It is difficult in considering a period so remote and so peculiar as
that of chivalry, to fix the limit between the actual and the
imaginary, between the character of the ideals which men placed before
themselves, and the extent to which these ideals were realized. That
the writings of the romancers were exaggerations of actual manners
rather than inventions, is shown by the descriptions of the habits and
inmates of mediaeval castles, which form so interesting a portion of
Froissart's chronicles, and give such striking and life like
illustrations of the society which at once inspired and enjoyed the
romances of chivalry. The castle of the Earl of Foix and the Earl
himself would have seemed quite natural in the pages of a romance:
"Ther was none more rejoysed in dedes of armes than the erle dyde: ther
was sene in his hall, chambre, and court, knightes and squyers of
honour going up and downe, and talking of armes and amours; all honour
ther was found, all maner of tidyngs of every realme and countre ther
might be herde, for out of every countree ther was resort, for the
valyantness of this erle." Of "armes and amours" the knights and ladies
loved to talk, and arms and amours formed the burden of the ponderous
tomes which the Earl of Foix caused to be read before him. The
adventures of knights-errant, and their obligation to render aid and
comfort to "all distressed ladies and damsels," have a charming
illustration in the championship of the cause of Isabel, Queen of
Edward the Second of England, by Sir John of Hainault, and the words
used by the latter in undertaking the enterprise were the echo of the
chivalric feeling of the time.
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