young knights to emulate the glories of their ancestors, and to do
nothing unworthy the noble title given them; and in many instances it
was attended with the most animating consequences.
The greatest misfortune attending on a translation of french
chronicles is the total absence in our language of an expression
answerable to the french word ‘preux,’ which conveys in itself whole
volumes of meaning. Spencer ventured to adapt the word in its
superlative degree to the english tongue. He says somewhere ‘the
_prowest_ knight alive.’ In fact, the word ‘preux’ may be considered
as summing up the whole catalogue of knightly virtues in one
expression.
The exclamation was sometimes varied,—‘Honneur aux filz des preux!’
which seems to be the original expression.
Footnote 122:
Q. ‘Et aussi deux ans paravant que nous estiemes en meur estat?’
Footnote 123:
Peter, youngest son of Charles the bad, and brother of Charles III.
king of Navarre. He died without issue 1411.
Footnote 124:
William count of Tancarville and viscount of Melun, great chamberlain,
president of the chamber of accounts, great butler, &c. killed at
Agincourt. His daughter and heiress Margaret, brought the county of
Tancarville, &c. in marriage, to James de Harcourt.
Footnote 125:
Peter de Luxembourg St Pol, count of Brienne and Conversano, created
knight of the Golden Fleece in 1430; John de Luxembourg, his father,
was brother to Walleran, and son to Guy, count of St Pol; and on the
death of Walleran, without issue-male in 1415, Peter succeeded to his
title and estates. His mother was heiress of the illustrious house of
Brienne, emperors of Constantinople, kings of Jerusalem and dukes of
Athens, &c. Anghien was one of the titles which she brought to the
house of Luxembourg.
Footnote 126:
Fosse and Florennes,—a small town and village in the bishoprick of
Liege.
Footnote 127:
This is a mistake. Henry III. king of Castille, dying in December
1406, was succeeded by his son, John II. an infant of 22 months. The
battle here mentioned was fought in the ensuing year, D. Alphonso
Henriques being admiral of Castille. Tarquet (Hist. d’Espagne) says,
there were only 13 castillian against 23 moorish galleys, and that
eight of the latter were taken in the engagement. Braquemont was
rewarded for his extraordinary services by the grant of all conquests
which he might make in the Canaries. This contingent benefit he
resigned to his cousin, John de Betancourt, for more solid possessions
in Normandy; and, in the year 1417, he obtained the high dignity of
admiral of France.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Transcriber’s note:
Variations in spelling and diacritics have been retained. Outliers have
been changed to conform to common spelling.
Format of chapter headings has been regularised.
Page vii, ‘Frelun’ changed to ‘Fretun,’ “Gilbert de Fretun makes”
Page viii, ‘Tke’ changed to ‘The,’ “The duke of Burgundy”
Page xiv, opening single quote inserted before ‘According,’ “‘According
to the historian”
Page xx, opening single quote inserted before ‘Monstrelet,’ “‘Monstrelet
was married to”
Pages xxx-xxxi, ‘pursuivants’ changed to ‘poursuivants,’ “heralds,
poursuivants, and kings at”
Page xxxii, opening single quote removed before ‘Essais,’ “Essais de
Montaigne”
Page xxxv, closing single quote inserted after ‘moutarde.,’ “plus baveux
qu’un pot à moutarde.’”
Page xxxvii, colon changed to semicolon following ‘them,’ “none of them;
secondly”
Page xlvi, ‘Monstrelent’ changed to ‘Monstrelet,’ “of which Monstrelet,
who”
Page 23, second ‘the’ struck, “contained at the commencement”
Page 49, ‘Luxemburg’ changed to ‘Luxembourg,’ “with the house of
Luxembourg”
Page 56, ‘wth’ changed to ‘with,’ “with one hundred knights”
Page 58, ‘LETTERS’ changed to ‘LETTER,’ “TO THE LETTER OF”
Page 64, full stop inserted after ‘marq,’ “Procopius, marq. of Brand.”
Page 85, ‘appear’ changed to ‘appears,’ “against this prince appears to
be”
Page 89, ‘FRELUN’ changed to ‘FRETUN,’ “GILBERT DE FRETUN MAKES WAR”
Page 94, second ‘long’ struck, “Not long after this event”
Page 94, ‘Morery’ changed to ‘Moreri.’ in footnote, “Moreri.”
Page 115, ‘imbarked’ changed to ‘embarked,’ “in consequence, re-embarked
with his men”
Page 118, ‘cross bows’ changed to ‘cross-bows,’ “of cross-bows and
archers”
Page 120, ‘duk’ changed to ‘duke,’ “Albert IV. duke of Austria”
Page 130, ‘Ginenchy’ changed to ‘Givenchy,’ “lord de Givenchy, with”
Page 155, ‘confidental’ changed to ‘confidential,’ “most confidential
advisers”
Page 187, full stop inserted after ‘passed,’ “all that had passed. The”
Page 198, ‘perpretrated’ changed to ‘perpetrated,’ “been perpetrated by
sir”
Page 198, ‘wa’ changed to ‘was,’ “Sir Aubert de Canny was”
Page 250, closing single quote inserted after ‘slain!’,’ “from being
slain!’’”
Page 251, ‘satisfiac’ changed to ‘satisfac,’ “et alloquens satisfac
servis”
Page 254, ‘that’ changed to ‘That,’ “That the two knights”
Page 261, ‘Policratiri’ changed to ‘Policratici,’ “in libro suo
Policratici”
Page 262, passage beginning ‘Ricardi de media villa’ left as in original
French language edition
Page 275, opening single quote inserted before ‘‘Ex,’ “‘‘Ex illo
arguitur sic”
Page 277, closing single quote deleted after ‘tyrant,’ “blood of a
tyrant.”
Page 287, ‘wordly’ changed to ‘worldly,’ “honours and worldly riches”
Page 310, comma changed to full stop following ‘punishment,’ “by fear of
punishment.”
Page 340, opening single quote inserted before ‘‘Justitia,’ “‘‘Justitia
inquit regnantis”
Page 341, opening single quote inserted before ‘‘Justitia,’ “‘‘Justitia
est constans”
Page 345, ‘Duobis’ changed to ‘Duobus,’ “Duobus existentibus amicis”
Page 353, comma inserted after ‘dilexit,’ “dilexit, æquitatem vidit”
Page 374, ‘Zambre’ changed to ‘Zambry,’ “who slew Zambry without”