Part 7 (1/2)
festivities were a sumptuous enlargement of the Christmas celebration, which usually extended over Twelfth Night. It is said that the banqueting cost the equivalent of forty thousand pounds of our money; and before the young king there appeared quite a mult.i.tude of minstrels, mimics, and gleemen. Professor Henry Morley[21] gives a specimen of the metrical romances which were translated from the French for recitation at the royal and n.o.ble banquets of this period.
They were ”busy with action, and told with a lively freedom;” and, in the one quoted, ”The Fabliau of Sir Cleges,” we catch some interesting references to the celebration of Christmas:--
”Every year Sir Cleges would At Christmas a great feast hold In wors.h.i.+p of that day, As royal in alle thing As he hadde been a king For sooth as I you say.
Rich and poor in the country about Should be there withouten doubt; There would no man say nay.
Minstrels would not be behind, For there they might most mirthes find There would they be aye.
”Minstrels when the feast was done Withouten giftes should not gon, And that both rich and good: Horse, robes and riche ring, Gold, silver, and other thing, To mend with their mood.
Ten yeare such feast be held, In the wors.h.i.+p of Mary mild And for Him that died on the rood.
By that his good began to slake For the great feasts that he did make.
The knight gentil of blood.”
”KEPE OPEN COURT” AT CHRISTMAS.
Froissart, in Cap. XIIII. of his ”Chronicles,”[22] gives the following account of the Christmas Celebration at which Edward the Third was crowned:--
”After that the most part of the company of Heynaulte were departed, and syr John Heynaulte lorde of Beamonde taryed, the Quene gave leve to her people to departe, savynge a certayne n.o.ble knightis the whiche she kept styl about her and her s[=o]ne, to counsell them, and commaunded all them that departed, to be at London the next Christmas, for as than she was determyned to kepe open court, and all they promysed her so to do. And whan Christmas was come, she helde a great court. And thyther came dukes, erles, barons, knightis, and all the n.o.bles of the realme, with prelates, and burgesses of good townes, and at this a.s.semble it was advised that the realme coud nat long endure without a head and a chief lord. Than they put in wrytynge all the dedis of the kyng who was in prison, and all that he had done by evyll counsell, and all his usages, and evyll behavyngis, and how evyll he had governed his realme, the which was redde openly in playn audience, to thentent that the n.o.ble sagis of the realme might take therof good advyce, and to fall at acorde how the realme shuld be governed from thensforth; and whan all the cases and dedis that the kyng had done and c[=o]sented to, and all his behavyng and usages were red, and wel understand, the barons and knightis and al ye co[=u]sels of the realme, drew them aparte to co[=u]sell, and the most part of them accorded, and namely the great lordes and n.o.bles, with the burgesses of ye good townes, accordyng as they had hard say, and knew themselfe the most parte of his dedis. Wherfore they c[=o]cluded that such a man was nat worthy to be a kyng. But they all accorded that Edward his eldeste son who was ther present, and was ryghtful heyre, shuld be crowned kyng in stede of his father, so that he would take good counsell, sage and true about hym, so that the realme from thensforth myght be better governed than it was before, and that the olde kyng his father shuld be well and honestly kept as long as he lyved accordyng to his astate; and thus as it was agreed by all the n.o.bles, so it was accomplysshed, and than was crowned with a crowne royall at the palaice of Westminster, beside L[=o]don, the yong kyng Edward the III. who in his dayes after was right fortunate and happy in armes.
This coronacion was in the yere of our Lorde MCCCXXVI, on Christymas day, and as than the yong kyng was about the age of XVI., and they held the fest tyl the c[=o]vercion of saynt Paule followyng: and in the mean tyme greatly was fested sir John of Heynaulte and all the princis and n.o.bles of his co[=u]tre, and was gyven to hym, and to his company, many ryche jewels. And so he and his company in great feast and solas both with lordis and ladyes taried tyll the XII. day.”
EDWARD BALLIOL, OF SCOTLAND, DEFEATED AT CHRISTMAS.
The Christmas of 1332 is memorable in Scottish annals as the time of the defeat of Edward Balliol, the ”phantom king” of Scotland. His success was as unreal as a dream. He was solemnly crowned at Scone in the month of September, 1332, fondly imagining that he had permanently conquered the patriotic Scottish n.o.bles who had opposed him. His reign, however, only lasted for a few months. The leaders of the national party suddenly a.s.sembled a force, and attacked him, while he was feasting at Annan, in Dumfriess.h.i.+re, where he had gone to keep his Christmas. A body of horse under Sir Archibald, the young Earl of Moray, and Sir Simon Fraser, made a dash into the town to surprise Balliol, and he escaped only by springing upon a horse without any saddle, leaving behind him his brother Henry slain. Balliol escaped to England and was kindly received by Edward III., who afterwards made fresh expeditions into Scotland to support him. ”Whenever the English king appeared the Scots retired to their mountain fastnesses, while Edward and his army overran the country with little opposition, burnt the houses, and laid waste the lands of those whom he styled rebels; but whenever he returned to England they came forth again, only the more embittered against the contemptible minion of the English king, the more determined against the tyranny of England. The regent, Sir Andrew Murray, pursued, with untiring activity, Balliol and his adherents. When Edward marched homeward to spend in London the Christmas of 1336, he left Scotland to all appearance prostrate, and flattered himself that it was completely subdued. Never was it further from such a condition. Only one spirit animated the Scottish nation--that of eternal resistance to the monarch who had inflicted on it such calamities, and set a slave on its throne.”[23]
COTTAGE CHRISTMAS-KEEPING IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.
At this period the greatest of the Bishops of Winchester, William of Wykeham, was a schoolboy. He was born of humble parents, educated at Winchester school, and afterwards became secretary to Uvedale, Lord of Wickham Manor, through whom he was introduced to King Edward III. In his interesting ”Story of the Boyhood of William of Wykeham,” the Rev.
W. A. C. Chevalier thus pictures William's Christmas holidays:--
”Three days after William's arrival home was Christmas-eve. There were great preparations in the cottage for spending Christmas worthily, for if there was one thing more than another that John Longe believed in, it was the proper keeping of Christmas. It was a part of the worthy yeoman's faith. He was a humble and thorough believer in all the tenets of Christianity, he wors.h.i.+pped the Saviour and adored His Nativity, but his faith was a cheerful one, and he thought he best honoured his Master by enjoying the good gifts which He sent. Hence it was a part of his creed to be jovial at Christmas-tide. And so Dame Alice had been busy all that day, and a part of the day before, making Christmas pies, dressing Christmas meats, and otherwise making ready for the great festival. John Longe, too, had not been idle. He and his men had been working hard all day getting in huge Yule-logs for the great kitchen fire, whilst William and little Agnes had been employed in decorating the kitchen with evergreens and mistletoe, displaying in great profusion the red berries of the holly bushes.
Everything was decked with evergreens, from the cups and platters on the shelves to the hams and bacon hanging from the ceiling.”
At length the preparations were completed; then came the telling of tales and cheerful gossip round the blazing fire on Christmas Eve, and the roasting of chestnuts on the embers. ”Christmas Day pa.s.sed at the little homestead with all the social and religious honours that the honest yeoman could think of. The little household attended the service of Ma.s.s in the morning, and then, with clear consciences and simple hearts, spent the rest of the day in domestic and convivial enjoyment.”
Returning to royalty, we next see ill.u.s.trated Froissart's statement that ”Edward the third was right fortunate and happy in armes.”
EDWARD THE THIRD'S VICTORIES AND FESTIVITIES.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
During the invasion of France, Edward III. raised the martial glory of England by his splendid victories at Crecy, Poictiers, and other places; and he kept Christmas right royally with his soldiers on French soil. After the battle of Crecy, at which the Prince of Wales gained the celebrated t.i.tle of the Black Prince, Edward marched upon Calais, and laid siege to it; and at length he took the place. During Edward's absence, England was invaded by David II. of Scotland, who was defeated and taken prisoner by the army under Philippa, Edward's Queen. The brave Queen then joined King Edward on the French battle-ground, and they kept the Christmas of 1346 with much rejoicing.
During the Christmas festivities of this period the most n.o.ble Order of the Garter was inst.i.tuted by King Edward III. to excite emulation amongst the aristocratic warriors of the time, in imitation of orders of a similar kind, both religious and military, which had been inst.i.tuted by different monarchs of Europe; and that those who were admitted to the order were enjoined to exalt the religion of Christ is evident from some lines which Chaucer addressed to the Lords and Knights--