3565. See vol. iii. p. 429, for the _order_ in which the parts of the
Monk's Tale are arranged. I follow here the arrangement in the Harleian MS.
Peter, king of Castile, born in 1334, is generally known as Pedro the
Cruel. He reigned over Castile and Leon from 1350 to 1362, and his conduct
was marked by numerous acts of unprincipled atrocity. After a destructive
civil war, he fell into the hands of his brother, Don Enrique (Henry). A
personal struggle took place between the brothers, in the course of which
Enrique stabbed Pedro to the heart; March 23, 1369. See the ballad by Sir
Walter Scott, entitled the Death of Don Pedro, in Lockhart's Spanish
Ballads, commencing--
'Henry and Don Pedro clasping
Hold in straining arms each other;
Tugging hard and closely grasping,
Brother proves his strength with brother.'
It is remarkable that Pedro was very popular with his own party, despite
his crimes, and Chaucer takes his part because our Black Prince fought on
the side of Pedro against Enrique at the battle of Najera, April 3, 1367;
and because John of Gaunt married Constance, daughter of Pedro, about
Michaelmas, 1371.
3573. See the description of Du Gueschlin's arms as given below. The
'field' was argent, and the black eagle appears as if _caught_ by a rod
covered with birdlime, because the bend dexter across the shield seems to
restrain him from flying away. The first three lines of the stanza refer to
Bertrand Du Gueschlin, who 'brew,' i. e. contrived Pedro's murder, viz. by
luring him to Enrique's tent. But the last three lines refer to another
knight who, according to Chaucer, took a still more active part in the
matter, being a _worker_ in it. This second person was a certain Sir Oliver
Mauny, whose name Chaucer conceals under the synonym of _wicked nest_,
standing for O. Fr. _mau ni_, where [239] _mau_ is O. Fr. for _mal_, bad or
wicked, and _ni_ is O. Fr. for _nid_, Lat. _nidus_, a nest. Observe too,
that Chaucer uses the word _need_, not _deed_. There may be an excellent
reason for this; for, in the course of the struggle between the brothers,
Enrique was at first thrown, 'when (says Lockhart) one of Henry's
followers, seizing Don Pedro by the leg, turned him over, and his master,
thus at length gaining the upper hand, instantly stabbed the king to the
heart. Froissart calls this man the Vicomte de Roquebetyn, and others the
Bastard of Anisse.' I have no doubt that Chaucer means to tell us that the
helper in Enrique's _need_ was no other than Mauny. He goes on to say that
this Mauny was not like Charles the Great's Oliver, an honourable peer, but
an Oliver of Armorica, a man like Charles's Ganelon, the well-known
traitor, of whom Chaucer elsewhere says (Book of the Duchess, l. 1121)--
'Or the false Genelon,
He that purchased the treson
Of Rowland and of Olivere.'
This passage has long been a puzzle, but was first cleared up in an
excellent letter by Mr. Furnivall in Notes and Queries, which I here
subjoin; I may give myself the credit, however, of identifying 'wicked
nest' with O. Fr. _mau ni_.
'The first two lines [of the stanza] describe the arms of Bertrand du
Guesclin, which were, a black double-headed eagle displayed on a silver
shield, with a red band across the whole, from left to right [in heraldic
language, a bend dexter, gules]--"the lymrod coloured as the glede" or live
coal--as may be seen in Anselme's _Histoire Généalogique de France_, and a
MS. _Généalogies de France_ in the British Museum. Next, if we turn to Mr.
D. F. Jamison's excellent _Life and Times of Bertrand du Guesclin_, we not
only find on its cover Bertrand's arms as above described, but also at vol.
ii. pp. 92-4, an account of the plot and murder to which Chaucer alludes,
and an identification of his traitorous or "Genylon" Oliver, with Sir
Oliver de Mauny of Brittany (or Armorica), Bertrand's cousin [or, according
to Froissart, cap. 245, his nephew].
'After the battle of Monteil, on March 14, 1369, Pedro was besieged in the
castle of Monteil near the borders of La Mancha, by his brother Enrique;
who was helped by Du Guesclin and many French knights. Finding escape
impossible, Pedro sent Men Rodriguez secretly to Du Guesclin with an offer
of many towns and 200,000 gold doubloons if he would desert Enrique and
reinstate Pedro. Du Guesclin refused the offer, and "the next day related
to his friends and kinsmen in the camp, and _especially to his cousin, Sir
Oliver de Mauny_, what had taken place." He asked them if he should tell
Enrique; they all said yes: so he told the king. Thereupon Enrique promised
Bertrand the same reward that Pedro had offered him, but asked him also to
assure Men Rodriguez of Pedro's safety if he would come to his (Du
Guesclin's) lodge. Relying on Bertrand's assurance, Pedro came to him on
[240] March 23; Enrique entered the lodge directly afterwards, and after a
struggle, stabbed Pedro, and seized his kingdom.
'We see then that Chaucer was justified in asserting that Du Guesclin and
Sir Oliver Mauny "brew this cursednesse"; and his assertion has some
historical importance; for as his patron and friend, John of Gaunt, married
one of Pedro's daughters [named Constance] as his second wife [Michaelmas,
1371], Chaucer almost certainly had the account of Pedro's death from his
daughter, or one of her attendants, and is thus a witness for the truth of
the narrative of the Spanish chronicler Ayala, given above, against the
French writers, Froissart, Cuvelier, &c., who make the Bégue de Villaines
the man who inveigled Pedro. This connexion of Chaucer with John of Gaunt
and his second wife must excuse the poet in our eyes for calling so bad a
king as Pedro the Cruel "worthy" and "the glorie of Spayne, whom Fortune
heeld so hy in magestee."
'In the Corpus MS. these knights are called in a side-note Bertheu_n_
Clayky_n_ (which was one of the many curious ways in which Du Guesclin's
name was spelt) and Olyu_er_ Mawny; in MS. Harl. 1758 they are called
Barthilmewe Claykeynne and Olyuer Mawyn; and in MS. Lansdowne 851 they are
called Betelmewe Claykyn and Oliuer Mawnye. Mauni or Mauny was a well-known
Armorican or Breton family. Chaucer's epithet of "Genilon" for Oliver de
Mauny is specially happy, because Genelon was the Breton knight who
betrayed to their death the great Roland and the flower of Charlemagne's
knights to the Moors at Roncesvalles. Charles's or Charlemagne's great
paladin, Oliver, is too well known to need more than a bare mention.'--F.
J. Furnivall, in Notes and Queries, 4th Series, viii. 449.