did."
The knightliness of this scene is perfect, with its liege
fealty and its carefulness as to the point of honour, its care-
fulness also that the vassal knight shall fail in no duty to
his lord whereby the descent of his fief may be jeopardized.
Monseigneur Erard (whom God absolve, we say with
Joinville !) is very careful to have his lord's assent and the
approval of his fellows, before he will leave his lord in peril,
and imdergo still greater risk to bring him succour.
Well, the Coimt of Anjou brought such aid as created a
diversion, and the Saracens turned to the new foe. But
now the king arrives on the scene :
"There where I was on foot with my knights, wounded as
already said, comes the king with his whole array, and a great
sound of trumpets and dnuns. And he halted on the road on the
dyke. Never saw I one so bravely armed : for he showed above
all his people from his shoulders up, a gilded casque upon his head
and a German sword in his hand."
Then the king's good knights charge into the battle,
and fine feats of arms are done. The fighting is fierce and
general. At length the king is counselled to bear back
along the river, keeping close to it on his right hand, so as
to reunite with the Duke of Burgundy who had been left to
guard the camp. The knights are recalled from the mel6e,
and with a great noise of trumpets and drums, and Saracen
horns, the army is set in motion.
"And now up comes the constable, Messire Imbert de Beaujeu,
and tells the king that the Count of Artois, his brother, was
defending himself in a house in Mansourah, and needed aid.
And the king said to him : * Constable, go before and I will follow
you.' And I said to the constable that I would be his knight, at
which he thanked me greatly."
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S64 THE MEDIAEVAL MIND bookiv
Again one feels the feudal chivalry. Now the affair
becomes rather distraught. They set out to succour the
Count of Artois, but are checked, and it is rumoured that
the king is taken; and in fact six Saracens had rushed
upon him and seized his horse by the bridle; but he had
freed himself with such great strokes that aU his people took
courage. Yet the host is driven back upon the river, and is
in desperate straits. Joinville and his knights defend a
bridge over a tributary, which helps to check the Saracen
advance, and affords an uncertain means of safety to
the French. But there is no cessation of the Saracen at-
tack with bows and spears. The knights seemed full of
arrows. Joinville saved his life with an arrow-proof Saracen •
vest, "so that I was woimded by their arrows only in five
places"! One of Joinville's own stout burgesses, bearing
his lord's banner on a lance, helped in the charges upon the
enemy. In the mel6e up speaks the good Count of
Soissons, whose cousin Joinville had married. "He joked
with me and said: * Seneschal, let us whoop after this
canaille; for by God's coif (his favourite oath) we shall be
talking, you and I, about this day in the chambers of the
ladies.' "
At last, the arbalests were brought out from the camp,
and the Saracens drew off — ^fled, says the Sire de Joinville.
And the king was there, and
"I took off his casque, and gave him my iron cap, so that he might
get some air. And then comes brother Henry de Ronnay, Prevost
of the Hospital, to the king when he had passed the river, and
kisses his mailed hand. And the king asked him whether he had
news of the Count of Artois, his brother ; and he said that he had
indeed news of him, for he was sure that his brother the Count of
Artois was in Paradise. 'Ha ! sire,' said the Prevost, 'be of good
cheer; for no such honour ever came to a king of France as is
come to you. For to fight your enemies you have crossed a river
by swimming, have discomfited your enemies and driven them
from the field, and taken their engines and tents, where you will
sleep this night.' And the king replied that God be adored for
all that He gave; and then the great tears fell from his eyes."
One need not follow on to the ill ending of the campaign,
when king and knights aU had to yield themselves prisoners,
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CHAP, xxm FEUDALISM AND KNIGHTHOOD 565
in most uncertain captivity. The Saracen Emirs conspired
and slew their Sultan ; the prisoners' lives hung on a thread ;
and when the terms were arranging for the delivery and
ransom of the king, his own scruples nearly proved fatal.
For the Emirs, after they had made their oath, wished the
king to swear, and put his seal to a parchment,
^'that if he the king did not hold to his agreements, might he
be as ashamed as the Christian who denied God and His Mother
and was cut ofiF from the company of the twelve Companions
(apostles) and of all the saints, male and female. To this die king
consented. The last point of the oath was this: That if the
king did not keep his agreements, might he be as shamed as the
Christian who denied God and His law, and in contempt of God
spat on the Cross and trod on it. When the king heard that,
he said, please God, he would not make that oath."
Then the trouble began, and the Emirs tortured the
venerable patriarch of Jerusalem till he besought the king to
swear. How the oath was arranged I do not know, says
Joinville, but finally the Emirs professed themselves satisfied.
And after that, when the ransom was paid, the Saracens by
a mistake accepted a simi ten thousand livres short, and
Louis, in spite of the protest of his coimsellors, refused to
permit advantage to be taken and insisted on full payment.
Many years afterwards, when Louis was dead and
canonized, a dream came to his faithful Joinville who was
then an old man.
''It seemed to me in my dream that I saw the king in front of
my chapel at Joinville ; and he was, so he seemed to me, wonder-
fully happy and glad at heart; and I also was glad at heart,
because I saw him in my chateau. And I said to him: 'Sire,
when you go hence, I will prepare lodging for you at my house in
my village of Chevillon.' And he replied, smiling, and said to me :
'Sire de Joinville, by the troth I owe you, I do not wish so soon
to go from here.' When I awoke I beUiought me; and it seemed
to me that it would please God and the king that I should provide
a lodging for him in my chapel. So I have placed an altar in
honour of God and of him there, where there shall be always
chanting in his honour. And I have established a fund in per-
petuity to do this.
Godfrey of Bouillon and St. Louis of France show
knighthood as inspired by serious and religious motives.
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S66 THE MEDIAEVAL MIND book iv
We pass on a hundred years after St. Louis, to a famous
Chronicle concerning men whose knightly lives exhibit no
such religious, and possibly no such serious, purpose, so far
at least as they are set forth by this delightful chronicler.
His name of course is Sir John Froissart, and his chief work
goes under the name of The Chronicles of England, France^
Spain, and the adjoining Countries. It covers the period
from the reign of Edward II. to the coronation of Henry IV.
of England. Have we not all known his book as one to
delight youth and age ?
Let us, however, open it seriously, and first of all notice
the Preface, with its initial sentence giving the note of the
entire work: "That the grans merveiUes and the biau fail
d^armes achieved in the great wars between England and
France, and the neighbouring realms may be worthily re-
corded, and known in the present and in the time to come, I
purpose to order and put the same in prose, according
to the true information which I have obtained from valiant
knights, squires, and marshals at arms, who are and rightly
should be the investigators and reporters of such matters." *
"Marvels" and "deeds of arms" — soon he will use
the equivalent phrase belles aventures. With delicious
garrulity, but never wavering from his point of view, the
good Sir John repeats and enlarges as he enters on his work
in which "to encourage all valorous hearts, and to show them
honourable examples" he proposes to "point out and speak
of each adventure from the nativity of the noble King
Edward (HI.) of England, who so potently reigned, and who
was engaged in so many battles and perilous adventures and
other feats of arms and great prowess, from the year of grace
1326, when he was crowned in England."
Of course Froissart says that the occasion of these wars
was King Edward's enterprise to recover his inheritance of
France, which the twelve peers and barons of that realm
had awarded to Lord Philip of Valois, from whom it had
^ Ckroniques de J. Froissart^ ed. S. Luce (Soci6t6 de FHistoire de France).
The opening of the Prologue. It seemed desirable to render this sentence literally.
The rest of my extracts are from Thomas Johnes*s translation, for which I plead a
boyhood's affection. For a brief account of Froissart's chief source Qean le Bd).
with excellent criticism, see W. P. Ker, "Froissart" {Essays on Medieval LUeratmi)
Marmillan and Co., 1905).
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CHAP, xxm FEUDALISM AND KNIGHTHOOD 567
passed on to his son, King Charles. This enterprise was
the woof whereon should hang an hundred years of knightly
and romantic feats of arms, which incidentally wrought
desolation to the fair realm of France. Yet the full opening
of these matters was not yet ; and Froissart begins with the
story of the troubles brought on Queen Isabella and the
nobles of England through the overbearing insolence of Sir
Hugh Spencer, the favourite of her husband Edward II.
The Queen left England secretly, to seek aid at Paris
from her brother King Charles, that she might regain her
rights against the upstart and her own weak estranged
husband. King Charles received her graciously, as a great
lord should receive a great dame; and richly provided for
her and her yoimg son Edward. Then he took coimsel of
the "great lords and barons of his kingdom"; and then-
advice was that he should permit her to enlist assistance in
his realm, and yet himself appear ignorant of the matter.
Of this. Sir Hugh hears, and his gold is busy with these
counsellors ; so that the Court becomes a cold place for the
self-exiled queen. On she fares in her distress, and, as
advised, seeks the aid of the great Earl of Hainault, then at
Valenciennes. But before the queen can reach that dty, the
earl's young brother, Sir John, Lord of Beaimiont, rides
to meet her, ardent to succour a great lady in distress,
"being at that time very young, and panting for glory like
a knight-errant." In the evening he reached the house of Sir
Eustace d'Ambreticourt, where the queen was lodged. She
made her lamentable complaint, at which Sir John was
affected even to tears, and said, "Lady, see here your knight,
who will not fail to die for you, though every one else
should desert you; therefore will I do everything in my
power to conduct you and your son, and to restore you
to your rank in England, by the grace of God, and the
assistance of your friends in those parts ; and I, and all
those whom I can influence, will risk our lives on the
adventure for your sake."
Is not this a chivalric beginning? And so the Chronicle
goes on. King Edward HI. is crowned, marries the Lady
Philippa, daughter of the Earl of Hainault, and afterwards
sends his defiance to Philip, King of France, for not yielding
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S68 THE MEDIAEVAL MIND book iv
up to him his rightful inheritance, and this after the same
King Edward had, as Duke of Aquitaine, done homage to
King Philip for that great duchy.
So the challenge of King Edward, and of sundry other
lords, was delivered to the King of France; and thereupon
the first bold raid is made by the knightliest figure of the
first generation of the war, Sir Walter Manny, a young
Hainaulter who had remained in the train of Queen
Philippa. The war is carried on by incursions and deeds of
derring-do, the larger armies of the kings of England and
France circumspectly refraining from battle, which might
have checked the martial jollity of the affair. It is all
beautiftdly pointless and adventurous, and carried out in the
spirit of a knighthood that loves fighting and seeks honour
and adventure, while steadying itself with a hope of plunder
and reward. There are likewise ladies to be succoured and
defended.
One of these was the lion-hearted Countess of Montfort,
who with her husband had become possessed of the
disputed dukedom of Brittany. The Earl of Montfort did
homage to the King of England ; the rival claimant, Charles
of Blois, sought the aid of France. He came with an army,
and Montfort was taken and died in prison; the duchess
was left to carry on the war. She was at last shut up and
besieged in Hennebon on the coast; the burghers were
falling away, the knights discouraged ; emissaries from Lord
Charles were working among them. His ally, Lord Lewis
of Spain, and Sir Herv6 de Leon were the leaders of the
besiegers. Sir Herv6 had an uncle, a bishop. Sir Guy de
Leon, who was on the side of the Coimtess of Montfort.
The nephew won the imcle over in a conference without the
walls; and the latter assimied the task of persuading the
Lords of Brittany who were with the coimtess to abandon
the apparently hopeless struggle. Re-entering the town,
the bi^op was eloquent against the coimtess's cause, and
promised free pardon to the lords if they would give
up the town. Now listen to Froissart, how he tells the
story:
"The coimtess had strong suspicions of what was going
forward, and begged of the lords of Brittany, for the love of God,
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CHAP, xxm FEUDALISM AND KNIGHTHOOD 569
that they would not doubt but she should receive succours before
three days were over. But the bishop spoke so eloquently, and
made use of such good arguments, that these lords were in much
suspense all that night. On the morrow he continued the subject,
and succeeded so far as to gain them over, or very nearly so, to his
opinion; insomuch that Sir Herv6 de Leon had advanced dose
to the town to take possession of it, with their free consent, when
the countess looking out from a window of the castle toward the
sea, cried out most jo3rfully, 'I see the succours I have so long
expected and wished for coming.' She repeated this twice ; and
the town's people ran to the ramparts and to the windows of the
castle, and saw a numerous fleet of great and small vessels, well
trimmed, making all the sail they could toward Hennebon.
They rightly imagined it must be the fleet from England, so long
detained at sea by tempests and contrary winds.
"When the governor of Guingamp, Sir Yves de Tresiquidi,
Sir Galeran de Landreman, and the odier knights, perceived this
succour coming to them, they told the bishop that he might break
up his conference, for they were not now inclined to follow his
advice. The bishop. Sir Guy de Leon, replied, * My lords, then our
company shall separate; for I will go to him who seems to me
to have the clearest right.' Upon which he sent his defiance to
the lady, and to all her party, and left the town to inform Sir
Herv6 de Leon how matters stood. Sir Herv6 was much vexed
at it, and immediately ordered the largest machine that was
with the army to be placed as near the castle as possible, strictly
commanding that it should never cease working day or night.
He then presented his uncle to the Lord Lewis of Spain, and to
the Lord Charles of Blois, who both received him most courteously.
The countess, in the meantime, prepared and himg with tapestry
halls and chambers to lodge handsomely the lords and barons of
England, whom she saw coming, and sent out a noble company
to meet them. When they were landed, she went herself to give
them welcome, respectfully thanking each knight and squire,
and led them into the (pwn and castle that they might have con-
venient lodging: on the morrow, she gave them a magnificent
entertainment. All that night, and the following day, the large
machine never ceased from casting stones into the town.
"After the entertainment. Sir Walter Manny, who was captain
of the English, inquired of the countess the state of the town and
the enemy's army. Upon looking out of the window, he said, he
had a great inclination to destroy that large machine which was
placed so near, and much annoyed them, if any would help him.
Sir Yves de Tresiquidi replied, that he would not fail him in this
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S70 THE MEDIAEVAL MIND book iv
his first expedition; as did also the lord of Landreman. They
went to arm themselves, and then sallied quietly out of one of the
gates, taking with them three hundred archers, who shot so well,
that those who guarded the machine fled, and the men at arms,
who followed the archers, falling upon them, slew the greater
part, and broke down and cut in pieces this large machine. They
then dashed in among the tents and huts, set fire to them, and
killed and wounded many of their enemies before the army was
in motion. After this they made a handsome retreat. When
the enemy were moimted and armed they galloped after them
like madmen.
"Sir Walter Manny, seeing this, exclaimed, *May I never be
embraced by my mistress and dear friend, if I enter castle or
fortress before I have unhorsed one of these gallopers.' He then
turned round, and pointed his spear toward the enemy, as did
the two brothers of Lande-Halle, le Haze de Brabant, Sir Yves de
Tresiquidi, Sir Galeran de Landreman, and many others, and
spitted the first coursers. Many legs were made to kick the air.
Some of their own party were also unhorsed. The conflict became
very serious, for rdnforcements were perpetually coming from the
camp ; and the English were obliged to retreat towards the castle,
which they did in good order until they came to the castle ditch ;
then the knights made a stand, until all their men were safely
returned. Many brilliant actions, captures, and rescues might
have been seen. Those of the town who had not been of the party
to destroy the large machine now issued forth, and, ranging them-
selves upon the banks of the ditch, made such good use of their
bows, that they forced the enemy to withdraw, killing many men
and horses. The chiefs of the army, perceiving they had the
worst of it, and that they were losing men to no purpose, sounded
a retreat, and made their men retire to the camp. As soon as
they were gone, the townsmen re-entered, and went each to his
quarters. The Coimtess of Montfort came down from the castle
to meet them, and with a most cheerful countenance, kissed Sir
Walter Manny, and all his companions, one after the other like a
noble and valiant dame."
In this manner the general chronicler goes on through his
long delightful ramble. After a while the chief combatants
close. Cressy is fought and Poictiers. The Black Prince,
that extremest bit of knightly royalty, fills the page. The
place of Sir Walter Manny is taken by the larger figure of
Sir John Chandos, and, on the other side, the usually un-
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CHAP, xxra FEUDALISM AND KNIGHTHOOD 571
fortunate but unconquerable Bertrand du Guesclin. Froissart
is at his best when he tells of the great expedition of the
Black Prince to restore the cruel Don Pedro of Castille to
the throne from which he had been expelled by that
picturesque bastard brother Henry, who had a poorer title
but a better right, by virtue of being fit to rule.
This whole expedition was — as we see it in Froissart —
neither politics nor war, but chivalry. What interest had
England, or Edward IH., or the Prince of Wales in Don
Pedro? None. He was a cruel tyrant, rightfully expelled.
The Prince of Wales would set him back upon his throne in
the interest of royal legitimacy, and because there offered a
brilliant opportunity for fame and plimder : the Black Prince
thought less of the latter than the Free Companies enlisted
imder his banner, and less than his own rapacious knights.
So in three divisions, headed by the most famous
knights and in a way generalled by Sir John Chandos, the
host passes through the kingdom of Navarre, and crosses the
Pyrenees. Then begin a series of exploits. Sir Thomas
Felton and a company set out just to dare and beard the
CastiUian army, and after entrancing feats of knight-errantry,
are all captured or slain. Much is the prince annoyed at this ;
but bears on, gladdened with the thought, often expressed,
that the bastard Henry is a bold and hardy knight, and is
advancing to give battle.
And true it was. One of Henry's counsellors explains
to him how easy it were to hem in the Black Prince in the
defiles, and starve him into a disastrous retreat. Perish the
thought! "By the soul of my father,^' answers King
Henry, "I have such a desire to see this prince, and to try
my strength with him, that we will never part without a
battle."
So the unnecessary and resultless battle of Navaretta
took place. Don Pedro, the cruel rightful king, was knighted,
with others, by the Prince of Wales before the fight. The
tried unflinching chivalry of England and Aquitaine con-
quered, although one division of King Henry's host had du
Guesclin at its head. That knight was captured; some-
how his star had a way of sinking before the steadier fortime
of Sir John Chandos, who was here du Guesclin's captor for a
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572 THE MEDIAEVAL MIND book iv
second time. King Henry, after valiant fitting, escaped.
Don Pedro was re-set upon his throne; and played false
with the Black Prince and his army, in the matter of pay.
The whole expedition turned back across the Pyrenees.
And not so long after, Henry bestirred himself, and the
tardily freed du Guesclin hurried again to aid him. This
time there was no Black Prince and Sir John Chandos ; and
Don Pedro was conquered and slain, and Henry was at last
firm upon his throne.
Could anjrthing have been more chivalric, more object-
less, and more absolutely lacking in result? It is a beautiful
story ; every one should refresh his childhood's memory of it
by reading Froissart's delightful pages. And then let him
also read at least the subsequent story of the death of Sir
John Chandos in a knightiy brush at arms; he, the really
wise and great leader, perishes through his personal rash
knighthood! It is a fine tale of the ending of an old and
mighty knight, the very flower of chivalry, as he was called.
So matters fare on through these Chronicles. All is
charming and interesting and picturesque; charming also
for the knights: great fame is won and fat ransoms paid
to recoup knightiy fortunes. Now and then — all too
f requentiy, alas ! and the only pity of it aU ! — some brave
knight has the mishap to lose his life ! That is to say, the
only pity of it from the point of view of good Sir John.
But we can see further horrors in this picture of chivalry's
actualities : we see King Edward pillage, devastate, destroy
France ; ^ we see the awful outcome of the general ruin in
the rising of the vile, unhappy peasants, the Jacquerie; then
in the indiscriminate slaughter and pillaging by the Free
Companies, no longer well employed by royalties; and
then we see the cruel treachery of many an incident
wrought out by such a flower of chivalry even as du
Guesclin.* Indeed all the horrors of ceaseless interminable
war are everywhere, and no more dreadful horror through
the whole story than the bloody sack of Limoges commanded
by that perfect knight, the Black Prince, himself stricken
with disease, and carried in a litter through the breach of
the walls into the town, and there reposing, assuaging his
1 Froissart, i. 210. * FioisBart, i. 220.
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CHAP, xxm FEUDALISM AND KNIGHTHOOD 573
cruel soul, while his men run hither and thither "slaying
men, women and children according to their orders." ^
But when King Edward was old, and the Prince of
Wales djdng with disease, the French and their partisans
gathered heart, and pressed back the English party with
successful captures and reprisals. Du Guesclin was made
Constable of France ; and there remained no English leader
who was his match. From this second period onwards, the
wars and slaughters and pillagings become more embittered,
more horrid and less relieved. The tone of everjrthing
is brutalized, and the good chronicler himself frequently
animadverts on the wanton destruction wrought, and the
frightful ruin. All is not as in the opening of the story,
which was so fascinating, so knightly and almost as purely
adventurous as the Arthurian romances — only that there
was less love of ladies and a disturbing dearth of forests