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PREFACE.

The propriety of my writing a History of Chi
valry, as a companion to my Histoiy of the Cru
sades, was suggested to me by a friend whose
acquaintance with middle-age lore forms but a
small portion of his literary attainments, and
whose History of Italy shows his ability of treat
ing, as well as his skill in discovering, subjects
not hitherto discussed with the fulness which
their importance merits. *
The works of Menestrier and Colombiere
sleep in the dust of a few ancient libraries ; and
there are only two other books whose express
and entire object is a delineation of the Institu
tions of chivalry. The firstand best known is the
French work called " Memoires sur I'ancienne
Chevalerie; consideree comme un Etablissement
* The History of Italy, from the Fall of the Western Em
pire to the Commencement of the Wars of the French Revo
lution. By George Perceval, Esq. 2 vols. Svo. 1825.
VOL. I. A

IV PREFACE.
Politique et Militaire. Par M. de la Curne de
Sainte Palaye, de TAcademie Fran9oise," &c.
2 tom. ISmo. Paris, 1759. The last half, how
ever, of the second volume does not relate to
chivalry, and therefore the learned Frenchman
cannot be charged with treating his subject at
very great length. * It was his purpose to
describe the education which accomplished the
youth for the distinction of knighthood, and
this part of his work he has performed with con
siderable success. But he failed in his next
endeavour, that of painting the martial games of
chivalry, for nothing can be more unsatis
factory than his account of jousts and tourna
ments. As he wished to inform his readers of
the use which was made in the battle-field of the
valour, skill, and experience of knights, a de
scription of some of the extraordinary and in
teresting battles of the middle ages might have
been expected. Here also disappointment is
experienced ; neither can any pleasure be derived
from perusing his examination of the causes
* A third volume was added in the year 1781, which also
bears the title " Memoires sur I'ancienne Chevalerie ;" though
more than half of the volume relates to the sport of huntiuff,
which is a baronial or feudal rather than a chivalric subject.

, PREFACE.
which produced the decline and extinction of
chivalry, and his account of the inconveniences
which counterbalanced the advantages of the
establishment. Sainte Palaye was a very excellent French an
tiquarian ; but the limited scope of his studies
disqualified him from the office of a general
historian of chivalry. The habits of his mind
led him to treat of knighthood as if it had been
the ornament merely of his own country. He
very rarely illustrates his principles by the liter
ature of any other nation, much less did he at
tempt to trace their history through the various
states of Europe. He has altogether kept out
of sight many characteristic features of his
subject. Scarcely any thing is advanced about
ancient armour ; not a word on the religious
and military orders ; and but a few pages, and
those neither pleasing nor correct, on woman
and lady-love. The best executed part of his
subject regards, as I have already observed, the
education of knights ; and he has scattered up
and down his little volume and a half many
curious notices of ancient manners.
The other work is written in the German
language, and for that reason it is but very little
A 2

VI ' PREFACE*
known in this country. It is caUed Ritterzeit
und Ritterwesen, (two volumes octavo, Leipzig,
1823,) and is the substance of a course of lec
tures on chivalry delivered by the author, Mr.
Biisching, to his pupils of the High School at
Breslau. The style of the work is the garru
lous, slovenly, ungrammatical style which lec
turers, in all countries, and upon all subjects, think
themselves privileged to use. A large portion
of the book is borrowed from Sainte Palaye;
much of the remainder relates to feudalism and
other matters distinct from chivalry : but when
the writer treats of the state of knighthood in
Germany I have found his facts and observ.'
ations of very great value.
Attention to the subjects of the middle ages
of Europe has for many years been growing
among us. It was first excited by Warton's
history of our national verse, and Percy's edition
of the Relics of ancient English Poetry. The
romances of chivalry, both in prose and metre,
and the numberless works on the Troubadour,
and every other description of literature during
the middle ages which have been published
within the last few years, have sustained the in
terest. The poems of Scott convinced the world

PEEFACE. vu
that the chivalric times of Europe can strike the
moral imagination as powerfully and pleasingly
in respect of character, passion, and picturesque
ness of effect, as the heroic ages of Greece ; and
even very recently the glories of chivalry have
been sung by a poetess whom Ariosto himself
would have been delighted to honour. * Still,
however, no attempt has been hitherto made to
describe at large the institutions of knighthood,
the foundation of all that elegant superstructure
of poetry and romance which we admire, and to
mark the history of chivalry in the various coun
tries of Europe. Those institutions have, indeed,
been allowed a few pages in our Encyclopaedias ;
and some of the sketches of them are drawn
with such boldness and precision of outline that
we may regret the authors did not present us
with finished pictures. Our popular historians
have but hastily alluded to the subject ; for they
were so much busied with feudalism and politics,
that they could afford but a small space for the
play of the lighter graces of chivalry.
For a description, indeed, of antique manners,
our materials are not so ample as for that of
* The Troubadour, &c. By L.E, L., author of The Im-
provisatrice. 12mo. A 3

VlU PREFACE.
their public lives. But still the subject is not
without its witnesses. The monkish chroniclers
sometimes give us a gUmpse of the castles of
our ancestors. Many of the knights in days
of yore had their biographers; and, for the most
interesting time of chivalry, we possess an his-
torian, who, for vividness of delineation, kind
liness of feeling, and naivete of language, is the
Herodotus of the middle ages.
" Did you ever read Froissart ?"
" No," answered Henry Morton.
" I have half a mind," rejoined Claverhouse,
to contrive that you should have six months' im
prisonment, in order to procure you that plea
sure. His chapters inspire me with more en
thusiasm than even poetry itself."
Froissart's * history extends from the year 1316
to 1400. It was begun by him when he was
twenty years old, at the command of his dear
lord and master, Sir Robert of Namur, Lord of
Beaufort. The annals' from 1326 to 1356 are

» Jean Froissart, called Sir Jean Froissart, (the title. Sir,
being in the middle ages common to all who were either in
the holy orders of the church or in the holy order of
knighthood,) was born at Valenciennes in the year 1337, and
died in 1397.

PREFACE. IX
founded on the Chronicles compiled by him whom
he calls "The Right Reverend, discreet, and sage
Master John la Bele, sometime canon in St. Lam-
bertis of Liege, who with good heart and due
diligence did his true devoir in writing his book ;
and heard of many fair and noble adventures
from his being weU beloved, and of the secret
counsel ofthe Lord Sir John of Hainault." Frois
sart corrected all this borrowed matter on the in
formation of the barons and knights of his time
regarding their famUies' gestes and prowesses.
He is the chronicler both of political events
and of chivalric manners. Of his merits in the
first part of his character it falls not within my
province to speak. For the office of historian of
chivalry no man could present such fair preten
sions. His father being a herald-painter, he
was initiated in his very early years into that sin
gular form of life which he describes with such
picturesque beauty. " Well I loved," as he
says of his youth, in one of his poems, " to see
dances and carolling, and to hear the songs of
minstrels and tales of glee. It pleased me to
attach myself to those who took delight in
hounds and hawks. I was wont to toy with my
fair companions at school, and methought I had
A 4

X PREFACE.
the art weU to win the grace of maidens," —
" My ears quickened at the sound of opening tbe
wine-flask, for I took great pleasure in drinking,
and in fair array, and in fresh and delicate viands.
I loved to see (as is reason) the early violets, and
the white and red roses, and also chambers bril
liantly Ughted ; dances and late vigils, and fair
beds for my refreshment; and for my better
repose, I joyously quaffed a night-draught of
claret, or Rochelle wine mingled with spice,"
Froissart wrote his Chronicles " to the intent
that the honourable and noble adventures of
feats of arms, done and achieved in the wars
of France and England, should notably be
enregistered, and put in perpetual memory;
whereby the preux and hardy might have en-
sample to encourage them in their weU-doing." *
To accomplish his purpose, he followed and
frequented the company of divers noble and
great lords, as well in France, England, and
Scotland, as in other countries; and in their
chivalric festivals he enquired for tales of arms
and amours. For three years he was clerk of
the chamber to Philippa of Hainault, wife of
* The Prologue of Froissart — Lord Berners' translation.

PREFACE, XI
Edward III. He travelled into Scotland ; and,
though mounted only on a simple palfrey, with
his trunk placed on the hinder part of his saddle,
after the fashion in which a squire carried the
maU-harness of a, knight, and attended only by a
greyhound, the favourite dog of the time, in
stead of a train of varlets, yet the fame of his
literary abilities introduced him to the castle of
Dalkeith, and the court of the Scottish King,
He generally Uved in the society of nobles
and knights, — at the courts of the Duke of
Brabant, the Count of Namur, and the Earl
of Blois, He knew and admired the Black
Prince, Du Guesclin, the Douglas, and Hotspur ;
and while this various acquaintance fitted him
to describe the circumstances and manners of
his times, it prevented him from the bias of
particular favouritism. The character of his
mind, rather than his station in life, determined
his pursuits. His profession was that of the
church : he was a while curate of Lestines, in
the diocese of Liege ; and, at the time of his
death, he was canon and treasurer of the colle
giate church of Chimay. But he was a greater
reader of romances than of his breviary ; and,
churchman though he was, knighthood itself

Xll PREFACE,

could not boast a more devoted admirer of
dames and damsels. He was, therefore, the
very man to describe the chivalric features of
his time.
The romances of chivalry are another source
of information. Favyn says, with truth and
fancy, " The greater part of antiquities are to
be sought for and derived out of the most ancient
tales, as well in prose as verse, like pearls out of
the smoky papers of Ennius." The romance-
writers were to the middle ages of Europe
what the ancient poets were to Greece, — the
painters of the manners of their times. As
Sir Walter Scott observes, " We have no hesi
tation in quoting the romances of chivalry as
good evidence of the laws and customs of
knighthood. The authors, like the artists of
the period, invented nothing, but, copying the
manners of the age in which they lived, trans
ferred them, without doubt or scruple, to the
period and personages of whom they treated,"
From all these sources of inforraation I have
done my devoir, in the following pages, to de
scribe the origin of chivalry ; and, after escap
ing from the dark times in which it arose, to
mark the various degrees of the personal nobi-

PREFACE, xiii
lity of knighthood. An enquiry into the nature
and duties of the chivalric character then will
follow ; and we cannot pass, without regard and
homage, the sovereign-mistress and lady-love of
the adventurous knight. Afler viewing our ca
valier in the gay and graceful pastime of the
tournament, and pausing a while to behold
him when a peculiar character of religion was
added to his chivalry, we shall see him vault
upon his good steed; and we will accompany
him in the achievement of his high and hardy
emprises in Britain, France, Spain, Germany,
and Italy.
As a view of chivalry is, from its nature, a sup
plement or an appendix to the history of Europe,
I have supposed my readers to be acquainted
with the general circumstances of past ages, and
therefore I have spoken of them by allusion
rather than by direct statement. I have made
the following work as strictly chivalric as the full
and fair discussion of my subject would permit
me, avoiding descriptions of baronial and
feudal life, except in its connection with knight
hood, I have not detailed military circum
stances of former times, unless they proceeded
from chivalric principles, or were invested with

XIV PREFACE.
chivalric graces. Thus the celebrated battle of
the Thirty had nothing in it of a knightly cha
racter, and therefore I have left it unnoticed.
Judicial combats had their origin in the state of
society firom which both feudalism and chivalry
sprang ; but they were not regulated by the
gentle laws of knighthood, and therefore have not
been described by me. I have not imposed any
dry legal facts and discussions upon my readers ;
for the incidents attached to the tenure of land
called the tenure in chivalry were strictly feudal ;
and the courts of the constable and marshal,
holding cognisance as they did of all matters
regarding war, judicial combats, and blazonry
of arms, relate not so much to chivalry as to the
general preservation of the peace of the land,
and the good order of society. And it should
be mentioned, that it has not been my purpose
to give a minute history of every individual
cavalier : for a work strictly confined to biogra
phical detail, however convenient it might be
for occasional reference, would be tiresome and
tedious by reason of the repetition of circum
stances only varied with the difference of names,
and would be any thing but historical. I have
brought the great characters of chivalry, who

PREFACE. XV
have received but slight attention from the
political historian, in illustration of the principles
of knighthood. Thus full-length portraits of
those English knights of prowess. Sir John Chan
dos and Sir Walter Manny, will be more in
teresting than pictures of Edward III. and the
Black Prince, whose features are so well known
to us. From the lives of these royal heroes I
have therefore only selected such chivalric cir
cumstances as have not been sufficiently described
and dwelt upon, or which it was absolutely in
cumbent on me to state, in order to preserve an
unbroken thread of narrative,
I shall not expatiate on the interest and beauty
of my subject, lest I should provoke too rigid
an enquiry into my ability for discussing it, I
shall therefore only conclude, in the good old
phrase of Chaucer, —
" Now, hold your mouth, pour charltie,
Both knight and lady free.
And herkneth to my spell.
Of battaille and of chivalry.
Of ladies' love and druerie,
Anon I wol you tell."

xvi PREFACE.

•^* While these volumes were passing through the
press, the Tales of the Crusaders appeared. In the
second of them is contained a series of supposed pro
positions from Saladin for peace betvreen his nation
and the English. The conclusion of those propositions
is thus expressed : — " Saladin will put a sacred seal on
this happy union betv^Ixt the bravest and noblest of
Frangistan and Asia, by raising to the rank of his
royal spouse a Christian damsel, allied in blood to King
Richard, and known by the name of the Lady Edith of
Plantagenet," vol. iv. pp. 13, 14. Upon this passage of
his text the author remarks in a note : " This may ap
pear so extraordinary and improbable a proposition that
it is necessary to say such a one was actually made.
The historians, hoM^ever, substitute the widowed Queen
of Naples, sister of Richard, for the bride, and Saladin's
brother for the bridegroom. They appear to be
ignorant of the existence of Edith of Plantagenet. See
Mill's (Mills') History ofthe Crusades, vol. ii. p. 61."
In that work I observe, that " Richard proposed a
consolidation of the Christian and Muhammedan in
terests; the establishment of a government at Jerusalem,
partly European and partly Asiatic ; and these schemes
of policy were to be carried into eifect by the marriage
of Saphadin (Saladin's brother) with the widow of
William King of Sicily."
M. Miehaud, the French historian of the Crusades,
makes a similar statement. He says that Richard " fit
d'autres propositions, auxquelles il interessa adroitement
I'ambition de Malec Adel, frere du Sultan. La veuve du

PREFACE, XVll
Guillaume de Sicile fut propost^e en marriage au Prince
Musulman." Hist, des Croisades, vol. ii. p. 414,
Whether or no " the historians" are ignorant of the
existence of " Edith of Plantagenet" is not the present
question. The question is, which ofthe two opposite state
ments is consistent with historical truth. The statement
of M. Miehaud and myself is supported by the principal
Arabic historians, by writers, who, as every student in
history knows, are of unimpeachable credit. Bohadin,
in his life of Saladin, says, that " the Englishman was
desirous that Almalick Aladin should take his sister
to wife. (Her brother had brought her with him from
Sicily, when he passed through that island, to the de
ceased lord of which she had been married." *) To the
same effect Abulfeda observes, " Hither came the em
bassadors of the Franks to negotiate a peace ; and of
fered this condition, that Malek al Adel, brother of the
Sultan, should receive the sister of the King of England
in marriage, and Jerusalem for a kingdom." f That this
sister, Joan, the widowed Queen of Sicily, was with
Richard in the Holy Land is proved by a passage
in Matthew Paris, p. 171. She and the wife of Richard

* I subjoin Schultens' Latin version of the Arabic passage
in Bohadin, vita et res gestae Saladini, c. 127. p. 209. " Cu-
pere Anglum ut Almalichus Aladilus sororem ipsius in ma-
trimonium duceret (earn e Sicilia cujus functo domino nupta
fuerat, secum avexerat frater, quum insulam illam trajiceret)."
f Reiske's Latin version of Abulfeda is this : — " Blue
commeabant Francorum pacis causa legati, eam ofFerentes
conditionem, ut Malec-al-Adel, frater Sultani sororem Regis
Anglise in matrimonium, et Hierosolymas in regnum acci-
peret." Abulfeda, vol. iv. p. 1 1 1 .

XVlll PREFACE.
are mentioned together, and no other person of royal
rank. Thus, therefore, " the historians" are correct in their
statement, that the matrimonial proposition was made
by the English to Saladin, and that the parties were tO
bev^ the brother of Saladin and the widowed Queen of
Sicily, The novelist has not supported his assertion by
a single historical testimony ; and we may defy him to
produce a tittle of evidence on his side.
In the composition of his tales, the author of Wa-
verley has seldom shown much respect for historical
keeping. But greater accuracy than his no person had
a right to expect in the text of a mere novel ; and as
long as he gave his readers no excuse for confounding
fiction with truth, the play of his brilliant and excursive
imagination was harmless. Thus in the Talisman, the
poetical antiquarian only smiles when he finds the ro
mance of the Squire of Low Degree quoted as familiar
to the English long before it was written ; and when, in
the Betrothed, Gloucester is raised into a bishoprick
three centuries and a half before the authentic aera, we
equally admit the author's Ucence of anachi'onism. On
these two occasions, as in innumerable other instances,
in which the novelist, whether intentionally or unwit
tingly, has strayed from the path of historical accuracy,
he has never given formal warranty for the truth of his
statements, and he is entitled to laugh at the simple
credulity which could mistake his Tales for veracious
chronicles: But his assertion respecting the marriage of
Saladin with his^^ Edith of Plantagenet" is a very dif
ferent case. For here he throws aside the fanciftil garb
of a novelist, and quits the privilege of his text, that he

PREFACE. XIX
may gravely and critically vouch in a note for the er-
rors of our historians, and his own superior knowledge.
If this can possibly be done merely to heighten the illu
sion of his romance, it is carrying the jest a little too far ;
for the preservation of historical truth is really too im
portant a principle to be idly violated; But if he se
riously designed to unite the province of the historian
with that of the novelist, he has chosen a very unlucky
expedient for his own reputation ; and thus, in either
case, he has rather wantonly led his readers into error,
and brought against others a charge of ignorance, which
must recoil more deservedly on hiinselfi

VOL. I.

CONTENTS OF
THE FIRST VOLUME.

CHAP. L

THE ORIGIN AND FIRST APPEARANCES OF CHIVALRY IN
El'ROPE. Page
General nature of chivahy. ..Military and moral chi
valry... Origin of chivalry. ..Usages of the Germans.,.
Election of soldiers. ..Fraternity. ..Dignity of obe
dience... Gallantry.. .The age of Charlemagne. ..Chi
valry modified by religion... Cereraonies of Anglo-
Saxon inauguration. ..Chivalry sanctioned by councils,
and regarded as a form of Christianity... Nature of
chivalric nobility. ..Its degrees. ..Knight banneret...
His qualifications. ..By whom created. ..His privileges
...His relation to the baron... And incidentally of the
war-cry and the escutcheon.„The knight... Qualifi
cations for knighthood. ..By whom created.. .The
squirehood... General view of the other chapters on
the institutions of chivalry  »  1
a 2

XXH CONTENTS.

CHAP. IL

THE EDUCATION OF A KNIGHT. THE CEREMONIES OF
INAUGURATION AND OF DEGRADATION. Page
Description in romances of knightly education. ..Hawk
ing and hunting..,Education commenced at the age
of seven. ..Duties of the page. ..Personal service...
Love and religion. ..Martial exercises. ..The squire...
His duties of personal service... Curious story of a
bold young squire. ..Various titles of squires....Duties
ofthe squire in battle. ..Gallantry. ..Martial exercises
...Horsemanship, ..Importance of squires in the battle
field. ..Particularly at the battle of Bovines... Pre
parations for knighthood... The anxiety ofthe squire
regarding the diaracter of the knight from whom he
was to receive the accolade. ..Knights made in the
battle-field... Inconveniences of this... Knights of
Mines... General ceremonies of degradation. ..Cere
monies in England,  26

CHAP. III.
THE EQUIPMENT.
Beauty of the chivalric equipment,.,The lance., .The
pennon. ..The axe, maule, and martel. ..The sword,,.
Fondness ofthe knight for it. ..Swords in romances...
The shield. ..Various sorts of mail... Mail... Mail and
plate„.Plate harness... The scarf., .Surcoats... Armo
rial bearings... Surcoats of the military orders. ..The
dagger of mercy ...Story of its use. ..Value of en
quiries into ancient armour.. .A precise knowledge
unattainable. ..Its general features interesting... The

CONTENTS, XXlll Page
broad lines of the subject... Excellence of Italian ar
mour^.. Armour of the squire, &c..,.AUggories made
on armour. ,, The Irorse ofthe knight  ,~.>y  65
/'
i CHAP. IV.
THi:"«oa.IVAI.RIC chaea-cter.
General array of knights,, .Companions in arms. ..The
nature of a cavalier's valiancy... Singular bravery
of Sir Robert Knowles. ..Bravery incited by vows...
Fantastic circumstances. ..The humanities of chivalric
war. ..Ransoming. ..Reason of courtesies in battles...
Curious pride of knighthood. ..Prisoners. ..Instance of
knightly honour ...Independence of knights, and
knight-errantry... Knights fought the battles of other
countries... English knights dislike wars in Spain...
Their disgust at Spanish wines... Principles of their
active conduct. ..Knightly independence consistent
with discipline... Religion ofthe knight. ..his devotion
...His intolerance. ..General nature of his virtue, ..Fi
delity to obligations. ..Generousness... Singular in-
stahce of it.. .Romantic excess of it..,Liberahty,..
Humility ... Courtesy ... every-day life of the
knight... Falconry ... Chess playing ... Story of a
knight's love of chess . . .Minstrelsy . . . Romances . . .
Conversation... Nature and form of chivalric enter
tainments. ..Festiyal-'and vow of the pheasant  117

\ CHAP.
DAMES AKp DAMSELS, AND LADyIlOVE.
N /
Courtesy ... Education .^V-JJ^Iusic ...Graver sciences ...
Dress. ..Knowledge of raeai€iafi..-£<ery-day life of

Xxiv CONTENTS. Page
the maiden. ..Chivalric love. ..The idolatry of the
knight's passion... Bravery inspired by love. ..Cha
racter of woman in the eyes of a knight..,Peculiar
nature of his love. ..Qualities of knights admired
by women... A tale of chivalric love ...Constancy...
Absence of jealousy. ..Knights asserted by arms their
mistress's beauty... Penitents of love. ..Other pecu
liarities of chivalric love. ..The passion universal...
Story of Aristotle... Chivalric love the foe to feudal
distinctions. ..But preserved religion. ..When attach
ments were formed... Societies of knights for the de
fence of ladies... Knights of the lady in the green
field... Customs in England ...Unchivalric to take wo
men prisoners. ..Morals of chivalric times.. .Heroines
of chivalry... Queen Philippa... The Countess of March
...Tales of Jane of Mountfort and of Marzia degl'
Ubaldini. ..Nobleness ofthe chivalric female character 181

CHAP. VI.
TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.
Beauty of chivalric sports. ..Their superiority to those
of Greece and Rome... Origin of tournaments...
Reasons for holding them. ..Practice in arms...
Courtesy. ..By whom they were held. ..Qualifications
for tourneying. ..Ceremonies of the tournament...
Arrival of the knights. ..Publication of their names
...Reasons for it ... Disguised knights ...The lists...
Ladies the judges of the tournament. ..Dehcate
courtesy at tournaments... Morning of the sports...
Knights led by ladies, who imitated the dress of
knights.,, Nature of tourneying weapons. ..Knights
wore ladies' favours. ..The preparation... The en
counter... What lance-strokes won the prize... Con
clusion of the sports. ..The festival,. .Dehvery of the

CONTENTS. XXV Page
prize „. Knights thanked by ladies. ..The ball ...
Liberahty ... Tournaments opposed by the popes...
The opposition unjust. ..The joust. ..Description of
the joust to the utterance, ..Joust between a Scotch
and an English knight... Jousting for love of the
ladies... A singular instance of it. ..Joust between a
French and an English squire... Admirable skill of
jousters... Singular questions regarding jousts. ..An
Earl of Warwick... Celebrated joust at St. Inglebertes
...Joust between Lord Scales and the Bastard of Bur
gundy. ..The romance of jousts. ..The passage of
arms. ..Use of tournaments and jousts  258

CHAP. VII.
THE RELIGIOUS AND MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD.
General principles of the religious orders, ..Qualifi
cations for them. ..Use of these orders to Palestine...
Modern history of the Knights Templars. ..Their pre
sent existence and state.... Religious orders in Spain.
...That of St. James. ..Its objects., .Change of its ob
jects. ..Order of Calatrava...Fine chivalry of a monk
...Fame of this order.,.Order of Alcantara. ..Knights
ofthe Lady of Mercy. ..Knights of St. Michael. ..Mili
tary orders. ..Imitations of the religious orders. ..In
stanced in the order of the Garter... Few of the pre
sent orders are of chivalric origin... Order ofthe Bath
...Dormant orders... Order ofthe Band. ..Its singular
rules. ..Its noble enforcement of chivalric duties
towards woman.... Order of Bourbon. ..Strange titles
of orders.. .Fabulous orders ... The Round Table...
Sir Launcelot...Sir Gawain... Order ofthe Stocking...
Originof the phrase Blue Stocking  332

XXVI CONTENTS.

CHAP. VIII.
PROGRESS OF CHIVALRY IN ENGLAND,
FROM THE NORMAN CONCIUEST TO THE CLOSE OF THE
REIGN OF EDWARD II. Page
Chivalry connected with feudalism... Stipendiary knights
...Knighthood a compulsory honour. ..Fine instance
of chivalry in the reign of Edward L... Effect of chi
valry in Stephen's reign ... Troubadours and . ro
mance writers in the reign of Henry IL... Chivalric
manners of the time. ..Coeur de Lion the first chi
valric king... His knightly bearing... John and Hen
ry III.. ..Edward I.. ..His gallantry at a tournament...
His unchivalric cruelties.. .He possessed no knightly
courtesy... Picture of ancient manners...Edward II...
Chivalric circumstance in the battle of Bannockburn
...Singular effect of chivalry in the reign of Ed
ward II  „  382

THE
HISTORY OF
CHIVALRY.

CHAP. I.

THE ORIGIN AND FIRST APPEARANCES OF
CHIVALRY IN EUROPE.
General Nature of Chivalry  Military and Moral Chi
valry  Origin of' Chivalry  Usages of the Ger
mans  Election of. Soldiers  Fraternity  Dig
nity of Obedience  Gallantry...... The Age of Char
lemagne...... Chivalry modified by Religion  Cere
monies of Anglo-Saxon Inauguration  Chivalry
sanctioned by Councils, and regarded as a Form of
Christianity  Nature of Chivalric Nobility  Its
Degrees  Knight Banneret  His Qualifications.,.
By isihom created  His Privileges  Hisrelation to
the Baron  And incidentally of the War-Cry and
the Escutcheon  The Knight  Qualifications for
Knighthood  By tsohom created  The Squirehood. . .
General Vie'w ofthe other Chapters on the Institutions of
Chivalry.
There is little to charm the imagination in the chap. i.
first ages of Chivalry. No plumed steeds, no
vparrior bearing on his crested helm the fa
vour of his lady bright, graced those early
VOL. I. B

2 the origin and FIRST APPEARANCES
CHAP. I. times. All was rudeness and gloom. But the
subject is not altogether without interest, as it
must ever be curious to mark the causes and
the first appearances in conduct of any widely
spread system of opinions.
Nature of The martial force ofthe people who occupied
Chivalry. ^ -^ . j? i
northern and central Europe in the time of the
Romans, was chiefly composed of infantry* ;
but afterwards a great though imperceptible
change took place, and, during all the long pe
riod which forms, in historic phrase, the middle
ages, cavalry was the strongest arm of military
power. Terms, expressive of this martial ar
ray, were sought for in its distinguishing cir
cumstances. Among the ruins of the Latin
language, caballus signified a horse, caballarius
a horseman, and caballicare, to ride ; and from
these words all the languages that were formed on
a Latin basis, derived their phrases descriptive of
military duties on horseback. In all languages of
Teutonic origin, the same circumstance was ex
pressed by words literally signifying service. The
German knight, the SaiKon anight, axe synonymous
to the French cavalier, the Italian cavaliere, and
the Spanish caballero. The word rider also de
signated tbe same person, preceded by, or stand
ing without, the word knight.
* Tacitus Germania, sec. 6. Caesar de Bello Galhco,
lib. i. s. 48.

OF CHIVALRY IN EUROPE. S
In the kingdoms which sprang from the ruins chap. j.
of the Roman empire, every king, baron, and Military .
person of estate was a knight ; and therefore the chivdr°y^'
whole face of Europe was overspread with ca
valry. Considered in this aspect, the knight
hood and the feudalism of Europe were synony
mous and coexistent. But there was a chivalry
within this chivalry ; a moral and personal
knighthood ; not the well-ordered assemblage of
the instruments of ambition, but a military bar
rier against oppression and tyranny, a corrective
of feudal despotism and injustice. Something
like this description of knighthood may be said
to have existed in all ages and countries.. Its
generousness may be paralleled in Homeric
tiraes, and vice has never reigned entirely with
out control. But the chivalry, the gallant and
Christian chivalry of Europe, was purer and
brighter than any preceding condition of society;
for it established woman in her just rank in the ^
moral world, and many of its principles of ac
tion proceeded from a divine source, which the
<;lassical ancients could not boast of. I
Some of the rules and maxims of chivalry had Origin of
,. .... f. . . i-ii Chivalry.
their origin in that state of society in which the
feudal system arose ; and regarded particularly in a
military lightjwe find chivalry a part ofthe earliest
condition of a considerable part of the European
world. The bearing of arms was never a ma't-
B 2

V

the Ger
mans.

Electior of

4 THE ORIGIN AND FIRST. APPEARANCES
CHAP, i ter of mere private choice. Among the Ger-
Usages of mans, it rested with the state to declare a man
qualified to serve his country in Whis. In an
assembly ofthe chiefs of his nation, his father,
or a near relation, presented a shield and a jave-
Soidiers ][ji ^q a young and approved candidate for mar
tial honours, who from that moment was consi
dered as a member of the commonwealth, and
ranked as a citizen. In northern as well as in
central Europe, both in Scandinavia and Ger-
\ many, the same principle was observed ; and a
young man at the age of fifteen became an inde
pendent agent, by receiving a sword, a buckler,
and a lance, at some public meeting.*
Fraternity. Tlic Spirit of clauship, or fraternity, which
ran through the chivalry of the middle ages, is
of the remotest antiquity. It existed in Germa
ny, in Scandinavia, and also in Gaul, f In all
these countries, every young man, when adorn
ed with his military weapons, entered the train
of some chief; but he was rather his companion
than his follower ; for, however numerous were
the steps and distinctions of service, a noble spi
rit of equality ran through them all. These ge
nerous youths formed the bulwark of their leader
in war, and were his ornament in peace. This
spirit of companionship shewed itself in all its
• Tacitus Germania, s. 13. Mallet's Northern Antiquitfes,
vol. i. p. 197.
t Tacitus Germania. Ceegar, lib. 6. s. 14.

OF CHIVALRY IN EUROPE. .5
power and beauty in the field. It was disgrace- chap. r.
ful for a prince to be surpassed in valour by his
companions ; their military deeds were to be he
roic, but the lustre of them was never to dim the
brightness of his own fame. The chief fought
fbr victory, the followers fought for their chief.
The defence ofthe leader in battle, to die with
him rather than to leave him, were, in the minds
of the military fathers of Europe, obvious and ne
cessary corollaries of these principles. The spi
rit of companionship burnt more fiercely in re
mote ages, than in times commonly called chi
valric ; for if, by the chance of war, a person was
thrown into the hands of an enemy, his military
companions would surrender themselves prison
ers, thinking it disgraceful to live in security
and indolence, when their chief and associate
was in misery.*
And to bring the matter home to English
readers, it may be mentioned, that in the his
tory of our Anglo-Saxon ancestors, many instan
ces are recorded where vassals refused to survive
their lord. Cyneheard, brother of the deposed
king Sigebyrcht, slew the usurper Cynewulf ;
and though he offered freedom to the attendants
of the slain, yet they all preferred death to sub
mission to a new lord, and they died in a vain
and wild endeavour to revenge him. Immedi-
* Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. 16. c. 13.
B 3

6 THE ORIGIN AND FIRST APPEARANCES
chap. I. ately afterwards fortune frowned on Cyneheard,
and his eighty-four companions, save one, were
slain, though liberty had been offered to them ;
but declaring that their generosity was not infe
rior to the generosity of the attendants of Cyne
wulf) they perished in a hopeless battle.*
Dignity of The feeling which, in chivalric times, be-
I came designated as the dignity of obedience,
' may be traced in these circumstances, but it is
/ more clearly shewn in a singular record of the
domestic manners of ancient Europe ; for we
learn from Athenaaus, in his treatise ofthe sup
pers of the Celts, that it was the custom of the
Gaulish youths to stand behind the seats, and to
attend upon their fathers during the principal
daily meal.t Here we see the germ, if not of
of the duties of the squire to the knight, yet of
the feeling which suggested their performance.
The beautiful subordination of chivalry had its
origin in the domestic relations of life ; obedience
jbecame virtuous when nature sanctioned it, and
there could be no loss of personal consideration
in a youth performing services which his own
father had performed, and which, as years and
circumstances advanced, would be rendered to
himself.
Gallantry. Xhc gallantry of knighthood, that quality
* Chron. Saxon, 57, Szc. Florence, ad an. 784. William
of Malmsbury, 7.
t Athenaeus, lib. iv. c. 36.

OF CHIVALRY IN EUROPE. 7
which distinguishes, and distinguishes so much chap. i.
to its advantage, the modern from the ancient
world, was not created by any chivalric institu
tion. We know indeed that it was cradled in the
same sentiments which nursed the other principles
of chivalry, but its birth is lost in the remoteness
of ages ; and I would rather dwell in my igno
rance ofthe precise period of its antiquity, than
think with Plutarch that the feeling arose from
a judicious opinion delivered by some women
on occasion of a particular dispute between a
few of the Celtic tribes.* It was in truth the
virtue of the sex, and not any occasional or
accidental opinion, that raised them to their
high and respectful consideration. The Roman
historian marked it as a peculiarity among
the Germans, that marriage was considered by
them as a sacred institution f, and that a man
confined himself to the society of one wife.
The mind of Tacitus was filled with respect
for the virtuous though unpolished people of
^ the north ; and, reverting his eyes to Rome, the
\describer of manners becomes the indignant
Wtirist, and he exclaims, that no one in Germa
ny dares to ridicule the holy ordinance of mar
riage, or to call an infringement of its laws a
compliance with the manners of the age.1: In
* Treatise on the Virtue of the Female Sex.
f Tacitus Germania,- s. 18. c. 19.
t Ibid.
B 4

8 THE ORIGIN AND FIRST APPEARANCES
chap. I. earlier times, when the Cimbri invaded Italy,
and were worsted by Marius, the female Teuto
nic captives wished to be placed among the
vestal virgins, binding themselves to perpetual
chastity, but the Romans could not admire or
sympathize with such lofty-mindedness, and the
women had recourse to death, the last sad refuge
of their virtue. Strabo picturesquely describes
venerable and hoary-headed prophetesses seated
at the council ofthe Cimbri, dressed in long li
nen vestments of shining white. They were not
only embassadresses, but were often entrusted ;
with the charge of governing kingdoms.* Thej
courage ofthe knight of chivalry was inspired!
by the lady of his affections, a feature of charac-j
ter clearly deducible from the practice amon
the German nations, of women mingling in th^
field of battle with their armed brothers, fathers,
and husbands. Women were always regarded] /
as incentives to valour, and when warring with
a nation of different manners, the German gene
ral could congratulate his soldiers on having mo
tives to courage, which the enemy did not pos-
sess.t The warrior of the north, like the hero
of chivalry, hoped for female smiles from his
skill in athletic and martial exercises ; and we
* Strabo, hb. iv. Tacitus Historia, lib. iv. c. 61.65.
Pomponius Mela, lib. iii. c. 6.
t Tacitus, Hist. hb. iv. c. 18. Life of Agricola, s. 32.
Germania, s. 7.

OF CHIVALRY IN EUROPE.

/ jwiay take the anecdote as an instance of the ge- chap. i.
/ /neral manners of European antiquity, that the
/ / jchief anxiety of a Danish champion, who had
/ / /lost his chin and one of his cheeks by a single
/ / stroke of a sword, was, how he should be re-
' / ceived by the Danish maidens, when his personal
' features had been thus dreadfully marred. —
" The Danish girls will not now willingly or
easily give me kisses, if I should perhaps return
home," was his complaint.
Harald the Valiant was one of the most emi
nent adventurers of his age. He had slain
mighty men; and after sweeping the seas of the
north as a conqueror, he descended to the
Mediterranean, and the shores of Africa.
But a greater power now opposed him, and he
was taken prisoner, and detained for some time
at Constantinople. He endeavoured to beguile
his gloomy solitude by song ; but his muse gave
him no joy, for he complains that the reputation
he had acquired by so many hazardous exploits,
by his skill in single combat, riding, swimming,
gliding along the ice, darting, rowing, and
guiding a ship through the rocks, had not been
able to make any impression on ElissifiJ or Eli
zabeth, the beautiful daughter of Yarilas, king
of Russia.*
Such were the features of the ancient charac
ter of Europe, that formed the basis of the chi.
* Barthol. p. .54. as cited hy Warton, Dissert. I. Of the

10 THE ORIGIN AND FIRST APPEARANCES
CHAP. r. valry of the middle ages ; such was chivalry in
its rude, unpolished state, the general character
I ofthe whole people, rather thain the moral chas-
I tener of turbulence and ferocity. From receiv-
[ ing his weapons in an assembly of the nation ;
I associating in clans; protecting and revering
women ; performing acts of service, when affec
tion and duty commanded them : from these
simple circumstances and qualities, the most
beautiful form o£ manners arose, that has ever
adorned the histofy-ef^aJi. It is impossible to
I mark the exact time when these elements were
framed into that system of thought and action
which we call Chivalry. Knighthood was cer
tainly a feature and distinction of society before
The Age of the days of Charlemagne, and its general preva-
magne. lencc in his time is very curiously proved, by the
permission which he gave to the governor of
Friesland to make knights, by girding them with
a sword, and giving them a blow.*
Chivalry , But the kcy-stonc of the arch was wanting.
Religion, aiid rcligion alone could furnish it; A new
world of principles and objects was introduced.
The defence ofthe church was one great appa^
rent aim of knightly enterprise, and on this

Origin of Romantic Fiction in Europe, in the first volume of
the late admirable edition of his History of English Poetry.
* It is also curious that this blow was said to have been
customary. — " Dato eisdem, sicut consuetudmis est, manu
colapho.''

OF CHIVALRY IN EUROPE. 11
principle, narrow and selfish as it was, many of chap. i.
the charities of Christianity were established.
The sword was blessed by the priest, before it
was delivered to the young warrior. By what
means this amalgamation was effected, we know
not ; the less interesting matter, the date of the
circumstance can be more easily ascertained. It
was somewhere between the ninth and the ele
venth centuries. It surely was not the custom in
the days of Charlemagne, for he girt the milita
ry sword on his son Louis the Good, agreeably
to the rude principles of ancient Germanic chi
valry*, without any religious ceremonies ; and a
century afterwards we read of the Saxon mo
narch of England, Edward the Elder, cloathing
Athelstan in a soldier's dress of scarlet, and
fastening round him a girdle ornamented with
precious stones, in which a Saxon sword in a
sheath of gold was inserted.t In the century fol
lowing, however, during the reign of Edward
the Confessor, we meet with the story of Here-
ward, a very noble Anglo-Saxon youth, being
knighted by the Abbot of Peterborough. He
made confession of his sins, and, after he had re
ceived absolution, he earnestly prayed to be
made a legitimate miles or knight.
* Not exactly according to the form, for by this time a
belt with a sword inserted was girded round the military
candidate, instead of delivering a javelin to him. See the
preceding page.
t Wilham of Malmsbury, lib. ii. c. 6.

12

THE ORIGIN AND FIRST APPEARANCES

of Anglo-
Saxon inaa
guration.

CHAP. I. It was the custom of the English, continues
cer^nies the historiau, for every one who wished to be con
secrated into the legitimate militia, to confess his
sins to a bishop, abbot, monk, or other priest,
in the evening that preceded the day of his con
secration, and to pass the night in the church, in
prayer, devotion, and mortifications. On the
next morning it was his duty to hear mass, to
offer his sword on the altar, and then, after the Gos
pel had been read, the priest blessed the sword,
and placed it on the neck of the miles, with his
benediction. The sacrament ofthe Lord's Sup
per was then communicated to the knight.*
This passage, though professedly descriptive on
ly of the military customs of England, may be
applied to the general state of Europe, with the
exception of Normandy, whose people despised
the religious part of the ceremony. But this
feeling of dislike did not endure through all ages,
for there is abundant evidence to prove, that in
the reign of the Norman dynasty in England,
the ceremonies of knighthood were religious as
well as military ; and in the same, the eleventh,
century, the usage was similar over all Con
tinental Europe.
The eleventh century is a very important
epoch in the history of chivalry ; for it was de
clared by the celebrated Council of Clermont,
(which authorised the first Crusade) that every

Chiralrysanctioned by Coun
cils, and

* Ingulph, p. 512.

op CHIVALRY IN EUROPE. 13
person of noble birth, on attaining twelve years chap. i.
of age, should take a solemn oath before the bi
shop of his diocese, to defend to the uttermost
the oppressed, the widows, and orphans ; that
women of noble birth, both married and single,
should enjoy his especial care ; and that nothing
should be wanting in him to render travelling
safe, and to destroy tyranny. In this decree we regarded
i_ 1 nil • • r. 1 . 1 as a form of
observe, that all the humanities of chivalry were christiam-
sanctioned by legal and ecclesiastical power ; and ^'
that it was intended they should be spread over
the whole face of Christendom, in order to check
the barbarism and ferocity of the times.
The form of chivalry was martial ; but its ob-~
jects were both religious and social, and the de
finition of the word frora railitary circumstances
ceased to express its character. The power of
the clergy was shewn in a singular manner. Chi
valry was no longer a soldierly array, but it was
called the Order, the Holy Order, and a cha
racter of seriousness and solemnity was given to
it.* It was accounted an honourable office, above
all offices, orders, and acts of the world, except
the order of priesthood, for that order appertain
ed to the holy sacrament of the altar. The
knightly and clerical characters were every where
considered as convertible, and the writers of ro-
* Caxton, Fayts of Arms and Chivalry, chapter entitled
" Of the Honor that ought to be done to a Knight."

14

THE ORIGIN AND FIRST APPEARANCES

CHAP. L mances faithfully reflected manners, when their
hero at the commencement of the tale was a Sir
Knight, and when at the close of his quests, we
find him a Sir Priest ;
" And soothly it was said by common fame,
So long as age enabled him thereto,
That he had been a man of mickle name,
Renowned much in arms and derring do.
But being aged now, and weary too
Of war's delight, and woi'ld's contentious toil,
The name of Knighthood he did disavow;
And hanging up his arms and warlike spoil,
From all this world's incumbrance did himself assoil." *

Nature of
Chivalric
Nobility.

Knighthood was an institution perfectly pecu
liar to the railitary and social state of our ances
tors. There was no analogy between the
knights of chivalry and the equites of Rome,
for pecuniary estate was absolutely necessary for
the latter ; whereas, though the European cava
lier was generally a man of some possessions, yet
he was often a person promoted into the order
of chivalry, solely as a reward for his redoubted
behaviour in battle. The Roraan equites dis
charged civil functions regarding the administra
tion of justice and the farming of the public re-
* Spencer's Fairy Queen, book v. canto 5. St. 37. The
romance ofthe Morte D' Arthur says, that in early times there
were no hermits, but who had been men of worship and
prowess ; «' and the hermits held great household, and re-
freshed people that were in distress." Lib. 18. c. 10.

OF CHIVALRY IN EUROPE. 15
venue ; but the chivalry of the middle ages had chap. i.
no such duties to perform. Knighthood was
also distinct from nobility ; for the nobility of
Europe were the governors and lords of particu
lar districts of a country, and although original
ly they held their dignities only for life, yet
their title soon became hereditary. But knight
hood was essentially and always a personal dis
tinction. A man's chivalry died with him. It
was conferred upon noblemen and kings, not
being like their other titles, the subject of inheri
tance. It was not absorbed in any other title of
rank, aiid the common form of address, Sir *
King, shews its high consideration. In the writs
of summons to parliament, the word ChevaUer
sometimes followed the baronial title, and more
frequently the barons were styled by their mar
tial designation, than named by the titles of
their baronies, t
* The reader will find in Johnson's Dictionary the ety
mology of sir. When this word, acknowledging power and
superiority, was first used as the title of chivalry, I do not
know. Instances exist as high as the reign of Henry II.
f Coke, Instit. 4. In the Eeports of the Lords' Commit
tees respecting the Peerage, (printed 2d July 1821), doubts
are often expressed regarding the meaning of the word Ban
neret. A little attention to the difference between the per
sonal nobility of chivalry, and the nobility which arose as a
franchise appurtenant to land, would have prevented the en
tertaining of such doubts, and the conclusion might have
been drawn from principles, instead of being guessed from
precedent, that the title of banneret had no relation to the

16 THE ORIGIN AND FIRST APPEARANCES
CHAP. I. There were three degrees in the Chivalry of
Its degrees. Europc, Knights-Bannerct, Knights, and Es
quires.
Knight- A soldier must have passed through the ranks
of esquire and knight, before he could be class-
His qualifi- ed with the knights-banneret. That high dig
nity could only be possessed by a knight who
had served for a length of years in the wars, and
with distinction, and who had a considerable re
tinue of men-at-arms, and other soldiers. To
avoid the inconveniences of too minute a division
of the martial force of a country, every knight-
banneret ought to have had fifty * knights and
squires under his command, each being attend
ed by one or more horse soldiers, armed with
the cross-bow, or with the long-bow and axe.
Several followers on foot completed the equip-
By whom ment. But as we often raeet with instances of
created. elevating raen of very few followers t to the rank

dignity of Lord of Parliament. The Lords' Committees seem
surprised that barons should sometimes have had the addition
of knights, and at other times of bannerets ; but in truth
chevalier was the title which comprehended all others, and,
like the word ' Lord,' was used in a general sense.
* See Du Cange, Dissertation 9. on Joinville. This learned
commentator seems inclined to confound knights-banneret
with barons, chivalry with nobility ; and a herd of subse
quent writers, refining on his error, have gravely placed
knights-banneret as an order or class of society mediate
between Nobility and Knighthood.
t Some fortune was, however, always thought necessary

OF CHIVALRY IN EUROPE.

of knights-banneret, it is probable that kings chap. t.
usurped the right of conferring the distinction:
upon their favorites, or men of fame, not chus
ing that any title of merit should be demanded
as a right, or that the royal n^me should be used
only as a passive instrument ; fbr a knight who
fcad proved his chivalry and power, could de
mand from his sovereign the distinction of ban
neret. The laws and usages of the world allow
ed the well-tried and nobly attended soldier to
carry his emblazoned pennon to the constable or
marshal of the army before or after a battle, and
in the field of contest itself) and require leave to
raise his banner. A herald exhibited the record
of his claim to the distinction, and the leader of
the forces cut off the end ofthe pennon, and this
military ensign then became a square banner. A
brief exhortation to valiancy and honour was ge
nerally added by the constable or herald. These
were the whole ceremonies of creation.
The privileges of a knight-banneret were Hisprivi-
considerable. He did not fight under the stan- ^^^'

for the support of the dignity of knight-banneret. In the
28th of Edward III. John de Cobham was made a banneret,"
and had a grant of an annuity of 100 marks, out of the is
sues ofthe county of Norfolk, expressly for the better sup
port of that dignity. Dugdale's Baronage, vol. ii. p. 66-
Many similar instances are mentioned in the Parliamentary
Rolls. VOL. I. C.

18 THE ORIGIN AND FIRST APPEARANCES
CHAP. I. dard of any baron, but he formed his soldiers
under his own. Like the rest of the feudal
force, he was subject to the commands of the
king; but his pride was not galled by being
obliged to obey the behests of men of his own
rank.
Hisrelation Evcrv Barou had his banner, and a feudal ar-
to the Ba- •'
ron. ray of knights, men-at-arms, and others, was
numbered by its banners. The banneret and
the baron were therefore soldiers of equal autho
rity. The banneret, too, like the baron, had
The war- hig words of courage, his cry of arras, which he
shouted before a battle, in order to aniraate his
soldiers to the charge, and whose sound, heard
in the moraent of direst peril, rallied the scatter
ed troops by the recollection of the glories of
their commander's house, and their own former
achievements. The war-cry was also the under
written ornament of the armorial shield, and
worked on the surcoat and banner, and was carved
on the tomb both of the knight-banneret and
the baron. Each of these representatives of chi
valry and nobility had his square escutcheon.
The wife of a banneret was styled une dame
bannerette, and the general title of his family
was a hostel banniere.
TheKnight. The sccoud and raost numerous class of chi
valric heroes consisted of Knights, who were ori-

OF CHIVALRY IN EUROPE. 19
ginally called Bas-Chevaliers, in contradiction to chap. i.
the first class, but in the course of time the word
bachelor designated rather the esquire, the can
didate for chivalry, than the cavalier himself.
These knights of the second class were in Spain
called Cavalleros, in distinction from the riccos
hombres, or knights-banneret; and in France,
the illiberal and degrading title of pauvres
hommes was sometimes applied to them, to
mark their inferiority to the bannerets.
A general qualification for knighthood was noble Quaiifica-
or gentle birth, which, in its widest signification, knight
expressed a state of independence. Noblemen
andgentleraen were words originally synonymous,
describing the owners of fiefs. In countries
where there were other forms of tenure, some
military merit in the occupiers of land seems to
have been necessary for elevation to the class of
gentlemen. The mere frankelein was certainly
not entitled to the designation of gentle ; but if
he became a distinguished man, an honorary
rank was given to the faraily, and they were
esteeraed noble.* It is scarcely necessary to

* A note of Waterhouse on Fortescue will illustrate this.
" The title of franklein is ' good man ;' and yet they have
oft knights' estates. Many are called by courtesy ' mas
ters,' and even ' gentlemen ;' and their sons are educated
in the inns of court, and adopted into the orders of knights
and squires."
c 2

20 THE ORIGIN AND FIRST APPEARANCES
CHAP. 1. mention, that that distinction could alone be ob-
tained by military achievements; for in the early
periods of society, the only path to glory was stain
ed with blood. The gentility of a father was more
regarded than that of a mother*; and in strict
ness, if a man were not noble on his paternal
side, his lord raight cause his spurs to be cut off
on a dunghill, t The araount of estate necessa
ry for knighthood was not regulated by any chi
valric institution. But the expence of the order
was by no means inconsiderable. His inaugu
ration was a scene of splendour ; and liberality
was one ofthe chiefest duties of his character.
He could not travel in quest of adventures with
out some charge t, and his squiie and other per
gonal attendants were of course maintained byhini.
Though a raan, says Froissart, be never so rich,
* Illegitimacy seems not to have been a matter ofthe
slightest consequence. Froissart. ii. 26-
t Favyn. i. 6.
:j: When Don Quixote was dubbed a knight, the landlord
asked him whether he had any money. "Not a cross," replied
the knight; " for I never read in any history of chivalry, that
any knight-errant ever carried money about him." — " Respon-
dio Don Quixote que no traia bianca, porque il nunca habia
leido en las historias de los caballeros andantes, que ninguno
los hubiese traido." This was a very singular error in Cer
vantes, for in Amadis de Gaul, which he characterizes as the
best work of its class, and which is evidently one of his text
books, we read that the queen gave Adrian the Dwarf enough
money to last Amadis de Gaul his master for a whole year.
Book III. c. 6.

OF CHIVALRY IN EUROPE. 21
men of arms and war waste all ; for he that will chap, i.
have sarvice of raen of war, they must be paid
truly their wages, or else they will do nothing
available.* The knight's harness for the work.
ing day was not without its ornaments ; and the
tournament was rendered splendid by the bril-
liancy of his armour and his steed's caparisons.
There was always a rivalry of expence among
knights who formed an. expedition ; and of all
the recorded instances of this feeling, perhaps
tbe most interesting one is furnished by Frois
sart. Speaking of a projected invasion of Eng
land by the French about the year 1386, he
says, that gold and silver were no more spared
than though they had rained out of the clouds..
or been skimraed from the sea. The great lord's
of France sent their servants to Sluse, to apparel
and make ready their provisions and ships, and
to furnish them with every thing needful. Every
man garnished his ship, and painted it with his
arms. Painters had then a good season, for they
had whatever they desired. They made ban
ners, pennons, and standards of silk so goodly,
that it was a marvel to behold them ; also they
painted the masts of their ships from the one end
to the other, glittering with gold, and devices,
and arms; and especially the Lord Guy de la Tre-
* Froissart, i. c. 448.
c3

22

THE ORIGIN AND FIRST APPEARANCES

CHAP. I.

By whom
created.

mouille garnished his ship richly ; the paintings
cost more than two thousand francs.*
We have seen that originally a body of sol
diers was selected by the state from the general
mass of the people. Afterwards, kings and no
bles in their several j urisdictions maintained the
power of creation. It was also assumed by the
clergy, but not retained long; nor were they
anxious to recover it, fbr, as they assisted in the
religious ceremonies of inauguration, they pos
sessed a considerable share of power by the
milder means of influence. Knighthood never
altogether lost its character of being a distinc-
tidn, a reward of merit, presumed, indeed, rather
than proved, in the original instances which have
been raentioned. But though it was often be
stowed as an ornament of custom onthe nobility
and gentry of a state, yet it often was the bright
guerdon of achievements in arms. Of military
raerit every knight was supposed to be a suffi
cient judge ; and therefore every knight had the
power of bestowing its reward. Men-at-arms
and other soldiers were often exalted to the class
of knights, and the honour was something raore
than a chimera of the imagination ; for the title
and consideration of a gentleman immediately

* Froissart, ii. c. 49.

OF CHIVALRY IN EUROPE. 23
accompanied the creation.* Thus, in the time of chap, l
Richard IL, the governor of Norwich, called
Sir Robert Sale, was no gentleman born, says
Froissart ; but he had the grace to be reputed
sage and valiant in arms, and for his valiantness
King Edward had made him a knight. The
same sovereign also knighted a man-at-arms,
who had originally been a tailor, and who, after
the conclusion of the king's wars in France,
crossed the Alps into Italy, and under the narae
of Sir John Hawkwood, headed the corapany of
White or English adventurers, so faraous in the
Italian wars.t
The third and last class of Chivalry was the squirehood.
Squirehood. It was not composed of young men
who carried the shields of knights, and were
learning the art of war ; but the squires were a
body of efiicient soldiers, inferior in rank to the
knight, and superior to the men-at-arms.t They
had been originally intended for the higher
* Thus, as Bracton observes, if a villain be made a knight,
he is thereby immediately enfranchised, and consequently
accounted a gentleman, 1. iv. f. 198. b.
t Froissart, i. 384.
J Du Cange says, the third order of Chivalry consisted
of the Esquires ; but he evidently thinks they were the per
sonal attendants of knights, for he calls them infancons or
damoiseaux. He does not seem to have thought that a
grave old squire ever existed.
C 4

24 THE ORIGIN AND FIRST APPEARANCES
CHAP. I. classes of chivalry, but various consider
ations induced them to remain in the lowest
rank. It was a raaxim in chivalry, that a man
had better be a good esquire than a poor knight.
Many an esquire, therefore, declined the honor
of knighthood, on account of the slenderness of
his revenues. Edward IIL, during his wars in
France, would have knighted Collart Dambreti-
courte, the esquire of his own person ; but the
young raan declined the honor, for, to use his
own siraple phrase, he could not furnish his hel
met.* Barons, knights, and esquires, form
Froissart's frequent description of the parts of an
army ; and although there were many young
men in the field, who, released frora their du
ties on knights, were airaing at distinction, yet
there were raany more who remained squires dur
ing all their railitary career, and therefore be
carae recognised as a part of the chivalric array.
Some men of small landed estate, wishing to
avoid the expences and the duties of knighthood,
remained esquires. They lost nothing of real power
by their prudence, for they were entitled to lead
their vassals into the field of battle under a penon-
cele, or small triangular streamer, as the knight
led his under a pennon, or a banneret his under a

*  " Mais le dit escuyer s'excusa ; et dit qu'il ne pou-
yoit trouver son bacinet." — Froissart, i. 21 1.

OF CHIVALRY IN EUROPE. 25
banner. Military honours and commands also chap. i.
could be reached by the squirehood, as well as by
the knighthood of a country. Both classes were
considered gentle, and were entitled to wear
coatarmour. Such was the general form of the personal no
bility of Chivalry. Some parts of the outline va
ried in different countries, as will be seen when
we watch its progress through Europe ; but pre
viously to that enquiry, the education, the du
ties, and the equipment of the knight require
description; and as loy ante aux dam£S is the mot
to alike ofthe writers and the readers of works
on Chivalry, I shall make no apology for sus
pending the historical investigation, while I en
deavour to portray the lady-love of the gallant
cavalier, and delay my steps in that splendid
scene of beauty's power, the Tournament.

26

CHAP. II.
THE EDUCATION OF A KNIGHT. THE CEREMONIES
OF INAUGURATION AND OF DEGRADATION.
Description in Romances of Knightly Education 
Hawking and Hunting  Education commenced at the
age bf Seven  Duties of the Page  Personal Ser
vice  Love and Religion  Martial Exercises 
The Squire  His Duties of Personal Service  Cu
rious Story of a bold young Squire  .Various Titles of
Squires  Duties of the Squire in Battle  Gallan
try  Martial Exercises  Horsemanship  Im
portance of Squires in the Battle Field  Particular
ly at the Battle cf Bovines  Preparations for Knight
hood...... The Anxiety ofthe Squire regarding the Cha
racter ofthe Knight from 'whom he was to receive the
Accolade  Knights made in the Battle Field  In
conveniences of this  Knights of Mines  General
Ceremonies of Degradation  Ceremonies in England.
CHAP.IL Xhe romances of Chivalry, in their picturesque
^*Romln- ^'^'^ expressive representation of manners, present
ces of us with raany interesting glimpses of the educa-
education. tlou ill knighthood of the feudal nobility's chil
dren. The romance of Sir Tristrem sings thus ;

EDUCATION OF A KNIGHT. 27
" Now hath Rohant in ore', CHAP.IL
Tristrem, and is full blithe,
The childe he set to lore.
And lernd him al so swithe^ ;
In bok while he was thore
He stodieth ever that stithe'',
Tho that bi him wore
Of him weren ful blithe,
That bold.
His craftes gan he kithe*,
Oyaines ^ hem when he wold.
" Fiftene yere he gan him fede,
Sir Rohant the tre we ;
He taught him ich alede *
Of ich maner of glewe ;'
And everich playing thede,
Old lawes and newe.
On hunting oft be yede*.
To swich alawe he drewe,
Al thus ;
More he couthe ^ of veneri
Than couthe Manerious."
Very similar to this picture is the description
of the education of Kyng Horn, in the romance
which bears his name.
" Stiward tac thou here.
My fundling for to lere
' favour. 2 soon. 3 diligently. ¦• attempted.
' against. " rule. ' the minstrelsy art.
* went. ^ knew.

28 EDUCATION OF A KNIGHT.
CHAP.IB. Of thine mestere,
Of wode and of ryvere.
Ant toggen o' the harpe.
With is nayles sharpe ;
Ant tech him alle the listes
That thou ever wystes
Byfore me to kerven,
Ant of my coupe to serven ;
Ant his feren devyse
With ous other servise.
Horn, child, thou understand
Tech him of harpe and of song." *
For only one raore extract frora the old ro
mances, shall I claim the indulgence of ray read
ers in the words of the rainstrel,
" Mekely, lordynges gentyll and fre,
Lysten awhile and herken to me."
The life of Sir Ipomydon is a finished picture of
knightly history. His foster-father. Sir Tholo-
mew,
 " a clerk he toke
That taught the child upon the boke
Bothe to synge and to rede.
And after he taught him other dede.
Afterwards to serve in halle.
Both to grete and to small.
Before the king meat to kerve
Hye and low feyre to serve.
• Geste of Kyng Horn, v. 233.

EDUCATION OF A KNIGHT. 2<^
Both of houndis and hawkis game, CH AP.Il.
After he taught him all and same,
In se, in field, and eke in river,
In wood to chase the wild deer ;
And in the field to ride a steed,
That all men had joy of his deed."
The mystery of rivers and the mystery of ^^"^"8^^
woods were important parts of knightly educa- '"g-
tion. The mystery of woods was hunting ; the
mystery of rivers was not fishing, but hawking,
an expression which requires a few words of ex
planation. In hawking, the pursuit of water
fowls afforded most diversion. Chaucer says
that he could
*' ryde on hawking by the river.
With grey gos hawk on hand."
The favourite bird of chase was the heron, whose
peculiar flight is not horizontal, like that of field
birds, but perpendicular. It is wont to rise to
a great height on finding itself the objectof pur
suit, while its enemy, using equal efforts to out-
tower it, at length gains the advantage, swoops
upon the heron with prodigious force, and strikes
it to the ground. The amusement of hawking,
therefore, could be viewed without the spectators
moving far from the river's side where the game
was sprung ; and from that circumstance it was
called the mystery of rivers.*
* Mr Rose's note on the Romance of Partenopex of Blois,
p. 51.

30 EDUCATION OF A KNIGHT.
CHAP.IL But I shall attempt no further to describe in
separate portions the subjects of knightly educa
tion, and to fill up the sketches of the old ro
mances ; for those sketches, though correct, pre
sent no complete outline, and the military exer
cises are altogether omitted. We had better
trace the cavalier, through the gradations of his
course, in the castle of his lord.
The education of a knight generally commen
ced at the age of seven or eight years*, for no
true lover of chivalry wished his children to pass
their time in idleness and indulgence. At a ba
ronial feast, a lady in the full glow of maternal
pride pointed to her offspring, and demanded of
her husband whether he did not bless Heaven
for having given him four such fine and promising
boys. " Dame," replied her lord, thinking her
observation ill timed and foolish, " so help me
God and Saint Martin, nothing gives me greater
sorrow and shame than to see four great sluggards^
who do nothing but eat, and drink, and waste
their time in idleness and folly." Like other
children of gentle birth, therefore, the boys of this
noble Duke Guerin of Montglaive, in spite of
their mother's wishes, commenced their chival-
* Caxton, Fayt of Armes and of Chyvalrye, c. 9. Me
moires du bon Messire Jean le Maingre, dit Boucicaut, Ma
rechal de France, c. 5, 9. in the sixth volume of the large
collection of French Memoirs.

EDUCATION OF A KNIGHT. 31
ric exercises.* In some places there were chap.ii.
schools appointed by the nobles of the country,
but most frequently their own castles served.
Every feudal lord had his court, to which he
drew the sons and daughters of the poorer gen
try of his domains ; and his castle was also fre-
quentedbythe children of men of equal rank with
himself, for (such was the modesty and courtesy
of chivalry) each knight had generally sorae
brother in arms, whom he thought better fitted
than himself to grace his children with noble
accomplishments. The duties of the boy for the first seven years Duties of
of his service were chiefly personal. If some
times the harsh principles ¦ of feudal subordina
tion gave rise to such service, it oftener proceed
ed from the friendly relations of life ; and as in the
latter case it was voluntary, there was no loss of
honourable consideration in performing it. The Personal
dignity of obedience, that principle which blends
the various shades of' social life, and which had
its origin in the patriarchal manners of early Eu
rope, was now fostered in the castles ofthe feu
dal nobility. The light-footed youth attended
the lord and his lady in the hall, and followed
them in all their exercises of war and pleasure ;
and it was considered unknightly for a cavalier
* L'Histoire de Guerin de Montglaive.

32 EDUCATION or A KNIGHT.
CHAP.II. to wound a page in battle. He also acquired
the rudiraents of those incongruous subjects, re
ligion, love, and war, so strangely blended in chi
valry ; and generally the intellectual and raoral
education ofthe boy was given by the ladies of
the court.
ReH^io"^ Frora the lips of the ladies the gentle page
learned both hiscatechisraand the art of love, and
as the religion of the day was full of symbols,
and addressed to the senses, so the other feature
of his devotion was not to be nourished by ab
stract contemplation alone. He was directed to
regard some one lady of the court as the type of
his heart's future mistress ; she was the centre of
all his hopes and wishes ; to her he was obedient,
faithful, and courteous.
While the young Jean de Saintre was a page of
honour at the courtof the French king, the Dame
des Belles Cousines enquired of him the name of
the mistress of his heart's affections. The simple
youth replied, that he loved his lady mother, and
next to her, his sister Jacqueline was dear to
him. " Young man," rejoined the lady, " I am
not speaking of the affection due to your raother
and sister ; but I wish to know the name of the
lady to whom you are attached par amours."
The poor boy was still more confused, and he
could only reply, that he loved no one par
amours. The D^me des Belles Cousines charged

EDUCATION OF A KNIGHT. 33
him with being a traitor to the laws of chivalry, chap. if.
and declared that his craven spirit was evinced
by such an avowal. "Whence," she enquired,
" sprang the valiancy and knightly feats of
Launcelot, Gawain, Tristram, Giron the cour
teous, and other ornaments of the round table ;
of Ponthus, and of those knights and squires of
this country whom I could enumerate : whence
the grandeur of many whom I have known to
arise to renown, except from the noble desire of
maintaining themselves in the grace and esteem
of the ladies ; without which spirit-stirring sen
timent they must have ever remained in the
shades of obscurity ? And do you, coward valet,
presume to declare that you possess no sovereign
lady, and desire to have none ?"
Jean underwent a long scene of persecution on
account of his confession of the want of proper
chivalric sentiment, but he was at length restored
to favour by the intercession ofthe ladies of tbe
court. He then named as his raistress Mathe-
line de Coucy, a child only ten years old.
" Mathelim is indeed a pretty girl," replied the
Dame des Belles Cousines, " but what profit,
what honour, what comfort, what aid, what
council for advancing you in chivalrous fame
can you derive from such a choice? You should
elect a lady of noble blood, who has the ability
to advise, and the power to assist you ; and you"
VOL. I. D

34 EDUCATION OF A KNIGHT.
CHAP.IL should serve her so truly, and love her so loyally,
as to compel her to acknowledge the honourable
affection which you entertain for her. For, be
assured, that there is no lady, however cruel and
haughty she may be, but through long service,
will be induced to acknowledge and reward
loyal affection with some portion of raercy.
By such a course you will gain the praise of
worthy knighthood, and till then I would not
give an apple for you or your achievements :
but he who loyally serves his lady will not only
be blessed to the height of man's felicity in this
life, but will never fall into those sins which
will prevent his happiness hereafter. Pride will
be entirely effaced from the heart of him who
endeavours by humility and courtesy to win the
grace of a lady. The true faith of a lover will
defend him from the other deadly sins of anger,
envy, sloth, and gluttony ; and his devotion to
his mistress renders the thought impossible of
his conduct ever being stained with the vice of
incontinence."* ? L'Histoire et plaisante Cronicque du petit Jehan de
Samtre, vol. 1. c. 3-6. I have the authority of Sir Walter
Scott and other able writers on chivalry, to cite this romance
as good evidence for the laws and manners of knighthood.
It was written in 1459; the first edition was printed in
Gothic characters in 1523, and it was reprinted in three
volumes, 12mo. in 1724.

EDUCATION OF A KNIGHT. 35
The military exercises of the page were not chap.ii.
many, and they were only important, inasmuch Martial
as they were the eariiest ideas of his life, and *''^™'*'"
that consequently the habits of his character were
formed on them. He was taught to leap over
trenches, to launch or cast spears and darts, to
sustain the shield, and in his walk to imitate the
measured tread of the soldier. He fought with
light staves against stakes raised for the nonce,
as ifthey had been his mortal enemies, or met
in encounters equally perilous his youthful com
panions of the castle. * During the seven years
of these instructions he was called a valet, a
damoiseau, or a page. The first title was of
the raost ancient usage, and was thoroughly
chivalric ; the second is of nearly equal autho
rity t, but the word page was not ranch used
till so late a period as the days of Philip de
Comines. t Before that time it was most fre
quently applied to the children of the vulgar.
The next titles of the candidate for chivalry The squire.
were armiger, scutifer or escuyer : but though
* Caxton, Fayt of Armes and Chevalrye, c.9.
f Damoisel et Eescuyer sont arrives ^ Novandel demand
ant chivalarie, lequel layant reju n'est plus appell^ de
tels tiltres, ains seulement des tiltre de chevalier, -i- Amadis
de Gaul, liv. 3. c. 3.
:j; Fauchet de I'Origine des Chevaliers, liv. 1. ch, ].
Monstrelet, vol. 1. c. 138> L'histoire de Bertrand du Gues
clin, e. 1.
D 2

36 EDUCATION -OF A KNIGHT.
•CHAP.IL these words denoted personal military attend-
ance, yet his personal domestic service con-
His duties tinued for some time. He prepared the refec-
serricT"^^ tion in the morning, and then betook hiraself to
his chivalric exercises. At dinner he, as well as
the pages, furnished forth and attended at the
table, and presented to his lord and the guests the
water wherewith they washed their hands before
and after the repast. The knight and the squire
never sat before the same table, nor was even
the relation of father and son allowed to destroy
this principle of chivalric subordination. We
learn from Paulus Warnefridus, the historian of
the Lombards in Italy, that among that nation
the son of a king did not dine with his father,
unless he had been knighted by a foreign
sovereign. * Such too was the practice among
nations whose chivalry wore a brighter pohsh
than it shone with among the Italian Lombards.
In Arragon, no son of a knight sat at the table
of a knight till he had been admitted into
the order, t The young English squire in
the time of Edward III. carved before his
fader at the table ; and again, in the Merchant's
Tale, itis said, —

* Paulus Warnefridus, lib. 1 . c. 23.
t Eximinus Petri Salonava Justitia Arragonum. Lib. de
.priyilegiis baronum et riccorum homiijum.

Curious
story of a

EDUCATION OF A KNIGHT. 37
CHAP.IL,
" All but a squire that hight Damian,
That carft before the knight many a day."
And about the same time the sewers and
cup-bearers of the Earl of Foix were his sons. *
The squire cup-bearer was often as fine and
spirited a character as his knight. Once,
when Edward the Black Prince was sojourn- ^'^"^
ing in Bourdeaux, he entertained in his cham
ber many of his English lords. A squire
brought wine into the room, and the prince,
after he had drank, sent the cup to Sir John
Chandos, selecting him as the first in honour,
because he was constable of Acquitain, The
knight drank, and by his command the squire
bore the cup to the Earl of Oxenford, a vain,
weak man, who, unworthy of greatness, was ever
seeking for those poor trifles which noble knights
overlooked and scorned. Feeling his dignity
offended that he had not been treated according
to his rank, he refiised the cup, and with mocking
gesture desired the squire to carry it to his
master, Sir John Chandos. "Why so?" replied
the youth, "he hath drank already, therefore
" drink you, since he hath offered it to you. If
" you will not drink, by Saint George, I will cast
* Froissart, vol.2, c. 31.
D 3

SS EDUCATION OF A KNIGHT.
GHAP.ii. « the wine in your face." The Earl, judging
from the stern and dogged manner of the squire
that this was no idle threat, quietly set the cup
to his mouth. *
* Froissart, voL 2. c. 92. The Earl of Oxenford had
reason to repent of his arrogance. Sir John Chandos, ob
serves Froissart, marked well all the matter between his
squire and the earl, and remained quiet till the prince was
gone from them, and then coming to the earl, he said, " Sir
Thomas, are you displeased that I drank before you ? I am
constable of this country; I may well drink before you,
since my lord the prince, and other lords here, are content
therewith. It is of truth that you were at the battle of
Poictiers ; but all who were there do not know so well as I
what you did. I shall declare it. When my lord the prince
had made his voyage in Languedock and Carcassone to
Narbonne, and was returned hither to his town of Bourdeaux,
you chose to go to England. What the king said to you oh
your arrival I know right well, though I was not present.
He demanded of you whether you had finished your voyage,
and what you had done with his son the prince. You an
swered, that you had left him in good health at Bourdeaux.
Then the king said, ' How durst you be so bold as to return
without him ? I commanded you and all others when ye
departed, that you should not return without him, and you
thus presume to come again to England. I straitly com
mand you, that within four days you avoid my realm and re
turn again to him, and if I find you within this my realm on
the fifth day, you Shall lose your life, and all your heritage
for ever.' And you feared the king's words, as it was
reason, and left the realm, and so your fortune was good,
for truly you were with my lord the prince four days before
the battle of Poictiers. On the day of the battle you had
forty spears under your charge, and I had fourscore. Now
you may see whether I ought to drink before you or not,

education of a KNIGHT. 39
After dinner the squires prepared the chess tables chap.ii.
or arranged the hall for minstrelsy and dancing.
They participated in all these amusements ; and
herein the difference between the squire and the
mere domestic servant was shown. In strictness
of propriety the squire's dress ought to have been
brown, or any of those dark colours which our
ancestors used to call ' sad.' But the gay spirit of
youth was loth to observe this rule.
" Embroudered was he, as it were a mede,
Alle ful of freshe floures, white and rede."
His dress was never of the fine texture, nor so
highly ornamented as that of the knight. The
squires often made the beds of their lords, and
the service of the day was concluded by their
presenting them with the vin du coucher.
" Les lis firent le Escuier,
Si coucha chacvm son seignor."
Personal service was considered so much the various
duty of a squire that his title was always ap- sqiUres.

since I am constable of Acquitain." The Earl of Oxenford
was ashamed, and would gladly have been thence at the
time ; but he was obliged to remain and hear this reproof
from that right noble knight. Sir John Chandos.
d 4

40 education of a knight.
chap.ii. plied to some particular part of it. The squires
[ of a lord had each his respective duties — one was
the squire of the chamber, or the chamberlain ;
and another the carving squire. Every branch
of the domestic arrangements of the castle was
under the charge of an aspirant to chivalry.
Spenser, who has opened to us so many interest.i
ing views of chivalric manners, has admirably
paitited the domestic squire discharging some of
his duties : —
" There fairly them receives a gentle squire.
Of mild demeanour and rare courtesy,
Right cleanly clad in comely sad attire ;
In word and deed that show'd great modesty,
And knew his good to all of each degree,
Hight reverence. He them with speeches meet,
Does faire entreat, no courting nicety,
But simple, true, and eke unfained sweet,
As might become a squire so great persons to greet."*
The most honorable squire was he that was
attached to the person of his lord; he was called
the squire of the body, and was in truth for the
time the only railitary youth of the class : every
squire, however, became in turn by seniority the
martial squire. He accompanied his lord into the
field of battie, carrying his shield and armour,
* Fairy Qqeen, book 1. canto 10. St. 7.

EDUCATION. OF A KNIGHT. 41
while the page usually bore the helmet. * He chap.iL;
held the stirrup, and assisted the knight to arm.
There was always a line of squires in the rear of His duties
a line of knights; the young cavaliers supplying '"
their lords with weapons, assisting them to rise
when overthrown, and receiving their prisoners.t
The banner of the banneret and baron was dis
played by the squire. The pennon of the knight
was also waved by him when his leader was only
a knight, and conducted so inany men-at-arms,
and other vassals, that, to give dignity and im
portance to his command, he removed his pen
non from his own lance to that of his attendant.
We can readily believe the historians of ancient
days,; that, it was right pleasant to witness the
seemly pride and generous emulation with which
the squires of the baron, the banneret, and the
knight displayed the various ensigns of their
master's chivalry.
But whatever were the class of duties to which Gallantry.
the candidate for chivalry was attached, he
never forgot that he was also the squire of dames.
During his course of a valet he had been taught
to play with love, and as years advanced, nature
* Froissart, 1. c.269. M.Paris, 873.
f " Les prisons firent arreter,
Et en lieu seur tournerj
- A leurs escuyers les liverent
Et h, garder les commandement."

4/S EDUCATION OF A KNIGHT.
GHAP.II. became his tutor. Since the knights were bound
¦~" by oath to defend the feebler sex, so the principle
was felt in all its force and spirit by him who
aspired to chivalric honours. Hence proceeded
I the qualities of kindness, gentleness, and cour
tesy. The minstrels in the castle harped of love
as well as of war, and from them (for all young
men had not, like Sir Ipomydon, clerks for
their tutors) the squire learnt to express his pas*
sion in verse. This was an important feature of
chivalric education, for among the courtesies of
love, the present of books from knights to lacfies
was not forgotten, and it raore often happenedl
than monkish austerity approved of, that a volume,
bound in sacred guise, contained, not a series of
hymns to the Virgin Mary, but a variety of ama
tory effusions to a terrestrial mistress. * Love
was mixed in the mind of the young squire
with images of war, and he, therefore, thought
that his mistress, like honour, could only be
gained through difiiculties and dangers ; and
from this feeling proceeded the romance of his
passion. But while no obstacle, except the
maiden's disinclination, was in his way, he sang,
• Ulrich von Lichtenstein, p. 70. Ulrich was a German
knight, who lived in the fourteenth century, and wrote his
own memoirs. They often give us curious glimpses into
ancient chivalry.

EDUCATION OF A KNIGHT. 43 •
he danced, he played on rausical instruraents, chap.ii.*
and practised all the arts common to all ages
and nations to win the fair. In Chaucer, we
have a delightful picture of the manners of the
squire : —
" Singing he was or floyting all the day,
He was as fresh as is the month -of May. *
He could songs make, and well endite,
Just and eke dance, and well pourtraie and write;
So bote he loved, that by nighterdale (night time)
He slept no more than doth the nightingale."
Military exercises were mingled with the ^*'^.'''
anxieties of love. He practised every mode by
which strength and activity could be given to
the body. He learnt to endure hunger and
thirst ; to disregard the seasons' changes, and
like the Roraan youths in the Campus Martins,
wben covered with dust, he plunged into the
stream that watered the domains of his lord.

• Chaucer, in drawing his squire, had certainly in mind a
passage from his favourite poem, " The Komaunt of the
llose :" — " Si avoient bien a Bachalier,
Que il sache de vieler,
De fleuter et de danser.'*
I do not notice this circumstance on account of the hterary
coincidence, but to shew that the squire of France and the
squire of England were in Chaucer's view the same character.

4* EDUCATION OF A KNIGHT.
CHAP.II. He accustomed himself to wield the sword, to
thrust the lance, to strike with the axe, and to
wear armour. The most favourite exercise was
that which was called the Quintain : for it
was particularly calculated to practise the eye
and hand in giving a right direction to the
lance. A' half figure of a man, armed with
sword and buckler, was placed on a post, and
turned on a pivot, so that if the assailant with
his lance hit him not on the middle of the
breast but on the extreraities, he made the
figure turn round, and strike him an ill-aimed
blow, much to the merriraent of the spectators.
The game of the Quintain was sometiraes played
by hanging a shield upon a staff fixed in the
ground, and the skilful squire riding apace
struck the shield in such a raanner as to detach
it from its ligatures. *
But of all the exercises of chivalry, none was
Horseman- thoughf SO important as horseraanship.
ship. " Wei could he sit on horse and fair ride,"
is Chaucer's praise of his young squire. Horse
raanship was considered the peculiar science of
men of gentle blood. That Braggadochio had
not been trained in chivalry was apparent from
his bad riding. Even his valiant courser chafed
* Du Cange, Dissert. 7. au Joinville, and Menage, Diet.
Et, in verb.

education of a knight. 45
and foaraed, for he disdained to bear any base chap.il
burthen. *
Notions of religion were blended with those
of arras in the mind of the squire, for his sword
was blessed by the priest, and delivered to him
at the altar. As he advanced to manhood he
left to younger squires most of the domestic
duties of his station. Without losing his title of
squire he became also called a bachelor, a word
also used to designate a young unmarried knight.
He went on military expeditions. The squire
in Chaucer, though but twenty years old, had
*' Sometime been in chevauchee,
In Flanders, in Artois, and in Picardy."
Love was the inspirer of his chivalry : for he

* Fairy Queen, book 2.. canto 3. st. 46.
" So to his steed he got, and 'gan to ride.
As one unfit therefore, that all might see
He had not trained been in chivalry ;
Which well that valiant courser did discern ;
For he despised to tread in dew degree,
But chaf 'd and foam'd with courage fierce and stern.
And to be eas'd of that base burthen still did erne."
In the old poem called the Siege of Karvalerock, a knight
is praised for not appearing on horseback like a man asleep.
" Ki.kant seroit sur le cheval^
Ne seihbloit home ki someille."

4i6 education of a knight.
.CHAP. IL " Bore him well, as of so little space,
^ In hope to stonden in his lady's grace,

» #

of^^'uiresin ^'^^ *^^ squirc, iustcad of being raerely the
battles. servant of the knight, often periled hiraself in
his defence. When the knight was irapetuous
beyond the well-tempered bravery of chivalry,
the admirer of his raight followed him so close,
and adventured himself so jeopardously, as to
cover him with his shield, t A valiant knight,
Ernalton of Saint Colombe, was on the point of
being discomfited by a squire called Guillonet,
of Salynges ; but when the squire of Sir Er
nalton saw his master almost at utterance, he
went to him, and took his axe out of his hands,
and said, " Ernalton, go your way, and rest
you ; ye can no longer fight ;" and then with
• Chaucer, Prologue to the Canterbury Tales. Selden,
Titles of Honour, part 2. c. 3, 6.
f Froissart, vol. 1. c. 321. ' The lord Langurant did that
day marvels in arms, so that his own men and also strangers
had marvels of his deeds. He advanced himself so much
forward that he put his life in great jeopardy, for they within
the town (against whose walls he was standing on a ladder,)
by clean force raised his helm from his head, and so had
been dead without remedy, if a squire of his had not been
there, who followed him so near that he covered him with
his target, and the lord and he together descended down the
ladder by little and little, and in their descending they re
ceived on their target many a great stroke. They were
greatly praised by all that saw them.' -^ Berner's Froissart.

education of a knight. 47
the axe he went to the hostile squire, says Frois- chap.ii.
sart, and gave him such a stroke on the head
that he was astonied, and had nigh fallen to
the earth. He recovered hiraself) and aimed a
blow at his antagonist, which would have been
fatal, but that the squire slipped under it, and,
throwing his arms round Guillonet, wrestled,
and finally threw him. The victor exclaimed
that he would slay his prostrate foe, unless he
would yield himself to his master. The name
of his master was asked : " Ernalton of Saint
Colombe," returned the squire, " with whom
thou hast fought all this season." Guillonet
seeing the dagger raised to strike him, yielded
him to render his body prisoner at Lourde
within fifteen days after, rescue or no rescue. *
The squires were brought into the melee of Particu-
knights, at the famous battle of Bovines, on the baw^e^of ^
27th of July, 1214. The force of Philip Au- ^°™''-
gustus was far inferior in nuraber to that of the
united Germans and Flemish ; and, in order to
prevent them from surrounding him, he length
ened his line by placing the squires at the two ex
tremities of the knights. The mail-clad chivalry
of the emperor Otho were indignant at such
soldiers daring to front thera ; but the young
* Froi^^art, liv. 2. c. 34.

48 ceremony of inaugueation.
CHAP.IL warriors were not dismayed by haughty looks
" and contumelious speeches, and their active dar
ing mainly contributed to the gaining of.the
victory, the most considerable one that France
had ever obtained. *
Prepara- Scldom beforc the age of twenty-one was a
knighthood, squire admitted to the full dignity of chivalry.
Chaucer's squire was twenty, and had achieved
feats of arms. St. Louis particularly commanded
that the honour of knighthood should not be
conferred upon any raan under the age of
twenty-one. As the time approached for the
completing and crowning of his character, his
religious duties became more strictly enforced.
Knighthood was assimilated, as much as pos
sible, to the clerical state, and prayer, confes
sion, and fasting were necessary for the candidate
for both. The squire had his sponsors, the em-
bleras of spiritual regeneration were applied to
him, and the ceremonies of inauguration com
menced by considering him a new man. He
went into a bath, and then was placed in a
bed. They were symbolical, the bath of purity
of soul, and the bed of the rest which he was

* Rigordus in Du Chesne, vol. 5. p. 59. Mr. Maturin, in
that powerful and magnificent romance, the Albigenses, has
made a very fine use of .the instance related above of the
squirehood of Philip Augustus.

ceremony of inauguration. 49
hereafter to, enjoy in paradise. In the middle chap.il
ages people generally reposed naked *, and it
was not till after he had slept that the neophyte
was clad with a shirt. This white dress was
considered symbolical of the purity of his new
character. A red garment was thrown over
him to mark his resolution to shed his blood in
the cause of Heaven. The vigil of arms was
a necessary preliminary to knighthood. The
night before his inauguration he passed in a
church, armed from head to foot t, and engaged
in prayer and religious meditation. One of
the last acts of preparation was the shaving of
his head to make its appearance resemble that of
the ecclesiastical tonsure. To part with hair was
* This strange practice prevailed, says Mr. Ellis, (Speci
mens of early English Poetry, vol.i. p. 325.) at a time
when the day-dress of both sexes was much warmer than at
present, it being generally bordered, and often lined with
furs ; insomuch that numberless warrens were established
in the neighbourhood of London for the purpose of sup
plying its inhabitants with rabbit skins. " Perhaps," con
tinues Mr. Ellis, in his usual style of pleasantry, " it was
this warmth of clothing that enabled our ancestors, in de
fiance of a northern climate, to serenade their mistresses with
as much perseverance as if they had lived under the torrid
zone." f This, circumstance was satirised, as the reader must re
member, by Cervantes, who did not always spare chivalry
itself in his good humoured satire of the romances of chivalry.
VOL. I. E

50 ceremony of INAUGURATION.
CHAP.IL always regarded in the church as a symbol of
servitude to God. *
The ceremony of inauguration was generally
performed in a church, or hall of a castle, on the
occasion of some great religious or civic festival.
The candidate advanced to the altar, and,
taking his sword from the scarf to which it was
appended, he presented it to the priest, who laid
it upon the altar, praying that Heaven would
bless it, and that it might serve for a protection
of the church, of widows, and orphans, and of
all the servants of God against the tyrannies of
I 1 pagans and other deceivers, in whose eyes he
. \ mercifully hoped that it would appear as an in-
\ \ strument of terror. The young soldier took his
oaths of chivalry ; he soleranly swore to de
fend the church, to attack the wicked, to respect
the priesthood, to protect woraen and the poor,
to preserve the country in tranquillity, and to
shed his blood, even to its last drop, in behalf of
his brethren. The priest then re-delivered the
sword to him with the assurance that, as it had
received God's blessing, he who wielded it would
prevail against all enemies and the adversaries of
the church. He then exhorted him to gird his
* Du Cange, articles Barbani radere, and Capilli. The
complete shaving of the head was not often submitted to by
knights. It was generally thought sufficient if a lock of
hair was cut off.

ceremony of INAUGURATION. 51
sword upon his strong thigh, that with it he chap.il
might exercise the power of equity to destroy
the hopes of the profane, to fight for God's
church, and defend his faithful people, and to
repel and destroy the hosts of the wicked,
whether they were heretics or pagans. Finally,
the soldier in chivalry was exhorted to defend
widows and orphans, and to restore and preserve
the desolate, to revenge the wronged, to con-
firra the virtuous ; and he was assured that by
performing these high duties he would attain
heavenly joys. *

* In the Fabliau of the order of knighthood the exhortation
is somewhat different, and necessarily so, for the candidate
was a Saracen. It was not to be expected that he would
vow to destroy his erring brethren. The exhortation de
serves to be extracted, for it contains some particulars not
noticed in the one which I have inserted in the text. Whe
ther specially mentioned or not, attendance at church and
serving the ladies were always regarded as essentials of a
knight's duty.
" Still to the truth direct thy strong desire.
And flee the very air where dwells a liar :
Fail not the mass, there still with reverend feet
Each morn be found, nor scant thy offering meet :
Each week's sixth day with fast subdue thy mind.
For 'twas the day of passion for mankind :
Else let some pious work, some deed of grace.
With substituted worth fulfil the place :
Haste thee, in fine, where dames complain of wrong,
Maintain their right, and in their cause be strong.
E 2

5^ CEREMONY OF INAUGURATION.
CHAP.II. The young warrior afterwards advanced to
 the supreme lord in the assembly, and knelt
before him with clasped hands ; — an attitude
copied from feudal manners, and the only cir
cumstance of feudality in the whole ceremony.
The lord then questioned him whether his vows
had any objects distinct from the wish to main
tain religion and chivalry. The soldier having
answered in the negative, the ceremony was
permitted to advance. He was invested with
all the exterior marks of chivalry. The knights
and ladies of the court attended on him, and de
livered to him the various pieces of his harness.*

For not a wight there lives, if right I deem.
Who holds fair hope of well-deserv'd esteem.
But to the dames by strong devotion bound,
Their cause sustains, nor faints for toil or wound."
Way's Fabliaux, vol. i. p. 94.
The expressive conciseness of the exhortation to the
duties of knighthood in the romance of Ysaie le Triste is
admirable. " Chevalier soies cruel a tes ennemys, debonnaire
a tes amys, humble a non puissans, et aidez toujours le droit
a soustenir, et confons celluy qui tort a vefves dames, poures
pucelles et orphelins, et poures gens aymes toujours a ton
pouvir, et avec ce aime toujours Saincte Eglise."
* The more distinguished the rank of the aspirant,
the more distinguished were those who put themselves for-
ward to arm him. The romances often state that the shield
was given to a knight by a king of Spain, "the sword by a
king of England, the helmet from a French sovereign, &c.

ceremony of inauguration. 53
The armour varied with the railitary customs of chap.il
different periods and of different countries, but
some matters were of permanent usage. The
spurs were always put on first, and the sword
was belted on last. The concluding sign of
being dubbed or adopted into the order of
knighthood was a slight blow* given by the lord
to the cavalier, and called the accolade, from the
part of the body, the neck, whereon it was
struck. The lord then proclaimed him a knight
in the name of God and the saints, and such
cavaliers as were present embraced their newly-
made brother. The priest exhorted him to go
forth like a man, and observe the ordinances of
heaven. Impressed with the solemnity of the
scene, all the other knights renewed in a few
brief and energetic sentences their vows of chi-
* The word dub is of pure Saxon origin. The French
word adouber is similar to the Latin adoptare, not adaptare,
for knights were not raade by adapting the habiliments of
chivalry to them, but by receiving them, or being adopted
into the order. Many writers have iraagined that the acco
lade was the last blow which the soldier might receive with
impunity : but this interpretation is not correct, for the
squire was as jealous of his honour as the knight. The
origin of the accolade it is impossible to trace, but it was
clearly considered symbolical of the religious and moral
duties of knighthood, and was the only ceremony used
when knights were made in places (the field of battle, for
instance,) where time and circumstances did not allow of
many ceremonies.
E 3

54) CEREMONY OF INAUGURATION.
CHAP.IL valry; and while the hall was gleaming with
drawn swords, the man of God again took up the
word, blessing him who had newly undertaken,
and those who had been long engaged in holy
warfare, and praying that all the hosts of the
enemies of heaven might be destroyed by
Christian chivalry. The assembly then dis
persed. The new knight, on leaving the hall,
vaulted on his steed, and showed his skill in the
management ofthe lance, that the admiringpeople
might know that a cavalier had been elected for
their protection. He distributed largesses among
the servants and minstrels ofthe castle, for whoso
received so great a gift as the order of chivalry
honoured not his order if he gave not after his
ability. The remainder of the day was passed
in congratulation and festivity.*
Many of the most virtuous affections of the
heart wound themselves round that iraportant
circumstance in a man's life, his admission into
knighthood. He always regarded with filial
piety the cavalier who invested him with the
order. He never would take him prisoner if
they were ranged on opposite sides, and he would
have forfeited all title to chivalric hondurs if he
had couched his lance against him.
* Caxton, Fayt of Armes and Chivalry , c. 49 Favyn
Theatre of Honour, liv. i. c. 6. Daniel, Hist, de la Milice
rrancaise, liv. i. c. 4.

CEREMONY OF INAUGURATION. 55
A noble aspirant to chivalry would only chap.ii-
receive the accolade from a warrior, whose fame Squires
had excited his emulation, or sometimes the be knighted
feelings of feudal attachment prevailed over the cLfacters.
higher and sterner sense of chivalry. In ex
pectation of a battle, the Earl of Buckingham
called forth a gentle squire of Savoy, and said,
" Sir, if God be pleased, I think we shall this
" day have a battle ; therefore I wish that you
" would become a knight." The squire ex
cused himself by saying, "Sir, God thank you
" for the nobleness that ye would put me unto ;
" but, Sir, I will never be knight without I
" am made by the hands of my natural lord, the
" Eari of Savoy." *
A very singular tribute was paid to bravery
during the famous battle of Homildon Hill.
When the cloth-yard arrows of the English
yeomen were piercing the opposite line through
and through. Sir John S winton exhorted the

* Froissart, vol. i. c. 364. The romance writers raade
strange work of this disposition of candidates for chivalry to
receive the wished for honours from the hands of redoubted
heroes. In one of them a man wanted to be knighted by
the famous Sir Lancelot of the Lake. He however happened
to be dead, but that circumstance was of no consequence,
for a sword was placed in the right hand of the skeleton, and
made to drop upon the neck of the kneeling squire, who
immediately rose a knight.
E 4

56 CEREMONY OF INAUGURATION.
CHAP.II. Scotsmen not to stand like deer to be shot, at,'
but to indulge their ancient courage and meet
their enemy hand to hand. His wish, however,
was echoed only by one man, Adam Gordon,
and between their fainiHes a mortal feud existed.
Generouslyforgetting the hatred which each house
bore to the other, Gordon knelt before Swinton,
and solicited to be knighted by so brave a man.
The accolade was given, and the two friends,
like companions in arms, gallantly charged the
English. If a kindred spirit had animated the
whole of theScottish line the fate ofthe day might
have been reversed ; but the two noble knights
were only supported by about an hundred men-
at-arms devoted to all their enterprises ; and they
all perished.*
The ceremonies of inauguration which have
been described were gone through when knight
hood was conferred on great and public occasions
of festivity, but they often gave place to the power
of rank and circumstances. Princes were ex
empted from the laborious offices of page and
Knights squire. Men were often adopted into chivalry
made in ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^ battle, as it was considered that
battie.fip,^ a sense of their new honours would inspire their
gallantly. Once during the war of our Black
Prince in Spain, more than three hundred soldiers
Pinkerton's History of Scotland, vol.i. p. 71.

CEREMONY OF INAUGURATION. 57
raised their pennons ; many of them had been chap.il
squires, but in one case the distinction was
entirely complimentary, for Peter the Cruel, who
could boast neither chivalric qualities nor • chi
valric services, was dubbed. There was scarcely
a battle in the middle ages which ^vas not pre
ceded or followed by a large promotion of men
to the honour of knighthood. Sometimes, indeed,
they were regularly educated squires, but more
frequently the mere contingency of the moment
was regarded, and soldiers distinguished only
for their bravery and ungraced by the gentle
virtues of chivalry were knighted. We often
read of certain squires being made cavaliers and
raising their pennons, but very often no pennons
were raised, that is to say, the raen who were
knighted were not able to summon round their
lances a single raan-at-arras ; hence it ocurred ifconve-
'^ ' nience ot
that the world was overspread with poor knights, <>»S'
sorae of whom brought chivalry into disgrace by
depredations andviolence ; others wandered about
the worldi n quest of adventures, and let out their
swords to their richer brethren. In the romance
of Partenopex of Blois, there is a picture of a
knight of this last class.
" So riding, they o'ertake an errant knight,
Well hors'd, and large of limb. Sir Gaudwin hight »

58 ceremony of inauguration.
CHAP.IL He nor of castle nor of land was lord,
' Houseless he reap'd the harvest of the sword ;
And now, not more on fame than profit bent.
Rode with blithe heart unto the tournament;
For cowardice he held it deadly sin,
And sure his mind and bearing were akin,
The face an index to the soul within ;
It seem'd that he, such pomp his train bewray'd,
Had shap'd a goodly fortune by his blade ;
His knaves were point device, in livery dight,
With sumpternags,and tents for shelter in the night."
Knights of Cavaliers sometimes took their title from the
Mines. place where they were knighted : a very dis
tinguished honor was to be called a Knight of
the Mines, which was to be obtained by achieving
feats of arms in the subterranean process of a
siege. The mines were the scenes of knightly
valour; they were lighted up by torches ; trumpets
and other war instruments resounded, and the
general affair of the siege was suspended, while
the knights tried their prowess ; the singularity
of the mode of combat giving a zest to the en
counters. No prisoners could be taken, as a
board, breast high, placed in thepassage by mutual
consent, divided the warriors. Swords or short
battle-axes were the only weapons used.
In the year 1388, the castie of Vertueill, in
Poictou, then held by the English, was besieged
by the Duke of Bourbon. Its walls raised on

CEREMONY OF INAUGURATION. 59
a lofty rock were not within the play of the chap.ip.
battering ram, and therefore the tedious opera
tion of the mine was resorted to : both parties
frequently met and fought in the excavated
chambers, and a battle of swords was one day
carried on between Regnaud de Montferrand, the
squire ofthe castle, and the Duke of Bourbon»
each being ignorant of the name and quality of
the other. At length the cry " Bourbon,
Bourbon ! Our Lady !" shouted by the attendants
of the Duke, in their eager joy at the fray,
struck the ears of the squire, and arrested his
hand. He withdrew some paces, and enquired
whether the duke were present : when they
assured him ofthe fact, he requested to receive
the honour of knighthood in the mine, from the
hands of the duke, and offering to deliver up
the castle to hira in return for the distinction,
and from respect fbr the honour and valour he
found in him. Never was a castle in the pride
of its strength and power gained by easier means.
The keys were delivered to the Duke of Bourbon
by Regnaud de Montferrand, and the honor of
knighthood, with a goodly courser and a large
golden girdle, were bestowed on the squire in
return. *
* Favyn, liv. iii. c. 12. Monstrelet, vol. vi. p. 82. Honors,
Dissertations Historiques et Critiques sur la Chevaliere. 4to.
Paris. 1718. p. 55.

60 CEREMONY OF DEGRADATION.
CHAP.IL Such were the various ceremonies of chivalric
Gen"^ inauguration. Those of degradation should be
Tf Tgrf ' noticed. What the offences were which were
dation. punishable by degradation it is impossible to
specify. If a knight offended against the rules of
the order of chivalry he was degraded, inasmuch
as he was despised by his brother knights ; and
as honour was the life-blood of chivalry, he
dreaded contempt more than the sword. Still,
however, there were occasions when a knight
might be formally deprived of his distinctions.
The ceremony of degradation generally took
place after sentence, and previous to the exe
cution of a legal judgment against him. * Some
times his sword was broken over his head, and
his spurs were chopped off; and, to make the
bitterness of insult a part of the punishment,
these actions were performed by a person of low
condition ; but at other times the forms of de
gradation were very elaborate. The knight who
was to be degraded was in the first instance
armed by his brother knights from head to foot,
as if he had been going to the battle-field ; they
* Selden likens the degradation of a knight to the degra.
dation of a clergyman by the canon law, previously to his
being delivered over to the secular magistrate for punish
ment. The order ofthe clergy and the order of knighthood
were supposed to be saved from disgrace by this expulsion
of an unworthy member. Selden, Titles of Honour, p. 787.

CEREMONY OF DEGRADATION. 61
then conducted him 'to a high stage, raised in a chap.ii.
church, where the king and his court, the clergy,
and the people, were assembled ; thirty priests
sung such psalms as were used at burials ; at the
end of every psalm they took from him a piece
of armour. First, they removed his helmet, the
defence of disloyal eyes, then his cuirass on the
right side, as the protector of a corrupt heart ;
then his cuirass on the . left side, as from a
member consenting, and thus with the rest ; and
when any piece of armour was cast upon the
ground, the king of arms and heralds cried,
" Behold the harness of a disloyal and miscreant
knight!" A basin of gold or silver full of warm
water was then brought upon the s£age, and a
herald holding it up, demanded the knight's
name. The pursuivants answered that which in
truth was his designation. Then the chief king
of arms said, " That is not true, for he is a mis
creant and false traitor, and hath transgressed
the ordinances of knighthood." The chaplains
answered, " Let us give him his right name."
The trumpets sounded a few notes, supposed to
express the demand, "what shall be done with
him ?" The king, or his chief officer, who was
present replied, " Let him with dishonour and
shame be banished from my kingdom as a vile
and infamous man, that hath offended against
the honour of knighthood." The heralds im-

62 CEREMONY OF DEGRADATION.
GHAP.II. mediately cast the warm water upon the face of
the disgraced knight, as though he were newly
baptized, saying, " Henceforth thou shalt be
called by thy right name. Traitor." Then the
king, with twelve other knights, put upon them
mourning garments, declaring sorrow, and thrust
the degraded knight from the stage: by the
bufiettings of the people he was driven to the
altar, where he was put into a coffin, and the
burial-service of the church was solemnly read
over him. *
inEn"r'r '^^^ EugUsh customs regarding degradation
are minutely stated by Stowe in the case of an
English knight, Sir Andrew Harcley, Earl of Car
lisle who (in the time of Edward II.) was de
prived of his knighthood, previously to his suf
fering the penalties of the law for a treasonable
correspondence with Robert Bruce. " He was
led to the bar as an earl, worthily apparelled,
with his sword girt about him, horsed, booted,
and spurred, and unto him Sir Anthony Lucy
(his judge) spoke in this manner : ' Sir Andrew,'
quoth he, ' the king for thy valiant service
hath done thee great honour, and raade thee Earl
of Carlisle, since which time thou as a traitor to
thy lord, the king, led his people, that should have
helped him at the battle of Heighland, away by
* Segar, Of Honour, lib. ii. c. 5.

CEREMONY OF DEGRADATION. 63
the county of Copland, and through the earldora chap.ii.
of Lancaster, by which raeans our lord the king
was discomfited there of the Scots, through thy
treason and falseness ; whereas, if thou haddest
come betimes, he hadde had the victory, and
this treason thou committed for the great sum
of gold and silver that thou received of James
Douglas, a Scot, the king's enemy. Our lord
the king wills, therefore, that the order of knight
hood, by the which thou received all the honour
and worship upon thy body, be brought to
nought, and thy state undone, that other knights
of lower degree may afler thee beware, and take
example truly to serve.' Then commanded he
to hew his spurs from his heels, then to break
his sword over his head, which the king had
given him to keep and defend his land therewith,
when he made him earl. After this, he let un
clothe him of his furred tabard, and of his hood,
of his coat of arras, and also of his girdle; and
when this was done. Sir Anthony said unto
him, ' Andrew,' quoth he, ' now art thou no
knight, but a knave ; and for thy treason the
king wills that thou shalt be hanged and drawn,
and thy head smitten off from thy body, and
burned before thee, and thy body quartered, and
thy head being smitten off, afterwards to be set
upon London bridge, and thy four quarters shall

64 CEREMONY OF DEGRADATION.
CHAP.IL be sent into four good towns of England, that
all others may beware by thee ;' and as Sir An
thony Lucy had said, so was it done in all things,
on the last day of October. " *
* Stow's Chronicle.

65

CHAP. IIL
THE EQUIPMENT,
Beauty of the chivalric Equipment ... The Lance ... The
Pennon ... The Axe, Maule, and Martel ... The Sieord
...Fondness ofthe Knight for it ... Swords in Romances
...The Shield . . . Various sorts of Mail . . . Mail . . . Mail
and Plate ... Plate Harness ...The Scarf ... Surcoats ....
Armorial Bearings . . . Surcoats of the Military Orders
... The Dagger of Mercy ... Story of its Use ... Value of
Enquiries into ancient Armour ...A precise Knowledge
unattairiable ... Its general Features interesting ... The
broad Lines of the Subject . . . Excellence of Italian
Armour ... Armour of the Squire, Sj'c. ... Allegories made
on Armowr ... The Horse ofthe Knight.
y HE fierce equipage of war deserves a fuller chap.
consideration than was given to it in the last __1
chapter. The horse whereon the knight dashed thrcMvaWc
to the perilous encounter should be described, ^^"'P^ent,
the weapons by which he established the honour
of his fame and the nobleness of his mistress's
beauty deserve something more than a general
notice. Never was military costume more
splendid ancl graceful than in the days which
are emphatically called " the days of the shield
and the lance." What can modern warfare
VOL.I. F

66 THE EQUIPMENT,

CHAP, present in comparison with the bright and
-— glittering scene of a goodly company of gentle
knights pricking on the plain with nodding
plumes, emblazoned shields, silken pennons
streaming in the wind, and the scarf, that beau
tiful token of lady-love, crossing the strong
and polished steel cuirass.
The lance. 'jjjg \g^Yice was the chlcf offcnslve weapon of
the knight : its staff was commonly formed from
the ash-tree.
Its length was fitted to the vigour and address
of him who bore it, and its iron and sharpened
head w^as fashioned agreeably to his taste. *
To the top of the wooden part of the lance was
Jo'lit^™' generally fixed an ensign, or piece of silk, linen,
or stuff On this ensign was marked the cross,
if the expedition of the soldier had for its object
the Holy Land, or it bore some part of his
heraldry ; and in the latter case, when the lance
* The iron of Poictou was particularly famous for making
admirable lance-heads ; nor was it disliked as a shield. Thus
an old French poet says, —
" Et fu arm£ sor le cheval de pris,
D'Aubei-fij et d'iaume, d'escu Poitevin."
Du Cange, art. Ferrum Pictavense.
The iron pf Bourdeaux is frequently mentioned by Froissart
as of excellent use in armour, liv. 2. c.117. 4. 6. And the
old chronicle of Bertrand du Guesclin says, 
" Un escuier y vint qui au comte lanca
D'une esp6e de Bqurdeaux, qui moult chier li coqsta,"

THE EQUIPMENT. 67
was fixed in the ground near the entrance of the chap. III.
owner's tent, it served to designate the bearer. —
Originally this ensign was called a gonfanon,
the combination of two Teutonic words, signi
fying war and a standard. Subsequently, when
the ensign was formed of rich stuffs and silks, it
was called a pennon, from the Latin word pan-
nus. * The pennon cannot be described from
its exact breadth, for that quality of it varied
with the different fancies of knights, and it had
sometiraes one, but more often two indentations.
at the end.
When the pennon was cut square on occa
sion of a simple knight becoming a knight ban--
neret it received the title of a banner, the an
cient German word for the standard" of a leader,
or prince, t
To transfix his foe with a lance was the or
dinary endeavour of a knight ; but some cava
liers of peculiar hardihood preferred to come to
the closest quarters, where the lance could not
be used. The battle-axe, which they therefore The axe.
often wielded, needs no particular description.
* Menage, Diction. Etym. in verb.
t It is not worth while to say much about raere words. I
shall only add that the banner was sometimes called the,
Gonfanon. " Li Barons aurent gonfanons
Li chevaliers aurent penons."
F 2

and martel.

68 THE EQUIPMENT.
CHAP. But the most favourite weapons were certa-in
-.  ; ponderous steel or iron hammers, carrying death
either by the weight of their fall or the sharp-
The maule uess of the edge. They were called the martel
and the maule, words applied indifferently in
old times ; for writers of days of chivalry cared
little about extreme accuracy of diction, not fore
seeing the fierce disputes which their want of mi
nuteness in description would give rise to. This
was the weapon which ecclesiastics used when
they buckled harness over rochet and hood, and
holy ardour impelled them into the field ; for the
canons of the church forbad them from wielding
swords, and they always obeyed the letter of
the law. Some cavaliers, in addition to their other
weapons, carried the mallet, or maule, hang
ing it at their saddle bow, till the happy moment
for ' breaking open skulls' arrived. When it was
used alone, this description of offensive armour
was rather Gothic than chivalric ; yet the rude
ness of earlier ages had its admirers in all times
of chivalry, the affected love of simplicity not
being peculiar to the present day. A lance
could not execute half the sanguinary purposes
of Richard Coeur de Lion, and it was with a
battie-axe *, as often as with a sword, that he

* This battle-axe is very amusingly described in t\\^
jnetrical romance of Richard Ceeurde Lion :—

fHE EQUIPMENt. QQ
dashed into the ranks of the Saracens. Bertrand chap.
du Guesclin had a partiality for a martel, and so
late as the year 1481 the battle-axe was used.
Among the hosts of the Duke of Burgundy
was a knight named Sir John Vilain. He was
a nobleman from Flanders, very tall, and of
great bodily strength: he was mounted on a
good horse, and held a battle-axe in both hands*
He pressed his way into the thickest part of the
battle, and, throwing his bridle on the neck of
his steed, he gave such mighty blows on all
sides with his battle-axe that whoever was struck
was instantly unhorsed, and wounded past re-

" King Richard I understond,
Or he went out of Englond,
Let him make an axe for the nones.
To break therewith the Sarasyns bones.
The head was Wrought right wele,
Therein was twenty pounds of steel,
And when he came into Cyprus land.
The ax he took in his hand.
All that he hit he all to-frapped,
The Griffons away fast rapped
Natheless many he cleaved.
And their unthanks there by livedo
And the prison when he came to.
With his ax he smot right thro,
Dores, barres, and iron-chains.
And delivered his men out of pains." Line2197, &o,
F 3

70 THE EQUIPMENT.

CHAP, covery. * Generally speaking, however, the po-
— '¦ lite and courteous knights of chivalry thought it
an ungentle practice to use a weapon which was
associated with ideas of trade ; and the roraance-
writers, who reflect the style of thinking of their
tiraes, commonly give the lance to the knight,
and the axe or mallet to some rude and ferocious
giant, t
The sword. The usual wcapou for the press and melee was
the sword, and there were a great many interest
ing associations attached to it. The knight threw
Fondness of rouud it all his affections. In that weapon he
forit!"^' particularly trusted. It was his good sword,
and with still more confidence and kindness he
called it his own good sword. He gave it a name,
and engraved on it some moral sentence, or a
word referring to a great event of his life. Not
indeed that these sentences were confined to the
swdrd ; they were sometiraes engraven ott the
frontlet of the helmet, or even on the spurs t,
but the hilt or blade of the sword were their
usual and proper places. The sword rather than
the lance was the weapon which represented
the chivalry of a family, and descended as the
* Monstrelet. Johnes' edit. vol. 5. p. 294.
f Thus Pandaro the giant in Palmerin of England carried
a huge mallet: — but I need not multiply instances.
J En loyal amour toilt mon cceur, was a favourite motto
on the shank of a spur.

tHE EQUIPMENT. 7^
heir loom of its knighthood. When no one in- '^^^j^'^'
herited his name, there was as much generous —
contention among his friends to possess his good
sword, as in the days of Greece poetry has as
cribed to the warriors who wished for the armour
of Achilles. * The sword was the weapon which
connected the religious and military parts of the
chivalrique character. The knight swore by his
sword, for its cross hilt was emblematical of his
Saviour's cross^
David in his dales dubbed knights,
And did hem swere on her sword to serve truth ever*
P. Ploughman.
The word Jesus was sometimes engraven on
the hUt to remind the wearer of his religious du
ties. The sword was his only crucifix, when
mass was said in the awful pause between the
forming of the military array and the laying of
lances in their rests. It was moreover his conso
lation in the moment of death. When that
doughty knight of Spain, Don Rodrigo Frojaz
was lying upon his shield, with his helmet for a
pillow, he kissed the cross of his sword in re
membrance of that on which the incarnate son
of God had died for him, and in that act of de-

* Ritterzeit und Ritterwesen, vol. 1. p. 193-'
F 4

/SJ THE EQUIPMENT.
CHAP, votion rendered up his soul into the hands of his
IIL ^
' — Creator. *
The handle of the swojfd was also remarkable
for another raatter. The knight, in order not to
lose the advantage of having his seal by him,
caused it to be cut in the head of his sword, and
thus by impressing his seal upon any wax at
tached to a legal document, he exhibited his de
termination to maintain his obligation by the
three-fold figure of his seal, the upholden naked
sword, and the cross, t
The sword of the knight was held in such
high estimation, that the name of its maker was
thought worthy of record. Thus when Geoffery
of Plantagenet received the honor of knighthood,
a sword was brought out of the royal treasury,
the work of Galan, the best of all sword
smiths. I Spain was always famous for the
temper and brilliancy of its swords. Martial
speaks in several places of the Spanish swords
which, when hot from the forge, were plunged
in the river Salo near Bilbilis in ^ Celtiberia.
The arraourers at Saragossa were aS 1-enowned in
days of chivalry as those of Toledo in rather later
times, for it was not only the sword of Toledo
that became a proverbial phrase for the perfec-
* Chronicle of the Cid. p. 46.
f Ritterzeit und Ritterwesen, vol. 1. p. 20L
j; Hoveden.

tHE ECjUIPMENt. 73
tioti of the art. Softietimes the arijiourers had eS- '^^^•
tabhshments in both towns. The excellence, —
however, of the swords of Julian del Rey, \vho
lived both at Saragossa and Toledo, is referred
to by the keeper of the lions in Don Quixote.
The weapons of this artist had their pecuhar
marks. El perillo, a little dog ; el morillo, a
Moor's head, and la loba, a wolf. '**'
But perhaps it may be thought I am passing
the bounds of my subject. To return then to
earlier days* The girdle round the waist, or the
bauldrick descending from the shoulder across
the body was simple tanned leather only, or
sometimes its splendour rivalled that of prince
Arthur in the Fairy Queen.
Athwart his breast a bauldrick brave he ware
That shihd like twinkling stars, with stones most
precious rare;
And in the midst thereof, one precious stone
Of wond'rous worth, and eke of wondrous mights,
Shapt like a lady's head, exceeding shone,
Like Hesperus among the lesser lights,
And strove for to amaze the weaker sights :
Thereby his mortal blade full comely hung
In ivory sheath, ycarv'd with curious slights,
* Pellicer's note on Don Quixote, edit. Madrid, 1798.
Dillon's Travels in Spain, p. 143.

74 THE EQUifMEisrT.
CHAP. Whose hilt was burnish'd gold, and handle strong
in ¦ ¦ Of mother perle, and buckled with a golden tong.
Book 1. c. 7. St. 29, 30.

Many ofthe historical circumstaiSies just now
related regarding the sword of the knight are
pleasingly exaggerated in the beautiful extrava-
Swords in gaucics of romautic fabling. The raost famous
romances. , . , . . . „
sword in the imagination of our ancestors was
that of king Arthur ; it was called EscaUbert
(corrupted into Caliburn). The romance of Mer
lin thus explains the name. Escalibert est un
nom Ebricu qui vault autant a dire en Frangais,
comme tres cher fer et acier, et aussi dissoyent il
vrai. The history of this sword enters largely into
the romances of Arthur, and the knights of the
round table, and the subject was fondly che=
rished by those who detailed the exploits of other
heroes. The fame of Caliburn was reraembered
when Richard the first went to the East. The
romances affirm that he wore the terrible and
trusty sword of Arthur. But, instead of mow^
ing down ranks of Saracens with it, he presented
it to Tancred, king of Sicily.
And Richard at that time gaf him a faire juelle.
The good sword Caliburne, which Arthur luffed so welL*

* Robert df BrUrie-

THE EQUIPMENT. 75
The romancers followed the practices ofthe chap.
northern scalds'*, of naraing the swords of —
knights : that of Sir Bevis of Harapton was
called Morglay ; and that ofthe Emperor Char
lemagne himself Fusberta joyosa.t The poets
were also as faithful delineators of manners as
their predecessors the roraance writers had been,
and therefore we find in Ariosto that the sword
of the courteous Rogero was called Balisarda,
and that of Orlando, Durindana.
In the romance of Sir Otuel, the address of
the same Orlando to his sword is perfectly in the
spirit of chivalry.
Then he began to make his moan
And fast looked thereupon,
As he held it in his bond.
" O sword of great might.
Better bare never no knight,
To win with no lond !
* Worrhius, Lit. Run. p. 110. Hickes Thes. Vol.1, p. 193.
t The notion of applying the word jocos^ to a sword is
thus pleasantly dilated on by St. Palaye. " Ils ont continuelle-
ment repandu sur toutes les images de la guerre un air
d'enjouement, qui leur est propre : ils n'ont jamais parl6 que
comme d'une fete, d'un jeu, et d'un passe-temps.^ Jouer
leur jeu, ont-ils dit, les arbal^triers qui faisoient pleuvoir
une grSle de traits. Jouer gros jeu, pour doiiner battaile.
Jouer , des mains, et une infinite d'autres fafons de parler
semblables se recontrent souvent dans la lecture de recits
militaires nos ^criVaitis.''

IIL

76 THE EQUiPMENt.
OS Afi Thou hasty — be in many batayle,
That never Sarrazin, sans fayle
Ne might thy stroke withstond.
Go ! let never no paynim
Into battle bear himj
After the death of Roland !
O sword of great powere,
in this world n'is nought thy peer,
Of no metal y — wrought ;
All Spain and Galice,
Through grace of God and thee y — wis,
To Christendom ben brought.
Thou art good withouten blame ;
In thee is graven the holy name
That all things made of nought*"*
Regarding inscriptions on swords mentioned
in the concluding lines, there is a very interest
ing passage in the romance of Giron the cour-
teoiis. On one occasion where the chaste virtue
of that gentle knight and noble Companion of
Arthur was in danger, his spear, which he had
rested against a tree, fell upon his sword, and
impelled it into a fountain. Giron immediately
left the lady With whom he was conversing, and
ran to the water. He snatched the weapon from
the fountain, and, throwing away the scabbard,
began to wipe the blade. Then his eyes lighted
• Ellis' Metrical Romances. 2. 362.

THE EQUIPMENT. 7?'
on the words that were written on the sword, chaR III.
and these were the words that were thus writr ..^.^
ten: — Loyaulte passe tout, et faulsete si hon-
neit tout, et deceit tous hommes dedans quals
elle se herberge. This sentence acted with talis-
manic power upon the heart of that noble knight
Giron the pourteous, and so his virtue was saved.
Leaving those pictures of manners which The shield.
the old romances have painted, I come to
the defensive harness of the knight, a subject
which has many claims to attention. The shield
was held in equal esteem in chivalric as in classic
times; for
" To lose the badge that should his deeds display,"
was considered the greatest shame and foulest
scorn that could happen to a knight. The shape
of the shield was oblong or triangular, wide at
the top for the protection of the body, and
tapering to the bottom. * Other shapes were
* The shield therefore was fitted by its shape to bear a
wounded knight from the field, ^n^ to that use it was fre
quently applied, Another purpose is alluded to in tjig
spirited opening to the Lay of the Gentle Bachelor.
" What gentle Bachelor is he
Sword-rbegot in figlitii^g field,
Rock'd and cradled in a shield,
Whosg infant foo4 a helm did yiel4."

78 THE EQUIPMENT.
CHAP, given to it agreeably to the fancy of the knight,
— - and it was plain or adorned with emblazonry of
arms and other ornaments of gold and silver, ac
cording to his estate, and the simplicity or com-
impresses. parativc refinement of his age. Some knights,
as gentle as brave, adorned their shields with
a portrait of their lady-love*, or stamped on
thera irapresses quaint, with a device emblema
tical of their passion. Knights formed of sterner
stuff retained their heraldic insignia, and their
mottoes breathed war and homicide ; but gallant
cavaliers shewed the gentleness of their minds,
and their impressed sentences were sometimes
plain of raeaning, but oftener dark to all, except
the knight himself, and the damsel whose play
ful wit had invented them. We can readily
imagine that those amorous devices and im
presses were not so frequently used in the battle
field as in the tournament, and that they were
sometimes worn together with gentilitial dis
tinctions.
Various The casing of the body is a very curious
wail. subject of enquiry. The simplicity of ancient
tiraes^ in using the skins of beasts, is marked in
the word loricum, from the word lorum, a thong,
and the word CM?Va55e is traceable to cuir, leather.
Body harness has three general divisions ; mail ;
» Malmsbury, p. 170,

THE EQUIPMENT. 79
plate and mail mixed ; plate mail entirely. Rows chap.
of iron rings, sown on the dress, were the first — '.
defences, and then, for additional defence, a row
of larger rings was laid over the first. These
rings gave way to sraall iron plates which lapped
over each other, and this variety of mail is in
teresting, for armour now reserabled the lorica
squammata of the Romans, and hence ancient
mail of this description has generally been
called scale-mail, while the ordinary appear
ance of armour being like the meshes of a net,
gained it the title of mail from the macula of
the Latins, and the maglia of the Italians. Some
times the plates were square, and sometimes of
a lozenge form : but it would be considering the
matter much too curiously to divide armour
into as many species as the shapes and forms
which a small piece of iron or steel was capable
of being divided into. *
All this variety of mail harness was sown on
an under garment of leather or cloth, or a more
considerable wadding of various sorts of raate
rials, and called a garabeson. If the garment
were a simple tunic or frock the whole was
* Dr. Meyriok, in his huge work on armour, divides the
sorts of this early mail into the rustred, the scaled, the trel-.
lissed, the purpointed, and the tegulated. The grave pre
cision of this enumeration will amuse the curious enquirer
into the infinite divisibility of matter,

80 THE EQUIPMENT.
CHAF. called a hauberk. The lower members were de-
,=J- fended by chausses, which may be intelligible to
modern understandings by the words breeches or
pantaloons. When the mailed frock and cfiausses
were joined, the union was called the hau-
bergeon. In each case, the back and crown of
the head were saved harmless by a hood of mail,
which sometimes formed part of the hauberk or
haubergeon, and sometimes was detached. In
Spain, the hood and the other parts of the dress
were united, if the case of the Cid be held as
evidence of the general state of manners ; for
after his battles, he is always represented as
slowly quitting the field with his gory hood
thrown back. The mail covered also the chin,
and sometimes the mouth ; in the latter case the
office of breathing being entirely committed to
the care of the nose. Finally, the sleeves of the
jacket were carried over the fingers, and a con
tinuation of the chausses protected the toes.
*' A goodly knight all armed in harness meet
That from his he^d no place appeared to his feete."
It is curious that foppery in armour began at
the toe. It was the fashion for the knight to
have the toe of the mail several inches in length
and inclining downwards, Tq fight on foot with
such incurabrances was impossible, and, theyg.

THE EQUIPMENT. 81
fore the enemies of the crusaders (for foppery chap.
prevailed even in religious wars) shot rather at — '-
the horses than at the men. The fashion I am
speaking of crossed the Pyrenees, for in the
pictorial representation of a tournament at Gre
nada, between Moorish and Christian knights,
the former are drawn with the broad shovel shoes
of their country, while the latter have long
pointed shoes, like the cavaliers of the North.
: Such were the various descriptions of mail
armour from the earliest aera of chivalry to the
thirteenth century. They were worn at different
times in different countries, and often in the
same country at the same time by different in
dividuals : but at length so excellent an im
provement was made in chain mail, that military
fashion could have no longer any pretence for
variety. The different descriptions of mail
armour show the skill of the iron-smiths among
our ancestors, and that they were capable of in
venting the next and last great change. But as
it was made at a time when the Asiatic mode of
warfare was known in Europe, and as the im
provement I am about to mention was the general
mode of the Saracenian soldiers, it is as probable
that it was borrowed, as that it was invented. The
rings of raail were now no longer sewn on the
dress, but they were interlaced, each ring having
four others inserted into it, and consequently
VOL. I. G

g2 THE EQUIPMENT.

chap, the rings formed a garment of themselves. The
l^ best coats of raail were made of double rings. *
The admirable convenience of this twisted or
reticulated mail secured its general reception.
A knight was no longer encumbered by his
armour in travelling. His squire might be the
bearer of his mail, for it was both flexible and
compact, or it could be rolled upon the hinder
part of a saddle.
Mali and Before, however, this last great improvement
in mail-armour took place, changes were made
in that general description of harness which
foretold its final fall, although it might be par
tially and for a time supported by any par
ticular invention of merit. Plates of solid steel
or iron were fixed on the breast or other parts of
the body, where painful experience had assured
the wearer of the insufficiency of his metal

* In a masterly dissertation upon Ancient Armour, in the
sixtieth number of the Quarterly Review, it is said, that
" though chain-mail was impervious to a sword-cut, yet it
afforded no defence against the bruising stroke of the ponde
rous battle-axe and martel; it did not always resist the shaft of
the long or cross bow, and still less could it repel the thrust
of the lance or the long-pointed sword." — There is a slight
mistake here. All good coats of mail were formed of dupli
cated rings, and their impenetrability to a lance thrust was
an essential quality. " Induitur lorica incomparabili, quae
maculis duplicibus intexta, nullius lanceaeictibus transforabi-
lis haberetur." Mon. 1. 1. ann. 1 127.

THE EQUIPMENT. 88
rings. The new fashion of reticulated mail chap.
° IIL
added nothing to the strength of defence, and, —
therefore, ingenuity and prudence were ever at
work to make defensive armour equal to offensive.
New plates continually were added, and many
of them received their titles from the parts of
the body \vhich they were intended to defend :
the pectoral protected the breast, the cuisses
were for the thighs, the brassarts for the arms,
the ailettes for the shoulders, while the gorget
defended the throat, and a scaly gauntlet gloved
the hand. The cuirass was the title for the de
fence of the breast and the back. This mixed
harness gained ground till the knight had nearly
a double covering of raail and plate. The Piatehar-
plate was then found a perfect defence, and
the mail was gradually thrown aside ; and
thus, finally, the warrior was entirely clad in
steel plates. This harness was exceedingly op
pressive to the limbs, and therefore we find the
circumstance so frequently mentioned in old
writers, that when a knight alighted at his hostel
or inn, he not only doffed his armour, but went
into a bath. No wonder that it was necessary to
keep changes of dress to present to the cavaliers
who arrived. Plate-armour must have been as
destructive of clothes as the old chain mail, and
describing his knight, Chaucer says,
G 2

84 THE EQUIPMENT,

CHAP. IIL

" Of fustian he wered a gipon
Alle besmotred with his habergeon.
For he was of late y come fro his viage,
And vrente for to don his pilgrimage."
The plate harness was in one respect far more
inconvenient than the armour it superseded.
The coat of chain raail could be put on or
slipped off with instantaneous celerity ; but
the dressing of a plate-arraed knight was no
simple matter, " Prom the tents
The armourers, accomplishing the knights,
With busy hammers closing rivets up,
Give dreadful note of preparation."
Besides this deprivation of rest before a battle,
the knight, in order to prevent surprise, was
obliged to wear his heavy harness almost con
stantly. It is curious to observe, that chain mail formed
some part of the harness of a knight until the
very last days of chivalry, chivalric feelings
seeming to be associated with that ancient form
of arraour. It was let into the plates round the
neck, and thus there was a collar or tippet of
mail; and it also generally hung over other parts

the EQUIPMENT. 85
of the body, where, agreeably to its shape arid chap.
dimensions, it became, if I may again express -^ — '¦
myself in the language of ladies, if not of an.-
tiquarians, an apron or a short petticoat.
The armour of the knight was often crossed The scaet
by a scarf of sUk embroidered by his lady-love.
He wore also a dress which in different times
was variously designated as a surcoat, a cyclas,
or a tabard. It was long * or short, it opened Surcoats..
at the sides,, in the back, or in the front, as
fashion or caprice ruled the wearer's mind ; but
it was always sleeveless. Originally simple
cloth was its material ; but as times and luxury
advanced it became richer. For the reason
that this sort of dress was almost the only one
in which the lords, knights, and barons could
display their magnificence, and because it
covered all their clothing and armour, they had
it usually made of cloths of gold or silver, of
rich skins, furs of ermine, sables, minever, and
others, t There was necessarily raore variety in

* Froissart describes Sir John Chandos as dressed' in a
long robe, which fell to the ground, blazoned with his arras
on white sarcenet, argent a field gules, one on his breast,
and another on his back.
f Du Cange, Dissert, the first on Joinville. The ex
travagance of people in the raiddle ages on the subject of
furs is the theme of perpetual coraplaint with conteraporary
authors. By two statutes ofthe Enghsh parliament, holden
G 3

86 the EQUIPMENT.

riL

chap, the appearance of the surcoat than in that of any
other part of his harness, and hence it became
the distinction of a knight. In public meetings
and in times of war the lords and knights were
marked by their coats of arms ; and when they
were spoken of, or when any one wished to
point them out by an exterior sign, it was suf
ficient to say, that he wears a coat of or, argent,
gules, sinople, sable, gris, ermine, or vair, or still
shorter, he bears or, gules, &c. the words coat
of arms being understood. But as these marks
were not sufficient to distinguish in solemn
assemblies, or in times of war every lord, when
all were clothed in coats of arms of gold, silver,
or rich furs, they, in process of time, thought
proper to cut the cloths of gold, and silver, and
furs, which they wore over their arraour, into
various shapes of different colours, observing,
however, as a rule never to put fur on fur, nor
cloths of gold on those of silver, nor those of
silver on gold ; but they intermixed the cloths
with the furs, in order to produce variety and
relief. * With these cloths and furs were

at London in 1334 and 1363, all persons who could not
expend one hundred pounds a-year were forbidden to wear
furs. * Du Cange, ubi supra.

THE EQUIPMENT. 87
raingled devices or cognizances symbolical of chap.
some circumstance in the life of the knight, and — '.
with the crest the whole formed in modern
diction the coat of arms.
Every feudal lord assumed the right of chusing Armorial
his own armorial distinctions : they were worn ^^""s^-
by all his family, and were hereditary. It was
also in his power to grant arms to knights and
squires as marks of honour for military merit ;
and from all these causes armorial distinctions
represented the feudalism, the gentry, and the
chivalry of Europe. One knight could not
give more deadly offence to another than by wear
ing his armorial bearings without his permis
sion, and many a lance was broken to punish
such insolence. Kings, as their power arose
above that of the aristocracy, assumed the right
of conferring these distinctions; — an assumption
of arms without royal permission was an offence,
and the business of heralds was enlarged from
that of being mere messengers between hostile
princes into a court for the arranging of armorial
honours. Thus the usurpation of kings was
beneficial to society, for disputes regarding arms
and cognisances were settled by heralds and
not by battle.
It is totally impossible to mark the history of
these circumstances. Instances of emblazoned
sopra vests are to be met with in times anterior to
G 4

88 THE EQUIPMENT.

CHAP, the crusades. They were worn during the con-
- — '• tinuance of mail and of mixed armour : but
they gradually went out of usage as plate armour
became general, it being then very much the
custom to enamel or emboss the heraldic distinc
tions on the armour itself, or to be contented
with its display on the shield or the banner. On
festival occasions and tournaments, however, all
the gorgeousness of heraldic splendour was
exhibited upon the cyclas or tabard.
.'Surcoats of j^ word mav be said on the surcoats ofthe
the imhtarjr _ •'
arders. military orders. The knights of St. John and
the Temple wore plain sopra vests, and their
whole harness was covered by a monastic mantle,
jnarked with the crosses of their respective
societies. The colour of the mantle worn by
the knights of St. John was black, and from
that colour being the usual monastic one, they
were called the military friars. Their cross was
white. The brethren of the Temple wore a
white mantle with a red cross, and hence their
frequent title, the Red Cross Knights.
The history of the covering of the head is
not altogether unamusing. The knight was not
contented to trust the protection of that part of
himself to his mailed hood alone ; he wore a
helmet, whose shape was at first conical, then
cylindrical, and afterwards resumed its pristine
form. The defence ofthe face became a matter

THE EQUIPMENT. 89
of serious consideration, and a broad piece of chap. Ill-
iron was made to connect the frontlet of the —
helm with the mail over the mouth. * This Helmets.
nasal piece was not in general use, it being a
very imperfect protection from a sword-cut, and
the knight found it of more inconvenience than
service when his vanquisher held him to earth
by it. Cheek-pieces of bars, placed horizon
tally or perpendicularly, attached to the helmet,
were substituted or introduced. Then came
the aventaile, or iron mask, joined to the helmet,
with apertures for the eyes and mouth. It was
at first fixed and immoveable, but ingenuity af
terwards assisted those face defences. By means
of pivots the knight could raise or let fall the
plates or grating before the face, and the defence
was called a vizor. Subsequently, plates were
brought up from the chin, and this moveable
portion of the helmet was called, as most people
know, the bever, from the Italian bever e, to
drink. In early times the helmet was without
ornament ; it afterwards (though the exact time
it is impossible to fix) was surmounted by that
part of the armorial bearings called the crest.
A lady's glove or scarf was often introduced,
and was not the least beautiful ornpment. The
Templars and the knights of St. John were not
permitted to adorn their helmets with l3ie tokens
* Montfaucon, PI. 2. xiv. 7. and Gough i. 137.

90 THE EQUIPMENT.
CHAP, either of nobility or of love ; the simplicity of
^"' relio-ion banishing all vain heraldic distinctions,
and the soldier-priests being obliged, like tbe
monks themselves, to pretend to that ascetic vir
tue which was so highly prized in the middle
ages. All the splendour of chivalry is comprised
in the helmet of prince Arthur.
" His haughty helmet, horrid all with gold,
Both glorious brightness and great terror bred ;
For all the crest a dragon did enfold
With greedy paws, and over all did spred
His golden wings : his dreadful hideous head
Close couched on the bever, seem'd to throw
From flaming mouth bright sparkles fiery red,
That sudden horror to faint hearts did show.
And scaly tail was stretch'd adowne his back full low.
"Upon the top of all his lofty crest
A bunch of hairs discoloured diversely,
With sprinkled pearl and gold full richly drest,
Did shake and seem'd to dance for jollity,
Like to an almond-tree } mounted hye
On top of green Selinis all alone.
With blossoms brave bedecked daintily ;
Whose tender locks do tremble every one
At every little breath that under heaven is blown." *
The helmet, with its vizor and bever, was
carried bythe squire, or page, onthe porarael of
* Fairy Queen, Book i. canto vii. st. 31, 32.

THE EQUIPMENT. 91
his saddle, a very necessary measure for the re- chap.
lief of the knight, particularly when the sarcasm — 1
of the Duke of Orleans was applicable, that
'« if the English had any intellectual armour in
their heads, they could never wear such heavy
head-pieces." *
The reader should know, with the barber in
Don Quixote, that, except in the hour of battle,
a knight wore only an open. casque, or bacinet,
a light and easy covering. The bacinet de
rived its title from its resemblance to a basin ;
but the word was sometimes used, however im
properly, for the helmet, the close helmet of
knighthood. A vizor might be attached to the
bacinet, and then the covering for the head be
came a helmet. Bacinez a visieres are often
spoken of.
The helmet of war appeared to complete
the perfection of defensive harness ; ibr the
lance broke hurtless on the plate of steel, the
arrow and quarrel glanced away, and it is only
in romance that we read of swords cutting
through a solid front of iron, or piercing both
plate and raail, as some bolder spirits say.
" From top to toe no place appeared bare.
That deadly dint of steel endanger may." *
* Shakspeare, Henry V. Act iii. sc. 7.
f Fairy Queen, Book i. c. 7- st. 29.

92 THE EQUIPMENT.
CHAP. The only way by which death could be in-
— '. flicted was by thrusting a lance through the
The dagger small holcs in the vizor. Such a mode of death
was not very coraraon, for the cavalier always
bent his face alraost to the saddle-bow when he
charged. The knight, however, might be un
horsed in the shock of the two adverse lines,
and he was in that case at the mercy of the foe
who was left standing. But how to kill the hu
man being inclosed in the rolling mass of "steel
was the question ; and the armourer, therefore,
invented a thin dagger, which could be inserted
between the plates. This dagger was called
the dagger of mercy, apparently a curious title,
considering it was the instrument of death ; but,
in tmth, the laws of chivalry obliged the con
queror to shew raercy, if, when the dagger was
drawn, the prostrate foe yielded himself^ rescue
or no rescue.
It raay be noticed that a dagger or short
sword was worn by the knight even in days of
chain raail, for the hauberk was a complete case.
" Straight from his courser leaps the victor knight,
And bares his deadly blade to end the fight ;
The uplifted hauberk's skirt he draws aside,
In his foe's flank the avenging steel is dyed." *
* Lay of the Knight and the Sword.

THE EQUIPMENT. 93
Froissart's pages furnish us with an interesting chap.
tale, descriptive of the general chivalric custom, — 1
regarding the dagger of mercy. About the
year 1390, the lord of Langurante in Gascony story of ita
rode forth with forty spears and approached the
English fortress called Cadilhac. He placed his
company in ambush, and said to them, " Sirs,
tarry you still here, and I will go and ride to
yonder fortress alone, and see if any will issue
out against us," He then rode to the barriers
ofthe castle, and desired the keeper to shew to
Bernard Courant, their captain, how that the
lord Langurante was there, and desired to joust
with him a course. " If he be so good a man,
and so valiant in arms as it is said," continued
the challenger, " he will not refuse it for his la
dies sake : if he do, it shall turn him to much
blame, for I shall report it wheresoever I go, that
for cowardice he hath refused to run with me
onie course with a spear."
A squire of Bernard reported this message to
his master, whose heartbeginning to swell with ire,
he cried, " Get me my harness, and saddle my
horse ; he shall not go refused." Incontinently
he was arraed, and mounted on his war steed, and
taking his shield and spear, he rode through the
gate and the barriers into the open field. The
lord Langurante seeing him coming was rejoiced,
and couched his spear like a true knight, and so

94 THE EQUIPMENT.
CHAP, did Bernard. Their good horses dashed at each

IIL

other, and their lances struck with such equal
fierceness that their shields fell in pieces, and as
they crossed Bernard shouldered sir Langu-
rante's horse in such a manner that the lord fell
out of the saddle. Bernard turned his steed
shortly round, and as the lord Langurante was
rising, his foe, who was a strong as well as a va
liant squire, took his bacinet with both his hands,
and wrenching it from his head, cast it under
his horse's feet. On seeing all this the lord of
Langurante's men quitted their ambush, and
were coraing to the rescue of their master, when
Bernard drew his dagger, and said to the lord,
" Sir, yield you ray prisoner, rescue or no
rescue ; or else you are but dead." The lord,
who trusted to the rescue of his raen, spoke not
a word ; and Bernard then gave hira a death
blow on his bare head, and dashing spurs into
his horse, he fled within the barriers. *
Value of Such was the general state of arraour in days of
in"to"andent chivalry. A more detailed account of the sub-
armour. j^^^ canuot be interesting; fbr what boots it to
know the exact form and dimensions of any of
the numerous plates of steel that encased the
knight. Nor indeed was any shape constant
long ; for fashion was as variable and imperious
* Froissart, livre i. c. 342.

THE EQUIPMENT. QS
in all her changes in those times as in ours ; and chap. Ill
and as we turn with contempt from the military , — '.
foppery of the present day, little gratification can
be expected from too minute an inspection of
the vanities of our forefather. Chaucer says,
" With him ther wenten knights many on,
Some wol ben armed in an habergeon,
And in a breast-plate, and in a gipon ;
And som wol have a pair of plates large ;
And som wol have a pruse sheld or a targe.
Som wol ben armed on his legges well.
And have an axe, and some a mace stele.
Ther n' is no newe guise, that it n' as old.
Armed they weren, as I have you told,
Everich after his opinion."
A chronological history of armour, minutely a precise
accurate, is unattainable, if any deduction may unattain-
be made from the books of laborious dulness
which have hitherto appeared on the armour of
different countries. Who can affirm that the oldest
specimen which we possess of any particular
form of harness is the earliest specimen of its
kind .? No one can determine the precise dura
tion of a fashion ; for after ruling the world fbr
some time it suddenly disappears, but some
years afterwards it rears it's head again to the
confiision and dismay of our antiquarians.
Our best authorities sometimes fail us. The
monumental effigies were not always carved at

96 THE EQUIPMENT.
CHAP, the moment of the knight's death : that the bust
 is tardily raised to buried merit is not the pecu
liar reproach of our times. It is compliment
ing the sculptors of the middle ages too highly
if we suppose that they did not sometiraes violate
accuracy, in order to introduce some favorite
fashion of their own days. As fbr the illumin
ations of raanuscripts which are so much boasted
of, they are often the attempts of a scribe to
imitate antiquity, beautiful in respect of ex
ecution, but of problematical accuracy, and
more frequently mark the age when the manu
script was copied, than that when the work was
originally written. We know that violation of
costume was common in the romances. Thus,
in the Morte d' Arthur, an unknown knight, com
pletely armed, and having his vizor lowered so
as to conceal his features, entered the hall of the
king. Again,
" Cometh sir Launcelot du Lake,
Ridand right into the hall;
His steed and armour all was blake^
His visere over his eyen falle." *
Now if the romance whence the above lines
are extracted is to be considered as a picture of
* Ellis's Specimens of Metrical Romances, i. 328. 366.

THE EQUIPMENT. 97
the earliest days of chivalry it is certainly in- chap.
correct, for it was not before the middle age of  1
knighthood that the face was concealed by a
vizor, the earlier defence of the nasal piece
certainly not serving as a mask. The romances
are unexceptionable witnesses for the general
customs of chivalry, but we cannot fix their
statements to any particular time, fbr they were
varied and iraproved by successive repetitions
and transcriptions, and when they were rendered
into prose still further changes were made in
order to please the taste ofthe age. Thus, in an
old Danish romance, a knight fighting for his
lady remains on his horse ; but when in the
fifteenth century the tale was translated into
the idioms of raost chivalric countries, he is
represented as alighting from his milk-white steed
and giving it to his fair companion to hold ; and
the reason of this departure from the old ballad
was, that the translators, wishing to make their
work popular, adapted it to the manners of the
age; and it was the general fashion then for the
knights to dismount when they fought.
In spite of all our attempts at chronological
accuracy, something or other is perpetually
baffling us. We commonly think that mixed
arraour was the defensive harness in the days of
our Edward the Third ; but in Chaucer's portrait
of the knightly character of that time, only the
VOL. I. h

98 the EQUIPMENT.
chap, haubergeon is assigned to the cavalier. Plate-
— '- armour seems to have been the general costume
of the fifteenth century ; and in any pictorial
exhibition of the murder of John Duke of Bur
gundy in the year 1419, the artist who should
represent the Duke as harnessed in chain-
mail, would be condemned by a synod of ar
chaeologists as guilty of an unpardonable ana
chronism; yet we know, on the unquestionable
authority of Monstrelet, that when the Duke lay
on the ground, Olivier Layet, assisted by Pierre
Frotier, thrust a sword under the haubergeon
into his belly ; and that after he had been thus
Its general cruclly murdercd, the Dauphin's people stripped
[ere"tw!°' ^^^^ hira his coat of mail. * But though it is diffi
cult to determine the fashion of any part of
armour in any particular century, and life may
afford nobler occupations than considering the
precise year and raonth when the Normans gave
up the clumsy expedient of inserting the sword
through a hole in the hauberk, and adopted the
more graceful and convenient form of a belt fj
* Monstrelet, Johnes's edition, vol. v. p. 121. 126., et
prestement un nommg Olivier Layet h I'ayde de Pierre Fro
tier lui bouta une esp^e par dessoules son haulbergeon tout
dedans le ventre, &c. — En apres le dessusditiduc mis ei mort,
comme dit est fut tantost par les gens du Daulphin desuestu
de sa robbe, de son haulbergeon, &c. Monstrelet, vol. i.
c. 212, 213.
f Books of military costume may illustrate the truth,
how important every man's occupation is in his own eyes.

the EQUIPMENT. 99
yet viewing the subject of armour in some of its ^^J^^-
broad features, matter of no slight interest may —
be found. We may not regard the precise form
and fashion of a warrior's scarf) or care to enquire
whether the embroidery were worked with gold
or silver, but the general fact itself involves the
state of manners and feelings among our
ancestors : it carries us to the lady's bower where
she was working this token of love ; our fancy
paints the time and mode of bestowing it ; and
we follow it through all the subsequent career of
the knight as his silent monitor to courage and
loyalty. It is curious also to mark the perpetual efforts The broad
. ' , lines of the
of defensive arraour to meet the improvements subject.
in the art of destruction. Chain-mail was found an
inadequate protection ; plates of steel were added,
and still this mixed harness did not render the
body invulnerable. The covering of steel alone
at length became complete, and defensive harness
reached its perfection. It is utterly impossible
for us to state with accuracy the year when
plate-armour began to be mixed with chain-mail
in any particular country, or to determine what

The old French writer, Fauchet, has devoted some pages to
a description of the regular process of dressing, and his ex
ample has been followed by some of our English anti
quarians.
H 2

100 THE EQUIPMENT.

III.

CHAP, particular part of the body the first plate that
was used defended ; but the general features of
the subject are known well enough to enable qs to
sketch to our imagination the military costume
of some of the most remarkable events in the war
fare of the middle ages. In the first crusade, the
arraour was in the rude state of mail worn on the
tunic. There was the emblazoned surcoat, for
that part of dress was of very early use ; the
hood was the coraraon covering of the head, and
when the helmet was worn it was of the simplest
form, and occasionally had a nasal piece. The
crusades began at the close of the eleventh
century, and before the end of the thirteenth,
not only was the hauberk composed of twisted
mail, but mixed armour of plate and mail was
common. The English wars in France during
the reign of our Edward III. are the next
subject to which our chivalric recollections recur.
By that time plafe had attained a general pre
dominance over chain-mail. Perhaps, at no
period of chivalry was armour more beautiful
than in those days when France was one vast
tilting ground for the culled and choice-drawn
cavaliers ofthe two mighty monarchies of Europe.
It was equally removed from the gloomy stern
ness of chain-mail, and the elaborate foppery of
embossed steel : its solid plates satisfied the
judicious eye by showing that the great principle

THE EQUIPMENT. 101
of armour was chiefly attended to, and the sur- chap.
coat and sfcarf gave the warrior's harness a — -
character of neat and simple elegance. The
horses, too, were barded in the most vulnerable
parts ; the symmetry of the form not being
obscured, as it was in after-times by a casing of
steel which left only part of the legs free of ac
tion. The helmet had its crest and silken orna
raent ; the former being the sign of nobility,
the latter of love : and no warriors were so
justly entitled to those graceful tokens of ladies'
favour, as the warriors of Edward III., fbr love
was the inspiring soul of their chivalry.*
* In Dr. Meyrick's three ponderous quartos on Armour
there is one interesting point : he shews that the celebrated
title of the Black Prince, which the Prince of Wales gained
for his achievements at the battle of Cressy, did not arise,
as is generally supposed, from his wearing black arraour on
that day, nor does it appear that he ever wore black arraour
at all. Plain steel armour was his usual wear, and the
surcoat was erablazoned with the arras of England labelled.
When he attended tournaments in France or England he
appeared in a surcoat with a shield, and his horse in a ca
parison all black with the white feathers on them ; so that
the colour of the covering of the arraour, and not of the
armour itself, gave him his title. Dr. Meyrick thinks the
common story an erroneous one, that the ostrich feathers
in the crest of our princes of Wales arose from young
Edward's taking that ornament from the helmet of the
King of Bohemia, who was slain by him at the battle of
Cressy. He contends that the feathers formed a device oa
h 3

102 THE EQUIPMENT.
CHAP. In the second series of our French wars com-
 1 plete plate-armour was in general fashion. Gra
dually, as armour became more and more
ponderous, the knights preferred to fight
on foot with their lances. That mode of en
counter was found best fitted for the display of
skill, for ih the rude encounter ofthe horses many
cavaliers were thrown, and the field presented
a ludicrous spectacle of rolling knights. * Some

the banner of the raonarch, and were not worn on the
helraet, because plumes of feathers were not used as crests
till the fifteenth century. That Dr. Meyrick has not been
able to find any instance of their being thus worn goes but
very little way to prove the negative. On the other hand,
we know that the swan's neck, the feathers of favourite
birds, such as the peacock and pheasant, were devices on
shields, and also at the sarae time continually surmounted
the helmet, and the ostrich feathers, which ever since
the crusades the western world had been farailiar with,
might in all probability have been used in this twofold
manner. How the King of Bohemia wore his we do not
know with historic certainty, but it is very difficult to believe
that he, or our chivalric ancestors, with their love of splendid
ornaraent, would have been contented with placing the
ostrich feathers as a raere device on a shield, and not have
also fixed it where they set every thing peculiarly graceful,
on the summit of the helm.
* A very singular instance of the inconvenience of heavy
armour occurred in the year 1427, during a war between
the Milanese and the Venetians. Carmagnola, the Venetian
General, had skilfully posted his army behind a porass, the

THE EQUIPMENT. 103
traces of the custom of cavalry dismounting chap.
raay be found in the twelfth century. The — '-
practice grew as plate-armour became raixed
with raail ; and when complete suits of steel
were worn, knights, sought every occasion of
dismounting ; and they were wont to break their
lances short for the convenience of the close
conflict. As the spirit of chivalry died away, the mili
tary costume of chivalry increased in brilliancy
and splendour. Ingenuity and taste were perpe
tually varying decorations : the steel was some
times studded with ornaments of gold and silver,
and sometimes the luxury of the age was dis
played in a complete suit of golden armour.

surface of which, from the dryness of the season, was capable
of bearing the weight of infantry. He irritated the eneray
(the Milanese) to attack him, by capturing the village of
Macalo before their eyes, but their heavy cavalry had no
sooner charged along the causeway intersecting the raarshj'
ground, which he purposely left unguarded, than his in
fantry assailed thera with raissiles on both flanks. In
attempting to repulse thera the Milanese cuirassiers sank
into the morass : their column was crowded on the narrow
passage, and thrown into confusion, and the infantry of
Carmagnola then venturing among them on the causeway,
and stabbing their horses, made prisoners of the dismounted
cuirassiers to the number of eight thousand, as they lay
helpless under the enormous weight of their own imper
vious armour. Perceval's History of Italy, vol.ii. p. 77.
H 1-

104 THE EQUIPMENT.
CHAP. " In arms they stood

iir

Of golden panoply, refulgent host."
But such splendour was only exhibited in the
courteous tournament; less costly armour sheath
ed the warrior of the working day. Arraour
gradually fell out of use as infantry began to be
considered and felt as the principal force in wiar.
It was not, however, till the beginning of the
seventeenth century that the proud nobility of
Europe would abandon the raode of combat of
their ancestors, and no longer hope that their
iron armour of proof should hang up in their
halls as an incentive to their children's valour.
" They first laid aside the jambes or steel boots ;
then the shield was abandoned, and next the
covering for the arms. When the cavalry dis
used the lance, the cuisses were no longer worn
to guard against its thrust, and the stout leathern
or buff coat hung down from beneath the body
armour to the knees, and supplied the place of
the discarded steel. The helmet was later de
prived of its useless vizor; but before the middle
of the seventeenth century nothing remained of
the ancient harness but the open cap and the
breasts and backs of steel, which the heavy ca
valry of the Continent have more or less worn to
our times. In our service these have been but
lately revived for the equipment of the finest
cavalry in Europe, the British Life-guards, who,

IHE EQUIPMENT. 105
unaided by such defences, tore the laurels of chap.
. III.
Waterloo from the cuirassiers of France." * —
The history of armour would be interesting
in another point of view, if any of the great
battles in the middle ages had been decided by
the superior qualities of any particular weapon
possessed by either side. No such circumstances
are recorded. Nor can we trace the progress
of armoDr through the various countries of chi
valry. But the superiority of Italian civilisation. Excellence
and our knowledge that the long-pointed sword armour.
was invented in Italy, authorise our giving ranch
honour to the Italians ; and we also know that
down to the very latest period of chivalric his
tory Milanese arraour was particularly esteemed.t
Germany, as far as the ancient martial costume
of that country is known, can claim nothing of in
vention, nor did armour always take in that coun
try during its course from Italy through other
lands. France quickly received all the varieties
in armour of Italian ingenuity, and in a few years
they passed into England. This geographical
course was not however the usual mode of com-
raunicating ideas in chivalric ages. Knights
of various countries raet in tournaments, and
* Quarterly Review, No. Ix. p. 351.
f In marking the progress of chivalry through Italy I shall
again have occasion to notice the excellence of the Milanese
armour.

106 THE EQUIPMENT.
CHAP, in those splendid scenes every description of
 L armour was displayed, and fashions were inter
changed. Notwithstanding the general similarity of cos
tume which these gallant and friendly meetings
of cavaliers in tournaments were likely to pro
duce, each nation had its peculiarities which it
never resigned. Thus it may be mentioned
that the swords of the Germans and also of the
Normans were always large, and that those of
the French were short. As the bow was the
great weapon of the Normans, the attendants of
the English knights used the bow more frequent
ly than similar attendants in any other country.
The peasantry of Scotland, in spite of repeated
statutes, never would use the bow : spears and
axes were their weapons, while their missiles
were cross-bows and culverins. The mace was
also a favourite, and their swords were of excel
lent temper. Their defensive armour was the
plate-jack, hauberk, or brigantine ; and a volu
minous handkerchief round their neck, " not
fbr cold but for cutting," as one of their writers
describes it. Almost all the Scottish forces, ex
cept a few knights, men-at-arms, and the border
prickers, who formed excellent light cavalry,
acted upon foot. *
* Note 8. on Marmion, canto 5.

THE EQUIPMENT. 107
Little need be said concerning the military chap.
costume of the esquire, and the men-at-arras. — 1
The esquire wore^ilver spurs in distinction from knight-s
the golden spurs of the knight; but when an th^squie/
esquire as a member of the third class of chi- *'^'
valry held a distinct command, he was permit
ted to bear at the end of his lance a penoncel,
or small triangular streamer. In countries
where the bow was not used, the weapons
of the men-at-arms were generally the lance
and the sword. This was the case when the
knight led his personal retainers to battle ;
but when his followers were the people of
any particular town which he protected, few
chivalric arms were borne, and the bill more
frequently than the spear was brought into the
field. The cross-bow can hardly be considered
a weapon of chivalry. It required no strength
of arm like the long bow ; it allowed none of
that personal display which was the soul of
knighthood. The popes, to their honour,
frequently condemned its use ; and it was more
often bent by mercenaries than fhe regular at
tendants of knights.
The men-at-arms generally fought on horse
back, and it often happened that archers, after
the Asiatic mode, were mounted. The defensive
armour of the knight's attendants was not so
complete as his own, for they could not afford
its costliness, and difference of rank was marked

108 THE EQUIPMENT.

CHAP, by difference of harness. Thus, in France, only
III. "^
— persons possessed of a certain estate were permit
ted to wear the haubergeon, while esquires had
nothing more than a simple coat of mail, with
out hood or hose*, though their rank in nobility
might equal that of the knights. The men-at-
arms had generally the pectoral and the shield,
and the morion or open helraet, without vizor or
beaver. They frequently wore a long and large
garment called the aketon, garabeson, or jack,
formed of various folds of linen cloth or leather :
but it is totally irapossible to give any usef ill or
interesting information on a subject which ca
price or poverty perpetually varied.
Allegories Arraour had other purposes in the raind of
made on i i • i , ¦ i • i
armour. the kuight Dcsides its coraraon and apparent use.
Days of chivalry were especially times when
imagination was in its freest exercise, and
every thing was fiill of allegories and recondite
meanings. To the knight a sword was given in
resemblance of a cross to signify the death of
Christ, and to instruct him that he ought to
destroy the enemies of religion by the sword.
This is intelligible ; but there is something ap
parently arbitrary in the double edge signifying
that a knight should maintain chivalry and
justice. The spear, on account of its straitness,
* Grose, ii. 246.

THE EQUIPMENT. 109
was the emblem of truth, and the iron head chap.
meant strength, which truth should possess. The  1
force and power of courage were expressed by
the mace. The helraet conveyed the idea of
sharaefacedness ; and the hauberk was emble
matical of the spiritual panoply which should
protect a man and a soldier from the vices to
which his nature was liable. The spurs meant
diligence. The gorget was the sign of obedi
ence ; for as the gorget went about the neck
protecting it from wounds, so the virtue of obe
dience kept a knight within the commands of
his sovereign and the order of chivalry ; and thus
neither treason nor any other foe to virtue cor
rupted the oath he had taken to his lord and
knighthood. The shield showed the office of a
knight ; for as the knight placed his shield be
tween himself and his enemy, so the knight was
the barrier between the king and the people, and
as the stroke of a sword fell upon the shield and
saved the knight, so it behoved the knight to
present his body before his lord when he was in
danger. The equipment and bardingof the horse
furnished also subjects of instruction. The saddle
meant safety of courage ; for as by the saddle a
knight was safe on his horse, so courage was the
knight's best security in the field. The great size
ofthe saddle was regarded as emblematical ofthe
greatness of the chivalric charge. It was added,
that as the head of a horse went before its rider,

110 THE EQUIPMENT.
CHAP. SO should reason precede all the acts of a knight;
— 1 and as the armour at the head of a horse defend
ed the horse, so reason kept the knight from
blame. The defensive armour of a horse
illustrated the necessity of wealth to a knight ;
for a knight without estate could not maintain
the honours of chivalry, and be protected from
temptation, for poverty opens the door to treason
and vice.
It was in this raanner that the romantic
imaginations of the knights of chivalry drew
moralities from subjects apparently little ca
pable of furnishing instruction ; and then as-
suming a raore sober and rational tone, they
would exclaim that chivalry was not in the
horse, nor in the arms, but was in the knight,
who taught his horse well, and accustomed him
self and his sons to noble actions and virtuous
deeds; and a foul and recreant knight, who
taught himself and his son evU works, converted
one into the other, the cavaleresque and eques
trian qualities, making himself and his son
beasts, and his horse a knight. *
* Caxton, Fayt of Armes and of Chyvalrye, c. 62, &c. If
the reader be curious for information on the subject of the
allegories which were formed from the armour and dress of
the Knights of the Garter and the Bath, he will find it in
Anstis's Register ofthe Garter, p. 119, 120., and his History
ofthe Knighthood of the Bath, p. 77—80.

THE equipment; 111
Before we close our account of the cavalier's ciiap.
equipment, something must be said regarding his  L
steed, his good steed, as he was fond of calling of the""^^^
hira". The horse of the knight was necessarily ''"'^'"'•
an animal of great powerwhen his charge was a
cavalier with his weighty armour. The horses
of Spain were highly famed. In the "country
itself those of Asturia were preferred, but in
other chivalric states they regarded not the
particular province wherein the horse was bred.*
The favourite steed of William the Conqueror
came from Spain. The crusades were certainly
the means of bringing Asiatic horses into Europe;
and it was found that the Arabian, though smaller
than the bony charger of the west, had a com
pensating power in his superior spirit. French
and English romance writers were not from
natural prejudices disposed to praise any pro
ductions of Heathenesse, yet the Arabian horse is
frequently commended by them. That doughty
knight, Guy, a son of Sir Bevis of Hampton,
—~ " bestrode a Rahyte, f
That was mickle and nought light, X
That Sir Bevis in Paynim lond
Had iwunnen with his bond."
* Asturco dextrarius est, Astur caput ejus
Nam prius Astur equum dextrandi repperit usum.
Ebrardus Betuniensis in Graecismo, c. 7.
\ An Arabian horse. % Weak.

112 THE EQUIPMENT.
CHAP. The Arab horse was the standard of perfection,
— • as is evident from the romancer's praise of the
two celebrated steeds, Favel and Lyard, which
Richard Coeur de Lion procured at Cyprus.
" In the world was not their peer.
Dromedary, nor destreer.
Steed, Rabyte, ne Camayl,
That ran so swift sans fail.
For a thousand pounds of gold
Should not that one be sold."
The Arabian horse must have been already
prepared for part of the discipline of a chivalric
horse. On his own sandy plains he had been
accustomed to stop his career when his fleetness
had cast the rider from his seat ; and in the en
counter of lances so often were knights over
thrown, that to stand firm, ready to be mounted
again, was a high quality of a good horse. The
steed of the Cid was very much celebrated in
Spain ; and, in acknowledgment for an act of
great kindness, the owner wished to present him
to the king, Alfonso of Castile. To induce the
king to accept him, he showed his qualities.
" With that the Cid, clad as he was in mantle furr'd
and wide,
On Bavieca vaulting, put the rowel in his side ;
And up and down, and round and round, so fierce was
his career,
Stream'd like a pennon on the wind Ruy Diaz' minivere.

THE EQUIPMENT. 11,'}
And all that saw them prais'd them, — they lauded man CHAP.
J u III-
and horse, 
As matched well, and rivalless for gallantry and force.
Ne'er had they look'd on horseman might to this knight
come near.
Nor on other charger worthy of such a cavalier.
Thus, to and fro a-rushing, the fierce and furious steed.
He snapp'd in twain his hither rein : — ' God pity now
the Cid ;
' God pity Diaz,' cried the Lords ; — but when they
look'd again,
They saw Ruz Diaz ruling him with the fragment of his
rein ;
They saw him proudly ruling, with gesture firm and
calm.
Like a true Lord commanding, — and obey'd as by a
lamb.

And so he led him foaming and panting to the king.
But ' No,' said Don Alphonso, ' it were a shameful
thing
That peerless Bavieca should ever be bestrid
By any mortal but Bivar, — mount, mount again, my
Cid.' " *
It has-been often said that the knight had al
ways his ambling palfrey, on which he rode till
the hour of battle arrived ; and that the war-

* Lockhart's Spanish Ballads, p. 66.
VOL. I. I

114 THE EQUIPMENT.
CHAP, horse, from the circumstance of his being led
— '- by the right hand of the squire, was called dex
trarius. * With respect to sovereigns and men of
great estate this was certainly the custom, but it
was by no means a general chivalric practice.
Froissart's pages are a perfect picture of knightly
riding and corabatting ; and each of his favorite
cavaliers seems to have had but one and the same
steed for the road and the battle-plain. Even
romance, so prone to exaggerate, coraraonly re
presents the usage as sirailar ; for when we
find that a darasel is rescued, she is not placed
upon a spare horse,, but the knight raounts her
behind hiraself. t
The destrier, cheval de lance, or war-steed, was
arraed or barded X very ranch on the plan of the
harness of the knight himself, and was defended,
therefore, by mail or plate, agreeably to the fashion
of the age. His head, chest, and flanks were
either wholly or partially protected, and some-
* William of Newbridge, c. 11. lib. ii. Brunetus in
Thesauro, MS. part 1. c. 155, says " II y a chevaus de plu-
sieurs manieres, a ce que li un sont d^streir quant pour li
combat, li auter sont palefroy pour chevaucher a I'aise de
son cors pour li autres son roueis pour sommes porter," &c.
and the continuator of Nangis says, " Et apres venoient les
grans chevaux et palefrois du roy tres rechement ensellez, et
les valets les menaient en dextre sur autres roussins."
f History of the Crusades, vol. i. p". 357. note.
X Lest the reader's mind should wander in conjecture re
garding the purpose of barding a horse, I will transcribe, for

THE EQUIPMENT.

115

times, on occasions of pomp, he was clad in com- *-^?jj^'
plete steel, with the arms of his master engraven —
or embossed on his bardings. His caparisons
and housings frequently descended so low that
they were justly termed bases, from the French
bas a bas, upon the ground. His head, too,
was ornamented with a crest, like the helmet of
a knight. The bridle of the horse was always
as splendid as the circumstances of the knight
allowed ; and thus a horse was often called Bri-
gliadore, from briglia d'oro, a bridle of gold.
The knight was fond of ornamenting the partner
of his perils and glories. The horse was not
always like that of Chaucer's knight ;
" His hors was good, but he was not gay,"
Bells were a very favourite addition to the
equipment of a horse, particularly in the early
tiraes of chivalry. An old Troubadour poet.

his instruction and illumination, a few lines frora Dr. Meyrick's
Chronological Inquiry into Ancient Arraour, vol. ii. p. 126.
" The principal reason for arraing the horse in plate as well
as his rider was to preserve his life, on which depended the
life or liberty of the man-at-arms hiraself; for when he was
unhorsed, the weight of his own armour prevented him from
speedily recovering himself or getting out of the way, when
under the animal. Besides this, by thus preserving the horse,
the expence of another was saved." Wonderful !
I 2

116

THE EQUIPMENT.

CHAP. Arnold of Marsan, states very grave reasons for
— wearing them. He says, " Let the neck of
the knight's horse be garnished with bells well
hung. Nothing is more proper to inspire con
fidence in a knight, and terror in an enemy."
The war-horse of a soldier of a religious order of
knighthood raight have his collar of bells, for
their jangling was loved by a monk himself.
" And when he rode men might his bridel hear,
Gingeling in a whistling wind as clere,
And eke as loud as doth the chapel beU."
But here the comparison ceases, for the horse-
furniture of the religious soldiers was ordered
to be free from all golden and silver ornaments. *
This regulation was however Ul observed ; for the
knights-templars in the middle of the thirteenth
century were censured for having their bridles
embroidered, or gilded, or adorned with silver, t
* Statutes ofthe Templars, c.37.
t Vincent de Beauvais, Hist. lib. 30. c. 85.

117

CHAP. IV.
THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER.
General Array cf Knights  Companions in Arms 
The Nature of a Cavalier's Valiancy  Singular
Bravery of Sir Robert Knowles  Bravery incited by
Vows  Fantastic Circumstances  The Humanities
of Chivalric War  Ransoming  Reason of Cour
tesies in Battles  Curious Pride of Knighthood 
Prisoners  Instance of Knightly Honour  Inde
pendence of Knights, and Knight Errantry  Knights
fought the Battles of other Countries  English
Knights dislike Wars in Spain  Their Disgust at
Spanish Wines  Principles of their active Conduct
 Knightly Independence consistent with Discipline
 'Religion of the Knight  His Devotion 
His Intolerance  General Nature of his Virtue 
Fidelity to Obligations  Generousness  Singular
Instance of it  Romantic excess of it  Liberality
 Humility  Courtesy  every day life of the
KNIGHT  Falconry  Chess playing  Story of a
Knighfs Love of Chess  Minstrelsy..-. ..Romances
 Conversation  Nature and Form of Chivalric
Entertainments  Festival and Vow ofthe Pheasant.
The knight was accompanied into the field by chap. IV.
his squires and pages, by his armed vassals on 
horseback and on foot, all bearing his cognisance.
I 3

118 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER.
CHAP. The number of these attendants varied neces-
IV.
 sarily with his estate, and also the occasion that
array of induccd him toarm ; and I should weary, without
"'^ ^' instructing my readers, were I to insert in these
volumes all the petty details of history regarding
the amount of force which in various countries,
and in different periods of the sarae country's
annals, constituted, to use the phraseology of
the middle ages, the complement of a lance.
Armies were reckoned by lances, each lance
meaning the knight himself with his men-at-
arms, or lighter cavalry, and his foot soldiers.
nions^fn '^^^ kiiight was not only supported by
his vassals, who formed the furniture of his
lance, but by his brother in arms, when such an
intercourse subsisted between two cavaliers ; and
instances of such unions are extremely frequent
in chivalric history : they raay be met with in
other annals. In the early days of Greece,
brotherhood in arms was a well-known form of
friendship : the two companions engaged never
to abandon each other in affairs however peril
ous, and in pledge of their mutual faith they
exchanged armour. No stronger proof of affec
tion could be given than thus parting with what
they held raost dear. Araong barbarous people
the fraternity " of arras was established by the
horrid custom of the new brothers drinking

arms.

THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 119
each other's blood: but if this practice was c^^^-
barbarous, nothing was farther from barbarism —
than the sentiment which inspired it.
The chivalry of Europe borrowed this sacred
bond from the Scandinavians, among whora the
fiiture brothers in arms mingled their blood, and
then tasted it.
" Father of slaughter, Odin, say,
Rememberest not the former day,
When ruddy in the goblet stood,
For mutual drink, our blended blood ?
Rememberest not, thou then dids't swear.
The festive banquet ne'er to share,
Unless thy brother Lok was there?" *
This custom, like most others of Pagan Europe,
was corrected and softened by the Hght and hu
manity of religion. Fraternal adoptions then
took place in churches, in presence of relations,
and with the sanction of- priests. The knights
vowed that they would never injure or vilify each
* From the Loka Lenna, or Strife of Loc, cited in the
notes on Sir Tristrem, p. 350. ; St. Palaye, " Memoires sur
I'ancienne Chevaliere," partie 3. ; Du Cange, Twenty-first
Dissertation on Joinville ; Glossary, Arma Mutare, Com
panionship in weal and woe sanctioned by religious solem
nities, still exists among the Albanians and other people of
the eastern shore of the Adriatic. The custom is wrought
into a very interesting story in the tale of Anastasius, vol. i.
C.7.
I 4

120 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER.
CHAP. Other, that they would share each other's dangers ;
ifl and in sign of tbe perfection of love, and of
true unity, and in order to possess, as ranch as
they could, the same heart and resolves, they
solemnly promised true fraternity and com
panionship of arms.* They then received the
holy sacrament, and the priest blessed the union.
It was a point rather of generous understanding
than of regular convention, that they would
divide equally all their acquisitions. Of this
custom an instance may be given. Robert de
Oily and Roger de Ivery, two young gentlemen
who carae into England with the duke of Nor
mandy, were sworn brothers. Some time after
the conquest, the king granted the two great
honours of Oxford, and St. Waleries, to Robert
de Oily, who imraediately bestowed one of them,
that of St. Waleries, on his sworn brother, Roger
de Ivery f.
Fraternity of arms was entered into for a
specific object, or general knightly quests, for a
limited term, or fbr life. It did not always occur,
however, that the fraternity of arms was esta
blished with religious solemnities : but whatever
* Juv. des Ursins anno 1 4-1 1. Vraye fraternity et com-
pagnie d'armes, is the frequent expression in old writers for
this chivalric union.
t Kennet's Parochial Antiquities, p. 57. cited in Henry's
History of England, vol. iii. p. 360. 4to.

IV.

THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 121
might have been the ceremonies, the obligation chap.
was ever considered sacred ; so sacred, indeed,
that roraance writers did not startle their readers
by a tale, whose interest hangs upon the circum
stance of a knight slaying his two infant children
for the sake of compounding a medicine with
their blood which should heal the leprosy of his
brother in arms. *

* The romance of Amys and Amylion. It is abridged
by Mr. Ellis iu the third volurae of his Specimens of early
English Metrical Romances, and inserted at length by Mr.
Weber in the second volurae of his collection. The reader
raay be araused to learn that the raother of the children was
so complaisant to her husband as to approve of his having
cut their little throats.
" O lef hef ! she said tho,
God raay send us children rao !
Of them have thou no care.
And if it were at my heart's root.
For to bring thy brother boot.
My life I would not spare.
There shall no man our children sene,
For to morrow they shall buried ben,
As they fairly dead were.
Thus that lady, fair and bright.
Comforted her lord with her might.
As ye may understand
Sin * they went both right
To Sir Amylion, that gentle knight.
That ever was fre to fonde f
* After. t That ever could be met with.

122 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER.
CHAP. This form of attachment was the strongest tie
IV. °
— m chivalry. " From this day forvyard, ever mo
Neither fail, either for weal or wo.
To help other at need.
Brother, be now true to me,
And I shall be as true to thee."

When- Sir Amylion awaked tho.
All his foulehead away was go
Through grace of God's Son.
Then was he as fair a raan
As ever he was ere than
Since he was been in londe."
The conclusion of the story shows the belief of the writer
that heaven approved of such sacrifices to friendship.
" Then were they all blithe.
Their joy could no raan kithe,
They thanked God.that day.
As ye may at me liste and lythe.*
"Into the chamber they went swythe. "f
Ther as the children lay.
Without wern Xt without wound,
All whole the children there they found.
And lay together in play.
For joy they went there, they stood
And thanked God with mild mode
Their care was all away."
* Now you must listen to me. t Quickly. X Scar.

THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 123
So said Sir Amylion to Sir Amys, and it was chap.
the common language of chivalry. Friendship — 1
was carried to the romantic extremity of the
Homeric age. Brethren in arms adopted all
the enmities and loves of each other,
" A generous friendship no cold medium knows.
Burns with one love, with one resentment glows."
And so powerful was the obligation that it even
superseded the duty of knighthood to woman
kind. A lady might in vain have claimed the
protection of a cavalier, if he could allege that
at that moment he was bound to fly to the suc
cour of his brother in arms. ,
Thus accompanied, the knight proceeded to Qualities of
1 1 • I ¦ /• 1 • 1 ^^ chivalric
achieve the high emprises of his noble and character.
gallant calling. Both the principles and the
objects of chivalry having been always the same,
a general sirailarity of character existed through
all the chivalric ages ; and as certain raoral com
binations divide human nature into classes, so
the knight was a distinct character, and the
qualities peculiar to his order may be delineated
in one picture, notwithstanding individual and
national variations, which had better be described
when we corae to mark the degrees of the in
fluence of chivalry in the different countries of
Europe.

The nature
of their

124 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER.
CHAP. The courage of the knight is the part of his
character which naturally calls fbr our first atr
l4ntion. It was daring and enterprising : but iS
vaiancy. hQ^aiiot luslst upou recklcssncss of danger as the
Duality of chivalry only, for in every nation's
attles, to be the first to advance and the last to
retreat have been the ambition of warriors. The
knight however cared little for the cause or ne
cessity of his doing battle so that he could display
Singular \fiis valour. About the year ISyOj Sir Robert
Sir Robert Kuowlcs marchcd through France, and laid waste
the country as far as the very gates of the capital.
A knight was in his company, who had made a
vow that he would ride to the walls or gates of
Paris, and strike at the barriers * with a spear.
And fbr the finishing of his vow he departed
from his company, his spear in his hand, his
shield suspended from his neck, arraed at all
points, and mounted on a good horse, his squire
following him on another, with his helmet.
When he approached Paris he put on the glit
tering head-piece, and leaving his squire behind
hira, and dashing his spurs into his steed, he
rode at full career to the barriers which were
then open. The French lords, who were there,
weened that he would have entered the town,
* It may be as well to notice that the barriers of a town,
or its outer fortification, are described by Froissart as being
grated pallisades, the grates being about half a foot wide.

THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 125
but that was not his mind, fbr when he had chap.

struck the barriers according to his vow, he
turned his rein and departed. Then the knights
of France immediately divined his purpose,
and cried, " Go your way ; you have right well
acquitted yourself." *
About the same time a band of English
knights advanced to the French town of
Noyon, and spread their banners abroad, as a
defiance to the garrison. But the French made
* The remainder of this knight's story should be told,
although it does not relate to the raatter of the text. " In
the suburbs he had a sore encounter, for, as he passed on
the paveraent, he found before him a bdcher, a big raan,
who had well seen this knight pass by, and he held in his
hands a sharp heavy axe, with a long point ; and as the
knight returned, and took no heed, this bocher came on his
side and gave hira such a stroke between the neck and
shoulders, that he fell upon his horse, and yet he recovered ;
and then the bocher struck hira again, so that the axe
entered into his body, so that, for pain, the knight fell to
the earth, and his horse ran away, and came to the squire
who abode for his master at the streets ; and so the squire
took the horse, and had great marvel what was become of
his master, for he had seen him ride to the barriers, and
strike thereat with his glaive', and return again. Then he
rode a little forth thitherward, and anon he saw his raaster
laying upon the earth between four men, who were striking
him as they would strike an anvil. And then the squire
was so affrighted he durst not go farther, for he saw he
could not help his master. Therefore he returned as fast as
he might ; so there the said knight was slain. And the
knights that were at the gate caused him to be buried in
holy ground.'' Lord Berners's Froissart, c. 281.

IV.

126 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER.
CHAP, no sally ; and a Scottish knight, named Sir John
— - Swinton, impatient of rest, departed from his
company, his spear in his hand, and mounted on
a cheval de lance, his page behind him, and in
that manner approached the barriers. He 'then
alighted, and saying to his page, " Hold, keep ray
horse, and depart not hence," he went to the
barriers. Within the pallisades were raany good
knights, who had great raarvel what this said
knight would do. Then Swinton said to them,
" Sirs, I am come hither to see you ; as you will
not issue out of your barriers, I will enter them,
and prove my knighthood against yours. Win
rae if you can !" He then fought with the
French cavaliers, and so skilfully, that he
wounded two or three of thera ; the people on
the walls and the tops of s the houses remaining
still, for they had great pleasure to regard his
valiantness, and the gallant knights of France
charged them not to cast any missiles against him,
but to let the battle go fairly and freely forward.
So long they fought that at last the page went to
the barriers, and said to his master, " Sir, come
away ; it is time for you to depart, for your
company are leaving the field." The knight
heard him well, and then gave two or three
strokes about him, and armed as he was he leapt
over the barriers, and vaulting upon his horse
behind his faithful page, he waved his hand to
the Frenchmen, and cried, " Adieu, Sirs, I

w

THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 127
thank you." He then urged his noble horse to chap.

IV.

speed, and rode to his own company. This
goodly feat of arras was praised by raany folks.*
This love of causeless perils was often ac
corapanied by curious circumstances. On the
manners ofthe ancestors ofthe heroes of chivalry
it has been said,
" In the caverns of the west.
By Odin's fierce embrace comprest,
A wond'rous boy shall Rmda bear.
Who ne'er shall comb his raven hair,
Nor wash his visage in the stream.
Nor see the sun's departing beam.
Till he on Hoder's corse shall smile
Flaming on the fun'ral pile !"
And kina; Harold made a soleimi vow never Bravery in-
... cited by
to clip or comb his hair till he should have ^o^s.
extended his sway over the whole country. Ta
citus informs us, that the youthful Germans, par
ticularly those araong the Catti, did not shave the
hair from the head or chin until they had
achieved renown in arms. The same feehng in
fluenced the knight of chivalry. He was wont
to, wear a chain on his arm or leg until he had
performed some distinguishing exploit ; and
when his merit became conspicuous, the mark
of thraldom was removed with great soleranity. t
* Froissart, vol. i. c. 278.
f Froissart, c.281.; Gray's Descentof Odin. ; Herbert'slce-
landic Translations, p. 39 ; Scott's Minstrelsy, vol. 1. p. 45.

IV,
Fantastic
circum stances.

128 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER.
CHAP. A young knight would not at first assume his
family arms, but wore plain armour and shield
without any device till he had won renown. He
would even fight bhndfold, or pinion one of his
hands to his body, or in some other manner
partially disable himself from performing his deed
of arms. Before the gate of Troyes there was
an English squire, resolved to achieve some high
and romantic feat. His companions were unable
to judge whether or not he could see, but with
his spear in his hand, and his targe suspended
from his neck, he recklessly spurred his horse
to the barriers, leaped over thera, and careered
to the gate of the town, where the Duke of
Burgundy and other great lords of France were
standing. He reined round his foaraing steed
and urged hira back towards the carap. The
duke shouted applause at his boldness : but soine
surrounding raen-at-arras had not the sarae ge
nerous sympathy for noble chivalry, and they
hurled their lances like javelins at the brave
squire, till they brought him and his horse dead
to the ground, wherewith the Duke of Burgundy
was right sore displeased. * Equally singular,
and raore fantastic, was the conduct of certain
young knights of England during the French
wars of Edward III., for each of them bound
up one of his eyes with a sUk ribbon, and swore
before the ladies and the peacock, that he would
* Froissart c. 384.

THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 129
not see with both eyes until he had accom- c^ap.
plished certain deeds of arms in France. * — -
Nothing appears incredible in romances after
reading these tales of a very faithful historian ;
but we should wrong chivalry were we to sup
pose that this wild, this phrenetic, courage was
its chief character. Perhaps it was in general
the quality of ybUng soldiers only ; for discre
tion was certainly a part of cavaleresque valour.
That a knisht was sage is frequently said to his The sage-
° . ° . . ness of
honour. Not, indeed, that his skill ever dege- knights.
nerated into the subtlety of stratagem, for bold
and open t battle was always preferred to the
* Froissart, c. 28. " Et si avoit entre eux plusieurs jeunes
bacheliers, qui avoient chacun un ceil convert de drap, a
fin qu'ils n'en puissent veoir ; et disoit on que ceux la avoient
vou6, entre daraes de leur pais, que jamais ne verroient que
d'un ceil jusques a ce qu'ils auroient fait aucunes prouesses
de leur corps, en royaume de France." The disposition of
knights- £0 make vows was an excellent subject for Cervantes'
raillery. " Tell her," continued I, (Don Quixote) " when
she least expects it, she will corae to hear how I raade an
oath, as the Marquis of Mantua did, when he found his
nephew Baldwin ready to exipire on the raountains, never to
eat upon a table-cloth, and several other particulars, which
he swore to observe, till he had revenged his death. So in
the like solemn manner will I swear, never to desist from
traversing the habitable globe, and ranging through all the
seven parts of the world, more indefatigably than ever was
done by Prince Pedro of Portugal, till I have freed her from
her enchantment." Don Quixote, part 2. c. 23.
+ Every true knight said like him in the Morte
d' Arthur, " Though the knight be never so false, I will never
VOL. I. K

130

THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER.

CHAP. IV.

refineraents of artifice, and he would have de
based his order if he had profited by any mis
chance happening to his foe. But in the choice
of ground, in the disposition of his squires and
men-at-arms, he exerted his best skill, for to be
adventurous was only one part of valour. The
soldier in chivalry was also imaginative, a word
constantly used by our old authors to show a
mind full of resources, and to express military
abilities. *

There was not so

Their hu
manities of ., . T • -11
war. heroisra as distinguished

much ruthlessness in his
those ages of the

W

slay him sleeping ; for I will never destroy the high order
of knighthood." And again, " Well, I can deem that I shall
give him a fall. For it is no mastery, for my horse and I be
both fresh, and so are not his horse and he, and weet ye
well that he will take it for great unkindness, for every one
good is loth to take another at disadvantage.''
* The true son of chivalry was like Banquo, of whom
Macbeth says, " ' Tis much he dares ;
And, to that dauntless temper of his mind.
He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour
To act in safety."
Sir Philip Sidney excellently well describes the nature
of chivalric courage. " Their courage was guided with
skill, and their skill was armed with courage ; neither did
their hardiness darken their wit, nor their wit cool their
hardiness : both vahant as men despising death, and both
confident as unwonted to be overcome. Their feet steady.

THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 131
ancient world which fancy and poetry have chap.
sometimes painted as chivalrous. The prostrate 
and suppliant foe seldom sued for mercy in vain
from the true knight. It was a raaxim, that a
warrior without pity was without worship. *
Even the pride of knighthood often softened the
fierce and rugged face of war, for inferior people
were spared, because they were unworthy of the
lance. A knight trained to warlike exercises
cared little for a battle unless he could prove his
skilful bearing ; and what honour could he gain
from slaying rude and unarmed peasantry ?
The simple peasant was often spared from mo
tives of prudence. Richard Brembrovv, an Eng
lish knight, was ravaging Brittany, in the year
1S50, but was reproached for his conduct by
Beaumanoir, a partisan of the house of Blois,
who was astonished that a valiant cavalier should
make war, not only on men bearing arms, but
on labourers and others. " In all wars guided
by chivalric principles," continued the knight of
Brittany, " true soldiers never injure the tillers
of the ground ; for if they were to do so, the
world would be destroyed by famine." t More

their hands diligent, their eyes watchful, and their hearts
resolute." Arcadia, p. 28. Edit. 1590.
* Morte d' Arthur. 1.7.
f Argentr^, Histoire de la Bretagne, p. 391-
K 2

132 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER.
^Sf ^' generous feelings, however, sometimes had their
— - influence. The stern Du Guesclin, when on his
death-bed, desired his old companions in arms
to remember that " neither the clergy, nor wo
men, nor children, nor poor people, were their
enemies ;" and the charge came with peculiar
propriety from him, for his past life could fur
nish no instance of needless severity.
To show the reverse of such mildness was
the unhappy fate of the Black Prince, who, by
his massacre of three thousand people at Lim
oges *, tarnished the lustre of all his former
glories. The narrative of this affair which Frois
sart has left us, shews that such barbarities were
not so frequent in chivalric times as raodern
hatred of aristocratical power has represented.
We raay learn from our historian that the mas-
sacre at Limoges proceeded from the unhappy
disposition to cruelty which at that tirae clouded
the mind of the Prince of Wales, and not from
the general principles of chivalry ; for he tells us,
that the knights prepared themselves to do evil,
to slay men, women, and children, because they
were so commanded ; and he whose heart leaped
for joy in describing a manly conflict, where
banners and standards waved in the wind, with
* Limoges had revolted on account of a tax which had
been imposed on the Enghsh dominions in France, to pay
the expences of the war, which had had for its object the
restoration of Peter the Cruel.

THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 133
horses barded, and knights and squires richly chap.

armed, yet sighs over the massacre of Limoges,
and says it was "great pity" to see the slaughter.*
It was only when cities that belonged to the
enemies of the church were taken, that the sword
of the victorious Christian was embrued in
blood to the very hilt ; for pagans, Saracens,
Jews, and heretics were not considered within
the pale of the humane courtesies of chivalry.
Frequent pauses were made in the single ne-
counters of knighthood, for generousness was
thought an essential part of brayery, and the
* Froissart, liv. 1. c. 283. " Then the Prince, the
Duke of Lancaster, the Earl of Cambridge, the Earl of
Pembroke, Sir Guiscard Dangle, and all the others, with
their companies, entered into the city, and all other foot
men ready apparelled, to do evil, and to pillage and rob the
city, and to slay men, women, and children ; for so it was
commanded them to do, It was great pity to see the men,
women and children that kneeled down on their knees to the
'Prince for mercy, but he was so inflamed with ire, that he
took no heed to them, so that none was heard ; but all put
to death as they were raet withal, and such as were nothing
culpable. There was no pity taken of the poor people who
wrought never no manner of treason ; yet they bought it
dearer than the great personages, such as had done the evil
and trespass. There was not so hard a heart within the city
of Limoges, and if he had any remembrance of God, but
that wept piteously for the great mischief that they saw
before their eyes : for more than three thousand raen, women
arid children were slain that day. God have mercy on their
souls, fbr I trow they were martyrs." Lord Berners*
Translation.
K 3

IV.

13i the CHIVALRIC CHARACTER,
CHAP, soldier would rather vanquish by his skill than
— by any accidental advantage. A giant of the
first enormity requested of his antagonist. Sir
Guy of Warwick, a momentary respite for the
purpose of slaking his thirst in a neighbouring
stream The noble knight assented to this re
quest, and the giant, perfectly recovered from
his fatigue, renewed the combat with fresh
vigour. Sir Guy, in his turn, was oppressed by
heat and fatigue, and requested a similar favour;
but the uncourteous giant refused.* In a battle
between the celebrated Roland and a Saracen
knight, named Sir Otuel, a stroke of the former's
sword cut into the brain of his antagonist's horse.
The paladin of Charlemagne, with true chi
valric courtesy, reined in his steed, and rested
on his arms till Sir Otuel had disengaged hiraself
from the equipments of his horse. The Saracen
rallied him fbr want of skill in missing his gi
gantic frame ; but on the renewal of the battle
Otuel was guilty of a similar awkwardness, and
conscious that his raillery might now be retorted
with double force, he imitated the knightly
courtesy of Roland, and waited till his foe was
completely free from his fallen steed, t The
* Romance of Guy of Warwick.
t Romance of Sir Otuel. And in tlie Morte d' Arthur it
is said, " and thus by assent of them both, they granted
either other to rest, and so they set tliem down upon two mole

THE chivalric CHARACTER. 135
preHminaries of a battle between the famous chap.
Oliver and a Saracen cavalier, hight Sir Ferum- —
bras, was still more courteous, for the Christian
knight assisted his foe to lace his helmet, and
before they encountered, the combatants politely
bowed to each other. *
Veracious chroniclers confirm the stories of
romance writers. In a battle of honour between
the English and French, when it was thought
contrary to chivalry for either party to be raore
nuraerous than the other, the knights contended
for several hours with intervals of repose. When
any two of them had fought so long as to be
fatigued, they fairly and easily departed, and
sat themselves down by the side of a stream,
and took off their helmets. On being refreshed
they donned their armour, and returned to the
fight, t

hills there beside the fighting place, and either of thera un
laced his helmet, and took the cold wind, for either of their
pages was fast by them to come when they called to lace
their harness, and to set thera on again at their coraraand.
ment. Morte d'Arthur. lib. 8. c. 17.
* Romance of Sir Ferurabras.
-|- Froissart, liv. 2. c. 24. This story of Froissart reminds
one of Mortimer,
" When on the gentle Severn's sedgy bank.
In single opposition, hand to hand.
He did confound the best part of an hour
K 4

136 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER.

IV
Ransoming

CHAP. We commonly refer to the principles of ho
nour in chivalry to account for the interesting
fact, that a victorious knight permitted his pri
soner to go to his own country or town, in order
to fetch his ransom ; and we know that his word
of honour was considered a sufficient pledge for
Reason of his rctum at the appointed season. The true
courtesies in ^ ^
battles. reason of this general practice of chivalry may be
learnt from a passage in Froissart. After describ
ing a battie between the English and French in
the year 1344, he says, that the English dealt like
good companions with their prisoners ; and suir
fered many to depart on their oaths and pro
mises to return again at a certain day to Berge-
rac or to Bourdeaux. * The Scots were equally
courteous to the English after the truly chivalric
battle of Otterbourn. They set them to their
ransom, and every man said to his prisoner,
" Sir, go and unarm yourself, and take your

In changing hardiment with great Glendower :
Three times they breath'd, and three times did they drink,
Upon agreement, of swift Severn's flood ;
Who then, affrighted with their bloody looks.
Ran fearfully among the trembling reeds.
And hid his crisp head in the hollow bank,
Blood-stain'd with these valiant corabatants."
Henry IV. Part 1. Act 1. Sc. iii.
* Froissart liv, 1, 'c, 107.

THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 137
ease ;" and so made their prisoners as good cheer chap.
as if they had been brethren, without doing -^^
them any injury.* A short while after the
battle Sir Matthew Redman yielded himself
prisoner to Sir James Lindsay, rescue or no
rescue, so that he dealt with hira hke a good
companion, t It was, therefore, because all the
knights of Europe were united in one universal
bond of brotherhood, that one knight showed
courtesy to another. It was the principle of
fraternity which the Christian religion inculcates,
that created all the kindly consideration in war
which distinguished chivalry ; and base and bar
barous, as we may chuse to call our ancestors,
I know not whether the principles of Christian
friendship were not as well understood in their
days as in our own age of boasted light and
improvement. There is truth as well as beauty
in Froissart's observation, that ^' nobleness and
gentleness ought to be aided by nobles and
gentles." Not only were prisoners released on
theh parole of honour, but their ransom was
never set so high that they could not pay it at
their ease, and still maintain their degree. X
* Froissart, liv. 2. c. 145.
f Froissart, liv. 2. c. 146.
X Froissart, liv. 1. c. 149. 233.

138 THE CHIVALRIC ' CHARACTER.
CHAP. One curious particular, illustrative of knightly
—1 dignity, remains to be raentioned. It was beneath
pride of the bearing of chivalry for a cavalier to sur-
kmghthoo . j.gjj(jgj. himself prisoner to one of the raskall
rout, and if he ever was reduced to such a sad
necessity he would amuse his pride by raising
his conqueror to the rank of chivalry. The Earl
of Suffolk, during our wars in France, was taken
prisoner by William Renaud ; but he would
not surrender to him until he had given him
the accolade, bound a sword round him, and
Prisoners, thus dignified hira with knighthood. But there
was no loss of chivalric dignity in a knight being
taken prisoner by a squire, fbr a squire, though
inferior in rank, was of the same quality as a
knight. The renowned Du Guesclin, whom I
so often mention as a pattern of chivalry, yielded
to the prowess of a squire of England who
fought under the standard of Sir John Chandos.
Instance of In the couisc of the fourteenth century the
knightly "^
honour. Dukc of Gucldrcs was taken prisoner by a
squire named Arnold, and was removed to a
castle, where he proraised to pay his ransom.
The lords of Prussia, hearing that the duke had
been captured in his course to their country,
summoned a mighty force, and marched to the
place of the duke's confinement. The squire
dreaded their power, and resolved to quit the
castie : but before his departure he went to the

THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 139
Duke of Gueldres, and said to him, "Sir duke, '^^.f^'-

IV.

you are my prisoner, and I am your master :
you are a gentleman and a true knight; you
have sworn and given me your faith, and
whithersoever I go you ought to follow me. I
cannot tell if you have sent for the great master
of Prussia or not, but he is coming hither with
a mighty power. I shall not remain : you may
tarry if you list, and I will take with me your faith
and promise." Gueldres made no answer. The
squire soon afterwards mounted horse and de
parted, telling the Duke that he would always find
him at such a place, naming a strong castle, in a
reraote situation. The Prussians soon arrived
and liberated their friend : but he resolved to
perform his promise to the squire whom he
called his master, and neither absolution, nor
dispensation, nor argument, nor raillery could
induce him to break his faith. His friends and
relations then treated with the squire for his
freedom, and by paying the customary ransom
the Duke of Gueldres recovered that honourable
liberty of mind which above all things was dear
to the true knight. *
Certainly the virtues of a knight were not independ-
necessarily patriotic. They were rather calcu- knights and
knight er
rantry.
* Froissart, liv. 1. c. 235. 371. liv. 2.c. 152.

140 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER.
CHAP, lated to weaken than to strengthen his ten-
— 1 dencies to king and country. Although as an
individual he was bound to his native land, yet
the character of his knighthood was perpetually
pressing him to a course of conduct distinct
from all national objects. He was the judge of
right and wrong * ; he referred to no external
standard of equity; he was an independent
agent. These qualities of chivalry gave birth
to knight errantry, that singular feature in the
character of the middle ages.
" Long so they travell'd through wasteful ways.
Where dangers dwelt and perils most did wonne.
To hunt for glory and renowned praise :
Full many countries they did overrun,
From the uprising to the setting sun,
And many hard adventures did atchieve ;
Of all the which they honour ever wonne.
Seeking the weak oppressed to relieve,
And to recover right for such as wrong did grieve." f
* Thus Don Quixote pleasantly says' in his enumeration
of chivalric qualities, " whoever possesses the science of
knight errantry ought to be learned in the laws, and under
stand distributive and commutative justice, in order to right
all mankind."
t Fairy Queen, book iii. canto 1. st.S. ; and Tasso, with
equal attention to truth, thus describes the duty of a knight.
Premer gli alteri, e soUevar gli imbelli.
Defender gli innocenti, e punir gli erapi,
Fian I'arti lor. La Ger. lib. 10. 76.

llf

Ryden and rappe adoune in remes aboute.
And to take trespassours and tye them faste.
» # # *
Truly to take, and truly to fight,
Is the profession and the pure order that apendeth
to knights." *
The happy consequences to woman of this
chivalric principle, and its tendencies to ame
liorate manners, will best be seen in our deline
ation of the character of dames and damsels in
the middle ages. With respect to the general
interests of society it may be observed, that
knight errantry was a very considerable means
of correcting the state of violence and misrule
in feudal times. The monks of St. Albans held
a body of knights in pay, who defended the abbey
and preserved the roads free from robbers,
whether of the baronial or the vulgar class, t
Until the discipline of laws had tamed the world
irito order, force was the only measure of power ;
* Piers Ploughman, first vision.
t M. Paris. 45.

IV.

THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 141
It was considered the first praise of knight- chap.
hood to efface foul outrage, and the advantages
arising to society from this disposition are con
fessed even by satirists.
 " Knyghtes shoulde

142

THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER.

CHAP. IV.

and it was by the sword alone that injuries com
mitted by the sword could be avenged. The
protection of the wronged being a great prin
ciple of chivalry, no oppressed person was at a
loss for a mode of redress. Sorae gentle knight
was ever to be found who would lay his lance in
its rest to chastise the evil doer. While Edward
the First was travelling in France, he heard that
a lord of Burgundy was continually committing
outrages on the persons and property of his
neighbours. In the true spirit of chivalry
Edward attacked the castle of this uncourteous
baron. His prowess asserted the cause of jus
tice ; and he bestowed the doraains which he had
won upon a nobler and more deserving lord. *

Knights
fought the
battles of
other coun
tries.

When he was neither engaged in his country's
wars, nor errant in quest of adventures, the knight
fought among the chivalry of foreign princes.
This was a matter of daily occurrence; the
English knights obtaining licences from the king
on their pledging the honour of their chivalry
not to disclose the secrets of the court, nor to
fight on the side of the nation's enemies. It is
curious to observe that the service of France was
always preferred by the English adventurers to
that of Spain or Portugal. France, they said, was

* Matthew of Westminster, p. 353.

THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 143
a good, sweet country, and temperate, posses- chap.
sing pleasant towns and fair rivers, but Castile —
was full of barren rocks and mountains, the air
was unwholesorae, the waters were troubled, and
the people were poor and evil arrayed. The ^^"fl^^jjj.
wines of Spain forraed, however, the principal s"^
grievance. The English complained that they wines
were so strong and fiery as to corrupt their
heads, dry their bowels, and consume their very
livers ; and what with hot suns and hot wines
Englishmen, who in their own country were
sweetly nourished, were in Castile burnt without
and within. There is another passage of Frois
sart which I shall lay before the reader in the
right genuine and expressive old English of John
Bourchier, knight, Lord Berners. " The Eng
lishmen ate' grapes (in Spain) when they raight
get them, and drank of the hot wines, and the
more they drank the more they were set on fire,
and thereby burnt their livers and lungs; for that
diet was contrary to their nature. Englishmen are
nourished with good meats and with ale, which
keep their bodies in temper. In Spain the
nights were hot because of the great heat of the
day, and the mornings marvellously cold, which
deceives them ; for in the night they could suffer
nothing on them, and so slept all naked, and in
the morning cold took them ere they were aware,
and that cast them into fevers and fluxes without

144 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER.
CHAP, remedy, and as well died great men as mean
-^^ people. *
Principles j^w this advcuturousness proceeded from the
of this ac* .
tive con. principle, that the life of a knight was not to be
' regarded as a course of personal indulgence. His
virtues were of an active; stirring nature, and
he was not perftiitted to waste his days in dark
obscurity, or to revel in ease. Like falcons
that disdained confinement, he could not rentiain
long at rest without wishing to roam abroad.
" Why do we not array ourselves and go and see
the bounds and ports of Normandy ?" were the
words of war by which our English knights and
squires would rbiise one another to arms. "There
be knights and squires to a!wake us and to fight
with us." t And Honour Was always the quest of
the true knight.

In woods, in waves, in wars she wont to dwell,
And will be found with peril and with pain ;
Nor can the man that moulders in idle cell.
Unto her happy mansion attain.
Before her gate high God did sweat ordain.
And wakeful watchers ever to abide :
But easy is the way and passage plain
* Froissart* 1. C.361. 2. 124. 202. 203.
f Froissart, 1 . 46.

THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 145
To pleasure's palace : it may soon be spide, CHAP.
Aad day and night her doors to all stand open wide."*  1
It has often been supposedt that the chivalric Knightly
1 1 ¦ • 1 /• 1 1 '""epend-
array must have been inconvenient to the feudal ence con-
and national disposition of armies, and that discipline.
knightly honours would be continually striving
with other distinctions for pre-eminence. But
this supposition has arisen from a want of atten
tion to chivalric principles. Chivalry was not
opposed to national institutions ; it was a feel
ing of honour that pervaded without disturbing
society; and knighly distinctions were altogether
independent of ranks in the state. As every
lord was educated in, chivalry, he was of course
a knight ; but he led his troops into the field in
consequence of his feudal possessions ; and any
* Fairy Queen, bookii. canto c. st. 41.
f Even so judicious a writer as Mr. Dunlop says, (Hist.
of Fiction, vol.ii. p. 144.) that vigor of discipline was broken
by want of unity of command. St. Palaye, in whom want of
acquaintance with the subject is less excusable, says, " Si le
pouvoir absolu, si I'unit^ du commandement est le seul
moyen d'entretenir la vigueur de la discipline, jamais elle ne
dut 6tre moins solidement dtablie, et plus souvent ^branlde
que du temps de nos chevaliers. Quelle confusion, en efifet,
ne devoient point apporter tant d'especes de chefs, dont les
principes, les motifs et les interSts n'etoient pas toujours
d'accord, et qui ne tiroient point d'une mfeme source le
droit de se faire obeir ?" Memoires sur 1' Ancienne Chevalerie,
partie 5.
VOL. I. L

146 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER.
CHAP, that were attached to his knighthood, it would

IV,

be in vain to enquire after. The array of an
army was always forraed agreeably to the sage-
ness and imagination of the constable, or mar
shal, or whatever other officer of the nation was
commander, without the slightest reference to
chivalry. A squire frequently led knights, eer-
tainly not on account of his chivalric title, but
by reason of favour or raerit, or any other ofthe
infinity of causes that occasion advanceraent.
Religion of The relisriou of the knight was generally the
the knight. ,. 1 . , . nf -n
religion of the tirae ; and it would be idle to ex
pect to see religious reforraers start frora the
bands of an unlettered soldiery, whose swords
His de- had been consecrated by the church. The war
rior said raany orisons every day ; besides a noc
turne of the Psalter, raatins of our Lady, of the
Holy Ghost, and ofthe cross, and also the dirige. *
The service of the mass was usually performed
by both arraies in the presence of each other before
a battle ; and no warrior would fight without
secretly breathing a prayer to God or a favourite
saint. Brevity was an important feature in a
soldier's devotion, as the following anecdote
proves. When the French cavaher, Lahire,
had just reached his army, he met" a chaplain,
• Froissart, vol. ii. c. 26.

Totion.

THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 147
from whom he demanded absolution. The priest chap.
required him to confess his sins. But the knight — -
answered he had not time, for he wanted imme
diately to attack the enemy. He added, that a
minute disclosure of his offences was not neces
sary, fbr he had only been guilty of sins common
to cavaliers, and the chaplain well knew what
those sins were. The priest thereupon absolved
him, and Lahire raised his hands to heaven,
and exclaimed, " God, I pray thee that thou
wouldest do to-day fbr Lahire as much as thou
wouldest Lahire should do fbr thee, if he were
God and thou wert Lahire." He then dashed
spurs into his horse, and his falchion was stained
with foeman's blood before the good chaplain
had recovered from his astonishraent at this sin
gular form of prayer. The union of religion
and arms was displayed in a very remarkable
manner at a joust which was held at Berwick, in
the year 1338. The lance of an English knight
pierced the helmet of his Scottish opponent,
William de Ramsey, and nailed it to his head.
It being instantly perceived that the wound was
mortal, a priest was hastily sent for. The knight
was shriven in his helm, and soon afterwards
died, and the good Earl of Derby, who was
present, was so much delighted at the religious
and chivalric mode of the Scotsman's death;
L Q

148 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER.
CHAP, that he hoped God of his grace would vouchsafe
 to send him a sirailar end.*
The knight visited sacred places, and adopted
all the superstitions, whether raild or terrible,
and the full spirit of intolerant fierceness, of his
time. The defence of the church formed part
of his obligation.
" Chevaliers en ce monde cy
Ne peuvent vivre sans soucy :
lis doivent le peuple defendre,
Et leur sang pour la foi espandre."

ance

Hisintoier- The kuiglit kucw no other argument than
the sword to gainsay the infidel, and he was
ready at all times to " thrust it into the belly of a
heretic as far as it would go." This was the feel
ing in all chivalric times ; but St. Louis was the
knight who had the merit of arraying it in the
form of a maxira.
The wars of these soldiers of the church were
not purely defensive. The cavaher fought
* " Then said the gud Eri of Derby,
Lo ! here a fair sight sykkyrly.
A fairer sight how may man see,
Than knight or squire which ever he be,
In-til his helm him thus got schryive ?
When I shall pass out of this lifej
I would God of his grace would send
To me a like manner to end."
Wyntown's Cronykil of Scotland,
book viii. c. 35.

THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 149
openly and offensively against heretics. This chap.
was part of the spirit and essence of his character, — '-
encouraged by the crusades, and the principles
of the military orders ; and thus no knight's
military reputation was perfect, unless it was
adorned with laurels which had been won in
Heathennesse as well as in Christendom ; for it
was the general opinion, that, as Heaven had
chosen learned clerks to maintain the holy Ca
tholic faith with Scripture and reason against
the raiscreants and unbelievers, so knights had
also been chosen, in order that the miscreants
might be vanquished by force of arms.*
The highest possible degree of virtue was re- General
quired of a knight : it was a maxim in chivalry, hit virtue.
that he who ordained another a knight must be
virtuous himself; for it was argued if the knight
who made a- knight were not virtuous, how
could he give that which he had not ; and no
man could be a true son of chivalry unless he
were of unsullied life, t He was not only to
be virtuous, but without reproach ; fbr he con-
^sidered his honourable fame as a polished mir
ror, whose beauty may be lost by an irapure
breath and an unwholesome air, as well* as by
being broken into pieces. But there was nothing
* Caxton, Fayt of Armes and Chevalrie, fol. 40.
t Ibid. c. 48.
L 3

150 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTEH.
CHAP, so abstract and refined in the nature of knightly
,  1 virtue as has been generally thought. It was the
duty ofthe cavalier to peril hiraself in the cause of
the afflicted and of the church ; and his exertions
and endeavours to perforra the conditions of his
oath of chivalry were to be rewarded, not by the
taere gratification of any metaphysical fancies,
but by the hope of joy in heaven. This was the
leading principle of his duty, however often it
might be abused or forgotten ; and this was the
feeling which his oath taught him to encourage.
But it did not exdlude from his conduct the
operation of personal raotives. Thus, in dis-
playing his love of justice, he displayed his
chivalric skill ; and by the same action he gra
tified his laudable aspirations for fame, and
Soothed and satisfied his conscience.
Certes all knights Were not religious, even in
the sense in which religion was understood in
chivalric times. One cavalier made it his heart's
boast that he had burnt a church, with twenty-
four monks, its contents. * The joyousness of
youth often broke out in Witty sentences, and
the sallies of the buoyiant spirits of the young
cavalier were iieither decent iibr liioral. When
his imagination was inflamed by chivalry and
love, he forgot his rosary, and said that paradise
* Malmsbury, p. 186.

THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 151
was only the habitation of dirty monks, priests, c^^^-
and hermits ; and that, for his own part, he pre- —
ferred the thoughts of going to the devil ; and,
in his fiery kingdom, he was sure of the society
of kings, knights, squires, minstrels, and jug
glers, and, above all the rest, the mistress of his
heart. *
Of his moral virtues perfect fidelity to a pro- Fidelity to
r. , . 11 obligations.
mise was very conspicuous, tor his nobleness
disdained any compromise with convenience or
circumstances. However absurd the vow, still
he was compeUed to perform it in all the strict
ness of the letter. Notwithstanding the obvious
inconveniences of such a course, a man frequently
promised to grant whatever another should ask ;
and he would have lost the honour of his knight
hood, if he had declined from bis word when the
wish of him to whom the promise had been
made was stated. Sir Charles du Blois promised
Sir Loyes of Spain whatever gift he raight re
quire for the service he had rendered him.
" Then," said Sir Loyes, " I require you to cause
the two knights that are in prison in Favet to be ¦"
brought hither, and give them to me to do with
them at my pleasure, for they have injured rae,
and slain ray nephew. I will strike their heads off
• Lai of Aucassin and Nicolette.
L 4

IV.

15? THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER.
CHAP, before the town, in sight of their compa
nions." Sir Charles was obliged to comply and
deliver up the knights; only remonstrating with
Sir Loyes on the cruelty of putting two such
valiant knights to death, and on the impolicy
of such a measure, as giving occasion to their
enemies of dealing in a similar manner with
them when the fortune of war changed her face.*

* Froissart, livre 1. c. 87. The romances of chivalry are
full of tales expressive of this feature of the knightly charac
ter. As amusing a story as any is to be found in the Morte
d'Arthur. " There came into the court a lady that hight
the lady of the lake. And she came on horseback, richly
bysene, and saluted King Arthur, and asked him a gift that
he proraised her when she gave hira the sword. ' That is
sooth,' said Arthur, ' a gift I proraised you. Ask what ye will,
and ye shall have it, an it be in ray power to give it.' — ' Well,'
saith the lady, ' I ask the head of the knight that hath wore
the sword, or the damsel's head that brought it. I take no
force though I have both their heads, for he slew my brother,
a good knight and a true, and that gentleworaan was causer
of my father's death.' — ' Truly,' said King Arthur, ' I raay not
grant either of their heads with my worship, therefore ask
what ye will else, and I shall fulfill your desire.' — ' I will ask
none other thing,' said the lady. When Balyn was ready to
depart, he saw the lady of the Jake, that by her means had
slain Balyn's mother, and he had sought her three years ;
and when it was told him that she asked his head of King
Arthur, he went to her streyte, and said, ' Evil be you found,
you would have my head, and therefore shall lose yours,'
and with his sword lightly he smote off her head before
King Arthur. 'Alas ! for shame,' said Arthur, • why have you
done so ? you have shamed me and all my court ; for this

THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 153
There was a generousness about chivalry un- chap.
known to other warfare. If in these days of — 1
improved jurisprudence we revert our eyes Generous-
with horror and contempt to tiraes when every
question was decided by the sword, still an air
of graceful courtesy hung over them, which
charms the imagination. A cavalier always
granted safe-conduct through his territories to all
who required it, even to those who asserted
pretensions, which, if established, would deprive
him of his possessions. When Matilda landed singular
near Arundel, to contend fbr the throne of Eng- lu^ ^°
land, Stephen gave her honourable conduct to
the castle of his brother, the Earl of Gloucester. *
This instance of chivalric generousness seems
scarcely credible to those who view ancient

was a lady that I was beholden to, and hither she came
under ray safe-conduct. I shall never forgive you that
trespass.' — ' Sir,' said Balyn, ' me forthinketh of your
displeasure; for this sarae lady was the untruest lady living,
and by enchantraent and sorcery she hath been the de
stroyer of raany good knights, and she was causer that my
mother was burnt through her falsehood and treachery.'. —
' What cause soever ye had,' said Arthur, ' you should have
forborne her in my presence ; therefore, think not the con
trary, you shall repent it, for such another despite had I
never in my court, therefore withdraw you out of ray court
in all haste that you raay." Morte d'Arthur, lib. ii. c. 3.
* Malrasbury, p.l84. Quem cuilibet, quaravis infestissimo
inimico negare, laudabiliura militum mos non est.

excess of it.

154 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER.
CHAP, times bythe light of modern prejudices. It was
— not the passive virtue that declined to profit by
any mischance happening to an adversary, but
it was one knight drawing the sword, and placing
it in the hands of his foe.
Bomantic MoTC full IH ils drcum^nces, and equally
romantic in its character, is the following tale.
About the year 1388, Sir Peter Courtenay, an
English knight of approved valiancy, went to
France in order to joust with the renowned Sir
Guy of Tremouille. They ran one course
with spears, and the king then stopped the
martial game, saying that each had done enough.
He made the stranger-knight fair presents, and
set him on his way to Calais, under the care of
the Lord of Clary, who is characterised by our
old chivalric chronicler as a lusty and frisky
knight. They rode together till they reached
Lucen, where resided the Countess of St. Poule,
sister ofthe King of England, and whose first
husband had been a Lord of Courtenay. During
the noble entertainment with which she greeted
her guests, the Countess enquired of Sir Peter
his opinion of France. He compliraented the
country in most of its forms, and praised the
deraeanour of the French chivalry, except in
one thing, for he coraplained that none of their
knights would do any deed of arras witlv him,
although he had with great trouble and cost left

THE CJllVALIUC CHARACTER. 155
England to encounter them. The Lord of Clary chap.
heard with pain the knights of his country re- —
Tiled, in the presence of the sister ofthe King
of England ; but he restrained his feehngs,
because Sir Peter was then mnder his pro
tection. The next day they took their leave of the
Countess, who, like a noble lady, threw a chain
of gold round the neck of each. They pro
ceeded to Calais, and when they reached the
frontier, and Sir Peter stepped on the English
territory, the Lord of Clary reminded him of the
language he had used at the board ofthe Countess
St. Poule, regarding the French chivalry, and
added, that such an opinion was not courteous
nor honorable, and that simple knight as he was
he would do his devoir to answer him, saying,
however, that he was influenced not by any
hatred to his person, but the desire of main
taining the honor of French knighthood;
Accordingly they jousted in the marshes of
Calais, in the presence of noble cavaliers and
squires of the two nations. In the second course
the lance of Lord Clary pierced the shoulder of
Sir Peter, and the wounded knight was led to
the neighbdUring town. The Lord of Clary
returned to Paris, proud that he had vindicated
the chivalric honor of his country, and expecting
praise. But when it was reported that a strange

156 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER.
CHAP, knight, travelling under the royal safeguard,
 ; had been required to do a deed of arms, the
king and his council felt alarraed, lest the honor
of their nation had received a stain. It was also
thought that the joust had been intentionally a
raortal one, a raatter which aggravated the offence.
The Lord of Clary was summoned before them,
and interrogated how he had presumed to be so
outrageous, as to hold a joust to the utterance
with a knight-stranger that had come to the
king's court for good love and to exalt his
honor, to do feats of arms, and had departed
thence with good love and joy, and to the in
tent that he should not be troubled in his return,
he had been delivered to his charge.
The Lord of Clary, in reply, simply related his
tale, and instead of deprecating the anger of his
liege lord, he claimed reward fbr his vindication
of the French chivalry. He said he would
abide the judgment of the constable and the
high raarshal of France, the knights and squires
of honor in every land ; and so highly did he
esteem the chivalry of that noble knight himself.
Sir Peter Courtenay, that he would appeal to
his voice and discretion.
Notwithstanding this defence, the Lord of
Clary was coraraitted to prison, nor was he de
livered thence till after along tirae, when the en
treaties of the Countess of St. Poule, the Lord of

THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 157
Bourbon, the Lord of Coucy, and other nobles, chap.

IV.

prevailed with the king. He was dismissed with
this reproof and exhortation : " Sir of Clary, you
supposed that you had done right well, howbeit
you acted shamefully, when you offered to do
arms with Sir Peter Courtenay, who was under
the king's safeguard, and delivered to you to
conduct to Calais. You did a great outrage
when you renewed the words, which were
spoken only in sport before the Countess of St.
Poule. Before you had so renewed them, you
ought to have returned to the king, and then
what counsel the king had given, you should
have followed ; because you did not this, you
have suffered pain. Beware better another time,
and thank the Lord of Bourbon and the Lord
of Coucy for your deliverance, for they earnestly
solicited for you, and also thank the Lady of
St. Poule." *
The virtue of liberality seems to have been a Liberality,
striking feature of the chivalric character. It
proceeded from that loftiness of spirit which
felt that avarice would have debased a heroism
that should contend for crowns and kingdoms.
The minstrels of the times, who kept alive the
flame of chivalry, encouraged this virtue above all
* Froissart, vol. ii. c. 162.

158 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER.
CHAP, others, for upon it depended their own subsist-

IV.

ence. But it often sprang from better motives
than pride or vanity. The good Lord de Foix
gave every day five florins, in small money, at
his gate, to poor folks, for the love of God ; and
he was liberal and courteous in his gifts to
others ; for he had certain coffers in his cham
bers, out of which he would oft-times take rao
ney to give to lords, knights, and squires, such
as came to him, and none departed from him
without a gift. * A knight, indeed, was taught
to consider nothing his own, save his horse and
arms, which he ought to keep as his means of
acquiring honour, by using them in the defence
of his religion and country, and of those who
were unable to defend themselves, f
Hutniiity.1 4 The valiaucy of chivalry was beautifully chast-
jened by humility ;
" And of his port as meek as is a maid."
Every hero, as well as Chaucer's knight, de-
^ liieaned hiraself in all things as if he had been in
* Froissart, ii. 26.
f This was part of the exhortation of a king of Portugal,
on knighting his son, according to a Portuguese historian,
cited in Lord Ly ttleton's History of Jlenry II., vol. ii. p. 233.
4to.

the chivalric character. 159
the hands of God, and in his name used his arms, chap. IV.
without vaunting or praising himself; for praise — 1
was regarded as blame in the mouth of him who
comraended his own actions. It was thought
that if the squire had vain-glory of his arms, he
was not worthy to be a knight, for vain-glory
was a vice which destroyed the merits and the
claims of chivalry.
The heroes ofthe Round Table were the mir
ror of all Christian knights ; and the generous rao-
desty of Sir Lancelot was reflected in the con
duct of raany a true soldier of chivalry. In the
lofty fancies of roraantic Europe that valiant
friend of Arthur was the pro west of all the heroes
of Britain ; yet he always gave place to Sir Tris
tram, and often retired from the field of tourna
ment when that noble son of arras was perform
ing his devoir. Even when he was entitled
to the prize. Sir Lancelot would not receive it,
maugre the offering of king, queen, and knights ;
but when the cry was great through the field,
, " Sir Lancelot, Sir Lancelot hath won the field,
[this day !" that noble subject of praise cried, on
the contrary, " Sir Tristram hath won the field;
Ifor he began first, and endured last, and so hath
he done the first day, the second, and the third
day." *
• Morte d'Arthur ; first book of Sir Tristram, c. 34.

Courtesy.

I

THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER.
The catalogue of knightly virtues is not yet
complete ; and nothing can be more beautiful to
the moral eye than some of the characteristics of
the ancient chivalry. Kindness and gentleness
of manner, which, when adopted by kings from
knightly customs, were called courtesy, were pe
culiar to the soldier of the raiddle ages, and pleas
ingly distinguished hira frora the savage sternness
of other warriors, whether Roman or barbarian.
Courtesy was the appearance, in the ordinary cir
cumstances of life, of that principle of protection
which, in weightier matters, made the swore
leap from its scabbard ; and, like every other
blessing of modern times, it had its origin in the
Christian religion. The world thought that
courtesy and chivalry accorded together, and
that villainous and foul words were contrary to
an order which was founded on piety. * Whether
historians or fabulists speak of a true knight, he
is always called gentle and courteous. To be
debonnaire was as necessary as to be bold ;
" Preux chevalier n'en doutez pas,
Doit ferir hault et parler bas." f
* Caxton, c. 66.
f The necessity of courtesy of manner was so important
in the minds of the old poets that they ascribed it not only
to every favourite hero, but even to animals, whether real or

I

THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER.
? The following anecdote curiously marks the c^ap.
manners of chivalric ages with relation to the — •
quality of courtesy: — The wife and sister of
Du Guesclin were once living in a castle which
was attacked and taken by a force Of Normans
and Englishraen. The success was great and
important ; but public indignation was excited
against the invaders, because they had trans
gressed the licence of war, and been guilty of
the uncourteous action of surprizing and dis-
turbing ladies whUe they were asleep. *
These military and moral qualities of knight- Every-day
•^ ^ . ^ life of the
hood were sustained and nourished by aU the knight.
circumstances of chivalric life, even those of a
peaceful nature. Hunting and falconry, the
amusements of the cavalier, were images of war.

imaginary. Our moral poet Gower thus gravely sets forth
the politeness of a dragon.
" With all the cheer that he may.
Toward the bed there as she lay.
Till he came to her the beddes side,
And she lay still and nothing cried ;
For he did all his things fair,
And was courteous and debonair."
Confessio Amantis, lib. 6. fol. 138.
* Extrait de I'Histoire de Du Gueslin, par P. H. Du
Chastelet, p. 39, &c.
VOL. 1. M

162 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER.

IV.
Falconry,

CHAP, and he threw over them a grace beyond the
power of mere baronial rank. Daraes and
raaidens accompanied him to the sport of hawk
ing, when the merry bugles sounded to field ;
and it was the pleasing care of every gallant
knight to attend on his damsel, and on her bird
which was so gallantly bedight; to let the falcon
loose at the proper moment, to animate it by his
cries, to take from its talons the prey it had
seized, to return with it triumphantly to his lady,
and, placing the hood on its eyes, to set it again
on her hand. Every true knight could say, like
the cavalier in Spenser,
" Ne is there hawk which mantleth her on perch,
Whether high towering or accosting low,
But I the measure of her flight do search.
And all her prey and all her diet know."
These amusements of every-day life were al
ways mingling themselves with the humanities
of war. Edward IIL, when in France, in the
year 1359, was attended by sixty couple of dogs,
and by thirty falconers, on horseback, carrying
birds. Various barons in the army had their
dogs and birds with them, like the king. Dur
ing the reign of Richard IL, when the Duke of
Lancaster was in France and Spain, many ladies
accompanied the army, for the objects of the

THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. l63
expedition were not altogether military ; plea- chap.
sure was as much the occupation as affairs of —
moment, and for the space of a month or raore
the Duke lay at Cologne, and removed not, ex
cept it were hunting or hawking ; for the Duke
and other lords of England had brought with
them hawks and hounds for their own sport, and
sparrow-hawks for the ladies, *
To play the game of chess, to hear the min- .chess-piay-
strel's lays, and read romances, were the principal
arausements of the knight when the season and
the weather did not permit hawking and hunt
ing. A true knight was a chess-player, and the
game was played in every country of chivalry ;
» Froissart, vol. ii. c. 47. It is difficult to fancy the ex
travagant degree of- estimation in which hawks were held
during the chivalric ages. As Mr. Rose says in one of his
notes to the Eomance of Partenopex of Blois, they were
considered as symbols of high estate, and as such were
constantly carried about by the nobility of both sexes.
Barclay, in his translation from Brandt, complains of the in
decent usage of bringing them into places appropriated to
public worship ; a practice which, in the case of some in
dividuals, appears to have been recognized as a right.
The treasurer of the church of Auxerre enjoyed the dis
tinction of assisting at divine service on solemn days, with
a falcon on his fist ; and the Lord of Sassai held the privilege
of perching his upon the altar. Nothing was thought more
dishonorable to a raan of rank, than to give up his hawks,
and if he were taken prisoner, he would not resign them even
as the price of liberty.
M 2

Jove of
chesSi

164 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER.
CHAP, for as the chivalric states of midland Europe
IV.
— '- obtained a knowledge of it from the Scandina-
vians, so the southern states acquired it from
the Arabs.

" When they had dined, as I you say,
Lords and ladies went to play ;
Some to tables, and some to chess.
With other games more and less."*
k^'ightt'^ The fondness of our ancestors for the game
of chess appears by the fi-equent mention ofthe
amusement in the ancient romances. Sometimes
a lover procured admittance to the place where
his mistress was confined, by permitting the
jailor to win from him a game at chess. Again,
the minstrels in the baronial hall, spread over
their subject all the riches of their imagination.
They were wont to fancy the enchanted castle of
a beautiful fairy, who challenged a noble knight
to play with her at chess. Flags of white and
black marble formed the chequer, and the pieces
consisted of massive statues of gold . and silver,
which moved at the touch of a magic wand
held by the player. Such fiibles show the state
of manners : but a curious story remains on his
torical record, which displays the practical con-
* Romance of Ipomydon.

the chivalric CHARACTER. 165
sequences of chess-playing. During part of the chap.
reign of our Edward III. the town and castle — 1
of Evreux were French. A noble knight of the
neighbourhood, named Sir William Graville,
who wa_s secretly attached to the English side,
thought he could win the place, and he formed
his scheme on his knowledge of the governor's
character. He first gained some friends among
the burgesses, who were not very strongly at
tached to the French cause. As he had not de
clared himself the friend of either party, he was
permitted to walk in whatever quarters of the .
city he chose, and one day he loitered before
the gate of the castle till he attracted the atten
tion of the governor. They saluted each other,
and conversed awhile on the topics of the season.
Sir William found his auditor credulous to every
tale, till, when he had told one bf wondrous
improbability, the governor demanded his autho
rity. " Sir," replied the knight of Graville,
" a cavalier of Flanders wrote this to me on the
pledge of his honour, and sent with the letter
the goodliest chess-men I ever saw."
The governor dropped all care fbr the story at
the mention of chess-raen, and he anxiously de
sired to see them.
" I will send for them," said Sir Wilham,
" on condition that you will play a game with
me for the wine."
M 3

166

Chap.
IV.

THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER.
The governor assented, and Sir William de
sired his squire to fetch the chess-men and bring
them to the gate.
The two knights then passed through two
wickets into the castle yard ; and while the
stranger was viewing the edifice, his faithful squire
ran at speed to the burgesses' houses, and sum
moned them to arms. They soon donned their
harness and repaired with him to the castle gate,
where, agreeably to a concerted scheme, he
sounded a horn.
When Sir William heard it, he said to the
governor, " Let us go out of the second gate,
for the chess-men are arrived." Sir William
passed the wicket, and remained without. In
following him the governor stooped and put out
his head. Sir William drew a sraall battle-axe
from under his cloak, and therewith smote to
death his defenceless foe. He then opened the
first gate, the burgesses entered in numerous
and gallant array, and incontinently the castle
was taken. *

Minstrelsy. The minstrel's lay, the poetry of the trouba
dour, the roraance of the learned clerk, all
spoke of war and love, of the duties and sports

* Froissart, vol. i. c. 177 ; and Sir Walter Scott's note
to the Romance of Sir Tristrem, p. 274-

THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 167
of chivalry. Every baronial knight had his gay ^"^^•
troop of minstrels that accompanied him to the —
field, and afterwards chaunted in his hall, whe
ther in their own or another's verse, the martial
deeds which had renowned his house. A branch
of the minstrelsy art consisted of reciting tales ;
and such persons as practised it were called
jesters. " I warn you first at the beginning.
That I wUl make no vain carping
Of deeds of arms nor of amours
As do minstrelles and jestours.
That make carping in many a place
Of Octovianeand Isembrase,
And of many other jestes,
And namely when they come to festes;
Nor of the life of Bevis of Hampton,
That was a knight of great renown ;
Nor of Sir Guy of Warwick,
All if it might some men like."*

* This statement of the objects of the minstrelsy art,
is taken frora a raanuscript cited by Tyrwhitt, Chaucer ii.
483. It is the railing of a sour fanatic, who wished to
destroy all the harraless pleasures of life. But we raay
profit by his coraraunication, while we despise liis gloom.
I shall add another description of the various subjects of
minstrelsy from the Lay le Fraine.
" Some beth of war and some of woe.
And some of joy and mirth also ;
M 4

168 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER.
CHAP. Minstrels played on, various musical instru-
— '- ments during dinner, and chaunted or recited
their verses and tales afterwards both in the hall,
and in the chamber to which the barons and
knights retired for amusement.
" Before the king he set him down.
And took his harp of merry soun.
And, as he full well can.
Many merry notes he began.
The king beheld, and sat full still.
To hear his harping he had good wiU.
When he left off his harping.
To him said that rich king,
Minstrel, me liketh weU thy glee.
What thing that thou ask of me
Largely I will thee pay ;
Therefore ask now and asay."*
A minstrel's lay generally accompanied the
wine and spices which concluded the entertain-

And sorae of treachery and of guile,
Of old adventures that fell while ;
And sorae of jests and ribaudy ;
And many there beth of fairy ;
Of all things that men see.
Most of love, forsooth, there be."
Sir Orpheo.

THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 169
ment.* Kings and queens had their trains of chap.

songsters, and partly from humour and partly
from contempt, the head of the band was called
* Froissart, vol. ii. c. 26. 52. 163. In Dr. Henderson's
History of Wines, p. 283, it is stated that our ancestors
mixed honey and spices with their wine, in order to correct
its harshness and acidity, and to give it an agreeable flavour.
True, but it should also have been remarked that the spices
were not always mixed with the wine, but that they were
served up on a plate by themselves. This custom is proved
frora an arausing passage in Froissart, which involves also
another point of manners. Describing a dinner at the
castle of Tholouse, at which the king of France was present,
our chronicler says, " This was a great dinner and well stuffed
of all things ; and after dinner and grace said, they took
other pastimes in a great chamber, and hearing of instru
ments, wherein the Earl of Foix greatly delighted. Then
wine and spices were brought, the Earl of Harcourt served
the king of his spice plate, and Sir Gerrard de la Pyen
served the Duke of Bourbon, and Sir Monnaut of Nouailles
served the Earl of Foix." Vol ii. c. 264. Another passage is
equally expressive : " The king alighted at his palace, which
was ready apparelled for him. There the king drank and
took spices, and his uncles also ; and other prelates, lords,
and knights." Thus too, at a celebration of the order of the
Golden Fleece, at Ghent, in 1445, Olivier de la Marehe,
describing the dinner, says, " Longueraent dura le disner et
le service. La jouerent et sonnerent menestries et trom-
pettes ; et herauts eurent grans dons, et crierent largesse ;
et tables levies furent les espices aport^es, et furent les
princes et les chevaliers servis d'espiceg et de vins, &c.
Memoires, d' Olivier de la Marehe, in the vol. ix. c. 15. of
the great collection of French Meraoirs: and in the Morte
d'Arthur it is said they went unto Sir Persauntes pavihon,
and drank the wine and ate the spices.

IV.

170 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER.
CHAP, king; of the minstrels.* But men of the first
IV.
 L quality, particularly the younger sons and bro
thers of great houses, followed the profession of
minstrelsy, and no wonder, if it be true that
they gained the guerdon without having encoun-
tered the dangers of war ; fbr many a doughty
knight complained that the smiles for which he
had perilled hiraself in the battle field were be
stowed upon sorae idle son of peace at 'home.
The person of a minstrel was sacred, and base
and barbarian the man would have been ac
counted, who did not venerate him that sang the
heroic and the tender lay, the raagic strains of
chivalry, and could shed a roraantic lustre over
fierce wars and faithful loves.

* He was a great personage, if wealth could confer
dignity. The hospital and priory of St. Bartholoraew in
Smithfield, London, were founded by Royer or Raherus, the
king's minstrel, in the third year of the reign of Henry I.
A. D. 1102. Percy, Essay on the Ancient Minstrels, p. 32.
The Serjeant of the minstrels was another title for the
head of the royal minstrelsy. A circumstance that occurred
in the reign of Edward IV. shews the confidential character
of this officer, and his facility of access to the king at all
hours and on all occasions. " And as he (king Edward IV.)
¦was in the north country in the month of September, as he
lay in his bed, one, naraed Alexander Carlisle, that was ser
jeant ofthe minstrels, carae to hini in great haste, and bade
him arise, for he had enemies coming." This fact is raen
tioned by Warton, on the authority of an historical fragment.
ad calc. Sportti Chron. ed. Hearne, Oxon, 1729.

THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 171
" In days of yore how fortunately fared CHAP.
The minstrel ! wandering on from hall to hall, 
Baronial court or royal ; cheered with gifts
Munificent, and love, and ladies' praise :
Now meeting on his road an armed knight.
Now resting with a pilgrim by the side
Of a clear brook : beneath an ab^iey's roof
One evening sumptuously lodg'd ; the next
Humbly, ina religious hospital;
Or with some merry outlaws of the wood ;
Or haply shrouded in a hermit's cell.
Him, sleeping or awake, the robber spared ;
He walk'd — protected from the sword of war
By virtue of that sacred instrument
His harp, suspended at the traveller's side ;
His dear companion wheresoe'er he went.
Opening from land to land an easy way
By melody, and bythe charm of verse."*
Every page of early European history attests
the sacred consideration of the minstrel, and the
romances are full of stories, which at least our
imagination can credit, of many a knight telling
his soft tale in the dress of a love-singing poet.
That dress had another claim to respect, for it
was fashioned like a sacerdotal robe, as we learn
from the story of two itinerant priests gaining
admittance to a monastery, on the supposition of
their being minstrels ; but as soon as the fraud
* Wordsworth's Excursion, book ii.

IV.

172 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER.
CHAP, was discovered the poor ecclesiastics were beaten
and driven frora the monastery by their happier
brethren.* The minstrel also was often arrayed
in a dress of splendour, given to him by a baron
in a moment of joyous generosity. The Earl of-
Foix, after a great festival, gave to heralds and
minstrels the sum of five hundred franks ; and
he gave to the rainstrels of his guest, the Duke
of Tourrain, gowns of cloth of gold, furred
with ermine, valued at two hundred franks.f

* Wood, Hist. Antiq. Un. Oxon. 1. 67. sub anno 1224 ;
and Percy, Notes on his Essay on the Ancient Minstrels,
p. 64.
t Froissart, vol. ii. c. 31. Writers on chivalry have too
often affirmed, that the minstrels besides singing, reciting,
and playing on musical instruments, added the entertain
ments of vaulting over ropes, playing with the pendent
sword, and practising various other feats of juggling and
buffoonery. That this was sometimes the case during all
the ages ofthe minstrelsy art, is probable enough, for Ihe
inferior minstrels were in a dreadful state of indigence.
But the disgraceful union of poetry and juggling was not
coraraon in the best ages of chivalry. Chaucer expressly
separates the rainstrel from the juggler.
" There mightest thou karols seen.
And folk dance, and merry ben,
And made raany a fair tourning
Upon the green grass springing.
There mightest thou see these flouters..
Minstrallis and eke jugelours."
Romaunt ofthe Rose, I. 759, &c.

THE chivalric CHARACTER.

173

There were other classes of poets in days of chap.
chivalry, who, under the naraes of troubadours, — '-
trouveurs, and minnesingers, were spread over all
chivalric countries, and sang the qualities by
which a knight could render himself agreeable
to his mistress. The board of a baron was some
times enlivened by a tenson, or dialogue in verse,
on the comparative merits of love and war ; and
the argument was often supported by warmer
feelings than those which could influence a
hireling rhymer, fbr the harp ofthe troubabour
was borne by kings, and lords, and knights.
The romances, or poems longer than the min
strels' or troubadour lay, were also faithful mi
nisters of chivalry. All their heroes were advo
cates of the church, and enemies of the Saracens
and pagans. The perilous adventures of the
Gothic knights, their high honor, tender gal
lantry, and solemn superstition were all recorded
in romances *, and there was not a bay window in
a baronial hall without its chivalric volume, with

Romances.

Other passages to the same effect are collected in Anstis
Order of the Garter, vol. i. p. 304 ; and Warton, History of
English poetry, vol. ii. p. 55. As chivalry declined, min
strelsy was discountenanced, and its professors, fallen in
public esteem, were obliged to cultivate other arts besides
those of poetry and music.
• Dunlop, History of Fiction, vol. i. p. 142.

174 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER.
CHAP, which knights and squires drove away the lazy
— hours of peace.
The fictitious tales of Arthur and Charle-
raagne were the study and amuseraent of the
warrior in his moments of ease, and even the few
relics of classical literature, which, after the
Gothic storm, were cast on the shores of raodern
Europe, were fashioned anew by chivalry. The
heroes of Troy were converted into knights, and
Troilus and Cressida moved like a warrior and
damsel of chivalric tiraes. Indeed, as the tale of
Troy Divine was occasioned by a lady, it blended
very readily with the established fictions of the
tiraes. And the roraancers, like the rainstrels
and troubadours, were highly favoured by the
great, who knew that their actions, unless re
corded by clere, could have no duration, and
therefore they often raade handsome presents
to authors in order to have their names recorded
in never-dying histories. *
* Wace, a canon of Bayeux, and one of the raost prolific
rhiraers that ever practised the art of poetry, continually
rerainded the great ofthe benefits which accrued to thera
selves frora patronising poets.
" Bien entend conuis e sai
Que tuit morrunt, e clere, e lai ;
E que mult ad curte decree.
En pres la mort lur renumee ;

THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 17^
The conversation of knights, like their lives chap.

and literature, related only to love and war.
" Then were the tables taken all away,
And every knight, and every gentle squire,
Gan choose his dame with basciomani * gay,
With whom he meant to make his sport and play,
TT" "9^ ^ tF Tp
Some fell to dance ; some fell to hazardry ;
Some to make love ; some to make merriment."
Every knight was welcome at another knight's
castle, if it were only for the intelligence he
could communicate regarding the deeds of arms

Si per clere ne est rais en livre,
Ne poet par el dureeraent vivre.
» * * *
Suvent aveient des barruns,
E des nobles dames beaus duns,
Pur mettre lur nuns en estroire.
Que tuz tens raais fust de eus raemoire."
MS. Bib. Reg. iv. c. 11. cited by Mr. Turner, History of
England, vol. i. p. 442. 4to.
* This description (Spenser's) of chivalric manners, has
sadly puzzled liis commentators. They are quite agreed
however, on one point , namely, that to kiss the hand of a
fair lady (which the word basciomani signified) was not a
custom indigenous to England, but that it was imported
hither from Italy or Spain. A preux chevalier of the olden
time would have been indignant at this insult to the
originality of his gallantry.

IV.
Convers
ation.

176 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER.
CHAP, that had been done in the countries which he had
Hi visited ; and the great charm of the castie of the
Earl of Foix, to the imagination of Froissart, was
the goodly company of knights and squires of
honor, pages and damsels, that he met in the
hall, chamber, and court, going up and down,
and talking of arras and araours. *
" After meat they went to play,
All the people, as I you say;
Some to chamber, and some to bower.
And some to the high tower.
And some in the hall stode,
And spake what them thought gode ;
Men that were of that cyte,
Enquired of men of other contre." f
Nature and Kuights werc wout, at thcsc entertaiuraents,
forms of 1 ¦ 1 1 mi
chivalric to repose on couches, or sit on benches. The
ments. guests wcrc placed two by two, and only one
plate was allotted to each pair ; for to eat on
the sarae trencher or plate with any one was
considered the strongest raark of friendship or
love. I Peacocks and pheasants were the pe-
* Froissart, vol ii. c.26.
f The Life of Ipomydon, Fytte, 1.
X Thus in the Romance of Perceforest (cited by Ellis,
Notes to Way's Fabliaux, vol. i. p. 220) it is said, " There
were eight hundred knights all seated at table, and yet there
was not one who had not a dame or damsel at his plate !"

THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 177
culiar food of knights on great and festival oc- chap^
casions ; they were said to be the nutriraent —
of lovers, and the viand of worthies. The pea
cock was as much esteemed in chivahic as in
classic tiraes ; and as Jupiter clothed hiraself
with a robe raade of that bird's feathers, so Pope
Paul, sending to King Pepin a sword, in sign
of true regard, accompanied it with a mantle
ornamented with a peacock's plumes. The
highest honours were conferred on these birds ;
for knights associated them with all their ideas
of fame, and vowed by the peacock, as well as
by the ladies, to perform their highest enter- '
prises. A graceful splendour often character-

In the tale of the Mule without a Bridle, it is said,
" Fill'd with these views the attendant dwarf she sends ;
Before the knight the dwarf respectful bends ;
Kind greetings bears as to his lady's guest,
And prays his presence to adorn her feast.
The knight delays not ; on a bed design'd
With gay magnificence the fair reclin'd
High o'er her head, on silver columns rais'd,
With broidering gems her proud pavilion blaz'd.
Herself, a paragon in every part,
Seem'd sovereign beauty deck'd with comeliest art.
With a sweet sraile of condescending pride
She seats the courteous Gawaine by her side,
Scans with assiduous glance each rising wish,
Feeds from her food the partner of her dish ! "
VOL. I. N

178 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER.
CHAP, ised the circumstances in which the vow of the
—1 pheasant or peacock was made.
On a. day of public festival, and between the
courses of the repast, a troop of ladies brought
into the assembly a peacock, or a pheasant,
roasted in its feathers, in a golden or silver
dish. * The hall was adorned with scenes, and
wooden or other semblances of men, animals,
or nature, all being expressive of the object
for which the vow of the peacock was to be
taken. If the promotion of religious wars was
in view, araatron, clad in habiliments of woe, en
tered the room, and, approaching the dais, or
* M. le Grand, in his valuable Histoire de la Vie Priv^e
des Fran9ais, has given us some very curious inforraation
regarding the mode of dressing this distinguished bird. " It
was generally," he says, " served up roasted. Instead of
plucking the bird (observes the Complete Housekeeper of
former times) skin it carefully so as not to damage the
feathers ; then cut off the feet, stuff the body with spices and
sweet herbs ; roll a cloth round the head, and then spit your
bird. Sprinkle the cloth, all the tirae it is roasting, to pre
serve its crest. When it is roasted enough, tie the feet on
again ; reraove the cloth ; set up the crest ; replace the skin ;
spread out the tail, and so serve it up. Sorae people, instead
of serving up the bird in the feathers, carry their raagnifi-
cence so far as to cover their peacock with leaf gold : others
have a very pleasant way of regaling their guests. Just be
fore they serve up, they cram the beak of their peacock with
wool, rubbed with camphor : then, when the dish is placed
upon the table, they set fire to the wool, and the bird in
stantly vomits out flames like a little volcano."

THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 179
lofty seat, which the chief lords and knights sur- CHAP.
rounded, she recited a long complaint, in verse, 
on the evils she suffered under the yoke of in
fidels, and complained of the tardiness of Europe
in attempting her deliverance. Some knights
then advanced, to the sound of solemn minstrelsy,
to the lord of the castle, and presented two ladies,
who bore between them the noble bird, in its
splendid dish. In a brief speech the ladies re
commended themselves to his protection. The
lord promised to make war upon the infidels, and
sanctioned his resolution by appealing to God
and the Virgin Mary, the ladies and the pea
cock. All the knights who were in the hall
drew their swords and repeated the vow ; and,
while bright falchions and ladies' eyes illumined
the scene, each knight, inflamed by thoughts of
war and love, added some new difficulty to the
enterprise, or bound himself, by grievous penal
ties, to achieve it. Sometimes a knight vowed
that he would be the first to enter the enemy's
territory. Others vowed that they would not
sleep in beds, nor eat offa cloth, nor drink wine,
till they had been delivered of their emprise.
The dish was then placed upon the table, and
the lord of the festival deputed some renowned
knight to carve it in such a manner that every
guest might taste the bird. While he was exer
cising his talents of carving and subdivision, a
N 2

180 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER.
CHAP, lady, dressed in white, came to thank the as-
— - sembly, presenting twelve damsels, each con
ducted by a cavalier. These twelve represented,
by emblematical dresses, Faith, Charity, Justice,
Reason, Prudence, Temperance, Strength, Gene
rosity, Mercy, Diligence, Hope, and Courage.
This bevy of bright damsels trooped round the
hall, amidst the applauses of the assembly, and
then the repast proceeded. *
These were the military, the religious, and
the social qualities of a preux chevalier. The
gentler feelings of his heart will be best deli
neated in the next chapter ; and, as we have
seen him adventurous and imaginative, so we
shall find him amorous and true, t
* Du Chesne, House of Montmorenci, hv. i. p. 29, &c.
M. de Couci, (c. 7.) 664, &c. Olivier de la Marehe,
p. 412. Hist, de Boucicaut, ed. de Godefroi.
-|- Like Sir Guiscard Dangle, Earl of Huntingdon, who,
according to Froissart, possessed all the noble virtues that a
knight ought to have, for " he was merry, true, amourous,
sage, sweet, liberal, preux, hardy, adventurous, and chi
valrous," vol. i. c. 384.

181

CHAP. V.
DAMES AND DAMSELS, AND LADY-LOVE.
Courtesy  Education  Music  Graver Sciences 
Dress  Knowledge of Medicine  Every-day Life of
the Maiden  Chivalric Love  The Idolatry of the
Knighfs Passion......Bravery inspired hy Love  Cha
racter of Woman in the Eyes of a Knight  Peculiar
Nature of his Love  Qualities of Knights admired by
Women  A Tale of chivalric Love  Constancy 
Absence of Jealousy  Knights asserted by Arms their
Mistress's Beauty.. . .Penitents of Love. .... Other Peculia
rities of chivalric Love  The Passion universal  Story
of Aristotle  Chivalric Love the Foe to feudal Distinc
tions  But preserved Religion  When Attachments
Were formed... Societies of Knights for the Defence of La
dies  Knights of the Lady in the Green Field.  Cus
toms in England  Unchivalric to take Women Prison
ers  Morals of chivalric Times  Heroines of Chi
valry  Queen Philippa  The Countess of March
 Tales of Jane of Mountfort and of Marzia degl'
Ubaldini  Nobleness ofthe chivalric Female Character.
If we fancy the knight of chivalry as valiant, chap. v.
noble-minded, and gentle, our imagination pic- '
tures to our minds the lady of his love in co
lours equally fair and pleasing. But we must
N 3

182 DAMES AND DAMSELS,
CHAP. V. not lose her individuality in general expressions
of adrairation, for she had a distinct and peculiar
character, which frora the circumstances of her
life can be accurately traced. The maiden of
gentle birth was, like her brother, educated in
the castle of some knight or baron, her father's
friend, and many of her duties were those of
personal attendance. As the young candidate
for chivalric honours carved at table, handed
the wines, and made the beds of his lord, so
his sister's care was to dress her lady, to contri
bute by music and conversation to her amuse
ment, and to form a part of her state retinue* :
and while there was no loss of dignity in this
description of service, the practice being uni
versal and of imraemorial antiquity, feelings of
humility insensibly entered the mind, and a kind
Consideration for those of harder fortunes soft
ened the severity of feudal pride. Thus a con
descending deportment to inferiors was a duty
which their moral instructors enforced. It was
represented to them by the pleasing iraage of the
sparrow-hawk, which, ' when called in gentle ac
cents, would corae and settle on her hand, but if,
instead of being courteous, she were rude and
cruel, he would reraain on the rock's pinnacle
• See the verses of Des Escas, a Troubadour at the court
ofthe King of Arragon.

AND LADY-LOVE. 183
heedless of her calls. Courtesy from persons of chap. v.
superior consideration was the fair right of peo- Courtesy.
pie of gentle birth though of small estate, for
gentility was always to be respected, and to the
poor raan or woman it ought to be shown, be
cause it gives pleasure to them, and reflects ho
nour on those who bestowed it. A lady once in
company of knights and ladies took off Iter hood
and humbled herself courteously unto a me
chanic. One of her friends exclaimed in asto
nishment, " Why, noble dame, you have taken
off your hood to a tailor." — " Yes," she replied,
?' and I would rather have doffed it to him than
to a gentleman :" and her courteous friends re
puted that she had done right well.*
The mental education of women of those Education.
days was not of a very high polish. To repeat Music.
the . prayers of the church, to sing the brief
piece of poetry called the lai, or the longer ro
maunt were the only tasks on the intellect.
" The king had a daughter dear.
That maiden Ysonde hight ;
That glee was lef to hear
And romance to read aright." f

* Knight of the Tower, chap. " How goodly women ought
to maintain themselves courteously."
f Sir Tristram, Fytte second, st. 13. and Scott's note.
N 4

184 DAMES AND DAMSELS,
CHAP. V. The ladies also played upon the harp.
" They were wont to harp and syng,
And be the merriest in chamber comyng."*
The same particular of ancient manners is
recorded by another poet.
" The lady that was so fair and bright.
Upon the bed she sat down right,
The harpers notes sweet and fine,
Her maids filled a price of wine.
And Sir Degore sat him down,
For to hear the harper's sown."f
Graver But somctimes the graver sciences were intro-
ciences. ^^ced iuto female education, and Felice, the
daughter of Rohand, Earl of Warwick, was not
without parallels.
" Gentle she was, and as demure
As ger-fauk, or falcon to lure,
That out of mew were y-drawe.
So fair was none, in sooth sawe.
She was thereto courteous, and free and wise,
And in the seven arts learned withouten miss.
Her masters were thither come
Out of Thoulouse all and some,
* Squire of Low Degree.
f Sir Degore*

AND LADY-LOVE. 185
White and hoar all they were ; CHAP. V,
Busy they were that maiden to lere;
And they her lered of astronomy.
Of armsmetrick, and of geometry;
Of sophistry she was also witty,
Of rhetorick, and of other clergy :
Learned she was in musick ;
Of clergy was her none like." *
Maidens were taught that a raild dignity of
demeanour beseemed them, and moralising their
duty into a thousand similies, their teachers de
clared that they ought not to resemble the tor
toise ,or the crane, which turn the visage and the
head above their shoulders, and winde their
head like a vane ; but their regard and manner
ought to be steadfast, in iraitation of the beau
tiful hare, which always looks right on. If an
occasion required a damsel to look aside, she
ought to turn the visage and body together, and
so her estate would be more firm and sure ; for
it was unmaidenly lightly to cast about her sight
and head, and turn her face here and there, t
Simplicity of dress was another part of instruc- Dress.
tion : but there was to be no lack of jewels of
price and other splendid ornaments on festive
* Romance of Guy of Warwick.
f Knight of the Tower, chap. " How young maidens
ought not lightly to turn their heads here and there.''

186 DAMES AND DAMSELS,
CHAF. V. occasions', and, consistently with the general
magnificence of religious worship of the age,
maidens were commanded to wear their gorgeous
robes at church, and not merely at courtly fes
tivals. There was a gravity about chivalry
which accorded well with the recommendation
for women not quickly to adopt new dresses in
troduced from strange countries. Modesty of
attire was the theme of many a wise discourse,
and every castle had its story of the daughter
of a knight who lost her marriage by displaying
too conspicuously the graces of her figure, and
that the cavalier who was her intended suitor
preferred her sister who had modesty, though
not beauty, for her dower. *
Knowledge All the domcstic oeconoray of the baronial
ofmedicine. mansion was arranged by these young maidens :
and the consideration which this power gave
them was not a little heightened by their sharing
with the monks in the knowledge which the age
possessed of vulnerary medicaments. This at
tribute of skill over the powers of nature was a
clear deduction from that sublime, prophetic,
* Knight of the Tower, chap, intitled, " Of them that
will not wear their good clothes on high feasts and holy-
days," and, " How the daughter of a knight lost her
marriage. Memoires de Louis de la Tremouille, cap. xii.
p. 169, &c. in the 14th vol. of the great collection of French
Meraoires,

AND LADY-LOVE. 187
and mysterious character of women in the ages chap. v.
which preceded the times both of feudalism and
chivalry. The healing art was not reduced to
an elaborate system of principles and rules, for
memory to store and talent to apply, but it was
thought that the professors of medicine enjoyed
a holy intercourse with worlds unknown to com
mon rainds. The possession of raore than raortal
knowledge was readily ascribed to a pure, un
earthly being like woman, and the knight who
felt to his heart of hearts the charm of her
beauty was not slow in believing that she could
fascinate the very elements of nature to aid hira.
There are innuraerable passages in the various
works which reflect the manners of chivalric
times on the medicinal practice of dames and
damsels. A pleasing passage of Spenser illus
trates their affectionate tendance of the sick.
" Where many grooms and squires ready were
To take him from his steed full tenderly ;
And eke the fairest Alma met him there
With balm and wine and costly spicery,
To comfort him in his infirmity.
Eftesoones she caus'd him up to be conveyed.
And of his arms despoiled easily :
In sumptuous bed she made him to be laid,
And, all the while his wounds were dressing, by him
stay'd."* * Fairy Queen, bookii. canto 11. st. 49.

188 DAMES AND DAMSELS,
CHAP. V. Chirurgical knowledge was also a necessary
feminine accomplishraent, and we will accept
the reason of the cavalier with " high thoughts,
seated in a heart of courtesy," fbr such a reraark
able feature in their character. " The art of
surgery," says Sir Philip Sidney, " was much
esteemed, because it served to virtuous courage,
which even ladies would, even with the con
tempt of cowards, seem to cherish." * A fair
maiden could perform as many wonderful cures
as the most renowned and skilful leech. The
gentle Nicolette successfully treated an accident
which her knight Aucassin met with.
" So prosper 'd the sweet lass, her strength alone
Thrust deftly back the dislocated bone ;
Then, culling curious herbs of virtue tried,
While her white smock the needful bands supplied :
With many a coil the limb she swath'd around,
And nature's strength return'd, nor knew its former
wound."
Spenser favours us with the ladies' method of
treating a wound.
* The manners of his times might, perhaps, have been
the origin of this picture, for even so late as the reign of
Elizabeth, it is mentioned among the accomplishments of
the ladies of her court, that the eldest of them are skilful
surgeons. Harrison's Description of England, prefixed to
Holinshed.

AND LADY-LOVE.
Mekely she bowed down, to weete if life
Yet in his frozen members did remain ;
And, feeling by his pulses beating rife
That the weak soul her seat did yet retain.
She cast to comfort him with busy pain :
His double-folded neck she reared upright,
And rubb'd his temples and each trembling vein ;
His mailed haberieon she did undight,
And from his head his heavy burganet did light.

189
CHAP. V.

Into the woods thenceforth in haste she went,
To seek for herbs that mote him remedy;
For she of herbes had great intendiment.
Taught of the nymph from whom her infancy
Her nourced had in true nobility.
*****

The soveraine weede betwixt two marbles plain,
She powder'd small, and in pieces bruize ;
And then atweene her lily handes twain
Into his wound ye juice thereof did scruze ;
And round about, as she could well it use,
The flesh therewith she suppled and did steepe
T' abate all spasm and soke the swelling bruise ;
And, after having search't the intuse deep,
She with her scarf did bind the wound, from cold to
keep."*
The every-day life of a young maiden in Every-day
chivalric times is described with a great deal of maiden.
* Fairy Queen, book hi. canto 5. st. 31. 33.

190 DAMES AND DAMSELS,
CHAP. V. spirit in the fine old English tale, of the Squire
of Low Degree. I am not acquainted with any
other passage of the metrical romances which
contains so vivid a picture of the usages of our
ancestors. To dissipate his daughter's melan
choly fbr the loss of her lover, the King of
Hungary says,
" To-morrow ye shall on hunting fare,
And ride, my daughter, in a chair,*
It shall be covered with velvet red.
And cloths of fine gold all about your head ;
With damask white and azure blue
Well diapered with lilies new.
Your pomelles shall be ended with gold.
Your chains enameled many a fold ;
Your mantle of rich degree,
Purple pall and ermine fre.
Jennets of Spain that be so white
Trapped to the ground with velvet bright.
Ye shall have harp, sawtry, and song,
And other myrthes you among ;

* Before the year 1680, when coaches were first used in
England, as Percy observes, ladies rode chiefly on horse
back, either single on their palfreys, or double behind some
person on a pillion. Not but in case of sickness, or bad
weather, they had horse-litters, and even vehicles called
chairs, and carrs or charres. Note on the Northumber
land Household Book.

AND LADY-LOVE. 391
Ye shall have Rumney and Malmesyne, CHAP. V.
Both ypocrass and vernage wine,
Mount rose and wine of Greek,
Both algrade and despice eke ;
Antioch and bastard,
Piment also and gamarde ;
Wine of Greek and muscadell.
Both clare piment and rochell,*
The red your stomach to defy.
And pots of osey set you by.
You shall have venison ybake, f
The best wild fowl that may be take.
A lese of greyhounds with you to strike,
And hart and hind and other lyke.

* It is evident that the good King of Hungary was a boon
companion, and we will fancy that it was from a very com
mon and natural feeling, that he supposed his daughter's
inclinations similar to his own. Of the formidable list of
wines which he gives, some names declare their growths
very clearly ; of the rest, I believe, that Rumney wine
means the wine frora La Romance, a vineyard of Burgundy.
Dr. Henderson, however, suggests that it was an Andalusian
growth. Malmesyne was a Greek wine, from Malvagia in
the Morea, the original seat of the Malmsey grape. Vernage
was perhaps a Tuscan wine. Osey was Alsatian wine.
Respice, (vin rape) was the produce of unbruised grapes,
and Bastard was a sweet Spanish wine.
f Baked meats were the usual food of our ancestors.
Thus Chaucer says of his Frankelein (the raodern country
squire), " Withoutin bake-mete never was his house."

192 DAMES AND DAMSELS,
CHAP. V, Ye shall be set at such a tryst *
That hart and hind shall come to your fist.
Your disease to drive you fro.
To hear the bugles there yblowe.
Homeward thus shall ye ride.
On hawking by the river' s side,
With goss hawk and with gentle falcon,
With egle-horn, and merlyon. f
When you come home your men among.
Ye shall have revel dance and song,
Little children great and small
Shall sing as doth the nightingale.
Then shall ye go to your even song,
With tenors and trebles among.
Threescore of ropes of damask bright
Full of pearls they shall be pight, :j:
Your censers shall be of gold
Indent with azure raany a fold :
Your choir nor organ song shall want
With counter note and discant.
The other half on organs playing,
With young children full fair singing.
Then shall ye go to your supper,
And sit in tents in green arbour.
With cloth of arras pight to the ground.
With saphires set and diamond.
The nightingale sitting on a thorn
Shall sing you notes both even and morn.
* Station, f Two species of hawks. J Sewed or quilted.

AND LADY-LOVE. 193
An hundred knights truly told, CHAP. V.
Shall play with bowls in alleys cold.
Your disease to drive away.
To see the fishes in pools play.
And then walk in arbour up and down.
To see the flowers of great renown.
To a draw-bridge then shall ye,
The one half of stone, the other of tree j
A barge shall meet you, full right.
With twenty-four oars full bright,
With trumpets and with clarion.
The fresh water to row up and down.
* ¦ * * *¦ * *
Into your chamber they shall you bring
With much mirth and more likiuff.
Your blankets shall be of fustain,
Your sheets shall be of cloths of Rayne ; *
Your head sheet shall be of pery pyght,-j-
With diamonds set and ruby bright.
When you are laid in bed so soft,
A cage of gold shall hang aloft.
With long pepper fair burning,
And cloves that be sweet smelling,
Frankinsence and olibanum, X
That when you sleep the taste may come,
* Rennes in Brittany was highly famous for its manufac
ture of linen.
•f Inlaid with jewels.
X A modern princess, as Mr. Ellis says (Specimens of
the early English Poets, vol. i. p. 344), might possibly object
to breathe the smoke of pepper, cloves, and frankincense
during her sleep ; but the fondness of our ancestors for those,
VOL. I. O

Chivalric
love.

194 DAMES AND DAMSELS,
CHAP. V. And if ye no rest can make,
All night rainstrels for you shall wake."
In that singular system of manners which we
call chivalric, religion was a chief influential
principle of action ; but scarcely less conse
quence ought in truth to be given to another
feeling apparently incompatible with it ; and if
Venus, in the Greek mythology, was called the
universal cause, her empire seems not to have
been less extensive in days of knighthood. A
Latin poet, of no raean authority in such subjects,
has described love as the sole employment of
woman's life, and of man's only a part * ; and

and indeed for perfumes of all kinds was excessive. Mr.
Ellis adds, that in the foregoing description of diversions, the
good King of Hungary has forgotten one, which seems to
have been as great a favorite with the English and French
as ever it was with the Turkish ladies ; this is the bath. It
was considered, and with great reason, as the best of all
cosmetics ; and Mr. Strutt has extracted from an old MS.
of prognostications, written in the time of Richard II., a
raedical caution to the woraen, against " going to the bath
for beauty " during the months of March and November.
Women also often bathed together for purposes of con
versation. The reader knows that the public baths were
not always used for such healthful and innocent purposes.
* " Vos, modo venando, modo rus geniale colendo
Ponitis in varia tempora longa mora.

AND LADY-LOVE. ~ 195
Boccacio says, that he composed his tales for the chap. v.
solace of fair and noble ladies in love, who, con
fined within their melancholy chambers, had no
other occupation, but perpetually to revolve in
their minds the same consuming thoughts, ren
dered intolerable by shame and concealment :
while man might hunt, hawk, fish, and had a
thousand channels for his thoughts.
But the state of society at Rorae was not si
milar to that in days of knighthood, and though
Boccacio lived in those days, he describes the
manners of commercial cities rather than of
chivalric courts, of fair Florence and not of a
frowning baronial castle. The ideas of God and.
of love were always blended in the heart of the
true knight, and to be loving was as necessary as
to be devout. Cervantes expresses the feehngs of
chivalry in the declaration of Don Quixote, that
*' a knight without a mistress was like a tree

Aut fora vos retinent, aut unctae dona palsestrse ;
Flectitis aut fraeno colla sequaris e<jui.
Nunc volucrem laqueo, nunc piscem ducitis hamo.
Diluitur posito serior hora raero.
His raihi subraotae, vel si minus acriter utar,
Quod faciani, superest, prseter araare, nihil.
Quod superest, facio ; teque, o mi sola voluptas.
Plus quoque, quam reddi quod mihi possit, arao.''
Ovid. Ep. Hero Leandro.
O 2

196 DAMES AND DAMSELS,
CHAP. V. without either fruit or leaves, or a body without
a soul." A ship without a rudder, a horse without
a bridle, were other illustrations of the prevail
ing sentiment, and more expressive of the
characteristic of chivalric love, which assigned
superiority to woman, which made her the di
rectress of the thoughts, and inspirer of the
courage of her chosen cavalier. " A knight may
never be of prowess, but if he be a lover," was the
sentiment of Sir Tristram, a valiant peer of Ar
thur, and it was echoed by every gentle son of
chivalry. * Not, indeed, that every knight felt
* Don -Quixote affirraed, that no history ever made men
tion of any knight errant that was not a lover ; for were any
knight free from the impulses of that generous passion,
he would not be allowed to be a lawful knight, but a mis-
born intruder, and one who was not adraitted within the
pale of knighthood at the door, but leaped the fence, and
stole in like a thief and a robber. Vivaldo, who was
talking with the Don, asserted in opposition to this
opinion and statement, that Don Galaor, the brother of
Amadis de Gaul, never had any mistress in particular to
recommend himself to, and yet for all that he was not the
less esteemed. Don Quixote, after borrowing one of Sancho's
proverbs, that one swallow never makes a summer, repli
ed that he knew Don Galaor was privately very much in
love ; and as for his paying his addresses wherever he raet
with beauty, this was an effect of his natural inclination,
which he could not easily restrain. It was an undeniable
truth, concluded the Don, that Galaor had a favourite lady
whom he had crowned empress of his will ; and to her he
frequently recoramended himself in private, for he did not

and lady-love. 197
this strength and purity of passion. Spenser chap. v.
has described four cavaliers, and each represents
a large class.
" Druon's delight was all for single life,
And unto ladie's love would lend no leasure ;
The raore was Claribell engaged rife
With fervent flames, and loved out of raeasure :
So eke lov'd Blandamour, but yet at pleasure
Would change his liking, and new leraans prove :
But Paridell of love did make no threasure,
But lusted after all that did him move :
So diversely these four disposed were to love." *
The true knight, he whose mind was formed
in the best mould of chivalric principles, was a
more perfect personification of love than poets

a little value hiraself upon his discretion and secrecy in
love. This defence of Galaor is very amusing, and Vivaldo
submitted to it. But he ought to have adduced the opinions
of that mad knight and merry talker of the Round Table,
Sir Dynadan, who marvelled what could ail Sir Tristram
and many others of his companions, that they were always
sighing after woraen. " Why," said la belle Isaud, " are you
a knight and no lover ? you cannot be called a good knight,
except you raake a quarrel for a lady." " God defend rae ! ''
replied Dynadan, " for the joy of love is so short, and the
sorrow thereof and what coraeth thereof endureth so long."
Morte d'Arthur, lib. i. c. 56.
* Fairy Queen, book iv. canto 9. st. 21.
0 3

198 DAMES AND DAMSELS,
CHAP, v./ and romancers have ever dreamed. The fair
object of his passion was truly and eraphatically
the raistress of his heart. She reigned there
with absolute dorainion. His love was.
The idol- a ^^ adoration, duty, and observance."
atry of the ' .^ '
knight's Our old English poet, Gower, whose soul was
filled with romantic tenderness and gallantry,
says, " In every place, in every stead.
What so my lady hath me bid,
With all my heart obedient,
I have thereto been diligent."
And every gallant spirit of Gower's days, the
reign of Edward IIL, said of his mistress,
" What thing she bid me do, I do,
And where she bid me go, I go.
And when she likes to call, I come,
I serve, I bow, I lookj I lowte,
My eye followeth her about.
What so she will, so will I,
When she would set, I kneel by.
And when she stands then will I stand.
And when she taketh her work in hand,
Of wevying or of embroidrie,
Then can I not but muse and prie,
Upon her fingers long and small."

AND LADY-LOVE. 199
Gower, in describing the knight's mode of chap. v.
tendance on his mistress, has drawn a pleasing
picture of the domestic life of chivalry.
" And if she list to riden out,
On pilgrimage, or other stead,
I come, though 1 be not bid.
And take her in my arras aloft.
And _set her in her saddle soft.
And so forth lead her by the bridle,
For that 1 would not be idle.
And if she list to ride in chare.
And that 1 may thereof beware,
Anon, I shape me to ride,
Right even by the chares side.
And as I may, I speak among,
And other whUe, I sing a song." *
These quotations show that the expression in
ancient times of knights being servants of the
ladies was not a raere figure of the imagina
tion. The instances from Gower, however,
which prove the propriety of the title, may not
be thought exclusively chivalric. A story in
Froissart will fully supply the want. A Bour
bon knight, named Sir John Bonnelance, a va
liant soldier, gracious and amorous, was once at
Montferrand, in Auvergne, sporting among the
* Gower's Confessio Amantis, book iv. p. 103, &c.
O 4

200 DAMES AND DAMSELS,
CHAP. v. ladies and damsels of the town. While com
mending his chivalry, they urged hira to under
take an enterprise against the English, and she
who, as his lady-love, was ruler of his actions,
told him that she would fain see an Englishman,
for she had heard much of the valiancy of the
knights of England. Bonnelance replied, " that
if it should ever be his good fortune to take one,
he would bring him into her presence." Soon
afterwards he was able to perform his word.
He took to Montferrand some English prisoners,
and addressing her who fancied the wish of seeing
an Englishman, he said " that for her love he
had brought thera to the town." The ladies and
damsels laughed, and turned the matter to a great
sport. They thanked him for his courtesy, and
entertained him right sweetly during his three
days abode at Montferrand.*
The knight, whose heart was warmed with the
true light of chivalry, never wished that the domi
nion of his raistress should be less than absolute,
and the confession of her perfect virtue, which
this feeling iraplied, raade him preserve his own
faith pure and without a stain. Love was as
raarked a feature in the chivalric character- as va
lour ; and, in the phrase ofthe tirae, he who un
derstood how to break a lance, and did not un-
* Froissart, vol. ii. c. 117 and 118. «, v'

AND LADY-LOVE. 201
derstand how to win a lady, was but half a man. chap. v.
He fought to gain her smiles, for love in brave Love in-
and gentle knights kindled aspirations fbr high bravery.
desert and honour. " Oh ! that my lady saw me,"
was the exclamation of a knight in the pride of
successful valour as he mounted the city's wall,
and with his good sword was proving the worth
of his chivalry. * He wore her colours, and the
favour of his lady bright was the chief ornament
of his harness. She judged the prize at the tour
nament, assisted him to arm, and was the first
and the raost joyous to hail his return from the
perils of war.
" A damisel came unto me,
The seemhest that ever I se,
LufFumer -|- lifed "never in land,
Hendly she take me by the hand ;
And soon that gentle creature
Al unlaced mine armure
* Essais Histor. sur Paris, by St. Foix, vol. iii. p. 263,
cited by Strutt. Sports and Pastimes, &c. " As it happened.
Sir Palomydis looked up towards her (la belle Isaud) where
she lay in the window, and he espied how she laughed, and
therewith he took such a rejoicing that he smote down what
with his spear and with his sword all that ever he met, for
through the sight of her he was so enamoured of her love,
that he seeraed at that tirae, that had Sir Tristrera and Sir
Launcelot been both against hira, they would have won
no worship of him.'' Morte d'Arthur, book x. c. 70.
f Lovelier.

202 DAMES AND DAMSELS,
CHAP; V; Into a chamber she me led.
And with a mantle she me cled ;
It was of purpur fair and fine,
And the pane of rich ermine ;
Al the folk war went us fi'a.
And there was none than both we twa ;
She served me hendely to hend,
Her manners might no man amend ;
Of tong she was true and renable.
And of her semblant soft and stabile.
Fullfain I would, if that I might,
Have woned * with that sweet wight :
And when we sold go to sopere
That lady with a lufforn chere,
Led me down into the hall.
That war we served wele at all." f
if A soldier of chivalry would go to battle, proud
ofthe title, a pursuivant of love J, and in the con
tests of chivalric skill, which, like the battles of
\ Homer's heroes, gave brilliancy and splendour to
war, a knight challenged another to joust with a
lance for love of the ladies; and he comraended
himself to the mistress of his heart for protection
and assistance. In his mind woman was a being
* Lived.
f Romance of Ywaine and Gawin.
X Froissart, c. 249. " Le due de Lancastre avoit de son
heritage en Champaigne : c'estassavoir un chastel entre Troye
et Chalons, qui s'appelait Beaufort, et duquel un escuyer
Anglais (qui se nommoit le poursuivant d'amour) estait
capitaine'"

AND LADY-LOVE. 205
of mystic power; in the forests of Germany her chap. v.
voice had been listened to like that of the spirit character
of the woods, melodious, solemn, and oracular ; "„ tht™yes
and when chivalry was formed into a system, the °*'*''"'s'*'
same idea of something supernaturally powerful in
her character threw a shadowy and serious interest
over softer feelings, and she was revered as well
as loved. While this devotedness of soul to wo-
raan's charms appeared in his general intercourse
with the sex, in a demeanor of horaage, in a
grave and stately politeness, his lady-love he re
garded with religious constancy. Fickleness
would have been a species of impiety, for she was
not a toy that he played with, but a divinity
whom he worshipped. This adoration of her
sustained him through all the perils that lay
before his reaching his heart's desire ; and
loyalty (a word that has lost its pristine and
noble meaning) was the choicest quality in the
character of the preux chevalier.
It was supported, too, by the state of the PecuUar
world he lived in. He fought the battles of his hisiove,
country and his church, and he travelled to fo
reign lands as a pilgrim, or a crusader, for such
were the calls of his chivalry. To be the first in
the charge and the last in the retreat was the
counsel which one knight gave to another, on
being asked the surest means of winning a lady
fair. Love was the crowning grace, the guerdon

204 DAMES AND DAMSELS,
CHAP. v. of his toils, and its gentle influence aided him in
discharging the duties of his gallant and solemn
profession. The lady Isabella, daughter of the
Earl of JuUyers, loved the lord Eustace Daraber-
ticourt for the great nobleness of arms that she
had heard reported of him ; and her messengers
often carried to him letters of love, whereby her
noble paramour was the raore hardy in his deeds
of arms.* " I should have loved him better dead
than alive," another damsel exclairaed, on hear
ing that her knight had survived his honour.
Quaiitiesin ]n;[-q -w^onder that in those aees of violence
knights ad- o
mired by bravciy was the raanly quality, dear, above all
others, in woman's eyes. Its possession atoned
for want of every personal grace ; and the
damsel who, on being reproached for loving an
ugly man, replied, " he is so valiant I have
never looked in his face," apologised for her
passion in a manner that every woman of her
time could sympathise with. As proficiency in
chivalric exercises was the only distinction of the
age, it would have been contrary to its spirit and
laws for a gentle maiden to have loved any
other than a knight who had achieved high deeds
of arms. The advanceraent of his fame was,
therefore, among the dearest wishes of her heart,
and she fanned his love of noble enterprise in
order to speed the hour of their union. The

women.

«

Froissart, liv. i. c. 197-

AND LADY-LOVE. 205
poets and roraance-writers of the days of chi- chap. v.
valry bear ample testimony to the existence of
this state of feeling, and to the perils which
brave raen underwent to gain fair ladies' smiles ;
but all their tales must yield in pathos to the
following simple historical fact : — When the -*^.'ai« °f
° '¦ chivalric
Scots were endeavouring to throw off the yoke love.
which Edward I. had imposed on them, the re
covery of the castle of Douglas was the unceas
ing effort of the good Lord James. It was
often lost and won ; for if the vigilance of the
English garrison relaxed for a moment, the
Scots, who lived in the neighbourhood, and
were ever on the watch, aided their feudal lord
in regaining the fortress, which, however, he
could not maintain long against the numerous
chivalry of England. The possession of this
castle seemed to be held by so perilous a tenure,
that it excited the noblest aspirations for farae
in the breasts of the English ; and a fair maiden,
perplexed by the number of knights who were
in suit of her, vowed she would bestow her hand
upon him who preserved the adventurous or
hazardous castle of Douglas fbr a year and a
day. Sir John Walton boldly and gladly un
dertook the emprise, and right gallantly he held
possession of the fortress for some months. At
length he was slain in a sally which Douglas pro
voked him to make. On his person was found

206 DAMES AND DAMSELS,
chap. V, a letter which he had lately received from his
lady-love, commending his noble chevisance,
declaring that her heart was now his, and pray
ing him to return to her forthwith, without ex
posing himself to further peril. The good Lord
James of Douglas grieved when he read this
letter, and it was generous and gallant of him to
lament that a brother knight should be slain
when his fairest hopes of happiness seemed on
the point of being realised. *
Constancy. The lovcs of chivalric times must often have
been shaded with gloom, and so convidsed was
the state of Europe, so distant were its parts
often thrown from each other, that the course of
true love seldom ran smoothly, and affianced
* Barbour's Bruce, book vi. Hurae's (of Godscroft)
History of the House of Douglas, p. 29, &c.
The description of the good Lord Jaraes of Douglas, in
Barbour's Bruce, is not uninteresting.
" In visage was he some deal gray.
And had black hair, as I heard say,
But then he was of limbs well made.
With bones great and shoulders braid.
His body well made and lenzie.
As they that saw him said to me.
When he was blyth he was lovely
And meek and sweet in company.
But who in battle might him see
Another countenance had he.
Ai}d in his speech he lispt some deal.
But that set him right wonder well." The Bruce, p. 13.

AND LADY-LOVE. 207
knights and darasels more frequently breathed the chap. v.
wish of annihilating time and space than is neces
sary in the happier monotony of modern times.
In almost every case of attachment absence was
unavoidable, and constancy, therefore, became
a necessary virtue of love in chivahy.
" Young knight whatever, that dost arms profess.
And through long labours huntest after farae.
Beware of fraud, beware of fickleness.
In choice, and change, of thy dear loved dame ;
Least thou of her believe too lightly blame.
And rash misweening do thy heart remove ;
For unto knight there is no greater shame
Than lightness and inconstancy in love."*

His mistress was ever present to his imagin
ation, and he felt there would be a witness to his
disloyalty. Even if he could dismiss her picture
from his mind, his own sense of honour preserved
his virtue, and the reply of a knight to a beau
tiful teraptress, that though his sovereign-lady
might never know of his conduct, yet his heart,
which was constantly near her, could not be igno
rant, was conceived in the purest spirit of chivalry.
The troubadours, who were the teachers of Absence of
jealousy.
the art of love, refined upon this respectful pas-
* Spenser's Fairy Queen, book i. canto 4. St. 1 .

208

DAMES AND DAMSELS,

CHAP. V.

Knights
asserted by
arms their
mistress' beauty.

sion of the knight in a very amusing manner.
They were wont to affirm, that though a knight
saw cause for jealousy, yet if his lady-love were
to deny the circumstances, he was to reply that
he was convinced of the verity of her asser
tions ; but he really did believe he had witnessed
such and such matters.*
Chivalric love had, indeed, its absurdities as
well as its impieties. It was a pleasing carica
ture of chivalry, when the knight of La Mancha
stationed himself in the middle of a high road.

* " E se la us fa gelos
E us en dona razo,
E us ditz c'ancre no fo
De so que dels huelhs vis,
Diguatz Don. En suy fiz
Que vos disetz vertat,
Mas yeu vay simiat."
The name of the gentleman who thus consented to distrust
the evidence of his senses was Araanieu des Escas, a
favourite troubadour in Spain during the thirteenth century.
One of the " statutes" in the Court of Love is, according to
Chaucer's report of it, pretty ranch in the sarae strain:
" But think that she, so bounteous and fair.
Could not be false, iraagine this algate.
And think that tongues wicked would her appair.
Slandering her name, and worshipful estate.
And lovers true to settin at debate.
And though thou seest a fault, right at thine eye.
Excuse it bhth, and gloss it prettily."
Chaucer, Urry's edit. fol. 563.

and LADY-LOVE. 209
and calling to the merchants of Toledo, who chap.v.
were bound to the silk fairs at Murcia, forbad
them to pass, unless they acknowledged that
there was not in the universe a more beautiful
damsel than the empress of La Mancha, the
peerless Dulcinea del Toboso. For the knights
of chivalry were not satisfied to fight in defence
of the ladies, and to joust in their honour, but
from the extravagancy of their love, each knight
maintained at the point of his lance, that his
mistress surpassed all other ladies in beauty. *

* Mr. Skottowe, in his Essays on Shakspeare (essays
which have done more for the right understanding of the
great dramatist than all the works of his commentators
from Theobald to Malone), observes that, in the play of
Troilus and Cressida, a courtly knight of chivalry is often
seen under the name of a Trojan hero. The following
challenge of Hector is conceived and executed in the true
chivalric spirit. " Kings, princes, lords.
If there be one, among the fair'st of Greece,
That holds his honour higher than his ease;
That seeks his praise more than he fears his peril;
That knows his valour, and knows not his fear;
That loves his mistress more than in confession,
(With truant vows to her own lips he loves,)
And dare avow her beauty and her worth,
In other arms than hers, — to him this challenge.
Hector, in view of Trojans and of Greeks,
Shall make it good, or do his best to do it.
He hath a lady, wiser, fairer, truer.
Than ever Greek did compass in his arms ;
VOL. T. P

210 DAMES AND DAMSELS,
CHAP. V. The knight Jehan de Saintre (whose education
in chivalry has been already described by me)
vowed to wear a helmet of a particular shape,
and to visit, during three years, the courts
of Europe, maintaining against all their chivalry
the beauty of his mistress. Four knights and
five squires, who had raade a sirailar vow, were
his corapanions. At a tournament held by the
Emperor of Germany, the noble undertaking was
held to be accomplished, and the emblems ofthe
emprise were unchained from the left shoulder of
the gallant knights and squires. * Indeed, wherever
a knight went, to court or to camp, he asserted the
superiority of his lady and his love, but he hurled
his defiances not against siraple merchants, as
our right worshipful knight Don Quixote did,
but against persons of his own rank, who were
in araours as well as hiraself. Instances of this
chivalric disposition occur frequently in chivalric
history : but Cervantes caricatured the roraances,

And will to-morrow with his trumpet call,
Midway between yon tents and walls of Troy,
To rouse a Grecian that is true in love :
If any come, Hector shall honour him ;
If none, he'll say in Troy, when he retires.
The Grecian dames are sun-burn'd, and not worth
The splinter of a lg,nce." Troilus and Cressida, act i. sc. 3.
Cronique de Saintr^ vol. iii. c. 65.

AND LADY-LOVE. 211
and not the sober chronicles of chivalry, when, chap. v.
in reply to the natural enquiry of one of the mer
chants regarding the beauty of the lady, he made
his hero exclaim, " Had I once shown you that
beauty, what wonder would it be to acknowledge
so notorious a truth ? the importance of the
thing lies in obliging you to believe it, confess
it, affirm it, swear it, and maintain it, without
seeing her." But the display of chivalric bra
very in avowal of woman's beauty proceeded
from so noble a feeling, that it must not be cen
sured or satirised too severely, for
« " Who is the owner of a treasure
Above all value, but, without offence,
May glory in the glad possession of it ?"
As history, however, should be a record, and
not a panegyric, I proceed to observe, that the
most marked display of the extravagancies of
our knights took place in the courts of love ; but
as I have dilated on that topic in another work,
I am precluded of treating the subject here,
and it is the tritest of all the subjects of chivalry.
Equally ridiculous among the amatory phrenzies Penitents of
of the middle ages was the society of the peni
tents of love, forraed by some ladies and gentle
men in Poictou, at the beginning of the four
teenth century. They opposed themselves to
p 2

212

DAMES AND DAMSELS,

CHAP. V. nature in every thing, on the principle that love
can effect the strangest metamorphoses. During
the hottest months of summer, they covered
themselves with mantles lined with fur, and in
their houses they sat before large fires. When
winter came they affected to be burning with the
fires of love, and a dress of the slightest texture
wrapt their limbs. This society did not endure
long, nor was its example pernicious. A few
enthusiasts perished, and reason then resumed
her erapire. *
Other pe- 'j'jjg knight was as zealous in the gentle as in
cuharities '-> o
of chivalric the morc solemn affections of the soul. He
love. believed that both God and love hated hard and
hypocritical hearts. In a bolder strain of
irreverence he thought that both God and love
/ could be softened by prayer, and that he who
served both with fidelity would secure to himself
happiness in this life and the joys of Paradise
j hereafter. On other occasions the gallant spirit
of chivalry spoke more rationally. Love, ac
cording to one renowned knight, is the chaste
I . , union of two hearts, which, attached by virtue,
\ I live for the promotion of happiness, having only
one soul and one will in common.

* This society of the Penitents of Love is mentioned by
the Chevalier of the Tower, whose book I have so often
quoted in illustration of the chivalric character.

AND LADY-LOVE. 213
" Liege lady mine ! (Gruelan thus return'd,) CHAP. v.
With love's bright fires this bosom ne'er hath burn'd.
\ Love's sovereign lore, mysterious and refined,
\ \ Is the pure confluence of immortal raind ;
\ \ Chaste union of two hearts by virtue wrought,
\ Where each seems either in word, deed, and thought,
Each singly to itself no more reraains.
But one will guides, one common soul sustains." *
So prevailing was amatory enthusiasm, that not "The passion
only did poets fancy theraselves inspired by love,
but learned clerks were its subjects, and in spite
of its supposed divinity some natural satire fell
upon the scholar who yielded to its fascination.
In Gower's Confessio Amantis, the omnipotence sto'-yof
^ Aristotle.
of love is strikingly displayed; for besides those
whom we might expect to see at the feet of
the goddess, we are presented with Plato and
Socrates, and even him who was the object
of veneration bordering on idolatry in the
ages which we in courtesy to ourselves call
dark. Gower, the moral Gower, says with some
humour, " I saw there Aristotle also,
Whora that the queen of Greece also
Hath bridled, that in thilke time
She raade hira such a syllogisrae
That he forgot all his logike."
» the Lai of Sir Gru61an.
P 3

-214

DAMES AND DAMSELS,

CHAP.V. The story whereon this sentence was founded
was among the most popular of the times. The
delights of love had made Alexander pause in
the career of ambition. His host of knights
and barons were discontented at the change, and
Aristotle, as the tutor and guardian of his
youthful course, endeavoured to rouse anew the
spirit of the hero. The prince attempted Ho
lengthened reply to this appeal to his chivalry ;^
" Sighing, alone he cried, as inly mov'd,
Alas ! these men, meseems, have never lov'd."
The grave saws of the sage took root, however,
in Alexander's heart, and he absented himself
from his mistress. She wailed her fate for some
tirae in solitude, but at length assured that it was
not the mere capriciousness of passion which
kept him from her, she forced herself into the
presence of her lord. Her beauty smiled away
all dreams of glory from his mind, and in the
fondness of his love he accused Aristotle of
breaking in upon his joy. But the dominion of
his passion was only momentary, and recovering
the martial tone of his soul, he declared the sad
necessity of their parting. She then requested
a brief delay," promising to convince the king
that his tutor's counsel derived no additional
recommendation from his practice, for that he

AND LADY-LOVE.

215

stood in need of as much instruction as Alex- chap.v.
ander himself. Accordingly, with the first ap
pearance of the next morning, the darasel repaired
to the lawn before the chamber where Aristotle
lay. As she approached the casement, she broke
the stillness, of the air by chanting a love ditty,
and the sweetness of her wild notes charmed the
philosopher from his studious page. He softly
stole to the window, and beheld a form far fairer
than any image of truth which his fancy had
just previously been conceiving. Her face was
not shrouded by vail or wimple, her long flaxen
tresses strayed negligently down her neck, and
her dress, like drapery on an antient statue, dis
played the beauty of a well-turned limb. She
loitered about the place on pretence of gather
ing a branch of a myrtle-tree, and winding it
round her forehead. When her confidence in
her beauty assured her that Aristotle was raad
for her love, she stole underneath the caseraent,
and, in a voice checked by sighs, she sang that.
love detained her there. Aristotle drank the
delicious sounds, and gazing again, her charras
appeared more resplendent than before. Reason
faintly whispered that he was not born to be
loved, and that his hair was now white with age,
his forehead wrinkled with study ; but passion
and vanity drove away these faint remonstrances,
and Aristotle was a sage no more. The damsel
p 4

21.6 DAMES AND DAMSELS,
CHAP. V. carelessly passed his window, and in the delirium
' of his love he caught the floating folds of her
robe. She affected anger, and he avowed his
passion. Slie listened to his confession with a
surprize of manner that fanned his flame, and
she answered him by complaining of the late
coldness of Alexander. The greybeard, not
caring for a return of love, so that she accepted
his suit, promised to bring his pupil to her feet,
if she would but confer sorae sign of favour
upon himself. She feigned an intention of com
pliance, but declared that, before she yielded,
she must be indulged in a foolish whim which
long had distracted her fancy. Aristotle then
renewed his professions of devoted love, and
slie in sentences, broken by exclamations of ap
parent shame at her folly, vowed that she was
dying to mount and ride upon the back of a
wise raan. He was now so passionately in love,
that the fancies of his raistress appeared divinest
wisdom to his mind, and he immediately threw
himself along the ground in a crawling attitude.
She seated herself in a gorgeous saddle which
she placed on his back, and, throwing a rein
round his neck, she urged him to proceed. In a
few moments they reached the terrace under
the royal apartments, and the king beheld the
singular spectacle. A peal of laughter from
the windows awoke the philosopher to a sense

AND LADY-LOVE. 217
of his state, and when he saw his pupil he owned chap.v.
that youth might well yield to love, as it had
power to break even the fi'ost of age.
Such was the lay of Aristotle which the
wandering minstrel chanted in the baronial hall,
and the damsel in her lady's bower, and the
pleasing moral of the fable was not raore sin
cerely echoed by the shouts of the gallant
knights and squires than by the broken sighs of
beauty. " Mark ye, who hear me, that no blameful shade
Be thrown henceforth on gallant or on maid.
For here, by grave example taught, we find
That mighty love is master of mankind.
Love conquers all, and love shall conquer still,
Last the round world how long soe'er it will." *

a

It is singular to observe that in the north and
in the south, in Gerraany and in Languedoc,
the love of the cavalier bore the same character,
the same blending of tender and devotional
feelings. The troubadour burned tapers, and
caused masses to be said for the success of his
* Way's Fabliaux, vol. ii. p. 170. The moral of the Lay
of Aristotle brings to mind Voltaire's two celebrated lines
under a statue of Cupid : —
" Qui que tu sois, tu vols ton maitre,
II Test, le fut, ou le doit 6trei"

218 DAMES AND DAMSELS,
OHAP. V. love, and when the fervour of passion for- his
mistress was crossed by religious awe, he declared
that the part of his heart which God held was
still under the superior dominion of his lady
love. The German knight wrote poems to the
honour of the Virgin Mary and the damsel of his
heart, and it is not always easy to distinguish to
which of these persons his vows are addressed. *
He adored the shadow, nay, the very neighbour
hood of his mistress, and declared that nothing
could induce him to violate his vow of fidelity.
Here, however, the resemblance ceases^ for the
knights of France, England, and Spain were not
more highly distinguished for chivalric courtesy,
than the Germans were remarkable for ferocity
and savageness. t Once, and once only, were
there courts of love in Germany. They were
established by Frederic Barbarossa, and they did
not long survive their founder.
Chivalric Chivalric love took delight in reconciling and
love the foe . . . . » n j. t
to feudal joining the opposites ot the world. + It was no
tions. cold and calculating principle ; it abrogated the
distinctions of wealth and rank, and many a
knight, whose whole fortune lay in his pi'owess,
gained the hand of high-born beauty. " How
* Illustrations of Northern Antiquities, p. 8, &c.
t Ibid. p. 41.
X Lai ofthe Canonesses and the Gray Nuns.

AND LADY-LOVE. 219
can I hope," observed a young candidate for chap.v.
chivalry to a lady of high estate, "how can I hope
to find a damsel of noble birth, who will return
the affection of a knight that, ungraced by rank,
has only his good sword to trust to ?" — " And
why should you not find her ?" replied the lady ;
" are you not gently born ? are you not a hand
some youth ? have you not eyes to gaze on her,
ears to hear her, feet to move at her will, body
and heart to accomplish loyally her commands ?
and, possessed of these qualities, can you doubt
to adventure yourself in the service of a lady,
however exalted her rank ?" *
A squire of low degree often aspired to the
hand of a king's daughter :
" And I have seen that raany a page
Have becorae men by marriage."
The intenseness of passion, and the generous
ness of soul implied in this state of raanners, were
sternly opposed by feudal pride and tyranny;
but chivalry could not always beat down the ab
surd distinctions of society. When the Countess
of Vergy returned the passion of Sir Agolane, she
was obliged to love in secret, lest the dignity

* L'Histoire et plaisante Cronicque du petit Jehan de
Saintre, vol. i. c. 7.

220

CHAP. V.

But pre
served reli
gion.

DAMES AND DAMSELS,
of the court of Burgundy should be offended. *
The maidens themselves sometiraes sanctioned
the prejudices of feudalisra, in opposition to the
generous feelings of chivalry and nature. Felice,
daughter of Rah and, Earl of Warwick, disdained
to return the passion of Guy, her father's stew
ard, till an angel in a dreara commanded her to
love him. t
Agreement in religious opinions was as neces
sary as sympathy of souls in the loves of chivalry ;
and many a story is related of a knight reposing
in a lady's chamber, where, instead of adoring
the divinity of the place, he assailed her. with
a fierce invective against her religious creed. X
On such occasions he forgot even his courtesy,
and shamed his knighthood by calhng her a
heathen hound :

But

' I will not go one foot on ground
For to speak with an heathen hound :
Unchristen hounds I rede .ye flee,
Or I your heart's blood will see."

" ' Mercy,' she cried, ' my leraraan sweet !'-
(She fell down and 'gan to weep) —

* Lai ofthe Countess of Vergy.
f Romance of Guy of Warwick.
:J: Illustrations of Northern Antiquities, p. 104.

AND LADY-LOVE. 221
' Forgive me that I have mis-said, CHAP. V.
I will that ye be well assayed !
My false gods I will forsake,
And Christendom for thy love take.'
' On that covenant,' said Sir Bevis than,
' I will thee love, fair Josyan !' " *
The occasions which kindled the flame of love '^^^" ^'-
tachments
in the heart of the knight and the maiden of '"'ere form-
chivalry were various, and raany of them well
calculated to give rise to romantic and enthu
siastic attachments. Sometimes the parties had
been educated in the same castle, and passion
insensibly succeeded childish arausements. The
masque and the ball were often the theatre of
love ; but, above all other scenes, it spread its
light over the brilliant tournament. Perforraed
in honour and in view of the ladies, it was there
that love exerted its mightiest power* She who
gave the prize bestowed almost universally her
heart upon the brave and skilful vanquisher, and
many were the tears she shed, if she found that

* Romance of Sir Bevis. In Ariosto, the heroine Brada-
mante wishes Rugiero to be baptized ; and he replies, with
great gallantry, that he would put his head not only into
water, but into fire, for the sake of her love.
Non che nell' acqua, disse, ma nel foco
Per tuo amor porre il capo mi fia poco.
Orlando Furiosp, canto xxii.. st. 36.

2^2 DAMES AND DAMSELS,
CHAP. V. the knight had been proving his puissance only
to win the heart of some other fair one. It often
happened that the circumstances of life carried
a young cavalier to a baronial castle, where he
found more peril in the daughter's fair looks
than in the frowning battlements of her father.
At the feast which welcomed the stranger, eyes
mingled in love, and the suddenness of passion
was always considered as the strongest proof of
its purity and strength. The damsel might then
avow her affection without any violation of maid
enly shame ; for generous, confiding love, read
ing another's heart in its own, dreaded no petty
triumphs of vanity from confessing its fond
ness. It often occurred that a knight, weary
and wounded, was confided to the ministrations of
woman's tenderness; and Spenser, who had read
the history as well as the romance of chivalry,
tells us,
" O foolish physick, and unfruitful pain,
That heals up one, and makes another wound."
The rude state of society, which it was the
noble object of chivalry to soften, presented
raany occasions for the display of generous af
fections, and love was the grateful return of pro
tection. A cavalier called the Knight of the
Swan reinstated a lady in the possessions of

AND LADY-LOVE. 223
which the Duke of Saxony had deprived her, chap.v.
Indignant that the throne, and not chivalry, "~~
should be regarded as the fountain of justice, whts fo°/
knights sometimes formed themselves into asso- f^^^^^ "^
ciations fbr the express object of defending the
rights of all ladies that required their aid. At Knights of
one period (during the reign of Charles VI.) of theOreeV"
great violence in France, the ladies and gentle- '^ "
women of the country laid before the king griev
ous complaints of their sufferings from power
ful lords, and lamented that gallantry was so
much degenerated, that no knights and squires
had attempted to defend them. They appealed,
therefore, to the king, as the fountain of justice,
to afford them protection. This appeal roused
the dormant chivalry of France ; and the valiant
knight and marshal, Boucicaut *, whose skill as a
jouster will be described anon, gathered round
him twelve preux chevaliers, and the fraternity
avowed themselves champions of oppressed dames
and damsels. The gallantry of their object was
proclaimed to the world by the device on their

* Don Quixote hiraself was not a greater idolater of the
ladies, than was the vahant Marshal Boucicaut, who,
however, carried his fear of irapertinent intrusion to a raore
roraantic pitch than perhaps the ladies liked, for he would
not even permit the knights of his banner to look a second
time at a window where a handsome woman was seated.
Memoires, partie 3. c. 7.

224 DAMES AND DAMSELS,
CHAP.V. shields of a fair lady in a green field, and their
letters of arms, circulated throughout France,
promised that they would assist all ladies and
gentlewomen who were injured in their honours
or fortunes. *
* Boucicaut, Memoires, partie i. c.38, 39. The comraence
ment of the letters of those knights of the lady in the green
field is worthy of insertion on account of its chivalric tone.
" A toutes haultes et nobles daraes and damoiselies, et k
tous seigneurs, chevaliers, et escuyers, apres tous recora-
raendations, font a s5avoir les treize chevaliers corapagnons,
portans en leur devise I'escu verd k la darae blanche.
Premierement pour ce que tout chevalier est tenu de droict
de vouloir garder et deffendre I'honneur, I'estat, les biens, la
renommee, et la louange de toutes daraes et damoiselies de
noble lign^e, et que iceulx entre les autres sont tres
desirans de le vouloir faire, les prient et requierent que il
leur plaise que si aulcune ou aulcunes est ou sont par
oultraige, ou force, contre raison diminuees ou amoindries
des choses dessus dictes, que celle ou celles a qui le tort ou
force en sera faicte veuille ou veuillent venir ou envoyer
requerir l'un des diets chevaliers, tous ou partie d'iceulx,
selon ce que le cas le requerra, et le requis de par la dicte
dame ou darnoiselle, soit un, tous ou partie, sont et veulent
estre tenus de mettre leurs corps pour leur droict garder et
deffendre encontre tout autre seigneur, chevalier, ou
escuyer, en tout ce que chevalier se peut et doibt employer
au mestier d'arraes, de tout leur pouvoir, de personne a
personne, jusques au nombre dessus diets et au dessoutes,
tant pour tant. Et en breifs jours aprfes la requestc k l'un,
tous ou partie d'iceulx, faicte de par les dictes dames ou
damoiselies, ils veulent presentement eulx mettre en tout
debovir d'accoraplir les choses dessus dictes, et si brief que
faire se pourra. Et s'il advenoit, que Dieu ne veuille que

AND LADY-LOVE.

225

The same generous feeling warmed the hearts chap. v.
of the English chivalry. We become acquainted Custom in
.-,,.% -11 England.
With this feature of our ancient national cha
racter, not in dry monkish chronicles, but in the
living page of one of our earliest and greatest
poets. Chaucer makes all the persons of his
dramatic tale speak agreeably to their rank and
station in the world ; and he puts into the
mouth of his very perfect and gentle knight the
following spirited description of the gallant feel
ings of English nobles and gentles in the time
of Edward III.

" For every knight that loved chivalry.
And would his thanks have a passant name.
Hath prayed that he might be of that game,
And well was him that thereto chosen was !
For if there to-morrow such a case,
Ye knowen well that every lusty knight
Thatloveth par amour, and hath his might,
Were it in Engleland, or elsewhere.
They would, hir thanks, wilien to be there,"

celuy au ceulx qui par les dictes daraes ou damoiselies
seroient requis, eussent essoine raisonnable ; a fin que leur
service et besongne ne se puisse en rien retarder qu'il ne
prist conclusion, le requis ou les requis seront tenus de bailler
prestement de leurs corapaignons, par qui le diet faict seroit
et pouvoit estre raen^ k chef et accomply.
VOL. I. Q

228

DAMES AND DAMSELS,

^HAP. V* 1^0 fight for a lady, a ! benedicite.
It were a lusty sight for to see .'" *
And thus it continued in every age of chi
valric history. Noble knights of prowess were
ever perilling themselves in the cause of woman.
So late as the year 1425, when the title to certain
territories in Hainault was contested between
the English Duke of Gloucester and John of
Brabant on behalf of the lady Jacquiline, those
gallant cavaliers, the bastard of St. Pol, and
Andre de Huraieres appeared at Hesden with
silver rings on their right arms, proclaiming the
superior title of Jacquiline. f
These are a few of the historical facts, which
shew that the ancient romancers did not paint
from their imagination when they described gal
lant cavaliers wandering over the gloomy waste
of feudal Europe, in order to redress wrongs
* The Knight's Tale, 1. 2108, &c. The following is Dryden's
version ofthe above lines. The spirit of the last two lines
of Chaucer is entirely lost.
" Beside the champions, all of high degree.
Who knighthood lov'd and deeds of chivalry,
Throng'd to the lists, and envy'd to behold
The names of others, not their own, enroll'd.
Nor seems it strange, for every noble knight
Who loves the fair, and is endu'd with might,
In such a quarrel would be proud to fight."
t Monstrelet, vol. vi. p. 167. Boucicaut, Memoirs, c. 382.

AND LADY-LOVE. 227
and injuries, to relieve widows, and defend the 'CHAP..V.
honor of damsels. Sometimes a knight rode
alone, and like the valorous Don Quixote left
it to his horse's discretion to go which way he
pleased. In other cases they went in parties of
three or four in quest of adventures. That they
might surprise the enemy they sought for, they
changed or disguised their armorial distinctions.
A year and a day was the general term for en
terprises of this nature ; and at the conclusion
they rendered to their sovereign mistresses an
account of their adventures, and ingenuously
confessed their faults and misfortunes, — But I
find myself stepping into the regions of romance,
which are not the province of this work. I re
turn therefore, to the realities of chivalry, which
are no less pleasing than its fictions.
The protection of widows and orphans, and
all ladies of virtuous repute, was indeed the
serious duty ever present to the imagination of
a preux chevalier. The praiseworthy soldier
was he who chose to fight for dames and dam
sels in preference to contending in vain-glorious
frays, and with equal spirit it was thought that
death was too slight a punishment for the man
who could offer scathe or dishonour to, or de
ceive or wrong a gentle lady. From this ge- Uneiiivairic
J J u to take
nerous consideration for woman proceeded the women
honorable raaxim in chivalry, of its not being p"'"""'-
Q 2

228 DAMES AND DAMSELS,
CHAP. v. just or courteous to take ladies in war. * When
a town was captured, the heralds of the con
queror proclaimed his will, that no violence nor
displeasure should be done to any lady or gentle
woman. In the reign of Edward III. Caen fell
into the hands of the English, and Sir Thomas
Holland preserved many ladies, damsels, and
nuns, from outrage worse than death. About
the same time the castle of Poys was taken by
the English, and two noble knights (one was
the renowned Sir John Chandos) saved from
violation two fair damsels, daughters of the Lord
of Poys. The ladies were conducted into the
presence of Edward, who, for his honor, raade
thera good cheer, and caused them to be carried
in safety to a town friendly to their faraily. t
And the generous feelings of cavaliers for ladies
were nobly requited. In the wars of the Guelphs

* Froissart, liv. i. c. 389.
¦j- Froissart, liv.ii. c. 6.; liv. i. c. 124, 125. "Puis pas-
serent oultre destruisans le pais d'entour et vindrent ainsi
jusques au chastel de Poys : ou il y avoit bonne ville, et deux
beaux chasteaux : mais nul des seigneurs ny estait, fors
deux belles damoiselies, filles au Seigneur de Poys : qui tost
eussent est6 violees, si n'eussent este deux chevaliers
d'Angleterre : messire Jehan Chandos, et le sire de Basset :
qui les deffendirent : et pour les garder les menerent au roy :
qui pour honneur leur fit bonne chere, et leur deraanda ou
elles voudroyent estre, si disent k Corbie. La les fit le
roi conduire sans pareil.

AND LADY-LOVE. 229
and the Ghibehines, the Emperor Conrad, as an ohap. v.
offended sovereign, had refused all terms of capi
tulation to the garrison of Winnisberg ; but as a
courteous knight, he permitted the women to
depart with such of their precious effects as they
themselves could transport. The gates of the
town were thrown open, and a long procession
of matrons, each bearing a husband, or a father,
or brother, on her shoulders, passed in safety
through the applauding camp. *
Some writers have severely censured the Morals of
ch i v&ln c
morals of the chivalric aera, and according to times.
them every species of licentiousness was prac
tised by its dames and darasels. This opinion
is as erroneous as the one which it superseded,
that in the tiraes we speak of every knight was
brave, and every woman was chaste ; an assertion
bearing more liberality than truth on its face,
considering that it refers to a period of seven
or eight centuries, and that the objects of the
panegyric were the largest part of the Euro
pean world. For my part, I shall not, like the
knight of La Mancha, challenge to a. joust a
V outrance any discourteous cavalier who has the-
* I have taken this story from' Gibbon, (Antiquities of
the House of Brunswick, Miscellaneous Works, vol iii. p. 530,) ,
who says it is told (if he is not mistaken) by the Spectator,
and may certainly be supported by ancient evidence.
ft 3

230 DAMES AND DAMSELS,
CHAP. V. audacity to declare that Queen Madasiraa was
scandalously farailiar with a barber-surgeon ; but
I think that our imaginations do not altogether
deceive us in painting the days of chivalry as
days of feminine virtue.
If we regard the times in reference only to
their baronial and feudal features, the view is
deeply dyed with turpitude, and the romances,
whence the denunciations against the ladies of
forepast ages have been drawn, are not sparing
in their pictures of licentiousness. But chivalry
was the golden thread that ran through the
middle ages, the corrective of vice, the per
sonification of virtue. That it did not altogether
succeed in colouring with its brightness the
surrounding gloom is sufficiently true, and the
tiraes warranted the assertion of a character in
Amadis de Gaul, that our country yields, as
others do, both good and bad. The romances
present us with instances of the profligacy of
woraen, and so they also do of the baseness of
knights : but as no one will contend that chivalry
did not in general inspire its professors with
sentiments of honour, so its virtuous influence
cannot in fairness be denied to the maidens of
its age. Let us not, as Spenser says, blame the
whole se?: for the fault of one.

AND LADY-LOVE.

231

'< Fair ladies that to love captived are CHAP.lV.
And chaste desires do nourish in your mind,
Let not her fault your sweet affections raar;
Ne blot the bounty of all womankind,
'Mongst thousands good, one wanton dame to find:
Amongst the roses grow sorae wicked weeds :
For this was not to love, but lust, inclin'd ;
For love doth always bring forth bounteous deeds,
And in each gentle heart desire of honour breeds."*
The romance writers were satirists, but they had
more humour than malignity. Every one of
them introduces a magical test of feminine virtue,
a drinking cup, a mantle or a girdle. This is
harmless; and their general censure of women is
without point ; for they were for the most part
men of profligate habits, and judged the other
sex by the standard of their own vices*
" Safe her, I never any woraan found
That chastity did for itself erabrace
But were for other causes firra and sound ;
Either for Want of handsome time and place,
Or else for fear of shame and foul disgrace." f
This is the burthen of all their declamations
against women ; and Spenser has shewn how
little credit he gave to it, for he does not let it
* Fairy Queen, book iii. canto 1, st. 4'9.
t Ibid, book iii. canto 7. st. 60.
ft 4

232 DAMES AND DAMSELS,
CHAP, V. proceed from the mouth of any of his preux
chevaliers, but from a wretched profligate, rais-
named the squire of dames.*
However highly some enthusiastic minds may
have coloured the manners of the chivalric ages,
still it is unquestionable that the love of the
knight was not the raere impulse of passion, but
that the feeling was raised and refined by /
respect. Now, as nature is ever true to herself
as certain causes have had certain operations in all
ages and in all countries, so this purity of love
must have been followed by a corresponding
correctness of morals. Woraen had every reason
to retain and support the virtues of their nature;

• Another writer says,
" Ah ! well was he that he forebore to blame ; ;
Misfortune be his lot and worldly shame.
Nor, dying, let him taste of heavenly bliss |
Whoe'er of dame or damsel speaks amiss ;
And sure no gentle clerk did ever vex
With foul discourtesy the gentle sex.
But churl or villain, of degenerate mind.
Brutal and base, the scandal of his kind."
S. Rose's Partenopex of Blois, canto ii.
And in a similar strain of courtesy is the beginning of the
Fabliau of Constant du Harael, as translated by M.Le Grand.
" Je ne pardonne pas qu'on se raoque des daraes. On doit
toute sa vie les honorer et les servir et ne leur parler jamais
que pour leur dire choses courtoises. Qui agit autrement
est un vilain."

AND LADY-LOVE. 233
for it was only in behalf of those of fair reput- chap. v.
ation and honour, that the knight was corapelled
by his principles to draw his sword ; all others
were without the pale of chivalry ; and although
raany instances can be found in the roraances of
feminine indiscretion, yet the princess in the
celebrated romance of Tirante the White ac
curately describes the general feeling when she
submits to lose all her claims on the noble
chevisance of knights, if she failed in observing
a promise of marriage which she had given to a
gallant cavalier that loved her.
The knights, though courteous to the highest
j polish of refineraent, were rigid and inflexible
censors ; and in those days as well as in these,
each sex forraed the character of the other.*
The cavalier in travelling would write on the
door of a castle where a dame of tarnished
reputation resided, some sentence of infamy;
and on the contrary, he would pause at the door
of a lady of pure honour and salute her courte
ously. Even on soleran and public occasions
distinctions were made between woraen in raat
ters of ceremony. If any lady of sullied fame
took precedence of a dame of bright virtue, a
* As the romance of the Rose says,
" Les chevaliers mieux en valoient,
Les dameS meilleures etoient
Et plus chastement en vivoient."

gg^, DAMES AND DAMSELS,
CHAP.V. cavalier would advance and reverse the order,
 saying to her who was displaced, " Lady, be not
offended that this lady precedes you, fbr al
though she is not so rich or well allied as you
are, yet her fame has never been impeached."*
Here, therefore, chivalry vindicated its purity,
and showed itself as the moral guide of tbe
world. Its tendencies were beneficent ; for
Christianity was deeply infused into all its insti
tutions and principles, and it not only spread
abroad order and grace, but strung the tone of
morals to actions of virtue.

Chivalric All ladics were not of the opinion of Amadis
de Gaul, that their best weapons were sighs and
tears. What they admired they imitated ; and a
high-spirited damsel would, in private, divest
herself of her robe, gird round her a belt, and
drawing its sword from the scabbard, fight
with the air till she was wearied. The gallant
youths of chivalry called a lady of this martial
temperament^ — le bel cavalier. Were we to meet
in romances with dames engaged in mortal
combat, we should say that the writers had not
faithfully represented the manners of the times ;
but such facts are recorded by sober chroniclers.

* Caxton's Chevalier of the Tower, cap. " How every
good woman ought to keep her renommee."

AND LADY-LOVE. 23.5
Two ladies decided some fierce disputes by the chap, v*
sword. Each sumraoned to her aid a band of
cavaliers, and the stoutest lances of Normandy
felt no loss of dignity in being commanded by a
woman. The lady Eloisa and the lady Isabella
rode through their respective ranks with the ad
dress of experienced leaders, and their contest,
like that of nations, was only terminated by burn
ing and plundering each other's states. In the
crusades, parties of fair and noble women ac
companied the chivalry of Europe to the Holy
Land, charming the seas ' to give them gentle
pass,' and binding up the wounds of husbands
and brothers after a well foughten field with the
bold Mussulman. Sometimes they wielded the
flaming brand themselves, and the second crusade
in particular was distinguished by a troop of ladies
harnessed in armour of price, and mounted on/
goodly steeds. A lady often wore a sword even
in times of peace, and every great landed pro
prietress sat ^/arf^o cincta among the justices at
sessions and assizes. In England, particularly,
was this martial spirit recognised, for in the tirae
of Edward the first a lady held a manor by sar-
jeanty to conduct the vanguard of the king's
army as often as he should march into Wales
* Ord. Vit. p. 687, &c.

236 DAMES AND DAMSELS,
CHAP. V. with one ; and on its return it was her duty to
array the rear-guard.*
Queen The victory of the English over the Scots at
' ^^*" Neville Cross is mainly attributable to the spirited
demeanour of Philippa, wife of Edward the
third. At her father's court in Hainault, she
had witnessed war in its splendid image, the tour
nament ; and now, in a perilous raoraent, when
the king her husband was far away, and the fate
of England was in her hands, she showed that
she was not unworthy of her race or her alliance.
She rode among the battles or divisions of her
host, exhorting them to perform their devoir,
to defend the honour of her lord the king of
England, and in the narae of God she iraplored
every man to bear a good heart and courage,
promising them that she would reward thera
better than if her lord the king were personally
in the field. She then quitted the ranks, recora-
mendingher soldiers to the protection of God,
and of St. George, that special defender of the
realra of England. This exhortation of the
queen nerved the hearts of the English yeoraen,
and they shot their arrows so fiercely and so

* Harleian MS. No. 166. 2087. p. 23. cited in Retrospec
tive Review. No. 19. p. 95.

and lady-love, 237
wholly together, that the Scottish battle-axe chap.v.
failed of its wonted raight.*
For the heroism of women, the page of Scot- The coun-
tish history furnishes a remarkable instance. In March.
the beginning ofthe year 1338, Williara de Mon
tague, Earl of Salisbury, by command of the
Earl of Arundel, the leader of the anny of
Edward III., laid siege to the castle of Dunbar,
the chief post which the Scots possessed on the
eastern coast of their country. The castle stood
upon a reef of rocks which were alraost girdled
by the sea, and such parts of it as could be at
tacked were fortified with great skill. The Earl
of March, its lord, was absent when Salisbury
commenced the siege, but the defence lacked
not his presence. His wife was there, and
while to the vulgar spirits of the time, she
was known, from the unwonted darkness of her
eyes and hair, as Black Agnes, the chivalric
sons of Scotland joyfully beheld a leader in
the person of the high-spirited daughter of the
illustrious Thomas Ranulph, Earl of Moray.
* Froissart, hv. i. c. 138. Lord Hailesis not pleased that
the queen should have shared in the honour of the battle, and
wishes to doubt her presence, because Froissart is the only
writer^ who states it. Upon which Mr. Turner (History of
England, vol. 2. p. 204, 8vo.) very judiciously observes,
that, if we disbelieve all the facts of this reign, for which
we have only Froissart's authority, our scepticism must
take a large sweep.

^38 DAMES AND DAMSELS,
CHAP. V. The Countess of March performed all the duties
of a skilful and vigilant commander. She ani
mated her little band by her exhortations and
munificence ; she roused the brave into heroism,
and shamed the timid into courage by the firra
ness of her bearing. When the warlike engines
of the besiegers hurled stones against the battle-
raents, she, as in scorn, ordered one of her
female attendants to wipe off the dust with a
handkerchief, and when the Earl of Salisbury
commanded the enormous machine called the
soiv, to be advanced to the foot of the walls, she
scoffingly cried out, * Beware, Montague, thy
sow is about to farrow,' and instantly by her
command a huge fragment of rock was dis
charged from the battlements, and it dashed the
engine to pieces. Many of the men who were
about it were killed, and those who crawled from
the ruin on their hands and knees were de-
ridingly called by the Scots, Montague's pigs.
Foiled in his attempts, he endeavoured to gain
the castle by treachery : he bribed the person
who had the care of the gates to leave them
open ; but the man, faithful to his duty as well
as to his pecuniary interest, disclosed the whole
transaction to the Countess. Salisbury himself
headed the party who were to enter ; finding the
gates open, he was advancing, when John Cope-
land, one of his attendants, hastily passing be-

AND LADY-LOVE.

239

fore him, the portcullis was let down, and chap, v.
Copeland, mistaken for his lord, remained a pri
soner. The Countess, who from a high tower
was observing the event, cried out to Salisbury
with her wonted humour, ' Farewell, Montague;
I intended that you should have supped with us,
and assisted in defending this fortress against the
English.' The English turned the siege into a blockade,
but still without success. The gallantry of the
Countess was supported by some favourable cir
cumstances, and finally, in June, the Earl of
Salisburv consented to a cessation of hostilities,
and he abandoned the place. *
But the most interesting of all the heroines of Taie of
° Jane of
chivalry was Jane Countess of Mountfort, who, Mountfort
as Froissart says, had the courage of a man and
the heart of a lion. She was a worthy descend
ant of those German women whom Tacitus
describes as mixingwith the warriors, administer
ing refreshment, and exhorting them to valour.
About the year 1341, the right to the duchy of
Bretagne was disputed between the Earl of
Mountfort and Charles of Blois. The question
* Wyntown's Cronykil of Scotland, book viii. c. 32.
Lord Hailes, vol. 2. p. 218, 221. Border Antiquities, vol. ii.
p. 170.

240 DAMES AND DAMSELS,
CHAP. V. turned on certain points of inheritance which
the earl dreaded the court of Paris would decide
in favor of his rival, who was a relation of the
French king. He, therefore, sought another
alliance, and repairing to England, he performed
homage for the duchy to Edw^ard III. * His
next steps were directed to Paris, but his journeys
were not so secretly taken as he expected ; for
on presenting hiraself before King Philip he was
charged with having acknowleged the sovereignty
of the English raonarch. The earl pretended
that his journey to England had only related to
his private affairs, but the king did not credit his
story, and in distrust of his purposes he ordered
hira to reraain in Paris. Mountfort, equally sus
picious of his sovereign's honor, effected his
escape from the city in the guise of a merchant.
He went to Brittany, and took his station in tbe
castle of Nantes. The decision of the court at
Paris was adverse to his claims ; and the success
ful candidate, Charles of Blois, levied an army,
and pursued his former rival, who was taken in
his retreat, conveyed to Paris, and lodged in the
Louvre. To those who did not know the noble spirit
of his countess the cause of the Mountfort
faraily seeraed hopeless. She was at Rennes
* Avesbury, p. 97. Froissart, liv. i. c. 69.

and LADY-LOVE. 2^1
when he was taken prisoner, and. although she chap.v.
had great sorrow in her heart, yet she valiantly
recomforted her friends and soldiers, and showing
them her little son John, she said, ' Sirs, be not
too sore abashed of the earl my lord, whom you
have lost, (he was but a, man): behold ray little
child, who shall be by the- grace of God his re
storer, and he shall advance you all, and I have
riches enough : you shall not lack ; and I trust
that I shall prosper in such wise that you shall
be all recoraforted.' * All her friends and soldiers
vowed to die in her service ; and she then went
to her other fortresses and towns, replenishing
them with warlike stores and provisions, and ex
hibiting her little son to the people, in order . to
rouse the allegiance ofthe friends of her family.
She stationed herself in Hennebon, a town
seated near the shores of Brittany, t
* La Comtesse de Montfort avoit courage d'horarae et coeur
de lion. Elle estoit en la cit^ de Renes, quand elle entendit
que son seigneur fut prins ; et, combien qu'elle east grand
dueil au cceur, elle reconfortoit tous ses amis vaillamraent,
et tous ses soudoyers : et leur raonstroit un petit fils (qu'elle
avoit appel^ Jehan, comme son pere) et leur disoit, Haa,
seigneurs, ne vous 6bahissez mie de monseigneur, que nous
avons perdu. Ce n'estoit qu'un homme. Veez cy mon petit
enfant, qui sera (si Dieu plaist) son restorier, et vous sera
des biens assez et j'ai de savoir a plante ; si vous en
donneraz assez, et vous pourchaceray tei capitaine, parquoy
vous serez tous reconfortes. Froissart, liv. i. c. 73.
X Mrs. Charles Stothard, in her interesting Tour through
VOL. I. R

242 DAMES AND DAMSELS,
chap. V. In the following summer Charles of Blois was
aided by the whole puissance of France in his
attempt to make hiraself complete master of
Brittany; but so able were the dispositions
of the countess, that, instead of sweeping over
the whole country as they expected, they were
detained before Rennes, and it was not till after
much labour that they won it. The countess,
in the mean while, had sent one of her knights.
Sir Amery of Clysson, irito England, desiring royal
succour, on condition that the Earl of Mounts
fort's son and heir should marry a daughter of
the king, who was to be adorned with the
highly splendid title, the Duchess of Brittany.
Edward IIL, always anxious to strengthen his
power in France, accepted the alliance, and or
dered one of his noblest knights of prowess,
Sir Walter Manny, to join the valiant countess
with three thousand archers. Charles of Blois,
after the capture of Rennes, was counselled to
lay siege to Hennebon ; but before he reached
that town Jane de Mountfort was apprised of his
purpose, and she comraanded the watch-bell to

Normandy and Brittany, observes (p. 231.) that the massive
walls which once surrounded the town of Hennebon, remain
in many places entire, and must have been impregnable in
their strength and construction.

AND LADY-LOVE. 243
be sounded, and every raan to be armed, and chap. V.
standing at his post. When Sir Charles and the
Frenchmen came near the town, they pitched
their tents ; but many of their gay and valorous
spirits went skirmishing to the barriers. Sorae
of the cavaliers of Hennebon did not suffer
thera to brandish their swords in the air ; and it
was only the shades of night that separated those
preluders of battle. The next day tlie French-
raen spent in council, and it was resolved that a
general assault should be raade on the barriers.
Accordingly, on the third morning they fiercely
pressed to the outward works of the town, and
continued the assault till noon, when they retired
with diminished forces. The lords of France
rallied their soldiers, and urged .the assault
anew ; but they that were within defended them
selves right valiantly. The countess herself,
clad in mail, and raounted on a goodly courser,
rode from street to street, exhorting her people
to defend their posts ; and if in the din of battle
her woman's voice was soraetiraes drowned, no
thing could raar her cheering smiles, which
lighted the flarae of noble chevisance in every
gallant breast. She caused damsels and other
women to cut short their kirtels, and carry stones
and pots full of lime to the walls, to be cast upon
the enemy. She then mounted a tower, and
espied that the Frenchman's camp was deserted.
R 2

244

dames and damsels.

chap. v. jjer resolution was immediately taken : she drew
around her three hundred of her best knights,
and, grasping a targe and spear, and mounting
again her good steed, she quitted the town by a
gate which the enemy had overlooked. At the
head of her gallant troop she made a short cir
cuit, and then dashed into the Frenchmen's
lodgings. When the assailants, reverting their
eyes, saw their tents on fire, and heard cries of
terror from a few boys and varlets in the camp,
they quickly returned to their lodgings to stop
the conflagration. The countess and her noble
band could not cope with so vast a force, and
her retreat to the city being cut off, she took the
road to the castle of Brest, where she was re
ceived with great joy. For five days the good
soldiers of Hennebon wist not of the fate of their
right valiant lady ; but on the sixth morning they
saw her golden banners glittering in the rising
sun, and a hill in the distance crowned by a
noble troop of five hundred lances, which her
beauty and her just cause had drawn to her
side at Brest. With the gay curvetting pace of
gallant cavaliers progressing to a tournament,
they gallantly held on their way to the town,
smiling defiance to the martial front of the
French, and entered Hennebon amidst the
flourishes of their own trurapets, and the exult
ing cries ofthe people.

and lady-love. 245
But the siege was advanced bythe French chap.v.
with such courage, and their engines so dread
fully injured the walls, that the soldiers of Hen
nebon were in time discomfited. All except
the countess were anxious to yield the town
upon honourable terms ; but she hoped for suc
cour from Edward ; and while her knights and
men-at-arms sullenly guarded the walls which
fronted the enemy, a solitary warder paced the
ramparts that looked towards England. One
day the members of her council were on the
point of compelling her to submit, when, cast
ing her eyes on the sea, whereon she had so
often gazed in vain, she saw a dark mass rising
out of the horizon. Her smile of fearful joy,
before she discovered that it was the English
fleet, excited the attention of her friends. They
all rushed to the window, but her sight was the
most piercing, for her heart was the raost deeply
anxious, and she was the first to exclaim, " I see
the succours'of England coming!" The joyful
news quickly spread, the walls of Hennebon were
crowded with the townsfolk, and the English
fleet entered the harbour. When the soldiers
landed, she went to them with great reverence,
and feasted them right hospitably. She lodged
the knights and others in the castle and in the
town, where she dressed up halls and chambers
for them ; and the next day she made them a
R 3

246

DAMES AND DAMSELS,

CHAP. V. great feast at dinner. The exploits of Sir Walter
Manny and his archers will be more appropri
ately related in another place. The siege of
Hennebon was raised, and it is not unworthy of
notice as a trait of manners, that on one occa
sion of valiancy on the part of the English, the
countess descended from the castle with a glad
cheer, and went and kissed Sir Walter Manny
and his companions, one after another, two or
three tiraes, like a valiant lady. *
After some time a truce was concluded be
tween Sir Charles of Blois and the Countess of
Mountfort, their aiders and assisters ; and the
countess, on the invitation of Edward IIL, took
ship fbr England, accorapanied by the Earls of
Richraond, Pembroke, Salisbury, Suffolk, Ox
ford, the barons Stamford, Spenser, Bourchier,
and divers other knights of England, and their
companies. When they were off Guernsey
they were approached by Sir Loyes of Spain and
his fleet. At first the countess supposed it was
with a friendly purpose, for Sir Loyes, as the
ally of Sir Charles of Blois, was virtually bound
by tlie treaty : but she was soon assured of his

* Froissart, c. 82. Lors descendit la Coratesse du Chastel,
k joyeuse chere, et vint baiser messiu Gautier de Manny et
ses corapaignons, les uns apres les autre, deux fois ou trois,
corarae vaillante Dame.

AND LADY-LOVE. 247
unchivalric purpose. The raariners cried to chap.v.
the knights, " Sirs, arm yourselves quickly, for
these Genoese and Spaniards will soon attack
you." All in a moment the Englishmen
sounded their trumpets, and reared their stand
ards with the great banner of St. George, and
marshalled themselves on the decks of the ships,
the archers, as on land, being in front.
" Looking far forth into the ocean wide,
A goodly ship with bapners bravely dight,
And flag in her top-gallant I espied,
Through the main sea making her merry flight;
Fair blew the wind into her bosom right,
And the heavens look'd lovely all the while.
That she did seem to dance as in delight.
And at her own felicity did smile." *
And in this gallant trim the English fleet bore
down upon the superior force of their ungene
rous foe. The arrows of the one side, and the
cross-bows of the other, did murderous execu
tion ; and when the lords, knights, and squires
came together, the battle was so dreadful that
it furnished matter of song to the minstrels
of England and France for years afterwards.
The countess that day was worth the bravest
knight ; she had the heart of a lion, and, with a
* Spenser, Vision of the World's Vanity, st. 9.
R 4

248 dames and damsels,
CHAP.V. sharp glaive in her hand, she fought fiercely.
They contended till it became so dark that one
could scarcely know another. The fleets then
separated, the men remaining in their harness,
intending to renew the battle next raorning.
But at midnight a tempest arose so horrible that
every one thought the end of the world was ap
proaching ; and those very cavaliers who, a few
hours before, had gallantly courted death, would
now have abandoned their chivalry and their
cause, if a safe landing could have been effected.*
The battle was not renewed the next day ; the
English fleet sailed to Brittany ; the troops
landed near Vannes, which they immediately
besieged, the countess being always foremost
A.D. 1345. in the press. Soon afterwards Edward III.
went to France, in the contest for whose
throne the affairs of Brittany were lost, and
the noble Countess of Mountfort disappeared
from the scene t, while her husband escaped

* Like Gonzalo in the Tempest. " Now would I give a
thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren ground, long
heath, brown furze, any thing. The wills above be done ;
but 1 would fain die a dry death." Act i. sc. 1.
f The principal facts in the heroic life of the Countess of
Mountfort are recorded by Froissart, c. 68, 72, 80, 91, &c.
Lobineau, Histoire de Bretagne, vol. i. p. 320, &c.
Argentr^, Histoire de Bretagne, liv. vii. c. 9, 10.

and lady-love. S49
from prison only to die of a fever at Henne- chap. v.
bon. *
A few years after this beautiful display of ^^^°^^
the chivalric character of woman in France, the
gloom of war in Italy was illuminated by a noble
trait of female heroism. Marzia, a lady of the
famUy of the Ubaldini, so celebrated for its
virtue and noble gestes, was the wife of Fran
cesco d'Ordelaffi, lord of Forli, the only prince
in Romagna who maintained his independence
against the tyranny of the papal power. Know
ing her firmness and spirit, he entrusted the de
fence of the town of Cesena to his wife, while
he himself maintained the more important po
sition of Forli. In the beginning of the year
1357, Marzia tore herself frora her husband,
and, throwing aside the gorgeous robe of peace
ful power, donned the casque and the cuirass.
She stationed herself in Cesena with two hun*
dred soldiers, equipped like knights, and the
same number of ordinary troops. She was ac
companied also by her son and daughter, and
that sage counsellor of the Ordelaffi family,
Sgariglino de Petragudula. An army ten times
more numerous than all the defenders of Cesena
soon beleaguered the place. At the end of April
sorae of the terrified burgesses opened the gates
* Hist. Gen. de la France, 1.452.

^5Q DAMES AND DAMSELS,
QPAP. v. of the lower part of the town to tbe enemy ;
but in that moment of peril Marzia remembered
that her husband had declared that, unless the
pope would treat with him on honourable terms,
he would sustain a siege in every one of his
castles, and when he had lost them he would de
fend the walls of Forli, and then its streets, its
squares, his palace, and the last tower of his
palace, rather than give his consent to surrender
that which was his own. Marzia retreated into
the upper part of the town with such of the
soldiers and citizens who continued faithful to
her. She now discovered that Sgariglino had
been a traitor. Justice then had her due, and
the head of him whom no feelings of honour
or gallantry could preserve in the path of virtue
was rolled from the battlements among the be
sieging array. Marzia relied entirely on her own
wisdora and courage ; she took on herself all
the duties of governor and captain, and, wear
ing her cuirass both by night and day, she braved
all those hardships which, in former raoments of
happiness and ease, she would have thought
herself incapable of supporting. But the be
siegers smiled with indifference at her courage,
for their miners were slowly and surely effecting
her ruin. She was compelled to retreat to the
citadel with four hundred soldiers and citizens,
who vowed to be faithful to death. The miners

AND LADY-LOVE, 251
persevered, and at length the citadel almost hung chap. v.
in air. The father of Marzia at that moraent
reached Cesena, and his passage had been fa-
cihtated by the legate. He entreated his heroic
daughter to surrender, as bravery had accom
plished its utmost, and still the besiegers were
gradually prevailing. Her reply was simple and
firm, — that her husband had given her a duty
to perform, and that she must obey, without
forming any opinion on the nature of his com
mand. Her heroism was not supported by the
people, for they unanimously declared the folly
of further resistance. Compelled, then, to sur
render, she herself opened the negociations ;
and so skilfully did she act, so much dreaded was
the despair to which she might be tempted, that
she obtained from the legate a treaty, whereby
it was agreed that all the soldiers who had
bravely supported her might return home with
their arras and equipments. On the 2 1 st of June
she opened the gate ofthe citadel : she disdained
to ask any favour for herself; and the legate, un
touched by any chivalric sympathy for female
heroism, cast her and her children into prison. *

* See the chronicle of M. Villani in the 14th vol. of Mu
ratori, Rerum Scrip. Ital. ; and Sismondi, Histoire des Rep-
Ital. torn. vi. c. 45. Italy has not many romantic associa^
tions, and there are now no remains of Cesena to awaken

252

CHAP. V.
Chivalric
titles of
ladies.

DAMES AND DAMSELS,
The honorary tities of ladies in days of chivalry
favoured this martial spirit in women. The wife
of a knight was often called equitissa or militissa,
or chevahere. In France,; too, ladies, as ruhng
over fiefs, having the right of war, judicature, and
coining raoney,could confer the honour of knight
hood. But in general the feudal law opposed
the chivalry of women, for a woman alone could
not hold a fief, it not being supposed that she could
head her vassals or accompany her liege lord
into the field. The instances, therefore, that are
scattered over the middle ages ofthe brave gestes
of women sprang from the spirit of chivalry and
not from any other principle of society. They
were always praised, and joyfully remerabered ;
and when the direction of war was entirely
usurped by raen, the world reverted with a
melancholy pleasure to the chivalry of woman
kind.

Where is the antique glory now become,
That wh ilome wont in women to appeare ?
Where be the brave atchievements done by some ?
Where be the battles, where the shield and spear.
And all the conquests which them high did rear,

the admiration of the traveller to the heroism of Marzia.
Forsyth, Remarks on Italy, vol. iii p. 266.

AND LADY-LOVE. 253
That matter made for famous poets verse, CHAP. V.
And boastful men so oft abasht to hear ?
Be they all dead, and laid in doleful hearse ?
Or do they all sleep, and shall again reverse ? *
Though 'meek-eyed women' were 'without fear,'
yet this martial disposition was never displayed
at the sacrifice of the sex's milder qualities.
The same lady who placed a lance in rest was
ih her castle gentle and courteous, dispensing
hospitality, tending the sick, or reading romance
in hall and bower. Her heart was as tender as
her's who was rocked in pleasure's wanton lap.
Spenser's picture of his martial maid, Britomart,
in love, represents the whole class of chivalric
heroines :
" Thenceforth the feather in her lofty crest,
Ruffed of love, gan lowly to availe ;
And her proud portance and her princely gest,
With which she erst triumphed, now did quail,
Sad, solemn, sour, and full of fancies frail.
She woxe yet wist she neither how, nor why ;
She wist not, silly maid, what she did ail,
Yet wist she was not well at ease perdy.
Yet thought it was not love, but some melancholy, f
* Fairy Queen, book iii. canto 4, st. 1.
¦j- Ibid, book iii. canto ii. st. 27.

254 DAMES AND DAMSELS,
CHAP. Vi There were other points in the character of
women in days of chivalry hardly necessary to
be noticed as not being peculiar to the tiraes.
The artifices and sleights of some of them would
beseem more refined ages. To repress the pre
sumption of lovers when circumstances did not
favour an avowal of passion, they would reprove
the sighs and glances which they pretended to
see interchanged between the young squires and
maidens of the table; but the admirer of the
dame sometiraes mistook this demeanour for the
sign of a coquettish spirit, and left the lady to
lament his dulness. * The spirit of chivalry,
* " The lady's heart was on hira cast.
And she beheld hira wonder fast ;
Ever on him she cast her eye,
Ipomydon full well it seyei ;
Anon it gave him in his thought.
To loke again let would be not.
Nor no more coward thought he to be
Of his looking than was she.
The lady perceived it full well.
Of all his looking every dell.
And therewith began to shame.
For she might lightly fall in blame,
If men perceived it any thing.
Betwixt them two such looking,
Then would they say all bydene^.
That some love were them between ;
Then should she fall in slander.
And lose rauch of her honour.
' Saw. 2 Together.

AND LADY-LOVE. 255
which disposed the heart to all noble feelings, chap. v.
was not universal in its influence, and we ac
cordingly read of ladies who were deformed by
the mood of envy and detraction.
" Then was the lady of the house
A proud dame and malicious,
Hokerfull, iche mis-segging *
Squeamous and eke scorning." X

She thought to warn hira privily,
By her cousin that set hira by.
' Jason,' she said, ' thou art to blarae,
And therewith the ought to shame,
To behold ray raaid in vain ;
Every man to other will sayne.
That betwixt you is sorae sin.
Of thy looking, I rede', thou blynne^.'
Iporaydon hira bethought anon.
Then that she blamed Jason,
Without deserving every dell :
But the encheson** he perceived well.
Down he looked and thought great shame.
That Jason bore for hira the blarae.
Still he sat, and said no more,
He thought to dwell no longer there."
Romance of Sir Ipomydon.
1 Council. ^ Cease. ^ Occasion.
* Full of frowardness, each mis-saying or reviling, as Ellis
renders the passage.
f Lai le Fraine.

256

DAMES AND DAMSELS,

CHAP. v.
Noblenessof the chi
valric cha
racter.

But the subject need not be pursued further ;
for it is woman, as formed by chivalric principles,
and not as uninfluenced by that noble spirit
whose lineaments it is my purpose to pourtray.
That lofty consideration in which she was held
had, as we have seen, a remoter origin than the
days of chivalry, and to that elevation much of
her moral dignity may be ascribed. But chivalry.
saved her from being altogether oppressed into
slavery and degradation under the tyranny of
feudalism. That odious system endeavoured to
bring under its sway even the very afiections of
the heart ; for not only no woman of rank and
estate could marry without the consent of her
sovereign, but in some countries she was obliged
to accept a husband at his noraination, unless
for a large pecuniary payraent he restored her
to the privileges of her sex. By preserving
woman in her noble state of moral dignity,
chivalry prevented the harsh exercise. of feudal
rights. A sovereign who prided himself on his
knighthood could never offend the inclinations
of one of that sex which by his principles he
was bound to protect and cherish. Chivalry
hung out the heart-stirring hope that beauty was
the reward of bravery. A valiant, but landless
knight was often hailed by the whole martial
fraternity of his country as worthy the hand of
a noble heiress, and the king could not in every

AND LADY-LOVE. 257
case bestow her on sorae rainion of his court, chap. v.
Woraan was sustained in her proud elevation by
the virtues which chivalry required of her; and
/raan paid horaage to her raind as well as to her
/ beauty. She was not the raere subject of
/ pleasure, taken up or thrown aside as passion or
caprice suggested, but being the fountain of
honour, her image was always blended with the
fairest visions of his fancy, and the respectful
consideration which she, therefore, met with,
showed she was not an unworthy awarder of
fame. Fixed by the gallant warriors of chivalry
in a nobler station than that which had been
assigned to her by the polite nations of antiquity,
all the graceful qualities of her nature blossomed
^ into beauty, and the chastening influence of
feminine gentleness and tenderness was, for the
first time in his history, experienced by man.

VOL. I.

2.58

CHAP. VL
TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.
Beauty of Chivahic Sports  Their Superiority to those
of Greece and Rome  Origin of Toiamaments 
Reasons for holding them  Practice in Arms 
Courtesy  By whom they wereheld  Qualifications
for Tourneying  Ceremonies of the Tournament 
Arrival of the Knights  Publication of their Names
 Reasons for it  Disguised Knights  The
Lists  Ladies the Judges of the Tournament......
Delicate Courtesy at Tournaments  Morning of the
Sports  Knights led by Ladies, who imitated the
Dress of Knights  Nature of tourneying Weapons
 Knights wore Ladies' Favours  The Preparation
 77?^ Encounter  What Lance Strokes won the
Prize  Conclusion of the Sports  The Festival
 Delivery of ttie Prize  Knights thanked by
Ladies  The Ball  Liberality  Tournaments
opposed by the Popes  The Opposition unjust 
The Joust  Description of the Joust to the Ut
terance  Joust between a Scotch and an English
Knight  Jousting for Love of the Ladies  A sin
gular Instance of it  Joust between a French and an
English Squire  Admirable Skill of Jousters 
Singular Questions regarding Jousts  An Earl of
Warwick  Celebrated Joust at St. Inglebertes' 
Joust between Lord Scales and the Bastard of Bur-

TOURNAMENTS AND .lOUSTS. '259
gundy  The Romance of Jousts  The Passage of
Arms  Use of Tournaments and Jousts.
xXll our most delightful imaginings of chivalry chap.
are associated with the tournament. We see in — 1
fancy's mirror the gay and graceful knight dis- chhlilic
playing on his plumed steed the nobleness of ^^°'''^'
his bearing, and the lady of his affections smiling
upon his gallant skill, while the admiring peo
ple in rude and hearty joy shout their loud ac
claims. Those who were illustrious for ancestral
or newly acquired renown met in the listed
plain. The fierceness of war was mellowed into
elegance, and even feudalism abated something
of its sternness, when called on to perform ten
dance on the ladies and damsels who graced
the scene. Baronial pomp, knightly gal
lantry, woraan's beauty, gay caparisons, rich
attire, and feudal pageantry, throng the raind
in wild and splendid confusion, when we
hear the herald's trurapet-clang suraraoning the
kniahts to achieveraent. It was in the tourna- Superiority
D to those of
paraent especially that the chivalric nations of Greece and
Europe asserted their superior claims to grace
fulness and humanity ; for though the Greeks
might vaunt their Olympic garaes, yet in thera
woraan's favour did not bestow the garland, and
though . raatrons mingled with senators in the
s 2

260

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.

CHAP. VI.

Origin of
tourna
ments.

Coliseum, and a virgin gave the signal for the
commencement of the sports, yet the tortures
and death of their fellow-creatures constituted
the amusement.
Our ancestors were so proud of the Trojan
descent which their historians deduced fbr them,
that they even regarded the garaes which ^neas
celebrated to the honour of his dead father, An
chises, as the origin of their own knightly joust
and tournaraent. But in those games there was
no encounter of two lances as in the joust, and
no courteous battle between two parties of war
riors, as was the case in the tournament. This
learned enthusiasm was needless and absurd ; for
the knights might have discovered in the nature
and tendency of circumstances, and in the
practice of their known and iraraediate fore
fathers, sufficient matter of originality. The
Romans were wont to exercise themselves in
mock combats, and so were the Goths * ; but it
would be difficult to prove any chain of con
nection between these people. War was an art
in the raiddle ages, and a long and painful edu
cation preceded the practice of it. It was the
delight as well as the occupation of the world ;

* Du Cange gravely quotes Saint Isidore for this truth ;
and it is credible even upon less solemn authority.

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 261
for fame*, fortune, and woman's love t, couldonly chap. VI.
be obtained by gallant bearing. Hence we find 
that thoughts of war were not abandoned in
times of peace, and that some softened images
of battle formed the grace of festive solemnities.
The martial spirit of the world was nourished Reasons for
^ holding
by such customs, for kings were always eager to *^«^-
hold tourneys for the better training up of sol
diers in feats of arras. t It was the beneficial Pf^cf'^e m
+ arms.
nature of tournaraents to shed the amenities and
courtesies of peace over the horrid front of war.
Thus there were rules for conducting these
images of battle which no knight could violate
without forfeiting his title to chivalry. The
* Thus Holingshed, speaking of a royal joust and martial
tournament, held at Smithfield in 1389, says, " And so raany
a noble course and other raartial feats were achieved in those
four days, to the great contentation and pleasure of many a
young bachelor desirous to win fame." P. 474. edit. 1587.
f The objects and tendencies of tournaments are ex
treraely well expressed by Jeffry of Monraouth : — " Many
knights famous for feats of chivalry were present, with
apparel and arms of the same colour and fashion. They
formed a species of diversion, in iraitation of a fight on
horseback ; and the ladies being placed on the walls of the
castles, darted araorous glances on the combatants. None
of these ladies esteemed any knight worthy of her love but
such as had given proof of his gallantry in three several
encounters. "Thus the valour of the men encouraged chastity
in the women, and the attention of the woraen proved an
incentive to the soldier's bravery." Lib. ix. c. 12.
X Holingshed, vol. ii. p. 252. reprint.
S 3

262

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.

Courtesy.

CHAP, display of address, with as little danger as possi
ble to life and limb, was the chief character of
these encounters, and skill, therefore, in real
war, became more esteemed than brute violence.
To profit by the mischance of an adversary
would, in the tournament, have been considered
unknightly ; and it followed that even in the
most deadly encounters of nations no cavalier
would avail himself of any accident happening
to his foe.
Sy whom Military exercises, when performed by two
tri6v were
held. parties of cavaliers with hurtless weapons, were
called tournaments. If the occasion were high
and solemn, heralds repaired to different courts,
announcing their sovereign's purpose of holding
raartial exercises at a particular tirae, and inviting
all those who valued their knighthood, and re
spected dames and maidens, to repair to the ap
pointed city, and prove their chivalry.*
In Germany matters were somewhat different,
and should be stated. Except in Saxony (which
had its own tournaraents), the Germans who wei^
entitled to appear in the tourneying lists were
divided into four companies ; namely, that of the
Rhine — of Bavaria — of Swabia — and of Fran
conia. The assembled cavaliers were called the
chivalry of the four countries. Each country by
* Froissart, vol. ii. ^c. 175.

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 263
rotation held the tournament, and chose its chap-

VL

leader or judge ofthe sports, who appointed
three ladies to give the arms to the knights, and
three others to distribute the prizes. It was
usual fbr one of the ladies to be a wife, another
a widow, and the third a maiden.*
Originally, in most countries, no person could QuaUfiea-
1, 11- iV. , tionsfor
tourney unless he proved himself to be mater- tourneying.
nally a knight of gentle birth, by four descents,
and displayed a legitiraate coat-arraour. But
this regulation was every where relaxed in fa
vour of hardy knights who could not boast of
ancestral honours.t In early tiraes, knights, whe
ther bannerets or bachelors, contended in the
listed plain ; but, subsequently, the squire (both
the follower of the knight and the soldier of the
third class of chivalry) was permitted to joust
or tourney with knights.
Safe-conduct through hostile lands was al
ways allowed to those who wished to tourney ;
and the silence and solitude of the country
in those dark tiraes were pleasingly relieved

* Ritterzeit und Ritterwesen, vol.i. p. 311. 323.
•J- The Gerraan nation, as it may be easily supposed, were
raore strict than other people regarding the nature of the
birth-right which authorised a man to tourney. If any
person be curious enough to enquire into the fantastic
subtleties of German heraldry about this matter, I refer him
to the Ritterzeit und -Ritterwesen, vol. i. p. 293. 300.
s 4

264.

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.

CHAP, by bands of jolly and amorous cavaliers, with
 trains of squires and pages, riding apace to court
to the tune of a raerfy roundelay. It was par
ticularly the custom of newly-made knights to
attend a tournament in order to show that they
deserved their spurs, and to establish their
prowess.* Nor did simple knights alone thus progress to
the tournament. Kings and princes pricked
over the plain in gallant and graceful array;
for though their rank excused thera from per
forming raany knightly observances, yet their
chivalric spirit disdained the pride of their sta
tion, and their souls were inflaraed with the
noble desire of illustrating their royalty by deeds
of high knighthood.
Ceremonies The kuights wcrc wout to arrive at the re-
nlm'ent""'^" spcctlve hostcls or tcuts assigncd them by the
Arrival of kiugs-at-arms and the heralds soraewhile before
the knights. ^^^ 1 ^£- tournament ; and they afliixed their ar-
Publication '' ''
of their morial ensigns over the entrances, and raised their
banners and pennons in front of their parades.
Reasons for The toumeyiug knights were known by their
**¦ heraldry, and this publication of their names
was made for a very noble purpose. If any one
of them had been guilty of unchivalric deport
ment, the matter might be proved before the
* M, Westm. p. 300.

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 265
ladies or other judges of the tournament, and chap.
they would strike down his banner. None could  L
tourney who had blasphemed God, or offended
the ladies : he who had been false to gratitude
and honour ; he who had violated his word, or
deserted his brother in arms in battle, was un
worthy of appearing at the splendid show"; and
the high courtesy of chivalry was maintained by *
the law, that no one could tourney who had
without warning assailed his enemy, or by indi
rect means had despoiled his territory.*
These rules, however, were not always ob
served ; for cavaliers were often permitted to
partake of chivalric sports, though they declined
to narae theraselves to the heralds. If they
were novices in arms, and not very confident in
their prowess, they would conceal their naraes
till they had won renown ; and if the chance of
the garae were against thera, the spectators knew
not who had failed to acquire honour. The baron
who held the tournament might be the enefny
of a gallant knight, who, from prudence, would
not wish to make hiraself known, unless he could
appear with the bold front of a conqueror. Some-
* Segar of Honor, hb. ii. c. 26. Ritterzeit und Ritter
wesen, vol. i. p. 302. There was a singular law in Germany,
prohibiting from the tournament thosewhohadbeen the cause
of imposing taxes or duties, or had used their endeavours to
get them imposed. Ritterzeit.und Ritterwesen, vol. i. p. 304.

266 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.
CHAP, times the persons of the knights were not con-
— r- cealed by common arraour, but by the guise
kni|hts. which fancy had thrown over the fabled knights
ofyorCi , A troop of cavaliers calling themselves
King Arthur and the Knights of the Round
Table often dashed into the lists ; and their
trumpet's defiance was answered by that of an
other band meeting them at speed from the other
end, and calling themselves Charlemagne and
his Paladins. This was a beautiful mode of real
ising the romances of chivalry. Other disguises
were not equally praiseworthy ; and I can only
state as an historical fact, without attempting to
apologise for its madness and impiety, that at a
tournaraent held at Valladolid in the year 1428,
the King of Castillo was accompanied by twelve
knights, who personated the twelve Apostles.*
The lists. The place of combat was the lists, a large
space surrounded by ropes or railing in single or
double rows. Sometimes there was a wooden
division in the lists or area to prevent the horses
of the adverse knights from careering against
each other, t The lists were decorated with the
splendid richness of feudal power. Besides the

* Croneca del Conde D. Pero Nino, p. 203., cited in the
notes to the preface to the reprint of the Morte d'Arthur,
p. 61.
t Monstrelet, voi.vi. p. 333.

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 267
gorgeous array of heraldic insignia near the chap.
chainpions' tents, the galleries, which were raade  L
to contain the proud and joyous spectators, were
covered with tapestry, representing chivalry both
in its warlike and araorous guise : on one side
the knight with his bright faulchion sraiting away
hosts of foes, and on the other kneeling at the
feet of beauty.
The ladies were the suprerae judges of Ladies were
tournaments ; and if any coraplaint was raised ofVomla-
against a knight, they adjudged the cause "'"'*'•
without appeal. * Generally, however, they
deputed their power to a knight, who, on ac
count of this distinction, was called the Knight
of Honour. He bore at the end of his lance a
ribbon or sorae other sign of woman's favour ;
and with this badge of power he waved the fiercest
knights into order and obedience.
The heralds read to the knights the regulations
of the sport, and announced the nature of
the prize they were to contend for. The dames
and raaidens soraetiraes proposed jewels of price,
a diaraond, a ruby, and a sapphire, as rewards of
valour. But the raced of renown was often
raore railitary; and the reader of Italian history
reraerabers that at a tournament celebrated at
Florence in the year 1468, Lorenzo de' Medici
bore away the prize of a helraet of silver with a
* Ritterzeit und Ritterwesen, vol. i. p. 323.

268

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.

CHAP. VI.

Delicate
courtesy at
tourna ments.

Morning of
the sports.

figure of Mars as the crest. It was the general
wont of tournaraents for a vanquished knight
to forfeit his arraour and horse to his victor.
Nothing was raore beautiful than the courtesy
of chivalric times. At a raartial game held in
Smithfield, during the reign of Richard IL, the
Queen proposed a crown of gold as the reward
of the best jouster, were he a stranger ; but if
an English knight had the praise, then a rich
bracelet was to be his reward. The same polite
preference of strangers influenced the chivalry
of England, and they promised to give to the
lord of best desert, if he were a foreign knight,
a fair horse, with his trappings ; but if he were
one of their own land, then only a falcon should
reward him.
On the morning of the tournaraent.

" When the day 'gan spring.
Of horse and harneis, noise and clattering,
Ther was in the hostelries all about." *
The knights then trooped to the listed plain,
with lords, ladies, and darasels, the chivalry and
beauty of the country, raounted on gaily-capa-

* Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 2493, &c. So Froissart says,
" On the next day you might have seen in divers places of
the city of London squires and varieties going about with
harness, and doing other business of their masters." Vol.ii.
p. 273.

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 269
risoned steeds and palfreys, whose housings chap.
swept the ground. Sometimes a lady fair led — 1
the horse of her chosen knight, and in the song by"ifd?es,*
of the minstrel the bridle became a golden chain
of love. At the day appointed for a merry
tournament, in the reign of Richard IL, there
issued out of the Tower of London, first, three
score coursers, apparelled for the lists, and on
every one a squire of honour riding a soft pace.
-Then appeared three-score ladies of honour,
mounted on fair palfreys, each lady leading by a
chain of silver a knight sheathed in jousting har
ness. The fair and gallant troop, with the sound
of clarions, trurapets, and other rainstrelsy, rode
along the streets of London *, the fronts of the
houses shining with raartial glory in the rich ban
ners and tapestries which hung from the windows.
They reached Smithfield t, where the Queen of
England and many matrons and damsels were al-

* Froissart, vol. ii. c. 173.
X Sraithfield was famous many years earlier, both as the
place of sports and the horse-market of London. Fitz-
stephen, who wrote in the time of Henry II., says, " Without
one ofthe gates is a certain field J, plain (or smooth) both
in name and situation. Every Friday, except some greater
festival corae in the way, there is a brave sight of gallant
horses to be sold : raany come out of the city to buy or look
on, to wit, earls, barons, knights, citizens, all resorting
thither." X Smethfield, as itwere Smoothfield.

270 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS;
CHAP, ready seated in richly adorned galleries. The
— ladies that led the knights joined them ; the
squires of honour alighted from their coursers,
and the knights . in good order vaulted upon
them.
who imi- This mode of conducting knights to the tour-
tated the ° '^
dress of uaracut was not the only pleasing prelude of the
sports. As it was in perfect harmony with the
general tone of chivalric feeling for knights to
array themselves in weeds, which woman's taste
had chosen or approved of, so daraes and raai
dens, with equal courtesy, imitated in their attire
the semblance of knights. They often rode to
the tournaraent with their girdles ornaraented
with gold and silver, to reserable military belts,
and, sportively, wielding short and light swords,
embossed with emblems of love and war.
Nature of When the knights reached the lists, their arms
tourrifeying • n i
weapons, wcrc examined by tiie constable ; and such as were
of a frame and fabric contrary to good chivalry
were rejected. The lances were hurtless, the
points being either reraoved altogether, or covered
with broad pieces of wood, called rockets. The
gallant raanners of the age gave such lances
the title of Glaives Courtois. The swords were
blunted and rebated. Instances are on record
of knights encountering with swords made of
whalebone, covered with parchment, the helmet
and hauberk being made of leather.

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 271
There existed very often, however, a dispo- chap:
sition to convert tournaments into real battles. — L
National rivalry broke through the restraints of
knightly gentleness ; envy of martial prowess,
or of woman's love, had found an occasion of
venting its passion ; and, in spite of the au
thority of the king-at-arms and heralds to reject
weapons of violence, bribery arid power ap
pear often to have introduced thera. As the
nature of offensive arraour raay be judged from
the defensive harness, so in the laws of a coun
try we may read the state of manners. The
practice of converting the elegant tournaraent
into a deadly fray occasioned an oath to be im
posed on all knights that they would fi'equent
tournaments solely to learn military exercises *;
and, by a law of England made towards the
close of the thirteenth century, a broad-sword
for tourneying was the only weapon that was al
lowed to the knight and squire ; and there was
a stern prohibition of a sword pointed, a dagger
pointed, or a staff or mace. Knights banneret
and barons raight be armed with mufflers, and
cuishes, and shoulder-plates, and a scull-cap, with
out more. Spectators were forbidden from wear
ing any armour at all, and the king-at-arms and
heralds, and the minstrels, were allowed to carry
only their accustoraed swords without points.
* Du Cange, Dissertation 6. on Joinville.

272 ,TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.
CHAP. The tilting arraour in which knights were
— sheathed was generally of a light fabric, and
Knights splendid. Its ornaments came under a gentler
wore ladies* .
favors. authority than that of royal constables and mar
shals* If the iron front of a line of cavaliers in
the battle-field was frequently gemraed with the
variously coloured signs of ladies' favors, those
graceful additions to arraour yet raore beseemed
the tournament. Damsels were wont to sur
mount the helmets of their knights with chap-
lets, or to affix streamers to their spears *, and a
cavalier who was thus honoured smiled with self-
complacency on the highly emblazoned surcoat
of his rival in chivalry.
The desire to please ladies fair forraed the
very soul of the tournament, t Every young and
gallant knight wore the device of his. mistress,
while, indeed, the hardier sons of chivalry carried
fiercer signs of their own achievements : but
* Memoires d'Olivier de la Marehe, liv. i. c. 14.
f This feeling is exceedingly well expressed in a challenge
given by some foreign knights in England to the English
chivalry. "Ever in courts of great kings are wont to corae
knights of divers nations, and more to this court of England,
where are maintained knighthood and feats of arms valiantly
for the service of ladies in higher degrees and estates than
in any realm of the world : it beseemeth well to Don Fran
cisco de Mendoza, and Carflast De la Vega, that here,
better than in any place, they may shew their great desire
that they have to serve their ladies.'' Antiquarian Re
pertory, vol. i. p. 148.

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 273
they were unmarked by the bright judges of the chap.
tourney, for their eyes could only follow through — '-
the press their own embleras of love.
Nothing was now to be heard but the noise
and clatterinff of horse and armour.
" Ther mayst thou see devising of harneis
So uncouth ^, and so rich, and wrought so wele
Of goldsmithey, of brouding^, and of stele.
The sheldes bright, testeres ^, and trappures ;
Gold hewn helms, hauberks, cote-armures ;
Lords in paramentes *, on hir courseres.
Knights of retinue, and eke squires.
Nailing the speres, and helmes buckling,
Guiding ^ of sheldes, with lainers ^ lacing ;
Ther as need is they were nothing idle :
The fomy steeds on the golden bridle
Gnawing, and fast the armourers also
With file and hammer pricking to and fro ;
Yeomen on foot, and communes many on,
With short staves, thick as they may gone ;
Pipes, trompes, nakeres ¦', and clarioune.s.
That in the bataile blowen blody sounes." *
After the arms had been examined, " d I'os- The pre-
telle, a Vostelle, to achieveraent knights and p""''°°"
' elegant. » embroidery, •* head-pieces.
* ornamented dresses. * rubbing.
^ straps. 7 brazen drums.
* Chaucer, The Knight's Tale, Hne 2498, &c. Chaucer
must have had in his imagination one of the splendid tourna-
VOL. I. T

2.71' TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.
CHAP, squires to achievement," was cried by the well-
 L voiced heralds from side to side, and the cava
liers, making their obeisances to the ladies, retired
within their tents to don their harness. At the
cry, " Come forth, knights, come forth," they
left their pavilions, and mounting their good
steeds, stationed themselves by the side of their
banners. The officers-at-arras then examined
their saddles ; for though they might grow unto
their seats, yet it could only lawfully be done
by noble horsemanship, and not by thongs at
taching the man and horse together. *
The ladies and gallant spectators being fairly
ranged round the lists, and the crowds of ple
beian gazers being disciplined into silence and
order, the heralds watched the gestures of the
knight of honour, and, catching his sign, that tho
The en- sports might bcgiu, they cried, " Laissez aller."
The cords which divided the two parties were
imraediately slackened, and the cavaliers dress
ing their spears to their rests, and corametiding

ments of the days of Edward III. when he wrote these
spirited lines ; for there is much more circurastance in his
description than could have belonged to a siraple joust be
tween the two knights, Falaraon and Arcite.
* Du Cange (Diss. 6. on Joinville) on the authority of an
ancient MS. regarding tournaments; and Ritterzeit Und
Ritter<vesen, vol. i. p. 325.

TOURNAMENTS A>fD JOUSTS. 275
themselves to their mistresses, dashed to the en- chap. VI
counter, while the trumpets sounded the beau- ;  1
tiful point of chivalry, for every man to do his
devoir. *
Each knight was followed by his squires,
^hose iiumber was, in England, by the ancient
statute of tournaments already alluded to, li
mited to three. They furnished their lord with
arms, arranged his harness, and raised him from
the ground, if his foe had dismounted him.
These squires performed also the more pleasing
task of being pages of daraes and damsels.
'They carried words of love to re-animate the
courage and strength of the exhausted cavalier,
and a ribbon drawn from a maiden's bosora was
often sent to her chosen knight, when in the
shock of spears her first favour had been torn
from the place where her fair hand had fixed
Jt.t * Harleian MSS. No. 69.
t Hist, de Charles VL vol.ii. p. 120. fol. 166S. As every
thing regarding tbe ladies of chivalric as well as of other
times is interesting, no apology will be required for my
hazarding a conjecture, that the colour of the ribbon men
tioned in the text was blue, the emblem of constancy.
" Lo, yonder folk, quoth she, that kneel in blue !
They wear the colour ay and ever shall.
In rfgn they were and ever will be true,
Withouten change." Chaucer's Court of Love, I. 248^ &c
The
T 2

276 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.

VL

CHAP. The chivalric bands were so well poised, that
one encounter seldom terminated the sport.
Lances were broken, horses and knights over
thrown, and the tide of victory flowed to either
end of the lists. The air was rent with names
of ladies. War-cries were changed for gentier
invocations. Each noble knight called upon his
raistress to assist hira, thinking that there was
a magic in beauty to sustain his strength and
courage. " On, valiant knights, fair eyes be
hold you !" was the spirit-stirring cry of those
older warriors who could now only gaze at and
direct the amuseraents of chivalry. The pour-
suivants-at-arros cried at every noble achieve-

The author of the Romance of Perceforest has made a
•trange exaggeration of the custom of ladies sending favours
to knights during the heat of a tournament. He says, that
at the end of one of those martial games, " Les dames
Etoient si d^nues de leur atours, que la plus grande partie
6toit en pur chef (mie t^te) car elles s'en alloient les cheveux
sur leurs epaules gisans, plus jaunes que fin or, en plus leurs
cottes sans manches, car tous avoient donn6 aux chevaliers
pour eux parer et guimples et chaperons, manteaux et
camises, manches et habits : mais quand elles se virent a tei
point, elles en furent ainsi corarae toutes honteuses ; mais
sitost qu'elles veirent que chacune ^tojt en tei point, elles se
prirent toutes a rire de leur adventure, car elles avoient
donn^ leurs joyaux et leurs habits de si grand cceur aux
chevaliers, qu'elles ne s'appercevoient de leur ddnuement
et devesteroens."

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 277
ment, " Honor to the sons of the brave !" * The chap. vr,
minstrels echoed it in the loudest notes of their —
martial music, and the chivalric spectators replied
by the cry, " Loyaut^ aux dames 1"
The keen and well-practised eves of the whatiance-
. -^ •' strokes won
heralds noted the circumstances of the contest, the prize.
To break a spear between the saddle and the
helmet was accounted one point or degree of
honour. The higher on the body the lance was
attainted or broken, the greater was the consi
deration; and the difficulty of breaking it on the
helmet was regarded as so considerable, that the
kriight who performed this feat was thought to
be worthy of ten points. Either to strike one
* The reader may wonder at this form of expression j but
it proceeded from the very noble principle of teaching young
knights to emulate the glories of their ancestors, and from
the peculiar refinement and delicacy of chivalry which
argued that there was no knight so perfeet, but who might
commit a fault, and so great a one as to efface tbe merit of
all his former good deeds. Heralds, therefore, observes
Monstrelet, do not at jousts and battles cry out, " Honour
to the brave ! '' but tbey exclaim, " Honour to the sons of
the. brave !" No knight can be deemed perfeet, until death
has removed the possibility of his committing an offence
against his knighthood, " II n'est nul si bon chevalier au
monde qu'il ne puisse bien faire une faute, voire si grande que
tous les biens qu'il aura faits devant seront adnihillez ; et
pour ce on ne crie aux joustes ne aux batailles, aux preux,
mais on crie bien aux fils des preux aprfes la raort de leur
pere car ntil chevalier ne peut estre jug6 preux se ce n'est
apr^s le trdpassement." Monstrelet, vol. i. p. 29.
T 3

278 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.
CHAP, of the opposite party out of his saddle, 0v to
— '- disable him so that he could not join the next
course, was an achieveraent that merited three
points. A curious question once arose at a
tournament held in Naples. A knight struck
his antagonist with such violence as to disana
him of his shield, cuirass, and helmet, and in
turn,, he was unhorsed. The judges had some
difficidty in determining who .merited least re
proach ; ami it was at length decided, quite in
consonance with chivalric principles, that he
who fell from his horse was most dishonoured,
for good horsemanship was the first quality of a
knight. Hence it was thought less dishonour
able fbr a tourneying cavalier to fall with his
horse than to fall alone. He who carried his
lance comelily and firraly was more worthy of
praise, although he broke not, than he who mis
governed his horse, and broke. He who ran
high and sat steadily, accompanying his horse
evenly and gently, was worthy of all commenda.
tion. To take away the rest of his adversary's
lance merited more honour than to cany away
any other part of his harness. To break his
lance against the bow or pommel of the saddle was
accounted greater shame than to bear a lance
without breaking. It was equally dishonourable
to break a lance traverse, or across the breast
of fin opponent, without striking hina with the

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 279
point ; for as it could only occur from the horse chap.
s«rerving on one side, it showed unskilful riding. * — -
The courtesies of chivalry were maintained
by the laws that he who struck a horse, or a
man, when his back was turned, or when he was
unarmed, deserved no honor. Any combatant
might unhelm hiraself, and until his helmet was
replaced, nope could assail hira. t
* " To break across," the phrase for bad chivalry, did not die
with the lance. It was used by the writers ofthe Elizabethan
age to express any failure of wit or argument. To the same
purpose, Celia, in " As You Like it," says of Orlando, taunt
ingly, " O that's a brave man. He writes brave verses, speaks
brave words, swears brave oaths, and breaks them bravely,
quite traverse, athwart the heart of his lover, as a puny tilter,
that spurs his horse but on one side, breaks his staff like a
noble goose.''
f The old English ordinances, fortunately, have been pre-
Berved, and are exceedingly curious.
The ordinances, statutes, and rules, made and enacted by
John Eari *f Worcester, constable of England, by the kinge's
edmraandement, at Windsor, the 14th day of May, in the
seventh year of his noble reign (Edward IV.), to be observed
and kept in all manner of justes of peace royal, within this
realra of England, before his highness or lieutenant, by his
commandment or licence, had from this time forth, reserv
ing always to the queen's highness and to the ladies there
present, the attribution and gift of the price, after the man
ner and form accustoraed, the raerits and demerits attribute
according to the articles following : —
First, whoso breaketh most spears, as they ought to be
brpken, shall have the price.
Item, whoso hitteth three times in the helm shall have the
price.
X 4

280 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.
CHAP. When all the knights had proved their va-t
— 1. liancy, the lord of the tournament dropped

Item, whoso meteth two times coronel to coronel, shall
have the price.
Item, whoso beareth a man down with stroke of spear
shall have the price. How the Price should be lost.'
First, whoso striketh a horse shall have no price.
Item, whoso striketh a man, his back turned, or disarmed
of his spear, shall have no price.
Item, whoso hitteth the toil or tilt thrice shall have no
price. Item, whoso unhelms himself twice shall have no price
without his horse fail him.
How Spears broken shall be allowed.
First, whoso breaketh a spear between the saddle and the
charnel of the helm shall be allowed for one.
Item, whoso breaketh a spear from the charnel upwards
shall be allowed for two.
Item, whoso breaketh a spear so as he strike him down or
put him out of his saddle, or disarm, him in such wise as he
may not run the next course, shall be allowed for three
spears broken. How Spears broken shall be disallowed.
First, whoso breaketh on the saddle shall be disallowed
for a spear breaking.
Item, whoso hits the toil or tilt over shall be disallowed
for two.
Item, whoso hitteth the toil twice, for the second time
shall be abased three.
Item, whoso breaketh a spear within a foot of the coronall,
shall be judged as no spear broken, but a good attempt.

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS, 281
his warder*, or otherwise signed to the heralds, chap.^ VI
who cried " Floyer vos bannieres." The banners —1
were accordingly folded, and the amuseraents ofthes^orti.
ended. The fair and noble spectators then de- Thefestivai.
scended frora their galleries, and repaired to the
place of festival. The knights who had tourneyed
clad themselves in gay weeds of peace, and en
tering the hall amidst long and high flourishes
of trumpets, sat under the silken banners whose
emblazonings recorded the antique glory of their
families. Favourite falcons were seated on
perches above their heads, and the old and faith-

For the Price.
First, whoso beareth a man down out of the saddle, or
putteth him to the earth, horse and man, shall have the price
before him that striketh coronall to coronall two times.
Item, he that striketh coronall to coronall two times shall
have the price before him that striketh the sight three times.
Item, he that striketh the sight three times shall have the
price before him that breaketh the raost spears.
Item, if there be any man that fortunately in this wise
shall be deemed he bode longest in the field helmed, and
ran the fairest course, and gave the greatest strokes, helping
himself best with his spear. Antiquarian Repertory, 1. 145, &c.
* Olivier de la Marehe, a hero of Burgundy in the
fifteen th century, thus describes a warder : — " Et tenoit le
Due de BoCirgogne un petit blanc baton en sa main pour
jetter et faire ^^parer les champions, leurs armes achivees,
comme il est de coustume en tei cas." Memoires, p. 71.

g§2 tournaments and jousts.
cffiAF. ful dogs of the chace were allowed to be present

VL

at this joyous celebration of their master's
honor. JSometimes the knights encircled, in ger
nerous equality, a round table. On other oc
casions the feudal long table with its dais, or
raised upper end, was used ; and to the bravest
knights were allotted the seats which were wont
to belong to proud and powerful barons,* Every
preux cavalier had by his side a lady blight.
The minstrels tuned their harps to the praise of
courtesy and prowess j and when the merriment
was raost joyous, the heralds f presented to the
» Walsingham, p. 8. In early times, in England, those
tournament festivals were held about a round table, and
therefore the tournaments themselves were often called
round tables. Walter Hemingford, vol. i. p. ?¦ ed. Hearne.
t This was the address of the heralds after a tournament
in the days of Edward IV. : —
" Oyez, oyez, oyez, we let to understand to all princes and
princesses, lords, ladies, and gentlewomen of this noble
court, and to all others to whom it appertaineth, that the
nobles that this day have exercised the feats of arms at the
tilt, tourney, and barriers, have every one behaved them
selves most valiantly, in shewing their prowess and valour
"worthy of great praise.
" And to begin, as touching the hrave entry of the
Lord  , made by him very gallantly, the King's Majesty
more brave than he, and above all, the Earl — , unto
whom the price of a very rich ring is given by the Queen's
Majesty, by the advice of other princesses, ladies, and gentle
women of this noble court.
"And as touching the valiantness of the piques, the
Duke of M. hath very valiantly behaved bimseW", the Eari

TOURNAMENTS AKJ> JOUtSTS. 28®
ladies the knights who had worthEy demeaned chap.
thiSCh^lves, * She, who by the consent of her - —
fmf eompajiions was called La Royne delaBmulte thi fSL
et des .Amours, delivered the prizes to the kneel
ing knights, t This queen of beauty and love

of P. better than he, and above all others, the Earl
ofD., unto whom the price of a ring of gold with a ruby is
given, by the most high and mighty Princess the Queen of
England, by the advice aforesaid.
" And as touching the valiantness of the sword, ¦
haight hath very well behaved himself, the Earl [of N.
better than he, and Sir J. P., knight, above all tbe rest,
unto whom is given the price of a ring of gold with a
diamond, by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by the
advice of other princesses, ladies, and gentlewomen.
" Aad as touching the vahantness ofthe sword at the foil.
Sir. W. R., knight, hath very vahantly behaved himself, the
Marquis of C. better than he, and above all others, the
King's Majesty,- unto whom was given the price of a ring of
gfljd with a diamond, by the Queen's Majesty, by the
advice of other princesses, ladies, and gentlewomen.
" Finally, touching the valiancy of the pique, the point
abated, Thomas P. hath well and valiantly behaved himself^
Charles C. better than he, and above all others, Z. S., unto
whom was given by the Queen's Majesty a ring of gold,
by the advice of other princesses, ladies, and gentle
women. * Knights are always mentioned as good or unskilful
tilters, according to the judgment of the ladies. Frois
sart, vol. ii. c. 234. Monstrelet, vol. i. c. 10. ; and see
the last note.
-|- The account of every tournament in our grave old
chronicles warrants the sentence in the Romance of Perce*

284 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.
CHAP, addressed each of them with a speech of courtesy,

VI

thanking him for the disport and labour which
thMked by he had taken that day, presenting to him the prize
as the ladies' award for his skill, and concluding
with the wish that such a valorous cavalier would
have much joy and worship with his lady.* "The
victory was entirely owing to the favor of my
mistress, which I wore in my helmet," was the
gallant reply of the knight ; for he was always
solicitous to exalt the honor of his lady-lbve.
As tournaments were scenes of pleasure, the
knight who appeared in the most handsome guise
was praised ; and, to complete the courtesies of
chivalry, thanks were rendered to those who
had travelled to the lists frora far countries, t
The ball. Dauciug then succeeded^ the knights taking
precedence agreeably to their feats of arms in
the morning. And now, when every one's heart
was exalted by the rich glow of chivalryi the
Libetaiity. hcralds Called for their rewards. Liberality was
a virtue of every true knight, and the officers-

forest, " Pris ne doit ne peult estre donne sans les dames f
car pour elles sont toutes les pi-ouesses fautes."
* This form of thanks prevailed also at the joust, as we
learn from an account of onein the days of Edward IV.- See
Lansdowne MSS., British Museum, No. 285. arU 7.
f Ritterzeit und' Ritterwesen J vol. i. p; 346.

tournaments AND JOUSTS. 285
at-arms were more particular in tracing the lines chap.
of his pedigree, than in checking him from —
overleaping the bounds of a prudent and ra
tional generosity.
One day's amuseraent did not always close the
tournament : but on the second morning the
knights resigned the lists to their esquires, who
mounted upon the horses, and wore the armour
and cognisances of their lords. They also were
conducted by young maidens, who possessed
authority to adjudge and give the prize to the
worthiest esquire. At the close of the day the
festival; was renewed, and the honours were
awarded. On the third morning there was a
raelee of knights and esquires ih the lists, and the
judgraent of the ladies was again referred to, and
considered decisive.*
Such were the general circurastances and laws
of tournaraents during the days of chivalry.
These warlike exercises even survived their
chief purpose, for they formed the delight of
nations t after the use of artillery had driven the
* A tournament of this three-fold description took place
at St. Denys, in the year 1 389.
f , The love of our ancestors for tournaments is evident
in a -.curious passage of an ancient satirical. poem, which
Strutt has thus rendered :
"If wealth. Sir Kriight,- perchance be thine, -
In tournaments you're bound to shine ;

286

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.

CHAF. VI.
Tourna
ments op
posed by
the popes.

graceful and personal prowess of chivalry from
the battle-field.* In all the time of their exist*
ence they were powerfully opposed by the papal
avowedly on the ground of humanity.

see

There was some little excuse for this interfer
ence ; for though the lances were headless, and
the swords rebated, yet the shock of the career
isometiraes overthrew raen and horses, and
Iwuises were as deadly as the lances' wounds.
The historians of the middle ages, who generally
echoed the wishes of the Vatican, carefully re
cord every instance where a life was lost in a
•tournaraent ; and, perhaps, a dozen such unfortii-
nate events are raentioned by the chroniclers of
all European nations during the fourteenth cen-
The opposi- tury 1 a number exceedingly small when we
unjust. reflect upon the nature of the conflict ; that the

Refuse — and all the world will swear,
You die not worth a rotten pear."
* Mr. Sharon Turner (History of England, vol. i. p. 144.
4to. edit.) says, that nothing could break the custom (of
holding tournaments) but the increased civilisation of the
age. This is a mistake, for tournaments increased in num
ber as the world became more civilised. There were more
tournaments in the fourteenth century than in the thirteenth,
and even so late as the reign of Hemy VIII. the whole ef
England seems to have been parcelled out into tilting
grounds.

TdtfRiSfARfENT^ Al^O J6U8TS. 287
time now spoken of waS the very noonday of chap,
chivalry"; and that' not a circumstance of pub- — 1-
Uc joy, not a marriage among the nobles and
high gentry of the land, but was celebrated
by a tournament. The Vatican might thunder
its denial of Christian sepulture to those who
fell in a tilting ground ; but still the knights
would don their gorgeous harness to win the
meed of noble chevisance. While learned ca
suists were declaring from the pulpits that they
who were killed at tournaments were most as
suredly damned *, heralds' trumpets in every ba
ronial court were summoning knights and squires
to gentie exercise and proof of arms ; and though
fanatical monks might imagine visions where
knights were perishing in hell flames t, yet gal
lant cavaliers, warm and joyous with aspirations
for farae and woraan's love, could not be scared
by such idle phantasms.
* *' De his vero qui in torneamentis cadunt, nulla qusestie
est,, quih vadant ad inferos, si non fuerint adjuti beneficio
contritionis." Du Cange on Joinville, Dissert. 6.
f Still raore absurd is the story of Matthew Paris, that
Roger de Toeny, a valiant knight, appeared after death to
his brother Raoul, and thus addressed him: "Jam et paenas
vidi.inalorum,et gaudio beatorum; nee non supplicia magna,
quibus miser deputatus sum, oculis meis conspexi. VjBj
vse mihi, quare unquam torneamenta exercui, et eatanto
studio dilexi ?"

286

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.

CHAP- It was not, however, from any sincere consi-
— derations for humanity that the popes opposed
theraselves to the graceful exercises of the age ;
for, at the celebrated council held at Lyons in
1245, it was openly and for the first time de
clared, that tournaments were iniquitous, be
cause they prevented the chivalry of Europe
from joining the holy wars in Palestine. The
shores of Syria raight drink torrents of Christian
blood, and the popes would bless the soil ; but
if in the course of several centuries a few^ un
fortunate accidents happened in the lists of
peace and courtesy, all the graceful amuseraents
of Europe were to be interdicted, and the world
was to be plunged into the state of barbarism
frora which chivalry had redeeraed it. Tour
naraents were also interdicted on account of
their expensiveness. Wealth poured forth its
treasures, and art exercised its ingenuity in ap
parelling the barons, knights, and ladies ; and
even the housings of the horses were so rich as
to rival the caparisons of Asiatic steeds : but
the popes could see no advantage to the social
state in all this gay and prodigal magnificence,
and they wished that all the treasures of the
West should be poured into the Holy Land.*
* Thus Lambert d'Ardres writes ; " Cum, omnino tunc
temporis propter Dominici sepulchri peregrinationem in toto

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. ^89
The joiist was the other chief description of (5hap.
military exercises. It was so far inferior to the — -
tournament, that he who had tourneyed, and had *^°"^''
given largess to the heralds, raight joust with
out further cost; but the joust did not give
freedom to the tournament, nor was it the raost
favourite arauseraent, for baronial porap was not
necessary to its display, and raany a joust was
held without a store of ladies bright distribut
ing the prize. There were two sorts of jdusts, ^description
the Joute a l' outrance, or the joust to the utter- to the utter.
... V 7 • • r. ' ' ance.
ance, and thejoute a plaisance, or joust of peace.
And, first, of the serious joust. The joust to
the utterance expressed a single combat be
tween two knights, who were generally of dif
ferent nations. In strictness of speech, the ju
dicial combat was a joust a I' outrance, and so
was every duel, whether lawful or unlawful ; but
with such jousts chivalry has no concern. *
In a time of peace, during the year 1398, J°"st be-
there were sundry i ousts and combats between Scotch and
•' •' English
Scots and Englishmen, for proof of their valiant knight.

orbe, interdlcta fuissent torneamenta." Du Cange, Diss. 6 ^
on Joinville.
*' Du Cange calls any combat between two knights pre
liminary to a general battle, a joust to the utterance. He
might as well have called the battle itself a joust.
VOL. I. U

290 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.
CHAP, activity in feats of arms, and to win fame and
—-- honour. The most remarkable encounter was
that which took place between Sir ; David de
Lindsay, first Earl of Crawford, and the Lord
Wells, in the presence of Richard II. and his
court. They agreed * to run certain courses on
horseback, with spears sharply ground, for life or
death. The place appointed for these jousts
was London bridge ; the day was the feast of
St. George. The doughty knights appeared
sheathed in annoUr of proof) and mounted on
mighty war-horses. They ran together with all
the fierceness of mortal hate ; and though they
attainted, yet both kept their saddles. Lord
Crawford retained his seat with such remarkable
* The agreeraent was made in legal forra, as we learn from
Wyntown. Sir David de Lindsay had a safe-conduct for his
purpose, and came to London with a retinue of twenty-
eight persons, —
" Where he and all his company
Was well arrayed, and daintily.
And all purveyed at device.
There was his purpose to win prize :
With the Lord of the Wellis he
Thought til have done there ajournee (day's battle).
For both they were by certane taille
Obliged to do there that deed, sauffaillie (without fail)."
Macpherson says, that challenges of this sort were called;
tallies indentures, because they were bonds of which du;
plicates were made having indentures tallies answering to
each other.

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSIJS. 291
firmness that the people cried out that assuredly chap.
he was locked in his saddle. Incontinently that —
right noble knight leaped from his steed, and
again, armed as he was, vaulted on his back,
and amazed the beholders by his perfect horse
manship. The battle was renewed on foot ; the
skill of the Scotsman prevailed, and the life of
the Lord Wells was in his power. De Lindsay
now displayed the grace and courtesy of his
chivalry, for he raised his foe from the ground,
and presented him as a gift to the queen, wish
ing, like a true knight, that mercy should pro
ceed from woman. The queen thanked the
valiant and courteous Scot, and then gave liberty
to the Lord Wells. *
Woman's love was as frequent a cause for a .Toustingfor
joust to the utterance as national rivalry. Many the ladies.
a knight would sally from a besieged town during
a suspension of general hostilities, and demand
whether there was any cavalier of the opposite
host who, for love of his lady bright, would do.
any deed of arras. " Now let us see if there be
any amorous among yout," was the usual con-
* Holingshed, History of Scotland, p. 252. ed. 1587.
Wyntown's Cronykil o-f Scotland, book ix. c. 11. The Sir
David de Lindsay, raentioned above is the knight of whom
Sir, Walter Scott tells an amusing story in his uotQS to
Marmion, canto i. note 8.
•j- " Or verra Ton s'il y a nul d'entre vous Anglois, qui soif
araoureux." Froissart, vol. ii. c. 55. Lyons's edit.
u 2

292* TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.
chap, elusion of such a challenger, as he reined in
— ^ his fiery steed, and laid his spear in its rest.
Such an invitation was generally accepted ; but
if it passed unheeded, he was permitted to re
turn to the gates of his town ; for it would not
have been thought chivalric to surround and
capture a cavalier who offered to peril himself in
so noble a manner.
instenf^of "^^^ parties of French and English met by
»*• adventure near Cherbourg, and, like vahant
knights, each desired to fight with the other.
They all alighted, except Sir Launcelot of Lorrys,
who sat firm and erect upon his horse, his
spear in his hand, and his shield hanging from
his neck. He demanded a course of joustr
ing for his lady's sake. There were many pre
sent who right well understood him ; for there
were knights and squires of the English part in
love as well as he was. All was bustle, and
every man ran to his horse, anxious to prove his
gallantry against the noble Frenchraan. Sir John
Copeland was the first who advanced frord the
pi^ess, and in a moment his well-pointed ashen
lance pierced through the side of Lorrys, and
wounded him to death. Every one lamented his
fate, for he was a hardy knight, yoiing, jolly, and
• right amorous * ; and the death of a gallant cava-
* Froissart, 1.345.

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 293
lier was always lamented by his brethren in chap.
arms ; for the good companionship of chivalry — '-
was superior to national distinctions.
This noble feeling of knighthood was very Joust be -
pleasingly displayed in a circumstance that hap- French and
pened in France, during the year 1380. The squ^^.^^'"'
Duke of Brittany profited by the weakness and
confusion consequent on the death of King John,
and easily made his peace with the court of the
new monarch. The Duke of Buckinghiam,
uncle of Richard II. of England, had been act
ing as the ally of the Duke of Brittany ; but
now, as the war was over, he prepared to con
duct most of his army home. He had been
joined by some knights from Cherbourg, then an
English town, and in the new martial arrange*
ments it was agreed that they should return to
their garrison ; but they were not allowed to
wear their harness during their march. The
Constable of France, who was then at the castle
of Josselyn, gave them safe-conduct. Afler em
bracing their good companions at Vannes, they
mounted their palfreys, and commenced their
course. An hour's riding brought them to Josse
lyn, and they rested awhile in the town, without
the castle, intending merely to dine there, and
then depart. While they were at their lodging,
certain companions of the castle, knights and
squires, came to see them, as was the wont of
u 3

^9i TOURNAMENTS .AND. JOUSTS.
CHAP, raen of war, 'and particularly Englishmen and
: — : Frenchmen. A French squire, named John Boucmell, dis
covered among the stranger band a squire called
Nicholas Clifford, with whom, on former occa
sions, he had often exchanged looks and words
of defiance. Thinking that a very fair oppor
tunity for chevisance had presented itself, he
exclaimed, " Nicholas, divers, tiraes we have
wished and devised to do deeds of arras to
gether, and now we have found each, other in
place and time where we may accomplish it.
Let us now, in presence of the Constable of
France, and other lords, have three courses on
foot with sharp spears, each of us against the
.other." Nicholas replied, " John, you know right
well that we are now going on our way by the
safe-conduct of my lord your constable. What
you require of me, -therefore, cannot now be
done, for I am not the chief of this safe-con
duct, for I am but under those other knights
who are here. I would willingly abide, but they
will not."
The French squire replied, " You shall not
excuse yourself by this raeans -: let your cora
pany depart, if they hst, for I promise you, by
covenant, that when the arms are performed be
tween you and me, I will bring you to Cherbourg
without peril. Make you no doubt of that."

VI.

TOURlSfAMENTS AND JOUSTS. '295
- - Nicholas answered, that he did not raean to chaPi
gainsay his courtesy, but that; he could not fight,
as he and the rest of the English were journey
ing without their arraour."
This objection was readily answered by the
Frenchraan, who proffered his own stores of
harness , and Nicholas, though exceedingly in*
disposed to a joust, was- obliged to say, that if
the lords whom he accompanied would not per*
rait the encounter there, he promised him, aS
soon as he arrived at Cherbourg, and was ap
prised of John's arrival at Boulogne, he would
come to hira, and deliver him of his challenge.
*' Nay, nay," quoth John, " seek no respite :
I have offered,, and continue to offer, so many
things so honourable, that you cannot depart and
preserve your good narae, without doing deedg
of arras with rae."
The Frenchmen then retired tc the castle,
leaving the Enghshraen to dine in their lodging-
After dinner the travelling knights repaired, to;
the castle-, to require from the Constable a troop
of cavaliers to conduct tiiem through Brittany.
and . Norraandy to Cherbourg. The subject of
the challenge had been much discussed by the
Frenchmen, and as the execution of it appeared
to be within their own power, they earnestly re^
quested their leader to forbid the further journey
of the Englishmen, while the deed oi" arms re-
u 4

§96 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.
CHAP, mained unaccomplished. The Constable re-
— 1- ceived the strangers sweetly, and then, softening
the harshness of his words by the chivalric
courtesy of his manner, he said to them, " Sirs,
I arrest you all, so that ye shall not depart this
day ; and to-morrow, after mass, you shall see
deeds of arms done between our squire and
yours ; and you shall dine with me, and after
dinner you shall depart with your guides to
Cherbourg." The English were right glad to be summoned
to a chivalric sport, and, after drinking of the
Constable's wine, they took their leave, and re
turned to their lodging.
On the next nlorning each squire heard mass,
and was confessed. They then leapt on their
horses, and, with the lords of France on one
part, and the Englishmen on the other, they
rode all together to a fair plain, near the castle
of Josselyn.
John Boucraell had prepared, according to
his promise, two suits of harness, fair and good,
and offered the choice to Nicholas ; but the
Englishman not only waved his choice, but,
with still further courtesy, assisted John to arm.
The Frenchman, in return, helped him to don
the other suit of harness.
When they were armed they took thek spears,
and advanced against each other on foot, from

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTSi 297
the opposite ends of the lists. On approaching chap.
they couched their spears, and the weapon of  1
Nicholas struck John on the breast, and, sliding
under the gorget of mail, it entered his throat.
The spear broke, and the iron truncheon re
mained in the neck. The Enghsh squire passed
onwards, and sat down in his chair. The French
man appeared transfixed to the spot, and his
companions advanced to him in alarm. They
took off his helmet, and, drawing out the trun
cheon, the poor squire fell down dead. Grief at
this event was general, but the saddest and sin
cerest mourners were Nicholas and the Earl of
March, the former for having slain a valiant man
of arms, and the other because John Boucmell
had been his squire. The Constable spoke all
the words of corafort to his noble friend which
his kindness could prorapt, and then made the
knightly spectators repair to the castle, in whose
hospitable hall every disposition to jealousy and
revenge was discarded. After dinner the Eng
lish troop bade farewell to the noble Constable,
and, under the conduct of the gentle knight, the
Barrois of Barres, they resumed their course to
Cherbourg. *
I come now to describe the joust a plaisance. Jousts of
Jousts of this friendly description often took ^*^'''''
* Berners' Froissart, vol. i. c. ST^.

298 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUStS.
CHAF. place at the conclusion of a tournament ; for a

VI.

knight who had shown himself worthy of the
tourneying prize caracoled his prancing steed
about the lists ; and, animated by the applauding
srailes of daraes and darasels, he caUed on the
surrounding cavaliers by their valiancy, and for
love of the ladies, to encounter him in three
strokes with the lance.
More frequently jousts were held at places
appointed expressly for the occasion. When
they were jousts of peace, the mode of corabat
was always specifically described. A knight
would often challenge another for love of his
lady to joust three courses with a spear, three
strokes with a sword, three with a dagger, and
three with an axe. * It was the rule for knights
to strike at each other only on the body, or
within the four quarters, as the tiraes phrased
their meaning. The loss of his good name and
the forfeiture of his horse and arms were the
penalties of violating this usage. Sometiraes the
weapons were similar to those used in tourna
ments ; but raore frequently they were weapons
of war t ; and though the lances were sharp, and
* Froissart, vol. ii. c. 78.
•j- Sorae writers, confounding the joust with the duel, have
said that bearded darts, poisoned needles, razors, and
similar weapons, were lawful in the jousts. The instance to
support this assertion is the challenge of the Duke of Orleans

T.OURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. S9g
the bright swords were not rebated, seldom was chap. VI.
blood shed in these jousts, so truly admirable — -
was the military skill of the soldiers in chivalry, jousters.
The tournaments are interesting in the general
circumstances of their splendour and knightly
gallantry 5 but the jousts give us a far more
curious knowledge of ancient manners.
But before *I describe these martial arause- singular
1 11 1 « ¦ r question«
ments, let me call my reader s attention for a regarding
few moments to the subtlety of intellect with ^°"*"
which questions respe'cting the circumstances
that happened at jousts were discussed.
Two gentlemen agreed to fight on horseback,
and he who first fell was to be deemed the van*
quished man. By the chance of battle it happened
that they both fell together, and the sage spirits
of chivalry were agitated by the question, who
should be accounted victorious. Sorae thought
that the defender ought to have the honour,
for in all doubtful cases the challenged person
should be favoured; others contended, that as the
fall .of the challenger might proceed from his
own force, and not the virtue of the enemy, the
judgment ought to lie dead : but the best and

to Henry IV. of England, recorded by Monstrelet, vol. i.
c. 9-, where the Duke declined to use them. But Orleans
challenged Lancaster to a duel, and not to a chivalric
joust.

000 tournaments and JOUSTS.
chap, general decision was this : — if the combat were
 L fbr trial of skill or love of the ladies, the chal
lenger ought to lose the honour; but if it -were
for the decision of any mortal quarrel, the battle
ought to be resumed some other day, because
in combats of that kind no victory was gained
until one of the parties were either slain or
yielded himself prisoner, or had with his own
rhouth denied the words whereon the combat
was occasioned.
On another occasion, seven knights agreed
with seven of their companions to run certain
courses for honour and love of the ladies. When
the joust took place, five of one side acquitted
themselves right chivalrously, but their two
brother-tilters were overthrown^ On the other
side, two only performed their courses well, the
rest of that company lost many lances and ran
very foul. It was then debated whether- unto
five well-doers and two evil, or unto two well
doers and five evU, the honour ought to be
allotted. As the question did not regard the
merit of any particular man, but which party
in general best performed the enterprise, it was
alleged that the party wherein were most well
doers ought to have the honour, notwithstand-
ing the fall of two of their companions. This
opinion was niet bythe acknowledged rule oi'
arms, that the fall from horseback bythe enemies'

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 301
force or skill was the most reproachful chance chap.
that could happen to a knight. Therefore it was  1
contended that the misadventure of two men
only might reasonably be the loss of honour to
the rest. * But further details of chivalric subtle
ties would afford littie pleasure, and content
ing myself with having shown that our ancestors*
intellects were as sharp as their swords, we will
progress to the tilting ground.
One of the earls of Warwick went to France An eari of
dressed in weeds of peace, but carrying secretly
his jousting harness. In honour of his lady he
set Up three shields on three pavilions, and his
heralds proclairaed his challenges, apparently
from three different knights, among the lords,
knights, and squires of honour in France. The
devices on his shields and the naraes he assumed
were emblematical of love and war. Three
skilful jousters of France on three successive
days touched the shields, and the earl, dressed in
different guises, overthrew them all. They now
becarae his friends : he entertained them with
chivalrique magnificence, and gave jewels of
price to them all. Fbr himself he had acquired
renown, and that was all he wished ; for he now
could return to his lady, and showing how he
* Segar, of Honor, lib. iii. c. 13.

SOS TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.
- CHAP, had sped in his chivalric courses, coUld proudly
— - claim the reward of valour. *
Celebrated « Yc havc heard oftentiraes, it said, how the
iTgeibettes. sport of ladics and damsels encourageth the
hearts of yoUng lusty gentlemen, and causeth
thera to desire and seek to get honour." t
' Such is Froissart's beautiful and roraantic
prelude to his account of a very interesting
joust. In the year 1389, the King Cha;rles V. tar
ried several days at Montpellier, delighting him
self with the pastime of the ladies ; and the gen
tlemen of his court were no bad imitators of
his fancy. Three cavaliers, in particular, were
chiefly marked. They were the young Sir
Boucicaut, Sir Raynold of Roy, and the Lord
of St. Pye. Their valour was inspired by gal
lantry, and they resolved to achieve high feats
of arms in the ensuing summer ; and if it had

* I do not knbw when exactly this truly chivalric cir
cumstance occurred. The story is told in a manuscript, in
the LansdoWne Collection, British Museum, No. 285. It is
described as the challenge of an ancestor of the Earl of
Warwick, and the MS. bears date in the days of Edward IV.
f Vous savez, et bien I'avez oui dire et recorder plusieurs
fois, que les ebatemens des daraes et damoiselies encoura-
gent voulontiers les cceurs des jeunes gentils-homines, et les
elevent, en requerant et desirant tous honneur, Froissart,
vol. iv, c. 6. ed. Lyons, 1 560.

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 303
been possible for a knight to entertain any other chap.
object in his imagination, than the favour of his — -
sovereign lady, the gallant knights of France
had a very noble motive to enterprise, for some
reflections had lately been cast upon their ho
nour by an English cavalier. The noble knight
hood that was in thera felt a stain like a wound ;
and this iraputation on their honor gave the form
and color to the joust they meditated ; for they
resolved to perforin their deeds of arras in the
frontier near Calais, hoping that Englishraen
might be incited to meet them.
The holding of the joust at such a place was
not deemed courteous by some raembers of the
king's council, for it was thought that the English
would consider it presuraptuous ; and the more
sage and prudent knights murmured their opi
nion, that it was not always right to consent to
the purposes of young men, for incidents rather
evil than good often sprang from them. The
king, however, who was young and courageous,
overruled all scruples, and ordered that the
joust should proceed, because the knights had
promised and sworn it before the ladies of Mont
pellier. , Then the king sent for the three knights into
his chamber, and said to them, " Sirs, in all
your doing regard wisely the honor of us and of
our realin ; and to maintain your estate, spare

30-4 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.
CHAP, nothing, for We will not fail you for the expence
• — '- of ten thousand franks."
The three knights knelt before the king, and
thanked his grace. So important to the na
tional honor was this joust considered, that the
- challenge was not published till it had been re
vised by Charles and his council.
! This was its form : — " For the great desire
that we have to come to the knowledge of noble
geiitleinen, knights, esqUires, strangers, as well
of the nation of France, as elsewhere of far
countries, we shall be at St. Ingelbertes, iii the
marshes of Calais, the 20th day of the month bf
May next coming, and there continue thirty
days coraplete, the Fridays only excepted, and
to deliver all manner of knights aiid squires,
gentiemeii, strangers of any nation, whosoever
they be, that Will come thither for the breaking
of five spears, either sharp or rockets, at their
pleasure; and without our lodgings shall be the
shields of our arms, both shields of peace and of
war, and whosoever wiU joust, let him come or
send the day before, and with a rod touch whicii
shield he pleases. If he touch the shield of war,
the next day he shall joust with which of the
three he will; and if he touch the shield of peace,
he shall, have the jousts of peace and of war ;
so that whosoever shall touch any of the" shields
shall shew their names to such as shall be then

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 803
limited by us to receive them. And all such chap.
'' VI.
stranger-knights as will joust shall bring each sorae -r-
nobleman on his part who shall be instructed
by us what ought to be done in this case. And
we require all knights and squires, strangers that
will come and joust, that they think not we do
this fbr any pride, hatred, or evil will, but that we
only do it to have their honorable corapany and
acquaintance, which with our entire hearts we
desire. None of our shields shall be covered
with iron or steel, nor any of theirs that will corae
to joust with us, without any raanner of fraud
or unfair advantage, but every thing shall be
ordered by thera to whora shall be committed the
charge of governing the jousts. And because
that all gentlemen, noble knights, and squires, to
whom this shall corae to knowledge, should be
assured of its being firm and stable, we have
sealed the present writing with the seals of our
arms. Written at Montpelher the twentieth
day of November, in the year of our Lord God
one thousand, three hundred, four-score and
nine, and signed thus. Raynolde du Roy—
Boucicaut — St. Pye."
When this challenge was published, the
knights and squires of England entertained
great imaginations to know what to do; and
most of them thought it would be deeply to
tiieir blame and reproach, that such an enter-
VOL. I. x

306 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.
CHAP, prise should take place near Calais, without their
— '- passing the sea. They therefore thanked the
French chivalry for deporting themselves so
courteously, and holding the joust so near the
Enghsh marshes.
Accordingly, in the fresh and jolly month of
May, when the spring was at its finest point,
the three young knights of France mounted
their gay steeds, and sportively held their
course from Paris to Boulogne. They then pro
gressed to the abbey of St. Ingilbertes, and were
right joyful to learn that a number of knights and
squires of merry England had, like good cora
panions, crossed the sea, and were arraying
theraselves for the joust. The Frenchmen raised
three green pavilions, in a fair and champaign
spot, between St. Ingilbertes and Calais. To the
entrance of each pavilion they affixed two shields,
with the arms of the knights, one shield of
peace, and the other of war; and again pro
claimed that such knights as would do deeds of
arms should touch one of the shields, or cause
it to be touched, whichever, mode pleased hira,
and he should be delivered according to his
desire. On the day appointed for the jousts, all the
respective chivalries of France and England
poured frora the gates of St. Ingilberte and
Calais, eager for. the gallant fray. Such as pro-

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 307
posed to be mere spectators met in friendly chap.
union, without regard to national differences. —
The King of France was present in a disguise. *
The three French knights retired within their
pavilions, and squires donned their harness.
The English jousters apparelled themselves, and
took their station at the end of the plain,
opposite the pavilions. A flourish of clarions
proclaimed the comraencement of the joust, and
the herald's trumpet sounded to horse.
When all was hushed in breathless expect
ation. Sir John Holland, Earl of Huntingdon,
pricked forth with the slow and stately pace of
high-born chivalry, from the end ofthe lists which
had been assigned to the English strangers.
.^He was a right gallant cavalier, and he com
raanded his squire to touch the war-shield of
Sir Boucicaut. Incontinently, that noble son
of chivalry, ready raounted, left his pavilion
with shield and spear. The knights marked
each other well, and then spurred their horses
to the encounter. The spear of Sir Boucicaut

* " Ye raay know well that Charles the French King was
sore desirous to be at those jousts : he was young and light
of spirit, and glad to see new things. It was shewed me
that from the beginning to the ending he was there present,
disguised as unknown, so that none knew him but the Lord
of Garansyers, who came also with him as unknown, and
every day returned to Marquise." Froissart, vol. i. c. 168,
x 2

308 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.
chap, pierced through the shield ofthe English knight ;
— 1 but it passed hurtless over his arm, and their
good steeds bounded to either end of the plain.
This course was greatly comraended. The se
cond course was altogether harmless ; and in the
third course the horses started aside, and would
not cope. The Earl of Huntingdon, Who was
somewhat chafed, came to his place, waiting for
Sir Boucicaut taking his spear ; but he did
not, for he showed that he would run no more
that day against the Earl, who then sent his
squire |to touch the war-shield of the Lord of
St. Pye. He issued out of his pavilion, and
took his horse, shield, and spear. When the
Earl saw that he was ready, he spurred his
horse, and St. Pye did not with less force urge his
own good steed. They couched their spears :
at the meeting their horses crossed, but with the
crossing of their spears the Earl was unhelraed.
He returned to his squires, and incontinently was
rehelraed. He took his speari, and St. Pye his,
and they ran again, and met each other with
their spears in the middle of their shields. The
shock nearly hurled both to the ground, but
they saved theraselves by griping their horses
with their legs, and returned to their places, and
took breath. Sir John Holland, who had great
desire to do honourably, took again his spear,
and urged his horse to speed. When the Lord
of St. Pye saw hira coraing, he dashed forth his

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. ' 309
horse to encounter him. Each of them struck chap. VI.
the other on the helms with such force that the —
fire flew out. With that attaint the Lord of
St. Pye was unhelraed ; and so they passed forth,
and carae again to their own places. This
course was greatly praised, and both French and
English said that those three knights, the Earl
of Huntingdon, Sir Boucicaut, and the Lord
St. Pye, had right well done their devoirs.
Again the earl desired, for love of his lady, to
have another course ; but he was refused, and
he then raixed with the knights, and spectators,
and gave place to others, for he had ran all his six
courses well and valiantly, so that he had laud
and honour of all parties.
These noble jousts continued for four days.*
The gallant charapions asserabled after raatins,
and did not quit the course till the vesper-bell of
the abbey sumraoned thera to prayer. Of the
noble company of knights and squires there
* As the weather was bright, according to Froissart, I
wonder he did not, in his fondness for detail, mention the
number of barrels of water that were every evening poured
on the dusty plain. On one occasion he says, " The knights
complained of the dust, so that some of them said they lost
their deeds by reason thereof. The King raade provision for
it : he ordained more than two hundred barrels of water that
watered the place, whereby the ground was well amended,
and yet the next day they had dust enough, and too rauch."
vol. ii. p. 157.
x 3

310 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.
CHAP, were few who did not add soraething to their

VI,

fame ; for if a knight happened to be unhelraed,
yet perhaps he did not lose his stirrups, and he
was adraired fbr sustaining a severe shock.
Such was the noble chevisance of the jousters
that no mortal wound was inflicted. * The
* Du Cange (Dissertation 7. on Joinville) is incorrect in
saying that a joust seldom terminated without sorae knights
being slain, or very grievously wounded. The jousts at
St. Ingilberte were on the most extensive scale, and nothing
worse than a flesh-wound or a bruise from falling was felt,
even by the most unskilful or unlucky knight. Froissart
perpetually describes jousts of three courses with lances,
hree strokes with axes, three encounters both with swords
and daggers ; and generally concludes with saying, " And
when all was done, there was none of them hurt.'' " You
should have jousted raore courteously," was the reproach of
the spectators to a knight, when his lance had pierced the
shoulder of the other jouster. Froissart, vol. ii. c. 161.
Du Cange preserved no clear idea in his mind of the dif
ference between the joust h la plaisance and the joust b,
Voutrance, and most subsequent writers have only blindly
followed him. I shall notice in this place another popular
error on the subject of jousts. Mr. Strutt, (Sports and
Pastimes of the People of England, book iii. c. 1.) and an
hundred writers after him, assert that the authority of the
ladies was more extensive in the joust than in the tourna
ment. Mr. Strutt says, that " in the days of chivalry jousts
were made in honor of the ladies, who presided as judges
paramount over the sports." Now there are many jousts
mentioned in Froissart and other chivalric historians that
were held only in the presence of knights. But I can find
no instance of a tournament being held without ladies. The
joust was a martial exercise; but the tournament was con
nected with all the circumstances of domestic life.

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 311
lance was the only weapon used. To unhelm chap.
the adverse knight by striking his frontlet was —
the chiefest feat of arras, and in the fierce career
of opposing steeds, the firmest strength and the
nicest skill could alone achieve it. Helms struck
fire, lances were splintered, and the lance-head
was lodged in the shield : but sometimes the
shield resisted the lance, and men and steeds
reeled back to their several pavilions.
Each gallant knight, however,
" grew unto his seat,
And to such wond'rous doing brought his horse
As he had been incorps'd and demi-natur'd
With the brave beast."
The knighthood and squirery of England sent
forth nearly forty of their host to vindicate their
chivalry, and right nobly did they deport them
selves against the doughtiest lances of France.
There was only one knight who disgraced the
order of chivalry. By birth he was a Boheraian,
in station an attendant of the King of England.
It was deraanded of him with whom he would
joust. He answered, with Boucicaut. They
then prepared themselves and ran together, but
the Bohemian struck a prohibited part of the
armour, and he was greatly blamed that he
demeaned his course so badly. By the laws of
X 4

312 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.
©HAP. the joust he should have forfeited his arms and
— '- horse, but the Frenchman, out of courtesy to
the Englishmen, forgave him. The Bohemian-
to redeem his shame required again to joust one
course. He was demanded against whom he
would run ; and he sent to touch the shield of
Sir Raynolde du Roy. That gallant knight was-
not long before he answered him. They met in
the middle of their shields, and the French-
cavalier struck his antagonist frora his horse ; and
the Englishraen were not displeased that he was
overthrown, because he had ran the first course
SO ungoodly.
This Sir Raynolde du Roy was one of the best
jousters in all the realra of France, and no
wonder ; for our faithful and gallant chronicler
reports that he lived in love with a young raaiden,
which availed him much in all his affairs. *
One of his most valiant antagonists was a
gentle knight of England, young and freshj
a jolly dancer and singer, called Sir John
Arundell. At the first course they met rudely,
and struck each other on the shields, but they
held themselves without falling, and passed forth
their course. The second course they struck
each other on the helms ; the third course they
* " Et si aimoit, par amour, jeune darae : dont en tous
estats son affaire en valoit grandement mieux." Froissart;,
vol. iii. c. 12. edit. Lyons, 1560.

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.: 313
crossed and lost their staves ; the fourth course ^^^-
reserabled the second; the fifth course they — —
splintered their spears against their shields, and
then Sir John Arundell ran no raore that day.
At the conclusion of the jousts the Earl of
Huntingdon, and the Earl Marshal, and the Lord
Clifford, the Lord Beauraont, Sir John Clinton,
Sir John Darabreticourt, Sir Peter Sherborne,
and all other knights that had jousted those four
days with the French knights, thanked them
greatly for their pastime, and said, " Sirs, all
such as would joust of our party have accom
plished their desires ; therefore now we will
take leave of you : we will return to Calais, and
so cross to England; and we know that whoever
will joust with you whl find you here these thirty
days, according to the tenor of your challenge."
The French knights were grateful for this
courtesy, saying, that all new coraers should be
right heartily welcorae ; " and we will deliver
them according to the rights of arms, as we have
done you ; and, moreover, we thank you for the
grace and gallantry that you have shewn to us."
Thus in knightly manner the Englishmen
departed ^from Saint Ingilbertes, and rode to
Calais, where they tarried not long, for the
Saturday afterwards they took shipping and
sailed to Dover, and reached that place by noon.
On the Sunday they progressed to Rochester,

314 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.
CHAP, and the next day to London, whence every man
— returned to his home.
The three French knights remained the thirty
days at Saint Ingilbertes, but no more English
men crossed the sea to do any deed of arms
with them. *
Joust be. Perhaps the most interesting ioust in the
tween Lord . , ,
Scales and middle Rgcs was that which was held between
of Bur. Lord Scales, brother of the Queen of Edward the
8"° y- Fourth, and the Bastard of Burgundy. Many of
the circumstances which attended it are truly
chivalric. t
On the 17th of April, 1465, the Queen and
sorae ladies of her court, in a mood of harmless
merriment, attached a collar of gold, enamelled
* Froissart, vol. ii. c. 160. 162. 168. Memoires du
Mareschal de Boucicaut, partie i. c. 17. The writer of
those meraoirs, a contemporary of Boucicaut's, in his zeal
for his hero, gives all the honor to the French knights.
Juvenal des Ursins (p. 83, &c.) is more modest, and he
makes certain judges of the court compliment manjr ofthe
knights for their valiancy.
f Most of these circurastances are unnoticed by our his
torians. I can pardon their unacquaintance with the Lans
downe manuscripts, for those are but recently acquired
national treasures : but every scholar is supposed to know
the Biographia Britannica, — and in the article Caxton,
some of the chivalric features of the joust in question are
raentioned.

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 315
with the rich floure of souvenance *, to the thigh chap.
of that right worshipful and araorous knight, — -
* A very arausing little volume might be made on the
roraance of flowers, on the tales which poetry and fancy
have invented to associate the affections and the mind with
plants, thus adding the pleasures of the feelings and the
imagination to those of the eye. The reader reraerabers the
Love in Idleness, in Shakspeare's Midsummer Night's Dream.
The Floure of Souvenance, the Forget-me-not, is an equally
pleasing instance. The application of this name to the
Myosotis Scorpioidis of botanists is of considerable antiquity :
the story in the text proves that the plant with its romantic
associations was known in England as early as the days of
our Edward IV. The following tale of the origin of the
fanciful name has been communicated to me by ray friend
Anthony Todd Thorason, whose Lectures on the Eleraents
of Botany, at once scientific and popular, profound and
elegant, take a high place in the class of our most valuable
works. " Two lovers were loitering on the margin of a lake, on
a fine summer's evening, -when the maiden espied some of
the flowers of Myosotis growing on the water, close to the
bank of an island, at sorae distance frora the shore. She
expressed a desire to possess them, when her knight, in the
true spirit of chivalry, plunged into the water, and, swim-
raing to the spot, cropped the wished-for plant, but his
strength was unable to fulfil the object of his achieveraent,
and feeling that he could not regain the shore, although very
near it, he threw the flowers upon the bank, and casting a
last affectionate look upon his lady-love, he cried, ' Forget-
me-not,' and was buried in the waters.''
"There are three varieties of the plant," Mr. Thomson
adds ; " the one to which the tradition of the narae is at
tached is perennial, and grows in marshes and on the
margins of lakes."

S16 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.
CHAP. Anthony Woodville, Lord Scales, for an emprise
— of arms on horseback and on foot.* The most
renowned cavalier at that tirae was the Bastard of
Burgundy, and accordingly Lord Scales address
ed him in courteous wise, praising his prowess,
and vowing before God and the ladies that his
own great desire was to rival his fame. In
order, then, that there might exist that love and
fraternity between thera which becarae knights
of worship, he related the goodly adventure at
the court of England, and requiring the Bastard,
in all affection for the honour of chivalry, to do
him so much favour as to discharge him of his
bond. The Earl of Worcester, Lord High Con
stable of England, certified the factof the delivery
of the floure of souvenance to the Lord Scales,
and the King's permission for his herald to cross
the seas to Burgundy.
The Bastard received the letter on the last
day of April, and with permission of his father,
the Duke of Burgundy, he consented to assist
the Lord Scales in accomplishing his eraprise.

* The Lord Scales was a right good knight of worship, in
spite of the reflections on his courage which Edward IV.
once threw out against him. " The kyng bathe sayd of
hym that even wyr he bathe most to do, then the Lord Scalys
wyll soonest axe leve to' depart, and the kyng weenyth that
it is mist because of kowardyese." Paston Letters, vol. iv.
p. 116.

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 317
Lord Scales and the court of England were chap.
right joyous and grateful at the news, and —
Edward granted a safe-conduct to the adven
turous Burgundian, the Earl of Roche, and a
thousand persons in his company, to come into
England, to perform certain feats of arms with
his dearly beloved brother Anthony Woodville,
Lord Scales, and Nucelles. *
The Bastard accordingly set sail for England,
nobly accorapanied by four hundred of his
father's prowest chivalry. ByEdward's coraraand.
Garter king-at-arras raet him at Gravesend.
The gallant squadron sailed towards London,
and at Blackwall it was joined by the Earl of
Worcester, attended by a noble troop of lords,
knights, and squires, and also by many of the
aldermen and rich citizens of London. The
Lord of Burgundy landed at Billingsgate, and
was welcomed by another party of the nobility
and trades of England, (so general was the in
terest of the expected joust,) who conducted
him on horseback through Cornhill and Cheap
to the palace of the Bishop of Salisbury in Fleet
Street, which royal courtesy had appointed for
his abode. Lord Scales soon afterwards came to
London, attended by the nobility and chivalry
of his house, and the King assigned him the
* Rymer, Foedera, tom. ii. p. 573.

318 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.
CHAP, palace of the Bishop of Ely in Holborn for his
— - residence. The noble stranger was introduced
to Edward on his coming to London from Kings
ton, in order to open the parliament.
The ceremonies of the joust were then ar
ranged by well experienced knights, and strong
lists were erected in Smithfield, one hundred
and twenty yards and ten feet long, eighty yards
and ten feet broad, with fair and costly galleries
around. On the morning appointed for the
gallant show, the King and Queen with all the
chivalry and beauty of the land, repaired to
Sraithfield. The King sat under a richly cano
pied throne, at one end of the lists ; on each
side were lords and ladies, and underneath him
were ranged the knights, the squires, and the
archers of his train. The city magistrates then
appeared ; the lord mayor bowing, and the mace-
bearer lowering his sign of authority, as they
passed the King in their procession to the other
end of the lists, where scaffolds of sirailar forra,
but inferior magnificence to the royal chambers,
were erected fbr them. The eight guards of
the lists entered on horseback, and received their
charge frora the Earl Marshal and Lord High
Constable of England, who gently paced their
horses to and fro beneath the throne.
When every thing was fairly arranged. Lord
Scales appeared at the gate of the lists. At the

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 319
sound of his trumpet the Constable advanced and chap.
demanded his purpose. The young lord, with — 1
the grace and modesty of chivalry, replied, that
he solicited the honor of presenting himself
before his sovereign liege the King, in order to
accoraplish his arras against the Bastard of Bur
gundy. The gate was then thrown open by
coraraand of the Constable, and the Lord Scales
entered the lists, followed by nine noblemen on
horseback, bearing parts of his harness and arras,
and nine pages riding on gaily caparisoned steeds.
They advanced to the King, and after having
made their obeisances, they retired to a pavilion
at one end of the lists.
With similar forms the Lord of Burgundy, at
tended by the chosen chivalry of his country,
approached the King, and then repaired to his
tent. The heralds commanded silence, and forbad
any one, by the severest penalties, from inter
meddling with the jousters. Two lances and two
swords were taken to the King, who, being sa
tisfied of their fitness, coraraanded the' lords who
bore them to take them to the combatants. The
stranger-knight made his election, and dressed
his lance to its rest. Lord Scales prepared him
self with equal gallantry, and they dashed to the
encounter. Their spears were sharp; but so
perfect was their knowledge of chivalry, that no

320 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.
CHAP, wounds were inflicted. The nicest iuderes could
VI.
— '- mark no difference of skill, and the noble knights
jousted their courses, when the King dropped his
warder, and the amusements ended.
The next day the court and city repaired to
Smithfield, with their accustomed pomp, and
the spectacle was varied by the jousters contend
ing with swords. The sports were, however,
untimely closed by the steed of Lord Scales with
the spike of his chaffron overthrowing the Bastard
of Burgundy and his horse ; and the King would
not allow the tourney to proceed, though the
bruised knight gallantly asserted his wish not to
fail his encounter companion.
Not wearied by two days' arauseraent, the chi
valry and beauty of England assembled in the
lists of Smithfield on the third raorning. The
noblemen now fought on foot with pole-axes.
At last the point of Lord Scales's weapon en
tered the sight of the Burgundian's helmet, and
there was a feeling of fear through the galleries
that a joust of peace would have a fatal termi
nation. But before it could be seen whether
Lord Scales meant to press his advantage, the
King dropped his warder, and the Marshals se
parated thera. The Bastard of Burgundy prayed
for leave to continue his enterprise ; and the
Lord Scales consented. But the matter was de
bated by the assembled chivalry ; and it was de-

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 321
dared bythe Earl of Worcester, then Constable cHAp.
of England, and the Duke of Norfolk the Mar- — -
shal, that if the affair were to proceed, the
knight of Burgundy raust, by the law of arms,
be delivered to his adversary in the same state
aiid condition as he was in when they were se-
pai-ated. This sentence was a virtual prohibi
tion of the continuance of the joust, and the
Bastard therefore relinquished his challenge.
The herald's trumpet then sounded the well
known point of chivalry that the sports were
over; but as the times were joyous as well as
martial, the knights and ladies before they parted
held a noble festival at Mercer's Hall. *

* Besides Holingshed, Stow, and other chroniclers, I have
consulted for this very interesting joust a curious collection
of contemporary documents, among the Lansdowne manu
scripts (No. 285.) in the British Museum. The Chevalier
de la Marehe accompanied the Bastard of Burgundy to
England, and his Memoirs furnish a few particulars not
noticed by English writers. His account of the joust itself
differs from- that of our chroniclers, (whom I have followed,)
for he makes all the advantage lie with his own knight.
It is neither possible nor important to discover the truth.
The spirit of the age which gave birth to the challenge and
the general interest excited by the joust are the points that
deserve to be raarked. There is also rauch confusion re
garding the dates of raost of the circurastances, and I hold
my readers in too rauch respect to enter into any arguments
touching such trifling matters. Siich few dates as are un-'
doubted I have mentioned. Let rae add Hawkins's- con-
VOL. I. Y

322

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.

CHAP. VI.

Thero-
mance of
jousts.

The feats of arms at St. Ingilbertes* displayed
the martial character of the joust ; and the em
prise of Lord Scales shows how beautifully love
could blend itself with iraages of war, and the
interest which a whole nation could take in the
circurastance of certain fair ladies of a court
binding round the thigh of a gallant knight a
collar of gold, enaraelled with a floure of sou
venance. But the high romantic feeling of chivalric
times is, perhaps, still more strikingly displayed in
the following tale. In the beginning of the year
1400, an esquire of Spain, named Michel d' Orris,
being full of valour and love, attached a piece of
iron to his leg, and vowed that he would endure
the pain till he had won renown by deeds of
chivalry. The prowess of the English knights
most keenly excited his emulation ; and, as his
first raeasure to cope with it, he journeyed frora

jecture (Origin of the English Drama, vol. iii. p. 91.), that
the word Burgullian or Burgonian meaning a bully, a bragga
dochio, was derived from tliis joust. This is by no means
unlikely, observes Mr. Gifford, (note on Every Man in his
Humour, act iv. sc. 2.) for our ancestors, who were not
over delicate, nor, generally speaking, rauch overburdened
with respect for the feelings of foreigners, had a number of
vituperative appellations derived from their real or supposed
ill qualities, of many of which the precise import cannot
now be ascertained.

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 323
Arragon to Paris. He then issued his defiance chap.
° VI.
to the English chivalry at Calais, to perforra ex- —
ercises on foot with the battle-axe, the sword,
and the dagger, and to run certain courses on
horseback with the lance.
A noble soldier, hight Sir John Prendergast,
a corapanion of Lord Somerset, governor of
Calais, being equally desirous to gain honour
and amusement, like a gentleman, to the utmost
of his power, accepted the challenge in the
name of God, of the blessed Virgin Mary, and
of his lords Saint George and Saint Anthony.
Like a true brother in chivalry, he expressed his
wish to relieve the Arragonian esquire from the
pain he was suffering; and, agreeably to the
nobleness and modesty of his profession, he
avowed his joy at the occasion of making ac
quaintance with sorae of the French nobility *,
and learning frora thera the honourable exercise
of arras ; and then, in a fine strain of gallantry,
he concludes his acceptance of the challenge by
praying that the Author of all good would grant
the gentle esquire joy, honour, and pleasure,
and every description of happiness to the lady
* Prendergast mistook Orris for a French knight. Orris
afterwards refused the honor intended him, expressing,
however, very high compliments to the chivalry of France^
and merely stating his Arragonese descent, on the ground,
that no honest man ought to deny his country.
Y 2

324- TOURNAMENTS AND . JOUSTS/
CHAP, of his affection,- to whora Sir John Prendergast
— '- entreated that those letters raight recoraraend
him.. Political affairs recalled Orris to Arragon, and
the English knight, not knowing that circum
stance, wrote to hira at Paris, pressing the per
formance, of the emprise, reminding him how-
much his honour was concerned in the raatter,
aud entreating Cupid, the god of love, as Orris
raight desire the affections of his lady, to urge
him to hasten his journey. * No answer was
returned to this heart-stirring epistle ; and, after
waiting several months, Prendergast again ad--
dressed Orris, expressing his astonishment that
the challenge had not been prosecuted, and no
reason rendered for the neglect by the valiant-
esquire. He was ignorant if the god of love,;
who had inspired him with courage to undertake
the eraprise, had since been displeased, and-
changed his ancient pleasures, which formerly-
consisted in urging on deeds of arms, and in-
promoting, the delights of chivalry. He was
wont to keep the nobles of his court under
such good government, that,- to add to their
honor, after having undertaken any deeds of

* " Si prie audieu d'amour qu'ainsi corarae vous desirez*
I'amour de . ma dame la vostre, il ne vous I'ait de vostre •
dicte venue." Monstrelet,' vol; i.-, p; 3, ed. 1573.

VI.

¦TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 325
arms, they could not absent themselves frora the chap.
country where such enterprise was to be per
forraed, until it was perfectly accoraplished.
Anxious to preserve the favour of the god of
love, and frora respect to the ladies. Sir John
Prendergast was still ready, with the aid of God,
of Saint George, and Saint Anthony, to deliver
hira whom he still hoped was the servant of
Cupid ; and unless within a short tirae the era
prise was accoraplished, he intended to return
to England, where he hoped that knights and
esquires would bear witness that he had not rais-
behaved towards the god of love, to whom he
recommended his own lady and the lady of
Orris. *

* Lest it should be thought that I am drawing from a
romance, I subjoin part of the original letter frora the
grave old chronicler Monstrelet. " Je ne scay se le dieu
d'araours qui vous enhorta et raeit en couraige de vosdictes,
lettres quand les envoyes, ait en aucune chose est^ si
despleu : parquoy il ait change ses conditions . anciennes,
qui souloient estre telles que pour esbaudir arraes et a
cognoistre chevalerie. II tenoit les nobles de sa court en
si royalle gouvernance, que pour accroisseraent de leur,
honneur, apres ce qu'ils avoient fait leur dicte emprise,
jusques a tant que fin en fut faicte: ne aussi ne faisoient
leurs compagnons frayer, travailler, ne despendre leurs biens
en vain. Non pourtant que n'y voudroye pas qu'il
trouvast celle. deffaute en raoy, si qu'il. eut cause de moy
bannir de sa court. Je vueil encores demourer.par
de9a jusques au huictiesrae jour de ce present mois de May.
preste a I'ayde de Dieu, de St. George^ et de St. Anthoine
Y 3

326 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.
chap. The esquire returned to Paris, after he had
 1 finished his railitary duties in Arragon, still
wearing the painfiil badge of iron. He found
at Paris aU the letters of Prendergast. His chi
valric pride was wounded at the thought that the
god of love had banished him from his court,
and made him change his raind ; and he in
forraed his noble foe that assuredly, without any
disserabling, he should never, in regard to the
present eraprise, change his raind, so long as God
might preserve his life ; nor had there ever been
any of his family who had not always acted
in such wise as became honest raen and gen-^
tleraen. Notwithstanding the appeal of Orris to the
chivalry of Prendergast no deeds of arras were
achieved. The delay of answers to his letters

k vous deliverir, ainsi que ma dame et la vostre le puissent
scavoir que pour reverence d'icelles j'ai voulent6 de vous
aiser de vostre griefue : qui par long temps vous a desaisi^
corarae vosdictes lettres contienuent : pourquoy aussi vous
Bvez cause de desirer vostre allegeance. Apres le quel
temps se venir ne voulez, je pense. au plaisir de Dieu de
m'enretourner en Angleterre par devers nos dames : aus-
quelles j'ai espai en Dieu que sera tesgmoign^ par chevaliers
et escuyers que je n'ai en riens mesprins envers le dit dieu
d' amours : le quel vueille avoir lesdits madame et la vostre
pour recommandees, sans avoir desplaisir envers elles pour
quelque course qui soit advenue."

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 327
had offended the Enghsh knight, and some chap.
misunderstanding regarding fclie petty arrange- — '-
ments of the joust abruptly terminated the affair.*
A very favourite description of joust was that Thepassage
which was called a passage of arms. A knight
and his corapanions proclairaed that they would
on a certain day guard a particular road or
bridge frora all persons of cavaleresque rank, who
atterapted to pass, t Those who undertook such
an emprise had their arms attached to pillars
at the end of the lists with some plain shields of
different colours, in which were marked the na
ture of the adventure, and the description of
arms that were to be eraployed, so that he, who
* Monstrelet, vol. i. c. 1.
X The phrase, the passage of arms, is used in the ro
mance of Ivanhoe as a general expression for chivalric
games. But this is incorrect ; for the defence of a par
ticular spot was the essential and distinguishing quality of
the exercise in question. Now there was no such circura
stance in the affair near Ashby-de-la-Zouche. Five knights
challengers undertook to answer all coraers, but it was not
expected that those coraers should atterapt to pass any
particular place. The encounters which were the con
sequences of the challenges were siraple jousts, and con
stituted the first day's sport, on the second day there was a
general "tourney or raelee of knights, and as in chivalric
times the tournament was always regarded as the chief
military exercise, the amusements at Ashby-de-la-2ouch
were a tournament, and by that name, indeed, the author
of Ivanhoe has sometimes called thera.
Y 4

328 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.
CHAP, repaired to the passage, with the design of trying
— his skill, chose his mode of combat by touching
one of the shields whereon it was specified.
Ofiicers at arms were in waiting to collect and
register the names of such as touched the different
shields, that they might be called out in the ro
tation of their first appearance.
In the spring of the year 1 443, the Lord of
Chargny, a noble knight of the court of Bur
gundy, raade known to all princes, barons, ca
valiers, and esquires without reproach, that, for
the augraentation and extension of the raost
noble profession and exercise of arras, it was his
will and intention, in conjunction with twelve
knights, squires, and gentlemen, of fom- quar-
terings, whose names he mentioned, to guard
and defend a pass d'arraes, situated on the great
road leading from Dijon toward Exonne, at the
end of the causeway from the said town of
Dijon, at a great tree called the Herrait's Tree,
or the Tree of Charlemagne. He proposed to
suspend on the tree two shields, (one black, be
sprinkled with tears of gold, the other violet,
having tears of sable,) and all those who by a
king at arms or pursuivant should touch the first
shield should be bounden to perform twelve
courses on horseback, with him the Lord of
Chargny, or one of his knights and squires, with
blunted lances; and if either of the champions,

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. S^Q
during their twelve courses, should be unhorsed chap.
by a direct blow with the lance on his arraour, —
such person so unhorsed should present t0 his ad
versary a diaraond of whatever value he pleased.
Those princes, barons, knights, and esquires, who
should rather take their pleasure in performing
feats of arms on foot, were to touch the violet
shield, and should perform fifteen courses with
battle-axes or swords, as raight be raost agree
able to them, and if during those courses any
champion should touch the ground with his
hand or knees he should be obliged to present
to his adversary a ruby of whatever value he
pleased. The Lord of Chargny was a right modest as
well as a valiant knight, for he besought all
princes, barons, knights, and esquires, not to con
strue his intention as the result of pride and pre-
suraption, for he assured thera that his sole rao-
tive was to exalt the noble profession of arras,
and also to raake acquaintance by chivalric deeds
with such renowned and valiant princes and
nobles as raight be pleased to honor him with
their presence.
For the forty days that followed the first of
July, the passage of arras lasted, and right nobly
did the Burgundian chivalry comport themselves.
Their most skilful opponent was a valiant knight
of Spain, hight Messire Pierre Vasque de Sua-

330 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.
CHAP, vedra, with whom the Lord of Chargny jousted
¦,—1 on horseback and on foot, and the nicest eye of
criticism could not determine which was the
doughtiest knight. At the conclusion of the
jousts the cavaliers repaired to the church of
our Lady at Dijon, and on their knees offered
the shields to the Virgin. *
Use of Such were the raartial arauseraents and exer-
toumaments and jousts, ciscs of prcux chcvaliers. All the noble and
graceful virtues of chivalry were reflected in
the tournaraent and joust, and the warrior who.
had displayed them in the lists coiUd not but
feel their mild and beneficent influence even in
the battle-field. He pricked on the plain with
knightly grace as if his lady-mistress had been
beholding him : skill and address insensibly
softened the ferocity ofthe mere soldier, and he
soon came to consider war itself only as a ^reat
tournament. Thus the tourneying lists were
schools of chivalric virtue as well as of .chivalric
prowess, while the splendour and joyousness of

* The challenge of the Lord of Chargny is contained in
Monstrelet, vol. viii. c. 60, 61. The description of the
passage of arms is given by Olivier de la Marehe in his
Memoires, c. 9. There are many other passages of arms
recorded in the histories of the middle ages, but there is
only one of them of interest, and it will find a place in my
description of the progress of chivalry in Spain.

TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 331
the show brought all classes of society into kind chap.
and merry intercourse. —
Through the long period of the middle ages
tournaments were the elegant pastimes of Eu
rope, and not of Europe only, but of Greece ; and
knighthood had its triumph over classical insti
tutions when the games of chivalry were played
in the ckcus of Constantinople. The Byzan
tines learnt thera frora the early Crusaders ; and
when the French and Venetians in the twelfth
century became masters of the East, chivalric
amusements were the coraraon pastimes of the
people, and continued so even when the Greeks
recovered the throne of their ancestors ; nor
were they abohshed until the Mussulmans cap
tured Constantinople, and swept away every
Christian and chivalric feature.*
In the West the tournament and joust survived
chivalry itself whose iraage they had reflected
and brightened, for changes in the military art
did not immediately affect raanners ; and the
world long clung with fondness to those splendid
and graceful shows which had thrown light and
elegance over the warriors and dames of yore.
* Nicetas, Hist. Byzant. 1. iii. c. 3. Johannes Canta-
cuzenus, 1. i. c. 42.

382

CHAP. VIL
THE RELIOIOUS AND MILITARY ORDERS OF
KNIGHTHOOD.
General Principles of the Religious Orders  Qualifi'
cations for them.  Use of these Orders to Palestine
 Modern History of the Knights Templars 
Their present Existence and State  Religious Orders
in Spain  That of St. James  Its Objects 
Change. of its Objects  Order of Calatrava  Fine
Chivalry of a Monk .... ..Fame of this ¦ Order  Or"
der of Alcantara  Knights of the Lady of Mercy ...
Knights of St. Michael  Military Orders  Irni-
tations of the Religious Orders  Instanced in the
Order ofthe Garter  Few of the present Orders
are of Chivalric Origin  Order ofthe Bath 
Dormant Orders  Order ofthe Band  Its sin
gular Rides. .....Its noble Erforcement of Chivalric Du-
.: ties towards Woman  Order of Bourbon  Strange
Titles of Orders  Fabulous Orders  The Round
Table  Sir Launcelot  Sir Gawain  Order of
the Stocking  Origin of the Phrase Blue Stocking.
CHAP. Such were the institutions by which the cha-
VII. *'
 racter of the true knight was forraed ; and we
might now resume our historical course did not
a matter of considerable interest detain us,
which, as it belongs to chivalry in general,
and not entirely to any state in particular, can

RELIGIOUS AND MILITARY ORDERS. 333
nowhere be treated with so much propriety as chap.
in this place. 
It has been shown that from the union of re
ligion and arras chivalry arose, and that the de
fence of the church and the promoting of its in^
terests were among the chief objects of the new
system. of principles and raanners. But knight
hood had various duties to discharge, and. the ca-
A'^alier, who was soraetiraes distracted by their
number, consecrated his life to the single pur
pose of upholding the cross of Christ. Thus
orders called the Religious Orders of Knighthood
were founded, and in imitation of them, fraf
ternities, called Military Orders, appeared, all
being ranged within the general pale of chivalry.
The religious orders, as might be expected, General
were sanctioned by papal authority. They o"^'e'^reu-
were both martial and raonastic in their general 1^°"^"'
principles, but their internal conduct was en
tirely regulated by the disclipline of the cloister ;
and, like the establishments of raonks, they took
some existing rule of a favourite saint as their
guide. Theirs was a singular corapound of the
chivalric and the cloisteral characters, '
"The fine vocation of the sword and lance
With the gross aims and body-bendmg toil
Of a poor brotherhood who walk the earth
Pitied." * * Wordsworth.

834 the RELIGIOUS AND
^yJt^' Like the monks they were bound by the three
¦^- — great monastic vows of chastity, poverty, and
obedience. The first of these matters needs no
explanation * ; the second meant a total oblivion
of individuality, the community and not a pe
culiar possession of property ; and by the third,
the members were confined to obey the head of
their order, to the exclusion of all other autho
rity. These general principles of the rehgious

* I may observe, however, that the ancient Teraplars
were so dreadfully afraid of their virtue, that they forbad
themselves the pleasure of looking in a fair woman's face ;
at least the statutes attempted to put down this instinct of
nature. No brother of the Temple was permitted to kiss
maid, wife, or widow, his sister, mother, or any relation
whatever. The statute gravely adds, that it behoves the
knights of Jesus Christ to avoid the kisses of women, in order
that they may always walk with a pure conscience before
the Lord. I shall transcribe tlie statute in the original
Latin, and I hope that it will not be perused with that levity
which an allusion to it during Rebecca's trial at Temple-
stowe excited iri the younger raembers of the valiant and
venerable order of the Teraple. The title is sufficiently
ascetic, — Ut omnium mulierum oscula fugiantur. It pro
ceeds thus : — " Periculosum esse credimus omni religion!,
vultum mulierum nimis attendere, et ideo nee viduam, nee
virginem, nee matrera, nee sororera, nee amitam, njc
ullam aliam foeminam aliquis frater osculari praesumat.
Fugiat ergo foeminea oscula Christi Militia, per quae solent
homines saepe periclitari, ut pura conscientia, et secura vita,
in conspectu Domini perenniter valeat conversare." Cap. 72.

MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 335
societies of knighthood gave way, however, and Chap.
fitted themselves to the occasions and demands —
of society, for like the chain-mail, which was
flexible to all the motions of the body, the orders
of chivalry have varied with every change of
European life. Ascetic privations gave place to
chivalric gallantry, the vow of chastity was mi
tigated into a vow of connubial fidehty ; and
when men of noble birth and high fortune be
came knights of the holy and valiant societies of
Saint John, the Temple, or Saint James, the
vow of poverty was dispensed with, or ex
plained away to the satisfaction of conscientious
scruples. In the fraternity of the Teraple a
knight was perraitted to hold estates, so that at
his death he bequeathed sorae portion of them
to his order.*
In another very important respect the reh
gious brotherhoods were raoulded to the general
frarae of political society. Their independence
of civil authority was given up, aS the papal
power declined, and kings refused admittance
of the bulls of Rome into their states without
their previous license. The knights ofthe re
ligious fraternities becarae connected with the
state by professing that their duties to God and
their country were prior and pararaount to the
* Statutes, c. 51.55.

336 THE RELIGIOUS AND
CHAP, rules and statutes of the brotherhood ; and they
— ." adopted this form of phrase rather to prevent
the suggestions of raalice than frora any existing
necessity, for they contended that; the obliga
tions of chivalry, instead of contravening the
duty of a citizen, gave it strength, and dignity,
and grace. *
Quaiifica- In their orie;in all the railitary orders and raost
tionsfor n i ¦,. ¦ . , .
them. of the religious ones were entirely aristocratic ;
proofs of gentility of birth were scrupulously
exarained ; and no soldier by the mere force of
his valiancy could attain the honours of an order,
though such a claim was allowed for his ad
mission into the general fraternity, of knight
hood. These requisites for nobleness of birth
kept pace with the political state of different
countries, for the sovereigns of Europe ; and
chivalry did not accord upon any particular
form. Thus a French candidate for the knight
hood of Saint John of Jerusalera must have
shown four quarters of gentility on his coat-

* " I was a Scotsman ere I was a Templar," is' the
assertion of Vipont in the dramatic Sketch of Halidon Hill,
— a sentiment confessedly borrowed from the story of the
Venetian General, who, observing that his soldiers testified
sofn'e unwillingness to fight against those of the Pope whom
they regarded as father of the church, addressed them in
terras of similar encouragement : — " Fight on — we were
Venetians before we were Christians."

MILITARY ORDERS OP KNIGHTHOOD. 337
armour, but in the severer aristocracies of Spain chap.
and Germany no less than eight heraldic em-  1
blasonings were requisite. In Italy, however,
where comraerce checked the haughtiness of
nobility, it was not expected that the pedigree
should be so proud and full, and at length the
old farailies conceded, and the new farailies
were satisfied with the concession, that the sons
of merchants should be at liberty to enter into
the religious orders.
It would be tedious and unprofitable to detail
the history of all these chivalric societies ; and
were I to repeat or abridge the usual books on
the topic I should in many cases be only assist
ing to give currency to fraud, for the title, a
religious order of knighthood, was often im
properly bestowed on an establishraent, while in
truth it was only a fraternity of monks who
maintained some soldiers in their pay : other
associations obtained a papal sanction, but they
were small and insignificant, and their history
did not affect the general state of any country.
Not so, however, the noble fraternities of Saint Us« of these
orders to
John and the Temple*, and next, though the in- Palestine
* The Templars find no favour in the eyes of the author
of Ivanhoe, and Tales of the Crusaders. He has irabibed
all the vulgar prejudices against the order ; and when he
wants a villain to form the shadow of his scene, he as
regularly and unscrupulously resorts to the fraternity of the
VOL. I. Z

338 THE RELIGIOUS AND

CHAP, tervening space of dignity was considerable, the
 Teutonic knights. These religious orders of
chivalry by their principles and conduct are
strongly raarked in the political history of the
world, for they forraed the firm and unceasing
bulwark of the Christian kingdom in Palestine
during the middle ages. They were its regular
militia, andmaintained the Holy Land in the inter
val between the departure of one fleet of crusaders
and the arrival of another. Generous emulation
sometimes degenerated into envy, and the heats
and feuds of the knights of Saint John and the
Teraple violated the peace of the country ; but
these dissensions were usually hushed when
danger approached their charge, and the atabal
-of the Muselmans was seldom sounded in de
fiance on the frontier of the kingdom without
the trurapets of the railitary orders in every
preceptory and commandery receiving and
echoing the challenge.
Particularly The valiaucy of the Templars was particularly
plars! ™" conspicuous iu the raoraents of the kingdora's
final fate ; for when the Christians of the Holy
Land were reduced to the possession of Acre,
and two hundred thousand Mameluke Tartars

Temple, as other novelists refer to the church, or to Italy,
for a similar purpose.

MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 339
from Egypt were encamped round its walls, the chap.
defence of the city was entrusted to Peter de — '•
Beaujeau, Grand Master of the Templars. And
well and chivalrously did he sustain his hi^h
and sacred charge. Acre fell, indeed, but not
until this heroic representative of Christian
chivalry and most of the noble followers of his
standard had been slain. The meraory of the
Teraplars is erabalmed in all our recollections of
the beautiful romance of the middle ages, for
the red cross knights were the last band of
Europe's host that contended for the possession
of Palestine. A few survived the fall of Acre
and retired to Sis in Armenia. They were
driven to the island of Tortosa, whence they
escaped to Cyprus, and the southern shore of
the Mediterranean no longer rang with the cry
of religious war.
The origin and peculiar nature of these three
great religious orders have been detailed by me
in another work, and also their history as far as
it was connected with the crusades ; but on one
subject our present deductions may be carried
further : for though the annals ofthe cavaliers of
Saint John and also of the Teutonic knights are
mixed with general European history, yet those
of the Templars stand isolated. In the History
ofthe Crusades, I described the circumstances of
the iniquitous and sanguinary persecution of the
z 2

VII.

340 THE RELIGIOUS AND
CHAP, brotherhood of the Teraple, the consequent
suspension of their functions *, and the spolia
tion of all those possessions with which the
respect of the world had enriched thera.
' But the persecution of the Teraplars in the
fourteenth century does not close the history of
the order, for though the knights were spoliated
the order was not annihilated. In truth, the
cavahers were not guilty, the brotherhood was
not suppressed, and, startling as is the assertion,
there has been a succession of Knights Teraplars
from the twelfth century down even to these
days ; the chain of transmission is perfect in all
its links. Jacques de Molai, the Grand Master
at the tirae of the persecution, anticipating his
own martyrdom, appointed as his successor, in
power and dignity, Johannes Marcus Larmenius
of Jerusalem, and from that time to the present
there has been a regular and uninterrupted line

* The Pope (Clement V.) coraraitted the glaring absurdity
of raaking a provisional decree to be executed in perpetuity.
The bull which he issued at the council of Vienne, without
asking the judgraent of the assembled bishops and others,
declares, that although he cannot of right, consistently with
the Inquisition and proceedings, pronounce a definitive
sentence, yet by way of apostolical provision and regulation,
he perpetually prohibited people from entering into the
order and calling theraselves Templars. The penalty of
the greater excommunication was held out as a punishment
for offending.

MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 311
of grand masters. The charter by which the su- chaP/
preme authority has been transmitted is judicial -^^^
and conclusive evidence of the order's continued history of
existence. This charter of transmission, with the piars.^""
signatures ofthe various chiefs ofthe Teraple, is
preserved at Paris, with the ancient statutes of
the order, the rituals, the records, the seals,
the standards, and other memorials of the early
Templars. The brotherhood has been headed by
the bravest cavaliers of France, by men who,
jealous of the dignity of knighthood, would ad
rait no corruption, no base copies of the orders
of chivalry, and who thought that the shield of.
their nobility was enriched by the impress of
the Templars' red cross. Bertrand du Guesclin
was the grand master frora 1357 till his death in
1380, and he was the only French coramander
who prevailed over the chivalry of our Ed
ward III. Frora 1478 to 1497» we raay raark
Robert Lenoncourt, a cavalier of one of the
paost ancient and valiant farailies of- Lorraine.
Philippe Chabot, a renowned captain in the reign
of Francis I., wielded the staff of power frora
1516 to 1543. The illustrious family of Mont
morency appear as Knights Templars, and Henry,
the first duke, was the chief of the order from
1574 to 1614. At the close of the seventeenth
century the grand master was James Henry de
Duras, a marshal of France, the nephew of Tu-
z 3

S4>2 THE RELIGIOUS AND
CHAP, renne, and one of the most skilful soldiers of
VII.
— Louis XIV. The grand raasters from 1734 to
1776 were three princes of the royal Bourbon
family. The names and years of power of these
royal personages who acknowledged the dignity
of the order of the Temple were Louis Augustus
Bourbon, Duke of Maine, 1724— 1737: Louis
Henry Bourbon Conde I737 — 174I ; and Louis
Francis Bourbon Conty I74I — 1746. The suc
cessor of these princes in the grand-mastership of
the Temple was Louis Hercules Timoleon, Duke
de Cosse Brissac, the descendant of an ancient
family long celebrated in French history for its
loyalty and gallantbearing. He accepted the office
in 1776, and sustained it till he died in the cause
of royalty at the beginning of the French Re
volution. The order has now its grand master,
Bernardus Rayraundus Fabre Palaprat, and
there are colleges in England and in raany of the
chief cities in Europe.
Present ex- Tlius the vBiy aucicnt and sovereign order of
state ofthe the Temple is now in full and chivalric exist-
empars. ^j^^g^ ]-j^g thosc ordcrs of kuighthood which
were either forraed in imitation of it, or had
their origin in the same noble principles of chi
valry. It has mourned as well as flourished ;
but there is in its nature and constitution a
principle of vitality which has carried it through
all the storras of fate. Its continuance, by re
presentatives as well as by titie, is as indisputable

MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 348
a fact as the existence of any other chivalric chap. Vll.
fraternity. The Teraplars of these days claira no —
titular rank, yet their station is so far identified
with that of the other orders of knighthood,
that they assert equal purity of descent frora the
sarae bright source of chivalry. Nor is it pos
sible to impugn the legitimate claims to honor
able estimation, which the raodern brethren of
the Teraple derive from the antiquity and pristine
lustre of their order, without at the sarae time
shaking to its centre the whole venerable fabric
of knightly honor. *

* I add a complete list of the grand masters of the
Temple, from the time of Jacques de Molai to these days.
(Manuel des Chevahers de I'Order du Teraple. Paris. 1817-) a. r>.
Johannes Marcus Larmenius, Hierosolyraetanus - 1314
Thomas- Theobaldus, Alexandrinus . .^ ., 1324
Arnaldus de Braque .... . 1340
Johannes Claroraontanus ..... 1349
Bertrandus Du Guesclin .... 1357
Johannes Arminiacus - - ... 1381
Bernardus Arminiacus . . - - 1392
Johannes Arrainiacus - - - - - 1419
Johannes Croyus .... - 1451
Bernardus Imbaultius, Vic. Mag. Afric. (Regens.) - 1472
Robertus Lenoncurtius - ... 1478
Galeatius de Salazar ... . 1497
Philippus Chabotius - - - -1516
Gaspardus de Salceaco, Tavannensis - - 1544
Henricus de Montmorenciaco ... . ] 574
Carolus Valesius ... . - 1615
Z 4

34.4

the RELIGIOUS AND

CHAP VII.
Religious
orders in
Spain.

That of
St, James.

The Holy Land was not the only country
which gave birth to the religious orders of knight
hood. Several arose in Spain, and their arras
were raainly instrumental in effecting the triumph
of the Christian cause over that of the Moors.
War with the usurpers was the pristine object of
some of these societies, and in other cases it
was based and pillared upon a foundation of
charity. Perpetual enmity to the Arabian in
fidels was the motto of all. Unlike the Chris
tian kings of Spain, the orders never relaxed in
their hostility ; they never raingled with the
Moors in the delights of peace, and their cha
racter was formed by their own rules and
principles, unaffected by the graceful softenings
of oriental luxury and taste.
The most considerable of these Spanish re
ligious orders of knighthood was that of Saint

A.D.
Jacobus Ruxellius de Granceio ... 1551
Jacobus Henricus de Duroforti, Dux de Duras - 1681
Philippus, Dux de Aurelianensis ... 1705
Ludovicus-Augustus Borbonius, Dux de Maine - 1724
Ludovicus-Henricus Borbonius, Condffius - - 1737
Ludovicus-Franciscus Borbonius, Conty - - 1741
Ludovicus-Henricus Timoleo de Coss6 Brissac - 1776
Claudius Mathseus Radix de Chevillon, Vici Mag.
Europ. (Regens.) ...... 17&2
Bernardus-Raymundus Fabrg Palaprat ' - 1804

MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 345
Jaraes, of Compostella, which spraug from the '^^-^^•
association of sorae knights and raonks in the ^-—
raiddle of the twelfth century, for the protection
of the pilgriras who flocked from all countries
to bow before the relics of the tutelar saint of
Spain. * The raonks were of the society of
St. Eloy, a holy person of great farae araong our
English ancestors ; for Chaucer's demure prioress
was wont to verify her assertions by appealing
to his authority.
" Her greatest oath n'as but by St. Eloy."
The monks and knights lived in friendly commu
nion, the prior of the convent regulating the
spiritual concerns, and a grand master, chosen
* " I would fain know," quoth Sancho, " why the
Spaniards call upon that same St. Jaraes, the destroyer of
the Moors : just when they are going to give battle, they
cry, St. Jago and close Spain. Pray is Spain open, that it
vi^ants to be closed up ? What do you make of that
ceremony ? " — " Thou art a very simple fellow, Sancho,"
answered Don Quixote. " Thou must know, that heaven
gave to Spain this mighty champion of the Red Cross, for
its patron and protector, especially in the desperate engage
ments which the Spaniards had with the Moors ; and there
fore they invoke him, in all their martial encounters,- as
their protector ; and many times he has been personally seen
cutting and slaying, overthrowing, trampling, and destroying
the Moorish squadrons ; of which I could give thee raany
exaraples deduced frora authentic Spanish histories.'' Don
Quixote, part ii. c. 58.

346

The religious and

*^vii^' ^^ ^^^ cavaliers, leading the soldiers. They
'— were taken under the protection of the papal
see, on their professing the vows of chastity,
poverty, and obedience ; but afterwards Pope
Alexander the Third sank the ascendancy of
the raonastic portion of their character, for he
perraitted an oath of connubial fidelity to be
substituted for that of chastity. A descent of two
degrees of gentle birth was required for adrais
sion into the order of Saint Jaraes, and the
Christian blood raust have been uncontarainated
with any Jewish or Moorish raixture.
Its objects. The guarding of the passages to the shrine of
Saint Jaraes frora the incursions of the Moors
became extended into a general defence of the
kingdom against the hostilities of those eneraies
of the Christian narae ; and in tirae their active
military operations far exceeded their defensive
wars in consequence and splendour. The simple
object of their association being forgotten, their
glories became associated with the earliest strug
gles of the Christians for the repossession of
their inheritance ; and they pretended to trace
their line up to the ninth century, when Saint
James himself, riding on a white horse, and bear
ing a banner marked with a red cross in his
hand, assisted them to discomfit the Moors. A
cross, finished like the blade of a sword, and the
hilt crossleted, became the ensign of the order,

military orders of knighthood. 347
and the order was then appropriately called chap.
La Orden de Santiago de la Espada. The — —
centre of the crosslet was ornaraented with an
escalop-shell, the badge of Saint Jaraes ; and
nothing can raore strongly raark the popularity
of his shrine in the raiddle ages than the fact of
the escalop-shell being the usual designation of
an European palraer. The cross was worn on a
white cross raantle, and was painted red, agree
ably, as it raight seera, to that on the banner al
ready alluded to. But Don Rodrigo Xiinines,
an archbishop of Toledo, who dealt in allegories,
observed the reason to be that the sword was
red with the blood of the Arabs, and that the
faith of the knights was burning with charity.
The grand master of the order of Saint Jaines
had precedence over the grand masters of other
Spanish orders; but the internal government
of the fraternity was in the hands of a coun
cil, whose decrees were obligatory, even on the
grand raaster hiraself. The order of Saint
Jaraes had two great coraraanderies, one in
Leon and the other in Castile ; and to thera all
other establishraents were subordinate. There
were perpetual disputes for precedency between
these coraraanderies, and the kings of Castile
and Leon fomented them, thus preventing an
union which raight be dangerous to the state
itself, and obtaining military aid in return for

S4».

the religious and

^vn^* occasional interference. The gratitude of sove-
— reigns enriched the order with various posses
sions ; but it was its own good swords that won
for it the best part of its territories.
Notwithstanding that, like all other religious
orders of knighthood, the order of Saint James
had originally enjoyed independence of royal
authority, yet in the course of time the kings
of Castile acquired the right of delivering to
every newly-elected grand master the standard
of the order. The obedience was only titular
till the beginning of the sixteenth century, wheu
the Emperor Charles V. obtained from Popes
Leo X. and Adrian VI. . the supreme direction
of all the affairs of the order, and, consequently,
the dignity of grand master became attached to
the crown. But the power of the king was not
suffered to be absolute ; for the popes corapelled
hira to consent that the affairs of the order
should be raanaged by a council, with a right of
appeal to the pope hiraself. The power of the
Spanish kings then becarae a species of influ
ence, rather than of direct prerogative.
Change of The objcct of the association, the expulsion
jects. ^£ ^Y^Q Moors from Spain, being accomplished,
this religious order became an order of merit, —
a feather in the plume of Spanish dignity. It
could be gained only by the nobility ; for it then
behoved every knight to prove the gentility of

military orders of KNIGIiTHOOD. 34i9'
his descent, maternal and paternal, for four de- chap.
,-,•,- ^ vli.
grees. The old vows of poverty, obedience, ¦^— <
and conjugal chastity were preserved, with a
mental reservation regarding the two former.
In the year 1652, the knights of St. James
as well as the knights of Calatrava and Alcantara,
in the fervour of their zeal for what they called
religion, added a vow to defend and raaintain
the doctrine of the imraaculate conception of
the Virgin Mary. The people of Madrid were
invited to three churches to witness the taking
of the vows by the knights. After the celebra^
tion ofthe mass a cavalier in tbe narae of all
his brothers pronounced the vow *, and every
one repeated it, placing bis hand on the cross
and the Gospels. And thus an order, which in
its origin was charitable, in its progress patriotic,
had the bright glories of its days of honor sul
lied by superstition, t

The next station in the dignity of rank was Order of
occupied by the knights of Calatrava, who, con
sidering the circumstances of their origin, may

* The Words are these : — Y asi raesmo hago veto, dete-
ner, vote defender, y guardar en publico, y en secreto, que
la Vergen Maria Madre de Dios, y senora nuestra, fue con-
cebida sin raancha de peccato original.
X Favyne. Theat. d'Honneur, 1. 6. c. 5. Carode Torres,
Hist, de las Ordines Mihtares, 1. 1. Mariana, 1. 7- c. 10.

350 THE RELIGIOUS AND
CHAP, be regarded as a raore honourable fraternity

VII

than the brotherhood of St. Jaraes. About the
year 1147, Alfonso King of Spain recovered
frora the Moors the fortress of Calatrava, which
was the key of Toledo. The king coraraitted it
to the charge of the Knights Teraplars. That
noble order of Christian soldiers was then in the
very infancy of its career of honour, and so few
were the red crosses in Spain, that they could
not drive back the swelhng tide of Muselman
power. After retaining it for only eight years,
the Teraplars resigned it into the hands of Don
Sancho, successor of Alfonso, who endeavoured
to secure for it defenders, by proposing to ac
cord Calatrava and its lands in perpetual pos
session to such knights as would undertake the
guarding of the fortress. The chivalry of Spain,
reraembering that the brave militia ofthe Temple
had quailed before the Moors, hung back in
caution and disraay'; and Sancho already saw the
fate of Calatrava sealed in Arabian subjection,
when the cloisters of a convent rang with a
cry of war which was unheard in the baronial
hall.
KnecM. The raouastcry of Santa Maria de Fetero in
valry of a "^
monk. Navarre contained a raonk naraed Diego Ve
lasquez, who had spent the morning of his life in
arms, but afterwards had changed the mailed
frock for a raonastic raantle, for in days of chi-

MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 351
valry, when religion was the raaster spring of ac- ^^^j"^^'
tion, such conversions were easy and natural. —
The gloora of a convent was calculated only to
repress the raartial spirit ; but yet the surround
ing raeraorials of railitary greatness, the armed
warrior in stone, the overhanging banner and
gauntlet, while they proved the frail nature of
earthly happiness, showed what were the sub
jects wherein men wished for fame beyond the
grave. The porap ofthe choir-service, the swel
ling note of exultation in which the victories of
the Jews over the enemies of Heaven were sung,
could not but excite the heart to admiration of
chivalric renown, and in raoraents of enthusiasm
raany a raonk cast his cowl aside, and changed
his rosary for the belt of a knight.
And thus it was with Velasquez. His chi
valric spirit was roused by the call of his king,
and he lighted a flame of military ardor among
his brethren. They implored the superior of
the convent to accept the royal proffer; and the
king, who was at first astonished at the apparent
audacity of the wish, soon recollected -that the
defence of the fortress of Calatrava could not
be achieved by the ordinary exertions of courage,
and he then granted it to the Cistertian order,
and principally to its station at Santa Maria de
Fetero, in Navarre. And the fortress was wisely
betowed ; for not only did the bold spirits ofthe

352

THE RELIGIOUS AND

CHAP, convents keep the Moors at bay in that quarter,

VIL

but the valour of the friars caused raany heroic
knights of Spain to join them. To these banded
raonks and cavaliers the king gave the title of
the Religious Fraternity of Calatrava, and Pope
Alexander III. accepted their vows of po
verty, obedience, and chastity. The new reh
gious order of knighthood, like that of Saint
Jaraes of Compostella, was a noble bulwark of
the Christian kingdom.
Discipline ^ NothinsT could bc more perfect than the sim-
of the or- o r
^"' plicity of the knights of Calatrava. Their dress
was formed frora the coarsest woollen, and the
edges were not like those of many a raonk of the
tirae, purfiled or ornaraented with vair or gris,
or other sorts of rich fur. Their diet, too, re
proached the usual luxury of the raonastery, for
the fruits of the earth sustained thera. They
were silent in the oratory, and the refectory,
one voice only reciting the prayers, or reading
a legend of battle ; but when the first note of
the Moorish atabal was heard by the warder on
the tower, the convent becarae a scene of uni
versal uproar. The caparisoning of steeds, and
the clashing of arraour, broke the repose of the
cloister, while the hurable figure of the monk
was raised into a bold and expanded form of
Fame of dignity and power. Through all the mighty
efforts of the Christians for the recovery of their

MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 353
throne, the firm and dense array of the knights chap.
¦^ . VIL
of Calatrava never was tardy in appearing on 
the field ; but the kingdom, as its power and
splendour increased, overshadowed the soldiers
of every religious order of chivalry. The grand
raastership of the Calatrava fraternity became
annexed to the thrones of Castile and Leon by
the decree of Pope Innocent VIII., and the
Kings of Spain kept alive the chivalry of their
nation by using the crosses and other emblems
of the ancient knighthood as signs of mihtary
raerit. *
Inferior in dignity and power to both these Order of
orders was the order of Alcantara. It was
forraed soon after the establishing of the frater
nity of Saint James of Compostella, at a town
called Saint Julian of the Pear-tree, near Ciudad
Rodrigo. The ancient badge was a pear-tree, in
allusion to the origin of the order. The knights
of the Pear-tree were so poor in worldly estate
and consideration, that the knights of Cala
trava took them under their protection, and gave
them the town of Alcantara. The knights of
the Pear-tree then quitted their humble title fbr a
narae of loftier sound, though ideas of depend-
* Mennenius, Delic. Equest. p. 99, &c. Marquez Tesoro
Milit. de Cavale., p. 286. Favyn, Theat. de I'Honneur,
lib. 6.
VOL. I. A A

354 THE RELIGIOUS AND
CHAP, ence were associated with it. For nearly two
VII.
— ¦' centuries the cavaliers of Alcantara remained
the vassals and retainers of the knights of Ca
latrava ; but the spirit of independence gradu
ally rose with their prowess in the field ; and
about the year 1412 their raartial array was led
to battle by their own grand master. Until the
union of the Spanish crowns in the persons of
Ferdinand and Isabella, they rivalled their
former lords and the knights of Saint Jaraes in
power and rank: the crown then placed thera
within its own control, and like the other fra
ternities, the raain object of whose institution
had been the expulsion of the Moors frora Spain,
the cross of the order of Alcantara became a
mere decoration of nobility.*
Knights of Co-existent with these reliffious brotherhoods
our Lady "
of Mercy, was a charitable establishraent, which completed
the blessings of chivalry in Spain. Experience
of the wretchedness of imprisonraent taught
Jaraes I. of Arragon to sympathise with the
hapless fate of others ; and about the year
1218 he associated several vahant knights and
pious ecclesiastics in Barcelona, whose whole
thoughts and cares were to have for their chief

* Mennen. Dehc. Equest. p. 102, &c. Miraeus, and Fr.
Caro de Torres, in locis.

MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 355
end and aim the applying ofthe ahns ofthe cha- chap.
ritable towards the liberation of Christian captives. —
Knights of our Lady of Mercy was their title ; and
every cavalier at his inauguration professed his
heart's resolve to observethe vows of chastity, obe
dience, and poverty, to apply the whole energies
of his raind and feelings to succour such of
his unhappy countryraen as, by the chance of
battle, were in Moorish prisons, and if necessary
to reraain a slave in the hands of the Saracens
rather than abandon his duty of procuring the
rederaption of captives. The general course of
their lives was directed by the rule of Saint Be
nedict, for a knight as a raonk, —
" When he is reckless, *
Is like to a fish that is waterless." f
So zealous were the Spaniards in promoting the
noble objects of this order, that within the first
six years of its institution no less than four hun
dred captives were ransomed. Originally the
government of the order was in the hands of
the knights, afterwards the priests obtained a
share ofthe command, and finally they Usurped
it altogether, a matter of little reprehension,
considering that the purpose of the institution
* Without rule.
f Chaucer's Prologue to the Canterbury Tales.
A A 2

356 THE RELIGIOUS AND
CHAP, had no military features. After the complete
— '- triumph of the Christian cause the scene of
charity was changed frora Spain to Africa ; and
it is curious to observe, that the order sullied
the irapartiality of its principle by releasing first
the raonks who had fallen into the hands of the
African Moors, and then, but not before, the
laity.*
Knights of Superstition as well as charity gave birth to
St. Michael. ^ r> i i i i t^i
sorae religious orders of knighthood. ihe
Knights of the Wing of Saint Michael, in Por
tugal, a very honourable order in chivalric times,
had their origin in the opinion of Alfonso, King
of Portugal, that Saint Michael the Archangel
assisted him in II7I to gain a great victory over
the Moors. Only persons of noble birth could
be adraitted members of this order. The
knights lived in their monastery agreeably
to the rule of Saint Benedict. Their most anx
ious care in private life was to discharge the chi
valric duty of protecting widows and orphans,
and when they marched into the field of battle,
the support of the Catholic faith was the motto
on their standard, t

* Reman, Hist. Gen. de la Ordere de la Mercie, passim.
Mennen. Del. Eq. p. 107.
•j- Marquez, Tesoro Milit. 35, &c.

MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 357
But it would be profitless to pursue the subject ; chap.
fbr the religious orders of knighthood are only —
worthy of enquiry as far as they are connected
with the defence of the Holy Land, and the ex
pulsion of the Moors from Spain.
" Turn we now all the matere,
And speke we of"
the military orders founded in imitation of those Military
whose history has just been related; not that I
shall transcribe their statutes or paint their cos
tume, — such matters belong to the herald. It is
the part of the historian to notice their existence,
to trace the principles which gave rise to thera,
and to raark such parts of their rules or their
annals as reflect the state of raanners.
Though knights were often created before
battle, for the purpose of stimulating; thera to
achieve high exploits, yet many were invested
after they had fought, and proved theraselves
worthy of their spurs. But knighthood was so
rauch diffused through society, that it almost
ceased to be a distinction ; and kings and other
rulers who wished to shew their power or their
gratitude were obliged to give a new form to
chivalric dignity. The rehgious orders of
knighthood presented a fair example of the be-
a a 3

358

THE RELIGIOUS AND

CHAP, nefits of close fraternity; and as those societies
VII. ....
- — often gave a patriotic direction to chivalric feel
ings, so kings found the orders of military merit
which they established admirable means of unit
ing in a bond of brotherhood their high-spirited
nobles. When Louis, King of Hungary, avenged
the murder of his brother Andrew, he endea
voured to unite the Hungarian and Neapolitan
nobles by associating thera in a fraternity called
the Order of the Knot. The order did not live
long. There were some singular provisions in
this order of the Knot: there was to be an
annual meeting of the knights on the day of
Pentecost; and each knight was obliged to deliver
to the chaplain of the order a written account of
his adventures in the preceding year. The
chaplain delivered it to the king and council,
who ordered such parts as they approved of to
be registered in the great book of the or
der. The order of the Argonautes of Saint
Nicholas, at Naples, was instituted by Charles
the Third, for the avowed purpose of fraternising
his lords ; and in the year 1579, when indeed
the days of chivalry may be considered as past,
the order of the Holy Ghost was established in
France : the friendly union of the nobility and
prelates of the land was declared to be a great
purpose of the order. The throne of France

MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD.

359

had already been strengthened by the order of ^^j^-^"
Saint Michael, founded about a century before by —
Louis XI., to draw the affections ofthe nobility
to himself.
Knights who were associated under one title,
and lived under one code of regulations, were in
truth corapanions in arms ; and, like any two ca
valiers who had vowed to live in brotherhood,
the banded knights were united fbr weal or woe,
^nd were bound to assist each other with council
and arms, as if a perfect comraunity of interest
existed. This was the general principle, but
it was relaxed in favour of knights of foreign
countries. Kings frequently interchanged or
ders, stipulating at the sarae time that in case of
war they should be at liberty to return them.
Instances of this nature occur repeatedly in the
history of the middle ages ; and in the last days
of chivalry the principle ofthe companionship of
knights was very artfully applied by Henrv VIL
to the support of his own avarice. The French
king wished to borrow from him a sum of
money in order to prosecute a war with the King
of Naples ; but Henry replied that he could not
with honour aid any prince against the sovereign
of Naples, who had received the Garter, and
was therefore his companion and ally. To give
such assistance would be to act contrary to the
A A 4

360 THE RELIGIOUS AND
CHAP, oath which he had taken to observe the statutes
VIL • — of the order. *
The rewarding of noble achieveraents in the
higher classes of society was a principle that ran
through all the martial orders, but they were not
exclusively aristocratic when simple knighthood
fell into disuse, and the railitary brotherhood
Imitations represented the ancient chivalry. These associ-
ligious or- ations of merit adopted raany of the principles
and usages of the religious orders of knighthood.
Instanced in Notwithstandine; the real causes of their found-
the Garter . ...
order. ation, rcligious objects were always set forth.
Fraternisation and the reward of military merit
were undoubtedly the reasons for instituting
the most noble order of the Garter ; and yet in
the statutes the exaltation of the holy faith. Ca
tholic, is declared to be the great purpose of the
brotherhood. This is expressed in the statutes
of the order promulgated in the reign of Henry
the Eighth, and the words are evidently copied
from earlier authorities, f As the exaltation of
* Caligula. D. 6. in Bib. Cott. (cited in Anstis, Register
of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, vol. i. p. 66.)
" Que le Roy ne povoit avec son honneur bailler aide et
assistence a icelluy son bon frere et cousin a I'encontre du
Roy de Naples, qui estoit son confrere et allye, veu et
considere qu'il avoit prins et receu I'ordre de la Jarretiere.
Et si le roi autrement faisoit ce seroit contrevenir au ser-
ment, qu'il a fait par les statuz du dit ordre," &c.
f This assertiorj may be supported by some lines in a

MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 361
the Roman Catholic religion is certainly not in chap.
° •' VII.
the minds of the modern merabers of the Garter, — —
I raay adduce these facts in proof of ray position
in an early part of this chapter, that the orders of
knighthood have always been flexible to the
change of society.
The raihtary, like the religious orders, had
their establishments of priests. Thus, to the
knights companions of the Garter were added a
prelate, a chancellor, and the chapel of Saint
George at Windsor, with its dean and chapter.
Prayers and thanksgivings were perpetually to
be offered to heaven, and masses were ordered
to be celebrated for the souls of deceased com
panions. Some military orders, like their reli
gious exemplars, forgot not the promotion of
charitable objects, and Edward the Third, with
particular propriety, connected with that raost
noble order which he founded, a nuraber of

poem which Chaucer addressed to the Lords and Knights of
the Garter. He says to them,
" Do forth, do forth, continue your succour.
Hold up Christ's banner, let it not fall."
And again :
" Ye Lordis eke, shining in noble fame.
To which appropred is the maintenance"
Of Christ 'is cause ; in honour of his name.
Shove on, and put his foes to utterance."

362 THE RELIGIOUS AND
CHAP, poor or alms-kijights, men who through adverse
— • fortune were brought to that extremity, that
they had not of their own wherewith to sustain
them, or live so richly and nobly as became a
railitary condition. *
Every railitary fraternity had a cross of sorae
shape or other araong its emblems. To the
highest order of merit in England a cross, as
well as a garter, was assigned ; but the silver star "
of eight points, which Charles I. with so little
propriety, and with such wretched taste, cora
raanded the knights to wear, renders insigniflcant
the original chivalric designation of the order.
The associations of nobles were always ex
pressed to have been forraed to the honor of
God, or of sorae of his saints. Thus, even in
the present days, a knight of the Garter is ad-
raonished at his installation to wear the symbols
of his order, that, by the imitation of the blessed
martyr and soldier of Christ, Saint George, he
may be able to overpass both adverse and pros
perous adventures ; and that, having stoutly
vanquished his enemies, both of body and soul,
he raay not only receive the praise of this tran
sitory corabat, but be crowned with the palm
of eternal victory.
* Ashmole on the Garter, c. iv. s. 5.

MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD.

363

Considering the fact that many of the honours ^^ft^-
of the present day have a chivalric form, we — -
r J Pew of the
might expect that most of our military orders present or-
could be traced to the splendid times of knight- chiTainc
hood. Attempts to prove so high an .origin have '""^'°'
been often made. Knights of the order called
the Most Ancient Order of the Thistle justiy
think that a foundation in the sixteenth century
scarcely raerits so august a title. They have
ascended, therefore, to the days of Chaiieraagne
hiraself; and, boasting an union between their
king Fergus and that eraperor, have contended
that the order of the Thistle was founded to
corameraorate the glorious event. The sup
porters of this hypothesis tread with timid' steps
the sombre walks of antiquity ; others, with
bolder march, have ascended several centuries
higher, and fancied that they saw a great battle
between the Scots and the English, when the
former won the victory by the aid of Saint An
drew, and that an equestrian order, properly
called the Order of St. Andrew, and vul
garly, the Order of the Thistle, was founded.
With equal extravagance, the order of St. Mi
chael, in France, pretends to the possession of
a regular descent frora Michael the Archangel,
who, according to the enlightened judgraent of
French antiquarians, was the premier chevalier in
the world, and it was he, they say, who established

364

THE RELIGIOUS AND

CHAP. VII.

Order of
the Bath,

the earliest chivalric order in Paradise itself. But,
in simple truth, the order of Saint Michael was
founded by Louis XL, King of France in the
year 1469, and the narae of Michael was used,
for he stood as high in favour in France as Saint
George did in England. Except the orders of
the Garter and the Golden Fleece, the one
established in 1344, the other in 1429, and the
order of St. Michael already raentioned, a chi
valric origin cannot be successfully claimed for
any of the institutions of knighthood. Thus, the
order of Saint Stephen was founded in 1561, that
of Saint Michael, in Germany, in 1618, and those
ofthe Holy Ghost in 1579, and of Saint Louis
in 1693 ; and none of these years dates with the
age of chivalry. A view, therefore, of most of
the military orders that now flourish comes not
within the scope of the present work. On one
of thera, however, a few words raay be said,
England, above all other countries, can pride
herself on the chivalric nature of her railitary
rewards ; for her Most Honourable Order of
the Bath is a revival of an institution of chivalry,
while her Most Noble Order of the Garter has
suffered no suspension of its dignity. In tracing
the progress of chivalry in England, I shall
show that the knighthood of the Bath was an
honour distinct frora that which constituted the
ordinary knighthood of the sword ; and that

MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGH^FHOOD. 363^
from very early times to the days of Charles II. chap. VII.
it was conferred on occasions of certain august — '-
solemnities, with great state, upon the royal
issue male, the princes of the blood-royal, seve
ral ofthe nobility, principal officers, and other
persons distinguished by their birth, quality,
and personal merit. George I., in the year 1727>
not only revived that order of knighthood, but
converted it into a regular military order.
The curious ceremonies regarding the Bath
itself were dispensed with ; but in many other
respects the imitation was sufficiently exact. It
was ordained that a banner of each knight was
to be placed over, and a plate of his crest, hel
met, and sword, was to be afiixed to his stall in
the chapel of Henry VII. in Westrainster Abbey.
All the roraantic associations of early tiraes were
pleasingly attended to ; for on the seal of the
order were to be represented three iraperial
crowns Or, being the arras usually ascribed to
the renowned King Arthur. The lady-love of
chivalric times was to be coraraeraorated in
the collar ; for its seventeen knobs, enamelled
white, which linked imperial crowns of gold
and thistles, were intended to represent the
white laces mentioned in the ancient ceremo
nial of conferring knighthood of the Bath, and
which were worn till the knight had achieved
some high emprise, or till they had been removed

366

THE RELIGIOUS AND

CHAP. vn.

by the hand of some fair and noble lady. The
collar, however, is an honorary distinction of
the order, whereas the white laces were regarded
as a stigma. The form of the old oath was also
strictly preserved, even with the singular clause
that a knight would defend maidens, widows,
and orphans, in their rights ; and, as it had been
said in old times, a newly-made corapanion was
admonished to use his sword to the glory of
God, the defence of the Gospel, the maintenance
of his sovereign's right and honour, and of all
equity and justice, to the utraost of his power.
At the close of the ceremony, and without the
door ofthe abbey, the king's master-cook made
the usual admonition to hira, viz. " Sir, you
know what great oath you have taken ; which,
if you keep it, will be great honour to you ; but
if you break it, I shall be corapelled, by ray of
fice, to hack off your spurs frora your heels."

Dormant
orders.

Of those orders, which are either dorraant or
extinct, the account needs only be brief; for
their history contains little raatter that is either
fanciful or instructive. An enlightened curi
osity could find no satisfaction in investigating
the annals of the extinct order of Saint An
thony of Hainault, or of the order of the
Sword of Cyprus, and a thousand others, whose
history, presenting only a list of grand raasters.

MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 367
and the cereraonies of knightly inauguration, chap.

VII.

rules.

adds nothing to our pleasure or our knowledge.
A few exceptions raay be raade to this opinion, order of
In the year 1330 Alphonso XL, King of Spain,
attached raany of the nobility to his interests by
founding an order of raerit, which from the cir
cumstance of every knight wearing a red ribbon
three inches broad across the breast and shoulder
was called the order of the Band or Scarf. Sorae
of the rules of the institution are exceedingly
interesting, as reflecting the state of manners
and opinions in Spain during the fourteenth
century. Not only were the duties of patrio- its singular
tism and loyalty inculcated by the statutes of
the order, but, singular as it may seem in. the
history of Spain, virtue was to be cultivated at
court, for every knight was charged to speak
nothing but truth to his sovereign, and to abhor
dissiraulation and flattery. He was not to be
silent whenever any person spoke against the
king's honour, upon pain of being banished from
the court, and deprived of his band : but he was
to be always ready to address the king for the
general good of the country, or on the particular
affairs of any individual ; and supposing that his
patriotic virtue might be checked by his at
tachment to his sovereign, the punishment for
neglecting this duty was a forfeiture of all his
patrimony, and perpetual banishment. Of the

368 THE RELIGIOUS AND
CHAR two extreraes, taciturnity was to be preferred to
— '- loquaciousness : he was to be rather " checked
for silence" than " taxed for speech ;" and if in
his conversation he uttered an untruth, he was to
walk in the streets without a sword for a month.
He was bound to keep his faith to whomever
he had pledged it ; but he was to associate only
with men of martial rank, despising the convers
ation of mechanics and artisans.
Every knight was enjoined always to have
good armour in his chamber, good horses in his
stable, good lances in his hall, and a good sword
by his side ; nor was he to be mounted upon any
mule nor other unseeraly hackney, uor to walk
abroad without his band, nor to enter the king's
palace without his sword ; and he was to avoid
all ascetic practices, for he was particularly
enjoined not to eat alone. The vices of flattery
and of scoffing were to be shunned ; and the
penalty for coraraitting them was for the knight
to walk on foot for a raonth, a,nd to be confined
to his house for another raonth. Boasting and
repining were both prohibited : the reproof of
the grand raaster and the neglect of hira by his
companions were to punish the offender. A
knight was not permitted to coraplain of any
hurt * ; and even while he was being mangled
* This rule did not escape Cervantes. " If I do not cora
plain of the pain," says Don Quixote, after the disastrous

MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 369
by the surgeons of the times, he was to deport chap.
liimself with stoical firmness. In walking, 
either in the court or the city, the gait of the
knight was to be slow and solemn ; and he
was exhorted to preserve a discreet and grave
demeanour, when any vain and foolish person
mocked at and- scorned him.
Chivalric duties to women were more insisted Duties to
upon in this order than in any other. If a knight
instituted an action against the daughter of a
brother-knight, no lady or gentlewoman of the
court would ever afterwards be his lady-love, or
wife. If he happened, when he was riding, to
meet any lady or gentlewoman of the court
it was his duty to alight from his horse, and
tender her his service, upon pain of losing a
month's wages and the favour of all dames and
darasels. The circurastance was scarcely con
ceived to be possible, but the statutes of the
order, to provide for every iraaginable as well

chahce of the windmills, " it is because a knight-errant
must never complain of his wounds, though his bowels were
dropping out through them." — " Then I have no more to
say," quoth Sancho ; " and yet, heaven knows my heart, I
should be glad to hear your worship hone a httle now and
then when something ails you ; for my part, I shall not fail
to bemoan rayself when I suffer the smallest pain, unless, ¦
indeed, it can be proved, that the rule of not complaining
extends to the squires as well as knights.'' Don Quixote,
part i. book 1. c. 8.
VOL. T. B B

370

THE RELIGIOUS AND

CHAP, every probable offence, decreed that be who
— '- refused to perform any service which a fair lady
commanded should be branded with the title.
The Discourteous Knight.
The statutes echoed the voice of nature in all
her appeals to the heart ; and thus every cavalier
was enjoined to select from the ladies of the
court sorae one upon whom his affections might
rest, some one who was to be to him hke a light
leading him forward in the noble path of chi
valry. There was no penalty for disobedience
to this command, for disobedience seems to
have been thought impossible. All the higher
acts of chivalric devotion to his lady-love were
presumed to be performed by the knight ; and to
show that his daily duties to his Order were to
give way to his attention to his mistress, it was
comraanded that whenever she pleased to walk,
he was to attend upon her on foot or on horse
back, to do her all possible honour and service.
When by his valiant feats against the Moors he
had proved himself worthy of her love, the day
of his marriage was a festival with his brother-
knights, who made rich presents to the lady,
and honoured the nuptials witli cavaleresque
games and shows. Nor did this generous con
sideration for woman stop here ; for when a
knight died, his surviving brothers were bound
to solicit the King to make such grants of land

MILITARY ORDERS OF KXIGHTHOOD. 371
and raoney to the family as would enable the chap.
. . vn.
widow to maintain her wonted state, and would • —
furnish the marriage-portions of his daughters.
The band of the deceased knight was, agree
ably to the general usage of the military orders,
to be re-delivered to the king, who was to be so
licited to bestow it upon one of the sons of its
last wearer. The king was to select the knights
from among the younger sons of men of station
in the country, but no elder brother or other
heir-apparent could be received ; for it was the
purpose of the founder to advance the fortunes
of the nobly born, but indifferently provided,
gentlemen of his court. Only one species of ex
ception was made to this form of introduction.
The honor of the order was conferred upon any
stranger-knight who overcarae one of the com
panions in the joust or tournament. This re
gulation was made for the general honor of
chivalry, and the proraotion of noble chevisance
among the knights of the band. It was a bold
defiance, and was seldom answered. *
The order of Bourbon, called of the Thistle,
and of Our Lady, must not pass unnoticed. It
was instituted at Moulins, in the Bourbonnois,
in the year 1370, by Louis II., Duke of Bour
bon, who was naraed, on account of his virtues,
the Good Duke. It had for its object the winning
* Favyn, lib. vi. Mariana, lib. xvi. c. 2,
B B f

372 THE RELIGIOUS AND
CHAP, of honor by acts of chivalry. The device of
— ' the order was a golden shield ; and when it was
given to knights they were exhorted to live as
brethren, and die for each other if occasion
should require it. They were told that every
good action which beseemed chivalry ought to
be performed by the knights of Bourbon. Above
all things, they were exhorted to honor ladies,
not perraitting any raan to speak slanderous raat
ters of thera, because, after God, coraes frora
thera all honor which raen can acquire. No
thing could be raore base than to vilify that sex
which had not the strength to redress its wrongs.
The knights were charged not to speak evil of
each other, for that was the foulest vice which
a nobleraan or gentleraan could be taxed with ;
and in conclusion, as the suraraary of their duty,
they were exhorted to practise faith and loyalty,
and to respect each other as becarae knights of
praise and virtue. *
Strange Xhc occaslous of the titles of raany of the
titles of •'
orders. railitary orders are raore interesting than a view
of the external raarks of their chivalry. Not
withstanding the haughtiness of knighthood, one
ofthe raost celebrated orders- took its name from
no chivalric source. The order was instituted by
* Favyn, lib. iii. c. 12.

MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 373
Philip Duke of Burgundy, who named the frater- chap.
nity the Knights of the Golden Fleece, in gratitude —
to the trade in woollens by which he and his family
had been so much enriched. In the fifteenth
century, the order of the Porcupine was highly
celebrated in France ; and it was furnished with
its singular title from the fancy of the founder
(Louis Duke of Orleans, second son of Charles V.
King of France), that by such a sign he should
commemorate the fact, that he had been aban
doned by his friends in adversity, and that he
was able to defend himself by his own weapons.
While the Porcupine was a favourite order in
France, that of the Dragon-overthrown was
famous in Germany; and by this ferocious title,
the Emperor Sigismond intended to express his
conquest over heresy and scliism. The Dukes
of Mantua fancied that they possessed three
drops of our Saviour's blood ; and an order of
knighthood was instituted in the year 1608,
which took for its title the order ofthe Precious
Blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ, at Mantua.
The chivalric nations of Europe attached as Fabulous
rauch consequence to orders which existed only
in their own fervid iraagination as to those whose
lineage was certain. To Constantine the Great
was ascribed the honor of inventing the first
railitary order of knighthood. The great cap-
B B 3

374 The religious and
chap, tains of his court were said to have been asso-
VII.
— '¦ ciated under the title of the order of the Con-
stantinian Angelic Knights of Saint George,
that Saint being in Greece, as well as in England,
the patron of military men. The grand-master
ship resided in the Imperial family. After the
fall of the Eastern empire, the order passed into
Italy ; and the knights of tliat country imagined
the existence of papal bulls, which permitted
the grand masters to sit at the same table with
the Popes, to coin money, and to confer titles of
honor, whether in nobility or learning, and ex
ercise every prerogative of independent princes.
But it would be in vain to enquire after the names
of any of these mensal corapanions ofthe Pope ;
and no cabinet of curiosities contains any coins
which they struck in attestation of their power.
The memory of Charles Martel's great victory
over the Moors was preserved in the middle
ages of France, by the belief that the conqueror
had established an order of knighthood called
the Order of the Gennet ; and lists of cavaliers
were drawn out, and statutes imagined, attesting
only the love of the French fbr chivalric dis
tinctions. The Spaniards delighted to imagine
that their early victories over the Moors were
coraraeraorated by an order called the Order of
the Oak in Navarre, and founded on occasion
ofthe Holy Cross, adored by an infinite nuraber

MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 375
of angels, appearing to a Gothic chief who led chap.
the Christians. — '-
But of all these imaginary orders none is so The Round
interesting as that of the Round Table, instituted
by Uther Pendragon, King of Great Britain, and
which reached its perfection of raartial glory in
the reign of his son Arthur. While our ancient
historians exaggerated into heroism the patriotic
efforts of the last of the British kings, the min
strels who sang in the baronial halls superadded
the charms of chivalric circumstance. Since
the time of Adam, God hath not made a man
more perfect than Arthur, was the favourite opi
nion ; and when his remains were discovered iu
the Abbey of Glastonbury, in the year 1189,
the people from their idea that prowess always
corresponded with size of limb fancied that hi&
bones were of gigantic frame..*
* Giraldus says, that the leg-bone of Arthur was three
fingers longer than that of the tallest man present at the
opening. Selden, in his Illustrations of Drayton, gives a very
interesting account of the discovery of Great Artiiur's tomb.
"Henry II., in his expedition towards Ireland, was entertained
by the way, in Wales, with bardish songs, wherein he
heard it affirmed, that in Glastonbury (made almost an isle
by the river's embracements) Arthur was buried betwixt
two pillars ; he gave commandment to Henry of Blois,
then abbot, to make search for the corpse ; which was found
in a wooden coffin sorae sixteen foote deepe ; but, after
thay had digged nine foot, they found a stone, on whose
lower side was fixt a leaden cross with his name inscribed,
B B 4

376 THE RELIGIOUS AND
CHAP. The court of Arthur was supposed to be the
- — seminary of military discipline of knights of all
countries ; and it was thought that his hundred
and fifty * good companions felt it their chief de
voir to protect widows, maidens, and orphans t.

and the letter-side of it turned to the stone. He was then
honored with a suraptuous raonument; and, afterwards, the
skulls of him and his wife Guinever were taken out (to
remain as separate reliques and spectacles) by Edward
Longshanks and Eleanor. The bards sang, that, after the
battle of Camlan, in Cornwall, where traitorous Mordred
was slain, and AVthur wounded, Morgan le Fay conveyed
the body hither to cure it; which done, Arthur is to
return (yet expected) to the rule of his country.''
* At the high feast, evermore, there should be fulfilled
the hole number of an hundred and fifty, for then was the
Round Table fully accomplished. Morte d'Arthur, lib. vii.
c. 1.
f The general objects of the knights of the Round Table
are exceedingly well stated in the following fine passage of
genuine, expressive old Enghsh : — " Then King Arthur
stablished all his knights, and to them that were of lands
not rich he gave them lands, and charged them never to
do outrageouste, nor raurder, and always to flee treason.
Also by no means to be cruel, but to give mercy unto hira
that asketh raercy, upon pain of forfeiture of their worship
and lordships to King Arthur, for evermore ; and always to
do ladies, darasels, and gentleworaen, succour, upon pain of
death. Also, that no man take no battles in a wrongful
quarrel for no law, nor for no world's goods. Unto this
were all the knights sworn ofthe table round, both old and
young. And every year were they sworn at the high feast
of Pentecost." Morte d'Arthur, lib. iv. c. last.

MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 377
not only in England, but in every country whi- chap.
ther they might be invited. They were cham- —
pions of the public weal, and like lions repulsed
the enemies of their country. It was their duty
to advance the reputation of honor, and suppress
all vice, to relieve people afflicted by adverse
fortune, to fight for holy church, and pro
tect pilgrims. They were likewise supposed to
be enjoined to bury soldiers that wanted sepul
ture, to deliver prisoners, ransom captives, and
heal men who had been wounded in the service
of chivalry and their country. Independently
of these patriotic and humane charges, theywere
thought to have formed a standing court for the
redress of injuries ; for Arthur, in case of any
complaint being laid before hira, was bound to
send one of his knights to redress it.
The virtues of the knights of the Bound
Table were the mirror in which the chivalry of
England arrayed themselves. These virtues are sir Laun-
adrairably described in the laraentation of Sir
Ector over the dead body of Sir Launcelot of the
Lake, the prowest of all the corapanions of
Arthm': — " Thou wert never matched of none
earthly knight's hands ; and thou wert the cur-
tiest knight that ever bare shield ; and thou
wert the truest friend to thy lover that ever be
strode horse ; and thou wert ihe truest lover
of a sinful man that ever loved woman ; and

378

THE RELIGIOUS AND

^'vi"^^' *'^^" ^^^"^^^ *^^ kindest man that ever struck
 with sword ; and thou wert the goodliest per
son that ever came ainong press of knights ;
and thou wert the raeekestman and the gentlest
that ever ate in hall araong ladies ; and thou
wert the sternest knight to thy mortal foe that
ever put spere in the rest." * Next in rank to
Sir Launcelot was his friend Sir Tristram, the
history of whose emprises and love entered so
largely into the fancies and conversation of our
ancestors. Then came Sir Gawaine, a nephew of
Arthur, the bright exemplar of courtesy, the vir
tue which was so highly prized in chivalric times.
Chaucer raakes a very pleasing allusion to him
in his Squire's Tale. Describing the entrance of
, the strange knight, our old bard says that he
" Salueth king and lordes alle
By order as they sat in the hall,
With so high reverence and observance,
As well in speech as in his countenance,
That Gawain with his old courtesy,
Though he were come agen out of faerie,
Ne coude him not amenden with a word." *
The most prominent of all the chivalric vir
tues which the institutions of Arthur shadowed
forth was that of fraternity : for it was believed
* Morte d'Arthur, lib. ult. cap. ult.

MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 379
that round one vast and mysterious table, the chap.
gift of the enchanter Merlin, Arthur and all his 
peerage sat in perfect equality ; and to this idea
may be traced the circurastance that the friendly
familiarity of a chivalric round table broke down
the iron distinctions of feudal haughtiness, and not
only "mitigated kings into companions, but raised
private raen to be fellows with kings." Localities
unlock the gates of raeraory, whether the stores
within be treasured there by iraagination or the
sterner powers of the raind ; and with a more
serious interest than that with which the modern
traveller follows Don Quixote in the Sierra
Morena our ancestors were wont to mark
Winchester and Windsor, Camelot in Somerset
shire, Carlion in Monmouthshire, where
" Uther's son,
Begirt with British and Armoric knights,"
held his solemn feasts about the Round Table.
Many of the orders whose histories fill the Orderofthe
,. , 1-11 11 1- Stocking.
pages of works on knighthood have no claims to
their places ; for they were only associations of
cavaliers without royal or pontifical authority, and
wearing no badge or cross, except in the imagina
tion ofthe writer. Only one of these fraternities
raerits mention here. The Society de la Calza
(of the Stocking) was formed at Venice in the

380 THE RELIGIOUS AND

CHAP, year 1400, to the honor of the inauguration of
— '- the Doge, Michele Steno. The employments of
the merabers were conversation and festivity ;
and so splendid were the entertainments of music
and dancing, that the gay spirits of other parts
of Italy anxiously solicited the honor of seats in
the society. All their statutes regarded only
the ceremonies of the ball or the theatre ; and
the members being resolved on their rigorous
performance, took an oath in a church to that
tendency. They had banners and a seal like an
authorised order of knighthood. Their dress
was as splendid and elegant as Venetian luxury
and taste could fashion it; and, consistently with
the singular custom of the Italians of marking
academies and other intellectual associations by
some external signs of folly, the members when
they met in literary discussion were distinguished
by the colours of their stockings. The colours
were sometimes fantastically blended, and at
other times one colour, particularly the blue, pre
vailed. The Society de la Calza lasted till the
the year 1590*, when the foppery of Italian
Origin of literature took sorae other symbol. The rei ected
the phrase _ •' "^
Blue Stock- title then crossed the Alps, and found a conge
nial soil in the flippancy and literary triflings of
Parisian society, and particularly branded female
* Ashmole, p. 105.

MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 381
pedantry as the strongest feature in the character ^^i^^-
of French pretension. It diverged from France —
to England, and for a while marked the vanity
of the sraall advances in literature of our female
coteries. But the propriety of its application
is now gradually ceasing ; for we see in every
circle that attainments in literature can be accora
plished with no loss of womanly modesty. It is
in this country, above all others, that knowledge
asserts her right of general dorainion, or con
tends that if she be the sustaining energy of one
sex, she forras the lighter charm, the graceful
drapery ofthe other.

38^

CHAP. VIIL

PR0GR1;SS OF CHIVALRY IN ENGLAND,
FROM THE NORMAN CONQUEST TO THE CLOSE OF THE
REIGN OF EDWARD II.

Chivalry connected with Feudalism  Stipendiary Knights
 Knighthood a compulsory Honour . . . . ^Finelnstarwe
of Chivalry in the Reign of Edward I.  Effect of Chi
valry in Stephen's Reign  Troubadours and Ro
mance Writers in the Reign of Henry II.  Chivalric
Manners ofthe Time  Cceur de Lion thefrst Chi
valric King  His Knightly Bearing  John and
Henry III.  Edwardi.  His Gallantry at a
Tournament  His unchivalric Cruelties  He pos
sessed 7io knightly Courtesy  Picture of ancient Man
ners  Edward II.  Chivalric Circumstance in the
Battle of Bannockburn  Singular Effect of Chivalry
in the Reign of Edwai'd II.
CHAP. In the first chapter we traced, by the help of
— the few lights which yet reraain, the rise of chi
valry in Europe. We may now raark its pro
gress, and, in order to avoid the inconvenience
of frequent transitions, it will be better to fol
low the historical train in each chivalric country,
than to attempt to forra one general collection

PROGRESS OF CHIVALRV IN ENGLAND. 383
of knightly events. And first, of its influence chap.
in England. — •'
Many chivalric principles and custoras were
known to the Anglo-Saxons *, and affected, in
some degree, the character ofthe nation, t Many
of the elements of chivalry were brought into
England by the Normans, and, in the course of
time, they were framed, by the energy which
was involved in thera, into a fair and noble sys
tem. The adventurousness of knighthood com
ported well with a people who, quitting the in
hospitable shores of Scandinavia, had impressed
their conquests on France, Italy, and even
Greece. The Norman nation was one vast
brotherhood, and therefore it was natural for
them to nourish the principles of chivalric fra
ternity. I It is recorded of thera that they
brought frora the north a love of splendor, and

» Pp. 5.9. 11,. ante.
X The exact degree of this influence it is irapossible to
ascertain now. The author of the roraance of Ivanhoe
appears to deny it altogether ; and while he represents the
Normans as perfectly chivalric, he describes, for the sake
of contrast, the Anglo-Saxons as totally unadorned with
the graces of knighthood. This is a sacrifice of historic
truth to dramatic effect, and materially detracts frora the
merit of Ivanhoe as a faithful picture of ancient raanners.
X Glaber Rod. e. 5.

384 PROGRESS OF CHIVALRY
CHAP, having: learnt courtesy of manner from the
VIII. — " French, they were fitted to admire the shows and
the gallantry of knighthood. * They affected,
indeed, to despise the religious parts ofthe Saxon
ceremonies of initiation into knighthood, but
they soon adopted them ; for we find that
William Rufus himself was knighted by Arch
bishop Lanfrank. t
fonneited Chivahy became established as part of the
with feu-, national constitution when William the Con-
dalism. queror divided the country into about sixty
thousand knights' fees, with the tenure of mili
tary service. The clergy, as well as the laity,
were compelled to furnish armed knights, on
horseback, as the price of their possessions,
when the king went abroad against his enemies ;
and, consequently, knights became attached to
every ecclesiastical foundation. These servants
of the church were generally younger members
of baronial farailies ; and as there was constant
occasion for them, chivalry became a railitary
profession. In England, as in every country,
the feudal array was found insufficient for fo
reign wars, and wide-spread doraestic rebellions ;
for few contests could be finished in forty days, ¦ —
* Snorre. Malrasbury, p. IV^.
t Ingulf, p. 512. Order. Vit. p. 460, 463, &c. Malms
bury, passim. Dudo, p. 82.

IN ENGLAND. ."J8.5
and that was the brief space which, in the chap.
earhest simplicity of feudal times, had been  "
fixed for the duration of military service. As
petty states swelled into kingdoms, and their
public operations became extensive, many a
raartial enterprise was broken up before achieve
raent, because the tirae of service had expired.
So frequent were the cahs on the holders of
knights' fees, that they were glad to compromise
for attendance by pecuniary penalties. The
sovereigns were exorbitant in their exactions,
in order to be able to pay the stipendiary sub- ^^^^"f"^
stitutes ; but one ofthe most important provisions
of Magna Charta gave to parliaraent alone the
power of iraposing this escuage or railitary tax. *
When the custom of escuage arose is a matter
which no antiquarian researches have settled.
The clause in Magna Charta shows not only
its existence, but its being used as an instrument
of tyranny ; and under this aspect of chivalric
history, the reign of John is iraportant. Most
of these stipendiary subsidiaries were knights,
with their equipraents of raen-at-arms and
archers ; and the sovereign was accustoraed to
contract with his barons for, their attendance
upon hira in his foreign expeditions. Chivalry
and feudal tenure were, therefore, no longer
* Magna Charta, cl. xiv.
VOL. I. c e

386 PROGRESS OF CHIVALRY
CHAP, convertible terms ; yet the spirit of knighthood
 " long survived the decay of the forms of feudal
obligation ; for the practice of escuage was fully
estabhshed in the days of Edward III, ; and that
was the brightest era of English chivalry.
Knighthood In England, knighthood was always regarded
a compul- ^ " r. 1 r
sory honor, as the uecessaiy distinction of people of some
substance and estate.* In the reigns of our three
first Edwards the qualification for knighthood
varied frora land of the yearly value of forty to
that of fifty pounds. The King was the sovereign
and supreme judge of chivalry, and he might
confer knighthood on whomsoever he chose.
He could compel men of worth to be knights,
for knighthood was honourable to the kingdom.
Like the performance of every other duty in all
states of society, that of knighthood could be
commuted for by raoney ; and the royal invit
ation to honour was so extensive as to be in
convenient ; fbr a statute was passed in the reign
of Edward II. whereby the King respited for
some time the payment of the fines of such
persons whose station in the world made knight
hood a necessary part of their consequence.
* Lord Lyttleton gives no higher date to this compulsory
knighthood than the reign of Henry III. But it surely must
have existed earlier, as it seeras the natural consequence of
the change of constitution, effected by William I. ; by his
uniting chivalry to feudalism.

IN ENGLAND. .">f^7
Besides all these ways of forming the knighthood chap.
•' S> f Vlll.
of England, must be added the custom of elevat- 
ing to chivalric dignities men who had gained
renown by martial exploits. This was indeed a
mode more pure in principle, and, therefore, more
honourable than any we have mentioned.
The military necessities of many of our sove
reigns favoured the growth of chivalry. William
Rufiis invited to his court the prowest cavaliers
from every country * ; fbr as his father had
effected the subjugation of Harold not merely
by the feudal force of Norraandy, but by hired
soldiers, it was the natural policy of the kings
of the Norinan line to attach to their person
valiant men who were not connected by ties of
nature with the people.
The principles and feelings of chivalry were Fine in
firmly established in England in the reign of chivalry in
Henry I., and gave the tone and character to Henry i.
our foreign military warfare. I'his state of
things is proved in an interesting manner by a
» Wace tells us that Wilham Rufus never could hear a
knight of prowess spoken of without endeavouring to engage
his services. " Li reis ros fu de grant noblesce
Proz, et de mult grant largesce.
N'oist de chevalier parler.
Qui de proesse oist loer.
Qui en son breif escrit ne fust,
Et qui par an del soen n'eust."
C C 2

388 PROGRESS OF CHIVALRY
CHAP, circumstance that occurred during the war of
— ' Henry with Louis the French king. The reader
remembers that the latter had espoused the cause
of William the son of Robert, Henry's elder
brother, who was kept by his uncle from his
rightful inheritance of Normandy. The chi
valric anecdote is this. The two armies were
approaching each other near Audelay, when, in
stead of rushing to the conflict with their whole
masses, five hundred knights on the English side
and four hundred on the French prepared for
an encounter, a joust to the utterance. About
eighty Normans, friends of the French king,
charged the centre of Henry's line with true
chivalric fire. The English raonarch was
severely wounded in the head, but the Norraans
could not pierce the firra line of the English,
and they were all taken prisoners. The three
hundred remaining knights of Louis made a fine
atterapt to redeera their companions in arms.
Again the English line was impenetrable, and
the recoil of the shock scattered the French.
Henry's soldiers now were assailants; and so
fiercely did they press their advantage, that even
the French king scarcely escaped with life. *
Effect of The knightly character had an iraportant
chivalry in -n i i i •
Stephen's cttect OU England during the troublous reig:n of
rei ern. &

reign

H. Huntingdon, p. 381. Order. Vit. 854, Sec.

IN ENGLAND, 389
Stephen, As he was deserted by his barons, he chap.
... . VIII.
called in foreign cavaliers to assist him in his —
resistance to the Empress Maud. Their valour
was rewarded by the grant of estates ; and thus
a new order of nobility arose to shake the arro
gance of the old; and new opinions, feelings, and
manners, became blended with English habits.
The arras of chivalry grew rusty in the long Jrouba-
and unwarlike reign of Henry II, ; but many of romance
the milder graces of knighthood were cultivated reign of
in consequence of the love of letters entertained ^""^^
by the sovereign and his queen. The Trouba
dours found royal, and, from the force of example,
noble, patronage in England; and, however offen
sive to a classic ear their conceits and bombast
may sound, yet, since they treated love as an
affair of the fancy rather than as an appetite,
they contributed to purify the manners of the
age. By another channel literature promoted
the cause of arms. Romance with her bold
fictions and splendid colouring inspired the tamest
hearts with the love of adventure. Such of the
traditions and fables regarding Arthur and the
knights of the Round Table as dwelt in the me
raory of the people of Britanny (that ancient
colony of England) were collected by an Arch
deacon Walter, of Oxford, and forraed part of a
Latin history of Great Britain that was written
in the time of Henry I. by Jeffiy of Mon-
c c 3

S9i) PROGRESS OF CHIVALRY
CHAP, mouth. Wace, the translator-general of the age,
t — turned it into Anglo-Norman verse, mingling
with it all the stories of his hero that were
floating in the English mind. The subject was
fitted to the martial taste ofthe tirae ; and as the
book was now rendered into the language ofthe
upper classes of life, it found its way into the
baronial hall and the ladj's bower. This was
the earliest of the French metrical roraances ;
and before the close of the twelfth century
nothing Was read by the nobility but romances
Chivalric of Arthur and his knights. And the sports and
illetime^." exerciscs of the time nourished the chivalric
spirit. A writer of those tlays has given us a
graphic description of them. " Every Sunday in
Lent, immediately after dinner, crowds of noble
and sprightly youths, mounted on war-horses,
admirably trained to perform all their turnings
and evolutions, ride into the fields in distinct
bands, armed with lances and shields, and exhibit
representations of battles, and go through all
their martial exercises. Many of the young
nobility, who have not yet received the honour
of knighthood, .issue from the king's court, and
from the houses of bishops, earls, and barons, to
make trial of their courage, strength, and skill
in arms. The hope of victory rouses the spirits
of these noble youths ; their fiery horses neigh
and prance, and champ their foaming bits. At

IN ENGLAND. 391
length the signal is given, and the sports begin, chap.
The youths, divided into opposite bands, en- —
counter one another. In one place some fly,
and others pursue, without being able to over
take them. In another place, one of the bands
overtakes and overturns the other." *
Martial daring, thus fostered and promoted,
broke out with fresh vigour in the reign of
Richard Coeur de Lion ; and England, which
hitherto had but partially and occasionally en
gaged in the crusades, now took up those sacred
and perilous enterprises with the ardour of the
French. Richard was the first king of England Coeur de
of knightly character; fbr I cannot, with some firlTchi-^
writers, place William Rufus among our chi- ™'"'^''"'g'
valric sovereigns.- I cannot with them see any
thing magnanimous in his receiving under his
banners an enemy's soldier who had unhorsed
him, and who had foreborne to slay him be
cause he declared himself king of England. The
conduct of the soldier merited reward ; and
William acted only with common selfishness in
taking so good a soldier into his' service. Ru
fus had mere brutal courage, but that quality
was not the character of chivalry. His bravery
was not directed either by religion or the love of
fame, nor was it tempered into virtue by the
* Stcphan. Uescrip. Lond. p. 7.
C C 4

S9~ PROGRESS OF CHIVALRY
CHAP, charities of life. When with Robert he besieged
— ' his brother Henry in his castle, Rufus was guilty
of one of the most unchivalric acts on record.
Henry's supply of water was exhausted, and he
solicited some from his brothers on the true
knightly principle that valour should decide a
triumph, and that it was unworthy of a soldier's
pride to gain a victory merely by the circum
stance of his antagonists being in want of the
coraraon necessaries of life. Robert, with fine
chivalric generosity, supplied his brother, rauch
to the regret of William, who ridiculed and was
angry at his simplicity. *
His knight- But in Richard the whole knightly character
appeared in all its martial dignity and splendor.
His courage was not the mere savage confidence
in superior strength, but the fine display of
chivalric exercises. Such was the might of his
arra, and such the fierceness of his spirit, that he
could sweep frora the field whole squadrons of
knights. When we see his javelin transfixing a
Turk on the walls of Acre t, the exploits of
Grecian heroes appear to be no longer poetical
fictions ; and when he appears on the plains of Pa
lestine, grasping his lance and riding from wing
to wing of the Saracenian host without meeting
an enemy who dared to encounter his career, the
* Malmsbury, p. 121. f Vinesauf, p. 33S

ly bearing.

IN ENGLAND. SQS
stories of Arthur and the Round Table seem the chap.
calm relations of truth. T  '
No one was more attentive than Richard to
the regulations of chivalry. In the course of
his crusade he was assailed by some rustics,
against whom it was unlawful for a knight to use
his sword. He beat them with the flat part of
it till it broke, and he then took up stones, and
drove them away. * Richard's mind was framed
in the flnest spirit of chivalric liberality. His
largesses, both to his own soldiers and those of
his ally, Philip Augustus, while in Sicily during

* Hoveden, p. 673. This principle of chivalric pride did
not escape the good-huraoured ridicule of Cervantes. " As
for rayself,'' answered the bruised Don Quixote, after his
battle with the Yanguesian carriers, " I must own I cannot
set a terra to the days of our recovery ; but it is I who ara the
fatal cause of all this raischief; fori ought not to have drawn
my sword upon a company of fellows, upon whom the honor
of knighthood was never conferred ; and I do not doubt,
but that the Lord of Hosts suffered this punishment to befall
me for thus transgressing the laws of chivalry. Therefore,
friend Sancho, observe what I am going to tell thee, for it
is a thing that highly concerns the welfare of us both : it is,
that, for the future, whenever thou perceivest us to be
any ways abused by such inferior fellows, thou art not
to expect I should offer to draw my sword against them,
for I will not do it in the least ; no, do thou then draw,
and chastise them as thou thinkest fit ; but if any knights
corae to take their parts, then will I be sure to step between
thee and danger, and assault thera with the utraost vigour
and intrepidity." Don Quixote, part i. book 3. c. 1.

39'i> progress of chivalry
CHAP, their voyage to Palestine, were so magnificent,
 that it was acknowledged he had given more
treasure in a month than his predecessors in a
year. *
Like the knights of romance, he revelled in
gorgeousness and splendour, and his court re
sounded with the minstrel's lay. One of the
Proven9al poets followed him into Palestine :
nor did he entirely want the minds of others to
soften into grace his martial spirit ; for often his
own fancy played with poetical images. In the
history of chivalric amusements, Richard is an
important character. All his predecessors in
sovereignty had forbidden jousts and tourna
ments ; and their absurd regulations had only
been violated in the time of Stephen. When
Richard was in the Holy Land, he observed the
inferiority of the English chivalry to that ofthe
French : his own knights were rude soldiers,
with none of the dexterity and skill of their
crusading brethren, which could only be ac
quired in tournaments, the schools of war.
Richard broke through the jealousy of adopt
ing foreign customs, and, like a politic monarch,
he allowed and encouraged his soldiers to prac
tise martial exercises, t

* Hoveden, p. 687,
t Wilham of Newbridge, lib. v. c. 4 .

IN ENGLAND. 395
These circurastances and the various other chap. VIII.
events of his chivalric life, which I have de- -— ."
scribed at length in another work coraplete the
authentic character of our lion-hearted King, for
I dare not invest the severe simplicity of his
tory with those golden fictions, which romance
has delighted to throw over the story of his East
ern atchievements.
There was nothing chivalric in the character John and
and conduct of his brother and successor King ™'^
John, or he would not have suffered the foreign
possessions of England's crown to be wrested
from it. In the reign of Henry III, the flame
of chivalry was kept alive by sorae English
knights, who assisted the Eraperor in his Milan
ese wars, and whose prowess was the raost distin
guished of the day. The crusades to the Holy
Land were not altogether forgotten ; but the
page of our history is raarked with the peculiar
disgrace that English knights assisted the French
in their inhuman war on the Albigenses.
There was much of the chivalric character in Edward i.
Edward I. He v/as a diligent reader of the
ancient romances ; and, as soon as he was in
vested with knighthood, he went to foreign courts,
in order that he might display his prowess, *
For the sake of acquiring military fame, he
exposed his person in the Holy Land, and,
* M. of Westminster, p. 300.

396 PROGRESS OF CHIVALRY
CHAP, during his journey homeward, though ill and
 ' fbrespent with travel, he displayed reraarkable
His gaiian- hcrolsra at a tournaraent in Savoy, * The chal-
try at a •'
tournament. lengcT was the Couut of Chalous ; but if pon
tifical authority could have destroyed chivalry,
the knights never would have raet. The pope
feared that some hostihty was menaced, and
earnestly dissuaded Edward from the tourna
ment. He warned him of his danger : he ex
horted him, as a son of the church, to decline
these encounters, which the church had for
bidden ; and he added, that as Edward now was
king, he might decline the challenge, as kings
were not wont to risk their persons in these
perilous shocks. But most of these reasons were
so many stimulants of his courage : the more
danger, the greater share of honour, and it was
beneath the gallantry of his bearing to have
thrown his rank as a shield before his knight
hood. Followed by a thousand men-at-arras,
and archers on horseback and on foot, Edward
pressed his bounding steed upon the chosen
plain, and the Count of Chalons raet hira with
equal spirit, and nearly twice the nuraber of
companions. The English king soon found that
no lofty courtesy, no love of chivalric exercises,
had influenced the French lord. The graceful
tournament soon became a deadly fray. The
* Walsingham, p. 13.

IN ENGLAND. 397
cause of honour triumphed, and the knights of chap.
Chalons were either slain or driven from the —
field. After raany cavaliers on each side had been
disabled, the lords of either host encountered.
Their lances raet and shivered; and if Chalons
had been a courteous knight, he would have
passed to the other end of the plain, and seized
a new lance to continue his emprise ; but, mad
dened at his weapon failing, he threw hiraself
upon Edward, endeavouring to crush him by his
prodigious weight. At that moment Edward's
horse started forwards, and the Count was thrown
on the ground. His companions raised him ;
but he was so much bruised by the fall that he
cried for mercy. His conduct had put him
without the pale of chivalry, and Edward, there
fore, treated hira like a base-born churl. He
beat hira with the flat part of his sword ; and,
refusing to take hira as his prisoner, he com
pelled him to surrender himself to a man of
raean condition.*
Edward's love of chivalric exercises was imi
tated by his nobility. Tournaments and jousts
were held in various parts of the country ; and
Kenilworth is particularly marked as faraous for
its Round Table, to which knights frora every
nation flocked, t In his Scotch wars, therefore,
* Matthew of Westminster, p. 402. Hemingford, p. 592,
f Walsingham, p. 8. Leland's Collectanea, p. 177.

398

PROGRESS OF CHIVALRV

CHAP. VIII.

His un
chivalriccruelties.

He pos
sessed no
knightly courtesy.

his arraies were not deficient in chivalric bravery.
At the battie of Falkirk the strength of the
Scots was foot, as that of the English was horse ;
and the repeated charges of Edward's chivalry
decided the fate of that memorable day. In his
Welsh wars he had sullied his reputation for
knightly generosity by making a public ex
hibition ofthe head of his worsted foe, Llewelyn
ap Gryffyth, the last sovereign of Wales * ; and
his well-known conduct to Wallace betrayed
such an absence of all nobleness of mind, that
he forfeited his claims to knightly consideration.
The beautiful parts, the embellishments of chi
valry, were subservient to his arabition. Before
his second war in Scotland he vowed, in Wes-
rainster Abbey, by God, and also by two swans
which were introduced into the assembly with
great pomp and splendour, that he would punish
the Scottish nation for their breach of faith, and
for the death of Comyn. Nor did any of the
courtesies of chivalry grace Edward : the queen
of Bruce and her ladies fell into his power, and

* He sent the head up to London, adorned in derision
with a silver crown, that it might be exhibited to the
populace in Cheapside, and fixed upon the Tower. Knygh-
ton, p. 2465. Mr. Sharon Turner (History of England,
vol. ii. p. 44.) judiciously contrasts the conduct of Edward
with the reprimand of Wihiam the Conqueror, to the knight
who had wounded the dead body of Harold.

m ENGLAND. 399
in defiance of all chivalric gallantry, he treated chap.
them as prisoners. There was something pecu- "  '¦
liarly ferocious in his treatment of the Countess
of Buchan, who was also his captive. Her
offence was, that she had crowned Bruce. Ed
ward exclaimed, with the deliberation of malig-
nityi " As she has not used the sword, she shall
not perish by the sword; but fbr her lawless
conspiracy, she shall be shut up in a stone and
iron chamber, circular as the crown she gave ;
and at Berwick she shall be suspended in the
open air, a spectacle to travellers, and fbr her
everlasting infamy." * And the English Tamer
lane did not relent, t
The close of the reign of Edward I. is re- Picture of
markable for a very splendid scene illustrative manners.
of the ancient mode of creating knights, and of
the chivalric manners of our forefathers. Before
* Matthew of Westminster, p. 460.
f The chamberlain of Scotland was directed by Edward I.,
A.D. 1306, to fit up one of the turrets of the castle of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, and therein to build a strong cage of
lattice-work, constructed with stout posts and bars, and well
strengthened with iron. The Countess was prohibited from
speaking with any person, Scotch or English, except the
keeper of the castle and a woman or two of the town of
Berwick, appointed by hira to deliver her fool. The sister
of Robert Bruce was prisoner at the sarae tirae, and treated
in the sarae raanner. Lord Hailes's observation on this pas
sage is arausing. " To those who have no notion of any
cage but one for a parrot or a squirrel, hung out at a
window, I despair of rendering this raandate intelligible."

400 PROGRESS OF CHIVALRY
CHAP, his last and fatal iourney to Scotland, Edward
VIII. '' "^
— caused proclamation to be made throughout
England, that all persons who were entitled to
the honour ofknighthood by custom of hereditary
succession, or who had estates sufficient to sup
port the dignity, should, at the next feast of Pen
tecost, repair to Westminster, and that to every
one would be delivered out of the King's ward
robe, at the King's expence, the festive and in-
auguratory dress of a knight.
Accordingly, at the time and place appointed,
there was a fair and gallant show of three hun
dred young gentlemen, sons of earls, barons, and
knights, and among these aspirants to chivalry
were distributed in ample raeasure, according to
their different ranks, purple, fine linen, furs, and
mantles embroidered with gold. The royal pa
lace, though magnificently spacious, could not
accommodate all these young esquires with their
retinue of yeomen and pages. Many of thera
repaired to the New Teraple, where, cutting down
the trees and levelling the walls of the garden,
they set up their tents and pavilions in brave
eraulation of actual war. They perforraed their
vigils in the Temple church, while the Prince of
Wales, by coraraand ofthe King his father, passed
the night in prayer in Westrainster Abbey.
On the foUowing day, the King invested his
son with the railitary belt, and assigned to him

IN ENGLAND. 401
the duchy of Aquitaine. The Prince, being chap,
knighted, went to the Abbey that he raight con- — '
fer the like railitary honor on his companions.
So close was the press of spectators round the
high altar, that two knights were stifled, and se
veral fainted, though each was supported by
three knights of experienced prowess. The
Prince, accompanied by his father and the chief
nobility, at length reached the altar, and his
guards raade a passage fbr his friends to receive
knighthood at his hands. After he had dubbed
and embraced thera all, his attendants intro
duced two swans covered with golden nets,
which were adorned and embossed with studs of
gold. This was the most joyous part of the cere
mony in the eyes of the people, and their rude
and joyous shouts drowned the clangor of the
trumpets. The King, as before stated, vowed by
heaven and the swans that he would go to Scot
land ; and even if he should die in the enterprise,
he would avenge the death of Corayn and the
violated faith of the Scots. He then adjured
the Prince and the nobles, and his band of
knights by their fealty and chivalry, that if he
should die in his journey to Scotland, they
would carry his body forwards, and never bury
it till his son bad established his dorainion.
Every heart assented to this high resolve, and
the cereraony closed. The knights were feasted
VOL. I. n n

402

PROGRESS OF CHIVALRY

CHAP. VIIL

Edward II,

that day at the royal palace ; and while they were
quaffing rauscadel in honour of chivalry and the
ladies, the minstrels in their songs reminded them
of their duty to pledge theraselves before the
swans to perforra sorae rare feats of arms. The
Prince vowed that he would never rest two
nights in one place until he had perforraed his
father's high behests ; and the other knights raade
various fantastic vows fbr the promotion of the
same object. *
The defeat of the English chivalry at the
battle of Bannockburn, (24<th June, 1315,) was
the most reraarkable circurastance in the reign
of Edward II. On the preceding day, Douglas t
and Sir Robert Keith, marshal of Scotland, were

Chivalric
circum stances in
Bann^ock-° dlspatchcd by Robert Bruce from the raain body
burn. ^£ jj-g a,rray to descry whether the eneray was
approaching. " And soon the great host have they seen,
Where shields shining were so sheen,
And basinets burnished bright,
That gave against the sun great light.
They saw so fele ' brawdyne^ baners.
Standards, and pennons, and spears.
And so fele ' knights upon steeds,
All flaming in their weeds-
* Matthew of Westrainster, p. 457, &c. Trevet, p. 343.
t This was the good Lord James of Douglas, of whom
see p. 205 ante. ^ raany. ^ displayed.

IN ENGLAND. 403
And so fele' bataills-, and so broad, CHAP.
And too so great room as they rode  '
That the maist host, and the stoutest
Of Christendom, and the greatest
Should be abaysit % for to see
Their foes into such quantity." The Bruce, vol. ii. p. 1 1 1.
The English vanguard, comraanded by the
Earls of Gloucester and Hereford, soon carae in
general sight. The appearance of Edward's
array is described by Barbour in a rich chivalric
style. " The sun was bright, and shined clear,
And armouris that burnished were.
So blomyt \ with the sun's beam.
That all the land was in a leme *,
Banners right fairly flawinand ^,
And pensels to the wind wawand. ''
Barbour, xi. 188 — 193.
Bruce was riding on a palfrey and raarshalling
his raen, when Sir Henry de Bohun started frora
the opposite host, and careered his horse against
him. Sir Henry was a fierce rather than a
gallant knight, or he would not have pressed his
\var-steed upon a foe who was riding on a pal-
• many. ^ battalions. ^ alarmed.
* gleamed. '^ flarae of fire. ^ flowing. ^ waving.
D D 2

404 PROGRESS OF CHIVALRY
CHAP. frey. * But his want of chivalric gallantry was
 justly punished.
" And when Glosyter and Hertfurd were.
With their battle approaching near,
Before them all there come riding.
With helm on head and spear in hand,
Sir Henry Boune, the worthy.
That was a wight knight, and a hardy;
And to the Earl of Hertfurd cousin ;
Armed in arms good and fine ;
Come on a steed, a bow-shot nere.
Before all other that there were.
And knew the King, for that he saw
Him so range his men in row ;
* Sir Walter Scott has made King Edward the author of
this unknightly conduct
•' ' Knows't thou,' he said, ' De Argentine,
Yon knight who marshals thus their line ?5 —
' The tokens on his helmet tell
The Bruce my liege : I know hira well.' —
' And shall the audacious traitor brave
The presence where our banners wave ?' —
• So please ray liege,' said Argentine,
' Were he but hors'd on steed like mine.
To give him fair and knightly chance,
I would adventure forth my lance;'' —
' In battle-day,' the King replied,
" Nice tourney rules are set aside.
— Still must the rebel dare our wrath ?
Set on — sweep him frora our path,'
And at King Edward's signal, soon
Dash'd from the ranks Sir Henry Boune."
The Lord ofthe Isles, canto vi, &t. 14.

IN ENGLAND, 405
And by the crown, that was set CHAP. VIII.
Also upon his bacinet,  '
And towards him he went on haste.
And the King so apertly
Saw him come, forth all his feres '
In hy ^ to him the horse he steers.
And when Sir Henry saw the King
Come on forouting abaysing, ^
To him he rode in full great hy *
He thought that he should well lightly
Win him and have him at his will.
Since he him horsed saw so ill.
Sprent ^ they came unto a ling, ®
Sir Henry missed the noble king.
And he, that in his stirrups stood,
With the axe, that was hard and good.
With so great mayn ^ reached him a dint.
That neither hat nor helm might stynt.
The hewy dusche ^ that he him gave,
That near the head to the harness clave.
The hand-axe shaft fruschyt ^ in tow ;
And he down to the yird gan go
All flatlyngs '", for him faile'd might.
This was the first stroke of the fight,"
Barbour, vol, ii, p. 122.
The fine generousness of chivalry was very
nobly displayed in another circumstance which
1 companions, ^ haste, ^ without shrinking,
¦* haste. ^ spurred. ^ line. ^ moan. » heavy clash.
9 broken. i"> flat.

406 PROGRESS OF CHIVALRY
CHAP, preceded the great battle. It was a main ob-
^^"' ject with the English to throw Succours into the
castle of Stirling; and Edward, therefore, com
manded Sir Robert Clifford and eight hundred
horsemen to make a circuit by the low grounds
to the east, and approach the castle. Bruce, in
anticipation of the Englishmen's purpose, had
charged Randolph who comraanded his left wing
to prevent Stirling frora being relieved; and when
he saw the English troops holding on their gallant
course unchecked, he cried, "A rose has fallen
from thy chaplet, Randolph," * and bitterly re
proached him for his want of vigilance. Nothing
but the utraost desperateness of valour could efface
this sharae ; and gathering round him a few hun
dred bold spirits, the Scottish General advanced
against the English. Clifford, in his pride of chi
valry, thought that he could soon disperse a band
of lightly armed troops of foot-soldiers, who were
now being marshalled into a circle with their
spears resting on the ground, the points protruded
on every side. The English charged, but the
resistance was more gallant than what they had
foreseen. Still, however, the Scots seeraed gra-

* " For the king had said him rudely,
That a rose off" his chaplet
Has fallen ; for quhar i he was set
To kep the way these men were past."
Barbour, vol. ii. p. 545—548,
' where.

IN ENGLAND. 407
dually sinking under the force of numbers; and chap.
Douglas, who saw the peril, requested the King's — '
permission to go and join him. " You shall not
move from your ground," cried the King : "let
Randolph extricate himself as he best may. I
will not alter my order of battle, and lose the
advantage of my position." But Douglas reiter
ated his request, and wrung leave from the
King. He flew to the assistance of his friend.
But before he reached him he saw that the
English were falling into disorder, and that the
perseverance of Randolph had prevailed over
their irapetuous courage. " Halt," cried Douglas,
like a generous knight, " these brave men have
repulsed the enemy; let us not dirainish their
glory by sharing it."
Of the battle of Bannockburn itself little need
be said by me, because there was not rauch chi
valric character about it. Some historians de
scribe the defeat of the English as having been
principally occasioned by the Scottish cavalry
throwing the rear of their archers into confusion.
Others affirm that Bruce, seeing the inadequacy
of his own cavalry to cope with that of the
English, formed the battles or divisions of his
array entirely of foot-soldiers, and dug trenches
before his line, slightly covering them with turf
and hurdles. The gallant knights of England,
with the sun streaming on their burnished helms

408 PROGRESS OF CHIVALRY

VIIL

CHAP, and gilt shields, advanced to charge the bristled
front of the Scots : but the turf sunk beneath
the pressure of their horses' feet, and men and
their steeds lay at the mercy of their enemy.
One or other of these circumstances turned the
event of the battle, and the Scotch reserve being
judiciously brought up, completed the jictory.
In every way the generalship of Bruce was ad
mirable : but the fate of the battle reflects no
thing on the personal character of the English
chivalry; for tiiey were not worsted in an en
counter of lance to lance, and horse to horse.
The bravery of one English knight must not
pass unrecorded. Sir Giles D'Argentyn, upon
seeing sorae of his friends around hira pause in
alarra, cried that he was not used to fly, and
spurring his war-steed into the thickest of the
press, gallantly perished. Nor was this a solitary
instance of courage ; and even Edward seeraed
for a raoraent to be inspired with the fire of the
Plantagenets. He dashed into the "enemy's
line^, . and was by force drawn away by the Earl
• ©f ''iPerabroke, when courage was evidently un
availing."* 'Though the chivalric character was only for
Orte^rabraent of his life sustained by Edw^ard IL,
* Mon. Malms., p.l49,|&c. Moor, p. 594. Fordun, vol.xii.
"¦p.20, Scala Chronica, p, 547. Dalrymple, vol. ii. p. 45, &c.

IN ENGLAND.

409

yet it was too deeply fixed in the national mind ^y^^'
to die on account of its neglect by any particular 
monarch. There is a singular circumstance on singular
effect of
record illustrative of the power of this feeling. cWvairy in
During his war with the barons, which his system
of unprincipled favouritism had provoked, one
of the lords refused the Queen the hospitality of
his castle; This act of individual insult had
general consequences. Disgusted with a cause
which was blended with so much uncourtesy,
barons and knights iraraediately flocked round
the standard of the King ; his arras corapletely
triumphed, and the Spencers were recalled. *
* Trokelowe in Hearne, p. 52. Moor in Camden, Angl.
Norm. p. 595.

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

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