When evening was come, the Prince of Wales gave a supper in his
pavilion to the king of France, and to the greater part of the princes
and barons who were prisoners. The prince seated the king of France,
and his son the Lord Philip, at an elevated and well-covered table;
with them were Sir James de Bourbon, the Lord John d'Artois, the Earls
of Tancarville, of Estampes, of Dammartin, of Graville, and the Lord
of Partenay. The other knights and squires were placed at different
tables. The prince himself served the king's table, as well as the
others, with every mark of humility, and would not sit down at it, in
spite of all his entreaties for him so to do, saying that "he was not
worthy of such an honor, nor did it appertain to him to seat himself
at the table of so great a king, or of so valiant a man as he had
shown himself by his actions that day." He added, also, with a noble
air, "Dear sir, do not make a poor meal because the Almighty God has
not gratified your wishes in the event of this day; for be assured
that my lord and father will show you every honor and friendship in
his power, and will arrange your ransom so reasonably, that you will
henceforward always remain friends. In my opinion, you have cause to
be glad that the success of this battle did not turn out as you
desired; for you have this day acquired such high renown for prowess
that you have surpassed all the best knights on your side. I do not,
dear sir, say this to flatter you: for all those of our side who have
seen and observed the actions of each party, have unanimously allowed
this to be your due, and decree you the prize and garland for it." At
the end of this speech, there were murmurs of praise heard from every
one; and the French said the prince had spoken nobly and truly, and
that he would be one of the most gallant princes in Christendom if God
should grant him life to pursue his career of glory.
A splendid and a gracious figure the Black Prince makes in the pages of
Froissart. It was great good fortune for the posthumous fame of chivalry
that the institution should have come by an artist so gifted and so
loyal as this Frenchman, to deliver its features in portrait to
after-times, before the living original vanished forever from the view
of history. How much the fiction of Sir Walter Scott owes to Froissart,
and to Philip de Comines after Froissart, those only can understand who
have read both the old chronicles and the modern romances.
It was one of the congenial labors of Sidney Lanier--pure flame of
genius that late burned itself out so swiftly among us!--to edit a
reduction or abridgment of Froissart's Chronicles dedicated especially
to the use of the young. "The Boy's Froissart," he called it. This book
is enriched with a wise and genial appreciation of Froissart's quality
by his American editor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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