that esquires frequently led independent bodies of It was equally natural, on the other hand, that the men, and, as we have before hinted, mingled with prince or noble should desire to be the immediate the knights in the games of Chivalry; the difference source of a privilege so important. And thus, chiefly consisting in title, precedence, the shape of though no positive regulation took place on the the flag under which they arrayed their followers, subject, ambition on the part of the aspirant, and and the fashion of their armour. The esquires pride and policy on that of the sovereign princes and were permitted to bear a shield, emblazoned, as we nobles of high rank, gradually limited to the latter have already seen, with armorial bearings. There the power of conferring knighthood, or drew at seems to have been some difference in the shape of least an unfavourable distinction between the the helmet; and the French esquire was not permit- knights dubbed by private individuals, and those ted to wear the complete hauberk, but only the who, with more state and solemnity, received the shirt of mail, without hood or sleeves. But the prin- honoured title at the hand of one of high rank. Incipal distinction between the independent esquire deed, the change which took place respecting the (terming him such who was attached to no knight's character and consequences of the ceremony, natuservice) and the knight, was the spurs, which the rally led to a limitation in the right of conferring it. esquire might wear of silver, but by no means gilded. While the order of knighthood merely implied a To return to the esquires most properly so term-right to wear arms of a certain description, and to ed, their dress was, during their period of probation, bear a certain title, there could be little harm in insimple and modest, and ought regularly to have been trusting to any one who had already received the made of brown or some other uniform and simple honour, the power of conferring it on others. But colour. This was not, however, essential. The when this highest order of Chivalry conferred not garment of Chaucer's squire was embroidered like only personal dignity, but the right of assembling a meadow. The petit Jehan de Saintre was sup- under the banner, or pennon, a certain number of plied with money by his mistress to purchase a silk-soldiers, when knighthood implied not merely peren doublet and embroidered hose. There is also a sonal privileges, but military rank, it was natural that very diverting account, in the Memoirs of Bertrand sovereigns should use every effort to concentrate the de Guesclin, of the manner in which he prevailed right of conferring such distinction in themselves, or on his uncle, a covetous old churchman, to assign their immediate delegates. And latterly it was held, him money for his equipment on some occasion of that the rank of knight only conferred those privilesplendour. We may therefore hold, that the sump-ges on such as were dubbed by sovereign princes. tuary laws of squirehood were not particularly * attended to, or strictly enforced.

A youth usually ceased to be a page at fourteen, or a little earlier, and could not regularly receive the honour of knighthood until he was one-and-twenty. But, if their distinguished valour anticipated their years, the period of probation was shortened. Princes of the blood-royal, also, and other persons of very high eminence, had this term abridged, and sometimes so much so as to throw a ridicule upon the order of knighthood, by admitting within "the temple of honour," as it was the fashion of the times to call it, children, who could neither understand nor discharge the duties of the office to which they were thus prematurely called.

The third and highest rank of Chivalry was that of Knighthood. In considering this last dignity, we shall first inquire, how it was conferred; secondly, the general privileges and duties of the order; thirdly, the peculiar ranks into which it was finally divided, and the difference betwixt them.

Knighthood was, in its origin, an order of a republican, or at least an oligarchic nature; arising, as has been shown, from the customs of the free tribes of Germany, and, in its essence, not requiring the sanction of a monarch. On the contrary, each knight could confer the order of knighthood upon whomsoever preparatory novitiate and probation had fitted to receive it. The highest potentates sought the accolade, or stroke which conferred the honour, at the hands of the worthiest knight whose achievements had dignified the period. Thus Francis I. requested the celebrated Bayard, the Good Knight without reproach or fear, to make him; an honour which Bayard valued so highly, that, on sheathing his sword, he vowed never more to use that blade, except against Turks, Moors, and Saracens. The same principle was carried to extravagance in a romance, where the hero is knighted by the hand of Sir Lancelot of the Lake, when dead. A sword was put into the hand of the skeleton, which was so guided as to let it drop on the neck of the aspirant. In the time of Francis I. it had already become customary to desire this honour at the hands of greatness rather than valour, so that the King's request was considered as an appeal to the first principles of Chivalry. In theory, however, the power of creating knights was supposed to be inherent in every one who had reached that dignity. But it was natural that the soldier should desire to receive the highest military honour from the general under whose eye he was to combat, or from the prince or noble at whose court he passed as page and squire through the gradations of his novitiate.

The times and place usually chosen for the creation of knights, were favourable to the claim of the sovereigns to be the proper fountain of Chivalry. Knights were usually made either on the eve of battle, or when the victory had been obtained; or they were created during the pomp of some solemn warning or grand festival. In the former case, the right of creation was naturally referred to the general or prince who led the host; and, in the latter, to the sovereign of the court where the festival was held. The forms in these cases were very different.

When knights were made in the actual field of battle, little solemnity was observed, and the form was probably the same with which private individuals had, in earlier times, conferred the honour on each other. The novice, armed at all points, but without helmet, sword, and spurs, came before the prince or general, at whose hands he was to receive knighthood, and kneeled down, while two persons of distinction, who acted as his godfathers, and were supposed to become pledges for his being worthy of the honour to which he aspired, buckled on his gilded spurs, and belted him with his sword. He then received the accolade, a slight blow on the neck, with the flat of the sword, from the person who dubbed him, who, at the same time, pronounced a formula to this effect: "I dub thee knight, in the name of God and St. Michael, (or in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.) Be faithful, bold, and fortunate." The new-made knight had then only to take his place in the ranks of war, and endeavour to distinguish himself by his forward gallantry in the approaching action, when he was said to win his spurs. It is well known, that, at the battle of Cressy, Edward III. refused to send succours to the Black Prince, until he should hear that he was wounded or dismounted, being determined he should, on that memorable day, have full opportunity to win his spurs. It may be easily imagined, that on such occasions, the courage of the young knights was wound up to the highest pitch, and, as many were usually made at the same time, their gallantry could not fail to have influence on the fortune of the day. At the siege of Tholouse, (1159,) Henry II. of England made thirty knights at once, one of whom was Malcolm IV. King of Scotland. Even on these occasions, the power of making knights was not understood to be limited to the commander in chief. At the fatal battle of Homildown, in 1401, Sir John Swinton, a warrior of distinguished talents, observing the slaughter made by the English archery, exhorted the Scots to rush on to a closer engagement. Adam Gordon, between whose family and that of Swinton a deadly feud

existed, hearing this sage counsel, knelt down before Swinton, and prayed him to confer on him the honour of knighthood, which he desired to receive from the wisest and boldest knight in the host. Swinton conferred the order; and they both rushed down upon the English host, followed only by a few cavalry. If they had been supported, the attack might have turned the fate of the day. But none followed their gallant example, and both champions fell. It need hardly be added, that the commander, whether a sovereign prince or not, equally exercised the privilege of conferring knighthood. In the old ballad of the battle of Otterburn, Douglas boasts, that since he had entered England, he had

"With brand dubb'd many a knight."

Alms to the poor, largesses to the heralds and minstrels, a liberal gift to the church, were necessary accompaniments to the investiture of a person of rank. The new-made knight was conducted from the church with music and acclamations, and usually mounted his horse and executed some curvets in presence of the multitude, couching his lance, and brandishing it as if impatient to open his knightly career. It was at such times, also, that the most splendid tournaments were executed, it being expected that the young knights would dis play the utmost efforts to distinguish themselves.

excited her displeasure and indignation against her favourite Essex, than the profuseness with which he distributed the honour at Cadiz, and afterwards in Ireland. These anecdotes, however, belong to the decay of Chivalry.

Such being the solemnities with which knighthood was imposed, it is no wonder that the power of conferring it should, in peace as well as in war, become more and more confined to sovereign prinBut it was not in camps and armies alone that the ces, or nobles who nearly equalled them in rank and honours of knighthood were conferred. At the independence. By degrees these restrictions were Cour Pleniere, a high court, to which sovereigns drawn gradually closer, until at length it was held summoned their crown vassals at the solemn festi- that none but a sovereign, or a commander in chief, vals of the church, and the various occasions of so- displaying the royal banner, and vested with plenary lemnity which occurred in the royal family, from and vice-regal authority, could confer the degree of marriage, birth, baptism, and the like, the monarch knighthood. Queen Elizabeth was particularly jeawas wont to confer on novices in chivalry its high-lous of this part of her prerogative, and nothing more est honour, and the ceremonies used on such investiture added to the dignity of the occasion. It was then that the full ritual was observed, which, on the eve of battle, was necessarily abridged or omitted. The candidates watched their arms all night in a church or chapel, and prepared for the honour to be conferred on them, by vigil, fast, and prayer. They were solemnly divested of the brown frock, which was the appropriate dress of the squire, and having been bathed, as a symbol of purification of heart, they were attired in the richer garb appropriate to knighthood. They were then solemnly invested with the appropriate arms of a knight; and it was not unusual to call the attention of the novice to a mystical or allegorical explanation of each piece of armour as it was put on. These exhortations consisted in strange and extravagant parallels betwixt the temporal and spiritual state of warfare, in which the metaphor was hunted down in every possible shape. The under dress of the knight was a close jacket of chamois leather, over which was put the mail shirt, composed of rings of steel artificially fitted into each other, as is still the fashion in some parts of Asia. A suit of plate armour was put on over the mail shirt, and the legs and arms were defended in the same manner. Even this accumulation of defensive armour, was by some thought insufficient. In the combat of the Infantes of Carrion with the champions of the Cid, one of the former was yet more completely defended, and to little purpose.

The knight had several privileges of dignity and importance. He was associated into a rank wherein kings and princes were, in one sense, only his equals. He took precedence in war and in counsel, and was addressed by the respectful title of Messire in French, and Sir in English, and his wife by that of Madame and Dame. A knight was also, in point of military rank, qualified to command any body of men under a thousand. His own service was performed on horseback and in complete armour, of many various fashions, according to the taste of the warriors and the custom of the age. Chaucer has enumerated some of these varieties:

With him ther wenten knights many on.
Som wol ben armed in an habergeon,
And in a brest plate, and in a gipon;
And som wol have a pair of plates large;
And som wol have a pruse sheld, or a targe;
Some wol ben armed on his legges wele.
And have an axe, and some a mace of stele.
Ther n'is no newe guise, that it n'as old.

Armed they weren, as I have you told,
Everich after his opinion."

The weapons of offence, however, most appro priate to knighthood, were the lance and sword. They had frequently a battle-axe or mace at their saddle-bow, a formidable weapon even to men sheathed in iron like themselves. The knight had Onward into Ferrand's breast, the lance's point is driven Full upon his breastplate, nothing would avail; also a dagger, which he used when at close quarTwo breastplates Ferrand wore, and a coat of mail, ters. It was called the dagger of mercy, probably The two are riven in sunder, the third stood him in stead, because, when unsheathed, it behoved the antago The mail sunk in his breast, the mail and the spear head: The blood burst from his mouth, that all men thought him dead. nist to crave mercy or to die. The management of the lance, and of the horse was the principal requiThe novice being accoutred in his knightly ar- site of knighthood. To strike the foeman either on mour, but without helmet, sword, and spurs, a rich the helmet or full upon the breast with the point of mantle was flung over him, and he was conducted the lance and at full speed, was accounted perfect in solemn procession to the church or chapel in practice; to miss him, or to break a lance across, i.. which the ceremony was to be performed, supported athwart the body of the antagonist, without striking by his godfathers, and attended with as much pomp him with the point, was accounted an awkward as circumstances admitted. High mass was then failure; to strike his horse, or to hurt his person said, and the novice, advancing to the altar, received under the girdle, was conceived a foul or felon action, from the sovereign the accolade. The churchman and could only be excused by the hurry of a general present, of highest dignity, often belted on his sword, encounter. When the knights, from the nature of the which, for that purpose, had been previously depo- ground, or other circumstances, alighted to fight on sited on the altar, and the spurs were sometimes foot, they used to cut some part from the length of fastened on by ladies of quality. The oath of Chi- their spears, in order to render them more managevalry was lastly taken, to be loyal to God, the king, able, like the pikes used by infantry. But their and the ladies. Such were the outlines of the cere- most formidable onset was when mounted and mony, which, however, was varied according to cir-host." They seem then to have formed squadrons cumstances. A king of Portugal knighted his son in presence of the dead body of the Marquis of Marialva, slain in that day's action, and impressively conjured the young prince to do his duty in life and death like the good knight who lay dead before him. *See Translations from the Spanish Metrical Romance on the subject of the Cid, appended to Mr. Southey's Cid.

not unlike the present disposition of cavalry in the field, their squires forming the rear-rank, or performing the part of serrefiles. As the horses were trained in the tourneys and exercises to run upon each other without flinching, the shock of two such bodies of heavy-armed cavalry was dreadful, and the event usually decided the battle; for, until the

Swiss showed the superior steadiness which could be exhibited by infantry, all great actions were decided by the men-at-arms. The yeomanry of England, indeed, formed a singular exception; and, from the dexterous use of the long-bow, to which they were trained from infancy, were capable of with standing and destroying the mail-clad chivalry both of France and Scotland. Their shafts, according to the exaggerating eloquence of a monkish historian, Thomas of Walsingham, penetrated steel coats from side to side, transfixed helmets, and even splintered lances, and pierced through swords! But, against every other pedestrian adversary, the knights, squires, and men-at-arms, had the most decided advantage, from their impenetrable armour, the strength of their horses, and the fury of their onset. To render success yet more certain, and attack less hazardous, the horse, on the safety of which the rider's so much depended, was armed en-barbe, as it was called, like himself. A masque made of iron covered the animal's face and ears; it had a breast-plate, and armour for the croupe. The strongest horses were selected for this service; they were generally stallions, and to ride a mare was reckoned base and unknightly.

of the dying, form the mingled scene of tumult, strife, and death, which the Canon has so frequently transferred to his chivalrous pages.

It was not in war alone that the adventurous knight was to acquire fame. It was his duty, as we have seen, to seek adventures throughout the world, whereby to exalt his own fame and the beauty of his mistress, which inspired such deeds. In our remarks upon the general spirit of the institution, we have already noticed the frantic enterprises which were seriously undertaken and punctually executed by knights desirous of a name. On those occasions, the undertaker of so rash an enterprise often owed his life to the sympathy of his foes, who had great respect for any one engaged in the discharge of a vow of chivalry. When Sir Robert Knowles passed near Paris, at the head of an English army, in the reign of Edward III., the following remarkable incident took place.

"Now it happened, one Tuesday morning, when the English began to decamp, and had set fire to all the villages wherein they were lodged, so that the fires were distinctly seen from Paris, a knight of their army, who had made a vow, the preceding day, that he would advance as far as the barriers and To distinguish him in battle, as his face was hid strike them with his lance, did not break his oath, by the helmet, the knight wore above his armour a but set off with his lance in his hand, his target on surcoat, as it was called, like a herald's coat, on his neck, and completely armed except his helmet, which his arms were emblazoned. Others had and, spurring his steed, was followed by his squire them painted on the shield, a small triangular buck-on another courser, carrying his helmet. When he ler of light wood, covered with leather, and some- approached Paris, he put on the helmet, which his times plated with steel, which, as best suited him, squire laced behind. He then galloped away, the knight could either wield on his left arm, or suffer sticking spurs into his horse, and advanced prancing to hang down from his neck, as an additional de- to strike the barriers. They were then open, and the fence to his breast, when the left hand was required lords and barons within imagined he intended to for the management of the horse. The shape of enter the town; but he did not so mean, for having these shields is preserved, being that on which he- struck the gates according to his vow, he checked raldic coats are most frequently blazoned. But it is his horse and turned about. The French knights, something remarkable, that no one of those heater who saw him thus retreat, cried out to him, Get shields has been preserved in the Tower, or, so far away! get away! thou hast well acquitted thyself.' as we know, in any English collection. The heimet As for the name of this knight, I am ignorant of it, was surmounted by a crest, which the knight adopt- nor do I know from what country he came; but he ed after his own fancy. There was deadly offence bore for his arms gules à deux fousses noir, with une taken if one knight, without right, assumed the ar- bordure noir non endentée. morial bearings of another; and history is full of disputes on that head, some of which terminated fatally. The heralds were the persons appealed to on these occasions, when the dispute was carried on in peace, and hence flowed the science, as it was called, of Heraldry, with all its fantastic niceties. By degrees the crest and device became also hereditary, as well as the bearings on the shield. In addition to his armorial bearings, the knight distinguished himself in battle by shouting out his war-cry, which was echoed by his followers. It was usually the name of some favourite saint, united with that of his own family. If the knight had followers under his command, they re-echoed his war-cry, and rallied round his pennon or flag at the sound. The pennon differed from the penoncel, or triangular streamer, which the squire was entitled to display, being double the breadth, and indented at the end like the tail of a swallow. It presented the appearance of two penoncels united at the end next the staff, a consideration which was not perhaps out of view in determining its shape. Of course, the reader will understand that those knights only displayed a pennon who had retainers to support and defend it; the mounting this ensign being a matter of privilege, not of obligation.

Froissart's heart never fails to overflow when he describes the encounter of a body of men-at-arms, arrayed in the manner we have described; he dwells with enthusiasm on the leading circumstances. The waving of banners and pennons, the dashing of spurs into the sides of chargers, and their springing forward to battle; the glittering of armour, the glancing of plumes, the headlong shock and splintering of the lances, the swords flashing through the dust over the heads of the combatants, the thunder of the horses' feet and the clash of armour, mingled with the war-cry of the combatants and the groans *So called because resembling in shape the heater of a smooth

ing-iron.

VOL. I.-5 M

However, an adventure befell him, from which he had not so fortunate an escape. On his return, he met a butcher on the pavement in the suburbs, a very strong man, who had noticed him as he had passed him, and who had in his hand a very sharp and heavy hatchet with a long handle. As the knight was returning alone, and in a careless manner, the valiant butcher came on one side of him, and gave him such a blow between the shoulders, that he fell on his horse's neck: he recovered himself, but the butcher repeated the blow on his head, so that the axe entered it. The knight, through excess of pain, fell to the earth, and the horse galloped away to the squire, who was waiting for his master in the fields at the extremity of the suburbs. The squire caught the courser, but wondered what was become of his master; for he had seen him gallop to the barriers, strike them, and then turn about to come back. He therefore set out to look for him; but he had not gone many paces before he saw him in the hands of four fellows, who were beating him as if they were hammering on an anvil. This so much frightened the squire, that he dared not advance further, for he saw he could not give him any effectual assistance; he therefore returned as speedily as he could.

"Thus was this knight slain: and those lords who were posted at the barriers had him burieà n holy ground. The squire returned to the army, and related the misfortune which had befallen his master. All his brother warriors were greatly displeased thereat." (Johnes's Froissart, vol. II. p. 63.)

An equally singular undertaking was that of Galeazzo of Mantua, as rehearsed by the venerable Doctor Paris de Puteo, in his treatise De Duello et re Militari, and by Brantome in his Essay on Duels. Queen Joan of Naples, at a magnificent feast given in her castle of Gaeta, had presented her hand to Galeazzo, for the purpose of opening the ball. The dance being finished, the gallant knight kneeled down before his royal partner, and, in order to make

fitting acknowledgment of the high honour done drew up on one side. The place of the tournament him, took a solemn vow to wander through the was smooth and green with grass. world wherever deeds of arms should be exercised, "Sir John Holland was the first who sent his and not to rest until he had subdued two valiant squire to touch the war-target of Sir Bouçicaut, who knights, and had presented them prisoners at her instantly issued from his pavilion completely armed. royal foot-stool, to be disposed of at her pleasure. Having mounted his horse, and grasped his spear, Accordingly, after a year spent in visiting various which was stiff and well-steeled, they took their scenes of action in Brittany, England, France, distances. When the two knights had for a short Burgundy, and elsewhere, he returned like a falcon time eyed each other, they spurred their horses, and with his prey in his clutch, and presented two pri- met full gallop with such a force that Sir Boucicaut soners of knightly rank to Queen Joan. The queen pierced the shield of the Earl of Huntingdon, and the received the gift very graciously; and, declining to point of his lance slipped along his arm, but without avail herself of the right she had to impose rigorous wounding him. The two knights, having passed, conditions on the captives, she gave them liberty with- continued their gallop to the end of the list. This out ransom, and bestowed on them, over and above, course was much praised. At the second course, several marks of liberality. For this she is highly they hit each othey slightly, but no harm was done; extolled by Brantome and Dr. Paris, who take the and their horses refused to complete the third. opportunity of censuring the very opposite conduct "The Earl of Huntingdon, who wished to continue of the Canons of Saint Peter's Church at Rome, the tilt, and was heated, returned to his place, exupon whom a certain knight had bestowed a priso-pecting that Sir Bougicaut would call for his lance; ner taken in single combat. These ungracious but he did not, and 'showed plainly he would not churchmen received the gift as if it had been that of that day tilt more with the earl. Sir John Holland, a wild beast for a menagerie, permitting the poor seeing this, sent his squire to touch the war-target captive the freedom of the church indeed, but pro- of the Lord de Saimpi. This knight, who was waithibiting him to go one step beyond the gate. In ing for the combat, sallied out from his pavilion, which condition, worse than death, they detained the and took his lance and shield. When the Earl saw vanquished knight for some time, and were justly he was ready, he violently spurred his horse as blamed, as neither understanding Christian charity did the Lord de Saimpi. They couched their lances, nor gentleman-like courtesy. and pointed them at each other. At the onset, their horses crossed; notwithstanding which, they met; but by this crossing, which was blamed, the earl was unhelmed. He returned to his people, who soon rehelmed him; and having resumed their lances, they met full gallop, and hit each other with such a force in the middle of their shields, they would have been unhorsed, had they not kept tight seats by the pressure of their legs against their horses' sides. They went to the proper places, where they refreshed themselves, and took breath.

We return to consider the duties of a knight. His natural and proper element was war. But in time of peace when there was no scope for the fiery spirit of chivalry, the knights attended the tourneys proclaimed by different princes, or, if these amusements did not occur, they themselves undertook feats of arms, to which they challenged all competitors. The nature of these challenges will be best understood from an abridged account of the pas d'armes, called the Justs of Saint Inglebert, or Sandyng Fields. This emprise was sustained by three gallant knights of France, Bouçicaut, Reynold de Roy, and Saint Py or Saimpi. Their articles bound them to abide thirty days at Saint Inglebert, in the marches of Calais, there to undertake the encounter of all knights and squires, Frenchmen, or strangers, who should come hither, for the breaking of five spears, sharp, or with rockets, at their pleasure. On their lodgings they hung two shields called of peace and war, with their armorial blazons on each. The stranger desiring to just was invited to come or send, and touch which shield he would. The weapons of courtesy were to be employed if he chose the shield of peace, if that of war, the defenders were to give him the desired encounter with sharp weapons. The stranger knights were invited to bring some nobleman with them, to assist in judging the field, and the proclamation concludes with an entreaty to knights and squires strangers, that they will not hold this offer as made for any pride, hatred, or ill-will; but only that the challengers do it to have their honourable company and acquaintance, which, with their whole heart, they desire. They were assured of a fair field, without fraud or advantage; and it was provided, that the shields used should not be covered with iron or steel. The French king was highly joyful of this gallant challenge, (although some of his council doubted the wisdom of permitting it to go forth,) and exhorted the challengers to regard the honour of their prince and realm, and spare no cost at the solemnity, for which he was willing to contribute ten thousand franks. A number of knights and squires came from England to Calais to accept this gallant invitation; and at the entrance of the "fresh and jolly month of May," the challengers pitched three green pavilions in a fair plain between Calais and the Abbey of Saint Inglebert. Two shields hung before each pavilion, with the arms of the owner.

"On the 21st of the month of May, as it had been proclaimed, the three knights were properly armed and their horses properly saddled according to the laws of the tournament. On the same day, those knights who were in Calais sallied forth, either as spectators or tilters, and, being arrived at the spot,

46

Sir John Holland, who had a great desire to shine at this tournament, had his helmet braced, and regrasped his spear; when the Lord de Saimpi, seeing him advance on the gallop, did not decline meeting, but, spurring his horse on instantly, they gave blows on their helmets, that were luckily of well-tempered steel, which made sparks of fire fiv from them. At this course, the Lord de Saimpi lost his helmet; but the two knights continued their career, and returned to their places.

"This tilt was much praised, and the English and French said, that the Earl of Huntingdon, Sir Boucicaut, and the Lord de Saimpi, had excellently well'justed, without sparing or doing themselves any damage. The Earl wished to break another lance in honour of his lady, but it was refused him. He then quitted the lists to make room for others, for he had run his six lances with such ability and courage as gained him praise from all sides." (Johnes's Froissart, vol. IV. p. 143.)

The other justs were accomplished with similar spirit; Sir Peter Courtney, Sir John Russell, Sir Peter Sherburn, Sir William Clifton, and other English knights, sustaining the honour of their country against the French, who behaved with the greatest gallantry; and the whole was regarded as one of the most gallant enterprises which had been fulfilled for some time.

Besides these dangerous amusements, the unsettled and misruled state of things during the feudal times, found a gentle knight anxious to support the oppressed and to put down injustice, and agreeably to his knightly vow, frequent opportunities to exercise himself in the use of arms. There were every where to be met with oppressors to be chastised, and evil customs to be abolished, and the knight's occupation not only permitted, but actually bound him to volunteer his services in such cases. shall err greatly if we suppose that the adventures told in romance, are as fictitious as its magic, its dragons, and its fairies. The machinery was indeed imaginary, or rather, like that of Homer, it was grounded on the popular belief of the times. But the turn of incidents resembled, in substance, those which passed almost daily under the eye of the nar

We

rator. Even the stupendous feats of prowess dis- I fatal expeditions, all aided to throw the quality of played by the heroes of those tales, against the knight-bachelor lower in the scale of honour, when most overwhelming odds, were not without paral-unsupported by birth, wealth, or the command of lel in the history of the times. When men fought followers. hand to hand, the desperate exertions of a single champion, well mounted and armed in proof, were sometimes sufficient to turn the fate of a disputed day, and the war-cry of a well-known knight struck terror further than his arms. The advantage possessed by such an invulnerable champion over the half-naked infantry of the period, whom he might pursue and cut down at his pleasure, was so great, that, in the insurrection of the peasants called the Jacquerie, the Earl of Foix and the Captal de Buche, their forces not being nearly as one to ten, hesitated not to charge these disorderly insurgents with their men-at-arms, and were supposed to have slain nearly seven thousand, following the execution of the fugitives with as little mercy as the peasants had showed during the brief success of their rebellion.

The poorest knight-bachelor, however, long con-
tinued to exercise the privileges of the order. Their
title of bachelor (or Bas Chevalier, according to the
best derivation) marked that they were early held in
inferior estimation to those more fortunate knights,
who had extensive lands and numerous vassals.
They either attached themselves to the service of
some prince or rich noble, and were supported at
their expense, or they led the life of mere adventu-
rers. There were many knights, who, like Sir
Gaudwin in the romance of Partenopex de Blow
subsisted by passing from one court, camp,
and τον το
nament, to another, and contrived even, by various
means open to persons of that profession, to maintain
at least for a time, a fair and goodly appearance.
"So riding, they o'ertake an errant-knight
Well horsed, and large of limb, Sir Gaudwin hight
He nor of castle nor of land was lord,
Houseless he reap'd the harvest of the sword:
And now, not more on fame than profit bent,
Rode with blythe heart unto the tournament;
For cowardice he held it deadly sin,

And sure his mind and bearing were akin,
The face an index to the soul within.

It seem'd that he, such pomp his train bewray'd,
Had shaped a goodly fortune by his blade;

His knaves were, point device, in livery dight,
With sumpter-nags, and tents for shelter in the night."
These bachelor-knights, as Mr. Rose has well de-
scribed Sir Gaudwin, set their principal store by
valour in battle; and perhaps it was the only quality
of Chivalry which they at all times equally prized
and possessed. Their boast was to be the children
of war and fight, living in no other atmosphere but
what was mingled with the dust of conflict and the
hot breath of charging steeds. A "gentle bachelor"
is so described in one of the Fabliaux translated by
Mr. Way:

The right which crown-vassals claimed and exercised, of imposing exorbitant tolls and taxes within their domains, was often resisted by the knightserrant of the day, whose adventures, in fact, approached much nearer to those of Don Quixote than perhaps our readers are aware of. For although the Knight of La Mancha was, perhaps, two centuries too late in exercising his office of redresser of wrongs, and although his heated imagination confounded ordinary objects with such as were immediately connected with the exercise of Chivalry, yet at no great distance from the date of the inimitable romance of Cervantes, real circumstances occurred, of a nature nearly as romantic as the achievements which Don Quixote aspired to execute. In the more ancient times, the wandering knight could not go far without finding some gentleman oppressed by a powerful neighbour, some captive immured in a feudal dungeon, some orphan deprived of his heritage, some traveller pillaged, some convent or church violated, some lady in need of a champion, or some prince engaged in a war with a powerful adversary, all of which incidents furnished fit occasion for the exercise of his valour. By degrees, as order became more generally established, and the-the rapidity with which he traversed land and sea, His resistless gallantry in tournament and battle, law of each state began to be strong enough for the from England to Switzerland, to be present at each protection of the subject, the interference of these remarkable occasion of action, with his hardihood self-authorized and self-dependent champions, who besides were, in all probability, neither the most rosity in rewarding minstrels and heralds, his life in enduring every sort of privation, and his genejudicious or moderate, supposing them to be equita- of hazard and turmoil, and his deeds of strength ble, mediators, became a nuisance rather than an and fame,-are all enumerated. But we hear noassistance to civil society; and undoubtedly this thing of his redressing wrongs, or of his protecting tended to produce those distinctions in the order of the oppressed. The knight-bachelor, according to knighthood which we are now to notice. by the exercise of his weapons, this picture, was a valiant prize-fighter, and lived

"What gentle bachelor is he,
Sword-begot in fighting field,
Rock'd and cradled in a shield,
Whose infant food a helm did yield."

The most ancient, and originally the sole order of knighthood, was that of the Knight-Bachelor. This In war the knight-bachelor had an opportunity of was the proper degree conferred by one knight on maintaining, and even of enriching himself, if fortuanother, without the interference either of prince, nate, by the ransom of such prisoners as he hapnoble, or churchman, and its privileges and duties pened to make in fight. If, in this way, he accuapproached nearly to those of the knight-errant. mulated wealth, he frequently employed it in levying Were it possible for human nature to have acted up followers, whose assistance, with his own, he hired to the pitch of merit required by the statutes of out to such sovereigns as were willing to set a Chivalry, this order might have proved for a length sufficient price on his services. In time of peace, of time a substitute for imperfect policy,-a remedy the tournaments afforded, as we have already obagainst feudal tyranny,-a resource for the weak served, a certain means of income to these adventuwhen oppressed by the strong. Unquestionably, in many individual instances, knights were all that knights who succumbed on such occasions, were The horses and arms of the rous champions. we have described them. But the laws of Chivalry, forfeited to the victors, and these the wealthy were like those of the ascetic orders, while announcing a always willing to reclaim by a payment in money. high tone of virtue and self-denial, unfortunately af- At some of the achievements in arms, the victors forded the strongest temptations to those who pro- had the right, by the conditions of the encounter, to fessed its vows to abuse the character which they impose severe terms on the vanquished, besides the assumed. The degree of knighthood was easily at- usual forfeiture of horse and armour. Sometimes tained, and did not subject the warrior on whom it the unsuccessful combatant ransomed himself from was bestowed to any particular tribunal in case of imprisonment, or other hard conditions, by a sum his abusing the powers which it conferred. Thus of money; a transaction in which the knight-bachthe knight became, in many instances, a wandering elors, such as we have described them, readily enand licentious soldier, carrying from castle to castle, gaged. These adventurers called the sword which and from court to court, the offer of his mercenary they used in tourneys, their gagne-pain, or breadsword, and frequently abusing his character, to op-winner, as itinerant fiddlers of our day denominate press those whom his oath bound him to protect. The license and foreign vices imported by those who had returned from the crusades, the poverty also to which noble families were reduced by those

their

instruments.

"Dont i est gaigne-pain nommee,
Car par li est gagnies li pains."

Pelerinage du Monde, par Guigneville.