For games we have the rhyme:—“The men and maids do merry make, at Stoolball and at Barley-break.” The games played by boys were “Hoop and hide,” “Hide and seek,” “Harry Racket,” “Fillip the toad,” “Hoos and Blind,” “Hoodwink Play,” “Loggats,” “Slide Sheriff or Shove groat.”
“To wrestle, play at stooleballe, or to runne;
To pitch the Barre, or to shoote off a gun;
To play at Luggats, nine holes, or Tenpinnes:
To try it out at Football by the shinnes.”
Fitz Stephen says that on Shrove Tuesday the boys brought cocks to school and made them fight—the Master received from every boy a “Cockpenny.” The custom was kept up in some parts of England, I believe in the town of Lancaster, until well into the eighteenth century.
With all these aids to rest and recreation it will be seen that London was a City full of joy and cheerfulness. But there was a great deal more than this. No City on the Continent, not even Antwerp, Bruges, or Paris, surpassed London in the splendour and magnificence of her Pageants and Ridings. They were the public processions and rejoicings at coronations whether of the King or his consort, those after great victories, those when the King rode in state through London, those in which foreign sovereigns were received, and the Ridings of the Mayor and Aldermen. Let us consider what was meant by such a Pageant in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, the period to which this chapter belongs. They were rare events, naturally—a coronation does not happen often in one generation,—so rare were they that the principal Pageants can all be enumerated in a few lines. Thus:—
| A.D. | 1205 | Reception | of | Otho, nephew to King John. |
| 1216 | ” | ” | Louis the Dauphin. | |
| 1236 | ” | ” | Henry III. | |
| 1243 | ” | ” | Beatrice, Countess of Provence. | |
| 1274 | ” | ” | Queen Margaret. | |
| 1307 | ” | ” | Queen Isabella. | |
| 1328 | ” | ” | Queen Philippa. | |
| 1357 | ” | ” | King John of France. | |
| 1363 | ” | ” | King John of France, King David of Scotland, and the King of Cyprus. | |
| 1377 | ” | ” | King Richard II. | |
| 1382 | ” | ” | Queen Anne. | |
| 1392 | Reconciliation of King Richard II. and the City. | |||
| 1396 | Coronation | of | Queen Isabella. | |
| 1399 | ” | ” | Henry IV. | |
| 1399 | Reception of Emmanuel, Emperor of Constantinople. | |||
| 1413 | Coronation | of | Henry V. | |
| 1415 | Return of Henry V. after Agincourt. | |||
| 1416 | Reception of the Emperor Sigismund. | |||
| 1421 | Return of Henry V. and Queen Katherine. | |||
| 1422 | Reception | of | infant King Henry VI. | |
| 1432 | ” | ” | Henry VI. | |
| 1445 | ” | ” | Margaret of Anjou. | |
| 1461 | Coronation | of | Edward IV. | |
| 1465 | ” | ” | Queen Elizabeth Grey. | |
| 1483 | Reception of Edward V. | |||
| 1483 | Coronation of Richard III. | |||
Thus in 278 years there were twenty-seven Pageants and Receptions, an average of one in every ten years. It is certain that at every coronation there was some kind of pageant or procession, but there seems no record of those of Kings Edward II. and III. The first of which a detailed account has come down to us is the reception of Henry III. on his marriage in 1286. It is by Matthew Paris:—
“There were assembled at the King’s nuptial festivities such a host of nobles of both sexes, such numbers of religious men, such crowds of the populace, and such a variety of actors, that London, with its capacious bosom, could scarcely contain them. The whole City was ornamented with flags and banners, chaplets and hangings, candles and lamps, and with wonderful devices and extraordinary representations, and all the roads were cleansed from mud and dirt, sticks and everything offensive. The citizens, too, went out to meet the King and Queen dressed in their ornaments, and vied with each other trying the speed of their horses. On the same day when they left the City for Westminster, to perform the duties of butler to the King (which office belonged to them by right of old, at the coronation), they proceeded thither dressed in silk garments, with mantles worked in gold, and with costly changes of raiment, mounted on valuable horses, glittering with new bits and saddles, and riding in troops arranged in order. They carried with them three hundred and sixty gold and silver cups, preceded by the King’s trumpeters and with horns sounding, so that such a wonderful novelty struck all who beheld it with astonishment. The Archbishop of Canterbury, by the right especially belonging to him, performed the duty of crowning with the usual solemnities, the Bishop of London assisting him as a dean, the other bishops taking their stations according to their rank. In the same way all the abbats, at the head of whom, as was his right, was the abbat of St. Alban’s (for as the Protomartyr of England, B. Alban, was the chief of all the martyrs of England, so also was his abbat the chief of all the abbats in rank and dignity), as the authentic privilege of that church set forth. The nobles, too, performed the duties, which, by ancient right and custom, pertained to them at the coronations of kings. In like manner some of the inhabitants of certain cities discharged certain duties which belonged to them by right of their ancestors. The Earl of Chester carried the sword of St. Edward, which was called ‘Curtein,’ before the King, as a sign that he was earl of the palace, and had by right the power of restraining the King if he should commit an error. The Earl was attended by the Constable of Chester, and kept the people away with a wand when they pressed forward in a disorderly way. The Grand Marshal of England, the Earl of Pembroke, carried a wand before the King, and cleared the way before him both in the church and in the banquet-hall, and arranged the banquet and the guests at table. The wardens of the Cinque Ports carried the pall over the King, supported by four spears, but the claim to this duty was not altogether undisputed. The Earl of Leicester supplied the King with water in basins to wash before his meal; the Earl Warrenne performed the duty of King’s cupbearer, supplying the place of the Earl of Arundel, because the latter was a youth and not as yet made a belted knight. Master Michael Belet was butler ex officio: the Earl of Hereford performed the duties of marshal of the King’s household, and William Beauchamp held the station as almoner. The Justiciary of the Forests arranged the drinking cups on the table at the King’s right hand, although he met with some opposition, which however fell to the ground. The citizens of London passed the wine about in all directions, in costly cups, and those of Winchester superintended the cooking of the feast; the rest, according to the ancient statutes, filled their separate stations, or made their claim to do so. And in order that the nuptial festivities might not be clouded by any disputes, saving the right of any one, many things were put up with for the time which they left for decision at a more favourable opportunity. The office of Chancellor of England, and all the offices connected with the King, are ordained and assized in the Exchequer. Therefore the Chancellor, the Chamberlain, the Marshal, and the Constable, by right of their office, took their seats there, as also did the barons according to the date of their creation, in the City of London, whereby they each knew his own place. The ceremony was splendid, with the gay dresses of the clergy and knights who were present. The Abbat of Westminster sprinkled the holy water, and the Treasurer, acting the part of sub-dean, carried the paten. Why should I describe all those persons who reverently ministered in the church to God as was their duty? Why describe the abundance of meats and dishes on the table? the quantity of venison, the variety of fish, the joyous sounds of the glee-men, and the gaiety of the waiters? Whatever the world could afford to create pleasure and magnificence was there brought together from every quarter.” (Giles’s trans. pp. 8, 9.)