FOOTNOTES:
[67] Primogeniture did not exist on the Continent as in England. The elder son was entitled to the largest share of the estate, but by no means to the whole.
[68] They became formal law by about 1260, in the days of Louis IX.
[69] French opinion, of course, condemned this count, not for being a traitor to his country, but for breach of fealty to his personal lord.
[70] The terrible oath of Henry II of England and other great chieftains.
[71] Later custom would probably have sent a fur-trimmed glove.
[72] Such plunderings were common enough, though the best knightly sentiment was against participating directly in them. Says a bard, Geraud de Borneil, "O fie on the knight who drives off a flock of bleating sheep—and then appears before a lady!"
[73] These prisoners were lucky if they finally escaped without at least mutilation. To "give your captives (of villein blood) the empty sleeve or the wooden leg" seems to have been direfully common in feudal wars.
[74] Similar taunts were delivered at the well-known siege of Carcasonne in 1240.