an election, and offered the kingdom to Count Raymond :
he declined. Then Godfrey was made, not king, but
1 Raimundus de Agiles, HisL Prtmcorum qui ceperunt Jerusalem^ cap. 38*39 •
(Migne i55f coL 659.)
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CHAP, xxm FEUDALISM AND KNIGHTHOOD 553
Advocatus of the Holy Sepulchre; he would never wear a
crown where his Lord had worn a crown of thorns. As a
servant of Christ and of His Church he fought and ruled some
short months till his death. His fame has-grown because
his heart was pure, and because, among the km'^ts, he
represented most perfectly the religious impu]^ of this
crusade which fought its way through blood, until it poured
out its new song of joy over the blood-drenched dty. He
errs who thinks to find the source and power of the First
Crusade elsewhere than in the flaming zeal of feudal Chris-
tianity. There was doubtless much divergence of motive,
secular and religious; but over-mastering and unifying all
was the passion to wrest the sepulchre of Christ from paynim
defilement, and thus win salvation for the Crusader. Greed
went with the host, but it did not inspire the enterprise.^
Doubtless the stories of returning knights awakened a
spirit of romantic adventure, which stirred in later crusading
generations. It was not so in the eleventh century when
the First Crusade was gathering. The romantic imagination
was then scarcely quickened; adventure was still in-
articulate, and the literature of adventure for the venture's
sake was yet to be created. So the First Crusadt, with its
motive of religious zeal, is in some degree distinguishable
from those which followed when kni^thood was in different
flower. If not the Crusades themselves, at least the
Chansons of the trouvires who sang of them, follow a change
corresponding with the changing taste of chivalry: they
begin with serious matters, and are occupied with the great
enterprise; then they become adventurous in theme,
romantic, till at last even romantic love is infelidtously
grafted upon the religious rage that won Jerusalem.
This process of change may be traced in the growth of
the legends of the First Crusade and Godfrey of Bouillon.
Something was added to his career even by the Latin
Chronicles of fifty years later. But his most venturesome
development is to be found in those French Chansons de
geste which have been made into the "Cyde" of the First
Crusade. Two of these, the Chansons of AnHoche and
Jerusalem, were originally composed by a contemporary, if
i a. anU, Chap. XIV.
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SS4 THE MEDIAEVAL MIND book iv
not a participant in the expedition. They were refashioned
perhaps seventy-five or a hundred years later, in the reign
of Philip Augustus, by another trouvire, who still kept their
old tone and substance. They remained poetic narratives of
the holy war. In them the knights are fierce and bloody,
cruel and sometimes greedy ; but their whole emprise makes
onward to the end in view, the winning of the holy
dty. These poems are epic and not romantic: they may
even be called historical. The character of Godfrey is
developed with legendary or epic propriety, throu^ a
heightening of his historic qualities. He equals or excels
the other barons in fierce valour, and yet a touch of courtesy
tempers his wrath. In Christian meekness and in modesty
he surpasses all, and he refuses the throne of Jerusalem
until he has been commanded from on high. At that he
accepts the kingdom as a sacred charge in defence of which
he is to die.
It is otherwise with a niunber of other chansons
composed in the latter part of the twelfth and through
the thirteenth century. Some of them (the Chanson des
chStifs, for example) had probably to do with the First
Crusade. Others, like the various poems which tell of the
Chevalier au Cygne, were inaptly forced into connection with
the family of Godfrey. They have become adventurous,
and are studded with irrelevant marvels, rather than assisted
to their denouements by serious supernatural intervention.
Monsters appear, and incongruous romantic q>isodes;
Godfrey's ancestor has become the Swan-knight, and he
himself duplicates the exploits previously ascribed to that
half-fairy person. Knightly manners, from brutal, have
become courteous. Women throng these poems, and the
romantic love of women enters, although not in the finished
guise in which it plays so dominant a rdle in the Arthurian
Cycle. Such themes, unknown to the earlier crusading
chansons, would have fitted ill with a martial theme driving
on through war and carnage (not through "adventures")
to the holy end in view.^
1 On these poems see Pigeonneau, Le Cycle de la Croisade (St. Cloud, 1877) ;
Paulin Paris, in Histoire UtUraire de la Prance^ vol. 32, pp. 350-403, and ibid, voL 35,
p. 507 sqq.; Gaston Paris, "La Naissance du chevalier au Cygne," RomamiOt iq»
p. 314 *«• (1890).
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CHAP, xxm FEUDALISM AND KNIGHTHOOD 555
The Crusades open with the form of Godfrey of Boidllon.
A century and a half elapses and they deaden to a close
beneath the futile radiance of a saintlike and perfect
knightly personality. St. Louis of France is as dear a
figure as any in the Middle Ages. From all sides his life is
known. We see him as a painstaking sovereign meting out
even justice, and maintaining his royal rights against feudal
turbulence and also against ecclesiastical encroachment.
During his reign the monarchy of France continues to
advance in power and repute. And yet there was no jot of
worldly wisdom, and scant consideration of a realm sorely
needing its ruler, in the fanatical religious devotion which
drew him twice across the sea on crusades unparalleled
in their foolishness. For the world was growing wiser
politically ; and what was glorious feudal enthusiasm in the
year 1099, was deliberate disregard of experience in the
years 1248 and 1270.
Yet who would have had St. Louis wiser in his
generation? The loss to France was mankind's gain, from
the example of saintly king and perfect knight, kept bright
in the narratives of men equal to the task. Louis was
happy in his biographers. Two among them knew him
intimately and in ways affording special opportimities to
observe the sides of his character congenial to their respective
tempers. One was his confessor for twenty years, the
Dominican Geoflfrey of Beaulieu; the other was the Sire
de Joinville. Geoflfrey's Vita records Louis' devotions;
Joinville's HisUnre notes the king's piety ; but the qualities
which it illuminates are those of a French gentleman and
knight and grand seigneur, like Joinville himself.
The book of the Dominican^ is not picturesque. It
opens with an edifying comparison between King Josiah
and King Louis. Then it praises the king's mother. Queen
Blanche of pious memory. As for Louis, the confessor has
been unable to discover that he ever conmiitted a mortal
sin : he sought faithful and wise counsellors ; he was careful
and gracious in speech, never using an oath or any
scurrilous expression. In earlier years, when under the
>"Vita Ludovid noni auctorc Gaufrido de Belloloco" {RecueU des kistoriens
des GauUs et de la Prance^ t. zz. pp. 3-a6).
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SS6 THE MEDIAEVAL MIND book iv
necessity of taking oath, he would say, "In nomine md";
but afterwards, hearing that some religious man had objected
to this, he restricted his asseverations to the "est, est" and
"non, non" of the Gospel.
From the time he first crossed the sea, he wore no
scarlet raiment, but clothed himself in sober garments.
And as such were of less value to give to the poor than
those which he had formerly worn, he added sixty pounds a
year to his almsgiving; for he did not wish the poor to
suflFer because of his himible dress. Geoffrey gives the long
tale of his charities to the poor and to the mendicant
Orders. On the Sabbaths it was the king's secret custom
to wash the feet of three beggars, dry them, and kiss them
humbly. He conmianded in his will that no stately monu-
ment should be erected over his grave. He treated his
confessors with great respect, and, while confessing, if
perchance a window was to be closed or opened, he quickly
rose and shut or opened it, and would not hear of his
confessor doing it. In Advent season and Lent he
abstained from marital intercourse. Some years before his
death, if he had had his will, he would have resigned his
kingdom to his son and entered the Order of the Fran-
ciscans or Dominicans. He brou^t up his children most
religiously, and wished some of them to take the vows.*
He confessed every Friday and also between times, if
something occurred to him; and if he thought of anything
in the night, he would send for his confessor and confess
before matins.^ After confession he always took his
discipline from his confessor, whom he furnished with a
scourge of five little braided iron chains, attached to an
ivory handle. This he would afterwards put back into a
little case, which he carried hanging to his belt, but out
of sight. Such little cases he sometimes presented to
his children or friends in secret, that they might have a
' The Testament of St. Louis, written for his eldest son, is a complete rule of con-
duct for a Christian prince, and indicates St. Louis* mind on the education of
one. It has been printed and translated many times. Geoffrey of Beaulieii
gives it in Latin (chap, zv.) and in French at the end of the Vita, It is also in Join-
viUe.
* One sees here the same religious anxiety whidi is so well brought out by Salim-
bene's account of St. Louis, anU, pp. 524 sqq.
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CHAP, xxm FEUDALISM AND KNIGHTHOOD 557
convenient instrument of discipline. He wore haircloth
next his flesh in the holy seasons, a habit distressing to his
tender skin, until his confessor persuaded him to abandon
this form of penance as ill comporting with his station. He
replaced it by increasing his charities. His fasts were
regular and frequent, till he lessened them upon prudent
advice; for he was not strong. He would have Uked to
hear all the canonical hours chanted; and twice a day he
heard Mass, and daily the Office for the Dead. Sometimes,
soon after midnight, he would rise to hear matins, and then
would take a quiet time for prayer by his bed. Likewise
he loved to hear sermons. On returning over the sea,
when the ships suffered a long delay, he had preaching
three times a week, with the sermon specially adapted to
the sailors, a class of men who rarely hear the Word of God.
He prevailed on many of them to confess, and declared
himself ready at any time to put his hand to a rope, if
necessary, so that a sailor while confessing might not be
called away by any exigency of the sea.
While beyond the sea, this good king, hearing that a
Saracen Sultan had collected the books of their philosophy
at his own expense for his subjects' use, determined not
to be outdone whenever he should return to Paris, a purpose
which he amply carried out, diligently and generously
supplying money for copying and renewing the writings of
the Doctors. At enormous expense he obtained the
Saviour's crown of thorns and a good part of the true cross,
from the emperor at Constantinople, with many other
precious relics; all of which the king barefooted helped to
carry in holy procession when they were received by the
clergy of Paris.
The king was very careful in the distribution of
ecclesiastical patronage, always seeing to it that the
candidate was not already enjoying another benefice. His
heart exulted when it came to him to bestow a benefice
upon some especially holy man. He was most zealous in
the suppression of swearing and blasphemy, and with the
advice of the papal legate then in France issued an edict,
providing that the lips of those guilty of this sin should be
seared with hot irons ; and when certain ones murmured, he
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558 THE MEDIAEVAL MIND book iv
declared that he would wilUngly suffer his 0Â¥m lips to be
branded if that would purge his realm of this vice.
Such were the acts and qualities of Louis which im-
pressed his Dominican confessor. They were the quali-
ties of a saint, and would have brou^t their possessor to
a monastery, had not his royal station held him in the
world. The Dominican could not know the knightly nature
of his royal penitent, and still less reflect it in his Latin of
the confessional. For this there was needed the pen of a
great gentleman, whose nature enabled him to picture his
lord in a book of such high breeding that it were hard to find
its fellow. This book is stately with the Sire de Joinville's
consciousness of his position and blood, and stately through
the respect he bore his lord — a book with which no one
would take a liberty. Yet it is simple in thought and
phrase, as written by one who lived throu^ what he tells,
and closely knew and dearly loved the king. From it one
learns that he who was a saint in his confessor's eyes was
also a monarch from his soul out to his royal manners and
occasional royal insistence upon acts which others thought
unwise. We also learn to know him as a kni^tly, hapless
soldier of the Cross, who would not waver from his word
plighted even to an infidel.
That St. Louis was a veritable knight is the first thing
one learns from Joinville. The first part of my book, says
that gentleman, tells how the king conducted his life after
the way of God and the Church, and to the profit of his
realm; the second tells of his ''granz chevaleries et de ses
granz faiz d'armes." "The first deed (faiz) whereby *il
mist son cors en avanture de mort' was at our arrival before
Damietta, where his council was of the opinion, as I have
understood, that he ought to remain in his ship until he
saw what his kni^ts (sa cheoalerie) should do, who made a
landing. The reason why they so counselled him was that
if he disembarked, and his people should be killed and he
with them, the whole affair was lost; while if he remained
in his ship he could in his 0Â¥m person renew the attempt to
conquer Egypt. And he would credit no one, but leaped
into the sea, all armed, his shield hanging from his neck, his
lance in hand, and was one of the first upon the beach."
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CHAP, xxm FEUDALISM AND KNIGHTHOOD 559
This is from Joinville's Introduction. He recommences
formally :
'' In the name of God the all powerful, I, John, Sire of Joinville,
Seneschal of Champagne, cause to be written the life of our
sainted king Louis, as I saw and heard of it for the space of six
years while I was in his company on the pilgrimage beyond the
sea, and since we returned. And before I tell you his great deeds
and prowess (chevalerie), I will recount what I saw and heard of
his holy words and good precepts, so that they may be found one
after the other for the improvement of those who hear.
''This holy man loved God with all his heart, and imitated His
works : which was evident in this, that as God died for the love
which He bore His people, so he (Louis) put his body in peril
several times for the love which he bore his people. The great
love which he had for his people appeared in what he said to his
eldest son, Louis, when very sick at Fontainebleau: 'Fair son,'
said he, 'I beg thee to make thyself loved by the people of thy
kingdom; for indeed I should prefer that a Scot from Scotland
came and ruled the people of the kingdom well and faithfully,
rather than that thou shouldst rule them ill in the sight of all.' "
Joinville continues relating the virtues of the king, and
recording his conversations with himself :
"He called me once and said, 'Seneschal, what is God?'
And I said to him, 'Sire, it is a being so good that there can be no
better.'
" 'Now I ask you,' said he, 'which would you choose, to be a
leper, or to have committed a mortal sin ? ' And I who never lied
to him replied that I had rather have committed thirty than be a
leper. Afterwards he called me apart and made me sit at his feet
and said : 'Why did you say that to me yesterday? ' And I told
him that I would say it again. And he: 'You speak like a
thou^tless trifler; for you should know there is no leprosy so
ugly as to be in mortal sin, because the soul in mortal sin is like
the devil. This is why there can be no leprosy so ugly. And
then, of a truth, when a man dies, he is cured of the leprosy of the
body; but when the man who has committed a mortal sin dies,
he does not know, nor is it certain, that he has so repented while
living, that God has pardoned him ; this is why he should have
great fear that this leprosy will last as long as God shall be in
paradise. So I pray you earnestly that you will train your heart,
for the love of God and of me, to wish rather for leprosy or any
other bodily evil, rather than that mortal sin should come into
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S6o THE MEDIAEVAL MIND book iv
your soul.' He asked me whether I washed the feet of the poor
on Holy Tuesday. 'Sire/ said I, ^quel malheurf I will not wash
those ^dllains' feet/ 'Truly that was ill said/ said he; 'for you
should not hold in contempt what God did for our instruction.
So I pray you, for the love of God first, and for the love of me,
to accustom yoiu-self to wash them.' "
Joinville was some years younger than his king, who
loved him well and wi^ed to help him. The king also
esteemed Master Robert de Sorbon ^ for the high respect as
a preudom in which he was held, ard had him eat at his
table. One day Master Robert was seated next to Joinville.
" 'Seneschal,' said the king, smiling, 'tell me the reasons why
a man of wisdom and valour {preudom, prud^homme) is accoimted
better than a fool.' Then be^an the argimient between me and
Master Robert ; and when we had disputed for a time, the king
rendered his decision, sa3dng: 'Master Robert, I should like to
have the name of preudom, so be it that I was one, and all the rest
I would leave to you ; for preudom is such a grand and good thing
that it fills the mouth just to pronounce it."
Master Robert plays a not altogether happy part in an-
other scene, varicoloured and delightful :
"The holy king was at Corbeil one Pentecost, and twenty-four
knights with him. The king went down after dinner into the
courtyard back of the chapel, and was talking at the entrance with
the Count of Brittany, the father of the present duke, whom God
preserve. Master Robert de Sorbon came to seek me there, and
took me by the cloak, and led me to the king, and all the other
gentlemen came after us. Then I asked Master Robert : 'Master
Robert, what would you?' And he said to me: 'If the king
should sit down here, and you should seat yourself above him, I
ask you whether you would not be to blame?' And I said. Yes.
"And he said to me: 'Yet you lay yourself open to blame,
since yqu are more nobly clad than the king: for you wear
squirrel's fiu* and cloth of green, which the king does not.'
"And I said to him : 'Master Robert, saving your grace, I do
nothing worthy of blame when I wear squirrel's fur and doth of
green ; for it is the clothing which my father and mother left me.
But you do what is to blame ; for you are the son of a vUain and
vilaine, and have abandoned the clothes of your father and your
1 The founder of the College of the Sorbonne.
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CHAP, xxm FEUDALISM AND KNIGHTHOOD 561
mother, and are clad in richer cloth than the king.' And then I
took the lappet of his surcoat and that of the king's, and said to
him : *See whether I do not speak truly.' And the king set him-
self to defend Master Robert with all his might."
"Afterwards Messire the king called to him Monseigneur
Philippe his son, the father of the present king, and the king
Thibaut (of Navarre), and laid his hand on the earth and said :
' Sit close to me, so that they may not hear.'
" *Ah Sire,' say they, *we dare not sit so close to you.'
"And he said to me, 'Seneschal, sit down here.' And so I
did, so close that our clothes touched. And he made them sit
down by me, and said to them : * You have done ill, you who are
my sons, who have not obeyed at once all that I bade you : and
see to it that this does not happen with you again.' And they
promised. And then he said to me, that he had called us in order
to confess to me that he was in the wrong in defending Master
Robert against me. 'But,' said he, 'I saw him so dumbfounded
that there was good need I should defend him. And do none of
you attach any importance to alll said defending Master Robert ;
for, as the seneschal said to him, you ought to dress well and
becomingly, so that your wives may love you better, and your
people hold you in higher esteem. For the sage says that one
should appear in such clothes and arms that the wise of this world
may not say you have done too much, nor the yoimg people say
you have done too little.' "
The hopelessly worthy parvenu was quite outside this
charmed circle of blood and manners.
Another story of Joinville opens our eyes to Louis'
views on Jews and infidels. The king was telling hinn of a
grand argument between Jews and Christian clergy which
was to have been held at Cluny. And a certain poverty-
stricken knight was there, who obtained leave to speak the
first word ; and he asked the head Jew whether he believed
that Mary was the mother of God and still a virgin. And
the Jew answered that he did not believe it at all. The
knight replied that in that case the Jew had acted like a
fool to enter her monastery, and should pay for it ; and with
that he knocked him down with his staff, and all the other
Jews ran off. When the abbot reproached him for his
folly, he replied that the abbot's folly was greater in having
the argument at all. "So I tell you," said the king on
VOL. I 20
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S62 THE MEDIAEVAL MIND book iv
finishing his story, "that only a skilled derk should dispute
with misbelievers; but a lajmian, when he hears any one
speak ill of the Christian law, should defend that law with
nothing but his sword, which he should plunge into the
defamer's belly, to the hilt if possible."
Well known is the hapless outcome of St. Louis'
Crusades: the first one leading to defeat and captivity in
Egypt, the second ending in the king's death by disease at
Tunis. Yet in what he sought to do in his Lord's cause, St.
Louis was a true knight and soldier of the Cross. The
spirit was willing ; but the flesh accomplished little. Let us
take from Joinville's story of that first crusade a wonderfully
illustrative chapter, giving the confused scenes occurring
after the capture of Damietta, when the French king and his
feudal host had advanced southerly through the Delta, along
the eastern branch of the Nile. Joinville was making a
reconnaissance with his own knights, when they came
suddenly upon a large body of Saracens. The Christians
were hard pressed ; here and there a knight falls in the melee,
among them
"Monseigneur Hugues de Trichatel, the lord of Conflans, who
carried my banner. I and my knights spurred to deliver
Monseigneur Raoul de Wanou, who was thrown to the ground.
As I was making my way back, the Turks struck at me with their
lances; my horse fell on his knees under the blows, and I went
over his head. I recovered myself as I might, shield on neck and
sword in hand; and Monseigneur Erard de Siverey (whom God
absolve !), who was of my people, came to my aid, and said that we
had better retreat to a ruined house, and tJiere wait for the king
who was approaching."
One notes the high-bom courtesy with which the Sire
de Joinville speaks of the gentlemen who had the honour of
serving him. The fight goes on.
"Monseigneur Erard de Siverey was struck by a sword-blow in
his face, so that his nose hung down over his lips. And then I was
minded of Monseigneur Saint Jacques, whom I thus invoked:
'Beau Sire Saint Jacques, help and succor me in this need.'
"When I had made my prayer, Monseigneur Erard de Siverey
said to me : * Sire, if you think that neither I nor my heirs would
suffer reproof, I would go for aid to the Count of Anjou, whom I
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CHAP, xxm FEUDALISM AND KNIGHTHOOD 563
see over there in the fields.' And I said to him : 'Messire Erard,
I think you would do yourself great honour, if you now went for
aid to save our lives ; for your own is in jeopardy.' And indeed I
spoke truly, for he died of that wound. He asked the advice of all
our knights who were there, and all approved as I had approved.
And when he heard that, he requested me to let him have his
horse, which I was holding by the bridle with the rest. And so I