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The Branding Needle; or The Monastery of Charolles

Eugène Sue



  Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online DistributedProofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book wasproduced from scanned images of public domain materialfrom the Google Print project.)

  THE BRANDING NEEDLE

  THE FULL SERIES OF

  The Mysteries of the People

  : : OR : :

  History of a Proletarian Family Across the Ages

  By EUGENE SUE

  _Consisting of the Following Works:_

  THE GOLD SICKLE; or, _Hena the Virgin of the Isle of Sen_.

  THE BRASS BELL; or, _The Chariot of Death_.

  THE IRON COLLAR; or, _Faustine and Syomara_.

  THE SILVER CROSS; or, _The Carpenter of Nazareth_.

  THE CASQUE'S LARK; or, _Victoria, the Mother of the Camps_.

  THE PONIARD'S HILT; or, _Karadeucq and Ronan_.

  THE BRANDING NEEDLE; or, _The Monastery of Charolles_.

  THE ABBATIAL CROSIER; or, _Bonaik and Septimine_.

  THE CARLOVINGIAN COINS; or, _The Daughters of Charlemagne_.

  THE IRON ARROW-HEAD; or, _The Buckler Maiden_.

  THE INFANT'S SKULL; or, _The End of the World_.

  THE PILGRIM'S SHELL; or, _Fergan the Quarryman_.

  THE IRON PINCERS; or, _Mylio and Karvel_.

  THE IRON TREVET; or, _Jocelyn the Champion_.

  THE EXECUTIONER'S KNIFE; or, _Joan of Arc_.

  THE POCKET BIBLE; or, _Christian the Printer_.

  THE BLACKSMITH'S HAMMER; or, _The Peasant Code_.

  THE SWORD OF HONOR; or, _The Foundation of the French Republic_.

  THE GALLEY SLAVE'S RING; or, _The Family Lebrenn_.

  Published Uniform With This Volume By

  THE NEW YORK LABOR NEWS CO.

  28 CITY HALL PLACE NEW YORK CITY

  THE BRANDING NEEDLE

  :: :: OR :: ::

  THE MONASTERY OF CHAROLLES

  A Tale of the First Communal Charter

  By EUGENE SUE

  TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL FRENCH BY

  DANIEL DE LEON

  NEW YORK LABOR NEWS COMPANY, 1908

  Copyright, 1908, by theNEW YORK LABOR NEWS CO.

  INDEX

  PART I. THE VALLEY OF CHAROLLES.

  CHAP. I. THE SIGNAL 5

  II. THE ANNUAL CELEBRATION 15

  III. ON THE WATCH AT THE RIVER 24

  IV. FREDEGONDE AND BRUNHILD 27

  V. THE ASSAULT 33

  PART II. THE CASTLE OF BRUNHILD.

  CHAP. I. THE TOWER-ROOM 47

  II. QUEEN AND CONFIDANTE 56

  III. THE ROYAL FAMILY 66

  IV. QUEEN AND MAYOR OF THE PALACE 69

  V. LOYSIK AND BRUNHILD 79

  PART III. THE CAMP OF CLOTAIRE II.

  CHAP. I. WEEDING KINGLETS 93

  II. AT BAY 101

  III. THE DEATH OF BRUNHILD 109

  EPILOGUE 120

  TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE

  Semiramis, Brunhild, Catherine of Medicis constitute a trinity ofhistoric women unique in their greatness. Their ambition was boundless,their intellectual powers matchless, the depths of their immoralityunfathomable. As such they were the scourges of their respective ages.Queen Brunhild, a central figure in this superb story, may be said to bethe Sixth Century heiress of the Semiramis of over ten centuriesearlier, and the progenitor of the Catherine of nearly ten centurieslater, who figures later in the sixteenth story of this series of EugeneSue's of historic novels named by him _The Mysteries of the People; or,History of a Proletarian Family Across the Ages_.

  This story--_The Branding Needle; or The Monastery of Charolles_--is theseventh of the series. Both in the tragic picture of Brunhild, and ofthe rustic, industrial and peaceful picture of the settlement ofCharolles, the story constitutes a connecting link between theturbulence of the previous story--_The Poniard's Hilt; or, Karadeucq andRonan_--and the renewed turbulence of the age depicted in the story thatfollows--_The Abbatial Crosier; or, Bonaik and Septimine_.

  With much color of truth does Eugene Sue look upon the settlement ofCharolles as the remote yet initial step to the Communes which, a fewcenturies later, constituted a marked feature of the history of France,and ultimately led to historic events of world-wide importance. Thecircumstances under which the royal charter of Charolles was granted,described with historic accuracy, its perils and its vicissitudes,unfold a page of history of no slight value to the student of history,and of fascinating interest to the lover of historic narratives.

  DANIEL DE LEON.

  New York, February, 1908.

  PART I

  THE VALLEY OF CHAROLLES