Your loving Freands
W. Burghley. E. Lyncoln. T. Suss.e.x.
F. Knollys. E. Leycester.
Chr. Hatton. Fra. Walsingham. Tho. Wilson.
In 1643 an order was sent to fortify the castle, at the request of the deputy lieutenant of the county; the order is signed by seven staunch and influential opponents of the royal party, viz. Tho. Wodehouse, John Palgrave, Tho. Hoggan, Miles Hobart, J. Spelman, Tho. Sotherton, Gre.
Gawsett.
Information concerning it from this period is scanty, probably little of interest is connected with its later history, beyond the calendar of prisoners who have been lodged within its precincts, of which we have no record, and were it otherwise, we should be reluctant to consult its pages for materials to enhance the attractions of our "Rambles."
It is to the history of the period prior to its appropriation as a prison, that we must look for a picture of the life once animating its halls and banquet chambers, and from the general outlines of feudal society and government, a tolerably faithful portrait of it may be drawn.
The age of feudalism has been extolled with enthusiasm only equal to that which has deprecated it beyond measure; it has even been proposed as a model for future ages by the cotemporary voice to that which has p.r.o.nounced it as exclusively a time of immorality, despotism, and superst.i.tion; between the two extremes, a wide field of truth lies open to be explored.
"It was a time," as Guizot says, "when religion was the principle and end of all inst.i.tutions, while military functions were the forms and means of action."
All social movements partook of this twofold character, as questions of commerce and industry were decidedly subordinate.
The land was divided between the military barons possessed of regal authority and governing as kings in their petty kingdoms-the church, also proprietors of large estates, and the cities, then only beginning to rise from their abject nullity into an importance that has gone on increasing until commerce has become the sovereign of the world-Mammon its G.o.d. The individualism of barbarism was sunk in the centralisation to which this system gave birth; and from the social arrangements connected with it, sprung up that spirit of chivalry that was so marked a characteristic of the times, than which nothing more fully exemplified the singular combination of military and religious fervour. Isolated from all communion with general society, a castle was at once a city and a family in itself, youths were apprenticed, as it were, to learn the usages of knighthood, and in the capacity of pages, from earliest boyhood, were initiated into the forms and courtesies of chivalrous and military exercises. In this task women bore their part, the youths being ever treated as sons of the lord or knight under whose tutelage they had been placed; from this they became promoted to the rank of esquires, and perfected in the arts of tilting, riding, hunting, and hawking, frequently of music, and in case of war were qualified to follow the banner of their instructors. The rank or military renown of a baron helped to swell the list of esquires and pages in his retinue; hence many castles were complete colleges of chivalry. The close a.s.sociation of years in such familiar relationship cut off from all other social communion, engendered strong attachments, and fraternities, superseding often the ties of common relationship, sprung up.
The imposing ceremony that accompanied the distinction of knighthood was the finishing touch to this education. The candidate, after several lonely nights of prayer and watching in some church or chapel, during which period he received the sacraments of religion, was finally arrayed in full splendour, conducted in grand procession to a church with the sword of knighthood suspended by a scarf; the weapon was blessed by an officiating priest, and the oaths administered which bound him to defend the church and clergy, be the champion of virtuous women, especially the widow or orphan, and to be gentle ever to the weak. Warriors then of high degree, or ladies, then buckled on the spurs, clothed him in suits of armour, and the prince or n.o.ble from whom he received the knighthood, finally advanced, and giving the accolade, which consisted of three gentle strokes with the flat of the sword, exclaimed, "In the name of G.o.d, St. Michael, and St. George, I make thee a knight; be hardy, brave, and royal." From this date he might aspire to the highest offices and distinctions.
The domestic comforts that graced the private life within these castle halls, formed striking contrasts to the magnificence of the knightly and military displays, although the walls often were hung with gorgeous tapestries, and the banqueting table groaned beneath the weight of gold and silver, the refinements essential to modern ideas of comfort were unknown. The fingers of the eater supplied the place of forks, and when withdrawn from rich dishes, were often employed in tearing the morsels of food asunder. Straw and rushes were the subst.i.tutes for carpets, and clumsy wooden benches and tables supported the guests and viands at these entertainments; those who were unfortunate enough not to obtain a seat at the board were compelled to make use of the floor. Several English estates were held upon condition of furnishing straw for royal beds, and litter for the apartment floors of a palace; and the office of rush strewer remained in the list of the royal household to a very late period. Doubtless these deficiences were of slight importance to an active out-door people, whose happiness consisted in large retinues, rich armours, and splendid tournaments; even the ladies, with hunting, hawking, and the occasional amus.e.m.e.nt of displaying their skill in archery from the loop-holes or ramparts of their castles, when acting as viceroys for their sovereign lords, no doubt could well dispense with the minor occupations of refined civilization.
The bill of fare of a feudal banquet would possibly astonish and puzzle the gastronomic powers and digestive organs of the nineteenth century, although cookery was esteemed as a n.o.ble science even then, in the days when Soyer was not. The boar"s head, the peac.o.c.k, occasionally served up in his feathers, the crane or young herons, might not have been altogether bad subst.i.tutes for turkeys and geese, but whether larded, roasted, and eaten with ginger, and often served in their feathers, they might have been suited to our modern tastes is problematical; porpoises and seals that often appeared in the list of "goodly provisions" for special occasions, may scarcely be deemed more of dainties; and the compounds that figure in some of the recipes extant, of the more mystical entrees, present to the eye such medleys, that we feel certain of a preference for the plain "roast" or "boil," in feudal times, at least, if not at all others. Force-meats, compounded of pork, figs, cheese, and ale, seasoned with pepper, saffron, and salt, baked in a crust, and garnished with powderings of sugar and comforts, may be quoted as a sample of their made dishes, while beef-tea, enriched with pork fat, beaten up with cream and sweetened with honey, as directed by their form, possibly was cla.s.sed among the delicate soups, or ranged under the head of "_sick cookery_."
The bread that formed the subst.i.tute for our best and "second households," was of various kinds, the finest being a sort of spice-cake of superior quality; simnel and wastel cakes were the ordinary food for the aristocracy, while commoners were content with a coa.r.s.e brown material manufactured from rye, oats, or barley, that would at this day cause a revolution in prisons, or pauper workhouses, were it to be found in the dietary table of either, much less on the dinner-table. The special wines, hippocras, pigment, morat, and mead, were the temptations to inebriety among the rich; cider, perry, and ale, the form of alcoholic drinks common to the less affluent.
The record of Peter de Blois, in one of his letters from the Court of Henry II., may be estimated perhaps as a faithful, if not attractive, description of the ordinary fare on which many unfortunate knights and retainers were sometimes compelled to subsist. He tells us that a priest or soldier had bread put before him, "not kneaded, not leavened, made of the dregs of beer, like lead, full of bran, and unbaked, wine spoiled by being sour or mouldy, thick, greasy, rancied, tasting of pitch, and vapid, sometimes so full of dregs, that they were compelled rather to filter than drink it, with eyes shut and teeth closed; meat stale as often as fresh; fish often four days old." The picture is heightened by sundry details of a pungent character, all tending to prove the truth of his a.s.sertion, that powerful exercise was an essential a.s.sistant to overcome the evils of such diet. Early hours possibly contributed to lessen its injurious effects; and these of course, at any rate as far as regarded the "early to bed," were enforced by the curfew, which has so mistakenly been attributed to the Norman Conqueror"s despotism, whereas it had long prevailed as a custom here, as on the continent, prior to his era, and was, in fact, a necessary precaution against the dangers of fire, when the dwelling-houses that formed a town or city were little more than bundles of f.a.ggots, well dried and bound up ready for burning.
Among the social amus.e.m.e.nts of that time, gambling seems to have prevailed to a great extent. The curious prohibitions that were enacted in the reign of Richard, would indicate that it had then grown into a formidable vice; kings were permitted to play with each other, and command their followers, but the n.o.bles were restricted to losing twenty shillings in one night; priests and knights might, with permission, play to the same amount, but were to forfeit four times twenty shillings if they exceeded it; servants might also play to a limited extent, at the _command_ of their master, but if they ventured without such permission, they subjected themselves to the penalty of being whipped three successive days; and mariners at sea, for a like transgression, were sentenced to be ducked three times for the offence. Chess, that infinite and insoluble intellectual problem, whose origin is lost in oriental obscurity, was introduced by the Crusaders on their return from their expeditions to the Holy Land, if, indeed, as some believe, it was not known in this country prior to that date; but if we may judge by inference, we may presume it to have been no favourite recreation in those spirit-stirring times, when crusades, tournaments, and military prowess were the end and aim of men"s lives. The amus.e.m.e.nts and sports naturally partook of the character of the age, and hunting, hawking, tilting, and tournaments were at once the schools for gaining strength and dexterity, as well as safety-valves for the overflowing mobility engendered by the spirit of the times. These pursuits were elevated to the rank of perfect sciences, and the education of a youth was incomplete that did not embrace regular tuition in all of them. Nor were they, as we know, confined to the "lords of the creation." In hunting, ladies not only often joined in the sport, but frequently formed parties by themselves, winding the horn, rousing the game, and pursuing it without a.s.sistance, the female Nimrods manifesting especial partiality to greyhounds-or hare-hounds, as they were then called. The objects of these hunts were somewhat more numerous and varied then than now, and were divided into three cla.s.ses; first, the beasts for hunting, viz. the hare, the hart, the wolf, and the wild boar; secondly, the beasts of the chase, the buck and doe, the fox, the martin, and the roe; and a minor cla.s.s, which were said to afford great disport in the pursuit, the _grey_, or badger, the wild cat, and the otter.
The poor little hare and a fox or two, alone are left us of all these original tenants of the soil; and game laws were, even in those days of plentiful supply, found needful to preserve the aborigines of the woods as their especial property, by the great ones of the land, and when manslaughter was to be atoned for by a fine of money, the death of a head of deer was punishable by the forfeiture of the offender"s eyes, and a second instance by death. Who will dispute the aristocratic lineage of the game laws, with such facts of history before them? Hunting had its proper seasons; the wolf and fox might be hunted from Christmas-day to the Annunciation, the roebuck from Easter to Michaelmas, the roe from Michaelmas to Candlemas, the hare from Michaelmas to Midsummer, the boar from the Nativity to the day of the "Presentation in the Temple."
The clergy were not behind-hand in partaking of the privileges of the chase within their own demesnes, and they took care generally to have good receptacles for game in their parks and enclosures. At the time of the Reformation, the see of Norwich had no less than thirteen parks well stocked with deer; and the name of one of the city churches, St. Peter"s, Hungate, is derived from the _Hound"s_-gate, where the bishop"s hounds were stabled.
Hawking was a sport, until the magna charta, exclusively confined to the n.o.bility; lords and ladies alike indulged themselves in the exercise, which from its gentleness, in comparison with others then in vogue, was deemed somewhat an effeminate pastime, probably because, in the delicate dexterity it required, the ladies bore off the palm of victory.
A hawk"s eyrie was returned in doomsday-book as one of the most valuable articles of property; and the estimation in which the bird was held, may be judged of by the enormous prices given for them, and the heavy penalties attached to stealing either them or their eggs; for destroying one of which the offender was liable to imprisonment for a twelvemonth and a day. Perhaps, however, this is no very safe criterion of their intrinsic value, or those sentences that sometimes figure in our modern a.s.size reports-where seven years" transportation for stealing two ducks from an open pond, stands side by side with twelve months" imprisonment for murdering a wife, a friend, or a child, in a fit of temporary insanity, alias intoxication-might lead to rather curious inferences.
But to return to our hawks; a thousand pounds for a cast of these birds, and a hundred marks for a single one, are recorded prices. In hawking, the bird was carried on the wrist, which was protected by a thick glove, the head of the bird covered with a hood, and its feet secured to the wrist by straps of leather, called jesses, and to its legs were fastened small bells, toned according to the musical scale.
Among the chronicles of old monkish writers prior to the Conquest, is a story accounting for the first advent of the Danes upon our sh.o.r.es, as connected with the amus.e.m.e.nt of hawking: "A Danish chieftain of high rank, named Lothbroc, amusing himself with hawking near the sea, upon the western sh.o.r.es of Denmark, the bird in pursuit of her game fell into the water; Lothbroc, anxious for her safety, got into a little boat that was near at hand, and rowed from the sh.o.r.e to take her up; but before he could return to land, a sudden storm arose, and he was driven out to sea.
After suffering great hardships, during a voyage of infinite peril, he reached the coast of Norfolk, and landed at a port called Reedham, (now a small village on the railway line from London to Yarmouth,) where he was immediately seized by the inhabitants, and sent to the court of Edmund, King of the East Angles, who received him favourably, and soon became strongly attached to him for his skill in training and flying hawks. The partiality shown to the foreigner excited the jealousy of Beoric, the king"s falconer, who took an opportunity of murdering the Dane whilst he was exercising his birds in a small wood, where he secreted the body.
The vigilance of a favourite spaniel discovered the deed. Beoric was apprehended and convicted of the murder, and condemned to be put in an open boat, without sails, oars, or rudder, and abandoned to the mercy of the winds and wares. It so chanced that the boat was wafted to the very point of land that Lothbroc came from; and Beoric was apprehended by the Danes, and taken before their two chieftains, Hinguer and Hubba, the sons of Lothbroc, to whom the crafty falconer made a statement as ingenious as false, wherein he affirmed that their father had been murdered by Edmund, and himself sent adrift for opposing the deed. Irritated by the falsehood, the Danes invaded the kingdom of the East Angles, pillaged their country, took their king prisoner, tied him to a stake, and shot him to death with arrows." Lidgate, a monk of St. Edmund"s at Bury, has given this legend a place in his poetical life of the tutelary saint of his monastery, but it bears upon it every mark of a legendary tale, and the fact is well known that Danish pirates had infested the sh.o.r.es long prior to the date a.s.signed to the events narrated in it.
The office of "queen"s falconer" yet exists, and it is written in a certain little black book, that the duties attached to it, however imaginary, receive substantial acknowledgement from the public purse in the form of an annual stipend of no mean amount. Another recreation peculiarly a.s.sociated with the memory of knights and dames once tenanting the feudal castle is the tournament, the site of whose gorgeous pageantries yet bears the t.i.tle of the "Gilden croft," though the l.u.s.tre of the name is the only ray of splendour bequeathed to it as an inheritance of glory. Centuries have witnessed the mutations of the properties of the great ones of the land, as they have gradually pa.s.sed down through the various gradations of society like cast-off garments, until the once brilliant lists of the gay tournament have changed to long tiers of poverty tenanted "_right ups_;" the music of the herald"s trumpet has been replaced by the rattle of the shuttle and the loom; and the steel-clad knights and esquires, with their tiltings and joustings, amid the smiles and favours of youth and beauty, have given place to the struggles of the weaver and the winder in their weary battle of life, for the guerdon of daily bread. Where, Edward and Phillippa held their Easter tournament, and their gallant son, the brave Black Prince, displayed his knightly prowess amid splendours that might rival the "field of the cloth of gold," poverty, hard labour, and penury now rear their gaunt limbs; and the tale of the "Paramatta weaver" is breathed forth to the listening ear of humanity from its precincts.
But the tournament demands attention, inwrought as it is with every conception we may form of the days of chivalry; and, thanks to the patient researches of many chroniclers, we have not much difficulty in learning all we may desire to know concerning these glories of an age gone by. Fiction has given life and vigour to these features of past history. Ivanhoe lives and breathes before us at the mention of a tournament, and plain prose facts may not vie with the glowing pictures, painted with imagination"s rainbow hues. The tournament was not altogether the play-ground of full-grown knights and esquires, as romance would sometimes tend to show it;-it was the theatre on which many an important drama of life was played; it was a grand field for introduction into military life, then the only life deemed worthy the ambition of a gentleman; and the laws and regulations to which all who presented themselves as candidates for honours became subject, bespeak the importance attached to the favours it conferred.
The mode of conducting a tournament was established by law. It was preceded always by a proclamation; one worded thus, is given by Strutt: "Be it known unto you, lords, knights, and esquires, ladies and gentlewomen," (they did not in those days of chivalry commence ladies, my lords and gentlemen) "you are hereby acquainted, that a superb achievement in arms, and a grand and n.o.ble tournament, will be held in the parade of Clarencieux king at arms, on the part of the most n.o.ble baron, lord of I. C. B., and on the part of the most n.o.ble baron the lord of C. B. D., in the parade of Norreys king at arms." The regulations that follow are these: "The two barons on whose part the tournament is undertaken shall be at their pavilions two days before the commencement of the sports, when each of them shall cause his arms to be attached to his pavilion, and set up his banner in front of his parade; and all those who wish to be combatants on either side, must in like manner set up their banner on either side before the parade allotted to them. Upon the evening of the same day, they shall shew themselves in their stations, and expose their helmets to view at the windows of their pavilions. On the morrow the champions shall be at their parades by the hour of ten in the morning, to await the commands of the lord of the parade, and the governor, who are the speakers of the tournament; at this meeting the prizes of honour are determined." In the doc.u.ment from which this is taken, a rich sword was to be the reward of the most successful on the part of Clarencieux, and a helmet for the best on the side of Norreys.
It goes on to say, "On the morning of the day appointed for the tournament, the arms, banners and helmets of all the combatants shall be exposed at their stations, and the speakers present at the place of combat by ten of the clock, where they shall examine the arms and approve or reject them at pleasure; the examination being finished and the arms returned to the owners, the baron who is the challenger shall then cause his banner to be placed at the beginning of the parade, and the blazon of his arms to be nailed to the roof of his pavilion; his example is to be followed by the baron on the opposite side, and all the knights of either party who are not in their stations before the nailing up of the arms, shall forfeit their privileges and not be permitted to tournay.
"The king at arms and the heralds are then commanded by the speakers to go from pavilion to pavilion crying aloud, "_To Achievement_, _knights and esquires_, _to Achievement_," being the notice for them to arm themselves; and soon after the company of heralds shall repeat the former ceremony, having the same authority, saying, "_Come forth_, _knights and esquires_, _come forth_;" and when the two barons have taken their places in the lists, each of them facing his own parade, the champions on both parts shall arrange themselves, every one by the side of his banner; and then two cords shall be stretched between them, and remain in that position, until it shall please the speakers to command the commencement of the sports. The combatants shall each of them be armed with a pointless sword, having the edges rebated, and with a truncheon hanging from their saddles, and they may use either the one or the other, so long as the speakers shall give them permission, by repeating the sentence, "_Let them go on_." After they have sufficiently performed their exercise, the speakers are to call to the heralds, and order them to "_Fold up the banners_," which is the signal for the conclusion of the tournament. The banners being rolled up, the knights and esquires are permitted to return to their dwellings."
Every knight or esquire performing in the tournament, was permitted to have one page within the lists, (but without a truncheon or any other defensive weapon,) to wait upon him, give him his sword, or truncheon, as occasion might require; and also in case of any accident happening to the armour, to repair it.
The laws of the tournament permitted any knight to unhelm himself at pleasure, if he was incommoded by the heat; none being suffered to a.s.sault him in any way, until he had replaced his helmet at the command of the speakers.
The king-at-arms and the heralds who proclaimed the tournament, had the privilege of wearing the blazon of arms of those by whom the sport was inst.i.tuted; besides which, they were ent.i.tled to six ells of scarlet cloth as their fee, and had all their expenses defrayed during the continuance of the tournament; by the law of arms they had a right to the helmet of every knight when he made his first essay at a tournament; they also claimed six crowns as nail money, for affixing the blazon of arms to the pavilion. The king at arms held the banners of the two chief barons on the day of the tournament, and the other heralds the banners of their confederates according to their rank.
The lists for the tournaments and those appointed for ordeal combats, were appointed in the same manner; the king found the field to fight in, and the lists were made and devised by a constable; they were to be sixty paces long and forty broad, set up in good order, the ground within hard and level, without any great stones or other impediments, the entrances to them to be by two doors east and west, strongly barred with bars seven feet high, that a horse may not leap them.
After the conclusion of the tournament, the combatants retired to their homes, but usually met again in the evening at some entertainment; where they were joined by all the n.o.bility, including the ladies, and dancing, feasting and singing concluded the day. After supper the speakers of the tournament called together the heralds appointed on both sides, and demanded from them alternately the names of those who had best performed on the opposite sides; the double list was then presented to the ladies who had been present at the pastime, and the decision was referred to them as to the award of the prizes; they selected one name from each party, and the successful heroes received their prizes from the hands of two young maidens of rank. If a knight transgressed the rules he was excluded from the lists with a sound beating, from which alone the intercession of ladies could save him; so the influence of the fair s.e.x had opportunities of being practically felt, as well as theoretically talked of, even then.
The juste or lance game differed from the tournament and was often included in it, when it took place at its conclusion, but it was quite consistent with the rules of chivalry for justs to be held separately; the sword was the weapon used at the tournament, the lance at the juste.
The juste received the t.i.tle of the "Round table game," in the reign of Henry III., from a fraternity of knights who frequently justed together, and accustomed themselves to a.s.sociate and eat together in one apartment at a round table, where every place was equally honourable (even in feudal times a taint of democracy would creep in). Historians attribute this round table game to Arthur, the son of Uter Pendragon, that famous British hero, whose achievements are so disguised with legendary wonders that his very existence has been questioned.
At both tilts and tournaments the lists were superbly decorated, surrounded by the pavilions of the champions, and ornamented with their coats and banners. The scaffolds for the accommodation of the spectators were hung with tapestry, and embroidered with gold and silver; all attended in their most sumptuous apparel, and the display of costly grandeur glittering over the whole surface of the field, might well earn for the memorable scene so designated, its t.i.tle of the Gilden Croft.
Wealth, beauty, and grandeur were concentrated into one focus, whence they blazed forth to the eye as from a burning lens.
The dress of the combatants varied according to the rank of the individual. Above the under-dress of cloth, fitting close, and common to all, was worn the _chausses_, or mail coverings for the feet and legs, somewhat resembling metal stockings; upon the body the gambeson, a sort of close jacket made of cloth or leather doubled and stuffed, and in itself oftentimes a most efficient case of defensive armour; this garment, without sleeves, and universally worn by all cla.s.ses of men, was also occasionally introduced into the catalogue of ladies" attire, and no doubt was the primitive model for the stays of later generations. Above the gambeson was worn the _gorget_ or throat piece, beneath the _hauberk_ or coat of mail, by which it was concealed; this was the garment that peculiarly designated the rank of the wearer. Esquires might not wear sleeves of mail, and none might claim to wear the complete suit that were not possessed of certain estates. Above the armour was usually worn some outer dress, a surcoat or mantle of rich material. The sword belt was a necessary part of the warrior"s dress, and was often very elaborately embellished with precious stones, but more commonly made simply of plain leather. Another belt was also worn over the left shoulder, to support the shield.
The helmet comprised the whole armour for the head and face, and usually consisted of two parts, one moving over the other, by which means the face could be uncovered or perfectly inclosed at pleasure. These portions of the dress, however, varied to an almost infinite degree at various times, and at a later period were exchanged for the Bacinet, Cervaliere, Coif de fer, &c. &c.
Gloves of mail were attached to the sleeves of the hauberk, and were sometimes divided at the extremities for the accommodation of the fingers and thumb, but not often. Such was the military costume of the knight in armour, and the dress of the spectators, both gentlemen and ladies, must not altogether be left unnoticed. The tunic and rich surcoat above, sometimes varied with a hooded mantle, and the robe a long garment of the tunic kind, were the leading characteristics of male attire; shoes with long points, cloth sandals, ornamented with embroidery, girdles enriched with precious stones, gloves and spurs completed the suit.
The ladies wore gowns, or upper tunics, or robes, with surcoats varying much in length, sometimes being shorter than the tunic, at others trailing on the ground, with long loose sleeves, open beneath to the elbow, and falling thence almost to the feet. Their mantles were made of the richest materials, and copiously embellished with gold, silver, and rich embroideries, sometimes decorated with fringes of gold, varying in size almost as much as material. The wimple was a head-dress, worn with or without an additional veil, usually linen, but occasionally of silk, embroidered with gold. It was a species of veil, covering the head but not the face, and fastened underneath the chin, or at the top of the head, by a circlet of gold. The hair was worn loose and flowing, often without any covering, but frequently bound by a chaplet of goldsmith"s work and flowers, or of the latter only. Boots and gloves were in the inventory of necessaries, but, alas for comfort, stockings were rare, white, black, or blue. With this faint sketch of an Anglo-Norman wardrobe, as it furnished materials to add splendour to the glittering field of sport, we bid farewell to the lists, not, however, without one more word as to the honourable position awarded to the gentler s.e.x in the jousts, which were usually made in their especial honour, and over which they presided as judges paramount; so that it behoved every true knight to have a favourite fair one, who was not only esteemed by him as the paragon of beauty and virtue, but supplied to him often the place of a tutelary saint, to whom he paid his vows in the day of peril; for it was then an established doctrine that "love made valour perfect, and incited heroes to great enterprizes." Alas! for the good old times of chivalry, when women were content to make _great warriors_; but as she did her mission in that day, so may she, in this sober life of mental tiltings, lend her meed of influence to people the world with _great men_. And so farewell to tournaments; verily they are of the past, and their glitter dazzles our senses, in this generation of moral _versus_ physical force, when among the number of the people"s favourite heroes is the champion of Universal Peace Societies.
But we must not leave our sketch of the life in a feudal castle, without one glance at the feminine employments that served to relieve the monotonous existence of the isolated dames condemned to comparative solitude within its walls; nor are we able to discover much, if any, variety in their occupations. The embroidery frame, and an occasional spindle and distaff, before the improvements in arts and science had subst.i.tuted factories and looms, were almost the only resources allowed them; but these were inexhaustible, and the many elaborate specimens of their skill that have survived the casualties of a hundred generations, bear witness to the indefatigable perseverance with which they were employed. The garments of the clergy at this period were richly embroidered, so much so, as to excite the admiration of the pope, and induce him to issue a bull to the English priests, enjoining them to procure him vestments equally gorgeous. Many of these were the free-will offerings of the rich, and the fruits of highborn ladies" industry.
Fringe-making of gold and silver, worked upon lace without the aid of the needle, was another species of occupation afforded them, and const.i.tuted the Phrygian work often spoken of by old historians. Cyprian work was a variety of embroidery, inasmuch as it was a thin, transparent texture like gauze, named _cyprus_, worked with gold. Cyprus was a term applied also to black c.r.a.pe, then appropriated exclusively to widows" mourning; possibly this might have been the origin of "wearing the cypress."
Embroidery was not alone confined to ornaments of dress, or even clerical vestments; hangings for the chambers, and pictures on almost every possible subject, were produced from the needle.
The tapestry at Bayeux, in Normandy, attributed to Matilda, the queen of the Conqueror, represents the history of Harold, king of England, and William of Normandy, from the emba.s.sy of the former to Duke William, at the command of Edward the Confessor, to his final overthrow at Hastings.
The ground of this work is a white linen cloth or canvas, one foot eleven inches in depth, and two hundred and twelve in length. The figures are all in their proper colours, of a style not unlike those of j.a.pan ware, having no pretence to symmetry or proportion. It is preserved with great care in the cathedral dedicated to Thomas a Becket, in Normandy, and is annually exhibited for eight days, commencing on St. John"s day, and is called _Duke William"s toilette_.
It is, however, extremely questionable whether it was the work of the royal lady,-many figures in it would indicate that its manufacture was of more recent date-be it as it may, it is a wondrous specimen of patient industry, and valuable for the representation of manners and customs of the times traced upon it.
Here we bid farewell to castle halls, to the ghosts of belted knights and hooded dames, to spinning wheels and tapestries, falcons, jennets, tournaments, and banquets, to the border"s bord upon the skirting of his lord"s domain, the serf"s log hut, the cowherd"s shed, and the prisoner"s dungeon,-the moat, once deep and flowing, now dried up, and teeming with cultivated trees and shrubs, and ornamental flowers, and sculptured figures,-we say adieu to the past history, written on the flints and mortar of the ramparts, that have braved the "battle and the breeze," for near a thousand years,-and leave the soaring heights, whence we may look down upon the little city world below as on a stage, whose scenes and slips are all laid bare beneath us in their skeleton machinery-dark lanes and lumbering alleys crowded round, and shut in out of sight, by facial frontings of gla.s.s, and brick, and plaster. Churches and heaped-up churchyards, bursting their walls with the acc.u.mulated corruption of centuries of generations,-distant villages and village spires,-and spots made sacred by the blood of hero-martyrs,-the winding river, once the stormy sea-pa.s.sage for Nors.e.m.e.n and Saxon fleets-and take one final leave of the giant mound,-whose origin, whether first reared in Celtic ages far remote, a temple to the Sun, or a portion of the far-famed Icknild Way, that crosses our island like a belt from south-west to north-east, whether the architecture of Danes, Saxons, or Normans, is alike full of history and of poetry, and the well garnered store-house of many a rich and precious truth,-a monument of the past, ever present to our eye, as a landmark by which to measure the progress of our nation in religion, freedom, and social happiness.
CHAPTER IV.
THE MARKET-PLACE.