The House of Walderne

by A. D. Crake

  Chapter 12: How Hubert Gained His Spurs.

  Two years had elapsed since the events related in our last twochapters; and they had passed uneventfully, so far as the lives ofthe page and the scholar are concerned.

  Hubert had attained to the close of his pagedom, and the assumptionof the second degree in chivalry, that of squire. He ever longedfor the day when he should be able to fulfil his promise to hispoor stricken father, who, albeit somewhat relieved of his incubus,since the night when father and son watched together, was not yetquite free from his ghostly visitant; moderns would say "from hismania."

  And Martin was still fulfilling his vocation as a novice of theOrder of Saint Francis, and was close upon the attainment of thedignity of a scholastic degree--preparatory (for so his latelamented friend had advised) to a closer association with thebrotherhood, who no longer despised, as their father Francis did,the learning of the schools.

  We say late lamented friend, for Adam de Maresco had passed away,full of certain hope and full assurance of "the rest whichremaineth for the people of God." He died during Martin's secondyear at Oxford.

  Meanwhile the political strife between the king and the barons hadreached its height. The latter felt themselves quite superseded bythe new nobility, introduced from Southern France. The Englishclergy groaned beneath foreign prelates introduced, not to feed,but to shear the flocks. The common people were ruined by excessiveand arbitrary taxation.

  At last the barons determined upon constitutional resistance, andEarl Simon, following the dictates of his conscience, felt it hisduty to cast in his lot with them, although he was the king'sbrother-in-law. Still, his wife had suffered deeply at herbrother's hands, and was no "dove bearing an olive branch."

  It was in Easter, 1258, and the parliament, consisting of all thetenants in capiti, who hold lands directly from the crown, werepresent at Westminster. The king opened his griefs to them--griefswhich only money could assuage. But he was sternly informed thatmoney would only be granted when pledges (and they more bindingthan his oft-broken word) were given for better government, and theredress of specified abuses; and finally, after violentrecriminations between the two parties, as we should now say theministry and the opposition, headed by Earl Simon, parliament wasadjourned till the 11th of June, and it was decided that it shouldmeet again at Oxford, where that assembly met which gained the nameof the "Mad Parliament."

  On the 22nd of June this parliament decreed that all the king'scastles which were held by foreigners should be rendered back tothe Crown, and to set the example, Earl Simon, although he had wellearned the name "Englishman," delivered the title deeds of hiscastles of Kenilworth and Odiham into the hands of the king.

  But the king's relations by marriage refused to follow thisself-denying ordinance, and they well knew that neither the oldking nor his young heir, Prince Edward, wished them to follow EarlSimon's example. A great storm of words followed.

  "I will never give up my castles, which my brother the king, out ofhis great love, has given me," said William de Valence.

  "Know this then for certain, that thou shalt either give up thycastles or thy head," replied Earl Simon.

  The Poitevins saw they were in evil case, and that they wereoutnumbered at Oxford. So they left the court, and fled all to theCastle of Wolvesham, near Winchester, where their brother, theBishop Aymer, made common cause with them.

  The barons acted promptly. They broke up the parliament andpursued.

  Hubert was at Oxford throughout the session of the Mad Parliament,in attendance on his lord, as "esquire of the body," to which rankhe, as we have said, had now attained; and at Oxford he met hisbeloved Martin again. Yes, Hubert was now an esquire; now he had aright to carry a shield and emblazon it with the arms of Walderne.He was also withdrawn from that compulsory attendance on the ladiesat the castle which he had shared with the other pages. He had nolonger to wait at table during meals. But fresh duties, much morearduous, devolved upon him. He had to be both valet and groom tothe earl, to scour his arms, to groom his horse, to attend his bedchamber, and to sleep outside the door in an anteroom, to do thehonours of the household in his lord's absence, gracefully, like atrue gentleman; to play with his lord, the ladies, or the visitorsat chess or draughts in the long winter evenings; to sing, to tellromaunts or stories, to play the lute or harp; in short, to be allthings to all people in peace; and in war to fight like a Paladin.

  Now he had to learn to wear heavy armour, and thus accoutred, tospring upon a horse, without putting foot to stirrup; to run longdistances without pause; to wield the heavy mace, axe, or sword forhours together without tiring; to raise himself between two wallsby simply setting his back against one, his feet against the other;in short, to practise all gymnastics which could avail in actualbattles or sieges.

  In warfare it became his duty to bear the helmet or shield of hislord, to lead his war horse, to lace his helmet, to belt and bucklehis cuirass, to help him to vest in his iron panoply, with pincersand hammer; to keep close to his side in battle, to succour himfallen, to avenge him dead, or die with him.

  Such being a squire's duties, what a blessing to Hubert to be asquire to such a Christian warrior as the earl, a privilege heshared with some half dozen of his former fellow pages--turn andturn about.

  In this capacity he attended his lord during the pursuit of theforeign favourites to Wolvesham Castle, where they had taken refugewith Aymer de Valence, whom the king, by the Pope's grace, had madetitular bishop of that place. We say titular, for Englishmen wouldnot permit him to enjoy his see; he spoke no word of English.

  At Wolvesham the foreign lords were forced to surrender, andaccepted or appeared to accept their sentence of exile. But erestarting they invited the confederate barons to a supper, whereinthey mingled poison with the food.

  This nefarious plot Hubert discovered, happening to overhear abrief conversation on the subject between the bishop's chamberlainand the Jew who supplied the poison, and whom Hubert secured,forcing him to supply the antidote which in all probability savedthe lives of the four Earls of Leicester, Gloucester, Hereford, andNorfolk. The brother of the Earl of Gloucester did die--the Abbotof Westminster--the others with difficulty recovered.

  Hubert had now a great claim not only on the friendship of hislord, which he had earned before, but on that of these other mightyearls, and they held a consultation together, to decide how theycould best reward him for the essential service he had rendered.The earl told the whole story of his birth and education, as ourreaders know it.

  "He has, it is true, rendered us a great service, but that does notjustify us in advancing him in chivalry. He must earn that by somedeed of valour, or knighthood would be a mere farce."

  "Exactly so," said he of Hereford. "Now I have a proposition: not aweek passes but my retainers are in skirmish with those wildcats,the Welsh. Let the boy go and serve under my son, Lord Walter. Hewill put him in the way of earning his spurs."

  "The very thing," said Earl Simon. "Only I trust he will not getkilled, which is very likely under the circumstances, in which caseI really fear the poor old father would go down with sorrow to thegrave. Still, what is glory without risk? Were he my own son, Ishould say, 'let him go.' Only, brother earl, caution thy noble sonand heir, that the youngster is very much more likely to fail indiscretion than in valour. He is one of those excitable, impulsivecreatures who will, as I expect, fight like a wildcat, and show aslittle wisdom."

  Hubert was sent for.

  "Art thou willing to leave my service?" said the earl.

  "My lord," said poor Hubert, all in a tremble, "leave thee?"

  "Yes; dost thou not wish to go to the Holy Land?"

  "Oh, if it is to go there. But must I not wait for knighthood?"

  The reader must remember that knighthood alone would give Hubert aclaim upon the assistance and hospitality of other knights andnobles, and that once a knight, he was the equal in social stationof kings and princes, and could find admittance into all society.As a squire, h
e could only go to the Holy Land in attendance uponsome one else, nor could he carry the sword and belt of the deadman whom he was to represent. A knight must personate a knight.

  Hence Hubert's words.

  "It is for that purpose we have sent for thee," replied the earl."Thou must win thy spurs, and there is no likelihood of opportunityarising in this peaceful land (how little the earl thought what wasin the near future), so thou must even go where blows are going."

  "I am ready, my lord, and willing."

  "The Earl of Hereford is about to return home, and will take theewith him to fight against the Welsh under his banner. Now what dostthou say to that?"

  Hubert bent the knee to the new lord, with all that grace which heinherited from his Provencal blood. And sooth, my young readers, ifyou could have seen that eager face with that winning smile, andthose brave bright eyes, you would have loved him, too, as the earldid; but for all that I do not think he had the sterling qualitiesof his friend Martin, who is rather my hero: but then I am notyoung now, or I might think differently.

  We have not space again to describe this portion of Hubert's life,upon which we now enter, in any detail. Suffice it to say he wentto Hereford Castle with the earl, and was soon transferred to anoutpost on the upper Wye, where he was at once engaged in deadlywarfare with the fiercest of savages. For the Welsh, once thecultivated Britons, had degenerated into savagery. Bloodshed andfire raising amongst the hated "Saxons" (as they called all theEnglish alike) were the amusement and the business of their lives,until Edward the First, of dire necessity, conquered and tamed themin the very next generation. Until then, the Welsh borders were ahundred times more insecure than the Cheviots. No treaties couldbind the mountaineers. They took oaths of allegiance, andcheerfully broke them. "No faith with Saxons" was their motto.

  These fields, these meadows once were ours,And sooth by heaven and all its powers,Think you we will not issue forth,To spoil the spoiler as we may,And from the robber rend the prey.

  Even the payment of blackmail, so effectual with the Highlanders,did not secure the border counties from these flippant fighters,and in sooth Normans were much too proud for any such evasion of awarrior's duty.

  There, then, our Hubert fleshed his maiden sword, within a weekafter his arrival at Llanystred Castle; and that in a fierceskirmish, wherein the fighting was all hand to hand, he slew hisman.

  But in these fights, where every one was brave, there was smallopportunity for Hubert to gain personal distinction. A coward wasvery rare; as well expect a deer to be born amongst a race oftigers. There were, it is true, degrees of self devotion, and for achance of distinguishing himself by self sacrifice Hubert longed.

  And thus it came.

  He had been sent from the castle on the Wye, which might well becalled, like one in Sir Walter's tales, "Castle Dangerous," upon anerrand to an outpost, and was returning by moonlight along thebanks of the stream, there a rushing mountain torrent. It was aweird scene, the peaks of the Black Mountains rose up into the calmpellucid air of night, the solemn woods lined the further bank ofthe river, and extended to the bases of the hills. It was just thetime and the hour when the wild, unconquered Celts were likely tomake their foray upon the dwellers on the English side of thestream, if they could find a spot where they could cross.

  About half a mile from Llanystred Castle, amidst the splash anddash of the water, Hubert distinguished some peculiar andunaccustomed sounds, like the murmur of many voices, in somebarbarous tongue, all ll's and consonants.

  He waited and listened.

  Just below him roared and foamed the stream, and it so happenedthat a series of black rocks raised their heads above the swollenwaters like still porpoises, at such distances as to affordlithesome people the chance of crossing, dry shod, when the waterwas low.

  But it was a risk, for the river had all the strength of acataract, and he who slipped would infallibly be carried down bythe strong current and dashed against the rocks and drowned.

  Here Hubert watched, clad in light mail was he, and he cunninglykept in the shadow.

  Soon he saw a black moving mass opposite, and then the moonlightgleam upon a hundred spear tops. Did his heart fail him? No; thechance he had pined for was come. It was quite possible for onedaring man to bid defiance to the hundred here, and prevent theircrossing.

  See, they come, and Hubert's heart beats loudly--the first is onthe first stone, the others press behind. He, the primus, leaps onto the second rock, and so to the third, and still his place istaken, at every resting place he leaves, by his successor. Yes,they mean to get over, and to have a little blood letting and fireraising tonight, just for amusement.

  And only one stout heart to prevent them. They do not see him untilthe last stepping stone is attained by the first man, and but onemore leap needed to the shore, when a stern, if youthful, voicecries:

  "Back, ye dogs of Welshmen!" and the first Celt falls into thestream, transfixed by Hubert's spear, transfixed as he made thefinal leap.

  A sudden pause: the second man tries to leap so as to avoid thespear, his own similar weapon presented before him, but positiongives Hubert advantage, and the second foe goes down the waves,dyeing them with his blood, raising his despairing hand, as hedies, out of the foaming torrent.

  The third hesitates.

  And now comes the real danger for Hubert: a flight of arrows acrossthe stream--they rattle on his chain mail, and generally glanceharmlessly off, but one or two find weak places, and although hisvizor is down, Hubert knows that one unlucky, or, as the foe wouldsay "lucky," shot penetrating the eyelet might end sight and lifetogether. So he blows his horn, which he had scorned to do before.

  He was but imperfectly clad in armour, and was soon bleeding indivers unprotected places; but there he stood, spear in hand, andno third person had dared to cross.

  But when they heard the horn, feeling that the chance of a raid wasgoing, the third sprang. With one foot he attained the bank, and asHubert was rather dizzy from loss of blood, avoided the spearthrust. But the young Englishman drove the dagger, which he carriedin the left hand, into his throat as he rose from the stream. Thefourth leapt. Hubert was just in time with the spear. The fifthhesitated--the flight of arrows, intermitted for the moment, wasrenewed.

  Just then up came Lord Walter, the eldest son of the earl, with atroop of lancers, and Hubert reeled to the ground from loss ofblood, while the Welsh sullenly retreated.

  They bore him to the castle. A few light wounds, which had bledprofusely from the leg and arm, were all that was amiss. Hubert'sambition was attained, for he had slain four Welshmen with his ownyoung hand. And those to whom "such things were a care" saw fourlifeless, ghastly corpses circling for days round and round an eddyin the current below the castle, round and round till one got giddyand sick in watching them, but still they gyrated, and no onetroubled to fish them out. They were a sign to friend and foe, amonument of our Hubert's skill in slaying "wildcats."

  A few days later the Lord of Hereford arrived at the castle, andvisited Hubert's sick chamber, where he brought much comfort andjoy. A fine physician was that earl; Hubert was up next day.

  And what was the tonic which had given such a fillip to his system,and hurried on his recovery? The earl purposed to confer upon himthe degree he pined for, as soon as he could bear his armour.

  At first any knight could make a knight. Now, to check the toogreat profusion of such flowers of chivalry, the power to conferthe accolade was commonly restricted to the greater nobles, andlater still, as now, to royalty alone.

  It was the eve of Saint Michael's Day, "the prince of celestialchivalry," as these fighting ancestors of ours used to say. It waswild and stormy, for the summer and autumn had been so wet that thecrops were still uncarried through the country. The river below wasrushing onward in high flood; here it came tumbling, there itrolled rumbling; here it leapt splashing, there it rushed dashing;like the water at Lodore; and seemed to shake the rocks on whichCastle Llanystred was built.

&
nbsp; And above, the clouds in emulous sport hurried over the skies, asif a foe were chasing them, in the shape of a southwestern blast.So the nightfall came on, and Hubert went with the decaying lightinto the castle chapel, where he had to watch his arms all night,with fasting and prayer, spear in hand.

  What a night of storm and wind it was on which our Hubert, ere hereceived knighthood, watched and kept vigil in the chapel. Itreminded him of that night in the priory at Lewes, and from time totime weird sounds seemed to reach him in the pauses of the blast.All but he were asleep, save the sentinels on the ramparts.

  He thought of his father, and of the Frenchman, the Sieur deFievrault, whose place and even name he was to assume. Once hethought he saw the figure of the slain Gaul before him, but hebreathed a prayer and it disappeared.

  How he welcomed the morning light.The sun breaks forth, the light streams in,Hence, hence, ye shades, away!

  Imagine our Hubert's joy, when, the following morning, Earl Simonquite unexpectedly arrived at the castle, and with him the Bishopof Hereford; come together to confer on important business of statewith the Earl of Hereford, whom they had first sought at his owncity, then followed to this outpost, where they learned from hispeople he had come to confer knighthood on some valiant squire.

  The reader may also imagine how Earl Simon hoped that that valiantsquire might prove to be Hubert. And lo! so it turned out.

  Early in the morning our young friend was led to the bath, where heput off forever the garb of a squire, then laved himself in tokenof purification, after which he was vested in the garb and arms ofknighthood. The under dress given to him was a close jacket ofchamois leather, over which he put a mail shirt, composed of ringsdeftly fitted into each other, and very flexible. A breastplate hadto be put on over this. And as each weapon or piece of armour wasgiven, strange parallels were found between the temporal andspiritual warfare, which, save when knighthood was assumed with adistinctly religious purpose, would seem almost profane.

  Thus with the breastplate: "Stand--having on the breastplate ofrighteousness."

  And with the shield: "Take the shield of faith, wherewith thoushalt be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked."

  We will not follow the parallel farther: had all the customs ofchivalry been indeed performed in accordance with this high ideal,how different the medieval world would have been.

  Thus accoutred, but as yet without helmet, sword, or spurs, ouryoung friend was led to the castle chapel, between two (so-called)godfathers--two sons of the Earl of Hereford--in solemn procession,amidst the plaudits of the crowd. There the Earl of Leicesterawaited him, and Hubert's heart beat wildly with joy andexcitement, as he saw him in all his panoply, awaiting the wardwhom he had received ten years earlier as a little boy from thehands of his father, then setting out for his eventful crusade.

  The bishop was at the altar. The High Mass was then said; and afterthe service the young knight, advancing to the sanctuary, receivedfrom the good earl, whom he loved so dearly, as the flower ofEnglish chivalry, the accolade or knightly embrace.

  The Bishop of Hereford belted on the young knight's own sword,which he took from the altar, and the spurs were fastened on by theLady Alicia, wife of Lord Walter of Hereford, and dame of thecastle.

  Hubert then took the oath to be faithful to God, to the king, andto the ladies, after which he was enjoined to war down the proudand all who did wickedly, to spare the humble, to redress allwrongs within his power, to succour the miserable, to avenge theoppressed, to help the poor and fatherless unto their right, to dothis and that; in short, to do all that a good Christian warriorought to do.

  Then he was led forth from the church, amidst the cheers andacclamations of all the population of the district, with whom theaction which hastened his knighthood had won him popularity. Almsto the poor, largesse to the harpers and minstrels: all had to begiven; and the reader may guess whose liberality supplied thegifts.

  Then--the banquet was spread in the castle hall.