Old Court Life in Spain, vol. 2/2Elliot, Frances Minto Dickinson
History
Old Court Life in Spain, vol. 2/2
Elliot, Frances Minto Dickinson
Spain -- Court and courtiers
Skins of animals killed in the chase cover the floor and are also
attached to the lower portion of the pillars which support the light
roof, adorned with flags and banners, the standard of St. George
conspicuous in the front. Beneath, on a table, lies a glancing axe,
ready, if needful, for all emergencies.
Outside, the building is covered with silken curtains under ranges of
feathers, tassels, and streamers flaunting in the light breeze, and at
the tented entrance are placed two large shields, one bearing the
cognisance of the Black Prince, the other the arms of England quartered
with the _fleur-de-lis_ of France.
Around gathers a brilliant court. Seneschals bedecked with chains of
gold, chamberlains in rich robes, worked with the escutcheons of England
and of Aquitaine, pages, warriors, the captains of companies who have
followed Edward in all his wars, hoary soldiers grown grey in many
battles, nobles arrayed in historic armour come down from generations of
warlike ancestors, bearing great names, Gallic and English, illustrious
in themselves and enhancing the greatness of their master. The two
younger brothers of the Prince of Wales, John of Gaunt, as brilliant as
a popinjay, to be ever known in history as “Time-honoured Lancaster,”
his younger brother, Edmund, Duke of York and Cambridge, a gallant young
prince--both wearing the blue badge of the new Order of the Garter at
their knee, and emulous of attracting the notice of Don Pedro’s young
daughters, of whose beauty report says much. The two Marshals of
Aquitaine, Sir Guiscard of Angoulême and Sir Stephen Coffington;
Beauchamp, Lord of Abergavenny, Lord Ralph Neville of Warwick, Clayton,
Sir John Tyrrell, Sir Hugh Hastings, the trusted ally of England Jean de
Montfort, and, though last, not least, the manly figure of Chandos, of
whom in these wars one hears so much--politician, tactician, and
constable of all the provinces of France. Others may assume various
modes and fantastic changes in dress and accoutrement, but Chandos never
changes and always appears in armour of proof, arrayed to take the
field.
In the centre, backed by the fanciful outline of the gay pavilion,
stands the Black Prince, ready at the first imitation of Don Pedro’s
arrival to advance and welcome him to his domains.
To suit the occasion, he is attired in a costume equally recalling the
court and the camp. A loose surcoat of blue velvet, heavily embroidered
with the arms of England, partly conceals the light suit of chain armour
which clings to his form; at his waist is a girdle to which an axe and
sword are attached, and on his head a cap edged by a jewelled coronet,
from which rise the three heron’s feathers of his device.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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