Thus much for the Earl of Lancaster.
CHAPTER V
FIFTEENTH CENTURY LIFE
INTRODUCTORY NOTES
The Tourney
This is here shown to be a sport, a trial of skill in which groups of knights encounter. The more serious ordeal by battle or tournament is a duel often to the death and so the rules for it are more strict and heavily guarded.
A good lesson on the courtesy of the late chivalric age may be drawn from this and further illustrated from Froissart. Here as there, and in Joinville, the care for horses may be seen.
Wages and Coinage
These are chiefly useful for comparison with other periods, especially those imposed in the Statute of Labourers. The powers of the J.P. may be noted, also the status of the shepherd due to the importance of wool for the new cloth manufacture.
Safeguard of the Sea