Résumé
Résumé de L’Amour en armes
À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
Readers who love knights, castles and daring rescues, clever tricks played on bullies, and a romance that grows between two brave people. Fans of Renaissance Italy and of old-fashioned adventure will feel at home.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
Love-at-Arms is a historical romance by Rafael Sabatini, set in Italy in the days of Caesar Borgia. It follows a free-spirited soldier, a runaway princess, and a weak duke who tries to win a bride with cannon. The book gives you duels of wit, a siege with almost no gunpowder, and a love that grows under a castle's walls.
The story opens on a mountain night. Six nobles of the Duchy of Babbiano offer the crown to the famous Count of Aquila, and he refuses it. He wants to roam the world, not sit in a perfumed court. The next morning, a chance meeting in a wood with a gentle lady changes his plans for good.
Sabatini wrote with a quick pen and a love of colour, and this tale shows his gift for plotting. Over the next minutes, you will meet the people who drive it, and see how pride, fear and love push each of them toward a castle called Roccaleone. Let us begin with the plot that starts it all.
Dans ce résumé
- 1Nobles Offer the Count a CrownFree
- 2A Charge Down the Mountain
- 3Valentina and the Wounded Knight
- 4A Duke Who Cannot Woo
- 5Gonzaga Plots a Siege
- 6Exile and a Night Road
- 7A Knight at the Castle Gate
- 8A Siege With No Powder
- 9What the Story Is Really About
Point clé 1 sur 9
Nobles Offer the Count a Crown
The story begins in a goatherd's hut above the river Metauro. Six nobles of Babbiano wait there for the Count of Aquila, Francesco del Falco, a famous soldier. He arrives on foot, in plain clothes, and warns them that he saw a spy named Masuccio Torri hiding by the road.
The old nobleman Fabrizio da Lodi explains why they have called him. The young Duke, Gian Maria Sforza, spends his days in feasting and pleasure. Caesar Borgia is swallowing Italy leaf by leaf, like an artichoke, and Babbiano has no army to meet him. A marriage into the house of Urbino would have brought allies, but the Duke refused to wed.
So the nobles offer Francesco the crown. He feels the pull of it for a moment. He pictures himself driving the Borgia out of Romagna. Then he sees the other side: a life in palaces, ruled by the very men who made him ruler. He also thinks of the man he would depose, his own cousin.
He says no, and he gives honest reasons. He loves his freedom, and a knight-errant makes a poor statesman. He promises only to ask his cousin for the post of Gonfalonier, the military head of the state. Then Fanfulla hears marching feet outside, and the meeting turns to a race for their lives.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Questions about L’Amour en armes
What is Love-at-Arms about?
It follows Francesco del Falco, Count of Aquila, who refuses a crown and then defends the runaway Valentina della Rovere in her castle of Roccaleone against Gian Maria, the Duke of Babbiano, who wants to force her to marry him.
Who is Romeo Gonzaga in Love-at-Arms?
Gonzaga is a handsome courtier and lute player at Urbino. He helps Valentina escape to Roccaleone, hoping to win her himself, and grows jealous and treacherous when the Count wins her trust and respect.
Is Love-at-Arms a true story?
No, it is an invented tale by Rafael Sabatini. It is set in Renaissance Italy, in the days of Caesar Borgia, and uses real names and places such as Urbino and Guidobaldo, but its main plot and heroes are fiction.
Why does Valentina hold Roccaleone against the Duke?
She refuses an arranged marriage to Gian Maria Sforza, whom she finds loathsome, and takes refuge in her own fortress, vowing not to leave until her uncle lets her choose her own husband.
Is Love-at-Arms easy to read?
Yes, the story moves briskly. It has short chapters, vivid scenes, witty speech and a clear line of plot, with comic touches from the fool Peppe and the boastful soldier Fortemani.