King Eric and the Outlaws, Vol. 2

by Bernhard Severin Ingemann

  CHAP. XI.

  Early the next morning a herald-pursuivant stood in Drost Aage'ssleeping apartment, with his large plumed hat in one hand, and a long,pointed sword in the other. The Drost hastened to put on his garments,while he listened with anxious attention to the information which wasgiven him. The three accused knights had disappeared in the night,together with the men-at-arms, who had relieved guard at midnightbefore the door of the knights' story. Sir Niels Brock's and Sir JohanPapae's horses had been taken out of the stable--none of their squiresor servants were to be seen in the castle; but the large well-fed horsewhich the pretended Sir Ako Krummedige had bestrode was still standingin the stable. The pursuivant who brought these tidings to the Drostdelivered to him, at the same time, the sword which at the repast ofthe preceding evening he had received from the mysterious knight withthe helmet, and drew the Drost's attention to a singular contrivance init. The hilt was hollow, and contained a fluid, which, by means of aspring, might be imparted to the blade. A dog, whose skin had beenscratched with this sword, had died in convulsions.

  "Ha! a poisoned weapon!" exclaimed Aage in alarm, returning the swordwith a look of horror; "take it instantly before the judgment hall ofthe castle--Thou canst of course bear witness on oath from whom thoudidst receive it?"

  "That I shall find it hard to do. Sir Drost, seeing no one knows who hereally is," answered the pursuivant; "but that it was the dumb knightwith the helmet--him they call Sir Krummedige--I can take my oath upon.I should also announce, Sir Drost," he continued, "that the junker'sgentleman of the bedchamber, Sir Palle, died last night of his wound,although it was so trifling that we jeered him about it almost to thelast. The surgeon swears he hath been wounded by a three-edged poisoneddagger."

  "Our Lady be merciful unto us!" exclaimed Aage. "His deadly terror wasthen but too well founded--We have had a poisoner then as our guest!Even now he may perhaps be among us!"

  The Drost hastily left his chamber. Soon afterwards Marsk Oluffsen'srough voice was heard in the court of the castle, and ere it rang formattins a knight, at the head of a troop of horse, rode at full gallopout of the castle gate. The Marsk himself, it was said, was gone to thechase. He dashed on with a number of hunters and hounds through thepark. The Drost searched the whole castle. Ere mattins were ended, theMarsk and his huntsmen brought a bound captive to the tower. It was themute knight with the helmet. His beard and eyebrows had changed colour,and it was soon known that he was one of the outlaws.

  Amid the bustle caused at the castle by providing for the court, andattending on its numerous guests, much notice was not attracted towardsthese serious proceedings. The expected tournament and the knightlyfestivities occupied every one. The squires polished their master'sarms and costly saddle-furniture; the prancing chargers were trainedand tended; and the mild spring weather seemed to promise a bright dayfor the festivity. From the town and the neighbourhood crowds of gailyattired persons flocked to the castle. The splendidly accoutred knightscareered eagerly and indefatigably with each other. All the castlewindows which looked on the tilt-yard were already crowded with richlyattired ladies, and most persons seemed to have forgotten both mattinsand mass for the festival. It was whispered, indeed, that thetournament would not take place; but no one was disposed to believethis, as workmen began to bestir themselves, and preparations werestill carried on, which kept expectation alive. Meanwhile the king wasseen to ride as usual to mass with his princely guests, attended by hishalberdiers. He was grave and thoughtful. Junker Christopher rode ingloomy silence by his side; he wore over his breast the large goldchain, with the image of the Madonna, which the king was wont to wearhimself; and this token of distinction was regarded as a sign that allmisunderstanding must have been removed between the brothers. Thejunker's eye meanwhile avoided the king's, and not one word wasexchanged between them on the road to and from church.

  After mass, the king instantly repaired to the knights' hall with allhis men, and it was announced by the heralds that a knights' council,and a court of justice would be held. The tournament and the otherfestivities were in the meantime announced by the Marsk to be given up;and people now flocked to the knights' hall to see the king administerjustice among his knights. He sat with an unusually stern and graveaspect on the raised ivory throne, and was surrounded by regal stateand splendour. He first examined into the conduct of some young knightswho were accused of minor faults and transgressions of the laws ofchivalry. Those who either could not prove their innocence according tothe established proceedings of temporal justice, or where doubt wasentertained, relied on sword and lance, for redeeming their honour weresternly banished the castle; but those who acknowledged and repented apardonable error, obtained permission by bold and knightly deeds, toregain their place and rank among the king's men.

  The Drost now stepped forth in his own and in the name of the murderedSir Palle, with an accusation against the pretended Sir Ako Krummidige,as the assassin of that slain knight, as well as against Sir NielsBrock and Sir Johan Papae, as traitors and secret conspirators againststate and crown, and he craved permission, in case the testimony hebrought forward was not considered sufficient to establish his charge,to confirm it with sword and lance, to be judged by God, in a combatfor life and death with the traitors. As the two knights so seriouslyaccused, had escaped by unlawful flight, they were proclaimed to besuspected, and cited to appear and defend themselves before theexpiration of six weeks and one day, if they would not be passedsentence upon as traitors; but the pretended Ako Krummedige, whose realname was now discovered by sufficient evidence, was led before thetribunal. He was clad in the ancient armour in which he was attired onhis first arrival; he wore also the helmet and shield he had broughtwith him from the monastery, and on which the famous armorial bearingsof the noble family of the Hvides were noticed for the first time; buthe had no sword by his side, and was surrounded by a strong guard. Theglossy black was removed from his stiff beard, which now resembled thebristles of a boar; and from his bushy, meeting-eyebrows which wereconsidered by the lower orders as a [9]"Wolfman's mark." and by whichthe outlawed Sir Kagge was especially distinguished.

  He was pale, and stared wildly around him. When he heard himself namedand accused, and beheld the king in the large circle of attentiveknights, he seemed to struggle against appearing cast down or humbled.

  He raised his head, and stepped forward with a bold and haughty look,and even with the assumption of a degree of knightly dignity. "I greetthee, King Eric Ericson!" he said, in a loud voice. "I greet everybrave knight who serves with honour here at court! Christ preserveevery dear son of Denmark from the misfortune which brings me hither!But if there be brave and true Danish men here present, the man whobecame outlawed for Denmark's freedom and the honour of Danish chivalrywill not lack weapons and defenders."

  "Talk not of freedom and honour, _thou_ who hast nought but effronteryand deeds of infamy to boast of!" began the king with calm and coldcontempt. "Under the name of a pious and honourable man, thou hastcrept into my hall among men of honour, and abused the sacred laws ofchivalry, to hide deceit and treachery. Thy mask hath fallen offtraitor! thy poisoned weapon hath betrayed thee--Thou wert chased fromDenmark for a Judas deed; yet still thou hast dared to enter mypresence. _One_ assassination thou hast already perpetrated in my royalcastle, and another thou hast meditated--Canst thou deny it? Hast thoua word to say in thy defence, miscreant?"

  The prisoner bit his lips, and ground his teeth. "If I come notprecisely from the holy sepulchre," he muttered, "I come, however, fromthe graves of kinsmen and friends, and from the corpses of murderedcomrades. The fool whose mouth I have stopped, was a soulless lump offlesh, on whom I did but whet my dagger. What I purposed besides, is noconcern of any one; but what I had promised, it was my fixed resolve toperform. Against tyrants no weapon is dishonourable, King Eric! and ifan outlawed man hath neither rights nor safety, how then can yousuppose he will let himself be bound by your pitiful laws?"

  "Hav
e ye considered the matter, my knights!" said the king; "thenpronounce doom upon this audacious criminal, according to the laws ofGod and man!"

  "He hath forfeited honour and life, according to the laws of the land,"was the unanimous verdict. "According to strict justice, he hath evenforfeited hand and eye." The herald pronounced the doom in a loudvoice.

  When Kagge heard his death doom, his knees shook, and he looked aroundhim with a rapid and searching glance, as if expecting to finddefenders or protectors against the sentence, among the spectators, butthere was a death-like stillness; no one moved tongue or hand in hisdefence. He seemed humbled, and now bent on one knee before thetribunal. "Bethink you, King Eric!" he said, in a supplicating tone, "Iserved in your royal father's castle, and he himself gave me the praiseof being the best squire he had. His death was never my wish, I wouldhave saved him had it been in my power; although he had broken hiscontract and had himself loosened the tie which bound Denmark's crownto his head."

  "I remember well thou didst serve in my father's castle, for hire andfor garments," answered the king; "but I know, and every man in Denmarkknows, also, that thou wert in Finnerup barn, on that bloody St.Cecilia's eve, and thy sword was not the _last which_ was plunged intothe breast of thy unhappy master and king. As a faithless traitor andregicide thou wert however but outlawed while I was a minor, but nowthou shalt suffer just punishment, as surely as I wear Denmark'scrown!"

  "Is there not a single free man here, who dares to speak a word forme?" cried the captive, springing up with a wild look. "Ha! slaves of atyrant! I despise ye," he continued, looking frantically around him."The deed for which I was outlawed, was the proudest ever achieved byDanish man. A tyrant's murder hath been an honoured deed so long as theworld hath stood, wherever a spark of freedom was in the spirit of thepeople--Now there are nought but cowardly slaves in Denmark, and itshames me to call you countrymen. There you stand aghast! because abold word is heard again in kingly hall--You have courage only forcrawling in the dust before a revengeful despot, and to doom the lastfriend of freedom to the scaffold--Is it not enough for you to see myblood? Will you saw off my hands and feet? Will you pluck out my eyes,that no free man may see you blush? Will you deal thus with adescendant of Skialm--Hvide's noble race? I am a knight," he addedproudly. "I demand but to be judged by the law of knighthood--That isrecognised over all the world, but under this country's laws I stand nolonger."

  "Who dubbed thee a knight? asked the king, with a contemptuous look.

  "The greatest knight in Denmark's kingdom," answered the captive,drawing himself up with a look of defiance. "The man whose shoe latchetno knight here was worthy to loose--The Marsk of Denmark's kingdom,Stig Anderson Hvide, and if your chivalrous bearing is aught else thanempty boast and mockery, King Eric, you will suffer me to be judgedwith equity according to the law which is as the apple of your eye."

  "Be it so, by all the holy men!" exclaimed the king with glowingcheeks; "according to the law of chivalry shall thy doom be executed,since thou dost thyself demand it, and thou shalt learn what it is tobe doomed to dishonour. The knighthood which an outlawed regicide gavethee is truly but little honour worth, nevertheless thou shalt not takeit with thee to thy dishonourable death. Thy hands and feet thou shaltkeep, and thy false eyes also--but the honour thou boastest of, thoushalt lose according to law, for the sake of chivalry--and thy life formy father's sake alone."

  At a signal from the king, the captive was now removed, and a councilof the oldest knights met together to decide upon the mode of carryingthe sentence into execution, according to the laws of chivalry.

  Three hours afterwards, the captive was led in full knightly armour,and on horseback, to a high scaffold within the lists, under which theking himself appeared on horseback, surrounded by all his knights. Thecastle chaplain stood on the scaffold, at the head of a row of monksfrom the Dominican monastery. The captive was led up hither, not indeedto suffer death, but, according to the laws of chivalry to be ejectedfrom the community of knights in a manner the most degrading. There wasa crowd assembled; all the windows of the castle, as well as the standson the lists were thronged with curious spectators. From the window ofthe servants' hall, close by the maidens' tower, peeped forth a fairlittle inquisitive face which was remarked for its beauty andanimation; it was the captive Lady Ulrica, who without knowing what wasgoing forward, had persuaded the tractable Karen to take her with her,to see the great procession which was talked of. No one knew what wasto happen. The whole transaction was hitherto unknown in Denmark, wherethe young King Eric was the first sovereign who endeavoured tointroduce all the usages of chivalry, and the novelty and mystery ofthe proceeding, tended still more to heighten curiosity. Ulrica beheldthe priests on the high scaffold, and a knight in full armour led uponit: his back was turned to the window, and she did not recognise him. Arough sour-visaged man in a red cloak, with an iron club in hand, nowstepped forward, he looked like an executioner, but however carriedneither sword nor axe. He tore the shield from the knight, and struckoff his armour; after which he broke the shield and armour into pieceswith his iron club, and cast the fragments at his feet.

  "Gracious heaven! Is this an execution?" cried Ulrica in dismay. Theknight was now led down from the scaffold. He turned his pale andterrible countenance towards her, and she recognised him. "Kagge!righteous heaven!" she exclaimed with a shriek, and sank swooning inthe arms of her attendants. They hastened to carry her back to thetower, and to the fostering care of her gentle sister.

  The armorial bearings were taken from Kagge's broken shield; they werenow, together with the shield, fastened to the tail of a mare, and thusdragged in the mire through the streets of Wordingborg, followed by thescoffs of the herald, which were echoed by the enraged mob.

  The disarmed knight was meanwhile led upon the dunghill near thestables of the castle; here his gold spurs were taken off, and on thesame degrading spot the tail of the horse he rode last was docked.While the attention of the spectators was rivetted on these singularproceedings, the dishonoured knight made a vain attempt to escape. Hewas now bound with cords, and again led upon the scaffold--there hestood staring wildly around him and foaming with rage, while thepriests chanted a requiem over him as over the dead. He looked aroundin a frenzy; when, however, he perceived that the sword of theexecutioner was not glittering over his head, he seemed not as yet tohave abandoned all hope of life, and drew himself up in desperatedefiance. The solemn death-chant, nevertheless, appeared to awe him,and to damp his resolution. Ere it was ended, he sank down in anattitude of prayer. The chanting ceased, and the castle chaplainpresently stepped forward with the holy scriptures, and began to readwith a loud voice the Psalmist's denunciations against traitors--"Letthere be none to extend mercy unto him, let his posterity be cut off,and in the generation following let their name be blotted out. As heloved cursing, so let it come unto him; as he delighted not inblessing, so let it be far from him----"

  "Nay! silence with thy curses Priest! Whether they be scripture ornot!" called the king with vehemence. "His soul must be judged by themerciful God. It is here question only of knightly honour."

  But the chaplain had entered with such zeal into his text, that,without heeding the king's words, he still added, "When he shall bejudged, let him be condemned, and let his prayer become sin----"

  The kneeling knight started up at these words, and glared franticallyat the priest, "Know then, every free man in Denmark! and judge if itwere sin!" he shouted--"I prayed in this hour to the vanquisher ofmonsters, St. Magnus, and all the saints, that king Glipping's accursedrace might be rooted out of the earth, as he was himself by this handin Finnerup Barn."

  "Thou didst declare the truth unto him priest!" said the king,suppressing with difficulty his exasperated feelings-- "yet--no moreecclesiastical cursing! his thoughts and prayers are for God to judge;this criminal stands here only before his earthly judges."

  The priest was silent; the king now turned solemnly to thepursuivant-at-arms, and asked, "Say, wha
t is this criminal's name?"

  "Sir Aage Kagge, of the noble race and lineage of the high-bornHvides," answered the pursuivant-at-arms.

  "That is not _his_ name who here stands in our sight," cried theherald, "for in _him_ I and Danish chivalry only recognise a traitor, adeceiver, and a false swearer."

  The king thrice asked the name of the criminal. The herald-pursuivantnamed it each time, and each time the herald cried, "that is not HISname!" with the same annulling addition. When the herald had proclaimedthese words for the last time, he received from the hand of thepursuivant-at-arms an ewer with hot water; he then mounted the scaffoldwith it, and dashed the water over the head and shoulders of thedishonoured knight, with these words, "Thus I efface the sacred mark ofknighthood from this corpse."

  As soon as these words were uttered, the criminal was looked upon asdead, and treated as an actual corpse. He was dragged by cords downfrom the scaffold, and tied on a bier. A pall was spread over him, andwhile the king and all his knights rode back to the castle, Kagge,followed by a scoffing mob of the lowest class, was borne to thechurch, where the priests again prayed and chanted over him as over thedead. When the pall was at last removed, in order to lead him to actualdeath, he lay senseless on the bier, and it was doubted whether heought in this state to be carried to the place of execution.

  "Go hence and let him alone! The sun hath gone down, and he shall beunmolested here till to-morrow," said a powerful and authoritativevoice, and the Commendator of the monastery of the Holy Ghost steppedsolemnly forward in his white dress as master of the choir, with hisdouble twelve-pointed silver cross on his breast. All recognised him,and bowed reverently with folded hands, and half-bended knees, toreceive his blessing.

  The provost and his attendants, who were to conduct the prisoner to theplace of execution, seemed, however, somewhat doubtful and lingered."_I_ am responsible! Go hence all of you, and let the sinner lie heretill to-morrow!" repeated the Commendator, "his soul shall have time toprepare for its separation from the sinful body. It is the duty of myholy office to care for the souls of the departing. In the name of thechurch and the holy spirit, I command the temporal authority herepresent to give way!"

  Every one departed; the Commendator last quitted the church, andordered the church door to be locked. By command of the provost, astrong guard of men-at-arms was stationed before it.

  When the provost and his attendants early the following morning enteredthe church to lead the unknighted captive (already dead in law) toexecution, a real corpse was found bound to the bier. Some thought thatthe proceedings of the previous day were sufficient to kill him; othersdeemed it probable that he might have expired from dread when he cameto himself in the night, and found himself alone and bound on the bierin the deserted church. The idea that terror had caused the death ofthe miscreant captive while lying in such wretched plight the wholenight, in expectation of his death, now excited a species of compassionin the same mob who on the preceding day could not sufficiently tauntand scoff the detested assassin; and it was discovered that, after all,the king had been far too strict, and that even the pious Commendatorhimself had in a great degree augmented the sinner's punishment bycaring for his soul in such sort; and allowing him the space of a wholenight to die of terror, during his preparation for death. The face ofthe corpse was swollen, and already in such a state that none couldrecognise the outlawed knight, excepting from the bristly beard andmeeting eyebrows. The body was instantly, and in all privacy, buriedwithout the customary ritual of the church, and in unconsecratedground. But hardly was the dead man interred, ere a low murmur washeard among the restless populace that it could scarcely have been theright corpse after all. The speedy change in the appearance of the bodyso early in the spring was deemed exceedingly suspicious, and it wasrumoured that the beard and eye-brows were undoubtedly false. It wasknown that the outlawed Aage Kagge had been a kinsman of ArchbishopGrand; and the Commendator of the order of the Holy Ghost, who from themonastery might have ingress to the church, was conjectured to haveavailed himself of his authority on this occasion, to save a kinsman ofthat mighty and dangerous prelate. This rumour, however, was instantlyput down by the provost and his attendants, whom it might have causedseriously to be brought to account. It reached neither the ears of theKing nor the Drost, and it was believed at court (as had been in legalform announced by the temporal authorities of the town) that theoutlawed regicide had been found lifeless on the bier, and that thebody had been buried in the morning, after lawful inspection.

  The stern solemnity which pervaded the king's proceedings at this timeat Wordingborg was remarked by all. The festivities which had beenlooked forward to with pleasure on occasion of the treaty with theDukes, were wholly relinquished, and all the stranger nobles andknights soon left the castle. Junker Christopher had taken a cold andhasty farewell, and it was said had repaired to Kallundborg or Holbeck.Both these castles had been restored to him with full investiture ofthe fiefs. Ere his departure, he had announced that the maidens' towerwas carelessly guarded, and that the fair prisoners were incommunication with the household, and probably even with persons ofmore consideration. This information compelled the commandant toobserve more strictness in guarding the captives. The obliging littleKaren was replaced by a grave female attendant, and no one but herselfand a monk skilled in medicine were admitted to the tower. The youngestof the captive maidens was ill, it was said, and not quite in her rightmind. She imagined she had seen an execution, and that she herself wasa princess who had an unfortunate prince for a lover. This gave rise tomuch gossip, and all manner of conjectures among the household at thecastle. Drost Aage was spoken of as the most zealous friend andadvocate of the captive maidens, and it was supposed that by means ofhis influence their cause would soon be decided in their favour.

  The king, with his state council and halberdiers, remained until pastEaster at Wordingborg Castle, from whence were issued many royalmandates and ordinances. In these matters the Drost was, next to theking himself, especially occupied, and was seldom seen to join theother knights in their diversions within the lists or in the tenniscourt. He was, as usual, grave and pensive. Occasionally he was seen inthe moonlight spring evenings to wander alone, as if lost in reverie,around the maidens' tower. Since the king's arrival at Wordingborg,Aage had not seen the captive maidens; it appeared that he had heardthe gossiping reports of his warm interest for them, and that he fearedto injure their cause or their reputation by a visit.