book iii

. canto ii. st. 27.

[275]

"The lady's heart was on him cast, And she beheld him wonder fast; Ever on him she cast her eye, Ipomydon full well it seye[F]; Anon it gave him in his thought, To loke again let would be not. Nor no more coward thought he to be Of his looking than was she. The lady perceived it full well, Of all his looking every dell, And therewith began to shame, For she might lightly fall in blame, If men perceived it any thing, Betwixt them two such looking, Then would they say all bydene[G], That some love were them between; Then should she fall in slander, And lose much of her honour. She thought to warn him privily, By her cousin that set him by. 'Jason,' she said, 'thou art to blame, And therewith the ought to shame, To behold my maid in vain; Every man to other will sayne, That betwixt you is some sin, Of thy looking, I rede[H], thou blynne[I].' Ipomydon him bethought anon, Then that she blamed Jason, Without deserving every dell: But the encheson[J] he perceived well. Down he looked and thought great shame, That Jason bore for him the blame. Still he sat, and said no more, He thought to dwell no longer there." Romance of Sir Ipomydon.

[F] Saw.

[G] Together.

[H] Council.

[I] Cease.

[J] Occasion.

[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."

[K] Smethfield, as it were Smoothfield.

[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 coeur 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:--

First, whoso breaketh most spears, as they ought to be broken, shall have the price.

Item, whoso hitteth three times in the helm shall have the price.

Item, whoso meteth two times coronel to coronel, shall have the price.

Item, whoso beareth a man down with stroke of spear shall have the price.

How the Price should be lost.

First, whoso striketh a horse shall have no price.

Item, whoso striketh a man, his back turned, or disarmed of his spear, shall have no price.

Item, whoso hitteth the toil or tilt thrice shall have no price.

Item, whoso unhelms himself twice shall have no price without his horse fail him.

How Spears broken shall be allowed.

First, whoso breaketh a spear between the saddle and the charnel of the helm shall be allowed for one.

Item, whoso breaketh a spear from the charnel upwards shall be allowed for two.

Item, whoso breaketh a spear so as he strike him down or put him out of his saddle, or disarm him in such wise as he may not run the next course, shall be allowed for three spears broken.

How Spears broken shall be disallowed.

First, whoso breaketh on the saddle shall be disallowed for a spear breaking.

Item, whoso hits the toil or tilt over shall be disallowed for two.

Item, whoso hitteth the toil twice, for the second time shall be abased three.

Item, whoso breaketh a spear within a foot of the coronall, shall be judged as no spear broken, but a good attempt.

For the Price.

First, whoso beareth a man down out of the saddle, or putteth him to the earth, horse and man, shall have the price before him that striketh coronall to coronall two times.

Item, he that striketh coronall to coronall two times shall have the price before him that striketh the sight three times.

Item, he that striketh the sight three times shall have the price before him that breaketh the most spears.

Item, if there be any man that fortunately in this wise shall be deemed he bode longest in the field helmed, and ran the fairest course, and gave the greatest strokes, helping himself best with his spear.

Antiquarian Repertory, l. 145, &c.

[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,