back, were strictly forbidden to be armed with any kind of armour, or to bear any offensive weapons, under the penalty that was appointed to the esquires; and no boy, or man on foot coming for the same purpose, might appear with a sword dagger, cudgel, or lance; they were to be punished with one year's imprisonment in case of disobedience to the statute.

XXIII.-LISTS FOR ORDEAL COMBATS.

The lists for the tilts and tournaments resembled those, I doubt not, appointed for the ordeal combats, which, according to the rules established by Thomas, duke of Gloucester, uncle to Richard II., were as follows: "The king shall find the field to fight in, and the lists shall be made and devised by the constable; and it is to be observed, that the list must be sixty paces long and forty paces broad, set up in good order, and the ground within hard, stable, and level, without any great stones or other impediments; also that the lists must be made with one door to the east, and another to the west, and strongly barred about with good bars seven feet high or more, so that a horse may not be able to leap over them."1

XXIV.-RESPECT PAID TO LADIES IN THE TOURNAMENT.

After the conclusion of the tournament, the combatants, as we have seen above, returned to their dwellings; but in the evening they met again in some place appropriated for the purpose, where they were joined by the ladies, and others of the nobility who had been spectators of the sports; and the time, we are told, was passed in feasting, dancing, singing, and making merry. But," after the noble supper and dancing," according to the ancient ordinance above quoted, the speakers of the tournament called together the heralds appointed on both parties, and demanded from them alternately, the names of those who had best performed upon the opposite sides; the double list of names was then presented to the ladies who had been present at the pastime, and the decision was referred to them respecting the awardment of the prizes;2 who selected one name for each party, and, as a peculiar mark of their esteem, the favourite champions received the rewards of their merits from the hands of two young virgins of quality. The statutes and ordinances for Justs and tournaments made by John Tiptoft, earl of Wor

1 Cotton MS. Nero D. vi. and Harl. MS. 69, ut supra.

"Avec une grele de coups." Encyclop. Fran. in voce tournoi.

cester, at the command of Edward IV., in the sixth year of his reign, conclude thus: "Reserving always to the queenes highness and the ladyes there present, the attribution and gift of the prize after the manner and forme accustomed.”1

Neither was this the only deference that was paid to the fair sex by the laws of the tournament, for we are told, that if a knight conducted himself with any impropriety, or transgressed the ordinances of the sport, he was excluded from the lists with a sound beating, which was liberally bestowed upon him by the other knights with their truncheons, to punish his temerity, and to teach him to respect the honour of the ladies and the rights of chivalry; the unfortunate culprit had no other resource in such case for escaping without mischief, but by supplicating the mercy of the fair sex, and humbly intreating them to interpose their authority on his behalf, because the suspension of his punishment depended entirely upon their intercession.

XXV.-JUSTS INFERIOR TO TOURNAMENTS.

The just or lance-game, in Latin justa, and in French jouste, which some derive from jocare, because it was a sort of sportive combat, undertaken for pastime only, differed materially, as before observed, from the tournament, the former being often included in the latter, and usually took place when the grand tournamental conflict was finished. But at the same time it was perfectly consistent with the rules of chivalry, for the justs to be held separately; it was, however, considered as a pastime inferior to the tournament, for which reason a knight, who had paid his fees for permission to just, was not thereby exempted from the fees of the tournament; but, on the contrary, if he had discharged his duties at the tournament, he was privileged to just without being liable to any further demand. This distinction seems to have arisen from the weapons used, the sword being appropriated to the tournament, and the lance to the just, and so it is stated in an old document cited by Du Cange: "When," says this author, "a nobleman makes his first appearance in the tournament, his helmet is claimed by the heralds, notwithstanding his having justed before, because the lance cannot give the freedom of the sword, which the sword can do of the lance; for it is to be observed, that he who has paid his helmet at the tournament is freed from the payment of a second helmet at the

just; but the helmet paid at justing, does not exclude the claim of the heralds when a knight first enters the lists at the tournament.

XXVI. THE ROUND TABLE.

The just, as a military pastime, is mentioned by William of Malmsbury, and said to have been practised in the reign of king Stephen. During the government of Henry III. the just assumed a different appellation, and was also called the Round Table game. This name was derived from a fraternity of knights who frequently justed with each other, and accustomed themselves to eat together in one apartment, and, in order to set aside all distinction of rank or quality, seated themselves at a circular table, where every place was equally honourable. Athenæus, cited by Du Cange, says, the knights sat round the table, eorum scuta ferentes a tergo," bearing their shields at their hacks: I suppose for safety sake. Our historians attribute the institution of the round table to Arthur, the son of Uter Peudragon, a celebrated British hero, whose achievements are so disguised with legendary wonders, that it has been doubted if such a person ever existed in reality.

66

In the eighth year of the reign of Edward I., Roger de Mortimer, a nobleman of great opulence, established a round table at Kenelworth, for the encouragement of military pastimes; where one hundred knights, with as many ladies, were entertained at his expense. The fame of this institution occasioned, we are told, a great influx of foreigners, who came either to initiate themselves, or make some public proof of their prowess. About seventy years afterwards Edward III. erected a splendid table of the same kind at Windsor, but upon a more extensive scale; It contained the area of a circle two hundred feet in diameter: and the weekly expense for the maintenance of this table, when it was first established, amounted to one hundred pounds; which, afterwards, was reduced to twenty pounds, on account of the large sums of money required for the prosecution of the war with France. This receptacle for military men gave continual occasion for the exercise of arms, and afforded to the young nobility an

1 46 Pugna facere quod justam vocant." Hist. Novellæ, fol. 106, sub an. 1142. 2 Matthew Paris properly distinguishes it from the tournament. "Non hastiludio, quod torneamentum dicitur, sed-ludo militari, qui mensa rotunda dicitur." Hist. Angl sub an. 1252.

3 Glossary, in voce mensa rotundu.

• Rogerus de Mortuo Mari. Tho. Walsingham Hist. Angl sub an. 1280, fol. 8

opportunity of learning, by the way of pastime, all the requisites of a soldier. The example of king Edward was followed by Philip of Valois king of France, who also instituted a round table at his court, and by that means drew thither many German and Italian knights who were coming to England. The contest between the two monarchs seems to have had the effect of destroying the establishment of the round table in both kingdoms, for after this period we hear no more concerning it. In England the round table was succeeded by the order of the garter, the ceremonial parts of which order are retained to this day, but the spirit of the institution ill accords with the present manners.

XXVII. NATURE OF THE JUSTS.

The cessation of the round table occasioned little or no alteration respecting the justs which had been practised by the knights belonging to it; they continued to be fashionable throughout the annals of chivalry, and latterly superseded the tournaments, which is by no means surprising, when we recollect that the one was a confused engagement of many knights together, and the other a succession of combats between two only at one time, which gave them all an equal opportunity of showing individually their dexterity and attracting the general notice.

In the justs the combatants most commonly used spears without heads of iron; and the excellency of the performance consisted in striking the opponent upon the front of his helmet, so as to beat him backwards from his horse or break the spear. Froissart2 mentions a trick used by Reynaud de Roy, at a tilting match between him and John de Holland: he fastened his helmet so slightly upon his head that it gave way, and was beaten off by every stroke that was made upon the vizor with the lance of John of Holland, and of course the shock he received was not so great as it would have been, had he made the helmet fast to the cuirass; this artifice was objected to by the English on the part of Holland; but John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, who was present, permitted Roye to use his pleasure; though he at the same time declared, that for his part, he should prefer a contrary practice, and have his helmet fastened as strongly as possible. And again the same historian, speaking of a justing between

Tho. Walsingham. Hist. Angl. sub an. 1344, fol. 154.
Vol. iii. chap. lix.

Thomas Harpingham and sir John de Barres, says, "As me thought the usage was thanne, their helmes wer tied but with a lace, to the entente the spere should take no hold; " by which it seems the trick became more common afterwards.'

Below is a representation of the just, taken from a manuscript in the Royal Library,2 of the thirteenth, or early in the fourteenth century, where two knights appear in the action of tilti g at each other with the blanted spears.3

This delineation was made before the introduction of the barrier, which was a boarded railing erected in the midst of the lists, but open at both ends, and between four and five feet in height. In performing the justs, the two combatants rode on

Froissart, vol. iii. chap. cxxxiii. fol. 148, lord Berners' translation.

2 No. 14, E. iii.

3 [In the original engraving the knights are opposed to each other on the same line: in the present they are separated, and one placed below. in order to represent them within the octavo page of the size is the quarto.]