acquaintances, and among them several knights famous at home and abroad.
At these Zbyszko looked with admiration, promising himself that if he
escaped death for the insult to Lichtenstein, he would try to rival them
in gallantry and in all knightly virtues. One of these knights,
Toporczyk, a relative of the castellan of Krakow, told them that Wojciech
Jastrzembiec had returned from Rome, where he had been sent to Pope
Bonifacius IX. with the king's invitation to the christening at Krakow.
Bonifacius accepted the invitation; and although it was doubtful whether
he would be able to come personally, he authorized the envoy to stand
godfather for the coming child in his name; and he asked that the name
Bonifacius or Bonifacia be given to the child as a proof of his
particular love for the king and the queen.

They also spoke of the arrival of the Hungarian king, Sigismundus; they
expected him positively, because he always came, invited or not, whenever
there was an opportunity for feasts and tournaments. Of these he was very
fond, because he desired to be famous the world over as a ruler, a singer
and the first among knights. Powala, Zawisza of Garbow, Dobko of
Olesnica, Naszan and others of the same rank, recollected with a smile
that during Sigismundus' first visit, King Wladyslaw requested them
privately not to attack him very fiercely, but to spare "the Hungarian
guest," whose vanity, known throughout the world, used to make him cry in
case of defeat. But the most interest was excited among the knights by
Witold's affairs. They told marvelous tales about the magnificence of
that cradle, made of sterling silver, which the Lithuanian princes and
_bojars_[39] had brought as a present from Witold and his wife, Anna.
Macko told about the proposed enormous expedition against the Tartars.
The expedition was almost ready, and a great army had already gone
eastward toward Rus'. If it were successful, it would extend the king's
supremacy over almost half the world, to the unknown Asiatic countries,