Count Robert of Paris
by Walter Scott
Walter Scott was a master of various talents. He was a man of letters, a faithful historian and historian, a well-read translator of foreign texts, a talented poet. Drawing much of his material from his native Scotland, his history and legends, Scott invented and mastered what we know today as a historical novel. Count Robert was founded during the reign of the Byzantine emperor Alexios Komnenos and focuses on the arrival of the first crusaders. During the swearing-in ceremony on the eve of the Crusade, the arrogant Count Robert insults the Emperor by sitting on the imperial throne. Also disturbed was a friend of Robert Hereward, a Saxon member of the Varangian Guard, who was exiled from England after the Norman conquest. When the Crusaders leave Byzantium for Asia, Robert is drugged and detained as a prisoner. His Amazonian wife Brandilda is kept apart and pursued by his lover Nikephoros Briennenus, the emperor's son-in-law. Brengilda challenges Nikefor to fight and promises to surrender to him in the event of defeat. Meanwhile, Robert is released by Hererowrd and introduces himself in a duel instead of his wife. But Nikephorus does not appear to be arrested after discovering a conspiracy to extort Alexius. Tuthward, who wants to avenge Robert's insult to the emperor, takes his place. Robert defeats him, but spares his life in gratitude for his previous help. There, he follows Robert to Palestine as a vassal and learns that his lost Saxon love, Bertha, is a female checkers for Brandil. Thanks to Robert's influence, part of Heward's English property is returned to him.
