_With Illustrations by the Author_
LONDON
SEELEY & CO., ESSEX STREET, STRAND
1889
*PREFACE.*
To my mind there is no more picturesque period in the history of Western
Europe than that of the Renaissance.
Among the many aspects in which it is possible to regard this important
epoch, that of its influence on chivalry is one of the most interesting.
The rough simplicity of the proud mediaeval knight, gradually yielding
to the subtle spell of pure poesy and courtly love, while the barred
helm and steel gauntlet were hardly doffed from the stern field, or
gorgeous tourney, this is a subject which will always fascinate.
However practical the world may grow, and perhaps, because of its very
practicality, there will always be minds which will turn with relief to
the romantic and the ideal. In the turmoil of real life, with its
sordid materialism, there are many men and women who dwell with delight
on some noble life clothed round with the glamour of ancient time, and
presenting itself to the mind in the garb of gorgeous pomp and splendid
pageantry, who, while trying to achieve some great emprise themselves,
will dream of the men of old time, who have soared aloft on the pinions
of glorious fame.
With the privilege of a writer of fiction, I have chosen Sir Edward
Woodville,[*] commonly called Lord Woodville, as the "eidolon" on which
to clothe the heroic virtue of chivalry, without its many and grosser
faults. So little is known of the Captain of the Wight, but what little
there is, shows him in so noble a light, that I feel I am not
necessarily exaggerating, may even be accurately describing, his
knightly character. His attachment to his own unfortunate family, and
his murdered nephews, caused him to be included among the list of nobles
and knights, who were held up to public execration in that long and
artful manifesto put forth by Richard III., before he set out for the
campaign which ended in Bosworth field.
[*] I have adopted the spelling of the name Woodville, authorised by
Lord Bacon. The varieties--Wydevil, Wydeville, Wyddevil, etc, etc.--are
as numerous as those of Leicester, who wrote his own name eight
different ways; while Villiers varied his fourteen times. But
Mainwaring has outdone them all. It is said there are one hundred and
thirty-one varieties!
Returning in the victorious train of Henry Tudor, now Henry VII. of
England, Sir Edward Woodville was invested with the honourable post
which had been lately held by his unfortunate brother, the accomplished
Lord Scales. As "Lord and Captain of the Isle of Wight," he seems to
have made himself so popular that, by his own influence alone, he was
able to induce four hundred of the inhabitants to follow him to
Brittany. "Noble and courageous," "hardie and valyant," "a valiant
gentleman, and desirous of honour," are the epithets with which the old
chroniclers speak of Sir Edward Woodville. That he was never married,
and died upon the field of battle "valiantly fighting," are all the
facts that are known about him. But these facts are enough to allow me
to interpret his life as I have done.
Like another more exalted, but less fortunate, inhabitant of Carisbrooke
Castle, in the last sad act of his life,
"He nothing common did or mean
Upon that memorable scene,"
but with his "crew of talle and hardie" men of the Wight, died fighting
with his sword in hand, and his face to the foe, as became a valiant
captain of that lovely isle.
I have consulted all the authorities I could find, in order to give as
accurate a picture of the time as possible. I don't know that it is
needful to mention all, but the "Tournois du Roi Rene d'Anjou," "The
Memoirs of St Palaye," "The Boke of St Albans," Sir Thomas Malory's
"Mort d'Arthur," and "La joyeuse hystoire du bon Chevalier, le gentil
Seigneur de Bayart," have been my chief sources for knightly feats and
the accessories of chivalry; while the chroniclers Halle, Grafton,
Fabyan, Stowe, Philip de Commines, Bouchet, and the Paston Letters, have
been my chief historical guides. Lord Bacon has surveyed the whole
period from a loftier standpoint, and in his "Reigne of Henry VIIth,"
has presented us with a stately specimen of the art of writing history;
although, as an old manuscript note in my edition briefly puts it, "it
is somewhat more of a picture of a polished prince than a history
exactly true, more vouchers and fewer speeches would have given it more
strength, though less beauty."
It must be a subject of interest to the inhabitants of the Isle of Wight
to know that, in writing of that fatal expedition to Brittany, every one
of the old historians speak of the bravery of the predecessors, and, in
many cases, the ancestors, of the present dwellers in the island.
It is to be deplored that there is no original account of the expedition
of the four hundred, such as exists in the "Herald's" account of the
expedition to Dixmude, preserved in John Leland's Collectanea, which
happened in the same year (1488). I have tried laboriously to find out
the names of the chief inhabitants of the Isle of Wight at that time;
but owing to the great danger and discomfort there was in living in the
island during the 15th century, arising from the constantly threatened
invasions of the French, and their many actual occupations of the
island, the chief families appear either to have become extinct in that
period, or to have retired to the mainland.
It is also worthy of note, to see how many times the chief manors passed
into new families through the female line. This fact is very
significant of the troubled state of the times. It was not that the
manhood of the island ceased for want of sons, but that these sons met a
violent death in the many wars of that age.
In conclusion, I may add that, while the story is mainly written for the
young, with which object in view I have paid less attention to the
delineation of character than the animation of incident, and the variety
of the scene, I trust their elders may also find information about a
romantic episode in our local and national history.
*CONTENTS.*