The Faerie Queene: Book V: Canto IV Summary & Analysis

Arthegall leaves Florimell and Marinell’s wedding festivities. As he travels, he meets two handsome squires who are twin brothers. In front of them is a treasure chest that is tightly closed. The two brothers are fighting with each other, which Arthegall watches at first before asking what the cause of their disagreement is.

The elder brother (Bracidas) begins to explain the problem. Their father, Melesio, divided his lands up equally between each brother, with each getting an island of the same size. But as time passed, the seas took land from the elder brother’s island and gave it to the younger brother’s island.

This land dispute causes Bracidas’s fiancée, Philtera, to leave him and marry his younger brother (named Amidas), who has more land. This in turn causes Amidas’s former fiancée, Lucy, to throw herself into the sea to kill herself. Lucy soon regrets this decision, but luckily, she finds the chest floating in the sea, which she grabs onto.

Bracidas happens to find Lucy after she washes ashore on his island with the chest. They marry and eventually find out that the chest is full of treasure. Philtera claims that she was on a boat that wrecked and that before it wrecked, she was on her way to deliver that treasure to her new husband, Amidas, but Lucy doubts this is true.

Amidas confirms that parts of Bracidas’s story about the land are true. But he says he can prove the treasure belongs to Philtera, just like she said. Arthegall says he’ll mediate the argument to help them reach a decision.

Arthegall starts by asking Amidas what right he has to keep the land that the sea stole from Bracidas. He then turns to Bracidas and says the treasure is clearly the dowery of Philtera, so by what right is he keeping it from Amidas? Arthegall concludes, however, by saying that the sea works randomly, and whoever benefits from this randomness has a right to it. He says Amidas can keep the land, and Bracidas can keep the treasure. Amidas and Philtera are upset by this judgment, while Bracidas and Lucy are pleased. Arthegall, however, believes justice has been carried out, and so he leaves to continue his adventure.

Arthegall comes across a knight who has his hands tied behind his back, a noose around his neck, and a covering over his face. Around him, tyrannical women are taunting him. Arthegall doesn’t like fighting women, so he sends Talus to disperse them. The women go home. Talus then frees the knight, whose name is Sir Turpine.

Arthegall asks Sir Turpine how he ended up in this situation. Sir Turpine explains that he heard about the queen of the Amazon warrior women (named Radigund) who was in love with a knight named Bellodant but got rejected. As revenge, Radigund now takes out her anger on all knights. Arthegall is disturbed by this and goes to the Amazon capital of Radegone (named after Radigund).

When Radigund sees the unhurt Sir Turpine in front of her at the capital, she’s full of rage. She throws him to the ground and steps on his head. This causes Arthegall to interfere, and he attacks Radigund with a stroke that would have killed her if she hadn’t been prepared.

Radigund and Arthegall fight until evening, with her Amazon warrior women joining the battle, but their arrows are unable to pierce Talus’s iron body. That night both sides withdraw, with Talus keeping watch for Arthegall and Sir Turpine. Meanwhile, an angry Radigund calls her maid Clarinda over and asks her to send a message to Arthegall. She wants to face him in one-on-one battle.