St. George for England: A Tale of Cressy and Poitiers Read online

  CHAPTER V.

  THE CITY GAMES.

  The next evening the armorer, at Walter's request, continued hisnarrative.

  "Soon after the tournament we began to fight again with Scotland. Forsome years we had had peace with that country, and under the regency amarriage was made between David, King of Scotland, son of Robert theBruce, with the Princess Joan, sister to our king, and a four years'truce was agreed to."

  "But why should we always be fighting with Scotland?" Walter asked.

  "That is more than I can tell you, Walter. We were peaceful enough withthem until the days of Edward I.; but he set up some claim to the throneof Scotland, the rights of which neither I nor any one else, so far as Iknow, have ever been able to make out. The fact was he was strong, andthought that he could conquer Scotland. The quarrels between hernobles--most of them were allied by blood with our own and heldpossessions in both kingdoms--gave Edward an excuse to interfere.Scotland was conquered easily enough, but it was a hard task to holdit. Sir William Wallace kept the country in a turmoil for many years,being joined by all the common people. He inflicted one heavy defeatupon us at Stirling, but receiving no support from the nobles he wasdefeated at Falkirk, and some years afterward was captured and executedhere. His head you may see any day over London Bridge. As he fought onlyfor his country and had ever refused allegiance to our king, it seems tome that his fate was a cruel one. Then, when all appeared quiet, RobertBruce raised Scotland again and was crowned king. There was war for manyyears, but at last, at Bannockburn, he inflicted such a defeat upon usas we have never had before. After that there were skirmishes andexcursions, but Edward II. was a weak prince, and it seemed that themarriage of David and the Princess Joan would bring about a permanentpeace between the two countries; but it was not to be so.

  "Many of the English nobles held claims by marriage or grants upon landsin Scotland. They had, of course, been driven from these when theEnglish were turned out by Bruce. By the terms of the marriage treaty in1328 it was agreed that they should be reinstated. It was a foolishclause, because it was plain that the King of Scotland could not takethese lands again from the Scotch nobles who had possession of them,many of them being well-nigh as powerful as himself. At this time EdwardBaliol, son of the great rival of Robert Bruce, was in England. He stillclaimed the throne of Scotland as his right. Round him gathered anumber of the English nobles who claimed lands in Scotland. The kingoffered no hindrance to the gathering of this force, for I doubt notthat he was glad to see dissension in Scotland, which might give himsome such pretext for interference as that which Edward I. had seized topossess himself of that country. At first Baliol was successful and wascrowned at Scone, but he was presently defeated and driven out ofScotland. The Scots now made an eruption across the frontier as aretaliation for Edward's having permitted Baliol to gather a force herefor his war against Bruce. King Edward was on the point of starting forIreland, and he at once hastened north. He defeated the Scots at HalidonHill, captured Berwick, and placed Baliol upon the throne. Bruce fled toFrance, where he was supported and encouraged by the French king.

  "The ill-feeling between Edward and Philip of Valois had gone onincreasing ever since the former had been compelled to take the oath ofallegiance to the latter, but outwardly the guise of friendship was keptup, and negotiations went on between the two courts for a marriagebetween the little Prince of Wales and Joanna, daughter of the Frenchking.

  "The aid which Philip gave to Bruce increased the bad feeling, andEdward retaliated for Philip's patronage of Bruce by receiving with thegreatest honor and courtesy Robert of Artois, a great feudatory ofFrance, who had been banished by King Philip. For a time, although bothcountries were preparing for war, peace was not broken, as Edward'shands were full in Scotland, where Baliol having bestowed immensepossessions upon the English nobles who had assisted him, the countryagain rose in favor of Bruce. During the three years that followed KingEdward was obliged several times to go to Scotland to support Baliol,who held the crown as his feudal vassal. He was always successful in thefield, but directly his army recrossed the frontier the Scotch roseagain. In 1330 a new crusade was preached, and in October of that yearKing Philip solemnly received the cross and collected an immense armynominally for the recovery of Jerusalem. Whether his intentions werehonest or not I cannot say, but certainly King Edward considered thatPhilip's real aim in creating so great an army was to attack England.Whether this was so or not would need a wiser head than mine, Walter, totell. Certainly Philip of Valois invited Edward to cooperate with him inthe crusade. The king in reply stated his belief that the preparationswere intended for war in Europe rather than in Asia; but that if theKing of France would agree to conclude a firm league of amity betweenthe two countries, to restore the castles and towns of Aquitaine, whosesurrender had been frequently promised, but never carried out, and wouldbind himself by oath to give no assistance, direct or indirect, toScotland, he would join him in his war for the delivery of the HolyLand.

  "I must say that King Edward's demands were reasonable, for it was clearthat he could not march away from England with his whole force and leaveBaliol unsupported against the assaults of his Scotch enemies, aided byFrance. Philip was willing to accede to the first two conditions; but inregard to the third positively declined treating until David Bruceshould be restored to the throne of his father. Now, had the French kingopenly supported Bruce from the first, none could have said that hisconduct in befriending a dethroned monarch was aught but noble andgenerous; but he had all along answered Edward's complaints of the aidafforded by Frenchmen to the Bruce by denials that he himself supportedhim; and this declaration in his favor now certainly seemed to show thathe had at last determined openly to throw off the veil, and that hisgreat army was really collected against England. Robert of Artoiscraftily seized a moment when the king's indignation against Philip wasat the highest. At a great banquet held by King Edward, at which all hiswarlike nobles were present, Robert entered, preceded by two noblemaidens carrying a heron, which, as you know, Walter, is considered themost cowardly of birds. Then in loud tones he called upon the knightspresent each to swear on the bird to perform some deed of chivalrousdaring. First he presented it to King Edward himself, giving him tounderstand that he regarded him but as little braver than the heron forresigning without a blow the fair heritage of France.

  "The moment was well chosen, for Edward was smarting under the answer hehad just received from Philip. He at once rose and took an oath to enterFrance in arms; to wait there a month in order to give Philip time tooffer him battle, and to accept the combat, even should the Frenchoutnumber him ten to one. Every knight present followed the example ofthe king, and so the war with France, which had been for years a merequestion of time, was at last suddenly decided upon. You yourself,Walter, can remember the preparations which were made throughoutEngland: men were enrolled and arms prepared. We armorers were busynight and day, and every man felt that his own honor, as well as that ofthe country, was concerned in winning for King Edward the heritage ofwhich he had been unlawfully robbed by the King of France.

  "On the 17th of March, 1337, at the parliament at Westminster, the kingcreated the little prince, then seven years of age, Duke of Cornwall;and the prince immediately, in exercise of his new dignity, bestowedupon twenty of the most distinguished aspirants the honor of knighthood.Immense supplies were voted by the parliaments held at Nottingham,Westminster, and Northampton. Half the wool shorn in the summerfollowing was granted to the king, with a variety of other taxes,customs, and duties. The revenues of all the foreign priories inEngland, a hundred and ten in number, were appropriated to the crown.Provisions of bacon, wheat, and oats were granted, and the king pawnedhis own jewels, and even the crown itself, to hire soldiers and purchasehim allies on the Continent. So great did the scarcity of money becomein the country that all goods fell to less than half their value. Thus avast army was raised, and with this King Edward prepared to try hisstrength with France.

  "Philip
on his part was making great preparations. While Edward hadpurchased the assistance of many of the German nobles Philip raisedlarge armaments in the maritime states of Italy. Spain also contributeda number of naval adventurers, and squadrons were fitted out by hisvassals on the sea-coasts of Normandy, Brittany, and Picardy. KingEdward had crossed over into Belgium, and after vast delays inconsequence of the slowness of the German allies, at last prepared toenter France at the end of September, 1339. Such, my lad, is the story,as far as I know, of the beginning of that war with France which is nowraging, and whose events you know as well as I do, seeing that they areall of late occurrence. So far, although the English have had the bestof it, and have sorely mauled the French both in the north and south, wehave not gained any such advantages as would lead to a belief that thereis any likelihood of an early termination, or that King Edward willsucceed for a long time in winning back his inheritance of the throne ofFrance.

  "There is no doubt that the war weighs heavily upon the people atlarge. The taxes are doubled, and the drain of men is heavy. Wearmorers, of course, have a busy time of it, and all trades which haveto do with the furnishing of an army flourish exceedingly. Moreover, menof metal and valor have an opportunity of showing what they are composedof, and England rings with the tales of martial deeds. There are some,Walter, who think that peace is the greatest of blessings, and in someways, lad, they are no doubt right; but there are many compensations inwar. It brings out the noble qualities; it raises men to think thatvalor and fortitude and endurance and honor are qualities which aresomething above the mere huckstering desire for getting money, and forignoble ease and comfort. Some day it may be that the world will change,and that war may become a thing of the past; but to my mind, boy, Idoubt whether men will be any happier or better for it. The priests, nodoubt, would tell you otherwise; but then you see I am an armorer, andso perhaps am hardly a fair judge on the matter, seeing that withoutwars my craft would come to an end."

  Walter remained in thought for some time. "It seems to me, MasterGeoffrey, that while wars may suit strong and courageous men, womenwould rejoice were such things to be at an end."

  "Women suffer most from wars, no doubt," Geoffrey said, "and yet do youmark that they are more stirred by deeds of valor and chivalry than arewe men; that they are ever ready to bestow their love upon those whohave won honor and glory in war, even although the next battle may leavethem widows. This has been always somewhat of a marvel to me; but Isuppose that it is human nature, and that admiration for deeds of valorand bravery is ingrained in the heart of man, and will continue untilsuch times come that the desire for wealth, which is ever on theincrease, has so seized all men that they will look with distaste uponeverything which can interfere with the making of money, and will regardthe man who amasses gold by trading as a higher type than he who doesvaliant deeds in battle."

  "Surely that can never be," Walter said indignantly.

  "There is no saying," the armorer answered; "at any rate, Walter, itwill matter little to you or to me, for many generations must passbefore such a state of things can come about."

  Two days later Walter, who had been across into the city, returned in astate of excitement.

  "What do you think, Geoffrey? The king, with the Prince of Wales and allhis court, are coming to the games next month. They say that the kinghimself will adjudge the prizes, and there is to be a grandassault-at-arms between ten of the 'prentices with a captain, and anequal number of sons of nobles and knights."

  "That will be rare," Geoffrey Ward exclaimed; "but there will be somebroken limbs, and maybe worse. These assaults-at-arms seldom endwithout two or three being killed. However, you youngsters will not hitas hard as trained knights; and if the armor be good, no great damageshould be done."

  "Do you think that I shall be one of the ten?" Walter asked anxiously.

  "Just as if you did not know you would," Geoffrey replied, laughing."Did you not win the prize for sword-play last year? and twelve monthshave added much to the strength of your arm, to say nothing of yourskill with weapons. If you win this year again--and it will be strangeif you do not--you are like enough to be chosen captain. You will havetough fighting, I can tell you, for all these young aspirants toknighthood will do their best to show themselves off before the king andqueen. The fight is not to take place on horseback, I hope; for if so,it will be settled as soon as it begins."

  "No, it is to be on foot; and the king himself is to give orders as tothe fighting."

  "You had best get out that helmet and coat of mail of yours," Geoffreysaid. "I warrant me that there will be none of finer make or truer metalin the tourney, seeing that I made them specially for you. They arelight, and yet strong enough to withstand a blow from the strongest arm.I tried them hard, and will warrant them proof, but you had best see tothe rivets and fastenings. They had a rough handling last year, and youhave not worn them since. There are some other pieces that I must put inhand at once, seeing that in such a _melee_ you must be covered fromhead to foot."

  For the next week nothing was talked of in London but the approachingsports, and the workmen were already engaged in the erection of thelists and pavilions in the fields between the walls and Westminster. Itwas reported that the king would add valuable prizes to those given tothe winners by the city, that there would be jousting on horseback bythe sons of the court nobles, and that the young Prince of Wales wouldhimself ride.

  The king had once before taken part in the city sports, and with ten ofthe citizens had held his own against an equal number of knights. Thiswas at the commencement of his reign; but the accident to the queen'sstand had so angered him that he had not again been present at thesports, and his reappearance now was considered to be an act of approvalof the efforts which the city had made to aid him in the war, and as anintroduction of the young prince to the citizens.

  When the day arrived there was a general flocking out of the citizens tothe lists. The scene was a picturesque one; the weather was bright andwarm; the fields were green; and Westminster, as well as London, sentout large numbers to the scene. The citizens were all in their best;their garments were for the most part of sober colors--russet, murrey,brown, and gray. Some, indeed, of the younger and wealthier merchantsadopted somewhat of the fashion of the court, wearing their shoes longand pointed and their garments parti-colored. The line of division wasdown the center of the body one leg, arm, and half the body would beblue, the other half russet or brown. The ladies' dresses were similarlydivided. Mingling with the citizens, as they strolled to and fro uponthe sward, were the courtiers. These wore the brightest colors, andtheir shoes were so long that the points were looped up to the kneeswith little gold chains to enable them to walk. The ladies worehead-dresses of prodigious height, culminating in two points; and fromthese fell, sweeping to the ground, streamers of silk or lightermaterial. Cloths of gold and silver, rich furs, silks, and velvets wereworn both by men and women.

  None who saw the nobles of the court walking in garments so tight thatthey could scarce move, with their long parti-colored hose, their silkhoods buttoned under the chin, their hair braided down their back, wouldhave thought that these were the most warlike and courageous of knights,men whose personal prowess and gallantry were the admiration of Europe.Their hair was generally cut close upon the forehead, and the beard wassuffered to grow, but was kept trimmed a moderate length. Many of theladies had the coat of arms of their family embroidered upon theirdresses, giving them the appearance of heralds' tabards. Almost all woregold or silver girdles, with embroidered pouches, and small daggers.

  Thus the appearance of the crowd who moved about among the fields nearthe lists was varied and brilliant indeed. Their demeanor was quiet,for the London merchants deemed a grave demeanor to belong to theircalling and the younger men and apprentices restrained their spirits inthe presence of their superiors. For their special amusement, and inorder, perhaps, to keep them from jostling too freely against the courtgallants and ladies, the city authorities had appointed po
pular sportssuch as pleased the rougher classes; and bull-baiting, cock-fighting,wrestling for a ram, pitching the bar, and hand-ball, were held in afield some distance away. Here a large portion of the artisans andapprentices amused themselves until the hour when the king and queenwere to arrive at their pavilion and the contests were to commence.

  Presently a sound of trumpets was heard, and the royal procession wasseen moving up from Westminster. Then the minor sports were abandoned;the crowd gathered round the large fenced-in space, and those who, byvirtue of rank or position in the city, had places in the variousstands, took their places there.

  There was a flourish of trumpets as the king and queen appeared in frontof their pavilion, accompanied by the Prince of Wales and many of thenobles of the court, and a shout of welcome arose from the crowd. Theshooting at a mark at once began. The preliminary trials had been shotoff upon the preceding day, and the six chosen bowmen now took theirplaces.

  Walter had not entered for the prizes at archery. He had on previousyears shot well; but since he had fully determined to become aman-at-arms he had given up archery, for which, indeed, his work at theforge and his exercises at arms when the fires were out left him butlittle time. The contest was a close one, and when it was over thewinner was led by the city marshal to the royal pavilion, where thequeen bestowed upon him a silver arrow, and the king added a purse ofmoney. Then there were several combats with quarter-staff and broadswordbetween men who had served among the contingents sent by the city to aidthe king in his wars. Some good sword-play was shown and many stoutblows exchanged, two or three men were badly hurt, and the king and allpresent were mightily pleased with the stoutness with which they fought.

  The apprentices then came forward to compete for the prizes forsword-play. They wore light iron caps and shirts of thickly quiltedleather, and fought with blunted swords, for the city fathers deemedwisely that with these weapons they could equally show their skill, andthat with sharpened swords not only would severe wounds be given, butbad blood would be created between the apprentices of the various wards.Each ward sent its champion to the contest, and as these fought inpairs, loud was the shouting which rose from their comrades at each blowgiven or warded, and even the older citizens joined sometimes in theshouting and took a warm interest in the champions of their respectivewards.

  The iron caps had stout cheek-pieces which defended the sides of theface and neck, for even a blunted sword can deliver a terrible blow ifit fall upon the naked flesh. It took a long time to get through thecombats; the pairs were drawn by lot and fought until the king decidedwhich was the superior. Some were speedily beaten; at other times thecontests were long and severe. It was generally thought by theapprentices that the final contest lay between Walter Fletcher ofAldgate and Ralph Smith of Ludgate. The former was allowed to besuperior in the use of his weapon, but the latter was also skillful, wastwo years older, and greatly superior in strength. He had not taken partin the contest in the preceding year, as he had been laid up with a hurtin his hand which he had got in his employment as a smith, and the ladsof Ludgate were confident that he would turn the tables upon thechampion of the eastern ward. Both had defeated with ease the variousopponents whom they had met, but it chanced that they had not drawntogether until the last round, when they remained alone to struggle forthe first and second prizes.

  The interest in the struggle had increased with each round, and wagerswere freely laid upon the result. According to custom the two championshad laid aside their leathern shirts and had donned mail armor, for itwas considered that the crowning contest between the two picked youngswordsmen of the city would be a severe one, and greater protection tothe limbs was needed.

  Before taking their places they were led up to the royal pavilion, wherethey were closely inspected by the king and his nobles.

  "You are sure that this man is still an apprentice?" the king asked thelord mayor, who was seated next to him; "he has the appearance of aman-at-arms, and a stout one too; the other is a likely stripling, andis, as I have seen, marvelously dexterous with his sword, but he is buta boy while the other is a grown man."

  "He is an apprentice, my liege, although his time will be up in a fewdays, while the other has yet three years to serve, but he works for anarmorer, and is famed through the city, boy as he is, for his skill withweapons."

  After a few words to each, exhorting them to do their best in the sightof the queen and her ladies, the king dismissed them.

  "I know the young one now!" the Prince of Wales said, clapping his handsas the apprentices turned away to take their places. "My Lord Talbot, Iwill wager a gold chain with you upon the smaller of the two."

  "I will take your wager," the noble answered; "but I am by no means surethat I shall win it, for I have watched your champion closely, and thedownright blows which he struck would seem to show that he has themuscle and strength of a man, though still but a boy."

  The event justified the Prince of Wales' confidence; at the commencementof the struggle Ralph Smith tried to beat down his opponent by sheerstrength as he had done his prior opponents, but to his surprise hefound that all his efforts could not break down his opponent's guard.Walter indeed did not appear to take advantage of his superior lightnessand activity, but to prefer to prove that in strength as well as skillhe was equal to his antagonist. In the latter respect there was nocomparison, for as soon as the smith began to relax his rain of blowsWalter took the offensive and with a sweeping blow, given with all hisstrength, broke down his opponent's guard and smote him with such forceupon his steel cap that, blunted as the sword was, it clove through theiron, and stretched the smith senseless on the ground. A loud shoutbroke from the assemblage. The marshal came up to Walter, and removinghis helmet, led him to the royal pavilion, while Ralph was carried to atent near, where a leech attended to his wound.