XVI. HOW THE KING'S COURT FEASTED IN CALAIS CASTLE
It was a bright sunshiny morning when Nigel found himself at last ableto leave his turret chamber and to walk upon the rampart of the castle.There was a brisk northern wind, heavy and wet with the salt of thesea, and he felt, as he turned his face to it, fresh life and strengthsurging in his blood and bracing his limbs. He took his hand fromAylward's supporting arm and stood with his cap off, leaning on therampart and breathing in the cool strong air. Far off upon the distantsky-line, half hidden by the heave of the waves, was the low whitefringe of cliffs which skirted England. Between him and them lay thebroad blue Channel, seamed and flecked with flashing foam, for a sharpsea was running and the few ships in sight were laboring heavily.Nigel's eyes traversed the wide-spread view, rejoicing in the changefrom the gray wall of his cramped chamber. Finally they settled upon astrange object at his very feet.
It was a long trumpet-shaped engine of leather and iron bolted into arude wooden stand and fitted with wheels. Beside it lay a heap of metalslugs and lumps of stone. The end of the machine was raised and pointedover the battlement. Behind it stood an iron box which Nigel opened. Itwas filled with a black coarse powder, like gritty charcoal.
"By Saint Paul!" said he, passing his hands over the engine, "I haveheard men talk of these things, but never before have I seen one. It isnone other than one of those wondrous new-made bombards."
"In sooth, it is even as you say," Aylward answered, looking at itwith contempt and dislike in his face. "I have seen them here uponthe ramparts, and have also exchanged a buffet or two with him who hadcharge of them. He was jack-fool enough to think that with this leatherpipe he could outshoot the best archer in Christendom. I lent him a cuffon the ear that laid him across his foolish engine."
"It is a fearsome thing," said Nigel, who had stooped to examine it."We live in strange times when such things can be made. It is loosed byfire, is it not, which springs from the black dust?"
"By my hilt! fair sir, I know not. And yet I call to mind that ere wefell out this foolish bombardman did say something of the matter. Thefire-dust is within and so also is the ball. Then you take more dustfrom this iron box and place it in the hole at the farther end--so. Itis now ready. I have never seen one fired, but I wot that this one couldbe fired now."
"It makes a strange sound, archer, does it not?" said Nigel wistfully.
"So I have heard, fair sir--even as the bow twangs, so it also has asound when you loose it."
"There is no one to hear, since we are alone upon the rampart, nor canit do scathe, since it points to sea. I pray you to loose it and I willlisten to the sound." He bent over the bombard with an attentive ear,while Aylward, stooping his earnest brown face over the touch-hole,scraped away diligently with a flint and steel. A moment later both heand Nigel were seated some distance off upon the ground while amid theroar of the discharge and the thick cloud of smoke they had a visionof the long black snakelike engine shooting back upon the recoil. For aminute or more they were struck motionless with astonishment while thereverberations died away and the smoke wreaths curled slowly up to theblue heavens.
"Good lack!" cried Nigel at last, picking himself up and looking roundhim. "Good lack, and Heaven be my aid! I thank the Virgin that allstands as it did before. I thought that the castle had fallen."
"Such a bull's bellow I have never heard," cried Aylward, rubbinghis injured limbs. "One could hear it from Frensham Pond to GuildfordCastle. I would not touch one again--not for a hide of the best land inPuttenham!"
"It may fare ill with your own hide, archer, if you do," said an angryvoice behind them. Chandos had stepped from the open door of the cornerturret and stood looking at them with a harsh gaze. Presently, as thematter was made clear to him his face relaxed into a smile.
"Hasten to the warden, archer, and tell him how it befell. You will havethe castle and the town in arms. I know not what the King may think ofso sudden an alarm. And you, Nigel, how in the name of the saints cameyou to play the child like this?"
"I knew not its power, fair lord."
"By my soul, Nigel, I think that none of us know its power. I can seethe day when all that we delight in, the splendor and glory of war, mayall go down before that which beats through the plate of steel as easilyas the leathern jacket. I have bestrode my warhorse in my armor and havelooked down at the sooty, smoky bombardman beside me, and I have thoughtthat perhaps I was the last of the old and he the first of the new; thatthere would come a time when he and his engines would sweep you and meand the rest of us from the field."
"But not yet, I trust, honored sir?"
"No, not yet, Nigel. You are still in time to win your spurs even asyour fathers did. How is your strength?"
"I am ready for any task, my good and honored lord."
"It is well, for work awaits us--good work, pressing work, work of periland of honor. Your eyes shine and your face flushes, Nigel. I live myown youth over again as I look at you. Know then that though there istruce with the French here, there is not truce in Brittany where thehouses of Blois and of Montfort still struggle for the dukedom. HalfBrittany fights for one, and half for the other. The French have takenup the cause of Blois, and we of Montfort, and it is such a war thatmany a great leader, such as Sir Walter Manny, has first earned his namethere. Of late the war has gone against us, and the bloody hands of theRohans, of Gaptooth Beaumanoir, of Oliver the Flesher and others havebeen heavy upon our people. The last tidings have been of disaster,and the King's soul is dark with wrath for that his friend and comradeGilles de St. Pol has been done to death in the Castle of La Brohiniere.He will send succors to the country, and we go at their head. How likeyou that, Nigel?"
"My honored lord, what could I ask for better?"
"Then have your harness ready, for we start within the week. Our pathby land is blocked by the French, and we go by sea. This night the Kinggives a banquet ere he returns to England, and your place is behind mychair. Be in my chamber that you may help me to dress, and so we will tothe hall together."
With satin and with samite, with velvet and with fur, the noble Chandoswas dressed for the King's feast, and Nigel too had donned his best silkjupon, faced with the five scarlet roses, that he might wait upon him.In the great hall of Calais Castle the tables were set, a high table forthe lords, a second one for the less distinguished knights, and a thirdat which the squires might feast when their masters were seated.
Never had Nigel in his simple life at Tilford pictured a scene of suchpomp and wondrous luxury. The grim gray walls were covered from ceilingto floor with priceless tapestry of Arras, where hart, hounds andhuntsmen circled the great hall with one long living image of the chase.Over the principal table drooped a line of banners, and beneath themrows of emblazoned shields upon the wall carried the arms of the highnoblemen who sat beneath. The red light of cressets and of torchesburned upon the badges of the great captains of England. The lions andlilies shone over the high dorseret chair in the center, and the sameaugust device marked with the cadency label indicated the seat of thePrince, while glowing to right and to left were the long lines of nobleinsignia, honored in peace and terrible in war. There shone the goldand sable of Manny, the engrailed cross of Suffolk, the red chevron ofStafford, the scarlet and gold of Audley, the blue lion rampant ofthe Percies, the silver swallows of Arundel, the red roebuck of theMontacutes, the star of the de Veres, the silver scallops of Russell,the purple lion of de Lacy, and the black crosses of Clinton.
A friendly Squire at Nigel's elbow whispered the names of the famouswarriors beneath. "You are young Loring of Tilford, the Squire ofChandos, are you not?" said he. "My name is Delves, and I come fromDoddington in Cheshire. I am the Squire of Sir James Audley, yonderround-backed man with the dark face and close-cropped beard, who haththe Saracen head as a crest above him."
"I have heard of him as a man of great valor," said Nigel, gazing at himwith interest.
"Indeed, you may well say so, Master Loring. He is the br
avest knightin England, and in Christendom also, as I believe. No man hath done suchdeeds of valor."
Nigel looked at his new acquaintance with hope in his eyes. "You speakas it becomes you to speak when you uphold your own master," said he."For the same reason, Master Delves, and in no spirit of ill-will toyou, it behooves me to tell you that he is not to be compared in nameor fame with the noble knight on whom I wait. Should you hold otherwise,then surely we can debate the matter in whatever way or time may pleaseyou best."
Delves smiled good-humoredly. "Nay, be not so hot," said he. "Had youupheld any other knight, save perhaps Sir Walter Manny, I had taken youat your word, and your master or mine would have had place for a newSquire. But indeed it is only truth that no knight is second to Chandos,nor would I draw my sword to lower his pride of place. Ha, Sir James'cup is low! I must see to it!" He darted off, a flagon of Gascony inhis hand. "The King hath had good news to-night," he continued when hereturned. "I have not seen him in so merry a mind since the night whenwe took the Frenchmen and he laid his pearl chaplet upon the head ofde Ribeaumont. See how he laughs, and the Prince also. That laugh bodessome one little good, or I am the more mistaken. Have a care! Sir John'splate is empty."
It was Nigel's turn to dart away; but ever in the intervals he returnedto the corner whence he could look down the hall and listen to the wordsof the older Squire. Delves was a short, thick-set man past middle age,weather-beaten and scarred, with a rough manner and bearing which showedthat he was more at his ease in a tent than a hall. But ten years ofservice had taught him much, and Nigel listened eagerly to his talk.
"Indeed the King hath some good tidings," he continued. "See now, hehas whispered it to Chandos and to Manny. Manny spreads it on to SirReginald Cobham, and he to Robert Knolles, each smiling like the Devilover a friar."
"Which is Sir Robert Knolles?" asked Nigel with interest. "I have heardmuch of him and his deeds."
"He is the tall hard-faced man in yellow silk, he with the hairlesscheeks and the split lip. He is little older than yourself, and hisfather was a cobbler in Chester, yet he has already won the goldenspurs. See how he dabs his great hand in the dish and hands forth thegobbets. He is more used to a camp-kettle than a silver plate. The bigman with the black beard is Sir Bartholomew Berghersh, whose brother isthe Abbot of Beaulieu. Haste, haste! for the boar's head is come and theplate's to be cleaned."
The table manners of our ancestors at this period would have furnishedto the modern eye the strangest mixture of luxury and of barbarism.Forks were still unknown, and the courtesy fingers, the index andthe middle of the left hand, took their place. To use any others wasaccounted the worst of manners. A crowd of dogs lay among the rushesgrowling at each other and quarreling over the gnawed bones which werethrown to them by the feasters. A slice of coarse bread served usuallyas a plate, but the King's own high table was provided with silverplatters, which were wiped by the Squire or page after each course. Onthe other hand the table-linen was costly, and the courses, served witha pomp and dignity now unknown, comprised such a variety of dishes andsuch complex marvels of cookery as no modern banquet could show. Besidesall our domestic animals and every kind of game, such strange delicaciesas hedgehogs, bustards, porpoises, squirrels, bitterns and cranes lentvariety to the feast.
Each new course, heralded by a flourish of silver trumpets, was bornein by liveried servants walking two and two, with rubicund marshalsstrutting in front and behind, bearing white wands in their hands, notonly as badges of their office, but also as weapons with which to repelany impertinent inroad upon the dishes in the journey from the kitchento the hall. Boar's heads, enarmed and endored with gilt tusks andflaming mouths, were followed by wondrous pasties molded to the shape ofships, castles and other devices with sugar seamen or soldiers who losttheir own bodies in their fruitless defense against the hungry attack.Finally came the great nef, a silver vessel upon wheels laden with fruitand sweetmeats which rolled with its luscious cargo down the line ofguests. Flagons of Gascony, of Rhine wine, of Canary and of Rochellewere held in readiness by the attendants; but the age, though luxurious,was not drunken, and the sober habits of the Norman had happilyprevailed over the license of those Saxon banquets where no guest mightwalk from the table without a slur upon his host. Honor and hardihood goill with a shaking hand or a blurred eye.
Whilst wine, fruit and spices were handed round the high tablesthe squires had been served in turn at the farther end of the hall.Meanwhile round the King there had gathered a group of statesmen andsoldiers, talking eagerly among themselves. The Earl of Stafford, theEarl of Warwick, the Earl of Arundel, Lord Beauchamp and Lord Nevillewere assembled at the back of his chair, with Lord Percy and LordMowbray at either side. The little group blazed with golden chains andjeweled chaplets, flame colored paltocks and purple tunics.
Of a sudden the King said something over his shoulder to Sir William dePakyngton the herald, who advanced and stood by the royal chair. He wasa tall and noble-featured man, with long grizzled beard which rippleddown to the gold-linked belt girdling his many-colored tabard. On hishead he had placed the heraldic barret-cap which bespoke his dignity,and he slowly raised his white wand high in the air, while a great hushfell upon the hall.
"My lords of England," said he, "knight bannerets, knights, squires, andall others here present of gentle birth and coat-armor, know that yourdread and sovereign lord, Edward, King of England and of France, bidsme give you greeting and commands you to come hither that he may havespeech with you."
In an instant the tables were deserted and the whole company hadclustered in front of the King's chair. Those who had sat on either sideof him crowded inward so that his tall dark figure upreared itself amidthe dense circle of his guests.
With a flush upon his olive cheeks and with pride smoldering in his darkeyes, he looked round him at the eager faces of the men who had been hiscomrades from Sluys and Cadsand to Crecy and Calais. They caught firefrom that warlike gleam in his masterful gaze, and a sudden wild, fierceshout pealed up to the vaulted ceiling, a soldierly thanks for what waspassed and a promise for what was to come. The King's teeth gleamed in aquick smile, and his large white hand played with the jeweled dagger inhis belt.
"By the splendor of God!" said he in a loud clear voice, "I have littledoubt that you will rejoice with me this night, for such tidings havecome to my ears as may well bring joy to everyone of you. You know wellthat our ships have suffered great scathe from the Spaniards, who formany years have slain without grace or ruth all of my people who havefallen into their cruel hands. Of late they have sent their ships intoFlanders, and thirty great cogs and galleys lie now at Sluys well-filledwith archers and men-at-arms and ready in all ways for battle. I haveit to-day from a sure hand that, having taken their merchandise aboard,these ships will sail upon the next Sunday and will make their waythrough our Narrow Sea. We have for a great time been long-suffering tothese people, for which they have done us many contraries and despites,growing ever more arrogant as we grow more patient. It is in my mindtherefore that we hie us to-morrow to Winchelsea, where we have twentyships, and make ready to sally out upon them as they pass. May God andSaint George defend the right!"
A second shout, far louder and fiercer than the first, came like athunderclap after the King's words. It was the bay of a fierce pack totheir trusted huntsman.
Edward laughed again as he looked round at the gleaming eyes, the wavingarms and the flushed joyful faces of his liegemen. "Who hath foughtagainst these Spaniards?" he asked. "Is there anyone here who can tellus what manner of men they be?"
A dozen hands went up into the air; but the King turned to the Earl ofSuffolk at his elbow.
"You have fought them, Thomas?" said he.
"Yes, sire, I was in the great sea-fight eight years ago at the Islandof Guernsey, when Lord Lewis of Spain held the sea against the Earl ofPembroke."
"How found you them, Thomas?"
"Very excellent people, sire, and no man could ask for better. On everyship they
have a hundred crossbowmen of Genoa, the best in the world,and their spearmen also are very hardy men. They would throw greatcantles of iron from the tops of the masts, and many of our people mettheir death through it. If we can bar their way in the Narrow Sea, thenthere will be much hope of honor for all of us."
"Your words are very welcome, Thomas," said the King, "and I makeno doubt that they will show themselves to be very worthy of what weprepare for them. To you I give a ship, that you may have the handlingof it. You also, my dear son, shall have a ship, that evermore honor maybe thine."
"I thank you, my fair and sweet father," said the Prince, with joyflushing his handsome boyish face.
"The leading ship shall be mine. But you shall have one, Walter Manny,and you, Stafford, and you, Arundel, and you, Audley, and you, SirThomas Holland, and you, Brocas, and you, Berkeley, and you, Reginald.The rest shall be awarded at Winchelsea, whither we sail to-morrow. Nay,John, why do you pluck so at my sleeve?"
Chandos was leaning forward, with an anxious face. "Surely, my honoredlord, I have not served you so long and so faithfully that you shouldforget me now. Is there then no ship for me?"
The King smiled, but shook his head. "Nay, John, have I not given youtwo hundred archers and a hundred men-at-arms to take with you intoBrittany? I trust that your ships will be lying in Saint Malo Bay erethe Spaniards are abreast of Winchelsea. What more would you have, oldwar-dog? Wouldst be in two battles at once?"
"I would be at your side, my liege, when the lion banner is in the windonce more. I have ever been there. Why should you cast me now? I asklittle, dear lord--a galley, a balinger, even a pinnace, so that I mayonly be there."
"Nay, John, you shall come. I cannot find it in my heart to say younay. I will find you place in my own ship, that you may indeed be by myside."
Chandos stooped and kissed the King's hand. "My Squire?" he asked.
The King's brows knotted into a frown. "Nay, let him go to Brittany withthe others," said he harshly. "I wonder, John, that you should bringback to my memory this youth whose pertness is too fresh that I shouldforget it. But some one must go to Brittany in your stead, for thematter presses and our people are hard put to it to hold their own." Hecast his eyes over the assembly, and they rested upon the stern featuresof Sir Robert Knolles.
"Sir Robert," he said, "though you are young in years you are alreadyold in war, and I have heard that you are as prudent in council as youare valiant in the field. To you I commit the charge of this venture toBrittany in place of Sir John Chandos, who will follow thither when ourwork has been done upon the waters. Three ships lie in Calais port andthree hundred men are ready to your hand. Sir John will tell you whatour mind is in the matter. And now, my friends and good comrades, youwill haste you each to his own quarters, and you will make swiftly suchpreparations as are needful, for, as God is my aid, I will sail with youto Winchelsea to-morrow!"
Beckoning to Chandos, Manny and a few of his chosen leaders, the Kingled them away to an inner chamber, where they might discuss the plansfor the future. At the same time the assembly broke up, the knights insilence and dignity, the squires in mirth and noise, but all joyful atheart for the thought of the great days which lay before them.