Heptameron

Told by Nomerfide, Story 11 tells of the lady Roncex, who was visiting the Franciscan house at Thouars. Feeling the urgent need to use the toilets, she rushes to the latrines, which are filthy from use by overindulgent Franciscan friars, showing “ample evidence that Franciscan bellies had been doing justice to the fruits of Bacchus and Ceres” (156). The room is dark, and when the lady chooses the dirtiest toilet, she becomes stuck to it “as if held on by glue” (156). She cries for her maid, La Mothe, who, having heard the worst stories about Franciscans, assumes the worst—“that some of them must have been lying in wait, and that they must be trying to rape Madame de Roncex” (156). She runs to her lady’s aid with a crowd of men to help her defend her lady. To the amusement of the crowd, they find the lady with her bottom bared, as she tried to spare her skirts from being soiled. While the lady is at first very angry with La Mothe, she laughs along with the rest when she discovers why the girl rallied so much help.

In Story 12, a Duke of the house of Medici in Florence is married to Madame Marguerite, the natural daughter of the Emperor, but because she is so young, the Duke cannot yet sleep with her and seeks satisfaction through love affairs with other women. The Duke begins to take interest in the sister of a gentleman who runs his household and, since he is so trusted by the Duke, is “told everything. He was in fact almost the Duke’s second self” (158). When the Duke approaches the man for help in seducing his sister, the gentleman refuses: “the brother had more concern for his sister’s honor, and for that of his family name, than for the Duke’s pleasures” (159).

His refusal enrages the Duke, and the gentleman realizes both his life and his sister’s honor are in danger. He tricks the Duke, telling him his sister has agreed to the affair and will come to him on a certain night. As the Duke awaits her arrival in a bed in her house, the gentleman comes to him instead, attacking him with his sword and cutting the Duke’s throat after a struggle. The gentleman then decides to kill the Duke’s entourage but is dissuaded by a cautious servant. Instead, he flees town, obtaining the Bishop’s permission to leave (under the guise of seeking help for his dying master), and escapes to Turkey by way of Venice. When the body is discovered, it becomes obvious the gentleman murdered the Duke, with his sister knowing nothing about it. While their family house is confiscated and she is reduced to poverty, she remained virtuous and, along with her sister, marries well, “enjoying the highest esteem throughout the land” (163).

Story 13 is set in the household of the Queen Regent, the mother of King Francis I. A young lady of the household is married to a much older man, but they are both devout, and she takes pains to serve him well and “to act as a woman of his own age would act, shunning all social gatherings, fine clothes, dances and all diversions” enjoyed by younger women (167). One day he tells his wife that he has always wanted to visit Jerusalem, and she agrees to accompany him. A captain comes to town and agrees to take them there secretly, and as they make extensive plans over time, he begins to fall in love with the lady, provoking a change in his demeanor: He begins attending church, makes confession, and suffers frequent bouts of love sickness. While the wife catches on, she takes care to keep him at a distance, as they need him to take them to Jerusalem. During his regular evening visits, she comes to learn he was once a poor nobleman who married a lady for money, and he used that money to build an honorable career at sea.

Eventually, the captain leaves to go on a journey and sends the lady a letter declaring his love for her along with a diamond set in a black enameled ring. Embarrassed by the ring, and determined to send a sharp reply, the lady, “being of good sense” (175), sends the ring to the captain’s wife. In the accompanying letter, she pretends to be a nun from Tarascon who met the husband, who asked that the ring be sent to his precious wife. This overjoys the captain’s wife, and the lady is content not only to get rid of the ring but that her ruse “restored the bond of affection between man and wife” (175). Shortly after this, news arrives that the captain and a nobleman named John were killed by the Turks in Rhodes after being abandoned by their men. The lady and a young woman in her retinue who loved John are both deeply affected by these deaths, particularly because the young woman dreamed of it in advance. Some time later, the captain’s wife sees the lady in Normandy and, knowing of her husband’s affection for her, shares the story of the ring. The lady must hide her extreme amusement, despite also feeling sorrow at the loss.

In Story 14, a Frenchman named the Seigneur de Bonnivet, who lives in Milan, is much admired and sought after by the ladies for his looks, wit, and valor in battle. He falls for a lady who continually refuses his advances, and, making inquiries, he discovers she’s in love with an Italian man. Bonnivet befriends this man and shares a “secret” with him, so the Italian then tells him of his secret love for the lady. Upon Bonnivet’s advice, the Italian is finally successful with her—“the lady consented to grant the Italian everything he desired” (182)—and he shares with Bonnivet the entire plan for secretly visiting her at night, from which doors and passageways to take to the felt shoes he should wear to avoid alerting the household.

Bonnivet then disguises himself as the Italian and arrives early, so he may take his revenge on the lady—“to take her honor and her chastity, without obligation or gratitude on his part, and without will, forethought or intention on hers” (184). She enjoys herself with him, thinking he is her Italian paramour, but she is overcome with shock and shame when he reveals himself before leaving. He calms her by convincing her to keep him as a lover, for the other had shared their secret. She agrees to keep him as her lover and to sleep with the Italian when he arrives but to release him gradually. Instead, when the Italian arrives, she pretends to be sick and sends him away, later rejecting him altogether. The lady and Bonnivet remain lovers for a while after.

Story 15 is set in the court of King Francis I, where an impoverished gentleman marries a young girl from a rich family. The gentleman is enamored of another woman, ignores the girl, and freely uses her money while allowing her to use very little of it. As she grows into an outstanding beauty, she loves him more, but he continues to ignore her. Eventually, a young prince takes interest in her, and their love blossoms until the King takes notice and warns the Prince to withdraw his affections. The Prince obeys, and at this point the husband begins to take interest in his wife, but she is determined to ignore him and finds another man.

When her husband catches her chatting with this man, whom she has tried to hide, she panics and jumps over a table to flee the room. He forbids her to see the man again or face death, and she agrees, but he catches her again. She defends herself, saying “no wife ever loved her husband as dearly as I did” despite his lack of money and status but that his neglect drove her to love others (195). She reasons that the example he set is far worse, and the husband is overcome by the truth of these words. However, she has tricked him and continues her affair with the young man. The suspicious husband gathers family to kill the young man, but the latter is warned and voluntarily exiles himself from court after speaking cordially with the husband. The wife eventually retreats to her family home in the country, and the husband has her surveilled, but she amuses herself by sending them after decoys. The husband discovers the lover has received and pawned a ring from the wife, and he tries to re-obtain it. The husband eventually dies, and when the lover tries to reunite with the wife, he is heartbroken to discover she has moved on to another man.

Story 16 takes place in Milan, where a widow goes to live with her brothers-in-law, resolving never to marry again. A French gentleman takes interest in her and regularly follows her to church as she attempts to avoid him, confessing his love, although she pretends not to understand. Eventually she relents, “moved by his persistence and the evident sincerity of his love to have pity on him” (206), and allows him to visit her at night. This is a trick on her part, as she has positioned her servants outside her door to frighten him by dragging swords along the wall so he might think her brothers-in-law are coming to discover him. The gentleman, “who had never known fear in his life” (206), goes to confront the brothers, and when he discovers the maids, he laughs and returns to bed with her. In the morning, she confesses she loves him but wanted to put him to a test. Ending on a cynical note, Geburon insists that while the lovers swear perpetual love to one another, these promises are always broken.

The Story 17 takes place in Dijon and centers on King Francis I and a German count named Wilhelm who enters his service. When the governor of Burgundy informs the King that his spies believe Wilhelm is a paid assassin charged with killing the King, the King considers this information and put Wilhelm to the test. While out with a hunting party, the King leads Wilhelm away into the forest and shows him his sword. Speaking hypothetically, the King says that an assassin charged to kill him should think twice before attacking a man with such a weapon, “a strong arm and a stout heart” (211), but also that if the man did not attack him while they were alone together, he is a coward. The count is terrified, agreeing with the King. The following day, the count makes an impossible demand—for a higher salary—so that he may resign and return to Germany as soon as possible, and the King grants his resignation. Francis I is amused, and although the man was innocent, he has been sufficiently frightened “to want to leave a royal master whose ways he had not yet come to comprehend” (212).

In Story 18, a young student falls in love with a lady, who loves him back. However, she tests him in three ways to be sure of his sincerity. First, she allows him to go to bed with her, but they both must keep on their nightshirts and only talk and kiss. Second, he must pretend to love another girl in her entourage as a diversion so others will not suspect their romance. Third, after allowing the student to come to her at night, she switches places with the young woman, who is also in love with the student, to see if he will remain faithful to her. He passes all three tests, not returning to his lady for a long time. In the end, he forgives her, and she makes herself completely available to him.

In Story 19, a gentleman in the service of the Marquis of Mantua is in love with a lady-in-waiting to the Duchess named Paulina. The Marchioness wants a better marriage arrangement for Paulina, so she tries to thwart their relationship. During a war, the gentleman is taken prisoner and swears to a Frenchman in a similar situation that if he cannot have Paulina, he will become a Franciscan friar and “serve no other master than God” (220). When he is refused again by the Marquis and Marchioness, who remind him their union would mean they would have to live in poverty, he obeys. He expresses his love to Paulina, and both collapse from the heartbreak.

The next day he enters the convent of the Observant Friars to become a monk, and for a time Paulina covers up her emotions so no one suspects her sadness. One day, a monk shows her a song in verse that the gentleman has written, and it breaks through her façade. She visits the convent, and the two recognize each other and briefly speak. She tells him she wishes to join him, “to adopt the same condition of life and the same robes as [he has] adopted” (227), and to experience whatever joys and suffering he has in his religious devotion. After they exchange a “holy kiss of love” (227), she joins the sister convent of Saint Clare. The Marchioness is filled with “sorrow and regret” (228), but she accepts the outcome, unable to change it, and the two live their lives happily in devotion to God.

The final story of day two is about the Seigneur de Riant, who is in love with a lady who says she loves him back but then keeps him at a distance. He is her devoted servant until one day when he suddenly wishes to see her and, through word of mouth, is led to a grove in the forest. Hoping to find her alone, he bursts through the fauna to discover his lady in the arms of a stable boy who is “as dirty, common and ugly as de Riant was handsome, gallant and refined” (232). The lady is discovered and humiliated, with her hypocrisy exposed in plain sight.

At the conclusion of day two, the group arrives at Vespers to find the church empty. The monks come running in and later admit they were late and out of breath because they had been listening in on the stories from a nearby ditch. The monks are given permission to listen to the stories every day and as long as they wish.