So listen, sirs, for the love of God in heaven! I'll tell you a story of noble worth. The fact is, according to the records, that the feared and much-loved Bertrand mustered a full thousand well-armed men. Olivier de Clisson wasn't going to be left out; nor were Jehan de Beaumont and his good brother Alain, brave Olivier and Alain de Mauny, the worthy Marshal Sancerre, the mighty lords of Rais and Rochefort, that outstanding knight the lord of La Hunaudaye, the noble viscount of Rohan and the ever-trusty lord of Roche-Guyon. The governor of Blois joined Bertrand, too, as did the Bastard of Flanders (the youngest, that is), and many other fine knights I don't know. Bertrand commanded all, of every degree, to be equipped and ordered and ready to go to the noble land of Berry, to English-occupied Sainte-Sévère. There they would find the illustrious duke of Berry and the duke of Bourbon with six thousand men-at-arms. All was duly agreed and done, and it was to prove the death and downfall of many English.

Bertrand set out from Blois and passed through the worthy city of Saumur – both have always been staunchly French. He was then reliably advised to deal with the enemy stronghold of Moncontour; so he called for Clisson, his close companion, and gave him, I believe, seven hundred lances and asked him in God's name to go to Moncontour and see if he could find a way to snare and capture the English there.

Olivier went with the men at his command and camped for a good six days before Moncontour. They mounted assaults and battled hard, but achieved precisely nothing.

Now, in this castle was a mean and odious English squire to whom Bertrand had once been obliged under a written and sealed pledge to pay a massive sum of money; he'd not been paid to his satisfaction, so he decided to pay Bertrand the foulest insult. What a mistake that was. He had a shield painted with Bertrand's arms and hung on a beam between two posts, right outside the gate; and it was hung upside-down, as a sign that Bertrand was false and perjured. But I tell you, Bertrand was to have him hung where the shield had been, as you'll hear if God grants me life.