CHAPTER XI.
THE KING'S ILLUMINATOR
AND to say that he was happier than even King Louis, is saying a verygreat deal; for King Louis spent the day most delightfully in Bretagne,in the castle of his bride to be, the Lady Anne. And then, just afterthe holiday season had passed, early in January, he and Lady Anne weremarried with great ceremony and splendour.
After the wedding, for three months, the king and queen lingered inBretagne; enjoying themselves by night with magnificent entertainmentsin the castle, and by day in riding over the frosty fields and inhunting, of which both of them were very fond. And then in April, whenthe first hawthorn buds were beginning to break, they journeyed down toParis to live in the king's palace.
Before long, King Louis and Queen Anne decided to make a number ofimprovements in this palace; and as they both were great lovers ofbeautiful books, they determined, among other things, to build a largewriting-room where they could have skilful illuminators always at workmaking lovely books for them.
When this room was finished, and they began to think of whom they wouldemploy, the first one they spoke of was Brother Stephen, whose exquisitework on the book of hours had so delighted them. But then, much as theywished to have him in the palace, they did not think it possible to doso, as they knew he belonged to the brotherhood of St. Martin's Abbey,and so of course had taken vows to spend his whole life there.
It chanced, however, soon after this, that King Louis happened to have alittle talk with the messenger he had sent to the Abbey at Christmastime to see about Gabriel. And this messenger told the king that whilethere the Abbot, in speaking to him of Brother Stephen's work, had saidthat the latter really wished to leave the brotherhood and go into theworld to paint; and that, though he had refused his request to be freedfrom his vows, yet the monk had worked so faithfully at King Louis'sbook that he thought he had earned his freedom, and that perhaps he, theAbbot, had done wrong in forcing him to stay at the Abbey if he wishedto study his art elsewhere.
In short, he had as much as said that if Brother Stephen ever againasked for his freedom, he would grant it; and this showed that the Abbothad relented and unbent a great deal more than any one could ever havebelieved possible.
When King Louis heard what the messenger told him, he was greatlypleased; and after talking it over with the queen, he decided to sendthe same messenger post-haste back to the Abbey to ask for the servicesof Brother Stephen before the Abbot might again change his mind.
Now King Louis was a very liberal monarch, and both he and Queen Anneliked nothing better than to encourage and help along real artists. Andso they thought that they would supply Brother Stephen with money sothat he could travel about and study and paint as he chose, even if hepreferred always to paint larger pictures rather than to illuminatebooks; though they hoped that once in awhile he might spend a littletime in their fine new writing-room.
When the messenger started, they told him to explain all this to BrotherStephen, and let the latter plan his work in whatever way best pleasedhim.
But the queen gave particular orders that, if possible, the messengerwas to bring the peasant boy, Gabriel Viaud, back to the palace withhim; for she thought the lad's work on the page where he had written hislittle prayer showed such promise that she wished to see him, and tohave him continue his training in the beautiful art of illumination.
The messenger, having thus received his orders, at once set out againfor Normandy; and he found this second journey much more pleasant thanthe one he had made before, through the winter snows. For this time herode under tall poplar-trees and between green hedgerows, where thecuckoos and fieldfares sang all day long. And when, after several days'travelling, he drew near St. Martin's Abbey, the country on either sideof the road was pink with wild roses and meadowsweet, just as it hadbeen a year before, when Gabriel used to gather the clusters offield-flowers for Brother Stephen to paint in the beautiful book.
Indeed, Gabriel still gathered the wild flowers every day, but onlybecause he loved them; for though, since their better fortunes, he wasagain studying and working with Brother Stephen, the latter was thenbusy on a long book of monastery rules, with only here and there acoloured initial letter, and which altogether was not nearly sointeresting as had been the book of hours with its lovely paintedborders.
And so when the messenger reached the Abbey, and made known his errand,they were both overjoyed at the prospect King Louis offered them.
After talking with the messenger, the Abbot, true to his word, in asolemn ceremony, freed Brother Stephen from his vows of obedience tothe rules of St. Martin's brotherhood; and then he gave both him andGabriel his blessing.
Brother Stephen, who had been too proud to ask a second time for hisfreedom, was now delighted that it had all come about in the way it did,and that he could devote his time to painting anything he chose.
Gabriel, too, was enchanted at the thought of all that he could do andlearn in the king's palace; and though he felt it hard to leave hishome, Queen Anne had kindly made it easier for him by promising thatsometimes he might come back for a little visit.
So in a few days he and Brother Stephen had made all their preparationsto leave; and they set out, Gabriel going with the messenger directly toKing Louis's palace in Paris; while Brother Stephen, taking the bag ofgold pieces which the king and queen had sent for him, travelled to manyof the great cities of Europe, where he studied the wonderful paintingsof the world's most famous masters, and where he himself made manybeautiful pictures. In this way he spent a number of happy months.
And then, just as a great many other people do, who find out that assoon as they are not compelled to do a certain kind of work, they reallylike it very much better than they thought, so, Brother Stephen, beingno longer obliged to illuminate books, all at once discovered that hereally enjoyed painting them more than anything else in the world.
And so it was that, by and by, to the gratification of the king andqueen, and above all to the great delight of Gabriel, he made his way tothe great writing-room of the palace in Paris. And there, in the doingof his exquisite artistic work, he passed the rest of his long and happylife.
And through all the years the warm love and friendship between himselfand Gabriel was as sweet and beautiful and as unchanging as any of thewhite and golden lilies that they painted in their rarest books. ForGabriel, too, became one of the finest illuminators of the time, andhis work was much sought for by the great nobles of the land.
Indeed, to this day, many of the wonderful illuminations that were madein that writing-room are still carefully kept in the great libraries andmuseums of France and of Europe. And some time, if ever you have thehappiness to visit one of these, and are there shown some of the paintedbooks from the palace of King Louis XII. and Queen Anne, if the work isespecially lovely, you may be quite certain that either Brother Stephen,or Gabriel, or perhaps both of them together, had a hand in its making.
THE END.
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