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As to whether she was happy in her Château,
nobody dared say...Her husband, a great hunter, a
great gourmand and a great boor, was prone to vulgar
pursuits, despite his pretensions to Roman nobility,
a common aspiration at the time. His name was Flavius
Walitza.
Thus,
he returned to the Château one evening in September
533 AD to be greeted by some bad news...A band of
giant blond warriors, led by a handsome 28 year old,
had descended from the Rouergue (now the Aveyron),
had already seized several towns and was advancing
on Béziers. These were the Franks of Prince
Theodebert who were once again attacking the Kingdom
of the Visigoths. Flavius was happy to play the Roman,
but to show a Roman's courage was something else.
He may have been a glutton, but not a glutton for
punishment. So, that night Flavius Walitza gathered
together the thirty or so men of his defence force
and, without fife or drum, hied to Béziers
- to join the refugees who were flocking into the
town from the neighbouring area. However, he travelled
alone. His wife, disgusted by his cowardice, refused
to accompany him preferring, she said, to die with
dishonour. He remonstrated with Dentoria, but fear
rather than shame getting the better of him, he left
her and her handmaidens barricaded into the private
apartments of the Château to await their fate...
The
following day, fires were lit on the 'Pic de Vissou'
and the 'Saint Jean d'Aureilhan' mountain which overshadows
Mourèze : the invaders were approaching. Theodebert
himself was leading the advance guard. He was a striking
sight - 2 metres tall, clean shaven, bare-chested,
with helmet on head and sword in hand.
Arriving
at the ramparts of the Château, he and his men
were surprised to meet no resistance. Further, the
main gates were wide open and it was possible to see
torches burning under the arches inside, and a brightly
lit hall above.
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