John the blind – The King’s last charge

“The king, his heart resolute, called upon his knights, ‘Where is my son, Charles?’ They replied, ‘Sire, we know not; we believe he fights on.’ Then he declared, ‘Loyal companions, lead me into the fray, that I may strike but one blow with my sword.’ To ensure they would not lose him in the chaos, they bound their bridles together, placing the king at their head, and so advanced toward the enemy.” Froissart’s portentous words hang in the air like the dying notes of a funeral dirge, bearing with them the weight of a moment preserved in time’s amber. John of Luxembourg—John the Blind—was no ordinary king. He was a paradox alive, a man who belonged to his mortality yet was unchained by it. Even in his blindness — maybe because of it — he perceived with greater clarity the truth of what it meant to lead, to battle, to confront the tide of inevitability…