The History of Chivalry Volume II Part 1

The History of Chivalry.

Volume II.

by Charles Mills.

CHAP. I.

STATE OF CHIVALRY IN ENGLAND DURING THE REIGN OF EDWARD THE THIRD.

_Tournaments ... The Round Table ... Order of the Garter ... Courtesy of Edward ... Prevalence of chivalric Taste among all Cla.s.ses ...

English Archers ... The Black Prince ... Story of the King's Chivalry ... England regarded as the Seat of Honour ... Instance of this ...

Chivalric Heroes in this Reign ... The Gestes and Prowesses of Sir Walter Manny ... Chivalric Vow of Sir Walter ... He fights for the Love of his Lady ... His Rescue of Two Brother Knights ... Instance of his joyous Adventurousness ... His Gallantry before Auberoche ... His filial Piety ... Story of chivalric Manners ... The Gentle Disposition of Manny ... His Importance at Edward's Court ... His remarkable Sagacity ... His Liberality ... His Death in 1372 ... Buried in the Charter-House ... Heroism of Sir James Audley ... His Generosity ...

Memoir of Sir John Chandos ... His Gallantry to Ladies ... Amusing Instance of the Pride of Knighthood ... The Importance of his Counsel at Poictiers ... His Exploits in Brittany ... And in Spain ... Is made a Knight Banneret ... Quits the Black Prince ... But returns ... The remarkable Generousness of his Conduct to Lord Pembroke ... The last Circ.u.mstance of his Life ... General Grief at his Death._

[Sidenote: Tournaments.]

The sun of English chivalry reached its meridian in the reign of Edward III., for the King and the n.o.bles all were knightly, and the image of their character was reflected in the minds of the people.[1] Tournaments and jousts, for the amus.e.m.e.nt and in honour of the ladies, were the universal fas.h.i.+on of the time. In little more than one year, chivalric solemnities were held with unparalleled magnificence at Litchfield, Bury, Guildford, Eltham, Canterbury, and twice at Windsor.[2] The gay character of Edward and his court was pleasingly displayed in the spring of the year 1359, three years after the battle of Poictiers. A solemn tournament of three days' duration was proclaimed in London, and the lord mayor, sheriffs, and aldermen, proposed to keep the field against all comers. The time arrived, the martial games were held, and all the honor of arms appeared to be of right due to the officers of the city. The victors then threw aside their s.h.i.+elds and surcoats impressed with the city's bearings, removed their beavers, and King Edward, the Black Prince, the Princes Lionel, John, and Edmund, and nineteen n.o.ble barons, were recognised.[3]

[Sidenote: The round table.]

[Sidenote: Order of the Garter.]

The round table at Kenilworth already mentioned was not a solitary instance of the love of romantic grandeur and gallantry among the people of England. Mortimer kept a round table of knights in Wales professedly in imitation of Arthur,[4] And afterwards Edward III. endeavoured to realise the golden imaginations of fable which had a.s.signed one hundred and fifty knights as the complement of Arthur's chivalry.[5] We are a.s.sured that the round table which Edward established at Windsor in 1344 described a circ.u.mference of six hundred feet: but it is more interesting to know, that the n.o.bility and knighthood of France, Germany, Spain, and other countries flocked to England on the invitation of the King, and that the chivalric bands at Windsor were graced by the presence of Queen Philippa and three hundred English ladies, who, in honour of the friendly union of knights, were all arrayed in splendid dresses of one form and fas.h.i.+on, and looked like the sisters of a military order. Policy was mixed with chivalric pride in Edward's plan; for he wished to retain in his service some of the foreign knights who repaired to the tournament at Windsor. But his intention to strengthen his chivalry was defeated by his rival Philip of Valois, who established also a round table, to which the cavaliers of the Continent could more easily repair than to that of Edward.[6] The knights of France were expressly forbidden by their king to attend the festivities of the round table at Windsor. The English monarch found, too, that he could not secure the attachment of stranger knights. That great chivalric principle, the companions.h.i.+p in weal or woe of men forming one society, was never regarded by them. Edward's table at Windsor was surrounded by gay cavaliers, who talked and sang of war and love, and then merrily returned to their own country full of courtesy to their royal host for his gallant bearing, but not disposed to renounce the chivalric a.s.sociations of their native land. Edward then changed his design, and wished to establish an order of merit, that so "true n.o.bility, after long and hazardous adventures, should not enviously be deprived of that honour, which it hath really deserved, and that active and hardy youth might not want a spur in the profession of virtue, which is to be esteemed glorious and eternal."[7] He accordingly a.s.sembled the n.o.bility and knighthood of his realm, and showed them his intention of forming an especial brotherhood of knights, to be called Knights of the blue Garter, and of ordaining that a feast should be kept yearly at Windsor, on Saint George's day. The barons and cavaliers of England joyously agreed to his pleasure; for they were animated by this encouragement to military feats, and they saw that great amity and love would grow and increase among them.

Twenty-five of the most valiant men of the kingdom were then chosen.[8]

The most n.o.ble order of Saint George, named the Garter, had, therefore, its origin in romance, in the wish to restore the chivalric dignity and splendour of ancient Britain. That view was afterwards blended with objects of policy which also were soon abandoned, and a fraternity of companions in arms was established for the promotion of chivalric honour.

But though gallantry did not, as is commonly thought, actually found the order, yet perhaps it caused the union to receive the last clause of its t.i.tle. Froissart describes the pa.s.sion of Edward for the Countess of Salisbury, but is altogether silent on the story of her garter, a silence decisive of the incorrectness of the vulgar tale; for Froissart was intimately acquainted with the court of the English king, and his attention was always awake to circ.u.mstances of a gallant and romantic nature. It was quite in the spirit of those days for a band to be regarded as an excellent symbol of the friendly union which ought to exist between the knights companions; and if love had not been a chief feature in chivalry, the order might have been only called the Order of the Band.

But gallantly came in, and claimed some share of chivalric honours. Ages of fastidious delicacy would have thought of a zone or girdle, but our simple minded ancestors regarded the garter as the wished for symbol. The well known motto of the Garter (_Honi soit qui mal y pense_) seems to apply, as Sir Walter Scott conjectures, to the misrepresentations which the French monarch might throw out respecting the order of the Garter, as he had already done concerning the festival of the round table.[9]

On the collar of the order something should be said. Warton appears to think that the earliest collar worn by the knights of the Garter was a duplication of the letter S, in allusion to the initial letter of the fair lady's name who, he supposes, gave rise to the fraternity of the most n.o.ble order of the Garter. But in truth no evidence exists that originally the members of the order wore any collar at all as knights of the Garter, though they certainly wore golden collars in their character of knights bachelors and knights banneret.

The favourite badge of the Lancastrian family was the letter S. sometimes single, and sometimes double, and the golden collar of esses became in time the general collar of English knights, and the silver collar of esses was worn by squires. The letter S. was the initial letter of the sentence, "_Soveigne vous de moy_." This was a very favourite motto in the fourteenth century, and was afterwards frequently introduced into collars which were formed of the fleur-de-souvenance, the forget-me-not of modern times. Whether at any period the golden collar of esses distinguished the knights of the Garter we know not. The collar worn in the present days, composed of garters with the image of Saint George dependent thereon, cannot be traced higher than the reign of Henry VIII.

The order was founded in honour of G.o.d, the Virgin Mary, Saint George the Martyr, and Saint Edward, king and confessor. The two saints were regarded as the particular patrons of the knights companions. The person that our ancestors understood by the name Saint George is a point of doubt. Some modern writers have called him a sufferer in the persecutions of Diocletian, and others the flagitious George of Cappadocia, the Arian successor of Athanasius in the archbishop.r.i.c.k of Alexandria.[10] It is equally difficult to discover how the saint became invested with military glory. But, leaving such questions to martyrologists and legend-makers, it is sufficient for our purpose to observe that a person called Saint George was in very early ages regarded as the tutelary saint of England, and became therefore very naturally one of the heads of the new military order. His brother-protector Saint Edward soon fell from his lofty station: but at the time concerning which I am writing he was high in fame, for Edward III. was wont to invoke both him and the other patron-saint with perfect impartiality; and when he was cutting his way through a press of knights, one stroke of his sword was accompanied by the exclamation, "Ha, Saint Edward," and another by the cry, "Ha, Saint George."

[Sidenote: Courtesy of Edward.]

To pursue, however, the general course of the chivalry of our Edward III.

Nothing could be more beautiful than his courtesy on all occasions. It was particularly shown in his treatment of the hostages of the French king for the due performance of the treaty of Bretigny. He commanded his officers to deport themselves to those lords and their company courteously and favourably; and, accordingly, the French strangers sported without peril in London at their pleasure, and the great lords went hunting and hawking, and rode over the country, and visited ladies and damsels, without any control, so courteous and amiable was the King of England to them.[11]

During all the tournaments that were held in his reign, he permitted his French, Scotch, and other prisoners, to share in the games, and sometimes he even furnished them with tourneying harness out of the royal armoury.[12]

[Sidenote: Prevalence of chivalric taste among all cla.s.ses.]

The taste for chivalry among cla.s.ses of people apparently little susceptible of its influence may be learned from the masquerading tournament of Edward; for knightly games must have been well known to the citizens of London, or the proclamation would not have been issued, that the lord mayor, aided by the court of aldermen and the sheriffs, would, on a certain day, hold a solemn tournament. The same taste was proved some years before, when the Black Prince entered London, with King John of France as his prisoner. The outsides of the houses were covered with hangings, wrought over with battles in tapestry, and the citizens exposed, in their shops, windows, and balconies, an incredible quant.i.ty of bows and arrows, s.h.i.+elds, helmets, corselets, breast and back pieces, coats of mail, gauntlets, umbraces, swords, spears, battle-axes, armour for horses, and other armour.[13] It is also curious to notice, that on the evening preceding Candlemas-day, in the year 1377, one hundred and thirty citizens of London, for the entertainment of the young prince, Richard, son of the nation's idol, the Black Prince, rode, disguised as knights, from Newgate to Kennington, where the court resided, attended with an innumerable mult.i.tude, bearing waxen torches, and playing various instruments of music.[14]

As the princ.i.p.al wars of Edward's time were waged with a chivalric people, the circ.u.mstances which surrounded them favoured the developement of the chivalric qualities of the English character. I shall not repeat the political events of our glorious contests with France, nor describe, for the thousandth time, the battles of Cressy and Poictiers: but it may be mentioned, that the admirable marshalling of Edward's force on the field of Cressy was a high proof of his chivalric sageness, and mainly contributed to his victory over the forces of the King of France.

[Sidenote: English archers.]

The battles of Cressy and Poictiers, however, were not entirely gained by the chivalry of England: the bow was a most important weapon in the English army. It had characterised the Normans, and been mainly instrumental in winning for them the battle of Hastings. It was afterwards used by the small landholder, the tenant in soccage, and the general ma.s.s of the people, while the lance was the weapon of the lord and the knight.

The bow was the emblem of freedom, and the pre-eminence of our archers shows that the political condition of England was superior, in the fourteenth century, to that of any continental nation.[15]

The arrow was of the remarkable length of a cloth-yard. The expression in the old ballad of Chevy-Chase,

"An arrow of a cloth-yard long Up to the head drew he,"

marks the usage of our early ancestors; and that sentence of Lear, in Shakspeare's play, "Draw me a clothier's yard," shows that in the sixteenth century the national character had not been lost. It was fostered by every proper means: by royal command archery was practised in towns on holidays, after church; while coits, c.o.c.k-fighting, and amus.e.m.e.nts with the ball, were strictly prohibited. Other nations drew the bow with strength of arm, but Englishmen with their whole vigour: they laid their body in the bow[16], as an old writer has forcibly expressed the usage; and when in amus.e.m.e.nt they were exercising their skill, eleven-score yards was the least distance at which the mark was set up. No one could better shoot an arrow than a yeoman in the days of Edward III.: they were the most powerful attendants which our knights could boast of.

"A yeoman had he, and servants no mo, At that time, for him l.u.s.t to ride so; And he was clad in coat and hood of green.

A sheaf of peac.o.c.ks' arwes bright and keen Under his belt he bare full thriftily.

Well coude he dress his takel yemanly.

His arwes drooped not with feathers lowe, And in his hand he bare a mighty bowe.

A not-hed[17] had he with a brown visage.

Of wood-craft coude he well all the usage.

Upon his arm he bare a gay bracer, And by his side a sword and a bokeler; And on that other side a gay dagger, Harnessed well, and sharp as point of spere; A Cristofere on his breast of silver shene; An horn he bare, the baudrick was of green.

A forster was he, soothly as I guess."[18]

The reader scarcely needs to be informed that the loss of the battle of Cressy by the French began with the confusion among the Genoese cross-bow men. The English archers then stepped forth one pace, and, as Froissart says, let fly their arrows so wholly, and so thick, that it seemed snow was piercing through heads, arms, and b.r.e.a.s.t.s. The French cavaliers rushed in to slay the Genoese for their cowardice, but the sharp arrows of the English slew them, and their horses too. The chivalry of the Black Prince decided the victory: the Earls of Flanders and Alencon broke through his archers, but deeper they could not penetrate; and in the personal conflict of the chivalries of the two nations, the English were conquerors.[19]

At the battle of Poictiers the English archers threw the French cavalry into confusion, by slaying the unmailed horses. True to say, as Froissart observes, the archers did their company that day great advantage; for when the Black Prince descended the hill on which he had posted himself, the archers were mingled with his chivalry, in true knightly fas.h.i.+on, and shot so closely together, that none durst come within danger.[20]

[Sidenote: The Black Prince.]

The well-known conduct of the Black Prince to his prisoner, King John, after the battle,--his waiting on him at table, saying that he was not sufficient to sit at the board with so great a man as the King,--his riding through London to the Savoy, the French monarch mounted on a white and superbly-equipped war-horse, while the Prince rode by his side on a little black palfrey,--all this beautiful deportment proceeded from the modesty, the self-abas.e.m.e.nt of true chivalry, and from that kindly consideration which one knight always showed to his brother in arms.[21]

There were many circ.u.mstances in Edward's wars amply deserving of notice, as ill.u.s.trative of national and personal character, but which have been pa.s.sed over altogether, or but slightly regarded, by the general historians of England; some of whom, in their anxiety for chronological exactness, and others in their desire to make the matter in hand merely ill.u.s.trative of a few political principles, have very ingeniously contrived to strip their subject of all its splendor, interest, and variety.

[Sidenote: Story of the king's chivalry.]

Three years after the battle of Cressy had given the town of Calais to the English, the Lord Geffray Charney, of France, endeavoured to regain it, by bribing the governor, Amery de Puy, a Lombard. Edward, hearing of the treaty, sent for his officer from Calais to Westminster. When the King saw him, he took him apart, and said, "Thou knowest well I have given thee in keeping the thing in the world I love best next my wife and children, namely, the town and castle of Calais; and thou hast sold it to the Frenchmen; wherefore thou deservest to die."

Then the Lombard kneeled down, and said, "n.o.ble King, I cry you mercy: it is true what you say; but, Sir, the bargain may well be broken, for as yet I have received never a penny."

The King, who had warmly loved the governor, replied, "Amery, I will that thou goest forward in thy bargain, and the day that thou appointest to deliver the town, let me have knowledge thereof before; and on this condition I forgive thee thy trespa.s.s."

Accordingly Amery returned to Calais, and continued the negotiation with Lord Geffray Charney. It was finally agreed between them that the surrender of Calais should take place on the night of the new year; and the governor, faithful to his allegiance, communicated the progress of the plot to Edward. The King immediately rode from London to Dover, with three hundred men-at-arms, and six hundred archers, and, crossing the sea, he reached Calais in the evening, and secretly lodged his men in the chambers and towers of the castle. He did not wish to head the emprise himself; and selecting Sir Walter Manny from his gallant band, as the prowest chevalier, he told him that he and his son, the Prince, would fight under his banner.

When the time for surrendering Calais approached, the Lord Geffray, having heard from Amery that matters were ripe, advanced from Arras, and sent before him twelve knights, and an hundred men-at-arms, to take possession of the castle. Amery admitted them over the bridge of the postern, receiving, at the same time, a bag containing twenty thousand crowns, the price of his treachery. He led the soldiers towards the donjon of the castle; and immediately King Edward and an hundred men, with swords and axes, furiously poured from it, shouting the war-cry, "Manny, Manny, to the rescue!" The Frenchmen were panic-struck by this wild sweep of war, and incontinently yielded themselves prisoners. Edward advanced to the Boulogne gate, where he found the Lord Geffray, who was anxiously expecting it to be opened; and his companions were driving away the tedious moments, by supposing that Amery, like a subtle and suspicious Lombard, was busy in counting his crowns.

The cry, "Manny to the rescue!" disturbed their jocularity, and grasping their swords they saw a band of armed men issuing from the gate. In an instant the King, the Black Prince, the Staffords, the Suffolks, the Salisburys, the Beauchamps, the Berkeleys, all the pride and flower of English chivalry stood before them. The Frenchmen did not decline the combat; and it was chivalrously maintained till a winter's return of morn.

The English were finally victors. Of the single combats in which the cavaliers signalised their valiancy, the fiercest occurred between the King and the Lord Eustace of Rybamount, a strong and hardy knight. Twice was Edward struck on his knees; but at last Eustace was worsted; and he yielded his sword to the King, saying, not knowing his royal quality, "Sir Knight, I yield me your prisoner."

The King treated his captives like brethren in arms, giving them a n.o.ble entertainment, and sitting at the table with them, while the Prince, the lords, and the knights of England, acted as attendants. After supper, and when the tables were removed, the King talked a while with his own knights, and then conversed with the Frenchmen. He gently reproved the Lord Geffray of Charney for an enterprise so unworthy of n.o.bility and knighthood; and then going to Sir Eustace of Rybamont, he said to him, with all the fine frank joyousness of chivalry, "Sir Eustace, you are the knight in the world that I have seen most valiantly a.s.sail his enemies and defend himself; and I have never found a knight that ever gave me so much ado body to body as you have done this day, and therefore I give you the prize above all the knights of my own court." The King thereupon took from his head a chaplet of pearls, fair, goodly, and rich, and presented it to the knight, with the remark, "Sir Eustace, I give you this chaplet, for the best doer in arms this day of either party, and I desire you to wear it this year for the love of me. I know that you are fresh and amorous, and oftentimes among ladies and damsels. Say wheresoever you go that I gave it you; and I free you from prison, and renounce your ransom.

To-morrow, if it so please you, you shall depart."[22]

Here chivalry appeared in all its generousness, elegance, and refinement.

How beautifully contrasted is Edward's deportment to Sir Eustace de Rybamont with his feelings towards Eustace de St. Pierre and his five fellow-burgesses, three years before, at the surrender of Calais to the English. Edward had no sympathy with their magnanimous devotion of themselves to save the lives of their fellow-citizens; no consideration of knightly mercy softened his mind; and it was only the supplication of his queen, who was in a state to move the sternest soul to grant her wishes, that restored his better nature. Before Edward's chivalry, however, be generally and finally condemned, let it be remembered that his severe losses of his own men had sorely grieved his mind against the people of Calais, and that at the commencement of the siege, when the captain of the town had driven from its gates all the poor and impotent, Edward not only granted them a free pa.s.sage through his army, but gave them meat and drink and money.[23]