Note 356 — BOOK VIII. (continued 2)

The adventures of the Châtelain de Coucy and the lady de Fayel are related in an old chronicle quoted by the President Faucher. There exists in the Imperial Library a manuscript copy of this chronicle, which appears to have been written towards the beginning of the thirteenth century, a short time after the third crusade. M. Roquefort, whose authority is of great weight in all which concerns the middle ages, does not appear to adopt the account of the chronicle quoted in his article “Coucy” of La Biographie Universelle, and is of the opinion of Father Papon, who attributes the adventure of the Châtelain to the troubadour Cabestan. We may object to M. Roquefort, that the adventure of Cabestan is not the same as that of Coucy, and that one may be true without rendering the other doubtful. We find in the works of Belloc a dissertation which has not been refuted, which proves the truth, if not of some details, of the principal facts related in the chronicle we have quoted.