KNIGHTS-ERRANT.
In the British Museum are two volumes containing a rather large number of
illuminated pictures which have been cut out of MSS., chiefly of the early
fourteenth century, by some collector who did not understand how much more
valuable they would have been, even as pictures, if left each by itself in
the appropriate setting of its black letter page, than when pasted
half-a-dozen together in a scrap-book. That they are severed from the
letterpress which they were intended to illustrate is of the less
importance, because they seem all to be illustrations of scenes in
romances, and it is not difficult to one who is well versed in those early
writings either to identify the subjects or to invent histories for them.
Each isolated picture affords a subject in which an expert, turning the
book over and explaining it to an amateur, would find material for a
little lecture on mediæval art and architecture, costume, and manners.
In presenting to the reader the subjects which illustrate this chapter, we
find ourselves placed by circumstances in the position of being obliged to
treat them like those scrap-book pictures of which we have spoken, viz.,
as isolated pictures, illustrating generally our subject of the Knights of
the Middle Ages, needing each its independent explanation.
The first subject represents a scene from some romance, in which the good
knight, attended by his squire, is guided by a damsel on some adventure.
As in the scene which we find in Caxton's "Prince Arthur": "And the good
knight, Sir Galahad, rode so long, till that he came that night to the
castle of Carberecke; and it befel him that he was benighted in an
hermitage. And when they were at rest there came a gentlewoman knocking
at the door, and called Sir Galahad, and so the hermit came to the door to
ask what she would. Then she called the hermit, Sir Ulfric, 'I am a
gentlewoman that would speak with the knight that is with you.' Then the
good man awaked Sir Galahad, and bade him rise and speak 'with a
gentlewoman which seemeth hath great need of you.' Then Sir Galahad went
to her, and asked what she would. 'Sir Galahad,' said she, 'I will that
you arm you and mount upon your horse and follow me, for I will show you
within these three days the highest adventure that ever knight saw.' Anon,
Sir Galahad armed him, and took his horse and commended him to God, and
bade the gentlewoman go, and he would follow her there as she liked. So
the damsel rode as fast as her palfrey might gallop till that she came to
the sea."
[Illustration: _Lady, Knight, and Squire._]
Here then we see the lady ambling through the forest, and she rides as
ladies rode in the middle ages, and as they still ride, like female
centaurs, in the Sandwich Islands. She turns easily in her saddle, though
going at a good pace, to carry on an animated conversation with the
knight. He, it will be seen, is in hauberk and hood of banded mail, with
the curious ornaments called _ailettes_--little wings--at his shoulders.
He seems to have _genouillières_--knee-pieces of plate; but it is doubtful
whether he has also plate armour about the leg, or whether the artist has
omitted the lines which would indicate that the legs were, as is more
probably the case, also protected by banded mail. He wears the prick spur;
and his body-armour is protected from sun and rain by the surcoat. Behind
him prances his squire. The reader will not fail to notice the character
which the artist has thrown into his attitude and the expression of his
features. It will be seen that he is not armed, but wears the ordinary
civil costume, with a hood and hat; he carries his master's spear, and the
shield is suspended at his back by its guige or strap; its hollow shape
and the rampant lion emblazoned on it will not be overlooked.
Romance writers are sometimes accused of forgetting that their heroes are
human, and need to eat and drink and sleep. But this is hardly true of the
old romancers, who, in relating knightly adventures, did not draw upon
their imagination, but described the things which were continually
happening about them; and the illuminators in illustrating the romances
drew from the life--the life of their own day--and this it is which makes
their pictures so naive and truthful in spite of their artistic defects,
and so valuable as historical authorities. In the engraving above is a
subject which would hardly have occurred to modern romancer or
illustrator. The crowd of tents tells us that the scene is cast in the
"tented field," either of real war or of the mimic war of some great
tournament. The combat of the day is over. The modern romancer would have
dropped the curtain for the day, to be drawn up again next morning when
the trumpets of the heralds called the combatants once more to the field.
Our mediæval illuminator has given us a charming episode in the story. He
has followed the good knight to his pavilion pitched in the meadow hard
by. The knight has doffed his armour, and taken his bath, and put on his
robes of peace, and heard vespers, and gone to supper. The lighted candles
show that it is getting dusk. It is only by an artistic license that the
curtains of the tent are drawn aside to display the whole interior; in
reality they were close drawn; these curtains are striped of alternate
breadths of gay colours--gold and red and green and blue. Any one who has
seen how picturesque a common bell tent, pitched on the lawn, looks from
the outside, when one has been tempted by a fine summer evening to stay
out late and "have candles," will be able to perceive how picturesque the
striped curtains of this pavilion would be, how eminently picturesque the
group of such pavilions here indicated, with the foliage of trees overhead
and the grey walls and towers of a mediæval town in the background, with
the stars coming out one by one among the turrets and spires sharply
defined against the fading sky.
[Illustration: _Knight at Supper._]
The knight, like a good chevalier and humane master, has first seen his
war-horse groomed and fed. And what a sure evidence that the picture is
from the life is this introduction of the noble animal sharing the shelter
of the tent of his master, who waits for supper to be served. The
furniture of the table is worth looking at--the ample white table-cloth,
though the table is, doubtless, only a board on trestles; and the two
candlesticks of massive and elegant shape, show that the candlesticks now
called altar-candlesticks are only of the ordinary domestic mediæval type,
obsolete now in domestic use, but still retained, like so many other
ancient fashions, in ecclesiastical use. There, too, are the wine flagon
and cup, and the salt between them; the knife is at the knight's right
hand. We almost expect to see the squire of the last picture enter from
behind, bearing aloft in both hands a fat capon on an ample pewter
platter.
The little subject which is next engraved will enable us to introduce from
the Romance of Prince Arthur a description of an adventure and a graphic
account of the different turns and incidents of a single combat, told in
language which is rich in picturesque obsolete words. "And so they rode
forth a great while till they came to the borders of that country, and
there they found a full fair village, with a strong bridge like a
fortress.[377] And when Sir Launcelot and they were at the bridge, there
start forth before them many gentlemen and yeomen, which said, 'Fair lord,
ye may not pass over this bridge and this fortress but one of you at once,
therefore choose which of you shall enter within this bridge first.' Then
Sir Launcelot proffered himself first to enter within this bridge. 'Sir,'
said Sir La Cote Male Taile, 'I beseech you let me enter first within this
fortress, and if I speed well I will send for you, and if it happen that I
be slain there it goeth; and if so be that I am taken prisoner then may ye
come and rescue me.' 'I am loath,' said Sir Launcelot, 'to let you take
this passage.' 'Sir,' said he, 'I pray you let me put my body in this
adventure.' 'Now go your way,' said Sir Launcelot, 'and God be your
speed.' So he entered, and anon there met with him two brethren, the one
hight Sir Pleine de Force and that other hight Sir Pleine de Amours; and
anon they met with Sir La Cote Male Taile, and first Sir La Cote Male
Taile smote down Sir Pleine de Force, and soon after he smote down Sir
Pleine de Amours; and then they dressed themselves to their shields and
swords, and so they bade Sir La Cote Male Taile alight, and so he did, and
there was dashing and foining with swords. And so they began full hard to
assay Sir La Cote Male Taile, and many great wounds they gave him upon his
head and upon his breast and upon his shoulders. And as he might ever
among he gave sad strokes again. And then the two brethren traced and
traversed for to be on both hands of Sir La Cote Male Taile. But by fine
force and knightly prowess he got them afore him. And so then when he felt
himself so wounded he doubled his strokes, and gave them so many wounds
that he felled them to the earth, and would have slain them had they not
yielded them. And right so Sir La Cote Male Taile took the best horse that
there was of them two, and so rode forth his way to that other fortress
and bridge, and there he met with the third brother, whose name was Sir
Plenorius, a full noble knight, and there they justed together, and either
smote other down, horse and man, to the earth. And then they two avoided
their horses and dressed their shields and drew their swords and gave many
sad strokes, and one while the one knight was afore on the bridge and
another while the other. And thus they fought two hours and more and never
rested. Then Sir La Cote Male Taile sunk down upon the earth, for what for
wounds and what for blood he might not stand. Then the other knight had
pity of him, and said, 'Fair young knight, dismay you not, for if ye had
been fresh when ye met with me, as I was, I know well I should not have
endured so long as ye have done, and therefore for your noble deeds and
valiantness I shall show you great kindness and gentleness in all that
ever I may.' And forthwith the noble knight, Sir Plenorius, took him up in
his arms and led him into his tower. And then he commended him the more
and made him for to search him and for to stop his bleeding wounds. 'Sir,'
said Sir La Cote Male Taile, 'withdraw you from me, and hie you to yonder
bridge again, for there will meet you another manner knight than ever I
was.' Then Sir Plenorius gat his horse and came with a great spear in his
hand galloping as the hurl wind had borne him towards Sir Launcelot, and
then they began to feutre[378] their spears, and came together like
thunder, and smote either other so mightily that their horses fell down
under them; and then they avoided their horses and drew out their swords,
and like two bulls they lashed together with great strokes and foins; but
ever Sir Launcelot recovered ground upon him, and Sir Plenorius traced to
have from about him, and Sir Launcelot would not suffer that, but bore him
backer and backer, till he came nigh the gate tower, and then said Sir
Launcelot, 'I know thee well for a good knight, but wot thou well thy life
and death is in my hands, and therefore yield thou to me and thy
prisoners.' The other answered not a word, but struck mightily upon Sir
Launcelot's helm that fire sprang out of his eyes; then Sir Launcelot
doubled his strokes so thick and smote at him so mightily that he made him
to kneel upon his knees, and therewith Sir Launcelot lept upon him, and
pulled him down grovelling; then Sir Plenorius yielded him and his tower
and all his prisoners at his will, and Sir Launcelot received him and took
his troth." We must tell briefly the chivalrous sequel. Sir Launcelot
offered to Sir La Cote Male Taile all the possessions of the conquered
knight, but he refused to receive them, and begged Sir Launcelot to let
Sir Plenorius retain his livelihood on condition he would be King Arthur's
knight,--"'Full well,' said Sir Launcelot, 'so that he will come to the
court of King Arthur and become his man and his three brethren. And as for
you, Sir Plenorius, I will undertake, at the next feast, so there be a
place void, that ye shall be Knight of the Round Table.' Then Sir
Launcelot and Sir La Cote Male Taile rested them there, and then they had
merry cheer and good rest and many good games, and there were many fair
ladies." In the woodcut we see Sir La Cote Male Taile, who has just
overthrown Sir Pleine de Force at the foot of the bridge, and the
gentlemen and yeomen are looking on out of the windows and over the
battlements of the gate tower.
[Illustration: _Defending the Bridge._]
The illuminators are never tired of representing battles and sieges; and
the general impression which we gather from them is that a mediæval combat
must have presented to the lookers-on a confused _melée_ of rushing horses
and armoured men in violent action, with a forest of weapons
overhead--great swords, and falchions, and axes, and spears, with pennons
fluttering aloft here and there in the breeze of the combat. We almost
fancy we can see the dust caused by the prancing horses, and hear the
clash of weapons and the hoarse war-cries, and sometimes can almost hear
the shriek which bursts from the maddened horse, or the groan of the man
who is wounded and helpless under the trampling hoofs. The woodcut
introduced represents such a scene in a very spirited way. But it is
noticeable among a hundred similar scenes for one incident, which is very
unusual, and which gives us a glimpse of another aspect of mediæval war.
It will be seen that the combat is taking place outside a castle or
fortified town; and that, on a sudden, in the confusion of the combat, a
side gate has been opened, and the bridge lowered, and a solid column of
men-at-arms, on foot, is marching in military array across the bridge, in
order to turn the flank of the assailant chivalry. We do not happen to
know a representation of this early age of anything so thoroughly
soldierly in its aspect as this sally. The incident itself indicates
something more like regular war than the usual confused mingling of
knights so well represented on the left side of the picture. The fact of
men-at-arms, armed _cap-a-pied_, acting on foot, is not very usual at
this period; their unmistakable military order, as they march two and two
with shields held in the same attitude and spears sloped at the same
angle, speaks of accurate drill. The armorial bearings on the shield of
one of the foremost rank perhaps point out the officer in command.
[Illustration: _A Sally across the Drawbridge._]
It seems to be commonly assumed that the soldiers of the Middle Ages had
little, if anything, like our modern drill and tactics; that the men were
simply put into the field in masses, according to some rude initial plan
of the general, but that after the first charge the battle broke up into a
series of chance-medley combats, in which the leaders took a personal
share; and that the only further piece of generalship consisted in
bringing up a body of reserve to strengthen a corps which was giving
ground, or to throw an overwhelming force upon some corps of the enemy
which seemed to waver.
It is true that we find very little information about the mediæval drill
or tactics, but it is very possible that there was more of both than is
commonly supposed. Any man whose duty it was to marshal and handle a body
of troops would very soon, even if left to his own wit, invent enough of
drill to enable him to move his men about from place to place, and to put
them into the different formations necessary to enable them effectively to
act on the offensive or defensive under different circumstances. A leader
whose duty it was to command several bodies of troops would invent the
elements of tactics, enough to enable him to combine them in a general
plan of battle, and to take advantage of the different turns of the fight.
Experience would rapidly ripen the knowledge of military men, and of
experience they had only too much. It is true that the armies of mediæval
England consisted chiefly of levies of men who were not professional
soldiers, and the officers and commanders were marked out for leadership
by their territorial possessions, not by their military skill. But the men
were not unaccustomed to their weapons, and were occasionally mustered for
feudal display; and the country gentlemen who officered them were trained
to military exercises as a regular part of their education, and, we may
assume, to so much of military skill as was necessary to fulfil their part
as knights. Then there were mercenary captains, who by continuous devotion
to war acquired great knowledge and experience in all military affairs;
and the men who had to do with them, either as friends or foes, learnt
from them. We need only glance down the line of our kings to find
abundance of great captains among them--William the Conqueror, and
Stephen, and Richard I., and Edward I. and III., and Henry IV. and V., and
Edward IV., and Richard III. And military skill equal to the direction of
armies was no less common among the nobility; and ability to take command
of his own contingent was expected of every one who held his lands on
condition of being always ready and able to follow his lord's banner to
the field.
In the Saxon days the strength of the army seems to have consisted of
footmen, and their formation was generally in close and deep ranks, who,
joining their shoulders together, formed an impenetrable defence; wielding
long heavy swords and battle-axes, they made a terrible assault. Some
insight into the tactics of the age is given by William of Malmesbury's
assertion that at Hastings the Normans made a feigned flight, which drew
the Saxons from their close array, and then turning upon them, took them
at advantage; and repeated this manoeuvre more than once at the word of
command.
The strength of the Norman armies, on the other hand, consisted of knights
and mounted men-at-arms. The military engines were placed in front, and
commenced the engagement with their missiles; the archers and slingers
were placed on the wings. The crowd of half-armed footmen usually formed
the first line; the mounted troops were drawn up behind them in three
lines, whose successive charges formed the main attack of the engagement.
Occasionally, however, dismounted men-at-arms seem to have been used by
some skilful generals with great effect. In several of the battles of
Stephen's reign, this unusual mode appears to have been followed, under
the influence of the foreign mercenary captains in the king's pay.
Generals took pains to secure any possible advantage from the nature of
the ground, and it follows that the plan of the battle must have turned
sometimes on the defence or seizure of some commanding point which formed
the key of the position. Ambuscades were a favourite device of which we
not unfrequently read, and night surprises were equally common. We read
also occasionally of stratagems, especially in the capture of fortresses,
which savour rather of romance than of the stem realities of war. In
short, perhaps the warfare of that day was not so very inferior in
military skill to that of our own times as some suppose. In our last war
the charge at Balaklava was as chivalrous a deed as ever was done in the
Middle Ages, and Inkerman a fight of heroes; but neither of them displayed
more military science than was displayed by the Norman chivalry who
charged at Hastings, or the Saxon billmen whose sturdy courage all but won
the fatal day.