---
title: Then the Saracens, at his bidding, assaulted the Tower yet more fier… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the Saracens, at his bidding, assaulted the Tower yet more fiercely, and the Frenchmen took the idols that were in the Tower, images of Apollo and Mahomet and others, and threw them down upon the Saracens to their great damage. Who acts: Saracens, Frenchmen, that, Balan. A sentence of «Stories 
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, Of the End of Balan the Admiral, sentence 27

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Then the Saracens, at his bidding, assaulted the Tower yet more fiercely, and the Frenchmen took the idols that were in the Tower, images of Apollo and Mahomet and others, and threw them down upon the Saracens to their great damage.

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**Who acts:** Saracens, Frenchmen, that, Balan · **What happens:** assault, take, be, throw down, bid, image · **To what, where:** Tower, idols, Saracens, Apollo

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This is a sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, Of the End of Balan the Admiral. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Saracens, Frenchmen, that, Balan), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg75339:26:27
# text = Then the Saracens, at his bidding, assaulted the Tower yet more fiercely, and the Frenchmen took the idols that were in the Tower, images of Apollo and Mahomet and others, and threw them down upon the Saracens to their great damage.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	9	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Saracens	Saracen	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	bidding	bidding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
9	assaulted	assault	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	Tower	Tower	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
13	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	14	advmod	_	_
14	fiercely	fiercely	ADV	RB	_	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	Frenchmen	Frenchman	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	19	nsubj	_	_
19	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	idols	idol	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obj	_	_
22	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	26	nsubj	_	_
23	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	cop	_	_
24	in	in	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	Tower	Tower	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
28	images	image	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	Apollo	Apollo	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	Mahomet	Mahomet	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	30	conj	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
37	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
38	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	obj	_	_
39	down	down	ADP	RP	_	37	compound:prt	_	_
40	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	Saracens	saracen	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	obl	_	_
43	to	to	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
44	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	46	nmod:poss	_	_
45	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	damage	damage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **assault** | past | the Saracens | the Tower |  |  | then; yet |  | vn attack-60.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tower=Patient |
| 2 | **take** | past | the Frenchmen | the idols |  |  |  | images of Apollo and Mahomet and others *obl* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent idol=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past | that |  |  | the Tower |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **throw down** | past |  | Saracens *= saracen* |  | the Saracens |  | to Saracens's great damage | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent they=Theme upon saracen=Destination |
| 5 | **bid** |  | Balan |  |  |  |  |  | nom bidding «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
| 6 | **image** |  |  | Apollo and Mahomet and others |  |  |  |  | nom image «cognition transitive»: of=patient |
| 7 | **damage** |  | Saracens *= saracen* |  |  |  |  |  | nom damage «event transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

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**Text:** «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, Project Gutenberg book 75339 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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