Sir Raimbaut de Vaqueiras
A masterful troubadour and talented spy, Sir Raimbaut de Vaqueiras is the boon companion and trusted lieutenant of Marquis Boniface of Montferrat. He is trusted by his liege in matters of subterfuge and investigation.
Description
A young knight in the prime of physical fitness and aspect. He is handsome, with his flashing smile, soulful brown eyes, prominent nose and fashionable goatee. The colours of Montferrat dominate his attire, although his own device (two oranges on a blue field, surmounted by a white bar bearing the image of a lute) indicates that he hails from Provence. A simple red cross is sewn onto his grey cloak, and his sword and dagger are unusually slender. He carries a lute strung across his back.
Bio
(Modified from the wikipedia article)
As his name suggests, Sir Raimbaut hails from Vaqueiras near Orange, France. He has spent most of his career as court poet and close friend of Boniface I of Montferrat. He served with him in action against the communes of Asti and Alessandria. Raimbaut claims that he earned a knighthood through protecting Boniface with his shield in battle at Messina, when they took part in Emperor Henry VI’s invasion of Sicily.
In addition to serving as the Marquis’ troubadour and court wit, Sir Raimbaut performs as his general lieutenant in matters that require a degree of subtlety or trickery. On the island of Corfu, he was observed by the Concord behaving in a number of these capacities. In a rather open, even obvious way, Sir Raimbaut toured the camp, inns, taverns and alehouses of the main settlement of the island, using his craft to drum up support for the new alliance between Boniface and Alexius Angelus. This was a clear attempt to make the potential reroute of the Fourth Crusade to Constantinople more palatable to the soldiery. Within that plan however, was a second gambit designed to draw out opposition to the reroute in hopes that they would attack him and reveal themselves. He was aided in this enterprise by the Marshal of Champagne and the knight Sir Matthew de Montmorency, who trailed him and protected him from the assassins that appeared to stop him.
Sir Raimbaut survived the attack of the assassins, and actually fought with an unusual competence with both sword and dagger at once. Though he was badly injured, he survived the fight and was up and about within a few weeks. SPying upon his convalescence, Sister Maude managed to overhear a conversation between Boniface, Sir Geoffrey and Sir Matthew where the Marquis confided in his companions that Sir Raimbaut sometimes boasted of being taught to fight by a fencing master who claimed to have lived for several centuries! Naturally, this prompted speculation amongst the Concord regarding exactly who this masterful troubadour actually answers to…
