Ivanhoe: A Romance

by Walter Scott

  CHAPTER VII

  Knights, with a long retinue of their squires, In gaudy liveries march and quaint attires; One laced the helm, another held the lance, A third the shining buckler did advance. The courser paw'd the ground with restless feet, And snorting foam'd and champ'd the golden bit. The smiths and armourers on palfreys ride, Files in their hands, and hammers at their side; And nails for loosen'd spears, and thongs for shields provide. The yeomen guard the streets in seemly bands; And clowns come crowding on, with cudgels in their hands. --Palamon and Arcite

  The condition of the English nation was at this time sufficientlymiserable. King Richard was absent a prisoner, and in the power ofthe perfidious and cruel Duke of Austria. Even the very place of hiscaptivity was uncertain, and his fate but very imperfectly known to thegenerality of his subjects, who were, in the meantime, a prey to everyspecies of subaltern oppression.

  Prince John, in league with Philip of France, Coeur-de-Lion's mortalenemy, was using every species of influence with the Duke of Austria, toprolong the captivity of his brother Richard, to whom he stood indebtedfor so many favours. In the meantime, he was strengthening his ownfaction in the kingdom, of which he proposed to dispute the succession,in case of the King's death, with the legitimate heir, Arthur Duke ofBrittany, son of Geoffrey Plantagenet, the elder brother of John. Thisusurpation, it is well known, he afterwards effected. His own characterbeing light, profligate, and perfidious, John easily attached to hisperson and faction, not only all who had reason to dread the resentmentof Richard for criminal proceedings during his absence, but also thenumerous class of "lawless resolutes," whom the crusades had turned backon their country, accomplished in the vices of the East, impoverishedin substance, and hardened in character, and who placed their hopesof harvest in civil commotion. To these causes of public distress andapprehension, must be added, the multitude of outlaws, who, drivento despair by the oppression of the feudal nobility, and the severeexercise of the forest laws, banded together in large gangs, and,keeping possession of the forests and the wastes, set at defiance thejustice and magistracy of the country. The nobles themselves, eachfortified within his own castle, and playing the petty sovereign overhis own dominions, were the leaders of bands scarce less lawless andoppressive than those of the avowed depredators. To maintain theseretainers, and to support the extravagance and magnificence which theirpride induced them to affect, the nobility borrowed sums of money fromthe Jews at the most usurious interest, which gnawed into their estateslike consuming cankers, scarce to be cured unless when circumstancesgave them an opportunity of getting free, by exercising upon theircreditors some act of unprincipled violence.

  Under the various burdens imposed by this unhappy state of affairs,the people of England suffered deeply for the present, and had yetmore dreadful cause to fear for the future. To augment their misery, acontagious disorder of a dangerous nature spread through the land; and,rendered more virulent by the uncleanness, the indifferent food, andthe wretched lodging of the lower classes, swept off many whose fate thesurvivors were tempted to envy, as exempting them from the evils whichwere to come.

  Yet amid these accumulated distresses, the poor as well as the rich, thevulgar as well as the noble, in the event of a tournament, which was thegrand spectacle of that age, felt as much interested as the half-starvedcitizen of Madrid, who has not a real left to buy provisions for hisfamily, feels in the issue of a bull-feast. Neither duty nor infirmitycould keep youth or age from such exhibitions. The Passage of Arms,as it was called, which was to take place at Ashby, in the county ofLeicester, as champions of the first renown were to take the fieldin the presence of Prince John himself, who was expected to grace thelists, had attracted universal attention, and an immense confluence ofpersons of all ranks hastened upon the appointed morning to the place ofcombat.

  The scene was singularly romantic. On the verge of a wood, whichapproached to within a mile of the town of Ashby, was an extensivemeadow, of the finest and most beautiful green turf, surrounded on oneside by the forest, and fringed on the other by straggling oak-trees,some of which had grown to an immense size. The ground, as if fashionedon purpose for the martial display which was intended, sloped graduallydown on all sides to a level bottom, which was enclosed for the listswith strong palisades, forming a space of a quarter of a mile in length,and about half as broad. The form of the enclosure was an oblong square,save that the corners were considerably rounded off, in order to affordmore convenience for the spectators. The openings for the entry of thecombatants were at the northern and southern extremities of the lists,accessible by strong wooden gates, each wide enough to admit twohorsemen riding abreast. At each of these portals were stationed twoheralds, attended by six trumpets, as many pursuivants, and a strongbody of men-at-arms for maintaining order, and ascertaining the qualityof the knights who proposed to engage in this martial game.

  On a platform beyond the southern entrance, formed by a naturalelevation of the ground, were pitched five magnificent pavilions,adorned with pennons of russet and black, the chosen colours of the fiveknights challengers. The cords of the tents were of the same colour.Before each pavilion was suspended the shield of the knight by whom itwas occupied, and beside it stood his squire, quaintly disguised as asalvage or silvan man, or in some other fantastic dress, according tothe taste of his master, and the character he was pleased to assumeduring the game. [16]

  The central pavilion, as the place of honour, had been assigned to Brianbe Bois-Guilbert, whose renown in all games of chivalry, no less thanhis connexions with the knights who had undertaken this Passage ofArms, had occasioned him to be eagerly received into the company of thechallengers, and even adopted as their chief and leader, though he hadso recently joined them. On one side of his tent were pitched those ofReginald Front-de-Boeuf and Richard de Malvoisin, and on the other wasthe pavilion of Hugh de Grantmesnil, a noble baron in the vicinity,whose ancestor had been Lord High Steward of England in the time of theConqueror, and his son William Rufus. Ralph de Vipont, a knight of StJohn of Jerusalem, who had some ancient possessions at a place calledHeather, near Ashby-de-la-Zouche, occupied the fifth pavilion. From theentrance into the lists, a gently sloping passage, ten yards in breadth,led up to the platform on which the tents were pitched. It was stronglysecured by a palisade on each side, as was the esplanade in front of thepavilions, and the whole was guarded by men-at-arms.

  The northern access to the lists terminated in a similar entrance ofthirty feet in breadth, at the extremity of which was a large enclosedspace for such knights as might be disposed to enter the lists with thechallengers, behind which were placed tents containing refreshments ofevery kind for their accommodation, with armourers, tarriers, and otherattendants, in readiness to give their services wherever they might benecessary.

  The exterior of the lists was in part occupied by temporary galleries,spread with tapestry and carpets, and accommodated with cushions for theconvenience of those ladies and nobles who were expected to attend thetournament. A narrow space, betwixt these galleries and the lists, gaveaccommodation for yeomanry and spectators of a better degree thanthe mere vulgar, and might be compared to the pit of a theatre. Thepromiscuous multitude arranged themselves upon large banks of turfprepared for the purpose, which, aided by the natural elevation of theground, enabled them to overlook the galleries, and obtain a fair viewinto the lists. Besides the accommodation which these stations afforded,many hundreds had perched themselves on the branches of the trees whichsurrounded the meadow; and even the steeple of a country church, at somedistance, was crowded with spectators.

  It only remains to notice respecting the general arrangement, thatone gallery in the very centre of the eastern side of the lists, andconsequently exactly opposite to the spot where the shock of the combatwas to take place, was raised higher than the others, more richlydecorated, and graced by a sort of throne and canopy, on which theroyal arms were emblazoned. Squires, pages, and yeomen in rich live
ries,waited around this place of honour, which was designed for Prince Johnand his attendants. Opposite to this royal gallery was another, elevatedto the same height, on the western side of the lists; and more gaily, ifless sumptuously decorated, than that destined for the Prince himself.A train of pages and of young maidens, the most beautiful who could beselected, gaily dressed in fancy habits of green and pink, surroundeda throne decorated in the same colours. Among pennons and flags bearingwounded hearts, burning hearts, bleeding hearts, bows and quivers,and all the commonplace emblems of the triumphs of Cupid, a blazonedinscription informed the spectators, that this seat of honour wasdesigned for "La Royne de las Beaulte et des Amours". But who was torepresent the Queen of Beauty and of Love on the present occasion no onewas prepared to guess.

  Meanwhile, spectators of every description thronged forward to occupytheir respective stations, and not without many quarrels concerningthose which they were entitled to hold. Some of these were settled bythe men-at-arms with brief ceremony; the shafts of their battle-axes,and pummels of their swords, being readily employed as arguments toconvince the more refractory. Others, which involved the rival claimsof more elevated persons, were determined by the heralds, or by the twomarshals of the field, William de Wyvil, and Stephen de Martival, who,armed at all points, rode up and down the lists to enforce and preservegood order among the spectators.

  Gradually the galleries became filled with knights and nobles, in theirrobes of peace, whose long and rich-tinted mantles were contrasted withthe gayer and more splendid habits of the ladies, who, in a greaterproportion than even the men themselves, thronged to witness a sport,which one would have thought too bloody and dangerous to afford theirsex much pleasure. The lower and interior space was soon filled bysubstantial yeomen and burghers, and such of the lesser gentry, as, frommodesty, poverty, or dubious title, durst not assume any higher place.It was of course amongst these that the most frequent disputes forprecedence occurred.

  "Dog of an unbeliever," said an old man, whose threadbare tunic borewitness to his poverty, as his sword, and dagger, and golden chainintimated his pretensions to rank,--"whelp of a she-wolf! darestthou press upon a Christian, and a Norman gentleman of the blood ofMontdidier?"

  This rough expostulation was addressed to no other than our acquaintanceIsaac, who, richly and even magnificently dressed in a gaberdineornamented with lace and lined with fur, was endeavouring to make placein the foremost row beneath the gallery for his daughter, the beautifulRebecca, who had joined him at Ashby, and who was now hanging on herfather's arm, not a little terrified by the popular displeasure whichseemed generally excited by her parent's presumption. But Isaac, thoughwe have seen him sufficiently timid on other occasions, knew well thatat present he had nothing to fear. It was not in places of generalresort, or where their equals were assembled, that any avaricious ormalevolent noble durst offer him injury. At such meetings the Jewswere under the protection of the general law; and if that proved aweak assurance, it usually happened that there were among the personsassembled some barons, who, for their own interested motives, were readyto act as their protectors. On the present occasion, Isaac felt morethan usually confident, being aware that Prince John was even then inthe very act of negotiating a large loan from the Jews of York, tobe secured upon certain jewels and lands. Isaac's own share in thistransaction was considerable, and he well knew that the Prince's eagerdesire to bring it to a conclusion would ensure him his protection inthe dilemma in which he stood.

  Emboldened by these considerations, the Jew pursued his point, andjostled the Norman Christian, without respect either to his descent,quality, or religion. The complaints of the old man, however, excitedthe indignation of the bystanders. One of these, a stout well-setyeoman, arrayed in Lincoln green, having twelve arrows stuck in hisbelt, with a baldric and badge of silver, and a bow of six feet lengthin his hand, turned short round, and while his countenance, which hisconstant exposure to weather had rendered brown as a hazel nut, grewdarker with anger, he advised the Jew to remember that all the wealthhe had acquired by sucking the blood of his miserable victims had butswelled him like a bloated spider, which might be overlooked while hekept in a corner, but would be crushed if it ventured into the light.This intimation, delivered in Norman-English with a firm voice anda stern aspect, made the Jew shrink back; and he would have probablywithdrawn himself altogether from a vicinity so dangerous, had not theattention of every one been called to the sudden entrance of PrinceJohn, who at that moment entered the lists, attended by a numerous andgay train, consisting partly of laymen, partly of churchmen, as light intheir dress, and as gay in their demeanour, as their companions. Amongthe latter was the Prior of Jorvaulx, in the most gallant trim which adignitary of the church could venture to exhibit. Fur and gold were notspared in his garments; and the points of his boots, out-herodingthe preposterous fashion of the time, turned up so very far, as tobe attached, not to his knees merely, but to his very girdle, andeffectually prevented him from putting his foot into the stirrup. This,however, was a slight inconvenience to the gallant Abbot, who,perhaps, even rejoicing in the opportunity to display his accomplishedhorsemanship before so many spectators, especially of the fair sex,dispensed with the use of these supports to a timid rider. The restof Prince John's retinue consisted of the favourite leaders of hismercenary troops, some marauding barons and profligate attendants uponthe court, with several Knights Templars and Knights of St John.

  It may be here remarked, that the knights of these two orders wereaccounted hostile to King Richard, having adopted the side of Philipof France in the long train of disputes which took place in Palestinebetwixt that monarch and the lion-hearted King of England. It was thewell-known consequence of this discord that Richard's repeated victorieshad been rendered fruitless, his romantic attempts to besiege Jerusalemdisappointed, and the fruit of all the glory which he had acquired haddwindled into an uncertain truce with the Sultan Saladin. With the samepolicy which had dictated the conduct of their brethren in the HolyLand, the Templars and Hospitallers in England and Normandy attachedthemselves to the faction of Prince John, having little reason to desirethe return of Richard to England, or the succession of Arthur, hislegitimate heir. For the opposite reason, Prince John hated andcontemned the few Saxon families of consequence which subsisted inEngland, and omitted no opportunity of mortifying and affronting them;being conscious that his person and pretensions were disliked by them,as well as by the greater part of the English commons, who fearedfarther innovation upon their rights and liberties, from a sovereign ofJohn's licentious and tyrannical disposition.

  Attended by this gallant equipage, himself well mounted, and splendidlydressed in crimson and in gold, bearing upon his hand a falcon, andhaving his head covered by a rich fur bonnet, adorned with a circle ofprecious stones, from which his long curled hair escaped and overspreadhis shoulders, Prince John, upon a grey and high-mettled palfrey,caracoled within the lists at the head of his jovial party, laughingloud with his train, and eyeing with all the boldness of royal criticismthe beauties who adorned the lofty galleries.

  Those who remarked in the physiognomy of the Prince a dissoluteaudacity, mingled with extreme haughtiness and indifference to thefeelings of others could not yet deny to his countenance that sort ofcomeliness which belongs to an open set of features, well formed bynature, modelled by art to the usual rules of courtesy, yet so farfrank and honest, that they seemed as if they disclaimed to conceal thenatural workings of the soul. Such an expression is often mistaken formanly frankness, when in truth it arises from the reckless indifferenceof a libertine disposition, conscious of superiority of birth, ofwealth, or of some other adventitious advantage, totally unconnectedwith personal merit. To those who did not think so deeply, and they werethe greater number by a hundred to one, the splendour of Prince John's"rheno", (i.e. fur tippet,) the richness of his cloak, lined with themost costly sables, his maroquin boots and golden spurs, together withthe grace with which he managed his palfrey, were sufficient to me
ritclamorous applause.

  In his joyous caracole round the lists, the attention of the Princewas called by the commotion, not yet subsided, which had attended theambitious movement of Isaac towards the higher places of the assembly.The quick eye of Prince John instantly recognised the Jew, but wasmuch more agreeably attracted by the beautiful daughter of Zion, who,terrified by the tumult, clung close to the arm of her aged father.

  The figure of Rebecca might indeed have compared with the proudestbeauties of England, even though it had been judged by as shrewd aconnoisseur as Prince John. Her form was exquisitely symmetrical,and was shown to advantage by a sort of Eastern dress, which she woreaccording to the fashion of the females of her nation. Her turbanof yellow silk suited well with the darkness of her complexion. Thebrilliancy of her eyes, the superb arch of her eyebrows, her well-formedaquiline nose, her teeth as white as pearl, and the profusion of hersable tresses, which, each arranged in its own little spiral of twistedcurls, fell down upon as much of a lovely neck and bosom as a simarreof the richest Persian silk, exhibiting flowers in their natural coloursembossed upon a purple ground, permitted to be visible--all theseconstituted a combination of loveliness, which yielded not to the mostbeautiful of the maidens who surrounded her. It is true, that of thegolden and pearl-studded clasps, which closed her vest from the throatto the waist, the three uppermost were left unfastened on account ofthe heat, which somewhat enlarged the prospect to which we allude. Adiamond necklace, with pendants of inestimable value, were by this meansalso made more conspicuous. The feather of an ostrich, fastened in herturban by an agraffe set with brilliants, was another distinction ofthe beautiful Jewess, scoffed and sneered at by the proud dames who satabove her, but secretly envied by those who affected to deride them.

  "By the bald scalp of Abraham," said Prince John, "yonder Jewess must bethe very model of that perfection, whose charms drove frantic the wisestking that ever lived! What sayest thou, Prior Aymer?--By the Templeof that wise king, which our wiser brother Richard proved unable torecover, she is the very Bride of the Canticles!"

  "The Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley,"--answered the Prior, ina sort of snuffling tone; "but your Grace must remember she is still buta Jewess."

  "Ay!" added Prince John, without heeding him, "and there is my Mammonof unrighteousness too--the Marquis of Marks, the Baron of Byzants,contesting for place with penniless dogs, whose threadbare cloaks havenot a single cross in their pouches to keep the devil from dancingthere. By the body of St Mark, my prince of supplies, with his lovelyJewess, shall have a place in the gallery!--What is she, Isaac? Thy wifeor thy daughter, that Eastern houri that thou lockest under thy arm asthou wouldst thy treasure-casket?"

  "My daughter Rebecca, so please your Grace," answered Isaac, with alow congee, nothing embarrassed by the Prince's salutation, in which,however, there was at least as much mockery as courtesy.

  "The wiser man thou," said John, with a peal of laughter, in which hisgay followers obsequiously joined. "But, daughter or wife, she shouldbe preferred according to her beauty and thy merits.--Who sits abovethere?" he continued, bending his eye on the gallery. "Saxon churls,lolling at their lazy length!--out upon them!--let them sit close, andmake room for my prince of usurers and his lovely daughter. I'll makethe hinds know they must share the high places of the synagogue withthose whom the synagogue properly belongs to."

  Those who occupied the gallery to whom this injurious and unpolitespeech was addressed, were the family of Cedric the Saxon, with that ofhis ally and kinsman, Athelstane of Coningsburgh, a personage, who, onaccount of his descent from the last Saxon monarchs of England, was heldin the highest respect by all the Saxon natives of the north of England.But with the blood of this ancient royal race, many of their infirmitieshad descended to Athelstane. He was comely in countenance, bulkyand strong in person, and in the flower of his age--yet inanimate inexpression, dull-eyed, heavy-browed, inactive and sluggish in all hismotions, and so slow in resolution, that the soubriquet of one of hisancestors was conferred upon him, and he was very generally calledAthelstane the Unready. His friends, and he had many, who, as well asCedric, were passionately attached to him, contended that this sluggishtemper arose not from want of courage, but from mere want of decision;others alleged that his hereditary vice of drunkenness had obscured hisfaculties, never of a very acute order, and that the passive courageand meek good-nature which remained behind, were merely the dregs of acharacter that might have been deserving of praise, but of which all thevaluable parts had flown off in the progress of a long course of brutaldebauchery.

  It was to this person, such as we have described him, that the Princeaddressed his imperious command to make place for Isaac and Rebecca.Athelstane, utterly confounded at an order which the manners andfeelings of the times rendered so injuriously insulting, unwilling toobey, yet undetermined how to resist, opposed only the "vis inertiae" tothe will of John; and, without stirring or making any motion whatever ofobedience, opened his large grey eyes, and stared at the Prince withan astonishment which had in it something extremely ludicrous. But theimpatient John regarded it in no such light.

  "The Saxon porker," he said, "is either asleep or minds me not--Prickhim with your lance, De Bracy," speaking to a knight who rode near him,the leader of a band of Free Companions, or Condottieri; that is, ofmercenaries belonging to no particular nation, but attached for the timeto any prince by whom they were paid. There was a murmur even among theattendants of Prince John; but De Bracy, whose profession freed him fromall scruples, extended his long lance over the space which separatedthe gallery from the lists, and would have executed the commands ofthe Prince before Athelstane the Unready had recovered presence of mindsufficient even to draw back his person from the weapon, had not Cedric,as prompt as his companion was tardy, unsheathed, with the speed oflightning, the short sword which he wore, and at a single blow severedthe point of the lance from the handle. The blood rushed into thecountenance of Prince John. He swore one of his deepest oaths, andwas about to utter some threat corresponding in violence, when he wasdiverted from his purpose, partly by his own attendants, who gatheredaround him conjuring him to be patient, partly by a general exclamationof the crowd, uttered in loud applause of the spirited conduct ofCedric. The Prince rolled his eyes in indignation, as if to collect somesafe and easy victim; and chancing to encounter the firm glance of thesame archer whom we have already noticed, and who seemed to persistin his gesture of applause, in spite of the frowning aspect which thePrince bent upon him, he demanded his reason for clamouring thus.

  "I always add my hollo," said the yeoman, "when I see a good shot, or agallant blow."

  "Sayst thou?" answered the Prince; "then thou canst hit the whitethyself, I'll warrant."

  "A woodsman's mark, and at woodsman's distance, I can hit," answered theyeoman.

  "And Wat Tyrrel's mark, at a hundred yards," said a voice from behind,but by whom uttered could not be discerned.

  This allusion to the fate of William Rufus, his Relative, at onceincensed and alarmed Prince John. He satisfied himself, however, withcommanding the men-at-arms, who surrounded the lists, to keep an eye onthe braggart, pointing to the yeoman.

  "By St Grizzel," he added, "we will try his own skill, who is so readyto give his voice to the feats of others!"

  "I shall not fly the trial," said the yeoman, with the composure whichmarked his whole deportment.

  "Meanwhile, stand up, ye Saxon churls," said the fiery Prince; "for, bythe light of Heaven, since I have said it, the Jew shall have his seatamongst ye!"

  "By no means, an it please your Grace!--it is not fit for such as weto sit with the rulers of the land," said the Jew; whose ambition forprecedence though it had led him to dispute Place with the extenuatedand impoverished descendant of the line of Montdidier, by no meansstimulated him to an intrusion upon the privileges of the wealthySaxons.

  "Up, infidel dog when I command you," said Prince John, "or I will havethy swarthy hide stript off, and tanned for h
orse-furniture."

  Thus urged, the Jew began to ascend the steep and narrow steps which ledup to the gallery.

  "Let me see," said the Prince, "who dare stop him," fixing his eye onCedric, whose attitude intimated his intention to hurl the Jew downheadlong.

  The catastrophe was prevented by the clown Wamba, who, springingbetwixt his master and Isaac, and exclaiming, in answer to the Prince'sdefiance, "Marry, that will I!" opposed to the beard of the Jew a shieldof brawn, which he plucked from beneath his cloak, and with which,doubtless, he had furnished himself, lest the tournament should haveproved longer than his appetite could endure abstinence. Finding theabomination of his tribe opposed to his very nose, while the Jester,at the same time, flourished his wooden sword above his head, the Jewrecoiled, missed his footing, and rolled down the steps,--an excellentjest to the spectators, who set up a loud laughter, in which Prince Johnand his attendants heartily joined.

  "Deal me the prize, cousin Prince," said Wamba; "I have vanquished myfoe in fair fight with sword and shield," he added, brandishing thebrawn in one hand and the wooden sword in the other.

  "Who, and what art thou, noble champion?" said Prince John, stilllaughing.

  "A fool by right of descent," answered the Jester; "I am Wamba, theson of Witless, who was the son of Weatherbrain, who was the son of anAlderman."

  "Make room for the Jew in front of the lower ring," said Prince John,not unwilling perhaps to, seize an apology to desist from his originalpurpose; "to place the vanquished beside the victor were falseheraldry."

  "Knave upon fool were worse," answered the Jester, "and Jew upon baconworst of all."

  "Gramercy! good fellow," cried Prince John, "thou pleasest me--Here,Isaac, lend me a handful of byzants."

  As the Jew, stunned by the request, afraid to refuse, and unwillingto comply, fumbled in the furred bag which hung by his girdle, andwas perhaps endeavouring to ascertain how few coins might pass for ahandful, the Prince stooped from his jennet and settled Isaac's doubtsby snatching the pouch itself from his side; and flinging to Wamba acouple of the gold pieces which it contained, he pursued his careerround the lists, leaving the Jew to the derision of those around him,and himself receiving as much applause from the spectators as if he haddone some honest and honourable action.