Ivanhoe: A Romance
promiscuous multitude arranged themselves upon large banks of turf
prepared for the purpose, which, aided by the natural elevation of the
ground, enabled them to overlook the galleries, and obtain a fair view
into the lists. Besides the accommodation which these stations
afforded, many hundreds had perched themselves on the branches of the
trees which surrounded the meadow; and even the steeple of a country
church, at some distance, was crowded with spectators.
It only remains to notice respecting the general arrangement, that one
gallery in the very centre of the eastern side of the lists, and
consequently exactly opposite to the spot where the shock of the combat
was to take place, was raised higher than the others, more richly
decorated, and graced by a sort of throne and canopy, on which the
royal arms were emblazoned. Squires, pages, and yeomen in rich
liveries, waited around this place of honour, which was designed for
Prince John and his attendants. Opposite to this royal gallery was
another, elevated to the same height, on the western side of the lists;
and more gaily, if less sumptuously decorated, than that destined for
the Prince himself. A train of pages and of young maidens, the most
beautiful who could be selected, gaily dressed in fancy habits of green
and pink, surrounded a throne decorated in the same colours. Among
pennons and flags bearing wounded hearts, burning hearts, bleeding
hearts, bows and quivers, and all the commonplace emblems of the
triumphs of Cupid, a blazoned inscription informed the spectators, that
this seat of honour was designed for “La Royne de las Beaulte et des
Amours”. But who was to represent the Queen of Beauty and of Love on
the present occasion no one was prepared to guess.
Meanwhile, spectators of every description thronged forward to occupy
their respective stations, and not without many quarrels concerning
those which they were entitled to hold. Some of these were settled by
the men-at-arms with brief ceremony; the shafts of their battle-axes,
and pummels of their swords, being readily employed as arguments to
convince the more refractory. Others, which involved the rival claims
of more elevated persons, were determined by the heralds, or by the two
marshals of the field, William de Wyvil, and Stephen de Martival, who,
armed at all points, rode up and down the lists to enforce and preserve
good order among the spectators.
Gradually the galleries became filled with knights and nobles, in their
robes of peace, whose long and rich-tinted mantles were contrasted with
the gayer and more splendid habits of the ladies, who, in a greater
proportion than even the men themselves, thronged to witness a sport,
which one would have thought too bloody and dangerous to afford their
sex much pleasure. The lower and interior space was soon filled by
substantial yeomen and burghers, and such of the lesser gentry, as,
from modesty, poverty, or dubious title, durst not assume any higher
place. It was of course amongst these that the most frequent disputes
for precedence occurred.
“Dog of an unbeliever,” said an old man, whose threadbare tunic bore
witness to his poverty, as his sword, and dagger, and golden chain
intimated his pretensions to rank,—“whelp of a she-wolf! darest thou
press upon a Christian, and a Norman gentleman of the blood of
Montdidier?”
This rough expostulation was addressed to no other than our
acquaintance Isaac, who, richly and even magnificently dressed in a
gaberdine ornamented with lace and lined with fur, was endeavouring to
make place in the foremost row beneath the gallery for his daughter,
the beautiful Rebecca, who had joined him at Ashby, and who was now
hanging on her father’s arm, not a little terrified by the popular
displeasure which seemed generally excited by her parent’s presumption.
But Isaac, though we have seen him sufficiently timid on other
occasions, knew well that at present he had nothing to fear. It was not
in places of general resort, or where their equals were assembled, that
any avaricious or malevolent noble durst offer him injury. At such
meetings the Jews were under the protection of the general law; and if
that proved a weak assurance, it usually happened that there were among
the persons assembled some barons, who, for their own interested
motives, were ready to act as their protectors. On the present
occasion, Isaac felt more than usually confident, being aware that
Prince John was even then in the very act of negotiating a large loan
from the Jews of York, to be secured upon certain jewels and lands.
Isaac’s own share in this transaction was considerable, and he well
knew that the Prince’s eager desire to bring it to a conclusion would
ensure him his protection in the dilemma in which he stood.
Emboldened by these considerations, the Jew pursued his point, and
jostled the Norman Christian, without respect either to his descent,
quality, or religion. The complaints of the old man, however, excited
the indignation of the bystanders. One of these, a stout well-set
yeoman, arrayed in Lincoln green, having twelve arrows stuck in his
belt, with a baldric and badge of silver, and a bow of six feet length
in his hand, turned short round, and while his countenance, which his
constant exposure to weather had rendered brown as a hazel nut, grew
darker with anger, he advised the Jew to remember that all the wealth
he had acquired by sucking the blood of his miserable victims had but
swelled him like a bloated spider, which might be overlooked while he
kept in a corner, but would be crushed if it ventured into the light.
This intimation, delivered in Norman-English with a firm voice and a
stern aspect, made the Jew shrink back; and he would have probably
withdrawn himself altogether from a vicinity so dangerous, had not the
attention of every one been called to the sudden entrance of Prince
John, who at that moment entered the lists, attended by a numerous and
gay train, consisting partly of laymen, partly of churchmen, as light
in their dress, and as gay in their demeanour, as their companions.
Among the latter was the Prior of Jorvaulx, in the most gallant trim
which a dignitary of the church could venture to exhibit. Fur and gold
were not spared in his garments; and the points of his boots,
out-heroding the preposterous fashion of the time, turned up so very
far, as to be attached, not to his knees merely, but to his very
girdle, and effectually prevented him from putting his foot into the
stirrup. This, however, was a slight inconvenience to the gallant
Abbot, who, perhaps, even rejoicing in the opportunity to display his
accomplished horsemanship before so many spectators, especially of the
fair sex, dispensed with the use of these supports to a timid rider.
The rest of Prince John’s retinue consisted of the favourite leaders of
his mercenary troops, some marauding barons and profligate attendants
upon the court, with several Knights Templars and Knights of St John.
It may be here remarked, that the knights of these two orders were
accounted hostile to King Richard, having adopted the side of Philip of
France in the long train of disputes which took place in Palestine
betwixt that monarch and the lion-hearted King of England. It was the
well-known consequence of this discord that Richard’s repeated
victories had been rendered fruitless, his romantic attempts to besiege
Jerusalem disappointed, and the fruit of all the glory which he had
acquired had dwindled into an uncertain truce with the Sultan Saladin.
With the same policy which had dictated the conduct of their brethren
in the Holy Land, the Templars and Hospitallers in England and Normandy
attached themselves to the faction of Prince John, having little reason
to desire the return of Richard to England, or the succession of
Arthur, his legitimate heir. For the opposite reason, Prince John hated
and contemned the few Saxon families of consequence which subsisted in
England, and omitted no opportunity of mortifying and affronting them;
being conscious that his person and pretensions were disliked by them,
as well as by the greater part of the English commons, who feared
farther innovation upon their rights and liberties, from a sovereign of
John’s licentious and tyrannical disposition.
Attended by this gallant equipage, himself well mounted, and splendidly
dressed in crimson and in gold, bearing upon his hand a falcon, and
having his head covered by a rich fur bonnet, adorned with a circle of
precious stones, from which his long curled hair escaped and overspread
his shoulders, Prince John, upon a grey and high-mettled palfrey,
caracoled within the lists at the head of his jovial party, laughing
loud with his train, and eyeing with all the boldness of royal
criticism the beauties who adorned the lofty galleries.
Those who remarked in the physiognomy of the Prince a dissolute
audacity, mingled with extreme haughtiness and indifference to the
feelings of others could not yet deny to his countenance that sort of
comeliness which belongs to an open set of features, well formed by
nature, modelled by art to the usual rules of courtesy, yet so far
frank and honest, that they seemed as if they disclaimed to conceal the
natural workings of the soul. Such an expression is often mistaken for
manly frankness, when in truth it arises from the reckless indifference
of a libertine disposition, conscious of superiority of birth, of
wealth, or of some other adventitious advantage, totally unconnected
with personal merit. To those who did not think so deeply, and they
were the greater number by a hundred to one, the splendour of Prince
John’s “rheno”, (i.e. fur tippet,) the richness of his cloak, lined
with the most costly sables, his maroquin boots and golden spurs,
together with the grace with which he managed his palfrey, were
sufficient to merit clamorous applause.
In his joyous caracole round the lists, the attention of the Prince was
called by the commotion, not yet subsided, which had attended the
ambitious movement of Isaac towards the higher places of the assembly.
The quick eye of Prince John instantly recognised the Jew, but was much
more agreeably attracted by the beautiful daughter of Zion, who,
terrified by the tumult, clung close to the arm of her aged father.
The figure of Rebecca might indeed have compared with the proudest
beauties of England, even though it had been judged by as shrewd a
connoisseur as Prince John. Her form was exquisitely symmetrical, and
was shown to advantage by a sort of Eastern dress, which she wore
according to the fashion of the females of her nation. Her turban of
yellow silk suited well with the darkness of her complexion. The
brilliancy of her eyes, the superb arch of her eyebrows, her
well-formed aquiline nose, her teeth as white as pearl, and the
profusion of her sable tresses, which, each arranged in its own little
spiral of twisted curls, fell down upon as much of a lovely neck and
bosom as a simarre of the richest Persian silk, exhibiting flowers in
their natural colours embossed upon a purple ground, permitted to be
visible—all these constituted a combination of loveliness, which
yielded not to the most beautiful of the maidens who surrounded her. It
is true, that of the golden and pearl-studded clasps, which closed her
vest from the throat to the waist, the three uppermost were left
unfastened on account of the heat, which somewhat enlarged the prospect
to which we allude. A diamond necklace, with pendants of inestimable
value, were by this means also made more conspicuous. The feather of an
ostrich, fastened in her turban by an agraffe set with brilliants, was
another distinction of the beautiful Jewess, scoffed and sneered at by
the proud dames who sat above her, but secretly envied by those who