of Turenne and Ventadour.  These nobles swore upon the Gospels to remain united and faithful to the cause of Aquitaine; but Richard, partly by feats of war and partly by diplomacy, in which it is said the argument of money had no inconsiderable share, broke up the league, and Bertrand de Born, being abandoned, fell into the Plantagenet’s hands.  But he was pardoned, probably because Richard was a troubadour himself in his leisure moments, and had a fellow-feeling for all who loved the ‘gai scavoir.’  Meanwhile, the Lord of Gourdon was not to be gained over by fair words or bribes, and Richard besieged his castle, some ruins of which may still be seen on the rock that overhangs the little town of Gourdon in the Quercy.  The fortress was taken, and Richard in his fury caused the stern old man who defended it and two of his sons to be put to death.  But there was a third son, Bertrand de Gourdon, who, seeking an opportunity of avenging his father and brothers, joined the garrison of the castle of Chalus in the Limousin, which Richard soon afterwards besieged.  He aimed the bolt or the arrow which brought Richard’s stormy life to a close.  Although forgiven by the dying Coeur-de-Lion, Bertrand was flayed alive by the Brabancons who were in the English army.  He left no descendants, but his collaterals long afterwards bore the name of Richard in memory of Bertrand’s vengeance.

A member of a learned society at Cahors has sought to prove that Gourdon in the Quercy is the place where the family of General Gordon of Khartoum fame had its origin.  It is true that the name of this town in all old charts is spelt Gordon; but, inasmuch as it is a compound of two Celtic words meaning raven’s rock, it might as feasibly have been handed down by the Gaelic Scotch as by the Cadurcians.

The Plantagenets came to be termed ‘the devil’s race’ by the people of Guyenne.  This may have originated in a saying attributed to Richard himself in Aquitaine:  ’It is customary in our family for the sons to hate their father.  We come from the devil, and we shall return to the devil.’

In 1368 the English, having again to reduce the Quercy, laid siege to Roc-Amadour.  The burghers held out only for a short time, and the place being surrendered, Perducas d’Albret was left as governor with a garrison of Gascons.  Froissart quaintly describes this brief siege.  Shortly before the army showed itself in the narrow valley of the Alzou, the towns of Fons and Gavache had capitulated, the inhabitants having sworn that they would remain English ever afterwards.  ’But they lied,’ observes Froissart.  Arriving under the walls of Roc-Amadour, which were raised upon the lower rocks, the English advanced at once to the assault.  ‘La eut je vous dy moult grant assaust et dur.’  It lasted a whole day, with loss on both sides; but when the evening came the English entrenched themselves in the valley with the intention of renewing the assault on the morrow.  That night, however, the consuls