to run the Bagaudy against the Franks and bishops. The times of the Chiefs of the Hundred Valleys, the Sacrovirs and Vindexes are past.
It is the paradise of the Bagaudy, the promised land of the Vagrery!" "How came you to be separated from your father?" "It was about three years ago agents of the king, they were called antrustions, collected the revenues of the royal domain. They were numerous, well armed, and traveled only by day. We were waiting for the end of their reaping to gather in our harvest.
Even if the rule of the Franks and the bishops is to endure, they will, at least, not enjoy their conquest in peace." "How so?" "Did you ever hear of the Bagaudy?" "Certainly, and praisefully, too." "What is the Bagaudy, grandfather?" "Let me first answer our friend the peddler it will be information to you also.
A happy journey to you, and do not come back again; if you do, you will find us in arms ready to receive you with our swords, and, if need be, our scythes and forks. "The Romans went, their garrisons along with them. Without troops to enforce their decrees, the magistrates took their departure, and never returned. The Bagaudy in Gaul and the Franks on the Rhine kept their hands full.
Bend your back and they will load it to the breaking point; show your teeth and they remove the load " "Well said, old father beg them with clasped hands, and they laugh; make your demand with clenched fists, and they yield that was another good feature of the Bagaudy."
"My father often told me so; in my childhood he used to relate to me the histories of olden days, of centuries ago." "Where is your father now?" "I do not know. He used to run the Bagaudy, perhaps he now runs the Vagrery, unless he has died the brave death of a brave man. I do not expect to be enlightened upon that until he and I meet again elsewhere " "Where?"
"Grandfather, what I say is that the Bretons and the Bagauders are and will be the very last Gauls. Were I not a Breton I would indeed run the Bagaudy against the Franks and the bishops." "And it is my opinion, my grandson, that you will surely run it to-night with your head upon your pillow. I wish you pleasant dreams of the Bagaudy, my pet.
My grandfather Gildas told me that he heard from his father that, a few years after the death of Victoria the Great, the first Bagaudy took place, not in Britanny, but in the other provinces. Irritated at seeing herself again reduced to the level of a Roman province, as a result of the treason of Tetrik, and of being obliged to pay heavy imposts into the empire's fisc, Gaul rose in rebellion.
To leave all alone, at the age of seventeen, to run the Bagaudy! Can it be true, after all, that the gods punish us for wishing to see the malign spirits? Alas! Alas!
Word Of The Day