Transcriber's Notes:
1. Page scan source: Google Books
Philip Augustus, or, The brothers in arms
James, G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford), 1801?-1860
Published 1837
Publisher London: R. Bentley; Edinburgh: Bell and Bradfute
Web Archive: https://archive.org/details/philipaugustusor00jame
2. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe].
STANDARD
NOVELS.
No. LIX.
"No kind of literature is so generally attractive as Fiction. Pictures
of life and manners, and Stories of adventure, are more eagerly
received by the many than graver productions, however important these
latter maybe. APULEIUS is better remembered by his fable of Cupid and
Psyche than by his abstruser Platonic writings; and the Decameron of
BOCCACCIO has outlived the Latin Treatises, and other learned works of
that author."
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PHILIP AUGUSTUS.
COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME.
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LONDON:
RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET;
BELL AND BRADFUTE, EDINBURGH;
J. CUMMING, DUBLIN.
1837.
London:
Printed by A. Spottiswoode,
New-Street-Square.
[Illustration: Philip Augustus]
[Illustration: Death of Gallon the Jester]
PHILIP AUGUSTUS;
OR,
THE BROTHERS IN ARMS.
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"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown."--Henry IV.
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BY THE AUTHOR OF
"DARNLEY," "ATTILA," &c.
REVISED, CORRECTED, AND ILLUSTRATED WITH NOTES, ETC.
BY THE AUTHOR.
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LONDON:
RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET;
BELL AND BRADFUTE. EDINBURGH;
J. CUMMING, DUBLIN.
1837.
TO
ROBERT SOUTHEY, ESQ. LL.D.
MY DEAR SIR,
Were this book even a great deal better than an author's partiality
for his literary offspring can make me believe, I should still have
some hesitation in dedicating it to you, if the fact of your allowing
me to do so implied any thing but your own kindness of heart. I think
now, on reading it again, as I thought twelve months ago when I wrote
it, that it is the best thing that I have yet composed; but were it a
thousand times better in every respect than any thing I ever have or
ever shall produce, it would still, I am conscious, be very unworthy
of your acceptance, and very inferior to what I could wish to offer.
Notwithstanding all your present fame, I am convinced that future
years, by adding hourly to the reputation you have already acquired,
will justify my feelings towards your works, and that your writings
will be amongst the few--the very few--which each age in dying
bequeaths to the thousand ages to come.
However, it is with no view of giving a borrowed lustre to my book
that I distinguish this page by placing in it your name. Regard,
esteem, and admiration, are surely sufficient motives for seeking to
offer you some tribute, and sufficient apology, though that tribute be
very inferior to the wishes of,
My dear Sir,
Your very faithful Servant,
G. P. R. JAMES.
Maxpoffle, near Melrose, Roxburghshire,
May 25, 1831.
ADVERTISEMENT
TO THE
NEW EDITION IN THE STANDARD NOVELS.
---------------
I have little to say regarding this work, which has been received by
the public with so much favour, as to dispense with the necessity of
any apology on the part of the author for the faults that it contains.
Some persons, indeed, have objected to that part of the dedication to
the first edition, in which I stated my belief that Philip Augustus
was the best romance I had at that time written. I cannot, however,
see any presumption in comparing my own works amongst themselves, when
I neither make any reference to those of others, nor seek to bow
public taste to my individual opinion. I am perfectly sensible that
Philip Augustus has many errors; the chief of which, perhaps, is the
slender connection between the two stories which run through the book.
This I have found it utterly impossible to remedy, and I have,
therefore, in this edition, confined my alterations to some verbal
corrections, to the addition of some notes, and to the cutting out of
some heavy poetry which had nothing to do with the story.
Fair Oak Lodge,
Aug. 15, 1837.
ADVERTISEMENT
TO
THE FIRST EDITION.
---------------
Very few words of preface are necessary to the following work. In
regard to the character of Philip Augustus himself, I have not been
guided by any desire of making him appear greater, or better, or wiser
than he really was. Rigord his physician, William the Breton, his
chaplain, who was present at the battle of Bovines, and various other
annalists comprised in the excellent collection of memoirs published
by Monsieur Guizot, have been my authorities. A different view has
been taken of his life by several writers, inimical to him, either
from belonging to some of the factions of those times, or to hostile
countries; but it is certain, that all who came in close contact with
Philip loved the man, and admired the monarch. All the principal
events here narrated, in regard to that monarch and his queen, are
historical facts, though brought within a shorter space of time than
that which they really occupied. The sketch of King John, and the
scenes in which he was unavoidably introduced, I have made as brief as
possible, under the apprehension of putting my writings in comparison
with something inimitably superior. The picture of the mischievous
idiot, Gallon the Fool, was taken from a character which fell under my
notice for some time in the South of France.
PHILIP AUGUSTUS.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
Although there is something chilling in that sad, inevitable word,
_the past_--although in looking through the thronged rolls of history,
and reading of all the dead passions, the fruitless anxieties, the
vain, unproductive yearnings of beings that were once as full of
thrilling life and feeling as ourselves, and now are nothing, we gain
but the cold moral of our own littleness--still the very
indistinctness of the distance softens and beautifies the objects of a
former epoch that we thus look back upon; and in the far retrospect of
the days gone by, a thousand bright and glistening spots stand out,
and catch the last most brilliant rays of a sun that has long set to
the multitude of smaller things around them.
To none of these bright points does the light of history lend a more
dazzling lustre than to the twelfth century, when the most brilliant
(if it was not the most perfect) institution of modern Europe, the
feudal system, rose to its highest pitch of splendour; when it
incorporated with itself the noblest Order that ever the enthusiasm of
man (if not his wisdom) conceived--the Order of Chivalry: and when it
undertook an enterprise which, though fanatic in design, faulty in
execution, and encumbered with all the multitude of frailties that
enchain human endeavour, was in itself magnificent and heroic,
and in its consequences grand, useful, and impulsive to the whole of
Europe--the Crusades.
The vast expenses, however, which the crusades required--expenses not
only of that yellow dross, the unprofitable representative of earths
real riches, but also expenses of invaluable time, of blood, of
energy, of talent--exhausted and enfeebled every christian realm, and
left, in each, the nerves of internal policy unstrung and weak, with a
lassitude like that which, in the human frame, succeeds to any great
and unaccustomed excitement.
Although through all Europe, in that day, the relationships of lord,
vassal, and serf, were the grand divisions of society, yet it was in
France that the feudal system existed in its most perfect form, rising
in gradual progression:--first, serfs, or villains; then vavassors, or
vassals holding of a vassal; then vassals holding of a suzerain, yet
possessing the right of high justice; then suzerains, great
feudatories, holding of the king; and, lastly, the king himself, with
smaller domains than many of his own vassals, but with a general
though limited right and jurisdiction over them all. In a kingdom so
constituted, the crusade, a true feudal enterprise, was, of course,
followed with enthusiasm amounting to madness; and the effects were
the more dreadful, as the absence of each lord implied in general the
absence of all government in his domains.
Unnumbered forests then covered the face of France; or, rather, the
whole country presented nothing but one great forest; scattered
through which, occasional patches of cultivated land, rudely tilled by
the serfs of glebe, sufficed for the support of a thin and diminished
population. General police was unthought of; and, though every feudal
chief, within his own territory, exercised that sort of justice which
to him seemed good, too little distinction existed between the
character of robber and judge, for us to suppose that the public
benefited much by the tribunals of the barons. The forests, the
mountains, and the moors, swarmed with plunderers of every
description; and besides the nobles themselves, who very frequently
were professed robbers on the highway, three distinct classes of
banditti existed in France, who, though different in origin, in
manners, and in object, yet agreed wonderfully in the general
principle of pillaging all who were unable to protect themselves.
These three classes, the Brabançois, the Cotereaux, and the Routiers,
have, from this general assimilating link, been very often confounded;
and, indeed, on many occasions they are found to have changed name and
profession when occasion served, the same band having been at one
moment Brabançois, and the next Cotereaux, wherever any advantage was
to be gained by the difference of denomination; and also we find that
they ever acted together as friends and allies, where any general
danger threatened their whole community. The Brabançois, however, were
originally very distinct from the Cotereaux, having sprung up from the
various free companies, which the necessities of the time obliged the
monarchs of Europe to employ in their wars. Each vassal, by the feudal
tenure, owed his sovereign but a short period of military service,
and, if personal interest or regard would sometimes lead them to
prolong it, anger or jealousy would as often make them withdraw their
aid at the moment it was most needful. Monarchs found that they must
have men they could command, and the bands of adventurous soldiers,
known by the name of Brabançois[1], were always found useful
auxiliaries in any time of danger. As long as they were well paid,
they were in general brave, orderly, and obedient; the moment their
pay ceased, they dispersed under their several leaders, ravaged,
pillaged, and consumed, levying on the country in general, that pay
which the limited finances of the sovereign always prevented him from
continuing, except in time of absolute warfare.[2] Still, however,
even in their character of plunderers, they had the dignity of rank
and chivalry, were often led by knights and nobles; and though in the
army they joined the qualities of the mercenary and the robber to
those of the soldier, in the forest and on the moor they often added
somewhat of the frank generosity of the soldier to the rapacity of the
freebooter.
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[Footnote 1: Generally and rationally supposed to have been derived
from the country which poured forth the first numerous bands of these
adventurers; i.e. Brabant. See Ducange, La Chenaye du Bois, &c. Philip
Augustus in the end destroyed them for a time.]
[Footnote 2: The great companies of the fourteenth century had their
type in the Brabançois, and various other bodies of freebooters, which
appeared previous to that period. The chief characteristic of all of
these bands was, the having degenerated from soldiers to plunderers,
while they maintained a certain degree of discipline and
subordination, but cast off every other tie.]
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The Cotereaux were different in origin--at least, if we may trust
Ducange--springing at first from fugitive serfs, and the scattered
remains of those various bands of revolted peasantry, which, from time
to time, had struggled ineffectually to shake off the oppressive
tyranny of their feudal lords.
These joined together in troops of very uncertain numbers, from tens
to thousands, and levied a continual war upon the community they had
abandoned, though, probably, they acted upon no general system, nor
were influenced by any one universal feeling, but the love of plunder,
and the absolute necessity of self-defence.
The Routier was the common robber, who either played his single stake,
and hazarded life for life with any one he met, or banded with others,
and shared the trade of the Coterel, with whom he was frequently
confounded, and from whom, indeed, he hardly differed except in
origin.
While the forests and wilds of France were thus tenanted by men who
preyed upon their fellows, the castles and the cities were inhabited
by two races, united for the time as lord and serf, but both advancing
rapidly to a point of separation; the lord at the very acme of his
power, with no prospect on any side but decline; the burgher
struggling already for freedom, and growing strong by association.
Tyrants ever, and often simple robbers, the feudal chieftains had
lately received a touch of refinement, by their incorporation with the
order of chivalry. Courtesy was joined to valour. Song burst forth,
and gave a voice to fame. The lay of the troubadour bore the tidings
of great actions from clime to clime, and was at once the knight's
ambition and his reward; while the bitter satire of the sirvente, or
the playful apologue of the fabliau, scourged all that was base and
ungenerous, and held up the disloyal and uncourteous to the
all-powerful corrective of public opinion.
Something still remains to be said upon the institution of chivalry,
and I can give no better sketch of its history than in the eloquent
words of the commentator on St Palaye.[3]
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[Footnote 3: M. Charles Nodier.]
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"Towards the middle of the tenth century, some poor nobles, united by
the necessity of legitimate defence, and startled by the excesses
certain to follow the multiplicity of sovereign powers, took pity on
the tears and misery of the people. Invoking God and St. George, they
gave each other their hand, plighted themselves to the defence of the
oppressed, and placed the weak under the protection of their sword.
Simple in their dress, austere in their morals, humble after victory,
and firm in misfortune, in a short time they won for themselves
immense renown.
"Popular gratitude, in its simple and credulous joy, fed itself with
marvellous tales of their deeds of arms, exalted their valour, and
united in its prayers its generous liberators with even the powers of
Heaven. So natural is it for misfortune to deify those who bring it
consolation.
"In those old times, as power was a right, courage was of course a
virtue. These men, to whom was given, in the end, the name of Knights,
carried this virtue to the highest degree. Cowardice was punished
amongst them as an unpardonable crime; falsehood they held in horror;
perfidy and breach of promise they branded with infamy; nor have the
most celebrated legislators of antiquity any thing comparable to their
statutes.
"This league of warriors maintained itself for more than a century in
all its pristine simplicity, because the circumstances amidst which it
rose changed but slowly; but when a great political and religious
movement announced the revolution about to take place in the minds of
men, then chivalry took a legal form, and a rank amidst authorised
institutions.
"The crusades, and the emancipation of the cities which marked the
apogee of the feudal government, are the two events which most
contributed to the destruction of chivalry. True it is, that then also
it found its greatest splendour; but it lost its virtuous independence
and its simplicity of manners.
"Kings soon found all the benefit they might derive from an armed
association which should hold a middle place between the crown and
those too powerful vassals who usurped all its prerogatives. From that
time, kings created knights, and bound them to the throne by all the
forms used in feudal investiture. But the particular character of
those distant times was the pride of privileges; and the crown could
not devise any, without the nobility arrogating to itself the same.
Thus the possessors of the greater feofs hastened to imitate their
monarch. Not only did they create knights, but this title, dear in a
nation's gratitude, became their hereditary privilege. This invasion
stopped not there, lesser chiefs imitated their sovereigns, and
chivalry, losing its ancient unity, became no more than an honourable
distinction, the principles of which, however, had for long a happy
influence upon the fate of the people."
Such then was the position of France towards the end of the twelfth
century. A monarch, with limited revenues and curtailed privileges; a
multitude of petty sovereigns, each despotic in his own territories; a
chivalrous and ardent nobility; a population of serfs, just learning
to dream of liberty; a soil rich, but overgrown with forests, and
almost abandoned to itself; an immense body of the inhabitants living
by rapine, and a total want of police and of civil government.
The crusade against Saladin was over.--Richard C[oe]ur de Lion was
dead, and Constantinople had just fallen into the hands of a body of
French knights at the time this tale begins. At the same period, John
Lackland held the sceptre of the English kings with a feeble hand, and
a poor and dastardly spirit; while Philip Augustus, with grand views,
but a limited power, sat firmly on the throne of France; and by the
vigorous impulse of a great, though a passionate and irregular mind,
hurried forward his kingdom, and Europe along with it, towards days of
greatness and civilisation, still remote.