NEW WORLDS
The barons came back from France. They were practised in the art of war
and they turned their homes into strong forts and their servants into
soldiers. Of these, they found many who were well versed in arms and
ready to fight. They gave them food and lodging for their services and
liveries to distinguish them from the followers of their neighbours and
they no longer fought for the King but each for his own gain.
The squires in the manors and the merchants in the towns stood in awe
of these unruly subjects of the realm, but against them there was no
remedy, and every man was forced to choose out a lord to protect him.
Of the long wars which these men waged, fighting for the rival princes
of York and Lancaster, for the white and the red rose, and of the havoc
that they wrought in the land, there are many stories.
Though the barons made war on one another, the citizens held their
markets and fairs and worked with skill in their trades. Foreigners
desired to buy, and they were anxious for peace with a country that
could give them the finest wool. More ships were built to cross the
narrow seas, and they were free to come and go, since England watched
them from her two eyes, Calais and Dover.
The merchants began to use more of their own good wool and many skilled
craftsmen were needed for cloth making. First the wool was sorted and
the coarse taken from the fine, then it was dyed, orange, red, green,
russet made from madder, or blue from woad, a flower, which grew
abundantly in France. The carder came next and the spinster spun it
into long threads on her distaff.
The weaver next doth warp and weave the chain,
Whilst Puss, his cat, stands mewing for a skein.
The cloth was cleaned and thickened by the walkers, who trampled it in
a trough of water and stretched it upon tenters to dry. Then came the
rower who beat it with teazles to find out all the loose fibres and the
shearman stood by with shears to cut off the knots and ends when they
appeared. Before it was sold, the drawer must mend any holes or bad
places in it:
The drawer last that many faults doth hide,
(Whom merchant nor the weaver can abide)
Yet is he one in most clothes, stops more holes
Than there be stairs to the top of S. Paul's.
[Illustration: A CHRISTIAN OF CONSTANTINOPLE BORROWING MONEY FROM A
JEW AND PLEDGING HIS CRUCIFIX]
[Illustration: MIÉLOT IN HIS STUDY]
[Illustration: A PRINTING PRESS]
They worked as a rule from five in the morning till seven at night in
summer and from dawn till dusk in winter, with half an hour for
breakfast, and an hour and a half for dinner and a sleep on hot days.
There was a holiday for every festival of the Church.
Of Jack of Newbury's workshop we read,
Within one room being large and long
There stood two hundred looms full strong;
Two hundred men, the truth is so,
Wrought in these looms all in a row.
By every one a pretty boy
Sate making quils with mickle joy,
And in another place hard by
An hundred women merrily
Were carding hard, with joyful cheer,
Who singing sate with voices clear.
And in a chamber close beside
Two hundred maidens did abide,
In petticoats of stammel red,
And milk-white kerchers on their head.
Those who worked in one trade bound themselves together into a gild,
and often lived in one quarter of the city to protect one another;
those who desired to become members must serve seven years'
apprenticeship. To guard their honour, the masters made a strict rule
that no work should be sent to market until it had been inspected and
found well done.
If a man fell ill, he received help from the gild. When the feast days
came round and all made holiday, the elders of the gild provided a
banquet and pastimes, and sometimes they welcomed the players who acted
stories from the Bible and old legends. There was dancing and feasting
and much merriment.
So the citizens became more important than great barons and soldiers,
for they brought trade to the country and riches to the King's
Exchequer.
A new world, too, was opening to the people, the world of books. With
care the monks had copied down the old stories and histories, but there
were few who could procure them to read.
The printing press was brought to England by Caxton. He was an English
merchant, trading in the city of Bruges. It was his custom to spend his
spare time in reading Latin and French stories. He translated the story
of Troy into English, and the Duchess of Burgundy and her courtiers
liked it so much that they asked him to write several copies. He says
that his pen was so much worn, his hand so weary and his eyes so dim
that he thought it worth while to learn the art of printing from those
who could teach him.
Then he brought a press to London, and out of his shop he hung a sign
"Books bought here good cheap." Only the rich could buy, for books were
very dear. He printed the stories of King Arthur and also the Golden
Legend, or Lives of the Saints, Reynard the Fox and many another tale.
That the poorer folk might also read, he printed a few sheets of poems
and fables. Among them was a book of good teachings for children. In
this he bade them,
Arise early
Serve God devoutly
The world busily
Go thy way sadly [seriously]
Answer demurely
Go to thy meat appetently
And arise temperately.
And to thy soup [suppers] soberly
And to thy bed merrily
And be there jocundly
And sleep soundly.
It was at this time that scholars were beginning to read the old
writings of the Greeks, and there were many other books, too, that they
desired to have printed.
Then also men were moved to seek what lay beyond the ocean in the far
west. They were in search of a new way to India, for India seemed to
them the treasure house of the world. Out of the east came gold and
silver and spices and silk, but the way was by mountain and desert and
many a dangerous place. Few had ventured far across the uncharted seas
that stretched away towards the setting sun, for their ships were small
and much at the mercy of the winds. It was necessary, too, to put into
shore to get fresh stores of water when rain failed. A sailor wrote of
their sufferings from thirst on one of these voyages, "The hail-stones
we gathered up and ate more pleasantly than if they had been the
sweetest comfits in the world. The rain-drops were so carefully saved,
that, as near as we could manage it, not one was lost in all our ship.
Some hung up sheets, tied with cords by the four corners and a weight
in the middle, that the water might run down thither, and so be
received into some vessel set or hung underneath.... Some lapped with
their tongues the boards under their feet, the sides, rails and masts
of the ship. He who obtained a can of water by these means was spoken
of, sued to, and envied as a rich man."
It was with a good compass and stout heart that Columbus and his men
set sail to find India, and to their great joy they saw, after many
months, "a little stick loaded with dog roses" floating in the sea, a
sign that they were near land.
The natives, pointing to the setting sun, told them to seek gold in the
great lands that lay beyond. Columbus thought he had found India, but
it was America. To these lands adventurers came to seek for treasure
and soon to find a new home.
SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY
1. Find out from the pictures in the Saxon Calendar:
(_a_) the occupations of the Saxons,
(_b_) the instruments they used in farming,
(_c_) the kind of dress they wore.
(See Traill and Mann, _Social England_.)
2. Plan and build a Saxon village (in a sand tray or with clay, etc.).
3. Write down what you think the miller and the goose boy would say in
the dialogue.
4. Describe a Saxon Hall. (Read descriptions in Beowulf and Ivanhoe.)
5. Look at some old manuscripts, if you can, and make some illuminated
letters.
6. Build a monastery in cardboard, paper or clay.
7. Cut out in paper some figures of Saxons and make a procession on
their way to Church to keep a festival.
8. Write the story of Alfred's messenger arriving at the monastery to
borrow the chronicle for the King's use.
9. Make a piece of tapestry showing a scene from the history of the
Normans.
10. What can you discover about the Normans from the pictures of the
Bayeux Tapestry?
11. Find out about Hereward the Wake.
12. Build a castle and defend it.
13. Find out some more stories of S. Francis of Assisi.
14. Find out as many Norman French words in English as you can.
15. Read the tales of Robin Hood.
16. Cut out of paper some figures of soldiers and make a picture by
pasting them on a large sheet, showing them landing in England after
the victory at Crécy.
17. Find out about a tournament and make the lists. (See Scott's
_Ivanhoe_.)
18. If there are any old buildings where you live, find out when they
were built and who used them.
19. Make a subject-index to the book and arrange it in alphabetical
order.
20. Make a date chart and illustrate it with pictures.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
_Social England_ (illustrated). Vols. I. and II. Ed. Traill and Mann
(Cassell).
_Anglo-Saxon Chronicle._ (_Everyman's Library._ Dent.)
_The Chronicles of Froissart._ (Globe Edition. Macmillan.)
_Grandes Chroniques de France._ Foucquet. Bibliothèque Nationale,
Berthaud Frères. 5 fr.
_Alfred the Great._ B. A. Lees. (_Heroes of the Nations._ Putnam.)
_St Anselm._ R. W. Church. (Macmillan.)
_English Monasteries._ A. H. Thompson. (_Cambridge Manuals._)
_English Monastic Life._ F. A. Gasquet. (_Antiquary's Books._ Methuen.)
_The Chronicle of Jocelind of Brakelond._ (_King's Classics._ Chatto
and Windus.)
_Chivalry._ F. W. Cornish. (Fisher Unwin.)
_The Making of Ireland and its Undoing, 1200-1600._ Mrs J. R. Green.
(Macmillan.)
_Mediaeval Art._ W. R. Lethaby. (Duckworth.)
_Wayfaring Life in the Middle Ages._ J. J. Jusserand. (Fisher Unwin.)
_Mediaeval England._ M. Bateson. (_The Story of the Nations._ Fisher
Unwin.)
_Social Life in England from the Conquest to the Reformation._ G. G.
Coulton. (Cambridge University Press.)
_Bibliography of Mediaeval History, 400-1500._ Leaflet 44. Historical
Association.
* _A Picture Book of British History._ Vol. I, to 1485. 190
illustrations. Ed. S. C. Roberts. (Cambridge University Press.)
* _Guide to Bayeux Tapestry._ Victoria and Albert Museum. Department
of Textiles. 6_d._
* _Oxford Supplementary Histories._ (Source books. Henry Frowde and
Hodder & Stoughton.)
* _Old Stories from British History._ York Powell. (Longmans.)
* _Heroes of Asgard._ Keary. (_Everyman's Library._)
* _Beowulf._ C. Thomson. (Marshall.)
* _The little flowers of S. Francis._ (_Everyman's Library._)
* _The Knights of the Round Table._ Malory. (Blackie.)
* _Stories of Robin Hood._ (_Told to the Children_ Series. Jack.)
* _A History of Everyday Things in England._ Vol. I. M. and C. H. B.
Quennell. (Batsford.)
* _Suitable for Children._
DATES
B.C. 55 The Romans first landed in Britain.
A.D. 410 Saxons began to settle in Britain.
410 Romans left Britain.
597 S. Augustine landed.
787 Danes invaded England.
871-901 Alfred reigned.
1017-1035 Cnut reigned.
1066 Battle of Hastings.
1070 Lanfranc became Archbishop of Canterbury.
1086 Domesday Book.
1093 Anselm became Archbishop of Canterbury.
1096 The First Crusade.
1107 The Exchequer was founded.
1162 Becket became Archbishop of Canterbury.
1169 Strongbow landed in Ireland.
1147 The Second Crusade.
1189 The Third Crusade.
1204 The Loss of Normandy.
1215 The Great Charter.
1283 Conquest of Wales.
1295 The Model Parliament.
1295 War with Scotland began.
1346 Battle of Crécy.
1346 The Siege of Calais.
1347 The Black Death.
1381 The Peasants' Revolt.
1415 The Battle of Agincourt.
1429 Joan of Arc took Orleans.
1476 Caxton set up a printing-press.
1455-1485 The Wars of the Roses.
1492 Columbus discovered America.
_Time Chart_
B.C. | | B.C. |
_4000_| _Egyptian Calendar fixed_ |_1000_| (_as below_)
-- | | -- |
-- | | _900_|
-- | | -- |
-- | | _800_|
-- | | -- |
-- | | _700_|
-- | | -- |
-- | | _600_|
-- | | -- |
-- | | _500_|
-- | | -- |
-- | | _400_|
-- | | -- |
-- | | _300_|
-- | | -- |
-- | | _200_|
-- | | -- |
-- | | _100_|
-- | | -- | _Romans landed in Britain_
_3000_| _Babylon founded_ | .....| BIRTH OF CHRIST
-- | | A.D.|
-- | | 100 |
-- | | -- |
-- | | 200 |
-- | | -- |
-- | | 300 |
-- | | -- |
-- | | 400 |
-- | | -- |Saxons invaded Britain
-- | _Hebrews enter Palestine_ | 500 |
-- | | -- |Augustine landed in
| | | Britain
-- | | 600 |
-- | | -- |
-- | | 700 |
-- | | -- |
-- | | 800 |
-- | | -- |
-- | | 900 |
-- | | -- |
_2000_| | 1000 |
-- | | -- | William the Norman invaded
| | | Britain
-- | | 1100 |
-- | | -- |
-- | | 1200 |
-- | | -- |
-- | | 1300 |
-- | | -- |
-- | | 1400 |
-- | | -- | Columbus discovered
| | | America
-- | | 1500 |
-- | | -- |
-- | | -- |
-- | | -- |
-- | | -- |
-- | | -- |
-- | | -- |
-- | | -- |
-- | | 1900 |
-- | | -- |
_1000_| | -- |
[Scale 1 inch to 500 years]
THE TWELVE MONTHS
In the following pages twelve pictures are reproduced from a _Book of
Hours_ of the 15th century. All except "Feeding pigs in November"
were painted by Pol de Limbourg for the Duke of Berri.
Each of them shows a typical occupation of the season and most of them
have a famous castle in the background.
A FEAST IN JANUARY
A FARM IN FEBRUARY
PLOUGHING AND VINE-LOPPING IN MARCH
A BETROTHAL IN APRIL
THE FIRST OF MAY
HAYMAKING IN JUNE
HARVESTING AND SHEEP-SHEARING IN JULY
HAWKING AND SWIMMING IN AUGUST
THE VINTAGE IN SEPTEMBER
SOWING SEEDS IN OCTOBER
FEEDING PIGS IN NOVEMBER
HUNTING BOAR IN DECEMBER
[Illustration: A FEAST IN JANUARY
Showing the Duke of Berri seated at table, with a tapestry in the
background]
[Illustration: A FARM IN FEBRUARY]
[Illustration: PLOUGHING AND VINE-LOPPING IN MARCH
In the background, the castle of Lusignan on the Vienne, the
favourite residence of the Duke of Berri]
[Illustration: A BETROTHAL IN APRIL
In the background, the Castle of Dourdan, belonging to the Duke of
Berri]
[Illustration: THE FIRST OF MAY
In the background, the Towers of Riom, the capital of the Duchy of
Auvergne, belonging to the Duke of Berri]
[Illustration: HAYMAKING IN JUNE
In the background, the Towers of Paris, showing the Sainte
Chapelle, the Conciergerie and the postern gate on the Seine]
[Illustration: HARVESTING AND SHEEP-SHEARING IN JULY
In the background, the Castle of Poitiers, rebuilt by the Duke of
Berri]
[Illustration: HAWKING AND SWIMMING IN AUGUST
In the background, the Castle of Étampes, acquired by the Duke of
Berri]
[Illustration: THE VINTAGE IN SEPTEMBER
In the background, the Castle of Saumur, in a district noted for
its vineyards]
[Illustration: SOWING SEEDS IN OCTOBER
In the background, the River Seine and the old Louvre
Note the scarecrow with a bow in his hands]
[Illustration: FEEDING PIGS IN NOVEMBER
This picture is by another artist at the end of the 15th century]
[Illustration: HUNTING BOARS IN DECEMBER
In the background, the Castle of Vincennes
This picture was borrowed from an Italian artist]
CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BY
J.B. PEACE, M.A.,
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
End of Project Gutenberg's Britain in the Middle Ages, by Florence L. Bowman