"Bore him well, as of so little space,
In hope to stonden in his lady's grace."[68]
[Sidenote: Importance of squires in battles.]
[Sidenote: Particularly at the battle of Bovines.]
For the squire, instead of being merely the servant of the knight, often
periled himself in his defence. When the knight was impetuous beyond the
well-tempered bravery of chivalry, the admirer of his might followed him
so close, and adventured himself so jeopardously, as to cover him with his
shield.[69] A valiant knight, Ernalton of Saint Colombe, was on the point
of being discomfited by a squire called Guillonet, of Salynges; but when
the squire of Sir Ernalton saw his master almost at utterance, he went to
him, and took his axe out of his hands, and said, "Ernalton, go your way,
and rest you; ye can no longer fight;" and then with the axe he went to
the hostile squire, says Froissart, and gave him such a stroke on the head
that he was astonied, and had nigh fallen to the earth. He recovered
himself, and aimed a blow at his antagonist, which would have been fatal,
but that the squire slipped under it, and, throwing his arms round
Guillonet, wrestled, and finally threw him. The victor exclaimed that he
would slay his prostrate foe, unless he would yield himself to his master.
The name of his master was asked: "Ernalton of Saint Colombe," returned
the squire, "with whom thou hast fought all this season." Guillonet seeing
the dagger raised to strike him, yielded him to render his body prisoner
at Lourde within fifteen days after, rescue or no rescue.[70] The squires
were brought into the _mêlée_ of knights, at the famous battle of Bovines,
on the 27th of July, 1214. The force of Philip Augustus was far inferior
in number to that of the united Germans and Flemish; and, in order to
prevent them from surrounding him, he lengthened his line by placing the
squires at the two extremities of the knights. The mail-clad chivalry of
the emperor Otho were indignant at such soldiers daring to front them; but
the young warriors were not dismayed by haughty looks and contumelious
speeches, and their active daring mainly contributed to the gaining of the
victory, the most considerable one that France had ever obtained.[71]
[Sidenote: Preparations for knighthood.]
Seldom before the age of twenty-one was a squire admitted to the full
dignity of chivalry. Chaucer's squire was twenty, and had achieved feats
of arms. St. Louis particularly commanded that the honour of knighthood
should not be conferred upon any man under the age of twenty-one. As the
time approached for the completing and crowning of his character, his
religious duties became more strictly enforced. Knighthood was
assimilated, as much as possible, to the clerical state, and prayer,
confession, and fasting were necessary for the candidate for both. The
squire had his sponsors, the emblems of spiritual regeneration were
applied to him, and the ceremonies of inauguration commenced by
considering him a new man. He went into a bath, and then was placed in a
bed. They were symbolical, the bath of purity of soul, and the bed of the
rest which he was hereafter to enjoy in paradise. In the middle ages
people generally reposed naked[72], and it was not till after he had slept
that the neophyte was clad with a shirt. This white dress was considered
symbolical of the purity of his new character. A red garment was thrown
over him to mark his resolution to shed his blood in the cause of Heaven.
The vigil of arms was a necessary preliminary to knighthood. The night
before his inauguration he passed in a church, armed from head to
foot[73], and engaged in prayer and religious meditation. One of the last
acts of preparation was the shaving of his head to make its appearance
resemble that of the ecclesiastical tonsure. To part with hair was always
regarded in the church as a symbol of servitude to God.[74]
[Sidenote: The inauguration.]
The ceremony of inauguration was generally performed in a church, or hall
of a castle, on the occasion of some great religious or civic festival.
The candidate advanced to the altar, and, taking his sword from the scarf
to which it was appended, he presented it to the priest, who laid it upon
the altar, praying that Heaven would bless it, and that it might serve for
a protection of the church, of widows, and orphans, and of all the
servants of God against the tyrannies of pagans and other deceivers, in
whose eyes he mercifully hoped that it would appear as an instrument of
terror. The young soldier took his oaths of chivalry; he solemnly swore to
defend the church, to attack the wicked, to respect the priesthood, to
protect women and the poor, to preserve the country in tranquillity, and
to shed his blood, even to its last drop, in behalf of his brethren. The
priest then re-delivered the sword to him with the assurance that, as it
had received God's blessing, he who wielded it would prevail against all
enemies and the adversaries of the church. He then exhorted him to gird
his sword upon his strong thigh, that with it he might exercise the power
of equity to destroy the hopes of the profane, to fight for God's church,
and defend his faithful people, and to repel and destroy the hosts of the
wicked, whether they were heretics or pagans. Finally, the soldier in
chivalry was exhorted to defend widows and orphans, and to restore and
preserve the desolate, to revenge the wronged, to confirm the virtuous;
and he was assured that by performing these high duties he would attain
heavenly joys.[75]
The young warrior afterwards advanced to the supreme lord in the assembly,
and knelt before him with clasped hands;--an attitude copied from feudal
manners, and the only circumstance of feudality in the whole ceremony. The
lord then questioned him whether his vows had any objects distinct from
the wish to maintain religion and chivalry. The soldier having answered in
the negative, the ceremony was permitted to advance. He was invested with
all the exterior marks of chivalry. The knights and ladies of the court
attended on him, and delivered to him the various pieces of his
harness.[76] The armour varied with the military customs of different
periods and of different countries, but some matters were of permanent
usage. The spurs were always put on first, and the sword was belted on
last. The concluding sign of being dubbed or adopted into the order of
knighthood was a slight blow[77] given by the lord to the cavalier, and
called the accolade, from the part of the body, the neck, whereon it was
struck. The lord then proclaimed him a knight in the name of God and the
saints, and such cavaliers as were present embraced their newly-made
brother. The priest exhorted him to go forth like a man, and observe the
ordinances of heaven. Impressed with the solemnity of the scene, all the
other knights renewed in a few brief and energetic sentences their vows of
chivalry; and while the hall was gleaming with drawn swords, the man of
God again took up the word, blessing him who had newly undertaken, and
those who had been long engaged in holy warfare, and praying that all the
hosts of the enemies of heaven might be destroyed by Christian chivalry.
The assembly then dispersed. The new knight, on leaving the hall, vaulted
on his steed, and showed his skill in the management of the lance, that
the admiring people might know that a cavalier had been elected for their
protection. He distributed largesses among the servants and minstrels of
the castle, for whoso received so great a gift as the order of chivalry
honoured not his order if he gave not after his ability. The remainder of
the day was passed in congratulation and festivity.[78]
Many of the most virtuous affections of the heart wound themselves round
that important circumstance in a man's life, his admission into
knighthood. He always regarded with filial piety the cavalier who invested
him with the order. He never would take him prisoner if they were ranged
on opposite sides, and he would have forfeited all title to chivalric
honours if he had couched his lance against him.
[Sidenote: Squires anxious to be knighted by great characters.]
A noble aspirant to chivalry would only receive the accolade from a
warrior, whose fame had excited his emulation, or sometimes the feelings
of feudal attachment prevailed over the higher and sterner sense of
chivalry. In expectation of a battle, the Earl of Buckingham called forth
a gentle squire of Savoy, and said, "Sir, if God be pleased, I think we
shall this day have a battle; therefore I wish that you would become a
knight." The squire excused himself by saying, "Sir, God thank you for the
nobleness that ye would put me unto; but, Sir, I will never be knight
without I am made by the hands of my natural lord, the Earl of Savoy."[79]
A very singular tribute was paid to bravery during the famous battle of
Homildon Hill. When the cloth-yard arrows of the English yeomen were
piercing the opposite line through and through, Sir John Swinton exhorted
the Scotsmen not to stand like deer to be shot at, but to indulge their
ancient courage and meet their enemy hand to hand. His wish, however, was
echoed only by one man, Adam Gordon, and between their families a mortal
feud existed. Generously forgetting the hatred which each house bore to
the other, Gordon knelt before Swinton, and solicited to be knighted by so
brave a man. The accolade was given, and the two friends, like companions
in arms, gallantly charged the English. If a kindred spirit had animated
the whole of the Scottish line the fate of the day might have been
reversed; but the two noble knights were only supported by about an
hundred men-at-arms devoted to all their enterprises; and they all
perished.[80]
[Sidenote: Knights made in battle-field.]
[Sidenote: Inconvenience of this.]
The ceremonies of inauguration which have been described were gone through
when knighthood was conferred on great and public occasions of festivity,
but they often gave place to the power of rank and circumstances. Princes
were exempted from the laborious offices of page and squire. Men were
often adopted into chivalry on the eve of a battle, as it was considered
that a sense of their new honours would inspire their gallantry. Once
during the war of our Black Prince in Spain, more than three hundred
soldiers raised their pennons; many of them had been squires, but in one
case the distinction was entirely complimentary, for Peter the Cruel, who
could boast neither chivalric qualities nor chivalric services, was
dubbed. There was scarcely a battle in the middle ages which was not
preceded or followed by a large promotion of men to the honour of
knighthood. Sometimes, indeed, they were regularly educated squires, but
more frequently the mere contingency of the moment was regarded, and
soldiers distinguished only for their bravery and ungraced by the gentle
virtues of chivalry were knighted. We often read of certain squires being
made cavaliers and raising their pennons, but very often no pennons were
raised, that is to say, the men who were knighted were not able to summon
round their lances a single man-at-arms; hence it ocurred that the world
was overspread with poor knights, some of whom brought chivalry into
disgrace by depredations and violence; others wandered about the world in
quest of adventures, and let out their swords to their richer brethren. In
the romance of Partenopex of Blois, there is a picture of a knight of this
last class.
"So riding, they o'ertake an errant knight,
Well hors'd, and large of limb, Sir Gaudwin hight,
He nor of castle nor of land was lord,
Houseless he reap'd the harvest of the sword;
And now, not more on fame than profit bent,
Rode with blithe heart unto the tournament;
For cowardice he held it deadly sin,
And sure his mind and bearing were akin,
The face an index to the soul within;
It seem'd that he, such pomp his train bewray'd,
Had shap'd a goodly fortune by his blade;
His knaves were point device, in livery dight,
With sumpter nags, and tents for shelter in the night."
[Sidenote: Knights of Mines.]
Cavaliers sometimes took their title from the place where they were
knighted: a very distinguished honor was to be called a Knight of the
Mines, which was to be obtained by achieving feats of arms in the
subterranean process of a siege. The mines were the scenes of knightly
valour; they were lighted up by torches; trumpets and other war
instruments resounded, and the general affair of the siege was suspended,
while the knights tried their prowess; the singularity of the mode of
combat giving a zest to the encounters. No prisoners could be taken, as a
board, breast high, placed in the passage by mutual consent, divided the
warriors. Swords or short battle-axes were the only weapons used.
In the year 1388, the castle of Vertueill, in Poictou, then held by the
English, was besieged by the Duke of Bourbon. Its walls raised on a lofty
rock were not within the play of the battering ram, and therefore the
tedious operation of the mine was resorted to: both parties frequently met
and fought in the excavated chambers, and a battle of swords was one day
carried on between Regnaud de Montferrand, the squire of the castle, and
the Duke of Bourbon, each being ignorant of the name and quality of the
other. At length the cry "Bourbon, Bourbon! Our Lady!" shouted by the
attendants of the Duke, in their eager joy at the fray, struck the ears of
the squire, and arrested his hand. He withdrew some paces, and enquired
whether the duke were present: when they assured him of the fact, he
requested to receive the honour of knighthood in the mine, from the hands
of the duke, and offering to deliver up the castle to him in return for
the distinction, and from respect for the honour and valour he found in
him. Never was a castle in the pride of its strength and power gained by
easier means. The keys were delivered to the Duke of Bourbon by Regnaud de
Montferrand, and the honor of knighthood, with a goodly courser and a
large golden girdle, were bestowed on the squire in return.[81]
[Sidenote: General ceremonies of degradation.]
Such were the various ceremonies of chivalric inauguration. Those of
degradation should be noticed. What the offences were which were
punishable by degradation it is impossible to specify. If a knight
offended against the rules of the order of chivalry he was degraded,
inasmuch as he was despised by his brother knights; and as honour was the
life-blood of chivalry, he dreaded contempt more than the sword. Still,
however, there were occasions when a knight might be formally deprived of
his distinctions. The ceremony of degradation generally took place after
sentence, and previous to the execution of a legal judgment against
him.[82] Sometimes his sword was broken over his head, and his spurs were
chopped off; and, to make the bitterness of insult a part of the
punishment, these actions were performed by a person of low condition; but
at other times the forms of degradation were very elaborate. The knight
who was to be degraded was in the first instance armed by his brother
knights from head to foot, as if he had been going to the battle-field;
they then conducted him to a high stage, raised in a church, where the
king and his court, the clergy, and the people, were assembled; thirty
priests sung such psalms as were used at burials; at the end of every
psalm they took from him a piece of armour. First, they removed his
helmet, the defence of disloyal eyes, then his cuirass on the right side,
as the protector of a corrupt heart; then his cuirass on the left side, as
from a member consenting, and thus with the rest; and when any piece of
armour was cast upon the ground, the king of arms and heralds cried,
"Behold the harness of a disloyal and miscreant knight!" A basin of gold
or silver full of warm water was then brought upon the stage, and a herald
holding it up, demanded the knight's name. The pursuivants answered that
which in truth was his designation. Then the chief king of arms said,
"That is not true, for he is a miscreant and false traitor, and hath
transgressed the ordinances of knighthood." The chaplains answered, "Let
us give him his right name." The trumpets sounded a few notes, supposed to
express the demand, "what shall be done with him?" The king, or his chief
officer, who was present replied, "Let him with dishonour and shame be
banished from my kingdom as a vile and infamous man, that hath offended
against the honour of knighthood." The heralds immediately cast the warm
water upon the face of the disgraced knight, as though he were newly
baptized, saying, "Henceforth thou shalt be called by thy right name,
Traitor." Then the king, with twelve other knights, put upon them mourning
garments, declaring sorrow, and thrust the degraded knight from the stage:
by the buffettings of the people he was driven to the altar, where he was
put into a coffin, and the burial-service of the church was solemnly read
over him.[83]
[Sidenote: Ceremonies in England.]
The English customs regarding degradation are minutely stated by Stowe in
the case of an English knight, Sir Andrew Harcley, Earl of Carlisle who
(in the time of Edward II.) was deprived of his knighthood, previously to
his suffering the penalties of the law for a treasonable correspondence
with Robert Bruce. "He was led to the bar as an earl, worthily apparelled,
with his sword girt about him, horsed, booted, and spurred, and unto him
Sir Anthony Lucy (his judge) spoke in this manner: 'Sir Andrew,' quoth he,
'the king for thy valiant service hath done thee great honour, and made
thee Earl of Carlisle, since which time thou as a traitor to thy lord, the
king, led his people, that should have helped him at the battle of
Heighland, away by the county of Copland, and through the earldom of
Lancaster, by which means our lord the king was discomfited there of the
Scots, through thy treason and falseness; whereas, if thou haddest come
betimes, he hadde had the victory, and this treason thou committed for the
great sum of gold and silver that thou received of James Douglas, a Scot,
the king's enemy. Our lord the king wills, therefore, that the order of
knighthood, by the which thou received all the honour and worship upon thy
body, be brought to nought, and thy state undone, that other knights of
lower degree may after thee beware, and take example truly to serve.' Then
commanded he to hew his spurs from his heels, then to break his sword over
his head, which the king had given him to keep and defend his land
therewith, when he made him earl. After this, he let unclothe him of his
furred tabard, and of his hood, of his coat of arms, and also of his
girdle; and when this was done, Sir Anthony said unto him, 'Andrew,' quoth
he, 'now art thou no knight, but a knave; and for thy treason the king
wills that thou shalt be hanged and drawn, and thy head smitten off from
thy body, and burned before thee, and thy body quartered, and thy head
being smitten off, afterwards to be set upon London bridge, and thy four
quarters shall be sent into four good towns of England, that all others
may beware by thee;' and as Sir Anthony Lucy had said, so was it done in
all things, on the last day of October."[84]