FOOTNOTES:

Maydon Mary that holy virgyneAnd Gabrielle gretynge hur with an Ave.[441]

People adorn their bodies as well as their houses; luxury in dress is carried to such an excess that Parliament finds it necessary to interfere, and forbids women of the lower classes to wear any furs except cat and rabbit.[442]Edward III. buys of master Paul de Monteflor gowns for the queen, in "stuffs from over the sea," to the enormous amount of 1,330 pounds. He himself wears a velvet waistcoat, on which he has caused golden pelicans to be embroidered by William Courtenay, a London embroiderer. He gives his mistress Alice Perrers 21,868 large pearls, and thirty ounces of smaller ones. His daughter Margaret receives from him two thousand pearls as a wedding present; he buys his sister Aliénor a gilded carriage, tapestried and embroidered, with cushions and curtains of silk, for which he pays one thousand pounds.[443]At that time one might for the same sum have bought a herd of sixteen hundred oxen.

The sense of beauty, together with a reverence for and a worship of it, was spreading among the nation whose thoughts shortly before used to run in quite different lines. Attention is paid to physical beauty, such as it had never received before. Men and women wear tight garments, showing the shape of the figure. In the verses he composed for his tomb at Canterbury, the Black Princemourns over "his beauty which has all gone." Richard II., while still alive, has graven on his tomb that he was "corpore procerus."[444]The taste of the English for finery becomes so well known, that to them is ascribed, even in France, the invention of new fashions. Recalling to his daughters, in order to teach them modesty, that "the deluge in the time of Noah happened for the pride and disguises of men, and mostly of women, who remodelled their shapes by means of gowns and attire," the Knight de la Tour Landry gives the English ladies the credit, or rather the discredit, of having invented the immeasurable head-dresses worn at that day. It is an evil sign; in that country people amuse themselves too much: "In England many there are that have been blamed, the report goes, I know not whether it is wrongly or rightly."[445]

Owing to the attention paid to physical beauty in England, sculptors now begin—a rare thing at that time—to have living models, and to copy the nude. In the abbey of Meaux, "Melsa," near Beverley, on the banks of the Humber, was seen in the fourteenth century a sight that would have been rather sought for by the banks of the Arno, under the indulgent sky of Italy. The abbot Hugh of Leven having ordered a new crucifix for theconvent chapel, the artist "had always a naked man under his eyes, and he strove to give to his crucifix the beauty of form of his model."[446]

One last trait may be added to the others: not only the beauty of live beings, but that also of inanimate things is felt and cared for, the beauty of landscapes, and of trees. In 1350-1 the Commons complain of the cutting down of the large trees overshadowing the houses, those large trees, dear already to English hearts, and point out in Parliament the loss of this beauty, the great "damage, loss, and blemish" that results from it for the dwellings.[447]

In nearly every respect, thus, the Englishman of to-day is formed, and receives his chief features, under the Angevin princes Edward III. and Richard II.: practical, adventurous, a lover of freedom, a great traveller, a wealthy merchant, an excellent sailor. We have had a glimpse of what he is; let us now listen to what he says.

FOOTNOTES:[384]"De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliæ," book iii. treatise ii. chap. xv. (Rolls, vol. ii. p. 385.) No fine if the defunct is English: "Pro Anglico vero et de quo constari possit quod Anglicus sit, non dabitur murdrum."[385]"Statutes of the Realm," 14 Ed. III. chap. 4.[386]"Si rex fuerit litteratus, talis est.... Forma juramenti si Rex non fuerit litteratus: Sire, voilez vous graunter et garder ... les leys et les custumes ... &c." "Statutes of the Realm,"sub anno1311, vol. i. p. 168.[387]"Rotuli Parliamentorum," vol. iii. p. 422; see below, p. 421.[388]Ralph Higden, "Polychronicon" (Rolls), vol. ii. p. 158. "Hæc quidem nativæ linguæ corruptio provenit hodie multum ex duobus quod videlicet pueri in scolis contra morem cæterarum nationum, a primo Normannorum adventu derelicto proprio vulgari, construere gallice compelluntur; item quod filii nobilium ab ipsis cunabulorum crepundiis ad gallicum idioma informantur. Quibus profecto rurales homines assimilari volentes ut per hoc spectabiliores videantur, francigenare satagunt omni nisu."[389]"A volume of Vocabularies, from the Xth to the XVth Century," ed. Thomas Wright, London, 1857, 4to, pp. 143 ff. See also P. Meyer, "Romania," vol. xiii. p. 502.[390]Vus avet la levere et le levereE la livere et le livere.La levere si enclost les dens;Le levre en boys se tent dedens,La livere sert en marchaundye,Le livere sert en seynt eglise.[391]Apostrophe of judge John de Moubray, Easter session, 44 Ed. III., "Year-books of Edward I.," ed. Horwood (Rolls), 1863 ff., vol. i. p. xxxi. Judge Hengham interrupts a counsel, saying: "Do not interpret the statute in your own way; we know it better than you, for we made it."—"Ne glosez point le statut; nous le savoms meuz de vous, qar nous le feimes."Ibid.[392]"Grosso modo et idiomate quocunque communiter intelligibili factum proponant." "Munimenta Academica" (Rolls), p. 77.[393]"Pur ce qe monstré est souventefoitz au Roi par prélatz, ducs, counts, barons et toute la commune, les grantz meschiefs qe sont advenuz as plusours du realme de ce qe les leyes, custumes et estatutz du dit realme ne sont pas conuz communément en mesme le realme, par cause q'ils sont pledez, monstrez et juggez en lange Franceis q'est trop desconue en dit realme, issint qe les gentz qi pledent ou sont empledez en les courtz le Roi et les courtz d'autres n'ont entendement ne conissance de ce q'est dit por eulx ne contre eulx par lour sergeantz et autres pledours...." that henceforth all plaids "soient pledetz, monstretz, defenduz, responduz, debatuz et juggez en la lange engleise; et q'ils soient entreez et enroullez en latin." 36 Ed. III., stat. i. chap. 15, "Statutes of the Realm." In spite of these arrangements, the accounts of the pleas continued to be transcribed in French into the "Year-books," of which several have been published in the collection of the Master of the Rolls. Writing about the year 1300, the author of the Mirror of Justice had still made choice of French as being the "language best understood by you and the common people."[394]"Chroniques," ed. Luce, vol. i. p. 306.[395]"Polychronicon" (Rolls), vol. ii. p. 159 (contains the Latin text of Higden and the English translation of Trevisa).[396]And I can no Frenche in feith · but of the ferthest ende of Norfolke."Visions," ed. Skeat, text B, passus v. line 239. The MS. DD 12.23 of the University Library, Cambridge, contains "a treatise on French conjugations." It does not furnish any useful information as regards the history of French conjugations; "it can only serve to show how great was the corruption of current French in England in the fourteenth century." P. Meyer, "Romania," vol. xv. p. 262.[397]The ambassadors are: "Thomas Swynford, miles, custos castri villæ Calisii et Nicholaus de Rysshetoun, utriusque juris professor." They admit that French is the language of treatises; but Latin was used by St. Jerome. They write to the duchess of Burgundy: "Et quamvis treugæ generales inter Angliam et Franciam per Dominos et Principes temporales, videlicet duces Lancastriæ et Eboraci necnon Buturiæ ac Burgundiæ, bonæ memoriæ, qui perfecte non intellexerunt latinum sicut Gallicum, de consensu eorumdem expresso, in Gallico fuerunt captæ et firmatæ, litteræ tamen missivæ ultro citroque transmissæ ... continue citra in Latino, tanquam idiomate communi et vulgari extiterunt formatæ; quæ omnia habemus parata ostendere, exemplo Beati Ieronimi...." In no wise touched by this example, the French reply in their own language, and the ambassadors, vexed, acknowledge the receipt of the letter in somewhat undiplomatic terms: "Vestras litteras scriptas in Gallico, nobis indoctis tanquam in idiomate Hebraico ... recipimus Calisii." "Royal and Historical Letters," ed. Hingeston, 1860 (Rolls), vol. i. pp. 357 and 397. A discussion of the same kind takes place, with the same result, under Louis XIV. See "A French Ambassador at the Court of Charles II.," p. 140.[398]"Doulz françois qu'est la plus bel et la plus gracious language et plus noble parler, après latin d'escole, qui soit ou monde, et de tous gens mieulx prisée et amée que nul autre.... Il peut bien comparer au parler des angels du ciel, pour la grant doulceur et biaultée d'icel." "La manière de Langage," composed in 1396, at Bury St. Edmund's, ed. Paul Meyer, "Revue Critique," vol. x. p. 382.[399]Middle of the fourteenth century, ed. Aungier, Camden Society, 1884, 4to.[400]As an example of a composition showing the parallelism of the two vocabularies in their crude state, one may take the treatise on Dreams (time of Edward II.), published by Wright and Halliwell, which begins with the characteristic words: "Her comensez a bok of Swevenyng." "Reliquiæ Antiquæ."[401]London, 1882.[402]See a list of such words in Earle, "Philology of the English Tongue," 5th edition, Oxford, 1892, 8vo, p. 84. On the disappearance of Anglo-Saxon proper names, and the substitution of Norman-French names, "William, Henry, Roger, Walter, Ralph, Richard, Gilbert, Robert," see Grant Allen, "Anglo-Saxon Britain," ch. xix., Anglo-Saxon Nomenclature.[403]"Troilus," iii. stanza 191.[404]Earle's "Philology of the English Tongue," 5th ed., Oxford, 1892, p. 379.[405]Ibid.p. 377.[406]See the series of the statutes ofProvisorsandPræmunire, and the renewals of the same (against presentations to benefices by the Pope and appeals to the Court of Rome), 25 Ed. III. st. 6; 27 Ed. III. st. 2; 3 Rich. II. chap. 3; 12 Rich. II. chap. 15; 13 Rich. II. st. 2, chap. 2; 16 Rich. II. chap. 5. All have for their object to restrict the action of the Holy See in England, conformably to the desire of the Commons, who protest against these appeals to the Roman Court, the consequences of which are "to undo and adnul the laws of the realm" (25 Ed. III. 1350-1), and who also protest against "the Court of Rome which ought to be the fountain-head, root, and source of holiness," and which from coveteousness has assumed the right of presenting to numberless benefices in England, so much so that the taxes collected for the Pope on this account "amount to five times as much as what the king gets from all his kingdom each year." Good Parliament of 1376, "Rotuli Parliamentorum," vol. ii. p. 337; see below, p. 419.[407]Year 1340, 14 Ed. III., "Rotuli Parliamentorum," vol. ii. p. 104.[408]"Sicut lex justissima, provida circumspectione sacrorum principum stabilita, hortatur et statuit ut quod omnes tangit ab omnibus approbetur...." Rymer, "Fœdera," 1705, vol. ii. p. 689. This Roman maxim was known and appealed to, but not acted upon in France. See Commines, "Mémoires," book v. chap. xix.[409]"For some folks," says he, "might say and make the people believe things that were not true." By some folks, "acuns gentz," he means Bohun and Bigod. Proclamation of 1297, in Rymer, "Fœdera", 1705, vol. ii. p. 783.[410]Rymer, "Fœdera," 1705, vol. ii. p. 783, year 1297; original in French.[411]"Monsieur Thomas de Hungerford, chivaler, qui avoit les paroles pour les Communes d'Engleterre en cest Parlement." Parliament of 1376-7, 51 Ed. III. "Rotuli," vol. ii. p. 374.[412]Examples: that the deputies of the counties "soient esluz par commune élection de les meillours gentz des dity countées et nemye certifiez par le viscont (sheriff) soul, saunz due élection." Good Parliament of 1376.—Petition that the sheriffs shall not be able to stand for the counties while they continue in office, 1372, 46 Ed. III., "Rotuli Parliamentorum," vol. ii. p. 310; that no representative "ne soit viscont ou autre ministre," 13 Ed. III., year 1339.—Petition of the members of Parliament to be allowed to return and consult their constituents: "Ils n'oseront assentir tant qu'ils eussent conseillez et avysez les communes de lour pais." 1339, "Rot. Parl.", vol. ii. p. 104; see below, p. 418.[413]"Return of the names of every member returned to serve in each Parliament," London, 1878, fol. (a Blue Book).—There is no doubt in several cases that by such descriptions was meant theactualprofession of the member. Ex.: "Johannes Kent, mercer," p. 217.[414]"Rot. Parl.," vol. ii. p. 262.[415]Petition of the "poverail" of Greenwich and Lewisham on whom alms are no longer bestowed (onemaillea week to every beggar that came) to the "grant damage des poores entour, et des almes les fondours que sont en Purgatorie." 4 Ed. III. "Rotuli Parliamentorum," vol. ii. p. 49.[416]4 Ed. III., "Rotuli Parliamentorum," vol. ii. p. 33.[417]Good Parliament of 1376.[418]The Commons had been bold enough to complain of the expenses of the king and of the too great number of prelates and ladies he supported: "de la multitude d'Evesques qui ont seigneuries et sont avancez par le Roy et leur meignée; et aussi de pluseurs dames et leur meignée qui demuront en l'ostel du Roy et sont à ses costages." Richard replies in an angry manner that he "voet avoir sa régalie et la libertée roiale de sa corone," as heir to the throne of England "del doun de Dieu." 1397, "Rotuli Parliamentorum," vol. iii. p. 339. The Commons say nothing more, but they mark the words, to remember them in due time.[419]"Dixit expresse, velut austero et protervo, quod leges sue erant in ore suo et aliquotiens in pectore suo. Et quod ipse solus posset mutare et condere leges regni sui." "Rotuli Parliamentorum," vol. iii. p. 419.[420]Chéruel, "Dictionnaire des Institutions de la France," at the wordParlement. As early as the thirteenth century, Bracton, in England, declared that "laws bound the legislator," and that the king ought to obey them; his theory, however, is less bold than the one according to which the Commons act in the fourteenth century: "Dicitur enim rex," Bracton observes, "a bene regendo et non a regnando, quia rex est dum bene regit, tyrannus dum populum sibi creditum violenter opprimit dominatione. Temperet igitur potentiam suam per legem quæ frenum est potentiæ, quod secundum leges vivat, quod hoc sanxit lex humana quod leges suum ligent latorem." "De Legibus," 3rd part chap. ix.[421]"Chroniques," ed. S. Luce, i. p. 337.[422]"Mémoires," ed. Dupont, Société de l'histoire de France, 1840 ff., vol. ii. p. 142,sub anno, 1477.[423]Unpublished letter to M. de Lionne, from London, July 6, 1665, Archives of the Affaires Étrangères, vol. lxxxvi.[424]"Esprit des Lois," vol. xx. chap. vii., "Esprit de l'Angleterre sur le Commerce."[425]A. Sorel, "l'Europe et la Révolution Française," vol. i. p. 337.[426]Parliament reverts at different times to these mines in the fourteenth century: "Come en diverses parties deinz le Roialme d'Engleterre sont diverses miners des carbons, dont les Communes du dit partie ont lour sustenantz en grande partie...." 51 Ed. III., "Rotuli Parliamentorum."[427]46 Ed. III., "Rotuli Parliamentorum," vol. ii. p. 311. The king returns a vague answer. See below, pp. 515, 517.[428]"They travaile in every londe," says Gower of them, in his "Confessio Amantis," ed. Pauli, vol. iii. p. 109.[429]"Joannes Acutus, eques Britannicus (John Hawkwood) ... rei militaris peritissimus ... Pauli Vccelli opus," inscription on the "grisaille," painted by Uccello, in the fifteenth century, in memory of Hawkwood, who died in the pay of Florence, in 1394. He was the son of a tanner, and was born in Essex; the Corporation of Tailors claimed that he had started in life among them; popular tales were written about him: "The honour of the Taylors, or the famous and renowned history of Sir John Hawkwood, knight, containing his ... adventures ... relating to love and arms," London, 1687, 4to. The painting by Uccello has been removed from the choir, transferred on canvas and placed against the wall at the entrance of the cathedral at Florence.[430]"Polychronicon," ed. Babington, Rolls, vol. ii. pp. 166, 168.[431]The most brilliant specimens of the paintings of the time were, in England, those to be seen in St. Stephen's chapel in the palace of Westminster. It was finished about 1348, and painted afterwards. The chief architect was Thomas of Canterbury, master mason; the principal painters (judging by the highest salaries) were Hugh of St. Albans and John Cotton ("Fœdera," 1705, vol. v. p. 670; vi. 417). This chapel was burnt in our century with the rest of the Houses of Parliament; nothing remains but the crypt; fragments of the paintings have been saved, and are preserved in the British Museum. They represent the story of Job. The smiling aspect of the personages should be noted, especially that of the women; there is a look of happiness about them.[432]See the jewels and other valuables enumerated in the English wills of the fourteenth century: "A collection of ... wills," London, Nichols, 1780, 4to, pp. 37, 50, 112, 113, and in "The ancient Kalendars and Inventories of the Treasury," ed. Palgrave, London, 1836, 3 vols. 8vo, Chess-table of Edward III., vol. iii. p. 173.Cf.for France, "Inventaire du mobilier de Charles V.," ed. Labarte ("Documents inédits"), 1879, 4to.[433]Edward III. buys of Isabella of Lancaster, a nun of Aumbresbury, a manuscript romance that he keeps always in his room, for the price of 66l.13s.and 4d.for (at that time the price of an ox was about twelve shillings). For the young Richard were bought two volumes, one containing the Romaunt of the Rose, the other the Romances of Perceval and Gawain; the price paid for them, and for a Bible besides being 28l.("Issues of the Exchequer," ed. Devon, 1837, pp. 144, 213). On English miniaturists, see "Histoire Littéraire de la France," xxxi. p. 281.[434]More than forty for the reign of Edward II. are to be found in the "Fœdera."[435]"Et si y avoit pluiseurs des seigneurs et des riches hommes qui avoient leurs chiens et leurs oizins ossi bien comme li rois leurs sirs." Campaign of 1360, ed. Luce, book i. chap. 83.[436]Born at Wykeham, Hampshire, 1324, of an obscure family (whence his famous motto, "Manners makyth man," that is to say, moral qualities alone make a man of worth), clerk of the king's works in 1356, present at the peace of Brétigny, bishop of Winchester 1366, Chancellor in 1367, and again under Richard II. He died at eighty-four years of age, under Henry IV. The list of his benefices (Oct., 1366) fills more than four pages in Lowth ("Life of W. of Wykeham," Oxford, 1777, pp. 28 ff.). Froissart notes the immense influence which "Wican" had in the State.[437]Built almost entirely by Bishop Gower, 1328-47, the "Wykeham of Saint David's." "History and Antiquities of St. David's," by Jones and Freeman, London, 1856, 4to, pp. 189 ff. There now remain only ruins, but they are among the most beautiful that can be seen.[438]Now hath uche riche a reule · to eten by hym-selveIn a pryve parloure · for pore mennes sake,Or in a chambre with a chymneye · and leve the chief halle,That was made for meles · men te eten inne."Visions Concerning Piers Plowman" (ed. Skeat), text B, passus x. line 96.[439]For this tapestry the king paid thirty pounds to Thomas de Hebenhith, mercer of London. ("Wardrobe accounts of Edward II."—"Archæologia," vol. xxvi. p. 344.)[440]Will of the Black Prince, in Nichols, "A Collection of Wills," London, 1780, 4to; inventory of the books of Falstofe (who died under Henry VI.), "Archæologia," vol. xxi. p. 232; in one single castle belonging to him, that of Caister near Yarmouth, were found after his death 13,400 ounces of silver. Already, in the thirteenth century, Henry III., who had a passion for art, had caused to be painted in his chamber in the Tower the history of Antioch (3rd crusade), and in his palace of Clarendon that "Pas de Saladin" which was the subject of one of the Black Prince's tapestries; he had a painting of Jesse on the mantelpiece of his chimney at Westminster. (Hardy, "A description of the close rolls in the Tower," London, 1833, 8vo, p. 179, and Devon, "Issues of the Exchequer," 1837, p. 64.) He was so fond of the painting executed for him at Clarendon, that he ordered it to be covered with a linen cloth in his absence, so that it would not get injured. In the fourteenth century the walls were hung instead of being painted, as in the thirteenth; rich people had "salles"—that is to say, suits of hangings for a room. Common ones were made at Norwich; the finest came from Flanders.[441]These recipes and counsels are found in: "The forme of Cury, a roll of ancient English cookery compiled abouta.d.1390, by the master-cook of King Richard II.," ed. Pegge, London, 1780, 8vo (found too in the "Antiquitates Culinariæ," of Warner, 1791, 4to). The prologue informs us that this master-cook of Richard's had been guided by principle, and that the book "was compiled by assent and avysement of maisters [of] phisik and of philosophie that dwellid in his court."—"The boke of Nurture folowyng Englondis gise by me John Russell," ed. Furnivall, Early English Text Society, 1868, 8vo. Russell was marshal of the hall to Humphrey, duke of Gloucester; he wrote when he was old, in the first part of the fifteenth century; as he claims to teach the traditions and good manners of former times, it must be supposed the customs he describes date from the reign of Richard II. See below, p. 515.[442]Year 1363. The "aignel" and the "gopil" are, however, tolerated. "Rotuli Parliamentorum," vol. ii. p. 281.[443]"Issues of the Exchequer," ed. Devon, 1837, pp. 142, 147, 189, 209, 6 Ed. III. Richard II. pays 400 pounds for a carriage for the queen, and for a simple cart 2 pounds only.Ibid., pp. 236 and 263.[444]The verses of the Black Prince (below, page 353) are found in his will, together with minute details concerning the carvings with which his tomb must be adorned, and the manner he wishes to be represented on it, "tout armez de fier de guerre." Stanley, "Historical Memorials of Canterbury," 1885, p. 132. The tomb of Richard II. at Westminster was built in his lifetime and under his eyes. The original indentures have been preserved, by which "Nicholas Broker et Godfrey Prest, citeins et copersmythes de Loundres" agree to have the statues of Richard and Anne made, such as they are seen to day with "escriptures en tour la dite toumbe," April 14, 1395. Another contract concerns the marble masonry; both are in the Record Office, "Exchequer Treasury of the recipt," "Miscellanea," 3/40.[445]"Le livre du chevalier de la Tour Landry pour l'enseignement de ses filles," ed. Montaiglon, Paris, 1854, 12mo, pp. 46 and 98, written in 1371.[446]"Et hominem nudum coram se stantem prospexit, secundum cujus formosam imaginem crucifixum ipsum aptius decoraret." "Chronica monasterii de Melsa," ed. Bond, Rolls, 1868, vol. iii. p. 35. Hugh of Leven, who ordered this crucifix, was abbot from 1339 to 1349. Thomas of Burton, author of the chronicle, compiled it at the end of the fourteenth century.[447]The Commons point out that, as the royal purveyors "abatent et ount abatuz les arbres cressauntz entour les mansions des gentz de ladite commune, en grant damage, gast et blemissement de lour mansions, qe plese à Nostre Seigneur le Roi que desoremes tiels arbres ne seront copés ne pris en contre la volonté des seigneurs des ditz mansions."Answer: "Il semble au conseil qe ceste petition est resonable." "Rotuli Parliamentorum," 25 Ed. III., vol. ii. p. 250.

[384]"De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliæ," book iii. treatise ii. chap. xv. (Rolls, vol. ii. p. 385.) No fine if the defunct is English: "Pro Anglico vero et de quo constari possit quod Anglicus sit, non dabitur murdrum."

[385]"Statutes of the Realm," 14 Ed. III. chap. 4.

[386]"Si rex fuerit litteratus, talis est.... Forma juramenti si Rex non fuerit litteratus: Sire, voilez vous graunter et garder ... les leys et les custumes ... &c." "Statutes of the Realm,"sub anno1311, vol. i. p. 168.

[387]"Rotuli Parliamentorum," vol. iii. p. 422; see below, p. 421.

[388]Ralph Higden, "Polychronicon" (Rolls), vol. ii. p. 158. "Hæc quidem nativæ linguæ corruptio provenit hodie multum ex duobus quod videlicet pueri in scolis contra morem cæterarum nationum, a primo Normannorum adventu derelicto proprio vulgari, construere gallice compelluntur; item quod filii nobilium ab ipsis cunabulorum crepundiis ad gallicum idioma informantur. Quibus profecto rurales homines assimilari volentes ut per hoc spectabiliores videantur, francigenare satagunt omni nisu."

[389]"A volume of Vocabularies, from the Xth to the XVth Century," ed. Thomas Wright, London, 1857, 4to, pp. 143 ff. See also P. Meyer, "Romania," vol. xiii. p. 502.

[390]Vus avet la levere et le levereE la livere et le livere.La levere si enclost les dens;Le levre en boys se tent dedens,La livere sert en marchaundye,Le livere sert en seynt eglise.

[390]

Vus avet la levere et le levereE la livere et le livere.La levere si enclost les dens;Le levre en boys se tent dedens,La livere sert en marchaundye,Le livere sert en seynt eglise.

[391]Apostrophe of judge John de Moubray, Easter session, 44 Ed. III., "Year-books of Edward I.," ed. Horwood (Rolls), 1863 ff., vol. i. p. xxxi. Judge Hengham interrupts a counsel, saying: "Do not interpret the statute in your own way; we know it better than you, for we made it."—"Ne glosez point le statut; nous le savoms meuz de vous, qar nous le feimes."Ibid.

[392]"Grosso modo et idiomate quocunque communiter intelligibili factum proponant." "Munimenta Academica" (Rolls), p. 77.

[393]"Pur ce qe monstré est souventefoitz au Roi par prélatz, ducs, counts, barons et toute la commune, les grantz meschiefs qe sont advenuz as plusours du realme de ce qe les leyes, custumes et estatutz du dit realme ne sont pas conuz communément en mesme le realme, par cause q'ils sont pledez, monstrez et juggez en lange Franceis q'est trop desconue en dit realme, issint qe les gentz qi pledent ou sont empledez en les courtz le Roi et les courtz d'autres n'ont entendement ne conissance de ce q'est dit por eulx ne contre eulx par lour sergeantz et autres pledours...." that henceforth all plaids "soient pledetz, monstretz, defenduz, responduz, debatuz et juggez en la lange engleise; et q'ils soient entreez et enroullez en latin." 36 Ed. III., stat. i. chap. 15, "Statutes of the Realm." In spite of these arrangements, the accounts of the pleas continued to be transcribed in French into the "Year-books," of which several have been published in the collection of the Master of the Rolls. Writing about the year 1300, the author of the Mirror of Justice had still made choice of French as being the "language best understood by you and the common people."

[394]"Chroniques," ed. Luce, vol. i. p. 306.

[395]"Polychronicon" (Rolls), vol. ii. p. 159 (contains the Latin text of Higden and the English translation of Trevisa).

[396]And I can no Frenche in feith · but of the ferthest ende of Norfolke."Visions," ed. Skeat, text B, passus v. line 239. The MS. DD 12.23 of the University Library, Cambridge, contains "a treatise on French conjugations." It does not furnish any useful information as regards the history of French conjugations; "it can only serve to show how great was the corruption of current French in England in the fourteenth century." P. Meyer, "Romania," vol. xv. p. 262.

[396]

And I can no Frenche in feith · but of the ferthest ende of Norfolke.

"Visions," ed. Skeat, text B, passus v. line 239. The MS. DD 12.23 of the University Library, Cambridge, contains "a treatise on French conjugations." It does not furnish any useful information as regards the history of French conjugations; "it can only serve to show how great was the corruption of current French in England in the fourteenth century." P. Meyer, "Romania," vol. xv. p. 262.

[397]The ambassadors are: "Thomas Swynford, miles, custos castri villæ Calisii et Nicholaus de Rysshetoun, utriusque juris professor." They admit that French is the language of treatises; but Latin was used by St. Jerome. They write to the duchess of Burgundy: "Et quamvis treugæ generales inter Angliam et Franciam per Dominos et Principes temporales, videlicet duces Lancastriæ et Eboraci necnon Buturiæ ac Burgundiæ, bonæ memoriæ, qui perfecte non intellexerunt latinum sicut Gallicum, de consensu eorumdem expresso, in Gallico fuerunt captæ et firmatæ, litteræ tamen missivæ ultro citroque transmissæ ... continue citra in Latino, tanquam idiomate communi et vulgari extiterunt formatæ; quæ omnia habemus parata ostendere, exemplo Beati Ieronimi...." In no wise touched by this example, the French reply in their own language, and the ambassadors, vexed, acknowledge the receipt of the letter in somewhat undiplomatic terms: "Vestras litteras scriptas in Gallico, nobis indoctis tanquam in idiomate Hebraico ... recipimus Calisii." "Royal and Historical Letters," ed. Hingeston, 1860 (Rolls), vol. i. pp. 357 and 397. A discussion of the same kind takes place, with the same result, under Louis XIV. See "A French Ambassador at the Court of Charles II.," p. 140.

[398]"Doulz françois qu'est la plus bel et la plus gracious language et plus noble parler, après latin d'escole, qui soit ou monde, et de tous gens mieulx prisée et amée que nul autre.... Il peut bien comparer au parler des angels du ciel, pour la grant doulceur et biaultée d'icel." "La manière de Langage," composed in 1396, at Bury St. Edmund's, ed. Paul Meyer, "Revue Critique," vol. x. p. 382.

[399]Middle of the fourteenth century, ed. Aungier, Camden Society, 1884, 4to.

[400]As an example of a composition showing the parallelism of the two vocabularies in their crude state, one may take the treatise on Dreams (time of Edward II.), published by Wright and Halliwell, which begins with the characteristic words: "Her comensez a bok of Swevenyng." "Reliquiæ Antiquæ."

[401]London, 1882.

[402]See a list of such words in Earle, "Philology of the English Tongue," 5th edition, Oxford, 1892, 8vo, p. 84. On the disappearance of Anglo-Saxon proper names, and the substitution of Norman-French names, "William, Henry, Roger, Walter, Ralph, Richard, Gilbert, Robert," see Grant Allen, "Anglo-Saxon Britain," ch. xix., Anglo-Saxon Nomenclature.

[403]"Troilus," iii. stanza 191.

[404]Earle's "Philology of the English Tongue," 5th ed., Oxford, 1892, p. 379.

[405]Ibid.p. 377.

[406]See the series of the statutes ofProvisorsandPræmunire, and the renewals of the same (against presentations to benefices by the Pope and appeals to the Court of Rome), 25 Ed. III. st. 6; 27 Ed. III. st. 2; 3 Rich. II. chap. 3; 12 Rich. II. chap. 15; 13 Rich. II. st. 2, chap. 2; 16 Rich. II. chap. 5. All have for their object to restrict the action of the Holy See in England, conformably to the desire of the Commons, who protest against these appeals to the Roman Court, the consequences of which are "to undo and adnul the laws of the realm" (25 Ed. III. 1350-1), and who also protest against "the Court of Rome which ought to be the fountain-head, root, and source of holiness," and which from coveteousness has assumed the right of presenting to numberless benefices in England, so much so that the taxes collected for the Pope on this account "amount to five times as much as what the king gets from all his kingdom each year." Good Parliament of 1376, "Rotuli Parliamentorum," vol. ii. p. 337; see below, p. 419.

[407]Year 1340, 14 Ed. III., "Rotuli Parliamentorum," vol. ii. p. 104.

[408]"Sicut lex justissima, provida circumspectione sacrorum principum stabilita, hortatur et statuit ut quod omnes tangit ab omnibus approbetur...." Rymer, "Fœdera," 1705, vol. ii. p. 689. This Roman maxim was known and appealed to, but not acted upon in France. See Commines, "Mémoires," book v. chap. xix.

[409]"For some folks," says he, "might say and make the people believe things that were not true." By some folks, "acuns gentz," he means Bohun and Bigod. Proclamation of 1297, in Rymer, "Fœdera", 1705, vol. ii. p. 783.

[410]Rymer, "Fœdera," 1705, vol. ii. p. 783, year 1297; original in French.

[411]"Monsieur Thomas de Hungerford, chivaler, qui avoit les paroles pour les Communes d'Engleterre en cest Parlement." Parliament of 1376-7, 51 Ed. III. "Rotuli," vol. ii. p. 374.

[412]Examples: that the deputies of the counties "soient esluz par commune élection de les meillours gentz des dity countées et nemye certifiez par le viscont (sheriff) soul, saunz due élection." Good Parliament of 1376.—Petition that the sheriffs shall not be able to stand for the counties while they continue in office, 1372, 46 Ed. III., "Rotuli Parliamentorum," vol. ii. p. 310; that no representative "ne soit viscont ou autre ministre," 13 Ed. III., year 1339.—Petition of the members of Parliament to be allowed to return and consult their constituents: "Ils n'oseront assentir tant qu'ils eussent conseillez et avysez les communes de lour pais." 1339, "Rot. Parl.", vol. ii. p. 104; see below, p. 418.

[413]"Return of the names of every member returned to serve in each Parliament," London, 1878, fol. (a Blue Book).—There is no doubt in several cases that by such descriptions was meant theactualprofession of the member. Ex.: "Johannes Kent, mercer," p. 217.

[414]"Rot. Parl.," vol. ii. p. 262.

[415]Petition of the "poverail" of Greenwich and Lewisham on whom alms are no longer bestowed (onemaillea week to every beggar that came) to the "grant damage des poores entour, et des almes les fondours que sont en Purgatorie." 4 Ed. III. "Rotuli Parliamentorum," vol. ii. p. 49.

[416]4 Ed. III., "Rotuli Parliamentorum," vol. ii. p. 33.

[417]Good Parliament of 1376.

[418]The Commons had been bold enough to complain of the expenses of the king and of the too great number of prelates and ladies he supported: "de la multitude d'Evesques qui ont seigneuries et sont avancez par le Roy et leur meignée; et aussi de pluseurs dames et leur meignée qui demuront en l'ostel du Roy et sont à ses costages." Richard replies in an angry manner that he "voet avoir sa régalie et la libertée roiale de sa corone," as heir to the throne of England "del doun de Dieu." 1397, "Rotuli Parliamentorum," vol. iii. p. 339. The Commons say nothing more, but they mark the words, to remember them in due time.

[419]"Dixit expresse, velut austero et protervo, quod leges sue erant in ore suo et aliquotiens in pectore suo. Et quod ipse solus posset mutare et condere leges regni sui." "Rotuli Parliamentorum," vol. iii. p. 419.

[420]Chéruel, "Dictionnaire des Institutions de la France," at the wordParlement. As early as the thirteenth century, Bracton, in England, declared that "laws bound the legislator," and that the king ought to obey them; his theory, however, is less bold than the one according to which the Commons act in the fourteenth century: "Dicitur enim rex," Bracton observes, "a bene regendo et non a regnando, quia rex est dum bene regit, tyrannus dum populum sibi creditum violenter opprimit dominatione. Temperet igitur potentiam suam per legem quæ frenum est potentiæ, quod secundum leges vivat, quod hoc sanxit lex humana quod leges suum ligent latorem." "De Legibus," 3rd part chap. ix.

[421]"Chroniques," ed. S. Luce, i. p. 337.

[422]"Mémoires," ed. Dupont, Société de l'histoire de France, 1840 ff., vol. ii. p. 142,sub anno, 1477.

[423]Unpublished letter to M. de Lionne, from London, July 6, 1665, Archives of the Affaires Étrangères, vol. lxxxvi.

[424]"Esprit des Lois," vol. xx. chap. vii., "Esprit de l'Angleterre sur le Commerce."

[425]A. Sorel, "l'Europe et la Révolution Française," vol. i. p. 337.

[426]Parliament reverts at different times to these mines in the fourteenth century: "Come en diverses parties deinz le Roialme d'Engleterre sont diverses miners des carbons, dont les Communes du dit partie ont lour sustenantz en grande partie...." 51 Ed. III., "Rotuli Parliamentorum."

[427]46 Ed. III., "Rotuli Parliamentorum," vol. ii. p. 311. The king returns a vague answer. See below, pp. 515, 517.

[428]"They travaile in every londe," says Gower of them, in his "Confessio Amantis," ed. Pauli, vol. iii. p. 109.

[429]"Joannes Acutus, eques Britannicus (John Hawkwood) ... rei militaris peritissimus ... Pauli Vccelli opus," inscription on the "grisaille," painted by Uccello, in the fifteenth century, in memory of Hawkwood, who died in the pay of Florence, in 1394. He was the son of a tanner, and was born in Essex; the Corporation of Tailors claimed that he had started in life among them; popular tales were written about him: "The honour of the Taylors, or the famous and renowned history of Sir John Hawkwood, knight, containing his ... adventures ... relating to love and arms," London, 1687, 4to. The painting by Uccello has been removed from the choir, transferred on canvas and placed against the wall at the entrance of the cathedral at Florence.

[430]"Polychronicon," ed. Babington, Rolls, vol. ii. pp. 166, 168.

[431]The most brilliant specimens of the paintings of the time were, in England, those to be seen in St. Stephen's chapel in the palace of Westminster. It was finished about 1348, and painted afterwards. The chief architect was Thomas of Canterbury, master mason; the principal painters (judging by the highest salaries) were Hugh of St. Albans and John Cotton ("Fœdera," 1705, vol. v. p. 670; vi. 417). This chapel was burnt in our century with the rest of the Houses of Parliament; nothing remains but the crypt; fragments of the paintings have been saved, and are preserved in the British Museum. They represent the story of Job. The smiling aspect of the personages should be noted, especially that of the women; there is a look of happiness about them.

[432]See the jewels and other valuables enumerated in the English wills of the fourteenth century: "A collection of ... wills," London, Nichols, 1780, 4to, pp. 37, 50, 112, 113, and in "The ancient Kalendars and Inventories of the Treasury," ed. Palgrave, London, 1836, 3 vols. 8vo, Chess-table of Edward III., vol. iii. p. 173.Cf.for France, "Inventaire du mobilier de Charles V.," ed. Labarte ("Documents inédits"), 1879, 4to.

[433]Edward III. buys of Isabella of Lancaster, a nun of Aumbresbury, a manuscript romance that he keeps always in his room, for the price of 66l.13s.and 4d.for (at that time the price of an ox was about twelve shillings). For the young Richard were bought two volumes, one containing the Romaunt of the Rose, the other the Romances of Perceval and Gawain; the price paid for them, and for a Bible besides being 28l.("Issues of the Exchequer," ed. Devon, 1837, pp. 144, 213). On English miniaturists, see "Histoire Littéraire de la France," xxxi. p. 281.

[434]More than forty for the reign of Edward II. are to be found in the "Fœdera."

[435]"Et si y avoit pluiseurs des seigneurs et des riches hommes qui avoient leurs chiens et leurs oizins ossi bien comme li rois leurs sirs." Campaign of 1360, ed. Luce, book i. chap. 83.

[436]Born at Wykeham, Hampshire, 1324, of an obscure family (whence his famous motto, "Manners makyth man," that is to say, moral qualities alone make a man of worth), clerk of the king's works in 1356, present at the peace of Brétigny, bishop of Winchester 1366, Chancellor in 1367, and again under Richard II. He died at eighty-four years of age, under Henry IV. The list of his benefices (Oct., 1366) fills more than four pages in Lowth ("Life of W. of Wykeham," Oxford, 1777, pp. 28 ff.). Froissart notes the immense influence which "Wican" had in the State.

[437]Built almost entirely by Bishop Gower, 1328-47, the "Wykeham of Saint David's." "History and Antiquities of St. David's," by Jones and Freeman, London, 1856, 4to, pp. 189 ff. There now remain only ruins, but they are among the most beautiful that can be seen.

[438]Now hath uche riche a reule · to eten by hym-selveIn a pryve parloure · for pore mennes sake,Or in a chambre with a chymneye · and leve the chief halle,That was made for meles · men te eten inne."Visions Concerning Piers Plowman" (ed. Skeat), text B, passus x. line 96.

[438]

Now hath uche riche a reule · to eten by hym-selveIn a pryve parloure · for pore mennes sake,Or in a chambre with a chymneye · and leve the chief halle,That was made for meles · men te eten inne.

"Visions Concerning Piers Plowman" (ed. Skeat), text B, passus x. line 96.

[439]For this tapestry the king paid thirty pounds to Thomas de Hebenhith, mercer of London. ("Wardrobe accounts of Edward II."—"Archæologia," vol. xxvi. p. 344.)

[440]Will of the Black Prince, in Nichols, "A Collection of Wills," London, 1780, 4to; inventory of the books of Falstofe (who died under Henry VI.), "Archæologia," vol. xxi. p. 232; in one single castle belonging to him, that of Caister near Yarmouth, were found after his death 13,400 ounces of silver. Already, in the thirteenth century, Henry III., who had a passion for art, had caused to be painted in his chamber in the Tower the history of Antioch (3rd crusade), and in his palace of Clarendon that "Pas de Saladin" which was the subject of one of the Black Prince's tapestries; he had a painting of Jesse on the mantelpiece of his chimney at Westminster. (Hardy, "A description of the close rolls in the Tower," London, 1833, 8vo, p. 179, and Devon, "Issues of the Exchequer," 1837, p. 64.) He was so fond of the painting executed for him at Clarendon, that he ordered it to be covered with a linen cloth in his absence, so that it would not get injured. In the fourteenth century the walls were hung instead of being painted, as in the thirteenth; rich people had "salles"—that is to say, suits of hangings for a room. Common ones were made at Norwich; the finest came from Flanders.

[441]These recipes and counsels are found in: "The forme of Cury, a roll of ancient English cookery compiled abouta.d.1390, by the master-cook of King Richard II.," ed. Pegge, London, 1780, 8vo (found too in the "Antiquitates Culinariæ," of Warner, 1791, 4to). The prologue informs us that this master-cook of Richard's had been guided by principle, and that the book "was compiled by assent and avysement of maisters [of] phisik and of philosophie that dwellid in his court."—"The boke of Nurture folowyng Englondis gise by me John Russell," ed. Furnivall, Early English Text Society, 1868, 8vo. Russell was marshal of the hall to Humphrey, duke of Gloucester; he wrote when he was old, in the first part of the fifteenth century; as he claims to teach the traditions and good manners of former times, it must be supposed the customs he describes date from the reign of Richard II. See below, p. 515.

[442]Year 1363. The "aignel" and the "gopil" are, however, tolerated. "Rotuli Parliamentorum," vol. ii. p. 281.

[443]"Issues of the Exchequer," ed. Devon, 1837, pp. 142, 147, 189, 209, 6 Ed. III. Richard II. pays 400 pounds for a carriage for the queen, and for a simple cart 2 pounds only.Ibid., pp. 236 and 263.

[444]The verses of the Black Prince (below, page 353) are found in his will, together with minute details concerning the carvings with which his tomb must be adorned, and the manner he wishes to be represented on it, "tout armez de fier de guerre." Stanley, "Historical Memorials of Canterbury," 1885, p. 132. The tomb of Richard II. at Westminster was built in his lifetime and under his eyes. The original indentures have been preserved, by which "Nicholas Broker et Godfrey Prest, citeins et copersmythes de Loundres" agree to have the statues of Richard and Anne made, such as they are seen to day with "escriptures en tour la dite toumbe," April 14, 1395. Another contract concerns the marble masonry; both are in the Record Office, "Exchequer Treasury of the recipt," "Miscellanea," 3/40.

[445]"Le livre du chevalier de la Tour Landry pour l'enseignement de ses filles," ed. Montaiglon, Paris, 1854, 12mo, pp. 46 and 98, written in 1371.

[446]"Et hominem nudum coram se stantem prospexit, secundum cujus formosam imaginem crucifixum ipsum aptius decoraret." "Chronica monasterii de Melsa," ed. Bond, Rolls, 1868, vol. iii. p. 35. Hugh of Leven, who ordered this crucifix, was abbot from 1339 to 1349. Thomas of Burton, author of the chronicle, compiled it at the end of the fourteenth century.

[447]The Commons point out that, as the royal purveyors "abatent et ount abatuz les arbres cressauntz entour les mansions des gentz de ladite commune, en grant damage, gast et blemissement de lour mansions, qe plese à Nostre Seigneur le Roi que desoremes tiels arbres ne seront copés ne pris en contre la volonté des seigneurs des ditz mansions."Answer: "Il semble au conseil qe ceste petition est resonable." "Rotuli Parliamentorum," 25 Ed. III., vol. ii. p. 250.

Answer: "Il semble au conseil qe ceste petition est resonable." "Rotuli Parliamentorum," 25 Ed. III., vol. ii. p. 250.

CHAPTER II.

CHAUCER.

The new nation had its poet, Geoffrey Chaucer. By his origin, his education, his tastes, his manner of life, as well as by his writings, Chaucer represents the new age; he paints it from nature, and is a part of it. His biography is scarcely less characteristic than his works, for he describes nothing through hearsay or imagination. He is himself an actor in the scenes he depicts; he does not dream, he sees them.

His history is a sort of reduction of that of the English people at that day. They are enriched by trade, and Chaucer, the son of merchants, grows up among them. The English people no longer repair to Paris in order to study, and Chaucer does not go either; their king wages war in France, and Chaucer follows Edward along the military roads of that country; they put more and more trust in Parliament, and Chaucer sits in Parliament as member for Kent. They take an interest in things of beauty, they are fond of the arts, and want them to be all aglow with ornamentation and bright with smiles; Chaucer is clerk of the king's works, and superintends the repairs and embellishments of the royal palaces. Saxon monotony, the sadness that followed after Hastings, are forgotten past memory; this new England knows how to laugh and also how to smile; she is a merry England, with bursts of joy,and also an England of legends, of sweet songs, and of merciful Madonnas. The England of laughter and the England of smiles are both in Chaucer's works.

Chaucer's life exactly fills the period we have now come to, during which the English people acquired their definitive characteristics: he was born under Edward III. and he died shortly after the accession of Henry of Lancaster. At that time Petrarch and Boccaccio were long since dead, France had no poet of renown, and Chaucer was without comparison the greatest poet of Europe.

His family belonged to the merchant class of the City. His father, John Chaucer, his uncle, Thomas Heyroun, and other relations besides, were members of the Corporation of Wine Merchants, or Vintners. John Chaucer was purveyor to the Court, and he accompanied Edward III. on his first expedition to the Continent: hence a connection with the royal family, by which the future poet was to profit. The Chaucers' establishment was situated in that Thames Street which still exists, but now counts only modern houses; Geoffrey was probably born there in 1340, or a little earlier.[448]

Chaucer spent the years of his childhood and youth in London: a London which the great fire of 1666 almost totally destroyed, that old London, then quite young, ofwhich illuminated manuscripts have preserved to us the picturesque aspect. The paternal house was near the river, and by the side of the streamlet called Walbrook, since covered over, but which then flowed in the open air. On the noble river, the waters of which were perhaps not as blue as illuminators painted them, but which were not yet the liquid mud we all know, ships from the Mediterranean and the Baltic glided slowly, borne by the tide. Houses with several stories and pointed roofs lined the water, and formed, on the ground floor, colonnades that served for warehouses, and under which merchandise was landed.[449]The famous London Bridge, built under King John, almost new still, for it was only entering upon its second century and was to live six hundred years, with its many piers, its sharp buttresses, the houses it bore, its chapel of St. Thomas, stood against the line of the horizon, and connected the City with the suburb of Southwark. On that side were more houses, a fine Gothic church, which still exists, hostelries in abundance, for it was the place of arrival for those coming by land; and with the hostelries, places of amusement of every kind, a tradition so well established that most of the theatres in the time of Elizabeth were built there, and notably the celebrated Globe, where Shakespeare's plays were performed. Save for this suburb, the right shore of the Thames, instead of the warehouses of to-day, offered to view the open country, trees, and green meadows. Some way down, on the left side, rose the walls of the Tower; and further up, towards the interior of the City, the massive pile of St. Paul's stood out above the houses. It was then a Gothic cathedral; Wren, after the great fire, replaced it by the Renaissance edifice we see to-day. The town was surroundedby walls, portions of which still remain, with Roman foundations in some places.[450]At intervals gates opened on the country, defended by bastions, their memory being preserved at this day by names of streets: Aldgate, Bishopsgate, &c.

The town itself was populous and busy. The streets, in which Chaucer's childhood was spent, were narrow, bordered by houses with projecting stories, with signs overhanging the way, with "pentys" barring the footpath, and all sorts of obstructions, against which innumerable municipal ordinances protested in vain. Riders' heads caught in the signs, and it was enjoined to make the poles shorter; manners being violent, the wearing of arms was prohibited, but honest folk alone conformed to the law, thus facilitating matters for the others; cleanliness was but indifferent; pigs ran hither and thither. A decree of the time of Edward I. had vainly prescribed that they should all be killed, except those of St. Anthony's Hospital, which would be recognised by the bell hanging at their neck: "And whoso will keep a pig, let him keep it in his own house." Even this privilege was withdrawn a little later, so elegant were manners becoming.[451]

In this laborious city, among sailors and merchants, acquiring a taste for adventure and for tales of distant lands, hearing his father describe the beautiful things to be seen at Court, Geoffrey grew up, from a child became a youth, and, thanks to his family's acquaintances, was appointed, at seventeen, page to Elizabeth, wife of Lionel, son of Edward III.[452]In his turn, and not as a merchant,he had access to the Court and belonged to it. He dressed in the fashion, and spent seven shillings for a short cloak or paltock, shoes, and a pair of red and black breeches.

In 1359 he took part in the expedition to France, led by the king. It seemed as if it must be a death-blow to the French: the disaster of Poictiers was not yet repaired; the Jacquerie had just taken place, as well as the Parisian riots and the betrayal and death of Marcel; the king of France was a prisoner in London, and the kingdom had for its leader a youth of twenty-two, frail, learned, pious, unskilled in war. It looked as though one had but to take; but once more the saying of Froissart was verified; in the fragile breast of the dauphin beat the heart of a great citizen, and the event proved that the kingdom was not "so discomfited but that one always found therein some one against whom to fight." The campaign was a happy one neither for Edward nor for Chaucer. The king of England met with nothing but failures: he failed before Reims, failed before Paris, and was only too pleased to sign the treaty of Brétigny. Chaucer was taken by the French,[453]and his fate would not have been an enviable one if the king had not paid his ransom. Edward gave sixteen pounds to recover his daughter-in-law's page. Everything has its value: the same Edward had spent fifty pounds over a horse called Bayard, and seventy for another called Labryt, which was dapple-grey.

After his return Chaucer was attached to the person ofEdward in the capacity of valet of the chamber, "valettus cameræ regis"; this is exactly the title that Molière was later to honour in his turn. His functions consisted in making the royal bed, holding torches, and carrying messages. A little later he was squire,armiger,scutifer, and as such served the prince at table, and rode after him in his journeys.[454]His duties do not seem to have absorbed all his thoughts, for he found time to read many books, to write many poems, to be madly enamoured of a lovely unknown person who did not respond to his passion,[455]to marry "Domicella" or "Damoiselle" Philippa, attached to the service of the queen, then to the service of Constance, second wife of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster—without ceasing however, because he could not, as he assures us, do otherwise, still to love his unknown beauty.[456]

He reads, he loves, he writes, he is a poet. We do not know whom he loved, but we know what he read and what he wrote at that time. He read the works which were in fashion in the elegant society he lived among: romances of chivalry, love-songs, allegorical poems, from "Roland" and "Tristan" to the "Roman de la Rose." Poets, even the greatest, rarely show their originality at twenty, and Chaucer was no exception to the rule; he imitated the writings best liked by those around him, which, at the Court of the king, were mostly French books. However it might be with the nation, the princes had remained French; the French language was their native tongue; the beautiful books, richly illustrated, that they kept to divert themselves with on dull days, in their "withdrawing-room," or "chambre de retrait," were French books, of which the subject for the most part was love. In this respect there was, even at that time, no difference between the north and the south. Froissart stays at Orthez, in 1388, with Monseigneur Gaston Phébus de Foix; and at Eltham, at theCourt of Richard II. in 1394. In each case he uses exactly the same endeavours to please: both personages are men of the same kind, having the same ideal in life, imbued with the same notions, and representing the same civilisation. He finds them both speaking French very well; Gaston "talked to me, not in his own Gascon, but in fair and good French"; Richard, too, "full well spoke and read French." The historian was duly recommended to each of them, but he relied especially, to make himself welcome, on a present he had brought, the same in both cases, a French manuscript containing amorous poems, which manuscript "the Comte de Foix saw full willingly; and every night, after his supper, I read to him from it. But in reading none durst speak nor say a word; for he wanted me to be well heard."

He takes the same precautions when he goes to England, where he had not been seen for a quarter of a century, and where he scarcely knew any one now: "And I had beforehand caused to be written, engrossed and illuminated and collected, all the amorous and moral treatises that, in the lapse of thirty-four years, I had, by the grace of God and of Love, made and compiled." He waits a favourable opportunity, and one day when the councils on the affairs of State are ended, "desired the king to see the book that I had brought him. Then he saw it in his chamber, for all prepared I had it; I put it for him upon his bed. He opened it and looked inside, and it pleased him greatly: and please him well it might, for it was illuminated, written and ornamented and covered in scarlet velvet, with ten silver nails gilded with gold, and golden roses in the middle, and with two great clasps gilded and richly worked in the middle with golden roses.

"Then the king asked me of what it treated, and I told him: of Love.

"With this answer he was much rejoiced, and lookedinside in several places, and read therein, for he spoke and read French full well; and then had it taken by one of his knights, whom he called Sir Richard Credon, and carried into his withdrawing-room, and treated me better and better."[457]

Long before this last journey of the illustrious chronicler, Chaucer was familiar with his poems, and he was acquainted, as most men around him were, with those of his French contemporaries: Deguileville, Machault, Des Champs, and later Granson.[458]He sings like them of love, of spring, of the field-daisy[459]; he had read with passionate admirationthe poem, composed in the preceding century, which was most liked of all the literature of the time, the "Roman de la Rose."

This famous poem was then at the height of a reputation which was to last until after the Renaissance. The faults which deter us from it contributed to its popularity as much as did its merits; digressions, disquisitions, and sermons did not inspire the terror they do now; twenty-three thousand lines of moralisation, psychological analysis, abstract dissertations, delivered by personified abstractions, did not weary the young imagination of the ancestors. The form is allegorical: the rose is the maiden whom the lover desires to conquer: this form, which fell later into disfavour, delighted the readers of the fourteenth century for whom it was an additional pleasure to unriddle these easy enigmas.

The Church had helped to bring allegories into vogue; commentators had early explained the New Testament by the Old, one being an allegory of the other: the adventure of Jonah and the whale was an allegory of the resurrection; the Bestiaries were series of allegories; the litanies of the Virgin lists of symbols. The methods of pious authors were adopted by worldly ones; Love had his religion, his allegories, his litanies, not to speak of his paradise, his hell, and his ten commandments. He had a whole celestial court of personified abstractions, composed of those tenuous and transparent beings who welcome or repel the lover in the garden of the Rose. It was a new religion, this worship of woman, unknown to the ancients; Ovid no longer sufficed, imitators could not help altering his aim and ideal; the new cult required a gospel; that gospel was the "Roman de la Rose."[460]

The discrepancies in the book did not shock the generality of readers; art at that time was full of contrasts, and life of contradictions, and the thing was so usual that it went unnoticed. Saints prayed on the threshold of churches, and gargoyles laughed at the saints. Guillaume de Lorris built the porch of his cathedral of Love, and placed in the niches tall, long figures of pure and noble mien. Jean de Meun, forty years later, continued the edifice, and was not sparing of gargoyles, mocking, grotesque, and indecent. Thence followed interminable discussions, some holding for Guillaume, others for Jean, some rejecting the whole romance, others, the most numerous, accepting it all. These dissensions added still more to the fame of the work, and it was so popular that there exist more than two hundred manuscripts of it.[461]The wise biographer of the wise king Charles V., Christina of Pisan, protested in the name of insulted women: "To you who have beautiful daughters, and desire well to introduce them to honest life, give to them, give the Romaunt of the Rose, to learn how to discern good from evil; what do I say, but evil from good! And of what utility, nor what does it profit listeners to hear such horrible things?" The author "never had acquaintance nor association with an honourable or virtuouswoman"; he has known none save those of "dissolute and evil life," and has taken all the others to be according to that pattern.[462]The illustrious Gerson, in the fifteenth century, did the romance the honour of refuting it by a treatise according to rule; but the poem was none the less translated into Latin, Flemish, and English, printed a number of times at the Renaissance and rejuvenated and edited by Marot.

There were several English translations, and one of them was the work of our young "Valettus cameræ regis." This translation by Chaucer is lost,[463]but we are aware not only that it existed, but even that it was celebrated; its merit was known in France, and Des Champs, in sending his works to Chaucer,[464]congratulates him, above all things, on having "planted the rose-tree" in "the isle of giants,"the "angelic land," "Angleterre," and on being there the god of worldly loves:

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