[383] Magna Charta, cl. xiv. [384] Lord Lyttleton gives no higher date to this compulsory knighthood than the reign of Henry III. But it surely must have existed earlier, as it seems the natural consequence of the change of constitution, effected by William I., by his uniting chivalry to feudalism. [385] Wace tells us that William Rufus never could hear a knight of prowess spoken of without endeavouring to engage his services. "Li reis ros fu de grant noblesce Proz, et de mult grant largesce. N'oist de chevalier parler, Qui de proesse oist loer, Qui en son breif escrit ne fust, Et qui par an del soen n'eust." [386] H. Huntingdon, p. 381. Order. Vit. 854, &c. [387] Stephan. Descrip. Lond. p. 7. [388] Malmsbury, p. 121. [389] Vinesauf, p. 338. [390] Hoveden, p. 673. This principle of chivalric pride did not escape the good-humoured ridicule of Cervantes. "As for myself," answered the bruised Don Quixote, after his battle with the Yanguesian carriers, "I must own I cannot set a term to the days of our recovery; but it is I who am the fatal cause of all this mischief; for I ought not to have drawn my sword upon a company of fellows, upon whom the honor of knighthood was never conferred; and I do not doubt, but that the Lord of Hosts suffered this punishment to befall me for thus transgressing the laws of chivalry. Therefore, friend Sancho, observe what I am going to tell thee, for it is a thing that highly concerns the welfare of us both: it is, that, for the future, whenever thou perceivest us to be any ways abused by such inferior fellows, thou art not to expect I should offer to draw my sword against them, for I will not do it in the least; no, do thou then draw, and chastise them as thou thinkest fit; but if any knights come to take their parts, then will I be sure to step between thee and danger, and assault them with the utmost vigour and intrepidity." Don Quixote, part i. book 3. c. 1. [391] Hoveden, p. 687. [392] William of Newbridge, lib. v. c. 4. [393] M. of Westminster, p. 300. [394] Walsingham, p. 13. [395] Matthew of Westminster, p. 402. Hemingford, p. 592. [396] Walsingham, p. 8. Leland's Collectanea, p. 177. [397] He sent the head up to London, adorned in derision with a silver crown, that it might be exhibited to the populace in Cheapside, and fixed upon the Tower. Knyghton, p. 2465. Mr. Sharon Turner (History of England, vol. ii. p. 44.) judiciously contrasts the conduct of Edward with the reprimand of William the Conqueror, to the knight who had wounded the dead body of Harold. [398] Matthew of Westminster, p. 460.