Fulk almost abandoned his companions on a voyage. In the sea near Spain is an island entirely closed in with high rock, and there is only one entrance; it is called Beteloye. Now that Fulk and his companions proceed abroad, this name is made up from one of the names Beetulo or Betuli, placed in Spain by the ancient geographers. Half a league long and as much broad, and there was neither man nor beast inhabiting it. The sixth day they came to this isle. Fulk began then to sleep, for during six days before he had not slept. His brother and his retinue went on shore; and he himself alone slept in the ship, which was attached to the rock. At length came a hideous wind, and broke the cords of the ship, and carried the ship out into the open sea. When Fulk awoke and saw the stars and the firmament, he called his brother John and his other companions; and nobody answered him, and he saw that he was alone on the open sea. And then he began to weep, and to curse his destiny, which was so hard, and he regretted his brothers. Then a slumber seized upon him, and soon his ship arrived in the land of Barbary, at the city of Tunis.

At Barbary, there at that time was Messobryns, king of Barbary, with four kings and six admirals, who were all Saracens. The king leaned on a tower towards the sea, and saw this marvelous galley arrive in his land, and commanded two sergeants to go and see what it was. The two sergeants entered the ship; they found nothing but the knight, who was still asleep. The one pushed him with his feet, and commanded him to awake. The knight jumped up like a man in a fright, and struck him with his fist that he fell overboard into the middle of the sea; the other took to flight, and came to tell the king how it had happened to him. The king commanded a hundred knights to go and take that ship, and bring the knight to him. The hundred knights, all armed, came to the ship, and assailed it on all sides. Fulk defended himself courageously against them all; but at last he surrendered on condition that he should have no hurt. They led him before the king, who commanded that he should be served well in a chamber.

Isorie, the king's sister, used often to visit and comfort him, and was a very fair and gentle damsel; and she saw that he was wounded in the side, and prayed him for love that he would tell her how he was named, and from what land he was, and in what manner he was wounded. He replied that he was named the lost sailor, Marin le Perdu of France and that he loved tenderly from his heart a damsel, daughter of an earl of his country, and she made him in return great semblance of love; but she loved more another. Isorie took her harp made descants and notes to solace Fulk; for she saw that he was handsome, and of courtly breeding. Fulk asked of Isorie the fair what was the noise that was before the king in the hall. She told him of the land of Iberia where a duke of Cartagena had a daughter Ydoine of Cartagena, a land where St. Patrick drove away the serpents. Cartagena is where Fulk sailed north beyond Orkney before turning back to England and where the kingdom of Iberia was inhabited as Caragena country.

Isorie continued to tell of a knight of England, who was called Fulk Fitz-Warine de Metz, and slew the dragon, and restored her to her father. She knew Marin le Perdu of France as Marin le Perdu of France and not that he was about her, Fulk himself. She continued to tell him that the king, her brother sent messengers to her, she refused him. He learned of her similarity and dame Maud. When Fulk sent dame Maude by Baldwin de Hodnet privately to the bishop of Canterbury, and assigned Baldwin to come to him at Dover. Fulk and his four brothers and Audulf and John de Rampaigne armed themselves at their will, and their other people, and came to castle Balaha before the prince. When the king John , who had so much lusted for Maud, knew of a truth that she was married to Sir Fulk, his enemy, by the counsel of archbishop Hubert, he did great damage to the archbishop and to the lady; for he wanted to have her carried off by force. she fled to the church to the minster or cathedral of Canterbury and was there delivered of a daughter, whom the archbishop baptized by the name of Hawise, and who was afterwards lady of Wem, married William Pantulf, baron of Wem. In the thirteenth century, the Qur'an was translated into Latin for use by Christian missionaries. On Fulk's refusal to take battle for Saracen, he obliged the lord the king and would as it should save his land and his people. Isorie went to tell to Messobryn, her brother, the king of Barbary, all that Fulk, who had assumed the name of Marin le Perdu of France, had promised her. The king at once granted all that he would order, if Fulk could so carry out this business.

The day of the battle was ordained, the king armed Sir Fulk. The king and his Barbarines, his admirals, and all his other people, were richly armed, and much people with them; and they put forward his knight Fulk. The knight said that he was a Christian born in England, the son of Warine de Metz, and he was called Philip le Rous. And he told word by word in order entirely all his life and that of his brothers, and how the duchess came in a ship by the island of Betloye, and how she removed them in the ship and saved them. For they were there half a yeare and more, and they ate their horses for hunger. Then Fulk told him a true mark, by which he knew him well. Then they made great joy, and postponed the battle till the morrow. Philip told the duchess that it was Fulk his brother with whom he had fought, so that by the counsel of Fulk and Philip and his other brothers, the king and all his household were baptized, and the king married the duchess with great honor.

When they had arrived secretly in England, Fulk ordered that John de Rampaigne should make himself a merchant and inquire where king John was and if William, his brother, were alive or not. John dressed himself very richly in guise of a merchant, came to London, and lodged in the house of the mayor, and caused himself to be served very richly, and obtained the acquaintance of the mayor and all his household, and gave them fair gifts; and prayed the mayor that he would cause him to have knowledge of the king, so that he could bring his ship to the shore in his land. The mayor conducted him to the presence of King John at Westminster, and the merchant very courteously saluted him in corrupt Latin, his language, in which Fulk conversed with the pirates of Orkney, and it is alluded to in other medieval writings as a dialect in which people of different countries understood one another, especially merchants' Lingua Franca of the Mediterranean. The city known as Babylon in the middle ages was Cairo in Egypt, the capital of the Egyptian califs. This city, and that of Alexandria, were the great emporia of the medieval trade with the East, and especially with India. Fulk sold himself as merchant of Greece, and have been in Babylon, Alexandria, and India the Greater, and have a ship laden with avoirdupois, rich cloths, pearls, horses, and other riches which might be of great worth to this kingdom.

During this period of his outlawry, Fulk fitz Warine appears to have been deserted by some of his comrades, who had no doubt joined him as an ally in circumstances similar to those in which he had been thrown. We find in the patent rolls that on the 30th April, 1202, Eustache de Kidwelly, one of Fulk's companions, obtained his own pardon. ["King, etc., to his justiciars, viscounts, and all bailiffs and faithful men of his in England, etc. Know in as much as it pertains to us that we have pardoned Eustace de Kidwelly concerning the escape he made and the outlawry promulgated against him upon the downfall of Fulk fitz Warine, whose companion he was. And we permit him to return to our land of England and he shall have our peace there. However, he should make peace with those against whom he brought harm and because of whom he took flight; he should either stand trial directly if anyone wishes to speak against him or he may freely and without impediment leave our land of England if he does not wish to do this. Witness, H. the archbishop of Canterbury, our chancellor, at Ponte-de-l'Arche, 30th day of April."] The king was at this time in Normandy, at Pont-de-l'Arche.

John was absent, engaged in his wars in Normandy, from the end of May 1201, till the 7th of December, 1203, when he returned to Portsmouth, that is, during nearly the whole period of Fulk fitz Warine's outlawry. The king went thence to Westminster, and caused to assemble earls, barons, and the clergy, and told them openly that he had of his own will granted his peace to Fulk Fitz Warine and his brothers and all his adherents, and commanded that they should be honorably received through all the kingdom, and granted them entirely all their heritage. When Hubert the archbishop heard this, he was very glad, and sent his letters immediately to Fulk and to the earl of Gloucester, and to Randulf earl of Chester, and to Hugh earl-marshal, that they should come in haste to him at Canterbury; and when they were come, they ordained that Fulk and his brothers should surrender themselves at London to the king. Fulk and his brothers and the three earls with their power appareled themselves as richly as they knew how and were able, and came through London with noble apparel, and knelt before the king at Westminster, and rendered themselves to him.

Fulk and his companions owed their pardon to the bishop of Norwich and the earl of Salisbury, and not to Hubert Walter; but the archbishop, who held the two important offices of lord chancellor and grand justiciary, may still have been the real and primary mediator. There is a greater error in laying the scene of this last act of the adventures of the outlaws at Westminster, for the king was all this time in Normandy, and did not return to Westminster until the 22nd of January, 1204, more than two months after the pardon was given. According to the patent rolls, it was on the 20th of August, 1203, that king John first gave Fulk and his companions a safe conduct for a fortnight to come to the court, then at Verneuil, in Normandy. On the 12th of September, the king, then at Herbetot, granted another safe-conduct, for a week, to Fulk fitz Warine and Baldwin de Hoduet and their companions. On the 2nd of October, another safe-conduct for a fortnight was granted to Fulk fitz Warine and such as he might bring with him, the king being then at Montfort. At length, on the 15th of November, Fulk fitz Warine received his pardon from the king, who was then at Caen.

On the 11th of November, the king, then at Rouen, gave a similar pardon to Vivian de Prestecotes, one of Fulk's companions, who had been outlawed for some act of violence against Jorvet de Hulton. Whittington was restored to Fulk fitz Warine soon afterwards, as we know from the same records.

 

those of Fulk's companions who received their pardon at the same time, distinguishing them into those who had originally joined in Fulk's rebellion, and those who, having been outlawed for other causes, afterwards joined him. The first list contains the names of several borderers: Baldwin de Hodenet, William fitz-Fulk, John de Tracy, Roger de Preston, Philip fitz-Warine, Yves fitz-Warine, Ralph Gras, Stephen de Hodenet, Henry of Pontesbury, Herbert Branche, Henry le Norreis, William Malveissin, Ralph fitzWilliam, Abraham Passavaut, Matthew de Dulvustiria, Hugh Rufus, William Gernun, Walter of Alwestana, John de Preston, Richard de Preston, Philip de Hauewuda, Hamo of Wakefield(?), Arfin Marnur, Adam de Creckefergus, Walter le Sumter, Gilbert de Dover, William de Eggremundia, John de Lamborne, Henry Walenger, John Descunsit, William Fet, William Cook, Geoffrey his son, Phillip de Wemma, Richard Scott, Thomas de Lidetuna, Henry of Gloucester. These were outlawed for their crimes and afterward came to that same Fulk and were restored on account of the petition of the lord bishop of Norwich and W. count of Salisbury, the brother of the lord king: Hugh Fressellus, Orun de Prestecotes, Roger de Waletona, Reynold fitzReynold, William fitzWilliam, William son of Richard de Bertona, Richard of Wakefield, Henry son of Robert le Kinge of Uffington, John son of Toke, Henry le Francets, Walter Godric, Thomas his brother, Roger de Onderoude, Roger de la Hande, William fitzJohn.]

 

The king received them, and restored to them all that was theirs in England, and commanded them to remain with him; which they did a whole month. Then Fulk took leave, and, remained with the earl-marshall; and the earl gave him on Ashdown, Wanting, and other lands. Fulk and his brothers armed themselves to their liking, and came to Abingdon, and removed thence all that they could find to sell, and caused it to be taken and carried to Wanting, and he made there a fair and a market town, which has been since held there and is still.

Wanting in Berkshire, now called Wantage, is supposed to have been originally a Roman station, and was a place of some importance in Saxon times, being well known as the birth-place of King Alfred. The manor was given from the crown in the reign of Richard 1, to Baldwin de Bethune earl of Albemarle, from whom it passed to William de Valence earl of Pembroke, and his eldest daughter carried it by marriage to Hugh Bigot, the earl marshal. Hugh Bigot, as here stated, granted this manor to Fulk fitz Warine, but the grant was made in reward for military services, and its date was 1215, long after that at which it appears here to be placed.

The king's charter confirming the foundation of this abbey at Alburbury, is dated at Hereford, on the 12th day of December, in the 17th Henry 11, that is in the yeare 1171. It must therefore have been founded by Fulk fitz Warine, the father of him.

When Lady Joan, wife of Lewis prince of Wales, who was the daughter of king Henry of England, was dead, for the great renown of prowess and goodness that Sir Fulk had, he sent to him for Eve his daughter; and he gave her to him, and they were married with great honor and solemnity. But Lewis only lived a yeare and a half after; he died and was buried at Aberconway, without heir begotten of Eve. Llewelyn died in 1240, and was buried in the Cistercian abbey of Conway, which he had founded.

And afterwards she was married to the lord of White-Minster, who was a knight of great breeding, courageous and bold. Blanc-Mostiers, or White-Minster, means, probably, Whitchurch in Shropshire, though I think it has been interpreted to mean Oswestry.

Fulk came to White-Town, and found there Maude, his wife, and his children, who were very glad of his coming; and they made great joy between them. Then Fulk caused his treasures and his riches to be brought; gave lands and horses to his sergeants and friends very largely, and maintained his land in great honor. Fulk bethought him that he had greatly sinned against God, as by slaughter of people and other great offences; and, in remission of his sins, founded a priory in the honor of our lady St. Mary of the order of Grandmont near Alberbury, in a wood, on the river Severn; and it is called the New Abbey. And not long after died dame Maude de Cause, his wife, and was interred in this priory. And a good while after the lady was dead, Fulk married a very gentle lady, lady Clarice de Auberville; and by his two wives he begat fair children and very valiant. The lady Clarice de Auberville, or the pretended marriage of Eve with the prince of Wales, so that we can only take the events as they are here told.

Fulk and Lady Clarice, his wife, one night were sleeping together in their chamber; the lady was asleep, and Fulk was awake and thought of his youth, and repented much in his heart for his trespass. At length he saw in the chamber so great a light that it was wonderful, and he thought what could it be. Then he heard a voice as it were of thunder in the air, and it said: "Vassal, God has granted thee thy penance, which is better here than elsewhere." At that word, the lady awoke, and saw the great light, and covered her face for fear. At length this light vanished. And after this light, Fulk could never see more; but he was blind all his days. This Fulk was very hospitable and liberal; and he caused the king's road to be turned through his hall at his manor of Alleston, in order that no stranger might pass there without having meat or lodging or other honor or goods of his. Merlin says that

In Britain the Great,
A wolf will come from the White-Land;
Twelve teeth he shall have sharp,
Six beneath and six above.
He shall have so fierce a look,
That he shall drive away the leopard
Out of the White-Land;
He shall have such great force and virtue.
But we know that Merlin
Said it for Fulk Fitz Warine;
For each of you may be sure
That in the time of King Arthur
That was called White-Land,
Which is now named White Town.
For in that country was the chapel
Of St. Augustine, which was fair,
Where Kahuz the son of Ywein dreamt
That he stole the candelabrum,
And that he encountered a man
Who wounded him with a knife,
And gave him a wound in the side;
And in his sleep he cried so loud,
That King Arthur heard him,
And awoke from his sleep.
And when Cahuz was awake,
He put his hand to his side;
There he found the knife
Which had made the wound in him.
Thus the Graal tells us,
The book of the holy vessel.
There King Arthur recovered
His goodness and his valor,
When he had lost all
His chivalry and his virtue.
From that country the wolf issued,
As the wise Merlin says,
And the twelve sharp teeth
We have recognized by his shield.
He carried a shield indented,
As the sayers have devised;
In the shield are twelve teeth
Of gules and of argent.
By the leopard may be known
And well understood King John;
For he carried on his shield
The leopards of beaten gold.

The date of the death of this Fulk fitz Warine is not known. It is probable that he was alive in 1256, as the Fulk fitz Warine who was drowned at the battle of Lewes in 1264, and who was no doubt his son, is described in January 1256, as Fulk fitz Warine junior. This Fulk remained seven years blind, and suffered well his penance. Lady Clarice died, and was buried at the New Abbey; after whose death, Fulk lived but a year, and died at White-Town. And in great honor was he interred at the New Abbey; on whose soul may God have mercy. Near the altar lies the body.