This ballad is a northern composition, and seems to have been the
original of the legend called _Sir Aldingar_, which is printed in the
_Reliques of Antient Poetry_. The incidents are nearly the same in both
ballads, excepting that, in _Aldingar_, an angel combats for the queen,
instead of a mortal champion. The names of _Aldingar_ and _Rodingham_
approach near to each other in sound, though not in orthography, and the
one might, by reciters, be easily substituted for the other.
The tradition, upon which the ballad is founded, is universally current
in the Mearns; and the editor is informed, that, till very lately, the
sword, with which Sir Hugh le Blond was believed to have defended
the life and honour of the queen, was carefully preserved by his
descendants, the viscounts of Arbuthnot. That Sir Hugh of Arbuthnot
lived in the thirteenth century, is proved by his having, in 1282,
bestowed the patronage of the church of Garvoch upon the monks of
Aberbrothwick, for the safety of his soul.--_Register of Aberbrothwick,
quoted by Crawford in Peerage._ But I find no instance in history, in
which the honour of a queen of Scotland was committed to the chance of
a duel. It is true, that Mary, wife of Alexander II., was, about 1242,
somewhat implicated in a dark story, concerning the murder of Patrick,
earl of Athole, burned in his lodging at Haddington, where he had gone
to attend a great tournament. The relations of the deceased baron
accused of the murder Sir William Bisat, a powerful nobleman, who
appears to have been in such high favour with the young queen, that
she offered her oath, as a compurgator, to prove his innocence. Bisat
himself stood upon his defence, and proffered the combat to his
accusers; but he was obliged to give way to the tide, and was banished
from Scotland. This affair interested all the northern barons; and it
is not impossible, that some share, taken in it by this Sir Hugh de
Arbuthnot, may have given a slight foundation for the tradition of the
country.--WINTON, B. vii. ch. 9. Or, if we suppose Sir Hugh le Blond
to be a predecessor of the Sir Hugh who flourished in the thirteenth
century, he may have been the victor in a duel, shortly noticed as
having occurred in 1154, when one Arthur, accused of treason, was
unsuccessful in his appeal to the judgment of God. _Arthurus regem
Malcolm proditurus duello periit._ Chron. Sanctae Crucis ap. Anglia
Sacra, Vol. I. p. 161.
But, true or false, the incident, narrated in the ballad, is in the
genuine style of chivalry. Romances abound with similar instances, nor
are they wanting in real history. The most solemn part of a knight's
oath was to defend "all widows, orphelines, and maidens of gude
fame."[A]--LINDSAY'S _Heraldry, MS._ The love of arms was a real
passion of itself, which blazed yet more fiercely when united with the
enthusiastic admiration of the fair sex. The knight of Chaucer exclaims,
with chivalrous energy,
To fight for a lady! a benedicite!
It were a lusty sight for to see.
It was an argument, seriously urged by Sir John of Heinault, for making
war upon Edward II., in behalf of his banished wife, Isabella, that
knights were bound to aid, to their uttermost power, all distressed
damsels, living without council or comfort.
[Footnote A: Such an oath is still taken by the Knights of the Bath;
but, I believe, few of that honourable brotherhood will now consider it
quite so obligatory as the conscientious Lord Herbert of Cherbury, who
gravely alleges it as a sufficient reason for having challenged divers
cavaliers, that they had either snatched from a lady her bouquet, or
ribband, or, by some discourtesy of similar importance, placed her, as
his lordship conceived, in the predicament of a distressed damozell.]
An apt illustration of the ballad would have been the combat, undertaken
by three Spanish champions against three Moors of Granada, in defence of
the honour of the queen of Granada, wife to Mohammed Chiquito, the last
monarch of that kingdom. But I have not at hand _Las Guerras Civiles
de Granada_, in which that atchievement is recorded. Raymond Berenger,
count of Barcelona, is also said to have defended, in single combat, the
life and honour of the Empress Matilda, wife of the Emperor Henry V.,
and mother to Henry II. of England.--See ANTONIO ULLOA, _del vero Honore
Militare_, Venice, 1569.
A less apocryphal example is the duel, fought in 1387, betwixt Jaques le
Grys and John de Carogne, before the king of France. These warriors were
retainers of the earl of Alencon, and originally sworn brothers. John de
Carogne went over the sea, for the advancement of his fame, leaving in
his castle a beautiful wife, where she lived soberly and sagely. But
the devil entered into the heart of Jaques le Grys, and he rode, one
morning, from the earl's house to the castle of his friend, where he was
hospitably received by the unsuspicious lady. He requested her to
show him the donjon, or keep of the castle, and in that remote and
inaccessible tower forcibly violated her chastity. He then mounted his
horse, and returned to the earl of Alencon within so short a space, that
his absence had not been perceived. The lady abode within the donjon,
weeping bitterly, and exclaiming, "Ah Jaques! it was not well done thus
to shame me! but on you shall the shame rest, if God send my husband
safe home!" The lady kept secret this sorrowful deed until her husband's
return from his voyage. The day passed, and night came, and the knight
went to bed; but the lady would not; for ever she blessed herself,
and walked up and down the chamber, studying and musing, until her
attendants had retired; and then, throwing herself on her knees before
the knight, she shewed him all the adventure. Hardly would Carogne
believe the treachery of his companion; but, when convinced, he replied,
"Since it is so, lady, I pardon you; but the knight shall die for this
villainous deed." Accordingly, Jaques le Grys was accused of the crime,
in the court of the earl of Alencon. But, as he was greatly loved of
his lord, and as the evidence was very slender, the earl gave judgment
against the accusers. Hereupon John Carogne appealed to the parliament
of Paris; which court, after full consideration, appointed the case to
be tried by mortal combat betwixt the parties, John Carogne appearing as
the champion of his lady. If he failed in his combat, then was he to
be hanged, and his lady burned, as false and unjust calumniators. This
combat, under circumstances so very peculiar, attracted universal
attention; in so much, that the king of France and his peers, who were
then in Flanders, collecting troops for an invasion of England, returned
to Paris, that so notable a duel might be fought in the royal presence.
"Thus the kynge, and his uncles, and the constable, came to Parys. Then
the lystes were made in a place called Saynt Katheryne, behinde the
Temple. There was soo moche people, that it was mervayle to beholde; and
on the one side of the lystes there was made gret scaffoldes, that the
lordes might the better se the batayle of the ii champion; and so they
bothe came to the felde, armed at all peaces, and there eche of them was
set in theyr chayre; the erle of Saynt Poule gouverned John of Carongne,
and the erle of Alanson's company with Jacques le Grys; and when the
knyght entred in to the felde, he came to his wyfe, who was there
syttynge in a chayre, covered in blacke, and he sayd to her thus:--Dame,
by your enformacyon, and in your quarrell, I do put my lyfe in
adventure, as to fyght with Jacques le Grys; ye knowe, if the cause be
just and true.'--'Syr,' sayd the lady, 'it is as I have sayd; wherefore
ye maye fyght surely; the cause is good and true.' With those wordes,
the knyghte kissed the lady, and toke her by the hande, and then blessyd
hym, and soo entred into the felde. The lady sate styll in the blacke
chayre, in her prayers to God, and to the vyrgyne Mary, humbly prayenge
them, by theyr specyall grace, to send her husbande the victory,
accordynge to the ryght. She was in gret hevynes, for she was not sure
of her lyfe; for, if her husbande sholde have ben dyscomfyted, she was
judged, without remedy, to be brente, and her husbande hanged. I cannot
say whether she repented her or not, as the matter was so forwarde, that
both she and her husbande were in grete peryll: howbeit, fynally, she
must as then abyde the adventure. Then these two champyons were set
one agaynst another, and so mounted on theyr horses, and behauved them
nobly; for they knewe what perteyned to deades of armes. There were
many lordes and knyghtes of Fraunce, that were come thyder to se that
batayle. The two champyons justed at theyr fyrst metyng, but none of
them dyd hurte other; and, after the justes, they lyghted on foote to
periournie theyr batayle, and soo fought valyauntly.--And fyrst, John of
Carongne was hurt in the thyghe, whereby al his frendes were in grete
fere; but, after that, he fought so valyauntly, that he bette down his
adversary to the erthe, and threst his swerde in his body, and soo slewe
hyrn in the felde; and then he demaunded, if he had done his devoyse or
not? and they answered, that he had valyauntly atchieved his batayle.
Then Jacques le Grys was delyuered to the hangman of Parys, and he drewe
hym to the gybbet of Mountfawcon, and there hanged him up. Then John of
Carongne came before the kynge, and kneled downe, and the kynge made
him to stand up before hym; and, the same daye, the kynge caused to
be delyvred to him a thousande franks, and reteyned him to be of his
chambre, with a pencyon of ii hundred pounde by yere, durynge the terme
of his lyfe. Then he thanked the kynge and the lordes, and went to his
wyfe, and kissed her; and then they wente togyder to the chyrche of our
ladye, in Parys, and made theyr offerynge, and then retourned to their
lodgynges. Then this Sir John of Carongne taryed not longe in Fraunce,
but went, with Syr John Boucequant, Syr John of Bordes, and Syr Loys
Grat. All these went to se Lamorabaquyn,[A] of whome, in those dayes,
there was moche spekynge."
[Footnote A: This odd name Froissart gives to the famous Mahomet,
emperor of Turkey, called the Great.]
Such was the readiness, with which, in those times, heroes put their
lives in jeopardy, for honour and lady's sake. But I doubt whether the
fair dames of the present day will think, that the risk of being burned,
upon every suspicion of frailty, could be altogether compensated by the
probability, that a husband of good faith, like John de Carogne, or a
disinterested champion, like Hugh le Blond, would take up the gauntlet
in their behalf. I fear they will rather accord to the sentiment of the
hero of an old romance, who expostulates thus with a certain duke:--
Certes, sir duke, thou doest unright,
To make a roast of your daughter bright;
I wot you ben unkind.
_Amis and Amelion._
I was favoured with the following copy of _Sir Hugh le Blond_, by
K. Williamson Burnet, Esq. of Monboddo, who wrote it down from the
recitation of an old woman, long in the service of the Arbuthnot
family. Of course the diction is very much humbled, and it has, in
all probability, undergone many corruptions; but its antiquity is
indubitable, and the story, though indifferently told, is in itself
interesting. It is believed, that there have been many more verses.