[1] Warton (History of English Poetry, vol. i. p. 118. note, 8vo.) notices
a passage in Piers Plowman, which shows how the reigning passion for
chivalry infected the ideas and expressions of the writers of this period.
The poet is describing the crucifixion, and speaking of the person who
pierced our Saviour's side with a spear. This person our author calls _a
knight_, and says, that he came forth _with his spear in hand and justed
with Jesus_. Afterwards, for doing so base an act as that of wounding a
dead body, he is pronounced a disgrace to _knighthood_, and our _champion
chevaler chyese knight_ is ordered to yield himself recreant. fol. 88. b.
So, too, in the Morte d'Arthur, Joseph of Arimathea is called the gentle
knight that took down Jesus from the cross.
[2] Warton, vol. ii. p. 86.
[3] Barnes's Edward III., p. 564.
[4] Leland, Collect. vol. ii. p. 476.
[5] Arthur went to his mete with many other kings. And there were all the
knights of the Round Table except those that were prisoners, or slain at a
recounter, thenne at the high feast evermore they should be fulfilled the
hole nombre of an hundred and fifty, for then was the Round Table fully
accomplished. Morte d'Arthur. The tale of Sir Gauth of Orkeney, c. 1. And
see Vol. I. of this work, page 376.
[6] Walsingham, sub anno 1344. Ashmole on the Order of the Garter, cap. v.
s. 2.
[7] Preface to the Black Book of the Order of the Garter.
[8] Walsingham, p. 164. Froissart, c. 100.
[9] Supplement to the Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. iii. part 1. p. 139.
As the story of Lady Salisbury's garter is fabulous, we must resort to
some other conjectures for an explanation of the famous motto of the
order, and the one cited in the text is extremely ingenious and plausible.
With much less appearance of truth, Ashmole fancies that Edward by this
motto retorted shame and defiance upon him that should dare to think ill
of so just an enterprise as he had undertaken for the recovery of his
lawful right to the French crown (whose arms he had lately assumed); and
that the magnanimity of those knights whom he had chosen into this order
was such as would enable him to maintain that quarrel against all who
durst think ill of it. Ashmole's Order of the Garter, p. 184. There never
was a knight more fond of impresses, mottoes, and devices, than King
Edward III. He not only stamped them upon his own armour and that of his
horse, but on his apparel, beds, and household furniture. "It is as it
is," was one of these mottoes. Another was:--
"Ha! ha! the white swan,
By God's soul I am thy man."
[10] Gibbon is the chief supporter of the last hypothesis, In his text
(vol. iv. c. 23.) he states positively, that "the infamous George of
Cappadocia has been transformed into the renowned St. George of England,
the patron of arms, of chivalry, and the Garter." In a note, however, he
observes that this transformation is not given as absolutely certain, but
as extremely probable. Few people read this note, and, perhaps, Gibbon did
not intend they should. He wished to strike their attention by the
sentence in his text, and he satisfied his conscience for literary honesty
by writing the modification at the bottom of the page.
[11] Froissart, c. 213.
[12] Barnes, p. 444.
[13] Knyghton. Chron. col. 2615.
[14] Stow's Chronicle.
[15]
----"these gallant yeomen,
England's peculiar and appropriate sons,
Known in no other land. Each boasts his hearth
And field as free as the best lord his barony,
Owing subjection to no human vassalage,
Save to their king and law. Hence are they resolute,
Leading the van on every day of battle,
As men who know the blessings they defend.
Hence are they frank and generous in peace,
As men who have their portion in its plenty.
No other kingdom shows such worth and happiness
Veil'd in such low estate."--
Halidon Hill, act ii. sc. 2.
[16] This national characteristic is alluded to in Latimer's sermons,
folio 69:--a work not of very good promise for such matters.
[17] Hair cut short.
[18] Chaucer, Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, line 101, &c. &c.
[19] Froissart, c. 131.
[20] Froissart, c. 163.
[21] Ibid. cc. 168. 174.
[22] Froissart, cc. 150. 152. "Messire Eustace vous estes le chevalier au
monde, que veisse oncques plus vaillamment assailer ses ennemis, ne son
corps deffendre: ny ne me trouvay oncques en bataille ou je veisse, qui
taint me donnast affaire, corps à corps, que vous avez huy fait. Si vous
en donne le pris, et aussi sur tous les chevaliers de ma cour, par droit
sentence. Adonc print le roy son chappelet, qu'il portoit sur son chef
(qui estoit bon et riche) et le meit sur le chef de Monseigneur Eustace;
et dit Monseigneur Eustace, je vous donne ce chappelet pour le mieux
combattant de la jouence, de ceux de dedans et de dehors: et vous pui que
vous le portez ceste année pour l'amour de moi. Je say bien que vous estes
gai et amoureux, et que volontiers vous vous trouvez entre dames et
damoiselles. Si dites, par tout la ou vous irez, que je le vous ay donné.
Si vous quitte vostre prison, et vous en pouvez partir demain, s'il vous
plaist."
[23] Froissart, cc. 133. 146.
[24] Barnes's History of Edward III. p. 452, &c.
[25] There was a Lord of Manny, as well as Sir Walter, at Edward's court.
The lord was a distinguished person, for he was among the bishops, earls,
and barons, who accompanied Edward to France, upon his doing homage for
the duchy of Guienne. St. Palaye has confounded the lord and the knight,
and made but one of them. He overlooked the hundred and second chapter of
Froissart, wherein the baron and the knight are separately and distinctly
mentioned. There was also another Manny, called the courageous Manny. He
was knighted by Sir Eustace Dambreticourt before a battle, and after
fighting most valiantly he was left for dead in the field. Froissart shall
tell the remainder of the story. "After this discomfiture, and that all
the Frenchmen were departed, the courageous Manny being sore hurt and near
dead, lift up his head a little, and saw nothing about him but dead men
lying on the ground round about him. Then he rose as well as he might, and
sat down, and saw well how he was not far from the fortress of Nogent,
which was English; then he did so much, sometimes creeping, sometimes
resting, that he came to the foot of the tower of Nogent; then he made
tokens to them within, showing how he was one of their companions; then
certain came down the tower to him, and bare him into the fortress, and
dressed his wounds, and there he governed himself so well that he was
healed." Froissart, c. 199.
[26] Froissart, c. 19.
[27] Froissart, cc. 24. 26.
[28] Appendix, No. xxiv., to Anstis's History of the Knighthood of the
Bath.
[29] "Mais il dit à aucuns de ses plus privés, qu'il avoit promis en
Angleterre devant les dames et seigneurs, qu'il seroit le premier qui
entreroit en France, et prendroit chastle ou forte ville, et y feroit
aucunes appertises d'armes," c. 36.
[30] Froissart, c. 36.
[31] Quand Messire Gautier veit ce, il dit, j'amais ne soye salué de
madame et chere amie, se je réntre en chastel n'en forteresse, jusques à
tant que j'aye l'un de ces venans verse. Froissart, c. 82.
[32] Froissart, c. 82.
[33] See Vol. I. p. 151.
[34] Froissart, c. 87.
[35] Vol. i. p. 246. ante.
[36] Froissart, c. 103. Le Comte D'Erby dit, Qui merci prie merci doit
avoir. This sentence, I suppose has escaped the notice of writers who have
represented the sole amusement of knights to have consisted in cutting the
throats of common people.
[37] Froissart, c. 107.
[38] This is Lord Berners' rendering of the passage. The phrase "par un
sien clerc" had crept into some editions of Froissart; and Mr. Johnes's
translation is, "Sir Walter caused the inscription to be read to him by a
clerk." This, perhaps, was necessary, as the inscription was in Latin, for
heroes have not been famous for their clerkship. But the inference which
some writers have drawn, that he could not read at all, is perfectly
unwarrantable.
[39] Froissart, c. 110.
[40] Froissart, c. 135
[41] Froissart, c. 146.
[42] She was the Lady Margaret, daughter and heiress of Thomas
Plantagenet, surnamed of Brotherton, Earl of Norfolk, and uncle to Edward
III.
[43] Dugdale.
[44] The reader may, reasonably enough, enquire who could have been the
vendor? I cannot tell him: I can only copy Stow in these matters.
[45] Stow's London, book 4. c. 3. Maitland's History of London, p. 661.
This was the state of the Charter House till the suppression of the
monasteries, in the reign of Henry VIII. Its annual value was 642_l._ It
was given to Sir Thomas Audley, speaker of the House of Commons, with
whose only daughter it went, by marriage, to Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, and
from him, by descent, to Thomas, Earl of Suffolk. In the time of James I.
it was purchased by that "right phoenix of charity," Thomas Sutton,
citizen and girdler, for the large sum of 13,000_l._; and he converted the
buildings and gardens into an hospital for the relief of aged men,
education of youth, and maintaining the service of God.
[46] Froissart, 286.
[47] See vol. i. p. 204.
[48] Ashmole's History of the Garter, c. 26. s. 3. Froissart, cc. 142.
147.
[49] Dugdale, Baronage, i. 503.
[50] Authorities in Ashmole, p. 702.
[51] Froissart, c. 125. See the first volume of this work, page 228.
[52] Froissart, c. 161. Monseigneur Jehan de Clermont dit, Chandos, ce
sont bien les parolles de vos Anglois, qui ne savent adviser riens de
nouvel; mais quant, qu'ils voyent, leur est bel. This is a very curious
proof of the antiquity of the common remark that Englishmen are a
borrowing and improving people, and not famous for originality of
invention. It might be contended, but not in this place, that we are both.
And here I will transcribe another sentence of Froissart, more
characteristic and true. "Les Anglois, selon leur coutume se divertirent
moult tristement."
[53] Froissart, c. 226.
[54] Froissart, c. 237.
[55] Froissart, cc. 265, 266.
[56] Froissart, c. 270.
[57] Froissart, liv. ii. c. 82.
[58] 4 Plac. Parl. iii. 5.
[59] Thomas of Elmham, p. 72. His general expression, tapestries
representing the ancient victories of England, I presume chiefly meant
those of Edward III.
[60] The tales of chivalry had for their prologue some lines expressive of
war and love; but in a grander strain the poetical biographer of the Bruce
sings:--
"Ah! freedome is a noble thing;
Freedome makes men to have liking;
Freedome all solace to men gives;
He lives at ease, that freely lives.
A noble heart may have none ease,
Nor ellys[A] nought that may him please,
If freedome fail: for free liking
Is _yearned_[B] o'er all other thing.
Na he that aye has lived free
May not know well the property,
The anger, _na_ the wretched doom
That is coupled to foul thraldom.
But, if he had essayed it,
Then all _perquer_[C] he should it wit,
And should think freedom more to prize
Than all the gold in world that is.
Thus contrary things ever more
Discoverings of the tother are."
The Bruce, line 225, &c.
[A] nor else.
[B] eagerly desired.
[C] perfectly.
[61] haste.
[62] laundress.
[63] child-bed.
[64] stop.
[65] pity.
[66] pitched.
[67] moved.
[68] laundress.
[69] Selden's Titles of Honour, and Pinkerton's History of Scotland, on
the authority of a book which I have not been able to meet with, called
"Certain Matters composed together." Edinb. 1597. 4to.
[70] Henry's History of England, vol. iii. p. 80. 4to.
[71] Border History of England and Scotland, p. 91.
[72] Border History, p. 143.
[73] Nisbet's Heraldry, i. 7.
[74] Knyghton, col. 2580.
[75] This amusing opinion of the French knights should be given in the
original language. "Adonc eurent plusieurs chevaliers et escuyers de
France passage: et retournerent en Flandres, ou là ou ils pouvoyent
arriver, tous affamés, sans monture, et sans armeures: et Escoce
maudissoyent, et le heure qu'ils y avoyent entré: et disoyent qu'oncques
si duc voyage ne fut: et qu'ils voudroyent que le roi de France
s'accordast aux Anglois, un an ou deux, et puis allast en Escoce, pour
tout destruire, car oncques si mauvaises gens ne verint: n'y ne trouverent
si faux et se traistres, ne de si petite congnuissance." Vol. ii. c. 174.
[76] The Scotch knights procured horse-shoes and harness ready made from
Flanders. Froissart, vol. ii. c. 3. Lord Berners' translation.
[77] Froissart, vol. ii. c. 142.
[78] "Henry Percy," says Holingshed, "was surnamed, for his often
pricking, Henry Hotspur, as one that seldom times rested, if there were
any service to be done abroad." History of Scotland, p. 240.
[79] The gallantry of this fighting priest was afterwards rewarded by the
gift of the archdeaconry of Aberdeen.
[80] He was afterwards ransomed; and, according to Camden, Pounouny
castle, in Scotland, was built out of the ransom money.
[81] Walsingham, (p. 366.) says, that the Earl of Dunbar came in and
turned the scale in favor of the Scots. Nothing of this is mentioned by
Froissart, who had his account of the battle from the Douglas family, at
whose castle he resided some time. If it be said that their account was
probably a prejudiced one, the same objection may be raised against that
of Walsingham. The Douglas' always spoke of their victory with true
chivalric modesty; for they declared that it was the consequence of the
exhausted state of the English after the march from Newcastle.
[82] Froissart, vol. ii. c. 146. Buchanan, lib. 9. p. 173, &c.
[83] Monstrelet, vol. i. c. 9, &c. Rymer, Foedera, vol. viii. p. 310, 311.
[84] This Archibald Douglas, Earl of Galloway, called the Grim, was an
illegitimate son of a good Sir James Douglas, and the successor in the
earldom of Douglas to the Earl James who fell at Otterbourn. Archibald had
been taken prisoner by Hotspur at the battle of Holmedon Hill; and Percy
agreed, that if he would fight with him as valiantly against Henry IV. as
he had fought during that battle, he would give him his liberty free of
ransom-money. Douglas, as a soldier and an enemy of the English king, had
no objection to these terms, and therefore he fought at the battle of
Shrewsbury. Buchanan, book 10.
[85] Well, indeed, might the Scottish knight say,
"Another king! they grow like Hydras' heads:
I am the Douglas, fatal to all those
That wear these colours on them."
Shakspeare, Henry IV, Part I. act v. scene 4.
[86] Otterbourne, p. 239. 244. Walsingham, p. 410, &c. Hall, folio 22. I
mean not to say, however, that his conduct was without precedent, for at
the great battle of Poictiers nineteen French knights were arrayed like
King John.
[87] Camden has marked the commencement of this custom in the reign of
Henry IV., and he has been followed by all our writers on heraldry and
titles of honor, except Anstis, who endeavours to trace it to the reign of
Edward I. Anstis mistook the matter entirely. Undoubtedly many instances
may be met with in earlier times when knights were created with the full
ceremonies of oblation of the sword at the altar, of bathing, &c.; and in
strictness all knights should have been created in that manner. Whenever
Anstis met with a knight inaugurated in that way, he called him a knight
of the Bath. Now the question is, at what time was the first royal
marriage, royal christening, or other festivity, when knights were
made?--made, not exactly for military objects, not in consequence of
feudal tenure, but in honour of the event which they were celebrating.
Knights of the Bath were knights of peace, knights of compliment and
courtesy. Camden's opinion was founded on the following passage in
Froissart: "The vigil before the coronation (of Henry IV.) was on the
evening of Saturday; on that occasion, and at that time, there watched all
the esquires who were the next morning to be created knights, to the
number of forty-six. Each of them had his esquire attending him, a
separate chamber, and a separate bath, where the rites of bathing were
that night performed. On the day following, the Duke of Lancaster (Henry
IV.), at the time of celebrating mass, created them knights, giving them
long green coats, the sleeves whereof were cut straight, and furred with
minever, and with great hoods or chaperons furred in the same manner, and
after the fashion used by prelates. And every one of these knights, on his
left shoulder, had a double cordon or string of white silk, to which white
tassels were pendent." Now there is nothing in this passage which can lead
the mind to think that the coronation of Henry IV. was the first occasion
when knights of the Bath were created; and, therefore, our writers on
heraldry and titles of honor are not justified in the positiveness with
which they always head their dissertations on knighthood of the Bath with
the year 1399.
[88] That the shoulder-knot of the knights of the Bath was worn only for a
time, and on the principle of chivalry which induced men to place chains
round their legs until they had performed some deeds of arms, I learn from
Upton, a writer of great reputation in heraldic matters, who lived in the
days of Henry VI. See his treatise De Re Militari, p. 10., quoted in the
Appendix to Anstis's History of the Knighthood of the Bath.
[89] Thus Chaucer:
"A custom is unto these nobles all,
A bride shall not eaten in the hall,
Till days four, other three at the least
Ypassed be, then let her go to feast."
[90] MS. Norfolc. in Off. Arm. n. 15. See Anstis's Appendix to his History
of the Knighthood of the Bath, p. 24.
[91]
"For to obeie without variaunce
My lordes byddyng fully and plesaunce
Whiche hath desire, sothly for to seyn
Of verray knyghthood, to remember agayn
The worthyness, gif I shall not lye,
And the prowesse of olde chivalries."
Lydgate, War of Troy.
[92] Henry V. Act ii. Chorus.
[93] He was kind and courteous to them immediately after the battle, and
indeed as long as their deportment merited his friendship. The Duke of
Orleans and four other Princes of the blood royal were taken prisoners at
the battle of Agincourt, and for a while lived on their parole. But when
they forfeited the titles of knights and gentlemen, by endeavouring to
deceive and betray Henry while he was negotiating with the parties that
distracted France, he then removed them to close confinement in Pontefract
castle; nor did they obtain their liberty for many years. A great outcry
has been raised against Henry for his conduct in this instance,--for his
not showing a chivalric deportment to men who had forfeited their honour.
[94] Thus the Chorus in Shakspeare's Henry V. addresses the audience:
"So let him land,
And solemnly, see him set on to London.
So swift a pace hath thought, that even now
You may imagine him upon Blackheath.
When that his lords desire him, to have borne
His bruised helmet and his bended sword,
Before him through the city: he forbids it,
Being free from vainness and self-glorious pride;
Giving full trophy, signal, and ostent,
Quite from himself, to God."
[95] Caxton, of the Order of Chivalry or Knyghthood.
[96] Ibid.
[97] Comines, vol. i. p. 31.
[98] Sir Tristrem, Scott's edition, Fytte first. st. 2.
[99] Rymer's Foedera.
[100] Warton pleasantly observes, that had Henry never murdered his wives,
his politeness to the fair sex would remain unimpeached.
[101] Holingshed, p. 805, 806, &c. Henry's passion for disguising himself
was singular, and carried him beyond the bounds of chivalric decorum.
"Once on a time the King in person, accompanied by the Earls of Essex,
Wiltshire, and other noblemen, to the number of twelve, came suddenly in
the morning into the Queen's chamber, all apparelled in short coats of
Kentish kendall, with hoods on their heads, and hose of the same, every
one of them carrying his bow and arrow, and a sword and a buckler, like
outlaws, or Robin Hood's men. Whereat the Queen, the ladies, and all other
there were abashed, as well for the strange sight, as also for their
sudden coming,--and after certain dances and pastimes made, they
departed." Holingshed p. 805.
[102] Holingshed, p. 815.
[103] Holingshed, p. 807, 808.
[104] Holingshed, p. 85, &c.
[105] Shakspeare, Henry VIII. Act i. scene 1.
[106] Dr. Nott, in his life of Lord Surrey, prefixed to the works of His
Lordship and Sir Thomas Wyatt, has by the evidence of facts completely
overthrown this pleasing tale.
[107] These curious particulars are to be gathered, as Dr. Nott remarks,
from the following passage in Hardynge's Chronicle.
"And as lords' sons been set, at four year age,
At school to learn the doctrine of letture;
And after six to have them in language
And sit at meet, seemly in all nurture:
At ten and twelve to revel is their cure,
To dance and sing, and speak of gentleness:
At fourteen year they shall to field I sure,
At hunt the deer, and catch at hardiness.
"For deer to hunt and slay, and see them bleed
An hardiment giveth to his courage.
And also in his wit he giveth heed,
Imagining to take them at advantage.
At sixteen year to warry and to wage,
To joust and ride and castles to assail,
To skirmish als, and make sicker scurage,
And set his watch for peril nocturnal.
"And every day his armour to essay,
In feats of arms with some of his meynie;
His might to prove, and what that he do may
If that he were in such a jeopardy
Of war befall, that by necessity
He might algates with weapons him defend.
Thus should he learn in his priority
His weapons all, in armes to dispend."
See to the same effect, the Paston letters, vol. iii. 34, 35, &c.
[108] This curious circumstance is mentioned in a journal of Sir John
Wallop's expedition, which Dr. Nott dug out of the State-Paper Office. The
whole passage is amusing.
"July 31. Wallop advances to Bettune. Passing by Terouenne, he attempts to
draw out the garrison of that place, but fails. The French defeated in a
skirmish. Wallop says, that he sent a letter to the commandant of
Terouenne, an old acquaintance, that if he had any gentlemen under his
charge, who would break a staff for their ladies' sake, he would appoint
six gentlemen to meet them. The challenge is accepted, and the conditions
are fixed. Mr. Howard, Peter Carew, Markham, Shelly of Calais, with his
own two men, Cawverly and Hall, are the English appellants. They all
acquit themselves gallantly at the jousts. Hall, at his first course, did
break his staff galliardly, in the midst of the Frenchman's cuirass.
Markham stroke another on his head-piece, and had like to have overthrown
him. Peter Carew stroke his very well, and had one broken on him. Cawverly
was reported to have made the fairest course; but by the evil running of
the Frenchman's horse, which fled out of the course, he was struck under
the arm, and run through the body into the back, and taken into the town
where he was well treated. I wish to God, said Wallop, the next kinsman I
had, not being my brother, had excused him."
[109] Pinkerton's History of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 85, &c.
[110] Drummond, 140, &c. Buchanan, xiii. 25.
"For the fair Queen of France
Sent him a turquois ring and glove,
And charged him, as her knight and love,
For her to break a lance;
And strike three strokes with Scottish brand,
And march three miles on Southron land,
And bid the banners of his band
In English breezes dance.
And thus, for France's Queen he drest
His manly limbs in mailed vest."
Marmion, canto v.
[111] He was afterwards Duke of Norfolk, and great grandfather of the Earl
of Surrey, who was mentioned by me in p. 114. ante.
[112] It has been generally thought that James, forgetting both his own
wife and the Queen of France, lost much time at Ford, in making love to a
Lady Heron, while his natural son, the Archbishop of St. Andrew's, was the
paramour of Miss Heron the daughter. Dr. Lingard (History of England, vol.
vi. p. 31. n.) seems inclined to doubt this tale, because James had only
six days to take three castles and a fair lady's heart. What time was
absolutely necessary for these sieges and assaults, the learned Doctor has
not stated. However, to speak seriously, the story has no foundation in
truth; and it only arose from the beauty of Lady Heron, and the reputed
gallantry of the Scottish King.
[113] Henry's History of Great Britain, book vi. ch. 1. part ii. s. 1.
[114] Pitscottie, p. 116, &c.
[115] Pinkerton, book xii.
[116] So reported in the conversation of Ben Jonson and Drummond of
Hawthornden.
[117] Thomson's Seasons. Summer, l. 1511.
[118] The Arcadia was popular so late as the days of Charles I., as may be
learned from a passage in the work of a snarling satirist, who wanted to
make women mere square-elbowed family drudges. "Let them learn plain works
of all kind, so they take heed of too open seaming. Instead of songs and
musick, let them learn cookerie and laundrie; and instead of reading Sir
Philip Sydney's Arcadia, let them read the Grounds of Good Huswifery. I
like not a female poetess at any hand." Powell's Tom of all Trades, p. 47.
[119] This was the honourable distinction of the Sidney family in general,
as we learn from Ben Jonson's lines on Penshurst.
"Whose liberal board doth flow
With all that hospitality doth know!
Where comes no guest but is allow'd to eat,
Without his fear, and of thy Lord's own meat.
Where the same beer and bread, and self-same wine,
That is His Lordship's, shall be also mine."
Gifford's Ben Jonson, vol. viii. p. 254.
The practice of making a distinction at the table by means of a
salt-cellar was very proper in early times, when the servants as well as
the master of a family with his wife and children dined at one long table.
It became odious, however, when a baron made this mark of servility
separate his gentle from his noble friends. This was feudal pride, whereas
chivalric courtesy would rather have placed the guests in generous
equality about a round table.
[120] Spenser, _Colin Clout's come Home again_.
[121] Nicholls's Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, vol. iii. p. 41, &c.
[122] Puttenham, Arte of English Poesie, book ii. c. 9. & 19.
[123] Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy, p. 271. This passage brings to mind a
corresponding one in Wilson's Arte of Rhetoricke, printed in 1553. "If
there be any old tale or strange history, well and wittily applied to some
man living, all men love to hear it. As if one were called Arthur, some
good fellow that were well acquainted with King Arthur's book, and the
knights of his Round Table, would want no matter to make good sport, and
for a need would dub him knight of the Round Table, or else prove him to
be one of his kin, or else (which were much) prove him to be Arthur
himself."
[124] "The Two angry Women of Abingdon." The sword and buckler fighting
was the degeneracy of the ancient chivalry; and Smithfield, which had
shone as the chief tilting ground of London, was in the sixteenth century,
according to Stow, "called Ruffians' Hall," by reason it was the usual
place of frays and common fighting, during the time that sword and
bucklers were in use. "When every _serving-man_, from the base to the
best, carried a _buckler_ at his back, which hung by the hilt or pommel of
his sword." Alas, for the honor of chivalry!
[125] Wilson's Life of James, p. 52.
[126] Ben Jonson, Masque of Prince Henry's Barriers.
[127] G. Wither. Prince Henry's Obsequies. El. 31.
[128] Life of Edward Lord Herbert, written by himself, p. 16.
[129] Life, p. 46.
[130] Life, &c. p. 63. Sir Edward was very much annoyed at Paris by a
Monsieur Balagny, who enjoyed more attention of the ladies than he did.
They used one after another to invite him to sit near them, and when one
lady had his company awhile, another would say, "You have enjoyed him long
enough, I must have him now." The reason of all this favour was, that he
had killed eight or nine men in single fight, p. 70. This was the
degeneracy of chivalry with a vengeance.
[131] Life, p. 60.
[132] Act i. scene 1. of the play whose title I shall transcribe: "The New
Inn: or, the Light Heart; a Comedy. As it was never acted, but most
negligently played by some, the KING'S SERVANTS; and more squeamishly
beheld and censured by others, the KING'S SUBJECTS, 1629. Now at last set
at liberty to the Readers, His MAJESTY'S Servants and Subjects, to be
judg'd of, 1631."
[133] Dugdale, Origines Juridiciales. c. 39. Serjeants at law were not
knighted till the reign of Henry VIII. c. 51.
[134] Ferne's Blazon of Gentry, p. 100. See too Camden's Britannia "on the
degrees in England," p. 234.
[135] Thus Lord Bacon says, "There be now for martial encouragement some
degrees and orders of chivalry, which nevertheless are conferred
promiscuously on soldiers, and no soldiers," &c. Essays on the true
Greatness of Kingdoms.
[136] Fletcher, Fair Maid of the Inn, act i. scene 1.
[137] Rymer's Foedera, vol. xv. p. 497.
[138] British Museum, Cottonian MSS. Nero. c. ix. folio 168. The
assumption of dignity by the squire-governors, in order to get greater
largesses, is amusing enough: but no knights of other lands were present
to chastise them for their insolence.
[139] Du Cange, Gloss. ad Script. Med. Oevi. in verb. Milites Regis.
[140] Du Chesne. Hist. Franc. Script. vol. ii. p. 148. The assertion,
however, is not strictly correct; for so early as the fourth century
Armorica had been colonised from Wales. Argentré, Hist. de la Bretagne, p.
2. A connection ever since subsisted between Armorica and this island; and
when the Britons were oppressed, they repaired to the Continent for
refuge.
[141] Velly, Hist. de la France, vol. v. p. 132-136.
[142] Velly, Hist. de la France, vol. v. p. 313, &c.
[143] D'Argentré, Histoire de Bretagne, livre vii. c. 15. Paris, 1618.
[144] Froissart, c. 230.
[145] Mémoires de Du Guesclin, vol. iv. c. 16. The mode by which the Queen
came by her death was never certainly known. One common story was, that
she had been murdered by a party of Jews employed by the King, and hence
he was considered a patron of Judaism itself.
[146] This is Froissart's story, c. 231., and far more natural than the
account in the Mémoires de Du Guesclin (which Mr. Turner has placed in the
text of his History of England). The memoir-writer gives a long
melo-dramatic story of Peter's application to the Prince--of his tears and
sobs, and other expressions of grief. The tale goes on to relate, that
when the Prince was won to espouse his cause, his Princess, who was at her
toilette, was much displeased, that he should have been imposed upon by a
man so criminal as the Spanish King. Edward, fancying his martial
prerogative infringed, exclaimed, "I see that she wants me to be always at
her side. But a Prince who wishes to immortalize his name must _seek_
occasions to signalise himself in war, and must by his victories obtain
reward among posterity. By St. George, I _will_ restore Spain to its right
inheritor." Mr. Turner says, "That although this account is given by an
enemy, yet as the circumstances correspond with the known character of
Edward, they seem entitled to our belief." History of England, vol. ii. p.
178. Now, for my part, I do not believe one word of the pretty stories of
the tears and the toilette. The Mémoires of Du Guesclin are a good
authority for the life of their hero; but Froissart is the historian of
the other side of the question, and the hero of his tale (if sometimes he
loses historic dignity in the partiality of biography) is Edward.
Froissart was acquainted with every circumstance that happened in the
English army, and his account of the matter is far more rational than that
of Du Guesclin's historian. It is expressive of the character of Edward
and his times. Here we see the gentle knight yielding the place of honour
to his friend, and the lady of the knight treating the guests sweetly and
graciously. The toilette-scene is altogether omitted; and even if it had
been inserted in the Chronicle I should, reject it as false, for it was
not characteristic of Edward's noble mindedness to speak to his Princess
with petulance and ill humour.
[147] Froissart, liv. i. c. 231, 232.
[148] Froissart, c. 232.
[149] The Memoirs of Du Guesclin and Froissart, and a few passages in
Mariana, have furnished this account of the Spanish war. In the general
outline I have been anticipated by the popular historians of England; but
I have introduced a great many circumstances essential to my subject, and,
which did not come within the scope of their design.
[150] Froissart, book i. c. 233.
[151] Memoires de Du Guesclin, p. 255, &c.
[152] D'Argentré, Histoire de Bretagne, liv. vii. c. 15.
[153] Labineau, Hist. de Bretagne, vol. ii. p. 538. The treaty itself is
so curious, that a life of Du Guesclin would be imperfect without it. "A
tous ceux que ces lettres verront, Bertrand du Guesclin, Duc de Mouline,
Connestable de France, et Olivier, Seigneur de Clisson, salut. Sçavoir
faisons que pour nourrir bonne paix et amour perpetuellement entre nous et
nos hoirs, nous avons promises, jurées et accordées entre nous les choses
qui s'ensuivint. C'est à savoir que nous Bertrand du Guesclin voulons
estre alliez, et nous allions à toujours à vous Messire Olivier, Seigneur
de Clisson contre tous ceulx qui pevent vivre et mourir, exceptez le Roy
de France, ses freres, le Vicomte de Rohan, et nos autres seigneurs de qui
nous tenons terre: et vous promettons aidier et conforter de tout nostre
pouvoir toutesfois que mestier en aurez, et vous nous en requerrez. Item,
que ou cas que nul autre seigneur de quelque estat ou condition qu'il
soit, à qui vous seriez tenu de foy et hommage, excepte le Roy de France,
vous voudroit desheriter par puissance, et vous faire guerre en corps, en
honneur, et en biens, nous vous promettons aidier, defendre, et secourir
de tout nostre pooir, se vous nous en requerrez. Item, voulons et
consentons que de tous et quelconques proufitz et droitz, qui nous
pourront venir, et echoir dorenavant, tant de prisonniers pris de guerre
par nous ou nos gens, dont le proufitz nous pourroit appartenir, comme de
pais raençonné vous aiez la moitié entierement. Item, au cas que nous
sçaurions aucune chose qui vous peust porter aucune dommage ou blasme,
nous vous le ferons sçavoir et vous en accointerons le plutost que nous
pourrons. Item, garderons vostre corps à nostre pooir, comme nostre frere.
Et nous Olivier, Seigneur de Clisson, voulons estre alliez, et nous
allions à toujours à vous Messire Bertrand du Guesclin dessus nommé,
contre tous ceulx qui pevent vivre et mourir exceptez le Roy de France,
ses freres, le Vicomte de Rohan, et nos autres seigneurs de qui nous
tenons terre, et vous promettons aidier et conforter de tout nostre pooir
toutefois que mestier en aurez et vous nous en requerrez. Item, que au cas
que nul autre seigneur de quel que estat ou condition qu'il soit, à qui
vous seriez tenu de foi, ou hommage, excepté le Roy de France, vous
voudroit desheriter par puissance, et vous faire guerre en corps, en
honneur ou en biens, nous vous promettons aidier, defendre, et secourir de
tout nostre pooir, si vous nous en requerrez. Item, voulons et consentons
que de tous ou quelconques proufitz et droitz qui nous pourront venir et
echoir dorenavant, tant de prisonniers pris de guerre par nous, ou nos
gens, dont le proufit nous pourroit appartenir, comme de pais raençonne,
vous aiez la moitié entierement. Item, au cas que nous sçaurions aucune
chose qui vous peust porter dommage aucun ou blasme, nous vous la ferons
sçavoir, et vous en accointerons le plutost que nous pourrons. Item,
garderons vostre corps à nostre pooir comme nostre frere. Toutes
lesquelles choses dessusdites, et chacune d'icelles, nous Bertrand et
Olivier dessus nommée avons promises, accordées et jurées, promettons
accordons et jurons sur les saintz evangiles de Dieu corporellement
touchiez par nous, et chascun de nous, et par les foys et sermens de nos
corps bailliez l'un à l'autre tenir, garder, enteriner et accomplir l'un à
l'autre, sans faire, ne venir en contre par nous, ne les nostres, ou de
l'un de nous, et les tenir fermes et agreables à tous jours. En temoing
desquelles choses nous avons fait mettre nos seaulz à ces presentes
lettres, lesquelles nous avons fait doubler. Donné à Pontoison, le 24 jour
d'Octobre l'an de grace mille trois cens soixante et dix."
[154] Argentré, viii. 3, 4.
[155] Voltaire says, that Bertrand du Guesclin was the first person over
whom a funeral oration was delivered, and who was interred in the church
destined for the tombs of the kings of France. He adds, "Son corps fut
porté avec les mêmes cérémonies que ceux des souverains; quatre princes du
sang le suivaient; ses chevaux selon la coutume du temps, furent
présentées dans l'église à l'évèque que officiait, et qui les bénit en
leur imposant les mains. Les détails sont peu importants; ils font
connoitre l'esprit de chevalerie. L'attention que s'attiraient les grands
chevaliers célèbres par leurs faits d'armes s'étendait sur les chevaux qui
avoient combattre sans eux." Essai sur les Moeurs, c. 78.
[156] Anselme in his Palais de l'Honneur, gives an amusing account of the
chivalric rules for sepulchral monuments. They were better observed in
France than in any other country, and even there they were not very
scrupulously attended to. "They are," however, as Gough remarks,
(Sepulchral Antiquities, vol. i. p. cxvii.) "a curious specimen of
monumental punctilio. Knights and gentlemen might not be represented by
their coats of arms, unless they had lost their lives in some battle,
single combat, or rencontre with the prince himself, or in his service,
unless they died and were buried within their own manors or lordships; and
then to show that they died a natural death in their beds, they were
represented with their coat of armour ungirded, without a helmet,
bareheaded, their eyes closed, their feet resting against the back of a
greyhound, and without any sword. Those who died on the day of battle, or
in any mortal rencontre, on the victorious side, were to be represented
with a drawn sword in their right hand, and a shield in their left, their
helmet on, which some think ought to be closed, and the visor let down, in
token that they fell fighting against their enemies, having their coat of
arms girded over their arms, and at their feet a lion. Those who died in
prison, or before they had paid their ransom, were represented on their
tombs without spurs or helmet, without coat of arms or swords, only the
scabbard girded to, and hanging at their sides. Those who fell in battle
or rencontre on the side of the conquered were to be represented without
coats of arms, the sword at the side and in the scabbard, the visor raised
and open, their hands joined on their breasts, and their feet resting
against the back of a dead and overthrown lion. The child of a governor,
or commander in chief, if born in a besieged city, or in the army, however
young he died, was represented on his tomb, armed at all points, his head
on his helmet, and clad in a coat of mail of his size at the time of his
death. The military man, who at the close of his life took on him a
religious habit and died in it, was represented completely armed, his
sword by his side on the lower part; and on the upper the habit of the
order he had assumed, and under his feet the shield of his arms. The
gentleman who has been conquered and slain in the lists, in a combat of
honour, ought to be placed on his tomb, armed at all points, his
battle-axe lying by him, his left arm crossed over the right. The
gentleman victorious in the lists was exhibited on his tomb, armed at all
points, his battle-axe in his arms, his right arm crossed over the left."
[157] Argentré, Hist. de Bretagne, liv. viii. Velly in an. and Memoires de
Du Guesclin, ad fin.
[158]
"Jamais, _disoit il_, je ne serai aimé ne conveis (bienvenu)
Ainçois serai des dames très toujours éconduits,
Car biensçais que je suis bien laid et malfettis,
Mais puis que je suis laid, être veux bien hardis."
Vie du Connetable du Guesclin.
[159] Chastelet, Hist. de Du Guesclin, p. 33. There were no children of
either of these marriages. Du Guesclin, however, left a son, _par amours_.
The last male heir of this family died in the year 1783, an officer in the
French army. In the time of Napoleon, a Madame de Gîvres asserted and
proved her descent from the Constable, and Bonaparte granted her a pension
of 6000 franks a year.
[160] Monstrelet, vol. ii. c. 3. The battle between the Burgundians and
Dauphinois, in August, 1421, was fought with similar cruelty. Vol. v. c.
62.
[161] All these curious particulars of ancient manners are contained in
the Histoire de Jeanne d'Arc, of M. Le Brun des Charmettes.
[162] Daniel, Histoire de la Milice Francaise, liv. iv. c. 1. Monstrelet,
vol. viii. c. 46. Velly, tome v. p. 394.
[163] Boutillier, La Somme rurale, compillée par lui, p. 671. Abbeville,
1486.
[164] Memoires d'Olivier de la Marche, vol. ix. c. 2. of the Collection
des Memoires relatifs à l'Histoire de la France.
[165] Perceval's History of Italy, vol. ii. c. 8.
[166] The old French, in which this dialogue was held, is exceedingly
interesting and expressive. "Monseigneur de Bayard, mon amy, voicy la
premiere maison ou avez esté nourry, ce vous seroit grand honte si ne vous
y faisiez congnoistre, aussi bien qu'avez fait ailleurs. _Le bon chevalier
respondit_, Madame, vous savez, bien que des ma jeunesse vous ay aymée,
prisée et honorée, et si vous tiens à si saige et bien enseigné, que ne
voulez mal à personne, et encores a moy moings que à un autre. Dites moy,
s'il vous plaist que voulez vous que je face pour donner plaiser à Madame
ma bonne maistresse, à vous sur toutes, et au reste de la bonne et belle
compaignée qui est ceans. _La dame de Fleuxas lui dit alors._ Il me
semble, Monseigneur de Bayard, mais que je ne vous ennuye point, que ferez
foit bien de faire quelque tournoy en ceste ville, pour l'honneur de
Madame qui vous en scaura très bon gré. Vous avez ici alentour force de
vos compaignons gentils-hommes François et autres gentils-hommes de ces
pays, lesquels s'y trouveront de bon coeur, et j'en suis asseurée.
Vrayment, _dit le bon chevalier_, puis que le voulez il sera faist. Vous
estes la dame en ce monde qui a premierement acquis mon coeur à son
service, par le moyen de vostre bonne grace. Je suis asseuré que je n'en
auray jamais que la bouche et les mains, car de vous requirir d'autre
chose je perdrois ma peine, aussi sur mon ame j'aymerois mieulx mourir que
vous presser de deshonneur. Bien vous prie que me veuillez donner un de
vos manchons. Car j'en ay à besongner. La dame qui ne savoit qu'il en
vouloit faire le lui bailla, et il le meit en la manche de son pourpoint,
sans faire autre bruit." Memoires, vol. xiv. p. 397.
[167] The Memoires of Bayard, by one of his secretaries, have furnished me
with the chief facts in this account of Bayard. A very excellent English
translation of them has been lately published in two vols. post 8vo. The
Memoires Du Bellay (Paris, 1573,) have supplied some deficiencies in the
narration of the loyal serviteur.
[168] Memoires de Bayard, in the great collection of French Memoires, vol.
xv. p. 458. "Et puis après par maniere de jeu, cria haultement l'espée en
la main dextre: tu es bien heureuse d'avoir aujourdhui à un si vertueux et
puissant roy donné l'ordre de chevalerie. Certes ma bonne espée, vous
serez moult bien reliques gardée et sur toutes autres honorée. Et ne vous
porteray jamais, si ce n'est contre Turcs, Sarrasins, ou Maures, et puis
feit deux faults, et après remeit au fourreau son espée." This sword has
been lost.
[169] This mode of receiving knighthood had, however, been stealing into a
custom for some time. The earliest instance I have ever met with was in
the case of an infant son of Charles VI. (A. D. 1371,) who was knighted by
Du Guesclin, a cavalier who, one would think, was sufficiently jealous of
the honour of chivalry. After the ceremonies of baptism, Du Guesclin drew
his sword, and putting it naked into the hand of the naked child, (nudo
tradidit ensem nudum,) said to him, "Sire, I give you this sword, and put
it into your hand; and pray God that he will give you such a noble heart
that you may prove as true a knight as any of your illustrious ancestors."
So, too, Monstrelet, in his account of the events in the year 1433, says,
that the Duchess of Burgundy was delivered of a son at Dijon, who was
knighted at the font. Vol. vii. p. 147.
[170] Part of Segar's account of this tournament is too interesting to be
omitted. "At the fourth course, by marvellous misadventure, the King
became hurt with a splinter of the adversary's lance, which pierced his
eye so deep, as thereby his brain was much bruised. Thus was the nuptial
feast disturbed, and joy converted to sorrow. Such is the state of worldly
things: gladness is ever followed by sadness, and pleasure accompanied by
pain. The rest of the troop who were ready to run were with that accident
marvellously amazed, and not knowing what to do, every man let fall his
lance, and cursed such triumphs. Some pressed to carry his person home,
and others (as touched to the heart) shut their eyes from seeing a
spectacle so miserable. The ladies likewise and gentlewomen of the court
turned their faces from beholding, and closed their eyes with tears. To
conclude, the whole number of courtiers were stricken with sorrow not
explicable. The citizens, also, and, generally, all the subjects of that
kingdom, were perplexed to see the tragical event of that disastrous
triumph, which was intended to congratulate a new peace and an honourable
alliance. The form and face of the city were thus converted from exceeding
joy to unspeakable sorrow: some held up their hands to heaven, others made
haste to the churches, and every one, with abundance of sighs and sobs,
cried out, beseeching God to grant the King recovery; as if every man's
well doing had thereon depended. Then the physicians and surgeons, not
only of France but of the Low Countries, came thither to show their skill,
using all art and endeavour that might be; but the splinters of the lance
had pierced the King's eye so deeply, as the tenderness of the place could
not suffer it to be taken out nor seen (the brain also being pierced), no
means there were to cure the wound. The King, therefore, tormented with
extreme pain, fell into a burning fever, whereof at the end of eleven days
he died. In all which time he did never weep, nor speak any word that
might be imputed to pusillanimity; but most magnanimously took leave of
life. Only this he said, that seeing he was destined to die in arms, he
would have been much better contented to have lost his life in the field
than in those domestic pastimes." Segar, of Honour, lib. iii. c. 40.
[171] Warton justly observes that this apotheosis of chivalry, in the
person of their own apostle, must have ever afterwards contributed to
exaggerate the characteristical romantic heroism of the Spaniards, by
which it was occasioned, and to propagate through succeeding ages a
stronger veneration for that species of military enthusiasm to which they
were naturally devoted. Warton, Diss. on the Gesta Romanorum.
[172] Painters are as good witnesses for manners as romance writers; and
in Murphy's Arabian Antiquities of Spain there is an engraving from a
picture in the Alhamra, representing a martial game, wherein both Moors
and Christians contended.
[173] Froissart, vol. ii. c. 44.
[174] Calaynos, however, went out of fashion, not for want of merit in the
hero, but by reason of the form of the verse in which he was celebrated.
Thus the phrase, _Este no vale las coplas de Calainos_, passed into a
proverb. Sarmiento, Memorias para la Historias de la Poesia, y Poetas
Espanoles, p. 228.
[175]
Caballeros Granadinos
Aunque Moros, hijos d'algo.
[176] For proofs of this circumstance, I must again refer the reader to
the engravings in Murphy's Arabian Antiquities of Spain.
[177] Pur su ley, pur su Sennor natural, pur su terra. Partidas, cited by
Selden, Titles of Honour, part ii. cap. 4.
[178] Partidas, l. ii. tit. 21. lib. 36. tit. 2, &c.
[179] Selden, Titles of Honour, part ii. c. 4.
[180] Tomich, Conquestas de los Reyes de Aragon e los Comtes de Barcelona,
1534, folio 23.
[181] Our English translators of ancient Spanish poetry need not think, as
they are inclined to do, that they are worshiping a shade in Pelayo. The
Arabian History of Spain by Ahmadu-bn Muhammadi-bn Musa Abu Bakr Arrazy, a
writer of the fourth century of the Hegira, attests his existence in the
manner stated in the text. This author, whose name I will not again
attempt to transcribe, is one of the authorities of Mr. Shakspeare, whose
able dissertation on the History of the Arabs in Spain accompanies
Murphy's splendid work on the architecture of that country. Great
expectations have always been entertained of the illustrations of
Arabic-Spanish history which the Escurial manuscripts could furnish. The
work of Casiri encouraged the most ardent hopes of a successful result of
more patient enquiry; and nothing could promise better than the
circumstance that his very learned and intelligent successor in the
librarianship, D. José Antonio Conde, was engaged in the work. The results
of his labours were published at Madrid in 1820 and 1821. I have not been
able to meet with a copy of his work in the original Spanish, but I have
found it mixed up with other matter in a French book, entitled "Histoire
de la Domination des Arabes et des Maures en Espagne, et en Portugal,
depuis l'Invasion de ces Peuples jusqu'a leur Expulsion définitive;
redigée sur l'Histoire traduite de l'Arabe en Espagnol de M. J. Conde. Par
M. de Marlés." 3 vols. 8vo. Paris. 1825. From the preface of M. de Marlés
it appears that D. Conde's book is entirely the tale of the Arabic
historians, and not the judicious result of a critical comparison between
these writers and the Spanish chroniclers. M. de Marlés has endeavoured to
supply the deficiency, and to write a history of Spain from Mariana and
others on the one hand, and D. Conde's Arabians on the other. He has
entirely failed; for a more feeble work was never written. Much of the
fault rests with his authorities; for his history is only another proof,
of what we possessed a thousand instances before, that sufficient
materials do not exist for the compilation of a good and complete Spanish
history. The insufficiency of D. Conde's book to all real historical
purposes appears in every page. Something, indeed, has been gained on the
subject of the Moorish civil wars and dissentions, but such details are
without interest. Little or nothing has been added to our stores on the
subject of Pelayo, Charlemagne's invasion, the Cid, or the conclusion of
the Moorish history; all points whereon information is so much wanted.
These remarks apply only to Conde's researches into the political and
civil history of Spain while under the dominion of the Moors, and not to
his enquiries into the literary history of the Arabs.
[182] Chronicle, i. 20.
[183] Chronicle, i. 1.
[184] The circumstances about this marriage are so contradictory to modern
usages, that the whole story has been regarded as a fable. Abundant
evidence, however, of the marriage exists; and as that competent judge of
Spanish manners, Mr. Southey, observes, "The circumstances of the marriage
are not to be disbelieved for their singularity: had such circumstances
appeared incredible or repugnant to common feeling, they would not have
been invented;--whether they be true or false, they are equally
characteristic of the state of manners."
[185] Chronicle, i. 13.
[186] Chronicle, ii. 1.
[187] Chronicle, ii. 17.
[188] These last few words are judiciously placed in the Chronicle of the
Cid by Mr. Southey. They are not contained in the ancient chronicles and
ballads, but they are referred to by some, and implied in all.
[189] Chronicle, iii. 10, 11.
[190] Chronicle, iii. 13-16.
[191] Chronicle, iii. 17-22. Müller, in his Dissertation on the Cid,
speaks as positively that the money was repaid, as if the receipt in full
for all demands, authenticated by the city of Burgos, were lying on his
table. There is no evidence of the repayment in the ancient writers; and
when we consider that the Jews were always treated in Spain far worse than
the Musulmans, we cannot conclude that the Cid would consider men whom he
had cheated as entitled to justice.
[192] I borrow from Mr. Frere's translation of part of the Cid.
[193] Chronicle, iv. 1-11.
[194] Chronicle, iv. 14-17.
[195] Chronicle, v. 17-20.
[196] Chronicle, vi. 29. The old Spanish writers observe that the Cid knew
how to make a good knight, as a good groom knows how to make a good horse.
[197] Chronicle, vii. 19. Ximena was like the famous Oriana in Amadis of
Gaul, who was always affrayed at military preparations.
[198] He had let it grow out of respect to Alfonso; and he intended it
should be a matter of admiration both with Moors and Christians. Poema del
Cid, v. 1230, &c.
[199] Chronicle, books 9 and 10. Every reader of Spanish history knows how
fiercely the story of the Infantes has been discussed. I shall not burden
my pages with a statement of the arguments, but I think that the balance
is very much in favour of the truth of the story. Mr. Southey's remark is
judicious. "The conduct of the Infantes of Carrion is certainly
improbable. There are instances enough of such cruelty, but none of such
folly. Yet nothing can be so improbable as that such a story should be
invented and related so soon after their death; of persons who had really
existed, and were of such rank: and that it should be accredited and
repeated by all the historians who lived nearest the time."
[200] Hallam's Middle Ages, iii. 482. 2d edit.
[201] The world has generally been acquainted with the fall of Grenada by
the work of Genez Perez de Hita, which was translated into French, and
acquired popularity when Florian made it the foundation of his Gonsalvo de
Cordova. There is very little historical truth in the volume, and the
value of the pictures of manners it contains has been much overrated:
those pictures, moreover, are Moorish rather than chivalric, and therefore
not of service to the present work.
[202] Warton on the Gesta Romanorum, in the first volume of his History of
English Poetry.
[203] De Marca, Marca Hispanica, p. 1428.
[204] Con razon (dize) nos quitais las armas del linage, pues las ponemos
à tan graves peligros, y traucos: vos las mereceis mejor, que como mas
recatado, les teneis mejor guardados.
Mariana, Hist. de Espana, xiii. 7.
[205] Mariana, xiii. 7. This last story of Garcia Perez de Vargas is the
subject of a beautiful ballad, which Mr. Lockhart has translated. The
stanzas regarding the scarf are particularly pleasing.
"He look'd around, and saw the scarf, for still the Moors were near,
And they had pick'd it from the sward, and loop'd it on a spear.
'These Moors,' quoth Garci Perez, 'uncourteous Moors they be--
Now, by my soul, the scarf they stole, yet durst not question me!
"'Now reach once more my helmet.' The esquire said him nay,
'For a silken string why should you fling, perchance, your life away?'
--'I had it from my lady,' quoth Garci, 'long ago,
And never Moor that scarf, be sure, in proud Seville shall show.'--
"But when the Moslems saw him, they stood in firm array:
--He rode among their armed throng, he rode right furiously.
--'Stand, stand, ye thieves and robbers, lay down my lady's pledge,'
He cried, and ever as he cried, they felt his faulchion's edge.
"That day when the lord of Vargas came to the camp alone,
The scarf, his lady's largess, around his breast was thrown:
Bare was his head, his sword was red, and from his pommel strung
Seven turbans green, sore hack'd I ween, before Garci Perez hung."
Lockhart's Ancient Spanish Ballads, p. 75.
[206] This is another and singular proof of the generally acknowledged
excellence of Italian armour.
[207] Libro del paso honroso, defendido por el excelente caballero Sueno
de Quinones, copilado de un libro antiquo de mano, por Juan de Pineda.
1588. Reprinted, Madrid, 1783.
[208] Paston, Letters, vol. i. p. 6.
[209] Monstrelet, vol. vii. c. 82.
[210] Sismondi. Hist. des Rep. Ital. vii. 439. The Germans were more
observant of the forms than of the spirit of chivalry. The reader
remembers that the spur, the golden spur, was the great mark of
knighthood; and every ancient church in this country, or a copy of its
antique monumental effigies, will inform him of the custom of placing a
spur over or upon a knight's tomb. This was also a custom among the
Germans, who, besides, reposited spurs in churches, when age, infirmity,
or other causes, unnerved the arm of the knight: moreover, they reposited
spurs in churches as memorials of victory. In the fourteenth century five
hundred pair of them, which had been taken in a victory over the French,
were hung round the walls of the church at Gröningen. Ritterzeit und
Ritterwesen, p. 212.
[211] Olaus. Hist. Septent. lib. xiv. c. 7.
[212] Illustrations of Northern Antiquities, from the Teutonic and
Scandinavian Romances, p. 76.
[213] Ritterzeit und Ritterwesen, vol. i. p. 59.
[214] Ritterzeit und Ritterwesen, vol. i. p. 60.
[215] Ibid. p. 71.
[216] Froissart, vol. i. c. 433.
[217] Froissart, liv. ii. c. 125.
[218] Schmidt, iv. 492.
[219] Ritterzeit und Ritterwesen, p. 108.
[220] Ibid. vol. i. p. 7.
[221] Ritterzeit und Ritterwesen, vol. ii. p. 61.
[222] Ibid. vol. ii. p. 272.
[223] Ottokar v. Hornek, c. 268, &c. in his Annals of Austria.
[224] Ritterzeit und Ritterwesen, vol. ii. last chapter.
[225] Muratori, Dissert. 29.
[226] Ibid. 23.
[227] Giannone, lib. i.
[228] Muratori, Annali d'Italia, vol. v. part 2. p. 171, &c. Even the
Modenese librarian throws aside his dust and parchments, and warms himself
into a humanised being at this story; while Sismondi passes it over with
frigid indifference.
[229] Muratori, Dissert. 49.
[230] See in the twenty-seventh Dissertation of Muratori (Della Milizia de
secoli rozzi in Italia) for a minute account of the armour of these
different classes. I observe that Mr. Perceval, in his History of Italy,
vol. i. p. 197., holds a different opinion from that which I have
expressed in the text. Instead of thinking that the change in the military
art formed one of the causes which hastened the overthrow of the Lombard
liberties, he contends that, perhaps, it might be more correctly numbered
among the circumstances which, after that overthrow had been accomplished,
perpetuated the work of slavery.
[231] Perceval's History of Italy, vol. i. chap. 5. part 1.
[232] Monstrelet, vol. xi. p. 328.
[233] Muratori, Dissert. 23. Muratori describes from a contemporary
chronicle the entrance of Charles. The carriage of the Queen seems to have
excited great astonishment, as carriages were in those days seldom used by
ladies, and seldomer by men.
[234] Giannone, Istoria Civile di Napoli, lib. xx. c. 3. s. 1.
[235] When that political coxcomb, Cola de Rienzi, thought fit to be
knighted, he would not bathe in the ordinary way, but made use of the vase
wherein, according to tradition, Constantine had been baptised. Vita di
Cola Rienzi, c. 25.
[236] Muratori, Dissert. 29. 53.
[237] Sacchetti, Novelle, c. 153.
[238] Muratori, Dissert. 53. Thus, when Hildebrand Guatasca, in 1260, was
made a knight at the expence of the city of Arezzo, he swore fidelity to
his lord, or, as grammarians would have it, his lady, the good city that
had knighted him.
[239] Muratori, Dissert. vol. ii. c. 29. p. 16.
[240] Muratori, Scriptores Rerum Italicarum, vol. xii. p. 535.
[241] Non ferro sed vino; non lanceis sed caseis; non ensibus sed utribus;
non hastibus sed verubus onerantur.
[242] Polycraticus, p. 181.
[243] Lansdowne Manuscripts, British Museum, No. 285. Article 41. The
manuscript breaks off here; but the result of the joust is of no
importance to my argument.
[244] Brantome, Oeuvres, les Vies des Dames illustres, vol. i. p. 410, &c.
Brantome relates this story on the authority of an old-Italian book on
Duels, written by one Paris de Puteo.
[245] Gesta Stephan. p. 962., cited in Turner's England, vol. i. p. 461.
8vo.