The champions joined in a combat on foot the next day, with spears, axes and daggers, the fight to continue until one or other should be disarmed or borne to the ground. It had been arranged that spears should be cast, but on the king objecting that part of the proceedings was omitted. The fight then began. Lord Scales dealt the Bastard some heavy strokes with his axe, and the Bastard, attacking with great violence, seriously fractured the armour of his adversary, at which stage of the combat the king cast his bâton.
De la Marche was present at the fight.
Other contests took place on the following day; but on intelligence arriving of the death of Duke Philippe le Bon, of Burgundy, the meeting broke up.
Monstrelet states that the lists were 370 feet long by 250 feet broad, and gives a somewhat different account of the mounted combat. He says that the jousting was with pointed lances, and further that the chamfron of the horse of Lord Scales was garnished with a long steel spike, which, being thrust into the mouth of the Bastard’s charger, caused the animal such pain that it reared and at length fell, with its rider, the Burgundian, underneath.
Holinshed’s version[160] is as follows:—
“The first daie they ran togither diurse courses with sharpe speares, and departed with equall honer. The next day they turneied on horsseback. The lord Scales horsse had on his chafron a long sharpe pike of steele, and as the two champions coped togither, the same horsse (whether through custome or by chance), thrust his pike into the nosethrils of the bastard’s horsse; so that for verie paine he mounted so high, that he fell on the one side with his maister, and the lord Scales rode round about him with his sword in his hand, vntill the King commanded the marshall to helpe vp the bastard, which openlie said ‘I cannot hold me by the clouds, for though my horse faileth me, surelie I will not fail my counter-companion.’”
The king would not suffer them to do any more that day. On the morrow the champions fought with pole-axes, when at length the point of the axe wielded by Lord Scales was thrust into the sight of the Bastard’s helm with such force that it brought him to his knees, on which the king cast his bâton. The Bastard wished to fight again, but the umpire ruled that should the encounter be continued it could only recommence at the stage reached at the termination of the last combat, with the Bastard on his knees. On hearing this judgment the Bastard relinquished his challenge.
An Ashmolean MS. (111-3b) furnishes the following[161]:—“A demonstracōn by John Writh alias Garter, to King Edward the Fourth, touching three Knyghtes of high Almayn wch came to do arms in England, with the instruccōns by them geven unto the saide Gartr and the articles of their feates and enterprise.” The year must have been 1473.
The blending of the tourney with the pageant, mummeries and buffoonery continued to gain ground, and the sumptuous and costly fêtes held at Bruges in 1468, on the occasion of the marriage of Charles of Burgundy with Margaret of York, sister to King Edward IV of England, afford an excellent example of these combinations. All is minutely described at great length by de la Marche.[162] He gives details of the dresses, ceremonial and armour, and full particulars of each joust; he also names the historic personages taking part. The plot of the leading pageant, if it can be called a plot, is inconsequent, though staged with great splendour and elaboration. There were tableaux of the Twelve Labours of Hercules, and many allegorical representations.
Lists were erected in the Grande Place, and just within them stood l’arbre d’or, a great fir-tree, the trunk of which was gilded over, and it was this tree which lent its name to the fête. The Bastard of Burgundy and Adolf de Cléves, Seigneur de Ravastain, cousin-german to the duke, assumed the rôle of Chevaliers de L’Arbre d’Or, and they were to hold the pas in its defence. The fêtes were arranged to extend over ten days. On the first day the duke took his seat on the tribune, and a “poursuivant-at-armes,” clad in the livery of l’arbre d’or, handed him a letter from the princess of an unknown isle, in which she proffers her favour to any knight who would deliver a certain giant from captivity, whom she had placed under the guardianship of her dwarf. The dwarf, gaily dressed in crimson and white satin, now entered the arena, leading in the giant by a chain, and, binding him to the golden tree, took up a position on a flight of steps, with a trumpet and sand-glass in his hands. The dwarf then sounded a note on his trumpet, and turned the sand-glass, which was timed for half an hour, at the expiration of which Adolf de Cléves, as Chevalier de L’Arbre d’Or, who was to open the pas, knocked at the gate of the lists, and the pursuivant demanded his name and errand. “I am come,” said he, “to accomplish the adventure of the giant, and demand admission.” The blazon of his arms having been submitted to the judge it was hung suspended on the tree, and the dwarf admitted him. De Ravastain was borne into the lists in a litter, carried on the backs of two black horses, and made a brilliant entrance with his team of drummers and trumpeters on the march; his robe was of velvet, the colour of leather, trimmed with ermine, and on his head was a cardinal’s hat. His handsome charger, richly caparisoned, bore a pair of panniers on his back, between which a court fool was seated, and it followed the litter, led by a varlet. The duchess was seated on her tribune, and the chevalier, throwing away his hat, knelt down before her and set forth the details of the rôle he had assumed, praying for her permission to carry out his plan. This being graciously accorded, he retired to his pavilion to arm him, re-entering the lists on horseback. The dwarf then gave the signal for the jousting, and the venans, sumptuously arrayed and brilliantly attended, were successively disposed of. After they had been dealt with, the dwarf again blew his trumpet and the prize was presented to de Cléves. The cavaliers then jousted each with a gros planchon blanc, but without touching each other; and the first day’s proceedings finished with a banquet. Jousts of different kinds, dinners and entertainments continued over each succeeding day of the fêtes. On the sixth day the Bastard of Burgundy had his leg nearly broken; on the eighth the Sire Philippe de Poictiers was wounded; and on the ninth day Duke Charles jousted with his kinsman, de Ravastain, breaking eight spears to eleven by his opponent. The prize was a destrier, richly accoutred, provided with panniers, and in them was an entire jousting equipment of the Bastard of Burgundy. The prize was won by the Sire de Arguel, who had broken thirteen lances on the third day of the fêtes. In keeping account of the splintered lances, the articles du pas determine how they shall be broken:—“car nulles lances ne furent tenues pour rompues, s’il n’y avoit quatre doigts de franc au-dessous du roquet, ou devant la grape.” The lances for every contest were always carefully measured before being used, so that they were of equal length.