114

THE DEMON STEEDS PRESENTED TO RICHARD.

'Thou sayst thy God is full of myght:
‘Wilt thou graunte with spere and shelde,
'To detryve the ryght in the felde,
'With helme, hauberke, and brondes bryght,
'On stronge stedes gode and lyght,
'Whether ben of more power,
'Thy God almight or Jupiter?
'And he sent me to say this
"Yf thou wylt have an hors of his,
'In all the londes that thou hast gone
'Suche ne thou sawest never none:
'Favell of Sypres, ne Lyard of Prys',
'Ben not at ned as he ys;

'And yf thou wylte, this same daye,
'He shall be brought the to assaye.'
Rycharde answered, 'Thou sayest well,
'Suche an horse, by saynt Myghell,
'I wolde have to ryde upon.—
'Bydde hym sende that hors to me,

'And I shall assaye what they be, "Yf he be trusti, withoute sayle, 'I kepe none other to me in batayle.'

The messengers tho home wente, And told the sowdan in presente,
That Rycharde in the field wolde come hym unto:
The ryche sowdan bade to com hym unto
A noble clerke that could well conjoure,
That was a mayster nygromansoure2:
He commaunded, as I you telle,
Thorugh the fende's myght of helle,

Two strong fendes of the ayre
Both lyke in hewe and here,
No man sawe never none syche
That other a colte, a noble stede,

In lykenes of two stedes fayre
As men sayd that ther were:
That was one was a mare iliche,
Where that he wer in ony mede,

1 Horses belonging to Richard, Favel of Cyprus, and Lyard of Paris.' Robert de Brunne mentions one of these horses, which he calls PHANUEL. Chron. p. 175.

Sithen at Japhet was slayn PHANUEL his stede,
The Romans telles gret pas ther of his douhty dede.

This is our romance, viz. Sign. Q. iii.

To hym gadered every chone

Tho was Richard wroth This was at the siege of Jasse, as it is here called. Sign. O. ii.

FAVELL of Cyprus is forth set

And slewe FAVELL under hym,
and grym.

Favell of Cyprus is again mentioned, And in the sadell he hym sett.

Robert of Brunne says that Saladin's brother sent king Richard a horse. Chron. p. 194.
He sent to king Richard a stede for curteisie

On of the best reward that was in paemie.

'In the wardrobe.roll of prince Edward, afterwards king Edward II. under the year 1272, the masters of the horse render their accounts for horses purchased, specifying the colours. and prices with the greatest accuracy. One of them is called, Unus eqws FAVELLES Cum stella in fronte, &c.' Hearne's JOANN. DE TROKELOWE. Præf. p. xxvi. Here favellus is interpreted by Hearne to be honeycomb. I suppose he understands a dappled or roan horse. But FAVELLUS, evidently an adjective, is barbarous Latin for FALVUS, or fulvus, a dun or light yellow, a word often used to express the colour of horses and hawks. Carpentier, SUPPL Du Fresne LAT. GLOSS. V. FAVELLUS. tom. ii. p. 370. It is hence that king Richard's horse is called FAVEL. From which word PHANUEL, in Robert de Brunne is a corruption. 2 Necromancer.

(Were the knyght 1 never so bolde,)

Whan the mare nye 2 wolde,
(That hym sholde holde ayenst his wylle,)
But soone he wolde go her tylle3,

And kneel downe and souke his dame,
Therewhyle the sowdan with shame

Sholde kynge Rychard quelle, All this an aungell gan him telle,

That to hym came aboute mydnight,

6

Awake, he sayd, goddis knyght:

'My lorde doth the to onderstonde

" That the shal com on hors to londe,

*Fayre it is, of body ipyght, To betray the if the sowdan myght;
'On hym to ryde have thou no drede
'For he thee helpe shall at nede.'

The angel then gives king Richard several directions about managing this infernal horse, and a general engagement ensuing, between the Christian and Saracen armies,

He lepte on hors whan it was lyght;

Or he in his sadel did lepe
Of many thynges he toke kepe.-
His men brought hem that he had,
A square tree of fourty fete,

Before his sadell anone he it sete
Faste that they should it brase, &c.
Hymself was richely begone,
From the creste ryght to the tone?,

He was covered wondersly wele
And ther above an hauberke.

All with splentes of good stele.
A shafte he had of trusty werke,

Upon his shoulders a shelde of stele,
With the lybardes & painted wele;
And helme he had of ryche entayle,
Trusty and trewe was his ventayle:

Upon his creste a dove whyte
Upon a cross the dove stode
God hymself Mary and Johon
In sygnyfycaunce for whom he faught,
Upon his shaft he wolde it have

Sygnyfycaune of the holy sprite,
Of gold iwrought ryche and gode,
The spere hed forgat he nauht,
As he was done the rode upon 10.
Goddis name theron was grave

Now herken what othe he sware,
Or thay to the battayle went there.:
"Yf it were so, that Rycharde myght
'Slee the sowdan in felde with fyght,
'He and his shold gone
And the kynge of Masydoyne

'At our wylle everychone
'In to the cyte of Babylone;

1 His rider. 2 Neigh

3 Go to her.

In which the Saracen line extended twelve
The grounde myght unnethe be sene

Again,

Lyke as snowe lyeth on the mountaynes
With hauberkes bryght and harneys clere
From head to foot.

6

5 God.

miles in iength, and
4 Suck.

10 As he died upon the cross. So in an old 8 Leopards.

Brunne p. 634

Pyned under Ponce Pilat,

For btyght armure and speres kene.

So were fulfylled hylles and playnes
Of trompettes and tabourere.
9 Our Saviour.

fragment cited by Hearne, Gloss. Rob.

Don on the rod after that.

116

ENCOUNTER OF RICHARD WITH THE SOWDAN.

'He sholde have under his honde Myght slee Rycharde in the felde 'That Crysten men sholde go

'And yf the sowdan of that londe
With swerde or spere under shelde,
'Out of that londe for ever mo,

'And the Sarasyns theyr wyll in wolde.'
Quod kynge Rycharde, 'Therto I holde,
"Therto my glove, as I am knyght.'
They be armyd and redy dyght:
Kynge Rycharde to his sadell dyde lepe,
Certes, who that wolde take kepe

To se that fyght it were fayre;
Al so hard as thei myght dyre2,
Tabours and trompettes gan blowe:
Howkynge Rychard that noble man,
The chefe was tolde of Damas3.

Ther stedes ranne with grete ayre1
After theyr fete sprange out fyre:
Ther men myght se in a throwe
Encountred with the sowdan,
His truste upon his mare was,
And tharfor, as the boke us telles1,
Hys crouper henge full of belles",
And his peytrell and hys' arsowne
Thre myle men myght here the sowne.
His mare nyhed, his belles dyd rynge,
For grete pryde, withoute lesynge,

A faucon brodes in honde he bare, For he thoght he wolde thare
Have slayne Rycharde with treasowne

Whan his colte sholde knele downe As a colte sholde souk his dame,
And he was ware of that shame,

His eres9 with waxe were stopped faste,
Therefore Rycharde was not agaste,

In his shelde verament

1 Ire.

He stroke the stede that under hym wente,
And gave the Sowdan his deth with a dente;
Was paynted a serpent,
Wyth the spere that Rycharde helde
He bare hym thorugh under hys shelde,
Non of hys armure myght hym laste,
Brydell and peytrell al to braste,
Hys gyrthes and hys steropes also
Hys mare to grounde wente tho;

2 Dare.

3 I do not understand this. He seems to mean the Sultan of Damas, or Damascus. See Du Cange, Joinv. p. 87. 4 The French romance.

5 Anciently no person seems to have been gallantly equipped on horseback, unless the horse's bridle or some other part of the furniture, was stuck full of small bells. Vincent of Beauvais, who wrote about 1264, censures this piece of pride in the knights templars. They have, he says, bridles embroidered, or gilded, or adorned with silver, Atique in pectoralibus CAMPANULAS INFIXAS MAGNUM emittentes SONITUM, ad gloriam eorum et decorem.' Hist. lib. xxx. cap. 85. Wicliffe, in his TRIALOGE, inveighs against the priests for their fair hors, and jolly and gay sadeles, and bridles ringing by the way, &c.' Lewis's WICKLIFFE.p. 121. And hence Chaucer may be illustrated, who thus describes the state of a monk on horseback. Prol. Cant. v. 170.

Aud when he rode, men might his bridel here
GINGLING in a whistling wind as clere,
And eke as lowde, as doth the chapell bell.

That is, because his horse's bridle or trappings were strung with bells.

6 The breast-plate, or breast-band of a horse. Poitral, Fr. Pectorale, Lat. Thus Chaucer of the Chanon YEMAN'S horse. Chan. Yon. Proll. v. 575. Urr.

2 The saddle-bow.

About the PAYNTRELL stoode the some ful hie.

'Arcenarium extencellatum cum argento,' occurs in the wardrobe rolls, ab. an. 21 ad an. 25 Edw. iii. Membr. xi. This word is not in Du Cange or his supplement. 9 Ears.

8 F. bird.

Maugre her heed, he made her seche
The grounde, withoute more speche,

Hys feete towarde the fyrmament,

Bihynde hym the spere outwent

Ther he fell dede on the grene,
Rycharde smote the fende with spores1 kene,
And yn the name of the holi goost
He dryveth ynto the hethen hoost,
Asonder he brake the sheltron2,
Hors and man to the grounde yode,

And as sone as he was come,
And al that ever afore hym stode,
Twenti fote on either syde, &c.

Whan the kyng of Fraunce and hys men wyste
That the mastry had the Crysten,

They waxed bold, and gode herte toke

Stedes bestrode, and shaftes shoke3.

Richard arming himself is a curious Gothic picture. It is certainly a genuine picture, and drawn with some spirit ; as is the shock of the two necromantic steeds, and other parts of this description. The combat of Richard and the Soldan, on the event of which the christian army got possession of the city of Babylon, is probably the DUel of KING RICHARD, painted on the wall of a chamber in the royal palace of Clarendon. The Soldan is represented as meeting Richard with a hawk on his fist, to shew indifference, or a contempt of his adversary; and that he came rather prepared for the chace, than the combat. Indeed in the feudal times, and long afterwards, no gentleman appeared on horseback, unless going to battle, without a hawk on his fist. In the Tapestry of the Norman Conquest, Harold is exhibited on horseback, with a hawk on his fist, and his dogs running before him, going on an embassy from king Edward the Confessor to William Duke of Normandy". Tabour, a drum, a common accompaniment of war, is mentioned as one of the instruments of martial music in this battle The word is constantly with characteristical propriety. It was imported into the European armies from the Saracens in the holy war. written tabour, not tambour, in Joinville's HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS, Joinville describes a superb bark and all the elder French romances.

or galley belonging to a Saracen chief, which he says was filled with cymbals, tabours, and Saracen horns. Jean d'Orronville, an old French

1 Spurs.

2 Schiltron. I believe soldiers drawn up in a circle. the battle of Fowkirke, Chron. p. 305.

Rob. de Brunne uses it in describing

Thar SCHELTRON Sone was shad with Inglis that wer gode.

Shad is separated.
3 Signat. M. ii.

4 See supr. p. 114.

5 The hawk on the fist was a mark of great nobility. We frequently find it, upon antique seals and miniatures, attributed to persons of both sexes. So sacred was this bird esteemed, that it was forbidden in a code of Charlemagne's laws, for any one to give his hawk or his 'In compositionem Wirigildi volumus ut ea denter que in lege sword as part of his ransom. continentur excepto accipitre et spatha.' Lindebrog. Cod. Leg. Antiq. p. 895. In the year 1337, the bishop of Ely excommunicated certain persons for stealing a hawk, sitting on her perch, in the cloisters of the abbey of Bermondsey in Southwark. This piece of sacrilege, indeed, was committed during service-time in the choir: and the hawk was the property of the bishop. Registr. Adami Orleton. Episc. Winton. fol. 56. b. In Archiv. Winton. In DOMESDEI-BOOK, a Hawk's Airy, Aira Accipitris, is sometimes returned amongst the most valuable articles of property.

6 Histoir. de S. Loys, p. 30. The original has 'Cors Sarazinois.' Also p. 52. 56. And Du Cange's Notes, p. 61.

118 IGNORANCE OF GEOGRAPHY FATAL TO CRUSADING ARMIES.

chronicler of the life of Louis duke of Bourbon, relates, that the king of France, the king of Thrasimere, and the king of Bugie landed in Africa, according to their custom, with cymbals, kettle drums, tabours1, and whistles. Babylon, here said to be besieged by king Richard, and so frequently mentioned by the romance writers and the chroniclers of the crusades, is Cairo or Bagdat. Cairo and Bagdat, cities of recent foundation, were perpetually confounded with Babylon, which had been destroyed many centuries before, and was situated at a considerable distance from either. Not the least enquiry was made in the dark ages concerning the true situation of places, or the disposition of the country in Palestine, although the theatre of so important a war; and to this neglect was owing, in a great measure, the signal defeats and calamitous distresses of the christian adventurers, whose numerous armies, destitute of information, and cut off from every resource, perished amidst unknown mountains, and impracticable wastes. Geography at this time had been but little cultivated. It had been studied only from the ancients: as if the face of the earth, and the political state of nations, had not, since the time of those writers, undergone any changes or revolutions.

So formidable a champion was king Richard against the infidels, and so terrible the remembrance of his valour in the holy war, that the Saracens and Turks used to quiet their froward children only by repeating his name. Joinville is the only writer who records this anecdote. He adds another of the same sort. When the Saracens were riding, and their horses started at any unusual object, 'ils disoient 'a leurs chevaulx en les picquent de l'esperon, et cuides tu que ce soit le 'ROY RICHART3 ?' It is extraordinary, that these circumstances should have escaped Malmesbury, Matthew Paris, Benedict, Longtoft, and the rest of our old historians, who have exaggerated the character of this redoubted hero, by relating many particulars more likely to be fabulous, and certainly less expressive of his prowess.

SECTION V.

THE romance of SIR GUY, which is enumerated by Chaucer among the 'Romances of Pris,' affords the following fiction, not uncommon indeed in pieces of this sort, concerning the redemption of a knight

1 I cannot find Glais, the word that follows, in the French dictionaries. But perhaps it answers to our old English Gue. Du Cange, Gl. Lat. V. CLASSICUM.

2 Cap. 76. Nacaires, is here the word for kettle-drums. Du Cange, ubi supr. p. 59. Who also from an old roll de la chambre des COMPTES de Paris recites, among the houshold musicians of a French nobleman, 'Menestrel du Cor Sarazinois,' ib. p. 60. This instrument is not uncommon in the French romances.

3 Hist. de S. Loyis, p. 16. 104. Who had it from a French MSS. chronicle of the holy war. Du Cange's Notes, p. 45.