IV. CHAP. lady, dressed in white, came to thank the assembly, presenting twelve damsels, each conducted by a cavalier. These twelve represented, by emblematical dresses, Faith, Charity, Justice, Reason, Prudence, Temperance, Strength, Generosity, Mercy, Diligence, Hope, and Courage. This bevy of bright damsels trooped round the hall, amidst the applauses of the assembly, and then the repast proceeded. * These were the military, the religious, and the social qualities of a preux chevalier. The gentler feelings of his heart will be best delineated in the next chapter; and, as we have seen him adventurous and imaginative, so we shall find him amorous and true. † *Du Chesne, House of Montmorenci, liv.i. p. 29, &c. M. de Couci, (c. 7.) 664, &c. Olivier de la Marche, p. 412. Hist. de Boucicaut, ed. de Godefroi. Like Sir Guiscard Dangle, Earl of Huntingdon, who, according to Froissart, possessed all the noble virtues that a knight ought to have, for "he was merry, true, amourous, sage, sweet, liberal, preux, hardy, adventurous, and chivalrous," vol. i. c. 384. 181 CHAP. V. DAMES AND DAMSELS, AND LADY-LOVE. Courtesy...... Education......Music......Graver Sciences....... Dress......Knowledge of Medicine......Every-day Life of the Maiden......Chivalric Love...... The Idolatry of the Knight's Passion..........Bravery inspired by Love......Character of Woman in the Eyes of a Knight......Peculiar Nature of his Love......Qualities of Knights admired by Women......A Tale of chivalric Love...... Constancy...... Absence of Jealousy......Knights asserted by Arms their Mistress's Beauty....Penitents of Love.....Other Peculiarities of chivalric Love...... The Passion universal.....Story of Aristotle.....Chivalric Love the Foe to feudal Distinctions...... But preserved Religion......When Attachments were formed...Societies of Knights for the Defence of Ladies.....Knights of the Lady in the Green Field......Customs in England...... Unchivalric to take Women Prisoners......Morals of chivalric Times......Heroines of Chivalry......Queen Philippa......The Countess of March .....Tales of Jane of Mountfort and of Marzia degl' Ubaldini.....Nobleness of the chivalric Female Character. If we fancy the knight of chivalry as valiant, CHAP. V. noble-minded, and gentle, our imagination pictures to our minds the lady of his love in colours equally fair and pleasing. But we must CHAP. V. not lose her individuality in general expressions of admiration, for she had a distinct and peculiar character, which from the circumstances of her life can be accurately traced. The maiden of gentle birth was, like her brother, educated in the castle of some knight or baron, her father's friend, and many of her duties were those of personal attendance. As the young candidate for chivalric honours carved at table, handed the wines, and made the beds of his lord, so his sister's care was to dress her lady, to contribute by music and conversation to her amusement, and to form a part of her state retinue* : and while there was no loss of dignity in this description of service, the practice being universal and of immemorial antiquity, feelings of humility insensibly entered the mind, and a kind consideration for those of harder fortunes softened the severity of feudal pride. Thus a condescending deportment to inferiors was a duty which their moral instructors enforced. It was represented to them by the pleasing image of the sparrow-hawk, which, when called in gentle accents, would come and settle on her hand, but if, instead of being courteous, she were rude and cruel, he would remain on the rock's pinnacle • See the verses of Des Escas, a Troubadour at the court of the King of Arragon. heedless of her calls. Courtesy from persons of CHAP. V. superior consideration was the fair right of peo- Courtesy. ple of gentle birth though of small estate, for gentility was always to be respected, and to the poor man or woman it ought to be shown, because it gives pleasure to them, and reflects honour on those who bestowed it. A lady once in company of knights and ladies took off her hood and humbled herself courteously unto a mechanic. One of her friends exclaimed in astonishment, "Why, noble dame, you have taken off your hood to a tailor."-"Yes," she replied, " and I would rather have doffed it to him than to a gentleman:" and her courteous friends reputed that she had done right well.* The mental education of women of those Education. days was not of a very high polish. To repeat Music. the prayers of the church, to sing the brief piece of poetry called the lai, or the longer romaunt were the only tasks on the intellect. "The king had a daughter dear, That maiden Ysonde hight; That glee was lef to hear And romance to read aright." + • Knight of the Tower, chap. "How goodly women ought to maintain themselves courteously." Sir Tristram, Fytte second, st. 13. and Scott's note. CHAP. V. Graver sciences. The ladies also played upon the harp. "They were wont to harp and syng, And be the merriest in chamber comyng.' The same particular of ancient manners is recorded by another poet. "The lady that was so fair and bright, Upon the bed she sat down right, The harpers notes sweet and fine, But sometimes the graver sciences were introduced into female education, and Felice, the daughter of Rohand, Earl of Warwick, was not without parallels. "Gentle she was, and as demure So fair was none, in sooth sawe. She was thereto courteous, and free and wise, And in the seven arts learned withouten miss. Her masters were thither come Out of Thoulouse all and some, Squire of Low Degree. + Sir Degore. |