The History of Chivalry Volume I Part 24

[134] Juv. des Ursins anno 1411. Vraye fraternite et compagnie d'armes, is the frequent expression in old writers for this chivalric union.

[135] Kennet's Parochial Antiquities, p. 57. cited in Henry's History of England, vol. iii. p. 360. 4to.

[136] 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, G.o.d 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[A] they went both right To Sir Amylion, that gentle knight, That ever was fre to fonde[B]

When Sir Amylion awaked tho, All his foulehead away was go Through grace of G.o.d'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 G.o.d that day.

As ye may at me liste and lythe.[C]

Into the chamber they went swythe.[D]

Ther as the children lay.

Without wern[E], without wound, All whole the children there they found, And lay together in play.

For joy they went there, they stood And thanked G.o.d with mild mode Their care was all away."

[A] After.

[B] That ever could be met with.

[C] Now you must listen to me.

[D] Quickly.

[E] Scar.

[137] 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.

[138] 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 pa.s.sed on the pavement, he found before him a bocher, a big man, who had well seen this knight pa.s.s 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.

[139] Froissart, vol. i. c. 278.

[140] Froissart, c. 281.; Gray's Descent of Odin.; Herbert's Icelandic Translations, p. 39; Scott's Minstrelsy, vol. 1. p. 45.

[141] Froissart c. 384.

[142] Froissart, c. 28. "Et si avoit entre eux plusieurs jeunes bacheliers, qui avoient chacun un oeil 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 oeil 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.

[143] Every true knight said like him in the Morte d'Arthur, "Though the knight be never so false, I will never 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."

[144] 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, their hands diligent, their eyes watchful, and their hearts resolute." Arcadia, p. 28.

Edit. 1590.

[145] Morte d'Arthur. 1. 7.

[146] Argentre, Histoire de la Bretagne, p. 391.

[147] 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.

[148] 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 footmen 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 trespa.s.s. There was not so hard a heart within the city of Limoges, and if he had any remembrance of G.o.d, 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. G.o.d have mercy on their souls, for I trow they were martyrs." Lord Berners' Translation.

[149] Romance of Guy of Warwick.

[150] Romance of Sir Otuel. And in the Morte d'Arthur it is said, "and thus by a.s.sent of them both, they granted either other to rest, and so they set them down upon two mole hills there beside the fighting place, and either of them unlaced 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 commandment." Morte d'Arthur.

lib. 8. c. 17.

[151] Romance of Sir Ferumbras.

[152] 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 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 b.l.o.o.d.y 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.

[153] Froissart liv. 1. c. 107.

[154] Froissart, liv. 2. c. 145.

[155] Froissart, liv. 2. c. 146.

[156] Froissart, liv. 1. c. 149. 233.

[157] Froissart, liv. 1. c. 235. 371. liv. 2. c. 152.

[158] 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 understand distributive and commutative justice, in order to right all mankind."

[159] Fairy Queen, book iii. canto 1. st. 3.; and Ta.s.so, 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 l'arti lor.

La Ger. lib. 10. 76.

[160] Piers Ploughman, first vision.

[161] M. Paris. 45.

[162] Matthew of Westminster, p. 353.

[163] Froissart, 1. c. 361. 2. 124. 202. 203.