CHAPTER VIII.

THE VALLEY OF LOKFERN.

Decimated by the conflagration of the moor of Kennor, the Frankish army flees in disorder in the direction of the valley of Lokfern, that lies slightly below the vast plateau on which an hour before the three Frankish divisions have joined, confident that their trials are ended. Escaped from the disaster of the conflagration and carried onward by the impetuosity of their steeds, a portion of the Frankish cavalry that follows Louis the Pious in his precipitate flight, arrives at the confines of the plateau. Driven by a terror that left them no thought but to outstrip one another, the fleeing riders seem to give no heed to the sight that unfolds before them. At the foot of the slope that they are about to descend, stands the numerous Breton cavalry, drawn up in battle array, under the command of Morvan and Vortigern. It is only a cavalry of rustics, yet intrepid, veterans in warfare, perfectly mounted. Carried by the headlong course of their horses beyond the edge of the plateau and down the slope to the valley, the Franks rush in confused order upon the Breton cavalry that is drawn up as if to bar their passage; they rush onward, either unable to restrain their still frightened steeds, or conceiving a vague hope of crushing the opposing Bretons under the irresistible violence of their impetuous descent. The Breton cavalry, however, instead of waiting for the Franks, quickly parts in two corps, one commanded by Morvan, the other by Vortigern. One corps seems to flee to the right, the other to the left. The space from the foot of the hill to the river Scoer being thus left free by the sudden and rapid manoeuvre of the Gauls, most of the Frankish horsemen find themselves hardly able to rein in their horses in time to escape falling into the water. A moment of disorder follows. It is turned to advantage by Morvan and Vortigern. The Frankish riders being dispersed and engaged with their steeds, Vortigern and Morvan turn about and fall upon them. They take the foe upon the flanks, right and left; charge upon them with fury; make havoc among them. Most of them are sabred to death, or have their heads beaten in with axes, others are driven into the river. During the fierce melee, the remnant of the infantry of Louis the Pious, still fleeing from the furnace of the moor of Kennor, arrives upon the spot in disorder. Trained in the trade of massacre, they promptly reform their ranks and pour down upon the Breton cavalry. At first victorious, these are finally crushed, overwhelmed by vastly superior numbers. On the other side of the river the rustic Gallic infantry still continue to hold their ground--husbandmen, woo-men and shepherds armed with pikes, scythes and axes, and many of them supplied with bows and slings. Behind this mass of warriors, and within an enclosure defended by barricades of heaped up trunks of trees and ditches, are assembled the women and children of the combatants. All their families have fled distracted before the invaders, carrying their valuables in their flight, and now await with indescribable agony the issue of this last battle.

Weep! Weep, Brittany! and yet be proud of your glory! Your sons, crushed down by numbers, resisted to their last breath; all have fallen wounded or dead in defence of their freedom!

The river is fordable for infantry at only one place. The monk who accompanies Neroweg points out the passage to the troops of Louis the Pious. They cross it immediately after the annihilation of the cavalry of Morvan. The Armoricans who are drawn up on the opposite bank of the Scoer heroically defend the ground inch by inch, man to man, ever falling back toward the fortified enclosure that is the last refuge of our families. Marching over heaps of corpses, the soldiery of Louis the Pious finally assail the fortified enclosure, all its defenders having been killed or wounded. The enclosure is taken. According to their custom, the Franks slaughter the children, put the women and maids to the torture of infamous treatment, and lead them away captive to the interior of Gaul. Ermond the Black, a monk and familiar of Louis the Pious in this impious war, wrote its account in Latin verse. The death of Morvan is narrated in the poem as follows:

"Then presently the cry runs through the ranks That Morvan's head, the Breton chieftain's head, Has been brought in unto the Frankish King: To see it haste the Franks; they shout with joy At prospect to behold the grisley sight. From hand to hand the bloody head is passed, Marred with the sword that hewed it from its trunk. Witchaire the Abbot next is called upon T' identify the member, if it be The head of Morvan, that redoubted chief. He pours some water on the matted front, He laves it, wipes the hair from off its brow, And cries ''Tis Morvan--'tis his Gallic lour!'"

Thus Brittany, once lost to the Franks, is placed anew under their sway.

EPILOGUE

Vortigern, the grandson of Amael, wrote this account of the war of the Franks against Brittany. Left for dead on the banks of the Scoer, he did not recover his senses until a day and a night had passed after the defeat of the Bretons. Some Christian druids, led to the spot by Caswallan, who had escaped the massacre, came to the field of battle to gather the wounded who might still be alive. Vortigern was of the number. From them he learned that his sister Noblede, the wife of Morvan, together with other women and young girls who took refuge in the fortified enclosure, had stabbed themselves to death in order to escape being outraged by the Franks and led into slavery. After Abbot Witchaire left the house of Morvan on his return trip to announce to Louis the Pious the refusal of the Armorican Gauls to pay the tribute demanded from them, Vortigern returned with his wife and children to Karnak in order to gather in the crops from his fields. The harvest being in, he left his family at the house of his parents, and returned to Morvan in order to join the latter's forces, and oppose the army of Louis the Pious. Immediately after his wounds were healed, Vortigern returned to Karnak, where he rejoined his wife and children. The Franks had not dared push their invasion beyond the valley of Lokfern. They contented themselves with leaving Armorica devastated and stripped of her bravest defenders. Yet is she not subdued. She but waits the moment to revolt anew.

Vortigern joined this narrative to the other narratives of his family, and he accompanied his own account with the two Carlovingian coins, the gift of Thetralde, one of the daughters of Charles the Great. These relics of the family of Joel now consist of Hena's little gold sickle, Guilhern's little brass bell, Sylvest's iron collar, Genevieve's silver cross, Shanvoch's casque's lark, Ronan the Vagre's poniard's hilt and his branding needle, Bonaik's abbatial crosier and Vortigern's Carlovingian coins, together with the narratives that accompany them.

Myself, Rosneven, the oldest son of Vortigern, who make this entry at the foot of my father's narrative, can only record here my father's death on the fifth day of February of 889. These have been sad years for Brittany, and also for our own family in particular. Our special sorrows proceed from the estrangement of my younger brothers, one of whom left Gaul and sailed to the country of the Northman pirates. I lack both the spirit and the will to recite these lamentable events. Perhaps my youngest brother Gomer, gifted with more energy, ability and perseverance than myself, may some day undertake the task.

THE END.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] "The daughters of the Emperor Charles always accompanied him on his trips into the interior of Gaul. They were handsome beauties; he loved them passionately; he never allowed them to marry, and kept them all with him till his death. Although happy in everything else, Charles experienced in them the malignity of adverse fortune; but he buried his chagrin, and behaved towards them as if they had never given cause for evil suspicions, and as if rumor had never been busy with their names."--_Chronicles of Eginhard, p. 145, Collected History of France._

[B] For Amael's story, see "The Abbatial Crosier," the preceding book of the series.

[C] "The Gallic woman equalled her husband in courage and strength. She sat in his councils of war with him. Her eyes were more furious when she was angered, and she swung her arms, as white as snow, and dealt blows as heavy as if they came from an engine of war."--Ammienus Marcellinus, _Notes of the Martyrs_, vol. XVIII, book IX.

[D] "The heart of Louis the Pious (Charlemagne's son) was, naturally, long indignant at the conduct indulged in by his sisters under the paternal roof, the only blot upon its name. Desiring, then, to amend these disorders, he sent before him Walla, Warnaire, Lambert and Ingobert, with the order to watch carefully, as soon as they should arrive at Aix-la-Chapelle, that no new scandal should occur; and to put under heavy guard those who had soiled the majesty of the empire with a criminal commerce (with the daughters of the Emperor). Certain ones, guilty of these crimes, came before Louis the Pious to obtain pardon, which they received. Audoin alone resisted. He smote Warnaire that he died, wounded Lambert in the thigh, and slew himself with one blow of his sword.... Whereupon Louis the Pious decided to drive out of the palace all that multitude of women which occupied it in the time of his father."--L'Astronome, _Life of Louis the Pious_, pp. 345-346, _Collected History of France_.

[E] See "The Casque's Lark."