[276] Full of frowardness, each mis-saying or reviling, as Ellis renders the passage.

[277] Lai le Fraine.

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

[279] 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. 474. edit. 1587.

[280] The objects and tendencies of tournaments are extremely 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.

[281] Holingshed, vol. ii. p. 252. reprint.

[282] Froissart, vol. ii. c. 175.

[283] Ritterzeit und Ritterwesen, vol. i. p. 311. 323.

[284] 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.

[285] M. Westm. p. 300.

[286] Segar of Honor, lib. ii. c. 26. Ritterzeit und Ritterwesen, vol. i. p. 302. There was a singular law in Germany, prohibiting from the tournament those who had been the cause of imposing taxes or duties, or had used their endeavours to get them imposed. Ritterzeit und Ritterwesen, vol. i. p. 304.

[287] 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.

[288] Monstrelet, vol. vi. p. 333.

[289] Ritterzeit und Ritterwesen, vol. i. p. 323.

[290] Chaucer, Knight’s Tale, l. 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.

[291] Froissart, vol. ii. c. 173.

[292] Smithfield was famous many years earlier, both as the place of sports and the horse-market of London. Fitzstephen, who wrote in the time of Henry II., says, “Without one of the gates is a certain field[K], 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.”

[293] Du Cange, Dissertation 6. on Joinville.

[294] Memoires d’Olivier de la Marche, liv. i. c. 14.

[295] 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 Francisco 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 Repertory, vol. i. p. 148.

[296] elegant.

[297] embroidery.

[298] head-pieces.

[299] ornamented dresses.

[300] rubbing.

[301] straps.

[302] brazen drums.

[303] Chaucer, The Knight’s Tale, line 2498, &c. Chaucer must have had in his imagination one of the splendid tournaments of the days of Edward III. when he wrote these spirited lines; for there is much more circumstance in his description than could have belonged to a simple joust between the two knights, Palamon and Arcite.

[304] Du Cange (Diss. 6. on Joinville) on the authority of an ancient MS. regarding tournaments; and Ritterzeit und Ritterwesen, vol. i. p. 325.

[305] Harleian MSS. No. 69.

[306] 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 mentioned 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, l. 248, &c.

The author of the Romance of Perceforest has made a strange 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 étoient si dénues de leur atours, que la plus grande partie étoit en pur chef (mie tête) 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 donné aux chevaliers pour eux parer et guimples et chaperons, manteaux et camises, manches et habits: mais quand elles se virent à tel point, elles en furent ainsi comme toutes honteuses; mais sitost qu’elles veirent que chacune étoit en tel point, elles se prirent toutes a rire de leur adventure, car elles avoient donné leurs joyaux et leurs habits de si grand cœur aux chevaliers, qu’elles ne s’appercevoient de leur dénuement et devestemens.”

[307] The reader may wonder 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!” 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. “Il 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 après la mort de leur pere car nul chevalier ne peut estre jugé preux se ce n’est après le trépassement.” Monstrelet, vol. i. p. 29.

[308] “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, tauntingly, “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.”

[309] The old English ordinances, fortunately, have been preserved, 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, reserving always to the queen’s highness and to the ladies there present, the attribution and gift of the price, after the manner and form accustomed, the merits and demerits attribute according to the articles following:—

[310] Olivier de la Marche, a hero of Burgundy in the fifteenth century, thus describes a warder:—“Et tenoit le Duc de Bourgogne un petit blanc baton en sa main pour jetter et faire séparer les champions, leurs armes achivees, comme il est de coustume en tel cas.” Memoires, p. 71.

[311] 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.

[312] This was the address of the heralds after a tournament in the days of Edward IV.:—

“Oyez, oyez, oyez, we let to understand to all princes and princesses, lords, ladies, and gentlewomen of this noble court, and to all others to whom it appertaineth, that the nobles that this day have exercised the feats of arms at the tilt, tourney, and barriers, have every one behaved themselves 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 gentlewomen of this noble court.

“And as touching the valiantness of the piques, the Duke of M. hath very valiantly behaved himself, the Earl 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 King’s 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 gentlewomen.”

[313] Knights are always mentioned as good or unskilful tilters, according to the judgment of the ladies. Froissart, vol. ii. c. 234. Monstrelet, vol. i. c. 10.; and see the last note.

[314] The account of every tournament in our grave old chronicles warrants the sentence in the Romance of Perceforest, “Pris ne doit ne peult estre donne sans les dames; car pour elles sont toutes les prouesses fautes.”

[315] 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.

[316] Ritterzeit und Ritterwesen, vol. i. p. 346.

[317] A tournament of this three-fold description took place at St. Denys, in the year 1389.

[318] 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;
Refuse—and all the world will swear,
You die not worth a rotten pear.”

[319] Mr. Sharon Turner (History of England, vol. i. p. 144. 4to. edit.) says, that nothing could break the custom (of holding tournaments) but the increased civilisation of the age. This is a mistake, for tournaments increased in number as the world became more civilised. There were more tournaments in the fourteenth century than in the thirteenth, and even so late as the reign of Henry VIII. the whole of England seems to have been parcelled out into tilting grounds.

[320] “De his vero qui in torneamentis cadunt, nulla quæstio est, quin vadant ad inferos, si non fuerint adjuti beneficio contritionis.” Du Cange on Joinville, Dissert. 6.

[321] Still more absurd is the story of Matthew Paris, that Roger de Toeny, a valiant knight, appeared after death to his brother Raoul, and thus addressed him: “Jam et pænas vidi malorum, et gaudio beatorum; nec non supplicia magna, quibus miser deputatus sum, oculis meis conspexi. Væ, væ mihi, quare unquam torneamenta exercui, et ea tanto studio dilexi?”

[322] Thus Lambert d’Ardres writes: “Cum omnino tunc temporis propter Dominici sepulchri peregrinationem in toto orbe, interdicta fuissent torneamenta.” Du Cange, Diss. 6. on Joinville.

[323] Du Cange calls any combat between two knights preliminary to a general battle, a joust to the utterance. He might as well have called the battle itself a joust.

[324] 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 a journée (day’s battle),
For both they were by certane taillé
Obliged to do there that deed, sauf faillie (without fail).”

Macpherson says, that challenges of this sort were called taillés indentures, because they were bonds of which duplicates were made having indentures taillés answering to each other.

[325] Holingshed, History of Scotland, p. 252. ed. 1587. Wyntown’s Cronykil 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.

[326] “Or verra l’on s’il y a nul d’entre vous Anglois, qui soit amoureux.” Froissart, vol. ii. c. 55. Lyons’s edit.

[327] Froissart, i. 345.

[328] Berners’ Froissart, vol. i. c. 374.

[329] Froissart, vol. ii. c. 78.

[330] 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 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.

[331] Segar, of Honor, lib. iii. c. 13.

[332] I do not know when exactly this truly chivalric circumstance 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.

[333] Vous savez, et bien l’avez oui dire et recorder plusieurs fois, que les ebatemens des dames et damoiselles encouragent voulontiers les cœurs des jeunes gentils-hommes, et les elevent, en requerant et desirant tous honneur. Froissart, vol. iv. c. 6. ed. Lyons, 1560.

[334] “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.

[335] 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.

[336] 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, three 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 difference between the joust à la plaisance and the joust à l’outrance, and most subsequent writers have only blindly followed him. I shall notice in this place another popular error on the subject of jousts. Mr. Strutt, (Sports and Pastimes of the People of England, book iii. c. 1.) and an hundred writers after him, assert that the authority of the ladies was more extensive in the joust than in the tournament. 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 connected with all the circumstances of domestic life.

[337] “Et si aimoit, par amour, jeune dame: dont en tous estats son affaire en valoit grandement mieux.” Froissart, vol. iii. c. 12. edit. Lyons, 1560.

[338] 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 many of the knights for their valiancy.

[339] Most of these circumstances are unnoticed by our historians. I can pardon their unacquaintance with the Lansdowne 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.

[340] 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, swimming 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, ‘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 attached is perennial, and grows in marshes and on the margins of lakes.”

[341] 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, and the kyng weenyth that it is mist because of kowardyese.” Paston Letters, vol. iv. p. 116.

[342] Rymer, Fœdera, tom. ii. p. 573.

[343] Besides Holingshed, Stow, and other chroniclers, I have consulted for this very interesting joust a curious collection of contemporary documents, among the Lansdowne manuscripts (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 regarding 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 undoubted I have mentioned. Let me add Hawkins’s conjecture (Origin of the English Drama, vol. iii. p. 91.), that the word Burgullian or Burgonian meaning a bully, a braggadochio, 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.

[344] 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.

[345] “Si prie au dieu d’amour qu’ainsi comme vous desirez l’amour de ma dame la vostre, il ne vous l’ait de vostre dicte venue.” Monstrelet, vol. i. p. 3. ed. 1573.

[346] 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 esté si despleu: parquoy il ait changé ses conditions anciennes, qui souloient estre telles que pour esbaudir armes et à cognoistre chevalerie. Il 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 à 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 deça jusques au huictiesme jour de ce present mois de May preste a l’ayde de Dieu, de St. George, et de St. Anthoine à vous deliverir, ainsi que ma dame et la vostre le puissent scavoir que pour reverence d’icelles j’ai voulenté de vous aiser de vostre griefue: qui par long temps vous a desaisié 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: ausquelles j’ai espai en Dieu que sera tesgmoigné 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 recommandées, sans avoir desplaisir envers elles pour quelque course qui soit advenue.”

[347] Monstrelet, vol. i. c. 1.

[348] The phrase, the passage of arms, is used in the romance of Ivanhoe as a general expression for chivalric games. But this is incorrect; for the defence of a particular spot was the essential and distinguishing quality of the exercise in question. Now there was no such circumstance 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 consequences of the challenges were simple jousts, and constituted the first day’s sport, on the second day there was a general tourney or mélée 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.

[349] 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 Mémoires, 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.

[350] Nicetas, Hist. Byzant. 1. iii. c. 3. Johannes Cantacuzenus, 1. i. c. 42.

[351] Wordsworth.

[352] I may observe, however, that the ancient 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 proceeds 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 fœminam aliquis frater osculari præsumat. Fugiat ergo fœminea oscula Christi Militia, per quæ solent homines sæpe periclitari, ut pura conscientia, et secura vita, in conspectu Domini perenniter valeat conversare.” Cap. 72.

[353] Statutes, c. 51. 55.

[354] “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.”

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

[356] 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.

[357] I add a complete list of the grand masters of the Temple, from the time of Jacques de Molai to these days. (Manuel des Chevaliers de l’Order du Temple. Paris. 1817.)

[358] “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 engagements which the Spaniards had with the Moors; and therefore 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.

[359] The words are these:—Y asi mesmo hago voto, detener, voto defender, y guardar en publico, y en secreto, que la Vergen Maria Madre de Dios, y senora nuestra, fue concebida sin mancha de peccato original.

[360] Favyne. Theat. d’Honneur, l. 6. c. 5. Carode Torres, Hist. de las Ordines Militares, l. 1. Mariana, l. 7. c. 10.

[361] Mennenius, Delic. Equest. p. 99, &c. Marquez Tesoro Milit. de Cavale., p. 286. Favyn, Theat. de l’Honneur, lib. 6.

[362] Mennen. Delic. Equest. p. 102, &c. Miræus, and Fr. Caro de Torres, in locis.

[363] Without rule.

[364] Chaucer’s Prologue to the Canterbury Tales.

[365] Reman, Hist. Gen. de la Ordere de la Mercie, passim. Mennen. Del. Eq. p. 107.

[366] Marquez, Tesoro Milit. 35, &c.

[367] 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 l’encontre 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 serment, qu’il a fait par les statuz du dit ordre,” &c.

[368] This assertion may be supported by some lines in a 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.”

[369] Ashmole on the Garter, c. iv. s. 5.

[370] This rule did not escape Cervantes. “If I do not complain of the pain,” says Don Quixote, after the disastrous 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. c. 8.

[371] Favyn, lib. vi. Mariana, lib. xvi. c. 2.

[372] Favyn, lib. iii. c. 12.

[373] 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, 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.”

[374] 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.

[375] 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 and young. And every year were they sworn at the high feast of Pentecost.” Morte d’Arthur, lib. iv. c. last.

[376] Morte d’Arthur, lib. ult. cap. ult.

[377] Ashmole, p. 105.

[378] Pp. 5. 9. 11. ante.

[379] 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.

[380] Glaber Rod. c. 5.

[381] Snorre. Malmsbury, p. 174.

[382] Ingulf, p. 512. Order. Vit. p. 460. 463, &c. Malmsbury, passim. Dudo, p. 82.

[383] Magna Charta, cl. xiv.

[384] 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.

[385] 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.”

[386] H. Huntingdon, p. 381. Order. Vit. 854, &c.

[387] Stephan. Descrip. Lond. p. 7.

[388] Malmsbury, p. 121.

[389] Vinesauf, p. 338.

[390] 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. 1.

[391] Hoveden, p. 687.

[392] William of Newbridge, lib. v. c. 4.

[393] M. of Westminster, p. 300.

[394] Walsingham, p. 13.

[395] Matthew of Westminster, p. 402. Hemingford, p. 592.

[396] Walsingham, p. 8. Leland’s Collectanea, p. 177.

[397] 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. Knyghton, 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.

[398] Matthew of Westminster, p. 460.

[399] The chamberlain of Scotland was directed by Edward I., A. D. 1306, to fit up one of the turrets of the castle of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and therein to build a strong cage of lattice-work, constructed with stout posts and bars, and well strengthened with iron. The Countess was prohibited from speaking with any person, Scotch or English, except the keeper of the castle and a woman or two of the town of Berwick, appointed by 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 passage is amusing. “To those who have no notion of any cage but one for a parrot or a squirrel, hung out at a window, I despair of rendering this mandate intelligible.”

[400] Matthew of Westminster, p. 457, &c. Trevet, p. 343.

[401] This was the good Lord James of Douglas, of whom see p. 205 ante.

[402] many.

[403] displayed.

[404] many.

[405] battalions.

[406] alarmed.

[407] gleamed.

[408] flame of fire.

[409] flowing.

[410] waving.

[411] 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?’—
‘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?’—
‘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.

[412] companions.

[413] haste.

[414] without shrinking.

[415] haste.

[416] spurred.

[417] line.

[418] moan.

[419] heavy clash.

[420] broken.

[421] flat.

[422]

“For the king had said him rudely,
That a rose off his chaplet
Has fallen; for quhar[L] he was set
To kep the way these men were past.”
Barbour, vol. ii p. 545-548.