CHAPTER II
A Monk there was, a fayre for the maistrie, An outrider that loved venerie; A manly man, to be an Abbot able, Full many a daintie horse had he in stable: And whan he rode, men might his bridle hear Gingeling in a whistling wind as clear, And eke as loud, as doth the chapell bell, There as this lord was keeper of the cell. --Chaucer.
Notwithstanding the occasional exhortation and chiding of his companion,the noise of the horsemen's feet continuing to approach, Wamba couldnot be prevented from lingering occasionally on the road, upon everypretence which occurred; now catching from the hazel a cluster ofhalf-ripe nuts, and now turning his head to leer after a cottage maidenwho crossed their path. The horsemen, therefore, soon overtook them onthe road.
Their numbers amounted to ten men, of whom the two who rode foremostseemed to be persons of considerable importance, and the otherstheir attendants. It was not difficult to ascertain the condition andcharacter of one of these personages. He was obviously an ecclesiasticof high rank; his dress was that of a Cistercian Monk, but composed ofmaterials much finer than those which the rule of that order admitted.His mantle and hood were of the best Flanders cloth, and fell in ample,and not ungraceful folds, around a handsome, though somewhat corpulentperson. His countenance bore as little the marks of self-denial, as hishabit indicated contempt of worldly splendour. His features might havebeen called good, had there not lurked under the pent-house of his eye,that sly epicurean twinkle which indicates the cautious voluptuary.In other respects, his profession and situation had taught him a readycommand over his countenance, which he could contract at pleasure intosolemnity, although its natural expression was that of good-humouredsocial indulgence. In defiance of conventual rules, and the edicts ofpopes and councils, the sleeves of this dignitary were lined and turnedup with rich furs, his mantle secured at the throat with a goldenclasp, and the whole dress proper to his order as much refined upon andornamented, as that of a quaker beauty of the present day, who, whileshe retains the garb and costume of her sect continues to give to itssimplicity, by the choice of materials and the mode of disposing them,a certain air of coquettish attraction, savouring but too much of thevanities of the world.
This worthy churchman rode upon a well-fed ambling mule, whose furniturewas highly decorated, and whose bridle, according to the fashion of theday, was ornamented with silver bells. In his seat he had nothing of theawkwardness of the convent, but displayed the easy and habitual grace ofa well-trained horseman. Indeed, it seemed that so humble a conveyanceas a mule, in however good case, and however well broken to a pleasantand accommodating amble, was only used by the gallant monk fortravelling on the road. A lay brother, one of those who followed in thetrain, had, for his use on other occasions, one of the most handsomeSpanish jennets ever bred at Andalusia, which merchants used at thattime to import, with great trouble and risk, for the use of persons ofwealth and distinction. The saddle and housings of this superb palfreywere covered by a long foot-cloth, which reached nearly to the ground,and on which were richly embroidered, mitres, crosses, and otherecclesiastical emblems. Another lay brother led a sumpter mule, loadedprobably with his superior's baggage; and two monks of his own order,of inferior station, rode together in the rear, laughing and conversingwith each other, without taking much notice of the other members of thecavalcade.
The companion of the church dignitary was a man past forty, thin,strong, tall, and muscular; an athletic figure, which long fatigue andconstant exercise seemed to have left none of the softer part of thehuman form, having reduced the whole to brawn, bones, and sinews, whichhad sustained a thousand toils, and were ready to dare a thousand more.His head was covered with a scarlet cap, faced with fur--of that kindwhich the French call mortier, from its resemblance to the shape of aninverted mortar. His countenance was therefore fully displayed, and itsexpression was calculated to impress a degree of awe, if not offear, upon strangers. High features, naturally strong and powerfullyexpressive, had been burnt almost into Negro blackness by constantexposure to the tropical sun, and might, in their ordinary state, besaid to slumber after the storm of passion had passed away; but theprojection of the veins of the forehead, the readiness with which theupper lip and its thick black moustaches quivered upon the slightestemotion, plainly intimated that the tempest might be again and easilyawakened. His keen, piercing, dark eyes, told in every glance a historyof difficulties subdued, and dangers dared, and seemed to challengeopposition to his wishes, for the pleasure of sweeping it from his roadby a determined exertion of courage and of will; a deep scar on his browgave additional sternness to his countenance, and a sinister expressionto one of his eyes, which had been slightly injured on the sameoccasion, and of which the vision, though perfect, was in a slight andpartial degree distorted.
The upper dress of this personage resembled that of his companion inshape, being a long monastic mantle; but the colour, being scarlet,showed that he did not belong to any of the four regular orders ofmonks. On the right shoulder of the mantle there was cut, in whitecloth, a cross of a peculiar form. This upper robe concealed what atfirst view seemed rather inconsistent with its form, a shirt, namely, oflinked mail, with sleeves and gloves of the same, curiously plaited andinterwoven, as flexible to the body as those which are now wrought inthe stocking-loom, out of less obdurate materials. The fore-part of histhighs, where the folds of his mantle permitted them to be seen, werealso covered with linked mail; the knees and feet were defended bysplints, or thin plates of steel, ingeniously jointed upon eachother; and mail hose, reaching from the ankle to the knee, effectuallyprotected the legs, and completed the rider's defensive armour. Inhis girdle he wore a long and double-edged dagger, which was the onlyoffensive weapon about his person.
He rode, not a mule, like his companion, but a strong hackney for theroad, to save his gallant war-horse, which a squire led behind, fullyaccoutred for battle, with a chamfron or plaited head-piece upon hishead, having a short spike projecting from the front. On one side of thesaddle hung a short battle-axe, richly inlaid with Damascene carving;on the other the rider's plumed head-piece and hood of mail, with a longtwo-handed sword, used by the chivalry of the period. A second squireheld aloft his master's lance, from the extremity of which fluttered asmall banderole, or streamer, bearing a cross of the same form with thatembroidered upon his cloak. He also carried his small triangularshield, broad enough at the top to protect the breast, and from thencediminishing to a point. It was covered with a scarlet cloth, whichprevented the device from being seen.
These two squires were followed by two attendants, whose dark visages,white turbans, and the Oriental form of their garments, showed them tobe natives of some distant Eastern country. [9]
The whole appearance of this warrior and his retinue was wild andoutlandish; the dress of his squires was gorgeous, and his Easternattendants wore silver collars round their throats, and bracelets of thesame metal upon their swarthy arms and legs, of which the former werenaked from the elbow, and the latter from mid-leg to ankle. Silk andembroidery distinguished their dresses, and marked the wealth andimportance of their master; forming, at the same time, a strikingcontrast with the martial simplicity of his own attire. They were armedwith crooked sabres, having the hilt and baldric inlaid with gold, andmatched with Turkish daggers of yet more costly workmanship. Each ofthem bore at his saddle-bow a bundle of darts or javelins, about fourfeet in length, having sharp steel heads, a weapon much in use amongthe Saracens, and of which the memory is yet preserved in the martialexercise called El Jerrid, still practised in the Eastern countries.
The steeds of these attendants were in appearance as foreign as theirriders. They were of Saracen origin, and consequently of Arabiandescent; and their fine slender limbs, small fetlocks, thin manes, andeasy springy motion, formed a marked contrast with the large-jointed,heavy horses, of which the race was cultivated in Flanders and inNormandy, for mounting the men-at-arms of the period in all the panoplyof plate and mail; and which, placed by the side of those Easterncoursers, might have passed for a personification of substance and ofshadow.
The singular appearance of this cavalcade not only attracted thecuriosity of Wamba, but excited even that of his less volatilecompanion. The monk he instantly knew to be the Prior of JorvaulxAbbey, well known for many miles around as a lover of the chase, ofthe banquet, and, if fame did him not wrong, of other worldly pleasuresstill more inconsistent with his monastic vows.
Yet so loose were the ideas of the times respecting the conduct of theclergy, whether secular or regular, that the Prior Aymer maintained afair character in the neighbourhood of his abbey. His free and jovialtemper, and the readiness with which he granted absolution from allordinary delinquencies, rendered him a favourite among the nobility andprincipal gentry, to several of whom he was allied by birth, being ofa distinguished Norman family. The ladies, in particular, were notdisposed to scan too nicely the morals of a man who was a professedadmirer of their sex, and who possessed many means of dispelling theennui which was too apt to intrude upon the halls and bowers of anancient feudal castle. The Prior mingled in the sports of the field withmore than due eagerness, and was allowed to possess the best-trainedhawks, and the fleetest greyhounds in the North Riding; circumstanceswhich strongly recommended him to the youthful gentry. With the old,he had another part to play, which, when needful, he could sustainwith great decorum. His knowledge of books, however superficial, wassufficient to impress upon their ignorance respect for his supposedlearning; and the gravity of his deportment and language, with the hightone which he exerted in setting forth the authority of the churchand of the priesthood, impressed them no less with an opinion of hissanctity. Even the common people, the severest critics of the conduct oftheir betters, had commiseration with the follies of Prior Aymer. Hewas generous; and charity, as it is well known, covereth a multitudeof sins, in another sense than that in which it is said to do so inScripture. The revenues of the monastery, of which a large part was athis disposal, while they gave him the means of supplying his own veryconsiderable expenses, afforded also those largesses which he bestowedamong the peasantry, and with which he frequently relieved thedistresses of the oppressed. If Prior Aymer rode hard in the chase, orremained long at the banquet,--if Prior Aymer was seen, at the earlypeep of dawn, to enter the postern of the abbey, as he glided homefrom some rendezvous which had occupied the hours of darkness, menonly shrugged up their shoulders, and reconciled themselves to hisirregularities, by recollecting that the same were practised by manyof his brethren who had no redeeming qualities whatsoever to atone forthem. Prior Aymer, therefore, and his character, were well known toour Saxon serfs, who made their rude obeisance, and received hisbenedicite, mes filz, in return.
But the singular appearance of his companion and his attendants,arrested their attention and excited their wonder, and they couldscarcely attend to the Prior of Jorvaulx' question, when he demanded ifthey knew of any place of harbourage in the vicinity; so much were theysurprised at the half monastic, half military appearance of the swarthystranger, and at the uncouth dress and arms of his Eastern attendants.It is probable, too, that the language in which the benediction wasconferred, and the information asked, sounded ungracious, though notprobably unintelligible, in the ears of the Saxon peasants.
I asked you, my children, said the Prior, raising his voice, and usingthe lingua Franca, or mixed language, in which the Norman and Saxonraces conversed with each other, if there be in this neighbourhood anygood man, who, for the love of God, and devotion to Mother Church,will give two of her humblest servants, with their train, a night'shospitality and refreshment?
This he spoke with a tone of conscious importance, which formed a strongcontrast to the modest terms which he thought it proper to employ.
Two of the humblest servants of Mother Church! repeated Wamba tohimself,--but, fool as he was, taking care not to make his observationaudible; I should like to see her seneschals, her chief butlers, andother principal domestics!
After this internal commentary on the Prior's speech, he raised hiseyes, and replied to the question which had been put.
If the reverend fathers, he said, loved good cheer and soft lodging,few miles of riding would carry them to the Priory of Brinxworth, wheretheir quality could not but secure them the most honourable reception;or if they preferred spending a penitential evening, they might turndown yonder wild glade, which would bring them to the hermitage ofCopmanhurst, where a pious anchoret would make them sharers for thenight of the shelter of his roof and the benefit of his prayers.
The Prior shook his head at both proposals.
Mine honest friend, said he, if the jangling of thy bells had notdizzied thine understanding, thou mightst know Clericus clericum nondecimat; that is to say, we churchmen do not exhaust each other'shospitality, but rather require that of the laity, giving them thusan opportunity to serve God in honouring and relieving his appointedservants.
It is true, replied Wamba, that I, being but an ass, am,nevertheless, honoured to hear the bells as well as your reverence'smule; notwithstanding, I did conceive that the charity of Mother Churchand her servants might be said, with other charity, to begin at home.
A truce to thine insolence, fellow, said the armed rider, breaking inon his prattle with a high and stern voice, and tell us, if thou canst,the road to--How call'd you your Franklin, Prior Aymer?
Cedric, answered the Prior; Cedric the Saxon.--Tell me, good fellow,are we near his dwelling, and can you show us the road?
The road will be uneasy to find, answered Gurth, who broke silence forthe first time, and the family of Cedric retire early to rest.
Tush, tell not me, fellow, said the military rider; 'tis easy forthem to arise and supply the wants of travellers such as we are, whowill not stoop to beg the hospitality which we have a right to command.
I know not, said Gurth, sullenly, if I should show the way to mymaster's house, to those who demand as a right, the shelter which mostare fain to ask as a favour.
Do you dispute with me, slave! said the soldier; and, setting spursto his horse, he caused him make a demivolte across the path, raising atthe same time the riding rod which he held in his hand, with a purposeof chastising what he considered as the insolence of the peasant.
Gurth darted at him a savage and revengeful scowl, and with a fierce,yet hesitating motion, laid his hand on the haft of his knife; but theinterference of Prior Aymer, who pushed his mule betwixt his companionand the swineherd, prevented the meditated violence.
Nay, by St Mary, brother Brian, you must not think you are now inPalestine, predominating over heathen Turks and infidel Saracens; weislanders love not blows, save those of holy Church, who chasteneth whomshe loveth.--Tell me, good fellow, said he to Wamba, and seconded hisspeech by a small piece of silver coin, the way to Cedric the Saxon's;you cannot be ignorant of it, and it is your duty to direct the wanderereven when his character is less sanctified than ours.
In truth, venerable father, answered the Jester, the Saracen head ofyour right reverend companion has frightened out of mine the way home--Iam not sure I shall get there to-night myself.
Tush, said the Abbot, thou canst tell us if thou wilt. This reverendbrother has been all his life engaged in fighting among the Saracensfor the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre; he is of the order of KnightsTemplars, whom you may have heard of; he is half a monk, half asoldier.
If he is but half a monk, said the Jester, he should not be whollyunreasonable with those whom he meets upon the road, even if they shouldbe in no hurry to answer questions that no way concern them.
I forgive thy wit, replied the Abbot, on condition thou wilt show methe way to Cedric's mansion.
Well, then, answered Wamba, your reverences must hold on this pathtill you come to a sunken cross, of which scarce a cubit's lengthremains above ground; then take the path to the left, for there arefour which meet at Sunken Cross, and I trust your reverences will obtainshelter before the storm comes on.
The Abbot thanked his sage adviser; and the cavalcade, setting spurs totheir horses, rode on as men do who wish to reach their inn before thebursting of a night-storm. As their horses' hoofs died away, Gurthsaid to his companion, If they follow thy wise direction, the reverendfathers will hardly reach Rotherwood this night.
No, said the Jester, grinning, but they may reach Sheffield if theyhave good luck, and that is as fit a place for them. I am not so bad awoodsman as to show the dog where the deer lies, if I have no mind heshould chase him.
Thou art right, said Gurth; it were ill that Aymer saw the LadyRowena; and it were worse, it may be, for Cedric to quarrel, as is mostlikely he would, with this military monk. But, like good servants let ushear and see, and say nothing.
We return to the riders, who had soon left the bondsmen far behindthem, and who maintained the following conversation in the Norman-Frenchlanguage, usually employed by the superior classes, with the exceptionof the few who were still inclined to boast their Saxon descent.
What mean these fellows by their capricious insolence? said theTemplar to the Benedictine, and why did you prevent me from chastisingit?
Marry, brother Brian, replied the Prior, touching the one of them, itwere hard for me to render a reason for a fool speaking according to hisfolly; and the other churl is of that savage, fierce, intractable race,some of whom, as I have often told you, are still to be found among thedescendants of the conquered Saxons, and whose supreme pleasure it isto testify, by all means in their power, their aversion to theirconquerors.
I would soon have beat him into courtesy, observed Brian; I amaccustomed to deal with such spirits: Our Turkish captives are as fierceand intractable as Odin himself could have been; yet two months in myhousehold, under the management of my master of the slaves, has madethem humble, submissive, serviceable, and observant of your will. Marry,sir, you must be aware of the poison and the dagger; for they use eitherwith free will when you give them the slightest opportunity.
Ay, but, answered Prior Aymer, every land has its own manners andfashions; and, besides that beating this fellow could procure us noinformation respecting the road to Cedric's house, it would have beensure to have established a quarrel betwixt you and him had we found ourway thither. Remember what I told you: this wealthy franklin is proud,fierce, jealous, and irritable, a withstander of the nobility, and evenof his neighbors, Reginald Front-de-Boeuf and Philip Malvoisin, who areno babies to strive with. He stands up sternly for the privileges ofhis race, and is so proud of his uninterrupted descend from Hereward, arenowned champion of the Heptarchy, that he is universally called Cedricthe Saxon; and makes a boast of his belonging to a people from whommany others endeaver to hide their descent, lest they should encounter ashare of the 'vae victis,' or severities imposed upon the vanquished.
Prior Aymer, said the Templar, you are a man of gallantry, learnedin the study of beauty, and as expert as a troubadour in all mattersconcerning the 'arrets' of love; but I shall expect much beauty in thiscelebrated Rowena to counterbalance the self-denial and forbearancewhich I must exert if I am to court the favor of such a seditious churlas you have described her father Cedric.
Cedric is not her father, replied the Prior, and is but of remoterelation: she is descended from higher blood than even he pretends to,and is but distantly connected with him by birth. Her guardian, however,he is, self-constituted as I believe; but his ward is as dear to him asif she were his own child. Of her beauty you shall soon be judge; and ifthe purity of her complexion, and the majestic, yet soft expression of amild blue eye, do not chase from your memory the black-tressed girls ofPalestine, ay, or the houris of old Mahound's paradise, I am an infidel,and no true son of the church.
Should your boasted beauty, said the Templar, be weighed in thebalance and found wanting, you know our wager?
My gold collar, answered the Prior, against ten butts of Chianwine;--they are mine as securely as if they were already in the conventvaults, under the key of old Dennis the cellarer.
And I am myself to be judge, said the Templar, and am only to beconvicted on my own admission, that I have seen no maiden so beautifulsince Pentecost was a twelvemonth. Ran it not so?--Prior, your collaris in danger; I will wear it over my gorget in the lists ofAshby-de-la-Zouche.
Win it fairly, said the Prior, and wear it as ye will; I will trustyour giving true response, on your word as a knight and as a churchman.Yet, brother, take my advice, and file your tongue to a little morecourtesy than your habits of predominating over infidel captivesand Eastern bondsmen have accustomed you. Cedric the Saxon, ifoffended,--and he is noway slack in taking offence,--is a man who,without respect to your knighthood, my high office, or the sanctityof either, would clear his house of us, and send us to lodge with thelarks, though the hour were midnight. And be careful how you look onRowena, whom he cherishes with the most jealous care; an he take theleast alarm in that quarter we are but lost men. It is said he banishedhis only son from his family for lifting his eyes in the way ofaffection towards this beauty, who may be worshipped, it seems, at adistance, but is not to be approached with other thoughts than such aswe bring to the shrine of the Blessed Virgin.
Well, you have said enough, answered the Templar; I will for a nightput on the needful restraint, and deport me as meekly as a maiden; butas for the fear of his expelling us by violence, myself and squires,with Hamet and Abdalla, will warrant you against that disgrace. Doubtnot that we shall be strong enough to make good our quarters.
We must not let it come so far, answered the Prior; but here is theclown's sunken cross, and the night is so dark that we can hardly seewhich of the roads we are to follow. He bid us turn, I think to theleft.
To the right, said Brian, to the best of my remembrance.
To the left, certainly, the left; I remember his pointing with hiswooden sword.
Ay, but he held his sword in his left hand, and so pointed across hisbody with it, said the Templar.
Each maintained his opinion with sufficient obstinacy, as is usual inall such cases; the attendants were appealed to, but they had not beennear enough to hear Wamba's directions. At length Brian remarked, whathad at first escaped him in the twilight; Here is some one eitherasleep, or lying dead at the foot of this cross--Hugo, stir him with thebutt-end of thy lance.
This was no sooner done than the figure arose, exclaiming in goodFrench, Whosoever thou art, it is discourteous in you to disturb mythoughts.
We did but wish to ask you, said the Prior, the road to Rotherwood,the abode of Cedric the Saxon.
I myself am bound thither, replied the stranger; and if I had ahorse, I would be your guide, for the way is somewhat intricate, thoughperfectly well known to me.
Thou shalt have both thanks and reward, my friend, said the Prior, ifthou wilt bring us to Cedric's in safety.
And he caused one of his attendants to mount his own led horse, and givethat upon which he had hitherto ridden to the stranger, who was to servefor a guide.
Their conductor pursued an opposite road from that which Wamba hadrecommended, for the purpose of misleading them. The path soon leddeeper into the woodland, and crossed more than one brook, the approachto which was rendered perilous by the marshes through which it flowed;but the stranger seemed to know, as if by instinct, the soundest groundand the safest points of passage; and by dint of caution and attention,brought the party safely into a wilder avenue than any they had yetseen; and, pointing to a large low irregular building at the upperextremity, he said to the Prior, Yonder is Rotherwood, the dwelling ofCedric the Saxon.
This was a joyful intimation to Aymer, whose nerves were none of thestrongest, and who had suffered such agitation and alarm in the courseof passing through the dangerous bogs, that he had not yet had thecuriosity to ask his guide a single question. Finding himself now at hisease and near shelter, his curiosity began to awake, and he demanded ofthe guide who and what he was.
A Palmer, just returned from the Holy Land, was the answer.
You had better have tarried there to fight for the recovery of the HolySepulchre, said the Templar.
True, Reverend Sir Knight, answered the Palmer, to whom the appearanceof the Templar seemed perfectly familiar; but when those who are underoath to recover the holy city, are found travelling at such a distancefrom the scene of their duties, can you wonder that a peaceful peasantlike me should decline the task which they have abandoned?
The Templar would have made an angry reply, but was interrupted by thePrior, who again expressed his astonishment, that their guide, aftersuch long absence, should be so perfectly acquainted with the passes ofthe forest.
I was born a native of these parts, answered their guide, and as hemade the reply they stood before the mansion of Cedric;--a low irregularbuilding, containing several court-yards or enclosures, extending overa considerable space of ground, and which, though its size argued theinhabitant to be a person of wealth, differed entirely from the tall,turretted, and castellated buildings in which the Norman nobilityresided, and which had become the universal style of architecturethroughout England.
Rotherwood was not, however, without defences; no habitation, inthat disturbed period, could have been so, without the risk of beingplundered and burnt before the next morning. A deep fosse, or ditch,was drawn round the whole building, and filled with water from aneighbouring stream. A double stockade, or palisade, composed of pointedbeams, which the adjacent forest supplied, defended the outer and innerbank of the trench. There was an entrance from the west through theouter stockade, which communicated by a drawbridge, with a similaropening in the interior defences. Some precautions had been taken toplace those entrances under the protection of projecting angles, bywhich they might be flanked in case of need by archers or slingers.
Before this entrance the Templar wound his horn loudly; for the rain,which had long threatened, began now to descend with great violence.