DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70303#0172
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SURPRISING AFFECTION IN TWO RIVAL FEMALES.
The Church of the Benedictines at Erfurt, in Upper
Saxony, bears witness, in a splendid monument, of the
following circumstance, thus related by a recent traveller :
Passing through this city, says he, I was induced to
visit the tomb of Louis, Count Gleichen, of the house of
Schazbourg, which gave an emperor to Germany. The
Count having been taken prisoner in a battle with the
Saracens, during the Holy War, he was sold as a slave to
the Sultan, and suffered a long and irksome captivity.
One day, while he was working in the garden, the Sul-
tan’s daughter, who happened to be present at the time,
approached him, and asked him many questions. The
agreeable person of the Count, his air, and his manner
so pleased the princess, that she at length offered to effect
his deliverance, upon condition that he would marry her.
I have a wife and children, replied the Count! What ob-
jection is that, said she: it is the custom of my country
to have as many wives as a man may think proper ? The
Count no longer hesitated, but accepted the offer, and
pledged his word to marry his deliverer. She immedi-
ately took her measures with promptness and activity to
carry her plan into execution; and they soon embarked
on board a vessel prepared to receive them. They ar-
rived safely at Venice, where the Count found one of his
domestics, who was then travelling in search of intelli-
gence concerning him, and who assured the Count, that
the Countess and her children, were perfectly well. The
Count hastened to Rome, and obtained permission of the
Pope to retain both his wives. This took place in the
year 1240, under the Pontificate of Gregory IX. If the
Holy Father thus shewed himself indulgent, the Count’s
lawful wife was not remiss in complaisance to the young
Saracen, who had been the means of restoring her hus-
band, and conceived an uncommon degree of tenderness
for
SURPRISING AFFECTION IN TWO RIVAL FEMALES.
The Church of the Benedictines at Erfurt, in Upper
Saxony, bears witness, in a splendid monument, of the
following circumstance, thus related by a recent traveller :
Passing through this city, says he, I was induced to
visit the tomb of Louis, Count Gleichen, of the house of
Schazbourg, which gave an emperor to Germany. The
Count having been taken prisoner in a battle with the
Saracens, during the Holy War, he was sold as a slave to
the Sultan, and suffered a long and irksome captivity.
One day, while he was working in the garden, the Sul-
tan’s daughter, who happened to be present at the time,
approached him, and asked him many questions. The
agreeable person of the Count, his air, and his manner
so pleased the princess, that she at length offered to effect
his deliverance, upon condition that he would marry her.
I have a wife and children, replied the Count! What ob-
jection is that, said she: it is the custom of my country
to have as many wives as a man may think proper ? The
Count no longer hesitated, but accepted the offer, and
pledged his word to marry his deliverer. She immedi-
ately took her measures with promptness and activity to
carry her plan into execution; and they soon embarked
on board a vessel prepared to receive them. They ar-
rived safely at Venice, where the Count found one of his
domestics, who was then travelling in search of intelli-
gence concerning him, and who assured the Count, that
the Countess and her children, were perfectly well. The
Count hastened to Rome, and obtained permission of the
Pope to retain both his wives. This took place in the
year 1240, under the Pontificate of Gregory IX. If the
Holy Father thus shewed himself indulgent, the Count’s
lawful wife was not remiss in complaisance to the young
Saracen, who had been the means of restoring her hus-
band, and conceived an uncommon degree of tenderness
for