King Rene’s Daughter (1913)

• 57%
• 1913
• Drama
• Romance
• Eugene Moore
• Maude Fealy
• Harry Benham
• Robert Broderick

To bring an end the enmity which has existed between King René, who ruled in Provence in the fifteenth century, and Count Vaudemont, the later gentlemen agreed with the former through their mediator, the Duke of Burgundy, to betroth his new-born daughter, Iolanthe, to Tristan, the nine-year-old son of the count. Not long after this agreement was made the palace was partly destroyed by fire, and in being rescued by a soldier the baby girl became blind. The king sent to Cordova for a famous physician named Ebu Jahia, who told the father that his daughter should be kept in ignorance of her affliction until she attained the age of sixteen, at which time she would regain the use of her eyes. Acting upon this advice the king built in a secluded spot in his dominion a cottage, where the childhood days of Iolanthe were spent in the company of nobody but her nurse, Martha, and the former's husband, Bertrand, a forester. She was not permitted to receive anybody and even when the king paid her visits he was known as a humble knight named Sir Raymbaut. As the years went by King René began to fear that Tristan would not wed a blind girl and that the feud would thereby be rekindled. The count kept his son strictly to the pledge and when Iolanthe reached her sixteenth year Tristan was sent to Provence to meet her. He wandered away from his escort, and, with his retainer. Sir Geoffrey of Orange, he accidentally came upon the cottage. Peering in through the half open door, Tristan saw a beautiful girl sleeping on the couch. Upon lifting the talisman that Ebu Jahia had placed upon her breast to produce sleep, the girl soon woke. He went into the garden and was soon followed by Iolanthe. When Sir Geoffrey saw the girl he tried to get Tristan away from her, but the young man had fallen in love with her and would not go. During their conversation Tristan learned that Iolanthe was blind and was greatly surprised that she did not know anything about it. He gently broke the news to her and when he left, it was with a promise to call again the next day. All were surprised to learn that a stranger had been there and had revealed the secret to Iolanthe, but it soon developed that it was a fortunate occurrence for the physician declared it necessary. Ebu Jahia then took the blind girl into the cottage and began working over her eyes. While the king waited outside he received a message from Tristan renouncing his daughter because he loved another. But when Tristan arrived he learned the true state of affairs, and the long-buried feud will never be rekindled.