_Beauty of Chivalric Sports ... Their Superiority to those of Greece
and Rome ... Origin of Tournaments ... Reasons for holding them ...
Practice in Arms ... Courtesy ... By whom they were held ...
Qualifications for Tourneying ... Ceremonies of the Tournament ...
Arrival of the Knights ... Publication of their Names ... Reasons for
it ... Disguised Knights ... The Lists ... Ladies the Judges of the
Tournament ... Delicate Courtesy at Tournaments ... Morning of the
Sports ... Knights led by Ladies, who imitated the Dress of Knights
... Nature of tourneying Weapons ... Knights wore Ladies' Favours ...
The Preparation ... The Encounter ... What Lance Strokes won the Prize
... Conclusion of the Sports ... The Festival ... Delivery of the
Prize ... Knights thanked by Ladies ... The Ball ... Liberality ...
Tournaments opposed by the Popes ... The Opposition unjust ... The
Joust ... Description of the Joust to the Utterance ... Joust between
a Scotch and an English Knight ... Jousting for Love of the Ladies ...
A singular Instance of it ... Joust between a French and an English
Squire ... Admirable Skill of Jousters ... Singular Questions
regarding Jousts ... An Earl of Warwick ... Celebrated Joust at St.
Inglebertes' ... Joust between Lord Scales and the Bastard of
Burgundy ... The Romance of Jousts ... The Passage of Arms ... Use of
Tournaments and Jousts._
[Sidenote: Beauty of chivalric sports.]
[Sidenote: Superiority to those of Greece and Rome.]
All our most delightful imaginings of chivalry are associated with the
tournament. We see in fancy's mirror the gay and graceful knight
displaying on his plumed steed the nobleness of his bearing, and the lady
of his affections smiling upon his gallant skill, while the admiring
people in rude and hearty joy shout their loud acclaims. Those who were
illustrious for ancestral or newly acquired renown met in the listed
plain. The fierceness of war was mellowed into elegance, and even
feudalism abated something of its sternness, when called on to perform
tendance on the ladies and damsels who graced the scene. Baronial pomp,
knightly gallantry, woman's beauty, gay caparisons, rich attire, and
feudal pageantry, throng the mind in wild and splendid confusion, when we
hear the herald's trumpet-clang summoning the knights to achievement. It
was in the tournament especially that the chivalric nations of Europe
asserted their superior claims to gracefulness and humanity; for though
the Greeks might vaunt their Olympic games, yet in them woman's favour did
not bestow the garland, and though matrons mingled with senators in the
Coliseum, and a virgin gave the signal for the commencement of the sports,
yet the tortures and death of their fellow-creatures constituted the
amusement.
[Sidenote: Origin of tournaments.]
Our ancestors were so proud of the Trojan descent which their historians
deduced for them, that they even regarded the games which Æneas celebrated
to the honour of his dead father, Anchises, as the origin of their own
knightly joust and tournament. But in those games there was no encounter
of two lances as in the joust, and no courteous battle between two parties
of warriors, as was the case in the tournament. This learned enthusiasm
was needless and absurd; for the knights might have discovered in the
nature and tendency of circumstances, and in the practice of their known
and immediate forefathers, sufficient matter of originality. The Romans
were wont to exercise themselves in mock combats, and so were the
Goths[278]; but it would be difficult to prove any chain of connection
between these people. War was an art in the middle ages, and a long and
painful education preceded the practice of it. It was the delight as well
as the occupation of the world; for fame[279], fortune, and woman's
love[280], could only be obtained by gallant bearing. Hence we find that
thoughts of war were not abandoned in times of peace, and that some
softened images of battle formed the grace of festive solemnities.
[Sidenote: Reasons for holding them.]
[Sidenote: Practice in arms.]
[Sidenote: Courtesy.]
The martial spirit of the world was nourished by such customs, for kings
were always eager to hold tourneys for the better training up of soldiers
in feats of arms.[281] It was the beneficial nature of tournaments to shed
the amenities and courtesies of peace over the horrid front of war. Thus
there were rules for conducting these images of battle which no knight
could violate without forfeiting his title to chivalry. The display of
address, with as little danger as possible to life and limb, was the chief
character of these encounters, and skill, therefore, in real war, became
more esteemed than brute violence. To profit by the mischance of an
adversary would, in the tournament, have been considered unknightly; and
it followed that even in the most deadly encounters of nations no cavalier
would avail himself of any accident happening to his foe.
[Sidenote: By whom they were held.]
Military exercises, when performed by two parties of cavaliers with
hurtless weapons, were called tournaments. If the occasion were high and
solemn, heralds repaired to different courts, announcing their sovereign's
purpose of holding martial exercises at a particular time, and inviting
all those who valued their knighthood, and respected dames and maidens, to
repair to the appointed city, and prove their chivalry.[282]
In Germany matters were somewhat different, and should be stated. Except
in Saxony (which had its own tournaments), the Germans who were entitled
to appear in the tourneying lists were divided into four companies;
namely, that of the Rhine--of Bavaria--of Swabia--and of Franconia. The
assembled cavaliers were called the chivalry of the four countries. Each
country by rotation held the tournament, and chose its leader or judge of
the sports, who appointed three ladies to give the arms to the knights,
and three others to distribute the prizes. It was usual for one of the
ladies to be a wife, another a widow, and the third a maiden.[283]
[Sidenote: Qualifications for tourneying.]
Originally, in most countries, no person could tourney unless he proved
himself to be maternally a knight of gentle birth, by four descents, and
displayed a legitimate coat-armour. But this regulation was every where
relaxed in favour of hardy knights who could not boast of ancestral
honours.[284] In early times, knights, whether bannerets or bachelors,
contended in the listed plain; but, subsequently, the squire (both the
follower of the knight and the soldier of the third class of chivalry) was
permitted to joust or tourney with knights.
Safe-conduct through hostile lands was always allowed to those who wished
to tourney; and the silence and solitude of the country in those dark
times were pleasingly relieved by bands of jolly and amorous cavaliers,
with trains of squires and pages, riding apace to court to the tune of a
merry roundelay. It was particularly the custom of newly-made knights to
attend a tournament in order to show that they deserved their spurs, and
to establish their prowess.[285]
Nor did simple knights alone thus progress to the tournament. Kings and
princes pricked over the plain in gallant and graceful array; for though
their rank excused them from performing many knightly observances, yet
their chivalric spirit disdained the pride of their station, and their
souls were inflamed with the noble desire of illustrating their royalty by
deeds of high knighthood.
[Sidenote: Ceremonies of the tournament.]
[Sidenote: Arrival of the knights.]
[Sidenote: Publication of their names.]
[Sidenote: Reasons for it.]
The knights were wont to arrive, at the respective hostels or tents
assigned them by the kings-at-arms and the heralds somewhile before the
day of tournament; and they affixed their armorial ensigns over the
entrances, and raised their banners and pennons in front of their parades.
The tourneying knights were known by their heraldry, and this publication
of their names was made for a very noble purpose. If any one of them had
been guilty of unchivalric deportment, the matter might be proved before
the ladies or other judges of the tournament, and they would strike down
his banner. None could tourney who had blasphemed God, or offended the
ladies: he who had been false to gratitude and honour; he who had violated
his word, or deserted his brother in arms in battle, was unworthy of
appearing at the splendid show; and the high courtesy of chivalry was
maintained by the law, that no one could tourney who had without warning
assailed his enemy, or by indirect means had despoiled his territory.[286]
[Sidenote: Disguised knights.]
These rules, however, were not always observed; for cavaliers were often
permitted to partake of chivalric sports, though they declined to name
themselves to the heralds. If they were novices in arms, and not very
confident in their prowess, they would conceal their names till they had
won renown; and if the chance of the game were against them, the
spectators knew not who had failed to acquire honour. The baron who held
the tournament might be the enemy of a gallant knight, who, from prudence,
would not wish to make himself known, unless he could appear with the bold
front of a conqueror. Sometimes the persons of the knights were not
concealed by common armour, but by the guise which fancy had thrown over
the fabled knights of yore. A troop of cavaliers calling themselves King
Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table often dashed into the lists; and
their trumpet's defiance was answered by that of another band meeting them
at speed from the other end, and calling themselves Charlemagne and his
Paladins. This was a beautiful mode of realising the romances of chivalry.
Other disguises were not equally praiseworthy; and I can only state as an
historical fact, without attempting to apologise for its madness and
impiety, that at a tournament held at Valladolid in the year 1428, the
King of Castille was accompanied by twelve knights, who personated the
twelve Apostles.[287]
[Sidenote: The lists.]
The place of combat was the lists, a large space surrounded by ropes or
railing in single or double rows. Sometimes there was a wooden division in
the lists or area to prevent the horses of the adverse knights from
careening against each other.[288] The lists were decorated with the
splendid richness of feudal power. Besides the gorgeous array of heraldic
insignia near the champions' tents, the galleries, which were made to
contain the proud and joyous spectators, were covered with tapestry,
representing chivalry both in its warlike and amorous guise: on one side
the knight with his bright faulchion smiting away hosts of foes, and on
the other kneeling at the feet of beauty.
[Sidenote: Ladies were the judges of tournaments.]
The ladies were the supreme judges of tournaments; and if any complaint
was raised against a knight, they adjudged the cause without appeal.[289]
Generally, however, they deputed their power to a knight, who, on account
of this distinction, was called the _Knight of Honour_. He bore at the end
of his lance a ribbon or some other sign of woman's favour; and with this
badge of power he waved the fiercest knights into order and obedience.
The heralds read to the knights the regulations of the sport, and
announced the nature of the prize they were to contend for. The dames and
maidens sometimes proposed jewels of price, a diamond, a ruby, and a
sapphire, as rewards of valour. But the meed of renown was often more
military; and the reader of Italian history remembers that at a tournament
celebrated at Florence in the year 1468, Lorenzo de' Medici bore away the
prize of a helmet of silver with a figure of Mars as the crest. It was
the general wont of tournaments for a vanquished knight to forfeit his
armour and horse to his victor.
[Sidenote: Delicate courtesy at tournaments.]
Nothing was more beautiful than the courtesy of chivalric times. At a
martial game held in Smithfield, during the reign of Richard II., the
Queen proposed a crown of gold as the reward of the best jouster, were he
a stranger; but if an English knight had the praise, then a rich bracelet
was to be his reward. The same polite preference of strangers influenced
the chivalry of England, and they promised to give to the lord of best
desert, if he were a foreign knight, a fair horse, with his trappings; but
if he were one of their own land, then only a falcon should reward him.
[Sidenote: Morning of the sports.]
On the morning of the tournament,
"When the day 'gan spring,
Of horse and harneis, noise and clattering,
Ther was in the hostelries all about."[290]
[Sidenote: Knights led by ladies,]
The knights then trooped to the listed plain, with lords, ladies, and
damsels, the chivalry and beauty of the country, mounted on
gaily-caparisoned steeds and palfreys, whose housings swept the ground.
Sometimes a lady fair led the horse of her chosen knight, and in the song
of the minstrel the bridle became a golden chain of love. At the day
appointed for a merry tournament, in the reign of Richard II., there
issued out of the Tower of London, first, three-score coursers, apparelled
for the lists, and on every one a squire of honour riding a soft pace.
Then appeared three-score ladies of honour, mounted on fair palfreys, each
lady leading by a chain of silver a knight sheathed in jousting harness.
The fair and gallant troop, with the sound of clarions, trumpets, and
other minstrelsy, rode along the streets of London[291], the fronts of the
houses shining with martial glory in the rich banners and tapestries which
hung from the windows. They reached Smithfield[292], where the Queen of
England and many matrons and damsels were already seated in richly
adorned galleries. The ladies that led the knights joined them; the
squires of honour alighted from their coursers, and the knights in good
order vaulted upon them.
[Sidenote: who imitated the dress of knights.]
This mode of conducting knights to the tournament was not the only
pleasing prelude of the sports. As it was in perfect harmony with the
general tone of chivalric feeling for knights to array themselves in
weeds, which woman's taste had chosen or approved of, so dames and
maidens, with equal courtesy, imitated in their attire the semblance of
knights. They often rode to the tournament with their girdles ornamented
with gold and silver, to resemble military belts, and, sportively,
wielding short and light swords, embossed with emblems of love and war.
[Sidenote: Nature of tourneying weapons.]
When the knights reached the lists, their arms were examined by the
constable; and such as were of a frame and fabric contrary to good
chivalry were rejected. The lances were hurtless, the points being either
removed altogether, or covered with broad pieces of wood, called
_rockets_. The gallant manners of the age gave such lances the title of
_Glaives Courtois_. The swords were blunted and rebated. Instances are on
record of knights encountering with swords made of whalebone, covered with
parchment, the helmet and hauberk being made of leather.
There existed very often, however, a disposition to convert tournaments
into real battles. National rivalry broke through the restraints of
knightly gentleness; envy of martial prowess, or of woman's love, had
found an occasion of venting its passion; and, in spite of the authority
of the king-at-arms and heralds to reject weapons of violence, bribery and
power appear often to have introduced them. As the nature of offensive
armour may be judged from the defensive harness, so in the laws of a
country we may read the state of manners. The practice of converting the
elegant tournament into a deadly fray occasioned an oath to be imposed on
all knights that they would frequent tournaments solely to learn military
exercises[293]; and, by a law of England made towards the close of the
thirteenth century, a broad-sword for tourneying was the only weapon that
was allowed to the knight and squire; and there was a stern prohibition of
a sword pointed, a dagger pointed, or a staff or mace. Knights banneret
and barons might be armed with mufflers, and cuishes, and shoulder-plates,
and a scull-cap, without more. Spectators were forbidden from wearing any
armour at all, and the king-at-arms and heralds, and the minstrels, were
allowed to carry only their accustomed swords without points.
[Sidenote: Knights wore ladies' favors.]
The tilting armour in which knights were sheathed was generally of a light
fabric, and splendid. Its ornaments came under a gentler authority than
that of royal constables and marshals. If the iron front of a line of
cavaliers in the battle-field was frequently gemmed with the variously
coloured signs of ladies' favors, those graceful additions to armour yet
more beseemed the tournament. Damsels were wont to surmount the helmets of
their knights with chaplets, or to affix streamers to their spears[294],
and a cavalier who was thus honoured smiled with self-complacency on the
highly emblazoned surcoat of his rival in chivalry.
The desire to please ladies fair formed the very soul of the
tournament.[295] Every young and gallant knight wore the device of his
mistress, while, indeed, the hardier sons of chivalry carried fiercer
signs of their own achievements: but they were unmarked by the bright
judges of the tourney, for their eyes could only follow through the press
their own emblems of love.
Nothing was now to be heard but the noise and clattering of horse and
armour.
"Ther mayst thou see devising of harneis
So uncouth[296], and so rich, and wrought so wele
Of goldsmithey, of brouding[297], and of stele,
The sheldes bright, testeres[298], and trappures;
Gold hewn helms, hauberks, cote-armures;
Lords in paramentes[299], on hir courseres,
Knights of retinue, and eke squires,
Nailing the speres, and helmes buckling,
Gniding[300] of sheldes, with lainers[301] lacing;
Ther as need is they were nothing idle:
The fomy steeds on the golden bridle
Gnawing, and fast the armourers also
With file and hammer pricking to and fro;
Yeomen on foot, and communes many on,
With short staves, thick as they may gone;
Pipes, trompes, nakeres[302], and clariounes,
That in the bataile blowen blody sounes."[303]
[Sidenote: The preparation.]
After the arms had been examined, "_à l'ostelle, à l'ostelle_, to
achievement knights and squires to achievement," was cried by the
well-voiced heralds from side to side, and the cavaliers, making their
obeisances to the ladies, retired within their tents to don their harness.
At the cry, "Come forth, knights, come forth," they left their pavilions,
and mounting their good steeds, stationed themselves by the side of their
banners. The officers-at-arms then examined their saddles; for though they
might grow unto their seats, yet it could only lawfully be done by noble
horsemanship, and not by thongs attaching the man and horse together.[304]
[Sidenote: The encounter.]
The ladies and gallant spectators being fairly ranged round the lists, and
the crowds of plebeian gazers being disciplined into silence and order,
the heralds watched the gestures of the knight of honour, and, catching
his sign that the sports might begin, they cried, "_Laissez aller_." The
cords which divided the two parties were immediately slackened, and the
cavaliers dressing their spears to their rests, and commending themselves
to their mistresses, dashed to the encounter, while the trumpets sounded
the beautiful point of chivalry, for every man to do his devoir.[305]
Each knight was followed by his squires, whose number was, in England, by
the ancient statute of tournaments already alluded to, limited to three.
They furnished their lord with arms, arranged his harness, and raised him
from the ground, if his foe had dismounted him. These squires performed
also the more pleasing task of being pages of dames and damsels. They
carried words of love to re-animate the courage and strength of the
exhausted cavalier, and a ribbon drawn from a maiden's bosom was often
sent to her chosen knight, when in the shock of spears her first favour
had been torn from the place where her fair hand had fixed it.[306]
The chivalric bands were so well poised, that one encounter seldom
terminated the sport. Lances were broken, horses and knights overthrown,
and the tide of victory flowed to either end of the lists. The air was
rent with names of ladies. War-cries were changed for gentler invocations.
Each noble knight called upon his mistress to assist him, thinking that
there was a magic in beauty to sustain his strength and courage. "On,
valiant knights, fair eyes behold you!" was the spirit-stirring cry of
those older warriors who could now only gaze at and direct the amusements
of chivalry. The poursuivants-at-arms cried at every noble achievement,
"Honor to the sons of the brave!"[307] The minstrels echoed it in the
loudest notes of their martial music, and the chivalric spectators replied
by the cry, "Loyauté aux dames!"
[Sidenote: What lance-strokes won the prize.]
The keen and well-practised eyes of the heralds noted the circumstances of
the contest. To break a spear between the saddle and the helmet was
accounted one point or degree of honour. The higher on the body the lance
was attainted or broken, the greater was the consideration; and the
difficulty of breaking it on the helmet was regarded as so considerable,
that the knight who performed this feat was thought to be worthy of ten
points. Either to strike one of the opposite party out of his saddle, or
to disable him so that he could not join the next course, was an
achievement that merited three points. A curious question once arose at a
tournament held in Naples. A knight struck his antagonist with such
violence as to disarm him of his shield, cuirass, and helmet, and in turn,
he was unhorsed. The judges had some difficulty in determining who merited
least reproach; and it was at length decided, quite in consonance with
chivalric principles, that he who fell from his horse was most
dishonoured, for good horsemanship was the first quality of a knight.
Hence it was thought less dishonourable for a tourneying cavalier to fall
with his horse than to fall alone. He who carried his lance comelily and
firmly was more worthy of praise, although he broke not, than he who
misgoverned his horse, and broke. He who ran high and sat steadily,
accompanying his horse evenly and gently, was worthy of all commendation.
To take away the rest of his adversary's lance merited more honour than to
carry away any other part of his harness. To break his lance against the
bow or pommel of the saddle was accounted greater shame than to bear a
lance without breaking. It was equally dishonourable to break a lance
traverse, or across the breast of an opponent, without striking him with
the point; for as it could only occur from the horse swerving on one
side, it showed unskilful riding.[308] The courtesies of chivalry were
maintained by the laws that he who struck a horse, or a man, when his back
was turned, or when he was unarmed, deserved no honor. Any combatant might
unhelm himself, and until his helmet was replaced, none could assail
him.[309]
[Sidenote: Conclusion of the sports.]
[Sidenote: The festival.]
[Sidenote: Delivery of the prize.]
[Sidenote: Knights thanked by ladies.]
When all the knights had proved their valiancy, the lord of the tournament
dropped his warder[310], or otherwise signed to the heralds, who cried
"_Ployer vos bannieres_." The banners were accordingly folded, and the
amusements ended. The fair and noble spectators then descended from their
galleries, and repaired to the place of festival. The knights who had
tourneyed clad themselves in gay weeds of peace, and entering the hall
amidst long and high flourishes of trumpets, sat under the silken banners
whose emblazonings recorded the antique glory of their families. Favourite
falcons were seated on perches above their heads, and the old and
faithful dogs of the chace were allowed to be present at this joyous
celebration of their master's honor. Sometimes the knights encircled, in
generous equality, a round table. On other occasions the feudal long table
with its dais, or raised upper end, was used; and to the bravest knights
were allotted the seats which were wont to belong to proud and powerful
barons.[311] Every preux cavalier had by his side a lady bright. The
minstrels tuned their harps to the praise of courtesy and prowess; and
when the merriment was most joyous, the heralds[312] presented to the
ladies the knights who had worthily demeaned themselves.[313] She, who by
the consent of her fair companions was called _La Royne de la Beaulté et
des Amours_, delivered the prizes to the kneeling knights.[314] This queen
of beauty and love addressed each of them with a speech of courtesy,
thanking him for the disport and labour which he had taken that day,
presenting to him the prize as the ladies' award for his skill, and
concluding with the wish that such a valorous cavalier would have much joy
and worship with his lady.[315] "The victory was entirely owing to the
favor of my mistress, which I wore in my helmet," was the gallant reply of
the knight; for he was always solicitous to exalt the honor of his
lady-love. As tournaments were scenes of pleasure, the knight who appeared
in the most handsome guise was praised; and, to complete the courtesies of
chivalry, thanks were rendered to those who had travelled to the lists
from far countries.[316]
[Sidenote: The ball.]
[Sidenote: Liberality.]
Dancing then succeeded, the knights taking precedence agreeably to their
feats of arms in the morning. And now, when every one's heart was exalted
by the rich glow of chivalry, the heralds called for their rewards.
Liberality was a virtue of every true knight, and the officers-at-arms
were more particular in tracing the lines of his pedigree, than in
checking him from overleaping the bounds of a prudent and rational
generosity.
One day's amusement did not always close the tournament: but on the second
morning the knights resigned the lists to their esquires, who mounted upon
the horses, and wore the armour and cognisances of their lords. They also
were conducted by young maidens, who possessed authority to adjudge and
give the prize to the worthiest esquire. At the close of the day the
festival was renewed, and the honours were awarded. On the third morning
there was a mêlée of knights and esquires in the lists, and the judgment
of the ladies was again referred to, and considered decisive.[317]
[Sidenote: Tournaments opposed by the popes.]
[Sidenote: The opposition was unjust.]
Such were the general circumstances and laws of tournaments during the
days of chivalry. These warlike exercises even survived their chief
purpose, for they formed the delight of nations[318] after the use of
artillery had driven the graceful and personal prowess of chivalry from
the battle-field.[319] In all the time of their existence they were
powerfully opposed by the papal see, avowedly on the ground of humanity.
There was some little excuse for this interference; for though the lances
were headless, and the swords rebated, yet the shock of the career
sometimes overthrew men and horses, and bruises were as deadly as the
lances' wounds. The historians of the middle ages, who generally echoed
the wishes of the Vatican, carefully record every instance where a life
was lost in a tournament; and, perhaps, a dozen such unfortunate events
are mentioned by the chroniclers of all European nations during the
fourteenth century: a number exceedingly small when we reflect upon the
nature of the conflict; that the time now spoken of was the very noonday
of chivalry; and that not a circumstance of public joy, not a marriage
among the nobles and high gentry of the land, but was celebrated by a
tournament. The Vatican might thunder its denial of Christian sepulture to
those who fell in a tilting ground; but still the knights would don their
gorgeous harness to win the meed of noble chevisance. While learned
casuists were declaring from the pulpits that they who were killed at
tournaments were most assuredly damned[320], heralds' trumpets in every
baronial court were summoning knights and squires to gentle exercise and
proof of arms; and though fanatical monks might imagine visions where
knights were perishing in hell flames[321], yet gallant cavaliers, warm
and joyous with aspirations for fame and woman's love, could not be scared
by such idle phantasms.
It was not, however, from any sincere considerations for humanity that the
popes opposed themselves to the graceful exercises of the age; for, at the
celebrated council held at Lyons in 1245, it was openly and for the first
time declared, that tournaments were iniquitous, because they prevented
the chivalry of Europe from joining the holy wars in Palestine. The shores
of Syria might drink torrents of Christian blood, and the popes would
bless the soil; but if in the course of several centuries a few
unfortunate accidents happened in the lists of peace and courtesy, all the
graceful amusements of Europe were to be interdicted, and the world was to
be plunged into the state of barbarism from which chivalry had redeemed
it. Tournaments were also interdicted on account of their expensiveness.
Wealth poured forth its treasures, and art exercised its ingenuity in
apparelling the barons, knights, and ladies; and even the housings of the
horses were so rich as to rival the caparisons of Asiatic steeds: but the
popes could see no advantage to the social state in all this gay and
prodigal magnificence, and they wished that all the treasures of the West
should be poured into the Holy Land.[322]
[Sidenote: The joust.]
The joust was the other chief description of military exercises. It was so
far inferior to the tournament, that he who had tourneyed, and had given
largess to the heralds, might joust without further cost; but the joust
did not give freedom to the tournament, nor was it the most favourite
amusement, for baronial pomp was not necessary to its display, and many a
joust was held without a store of ladies bright distributing the prize.
There were two sorts of jousts, the _joute à l'outrance_, or the joust to
the utterance, and the _joute à plaisance_, or joust of peace.
[Sidenote: Description of the joust to the utterance.]
And, first, of the serious joust. The joust to the utterance expressed a
single combat between two knights, who were generally of different
nations. In strictness of speech, the judicial combat was a joust _à
l'outrance_, and so was every duel, whether lawful or unlawful; but with
such jousts chivalry has no concern.[323]
[Sidenote: Joust between a Scotch and English knight.]
In a time of peace, during the year 1398, there were sundry jousts and
combats between Scots and Englishmen, for proof of their valiant activity
in feats of arms, and to win fame and honour. The most remarkable
encounter was that which took place between Sir David de Lindsay, first
Earl of Crawford, and the Lord Wells, in the presence of Richard II. and
his court. They agreed[324] to run certain courses on horseback, with
spears sharply ground, for life or death. The place appointed for these
jousts was London bridge; the day was the feast of St. George. The doughty
knights appeared sheathed in armour of proof, and mounted on mighty
war-horses. They ran together with all the fierceness of mortal hate; and
though they attainted, yet both kept their saddles. Lord Crawford retained
his seat with such remarkable firmness that the people cried out that
assuredly he was locked in his saddle. Incontinently that right noble
knight leaped from his steed, and again, armed as he was, vaulted on his
back, and amazed the beholders by his perfect horsemanship. The battle was
renewed on foot; the skill of the Scotsman prevailed, and the life of the
Lord Wells was in his power. De Lindsay now displayed the grace and
courtesy of his chivalry, for he raised his foe from the ground, and
presented him as a gift to the queen, wishing, like a true knight, that
mercy should proceed from woman. The queen thanked the valiant and
courteous Scot, and then gave liberty to the Lord Wells.[325]
[Sidenote: Jousting for love of the ladies.]
Woman's love was as frequent a cause for a joust to the utterance as
national rivalry. Many a knight would sally from a besieged town during a
suspension of general hostilities, and demand whether there was any
cavalier of the opposite host who, for love of his lady bright, would do
any deed of arms. "Now let us see if there be any amorous among you[326],"
was the usual conclusion of such a challenger, as he reined in his fiery
steed, and laid his spear in its rest. Such an invitation was generally
accepted; but if it passed unheeded, he was permitted to return to the
gates of his town; for it would not have been thought chivalric to
surround and capture a cavalier who offered to peril himself in so noble a
manner.
[Sidenote: A singular instance of it.]
Two parties of French and English met by adventure near Cherbourg, and,
like valiant knights, each desired to fight with the other. They all
alighted, except Sir Launcelot of Lorrys, who sat firm and erect upon his
horse, his spear in his hand, and his shield hanging from his neck. He
demanded a course of jousting for his lady's sake. There were many present
who right well understood him; for there were knights and squires of the
English part in love as well as he was. All was bustle, and every man ran
to his horse, anxious to prove his gallantry against the noble Frenchman.
Sir John Copeland was the first who advanced from the press, and in a
moment his well-pointed ashen lance pierced through the side of Lorrys,
and wounded him to death. Every one lamented his fate, for he was a hardy
knight, young, jolly, and right amorous[327]; and the death of a gallant
cavalier was always lamented by his brethren in arms; for the good
companionship of chivalry was superior to national distinctions.
[Sidenote: Joust between a French and an English squire.]
This noble feeling of knighthood was very pleasingly displayed in a
circumstance that happened in France, during the year 1380. The Duke of
Brittany profited by the weakness and confusion consequent on the death of
King John, and easily made his peace with the court of the new monarch.
The Duke of Buckingham, uncle of Richard II. of England, had been acting
as the ally of the Duke of Brittany; but now, as the war was over, he
prepared to conduct most of his army home. He had been joined by some
knights from Cherbourg, then an English town, and in the new martial
arrangements it was agreed that they should return to their garrison; but
they were not allowed to wear their harness during their march. The
Constable of France, who was then at the castle of Josselyn, gave them
safe-conduct. After embracing their good companions at Vannes, they
mounted their palfreys, and commenced their course. An hour's riding
brought them to Josselyn, and they rested awhile in the town, without the
castle, intending merely to dine there, and then depart. While they were
at their lodging, certain companions of the castle, knights and squires,
came to see them, as was the wont of men of war, and particularly
Englishmen and Frenchmen.
A French squire, named John Boucmell, discovered among the stranger band a
squire called Nicholas Clifford, with whom, on former occasions, he had
often exchanged looks and words of defiance. Thinking that a very fair
opportunity for chevisance had presented itself, he exclaimed, "Nicholas,
divers times we have wished and devised to do deeds of arms together, and
now we have found each other in place and time where we may accomplish it.
Let us now, in presence of the Constable of France, and other lords, have
three courses on foot with sharp spears, each of us against the other."
Nicholas replied, "John, you know right well that we are now going on our
way by the safe-conduct of my lord your constable. What you require of me,
therefore, cannot now be done, for I am not the chief of this
safe-conduct, for I am but under those other knights who are here. I would
willingly abide, but they will not."
The French squire replied, "You shall not excuse yourself by this means:
let your company depart, if they list, for I promise you, by covenant,
that when the arms are performed between you and me, I will bring you to
Cherbourg without peril. Make you no doubt of that."
Nicholas answered, that he did not mean to gainsay his courtesy, but that
he could not fight, as he and the rest of the English were journeying
without their armour.
This objection was readily answered by the Frenchman, who proffered his
own stores of harness; and Nicholas, though exceedingly indisposed to a
joust, was obliged to say, that if the lords whom he accompanied would not
permit the encounter there, he promised him, as soon as he arrived at
Cherbourg, and was apprised of John's arrival at Boulogne, he would come
to him, and deliver him of his challenge.
"Nay, nay," quoth John, "seek no respite: I have offered, and continue to
offer, so many things so honourable, that you cannot depart and preserve
your good name, without doing deeds of arms with me."
The Frenchmen then retired to the castle, leaving the Englishmen to dine
in their lodging.
After dinner the travelling knights repaired to the castle, to require
from the Constable a troop of cavaliers to conduct them through Brittany
and Normandy to Cherbourg. The subject of the challenge had been much
discussed by the Frenchmen, and as the execution of it appeared to be
within their own power, they earnestly requested their leader to forbid
the further journey of the Englishmen, while the deed of arms remained
unaccomplished. The Constable received the strangers sweetly, and then,
softening the harshness of his words by the chivalric courtesy of his
manner, he said to them, "Sirs, I arrest you all, so that ye shall not
depart this day; and to-morrow, after mass, you shall see deeds of arms
done between our squire and yours; and you shall dine with me, and after
dinner you shall depart with your guides to Cherbourg."
The English were right glad to be summoned to a chivalric sport, and,
after drinking of the Constable's wine, they took their leave, and
returned to their lodging.
On the next morning each squire heard mass, and was confessed. They then
leapt on their horses, and, with the lords of France on one part, and the
Englishmen on the other, they rode all together to a fair plain, near the
castle of Josselyn.
John Boucmell had prepared, according to his promise, two suits of
harness, fair and good, and offered the choice to Nicholas; but the
Englishman not only waved his choice, but, with still further courtesy,
assisted John to arm. The Frenchman, in return, helped him to don the
other suit of harness.
When they were armed they took their spears, and advanced against each
other on foot, from the opposite ends of the lists. On approaching they
couched their spears, and the weapon of Nicholas struck John on the
breast, and, sliding under the gorget of mail, it entered his throat. The
spear broke, and the iron truncheon remained in the neck. The English
squire passed onwards, and sat down in his chair. The Frenchman appeared
transfixed to the spot, and his companions advanced to him in alarm. They
took off his helmet, and, drawing out the truncheon, the poor squire fell
down dead. Grief at this event was general, but the saddest and sincerest
mourners were Nicholas and the Earl of March, the former for having slain
a valiant man of arms, and the other because John Boucmell had been his
squire. The Constable spoke all the words of comfort to his noble friend
which his kindness could prompt, and then made the knightly spectators
repair to the castle, in whose hospitable hall every disposition to
jealousy and revenge was discarded. After dinner the English troop bade
farewell to the noble Constable, and, under the conduct of the gentle
knight, the Barrois of Barres, they resumed their course to
Cherbourg.[328]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Jousts of peace.]
I come now to describe the joust _à plaisance_. Jousts of this friendly
description often took place at the conclusion of a tournament; for a
knight who had shown himself worthy of the tourneying prize caracoled his
prancing steed about the lists; and, animated by the applauding smiles of
dames and damsels, he called on the surrounding cavaliers by their
valiancy, and for love of the ladies, to encounter him in three strokes
with the lance.
[Sidenote: Skill of jousters.]
More frequently jousts were held at places appointed expressly for the
occasion. When they were jousts of peace, the mode of combat was always
specifically described. A knight would often challenge another for love of
his lady to joust three courses with a spear, three strokes with a sword,
three with a dagger, and three with an axe.[329] It was the rule for
knights to strike at each other only on the body, or within the four
quarters, as the times phrased their meaning. The loss of his good name
and the forfeiture of his horse and arms were the penalties of violating
this usage. Sometimes the weapons were similar to those used in
tournaments; but more frequently they were weapons of war[330]; and though
the lances were sharp, and the bright swords were not rebated, seldom was
blood shed in these jousts, so truly admirable was the military skill of
the soldiers in chivalry. The tournaments are interesting in the general
circumstances of their splendour and knightly gallantry; but the jousts
give us a far more curious knowledge of ancient manners.
[Sidenote: Singular questions regarding jousts.]
But before I describe these martial amusements, let me call my reader's
attention for a few moments to the subtlety of intellect with which
questions respecting the circumstances that happened at jousts were
discussed.
Two gentlemen agreed to fight on horseback, and he who first fell was to
be deemed the vanquished man. By the chance of battle it happened that
they both fell together, and the sage spirits of chivalry were agitated by
the question, who should be accounted victorious. Some thought that the
defender ought to have the honour, for in all doubtful cases the
challenged person should be favoured; others contended, that as the fall
of the challenger might proceed from his own force, and not the virtue of
the enemy, the judgment ought to lie dead: but the best and general
decision was this:--if the combat were for trial of skill or love of the
ladies, the challenger ought to lose the honour; but if it were for the
decision of any mortal quarrel, the battle ought to be resumed some other
day, because in combats of that kind no victory was gained until one of
the parties were either slain or yielded himself prisoner, or had with his
own mouth denied the words whereon the combat was occasioned.
On another occasion, seven knights agreed with seven of their companions
to run certain courses for honour and love of the ladies. When the joust
took place, five of one side acquitted themselves right chivalrously, but
their two brother-tilters were overthrown. On the other side, two only
performed their courses well, the rest of that company lost many lances
and ran very foul. It was then debated whether unto five well-doers and
two evil, or unto two well-doers and five evil, the honour ought to be
allotted. As the question did not regard the merit of any particular man,
but which party in general best performed the enterprise, it was alleged
that the party wherein were most well-doers ought to have the honour,
notwithstanding the fall of two of their companions. This opinion was met
by the acknowledged rule of arms, that the fall from horseback by the
enemies' force or skill was the most reproachful chance that could happen
to a knight. Therefore it was contended that the misadventure of two men
only might reasonably be the loss of honour to the rest.[331] But further
details of chivalric subtleties would afford little pleasure, and
contenting myself with having shown that our ancestors' intellects were as
sharp as their swords, we will progress to the tilting ground.
[Sidenote: An earl of Warwick.]
One of the earls of Warwick went to France dressed in weeds of peace, but
carrying secretly his jousting harness. In honour of his lady he set up
three shields on three pavilions, and his heralds proclaimed his
challenges, apparently from three different knights, among the lords,
knights, and squires of honour in France. The devices on his shields and
the names he assumed were emblematical of love and war. Three skilful
jousters of France on three successive days touched the shields, and the
earl, dressed in different guises, overthrew them all. They now became his
friends: he entertained them with chivalrique magnificence, and gave
jewels of price to them all. For himself he had acquired renown, and that
was all he wished; for he now could return to his lady, and showing how
he had sped in his chivalric courses, could proudly claim the reward of
valour.[332]
[Sidenote: Celebrated joust at St. Ingelbertes.]
"Ye have heard oftentimes, it said, how the sport of ladies and damsels
encourageth the hearts of young lusty gentlemen, and causeth them to
desire and seek to get honour."[333]
Such is Froissart's beautiful and romantic prelude to his account of a
very interesting joust.
In the year 1389, the King Charles V. tarried several days at Montpellier,
delighting himself with the pastime of the ladies; and the gentlemen of
his court were no bad imitators of his fancy. Three cavaliers, in
particular, were chiefly marked. They were the young Sir Boucicaut, Sir
Raynold of Roy, and the Lord of St. Pye. Their valour was inspired by
gallantry, and they resolved to achieve high feats of arms in the ensuing
summer; and if it had been possible for a knight to entertain any other
object in his imagination, than the favour of his sovereign lady, the
gallant knights of France had a very noble motive to enterprise, for some
reflections had lately been cast upon their honour by an English cavalier.
The noble knighthood that was in them felt a stain like a wound; and this
imputation on their honor gave the form and color to the joust they
meditated; for they resolved to perform their deeds of arms in the
frontier near Calais, hoping that Englishmen might be incited to meet
them.
The holding of the joust at such a place was not deemed courteous by some
members of the king's council, for it was thought that the English would
consider it presumptuous; and the more sage and prudent knights murmured
their opinion, that it was not always right to consent to the purposes of
young men, for incidents rather evil than good often sprang from them. The
king, however, who was young and courageous, overruled all scruples, and
ordered that the joust should proceed, because the knights had promised
and sworn it before the ladies of Montpellier.
Then the king sent for the three knights into his chamber, and said to
them, "Sirs, in all your doing regard wisely the honor of us and of our
realm; and to maintain your estate, spare nothing, for we will not fail
you for the expence of ten thousand franks."
The three knights knelt before the king, and thanked his grace. So
important to the national honor was this joust considered, that the
challenge was not published till it had been revised by Charles and his
council.
This was its form:--"For the great desire that we have to come to the
knowledge of noble gentlemen, knights, esquires, strangers, as well of the
nation of France, as elsewhere of far countries, we shall be at St.
Ingelbertes, in the marshes of Calais, the 20th day of the month of May
next coming, and there continue thirty days complete, the Fridays only
excepted, and to deliver all manner of knights and squires, gentlemen,
strangers of any nation, whosoever they be, that will come thither for the
breaking of five spears, either sharp or rockets, at their pleasure; and
without our lodgings shall be the shields of our arms, both shields of
peace and of war, and whosoever will joust, let him come or send the day
before, and with a rod touch which shield he pleases. If he touch the
shield of war, the next day he shall joust with which of the three he
will; and if he touch the shield of peace, he shall have the jousts of
peace and of war; so that whosoever shall touch any of the shields shall
shew their names to such as shall be then limited by us to receive them.
And all such stranger-knights as will joust shall bring each some nobleman
on his part who shall be instructed by us what ought to be done in this
case. And we require all knights and squires, strangers that will come and
joust, that they think not we do this for any pride, hatred, or evil will,
but that we only do it to have their honorable company and acquaintance,
which with our entire hearts we desire. None of our shields shall be
covered with iron or steel, nor any of theirs that will come to joust with
us, without any manner of fraud or unfair advantage, but every thing shall
be ordered by them to whom shall be committed the charge of governing the
jousts. And because that all gentlemen, noble knights, and squires, to
whom this shall come to knowledge, should be assured of its being firm and
stable, we have sealed the present writing with the seals of our arms.
Written at Montpellier the twentieth day of November, in the year of our
Lord God one thousand, three hundred, four-score and nine, and signed
thus. Raynolde du Roy--Boucicaut--St. Pye."
When this challenge was published, the knights and squires of England
entertained great imaginations to know what to do; and most of them
thought it would be deeply to their blame and reproach that such an
enterprise should take place near Calais, without their passing the sea.
They therefore thanked the French chivalry for deporting themselves so
courteously, and holding the joust so near the English marshes.
Accordingly, in the fresh and jolly month of May, when the spring was at
its finest point, the three young knights of France mounted their gay
steeds, and sportively held their course from Paris to Boulogne. They then
progressed to the abbey of St. Ingilbertes, and were right joyful to learn
that a number of knights and squires of merry England had, like good
companions, crossed the sea, and were arraying themselves for the joust.
The Frenchmen raised three green pavilions, in a fair and champaign spot,
between St. Ingilbertes and Calais. To the entrance of each pavilion they
affixed two shields, with the arms of the knights, one shield of peace,
and the other of war; and again proclaimed that such knights as would do
deeds of arms should touch one of the shields, or cause it to be touched,
whichever mode pleased him, and he should be delivered according to his
desire.
On the day appointed for the jousts, all the respective chivalries of
France and England poured from the gates of St. Ingilberte and Calais,
eager for the gallant fray. Such as proposed to be mere spectators met in
friendly union, without regard to national differences. The King of France
was present in a disguise.[334] The three French knights retired within
their pavilions, and squires donned their harness. The English jousters
apparelled themselves, and took their station at the end of the plain,
opposite the pavilions. A flourish of clarions proclaimed the commencement
of the joust, and the herald's trumpet sounded to horse.
When all was hushed in breathless expectation, Sir John Holland, Earl of
Huntingdon, pricked forth with the slow and stately pace of high-born
chivalry, from the end of the lists which had been assigned to the English
strangers. He was a right gallant cavalier, and he commanded his squire to
touch the war-shield of Sir Boucicaut. Incontinently, that noble son of
chivalry, ready mounted, left his pavilion with shield and spear. The
knights marked each other well, and then spurred their horses to the
encounter. The spear of Sir Boucicaut pierced through the shield of the
English knight; but it passed hurtless over his arm, and their good steeds
bounded to either end of the plain. This course was greatly commended. The
second course was altogether harmless; and in the third course the horses
started aside, and would not cope. The Earl of Huntingdon, who was
somewhat chafed, came to his place, waiting for Sir Boucicaut taking his
spear; but he did not, for he showed that he would run no more that day
against the Earl, who then sent his squire to touch the war-shield of the
Lord of St. Pye. He issued out of his pavilion, and took his horse,
shield, and spear. When the Earl saw that he was ready, he spurred his
horse, and St. Pye did not with less force urge his own good steed. They
couched their spears: at the meeting their horses crossed, but with the
crossing of their spears the Earl was unhelmed. He returned to his
squires, and incontinently was rehelmed. He took his spear, and St. Pye
his, and they ran again, and met each other with their spears in the
middle of their shields. The shock nearly hurled both to the ground, but
they saved themselves by griping their horses with their legs, and
returned to their places, and took breath. Sir John Holland, who had great
desire to do honourably, took again his spear, and urged his horse to
speed. When the Lord of St. Pye saw him coming, he dashed forth his horse
to encounter him. Each of them struck the other on the helms with such
force that the fire flew out. With that attaint the Lord of St. Pye was
unhelmed; and so they passed forth, and came again to their own places.
This course was greatly praised, and both French and English said that
those three knights, the Earl of Huntingdon, Sir Boucicaut, and the Lord
St. Pye, had right well done their devoirs. Again the earl desired, for
love of his lady, to have another course; but he was refused, and he then
mixed with the knights, and spectators, and gave place to others, for he
had ran all his six courses well and valiantly, so that he had laud and
honour of all parties.
These noble jousts continued for four days.[335] The gallant champions
assembled after matins, and did not quit the course till the vesper-bell
of the abbey summoned them to prayer. Of the noble company of knights and
squires there were few who did not add something to their fame; for if a
knight happened to be unhelmed, yet perhaps he did not lose his stirrups,
and he was admired for sustaining a severe shock.
Such was the noble chevisance of the jousters that no mortal wound was
inflicted.[336] The lance was the only weapon used. To unhelm the adverse
knight by striking his frontlet was the chiefest feat of arms, and in the
fierce career of opposing steeds, the firmest strength and the nicest
skill could alone achieve it. Helms struck fire, lances were splintered,
and the lance-head was lodged in the shield: but sometimes the shield
resisted the lance, and men and steeds reeled back to their several
pavilions.
Each gallant knight, however,
"grew unto his seat,
And to such wond'rous doing brought his horse
As he had been incorps'd and demi-natur'd
With the brave beast."
The knighthood and squirery of England sent forth nearly forty of their
host to vindicate their chivalry, and right nobly did they deport
themselves against the doughtiest lances of France. There was only one
knight who disgraced the order of chivalry. By birth he was a Bohemian, in
station an attendant of the King of England. It was demanded of him with
whom he would joust. He answered, with Boucicaut. They then prepared
themselves and ran together, but the Bohemian struck a prohibited part of
the armour, and he was greatly blamed that he demeaned his course so
badly. By the laws of the joust he should have forfeited his arms and
horse, but the Frenchman, out of courtesy to the Englishmen, forgave him.
The Bohemian to redeem his shame required again to joust one course. He
was demanded against whom he would run; and he sent to touch the shield of
Sir Raynolde du Roy. That gallant knight was not long before he answered
him. They met in the middle of their shields, and the French cavalier
struck his antagonist from his horse; and the Englishmen were not
displeased that he was overthrown, because he had ran the first course so
ungoodly.
This Sir Raynolde du Roy was one of the best jousters in all the realm of
France, and no wonder; for our faithful and gallant chronicler reports
that he lived in love with a young maiden, which availed him much in all
his affairs.[337] One of his most valiant antagonists was a gentle knight
of England, young and fresh, a jolly dancer and singer, called Sir John
Arundell. At the first course they met rudely, and struck each other on
the shields, but they held themselves without falling, and passed forth
their course. The second course they struck each other on the helms; the
third course they crossed and lost their staves; the fourth course
resembled the second; the fifth course they splintered their spears
against their shields, and then Sir John Arundell ran no more that day.
At the conclusion of the jousts the Earl of Huntingdon, and the Earl
Marshal, and the Lord Clifford, the Lord Beaumont, Sir John Clinton, Sir
John Dambreticourt, Sir Peter Sherborne, and all other knights that had
jousted those four days with the French knights, thanked them greatly for
their pastime, and said, "Sirs, all such as would joust of our party have
accomplished their desires; therefore now we will take leave of you: we
will return to Calais, and so cross to England; and we know that whoever
will joust with you will find you here these thirty days, according to the
tenor of your challenge."
The French knights were grateful for this courtesy, saying, that all new
comers should be right heartily welcome; "and we will deliver them
according to the rights of arms, as we have done you; and, moreover, we
thank you for the grace and gallantry that you have shewn to us."
Thus in knightly manner the Englishmen departed from Saint Ingilbertes,
and rode to Calais, where they tarried not long, for the Saturday
afterwards they took shipping and sailed to Dover, and reached that place
by noon. On the Sunday they progressed to Rochester, and the next day to
London, whence every man returned to his home.
The three French knights remained the thirty days at Saint Ingilbertes,
but no more Englishmen crossed the sea to do any deed of arms with
them.[338]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Joust between Lord Scales and the Bastard of Burgundy.]
Perhaps the most interesting joust in the middle ages was that which was
held between Lord Scales, brother of the Queen of Edward the Fourth, and
the Bastard of Burgundy. Many of the circumstances which attended it are
truly chivalric.[339]
On the 17th of April, 1465, the Queen and some ladies of her court, in a
mood of harmless merriment, attached a collar of gold, enamelled with the
rich floure of souvenance[340], to the thigh of that right worshipful and
amorous knight, Anthony Woodville, Lord Scales, for an emprise of arms on
horseback and on foot.[341] The most renowned cavalier at that time was
the Bastard of Burgundy, and accordingly Lord Scales addressed him in
courteous wise, praising his prowess, and vowing before God and the ladies
that his own great desire was to rival his fame. In order, then, that
there might exist that love and fraternity between them which became
knights of worship, he related the goodly adventure at the court of
England, and requiring the Bastard, in all affection for the honour of
chivalry, to do him so much favour as to discharge him of his bond. The
Earl of Worcester, Lord High Constable of England, certified the fact of
the delivery of the floure of souvenance to the Lord Scales, and the
King's permission for his herald to cross the seas to Burgundy.
The Bastard received the letter on the last day of April, and with
permission of his father, the Duke of Burgundy, he consented to assist the
Lord Scales in accomplishing his emprise. Lord Scales and the court of
England were right joyous and grateful at the news, and Edward granted a
safe-conduct to the adventurous Burgundian, the Earl of Roche, and a
thousand persons in his company, to come into England, to perform certain
feats of arms with his dearly beloved brother Anthony Woodville, Lord
Scales, and Nucelles.[342]
The Bastard accordingly set sail for England, nobly accompanied by four
hundred of his father's prowest chivalry. By Edward's command, Garter
king-at-arms met him at Gravesend. The gallant squadron sailed towards
London, and at Blackwall it was joined by the Earl of Worcester, attended
by a noble troop of lords, knights, and squires, and also by many of the
aldermen and rich citizens of London. The Lord of Burgundy landed at
Billingsgate, and was welcomed by another party of the nobility and trades
of England, (so general was the interest of the expected joust,) who
conducted him on horseback through Cornhill and Cheap to the palace of the
Bishop of Salisbury in Fleet Street, which royal courtesy had appointed
for his abode. Lord Scales soon afterwards came to London, attended by the
nobility and chivalry of his house, and the King assigned him the palace
of the Bishop of Ely in Holborn for his residence. The noble stranger was
introduced to Edward on his coming to London from Kingston, in order to
open the parliament.
The ceremonies of the joust were then arranged by well experienced
knights, and strong lists were erected in Smithfield, one hundred and
twenty yards and ten feet long, eighty yards and ten feet broad, with fair
and costly galleries around. On the morning appointed for the gallant
show, the King and Queen with all the chivalry and beauty of the land,
repaired to Smithfield. The King sat under a richly canopied throne, at
one end of the lists; on each side were lords and ladies, and underneath
him were ranged the knights, the squires, and the archers of his train.
The city magistrates then appeared; the lord mayor bowing, and the
mace-bearer lowering his sign of authority, as they passed the King in
their procession to the other end of the lists, where scaffolds of similar
form, but inferior magnificence to the royal chambers, were erected for
them. The eight guards of the lists entered on horseback, and received
their charge from the Earl Marshal and Lord High Constable of England, who
gently paced their horses to and fro beneath the throne.
When every thing was fairly arranged, Lord Scales appeared at the gate of
the lists. At the sound of his trumpet the Constable advanced and
demanded his purpose. The young lord, with the grace and modesty of
chivalry, replied, that he solicited the honor of presenting himself
before his sovereign liege the King, in order to accomplish his arms
against the Bastard of Burgundy. The gate was then thrown open by command
of the Constable, and the Lord Scales entered the lists, followed by nine
noblemen on horseback, bearing parts of his harness and arms, and nine
pages riding on gaily caparisoned steeds. They advanced to the King, and
after having made their obeisances, they retired to a pavilion at one end
of the lists.
With similar forms the Lord of Burgundy, attended by the chosen chivalry
of his country, approached the King, and then repaired to his tent.
The heralds commanded silence, and forbad any one, by the severest
penalties, from intermeddling with the jousters. Two lances and two swords
were taken to the King, who, being satisfied of their fitness, commanded
the lords who bore them to take them to the combatants. The
stranger-knight made his election, and dressed his lance to its rest. Lord
Scales prepared himself with equal gallantry, and they dashed to the
encounter. Their spears were sharp; but so perfect was their knowledge of
chivalry, that no wounds were inflicted. The nicest judges could mark no
difference of skill, and the noble knights jousted their courses, when the
King dropped his warder, and the amusements ended.
The next day the court and city repaired to Smithfield, with their
accustomed pomp, and the spectacle was varied by the jousters contending
with swords. The sports were, however, untimely closed by the steed of
Lord Scales with the spike of his chaffron overthrowing the Bastard of
Burgundy and his horse; and the King would not allow the tourney to
proceed, though the bruised knight gallantly asserted his wish not to fail
his encounter companion.
Not wearied by two days' amusement, the chivalry and beauty of England
assembled in the lists of Smithfield on the third morning. The noblemen
now fought on foot with pole-axes. At last the point of Lord Scales's
weapon entered the sight of the Burgundian's helmet, and there was a
feeling of fear through the galleries that a joust of peace would have a
fatal termination. But before it could be seen whether Lord Scales meant
to press his advantage, the King dropped his warder, and the Marshals
separated them. The Bastard of Burgundy prayed for leave to continue his
enterprise; and the Lord Scales consented. But the matter was debated by
the assembled chivalry; and it was declared by the Earl of Worcester,
then Constable of England, and the Duke of Norfolk the Marshal, that if
the affair were to proceed, the knight of Burgundy must, by the law of
arms, be delivered to his adversary in the same state and condition as he
was in when they were separated. This sentence was a virtual prohibition
of the continuance of the joust, and the Bastard therefore relinquished
his challenge. The herald's trumpet then sounded the well known point of
chivalry that the sports were over; but as the times were joyous as well
as martial, the knights and ladies before they parted held a noble
festival at Mercer's Hall.[343]
The feats of arms at St. Ingilbertes displayed the martial character of
the joust; and the emprise of Lord Scales shows how beautifully love could
blend itself with images of war, and the interest which a whole nation
could take in the circumstance of certain fair ladies of a court binding
round the thigh of a gallant knight a collar of gold, enamelled with a
floure of souvenance.
[Sidenote: The romance of jousts.]
But the high romantic feeling of chivalric times is, perhaps, still more
strikingly displayed in the following tale. In the beginning of the year
1400, an esquire of Spain, named Michel d'Orris, being full of valour and
love, attached a piece of iron to his leg, and vowed that he would endure
the pain till he had won renown by deeds of chivalry. The prowess of the
English knights most keenly excited his emulation; and, as his first
measure to cope with it, he journeyed from Arragon to Paris. He then
issued his defiance to the English chivalry at Calais, to perform
exercises on foot with the battle-axe, the sword, and the dagger, and to
run certain courses on horseback with the lance.
A noble soldier, hight Sir John Prendergast, a companion of Lord Somerset,
governor of Calais, being equally desirous to gain honour and amusement,
like a gentleman, to the utmost of his power, accepted the challenge in
the name of God, of the blessed Virgin Mary, and of his lords Saint George
and Saint Anthony. Like a true brother in chivalry, he expressed his wish
to relieve the Arragonian esquire from the pain he was suffering; and,
agreeably to the nobleness and modesty of his profession, he avowed his
joy at the occasion of making acquaintance with some of the French
nobility[344], and learning from them the honourable exercise of arms; and
then, in a fine strain of gallantry, he concludes his acceptance of the
challenge by praying that the Author of all good would grant the gentle
esquire joy, honour, and pleasure, and every description of happiness to
the lady of his affection, to whom Sir John Prendergast entreated that
those letters might recommend him.
Political affairs recalled Orris to Arragon, and the English knight, not
knowing that circumstance, wrote to him at Paris, pressing the performance
of the emprise, reminding him how much his honour was concerned in the
matter, and entreating Cupid, the god of love, as Orris might desire the
affections of his lady, to urge him to hasten his journey.[345] No answer
was returned to this heart-stirring epistle; and, after waiting several
months, Prendergast again addressed Orris, expressing his astonishment
that the challenge had not been prosecuted, and no reason rendered for the
neglect by the valiant esquire. He was ignorant if the god of love, who
had inspired him with courage to undertake the emprise, had since been
displeased, and changed his ancient pleasures, which formerly consisted in
urging on deeds of arms, and in promoting the delights of chivalry. He was
wont to keep the nobles of his court under such good government, that, to
add to their honor, after having undertaken any deeds of arms, they could
not absent themselves from the country where such enterprise was to be
performed, until it was perfectly accomplished. Anxious to preserve the
favour of the god of love, and from respect to the ladies, Sir John
Prendergast was still ready, with the aid of God, of Saint George, and
Saint Anthony, to deliver him whom he still hoped was the servant of
Cupid; and unless within a short time the emprise was accomplished, he
intended to return to England, where he hoped that knights and esquires
would bear witness that he had not misbehaved towards the god of love, to
whom he recommended his own lady and the lady of Orris.[346]
The esquire returned to Paris, after he had finished his military duties
in Arragon, still wearing the painful badge of iron. He found at Paris all
the letters of Prendergast. His chivalric pride was wounded at the thought
that the god of love had banished him from his court, and made him change
his mind; and he informed his noble foe that assuredly, without any
dissembling, he should never, in regard to the present emprise, change his
mind, so long as God might preserve his life; nor had there ever been any
of his family who had not always acted in such wise as became honest men
and gentlemen.
Notwithstanding the appeal of Orris to the chivalry of Prendergast no
deeds of arms were achieved. The delay of answers to his letters had
offended the English knight, and some misunderstanding regarding the petty
arrangements of the joust abruptly terminated the affair.[347]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: The passage of arms.]
A very favourite description of joust was that which was called a passage
of arms. A knight and his companions proclaimed that they would on a
certain day guard a particular road or bridge from all persons of
cavaleresque rank, who attempted to pass.[348] Those who undertook such an
emprise had their arms attached to pillars at the end of the lists with
some plain shields of different colours, in which were marked the nature
of the adventure, and the description of arms that were to be employed, so
that he, who repaired to the passage, with the design of trying his
skill, chose his mode of combat by touching one of the shields whereon it
was specified. Officers at arms were in waiting to collect and register
the names of such as touched the different shields, that they might be
called out in the rotation of their first appearance.
In the spring of the year 1443, the Lord of Chargny, a noble knight of the
court of Burgundy, made known to all princes, barons, cavaliers, and
esquires without reproach, that, for the augmentation and extension of the
most noble profession and exercise of arms, it was his will and intention,
in conjunction with twelve knights, squires, and gentlemen, of four
quarterings, whose names he mentioned, to guard and defend a pass d'armes,
situated on the great road leading from Dijon toward Exonne, at the end of
the causeway from the said town of Dijon, at a great tree called the
Hermit's Tree, or the Tree of Charlemagne. He proposed to suspend on the
tree two shields, (one black, besprinkled with tears of gold, the other
violet, having tears of sable,) and all those who by a king at arms or
pursuivant should touch the first shield should be bounden to perform
twelve courses on horseback, with him the Lord of Chargny, or one of his
knights and squires, with blunted lances; and if either of the champions,
during their twelve courses, should be unhorsed by a direct blow with the
lance on his armour, such person so unhorsed should present to his
adversary a diamond of whatever value he pleased. Those princes, barons,
knights, and esquires, who should rather take their pleasure in performing
feats of arms on foot, were to touch the violet shield, and should perform
fifteen courses with battle-axes or swords, as might be most agreeable to
them, and if during those courses any champion should touch the ground
with his hand or knees he should be obliged to present to his adversary a
ruby of whatever value he pleased.
The Lord of Chargny was a right modest as well as a valiant knight, for he
besought all princes, barons, knights, and esquires, not to construe his
intention as the result of pride and presumption, for he assured them that
his sole motive was to exalt the noble profession of arms, and also to
make acquaintance by chivalric deeds with such renowned and valiant
princes and nobles as might be pleased to honor him with their presence.
For the forty days that followed the first of July, the passage of arms
lasted, and right nobly did the Burgundian chivalry comport themselves.
Their most skilful opponent was a valiant knight of Spain, hight Messire
Pierre Vasque de Suavedra, with whom the Lord of Chargny jousted on
horseback and on foot, and the nicest eye of criticism could not determine
which was the doughtiest knight. At the conclusion of the jousts the
cavaliers repaired to the church of our Lady at Dijon, and on their knees
offered the shields to the Virgin.[349]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Use of tournaments and jousts.]
Such were the martial amusements and exercises of preux chevaliers. All
the noble and graceful virtues of chivalry were reflected in the
tournament and joust, and the warrior who had displayed them in the lists
could not but feel their mild and beneficent influence even in the
battle-field. He pricked on the plain with knightly grace as if his
lady-mistress had been beholding him: skill and address insensibly
softened the ferocity of the mere soldier, and he soon came to consider
war itself only as a great tournament. Thus the tourneying lists were
schools of chivalric virtue as well as of chivalric prowess, while the
splendour and joyousness of the show brought all classes of society into
kind and merry intercourse.
Through the long period of the middle ages tournaments were the elegant
pastimes of Europe, and not of Europe only, but of Greece; and knighthood
had its triumph over classical institutions when the games of chivalry
were played in the circus of Constantinople. The Byzantines learnt them
from the early Crusaders; and when the French and Venetians in the twelfth
century became masters of the East, chivalric amusements were the common
pastimes of the people, and continued so even when the Greeks recovered
the throne of their ancestors; nor were they abolished until the
Mussulmans captured Constantinople, and swept away every Christian and
chivalric feature.[350]
In the West the tournament and joust survived chivalry itself, whose image
they had reflected and brightened, for changes in the military art did not
immediately affect manners; and the world long clung with fondness to
those splendid and graceful shows which had thrown light and elegance over
the warriors and dames of yore.