Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 10.djvu/172

 164

NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 s. x. AUG. so, 1902.

All thy chevallrous men faire are eschewede, Bot a childe Chasteleynne myschance es befallen.

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A siege train is in position round the walls of Metz, churches and chapels are being knocked down by the attack, a great assault is being led by King Arthur. Then comes a most peculiar situation a countess-duchess, from the crenelles of the castle, implores Arthur to send her succour. Undeniably there is some confusion here. One labours to understand what the duchess was doing there ; but the substantial outcome is that Arthur, telling her that the duke is "in daungere," takes her under his protection, and in the end provides for the dowry of the duchess and her children. It is best to quote the lines:

Thane the duchez hire dyghte with damesels ryche, The cowntas of Crasyn, with hir clere maydyns, Knelis down in the kyrnellestharethekynghovede.

We beseke 3ow, sir, as soveraynge and lorde That 3e safe us todaye for sake of joure Criste ! Send us some socoure and saughte with the pople Or the cet6 be sodaynly with assawte wonnen.

Sail no mysse do }ow, ma dame, that to me lenges : I gif 3ow chartire of pese and 3oure cheefe maydens, The childire, and the chaste men, the chevalrous

knyghtez :

The duke es in daungere, dredes it bott littyll : He sail idene (?) the full wele, dout 3ow noghte elles. 4 M. A.,' 11. 3044-6, 3050-3, 3057-61.

Meanwhile the rebel duke has fared ill :

The duke to Dovere es dyghte and all his dere

knyghtez To duelle in dawngere and dole the dayes of hys

lyve. 'M. A., '11. 3066-7.

The victorious Arthur makes disposal of the conquered territory at will, appointing captains and constables, and assigning lands to divers lords as well as

A dowere for the duchez and hir dere ohildire.

4 M. A.,' 1.3088.

Of all which the parable is surprisingly complete. Shift the scene from Metz to Hennebont in Brittany, and again the details of history almost to a fraction fall into line with the romance. The annals of 1340 to 1345 have much to tell concerning the battles and sieges in which the dauntless Countess of Montfort, who was Duchess of Brittany, played a part as strenuous as it was picturesque. Decisive tokens in the argu- ment of identification of the lady who in lines 3044 and 3045 is called first " the duchess " and then " the Countess of Crasyn " are not only that Jeanne de Montfort was both Countess of Montfort and Duchess of Brittany, but that Crasyn seems to be a form of Carhaix, the name of a place adjacent

to Hennebont, and also one of the duchess's possessions, appearing in Jehan le Bel's narrative of the period as Craaiz, a centre of the military operations (Jehan le Bel, i. 306, 309). That annalist describes (i. 287-317) her gallant defence of Hennebont in 1342, when besieged by Charles of Blois, telling how she watched from a window of the castle (" par une^des fenetres du chastel ") for the coming of English succour. Sir Walter Manny led the relieving force, which raised the siege. The duchy was held as a fief from Edward III., who was truly enough " sovereign and lord " (see 1. 3050). It was to procure Edward's support in the plea for the dukedom that Montfort did him homage. Edward very earnestly supported the duchess's cause. He had made her husband Earl of Richmond in return for his homage and fealty. The appeal for help which the poet makes her utter from the battlements of Metz not only echoes the history of the siege of Hennebont, but figura- tively indicates the actual supplication ad- dressed to Edward by her on her visit to England (Jehan le Bel, ii. 6-13). Her two children are reported to have gone with her to England. Montfort himself became a prisoner of the French king, the fact no doubt alluded to in 1. 1180, abo^e quoted, referring to the hard bonds of Sir Howell. But alongside of these cumulative factors of identification must specially be noticed the fact that the duchess's enemy, the rival duke, is "takyn'Xl- 3023), and as the sequel of captivity is " in daungere " (1. 3060), that is, under the power of Arthur. More express is the state- ment that he and his knights have been sent to Dover as prisoners (11. 3066-7). Actually the rival duke Charles of Blois was captured at Roche Dorrien in 1347 and sent prisoner to England. Probably he went vid Calais, as Froissart says. Along with him were many of his knights. He remained long a prisoner, although not quite for all the days of his life :

L'en mena Charles en Angleterre

Comme prisonnier de droicte guerre,

Et mains autres de sa partie

Furent menez, n'en doubte mie.

' Libvre du Bon Jehan,' 11. 445-8. It only remains to say that there was much fighting round Hennebont, and that in course of it the capture of the " chastelain de Guin- gant " was one of the casualties of the vic- torious side (Jehan le Bel, i. 287, 314). He may be reckoned as the " child chasteleynne " whose mischance is mentioned in 1. 3028. He was " ung vaillant homme qu'on clamoit le chastelain de Guingant," and had been with the duchess during the siege. There are left for acuter students of heraldry and history