Produced by Martin Robb
SAINT GEORGE FOR ENGLAND
By G. A. Henty
PREFACE.
MY DEAR LADS,
You may be told perhaps that there is no good to be obtained from tales
of fighting and bloodshed,--that there is no moral to be drawn from such
histories. Believe it not. War has its lessons as well as Peace. You
will learn from tales like this that determination and enthusiasm
can accomplish marvels, that true courage is generally accompanied by
magnanimity and gentleness, and that if not in itself the very highest
of virtues, it is the parent of almost all the others, since but few
of them can be practised without it. The courage of our forefathers has
created the greatest empire in the world around a small and in itself
insignificant island; if this empire is ever lost, it will be by the
cowardice of their descendants.
At no period of her history did England stand so high in the eyes
of Europe as in the time whose events are recorded in this volume. A
chivalrous king and an even more chivalrous prince had infected the
whole people with their martial spirit, and the result was that their
armies were for a time invincible, and the most astonishing successes
were gained against numbers which would appear overwhelming. The
victories of Cressy and Poitiers may be to some extent accounted for by
superior generalship and discipline on the part of the conquerors; but
this will not account for the great naval victory over the Spanish fleet
off the coast of Sussex, a victory even more surprising and won against
greater odds than was that gained in the same waters centuries later
over the Spanish Armada. The historical facts of the story are all
drawn from Froissart and other contemporary historians, as collated
and compared by Mr. James in his carefully written history. They may
therefore be relied upon as accurate in every important particular.
Yours sincerely,
G. A. HENTY.
CHAPTER I: A WAYFARER
It was a bitterly cold night in the month of November, 1330. The rain
was pouring heavily, when a woman, with child in her arms, entered the
little village of Southwark. She had evidently come from a distance, for
her dress was travel-stained and muddy. She tottered rather than walked,
and when, upon her arrival at the gateway on the southern side of London
Bridge, she found that the hour was past and the gates closed for the
night, she leant against the wall with a faint groan of exhaustion and
disappointment.
After remaining, as if in doubt, for some time, she feebly made her way
into the village. Here were many houses of entertainment, for travelers
like herself often arrived too late to enter the gates, and had to abide
outside for the night. Moreover, house rent was dear within the walls of
the crowded city, and many, whose business brought them to town, found
it cheaper to take up their abode in the quiet hostels of Southwark
rather than to stay in the more expensive inns within the walls. The
lights came out brightly from many of the casements, with sounds of
boisterous songs and laughter. The woman passed these without a pause.
Presently she stopped before a cottage, from which a feeble light alone
showed that it was tenanted.
She knocked at the door. It was opened by a pleasant-faced man of some
thirty years old.
“What is it?” he asked.
“I am a wayfarer,” the woman answered feebly. “Canst take me and my
child in for the night?”
“You have made a mistake,” the man said; “this is no inn. Further up the
road there are plenty of places where you can find such accommodation as
you lack.”
“I have passed them,” the woman said, “but all seemed full of
roisterers. I am wet and weary, and my strength is nigh spent. I can pay
thee, good fellow, and I pray you as a Christian to let me come in and
sleep before your fire for the night. When the gates are open in
the morning I will go; for I have a friend within the city who will,
methinks, receive me.”
The tone of voice, and the addressing of himself as good fellow, at once
convinced the man that the woman before him was no common wayfarer.
“Come in,” he said; “Geoffrey Ward is not a man to shut his doors in
a woman's face on a night like this, nor does he need payment for such
small hospitality. Come hither, Madge!” he shouted; and at his voice a
woman came down from the upper chamber. “Sister,” he said; “this is a
wayfarer who needs shelter for the night; she is wet and weary. Do you
take her up to your room and lend her some dry clothing; then make her
a cup of warm posset, which she needs sorely. I will fetch an armful
of fresh rushes from the shed and strew them here: I will sleep in the
smithy. Quick, girl,” he said sharply; “she is fainting with cold and
fatigue.” And as he spoke he caught the woman as she was about to fall,
and laid her gently on the ground. “She is of better station than she
seems,” he said to his sister; “like enough some poor lady whose husband
has taken part in the troubles; but that is no business of ours. Quick,
Madge, and get these wet things off her; she is soaked to the skin. I
will go round to the Green Dragon and will fetch a cup of warm cordial,
which I warrant me will put fresh life into her.”
So saying, he took down his flat cap from its peg on the wall and went
out, while his sister at once proceeded to remove the drenched
garments and to rub the cold hands of the guest until she recovered
consciousness. When Geoffrey Ward returned, the woman was sitting in a
settle by the fireside, dressed in a warm woolen garment belonging to
his sister.
Madge had thrown fresh wood on the fire, which was blazing brightly now.
The woman drank the steaming beverage which her host brought with him.
The colour came faintly again into her cheeks.
“I thank you, indeed,” she said, “for your kindness. Had you not taken
me in I think I would have died at your door, for indeed I could go no
further; and though I hold not to life, yet would I fain live until I
have delivered my boy into the hands of those who will be kind to him,
and this will, I trust, be tomorrow.”
“Say nought about it,” Geoffrey answered; “Madge and I are right glad
to have been of service to you. It would be a poor world indeed if one
could not give a corner of one's fireside to a fellow-creature on such
a night as this, especially when that fellow creature is a woman with
a child. Poor little chap! He looks right well and sturdy, and seems to
have taken no ill from his journey.”
“Truly, he is well and sturdy,” the mother said, looking at him proudly;
“indeed I have been almost wishing today that he were lighter by a few
pounds, for in truth I am not used to carry him far, and his weight has
sorely tried me. His name is Walter, and I trust,” she added, looking at
the powerful figure of her host, “that he will grow up as straight and
as stalwart as yourself.” The child, who was about three years old,
was indeed an exceedingly fine little fellow, as he sat, in one scanty
garment, in his mother's lap, gazing with round eyes at the blazing
fire; and the smith thought how pretty a picture the child and mother
made. She was a fair, gentle-looking girl some two-and-twenty years old,
and it was easy enough to see now from her delicate features and soft
shapely hands that she had never been accustomed to toil.
“And now,” the smith said, “I will e'en say good night. The hour is
late, and I shall be having the watch coming along to know why I keep a
fire so long after the curfew. Should you be a stranger in the city,
I will gladly act as your guide in the morning to the friends whom
you seek, that is, should they be known to me; but if not, we shall
doubtless find them without difficulty.”
So saying, the smith retired to his bed of rushes in the smithy, and
soon afterwards the tired visitor, with her baby, lay down on the rushes
in front of the fire, for in those days none of the working or artisan
class used beds, which were not indeed, for centuries afterwards, in
usage by the common people.
In the morning Geoffrey Ward found that his guest desired to find one
Giles Fletcher, a maker of bows.
“I know him well,” the smith said. “There are many who do a larger
business, and hold their heads higher; but Giles Fletcher is well
esteemed as a good workman, whose wares can be depended upon. It is
often said of him that did he take less pains he would thrive more; but
he handles each bow that he makes as if he loved it, and finishes and
polishes each with his own hand. Therefore he doeth not so much trade as
those who are less particular with their wares, for he hath to charge
a high price to be able to live. But none who have ever bought his bows
have regretted the silver which they cost. Many and many a gross of
arrowheads have I sold him, and he is well-nigh as particular in
their make as he is over the spring and temper of his own bows. Many a
friendly wrangle have I had with him over their weight and finish, and
it is not many who find fault with my handiwork, though I say it myself;
and now, madam, I am at your service.”
During the night the wayfarer's clothes had been dried. The cloak was of
rough quality, such as might have been used by a peasant woman; but the
rest, though of sombre colour, were of good material and fashion. Seeing
that her kind entertainers would be hurt by the offer of money, the lady
contented herself with thanking Madge warmly, and saying that she hoped
to come across the bridge one day with Dame Fletcher; then, under the
guidance of Geoffrey, who insisted on carrying the boy, she set out from
the smith's cottage. They passed under the outer gate and across the
bridge, which later on was covered with a double line of houses and
shops, but was now a narrow structure. Over the gateway across the
river, upon pikes, were a number of heads and human limbs. The lady
shuddered as she looked up.
“It is an ugly sight,” the smith said, “and I can see no warrant for
such exposure of the dead. There are the heads of Wallace, of three of
Robert Bruce's brothers, and of many other valiant Scotsmen who fought
against the king's grandfather some twenty years back. But after all
they fought for their country, just as Harold and our ancestors against
the Normans under William, and I think it a foul shame that men who have
done no other harm should be beheaded, still less that their heads and
limbs should be stuck up there gibbering at all passers-by. There are
over a score of them, and every fresh trouble adds to their number; but
pardon me,” he said suddenly as a sob from the figure by his side called
his attention from the heads on the top of the gateway, “I am rough and
heedless in speech, as my sister Madge does often tell me, and it may
well be that I have said something which wounded you.”
“You meant no ill,” the lady replied; “it was my own thoughts and
troubles which drew tears from me; say not more about it, I pray you.”
They passed under the gateway, with its ghastly burden, and were soon in
the crowded streets of London. High overhead the houses extended, each
story advancing beyond that below it until the occupiers of the attics
could well-nigh shake hands across. They soon left the more crowded
streets, and turning to the right, after ten minutes walking, the smith
stopped in front of a bowyer shop near Aldgate.
“This is the shop,” he said, “and there is Giles Fletcher himself trying
the spring and pull of one of his bows. Here I will leave you, and will
one of these days return to inquire if your health has taken ought of
harm by the rough buffeting of the storm of yester-even.”
So saying he handed the child to its mother, and with a wave of the hand
took his leave, not waiting to listen to the renewed thanks which his
late guest endeavoured to give him.
The shop was open in front, a projecting penthouse sheltered it from the
weather; two or three bows lay upon a wide shelf in front, and several
large sheaves of arrows tied together stood by the wall. A powerful man
of some forty years old was standing in the middle of the shop with a
bent bow in his arm, taking aim at a spot in the wall. Through an open
door three men could be seen in an inner workshop cutting and shaping
the wood for bows. The bowyer looked round as his visitor entered the
shop, and then, with a sudden exclamation, lowered the bow.
“Hush, Giles!” the lady exclaimed; “it is I, but name no names; it were
best that none knew me here.”
The craftsman closed the door of communication into the inner room.
“My Lady Alice,” he exclaimed in a low tone, “you here, and in such a
guise?”
“Surely it is I,” the lady sighed, “although sometimes I am well-nigh
inclined to ask myself whether it be truly I or not, or whether this be
not all a dreadful dream.”
“I had heard but vaguely of your troubles,” Giles Fletcher said, “but
hoped that the rumours were false. Ever since the Duke of Kent was
executed the air has been full of rumours. Then came news of the killing
of Mortimer and of the imprisonment of the king's mother, and it was
said that many who were thought to be of her party had been attacked and
slain, and I heard--” and there he stopped.
“You heard rightly, good Giles, it is all true. A week after the slaying
of Mortimer a band of knights and men-at-arms arrived at our castle and
demanded admittance in the king's name. Sir Roland refused, for he had
news that many were taking up arms, but it was useless. The castle was
attacked, and after three days' fighting, was taken. Roland was killed,
and I was cast out with my child. Afterwards they repented that they
had let me go, and searched far and wide for me; but I was hidden in the
cottage of a woodcutter. They were too busy in hunting down others whom
they proclaimed to be enemies of the king, as they had wrongfully said
of Roland, who had but done his duty faithfully to Queen Isabella, and
was assuredly no enemy of her son, although he might well be opposed to
the weak and indolent king, his father. However, when the search relaxed
I borrowed the cloak of the good man's wife and set out for London,
whither I have traveled on foot, believing that you and Bertha would
take me in and shelter me in my great need.”
“Aye, that will we willingly,” Giles said. “Was not Bertha your nurse?
and to whom should you come if not to her? But will it please you to
mount the stairs, for Bertha will not forgive me if I keep you talking
down here. What a joy it will be to her to see you again!”
So saying, Giles led the way to the apartment above. There was a scream
of surprise and joy from his wife, and then Giles quietly withdrew
downstairs again, leaving the women to cry in each other's arms.
A few days later Geoffrey Ward entered the shop of Giles Fletcher.
“I have brought you twenty score of arrowheads, Master Giles,” he said.
“They have been longer in hand than is usual with me, but I have been
pressed. And how goes it with the lady whom I brought to your door last
week?”
“But sadly, Master Ward, very sadly, as I told you when I came across to
thank you again in her name and my own for your kindness to her. She
was but in poor plight after her journey; poor thing, she was little
accustomed to such wet and hardship, and doubtless they took all
the more effect because she was low in spirit and weakened with much
grieving. That night she was taken with a sort of fever, hot and cold
by turns, and at times off her head. Since then she has lain in a high
fever and does not know even my wife; her thoughts ever go back to the
storming of the castle, and she cries aloud and begs them to spare her
lord's life. It is pitiful to hear her. The leech gives but small hope
for her life, and in troth, Master Ward, methinks that God would deal
most gently with her were He to take her. Her heart is already in her
husband's grave, for she was ever of a most loving and faithful nature.
Here there would be little comfort for her--she would fret that her boy
would never inherit the lands of his father; and although she knows
well enough that she would be always welcome here, and that Bertha would
serve her as gladly and faithfully as ever she did when she was her
nurse, yet she could not but greatly feel the change. She was tenderly
brought up, being, as I told you last week, the only daughter of
Sir Harold Broome. Her brother, who but a year ago became lord of
Broomecastle at the death of his father, was one of the queen's men, and
it was he, I believe, who brought Sir Roland Somers to that side. He was
slain on the same night as Mortimer, and his lands, like those of Sir
Roland, have been seized by the crown. The child upstairs is by right
heir to both estates, seeing that his uncle died unmarried. They will
doubtless be conferred upon those who have aided the young king in
freeing himself from his mother's domination, for which, indeed,
although I lament that Lady Alice should have suffered so sorely in the
doing of it, I blame him not at all. He is a noble prince and will make
us a great king, and the doings of his mother have been a shame to
us all. However, I meddle not in politics. If the poor lady dies, as
methinks is well-nigh certain, Bertha and I will bring up the boy as our
own. I have talked it over with my wife, and so far she and I are not of
one mind. I think it will be best to keep him in ignorance of his birth
and lineage, since the knowledge cannot benefit him, and will but render
him discontented with his lot and make him disinclined to take to my
calling, in which he might otherwise earn a living and rise to be a
respected citizen. But Bertha hath notions. You have not taken a wife to
yourself, Master Geoffrey, or you would know that women oft have fancies
which wander widely from hard facts, and she says she would have him
brought up as a man-at-arms, so that he may do valiant deeds, and win
back some day the title and honour of his family.”
Geoffrey Ward laughed. “Trust a woman for being romantic,” he said.
“However, Master Fletcher, you need not for the present trouble about
the child's calling, even should its mother die. At any rate, whether he
follows your trade, or whether the blood in his veins leads him to take
to martial deeds, the knowledge of arms may well be of use to him, and I
promise you that such skill as I have I will teach him when he grows
old enough to wield sword and battle-axe. As you know I may, without
boasting, say that he could scarce have a better master, seeing that I
have for three years carried away the prize for the best sword-player
at the sports. Methinks the boy will grow up into a strong and stalwart
man, for he is truly a splendid lad. As to archery, he need not go far
to learn it, since your apprentice, Will Parker, last year won the prize
as the best marksman in the city bounds. Trust me, if his tastes lie
that way we will between us turn him out a rare man-at-arms. But I must
stand gossiping no longer; the rumours that we are likely ere long to
have war with France, have rarely bettered my trade. Since the wars in
Scotland men's arms have rusted somewhat, and my two men are hard at
work mending armour and fitting swords to hilts, and forging pike-heads.
You see I am a citizen though I dwell outside the bounds, because house
rent is cheaper and I get my charcoal without paying the city dues. So I
can work somewhat lower than those in the walls, and I have good custom
from many in Kent, who know that my arms are of as good temper as those
turned out by any craftsman in the city.”
Giles Fletcher's anticipations as to the result of his guest's illness
turned out to be well founded. The fever abated, but left her prostrate
in strength. For a few weeks she lingered; but she seemed to have little
hold of life, and to care not whether she lived or died. So, gradually
she faded away.
“I know you will take care of my boy as if he were your own, Bertha,”
she said one day; “and you and your husband will be far better
protectors for him than I should have been had I lived. Teach him to be
honest and true. It were better, methinks, that he grew up thinking you
his father and mother, for otherwise he may grow discontented with
his lot; but this I leave with you, and you must speak or keep silent
according as you see his disposition and mind. If he is content to
settle down to a peaceful life here, say nought to him which would
unsettle his mind; but if Walter turn out to have an adventurous
disposition, then tell him as much as you think fit of his history, not
encouraging him to hope to recover his father's lands and mine, for that
can never be, seeing that before that time can come they would have been
enjoyed for many years by others; but that he may learn to bear himself
bravely and gently as becomes one of good blood.”
A few days later Lady Alice breathed her last, and at her own request
was buried quietly and without pomp, as if she had been a child of the
bowman, a plain stone, with the name “Dame Alice Somers”, marking the
grave.
The boy grew and throve until at fourteen years old there was no
stronger or sturdier lad of his age within the city bounds. Giles had
caused him to be taught to read and write, accomplishments which were
common among the citizens, although they were until long afterwards rare
among the warlike barons. The greater part of his time, however, was
spent in sports with lads of his own age in Moorfields beyond the walls.
The war with France was now raging, and, as was natural, the boys in
their games imitated the doings of their elders, and mimic battles,
ofttimes growing into earnest, were fought between the lads of
the different wards. Walter Fletcher, as he was known among his
play-fellows, had by his strength and courage won for himself the proud
position of captain of the boys of the ward of Aldgate.
Geoffrey Ward had kept his word, and had already begun to give the lad
lessons in the use of arms. When not engaged otherwise Walter would,
almost every afternoon, cross London Bridge and would spend hours in the
armourer's forge. Geoffrey's business had grown, for the war had caused
a great demand for arms, and he had now six men working in the forge. As
soon as the boy could handle a light tool Geoffrey allowed him to work,
and although not able to wield the heavy sledge Walter was able to do
much of the finer work. Geoffrey encouraged him in this, as, in the
first place, the use of the tools greatly strengthened the boy's
muscles, and gave him an acquaintance with arms. Moreover, Geoffrey was
still a bachelor, and he thought that the boy, whom he as well as Giles
had come to love as a son, might, should he not take up the trade of
war, prefer the occupation of an armourer to that of a bowmaker, in
which case he would take him some day as his partner in the forge. After
work was over and the men had gone away, Geoffrey would give the lad
instructions in the use of the arms at which he had been at work, and so
quick and strong was he that he rapidly acquired their use, and Geoffrey
foresaw that he would one day, should his thoughts turn that way, prove
a mighty man-at-arms.
It was the knowledge which he acquired from Geoffrey which had much to
do with Walter's position among his comrades. The skill and strength
which he had acquired in wielding the hammer, and by practice with the
sword rendered him a formidable opponent with the sticks, which
formed the weapons in the mimic battles, and indeed not a few were the
complaints which were brought before Giles Fletcher of bruises and hurts
caused by him.
“You are too turbulent, Walter,” the bowyer said one day when a
haberdasher from the ward of Aldersgate came to complain that his son's
head had been badly cut by a blow with a club from Walter Fletcher. “You
are always getting into trouble, and are becoming the terror of other
boys. Why do you not play more quietly? The feuds between the boys of
different wards are becoming a serious nuisance, and many injuries have
been inflicted. I hear that the matter has been mentioned in the Common
Council, and that there is a talk of issuing an order that no boy not
yet apprenticed to a trade shall be allowed to carry a club, and that
any found doing so shall be publicly whipped.”
“I don't want to be turbulent,” Walter said; “but if the Aldersgate boys
will defy us, what are we to do? I don't hit harder than I can help, and
if Jonah Harris would leave his head unguarded I could not help hitting
it.”
“I tell you it won't do, Walter,” Giles said. “You will be getting
yourself into sore trouble. You are growing too masterful altogether,
and have none of the quiet demeanour and peaceful air which becomes an
honest citizen. In another six months you will be apprenticed, and then
I hope we shall hear no more of these doings.”
“My father is talking of apprenticing me, Master Geoffrey,” Walter said
that evening. “I hope that you will, as you were good enough to promise,
talk with him about apprenticing me to your craft rather than to his. I
should never take to the making of bows, though, indeed, I like well
to use them; and Will Parker, who is teaching me says that I show rare
promise; but it would never be to my taste to stand all day sawing, and
smoothing, and polishing. One bow is to me much like another, though my
father holds that there are rare differences between them; but it is a
nobler craft to work on iron, and next to using arms the most pleasant
thing surely is to make them. One can fancy what good blows the sword
will give and what hard knocks the armour will turn aside; but some day,
Master Geoffrey, when I have served my time, I mean to follow the army.
There is always work there for armourers to do, and sometimes at a pinch
they may even get their share of fighting.”
Walter did not venture to say that he would prefer to be a man-at-arms,
for such a sentiment would be deemed as outrageous in the ears of a
quiet city craftsman as would the proposal of the son of such a man
nowadays to enlist as a soldier. The armourer smiled; he knew well
enough what was in Walter's mind. It had cost Geoffrey himself a hard
struggle to settle down to a craft, and deemed it but natural that
with the knightly blood flowing in Walter's veins he should long to
distinguish himself in the field. He said nothing of this, however, but
renewed his promise to speak to Giles Fletcher, deeming that a few years
passed in his forge would be the best preparation which Walter could
have for a career as a soldier.