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THE 
 
 IX TWO VOLUMES. 
 
 E0I $i. 
 
 MPCCCXXV. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2014 
 
 https://archive.org/details/historyofchivalr01mill_0 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The propriety of my writing a History of Chi- 
 valry, as a companion to my History 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 first and best known is the 
 French work called " Memories sur Pancienne 
 Chevalerie; consideree commeun 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. 8vo. 1825* 
 
 VOL. I. A 
 
iv 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Politique et Militaire. Par M. de la Curne de 
 Sainte Palaye, de FAcademie Franchise," &c. 
 2 torn. 12mo. 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 " M6moires sur Tancienne Chevalerie s" though 
 more than half of the volume relates to the sport of hunting, 
 which is a baronial or feudal rather than a chivalric subject. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 V 
 
 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 called 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. 
 Busching, 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 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 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 
 
viii 
 
 PREFACE* 
 
 their public lives. But still the subject is not 
 without its witnesses. The monkish chroniclers 
 sometimes give us a glimpse 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 5 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 well beloved, and of the secret 
 counsel of the 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 families' 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 well to win the grace of maidens."— 
 " My ears quickened at the sound of opening the 
 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 lighted j 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 well-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 
 
 * T}ie 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 
 mail-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 lived 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 j and, 
 churchman though he was, knighthood itself 
 
xii 
 
 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 Ennuis." 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 information 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. After 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 from which both feudalism and chivalry 
 sprang j 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. 
 
 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 cbaritie, 
 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 between his nation 
 and the English. The conclusion of those propositions 
 is thus expressed : — " Saladin will put a sacred seal on 
 this happy union betwixt 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, however, 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 of the 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 effect by the marriage 
 of Saphadin (Saladin's brother) with the widow of 
 William King of Sicily." 
 
 M. Michaud, the French historian of the Crusades, 
 makes a similar statement. He says that Richard " fit 
 d'autres propositions, auxquelles il interessa adroitement 
 l'ambition de Malec Adel, frere du Sultan. La veuve du 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 xvii 
 
 Guillaume de Sicile fut propos^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 of the two opposite state- 
 ments is consistent with historical truth. The statement 
 of M. Michaud 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 : — " Illuc 
 commeabant Francorum pacis causa legati, earn offerentes 
 conditionem, ut Malec-al-Adel, frater Sultani sororem Regis 
 Angliae in matrimonium, et Hierosolymas in regnum acci- 
 peret." Abulfeda, vol. iv. p. 111. 
 
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 
 b$ 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 licence of anachronism. 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 fanciful 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 himself. 
 
 VOL. J, 
 
 a 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 CHAP. i. 
 
 THE ORIGIN AND FIRST APPEARANCES OF CHIVALRY IN 
 
 EUROPE. 
 
 Page 
 
 General nature of chivalry... 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. ..Ceremonies 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 
 
 % 2 
 
xxii 
 
 CONTENTS, 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 THE EDUCATION OF A KNIGHT. THE CEREMONIES OF 
 INAUGURATION AND OF DEGRADATION. 
 
 Pager 
 
 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 
 of the squire in battle... Gallantry... Martial exercises 
 ...Horsemanship... Importance of squires in the battle- 
 field... Particularly at the battle of Bo vines... Pre- 
 parations for knighthood... The anxiety of the squire 
 regarding the character 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 of the 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. 
 
 xxiii 
 
 Page 
 
 broad lines of the subject... Excellence of Italian ar- 
 mour. ..Armour of the squire, &c... Allegories made 
 on armour... The horse of the knight 65 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 THE CH1VALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 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 of the knight. ..his devotion 
 ...His intolerance... General nature of his virtue. ..Fi- 
 delity to obligations... Generousness... Singular in- 
 stance of it.. .Romantic excess of it... Liberality... 
 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... Festival and vow of the pheasant.... 117 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 dames and damsels, and lady-love. 
 
 Courtesy ... Education ... Music ...Graver sciences .. a 
 Dress... Knowledge of medicine... Every-day life of 
 
xxiv 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 the maiden... Chi valric 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 ...Un chivalric 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 of the 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. ..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... The en- 
 counter. ..What lance-strokes won the prize. ..Con- 
 clusion of the sports.. .The festival... Delivery of the 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 XXV 
 
 prize ... Knights thanked by ladies. ..The ball... 
 Liberality ... 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 
 j ousters... 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 
 of the 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 of the Bath 
 ...Dormant orders... Order of the Band... Its singular 
 rules... Its noble enforcement of chivalric duties 
 towards woman.... Order of Bourbon... Strange titles 
 of orders.. .Fabulous orders ... The Round Table... 
 SirLauncelot...Sir Gawain... Order of the Stocking... 
 Origin of the phrase Blue Stocking 332 
 
XXVi CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 PROGRESS OF CHIVALRY IN ENGLAND, 
 
 FROM THE NORMAN CONQUEST 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 I.... Effect of chi- 
 valry in Stephen's reign ... Troubadours and ro- 
 mance writers in the reign of Henry II.... Chivalric 
 manners of the time...Cceur de Lion the first chi- 
 valric king... His knightly bearing... John and Hen- 
 ry III.... Edward L... 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 
 6 .. 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 whom created His Privileges His relation to 
 
 the Baron And incidentally of the War- Cry and 
 
 the Escutcheon The Knight ......Qualifications for 
 
 Knighthood By whom created The Squirehood. . . 
 
 General View of the 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 
 warrior bearing on his crested helm the fa- 
 vour of his lady bright, graced those early 
 vol. r. 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. 
 
 chivafry f mart * a l f° rce °^ the people who occupied 
 
 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 w r as 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 Saxon cnight, are synonymous 
 to the French cavalier, the Italian cavaliere, and 
 the Spanish caballero. The word rider also de- 
 signated the same person, preceded by, or stand- 
 ing without, the word knight. 
 
 * Tacitus Germania, sec. 6. Caesar de Bello Gallico, 
 lib. i. s.48. 
 
OF CHIVALRY IN EUROPE. 
 
 3 
 
 In the kingdoms which sprang from the ruins chap. i. 
 of the Roman empire, every king, baron, and Military 
 person of estate was a knight ; and therefore the chiva&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 
 times, 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 
 classical ancients could not boast of. 
 
 Some of the rules and maxims of chivalry had Origin of 
 their origin in that state of society in which the Chlvalry * 
 feudal system arose ; and regarded particularly in a 
 military light, we find chivalry a part of the earliest 
 condition of a considerable part of the European 
 world. The bearing of arms was never a mat- 
 
 b 2 
 
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 
 mans. * qualified to serve his country in arms. In an 
 assembly of the chiefs of his nation, his father, 
 Eiectionof or a near re l a ti° n > presented a shield and a jave- 
 Soidiers. ][ n ^ G 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. The spirit of clanship, 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 Antiquities, 
 vol. i. p. 197. 
 
 t Tacitus Germania. Caesar, lib. 6, s. 14, 
 
OF CHIVALRY IN EUROPE* 
 
 5 
 
 power and beauty in the field. It was disgrace- chap. i. 
 f ul 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 
 for victory, the followers fought for their chief. 
 The defence of the 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- 
 wul£ they perished in a hopeless battle.* 
 
 Dignity of The feeling which, in chivalric times, be- 
 came designated as the dignity of obedience, 
 may be traced in these circumstances, but it is 
 more clearly shewn in singular record of the 
 domestic manners of ancient Europe ; for we 
 learn from Athenaeus, in his treatise of the 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 
 became 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. The gallantry of knighthood, that quality 
 
 * Chron. Saxon, 57, &c. Florence, ad an. 784. William 
 of Malmsbury, 7. 
 
 t Athenseus, 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 of the 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 
 satirist, 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.t In 
 
 * Treatise on the Virtue of the Female Sex. 
 t 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 of the 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.* The 
 courage of the knight of chivalry was inspired 
 by the lady of his affections, a feature of charac- 
 ter clearly deducible from the practice among 
 the German nations, of women mingling in the 
 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, lib. iv. Tacitus Historia, lib. iv. c. 61. 65. 
 Pomponius Mela, lib. iii. c. 6. 
 
 f Tacitus, Hist. lib. iv. c. 18. Life of Agricola, s. 32. 
 Germania, s. 7. 
 
OF CHIVALRY IN EUROPE* 
 
 9 
 
 may take the anecdote as an instance of the ge- chap. i. 
 neral manners of European antiquity, that the 
 chief 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 ElissifF, 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 by 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 
 of the whole people, rather than the moral chas- 
 tener of turbulence and ferocity. From receiv- 
 ing his weapons in an assembly of the nation ; 
 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 of manners arose, that has ever 
 adorned the history of man. It is impossible to 
 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. lence 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 key-stone of the arch was wanting, 
 Religion* and religion alone could furnish it. A new 
 world of principles and objects was introduced. 
 The defence of the 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 consuetudinis 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.+ 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 William of Malmsbury, lib. ii. c. 6. 
 
12 
 
 THE ORIGIN AND FIRST APPEARANCES 
 
 chap. i. It was the custom of the English, continues 
 Cer^^iies the historian, for every one who wished to be con- 
 sign fnau- secrated into the legitimate militia, to confess his 
 guration. s j ns to a bj_ s h p, 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 of the 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 
 
 Chivalry 
 sanctioned 
 by Coun- 
 cils, and 
 
 * Ingulph, p. 512. 
 
OF CHIVALRY IN EUROPE. 
 
 13 
 
 person of noble birth, on attaining twelve years chap. r. 
 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 
 observe, that all the humanities of chivalry were christiani- 
 sanctioned by legal and ecclesiastical power ; and ty ' 
 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 j but its ob- 
 jects were both religious and social, and the de- 
 finition of the word from military 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 Arras and Chivalry, chapter entitled 
 ** Of the Honor that ought to be done to a Knight," 
 
14 
 
 THE ORIGIN AND FIRST APPEARANCES 
 
 chap. i. 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 world'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 Knighthood was an institution perfectly pecu- 
 
 Chivalric & „ 
 
 Nobility, liar to the military 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 Roman 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 of the Morte D' Arthur says, that in early times there 
 were no hermits, but who had been men of worship and 
 prowess ; t( 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, and the common form of address, Sir * 
 King, shews its high consideration. In the writs 
 of summons to parliament, the word Chevalier 
 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. 
 
 •j- Coke, Instit. 4. In the Reports 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 
 
 Knight- 
 Banneret. 
 
 His qualifi 
 cations. 
 
 chap. i. There were three degrees in the Chivalry of 
 its degrees. Europe, Knights-Banneret, Knights, and Es- 
 quires. 
 
 A soldier must have passed through the ranks 
 of esquire and knight, before he could be class- 
 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- 
 ment. But as we often meet with instances of 
 elevating men of very few followers t to the rank 
 
 By whom 
 created. 
 
 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. 
 
 17 
 
 of knights-banneret, it is probable that kings chap. i. 
 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 name should be used 
 only as a passive instrument ; for a knight who 
 had proved his chivalry and power, could de- 
 mand from his sovereign the distinction of ban- 
 neret. The laws and usages of the w T orld 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 of the 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- leges * 
 
 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 of the 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. 
 
 to'Sw Ba° n Every Baron had his banner, and a feudal ar- 
 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- his words of courage, his cry of arms, which he 
 shouted before a battle, in order to animate his 
 soldiers to the charge, and whose sound, heard 
 in the moment of direst peril, rallied the scatter- 
 ed troops by the recollection of the glories of 
 their commander's house, and their ow T n 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 j and the general title of his family 
 was a hostel banniere. 
 
 TheKnight. The second and most 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 9 in distinction from the riccos 
 hombres, or knights-banneret j 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 hoode 
 andgentlemen 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 family, and they were 
 esteemed noble.* It is scarcely necessary to 
 
 * A note of Waterhouse on Fortescue will illustrate this. 
 " The title of franklein is 6 good man ;' and yet they have 
 oft knights' estates. Many are called by courtesy i mas- 
 ters,' and even 6 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. i. 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 might cause his spurs to be cut off 
 on a dunghill, t The amount 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 of the chiefest duties of his character. 
 He could not travel in quest of adventures with- 
 out some charge t, and his squire and other per- 
 sonal attendants were of course maintained by him. 
 Though a man, says Froissart, be never so rich, 
 
 * Illegitimacy seems not to have been a matter of the 
 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 blanca, porque el 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 service of men 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 
 the 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 skimmed from the sea. The great lords 
 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 j 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. 44>8. * 
 c 3 
 
22 THE ORIGIN AND FIRST APPEARANCES 
 
 chap, l mouille garnished his ship richly ; the paintings 
 
 cost more than two thousand francs.* 
 By whom w e have seen that originally a body of sol- 
 
 created. . ° J J 
 
 diers was selected by the state from the general 
 mass of the people. Afterwards, kings and no- 
 bles in their several jurisdictions maintained the 
 power of creation. It was also assumed by the 
 clergy, but not retained long ; nor were they 
 anxious to recover it, for, 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- 
 tion, a reward of merit, presumed, indeed, rather 
 than proved, in the original instances which have 
 been mentioned. But though it was often be- 
 stowed as an ornament of custom on the nobility 
 and gentry of a state, yet it often was the bright 
 guerdon of achievements in arms. Of military 
 merit 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 more 
 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 II., 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 name 
 of Sir John Hawkwood, headed the company of 
 White or English adventurers, so famous 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 efficient 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. 
 
 X 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 maxim in chivalrv, 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 III., during his wars in 
 France, would have knighted Collart Dambreti- 
 courte, the esquire of his own person ; but the 
 young man declined the honor, for, to use his 
 own simple 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 from their du- 
 ties on knights, were aiming at distinction, yet 
 there were many more who remained squires dur- 
 ing all their military career, and therefore be- 
 came 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- 
 voit trouver son bacinet." — Froissart, i. 211. 
 
OF CHIVALRY IN EUROPE. 
 
 25 
 
 banner. Military honours and commands also chap, l 
 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 
 coat armour. 
 
 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 loyaute aux dames is the mot- 
 to alike of the 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 of 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 of Bovines Preparations for Knight- 
 hood The Anxiety of the Squire regarding the Cha- 
 racter of the 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. 1 1. The romances of Chivalry, in their picturesque 
 Description an( j expressive representation of manners, present 
 ces of U s with many interesting glimpses of the educa- 
 educatlon. tion in 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 1 , 
 
 CHAP.II. 
 
 Tristrem, and is full blithe, 
 The childe he set to lore, 
 
 And lernd him al so swithe 2 ; 
 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 4 , 
 Oyaines 5 hem when he wold. 
 
 " Fiftene yere he gan him fede, 
 
 Sir Rohant the trewe ; 
 He taught him ich alede 6 
 
 Of ich maner of glewe ; 7 
 And everich playing thede, 
 
 Old lawes and newe. 
 On hunting oft he yede 8 , 
 
 To swich alawe he drewe, 
 Al thus ; 
 
 More he couthe 9 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 
 
 1 favour. 
 5 against. 
 8 went. 
 
 2 soon. 
 6 rule. 
 9 knew. 
 
 3 diligently. 4 attempted, 
 7 the minstrelsy art. 
 
28 
 
 EDUCATION OF A KNIGHT. 
 
 CilAP.ir. Of thine mestere, 
 
 Of wode and of ry vere, 
 
 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 more extract from the old ro- 
 mances, shall I claim the indulgence of my read- 
 ers in the words of the minstrel, 
 
 " 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. 
 
 c 29 
 
 Both of houndis and hawkis game, CHAP. 1 1. 
 
 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 ^ n ^* k 
 woods were important parts of knightly educa- *ng. 
 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 
 
 ' 6 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. ii. 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 gentfcbirth, therefore, the boys of this 
 noble Duke Guerin of Montglaive, in spite of 
 their mother's wishes, commenced their chival- 
 
 * Caxton, Fayt of Armes an J of Chyvalrye, c. 9. Me- 
 moires du bon Messire Jean le Maingre, dit Boucicaut, Ma- 
 rshal 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- 
 quented by the children of men of equal rank with 
 himself, for (such was the modesty and courtesy 
 of chivalry) each knight had generally some 
 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 Persona! 
 
 Service. 
 
 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 of the 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. 
 
3<2 
 
 EDUCATION OF A KNIGHT. 
 
 chap.ii. to wound a page in battle. He also acquired 
 the rudiments of those incongruous subjects, re- 
 ligion, love, and war, so strangely blended in chi- 
 valry ; and generally the intellectual and moral 
 education of the boy was given by the ladies of 
 the court. 
 
 ReHgk)n d ^ rom the lips of the ladies the gentle page 
 learned both his catechism and 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 court of 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 mother 
 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 Dame des Belles Cousines charged 
 
EDUCATION OF A KNIGHT. 
 
 33 
 
 him with being a traitor to the laws of chivalry, chap.ii. 
 and declared that his craven spirit was evinced 
 by such an avowal. " Whence/' she enquired, 
 " sprang the valiancy and knightly feats of 
 Launcelot, G a wain, 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 of the ladies of the 
 court. He then named as his mistress Mathe- 
 line de Coucy, a child only ten years old. 
 " Matheline 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 mercy. 
 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 
 Saintre, 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 earliest ideas of his life, and exerclses ' 
 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 if they 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 most ancient usage, and was thoroughly 
 chivalric ; the second is of nearly equal autho- 
 rity t, but the word page was not much 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 s^re. 
 were armiger, scutifer or escuyer : but though 
 
 * Caxton, Fayt of Armes and Chevalrye, c. 9. 
 
 f Damoisel et Eescuyer sont arrives a Novandel demand- 
 ant chivalarie, lequel layant recu n'est plus appelle de 
 tels tiltres, ains seulement des tiltre de chevalier. — Amadis 
 de Gaul, liv. 3. c. 3. 
 
 \ Fauchet de l'Origine des Chevaliers, liv. 1. ch I. 
 Monstrelet, vol. 1. c. 138. L'histoire de Bertrand du Gues- 
 clin, e. 1. 
 
 D L 2 
 
36 
 
 EDUCATION OF A KNIGHT. 
 
 chap.ii. these words denoted personal military attend- 
 ance, yet his personal domestic service con- 
 His duties tinued for some time. He prepared the refec- 
 
 of personal ... . n 
 
 service. tion in the morning, and then betook himself 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 polish 
 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 j and again, in the Merchant's 
 Tale, it is said, — 
 
 * Paulus Warnefridus, lib. L c. 23. 
 
 f Eximinus Petri Salonava Justitia Arragonum. Lib. de 
 privilegiis baronum et riccorum hominum. . 
 
EDUCATION OF A KNIGHT. 
 
 37 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 " 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, g ^ "/ a 
 when Edward the Black Prince was sojourn- S( i uire - 
 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 refused 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 o 
 
38 
 
 EDUCATION OF A KNIGHT. 
 
 chap.il « 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 on 
 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, 6 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. 3 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 chacun son seignor." 
 
 Personal service was considered so much the Various 
 duty of a squire that his title was always ap- squires! 
 
 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- 
 ing views of chivalric manners, has admirably 
 painted 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 mee t, 
 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 military youth of the class : every 
 squire, however, became in turn by seniority the 
 martial squire. He accompanied his lord into the 
 field of battle, carrying his shield and armour, 
 
 * Fairy Queen, book 1. canto 10. st. 7. 
 
EDUCATION OF A KNIGHT. 
 
 41 
 
 while the page usually bore the helmet * He chap.ii. 
 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 m a 
 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 many 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 tourner, 
 A leurs escuyers les liverent 
 Et a garder les comn^andement. ,, 
 
42 
 
 EDUCATION OF A KNIGHT, 
 
 chap.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 
 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 ladies 
 was not forgotten, and it more often happened 
 than monkish austerity approved o£ 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 difficulties 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 Liechtenstein, 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 musical instruments, 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 : — 
 
 66 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 hote he loved, that by nighterdale (night time) 
 He slept no more than doth the nightingale." 
 
 Military exercises were mingled with the Marti . al 
 
 J t ° exercises. 
 
 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 Roman youths in the Campus Martius, 
 when 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 Romaunt of the 
 Rose :" — 
 
 " 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 literary 
 coincidence, but to shew that the squire of France and the 
 squire of England were in Chaucer's view the same character. 
 
44 
 
 EDUCATION OF A KNIGHT. 
 
 char 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 extremities, he made the 
 figure turn round, and strike him an ill-aimed 
 blow, much to the merriment of the spectators. 
 The game of the Quintain was sometimes played 
 by hanging a shield upon a staff fixed in the 
 ground, and the skilful squire riding apace 
 struck the shield in such a manner as to detach 
 it from its ligatures. # 
 
 But of all the exercises of chivalry, none was 
 
 Horseman- thought so important as horsemanship. 
 
 ship. 
 
 " Wei could he sit on horse and fair ride," 
 
 is Chaucer's praise of his young squire. Horse- 
 manship 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 foamed, for he disdained to bear any base chap.ii. 
 burthen. * 
 
 Notions of religion were blended with those 
 of arms 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 sembloit home ki someille." 
 
46 
 
 EDUCATION OF A KNIGHT. 
 
 CHAP. II. " Bore him well, as of so little space, 
 
 In hope to stonden in his lady's grace." # 
 
 of^quiJesin -^ or ^ e sc l u i re > instead of being merely the 
 battles. servant of the knight, often periled himself in 
 his defence. When the knight was impetuous 
 beyond the well-tempered bravery of chivalry, 
 the admirer of his might 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. 6 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- CHAPJ 
 sart, and gave him such a stroke on the head 
 that he was astonied, and had nigh fallen to 
 the earth. He recovered himself 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 battle of 
 27th of July, 1214. The force of Philip Au- Bovines ' 
 gustus was far inferior in number 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 them 5 but the young 
 
 * Froissart, liv. 2. c. 24. 
 
48 
 
 CEREMONY OF INAUGURATION. 
 
 chap. ii. 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- Seldom before 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 man 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- 
 blems 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. ii. always regarded in the church as a symbol of 
 
 servitude to God. # 
 The inau- The ceremony of inauguration was generally 
 
 guration. J ° ° ^ 
 
 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 
 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 solemnly kwore to de- 
 fend the church, to attack the wicked, to respect 
 the priesthood, to protect women 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, 
 
 sword upon his strong thigh, that with it he chap. 
 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 
 widow r s and orphans, and to restore and preserve 
 the desolate, to revenge the wronged, to con- 
 firm 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 
 
52 
 
 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. 5 * 
 
 For not a wight there lives, if right I deem, 
 "Who holds fair hope of well-deserv 5 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 military customs of chap.ii. 
 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 made by adapting the habiliments of 
 chivalry to them, but by receiving them, or being adopted 
 into the order. Many writers have imagined 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 S 
 
54 
 
 CEREMONY OF INAUGURATION. 
 
 chap.ii. 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 of the lance, that the admiringpeople 
 might know that a cavalier had been elected for 
 their protection. He distributed largesses among 
 the servants and minstrels of the 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 important 
 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 honours 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 
 Francaise, 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 chafers, 
 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 ; 
 <c but, Sir, I will never be knight without I 
 " am made by the hands of my natural lord, the 
 " Earl 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 Swinton exhorted the 
 
 * Froissart, vol. i. c. 364. The romance writers made 
 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 families a mortal feud existed. 
 Generously forgetting the hatred which each house 
 bore to the other, Gordon knelt before S win ton* 
 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 the Scottish line the fate of the 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 m on ^ e eye Q f a jjattile, as it was considered that 
 battie-fieid. a sense of their new honours would inspire their 
 gallantry. 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 was 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 men who were 
 knighted were not able to summon round their 
 lances a single man-at-arms ; hence it ocurred i?con*e- 
 
 ° 7 nience 01 
 
 that the world was overspread with poor knights, this ' 
 some 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. 
 
 t€ So riding, they o'ertake an errant knight, 
 
 Well hors'd, and large of limb, Sir Gaudwin hight * 
 
58 
 
 CEREMONY OF INAUGURATION. 
 
 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." 
 
 Cavaliers sometimes took their title from the 
 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 the passage by mutual 
 consent, divided the warriors. Swords or short 
 battle-axes were the only weapons used. 
 
 In the year 1388, the castle of Vertueill, in 
 Poictou, then held by the English, was besieged 
 by the Duke of Bourbon. Its walls raised on 
 
 chap.il 
 
 Knights of 
 Mines. 
 
CEREMONY OF INAUGURATION. 59 
 
 a lofty rock were not within the play of the chap.ii. 
 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 of the 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 of the 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 him in return for the distinction, 
 and from respect for 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. Honore*, 
 Dissertations Historiques et Critiques sur la Chevaliere. 4to. 
 Paris. 1718. p. 55. 
 
60 
 
 CEREMONY OF DEGRADATION. 
 
 chap. ii. Such were the various ceremonies of chivalric 
 General inauguration. Those of degradation should be 
 of degra- noticed. What the offences were which were 
 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. Stilly 
 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 of the 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 stage, and a 
 herald holding it up, demanded the knights 
 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. 
 
 CHAP.ir. 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 
 buffettings 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. * 
 
 inEng^r The English 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, c the king for thy valiant service 
 hath done thee great honour, and made 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 earldom chap.il 
 of Lancaster, by which means 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 after 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 arms, and also of his girdle ; and 
 when this was done, Sir Anthony said unto 
 him, * Andrew, 5 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. " * 
 
 * Stoves Chronicle, 
 
«5 
 
 CHAP. IIL 
 
 THE EQUIPMENT* 
 
 Beauty of the cJiivalric Equipment ... The Lafice ... The 
 Pennon ... The Axe, Maule, and Mart el ... The Sword 
 ... Fondness of the Knight for it ... Swords in Romances 
 . . . The Shield . . . Various sorts of Mail . . . Mail . . . Mail 
 and Plate . . . Plate Harness . . . The Scarf. . . Sur coats . . , 
 Armorial Bearings . . . Sur coats of the Military Orders 
 ... The Dagger of Mercy ... Story of its Use ... Value of 
 Enquiries into ancient Armour ...A precise Knowledge 
 unattainable ... Its general Features interesting ... The 
 broad Lines of the Subject . . . Excellence of Italian 
 Armour ... Armour of the Squire^ fyc. ... Allegories made 
 on Armour . . . The Horse of the Knight. 
 
 The fierce equipage of war deserves a fuller chap. 
 consideration than was given to it in the last f^l 
 chapter. The horse whereon the knight dashed thechivaw c 
 to the perilous encounter should be described, e< i ul P ment * 
 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 and 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. 
 
 C m P ' 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. 
 
 rhe lance. 'pj^ i ance was chief offensive 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 was fashioned agreeably to his taste. # 
 To the top of the wooden part of the lance was 
 
 o h n e pen " 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 arme sor le cheval de pris, 
 
 D'Aubere, et d'iaume, d'escu Poitevin." 
 
 Du Cange, art. Ferrum Pictavense. 
 
 The iron of 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 espee de Bourdeaux, qui moult chier li cousta." 
 
THE EQUIPMENT. 
 
 67 
 
 was fixed in the ground near the entrance of the chap. 
 
 & . in. 
 
 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 canuot be described from 
 its exact breadth, for that quality of it varied 
 with the different fancies of knights, and it had 
 sometimes 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, f 
 
 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, Dietion. Etym. in verb. 
 
 t It is not worth while to say much about mere words. I 
 shall only add that the banner was sometimes called the 
 Gonfanon. 
 
 " Li Barons aurent gonfanons 
 Li chevaliers aurent penons." 
 
 F 2 
 
68 
 
 THE EQUIPMENT. 
 
 chap. But the most favourite weapons were certain 
 in. , i-i -ii 
 ponderous steel or iron hammers, carrying death 
 
 either by the weight of their fall or the sharp- 
 The mauie ness of the edge. They were called the martel 
 and martei. 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 5 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 Cceur de Lion, and it was with a 
 battle -axe as often as with a sword, that he 
 
 * This battle-axe is very amusingly described in the 
 metrical romance of Richard Cceur de Lion : — 
 
THE EQUIPMENT, 
 
 69 
 
 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- 
 
 u King Richard I understand, 
 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 lived, 
 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." 
 
 Line 2197, &c. 
 
 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 romance- 
 writers, who reflect the style of thinking of their 
 times, commonly give the lance to the knight, 
 and the axe or mallet to some rude and ferocious 
 giant, t 
 
 The sword. The usual weapon 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 round it all his affections. In that weapon he 
 the kmght •p ar ^j cu i ar jy 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 
 sword ; they were sometimes engraven on 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. 
 
 $ En loyal amour tout mon cueur, was a favourite motto 
 on the shank of a spur. 
 
THE EQUIPMENT. 
 
 heir loom of its knighthood. When no one in- 
 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 daies dubbed knights, 
 
 And did hem swere on her sword to serve truth ever. 
 
 P. Ploughman. 
 
 The word Jesus was sometimes engraven on 
 the hilt 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 
 
72 
 
 THE EQUIPMENT. 
 
 char votion rendered up his soul into the hands of his 
 
 Creator. * 
 
 The handle of the sword was also remarkable 
 for another matter. 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 armourers at Saragossa were as renowned 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. 201. 
 
 J Hoveden. 
 
THE EQUIPMENT. 
 
 73 
 
 tion of the art. Sometimes the armourers had es- c ^ p ' 
 tablishments in both towns. The excellence, — 
 however, of the swords of Julian del Rey, who 
 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 peculiar 
 marks. El perillo, a little dog j 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 shind 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. 
 
7* 
 
 THE EQUIPMENT. 
 
 CHAP. Whose hilt was burnish'd gold, and handle strong 
 
 Of mother perle, and buckled with a golden tong. 
 
 Book 1. c. 7. st. 29, 30. 
 
 Many of the historical circumstances just now 
 related regarding the sword of the knight are 
 pleasingly exaggerated in the beautiful extrava- 
 Swords in gancies of romantic fabling. The most famous 
 
 romances. , . . . n 
 
 sword in the imagination or our ancestors was 
 that of king Arthur ; it was called Escalibert 
 (corrupted into Caliburn). The romance of Mer- 
 lin thus explains the name. Escalibert est un 
 nom Ebricu qui vault autant a dire en Fra^ais, 
 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 remembered 
 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 of Brune. 
 
THE EQUIPMENT. 
 
 75 
 
 The romancers followed the practices of the c ^ p * 
 northern scalds *, of naming the swords of — - 
 knights : that of Sir Bevis of Hampton was 
 called Morglay ; and that of the Emperor Char- 
 lemagne himself Fusberta joyosa.t The poets 
 were also as faithful delineators of manners as 
 their predecessors the romance 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 hond. 
 66 O sword of great might, 
 Better bare never no knight, 
 
 To win with no lond ! 
 
 * Wormius, Lit. Run. p. 110. Hickes Thes. vol. 1. p. 193* 
 t The notion of applying the word jocose to a sword is 
 thus pleasantly dilated on by St. Palaye. " lis ont continuelle- 
 ment repandu sur toutes les images de la guerre un aif 
 d'enjouement, qui leur est propre : ils n'ont jamais parle que 
 comme d'une fete, d'un jeu, et d'un passe-temps. Jouer 
 leur jeu, ont-ils dit, les arbaletriers qui faisoient pleuvoir 
 une grele de traits. Jouer gros jeu, pour donner battaile. 
 Jouer t des mains, et une infinite d'autres facons de parler 
 semblables se recontrent souvent dans la lecture de recits 
 militaires nos Scrivains." 
 
76 
 
 THE EQUIPMENT. 
 
 Thou hasty — be in many batayle, 
 That never Sarrazin* sans fayle 
 
 Ne might thy stroke withstand* 
 Go ! let never no paynim 
 Into battle bear him, 
 
 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- 
 teous. 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. 
 
 CHAP, 
 III. 
 
THE EQUIPMENT. 
 
 77 
 
 on the words that were written on the sword, c ^ap. 
 and these were the words that were thus writ- e ~J. 
 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 courteous, 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 5 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, and to that use it was fre^ 
 quently applied. Another purpose is alluded to in the 
 spirited opening to the Lay of the Gentle Bachelor. 
 
 " What gentle Bachelor is he 
 Sword-begot in fighting field, 
 Rock'd and cradled in a shield, 
 Whose infant food a helm did yield." 
 
78 THE EQUIPMENT. 
 
 ° m P ' S* ven to 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 corn- 
 Impresses, parative refinement of his age. Some knights, 
 as gentle as brave, adorned their shields with 
 a portrait of their lady-love*, or stamped on 
 them impresses 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 meaning, 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 
 mail. subject of enquiry. The simplicity of ancient 
 times, in using the skins of beasts, is marked in 
 the word loricum, from the word lorum, a thong, 
 and the word cuirasse is traceable to cuir, leather. 
 Body harness has three general divisions ; mail j 
 
 * 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 — 1 
 defences, and then, for additional defence, a row 
 of larger rings was laid over the first. These 
 rings gave way to small iron plates which lapped 
 over each other, and this variety of mail is in- 
 teresting, for armour now resembled 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 mate- 
 rials, and called a gambeson. If the garment 
 were a simple tunic or frock the whole was 
 
 * Dr. Meyrick, in his huge work on armour, divides the 
 sorts of this early mail into the rustred, the scaled, the treU 
 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. 
 
 chap, called a hauberk. The lower members were de- 
 — ~ fended by ckausses, which may be intelligible to 
 modern understandings by the words breeches or 
 pantaloons. When the mailed frock and chausses 
 were joined, the union w r as 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. 
 
 M A goodly knight all armed in harness meet 
 
 That from his head 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. To fight on foot with 
 each incumbrances was impossible, and, there* 
 
THE EQUIPMENT. 
 
 fore the enemies of the crusaders (for foppery- 
 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 mail were now no longer sewn on the 
 dress, but they were interlaced, each ring having 
 four others inserted into it, and consequently 
 
 VOIr. I. G 
 
8 C 2 
 
 THE EQUIPMENT. 
 
 chap, the rings formed a garment of themselves. The 
 in. 
 
 — 1 best coats of mail 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. 
 Man 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, quse 
 maculis duplicibus intexta, nullius lanceae ictibus transforabi- 
 lis haberetur." Mon. 1.1; ann. 1127. 
 
THE EQUIPMENT. 
 
 83 
 
 rings. The new fashion of reticulated mail c **^ p - 
 
 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 which 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 mail and plate. The Plate har- 
 
 ° L ness. 
 
 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. 
 III. 
 
 mmmm " Of fustian he wered a gipon 
 
 Alle besmotred with his habergeon. 
 For he was of late y come fro his viage, 
 And wente for to don his pilgrimage." 
 
 The plate harness was in one respect far more 
 inconvenient than the armour it superseded. 
 The coat of chain mail could be put on or 
 slipped off with instantaneous celerity ; but 
 the dressing of a plate-armed knight was no 
 simple matter. 
 
 " From 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 armour. 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 and c **^ p - 
 dimensions, it became, if I may again express -—1 
 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 scarf, 
 by a scarf of silk 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 j 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 more variety in 
 
 * Froissart describes Sir John Chandos as dressed in a 
 long robe, which fell to the ground, blazoned with his arms 
 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 middle ages on the subject of 
 furs is the theme of perpetual complaint with contemporary 
 authors. By two statutes of the English parliament, holden 
 
 G 3 
 
THE EQUIPMENT. 
 
 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 w^ere 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 armour, 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 
 
 mingled devices or cognizances symbolical of chap. 
 some circumstance in the life of the knight, and — 1 
 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 bearmgs# 
 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. 
 
 C m P# ^ e crusa( ^ es * 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. 
 Surcoatsof A word may be said on the surcoats of the 
 
 the military # * 
 
 orders. military orders. The knights of St. John and 
 the Temple wore plain sopra vests, and their 
 whole harness was covered by a monastic mantle, 
 marked 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 of the face became a matter 
 
THE EQUIPMENT. 
 
 89 
 
 of serious consideration, and a broad piece of chap. 
 iron was made to connect the frontlet of the — 1 
 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 bevere, 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 ornament. The 
 Templars and the knights of St. John were not 
 permitted to adorn their helmets with the tokens 
 
 * Montfaucon, PL 2. xiv. 7. and Gough i. 137. 
 
THE EQUIPMENT. 
 
 either of nobility or of love ; the simplicity of 
 religion banishing all vain heraldic distinctions, 
 and the soldier-priests being obliged, like the 
 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 r . 
 
 "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 ymounted 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 by the squire, or page, on the pommel of 
 
 * Fairy Queen, Book i. canto vii. st. 31, 32. 
 
THE EQUIPMENT. 
 
 91 
 
 his saddle, a very necessary measure for the re- c **^ p - 
 lief of the knight, particularly when the sarcasm 
 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 j 
 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 ; for the 
 lance broke hurtless on the plate of steel, the 
 arrow and quarrel glanced away, and it is only 
 in romance that \^e read of swords cutting 
 through a solid front of iron, or piercing both 
 plate and mail, 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 holes in the vizor. Such a mode of death 
 was not very common, for the cavalier always 
 bent his face almost 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 truth, the laws of chivalry obliged the con- 
 queror to shew mercy, if, when the dagger was 
 drawn, the prostrate foe yielded himself) rescue 
 or no rescue. 
 
 It may be noticed that a dagger or short 
 sword was worn by the knight even in days of 
 chain mail, 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 c **ap. 
 tale, descriptive of the general chivalric custom, — 1 
 regarding the dagger of mercy. About the 
 year 1 390, the lord of Langurante in Gascony story of its 
 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 
 of the 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 
 one course with a spear." 
 
 A squire of Bernard reported this message to 
 his master, whose heart beginning to swell with ire, 
 he cried, " Get me my harness, and saddle my 
 horse ; he shall not go refused." Incontinently 
 he was armed, 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 
 
THE EQUIPMENT. 
 
 chap, did Bernard. Their good horses dashed at each 
 in. . 
 
 . — 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 coming to the rescue of their master, when 
 Bernard drew his dagger, and said to the lord, 
 " Sir, yield you my prisoner, rescue or no 
 rescue ; or else you are but dead." The lord, 
 who trusted to the rescue of his men, spoke not 
 a word ; and Bernard then gave him 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 armour in days of 
 iTto^ ndent chivalry. A more detailed account of the sub- 
 armour. j ect canno j- k e interesting ; for 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. 
 
 95 
 
 in all her changes in those times as in ours; and chap. 
 and as we turn with contempt from the military . — I 
 foppery of the present day, little gratification can 
 be expected from too minute an inspection of 
 the vanities of our forefather. Chaucer says, 
 
 " Witli 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 tyeren, 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 able * 
 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 j for after ruling the world for 
 some time it suddenly disappears, but some 
 years afterwards it rears it's head again to the 
 confusion and dismay of our antiquarians. 
 
 Our best authorities sometimes fail us. The 
 monumental effigies were not always carved at 
 
96 
 
 THE EQUIPMENT. 
 
 C hi P ' ^ e moment °f ^ e 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 sometimes violate 
 accuracy, in order to introduce some favorite 
 fashion of their own days. As for the illumin- 
 ations of manuscripts 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, 
 
 61 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 — - 
 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, for they were 
 varied and improved by successive repetitions 
 and transcriptions, and when they were rendered 
 into prose still further changes were made in 
 order to please the taste of the 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 most 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 
 armour 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 
 
THE EQUIPMENT. 
 
 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 
 cruelly murdered, the Dauphin's people stripped 
 from him 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 month 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 f> 
 
 * Monstrelet, Johnes's edition, voJ. v. p. 121. 126., et 
 prestement un nomme Olivier Layet a 1'ayde de Pierre Fro- 
 tier lui bouta une espee par dessoules son haulbergeon tout 
 dedans le ventre, &c. — En apres le dessusdit due mis a mort, 
 comme dit est fut tantost par les gens du Daulphin desuestu 
 de sa robbe, de son haulbergecn, &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 C **£ R 
 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 armour to meet the improvements subject, 
 in the art of destruction. Chain-m ail 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 c 2 
 
100 
 
 THE EQUIPMENT. 
 
 chap, particular part of the body the first plate that 
 — 1 was used defended ; but the general features of 
 the subject are known well enough to enable us 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 
 armour 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 common 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 plate 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 of the 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 scarf 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- 
 ment ; 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., for 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 armour on 
 that day, nor does it appear that he ever wore black armour 
 at all. Plain steel armour was his usual wear, and the 
 surcoat was emblazoned with the arms 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 armour, 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 on 
 
 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 in the rude encounter of the horses many 
 cavaliers were thrown, and the field presented 
 a ludicrous spectacle of rolling knights, * Some 
 
 the banner of the monarch, and were not worn on the 
 helmet, 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 same time continually surmounted 
 the helmet, and the ostrich feathers, which ever since 
 the crusades the western world had been familiar 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 
 ornament, would have been contented with placing the 
 ostrich feathers as a mere 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 morass, the 
 
THE EQUIPMENT* 
 
 103 
 
 traces of the custom of cavalry dismounting c **£ p - 
 may be found in the twelfth century. The — 
 practice grew as plate-armour became mixed 
 with mail ; 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 enemy 
 (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 marshy 
 ground, which he purposely left unguarded, than his in- 
 fantry assailed them with missiles on both flanks. In 
 attempting to repulse them 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 4< 
 
104 
 
 THE EQUIPMENT. 
 
 CHAP. « In arms they stood 
 
 III. 
 
 1 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. Armour 
 gradually fell out of use as infantry began to be 
 considered and felt as the principal force in w. 
 It was not, however, till the beginning of the 
 seventeenth century that the proud nobility of 
 Europe would abandon the mode 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 longe'r 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. 
 
 in. 
 
 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 armour 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 much 
 honour to the Italians ; and we also know that 
 down to the very latest period of chivalric his- 
 tory Milanese armour was particularly esteem ed.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- 
 municating ideas in chivalric ages. Knights 
 of various countries met 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 
 1 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 
 for cold but for cutting,' 9 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 c ^ p - 
 costume of the esquire, and the men-at-arms. — - 
 The esquire wore silver spurs in distinction from knight's 
 the golden spurs of the knight; but when an S^squh-^ 
 esquire as a member of the third class of chi- &c ' 
 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 the 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 
 — 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 helmet, without vizor or 
 beaver. They frequently wore a long and large 
 garment called the aketon, gambeson, or jack, 
 formed of various folds of linen cloth or leather : 
 but it is totally impossible to give any useful or 
 interesting information on a subject which ca- 
 price or poverty perpetually varied. 
 
 Allegories Armour had other purposes in the mind of 
 armour, the knight besides its common and apparent use. 
 
 Days of chivalry were especially times when 
 imagination was in its freest exercise, and 
 every thing was full 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 — L. 
 force and power of courage were expressed by 
 the mace. The helmet conveyed the idea of 
 shamefacedness ; 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 j 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 
 of the saddle was regarded as emblematical of the 
 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 manner 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 more 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 evil 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 Chy valrye, 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 of the Garter, p. 119, 120., and his History 
 of the Knighthood of the Bath, p. 77—80. 
 
THE EQUIPMENT. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Before we close our account of the cavalier's chap. 
 
 equipment, something must be said regarding his 1 
 
 steed, his good steed, as he was fond of calling ^ h t he° rse 
 him. The horse of the knight was necessarily kni s ht - 
 an animal of great power when 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, 
 
 ■ 66 bestrode a Habyte^ f 
 That was mickle and nought lights % 
 That Sir Bevis in Paynim lond 
 Had iwunnen with his hond." 
 
 * Asturco dextrarius est, Astur caput ejus 
 
 Nam prius Astur equum dextrandi repperit usum. 
 
 Ebrardus Betuniensis in Graecismo, c. 7. 
 f An Arabian horse, % Weak. 
 
112 
 
 THE EQUIPMENT. 
 
 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. 
 
 CHAP. 
 Hi. 
 
THE EQUIPMENT. 
 
 113 
 
 And all that saw them prais'd them, — they lauded man CHAP. 
 
 and horse, 1 
 
 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 6 No,' said Don Alphonso, 8 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 
 in. . & 
 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 combatting ; 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, commonly re- 
 presents the usage as similar ; for when we 
 find that a damsel is rescued, she is not placed 
 upon a spare horse, but the knight mounts her 
 behind himself, t 
 
 The destrier, cheval de lance, or war-steed, was 
 armed or bardedt very much 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 I. c. 155, says " II y a chevaus de plu- 
 sieurs manieres, a ce que li un sont destreir quant pour li 
 combat, li auter sont palefroy pour chevaucher a l'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. 
 
 \ 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- chai 
 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 
 has 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 
 times of chivalry. An old Troubadour poet, 
 
 his instruction and illumination, a few lines from Dr. Mey rick's 
 Chronological Inquiry into Ancient Armour, vol. ii. p. 126. 
 " The principal reason for arming 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 himself; 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. 
 
 C m P 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.' 9 
 The war-horse of a soldier of a religious order of 
 knighthood might 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 bell." 
 
 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 ill observed ; for the 
 knights-templars in the middle of the thirteenth 
 century w r ere censured for having their bridles 
 embroidered, or gilded, or adorned with silver, t 
 
 * Statutes of the Templars, c. 37. 
 
 t Vincent de Beauvais, Hist. lib. 30. c. 85. 
 
117 
 
 CHAR IV. 
 
 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 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 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 
 
 Heligion 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 of the Pheasant. 
 
 The knight was accompanied into the field by chap. 
 his squires and pages, by his armed vassals on ^li 
 horseback and on foot, all bearing his cognisance. 
 
 i 3 
 
118 
 
 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER* 
 
 chap. The number of these attendants varied neces- 
 
 sarily with his estate, and also the occasion that 
 
 array of induced him to arm ; 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 same 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. 
 
 Sons^n ^ e knight was not only supported by 
 arms. vassa j Sj w } 10 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 may 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 most dear. Among barbarous people 
 the fraternity of arms was established by the 
 horrid custom of the new brothers drinking 
 
THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 119 
 
 each other's blood: but if this practice was CI J^ R 
 barbarous, nothing was farther from barbarism — 
 than the sentiment which inspired it. 
 
 The chivalry of Europe borrowed this sacred 
 bond from the Scandinavians, among whom the 
 future brothers in arms mingled their blood, and 
 then tasted it. 
 
 6 6 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 light 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 
 Tancienne 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 ; 
 — 1 and in sign of the perfection of love, and of 
 true unity, and in order to possess, as much 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 came 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 immediately 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 for life. It did not always occur, 
 however, that the fraternity of arms was esta- 
 blished with religious solemnities: but whatever 
 
 * Juv. des Ursins anno 1411. Vraye fraternite et com- 
 pagnie d'armes, is the frequent expression in old writers for 
 this chivalric union. 
 
 \ Kennet's Parochial Antiquities, p. 57. cited in Henry's 
 History of England, vol. iii. p. 360. 4to. 
 
THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 121 
 
 might have been the ceremonies, the obligation c hap. 
 was ever considered sacred ; so sacred, indeed, — - 
 that romance 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 in the third volume of his Specimens of early 
 English Metrical Romances, and inserted at length by Mr. 
 Weber in the second volume of his collection. The reader 
 may be amused to learn that the mother of the children was 
 so complaisant to her husband as to approve of his having 
 cut their little throats. 
 
 " O lef lief! she said tho, 
 
 God may send us children mo ! 
 
 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 Amy lion, that gentle knight, 
 
 That ever was fre to fonde f 
 
 * After. 
 
 t That ever could be met with. 
 
122 
 
 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 This form of attachment was the strongest tie 
 in chivalry, 
 
 " From this day forward, 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 man 
 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 man kithe, 
 They thanked God that day. 
 As ye may at me liste and lythe.* 
 Into the chamber they went swythe. "j* 
 Ther as the children lay. 
 Without wern J, 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. J 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 
 
 . . n i » i thechivalric 
 
 achieve the high emprises or his noble and character, 
 gallant calling. Both the principles and the 
 objects of chivalry having been always the same, 
 a general similarity of character existed through 
 all the chivalric ages ; and as certain moral 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 come to mark the degrees of the in- 
 fluence of chivalry in the different countries of 
 Europe. 
 
124 
 
 THE CHIVALKIC CHARACTER. 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 The nature 
 of their 
 valiancy. 
 
 Singular 
 bravery of 
 Sir Robert 
 Knowles. 
 
 The courage of the knight is the part of his 
 character which naturally calls for our first at- 
 tention. It was daring and enterprising : but I 
 cannot insist upon recklessness of danger as the 
 quality of chivalry only, for in every nation's 
 battles, 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 
 his valour. About the year 1370? Sir Robert 
 Knowles marched 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 for the finishing of his vow he departed 
 from his company, his spear in his hand, his 
 shield suspended from his neck, armed 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 
 him, 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 CHIVALUTC CHARACTER. 
 
 125 
 
 but that was not his mind, for when he had c ^ p - 
 
 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 matter of the text. " In 
 the suburbs he had a sore encounter, for, as he passed on 
 the pavement, he found before him a bocher, a big man, 
 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 him such a stroke between the neck and 
 shoulders, that he fell upon his horse, and yet he recovered ; 
 and then the bocher struck him 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 master 
 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. 
 
126 
 
 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 chap, no Sally j and a Scottish knight, named Sir John 
 — 1 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 my 
 horse, and depart not hence," he went to the 
 barriers. Within the pallisades were many good 
 knights, who had great marvel what this said 
 knight would do. Then Swinton said to them, 
 " Sirs, I am come hitherto see you ; as you will 
 not issue out of your barriers, I will enter them, 
 and prove my knighthood against yours. Win 
 me if you can !" He then fought with the 
 French cavaliers, and so skilfully, that he 
 wounded two or three of them ; the people on 
 the walls and the tops of 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 
 
THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 127 
 
 thank you." He then urged his noble horse to chap. 
 
 speed, and rode to his own company. This 1 
 
 goodly feat of arms was praised by many folks.* 
 This love of causeless perils was often ac- 
 companied by curious circumstances. On the 
 manners of the ancestors of the heroes of chivalry 
 it has been said, 
 
 " In the caverns of the west, 
 By Odin's fierce embrace comprest, 
 A wond'rous boy shall Rinda 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 king Harold made a solemn vow never bravery in. 
 
 ° t f cited by 
 
 to clip or comb his hair till he should have vows - 
 extended his sway over the whole country. Ta- 
 citus informs us, that the youthful Germans, par- 
 ticularly those among the Catti, did not shave the 
 hair from the head or chin until they had 
 achieved renown in arms. The same feeling 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 solemnity, t 
 
 * Froissart, vol. i. c. 278. 
 
 t Froissart, c.281.; Gray's Descentof Odin.; Herbert's Ice- 
 landic Translations, p. 39 ; Scott's Minstrelsy, vol. 1. p. 45. 
 
128 
 
 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 chap. A young knight would not at first assume his 
 — 1 family arms, but wore plain armour and shield 
 circum- without any device till he had won renown. He 
 would even fight blindfold, 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 1 lis horse 
 to the barriers, leaped over them, 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 foaming steed 
 and urged him back towards the camp. The 
 duke shouted applause at his boldness : but some 
 surrounding men-at-arms had not the same 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 more 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 silk 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- chap. 
 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 young soldiers only ; for discre- 
 tion was certainly a part of cavaleresque valour. 
 That a knight was sage is frequently said to his The sage- 
 
 & & . . nessof 
 
 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 couvert de drap, a 
 fin qu'ils n'en puissent veoir ; et disoit on que ceux la avoient 
 voue, entre dames 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 to make vows was an excellent subject for Cervantes* 
 raillery. " Tell her," continued I, (Don Quixote) " when 
 she least expects it, she will come to hear how I made an 
 oath, as the Marquis of Mantua did, when he found his 
 nephew Baldwin ready to expire on the mountains, 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. 
 
 f Every true knight said like him in the Morte 
 d' Arthur, " Though the knight be never so false, I will never 
 VOL. I, K 
 
THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 chap, refinements of artifice, and be would have de- 
 
 IV. 
 
 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. * 
 
 Their hu- There was not so much ruthlessness in his 
 war. heroism as distinguished those ages of the 
 
 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 valiant 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 maxim, 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 Brembrow, an Eng- 
 lish knight, was ravaging Brittany, in the year 
 1350, 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 CHTVALRTC CHARACTER. 
 
 C ^ P - 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 modern 
 hatred of aristocratical power has represented. 
 We may learn from our historian that the mas- 
 sacre at Limoges proceeded from the unhappy 
 disposition to cruelty which at that time 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 English dominions in France, to pay 
 the expences of the war, which had had for its object the 
 restoration of Peter the Cruel. 
 
THE CH1VALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 133 
 
 horses barded, and knights and squires richly ci Jap. 
 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 bravery, 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 met 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 men, women 
 and children were slain that day. God have mercy on their 
 souls, for I trow they were martyrs." Lord Benders' 
 Translation. 
 
 K 3 
 
134 
 
 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER, 
 
 C i I y AP ' sa "dier 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 himself 
 from the equipments of his horse. The Saracen 
 rallied him for 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 the Morte d'Arthur it 
 is said, " and thus by assent of them both, they granted 
 either other to rest, and so they set them down upon two mole 
 
THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 135 
 
 preliminaries of a battle between the famous chap. 
 
 . iv. 
 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 more 
 
 numerous 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 them 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 them on again at their command- 
 ment. Morte d< Arthur, lib. 8. c. 17. 
 * Romance of Sir Ferumbras. 
 
 f 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 
 
isrt 
 
 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 chap. We commonly refer to the principles of ho- 
 — 1 nour in chivalry to account for the interesting 
 Ransoming f&at 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 return at the appointed season, The true 
 
 courtesies in > A A 
 
 battles. reason of this general practice of chivalry may be 
 learnt from a passage in Froissart. After describ- 
 ing a battle between the English and French in 
 the year 1344, he says, that the English dealt like 
 good companions with their prisoners ; and suf- 
 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 combatants.'" 
 
 Henry IV, Part 1. Act 1. Sc. iii, 
 
 * Froissart liv. 1, c, 107. 
 
THE CHJVALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 137 
 
 ease j" and so made their prisoners as good cheer c **ap. 
 
 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 him like 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 
 their 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, t 
 
 * Froissart, liv. 2. c. 145. 
 f Froissart, liv. 2. c. 146. 
 % Froissart, liv. 1. c. 149. 233. 
 
138 
 
 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 chap. One curious particular, illustrative of knightly 
 dignity, remains to be mentioned. It was beneath 
 
 P ride°of the bearing of chivalry for a cavalier to sur- 
 
 kmghthood. ren( j er 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 him with knighthood. But there 
 was no loss of chivalric dignity in a knight being 
 taken prisoner by a squire, for 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 J n the course of the fourteenth century the 
 
 knightly t , J 
 
 honour. Duke of Gueldres was taken prisoner by a 
 squire named Arnold, and was removed to a 
 castle, where he promised 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 
 castle : but before his departure he went to the 
 
THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 139 
 
 Duke of Gueldres, and said to him, " Sir duke, c ^p. 
 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 
 remote 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- k^ghtland 
 
 knight er- 
 rantry. 
 
 * Froissart, liv. 1. c. 235. 371. Hv. 2. c. 152. 
 
140 
 
 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 chap, lateci 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. 
 
 (t Long so they travelFd 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 hi. canto 1. st. 3. ; and Tasso, with 
 equal attention to truth, thus describes the duty of a knight. 
 Premer gli alteri, e sollevar gli imbelli, 
 Defender gli innocenti, e punir gli empi, 
 Fian Tarti lor. 
 
 La Ger. lib. 10. 76. 
 
THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 141 
 
 It was considered the first praise of knight- 
 hood to efface foul outrage, and the advantages 
 arising to society from this disposition are con- 
 fessed even by satirists. 
 
 " Knyghtes shoulde 
 
 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 
 into order, force was the only measure of power ; 
 
 * Piers Ploughman, first vision, 
 t M. Paris. 45. 
 
 CHAP, 
 IV. 
 
142 
 
 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 chap, 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. Some 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 domains which he had 
 won upon a nobler and more deserving lord. * 
 
 Knights When he was neither engaged in his country's 
 battles of G wars, nor errant in quest of adventures, the knight 
 other coun- ^ught 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- c ^ap. 
 sing pleasant towns and fair rivers, but Castile — 
 was full of barren rocks and mountains, the air 
 was unwholesome, the waters were troubled, and 
 the people were poor and evil arrayed. The ^"f!^j s . 
 wines of Spain formed, however, the principal gj^Jj^ 
 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 might 
 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 ^11 this adventurousness proceeded from the 
 
 or this ac» 1 
 
 tive con- principle, that the life of a knight was not to be 
 
 duct. # 
 
 regarded as a course of personal indulgence. His 
 virtues were of an active, stirring nature, and 
 he was not permitted to waste his days in dark 
 obscurity, or to revel in ease. Like falcons 
 that disdained confinement, he could not remain 
 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 rouse one another to arms. "There 
 be knights and squires to awake 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. 
 And day and night her doors to all stand open wide."* 1V * 
 
 It has often been supposedt that the chivalric Knightly 
 array must nave been inconvenient to the ieil&ai 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 v^ant 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 l'unite du commandement est le seul 
 moyen d'entretenir la vigueur de la discipline, jamais elle ne 
 dut etre moins solidement etablie, et plus souvent ebranlee 
 que du temps de nos chevaliers. Quelle confusion, en effet, 
 ne devoient point apporter tant d'especes de chefs, dont les 
 principes, les motifs et les interets n'etoient pas toujours 
 d'accord, et qui ne tiroient point d'une meme source le 
 droit de se faire obeir ?" Memoires sur P Ancienne Chevalerie, 
 partie 5, 
 
 VOL. I. L 
 
146 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 chap, that were attached to his knighthood, it would 
 — be in vain to enquire after. The array of an 
 army was always formed 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, cer- 
 tainly not on account of his chivalric title, but 
 by reason of favour or merit, or any other of the 
 infinity of causes that occasion advancement. 
 
 Religion of The religion of the knight was generally the 
 
 the knight. *=> to ii ii 
 
 religion of the time ; and it would be idle to ex- 
 pect to see religious reformers start from the 
 bands of an unlettered soldiery, whose swords 
 His de- had been consecrated by the church. The war- 
 rior said many orisons every day j besides a noc- 
 turne of the Psalter, matins of our Lady, of the 
 Holy Ghost, and of the cross, and also the dirige. # 
 The service of the mass was usually performed 
 by both armies 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 cavalier, Lahire, 
 had just reached his army, he met a chaplain, 
 
 * Froissart, vol. ii. c. 26. 
 
THE CH1VALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 147 
 
 from whom he demanded absolution. The priest ch ap. 
 required him to confess his sins. But the knight — 1 
 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, for 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, i 6 God, I pray thee that thou 
 wouldest do to-day for Lahire as much as thou 
 wouldest Lahire should do for thee, if he were 
 God and thou wert Lahire/ 5 He then dashed 
 spurs into his horse, and his falchion was stained 
 with foeman's blood before the good chaplain 
 had recovered from his astonishment 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 2 
 
148 
 
 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 chap, that he hoped God of his grace would vouchsafe 
 — 1 to send him a similar end.* 
 
 The knight visited sacred places, and adopted 
 all the superstitions, whether mild 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." 
 
 Hisintoier- The knight knew 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.' 5 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 maxim. 
 
 The wars of these soldiers of the church were 
 not purely defensive. The cavalier fought 
 
 * " Then said the gud Erl 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 life, 
 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 
 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 miscreants 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, hh virtui 
 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 ; for he con- 
 sidered his honourable fame as a polished mir- 
 ror, whose beauty may be lost by an impure 
 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. 
 f Ibid. c. 48. 
 
 L 3 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
150 The chivalric character. 
 
 chap, so abstract and refined in the nature of knightly 
 — *1 virtue as has been generally thought. It was the 
 duty of the cavalier to peril himself in the cause of 
 the afflicted and of the church ; and his exertions 
 and endeavours to perform the conditions of his 
 oath of chivalry were to be rewarded, not by the 
 mere 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 exclude from his conduct the 
 operation of personal motives. 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 buoyant spirits of the young 
 cavalier were neither decent nor moral. When 
 his imagination was inflamed by chivalry and 
 Iove> he forgot his rosary, and said that paradise 
 
 * Malmsbury, p. 186. 
 
THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 151 
 
 was only the habitation of dirty monks, priests, chai 
 
 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 
 
 n -. . i i obligations. 
 
 mise was very conspicuous, tor his nobleness 
 disdained any compromise with convenience or 
 circumstances. However absurd the vow, still 
 he was compelled 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 his 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 might re- 
 quire for the service he had rendered him. 
 " Then/' said Sir Loyes, " 1 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 me, 
 and slain my nephew. I will strike their heads off 
 
 * Lai of Aucassin and Nicolette. 
 L 4 
 
152 
 
 THE CHIVALR1C 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 promised her when she gave him the sword. ' That is 
 sooth,' said Arthur, 6 a gift I promised you. Ask what ye will, 
 and ye shall have it, an it be in my power to give it/ — 6 Well/ 
 saith the lady, 6 1 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 gentlewoman was causer 
 of my father's death/ — ' Truly/ said King Arthur, 6 1 may not 
 grant either of their heads with my worship, therefore ask 
 what ye will else, and I shall fulfill your desire/ — i I will ask 
 none other thing/ said the lady. When Balyn was ready to 
 depart, he saw the lady of the lake, 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, 6 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, 1 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 times 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 for the throne of Eng- j£ stance of 
 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 my safe-conduct. I shall never forgive you that 
 trespass.' — 6 Sir/ said Balyn, i me forthinketh of your 
 displeasure ; for this same lady was the untruest lady living, 
 and by enchantment and sorcery she hath been the de- 
 stroyer of many good knights, and she was causer that my 
 mother was burnt through her falsehood and treachery.'' — 
 6 What cause soever ye had/ said Arthur, e 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 my court 
 in all haste that you may." Morte d' Arthur, lib. ii. c. 3. 
 
 * Malmsbury, p.184*. Quern cuilibet, quamvis infestissimo 
 inimico negare, laudabilium militum mos non est. 
 
154 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER* 
 
 chap, times by the light of modern prejudices. It was 
 — 1 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* 
 Romantic More full in its circumstances, and equally 
 excess of it. romant i c - n 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 of the 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 complimented the 
 country in most of its forms, and praised the 
 demeanour of the French chivalry, except in 
 one thing, for he complained that none of their 
 knights would do any deed of arms with him, 
 although he had with great trouble and cost left 
 
THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 155 
 
 England to encounter them. The Lord of Clary c ^ap* 
 heard with pain the knights of his country re- — 
 viled, in the presence of the sister of the King 
 of England ; but he restrained his feelings, 
 because Sir Peter was then under 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 of the 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 neighbouring 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 alarmed, lest the honor 
 of their nation had received a stain. It was also 
 thought that the joust had been intentionally a 
 mortal one, a matter 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 for his vindication 
 of the French chivalry. He said he would 
 abide the judgment of the constable and the 
 high marshal 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 committed to prison, nor was he de- 
 livered thence till after along time, 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, C] ^ p - 
 prevailed with the king. He was dismissed with — 1 
 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- 
 
 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 mo- 
 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 
 
 Humility. The valiancy of chivalry was beautifully chast- 
 ened by humility ; 
 
 " And of his port as meek as is a maid." 
 
 Every hero, as well as Chaucer's knight, de- 
 meaned himself 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 Henry II., vol. ii. p. 233. 
 4ito. 
 
THE CHIVALRXC 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 
 commended 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 of the Round Table were the mir- 
 ror of all Christian knights ; and the generous mo- 
 desty of Sir Lancelot was reflected in the con- 
 duct of many a true soldier of chivalry. In the 
 lofty fancies of romantic 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 arms 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 w r as 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 ; 
 for he began first, and endured last, and so hath 
 he done the first day, the second, and the third 
 day." # 
 
 * Morte <T Arthur ; first book of Sir Tristram, c. 34. 
 
160 
 
 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 chap. The catalogue of knightly virtues is not yet 
 — - complete ; and nothing can be more beautiful to 
 
 ourtesy. ^ e mora ] e y e 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 middle ages, and pleas- 
 ingly distinguished him from 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 ; 
 
 u 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 
 
THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 161 
 
 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 Englishmen. 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 while they were asleep. * 
 
 These military and moral qualities of knight- Every-day 
 
 11 • i i-ii, n i Hfe of the 
 
 hood were sustained and nourished by all 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 THistoire de Du Gueslin, par P. H. Da 
 Chastelet, p. 39, &c. 
 
 VOL. 1. M 
 
THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 C] hap. and he threw over them a grace beyond the 
 
 power of mere baronial rank. Dames and 
 
 maidens 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 III., 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 II., when the Duke of 
 Lancaster was in France and Spain, many ladies 
 accompanied the army, for the objects of the 
 
THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 163 
 
 expedition were not altogether military ; plea- 
 sure was as much the occupation as affairs of 
 moment, and for the space of a month or more 
 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- i ^ css ' play " 
 streP s lays, and read romances, were the principal 
 amusements of the knight when the season and 
 the weather did not permit hawking and hunt- 
 ing. A true knight w r as 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 Romance 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 man 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 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
164 
 
 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 chap, for as the chivalric states of midland Europe 
 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." # 
 
 kn^hts^ The fondness of our ancestors for the game 
 chess° f °f c hess appears by the frequent mention of the 
 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 fables 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 was 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 of 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 for the story at 
 the mention of chess-men, and he anxiously de- 
 sired to see them. 
 
 " I will send for them," said Sir William, 
 " on condition that you will play a game with 
 me for the wine." 
 
 M S 
 
166 
 
 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 chap. The governor assented, and Sir William de- 
 iv. . , & 
 
 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 small 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 romance 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 c 
 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 j 
 and such persons as practised it were called 
 jesters. 
 
 66 1 warn you first at the beginning, 
 That I will make no vain carping 
 Of deeds of arms nor of amours 
 As do minstrelles and jestours, 
 That make carping in many a place 
 Of Octoviane and 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 from a manuscript cited by Tyrwhitt, Chaucer ii. 
 483. It is the railing of a sour fanatic, who wished to 
 destroy all the harmless pleasures of life. But we may 
 profit by his communication, while we despise his 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. 
 
 u 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 will. 
 When he left off his harping, 
 To him said that rich king, 
 Minstrel, me liketh well 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 some of treachery and of guile, 
 Of old adventures that fell while ; 
 And some 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. 
 
 ment. 5 * Kings and queens had their trains of 
 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 
 from an amusing 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 Marche, 
 describing the dinner, says, " Longuement dura le disner et 
 le service. La jouerent et sonnerent menestries et trom- 
 pettes ; et herauts eurent grans dons, et crierent largesse ; 
 et tables levees furent les espices aportees, et furent les 
 princes et les chevaliers servis d'espices et de vins, &c. 
 Memoires, d' Olivier de la Marche, in the vol. ix. c. 15. of 
 the great collection of French Memoirs : and in the Morte 
 d' Arthur it is said they went unto Sir Persauntes pavilion, 
 and drank the wine and ate the spices. 
 
170 
 
 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 chap, king of the minstrels.* But men of the first 
 iv. . 
 
 — 1 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 ; for many a doughty 
 knight complained that the smiles for which he 
 had perilled himself in the battle field were be- 
 stowed upon some 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 magic strains of 
 chivalry, and could shed a romantic lustre over 
 fierce wars and faithful loves. 
 
 * He was a great personage, if wealth could confer 
 dignity. The hospital and priory of St. Bartholomew 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, named Alexander Carlisle, that was Ser- 
 jeant of the minstrels, came to him in great haste, and bade 
 him arise, for he had enemies coming." This fact is men- 
 tioned by Warton, on the authority of an historical fragment, 
 ad calc. Sportti Chron. ed. Hearne, Oxon, 1729. 
 
THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 171 
 
 <c In days of yore how fortunately fared 
 
 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 abbey's roof 
 One evening sumptuously lodg'd ; the next 
 Humbly, in a 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 travellers side ; 
 His dear companion wheresoe'er he went, 
 Opening from land to land an easy way 
 By melody, and by the 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. 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
172 
 
 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 chap, was discovered the poor ecclesiastics were beaten 
 — 1 and driven from 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 minstrels 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. L 67. sub anno 1224 ; 
 and Percy, Notes on his Essay on the Ancient Minstrels, 
 p. 64. 
 
 f 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 of the minstrelsy art, is probable enough, for the 
 inferior minstrels were in a dreadful state of indigence. 
 But the disgraceful union of poetry and juggling was not 
 common in the best ages of chivalry. Chaucer expressly 
 separates the minstrel from the juggler. 
 
 " There mightest thou karols seen, 
 And folk dance, and merry ben, 
 And made many a fair tourning 
 Upon the green grass springing. 
 There mightest thou see these flouters. 
 Minstrallis and eke jugelours." 
 
 Romaunt of the Rose, 1. 759, &c. 
 
THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 173 
 
 There were other classes of poets in days of c **ap. 
 chivalry, who, under the names 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, for the harp of the troubabour 
 was borne by kings, and lords, and knights. 
 The romances, or poems longer than the min- Romances, 
 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 
 
 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- 
 magne were the study and amusement 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 modern 
 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 times. Indeed, as the tale of 
 Troy Divine was occasioned by a lady, it blended 
 very readily with the established fictions of the 
 times. And the romancers, like the minstrels 
 and troubadours, were highly favoured by the 
 great, who knew that their actions, unless re- 
 corded by clerc, could have no duration, and 
 therefore they often made handsome presents 
 to authors in order to have their names recorded 
 in never-dying histories. # 
 
 % Wace, a canon of Bayeux, and one of the most prolific 
 rhimers that ever practised the art of poetry, continually 
 reminded the great of the benefits which accrued to them- 
 selves from patronising poets. 
 
 " Bien entend conuis e sai 
 
 Que tuit morrunt, e clerc, e lai ; 
 E que mult ad curte decree, 
 En pres la mort lur renumee ; 
 
THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 175 
 
 The conversation of knights, like their lives c ^ p# 
 and literature, related only to love and wan — 
 
 J Convers- 
 ation. 
 
 " 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, 
 
 # # # * # 
 
 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 clerc ne est mis en livre, 
 
 Ne poet par el dureement vivre. 
 
 % % % •* 
 
 Suvent aveient des barruns, 
 
 E des nobles dames beaus duns, 
 
 Pur mettre lur nuns en estroire, 
 
 Que tuz tens mais fust de eus memoire." 
 
 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 his 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. 
 
176 
 
 THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER, 
 
 chap, that had been done in the countries which he had 
 —1 visited ; and the great charm of the castle 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 arms and amours. * 
 
 " 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 
 
 Knights were wont, at these entertainments, 
 to repose on couches, or sit on benches. The 
 guests were placed two by two, and only one 
 plate was allotted to each pair j for to eat on 
 the same trencher or plate with any one was 
 considered the strongest mark of friendship or 
 love. J Peacocks and pheasants were the pe- 
 
 * Froissart, vol ii. c.26. 
 f The Life of Ipomydon, Fytte, 1. 
 
 £ 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 !" 
 
 Nature and 
 forms of 
 chivalric 
 entertain- 
 ments. 
 
THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER. 
 
 177 
 
 culiar food of knights on great and festival oc- c **ap. 
 casions ; they were said to be the nutriment — - 
 of lovers, and the viand of worthies. The pea- 
 cock was as much esteemed in chivalric as in 
 classic times ; and as Jupiter clothed himself 
 with a robe made 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, 
 
 u 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 smile 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 I " 
 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, a matron, clad in habiliments of woe, en- 
 tered the room, and, approaching the dais, or 
 
 * M. le Grand, in his valuable Histoire de la Vie Privee 
 des Francais, has given us some very curious information 
 regarding the mode of dressing this distinguished bird. " It 
 was generally,'' he says, 66 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 time it is roasting, to pre- 
 serve its crest. When it is roasted enough, tie the feet on 
 again ; remove the cloth ; set up the crest ; replace the skin ; 
 spread out the tail, and so serve it up. Some people, instead 
 of serving up the bird in the feathers, carry their magnifi- 
 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- c ^ p - 
 
 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 5 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 off a 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- 
 — 1 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, liv.i. p. 29, &c. 
 M. de Couci, (c. 7.) 664, &c. Olivier de la Marche, 
 p. 412. Hist, de Boucicaut, ed. de Godefroi. 
 
 -j~ 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 
 
 Knights 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 ch ivalric Love Constancy 
 
 Absence of Jealousy .Knights asserted by Arms their 
 
 Mistresses 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 Qiieen Philippa The Countess of March 
 
 ..... Tales of Jane of Mountfort and of Marzia degV 
 Ubaldini Nobleness of the 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 S 
 
182 
 
 DAMES AND DAMSELS, 
 
 chap. v. not lose her individuality in general expressions 
 of admiration, for she had a distinct and peculiar 
 character, which from 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 immemorial 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 image of the 
 sparrow-hawk, which, ; when called in gentle ac- 
 cents, would come and settle on her hand, but if, 
 instead of being courteous, she were rude and 
 cruel, he would remain on the rock's pinnacle 
 
 * See the verses of Des Escas, a Troubadour at the court 
 of the 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 man 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 her 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. 5 ' — " 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 
 
 M 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 
 
DAMES AND DAMSELS, 
 
 £hap. t. 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 
 
 braver But sometimes the graver sciences were intro-* 
 duced into 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, 
 
 Sciences. 
 
 * Squire of Low Degree, 
 j- Sir Degore. 
 
AND LADY-LOVE. 
 
 185 
 
 White and hoar all they were ; 
 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 mild 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 imitation 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- Dressj 
 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*'' 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
186 
 
 DAMES AND DAMSELS 
 
 chap. v. occasions, and, consistently with tlie 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 domestic ceconomy of the baronial 
 
 of medicine. 
 
 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, 
 
 »"..'■ 1 ■ • 
 
 * 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 J 4th vol. of the great collection of French 
 Memoires. 
 
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 minds. The possession of more than mortal 
 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 him. 
 There are innumerable 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, book ii. canto 11. st. 49. 
 
188 DAMES AND DAMSELS, 
 
 C&AP. v< Chirurgical knowledge was also a necessary 
 feminine accomplishment, and we will accept 
 the reason of the cavalier with " high thoughts, 
 seated in a heart of courtesy," for such a remark- 
 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. 
 
 u 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. 
 
 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 Erery- 
 chivalric times is described with a great deal of maiden 
 
 * Fairy Queen, book iii. canto 5. St. 31. 33. 
 
 CHAP 
 
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 for 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. 
 
 191 
 
 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 from La Romanee, 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 modern 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 y bio we. 
 
 Homeward' thus shall ye ride. 
 
 On hawking by the river' s side, 
 
 With goss hawk and with gentle falcon, 
 
 With egle-horn, and merlyon. + 
 
 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 many 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. £ 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 ; 
 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. 
 ^ *fc ^ ^ ^ 
 
 Into your chamber they shall you bring 
 
 With much mirth and more liking. 
 
 Your blankets shall be of fustain, 
 
 Your sheets shall be of cloths of Rayne ; * 
 
 Your head sheet shall be of pery pyght,f 
 
 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, $ 
 
 That when you sleep the taste may come,. 
 
 * Rennes in Brittany was highly famous for its manufac- 
 ture of linen. 
 
 •J: Inlaid with jewels. 
 
 J 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 
 
194 
 
 DAMES AND DAMSELS, 
 
 CHAP. V. And if ye no rest can make, 
 
 All night minstrels for you shall wake." 
 
 chivairic In that singular system of manners which we 
 call chivairic, 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 j 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 mean 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 
 medical caution to the women, against "going to the bath 
 for beauty 99 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. 
 
 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 Rome 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 feelings 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 palaestrae ; 
 
 Flectitis aut fraeno colla sequaris equi. 
 Nunc volucrem laqueo, nunc piscem ducitis hamcv 
 
 Diluitur posito serior hora mero. 
 His mihi submotae, vel si minus acriter utar, 
 
 Quod faciam, superest, praeter amare, nihil. 
 Quod superest, facio ; teque, o mi sola voluptas, 
 
 Plus quoque, quam reddi quod mihi possit, amo." 
 
 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, bu t 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 affirmed, 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 admitted 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 
 qpinion 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 met 
 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 recommended himself in private, for he did not 
 
AND LADY-LOVE. 
 
 this strength and purity of passion. Spenser chap. 
 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 more was Claribell engaged rife 
 
 With fervent flames, and loved out of measure t 
 
 So eke lov'd Blandamour, but yet at pleasure 
 
 Would change his liking, and new lemans 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 himself 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 women. " Why/' said la belle Isaud, " are you 
 a knight and no lover ? you cannot be called a good knight, 
 except you make a quarrel for a lady." " God defend me ! " 
 replied Dynadan, " for the joy of love is so short, and the 
 sorrow thereof and what cometh thereof endureth so long." 
 
 Morte d'Arthur, lib. i. c. 56. 
 
 * Fairy Queen, book iv. canto 9. st. 21. 
 
 o 3 
 
• 
 
 198 
 
 DAMES AND DAMSELS, 
 
 chap. v. an( j romancers have ever dreamed. The fair 
 object of his passion was truly and emphatically 
 the mistress of his heart. She reigned there 
 with absolute dominion. His love was, 
 
 " All adoration, duty, and observance." 
 
 Our old English poet, Gower, whose soul was 
 filled with romantic tenderness and gallantry, 
 says, 
 
 cc 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 III., 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 look, 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." 
 
 The idol- 
 atry of the 
 knight's 
 passion. 
 
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 arms aloft, 
 And set her in her saddle soft, 
 And so forth lead her by the bridle, 
 For that I would not be idle* 
 And if she list to ride in chare, 
 And that I may thereof beware, 
 Anon, I shape me to ride, 
 Right even by the chares side, 
 And as I may, I speak among, 
 And other while, I sing a song." * 
 
 These quotations show that the expression in 
 ancient times of knights being servants of the 
 ladies was not a mere 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 him 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 them 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 mistress should be less than absolute, 
 and the confession of her perfect virtue, which 
 this feeling implied, made him preserve his own 
 faith pure and without a stain. Love was as 
 marked a feature in the chivalric character as va- 
 lour ; and, in the phrase of the time, he who un- 
 derstood how to break a lance, and did not un- 
 
 * Froissart, vol. ii. c. 117 and 118. 
 
AND LADY-LOVE. 
 
 derstand how to win a lady, was but half a man* chap 
 He fought to gain her smiles, for love in brave Love in- 
 and gentle knights kindled aspirations for 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 most joyous to hail his return from the 
 perils of war. 
 
 u A damisel came unto me, 
 
 The seemliest that ever I se, 
 
 Luffumer f lifed never in land, 
 
 Hendly she take me by the hand ; 
 v 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 seemed at that time, that had Sir Tristrem and Sir 
 Launcelot been both against him, they would have won 
 no worship of him." Morte cV 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 fra, 
 
 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 
 
 A soldier of chivalry would go to battle, proud 
 of the 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 commended 
 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. 
 
 J Froissart, c. 24-9. " Le due de Lancastre avoit de son 
 heritage en Champaigne : e'estassavoir un cbastel entreTroye 
 et Chalons, qui s'appelait Beaufort, et duquel un escuyer 
 Anglais (qui se nommoit le poursuivant d'amour) estait 
 
 capitaine*" 
 
AND LADY-LOVE. 
 
 203 
 
 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 ; in the eyes 
 and when chivalry was formed into a system, the ofakm £ ht# 
 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- 
 man's charms appeared in his general intercourse 
 with the sex, in a demeanor of homage, 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 j 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 Peculiar 
 world he lived in. He fought the battles of his his love,- 
 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 Jullyers, loved the lord Eustace Damber- 
 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 more hardy in his deeds 
 of arms. # " I should have loved him better dead 
 than alive," another damsel exclaimed, on hear- 
 ing that her knight had survived his honour* 
 
 Qualities in ]^r won( j er that in those ages of violence 
 
 knights ad- o 
 
 mired by bravery was the manly 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 advancement 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 
 
 * Froissart, liv. i. c. 197. 
 
AND LADY-LOVE. 
 
 205 
 
 poets and romance-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 men underwent to gain fair ladies' smiles ; 
 but all their tales must yield in pathos to the 
 following; simple historical fact : — When the ^. ta ^ e . of 
 
 ° r cnivalnc 
 
 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 fame 
 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 for 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 loves of chivalric times must often have 
 been shaded with gloom, and so convulsed 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. Hume's (of Godscroft) 
 History of the House of Douglas, p. 29, &c. 
 
 The description of the good Lord James 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. 
 And in his speech he lispt some deal, 
 But that set him right wonder well." 
 
 The Bruce, p. 13. 
 
AND LADY-LOVE. 
 
 207 
 
 knights and damsels 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 chivalry. 
 
 " Young knight whatever, that dost arms profess, 
 And through long labours huntest after fame, 
 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 temptress, 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 con ceived in the purest spirit of chivalry. 
 
 The troubadours, who were the teachers of Absence of 
 the art of love, refined upon this respectful pas- J a y 
 
 * Spenser's Fairy Queen, booki. canto 4. St.). 
 
208 
 
 DAMES AND DAMSELS, 
 
 chap. v. 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. # 
 Knights Chivalric love had, indeed, its absurdities as 
 armsthei7 well as its impieties. It was a pleasing carica- 
 beauty? 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 Amanieu 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 much in the same strain : 
 
 " But think that she, so bounteous and fair, 
 Could not be false, imagine 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 blith, 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. I. 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 made a similar vow, were 
 his companions. At a tournament held by the 
 Emperor of Germany, the noble undertaking was 
 held to be accomplished, and the emblems of the 
 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 simple merchants, as 
 our right worshipful knight Don Quixote did, 
 but against persons of his own rank, who were 
 in amours as well as himself! Instances of this 
 chivalric disposition occur frequently in chivalric 
 history : but Cervantes caricatured the romances, 
 
 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 lance." 
 
 Troilus and Cressida, act i. sc. 3. 
 Cronique de Saintre, 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, 
 1 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- e * 
 tents of love, formed 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 empire, # 
 
 other pe- ^he knight was as zealous in the gentle as in 
 
 culianties ° ° 
 
 ofchivairic the more 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 
 hereafter. On other occasions the gallant spirit 
 of chivalry spoke more rationally. Love, ac- 
 cording to one renowned knight, is the chaste 
 union of two hearts, which, attached by virtue, 
 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 
 
 u 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 mind ; 
 Chaste union of two hearts by virtue wrought, 
 Where each seems either in word, deed, and thought, 
 Each singly to itself no more remains, 
 But one will guides, one common soul sustains." * 
 
 So prevailing was amatory enthusiasm, that not The pa ssio» 
 only did poets fancy themselves 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 S }°1V °f 
 
 r 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, 
 
 Whom that the queen of Greece also 
 Hath bridled, that in thilke time 
 She made him such a syllogisme 
 That he forgot all his logike." 
 
 * The Lai of Sir Gru&an # 
 p 3 
 
214 
 
 DAMES AND DAMSELS, 
 
 '• 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 no 
 lengthened reply to this appeal to his chivalry ; 
 
 P 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 
 time 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 damsel 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 mad 
 for her love, she stole underneath the casement, 
 and, in a voice checked by sighs, she sang that 
 love detained her there. Aristotle drank the 
 delicious sounds, and gazing again, her charms 
 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 
 
216 
 
 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. She 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 some 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 
 she 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 man. He was now so passionately in love, 
 that the fancies of his mistress 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 frost 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 more 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." * 
 
 It is singular to observe that in the north and 
 in the south, in Germany 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 vois ton maitre, 
 II Test, le fut, ou le doit eire.'' 
 
218 
 
 DAMES AND DAMSELS, 
 
 chap. 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 . . . • . ° & 
 
 to feudal joining the opposites of the world, t It was no 
 dons. " cold and calculating principle ; it abrogated the 
 distinctions of wealth and rank, and many a 
 knight, whose whole fortune lay in his prowess, 
 gained the hand of high-born beauty. " How 
 
 # Illustrations of Northern Antiquities, p. 8, &c. 
 f Ibid. p. 41. 
 
 £ Lai of the 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 j 
 " 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 : 
 
 u And I have seen that many a page 
 Have become men by marriage." 
 
 The intenseness of passion, and the generous- 
 ness of soul implied in this state of manners, 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 
 
 DAMES AND DAMSELS, 
 
 chap. v. of the court of Burgundy should be offended. * 
 The maidens themselves sometimes sanctioned 
 the prejudices of feudalism, in opposition to the 
 generous feelings of chivalry and nature. Felice, 
 daughter of Rahand, Earl of Warwick, disdained 
 to return the passion of Guy, her father's stew- 
 ard, till an angel in a dream commanded her to 
 love him. t 
 
 But pre- Agreement in religious opinions was as neces- 
 
 served reli- & & r 
 
 gfon., 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, t 
 On such occasions he forgot even his courtesy, 
 and shamed his knighthood by calling her a 
 heathen hound : 
 
 Ci 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." 
 
 But 
 
 " 6 Mercy,' she cried, 6 my lemman sweet !' — 
 (She fell down and 'gan to weep) — 
 
 * Lai of the Countess of Vergy. 
 
 f Romance of Guy of Warwick. 
 
 % Illustrations of Northern Antiquities, p. 104* 
 
AND LADY.LOVE. 
 
 221 
 
 6 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.' 
 
 6 On that covenant,' said Sir Bevis than, 
 
 6 I will thee love, fair Josyan V " * 
 
 The occasions which kindled the flame of love ^ en at - 
 
 tachments 
 
 in the heart of the knight- and the maiden of were form- 
 chivalry were various, and many 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 amusements. The 
 masque and the ball were often the theatre of 
 love ; but, above all other scenes, it spread its 
 light over the brilliant tournament. Performed 
 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 neir acqua, disse, ma nel foco 
 Per tuo amor porre il capo mi fia poco. 
 
 Orlando Furioso, canto xxii. st. 36. 
 
222 
 
 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 
 many 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, £S£fcf 
 knights sometimes formed themselves into asso- f a e ^ ce of 
 ciations for 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 the Green™ 
 great violence in France, the ladies and gentle- Field ' 
 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 himself was not a greater idolater of the 
 ladies, than was the valiant Marshal Boucicaut, who, 
 however, carried his fear of impertinent intrusion to a more 
 romantic 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, partiei. c.38, 39. The commence- 
 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 dames and damoiselles, et a 
 tous seigneurs, chevaliers, et escuyers, apres tous recom- 
 mendations, font a scavoir les treize chevaliers compagnons, 
 portans en leur devise l'escu verd a la dame blanche. 
 Premierement pour ce que tout chevalier est tenu de droict 
 de vouloir garder et deffendre Thonneur, l'estat, les biens, Ja 
 renommee, et la louange de toutes dames et damoiselles 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 Tun des diets chevaliers, tous ou partie d'iceulx, 
 selon ce que le cas le requerra, et le requis de par la dicte 
 dame ou damoiselle, 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'armes, de tout leur pouvoir, de personne a 
 personne, jusques au nombre dessus diets et au dessoutes, 
 tant pour tant. Et en breifs jours apres la requeste a Tun, 
 tous ou partie d'iceulx, faicte de par les dictes dames ou 
 damoiselles, ils veulent presentement eulx mettre en tout 
 debovir d'accomplir 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 
 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 
 That loveth par amour, and hath his might. 
 Were it in Engleland, or elsewhere, 
 They would, hir thanks, willen to be there," 
 
 celuy au ceulx qui par les dictes dames ou damoiselles 
 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 compaignons, par qui le diet faict seroit 
 et pouvoit estre mene a chef et accomply. 
 VOL. I. Q 
 
226 
 
 DAMES AND DAMSELS, 
 
 CHAP. V. To 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 Humieres 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 of the 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. 
 
 and injuries, to relieve widows, and defend the ghap.;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- Unchivairic 
 
 to tjikc 
 
 nerous consideration for woman proceeded the women 
 honorable maxim in chivalry, of its not being pnsoners ' 
 
 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, made 
 them good cheer, and caused them to be carried 
 in safety to a town friendly to their family, t 
 And the generous feelings of cavaliers for ladies 
 were nobly requited. In the wars of the Guelphs 
 
 * Froissart, liv. i. c. 389. 
 
 f Froissart, liv. ii. c. 6. ; liv. i. c. 124, 125. "Puis pas- 
 serent oultre destruisans le pais d'entour et vindrent ainsi 
 jusques au chaste! de Poys : ou il y avoit bonne ville, et deux 
 beaux chasteaux : mais nul des seigneurs n'y estait, fors 
 deux belles damoiselles, filles au Seigneur de Poys : qui tost 
 eussent este 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 demanda ou 
 elles voudroyent estre, si disent a Corbie. La les fit le 
 roi conduire sans pareil. 
 
AND LADY-LOVE. 
 
 229 
 
 and the Ghibellines, the Emperor Conrad, as an chap. 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 
 morals of the chivalric aera, and according to times, 
 them every species of licentiousness was prac- 
 tised by its dames and damsels. This opinion 
 is as erroneous as the one which it superseded, 
 that in the times 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 ajousf a 
 Voutrance 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 s " 
 
230 
 
 DAMES AND DAMSELS, 
 
 chap. v. audacity to declare that Queen Madasima was 
 scandalously familiar 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 
 times 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 
 women, 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 sex for the fault o f one. 
 
AND LADY-LOVE. 
 
 ct Fair ladies that to love captived are CHAP. 
 And chaste desires do nourish in your mind. 
 Let not her fault your sweet affections mar; 
 Ne blot the bounty of all womankind, 
 'Mongst thousands good, one wanton dame to find: 
 Amongst the roses grow some w r icked 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 woman found 
 That chastity did for itself embrace 
 But were for other causes firm 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. 
 
 Q 4 
 
232 
 
 DAMES AND DAMSELS, 
 
 chap. v. proceed from the mouth of any of his preux 
 chevaliers, but from a wretched profligate, mis- 
 named the squire of dames. * 
 
 However highly some enthusiastic minds may 
 ha ve coloured the manners of the chivalric ages, 
 still it is unquestionable that the love of the 
 knight was not the mere 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. Women had every reason 
 to retain and support the virtues of their nature; 
 
 * Another writer says, 
 
 w 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 ih 
 
 And in a similar strain of courtesy is the beginning of the 
 Fabliau of Constant du Hamel, as translated by M.Le Grand. 
 " Je ne pardonne pas qu'on se moque des dames. 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. 
 
 283 
 
 for it was only in behalf of those of fair reput- chap. v. 
 ation and honour, that the knight was compelled 
 by his principles to draw his sword ; all others 
 were without the pale of chivalry ; and although 
 many instances can be found in the romances 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 
 polish of refinement, were rigid and inflexible 
 censors ; and in those days as well as in these, 
 each sex formed 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 solemn and public occasions 
 distinctions were made between women in mat- 
 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*" 
 
234 
 
 DAMES AND DAMSELS, 
 
 chap* cavalier would advance and reverse the order, 
 saying to her who was displaced, " Lady, be net 
 offended that this lady precedes you, for 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 the 
 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 ladies were not of the opinion of Amadis 
 heroines. ^ 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. 
 
 235 
 
 Two ladies decided some fierce disputes by the chap. v. 
 sword. Each summoned 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 6 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 gladio cincta among the justices at 
 sessions and assizes. In England, particularly, 
 was this martial spirit recognised, for in the time 
 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 
 
 Phihppa. Seville c ross i s 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 moment, 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 name of God she implored 
 every man to bear a good heart and courage, 
 promising them that she would reward them 
 better than if her lord the king were personally 
 in the field. She then quitted the ranks, recom- 
 mending her soldiers to the protection of God, 
 and of St. George, that special defender of the 
 realm of England. This exhortation of the 
 queen nerved the hearts of the English yeomen, 
 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 might.* 
 
 For the heroism of women, the page of Scot- ^^ un ' 
 tish history furnishes a remarkable instance. In March, 
 the beginning of the year 1338, William de Mon- 
 tague, Earl of Salisbury, by command of the 
 Earl of Arundel, the leader of the army 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 almost 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, liv. 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. 
 
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 firm- 
 ness of her bearing. When the warlike engines 
 of the besiegers hurled stones against the battle- 
 ments, 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 
 sow, 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 j 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, 6 Farewell, Montague; 
 I intended that you should have supped with us, 
 and assisted in defending this fortress against the 
 English. 5 
 
 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 
 Salisbury consented to a cessation of hostilities, 
 and he abandoned the place. * 
 
 But the most interesting of all the heroines of Tale 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 mixing with the w r arriors, 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 Edward III. # His 
 next steps were directed to Paris, but his journeys 
 were not so secretly taken as he expected; for 
 on presenting himself before King Philip he was 
 charged with having acknowleged the sovereignty 
 of the English monarch. 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 
 him to remain 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 the 
 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 
 family seemed hopeless. She was at Rennes 
 
 ' * Avesbury, p. 97. Froissart, liv. i. c. 69. 
 
AND LADY-LOVE. 
 
 241 
 
 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 my 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 recomforted/ # 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 of the friends of her family. 
 She stationed herself in Hennebon, a town 
 seated near the shores of Brittany, f 
 
 * La Comtesse de Montfort avoit courage d'homme et cceur 
 de lion. Elle estoit en la cite de Renes, quand elle entendit 
 que son seigneur fut prins ; et, combien qu'elle eust grand 
 dueil au cceur, elle reconfortoit tous ses amis vaillamment, 
 et tous ses soudoyers : et leur monstroit un petit flls (qu'elle 
 avoit appele Jehan, corarae son pere) et leur disoit, Haa, 
 seigneurs, ne vous ebahissez 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 tel capitaine, parquoy 
 vous serez tous reconfortes. Froissart, liv. i. c. 73. 
 
 f Mrs. Charles Stothard, in her interesting Tour through 
 VOL. I. It 
 
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 himself 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, into England, desiring royal 
 succour, on condition that the Earl of Mount- 
 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 III., 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 commanded 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 man 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. Some 
 of the cavaliers of Hennebon did not suffer 
 them to brandish their swords in the air ; and it 
 was only the shades of night that separated those 
 preluders of battle. The next day the French- 
 men spent in council, and it was resolved that a 
 general assault should be made 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 mounted 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 sometimes drowned, no- 
 thing could mar her cheering smiles, which 
 lighted the flame 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, 
 
 * v - Her 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 trumpets, and the exult- 
 ing cries of the people. 
 
AND LADY-LOVE. 
 
 245 
 
 But the siege was advanced by the 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 most deeply 
 anxious, and she was the first to exclaim, " I see 
 the succours of England coming I" 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 j 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 times, 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 III., took 
 ship for England, accompanied by the Earls of 
 Richmond, 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 the treaty : but she was soon assured of his 
 
 * Froissart, c. 82. Lors descendit la Comtesse du Chastel, 
 a joyeuse chere, et vint baiser messiu Gautier de Manny et 
 ses compaignons, les uns apres les autre, deux fois ou trois, 
 comme vaillante Dame. . 
 
AND LADY-LOVE. 
 
 247 
 
 unchivalric purpose. The mariners 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 banners 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 morning. 
 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 f, while her husband escaped 
 
 * Like Gonzalo in the Tempest. H 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 ; 
 butl 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. 
 
 249 
 
 from prison only to die of a fever at Henne- chap. v. 
 bon. * 
 
 A few years after this beautiful display of ^Lil 
 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 
 family of the Ubaldini, so celebrated for its 
 virtue and noble gestes, was the wife of Fran- 
 cesco d'Ordplaffi, 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 from 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 
 some of the terrified burgesses opened the gates 
 
 * Hist. Gen. de la France, 1.452. 
 
250 
 
 DAMES AND DAMSELS, 
 
 chap, v* of the lower part of the town to the 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, 
 lie 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 army. Marzia relied entirely on her own 
 wisdom 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 moments of 
 happiness and ease, she w r ould 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 moment 
 reached Cesena, and his passage had been fa- 
 cilitated 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 j 
 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 arms and equipments. On the 21st of June 
 she opened the gate of the 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 Gesena to awaken 
 
DAMES AND DAMSELS, 
 
 chap. v. The honorary titles of ladies in days of chivalry 
 Chi^iHc favoured this martial spirit in women. The wife 
 !adies? f of a knight was often called equitissa or militissa, 
 or chevaliere. In France, too, ladies, as ruling 
 over fiefs, having the right of war, judicature, and 
 coining money, 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 coul d 
 head her vassals or accompany her liege lord 
 into the field. The instances, therefore, that are 
 scattered over the middle ages of the brave gestes 
 of women sprang from the spirit of chivalry and 
 not from any other principle of society. They 
 were always praised, and joyfully remembered ; 
 and when the direction of war was entirely 
 usurped by men, the world reverted with a 
 melancholy pleasure to the chivalry of woman- 
 kind. 
 
 " Where is the antique glory now become, 
 That whilome 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. ii. p. 266. 
 
AND LADY-LOVE. 
 
 253 
 
 That matter made for famous poets verse, 
 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 5 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 
 in 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 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 * Fairy Queen, book iii. canto 4, st. I. 
 f Ibid, book iii. canto ii. st. 27. 
 
254 
 
 DAMES AND DAMSELS, 
 
 chap. v. There were other points in the character of 
 women in days of chivalry hardly necessary to 
 be noticed as not being peculiar to the times. 
 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 sometimes 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 him cast, 
 And she beheld him wonder fast ; 
 Ever on him she cast her eye, 
 Ipomydon full well it seye 1 ; 
 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 by dene 2 , 
 That some love were them between ; 
 Then should she fall in slander, 
 And lose much of her honour. 
 
 1 Saw. 2 Together. 
 
AND LADY-LOVE. 
 
 255 
 
 which disposed the heart to all noble feelings, char 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." f 
 
 She thought to warn him privily, 
 
 By her cousin that set him by. 
 
 < Jason/ she said, ' thou art to blame, 
 
 And therewith the ought to shame, 
 
 To behold my maid in vain ; 
 
 Every man to other will sayne, 
 
 That betwixt you is some sin, 
 
 Of thy looking, I rede 1 , thou Wynne 2 .' 
 
 Ipomydon him bethought anon, 
 
 Then that she blamed Jason, 
 
 Without deserving every dell : 
 
 But the encheson 3 he perceived well. 
 
 Down he looked and thought great shame, 
 
 That Jason bore for him the blame. 
 
 Still he sat, and said no more, 
 
 He thought to dwell no longer there." 
 
 Romance of Sir Ipomydon. 
 
 1 Council. 2 Cease. 3 Occasion. 
 
 * Full of frowardness, each mis-saying or reviling, as Ellis 
 renders the passage, 
 f Lai le Fraine. 
 
DAMES AND DAMSELS, 
 
 chap. v. But the subject need not be pursued further j 
 Nobleness for it is woman, as formed by chivalric principles, 
 vlwccha" an d not as uninfluenced by that noble spirit 
 racter. w hose 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 affections 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 nomination, unless 
 for a large pecuniary payment 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. 
 
 case bestow her on some minion of his court, chap. v. 
 Woman was sustained in her proud elevation by 
 the virtues which chivalry required of her; and 
 man paid homage to her mind as well as to her 
 beauty. She was not the mere 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. r. 
 
258 
 
 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 
 
 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 
 
 The Encounter What Lance Strokes won the 
 
 Prize Conclusion of the Sports The Festival 
 
 Delivery of the 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 JOUSTS, 
 
 259 
 
 gundy The Romance of Jousts The Passage of 
 
 Arms Use of Tournaments and Jousts. 
 
 All 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- Sivairic° f 
 playing on his plumed steed the nobleness of sports * 
 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, woman's beauty, gay caparisons, rich 
 attire, and feudal pageantry, throng the mind 
 in wild and splendid confusion, when we 
 hear the herald's trumpet-clang summoning the 
 knights to achievement. It was in the tourna- Superiority 
 
 ° m t m to those of 
 
 nament especially that the chivalric nations of Greece and 
 
 11. i - Rome. 
 
 Europe asserted their superior claims to grace- 
 fulness and humanity j for though the Greeks 
 might vaunt their Olympic games, yet in them 
 woman's favour did not bestow the garland, and 
 though matrons mingled with senators in the 
 
 s 2 
 
260 
 
 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 chap. Coliseum, and a virgin gave the signal for the 
 
 1 commencement of the sports, yet the tortures 
 
 and death of their fellow-creatures constituted 
 the amusement. 
 Origin of Our ancestors were so proud of the Trojan 
 ments. descent which their historians deduced for them, 
 that they even regarded the games which iEneas 
 celebrated to the honour of his dead father, An- 
 chises, as the origin of their own knightly joust 
 and tournament. 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 immediate 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 middle 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 lovet, could only chap. 
 
 be obtained by gallant bearing. Hence we find — 1 
 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 ^ r 
 
 A holding 
 
 by such customs, for kings were always eager to them, 
 hold tourneys for the better training up of sol- 
 diers in feats of arms,* It was the beneficial Practicein 
 
 + arms. 
 
 nature of tournaments 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 many 
 a noble course and other martial feats were achieved in those 
 four days, to the great contentation and pleasure of many a 
 young bachelor desirous to win fame. " P. 4?74>. edit. 1587. 
 
 f The objects and tendencies of tournaments are ex- 
 tremely well expressed by Jeffry of Monmouth : — " 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 imitation of a fight on 
 horseback ; and the ladies being placed on the walls of the 
 castles, darted amorous 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 women proved an 
 incentive to the soldier's bravery." Lib. ix. c. 12. 
 
 % Holingshed, vol. ii. p. 252. reprint. 
 
 s 3 
 
262 
 
 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 chap, display of address, with as little danger as possi- 
 ble to life and limb, was the chief character of 
 
 Courtesy. 1 
 
 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. 
 
 By whom Military exercises; when performed by two 
 they were p ar ^ es f cava liers 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 
 martial exercises at a particular time, 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 tournaments), the Germans who were 
 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 C **AP* 
 leader or judge of the sports, who appointed — 
 three ladies to give the arms to the knights, and 
 three others to distribute the prizes. It was 
 usual for one of the ladies to be a wife, another 
 a widow, and the third a maiden.* 
 
 Originally, in most countries, no person could Quaiific*- 
 
 ■ tions for 
 
 tourney unless he proved himself to be mater- tourneying, 
 nally a knight of gentle birth, by four descents, 
 and displayed a legitimate coat-armour. But 
 this regulation was every where relaxed in fa- 
 vour of hardy knights who could not boast of 
 ancestral honours.t In early times, 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 times were pleasingly relieved 
 
 * Ritterzeit und Ritterwesen, vol. i. p. 311. 323. 
 
 f The German nation, as it may be easily supposed, were 
 more 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. 
 
 c vi P ' ^ bands of jolly and amorous cavaliers, with 
 
 trains of squires and pages, riding apace to court 
 
 to the tune of a merry 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 them from per- 
 forming many knightly observances, yet their 
 chivalric spirit disdained the pride of their sta- 
 tion, and their souls were inflamed with the 
 noble desire of illustrating their royalty by deeds 
 of high knighthood. 
 Ceremonies The knights were wont to arrive at the re- 
 of the tour- S p ec tive hostels or tents assigned them by the 
 
 nament. * J 
 
 Arrival of kings-at-arms and the heralds somewhile before 
 the kmghts. t ^ e ^ £» tournament ; and they affixed their ar- 
 
 Publication f , T 
 
 of their morial ensignsover the entrances, and raised their 
 banners and pennons in front of their parades. 
 Reasons for The tourneying knights were known by their 
 iU 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. 
 
 ladies or other judges of the tournament, and chap. 
 
 they would strike down his banner. None could I 
 
 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 name themselves to the heralds. If they 
 were novices in arms, and not very confident in 
 their prowess, they would conceal their names 
 till they had won renown ; and if the chance of 
 the game were against them, the spectators knew 
 not who had failed to acquire honour. The baron 
 who held the tournament might be the enemy 
 of a gallant knight, who, from prudence, would 
 not wish to make himself known, unless he could 
 appear with the bold front of a conqueror. Some- 
 
 * Segar of Honor, lib. ii. c. 26. Ritterzeit und Ritter- 
 wesen, vol. i. p. 302. There was a singular law in Germany, 
 prohibiting from the tournament those who hadbeen the cause 
 of imposing taxes or duties, or had used their endeavours to 
 get them imposed. Ritterzeit und Ritterwescn, vol. i. p. 304. 
 
2ti(i 
 
 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 chap, times the persons of the knights were not con- 
 — r cealed by common armour, but by the guise 
 
 knights, which fancy had thrown over the fabled knights 
 of yore. 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 
 tournament held at Valladolid in the year 1428, 
 the King of Castille 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. 
 
 f Monstrelet, vol. vi. p. 333. 
 
TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 267 
 
 gorgeous array of heraldic insignia near the ap. 
 champions' tents, the galleries, which were made — 1 
 to contain the proud and joyous spectators, were 
 covered with tapestry, representing chivalry both 
 in its warlike and amorous guise : on one side 
 the knight with his bright faulchion smiting away 
 hosts of foes, and on the other kneeling at the 
 feet of beauty. 
 
 The ladies were the supreme judges of Ladies we 
 tournaments ; and if any complaint was raised IfVouma- 
 against a knight, they adjudged the cause ments - 
 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 some 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 maidens sometimes proposed jewels of price, 
 a diamond, a ruby, and a sapphire, as rewards of 
 valour. But the meed of renown was often 
 more military; and the reader of Italian history 
 remembers that at a tournament celebrated at 
 Florence in the year 1468, Lorenzo de' Medici 
 bore away the prize of a helmet of silver with a 
 
 * Ritterzeit und Ritterwesen, vol. i. p. 323, 
 
268 
 
 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 chap, figure of Mars as the crest. It was the general 
 
 wont of tournaments for a vanquished knight 
 
 to forfeit his armour and horse to his victor. 
 Delicate Nothing was more beautiful than the courtesy 
 
 courtesy 
 
 touma- of chivalric times. At a martial game held in 
 
 merits 
 
 Smithfield, during the reign of Richard II., the 
 Queen proposed a crown of gold as the reward 
 of the best j ouster, 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. 
 AcTw^r ^ n mom ^ n S °f tournament, 
 
 " 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 damsels, the chivalry and 
 beauty of the country, mounted 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 varlettes 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 j^|^ s> e 
 of the minstrel the bridle became a golden chain 
 of love. At the day appointed for a merry 
 tournament, in the reign of Richard II., 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, trumpets, and other minstrelsy, rode 
 along the streets of London *, the fronts of the 
 houses shining with martial 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. 
 
 f Smithfield 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 of the gates is a certain field J, plain (or smooth) both 
 in name and situation. Every Friday, except some greater 
 festival come in the way, there is a brave sight of gallant 
 horses to be sold : many come out of the city to buy or look 
 on, to wit, earls, barons, knights, citizens, all resorting 
 thither." 
 
 £ Smethfield, as it were Smoothfleld, 
 
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 imu This mode of conducting knights to the tour- 
 
 tatedthe i i . i t i 
 
 dress of nament was not the only pleasing prelude or 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 dames and mai- 
 dens, with equal courtesy, imitated in their attire 
 the semblance of knights. They often rode to 
 the tournament with their girdles ornamented 
 with gold and silver, to resemble 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 
 weapons. 8 were examined by the constable ; and such as were 
 of a frame and fabric contrary to good chivalry 
 were rejected. The lances were hurtless, the 
 points being either removed altogether, or covered 
 with broad pieces of wood, called rockets. The 
 gallant manners 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 swoi'ds 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- c hap. 
 sition to convert tournaments into real battles. — 1 
 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 and power ap- 
 pear often to have introduced them. As the 
 nature of offensive armour may 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 tournament 
 into a deadly fray occasioned an oath to be im- 
 posed on all knights that they would frequent 
 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 j and there was 
 a stern prohibition of a sword pointed, a dagger 
 pointed, or a staff or mace. Knights banneret 
 and barons might 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 accustomed swords without points. 
 
 * Du Cange, Dissertation 6. on Joinville. 
 
272 
 
 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 char The tilting armour in which knights were 
 
 sheathed was generally of a light fabric, and 
 
 Knights splendid. Its ornaments came under a gentler 
 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 gemmed with the 
 variously coloured signs of ladies' favors, those 
 graceful additions to armour yet more 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 formed 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 Marche, 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 come 
 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 
 tourney, for their eyes could only follow through 
 the press their own emblems of love. 
 
 Nothing was now to be heard but the noise 
 and clattering of horse and armour. 
 
 " Ther mayst thou see devising of harneis 
 
 So uncouth *, and so rich, and wrought so wele 
 Of goldsmithey, of brouding 2 , and of stele, 
 The sheldes bright, testeres 3 , and trappures ; 
 Gold hewn helms, hauberks, cote-armures ; 
 Lords in paramentes 4 , on hir courseres, 
 Knights of retinue, and eke squires, 
 Nailing the speres, and helmes buckling, 
 Gniding 5 of sheldes, with lainers 6 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 7 , and clariounes, 
 That in the bataile blowen blody sounes." * 
 
 After the arms had been examined, " d Vos- The 
 telle, a I 'ostelle, to achievement knights and paral 
 
 1 elegant. » embroidery. 8 head-pieces. 
 
 4 ornamented dresses. 5 rubbing. 
 
 6 straps. 7 brazen drums. 
 
 * Chaucer, The Knight's Tale, line 2498, &c. Chaucer 
 must have had in his imagination one of the splendid tourna- 
 
 VOL. I. T 
 
 CHAP. 
 VI. 
 
TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 chap, squires to achievement," was cried by the well- 
 — 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-arms then examined 
 their saddles ; for though they might grow 7 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 the 
 Thejn- sports might begin, they cried, " Laissez alter." 
 
 The cords which divided the two parties were 
 immediately slackened, and the cavaliers dress- 
 ing their spears to their rests, and commending 
 
 ments of the days of Edward III. when he wrote these 1 
 spirited lines ; for there is much more circumstance in his 
 description than could have belonged to a simple joust be- 
 tween the two knights, Palamon and Arcite. 
 
 * Du Cange (Diss. 6. on Joinville) on the authority of an 
 ancient MS. regarding tournaments; and Ritterzeit und 
 Ritterwesen, Vol. i. p. 325. 
 
TOURNAMENTS AND 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, 
 whose number 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 dames 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 bosom w 7 as 
 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 
 it. t 
 
 * Harleian MSS. No. 69. 
 
 f Hist, de Charles VI. vol.ii. p. 120. fol. 1663. As every 
 thing regarding the 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 sign they were and ever will be true, 
 Withouten change." 
 
 Chaucer's Court of Love, 1. 24-8, &c. 
 
 The 
 
 T 2 
 
876 
 
 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 chap. The chivalric bands were so well poised, that 
 
 VI 
 
 1 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 gentler 
 invocations. Each noble knight called upon his 
 mistress to assist him, 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 amusements of chivalry. The pour- 
 suivants-at-arms 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 
 €toient si denues de leur atours, que la plus grande partie 
 dtoit en pur chef (mie tete) 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 donne aux chevaliers 
 pour eux parer et guimples et chaperons, manteaux et 
 camises, manches et habits : mais quand elles se virent a tel 
 point, elles en furent ainsi comme toutes honteuses ; mais 
 sitost qu'elles veirent que chacune £toit en tel point, elles se 
 prirent toutes a rire de leur adventure, car elles avoient 
 donn£ leurs joyaux et leurs hab'ts de si grand coeur aux 
 chevaliers, qu'elles ne s'appercevoient de leur (Idnuement 
 et devestemens," 
 
TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 277 
 
 merit, " Honor to the sons of the brave !"* The chap. 
 
 VI. 
 
 minstrels echoed it in the loudest notes of their — 
 martial music, and the chivalric spectators replied 
 by the cry, " Loyaute aux dames \" 
 
 The keen and well-practised eves of the whatiance. 
 
 _ r * 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 
 knight who performed this feat was thought to 
 be worthy of ten points. Either to strike one 
 
 * The reader may wander at this form of expression ; 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 perfect, but who might 
 commit a fault, and so great a one as to efface the merit of 
 all his former good deeds. Heralds, therefore, observes 
 Monstrelet, do not at jousts and battles cry out, " Honour 
 to the brave 1 99 but they exclaim, " Honour to the sons of 
 the, brave !" No knight can be deemed perfect, 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 apres la mort de leur 
 pere car nul chevalier ne peut estre juge preux se ce n'est 
 apres le tr£passement/' Monstrelet, voL i. p. 29. 
 
 T 3 
 
278 
 
 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 chap, of the opposite party out of his saddle, or to 
 — 1 disable him so that he could not join the next 
 course, was an achievement 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 disarm 
 him of his shield, cuirass, and helmet, and in 
 turn, he was unhorsed. The judges had some 
 difficulty in determining who merited least re- 
 proach ; and 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 for a tourneying cavalier to fall with his 
 horse than to fall alone. He who carried his 
 lance comelily and firmly 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 carry 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 an opponent, without striking him with the 
 
TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 point ; for as it could only occur from the horse chap. 
 swerving 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 himself, and until his helmet was 
 replaced, none could assail him. t 
 
 * " To break across," the phrase for bad chivalry, did not die 
 with the lance. It was used by the writers of the 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- 
 served, and are exceedingly curious. 
 
 The ordinances, statutes, and rules, made and enacted by 
 John Earl of Worcester, constable of England, by the kinge's 
 commandement, 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 
 realm 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 accustomed, the merits and demerits attribute 
 according to the articles following: — 
 
 First, whoso breaketh most spears, as they ought to be 
 broken, shall have the price. 
 
 Item, whoso hitteth three times in the helm shall have the 
 price. 
 
 T 4 
 
280 
 
 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 chap. When all the knights had proved their va* 
 — 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. 
 who cried " Ployer vos bannieres" The banners — L. 
 were accordingly folded, and the amusements of£espoSL 
 ended. The fair and noble spectators then de- The festival, 
 scended from 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 most 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 Marche, a hero of Burgundy in the 
 fifteenth century, thus describes a warder : — " Et tenoit le 
 Due de Bourgogne un petit blanc baton en sa main pour 
 jetter et faire separer les champions, leurs armes achivees, 
 comme il estde coustume en tel eas." Memoires, p. 71* 
 
TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 ful dogs of the chace were allowed to be present 
 at this joyous celebration of their master's 
 honor. Sometimes the knights encircled, in ge- 
 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 bright, 
 The minstrels tuned their harps to the praise of 
 courtesy and prowess ; and when the merriment 
 was most 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. 7. 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 appertained!, 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 brave 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 himself, the Earl 
 
TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 283 
 
 ladies the knights who had worthily demeaned e ^ p - 
 themselves.* She, who by the consent of her — 
 fair companions was called LaRoyne delaBeaulte the prize. 
 et des Amours, delivered the prizes to the kneel- 
 ing knights, f This queen of beauty and love 
 
 of P. better than he, and above all others, the Earl 
 of D., 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, - 
 
 knight hath very well behaved himself, the Earl of N. 
 better than he, and Sir J. P., knight, above all the 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. 
 
 " And as touching the valiantness of the sword at the foil, 
 Sir. W. R., knight, hath very valiantly behaved himself, the 
 Marquis of C. better than he, and above all others, the 
 Kings Majesty, unto whom was given the price of a ring of 
 gold 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. 
 
 f The account of every tournament in our grave old 
 chronicles warrants the sentence in the Romance of Perce- 
 
284 
 
 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 c p ' addressed each of them with a speech of courtesy, 
 7-^- thanking him for the disport and labour which 
 
 tanked 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-love. 
 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 from far countries, t 
 
 Th* bail. Dancing 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 chivalry, the 
 
 Liberality, heralds 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 / 
 car pour elles sont toutes les prouesses fautes." 
 
 * This form of thanks prevailed also at the joust, as we 
 learn from an account of one in the days of Edward IV* See 
 Lansdowne MSS., British Museum, No. 285. art* 7. 
 
 f Ritterzeit und Ritterwesen, vol. i. p* 346. 
 
TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 285 
 
 at-arms were more particular in tracing the lines c **ap. 
 
 of his pedigree, than in checking him from 
 
 overleaping the bounds of a prudent and ra- 
 tional generosity. 
 
 One day's amusement 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 
 melee of knights and esquires in the lists, and the 
 judgment of the ladies was again referred to, and 
 considered decisive.* 
 
 Such were the general circumstances and laws 
 of tournaments 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 Knight, perchance be thine, 
 In tournaments you're bound to shine ; 
 
286 
 
 TOtTRNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 chap. It was not, however, from any sincere consi- 
 - — derations for humanity that the popes opposed 
 themselves 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 might 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 amusements 
 of Europe were to be interdicted, and the world 
 was to be plunged into the state of barbarism 
 from which chivalry had redeemed it. Tour- 
 naments 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. 
 
 289 
 
 VI. 
 
 The joust. 
 
 The joust was the other chief description of chap, 
 military exercises. It was so far inferior to the 
 tournament, that he who had tourneyed, and had 
 given largess to the heralds, might joust with- 
 out further cost ; but the joust did not give 
 freedom to the tournament, nor was it the most 
 favourite amusement, for baronial pomp was not 
 necessary to its display, and many a joust was 
 held without a store of ladies bright distribut- 
 
 ing the prize. There, were two sorts of jousts, Description 
 
 & . r . J of the joust 
 
 the joute a Voutrance, or the joust to the utter- to the utter.. 
 
 ii- • • n ance * 
 
 ance, and the j out e 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 Voutrance, 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, f™*** 3 " 
 there were sundry lousts and combats between Scotch and 
 
 J English 
 
 Scots and Englishmen, for proof of their valiant knight. 
 
 orbe, interdicta 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 armour 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 agreement was made in legal form, 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 
 tailles indentures, because they were bonds of which du- 
 plicates were made having indentures tailles answering to 
 each other. 
 
TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 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 Jousting for 
 joust to the utterance as national rivalry. Many iul^adies. 
 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 arms. " 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 Crony kil of Scotland, book ix. c. 11. The Sir 
 David de Lindsay, mentioned above is the knight of whom 
 Sir Walter Scott tells an amusing story in his notes to 
 Marmion, canto i. note 8. 
 
 f " Or verral'on s'il y a nul d'entre vous Anglois, qui soit 
 amoureux." Froissart, vol. ii. c. 55. Lyons's edit. 
 
 u 2 
 
292 
 
 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 chap, elusion of such a challenger, as he reined in 
 vi. . ... 
 — 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. 
 
 instlnfeof ^ wo P art i es °f French and English met by 
 iu adventure near Cherbourg, and, like valiant 
 
 knights, each desired to fight with the other. 
 They all alighted, except SirLauncelot of Lorry s, 
 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 joust- 
 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 Frenchman. Sir John 
 Copeland was the first who advanced from the 
 press, 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, young, jolly, and 
 right amorous* ; and the death of a gallant cava- 
 
 * Froissart, i. 345, 
 
TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 Her was always lamented by his brethren in chap* 
 arms ; for the good companionship of chivalry — 1 
 was superior to national distinctions. 
 
 This noble feeling of knighthood was very Joust be. 
 
 i i t i • • i i tween a 
 
 pleasingly displayed in a circumstance that nap- French and 
 pened in France, during the year 1380. The squke Shsh 
 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 Buckingham, 
 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. After 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 
 
294 
 
 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 chap, men 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 times we have 
 wished and devised to do deeds of arms 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 means : let your com- 
 pany depart, if they list, 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." 
 
TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 Nicholas answered, that he did not mean to chap, 
 
 VI. 
 
 gainsay his courtesy, but that he could not fight, — 
 as he and the rest of the English were journey- 
 ing without their armour/ 5 
 
 This objection was readily answered by the 
 Frenchman, who proffered his owti 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- 
 mit 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 him, 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 name, without doing deeds 
 of arms with me." 
 
 The Frenchmen then retired to the castle, 
 leaving the Englishmen 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 them through Brittany 
 and Normandy 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 of arms re- 
 
 u 4 
 
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 morning 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 Boucmell 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 their spears, 
 and advanced against each other on foot, from 
 
TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 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 English 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 comfort to his noble friend which 
 his kindness could prompt, 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 peace ' 
 
 * Berners' Froissart, vol. i. c. 374. 
 
298 
 
 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 char 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 
 smiles of dames and damsels, he called 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 combat 
 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 times phrased 
 their meaning. The loss of his good name and 
 the forfeiture of his horse and arms were the 
 penalties of violating this usage. Sometimes the 
 weapons were similar to those used in tourna- 
 ments ; but more frequently they were weapons 
 of war t ; and though the lances were sharp, and 
 
 * Froissart, vol. ii. c. 78. 
 
 \ Some 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 
 
TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 299 
 
 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. 
 
 j ousters. 
 
 The tournaments are interesting in the general 
 circumstances of their splendour and knightly 
 gallantry j but the jousts give us a far more 
 curious knowledge of ancient manners. 
 
 But before I describe these martial amuse- singular 
 
 i n i * n question* 
 
 ments, let me call my reader s attention tor a regarding 
 few moments to the subtlety of intellect with J0ust "" 
 which questions respecting 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. Some 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* 
 
800 
 
 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 chap, general decision was this : — if the combat were 
 
 VI. 
 
 — for 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 
 mouth 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 evil, 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 met by the acknowledged rule of 
 arms, that the fall from horseback by the enemies' 
 
TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS, 
 
 SOI 
 
 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 little 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 Warwick ' 
 his jousting harness. In honour of his lady he 
 set up three shields on three pavilions, and his 
 heralds proclaimed his challenges, apparently 
 from three different knights, among the lords, 
 knights, and squires of honour in France. The 
 devices on his shields and the names 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 
 became his friends : he entertained them with 
 chivalrique magnificence, and gave jewels of 
 price to them all. For 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. 
 
302 
 
 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 chap, had sped in his chivalric courses, could proudly 
 
 claim the reward of valour. # 
 
 Celebrated " Ye have heard oftentimes, it said, how the 
 
 joust at St. . . 
 
 ingelbertes. sport or ladies and damsels encourageth the 
 hearts of young lusty gentlemen, and causeth 
 them to desire and seek to get honour." f 
 
 Such is Froissart's beautiful and romantic 
 prelude to his account of a very interesting 
 joust. 
 
 In the year 1389, the King Charles 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 know 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 l'avez oui dire et recorder plusieurs 
 fois, que les ebatemens des dames et damoiselles encoura- 
 gent voulontiers les cceurs des jeunes gentils-hommes, et les 
 elevent, en requerant et desirant tous honneur, Froissart, 
 vol. iv, c. 6. ed. Lyons, 1560. 
 
TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 303 
 
 been possible for a knight to entertain any other C ^ I AP - 
 
 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 them felt a stain like a wound ; 
 and this imputation on their honor gave the form 
 and color to the joust they meditated ; for they 
 resolved to perform their deeds of arms in the 
 frontier near Calais, hoping that Englishmen 
 might be incited to meet them. 
 
 The holding of the joust at such a place was 
 not deemed courteous by some members of the 
 king's council, for it was thought that the English 
 would consider it presumptuous ; 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 realm ; and to maintain your estate, spare 
 
so* 
 
 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 chap, nothing, for we will not fail you for the expenee 
 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 
 gentlemen, knights, esquires, strangers, as well 
 of the nation of France, as elsewhere of far 
 countries, we shall be at St. Ingelbertes, in the 
 marshes of Calais, the 20th day of the month of 
 May next coming, and there continue thirty 
 days complete, the Fridays only excepted, and 
 to deliver all manner of knights and squires, 
 gentlemen, 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 will joust, let him come or 
 send the day before, and with a rod touch which 
 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. 
 
 limited by us to receive them. And all such chaf. 
 stranger-knights as will joust shall bring each some — 
 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 for any pride, hatred, or evil will, but that we 
 only do it to have their honorable company 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 come 
 to joust with us, without any manner of fraud 
 or unfair advantage, but every thing shall be 
 ordered by them to whom shall be committed the 
 charge of governing the jousts. And because 
 that all gentlemen, noble knights, and squires, to 
 whom this shall come 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 Montpellier 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 tQ 
 their blame and reproach that such an enter- 
 
 vol. i. x 
 
306 
 
 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 chap, prise should take place near Calais, without their 
 — 1 passing the sea. They therefore thanked the 
 French chivalry for deporting themselves so 
 courteously, and holding the joust so near the 
 English 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 com- 
 panions, crossed the sea, and were arraying 
 themselves 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 him, 
 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 from 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 CI ^ P - 
 
 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 j ousters apparelled themselves, and 
 took their station at the end of the plain, 
 opposite the pavilions. A flourish of clarions 
 proclaimed the commencement 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 of the lists which 
 had been assigned to the English strangers. 
 He w T as a right gallant cavalier, and he com- 
 manded his squire to touch the war-shield of 
 Sir Boucicaut. Incontinently, that noble son 
 of chivalry, ready mounted, 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 may 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 
 
S08 
 
 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 chap, pierced through the shield of the 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 commended. 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 unhelmed. 
 He returned to his squires, and incontinently was 
 rehelmed. He took his spear, 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 themselves 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 him coming, he dashed forth his 
 
TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. SOS 
 
 horse to encounter him. Each of them struck c **ap* 
 the other on the helms with such force that the — - 
 fire flew out. With that attaint the Lord of 
 St. Pye was unhelmed ; and so they passed forth, 
 and came 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 mixed 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 champions assembled after matins, 
 and did not quit the course till the vesper-bell of 
 the abbey summoned them 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 made 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 much." 
 vol. ii. p* 157. 
 
 x 3 
 
310 
 
 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 chap, were few who did not add something to their 
 
 VI. 
 
 fame ; for if a knight happened to be unhelmed, 
 
 yet perhaps he did not lose his stirrups, and he 
 was admired for 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 some 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 more 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 d la plaisance and the joust d 
 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, bookiii. 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. 
 
 lance was the only weapon used. To unhelm e ^ p * 
 
 the adverse knight by striking his frontlet was 
 
 the chiefest feat of arms, 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 w T as a Bohemian, 
 in station an attendant of the King of England. 
 It was demanded 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. 
 
 chap, 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 from his horse; and 
 the Englishmen 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 
 j ousters in all the realm of France, and no 
 wonder ; for our faithful and gallant chronicler 
 reports that he lived in love with a young maiden, 
 which availed him much in all his affairs. * 
 One of his most valiant antagonists was a 
 gentle knight of England, young and fresh, 
 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 dame : dont en toug 
 estats son affaire en valoit grandement mieux." Froissart, 
 vol. iii. c. 12. edit. Lyons, 1560. 
 
TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 crossed and lost their staves ; the fourth course chaf. 
 
 vx 
 
 resembled the second; the fifth course they — - 
 splintered their spears against their shields, and 
 then Sir John Arundell ran no more that day. 
 
 At the conclusion of the jousts the Earl of 
 Huntingdon, and the Earl Marshal, and the Lord 
 Clifford, the Lord Beaumont, Sir John Clinton, 
 Sir John Dambreticourt, 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 will 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 comers should be 
 right heartily welcome ; " 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 . 1% ° 
 
 Scales and , middle ages was that which was held between 
 of Bur. Lord Scales, brother of the Queen of Edward the 
 gundy. 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 
 some 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 memoirs, 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 of the 
 knights for their valiancy. 
 
 f Most of these circumstances 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 
 mentioned. 
 
TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 315 
 
 With the rich floure of souvenance % to the thigh ci *ap. 
 of that right worshipful and amorous knight, —1 
 
 * A very amusing little volume might be made on the 
 romance 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 remembers 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 my friend 
 Anthony Todd Thomson, whose Lectures on the Elements 
 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 some distance from the shore. She 
 expressed a desire to possess them, when her knight, in the 
 true spirit of chivalry, plunged into the water, and, swim- 
 ming to the spot, cropped the wished-for plant, but his 
 strength was unable to fulfil the object of his achievement, 
 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, 6 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 name is at- 
 tached is perennial, and grows in marshes and on the 
 margins of lakes." 
 
816 
 
 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS- 
 
 CHAP. Anthony Woodville, Lord Scales, for an emprise 
 
 of arms on horseback and on foot. # The most 
 
 renowned cavalier at that time 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 them which became 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 fact of 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 emprise. 
 
 * 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 hathe sayd of 
 hym that even wyr he hathe most to do, then the Lord Scalys 
 wyll soonest axe leve to depart, ?,nd the kyng weenyth that 
 it is mist because of kowardyese. ,, Paston Letters, vol. iv. 
 p. 116. 
 
TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 Lord Scales and the court of England were chap. 
 right joyous and grateful at the news, and — r 
 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 accompanied by four hundred of his 
 father's prowest chivalry. By Edward's command, 
 Garter king-at-arms met 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, Fcedera, 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 
 Smithfield. 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 similar form, 
 but inferior magnificence to the royal chambers, 
 were erected for them. The eight guards of 
 the lists entered on horseback, and received their 
 charge from 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 ch ap. 
 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 
 accomplish his arms against the Bastard of Bur- 
 gundy. The gate was then thrown open by 
 command of the Constable, and the Lord Scales 
 entered the lists, followed by nine noblemen on 
 horseback, bearing parts of his harness and arms, 
 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, commanded 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 judges could 
 — 1 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' amusement, the chi- 
 valry and beauty of England assembled in the 
 lists of Smithfield on the third morning. 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 them. 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 
 
 clared by the Earl of Worcester, then Constable chap. 
 
 J VI. 
 
 of England, and the Duke of Norfolk the Mar- — 
 shal, that if the affair were to proceed, the 
 knight of Burgundy must, by the law of arms, 
 be delivered to his adversary in the same state 
 and condition as he was in when they were se- 
 parated. 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 Marche 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 marked. There is also much confusion re- 
 garding the dates of most of the circumstances, and I hold 
 my readers in too much respect to enter into any arguments 
 touching such trifling matters. Such few dates as are un- 
 doubted I have mentioned. Let me add Hawkins's con- 
 
 VOL. I. Y 
 
322 
 
 TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 chap. 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 images of war, and the 
 interest which a whole nation could take in the 
 circumstance of certain fair ladies of a court 
 binding round the thigh of a gallant knight a 
 collar of gold, enamelled with a floure of sou- 
 venance, 
 
 Thero- j} u t tJ ie high romantic feeling of chivalric 
 
 mance of 
 
 jousts. 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 measure to cope with it, he journeyed from 
 
 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 this 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, much 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 ci ^ap. 
 to the English chivalry at Calais, to perform 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 companion 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 some of the French nobility *, 
 and learning from them the honourable exercise 
 of arms ; 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 whom Sir John Prendergast 
 vi. . ° 
 entreated that those letters might recommend 
 
 him. 
 
 Political affairs recalled Orris to Arragon, and 
 the English knight, not knowing that circum- 
 stance, wrote to him at Paris, pressing the per- 
 formance of the emprise, reminding him how 
 much his honour was concerned in the matter, 
 and entreating Cupid, the god of love, as Orris 
 might 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 emprise, 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 au dieu d'amour qu'ainsi comme vous desirez 
 Tamour de ma dame la vostre, il ne vous Fait de vostre 
 dicte venue." Monstrelet, vol. i. p. 3. ed. 1573. 
 
TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 325 
 
 arms, they could not absent themselves from the char 
 country where such enterprise was to be per- — - 
 formed, until it was perfectly accomplished. 
 Anxious to preserve the favour of the god of 
 love, and from respect to the ladies, Sir John 
 Prendergast was still ready, with the aid of God, 
 of Saint George, and Saint Anthony, to deliver 
 him whom he still hoped was the servant of 
 Cupid ; and unless within a short time the em- 
 prise was accomplished, he intended to return 
 to England, where he hoped that knights and 
 esquires would bear witness that he had not mis- 
 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 from the 
 grave old chronicler Monstrelet. " Je ne scay se le dieu 
 d'amours qui vous enhorta et meit en couraige de vosdictes, 
 lettres quand les envoyes, ait en aucune chose este si 
 despleu : parquoy il ait change ses conditions anciennes, 
 qui souloient estre telles que pour esbaudir armes et a 
 cognoistre chevalerie. 11 tenoit les nobles de sa court en 
 si royalle gouvernance, que pour accroissement 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 moy, si qu'il eut cause de moy 
 bannir de sa court. Je vueil encores demourer par 
 deca jusques au huictiesme jour de ce present mois de May 
 preste a l'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 military duties in Arragon, still 
 wearing the painful badge of iron. He found 
 at Paris all 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 mind ; and he in- 
 formed his noble foe that assuredly, without any 
 dissembling, he should never, in regard to the 
 present emprise, change his mind, 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 men and gen- 
 tlemen. 
 
 Notwithstanding the appeal of Orris to the 
 chivalry of Prendergast no deeds of arms were 
 achieved. The delay of answers to hig letters 
 
 & vous deliverir, ainsi que ma dame et la vostre le puissent 
 scavoir que pour reverence d'icelles j'ai voulente de vous 
 aiser de vostre griefue : qui par long temps vous a desaisie* 
 comme vosdictes lettres contiennent : pourquoy aussi vous 
 avez 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 tesgmoigne 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 
 queJque course qui soit ad venue." 
 
TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS. 
 
 327 
 
 had offended the English knight, and some c ^ p - 
 misunderstanding regarding the petty arrange- — 1- 
 ments of the joust abruptly terminated the affair. * 
 
 A very favourite description of ioust was that The passage 
 
 . , . ofarms. 
 
 which was called a passage of arms. A knight 
 and his companions proclaimed that they would 
 on a certain day guard a particular road or 
 bridge from all persons of cavaleresque rank, who 
 attempted 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 employed, so that he, who 
 
 * Monstrelet, vol. i. c. 1. 
 
 f 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 circum- 
 stance in the affair near Ashby-de-la-Zouche. Five knights 
 challengers undertook to answer all comers, but it was not 
 expected that those comers should attempt to pass any 
 particular place. The encounters which were the con- 
 sequences of the challenges were simple jousts, and con- 
 stituted the first day's sport, on the second day there was a 
 general tourney or melee of knights, and as in chivalric 
 times the tournament was always regarded as the chief 
 military exercise, the amusements at Ashby-de-la-Zouch 
 were a tournament, and by that name, indeed, the author 
 of Ivanhoe has sometimes called them. 
 
 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. 
 Officers 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 1443, the Lord of 
 Chargny, a noble knight of the court of Bur- 
 gundy, made known to all princes, barons, ca- 
 valiers, and esquires without reproach, that, for 
 the augmentation and extension of the most 
 noble profession and exercise of arms, it was his 
 will and intention, in conjunction with twelve 
 knights, squires, and gentlemen, of four quar- 
 terings, whose names he mentioned, to guard 
 and defend a pass d'armes, 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 Hermit'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. 
 
 329 
 
 during their twelve courses, should be unhorsed ci *ap. 
 by a direct blow with the lance on his armour, — 
 such person so unhorsed should present to his ad- 
 versary a diamond 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 might be most 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- 
 sumption, for he assured them that his sole mo- 
 tive was to exalt the noble profession of arms, 
 and also to make acquaintance by chivalric deeds 
 with such renowned and valiant princes and 
 nobles as might be pleased to honor him with 
 their presence. 
 
 For the forty days that followed the first of 
 July, the passage of arms 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 martial amusements and exer- 
 
 tournaments it a n i it i 
 
 and jousts, cises of preux chevaliers. All the noble and 
 graceful virtues of chivalry were reflected in 
 the tournament and joust, and the warrior who 
 had displayed them in the lists could 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 of the mere soldier, and he 
 soon came to consider war itself only as a great 
 tournament. Thus the tourneying lists were 
 schools of chivalric virtue as well sCs 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 Marche 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 C **^P. 
 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 circus of Constantinople. The Byzan- 
 tines learnt them from the early Crusaders; and 
 when the French and Venetians in the twelfth 
 century became masters of the East, chivalric 
 amusements were the common pastimes of the 
 people, and continued so even when the Greeks 
 recovered the throne of their ancestors; nor 
 were they abolished 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 image they had reflected 
 and brightened, for changes in the military art 
 did not immediately affect manners; 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. 
 
332 
 
 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 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 Imi- 
 tations of the Religious Orders Instanced in the 
 
 Order of the Garter Few of the present Orders 
 
 are of Chivalric Origin Order of the Bath 
 
 Dormant Orders Order of the Band Its sin- 
 gular Rules Its noble Enforcement 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» t J 
 
 — 1 racter of the true knight was formed ; 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 
 
 no where be treated with so much propriety as chap. 
 in this place. — ' 
 
 It has been shown that from the union of re- 
 ligion and arms 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 manners. But knight- 
 hood had various duties to discharge, and the ca- 
 valier, who was sometimes 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, fra- 
 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 ofX lP rdi- 
 were both martial and monastic in their general ^ s 
 principles, but their internal conduct was en- 
 tirely regulated by the disclipline of the cloister ; 
 and, like the establishments of monks, they took 
 some existing rule of a favourite saint as their 
 guide. Theirs was a singular compound of the 
 chivalric and the cloisteral characters, 
 
 " The fine vocation of the sword and lance 
 With the gross aims and body-bending toil 
 Of a poor brotherhood who walk the earth 
 Pitied." * 
 
 * Wordsworth. 
 
334 
 
 THE RELIGIOUS AND 
 
 chap. Lik e the monks they were bound by the three 
 VII. * , J 
 
 — 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 religious 
 
 * I may observe, however, that the aticient Templars 
 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 the 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 in the younger members of the valiant and 
 venerable order of the Temple. The title is sufficiently 
 ascetic, — Ut omnium mulierum oscula fugiantur. It pro- 
 ceeds thus : — " Periculosum esse credimus omni religioni, 
 vultum mulierum nimis attendere, et ideo nec viduam, nec 
 virginem, nec matrem, nec sororem, nec amitam, nec 
 ullam aliam fceminam 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 Cha^b 
 fitted themselves to the occasions and demands — 1 
 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 fidelity; 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 Temple a 
 knight was permitted to hold estates, so that at 
 his death he bequeathed some portion of them 
 to his order.* 
 
 In another very important respect the reli- 
 gious brotherhoods were moulded to the general 
 frame 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 of the re- 
 ligious fraternities became connected with the 
 state by professing that their duties to God and 
 their country were prior and paramount to the 
 
 * Statutes, c. 51. 55. 
 
THE RELIGIOUS AND 
 
 chap, rules and statutes of the brotherhood : and they 
 
 VII 
 
 — ' adopted this form of phrase rather to prevent 
 the suggestions of malice than from 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. * 
 
 QuaMca- In their origin all the military orders and most 
 
 tionsfor -IT. ... 
 
 them. or the religious ones were entirely aristocratic ; 
 
 proofs of gentility of birth were scrupulously 
 examined ; 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 Jerusalem 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 
 some unwillingness to fight against those of the Pope whom 
 they regarded as father of the church, addressed them in 
 terms of similar encouragement : — " Fight on — we were 
 Venetians before we were Christians." 
 
MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 
 
 337 
 
 armour, but In the severer aristocracies of Spain chap. 
 and Germany no less than eight heraldic em- VIL 
 blasonings were requisite. In Italy, however, 
 where commerce checked the haughtiness of 
 nobility, it was not expected that the pedigree 
 should be so proud and full, and at length the 
 old families conceded, and the new families 
 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 establishment, 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 ^ r ° s f t ^ ese 
 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 imbibed 
 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 
 
 C vn P " ^ervening space of dignity was considerable, the 
 
 Teutonic knights. These religious orders of 
 
 chivalry by their principles and conduct are 
 strongly marked in the political history of the 
 world, for they formed the firm and unceasing 
 bulwark of the Christian kingdom in Palestine 
 during the middle ages. They were its regular 
 militia, and maintained 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 
 Temple 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 trumpets of the military orders in every 
 preceptory and commandery receiving and 
 echoing the challenge. 
 Particularly The valiancy of the Templars was particularly 
 onheTem- conS pi cuous [ n t h e m0 ments of the kingdom'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 c **^ p - 
 
 defence of the city was entrusted to Peter de 
 
 Beaujeau, Grand Master of the Templars, And 
 well and chivalrously did he sustain his high 
 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 memory of the 
 Templars is embalmed 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 of the 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 
 of the Crusades, I described the circumstances of 
 the iniquitous and sanguinary persecution of the 
 
 z 2 
 
340 
 
 THE RELIGIOUS AND- 
 
 chap, brotherhood of the Temple, the consequent 
 — suspension of their functions*, and the spolia- 
 tion of all those possessions with which the 
 respect of the world had enriched them. 
 
 But the persecution of the Templars 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 
 cavaliers were not guilty, the brotherhood was 
 not suppressed, and, startling as is the assertion, 
 there has been a succession of Knights Templars 
 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 time 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.) committed the glaring absurdity 
 of making a provisional decree to be executed in perpetuity. 
 The bull which he issued at the council of Vienne, without 
 asking the judgment 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 themselves Templars. The penalty of 
 the greater excommunication was held out as a punishment 
 for offending. 
 
MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD, 
 
 of grand masters. The charter by which the su- char 
 preme authority has been transmitted is judicial — - 
 and conclusive evidence of the order's continued history of 
 existence. This charter of transmission, with the pi^ em " 
 signatures of the various chiefs of the Temple, 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- 
 mit 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 from 1357 till his death in 
 1380, and he was the only French commander 
 who prevailed over the chivalry of our Ed- 
 ward III. From 1478 to 1197* we may mark 
 Robert Lenoncourt, a cavalier of one of the 
 most ancient and valiant families of Lorraine. 
 Philippe Chabot, a renowned captain in the reign 
 of Francis L, wielded the staff of power from 
 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- 
 
342 
 
 THE RELIGIOUS AND 
 
 chap, renne, and one of the most skilful soldiers of 
 
 VII. 
 
 Louis XIV. The grand masters from 1734 to 
 
 1/76 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 1737 — 1741 ; and Louis 
 Francis Bourbon Conty 1741 — 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 gallant bearing. 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 Raymundus Fabre Palaprat, and 
 there are colleges in England and in many of the 
 chief cities in Europe. 
 Present ex- Thus the very ancient and sovereign order of 
 
 istence and . . ° e 
 
 state of the the 1 emple is now m full and chivalnc exist- 
 Tempiars. ence ^ t h ose orc [ ers f knighthood which 
 
 were either formed 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 storms of fate. Its continuance, by re- 
 presentatives as well as by title, is as indisputable 
 
MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 
 
 343 
 
 a fact as the existence of any other chivalric chap. 
 
 . vii. 
 
 fraternity. The Templars of these days claim 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 from the 
 same bright source of chivalry. Nor is it pos- 
 sible to impugn the legitimate claims to honor- 
 able estimation, which the modern brethren of 
 the Temple derive from the antiquity and pristine 
 lustre of their order, without at the same time 
 shaking to its centre the whole venerable fabric 
 of knightly honor. * 
 
 * I add a complete list of the grand masters of the 5 
 Temple, from the time of Jacques de Molai to these days. 
 (Manuel des Chevaliers de l'Order du Temple. Paris. 18170 
 
 A. D. 
 
 Johannes Marcus Larmenius, Hierosolyrnetanus - 1314? 
 
 Thomas Theobaldus, Alexandrinus - 1324 
 
 Arnaldus de Braque - - 1340 
 
 Johannes Claromontanus - * 1349 
 
 Bertrandus Du Guesclin - 1357 
 
 Johannes Arminiacus - - - 1381 
 
 Bernardus Arminiacus - - - 1392 
 
 Johannes A rmmiacus - - - - -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 ... - 1574 
 
 Carolus Valesius ... . 1515 
 
 z 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 arms 
 were mainly 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 mingled 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 - - 1651 
 
 Jacobus Henricus de Duroforti, Dux de Duras - 1681 
 
 Philippus, Dux de Aurelianensis - 1705 
 
 Ludovicus-Augustus Borbonius, Dux de Maine - 1724? 
 
 Ludovicus-Henricus Borbonius, Condaeus - - 1737 
 
 Ludovicus-Franciscus Borbonius, Conty - - 1741 
 
 Ludovicus-Henricus Timoleo de Cosse Brissac - 1776 
 Claudius Mathseus Radix de Chevillon, Vic. Mag. 
 
 Europ. (Regens.) - - - - - 1792 
 
 Bernardus-Raymundus Fabre Palaprat - - 1804 
 
MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 
 
 345 
 
 James, of Compostella, which sprang from the c ^ p - 
 association of some knights and monks in the i — 
 middle of the twelfth century, for the protection 
 of the pilgrims who flocked from all countries 
 to bow before the relics of the tutelar saint of 
 Spain. * The monks were of the society of 
 St. Eloy, a holy person of great fame among 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. James, 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 
 wants 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 many 
 examples deduced from authentic Spanish histories," Don 
 Quixote, part ii. c. 58. 
 
346 
 
 THE RELIGIOUS AND 
 
 c ^At\ by the 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 monastic portion of their character, for he 
 permitted an oath of connubial fidelity to be 
 substituted for that of chastity. A descent of two 
 degrees of gentle birth was required for admis- 
 sion into the order of Saint James, and the 
 Christian blood must have been uncontaminated 
 with any Jewish or Moorish mixture* 
 Its objects. The guarding of the passages to the shrine of 
 Saint James from the incursions of the Moors 
 became extended into a general defence of the 
 kingdom against the hostilities of those enemies 
 of the Christian name ; and in time 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 c ^ p * 
 La Orden de Santiago de la Espada. The — 
 centre of the crosslet was ornamented with an 
 escalop-shell, the badge of Saint James ; and 
 nothing can more strongly mark the popularity 
 of his shrine in the middle ages than the fact of 
 the escalop-shell being the usual designation of 
 an European palmer. The cross was w r orn on a 
 white cross mantle, and was painted red, agree- 
 ably, as it might seem, to that on the banner al- 
 ready alluded to. But Don Rodrigo Ximines, 
 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 James 
 had precedence over the grandmasters 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 master himself. The order of Saint 
 James had two great commanderies, one in 
 Leon and the other in Castile ; and to them all 
 other establishments were subordinate. There 
 were perpetual disputes for precedency between 
 these commanderies, and the kings of Castile 
 and Leon fomented them, thus preventing an 
 union which might be dangerous to the state 
 itself, and obtaining military aid in return for 
 
348 
 
 THE RELIGIOUS AND 
 
 C vn r * 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, when 
 the Emperor Charles V. obtained from Popes 
 LeoX. 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 compelled 
 him to consent that the affairs of the order 
 should be managed by a council, with a right of 
 appeal to the pope himself. The power of the 
 Spanish kings then became a species of influ- 
 ence, rather than of direct prerogative. 
 Change of The object of the association, the expulsion 
 its objects. ^ ^ e 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 KNIGHTHOOD. 
 
 349 
 
 his descent, maternal and paternal, for four de- chap. 
 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 maintain 
 the doctrine of the immaculate 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 of the mass a cavalier in the name of all 
 his brothers pronounced the vow # , and every 
 one repeated it, placing his 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- Calatrava# 
 sidering the circumstances of their origin, may 
 
 * The words are these : — Y asi mesmo hago voto, dete- 
 -ner, voto defender, y guardar en publico, y en secreto, que 
 la Vergen Maria Madre de Dios, y senora nuestra, fue con- 
 cebida sin mancha de peccato original. 
 
 f Favyne. Theat. d'Honneur, 1. 6. c. 5. Carode Torres, 
 Hist, de las Ordines Militares, 1. 1. Mariana, L 7. c. 10. 
 
350 
 
 THE RELIGIOUS AND 
 
 chap, be regarded as a more honourable fraternity 
 — 1 than the brotherhood of St. James. About the 
 year 1147, Alfonso King of Spain recovered 
 from the Moors the fortress of Calatrava, which 
 was the key of Toledo. The king committed it 
 to the charge of the Knights Templars. 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 swelling tide of Muselman 
 power, After retaining it for only eight years, 
 the Templars 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, 
 remembering that the brave militia of the Temple 
 had quailed before the Moors, hung back in 
 caution and dismay'; 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. 
 
 Fme chi. The monastery of Santa Maria de Fetero in 
 
 valry of a # 
 
 monk. Navarre contained a monk named Diego Ve- 
 lasquez, who had spent the morning of his life in 
 arms, but afterwards had changed the mailed 
 frock for a monastic mantle, for in days of chi- 
 
MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 
 
 valry, when religion was the master spring of ac- 
 tion, such conversions were easy and natural. 
 The gloom of a convent was calculated only to 
 repress the martial spirit ; but yet the surround- 
 ing memorials of military 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 pomp of the 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 moments of enthusiasm 
 many a monk 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 j for not only did the bold spirits of the 
 
352 
 
 THE RELIGIOUS AND 
 
 chap, convents keep the Moors at bay in that quarter, 
 - — " but the valour of the friars caused many heroic 
 knights of Spain to join them. To these banded 
 monks 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 reli- 
 gious order of knighthood, like that of Saint 
 James of Compostella, was a noble bulwark of 
 the Christian kingdom. 
 Discipline Nothing could be more perfect than the sim- 
 
 of the or- & r 
 
 der - plicity of the knights of Calatrava. Their dress 
 was formed from the coarsest woollen, and the 
 edges were not like those of many a monk of the 
 time, purfiled or ornamented with vair or gris, 
 or other sorts of rich fur. Their diet, too, re- 
 proached the usual luxury of the monastery, for 
 the fruits of the earth sustained them. 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 became a scene of uni- 
 versal uproar. The caparisoning of steeds, and 
 the clashing of armour, broke the repose of the 
 cloister, while the humble figure of the monk 
 was raised into a bold and expanded form of 
 
 Famebf dignity and power. Through all the mighty 
 efforts of the Christians for the recovery of their 
 
MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 
 
 358 
 
 throne, the firm and dense array of the knights c ^ p - 
 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 
 mastership 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 military 
 merit. * 
 
 Inferior in dignity and power to both these Order of 
 orders was the order of Alcantara. It was cana 
 formed 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 
 Eodrigo. 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 for a 
 name of loftier sound, though ideas of depend- 
 
 * Mennenius, Delic. Equest. p. 99, &c. Marquez Tesoro 
 Milit. de Cavale., p. 286. Favyn, Theat. de l'Honneur, 
 lib. 6. 
 
 VOL, I. 
 
 A A 
 
354 
 
 THE RELIGIOUS AND 
 
 chap, ence were associated with it. For nearly two 
 
 VII. . J 
 
 — 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 martial 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 James in 
 power and rank : the crown then placed them 
 within its own control, and like the other fra- 
 ternities, the main object of whose institution 
 had been the expulsion of the Moors from Spain, 
 the cross of the order of Alcantara became a 
 mere decoration of nobility.* 
 
 Knights of Co-existent with these religious brotherhoods 
 
 our Lady % ; ° 
 
 of Mercy, was a charitable establishment, which completed 
 the blessings of chivalry in Spain. Experience 
 of the wretchedness of imprisonment taught 
 James I. of Arragon to sympathise with the 
 hapless fate of others ; and about the year 
 1218 he associated several valiant knights and 
 pious ecclesiastics in Barcelona, whose whole 
 thoughts and cares were to have for their chief 
 
 * Mermen, Delic. Equest. p. 102, &c. Miraeus, and Fr. 
 Caro de Torres, in locis. 
 
MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 
 
 355 
 
 end and aim the applying of the aljus of the cha- c **^ p - 
 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 observe the vows of chastity, obe- 
 dience, and poverty, to apply the whole energies 
 of his mind and feelings to succour such of 
 his unhappy countrymen as, by the chance of 
 battle, were in Moorish prisons, and if necessary 
 to remain a slave in the hands of the Saracens 
 rather than abandon his duty of procuring the 
 redemption of captives. The general course of 
 their lives was directed by the rule of Saint Be- 
 nedict, for a knight as a monk, — 
 
 " 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 of the 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 from Spain to Africa ; and 
 it is curious to observe, that the order sullied 
 the impartiality of its principle by releasing first 
 the monks 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. F . ^ f 
 
 some religious orders 01 knighthood. lhe 
 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 1171 to gain a great victory over 
 the Moors. Only persons of noble birth could 
 be admitted members of this order. The 
 knights lived in their monastery agreeably 
 to the rule of Saint Benedict. THfeir 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, f 
 
 * Reman, Hist. Gen. de la Ordere de la Mercie, passim. 
 Mennen. Del. Eq. p. 107. 
 f Marquez, Tesoro Milit. 35, &c. 
 
MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 
 
 357 
 
 But it would be profitless to pursue the subject ; chap. 
 for 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 them, 
 and to mark such parts of their rules or their 
 annals as reflect the state of manners. 
 
 Though knights were often created before 
 battle, for the purpose of stimulating them to 
 achieve high exploits, yet many were invested 
 after they had fought, and proved themselves 
 worthy of their spurs. But knighthood was so 
 much 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 religious 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. J 
 
 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 them 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 CHAB 
 Saint Michael, founded about a century before by — 
 Louis XI., to draw the affections of the nobility 
 to himself. 
 
 Knights who were associated under one title, 
 and lived 'under one code of regulations, were in 
 truth companions in arms ; and, like any two ca- 
 valiers who had vowed to live in brotherhood, 
 the banded knights were united for weal or woe, 
 and w r ere bound to assist each other with council 
 and arms, as if a perfect community 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 same 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 of the companionship of 
 knights was very artfully applied by Henry VII. 
 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 
 
 of the order. # 
 
 The rewarding of noble achievements 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 military brotherhood 
 imitations represented the ancient chivalry. These associ- 
 ligious or- ations of merit adopted many of the principles 
 and usages of the religious orders of knighthood, 
 instanced in Notwithstanding the real causes of their found- 
 
 the Garter . ... 
 
 order. ation, religious 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 Tencontre du 
 Roy de Naples, qui estoit son confrere et allye, veu et 
 considere qu'il avoit prins et receu l'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 assertion may be supported by some lines in a 
 
MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 
 
 the Roman Catholic religion is certainly not in 
 the minds of the modern members of the Garter, 
 I may adduce these facts in proof of my position 
 in an early part of this chapter, that the orders of 
 knighthood have always been flexible to the 
 change of society. 
 
 The military, 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 most 
 noble order which he founded, a number 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." 
 
THE RELIGIOUS AND 
 
 chap, poor or alms-knights, 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 
 military condition. # 
 
 Every military fraternity had a cross of some 
 shape or other among 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, com- 
 manded the knights to wear, renders insignificant 
 the original chivalric designation of the order. 
 The associations of nobles were always ex- 
 pressed to have been formed to the honor of 
 God, or of some of his saints. Thus, even in 
 the present days, a knight of the Garter is ad- 
 monished 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 may not only receive the praise of this tran- 
 sitory combat, 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 C ^ I A I R 
 of the present day have a chivalric form, we Fe ~~ the 
 might expect that most of our military orders present or. 
 could be traced to the splendid times of knight- chivalric 
 hood. Attempts to prove so high an origin have ori§in * 
 been often made. Knights of the order called 
 the Most Ancient Order of the Thistle justly 
 think that a foundation in the sixteenth century 
 scarcely merits so august a title. They have 
 ascended, therefore, to the days of Charlemagne 
 himself 5 and, boasting an union between their 
 king Fergus and that emperor, have contended 
 that the order of the Thistle was founded to 
 commemorate 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 from Michael the Archangel, 
 who, according to the enlightened judgment of 
 French antiquarians, was the premier chevalier in 
 the world, and it was he, they say, who established 
 
364 
 
 THE RELIGIOUS AND 
 
 chap, the earliest chivalric order in Paradise itself. But, 
 
 VII. 
 
 — • in simple truth, the order of Saint Michael was 
 founded by Louis XL, King of France in the 
 year 1469, and the name 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 mentioned, 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 
 of the 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 them, however, a few words may be said. 
 leBsA England, above all other countries, can pride 
 herself on the chivalric nature of her military 
 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 from that which constituted the 
 ordinary knighthood of the sword; and that 
 
MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 
 
 365 
 
 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 of the 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 affixed to his stall in 
 the chapel of Henry VII. in Westminster Abbey. 
 All the romantic associations of early times were 
 pleasingly attended to ; for on the seal of the 
 order were to be represented three imperial 
 crowns Or, being the arms usually ascribed to 
 the renowned King Arthur. The lady-love of 
 chivalric times was to be commemorated 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, 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 companion 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 utmost of his power. 
 At the close of the ceremony, and without the 
 door of the abbey, the king's master-cook made 
 the usual admonition to him, viz. " Sir, you 
 know what great oath you have taken j which, 
 if you keep it, will be great honour to you ; but 
 if you break it, I shall be compelled, by my of- 
 fice, to hack off your spurs from your heels/' 
 
 Of those orders, which are either dormant or 
 extinct, the account needs only be brief; for 
 their history contains little matter 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 masters, 
 
 Dormant 
 orders. 
 
MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 
 
 367 
 
 and the ceremonies of knightly inauguration, c ^ p - 
 adds nothing to our pleasure or our knowledge. — 1 
 A few exceptions may be made to this opinion. Order of 
 
 t i A-ti ^r-r-rr* n o tne Band. 
 
 In the year 1330 Alphonso XL, King or Spam, 
 attached many of the nobility to his interests by 
 founding an order of merit, 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. Some 
 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 pat riO- Its singular 
 tism and loyalty inculcated by the statutes of rules * 
 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 
 dissimulation 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 
 
S68 
 
 THE RELIGIOUS AND 
 
 chap, two extremes, taciturnity was to be preferred to 
 — 1 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 unseemly hackney, nor 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 committing them was for the knight 
 to walk on foot for a month, and to be confined 
 to his house for another month. Boasting and 
 repining were both prohibited : the reproof of 
 the grand master and the neglect of him by his 
 companions were to punish the offender. A 
 knight was not permitted to complain of any 
 hurt * ; and even while he was being mangled 
 
 * This rule did not escape Cervantes. " If I do not com- 
 plain of the pain," says Don Quixote, after the disastrous 
 
MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 
 
 by the surgeons of the times, he was to deport CHAP. 
 
 himself 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 
 damsels. The circumstance was scarcely con- 
 ceived to be possible, but the statutes of the 
 order, to provide for every imaginable as well 
 
 chance 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 little now and 
 then when something ails you ; for my part, I shall not fail 
 to bemoan myself 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. e. 8. 
 
 VOL. L B K 
 
370 
 
 THE RELIGIOUS AND 
 
 chap, every probable offence, decreed that he 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 some one upon whom his affections might 
 rest, some one who was to be to him like 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 
 commanded 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 w r orthy 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 with 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 KNIGHTHOOD. 
 
 371 
 
 and money to the family as would enable the chap. 
 
 VII. 
 
 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 overcame one of the com- 
 panions in the joust or tournament. This re- 
 gulation was made for the general honor of 
 chivalry, and the promotion 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 IS70, by Louis II., Duke of Bour- 
 bon, who was named, 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 2 
 
THE RELIGIOUS AND 
 
 chap, of honor by acts of chivalry. The device of 
 VII. J J 
 
 — 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 permitting any man to speak slanderous mat- 
 ters of them, because, after God, comes from 
 them all honor which men can acquire. No- 
 thing could be more 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 nobleman or gentleman could be taxed with ; 
 and in conclusion, as the summary of their duty, 
 they were exhorted to practise faith and loyalty, 
 and to respect each other as became knights of 
 praise and virtue. * 
 
 strange Xhe occasions of the titles of many of the 
 
 titles of .. J 
 
 orders. military orders are more interesting than a view 
 of the external marks of their chivalry. Not- 
 withstanding the haughtiness of knighthood, one 
 of the most 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 Prance ; and it was furnished with 
 its singular title from the fancy of the founder 
 (Louis Duke of Orleans, second son of CharlesV. 
 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 schism. 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 of the Precious 
 Blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ, at Mantua. 
 
 The chivalric nations of Europe attached as Fabulous 
 much consequence to orders which existed only 01 
 in their own fervid imagination as to those whose 
 lineage was certain. To Constantine the Great 
 was ascribed the honor of inventing the first 
 military order of knighthood. The great cap- 
 
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 that 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 companions of the 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 for chivalric dis- 
 tinctions. The Spaniards delighted to imagine 
 that their early victories over the Moors were 
 commemorated by an order called the Order of 
 the Oak in Navarre, and founded on occasion 
 of the Holy Cross, adored by an infinite number 
 
MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 
 
 S?5 
 
 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 martial 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 f he favourite opi- 
 nion ; and when his remains were discovered in 
 the Abbey of Glastonbury, in the year 1189, 
 the people from their idea that prowess always 
 corresponded with size of limb fancied that his 
 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 Arthur'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 some sixteen foote deepe ; but, after 
 they had digged nine foot, they found a stone, on whose 
 lower side was fixt a leaden cross with his name inscribed, 
 
 B B 4< 
 
THE RELIGIOUS AND 
 
 chap. The court of Arthur was supposed to be the 
 VII. ..... 
 
 — - 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 sumptuous monument ; 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 Arthur 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 English: — " 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 murder, and always to flee treason. 
 Also by no means to be cruel, but to give mercy unto him 
 that asketh mercy, upon pain of forfeiture of their worship 
 and lordships to King Arthur, for evermore; and always to 
 do ladies, damsels, and gentlewomen, 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 of the table round, both old anci 
 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- — 1 
 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, they were 
 thought to have formed a standing court for the 
 redress of injuries ; for Arthur, in case of any 
 complaint being laid before him, was bound to 
 send one of his knights to redress it. 
 
 The virtues of the knights of the Round 
 Table were the mirror in which the chivalry of 
 England arrayed themselves. These virtues are sirLaun- 
 admirably described in the lamentation of Sir 
 Ector over the dead body of Sir Launcelot of the 
 Lake, the prowest of all the companions of 
 Arthur: — " Thou wert never matched of none 
 earthly knight's hands ; and thou wert the dir- 
 tiest knight that ever bare shield ; and thou 
 wert the truest friend to thy lover that ever be- 
 strode horse ; and thou wert the truest lover 
 of a sinful man that ever loved woman ; and 
 
378 
 
 THE 
 
 RELIGIOUS 
 
 AND 
 
 chap, thou wert the kindest man that ever struck 
 — - with sword ; and thou wert the goodliest per- 
 son that -ever came among press of knights ; 
 and thou wert the meekest man and the gentlest 
 that ever ate in hall among ladies ; and thou 
 wert the sternest knight to thy mortal foe that 
 ever put spere in the rest." * Next in rank to 
 Sir Launcelot w T as 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 makes a very pleasing allusion to him 
 in his Squire's Tale. Describing the entrance of 
 the strange knight, our old bard says that he 
 
 c< 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 
 
 v Iorte d'Arthur, lib. ult. cr ^ 
 
MILITARY ORDEKS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 
 
 379 
 
 that round one vast and mysterious table, the c ^ p * 
 
 gift of the enchanter Merlin, Arthur and all his 
 
 peerage sat in perfect equality ; and to this idea 
 may be traced the circumstance that the friendly 
 familiarity of achivalric round table broke down 
 the iron distinctions of feudal haughtiness, and not 
 only "mitigated kings into companions, but raised 
 private men to be fellows with kings." Localities 
 unlock the gates of memory, whether the stores 
 within be treasured there by imagination or the 
 sterner powers of the mind ; 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 
 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 of the writer. Only one of these fraternities 
 merits 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 members 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 some other symbol. The rejected 
 
 the phrase ^ J ° 
 
 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 
 of French pretension. It diverged from France — 
 to England, and for a while marked the vanity 
 of the small 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 accom- 
 plished with no loss of womanly modesty. It is 
 in this country, above all others, that knowledge 
 asserts her right of general dominion, or con- 
 tends that if she be the sustaining energy of one 
 sex, she forms the lighter charm, the graceful 
 drapery of the other. 
 
d8£ 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 PROGRESS 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 Fine Instance 
 
 of Chivalry in the Reign of Edward /.... ...Effect of Chi- 
 valry in Stephen! s Reign Troubadours and Ro- 
 mance Writers in the Reign of Henry II. Chivalric 
 
 Maimers of the Time Cceur de Lion the first Chi- 
 
 vafric King His Knightly Bearing John and 
 
 Henry III. Edward I. 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 Edward II. 
 
 C viif ^ N ^ e ^ rst c h a Pt er we trace d, by the help of 
 — the few lights which yet remain, the rise of chi- 
 valry in Europe. We may now mark 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 form one general collection 
 
PROGRESS OF CHIVALRY IN ENGLAND. 
 
 383 
 
 of knightly events. And first, of its influence chap. 
 
 • t? i i • VIIL 
 
 in England. — 
 
 Many chivalric principles and customs were 
 known to the Anglo-Saxons *, and affected, in 
 some degree, the character of the 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 them, 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. J It is recorded of them that they 
 brought from the north a love of splendor, and 
 
 * Pp. 5.9. 11. ante. 
 
 f The exact degree of this influence it is impossible to 
 ascertain now. The author of the romance 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 from the 
 merit of Ivanhoe as a faithful picture of ancient manners. 
 
 % Glaber Rod. c. 5. 
 
384 
 
 PROGRESS OF CHTVALHY 
 
 CHAP. 
 VIII. 
 
 Chivalry 
 connected 
 with feu- ( 
 dalism. 
 
 having learnt courtesy of manner from the 
 French, they were fitted to admire the shows and 
 the gallantry of knighthood. # They affected, 
 indeed, to despise the religious parts of the 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 
 
 Chivalry became established as part of the 
 national constitution when William the Con- 
 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 families ; and as there was constant 
 occasion for them, chivalry became a military 
 profession. In England, as in every country, 
 the feudal array was found insufficient for fo- 
 reign wars, and wide-spread domestic rebellions ; 
 for few contests could be finished in forty days, — 
 
 * Snorre. Malmsbury, p. 174. 
 
 t Ingulf, p. 512. Order. Vit. p. 460. 463, &c. Malms- 
 bury, passim. Dudo, p. 82. 
 
IN ENGLAND. 
 
 SS5 
 
 and that was the brief space which, in the chap. 
 
 earliest 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 
 martial enterprise was broken up before achieve- 
 ment, because the time of service had expired. 
 So frequent were the calls 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 atJ 
 stitutes ; but one of the most important provisions 
 of Magna Charta gave to parliament alone the 
 power of imposing this escuage or military 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 important. Most 
 of these stipendiary subsidiaries were knights, 
 with their equipments of men-at-arms and 
 archers ; and the sovereign was accustomed to 
 contract with his barons for their attendance 
 upon him in his foreign expeditions. Chivalry 
 and feudal tenure were, therefore, no longer 
 
 * Magna Charta, cl. xiv. 
 VOL. I. C C 
 
886 
 
 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 
 established in the days of Edward III. ; and that 
 was the brightest era of English chivalry, 
 ^compu?^ ^ n England, knighthood was always regarded 
 sory honor, as the necessary distinction of people of some 
 substance and estate.* In the reigns of our three 
 first Edwards the qualification for knighthood 
 varied from 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 money ; and the royal invit- 
 ation to honour was so extensive as to be in- 
 convenient ; for 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 seems the natural consequence of 
 the change of constitution, effected by William I. ; by his 
 uniting chivalry to feudalism. 
 
IN ENGLAND. 
 
 Besides all these ways of forming the knighthood c **^- 
 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 
 Rufus invited to his court the prowest cavaliers 
 from every country # ; for as his father had 
 effected the subjugation of Harold not merely 
 by the feudal force of Normandy, but by hired 
 soldiers, it was the natural policy of the kings 
 of the Norman 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 chlvSy in 
 Henry I., and gave the tone and character to Henry I. 
 our foreign military warfare. This state of 
 things is proved in an interesting manner by a 
 
 * Wace tells us that William 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." 
 
388 
 
 PROGRESS OF CHIVALRY 
 
 chap, circumstance that occurred during; the war of 
 
 VIII. 
 
 — ' 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 chu 
 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 monarch was 
 severely wounded in the head, but the Normans 
 could not pierce the firm line of the English, 
 and they were all taken prisoners. The three 
 hundred remaining knights of Louis made a fine 
 attempt to redeem 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 important 
 Stephen's effect on England during the troublous reign of 
 
 reign. 
 
 * H. Huntingdon, p. 381. Order. Vit. 854, &c. 
 
IN ENGLAND. 
 
 389 
 
 Stephen. As he was deserted by his barons, he cthap. 
 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 arms of chivalry grew rusty in the long J rouba " d 
 and un warlike reign of Henry II. ; but many of romance 
 
 writers — 
 
 the milder graces of knighthood were cultivated reign of 
 in consequence of the love of letters entertained Uenr * u - 
 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- 
 mory of the people of Britanny (that ancient 
 colony of England) were collected by an Arch- 
 deacon Walter, of Oxford, and formed part of a 
 Latin history of Great Britain that was written 
 in the time of Henry L by JefFry of Mon* 
 
390 
 
 PROGRESS OF CHIVALRY 
 
 chap, mouth. Wace, the translator- general of the age, 
 VIII. fe . . 
 
 - — 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 of the time ; and as the 
 
 book was now rendered into the language of the 
 
 upper classes of life, it found its way into the 
 
 baronial hall and the lady's bower. This was 
 
 the earliest of the French metrical romances ; 
 
 and before the close of the twelfth century 
 
 nothing was read by the nobility but romances 
 
 chivairic of Arthur and his knights. And the sports and 
 
 Srrime;° f exercises of the time nourished the chivairic 
 
 spirit. A writer of those days has given us a 
 
 graphic description of them. " Every Sunday in 
 
 Lent, immediately after dinner, crow r ds 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. 9** j^' 
 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; for I cannot, with some firTch£ e 
 writers, place William Rufhs among our chi- valrickin s 
 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 
 
 ** Stephan. Descnp. Lund. p. 7. 
 
 c c 4 
 
PROGRESS OF CHIVALRY 
 
 chap, charities of life. When with Robert he besieged 
 
 VIII. . 
 
 — " 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 w 7 ant of the 
 common necessaries of life. Robert, with fine 
 chivalric generosity, supplied his brother, much 
 to the regret of William, who ridiculed and was 
 angry at his simplicity. * 
 His knight- But in Richard the whole knightly character 
 iy bearing. a pp eare( j j n a ^ 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 
 arm, and such the fierceness of his spirit, that he 
 could sweep from the field whole squadrons of 
 knights. When w r e 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 
 
 * Mahnsbury, p. 121. 
 
 t Vinesauf, p. 338 
 
IN ENGLAND. 
 
 393 
 
 stories of Arthur and the Round Table seem the chap. 
 
 calm relations of truth. ' 
 
 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 finest 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-humoured ridicule of Cervantes. " As 
 for myself/' answered the bruised Don Quixote, after his 
 battle with the Yanguesian carriers, " I must own I cannot 
 set a term to the days of our recovery ; but it is I who am the 
 fatal cause of all this mischief ; for I 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 
 come to take their parts, then will I be sure to step between 
 thee and danger, and assault them with the utmost vigour 
 and intrepidity." Don Quixote, part i. book 3. c. J. 
 
394 
 
 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 of the 
 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 William of Newbridge, lib. v. c 
 
IN ENGLAND. 
 
 395 
 
 These circumstances and the various other chap. 
 events of his chivalric life, which I have de- * — ' 
 scribed at length in another work complete 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 Henry 111 
 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 some English 
 knights, who assisted the Emperor in his Milan- 
 ese wars, and whose prowess was the most distin- 
 guished of the day. The crusades to the Holy 
 Land were not altogether forgotten ; but the 
 page of our history is marked 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 was 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 
 
 ch^ap. during his journey homeward, though ill and 
 
 * forespent with travel, he displayed remarkable 
 
 His gaiian- heroism at a tournament in Savoy. * The chal- 
 
 try at a , 
 
 tournament, lenger was the Count of Chalons ; but if pon- 
 tifical authority could have destroyed chivalry, 
 the knights never would have met. The pope 
 feared that some hostility 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-arms, 
 and archers on horseback and on foot, Edward 
 pressed his bounding steed upon the chosen 
 plain, and the Count of Chalons met him with 
 equal spirit, and nearly twice the number 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 c ^jf # 
 Chalons were either slain or driven from the — 
 field. After many cavaliers on each side had been 
 disabled, the lords of either host encountered. 
 Their lances met 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 himself 
 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 him like a base-born churl. He 
 beat him with the flat part of his sword ; and, 
 refusing to take him as his prisoner, he com- 
 pelled him to surrender himself to a man of 
 mean 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 famous for 
 its Round Table, to which knights from every 
 nation flocked, t In his Scotch wars, therefore, 
 
 * Matthew of Westminster, p. 4*02. Hemingford, p. 592. 
 f Walsingham, p. 8. Leland's Collectanea, p. 177. 
 
398 
 
 PROGRESS OF CHIVALRY 
 
 chap, his armies were not deficient in chivalric bravery. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 ' At the battle of Falkirk the strength of the 
 
 Scots was foot, as that of the English was horse ; 
 and the repeated charges of Edward's chivalry 
 Hisun- decided the fate of that memorable day. In his 
 cruelties. Welsh wars he had sullied his reputation for 
 knightly generosity by making a public ex- 
 hibition of the head of his worsted foe, Llewelyn 
 ap Gryffy th, 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 ambition. Before 
 his second war in Scotland he vowed, in Wes- 
 minster 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 
 Hepos- for the death of Comyn. Nor did any of the 
 kn?ghtiy° courtesies of chivalry grace Edward : the queen 
 courtesy. Q £ j> mce an( j h er 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 William the Conqueror, to the knight 
 who had wounded the dead body of Harold. 
 
IN ENGLAND. 
 
 399 
 
 in defiance of all chivalric gallantry, he treated chap. 
 them as prisoners. There was something pecu- 
 Jiarly 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- 
 nity, " As she has not used the sword, she shall 
 not perish by the sword ; but for 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 for her 
 everlasting infamy. 5 ' * 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 L, 
 A.D. 1306, to fit up one of the turrets of the castle of 
 Berwick-upon-Tweed, and therein to buiid 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 him to deliver her food. The sister 
 of Robert Bruce was prisoner at the same time, and treated 
 in the same manner. Lord Hailes's observation on this pas- 
 sage is amusing. " To those who have no notion of any 
 cage but one for a parrot or a squirrel, hung out at a 
 window, T despair of rendering this mandate intelligible." 
 
400 
 
 PROGRESS OF CHIVALRY 
 
 chap, his last and fatal journey to Scotland, Edward 
 viii. J J 
 
 — caused proclamation to be made throughout 
 England, that all persons who were entitled to 
 the honour of knighthood 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 measure, 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 them 
 repaired to the New Temple, where, cutting down 
 the trees and levelling the walls of the garden, 
 they set up their tents and pavilions in brave 
 emulation of actual war. They performed their 
 vigils in the Temple church, while the Prince of 
 Wales, by command of the King his father, passed 
 the night in prayer in Westminster Abbey. 
 
 On the following day, the King invested his 
 son with the military belt, and assigned to him 
 
IN ENGLAND. 
 
 401 
 
 the duchy of Aquitaine. The Prince, being 9**ap. 
 knighted, went to the Abbey that he might con- — " 
 fer the like military 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 made a passage for his friends to receive 
 knighthood at his hands. After he had dubbed 
 and embraced them all, his attendants intro- 
 duced two swans covered with golden nets, 
 which were adorned and embossed with studs of 
 gold. This w r as 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 Comyn 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 had established his dominion. 
 Every heart assented to this high resolve, and 
 the ceremony closed. The knights were feasted 
 
 VOL. I. D D 
 
402 
 
 PROGRESS OF CHIVALRY 
 
 °yui' t ^ at at 1 °y a ^ P a ^ ace 5 anc * w hile they were 
 — quaffing muscadel in honour of chivalry and the 
 ladies, the minstrels in their songs reminded them 
 of their duty to pledge themselves before the 
 swans to perform some rare feats of arms. The 
 Prince vowed that he would never rest two 
 nights in one place until he had performed his 
 father's high behests ; and the other knights made 
 various fantastic vows for the promotion of the 
 same object, # 
 
 Edward ii. The defeat of the English chivalry at the 
 battle of Bannockburn, (24th June, 1315,) was 
 the most remarkable circumstance in the reign 
 Chivalric of Edward IL On the preceding day, Douglas t 
 stances in and Sir Robert Keith, marshal of Scotland, were 
 Bwm^.° f dispatched by Robert Bruce from the main body 
 bum. Q f arm y t descry whether the enemy 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 1 brawdyne 2 baners, 
 Standards, and pennons, and spears, 
 And so fele 1 knights upon steeds, 
 All flaming in their weeds* 
 
 * Matthew of Westminster, p. 457, &c. Trevet, p. 343. 
 t This was the good Lord James of Douglas, of whom 
 see p. 205 ante. 
 
 1 many. 2 displayed. 
 
IN ENGLAND. 
 
 403 
 
 And so fele 1 bataills 2 , and so broad, 
 And too so great room as they rode 
 That the maist host, and the stoutest 
 Of Christendom, and the greatest 
 Should be abaysit 3 , for to see 
 Their foes into such quantity." 
 
 CHAP. 
 VIII. 
 
 The Bruce, vol. ii. p. 111. 
 
 The English vanguard, commanded by the 
 Earls of Gloucester and Hereford, soon came in 
 general sight. The appearance of Edward's 
 army is described by Barbour in a rich chivalric 
 style. 
 
 u The sun was bright, and shined clear, 
 And armouris that burnished were, 
 So blomyt 4 , with the sun's beam, 
 That all the land was in a leme 3 , 
 Banners right fairly flawinand 6 , 
 And pensels to the wind wawand. 7 
 
 Bruce was riding on a palfrey and marshalling 
 his men, when Sir Henry de Bohun started from 
 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 
 war-steed upon a foe who was riding on a pal- 
 
 Barbour, xi. 188 — 193* 
 
 1 many, 
 gleamed. 
 
 2 battalions, 
 flame of fire. 
 
 D D ( l 
 
 3 alarmed. 
 
 6 flowing. 
 
 waving, 
 
404 
 
 PROGRESS OF CHIVALRY 
 
 C vui' ^ re y* * h* s want °f 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 T — 
 
 * The tokens on his helmet tell 
 
 The Bruce my liege : I know him well/ — 
 < And shall the audacious traitor brave 
 The presence where our banners wave ?' — 
 c So please my 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 from our path/ 
 And at King Edward's signal, soon 
 Dash'd from the ranks Sir Henry Boune." 
 
 The Lord of the Isles, canto vi. st. 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 1 
 In hy 2 to him the horse he steers. 
 And when Sir Henry saw the King 
 Come on forouting abaysing, 3 
 To him he rode in full great hy 4 
 He thought that he should well lightly 
 Win him and have him at his will, 
 Since he him horsed saw so ill. 
 Sprent 5 they came unto a ling, 6 
 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 7 reached him a dint, 
 That neither hat nor helm might stynt, 
 The hewy dusche 8 that he him gave, 
 That near the head to the harness clave. 
 The hand-axe shaft fruschyt 9 in tow ; 
 And he down to the yird gan go 
 All flatlyngs 10 , for him failed 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. 2 haste. 3 without shrinking. 
 4 haste. 5 spurred. 6 line. 7 moan. 8 heavy clash, 
 9 broken. 10 flat. 
 
406 
 
 PROGRESS OF CHIVALRY 
 
 chap, preceded the ^reat battle. It was a main ob- 
 viii. : X 
 
 ' 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 commanded his left wing 
 to prevent Stirling from 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 utmost desperateness of valour could efface 
 this shame ; 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 seemed gra- 
 
 * " For the king had said him rudely. 
 That a rose off his chaplet 
 Has fallen ; for quhar 1 he was set 
 To kep the way these men were past." 
 
 Barbour, vol. ii. p. 545 — 54-8, 
 1 where. 
 
IN ENGLAND. 
 
 dually sinking under the force of numbers ; and 
 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 impetuous courage. " Halt," cried Douglas, 
 like a generous knight, " these brave men have 
 repulsed the enemy ; let us not diminish their 
 glory by sharing it." 
 
 Of the battle of Bannockburn itself little need 
 be said by me, because there was not much 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 
 army 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 
 
 chap, and gilt shields, advanced to charge the bristled 
 viii. ° ° 
 
 — . 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 victory. 
 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 they 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 some of his friends around him pause in 
 alarm, 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 seemed 
 for a moment to be inspired with the fire of the 
 Plantagenets. He dashed into the enemy's 
 lines, and was by force drawn away by the Earl 
 of Pembroke, when courage was evidently un- 
 availing. * 
 
 Though the chivalric character was only for 
 one moment of his life sustained by Edward II., 
 
 * 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 . C 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, chivalry in 
 During his war with the barons, which his system S re g 
 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 immediately flocked round 
 the standard of the King ; his arms completely 
 triumphed, and the Spencers were recalled. # 
 
 * Trokelowe in Hearne, p. 52. Moor in Camden, Angl. 
 Norm. p. 595. 
 
 END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
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