In the Days of Chivalry. A tale of the times of the Black Prince

Front matter

THE CAPTIVE FREED. Page 496. THELSQNSsSONS L.ON DON toe IS BUR.C H AsSDMEW YOP K^- ' Iu the Days of Chivalry A Tale of the Times of the Black Prince By E. EVERETT-GREEN — — •"■ Author of" The Church and the K&tg," " Loyal Hearts and True' " Tlie Lord of Dynevor" T. N E L S 0 N A N D SO N S London, Edinburgh^ and New York r8a3 CSsontcnts. I. THE TWIN EAGLETS, ... ... ... ... ... 6 II FATHER ANSELM, ... ... ... ... ... 20 III. THE UNKNOWN AVORLD, ... ... ... ... 44 IV. THE MASTER OF THE HORSE, ... ... ... ... 61 V. THE KING AND THE PRINCE, ... ... ... ... 79 VI. THE PRINCE'S EXPLOIT, ... ... ... ... 95 VII. THE RECTOR'S HOUSE, ... ... ... ... Ill VIII. THE VISIT TO THE WOODMAN, ... ... ... 127 IX. JOAN VAVASOUR, ... ... ... ... ... 144 X. BASILDENE, ... ... ... ... ... ... 1G2 XI. A QUIET RETREAT, ... ... ... ... ... 179 XII.

ON THE AVAR-PATH, ... ... ... ... ... 19S XIII. WINNING HIS SPURS, ... ... ... ... ... 215 XIV. AVINTER DAYS, ... ... 230 XV. THE DOUBLE SURRENDER, ... ... ... ... 247 XVI IN THE OLD HOME, ... ... ... ... ... 260 XVII. THE BLACK DEATH, ... ... ... ... ... 281 XVIII WITH FATHER PAUL, ... ... ... ... ... 298 XIX THE STRICKEN SORCERER, ... ... ... ... CONTENTS. XX. MINISTERING SPIRITS, ... ... ... ... 332 XXI. THE OLD, OLD STORA', ... ... ... ... 349 XXII. THE BLACK VISOR,- ... ... ... ... ... 365 XXIII. IN THE HANDS OF HIS FOE, ... ... ... 381 XXIV. GASTON'S QUEST, ... ... ... ... ... 398 X.XT. THE FAIRY OF THE FOREST, ... ... ... 415 XXVI. THE RESCUE OF RAYMOND, ... ... ... ... 435 XXVII. PETER SANGHURST'S WOOING, ... ... ... 452 XXVIII. GASTON'S SEARCH, ... ... ... ... ... 471 XXIX. THE FALL OF THE SANGHURST. ... ... ... 487 XXX.

WITH THE PRINCE, ... ... ... ... ... 506 XXXI. THE SURRENDER OF SAUT, ... ... ... ... 525 XXXII. ON THE FIELD OF POITIERS, ... ... ... 544 XXXIII. "AT. LAST!" ... ... ... ... ... ... IN THE DAYS OF CHIVALRY.

Chapter I. The Twin Eaglets

AUTUAIN was upon the world — the warm and gorgeous autumn of the south — autumn that turned the leaves upon the trees to every hue of russet, scarlet, and gold, that transformed the dark solemn aisles of the track less forests of Gascony into what might well haA*e been palaces of fairy beauty, and covered the ground Avith a thick and soundless carpet of almost every hue of the rainbow. The sun still retained much of its heat and power, and came slanting in betAveen the huge trunks of the forest trees in broad shafts of quivering light. Overhead the soft wind from the Avest made a ceaseless, dreamy music ; and here and there the solemn silence of the forest Avas broken by the sweet note of some singing bird or the harsh croak of the raven. At night the savage cry of the wolf too often disturbed the rest of the scattered dwellers in that A*ast forest, and made a belated traveller look Avell to the sharpness of his Aveapons and the temper of his bow string ; but by day and in the sunlight the forest Avas beautiful and quiet enough — something too quiet, perhaps, for the taste of the tAvo handsome lads who were pacing the dim aisles together, their arms entwined and their curly heads in close proximity as they Avalked and talked.

The two lads Avere of exactly the same height, and bore a strong likeness one to the other. Their features were almost identical, but the colouring was different, so that no one who saw themin a good light would be likely to mistake or confuse them. Both had the OA'al face and delicate regular features Avhich Ave English sometimes call " foreign-looking ; " but then again they both possessed the broad shoulders, the noble height, the erect carriage, and frank, fearless bearingwhich has in it something distinct ively English, and Avhich had distinguished these lads from their infancy from the children of the country of their adoption. Then, though Raymond had the dark, liquid eyes of the south, Gaston's were as blue as the summer skies ; and again, Avhilst Gaston's cheek Avas of a SAA*arthy hue, Raymond's Avas as fair as that of an English maiden ; and both had some golden gleams in their curly broAvn hair — hair that clustered round their heads in a thick, waving mass, and gave a leonine look to the bold, eager faces.

" The lion cubs " had been one of the many nick names given to the brothers by the people round, Avho loved them, yet felt that they Avould not always keep them in their quiet forest. " The twin eaglets " was another such name ; and truly there was something of the keen Avildness of the eagle's eye in the flashing blue eyes of Gaston. The eager, delicate features and the slightly aquiline noses of the pair added, perhaps, to this resem blance ; and there had been many whispers of late to the effect that the eaglets would not remain long in the nest noAA*, but Avould spread their wings for a wider flight. Born and bred though they had been at the mill in the great forest that covered almost the whole of the district of Sauveterre, they were no true children of the mill. AVhat had scions of the great house of the De Brocas to do Avith a humble miller of Gascony ?

The boys were true sons of their house — grafts of the parent stock. The Gascon peasants looked at them with pride, and murmured that the clay would come when they aa-ou1c1 sIioav the world the mettle of which they Avere made. Those were stirring times for Gascony- — when Gascony was a fief of the English Crown, sorely co\*eted by the French monarch, but tenaciously held on to by the " Roy Outremer," as the great Edward was called ; the King AAdio, as Avas rumoured, Avas claiming as his OAvn the Avhole realm of France. And Gascony, it must be remembered, did not in those days hold herself to be a part of France — not a part of the French monarchy. She held a much more important place than she would have done had she been a mere fief of the French CroAvn. She had a certain independence of her OAvn — her own language, her oavii laAvs, her OAvn customs ; and she saw no humiliation in OAvning the soA'ereignty of England's King, since she had passed under English rule through no act of conquest or aggression on England's part, but by the peaceful fashion of marriage, when nearly two centuries ago Eleanor of Aquitaine had brought to her lord, King Henry the Second, the fair lands of which Gascony formed a part.

Gascony had grown and flourished apace since then, and AA'as rich, prosperous, and content. Her lords knew Iioav important she might be in days to come, when the inevitable struggle betAveen the rival Kings of France and England should commence ; and like an accom plished coquette, she made the most of her knowledge, and played her part AveU, Avatching her opportunity for demand ing an increase of those rights and privileges of Avhich she had not a feAV already. But it was not of their country's position that the twin brothers were so eagerly talking as they wandered together along the Avoodland paths. It was little indeed that they knew of what was passing in the wide world that lay beyond their peaceful home, little that they heard of the strife of party or the .suspicious jealousy of tAvo powerful monarchs — jealousy which must, as all long-sighted men well knew, break into open warfare before long.

It Avas of matters nearer to their OAvn hearts that the brothers spoke as they sauntered through the Avoodland paths together ; and Gaston's blue ej*es flashed fire as he paused and tossed back the tangled curls from his broad broAV. " It is our birthright — our land — our castle. Do they not all say that in old days it Avas a De Brocas, not a Navailles, that ruled there ? Father Anselm hath told us a thousand times Iioav the English Kinoissued mandate after mandate bidding him give up his ill-gotten gains, and restore the lands of his rival ; and yet he failed to do it. I troAV had I been in the place of our grandsire, I Avould not so tamely haA*e sat doAvn beneath so great an affront ! I Avould have fought to the last drop of my blood to enforce my rights, and win back my lost inheritance !

Brother, Avhy should not thou and I do that one day ? Canst thou be content for ever Avith this tame life with honest Jean and Alargot at the mill ? Are Ave the sons of peasants ? Does their blood run in our veins ? Raymond, thou art as old as I — thou hast lived as long. Canst thou remember our dead mother ? Canst thou remember her last charge to us ? " Raymond had nodded his head at the first question : he nodded it again noAA*, a glance of strange eagerness stealing into his dark eyes. Although the two youths wore the dress of peasant boys, — suits of undyed homespun only \'ery slightly finer in make than was common in those parts, — they spoke the English tongue, and spoke it Avith purity and ease. It needed no trained eye to see that it AA*as something more than peasant blood that ran in their veins, albeit the peasant race of Gascony in those days was perhaps the freest, the finest, the most independent in the Avhole civilized world.

" I remember well," answered Raymond quickly • " nay, what then ? " " AVhat then ? Spoke she not of a lost heritage which it behoved us to recover ? Spoke she not of rights which the sons of the De Brocas had power to claim — rights Avhich the great Roy Outremer had given to them, and which it was for them to Avin back when the time should come ? Dost thou remember ? dost thou heed ? And noAv that Ave are approaching to man's estate, shall Ave not think of these things ? Shall Ave not be ready Avhen the time comes ? " Raymond gaA'e a quick look at his brother. His OAvn eyes Avere full of eager light, but he hesitated a moment before asking, — " And thinkest thou, Gaston, that in speaking thus our mother Avould fain have had us strive to recover the castle and domain of Saut ? " " In good sooth yea," answered Gaston quickly.

" Was it not reft from our grandsire by force ? Has it not been kept from him ever since by that hostile brood of Navailles, whom all men hate for their cruelty and oppression ? Brother, have Ave not heard of dark and hideous deeds done in that same castle — deeds that shame the very man hood of those that commit them, and make all honest folk curse them in their hearts ? Raymond, thou and I have longed this many a day to sally forth to fight for the Holy Sepulchre against the Saracens ; yet have we not a crusade here at home that calls us yet more nearly ? Hast thou not thought of it too by day, and dreamed of it by night ? To plant the De Brocas ensign above the walls of Saut — that Avould indeed be a thing to live for ! Methinks I see the banner already Avaving over the proud battlements."

Gaston's eyes flashed and gloAved, and Raymond's caught an answering gleam ; but still he hesitated aAvhile, and then said. — " I fain would think that some day such a thing might be ; but, Brother, he is a powerful and wily noble, and they say that he is high in faA*our Avith the Roy Outremer. AVhat chance have two striplings like ourselves against so strong a foe ? To take a castle, men must be found, and money likewise, and Ave have neither ; and all men stand in deadly terror of the wrath of the Sieur de Navailles. Do they not keep eA*en our name a secret from him, lest he should swoop clown upon the mill Avith his armed retainers and carry us off thence — so hates he the whole family that bears the name of De Brocas ? AVhat could Ave do against poAver such as his ? I trow nothing. AVe should be but as pigmies before a giant."

Gaston's face had darkened. He could not gainsay his brother's reluctant words, but he chafed beneath them as a restive horse beneath the curb rein tightly drawn. " Yet our mother bid us watch and be ready. She spoke often of our lost inheritance, and she kneAv all the peril, the clanger." Raymond's eyes sought his brother's face. He looked like one striving to recall a dim and almost lost memory. " But thinkest thou, Gaston, that in thus speaking our mother was thinking of the strong fortress of Saut ? I can scarce believe that she would call that our birthright. For we are not of the eldest branch of our house. There must be many whose title Avould prove far better than our OAvn. AVe might perchance Avin it back to the house of De Brocas by act of conquest ; but even so, I misdoubt me if we should hold it in peace.

We have proud kinsfolk in England, they tell us, Avhose claim, doubtless, would rank before ours. They care not to cross the Avater to win back the lands themselves, yet I troAV they would put their claim before the King did tidings reach them that their strong and wily foe had been ousted therefrom. AVe win not back lands for others to hold, nor Avould Ave willingly Avar against our oavii kindred. Alethinks, my Brother, that our mother had other thoughts in her mind Avhen she spoke of our rightful inheritance — " " Other thoughts ! nay, noAv, what other thoughts ? " asked Gaston, Avith quick impatience. " I have neA*er dreamed but of Saut. I have called it in my thoughts our birthright ever since we could walk far enoAv to look upon its froAvning battlements perched upon yon wooded crag."

And Gaston stretched out his hand in the direction in Avhich the Castle of Saut lay, not many leagues distant. " We haA*e heard naught saA*e of Saut ever since Ave could run alone. AVhat but that could our mother's Avords have boded ? Sure she looked to us to recover yon fortress as our father once meant to do ? " " I knoAv not altogether, and yet I can scarce believe it Avas so. Would that our father had left some commands Ave might have folloAved. But, Brother, canst thou not recall that other name she spoke so many a time and oft as she lay a -dying ? Sure it Avas some such name as Basildon or Basildene — the name of some fair spot, I troAV, where she must once have lived. Gaston, canst thou remember the day when she called us to her, and joined our hands together, and spoke of us as ' the twin brothers of Basildene ' ?

I have scarce thought of it from that hour to this, but it comes back noAv clearly to my mind. In sooth, it might Avell have been of Basildene she AA'as think ing when she gave us that last charge. What could she have known or cared for Saut and its domain ? She had fled hither from England, I knoAv not Avhy. She kneAv but little of the Avays and the thoughts of those amongst AA*hom she had come to dwell. It might Avell have been of her OAvn land that she was thinking so oft. I verily belieA*e that Basildene is our lost inheritance." " Basildene ! " said Gaston quickly, with a start as of recollection suddenly stirred to life ; " sure I remember the name right well now that thy words bring it back to mind. Yet it is years since I haA*e heard it spoke. Raymond, knoAvest thou where is this Basildene ?

" " In England, I well believe," was the answer of the other brother. " Methinks it was the name of our mother's home. I seem to remember how she told us of it — the old bouse over the sea, where she had lived. Perchance it was once her own in very sooth, and some turbulent baron or jealous kinsman drove her forth from it, even as we of the house of De Brocas have been ousted from the Castle of Saut. Brother, if that be so, Basildene is more our inheritance than yon gloomy fortress can be. We are our mother's only children, and when she joined our hands together she called us the twins of Basildene. I trow that we have an inheritance of our very own, Gaston, away over the blue water yonder." Gaston's eyes flashed with sudden ardour and purpose, (359) Often of late had the twins talked together of the future that lay before them, of the doughty deeds they would accomplish ; yet so far nothing of definite purpose had entered into their minds.

Gaston's dreams had been all of the ancient fortress of Saut, noAv for long years passed into the hands of the hostile family, the terrible and redoubtable Sieur de Navailles, who Avas feared throughout the length and breadth of the country round about his house. Raymond had been dimly conscious of other thoughts and purposes, but memory Avas only gradually recalling to his mind the half-forgotten days of childhood, when the tAvin eaglets had stood at their mother's knee to talk with her in her own tongue of the land across the water where was her home — the land to Avhich their father had lately passed, upon some mission the children were too young to under stand. Now the faint dim memories had returned clear and strong. The long silence was broken. Eagerly the boys strove to recall the past, and bit by bit things pieced themselves together in their minds till they could not but marvel how they had so long forgotten.

Yet it is often so in youth. Days pass by one after the other unnoticed and unmarked. Then all in a moment some new train of thought or purpose is awakened, a new element enters life, making it from that day something different ; and by a single bound the child becomes a youth — the youth a man. Some such change as this was passing over the twin brothers at this time. A deep-seated dissatisfaction with their present surroundings had long been growing up in their hearts. They were happy in a fashion in the humble home at the mill, with good Jean the miller, and Margot his wife Avho had been their nurse and a second mother to them all their lives ; but they kneAv that a great gulf divided them from the Gascon peasants amongst whom they lived — a gulf recognized by all those Avith whom they came in contact, and in nowise bridged by the fact that the brothers shared in a measure the simple peasant life, and had known no other.

Their \*ery name of De Brocas spoke of the race of nobles Avho had long held almost sovereign rights over a large tract of country watered by the Adour and its many tributary streams ; and although at this time, the year of grace 1343, the name of De Brocas was no more heard, but that of the proud Sieur de Navailles avIio noAv reigned there instead, the old name was loved and revered amongst the people, and the boys were bred up in all the traditions of their race, till the eagle nature at last asserted itself, and they felt that life could no longer go on in its old accustomed groove. Had they not been taught from in fancy that a great future lay before them ? and what could that future be but the winning back of their old ancestral lands and rights ? Perhaps they would have spoken more of this deeply seated hope had it not been so very chimerical — so appa rently impossible of present fulfilment.

To wrest from the proud and haughty Sieur de Navailles the vast terri tory and strong castle that had been held by him in open defiance of many mandates from a powerful King, was a task that even the sanguine and ambitious boys knew to be a hundred times too hard for them. If they had dreamed of it in their hearts, they had scarce named the hope even to each other. But to-day the brooding silence had been broken. The twins had taken counsel one Avith the other ; and iioav burning thoughts of this other fair inheritance were in the minds of both. What golden pos sibilities did not open out before them ! How small a matter it seemed to cross the ocean and claim as their own that unknown Basildene ! Both were certain that their mother had held it in her own right. Sure, if there were right or justice in the kingdom of the Roy Outremer, they would but have to show who and what they were, to become in very fact what their mother had loved to call them — the tAvin brothers of Basildene.

How their young hearts SAvelled with delighted expectation at the thought of leaving behind the narrow life of the mill, and going forth into the wide world to seek fame and fortune there ! And England was no such foreign land to them, albeit they had never been above ten leagues from the mill Avhere they had been born and brought up. AVas not their mother an Englishwoman ? Had she not taught them the language of her country, and begged them never to forget it ? And could they not speak it noAv as avoII as they spoke the language of Gascony — better than they spoke the French of the great realm to which Gas cony in a fashion belonged? The thought of travel ahvays brings with it a certain exhilaration, especially to the young and ardent, and thoughts of such a journey on such a quest could not but be tinged with all the rainbow hues of hope.

" We Avill go ; we Avill go right soon ! " cried Gaston. " Would that we could go to-morrow ! Why have we lin gered here so long, when we might have been up and doing years ago ? " " Nay, Brother, Ave were but children years ago. AVe are not yet sixteen. Yet methinks our manhood conies the faster to us for that noble blood runs in our veins. But we Avill speak to Father Anselm. He has always been our kindest friend. He Avill best counsel us whether to go forth, or whether to tarry yet longer at home — " " I will tarry no longer ; I pant to burst my bonds," cried the impetuous Gaston ; and Raymond Avas in no Avhit less eager, albeit he had something more of his mother's prudence and self-restraint. " Methinks the holy Father will bid us go forth," he said thoughtfully. " He has oft spoken to us of England and the Roy Outremer, and has ever bidden us speak our mother's tongue, and not forget it here in these parts Avhere no man else speaks it.

I trow he has foreseen the clay when we should go thither to claim our birthright. Our mother told him many things that Ave were too young to hear. Perchance he could tell us more of Basildene than she ever did, if we go to him and question him thereupon." Gaston nodded his head several times. " Thou speakest sooth, Brother," said he. " We will go to him forthwith. We will take counsel with him, albeit — ■" Gaston did not finish his sentence, for tAvo reasons. One was that his brother kneAv so well Avhat words were on his lips that speech was well-nigh needless ; the other, that he Avas at that moment rudely interrupted. And although the brothers had no such thought at the time, it is probable that this interruption and its consequences had a very distinct bearing upon their after lives, and cer tainly it produced a marked effect upon the counsel they subsequently received from their spiritual father, who, but for that episode, might strongly have dissuaded the youths from going forth so young into the world.

The interruption came in the form of an angry hail from a loud and gruff voice, full of impatience and resentment. " Out of my path, ye base-born peasants ! " shouted a horseman who had just rounded the sharp angle taken by the narrow bridle-path, and was brought almost to a stand still by the tall figures of the two stalwart youths, which took up the Avhole of the open way betAveen the trees and their thick undergrowth. " Stand aside, ye idle loons ! Know ye not how to make Avay for your betters ? Then, in sooth, I Avill teach you a lesson ; " and a thick hide lash came Avhirling through the air and almost lighted upon the shoulders of Gaston, who chanced to be the nearer. But such an insult as that was not to be borne. Even a Gascon peasant might well have sprung upon a solitary adv*ersary of noble blood had he A*entured to assault him thus, Avithout support from his train of folloAvers.

As for Gaston, he hesitated not an instant, but Avith flashing eyes he sprang at the right arm of his powerful adversary, and had wrested the whip from him and tossed it far away before the Avords Avere Avell out of the angry lord's mouth. With a great oath the man dreAV his sword ; but the youth laughed him to scorn as he stepped back out of reach of the formidable weapon. He Avell knew his advantage. Light of foot, though all unarmed, he could defy any horseman in this wooded spot. No horse could penetrate to the right or left of the narrow track. Even if the knight dismounted, the twin brothers, who knew every turn and Avinding of these dim forest paths, could lead him a fine dance, and then break away and let him find his Avay out as best he could. Fearless and impetuous as Gaston ever was, at this moment his fierce spirit was stirred more deeply within him than it had ever been before, for in this powerful warrior who had dared to insult both him and his brother — ay, and their mother's fair fame too — he recognized the lineaments of the hated Sieur de Navailles.

The more cautious Raymond had done the same, and now he spoke in low though urgent accents. " Have a care, Brother ! Knowest thou who it be ? " KnoAv ? ay, that I do. It is he Avho now holds by force and tyranny those fair lands which should be ours — lands Avhich our forefathers held from generation to gener ation, Avhich should be theirs now, were right and justice to be had, as one day it may be, when the Roy Outremer comes in person, as men say he Avill one day come, and all men may have access to his royal presence. And he, the tyrant, the usurper, dares to call us base-born, to call us peasants — we who OAvn a nobler name than he ! — The day Avill come, proud man, when thou shalt rue the hour when thou spakest thus to me — to me Avho am thy equal, ay, and more than thy equal, in birth, and A\*ho will some day come and prove it to thee at the sAvord's point !

" Alany expressions had flitted over the rider's face as these bold words had been spoken — anger, astonishment, then an unspeakable fury, which made Gaston look well to the hand which held the shining SAvord ; last of all an immense astonishment of a new kind — a perplexity not unmixed with dismay, and tinged with a lively curiosity. As the youth ceased speaking the knight sheathed his SAvord, and when he replied his voice Avas pitched in a very different key. "I pray you pardon, 3*oung sirs," he said, glancing quickly from one handsome noble face to the other. " I knew not that I spoke to those of gentle birth. The dress deceived me. Tell me now, good youths, who and whence are ye ? You have spoken in parables so far ; tell me more plainly, Avhat is your name and kindred ? " Raymond, who had heard somewhat of the enmity of the Sieur de Navailles, and knew that their identity as sons of the house of De Brocas had always been kept from his knoAvledge, here pressed his brother's arm as though to suggest the necessity for caution ; but Gaston's hot blood was up.