And every gallant spirit of Gower’s days, the reign of Edward III., said of his mistress,
“What thing she bid me do, I do,
And where she bid me go, I go.
And when she likes to call, I come,
I serve, I bow, I look, I lowte,
My eye followeth her about.
What so she will, so will I,
When she would set, I kneel by.
And when she stands then will I stand,
And when she taketh her work in hand,
Of wevying or of embroidrie,
Then can I not but muse and prie,
Upon her fingers long and small.”
Gower, in describing the knight’s mode of tendance on his mistress, has drawn a pleasing picture of the domestic life of chivalry.
“And if she list to riden out,
On pilgrimage, or other stead,
I come, though I be not bid,
And take her in my arms aloft,
And set her in her saddle soft,
And so forth lead her by the bridle,
For that I would not be idle.
And if she list to ride in chare,
And that I may thereof beware,
Anon, I shape me to ride,
Right even by the chares side,
And as I may, I speak among,
And other while, I sing a song.”[224]
These quotations show that the expression in ancient times of knights being servants of the ladies was not a mere figure of the imagination. The instances from Gower, however, which prove the propriety of the title, may not be thought exclusively chivalric. A story in Froissart will fully supply the want. A Bourbon knight, named Sir John Bonnelance, a valiant soldier, gracious and amorous, was once at Montferrand, in Auvergne, sporting among the ladies and damsels of the town. While commending his chivalry, they urged him to undertake an enterprise against the English, and she who, as his lady-love, was ruler of his actions, told him that she would fain see an Englishman, for she had heard much of the valiancy of the knights of England. Bonnelance replied, “that if it should ever be his good fortune to take one, he would bring him into her presence.” Soon afterwards he was able to perform his word. He took to Montferrand some English prisoners, and addressing her who fancied the wish of seeing an Englishman, he said “that for her love he had brought them to the town.” The ladies and damsels laughed, and turned the matter to a great sport. They thanked him for his courtesy, and entertained him right sweetly during his three days abode at Montferrand.[225]
Love inspired bravery.
The knight, whose heart was warmed with the true light of chivalry, never wished that the dominion of his mistress should be less than absolute, and the confession of her perfect virtue, which this feeling implied, made him preserve his own faith pure and without a stain. Love was as marked a feature in the chivalric character as valour; and, in the phrase of the time, he who understood how to break a lance, and did not understand how to win a lady, was but half a man. He fought to gain her smiles, for love in brave and gentle knights kindled aspirations for high desert and honour. “Oh! that my lady saw me,” was the exclamation of a knight in the pride of successful valour as he mounted the city’s wall, and with his good sword was proving the worth of his chivalry.[226] He wore her colours, and the favour of his lady bright was the chief ornament of his harness. She judged the prize at the tournament, assisted him to arm, and was the first and the most joyous to hail his return from the perils of war.
“A damisel came unto me,
The seemliest that ever I se,
Luffumer[227] lifed never in land,
Hendly she take me by the hand;
And soon that gentle creature
Al unlaced mine armure
Into a chamber she me led,
And with a mantle she me cled;
It was of purpur fair and fine,
And the pane of rich ermine;
Al the folk war went us fra,
And there was none than both we twa;
She served me hendely to hend,
Her manners might no man amend;
Of tong she was true and renable,
And of her semblant soft and stabile.
Fullfain I would, if that I might,
Have woned[228] with that sweet wight:
And when we sold go to sopere
That lady with a lufforn chere,
Led me down into the hall,
That war we served wele at all.”[229]
Character of woman in the eyes of a knight.
A soldier of chivalry would go to battle, proud of the title, a pursuivant of love[230], and in the contests of chivalric skill, which, like the battles of Homer’s heroes, gave brilliancy and splendour to war, a knight challenged another to joust with a lance for love of the ladies; and he commended himself to the mistress of his heart for protection and assistance. In his mind woman was a being of mystic power; in the forests of Germany her voice had been listened to like that of the spirit of the woods, melodious, solemn, and oracular; and when chivalry was formed into a system, the same idea of something supernaturally powerful in her character threw a shadowy and serious interest over softer feelings, and she was revered as well as loved. While this devotedness of soul to woman’s charms appeared in his general intercourse with the sex, in a demeanor of homage, in a grave and stately politeness, his lady-love he regarded with religious constancy. Fickleness would have been a species of impiety, for she was not a toy that he played with, but a divinity whom he worshipped. This adoration of her sustained him through all the perils that lay before his reaching his heart’s desire; and loyalty (a word that has lost its pristine and noble meaning) was the choicest quality in the character of the preux chevalier.