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SKETCH OF THE STORY.
THE story opens with an account of the Court of Charlemagne at Paris, where nearly all the powerful Barons of the land are assembled, and among them the Duke Aymon of Dordon, with his four sons, Renaud, Alard, Guichard, and Richard. Duke Beuves of Aigremont, brother to Aymon, is absent from the court, and the Emperor is so enraged by this insult, that he vows to besiege Aigremont, unless Beuves promises to serve him next summer with a powerful army. Duke Naymes advises Charlemagne to send a messenger to Aigremont, and after some discussion, Lohier, the eldest son of the Emperor, is sent there with a hundred knights. [In the original chanson Enguerrand, the nephew of the Emperor, is first sent to Aigremont, he is slain, and Lohier then undertakes the message and shares the same fate. A knight called Enquerrard of Peronne is killed at Troyes by Beuves in this prose version.] He delivers his message insolently to Duke Beuves, who answers him with equal warmth, and a fight ensues, in which Lohier is slain by Duke Beuves; his body is conveyed to Charlemagne by the few survivors of his company and buried at Saint-Germain. The Emperor vows to revenge the death of his son by besieging Aigremont.
Meanwhile the Sons of Aymon have been created knights by Charlemagne, and Renaud has been presented with the wonderful horse Bayard.
When Aymon hears of the death of Lohier, he departs with his sons in haste to Dordon for fear of the Emperor's wrath. [In the chanson Aymon is banished by Charlemagne before the death of Lohier, and is received again into favour when the preparations for the attack on Aigremont are being carried out; his sons are then created knights.] Great preparations are made at Paris for the campaign against Duke Beuves; while the army are on their way to Aigremont, a messenger informs them that Beuves is at Troyes, and is besieging that city with the assistance of his brothers, Doon of Nantueil and Gerard of