Chapter XII: Part II: of the Trachten. The jazerant coats of the fifteenth (3)

The trapper of chain-mail occurs on two of the plates of that work: those numbered 31 and 37. A fragment of a similar defence is seen on the Shurland monument at Minster (Stothard, Pl. XLI.). But representations of this kind of armament are of the greatest rarity. It is, however, often mentioned by the writers of the time; though, perhaps, not without some exaggeration of the numbers of mail-clad steeds gathered in the host. At the battle of Nuova Croce in 1237, between the imperialists and the Milanese, Matthew Paris tells us that: "A credible Italian asserted that Milan with its dependencies raised an army of six thousand men-at-arms with iron-clad horses[401]." The _Chronicon Colmariense_, under the year 1298, describing the force of "Australes, qui armis ferreis utebantur," brought against the duke of Austria, says: "Habebant et multos qui habebant dextrarios, id est, equos magnos. Hi equi cooperti fuerunt coopertoriis ferreis, id est, veste ex circulis ferreis contexta." An ordinance of Philip the Fair in 1303 provides that every holder of an estate of 500 livres rental, shall furnish for defence of the realm "un gentilhomme bien armé et monté à cheval de cinquante livres tournois et couvert de couvertures de fer ou de couverture pourpointé[402]." The particular use of the barding of steel or pourpointerie was to defend the horses against the missiles of the enemy. Sutcliffe's "Practice of Arms," written in the sixteenth century, when the musquet was rapidly supplanting the long-bow, has: "Use of late times hath brought in divers sorts of Horsemen, which, according to their armes and furniture, have divers names. Some Horse are barded; others without bardes. The French Men-of-armes, in times past, used barded Horses, for feare of our Arrowes. Nowe, since Archerie is not so much reckoned of, and Bardes are but a weak defence against Shotte, Lanciers, leaving their bardes, are armed much like to the Albanian Stradiots."

The pourpointed housing is named in the ordinance of Philip IV. quoted above, and it may probably be implied in most cases where we read of a "cheval couvert." Rigord, under 1214, (battle of Bovines,) describes the approach of the Imperialists on their barded horses: "Dixit quod viderat equos militum coopertos, ... quod erat evidentissimum pugnæ signum." In a roll of expenses, of 1294, given by Du Cange[403], "Pour les gages de Monsieur Bertran Massole, retenu aux gages accoustumez pour lui et deux Ecuyers," we read: "Et estoit luy et autre à chevaux couverts, et un autre sans cheval couvert:" and again: "Pour onze Ecuyers à chevaux couverts, à chacun vii. sols vi. deniers par jour, et pour deux qui n'ont point chevaux couverts, chacun v. sols."

In England, the armed horse came into use between the years 1285 and 1298; for, while the Statute of Winchester in 1285 makes no mention of any defence for the steed, the Statute of 27 Edw. I. in every case requires such an armament:--

"Le Rey ad ordene qe sire Thomas de Furnivall voit en les contees
de Notingham et de Derb', de eslire, trier, ordener et asseer gentz
d'armes en meismes les contez, aussi bien a chival come a pie, de
toutz ceus qui sont de age d'entre vint anns e seissaunte: ensi
qe chescun qe eyt XXX. liverees de terre, seit mis a un _chival
covert_: e de seissaunte liverees, a deux _chivaux covertz_: e se
vers mount de chescune XXX. liveree de terre, a un _chival covert_.
E s'il eit plus avant qe XXX. liveree de terre e ne mie seisaunte,
qe en ceo qe il avera entre les XXX. livereez, seit joint e mis a
un autre qe serra de meisme la condicion.

"E de ceus qui averont meins de trente liveree de terre en aval
jusqes a seisaunte soudes, e de ceus qe out seisaunte soudees, e de
seisaunte soudees en amount, soient enjoingnz e mis as autres qe
serront de meisme l'estat, de si qe il seient a XXX. liverees, e
adunkes soient assis a un _chival covert_: ensi qe chescune trente
liveree de terre, aussi de greindres come de meindres, face un
_chival covert_.

"E face le dit sire Thomas mettre en roulle les nouns de touz ceaus
qi serront assis as chivaux covertz, e le noumbre des chivaux par
eus severeaument de chescun wapentakel, e aussi les nouns de gent a
pe par eus.

"E ausitost come il avera ce fet, distinctement e apertement de ce
certifie le Rey.

"Don' a Noef Chastel sur Tyne, le xxv. jour de Novembre[404]."

The housing of a lighter material seems to be presented to us in the engravings, Nos. 47, 72 and 80. The folds of the drapery in these examples have in no degree the character of a stiff quilted garment. The last of the three miniatures (from the Lives of the Offas) is further curious from its exhibiting in the same group the horse with and without its housing. The caparisoned steed in front is that of King Offa the First, who leads his troops to the defeat of the Scots. A very early example of the trapper is found in the seal of Saer de Quinci, earl of Winchester, 1210--19: engraved in Laing's Scottish Seals, Plate XI. In this monument, too, the housing is armoried; which seems to shew that the heraldic and the plain housing were introduced simultaneously. Neither of them was at this early time a necessary concomitant of knightly dignity; for we find no English royal seal exhibiting the caparisoned steed till the time of Edward I. (See woodcut, No. 85.) Another early instance of the armorial trapper is afforded by the seal of Hugo de Vere, earl of Oxford, 1221-63[405]; and in this, as in other examples, it will be remarked that, while the couverture of the horse is decorated with heraldic devices, the surcoat of the knight is altogether plain. The seal here given, of Roger de Quinci, earl of Winchester from 1219 to 1264, has the same arrangement.

PLATE LXXXVII.]

Other examples of the armoried housing will be found in the Lives of the Offas, the Painted Chamber, in the seal of Patrick, earl of March, 1292 (Laing, p. 54), in the monument of Edmund Crouchback, 1296, (Stothard, Pl. XLIII.) and in our engravings, Nos. 47 and 85.

Towards the end of the thirteenth century came in the fashion of ornamenting the head of the horse with a Fan Crest, similar to that fixed on the helm of the knight. This fan crest for the horse is a decoration of very high antiquity: it appears among the Assyrian sculptures, and again among the Lycian marbles in the British Museum. See the engravings at page 159 and page 285 of Mr. Vaux's able work on our national collection. The seal of Patrick Dunbar, earl of March, 1292, affords a good example of knight and steed decorated with the fan crest: it is figured in Laing's Ancient Scottish Seals, page 54. In the provision for the Windsor Tournament in 1278, crests are furnished for every knight and every horse[406]:--

"Īt p̴ qualibet galea j. cresta }
Īt p̴ quolibet equo j. cresta } S͂m. LXXVj. Cres̄t."

They were in this case made of parchment, and fastened by means of nails or rivets and "chastones":--

"Īt p̴ qualibet cresta j. pell' parcamēn rud'.
Īt p̴ qualibet cresta j. pa͂r chastōn et j clauōn."

The clavones are again mentioned in the Wardrobe Accounts of King Edward I. in 1300[407]: "factura diversorum armorum, vexillorum, et penocellorum, pro Domino Edwardo filio Regis et Johanne de Lancastria, jamberis, poleyns, platis, uno capello ferri, una Cresta cum _clavis argenti_ pro eodem capello," &c. The chasto (Fr. _châton_) was a kind of socket or cavity, but the particular arrangement of it in fixing the crest has not been ascertained.

About the same time we first hear of a defence for the horse of the nature of the later chanfrein. The same Windsor Roll of 1278 gives us the earliest notice of these "copita" of leather, made after the fashion (_de similitudine_) of horses' heads:--

"D Milōn le Cuireu͂r. xxxviij. copita co͂r de similitud' capīt
equoȝ p'̄c pēc ij. s."

They appear again in 1301, under the name of _testaræ_ (or _testeræ_) in the Indenture of Delivery of the Castle of Montgomery to William de Leyburn (Cott. MS. Vitell. C. x. fol. 154): "Item liberavit eidem iij. pa͂r coopertorum ferri et ij. Testaras et v. loricas cum capite et v. sine capite," &c.

The thirteenth century appears to have retained all the ENGINES for the approach and attack of towns that were in use during the preceding age. In this century we first obtain pictorial evidence of the form and principle of the mangona or trebuchet of the middle-ages, and from this valuable testimony we learn that the motive power of _torsion_ employed during the classic period is no longer in favour; but instead, we have a machine from which, by means of a counterpoised beam, a large stone is cast forth from a sling fixed at one end of the beam. We have already (page 330) referred to the drawings of these instruments in an Arabic manuscript of this century, used by Captain Favé and M. Reinaud in their work, _Du feu grégeois, &c._ Other early representations occur in Roy. MS. 16, G. vi., copied in Shaw's "Dresses and Decorations;" in the ivory carving figured in the fourth volume of the Journal of the Archæological Association, and in the _Études sur l'Artillerie_ of the Emperor of the French, Vol. ii. Plate III. In the work of Gilles Colonne[408], written for his pupil, Philip the Fair of France, we have a distinct account of four varieties of the trébuchet: "Of pierriers," he says, "there are four kinds, and in all these machines there is a beam which is raised and lowered by means of a counterpoise, a sling being attached to the end of the beam to discharge the stone. Sometimes the counterpoise is not sufficient, and then they attach ropes to it, in order to move the beam. The counterpoise may either be fixed or moveable, or both at once. In the fixed counterpoise, a box is fastened to the end of the beam, and filled with stones or sand, or any heavy body. These machines, anciently called _trabutium_, cast their missiles with most exactness, because the weight acts in a uniform manner. Their aim is so sure that one may, so to say, hit a needle. If the gyn carries too far, it must be drawn back or loaded with a heavier stone: if the contrary, then it must be advanced or a smaller stone supplied. For without attention to the weight of the stone, one cannot hope to reach the given mark.

"Others of these machines have a moveable counterpoise attached to the beam, turning upon an axis. This variety was by the Romans named _biffa_. The third kind, which is called _tripantum_, has two weights: one fixed to the beam and the other moveable around it: by this means, it throws with more exactness than the _biffa_, and to a greater distance than the trebuchet. The fourth sort, in lieu of weights fixed to the beam, has a number of ropes; and is discharged by means of men pulling simultaneously at the cords. This last kind does not cast such large stones as the others, but it has the advantage that it may be more rapidly loaded and discharged than they. In using the perriers by night, it is necessary to attach a lighted body to the projectile: by this means, one may discover the force of the machine, and regulate the weight of the stone accordingly[409]."

The trebuchet arranged with cords is represented in the treatise _Du feu grégeois_ noticed above, and in the _Études sur l'Artillerie_, vol. ii. Pl. III. Those familiar with the sights of the Thames will not fail to be struck with the curious resemblance between this ancient engine of warfare and the apparatus by which a gang of colliers raise the cargo from the hold of their ships.

Matthew Paris mentions the plying by day and by night of the terrible trebuchet. Under 1246, he gives us the letter of Master Walter de Ocra, a clerk of the Emperor, to the king of England, recounting the events of the Italian campaign: "About eight days before the end of last July, my Lord laid siege to the Castle of Capaccio, in which were (certain knights) traitors to him, and who had attempted his life, with a hundred and fifty others, including knights, cross-bowmen, and other friends of theirs; all of whom my said Lord, by uninterrupted discharges of missiles, day and night, from seven well-ordered Trebuchets, and by vigorous and unceasing assaults, also made night and day, reduced to such a helpless state that they could not assist one another[410]." The castle was finally taken and destroyed, the garrison punished by loss of eye-sight and other mutilations; and the six leaders who had attempted the life of the Emperor, having partaken the punishment of their comrades, were by the imperial order "sent to all the kings and princes throughout the various countries of the world, with the impression of the papal bull, which was found there, stamped on their foreheads, to give public notice of their treachery."

The trebuchets were sometimes distinguished by particular names, a fancy already begun in the "Mate-Griffon" of Cœur-de-Lion's war-tower, and afterwards largely indulged in the great bombards of the fifteenth and succeeding centuries. In 1303, when the Bernese besieged Wimmis, they had two trebuchets, one of which was named _La fille de bois_, the other _L'Âne_[411].

In 1850, under the direction of the present Emperor of the French, a trebuchet of large dimensions was constructed after the ancient monuments, and set up at the École d'Artillerie at Vincennes. A minute account of its formation and the experiments made with it, has been given in the Report to the Minister of War by Capt. Favé: this report is printed in the _Études sur l'Artillerie_, vol. ii. page 38.

The projectiles thrown from the ancient trebuchets were rounded stones, barrels of Greek fire or other incendiary compositions, and occasionally the putrid bodies of animals, when the siege was obstinately prolonged, or the combatants were greatly exasperated. The rounded stones are particularly mentioned by Guiart:--

"Giétent mangonniaus et perrières:
La grosse pierre areondie
Demainne a l'aler grant bondie."
_Chron. Métr._, Par. i. vers 3,296.

The English seem to have been somewhat behindhand in the construction of their perriers, for Matthew Paris tells us that in 1253 the Gascons hurled stones and darts of such wonderful size on the army of the king, that many of them were carried into England, to be exhibited as curiosities[412].

The mangonel was used also in sea-fights. In the Additamenta to the _Historia Major_ of Matthew Paris, we have an account of the taking of Damietta, in which occurs this passage: "Et lapides de _mangonellis navalibus_, qui sic parabantur ut quinque vel sex lapides simul longo jacerent[413]." It does not seem, however, (as it has been suggested,) that we have here the description of an engine which threw five or six stones at once: we must rather understand that five or six mangonels were so managed as to shoot in volleys.

Another variety of the trebuchet was the Biblia or Bible; but its distinctive character has not been ascertained. It is mentioned in 1238: "adducens secum Bibliam, Petrariam et caetera bellica instrumenta[414]." And in the _Roman de Claris_:

"Li rois fait ses engins drecier
Et vers les haus murs charroier;
Bibles et Mangoniaux geter,
Et les Chats aux fossez mener,
Les Berfrois traire vers les mur:
Cil dedens ne sont pas à sur."

And again, in the same romance:--

"Et pierres grans et les Pierriers,
Et les Bibles qui sont trop fiers,
Getent," &c.

Other names occur at this time, indicating machines for casting stones: some of these are probably mere synonyms of the words already noticed; and of the particular mechanism implied by others, it is vain, in the absence of cotemporary drawings, to hope for an exact idea.

Besides the engines of the mangona kind, formed by a sling and weight, there was another class constructed on the principle of the cross-bow. The Spingarda and Spingardella (_Espringale_) appear to have been arbalests mounted on frames with wheels, somewhat after the manner of the field-pieces of our own day. The French used them against the Flemings at the battle of Mons-en-Puelle in 1304:--

"Joignant d'eus rot deux Espringales,
Que garçons au tirer avancent."--_Guiart._

They shot forth, not only stones, but darts or quarrels:--

"Et font getter leurs espringales:
Ça et là sonnent li clairain:
Li garrot, empené d'airain,
Quatre on cinq en percent tout outre."
_Guiart_, année 1304.

They were also called _Arbalestes à tour_, and under this name are included by Christine de Pisan (in the fourteenth century) in the armament for a strong siege: "Deux cens arbalestres, _trente_ autres _arbalestes à tour_, et cent autres à croc, ... douze tours tous neufs, à tendre arbalestres," &c. From the last item we see very clearly that the distinctive name of this arbalest was derived from the instrument used to bend its powerful bow. The figure of an espringale mounted on its carriage is given in the _Études sur l'Artillerie_, vol. i. Plate I.

The old contrivances to cover the sappers as they approached the walls of a besieged place, still continued in use: the Cat, the Cat-castle (CHAT-CHASTEL) the Vinea, and other varieties of the mantlet occurring frequently in the chronicles and poems of the time. The king, in the _Roman de Claris_,

"----fait ses engins drecier,
Et les Chats aux fossez mener."

In 1256, the Papal troops, led by the Archbishop of Ravenna, attack Padua, defended by the partisans of the tyrant Eccelino; the archbishop, surrounded by a medley of knights and monks, soldiers and priests, assaulted the city at the gate of the Ponte Altinato: they had made their approaches under cover of a "kind of moveable gallery which they called _Vinea_." The defendants from their walls poured burning pitch and boiling oil upon the wooden vinea, so that it took fire; but the city gate being also of wood, the besiegers pushed the machine close to the gate, burnt it down and entered the place[415].

The Moveable Towers also were still in vogue. Under the name of _berfrois_, they are mentioned in the passage on a preceding page from the _Roman de Claris_. Under the year 1204 they are named by Guiart:--

"Un fort Chastel se fust drécié:
Le sommet plus haut en repose
Que les murs de Gaillart grant chose."

In Roy. MS. 20, D. i., of about the close of this century, the wooden Tower occurs in several of the miniatures. It is constructed in the manner of a scaffolding, having at the top an open platform filled with archers: its height, that of the city walls, close to which it is placed. Examples will be found on folios 305, 306 and 317. The besieged, when they were able to discover the point to which the assaulting tower was to be moved, loosened the soil in that spot by digging; so that, when the ponderous machine arrived, it was overturned by its fore-wheels sinking into the soft earth[416]. The _Chat-Chastel_ combined the _beffroi_ and the _cattus_.

But the best account that can be offered of the Siege operations of this time, is furnished by a cotemporary writer, the Seneschal of Carcassone; himself the commander of the defending forces. This very curious document is preserved in the Archives of France, and has been published in the _Bibliothèque de l'École des Chartes_, vol. vii. p. 363. Carcassone was besieged in the autumn of 1240 by the son of the Vicomte de Béziers; and the defender of the city, Guillaume des Ormes, sends to Queen Blanche, regent of the kingdom during the absence of Saint Louis, an exact account of the proceedings. Carcassone was surrounded with a double wall, furnished as usual with towers, and having several barbicans in advance of its various gates. The object of the Barbican was to afford the besieged the means of a flanking attack: it was formed something like a street, with a wall on each side, terminating in a kind of open tower: and it thus became necessary that the enemy should act in the first instance against this outwork; for, by assaulting the curtain, they would be exposed to a flank attack from the barbican, and might also be assailed in the rear by sorties from the head of the work.

"To his most excellent and highly illustrious mistress, Blanche, by the grace of God, Queen of the French, William des Ormes, Seneschal of Carcassone, her humble and devoted servant, greeting and faithful service.

"Madame, this is to let you know that the city of Carcassone was besieged by him who calls himself the Viscount, and by his accomplices, on the Monday following the Octave of the Nativity of the Blessed Mary[417]. And immediately we who were within the city took from them the suburb _Graveillant_, which is before the Toulouse gate; and thence we obtained much timber, which was of great use to us. The said suburb extended from the Barbican of the city as far as the corner of the said city. And the same day, our enemies, through the multitude of their forces, took from us a mill. Afterwards, Olivier de Termes, Bernard Hugon de Serre-Longue, Géraud d'Aniort, and those who were with them, lodged themselves between the corner of the city and the water; and there, on the same day, by means of the ditches in that spot, and by breaking up the roads which lay between them and us, they so fortified themselves that we could by no means get at them.

"On another side, between the bridge and the Castle Barbican, Pierre de Fenouillet and Renaud de Puy, Guillaume Fort, Pierre de la Tour, and many others of Carcassone, established themselves. And at both these places they had so many Cross-bowmen[418], that no man could stir out of the city without being wounded. Afterwards they set up a mangonel before our barbican, when we lost no time in opposing to it from within an excellent Turkish petrary[419], which played upon the mangonel and those about it; so that when they essayed to cast upon us, and saw the beam of our petrary in motion, they fled, utterly abandoning their mangonel. And in that place they made ditches and palisades. Yet, as often as we discharged our petrary, we drove them from it, still being unable to approach the spot on account of the ditches, the pits, and the bolts from their bows(?)--_propter fossata, quarellos et puteos qui ibi erant_.

"Moreover, Madame, they began to mine at the barbican of the Narbonne gate; and we, having by listening ascertained where they were at work, proceeded to countermine; and we built within the barbican a strong stone wall, so as still to retain half the barbican in surety: they then set fire to the props of their mine, and a breach was made in the outer part of our barbican.

"They also began to mine against another tower (_tornellam_) of the outer ballium, but by countermining we succeeded in dispossessing them of the work. Afterwards they began (to mine) beneath another wall, and destroyed two of our battlements (_cranellos de liceis_): but we speedily set up a good strong palisade between us.

"They mined also at the corner of the city, towards the bishop's house, and beginning their mine from a very great distance, they came beneath a certain Saracenic wall (_murum sarraceneum_[420]) to the wall of the _ballium_, which, when we perceived, we forthwith made a good strong palisade between us and them, and countermined. Then they set fire to the props of their mine, and brought down about ten fathoms of our battlements. But we speedily made a good strong palisade, on the top of which we constructed a good _bretèche_[421], with good loopholes for arrows; so that none of them dared to come near us in this place.

"They began also to mine at the barbican of the _Porte de Rhodez_, working underneath in order to reach our wall; and in that place they formed a wonderfully large passage. But when we perceived this, we immediately made, on each side of their work, a great and strong palisade; and we also countermined, and having broken into their mine, speedily dispossessed them of it.

"Be it further known to you, Madame, that, from the beginning of the siege, they have never ceased making assaults. But we had such good store of cross-bows, and of brave fellows determined to resist to the utmost, that they never assaulted us but with very great loss to themselves.

"At length, on a certain Sunday, they got together all their men-at-arms, cross-bowmen, and others, and in a body made an assault on the barbican below the castle: but we went down into the barbican, and discharged so many stones and quarrels against them that we forced them to retire; many being killed or wounded. On the following Sunday, after the Feast of St. Michael, they made a very fierce assault. But we, thanks to the brave defence of our men, repulsed them, killing and wounding many: on our side, not one was either slain or mortally wounded.

"The day after, towards the evening, hearing, Madame, that your troops were approaching to relieve us, the enemy set fire to the suburb of Carcassone. They have entirely destroyed the buildings of the Friars Minor, and those of the monastery of the Blessed Mary, in the suburb, using the timber from them to construct their palisades. But at night all the besiegers furtively withdrew; and, with them, those of the suburb.

"In sooth, Madame, we were well prepared to hold out much longer; for, during the whole siege, not one of your people, however poor his estate, ever suffered for want of food; and we had corn and meat enough for a much more obstinate resistance, if need had been. Be it known to you, Madame, that these evil-doers, on the second day of their coming, slew thirty-three priests and other holy men whom they met on entering the suburb. Know also, Madame, that the Seigneur P. de Voisin, your Constable of Carcassone, R. de Capendu, and Gerard d'Ermenville, have greatly distinguished themselves in this affair. But the Constable, by his vigilance, his bravery and his daring, is entitled to the chief praise of all. On other matters concerning the district, we can better render a faithful account, Madame, when we shall be in your presence. In a word, they began mines against us in seven different places: but we in most cases countermined them, and offered a stout opposition. They commenced their mines at their own quarters, so that we knew nothing of their approach till they were near our walls.

"Given at Carcassone, 13 Oct. 1240.

"Know, Madame, that the enemy burned the castles and towns which they passed in their flight."

The town of Carcassone in its present state is probably the most perfect fortification of the middle ages in existence. The whole of the walls, towers, barbicans, ditches, and even the drawbridges, are still in being, and wonderfully little injured, considering that they date from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Enough remains to restore the whole perfectly, without doubt or hesitation. An admirable series of plans and drawings of these interesting fortifications has been made by M. Viollet-Le-Duc for the French Government, shewing every part in its actual state, and an equally complete series of designs for their restoration, representing them exactly as they appeared at the siege so well described by the Seneschal. The accounts relating to the building of these walls and the preparations for their defence, are preserved in the French archives. The very valuable and interesting series of drawings named above was exhibited by the French government in the Architectural Gallery of the _Exposition des Beaux Arts_ in 1855, and a great part of them are beautifully engraved on a reduced scale in the "Essai sur l'Architecture Militaire du Moyen-Age," already noticed. In these plans the situation of the castle on one side of the town, and of the different barbicans as described by the Seneschal, are very clearly marked. There are a few barbicans remaining perfect in England, as at Warwick and Alnwick.

The siege of Bedford Castle in 1224 affords another good example of the mode of attacking a stronghold at this period. The garrison in this instance were rebels to the king; their leader, one Fawkes, a foreigner, a partisan of the Bishop of Winchester; though not himself present at the time of the siege. The castle was invested by the king himself. Two lofty towers of wood, of the kind already described, were raised by the walls and filled with archers. Seven mangonæ cast forth ponderous stones from morning till night. Sappers approached the walls under cover of the Cat. First, the barbican, then the outer ballium, was taken. A breach in the second wall soon after gave the besiegers admission to the inner bailey. The donjon still held out, and the royalists proceeded to attack it by means of their sappers. A sufficient portion of the foundations having been removed, the stanchions were set on fire, one of the angles sank deep into the ground, and a wide rent laid open the interior of the keep. The garrison now planted the royal standard on the tower, and sent the women to implore mercy. But a severe example was required, in order to strike terror among the disaffected in other quarters of the realm. The knights and others, therefore, to the number of eighty, were hanged; the archers were sent into Palestine, to redeem their fault by fighting against the enemies of the faith; while their leader, Fawkes, who now surrendered himself at Coventry, was banished from the island[422].

Matthew Paris records the existence of a singular and somewhat poetical Monument of Victory, left to celebrate the capture of a castle in the Campagna of Rome. The emperor "had taken a castle near Montfort, belonging to the nephews and other relatives of the pope, which he, the pope, had newly built with the money of the Crusaders. The emperor destroyed the fortress, hanged all whom he found therein, and in token of the destruction of it, left a sort of _tower half-destroyed_, that the memory of the offence, as well as of his vengeance, might never die[423]."

SEA-FIGHTS were still achieved by the same knights, men-at-arms, archers and "satellites," as contended in land warfare. A good pictorial example of a naval battle of this time occurs on folio 357 of Roy. MS. 20, D. i. See also fol. 23^{vo} of the same MS., for the picture of an armed fleet. Further examples of a similar kind will be found in this very curious volume, as well as of Tents and many other objects of military use.

TOURNAMENTS continued to enjoy a large amount of favour among the nobles and knights, and their retainers: but princes began to see that these great armed meetings of their powerful vassals, in the facilities they afforded for combinations against the royal power, and in the imposing exhibition of the baronial force and dignity necessarily involved in these pageants, were full of danger to the kingly order; and, in consequence, forbade their celebration except under express permission of the sovereign[424]. The plea was, the dangers incurred by the competitors at these mock battles, and the disorders to which they sometimes led. And indeed it was not difficult to justify the prohibition on these grounds. Among many instances that might be quoted of the tumultuous termination of a tournament, we may notice that of Rochester in 1251. "In this same year," says Paris[425], "on the Feast of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin, a fierce Tournament was held at Rochester between the English and foreigners, in which the foreigners were so shamefully beaten that they disgracefully fled to the city for refuge; but, being met by knights coming in an opposite direction, they were again attacked, despoiled, and soundly beaten with sticks and staves: and thus they returned with much interest the blows and injuries they had received at the tournament of Brackley. The anger and hatred between the English and foreigners increased in consequence, and became daily more fearful." Another striking example of this century is the hastilude between King Edward I. and the Count of Châlons in 1274, which was of so serious a nature as to receive the name of "La petite Bataille de Châlons." The king, returning from the Holy Land, to take possession of his crown, was invited by the Count to participate in a tourney which he was preparing. The king's company is said to have been a thousand only, while those engaged on the Count's side are estimated at double the number. But this is the estimate of English chroniclers. The tourneyers met near Châlons, some on horseback, others on foot, armed with swords. The Count, who was a very powerful man, singled out the king for an antagonist; cast aside his sword, threw his arms round the neck of the monarch, and used all his force to drag him from his horse. But the king, taking advantage of the tight hold by which the Count had fixed himself to his person, and relying on his own strength, suddenly clapped spurs to his horse, carried away the Count out of his saddle, and then by a violent shake tumbled him to the ground. Being remounted, the Count renewed the attack, but with no greater success than before. His knights, meanwhile, exasperated at the discomfiture of their leader, began to assail the English with all the rancour of real warfare. The English returned wound for wound: the "Joust of Peace" became a "Joûte à outrance:" Edward's archers plied their terrible arrows, routed the troops opposed to them, rushed upon the knights, slew their steeds or cut their saddle-girths, so as to bring to the ground many a sturdy baron and rich prisoner[426].

Of the mandates issued for the suppression of tournaments, many examples have come down to us. The Fœdera contains a considerable number. Some were sent forth by the temporal prince, others were launched by the spiritual arm; for it was no difficult matter in these days to obtain the pope's aid in any scheme of this nature, where a benevolent intention could be assigned, and a liberal douceur had been supplied. In 1220, Pandulf the legate forbids a tournament in England, under pain of the forfeiture of goods and of excommunication[427]. In 1234, the king of England charges his subjects that they offend not by tourneying or behourding (_buhurdare vel torneare_[428]). In 1255 the royal inhibition is again sent forth, and the reason given for its publication is the peril of Prince Edward in Gascony: "eo quod Edwardus, filius Regis in gravi periculo existit in Wasconia[429]." 1265 is the date of another[430]. In 1299, the king again issues his mandate: this time with penalties of peculiar severity. The knight is forbidden "sub forisfacturâ vite et membrorum, et omnium que tenet in dicto regno, torneare, bordeare, seu justas facere, aventuras querere, aut aliàs ad arma ire, quoquo modo, sine nostrâ licenciâ speciali." Should any dare to disobey, then they are forthwith to be arrested and placed in safe custody, "corpora ipsorum, unà cum equis et hernesio suis[431]."

Whilst, however, the monarch of timid character and jealous of his baronage, looked with disrelish on the Tournament, the prince of an enterprising disposition and skilled in military exercises, naturally regarded with more complacency a pastime in which his own achievements were placed in the most brilliant light, and the respect and attachment of his nobles secured, by the exhibition of those qualities on which they themselves founded their chief claim to power and distinction. Thus, in the thirteenth century, when the king (Henry III.) had created eighty new knights, the gallant Prince Edward accompanied them to a tournament which had been proclaimed on the continent, "that each might try his strength, as was the custom with newly-made knights[432]." In 1253, the Earl of Gloucester with a companion also went abroad, to take part in a marriage festivity and in a tournament which followed it: an adventure in which they were so roughly handled by the antagonist knights as to require daily fomentations and bathing to restore them to health[433].

Regarding the equipment of the knights and their assistants at the Tournament, there are two documents of this century which are of the highest interest and afford the most curious information. These are the "Statutum Armorum ad Torniamenta," compiled previous to 1295; and the roll detailing the "Empciones facte contra Torniamentum de Parco de Windsore," in the 6th year of Edward I.; from the latter of which we have already extracted some passages illustrative of various portions of the knightly armament.

By the tournament statute we learn that there existed at this time a sort of Court of Honour, to judge all disputes and delinquencies that might arise during the celebration of the games; and the members of it were the king's eldest son, Prince Edward; Edmund, earl of Lancaster; William de Valence, earl of Pembroke; Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester; and the earl of Lincoln. As De Valence, the last of his name, died in 1296, and the earl of Gloucester in 1295, the date of this document cannot of course be later than the year last quoted[434]. It is not unworthy of note that the effigies of two of these Judges of the Tournament, fully equipped in the trappings of armed knighthood, have been preserved to our days: the monuments of Edmund Crouchback and of William de Valence in Westminster Abbey are among the most curious memorials that can be consulted by the student of ancient military costume. There are several copies of the statute extant. The following, from a manuscript in the Bodleian Library, has been selected by the Record Commission as the most trustworthy[435]:--

"A la requeste de Contes e de Barons e de la Chivalrie de
Englet're, ordine est e p̴ nostro Seign^r le Rey comaunde: qe nul
ne seit si hardi desoremes, Conte ne Baron ne autre Chivaler, qe al
Torney voysent de aver plus qe treys Esquiers armez, pur li servir
al Turney: e qe chescun Esquier porte chapel des armes son Seignur
qe il servira a la jornee pur enseygne.

"E qe nul C͂hr ne Esquier qe sert al Turney ne porte espeie a
point, ne cotel a point, ne bastoun, ne mace, fors espee large pur
turneer. E qe tuz les baneors, qe baners portent, seent armez de
mustilers[436], e de quisers[437], e de espaulers, e de bacyn[438]
sanz plus.

"E sil avent qe nul Conte ou Baron ou autre Chivaler voyse encontre
le estatut p̴ le assent e le comaundēmt nostre Seign^r Sire
Edward, fiz le Rey, e Sire Eumond frere le Rey, e Sire Willeme de
Valence, e Sire Gil͂bt de Clare, e le Cunte de Nichole[439], qe
celi Chivaler, qe issint s'ra trove en forfetaunt en nul poynt
encontre le estatut, seyt encurru cele peyne: qe il perde chival e
armes, e demeorge en prison a la volunte de avaūtdiz Sire Edward,
Sire Eumond, e le autres. E qe le Esquier qe serra trove fesaunt
encontre le estatut, qe issi est devise, en acun poynt, perde
chival e herneys[440] e seyt iij. aunz en la prison. E qe nul
sake[441] Chivaler a terre, fors ceus qe serrunt armez pur lur
Seign^r servir, qe le Chivaler pusse recovrir son chival, e cely
seit en la forfeture des Esquiers avaunt diz.

"E qe nul fiz de graunt Seignur, ceo est asaver, de Conte ou
de Baron, ne seit arme fors de mustilers, e de quisers, e de
espaulers, e de bacynet, saunz plus, e qe nul aporte cutel a
poynte, ne espeye, ne mace, fors espee large. E si nul seit trove
qe, en ascun de ceos poynz, alast encontre le estatut, qe il perde
son chival le quel il serra munte a la jornee, e seit en la prison
un an.

"E qe ceus qe vendrunt pur veer le turnēmt ne seent armez de
nule manere de armure, ne qe il ne portent ne espee, ne cutel, ne
bastun, ne mace, ne perre, sur la forfeture des Esquiers avauntdiz.
E qe nul garson, ne hōme a pee ne porte espee, ne cutel, ne
baston, ne perrer: e si il seent trovez enforfetaunt, qe il seyent
emprisonez vij. aunz.

"E si acun graunt Seign^r ou autre teygne mangerie, qe nul esquier
ne ameyne eynz fors ceus qe trencherunt devaunt lur Seignurs.

"E qe nul Roy de Haraunz ne Menestrals[442] portent privez armez,
ne autres forz lur espees saunz poynte. E qe le Reys des Harraunz
eyent lur huces des armes saunz plus." &c.

This document affords us some curious glimpses at the customs of the time; not less by what it forbids than by what it ordains. A tournament in which the combatants are liable to be pelted by the stones and slings of the varlets and other lookers-on, does not give us a very exalted idea of these festivals; and, for a holiday game, the rules seem oddly severe which decree that the poor squire who infringes them shall lose horse and armour, and "demeorge iij. aunz en la prison."

The Roll of Purchases made for the Tournament of Windsor Park, "per manum Adinetti _cissoris_," is preserved in the Tower of London, and bears date 9th of July in the sixth year of Edward I. (1278). The jousts were of the kind called "Jousts of Peace," and the knights for whom armour is provided are thirty-eight in number. Of these, twelve are styled "digniores," and wore gilded helms, while the remainder had head-pieces that were silvered only. A "memorandum" informs us that each suit consisted of one coat-of-fence, one surcoat, one pair of ailettes, two crests (of which, one for the horse), one shield, one helm of leather, and one sword made of whalebone. "M^d q̄d in quo ̱p ͂hne͂s fu'unt j. Tunic' ar͂m: j. coo̱pto͂r: j. pa͂r alet͂t. It̄m ij. Cres͂t & j. Blazōn & una galea co͂r & j. ensis de Balōn." Each coat-of-fence was composed of a Cuirass and Arm-defences. The cuirasses (_quirettæ_) being supplied by "Milo the Currier," were probably of leather, as the helms were: "De Milōn le Cuireu͂r. xxxviij. quire͂t: p'̄c pēc iij. s." For each of them were furnished two ells of the cloth called "Carda;" while eight pieces of "Diaper" contributed to the formation of the whole thirty-eight:--

"Pro qualibet quiret͂t ij. ul̄n card.
Pro eisd' ͂hne͂s armand' viij. diaspe͂r."

The carda is charged at fourpence an ell; the diaper at eight shillings the piece. "Ten buckrams" are supplied to form the arm-defences: "Item ̱p xxviij. pa͂r brac͂h x. bukeran̄n." And the whole of these are painted: "Item ̱p f̄cu͂r & pictu͂r xxxviij. pa͂r Brach' de Bokeran p'̄c pa͂r iiij. d." These body-armours must have differed very widely in their structure or embellishment; for while the Harness-of-Arms of Walter de Sancto Martino only cost seven shillings, that of the Earl of Lincoln amounted to thirty-three shillings and fourpence. Little bells were added to the equipment either of the knights or their horses; perhaps both: and they were purchased of Richard Paternoster: "De Ricō pat'n͂r DCCC. Nolaȝ sive Tintunabul' p'̄c cen͂t. iij. s." This decoration of bells obtained great favour in the next two centuries.

The surcoats of the four earls[443] were of Cindon silk, the remaining thirty-four of Carda: "Pro iiij. coo̱pto͂r ̱p iiij^{or} Comi͂t ij. Cind' & dī. Item ̱p xxxiiij. coo̱pto͂r. CXIX. ul̄n. card." The ailettes were made of leather and carda, being fastened by laces of silk: "D. Milōn le Cuireu͂r. xxxviij. pa͂r alet͂t co͂r p'̄c pa͂r viiij. d.... Item pro xxxviij. pa͂r alet͂t xix. ul̄n. card.... viij. Duodēn laqueoȝ serīc ̱p alet͂t p'̄c duodēn viij. d." Each helm and each horse had a crest, which was made of calf-skin, and fastened by the _chastones_ and _clavones_ already noticed at page 347. Stephen the Joiner supplied thirty-eight shields of wood at fivepence each: "De Stephō Juncto͂r xxxviij. scu͂t fustīn p'̄c scuti. v. d." Being elsewhere called _blazonæ_, we may conclude they were heraldically ensigned. The helms were of leather, supplied by Robert Erunnler in their crude state at sixteenpence per helm; but afterwards embellished by Ralph de la Haye, who gilt twelve of them with pure gold for the chief knights at a shilling apiece, and silvered the remainder at eightpence each: "De Rob'o Erunnler xxxviij. galee de co͂r p'̄c galee xvj. d. Item Rādo de la Haye ̱p Batu͂r xij. galeaȝ de auro pu͂r ̱p dingmo͂r ar̄m prēc galee xij. d. Eidem pro Batu͂r xxvi. gal' de argento, p'̄c gal' viij. d." The swords were made of whalebone and parchment, their blades silvered, the hilt and pommel gilt: "De Petro le Furbeu͂r (the furbisher) xxxviii. glad' fac͂t de Balēn & Parcomēn, p'̄c pēc vij. d. It̄m ̱p Batu͂r d̄coȝ glad' de argent' xxv.s. It̄m ̱p Batu͂r pomell' & hil͂t eoȝd' de auro pu͂r iij. s. vi. d."

The sum-total paid for these thirty-eight equipments, including their carriage from London to Windsor, was £80 11_s._ 8_d._ Other purchases were made at Paris, of which a portion appears to have been for the tournament, as the horse furniture, already noticed at page 340. Other articles are of a miscellaneous character, as hawking-gloves, furs for mantles, carpets, and "a hundred _fromages de Brie_ for the King and Queen" (C. casei de Bria pro Rege et Regina, precium xxxv. s.). The whole of the document, however, deserves a careful investigation, though we have extracted the chief particulars which illustrate the subject of our inquiry. It is printed in full in the seventeenth volume of the _Archæologia_.

There was a variety of the tournament in vogue during this century, called the Round Table; of which, though some curious details have been preserved, the particular characteristic has not been ascertained. Matthew Paris[444] has noted with especial distinctness that the _Tabula rotunda_ was not a mere new name given to an old sport, but that it was a pastime of a different kind. "In this year, 1252, he says, the knights of England, in order to prove their skill and bravery in military practices, unanimously determined to try their powers, not in the sport commonly and vulgarly called a Tournament, but in that military game which is named The Round Table: (non ut in hastiludio illo quod communiter et vulgariter Torneamentum dicitur, sed potiùs in illo ludo militari qui Mensa Rotunda dicitur:) therefore, at the Octave of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, they assembled in great numbers at the Abbey of Wallenden, flocking together from the north and from the south, and some also from the continent. And, according to the rules of that warlike sport, on that day and the day following, some English knights disported themselves with great skill and valour, to the pleasure and admiration of all the foreigners there present. On the fourth day following, two knights of great valour and renown, Arnold de Montigny and Roger de Lemburn, came forth completely armed after the manner of knights, and mounted on choice and handsome horses. And, as they rushed onward to encounter with their lances, Roger aimed his weapon, the point of which was not blunted, as it ought to have been, so that it entered under the helm of Arnold, and pierced his throat: for he was unarmed in that part of his body, being without a collar (_carens collario_)." Montigny expired on the spot, and the festivities were turned to mourning; so that "those who had come thither in joy and gladness, separated on a sudden amid grief and lamentation; De Lemburn at once making a vow to assume the Cross and undertake a pilgrimage for the release of the soul of Arnold."

From this relation we learn that the knights, fully armed, contended with lances on horseback, and that it was an especial rule of the combat that the lance-heads should be blunt or "rebated."

In 1280, the eighth of Edward I., earl Roger de Mortimer held a Round Table at his Castle of Kenilworth. "It was," says Dugdale, "a great and famous concourse of noble persons called the _Round Table_, consisting of an hundred Knights and as many Ladies, whereunto divers repaired from foreign parts for the exercise of Arms, viz., Tilting and martial Tournaments: the reason of the _Round Table_ being to avoyd contention touching precedency; a Custome of great antiquity, and used by the antient _Gauls_, as Mr. _Cambden_ in _Hantsh._ from _Athenæus_ (an approved Author) observes." The original authorities for this description of the Kenilworth Round-Table festival are Trivet and Walsingham, and the passages may be seen either in their histories, _ad an._ 1280, or in Ducange, _sub voce_ Tabula Rotunda. Dugdale seems to have had the notion that, to avoid disputes about precedency, all the jousters dined together at the Round Table; but it must have been a large table to have accommodated "an hundred Knights,"--to say nothing of the hundred Ladies. It seems more probable, comparing this institution with others of an analogous character, that a certain number of knights, representing (and perhaps assuming the names of) King Arthur and his far-famed band of warriors, held the field "against all comers." This view receives some support from the well-known relic at Winchester, "the rownde table of Kyng Arthur and hys Knyghtes," which is painted in compartments, each bearing the name of one of the fraternity. The table in question is not, indeed, more ancient than about the beginning of the sixteenth century; but, as the Hall at Winchester in which it is preserved is of the thirteenth century (the very period in which the sport of the _Tabula Rotunda_ came into vogue), it seems likely that this table represents some more ancient one which time has destroyed. The existing "King Arthur's Round Table" is figured in the Winchester volume of the Archæological Institute; and in the notice of it in that volume is cited a curious passage from Leroux de Lincy (himself quoting Diego de Vera, who was present at the marriage of Philip and Mary), by which it appears that tradition had assigned to a particular compartment the name of "the place of Judas or the perilous seat:" "Lors du mariage de Philippe II. avec la reine Marie, on montroit encore à Hunscrit[445] la table ronde fabriquée par Merlin: elle se composoit de 25 compartimens en blanc et en vert: dans chaque division étoient écrits le nom du cavalier et celui du roi. L'un de ces compartimens, appelé _Place de Judas_ ou _Siége périlleux_, restoit toujours vide." Judas appears to have been interpolated from one of the Mystery Plays of the Middle-Ages, and it must be confessed that a table "made by Merlin" and surrounded by King Arthur and his knights, with Judas for a boon-companion, has in it a certain boldness of concatenation which might well strike with awe the solemn mind of Don Diego de Vera, on the occasion of his visit to Hunscrit. A passage in the _Faits de Bouciquaut_ seems to imply that holding a Round Table meant a hastilude in which the challengers kept open house: "Ainsi fit là son appareil moult grandement et très honnorablement Messire Bouciquaut, et fit faire provisions de très bons vins, et de tous vivres largement et' à plain, et de tout ce qu'il convient, si plantureusement _comme pour tenir table ronde à tous venans_ tout le dict temps durant, et tout aux propres despens de Bouciquaut[446]."

If the nobles of the land retained their fondness for the military pastimes of their order, the commonalty were not less attached to the cognate sports of their class. Indeed, their enthusiasm sometimes led them to an excess of ambition which resulted in an armed contest between the two bodies of knight and craftsman: they dared to practise the exercise of the quintain for the prize of a peacock! the peacock, that noble bird, every feather in whose tail was an eye of disdain contumeliously glowering upon the whole generation of plebeians.

The inexhaustible Matthew Paris again furnishes us with an illustration:--"In the first fortnight of Lent (1253), the young men of London tested their own powers and the speed of their horses in the sport which is commonly called the Quintain, having fixed on a Peacock as the prize of the contest. Some attendants and pages of the king's household (he being then at Westminster) were indignant at this, and insulted the citizens, calling them rustics, scurvy and soapy wretches, and at once entered the field to oppose them. The Londoners eagerly accepted their challenge, and, after beating their backs with the broken spear-shafts till they were black and blue, they hurled all the royal attendants from their horses or put them to flight. The fugitives then went to the king and with clasped hands and gushing tears besought him not to let so great an offence go unpunished; and he, resorting to his usual kind of vengeance, extorted from the citizens a large sum of money."

Figures of the quintain and the tilters may be seen in Strutt's Sports: the manuscripts he has used are of a somewhat later date, (that is, fourteenth century,) but the forms of the quintains may be fairly taken as similar to those of the preceding age.