[55] Of course, the terrible severity of the penalties made many persons who were guilty of relatively small offenses feel that they had sinned beyond pardon. They would, therefore, plunge into a career of great crimes, to "have their fling" ere the inevitable gallows. Chapter XI: The Education of a Feudal Nobleman. To the noble troubadour Bertran de Born, a congenial comrade of Richard the Lion Hearted, is attributed a little song which seems re-echoed in many a castle. Peace delights me not! War--be thou my lot! Law--I do not know Save a right good blow! [Sidenote: Nobles Delight in War] Even a seigneur who nods pious assent to all that the monks and priests affirm in praise of peace wishes in his heart that it were not sinful to pray for brisk fighting. To be a good warrior, to be able to take and give hard blows, to enjoy the delights of victory over doughty adversaries, and finally to die a warrior's death on "the field of honor," not a "cow's death" in one's bed--that is the ambition of nearly every noble worthy of his gentility. Bertran de Born has again expressed this brutal joy in still greater detail: I prize no meat or drink beside The cry, "On! On!" from throats that crack: The neighs when frightened steeds run wide, A riderless and frantic pack, And set the forest ringing:-- The calls, "Help! Help!"--the warriors laid Beside the moat with brows that fade To grass and stubble clinging:-- And then the bodies past all aid Still pierced with broken spear or blade.... Come barons, haste ye, bringing Your vassals for the daring raid;-- _Risk all--and let the game be played!_ Clearly other and supposedly more peaceful ages will find in the Feudal Epoch a very bloody world. There is at least this extenuation. Even in France the winters are cold, the days short, the nights long. Castles at best are chilly, musty barracks. Many people are living in a small space and are constantly jostling one another. Thanks to sheer ennui, many a baron becomes capricious and tyrannical. Even in summertime, hunts, hawking, jongleurs' lays, and tournaments grow stale. Often the average cavalier is in a receptive mood for war just because he is grievously bored. [Illustration: COSTUME OF A NOBLEMAN (THIRTEENTH CENTURY)]