dismayed the Saracens, that they fled away in confusion, and the Christians pursued them till the night, obliged them to give over.
Soon after this victory, Valentine, Orson, the Ladies Bellisant, Clerimond, and Fazon, set out for Constantinople, to see the Emperor their Father, after they had leave of Duke Savary and his nobles, and were received with great joy.
At length the Emperor set out from Constantinople, after taking leave of his family to visit a strong castle he had in Spain.
While he was absent, Brandifer, brother to Feragus, invaded the empire with a very great army, and at length besieged Constantinople, where lay Valentine and Orson, the Green Knight, and all the ladies.
Valentine seeing the condition they all were in, resolved to give Brandifer battle, and thereupon divided his army into ten battalions, commanded by ten Knights, and sallying out of the city, began the fight with the Saracens, who drew up in readiness to receive them.
In the mean time the Emperor, who was at sea, returned homeward, and in his way he met a fleet going to the assistance of Brandifer, which bore upon him with full sails; whereupon exhorting his companions to behave like men, they made ready to receive them, and after a most bloody and obstinate battle, the Emperor got the victory, having slain many of the Pagans, and dispersed their ships.
After this victory, the Emperor commanded his men to put on the arms of the vanquished, as he did himself, thinking thereby the better to fall upon the besiegers his enemies; but the stratagem proved most fatal to him, as we shall hereafter find.
All this while the Christians and Valentine bravely
