The History of Chivalry Volume I Part 31

[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 a.s.sembled bishops and others, declares, that although he cannot of right, consistently with the Inquisition and proceedings, p.r.o.nounce 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.)

A.D.

Johannes Marcus Larmenius, Hierosolymeta.n.u.s 1314 Thomas Theobaldus, Alexandrinus 1324 Arnaldus de Braque 1340 Johannes Claromonta.n.u.s 1349 Bertrandus Du Guesclin 1357 Johannes Arminiacus 1381 Bernardus Arminiacus 1392 Johannes Arminiacus 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 1615 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 Mathaeus Radix de Chevillon, Vic. Mag. Europ. (Regens.) 1792 Bernardus-Raymundus Fabre Palaprat 1804

[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. Miraeus, 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, pa.s.sim. 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 n.o.ble Order of the Garter, vol. i. p. 66.) "Que le Roy ne povoit avec son honneur bailler aide et a.s.sistence 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 a.s.sertion 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 n.o.ble 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 Ill.u.s.trations 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 Glas...o...b..ry (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 pa.s.sage 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, pa.s.sim.

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 const.i.tution, 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 n.o.blesce 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 a.s.sault 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.