Giletta Wins Bertrand Back with a Ring and Twins turns a marriage imposed by royal promise into a reunion engineered by the rejected wife herself. Gillette de Narbonne first wins Bertrand de Roussillon as her husband by curing the French king; when Bertrand flees rather than accept her, she takes charge of his neglected county and then pursues the ring and child he has declared necessary before he will return. Her eventual appearance before him, still dressed as a pilgrim and carrying their twin sons, converts a private deception into public recognition.

The Marriage and Bertrand’s Refusal

Gillette’s cure restores the French king’s health before the eight-day limit she herself has proposed. The king had promised to reward her with a husband of her choosing, provided he was neither one of his sons nor a member of the royal house. She names Bertrand, whom she has loved since childhood. Though the king considers the match a serious matter, he keeps his promise and orders Bertrand to return to his county with Gillette as his wife.

Bertrand objects that Gillette is a healer and, in his view, not of a lineage suitable to his rank. The king answers that she is fair, wise, and deeply devoted to him, but Bertrand refuses to consent. The king insists on the marriage, and Bertrand goes through the ceremony against his will. He then asks leave to return to his own lands, but instead travels to Tuscany and enters Florentine service as a captain in the conflict with Siena. His departure leaves Gillette with the title of wife but without a shared life with her husband.

Taking Charge of the County

Rather than follow Bertrand, Gillette goes to Roussillon, where the people receive her as their liege lady. The county has been left waste and disordered during the long absence of its lord. She applies herself diligently to putting it in order, winning the affection of Bertrand’s vassals, who blame him for refusing to accept her.

Gillette sends two knights to ask whether Bertrand stays away because of her and, if so, offers to leave. His answer sets two conditions for his return: she must have his ring on her finger and a son begotten by him in her arms. He prizes the ring because he has been led to believe it possesses a special virtue, and he does not part with it. The knights recognize how nearly impossible his demands are; Gillette hears them as a task to be solved, not a final rejection.

She calls together the county’s leading men and explains what she has done for Bertrand and what his response means. She says she does not intend to make him remain in perpetual exile. Instead, she announces that she will leave the county and spend the rest of her life on pilgrimage and works of charity. The people weep and beg her to reconsider, but she departs in pilgrim’s clothing with money and jewels, accompanied by a cousin and a chamberwoman. Her departure is both a relinquishment of her public position and a step toward meeting Bertrand’s conditions.

The Ring and the Secret Substitution

In Florence, Gillette learns the identity and household of the woman whose daughter Bertrand loves. The mother and daughter are in poor circumstances. Gillette approaches the mother privately, reveals her identity and the course of her marriage, and explains that Bertrand has demanded his ring and a son before he will return. She offers money for the daughter’s dowry in exchange for the mother’s help.

The plan depends on Bertrand believing that he is meeting the daughter. Through a trusted intermediary, the mother is to let him know that the young woman will grant his wishes if he sends the ring as proof of his love. Once he sends it, the mother is to bring him secretly to her house and put Gillette in the daughter’s place. Gillette hopes that this concealed meeting will allow her to conceive a child by her husband and recover their marriage.

The mother fears that the scheme could bring blame upon her daughter, but judges that helping Gillette recover her husband is an honorable purpose. She acts discreetly, obtains the ring despite Bertrand’s reluctance to part with it, and substitutes Gillette for her daughter. Bertrand believes he is with the woman he loves. The substitution happens more than once; Gillette becomes pregnant with twin sons. As Bertrand takes his leave on these visits, he gives her jewels, which she carefully keeps. The ring and the children are thus secured through a deception that answers Bertrand’s own conditions while concealing the means by which they are fulfilled.

Gillette does not leave the mother without recompense. Although the woman modestly asks for one hundred pounds to marry her daughter, Gillette gives her five hundred and jewels worth perhaps as much again. The mother then removes with her daughter to a relative’s house in the country, eliminating any further reason for Bertrand to visit or send to their home. Hearing that Gillette has left the county, Bertrand returns to Roussillon.

The Public Recognition

Gillette remains in Florence until her time to give birth, then delivers two boys who closely resemble Bertrand. When the children are old enough for her to travel, she goes to Montpellier and learns that Bertrand will hold a great entertainment for knights and ladies at Roussillon on All Saints’ Day. She goes there in the pilgrim’s clothing she has worn throughout her journey.

As the assembled guests are about to sit down to table, Gillette enters the hall carrying both children. She makes her way to Bertrand, falls at his feet, and identifies herself as his unhappy wife. She reminds him of the condition he gave the two knights: she has his ring, and she holds not one son of his but two. Her appeal is made before the assembled company, so that the private bargain which governed their separation becomes a matter of public witness.

Bertrand recognizes the ring and the children’s resemblance to him, but asks how this can have happened. Gillette recounts the events in order, explaining the substitution and how she obtained the ring and conceived his children. The truth of her account, the fulfillment of his stated conditions, and the pleas of the vassals and ladies present confront him together. He relents, raises her from the ground, embraces and kisses her, and recognizes her as his lawful wife and the boys as his children.

Reunion and Narrative Significance

The ending completes more than a private reconciliation. The people of Roussillon had already accepted Gillette as their liege lady because she restored order while Bertrand was away; now he publicly receives her as his wife and honors her standing. He has her clothed according to her rank and celebrates with a festival lasting that day and several more. From then on, he treats her as his bride and wife and loves and cherishes her above all.

The story’s decisive reversal is that Bertrand’s test, intended as a barrier to reunion, becomes the practical measure by which Gillette secures it. His ring, prized for its supposed virtue, changes hands through his own desire to pursue another woman; the child he demands becomes two sons; and the wife he cast off returns not through a new royal command but by her own planning, persistence, and resourcefulness. The public scene at the feast binds those proofs to acknowledgment: what began as a forced marriage and a concealed substitution ends in the husband’s open recognition of wife and children.