Read Online The Last Knight Errant: Sir Edward Woodville & the Age of Chivalry by Christopher Wilkins - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Christopher Wilkins
Tags: nonfiction, History, Biography & Autobiography, Medieval, England/Great Britain, 15th Century, Military & Fighting
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for the King and Queen, they had caused a supper to be prepared on the second day of the tournament in the Grocers’ Hall; and thither came the ladies sixty or four score, of such noble houses that the least was the daughter of a Baron. And the supper was plentiful; and Mons. [Monsieur] The Bastard and his people feasted greatly and honourably.’ 11
There were other combatants who followed after the stars: the next pair who fought on foot on the Saturday and mounted on Sunday were Louis de Bretelles for Anthony and Jean de Chassa for the Bastard (de Chassa switched allegiance from Burgundy to France in 1470 and two years later was the Grand Senechal of Provence who arranged for the building of the towers at St Tropez).
King Edward had almost certainly engineered the original challenge and now used the occasion for informal talks on an alliance with Burgundy, one of England’s traditional allies. There had been a freeze in relations because her ruler, Duke Philip, the Bastard’s father, had Lancastrian blood on his mother’s side and disapproved of the Yorkist regime.
Meanwhile the social whirl went on, ‘and Mons. The Bastard prayed the ladies to dine on the next Sunday, and especially the Queen and her sisters: and he made great preparation’. But the celebrations were cut short. The Bastard was urgently recalled to Burgundy because his father, Duke Philip ‘the Good’, had died on 15 June 1467. Some of the ladies may well have been disappointed, as Antoine loved women, rather like his father who had 24 documented mistresses. Indeed, the following year at the chapter of the Golden Fleece, the Bastard was admonished for ‘fornication and adultery’, despite his ‘valour, prowess and prudence and several other good habits and virtues’.
Three months later Anthony sailed to Burgundy at the head of an embassy to arrange the marriage of the King’s sister, Margaret, to the new Duke of Burgundy, Charles, the Bastard’s half-brother. The embassy, perhaps with Edward as his brother’s page, was also tasked with organizing a trade treaty together with a new anti-French alliance between Burgundy, England and the Dukedom of Brittany. The anti-French alliance proved easy to arrange but the dowry, which was eventually agreed at 200,000 gold crowns (£41,666-13s4d), had to be paid in instalments, and trade agreements took a difficult three months to negotiate. This was probably made harder because apparently Duke Charles did not wish for the marriage, or so reported Philippe de Commines, then a Burgundian advisor.
Eventually it was time for the wedding. Vows were exchanged in the town hall at Damme, a little port just downstream from Bruges, on 3 July 1468; the wedding mass was celebrated and then the party moved on to Bruges. It was a brilliant, courtly and extraordinarily lavish affair that lasted for nine days, with jousts, plays and dinners. The high Gothic crown Margaret brought with her and wore is now kept in Aachen Cathedral. It is a dainty crown of plain polished gold, decorated with a simple jewelled lozenge pattern, bands of pearls and eight huge jewels, above which are eight high spikes, each topped with a five-sided flower. It belongs in a fairy tale.
The Tournament of the Golden Tree was the most elaborate spectacle ever staged by any of the Dukes of Burgundy, and this was the joust that accompanied the wedding celebrations. Anthony broke 11 lances against Adolf of Cleves, a highly regarded fighter (who actually broke 17 and so was declared the winner). The Bastard had decided not to compete against Anthony because they were frères d’armes , having fought against each other in the lists, and so he had nominated Adolf to guard the pas .
Unfortunately, while the Bastard was watching the event, a horse kicked him and broke his thigh. He did not allow this to spoil the day and insisted the jousts went on. They did, and the final prize was awarded to John Woodville, an elder brother of Edward’s,
There were other combatants who followed after the stars: the next pair who fought on foot on the Saturday and mounted on Sunday were Louis de Bretelles for Anthony and Jean de Chassa for the Bastard (de Chassa switched allegiance from Burgundy to France in 1470 and two years later was the Grand Senechal of Provence who arranged for the building of the towers at St Tropez).
King Edward had almost certainly engineered the original challenge and now used the occasion for informal talks on an alliance with Burgundy, one of England’s traditional allies. There had been a freeze in relations because her ruler, Duke Philip, the Bastard’s father, had Lancastrian blood on his mother’s side and disapproved of the Yorkist regime.
Meanwhile the social whirl went on, ‘and Mons. The Bastard prayed the ladies to dine on the next Sunday, and especially the Queen and her sisters: and he made great preparation’. But the celebrations were cut short. The Bastard was urgently recalled to Burgundy because his father, Duke Philip ‘the Good’, had died on 15 June 1467. Some of the ladies may well have been disappointed, as Antoine loved women, rather like his father who had 24 documented mistresses. Indeed, the following year at the chapter of the Golden Fleece, the Bastard was admonished for ‘fornication and adultery’, despite his ‘valour, prowess and prudence and several other good habits and virtues’.
Three months later Anthony sailed to Burgundy at the head of an embassy to arrange the marriage of the King’s sister, Margaret, to the new Duke of Burgundy, Charles, the Bastard’s half-brother. The embassy, perhaps with Edward as his brother’s page, was also tasked with organizing a trade treaty together with a new anti-French alliance between Burgundy, England and the Dukedom of Brittany. The anti-French alliance proved easy to arrange but the dowry, which was eventually agreed at 200,000 gold crowns (£41,666-13s4d), had to be paid in instalments, and trade agreements took a difficult three months to negotiate. This was probably made harder because apparently Duke Charles did not wish for the marriage, or so reported Philippe de Commines, then a Burgundian advisor.
Eventually it was time for the wedding. Vows were exchanged in the town hall at Damme, a little port just downstream from Bruges, on 3 July 1468; the wedding mass was celebrated and then the party moved on to Bruges. It was a brilliant, courtly and extraordinarily lavish affair that lasted for nine days, with jousts, plays and dinners. The high Gothic crown Margaret brought with her and wore is now kept in Aachen Cathedral. It is a dainty crown of plain polished gold, decorated with a simple jewelled lozenge pattern, bands of pearls and eight huge jewels, above which are eight high spikes, each topped with a five-sided flower. It belongs in a fairy tale.
The Tournament of the Golden Tree was the most elaborate spectacle ever staged by any of the Dukes of Burgundy, and this was the joust that accompanied the wedding celebrations. Anthony broke 11 lances against Adolf of Cleves, a highly regarded fighter (who actually broke 17 and so was declared the winner). The Bastard had decided not to compete against Anthony because they were frères d’armes , having fought against each other in the lists, and so he had nominated Adolf to guard the pas .
Unfortunately, while the Bastard was watching the event, a horse kicked him and broke his thigh. He did not allow this to spoil the day and insisted the jousts went on. They did, and the final prize was awarded to John Woodville, an elder brother of Edward’s,
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