A bouquet in blood, a hundred nights at the doorstep, a moat with lions: What went for the love of a man

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Feats for the sake of love were performed not only by the wives of the Decembrists. Men, too, sometimes seriously changed their lives, risking it or throwing it all at the feet of their beloved. Kings and innkeepers, old men and young men - all kinds of admirers were capable of romantic feat.

One hundred nights at the doorstep

One of the Japanese court ladies of the ninth century, Ono no Komachi, was famous as a beauty, poetess and just a very witty woman. A nobleman named Fukakusa no Shosho fell in love with her. Apparently, the poetess did not really like the man, because in response to the courtship, she said that she would be with him only if he spent a hundred nights in a row at her doorstep. The average Japanese man would find the condition both humiliating and difficult to fulfill, and would change the object of sighing, but Fukakusa no Shosho agreed.

For ninety-nine nights, he sat at the threshold of the court beauty, and froze to death for the hundredth due to a sharp cold snap. So his act turned from romantic to tragic, which the Japanese like much more, and the nobleman's love became legendary. And Ono no Komachi eventually lost its beauty and became famous in exchange for wise sayings.

Ten years of repentance

In 1385, the king of Poland (this was the official title of the girl) Jadwiga met her fiancé, Wilhelm of Austria, a little older boy, and fell in love. But Poland did not need Wilhelm, and the Polish nobility did not let Jadwiga marry him, literally forcing him to marry the Lithuanian prince Jagiello, a man much older than Jadwiga.

The marriage did not work out. The bride deliberately came to the wedding in dark clothes - the only opportunity available to her to show how much she is not happy with this marriage. She was cold with her husband. Unsurprisingly, he believed that she actually had a lover - that was clearly more enjoyable to believe than his own unattractiveness. Yadviga was a very beautiful girl, and Jagiello craved her favor. The news of infidelity made him go berserk.

At the scandalous, ugly trial, Yadviga proved her innocence. The informer was punished. Several Polish knights, shocked by the humiliation that their lady-king suffered, immediately swore from now on, under any circumstances, from anyone to defend her honor. So Jagiello was denied access to Jadwiga's bedroom until she herself forgave him. Yadviga herself, in memory of the insult inflicted on her by her husband, stopped wearing bright clothes and dancing at balls.

Jagiello found himself in a very unpleasant position. On the one hand, he went crazy with love for his young wife (which, however, did not stop him from lavishing affection on other women). On the other hand, he needed a legal heir. For about ten years, Jagiello begged Jadwiga for forgiveness. He also began to dress in dark clothes and, in the presence of his wife, did not dare to drink anything but water, even at the noisiest holidays. In the end, Jadwiga forgave her husband and bore him a daughter. But the baby soon died, and Yadviga wasted away from longing for her. In honor of Jadwiga, Jagailo named his daughter from his next wife.

Million Scarlet roses

Niko Pirosmanishvili was always famous among his acquaintances not so much as a talented artist - they still could not appreciate this then - but as a very melancholy and dreamy person. Despite this, he was quite successful in running his small business - he kept a tavern.

In 1905, the French singer and dancer Margarita de Sevres came to Tbilisi with performances. Pirosmani (this is how the artist's surname is usually abbreviated) was deeply impressed by the beauty and talent of the guest. He wanted to make no less impression on her, and he sold all his movable and immovable property just so that all the flowers that are in Tbilisi would be delivered to the singer under the windows.

The act impressed de Sevres, and she sent Pirosmani an invitation to meet. The artist celebrated the good news with friends, and celebrated for so long that a certain rich man managed to conquer the beauty, and she left Georgia with him.

Lady's glove

One of the officers of the guard of the French king Francis I, Georges de Lorge, courted a certain lady of the court. The lady tested his feelings in every possible way. Once, during the lion fights, with which the king loved to entertain himself and his entourage, the lady either on purpose or accidentally dropped a glove into the moat, where the lions were pitted against each other, and … ordered de Lorge to bring it back.

All eyes turned to the Chevalier. But he did not look for witty ways out of the situation, but simply drew his sword, wrapped a cloak in his left hand instead of a shield, and went down to the lions. Those themselves were so dumbfounded that they simply looked at the daredevil, trying to figure out how to react. While the animals were pondering, the chevalier raised the glove and presented it to the lady with a bow. The other ladies were delighted. Alas, de Lorge himself somehow lost his love after that.

A hopeless battle

Sultan of Delhi and the surrounding Indian lands, Iltutmish, before his death, declared that his sons were stupid as a match, and therefore he left the throne to his daughter Razia, whom, by the way, he raised as a son. But the throne did not remain in the hands of Razia for long. The Turkic nobility made a coup. The weak-willed brother Razia was placed on the throne, and she herself was imprisoned in a fortress under the supervision of a man named Altunia.

Some say that Altunia was dissatisfied with the reward for participating in the rebellion, others - that he knew Razia in his youth and was in love with her, and therefore sought to be given to him as a prisoner, and not killed. In any case, Altunia married Razia.

But Razia did not leave the desire to regain his rightful throne, and she convinced Altunia to gather an army and march on Delhi. It was sheer madness, so superior were the forces of the enemy. Razia and Altunia fought shoulder to shoulder, but Altunia's army was both smaller and cowardly than the united army of Razia's brother's supporters. Razia and her husband were captured and executed. And the fuss around the throne and unworthy sultans, as Razia had warned, ruined and weakened the Delhi Sultanate, and soon it was generally conquered by newcomers from the north - the Mongols.

Flowers in blood

According to legend, a girl named Clemence, daughter of a Languedoc count, fell in love with one of the knights of her father Raoul, bastard Raymond of Toulouse. Father Clemence opposed their love and imprisoned Clemence in a tower so that she would not decide to run away with Raoul.

When the count and his army were leaving for another campaign, Clemence threw a bouquet from the window. Raoul caught it, dried it and kept it on the hike near the heart. Once in battle, a blow was sent to the count that would have been fatal for him. Perhaps the death of the count would be in love only on hand, but Raoul could not allow Clemence's father to be killed in front of his eyes, and closed the count with his body. Dying, he asked to give Clemence a bouquet stained with his blood.

After the death of Raoul, the girl took a vow of celibacy and founded a poetry competition - since she herself was a poetess - which were rewarded with flowers made of gold.

Despite the fact that the legend was later exposed and traces of Clemence, in addition to numerous references in Toulouse folklore and art, were not found, it is still sung as a symbol of poetry and love.

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