CHAP. VIII.
PROGRESS OF CHIVALRY IN ENGLAND, FROM THE NORMAN CONQUEST TO THE CLOSE OF THE REIGN OF EDWARD II.
Chivalry connected with Feudalism ... Stipendiary Knights ... Knighthood a compulsory Honour ... Fine Instance of Chivalry in the Reign of Edward I ... Effect of Chivalry in Stephen’s Reign ... Troubadours and Romance Writers in the Reign of Henry II ... Chivalric Manners of the Time ... Cœur de Lion the first Chivalric King ... His Knightly Bearing ... John and Henry III ... Edward I ... His Gallantry at a Tournament ... His unchivalric Cruelties ... He possessed no knightly Courtesy ... Picture of ancient Manners ... Edward II ... Chivalric Circumstance in the Battle of Bannockburn ... Singular Effect of Chivalry in the Reign of Edward II.
In the first chapter we traced, by the help of the few lights which yet remain, the rise of chivalry in Europe. We may now mark its progress, and, in order to avoid the inconvenience of frequent transitions, it will be better to follow the historical train in each chivalric country, than to attempt to form one general collection of knightly events. And first, of its influence in England.
Many chivalric principles and customs were known to the Anglo-Saxons[378], and affected, in some degree, the character of the nation.[379] Many of the elements of chivalry were brought into England by the Normans, and, in the course of time, they were framed, by the energy which was involved in them, into a fair and noble system. The adventurousness of knighthood comported well with a people who, quitting the inhospitable shores of Scandinavia, had impressed their conquests on France, Italy, and even Greece. The Norman nation was one vast brotherhood, and therefore it was natural for them to nourish the principles of chivalric fraternity.[380] It is recorded of them that they brought from the north a love of splendor, and having learnt courtesy of manner from the French, they were fitted to admire the shows and the gallantry of knighthood.[381] They affected, indeed, to despise the religious parts of the Saxon ceremonies of initiation into knighthood, but they soon adopted them; for we find that William Rufus himself was knighted by Archbishop Lanfrank.[382]
Chivalry connected with feudalism.
Stipendiary knights.
Chivalry became established as part of the national constitution when William the Conqueror divided the country into about sixty thousand knights’ fees, with the tenure of military service. The clergy, as well as the laity, were compelled to furnish armed knights, on horseback, as the price of their possessions, when the king went abroad against his enemies; and, consequently, knights became attached to every ecclesiastical foundation. These servants of the church were generally younger members of baronial families; and as there was constant occasion for them, chivalry became a military profession. In England, as in every country, the feudal array was found insufficient for foreign wars, and wide-spread domestic rebellions; for few contests could be finished in forty days,—and that was the brief space which, in the earliest simplicity of feudal times, had been fixed for the duration of military service. As petty states swelled into kingdoms, and their public operations became extensive, many a martial enterprise was broken up before achievement, because the time of service had expired. So frequent were the calls on the holders of knights’ fees, that they were glad to compromise for attendance by pecuniary penalties. The sovereigns were exorbitant in their exactions, in order to be able to pay the stipendiary substitutes; but one of the most important provisions of Magna Charta gave to parliament alone the power of imposing this escuage or military tax.[383] When the custom of escuage arose is a matter which no antiquarian researches have settled. The clause in Magna Charta shows not only its existence, but its being used as an instrument of tyranny; and under this aspect of chivalric history, the reign of John is important. Most of these stipendiary subsidiaries were knights, with their equipments of men-at-arms and archers; and the sovereign was accustomed to contract with his barons for their attendance upon him in his foreign expeditions. Chivalry and feudal tenure were, therefore, no longer convertible terms; yet the spirit of knighthood long survived the decay of the forms of feudal obligation; for the practice of escuage was fully established in the days of Edward III.; and that was the brightest era of English chivalry.
Knighthood a compulsory honor.
In England, knighthood was always regarded as the necessary distinction of people of some substance and estate.[384] In the reigns of our three first Edwards the qualification for knighthood varied from land of the yearly value of forty to that of fifty pounds. The King was the sovereign and supreme judge of chivalry, and he might confer knighthood on whomsoever he chose. He could compel men of worth to be knights, for knighthood was honourable to the kingdom. Like the performance of every other duty in all states of society, that of knighthood could be commuted for by money; and the royal invitation to honour was so extensive as to be inconvenient; for a statute was passed in the reign of Edward II. whereby the King respited for some time the payment of the fines of such persons whose station in the world made knighthood a necessary part of their consequence. Besides all these ways of forming the knighthood of England, must be added the custom of elevating to chivalric dignities men who had gained renown by martial exploits. This was indeed a mode more pure in principle, and, therefore, more honourable than any we have mentioned.