What legendary bay-coloured horse had to be sacrificed before a certain European Emperor accepted to make peace with its riders and their family?

JaneofGaunt

Bayard, the magical mount of the Four Sons of Aymon. Renaud and his three brothers were sons of Aymon de Dordone. They flee from the court of Charlemagne after Renaud kills one of Charlemagne's nephews (Bertolai) in a brawl. A long war follows, during which Renaud and his brothers remain faithful to the chivalrous code of honor despite their sufferings, until Charlemagne is prevailed on by his paladins to make terms. The four brothers are pardoned on condition that Renaud go to the Holy Land on Crusade, and that their magical horse Bayard, who could expand his size to carry all four brothers on its back, be surrendered to Charlemagne. Charlemagne orders that the magic horse be drowned by chaining it to a stone and throwing it in a river, but the horse escapes and lives forever more in the woods. Renaud, after further adventures on the Crusades, returns home. He eventually abandons his home and goes to Cologne, where he becomes a builder on a shrine to Saint Peter. In the end, he is murdered by resentful workers, but his body is miraculously saved from the river and makes its way magically in a cart back to his brothers. Charlemagne is portrayed as vengeful and treacherous in these stories, and he is fooled by the sorcerer Maugris; the sympathy of the storyteller is clearly with the four brothers, but ultimately feudal authority is upheld. http://www.artema.com.au/Boyd/ancient_antecedents/bayard.html Also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaud_de_Montauban Aug 17 10, 10:25 AM