Fate of the Orders of the Temple and St. John—The Templars abandon all Hopes of recovering Jerusalem—Mingle in European Politics—Offend Philip the Fair—Are persecuted—Charges against them—The Order destroyed—The Knights of St. John pursue the Purpose of defending Christendom—Settle in Rhodes—Siege of Rhodes—Gallant Defence—The Island taken—The Knights remove to Malta—Siege of Malta—La Valette—Defence of St. Elmo—Gallantry of the Garrison—The Whole Turkish Army attempt to storm the Castle—The Attack repelled—Arrival of Succour—The Siege raised—The Progress of Chivalry independent of the Crusades—Chivalrous Exploits—Beneficial Tendency of Chivalry—Corruption of the Age not attributable to Chivalry—Decline of the Institution—In Germany, England, France—Its Extinction.
Fate of the Orders of the Temple and St. John—The Templars abandon all Hopes of recovering Jerusalem—Mingle in European Politics—Offend Philip the Fair—Are persecuted—Charges against them—The Order destroyed—The Knights of St. John pursue the Purpose of defending Christendom—Settle in Rhodes—Siege of Rhodes—Gallant Defence—The Island taken—The Knights remove to Malta—Siege of Malta—La Valette—Defence of St. Elmo—Gallantry of the Garrison—The Whole Turkish Army attempt to storm the Castle—The Attack repelled—Arrival of Succour—The Siege raised—The Progress of Chivalry independent of the Crusades—Chivalrous Exploits—Beneficial Tendency of Chivalry—Corruption of the Age not attributable to Chivalry—Decline of the Institution—In Germany, England, France—Its Extinction.
From the period of the fall of Acre crusades were only spoken of; but the spirit of Chivalry was perhaps not the less active, though it had taken another course: nor did it lose in purity by being directed, moderated, and deprived of the ferocity which always follows fanaticism. The Holy Land had become a place of vice and debauchery, as well as a theatre for the display of great deeds and noble resolution; and we find, that however orderly and regular any army was on its departure from Europe, it soon acquired all the habits of immorality and improvidence which seemed some inherent quality of that unhappy climate. This was peculiarly apparent in the two Orders of the Hospital and the Temple, the rules of which were particularly calculated to guard against luxury of every kind; yet, the one, till its extinction and both, during their sojourn in Palestine, were the receptacle of more depravity and crimes than perhaps any other body of men could produce. After the capture of Acre the knights of these two Orders retreated to Cyprus; and when some ineffectual efforts had been made to excite a new crusade for the recovery of Palestine, the Templars retired fromthat country, and, spreading themselves throughout their vast possessions in Europe, seem really to have abandoned all thought of fighting any more for the sepulchre. With the rest of Europe they spoke of fresh expeditions, it is true; but in the mean while they gave themselves up to the luxury, pride, and ambition which, if it was not the real cause of their downfall, at least furnished the excuse. Philip the Fair of France, on his accession to the throne, showed great favour to the Templars,[880]and held out hopes that he would attempt to establish the Order once more in the land which had given it birth. But the Templars were now deeply occupied in the politics of Europe itself: their haughty Grand Master was almost equal to a king in power, and would fain have made kings his slaves. In the disputes between Philip and Boniface VIII., the Templars took the part of the Pope, and treated the monarch, in his own realm, with insolent contempt; but they knew not the character of him whose wrath they roused. Philip was at once vindictive and avaricious, and the destruction of the Templars offered the gratification of both passions: he was also calm, bold, cunning, and remorseless; and from the vengeance of such a man it was difficult to escape. The vices of the Templars were notorious,[881]and on these it was easy to graft crimes of a deeper die. Reports, rumours, accusations, circulated rapidly through Europe; and Philip, resolved upon crushing the unhappy Order, took care that on the very first vacancy his creature, Bertrandde Got, Archbishop of Bourdeaux,[882]should be elevated to the papal throne. Before he suffered the ambitious prelate to be elected, he bound him to grant five conditions, four of which were explained to him previously, but the fifth was to be kept in secrecy till after his elevation. Bertrand pledged himself to all these terms; and as soon as he had received the triple crown, was informed that the last dreadful condition was the destruction of the Order of the Temple. He hesitated, but was forced to consent; and after various stratagems to inveigle all the principal Templars into France, Philip caused them suddenly to be arrested throughout his dominions,[883]and had them arraigned of idolatry, immorality, extortion, and treason, together with crimes whose very name must not soil this page. Mixed with a multitude of charges, both false and absurd, were various others too notorious to be confuted by the body, and many which could be proved against individuals. Several members of the Order confessed some of the crimes laid to their charge, and many more were afterward induced to do so by torture; but at a subsequent period of the trial, when the whole of the papal authority was used to give the proceeding the character of a regular legal inquisition, a number of individuals confessed, on the promise of pardon, different offences, sufficient to justify rigorous punishment against themselves, and to implicate deeply the institution to which they belonged. James de Mollay, however, the Grand Master, firmly denied every charge, and defended himself and his brethren with a calm and dignified resolution that nothing could shake.
It would be useless as well as painful to dwell upon all the particulars of their trial, where space is not allowed to investigate minutely the facts: it is sufficient to say, that the great body of the Templarsin France were sentenced to be imprisoned for life, and a multitude were burned at the stake, where they showed that heroic firmness which they had ever evinced in the field of battle. Their large possessions were of course confiscated. In Spain, their aid against the Moors was too necessary to permit of similar rigour, and they were generally acquitted in that country. In England, the same persecutions were carried on, but with somewhat of a milder course: and the last blow was put to the whole by a council held at Vienne, which formally dissolved the Order, and transferred its estates to the Hospitallers. James de Mollay and the Grand Prior of France were the last victims, and were publicly burned in Paris for crimes that beyond doubt they did not commit. To suppose that the Templars were guilty of the specific offences attributed to them would be to suppose them a congregation of madmen; but to believe they were a religious or a virtuous Order would be to charge all Europe with a general and purposeless conspiracy.
In the mean while, the Knights Hospitallers confined themselves to the objects for which they were originally instituted; and, that they might always be prepared to fight against the enemies of Christendom, they obtained a cession of the island of Rhodes, from which they expelled the Turks. Here they continued for many years, a stumblingblock in the way of Moslem conquest; but at length, the chancellor of the Order, named d’Amaral,[884]disappointed of the dignity of Grand Master, in revenge, it is said, invited the Turks to the siege, and gave them the plan of the island with its fortifications. Soliman II. instantly led an army against it; but the gallant knights resisted with a determined courage, that drove the imperious sultaun almost to madness. He commanded his celebrated general, Mustapha, to beslain with arrows,[885]attributing to him the misfortune of the siege; and at length had begun to withdraw his forces, when a more favourable point of attack was discovered, and the knights were ultimately obliged to capitulate. The city of Rhodes was by this time reduced to a mere heap of stones, and at one period of the siege, the Grand Master himself remained thirty-four days in the trenches, without ever sitting down to food, or taking repose, but such as he could gain upon an uncovered mattress at the foot of the wall. So noble a defence well merited an honourable fate; and even after their surrender, the knights were the objects of admiration and praise to all Europe, though Europe had suffered them to fall without aid. The sultaun, before he allowed the Order to transfer itself to Candia, which had been stipulated by the treaty, requested to see the Grand Master: and to console him for his loss, he said, “The conquest and the fall of empires are but the sports of fortune.” He then strove to win the gallant knight who had so well defended his post to the Ottoman service, holding out to him the most magnificent offers, and showing what little cause he had to remain attached to the Christians,[886]who had abandoned him; but Villiers replied, that he thanked him for his generous proposals, yet that he should be unworthy of such a prince’s good opinion if he could accept them.
Before the Order of St. John could fix upon any determinate plan of proceeding, it was more than once threatened with a complete separation, by various divisions in its councils.
At length motives, partly political, partly generous, induced the emperor Charles V. to offer the island of Malta to the Hospitallers. This proposal was soon accepted,[887]and after various negotiations theterritory was delivered up to the knights, who took full possession on the 26th of October, 1530. Thirty-five years had scarcely passed, when the Order of St. John, which was now known by the name of the Order of Malta, was assailed in its new possession by an army composed of thirty thousand veteran Turkish soldiers. The news of this armament’s approach had long before reached the island, and every preparation had been made to render its efforts ineffectual. The whole of the open country was soon in the hands of the Turks, and they resolved to begin the siege by the attack of a small fort, situated at the end of a tongue of land which separated the two ports. The safety of the island and the Order depended upon the castle of St. Elmo—a fact which the Turkish admiral well knew, and the cannonade that he soon opened upon the fortress was tremendous and incessant. The knights who had been thrown into that post soon began to demand succour; but the Grand Master, La Valette, treated their request with indignation, and speedily sent fresh troops to take the place of those whom fear had rendered weak.
A noble emulation reigned among the Hospitallers, and they contended only which should fly to the perilous service. A sortie was made from the fort, and the Turks were driven back from their position; but the forces of the Moslems were soon increased by the arrival of the famous Dragut; and the succour which the viceroy of Sicily had promised to the knights did not appear. After the coming of Dragut, the siege of St. Elmo was pressed with redoubled ardour. A ravelin was surprised, and a lodgment effected; and the cavalier, which formed one of the principal fortifications, had nearly been taken. Day after day, night after night, new efforts were made on either part; and the cannon of the Turks never ceased to play upon the walls of the fort, while, atthe same time, the ravelin which they had captured was gradually raised till it overtopped the parapet. The whole of the outer defences were now exposed: the garrison could only advance by means of trenches and a subterranean approach; and to cut off even these communications with the parapet, the pacha threw across a bridge from the ravelin, covering it with earth to defend it from fire.
After this, the mine and the sap both went on at once; but the hardness of the rock was in favour of the besieged, and by a sortie the bridge was burnt.[888]In a wonderfully short time it was reconstructed; and the terrible fire from the Turkish lines not only swept away hundreds of the besieged, but ruined the defences and dismounted the artillery. In this state the knights sent a messenger to the Grand Master, representing their situation, showing that the recruits they received only drained the garrison of the town, without protracting the resistance of a place that could stand no longer, and threatening to cut their way through the enemy, if boats did not come to take them off. La Valette knew too well their situation; but he knew also, that if St. Elmo were abandoned, the viceroy of Sicily would never sail to the relief of Malta; and he sent three commissioners to examine the state of the fort, and to persuade the garrison to hold out to the last. Two of these officers saw that the place was truly untenable, but the third declared it might still be maintained; and, on his return, offered to throw himself into it with what volunteers he could raise. La Valette instantly accepted the proposal, and wrote a cold and bitter note to the refractory knights in St. Elmo, telling them that others were willing to take their place. “Come back, my brethren,” he said, “you will be here more in safety; and, on our part, we shall feel more tranquilconcerning the defence of St. Elmo, on the preservation of which depends the safety of the island and of the Order.”
Shame rose in the bosom of the knights; and, mortified at the very idea of having proposed to yield a place that others were willing to maintain, they now sent to implore permission to stay.
La Valette well knew, from the first, that such would be their conduct; but, before granting their request, he replied, that he ever preferred new troops who were obedient, to veterans who took upon themselves to resist the will of their commanders: and it was only on the most humble apologies and entreaties that he allowed them, as a favour, to remain in the post of peril. From the 17th of June to the 14th of July, this little fort[889]had held out against all the efforts of the Turkish army, whose loss had been already immense. Enraged at so obstinate a resistance, the pacha now determined to attack the rock on which it stood, with all his forces; and the Grand Master, perceiving the design by the Turkish movements, took care to send full supplies to the garrison. Among other things thus received were a number of hoops covered with tow, and imbued with every sort of inflammable matter. For the two days preceding the assault, the cannon of the Turkish fleet and camp kept up an incessant fire upon the place, which left not a vestige of the fortifications above the surface of the rock. On the third morning the Turks rushed over the fosse which they had nearly filled, and at the given signal mounted to storm. The walls of the place were gone, but a living wall of veteran soldiers presented itself, each knight being supported by three inferior men. With dauntless valour the Turks threw themselves upon the pikes that opposed them; and after the lances had been shivered and the swords broken, they were seen struggling withtheir adversaries, and striving to end the contest with the dagger. A terrible fire of musketry and artillery was kept up; and the Christians, on their part, hurled down upon the swarms of Turks that rushed in unceasing multitudes from below the flaming hoops, which sometimes linking two or three of the enemy together, set fire to the light and floating dresses of the east, and enveloped many in a horrible death. Still, however, the Turks rushed on, thousands after thousands, and still the gallant little band of Christians repelled all their efforts, and maintained possession of the height.
From the walls of the town, and from the castle of St. Angelo, the dreadful struggle for St. Elmo was clearly beheld; and the Christian people and the knights, watching the wavering current of the fight, felt perhaps more painfully all the anxious horror of the scene, than those whose whole thoughts and feelings were occupied in the actual combat. La Valette himself stood on the walls of St. Angelo, not spending his time in useless anticipations, but scanning eagerly every motion of the enemy, and turning the artillery of the fortress in that direction where it might prove of the most immediate benefit. At length he beheld a body of Turks scaling a rampart, from which the attention of the besieged had been called by a furious attack on the other side.[890]Their ladders were placed, and still the defenders of St. Elmo did not perceive them—they began their ascent—they reached the top of the rampart—but at that moment the Grand Master opened a murderous fire upon them from the citadel, and swept them from the post they had gained. The cavalier was next attacked; but here also the Turks were met by those destructive hoops of fire which caused more dread in their ranks than all the other efforts of the Christians. Wherever they fell confusion followed; and at theend of a tremendous fight of nine hours, the Moslems were obliged to sound a retreat.
A change of operations now took place; means were used to cut off the communication with the town; and, after holding out some time longer, the fort of St. Elmo was taken, the last knight of its noble garrison dying in the breach. The whole force of the Turks was thenceforth turned towards the city; and a slow but certain progress was made, notwithstanding all the efforts of the Grand Master and his devoted companions. In vain he wrote to the viceroy of Sicily; no succour arrived for many days. The town was almost reduced to extremity. The bastion of St. Catherine was scaled, and remained some time in the hands of the infidels, who would have maintained it longer, had not La Valette himself rushed to the spot; and, after receiving a severe wound, succeeded in dislodging the assailants.
A small succour came at length under the command of Don Juan de Cardonna; but this was overbalanced by the junction of the viceroy of Algiers with the attacking force. The bulwark of all Christendom was being swept away, while Christian kings stood looking on, and once more saw the knights of St. John falling man by man before the infidels, without stretching forth a hand to save them.
A large army had, in the mean while, been assembled in Sicily, under the pretence of assisting Malta; and at last the soldiers clamoured so loudly to be led to the glorious service for which they had been enrolled, that the vacillating viceroy after innumerable delays was forced to yield to their wishes, and set sail for the scene of conflict.[891]The island was reached in safety, the troops disembarked; and though the Turks still possessed the advantage of numbers, a panic seized them, and they fled. Joy and triumph succeeded to danger and dread, and thename of La Valette and his companions, remains embalmed among the memories of the noble and great.
This was the last important event in the history of the Order of St. John; and since that day, it has gradually descended to later years, blending itself with modern institutions till its distinctive character has been lost, and the knights of Malta are reckoned among the past.
It does not seem necessary to trace the other military fraternities which originated in the crusades to their close; but something more must be said concerning the progress of Chivalry in Europe, and the effect that it had upon society in general. The Holy Wars were, indeed, the greatest efforts of knighthood; but during the intervals between each expedition beyond the seas, and that which followed, and often during the time of preparation, the knight found plenty of occupation for his sword in his own country. The strife with the Moors in Spain bore entirely the aspect of the crusades, but the sanguinary conflicts between France and England offered continual occasions both for the display of knightly valour and of knightly generosity. The bitterest national enmity existed between the two countries—they were ever engaged in struggling against each other; and yet we find, through the whole, that mutual courtesy when the battle was over, and in the times of truce that frank co-operation, or that rivalry in noble efforts, which belonged so peculiarly to Chivalry. Occasionally, it is true, a cruel and bloodthirsty warrior would stain his successes with ungenerous rigour—for where is the institution which has ever been powerful enough to root out the evil spot from the heart of man? But the great tone of all the wars of Chivalry was valour in the field and courtesy in the hall. Deeds were often done in the heat of blood which general barbarism of manners alone would excuse; and most of themen whom we are inclined to love and to admire have left some blot on that page of history which records their lives. But to judge of the spirit of the Order, we must not look to those instances where the habits of the age mixed up a vast portion of evil with the general character of the knight, but we must turn our eyes upon those splendid examples where chivalrous feeling reached its height, did away all the savage cruelty of the time, and raised human actions almost to sublimity.
Remarking these instances, and seeing what the spirit of Chivalry could produce in its perfection, we may judge what the society of that day would have been without it: we may trace truly the effect it had in civilizing the world, and we may comprehend the noble legacy it left to after-years. Had Chivalry not existed, all the vices which we behold in that period of the world’s history would have been immensely increased; for there would have been no counteracting incitement. The immorality of those times would have been a thousand degrees more gross, for passion would have wanted the only principle of refinement; the ferocity of the brave would have shown itself in darker scenes of bloodshed, for no courtesy would have tempered it with gentleness. Even religion would have longer remained obscured, for the measures taken to darken it, by those whose interest it was to make it a means of rule, would have been but faintly opposed, had not Chivalry, by softening the manners of the age, and promoting general communication between man and man, gradually done away darkness and admitted light.
Because knights were superstitious, it has been supposed that superstition was apart of knighthood; but this was not at all the case. The gross errors grafted by the Roman church on the pure doctrine of salvation often taught the knight cruelty, and disgraced Chivalry, by making it the means of persecution; but the tendency of the Order itself wasto purify and refine, and the civilization thereby given to the world in general ultimately produced its effect in doing away superstition. The libertinism of society in the middle ages has also been wrongly attributed to knighthood, and thus the most beneficial institutions are too often confounded with the vices that spring up around them. That the fundamental doctrine of Chivalry, if I may so express myself, was decidedly opposed to every infraction of morality, is susceptible of proof. In all authors who have collected the precepts of Chivalry, we find sobriety and continence enjoined as among the first duties of a knight: and female chastity was so particularly esteemed, that we are told by the Chevalier de la Tour, if a lady of doubtful virtue presented herself in company with the good, whatever were her rank, the knights would cause her to give place to those of unsullied fame. From every thing that I can read or hear, I am inclined to believe that the virtues of the knights of old arose in the Order of Chivalry alone, and that their faults belonged to the age in which they lived.[892]
In common with all human institutions, Chivalry presents a new aspect in every page of the book of history. Sometimes it is severe and stern; sometimes light and gay; but the qualities of valour, courtesy, and enthusiasm shine out at every period of its existence.
At the battle of Crecy, Edward the Black Prince, then fourteen years of age, fought for his knightly spurs; and his father, King Edward III., from a mound near the mill, beheld his gallant son surrounded on every side by enemies. The companions of the young hero sent to the king for succour, alleging the dangerous situation of the Prince of Wales; on which Edward demanded, “Is he dead, or overthrown, or so wounded that he cannotcontinue to fight?” And on being informed that his son still lived, he added, “Return to him, and to those who sent you, and tell them, whatever happens, to seek no aid from me so long as my son be in life. Further say, that I command them to let the boy well win his spurs; for, please God, the day shall be his, and the honour shall rest with him.”[893]
In this instance, Edward required no more from his child than he was willing in his own person to endure. No one ever evinced more chivalrous courage than that monarch himself; and in the skirmish under the walls of Calais, he fought hand to hand with the famous De Ribaumont, who brought him twice upon his knee, but was at length vanquished by the king. After the battle, Edward entertained his prisoners in the town; and when supper was concluded the victorious monarch approached his adversary, took the chaplet of rich pearls from his own brow, placed it on the head of De Ribaumont, and said, “Sir Eustace, I give this wreath to you, as the best of this day’s combatants, and I beg you to wear it a year for my love. I know that you are gay and gallant, and willingly find yourselves where ladies are. Tell them, then, wherever you may be, that I gave you this token; and, moreover, I free you from your prison. Go to-morrow, if it please you.”[894]
Such was the character of knighthood; and whether we read anecdotes like the above, or trace in the rolls of history the feats of an Edward the Black Prince, of a Duguesclin, of a Talbot, a Henry, or a Bayard, we find the same spirit; varied, indeed, according to the mind of the individual, but raising all his virtues to the highest pitch of perfection, and restraining all his faults as much as human errors can be restrained.
It would be endless to detail all those marvels which Chivalry at various times effected; nor haveI space to dwell upon Crecy, or Poitiers, or Agincourt. With respect to those great battles, where England was so eminently triumphant, it is sufficient to point out the extraordinary fact, that though the glory rested with the British, no disgrace attached to their enemies. Each knight in the French armies did every thing that personal valour could do to win the field; and the honour to England consists not so much in having conquered, as in having conquered such opponents. For long, however, it appears that the French commanders were inferior to the English in skill, and that their forces were destitute of that unity which alone secures success. At length, the son of a nobleman of Brittany, who had been much neglected in his early years, began to make head against the English. From his infancy Bertrand Duguesclin had shown the most persevering passion for arms, which had been always repressed; till at a tournament—from the neighbourhood of which he had been purposely sent away—he appeared in disguise, defeated all that encountered him, and was only discovered by refusing to meet his own father. From that hour Duguesclin rose in the estimation of the world; and after opposing, with considerable success, Edward the Black Prince himself, on the death of that noble commander he delivered the greater part of France from the domination of the English.
One of the favourite schemes of Duguesclin was to restore to Chivalry its ancient simplicity, and he strove by every means to enforce the more severe and salutary laws by which it had been originally governed. Of course, an institution which had vast privileges and obligations was not without rewards and punishments; and many of these were revived by Duguesclin after he had become Constable of France.
The custom of cutting the tablecloth with a knife or dagger before a knight who had in any waydegraded himself[895]is said, by some, to have been brought into use by Duguesclin, though others affirm that he only renewed an ancient habit. Much more severe inflictions, also, were destined for those who had dishonoured the Order to which they belonged by cowardice, treachery, or any other unmanly crime. The criminal, condemned to be stripped of his knighthood, was placed upon a scaffold, in the sight of the populace, while his armour was broken to pieces before his face. His shield reversed, with the coat-of-arms effaced, was dragged through the dirt, while the heralds proclaimed aloud his crime and his sentence. The king-at-arms then thrice demanded his name; and at each time, when the pursuivant replied, the king added, “A faithless and disloyal traitor!” A basin[896]of hot water was poured upon the culprit’s head, to wash away the very memory of his knighthood; and, being drawn on a hurdle to the church, he was covered with a pall, while the funeral prayers were pronounced over him, as one dead to honour and to fame.
Notwithstanding every means taken to uphold it, Chivalry gradually declined from the beginning of the fourteenth century. In England the long civil wars between the houses of York and Lancaster called into action a thousand principles opposed to knightly courtesy and generosity. Many flashes of the chivalrous spirit blazed up from time to time, it is true; but the general character of those contentions was base and interested treachery on all parts.
The mean and avaricious spirit which seized upon Henry VII. in his latter years of course had its effect on his court and country; and the infamous extortions of his creatures Empson and Dudley, the ruin which they brought upon many of the nobility, and the disgust and terror which their tyranny spread through the land, served to check all those pageantsand exercises which kept alive the sinking flame of Chivalry. Henry VIII., in the vigour of his youth, made vast efforts to give back to knighthood its ancient splendour; but the spirit had been as much injured as the external form, and though he could renew the one, he could not recall the other. The wavering tyranny of his old age also did more to extinguish the last sparks of knightly feeling, than his youth had done to revive the pomp of Chivalry. Then came the Reformation, and a new enthusiasm grew up through the land.
In Germany the reign of the Emperor Maximilian was the last in which Chivalry can be said to have existed. Charles V. reduced all things to calculation, and though the name of knighthood remained, it soon became nothing but a sound.
The land which had given birth to the institution cherished it long; and there its efforts were continually reawakened even in its decline. During the unhappy reign of Charles VI., France, torn by factions, each struggling for the sceptre of the insane monarch, saw Chivalry employed for the purposes of ambition alone. While all parties turned their arms against their fellow-countrymen, a stranger seized on the power for which they fought, and the English house of Lancaster seated itself on the throne of France. Charles VII. succeeded to a heritage of wars; but, apparently reckless, from the desperate state of his dominions, he yielded himself wholly to pleasure, without striking a blow for the recovery of his kingdom, till Joan of Arc recalled him to glory and himself. From that moment Chivalry again revived, and no period of French history presents knighthood under a brighter aspect than during the wars of Charles VII. At the same time, however, an institution was founded which soon changed the character of Chivalry, and in the end reduced it to a name.
The inconveniences attached to the knightly modeof warfare were many and striking; order and discipline were out of the question; and though courage did much, Charles VII. saw that courage well directed would do infinitely more. To establish, therefore, a body over which he might have some control, he raised a company ofgen-d’armerie, which soon by its courage and its success drew into its own rank all the great and noble of the kingdom. Thus came a great change over the Order; knights became mere soldiers, and Chivalry was used as a machine. Louis XI. contributed still more to do away Chivalry, by depressing the nobility and founding a standing army of mercenary troops. Charles VIII. and Louis XII., by romantic wars in Italy, renewed the fire of the waning institution; and Francis I., the most chivalrous of kings, beheld it blaze up under his reign like the last flash of an expiring flame. He, however unwittingly aided to extinguish it entirely, and by extending knighthood to civilians, deprived it of its original character. The pomps and pageants, the exercises and the games, which had accompanied the Order from its early days, were now less frequent: popes had censured them as vain and cruel, and many kings had discountenanced them as expensive and dangerous: but the death of Henry II., from a wound received at a tournament, put an end to them in France; and from that time all the external ceremonies of Chivalry were confined to the reception of a knight into any of the royal Orders.
The distinctive spirit also had by this time greatly merged into other feelings. The valour was as much the quality of the simple soldier as of the knight; the courtesy had spread to society in general, and had become politeness; the gallantry had lost its refinement, and had deteriorated into debauchery. Faint traces of the lost institution appeared from time to time, especially in the wars of Henry IV. and the League. The artful and vicious policy of Catherine de Medicis did much to destroy it; thefilthy effeminacy of Henry III. weakened it, in common with all noble feelings; and the iron rod of Richelieu struck at it as a remnant of the feudal power. Still a bright blaze of its daring valour shone out in Condé, a touch of its noble simplicity appeared in Turenne, but the false brilliancy of Louis XIV. completed its downfall; and Chivalry is only to be seen by its general effects on society.
Thus things fleet by us; and in reading of all the great and mighty deeds of which this book has given a slight and imperfect sketch, and looking on the multitudes of men who have toiled and struggled through dangers, difficulties, and horrors for the word GLORY, the empty echo of renown, or perhaps a worse reward, I rise as from a phantasmagoria where a world of strange and glittering figures have been passing before my eyes, changing with the rapidity of light, and each leaving an impression for memory, though the whole was but the shadow of a shade.
NOTE I.—CHAP. I.
Menestrier enters into a disquisition on the subject of the two interpretations given to the wordmiles, which would have interrupted the thread of my discourse too much to permit of its introduction in the text. I subjoin it here, however, as a good guide for those who may be inclined to pursue the subject further.
“Il ne faut pas donc confondre le titre d’ancienne noblesse, ou de noblesse militaire, avec la dignité de chevalier, par l’équivoque du terme Latinmiles, qui convient à l’un et à l’autre; ce que n’ont pas assez observé quelques autheurs, qui n’ont pas fait reflexion que dans la plûpart des actes écrits en langue Latine, ce mot signifie également ces deux différentes choses.
“L’Empereur Frederic avoir déjà? distingué ces deux espèces de Chevalerie, lors qu’il fit une ordonnance à Naples, l’an 1232, que personne ne se presentât pour recevoir l’ordre de Chevalerie, s’il n’estoit d’une ancienne race militaire, ou d’ancienne Chevalerie.Ad militarem honorem nullus accedat, qui non sit de genere militum; L’une de ces Chevaleries est doncgenus militare, race de Chevalerie; l’autremilitaris honor, honneur de Chevalerie, qui n’ont esté confonduës que par quelques autheurs, qui, écrivans de cette matière sans l’entendre, n’ont fait que l’embroüiller, au lieu de la developper.
“Roger, Roy de Sicile et de Naples, fit une ordonnance, que nul ne pût recevoir l’ordre de Chevalerie, s’il n’estoit de race militaire.Sancimus itaque, et tale proponimus edictum, ut quicumque novam militiam acceperit, il l’appelle nouvelle Chevalerie, pour la distinguer de celle de la naissance,sive quocumque tempore arripuerit, contra regni beatitudinem, pacem, atque integritatem, à militiæ nomine, et professione penitùs decidat, nisi fortè à militari genere per successionem duxit prosapiam.”—Menestrier; Preuves, chap. 1.
NOTE II.—CHAP. II.
St. Palaye, in the body of his admirable essays upon Chivalry, names the day preceding that of the tournament as the one on which squires were permitted to joust with each other: but in a note he has the following passage, which shows that in this, as in almost every other respect, the customs of chivalry varied very much at different epochs.
“Les usages out varié par rapport aux tournois, suivant les divers temps de la Chevalerie. Dans les commencements les plus anciens chevaliers joutoient entre eux, et le lendemain de cette joute les nouveaux chevaliers s’exerçoient dans d’autres tournois, auxquels les anciens chevaliers se faisoient un plaisir d’assister en qualité de spectateurs. La coutume changea depuis: ce fut la veille des grands tournois que les jeunes chevaliers s’essayerent les uns contre les autres, et l’on permit aux écuyers de se mêler avec eux. Ceux-ci étoient récompensés par l’ordre de la Chevalerie, lorsqu’ils se distinguoient dans ces sortes de combats. Ce mélange de chevaliers et d’écuyers introduisit dans la suite divers abus dans la Chevalerie, et la fit bientôt dégénérer, comme le remarque M. Le Laboureur. Les écuyers usurpèrent successivement et par degrés les honneurs et les distinctions qui n’appartenoient qu’aux chevaliers, et peu-à-peu ils se confondirent avec eux.”—Note on St. Palaye.
This note is perfectly just in the statement that in after-times the distinctions between knights and squires were not so strictly maintained as in the early days of Chivalry. At the famous jousts between the French and English at Chateau Joscelin, as related by Froissart, we find the squires opposed to the knights upon perfectly equal terms. The limits of this book are too narrow to admit of many long quotations; but the passage will be found well worthy the trouble of seeking, in the sixty fourth chapter of the second book of the admirable Froissart.
NOTE III.—CHAP. II.
To show the manner in which reports of all kinds were spread and collected even as late as the days of Edward III., I have subjoined the following extract from Froissart, giving an account of his reception at the court of the Count de Foix. It also affords anaivepicture of that curious simplicity of manners which formed one very singular and interesting trait in the Chivalry of old.
“Comment Messire Jean Froissart enquéroit diligemment comment lesGuerres s’étoient portées par toutes les parties de la France.
“Je me suis longuement tenu à parler des besognes des lointaines marches, mais les prochaines, tant qu’à maintenant, m’ont été si fraîches, et si nouvelles, et si inclinants à ma plaisance, que pour ce les ai mises arrière. Mais, pourtant, ne séjournoient pas les vaillants hommes, qui se désiroient à avancer ens [dans] on [le] royaume de Castille et de Portugal, et bien autant en Gascogne et en Rouergue, en Quersin [Quercy], en Auvergne, en Limousin, et en Toulousain, et en Bigorre; mais visoient et subtilloient [imaginoient] tous les jours l’un sur l’autre comment ils se pussent trouver en parti de fait d’armes, pour prendre, embler [enlever], et écheller villes, et châteaux, et forteresses. Et pour ce, je sire Jean Froissart, qui me suis ensoingné [étudié] et occupé de dicter et écrire cette histoire, à la requête et contemplation de haut prince et renommé Messire Guy de Châtillon, Comte de Blois, Seigneur d’Avesnes, de Beaumont, de Scoonhort, et de la Gende, mon bon et souverain maître et seigneur; considérai en moi-même, que nulle espérance n’étoit que aucuns faits d’armes se fissent ès parties de Picardie et de Flandre, puisque paix y étoit, et point ne voulois être oiseux; car je savois bien que encore au temps à venir, et quand je serai mort, sera cette haute et noble histoire en grand cours, et y prendront tous nobles et vaillants hommes plaisance et exemple de bien faire; et entrementes [pendant]que j’avois, Dieu merci, sens, mémoire, et bonne souvenance de toutes les choses passées, engin [esprit] clair et aigu pour concevoir tous les faits dont je pourrois être informé, touchants à ma principale matière, âge, corps et membres pour souffrir peine, me avisai que je ne voulois mie séjourner de non poursieure [poursuivre] ma matière; et pour savoir la vérité des lointaines besognes sans se que j’y envoyasse aucune autre personne en lieu de moi, pris voie et achoison [occasion] raisonnable d’aller devers haut prince et redouté seigneur, Messire Gaston, Comte de Foix et de Berne [Béarn]; et bien sçavois que si je pouvois venir en son hôtel, et là être à loisir, je ne pourrois mieux cheoir au monde, pour être informé de toutes nouvelles; car là sont et fréquentent volontiers tous chevaliers et écuyers étranges, pour la noblesse d’icelui haut prince. Et tout ainsi, comme je l’imaginai, il m’en advint; et remontrai ce, et le voyage que je voulois faire, a mon très cher et redouté seigneur, Monseigneur le Comte de Blois, lequel me bailla ses lettres de familiarité adressants au Comte de Foix. Et tant travaillai et chevauchai en quérant de tout côtés nouvelles, que, par la grace de Dieu, sans péril et sans dommage, je vins en son chatel, a Ortais [Orthez], au pays de Béarn, le jour de Sainte Catherine, que on compta pour lors en l’an de grace mil trois cent quatre-vingt et huit; lequel comte de Foix, si très tôt comme il me vit, me fit bonne chère, et me dit en riant en bon François: que bien il me connoissoit, et si ne m’avoit oncques mais vu, mais plusieurs fois avoit ouï parler de moi. Si me retint de son hôtel et tout aise, avec le bon moyen des lettres que je lui avois apportées, tant que il m’y plut à être; et la fus informé de la greigneur [majeure] partie des besognes qui étoient avenues au royaume de Castille, au royaume de Portugal, au royaume de Navarre, au royaume d’Aragon, et au royaume d’Angleterre, au pays de Bordelois, et en toute la Gascogne; et je même, quand je lui demandois aucune chose, il le me disoit moult volontiers; et me disoit bien que l’histoire que je avois fait et poursuivois seroit, au temps à venir, plus recommandée que mille autres: ‘Raison pourquoi,’ disoit-il, ‘beau maître: puis cinquante ans en ça sont avenus plus de faits d’armes et de merveilles au monde qu’il n’étoit trois cents ans en devant.’
“Ainsi fus-je en l’hôtel du noble Comte de Foix, recueilli et nourri à ma plaisance. Ce étoit ce que je désirois à enquerre toutes nouvelles touchants à ma matière: et je avois prêts à la main barons, chevaliers, et écuyers, qui m’en informoient, et le gentil Comte de Foix aussi. Si vous voudrois éclaircir par beau langage tout ce dont je fus adonc informé, pour rengrosser notre matiere, et pour exemplier les bons qui se désirent à avancer par armes. Car si ci-dessus j’ai prologué grands faits d’armes, prises et assauts de villes et de châteaux, batailles adressées et durs rencontres, encore en trouverez vous ensuivant grand, foison, desquelles et desquels, par la grace de Dieu, je ferai bonne et juste narration.”—Froissart, book iii. chap. 1.
NOTE IV.—CHAP. II.
As the Brotherhood of Arms was one of the most curious customs of Chivalry, I have extracted from the Notes on St. Palaye, and from the Disquisitions of Ducange, some passages which will give a fuller view of its real character and ceremonies than seemed necessary in the body of this work.
The Notes on St. Palaye also show to how late a period the custom descended and here let me say, that of all the treatises on Chivalrywhich I possess, there is none in which I have found the real spirit of knighthood so completely displayed, as in the Essays of Lucurne de St. Palaye, with the elegant and profound observations of M. Charles Nodier.
“Les Anglois, assemblés peu avant la bataille de Pontvalain, tiennent conseil pour déliberer comment ils attaqueroient le connétable Duguesclin. Hue de Carvalai, l’un d’entre eux, ouvre son avis en ces termes: ‘Se m’aist dieux, Bertran est le meilleur chevalier qui regne à present; il est duc, comte et connestable, et a esté long-temps mon compaignon en Espaigne, où je trouvay en luy honneur, largesse et amistié si habundamment et avecques ce hardement, fierté vasselage et emprise, qu’il n’a homme jusques en Calabre qui sceut que j’amasse autant à veoir ne accompaigner de jour ou de nuit pour moy aventurer à vivre ou à mourir ne fust ce qu’il guerrie, Monseigneur le prince. Car en ce cas je dois mettre poyne de le nuyre et grever comme mon ennemi. Si vous diray mon advis.’—(Hist. De Bert. Duguesclin, publiée par Menard, p. 407.)
“Boucicaut, passant à son retour d’Espagne par le Comte de Foix, se trouva plusieurs fois à boire et à manger avec des Anglois. Comme ils jugèrent a des abstinences particulieres qu’ils lui virent faire dans ses repas, qu’il avoit voué quelque entreprise d’armes, ils lui dirent que s’il ne demandoit autre chose on auroit bien-tôt trouvé qui le delivreroit; Boucicaut leur répondit: ‘Voirement estoit-ce pour combattre à oultrance, mais qu’il avoit compaignon; c’estoit un chevalier nomme Messire Regnault de Roye, sans lequel il ne pouvoit rien faire, et toutes fois s’il y avoit aucun d’eulx qui voulussent la bataille, il leur octroyoit et que à leur volente prissent jour tant que il l’eust faict à sçavoir à son compaignon.’—(Histoire du Maréchal de Boucicaut, publiée par Godefroi, p. 51.)
“Lorsque le prince de Galles eut déclare la guerre au roi Henri de Castille, il manda à tous les Anglois qui etoient alors au service de ce prince de le quitter pour se rendre auprès de lui. Hue de Carvalai, qui étoit du nombre, obligé de se sêparer de Bertrand, vint lui faire ses adieux: ‘Gentil sire, lui dit-il, il nous convient de partir nous avons esté ensemble par bonne compaignie, comme preudomme, et avons toujours eu du vostre à nostre voulente que oncques n’y ot noise ne tançon, tant des avoirs conquestez que des joyaulx donnez, ne oncques n’en demandasmes part, si pense bien que j’ay plus reçeu que vous, dont je suis vostre tenu. Et pour ce vous pris que nous en comptons ensemble. Et ce que je vous devray, je vous paieray ou assigneray. Si dist Bertran, ce c’est qu’un sermon, je n’ay point pensé à ce comte, ne ne sçay que ce puet monter. Je ne sçay se vous me devez, ou si je vous doy. Or soit tout quitte puisque vient au departir. Mais se de cy en avant nous acreons l’un à l’autre, nous ferons nouvelle depte et le convendra escripre. Il n’y a que du bien faire, raison donne que vous (suiviez) vostre-maistre. Ainsi le doibt faire tout preudomme. Bonne amour fist l’amour de nous et aussi en fera la departie: dont me poise qu’il convient que elle soit. Lors le baisa Bertran et tous ses compagnons aussi: moult fut piteuse la departie.’—(Histoire de Bertrand Duguesclin, publiée par Ménard, c. xxiv., p. 248 et 249.)
“Duguesclin tomba dans la suite au pouvoir des Anglois, qui le retinrent long-temps prisonnier. Après avoir enfin obtenu sa liberté sous parole d’acquitter sa rançon, Carvalai, son ancien frère d’armes, qu’il avoit retrouvé, et qui pendant quelque temps lui tint bonne compagnie, voulut lui parler encore du compte qu’ils avoient à regler ensemble. ‘Bertran, dit-il à son ami, avant que de se separer nous avons esté compagnons ou pays d’Espangne par de la de prisons, et d’avoir (c’est-à-dire ensociété tant pour les prisonniers que pour le butin que nous aurions) dont je ne comptay oncques à vous et sçay bien de pieça que je suis vostre tenu (redevable, en reste avec vous) dont je vouldray avoir advis: mais de tout le moins je vous aideray ici de trente mille doubles d’or. Je ne sçay, dit Bertran, comment il va du compte, mais que de la bonne compagnie; ne je n’en vueil point compter; mais se j’ay mestier je vous prieray. Adonc baisierent li uns l’autre au departir.’—(Ibid, p. 306.)
“L’adoption en frere se trouue auoir esté pratiquée en deux manieres par les peuples étrangers, que les Grecs el les Latins qualifient ordinairement du nom de Barbares. Car parmay ceux dont les mœurs et les façons d’agir ressentoient effectiuement quelque chose de rude et d’inhumain, elle se faisoit en se piquant reciproquement les veines, et beuuant le sang les vns des autres. Baudoüin Comte de Flandres et Empereur de Constantinople reproche cette detestable coûtume aux Grecs mémes, non qu’ils en vsassent entre eux: mais parce que dans les alliances qu’ils contractoient auec les peuples barbares, pour s’accommoder à leurs manieres d’agir, ils estoient obligez de suiure leurs vsages, et de faire ce qu’ils faisoient ordinairement en de semblables occasions.Hæc est, ce dit-il,quæ spurcissimo gentilium ritu pro fraterna societate, sanguinibus alternis ebibitis, cum infidelibus sæpe ausa est amicitias firmare ferales. L’Empereur Frederic I. auoit fait auparauant ce mesme reproche aux Grecs, ainsi que nous apprenons de Nicetas. Mais ce que les Grecs firent par necessité, nos François qui estoient resserrez dans Constantinople, et attaquez par dehors de toutes parts, furent contraints de le faire, et de subire la meme loy, en s’accommodant au temps, pour se parer des insultes de leurs ennemis. C’est ce que le Sire de Joinuille dit en ces termes: A iceluy Cheualier oüi dire, et comme il le disoit au Roy, que l’Empereur de Constantinople, et ses gens, se allierent vne fois d’vn Roy, qu’on appelloit le Roy des Comains, pour auoir leur aide, pour conquerir l’Empereur de Grece, qui auoit nom Vataiche. Et disoit iceluy Cheualier, que le Roy du peuple des Comains pour auoir seurte et fiance fraternel l’vn l’autre, qu’il faillit qu’ils et chascun de leur gens d’vns part et d’autre se fissent saigner, et que de leur sang ils donnassent à boire l’vn à l’autre, en signe de fraternité, disans qu’ils estoient frere, et d’vn sang, et ainsi le conuint faire entre nos gens, el les gens d’iceluy Roy, et meslérent de leur sang auec du vin, et en beuuoient l’vn à l’autre, et disoient lors qu’ils estoient freres d’vn sang. Georges Pachymeres raconte la méme chose des Comains. Et Alberic en l’an 1187, nous fait assez voir que cette coûtume eut pareillement cours parmy les Sarazins, écriuant que la funeste alliance que le Comte de Tripoly contracta auec le Sultan des Sarazins, se fit auec cette cérémonie, et qu’ils y bûrent du sang l’vn de l’autre.
“Cette fraternité se contractoit encore par l’attouchement des armes, en les faisant toucher reciproquement les vnes aux autres. Cette coûtume estoit particuliere aux Anglois, auant que les Normans se rendissent maîtres de l’Angleterre, principalement lorsque des communautez entieres faisoient entre eux vne alliance fraternelle, en vsans de cette maniere, au lieu du changement reciproque des armes, qui n’auroit pas pû s’executer si facilement.
“Mais entre tant de cerémonies qui se sont obseruées pour contracter vne fraternite, celle qui a esté pratiquée par les peuples Chrétiens, est la plus plausible et la plus raisonnable: car pour abolir et pour éteindre entierement les superstitions qui les accompagnoient, et qui tenoient du paganisme, ils en ont introduit vne autre plus sainte et plus pieuse en la contractant dans l’Eglise, deuant le Prétre, et en faisant reciter quelques prieres ou oraisons, nous en auons la formule dansl’Euchologium.”
NOTE V.—CHAP. III.
The fear of Robert Guiscard was no chimera; for, after having raised himself from indigence to power and authority, he opposed successfully the whole force of two great monarchies, and defeated alternately the emperors of the east and the west.
One of the most pointed accounts of this extraordinary freebooter which I have met with I subjoin, from theMelanges Curieux.
“Robertus Wischardi de Normania exiens, vir pauper, miles tamen, ingenio et probitate suâ Apuliam, Calabriam suæ ditioni submisit, et Insulam Siciliam de manu Ismaelitarum liberavit, Rotgeriumque fratrem suum ejusdem Insulæ Comitem appellavit. Demum mare transiens, Durachium urbem nobilem cepit, Dalmatiamque et Bulgariam super Alexium Imperatorem acquisivit: insuper eum ter bello fugavit, et Romanum, Henricum semel ab urbe fugere compulit, Pontificemque Romanum, quem ceperat, ab eo liberavit. Qui cum innumerabilia penè fecisset probitatis indicia, hoc de illo constans habetur, quod nisi morte præoccupatus fuisset, filium suum Boamundum Imperatorem faceret, se verò Regem Persarum, ut sæpè dicebat, constitueret, viamque Hieroso, lymorum destructâ paganitate Francis aperiret. Nunquam victus est quanquam sæpè pugnaverit. Venetos, qui contra eum omni virtute sua convenerant cum stolo suo ita profligavit, ut nec fuga, nec pelagus illis esset auxilio. Nec fuit terrarum locus ita remotus, in quo rumor, fama, timor Wischardi per omnium ferê ora non volitaret. Et ut verius de ec dici potest, nulli Regum aut Imperatorum Wischardus secundus extitit.”—Pere l’Abbe.
NOTE VI.—CHAP. III.
This cry was not the only cry of arms which the crusaders used in the Holy Land. Though it was the general battle-cry of the whole army, and each leader made use of it occasionally when he wanted to animate the whole host, by rousing up their old enthusiasm; yet when he sought to bring round him his own vassals, he used the appropriate shout of his family. Thus we find, by Raimond d’Agiles, that the battle-cry of Raimond de St. Giles was “Toulouse!”
The best general account of the old cry of arms which I have met with is given by Ducange.
“Le cry d’armes n’est autre chose qu’vne clameur conceuë en deux ou trois paroles, prononcée au commencement ou au fort du combat et de la mêlée, par un chef, ou par tous les soldats ensemble, suivant les rencontres et les occasions: lequel cry d’armes estoit particulier au general de l’armée ou au chef de chaque troupe.
“Les François que se trouuérent à la premiere conquéte de la Terre Sainte avoient pour cry general ces mots,Adjuua Deus, ainsi que nous apprenons de Foucher de Chartres, et d’vn autre ancien Auteur ou bien,Eia Deus adiuua nos, suivant l’Histoire de Hierusalem. Raymond d’Agiles rapporte la cause et l’origine de ce cry à la vision de Pierre Barthelemy, qui trouua la sainte Lance au temps que les Turcs assiegeoient la ville d’Antioche sur les nostre: car durant ce siége S. André luy estant apparu plusieurs fois, il luy enjoignit de persuader aux Chrétiens d’auoir recours à Dieu dans les fatigues du siége, et de la faim qu’ils enduroient,et de prendre dans les combats pour cry d’armes ces motsDeus adjuua, et sit signum clamoris vestri, Devs adjuva, et reuera Deus adjuvabit vosqui sont les paroles de S. Andre, Roderic Archeuesque de Tolede dit qu’au siége et à la prise de Cordouë sur les Sarrazins d’Espagne, les Chrétiens crierent aussiDeus adjuva. Ils ajoustoient quelquefois à ce cry ces motsDeus vult, ou pour parler en langage du temps, et suiuant qu’ils sont enoncez en la Chronique du Mont Cassin,Diex el volt, dont l’origine est rapportée au Concile de Clermont en Auuergne, où le Pape Urbain II. ayant fait vne forte exhortation pour porter les princes Chrétiens à prendre les armes pour aller retirer la Terre Sainte demains des Infidéles,Ita omnium qui aderant affectus in vnum concitauit vt omnes acclamarent, Deux volt, Deus volt. Aprés quoy le pape ayant rendu graces à Dieu, dit entre autres paroles celle-cy,Sit ergo vobis vox ista in rebus bellicis militare signum, quia verbum hoc à Deo est prolatum, cùm in hostem fiet bellicosi impetus congressio, erit vni uersis hæc ex parte Dei vna vociferatio Deus vult, Deus vult. D’où on recueille pourquoy le cry est appelle Signum Dei dans quelques Auteurs.”—Ducange, Dissertations sur l’Histoire de St Louis, Dissert. xi.
NOTE VII.—CHAP. IV.
I have used the termCounts Palatine, from the old writer whose name stands in the margin. The peculiar position of these Counts Palatine, under the ever-changing dynasties of early Europe, is a curious and interesting subject of inquiry, but one too extensive to be fully treated in this place. I hope, at some future period, to speak of it in a more comprehensive work. The learned author whose works have furnished me with the preceding note affords a good view of the original functions of the Counts of the Palace, or Counts Palatine.
“Sovs la premiere et la seconde race de nos Rois, les comtes faisoient la fonction dans les prouinces et dans les villes capitales du royaume, non seulement de gouuerneurs, mais encore celle de juges. Leur principal employ estoit d’y decider les differents et les procés ordinaires de leur justiciables; et où ils ne pouvoient se transporter sur les lieux, ils commettoient à cét effet leurs vicomtes et leurs lieutenans. Quant aux affaires d’importance, et qui meritoient d’estre jugées par la bouche du prince, nos mémes rois auoient des comtes dans leurs palais, et prés de leurs personnes, ausquels ils en commettoient la connoissance et le jugement, qui estoient nommez ordinairement, acause de cét illustre employ, Comtes du Palais, ou Comtes Palatins.
“Il y a lieu de croire que dans la premiere race de nos Rois, et méme dans le commencement de la seconde, la charge de Comte du Palais n’estoit exercée que par vn seul, qui jugeoit les differens, assisté de quelques Conseillers Palatins, qui sont appellez Scabini Palatii, Echeuins du Palais, dans la Chronique de S. Vincent de Wlturne.
“On ne peut pas toutefois disconuenir qu’il n’y ait eu en méme temps plusieurs Comtes du Palais. Car Eguinard en vne de ses Epîtres, dit en termes exprés qu’Adalard et Geboïn estoient Comtes du Palais en méme temps. Et vn titre de Louys le Debonnaire de l’an 938, qui se lit aux Antiquitez de l’Abbaye de Fulde est souscrit de ce Gebawinus, ou Gebuinus, et de Ruadbertus, qui y prennent qualité de Comtes du Palais.”
NOTE VIII.—CHAP. VI.
The habit of carrying a small wallet when bound on a pilgrimage is one of the oldest customs of the Christian world. This part of the pilgrim’s dress was called afterward anaumoniere, and served either as a receptacle for containing the alms received on the journey, or, when worn by the rich, as a repository for those they intended to give away. The curious fact of Charlemagne having borne one of these wallets to Rome, and of its having been buried with him, is mentioned in the XVth Dissertation on Joinville.
“Cassian traitant des habits et des vétemens des anciens Moines d’Egypte, dit qu’ils se reuetoient d’vn habit fait de peaux de chevre, que l’on appelloit Melotes, et qu’ils portoient ordinairement l’escarcelle et le baton. Les termes de cét Auteur ne sont pas toutefois bien clairs, en cét endroit-là:Vltimus est habitus eorum pellis Caprina, quæ Melotes, vel pera appellatur, et baculus.Car il n’est pas probable que cét habit de peaux de cheure ait esté appellé Pera. Ce qui a donné sujet à quelques Commentateurs de restituer Penula. Neantmoins Isidore et Papias, comme aussi Ælfric dans son Glossaire Saxon, ont écrit aprés Cassian, que Melotis, estoit la méme chose que Pera. Quant à moy j’estime que Cassian a entendu dire que ces Moines, outre ce vétement fait de peaux, auoient encore coûtume de porter vn petit sachet, et vn baton, dont ils se seruoient durant leurs pelerinages. Ce qui ce peut aisement concilier, en restituant le mot appellatur, on le sousentendant, aprés Melotes. Tant y a que Cassian parle du baton des Moines au Chapitre suiuant; et dans l’vne de ses Collations, il fait assez, voir que lorsqu’ils entreprenoient quelque voyage, ils prenoient l’vn et l’autre: Cum accepissemus peram et baculum, vt ibi moris est Monachis vniuersis iter agentibus. Le Moine d’Angouléme ecrit que le corps de Charlemagne, apres sa mort, fut inhumé auec tous ses habits imperiaux, et que pardessus on y posa l’escarcelle d’or, dont les pelerins se seruent ordinairement, et qu’il auoit coûtume de porter lorsqu’il alloit à Rom: et super vestimentis Imperialibus pera peregrinalis aurea posita est, quam Romam portare solitus erat. D’où il resulte que le baton et l’escarcelle ont toûjours esté la marque particuliere des Pelerins, ou comme parle Guillaume de Malmesbury Solatia et indicia itineris.
“Les Pelerins de la Terre Sainte, auant que d’entreprendre leurs pelerinages, alloient rcecuoir l’escarcelle et le bourdon des mains des Prestres dans l’Eglise.
“Et cela s’est pratiqué mémes par nos Rois, lorsqu’ils ont voulu entreprendre ces longs et facheux voyages d’outremer. Car aprés auoir chargé leurs épaules de la figure de la Croix, ils auoient coûtume de venir en l’Abbaye de S. Denys, et là, aprés la celébration de la messe, ils receuoient des mains de quelque Prelat le baton de Pelerin et l’escarcelle, et memes l’Oriflamme, ensuite dequoy ils prenoient conge de S. Denys, Patron du Royaume.”
NOTE IX.—CHAP. VII.
The pretence of the Count of Toulouse for resisting the claims of Boemond to the possession of Antioch was, that he had vowed to the emperor Alexius to deliver up all conquests to him alone. This was but aspecious covering for his own avarice. The terms in which Baldric mentions the cession of Antioch to Boemond are as follows; and it will be seen that much more notice was taken of Alexius than that contemptible usurper deserved.
“Locuti sunt igitur ad invicem Christianorum duces, et sponte sua Boamundo subintulerunt: Vides quo in articulo res nostra posita sit. Si civitatem ergo istam vel prece vel pretio, nobis etiam juvantibus poteris obtinere, nos eam tibi unanimiter concedimus: salvo in omnibus quod Imperatori, te collaudante, fecimus sacramento. Si ergo Imperator nobis adjutor advenerit, juratasque pactiones custodierit, perjuri vivere nolumus: sed quod pace tua dictum sit, nos illi eam concedimus: sin autem, tuæ semper sit subdite potestati.Ex Historia Hierosolymitana Baldrici, Episcopi Dolensis.”
NOTE X.—CHAP. X.
Even in the days of Ducange the form and colour of the Oriflamme, or standard borne to battle before the kings of France, was so far forgotten, that the learned antiquary bestowed no small research to ascertain its texture and appearance. His erudition never left any thing in uncertainty; but though he proved the particular banner called the Oriflamme to have been red; yet Guillaume Guiart mentions one of fine azure, which was carried before Philip Augustus to the siege of Acre. Ducange speaks of the Oriflamme as follows:
“Pour commencer par la recherche du nom d’Oriflamme, la plûpart des Ecriuains estiment, qu’on le doit tirer de sa matiere, de sa couleur, et de se forme. Quant à sa figure, il est hors de doute qu’elle estoit faite comme les bannieres de nos Eglises, que l’on porte ordinairement aux processions, qui sont quarrees, fenduës en diuers endroits par le bas, ornees de franges, et attacheés par le haut à vn baton de trauers, qui les tient etenduës, et est soûtenu d’vne forme de pique. Ils ajoûtent que sa matiere estoit de soye, ou de tafetas, sa couleur rouge, et tirant sur celle du feu, et de la sandaraque, à laquelle Pline attribue celle de la flamme. Il est vray que pour la couleur, tous les Ecriuains conuiennent qu’elle estoit rouge. Guillaume le Breton en sa Philippide, la decrit ainsi:
‘Ast Regi satis est tenues crispare per aurasVexillum simplex, cendato simplice textum,Splendoris rubei, Letania qualiter vtiEcclesiana solet, certis ex more diebusQuod cum flamma habeat vulgariter aurea nomenOmnibus in bellis habet omnia signa preire.’
“Guillaume Guiart en son Histoire de France, en la vie de Philippes Auguste, a ainsi traduit ces vers:
‘Oriflamme est vne banniere,Aucune poi plus forte qui quimple,De cendal roujoiant et simple,Sans pourtraiture d’autre affaire.’
“L’Oriflamme estoit l’enseigne particuliere de l’Abbe et du Monastere de S. Denys, qu’ils faisoient porter dans leurs guerres par leur AuoüeCar c’estoit-là la principale fonction des Auoüez, qui en qualite de defenseurs et de protecteurs des Monasteres et des Eglises, entreprenoient la conduit de leurs vassaux pour la defense de leurs droits, et portoient leurs enseignes à la guerre: d’où vient qu’ils sont ordinairement appellez, les porte-enseignes des Eglise, signiferi Ecclesiarum, comme j’espere justifier ailleurs Les Comtes du Vexin et de Pontoise auoient ce titre dans le Monastere de S. Denys, dont ils estoient les Auoüez, et les protecteurs, et en cette qualite ils portoient l’Oriflamme dans les guerres qui s’entreprenoient pour la defense de ses biens.
“Il faut donc tenir pour constant que Louys le Gros fut le premier de nos Rois, qui en qualite de Comte du Vexin tira l’Oriflamme de dessus l’autel de l’Eglise de S. Denys, et la fit porter dans ses armees, comme la principale enseigne du Protecteur de son Royaume, et dont il inuoquoit le secours dans son cry d’armes.
“Il est arriue dans la suite que nos Rois, qui estoient entrez dans les droits de ces Comtes, s’en sont seruis, pour leurs guerres particulieres, comme estant la banniere qui portoit le nom du Protecteur de leur Royaume, ainsi que j’ay remarque, la tirans, de dessus l’autel de l’Eglise S. Denys, auec les memes ceremonies, et les memes prieres, que l’on auoit accoûteme d’observer, lorsqu’on la mettoit entre les mains des Comtes du Vexin pour les guerres particulieres de ce Monastere. Ces ceremonies sont ainsi decrites par Raoul de Presle, au Traite dont je viens de parler en cestermes: Premierement la procession vous vient à l’encontre jusques à l’issuë du Cloistre, et apres la procession, atteints les benoists corps Saints de Monsieur S. Denys, et ses Compagnons, et mis sur l’autel en grande reuerence, et aussi le corps de Monsieur S. Louys, et puis est mise cette banniere ploise sur les corporaux, où est consacre le corps de N. S. Jesus Christ, lequel vous receuez dignement apres la celebration de la Messe: si fait celuy lequel vous auez esleu à bailler, comme au plus prud homme et vaillant Cheualier; et ce fait, le baisez en la bouche, et luy baillez, et la tient en ses mains par grande reuerence, afin que les Barons assistans le puissent baiser comme reliques et choses dignes, et en luy baillant pour le porter, luy faites faire serment solemnel de le porter et garder en grande reuerence, et à l’honneur de vous et de vostre Royaume.
NOTE XI.—CHAP. XIII.
Villehardouin is undoubtedly the best authority for all the particulars of the siege of Constantinople. Nicetas was extravagantly prejudiced; and though the emperor Baldwin, in his letters to the Pope, was as frank as any man in his situation could be, it was but natural that he should endeavour to show the causes of the warfare in the most favourable point of view—that he should represent the conduct of himself and his companions with every advantage—in fact that he should see the events which raised him to the throne through a peculiar medium, and represent them tinged with the same colours that they presented to his own eyes.
Villehardouin wrote without many of these disadvantages. He did not belong to the pillaged and conquered class, like Nicetas, nor did he write to excuse himself in the eyes of the Pope. He had his prejudices, of course, like other men, but these prejudices were greatly prevented from affecting his history by the frank simplicity of chivalrous manners, which no one possessed in greater purity than he did himself.
In two points Philippe Mouskes gives a different account of the affairs of Constantinople from Villehardouin. In the first place, he states that Alexius Angelus, the brother of Isaac, commanded his nephew to be drowned; but that by entreaties the prince moved those persons who were charged with the cruel order. In the next place, he says that Murzuphlis caused Alexius the younger to be poisoned.
In regard to the destruction of the monuments of art committed by the Latins, Nicetas gives a melancholy, though somewhat bombastic account. The famous works destroyed were as follows, according to his statement:
A colossal Juno, from the forum of Constantine, the head of which was so large that four horses could scarcely draw it from the spot where it stood to the palace.
The statue of Paris, presenting the apple to Venus.
An immense bronze pyramid, crowned by a female figure, which turned with the wind.
The colossal statue of Bellerophon, in bronze, which was broken down, and cast into the furnace. Under the inner nail of the horse’s hind foot, on the left side, was found a seal, wrapped in a woollen cloth.
A figure of Hercules, by Lysimachus, of such vast dimensions that the circumference of the thumb was equal in measurement to the waist of an ordinary man. From the attitude of this statue, as described by Nicetas, it is not improbable that it served as a model for that piece of sculpture, the only part of which that remains is the famousTorso.