The History of Chivalry Volume I Part 25

[164] Froissart, 1. 46.

[165] Fairy Queen, book ii. canto c. st. 41.

[166] 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 l'Ancienne Chevalerie, partie 5.

[167] Froissart, vol. ii. c. 26.

[168]

"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 pa.s.s out of this life, I would G.o.d of his grace would send To me a like manner to end."

Wyntown's Cronykil of Scotland, book viii. c. 35.

[169] Caxton, Fayt of Armes and Chevalrie, fol. 40.

[170] Ibid. c. 48.

[171] Malmsbury, p. 186.

[172] Lai of Auca.s.sin and Nicolette.

[173] Froissart, livre 1. c. 87. The romances of chivalry are full of tales expressive of this feature of the knightly character. 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, 'a gift I promised you. Ask what ye will, and ye shall have it, an it be in my power to give it.'--'Well,' saith the lady, 'I ask the head of the knight that hath wore the sword, or the damsel's head that brought it. I take no force though I have both their heads, for he slew my brother, a good knight and a true, and that gentlewoman was causer of my father's death.'--'Truly,' said King Arthur, 'I may not grant either of their heads with my worship, therefore ask what ye will else, and I shall fulfill your desire.'--'I will ask none other thing,' said the lady. When Balyn was ready to depart, he saw the lady of the 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, 'Evil be you found, you would have my head, and therefore shall lose yours,' and with his sword lightly he smote off her head before King Arthur. 'Alas! for shame,' said Arthur, 'why have you done so? you have shamed me and all my court; for this was a lady that I was beholden to, and hither she came under my safe-conduct. I shall never forgive you that trespa.s.s.'--'Sir,' said Balyn, 'me forthinketh of your displeasure; for this same lady was the untruest lady living, and by enchantment and sorcery she hath been the destroyer of many good knights, and she was causer that my mother was burnt through her falsehood and treachery.'--'What cause soever ye had,' said Arthur, 'you should have forborne her in my presence; therefore, think not the contrary, 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.

[174] Malmsbury, p. 184. Quem cuilibet, quamvis infestissimo inimico negare, laudabilium militum mos non est.

[175] Froissart, vol. ii. c. 162.

[176] Froissart, ii. 26.

[177] This was part of the exhortation of a king of Portugal, on knighting his son, according to a Portuguese historian, cited in Lord Lyttleton's History of Henry II., vol. ii. p. 233. 4to.

[178] Morte d'Arthur; first book of Sir Tristram, c. 34.

[179] Caxton, c. 66.

[180] 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 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.

[181] Extrait de l'Histoire de Du Gueslin, par P. H. Du Chastelet, p. 39, &c.

[182] Froissart, vol. ii. c. 47. It is difficult to fancy the extravagant 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 n.o.bility of both s.e.xes. Barclay, in his translation from Brandt, complains of the indecent usage of bringing them into places appropriated to public worship; a practice which, in the case of some individuals, appears to have been recognized as a right. The treasurer of the church of Auxerre enjoyed the distinction of a.s.sisting at divine service on solemn days, with a falcon on his fist; and the Lord of Sa.s.sai 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.

[183] Romance of Ipomydon.

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

[185] This statement of the objects of the minstrelsy art, is taken from a ma.n.u.script 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; 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."

[186] Sir Orpheo.

[187] 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 pa.s.sage 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 instruments, 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 pa.s.sage 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 trompettes; 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.

[188] 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 t.i.tle for the head of the royal minstrelsy. A circ.u.mstance 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 _serjeant of the minstrels_, came to him in great haste, and bade him arise, for he had enemies coming."

This fact is mentioned by Warton, on the authority of an historical fragment. ad calc. Sportti Chron. ed. Hearne, Oxon, 1729.

[189] Wordsworth's Excursion, book ii.

[190] Wood, Hist. Antiq. Un. Oxon. 1. 67. sub anno 1224; and Percy, Notes on his Essay on the Ancient Minstrels, p. 64.

[191] 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 entertainments 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 gra.s.s springing.

There mightest thou see these flouters.

Minstrallis and eke jugelours."

Romaunt of the Rose, l. 759, &c.

Other pa.s.sages 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, minstrelsy was discountenanced, and its professors, fallen in public esteem, were obliged to cultivate other arts besides those of poetry and music.

[192] Dunlop, History of Fiction, vol. i. p. 142.

[193] 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 themselves 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; Si per clerc ne est mis en livre, Ne poet par el dureement vivre.

Suvent aveient des barruns, E des n.o.bles 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.

[194] 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.

[195] Froissart, vol. ii. c. 26.

[196] The Life of Ipomydon, Fytte, 1.

[197] 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!"