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MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND DRESS 
 
 THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2013 
 
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 THE QUEEN OF SHEBA BEFORE SOLOMON. 
 
 {Costume of 13'^ century.) 
 
 Fac-simile of a miniature from the Breviary of the cardinal Grimani, attributed to Memling. Bibl. 
 
 of S. Marc, Venice. (From a copy in the possession of M. Ambroise Firmin-Didot.) 
 
 The King inclines liis .so(!ptre towards the Queen indicating his appreciation of her person and her gifts; five ladies 
 attend the Queen and five of the King's courtiers stand on his right hand. 
 
MANNERS, CUSTOMS, 
 AND DRESS 
 
 nURING 
 
 THE MIDDLE AGES, 
 
 AND DURING 
 
 THE RENAISSANCE PERIOD. 
 
 Bv PAUL LACROLX 
 
 (Bibliophile Jacob*. 
 CURATOR Of THK IMPERIAL LIBRARY OF THE ARSl.NAL, PAR! 
 
 illustratci toitk 
 FIFTEEN' CHROMnLITHOGRAPHIC PRINTS H\ V. KELLF.RHOVEN, 
 
 AND UPWARDS Of 
 
 JOCR HCXnRED F.XuRAVlXGS ON WOOD. 
 
 LONDON : 
 CHAPMAN AND HALL. 193- PICCADILLY. 
 
 1874. 
 
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 HE several successive editions of "Tlie 
 Arts of the Middle Ages and Pei'iod 
 of the Renaissance " sufficiently 
 testify' to its appreciation by the 
 public. The object of that work was 
 to introduce the reader to a branch 
 of learning to which access had 
 hitherto appeared only permitted to 
 the scientific. That attempt, which 
 was a bold one, succeeded too well 
 not to induce us to push our researches further. In fact, art alone cannot 
 acquaint us entirely with an epoch. "The arts, considered in their generality, 
 are the true expressions of societ}'. They tell us its tastes, its ideas, and its 
 character." "We thus spoke in the preface to our first work, and we find 
 nothing to modify in this opinion. Art. must be the faithful expression 
 of a society, since it represents it by its works as it has created them — unde- 
 niable witnesses of its spirit and manners for future generations. But it must 
 be acknowledged that art is only the consequence of the ideas which it 
 expresses ; it is the fruit of civilisation, not its origin. To understand the 
 Middle Ages and the Renaissance, it is necessary to go back to the source 
 of its art, and to know the life of our fiithers ; these are two inseparable 
 things, which entwine one another, and become complete one by the other. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The Manners and Customs of the Middle Ages : — this subject is of the 
 greatest interest, not only to the man of science, but to the man of the world 
 also. In it, too, " we retrace not only one single period, but two periods 
 quite distinct one from the other." In the iirst, the public and private 
 customs offer a curious mixture of barbarism and civilisation. "We find bar- 
 barian, Roman, and Christian customs and character in presence of each 
 other, mixed up in the same society, and very often in the same individuals. 
 Everywhere the most adverse and opposite tendencies display themselves. 
 What an ardent struggle during that long period ! and how full, too, of 
 emotion is its picture ! Society tends to reconstitute itself in every aspect. 
 She wants to create, so to say, from every side, property, authority, justice, 
 &c., &c., in a word, everything which can establish the basis of public life ; 
 and this new order of things must be established by means of the elements 
 supplied at once by the barbarian, Homan, and Christian world — a prodigious 
 creation, the working of which occupied the whole of the Middle Ages. 
 Hardly does modern society, civilised by Christianity, reach the fulness of 
 its power, than it divides itself to follow different paths. Ancient art and 
 literature resuscitates because custom insensibly takes that direction. Under 
 that influence, everj^thing is modified both in private and public life. The 
 history of the human race does not present a subject more vast or more 
 interesting. It is a subject we have chosen to succeed our first book, and 
 which will be followed by a similar study on the various aspects of Religious 
 and Military Life. 
 
 This work, devoted to the vivid and faithful description of the Manners 
 and Customs of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, answers fully to the 
 requirements of contemporary times. We are, in fact, no longer content 
 with the chronological narration and simple nomenclatures which formerly 
 were considered sufiicient for education. We no longer imagine that the 
 history of our institutions has less interest than that of our wars, nor 
 that the annals of the humbler classes are irrelevant to those of the 
 privileged orders. We go further stiU. What is above all sought for in 
 historical works nowadays is the physiognomy, the inmost character of past 
 generations. "How did our fathers live?" is a daily question. "What 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 institutions had they ? What were their political rights ? Can you not 
 j^lace before us their pastimes, their hunting parties, their meals, and all sorts 
 of scenes, sad or gay, which composed their home life ? We should like to 
 follow them in public and private occupations, and to know their manner of 
 living hourlj^, as we know our own." 
 
 In a high order of ideas, what great facts serve as a foundation to our 
 history and that of the modern world I We have first royalty, which, weak 
 and debased under the Merovingians, rises and establishes itself energetically 
 under Pepin and Charlemagne, to degenerate under Louis le Debonnaire and 
 Charles le Chauve. After having dared a second time to found the Empire 
 of the Cajsars, it quickly sees its sovereignty replaced by feudal rights, and 
 all its rights usurped by the nobles, and has to struggle for many centuries 
 to recover its rights one by one. 
 
 Feudalism, evidently of Germanic origin, will also attract our attention, 
 and we shall draw a rapid outline of this legislation, which, barbarian at the 
 onset, becomes by degrees subject to the rules of moral progress. We shall 
 ascertain that military service is the essence itself of the "fief," and that 
 thence springs feudal right. On our way we shall protest against civil wars, 
 and shall welcome emancipation and the formation of the communes. Fol- 
 lowing the thousand details of the life of the people, we shall see the slave 
 become serf, and the serf become peasant. We shall assist at the dispensation 
 of justice by royalty and nobilitj^ at the solemn sittings of parliaments, and 
 we shall see the complicated details of a strict ceremonial, which formed an 
 integral part of the law, develop themselves before us. The counters of 
 dealers, fairs and markets, manufactures, commerce, and industry, also merit 
 our attention ; we must search deeply into corporations of workmen and 
 tradesmen, examining their statutes, and initiating ourselves into their 
 business. Fashion and dress are also a manifestation of public and private 
 customs ; for that reason we must give them particular attention. 
 
 And to accomplish the work wc have undertaken, we are lucky to have 
 the conscientious studies of our old associates in the great work of the 
 Middle Ages and the Renaissance to assist us : such as those of Emile Begin, 
 Elz^ar Blaze, Depping, Benjamin Gu^rard, Le Roux de Lincy, IT. Martin, 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Mary-Lafon, Francisque Michel, A. Monteil, Eabutau, Ferdinand Sere, 
 Horace de Viel-Castel, A. de la Yillegille, Yallet de Yiriville. 
 
 As in tlie A^olume of tlie Arts of the Middle Ages, engraving and chromo- 
 Hthography will come to our assistance by reproducing, by means of strict 
 fac-similes, the rarest engravings of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and 
 the most jjrecious miniatures of the manuscripts preserved in the principal 
 libraries of France and Europe. Here again we have the aid of the eminent 
 artist, M. Kellerhoven, who quite recently found means of reproducing with 
 so much fideKtj^ the gems of Italian painting. 
 
 PAUL LACROIX 
 
 (Bibliophile Jacob). 
 
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 TAELE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 CONDITION OF PEESONS AND LANDS , . 1 
 
 Disorganization of the West at the Beginning of the Middle Ages. — Mixture of Roman, 
 Germanic, and Gallic Institutions. — Fusion organized under Charlemagne. — Eoyal 
 Authority. — Position of the Great Feudalists. — Diiisiou of the Territory and Pre- 
 rogatives attached to Landed Possessions. — Freemen and Tenants. — The La?ti, the 
 Colon, "the Serf, and the Laboui-er, who may he called the Origin of the Modern 
 Lower Classes. — Formation of Communities. — Right of Mortmain. ; 
 
 PRIYILEGES AND RIGHTS (Feudal and Municipal) .... 28 
 
 Elements of Feudalism. — Rights of Treasure-trove, Sporting, Safe-Conducts, Ransom, 
 Disinheritance, &c. — Immimity of the Feudalists. — Dues from the Nohles to their 
 Sovereign. — Law and University Dues. — Curious Exactions resulting from the 
 Universal System of Dues. — Struggles to Enfranchise the Classes subjected to Dues. — 
 Feudal Spirit and Citizen Spirit. — Resuscitation of the System of Ancient Municipali- 
 ties in Italy, Germany, and France. — Municipal Institutions and Associations. — The 
 Community. — The Middle-Class Cities (Cites Bourgeoises). — Origin of National Unity. 
 
 PRIVATE LIFE IN THE CASTLES, THE TOWNS, AND THE RURAL 
 
 DISTRICTS 56 
 
 The Merovingian Castles. — Pastimes of the Kobles : Hunting, War. — Domestic Arrange- 
 ments. — Private Life of Charlemagne. — Domestic Habits under the Carlovingians. — ■ 
 Influence of Chivalry. — Simplicity of the Court of Philip Augustus not imitated by his 
 Successors. — Princely Life of the Fifteenth Century. — The bringing up of Latour 
 Landry, a Noble of Anjou, — Varlets, Pages, Esquires, Maids of Honour. — Opulence 
 of the Bourgeoisie. — " Le Menagier de Paris." — Ancient Dwellings. — State of Rustics 
 at various Periods. — " Rustic Sayings," by Noel du Fail. 
 
 FOOD AND COOKERY 105 
 
 History of Bread. — Vegetables and Plants used in Cooking. — Fruits. — Butchers' Meat. — 
 Poultry, Game. — MUk, Butter, Cheese, and Eggs. — Fish and Shellfish. — Beverages : 
 Beer, Cider, Wine, Sweet Wine, Refreshing Drinks, Brandy. — Cookery. — Soups, 
 BoUed Food, Pies, Stews, Salads, Roasts, Grills. — Seasoning, Truffles, Sugar, Ver- 
 juice. — Sweets, Desserts, Pastry. — Meals and Feasts. — Rules of Serving at Table from 
 the Fifteenth to the Sixteenth Centuries. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 Pag-e 
 
 HUNTING 178 
 
 Venery and Hawking. —Origin of Aix-la-Chapelle. — Gaston Phrebus and his Book. — 
 The Presiding Deities of Sportsmen. — Sporting Societies and Brotherhoods. — Sporting- 
 Kings: Charlemagne, Louis IX., Louis XI., Charles VIII., Louis XII., Francis I., 
 &c. — Treatise on Venery. — Sporting Popes. — Origin of Hawking. — Training Birds. — 
 Hawking Eetinues. — Book of King Modus. — Technical Terms used in Hawking. — 
 Persons who have excelled in this kind of Sport. — Fowling. 
 
 GAMES AND PASTIMES 217 
 
 Games of the Ancient Greeks and Ilomans. — Games of the Circus. — Animal Combats. — 
 Daring of King Pepin. — The King's Lions. — BUnd Men's Fights. — Cockneys of 
 Paris. — Champ de Mars. — Cours Plenieres and Cours Com'onnees. — Jugglers, Tumblers, 
 and Minstrels. — Eope-dancers. — Fireworks. — Gymnastics. — Cards and Dice. — Chess, 
 Marbles, and Billiards. — La Soule, La Pirouette, &c. — Small Games for Private 
 Society. — History of Dancing. — Ballet des Ardents.— The " Orchesographie " (Art of 
 Dancing) of Thoinot Ai-beau. — List of Dances. 
 
 COMMEECE 248 
 
 State of Commerce after the Fall of the Eoman Empii-e ; its Revival under the Frankish 
 Kings ; its Prosperity under Charlemagne ; its Decline down to the Time of the 
 Crusaders. — The Levant Trade of the East. — Flourishing State of the Towns of Pro- 
 vence and Languedoc. — Establishment of Fairs. — Fairs of Landit, Champagne, 
 Beaucaire, and Lyons. — Weights and Measures. — Commercial Flanders. — Laws of 
 Maritime Commerce. — Consular Laws. — Banks and Bills of Exchange. — French 
 Settlements on the Coast of Africa. — Consequences of the Discovery of America. 
 
 GUILDS AND TEADE COEPOEATIONS 269 
 
 Uncertain Origin of Corporations. — Ancient Industrial Associations. — The Germanic 
 Guild. — Colleges. — Teutonic Associations. — The Paris Company for the Transit of 
 Merchandise by "Water. — Corporations properly so called. — Etienne Boileau's " Book 
 of Trades," or the First Code of Regulations. — The Laws governing Trades. — Public 
 and Private Organization of Trade Corporations and other Communities. — Energy of 
 the Corporations. — Masters, Journeymen, Supernumeraries, and Apprentices. — 
 EeHgious Festivals and Trade Societies. — Trade Unions. 
 
 TAXES, MONEY, AND FINANCE . .300 
 
 Taxes under the Eoman Eule. — Money Exactions of the Merovingian Kings. — Varieties 
 of Money. — Financial Laws under Charlemagne. — Missi Dominici.— Increase of Taxes 
 owing to the Crusades. — Organization of Finances by Louis IX. — Extortions of Philip 
 le Bel. —Pecuniary Embarrassment of his Successors. — Charles V. re-establishes Order 
 in Finances.— Disasters of France under Charles VI., Charles VII., and Jacques 
 Coem-.— Changes in Taxation fi.-om Louis XI. to Francis I.— The Great Financiers.— 
 Florimond Eobertet. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 LAW AND THE ADMINISTKATION OF JUSTICE 341 
 
 The Family the Origin of Government. — Origin of Supreme Power amongst the 
 Franks. — The Legislation of Barharism humanised by Christianity. — Right of Justice 
 inherent to the Right of Property. — The Laws under Charlemagne. — Judicial Forms. 
 — Witnesses. — Duels, &c. — Organization of Royal Justice under St. Louis. — The 
 Chatelet and the Provost of Paris. — Jurisdiction of Parliament, its Duties and its 
 Responsibilities. — The Bailiwicks. — Struggles between Parliament and the Chatelet. — 
 Codification of the Customs and Usages. — Official Cupidity. — Comparison between 
 the Parliament and the Chatelet. 
 
 SECEET TRIBUNALS 381 
 
 The Old Man of the Mountain and his Followers in Syria. — The Castle of Alamond, 
 Paradise of Assassins. — Charlemagne the Founder of Secret Tribunals amongst the 
 Saxons. — The Holy Vehme. — Organization of the Tribunal of the Terre Rouge, and 
 Modes adopted in its Procedures. — Condemnations and Execution of Sentences. — 
 The Truth respecting the Free Judges of Westphalia. — Duration and Fall of the 
 Tehmic Tribunal. — Council of Ten, in Venice ; its Code and Secret Decisions. — End 
 of the Council of Ten. 
 
 PUNISmiENTS 407 
 
 Refinements of Penal Cruelty. — Tortures for different Purposes. — Water, Screw-boards, 
 and the Rack. — The Executioner. — Female E.xecutioners. — Tortui'es. — Amende 
 Honorable. — Torture of Fire, Real and Feigned. — Auto-da-fe. — Red-hot Brazier or 
 Basin. — Beheading. — Quartering. — The Wheel. — G-arotting. — Hanging. — The Whip. 
 — The Pillory. — The Arquebuse. — Tickling. — Flaj-ing. — Drowning. — Imprisonment. 
 — Regulations of Pri.^ons. — The Iron Cage. — " The Leads" of Venice. 
 
 JEWS . , 434 
 
 Dispersion of the Jews. — Jewish Quarters in the MediaBval Towns. — The Ghetio of 
 Rome. — Ancient Prague. — The Giudecca of Venice. — Condition of the ,Tews ; 
 Animosity of the People against them ; Vexatious Treatment and Severity of the 
 Sovereigns. — The Jews of Lincoln. — The Jews of Blois. — Mission of the Tas- 
 toureaux. — Extermination of the Jews. — The Price at which the Jews purchased 
 Indulgences. — Marks set upon them — Wealth, Knowledge, Industry, and Financial 
 Aptitude of the Jews. — Regulations respecting Usury as practised by the Jews. — 
 Attachment of the Jews to their Religion. 
 
 GIPSIES, TRAMPS, BEGGARS, AND COUES DES MIRACLES . . 456 
 
 First Appearance of Gipsies in the West. — Gipsies in Paris. — Manners and Cubtoms 
 of these Wandering Tribes. — Tricks of Captain Charles. — Gipsies expelled by Royal 
 Edict. — Language of Gipsies. — The Kingdom of Slang. — The Great Coesre, Chief of 
 the Vagrants; bis Vassals and Subjects. — Divisions of the Slang People ; its Decay, 
 and the Causes thereof. — Cours des Miracles. — The Camp of Rogues. — Cunning 
 Language, or Slang. — Foreign Rogues, Thieves, and Pickpockets. 
 
 b 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 CEREMONIALS 481 
 
 Origin of Modern Ceremonial. — Uncertainty of JTiench Ceremonial up to the End of the 
 Sixteenth Century. — Consecration of the Kings of France. — Coronation of the 
 Emperors of Germany. — Cunsecration of the Doges of Venice. — Marriage of the I)oge 
 ■with the Sea. — State Entries of Sovereigns. — An Account of the Entry of Isahel 
 of Bavaria into Paris. — Seats of Justice. — Visits of Ceremony between Persons of 
 Eank. — Mourning. — Social Courtesies. — Popular Demonstrations and National Com- 
 memorations. — New Year's Day. — Local Festivals. — Yim d'Honnmr. — Processions of 
 Trades. 
 
 COSTUMES 510 
 
 Influence of Ancient Costume. — Costume in the Fifth Century . — Hair. — Costumes in 
 the Time of Charleuiagne. — Origin of Modern National Diess. — Head-dresses and 
 Beards : Time of St. Louis. — Progre.ss of Dress : Trousers, Hose, Shoes, Coats, 
 Surcoats, Capes. — Changes in the Fashions of Shoes and Hoods. — Zivree. — Cloaks and 
 Capes. — Edicts against Extravagant Fashions. — Female Dress : Gowns, Bonnets, 
 Head-dresses, &c. — Disappearance of Ancient Dress. — Tight-fitting Gowns.— General 
 Character of Dress under Francis I. — Uniformity of Dress. 
 
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 TAELE OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 I. CHROMOLITHOGRAPHS. 
 
 I"'*** To face paje 
 
 1. The Queen of Sheba before Solomon. 
 
 Fac-simile of a Miniature from the 
 Breviarj' of Cardinal Grimani, attri- 
 buted to Memling. Costumea of the 
 Fifteenth Century. . . . Froxtisviece 
 
 2. The Court of Marie of Anjou, Wife of 
 
 Charles VII. Fac-simile of a Jlinia- 
 ture from the "DnuzePerilz d'Eufer." 
 Costumes of the Fifteenth Century . . 24 
 
 3. Louis XII. leaving Alexandria, on the 
 
 24th April, 1507, to chastise the 
 City of Genoa. From a Miniature 
 in the "Voyage de Genes" of Jean 
 Marot 42 
 
 4. A Young Mother's Retinue. Miniature 
 
 from a Latin " Terence ' ' of Charles VI. 
 Costumes of the Fourteenth Cen- 
 tury 76 
 
 5. Table Service of a Lady of Quality. 
 
 Fac-simile of a Miniature in the 
 " Uoman de Eonaud de Montaubiin." 
 Costumes of the Fifteenth Century . . 138 
 
 6. Ladies Hunting. From a Miniature in 
 
 a Manuscript Copy of " Ovid's 
 Epistles." Costumes of the Fifteenth 
 Century 184 
 
 7. A Court Fool. Fac-simile of a Minia- 
 
 ture in a Manuscript of the Fifteenth 
 Century 228 | 
 
 Plate To face page 
 
 8. The Chess-players. After a Miniature 
 
 of the "Three Ages of Man." (End 
 
 of the Fifteenth Century) 238 
 
 9. Martj-rdomof SS. Crispin andCrepinien. 
 
 From a "Windoiv in the Hopital des 
 Quinze-Vini;ts (Fifteenth Century) . . 288 
 
 10. Settlement of Accountsby the Brother- 
 
 hood of Charite-Dieu, Rouen, in 1466. 
 A Miniature from the " Livre dcs 
 Comptos" of this Society (Fifteenth 
 Ctentury) 326 
 
 11. Decapitation of Guillaume de Pommiers 
 
 and his Confessor at Bordeau.\ in 1377 
 
 (" Chroniques de Froissart") 418 
 
 12. The Jews' Passover. Fac-simile of a 
 
 Miniature in a Missal of the Fif- 
 teinth Century of the School of Van 
 Eyck 450 
 
 13. Entry of Charles VII. into Paris. A 
 
 Miniature from the " Chroniques 
 d'Enguerrand de Monstrelet." Cos- 
 tumes of the Sixteenth Century .... 404 
 
 14. St. Catherine sm-roundcd by the Doctors 
 
 of Alexandria. A Miniature from 
 the Breriary of C'nrdinal Grimani, 
 attributed to Memling. Costumes 
 of the Fifteenth Century 534 
 
 15. Italian Lace-work, in Gold-thread. The 
 
 Cypher and Anns of Henri III. 
 (Sixteenth Century) 544 
 
 II. ENGRAVINGS. 
 
 Aigues-Morlcs, Ramparts of the Town of . . 
 
 Alms Bag, Fifteenth Century 
 
 Amende honorable before the Tribunal .... 
 
 America, Di.scovery of 
 
 Anne of Brittany and the Ladies of her Court 
 
 Pago 
 
 ■12 
 
 27 
 
 414 
 
 263 
 
 SO 
 
 Pa^e 
 Archer, in Fighting Dress, Fifteenth Cen- 
 tury so 
 
 Armourer 'jxd 
 
 Arms of Louis XI. and Charlotte of Savoy 512 
 Arms, Various, Fiftceuth Ccuturv uo 
 
ENGRA VINGS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Bailiwick 3t)6 
 
 Bailliage, or Tribunal of the King's Bailiff, 
 
 Sixteenth Century 53 
 
 Baker, The, Sixteenth Century 108 
 
 Balancing, Feats of. Thirteenth Century . . 223 
 Ballet, Representation of a, before Henri 
 
 III. and his Court 506 
 
 Banner of the Coopers of Bayonne 151 
 
 „ ,, La Eochelle .... 151 
 
 „ Corporation ofBakersof Arras 109 
 
 „ „ Bakers of Paris 109 
 „ „ Boot and Shoe 
 
 Makers of Issoudun 285 
 
 ,, Corporation of Publichouse- 
 
 keepers of Slontmedy .... 150 
 „ Corporation of Publichouse- 
 
 keepers of Tonnerre 150 
 
 Drapers of Caen 299 
 
 ,, Harness-makers of Paris .... 286 
 
 „ Nail-makers of Paris 2S6 
 
 ,, Pastrycooks of Caen 161 
 
 ,, „ La Eochelle.. 161 
 
 „ „ Tonnerie 177 
 
 Tanners of Vic 286 
 
 ., Tilers of Paris 286 
 
 Weavers of Toulon 286 
 
 „ Wheelwrights of Paris 286 
 
 Banquet, Grand, at the Court of France . . 176 
 
 Barber 278 
 
 Barnacle Geese 129 
 
 Barrister, Fifteenth Century 378 
 
 Basin-maker 281 
 
 Bastille, The 431 
 
 Bears and other Beasts, how they may he 
 
 caught with a Dart 195 
 
 Beggar playing the Fiddle 474 
 
 Beheading 418 
 
 Bell and Canon Caster 281 
 
 Bird- catching, Fourteenth Century 213 
 
 Bird-piping, Fourteenth Century 212 
 
 Blind and Poor Sick of St. John, Fifteenth 
 
 Century 468 
 
 Boh Apple, The Game of 247 
 
 Bootmaker's Apprentice working at a Trial- 
 piece, Thirteenth Century 289 
 
 Bourbon, Constable de, Trial of, before the 
 
 Peers of France 362 
 
 Bourgeois, Thirteenth Century 21 
 
 Brandenburg, Marquis of 393 
 
 Brewer, The, Sixteenth Century 145 
 
 Brotherhood of Death, Member of the 402 
 
 Burgess of Ghent and his Wife, from a 
 
 Window of the Fifteenth Century S4 
 
 Burgess at Meals 119 
 
 Burgesses with Hoods, Fourteenth Century 78 
 
 Burning Ballet, The 244 
 
 Butcher, The, Sixteenth Century 124 
 
 Butler at his Duties 153 
 
 Page 
 Cards for a Game of Piquet, Sixteenth Cen- 
 tury 236 
 
 Carlovingiau King in his Palace 349 
 
 Cfirpenter, Fifteenth Century 297 
 
 Carpenter's Apprentice working at a Trial- 
 piece, Fifteenth Century 290 
 
 Cast to allure Beasts 183 
 
 Castle of Alamond, The 383 
 
 Cat-o'-nine-tails 433 
 
 Celtic Monument (the Holy Ox) 123 
 
 Chamber of Accounts, Hotel of the 320 
 
 Chandeliers in Bronze, Fourteenth Century 75 
 
 Charlemagne, The Emperor 347 
 
 ,, Coronation of 485 
 
 ., Dalmatica and Sandals of . . 487 
 ,, receiving the Oath of Fidelity 
 
 from one of his great Barons 1 7 
 
 „ Portrait of 9 
 
 Charles, eldest Son of King Pepin, receiving 
 
 the News of the Death of his Father 8 
 
 Charles V. and the Emperor Charles IV., 
 
 Interview between 498 
 
 Chateau-Gaillard aux Andelys 10 
 
 Chatelet, The Great 357 
 
 Cheeses, The Manufacture of, Sixteenth 
 
 Century 139 
 
 Chilperic, Tomb of. Eleventh Century .... 303 
 
 Clasp-maker 279 
 
 Cloth to approach Beasts, How to carry a. . 181 
 
 Cloth-worker 277 
 
 Coins, Gold Merovingian, 628-638 305 
 
 „ Gold, Sixth and Seventh Centuries . . 313 
 ,, ,, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Cen- 
 turies 318 
 
 „ Gold and Silver-, Thirteenth Century 313 
 ,, ,, Fifteenth and Six- 
 teenth Centuries 339 
 ,, Silver, Eighth to Eleventh Centuries 313 
 
 Cologne, View of. Sixteenth Century 397 
 
 Comb in Ivory, Sixteenth Century 88 
 
 Combat of a Knight with a Dog, Thirteenth 
 
 Century 353 
 
 Companion Carpenter, Fifteenth Century . . 295 
 
 Cook, The, Sixteenth Century 165 
 
 Coppersmith, The, Sixteenth Century . . 156, 281 
 Corn-thi-eshing and Bread-making, Six- 
 teenth Century 106 
 
 Costume of Emperors at their Coronation 
 
 since the Time of Charlemagne 489 
 „ King Childebert, Seventh Cen- 
 tury 513 
 
 ,, King Clovis, Sixth Century .... 513 
 ,, Saints in the Sixth to Eighth 
 
 Century 515 
 
 „ Prelates, Eighth to Tenth Cen- 
 tury 517 
 
 ,, a Scholar of the Curlovingian 
 
 Period 519 
 
ENGRA VINGS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Costume of a Scholar, Ninth Century 521 
 
 ,, a Bishop or Abbot, Ninth Century 521 
 ,, CharlestheSimple,Tenth Century 622 
 
 ,, Louis le Jeune 52i 
 
 ,, a Princess 526 
 
 ,, William Malgeneste, the King's 
 
 Huntsman 520 
 
 ,, an English Servant, Fourteenth 
 
 Century 531 
 
 Philip the Good 632 
 
 ,, Charles V., Iving of Prance 538 
 
 ,, Jeanne de Bourbon 538 
 
 ,, Charlotte of Savoy 545 
 
 , , Mary of Burgundy 646 
 
 ,, the Ladies of the Court of Cathe- 
 rine de Medicis 552 
 
 ,, a Gentleman ofthe French Court, 
 
 Sixteenth Century 553 
 
 ,, the German Bourgeoisie, Six- 
 teenth Centuiy 554 
 
 Costumes, Italian, Fifteenth Century 542 
 
 Costumes uf the Thirteenth Century 527 
 
 , , the Common People, Fourteenth 
 
 Century 529 
 
 ,, a rich Bourgeoise, of a Peasant- 
 
 woman, and of a Lady of the 
 Nobility, Fourteenth Century 534 
 ,, a Young Nobleman and of a 
 
 Bourgeois, Fourteenth Centurj' 536 
 ,, a Bourgeois or Merchant, of a 
 
 Nobleman, and of a Lady of 
 the Court or rich Bourgeoise, 
 
 Fifteenth Century ^ 540 
 
 ,, a Mechanic's Wife and a rich 
 
 Bourgeois, Fifteenth Century 543 
 ,, Young Noblemen of the Court 
 
 of Charles Vlir 648 
 
 ,, a Nobleman, a Bourgeois, and 
 
 a Nohle Lady, of the time of 
 
 Louis XII 650 
 
 ,, a rich Bourgeoise and a Noble- 
 man, time of Francis 1 551 
 
 Counter-seal of the Butchers of Bruges in 
 
 1356 121 
 
 Country Life 94 
 
 Cour des Miracles of Paris 472 
 
 Court Fool 229 
 
 „ of Love in Provence, Fourteenth Cen- 
 tury 67 
 
 „ of the Nobles, The 350 
 
 ,, Supreme, presided over by the King 370 
 
 „ of a Baron, The 372 
 
 ,, Inferior, in the Great Bailiwick .... 375 
 Courtiers amassing Riches at the Expense of 
 
 the Poor, Fourteenth Century 323 
 
 Courts of Love in Provence, Allegorical 
 
 Scene of. Thirteenth Centuiy 238 
 
 Craftsmen, Foui-teenth Centuiy 271 
 
 Page 
 
 Cultivation of Fruit, Fifteenth Century .. 116 
 ,, Grain, and Manufacture of 
 
 Barley and Oat Bread .... Ill 
 
 Dance called " La Gaillarde " 246 
 
 ,, of Fools, Thirteenth Century 228 
 
 „ by Torchlight '. 243 
 
 Dancers on Christmas Night 240 
 
 David playing on the Lyre 69 
 
 Dealer in Eggs, Sixteenth Centuiy 136 
 
 Deer, Appearance of, and how to hunt them 
 
 with Dogs 187 
 
 Deputies of the Burghers of Ghent, Four- 
 teenth Century 51 
 
 Dice-maker 279 
 
 Distribution of Bread, Meat, and Wine. . . . 222 
 Doge of Venice, Costume of the, before the 
 
 Sixteenth Centurj' .... 405 
 ,, in Ceremonial Costume of 
 
 the Sixteenth Century. . 405 
 
 ,, Procession of the 492 
 
 Dog-kennel, Fifteenth Century 191 
 
 Dogs, Diseases of, and their Cure, Four- 
 teenth Century 208 
 
 Dortmund, View of. Sixteenth Century .... 389 
 
 Drille, or Narquois, Fifteenth Century .... 470 
 
 Drinkers of the North, The Great 144 
 
 Druggist 278 
 
 Dues on Wine 36 
 
 Dyer 277 
 
 Edict, Promulgation of an 364 
 
 Elder and Juror, Ceremonial Dress of an . . 287 
 
 Elder and Jurors of the Tanners of Ghent 294 
 
 Floy, St., Signature of 3U4 
 
 Empalement 428 
 
 Entry of Louis XL into Paris 500 
 
 Equestrian Performances, Thirteenth Cen- 
 tury 226 
 
 Estrapade, The, or Question Extraordinary 408 
 
 Executions j l o 
 
 Exhibitor of Strange Animals 480 
 
 Falcon, How to train a New, Fourteenth 
 
 Century 202 
 
 ,, How to bathe a New 204 
 
 Falconer, Dress of the. Thirteenth Century 207 
 
 „ German, Sixteenth Century .... 209 
 
 Falconers, Thirteenth Centur_v 203 
 
 „ dressing their Birds, Fourteenth 
 
 Century 200 
 
 Falconry, Ait of. King Modus teaching the. 
 
 Fourteenth Century 199 
 
 ,, Varlets of. Fourteenth Centuiy . . 201 
 
 Families, The, and the Barbarians 34:i 
 
 Fight between a Horse and Dogs, Thirteenth 
 
 Ceuturj' 220 
 
 Fireworks on the Water 231 
 
ENGRA VINGS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Ksh, Conreyance of, by Water and Land. . 141 
 
 Flemish Peasants, Fifteenth Centmy 31 
 
 Franc, Silver, Henry IV 340 
 
 Franks, Fourth to Eighth Century 2 
 
 King or Chief of the, jSTinth Century 5 
 ,, King of the, dictating the Salic Law 6 
 Fredegonde giving orders to assassinate 
 Sigebert, from a Window of the Fif- 
 teenth Century 60 
 
 Free Judges 391 
 
 Funeral Token 2' 6 
 
 Gallo-Roman Costumes 511 
 
 Gaston Phrebus teaching the Art of Venery 180 
 
 German Beggars 477 
 
 „ Knights, Fifteenth Centui-y 398 
 
 Soldiers, Sixth to Twelfth Century 3 
 
 ,, Sportsman, Sixteenth Centirry ... . 185 
 
 Ghent, Civic Guard of 48 
 
 Gibbet of Montfaucon, The 423 
 
 Gipsies Fortune-telling 459 
 
 ,, on the March 457 
 
 Gipsy Encampment 462 
 
 „ Family, A 461 
 
 „ who used to wash his Hands in 
 
 Molten Lead 465 
 
 Goldbeater 278 
 
 (ioldsmith 278 
 
 Goldsmiths of Ghent, Names and Titles of 
 some of the Members of the Cor- 
 poration of, Fifteenth Century 293 
 ,, Group of. Seventeenth Century. . 283 
 Grain-measurers of Ghent, Arms of the .... 113 
 
 Grape, Treading the 117 
 
 Grocer and Druggist, Shop of a, Seven- 
 teenth Century 1 64 
 
 Hanging to Music 425 
 
 Hare, How to allure the 182 
 
 Hatter 277 
 
 Hawking, Lady setting out. Fourteenth 
 
 Century 206 
 
 Hawks, Young, how to make them fly, 
 
 Fourteenth Century 205 
 
 Hay-carriers, Sixteenth Century 259 
 
 Herald, Fom-teenth Century 483 
 
 Heralds, Lodge of the 14 
 
 Heron-hawking, Fom-teenth Century .... 210 
 
 Hostelry, Interior of an. Sixteenth Century 149 
 
 Hotel des TJrsins, Paris, Fourteenth Century 91 
 
 Hunting-meal 163 
 
 Imperial Procession 491 
 
 Infant Richard, The, crucilied by the Jews 
 
 at Pontoise 442 
 
 Irmensul and Crodon, Idols of the Ancient 
 
 Saxons 337 
 
 Page 
 
 Iron Cage 4a2 
 
 Issue de^Table, The 167 
 
 Italian Beggar 476 
 
 ,, Jew, Fourteenth Century 450. 
 
 ,, Kitchen, Interior of 162 
 
 ,, Nobleman, Fifteenth Century 25 
 
 Jacques Coiur, Amende honorable of, before 
 
 Charles VII 333 
 
 ,, House of, at Bourges 331 
 
 Je.an Jouvenel des Ursins, Provost of Paris, 
 and Michelle de Vitry, his Wife (Eeign 
 
 of Charles VI.) 35 
 
 Jerusalem, View and Plan of 453 
 
 Jew, Legend of a, calling the Devil from a 
 
 Vessel of Blood 452 
 
 Jewish Ceremony before the Ar-k 455 
 
 „ Conspiracy in France 416 
 
 ., Procession 418 
 
 Jews taking the Blood from Christian Chil- 
 dren 438 
 
 ,, of Cologne burnt alive. The 444 
 
 , , Expulsion of the, in the Reign of the 
 
 Emperor Hadrian 435 
 
 ,, Secret Meeting of the 440 
 
 John the Baptist, Decapitation of 411 
 
 John the Fearless, Duke of Biu-gundy, 
 
 Assassination of 328 
 
 Judge, Fifteenth Century 377 
 
 Judicial Duel, The 352 
 
 Jugglers exhibiting Monkej'S and Bears, 
 
 Thirteenth Century 225 
 
 ,, performing in Public, Thirteenth 
 
 Century 227 
 
 King-at-Arms presenting the Swcrd to the 
 
 Due de Bourbon 502 
 
 King's Court, The, or Grand Council, Fif- 
 teenth Century 359 
 
 Kitchen, Interior of a, Sixteenth Century .. 155, 159 
 
 „ and Table Utensils 157 
 
 Knile-handles in Ivory, Sixteenth Century 175 
 
 Knight in War-harness 16 
 
 Knight and his Lady, Fourteenth Century 73 
 Knights and Men-at-Arms of the Eeign of 
 
 Louis le Gros 11 
 
 Labouring Colons, TAvelfth Century .... 12,13 
 
 Lambert of Liege, St., Chimes of the Clock of 50 
 
 Landgrave of Thuringia and his Wife .... 390 
 
 Lawyer, Sixteenth Century 378 
 
 Leopard, Hunting with the, Sixteenth Cen- 
 tui-y 193 
 
 Lubeck and its Harbour, View of, Sixteenth 
 
 Century 261 
 
 Maidservants, Dress of, Tliirteenth Century 90 
 
 Mallet, Louis de, Admiral of France 82 
 
ENGRA VINGS. 
 
 rage 
 
 Itark's Place, St.,Venice, Sixteenth Century 44 
 Marseilles and its Harbour, View and Plan 
 
 of, Sixteenth Century 25o 
 
 lleasurers of Corn, Paris, Sixteenth C'entury 2.59 
 
 Measuring Salt 321 
 
 Jlerchaut Vessel in a Storm 254 
 
 Merchants and Lion-keepers at Conslanti- 
 
 nople 221 
 
 Merchants of Rouen, Medal to commemorate 
 
 the Association of the 267 
 
 Merchants of Rouen, Painting commemoia- 
 
 tive of the Union of. Seventeenth Century 29S 
 
 Merchants or Tradesmen,Fburteenth Century 273 
 
 Metals, The Extraction of 301 
 
 Mdler, The, Sixteenth Century 107 
 
 Mint, The, Sixteenth Century 335 
 
 Musician accompanj-ing the Dancing 245 
 
 New-born Child, The 86 
 
 Nicholas Flamel, and Pernelle, his Wife, 
 
 i'roni a Painting of the Fifteenth Century 93 
 Nobility, Cosiuraes of the, from the Seventh 
 
 to the Ninth Century 62 
 
 ,, Ladies of the, in the Ninth Century 04 
 Noble Ladies and Children, Dress of. Four- 
 teenth Century 77 
 
 Noble Lady and Maid of Honour, Four- 
 teenth Century 78 
 
 Noble of Provence, Fifteenth Century 198 
 
 Nobleman hunting 33 
 
 Nogent-le-Rotrou, Tower of the Castle of. . 65 
 
 Nut-crackers, Sixteenth Century 175 
 
 Occupations of the Peasants 95 
 
 Officers of the Table and of the Chamber of 
 
 the Imperial Court 171 
 
 Oil, The Jlanufacture of. Sixteenth Century 135 
 
 Old Man of the Mountain, The 3S5 
 
 Olifant, or Hunting-horn, Fourteenth Ceu- 
 
 tui-y 196 
 
 details of 197 
 
 Orphans, Callots, and Family of the Grand 
 
 Coesre, Fifteenth Century 467 
 
 Palace, The, Sixteenth Century 355 
 
 Palace of the Doges, Interior Court of the. . . 400 
 
 Paris, View of , 471 
 
 Partridges, "VVay to catch 190 
 
 Paying Toll on passing a Bridge 315 
 
 Peasant Dances at the May Feasts 212 
 
 Pheasant- fowling, Fourteenth Century .... 214 
 
 Philippe le Bel in War-dress 71 
 
 I'illory, View of the, in the Market-place of 
 
 Paris, Sixteenth Century 126 
 
 Pin and Needle Maker 279 
 
 Ploughmen. Fac-simile of a Miniature in 
 
 very ancient Anglo-Saxon Manugciipt . . 19 
 
 Pond Fisherman, The 140 
 
 Pont aux Changeurs, View of the ancient. . 316 
 
 Pcuk-butchcr, The, Fourteenth Century .. 122 
 
 Poulterer, The, Sixteenth Century 128 
 
 Poultr3--dealer, The 130 
 
 Powder-horn, Sixteenth Century 210 
 
 Pi ovost's Prison, The 429 
 
 Provostship of the Merchants of Paris, As- 
 sembly of the, Sixteenth Century 379 
 
 Punishment by Fii-e, The 415 
 
 Purse or Leather Bag, with Knife or Dagger, 
 
 Fifteenth C'entury 104 
 
 Receiver of Taxes, The 336 
 
 Remy, St., Bishop of Rhcims, begging of 
 C'lovis the restitution of the Sacred Vase, 
 
 Fifteenth Century 57 
 
 River Fishennan, The, Sixteenth C'entury 141 
 
 Roi de r Epinette, Entry of the, at Lille 5.4 
 
 Roman Soldiers, Sixth to Twelfth Century 3 
 
 Royal Costume 524 
 
 Ei(ffcs and Millards, Fifteenth Century 469 
 
 Sainte-Genevieve, Front of the Church of 
 
 the Abbey of 40 
 
 Sale by Town-Crier . . 309 
 
 Salt-cellar, enamelled. Sixteenth Century. . 173 
 
 Sandal or Buskin of Charlemagne 509 
 
 Sa.xony, Duke of 393 
 
 Sbirro, Chief of 404 
 
 Seal of the Butchers of Bruges in 1356 .... 125 
 Corporation of Carpenters of St. 
 
 Trund (Belgium) 276 
 
 Corporation of Clothworkers of 
 
 Bruges 276 
 
 ., Corporation of Fullers of St. 
 
 Trend 276 
 
 Corporation of Joiners of Bruges 276 
 ,. „ Shoemeakers of 
 
 St. Trend 276 
 
 ,, Corporation of Woolweavers of 
 
 Hasselt 276 
 
 ,, Free Count Hans VoUmar von 
 
 Twern 392 
 
 ,, Free Count Hcinridi Bcckniann 406 
 
 ,, „ Herman Loseckin . . 302 
 
 V ,. Johann Croppe. . . . 392 
 
 ,, King Chilperic 3no 
 
 ,, United Trades of Glient, Fif- 
 teenth Century 27 1 
 
 Seat of Justice held by Philippe de Valois . . 49() 
 Secret Tribunal, Execution of the Sentences 
 
 of the 39,3 
 
 Seoiur, Tower of the Castle of 65 
 
 Serf or Vassal, Tenth Century 20 
 
 Serjcants-at-Ai-ms, Fouiieenth Century .... 373 
 Sheijhords celebrating the Birth of the 
 
 Messiah i oi! 
 
 Shoemaker 9^ 
 
ENGRA VINGS. 
 
 rage 
 Shops under Covered Market, Fifteenth 
 
 Century 292 
 
 Shout and blow Horns, How to 184 
 
 Simon, Martyrdom of, at Trent 443 
 
 Slaves or Serfs, Sixth to Twelfth Century . . 4 
 
 Somersaults 233 
 
 Sport with Dogs, Fourteenth Centui-y 211 
 
 Spring-hoard, The 234 
 
 Spur-maker 280 
 
 Squirrels, Way to catch 189 
 
 Stag, How to kill and cut up a, Fifteenth 
 
 Century 133 
 
 Staircase of the Ofhce of the Goldsmiths of 
 
 Rouen, Fifteenth Century 291 
 
 Stall of Carved Wood, Fifteenth Century . . 120 
 
 Standards of the Church and the Empire . . 493 
 
 State Banquet, Sixteenth Century 131 
 
 Stoerteheck, Execution of 262 
 
 Styli, Fourteenth Century 76 
 
 Swineherd 119 
 
 Swiss Grand Provost 412 
 
 Sword-dance to the Sound of the Bagpipe, 
 
 Fourteenth Century 224 
 
 Sword-maker 280 
 
 Table of a Baron, Thirteenth Century .... 169 
 
 Tiiilor 277 
 
 Talehot the Hunchback 472 
 
 Tinman 281 
 
 Tithe of Beer, Fifteenth Century 37 
 
 Token of the Corporation of Carpenters of 
 
 Antwerp .. 276 
 ,, Carpenters of 
 
 Maestricht 276 
 
 Toll under the Bridges of Paris 321 
 
 „ on Markets, levied hy a Cleric, Fif- 
 teenth Century 307 
 
 Torture of the Wheel, Demons applying 
 
 the 421 
 
 Page 
 Tournaments m Honour of the Entry of 
 
 Queen Isabel into Paris 495 
 
 Tower of the Temple, Paris 312 
 
 Trade on the Seaports of the Levant, Fif- 
 teenth Century 252 
 
 Transport of Merchandise on the Backs of 
 
 Camels 250 
 
 University of Paris, Fellows of the, haran- 
 guing the Emperor Charles IV 38 
 
 V'arlet or Squire carrying a Halberd, Fif- 
 teenth Century 30 
 
 View of Alexandria, Sixteenth Century .... 249 
 
 Village Feast, Sixteenth Century 101 
 
 Village pillaged by Soldiers 338 
 
 Villain, the Covetous and Avaricious 99 
 
 ,, the Egotistical and Envious 98 
 
 „ or Peasant, Fifteenth Century .... 23 
 
 ,, receiving his Lord's Orders 96 
 
 Vine, Culture of the 117 
 
 Vintagers, The, Thirteenth Century 147 
 
 Votive Altar of the Nautes Parisiens 142 
 
 Water Torture, The 409 
 
 Weight in Brass of the Fish -market at 
 
 Mans, Sixteenth Century 268 
 
 Whale Fishing 257 
 
 William, Duke of Normandy, Eleventh 
 
 Century 46 
 
 Winegrower, The 118 
 
 Wire-worker 279 
 
 Wolves, how they ma}"" be caught with a 
 
 Snare 194 
 
 Woman under the Safeguard of Knight- 
 hood, Fifteenth Century 66 
 
 Women of the Court, Sixth to Tenth Centurj' 59 
 Woodcock, Mode of catching a, Fourteenth 
 
 Century 215 
 
MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND DRESS 
 
 THE MIDDLE AGES 
 
 AND DURING 
 
 THE RENAISSANCE PERIOD. 
 
MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND DRESS 
 
 DL'RIXG 
 
 THE MIDDLE AGES, 
 
 AND DURING 
 
 THE RENAISSANCE PERIOD. 
 
 CONDITION OF PEESOXS AND LANDS. 
 
 Disorganization of the West at the Beginning of the Middle Ages. — Mixture of Roman, Germanic, 
 and Gallic Institutions. — Fusion organized under Charlemague. — Royal Authority. — Position 
 of the Great Feudalists. — Division of the Territory and Prerogatives attached to Landed 
 Possessions. — Freemen and Tenants. — The Laeti, the Colon, the Serf, and the Lahourer, who 
 may be called the Ongin of the Modern Lower Classe?. — Formation of Communities. — 
 Eight of Mortmain. 
 
 HE period known as the Middle Ages, 
 says the learned Benjamin Guerard, 
 is the produce of Pagan civilisation, 
 of Germanic barbarism, and of Chris- 
 tianity. It began in 476, on the fall 
 of Agustulus, and ended in 1453, at 
 the taking of Constantinople by Ma- 
 homet II., and consequently the fall 
 of two empires, that of the West and 
 that of the East, marks its duration. 
 Its first act, which was due to the Ger- 
 mans, was the destruction of political unity, and this was destined to be after- 
 wards replaced by religious unity. Then we find a multitude of scattered and 
 disorderly influences growing on the ruins of central power. The yoke of 
 imperial dominion was broken by the barbarians ; but the poj)ulace, far from 
 acquiring liberty, fell to tlie lowe.st degrees of servitude. Instead of one 
 
 li 
 
 E 
 
 ^^^^Sl 
 
 
 »> -«^ 
 
 P 
 
 ^^ffl 
 
 1 
 
CONDITION OF 
 
 despot, it found thousands of tyrants, and it was but slowly and with much 
 trouble that it succeeded in freeing itself from feudalism. Kotliing could be 
 more strangely troubled than the "West at the time of the dissolution of the 
 Empire of the Cicsars ; nothing more diverse or more discordant than the 
 interests, the institutions, and the state of society, which were deliyered to the 
 Germans (Figs. 1 and 2). In fact, it would be impossible in the whole pages 
 of history to find a society formed of more heterogeneous or incompatible 
 
 Figs. 1 and 2.— Costumes of the Franks from the Fourth to the Eighth Centuries, collected by 
 H. de Vielcastel, from original Documents in the great Libraries of Europe. 
 
 elements. On the one side might be placed the Goths, Burgundians, 
 Vandals, Germans, Franks, Saxons, and Lombards, nations, or more strictly 
 hordes, accustomed to rough and successful warfare, and on the other, the 
 Romans, including those peoples who by long servitude to Koman domiaion 
 had become closely allied with their conquerors (Fig. 3). There were, on 
 both sides, freemen, freedmen, colons, and slaves ; different ranks and degrees 
 being, however, observable both in freedom and servitude. This hierarchical 
 principle applied itself even to the land, which was di^^ded into freeholds, 
 
PERSONS AND LANDS. 
 
 tributary lands, lands of the nobility and servile lands, thus constituting 
 the freeholds, the benefices, the fiefs, and the tenures. It may be added 
 that the customs, and to a certain degree the laws, varied according to the 
 
 Fig. 3. — Costumes of Roman Soldiers. Fig-. 4. — Costume of G-erman Soldiori). 
 
 From Miniatures on different Man\iscripts, from the Sixth to the Twelfth Centuries. 
 
 master.? of the country, so that it can hardly be wondered at that everywhere 
 diversity and inequality were to be foimd, and, as a consequence, that anarcliy 
 and confusion ruled supreme. 
 
CONDITION OF 
 
 The Grermans (Fig. 4) had brought with them over the Rhine none of the 
 heroic virtues attributed to them by Tacitus when he wrote their history, with 
 the evident intention of making a satire on his countrymen. Amongst the 
 deo-enerate Eomans whom those ferocious Germans had subjugated, civilisa- 
 tion was reconstituted on the ruins of vices common in the early history of a 
 new society by the adoption of a series of loose and dissolute habits, both 
 by the conquerors and the conquered. 
 
 In fact, the conquerors contributed the worse share (Fig. 5) ; for, whilst 
 exercising the low and debasing instincts of their former barbarism, they 
 
 Fig. 5. — Costumes of Slaves or Serfs, from the Sixth to the Twelfth Centuries, collected by 
 H. de Vielcastel, from original Documents in the great Libraries of Europe. 
 
 vindertook the work of social reconstruction with a sort of natural and innate 
 servitude. To them, liberty, the desire for which caused them to brave the 
 greatest dangers, was simply the right of doing evil — of obeying their ardent 
 thirst for plunder. Long ago, in the depths of their forests, they had 
 adopted the curious institution of vassalage. When they came to the West 
 to create States, instead of reducing personal power, every step in their social 
 edifice, from the top to the bottom, was made to depend on individual 
 superiorit}'. To bow to a superior was their first political principle ; and 
 on that principle feudalism was one day to find its base. 
 
PERSONS AND LANDS. 
 
 Servitude was in fact to be found in all conditions and ranks, equally 
 in the palace of the sovereign as in the dwellings of his subjects. The 
 vassal who was waited on at his own table by a varlet, himself served 
 at the table of his lord ; the nobles 
 treated each other likewise, according 
 to their rank ; and all the exactions 
 which each submitted to from his 
 superiors, and required to be paid to 
 him by those below him, were looked 
 upon not as onerous duties, but as 
 rights and honours. The sentiment 
 of dignity and of personal independ- 
 ence, which has become, so to say, the 
 soul of modern society, did not exist 
 at all, or at least but very slightly, 
 amongst the Germans. If we could 
 doubt the fact, we have but to re- 
 member that these men, so proud, 
 so indifferent to suffering or death, 
 would often think little of staking 
 their liberty in gambling, in the hope 
 that if successful their gain might 
 afford them the means of gratifying 
 some brutal passion. 
 
 When the Franks took root in 
 Gaul, their dress and institutions were 
 adopted by the Roman society (Fig. 6). 
 This had the most disastrous influence 
 in every point of view, and it is easy 
 to prove that civilisation did not 
 emerge from this chaos until by 
 degrees the Teutonic spirit disnppeared 
 from the world. As long as this spirit 
 
 reigned, neither private nor pubHc liberty existed. Individual patriotism 
 only extended as far as the border of a man's family, and the nation became 
 broken up into clans. Gaul soon fuund itself parcelled off into domains 
 
 Fig. 6.— King or Chief of Franks arnaed with 
 the Scramasax, from a Miniature of the Nintli 
 Century, di-awn hy II. de Vielcastel. 
 
CONDITION OF 
 
 which were almost independent of one another. It was thus that Germanic 
 genius became developed. 
 
 The advantages of acting together for mutual protection first established 
 itself in families. If any one suifered from an act of violence, he laid the 
 matter before his relatives for them jointly to seek reparation. The question 
 was then settled between the families of the offended person and the offender, 
 all of whom were equally associated in the object of vindicating a cause 
 
 Fig. 7. — The King of the Franks, in the midst of the Military Chiefs who formed his Treuste, or 
 armed Court, dictates the Salic Law (Code of the Barharic Laws). — Fac- simile of a Miniatvire in 
 the " Chronicles of St. Denis," a Manuscript of the Fourteenth Century (Library of the Arsenal). 
 
 which interested them alone, without recognising any established authorit}^ 
 and without appealing to the law. If the parties had sought the protection or 
 advice of men of power, the quarrel might at once take a wider scope, and 
 tend to kindle a feud between two nobles. In any case the King only 
 interfered when the safety of his person or the interests of his dominions 
 were threatened. 
 , Penalties and punishments were almost always to be averted by a money 
 
PERSONS AND LANDS. 
 
 piyment. A sou, for instance, instead of avenging the death of his father, 
 received from the murderer a certain indemnity in specie, according to legal 
 tariff; and the law was thus satisfied. 
 
 The tariff of indemnities or compansations to be p lid for each crims formed 
 the basis of the code of laws amongst the principal tribes of Franks, a code 
 essentially barbarian, and called the Salic law, or law of the SaKans (Fig. 7). 
 Such, however, was the spirit of inequality among the German races, 
 that it became an established principle for justice to be subservient to the 
 rank of individuals. The more powerful a man was, the more he was 
 protected by the law ; the lower his rank, the less the law protected him. 
 
 The life of a Frank, by right, was worth twice that of a Roman ; the life 
 of a servant of the King was worth three times that of an ordinary individual 
 who did not possess that protecting tie. On the other hand, punishment was 
 the more jDrompt and rigorous according to the inferiority of jjosition of the 
 culprit. In case of theft, for instance, a person of importance was brought 
 before the King's tribunal, and as it respected the rank held by the accused 
 in the social hierarchy, Kttle or no punishment was awarded. In the case of 
 the same crime by a poor man, on the contrary, the ordinary judge gave 
 immediate sentence, and he was seized and hung on the spot. 
 
 Inasmuch as no political institutions amongst the Germans were nobler or 
 more just than those of the Franks and the other barbaric races, we cannot 
 accept the creed of certain historians who have represented the Germans 
 as the true regenerators of society in Europe. The two sources of modern 
 civilisation are indisputably Pagan antiquity and Christianity. 
 
 After the fall of the Merovingian kings great progress was made in the 
 political and social state of nations. These kings, who were but chiefs 
 of undisciplined bands, were unable to assume a regal character, properly 
 so called. Their authority was more personal than territorial, for incessant 
 changes were made in the boundaries of their conquered dominions. It was 
 therefore with good reason that they styled themselves kings of the Franks, 
 and not kings of France. 
 
 Charlemagne was the first who recognised that social union, so admir- 
 able an example of which was furnished by Roman organization, and who 
 was able, with the very elements of confusion and disorder to which he 
 succeeded, to unite, direct, and consolidate diverging and opposite forces, 
 to establish and regulate public administrations, to found and build towns, 
 
CONDITION OF 
 
 and to form and reconstruct almost a new world (Fig. 8) . We hear of him 
 assigning to each his place, creating for all a common interest, making of a 
 crowd of small and scattered peoples a great and powerful nation ; in a 
 
 T~"^^ipfra3WF^r^ 
 
 T^^^ ^=^-^^^^^=^ ii i i iiV """ 
 
 Fig. 8.— Charles, eldest Son of King Pepin, receives the News of the Death of his Father, and the 
 Great Feudalists otter him the Crown.— Costumes of the Court of Burgundy in the Fifteenth 
 Century.— Fac-simile of a JMiniature of the " History of the Emperors " (Library of the Arsenal). 
 
 word, rekindling the beacon of ancient civilisation. When he died, after 
 a most active and glorious reign of forty-five years, he left an immense 
 empire in the most perfect state of peace (Fig. 9). But this magnificent 
 inheritance was unfortunately destined to pass into unworthy or impotent 
 
PERSONS AND LANDS. 
 
 hands, so that society soon fell back into anarchy and confusion. Tlio nol)les, 
 in their turn invested with power, were continvially at war, and gradually 
 weakened the royal authority — the power of the kingdom — by their endless 
 disputes with the Crown and with one another. 
 
 The revolution in society which took place under the Carlovingian 
 
 Fig. 9. — Portrait of Charlemagne, whom the Song of Uoland names the King with the Grizzly 
 Beard. — Fac-simile of an Engraving of the End of the Sixteenth Century. 
 
 dynasty had for its especial object that of rendering territorial what was 
 formerly personal, and, as it were, of destroying personality in matters of 
 government. 
 
 The usurpation of lands by the great having been thus limited by the 
 influence of the lesser holders, everybody tried to become the holder of land. 
 Its possession then formed the basis of social position, and, as a consequence, 
 
 c 
 
CONDITION OF 
 
 individual servitude became lessened, and society assumed a more stable con- 
 dition. The ancient laws of wandering tribes fell into disuse ; and at the 
 same time many distinctions of caste and race disappeared, as they were 
 incompatible with the new order of things. As tbere were no more Salians, 
 Ripuarians, nor Visigoths among the free men, so there were no more colons, 
 Ijeti, nor slaves amongst those deprived of liberty. 
 
 Heads of families, on becoming attached to tbe soil, naturally had 
 otber wants and other customs tban those which, tbey had delighted 
 in when they were only the chiefs of wandering adventurers. The 
 strength of their followers was not now so important to tbem as 
 the security of their castles. Fortresses took the place of armed 
 bodies ; and at this time, every one who wished to keep what he had. 
 
 Figs. 10 and 11. — Present State of the Feudal Castle of Chateau-Gaillard aux Andelys, which. 
 was considered one of the strongest Castles of France in the Middle Ages, and was rebuilt in 
 the Twelfth Century hy Richard Ca?ur de Lion. 
 
 entrenched himself to the best of his ability at his own residence. 
 The banks of rivers, elevated positions, and all inaccessible heights, were 
 occupied by towers and castles, surrounded by ditches, which served as 
 strongholds to the lords of the soil (Figs. 10 and 11). These places of 
 defence soon became points for attack. Out of danger at home, many of 
 the nobles kept watch like birds of prey on the surrounding country, and 
 were always ready to fall, not only upon their enemies, but also on their 
 neighbours, in the hope either of robbing them when oflf their guard, or of 
 obtaining a ransom for any unwary traveller who might fall into their hands. 
 Everywhere society was in ambuscade, and waged civil war — individual 
 against individual — without peace or mercy. Such was the reign of feudalism. 
 It is unnecessary to point out how this system of perpetual petty warfare 
 
PERSONS AND LANDS. 
 
 tc'iulod to I'educe the power of ccntralisutiou, and bow royalty it.solf was 
 weakened towards the end of the second djnaasty. When the descendants of 
 Hugh Capet wished to restore their power b)^ giving it a hxrger basis, they 
 were obliged to attack, one after the other, all these strongholds, and practi- 
 cally to re-annex each fief, city, and province held by these petty monarchs, 
 in order to force their owners to recognise the sovereignty of the King. 
 Centuries of war and negotiations became necessary before the kingdom of 
 France coidd be, as it were, reformed. 
 
 Fig. 12. — Knights and Men-at-arms, cased in Mail, in the Reign of liOuis le Gros, from a Miniature 
 in a Psalter written towards the End of the Twelfth Centurj-. 
 
 The corporations and the citizens had great weight in restoring the 
 monarchical power, as well as in forming French nationality ; but by far the 
 best influence brought to bear in the Middle Ages was that of Christianity. 
 The doctrine of one origin and of one final destiny being common to all 
 men of all classes constantly acted as a strong inducement for thinking that 
 all should be equally free. Religious equality paved the way for political 
 equality, and as all Christians were brothers before God, the tendency was for 
 them to become, as citizens, equal also in law. 
 
CONDITION OF 
 
 This transformation, however, was but slow, and followed concurrently 
 the progress made in the security of property. At the onset, the slave only 
 possessed his life, and this was but imperfectly guaranteed to him by the 
 laws of charity ; laws which, however, year by year became of greater power. 
 He afterwards became colon, or labourer (Figs. 13 and 14), working for 
 himself under certain conditions and tenures, paying fines, or services, which, 
 it is true, were often very extortionate. At this time he was considered to 
 belong to the domain on which he was born, and he was at least sure that 
 that soil would not be taken from him, and that in giving part of his time to 
 his master, he was at liberty to enjoy the rest according to his fancy. The 
 farmer afterwards became proprietor of the soil he cultivated, and master, not 
 only of himself, but of his lands ; certain trivial obligations or fines being all 
 
 Fig. 13.— Labouring Colons (Twelfth Century), after a Miniature in a Manuscript of the 
 Ste. Chapelle, of the National Library of Paris. 
 
 that was required of him, and these daily grew less, and at last disap- 
 peared altogether. Having thus obtained a footing ia society, he soon began 
 to take a place in provincial assemblies ; and he made the last bound on 
 the road of social progress, when the vote of his fellow-electors sent him to 
 represent them in the parliament of the kingdom. Thus the people who 
 had begun by excessive servitude, gradually climbed to power. 
 
 We wiU now describe more in detail the various conditions of persons of 
 the Middle Ages. 
 
 The King, who held his rights by birth, and not by election, enjoyed 
 relatively an absolute authority, proportioned according to the power of his 
 abilities, to the extent of his dominions, and to tlie devotion of his vassals. 
 Invested with a power which for a long time resembled the command of a 
 
PJERSONS AND LANDS. 
 
 1-3 
 
 general of an army, he had at first no other ministers than the officers to 
 whom he gave full power to act in the provinces, and who decided arbitrarily 
 in the name of, and representing, the King, on all questions of administra- 
 tion. One minister alone approached the King, and that was the chancellor, 
 who verified, sealed, and dispatched all royal decrees and orders. 
 
 As early, however, as the seventh centurj', a few officers of state appeared, 
 who were speciallj' attached to the King's person or household ; a cou.nt of the 
 palace, who examined and dii'ected the suits brought before the throne ; a 
 mayor of the palace, who at one time raised himself from the administration 
 of the royal property to the supreme power ; an arch-chaplain, who presided 
 over ecclesiastical affairs; a lord of the bedchamber, charged with the 
 
 Fig. 14. — Labouring Colons (Twelfth Century), alter a Miniature in a Manuscript of the 
 Ste. Chapelle, of the National Library of Paris. 
 
 treasure of the chamber ; and a count of the stable, charged with the .super- 
 intendence of the stables. 
 
 For all important affairs, the King generally considted the grandees of his 
 court ; but as in the five or six first centuries of monarchy in France the 
 royal residence was not permanent, it is probable the Council of State was 
 composed in part of the officers who followed the King, and in part of the 
 noblemen who came to visit him, or resided near the place he happened to 
 be inhabiting. It was only under the Capetians that the Eoyal Council 
 took a permanent footing, or even assembled at stated periods. 
 
 In ordinary times, that is to say, when he was not engaged in war, the 
 King had few around him besides his family, his personal attendants, and the 
 
'4 
 
 CONDITION OF 
 
 ministers cliarged with the dispatch of alFairs. As he changed from one of 
 his abodes to another he only hekl his court on the great festivals of the 
 year. 
 
 Fig. 15. — The Lords and Barons prove their Nohility by hanging their Banners and exposing 
 their Coats- of-arms at the Windows of the Lodge of the Heralds. — After a Miniature of the 
 " Tournaments of King Rene " (Fifteenth Century), MSS. of the National Library of Paris. 
 
 Up to the thirteenth century, there was, strictly speaking, no taxation 
 and no public treasury. The King received, through special officers 
 
PERSONS AND LANDS. 15 
 
 appointed for the purpose, tributes either in money or in kind, whieh were 
 most variable, but often very heavy, and drawn almost exclusively from his 
 personal and private properties. In cases of emergency only, he appealed to 
 his vassals for pecuniarj^ aid. A great number of the grandees, who lived far 
 from the court, cither in state offices or on their own fiefs, had establish- 
 ments similar to that of the King. Numerous and considerable privileges 
 elevated them above other free men. The offices and fiefs having become 
 hereditary, the order of nobility followed as a consequence ; and it then 
 became highly necessary for families to keep their genealogical histories, 
 not only to gratify their pride, but also to give them the necessary titles for 
 the feudal advantages they derived by birth (Fig. 15). Without this right of 
 inheritance, societj^ which was still imsettled in the Middle xVges, woidd 
 soon have been dissolved. This great principle, sacred in the eyes both of 
 great and small, maintained feudalism, and in so doing it maintained itself 
 amidst all the chaos and confusion of repeated revolutions and social dis- 
 turbances. 
 
 We have already stated, and we cannot sufficiently insist upon this 
 important point, that from the day on which the adventurous habits of the 
 chiefs of Germanic origin gave place to the desire for territorial possessions, 
 the part played by the laud increased insensibly towards defining the position 
 of the persons holding it. Domains became small kingdoms, over which the 
 lord assumed the most absolute and arbitrary rights. A rule was soon 
 established, that the nobility was inherent to the soil, and consequently that 
 the land ought to transmit to its possessors the rights of nobility. 
 
 This privilege was so much accepted, that the long tenure of a fief ended 
 by ennobling the commoner. Subsequently, by a sort of compensation which 
 naturally followed, lands on which rent had hitherto been paid became free 
 and noble on passing to the possession of a noble. At last, however, the 
 contrary rule prevailed, which caused the lands not to change quality in 
 changing owners : the noble could still possess the labourer's lands without 
 losing his nobility, but the labourer could be proprietor of a fief without 
 thereby becoming a noble. 
 
 To the comites, who, according to Tacitus, attached themselves to the 
 fortunes of the Germanic chiefs, succeeded the Merovingian Icttdes, whose 
 assembly formed the King's Council. These leudcs were joersons of great 
 importance owing to the number of their vassals, and although they composed 
 
i6 
 
 CONDITION OF 
 
 his ordinary Council, they did not hesitate at times to declare themselves 
 openly opposed to his will. 
 
 Fig. 16. — Knight in War-harness, after a Jiliniature in a Psalter -m-itten and iUuminaled 
 under Louis le Gros. 
 
 The name of leudes was abandoned under the second of the then French 
 dynasties, and replaced by that of fideles, which, in truth, soon became a 
 common designation of both the vassals of the Crown and those of the nobility. 
 
PERSONS AND LANDS. 
 
 '7 
 
 Under the kings of the third dynasty, the kingxlom was divided into 
 about one hundred and fifty domains, which were called great fiefs of the 
 crown, and which were possessed in hereditary right by the members of 
 the highest nobility, placed immediately under the royal sovereignty and 
 dependence. 
 
 Vassals emanating directly from the King, were then generally designated 
 by the title of barons, and mostly j)Ossessed strongholds. The other nobles 
 indiscriminalely ranked as cJievaliers or cniglits, a generic title, to which was 
 
 Fig. 17.— King Charlemagne receiving the Oath of Fidelity and Homage from one of his great 
 Feudatories or High Barona. — Fac-simile of a Miniature in Cameo, of the " Chronicles of St. 
 Denis." Manuscript of the Fourteenth Century (Library of the Ai-senal). 
 
 added that of banneret. The fiefs of hauberk were bound to sujDply the 
 sovereign with a certain number of knights covered with coats of mail 
 and completely armed. All knights were mounted in war (Fig. 16) ; but 
 knights who were made so in consequence of their high birth must not 
 be confounded with those who became knights by some great feat in arms 
 in the house of a prince or high noble, nor with the members of the 
 different orders of chivalry which were successively instituted, such as the 
 Knights of the Star, the Genet, the Golden Fleece, Saint-Esprit, 8t. John 
 
 D 
 
,8 CONDITION OF 
 
 of Jerusalem, &c. Originally, the possession of a benefice or fief meant 
 no more than the privilege of enjoying the profits derived from the land, 
 a concession which made the holder dependent upon the proprietor. He 
 was in fact his " man," to whom he owed homage (Fig. 17), service in 
 case of war, and assistance in any suit the proprietor might have before the 
 King's tribunal. The chiefs of German bands at first recompensed their 
 companions in arms by giving them fiefs of parts of the territory which 
 they had conquered ; but later on, everything was equally given to be held in 
 fief, namely, dignities, offices, rights, and incomes or titles. 
 
 It is important to remark (and it is in this alone that feudalism shows 
 its social bearing) , that if the vassal owed obedience and devotion to his lord, 
 the lord in exchange owed protection to the vassal. The rank of " free man" 
 did not necessarily require the possession of land ; but the position of free men 
 who did not hold fiefs was extremely delicate and often painful, for they were 
 by natural right dependent upon those on whose domain they resided. In 
 fact, the greater part of these nobles without lands became by choice 
 the King's men, and remained attached to his service. If this failed them, 
 they took lands on lease, so as to support themselves and their families, 
 and to avoid falling into absolute servitiide. In the event of a change 
 of proprietor, they changed with the land into new hands. Neverthe- 
 less, it was not uncommon for them to be so reduced as to sell their 
 freedom ; but in such cases they reserved the right, should better times 
 come, of re-purchasing their liberty by paying one-fifth more than the sum 
 for which they had sold it. 
 
 We thus see that in olden times, as also later, freedom was more or less 
 the natural consequence of the possession of wealth or power on the part of 
 individuals or fiimilies who considered themselves free in the midst of 
 general dependence. During the tenth century, indeed, if not impossible, 
 it was at least difficult to find a single inhabitant of the kingdom of France 
 who was not "the man" of some one, and who was either tied by rules of a 
 liberal order, or else was under the most servile obligations. 
 
 The property of the free men was originally the " aim," which was under 
 the jurisdiction of the royal magistrates. The aleu gradually lost the greater 
 part of its franchise, and became liable to the common charges due on lands 
 which were not freehold. 
 
 In ancient times, all landed property of a certain extent was composed of 
 
PERSONS AND LANDS. 
 
 19 
 
 two distinct parts : one, occupied by the owner, constituted the domain or 
 manor ; the other, divided between persons who were more or less dependent, 
 formed what were called tenures. These tenures were again divided accord- 
 ing to the position of those who occupied them : if they were possessed by free 
 men, who took the name of vassals, they were called benefices or fiefs ; if 
 they were let to laeti, colons, or serfs, they were then called colonies or 
 demesnes. 
 
 The hetl occupied a rank between the colon and the serf They had less 
 liberty than the colon, over whom the proprietor only had an indirect and very 
 
 C^o^^peiiefe :ptoi9:f5ettku8:^pme3tui)k 
 
 Fig. 18. — Ploughmen. — Fac-simile of a Miniatiire in a very ancient Anglo-Saxon Manuscript, 
 published by Shaw, with legend " God Sp&le ye Plough, and send us Kome enow." 
 
 limited power. The colon only served the land, whilst the lacti, whether 
 agriculturists or servants, served both the land and the owner (Fig. 18). 
 They nevei-theless enjoyed the right of possession, and of defending them- 
 selves, or prosecuting by law. The serf, on the contrarj^ had neither city, 
 tribunal, nor family. The laeti had, besides, the power of purchasing their 
 liberty when they had amassed sufficient for the purpose. 
 
 Serfs occuj)ied the lowest po.sition in the social ladder (Fig. 19). They 
 succeeded to slaves, thus making, thanks to Christianity, a step towards 
 
CONDITION OF 
 
 liberty. Althougli the civil laws barely protected them, those of the Church 
 continually stepped in and defended them from arbitrary despotism. The 
 time came when they had no direct masters, and when the almost absolute 
 dependence of serfs was changed by the nobles requiring them to farm 
 the land and pay tithes and fees. And lastly, they became farmers, and 
 regular taxes took the place of tithes and fees. 
 
 The colons, laeti, and serfs, all of whom were more or less tillers of the 
 soil, were, so to speak, the ancestors of "the people" of modern times; 
 those who remained devoted to agriculture were the ancestors of our peasants; 
 
 Fig. 19.— Serf or Vassal of Tenth Century, from Miniatures in the " Dialogues of St. Gregory," 
 Manuscript No. 9917 (Royal Library of Brussels). 
 
 and those who gave themselves up to trades and commerce in the towns, 
 were the originators of the middle classes. 
 
 As early as the commencement of the third royal dynasty we find in 
 the rural districts, as well as in the towns, a great number of free men ; and 
 as the charters concerning the condition of lands and persons became more 
 and more extended, the tyranny of the great was reduced, and servitude 
 decreased. Dming the following centuries, the establishment of civic bodies 
 and the springing up of the middle classes (Fig. 20) made the acquisition 
 of liberty more easy and more general. Nevertheless, this liberty was rather 
 theoretical than practical ; for if the nobles granted it nominally, they gave it 
 
 I 
 
PERSONS AND LANDS. 
 
 at tlie cost of excessive fines, and the community, which purchased at a high 
 price the right of self-administration, did not get rid of any of the feudal 
 charges imposed upon it. 
 
 Fortunately for the progress of libertj', the ci\ic bodies, as if they had 
 been providentially warned of the future in store for them, never hesitated 
 to accept from their lords, civil or ecclesiastical, conditions, onerous though 
 they were, which enabled them to exist in the interior of the cities to which 
 
 Fig 20. — Bourgeois .it the End of Thirteenth Century.— Fiic-simile of Miniature in Manusrriiit 
 Kg. 0820, in the National Lihrary of Paris. 
 
 tliey belonged. They formed a sort of small state, almost independent for 
 private affairs, subject to the absolute power of the King, and more or less 
 tied by their customs or agreements with the local nobles. They held public 
 assemblies and elected magistrates, whose powers embraced both the adminis- 
 tration of civil and criminal justice, police, finance, and the militia. They 
 generally had fixed and written laws. Protected by ramparts, each possessed 
 
CONDITION OF 
 
 a town-liall {hotel de ville), a seal, a treasurjf, and a watcli-tower, and it 
 could arm a certain number of men, eitlier for its own defence or for the 
 service of the noble or sovereign under whom it held its rights. 
 
 In no case could a community such as this exist without the sanction of 
 the King, who placed it under the safeguard of the Crown. At first the 
 kings, blinded by a covetous policy, only seemed to see in the issue of these 
 charters an excellent pretext for extorting money. If they consented to 
 recognise them, and even to help them against their lords, it was on 
 account of the enormous sacrifices made by the towns. Later on, however, 
 they afiected, on the contrary, the greatest generosity towards the vassals 
 who wished to incorporate themselves, when they had understood that these 
 institutions might become powerful auxiliaries against the great titulary 
 feudalists ; but from the reign of Louis XL, when the power of the nobles 
 was m^iich diminished, and no longer inspired any terror to royalty, the 
 kings turned against their former allies, the middle classes, and deprived 
 them successively of all the prerogatives which could prejudice the rights 
 of the Crown. 
 
 The middle classes, it is true, acquired considerable influence afterwards 
 by participation in the general and provincial councils. After having 
 victoriousljr struggled against the clergy and nobility, in the assemblies 
 of the three states or orders, they ended by defeating royalty itself. 
 
 Louis le Gros, in whose orders the style or title of bourgeois first appears 
 (1134), is generally looked upon as the founder of the franchise of com- 
 munities in France ; but it is proved that a certain number of communities 
 or corporations were already formally constituted, before his accession to the 
 throne. 
 
 The title of bourgeois was not, however, given exclusively to inhabitants 
 of cities. It often happened that the nobles, with the intention of imjjroving 
 and enriching their domains, opened a kind of asylum, under the attractive 
 title of Free Towns, or New Tonus, where they offered, to all wishing to 
 establish themselves, lands, houses, and a more or less extended share of 
 privileges, rights, and liberties. These congregations, or families, soon 
 became boroughs, and the inhabitants, though agriculturists, took the name 
 of bourgeois. 
 
 There was also a third kind of bourgeois, whose influence on the exten- 
 sion of royal power was not less than that of the others. There were free 
 
FEJiSOyS AND LANDS. 
 
 23 
 
 men who, under the title of bourgeois of the King {hoiirgcoifi dii Roi/), kept their 
 liberty by v'irtue of letters of protection given them by the King, although they 
 were established on lands of nobles whose inhabitants were deprived of liberty. 
 Further, when a vilain — that is to saj-, the serf of a noble — bought a lease 
 of land in a royal borough, it was an established custom that after having 
 lived there a vear and a day without being reclaimed bv his lord and master, 
 
 Fig. 21. — Costume of a Vilain or Peasant.'Fifteenth Century, from a Miniature of " La Danse 
 Macabre," Manuscript 7310 of the National Library of Paris. 
 
 he became a bourgeois of the King and a free man. In consequence of this 
 the serfs and vilains (Fig. 21) emigrated from all parts, in order to profit by 
 these advantages, to such a degree, that the lands of the nobles became 
 deserted by all the serfs of different degrees, and were in danger of remaining 
 uncultivated. The nobility, in the interests of their propsrties, and to ari-est 
 this increasing emigration, devoted themselves to improving the condition of 
 
2+ COXDITIOX OF 
 
 persons placed under their dependence, and attempted to create on their 
 domains boroughs analogous to those of royalty. But however liberal these 
 ameliorations might appear to be, it was diiEcult for the nobles not only 
 to concede privileges equal to those emanating from the thi'one, but also 
 to ensure equal protection to those they thus enfranchised. In spite 
 of this, however, the result was that a double current of enfi'anchisement 
 was established, which resulted in the daily diminution of the miserable 
 order of serfs, and which, whilst it emancipated the lower orders, had the 
 immediate result of giving increased weight and power to royaltv*, both in 
 its own domains and in those of the nobiKty and their vassals. 
 
 These social revolutions did not, of course, operate suddenly, nor did they 
 at once abolish former institutions, for we still find, that after the establish- 
 ment of communities and corporations, several orders of servitude remained. 
 
 At the close of the thirteenth century, on the authority of Philippe de 
 Beaumanoir, the celebrated editor of " Coutumes de Beauvoisis," there were 
 three states or orders amongst the laity, namely, the nobleman (Fig. 2"2), the 
 free-man, and the serf. All noblemen were free, but all free men were not 
 necessarily noblemen. Generally, nobility descended from the father and 
 franchise from the mother. But according to many other customs of 
 France, the child, as a general rule, succeeded to the lower rank of his 
 parents. There were two orders of serfs : one rigorously held in the 
 absolute dependence of his lord, to such a degree that the latter could 
 appropriate during their life, or after death if he chose, all they possessed ; 
 he coiild imprison them, ill-treat them as he thought proper, without having 
 to answer to any one but God ; the other, though held equally in bondage, 
 was more liberally treated, for " unless he was guilty of some evil-doing, the 
 lord could ask of him nothing during his life but the fees, rents, or fines 
 which he owed on account of his servitude." If one of these latter class of 
 serfs married a free woman, everything which they possessed became the 
 property of their lord. The same was the case when they died, for they could 
 not transmit any of their goods to their children, and were only allowed to 
 dispose by will of a sum of about five sous, or about twenty-five francs of 
 modern money. 
 
 As early as the foiu-teenth century, serfdom or servitude no longer existed, 
 except in " mortmain," of which we still have to speak. 
 
 Mortmain consisted of the privation of the right of freely disposing 
 
Schniit i- C'< Pari:. 
 
 THE COURT OF MARY OF ANJOU, WIFE OF CHARLES VU. 
 
 Her chajjlaiii the learned Robert Bloiidel presents her with the allegoiical Treatise 
 
 of the ''Twelve Perils of IklL" 
 
 Which lie composed for her (liiio). 
 
 Fac-simile of a miniature from this work. Bibl. dc I'Arsenal, Paris. 
 
PERSONS AND LANDS. 
 
 of one's person or goods. He who had not the power of going where he 
 would, of gi^ang or selling, of leaving by will or transferring his property, 
 fixed or movable, as he thought best, was called a man of mortmain. 
 
 Fig. 22. — Italian Nobleman of the Fifteenth Century. From a Playing-card engraved on Copper 
 about 1460 (Cabinet des Estarapes, National Library of Paris). 
 
 This name was apparently chosen because the hand, " considered the symbol 
 of power and the instrument of donation," was deprived of movement, 
 paralysed, in fact struck as by death. It was also nearly in this sense, that 
 
25 CONDITION OF 
 
 men of tlie Cliurch were also called meu of mortmain, because they were 
 equally forbidden to dispose, either in life, or by will after death, of anything 
 belonging to them. 
 
 There were two kinds of mortmain : real and personal ; one concerning 
 land, and the other concerning the person; that is to say, land held in 
 mortmain did not change quality, whatever might be the position of the 
 person who occupied it, and a "man of mortmain" did not cease to suffer 
 the inconveniences of his position on whatever land he went to establish 
 himself. 
 
 The mortmains were generally subject to the greater share of feudal 
 obligations formerly imposed on serfs ; these were particularly to work for a 
 certain time for their lord without receiving any wages, or else to pay him 
 the tax when it was due, on certain definite occasions, as for example, when 
 he married, when he gave a dower to his daughter, when he was taken 
 prisoner of war, when he went to the Holy Land, &c., &o. What particularly 
 characterized the condition of mortmains was, that the lords had the right to 
 take all their goods when they died without issue, or when the children held 
 a separate household ; and that they could not dispose of anything they 
 possessed, either by will or gift, beyond a certain sum. 
 
 The noble who franchised mortmains, imposed on them in almost all 
 cases very heavy conditions, consisting of fees, labours, and fines of all sorts. 
 In fact, a mortmain person, to be free, not only required to be franchised 
 by his own lord, but also by all the nobles on whom he was dependent, as 
 well as by the sovereign. If a noble franchised without the consent of his 
 superiors, he incurred a fine, as it was considered a dismemberment or depre- 
 ciation of the fief 
 
 As early as the end of the fourteenth century, the rigorous laws of 
 mortmain began to fall into disuse in the pro\inces ; though if the name 
 began to disappear, the condition itself continued to exist. The free men, 
 whether they belonged to the middle class or to the peasantry, were never- 
 theless still subject to pay fines or obligations to their lords of such a nature 
 that they must be considered to have been practically in the same position as 
 mortmains. In fact, this custom had been so deeply rooted into social habits 
 by feudalism, that to make it disappear totally at the end of the eighteenth 
 century, it required three decrees of the National Convention (July 17 and 
 October 2, 1793 ; and 8 Ventose, year II.— that is, March 2, 1794). 
 
PERSONS AND LANDS. 
 
 27 
 
 It is only just to state, that twelve or fourteen years earlier, Louis XVI. 
 had done aU in his power towards the same purpose, by suppressing mortmain, 
 both real or personal, on the lands of the Crown, and personal mortmain 
 {i.e. the right of following mortmains out of their original districts) all over 
 the kingdom. 
 
 Fig. 23.— Alms Bag taken from some Tapestry in Orleans, Fifteenth Century. 
 
PRIVILEGES AND EIGHTS, 
 
 FEUDAL AND MUNICIPAL. 
 
 Elements of Feudalism. — Rights of Treasure-trove, Sporting, Safe Conducts, Eansom, Disin- 
 heritance, &c. — Immunity of the Feudalists. — Dues from the Nohles to their Sovereign. — Law 
 and University Dues. — Curious Exactions resulting from the Universal System of Dues. — 
 Struggles to Enfranchise the Classes suhjected to Dues. — Feudal Spirit and Citizen Spirit. — ■ 
 Resuscitation of the System of Ancient Municipalities in Italy, Germany, and France. — 
 Municipal Institutions and Associations. — The Community. — The Middle-Class Cities {CUh 
 Bourgeoises). — Origin of National Unity. 
 
 as to understand tlie numerous charges, 
 dues, and servitudes, often as quaint 
 as iniquitous and vexatious, whicli 
 weighed on the lower orders during 
 the Middle Ages, we must remember 
 how the upper class, who assumed to 
 itself the privilege of oppression on 
 lands and persons under the feudal 
 system, was constituted. 
 
 The Eoman nobles, heirs to their 
 fathers' agricultural dominions, suc- 
 ceeded for the most part in preserving through the successive invasions of 
 the barbarians, the influence attached to the prestige of birth and wealth ; 
 they still possessed the greater part of the land and owned as vassals the 
 rural populations. The German nobles, on the contrary, had not such 
 extended landed properties, but they appropriated all the strongest positions. 
 The dukes, counts, and marquises were generally of German origin. The 
 Eoman race, mixed with the blood of the various nations it had subdued, 
 was the first to infuse itself into ancient society, and only furnished barons 
 of a secondary order. 
 
 These heterogeneous elements, brought together with the object of 
 
PRIVILEGES AND RIGHTS, FEUDAL AND MUNICIPAL. 29 
 
 common dominion, constituted a body who found life and motion only in the 
 traditions of Home and ancient Germany. From these two historical sources, 
 as is very judiciously pointed out by M. Mary-Lafon, issued all the habits 
 of the new society, and particularly the rights and privileges assumed by 
 the nobility. 
 
 These rights and privileges, which we are about to pass summarily in 
 review, were numerous, and often curious : amongst them may be men- 
 tioned the rights of treasure-trove, the rights of wreck, the rights of esta- 
 blishing fairs or markets, rights of marque, of sporting, &c. 
 
 The rights of treasure-trove were those which gave full power to dukes 
 and counts over all minerals found on their properties. It was in asserting 
 this right that the famous Richard Coeur de Lion, King of England, met his 
 death. Adhemar, Viscoimt of Limoges, had discovered in a field a treasure, 
 of which, no doubt, j)ubHc report exaggerated the value, for it was said to 
 be large enough to model in pure gold, and life-size, a Roman emperor and 
 the members of his family, at table. Adhemar was a vassal of the Duke of 
 Guienne, and, as a matter of course, set aside what was considered the 
 sovereign's share in his discovery ; but Richard, refusing to concede any 
 part of his privilege, claimed the whole treasure. On the refusal of the 
 viscount to give it up he appeared under arms before the gates of the Castle 
 of Chalus, where he supposed that the treasure was hidden. On seeing 
 the royal standard, the garrison oifered to open the gates. " No," answered 
 Richard, " since you have forced me to imfurl my banner, I shall only enter 
 by the breach, and you shall all be hung on the battlements." The siege 
 commenced, and did not at first seem to favour the English, for the 
 besieged made a noble stand. One evening, as his troojjs were assaidting 
 the place, in order to witness the scene, Richard was sitting at a short 
 distance on a piece of rock, protected with a target — that is, a large shield 
 covered with leather and blades of iron — which two archers held over him. 
 Impatient to see the residt of the assault, Richard pushed down the shield, 
 and that moment decided his fate (1199). An archer of Chalus, who had 
 recognised him and was watching from the top of the rampart, sent a bolt 
 from a crossbow, which hit him fuU in the chest. The wound, however, 
 would perhaps not have been mortal, but, shortly after, having carried 
 the place by storm, and in his delight at finding the treasure almost intact, 
 he gave himself up madly to degrading^orgies, dm-ing which he had already 
 
:?o 
 
 PRIVILEGES AND RIGHTS, 
 
 dissipated the greater part of his treasure, and died of his wound twelve 
 days later; first having, however, graciously pardoned the howman who 
 caused his death. 
 
 The right of shipwrecks, which the nobles of seaboard countries rarely 
 renounced, and of which they were the more jealous from the fact that 
 they had continually to dispute them with their vassals and neighbours, was 
 
 Figs. 24 and 25. — Varlct or Squire carrying a Halberd with a thick Blade; and Archer, in Fighting 
 Dress, drawing the String of his Crossbow with a double-handled Winch. — From the Miniatures 
 of the " Jouvencel," and the " Chroniques " of Froissart, Manuscripts of the Fifteenth Century 
 (Imperial Library of Paris) . 
 
 the pitHess and barbaric right of appropriating the contents of ships 
 happening to be wrecked on their shores. 
 
 When the feudal nobles granted to their vassals the right of assembling 
 on certain days, in order to hold fairs and markets, they never neglected to 
 reserve to themselves some tax on each head of cattle, as well as on the 
 
 I 
 
FEUDAL AND MUNICIPAL 
 
 31 
 
 various articles brought in and put up for sale. As these fairs and markets 
 never failed to attract a great number of buyers and sellers, this formed a 
 very lucrative tax for the noble (Fig. 26). 
 
 The right oi marque, or reprisal, was a most barbarous custom. A famous 
 example is given of it. In 1022, William the Pious, Count of Augouleme, 
 before starting for a pilgrimage to Rome, made his three brothers, who were 
 his vassals, swear to live in honourable peace and good friendship. But, not- 
 withstanding their oath, two of the brothers, having invited the third to the 
 
 Fig. 26. — Flemish Peasanta at the Cattle Market. — Miniature of the "Chroniques de Hainaut," 
 Manuscripts of the Fifteenth Century, vol. ii. fol. 201 (Library of the Dukes of Burgundy, 
 Brussels) . 
 
 Easter festivities, seized him at night in liis bed, put out his eyes so that he 
 might not find the way to his castle, and cut out his tongue so that he might 
 not name the authors of this horrible treatment. The voice of God, however, 
 denounced them, and the Count of Angoideme, shuddering with horror, 
 referred the case to his sovereign, the Didie of Aquitaine, William IV., who 
 immediately came, and by fire and sword exercised his right of marque on the 
 lands of the two brothers, leaving them nothing but their lives and limbs, after 
 
32 PRIVILEGES AND RIGHTS, 
 
 having first put out their eyes and cut out their tongues, so as to inflict on them 
 the penalty of retaliation. 
 
 The right of sporting or himting was of all prerogatives that dearest to,j 
 and most valued by the nobles. Not only were the severest and even cruellest ' 
 penalties imposed on " vilains " who dared to kill the smallest head of game, 
 but quarrels frequently arose between nobles of different degrees on the 
 subject, some pretending to have a feudal privilege of hunting on the lands 
 of others (Fig. 27). From this tyrannical exercise of the right of hunting, 
 which the least powerful of the nobles only submitted to with the most 
 violent and bitter feelings, sprung those old and familiar ballads, which 
 indicate the popular sentiment on the subject. In some of these songs the 
 inveterate hunters are condemned, by the order of Fairies or of the Fates, 
 either to follow a phantom stag for everlasting, or to hunt, like King Artus, 
 in the clouds and to catch a fly every hundred years. 
 
 The right of jurisdiction, which gave judicial power to the didves and 
 counts in cases arising in their domains, had no appeal save to the King 
 himself, and this was even often contested by the nobles, as for instance, in 
 the unhappy case of Enguerrand de Coucy. Enguerrand had ordered 
 three young Flemish noblemen, who were scholars at the Abbey of 
 " St. Nicholas des Bois," to be seized and hung, because, not knowing that 
 they were on the domain of the Lord of Coucy, they had killed a few 
 rabbits with arrows. St. Louis called the case before him. Enguerrand 
 answered to the call, but only to dispute the King's right, and to claim the 
 judgment of his peers. The King, without taking any notice of the remon- 
 strance, ordered Enguerrand to be locked vip in the big tower of the Louvre, 
 and was nearly applying the law of retaliation to his case. Eventually he 
 granted him letters of pardon, after condemning him to build three chapels, 
 where masses were continually to be said for the three victims ; to give the 
 forest where the young scholars had been found hunting, to the Abbey of 
 " St. Nicholas des Bois;" to lose on all his estates the rights of jurisdiction 
 and sporting ; to serve three years in the Holy Land ; and to pay to the King 
 a fine of 12,500 poimds tournois. It must be remembered that Louis IX., 
 although most generous in cases relating simply to private interests, was one 
 of the most stu.bborn defenders of royal prerogatives. 
 
 A right which feudalists had the greatest interest in observing, and 
 causing to be respected, because they themselves might with their wanderingj 
 
FEUDAL AND MUNICIPAL. 
 
 33 
 
 habits require it at any moment, was that of &ufe convoy, or guidance. 
 This right was so powerful, that it even applied itself to the lower orders, 
 and its violation was considered the most odious crime ; thus, in the 
 thirteenth centmy, the King of Aragon was severely abused by all persons 
 and all classes, because in spite of this right he caused a Jew to be burned 
 so as not to have to pay a debt which the man claimed of him. 
 
 i'lg 27 — ISlIjI man in Huntm^ C stnmc preceded by hm &er\ant, tn rng to find the Scent of a 
 Stag.— From a Miniature in the Book of Gaston Phccbus ("Des Deduitz de la Chasse des 
 Bestes Sauvaiges").— Manuscript of the Fourteenth Century (National Library of Paris). 
 
 The right of " the Crown " shoidd also be mentioned, which consisted of 
 a circle of gold ornamented in various fashions, according to the different 
 degrees of feudal monarchy, which vassals had to present to their lord on 
 the day of his investiture. The right of seal was a fee or fine they had to 
 pay for the charters which their lord caused to be delivered to them. 
 
 The duty of aubaine was the fine or due paid by merchants, either in 
 
34 PRIVILEGES AND RIGHTS, 
 
 kind or money, to the feudal chief, when they passed near his castle, landed 
 in his ports, or exposed goods for sale in his markets. 
 
 The nobles of second order possessed among their privileges that of 
 wearing spurs of silver or gold according to their rank of knighthood ; the 
 right of receiving double rations when prisoners of war ; the right of claimiag 
 a year's delay when a creditor wished to seize their land ; and the right of 
 never having to submit to torture after trial, unless they were condemned to 
 death for the crime they had committed. If a great baron for serious 
 offences confiscated the goods of a noble who was his vassal, the latter had a 
 right to keep his palfrey, the horse of his squire, various pieces of his 
 harness and armour, his bed, his silk robe, his wife's bed, one of her dresses, 
 her ring, her cloth stomacher, &c. 
 
 The nobles alone possessed the right of having seats of honour in 
 churches and in chapels (Fig. 28), and to erect therein funereal monuments, 
 and we know that they maiatained this right so rigorously and with so much 
 effrontery, that fatal quarrels at times arose on questions of precedence. 
 The epitaphs, the placing of tombs, the position of a monument, were all 
 subjects for conflicts or lawsuits. The nobles enjoyed also the right of 
 disinheritance, that is to say, of claiming the goods of a person dying on 
 their lands who had no direct heir ; the right of claiming a tax when a fief or 
 domain changed hands ; the right of common oven, or requiring vassals to 
 make use of the mill, the oven, or the press of the lord. At the time of the 
 vintage, no peasant might sell his wiae until the nobles had sold theirs. 
 Everything was a source of privilege for the nobles. Kings and councils 
 waived the necessity of their studying, in order to be received as bachelors of 
 imiversities. If a noble was made a prisoner of war, his life was saved by 
 his nobility, and his ransom had practically to be raised by the " vilains " 
 of his domains. The nobles were also exempted from serving in the 
 militia, nor were they obliged to lodge soldiers, &c. They had a thousand 
 pretexts for establishing taxes on their vassals, who were generally 
 considered "taxable and to be worked at will." Thus in the domain of 
 Montignac, the Count of Perigord claimed among other things as follows : 
 " for every case of censure or complaint brought before him, 10 deniers ; 
 for a quarrel in which blood was shed, 60 sols; if blood was not shed, 
 7 sols ; for use of ovens, the sixteenth loaf of each baking ; for the sale 
 of corn in the domain, 43 setiers : besides these, 6 setiers of rye, 161 setiers 
 
FEUDAL AND MUNICIPAL. 
 
 35 
 
 of oats, 3 setiers of beans, 1 pound of wax, 8 capons, 17 hens, and 37 loads of 
 wine." There were a multitude of other rights due to him, including the 
 provostshijj fees, the fees on deeds, the tolls aud furnaces of towns, the taxes 
 on salt, on leather, corn, nuts ; fees for the right of fishing ; for the right of 
 
 Fig. 28. — Jean Jouveuel des TJrsins, Provost of tUe Merchants of Paris, and Michelle de Vitry, his 
 Wife, in the Reign of Charles VI. — Fragment of a Picture of the Period, which was in the 
 Chapel of the Ursins, and is now in the Versailles Museum. 
 
 sporting, which last gave the lord a certain part or quarter of the game killed, 
 and, in addition, the dime, or tenth part of all the corn, wine, &c., &c. 
 
 This worthy noble gathered in besides all this, during the religious festivals 
 of the year, certain tributes in money on the estate of, Montignac alone, 
 
36 
 
 PRIVILEGES AND RIGHTS, 
 
 amounting to as mucli as 20,000 pounds tournois. One can judge by this 
 rough sketch, of the income he must have had, both in good and bad years, 
 from his other domains in the rich county of Perigord. 
 
 It must not be imagined that this was an exceptional case ; all over the 
 feudal territory the same state of things existed, and each lord farmed both 
 his lands and the persons whom feudal right had phaced under his dependence. 
 
 Fig. 20.— Dues on Wines, granted to the Chapter of Tournai hy King Chilp^ric. - From the 
 Windows of the Cathedral of Tournai, Fifteenth Century. 
 
 To add to these alreadj^ excessive rates and taxes, there were endless 
 dues, under all shapes and names, claimed by the ecclesiastical lords 
 (Figs, 29 and 30). And not only did the nobility make without scruple 
 these enormous exactions, but the Crown supported them in avenging an_y 
 act, however opposed to all sense of justice ; so that the nobles were really 
 placed above the great law of equality, without which the continuance of 
 social order seemed normally impossible. 
 
FEUDAL AND MUNICIPAL. 
 
 37 
 
 The history of the city of Toulouse gives us a significant example on this 
 subject. 
 
 On Easter Day, 18.'35, some students of the university, wlio had passed 
 the night of the anniversary of the resurrection of our Saviour in drinking, 
 left the table lialf intoxicated, and ran about the town durin" the hours of 
 
 Fii;. 30. — The Bisliop of Tournai rereivingf the Tithe of Beer granted hy King Chiljieric. — From 
 the Wiudows of the Cathedral of Tournai, Fifteenth Century. 
 
 service, beating pans and cauldrons, and making such a noise and disturbance 
 that the indignant preachers were obliged to stop in the middle of their 
 discourses, and claimed the intervention of the municipal authorities of 
 Toulouse. One of these, the lord of Gaure, went out of church with five 
 sergeants, and tried himself to arrest the most turbulent of the band. But 
 as he was seizing him I))- the bod}-, one of his comrades gave the lord a 
 
38 
 
 PRIVILEGES AND RIGHTS, 
 
 blow with a dagger, which cut off his nose, lips, and part of his chin. This 
 occurrence aroused the whole town. Toulouse had been insulted in the 
 person of its first magistrate, and claimed vengeance. The author of the 
 deed, named Aimeri de Berenger, was seized, judged, condemned, and 
 beheaded, and his body was suspended on the spikes of the Chateau Nar- 
 bonnais. 
 
 Toulouse had to pay dearly for the respect shown to its municipal 
 dignity. The parents of the student presented a petition to the King against 
 
 Fig. 31. — Fellows of tte University of Paris haranguing tte Emperor Charles IV. in 137". — From 
 a Miniature of the Manuscript of the " Chroniques de St. Denis," !N"o. 8395 (National Library 
 of Paris). 
 
 the city, for ha%ing dared to execute a noble and to hang his body on a 
 gibbet, in opposition to the sacred right which this noble had of appeahng to 
 the judgment of his peers. The Parliament of Paris finally decided the 
 matter ^^'ith the inflexible partiality to the rights of rank, and confiscated 
 all the goods of the inhabitants, forced the principal magistrates to go on 
 their knees before the house of Aimeri de Berenger, and ask pardon ; them- 
 selves to take down the body of the victim, and to have it publicly and 
 honourably buried in the burial-ground of the Daurade. Such was the 
 sentence and humiliation to which one of the first towns of the south 
 
FEUDAL AND MUNICIPAL. jg 
 
 was subjected, for having- practised immediate justice on a noble, whilst 
 it would certainly have suffered no vindication, if the culjirit condemned 
 to death had belonged to the middle or lower orders. 
 
 We must nevertheless remember that heavy dues fell upon the privi- 
 leged class themselves to a certain degree, and that if they taxed their 
 poor vassals without mercy, they had in their turn often to reckon with 
 their superiors in the feudal hierarchy. 
 
 Alberc, or right of shelter, was the principal charge imposed ui3on the 
 noble. When a great baron visited his lands, his tenants were not only 
 obliged to give him and his followers shelter, but also provisions and food, 
 the nature and quality of which were all arranged beforehand with the most 
 extraordinary minuteness. The lesser nobles took advantage sometimes of 
 the power they possessed to repurchase this obligation ; but the rich, on the 
 contrary, were most anxious to seize the occasion of proudly displaying 
 before their sovereign all the pomp in their power, at the risk even of 
 mortgaging their revenues for several years, and of ruining their vassals. 
 History is full of stories bearing witness to the extravagant prodigalities of 
 certain nobles on such occasions. 
 
 Payments in kind fell generally on the abbeys, up to 1158. That of 
 St. Denis, which was very rich in lands, was charged with supplying the 
 house and table of the King. This tax, which became heavier and heavier, 
 eventually fell on the Parisians, who only succeeded in ridding themselves of 
 it in 1374, when Charles V. made all the bourgeois of Paris noble. In the 
 twelfth century, all furniture made of wood or iron which was found in 
 the house of the Bishop at his death, became the property of the King. But 
 in the fourteenth centur}^ the abbots of St. Denis, St. Germain des Pres, 
 St. Genevieve (Fig. 32), and a k\\ priories in the neighbourhood of Paris, 
 were only required to present the sovereign with two horse-loads of produce 
 annually, so as to keep up the old system of fines. 
 
 This system of rents and dues of all kinds was so much the basis of social 
 organization in the Middle Ages, that it sometimes happened that the lower 
 orders benefited by it. 
 
 Thus the bed of the Bisliop of Paris belonged, aftei' his death, to the 
 poor invalids of the Hotel Dieu. The canons were also bound to leave theirs 
 to that hospital, as an atonement for the sins which they had committed. 
 The Bishops of Paris were required to give two very sumptuous repasts to 
 
^o 
 
 PRIVILEGES AND RIGHTS, 
 
 tlieir chapters at the feasts of St. Eloi and St. Paul. The holy men of 
 St. Martin were obliged, annually, on the 10th of November, to offer to the 
 
 Fig. 32.- Front of the Ancient Church of the Abbey of Sainte-Genevifeve, in Paiis, founded by 
 Clovis, and rebuilt from the Eleventh to Thii-teenth CenturieB.— State of the Building before its 
 Destruction at the End of the laat Century. 
 
 first President of the Court of Parliament, two square caps, and to the first 
 usher, a writing-desk and a pair of gloves. The executioner too received. 
 
FEUDAL AND MUNICIPAL. 41 
 
 from various monastic communities of the capital, bread, bottles of wine, 
 and pigs' heads ; and even criminals who were taken to Montfaucon to be 
 hung had the right to claim bread and wine from the nuns of St. Catherine 
 and the Filles Dieux, as they passed those establishments on their way to the 
 gibbet. 
 
 Fines were levied everywhere, at all times, and for all sorts of reasons. 
 Under the name of epices, the magistrates, judges, reporters, and counsel, 
 who had at first only received sweetmeats and preserves as voluntary offerings, 
 eventually exacted substantial tribute in current coin. Scholars who wished 
 to take rank in the University sent some small pies, costing ten sols, to 
 each examiner. Students in philosophy or theology gave two suppers to 
 the president, eight to the other masters, besides presenting them with 
 sweetmeats, &c. It would be an endless task to relate all the fines due by 
 apprentices and companions before they could reach mastership in their 
 various crafts, nor have we yet mentioned certain fines, which, from their 
 strange or ridicidous nature, prove to what a pitch of foil}' men may be led 
 under the influence of tj^ranny, vanity, or caprice. 
 
 Thus, we read of vassals descending to the humiliating occupation of 
 beating the water of the moat of the castle, in order to stop the noise of the 
 frogs, during the illness of the mistress ; we elsewhere find that at times the 
 lord required of them to hop on one leg, to kiss the latch of the castle-gate, 
 or to go through some drimken play in his presence, or sing a somewhat 
 broad song before the lad}^ 
 
 At Tulle, all the rustics who had married during the year were bound to 
 appear on the Puy or Morit St. Clair. At twelve o'clock precisely, three 
 children came out of the hospital, one beating a drum violentlj', the other 
 two carrying a pot full of dirt ; a herald called the names of the bride- 
 grooms, and those who were absent or were unable to assist in breaking the 
 pot by throwing stones at it, paid a fine. 
 
 At Perigueux, the young couples had to give the consuls a pincushion of 
 embossed leather or cloth of different colours ; a woman marrying a second 
 time was required to present them with an earthen pot containing twelve 
 sticks of different woods ; a woman marrying for the third time, a barrel of 
 cinders passed thirteen times through the sieve, and thirteen spoons made of 
 wood of fruit-trees ; and, lastly, one coming to the altar for the fifth time was 
 obliged to bring with her a small tub containing the excrement of a white hen ! 
 
 G 
 
42 
 
 PRIVILEGES AXD RIGHTS, 
 
 " The people of tte Middle Ages and the Eenaissance period were literally 
 tied down with taxes and dues of all sorts," says M. Mary-Lafon. " If a few 
 gleams of liberty reached them, it was only from a distance, and more in the 
 hope of the future than as regarded the present. As an example of the way 
 people were treated, a certain Lord of Laguene, spoken of ia the old chronicles 
 of the south, may be mentioned. Every j'ear, this cunning baron assembled 
 his tenants in the village square. A large maypole was planted, and on 
 the top was attached a wren. The lord, pointing to the little bird, declared 
 solemnly, that if any ' vilaia ' succeeded in piercing him with an arrow 
 he should be exempt from that year's dues. The vilains shot away, but, to 
 
 -ypMl 
 
 Fig. 33. — Ramparts of the Town of Aigues-ilortes, one of the Municipalities of I.anguedof^. 
 
 the great merriment of their lord, never hit, and so had to continue paying 
 the dues." 
 
 One can easily understand how such a system, legalised by law, hampered 
 the efforts for freedom, which a sense of himaan dignity was constantly raising 
 in the bosoms of the oppressed. The struggle was long, often bloody, and 
 at times it seemed almost hopeless, for on both sides it was felt that the 
 contest was between two principles which were incompatible, and one of 
 which must necessarily end by annihilatiag the other. Any compromise 
 between the complete slavery and the personal freedom of the lower orders, 
 could only be a respite to enable these implacable adversaries to reinforce 
 themselves, so as to resume with more vigour than ever this desperate 
 combat, the issue of which was so long to remain doubtftd. 
 
LOUIS XII LEAVING ALEXANDRIA ON THE 24"' OF APRIL 1507, 
 
 To chastise the city of Genoa. 
 From a miniature by Jean Marot. N" HOOl, Bibl. nal" de Paris. 
 
FEUDAL AND MUNICIPAL. 43 
 
 These efforts to obtain iiidividuul liberty displayed themselves more 
 particularly in towns ; but although they became almost universal in the 
 west, they had not the same importance or character everywhere. The feudal 
 system had not everywhere produced the same consequences. Thus, whilst 
 in ancient Gaul it had absorbed all social vitality, we find that in Germany, 
 the place of its origin, the Teutonic institutions of older date gave a com- 
 parative freedom to the labourers. In southern countries again we find the 
 same beneficial effect from the Roman rule. 
 
 On that long area of land reaching from the southern slope of the 
 Cevennes to the Apennines, the hand of the barbarian had weighed much 
 less hea^^ly than on the rest of Europe. In those favoured provinces where 
 Roman organization had outlived Roman patronage, it seems as if ancient 
 splendour had never ceased to exist, and the elegance of customs re-fiourished 
 amidst the ruins. There, a sort of urban aristocracy always continued, as a 
 balance against the nobles, and the council of elected /);vff/7?o;«/He.s, the syndics, 
 jurors or capifouk, who in the towns replaced the Roman /loiioirifi and curiales, 
 still were considered by kings and princes as holding some position in the 
 state. The municipal body, larger, more open than the old "ward," no 
 longer formed a corporation of unwilling aristocrats enchained to privileges 
 which ruined them. The principal cities on the Italian coast had already 
 amassed enormous wealth by commerce, and displayed the most remarkable 
 ardour, activity, and power. The Eternal City, which was disputed by 
 emperors, popes, and barons of the Roman States, bestirred itself at times to 
 snatch at the ancient phantom of republicanism ; and this phantom was 
 destined soon to change into reality, and another Rome, or rather a new 
 Carthage, the lovely Venice, arose free and independent from the wa\'es of 
 the Adriatic (Fig. .34). 
 
 In Lombardy, so thickly colonised by the German conquerors, feudalism, 
 on the contrary, weighed heavily ; but there, too, the cities were populous 
 and energetic, and the struggle for supremacy continued for centuries in an 
 uncompromising manner between the people and the nobles, between the 
 Guelphs and the Ghibellines. 
 
 In the north and east of the Gallic territory, the instinct of resistance did 
 not exist any the less, though pL^rhaps it was more intermittent. In fact, 
 in these regions we find ambitious nobles forestalling the action of the 
 King, and in order to attach towns to themselves and their houses, suppressing 
 
44 
 
 PRIVILEGES AND RIGHTS, 
 
 the most obnoxious of tlie taxes, and at the same time granting leo-al 
 guarantees. For this the Counts of Flanders became celebrated, and the 
 famous Heribert de Vermandois was noted for being so exacting in his 
 demands with the great, and yet so popular with the small. 
 
 Fig 31 -View of bt Milk s Phce, Venice, Sixteenth Century, after Cesare VeceUio. 
 
 The eleventli century, during which feudal power rose to its height, 
 was also the period when a reaction set in of the townspeople against "the 
 nobility. The spirit of the city revived with that of the bourgeois (a name 
 
FEUDAL AND MUNICIPAL. 45 
 
 derived from the Teutonic word hunj, habitation) and infused a feeling of 
 opposition to the sj'stem which followed the conquest of the Teutons. 
 " But," says M. Henri Martin, " what reappeared was not the Roman muni- 
 cipality of the Empire, stained by servitude, although svirrounded with 
 glittering pomp and gorgeous arts, but it was something coarse and almost 
 semi-barbarous in form, though strong and generous at core, and which, as far 
 as the difference of the times would allow, rather reminds us of the small 
 republics which existed previous to the Roman Emjjire." 
 
 Two strong imjjulses, originating from- two totally dissimilar centres of 
 action, irresistibly propelled this great social revolution, with its various 
 and endless aspects, affecting all central Eurojje, and being more or less 
 felt in the west, the north, and the south. On one side, the Greek and 
 Latin partiality for ancient corporations, modified by a democratic element, 
 and an innate feeling of opposition characteristic of barbaric tribes ; and 
 on the other, the free spirit and equality of the old Celtic tribes rising 
 suddenly against the military hierarchy, which was the offspring of conquest. 
 Europe was roused by the double current of ideas which simultaneously 
 urged her on to a new state of civilisation, and more particularly to a new 
 organization of city life. 
 
 Italy was naturally destined to be the country where the new trials of 
 social regeneration were to be made ; but she presented the greatest possible 
 variety of customs, laws, and governments, including Empieror, Pope, 
 bishops, and feudal princes. In Tuscany and Liguria, the march towards 
 liberty was continued almost without effort ; whilst in Lombardy, on the 
 contrarj', the feudal resistance was very powerful. Everywhere, however, 
 cities became more or less completely enfranchised, though some more rapidly 
 than others. In Sicily, feudalism swayed over the counties ; but in the greater 
 part of the peninsula, the democratic spirit of the cities influenced the 
 enfranchisement of the rural population. The feudal caste was in fact 
 dissolved ; the barons were transformed into patricians of the noble towns 
 which gave their republican magistrates the old title of consuls. The 
 Teutonic Emperor in vain sought to seize and turn to his own interest the 
 sovereignty of the people, who had shaken off the yokes of his vassals : 
 the signal of war was immediately given by the newty enfranchised masses ; 
 and the imperial eagle was obliged to fly before the banners of the 
 besieged cities. Happy indeed might the cities of Italy have been liad they 
 
46 
 
 PRIVILEGES AND RIGHTS, 
 
 not forgotten, in their prosperitj^ that union alone could give them the 
 possibility of maintaining- that liberty which they so freely risked in con- 
 tinual quarrels amongst one another ! 
 
 The Italian movement was immediately felt on the other side of the Alps. 
 In Provence, Septimanie, and Aquitaine, we find, in the eleventh century, 
 cities which enjoyed considerable freedom. Under the name of communities 
 and universities, which meant that all citizens were part of the one body, 
 they jointly interfered in the general affairs of the kingdom to which they 
 
 bICEST 
 
 Fig. 35. — William, Duke of Normandy, accompanied by Eustatius, Count of Boulogne, and 
 followed by hia Knights in arms.— Military Dress of the Eleventh Century, from Bayeiix 
 Tapestry said to have been worked by Queen Matilda. 
 
 belonged. Their magistrates were treated on a footing of equality with the 
 feudal nobility, and although the latter at first would only recognise them as 
 " good men " or notables, the consuls knew how to make a position for them- 
 selves in the hierarchy. If the consulate, which was a powerful expression of 
 the most prominent system of independence, did not succeed in suppressing 
 feudalism in Provence as in Italy, it at least so transformed it, that it 
 deprived it of its most unjust and insupportable elements. At Toulouse, for 
 instance (where the consuls were by exception called cnpifouh, that is to 
 
FEUDAL AND MUNICIPAL. 
 
 47 
 
 say, heads of the chapters or councils of the city), the lord of the country 
 seemed less a feudal prince in his capital, than an honorary magistrate of the 
 bourgeoisie. Avignon added to her consuls two 'podedafs (from the Latin 
 potestas, power). At Marseilles, the Universit}^ of the high city was ruled by 
 a repubKc imder the presidency of the Count of Provence, although the lower 
 city was still under the sovereignty of a viscount. Perigueiix, which was 
 divided into two communities, "the great and the small fraternity," took up 
 arms to resist the authority of the Counts of Perigord ; and Aries under its 
 podestats was governed for some time as a free and imperial town. Amongst 
 the constitutions wliich were established by the cities, from the eleventh to 
 the sixteenth centuries, we find admirable examples of administration and 
 government, so that one is struck with admiration at the efforts of intelligence 
 and patriotism, often uselessly la\T.shed on such small political arenas. 
 The consulate, which nominally at least found its origin in the ancient 
 grandeur of southern regions, did not spread itself beyond Lyons. In 
 the centre of France, at Poictiers, Tours, Moulin, &c., the urban pro- 
 gress only manifested itself in efforts which were feeble and easily 
 suppressed ; but in the north, on the contrarj-, in the provinces between 
 the Seine and the Rhine, and even between the Seine and the Loire, 
 the system of franchise took footing and became recognised. In some 
 places, the revolution was effected without difficulty, but in others it 
 gave rise to the most determined struggles. In Normandy, for instance, 
 under the active and intelligent government of the dukes of the race of 
 PloU or Rollon, the middle class was rich and even warlike. It had access 
 to the councils of the duchy ; and when it was contemplated to invade 
 England, the Duke William (Fig. 35) found support from the middle class, 
 both in money and men. The case was the same in Flanders, where the 
 towns of Ghent (Fig. 36), of Bruges, of Ypres, after being enfranchised 
 but a short time developed with great rapidity. But in the other counties 
 of western France, the greater part of the towns were still much oppressed 
 by the counts and bishops. If some obtained certain franchises, these 
 privileges were their ultimate ruin, owing to the ill faith of their nobles. 
 A town between the Loire and the Seine gave the signal which caused 
 the regeneration of the North. The inhabitants of Mans formed a com- 
 munity or association, and took an oath that they would obtain and maintain 
 certain rights. They rebelled about 1070, and forced the count and his 
 
48 
 
 PRIVILEGES AXD RIGHTS, 
 
 noble vassals to grant them the freedom which they had s^vorn to obtain, 
 though TTilliam of Xortnandy very soon restored the rebel city to order, 
 and dissolved the presumptuous community. Ho'wever, the example soon 
 bore fruit. Cambrai rose in its turn and proclaimed the " Commiine," and 
 although its bishop, aided by treason and by the Count of Hainaiilt, reduced 
 
 Fig. 36.— Civic Guard of Ghent (Brotherhood of St. Sebastian), from a Painting on the AVall of 
 the Chapel of St. John and St. Paul, Ghent, near the Gate of Bruges. 
 
 it to obedience, it only seemed to succumb for a time, to rene-sv the struggle 
 with greater success at a subsequent period. 
 
 We have just mentioned the Commune ; but we must not mistake the true 
 meaning of this word, which, under a Latin form (commiiiiifas), expresses 
 originally a Germanic idea, and in its new form a Christian mode of li^-ing. 
 Societies of mutual defence, guilds, &c., had never disappeared from Germanic 
 
FEUDAL AND MUNICIPAL. 49 
 
 and Celtic countries ; and, indeed, knighthood itself was but a brotherhood 
 of Christian warriors. The societies of the Paix de Dieii, and of the Trc've de 
 Dieu, were encouraged by the clergy in order to stop the bloody quarrels of the 
 nobility, and formed in reality great religious guilds. This idea of a body of 
 persons taking some common oath to one another, of which feudalism gave so 
 striking an example, could not fail to influence the minds of the rustics and 
 the lower classes, and they only wanted the opportunity which the idea of 
 the Commime at once gave them of imitating their superiors. 
 
 They too took oaths, and possessed their bodies and souls in "common;" 
 they seized, by force of strategy, the ramparts of their towns ; they elected 
 mayors, aldermen, and jurors, who were charged to watch over the interests 
 of their association. They swore to spare neither their goods, their labour, nor 
 their blood, in order to free themselves ; and not content with defending them- 
 selves behind barricades or chains which closed the streets, they boldly took 
 the offensive against the proud feudal chiefs before whom their fathers 
 had trembled, and they forced the nobles, who now saw themselves threatened 
 by this armed multitude, to acknowledge their franchise by a solemn 
 covenant. 
 
 It does not follow that everj'where the Commune was established by 
 means of insurrection, for it was obtained after all sorts of struggles ; and 
 franchises were sold in some places for gold, and in others granted by a more 
 or less voluntary liberality. Everywhere the object was the same ; every- 
 where they struggled or negotiated to upset, by a written constitution or 
 charter, the violence and arbitrary rule under which they had so . long 
 suffered, and to replace by an annual and fixed rent, under the protection 
 of an independent and impartial law, the imlimited exactions and disguised 
 plundering so long made by the nobility and royalty. Circumstanced as 
 they were, what other means had they to attain this end but ramparts and 
 gates, a common treasury, a ponnanent military force, and magistrates who were 
 both administrators, judges, and captains ? The hotel de ville, or mansion- 
 house, immediately became a sort of civic temple, where the banner of the 
 Commune, the emblems of unity, and the seal which sanctioned the muni- 
 cipal acts were preserved. Then arose the watch-towers, where the watchmen 
 were unceasingly posted night and day, and whence the alarm signal was 
 ever ready to issue its powerful sounds when danger threatened the city. 
 These watch-towers, the monuments of liberty, became as necessary for the 
 
 H 
 
50 
 
 PRIVILEGES AND RIGHTS, 
 
 Fig. 37.— Chimes of the Clock of St. Lambert of Liose 
 
 burgliers as the clock-towers 
 of their cathedrals, whose 
 brilliant peals and joyous 
 chimes gave zest to the 
 popular feasts (Fig. 37). 
 The mansion-houses built 
 in Flanders from the four- 
 teenth to the sixteenth 
 centuries, under municipal 
 influence, are marvels of 
 architecture. 
 
 Who is there who could 
 thoroughly describe or even 
 appreciate all the happj^ or 
 unhapjDy vicissitudes rela- 
 ting to the establishment 
 of the Communes ? We read 
 of the Commune of Cam- 
 brai, four times created, four 
 times destroyed, and which 
 was continually at war with 
 the bishops ; the Commune 
 of Beauvais, sustained on 
 the contrary by the diocesan 
 prelate against two nobles 
 who possessed feudal rights 
 over it ; Laon, a commune 
 bought for monejr from 
 the bishop, afterwards con- 
 firmed by the King, and 
 then violated by fraud 
 and treachery, and eventu- 
 ally buried in the blood of 
 its defenders. We read also 
 of St. Quentin, where the 
 Count of Vermaudois and 
 
FEUDAL AND MUNICIPAL. 
 
 51 
 
 his vassals voluntarily swore to maintain tlio right of the bourgeois, and 
 scrupulously rospected their oath. In manj' other localities the feudal digni- 
 taries took alarm simply at the name of Commune, and whereas they would 
 
 Fig. 38. — The Deputies of the Burghers of Ghent, in revolt against Iheir Sovereign, Louis II., 
 Count of Flanders, come to beg him to pardon them, and to return to their Town, 1397. — 
 Miniature from Froissart, No. 2644 (National Library of Paris). 
 
 not agree to the very best arrangements under this terrible designation, they 
 did not hesitate to adopt them when called either the " laws of friendship," 
 the "peace of God," or the " institutions of peace." At Lisle, for instance, 
 the bourgeois magistrates took the name of appease rs, or watchers over friend- 
 
.5^ PRIVILEGES AND RIGHTS, 
 
 ship. At Aire, in Artois, the members of friendship mutually, not only 
 helped one another against the enemy, but also assisted one another in 
 distress. 
 
 Amiens deserves the first place amongst the cities which dearly pur- 
 chased their privileges. The most terrible and sanguinarj^ war was sustained 
 by the bourgeois against their count and lord of the manor, assisted by King 
 Louis le Gros, who had imder similar circumstances just taken the part of the 
 nobles of Laon. 
 
 From Amiens, which, having been triumphant, became a perfect muni- 
 cipal republic, the example propagated itself throughout the rest of Picardy, 
 the Isle of France, Normandy, Brittany, and Burgundy, and by degrees, 
 without any revolutionary shocks, reached the region of Lyons, where the 
 consulate, a characteristic institution of southern Communes, ended. 
 
 From Flanders, also, the movement spread in the direction of the German 
 Empire ; and there, too, the struggle was animated, and victorious against the 
 aristocracy, until at last the great system of enfranchisement prevailed ; and 
 the cities of the west and south formed a confederation against the nobles, 
 whilst those in the north formed the famous Teutonic Hanse, so celebrated 
 for its maritime commerce. 
 
 The centre of France slowly followed the movement ; but its progress 
 was considerably delayed by the close influence of royalty, which sometimes 
 conceded large franchises, and sometimes suppressed the least claims to inde- 
 pendence. The kings, who willingly favoured Communes on the properties 
 of their neighbours, did not so much care to see them forming on their own 
 estates ; unless the exceptional position and importance of any town required 
 a wise exercise of tolerance. Thus Orleans, situated in the heart of the 
 royal domains, was roughly repulsed in its first movement ; whilst Mantes, 
 which was on the frontier of the Duchy of Normandy, and still under the 
 King of England, had but to ask in order to receive its franchise from the 
 King of France. 
 
 It was particularly in the royal domains that cities were to be found, 
 which, although they did not possess the complete independence of communes, 
 had a certain amount of liberty and civil guarantees. They had neither the 
 right of war, the watch-tower, nor the exclusive jurisdiction over their elected 
 magistrates, for the bailifis and the royal provosts represented the sovereign 
 amongst them (Fig. 39). 
 
FEUDAL AND MUNICIPAL. 
 
 In Paris, less than anywhere, could the kings consent to the organization 
 
 Fig. 39. — Bailliage, or Tribunal of the King's Bailiff. — Fac-simile of an Engraving on Wood in 
 the Work of Josse Damhoudere, " Praxis Eerum Civilium" (Antwerp, 1557, in 4to.). 
 
 of an independent political system, although that city succeeded in creating 
 for itself a municipal existence. The middle-class influence originated in 
 
54 PRIVILEGES AND RIGHTS, 
 
 a Gallo-Roman corporation. The Company of Nautes, or " the Corporation of 
 the "Water Trade," formed a centre round which were successive!}^ attached 
 various bodies of different trades. Gradually a strong concourse of civic 
 powers was established, which succeeded in electing a municipal council, 
 composed of a provost of merchants, four aldermen, and twenty-six council- 
 lors of the town. This council afterwards succeeded in overstepping the 
 royal influence at difficult times, and was destined to play a prominent part 
 in history. 
 
 There also sprang up a lower order of towns or boroughs than these bour- 
 geois cities, which were especially under the Crown. Not having sufficient 
 strength to claim a great amount of liberty, they were obliged to be satisfied 
 with a few privileges, conceded to them by the nobles, for the most part with 
 a political end. These were the Free Towns or New Towns which we have 
 already named. 
 
 However it came about, it is certain that although during the tenth century 
 feudal power was almost supreme in Europe, as early as the twelfth century 
 the municipal system had gained great ■weight, and was constantly progress- 
 ing imtil the policy of the kingdom became developed on a more and more 
 extended basis, so that it was then necessary for it to give up its primitive 
 nature, and to participate in the great movement of consolidisation and national 
 unity. In this way the position of the large towns in the state relatively lost 
 their individual position, and became somewhat analogous, as compared with 
 the kingdom at large, to that formerly held by bourgeois in the cities. 
 Friendly ties arose between provinces ; and distinct and rival interests 
 were effaced by the general aspiration towards common objects. The to^vns 
 were admitted to the states general, and the citizens of various regions 
 mixed as representatives of the Tiers Etat. Three orders thus met, who 
 were destined to struggle for predominance in the future. 
 
 We must call attention to the fa«t that, as M. Henri Martin says, by an 
 apparent contradiction, the fall of the communes declared itself in inverse 
 ratio to the progress of the Tiers Etat. By degrees, as the government 
 became more settled from the great fiefs being absorbed by the crown, and 
 as parliament and other courts of appeal which emanated from the middle 
 class extended their high judiciary and military authority, so the central 
 power, organized under monarchical form, must necessarily have been less 
 disposed to tolerate the local independence of the Communes. The State 
 
FEUDAL AND MUNICIPAL. 
 
 55 
 
 replaced the Commune for everything concerning justice, war, and adminis- 
 tration. No doubt some valuable privileges were lost ; but that was only an 
 accidental circumstance, for a great social revolution was produced, which 
 cleared off at once all the relics of the old age ; and when the work of 
 reconstruction terminated, homage was rendered to the venerable name of 
 Commune," which became uniformly applied to all towns, boroughs, or 
 villages into which the new spirit of the same municijaal system was infused. 
 
 Fig. 40. — Various Anns of the Fifteenth Century. 
 
PRIVATE LIFE 
 
 IN THE CASTLES, THE TOWNS, AND THE EUKAL DISTRICTS. 
 
 The Merovingian Castles.— Pastimes of the Nobles ; Hunting, War.— Domestic Arrangements.— 
 Private Life of Charlemagne.— Domestic Hahita under the Carlo vingians.— Influence of 
 Chivalry.— Simplicity of the Court of Philip Augustus not imitated by his Successors.— 
 Princely Life of the Fifteenth Century.— The bringing up of Latour Landry, a Noble of 
 Anjou. — Varlets, Pages, Esquires, Maids of Honour.— Opulence of the Bourgeoisie. — "Le 
 Menagier de Paris." — Ancient Dwellings. — State of Rustics at various Periods. — " Rustic 
 Sayings," by Noel dn Fail. 
 
 UGUSTIN THIERRY, taking Gre- 
 gory of Tours, the Merovingian Hero- 
 dotus, as an autliority, tlius describes 
 a royal domain under the first royal 
 dynasty of France : — 
 
 " This dwelling in no way pos- 
 sessed the military aspect of the 
 chateau of the Middle Ages ; it was 
 a large buildina: surrounded with 
 
 porticos of Roman architecture, some- 
 times built of carefully polished and 
 sculptured wood, which in no way was wanting in elegance. Around the 
 main body of the building were arranged the dwellings of the officers of 
 the palace, either foreigners or Romans, and those of the chiefs of companies, 
 who, according to Germanic custom, had placed themselves and their 
 warriors under the King, that is to say, under a special engagement of 
 vassalage and fidelity. Other houses, of less imposing appearance, were 
 occupied by a great number of families, who worked at all sorts of trades, 
 such as jewellery, the making of arms, weaving, currying, the embroidering 
 of silk and gold, cotton, &c. 
 
 " Parm-biuldings, paddocks, cow-houses, sheepfolds, barns, the houses of 
 agriculturists, and the cabins of the serfs, completed the royal village, which 
 
CASTLES, TOWNS, AND RURAL DISTRICTS. 
 
 57 
 
 perfectly resembled, although on a larger scale, the villages of ancient 
 Germany. There was something too in the position of these dwellings 
 which resembled the scenery beyond the Rhine ; the greater number of 
 them were on the borders, and some few in the centre of great forests, which 
 havesince been partly destroyed, and the remains of which we so much admire." 
 
 Fig. 41.— St. Eemy, Bishop of Eheims, begging of Clevis the restitution of the Sacred Vase 
 taken by the Franks in the PiUage of Soissons. — Costumes of the Court of Burgundy in the 
 Fifteenth Century. — Fac-simile of a Miniature on a Manuscript of the " History of the Em- 
 perors " (Library of the Arsenal). 
 
 Although hi.storical documents are not very explicit respecting those 
 remote times, it is only sufficient to study carefully a very small portion of 
 the territory in order to form some idea of the manners and customs of the 
 Franks ; for in the royal domain wo find the existence of all classes, from 
 
 1 
 
58 PRIVATE LIFE IN THE 
 
 the sovereign liiinself down to the humblest slave. As regards the private 
 life, however, of the different classes in this elementary form of society, we 
 have hut approximate and very imperfect notions. 
 
 It is clear, however, that as early as the beginning of the Merovingian 
 race, there was much more luxury and comfort among the upper classes than 
 is generally supposed. All the gold and silver furniture, all the jewels, and 
 all the rich stuffs which the Gallo-Romans had amassed in their sumptuous 
 dwellings, had not been destroyed by the barbarians. The Frank Kings 
 had appropriated the greater part ; and the rest had fallen into the hands of 
 the chiefs of companies in the division of spoil. A well-known anecdote, 
 namely, that concerning the Vase of Soissons (Fig. 41), which King Clovis 
 wished to preserve, and which a soldier broke with an axe, proves that many 
 gems of ancient art must have disappeared, owing to the ignorance and 
 brutality of the conquerors ; although it is equally certain that the latter soon 
 adopted the tastes and customs of the native population. At first, they appro- 
 priated everything that flattered their pride and sensuality. This is how the 
 material remains of the civilisation of the Grauls were preserved in the royal 
 and noble residences, the churches and the monasteries. Gregory of Tours 
 informs us, that when Fredegonde, wife of Chilperic, gave the hand of her 
 daughter Rigouthe to the son of the Gothic king, fifty chariots were required 
 to carry away all the valuable objects which composed the princess's dower. 
 A strange family scene, related by the same historian, gives us an idea of 
 the private habits of the court of that terrible queen of the Franks. " The 
 mother and daughter had frequent quarrels, which sometimes ended in the 
 most violent encounters. Fredegonde said one day to Rigouthe, ' Why do you 
 continually trouble me ? Here are the goods of your father, take them and 
 do as you like with them.' And conducting her to a room where she locked 
 up her treasures, she opened a large box filled with valuables. After having 
 pulled out a great number of jewels which she gave to her daughter, she 
 said, ' I am tired ; put your own hands in the box, and take what you find.' 
 Rigouthe bent down to reach the objects placed at the bottom of the box ; 
 iqjon which Fredegonde immediately lowered the lid on her daughter, and 
 pressed upon it with so much force that the eyes began to start out of the 
 prmcess's head. A maid began screaming, ' Help ! my mistress is being 
 murdered by her mother ! ' and Regouthe was saved from an untimely end." 
 It is further related that this was only one of the minor crimes attributed 
 
CASTLES, TOWNS, AND RURAL DISTRICTS. 
 
 59 
 
 by history to Fredegonde the Terrible, who always carried a dagger or poison 
 about with her. 
 
 Amongst the Franks, as amongst all 
 burbaric populations, hunting was the 
 pastime preferred when war was not 
 being waged. The Merovingian nobles 
 were therefore detei-mincd hunters, and 
 it frequenth' happened that hunting- 
 occupied whole weeks, and took them far 
 from their homes and families. But when 
 the season or other circumstances pre- 
 vented them from wag-ing' war against 
 men or beasts, they only cared for feast- 
 ing and gambling. To these occujaations 
 they gave themselves up, with a deter- 
 mination and wildness weU. worthy of 
 those semi-civilised times. It was the 
 custom for invited guests to appear armed 
 at the feasts, which were the more fre- 
 quent, inasmuch as they were necessarilj' 
 accompanied with religious ceremonies. 
 It often happened that these long repasts, 
 followed by games of chance, were stained 
 with blood, either in private quarrels or in 
 a general m clee. One can easily imagine 
 the tumult which must have arisen in a 
 numerous assembly when the hot wine 
 and other fermented drinks, such as beer, 
 &c., had excited every one to the highest 
 pitch of unchecked merriment. 
 
 Some of the Merovingian kings listened 
 to the advice of the ministers of the 
 Catholic religion, and tried to reform these 
 noisy excesses, and themselves abandoned 
 the evil custom. For this purpose they received at their tables bishops, 
 who blessed the assembly ut the commencement of the meal, and were charged 
 
 Fig. Vl. — ('osliimcs of the Wumen of the 
 Court from the Sixth to the Tenth 
 Ceuturiea, from Documents collected by 
 H . de Vieleastel, in the great Libraries 
 of Europe. 
 
6o 
 
 PRIVATE LIFE IN THE 
 
 besides to recite chapters of holy writ, or to sing hymns out of the divine 
 service, so as to edify and occupy the minds of the guests. 
 
 Gregory of Tours bears witness to the happy influence of the presence of 
 bishops at the tables of the Frank kings and nobles ; he relates, too, that 
 Chilperic, who was very proud of his theological and secular knowledge. 
 
 Fig. 43. — Queen Fredegonde, seated on her Throne, gives orders to two young Men of Terouanne 
 to assassinate Sigebert, King of Austrasia.— Window in the Cathedral of Tournai, Fifteenth 
 Century. 
 
 liked, when dining, to discuss, or rather to pronounce authoritatively his 
 opinion on questions of grammar, before his companions in arms, who, for 
 the most part, neither knew how to read or write ; he even went as far as to 
 order three ancient Greek letters to be added to the Latin alphabet. 
 
 The private properties of the Frank kings were immense, and produced 
 enormous revenues. These monarchs, besides, had palaces in almost all the 
 
CASTLES, TOWXS, A,\D RURAL DLSTRICTS. 6i 
 
 large towns; at Bourges, Chalons-sur-Saone, Chalons-sur-Marnc, Dijon, 
 Etampes, Metz, Langres, Mayence, Rhelms, Soissons, Tours, Toulouse, 
 Treves, Valenciennes, Worms, &.c. In Paris, thej' occupied the vast residence 
 now known as the Thennes de JuUen (Hotel de Cluny), whicli then extended 
 from the hill of St. Genevieve as far as the Seine ; but they frequently left 
 it for their numerous villas in the neighbourhood, on which occasions they 
 were always accomjDanied by their treasury. 
 
 All these residences were built on the same plan. High walls surrounded 
 the palace. The Roman atrium, preserved under the name of produ/iiiiii 
 (premi, anti-court), was placed in front of the saltitorium (hall of reception) 
 where visitors were received. The coiisisforiiim, or great circular hall sur- 
 rounded with seats, served for legislation, councils, public assemblies, and 
 other solemnities, at which the kings displayed their royal pomp. 
 
 The trichorinin, or dining-room, was generally the largest hall in the 
 palace ; two rows of columns divided it into three parts ; one for the royal 
 family, one for the officers of the household, and the third for the guests, 
 who were always very numerous. No person of rank visiting the King 
 could leave without sitting at his table, or at least draining a cup to his 
 health. The King's hospitality was magnificent, especially on great religious 
 festivals such as Christmas and Easter. 
 
 The royal apartments were divided into winter and summer rooms. In 
 order to regulate the temperature hot or cold water was used, according to 
 the season ; this circulated in the pij)es of the InjpocauHte, or the subterranean 
 furnace which warmed the b;iths. The rooms with chimneys, were culled 
 epkamtovia (stoves), and it was the custom hermetically to close these when 
 any one wished to be anointed with ointments and aromatic essences. In the 
 same manner as the Ga.llo-E.oman houses, the palaces of the Frank kings 
 and principal nobles of ecclesiastical or military order had thcnnca, or bath- 
 rooms ; to the thennes were attached a cotijmhum, or washhouse, a gymnasium 
 for bodily exercise, and a hijpodrome, or covered gallery for exercise, which 
 must not be confounded with the Iiijipodroine, a circus where horse-races took 
 place. 
 
 Sometimes after the repast, in the interval between two games of dice, 
 the nobles listened to a bard, who sang the brilliant deeds of their ancestors 
 in their native tongue. 
 
 Under the government of Charlemagne, the private life of his sulijects 
 
62 
 
 PRIVATE LIFE IN THE 
 
 seems to have been less rougli and coarse, although they did not entirely 
 give up their turbulent pleasures. Science and letters, for a long time buried 
 in monasteries, reappeared like beautiful exiles at the imperial court, and 
 social life thereby gained a little charm and softness. Charlemagne had 
 created in his palace, under the direction of Alcuin, a sort of academy called 
 the " School of the Palace," which followed him everywhere. The intellectual 
 exercises of this school generally brought together all the members of the 
 imperial family, as well as all the persons of the household. Charle- 
 magne, in fact, was himself one of the most attentive followers of the lessons 
 
 Fig. 44.-Costames of the Kobility from the Seventh to the Kinth Centuries, from Documents 
 gathered by H. de Vielcastel from the great Libraries of Europe. 
 
 given by Alcuin. He was indeed the principal interlocutor and discourser 
 at the discussions, which were on all subjects, religiou.s, literary, and philo- 
 sophical. 
 
 Charlemagne took as much pains with the administration of his palace, 
 as he did with that of his States. In his " Capitulaires," a work he wrote 
 on legislature, we iind him descending to the minutest details in that respect. 
 For instance, he not only interested himself in his warlike and hunting 
 equipages, but also in his kitchen and pleasure gardens. He insisted upon 
 knowing every year the number of his oxen, horses, and goats; he calculated 
 
CASTLES, TOWNS, AND RURAL DISTRLCTS. 63 
 
 the produce of the sale of fruits gathered in his orchards, which were not 
 required for the use of his house ; he had a return of the number of fish 
 caught in his ponds ; he pointed out the shrubs best calculated for ornament- 
 ing his garden, and the vegetables which were required for his table, &c. 
 
 The Emperor generally assumed the greatest simjilicity in his dress. 
 His daily attire consisted of a linen shirt and drawers, and a woollen timic 
 fastened with a silk belt. Over this tunic he threw a cloak of blue stuff, 
 very long behind and before, but very short on each side, thus giving 
 freedom to his arms to use his sword, which he always wore. On his feet 
 he wore bands of stuffs of various colours, crossed over one another, and 
 covering his legs also. In winter, when he travelled or hunted on horseback, 
 tie threw over his shoulders a covering of otter or sheepskin. The changes 
 in fashion which the custom of the times necessitated, but to which he would 
 aever submit personally, induced him to issue several strenuous orders, which, 
 however, in reality had hardly any effect. 
 
 He was most simple as regards his food and drink, and made a habit 
 Df having pious or historical works road to him during liis repasts. He 
 ievoted the morning, which with him began in summer at sunrise, and 
 n winter earlier, to the political administration of his empire. He dined 
 it twelve with his family; the dukes and chiefs of various nations first 
 vaited on him, and then took their places at the table, and were waited 
 m in their turn by the counts, prefects, and superior officers of the court, 
 vho dined after them. When these had finished the different chiefs of 
 ;he household sat down, and they were succeeded lastly by servants of the 
 ower order, who often did not dine till midnight, and had to content them- 
 lelves with what was left. When occasion required, however, this powerful 
 Emperor knew how to maintain the pomp and dignity of his station ; but as 
 ;oon as he had done what was necessary, either for some great religious 
 estival or otherwise, he returned, as if by instinct, to his dear and native 
 implicity. 
 
 It must be understood that the simple tastes of Charlemagne were not 
 Jways shared by the princes and princesses of his family, nor by the 
 nagnates of his court (Fig. 45). Poets and historians have handed down 
 us descriptions of hunts, feasts, and ceremonies, at which a truly Asiatic 
 plendour was displayed. Eginhard, however, assures us that the sons and 
 laughters of the King were brought up under their father's ej'c in liberal 
 
64 
 
 PRIVATE LIFE IN THE 
 
 studies ; tliat, to save them from the vice of idleness, Charlemagne required 
 his sons to devote themselves to all bodily exercises, such as horsemanship, 
 handling of arms, &c., and his daughters to do needlework and to spin. 
 From what is recorded, however, of the frivolous habits and irregular morals 
 of these princesses, it is evident that they but imperfectly realised the end 
 of their education. 
 
 Science and letters, which for a time were brought into prominence by 
 Charlemagne and also by his son Louis, who was very learned and was con- 
 
 Fig. 45. — Costumes of the Ladies of the Nobility in the Ninth Century, from a Miniature in the 
 Bible of Charles the Bold (National Library of Paris). 
 
 sidered skilful in translating and expounding Scripture, were, however, after 
 the death of these two kings, for a long time banished to the seclusion of the 
 cloisters, owing to the hostile rivalry of their successors, which favoured the 
 attacks of the Norman pirates. All the monuments and relics of the GaUo- 
 Roman civilisation, which the great Emperor had collected, disappeared in 
 the civil wars, or were gradually destroyed by the devastations of tlie 
 northerners. 
 
 The vast empire which Charlemagne had formed became gradually spHt 
 up, so that from a dread of social destruction, in order to protect churches 
 
CASTLES, TOWNS, AND RURAL DISTRICTS. 
 
 6S 
 
 and monasteries, as well as castles and homesteads, from the attacks of internal 
 as well as foreign enemies, towers and impregnable fortresses began to rise in 
 all parts of Europe, and particularly in France. 
 
 During the first period of feudalism, that is to say from the middle of 
 the ninth to the middle of the twelfth centuries, the inhabitants of castles 
 had little time to devote to the pleasures of private life. They had not only 
 to be continually under arms for the endless quarrels of the King and the 
 great chiefs ; but they had also to oppose the Normans on one side, and 
 
 Fig. 46— Towers of the Castle of Semur, and of the Cabtle of Nogeut-le-Itolrou (I'reseiit 
 Condition). — Specimens of Towers of the ThirLceutli Century. 
 
 the (Saracens on the other, who, being masters of the Spanish ^jeninsula, 
 spread like the rising tide in the southern counties of Langucdoc and 
 Provence. It is true that the Carlovingian warriors obtained a liaudsomc 
 and rich reward for these long and sanguinary efforts, for at last they seized 
 upon the provinces and districts which had been originally entrusted to their 
 charge, and the origin of their feudal possession was soon so far forgotten, that 
 their descendants pretended that they held the lands, which they had really 
 usurped regardless of their oath, from heaven and their swords. It is needless 
 
 K 
 
66 
 
 PRIVATE LIFE IN THE 
 
 to say, that at that time the domestic life in these castles must have heen 
 dull and monotonous ; although, according to M. Guizot, the loneliness which 
 was the result of this rough and laborious life, became by degrees the pioneer 
 of civilisation. 
 
 " When the owner of the fief left his castle, his wife remained there, 
 though in a totally different position from that which women generally held. 
 She remained as mistress, representing her liusband, and was charged with 
 the defence and honour of the fief. This high and exalted position, in the 
 
 Fig. 47.— Woman under tte Safeguard of Knighthood, allegorical Scene.— Costume of the End of 
 the Fifteenth Century, from a Miniatui-e in a Latin Psalm Book (Jlauuscript No. 175, National 
 Library of Paris). 
 
 centre of domestic life, often gave to women an opportunity of displaying 
 dignity, courage, virtue, and intelligence, which would otherwise have 
 remained hidden, and, no doubt, contributed greatly to their moral develop- 
 ment, and to the general improvement of their condition. 
 
 "The importance of children, and particularly of the eldest son, was 
 greater in feudal houses than elsewhere. .... The eldest son of the noble 
 was, in the eyes of his father and of all his followers, a prince and heir- 
 presumptive, and the hope and glory of the dynasty. These feelings, and 
 the domestic pride and afiection of the various members one to another, 
 
CASTLES, TOWNS, AND RURAL DISTRLCTS. 
 
 bi 
 
 united to give families mucli energy and power Add to this the 
 
 influence of Christian ideas, and it will be understood how this lonely, dull, 
 and hard castle life was, nevertheless, favourable to the development of 
 domestic society, and to that improvement in the condition of women which 
 plays such a great j^art in the history of our civilisation." 
 
 Whatever ojDinion may be formed of chivalry, it is impossible to deny the 
 influence which this institution exercised on private life in the Middle 
 Ages. It considerably modified custom, by bringing the stronger sex to 
 respect and defend the weaker. These warriors, who were both simple and 
 externally rough and coarse, required association and intercourse with 
 women to soften them (Fig. 47). In taking women and helpless widows 
 
 Fig. 48. — Court of Love in Provence in the Fourteenth Centurj- (Manuscript of the National 
 
 Library of Paris). 
 
 under their protection, they were necessarily more and more thrown in 
 contact with them. A deep feeling of veneration for woman, inspired by 
 Christianity, and, above all, by the worship of the Virgin Mary, ran 
 throughout the songs of the troubadours, and produced a sort of sentimental 
 reverence for the gentle sex, which cidminated in the authority which women 
 had ia the courts of love (Fig. 48). 
 
 We have now reached the reign of Philip Augustus, that is to say, the 
 end of the twelfth century. This epoch is remarkable, not only for its 
 political history, but also for its eifect on civilisation. Christianity had then 
 considerably influenced the world ; arts, sciences, and letters, animated by 
 its influence, again began to appear, and to add charms to the leisure of 
 
68 
 
 PRIVA TE LIFE IN THE 
 
 private life. The castles were naturally tlie first to be affected by this 
 poetical and intellectual regeneration, although it has been too much the 
 custom to exaggerate the ignorance of those who inhabited them. We are 
 too apt to consider the warriors of the Middle Ages as totally devoid of 
 knowledge, and as hardly able to sign their names, as far as the kings and 
 princes are concerned. This is quite an error ; for many of the knights 
 composed poems which exhibit evidence of their high literary culture. ri| 
 
 It was, in fact, the epoch of troubadours, who might be called professional 
 poets and actors, who went from country to country, and from castle to castle, 
 relating stories of good King Artus of Brittany and of the Knights of the 
 Round Table ; repeating historical poems of the great Emperor Charlemagne 
 and his followers. These minstrels were always accompanied by jugglers and 
 instrumentalists, who formed a travelling troop (Fig. 49), having no other 
 mission than to amuse and instruct their feudal hosts. After singing a 
 few fragments of epics, or after the lively recital of some ancient fable, 
 the jugglers would display their art or skill in gymnastic feats or con- 
 juring, which were the more appreciated by the spectators, in that the 
 latter were more or less able to comjjete with them. These wandering 
 troops acted small comedies, taken from incidents of the times. Sometimes, 
 too, the instrumentalists formed an orchestra, and dancing commenced. It 
 may be here remarked that dancing at this epoch consisted of a number of 
 persons forming large circles, and turning to the time of the music or the 
 rhythm of the song. At least the dances of the nobles are thus represented 
 in the MSS. of the Middle Ages. To these amusements were added games 
 of calculation and chance, the fashion for which had much increased, and 
 particularly such games as backgammon, draughts, and chess, to which certain 
 knights devoted all their leisure. 
 
 From the reign of Philip Augustus, a remarkable change seems to 
 have taken place in the private life of kings, princes, and nobles. Although 
 his domains and revenues had always been on the increase, this monarch 
 never displayed, in ordinary circumstances at least, much magnificence. 
 The accoimts of his private expenses for the years 1202 and 1203 have 
 been preserved, which enable us to discover some curious details bearing 
 witness to the extreme simplicity of the court at that period. The household 
 of the King or royal family was still very small : one chancellor, one 
 chaj^laiu, a squire, a bu.tler, a few Knights of the Temple, and some 
 
CASTLES, TOWNS, AND RURAL DLSTRICTS. 
 
 69 
 
 sergeants-at-arms were the only officers of the palace. The King and 
 princes of his household only changed apparel three times during the year. 
 
 Fig. 49._King David playing on the Lyre, surrounded by f.jur Musicians.— Costunios of the 
 Thirteenth Century (from a Miniature in a Manuscript Psalter in the Imperial Library, Paris). 
 
 The children of the King slept in sheets of serge, and their nurses were 
 dressed in gowns of dark-coloured woollen stuff, called brunette. The royal 
 cloak, which was of scarlet, was jewelled, but the King only wore it on 
 
70 PRIVATE LIFE IN THE 
 
 great ceremonies. At the same time enormous expenses were incurred for 
 implements of war, arrows, helmets with visors, chariots, and for the men- 
 at-arms whom the King kept in his pay. 
 
 Louis IX. personally kept up almost similar habits. The Sire de Joinville 
 tells us in his " Chronicles," that the holy King on his retm-n from his first 
 crusade, in order to repair the damage done to his treasury by the failure of 
 this expedition, would no longer wear costly furs nor robes of scarlet, and con- 
 tented himself with common stuffs trimmed with hare-skin. He nevertheless 
 did not diminish the ofacers of his household, which had already become 
 numerous ; and being no doubt convinced that royalty required magnificence, 
 he surrounded himself with as much pomp as the times permitted. 
 
 Under the two Philips, his successors, this magnificence increased, and 
 descended to the great vassals, who were soon imitated by the knights 
 " bannerets." There seemed to be a danger of luxury becoming so great, 
 and so general in all classes of feudal society, that in 1294 an order of 
 the King was issued, regulating in the minutest details the expenses of 
 each person according to his rank in the State, or the fortune which he 
 could prove. But this law had the fate of all such enactments, and was 
 either easily evaded, or was only partially enforced, and that with great 
 difficulty. Another futile attempt to put it in practice was made in 1306, 
 when the splendour of dress, of equipages, and of table had become still 
 greater and more ruinous, and had descended progressively to the bourgeois 
 and merchants. 
 
 It must be stated in praise of Philip le Bel (Fig. 50) that, notwithstand- 
 ing the failure of his attempts to arrest the progress of luxury, he was not 
 satisfied with making laws against the extravagances of his subjects, for we 
 find that he studied a strict economy ia his own household, which recalled 
 the austere times of Philip Augustus. Thus, in the curious regulations 
 relating to the domestic arrangements of the palace, the Queen, Jeanne de 
 Navarre, was only allowed two ladies and three maids of honour in her 
 suite, and she is said to have had only two four-horse carriages, one for 
 herself and the other for these ladies. In another place these regulations 
 require that a butler, specially appointed, " should buy all the cloth and furs 
 for the king, take charge of the key of the cvqiboards where these are kept, 
 know the quantity given to the tailors to make clothes, and check the accounts 
 when the tailors send in their claims for the price of their work." 
 
CASTLES, TOWNS, AND RURAL DISTRICTS. 
 
 After the death of the pious Jeanne de Navarre, to whom perhaps we 
 
 mmi. 
 
 
 I'll 11 (« ii«i('(iiniiiiiiiiiiti)'ifiii||ii|||]]p 
 
 Fig. 50. — King Philip lo Bel ia War-dross, on the Occasion of his entering P.iris in 1304, after 
 having conquered the Communes of Flanders.— Equestrian Statue placed in Notre Came, 
 Paris, and destroyed in 1772.— Fac-simile of a Woodcut from Thevet's " Cosmographio 
 TJnJveraelle," lo7'5. 
 
 must attribute the wise measures of her husband, Philip Ic Bel, the expenses 
 of the royal household materially increased, especially on the occasions of the 
 
72 PRIVA TE LIFE IN THE 
 
 marriages of the three young sons of the King, from 1305 to 1307. Gold, 
 diamonds, pearls, and precious stones were employed profusely, both for the 
 King's garments and for those of the members of the royal family. The 
 accounts of 1307 mention considerable sums paid for carpets, coimterpanes, 
 robes, worked linen, &c. A chariot of state, ornamented and covered with paint- 
 ings, and o-ilded like the back of an altar, is also mentioned, and must have 
 been a great change to the heavy vehicles used for travelling in those days. 
 
 Down to the reign of St. Louis the furniture of castles had preserved a 
 character of primitive simplicity which did not, however, lack grandeur. 
 The stone remained uncovered in most of the halls, or else it was whitened 
 with mortar and ornamented with moulded roses and leaves, coloured in 
 distemper. Against the wall, and also against the pillars supporting the 
 arches, arms and armour of all sorts were hung, arranged in suits, and inter- 
 spersed with banners and pennants or emblazoned standards. In the great 
 middle hall, or dining-room, there was a long massive oak table, with benches 
 and stools of the same wood. At the end of this table, there was a large arm- 
 chair, overhung with a canopy of golden or silken stuff, which was occupied 
 by the owner of the castle, and only relinquished by him in favour of his 
 superior or sovereign. Often the walls of the hall of state were hung with 
 tapestry, representing groves with cattle, heroes of ancient history, or 
 events in the romance of chivalry. The floor was generally paved with 
 hard stone, or covered with enamelled tiles. It was carefully strewn with 
 scented herbs in summer, and straw in winter. Philip Augustus ordered 
 that the Hotel Dieu of Paris should receive the herbs and straw which was 
 daily removed from the floors of his palace. It was only very much later 
 that this troublesome sj^stem was replaced by mats and carpets. 
 
 The bedrooms were generally at the top of the towers, and had Kttle else 
 by way of furniture, besides a very large bed, with or without curtains, a 
 box in which clothes were kept, and which also served as a seat, and a iwie- 
 dieu chair, which sometimes contained prayer and other books of devotion. 
 These lofty rooms, whose thick walls kept out the heat in summer, and the 
 cold in winter, were only Lighted by a small window or loophole, closed 
 with a square of oiled paper or of thin horn. 
 
 A great change took place in the abodes of the nobility in the fourteenth 
 and fifteenth centuries (Fig. 51). We find, for instance, in Sauval's " History 
 and Researches of the Antiquities of the City of Paris," that the abodes of 
 
CASTLES, TOWNS, AND RURAL B/STRLCTS. 
 
 73 
 
 the kings of the first dj^nastj^ had been transformed into Palaces of Justice 
 by Philip le Bel ; the same author also gives us a vivid description of the 
 Chateau du Louvre, and the Hotel St. Paul, which the kings inhabited 
 when their court was in the capital. But even without examining into 
 all the royal abodes, it will suffice to give an account of the Hotel de 
 
 Fig. 61. — The Knight and his Lady. — Costumes of the Court of Burgundy in the Fourteenth 
 Century; Furnished Chamber. — Miniature in " Othea," Poem hy Christine de Pisan (Brussels 
 Library). 
 
 Boheme, which, after having been the home of the Sires de Nesles, of 
 Queen Blanche of Castille, and other great per-sons, was given by Charles VI., 
 in 1388, to his brother, the famous Duke Louis of Orleans. 
 
 " I shall not attempt," says Sauval, " to speak of the cellars and wine 
 cellars, the bakehouses, the fruiteries, the salt-stores, the fur rooms, the 
 
 L 
 
74 PRIVATE LIFE IN THE 
 
 porters' lodges, the stores, the guard-rooms, the wood-yard, or the glass-stores ; 
 nor of the servants ; nor of the place where hypocras was made ; neither shall 
 I describe the tapestry-room, the linen-room, nor the laundry ; nor, indeed, 
 any of the various conveniences which were then to be found in the yards of 
 that palace as well as in the other abodes of the princes and nobles. 
 
 " I shall simply remark, that amongst the many suites of rooms which 
 composed it, two occupied the two first stories of the main building ; the first 
 was raised some few steps above the ground-floor of the court, and was 
 occupied by Valentine de Milan ; and her husband, Louis of Orleans, generally 
 occupied the second. Each of these suites of rooms consisted of a great hall, a 
 chamber of state, a large chamber, a wardrobe, some closets, and a chapel. 
 The windows of the halls were thirteen and a half feet * high by four and a 
 half wide. The state chambers were eight ' toises,' that is, about fifty feet 
 and a half long. The duke and duchess's chambers were six ' toises ' by 
 three, that is, about thirty-six feet by eighteen ; the others were seven toises 
 and a half square, all lighted by long and narrow windows of wirework with 
 trellis-work of iron ; the wainscots and the ceilings were made of Irish wood, 
 the same as at the Louvre." 
 
 In this palace there was a room used by the duke, hung with cloth of 
 gold, bordered with vermilion velvet, embroidered with roses ; the duchess had 
 a room hung with vermilion satin embroidered ■n'ith crossbows, which were 
 on her coat of arms; that of the Duke of Burgundy was hung with cloth of 
 gold embroidered with windmills. There were, besides, eight carpets of 
 glossy texture, with gold flowers ; one representing " The Seven Virtues and 
 the Seven Vices ; " another the history of Charlemagne ; another that of St. 
 Louis. There were also cushions of cloth of gold, twenty-four pieces of 
 vermilion leather of Aragon, and four carpets of Aragon leather, "to be 
 placed on the floor of rooms in summer." The favourite arm-chair of the 
 princess is thus described in an inventory : — " A chamber chair with four 
 siipports, painted in fine vermilion, the seat and arms of which are covered 
 with vermilion morocco, or cordovan, worked and stamped with designs 
 representing the sun, birds, and other devices, bordered with fringes of silk 
 and studded with nails." 
 
 Among the ornamental furniture were—" A larg'c vase of massive silver, 
 for holding sugar-plums or sweetmeats, shaped like a square table, supported 
 
 * French feet. 
 
CASTLES, TOWNS, AND RURAL DISTRICTS. 
 
 75 
 
 by four satyrs, also of silver ; a fine wooden casket, covered with vermilion 
 cordovan, nailed, and bordered with a narrow gilt band, shutting with a 
 key." 
 
 In the daily life of Louis of Orleans and his wife, everything corresponded 
 with the luxury of their house. Thus, for the amusement of their children, 
 two little books of pictures were made, illuminated with gold, azure, and ver- 
 milion, and covered with vermilion leather of Cordova, which cost sixty nols 
 paritsis, i.e. foiu' hundred francs. But it was in the custom of New Year's 
 
 Fig, .52. — Bronze Chandeliers of the Fourteenth Century (Collection of M. Ach. Jubinal). 
 
 gifts that the duke and duchess displayed truly royal magnificence, as we find 
 described in the accounts of their expenses. For instance, in 1388 they paid 
 four hundred franc.s of gold for sheets of silk to give to those who received 
 the New Year's gifts from the King and Queen. In 1402, one hundred j)ovinds 
 (tournois) were given to Jehan Taienne, goldsmith, for six silver cups pre- 
 sented to Jacques de Poschin, the Duke's squire. To the Sire de la Trcmouillo 
 Valentine gives "a cup and basin of gold ;" to Queen Isabella, "a golden 
 
76 
 
 PRIVA TE LIFE IN THE 
 
 image of St. John, surrounded with nine rubies, one sapphire, and twenty- 
 one pearls ;" to Mademoiselle de Luxembourg, "another small golden sacred 
 image, surrounded with pearls ;" and lastly, in an account of 1394, headed, 
 "Portion of gold and silver jewels bought by Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans 
 as a New Year's gift," we find "a clasp of gold, studded with one large ruby 
 and six large pearls, given to the King ; three paternosters for the King's 
 daughters, and two large diamonds for the Dukes of 
 Burgundy and Berry." 
 
 Such were the habits in private life of the royal 
 princes under Charles VI. ; and it can easily be 
 shown that the example of royalty was followed 
 not only by the court, but also in the remotest 
 provinces. The great tenants or vassals of the 
 crown each possessed several splendid mansions in 
 their fiefs ; the Dukes of Burgundj', at Souvigny, 
 at Moulins, and at Bourbon I'Archambault ; the 
 Coimts of Champagne, at Troyes ; the Dukes of 
 Burgundy at Dijon ; and all the smaller nobles 
 made a point of imitating their superiors. From the 
 fifteenth to the sixteenth centuries, the provinces 
 which now compose France were studded with 
 castles, which were as remarkable for their interior 
 architecture as for the richness of their furniture ; 
 and it may be asserted that the luxury which was 
 displayed in the dwellings of the nobility was the 
 evidence, if not the result, of a great social revo- 
 lution in the manners and customs of private life. 
 At the end of the fourteenth century there lived 
 a much -respected noble of Anjou, named Greoffroy de Latour-Landry, who 
 had three daughters. In his old age, he resolved that, considering the 
 dangers which might surround them in consequence of their inexperience 
 and beauty, he would compose for their use a code of admonitions which 
 might guide them in the various circumstances of life. 
 
 This book of domestic maxims is most curious and instructive, from the 
 details which it contains respecting the manners and customs, mode of 
 conduct, and fashions of the nobility of the period (Fig. 54). The author 
 
 I 
 
 Fig. 53. — Styli used in writin 
 in the Fouxteentli Century. 
 
Repifjentiiig Ihe Parisian costumes at the end of the fourteenth century. 
 
 Fac-siniile of a miniature from the latin Terence of iiing Charles VI, 
 
 From a manuscript in the BihL dc TArsenal. 
 
CASTLES, TOWNS, AND RURAL DISTRICTS. 
 
 77 
 
 mostly illustrates each of his precepts by examples from the life of contem- 
 porary personages. 
 
 The first advice the knight gives his daughters is, to begin the day with 
 prayer ; and, in order to give greater weight to his counsel, he relates the 
 following anecdote: "A noble had two daughters; the one was pious, 
 always saying her prayers with devotion, and regularlj' attending the services 
 of the church ; she married an honest man, and was most happj'. The 
 other, on the contrary, was satisfied with hearing low mass, and hurrying 
 
 Fig. 54. — Dress of Noble Ladies and Children in the Fourteunlh Cuntury. - ^liiiiaturo in the 
 "Merveilles du Monde" (Manuscript, National Library of Paris). 
 
 once or twice through the Lord's Prayer, after which she went off to indulge 
 herself with sweetmeats. She complained of headaches, and required 
 careful diet. She married a most excellent knight ; but, one evening, 
 taking advantage of her husband being asleep, she shut herself up in one 
 of the rooms of the palace, and in company with the people of the household, 
 began eating and drinking in the most riotous and excessive manner. The 
 knight awoke ; and, .surprised not to find his wife by his side, got up, and, 
 armed with a stick, betook him.self to the scene of festivity. He struck one 
 of the domestics with such force that he broke his stick in pieces, and one 
 
1 
 
 78 
 
 PRIVATE LIFE IN THE 
 
 of the fragments flew into the lady's eye and put it out. This caused her 
 husband to take a dislike to her, and he soon placed his aifections elsewhere." 
 "My pretty daughters," the moralising parent proceeds, "be courteous 
 and meek, for nothing is more beautiful, nothing so secures the favour of God 
 and the love of others. Be then courteous to great and small ; speak gently 
 
 with them I have seen a great lady take off her cap and bow to a 
 
 simple ironmonger. One of her followers seemed astonished. ' I prefer,' 
 she said, ' to have been too courteous towards that man, than to have been 
 guilty of the least incivility to a knight.' " 
 
 Fig. 55. — Noble Lady and Maid of Honour, and two Burgesses with Hoods (Fourteenth Century), 
 from a Miniature in the " Merveilles du Monde" (Manuscript in the Imperial Library of Paris). 
 
 Latour-Landry also advised his daughters to avoid outrageous fashions 
 in dress. " Do not be hasty in copying the dress of foreign women. I 
 will relate a story on this subject respecting a bourgeoise of Guyenne and 
 the Sire de Beaumanoir. The lady said to him, 'Cousin, I come from 
 Brittany, where I saw my fine cousin, your wife, who was not so well 
 dressed as the ladies of Guj^enne and many other places. The 
 borders of her dress and of her bonnet are not in fashion.' The Sire 
 answered, ' Since you find fiiult with the dress and cap of my wife, and as 
 they do not suit you, I shall take care in future that they are changed ; but 
 
 I shall be careful not to choose them similar to yours Understand, 
 
 madam, that I wish her to be dressed accordino- to the fashion of the good 
 
CASTLES, TOWNS, AND RURAL DLSTRLCTS. -jq 
 
 ladies of France and this country, and not like those of England. It was 
 these last who first introduced into Brittany the large borders, the bodices 
 opened on the hijis, and the hanging sleeves. I remember the time, and saw 
 it myself, and I have little respect for women who adopt these fashions.' " 
 Respecting the high head-dresses " which cause women to resemble stao-s 
 
 o 
 
 who are obliged to lower their heads to enter a wood," the knight relates 
 what took place in 1392 at the fete of St. Marguerite. " There was a young 
 and pretty woman there, quite differently dressed from the others ; every one 
 stared at her as if she had been a wild beast. One respectable lady 
 approached her and said, ' 3Iy friend, what do you call that fashion?' She 
 answered, 'It is called the " gibbet dress." ' 'Indeed; but that is not a 
 fine name ! ' answered the old lady. Very soon the name of ' gibbet dress ' 
 got known all round the room, and every one laughed at the foolish creature 
 who was thus bedecked." This head-dress did in fact owe its name to its 
 summit, which resembled a gibbet. 
 
 These extracts from the work of this honest knight, suffice to prove that 
 the customs of French society had, as early as the end of the fourteenth 
 century, taken a decided character which was to remain subject only to 
 modifications introduced at various historical periods. 
 
 Amongst the customs which contributed most to the softening and eleo-ance 
 of the feudal class, we must cite that of sending into the service of the 
 sovereign for some years all the youths of both sexes, under the names of 
 varlets, pages, squires, and maids of honour. No noble, of whatever wealth 
 or power, ever thought of depriving his family of this apprenticeship and 
 its accompanying chivalric education. 
 
 Up to the end of the twelfth century, the number of domestic officers 
 attached to a castle was very limited; we have seen, for instance, that 
 Philip Augustus contented himself with a few servants, and his queen with 
 two or three maids of honour. Under Louis IX. this household was much 
 increased, and under Philippe le Bel and his sons the royal hou.sehold had 
 become so considerable as to constitute quite a large assemblage of young 
 men and women. Under Charles VI., the household of Queen Isabella of 
 Bavaria alone amounted to forty-five persons, without counting the almoner, 
 the chaplains, and clerks of the chapel, who must have been very numerous, 
 smce the sums paid to them amounted to the large amount of four hundred 
 and sixty francs of gold per aniiuiu. 
 
8o 
 
 PRIVATE LIFE IN THE 
 
 Fig. 06.— Cjurt of the Ladies of Queen Anne of Brittany ; lliniature representing this lady- 
 weeping on account of the absence of her husband during the Italian war. — Manuscript of the 
 " Epistres Envoyees au Eoi" (Sixteenth Century), obtained by the Coislin Fund for the Library 
 of St. Germain des Pres in Paris, now in the Library of St. Petersburg. 
 
 Under Charles Till., Louis XII., and Francis I., the service of the 
 young nobility, which was called " apprenticeship of honour or virtue, 
 
CASTLES, TOWNS, AND RURAL DISTRICTS. 8i 
 
 had taken a mucli wider range ; for the first families of the French nobility 
 were most ■ eager to get their children admitted into the royal household, 
 either to attend on the King or Queen, or at any rate on one of the princes 
 of the royal blood. Anne of Brittany particularly gave special attention to 
 her female attendants (Fig. 56). " She was the first," says Brantome in 
 his work on " Illusti'ious Women," "who began to form the great court of 
 ladies which has descended to our days ; for she had a considerable retinue 
 both of adult ladies and young girls. She never refused to receive any one ; 
 on the contrary, she inquired of the gentlemen of the court if they had any 
 daughters, ascertained who they were, and asked for them." It was thus 
 that the Admiral de Graville (Fig. 57) confided to the good Queen the 
 education of his daughter Anne, who at this school of the Court of Ladies 
 became one of the most distinguished women of her daj\ The same Queen, 
 as Duchess of Brittany, created a company of one hundred Breton gentle- 
 men, who accompanied her everywhere. " They never failed," says the 
 author of " Illustrious Women," "when she went to mass or took a walk, 
 to await her return on the little terrace of Blois, which is stiU called the 
 Perche mix Bretons. She gave it this name herself; for when she saw them 
 she said, ' There are my Bretons on the perch waiting for me.' " 
 
 We must not forget that this queen, who became successively the wife of 
 Charles VIII. and of Louis XII., had taken care to establish a strict 
 discipline amongst the young men and women who composed her court. 
 She rightly considered herself the guardian of the honour of the former, and 
 of the virtue of the latter ; therefore, as long as she lived, her court was 
 renowned for purity and politeness, noble and refined gallantry, and was 
 never allowed to degenerate into imprudent amusements or licentious and 
 culpable intrigues. 
 
 Unfortunately, the moral influence of this worthy princess died with her. 
 Although the court of France continued to gather around it almost every 
 sort of elegance, and although it continued during the whole of the six- 
 teenth century the most polished of European courts, notwithstanding the 
 great external and civil wars, yet it afforded at the same time a sad example 
 of laxity of morals, which had a most baneful influence on public habits ; so 
 much so that vice and corruption descended from class to class, and contami- 
 nated all orders of society. If we wished to make investigations into the 
 private life of the lower orders in those times, we should not succeed as we 
 
 M 
 
8z 
 
 PRIVATE LIFE IN THE 
 
 Fig. 57.— Louis de Mallet, Lord of Graville, Admiral of France, 14S7, in Costume of War and 
 Tournament, from an Engraving of the Sixteenth Century (National Library of Paris, Cabinet 
 des Estampes). 
 
 have been able to do with that of the upper ohisses ; for we have scarcely any 
 data to throw light upon their sad and obscure history. Bourgeois and 
 peasants were, as we have already shown, long included toa-ether with the 
 
CASTLES, TOWNS, AND RURAL DISTRICTS. 83 
 
 miserable class of serfs, a herd of human beings without individuality, 
 without significance, who from their birth to their death, whether isolated 
 or collectively, were the " propert}' " of their masters. What must have 
 been the private life of this degraded multitude, bowed down under the most 
 tyrannical and himiiliating dependence, we can scarcely imagine ; it was in 
 fact but a purely material existence, which has left scarcely any trace in 
 history. 
 
 Many centuries elapsed before the dawn of liberty could penetrate the 
 social strata of this multitude, thus oppressed and denuded of all power of 
 action. The development was slow, painful, and dearly bought, but at last 
 it took place ; first of all towns sprang up, and with them, or rather by their 
 influence, the inhabitants became possessed of social life. The agricultural 
 population took its social position many generations later. 
 
 As we have already seen, the great movement for the creation of commimes 
 and bourgeoisies only dates from the unsettled period ranging from the 
 eleventh to the thirteenth centuries, and simidtaneously we see the bourgeois 
 appear, already rich and luxurious, parading on all occasions their personal 
 opulence. Their private life could only be an imitation of that in the 
 chateaux ; by degrees as wealth strengthened and improved their condition, 
 and rendered them independent, we find them trying to procure luxuries 
 equal or analogous to those enjoyed by the upper classes, and which appeared to 
 them the height of material happiness. In all times the small have imitated 
 the great. It was in vain that the great obstinately threatened, by the exercise 
 of their prerogatives, to try and crush this tendency to equality which alarmed 
 them, by issuing pecuniary edicts, summary laws, coercive regulations, and 
 penal ordinances; by the force of circumstances the arbitrary restrictions 
 which the nobility laid upon the lower classes gradually disappeared, and 
 the power of wealth displayed itself in spite of all their efforts to suppress it. 
 In fact, occasions were not wanting in which the bourgeois class was able to 
 refute the charge of unworthiness with which the nobles sought to stamp it. 
 When taking a place in the council of the King, or emplo}'ed in the 
 administration of the provinces, many of its members distinguished them- 
 selves by firmness and wisdom ; when called ujum to assist in the national 
 defence, they gave their Idood and their gold with noble self-denial ; and 
 lastly, they did not fail to prove themselves possessed of those high and delicate 
 sentiments of whiili Iho iiobilitv alone claimed the hereditary possession. 
 
PRIVATE LIFE IN THE 
 
 " The bourgeois," says Arnaud de Marveil, one of the most famous trouha- 
 doiirs of the thirteenth century, " have divers sorts of merits : some dis- 
 tinguish themselves by deeds of honour, others are by nature noble and 
 
 
 Pig-- 58.— Burgess of Ghent and his Wife, 
 
 in ceremonial xVttirc, kneeling in Church, from a painted 
 
 Window belonging to a Chapel in that Town (Fifteenth Cent 
 
 uryj 
 
 behave accordingly. There are others thoroughly brave, courteous, frank, 
 and jovial, who, although poor, find means to please 'by graceful speech, 
 frequenting courts, and making themselves agreeable there ; these, well 
 versed in courtesy and politeness, appear in noble attire, and iigi 
 
 )'ure con- 
 
CASTLES, TOWNS, AND RURAL DISTRICTS. 85 
 
 spicuotisly at tte tournaments and military games, proving themselves 
 good judges and good company." 
 
 Down to the thirteenth century, however rich their fathers or husbands 
 might be, the women of the bourgeoisie were not permitted, without 
 incurring a fine, to use the ornaments and stuffs exclusively reserved for the 
 nobility. During the reigns of PhiHp Augustus and Louis IX., although these 
 arbitrary laws were not positively aboKshed, a heavy blow was inflicted on them 
 by the marks of confidence, esteem, and honoiu- which these monarchs foimd 
 pleasure in bestowing on the bourgeoisie. We find the first of these kings, 
 when on the point of starting for a crusade, choosing six from amongst the 
 principal members of the parloir au.c bourgeois (it was thus that the first Hotel 
 de Ville, situated in the corner of the Place de la Greve, was named) to 
 be attached to the Council of Regency, to whom he specially confided his 
 will and the royal treasure. His grandson made a point of following his 
 grandsire's example, and Louis IX. showed the same appreciation for the 
 new element which the Parisian bourgeoisie was about to establish in political 
 life by making the bourgeois Etienne Boileau one of his principal ministers 
 of police, and the bom-geois Jean Sarrazin his chamberlain. 
 
 Under these circumstances, the whole bourgeoisie gloried in the marks of 
 distinction conferred upon their representatives, and diu-ing the following 
 reign, the ladies of this class, proud of their immense fortunes, but above 
 all proud of the mimicij)al powers held by their families, bedecked themselves 
 regardless of expense, with costly furs and rich stuffs, notwithstanding that 
 they were forbidden by law to do so. 
 
 Then came an outcrjr on tlie part of the nobles ; and we read as follows, in 
 an edict of Philippe le Bel, who inclined less to the bourgeoisie than to the 
 nobles, and who did not spare the former in matters of taxation: — "No 
 bourgeois shall have a chariot nor wear gold, precious stones, or crowns of 
 gold or silver. Bourgeois, not being either prelates nor dignitaries of state, 
 shall not have tapers of wax. A boui'geois possessing two thousand pounds 
 (tournois) or more, may order for himself a dress of twelve sous six deniers, 
 and for his wife one worth sixteen sous at the most." The sou, wliicli was 
 but nominal money, may be reckoned as representing twenty francs, and the 
 denier one franc, but allowance must be made for the enormous difference in 
 the value of silver, which would make twenty francs in the thirteenth century 
 represent upwards of two liundrod francs of present currency. 
 
86 
 
 PRIVATE LIFE IN THE 
 
 But these regulations as to the mode of living were so little or so 
 carelessly observed, that all the successors of Philippe le Bel thought it 
 necessary to re-enact them, and, indeed, Charles VII., one century later, was 
 obliged to censure the excess of luxury in dress by an edict which was,- 
 however, no better enforced than the rest. " It has been shown to the said 
 lord " (the Eing Charles VII.), " that of all nations of the habitable globe 
 there are none so changeable, outrageous, and excessive in their manner of 
 
 Fig. 59. — The new-born Child, from a Miniature in the " Histoire de la Belle Helaine ' 
 (Manuscript of the Fifteenth Centurj', National Library of Paris). 
 
 dress, as the French nation, and there is no possibility of discovering by 
 their dress the state or calling of persons, be thej'' princes, nobles, bour- 
 geois, or worlcing men, because all are allowed to dress as they think 
 proper, whether in gold or silver, silk or wool, without any regard to their 
 calling." 
 
 At the end of the thirteenth century, a rich merchant of Valenciennes 
 went to the court of the King of France wearino- a cloak of furs covered 
 
CASTLES, TOWNS, AND RURAL DISTRLCTS. «7 
 
 ■w'it-li gold nnd pearls ; seeing that no one offered him a cushion, he proudly 
 sat on his cloak. On leaving he did not attempt to take up the cloak ; and 
 on a servant calling his attention to the fact he remarked, "It is not the 
 custom in my country for people to carry away their cushions with them." 
 
 Respecting a journey made by Philijjpe le Bel and his wife Jeanne de 
 Navarre to the towns of Bruges and Ghent, the historian Jean Mayer 
 relates that Jeanne, on seeing the costly array of the bourgeois of those 
 two rich cities, exclaimed, " I thought I was the only queen here, but I see 
 more than six hundred !" 
 
 In spite of the laws, the Parisian bourgeoisie soon rivalled the Flemish 
 in the brilliancy of their dress. Thus, in the second half of the fourteenth 
 century, the famous Christine de Pisan relates that, having gone to visit 
 the wife of a merchant during her confinement, it was not without some 
 amazement that she saw the sumptuous furniture of the apartment in which 
 this woman lay in bed (Fig. 59). The walls were hung with jirecious 
 tapestry of Cyprus, on which the initials and motto of the lady were 
 embroidered ; the sheets were of fine linen of Bheims, and had cost more 
 than three hundred pounds ; the quilt was a new invention of silk and 
 silver tissue ; the carpet was like gold. The lady wore an elegant dress of 
 crimson silk, and rested her head and aims on pillows, ornamented with 
 buttons of oriental pearls. It should be remarked that this lady was not the 
 wife of a large merchant, such as those of Venice and Genoa, but of a simple 
 retail dealer, who was not above selling articles for four sous ; such being the 
 case, we need not be surjjrised that Christine should have considered the 
 anecdote " worthy of being immortalised in a book." 
 
 It must not, however, be assumed that the sole aim of the bourgeoisie 
 was that of making a haughty and pompous display. This is refuted by 
 the testimony of the " Menagier de Paris," a curious anonymous work, the 
 author of which must have been an educated and enlightened bourgeois. 
 
 The "Menagier," which was first published by the Baron Jerome Pichon, 
 is a collection of counsels addressed by a husband to his young wife, as to her 
 conduct in society, in the world, and in the management of her household. 
 The first part is devoted to developing the mind of the young house- 
 wife ; and the second relates to the arrangements necessary for the welfare 
 of her house. It must be remembered that the comparatively trifling duties 
 relating to the comforts of private life, which devolved on the wife, were not 
 
PRIVATE LIFE IN THE 
 
 so numeroiis in those days as they are now ; but on the other hand they 
 required an amount of practical Icnowledge on the part of the housewife which 
 she can nowadays dispense with. Under this head the " M^nagier " is full 
 of information. 
 
 After having spoken of the prayers which a Christian woman should say 
 morning and evening, the author discusses the great question of dress, 
 which has ever been of supreme importance in the eyes of the female sex : 
 "Know, dear sister," (the friendly name he gives his young wife), "that 
 in the choice of your apparel you must always consider the rank of your 
 parents and mine, as also the state of my fortune. Be respectably dressed, 
 
 Fig. 60.— Sculptured Comb, in Ivory, of the Sixteenth. Century (Sauvageot Collection). 
 
 without devoting too much study to it, without too much plunging into new 
 fashions. Before leaving your room, see that the collar of your gown 
 be well adjusted and is not put on crooked." 
 
 Then he dilates on the characters of women, which are too often wilful 
 and unmanagable ; on this point, for he is not less profuse in examples than 
 the Chevalier de Latour-Landry, he relates an amusing anecdote, worthy of 
 being repeated and remembered : — 
 
 " I have heard the bailiff of Tournay relate, that he had found himself 
 several times at table with men long married, and that he had wagered with 
 them the price of a dinner \mder the following conditions : the company 
 
CASTLES, TOWNS, AND RURAL DLSTRLCTS. 89 
 
 was to visit the abode of each of the husbands successively, and any one who 
 had a wife obedient enough immediately, without contradicting or making any 
 remark, to consent to count up to four, would win the bet ; but, on the other 
 hand, those whose wives showed temper, laughed, or refused to obey, would 
 lose. Under these conditions the companj^ gaily adjourned to the abode 
 of Robin, whose wife, called Marie, had a high opinion of herself. The 
 husband said before all, ' Marie, repeat after me what I shall say.' ' Willingly, 
 sire.' ' Marie, say, ' One, two, three ! ' But by this time Marie was out of 
 patience, and said, ' And seven, and twelve, and fourteen ! Why, you are 
 making a fool of me I ' So that husband lost his wager. 
 
 " The company next went to the house of Maitre Jean, whose wife, 
 Agnescat, well knew how to play the lady. Jean said, 'Repeat after me, 
 one!' 'And two!' answered Agnescat disdainfully ; so he lost his wager. 
 Tassin then tried and said to dame Tassin, ' Count one ! ' ' Go upstairs ! ' she 
 answered, ' if you want to teach counting, I am not a child.' Another said, 
 ' Go away with you ; you must have lost your senses,' or similar words, 
 which made the husbands lose their wagers. Those, on the contrary, who 
 had well-behaved wives gained their wager and went away joyful." 
 
 This amusing quotation .suffices to show that the author of the " Menagier 
 de Paris" wished to adopt a jocose style, with a view to enliven the serious- 
 ness of the subject he was advocating. 
 
 The part of his work in which he discusses the administration of the 
 house is not less worthy of attention. One of the most curious chapters 
 of the work is that in which he points out the manner in which the 
 young bourgeoise is to behave towards persons in her service. Rich people 
 in those days, in whatever station of life, were obliged to keep a numerous 
 retinue of servants. It is curious to find that so far back as the period to 
 which we allude, there was in Paris a kind of servants' registry office, 
 where situations were found for servant-maids from the country. The 
 bourgeois gave up the entire management of the servants to his wife ; but, 
 on account of her extreme youth, the author of the work in question 
 recommends his wife only to engage servants who shall have been chosen 
 by Dame Agnes, the nun whom he had placed with her as a kind of 
 governess or companion. 
 
 " Before engaging them," he says, " know whence they come ; in what 
 houses they have been ; if they hsvve acquaintances in town, and if thej' are 
 
go 
 
 PRIVATE LIFE IN THE 
 
 steady. Discover what they are capable of doing ; and ascertain that they 
 are not greedy, or inclined to drink. If they come from another country, 
 try to find out why they left it ; for, generally, it is not without some serious 
 reason that a woman decides upon a change of abode. When you have 
 engaged a maid, do not permit her to take the slightest liberty with you, 
 nor allow her to speak disrespectfully to you. If, on the contrary, she be 
 quiet in her demeanour, honest, modest, and shows herself amenable to 
 reproof, treat her as if she were your daughter. 
 
 " Superintend the work to be done ; and choose among your servants 
 
 Fig. 61. — Dress of Maidservants in the Thirteenth Centiu-y. — Miniature in a Manuscript of the 
 National Library of Paris. 
 
 those qualified for each special department. If you order a thing to be done 
 immediately, do not be satisfied with the following answers : ' It shall be 
 done presently, or to-morrow early ;' otherwise, be sure that you will have 
 to repeat your orders." 
 
 To these severe instructions upon the management of servants, the 
 bourgeois adds a few words respecting their morality. He recommends 
 that they be not permitted to use coarse or indecent language, or to insult 
 one another (Fig. 61). Although he is of opinion that necessary time 
 shoidd be given to servants at their meals, he does not approve of their 
 remaining drinking and talking too long at table: concerning which 
 
CASTLES, TOWNS, AND RURAL DISTRICTS. 91 
 
 practice lie quotes a proverb in use at that time : " Quand varlet presclie il 
 table et cbeval paist en gue, il est temps qu'on Ten oste : assez y a este ;" 
 which means, that when a servant talks at table and a horse feeds near a 
 
 I'lg. 62. — Hotel des Uisin8, Pario, built during the Fourteenth Century, restored in the Sixteenth, 
 and now destroyed. — State of the North Front at the End of the last Century. 
 
 watering-place it is time he should be removed ; he has been there long 
 enough. 
 
 The manner in which the author concludes his instruction proves his 
 kindness of heart, as well as his benevolence : " If one of your servants fall 
 sick, it is your duty, setting everything else aside, to see to his being cured." 
 
 It was thus that a bourgeois of the fifteenth century expressed him.self ; 
 
52 • PRIVATE LIFE IN THE 
 
 and as it is clear that lie could only have been inspired to dictate his 
 theoretical teachings by the practical experience which he must have gained 
 for the most part among the middle class to which he belonged, we must 
 conclude that in those days the bourgeoisie possessed considerable knowledge 
 of moral dignity and social propriety. 
 
 It must be added that by the side of the merchant and working bour- 
 
 o-eoisie who, above all, owed their greatness to the high functions of the 
 
 municipality — the parKamentary bourgeoisie had raised itself to power, and 
 that from the fourteenth century it played a considerable part in the State, 
 holding at several royal courts at diflferent periods, and at last, almost 
 hereditarily, the highest magisterial positions. The very character of these 
 great offices of president, or of parliamentary counsel, barristers, tic., proves 
 that the holders must have had no small amount of intellectual culture . In 
 this way a refined taste was created among this class, which the protection 
 of kings, princes, and lords had alone hitherto encouraged. We find, for 
 example, the Grrosliers at Lyons, the De Thous and Seguiers in Paris, 
 regardless of their bourgeois origin, becoming judicious and zealous patrons 
 of poets, scholars, and artists. 
 
 A description of Paris, published in the middle of the fifteenth century, 
 describes amongst the most splendid residences of the capital the hotels of 
 Juvenal des Ursins (Fig. 62), of Bureau de Dampmartin, of Guillaume 
 Seguin, of Mille Baillet, of Martin Double, and particularly that of Jacques 
 Duchie, situated in the Rue des Prouvaires, in which were collected at 
 great cost collections of all kinds of arms, musical instruments, rare 
 birds, tapestry, and works of art. In each church in Paris, and there 
 were upwards of a hundred, the principal chapels were foimded by cele- 
 brated families of the ancient bourgeoisie, who had left money for one or 
 more masses to be said daily for the rejDose of the souls of their deceased 
 members. In the burial- groimds, and principally in that of the Innocents, 
 the monuments of these families of Parisian bourgeoisie were of the most 
 expensive character, and were inscribed with epitaphs in which the living 
 vainly tried to immortalise the deeds of the deceased. Every one has heard 
 of the celebrated tomb of Nicholas Flamel and Pernelle his wife (Fig. 63) , 
 the cross of Bureau, the epitaph of Yolaude Bailly, who died in 1514, at 
 the age of eighty-eight, and who " saw, or might have seen, two hundred 
 and ninetv-five children descended from her." 
 
CASTLES, TOWXS, AXD RURAL DISTRICTS. 
 
 93 
 
 In fact, the religious institutions of Paris afford much curious and 
 interesting information relative to the history of the bourgeoisie. For 
 instance, Jean Alais, who levied a tax of one denier on each basket of fish 
 brought to market, and thereby amassed an enormous fortune, left the whole 
 of it at his death for the purpose of erecting a chapel called St. Agnes, which 
 soon after became the church of St. Eustace. He further directed that, by 
 way of expiation, his body should be thrown into the sewer which drained 
 
 Fig. 63. — Nicholas Flamel and Peinelle, his Wife, from a Painting executed at the End of the 
 Fifteenth Century, nnder the Vaults of the Cemetery of the Innocents, in Paris. 
 
 the offal from the market, and covered with a large stone ; this sewer up to 
 the end of the last century was still called Pont Alais. 
 
 Very often when citizens made gifts during their lifetime to churches 
 or parishes, the donors reserved to themselves certain privileges which were 
 calculated to cause the motives which had actuated them to be open to 
 criticism. Thus, in 1304, the daughters of Nicholas Arrode, formerly 
 provost of the merchants, presented to the church of St. Jacques-la-Boucherie 
 the house and "ri'ounds wliich thi'V inhabited, but one of them reserved the 
 
94 
 
 PRIVATE LIFE IN THE 
 
 right of having a key of the church that she might go in whenever she 
 pleased. Guillaume Haussecuel, in 1405, bought a similar right for the 
 sum of eighteen hoIs parim per anntmi (equal to twenty-five francs) ; and 
 Alain and his wife, whose house was close to two chapels of the church, under- 
 took not to build so as in any way to shut out the light from one of the 
 chapels on condition that they might open a small window into the chapel, 
 and so be enabled to hear the service without leaving- their room. 
 
 
 Fig. 64.— Country Life.— Fac-simile of a Woodcut in a folio Edition of Virgil, published 
 at Lyons in 1517. 
 
 We thus see that the bourgeoisie, especially of Paris, gradually took 
 a more prominent position in history, and became so grasping after power 
 that it ventured, at a period which does not concern us here, to aspire to 
 every sort of distinction, and to sec\ire an important social standing. What 
 had been the exception during the sixteenth century became the rule two 
 centuries later. 
 
 We \\-ill now take a glance at the agricultural population (Fig. 64), who, 
 
CASTLES, TOWNS, AND RURAL DISTRICTS. 
 
 95 
 
 as \YQ have already stated, were onlj' emancipated from serfdom at the end of 
 the eighteenth centurj^ 
 
 But whatever might have been formerlj' the civil condition of the rural 
 population, everything leads us to suppose that there were no special changes 
 in their private and domestic means of existence from a comparatively remote 
 period down to almost the present time. 
 
 A small poem of the thirteenth century, entitled, " De rOustillemeut 
 au Vilain," gives a clear though rough sketch of the domestic state of the 
 peasantry. Strange as it may seem, it must be acknowledged that, with a 
 few exceptions resulting from the progress of time, it would not be difhcult , 
 even at the present day, to tind the exact tj-pe maintained in the country 
 
 Fig. 65. — Sedentary Ocfupations of the Peasants. — Fao-simile from an Eng^a^•ing on Wood, 
 attributed to Holbein, in the " Cosmographie " of Munster (Baale, 15.52, folio). 
 
 districts farthest away from the capital and large towns ; at all events, they 
 were faithfully represented at the time of the revolution of 1789. 
 
 We gather from this poem, which must be considered an authentic and 
 most interesting document, that the maiisc or dwelling of the villain com- 
 prised three distinct buildings ; tlie first for the corn, the second for the hay 
 and straw, the third for the man and his family. In this rustic abode a tire 
 of vine branches and faggots sparkled in a largo chimney furnished with 
 an iron pot-hanger, a tripod, a shovel, large fire-irons, a cauldron and a 
 meat-hook. Next to the fireplace was an oven, and in close proximity to this 
 an enormous bedstead, on wliich the villain, his wife, his children, and even 
 the stranger who asked for ho.spitality, could all be easily accommodated ; a 
 
96 
 
 PRIVA TE LIFE IN THE 
 
 kneading trough, a table, a bench, a cheese cupboard, a jug, and a few 
 baskets made up the rest of the furniture. The villain also possessed other 
 utensils, siich as a ladder, a mortar, a hand-mill — for every one then was 
 obliged to grind his own corn ; a mallet, some nails, some gimlets, fishing 
 lines, hooks and baskets, &c. 
 
 Fi„ 66— YiUims bcfrae going to ^\ ork receiving their Loid b Oideib — Mimatme m the 
 "Propu^taire des Choses."— Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century (Lihrary.of the Ai-senal, in 
 Paris). 
 
 His working implements were a plough, a scythe, a spade, a hoe, large 
 shears, a knife and a sharpening stone ; he had also a waggon, with harness 
 for several horses, so as to be able to accomplish the different tasks required 
 of him under feudal rights, either by his proper lord, or by the sovereign ; 
 
CASTLES, TOWNS, AND RURAL DISTRICTS. 97 
 
 for the villain was Kable to be called upon to undertake every kind of work 
 of tkis sort. 
 
 His dress consisted of a blouse of cloth or skin fastened by a leather belt 
 round the waist, an overcoat or mantle of thick woollen stuff, which fell 
 from his shoulders to half-way down his legs ; shoes or large boots, short 
 woollen trousers, and from his belt there hung his wallet and a sheath for 
 his knife (Figs. 66 and 71). He generally went bare-headed, but in cold 
 weather or ia rain he wore a sort of hat of similar stuff to his coat, or one of 
 felt with a broad brim. He seldom wore moiiffles, or padded gloves, except 
 when engaged in hedging. 
 
 A small kitchen-garden, which he cultivated himself, was usually attached 
 to the cottage, which was guarded by a large watch-dog. There was also a shed 
 for the cows, whose milk contributed to the sustenance of the establishment; 
 and on the thatched roof of this and his cottage the wild cats himted the rats 
 and mice. The fa mil y were never idle, even in the bad season, and the children 
 were taught from infancy to work by the side of their parents (Fig. 65). 
 
 If, then, we find so much resemblance between the abodes of the villains 
 of the thirteenth century and those of the inhabitants of the poorest com- 
 mvmes of France in the present day, we may fairly infer that there must be 
 a great deal which is analogous between the inhabitants themselves of the 
 two periods ; for in the chateaux as well as in the towns we find the material 
 condition of the dwellings modifying itself conjointly with that of the moral 
 condition of the inhabitants. 
 
 Another little poem entitled, " On the Twenty-four Kinds of Villaiiis," 
 composed about the same period as the one above referred to, gives us a 
 graphic description of the varieties of character among the feudal peasants. 
 One example is given of a man who will not tell a traveller the way, but- 
 merely in a surly way answers, "You know it better than I " (Fig. 67). 
 Another, sitting at his door on a Simday, laughs at those passing by, and 
 says to himself when he sees a gentleman going hawking with a bird on his 
 wrist, " Ah ! that bird will eat a hen to-day, and our children could all feast 
 upon it ! " Another is described as a sort of madman who equally despises 
 God, the saints, the Chm-ch, and the nobility. His neighbour is an honest 
 simpleton, who, stopping in admiration before the doorway of Notre Dame 
 in Paris in order to admire the statues of Pepin, Charlemagne, and their 
 successors, has his pocket picked of his purse. Another villain is supposed 
 
 o 
 
PRIVATE LIFE IN THE 
 
 to make trade of pleading the cause of others before " Messire le Bailli;" he 
 is very eloquent in trying to show that in the time of their ancestors the 
 cows had a free right of pasture in such and such a meadow, or the sheep on 
 such and such a ridge ; then there is the miser, and the speculator, who 
 
 Fig. 67.— The egotistical and envious Villain.— From a Miniature in " Proverbes et Adages, &c," 
 Manuscript of the La Valliere Fund, in the National Library of Paris, with this legend : 
 
 "Attrapez y sont les plus fins; 
 Qui trop embrasse mal estraint." 
 
 (" The clevirest burn their fingers at it. 
 And those -n-ho grasp all may lose all.") 
 
 converts all his possessions into ready money, so as to purchase grain against 
 a bad season ; but of course the harvest turns out to be excellent, and he 
 does not make a forthing, but runs away to conceal his ruin and rage 
 (Fig. 68). There is also the villain who leaves his plough to become a 
 
CASTLES, TOWNS, AND RURAL DISTRLCTS. 
 
 99 
 
 poacher. There are many other curious examples which altogether tend 
 to prove that there has heen but little change in the villager class since the 
 first periods of history. 
 
 Notwithstanding the miseries to which they were generally subject, the 
 rural population had their days of rest and amusement, which were then 
 much more numerous than at present. At that period the festivals of the 
 
 Fig. 68. — The covetous and avaricious Villain. — From a Miniature in " Proverbea et Adages, cScc, 
 Manuscript in the National Library of Paris, -with this legend : 
 
 " Je suis icy levant les yeulx 
 En ce baut lieu des attendens, 
 £n convoitant pour avoir mieulx 
 Prendre la lune avec lea dens." 
 
 (" Even on this lofty height 
 We yet look higher, 
 jVs nothing will satisfy us 
 But to clutch the moon.") 
 
 Church were frequent and rigidly kept, and as each of them was the pretext 
 for a forced holiday from manual labour, the peasants thought of nothing, 
 
PRIVATE LIFE IN THE 
 
 after clmrcli, but of amusing themselves ; tliej drank, talked, sang, danced, 
 ajad, above all, laugbed, for the laugb of our forefathers quite rivalled the 
 Homeric laugh, and burst forth with a noisy joviality (Fig. 69). 
 
 The "wakes," or evenino- parties, which are still the custom in most of the 
 French provinces, and which are of very ancient origin, formed important events 
 in the private Lives of the peasants. It was at these that the strange legends 
 and vulgar superstitions, which so long fed the minds of the ignorant classes, 
 were mostly created and propagated. It was there that those extraordinary 
 and terrible fairy tales were related, as well as those of magicians, witches, 
 spirits, &c. It was there that the matrons, whose great age justified their 
 experience, insisted on proving, by absurd tales, that they knew all the 
 marvellous secrets for causing happiness or for curing sickness. Consequently, 
 in those days the most enlightened rustic never for a moment doubted the 
 truth of witchcraft. 
 
 In fact, one of the fii'st efforts at printing was applied to reproducing 
 the most ridiculous stories under the title of the "Evangile des Conuilles ou 
 Quenouilles," and which had been previously circulated in manuscript, and 
 had obtained implicit belief. The author of this remarkable collection asserts 
 that the matrons in his neighbourhood had deputed him to put together 
 in writiag the sayings suitable for all conditions of rural life which were 
 believed in by them and were announced at the wakes. The absurdities and 
 childish follies which he has dared to register under their dictation are 
 almost incredible. 
 
 The " Evangile des Quenouilles," which was as much believed in as 
 Holy Writ, tells us, amongst other secrets which it contains for the advantage 
 of the reader, that a girl wishing to know the Christian name of her future 
 husband, has but to stretch the fii-st thread she spias in the morning across 
 the doorway ; and that the first man who passes and touches the thread wiU 
 necessarily have the same name as the man she is destined to marry. 
 
 Another of the stories in this book was, that if a woman, on leaving off 
 work on Saturday night, left her distaff loaded, she might be sure that the 
 thread she would obtaiu from it during the following week would only pro- 
 duce liaen of bad quaEty, which could not be bleached ; this was considered 
 to be proved by the fact that the Germans wore dark-brown coloured shirts, 
 and it was known that the women never -unloaded their distaffs from Saturday 
 to Monday. 
 
CASTLES, TOWNS, AND RURAL DISTRLCTS. loi 
 
 Should a woman enter a cow-liouse to milk her cows without saying 
 "God and St. Bridget bless you !" she was thought to run the risk of the 
 cows kicking and breaking the milk-pail and spilling the milk. 
 
 This siUy nonsense, compiled like oracles, was printed as late as 1493. 
 Eighty years later a gentleman of Brittany, named Noel du Fail, Lord of 
 Herissaye, councillor in the Parliament of Rennes, published, imder the title 
 of "Rustic and Amusing Discourses," a work intended to counteract the 
 influence of the famous " Evangile des QuenouiUes." This new work was a 
 
 Fig. 69.— Village Feast.— Fac-.similu of :i Wuudcutof tlic " Simdiin ou Verd G.ikut," facetious 
 Work of the End of the Sixteenth Century (edition of 1609). 
 
 simple and true sketch of country habits, and proved the elegance and artless 
 simplicity of the author, as well as liis accuracy of observation. lie begins 
 thus : " Occasionally, having to retire into the country more conveniently 
 and uninterruptedly to finish some business, on a particular holiday, as I 
 was walking I came to a neighbouring village, where the greater part of 
 the old and young men were assembled, in groups of separate ages, for, 
 according to the proverb, ' Each socks his like.' The young were practising 
 the how, jumping, wrestling, running races, and playing other games. The 
 old were looking on, some sitting under an oak, with their legs crossed, and 
 
PRIVATE LIFE IN THE 
 
 their hats lowered over their eyes, others leaning on their elbows criti- 
 cizing every performance, and refreshing the memory of their own youth, 
 and taking a lively interest in seeing the gambols of the young people." 
 
 The author states that on questioning one of the peasants to ascertain who 
 was the cleverest person present, the following dialogue took place: "The 
 one you see leaning on his elbow, hitting his boots, which have white strings, 
 with a hazel stick, is called Anselme ; he is one of the rich ones of the 
 village, he is a good workman, and not a bad writer for the flat country ; and 
 the one you see by his side, with his thumb in his belt, hanging from which 
 is a large game bag, containing spectacles and an old prayer book, is called 
 Pasquier, one of the greatest wits within a day's journey— nay, were I to say 
 two I should not be lying. Anyhow, he is certainly the readiest of the whole 
 company to open his purse to give drink to his companions." "And that 
 one," I asked, " with the large Milanese cap on his head, who holds an old 
 book?" "That one," he answered, " who is scratching the end of his nose 
 with one hand and his beard with the other?" "That one," I replied, 
 "and who has turned towards us?" "Why," said he, "that is Eoger 
 Bontemps, a merry careless fellow, who up to the age of fifty kept the parish 
 school ; but changing his first trade he has become a wine-grower. How- 
 ever, he cannot resist the feast days, when he brings us his old books, and 
 reads to us as long as we choose, such works as the ' Calendrier des Bergers,' 
 ' Fables d'Esope,' ' Le Roman de la Eose,' ' Matheolus,' ' Alain Chartier,' 
 ' Les Vigiles du feu Roy Charles,' 'Les deux Grebans,' and others. Neither, 
 with his old habit of warbling, can he help singing on Sundays in the choir ; 
 and he is called Huguet. The other sitting near him, looldng over his 
 shoulder into his book, and wearing a sealskin belt with a yellow buckle, is 
 another rich peasant of the village, not a bad villain, named Lubiu, who 
 also lives at home, and is called the little old man of the neighbourhood." 
 
 After this artistic sketch, the author dilates on the goodman Anselme. 
 He says : " This good man possessed a moderate amount of knowledge, was 
 a goodish grammarian, a musician, somewhat of a sophist, and rather given 
 to picking holes in others." Some of Anselme' s conversation is also given, 
 and after beginning by describing in glowing terms the bygone days which he 
 and his contemporaries had seen, and which he stated to be very different to 
 the present, he goes on to say, " I must own, my good old friends, that 1 
 look back with pleasure on our young days ; at all events the mode of doing 
 
CASTLES, TOWNS, AND RURAL DISTRICTS. 
 
 103 
 
 things in those days was very superior and better in every way to that of the 
 
 present happy days ! fortunate times when our fathers and 
 
 grandfathers, whom may God absolve, were still among us ! " As he said 
 this, he would raise the rim of his hat. He contented himself as to dress 
 
 
 Fig. 70. — The Sheplierda celebrating tlio Uirlh of the Messiah by Songs and Dances.— Fifteenth 
 Century. — Fac-simile of an Enfjraving on Wood, from a Book of Hours, printed by Anthony 
 Verard. 
 
 with a good coat of thick wool, well lined according to the fashion ; and 
 for feast days and other important occasions, one of thick cloth, lined with 
 some old gabardine. 
 
 " So we sec," says M. Le Roux de Lincy, " at the end of the fifteenth 
 century that the old peasants complained of the changes in the village 
 customs, and of the luxury which every one wished to display in his furniture 
 
104 
 
 PRIVATE LIFE IN THE CASTLES, ETC. 
 
 or apparel. On this point it seems that there has been little or no change. 
 "We read that, from the ticae of Homer down, to that of the excellent author 
 of ' Rustic Discourses,' and eyen later, the old people found fault with the 
 manners of the present generation and extolled those of their forefathers, 
 which they themselves had criticized ia their own youth." 
 
 Fig. 71. — Purse or Leather Bag, with Knife or Dagger of the Fifteenth Century. 
 
 i. 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 History of Bread.— Vegetables and Plants used in Cooking.— Fruits.— Butchers' Meat.— Poultry, 
 Game.— Milk, Butter, Che.se and Eggs.— Fish and Shellfish.— Beverages, Beer, Cider, Wine. 
 Sweet Wine, Refreshing Drinks, Brandy.— Cookery.— Soups, Boiled Food, Pies, Stews, Salads, 
 Roasts, GriUs.— Seasoning, Truffles, Sugar, Verjuice.— Sweets, Desserts, Pastry.— Meals and 
 Feasts.— Rules of Ser^-ing at Table from the Fifteenth to the Sixteenth Centuries. 
 
 W^lwial^f^^^l^T^ 
 
 gic' 
 
 1 
 
 m»^ 
 
 6 
 
 
 ' 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 HE prh'ate ILfe of a people," says 
 Legrand d'Aussy, who had studied 
 that of the French from a gastronomic 
 point of view only, " from the founda- 
 tion of monarchy down to the 
 eighteenth century, must, like that 
 of mankind generally, commence with 
 obtaining the first and most pressing 
 of it."* requirements. Not satisfied with 
 providing food for his support, man 
 has endeavoured to add to his food 
 something which plea.sed his taste. He does not wait to be hungry, but he 
 anticipates that feeling, and aggravates it by condiments and seasonings. 
 In a word his greediness has created on this score a very complicated and 
 wide-spread science, which, amongst nations which are considered civilised, 
 has become most important, and is designated the culinary art." 
 
 At all times the people of every country have strained the nature of the 
 sod on which they lived )iy forcing it to produce that which it seemed 
 destined ever to refuse tlioin. 8uch food as human industry was unable to 
 obtain from any particular soil or from any particular cHmate, commerce 
 undertook to bring from the country which produced it. This caused Rabelais 
 to say that the stomach was the father and master of industry. 
 
 We will rapidly glance over the alimentary matters which our fore- 
 lathers obtained from the animal and vegetable kingdom, and then trace 
 
 1' 
 
io6 
 
 FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 the progress of culinary art, and examine the rules of feasts and such matters 
 as belong to the epicurean customs of the Middle Ages. 
 
 ALIMENTS. 
 
 Bread.— The Gauls, who principally inhabited deep and thick forests, 
 fed on herbs and fruits, and particularly on acorns. It is even possible that 
 the veneration in which they held the oak had no other origin. This primi- 
 tive food continued in use, at least in times of famine, up to the eighth 
 century, and we find in the regulations of St. Chrodegand that if, in con- 
 sequence of a bad year, the acorn or beech-nut became scarce, it was the 
 bishop's duty to provide something to make up for it. Eight centuries later. 
 
 jO. 
 
 _C1. 
 
 Figs. 72 and 73. — Corn-threshing and Bread-making. — Miniatures from the Calendar of a Book 
 of Hours. — Manuscript of the Sixteenth Century. 
 
 when Rene du Bellay, Bishop of Mans, came to report to Francis I. the fearful 
 poverty of his diocese, he informed the king that the inhabitants in many 
 places were reduced to subsisting on acorn bread. 
 
 In the earliest times bread was cooked under the embers. The use of 
 ovens was introduced into Europe by the Romans, who had found them in 
 Egypt. But, notwithstanding this importation, the old system of cooking 
 was long after employed, for in the tenth century Eaimbold, abbot of the 
 monastery of St. Thierry, near Rheims, ordered in his will that on the day 
 of his death bread cooked under the embers-^jajies suhcinericios — should be 
 given to his monks. By feudal law the lord was bound to bake the bread 
 of his vassals, for which they were taxed, but the latter often preferred to 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 107 
 
 cook their flour at home in the embers of their own hearths, rather than 
 to carry it to the pubKc oven. 
 
 It must be stated that the custom of leavening the dough by the addition of 
 a feiTuent was not universally adopted amongst the ancients. For this reason, 
 as the dough without leaven could only produce a heavy and indigestible bread, 
 they were careful, in order to secure their loaves being thoroughly cooked, 
 to make them very thin. These loaves served as plates for cutting up the 
 other food upon, and when they thus became saturated with the sauce and 
 
 Fig. 74.— The Miller.— From an Engraving of the .Sixtucnth C'entvu'v, by J. Amman. 
 
 gravy they were eaten as cakes. The use of the tourteau.r (small crusty 
 loaves), which were at first called traiicJwirs and subsequently tainoin, 
 remained long in fashion even at the most splendid banquets. Thus, in 
 1336, the Dauphin of Vienna, Humbert II., had, besides the smaU white 
 bread, four small loaves to serve as tranchoirs at table. The " Menagier de 
 Paris " mentions " dvH pains do tranclwiicn half a foot in diameter, and four 
 fingers deep," and Froissart the historian also speaks of tailloirs. 
 
 It would be difficult to point out the exact period at which leavening 
 bread was adopted in Europe, but we can assert that in the Middle Ages it 
 
io8 
 
 FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 was anytHng but general. Yeast, wMch, according to Pliny, was already 
 known to the Gauls, was reserred for pastry, and it was only at the end of 
 the sixteenth century that the bakers of Paris used it for bread. 
 
 At first the trades of miller and baker were carried on by the same person 
 (Flo's. 74 and 75). The man who undertook the grinding of the grain had 
 ovens near his mill, which he let to his lord to bake bread, when he did not 
 confine his business to persons who sent him their corn to grind. 
 
 At a later period public bakers established themselTes, who not only 
 baked the loaves which were brought to them already kneaded, but also 
 
 Fig. 75. — The Baker. — From ;m EngraTing of the Sixteenth Century, by J. Amman. 
 
 made bread which they sold bj- weight ; and this system was in existence 
 until very recently in the provinces. 
 
 Charlemagne, in his " Capitulaires " (statutes), fixed the number of 
 bakers in each city according to the population, and St. Louis relieved 
 them, as well as the millers, from taking their tiirn at the watch, so that 
 they might have no pretext for stopping or neglecting their work, which he 
 considered of public utility. ISTevertheless bakers as a body never became 
 rich or powerful (Figs. 76 and 77). It is pretty generally believed that the 
 
 I 
 
FOOD AND COOKER}'. 
 
 109 
 
 name of boulanger (baker) originated from the fact that the shape of the loaves 
 made at one time was very like that of a round ball. But loaves varied so 
 much in form, quality, and consequently in name, that in his " Dictionary of 
 Obscure Words " the learned Du Cange specifies at least twenty sorts made 
 during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and amongst them may be 
 mentioned the court loaf, the pope's loaf, the knight's loaf, the squire's loaf, 
 the peer's loaf, the varlet's loaf, &c. 
 
 The most celebrated bread was the white bread of Chailly or Chilly, a 
 village four leagues (ten miles) south of Paris, which necessarily appeared at 
 all the tables of the elite of the fourteenth century. The I'din mollet, or soft 
 bread made with milk and butter, although much in use before this, only 
 
 Fig. 76. — Banner ot the Corporation 
 of Bakers of Paris. 
 
 Fig. 77. — Banner of the Corporation 
 of Bakers of Arras. 
 
 became fashionable on the arrival of Marie de Medicis in France (1600), 
 on account of this Tuscan princess finding it so much to her taste that she 
 would eat no other. 
 
 The ordinary market bread of Paris comprised the rousset bread, made of 
 mesKn, and employed for soup; the bourgeoisie bread; and the chaland 
 or cmtomer'n bread, which last was a general name given to all descrip- 
 tions which were sent daily from the neighbouring villages to the capital. 
 Amongst the best known varieties we will only mention the Corbeil bread, 
 the dog bread, the bread of two colours, which last was composed of alter- 
 nate layers of wheat and rye, and was used by persons of small means ; 
 there was also the Gonesse bread, which has maintained its reputation to 
 this day. 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 The " table loaYes," which in the provinces were served at the tables of 
 the rich, were of such a convenient size that one of them would suffice for 
 a man of ordinary appetite, even after the crust was cut off, which it was 
 considered poUte to offer to the ladies, who soaked it in their soup. For 
 the servants an inferior bread was baked, called "common bread." 
 
 In many counties they sprinkled the bread, before putting it into the 
 oven, with powdered Unseed, a custom which still exists. They usually 
 added salt to the flour, excepting ia certain localities, especially in Paris, 
 where, on account of its price, they only mixed it with the expensive 
 qualities. 
 
 The wheats which were long most esteemed for baking purposes, were 
 those of Brie, Champagne, and Bassigny ; while those of the Dauphine were 
 held of little value, because they were said to contain so many tares and 
 worthless grains, that the bread made from them produced headache and 
 other ailments. 
 
 An ancient chronicle of the time of Charlemagne makes mention of a 
 bread twice baked, or biscuit. This bread was very hard, and easier to keep 
 than any other description. It was also used, as now, for provisioning ships, 
 or towns threatened with a siege, as well as in religious houses. At a later 
 period, delicate biscuits were made of a sort of dry and crumbling pastry 
 which retained the original name. As early as the sixteenth century, 
 Rheims had earned a great renown for these articles of food. 
 
 Bread made with barley, oats, or millet was always ranked as coarse 
 food, to which the poor only had recourse in years of want (Fig. 78). 
 Barley bread was, besides, used as a kind of punishment, and monks who 
 had committed any serious offence against discipline were condemned to live 
 on it for a certain period. 
 
 Eye bread was held of very little value, although in certain provinces, 
 such as Lyonnais, Forez, and Auvergne, it was very generally used among 
 the country people, and contributed, says Bruyerin Champier in his treatise 
 " De re Cibaria," to " preserve beauty and freshness amongst women." At 
 a later period, the doctors of Paris frequently ordered the iise of bread made 
 half of wheat and half of rye as a means " of preserving the health." Black 
 wheat, or buck wheat, which was introduced into Europe by the Moors and 
 Saracens when they conquered Spain, quickly spread to the northern pro- 
 vinces, especially to Flanders, where, by its easy culture and almost certain 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 yield, it averted much suffering from the inhabitants, who were continually 
 being threatened with famine. 
 
 It was only later that maize, or Turkey wheat, was cultivated in the 
 south, and that rice came into use ; but these two kinds of grain, both 
 equally useless for bread, were employed the one for fattening poultry, and 
 the other for making cakes, which, however, were little appreciated. 
 
 Fig. 78. — Cultivation of Grain in use amongst the Peasants, and the Manufacture of Barley and 
 Oat Bread. — Fae-simile of a Woodcut in an edition of Virgil published at Lyons in 1517. 
 
 Vegetables and Plants used in Cooking. — From the most ancient 
 historical documents we find that at the very earliest period of the French 
 monarchy, fresh and dried vegetables were the ordinary food of the popula- 
 tion. Pliny and Columella attribute a Gallic origin to certain roots, and 
 among them onions and parsnips, which the Romans cultivated in their 
 gardens for use at their tables. 
 
 It is evident, however, that vegetables were never considered as being 
 capable of forming solid nutriment, since they were almost exclusively used 
 by monastic comnumities when ander vows of extreme abstinence. 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 A statute of Charlemagne, iu whicli the useful plants which the emperor 
 desired should be cultivated in his domains are detailed, shows us that at that 
 period the greater part of our cooking vegetables were in use, for we find 
 mentioned in it, fennel, garlic, parsley, shallot, onions, wat'er-cress, endive, 
 lettuce, beetroot, cabbage, leeks, carrots, artichokes; besides long-beans, 
 broad-beans, peas or Italian vetches, and lentils. 
 
 In the thirteenth century, the plants fit for cooking went under the 
 general appellation of aignin, and amongst them, at a later date, were ranked 
 oranges, lemons, and other acid fruits. St. Louis added to this category even 
 fruits with hard rinds, such as walnuts, filberts, and chestnuts ; and when the 
 guild of the fruiterers of Paris received its statutes in 1608, they were stiU 
 called " vendors of fruits and aigrun." 
 
 The vegetables and cooking-plants noticed in the " Menagier de Paris," 
 which dates from the fourteenth century, and in the treatise " De Obsoniis," 
 of Platina (the name adopted by the Italian Bartholomew Sacchi), which dates 
 from the fifteenth century, do not lead us to suppose that alimentary horti- 
 culture had made much progress since the time of Charlemagne. Moreover, 
 we are astonished to find the thistle placed amongst choice dishes ; though 
 it cannot be the common thistle that is meant, but probably this somewhat 
 general appellation refers to the vegetable-marrow, which is still found on 
 the tables of the higher classes, or perhaps the artichoke, which we know 
 to be only a kind of thistle developed by cultivation, and which at that period 
 had been recently imported. 
 
 About the same date melons begin to appear ; but the management of 
 this vegetable fruit was not much known. It was so imperfectly cultivated 
 in the northern provinces, that, in the middle of the sixteenth century, 
 Bruyerin Champier speaks of the Languedocians as alone knowing how to 
 produce excellent sucrins — "thus called," say both Charles Estienne and 
 Liebaidt in the " Maison Rustique," " because gardeners watered them with 
 lioneyed or sweetened water." The water-melons have never been cultivated 
 but in the south. 
 
 Cabbages, the alimentary reputation of which dates from the remotest 
 times, were already of several kinds, most of which have descended to us ; 
 amongst them may be mentioned the apple-headed, the Eoman, the white, 
 the common white head, the Easter cabbage, &c. ; but the one held in the 
 highest estimation was the famous cabbage of Senlis, whose leaves, says an 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 "3 
 
 ancient author, when opened, exhaled a smell naore agreeable than musk or 
 amber. This species no doubt fell into disuse when the plan of employing 
 aromatic herbs in cooking, which was so much in repute by our ancestors, 
 was abandoned. 
 
 By a strange coincidence, at the same period as marjoram, carraway seed, 
 sweet basil, coriander, lavender, and rosemary were iised to add their 
 
 Fig. 79. — Coat-of-arms of the Grain-measurers of Ghent, on their Ceremonial Banner, dated 1.568. 
 
 pungent flavour to sauces and hashes, on the same tables might be found 
 herbs of the coldest and most insipid kinds, such as mallows, some kinds of 
 mosses, &c. 
 
 Cucumber, though rather in request, was suppo.sed to be an unwholesome 
 vegetable, becau.sc it was said that the inhabitants of Forez, who ate much 
 of it, were subject to periodical fevers, which might really have been caused 
 
 Q 
 
1,4 FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 by noxious emanations from the ponds with which that country abounded. 
 Lentils, now considered so wholesome, were also long looked upon as a 
 doubtful vegetable ; according to Liebault, they were difficult to digest and 
 otherwise injurious ; they inflamed the inside, affected the sight, and brought 
 on the nightmare, &c. On the other hand, small fresh beans, especially those 
 sold at Landit fair, were used in the most delicate repasts ; peas passed as a 
 royal dish in the sixteenth century, when the custom was to eat them with 
 salt pork. 
 
 Turnips were also most esteemed by the Parisians. " This vegetable is 
 to them," says Charles Estienne, "what large radishes are to the Limousins." 
 The best were supposed to come from Maisons, Vaugirard, and Aubervilliers. 
 Lastly, there were four kinds of lettuces grown in France, according to 
 Liebault, in 1574 : the small, the common, the curled, and the Roman ; the 
 seed of the last-named was sent to France bj;- Francois Eabelais when he 
 was in Rome with Cardinal du Bellay in 1537; and the salad made from it 
 consequently received the name of Roman salad, which it has ever since 
 retained. In fact, our ancestors much appreciated salads, for there was not 
 a banquet without at least three or four different kinds. 
 
 Fruits. — Western Europe was originally very poor in fruits, and it only 
 improved by foreign importations, mostly from Asia by the Romans. The 
 apricot came from Armenia, the pistachio-nuts and plums from Syria, the peach 
 and nut from Persia, the cherry from Cerasus, the lemon from Media, the 
 filbert from the Hellespont, and chestnuts from Castana, a town of Magnesia. 
 We are also indebted to Asia for almonds ; the pomegranate, according to 
 some, came from Africa, to others from Cj^Drus ; the quince from Cydon in 
 Crete ; the olive, fig, pear, and apple, from Greece. 
 
 The statutes of Charlemagne show us that almost all these fruits were 
 reared in his gardens, and that some of them were of several kinds or 
 varieties. 
 
 A considerable period, however, elapsed before the finest and more luscious 
 productions of the garden became as it were almost forced on nature by 
 artificial means. Thus in the sixteenth century we find Rabelais, Charles 
 Estienne, and La Framboisiere, physician to Henry IV., praising the Corbeil 
 peach, which was only an inferior and almost wild sort, and describing it as 
 having ",/r// and mlkl flesh, not adhering to the stone." The culture of this 
 fruit, which was not larger than a damask plum, had then, according to 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 "5 
 
 Ciampier, only just been introduced into France. It must be remarked bare 
 tbat Jacques Coytbier, pbysician to Louis XI., in order to curry favour witb 
 bis master, wbo was very fond of new fruits, took as bis crest an apricot-trec, 
 from wbicb he was jokingly called Abri-Coytbier. 
 
 Fig. 80.— Cultivation of Fruit, ft-om a Miniature of tho " Proprietairc de Choses " (JIanuscript of 
 the Fifteenth Century, in the Library of the Arsenal of Paris). 
 
 It must be owned that great progress has been made in the culture of 
 the plum, the pear, and the apple. Cbampier says that the best plums are 
 the roijale, the pcrdriyon, and the damns of Tours ; Olivier de Serres mentions 
 
, , 6 FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 eigliteen kinds — amongst which, however, we do not find the celebrated Reine 
 Claude (greengage), which owes its name to the daughter of Louis XII., first 
 wife of Francis I. 
 
 Of pears, the most esteemed in the thirteenth century were the hastiveau, 
 which was an early sort, and no doubt the golden pear now called St. Jean ; 
 the caiUoii or chaiUou, a hard pear, which came from Cailloux in Burgundy ; 
 and I'angoissc (agony), so called on account of its bitterness — which, however, 
 totally disappeared in cooking. In the sixteenth century the palm is given 
 to the cuisse dame, or madame ; the hon chretien, brought, it is said, by 
 St. Francois de Paide to Louis XL ; the bergamote, which came from 
 Bergamo, in Lombardy ; the tant-bonne, so named from its aroma ; and 
 the caillou romt, our rosewater pear. 
 
 Amongst apples, the hlandureau (hard white) of Auvergne, the roiiveaii, 
 and the paradu of Provence, are of oldest repute. This reminds us of the 
 couplet by the author of the " Street Cries of Paris," thirteenth century :— 
 
 " Primes ai pommes de rouviau, (" Give me first the russet apple, 
 
 Et d'Auverg-ne le blanc duriau." And the hard white fruit of Auvergne.") 
 
 The quince, which was so generally cultivated in the Middle Ages, was 
 looked upon as the most useful of all fruits. Not only did it form the basis 
 of the farmers' dried preserves of Orleans, called cotignac, a sort of marmalade, 
 but it was also used for seasoning meat. The Portugal quince was the 
 most esteemed ; and the cotignac of Orleans had such a reputation, that 
 boxes of this fruit were always given to kings, queens, and princes on 
 entering the towns of France. It was the first offering made to Joan of Arc 
 on her bringing reinforcements into Orleans during the English siege. 
 
 Several sorts of cherries were known, but these did not prevent 
 the small wild or wood cherry from being appreciated at the tables of the 
 citizens ; whilst the cornouille, or wild cornelian cherry, was hardly touched, 
 excepting by the peasants; thence came the proverbial expression, more 
 particularly in use at Orleans, when a person made a silly remark, " He has 
 eaten cornelians," i.e. he speaks Like a rustic. 
 
 In the thirteenth century, chestnuts from Lombardy were hawked in 
 the streets ; but in the sixteenth century, the chestnuts of the Lyonnais and 
 Auvergne were substituted, and were to be found on the royal table. Four 
 different sorts of figs, in equal estimation, were brought from Marseilles, 
 
FOOD AND COOK ERF. 
 
 "7 
 
 Nismes, Saint- Andeol, and Pont Saint-Esprit ; and in Provence, filberts 
 were to be had in such profusion that they supj^lied from there all the tables 
 of the kingdom. 
 
 The Portuguese claim the honour of having introduced oranges from 
 China ; however, in an account of the house of Humbert, Dauphin of 
 Viennois, in 1333, that is, long before the expeditions of the Portuguese to 
 India, mention is made of a sum of money being paid for transplanting 
 orange -trees. 
 
 In the time of Bruyerin Champier, phj-sician to Henrj' II., raspberries 
 were still completely wild ; the same author states that wood-strawberries 
 
 Figs. 81 and 82.— Culture of the Vine and Treading the Grape.— Miniatures taken from the 
 Calendar of a Prayer-Book, in Manuscript, of the Sixteenth Century. 
 
 had only just at that time been introduced into gardens, "by which," he 
 says, " they had attained a larger .size, though they at the same time lost 
 their quality." 
 
 The vine, acclimatised and propagated by the Gauls, ever since the fol- 
 lowers of Brennus had brought it from Italy, five hundred years before the 
 Christian era, never ceased to be productive, and even to constitute the natural 
 wealth of the country (Fig. Ml and 82). In the sixteenth century, Liebault 
 enumerated nineteen sorts of grapes, and Olivier de Serres twenty-fouis 
 amongst which, notwithstanding the eccentricities of the ancient names, we 
 believe that we can trace the greater part of those plants which arc now 
 cultivated in France. For instance, it is known that the excellent vines of 
 Thomerv, near Fontainebleau, which yield in abundance the most beautiful 
 
iiS 
 
 FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 table grape whiclL art and care can produce, were already in use in the reign 
 of Henry IV. (Fig. 83). 
 
 In the time of the Gauls the custom of drjang grapes by exposing them 
 to the sun, or to a certain amount of artificial heat, was already known ; and 
 very soon after, the same means were adopted for preserving plums, an 
 industry in which then, as now, the peoj)le of Tours and Rheims excelled. 
 Drying apples in an oven was also the custom, and formed a delicacy which 
 was reserved for winter and spring banquets. Dried fruits were also 
 
 Fig. S3.— The Winegrower, ch-awn and engraved in the Sixteenth Century, hy J. Amman. 
 
 brought from abroad, as mentioned in the " Book of Street Cries in 
 Paris :"— 
 
 " Figues de Melites sans fin, 
 J'ai roisin d'outre mer, roisin." 
 
 (" Figs from Malta without end, 
 And grapes from over the sea.") 
 
 BuTCHEiis' Meat.— According to Strabo, the Gauls were great eaters of 
 meat, especially of pork, whether fresh or salted. " Gaul," says he, " feeds 
 .^0 many flocks, and, above all, so many pigs, that it supplies not only 
 Homo, but all Italy, with grease and salt meat." The second chapter of 
 tlie Salic law, comprising nineteen articles, relates entirely to penalties for 
 
FOOD AND COOKER}'. 
 
 119 
 
 pig-stealing ; and in the laws of the Visigoths we find four articles on the 
 same subject. 
 
 In those remote days, in which the land was still covered with enormous 
 forests of oak, great facilities were offered for breeding pigs, whoso special liking 
 for acorns is weU known (Fig. 84). Thus the bishops, princes, and lords caused 
 numerous droves of pigs to be fed on their domains, both for the purpose of 
 supplying their o^ra tables as well as for the fairs and markets. At a sub- 
 sequent period, it became the custom for each household, whether in \o\w\ or 
 country, to rear and fatten a pig, which was killed and salted at a stated 
 period of the year ; and this custom still exists in many provinces. In Paris, 
 for instance, there was scarcely a bourgeois who had not two or three young 
 
 Fig. 84.— Swineherd. Fig. S.5.-A Burgess at Meals. 
 
 Miniatures from the Calendar of a Book of Hours.— Manuscript of the Sixteenth Century. 
 
 pigs. During the day these unsightly creatures were allowed to roam in 
 the streets ; which, however, they helped to keep clean by eating up the 
 refuse of all sorts which was thrown out of the houses. One of the sons of 
 Louis le Gros, while passing, on the 2nd of October, 1131, in the Rue du 
 Martroi, between the Hotel de Ville and the church of St. Gervais, fractured 
 ms skuU by a fall from his horse, caused by a pig running between that 
 animal's legs. This accident led to <he first order being issued by the 
 provosts, to the effect that breeding pigs within the town was forbidden. 
 Custom, however, deep-rooted for centuries, resisted this order, and many 
 others on the same subject which followed it : for we find, under Francis I., 
 a license was issued to the executioner, empowering him to capture all the 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 stray pigs which he could find in Paris, and to take them to the Hotel Dieu, 
 when he should receive either five sous in silver or the head of the animal. 
 
 It is said that the holy men of St. Antoine, in virtue of the privilege 
 attached to the popular legend of their patron, who was generally repre- 
 sented with a pig, objected to this order, and long after maintained the 
 exclusive right of allowing their pigs to roam in the streets of the capital. 
 
 The obstinate determination with which every one tried to evade the 
 administrative laws on this subject, is explained, in fact, by the general taste 
 of the French nation for pork. This taste apjjears somewhat strange at a 
 
 Fig'. 86.— Stall of Cai-ved Wood (Fifteenth Century), representing the Proverb, "Margaritas ante 
 Porcos," " Thi-o-sring Pearls before Swine," from Rouen Cathedral. 
 
 time when this kind of food was supposed to engender leprosy, a disease with 
 which France was at that time overrun. 
 
 Pigs' meat made up generally the greater part of the domestic banquets. 
 There was no great feast at which hams, sausages, and black puddings were 
 not served in profusion on all the tables ; and as Easter Day, which brought 
 to a close the prolonged fastings of Lent, was one of the great feasts, this 
 food formed the most important dish on that occasion. It is possible that the 
 necessity for providing for the consumption of that day originated the cele- 
 brated ham fair, which was and is still held annually on the Thursday of 
 Passion Week in front of Notre-Dame, where the dealers from aU parts of 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 France, and. especiallj^ from Normandy and Lower Brittany, assembled with 
 their swine. 
 
 Sanitary measures were taken in Paris and in the various towns in order 
 to prevent the evil elFects likely to arise from the enormous consumption of 
 pork ; public officers, called lanrjucnjetirs, were ordered to examine the animals 
 to ensure that they had not white ulcers under the tongue, these being con- 
 sidered the signs that their flesh was in a condition to communicate leprosy 
 to those who partook of it. 
 
 For a long time the retail sale of pork was confined to the butchers, Hke 
 that of other meat. Salt or fresh pork was at one time always sold raw, 
 though at a later period some retailers, who carried on business principally 
 among the lowest orders of the people, took to selling cooked pork and sausages. 
 They were named charcuitiers or saucissiers. This new trade, which was most 
 lucrative, was adopted by so many people that parliament was forced to limit 
 the number of charcuitiers, who at last formed a corporation, and received their 
 statutes, which were coniirmed by the Eing in 1475. 
 
 Amongst the privileges attached to their calling was that of selling red 
 herrings and sea-fish in Lent, during which time the sale of pork was strictly 
 forbidden. Although they had the exclusive monopoly of selling cooked 
 pork, they were at first forbidden to buy their meat of any one but of the 
 butchers, who alone had the right of killing pigs ; and it was only in 1513 
 that the charcuitiers were allowed to ijurchaso at market and sell the meat 
 raw, m opposition to the butchers, who in consequence gradually gave up 
 kiUing and selling pork (Fig. 87). 
 
 Although the consumption of butchers' meat was not so great in the 
 Middle Ages as it is now, the trade of a butcher, to which extraordinary 
 privileges were attached, was nevertheless one of the industries which 
 realised the greatest profits. 
 
 We know what an important part the butchers played in the municipal 
 liistory of France, as also of Belgium ; and we also know how great their 
 political influence was, especially in the fifteenth century. 
 
 The existence of the (jreat slautrhter-house of Paris dates back to the 
 most remote period of monarchy. The parish church of the corporation of 
 butchers, namely, that of St. I'ierre aux Bcoufs in the city, on the front 
 of which were two scvdptured oxen, existed before the tenth century. A 
 Celtic monument was discovered on tlic site of the ancient part of Paris, 
 
 R 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 witli a bas-relief representing a wild bull carrying three cranes standing 
 among oak branclies. ArcliEcology bas chosen to recognise in this sculpture 
 a Druidical allegory, wbicb has descended to us in tbe shape of the triumphal 
 car of the Prize Ox (Fig. 88). The butchers who, for centuries at least in 
 France, only killed sheep and pigs, proved themselves most jealous of their 
 privileges, and admitted no strangers into their corporation. The proprietor- 
 ship of stalls at the markets, and the right of being admitted as a master 
 butcher at the age of seven years and a day, belonged exclusively to the 
 male descendants of a few rich and powerful families. The Kings of France 
 
 Fig. 87.— The Pork-butcher (CTioreMCw;-).— Fao-simile of a Miniature in a Charter of the Abbey 
 of Solignac (Fourteenth Century). 
 
 alone, on their accession, covdd create a new master butcher. Since the 
 middle of the fourteenth century the "Grande Boucherie" was the seat of an 
 important jiuisdiction, composed of a mayor, a master, a proctor, and an 
 attorney ; it also had a judicial coimcil before which the butchers could bring 
 up all their cases, and an appeal from which could only be considered by 
 Parliament. Besides this court, which had to decide cases of misbehaviour 
 on the part of the apprentices, and all their appeals against their masters, the 
 corporation had a counsel in Parliament, as also one at the Chatelet, who were 
 specially attached to the interests of the butchers, and were in their pay. 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 '23 
 
 Although bovmd, at aR events with their money, to follow the calling of 
 their fathers, we find many descendants of ancient butchers' fiimilies of Paris, 
 in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, abandoning their stalls to fiU high 
 places in the state, and even at court. It must not be concluded that the rich 
 butchers in those days occupied themselves with the minor details of their 
 trade ; the greater number employed servants who cut up and retailed the meat, 
 and they themselves simply kept the accounts, and were engaged in dealing- 
 
 Fig. 88.— The Holy Ox.— Cellic Monument found in Paris under the Choir of Notre-Dame 
 in 1711, nnd preserved in the Blusee de Cluny et des Thermes. 
 
 through factors or foremen for the purchase of beasts for their stalls (Fig. 89). 
 One can form an opinion of the wealth of some of these tradesmen by reading 
 the enumeration made by an old chronicler of the property and income of 
 Guillaume do Saint- Yon, one of the principal master butchers in 1370. "He 
 was proprietor of three stalls, in wliich meat was weekly sold to the amount 
 of 200 litres pnriHk (the livre being equivalent to 24 francs at least), with an 
 average profit of ten to fifteen per cent. ; lie had an income of GOO Unrs parim; 
 
124 
 
 FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 he possessed besides his family house in Paris, four country-houses, well supplied 
 with furniture and agricultural implements, drinking-cups, vases, cups of silver, 
 and cups of onyx with silver feet, valued at 100 francs or more each. His wife 
 had jewels, belts, purses, and trinkets, to the value of upwards of 1,000 gold 
 francs (the gold franc was worth 24 livres) ; long and short gowns trimmed with 
 fur ; and three mantles of grey fur. Guillaume de Saint- Yon had generally 
 in his storehouses 300 os-hides, worth 24 francs each at least ; 800 measures 
 of fat, worth 3J sols each ; in his sheds, he had 800 sheep worth 100 sols 
 each ; in his safes 500 or 600 silver florins of ready money (the florin was 
 
 Fig. 89.— The Butcher and his Servant, drawn and engraved by J. Amman (Sixteenth Century). 
 
 worth 12 francs, which must be midtiplied five times to estimate its value in 
 present currency), and his household furniture was valued at 12,000 florins. 
 He gave a dowry of 2,000 florins to his two nieces, and spent 3,000 florins 
 in rebuilding his Paris house ; and lastly, as if he had been a noble, he used 
 a silver seal." 
 
 We find in the " Menagier de Paris " curious statistics respecting the 
 various butchers' shops of the capital, and the daily sale in each at the period 
 referred to. This sale, without counting the households of the King, the 
 Queen, and the royal family, which were specially provisioned, amounted to 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 125 
 
 26,624 oxen, 162,760 sheep, 27,456 pigs, and 15,912 calves per annum; to 
 whicli must be added not only the smoked and salted fiesli of 200 or 300 pigs, 
 wtich were sold at the fair in Holy "Week, but also 6,420 sheep, 823 oxen, 
 832 calves, and 624 pigs, which, according to the "Menagier," were used in 
 the royal and princely households. 
 
 Sometimes the meat was sent to market already cut up, but tlio slaughter 
 of beasts was more frequently done in the butchers' shops in the town ; for 
 they only killed from day to day, according to the demand. Besides the 
 butchers' there were tripe shops, where the feet, kidneys, &c., were sold. 
 
 According to Bruyerin Champier, during the sixteenth century the most 
 celebrated sheep in France were those of Berri and Limousin ; and of all 
 
 Figs. 90 and 91. — aeal aud Counter-Seal of the B'ltcliers of Bruges in 1356, from an impression 
 on green wax, preserved in the archives of that town. 
 
 butchers' meat, veal was reckoned the best. In fiict, calves intended for the 
 tables of the upper classes were fed in a special niaiiner : they were allowed 
 for six months, or even for a year, nothing but milk, which made their flesh 
 most tender and delicate. Contrary to the present taste, kid was more 
 appreciated than lamb, which caused the rdtisseurn frequently to attach the 
 tail of a kid to a lamb, so as to deceive the customer and sell him a less 
 expensive meat at the higher price. This was the origin of the proverb 
 which described a cheat as " a dealer in goat by halves." 
 
 In other places butchers were far from acquiring the same importance 
 which thoy did in France and Belgium (Figs. 90 and 91), where much more 
 meat was consumed than in .Spain, Italy, or even in Germany. Nevertheles.s, 
 
,25 FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 in almost all countries tliere were certain regulations, sometimes eccentric, 
 but almost always rigidly enforced, to ensure a supply of meat of the best 
 quality and in a healthy state. In England, for instance, butchers were 
 only allowed to kill bulls after they had been baited with dogs, no doubt 
 with the view of maldng the flesh more tender. At Mans, it was laid down 
 in the trade regulations, that " no butcher shall be so bold as to sell meat 
 unless it shall have been previously seen alive by two or three persons, who 
 will testify to it on oath ; and, anyhow, they shall not sell it until the 
 persons shall have declai-ed it wholesome," &c. 
 
 To the many regulations afi'ecting the interests of the public must be 
 added that forbidding butchers to sell meat on days when abstinence from 
 animal food was ordered by the Church. These regulations applied less to 
 the vendors than to the consumers, who, by disobeying them, were liable 
 to fine or imprisonment, or to severe corporal punishment by the whip or in 
 the pillory. We find that Clement Marot was imprisoned and nearly burned 
 alive for having eaten pork in Lent. In 1534, Guillaume des Moulins, 
 Count of Brie, asked permission for his mother, who was then eighty j'ears 
 of age, to cease fasting ; the Bishop of Paris only granted dispensation 
 on condition that the old lady should take her meals in secret and out of 
 sight of every one, and should still fast on Fridays. " In a certain town," 
 says Brantome, " there had been a procession in Lent. A woman, who had 
 assisted at it barefooted, went home to dine oil a quarter of lamb and a ham. 
 The smell got into the street ; the house was entered. The fact being 
 established, the woman was taken, and condemned to walk through the 
 town with her quarter of lamb on the spit over her shoulder, and the ham 
 hung round her neck." This species of severity increased during the times 
 of religious dissensions. Erasmus says, " He who has eaten pork instead of 
 fish is taken to the torture like a parricide." An edict of Henry II., 1549, 
 forbade the sale of meat in Lent to persons who should not be furnished with 
 a doctor's certificate. Charles IX. forbade the sale of meat to the Huguenots ; 
 and it was ordered that the privilege of selling meat during the time of 
 abstineuce should belong exclusively to the hospitals. Orders were given to 
 those who retailed meat to take the address of every purchaser, although 
 he had presented a medical certificate, so that the necessity for his eating 
 meat might be verified. Subsequently, the medical certificate required to 
 be endorsed by the priest, specifying what quantity of meat was required. 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 Even in these cases the use of butcliers' meat alone was granted, pork, poultry, 
 and game being strictly forbidden. 
 
 Poultry. — A monk of the abbey of Cluny once went on a visit to his 
 relations. On arriving he asked for food ; but as it was a fast day he was 
 told there was nothing in the house but fish. Perceiving some chickens in 
 the yard, he took a stick and killed one, and brought it to his relations, 
 saying, " This is the fish which I shall eat to-day." " Eh, but, my son," 
 they said, " have you dispensation from fasting on a Friday ?" "No," he 
 answered ; " but jDoultry is not flesh ; fish and fowls were created at the 
 same time ; they have a common origin, as the h^"mn which I sing in the 
 service teaches me." 
 
 This simple legend belongs to the tenth centurj' ; and notwithstanding 
 that the opinion of this Benedictine monk may appear strange nowadays, 
 yet it must be acknowledged that he was only conforming himself to the 
 opinions laid do'rni by certain theologians. In 817, the Coiuicil of Aix-la- 
 Chapelle decided that such delicate nourishment could scarcely be called 
 mortification as imderstood by the teaching of the Church. In consequence 
 of this an order was issued forbidding the monks to eat poultry, except during 
 four days at Easter and four at Christmas. But this prohibition in no waj' 
 changed the established custom of certain parts of Christendom, and the 
 faithful persisted in believing that poultry and fish were identical in the 
 eyes of the Church, and accordingly continued to eat them indiscriminately. 
 We also see, in the middle of the thirteenth century, St. Thomas Aqiiinas, 
 who was considered an authority in questions of dogma and of faith, ranking- 
 poultry amongst species of aquatic origin. 
 
 Eventually, this palpable error was abandoned ; but when the Church 
 forbade Christians the use of poultry on fast days, it made an exception, out 
 of consideration for the ancient prejudice, in favour of teal, widgeon, moor- 
 hens, and also two or three kinds of small amphibious quadrupeds. Hence 
 probably arose the general and absurd beliefs concerning the origin of teal, 
 which some said sprung from the rotten wood of old ships, others from the 
 fruits of a tree, or the gum on fir-trees, whilst others thought they came from 
 a fresh-water shell analogous to that of the oyster and mussel. 
 
 As far back as modern history can be traced, we find that a similar 
 mode of fattening poultry was emjjloycd then as now, and was one which the 
 Gauls must have learnt from the Romans. Amongst the charges in the 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 households of the kings of France one item was that which concerned the 
 poultry-house, and which, according to an edict of St. Louis in 1261, bears 
 the name of poulailUer. At a subsequent period this name was given to 
 breeders and dealers in poultry (Fig. 92). 
 
 The " Menagier " tells us that, as is the present practice, chickens were 
 fattened by depriving them of light and liberty, and gorging them with 
 succulent food. Amongst the poultry yards in repute at that time, the 
 author mentions that of Hesdin, a property of the Dukes of Luxemburg, 
 in Artois ; that of the King, at the Hotel Saint-Pol, Rue Saint- Antoine, 
 Paris ; that of Master Hugues Aubriot, provost of Paris ; and that of Chariot, 
 
 Fig. 92. — The Poulterer, drawn and engraved in the Sixteenth Century, hy J. Amman. 
 
 no dovibt a bourgeois of that name, who also gave his name to an ancient 
 street in that quarter called the Marais. 
 
 Capons are frequently mentioned in poems of the twelfth and thirteenth 
 centuries ; but the name of the poularde does not occur until the sixteenth. 
 
 We know that under the Roman rule, the Gauls carried on a considerable 
 trade in fattened geese. This trade ceased when Gaul passed to new masters; 
 but the breeding of geese continued to be carefully attended to. For many 
 centuries geese were more highly prized than any other description of 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 poultry, and Cliarlemagne ordered that his domains shoukl be -n-ell stocked 
 with flocks of geese, M'hich were driven to feed in the fiehls, like flocks of 
 sheep. There -n-as an old proverb, " Who eats the king's goose returns the 
 feathers in a hundred j-ears." This bird was considered a great delicacy by the 
 working classes and bourgeoisie. The rotisseuis (Fig. 94) liad hardly anything 
 in their shops but geese, and, therefore, when they were united in a company, 
 they received the name of oijers, or oijeum. The street in which they were 
 established, with their spits always loaded with juicy roasts, was called Rue 
 des Ones (geese), and this street, when it ceased to be frequented by the oi/crs, 
 became by corruption Rue Auxours. 
 
 Fig. 93. — Earnadc Geese. — Fac-simile of an Engraving on Wood, from the " Cosmographie 
 Universelle" of Munster, folio, Basic, 1.5.52. 
 
 There is every reason f(jr believing that the domestication of the wild 
 duck is of quite recent date. The attempt having succeeded, it was wished 
 to follow it up by the naturalisation in the poultry-yard of two other sorts of 
 aquatic birds, namely, the sheldrake {tadorna) and the moorhen, but without 
 success. Some attribute the introduction of turkeys into France and Europe 
 to Jacques Coour, treasurer to Charles YIL, whose commercial connections 
 with the East were very extensive ; otliers assert that it is due to King Rene, 
 Count of Provence: but accordinc: to the best authorities these birds were first 
 l)rought into Fi-ancc in the time of Francis I. by Admiral I'hilippe de Cliabot, 
 and Bruycrin Champier asserts that they were not known until even later. It 
 was at about the same period that guinea-fowls were brought from the coast 
 of Africa by Portuguese merchants; and the travelling naturalist, Pierre 
 
 s 
 
130 
 
 FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 Belon, who wrote in tlie year 1555, asserts tliat in his time "they had 
 already so multiplied in the houses of the nobles that they had become quite 
 common." 
 
 The pea-fowl played an important part in the chivalric banquets of the 
 Middle Ages (Fig. 95). According to old poets the flesh of this noble bird 
 
 Fig. 94.-The Poultry-dealer.-Fac-simile of an Engraving- ou Wood, after Cesare VecelUo. 
 
 is " food for the brave." A poet of the thirteenth century says, " that thieves 
 have as much taste for falsehood as a hungry man has for the flesh of the 
 peacock." In the fourteenth century poultry-yards were stUl stocked with 
 these birds ; but the turkey and the pheasant graduaUy replaced them, as 
 their flesh was considered somewhat hard and stringy. This is proved by 
 the fact that in 1581, •' Lu JyTouvelle Coutume du Boiu'bonnois" only reckons 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 131 
 
 the value of these beautiful birds at two sous and a half, or about three francs 
 of present currency. 
 
 Game. — Our forefathers included among the birds which now constitute 
 
 Fig. 9.5.— state Banquet.— Serving the Pencock.— Fac-similc of a Wood'nit in an edition of Virgil, 
 folio, putlished at Lyons in 1517. 
 
 feathered game the heron, the crane, the crow, the swan, the stork, the 
 cormorant, and the bittern. These supplied the best tables, especially the 
 first three, which were looked upon as exquisite food, fit even for royalty, 
 and were reckoned as thorough French delicacies. There were at that time 
 
,32 FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 heronries, as at a later period there were pheasantries. People also ate birds 
 of prej^, and only rejected those which fed on carrion. 
 
 Swans, which were much appreciated, were very common on all the 
 principal rivers of France, especially in the north; a small island below 
 Paris had taken its name from these birds, and has maintained it ever since. 
 It was proverbially said that the Charente was bordered with swans, and 
 for this same reason Valenciennes was called Vcd des Cygnes, or the Swan 
 Valley. 
 
 Some authors make it ajDpear that for a long time young game was avoided 
 owing to the little nourishment it contained and its indigestibility, and assert 
 that it was only when some French ambassadors returned from Venice that 
 the French learnt that young partridges and leverets were exquisite, and 
 quite fit to appear at the most sumptuous banquets. The "Menagier" 
 gives not only various receipts for cooking them, but also for dressing 
 chickens, when game was out of season, so as to make them taste like young 
 partridges. 
 
 There was a time when they fattened pheasants as they did capons ; it 
 was a secret, says Liebault, only known to the poultry dealers ; but although 
 they were much appreciated, the pullet was more so, and realised as much 
 as two crowns each (this does not mean the gold crown, but a current coin 
 worth three livres). Plovers, which sometimes came from Beauce in cart- 
 loads, were much relished ; they were roasted without being drawn, as also 
 were tiu'tle-doves and larks ; " for," says an ancient author, " larks only eat 
 small pebbles and sand, doves grains of juniper and scented herbs, and plovers 
 feed on air." At a later period the same honour was conferred on woodcocks. 
 
 Thrushes, starlings, blackbirds, quail, and partridges were in equal 
 repute according to the season. The Icc-fgue, a small bird like a nightingale, 
 was so much esteemed in Provence that there were feasts at which that bird 
 alone was served, prepared in various ways ; but of all birds used for the 
 table none could be compared to the young cuckoo taken just as it was full 
 fledged. 
 
 As far as we can ascertain the Gauls had a dislike to the flesh of rabbits, 
 and they did not even hunt them, for, according to Strabo, Southern Gaul was 
 infested with these mischievous animals, which destroyed the growing crops, 
 and even the barks of the trees. There was considerable change in this respect 
 a few centuries later, for every one in town or country reared domesticated 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 ■33 
 
 rabbits, and the wild ones formed an article of food which was much in request. 
 In order to ascertain whether a rabbit is yoimg, Strabo tells us we should feel 
 
 Fig. 96.— "The way to skin and cut up a Stag."— Fac-siniile of a Miniature of '■Phctbus, and 
 his Staflt for hunting Wild Animals " (Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century, National Library 
 of Paris). 
 
 the first joint of the fore-leg, when we shall find a small bone free and 
 movable. This method is adopted in all kitchens in the present day. Hares 
 were preferred to rabbits, provided they were young; for an old French proverb 
 says, "An old hare and nn old goose are food for the devil." 
 
134 POOD AND COOKER T. 
 
 Tlae hedo-ehog and sqiiirrel were also eaten. As for roe and red deer, 
 they were, according to Dr. Bruj^erin Champier, morsels fit for kings and 
 ricli people (Fig. 96). The doctor speaks of "fried slices of the young horn 
 of the stag " as the daintiest of food, and the " Menagier de Paris " shows 
 how, as early as the fourteenth century, beef was dished up like bear's-flesh 
 venison, for the use of kitchens in countries where the black bear did not 
 exist. This proves that bear's flesh was in those days considered good food. 
 
 Milk, Buttee, Eggs, and Cheese. — These articles of food, the first 
 which nature gave to man, were not always and everywhere uniformly per- 
 mitted or prohibited by the Church on fast days. The faithful were for 
 several centuries left to their own judgment on the subject. In fact, there 
 is nothing extraordinary in eggs being eaten in Lent without scruple, 
 considering that some theologians maintained that the hens which laid them 
 were animals of aquatic extraction. 
 
 It appears, however, that butter, either from prejudice or mere custom, 
 was only used on fast days in its fresh state, and was not allowed to be used 
 for cooking purjDoses. At first, and especially amongst the monks, the dishes 
 were prepared with oil ; but as in some countries oil was apt to become 
 very expensive, and the supply even to fail totally, animal fat or lard had to 
 be substitu.ted. . At a subsequent period the Church authorised the use of 
 butter and milk ; but on this point the discipline varied mvich. In the four- 
 teenth centurj% Charles V., King of France, having asked Pope Gregory XL 
 for a dispensation to use milk and butter on fast days, in consequence of 
 the bad state of his health, brought on owing to an attempt having beea 
 made to poison him, the supreme Pontiff required a certificate from a 
 physician and from the King's confessor. He even then only granted the 
 dispensation after imposing on that Christian king the repetition of a certain 
 number of prayers and the performance of certain pious deeds. In defiance 
 of the severity of ecclesiastical authority, we find, in the " Journal of a 
 Bourgeois of Paris," that in the unhappy reign of Charles VI. (1420), 
 " for want of oil, butter was eaten in Lent the same as on ordinary non-fast 
 days." 
 
 In 1491, Queen Anne, Duchess of Brittany, in order to obtain permission 
 from the Pope to eat butter in Lent, represented that Brittany did not 
 produce oil, neither did it import it from southern countries. Many northern 
 provinces adopted necessity as the law, and, having no oil, used butter ; and 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 '35 
 
 thence originated that famous toast with slices of bread and butter, which 
 formed such an important part of Flemish food. These papal dispensations 
 were, however, only earned at the price of prayers and alms, and this was 
 the origin of the troncs pour le heurre, that is, " alms-box for butter," which 
 are still to be seen in some of the Flemish churches. 
 
 It is not known when butter was first salted in order to preserve it or 
 to send it to distant places ; but this process, which is so simple and so 
 natural, dates, no doubt, from very ancient times ; it was particular!)- jDrac- 
 
 Fig. 97. — The Manufacture uf Oil, drawn and engravuJ by J. Amman in tlie Si.'cteenth 
 
 Century. 
 
 tised by the Normans and Bretons, who enclosed the butter in large earthen- 
 ware jars, for in the statutes which were given to the fruiterers of Paris in 
 1412, mention is made of salt butter in earthenware jars. Lorraine only 
 exported butter in such jars. The fresh butter most in request for the table, 
 in Paris, was that made at Vanvros, which in the month of May the people 
 ate every morning mixed with garlic. 
 
 The consumption of butter was greatest in Flanders. " I am surprised," 
 says liruyerin Champier, speaking of that country, " that they have not yet 
 tried to turn it into drink; in France it is mockingly called bcurrihe ; and 
 
136 
 
 FOOD AXD COOKERY. 
 
 when any one has to travel in that country, he is advised to take a knife 
 ■with him if he wishes to taste the good rolls of butter." 
 
 It is not necessary to state that milk and cheese followed the fortunes of 
 butter in the Catholic world, the same as eggs followed those of poultry. 
 But butter having been declared lawful by the Church, a claim was put in 
 for eggs (Fig 98), and Pope Jidius III. granted this dispensation to all 
 
 i 
 
 
 ■t .\ i- 'l * ' 
 
 & «, £. -,t > 
 
 1^ ?.;■ Y. ' 
 
 FT. -"J \a 
 
 Vr:'^- 
 
 ■■■*^t:4, 
 
 Fig. 98.-A Dealer in Eggs.-Fac -simile of a Woodcut, after Cosare Vecellio, Sixteenth Century. 
 
 Christendom, although certain private churches did not at once choose to 
 profit by this favour. The Greeks had always been more rigid on these 
 points of discipline than the people of i\Q West. It is to the prohibition of 
 eggs in Lent that the origin of " Easter eggs," must be traced. These were 
 litu-dencd by boiling them in a madder bath, and were brought to receive 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. ,37 
 
 the blessing of tlie priest on Good Friday, and were then eaten on the follow- 
 ing Sunday as a sign of rejoicing. 
 
 Ancient Gatd was celebrated for some of its home-made cheeses. Pliny 
 praises those of Msmes, and of Mount Lozere, in Gevaudan ; Martial mentions 
 those of Toulouse, Ac. A simple anecdote, handed down by the monk of 
 St. Gall, who wrote in the ninth century, proves to us that the traditions 
 with regard to cheeses were not lost in the time of Charlemagne : " The 
 Emperor, in one of his travels, alighted suddenly, and without being 
 expected, at the house of a bishop. It was on a Friday. The prelate had 
 no fish, and did not dare to set meat before the prince. He therefore 
 offered him what he had got, some boiled corn and green cheese. 
 Charles ate of the cheese ; but taking the green part to be bad, he took 
 care to remove it with his knife. The bishop, seeing this, took the 
 liberty of telling his guest that this was the best part. The Emperor, tasting 
 it, found that the bishop was right ; and consequentlj' ordered him to send 
 him annually two cases of similar cheese to Aix-la-Chapelle. The Bishop 
 answered, that he coidd easily send cheeses, but he could not be sure of 
 sending them in proper condition, because it was only by opening them that 
 you could be sure of the dealer not having deceived you in the quality of 
 the cheese. 'Well,' said the Emperor, 'before sending them, cut them 
 through the middle, so as to see if they are what I want ; you will only have 
 to join the two halves again by means of a wooden peg, and you can then 
 put the whole into a case.' " 
 
 Under the kings of the third French dynasty, a cheese was made at the 
 village of Chaillot, near Paris, which was much appreciated in the capital. 
 In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the cheeses of Champagne and of 
 Brie, which are still manufactured, were equally popular, and were hawked 
 in the streets, according to the " Book of Street-Cries in Paris," — 
 
 " J'ai bon fromage ele Champaigne ; (" Buy my cheese from Champagne, 
 
 Or i a fromage de Brie !" And my cheese fiom Biio ! ") 
 
 Eustache Dcschamps went so far as to say that cheese was the only good 
 thing which could possibly come from Brie. 
 
 The " Menagier do Paris " praises several kinds of cheeses, the names of 
 which it would now be difficult to trace, owing to their frequent changes 
 during four hundred years; but, according to the Gallic author of this curious 
 
 T 
 
138 FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 collection, a cheese, to be presentable at table, was required to possess certaia 
 qualities (in proverbial Latin, " Non Argus, neo Helena, nee Maria Magda- 
 lena," &o.), thus expressed in French rhyme : — 
 
 " Non niie (pas) blanc comme Helaine, 
 Non mie (pas) plourant comme Magdelaine, 
 Non Argus (a cent yeux), mais du tout avugle (aveugle) 
 Et aussi pesant comme un bugle (boeuf), 
 Contre le pouce soit rebelle, 
 Et qu'il ait tigneuse cotelle (epaisse oroute) 
 Sans yeux, sans plourer, non pas blanc, 
 Tigneuls, rebelle, bien pesant." 
 
 (" Neither white like Helena, 
 Nor "weeping as Magdelena, 
 Neither Argus, nor yet quite blind, 
 And having too a thicl^ish rind. 
 Resisting somewhat to the touch, 
 xVnd as a buU should weigh as much ; 
 Not eyeless, weeping, nor quite white, 
 But firm, resisting, not too light.") 
 
 In 1509, Platina, although an Italian, in speaking of good cheeses, 
 mentions those of Chauny, in Picardy, and of Brehemont, in Touraine ; 
 Charles Estienne praises those of Craponne, in Auvergne, the angelots of 
 Iformandy, and the cheeses made from fresh cream which the peasant- women 
 of Montreuil and Vincennes brought to Paris in small wickerwork baskets, 
 and which were eaten sprinkled with sugar. The same author names also 
 the rougerets of Lyons, which were always much esteemed ; but, above all 
 the cheeses of Europe, he places the rotmd or cylindrical ones of Auvergne, 
 which were only made by very clean and healthy children of fourteen years 
 of age. Olivier de Serres advises those who wish to have good cheeses to 
 boil the milk before churning it, a plan which is in use at Lodi and Parma, 
 " where cheeses are made which are acknowledged by all the world to be 
 excellent." 
 
 The parmesan, which this celebrated agriculturist cites as an example, 
 only became the fashion in France on the return of Charles VIII. from his 
 expedition to Naples. Much was thought at that time of a cheese brought 
 from Tm-key in bladders, and of. different varieties produced in Holland and 
 Zetland. A few of these foreign products were eaten in stews and in pastry, 
 others were toasted and sprinkled with sugar and powdered cinnamon. 
 
 "Le Roman de Claris," a manuscript which belongs to the commencement 
 
H 
 < 
 O 
 
 O 
 
 P 
 < 
 
 O 
 
 ca 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 •39 
 
 of the fourteenth century, says that in a town which was taken by storm the 
 following stores were found : — ■ 
 
 " Maint bon tonnel de vin, 
 JIaint bon bacon (cochon), maint fromagf ;'i rostir." 
 
 (" Many a ton of wine, 
 
 JIany a slice of good bacon, plentj- of good roasted cheese.") 
 
 Besides cheese and butter, the Normans, who had a great many cows in 
 their rich pastures, made a sort of fermenting liquor from the butter-milk, 
 which they called scmt, by boiling the milk with onions and garlic, and 
 letting it cool in closed vessels. 
 
 If the author of the " Menagier " is to be believed, the women who sold 
 milk by retail in the towns were well acquainted with the method of in- 
 
 Fig. 99.— llanufactnre of Cheeses in Switzerland.— Fac-simile of a Woodcut in the " Cosmographie 
 TJniverseUe " of Munster, folio, Basle, 1349. 
 
 creasing its quantity at the expense of its quality. He describes how his 
 froumentec, which consists of a sort of soup, is made, and states that when he 
 sends his cook to make her purchases at the milk market held in the neigh- 
 bourhood of the Paies de la Savonnerie, dcs Ecrivains, and de la Vieille- 
 Monnaie, he enjoins her partictularly " to get very fresh cow's milk, and to 
 tell the person who sells it not to do so if she has put water to it ; for, vmless 
 it be quite fresh, or if there be water in it, it will turn." 
 
 Fish and Shellfish.— Freshwater fish, which was much more abundant 
 
140 
 
 FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 in former days tlian now, was tlie ordinary food of those who lived on the 
 borders of lakes, ponds, or rivers, or who, at all events, were not so far distant 
 but that they could procure it fresh. There was of course much diversity at 
 different periods and in different countries as regards the estimation in which 
 the various kinds of fish were held. Thus Ausone, who was a native of 
 Bordeaux, spoke highly of the delicacy of the perch, and asserted that shad, 
 pike, and tench should be left to the lower orders ; an opinion which was 
 subsequently contradicted by the inhabitants of other parts of Gaul, and even 
 by the countrymen of the Latin poet Gregory of Tours, who loudly praised 
 the Geneva trout. But a time arrived when the higher classes preferred the 
 
 Fig. 100.— The Pond Fisherman.— Fac-simile of a Woodcut of the " Cosmographie 
 TJniverselle " of Muuster, folio, Basle, 1549. 
 
 freshwater fish of Orchies in Flanders, and even those of the Lyonnais. Thus 
 we see in the thirteenth century the barbel of Saint-Florentin held in great 
 estimation, whereas two hundred years later a man who was of no use, or a 
 nonentity, was said to resemble a barbel, "which is neither good for roasting 
 nor boiling." 
 
 In a collection of vulgar proverbs of the twelfth century mention is made, 
 amongst the fish most in demand, besides the barbel of Saint-Florentia above 
 referred to, of the eels of Maine, the pike of Chalons, the lampreys of JSTantes, 
 the trout of Andeli, and the dace of Aise. The "Menagier" adds several 
 others to the above list, including bla_y, shad, roach, and gudgeon, but, above 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 141 
 
 all, the carp, which was supposed to be a native of Southern Europe, and 
 which must have been naturalised at a much later period in the northern 
 waters (Figs. 100, 101, and 102). 
 
 The m.ost ancient documents bear witness that the natives of the sea-coasts 
 of Europe, and particularly of the Mediterranean, fed on the same fish as at 
 present : there were, however, a few other sea-fish, which were also used for 
 food, but which have since been abandoned. Our ancestors were not 
 difiicult to please : they had good teeth, and their palates having become 
 
 Fig. 101. — The Ilivcr Fisherman, designed and 
 engraved, in the Sixteenth Centui-y, by 
 J. Amman. 
 
 Fiu-. 102. — Conveyance of Fish by Water and 
 Land. — Fac-simile of an Engraving in the 
 Eoyal Statutes of the Provostship of Mer- 
 chants, 1528. 
 
 accustomed to the flesh of the cormorant, heron, and crane, without difiictdty 
 appreciated the debcacy of the nauseous sea-dog, the porpoise, and even the 
 whale, which, when salted, furnished to a great extent all the markets of 
 Europe. 
 
 The trade in salted sea-fish only began in Paris in the twelfth century, 
 when a company of merchants was instituted, or rather re-established, on the 
 principle of the ancient association of Naiites. This association had existed 
 from the period of the foundation under the Gauls of Lutetia, the city of 
 
142 
 
 FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 fluvial commerce (Fig. 103), and it is mentioned in the letters patent of 
 Louis VIT. (1170). One of the first cargoes which this company brought 
 in its boats was that of salted herrings from the coast of Normandy. These 
 herrings became a necessary food during Lent, and 
 
 " Sor et Wane haienc fifes pouldie (couTCrt de sel) !" 
 (" Herrings smoked, fresh, and salted !") 
 
 was the cry of the retailers in the streets of Paris, where this fish became 
 a permanent article of consumption to an extent which can be appreciated 
 from the fact that Saint Louis gave annually nearly seventy thousand herrings 
 to the hospitals, plague-houses, and monasteries. 
 
 The profit derived from the sale of herrings at that time was so great 
 
 Ih CAE SaK- E ^ 
 ^VG OVl^OirVh 
 
 A^ AX ?\ ^^o^ ^ 
 
 Fig. 103. — A Votive Altar of the Xautcs Parisiens, or the Company for the Commcicial Navigation 
 of the Seine, erected in Lutetia during the reign of Tiherius. — Fragments of this Altar, which 
 were discovered in 1711 nnder the Choir of the Church of iSTotre-Dame, are preserved in the 
 Museums of Cluny and of the Palais des Thermos. 
 
 that it soon became a special trade ; it was, in fact, the regular practice of the 
 Middle Ages for persons engaged in any branch of industry to unite together 
 and form themselves into a corporation. Other speculators conceived the 
 idea of bringing fresh fish to Paris by means of relays of posting convej^ances 
 placed along the road, and they called themselves forains. Laws were made 
 to distinguish the rights of each of these trades, and to prevent any quarrel 
 in the competition. In these laws, all sea-fish were comprised imder three 
 names, the fresh, the salted, and the smoked {sor). Louis IX. in an edict 
 divides the dealers into two classes, namely, the sellers of fresh fish, and the 
 sellers of salt or smoked fish. Besides salt and fresh herrings, an enormous 
 amount of salted mackerel, which was almost as much used, was brought 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. ,43 
 
 from the sea-coast, in addition to flat fish, gurnets, skate, fresh and salted 
 whiting and codfish. 
 
 In an old document of the thirteenth centmy about fifty kinds of fish 
 are enumerated which were retailed in the markets of the kingdom ; and 
 a century later the " Menagier " gives receipts for cooking forty kinds, 
 amongst which appears, under the name of craspois, the salted flesh of the 
 whale, which was also called le lard de careme. This coarse food, which was 
 sent from the northern seas in enormous slices, was only eaten by the lower 
 orders, for, according to a wi-iter of the sixteenth century, " were it cooked 
 even for twenty-four hoiu's it would still be very hard and indigestible." 
 
 The " Proverbes " of the thirteenth century, which mention the fresh- 
 water fish then in vogue, also names the sea-fish most preferred, and whence 
 they came, namely, the shad from Bordeaux, the congers from La Rochelle, the 
 sturgeon from Blaye, the fresh herrings from Fecamp, and the cuttle-fish from 
 Coutances. At a later period the conger was not eaten from its being su23- 
 posed to produce the plague. The turbot, John-dory, skate, and sole, which 
 were very dear, were reserved for the rich. The fishermen fed on the sea- 
 dragon. A great quantity of the small sea crayfish were brought into market ; 
 and in certain countries these were called saute, because the doctors recom- 
 mended them to invalids or those in consumption ; on the other hand, fresh- 
 water crayfish were not much esteemed in the fifteenth and sixteenth centm'ies, 
 excepting for their eggs, which were prepared with spice. It is well known 
 that pond frogs were a favourite food of the Gauls and Franks ; they were 
 never out of fashion in the rural districts, and were served at the best tables, 
 dressed with green sauce ; at the same period, and especially during Lent, 
 snails, which were served in pyramid-shaped dishes, were much appreciated ; 
 so much so that nobles and bourgeois cultivated snail beds, somewhat 
 resembling our oyster beds of the present day. 
 
 The inhabitants of the coast at all periods ate various kinds of shell-fish, 
 which were called in Italy sea-fruit ; but it was only towards the twelfth 
 century that the idea was entertained of bringing oysters to Paris, and 
 mussels were not known there until much later. It is notorious that Henry IV. 
 was a great oyster-eater. Sully relates that when he was created a duke 
 " the king came, \vithout being expected, to take his seat at the reception 
 banquet, but as there was much delay in going to dinner, he began by 
 eating some hiiitres de chanse, which he found very fresh." 
 
144 
 
 FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 By huitres de cliasse were meant those oysters which were brought by the 
 chasse-marees, carriers who brought the fresh fish from the coast to Paris at 
 great speed. 
 
 Beverages. — ^Beer is not only one of the oldest fermenting beverages 
 used by man, but it is also the one which was most in vogue in the Middle 
 Ages. If we refer to the tales of the Greek historians, we find that the 
 Gaids — who, like the Egj^Dtians, attributed the discovery of this refreshing 
 drink to their god Osiris — ^had two sorts of beer : one called zythus, made 
 with honey and intended for the rich; the other called cornta, in which 
 there was no honey, and which was made for the poor. But Pliny asserts 
 that beer in Gallic was called cerevisia, and the grain employed for making 
 it brasce. This testimony seems true, as from irasce or brasse comes the 
 
 Fig. 104.— The Great Drinkers of the North.— Fac-simile of a Woodcut of the " Histoires de3 
 Pays Septentrionaus," by Olaus Magnus, 16mo., Antwerp, 1560. 
 
 name brasseur (brewer), and from cerevisia, cervoise, the generic name by which 
 beer was known for centuries, and which only lately fell into disuse. 
 
 After a great famine, Domitian ordered all the vines in Gaul to be 
 uprooted so as to make room for corn. This rigorous measure must have 
 caused beer to become even more general, and, although two centuries later 
 Probus allowed vines to be replanted, the use of beverages made from grain 
 became an established custom ; but in time, whilst the people stiU. only 
 drank cervoise, those who were able to afibrd it bought wine and drank it 
 alternately with beer. 
 
 However, as by degrees the vineyards increased in all places having a 
 siutable soil and climate, the use of beer was almost entirely given up, so 
 that in central Gaul wine became so common and cheap that all could driak 
 it. In the northern provinces, where the vine woiild not grow, beer naturally 
 continued to be the national beverage (Fig. 104). 
 
FOOD AXn COOKER}'. 
 
 '45 
 
 In the time of Charlemagne, for instance, we find the Emjieror wisely 
 ordered that persons knowing how to brew should be attached to each of 
 his farms. Everywhere the monastic houses possessed breweries ; but as 
 early as the reign of St. Louis there were onlj^ a very few brewers in Paris 
 itself, and, in spite of all the privileges granted to their corporation, even 
 these were soon obKged to leave the capital, where there ceased to be 
 any demand for the produce of their industry. They reappeared in 1428, 
 probably in consequence of the political and commercial relations which 
 had become established between Paris and the rich towns of the Flemish 
 
 Fig. 105.— The Brewer, designed and ei\Hravc.l, in the Sixteenth Century, hy J. Amman. 
 
 bourgeoisie ; and then, either on account of the dearuess of wine, or the 
 caprice' of fashion, the con.sumption of beer again became so general in 
 France, that according to the " Jom-nal d'un Bourgeois de Paris," it pro- 
 duced to the revenue two-thirds more than wine. It must be understood, 
 however, that in times of scarcity, as in the years 1415 and 148-2, brewing 
 was temporarily stopped, and even forbidden altogether, on account of the 
 quantity of grain which was thereby withdrawn from the food supply of the 
 people (Fig. 105). 
 
 Under the Romans, the real ccnokp, or beer, was made with barley ; but, 
 
,40 FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 at a later period, all sorts of grain was indiscriminately used ; and it was 
 onl)' towards the end of tlie sixteentli century that adding the flower or seed 
 of hops to the oats or barley, which formed the basis of this beverage, was 
 thought of. 
 
 Estienne Boileau's " Book of Trades," edited in the thirteenth century, 
 shows us that, besides the cervoise, another sort of beer was known, which 
 was called godale. This name, we should imagine, was derived from the two 
 German words god ael, which mean " good beer," and was of a stronger 
 description than the ordinary cervoise ; this idea is proved by the Picards and 
 Flemish people calling it " double beer." In any case, it is from the word 
 godale that the familiar expression of godaiUer (to tipple) is derived. 
 
 In fact, there is hardly any sort of mixture or ingredient which has not 
 been used in the making of beer, according to the fashions of the diiferent 
 periods. When, on the return from the Crusades, the iise of spice had become 
 the fashion, beverages as well as the food were loaded with it. Allspice, 
 juniper, resin, apples, bread-crumbs, sage, lavender, gentian, cinnamon, and 
 laurel were each thrown into it. The English sugared it, and the Germans 
 salted it, and at times they even went so far as to jjut darnel into it, at the 
 risk of rendering the mixture poisonous. 
 
 The object of these various mixtures was naturally to obtain high- 
 flavoured beers, which became so much in fashion, that to describe the want 
 of merit of persons, or the lack of value in anything, no simile was more 
 common than to compare them to "small beer." Nevertheless, more delicate 
 and less blunted palates were to be found which conld appreciate beer 
 sweetened simply with honey, or scented with ambergris or raspberries. It is 
 possible, however, that these compositions refer to mixtures in which beer, 
 the produce of fermented grain, was confounded with hydromel, or fermented 
 honey. Both these primitive drinks claim an origin equally remote, which 
 is buried in the most distant periods of history, and they have been used in 
 all parts of the world, being mentioned in the oldest historical records, in 
 the Bible, the Edda, and in the sacred books of India. In the thirteenth 
 century, hydromel, which then bore the name of horgerafre, borgeraste, 
 or bochef, was composed of one part of honey to twelve parts of water, 
 scented with herbs, and allowed to ferment for a month or six weeks. This 
 beverage, which in the customs and statutes of the order of Cluny is termed 
 potus dulcisswms (the sweetest beverage), and which must have been both 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 H7 
 
 agreeable in taste and smell, was specially appreciated by the monks, who 
 feasted on it on the great anniYersaries of the Church. Besides this, an 
 inferior quality of bochet was made for the consumjJtion of the lower orders 
 and peasants, out of the honey-comb after the honey had been drained away, 
 or with the scum which rose during the fermentation of the better qualities. 
 
 Cider (in Latin sicera) and perry can also both claim a very ancient 
 origin, since they are mentioned by Pliny. It does not appear, however, 
 that the Gauls were acquainted with them. The first historical mention of 
 them is made with reference to a repast which Thierry II., King of Burgundy 
 
 Fig. 106.— The Vintagers, after a Miniature of tlie " Dialogues de Saint Gregoii'e " (I'liirteenth 
 Century). — Manuscript of the Royal Library of Brussels. 
 
 and Orleans (596 — 613), son of Childcbert, and grandson of Queen Brunehaut, 
 gave to St. Colomban, in which both cider and wine were used. In the 
 thirteenth century, a Latin poet (GuiUaume le Breton) says that the inhabitants 
 of the Auge and of Normandy made cider their daily drink ; but it is not 
 likely that this beverage was sent away from the localities where it was made ; 
 for, besides the fact that the " Menagior " only very curtly mentions a drink 
 made of apples, we know that in the fifteenth century the Parisians were 
 satisfied with pouring water on apples, and steeping them, so as to extract a 
 sort of half-sour, half-sweet drink called depeim. Besides this, Paulmier de 
 Grandmesnil, a Norman by birth, a famous doctor, and the author of a Latin 
 
1^8 FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 treatise on wine and cider (1588), asserts that half a century before, cider 
 ■was very scarce at Rouen, and that in all the districts of Caux the people 
 only drank beer. Duperron adds that the Normans brought cider from 
 Biscay, when their crops of apples failed. 
 
 By whom and at what period the vine was naturalised in Gaul has been 
 a long-disputed question, which, in spite of the most careful research, remains 
 unsolved. The most plausible opinion is that which attributes the honour of 
 having imported the vine to the Phoenician colony who founded Marseilles. 
 
 Pliny makes mention of several wines of the Gauls as being highly 
 esteemed. He nevertheless reproaches the vine-growers of Marseilles, 
 Beziers, and Narbonne with doctoring their wines, and with infusing various 
 drugs into them, which rendered them disagreeable and even unwholesome 
 (Fig. 106). Dioscorides, however, approved of the custom in use among the 
 Allobroges, of mixing resin with their wines to preserve them and prevent 
 them from turning sour, as the temperature of their country was not warm 
 enough thoroughly to ripen the grape. 
 
 Rooted up by order of Domitian in 92, as stated above, the vine only 
 reappeared in Gaul under Protus, who revoked, in 282, the imperial edict of 
 his predecessor; after which period the Gallic wines soon recovered their 
 ancient celebrity. Under the dominion of the Franks, who held wine in 
 great favour, vineyard property was one of those which the barbaric laws 
 protected with the greatest care. We find in the code of the Salians and in 
 that of the Visigoths very severe penalties for uprooting a vine or stealiug a 
 bunch of grapes. The cultivation of the vine became general, and kings 
 themselves planted them, even in the gardens of their city palaces. In 1160, 
 there was still in Paris, near the Lovivre, a vineyard of such an extent, that 
 Louis VII. could annually present six hogsheads of wine made from it to the 
 rector of St. Nicholas. Philip Augustus possessed about twenty vineyards of 
 excellent quality in various parts of his kingdom. 
 
 The culture of the vine having thus developed, the wine trade acquired 
 an enormous importance in France. Gascony, Aunis, and Saintonge sent 
 their wines to Flanders ; Guyenne sent hers to England. Froissart writes 
 that, m 1372, a merchant fleet of quite two hundred sail, came from London 
 to Bordeaux for wine. This flourishing trade received a severe blow in the 
 sixteenth century ; for an awful famine having invaded France in 1566, 
 Charles IX. did not hesitate to repeat the acts of Domitian, and to order all 
 
FOOD a'Md cookery. 
 
 1+9 
 
 the vines to be uprooted and their place to be sown with corn ; fortunately 
 Henrv III. soon after modified this edict by simply recommending the 
 governors of the pro\'inces to see that " the ploughs were not being neglected 
 in their districts on accoiint of the excessive cultivation of the vine." 
 
 Although the trade of a wine-merchant is one of the oldest established 
 in Paris, it does not follow that the retail sale of wine was exclusivelj' 
 
 Fig. 107.— ]uti/rior of an Hostelry.— Fac-simile of a "Woodcut in a folio clitiun uf Virgil, published 
 
 at Lyons in 1517. 
 
 carried on by special tradesmen. On the contrary, for a long time the 
 owner of the vineyard retailed the wine which he had not been able to 
 sell in the cask. A broom, a laurel-wreath, or some other sign of the sort 
 hung over a door, denoted that any one passing could purchase or drink 
 wine within. When the wine-growers did not have the quality and price 
 of their wine announced in the village or town by the public crier, they 
 placed a man before the door of their cellar, who enticed the public to enter 
 and taste the new wines. Other proprietors, instead of selling for people 
 
15° 
 
 FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 to take away in their own vessels, established a tavern in some room of their 
 house, where they retailed drink (Fig. 107). The monks, who made wine 
 extensively, also opened these taverns in the monasteries, as they only 
 consumed part of their wine themselves ; and this system was universally 
 adojjted by wine-growers, and even by the king and the nobles. The latter, 
 however, had this advantage, that, whilst they were retailing their wines, no 
 one in the district was allowed to enter into competition with them. This 
 prescriptive right, which was called droit de ban-vin, was still in force in the 
 seventeenth century. 
 
 Saint Louis granted special statutes to the wine merchants in 1264 ; but it 
 was only three centuries later that they formed a society, which was divided into 
 four classes, namely, hotel-keepers, publichouse-keepers, tavern proprietors, and 
 
 Fig. 108. — Banner of the Corporation of the 
 Publichouse-keepers of Montmedy. 
 
 Fig. 109. — Banner of the Corporation of the 
 Puhlichouse-Iieepers of Tonnerre. 
 
 dealers in wine d pot, that is, sold to people to take away with thoan. Hotel- 
 keepers, also called aubergistes, accommodated travellers, and also put up 
 horses and carriages. The dealers d pot sold wine which could not be drunk 
 on their premises. There was generally a sort of window in their door through 
 which the empty pot was passed, to be returned filled : hence the expression, 
 still in use in the eighteenth centurj^ rente a htiis coupe (sale through a cut 
 door). Publichouse-keepers supplied drink as well as 'nappe et assiefte (table- 
 cloth and plate), which meant that refreshments were also served. And lastly, 
 the taverniers sold wine to be drunk on the premises, but without the right of 
 supplying bread or meat to their customers (Figs. 108 and 109). 
 
 The wines of France in most request from the ninth to the thirteenth 
 centviries, were those of Macon, Caliors, Rheims, Choisy, Montargis, Marne, 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 151 
 
 Meulau, and Orleanais. Amongst the latter tliere was one which was much 
 appreciated by Henry I., and of which he kept a store, to stimulate his courage 
 when he joined his army. The little fable of the Battle of Wines, composed 
 in the thirteenth century by Henri d'Andelys, mentions a number of wines 
 which have to this day maintained tlieir reputation : for instance, the Beaune, 
 in Burgunjdy ; the Saint-Emilion, in Guyenne ; the Chablis, Epernay, Sezanne, 
 in Champagne, &c. But he places above all, with good reason, according to 
 the taste of those days, the Saint-Pourcain of Auvergne, which was then most 
 expensive and in great request. Another French poet, in describing the 
 luxurious habits of a young man of fashion, says that he drank notliing but 
 
 Fig. 110. — Banner of the Coopers 
 of Bayonne. 
 
 Fig. 111. — Banner of the Coopers 
 of La Rochelle. 
 
 Saint-Pourcain ; and in a poem composed by Jean Bruyant, secretary of the 
 Chatelet of Paris, in 13^2, we find 
 
 " Du saint-pour(,'ain 
 Que Ten met en son sein pour sain." 
 
 (" Saint-Pour(,'ain wine, which you imhibe for the good of your health.") 
 
 Towards 1400, the vineyards of Ai became celebrated for Champagne as 
 those of Beaune were for Burgundy ; and it is then that we find, according 
 to the testimony of the learned Paulmier de Grandmesnil, kings and queens 
 making champagne their favourite beverage. Tradition has it that Francis!., 
 Charles Quint, Henry VIII., and Pope Leon X. all possessed vineyards in 
 Champagne at the same time. Burgundy, that pure and pleasant wine, was 
 not despised, and it was in its honour that Erasmus said, "Happy province ! 
 she may well call herself the mother of men, since she produces such 
 milk." Nevertheless, the above-mentioned physician, Paulmier, preferred to 
 
15 2 FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 buTo-midy, " if not perhaps for their flavour, yet for their wholesomeness, the 
 ■wines of the He de France or vinsfrancais, which agree, he says, with scholars, 
 invalids, the bom-geois, and aU other persons who do not devote themselves 
 to manual labour ; for they do not parch the blood, like the wines of Gascony, 
 nor fly to the head like those of Orleans and Chateau- Thierry ; nor do they 
 cause obstructions like those of Bordeaux." This is also the opinion of 
 Baccius, who in his Latin treatise on the natural history of wines (1596) 
 asserts that the wines of Paris " are in no way inferior to those of any other 
 district of the kingdom." These thin and som' wines, so much esteemed in 
 the first periods of monarchy and so long abandoned, first lost favour in the 
 reign of Francis I., who preferred the strong and stimulating productions of 
 the South. 
 
 JN^otwithstanding the great number of excellent wines made in their own 
 country, the Erench imported from other lands. In the thirteenth century, in 
 the "Battle of Wines" we find those of Aquila, Spain, and, above all, those of 
 Cyprus, spoken of in high terms. A century later, Eustace Deschamps praised 
 the Rhine wines, and those of Greece, Malmsey, and Grenache. In an edict 
 of Charles VI. mention is also made of the muscatel, rosette, and the wine of 
 Lieppe. Generally, the Malmsey which was drunk in France was an artificial 
 preparation, which had neither the colour nor taste of the Cyprian wine. 
 OUvier de Serres tells us that in his time it was made with water, honey, clary 
 juice, beer grounds, and brandy. At first the same name was used for the 
 natural wine, mulled and spiced, which was produced in the island of Madeira 
 from the grapes which the Portuguese brought there from Cyprus in 1420. 
 
 The reputation which this wine acquired in Europe induced Francis I. to 
 import some vines from Greece, and he planted fifty acres with them near 
 Fontainebleau. It was at first considered that this plant was succeeding so 
 well, that "there were hopes," says Olivier de Serres, "that France would 
 soon be able to fiu-nish her own Maknsey and Greek wines, instead of having 
 to import them from abroad." It is evident, however, that they soon gave up 
 this delusion, and that for want of the genuine wine they returned to artificial 
 beverages, such as tin ctiif, or cooked wine, which had at all times been 
 cleverly prepared by boUing down new wine and adding various aromatic 
 herbs to it. 
 
 Many wines were made under the name of herhes, which were merely 
 infusions of wormwood, myrtle, hyssop, rosemary, &c., mixed with sweetened 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 '53 
 
 wine and flavoured with honey. The most celebrated of these beverages 
 bore the pretentious name of "nectar;" those composed of spices, Asiatic 
 aromatics, and honey, were generally called " white wine," a name indis- 
 criminately applied to liquors having for their bases some slightly coloured 
 wine, as well as to the hypocras, which was often composed of a mixture of 
 foreign liqueurs. This hypocras plays a prominent part in the romances 
 of chivalry, and was considered a drink of honour, being always offered to 
 kings, princes, and nobles on their solemn entry into a town. 
 
 The name of wine was also given to drinks composed of the juices of 
 certain fruits, and in which grapes were in no way used. These were the 
 
 Fig. 112.— Butler :it his Duties.— Fac-aimile from a Woodcut in the " Cosmogriiphie UEiverseUe " 
 of Munster, folio, Basle, 1549. 
 
 cherry, the currant, the raspberry, find the pomegranate wines ; also the 
 mori, made with the mulberry, which was so extolled by the poets of the 
 thirteenth century. AVe must also mention the sour wines, which were made 
 by pouring water on the refuse grapes after the wine had been extracted ; 
 also the drinks made from filberts, milk of almonds, the syrups of apricots and 
 strawberries, and cherry and raspberry waters, all of which were refreshing, 
 and were principally used in summer ; and, lastly, timne, sold by the con- 
 fectioners of Paris, and made hot or cold, with prepared barley, dried grapes, 
 plums, dates, gum, or liquorice. This timnr. may be considered as the origin 
 of that drink which is now sold to the poor at a sous a glass, and which 
 most assuredly has not much improved since olden times. 
 
 X 
 
154 F'^OD AND COOKERY. 
 
 It was about the thirteentli century tliat brandy first became known in 
 France ; but it does not appear that it was recognised as a liqueur before the 
 sixteenth. The celebrated physician Arnauld de Villeneuve, who wrote at 
 the end of the thirteenth century, to whom credit has wrongly been 
 given for inventing brandy, employed it as one of his remedies, and thus 
 expresses himself about it: "Who would have believed that we could 
 have derived from wine a liquor which neither resembles it in nature, 
 colour, or effect ? . . . . This eau de vin is called by some ea«« de vie, 
 
 and justly so, since it prolongs life It prolongs health, dissipates 
 
 superfluous matters, revives the spirits, and preserves youth. Alone, or 
 added to some other proper remedy, it cures colic, dropsy, paralj'sis, ague, 
 gravel, &c." 
 
 At a period when so many doctors, alchemists, and othei' learned men made 
 it their principal occupation to try to discover that marvellous golden fluid 
 which was to free the human race of all its original infirmities, the discovery 
 of such an elixir could not fail to attract the attention of all such manufac- 
 turers of panaceas. It was, therefore, under the name of eau d'or (aqua auri) 
 that brandy first became known to the world ; a name improperly given to it, 
 implying as it did that it was of mineral origin, whereas its beautiful golden 
 colour was caused by the addition of spices. At a later period, when it lost 
 its repute as a medicine, they actually sprinkled it with pure gold leaves, and 
 at the same time that it ceased to be exclusively considered as a remedy, it j 
 became a favoux'ite beverage. It was also employed in distilleries, especially 
 as the basis of various strengthening and exciting liqueurs, most of which 
 have descended to us, some coming from monasteries and others from 
 chateaux, where they had been manufactured. 
 
 THE KITCHEN. 
 
 I 
 
 Soups, Broths, Stevs's, &c. — The French word potage must originally j 
 have signified a soup composed of vegetables and herbs from the Idtchen j 
 garden, but from the remotest times it was applied to soups in general. 
 
 As the Gauls, according to Athena3us, generally ate their meat boiled, we i 
 must presume that they made soup with the water in which it was cooked, j 
 It IS related that one day Gregory of Tours was sitting at the table of King! 
 Chilperic, when the latter offered him a soup specially made in his honour > 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 »S5 
 
 from chicken. The poems of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries mention 
 soups made of peas, of bacon, of vegetables, and of groats. In the southern 
 provinces there were soups made of almonds, and of olive oil. When I)u 
 Guesclin went out to fight the English knight William of Blancbourg in 
 single combat, he first ate three sorts of soup made with wine, " in honour 
 of the three persons in the Holy Trinit}'." 
 
 We find in the " Menagier," amongst a long list of the common soups, 
 the receipts for which are given, soup made of " dried peas and the water in 
 which bacon has been boiled," and, in Lent, " salted-whale water ;" water- 
 cress soup, cabbage soup, cheese soup, and gramom soup, which was prepared 
 by adding stewed meat to the water in which meat had already been 
 boiled, and adding beaten eggs and verjuice; and lastly, the souppe despoil rrifp, 
 
 Fig. 113.— Interior of a Kitchen of the Sixteenth Century.— Fac-simile from a Woodcut in the 
 " Calendarium Romanum " of Jean StaefSer, folio, Tubingen, 1518. 
 
 which was rapidly made at the hotels, for unexpected travellers, and was 
 a sort of soup made from the odds and ends of the larder. In those days 
 there is no doubt but that hot soup formed an indispensable part of the 
 daily meals, and that each person took it at least twice a day, according to 
 the old proverb : — 
 
 " Soups le soir, soupe le matin, 
 C'est Fordinaixe du bon chreticn." 
 
 (" Soup in the evening, .and soup in the morning, 
 Is the every-day food of a good Christian.") 
 
 The cooking apparatus of that period consisted of a whole glittering 
 array of cauldrons, saucepans, kettles, and vessels of red and yellow copper, 
 which hardly sufficed for all the rich soups for which France was so famous. 
 Thence the old proverb, " En France sont les grands soupiers." 
 
iS6 
 
 FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 But besides these soups, which were in fact looked upon as " common, and 
 without spice," a number of dishes were served under the generic name of 
 soup, which constituted the principal luxuries at the great tables in the 
 fourteenth century, but which do not altogether bear out the names under 
 which we find them. For instance, there was haricot mutton, a sort of stew ; 
 thin chicken broth ; veal broth with herbs ; soup made of veal, roe, stag, 
 wild boar, pork, hare and rabbit soup flavoured with green peas, &c. 
 
 The greater ntimber of these soups were very rich, very expensive, several 
 being served at the same time ; and in order to please the eye as well as the 
 taste they were generally made of various colours, sweetened with sugar, and 
 
 Fig. IH.— Coppersmith, designed and engraved in the Sixteenth Century hy J. Amman. 
 
 sprinkled with pomegranate seeds and aromatic herbs, such as marjoram, 
 sage, thjane, sweet basil, savoury, &c. 
 
 These descriptions of soups were perfect luxuries, and were taken instead 
 of sweets. As a proof of this we must refer to the famous sonfe doree, the 
 description of which is given by Taillevent, head cook of Charles YII., in 
 the following words, " Toast slices of bread, throw them into a jelly made 
 of sugar, white wine, yolk of egg, and rosewater ; when they are well 
 soaked fry them, then throw them again into the rosewater and sprinkle 
 them with sugar and saff'ron." 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 '57 
 
 Figf. 1 15.— Kitchen and Taljle Utensils :— 1, Carving-knife (Sixteenth Centurj-) ; 2, Chalice or Cup, 
 with Cover (Fourteenth Century) ; 3, Double-handled Pot, in Copper (Ninth Century) ; 4, Metal 
 Boiler, or Tin Pot, taken from " L'Histoire de la Belle Helaine " (Fifteenth Century) ; 5, Knife 
 (Sixteenth Century) ; 6, Pot, with Handles (Fourteenth Century) ; 7, Copper Boiler, taken from 
 "L'Histoire de la Belle Hclaino" (Fifteenth Century); 8, Ewer, with Handle, in Oriental 
 Fashion (Ninth Century) ; 9, Pitcher, sculptured, from among the Decorations of the Church of 
 St. Benedict, Paris (Fifteenth Century); 10, Two-branched Candlestick (Sixteenth Century); 
 11, Cauldron (Fifteenth Century). 
 
,5? FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 It is possible that even now tliis kind of soup niiglit find some favour ; 
 but we cannot say tbe same for tbose made with mustard, hemp- seed, millet, 
 verjuice, and a number of others much in repute at that period ; for we see 
 ia Eabelais that the French were the greatest sovip-eaters in the world, and 
 boasted to be the inventors of seventy sorts. 
 
 We have already remarked that broths were in use at the remotest 
 periods, for, from the time that the practice of boiling various meats was first 
 adopted, it must have been discovered that the water in which they were 
 so boiled became savoury and nourishing. " In the time of the great King 
 Francis I.," says Noel du Fail, in his " Contes d'Eutrapel," " in many places 
 the saucepan was put on to the table, on which there was only one other 
 large dish, of beef, mutton, veal, and bacon, garnished with a large bunch 
 of cooked herbs, the whole of which mixture composed a porridge, and a real 
 restorer and elixir of life. From this came the adage, ' The soup in the 
 great pot and the dainties in the hotch-i^otch.' " 
 
 At one time they made what they imagined to be strengthening broths 
 for invalids, though their virtue must have been somewhat delusive, for, after 
 having boiled down various materials in a close kettle and at a slow fire, they 
 then distilled from this, and the water thus obtained was administered as a 
 sovereign remedy. The common-sense of Bernard Palissy did not fail to make 
 him see this absurdity, and to protest against this ridiculous custom : "Take a 
 capon," he saj's, " a partridge, or anything else, cook it well, and then if you 
 smell the broth you will find it very good, and if you taste it you will find it 
 has plenty of flavour ; so much so that j'ou will feel that it contains something 
 to invigorate you. Distil this, on the contrary, and take the water then 
 collected and taste it, and you will find it insipid, and without smell except 
 that of burning. This should convince j^ou that j^our restorer does not give 
 that nourishment to the weak body for which you recommend it as a means 
 of making good blood, and restoring and strengthening the spirits." 
 
 The taste for broths made of flour was formerlj^ almost universal in France 
 and over the whole of Europe ; it is spoken of repeatedly in the histories and 
 annals of monasteries ; and we know that the Normans, who made it their 
 principal nutriment, were surnamed bouilleux. They were indeed almost like 
 the Eomans who in olden times, before their wars with eastern nations, gave 
 up making bread, and ate their corn simply boiled in water. 
 
 In the fourteenth century the broths and soups were made with millet- 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 '59 
 
 flour and mixed wheats. The pure wheat flour was steeped iu milk seasoned 
 with sugar, saflfi-on, honey, sweet wine or aromatic herbs, and sometimes 
 butter, fat, and yolks of eggs were added. It was on account of tins that the 
 bread of the ancients so much resembled cakes, and it was also from this fact 
 that the art of the pastrycook took its rise. 
 
 Wheat made into gruel for a long time was an important ingredient in 
 cooking, being the basis of a famous preparation called fromenter, which was 
 a houillie of milk, made creamy by the addition of yolks of eo-o-s, and which 
 served as a liquor in which to roast meats and fish. There were, besides, 
 several sorts ot/ronieiitee, all equally esteemed, and Taillevent recommended 
 the following receipt, which differs from the one above given: — "First boil 
 
 Fig. 116. — Interior of a Kitchen. — Fac-simile from a \Voodcut in the " Calendarium Koraanum " 
 of J. Staeffler, folio, Tubingen, 1518. 
 
 your wheat in water, then put into it the juice or gravy of fat meat, or, if you 
 like it better, milk of almonds, and by this means you will make a soup fit for 
 fasts, because it dissolves slowly, is of slow digestion and nourishes much. 
 In this way, too, you can make ordiat, or barley soup, which is more generally 
 approved than the said frotnentee." 
 
 Semolina, vermicelli, macaroni, &c., which were called Italian because 
 they originally came from that country, have been in use in P^rance longer 
 than is generally supposed. They were first introduced after the expedition 
 of Charles VIII. into Italy, and the conquest of the kingdom of Naples; that 
 is, in the reign of Louis XII., or the first years of the sixteenth century. 
 
 Pies, Stews, Eoasts, Salads, &c. — Pastry made with fat, which might 
 be supposed to have been the invention of modern kitchens, was in great 
 repute amongst our ancestors. The manufacture of sweet and savoury pastry 
 was entrusted to the care of the good memgiers of all ranks and conditions, and 
 
i5o 
 
 FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 to tHe corporation of pastrycooks, who obtained their statutes only in the middle 
 of the sixteenth century ; the united skill of these, both in Paris and in the 
 provinces, multiplied the different sorts of tarts and meat pies to a very great 
 extent. So much was this the case that these ingenious productions became a 
 special art, worthy of rivalling even cookery itself (Figs. 117, 118, and 130). 
 One of the earliest known receipts for making pies is that of Gaces de la 
 Bio-ne, fii-st chaplain of Kings John, Charles T., and Charles TI. TTe find 
 it in a sporting poem, and it deserves to be quoted verbatim as a record of 
 the royal kitchen of the fourteenth centiuy. It will be observed on perusiag 
 it that nothing was spared either in pastry or in cookery, and that expense 
 was not considered when it was a question of satisfying the appetite. 
 
 ' Trois perdrianlx gros et reffais 
 Au milieu du pate me mets ; 
 Mais gardes bien que tu ne failles 
 A moi prendre six grosses cailles, 
 De quoi tu les apuyeras. 
 Et puis apres tu me prendras 
 Une douzaine d'alouetes 
 Qu' environ les cailles me mettes, 
 Et puis pendras de ces maches 
 Et de ces petits oiseles ; 
 Selon ce que tu en auras, 
 Le pate m'en billeteras. 
 Or te fault faire pourreance 
 D'un peu de lart, sans point de ranee, 
 Que tu tailleras comme de : 
 S'en sera le paste pouldre. 
 Si tu le Teus de tonne guise, 
 Du vertjns la grappe y soit mise, 
 D'un bien peu de sel soit pouldre . . . 
 . . . Fay mettre des ceufs en la paste, 
 Les croutes un peu rudement 
 Faictes de flour de pur froment . . . 
 . . . N'y mets espices ni fromaige . . . 
 Au four bien a point chaud le met, 
 Qui de cendre ait I'atre bien net; 
 Et quand sera bien A point cuit, 
 D n'est si bon mangier, ce cuit." 
 
 ("Put me in the middle of the pie three 
 }"oung partridges large and fat ; 
 
 But take good care not to fail to take six 
 fine quail to put by their side. 
 
 After that you must take a dozen sky- 
 lurks, •which round the quail you must 
 place ; 
 
 And then you must take some thrushes 
 and such other little birds as you can 
 get to garnish the pie. 
 
 Further, you must provide yourself with 
 a little bacon, which must not be in 
 the least rank (reasty), and you must 
 cut it into pieces of the size of a die, 
 and sprinkle them into the pie. 
 
 If you want it to be in quite good form, 
 you must put some sour grapes in and 
 a very little salt . . . 
 
 . . . Have eggs put into the paste, and the 
 crust made rather hard of the flour of 
 pure wheat. 
 
 Put in neither spice nor cheese . . . 
 
 Putitinto the oven just atthe proper heat. 
 
 The bottom of which must be quite free 
 from ashes ; 
 
 And when it is baked enough, isn't that 
 fi dish to feast on ! ") 
 
 From this period all treatises on cookery are full of the same kind of 
 receipts for making " pies of young chickens, of fresh venison, of veal, of 
 eels, of bream and salmon, of young rabbits, of pigeons, of small birds, 
 of geese, and of narrois (a mixture of cod's liver and hashed fish). We may 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 i6i 
 
 meution also the small pies, ^^'hicll were made of minced beef and raisins, 
 similar to our mince pies, and which were hawkel in the streets of Paris, 
 imtil their sale was forbidden, because the trade encouraged greediness on 
 the one hand and laziness on the other. 
 
 Ancient pastries, owing to their shapes, received the name of iourta or 
 tarte, from the Latin ioria, a large hunch of bread. This name was after- 
 wards exclusively used for hot pies, whether thej^ contained vegetables, meat, 
 or fish. But towards the end of the fourteenth century tourie and tariv was 
 applied to pastry containing herbs, fruits, or preserves, and pdti to those 
 containing any kind of meat, game, or fish. 
 
 It was only in the course of the .sixteenth centurv tliat the name oipotaije 
 
 Fig. 117. — Bauner of the Corporation of 
 Pastrycooks of Caen. 
 
 Fig 118. — Banner of the Corjjoration of 
 Pastrycooks of Bordeanx. 
 
 ceased to be applied to stews, whose number equalled their variety, for on a 
 bill of fare of a banquet of that period we find more than fifty diflPerent sorts 
 of potagcH mentioned. The greater number of these dishes have disajoijeared 
 from our books on cookery, having gone out of fashion ; but there are two 
 •stews which were popular during many centuries, and which have maintained 
 their reputation, although they do not now exactly represent what they 
 formerly did. The pot-pourri, which was composed of veal, beef, mutton, 
 bacon, and vegetables, and the galimafric, a fricassee of poultry, sprinkled 
 with verjuice, flavoured with spices, and surrounded 1)y a sauce composed of 
 vinegar, bread crumbs, cinnamon, ginger, &c. (Fig. 11!)). 
 
 The highest aim of the cooks of the Taillevent scliool was to make dishes 
 not only palatable, but also pleasing to the eye. These masters in the art of 
 
 Y 
 
l62 
 
 FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 cooking might be said to be both sculptors and painters, so miicli did tliey 
 decorate their works, their object being to surprise or amuse the guests by 
 concealing the real nature of the dishes. Froissart, speaking of a repast 
 
 Fig. 119.— Interior of Italian Kitchen.— Fac-simile of a Woodcut in the Book on Cookery of 
 Chiistoforo di Messishurgo, " Banchetti compositioni di Vivende," 4to., Ferrara, 15i9. 
 
 given in his time, says that there were a number of "dishes so curious 
 and disguised that it was impossible to guess what they were." For instance, 
 the bill of fare above referred to mentions a lion and a sun made of white 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 163 
 
 cluckeu, a pink jelly -svitli diamond-sliapecl jjoints ; and, as if the object of 
 cookery was to disgmse food and deceive epicures, Taillevent facetiously gives 
 us a receipt for making fried or roast butter and for cooking eggs on tlie spit. 
 The roasts were as numerous as the stews. A treatise of the fourteenth 
 century names about thirty, beginning with a sirloin of beef, which must 
 have been one of the most common, and ending with a swan, which appeared 
 on table in full jalumage. This last was the triumi^h of cookery, inasmuch 
 as it presented this magnificent bird to the eyes of the astonished guests 
 just as if he were living and swimming. His beak was gilt, his body silvered, 
 resting on a mass of brown pastry, painted green in order to represent a 
 
 Tr^-Sfe*^^'**^-^*W4^fliu; .^^AimM/SiM»<.--*'' 
 
 Fig. 120.— Hunting-Meal.— Fac-simile of a Miniature in the Manuscript of thu " Livre du Roy 
 Modus " (National Library of Paris). 
 
 grass field. Eight banners of silk were placed round, and a cloth of the 
 same material served as a carpet for the whole dish, which towered above the 
 other appointments of the table. 
 
 The peacock, which was as much thought of then as it is little valued now, 
 was similarly arrayed, and was brought to table amidst a flourish of trumpets 
 and the applause of all present. The modes of preparing other roasts much 
 resembled the present system in their simplicity, with this difference, that 
 strong meats were first boiled to render them tender, and no roast was ever 
 handed over to the skill of the carver without first being thoroughly basted 
 with orange juice and rose-water, and covered with sugar and powdered spices. 
 
 We must not forget to mention the broiled dishes, the invention of which 
 
164 
 
 FOOD AND COOKERF. 
 
 is attributed to hunters, and wliicli Rabelais continually refers to as acting 
 as stimulants and irresistibly exciting the thirst for wine at the sumptuous 
 feasts of those voracious heroes (Fig. 120). 
 
 The custom of introducing salads after roasts was already established in 
 the fifteenth century. However, a salad, of whatever sort, was never brought 
 to table in its natural state ; for, besides the raw herbs, dressed in the same 
 manner as in our days, it contained several mixtures, such as cooked vegetables, 
 and the crests, livers, or brains of poultry. After the salads fish was served ; 
 sometimes fried, sometimes sliced with eggs or reduced to a sort of pulp, 
 
 Fig. 121. — Shop of a Grocer and Drug-gist, from a Stamp of Vriese (Seventeenth Century). 
 
 which was called carpte or charple, and sometimes it was boiled in water or 
 wine, with strong seasoning. Near the salads, in the course of the dinner, 
 dishes of eggs prepared in various ways were generally served. Many of these 
 are now in use, such as the poached egg, the hard-boiled egg, egg sauce, &c. 
 Se..\.sonings. — We have already stated that the taste for spices much 
 increased in Europe after the Crusades ; and in this rapid historical sketch of 
 the food of the French people in the Middle Ages it must have been observed 
 to what an extent this taste had become developed in France (Fig. 121). 
 This was the origin of sauces, all, or almost all of which were highly spiced, 
 and were generally used with boiled, roast, or grilled meats. A few of these 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY 
 
 'feS 
 
 sauces, such as the yellow, the green, and the caini'Iine became so necessary 
 in cooking that numerous persons took to manulUcturiug them hy wholesale, 
 and they were hawked in the streets of Paris. 
 
 These sauce-criers were first called saulciers, then rinaigriers-inoustardiers, 
 and when Louis XII. united them in a body, as their business had con- 
 sidei'ably increased, they were termed saucier^-moutardiers-vinaigriers, distillers 
 of brandy and spirits of ■n"ine, and biiffetiers (from hiiff'd, a sideboard). 
 
 But very soon the corjjoration became divided, no doubt from the force of 
 circumstances ; and on one side we find the distillers, and on the other the 
 
 Fig. 122.— The Cook, drawn and engraved, in the .Sixtuenlh Cciituiy, by J. Amman. 
 
 master-cooks and cooks, or porff-chapcs, as they were called, because, when 
 they carried on their bu.sines.s of cooking, they covered their dishes with a 
 chape, that is, a cope or tin cover (Fig. 122), so as to keep them warm. 
 
 The list of sauces of the fourteenth century, given by the " Menagier de 
 Paris," is most complicated; but, on examining the receipts, it becomes 
 clear that the variety of those preparations, intended to sharpen the appetite, 
 resulted principally from the spicy ingredients with which they were 
 flavoured ; and it is here worthy of remark that pepper, in these days ex- 
 .clusively obtained from America, was known and generally used long before 
 
1 66 FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 the time of Columbus. It is mentioned in a document of the time of 
 Clotaii-e III. (660) ; and it is clear, therefore, that before the discovery of 
 the New World pepper and spices were imported into Europe from the East. 
 
 Mustard, which was an ingredient in so many dishes, was cultivated and 
 manufactured in the thirteenth century in the neighbourhood of Dijon and 
 Angers. 
 
 According to a popular adage, garlic was the medicine {theriaque) of 
 peasants ; town-people for a long time greatly appreciated aillee, which was 
 a sauce made with garhc, and sold ready prepared in the streets of Paris. 
 
 The custom of using anchovies as a flavouring is also very ancient. This 
 was also done with bof argue and cavlal, two sorts of side-dishes, which consisted 
 of fishes' eggs, chiefly mullet and sturgeon, properly salted or dried, and mixed 
 with fresh or pickled olives. The olives for the use of the lower orders were 
 brought from Languedoc and Provence, whereas those for the rich were im- 
 ported from Spain and some from Syria. It was also from the south of France 
 that the rest of the kingdom was supplied with olive oil, for which, to this 
 day, those provinces have preserved their renown ; but as early as the twelfth 
 and thirteenth centuries oil of walnuts was brought from the centre of France 
 to Paris, and this, although cheaper, was superseded by oil extracted from 
 the poppy. 
 
 Truffles, though known and esteemed by the ancients, disajjpeared from 
 the gastronomic collection of our forefathers. It was only in the fourteenth 
 century that they were again introduced, but evidently without a knowledge 
 of their culinai'y qualities, since, after being preserved in vinegar, they were 
 soaked in hot water, and afterwards served up in butter. We may also 
 here mention sorrel and the common mushroom, which were used in cooking 
 during the Middle Ages. 
 
 On the strength of the old proverb, " Sugar has never spoiled sauce," 
 sugar was put into all sauces which were not piquantes, and generally some 
 perfumed water was added to them, such as rose-water. This was made in 
 great quantities by exposing to the sun a basin full of water, covered over by 
 another basin of glass, under which was a little vase containing rose-leaves. 
 This rose-water was added to all stews, pastries, and beverages. It is very 
 doubtful as to the period at which white lump sugar became known in the 
 West. However, in an account of the house of the Dauphin Yiennois (1333) 
 mention is made of "white sugar;" and the author of the "Menagierde. 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 167 
 
 Paris " frequently speaks of this white sugar, which, before the discovery, or 
 rather colonisation, of America, was brought, ready refined, from the Grecian 
 islands, and especially from Candia. 
 
 Fig. 123.— Tho hme de TVii/c— Fac-simile of a Wocilrut in \\w Treatise of Christoforo di 
 Me.ssisburgo, " Baiichetti compositioni di Vivende," 4to., Forrara, 1.349. 
 
 Verjuice, or green juice, whidi, with vinegar, formed the e.sscutial basis 
 01 sauces, and is now extracted from a species of green grajie, which never 
 
1 68 FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 ripens, was originally the juice of sorrel ; another sort was extracted hy 
 pounding the green blades of wheat. Vinegar was originally merely soured 
 wine, as the word vin-aigre denotes. The mode of manufacturing it by artificial 
 means, in order to render the taste more pungent and the quality better, is 
 very ancient. It is needless to state that it was scented by the infusion of 
 herbs or flowers — roses, elder, cloves, &c. ; but it was not much before the 
 sixteenth century that it was used for pickling herbs or fruits and vegetables, 
 such as gherkins, onions, cucumber, purslain, &c. 
 
 Salt, which from the remotest periods was the condiment par excellence, 
 and the trade in which had been free up to the fourteenth century, became, 
 from that period, the subject of rejjeated taxation. The levying of these 
 taxes Avas a frequent cause of tumult amongst the people, who saw with 
 marked displeasure the exigencies of the excise gradually raising the price 
 of an article of primary necessity. We have already mentioned times during 
 which the price of salt was so exorbitant that the rich alone could put it in 
 their bread. Thus, in the reign of Francis I., it was almost as dear as 
 Indian spices. 
 
 Sweet Dtshes, Desserts, &c. — In the fourteenth century, the first courses 
 of a repast were called mets or asdettes ; the last, "entremets, doreures, issue de 
 table, desserte, and boute-kors." 
 
 Tlie dessert consisted generally of baked pears, medlars, pealed walnuts, 
 figs, dates, peaches, grapes, filberts, spices, and white or red sugar-plums. 
 
 At the issue de table wafers or some other light pastry were introduced, 
 which were eaten with the hypocras wine. The boute-kors, which was served 
 when the guests, after having washed their hands and said grace, had passed 
 into the drawing-room, consisted of spices, different from those which had 
 uppeared at dessert, and intended specially to assist the digestion ; and for 
 this object they must have been much needed, considering that a repast lasted 
 several hours. Whilst eating these spices they drank Grenache, Mabnsey, 
 or aromatic wines (Fig. 123). 
 
 It was only at the banquets and great repasts that sweet dishes and dorures 
 appeared, and they seem to have been introduced for the purpose of exhibiting 
 the power of the imagination and the talent in execution of the master-cook. 
 The dorures consisted of jellies of all sorts and colours ; swans, pea- 
 cocks, bitterns, and herons, on gala feasts, were served in full feather 
 on a raised platform in the middle of the table, and hence the name of 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 169 
 
 "raised dishes." As for the side-dishes, properly so called, the lonj^ list 
 collected in the "Menagier" shows us that they were served at table indis- 
 criminately, for stuffed chickens at times followed hashed porpoise in sauce, 
 lark pies succeeded lamb sausages, and pike's-eggs fritters appeared after 
 orange preserve. 
 
 At a later period the luxury of side-dishes consisted in the quantity and 
 in the variety of the pastry ; Eabelais names sixteen different sorts at one 
 repast; Taillevcnt mentions pastry called coccrcd pastry, Bourhoniiaise padri/, 
 doulle-faced pastnj, pear pastry, kh^ apple pastry ; Platina speaks of the u-hife 
 pastry with quince, elder flowers, rice, roses, chestnuts, &c. The fashion 
 of having pastry is, however, of very ancient date, for in the book of the 
 
 Fig. 124.— The Table of a Baron, as laid out in the Thirteenth Centurj-.— ]Miniature from tlie 
 "Histoire de St. Graal" (Manuscript from the Imperial Library, Paris). 
 
 "Proverbs," of the thirteenth century, we find that the pies of Dourlens and 
 the pastry of Chartres were then in great celebrity. 
 
 In a charter of Robert lo Bouillon, IJishop of Amiens, in 1311, mention 
 IS made of a cake composed of puff flaky paste ; these cakes, however, are 
 less ancient than the firm pastry called bean cake, or king's cake, which, 
 from the earliest days of monarchy, appeared on all the tables, not only at 
 the feast of the Epiphany, but also on every festive occasion. 
 
 Amongst the dry and sweet pastries from the small oven which appeared at 
 themacf/c table, the first to be noticed were tho.se made of almonds, nuts, &c., 
 and such choice morsels, wliich were very expensive ; then came the cream or 
 cheesecakes, iha jietits vhim.v, miide of buffer and eggs; the iehawles, of wliicli 
 
 v. 
 
1 70 FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 the people were very fond, and St. Louis even allowed the bakers to cook 
 them on Sundays and feast days for the poor ; wafers, which are older than 
 the thirteenth century; and lastly the ouhlics, which, under the names of 
 nieules, ederets, and supplicafloiis, gave rise to such an extensive trade that 
 a corporation was established in Paris, called the ouhlayeurs, ouUayers, or 
 otthlieux, whose statutes directed that none should be admitted to exercise the 
 trade unless he was able to make in one day 500 large ouhlies, 300 siq^plications, 
 and 200 estereis. 
 
 REPASTS AND FEASTS. 
 
 We have had to treat elsewhere of the rules and regulations of the 
 repasts under the Merovingian and Carlovingian kings. We have also 
 sj)oken of the table-service of the thirteenth century (see chapter on "Private 
 Life"). The earliest author who has left us any documents on this curious 
 subject is that excellent bourgeois to whom we owe the "Menagier de Paris." 
 He describes, for instance, in its fullest details, a repast which was given in 
 ■ the fourteenth century by the Abbe de Lagny, to the Bishop of Paris, the 
 President of the Parliament, the King's attorney and advocate, and other 
 members of his council, in all sixteen guests. We find from this account that 
 " my lord of Paris, occupying the place of honour, was, in consequence of his 
 rank, served on covered dishes by three of his squires, as was the custom for 
 the King, the ro3ral princes, the dukes, and peers ; that Master President, 
 who was seated by the side of the bishop, was also served by one of his own 
 servants, but on uncovered dishes, and the other guests were seated at table 
 accoi'ding to the order indicated by their titles or charges." 
 
 The bill of fare of this feast, which was given on a fast day, is the more 
 worthy of attention, in that it proves to us what numerous resources cookery 
 already possessed. This was especially the case as regards fish, not\vithstand- 
 ing that the transport of fresh sea-fish was so difficult, owing to the bad state 
 of the roads. 
 
 First, a quarter of a pint of Greuache was given to each guest on sitting 
 down, then "hot cicliamies, roast apples with white sugar-plums upon them, 
 roasted figs, sorrel and watercress, and rosemary." 
 
 " Soups. — A rich soup, composed of six trout, six tenches, white herring, 
 freshwater eels, salted twenty-four hours, and three whiting, soaked twelve 
 hours ; almonds, ginger, saffron, cinnamon powder and sweetmeats. 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 '7' 
 
 " Salt-water Fish. — Soles, gurnets, congers, tiu'bots, and salmon. 
 
 "Fresh-watek Fish. — Lm-faudis (pike with roe), carps from the Marne, 
 breams. 
 
 "Side-Dishes. — Lampreys a la hcee, orange-apples (one for each guest), 
 porpoise with sauce, mackerel, soles, bream, and shad a la mmcliue, with 
 verjuice, rice and fried almonds upon them ; sugar and apples. 
 
 Fig. 125. — Officers of the Table and of tho C'hambir of the Imperial Court: Cup-bearer, Cook, 
 Barber, and Tailor, from a Picture in the " Triomphe de Jlaximilieu I," engraved by J. Eesch, 
 Burgmayer, and othens (1512), from Drawings by Albert Diirer. 
 
 " Dessert. — Stewed fruit with white and vei-niilion sugarplums ; figs, 
 dates, grapes, and filberts. 
 
 " Hypocras for wme dc table, with oiddii'-s and supplications. 
 
 "Wines and spices compose the hni(fc-liors." 
 
 To this fasting repast we give by way of contrast the bill of fare at 
 the nuptial feast of Master Helyc, " to which forty guests were bidden on a 
 Tuesday in Maj-, a 'day of flesli.' " 
 
 "Soups. — Capons with white sauce, ornamented with pomegranate and 
 crimson sweetmeats. 
 
172 FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 " Roasts. — Quarter of roe-deer, goslings, yoimg chickens, and sauces of 
 orange, cameline, and verjuice. 
 
 " Side-dishes. — Jellies of crayfish and loach ; young rabbits and pork. 
 
 " Dessert. — Froumentee and venison. 
 
 " Issue. — Hj^pocras. 
 
 " BouTE-HOES. — "Wine and spices." 
 
 The clever editor of the " Menagier de Paris," M. le Baron Jerome 
 Pichon, after giving us this curious account of the mode of living of the 
 citizens of that day, thus sums up the whole arrangements for the table 
 in the fourteenth century : " The different provisions necessary for food 
 are usually entrusted to the squires of the Idtchen, and were chosen, 
 purchased, and paid for by one or more of these officials, assisted by the 
 cooks. The dishes prepared by the cooks were placed, by the help of the 
 esquires, on dressers in the kitchen until the moment of serving. Thence 
 they were carried to the tables. Let us imagine a vast hall hung with 
 tapestries and other briUiant stufis. The tables are covered with fringed 
 table-cloths, and strewn with odoriferous herbs ; one of them, called the 
 Great Table, is reserved for the persons of distinction. The guests are taken 
 to theii- seats by two butlers, who bring them water to wash. The Great Table 
 is laid out by a butler, with silver salt-ceUars (Figs. 126 and 127), golden 
 goblets with lids for the high personages, spoons and silver di-inking 
 cups. The guests eat at lefjst certain dishes on franchoirs, or large shces 
 of thick bread, afterwards thrown into vases called couioiieres (drainers). 
 For the other tables the salt is placed on pieces of bread, scooped out for that 
 purpose by the intendants, who are called po)-te-chapi)cs. In the haU is a 
 dresser covered with plate and various kinds of wine. Two squii-es standing 
 near this dresser give the guests clean spoons, pom- out what wine they ask 
 for, and remove the silver when used ; two other squires superintend the 
 conveyance of wine to the dresser ; a varlet placed under their orders is 
 occupied with nothing but drawiag wine from the casks." At that time wine 
 was not bottled, and they drew directly from the cask the amoimt necessary 
 for the day's consumption. " The dishes, consisting of thi-ee, four, five, and 
 even six courses, called mds or assicttes, are brought in by varlets and two of 
 the principal squires, and in certain wedding-feasts the bridegroom walked 
 m front of them. The dishes are placed on the table by an asseeur (placer), 
 assisted by two servants. The latter take awav the remains at the conclusion 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 '73 
 
 of the course, and haud them over to the squires of the kitchen wlio have 
 charge of them. After the meti^ or amdtcH the table-cloths are changed, 
 and the entremets are then brought in. This course is the most brilliant of 
 the repast, and at some of the princely banquets the dishes are made to 
 imitate a sort of theatrical representation. It is composed of sweet dishes, 
 of coloured jellies of swans, of peacocks, or of pheasants adorned ^yith tlieir 
 feathers, having the beak and feet gilt, and placed on the middle of the table 
 on a sort of pedestal. To the entremets, a course which does not appear on 
 all bills of fare, succeeds the dessert. The issue, or exit from table, is mostly 
 
 HF 
 
 i*"'ilii!:,lf'' ■;''l''' ■i.'.iT'iis'll 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 ; 
 
 i 
 
 v^HttW^^^H^Ew^a^^^H 
 
 
 
 
 1^/^^^ j^j 
 
 1 
 
 i^^^^.M^^w[(^^- 
 
 5 
 
 FigB. 126 and 127.~-Sides of an Enamollca Salt-cellar, with six facings representing the Labours 
 of Hercules, made at Limoges, by Pierre Raymond, for Francis I. 
 
 c(jniposed of hypocras and a sort of onti/ie called mestier ; or, in summer, 
 when hypocras is out of season on account of its strength, of apples, cheeses, 
 and sometimes of pastries and sweetmeats. The Ijoute-hors (wdnes and spices) 
 end the repast. Tlie guests then wash their liands, say grace, and pass into 
 the chnmbre de parement or drawing-room. The servants then sit down and 
 dine after their masters. They subsequently bring the guests wine and 
 qnces de ehmnliro, after which each retires home." 
 
 r.utall Ihc |,(.iiip and magnificence of tlic feasts of this period would have 
 appeared paltiy a century later, wlien royal banquets were managed by 
 TaiUeveiit, head cook to Charles VII. The historian of French cookeiy, 
 
174 FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 Legrand cl'Aussy, tlius describes a great feast given in 1455 by tbe Count of 
 Anjou, third son of Louis II., King of Sicily : — 
 
 " On tbe table was placed a centre-piece, which represented a green 
 la^vn, surrounded with large peacocks' feathers and green branches, to 
 which were tied violets and other sweet-smelling flowers. In the middle 
 of this lawn a fortress was placed, covered with silver. This was hollow, 
 and formed a sort of cage, in which several live birds were shut up, their 
 tufts and feet being gilt. On its tower, which was gilt, three banners 
 were placed, one bearing the arms of the count, the two others those of 
 Mesdemoiselles de Chateaiibrun and de Villequier, in whose honour the feast 
 was given. 
 
 " The first course consisted of a civet of hare, a qiiarter of stag which 
 had been a night in salt, a stuffed chicken, and a loin of veal. The two 
 last dishes were covered with a German sauce, with gilt sugar-plums, and 
 
 pomegranate seeds At each end, outside the green lawn, was an 
 
 enormous pie, surmoimted with smaller pies, which formed a crown. The 
 crust of the large ones was silvered all round and gilt at the tofi ; each 
 contained a whole roe-deer, a gosling, three capons, six chickens, ten 
 pigeons, one young rabbit, and, no doubt to serve as seasoning or stufiing, 
 a minced loin of veal, two poimds of fat, and twenty-six hard-boiled eggs, 
 covered with saflron and flavoured "with cloves. For the three follo'S'ST.ng' 
 courses, there was a roe-deer, a pig, a sturgeon cooked in parslej^ and 
 vinegar, and covered with powdered ginger ; a kid, two goslings, twelve 
 chickens, as many pigeons, six J'oung rabbits, two herons, a leveret, a fat 
 capon stuffed, four chickens covered with yolks of eggs and sprinkled 
 with powder de Duo (spice), a wild boar, some wafers idarioles), and stars; 
 a jelly, part white and part red, representing the crests of the three 
 above-mentioned persons ; cream with Due powder, covered with fennel seeds 
 preserved in sugar ; a white cream, cheese in slices, and strawberries ; and 
 lastly, plums stewed in rose-water. Besides these fou.r courses, there was a 
 fifth, entirely composed of the prepared wines then in vogue, and of preserves. 
 These consisted of fruits and various sweet pastries. The pastries represented 
 stags and swans, to the necks of which were suspended the arms of the Count 
 of Anjou and those of the two young ladies." 
 
 In great houses, dinner was annoimced by the sound of the hunting-horn ; 
 this is what Froissard calls corner I'assieite, but which was at an earlier period 
 
FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 »7S 
 
 called corner Veau, because it was the custom to wash the hands before sittino- 
 down to tabic as well as on leaving the dining-room. For these ablutions 
 
 'ifS-' 
 
 \^ 
 
 "s^ 
 
 Fig. 128. — Knife-handles in .Sculp- 
 tured Ivory, Sixteenth Century 
 (Collection of M. Becker, of 
 Frankfort) . 
 
 Fig. 129. — Nut-crackers, in Boxwood, Sixteenth Century (Collection of M. Achillc Juhinal). 
 
 scented water, and especially rose-water, was used, brought in ewers of precious 
 and dclicatcily wrought metals, by pages or squires, who handed them to the 
 
176 FOOD AND COOKERY. 
 
 ladies in silver basins. It was at about tbis period, tbat is, in tbe times of 
 cbivalry, tbat tbe custom of placing tbe guests by couples was introduced, 
 generally a gentleman and lady, eacb coiiple baving but one cup and one 
 plate ; bence tbe expression, to eat from tbe same plate. 
 
 Historians relate tbat in tbe tbirteentb and fourteentb centuries, at certain 
 gala feasts, tbe disbes were brougbt in by servants in full armour, moimted on 
 caparisoned borses ; but tbis is a custom exclusively attacbed to cbivalry. As 
 early as tbose days, powerful and ingenious macbines were in use, wbicb 
 lowered from tbe story above, or raised from tbat below, ready-served tables, 
 wbicb were made to disappear after use as if by encbantment. 
 
 At tbat period tbe table service of tbe wealtby required a considerable 
 staff of retainers and varlets ; and, at a later period, tbis number was mucb 
 increased. Tbus, for instance, wben Louis of Orleans went on a diplomatic 
 mission to Germany from bis brotber Cbarles VI., tbis prince, in order tbat 
 France migbt be wortbily represented abroad, raised tbe number of bis bouse- 
 bold to more tban two bnndred and fifty persons, of wbom about one bundred 
 were retainers and table attendants. Olivier de la Marcbe, wbo, in bis 
 "Memoires," gives tbe most minute details of tbe ceremonial of tbe court 
 of Cbarles tbe Bold, Duke of Burgundy, tells us tbat tbe table service was 
 as extensive as in tbe otber great princely bouses. 
 
 Tbis extravagant and ruinous pomp fell into disuse during tbe reigns of 
 Louis XI., Cbarles VIII., and Louis XII., but reappeared in tbat of Francis I. 
 Tbis prince, after bis first wars in Italy, imported tbe cookery and tbe gas- 
 tronomic luxury of tbat country, wbere tbe art of good living, especially in 
 Venice, Florence, and Rome, bad reacbed tbe bigbest degree of refinement 
 and magnificence. Henry II. and Francis II. maintained tbe magnificence 
 of tbeir royal tables ; but after tbem, notwitbstanding tbe soft effeminacy of 
 tbe manners at court, tbe continued wars wbicb Henry III. and Cbarles IX. 
 bad to su-stain in tbeir own states against tbe Protestants and tbe League, 
 necessitated a considerable economy in tbe bousebolds and tables of tbose 
 kings. 
 
 " It was only by fits and starts," says Brantome, " tbat one was well fed 
 during tbis reign, for very often circumstances prevented tbe projjer pre- 
 paration of tbe repasts ; a tbing mucb disliked by tbe courtiers, wbo prefer 
 open table to be kept at botb court and witb tbe army, because it tben costs 
 tbem notbing." Henry IV. was neitber flistidious nor greedy ; we must 
 
FOOD AND COOKER}'. 
 
 m 
 
 therefore come down to the reign of Louis XIII. to find a vestio-e of the 
 splendour of the banquets of Francis I. 
 
 From the establishment of the Franks in Gaul down to the fifteenth 
 century inclusive, there were but two meals a day; people dined at ten 
 o'clock in the morning, and supped at four in the afternoon. In the sixteenth 
 century they put back dinner one hour and supper three hours, to which 
 many people objected. Hence the old proverb : — 
 
 ' Lever a six, diner a dix, 
 Souper a six, coucher a dix, 
 Fait vivre Fhomme dix fois dix.' 
 
 ("To rise at six, dine at ten, 
 Sup at six, to bed at ten. 
 Makes man live ten times ten.") 
 
 Fig. 131. — Banner of the Corporation of Pastrycooks of Tonnerre. 
 
HUNTING. 
 
 Venery and Hawking. — Origin of Aix-la-Chapelle. — Gaston Phoebus and his Boot. — The 
 Presiding Deities of Sportsmen. — Sporting Societies and Brotherhoods. — Sporting Kings : 
 Charlemagne, Louis IX., Louis XL, Charles VIII., Louis XII., Francis I., &c. — Treatise on 
 Venery. — Sporting Popes. — Origin of Hawking. — Training Birds. — Hawking Retinues.— 
 Book of King Modus. — Technical Terms used in Hawking. — Persons who have excelled in 
 this kind of Sport. — Fowling. 
 
 Y the general term hunting is in- 
 cluded the three distinct branches of 
 an art, or it may be called a science, 
 which dates its origin from the earhest 
 times, but which was particularly 
 esteemed in the Middle Ages, and was 
 especially cultivated in the glorious 
 days of chivalry. 
 
 Venery, which is the earliest, is 
 defined by M. Elzear Blaze as "the 
 science of snaring, taking, or killing 
 one particular animal from amongst a herd." HmcMng came next. This 
 was not only the art of hunting with the falcon, but that of training birds of 
 prey to hunt feathered game. Lastly, Vomllerie (fowling), which, according 
 to the author of several well-known works on the subject we are discussing, 
 had originally no other object than that of protecting the crops and fruits 
 from birds and other animals whose nature it was to feed on them. 
 
 Venery will be first considered. Sportsmen always pride themselves in 
 placing Xenophou, the general, philosopher, and historian, at the' head of 
 sporting writers, although his treatise on the chase (translated from the Greek 
 into Latin under the title of "De Ycnatione "), which gives excellent advice 
 respecting the training of dogs, only speaks of traps and nets for capturing 
 wikl animals. Amongst the Greeks Arrian and Oppian, and amongst the 
 
HUNTING. , 1^ 
 
 Romans, Gratius Faliscus and Nemesianus, wrote on the same subject. Their 
 works, however, except in a few isolated or scattered passages, do not contain 
 anything about venery properly so called, and the fb-st historical information 
 on the subject is to be found in the records of the seventh century. 
 
 Long after that period, however, they still hunted, as it were, at random, 
 attacking the first animal they met. The sports of Charlemagne, for instance, 
 were almost always of this description. On some occasions they killed animals 
 of all sorts by thousands, after having tracked and driven them into an enclosure 
 composed of cloths or nets. 
 
 This illustrious Emperor, although usually at war in all parts of Europe, 
 never missed an opportunity of hunting : so much so that it might be said that 
 he rested himself by galloping through the forests. He was on these occa- 
 sions not only followed by a large number of huntsmen and attendants of his 
 household, but he was accompanied by his wife and daughters, mounted on 
 magnificent coursers, and surrounded by a numerous and elegant court, who 
 vied with each other in displaying their skill and courage in attacking the 
 fiercest animals. 
 
 It is even stated that Aix-la-Chapelle owes its origin to a himting adven- 
 ture of Charlemagne. The Emperor one day while chasing a stag required 
 to cross a brook which came in his path, but immediately his horse had set 
 his foot in the water he pulled it out again and began to limp as if it were 
 hurt. His noble rider dismounted, and on feeling the foot found it was 
 quite hot. This induced him to put his hand into the water, which he found 
 to be almost boiling. On that very spot therefore he caused a chapel to be 
 erected, in the shape of a horse's hoof The to^vn was afterwards built, and 
 to this day the spring of hot mineral water is enclosed under a rotunda, the 
 shape of which reminds one of the old legend of Charlemagne and his horse. 
 
 The sons of Charlemagne also held hunting in much esteem, and by 
 degrees the art of venery was introduced and carried to great perfection. It 
 was not, however, until the end of the thirteenth century that an anonymous 
 author conceived the idea of writing its principal precepts in an instructive 
 poem, called "Le Diet de la Chace du Cerf." In 13-28 another anonymous 
 writer composed the " Livre du Roy Modus," which contains the rules for 
 hunting all furred animals, from the stag to the hare. Then followed other 
 poets and writers of French prose, such as Gace de la Vigne (1359), Gaston 
 Phoebus (1387), and Hardouin, lord of Fontaine-Gu^rin (1394). None of these. 
 
iSo 
 
 HUNTING. 
 
 however, wrote exclusively on venery, but described the diflferent sports known 
 in their day. Towards 1340, Alphonse XI., king of Castile, caused a book on 
 
 Fig. 132.— Gaston Phcebus teaching the Art of Venery.— Fac-simile of a Miniature of " Phoebus 
 and his Staff for hunting Wild Animals and Birds of Prey " (Manuscript, Fifteenth Century, 
 National Library of Paris). 
 
 hunting to be compiled for his use ; but it was not so popular as the instruction i 
 of Gaston Pha?bus (Fig. 132). If hunting with hounds is known everj-where 
 
HUNTING. 
 
 by the French name of the chase, it is because the honour of having organized 
 it into a system, if not of having originated it, is due to the early French 
 sporting authors, who were able to form a code of rules for it. This also 
 accounts for so many of the technical terms now in use in venery being of 
 French origin, as they are no others than those adopted by these ancient 
 authors, whose works, so to speak, have perpetuated them. 
 
 The curious miniatures which accompany the text in the original manu- 
 script of Gaston Phoebus, and which have been reproduced in nearly all the 
 ancient copies of this celebrated manuscript, give most distinct and graphic 
 
 Fig. 133. — " How to carry a Cloth to approach Beasts." — Fac-simile of a Miniature in the 
 Manuscript of Phrebus (Fifteenth Century). 
 
 ideas of the various modes of hunting. We find, for instance, that the use of 
 an artificial cow for approaching wild-fowl was understood at that time, the 
 only difference being that a model was used more like a horse than a cow 
 (Fig. 133) ; we also see sportsmen shooting at bears, wild boars, stags, and 
 such live animals with arrows having sharp iron points, intended to enter 
 deep into the flesh, notwithstanding the thickness of the fur and the creature's 
 hard skin. In the case of the hare, however, the missile had a heavy, massive 
 end, probably made of lead, which stunned him without piercing his body 
 (Fig. 134). In other cases the sportsman is represented with a cross-bow 
 seated in a cart, all covered up with boughs, by which plan he was supposed 
 
l82 
 
 HUNTING. 
 
 to approach the prey without alarming it any more than a swinging branch 
 would do (Fig. 135). 
 
 Gaston Phcebus is known to have been one of the bravest knights of his 
 time ; and, after fighting, he considered hunting as his greatest delight. 
 Somewhat ingenuously he writes of himself as a hunter, " that he doubts 
 having any superior." Like all his contemporaries, he is eloquent as to the 
 moral effect of his favourite pastime. " By hunting," he says, " one avoids 
 the sin of indolence ; and, according to our faith, he who avoids the seveii 
 mortal sins will be saved ; therefore the good sportsman will be saved." 
 
 From the earliest ages sportsmen placed themselves under the protection 
 of some special deity. Among the Greeks and Romans it was Diana and 
 
 Fig. 134. — " How to allure the Hare." — Fac-simile of a Miniature in the Manuscript of 
 Phcehus (Fifteenth Century). 
 
 Phoebe. The Gauls, who had adopted the greater number of the gods and 
 goddesses of Rome, invoked the moon when they sallied forth to war or to 
 the chase ; but, as soon as they penetrated the sacred obscurity of the forests, 
 they appealed more particularly to the goddess Ardhuina, whose name, of 
 unknown origin, has probably since been applied to the immense well-stocked 
 forests of Ardenne or Ardennes. They erected in the depths of the woods 
 monstrous stone figures in honour of this goddess, such as the heads of stags 
 on the bodies of men or women ; and, to propitiate her during the chase, 
 they hung round these idols the feet, the skins, and the horns of the beasts 
 they killed. Cernunnos, who was alwaj's represented with a human head 
 surmounted by stags' horns, had an altar even in Lutetia, which was, no 
 
HUNTING. 
 
 '83 
 
 doubt, in conseqiience of the great woods which skirted the banks of the 
 Seine. 
 
 The GalKc Cermmnos, which we also find amongst the Romans, since 
 Ovid mentions the votary stags' horns, continued to be worshipped to a 
 certain extent after the establishment of the Christian religion. In the 
 fifth century, Germain, an intrepid hunter, who afterwards became Bishop of 
 Auxerre, possessed not far from his residence an oak of enormous diameter 
 
 Fig. 13.5.— "Hi)W to take a Cart to allure Beasts."— Fac-simile of a Miniatui-e in the 
 Manuscript of Phcebus (Fifteenth Century). 
 
 a thorough Cermmnos, which he hung with the sldns and other portions of 
 animals he had killed in the chase. In some countries, where the Ceraunnos 
 remained an object of veneration, everybody bedecked it in the same way. 
 The largest oak to be found in the district was chosen on which to suspend 
 the trophies both of warriors and of hunters; and, at a more recent period, 
 sportsmen used to hang outside their doors stags' heads, boars' feet, birds of 
 prey, and other trophies, a custom which evidently was a relic of the one 
 referred to. 
 
 On pagan idolatry being abandoned, hunters used to have a presiding 
 
i84 
 
 HUNTING. 
 
 genius or protector, wliom they selected from amongst the saints most ia 
 renown. Some chose St. Germain d'Auxerre, who had himself been a 
 sportsman ; others St. Martin, who had been a soldier before he became 
 Bishop of Tours. Eventually they all agreed to place themselves under 
 the patronage of St. Hubert, Bishop of Liege, a renowned himter of the 
 eighth century. This saint devoted himself to a religious life, after one day 
 having encountered a miraculous stag whilst hunting in the woods, which 
 
 Fig. 136. — " How to shout and blow Homg." — Fao-simile of a Miniature in the Manuscript of 
 Phffibus (Fifteenth Century). 
 
 appeared to him as bearing between his horns a luminous image of oiu' 
 Saviour. At first the feast of St. Hubert was celebrated four times a year, 
 namely, at the anniversaries of his conversion and death, and on the two 
 occasions on which his relics were exhibited. At the celebration of each 
 of these feasts a large number of sportsmen in " fine apparel " came from 
 great distances with their horses and dogs. There was, in fact, no magni- 
 ficence or pomp deemed too imposing to be displayed, both by the Idngs and 
 nobles, in honour of the patron-saint of hunting (Fig. 136.) 
 

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 6 
 
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HUNTING. 
 
 Hunters and sportsmen in those days formed brotherhoods, which had their 
 rank defined at public ceremonials, and especially in processions. In 1455, 
 Gerard, Duke of Cleves and Burgrave of rLaTensbcrg, created the order of the 
 Knights of St. Hubert, into which those of noble blood only were admitted. The 
 insignia consisted of a gold or silver chain formed of hunting horns, to which 
 was hung a small likeness of the patron-saint in the act of doing homage to our 
 Saviour's image as it shone on the head of a stag. It was popularly believed 
 that the Knights of St. Hubei-t had the power of curing madness, which, for 
 some unknown reason, never showed itself in a pack of hounds. This, however, 
 
 Fig. 137.— German Spoitoiiian, drawn and engraved l/y J. Amman in the Sixteentn Century. 
 
 was not the only superstitious belief attached to the nolde and adventurous 
 occupations of the followers of St. Hubert. Amongst a number of old 
 legends, which mostly belong to Germany (Fig. 137), mention is made of 
 hunters who sold their souls to the devil in exchange for some enchanted 
 arrow which never missed its aim, and which reached game at extraordinary 
 distances. Mention is also made in these legends of various animals which, 
 on being pursued by the hunters, were miraculously saved by throwing 
 themselves into the arms of some saint, or by running into some holy 
 sanctuary. There were besides knights who, having hunted all their 
 
 li 1! 
 
HUNTING. 
 
 lives believed that they were to continue the same occupation in another 
 world. An account is given in history of the apparition of a fiery phantom 
 to Charles IX. in the forest of Lyons, and also the ominous meeting of 
 Henry IV. with the terrible grand-veneur in the forest of Fontainebleau. We 
 may account for these- strange tales from the fact that hunting formerly con- 
 stitvited a sort of freemasonry, with its mysterious rites and its secret language. 
 The initiated used particular signs of recognition amongst themselves, and 
 they also had lucky and unlucky numbers, emblematical colours, &c. 
 
 The more dangerous the sport the more it was indulged in by military 
 men. The Chronicles of the Monk of Saint-Gall describe an adventure 
 which befell Charlemagne on the occasion of his setting out with his hunts- 
 men and hounds in order to chase an enormous bear which was the terror of 
 the Vosges. The bear, after having disabled numerous dogs and hunters, 
 found himself face to face with the Emperor, who alone dared to stand up 
 before him. A fierce combat ensued on the summit of a rock, in which both 
 were locked together in a fatal embrace. The contest ended by the death of 
 the bear, Charles striking him with his dagger and hurling him down the 
 precipice. On this the hills resounded with the cry of " Vive Charles le 
 Grand ! " from the numerous huntsmen and others who had assembled ; and 
 it is said that this was the first occasion on which the companions of the 
 intrepid monarch gave him the title of Grand (Magnus), so from that time 
 King Charles became King Charlemagne. 
 
 This prince was most jealous of his rights of hunting, which he would 
 waive to no one. For a long time he refused permission to the monks of the 
 Abbey of St. Denis, whom he nevertheless held in great esteem, to have some 
 stags killed which were destroying their forests. It was only on condition 
 that the fiesh of these animals would serve as food to the monks of inferior 
 order, and that their hides should be used for binding the missals, that he 
 eventually granted them permission to kill the offending animals (Fig. 138). 
 
 If we pass from the niath to the thirteenth century, we find that Louis IX., 
 king of France, was as keen a sportsman and as brave a warrior as any 
 of his ancestors. He was, indeed, as fond of hunting as of war, and 
 during his first crusade an opportunity occurred to him of hunting the 
 lion. " As soon as he began to know the country of Cesarca," says JoinviUe, 
 " the King set to work with his peoj)le to hunt lions, so that they captured 
 many ; but in doing so they incurred great bodily danger. The mode of 
 
HUNTING. 
 
 ,S7 
 
 taking them was this : they pursued them on the swiftest horses. When 
 they came near one they shot a bolt or arrow at him, and the animal, foelin;:;- 
 himself wovmded, ran at the first person he could see, who immediately turned 
 his horse's head and fled as fast as he could. During his flight he dropped a 
 portion of his clothing, which the lion caught up and tore, thiakiug it was 
 the person who had injured him ; and whilst the lion was thus engaged the 
 hunters again approached the infuriated animal and shot more holts and 
 arrows at him. Soon the lion left the cloth and madly rushed at some 
 other hunter, who adopted the same strategy as before. This was repeated 
 
 Fig. 138.—" Nature and Appearance of Deer, and how they can he hunted with Dogs."— 
 Fac-simile of a Miniature in the "Li\Te du Eoy Modus."— ilanuscript of the Fourteenth 
 Century (National Librar)' of Paris). 
 
 imtil the animal succumbed, becoming exhausted by the wounds he had 
 received." 
 
 Notwithstanding the passion which this king had for himting, he was the 
 first to grant leave to the bourgeoisie to enjoy the sport. The condition he 
 made with them was that they should always give a haunch of any animal 
 killed to the lord of the soil. It is to this that we must trace the origin of 
 giving the animal's foot to the huntsman or to the person who has the lead 
 of the hunting party. 
 
 Louis XI., however, did not at all act in this liberal manner, and although 
 it might have been supposed that the incessant wars and political intrigues in 
 which he was constantly engaged would have given him no time for amuse- 
 ments of this kind, yet ho was nevertheless the keenest sportsman of his day. 
 
HUNTING. 
 
 This tyrant of the Castle of Plessis-les- Tours, who was always miserly, except 
 in matters of hunting, in which he was most lavish, forbade even the higher 
 classes to hunt under penalty of hanging. To ensure the execution of his 
 severe orders, he had all the castles as well as the cottages searched, and any 
 net, engine, or sporting arm found was immediately destroyed. His only son, 
 the heir to the throne, was not exempted from these laws. Shut up in the 
 Castle of Amboise, he had no permission to leave it, for it was the will of 
 the King that the young prince shoidd remain ignorant of the noble exercises 
 of chivalry. One day the Dauphin prayed his governor, M. du Bouchage, 
 with so much earnestness to give him an idea of hunting, that this noble 
 consented to make an excursion into the neighbouring wood with him. The 
 King, however, managed to find it out, and Du Bouchage had great difficulty 
 in keeping his head on his shoulders. 
 
 One of the best ways of pleasing Louis XI. was to ofifer him some present 
 relating to his favourite pastime, either pointers, hounds, falcons, or varlets 
 who were adepts in the art of venery or hawking (Figs. 139 and 140). 
 When the cunning monarch became old and infirm, in order to make his 
 enemies believe that he was still young and vigorous, he sent messengers 
 everywhere, even to the most remote countries, to purchase horses, dogs, and 
 falcons, for which, according to Comines, he paid large sums (Fig. 141). 
 
 On his death, the young prince, Charles YIIL, succeeded him, and he 
 seems to have had an innate taste for hunting, and soon made up for lost time 
 and the privation to which his father had subjected him. He hunted daily, and 
 generously allowed the nobles to do the same. It is scarcely necessary to say 
 that these were not slow in indidging in the privilege thus restored to them, 
 and which was one of their most ancient pastimes and occupations ; for it 
 must be remembered that, in those days of small intellectual culture, hunting 
 must have been a great, if not at times the only, resource against idleness 
 and the monotony of country life. 
 
 Everything which related to sport again became the fashion amongst the 
 youth of the nobility, and their chief occupation when not engaged in war. 
 They continued as formerly to invent every sort of sporting device. For 
 example, they obtained from other countries traps, engines, and hunting- 
 weapons ; they introduced into France at great expense foreign animals, which 
 they took great pains in natiu'alising as game or in training as auxiliaries ia 
 hunting. After having imported the reindeer from Lapland, which did not 
 
HUNTING. 
 
 iSg 
 
 succeed in tlieir temperate climate, and tlie pheasant from Tartary, witli which 
 they stocked the woods, they imported with greater success the panther and 
 the leopard from Africa, which were used for furred game as the hawk was 
 for feathered game. The mode of hunting with these animals was as follows : 
 The sportsmen, preceded by their dogs, rode across country, each with a 
 leopard sitting behind him on his saddle. "When the dogs had started the 
 game the leoi^ard jumped off the saddle and sprang after it, and as soon as it 
 was caught the hunters threw the leopard a piece of raw flesh, for which he 
 gave up the prey and remounted behind his master (Fig. 142). 
 
 Louis XL, Charles VIII. , and Louis XII. often hunted thus. The 
 
 Fig. 139.—-' The Way to catch .Squirrels on the Ground in the Woods."— Fac-simile of a Miniature 
 in the Manuscript of the " Livro du Roy Modus" (Fourteenth Century). 
 
 leopards, which formed a part of the royal venery, were kept in an enclosure 
 of the Castle of Amboise, which still exists near the gate dcH Lions, so called, 
 no doubt, on account of these sporting and carnivorous animals being mistaken 
 for Uons by the common people. There were, however, always lions in the 
 menageries of the kings of France. 
 
 Francis I. was quite as fond of hunting as any of his predecessors. His 
 innate taste for sport was increased during his travels in Italy, where he Hved 
 with princes who displayed great splendour in their hunting equipages. He 
 even acquired the name of tliu Father of Spor/smcn. His netting establishment 
 alone, consisted of one captain, one lieutcuant, twelve mounted huntsmen, 
 
I go 
 
 HUNTING. 
 
 six varlets to attend the 
 
 bloodhounds ; six whips, 
 
 who had under their 
 
 charge sixty hounds ; and 
 
 one hundred bowmen on 
 
 foot, carrying large stakes 
 
 for fixing the nets and 
 
 tents, which were car- 
 
 ■t 
 ried by fifty six-horsed 
 
 chariots. He was much 
 pleased when ladies fol- 
 lowed the chase ; and 
 amongst those who were 
 most inclined to share 
 its pleasures, its toils, 
 and even its perils, was 
 Catherine de Medicis, then Dauphine, who was distinguished 
 for her agility and her graceful appearance on horseback, and 
 M'ho became a thorough sportswoman. 
 
 The taste for hunting having become very general, and 
 the art being considered as the most noble occupation to which 
 persons could devote themselves, it is not surprising to find 
 sporting works composed by writers of the greatest renown 
 and of the highest rank. The learned William Bude, whom 
 Erasmus called the u-ondcr of France, dedicated to the children 
 of Francis I. the second book of his " Philologie," which con- 
 tains a treatise on stag-hunting. This treatise, originally 
 written in Latin, was afterwards translated into French by 
 order of Charles IX., who was acknowledged 
 to be one of the boldest and most scientific 
 ^ hunters of his time. An extraordinary feat, 
 which has never been imitated by any one, 
 is recorded of him, and that was, that alone, 
 Fig. 140— "The Way of catching- Par- on horseback and without dogs, he hunted 
 
 tridges with an Osier Net- work Appa- -, , mi ,, m t. i » xi,„ 
 
 , „ „ . ., „ ,,. . . down a stag. The " Chasse Koyale, the 
 
 ratus. — Fac-simile of Miniature m ° J ' 
 
 the "Livre du Roy Modus." authorship of which is attributed to him, is 
 
HUNTING. 
 
 replete witli scientific information. " Wolf-hunting," a work by the celebrated 
 Glamorgan, and " Yenery," by Du Fouilloux, were dedicated to Charles IX., 
 
 
 ■■■_f 
 
 TM^ ' ^1. ^/ii — \ — r 
 oi I 
 
 V'- 
 
 ^ ^- 
 
 
 
 /y 
 
 / ¥ 
 
 V if ^ 
 
 
 i.„J^> • -4a 
 
 Fig. 141,—" Kennel in which Uugs should live, and how they should be kept."— Fac-simile of a 
 UliniuturGin Manuscript of Thfcbiis (Fifteenth C'entur)'). 
 
 and a great number of .special treatises on such subjects appeared in his 
 reign. 
 
 His brother, the effeminate Ilciiry III., disliked hunting, as he considered 
 it too fatiguing and too dangerous. 
 
192 HUNTING. 
 
 On tlie other hand, according to Sully, Henry IV., h Benrnais, who 
 learned hunting in early youth in the Pyrenees, " loved all kinds of sport, 
 and, above all, the most fatiguing and adventurous pursuits, such as those 
 after evolves, bears, and boars." He never missed a chance of hunting, "even 
 when in face of an enemy. If he knew a stag to be near, he found time to 
 hunt it," and we find in the " Memoirs of Sully " that the King hunted the 
 day after the famous battle of Ivry. 
 
 One day, when he was only King of Navarre, he invited the ladies of Pau 
 to come and see a bear-hunt. Happily they refused, for on that occasion 
 their nerves would have been put to a serious test. Two bears killed two of 
 the horses, and several bowmen were hugged to death by the ferocious 
 animals. Another bear, although pierced in several places, and having six 
 or seven pike-heads in his body, charged eight men who were stationed on 
 the top of a rock, and the whole of them with the bear were all dashed to 
 pieces down the precipice. The only point in which Louis XIII. resembled 
 his father was his love of the chase, for during his reign hunting continued 
 in France, as well as in other countries, to be a favourite royal pastime. 
 
 We have remarked that St. Germain d'Auserre, who at a certain period was 
 the patron of sportsmen, made hunting his habitual relaxation. He devoted 
 himself to it with great keenness in his youth, before he became bishop, that 
 is, when he was Duke of Auxerre and general of the troops of the provinces. 
 Subsequently, when against his will he was raised to the episcopal dignity, 
 not only did he give up all pleasures, hut he devoted himself to the strictest 
 religious life. Unfortunately, in those days, all churchmen did not under- 
 stand, as he did, that the duties of their holy vocation were not consistent 
 with these pastimes, for, in the year 507, we find that councils and synods 
 forbade priests to hunt. In spite of this, however, the ancient historians 
 relate that several noble prelates, yielding to the customs of the times, 
 indulged in hunting the stag and flying the falcon. 
 
 It is related in history that some of the most illustrious popes were also 
 great lovers of the chase, namely, Juliiis II., Leo X., and, previously to them, 
 Pius II., who, before becoming Pope, amongst other literary and scientiiic 
 works, wrote a Latin treatise on venery under his Christian names, ^neas 
 Silvius. It is easy to understand how it happened that sports formerly j 
 possessed such attractions for ecclesiastical dignitaries. In early life they | 
 acquired the tastes and habits of people of their rank, and they were accord- 
 
HUNTING. 
 
 '93 
 
 inglv extremely jealous of the rights of chase in their domains. Although 
 Pope Clement V.. in his celebrated " Institutions," called " Clementines," 
 
 Fig, 142. -Hurilin- with Ihu Loopard, li.iiii a .stui.i], ul .Kan Slradan (Sixteenth Century). 
 
 had formally forbidden tlic monks to Imut, there were few who did not 
 evade the canonical iii-oliibition by i)ursiiing furred game, and that without 
 
194 
 
 HUNTING. 
 
 considering that they were violating the laws of the Church. The papal edict 
 permitted the monks and priests to hunt under certain circumstances, and 
 especially where rabhits or beasts of prey increased so much as to damage 
 the crops. It can easily be imagined that such would always be the 
 case at a period when the people were so strictly forbidden to destroy 
 
 Fig. 143. — " How Wolves may be caught with a Snare." — Fac-simile of a Miniature in the 
 Manuscript of Phoebus (Fifteenth Century) . 
 
 game; and therefore hunting was practised at all seasons in the woods 
 and fields in the vicinity of each abbey. The jealous peasants, not them- 
 selves having the right of hunting, and who continually saw Master Abbot 
 passing on his hunting excursions, said, with malice, that "the monks 
 never forgot to pray for the success of the litters and nests (pro pullis et 
 nidis), in order that game might always be abundant." 
 
HUNTING. 
 
 '95 
 
 If venery, as a regular science, dates from a comparatively recent period, 
 it is not so with falconry, the first traces of which are lost in obscure antiquity. 
 This kind of sport, which had become a most learned and complicated art, 
 was the delight of the nobles of the Middle Ages and during the Renaissance 
 period. It was in such esteem that a nobleman or his lady never appeared 
 in public without a hawk on the wrist as a mark of dignity (Fig. 147). 
 
 Fig. 144. — " How Bears and other Beasts maybe caught with a J)art." — Fac-simile of a Aliniature 
 in the Manuscnpt of Phfehus (Fifteenth Century). 
 
 Even bishops and abbots entered the churches with their hunting birds, 
 which they placed on the steps of the altar itself during the service. 
 
 The bird, like the sword, was a distinctive mark which was inseparable 
 from the person of gentle birth, who frequently even went to war with the 
 falcon on his wrist. During the battle he would make his squire hold the 
 bird, which he replaced on his gauntlet when the fight was over. In fact, it 
 was forbidden by the laws of cliivalry for j)ersons to give up their birds, even 
 as a ransom, should they be made prisoners ; in which case thej- had to let 
 the no1)lo liirds fly in order that they might not share their captivity. 
 
 Tlie falcon to a certjiin degree partook of his owner's nobility ; he was, 
 moreover, considered a iiobl(> bird by the laws of falconry, as were all birds 
 
196 
 
 HUNTING. 
 
 of prey which could be trained for purposes of sport. All other birds, with- 
 out distinction, were declared ignoble, and no exception was made to this 
 rule by the naturalists of the Middle Ages, even in favour of the strongest 
 and most magnificent, such as the eagle and vulture. According to this 
 
 Fig. 145.— Olifant, or Himtiiig-horn, in Ivory (Fourteenth Century).— From an Original 
 existing in England. 
 
 capricious classification, they considered the sparrow-hawk, which was the 
 smallest of the hunting birds, to rank higher than the eagle. The nick- 
 name of this diminutive sporting bird was often applied to a country-gentle- 
 man, who, not being able to afford to keep falcons, used the sparrow-hawk to 
 capture partridges and quaiL 
 
HUNTING. 
 
 •97 
 
 It was customary for gentlemen of all classes, -n-hetlier sportsmen or not, 
 to possess birds of some kind, " to keep up their rank," as the saying then 
 was. Only the richest nobles, however, were expected to keep a regular 
 falconry, that is, a collection of birds suited for taking all kinds of game, 
 such as the hare, the kite, the heron, &c., as each sport not only requirerl 
 special birds, but a particular and distinctive retinue and establisliment. 
 
 Besides the cost of falcons, which was often very great (for they were 
 brought from the most distant countries, such as Sweden, Iceland, Turke}^ 
 and Morocco), their rearing and training involved considerable outlay, as 
 
 
 ^^l!yjl 
 
 
 P'ig. 146. — Details of HiuitiriK-horn of 
 the Fourteenth Century. — From tlie 
 Oiiffinal in an Fn^Iish roUpptinn. 
 
 may lie more readily understood from the illustrations (Figs. 148 to l-J'"*), 
 showing some of the principal details of the long and difficult education which 
 had to be given them. 
 
 To succeed in making the falcon obey the whistle, tlie voice, and the 
 signs of the falconer was the highest aim of the art, and it was only by the 
 exercise of much patience that the desired result was obtained. All birds 
 of prey, when used for sport, received the generic name of fn/coii; and amongst 
 them were to be found the gerfalcon, the saker-hawk, the lanner, the merlin. 
 
I9» 
 
 HUNTING. 
 
 and the sparrow-hawk. The male birds were smaller than the females, 
 and \vere called tiercelet — this name, however, more particularly applied to 
 the gosshawk or the largest kind of male hawk, whereas the males of the 
 
 Fig. 147.— A Noble of Provence (Fifteenth Century).— Bonnarfs "Costumes from the Tenth 
 to the Sixteenth Century." 
 
 above-mentioned were called laneret, sacret, emoiichet. Generally the male 
 birds were used for partridges and quail, and the female birds for the hare, 
 the heron, and crane. Oineaux de poing, or hand-birds, was the name given to 
 
HLWTING. 
 
 '99 
 
 the gosshawk, common hawk, the gerfalcon, and the merlin, because they 
 returned to the hand of their master after having pursued game. The lanner, 
 sparrow-hawk, and saker-hawk were called oiseaux de leure, from the fact 
 that it was always necessary to entice them back again. 
 
 The lure was an imitation of a bird, made of red cloth, that it might be 
 more easily seen from a distance. It was stuffed so that the falcon could settle 
 easily on it, and furnished with the wings of a partridge, duck, or heron, 
 according to circumstances. The falconer swung his mock bird like a sling, 
 and whistled as he did so, and the falcon, accustomed to find a piece of flesh 
 attached to the lure, flew down in order to obtain it, and was thus secured. 
 
 Fig. 148. — King llodus teaching thu Art of Falconry. — Fac-simile of a Jliniitture in the 
 Manuscript of " Livre du Hoy Jlodus " (Fourteenth Century). 
 
 The trainers of birds divided them into two kinds, namely, the niais, or 
 simple bird, which had been taken from the nest, and the wild bird (/lagard), 
 captured when full-grown. The education of the former was naturally very 
 much the easier, but they succeeded in taming both classes, and even the 
 most rebellious were at last subdued by depriving them of sleep, by keeping 
 away the light from them, by coa.xing them with tlie voice, by patting 
 them, by giving them choice food, &c. 
 
 Regardless of his original habits, the bird was first accustomed to have no 
 fear of men, horses, and dogs. He was afterwards fastened to a string by 
 one leg, and, being allowed to fly a short distance, was recalled to the lure, 
 
HUNTING. 
 
 wliere he always found a daiuty bit of food. After he had been thus exercised 
 for several months, a wounded partridge was let loose that he might catch 
 it near the falconer, who immediately took it from him before he could tear 
 it to pieces. When he appeared sufficiently tame, a quail or partridge, pre- 
 viously stripped of a few feathers so as to prevent it flying properlj^, was put 
 in his way as before. If he was wanted for hunting hares, a stuffed hare was 
 draffcjed before him, inside of which was a live chicken, whose head and liver 
 was his reward if he did his work Avell. Then they tried him with a hare 
 whose fore-leg was broken in order to ensure his being quickly caught. 
 For the kite, they placed two hawks together on the same perch, so as to 
 accustom them peaceably to live and hunt together, for if they fought 
 
 Fig. Hi). — Falconers diessing their Birds. — Fac-simile of a Miniature in the Manuscript of 
 " Livre du Roy Modus " (Fourteenth Ceutmy). 
 
 with one another, as strange birds were apt to do, instead of attacking the 
 kite, the sport would of course have failed. At first a hen of the colour of 
 a kite was given them to fight with. When they had mastered this, a real 
 kite was used, which was tied to a string and his claws and beak were filed 
 so as to prevent him from wounding the young untrained falcons. The 
 moment they had secured their prey, they were called off it and given 
 chickens' flesh to eat on the lure. The same system was adopted for hunting 
 the heron or crane (Fig. 159). 
 
 It will be seen that, in order to train birds, it was necessarj^ for a large 
 number of the various kinds of game to be kept on the premises, and for each 
 branch of sport a regular establishment was required. In falconry, as in 
 
HUNTING. 
 
 venery, great care was taken to secure that a tiid should continue at one 
 object of prey until lie had secured it, that is to say, it was most essential to 
 teach it not to leave the game he was after in order to pursue another which 
 might come in his way. 
 
 To establish a falconry, therefore, not only was a very large poultry-yard 
 required, but also a considerable staff of huntsmen, falconers, and whips, 
 besides a number of horses and dogs of all sorts, which were either used for 
 starting the game for the hawks, or for running it down when it was forced 
 to ground by the birds. 
 
 A well-trained falcon was a bird of great value, and was the finest present 
 
 \(^i..,«f?*v.i*,^i#}^r/^«.v*^ ./'-'. — 'V'-v>^,/\^^ii*.nn*7E^^^t-^ —^^"^ 
 
 Fig. 150.— Varlels of Falconry.— Fac-simile of a Miniature in the Manuscript of " Livre 
 du Eoy Modus" (Fourteenth Century). 
 
 that could be made to a lady, to a nobleman, or to the King himself, by any 
 one who had received a favour. For instance, the King of France received 
 six birds from the Abbot of St. Hubert as a token of gratitude for the pro- 
 tection granted by him to the abbey. The King of Denmark sent him several 
 as a gracious oflbring in the month of April ; the Grand Master of JMalta in 
 the month of May. At court, in those days, the reception of falcons either 
 in public or in jnlvate was a great business, and the first trial of any new 
 birds fonned a topic of conversation among the courtiers for some time after. 
 The arrival at court of a hawk-dealer from some distant country was also 
 a great event. It is Siud that Louis XL gave orders that watch should bo 
 kept niglit and day to seize any falcons consigned to the Duke of Brittany 
 
 D D 
 
HUNTING. 
 
 from Turkey. The plan succeeded, and the birds thus stolen were brought 
 to the King, who exclaimed, "By our holy Lady of Clery ! what will the 
 Duke Francis and his Bretons do ? They will be very angry at the good 
 trick I have played them." 
 
 European princes vied with, eacli other in extravagance as regards falconry ; 
 but this was nothing in comparison to the magnificence disjjlaj^ed in oriental 
 establisbments. The Count de Nevers, son of Philip the Bold, Duke of 
 Burgundy, having been made prisoner at the battle of Nicopolis, was pre- 
 sented to tbe Sultan Bajazet, wh.o showed him his hunting establishment 
 consisting of seven thou.sand falconers and as many huntsmen. The Duke of 
 Burgundy, on hearing this, sent twelve white hawks, which were very scarce 
 
 Fig. 151. — " How to train a New Falcon." — Fac-simile of a Miniature in the Manuscript 
 of " Livrc du Roy Modus" (Fourteenth Century). 
 
 birds, as a present to Bajazet. The Sultan was so pleased with them that 
 he sent him back his son in exchange. 
 
 The " Livre du Eoy Modus" gives the most minute and curious details 
 on the noble science of hawking. For instance, it tells us that the nobility 
 of the falcon was held in such respect tbat their utensils, trappings, or feeding 
 dishes were never used for other birds. The glove on wbicb they were 
 accustomed to alight was frequently elaborately embroidered in gold, and 
 was never used except for birds of their own species. In the private establish- 
 ments the leather boods, which were put on their heads to prevent them 
 seeing, were embroidered with gold and pearls and surmounted with the 
 feathers of birds of paradise. Each bird wore on bis legs two Kttle bells 
 with bis owner's crest upon them ; the noise made by these was very distinct, 
 
HUNTING. 
 
 and could be heard even when the bird was too high in the air to be seen, for 
 they were not made to sound in unison; they generally came from Italy, Milan 
 especially being celebrated for their manufacture. (Straps were also fastened 
 to the falcon's legs, by means of which he was attached to the perch ; at the 
 end of this strap was a brass or gold ring with the owner's name engraved 
 upon it. In the royal establishments each ring bore on one side, " I belong- 
 to the king," and on the other the name of the Grand Falconer. This was a 
 necessary precaution, for the birds frequently strayed, and, if captured, they 
 coidd thus be recognised and returned. The ownership of a falcon was con- 
 sidered sacred, and, h^ an ancient barbaric law, the stealer of a falcon was 
 
 Fig. 152.— Falcontra. - I-'uf-siiiiih; ri"iu a Jliniature in Maiuiacriptof ihe Thirteenth Century, 
 which treats of the " Cour do Jaime, Eoi de Majorque." 
 
 condemned to a very curious punishment. The unfortunate thief was obliged 
 to allow the falcon to eat six ounces of the flesh of his breast, unless he could 
 pay a heavy fine to the owner and another to the king. 
 
 A man thoroughly acquainted with the mode of training hawks was in 
 high esteem everywhere. If he was a freeman, the nobles outbid each other 
 as to who should secure his services ; if he was a serf, his master kept him as a 
 rare treasure, only parted with him as a most magnificent present, or sold him 
 for a considerable sura. Like the clever huntsman, a good falconer (Fig. 156j 
 was hound to be a man of varied information on natural history, the veterinary 
 art, and the chase ; but the profession generally ran in femilies, and the son 
 added his own experience to the lessons of his father. There were also special 
 schools of venery and falconry, the most renowned being of course in the 
 royal household. 
 
 The office of Grand Falconer of France, the origin of which dates from 
 
204 
 
 HUXTIXG. 
 
 1250, -was one of tlae higliest in the kingdom. The Marechal de Fleuranges 
 says, in his curious " Memoirs" — " The Grand Ftilconer, whose salary is four 
 thousand florins" (the golden florin was worth then twelve or fifteen francs, 
 and this amount must represent upwards of eighty thousand francs of present 
 currency), "has fifty gentlemen under him, the salary of each being from five 
 to six thousand livres. He has also fifty assistant-falconers at two himdred 
 livres each, all chosen by himself. His establishment consists of three hundred 
 birds ; he has the right to hunt wherever he pleases in the kingdom ; he 
 levies a tax on all bird-dealers, who are forbidden, imder penalty of the con- 
 fiscation of their stock, from selling a single bird in any town or at court 
 
 ^ V^f-C 
 
 
 — -==f=t^^ii#?^ii 
 
 Fig. 153. — "How to tathe a Ifew Falcon." — Fac-simile of a Miniature in the JIanujcript 
 of "iLiyre du Eoy Modus " (Fourteenth Century). 
 
 without his sanction." The Grand Falconer was chief at all the hunts or 
 hawking meetings ; in public ceremonies he always appeared with the bird 
 on his wrist, as an emblem of his rank ; and the Kiug, whilst hawkiug, could 
 not let loose his bird until after the Grand Falconer had slipped his. 
 
 Falconiy, like venery, had a distinctive and professional vocabulary, 
 which it was necessary for every one who joined in hawkiug to understand, 
 unless he wished to be looked upon as an ignorant yeoman. " Flying the 
 hawk is a royal pastime," says the Jesuit Claude Biaet, " and it is to talk 
 royally to talk of the flight of birds. Every one speaks of it, but few speak 
 weU. ^lany speak so ignorantly as to excite pity among their hearers. 
 
HUNTING. 
 
 "5 
 
 Sometimes one says tlie hand of the bird instead of saying the ialon, sometimes 
 the tcdon instead of the claw, sometimes the claw instead of the nail" &c. 
 
 The fourteenth century was the great epoch of falconry. There were 
 then so many nobles who hawked, that in the rooms of inns there were 
 perches made under the large mantel-pieces on which to place the birds 
 while the sportsmen were at dinner. Histories of the period are full of 
 characteristic anecdotes, which prove the enthusiasm which was created by 
 hawkins: in those who devoted themselves to it. 
 
 Emperors and kings were as keen as others for this kind of sjjort. As 
 early as the tenth century the Emperor Henry I. had acquired the soubriquet 
 
 
 Fis. 154.- 
 
 'How to mate Young HawUs fly."— Fac-similc of a Miniature in the Manuscript 
 of " Livrc du Eoy IModus" (Fourteenth Century). 
 
 of "the Bird-catcher," from the fact of his giving much more attention to his 
 birds than to his subjects. His example was followed by one of his successors, 
 the Emperor Henry VI., wlio was reckoned the first falconer of his time. 
 When his father, the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa (Red-beard), died in 
 the Holy Land, in 1189, the Archdukes, Electors of the Empire, went out to 
 meet the prince so as to proclaim him F.mpcror of Germany. They found 
 him, surrounded by dogs, horses, and birds, ready to go him ting. " The 
 day is fine," he said ; " allow us to put off serious affairs until to-morrow." 
 
 Two centuries later we find at the court of France the same ardour fo.' 
 hawking and the same admiration for the performances of falcons. The Con- 
 stable Bcrtrand du Gucsclin gave two hawks to King Charles VI. ; and the 
 
206 
 
 HUNTING. 
 
 Count de Tancarville, whilst witnessing a combat between these noble birds 
 and a crane which had been powerful enough to keep two greyhounds at bay, 
 exclaimed, " I would not give up the pleasure which I feel for a thousand 
 florins ! " 
 
 The court-poet, William Cretin, although he was Canon of the holy 
 chapel of Vincennes, was as passionately fond of hawking as his good 
 master Louis XIT. He thus describes the pleasure he felt in seeing a heron 
 succumb to the vigorous attack of the falcons : — 
 
 ' Qui auroit la mort aux dents, 
 II reTivroit d' avoir un tel passe-temps ! " 
 
 (" He who is about lo die 
 
 Would live again with such amusement.") 
 
 •Wr - Un luu. fi . >a, / '. -^- 'V ^^ '^^VM '-^'- 
 
 •m/iAvvtiiMn. 
 
 Mg. 155. — Lady setting out Hawking. — Fac-simile of a Miniature in the Manuscript of 
 " Livre du Roy Modus " (Fourteenth Century). 
 
 At a hunting party given by Louis XII. to the Archdiike MaximiKan, 
 Mary of Burgundy, the Archduke's wife, was killed by a fall from her horse. 
 The King presented his best falcons to the Archduke with a view to divert his 
 mind and to turn his attention from the sad event, and one of the historians 
 tells us that the bereaved husband was soon consoled : " The partridges, 
 herons, wild ducks, and quails which he was enabled to take on his journey 
 home by means of the King's present, materially lessening his sorrow." 
 
 Falconry, after having been in much esteem for centuries, at last became 
 amenable to the same law which aifects all great institutions, and, having 
 reached the height of its glory, it was destined to decay. Although the art 
 
HUNTING. 
 
 207 
 
 disappeared completely under Louis the Great, who only liked stag-huntiug, 
 and who, by drawing all the nobility to court, disorganized country life, no 
 greater adept had ever been known than King Louis XIII. His first favourite 
 and Grand Falconer was Albert de Luynes, whom he made prime minister 
 and constable. Even in the Tuileries gardens, on his way to mass at the 
 convent of the Feuillants, this prince amused himself by catching linnets 
 and wrens with noisy magpies trained to pursue small birds. 
 
 It was during this reign that some ingenious person discovered that the 
 words Louis trkizieme, roy de Franx'e et de Navarre, exactly gave this 
 anagram, Eoy tres-rare, ESTuif: dieu de la faucoxxerie. It was also at this 
 time that Charles d'xVrcussia, the last author who wrote a 
 technical work on falconry, after praising his majesty for do- 
 voting himself so thoroughly to the divine sport, comjoared 
 the King's birds to domestic angels, and the carnivorous 
 birds which they destroyed he likened to the devil. From 
 this he argued that the sport was like the angel Gabriel de- 
 stroying the demon Asmodeus. He also added, in his dedi- 
 cation to the King, "As the nature of angels is above that 
 of men, so is that of these birds above all other animals." 
 
 At that time certain religious, or rather superstitious 
 ceremonies were in use for blessing the water with which 
 the fiilcons were sjjrinkled before hunting, and supplica- 
 tions were addressed to the eagles that they might not 
 molest them. The following words were used : " I adjure 
 you, eagles ! by the true God, by the holy God, by 
 the most blessed Virgin Mary, by the nine orders of 
 
 angels, by the holy prophets, by the twelve apostles, &c to leave 
 
 the field clear to our birds, and not to molest them : in the name of the 
 Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." It was at this time that, 
 in order to recover a lost bird, the Sire de la Brizardiere, a professional 
 necromancer, proposed beating the owner of the bird with birch-rods until 
 he bled, and of making a charm \\ ith the blood, which was reckoned infallible. 
 Elzear Blaze expressed his astonishment that the ladies should not have 
 used their influence to prevent falconry from falling into disuse. The chase, 
 he considered, gave them an active part in an interesting and animated 
 scene, which only rc(]uired easy and gi-aceful movements on their part, and 
 
 Fig. 1.56. — Dress of 
 the Falconer (Thir- 
 teenth Century). — 
 Sculpture of the 
 Cathedra! of Rouen. 
 
^o8 
 
 HUXTIXG. 
 
 to wMch no danger was attached. " The ladies knowing," he says, " how to 
 fly a bird, how to call him back, and how to encourage him with their voice, 
 being familiar with him from having continually carried him on their wrist. 
 
 Fig. 1-57. — Diseases of Dogs and their Cure. — Fac-simile of a MiDiature in the Manuscript 
 of Phoebus (Fourteenth Ceutuiy). 
 
 and often even from having broken him in themselves, the honour of hunting 
 belongs to them by right. Besides, it brings out to advantage their grace 
 and dexterity as they gallop amongst the sportsmen, followed by their pages 
 and varlets and a whole herd of horses and doss." 
 
HUNTING. 
 
 209 
 
 The question of precedence aud of superiority had, at every period, been 
 pretty evenly balanced between venery and falconry, each having its own 
 staunch supporters. Thus, in the " Livredu Hoy Modus," two ladies contend 
 in verse (for the subject was considered too exalted to be treated of in simple 
 prose), the one for the superiority of the birds, the other for the superiority of 
 dogs. Their controversjds at length terminated by a celebrated huntsman and 
 falconer, who decides in favour of venery, for the somewhat remarkable reason 
 that those who pursue It enjoy <3ral and ocular pleasure at the same time. In an 
 ancient treatise by Gace de la Vigne, in which the same question occujjies no 
 
 Fig, 158.— German Falconer, dcsi-nuiUud cngravea, in the Sixlnenlh Century, Ly J. Amman. 
 
 fewer than ton thousand verses, the King (unnamed) ends the dispute by order- 
 ing that in future they shall be termed pleasures of dogs and pleasures of birds, 
 80 that there may be no superiority on one side or the other (Fig. KiO). The 
 court-poet, William Cretin, who was in great renown during the reigns of 
 Louis XII. and Francis I., having asked two ladies to discuss the same subject 
 in verse, does not hesit.ite, on the contrary, to place falconry above venery. 
 
 It may fairly be asserted that venery and falconry have taken a position 
 of some importance in liistory ; iuid in support of this theory it will suffice to 
 mention a few facts borrowed from the annals of the chase. 
 
 E li 
 
HUNTING. 
 
 The King of JSTavarre, Charles the Bad, had sworn to be faithful to the 
 alliance made between himself and King Edward III. of England ; but the 
 English troops having been beaten by Du Guesclin, Charles saw that it 
 was to his advantage to turn to the side of the King of France. In order 
 not to appear to break his oath, he managed to be taken prisoner by the 
 French Avhilst out hunting, and thus he sacriiiced his honour to his personal 
 interests. It was also due to a hunting party that Henry III., another King 
 of Navarre, who was afterwards Henry IV., escaped from Paris, on the 
 
 Fig. 1.59. — Heron-hawking.— Fac-simile of a Miniature in the Manuscript of the ' 
 du Roy Modus " (Fourteenth Century). 
 
 Livre 
 
 3rd February, 1576, and fled to Senlis, where his friends of the Reformed 
 religion came to join him. 
 
 Hunting formed a principal entertainment when public festivals were cele- 
 brated, and it was frequently accompanied with great magnificence. At the 
 entry of Isabel of Bavaria into Paris, a sort of stag himt was performed, when 
 " the streets," according to a popular story of the time, " were full to profu- 
 sion of hares, rabbits, and goslings." Again, at the solemn entry of Louis XL 
 into Paris, a representation of a doe hunt took place near the fountain St. 
 
HUXTIXG. 
 
 lunocent ; " after whicli the queen receiyed a present of a magnificent stag, 
 made of confectionery, and having the royal arms hung round its neck." At 
 the memorable festival given at Lille, in 145^, by the Duke of Burgundy, a 
 very curious performance took place. "At one end of the table," says the 
 historian Mathieu de Coucy, " a heron was started, -which was hunted as if 
 by falconers and sportsmen ; and presently from the other end of the table a 
 falcon was slipped, which hovered over the heron. In a few minutes another 
 falcon was started from the other side of the table, which attacked the heron 
 so fiercely that he brought him down in the middle of the hall. After the 
 
 Fig. 160. — Sport with Dogs. — "How the Wild Boar is hunted by means of Dogs." — Fac-simile of 
 a Miniature in the Manuscript of the " Livre du Roy Slodus " (Fourteenth Century). 
 
 performance was over and the heron was killed, it was served up at the 
 dinner-table." 
 
 We shall conclude this chapter with a few words on bird-fowUug, a kind 
 of sport which was almost disdained in the Middle Ages. The anonymous 
 author of the " Livre du Roy Modus," called it, in the fourteenth century, 
 the pastime of the poor, " because the poor, who can neither keep hounds nor 
 falcons to hunt or to fly, take much pleasure in it, particularly as it serves at 
 the same time as a means of subsistence to many of them." 
 
 In this book, which was for a long time the authority in matters of 
 sport generally, we find that nearly aU the methods and contrivances now 
 employed for bird-fowling were known and in use in the Middle Ages, in 
 addition to some which have since fallen into disuse. We accordingly read 
 in the "Roy Modus" a description of the drag-net, the mirror, the screech-owl, 
 
HUNTING. 
 
 the bird- pipe (Fig. 161), the traps, the springs, &c., the use of all of which 
 is now well understood. At that time, when falcons were so much required, 
 it was necessary that people should be employed to catch them when young ; 
 and the author of this book speaks of nets of various sorts, and the pronged 
 piece of wood in the middle of which a screech-owl or some other bird was 
 placed in order to attract the falcons (Fig. 162). 
 
 Two methods were in use in those days for catching the woodcock and 
 pheasant, which deserve to be mentioned. "The pheasants," says "King 
 Modus," "are of such a nature that the male bird cannot bear the company 
 of another." Taking advantage of this weakness, the plan of placing a 
 
 
 Fig. IBl. — Bird-piping. — ''The manner of catching Birds by piping." — fac-simile of IMiniature 
 in the Manuscript of the " Livre du Roy Modus " (Fourteenth Century). 
 
 mirror, which balanced a sort of wicker cage or coop, was adopted. The 
 pheasant, thinking he saw his fellow, attacked him, struck against the glass 
 and brought down the coop, in which he had leisure to reflect on his 
 jealousy (Fig. 163). 
 
 Woodcocks, which are, says the author, "the most silly birds," were 
 caught in this way. The bird-fowler was covered from head to foot with 
 clothes of the colour of dead leaves, onlj' having two little holes for his eyes. 
 "When he saw one he knelt down noiselessly, and supported his arms on two 
 sticks, so as to keep perfectly still. When the bird was not looking towards 
 him he cautiously approached it on his knees, holding in his hands two little 
 dry sticks covered with red cloth, which he gentlv waved so as to divert the 
 
 
HUiXriXG. 
 
 2'3 
 
 bird's attention from himself. In this way he gradually got near enough to 
 pass a noose, which he kept ready at the end of a stick, round the bird's 
 neck (Fig. 1G4). 
 
 However ingenious these tricks may appear, they are eclipsed by one we 
 find recorded in the " Ixeuticon," a very elegant Latin poem, by Angeli.s de 
 Barga, written two centuries later. In order to catch a large number of star- 
 Hngs, this author assures us, it is only necessary to have two or three in a 
 cage, and, when a flight of these birds is seen passing, to liberate them with 
 a very long twine attached to their claws. The twine must be covered with 
 
 Kg. 162— Bird-catching with a Machine like a Long Arm.— Fac-simile of Jliuiatmo in the 
 Manuscript of the " Livre du Roy Modus" (Fourteenth Century). 
 
 bird-lime, and, as the released birds instantly join their friends, all those they 
 come near get glued to the twine and fall together to the ground. 
 
 As at the present time, the object of l)ird-fowling was twofold, namely, 
 to procure game fcjr food aufl to capture birds to be kept either for their voice 
 or for fancy as pets. The trade in the latter was so important, at least in 
 Paris, that the bird-catchers formed a numerous corporation having its 
 statutes and privileges. 
 
 The I'ont au Change (then covered on each side with houses and shops 
 occupied by goldsmiths and money-changers) was the place where these 
 
214 
 
 HUNTING. 
 
 people carried on their trade ; and they had the privilege of hanging their 
 cages against the houses, even without the sanction of the proprietors. This 
 curious right was granted to them by Charles VI. in 1402, in return for 
 which they were bound to "provide four hundred birds" whenever a king 
 was crowned, " and an equal number when the queen made her first entry 
 into her good town of Paris." The goldsmiths and money-changers, how- 
 ever, finding that this became a nuisance, and that it injured their trade, 
 tried to get it abolished. They applied to the authorities to protect their 
 
 Fig. 163. — Pheasant Fowling. — " Showing how to catch Pheasants." — Fao-simile of a Miniature 
 in the JIanuscript of the " Livre du Roy Modus " (Fourteenth Century). 
 
 rig-hts, urging that the appi'oaches to their shops, the rents of which they 
 paid regularly, were continually obstructed by a crowd of purchasers and 
 dealers in birds. The case was brought several times before parliament, which 
 only confirmed the orders of the kings of France and the ancient privi- 
 leges of the bird-catchers. At the end of the sixteenth century the quarrel 
 became so bitter that the goldsmiths and changers took to " throwing down 
 the cages and birds and trampling them u.nder foot," and even assaulted and 
 openly ill-treated the poor bird-dealers. But a decree of parliament again 
 justified the sale of birds on the Pont au Change, by condemning the ring- 
 
HUNTING. 
 
 2'5 
 
 leader, Pierre Filacier, the master goldsmith who had commenced the pro- 
 ceedings against the bird-catchers, to joay a doulde fine, namely, t\vent\- 
 crowns to the plaintiffs and ten to the King. 
 
 It is satisfactory to observe that at that period measures were taken to 
 preserve nests and to prevent bird-fowling from the 15th of ilarch to the 
 15th of August. Besides this, it was necessary to have an express per- 
 mission from the King himself to give persons the right of catching birds 
 on the King's domains. Before any one could sell birds it was required for 
 him to have been received as a master bird-catcher. The recognised bird- 
 catchers, therefore, had no opponents except dealers from other countries, who 
 
 Fio;. 164.— The Jlode of catching a Woodcock.— Fac-simile of a Miniature in the Manuscript 
 of the " Livre du Roy Modus " (Fourteenth Century). 
 
 brought canary-birds, parrots, and other foreign specimens into Paris. These 
 dealers were, however, obliged to conform to strict rules. They were required 
 on their arrival to exhibit their birds from ten to twelve o'clock on the 
 marble stone in the palace yard on the days when parliament sat, in order 
 that the masters and governors of the King's aviarj', and, after them, the 
 presidents and councillors, might have the first choice before other people 
 of anything they wished to buy. They were, besides, bound to part the 
 male and female birds in separate cages with tickets on them, so that pur- 
 chasers might not be deceived ; and, in case of dispute on this point, some 
 sworn inspectors were appointed as arbitrators. 
 
2l6 
 
 HUNTING. 
 
 No doubt, emboldened by tbe victory -wbicli they had achieved over the 
 goldsmiths of the Pont au Change, the bird-dealers of Paris attempted to 
 forbid any bourgeois of the town from breeding canaries or any sort of cage 
 birds. The bourgeois resented this, and brought their case before the 
 Marshals of France. They urged that it was easy for them to breed 
 canaries, and it was also a pleasure for their ^rives and daughters to teach 
 them, whereas those bought on the Pont au Change were old and difficult to 
 educate. This appeal was favourably received, and an order from the 
 tribunal of the Marshals of France permitted the bourgeois to breed canaries, 
 but it forbade the sale of them, which it was considered would interfere with 
 the trade of the master-fowlers of the town, faubourgs, and suburbs of Paris. 
 
 Fig. 165.— Powder -liorn — AVort of the Si.\t3entli Century (.\rtillery Mmeum of Brussels). 
 
GAMES AND PASTIMES. 
 
 Games of the Ancient Greeks and Eomans. — Games of the t'ircus. — Animal Comhats. — Daring of 
 King Pepin. — The King's Lions. — Blind Men's Fights — Cockneys of Paris. — Champ de 
 Mars. — Cours Plenieres and Cours Couronnees. — Jugglers, Tumblers, and Minstrels. — Rope- 
 dancers. — Fireworks. — GjTimastics. — Cards and Bice. — Chess, Marbles, and Billiards. — 
 La Soule, La Pirouette, kc. — Small Games for Private Society. — History of Dancing. — Ballet 
 des Ardents. — The " Orchesographie " (Art of Dancing) of Thoinot Arbeau. — List of Dances. 
 
 <9b ' JttjlfTr^ 
 
 EOPLE of all countries and at all 
 periods have been fond of public 
 amu.seinents, and have indulged in 
 games and pa-stimes with a view to 
 make time pass agreeably. These 
 amusements have continually varied, 
 according to the character of each 
 nation, and according to the capri- 
 cious changes of fashion. Since the 
 learned antiquarian, J. Meiirsius, has 
 devoted a large volimie to describing 
 the games of the ancient Greeks ("De Ludis GraBcorum"), and Rabelais has 
 collected a list of two hundred and twenty games which were in fashion at 
 different times at the court of his gay master, it will be easily understood 
 that a description of all the games and pastimes which have ever been in use 
 by different nations, and particvdarly by the French, woidd form an encyclo- 
 paedia of some size. 
 
 We shall give a rapid sketch of the different kinds of games and pastimes 
 which were most in fashirm during the Middle Ages and to the end of the 
 sixteenth century — omitting, however, the religious festivals, which belong to 
 a different category ; the public festivals, which will come under the chapter 
 on Ceremonials ; the tournaments and tilting matches and other sports of 
 warriors, which belong to Chivalry; and, lastly, the scenic and literary 
 representations, which specially belong to the history of the stage. 
 
 F V 
 
GAMES AND PASTIMES. 
 
 We sliall, therefore, limit ourselves liere to giving in a condensed form a 
 few historical details of certain court amusements, and a short description of 
 the games of skiU and of chance, and also of dancing. 
 
 The Romans, especially during the times of the emperors, had a passionate 
 love for performances in the circus and amphitheatre, as ■well as for chariot 
 races, horse races, foot races, combats of animals, and feats of strength and 
 agility. The daily life of the Roman people may be summed up as consisting 
 of taking their food and enjoying games in the circus (panem et circenses). A 
 taste for similar amusements was common to the Gauls as well as to the whole 
 Roman Empire ; and, were historians silent on the subject, we need no further 
 information than that which is to be gathered from the ruins of the numerous 
 amphitheatres, which are to be found at every centre of Roman occupation. 
 The circus disappeared on the establishment of the Chi'istian religion, for the 
 bishops condemned it as a profane and sanguinary vestige of Paganism, and, 
 no doubt, this led to the cessation of combats between man and beast. They 
 continued, however, to pit wild or savage animals against one another, and 
 to train dogs to fight with lions, tigers, bears, and bulls ; otherwise it would 
 be difiicult to explain the restoration by King Chilperio (a.b. 577) of the 
 circuses and arenas at Paris and Soissons. The remains of one of these 
 circuses was not long ago discovered in Paris whilst they were engaged in 
 laying the foundations for a new street, on the west side of the hill of 
 St. Genevieve, a short distance from the old palace of the Caesars, known 
 by the name of the Thermes of Julian. 
 
 Gregory of Tours states that ChUperic revived the ancient games of the 
 circus, but that Gaul had ceased to be famous for good athletes and race- 
 horses, although animal combats continued to take place for the amusement 
 of the kings. One day King Pepin halted, with the principal officers of his 
 army, at the Abbey of Ferrieres, and witnessed a fight between a lion and a 
 bull. The bidl was of enormous size and extraordinary strength, but never- 
 theless the lion overcame him ; whereupon Pepin, who was surnamed the 
 Short, turned to his officers, who used to joke him about his short stature, 
 and said to them, "Make the lion loose his hold of the bull, or kill him." No 
 one dared to undertake so perilous a task, and some said aloud that the man 
 who would measure his strength with a Hon must be mad. Upon this, Pepin 
 sprang into the arena sword in hand, and with two blows cut off the heads ol 
 the lion and the bull. " What do you think of that ? " he said to his 
 
GAMES AND PASTIMES. 219 
 
 astonisliecl officers. "Am I not fit to be your master ? Size cannot compare 
 with courage. Remember wbat little Dayicl did to the Giant Goliath." 
 
 Eight hundred years later there were occasional animal combats at the 
 court of Francis I. "A fine lady," says Brantome, " went to see the Kino's 
 Hons, in company with a gentleman who much admired her. She suddenly 
 let her glove drojj, and it fell into the lions' den. ' I beg of you,' she said, in 
 the calmest way, to her admirer, 'to go amongst the lions and bring me back 
 my glove.' The gentleman made no remark, but, without even drawing his 
 sword, went into the den and gave himself up silently to death to jjlease the 
 lady. The lions did not move, and he was able to leave their den without a 
 scratch and return the lady her missing glove. ' Here is your glove, madam,' 
 he coldly said to her who evidently valued his life at so small a price ; ' see 
 if you can find any one else who woidd do the same as I have done for you.' 
 So saying he left her, and never afterwards looked at or even sjooke to her." 
 
 It has been imagined that the kings of France only kept lions as living 
 symbols of royalty. In 1333 Philippe de Valois bought a barn in the Rue 
 Froidmantel, near the Chateau du Louvre, where he established a menagerie 
 for his lions, bears, leopards, and other wild beasts. This royal menagerie 
 still existed in the reigns of Charles YIII. and Francis I. Charles V. and 
 his successors had an establishment of lions in the quadrangle of the Grand 
 Hotel de St. Paul, on the very spot which was subsequently the site of the 
 Rae des Lions St. Paul. 
 
 These wild beasts were sometimes employed in the combats, and were 
 pitted against bulls and dogs in the presence of the King and his court. It 
 was after one of these combats that Charles IX., excited by the sanguinary 
 spectacle, wished to enter the arena alone in order to attack a lion which had 
 torn some of his best dogs to pieces, and it was only with great difficulty that 
 the audacious sovereign was dissuaded from liis foolish purpose. Henry III. 
 had no disposition to imitate his brother's example ; for dreaming one night 
 that his lions were devouring him, he had them all killed the next day. 
 
 The love for hunting wild animals, such as the wolf, bear, and boar (see 
 chapter on Hunting), from an early date took the place of the animal combats 
 as far as the court and the nobles were concerned. The people were there- 
 fore deprived of the spectacle of the combats which had had so much charm 
 for them ; and as they could not resort to tlie alternative of the chase, they 
 treated themselves to a feeldc imitation of the games of the circus in such 
 
GAMES AND PASTIMES. 
 
 amiisements as setting dogs to -worry old horses or donkeys, &c. (Fig. 166). 
 Bull-fights, nevertheless, continued in the southern provinces of France, as 
 also in Spain. 
 
 At village feasts not only did wrestling matches take place, hut also queer 
 kinds of comhats with sticks or hirch houghs. Two men, hlindfolded, each 
 armed with a stick, and holding in his hand a rope fastened to a stake, 
 entered the arena, and went round and round trying to strike at a fat goose 
 or a pig which was also let loose with them. It can easily he imagined that 
 the greater number of the blows fell like hail on one or other of the principal 
 actors in this blind combat, amidst shouts of laughter from the spectators. 
 Nothing amused our ancestors more than these blind encounters ; even 
 
 Fig. 166.— Fight between a Horse and Dogs.— Fac-simile of a Manuscript in the British 
 Museum (Thirteenth Century). 
 
 kings took part at these burlesque representations. At Mid-Lent annually 
 they attended with their court at the Quinze-Yingts, in Paris, in order to see 
 blindfold persons, armed from head to foot, fighting with a lance or stick. 
 This amusement was quite sufficient to attract all Paris. In 1425, on the 
 last day of August, the inhabitants of the capital crowded their windows to 
 witness the procession of four blind men, clothed in fidl armom-, like knights 
 going to a tournament, and preceded by two men, one playing the hautbois 
 and the other bearing a banner on which a pig was painted. These four 
 champions on the next day attacked a pig, which was to become the property 
 of the one who killed it. The lists were situated in the court of the Hotel 
 d'Armagnac, the present site of the Palais Royal. A great crowd attended 
 the encounter. The blind men, armed with all sorts of weapons, belabom'ed 
 each other so furiously that the game would have ended fatally to one or 
 
GAMES AND PASTIMES. 
 
 more of them had. they not been separated and made to divide the pig which 
 they had all so well earned. 
 
 The people of the Middle Ages had an insatiable love of sip-ht-seeino- ; 
 they came great distances, from all parts, to witness any amusing exhibition. 
 They wonld suffer anj^ amount of privation or fatigue to indulge this fecKno-^ 
 
 Kg. 167. — Merchants ,'(iul Lion-kcopors at Constantinople. — Fac-simile of an Engraving on Wood 
 from the " Co.smographie Universelle" of Thevet: folio, 1575. 
 
 and they gave themselves up to it so heartily that it became a solace to 
 them in their greatest sorrows, and they laughed with that hearty laugh 
 which may be said to be one of their natural char.icteristics. In all public 
 processions in the open air the crowd (or rather, as we might say, the 
 Cockneys of Paris), in their anxiety to see everything that was to be .seen, 
 would frequently obstruct all the public avenues, and so prevent the proces- 
 sion from passing along. In consequence of this the Provosts of Paris on 
 
G AMIES AND PASTIMES. 
 
 these occasions distributed hundreds of stout sticks amongst the sergeants, 
 who used them freely on the shoulders of the most obstinate sight-seers (see 
 chapter on Ceremonials). There was no religious procession, no parish fair, 
 no municipal feast, and no parade or review of troops, which did not bring 
 together crowds of people, whose ears and eyes were wide open, if only to 
 hear the sound of the trumpet, or to see a " dog rush past with a frying-pan 
 tied to his tail." 
 
 
 Fig. 168.— Free Distribution of Bread, Meat, and Wine to the People.— Reduced Copy of a 
 Woodout of the Solemn Entry of Charles V. and Pope Clement "VII. into Bologna, in 1530. 
 
 This curiosity of the French was particularly exhibited when the kings 
 of the first royal dynasty held their Champs de Mars, the kings of the second 
 dynasty their Cours Pknieres, and the kings of the third dynasty their Coim 
 Couronnees. In these assemblies, where the King gathered together all his 
 principal vassals once or twice a year, to hold personal commimication 
 with them, and to strengthen his power by ensuring their feudal services, 
 large quantities of food and fermented liquors were pubHcly distributed 
 among the people (Fig. 168). The populace were always most enthusiastic 
 spectators of military displays, of court ceremonies, and, above all, of the 
 various amusements which royalty provided for them at great cost in those 
 
GAMES AND PASTIMES. 
 
 223 
 
 days : and it was 011 tliese state occasions that jugglers, tumljlers, and 
 minstrels displayed their talents. The Champ de Mars was one of the prin- 
 cipal fetes of the year, and was held sometimes in the centre of some large 
 town, sometimes in a royal domain, and sometimes in the open country. 
 Bishop Gregory of Tours describes one which was given in his diocese during 
 the reign of Chilperic, at the Easter festivals, at which we may he sure that 
 the games of the circus, re-established by Chilperic, excited the greatest 
 interest. Charlemagne also held Champs de Mars, but called them Cours 
 Royales, at which he appeared dressed in cloth of gold studded all over with 
 pearls and precious stones. Under the third dynasty King Robert celebrated 
 
 Fig. 169. — Feats in Balancing. — Fac-simile of a Miniature in a Manuscript in the Bodleian 
 Library at O.xforil (Thirteenth Century). 
 
 court days with the same magnificence, and the people were admitted to the 
 palace during the royal banquet to witness the King sitting amongst his great 
 officers of state. The Cours Plenieres, which were always held at Christmas, 
 Twelfth-day, Easter, and on the day of Pentecost, were not less brilKant 
 during the reigns of Robert's successors. Louis IX. himself, notwithstanding 
 his natural shyness and his taste for simplicity, was noted for the disi^lay he 
 made on state occasions. In l-'JoO, Pliilippo de Valois wore his crown at the 
 Cours Plenieres, and from that time they ysx'i-e called Cotirs Couronnecs. The 
 kings of jugglers were the privileged performers, and their feats and the 
 other amusements, which continued on each occasion for several days, were 
 provided for at the sovereign's sole expense. 
 
 These kings of jugglers exercised a supreme authority over the art of 
 jugglery and over all the members of this jovial fraternity. It must not 
 be imagined that these jugglers merely recited snatches from tales and 
 
224 
 
 GAMES AND PASTIMES. 
 
 fables in rhyme ; this was the least of their talents. The cleverest of them 
 played all sorts of musical instruments, sung songs, and repeated by heart 
 a multitude of stories, after the example of their reputed forefather, 
 King Borgabed, or Bedabie, who, according to these troubadours, was 
 King of Great Britain at the time that Alexander the Great was King of 
 Macedonia. The jugglers of a lower order especially excelled in tumbling 
 and in tricks of legerdemain (Figs. 169 and 170). They threw wonderful 
 somersaults, they leaped through hoops placed at certain distances from one 
 another, they played with knives, slings, baskets, brass balls, and earthen- 
 ware plates, and they walked on their hands with their feet in the air or with 
 their heads turned downwards so as to look through their legs backwards. 
 These acrobatic feats were even practised by women. According to a legend, 
 the daughter of Herodias was a renowned acrobat, and on a bas-relief in the 
 
 Fig. 170. — Sword-dance to the sound of the Bagpipe. — Fac-simile of a Manuscript in the 
 British Museum (Fourteenth Century). 
 
 Cathedral of Rouen we find this Jewish dancer turning somersaults before 
 Herod, so as to fasciaate him, and thus obtain the decapitation of John the 
 Baptist. 
 
 "The jugglers," adds M. de LabedoUiere, in his clever work on "The 
 Private Life of the French," " often led about bears, monkeys, and other 
 animals, which they taught to dance or to fight (Figs. 171 and 172). A 
 manuscript in the National Library represents a banquet, and around the 
 table, so as to amuse the guests, performances of animals are going on, such 
 as monkeys riding on horseback, a bear feigning to be dead, a goat playing 
 the harp, and dogs walking on their hind legs." We find the same grotesque 
 
GAMES AND PASTIMES. 
 
 225 
 
 figures on sculptures, on the capitals of churches, on the illuminated margins 
 of manuscripts of theology, and on prayer-books, which seems to indicate that 
 jugglers were the associates of jJ^inters and illuminators, even if they them- 
 selves were not the writers and illuminators of the manuscrijDts. "Jugglery," 
 M. de Labedolliere goes on to say, "at that time embraced poetry, music, 
 dancing, sleight of hand, conjuring, wrestling, boxing, and the training of 
 animals. Its humblest practitioners were the mimics or grimacers, in many- 
 coloured garments, and brazen-faced mountebanks, who provoked laughter at 
 the expense of decency." 
 
 At first, and down to the thirteenth century, the profession of a juggler 
 was a most lucrative one. There was no public or private feast of any 
 importance without the profession being represented. Their mimicry and 
 
 'T::* 
 
 Fig. 171.— Jiifjslers Pxhibiting Monkeys and Bears.— Fac-simile of a 5I;iniiscriiit in the 
 British Museum (Thirteenth Century). 
 
 acrobatic feats were less thought of than their long poems or lays of wars and 
 adventures, which they recited in doggerel rhyme to the accompaniment of a 
 stringed instrument. The doors of the chateaux were always open to them, 
 and they had a place assigned to them at all feasts. They were the principal 
 attraction at the Com-^ P/rnih-p.^ and, according to the testimony of one of 
 their poets, they frequently retired fr.nn business loaded with presents, such 
 as riding-horses, carriage-horses, jewels, cloaks, fur robes, clothing of violet 
 or scarlet cloth, and, above all, with large sums of money. They loved to 
 recall with pride the heroic memory of one of their own calling, the brave 
 Norman, Taillcfer, who, before the battle of Hastings, advanced alone on 
 horseback between the two armies about to commence the engagement, and 
 drew off the attention of the English by singing them the song of Roland. 
 
 G G 
 
226 
 
 GAMES AND PASTIMES. 
 
 He then began juggling, and taking liis lance by the hilt, he threw it into 
 the ail- and caught it by the point as it fell ; then, drawing his sword, he 
 spun it several times over his head, and caught it in a similar way as it fell. 
 After these skilful exercises, during which the enemy were gaping in mute 
 astonishment, he forced his charger through the English ranks, and caused 
 great havoc before he fell, positively riddled with wounds. 
 
 Notwithstanding this noble instance, not to belie the old proverb, jugglers 
 were never received into the order of knighthood. They were, after a time, 
 as much abused as they had before been extolled. Their licentious lives 
 reflected itself in their obscene language. Their pantomimes, like their 
 songs, showed that they were the votaries of the lowest vices. The lower 
 
 rig. 172. — Equestrian Performances. — Fac-simile of a Miniature in an English Manuscript 
 of the Thirteenth Century. 
 
 orders laughed at their coarseness, and were amused at their juggleries ; but 
 (he nobility were disgusted with them, and they were absolutely excluded 
 from the presence of ladies and girls in the chateaux and houses of the 
 bourgeoisie. We see in the talc of " Le Jugleor " that they acquired ill 
 fame everywhere, inasmuch as they were addicted to every sort of vice. The 
 clergy, and St. Bernard especially, denounced them and held them up to 
 public contempt. St. Bernard spoke thus of them in one of his sermons 
 written in the middle of the twelfth century : " A man fond of jugglers will 
 soon enough possess a wife whose name is Poverty. If it happens that the 
 tricks of jugglers are forced upon your notice, endeavour to avoid them, and 
 think of other things. The tricks of jugglers never please God." 
 
 From this remark we may understand their fall as well as the disrepute 
 
GAMES AND PASTIMES. 
 
 221 
 
 in which they were held at that time, and we are not surprised to find in an 
 old edition of the " Memoires du Sire de Joinville " this passage, which is, 
 perhaps, an interpoktion from a contemporary document: "St. Louis drove 
 from his kingdom all tumblers and players of sleiglit of hand, through whom 
 many evil habits and tastes had become engendered in the people." A 
 troubadour's story of this period shows that the jugglers wandered about the 
 country with their trained animals nearly starved ; they were half naked, 
 and were often without anything on their heads, without coats, without shoes, 
 and always without money. The lower orders welcomed them, and con- 
 
 Fig. 17a.— Jugglers performing in publio.— From a Jliuidturu of the Jluuuscript of " Giuaiu de 
 Lohorane " (Thirteenth Century).— Liljrary of the Arsenal, Faris. 
 
 tinued to admire and idolize them for their clever tricks (Fig. 173), but the 
 bourgeois class, following the example of the nobility, turned their backs 
 upon them. In 1:345 GuiUaume de Gourmont, Provost of Paris, forbad their 
 smging or relating obscene stories, under penalty of fine and imprisonment. 
 Having been associated together as a confraternity since V60I, they lived 
 huddled together in one street of Paris, which took the name of line den 
 JoiKjkiirs. It was at tliis period tliat the Church and Ilo.spital of St. Juliau 
 were founded through tlio exertions of Jacques Goure, a native of Pistoia, 
 and of Iluet le Lorraiii, who were both jugglers. The newly-l'ormed brotlier- 
 nood at once undertook to subscribe to this good work, and each member did 
 
228 
 
 GAMES AND PASTIMES. 
 
 so according to his means. Their aid to the cost of the two buildings was 
 sixty livres, and they were both erected in the Rue St. Martin, and placed 
 under the protection of St. Julian the Martyr. The chapel was consecrated 
 on the last Sunday in September, 1335, and on the front of it there were 
 three figures, one representing a troubadour, one a minstrel, and one a 
 juggler, each with his various instruments. 
 
 The bad repute into which jugglers had fallen did not prevent the kings 
 of France from attaching buffoons, or fools, as they were generally called, to 
 their households, who were often more or less deformed dwarfs, and who, 
 to aU intents and purposes, were jugglers. They were allowed to indulge in 
 every sort of impertinence and waggery in order to excite the risibility of 
 
 Fig. 17i.— Dance of Fools.— Fae-simile of a Miniature in Manuscript of the Thii-teenth Ceutuiy, 
 in the Bodleian Library of Oxford. 
 
 their masters (Figs. 174 and 175). These buffoons or fools were an uisti- 
 tution at court until the time of Louis XIY., and several, such as Caillette, 
 Triboulet, and Brusquet, are better known in history than many of the 
 statesmen and soldiers who were their contemporaries. 
 
 At the end of the fourteenth century the brotherhood of jugglers di\'ided 
 itself into two distinct classes, the jugglers proper and the tumblers. The 
 former continued to recite serious or amusing poetry, to sing love-songs, to 
 play comic interludes, either singly or in concert, in the streets or in the 
 houses, accompanying themselves or being accompanied by all sorts of 
 musical instruments. The tumblers, on the other hand, devoted themselves 
 exclusively to feats of agility or of skill, the exhibition of trained animals, 
 the making of comic grimaces, and tight-rope dancing. 
 
A COUllT-FOOL. OF 15'" GENTUIIY. 
 Pac-similcora miniature from a ms. in llio BihI. do I'Arsenal, Th, lat., n" 125. 
 
GAMES AND PASTIMES. 
 
 229 
 
 The art of roiie-danciug is very ancient ; it was patronised by the Franks, 
 who looked upon it as a marvellous effort of human genius. The most 
 remarkable rope-dancers of that time were of Indian origin. All performers 
 in this art came originally from the East, although they afterwards trained 
 pupils in the countries through which they passed, recruiting themselves 
 chiefly from the mixed tribe of jugglers. According to a document quoted 
 by the learned Foncemagne, rope-dancers appeared as early as 1327 at the 
 entertainments given at state banquets by the kings of France. But long 
 before that time they are mentioned in the poems of troubadours as the 
 necessary auxiliaries of any feast given by the nobility, or even by the 
 
 Fig. 175.— Court Fool.— Fae-similu of a Wuodciit in thu '• Cosiuographie Uuiveisullu " of 
 MimsttT-. fuliu (Baslu, 15:2). 
 
 monasteries. From the fourteenth to the end of the sixteenth century they 
 were never absent from any public ceremonial, and it was at the state entries 
 of kings and queens, princes and princesses, that they were especially called 
 upon to display their talents. 
 
 One of the most extraordinary cxanjples of the daring of these tumblers 
 is to be found in the records of the entry of Queen Isabel of Bavaria into 
 Paris, in 1385 (see chapter on Ceremonials) ; and, indeed, all the chronicles 
 of the fifteenth century are full of anecdotes of their doings. Mathicu de 
 Coucy, who wrote a history of the time of Charles VII., relates some very 
 curious details respecting a show which took place at Milan, and which 
 
230 GAiVES AND PASTIMES. 
 
 astonlslied the whole of Europe : — " The Duke of Milan ordered a rope to be 
 stretched across his palace, about one hundred and fifty feet from the ground, 
 and of equal length. On to this a Portuguese mounted, walked straight 
 along, going backwards and forwards, and dancing to the sound of the 
 tambourine. He also hung from the rope with his head downwards, and 
 went through all sorts of tricks. The ladies who were looking on could not 
 help hiding their eyes in their handkerchiefs, from fear lest they should see 
 him overbalance and tall and kill himself." The chronicler of Charles XII., 
 Jean d'Arton, tells us of a not less remarkable feat, performed on the 
 occasion of the obsequies of Duke Pierre de Bourbon, which were celebrated 
 at Moulins, in the month of October, 1503, in the presence of the king and 
 the court. " Amongst other performances was that of a German tight-rope 
 dancer, named Georges Menustre, a very young man, who had a thick rope 
 stretched across from the highest part of the tower of the Castle of Macon to 
 the windows of the steeple of the Church of the Jacobites. The height of 
 this from the ground was twenty-five fathoms, and the distance from the 
 castle to the steeple some two hundred and fifty paces. On two evenings in 
 succession he walked along this rope, and on the second occasion when he 
 started from the tower of the castle his feat was witnessed by the king and 
 upwards of thirty thousand persons. He performed all sorts of graceful tricks, 
 such as dancing grotesque dances to music and hanging to the rope by his 
 feet and by his teeth. Although so strange and marvellous, these feats were 
 nevertheless actually performed, unless hmnan sight had been deceived by 
 magic. A female dancer also perfiarmed in a novel way, cutting capers, 
 throwing somersaults, and performing graceful Moorish and other remarkable 
 and peculiar dances." Such was their manner of celebrating a funeral. 
 
 In the sixteenth century these dancers and tumblers became so numerous 
 that they were to be met with everywhere, in the provinces as well as in the 
 towns. Many of them were Bohemians or Zingari. They travelled iu 
 companies, sometimes on foot, sometimes on horseback, and sometmies with 
 some sort of a conveyance containing the accessories of their craft and a 
 travelling theatre. But people began to tire of these sorts of entertainments, 
 the more so as they were required to pay for them, and they naturally 
 preferred the public rejoicings, which cost them nothing. They were par- 
 ticularly fond of illuminations and fireworks, which are of much later origin 
 than the invention of gunpowder ; although the Saracens, at the time of the 
 
GAMES AND PASTIMES. 
 
 23' 
 
 Crusades, used a Greek fire for illumiuations, which consJderahly alarmed 
 the Crusaders when they first witnessed its efi"ects. Re<?uhir fii-cwnrlcs 
 
 ig. 176.— FireworkH on the Watrx, with mii Imitritinn of a Naval ( 'i)inhat.— Fac-simile of 
 an Engraving on Coppnr of thp " Pyrotrchnio " of iranzolft le Lorrain : 4to (Pont-a- 
 M0U88OU, 1630). 
 
 ippear to have hecn invented in Italy, where tlie pyroteehnic art has retained 
 ts superiority to this day, and wlicre tlie iiilinhitants are as entliu.siastic as 
 
232 GAMES AND PASTIMES. 
 
 ever for this sort of amiisement, and consider it, in fact, inseparable from 
 every religious, j^rivate, or public festival. This Italian invention was first 
 introduced into the Low Countries by the Spaniards, where it found many 
 admirers, and it made its appearance in France with the Italian artists who 
 established themselves in that country in the reigns of Charles VIII., 
 Louis XII., and Francis I. Fireworks could not fail to be attractive at the 
 Court of the Valois, to which Catherine de Medicis had introduced the 
 manners and customs of Italy. The French, who up to that time had only 
 been accustomed to the illuminations of St. John's Day and of the first 
 Sunday in Lent, received those fireworks with great enthusiasm, and they 
 soon became a regular part of the programme for public festivals (Fig. 176). 
 
 We have hitherto only described the sports engaged in for the amuse- 
 ment of the spectators ; we have still to describe those in which the actors 
 took greater pleasure than even the spectators themselves. These were 
 specially the games of strength and skill as well as dancing, with a notice 
 of which we shall conclude this chapter. There were, besides, the various 
 games of chance and the games of fun and humour. Most of the bourgeois 
 and the villagers played a variety of games of agility, many of which have 
 descended to our times, and are still to be found at our schools and colleges. 
 Wrestling, running races, the game of bars, high and wide jumping, leap- 
 frog, blind-man's buff, games of ball of all sorts, gymnastics, and all exercises 
 which strengthened the body or added to the suppleness of the limbs, were 
 long in use among the youth of the nobility (Figs. 177 and 178). The Lord 
 of Fleurauges, in his memoirs written at the court of Francis I., recounts 
 numerous exercises to which he devoted himself during his childhood and 
 youth, and which were then looked upon as a necessary part of the education 
 of chivalry. The nobles in this way acqmred a taste for physical exercises, 
 and took naturally to combats, tournaments, and hunting, and subsequently: 
 their services in the battle-field gave them plenty of opportunities to gratify 
 the taste thus developed in them. These were not, however, sufficient for 
 their insatiable activity ; when they could not do anything else, they played 
 at tennis and such games at all hours of the day ; and these pastimes had so 
 much attraction for nobles of all ages that they not imfrequently sacrificed 
 their health in consequence of overtaxing their strength. In 1506 the King 
 of Castile, Philippe le Beau, died of pleurisy, from a severe cold which \t 
 caught while playing tennis. 
 
GAMES AND PASTIMES. 
 
 233 
 
 Tennis also became the favourite game amongst tlie bourgeois in the 
 towns, and tennis-courts were built in all parts, of such spacious projjortions 
 and so well adapted for spectators, that they were often converted into 
 theatres. Their game of billiards resembled the modern one only in name, 
 for it was played on a level piece of ground with wooden balls which were 
 struck with hooked sticks and mallets. It was in great repute in the four- 
 teenth century, for in 1396 Marshal de Boucicault, who was considered one 
 of the best players of his time, won at it sis hundred francs (or more than 
 
 Fig. 177.— Somcrsjiults.— Fao-similc of a Woodcut in " Exercises in Leaping and Vaultiug," 
 by A. Tuocaro: 41o (Paris, 1599). 
 
 twenty-eight thousand francs of present currency). At the beginning of the 
 following century the Duke Louis d'r)rlcan8 ordered /////<■■•>■ et hi/Iar-s to be bought 
 for the sum of eleven sols six deniers tournois (about fifteen francs of our 
 money), that he might amuse himself with them. There were several games of 
 the same sort, which were not less popular. Skittles ; la Souk or Soiilctte, which 
 consisted of a large ball of hay covered over with leather, the possession of which 
 was contested for by two opj.osing sides of players; Football; open Tennis; 
 
 ir H 
 
234 
 
 GAMES AXD PASTIMES. 
 
 Shuttlecock, &c. It was Charles Y. who first thought of giving a more 
 serious and useful character to the games of the people, and who, in a 
 celebrated edict forbidding games of chance, encouraged the establishment 
 of companies of archers and bowmen. These companies, to which was 
 subsequently added that of the arquebusiers, outlived political revolutions, 
 and are still extant, especially in the northern provinces of France. 
 
 Fig. 178. — The Spring-toard. — Fac-simile of a Woodcut in "Exercises in Leaping and 
 Vaulting," by A. Tuccaro : 4to (Paris, 1599). 
 
 At all times and in all countries the games of chance were the most 
 popular, although they were forbidden both by ecclesiastical and royal 
 authority. jSiew laws were continually being enacted against them, and 
 especially against those in which dice were used, though with little avail. 
 " Dice shall not be made in the kingdom," says the law of 1-256 ; and " those 
 
GAMES AND PASTIMES. 235 
 
 who are discovered using them, and frequenting taverns and bad places, will 
 be looked upon as suspicious characters." A law of 1291 repeats, "That 
 games with dice be forbidden." N^evertlieless, though these prohibitions 
 were frequently renewed, people continued to disregard them and to lose 
 much money at such games. The law of loOG is aimed particularly against 
 loaded dice, which must have been contemporary with the origin of dice 
 themselves, for no games ever gave rise to a greater amount of roguery than 
 those of tliis description. They were, however, publicly sold in spite of all 
 the laws to the contrary ; for, in the " Dit du Mercier," the dealer offers his 
 merchandise thus : — 
 
 " J'ay dez de plus, j'ay dez de moins, (" I ]ia\e lieavy dice, I have light dice, 
 
 De Paris, de Chartrcs, de Rains." From Paris, from Chartres, and from Rains.") 
 
 It has been said that the game of dice was at first called the game of God, 
 because the regulation of lottery was one of God's prerogatives ; but this 
 derivation is purely imaginary. What appears more likely is, that dice 
 were first forbidden by the Church, and then bj' the civil authorities, on 
 account of the fearful oaths which were so apt to be uttered by those jDlayers 
 who had a run of ill luck. Nothing was commoner than for people to ruin 
 themselves at this game. The poems of troubadours are full of imprecations 
 against the fatal chance of dice; many troubadours, such as Guillaume Magret 
 and Gaucelm Faydit, lost their fortunes at it, and their lives in consequence. 
 Eutebeuf exclaims, in one of his satires, " Dice rob me of all my clothes, dice 
 kill me, dice watch me, dice track me, dice attack me, and dice defy me." 
 The blasphemies of the gamblers did not always remain unpunished. "Philip 
 Augustus," says PJgord, in his Latin liistory of this king, "carried his 
 aversion for oaths to such an extent, that if any one, whether knight or of 
 any other rank, let one slip from his lips in the presence of the sovereign, 
 even by mistake, he was ordered to be immediately thrown into the river." 
 Louis XII., who was somewhat less severe, contented himself with having a 
 hole bored with a hot iron through the blasphemer's tongue. 
 
 The work "On the Manner of playing with Dice," has handed down to us 
 the technical terms used in these games, which varied as much in practice 
 as in name. They sometimes played with three dice, sometimes with six ; 
 different games were also in fashion, and in some the cast of the dice alone 
 decided. The "ames of cards were also most numerous, but it is not our 
 
236 
 
 GAMES AND PASTIMES. 
 
 intention to give the origin of them here. It is sufficient to name a few of the 
 most popular ones in France, which were, Flux, Prime, Sequence, Triomphe, 
 Piquet, Trente-et-un, Passe-dix, Condemnade, Lansquenet, Marriage, Gajr, 
 or J'ai, Malcontent, Here, &c. (Fig. 179 and 180). All these games, which 
 were as much forbidden as dice, were played in taverns as well as at court ; 
 and, just as there were loaded dice, so were there also false cards, pre- 
 pared by rogues for cheating. The greater number of the games of cards 
 formerly did not require the least skill on the part of the players, chance 
 
 Figs. 179 and 180. — Freucla Cards for a Game of Piquet, early Sixteenth Century. — Collection 
 of the National Library of Paris. 
 
 alone deciding. The game of Talks, however, required skiU and calculation, 
 for under this head were comprised all the games which were played on a 
 board, and particularly chess, draughts, and backgammon. The invention of 
 the game of chess has been attributed to the Assj^rians, and there can be no 
 doubt but that it came from the East, and reached Gaul about the beginning 
 of the ninth century, although it was not extensively known till about the 
 twelfth. The annals of chivalry continually speak of the barons playing at 
 these games, and especially at chess. Historians also mention chess, and 
 
GAMES AND PASTIMES. 2,7 
 
 show that it was played with the same zest in the camiD of the Saracens as in 
 that of the Crusaders. We must not bo surprised if chess shared the pro- 
 hibition kid upon dice, for those who were ignorant of its ingenious com- 
 binations ranked it amongst games of chance. The Council of Paris, in 
 1212, therefore condemned chess for the same reasons as dice, and it was 
 specially forbidden to church people, who had begun to make it their 
 habitual pastime. The royal edict of 1254 was equally unjust with reo-ard 
 to this game. " We strictly forbid," says Louis IX., " any person to play at 
 dice, tables, or chess." This pious king set himself against these games, 
 which he looked upon as inventions of the devil. After the fatal day of 
 Mansorah, in 1249, the Xing, who was stQl in Egj^jt with the remnants 
 of his army, asked what his brother, the Comte d'xVnjou, was doing. "He 
 was told," says Joinville, "that he was playing at tables with his Royal 
 Highness Gaultier dc Nemours. The King was highly incensed against his 
 brother, and, though most feeble from the effects of his illness, went to him, 
 and taking the dice and the tables, had them thrown into the sea." Never- 
 theless Louis IX. received as a present from the Vkux dc In Montague, chief 
 of the Ismalians, a chessboard made of gold and rock crystal, the pieces being 
 of precious metals beautifully worked. It has been asserted, but incorrectly, 
 that this chessboard was the one preserved in the Musee de Cluny, after 
 having long formed part of the treasures of the Kings of France. 
 
 Amongst the games comprised under the name of taUcs, it is sufficient to 
 mention that of draughts, which was formerly played with dice and with the 
 same men as were used for chess ; also the game of hoiwhrf, or Joiichecx, that 
 is, bones or spillikins, games which required pieces or men in the same wav 
 as chess, but which required more quickness of hand than of intelligence ; 
 and epimjlcK, or push-pin, which was played in a similar manner to the 
 honchets, and was the great amusement of the small pages in the houses of 
 the nobility. When they had not epingles, honehcts, or draughtsmen to 
 phiy with, they used their fingers instead, and pla}-cd a game which is still 
 most popular amongst the Italian people, called the innrra, and which was 
 as much in vogue with the ancient Romans as it is among the modern 
 l>iauans. It consisted of .suddenly raising as many fingers as had been shown 
 oy one's adversary, and gave rise to a groat amount of amusement among the 
 players and lookers-on. The games played by girls were, of course, different 
 from those in use among boys. The latter played at marbles, htdtcs, peg or 
 
23^ 
 
 GA.IfES AXD PASTLVES. 
 
 liiimming tops, qu.o{t%, foztquet, merelles, and a number of other games, many 
 of ■wHcIl are now unknown. The girls, it is almost needless to say, from 
 the earliest tim.es played with dolls. Bn'chp, a game in which a brick and a 
 
 Fig. 181. — Allegorical Scene of one of the Courts of Lore in Prorence. — In the First Compart- 
 ment, the God of Love, Cupid, is sitting on the Stump of a Laurel-tree, -n-ounding with his 
 Darts those who do Mm homage ; the Second Compartment represents the Lore Tovrs of Men 
 and 'Women. — From the Cover of a Looking-glass, carved in Ivory, of the End of the Thii'teenth 
 Century. 
 
 small stick was used, was also a fevourite. Martimis, or small quoits, wolf 
 or fox, blind man's buff, hide and seek, quoits, &c., were all girls' games. 
 The greater part of these amusements were enlivened by a chorus, which all 
 the girls sang together, or by dialogues sung or chanted in unison. 
 
THE CHESS-PLAYERS. 
 
 After a miniature of "T/iy Three Ayes of M'ln", a ms. of the fifteenth century 
 attributed to Estienne Porchier. (Bibl. of M. Ambroise Firmin-Didot.) 
 
 '«nc I! laid in one of the laloona of ihe castle of Plessis-les-Tours, the residence of Louis X I ; in the player 
 to the right, the features of the king ate recognisable. 
 
GAMES AND PASTIMES. 
 
 If chndren had their games, which for many generations continued com- 
 paratively imchanged, so the dames and the young ladies had theirs, consisting 
 of gallantry and politeness, which only disappeared ^ath those harmless 
 assembhes in which the two sexes vied with each other in urbanity, friendly 
 roguishncss, and wit. It would require long antiquarian researches to 
 discover the origin and mode of playing many of these pastimes, such as 
 des oes, dcs frois dnes, des accords birjarris, du jardin madamc, dc la fricade, 
 du feiseau, cle la miclc, and a number of others which are named but not 
 described in the records of the times. The game d rorcilk, the invention of 
 which is attributed to the troubadour Guillaume Adhemar, the jeu dcs 
 Valentines, or the game of lovers, and the numerous games of forfeits, which 
 have come down to us from the Coui-ts of Love of the Middle Ages, we find 
 to be somewhat deprived of their original simpHcity in the way they are now 
 played in country-houses in the winter and at village festivals in the summer. 
 But the Courts of Love are no longer in existence gravely to superintend aU 
 these diversions (Fig. 181). 
 
 Amongst the amusements which time has not obliterated, but which, on 
 the contrary', seems destined to be of longer duration than monuments of 
 stone and brass, we must name dancing, which was certainly one of the 
 principal amusements of society, and which has come down to us through all 
 religions, all customs, aU people, and all ages, preserving at the same time 
 much of its original character. Dancing appears, at each period of the 
 world's history, to have been alternately religious and profime, lively and 
 solemn, fi-ivolous and severe. Though dancing was as common an amuse- 
 ment formerly as it is now, there was this essential difference between the 
 two periods, namely, that certain people, such as the Eomans, were very fond 
 of seeing dancing, but did not join in it themselves. Tiberius drove the 
 dancers out of Rome, and Domitian dismissed certain senators from their 
 seats m the senate who had degraded themselves by dancing ; and there 
 seems to be no doubt that the Romans, from the conquest of Julius CiBsar, 
 did not themselves patronise the art. There were a number of professional 
 dancers in Gaul, as well as in the other provinces of the Roman Empire, 
 who were hired to dance at feasts, and who endeavoured to do their best to 
 make their art as popular as possible. The lightheartedness of the Gauls, 
 tlieir natural gaiety, their love for violent exercise and for pleasures of all 
 sarts, made thcni delight in dancing, and indulge in it with great energy; 
 
240 
 
 GAMES AND PASTIMES. 
 
 and thus, notwithstanding the repugnance of the Roman aristocracy and the 
 prohibitions and anathemas of councils and synods, dancing has always been 
 one of the faTourite pastimes of the Gauls and the French. 
 
 Leuce Carin, a writer of doubtful authority, states that in the early 
 history of Christianity the faithful danced, or rather stamped, in measured 
 time during religious ceremonials, gesticulating and distorting themselves. 
 This is, however, a mistake. The only thing approaching to it was the 
 
 Fig. 182.— Dancers on Cliiistmas Kight pvmished lor their Impiety, and condemned to dance for 
 a whole Year (Legend of the Fifteenth Century) .—Facsimile of a Woodcut by P. Wohlge- 
 muth, in the " Liher Chronicorum Mundi :" folio (Nurcmhcrg, 1493). 
 
 slight trace of the ancient Pagan dances which remained in the feast of the 
 first Sunday in Lent, and which probably belonged to the religious ceremonies 
 of the Druids. At nightfaU fires were lighted in public places, and numbers 
 of people danced madly round them. Eioting and disorderly conduct often 
 resulted from this popular feast, and the magistrates were obliged to interfere 
 in order to suppress it. The church, too, did not close her eyes to the abuses 
 which this feast engendered, although episcopal admonitions were not always 
 listened to (Fig. 182). We see, in the records of one of the most recent 
 
GAMES AND PASTIMES. 241 
 
 Councils of Narbonne, that the custom of dancing in the churches and in 
 the cemeteries on certain feasts had not been abolished in some jwrts of the 
 Languedoc at the end of the sixteenth century. 
 
 Dancing was at all times forbidden by the Catholic Church on account of 
 its tendency to corrupt the morals, and for centuries ecclesiastical authority 
 was strenuously opposed to it ; but, on the other hand, it could not complain 
 of want of encouragement from the civil power. ^Vhen King Childebert, in 
 554, forbade all dances in his domains, he was only induced to do so by the 
 influence of the bishops. We have but little information respecting the 
 dances of this period, and it would be impossible accurately to determine as 
 to the justice of their being forbidden. They were certainly no longer those 
 war-dances which the Franks had brought with them, and which antiqiiarians 
 have mentioned under the name of Pyrrhlchienne dances. In any case war- 
 dances reappeared at the commencement of chivalry ; for, 'n hen a new knight 
 was elected, all the knights in full armour performed evolutions, either on 
 foot or on horseback, to the sound of military music, and the populace 
 danced round them. It has been said that this was the origin of court 
 baUets, and La Colombiere, in his " Theatre d'Honneur et de Chevalerie," 
 relates that this ancient dance of the knights was kept up by the Spaniards, 
 who called it the Morenque. 
 
 The Middle Ages was the great epoch for dancing, especially in France. 
 There were an endless number of dancing festivals, and, from reading the 
 old poets and romancers, one might imagine that the French had never 
 anything better to do than to dance, and that at all hours of the day and 
 mght. A curious argument in favour of the practical utility of dancing is 
 suggested by Jean Tabourot in his " Orchesographie," published at Langres 
 m 1588, under the name of Thoinot Arbeau. lie says, "Dancing is prac- 
 tised m order to see whether lovers are healthy and suitable for one another: 
 at the end of a dance the gentlemen are pennitted to kiss their mistresses, in 
 order that they may ascertain if they have an agreeable breath. In this 
 matter, besides many other good results which follow from dancing, it 
 becomes necessary for the good governing of society." Such was the doctrine 
 01 the Courts of Love, which stoutly took up the defence of dancing against 
 the clergy. In those days, as soon as the two sexes were assembled in 
 sufficient numbers, before or after the feasts, the balls began, and men and 
 "omen took each other by the hand and commenced the performance in regular 
 
 I I 
 
242 
 
 GAMES AXD PASTIMES. 
 
 steps (Fig. 183). The author of the poem of Provence, called "Flamenca," 
 thus allegorically describes these amusements : " Youth and Gaiety opened 
 
 Fig. 1S3. — Peasant Dances at the ilay Feasts.— Fac-simile of a Miniature in a Prayer-book 
 of the Fifteenth Century, in the National Library of Paris. 
 
 the ball, accompanied by their sister Braver}- ; Cowardice, confused, went of 
 her own accord and hid herself." The troubadours mention a great n'lmber 
 of dances, without describing them ; no doubt thev were so tamiliar that 
 
GA.VFS AND PASTIMES. 243. 
 
 ttey thougM a description of them needless. They often speak of the danse 
 cm virkt, a kind of round dance, during the performance of which each 
 person in turn sang a verse, the chorus being repeated by all. In the code 
 of the Courts of Love, entitled " Arresta Amorum," that is, the decrees of 
 love, the pas de Brabant is mentioned, in which each gentleman bent his 
 knee before his lady ; and also the danse au chapeM, at the end of which each 
 dancer kissed his lady. Romances of chivalry frequently mention that knights 
 used -to dance with the dames and yoiing ladies without taking off their 
 helmets and coats of mail. Although this costume was hardly fitted for the 
 purpose, we find, in the romance of " Perceforet," that after a repast, whilst 
 the tables were being removed, everything was prepared for a ball, and that 
 although the knights made no change in their accoutrements, yet the ladies 
 ■went and made fresh toilettes. "Then," says the old noveKst, "the young 
 knights and the young ladies began to play their instruments and to have 
 the dance." From this custom may be traced the origin of the ancient Gallic 
 proverb, "Apres la jMnse rient la danse" ("After the feast comes the dance"). 
 Sometimes a minstrel sang songs to the accompaniment of the harp, and the 
 young ladies danced in couples and repeated at intervals the minstrel's songs. 
 Sometimes the torch-dance was performed ; in this each performer bore in his 
 hand a long lighted taper, and endeavoured to prevent his neighbours from 
 blowing it out, which each one tried to do if possible (Fig. 184). This dance, 
 which was in use up to the end of the sixteenth century at court, was 
 generally reserved for weddings. 
 
 Dancing lost much of its simplicity and harmlessness when masquerades 
 were introduced, these being the first examples of the ballet. These mas- 
 querades, which soon after their introduction became passionately indulged 
 in at court under Charles VI., were, at first, only allowed during Carnival, 
 and on particular occasions called Charkaris, and they were usually made 
 the pretext for the practice of the most licentious follies. These masquerades 
 had a most unfortunate inauguration by the catastrophe which rendered the 
 madness of Charles VI. incurable, and which is described in history under 
 the name of the Burning Ballet. It was on the 29th of January, 1393, that 
 this ballet made famous the festival held in the Eoyal Palace of St. Paul in 
 Paris, on the occasion of the marriage of one of the maids of honour of Queen 
 Isabel of Bavaria with a gentleman of Vcrmandois, The bride was a widow, 
 and the second nuplials were deemed a fitting occasion for the Charivaris. 
 
2+4 
 
 GAMES AND PASTIMES. 
 
 A gentleman from Normandy, named Hugonin de Gensay, thought he could 
 create a sensation by having a dance of wild men to please the ladies. " He 
 admitted to his plot," says Froissart, " the king and four of the principal 
 nobles of the court. These all had themselves sewn up in close-fitting linen 
 garments covered with resin on which a quantity of tow was glued, and in 
 
 ^/iL-f.^ 
 
 / « 
 
 'i 
 
 
 f . ' "- ^1,*. fc , ' f' i\ .- * leg 
 
 
 
 Fig. 185.— The Burning Ballet.— Fac-simile of a Miniature in the Manuscript of the 
 " Chroniques " of Froissart (Fifteenth Century), in the National Library of Pai-is. 
 
 this guise they appeared in the middle of the ball. The king was alone, but' 
 the other four were chained together. They jumped about like madmen, 
 uttered wild cries, and made all sorts of eccentric gestures. No one knew 
 who these hideous objects were, but the Duke of Orleans determined to find 
 out, so he took a candle and imprudently approached too near one of the men 
 
GAMES AND PASTIMES. 
 
 245 
 
 The tow caught fire, and the flames enveloped him and the other three who 
 were chained to him in a moment." " They wore burning for nearly an hour 
 like torches," says a chronicler. " The king had the good fortune to escape 
 the peril, because the Duchesse de Berry, his aunt, recognised him, and had 
 the presence of mind to enveloj) him in her train" (Fig. 185). Such a 
 calamity, one would have thought, might have been sufficient to disgust 
 people with masquerades, but tbey were none the less in favour at court 
 for many years afterwards ; and, two centuries later, the author of the 
 " Orchesographie " thus writes on this subject : " Kings and princes give 
 dances and masquerades for amusement and in order to aiford a joyful welcome 
 to foreign nobles ; we also practise the same amusements on the celebration 
 
 Fig. I8G. — Musicians accompanying the Dancing. — Fac-sunile of a Wood Engravinn' in the 
 " Orchesographie " of Thoinot Ai-beau (Jehan Tabourot) ; 4to (Langres, 1588). 
 
 of marriages." In no country in the woi'ld was dancing practised with more 
 grace and elegance than in France. Foreign dances of every kiud were 
 introduced, and, after being remodelled and brought to as great perfection 
 as possible, they were often returned to the countries from which they had 
 been imported under almost a new character. 
 
 In 1548, the dances of the Boarnais, which were much admired at the 
 court of the Comtes de Foix, especially those called the danse maurcsqiw and 
 the danse den sauvarjes, were introduced at the court of France, and excited 
 great merriment. So popular did they become, that with a little modifica- 
 tion they soon were considered essentially French. The German dances, 
 which were distinguished by the rapidity of their movements, were also 
 
246 
 
 GA3IES AND PASTIJIES. 
 
 tliorouglily establislied at the court of France. Italian, Milanese, Spanish, 
 and Piedmontese dances \rere in fashion in France before the expedition of 
 Charles VIII. into Italy ; and when this king, followed by his youthful 
 nobility, passed over the mountains to march to the conquest of ^Naples, he 
 found everywhere in the towns that welcomed him, and in which balls and 
 masquerades were given in honour of his visit, the dance d la mode de France, 
 which consisted of a sort of medley of the dances of all countries. Some 
 hundreds of these dances have been enumerated in the fifth book of the 
 "Pantagruel" of Rabelais, and in various humorous works of those who 
 succeeded him. They owed their success to the singing with which they 
 were generally accompanied, or to the postxires, pantomimes, or drolleries 
 with which they were supplemented for the amusement of the spectators. A 
 
 Fig. 187. — The Dance called "La Gaillavde." — Fac-simile of Wood Engra^-ings from the 
 " Orchesographie " of Thomot Arbeau (Jehan Tabourot) : 4to (Langres, I0S8). 
 
 few, and amongst others that of the five steps and that of the three faces, are 
 mentioned in the " History of the Queen of Navarre." 
 
 Dances were divided into two distinct classes — danses basses, or commoa 
 and regular dances, which did not admit of jumping, violent movements, 
 or extraordinary contortions — and the danses par /laiit, which were irregular, 
 and comprised all sorts of antics and buffoonery. The regidar French dance 
 was a basse dance, called the gaillarde ; it was accompanied by the sound of 
 the hautbois and tambourine, and originally it was danced vdxh. great form 
 and state. This is the dance which Jean Tabourot has described ; it began 
 with the two performers standing opposite to each other, advancing, bowing, 
 and retiring. " These advancings and retirings were done in steps to the 
 time of the music, and continued until the instrumental accompaniment 
 
GAMES AND PASTIMES. 
 
 Z47 
 
 stopped ; then the gentleman made his bow to the lady, took her by the hand, 
 thanked her, and led her to her seat." The tourdion was similar to the 
 (jaillarde, only faster, and was accompanied with more action. Each 
 province of France had its national dance, such as the bourree of Auvergne, 
 the trioris of Brittany, the braiiks of Poitou, and the trikes of Lorraine, 
 which constituted a very agreeable pastime, and one in which the French 
 excelled all other nations. This art, " so ancient, so honourable, and so 
 profitable," to use the words of Jean Tabourot, was long In esteem in the 
 highest social circles, and the old men liked to display their agility, and the 
 dames and young ladies to find a temperate exercise calculated to contribute 
 to their health as well as to their amusement. 
 
 The sixteenth century was the great era of dancing in all the courts of 
 Europe ; but under the Valois, the art had more charm and prestige at the 
 court of France than anywhere else. The Queen-mother, Catherine, 
 surrounded by a crowd of pretty young ladies, who composed what she called 
 hev Jfi/iiiff squadron, presided at these exciting dances. A certain Balthazar 
 de Beaujoyeux was master of her ballets, and they danced at the Castle of 
 Elois the night before the Due de Guise was assassinated imder the eyes 
 of Henry III., just as they had danced at the Chateau of the Tuileries the 
 day after St. Bartholomew's Day. 
 
 Fig. 188.— The Ciame of Bob Applf, or SwinsinG: Appla— Manusrript of the Fourteenth 
 Century, in the British lliiseum. 
 
COMMERCE, 
 
 state of Commerce after the Fall of the Roman Empire. — Its Revival imder the Frantish Kings. — 
 Its Prosperity under Charlemagne. — Its Decline down to the Time of the Crusaders. — The 
 Levant Trade of the East. — Flourishing State of the Towns of Provence and Languedoc. — 
 Establishment of Fairs. — Fairs of Landit, Champagne, Beaucaire, and Lyons. — Weights and 
 Measures. — Commercial Flanders. — Laws of Maritime Commerce. — Consular Laws. — Banks 
 and Bills of Exchange. — French Settlements on the Coast of Africa. — Consequences of the 
 Discovery of America. 
 
 OMMERCE in the Middle Ages," 
 says M. Charles Grandmaison, " dif- 
 fered but little from that of a more 
 remote period. It was essentially a 
 local and limited traffic, rather inland 
 than maritime, for long and perilous 
 sea voj^ages only commenced towards 
 the end of the fifteenth century, or 
 about the time when Columbus dis- 
 covered America." 
 
 On the fall of the Roman Empire, 
 commerce was rendered insecure, and, indeed, it was almost completely put 
 a stop to by the barbarian invasions, and all facility of communication 
 between different nations, and even between towns of the same country, was 
 interrupted. In those times of social confusion, there were periods of such 
 poverty and distress, that for want of money commerce was reduced to the 
 simple exchange of the positive necessaries of life. When order was a little 
 restored, and society and the minds of people became more composed, we 
 see commerce recovering its position ; and France was, perhaps, the first 
 country in Europe in which this happy change took place. Those famous 
 cities of Gaul, which ancient authors describe to us as so rich and so indus- 
 trious, quickly recovered their former prosperity, and the friendly relations 
 which were established between the kings of the Franks and the Eastern 
 
COMMERCE. 
 
 249 
 
 Empire eucouragecl the Gallic cities in cultivating a commerce, which was at 
 that time the most important and most extensive in the world. 
 
 Marseilles, the ancient Phoenician colony, once the rival and then the 
 successor to Carthage, was undoubtedly at the head of the connnercial cities 
 of France. Next to her came Aries, which supplied ship-huilders and 
 seamen to the fleet of Provence ; and Narbonue, which admitted into its 
 harbour ships from Spain, Sicily, and Africa, until, in consequence of the 
 Aude having changed its course, it was obliged to relinquish the greater part 
 of its maritime commerce in favour of Montpellicr. 
 
 Commerce maintained frequent commimications with the East ; it sought 
 
 X>^ 
 
 
 yV'ln^^^^ 
 
 
 - i,\sxKii';ici 
 
 , , pis V 
 
 
 M:? 
 
 LAMi.il Mi J) Hi. R RAJS, ii 
 
 Fig. 189. — View of Alexandria in Egypt, in the Sixteenth Century. — Fac-simile of a Woodcut in 
 the Travels of P. Belon, " Observations de Plusieurs Singulaiitez,'' &c. : 4to (Paris, 1588). 
 
 its supplies on the coast of Syiia, and especially at Alexandria, in Egypt, 
 which was a kind of depot for goods obtained from the rich countries lying 
 beyond the Red Sea (Figs. 189 and 190). The Frank navigators imported 
 from these countries, groceries, linen, Egyptian paper, pearls, perfumes, and 
 a thousand other rare and choice articles. In exchange they offered chiefly 
 the precious metals in bars rather than coined, and it is j^robable that 
 lit this period they also exported iron, wines, oil, and wax. The agricul- 
 tural produce and manufactures of Gaul had not sufEcieiitly developed 
 
 K K 
 
250 
 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 to provide anything more than what was required for the producers them- 
 selves. Industry was as j^et, if not purely domestic, confined to monasteries 
 and to the houses of the nohility ; and even the kings employed women or 
 serf workmen to manufacture the coarse stuffs with which they clothed them- 
 selves and their households. We may add, that the bad state of the roads, 
 the little security they offered to travellers, the extortions of all kinds to 
 which foreign merchants were subjected, and above all the iaiquitous system 
 
 
 Fig. 190.— Transport of Merchandise on the Backs of Camels.— Fac-simile of a Woodcut in the 
 " Cosmographie Universelle," of Thevet : folio, 1575. 
 
 of fines and toUs which each landowner thought right to exact, before letting 
 merchandise pass through his domains, all created insuperable obstacles to 
 the development of commerce. 
 
 The Frank kings on several occasions evinced a desire that communica- 
 tions favourable to trade should be re-established in their dominions. We 
 find, for instance, Chilperic making treaties with Eastern emperors in favour 
 
COMMERCE. 
 
 of the merchants of Agde and Marseilles, Queen Brimehaut making viaducts 
 worthy of the Romans, and which still bear her name, and Dagobert opening 
 at St. Denis free fairs — that is to say, free, or nearly so, from all tolls and 
 taxes— to which goods, both agricultural and manufactured, were sent from 
 every corner of Europe and the known world, to be afterwards distributed 
 through the towns and provinces by the enterprise of intei'nal commerce. 
 
 After the reign of Dagobert, commerce again declined without positively 
 ceasing, for the revolution, which transferred the power of the kings to the 
 mayors of the palace was not of a nature to exhavist the resoui'ces of public pros- 
 perity ; and a charter of 710 proves that the merchants of Saxony, England, 
 Jiormandy, and even Hungarj^, still flocked to the fairs of St. Denis. 
 
 Fnder the powerful and administrative hand of Charlemagne, the roads 
 being better kept up, and the rivers being made more navigable, commerce 
 became safe and more general ; the coasts were protected from piratical 
 incursions ; lighthouses were erected at dangerous points, to prevent ship- 
 wrecks ; and treaties of commerce with foreign nations, including even the 
 most distant, guaranteed the liberty and security of French traders abroad. 
 
 Under the weak successors of this monarch, notwithstanding their many 
 efforts, commerce was again subjected to all sorts of injustice and extortions, 
 and all its safeguards were rapidly destroyed. The Moors in the south, 
 and the Xormans in the north, appeared to desire to destroy everything 
 which came in their way, and already ]\[arseilles, in 8-38, was taken and 
 pillaged by the Greeks. The constant altercations between the sons of Louis 
 le Debonnaire and their unfortunate father, their jealousies amongst them- 
 selves, and their fratricidal wars, increased the measure of public calamity, so 
 that soon, overrun by foreign enemies and destroyed by her own sons, France 
 became a vast field of disorder and desolation. 
 
 The Church, which alone possessed some social influence, never ceased to 
 use its authority in endeavouring to remedy this misei'able state of things ; 
 but episcopal edicts, papal anathemas, and decrees of councils, had only a 
 partial eSect at this unhappy jieriod. At any moment agricultural and com- 
 mercial operations were liable to be interrupted, if not completely ruined, by 
 the violence of a wild and rapacious soldiery ; at every step the roads, often 
 impassable, were intercepted by toll-bars for some duo of a vexatious nature, 
 besides being continually infested by bands of brigands, who carried off the 
 merchandise and murdered those few merchants who were so bold as to attempt 
 
COMMERCE. 
 
 to continue their business. It was the Church, occupied as she was with 
 the interests of civilisation, who again assisted commerce to emerge from 
 the state of annihilation into which it had fallen ; and the " Peace or Truce 
 of God," established in 1041, endeavoured to stop at least the internal 
 
 Pig. 191. — Trade on the Sea-poi'ts of the Lerrtiit — After a Miniature in a Manuscript of the 
 Travels of Marco Polo (Fifteenth Centmy), Library of the Arsenal of Paxis. 
 
 wars of feudalism, and it succeeded, at any rate for a time, in arresting these 
 disorders. This was all that could be done at that period, and the Church 
 accomplished it, by taking the high hand ; and with as much unselfishness 
 as energy and courage, she regulated society, which had been abandoned by 
 the civil power from sheer impotence and want of administrative capability. 
 
COMMERCE. 233 
 
 At all events, thanks to ecclesiastical foresight, which increased the 
 number of fairs and markets at the gates of abbeys and convents, the first 
 step was made towards the general resuscitation of commerce. Indeed tlie 
 Church may be said to have largely contributed to develop the spirit of 
 progress and liberty, whence were to spring societies and nationalities, and, 
 in a word, modern organization. 
 
 The Eastern commerce furni.shed the first elements of that tradino- 
 activity which showed itself on the borders of the Mediterranean, and we 
 find the ancient towns of Provence and Languedoc springing up ao-ain by the 
 side of the republics of Amalfi, Venice, Genoa, and Pisa, which had become 
 the rich depots of all maritime trade. 
 
 At first, as we have already stated, the wares of India came to Europe 
 through the Greek port of Alexandria, or through Constantinople. The 
 Crusades, which had facilitated the relations with Eastern countries, developed 
 a taste in the West for their indigenous productions, gave a fresh vio'our to 
 this foreign commerce, and rendered it more productive by removing the 
 stumbling blocks which had arrested its progress (Fig. 191). 
 
 The conquest of Palestine by the Crusaders had first opened all the 
 towns and harbours of this wealthy region to Western traders, and many of 
 them were able permanently to estaldish themselves there, with all sorts of 
 privileges and exemptions from taxes, which were gladly offered to them by 
 the nobles who had transferred feudal power to Mussulman territories. 
 
 Ocean commerce assumed from this moment proportions hitherto 
 unknown. Notwithstanding the papal bulls and decrees, which forbade 
 Christians from having any connection with infidels, the voice of interest was 
 more Ustened to than that of the Church (Fig. 192), and traders did not fear 
 to disobey the political and religious oi'ders which forbade them to carry 
 arms and slaves to the enemies of the faith. 
 
 It was easy to foretell, from the very first, that the military occupation 
 of the Holy Land would not be permanent. In consequence of this, there- 
 fore, the nearer the loss of this fine conquest seemed to be, the greater were 
 the efforts made by the maritime towns of the West to re-establish, on a more 
 solid and lasting basis, a commercial alliance with Egypt, the country which 
 they selected to replace Palestine, in a mercantile point of view. Marseilles 
 was the greatest siipporter of this intercourse with Egypt; and in the twelfth 
 and thirteenth centuries she reached a verj' liigli position, which she owed to 
 
254 
 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 'j^ ©tntnc mo2ftf SnittMf (HI vamU efl comiiaTe anawtte fitrtrtet oif tttrfftc pttt'E* 
 
 ileffteit ferit^eHterfiP (ttrc^e. ictitautte qitont cirtte et) trtPt tufqttee dfiii befot) Soptt 
 ofe.cflei) g:t;tnt8 pcrif beflrenot^ee ou- pjtfc bes t«ttcm)>6| iCnt etjMfcn fotti; f oufrotlts 
 i^txi\ <2^ef eft fccoipe br fijommf Siwn't fftt tnonSel fcr iiiaTclTnnStfc qittt -po:!*? 
 e|l fot^ ante/ ieeBettu6(t Uonttcsoemtteei^LepoittfTpotaSte/aiiqttef qui^par/ 
 ittew e|? fomtctflpnement nc^i{ ^ttmct eft fe monSf pfawj lie 5 wee ef pccfies- 
 (\w qui fduCf fl Co pflffei; fflE'ei) pcti^d oagicrgSie co2V8|]t mM iJefltwio^efi) totnecfftf- 
 ■nitCe/ J) oiif Oif u jja-tjof gcace troue Siuif fcsai;5w»3.met) , * 
 
 Fig. 192. — Merchant Vessel in a Storm.— Fac-simile of a Woodcut in the " Grand Kalendrier et 
 Compost dea Bergers," in folio : printed at Troyes, about 1490, by Nicolas de Eouge. 
 
 * " Mortal man, living in the world, is compared to a vessel on perilous seas, bearing rich mer- 
 chandise, by -which, if it can come to harbour, the merchant ■nill be rendered rich and happy. The 
 ship from the commencement to the end of its voj'age is in great peril of being lost or taken by an 
 enemy, for the seas are always beset with .perils. So is the body of man during its sojom-n in the 
 world. The merchandise he bears is his soul, his virtues, and his good deeds. The harbour is 
 paradise, and he who reaches that haven is made supremely rich. The sea is the world, full of 
 vices and sins, and in which all, during their passage through life, are in peril and danger ot 
 losing body and soul and of being drowned in the infernal sea, from which God in His grace keep 
 us ! Amen." 
 
COMMERCE, 
 
 255 
 
 her shipowners and traders. In the foui-teenth century, however, the princes 
 of the house of Anjou ruined her like the rest of Provence, in the great and 
 fruitless efforts which they made to recover the kingdom of Naples ; and it 
 was not until the reign of Loiiis XI. that the old Phanician city recovered 
 its maritime and commercial prosperity (Fig. 193). 
 
 Kg. 193.— View and Plan of Marseilles and its Harbour, in the Sixteenth Centuiy.— From a 
 Copper-plate in the Collection of G. Bruin, in folio : " Theatre des Citez du Monde " 
 
 Languedoc, depressed, and for a time nearly ruined in the thirteenth 
 century by the effect of the wars of the Albigeuses, was enabled, subse- 
 quently, to recover itself. Beziers, Agde, Narbonne, and especially Mont- 
 pellier, so quickly established imijortant trading connections with all the 
 
2s6 COMMERCE. 
 
 ports of the Mediterranean, that at the end of the fourteenth century consuls 
 were appointed at each of these towns, in order to protect and direct their 
 transmarine commerce. A traveller of the twelfth century, Benjamin de 
 Tudele, relates that in these ports, which were afterwards called the stepping 
 stones to the Levant, every hxnguage in the world might be heard. 
 
 Toulouse was soon on a par with the towns of Lower Languedoc, and the 
 Garonne poured into the markets, not only the produce of Guienne, and of 
 the western parts of France, but also those of Flanders, Normandy, and 
 England. We may observe, however, that Bordeaux, although placed in a 
 most advantageous position, at the mouth of the river, only possessed, when 
 under the English dominion, a very limited commerce, principally confined 
 to the export of wines to Great Britain in exchange for corn, oil, &c. 
 
 La Eochelle, on the same coast, was much more flourishing at this period, 
 owing to the numerous coasters which carried the wines of Aimis and 
 Saintonge, and the salt of Brouage to Flanders, the Netherlands, and the 
 north of Germany. Vitre already had its silk manufactories in the fifteenth 
 century, and Nantes gave promise of her future greatness as a depot of 
 maritime commerce. It was about this time also that the fisheries became 
 a new industry, in which Bayonne and a few villages on the sea-coast took 
 the lead, some being especially engaged in whaling, and others in the cod 
 and herring fisheries (Fig. 194). 
 
 Long before this, Normandy had depended on other branches of trade for 
 its commercial prosperity. Its fabrics of woollen stuflfs, its arms and cutlery, 
 besides the agricultural productions of its fertile and well cultivated soil, 
 each furnished material for export on a large scale. 
 
 The towns of Rouen and Caen were especially manufacturing cities, and 
 were very rich. This was the case with Rouen particularly, which was 
 situated on the Seine, and was at that time an extensive depot for provisions 
 and other merchandise which was sent down the river for export, or was 
 imported for future internal consumption. Already Paris, the abode of 
 kings, and the metropolis of government, began to foreshadow the immense 
 development which it was destined to undergo, by becoming the centre of 
 commercial affairs, and by daily adding to its labouring and mercantile j 
 population (Figs. 195 and 196). - 
 
 It was, however, outside the walls of Paris that commerce, which needed 
 liberty as well as protection, at first progressed most rapidly. The northern 
 
COMMERCE. 
 
 257 
 
 provinces had early united manufacturing industry with traffic, and this 
 double source of local prosperity was the origin of their enormous wealth. 
 Ghent and Bruges in the Low Countries, and Beauvais and Arras, were cele- 
 brated for their manufacture of cloths, carpets, and serge, and Caiubrai for 
 its fine cloths. The artizaus and merchants of these industrious cities then 
 
 Fig. 194.— Whale-Fishing.— Fac-simile of a Woodcut in the " Cosmographie Univeiselle" of 
 Thevet, in folio : Paris, l')74. 
 
 established their powerful corporations, whoso unwearied energy gave rise to 
 that commercial freedom .so favoural)k^ to trade. 
 
 More important than the woolkni manufactures — for the greater part of 
 the wool used was brought from England — was the manufacture of flax, 
 inasmuch as it encouraged agriculture, the raw material being produced 
 in Franco. This first flouri.shed in the north-east of France, and spread 
 slowly to Picardy, to Beauvois, and Brittany. Tbe central countries, with 
 
 I, I. 
 
258 COMMERCE. 
 
 the exception of Bruges, whose cloth manufactories were already celebrated 
 in the fifteenth century, remained essentially agricultural ; and their principal 
 towns were merely depots for imported goods. The institution of fairs, 
 however, rendered, it is true, this commerce of some of the towns as wide- 
 spread as it was productive. In the Middle Ages religious feasts and cere- 
 monials almost always gave rise to fairs, which commerce was not slow in 
 multiplj'ing as much as possible. The merchants naturally came to exhibit 
 their goods where the largest concourse of people afforded the greatest pro- 
 mise of their readily disp)osing of them. As early as the first dynasty of 
 Merovingian kings, temporary and periodical markets of this kind existed; 
 but except at St. Denis, articles of local consumption only were brought to 
 them. The reasons for this were, the heavy taxes which were levied by the 
 feudal lords on all merchandise exhibited for sale, and the danger which 
 foreign merchants ran of being plundered on their way, or even at the fair 
 itself. These causes for a long time delayed the progress of an institution 
 which was afterwards destined to become so useful and beneficial to aU 
 classes of the community. 
 
 We have several times mentioned the famous fair of Landit, which is 
 supposed to have been established by Charlemagne, bu.t which no doubt was 
 a sort of revival of the fairs of St. Denis, founded by Dagobert, and which 
 for a time had fallen into disuse in the midst of the general ruin which 
 preceded that emperor's reign. This fair of Landit was renowned over the 
 whole of Europe, and attracted merchants from all countries. It was held 
 in the month of June, and only lasted fifteen days. Goods of all sorts, both 
 of home and foreign manufacture, were sold, but the sale of parchment 
 was the principal object of the fair, to purchase a sujjply of which the 
 University of Paris regularly went in procession. On account of its special 
 character, this fair was of less general importance than the six others, which 
 from the twelfth century were held at Troyes, Provins, Lagny-sur-Marne, 
 Pheims, and Bar-sur-Aube. These infused so much commercial vitality 
 into the province of Champagne, that the nobles for the most part shook 
 off the prejudice which forbad their entering into any sort of trading 
 association. 
 
 Fairs multiplied in the centre and in the south of France simultaneously. 
 Those of Puy-en-Velay, now the capital of the Haute-Loire, are looked upon 
 as the most ancient, and they preserved their old reputation and attracted a 
 
COMMERCE. 
 
 259 
 
 considerable concourse of people, whicli was also increased by the pilgrimages 
 then made to Notre-Dame du Piiy- These fairs, which were more of a 
 religious than of a comjnercial character, were then of less importance as 
 regards trade than those held at Beaucaire. This town rose to great repute 
 in the thirteenth century, and, with the Lyons market, became at that time 
 the largest centre of commerce in the southern provinces. Placed at the 
 junction of the Saone and the Rhone, Lyons owed its commercial develop- 
 ment to the proximity of Marseilles and the towns of Italy. Its four annual 
 
 Fig. 195.— Measurers of Com in Paris. Fig. 196.— Hay Carriers. 
 
 Fac-simile of Woodcuts from the " Eoyal Orders concerning the Jurisdiction of the Company of 
 Merchants and Shrievalty in the City of Faris," in small folio goth. : Jacques Kyverd, 1528. 
 
 fairs were always much frequented, and when the kings of France transferred 
 to it the privileges of the fairs of Champagne, and transplanted to within 
 its walls the silk manufactories formerly established at Tours, Lyons really 
 became the second city of France. 
 
 It may be asserted as an estalilishcd fact that the gradual extension of 
 the power of the king, produced by the fall of feudalism, was favourable to 
 the extension of commerce. As early as the reign of Louis IX. many laws 
 and regulations prove that the kings were alive to the importance of trade. 
 
z6o COMMERCE. 
 
 Among the chief enactments was one whicli led to the formation of the 
 harhour of Aigues-Mortes on the Mediterranean ; another to the publication 
 of the book of " Weights and Measures," by Etienne Boileau, a work in 
 which the ancient statutes of the various trades were arranged and codified ; 
 and a third to the enactment made in the very year of this king's death, to 
 guarantee the securitj^ of vendors, and, at the same time, to ensure purchasers 
 against fraud. All these bear undoubted witness that an enlightened policy 
 in favour of commerce had already sprung up. 
 
 Philip^je le Bel issued several prohibitory enactments also in the interest 
 of home commerce and local industry, which Louis X. confirmed. PhilijDpe 
 le Long attempted even to outdo the judicious eflx)rts of Louis XL, and 
 tried, though unsuccessfully, to establish a uniformity in the weights and 
 measures throughout the kingdom ; a reform, however, which was never 
 accomplished until the revolution of 1789. It is difiicult to credit how 
 many different weights and measures were in use at that time, each one 
 varying according to local custom or the choice of the lord of the soil, who 
 probably in some way profited by the confusion which this uncertain state 
 of things must have produced. The fraud and errors to which this led may 
 easily be imagined, particularly in the intercourse between one part of the 
 covmtrjr and another. The feudal stamp is here thoroughly exhibited ; as 
 M. Charles de Grandmaison remarks, " Nothing is fixed, nothing is uniform, 
 everything is special and arbitrary, settled by the lord of the soil by virtue 
 of his right of justesse, by which he undertook the regulation and super- 
 intendence of the weights and measures in use in his lordship." 
 
 Measures of length and contents often differed much from one another, 
 although they might be similarly named, and it would require very com- 
 plicated comparative tables approximately to fix their value. The iried de roi 
 Avas frcm ten to twelve inches, and was the least varying measure. The 
 fathom difi'ered much in different parts, and in the attenipt to determine the 
 relations between the innumerable measures of contents which we find 
 recorded — a knowledge of which must have been necessarj^ for the commerce 
 of the period — we are stopped by a labyrinth of incomprehensible calculations, 
 which it is impossible to determine with any degree of certainty. 
 
 The weights were more uniform and less uncertain. The pound was 
 everywhere in use, but it was not everywhere of the same standard (Fig. 201). 
 For instance, at Paris it weighed sixteen ounces, whereas at Lyons it only 
 
COMMERCE. 
 
 261 
 
 weighed fourteen ; and in -weighing silk fifteen evinces to the pound was the 
 rule. At Toulouse and in Upper Languedoc the pound was oulj- thirteen 
 and a half ounces ; at Marseilles, thirteen ounces ; and at other places it even 
 fell to twelve ovmccs. There was in Paris a public scale called polds dii roi; 
 but this scale, though a most imjjortant means of revenue, was a great 
 hindrance to retail trade. 
 
 In spite of these petty and irritating impediments, the commerce of 
 France extended throughout the whole world. 
 
 Fig. 197.— View of Lubeck and its Harbour (Sixteenth Century).— From a Copper-plate in the 
 Work of P. Bertius, " Commentaria Rerum Germanicarum," in 4to : Amsterdam, 1616. 
 
 The compass — known in Italy as early as the twelfth century, but little 
 used until the fourteenth — enabled the mercantile navy to discover new 
 routes, and it was thus that true maritime commerce may be said regularly 
 to have begun. Tlie sailors of the Mediterranean, with the help of this little 
 instrument, dared to pass the Straits of Gibraltar, and to venture on the 
 ocean. From tliat moment commercial intercourse, which had previously 
 only existed liy land, and that willi great difficulty, was permanently esta- 
 lilished between the northern and southern harbour.s of Europe. 
 
 Flanders was the central port for merchant vessels, which arrived in great 
 
2 62 COMMERCE. 
 
 numbers from the Mediterranean, and Bruges became tbe principal depot. 
 The Teutonic league, the origin of -svhich dates from the thii-teenth century, 
 and which formed the most powerful confederacy recorded in history, also 
 sent innumerable vessels from its harbours of Lnbeck (Fig. 197) and Hamburg. 
 These carried the merchandise of the northern countries into Flanders, and 
 this rich province, which excelled in every branch of industry, and especially 
 in those relating to metals and weaving, became the great market of Europe 
 (Fig. 198). 
 
 The commercial movement, formerly limited to the shores of the Mediter- 
 ranean, extended to all parts, and gradually became imiversal. The northera 
 states shared ia it, and England, which for a long time kept aloof fi-om a 
 stage on which it was destined to play the first part, began to give indications 
 of its fature commercial greatness. The number of transactions increased as 
 the facility for carrying them on became greater. Consumption beiag 
 extended, production progressively followed, and so commerce went on 
 gaining strength as it widened its sphere. Everything, in fact, seemed to 
 contribute to its expansion. The downfall of the feudal system and the 
 establishment in each country of a central power, m^ore or less strong and 
 respected, enabled it to extend its operations by land with a degree of 
 security hitherto unknown ; and, at the same time, international legislation 
 came in to protect maritime trade, which was still exposed to great dangers. 
 The sea, which was open freely to the whole human race, gave robbers com- 
 paratively easy means of following their nefarious practices, and ■nith less fear 
 of punishment than they could obtain on the shore of civilised countries. For 
 this reason piracy continued its depredations long after the enactment of 
 severe laws for its suppression. 
 
 This maritime legislation did not wait for the sixteenth century to come 
 into existence. Maritime law was promulgated more or less in the twelfth 
 century, but the troubles and agitations which weakened and disorganized 
 empires dm-ing that period of the Middle Ages, deprived it of its power and 
 efficiency. The Code des Rhodiens dates as far back as 1167 ; the Code de 
 la Mer, which became a sort of recognised text-book, dates from the same 
 period; the Lois d'Oleroii is anterior to the twelfth centurj-, and rided the 
 western coasts of France, being also adopted ia Flanders and in England ; 
 Venice dated her most ancient law on maritime rights from 1255, and the 
 Statutes of Marseilles date from 1254. 
 
WJ- 
 
 
COMMERCE. 263 
 
 The period of the estabKshment of commercial law and justice corresponds 
 with that of the introduction of national and universal codes of law and 
 consular jurisdiction. These may be said to have originated in the sixth 
 century in the laws of the Visigoths, which empowered foreign traders to be 
 judged by delegates from their own countries. The Venetians had consuls 
 in the Greek empire as early as the tenth century, and we may fairly presume 
 that the French had consuls in Palestine during the reign of Charlemagne. 
 In the thirteenth century the towns of Italy had consular agents in France ; 
 and Marseilles had them in Sayoy, in Aries, and in Genoa. Thus traders of 
 each country were always sure of finding justice, assistance, and protection 
 in all the centres of European commerce. 
 
 Numerous facilities for barter were added to these advantages. Mei'chants, 
 who at first travelled with their merchandise, and who afterwards merely 
 sent a factor as their representative, finally consigned it to foreign agents. 
 Communication by correspondence in this way became more general, and 
 paper replaced parchment as being less rare and less expensive. The intro- 
 duction of Arabic figures, which were more convenient than the Roman 
 numerals for making calculations, the establishment of banks, of which the 
 most ancient was in operation in Venice as early as the twelfth century, the 
 invention of bills of exchange, attributed to the Jews, and generally in use in 
 the thirteenth century, the establishment of insurance against the risks and 
 perils of sea and land, and lastly, the formation of trading companies, or what 
 are now called partnerships, all tended to give expansion and activity to 
 commerce, whereby public and private wealth was increased in spite of 
 obstacles which routine, envy, and ill-will persistently raised against great 
 commercial enterprises. 
 
 For a long time the French, through indolence or antipathj-— for it was 
 more to theii' liking to be occupied witli arms and chivalry than with matters 
 of interest and profit— took but a feeble part in the trade which was carried 
 on so successfully on their own territory. The nobles were ashamed to mix 
 in commerce, considering it unworthy of them, and the bourgeois, for want 
 of liberal feeling and expansiveness in their ideas, were satisfied with appro- 
 priating merely local trade. Foreign commerce, even of the most lucrative 
 description, was handed over to foreigners, and especially to Jews, wlio were 
 often banislied fi^om the kingdom and as frequently ransomed, though 
 universally despised and hated. Notwithstanding this, they succeeded in 
 
264 
 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 rising to -wealth under the stigma of shame and infam}-, and the immense 
 gains which they realised by means of usury reconciled them to, and consoled 
 them for, the ill-treatment to which they were subjected. 
 
 At a very early period, and especially when the Jews had been absolutely 
 expelled, the advantage of exclusively trading with and securing the rich profits 
 from France had attracted the Italians, who were frequently only Jews in 
 
 Fig. 199. — Discovery of America, 12th of ilay, 1492. — Columbus erects the Cross and baptises the 
 Isle of Guanahani (now Cat Island, one of the Bahamas) by the Christian Name of St. Salvador. — 
 From a Stamp engraved on Copper by Th. de Bry, in the Collection of " Grands Voyages," 
 in folio, 1-590. 
 
 disguise, concealing themselves as to their character under the generic name 
 of Lombards. It was under this name that the French Idngs gave them on 
 different occasions various privileges, when they frequented the fim-s ot 
 Champagne and came to establish themselves in the inland and seaport 
 towns. These Italians constituted the great corporation of money-changers 
 in Paris, and hoai*ded in their coffers all the coin of the kino-dom, and in this 
 
COMMERCE. 265 
 
 way caused a perpetual variation in tlie value of money, by which they 
 themselves benefited. 
 
 In the sixteenth century the wars of Italy rather changed matters, and 
 we find royal and important concessions increasing in flxvour of Castilians 
 and other Spaniards, whom the people maliciously called negroes, and who had 
 emigrated in order to engage in commerce and manufactures in Saintonge, 
 Normandy, Burgundy, Agenois, and Languedoc. 
 
 About the time of Louis XI., the French, becoming more alive to their 
 true interests, began to manage their own afiairs, following the sugges- 
 tions and advice of the King, whose democratic instincts prompted him to 
 encourage and favour the bourgeois. This result was also attributable to 
 the state of peace and security which then began to exist in the kingdom, 
 impoverished and distracted as it had been by a hundred years of domestic 
 and foreign warfare. 
 
 From 1365 to 1382 factories and warehouses were founded by Norman 
 navigators on the western coast of Africa, in Senegal and Guinea. Numerous 
 fleets of merchantmen, of great size for those days, were employed in trans- 
 porting cloth, grain of all kinds, knives, brandy, salt, and other merchandise, 
 which were bartered for leather, ivory, gum, amber, and gold dust. Con- 
 siderable profits were realised by the shipowners and merchants, who, like 
 Jacques Cojur, employed ships for the purpose of carrying on these large and 
 lucrative commercial operations. These facts sufficiently testify the condition 
 of France at this period, and prove that this, like other branches of human 
 industry, was arrested in its expansion by the political troubles which 
 followed in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. 
 
 Fortunately these social troubles were not universal, and it was just at 
 the period when France was struggling and had become exhausted and 
 impoverished that the Portuguese extended their discoveries on the same 
 coast of Africa, and soon after succeeded in rounding the Cape of Good 
 Hope, and opening a new maritime road to India, a countiy which was 
 always attractive from the commercial advantages which it offered. 
 
 Some years after, Christopher Columbus, the Genoese, more daring and 
 more fortunate still, guided by the compass and impelled by his own genius, 
 discovered a new continent, the fourth continent of the world (Fig. 199). 
 This unexpected event, the greatest and most remarkable of the age, neces- 
 sarily enlarged the field for produce as well as for consumption to an 
 
 M M 
 
266 COMMERCE. 
 
 enormous extent, and naturally added, not only to tlie variety and quantity 
 of excliangeable wares, but also to the production of the precious metals, and 
 brought about a complete revolution in the laws of the whole civilised world. 
 
 Maritime commerce immediately acquired an extraordinary development, 
 and merchants, forsaking the harbours of the Mediterranean, and even those 
 of the Levant, which then seemed to them scarcely worthy of notice, sent 
 their vessels by thousands upon the ocean in pursuit of the wonderful riches 
 of the New World. The day of caravans and coasting had passed ; Venice 
 had lost its splendour ; the sway of the Mediterranean was over ; the com- 
 merce of the world was suddenly transferred from the active and industrious 
 towns of that sea, which had so long monopolized it, to the Western 
 nations, to the Portuguese and Spaniards first, and then to the Dutch and 
 English. 
 
 France, absorbed in, and almost ruined by civil war, and above all by 
 religious dissensions, only played a subordinate part in this commercial and 
 pacific revolution, although it has been said that the sailors of Dieppe and 
 Honfleur really discovered America before Columbus. Nevertheless the 
 kings of France, Louis XIL, Francis I., and Henry II., tried to establish 
 and encourage transatlantic voyages, and to create, in the interest of French 
 commerce, colonies on the coasts of the New World, from Florida and 
 Virginia to Canada. 
 
 But these colonies had but a precarious and transitory existence ; fisheries 
 alone succeeded, and French commerce continued insignificant, circumscribed, 
 and domestic, notwithstanding the increasing requirements of luxury at 
 court. This luxury contented itself with the use of the merchandise which 
 arrived from the Low Countries, Spain, and Italy. National industry did 
 all in its power to surmount this ignominious condition ; she specially turned 
 her attention to the manufacture of silks and of stufifs tissued with gold and 
 silver. The only practical attempt of the government in the sixteenth 
 centiiry to protect commerce and manufactures was to forbid the import of 
 foreign merchandise, and to endeavour to oppose the progress of luxury by 
 rigid enactments. 
 
 Certainly the government of that time little understood the advantages 
 which a country derived from commerce when it forbade the higher classes 
 from engaging in mercantile pursuits under penalty of having their privileges 
 of nobility withdrawn from them. In the face of the examples of Italy, 
 
COMMERCE. 
 
 267 
 
 Genoa, Venice, and especially of Florence, where the nobles were all traders 
 or sons of traders, the kings of the line of Valois thought proiaer to make 
 this enactment. The desire seemed to be to make the merchant class a 
 separate class, stationary, and consisting exclusively of bourgeois, shut up 
 in their counting-houses, and prevented in every way from participatino- iu 
 
 Fig. 200. — Medal to commemorate the Association of the Merchants of the City of Rouen. 
 
 public life. The merchants became indignant at this banishment, and, 
 in order to employ their leisure, they jjlunged with all their energy into 
 the sanguinary struggles of Reform and of the League. 
 
 It was not until the reign of Henry IV. that they again confined them- 
 selves to their occupations as merchants, when Sully published the political 
 suggestions of his master for renewing commercial prosperity. From this 
 
z68 
 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 time a new era commenced in tlie commercial destiny of France. Commerce, 
 fostered and protected by statesmen, sought to extend its operations with 
 greater freedom and power. Companies were formed at Paris, Marseilles, 
 Lyons, and Rouen to carry French merchandise all over the world, and the 
 rules of the mercantile associations, in spite of the routine and jealousies 
 which guided the trade corporations, became the code which afterwards 
 regulated commerce (Fig. 200). 
 
 Fig. 201.— Standard Weight in Brass of the Fish-market at Mans : Sign of the Syren (End of the 
 
 Sixteenth Century) . 
 
GUILDS AND TRADE COEPORATIONS. 
 
 Uncertain Origin of Corporations. — Ancient Industrial Associations. — The Germanic Guild. — 
 Colleges. — Teutonic Associations. — The Paris Company for the Transit of Merchandise by 
 Water.- — Corporations properly so called. — Etienne Boileau's "Book of Trades," or the First 
 Code of Regulations. — The Laws governing Trades. — PuLlic and Private Organization of Trade 
 Corporations and other Communities. — Energj- of the Corporations. — Masters, Journcjnnen, 
 Supernumeraries, and Apprentices. — Religious Festivals and Trade Societies. — Trade Unions. 
 
 EARNED authorities liave frequently 
 discus.sed, without agreeing, on the 
 question of the origin of the Corpora- 
 tions of the Middle Ages. It may 
 be admitted, we think u priori, that 
 associations of artisans were as ancient 
 as the trades themselves. It may 
 readily he imagined that the nume- 
 rous raomhers of the industrial cla.sses, 
 having to maintain and defend their 
 common rights and common interests, 
 would have sought to establish mutual fraternal associations among them- 
 selves. The deeper wc dive into ancient history the clearer we perceive 
 traces, more or less distinct, of these kinds of associations. To cite only two 
 examples, which may serve to some extent as an hi.storical parallel to the 
 analogous institutions of the present day, we may mention the Roman 
 Colleges, which were really leagues of artisans following the same calling ; 
 and the Scandinavian guilds, who.se object was to assimilate the different 
 branches of industry and trade, cither of a city or of some particular district. 
 Indeed, brotherhoods amongst the labouring classes always existed under 
 the German concpierors from the moment when Europe, so long divided into 
 Roman provinces, shook off the yoke of siiljjection to Rome, although she 
 still adhered to the laws and customs of the nation which had held her in 
 subjection for so iniiny generations. We can, however, only regard the few 
 
zyo . GUILDS AND TRADE CORPORATIONS. 
 
 traces whicli remain of these brotherhoods as evidence of their having once 
 existed, and not as indicative of their having been in a flourishing state. In 
 the fifth century, the Hermit Ampelius, in his " Legends of the Saints," 
 mentions Consuls or Chiefs of Locksmiths. The Corporation of Goldsmiths is 
 spoken of as existing in the first dj^nasty of the French kings. Bakers are 
 named collectively in 630 in the laws of Dagobert, which seems to show that 
 they formed a sort of trade union at that remote period. We also see 
 Charlemagne, in several of his statutes, taking steps in order that the 
 number of persons engaged in providing food of different kinds should 
 everywhere be adequate to provide for the necessities of consumption, which 
 would tend to show a general organization of that most important branch of 
 industry. In Lombardy colleges of artisans were established at an early 
 period, and were, no doubt, on the model of the Roman ones. Ravenna, in 
 943, possessed a College of Fishermen ; and ten years later the records of that 
 town mention a Chief of the Corporation of Traders, and, in 1001, a Chief of 
 the Corporation of Butchers. France at the same time kept up a remembrance 
 of the institutions of Roman Gaul, and the ancient colleges of trades still 
 formed associations and companies in Paris and in the larger towns. In 
 1061 King Philip I. granted certain privileges to Master Chandlers and 
 Oilmen. The ancient customs of the butchers are mentioned as early as the 
 time of Louis VII., 1162. The same king granted to the wife of Ives 
 Laccobre and her heirs the collector ship of the dues which were payable by 
 tanners, purse-makers, curriers, and shoemakers. Under Philip Augustus 
 similar concessions became more frequent, and it is evident that at that time 
 trade was beginning to take root and to require special and particular 
 administration. This led to regulations being drawn up for each trade, to 
 which Philip Augustus gave his sanction. In 1182 he confirmed the statutes 
 of the butchers, and the furriers and drapers also obtained favourable conces- 
 sions from him. 
 
 According to the learned Augustin Thierry, corporations, like civic com- 
 munities, were engrafted on previously existing guilds, su.ch as on the colleges 
 or corporations of workmen, which were of Roman origin. In the guild, which 
 signifies a banquet at common expense, there was a mutual assurance agamst 
 misfortunes and injuries of all sorts, such as fire and shipwreck, and also 
 against all lawsuits incurred for off'ences and crimes, even though they were 
 proved against the accused. Each of these associations was placed under 
 
GUILDS AND TRADE CORPORATIONS. 
 
 271 
 
 the patronage of a god or of a hero, and had its compulsory statutes ; each 
 had its chief or president chosen from among the members, and a common 
 treasury supi^licd by annual contributions. Eomau colleges, as we have 
 already stated, were established with a more special purpose, and were more 
 exclusively confined to the peculiar trade to which they belonged ; but these, 
 equally with the guilds, possessed a common exchequer, enjoyed equal riMits 
 and privileges, elected their own presidents, and celebrated in common tlieir 
 sacrifices, festivals, and banquets. We have, therefore, good reason for 
 
 Fig. 202. — Craftsmen in the Fourteenth Century. — Fac-simile of a Miniature of a Manuscript in 
 the Library of Brussels. 
 
 agreeing in the opinion of the celebrated historian, who considers that in the 
 establishment of a corporation " the guild should be to a certain degree the 
 motive power, and the Homan college, witli its organization, tlie material 
 which should be used to bring it into exi.stence." 
 
 It is certain, however, that during several centuries corjM rations were 
 either dissolved or hidden fioni public notice, for they almost entirely 
 disappeared from the hi.storic records during tlio partial return to barbarism, 
 when the production of object.s of daily ncces.sity and the preparation of food 
 were entrusted to slaves under the eye of their master. Not till the twelfth 
 
272 GUILDS AND TRADE CORPORATIONS. 
 
 cenkiry did they again begin to flourish, and, as might be supposed, it was 
 Italy which gave the signal for the resuscitation of the institutions whose 
 birthplace had been Rome, and which barbarism had allowed to fall iato 
 decay. Brotherhoods of artisans were also founded at an early period in 
 the north of Gaul, whence they rapidly spread beyond the Rhine. Under 
 the Emperor Henry I., that is, dui'ing the tenth century, the ordinary con- 
 dition of Artisans in Germany was still serfdom ; but two centuries later the 
 greater number of trades in most of the large towns of the empire had con- 
 gregated together in colleges or bodies under the name of unions {Einnungen 
 or Innungen) (Fig. 202), as, for example, at Gozlar, at Wiirzburg, at Bruns- 
 wick, &c. These colleges, however, were not established without much 
 difficulty and without the energetic resistance of the ruling powers, inasmuch 
 as they often raised their pretensions so high as to wish to siibstitute their 
 authority for the senatorial law, and thus to grasp the government of the cities. 
 The thirteenth century witnessed obstinate and sanguinary feuds between these 
 two parties, each of which was alternately victorious. Whichever had the 
 upper hand took advantage of the opportunity to carry out the most cruel 
 reprisals against its defeated opponents. The emperors Frederick II. and 
 Henry VII. tried to pvit an end to these strifes by abolishing the corporations 
 of workmen, but these powerful associations fearlessly opposed the imperial 
 authority. In France the organization of communities of artisans, an 
 organization which in many ways was connected with the commercial move- 
 ment, but which must not be confounded with it, did not give rise to any 
 political difficulty. It seems not even to have met with any opposition 
 from the feudal powers, who no doubt found it an easy pretext for levying 
 additional rates and taxes. 
 
 The most ancient of these corporations was the Parisian Hanse, or cor- 
 poration of the bourgeois for canal navigation, which probably dates its 
 origin back to the college of Parisian Nautes, existing before the Roman 
 conquest. This mercantile association held its meetings in the island of 
 Lutetia, on the very spot where the church of Notre-Dame was afterwards 
 built. From the earliest days of monarchy tradesmen constituted entirely 
 the bourgeois of the towns (Fig. 203) . Above them were the nobility or 
 clergy, beneath them the artisans. Hence we can understand how the 
 bourgeois, who during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries were a distinct 
 section of the community, became at last the important commercial body 
 
GUILDS AND TRADE CORPORATIONS. 
 
 ^73 
 
 itself. The kings invariably treated them with favour. Louis VI. granted them 
 new rights, Louis YII. confirmed their ancient privileges, and Philip Augustus 
 increased them. The Parisian Hanse succeeded in monopolizing all the 
 commerce which was carried on by water on the Seine and the Yonne between 
 Mantes and Auxerre. No merchandise coming up or down the stream in 
 boats could be disembarked in the interior of Paris without becoming, as it 
 were, the property of the corporation, which, through its agents, superintended 
 its measurement and its sale in bulk, and, up to a certain point, its sale by 
 
 mB^^ 
 
 Fig. 203.— Merchunts or Tradcemcn of the Fourteenth Centun-.— l'"at-.simile of a Miniature in a 
 Maniuscript of the Library at Brussels. 
 
 retail. No foreign merchant was permitted to send his goods to Paris without 
 first obtaining Mfres de Ilanse, whereby he had associated with him a bourgeois 
 of the town, who acted as his guarantee, and who shared in his profits. 
 
 There were associations of the same kind in most of the commercial towns 
 situated on the banks of rivers and on the sea-coast, as, for example, at Rouen, 
 Aries, Marseilles, Narbonne, Toulouse, Ptatisbon, Augsburg, and Utrecht. 
 Sometimes neighbouring towns, such as the great manufacturing cities of 
 Flanders, agreed together and entered into a leagued bond, which gave them 
 greater power, and constituted an offensive and defensive compact (Fig. 204). 
 
274 
 
 GUILDS AND TRADE CORPORATIONS. 
 
 A typical example of this last institution is that of the commercial association 
 of the Hanseatie Toivns of Germany, which were grou.j)ed together to the 
 number of eighty around their four capitals, viz., Lubeck, Cologne, Dantzic, 
 and Bninswick. 
 
 Although, as we have already seen, previous to the thirteenth century 
 many of the corporations of artisans had been authorised by several of the 
 kings of France to make special laws whereby thej^ might govern them- 
 
 Fig-. 204.— Seal of the United Trades of Ghent (End of the Fifteenth Century). 
 
 selves, it was really only from the reign of St. Louis that the first general 
 measures of administration and police relating to these communities can 
 be dated. The King appointed Etienne Boileau, a rich bourgeois, provost 
 of the capital in 1261, to set to work to establish order, wise administration, 
 and " good faith " in the commerce of Paris. To this end he ascertained 
 from the verbal testimony of the senior members of each corporation the 
 customs and usages of the various crafts, which for the most part up to that 
 
GUILDS AND TRADE CORPORATIONS. 275 
 
 time had not been committed to writing. He arranged and probably 
 amended them in many ways, and thus composed the famous " Book of 
 Trades," which, as M. Depping, the able editor of this valuable compilation, 
 first published in 1837, says, " has the advantage of being to a great extent 
 the genuine production of the corporations themselves, and not a list of rules 
 established and framed bj' the municipal or judicial authorities." From that 
 time corporations gradually introduced themselves into the order of society. 
 The royal decrees in their favour were multiplied, and the regulations with 
 regard to mechanical trades daily improved, not onlj^ in Paris and in the 
 provinces, but also abroad, both in the south and in the north of Europe, 
 especially in Italy, Germany, England, and the Low Countries (Figs. 205 to 
 213). 
 
 Etienne Boileau's " Book of Ti'ades " contained the rules of one hundred 
 different trade associations. It must be observed, however, that several of 
 the most important trades, such as the butchers, tanners, glaziers, &c., were 
 omitted, either because they neglected to be registered at the Chatelet, where 
 the inquiry superintended by Boiloau was made, or because some private 
 interest induced them to keep aloof from this registration, which probably 
 imposed some sort of fine and a tax upon them. In the following century 
 the number of trade associations considerably increased, and wonderfully so 
 during the reigns of the last of the Valois and the first of the Bourbons. 
 
 The historian of the antiquities of Paris, Henry Sauval, enumerated no 
 fewer than fifteen hundred and fifty-one trade associations in the capital alone 
 in the middle of the seventeenth century. It must be remarked, however, 
 that the societies of artisans were much subdivided owing to the simple fact 
 that each craft could only practise its own special work. Thus, in Boileau's 
 book, we find four different corporations oi indcnotricrt,, or makers of chaplets, 
 SIX of hatters, six of weavers, &c. 
 
 Besides these societies of artisans, there were in I'aris a few privileged 
 torporations, which occupied a more important position, and were known 
 under the name of Corpn dca Marchands. Their number at first frequently 
 varied, but finally it wa8 settled at six, and they were termed In Six Coiys. 
 They comprised the drapers, which always took precedence of the five others, 
 the grocers, the mercers, the furriers, the hatters, and the goldsmiths. These 
 five for a long time disputed the question of precedence, and finally they 
 decided the matter by lot, as they were not able to agree in any other way. 
 
276 
 
 GUILDS AND TRADE CORPORATIONS. 
 
 Fig. 205. — Seal of the Corpo- 
 ration of Carpenters of St. 
 Trond (Belgium) —From an 
 Impression preserved in the 
 ArchivesofthatTown (1481). 
 
 Fig. 206.— Seal of the Cor- 
 poration of Shoemakers 
 of St. Trond, from a Map 
 of 1481, preserved in the 
 Archives of that Town. 
 
 Fig. 207.— Seal of the Cor- 
 poration of Wool-weavers 
 of Hasselt (Belgium), from 
 a Parchment Title-deed of 
 June 25, 1574. 
 
 Fig. 208.— Seal of the Cor- 
 poration of Clothworkers 
 of Bruges (1356). — From an 
 Impression preserved in the 
 Archives of that Town. 
 
 Fig. 209.-Seal of the Cor- 
 poration of Fullers of St. 
 Trond (about 1350). — 
 From an Impression pre- 
 served in the Archives of 
 tlmt Town, 
 
 Fig. 210.— Seal of the Corpora- 
 tion of Joiners of Bruges 
 (1356). — From an Impres- 
 sion preserved in the Ai chives 
 of that Town. 
 
 Fig. 211.— Token of the Cor- 
 poration of Carpenters of 
 llaestricht. 
 
 Fig. 212.— Token of the Cor- 
 poration of Carpenters of 
 Antwerp. 
 
 f : i(®~/>; 
 
 "^'■^i&m^ 
 
 Fig. 213.— Funeral Token of 
 the Corporation of Carpen- 
 ters of Maestricht. 
 
GUILDS AND TRADE CORPORATIONS. 
 
 ^77 
 
 Trades. 
 
 Fao-Bimile of Engravings on AVowI, designed and engraved >iy J. AniniMn, in tho Sixteenth Centiirv. 
 
 Fig. 2 ly.— Hatter 
 
 Fig. 217.— Dyer. 
 
278 
 
 GUILDS AND TRADE CORPORATIONS. 
 
 Trades. 
 Fac-simile of EDgravings on Wood, designed and engraved by J. Amman, in tlae Sixteenth Century. 
 
 Fig. 218.— Druggist. 
 
 Fig. 219.— Barber. 
 
GUILDS AND TRADE CORPORATIONS. 
 
 279 
 
 Teadks. 
 Facsimile of Engravings on AYood, designed and engraved by J. Amman, in the .Sixteenth Centi.ry. 
 
 Fig. 224 — Wire-worker^ 
 
 Fig. 225. — Dice-maker. 
 
GUILDS AXD TRADE CORPORATIONS. 
 
 Trades. 
 Fac-simile of Engravings on Wood, designed and engraTed by J. Amman, in the Sixteenth Century. 
 
 Fig. 226. — Sword-maker. 
 
 Fig. 227. — Armourer. 
 
 Fig. 22S. — Spur-maker. 
 
 Fig. 229. — Shoemaker. 
 
GUILDS AND TRADE CORPORATIONS. 
 
 Teades. 
 
 Fac-simile of Engravings on Wood, designed and engraved by J. Amman, in the Sixteenth (Jentury. 
 
 Fig. 232.-Copp<TH.riitli. 
 
 l''ig. 2ii3. — iiell and Cannon Caster. 
 
GUILDS AND TRADE CORPORATIONS. 
 
 Apart from the privilege which these six bodies of merchants exclu- 
 siyely enjoyed of being called upon to appear, though at their own expense, 
 in the civic processions and at the pviblic ceremonials, and to carry the canopy 
 over the heads of kings, queens, or princes on their state entry into the capital 
 (Fig. 234), it would be difl&cult to specify the nature of the privileges 
 which were granted to them, and of which they were so jealous. It is clear, 
 however, that these six bodies were imbued with a kind of aristocratic spirit 
 which made them place trading much above handicraft in their own class, 
 and set a high value on their calling as merchants. Thus contemporary 
 historians tell us that any merchant who compromised the dignity of the 
 company " fell into the class of the lower orders ;" that mercers boasted of 
 excluding from their body the upholsterers, " who were but artisans ;" that 
 hatters, who were admitted into the 8ix Corps to replace one of the other 
 trades, became in consequence " merchants instead of artisans, which they 
 had been up to that time." 
 
 Notwithstanding the statutes so carefully compiled and revised by Etienne 
 Boileau and his successors, and in spite of the numerous arbitrary rules which 
 the sovereigns, the magistrates, and the corporations themselves strenuously 
 endeavoured to frame, order and unity were far from governing the commerce 
 and industry of Paris during the Middle Ages, and what took place in Pans 
 generally repeated itself elsewhere. Serious disputes continually arose 
 between the authorities and those amenable to their jurisdiction, and between 
 the various crafts themselves, notwithstanding the relation which they bore 
 to each other from the similarity of their employments. 
 
 In fact in this, as in many other matters, social disorder often emanated 
 from the powers whose duty it was in the first instance to have repressed it. 
 Thus, at the time when Philip Augustus extended the boundaries of his 
 capital so as to include the boroughs in it, which until then had been 
 separated from the city, the lay and clerical lords, under whose feudal 
 dominion those districts had hitherto been placed, naturally insisted upon pre- 
 serving all their rights. So forcibly did they do this that the King was obliged 
 to recognise their claims; and in several boroughs, including the Bourg 
 I'Abbe, the Beau Bourg, the Bourg St. Germain, and the Bourg Auxerrois, 
 &c., there were trade associations completely distinct from and independent 
 of those of ancient Paris. If we simply limit our examination to that of the 
 condition of the trade associations which held their authority immediately 
 
GUILDS AND TRADE CORPORATIONS. 
 
 2S3 
 
 from royalty, we still see that the causes of confusion were by no moans 
 trifling ; for the majority of the high officers of the crown, acting as delegates 
 of the royal authority, were always disiDuting amongst themselves the rio-ht 
 of superintending, protecting, judging, punishing, and, above all, of exacting 
 tribute from the members of the various trades. The King granted to various 
 officers the privilege of arbitrarily disposing of the freedom of each trade 
 for their own profit, and thereby gave them power over all the merchants 
 and craftsmen who were officially connected with them, not only in Paris, 
 
 Fig. 234.— Group of GoklBmitliH ijioceding Ihe rh,:s^v ili- ,S7. Munrl in the Eoij^n of LouLs XIII.— 
 From a Copperpliite of the roriod (C';tbinet of Stamps in the National Lilirarj' of Paris). 
 
 but also throughout tlie whole kingdom. Tims the lord chambcrhiin liiul 
 jurisdiction over the drapers, mercers, furriers, shoemakers, tailors, and other 
 dealers in articles of wearing apparel ; the barbers were governed by the 
 king's varlet and barber ; the head baker was governor over the bakers ; and 
 the head butler over the wine-merchants. 
 
 These state officers granted freedoms to artisans, or, in other words, they 
 gave them the right to exercise such and such a craft with assistants or 
 companions, exacting for the porformanct! of this trifling act a very con- 
 siderable tax. And, as they preferred receiving their revenues without the 
 
2« + 
 
 GUILDS AND TRADE CORPORATIONS. 
 
 annoyance of having direct communication with their humble subjects, they 
 appointed deputies, who were authorised to collect them in their names. 
 The most celebrated of these deputies were the rois des merciers, who lived on 
 
 Fig. 235. — Banner of the Corporation of the United Boot and Shoe Makers of IssouduD. 
 
 the fat of the land in complete idleness, and who were surrounded by a mer- 
 cantile court, which appeared in all its splendour at the trade festivals. 
 
 The great officers of the crown exercised in their own interests, and 
 without a thought for the public advantage, a complete magisterial juris- 
 diction over all crafts ; they adjudicated in disputes arising between -masters 
 and men, decided quarrels, visited, either personally or through then- 
 
GUILDS AND TRADE CORPORATIONS. 285 
 
 deputies, tlie houses of the merchants, in order to discover frauds or infrac- 
 tions in the rules of the trade, and levied tines accordingly. We must 
 remember that the collectors of court dues had always to contend for the free 
 exercise of their jurisdiction against the provost of Paris, who considered 
 their acquisitions of authority as interfering with his personal prerogatives, 
 and who therefore persistently opposed them on all occasions. For instance, 
 if the head baker ordered an artisan of the same trade to be imprisoned in 
 the Chatelet, the high provost, who was governor of the prison, released him 
 immediately ; and, in retaliation, if the high provost punished a baker, the 
 chief baker warmly espoused his subordinate's cause. At other times tlie 
 artisans, if they were dissatisfied with the deputy appointed by the great 
 officer of the crown, whose dependents they were, would refuse to recognise 
 his authority. In this way constant quarrels and interminable lawsuits 
 occurred, and it is easy to understand the disorder which must have arisen 
 from such a state of things. By degrees, however, and in consequence of 
 the new tendencies of royalty, which were simply directed to the diminution 
 of feudal power, the numerous jurisdictions relating to the various trades 
 gradually returned to the hand of the municipal provostship ; and this con- 
 centration of power had the best results, as well for the public good as for 
 that of the corporations themselves. 
 
 Havmg examined into corporations collectively and also into their general 
 administration, we will now turn to consider their internal organization. It 
 was only after long and difficult struggles that these trade associations 
 succeeded in taking a definite and established position ; without, however, 
 succeeding at any time in organizing themselves as one body on the same 
 basis and with the same privileges. Therefore, in pointing out the influential 
 character of these institutions generally, we must omit various matters 
 specially connected with individual associations, which it would be impossible 
 to mention in this brief sketch. 
 
 In the fourteenth century, the period when the communities of crafts 
 were at the height of their development and power, no association of artisans 
 could legally exist without a license either from the king, the lord, the prince, 
 the abbot, the bailiff, or the mayor of the district in which it proposed to 
 establish itself. 
 
 These communities had their statutes and privileges; they were dis- 
 tmguished at public ceremonials by their liverieii or special dress, as well as 
 
286 
 
 GUILDS AND TRADE CORPORATIONS. 
 
 Fig. 236.— Banner of the Tilers 
 of Paris, Trith the Aimorial 
 Bearings of the Corporation. 
 
 Fig- 237. — Banner of the Nail- 
 makers of Paris, with Armorial 
 Bearings of the Corporation. 
 
 Fig. 238. — Banner of the Harness- 
 makers of Paris, -with the 
 Armorial Bearings of the Cor- 
 poration. 
 
 Fig-. 239.— Banner of the Wheel- 
 wrights of Paris, with the 
 Armorial Bearings of the Cor- 
 poration. 
 
 Fig. 240.— Banner of theTanners 
 of Vic, with the Patron Saint 
 of the Corporation. 
 
 Fig. 241. — Bannerof the Weavers 
 of Poulon, with the Patron 
 Saint of the Corporation. 
 
GUILDS AND TRADE CORPORATIONS. 
 
 287 
 
 by their arms and banners (Figs. 235 to 241). They possessed the right 
 freely to discuss their general interests, and at meetings composed of all their 
 members they might modify their statutes, provided that such changes were 
 confirmed by the Eing or by the authorities. It was also necessaiy that these 
 meetiags, at which the royal delegates were present, should be duly authorised ; 
 and, lastly, so as to render the communication between members more easy, 
 and to facilitate everything which concerned the interests of the craft, artisans 
 
 Fig. 242. — Ceremonial Uress of an Elder and a Juror of the Coriioraticjn of Old Shoemakers of Ghent. 
 
 of the same trade usually resided in the same quarter of the town, and even 
 in the same street. The names of many streets in Paris and other towns of 
 France testify to this custom, which still partially exists in the towns of 
 Germany and Italy. 
 
 The communities of artisans had, to a certain extent, the character and 
 position of jjrivato individuals. They had the power in their corporate 
 capacity of holding and administrating property, of defending or bringing 
 
GUILDS AND TRADE CORPORATIONS. 
 
 actions at law, of accepting inheritances, &c. ; they disbursed from a common 
 treasury, which was supplied by legacies, donations, fines, and periodical 
 subscriptions. 
 
 These communities exercised in addition, through their jurors, a magis- 
 terial authority, and even, under some circumstances, a criminal jurisdiction 
 over their members. For a long time they strove to extend this last power or 
 to keep it independent of municipal control and the supreme courts, by which 
 it was curtailed to that of exercising a simple police authority strictly confined 
 to persons or things relating to the craft. They carefully watched for any 
 infractions of the rules of the trade. They acted as arbitrators between master 
 and man, particularly in quarrels when the parties had had recourse to violence. 
 The functions of this kind of domestic magistracy were exercised by officers 
 known under various names, such as lings, masters, elders, guards, si/ndics, 
 and Jurors, who were besides charged to A'isit the woi'kshops at any hour 
 they pleased in order to see that the laws concerning the articles of work- 
 manship were observed. They also received the taxes for the benefit of the 
 association ; and, lastly, they examined the apprentices and installed masters 
 into their office (Fig. 242). 
 
 The jurors, or syndics, as they were more usually called, and whose 
 number varied according to the importance or numerical force of the cor- 
 poration, were generally elected by the majority of votes of their fellow- 
 workmen, though sometimes the choice of these was entirely in the hands of 
 the great officers of state. It was not unfrequent to find women amongst 
 the dignitaries of the arts and crafts ; and the professional tribunals, which 
 decided every question relative to the community and its members, were 
 often held by an equal number of masters and associate craftsmen. The 
 jealous, exclusive, and inflexible spirit of caste, which in the Middle Ages 
 is to be seen almost everywhere, formed one of the principal features of 
 industrial associations. The admission of new members was surrounded with 
 conditions calculated to restrict the number of associates and to discourage 
 candidates. The sons of masters alone enjoyed hereditary privileges, in 
 consequence of which they were always allowed to be admitted without being 
 subjected to the tj^rannical yoke of the association. 
 
 Generally the members of a corporation were divided into three distinct 
 classes — the masters, the paid assistants or companions, and the apprentices. 
 Apprenticeship, from which the sons of masters were often exempted, began 
 
GUILDS AND TRADE CORPORATIONS. 
 
 28g 
 
 between the ages of twelve and seventeen years, and lasted from two to five 
 vears. In most of the trades the master could only receive one apprentice in 
 bis bouse besides liis own son. Tannei's, dyers, and goldsmiths were allowed 
 one of their relatives in addition, or a second apprentice if they had no 
 relation willing to learn their trade ; and although some commoner trades, 
 such as butchers and bakers, were allowed an unlimited number of apprentices, 
 the custom of restiiction had become a sort of general law, with the object 
 of limiting the number of masters and workmen to the requirements of the 
 
 Fig. 243.— Bootmaker's Apprentice working at a Trial-piece.— From a Window of the Thirteenth 
 Century, published by Messrs. Cahier and Martin. 
 
 public. The position of paid assistant or companion was required to be held 
 in many trades for a certain length of time before promotion to mastership 
 could be obtained. 
 
 Wbcn apprentices or companions wished to become masters, they were 
 called mpirants, and were subjected to successive examinations. They were 
 particularly required to prove their ability liy executing what was termed a 
 ehef-d'amre, which consisted in fabricating a perfect specimen of whatever 
 craft they practised. The cxecuti(jii of the chef-d'oeuvre gave rise to many 
 technical formalities, which were at times most frivolous. The aspirant 
 
 V V 
 
zgo 
 
 GUILDS AND TRADE CORPORATIONS. 
 
 iu certain cases had to pass a technical examination, as, for instance, 
 the barber iu forging and polishing lancets; the wool- weaver in making 
 and adjusting the different parts of his loom; and during the period of 
 executing the chcf-d'ceuvre, which often extended over several months, the 
 aspirant was deprived of all communication with his fellows. He had to 
 work at the ofiice of the association, which was called the bureau, under the 
 eyes of the jurors or syndics, who, often after an angry debate, issued their 
 judgment upon the merits of the work and the capability of the workman 
 (Figs. 243 and 244).. 
 
 Fig-. 244. — Carpenter's Apprentice working at a Trial-piece. — From one of the Stalls called 
 Misericordes, iu Eouen Cathedral (Fifteenth Centui-y). 
 
 On his admission the aspirant had first to take again the oath of allegiance 
 to the King before the provost or civil deputy, although he had already done 
 so on commencing his apprenticeship. He then had to pay a duty or fee, 
 which was divided between the sovereign or lord and the brotherhood, from 
 which fee the sons of masters always obtained a considerable abatement. 
 Often, too, the husbands of the daughters of masters were exempted from 
 paying the duties. A few masters, such as the goldsmiths and the cloth- 
 workers, had besides to pay a sum of money by way of guarantee, which 
 remained in the funds of the craft as long as they carried on the trade. 
 
GUILDS AND TRADE CORPORA TIOXS. 
 
 291 
 
 After these forms had been complied with, the masters acquired the excki- 
 sive privilege of freely exercising their profession. There were, however, 
 certain exceptions to this rule, for a king on his coronation, a prince or 
 princess of the roj'al blood at the time of his or her marriage, and, in certain 
 towns, the bishop on his installation, had the right of creating one -or more 
 
 Fig. 24.5. — Staircase of the OHice of the Goldsmiths of Rouen (Fifcteiith Century). The Shield 
 which the Lion holds with his paw shows the Arms of the Goldsmiths of Rouen (Present 
 Condition). 
 
 masters in each trade, and these received their licence without going through 
 any of the usual formalities. 
 
 A widower or widow might generally continue the craft of the deceased 
 wife or husljand who had acquired the fr(^odom, and which thus became the 
 inheritance of the survivor. The condition, however, was that he or she 
 
GUILDS AND TRADE CORPORATIONS. 
 
 did not contract a second marriage with any one wlio did not belong to the 
 craft. Masters lost their rights directly they worked for any other master 
 and received wages. Certain freedoms, too, were only available in the towns 
 in which they had been obtained. In more than one craft when a family 
 holding the freedom became extinct, their premises and tools became the 
 projDerty of the corporation, subject to an indemnity payable to the next 
 of kin. 
 
 Fiff. 246. — Shopa under Covered Market (Goldsmith, Dealer in StufiFs, and Shoemaker). — From a 
 Miniature in Aristotle's " Ethics and Politics," translated hj- Nicholas Oresme (Manuscript of the 
 Fifteenth Century, Library of Rouen). 
 
 At times, and particularly in those trades where the aspirants were 
 not required to produce a chef-d'wuvre, the installation of masters was 
 accompanied with extraordinary ceremonies, which no doubt originally 
 possessed some symbolical meaning, but which, having lost their true 
 signification, became singular, and appeared even ludicrous. Thus with 
 the bakers, after four years' apprenticeship, the candidate on purchasing the 
 
GUILDS AND TRADE CORPORATIONS. 293 
 
 freedom from the King, issued from bis door, escorted by all tbo otbcr bakers 
 of the town, bearing a new pot filled with walnuts and wafers. On arrivino- 
 before the chief of the corporation, he said to him, " Master, I have accom- 
 pHshed my four years ; here is my pot filled with walnuts and wafers." The 
 assistants in the ceremony having vouched for the truth of this statement, 
 the candidate broke the pot against the wall, and the chief solemnly pro- 
 nounced his admission, which was inaugurated by the older masters emptyino- 
 a number of tankards of wine or beer at the expense of their new brother. 
 The ceremony was also of a jovial character in the case of the millwrights, 
 who only admitted the candidate after he had received a caning on the 
 shoulders from the last-elected brother. 
 
 
 Fig. 247.— Fac-simile of the first six Linos on the Copper Tiiblet on wtiich was engraved, from the 
 ye,ir 1470, the Names and Titles of those who were elected Members of the Corporation of 
 Goldsmiths of Ghent. 
 
 The statutes of the corporations, which had the force of law on account 
 of being approved and accepted by royal authority, almost always detailed 
 with the greatest precLsion the conditions of labour. They fixed the hours 
 and days for working, the size of the articles to be made, the quality of 
 the stuffs used in their manufacture, and even the price at which they were 
 to 1)0 sold (Fig. 24G). Night labour was pretty generally forbidden, as 
 likely to produce only imperfect work. We nevertheless find that carpenters 
 were permitted to make coffins and other funeral articles by night. On the 
 eve of religious feasts the shops were shut earlier than usual, that is to say, 
 at three o'clock, and were not opened on the next day, witjt the excep- 
 tion of those of pastrycooks, whose assistance was especially required on. 
 feast days, and who sold curious varieties of cakes and sweetmeats. Not- 
 
29+ 
 
 GUILDS AND TRADE CORPORATIONS. 
 
 withstanding the strictness of the rules and the administrative laws of each 
 trade, which were intended to secure good faith and loyalty between the 
 various members, it is unnecessary to state that they were frequently 
 violated. The fines which were then imposed on delinquents constituted an 
 important source of revenue, not only to the corporations themselves, hut 
 also to the town treasury. The penalty, however, was not always a pecuniary 
 one, for as late as the fifteenth century we have instances of artisans being 
 condemned to death simjih^ for having adulterated their articles of trade. 
 
 Fig. 24S. — Elder and .Turors of the Taiiiiers of the Town of Ghent in Ceremonial Dress. — Fac-siniile 
 of a Miniature in a Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century. 
 
 This deception was looked upon as of the nature of robberj^, which we know 
 to have been for a long time punishable by death. Robbery on the part of 
 merchants found no indidgence nor pardon in those days, and the whole 
 corporation demanded immediate and exemplary justice. 
 
 According- to the statutes, which generallj^ tended to prevent frauds and 
 falsifications, in most crafts the masters were bound to put their trade-mark 
 on their goods, or some particular sign which was to be a guarantee for the 
 purchaser and one means of identifying the culprit in the event of complaints 
 
GUILDS AND TRADE CORPORATIONS. 
 
 295 
 
 arising on account of the bad quality or bad workmansliip of the articles 
 sold. 
 
 Besides taking various steps to maintain professional integritj% the framers 
 of the various statutes, as a safeguard to the public interests, undertook 
 also to inculcate morality and good feeling amongst their members. A 
 youth coidd not be admitted unless he could prove his legitimacy of birth 
 by his baptismal register ; and, to obtain the freedom, he was bound to bear 
 
 Kg. 249. — Companion Carpenter.— Fragment of a Woodcut of the Fifteenth Century, aflei> a 
 Drawing by Wohlgemuth for the " Chroniquo de Nuremberg." 
 
 an irreproachable character. Artisans exposed themselves to a reprimand, 
 and even to bodily chastisement, from the corporation, for even associatiuo' 
 with, and certainly for working or drinking with those who had been ex- 
 pelled. Licentiousness and misconduct of any kind rendered them liable 
 to be deprived of their mastership. In some trade associations all the 
 members were bound to solemnize the day of the decease of a brother, to 
 assist at his funeral, and to follow him to the grave. In another com- 
 
2q6 GUILDS AND TRADE CORPORATIONS. 
 
 munity the slightest indecent or discourteous word was punishable by a 
 fine. A new master could not establish himself in the same street as his 
 former master, except at a distance, which was determined by the statutes ; 
 and, further, no member was allowed to ask for or attract customers when 
 the latter were nearer the shop of his neighbour than of his own. 
 
 In the Middle Ages religion placed its stamp on every occupation and 
 calling, and corporations were careful to maintain this characteristic feature. 
 Each was under the patronage of some saint, who was considered the special 
 protector of the craft ; each possessed a shrine or chapel in some church of 
 the quarter where the trade was located, and some even kept chaplains at 
 their own expense for the celebration of masses which were daily said for 
 the souls of the good deceased members of the craft. These associations, 
 animated by Christian charity, took upon them to invoke the blessings of 
 heaven on all members of the fraternity, and to assist those who were 
 either laid by throiigh sickness or want of work, and to take care of the 
 widows and to help the orphans of the less prosperous craftsmen. They also 
 gave alms to the poor, and presented the broken meat left at their banquets 
 to the hosjDitals. 
 
 Under the name of gargons, or compagnons de devoir (this surname was at 
 first specially applied to carpenters and masons, who from a very ancient 
 date formed an important association, which was partly secret, and from which 
 Freemasonry traces its origin) (Fig. 250), the companions, notwithstanding 
 that they belonged to the community of their own special craft, also formed 
 distinct corporations among themselves with a view to mutual assistance. 
 They made a point of visiting any foreign workman on his arrival in their 
 town, supplied his first requirements, found him work, and, when work was 
 wanting, the oldest companion gave up his place to him. These associations 
 of companionship, however, soon failed to carry out the noble object for 
 which they were instituted. After a time the meeting together of the 
 fraternity was but a pretext for intemperance and debauchery, and at tunes 
 their tumultuous processions and indecent masquerades occasioned much 
 disorder in the cities. The facilities which these numerous associations 
 possessed of extending and mutually co-operating with one another also led 
 to coalitions among them for the purpose of securing any advantage which 
 they desired to possess. Sometimes open violence was resorted to to obtain \ 
 their exorbitant and unjust demands, which greatly excited the industrious 
 
GUILDS AND TRADE CORPORATIONS. 
 
 2Q7 
 
 classes, and eventually induced the authorities to interfere. Lastly, these 
 brotherhoods gave rise to many violent quarrels, which ended in blows 
 and too often in bloodshed, between workmen of the same craft who took 
 different views on debateable points. The decrees of parliament, the edicts 
 of sovereigns, and the decisions of coimcils, as early as at the end of 
 the fifteenth century and throughout the whole of the sixteenth, severely 
 proscribed the doings of these brotherhoods, but these interdictions were 
 
 Fig. 2.50. — Carpenters. — Fac-simile of a j\Iiniaturc in the " Chroniques de Hainant," Manusori])t 
 of the Fifteenth Century, in the Burgundy Library, Brussels. 
 
 never duly and rigidly enforced, and the authorities themselves often 
 tolerated infractions of the law, and thus license was given to every kind 
 of abuse. 
 
 We have frequently mentioned in the course of this volume the 
 political part played by the corporations during the Middle Ages. We 
 know the active and important part taken by trades of all descriptions 
 in France in the great movement of the formjition of eoramunities. The 
 spint of fraternal association which constituted the strength of the cor- 
 porations (Fig. 251), and which e-xhlbited itself so conspicuously in every 
 act of their public and private life, resisted during several centuries the 
 
2q8 
 
 GUILDS AND TRADE CORPORATIONS. 
 
 V 
 
 ^.o a)(if '"-^"^^'-yr^. 
 
 Fig. 251. — ruiutiiig coinmemorutive of the Union of the Merehantii of Kouon at the KnJ of the 
 
 Seventeenth Centiu-y. 
 
GUILDS AND TRADE CORPORATIONS. 
 
 z<J9 
 
 individual and collective attacks made on it by craftsmen themselves. These 
 rich and powerful corporations began to decline from the moment they 
 ceased to be united, and they were dissolved by law at the beginuin--- of the 
 revolution of 1789, an act which necessarily dealt a heavy blow to industrv 
 and commerce. 
 
 Fig. 2o'2. — LuniRT of Uic Drapers of Cafn. 
 
TAXES, MONEY, AND FINANCE. 
 
 Taxes under the Roman Rule. — Money Exactions of the Merovingian Kings. — Varietits of Money. 
 — Financial Laws under Charlemagne. — Missi Dominici. — Increase of Taxes owing to the 
 Crusades. — Organization of Finances by Louis IX. — Extortions of Philip le Bel. — Pecuniary 
 Embarrassment of his Successors. — Charles V. re-establishes Order in Finances. — Disasters of 
 France under Charles VI., Charles VII., and Jacques Cceur. — Changes in Taxation from 
 Louis XL to Francis I. — The great Financiers. — Florimond Robertet. 
 
 F we believe Caesar's Commentaries 
 on the Gallic War, tlie Gaixls were 
 groaning in his time under the pres- 
 sure of taxation, and struggled hard 
 to remove it. Rome lightened their 
 burden ; but the fiscal system of the 
 metropolis imperceptibly took root in 
 all the Roman provinces. There was 
 an arbitrary personal tax, called the 
 poll tax, and a land tax which was 
 named cens, calculated according to 
 the area of the holding. Besides these, there were taxes on articles of 
 consumption, on salt, on the import and export of all articles of mer- 
 chandise, on sales by auction ; also on marriages, on burials, and on houses. 
 There were also legacy and succession duties, and taxes on slaves, accord- 
 ing to their number. Tolls on highways were also created ; and the 
 treasury went so fur as to tax the hearth. Hence the origin of the name 
 fev, which ^^as afterwards applied to each household or family group 
 assembled in the same house or sitting before the same fire. A nimtber of 
 other taxes sprung up, called sordidcs, from which the nobility and the 
 government functionaries were exempt. 
 
 This ruinous system of taxation, rendered still more insupportable by the 
 exactions of the proconsuls, and the violence of their subordinates, went on 
 
TAXES, MOXEV, AND FIXAXCE. 
 
 301 
 
 increasing down to the time of tte fall of the Roman Empire. The Middle 
 Ages gave birth to a new order of things. The mimicipal administration, 
 composed in great part of Gallo-Eoman citizens, did not perceptibly deviate 
 from the customs established for five centuries, but each in^\'lding nation by 
 degrees introduced new habits and ideas into the countries they subdued. 
 The Germans and Franks, having become masters of part of Gavil, established 
 themselves on the lands which thev had divided between them. The great 
 
 ^ " \ 
 
 u' .^ 
 
 
 Fig. 2oa. — Tile Kxtraction of Metals. — Fac-siniile of a \\ oodiiit iu llie •• LoMuuyraphie 
 Universelle " of Mimster, folio : Basle, 1552. 
 
 domain.s, with their revenues which had belonged to the cmperor.s, naturally 
 became the property of the barbarian chiefs, and served to defray the ex- 
 penses of their houses or their courts. These chiefs, at each general assembly 
 of the Lcuilc-H, or great vassals, received presents of money, of arms, of 
 horses, and of various objects of home or of foreign manufacture. For a 
 long time these gifts were voluntary. The territorial fief, which was given 
 
302 TAXES, MONEY, AND FINANCE. 
 
 to those soldiers wlio had deserved it by their military services, involved 
 from the holders a personal service to the King. They had to attend him on 
 his journeys, to follow him to war, and to defend him under all circum- 
 stances. The fief was entirely exempt from taxes. Many misdeeds — even 
 robberies and other crimes, which were ordinarily punishable by death — 
 were pardonable on payment of a proportionate fine, and oaths, in many 
 cases, might be absolved in the same way. Thus a large revenue was 
 received, which was generally divided equally between the State, the 
 procurator fiscal, and the King. 
 
 War, which was almost constant in those turbulent times, furnished the 
 barbarian kings with occasional resources, which were usually much more 
 important than the ordinary supplies from taxation. The first chiefs of the 
 Visigoths, the Ostrogoths, and the Franks, sought means of replenishing 
 their treasuries by their victorious arms. Alaric, Totila, and Clovis thus 
 amassed enormous wealth, without troubling themselves to place the govern- 
 ment finances on a satisfactory basis. We see, however, a semblance of 
 financial organization in the institutions of Alaric and his successors. 
 Subsequently, the great Theodoric, who had studied the administrative 
 theories of the Bysiantine Court, exercised his genius in endeavouring to 
 work out an accurate system of finance, which was adopted in Italy. 
 
 Gregory of Tours, a writer of the sixteenth century, relates in several 
 passages of his " History of the Franks," that they exhibited the same 
 repugnance to compulsory taxation as the Germans of the time of Tacitus. 
 The Leudes considered that they owed nothing to the treasury, and to 
 force them to submit to taxation was not an easy matter. About the 
 year 465, Cliilderic I., father of Clovis, lost his crown for wishing aU 
 classes to su.bmit to taxation equally. In 673, Childeric II., King of 
 Austrasia, had one of these Leudes, named Bodillon, flogged with rods for 
 daring to reproach him with the injustice of certain taxes. He, however, 
 was afterwards assassinated by this same Bodillon, and the Leudes main- 
 tained their right of immunity. A century before the Lendes were already 
 quarrelling with royalty on account of the taxes, which thej- refused to pay, 
 and the}'' sacrificed Queen Brunehaut because she attempted to enrich the 
 treasury with the confiscated property of a few nobles who had rebelled 
 against her authority. The wealth of the Frank kings, which was alwayt^ 
 very great, was a continual object of envy, and on one occasion Chilperic I., 
 
TAXES, MONEY, AND FINANCE. 
 
 303 
 
 King of Soissons, haviutr the Leiidcs 
 ill league with him, hiid his hands 
 on the wealth amassed by his 
 father, Clotaire I., which was kept 
 in the Palace of Braine. He was, 
 nevertheless, obliged to share his 
 spoil with his brothers and their 
 followers, who came in arms to 
 force him to refund what he had 
 taken. Chilperic (Fig. 254) was so 
 much in awe of these Leudes that 
 he did not ask them for money. His 
 wife, the much-feared Fredegonde, 
 did not, however, exempt them more 
 than Brunehaut had done ; and her 
 judges or ministers, Aiidon and 
 Mummius, having met with an in- 
 surmountable resistance in endea- 
 vouring to force taxation on the 
 nobles, nearly lost their lives in 
 consequence. 
 
 The custom of numbering the 
 population, such as was carried on in 
 Rome through the censors, appears 
 to have been observed under the 
 Merovingian kings. At the request 
 of the Bishop of Poitiers, Childcbert 
 gave orders to amend the census 
 taken under Sigcbert, King of 
 Australia. It is a most curious 
 document mentioned by Gregory of 
 Tours. "The ancient division," he 
 says, " had been one so unequal, 
 owing to the subdivision of properties 
 and other changes which time had 
 made in the condition of the tax- 
 
 Fig. 2')4. — Tomb of Chilp6no.— .Sculpture 
 Eleventh Centurj', in the Abbey of St. Ui 
 
 ui tbq 
 
304 TAXES, MONEY, AXD FIXAXCE. 
 
 payers, tliat tlie poor, tlie orphans, and the helpless classes generally alone 
 bore the real biu-den of taxation. Florentius, comptroller of the Xiug's 
 household, and Eomulfus, count of the palace, remedied this abuse. After a 
 closer examination of the changes which had taken place, they relieved the 
 taxpayers Avho xvere too heavily rated and placed the burden on those who 
 could better afford it. 
 
 This direct taxation continued on this plan until the time of the kings 
 of the second dynasty. The Franks, who had not the privilege of exemption, 
 paid a poll tax and a house tax; about a tenth was charged on the produce of 
 highly cvdtivated lands, a Kttle more on that of lands of an inferior description, 
 and a certain measure, a crucJie, of wine on the produce of every half acre of 
 vineyard. There were assessors and roj'al agents charged with levying such 
 
 \ Fis. 255.— Sianature of St. Eloy fElia-ius), ' 
 
 V 
 
 Fig. 255.— Signature of St. Eloy (Eligius), 
 Financier and Jlinister to Dagobert I. ; from 
 the Charter of Foundation of the Abbey of 
 Solignac (ilabillon, "DeKeDiplomatica"). 
 
 taxes and regulating the farming of them. In spite of this precaution, how- 
 ever, an edict of Clovis II., in the year 615, censures the mode of imposing 
 rates and taxes ; it orders that they shall only be leTied in the places where 
 they have been authorised, and forbade their being used under any pretext 
 whatever for any other object than that for which they were imposed. 
 
 Under the Merovingians specie was not in common use, although the 
 precious metals were abundant among the Gauls, as their mines of gold and 
 silver were not yet exhausted. Money was rarely coined, except oa great 
 occasions, such as a coronation, the birth of an heir to the throne, the 
 marriage of a prince, or the commemoration of a decisive victory. It 
 is even probable that each time that money was used in large sums the 
 pound or the sou of gold was represented more by ingots of metal than by 
 stamped coin. The third of the sou of gold, which was coined on state 
 occasions, seems to have been iised only as a commemorative medal, to be dis- 
 tributed amongst the great officers of state, and this circumstance explains 
 
TAXES, MONEY, AND FINANCE. 
 
 305 
 
 their extreme rarity. The general character of the coinage, whether of gold, 
 silver, or of the baser metals, of the Burgundian, Austrasian, and Frank kings, 
 differs little from what it had been at the time of the last of the Roman 
 emperors, though the Ancjd hearing the cross gradually replaced the Renommee 
 vidorieuse formerly stamped on the coins. Christian monograms and symbols 
 of the Trinity were often intermingled with the initials of the sovereign. It 
 also became common to combine in a monogram letters thought to be sacred 
 or lucky, such as C, M, S, T, &c. ; also to introduce the names of places, 
 which, perhaps, have since disappeared, as well as some particular mark or 
 
 Mekovingian Gold Coins, Stkuck by St. Eloy, Mo.neyeu to Dagobert I. (628 .63S). 
 
 Kg. 256. — Paiusinna leve ht. llcud of 
 Dagobert with double diadem of pearls, 
 hair hanging down tho back of the neck, 
 ifti;., Dagobertvs HEX. Cross; above, omega ; 
 under the arms of the cross, eligi. 
 
 Fig. 2.57. — Parissin. Civ. Head of Clevis II., 
 with diadem of pearls, hair braided and 
 hanging down the back of the neck. Eev., 
 Chlodovevs hex. Cross wilhanchor; under 
 the arms of the cross, eligi. 
 
 Fig. 258. — Paeisivs fit. Head of King. Met'., 
 Elioivs mone. Cross; above, omega; under, 
 a ball. 
 
 Fig. 259. — iloN. Palati. Head of King. Sev., 
 ScoLAKE. I. A. Cross with anchor ; under 
 the arms of the cross, eligi. 
 
 sign special to each mint. Some of these are very difficult to understand, and 
 present a number of problems which have yet to be solved (Figs. 256 to 259) . 
 Unfortunately, the names of jjlaces on Merovingian coins, to the number of 
 about nine hundred, have rarely been studied by coin collectors, expert both 
 as geographers and linguists. We find, for example, one hundred distinct 
 mints, and, up to the present time, have not been able to determine where 
 the greater number of them were situated. 
 
 From the time that Clovis became a Christian, he loaded the Churcli with 
 .favours, and it soon possessed considerable revenues, and enjoyed many 
 
 u 11 
 
3o6 TAXES, JIOXEF, AXjD FIXAXCE. 
 
 valuable immunities. The sons of Clovis contested tliese privileges ; but the 
 Church resisted for a time, though she was eventually obliged to give -way 
 to the iron hand of Charles ilartel. In 732 this great mUitarv chieftain, 
 after his struggle •with Eainfroy, and after his brilliant victories over the 
 Saxons, the Bavarians, the Swiss, and the Saracens, strif)ped the clergy of 
 their landed possessions, iu order to distribute them amongst his Leiides, who 
 by this means he secured as his creatures, and who were, therefore, ever 
 willing and eager to serve him in arms. 
 
 On ascending the throne. King Pepin, who wanted to pacify the Church, 
 endeavoured as far as possible to obliterate the recollection of the wrongs of 
 which his ftither had been guilty towards her ; he ordered the dimes and 
 the nones (tenth and ninth denier levied on the value of lands) to be placed 
 to the account of the possessors of each ecclesiastical domain, on their under- 
 takiag to repair the buildings (churches, chateaux, abbeys, and presbyteries), 
 and to restore to the owners the properties on which they held mortgages. 
 The nobles long resented this, and it required the authority and the example 
 of Charlemagne to soothe the contending parties, and to make Church and 
 State act in harmony. 
 
 Charlemagne renounced the arbitrary rights established by the Mayors 
 of the Palace, and retaiued only those which long usage had legitimised. 
 He registered them clearly in a code called the Capitulaires, into which 
 he introduced the ancient laws of the Ripuaires, the Burgundians, and the 
 Franks, arranging them so as to suit the organization and requirements of 
 his vast empire. From that time each freeman subscribed to the military 
 service accordiag to the amount of his possessions. The great vassal, or 
 fiscal judge, was no longer allowed to practise extortion on those citizens 
 appointed to defend the State. Freemen could legally refuse all servile or 
 obligatory work imposed on them by the nobles, and the amount of labour to 
 be performed by the serfs was lessened. Without absolutely abolishing the 
 authority of local customs in matters of finance, or penalties which had been 
 illegally exacted, they were suspended by laws decided at the Champs <fe 
 Mai, by the Counts and by the Leudes, in presence of the Emperor. Arbitrary 
 taxes were abolished, as they were no longer required. Food, and any 
 articles of consumption, and military munitions, were exempted from, taxa- 
 tion ; and the revenues derived from tolls on road gates, on bridges, and on 
 city gates, &c., were applied to the purposes for which they were imposed, 
 
TAXES, MONET, AND FINANCE. 
 
 307 
 
 namely, to the repair of the roads, the bridges, and the fortified enclosures. 
 The heriban, a fine of sixty sols — which in those days would amount to more 
 than 6,000 francs — was imposed on any holder of a fief who refused military 
 service, and each noble was obliged to pay this for every one of his vassals 
 who was absent when siimmoned to the King's banner. These fines must 
 have produced considerable sums. A special law exempted ecclesiastics from 
 
 Fig. 260. — Toll 1)11 Aliiiltuts levied by a Clciic. — From one of the I'ninted Windows of the 
 Cathedrtil of Toumay (Fifteenth Century). 
 
 bearing arms, and Charlemagne decreed that their possessions shovdd be 
 sacred and untouched, and everytliing was done to ensure the payment of the 
 indemnity — dimp and noiw — which was due to them. 
 
 Charlemagne also superintended the coining and circulation of money. 
 He directed tliat tlie silver sou should exactly contain the twenty-second 
 part by weight of llic ])oini(]. ir(^ also directed lluit money should only be 
 
3o8 TAXES, MONEY, AND FINANCE. 
 
 coined in tlie Imperial palaces. He forbade the circulation of spiirious 
 coin ; he ordered base coiners to be severely punished, and imposed heavy 
 fines ixpon those who refused to accept the coin in legal circulation. The 
 tithe due to the Church (Fig. 260), which was imposed at the National 
 Assembly in 779, and disbursed by the diocesan bishops, gave rise to many 
 complaints and much opposition. This tithe was in addition to that paid to 
 the King, which was of itself sufficiently heavy. The right of claiming the 
 two tithes, however, had a common origin, so that the sovereign defended his 
 own rights in protecting those of the Church. This is set forth in the text 
 of the Capifulaires, from the year 794 to 829. " "What had originally been 
 only a voluntary and j)ious offering of a few of the faithful," says the author 
 of the " Histoire Financiere de la France," " became thus a perpetual tax 
 upon agriculture, cvistom rather than law enforcing its payment ; and a tithe 
 which was at first limited to the produce of the soil, soon extended itself to 
 cattle and other live stock." 
 
 Royal delegates (missi dominici), who were invested with complex 
 fanctions, and with very extensive power, travelled through the empire 
 exercising legal jurisdiction over all matters of importance. They assembled 
 all the placitcs, or provincial authorities, and inquired particularly into the 
 collection of the public revenue. During their tours, which took place four 
 times a year, they either personally annulled unjust sentences, or submitted 
 them to the Emperor. They denounced any irregularities on the part of 
 the Counts, punished the negligences of their assessors, and often, in order 
 to replace imworthy judges, they had to resort to a system of election of 
 assessors, chosen from among the people. They verified the returns for the 
 census ; superintended the keeping up of the roj^al domains ; corrected frauds in 
 matters of taxation ; and punished usurers as much as base coiners, for at that 
 time money was not considered a commercial article, nor was it thought right 
 that a money-lender should be allowed to carry on a trade which required a 
 remuneration proportionate to the risk which he incurred. 
 
 These mmi dominici were too much hated by the great vassals to outHve 
 the introduction of the feudal system. Their royal masters, as they them- 
 selves gradually lost a part of their own privileges and power, coxdd not 
 sustain the authority of these officers. Dukes, counts, and barons, having 
 become magistrates, arbitrarily levied new taxes, imposed new fines, and 
 appropriated the King's tributes to such an extent that, towards the end of 
 
TAXES, JSrONEY, AXD FLXAXCE. 
 
 309 
 
 Fig. 2Gl.—SaIo by Town-Crier. /Vnw, tlio Cner, blowing a trumiJi-t ; titiljJi'Wlalor, public oflictr 
 charged with the sale. In the background is seen another sale, by the Bellman.— Fac-simile of 
 a Woodcut in the Woric of Jo«8p Damhoudere, " Praxis Rerum Civilium," 4to : Antwerp, IS.i?. 
 
 the tenth cr>ntury, tlif liiw.s of Charlemagne had no longer an_y weight. We 
 then fiii'l a number of new taxes levied for the benefit of the noble.f, the 
 
3IO TAXES, MONEY, AND FINANCE. 
 
 very names of which have fallen into disuse with the feudal claims which they 
 represented. Among these new taxes were those of escorte and entree, of mort- 
 main, of lods et vente-s, of 7'elie/, the champarts, the taille, the fouage, and the 
 various fees for wine-pressing, grirding, baking, &c., all of which were payable 
 without prejudice to the tithes due to the King and the Church. However, 
 as the royal tithe was hardly ever paid, the kings were obliged to look to 
 other means for replenishing their treasuries ; and coining false money was 
 a common jDi'actice. Unfortunately each great vassal vied with the kings 
 in this, and to such an extent, that the enormous quantity of bad money 
 coined during the ninth century completed the public ruin, and made this a 
 sad period of social chaos. The freeman was no longer distinguishable from 
 the villain, nor the villain from the serf. Serfdom was general ; men found 
 themselves, as it were, slaves, in possession of land which they laboured at 
 with the sweat of their brow, only to cultivate for the benefit of others. 
 The towns even — with the exception of a few privileged cities, as Florence, 
 Paris, Lyons, Rheims, Metz, Strasburg, Marseilles, Hamburg, Frankfort, 
 and Milan — were under the dominion of some ecclesiastical or lay lord, and 
 only enjoyed liberty of a more or less limited character. 
 
 Towards the end of the eleventh century, under Philip L, the enthusiasm 
 for Crusades became general, and, as all the nobles joined in the holy 
 mission of freeing the tomb of Jesus Christ from the hands of the infidels, 
 large sums of money were required to defray the costs. New taxes were 
 accordingly imposed ; but, as these did not produce enough at once, large 
 sums were raised by the sale of some of the feudal rights. Certain 
 franchises were in this way sold by the nobles to the boroughs, towns, and 
 abbeys, though, in not a few instances, these very privileges had been 
 formerly plimdered from the places to which they were now sold. Fines 
 were exacted from any person declining to go to Palestine ; and foreign 
 merchants — especially the Jews — were required to subscribe large sums. A 
 number t)f the nobles holding fiefs were reduced to the lowest expedients 
 with a view to raising money, and even sold their estates at a low price, or 
 mortgaged them to the very Jews whom they taxed so heavily. Every 
 town in which the spirit of Gallo-Roman municipality was preserved took 
 advantage of these circumstances to extend its liberties. Each monarch, 
 too, found this a favourable opportunity to add new fiefs to the crown, 
 and to recall as many great vassals as possible under his dominion. It 
 
TAXES, MOXEV, A AW FIXAXCK. 311 
 
 was at this period that communities arose, and that the first charters of 
 freedom which were obligatory and binding contracts between the King 
 and the p3ople, date their origin. Besides the annual fines due to the 
 King and the feudal lords, and in addition to the general subsidies, such 
 as the quit-rent and the tithes, these communities had to provide for the 
 repair of the walls or ramparts, for the paving of the streets, the cleaning 
 of the pits, the watch on the city gates, and the various exp3ns3s of loial 
 administration. 
 
 Louis le Gros endeavoured to make a re-arrangement of the taxes, and to 
 establish them on a definite basis. By his orders a new register of the lands 
 throughout the kingdom was commenced, but various calamities caused this 
 useful measure to be suspended. In 1149, Louis le Jeune, in consequence of 
 a disaster which had befallen the Crusaders, did what none of his predeces- 
 sors had dared to attempt : he exacted from all his subjects a .sol per pound 
 on their income. This tax, which amounted to a twentieth part of income, 
 was paid even by the Church, which, for example's sake, did not take advan- 
 tage of its immunities. Forty years later, at a council, or great parliament, 
 called by Philip Augustus, a new crusade was decided upon ; and, under 
 the name of Saladin's tithe, an annual tax was imjjosed on all proj^erty, 
 whether landed or personal, of all who did not take up the cross to go to 
 the Holy Land. The nobility, however, so violently resisted this, that the 
 King was obliged to substitute for it a general tax, which, although it was 
 still more productive, was less oflensivo in its mode of collection. 
 
 On returning to France in 1191, Philip Augustus rated and taxed every 
 one — nobility, bourgeois, and clergy — in order to prosecute the great wars 
 in which he was engaged, and to provide for the first paid troops ever known 
 in France. He began by confirming the enormous confiscations of the 
 properties of the Jews, who had been banished from the kingdom, and 
 afterwards sold a temporary permission to some of the richest of them to 
 return. 
 
 The Jews at that time were the only possessors of available funds, as 
 they were the only people who trafficked, and who lent money on interest. 
 On this account the Government were glad to recall them, so as to have at 
 hand a valuable resource which it could always make use of. As the King 
 could not on his own authority levy taxes upon the vassals of feudal lords, 
 on emergencies he convoked the barons, who discussed financial matters with 
 
3'i 
 
 TAXES, MONEY, AND FINANCE. 
 
 the King, and, when the sum rec][uired was settled, an order of assessment was 
 issued, and the barons undertook the collection of the taxes. The assessment 
 was always fixed higher than was required for the King's wants, and the 
 barons, having paid the King what was dxie to him, retained the surplus, 
 which they divided amongst themselves. 
 
 The creation of a public revenue, raised by the contributions of aU 
 classes of society, with a definite sum to be kept in reserve, thus 
 from the reign of Philip Augustus. The annual income of the State 
 
 Fig. 262. — The Tower of the Temple, in Paris. — From an Engraving of the Topography of Paris, 
 in the Cabinet des Estampes, of the National Library. 
 
 that time amounted to 36,000 marks, or 72,000 poimds' weight of silver — 
 about sixteen or seventeen million francs of present currency. The treasury, 
 which was kept in the great tower of the temple (Fig. 262), was under the 
 custody of seven bourgeois of Paris, and a king's clerk kept a register of 
 receipts and disbursements. This treasury must have been weU filled 
 at the death of Philip Augustus, for that monarch's legacies were very 
 considerable. One of his last wishes deserves to be mentioned: and this 
 was a formal order, which he gave to Louis VIII., to employ a certain 
 sum, left him for that purpose, solely and entirely for the defence of the 
 kingdom. 
 
TAXES, MONEY, AND FINANCE. 
 
 3'3 
 
 When Louis IX., in 1242, at Taillebourg and at Saintes, had defeated the 
 great vassals who had rebelled against him, he hastened to regulate the 
 taxes b)^ means of a special code which bore the name of the EtahUsKcmenh. 
 The taxes thus imposed fell upon the whole population, and even lands 
 belonging to the Church, houses which the nobles did not themselves occupy. 
 
 Gold Coins of tub Sixth and Seventh Centvries. 
 
 Fig. 263. — Merovee, Son of 
 Chilperic I. 
 
 Fi-. 20-4.— Dagobert I. 
 
 Fig. 265.— Clotaire III. 
 
 Silver Coins from thf. Eighth to the Eleventh Centuries. 
 
 Fig. 266.— PtpiQ the Short. Fig. 267.— Chuilemague. Fig. 268.- Henri I. 
 
 Gold and Silver Coins of the Tiiihteenth Centiry. 
 
 Fiir. 26y. — Gold Florin of Louis IX. 
 
 Fi". 27U. — Silver Gros of Tours. — Philip III. 
 
 rural properties and leased holdings, were all subjected to them. There 
 were, however, two different kinds of rates, one called the occupatlou rate, 
 and the other the rate of t'.rjiloifafion ; and they were both collected accord- 
 ing to a regisler, kept in the most regular and systcnuitic manner possible. 
 Ancient custom liad maintained a tax exceptionally in the following cases : 
 when a nolde dulibed his son a knight, or gave his daughter in marriage. 
 
314 TAXES, MONEY, AND FINANCE. 
 
 wlien he had to pay a ransom, and when he set out on a campaign against 
 the enemies of the Church, or for the defence of the country. These 
 taxes were called raide aux quatre cas. At this period despotism too often 
 overruled custom, and the good King Louis IX., by granting legal power to 
 custom, tried to bring it back to the true principles of justice and humanity. 
 He was, however, none the less jealous of his own personal privileges, 
 especially as regarded coining (Figs. 263 to 270). He insisted that coining 
 should be exclusively carried on in his palace, as in the times of the Carlo- 
 vingian kings, and he required every coin to be made of a definite standard 
 of weight, which he himself fixed. In this way he secured the exclusive 
 control over the mint. For the various localities, towns, or counties directly 
 under the crown, Louis IX. settled the mode of levying taxes. Men of 
 integrity were elected by the vote of the General Assembly, consisting of the 
 three orders — namely, of the nobility, the clergy, and the tiers etat — to 
 assess the taxation of each individual ; and these assessors themselves were 
 taxed by four of their own number. The custom of levying proprietary 
 subsidies in each small feudal jurisdiction could not be abolished, notwith- 
 standing the King's desire to do so, owing to the power still held by the 
 nobles. Nobles were forbidden to levy a rate under any consideration, 
 witliout previouslj' holding a meeting of the vassals and their tenants. The 
 tolls on roads, bridges (Fig. 271), fairs, and markets, and the harbour dues 
 were kept up, notwithstanding their obstruction to commerce, with the 
 exception that free passage was given to corn passing from one province to 
 another. The exemptions from taxes which had been dearly bought were 
 removed ; and the nobles were bound not to divert the revenue received 
 from tolls for any purposes other than those for which they were legitimately 
 intended. The nobles were also required to guard the roads " from sunrise 
 to sunset," and they were made responsible for robberies committed upon 
 travellers within their domains. 
 
 Louis IX., by refunding the value of goods which had been stolen 
 through the carelessness of his oificers, himself showed an example of the 
 respect due to the law. Those charged with collecting the King's dues, 
 as well as the mayors whose duty it was to take custody of the money con- 
 tributed, and to receive the taxes on various articles of consumption, 
 worked under the eye of officials appointed by the King, who exercised a 
 financial jurisdiction which developed later into the department or office 
 
TAXES, MONEY, AND FINANCE. 
 
 3'5 
 
 called the Chamber of Accounts. A tax, somcwbat similar to the tithe on 
 lands, was imi^osed for the benefit of the nobles on property held by corpora- 
 tions or under charter, in order to compensate the treasury for the loss of the 
 succession duties. This tax represented about the fifth part of the value of 
 the estate. To cover the enormous expenses of the two crusades, Louis IX., 
 however, was obliged to levy two new taxes, called decimes, from his already 
 
 Fig. 271.— I'iiyiug Toll on p.'issiiig a Bridge. — From a Painted Window in the C'atlicdral of 
 Tournay (Fifteenth Century). 
 
 overburdened people. It does not, however, appear that this excessive taxa- 
 tion alienated the affection of his subjects. Their minds were entirely taken 
 up with the pilgrimages to the East, and the pious monarch, notwithstanding 
 his fruitless sacrifices and his disastrous exj)editions, earned for himself the 
 title of Priiirr itf I'ciirr ami (if Justice. 
 
 From the time of fjoiils IX. dcnvn to that of Philippe le Bel, who was 
 
3i6 
 
 TAXES, MONEY, AND FINANCE. 
 
 tlie most extravagant of kings, and at the same time the most ingenious 
 ia raising funds for the State treasury, the financial movement of Europe 
 took root, and eventually became centralised in Italy. In Florence was 
 presented an example of the concentration of the m.ost complete municipal 
 privileges which a great flourishing city could desire. Pisa, Genoa, and 
 Venice attracted a part of the European commerce towards the Adriatic 
 and the Mediterranean. Everywhere the Jews and Lombards — alreadj^ 
 well initiated into the mysterious system of credit, and accustomed to lend 
 money — started banks and pawn establishments, where jewels, diamonds. 
 
 Fig. 272. — View of the ancient Pont aux Chang-eurs. — From an Eng-raving of the Topography of 
 Paris, in the Cahinet des Estampes, of the National Library. 
 
 glittering arms, and paraphernalia of all kinds were deposited by princes 
 and nobles as security for loans (Fig. 272). 
 
 The tax collectors {maUMiers, a name derived from the Italian mala toUa, 
 unjust tax), receivers, or farmers of taxes, paid dearly for exercising their 
 calling, which was always a dishonourable one, and was at times exercised 
 with a great amount of harshness and even of cruelty. The treasury required 
 a certain number of deniers, oholes, or pittes (a small coin varying in value 
 in each province) to be paid by these men for each bank operation they 
 effected, and for every pound in value of merchandise they sold, for they and 
 the Jews were permitted to carry on trades of all kinds without being 
 subject to any kind of rates, taxes, work, military service, or municipal dues. 
 
TAXES, MONEY, AXD FLXANCE. 3,7 
 
 Philippe le Bel, owing to his interminable wars against the King of 
 Castille, and against England, Germany, and Flanders, was frequently so 
 embarrassed as to be obliged to resort to extraordinary subsidies in order 
 to carry them on. In l"29y, he called upon his subjects for a forced loan, 
 and soon after he shamelessly required them to pay the one-hundredtli 
 part of their incomes, and after but a short interval he demanded anotliei- 
 fiftieth part. The King assumed the exclusive right to debase the value 
 of the coinage, which caused him to be commonly called the hanr' eoiiirr, 
 and no sovereign ever coined a greater quantity of base money. He 
 changed the standard or name of current coin with a view to counter- 
 balance the mischief arising from the illicit coinage of the nobles, and 
 especially to baffle the base traffic of the Jews and Lombards, who occa- 
 sionally would obtain possession of a great part of the coin, and mutilate each 
 piece before restoring it to circulation ; in this way they upset the whole 
 monetary economy of the realm, and secured immense profits to themselves 
 (Fig. 273 to 278). 
 
 In 1303, the aide an Jcur, which was afterwards called the aide de li'offf, or 
 the army tax, was invented by Philippe le Bel for raising an army without 
 opening his purse. It was levied without distinction upon dukes, coimts, 
 barons, ladies, damsels, archbishops, bishops, abbots, chapters, colleges, and, 
 in fact, upon all classes, whether noble or not. Nobles were boimd to furnish 
 one knight mounted, equipped, and in full armoui', for every five hundred 
 marks of land which they possessed ; those who wore not nobles had to 
 furnish six foot-soldiers for every hundred households. Bj^ another enact- 
 ment of this king the privilege was granted of paying money instead of 
 complying with these demands for men, and a sum of 100 livres — about 
 10,000 francs of jiresent currency — was exacted for each armed knight ; and 
 two sols — about ten francs per diem — for each soldier which any one failed 
 to furnish. An outcry was raised throughout France at this proceeding, and 
 rebellions broke out in several provinces : in Paris the mob destroyed the 
 house of Stephen Barbette, master of tlie mint, and insulted the King in his 
 Jjalace. It was necessary to enforce the roviil authority with vigour, and, after 
 considerable difficulty, peace was at last restored, and Pliilip learned, though 
 too late, that in matters of taxation the jieople should first be consulted. In 
 1313, for the first time, the bourgeoisie, syndics, or deputies of communities, 
 under the name of tici-H Hat- — third order of the state — were called to 
 
3«8 
 
 TAXES, MONET, AND FINANCE. 
 
 exercise tlie rigiit of freely voting tlie assistance or subsidy which it pleased 
 tlie King to ask of them. After this memorable occasion an edict was issued 
 ordering a levy of six deniers in the pound on every sort of merchandise sold 
 in the kingdom. Paris paid this without hesitation, whereas in the provinces 
 there was much discontented murmuring. But the following year, the Eing 
 
 Gold Cores or the FoUhTEENTH and Fiftefth Cekturies. 
 
 Fig. 273.— Masse d'Or. Philip IV. 
 
 Fisr. 274. — Small Ais-nel d'Or. Charles IV. 
 
 Fig. 275. — LavifeAi^el d'Or. John the Good. 
 
 Fig. 276.— Franc a Cheval d'Or. Charlis V. 
 
 Fig. 277.— Ecu d'Or. Philip VI. 
 
 Fig. 27S.— Salut d'Or. Charles VI. 
 
 having tried to raise the six deniers voted by the assembly of 1313 to twelve, 
 the clergy, nobility, and tiers etat combiaed to resist the extortions of the 
 government. Philippe le Bel died, after having yielded to the opposition of 
 his indignant subjects, and in his last moments he recommended his son to 
 exercise moderation in taxing and honestv in coining. 
 
TAXES, MONEY, AND FINANCE. 3,9 
 
 On the accession of Louis X., in 1810, war against the Flemish was 
 imminent, although the royal treasury was absolutely empty. The Kinn- 
 unfortunately, in spite of his father's advice, attempted systematically to 
 tamper with the coinage, and he also commenced the exaction of fresh taxes, 
 to the great exasperation of his subjects. lie was obliged, through fear of 
 a general rebellion, to do away with the tithe established for the support of 
 the army, and to sacrifice the superintendent of finances, Engucrrand de 
 Marigny, to the public indignation which was felt against him. This man, 
 without being allowed to defend himself, was tried by an extraordinary com- 
 mission of parliament for embezzling the public money, was condemned to 
 death, and was hung on the gibbet of Montfaucon. Not daring to risk a 
 convocation of the States-General of the kingdom, Louis X. ordered the 
 seneschals to convoke the provincial assemblies, and thus obtained a few 
 subsidies, which he promised to refund out of the revenues of his domains. 
 The clergy even allowed themselves to be taxed, and closed their eyes to the 
 misappropriation of the funds, which were supposed to be hold in reserve for 
 a new crusade. Taxes giving commercial franchise and of exchange were 
 levied, which were paid by the Jews, Lombards, Tuscans, and other Italians ; 
 judiciary offices were sold by auction ; the trading class purchased letters of 
 nobility, as they had already done under Philippe le Eel ; and, more than this, 
 the enfranchisement of serfs, which had commenced in 1298, was continued 
 on the payment of a tax, which varied according to the means of each 
 individual. In consequence of this system, poi'sonal servitude was almost 
 entirely abolished under Philippe le Long, brother of Louis X. 
 
 Each province, under the reign of this rapacious and necessitous monarch, 
 demanded some concession from the crown, and almost always obtained it at 
 a money value. Normandy and Burgund}', which were dreaded more than 
 any other province on account of their turbulence, received remarkable con- 
 cessions. The base coin was withdrawn from circulation, and Louis X. 
 attempted to forbid the right of cfiinage to those who broke the wise laws of 
 St. Louis. The idea of bills of exchange arose at this period. 
 
 Thanks to the peace concluded with Flanders, on which occasion that 
 country pu'd into tlie hands of the sovereign tjiirfy thousand fiorins in gold 
 for arrears of taxes, and, above all, owing to the rules of economy and ordei', 
 from which I'hilij) V., surnamed the Long, never deviated, the attitude 
 of France became comi)lctely altered. Wo find the King initiating reform 
 
320 
 
 TAXES. MONET, AND FINANCE. 
 
 by reducing the expenses of his household. He convened round his person 
 a great council, which met monthly to examine and discuss matters of public 
 interest ; he allowed only one national treasury for the reception of the State 
 revenues ; he required the treasurers to make a half-yearly statement of their 
 
 Fig-. 279. — Hotel of the Chamber of Accounts in the Courtyiii-d of thu Palace in Paris. From a 
 Woodcut of the " Cosmographie TJniverselle " of Munster, in folio : Basle, 1552. 
 
 accounts, and a daily journal of receipts and disbursements ; he forbad clerks ot 
 the treasury to make entries either of receipts or expenditure, however trifling, 
 without the authority and supervision of accountants, whom he also compelled 
 to assist at the checking of sums received or paid by the money-changers 
 (Fig. 279). The forming of the crown lands, the King's taxes, the stamp 
 
TAXES, MONEY, AND FINANCE. 
 
 32' 
 
 registration, and the gaol duties were sold by auction, subject to certain 
 regulations with regard to guarantee. The bailiffs and seneschals sent in 
 their accounts to Paris annually, they were not allowed to absent themselves 
 without the King's permission, and they were formally forbidden, iinder pain 
 of confiscation, or even a severer penalty, to speculate with the public money. 
 The operations of the treasury were at this period always involved in the 
 greatest mysterv. 
 
 The establishment of a central mint for the whole kingdom, the expulsion 
 
 Fig. 280. — Measuring Salt. — Fac-simile of a 
 Woodcut of the " Ordonnances do la Prevoste 
 des Marchands de Paris," in folio : 1500. 
 
 Fig. 281.— Toll under the Bridges of Paris.— 
 Fac-simile of a Woodcut of the " Ordonnances 
 de la Prevoste des Marchands de Paris," in 
 folio: 1500. 
 
 of the money-dealers, who were mostly of Italian origin, and the confiscation 
 of their goods if it was discovered that they had acted falsely, signalised the 
 accession of Charles le Bel in 1332. This beginning was welcomed as most 
 auspicious, but before long the export duties, especially on grain, wine, hay, 
 cattle, leather, and salt, became a source of legitimate complaint (Figs. 280 
 and 281). 
 
 Philip Nl., surnamed de VfiMs, a more astute politician than his pre- 
 decessor, felt the necessity of gaining the aff"ections of the people by sparing 
 
 T T 
 
322 TAXES, MONEY, AND FINANCE. 
 
 their private fortunes. In order to establisli the public revenue on a iirm basis, 
 he assembled, in 1330, the tStates-General, composed of barons, prelates, and 
 deputies from the principal towns, and then, hoping to awe the financial 
 agents, he authorised the arrest of the overseer, Pierre de Montigny, whose 
 property was confiscated and sold, producing to the treasury the enormous 
 sum of 1,200,000 livres, or upwards of 100,000,000 francs of present currency. 
 The long and terrible war which the Xing was forced to carry on against 
 the English, and Avhich ended in the treaty of Bretigny in 1361, gave 
 rise to the introduction of taxation of extreme severity. The dues on 
 ecclesiastical properties were I'enewed and maintained for several years ; all 
 beverages sold in towns were taxed, and from four to six deniers in the 
 pound were levied upon the value of all merchandise sold in any part of the 
 kingdom. The salt tax, which Philijjpe le Bel had established, and which 
 his successor, Louis X., immediately abolished at the imanimous wish of the 
 people, was again levied by Philip VI., and this king, having caused the 
 salt produced in his domains to be sold, " gave great offence to all classes of 
 the community." It was on account of this that Edward III., King of 
 England, facetiously called him the author of the Balic law. Philippe de 
 Valois, when he first ascended the throne, coined his money according to the 
 standard weight of St. Louis, but in a short time he more or less alloyed it. 
 This he did secretly, in order to be able to withdraw the pieces of full weight 
 from circulation and to replace them with others having less pure metal in 
 them, and whose weight was made up by an extra amoimt of alloy. In this 
 dishonest way a. considerable sum was added to the cofiers of the state. 
 
 King John, on succeeding his father in 1350, found the treasury empty 
 and the resources of the kingdom exhausted. He was nevertheless obliged 
 to provide means to continue the war against the English, who continually 
 harassed the French on their own territorj'. The tax on merchaudise not 
 being sufficient for this war, the paAinent of public debts contracted by the 
 government was suspended, and the State was thus obliged to admit its 
 insolvency. The mint taxes, called seigneuriage, were pushed to the utmost 
 limits, and the King levied them on the new coin, which he increased at will 
 by largely alloying the gold with base metals. The duties on exported and 
 imported goods were increased, notwithstanding the complaints that commerce 
 was declining. These financial expedients would not have been tolerated 
 by the people liad not the King taken the precaution to have them approved 
 
TAXES, MONEY, AND FINANCE. 
 
 323 
 
 by the 8tates-Gener;il of the provincial states, which he aiiuuall}^ assembled. 
 In 1355 the States-General were convoked, and the King, who had to maintain 
 thirty thousand soldiers, asked them to provide for this annual expenditure, 
 estimated at 5,000,000 livrm pavkk, about 300,000,000 francs of present 
 currency. The States-General, animated by a generous feeling of patriotism, 
 "ordered a tax of eight deniers in the pound on the sale and ti-ansfer of all 
 goods and articles of merchandise, with the exception of inheritances, which 
 
 f V 
 
 
 J M !x 
 
 'V 
 
 YA I 
 
 h\ \y lAn ixl \A^c,,.^ U1 {X, 
 
 Fig. 2S2. — Xlie Courtiers amasniny; liiLiit.-5 ut tho E.\iJunso of thu Poor. — From a Miniatviro in the 
 "Tresor" of Brunotto Latini, Manuscript of the Fourteenth Century, in the Library of the 
 Arsenal, Paris. 
 
 was to bo payable by the vendors, of whatever rank they might be, whether 
 ecclesiastics, nobles, or others, and also a salt tax to be levied throughout tho 
 ■whole kingdom of France." The King promised as long as this assistance 
 lasted to levy no other subsidy and to coin good and sterling money — i.e. 
 deniem of fine gold, irlritv, or silver coin, coin of billon, or mixed metal, and 
 deniers and mailks of copper. The assembly appointed travelling agents 
 
324 TAXES, MONEY, AND FINANCE. 
 
 and three inspectors or superintendents, wlio had under them two receivers 
 and a considerable number of sub-collectors, whose duties were defined with 
 scrupulous minuteness. The King at this time renounced the right of seizin, 
 his dues over property inherited or conveyed by sale, exchange, gift, or will, 
 his right of demanding war levies by proclamation, and of issuing forced loans, 
 the despotic character of which offended everybody. The following year, 
 the tax of eight deniers having been found insufficient and expensive in its 
 collection, the assembly substituted for it a property and income tax, varying 
 according to the property and income of each individual. 
 
 The finances were, notwithstanding these additions, in a low and unsatis- 
 factory condition, which became worse and worse from the fatal day of 
 Poitiers, when King John fell into the hands of the English. The States- 
 General were summoned by the Dauphin, and, seeing the desperate condition 
 in which the country was placed, all classes freely opened their purses. The 
 nobilitj^ who had already given their blood, gave the produce of all their feudal 
 dues besides. The church paid a tenth and a half, and the bourgeois showed 
 the most noble unselfishness, and rose as one man to find means to resist the 
 common enemy. The ransom of the King had been fixed at three milKons of 
 ecus d'or, nearly a thousand million francs, payable in six years, and the 
 peace of Bretigny was concluded by the cession of a third of the territory of 
 France. There was, however, cause for congratulation in this result, for 
 "France was reduced to its utmost extremity," says a chronicler, "and had 
 not something led to a reaction, she must have perished irretrievabl}'." 
 
 King John, grateful for the love and devotion shown to him by his 
 subjects under these trying circumstances, returned from captivity with the 
 solemn intention of lightening the burdens which pressed upon them, and in 
 consequence he began by spontaneously reducing the enormous wages which 
 the tax-gatherers had hitherto received, and by abolishing the tolls on high- 
 ways. He also sold to the Jews, at a very high price, the right of remaining 
 in the kingdom and of exercising any trade in it, and by this means he 
 obtained a large sum of money. He solemnly promised never again to 
 debase the coin, and he endeavoiu-ed to make an eqviitable division of the 
 taxes. Unfortunately it was impossible to do without a public revenue, and 
 it was necessary that the royal ransom should be paid off within six years. 
 The people, from whom taxes might be always extorted at pleasure, paid a 
 good share of this, for the fifth of the three millions of ecus d'or was realised 
 
TAXES, MONEY, AND FINANCE. 325 
 
 from the tax on salt, the thirteenth i^art from the duty on the sale of 
 fermented liquors, and twelve deniers per pound from the tax on the value of 
 all provisions sold and resold within the kingdom. Commerce was subjected 
 to a new tax called imposition foraine, a measure most detrimental to the trade 
 and manufiictures of the countrj^, which were continually strugo-Kno- under 
 the pitiless oppression of the treas^r3^ Eoyal despotism w;is not alwa^-s 
 able to shelter itself under the sanction of the general and provincial 
 councils, and a few provinces, which forcibly protested against this excise 
 duty, were treated on the same footing as foreign states with relation to the 
 transit of merchandise from them. Other provinces compounded for this tax 
 and in this way, owing to the different arrangements in different places, a com- 
 plicated system of exemptions and prohibitions existed which, althouo-h most 
 prejudicial to all industry, remained in force to a great extent until 1789. 
 
 When Charles V. — surnamed the Wise — ascended the throne in 1864, 
 France, ruined by the disasters of the war, by the weight of taxation, by the 
 reduction in her commerce, and by the want of internal security, exhibited 
 everywhere a picture of misery and desolation; in addition to which, 
 famine and various epidemics were constantly breaking out in various 
 parts of the kmgdom. Besides this, the country was incessantly overrun 
 by gangs of plunderers, who called themselves ecorc/wiirs, roiiticr.% bird- 
 mim, &c., and who were more dreaded by tne country people even than (ho 
 English had been. Charles Y., who was celebrated for his justice and for his 
 economical and provident habits, was alone capable of establishing order in 
 the midst of such general confusion. Supported by the vote of the Assembly 
 held at Compiegne in 13G7, he remitted a moiety of the salt tax and 
 diminished the number of the treasury agents, reduced their wages, and cur- 
 tailed their privileges. He inquired into all cases of embezzlement, so as 
 to put a stop to fraud; and he insisted that the accounts of the public 
 expenditure in its several departments should be annually audited. He 
 protected commerce, facilitated exchanges, and reduced, as far as possible, 
 the rates and taxes on woven articles and manufactured goods. He per- 
 mitted Jews to hold funded property, and invited foreign merchants to trade 
 with the country. For the first time he required all gold and silver articles 
 to be stamped, and called in all the old gold and silver coins, in oi'der that by 
 a new and uniform issue the value of money might no longer be fictitious or 
 variasble. For more than a century coins had so often changed in name. 
 
325 TAXES, MOXEF, AA'I) FIXANCE. 
 
 value, aud standard weight, tliat in an edict of King Jolin we read, " It was 
 difficidt for a man. when paying money in the ordinary course to know what 
 he was about from one day to another." 
 
 The recommencement of hostilities between England and France in 1370 
 unfortunately interrupted the progressive and regular coui'se of these financial 
 improvements. The States-General, to whom the King was obliged to appeal 
 for assistance in order to carrj^ on the war, decided that salt should be taxed 
 one sol per pound, wine by wholesale a thirteenth of its value, and by retail 
 a fovu'th; that afouago, or hearth tax, of six francs should be established in 
 to'rnis, and of two francs in the country,* and that a duty shoidd be levied 
 in walled towns on the entrance of all \\-ine. The produce of the salt tax 
 was devoted to the special use of the King. Each district farmed its excise 
 and its salt tax, under the superintendence of clerks appointed by the King, 
 who regulated the assessment and the fines, and who adjudicated in the first 
 instance in all cases of dispute. Tax-gatherers were chosen by the inha- 
 bitants of each locality, but the chief ofiicers of finance, four in number, 
 were appointed by the King. This administrative organization, created on a 
 sound basis, marked the establishment of a complete financial system. The 
 Assembly, which thus transferred the administration of all matters of taxation 
 from the people at large to the King, did not consist of a combination of the 
 three estates, but simply of persons of position — namely, prelates, nobles, and 
 bourgeois of Paris, in addition to the leading magistrates of the kingdom. 
 
 The following extract from the accounts of the 15th November, 1372, 
 is interesting, inasmuch as it represents the actual budget of France under 
 Charles Y. : — 
 
 Article 18. Assigned for the payment of men at arms . . 50,000 francs. 
 ,, 19. For payment of men at arms and cross-bowmen 
 
 newly formed 12,000 
 
 ,, ,, For sea purposes 8,000 
 
 20. For the lung's palace 6,000 
 
 ,, ,, To place in the Kings coti'ers 5,000 
 
 ,, 21. It pleases the King that the receiver-general 
 should have monthly for matters that daily 
 
 arise in the chamber 10,000 ,. 
 
 ,, For the payment of debts 10,000 
 
 Total 131,000 „ 
 
 * This is the origin of the saying " smoke fiirthing." 
 
'fTLEMENT OF ACCOUNTS BY THE liHOTTIKRHOOD OF "ClIARITIil-DIEU AND NOTRE- DAME 
 OF THE RECOVERY OF ROUEX" (liOC;). 
 A miiijaturij IVoni tlie "L»;re dcs comytes" of the Sorioly, a ms. of l.'J"' century. 
 
TAXES, MONEY, AXD FIXAXCE. 3^ 
 
 Thus, for the year, 131,000 francs in ecm d'or, representing in present 
 money about 12,000,000 francs, were appropriated to the expenses of the 
 State, out of which the sum of 5,000 francs, equal to 275,000 francs of present 
 money, was devoted to what we may call the Civil List. 
 
 On the death of Charles V., in 1380, his eldest son Charles, who was a 
 minor, was put imder the guardianship of his imclcs, and one of these, the 
 Duke d'Anjou, assumed the regency by force. He seized upon the royal 
 treasury, which was concealed in the Castle of Melun, and also upon all 
 the savings of the deceased king ; and, instead of applying them to alleviate 
 the general burden of taxation, he levied a duty for the first time on the 
 common food of the people. Immediately there arose a general outcry of 
 indignation, and a formidable expression of resistance was made in Paris "and 
 in the large to^^-ns. Mob orators loudly proclaimed the public rights thus 
 trampled upon by the regent and the King's uncles ; the expression of the 
 feehngs of the masses began to take the shape of open revolt, when the 
 council of the regency made an appearance of giving way, and the new taxes 
 were suppressed, or, at all events, partially abandoned. The success of the 
 insurrectionary movement, however, caused increased concessions to be de- 
 manded by the people. The Jews and tax-collectors were attacked. Some 
 of the latter were hung or assassinated, and their registers torn up ; and 
 many of the former were ill-treated and banished, notwithstanding the price 
 they had paid fur living in the kingdom. 
 
 The assembly of the States, which was summoned by the King's uncles to 
 meet in Paris, sided with the people, and, in consequence, the regent and his 
 brother pretended to acknowledge the justice of the claims which were made 
 upon tliem in the name of the people, and, on their withdrawing the taxes, 
 order was for a time restored. No .sooner, ho^^■ever, was this the case than, 
 m spite of the solemn promises made liy the council of regency, the taxes 
 were suddenly reimposed, and the right of farming them was sold to persons 
 who exacted them in the most brutal manner. A sanguinary revolt, called 
 that of the Maillofiii.,, ],urst furtli in Paris ; and the capital remained for some 
 tune m the power of the people, oi- rather of the bourgeois, who led the 
 'nob on to act iov them (1381-13S2). The touns of Pouen, Eheims, Troyes, 
 •ileans, jiiid Plois, many j^laces in Beauvoise, in Champagne, and in Nor- 
 in^nuly, I'Dllouod the example of (he Parisians, and it is impossible to sav 
 '" wluit a length flic ivv^lt would have ivacli,.! jiad it not been for the 
 
328 
 
 TAXES, M0NE1\ AND FINANCE. 
 
 victory over tlie Flemisli at Eosebecque. This victory enabled the King's 
 uncles to re-enter Paris in 1383, and to re-establish the royal authority, at 
 
 Fi^ 2S3— \ssissinitionoeth DuU of Ciu^uud^, Juhn thcl cukb» on the Bridge, of Monteieau, 
 in 1419.— Fac-simile of a Miniature in the "Chronicles" of Monstrelet, Manuscript of the 
 Fifteenth Century, in tlie Library of the Ai-senal of Paris. 
 
 the same time making the Maillotins and their accomiDlices pay dearly for 
 their conduct. The excise duties, the hearth tax, the salt tax, and various other 
 imposts v.-hich had been abolished or suspended, were re-established; the 
 
TAX£S, MONEY, AND FINANCE. 329 
 
 taxes on wine, beer, and other fermented liquors was lowered ; bread was 
 taxed twelve deniers per pound, and the dutj^ on salt was fixed at the exces- 
 sive rate of twenty francs in gold — about 1,200 francs of present money — 
 per hogshead of sixty hundredweight. Certain concessions and compromises 
 were made exceptionally in favour of Artois, Dauphiue, Poitou, and Saintonge, 
 in. consideration of the voluntary contributions which those provinces had 
 made. 
 
 Emboldened by the success of their exacting and arbitrary ride, the Dukes 
 of Anjou, Burgundy, and Berry, under pretext of requiring money for war 
 expenses, again increased the taxes from the year 1385 to 1388 ; and the 
 salt tax was raised to forty golden francs, about 24,000 francs of present 
 monej', per hogshead. The ecclesiastics paid a half decime to the King, and 
 several decimes to the Pope, but these did not jjrevent a forced loan being 
 ordered. Happily, Charles VI. about this period attained his majority, and 
 assumed his position as king ; and his uncle, the Duke of Bourbon, who 
 was called to the direction of affairs, re-established comparative order in 
 financial matters ; but soon after the King's brother, the Duke of Orleans, 
 seized the reins of government, and, jointly with his sister-in-law, Isabel 
 of Bavaria, increased the taxation far beyond that imposed by the Duke 
 d'Anjou. The Duke of Burgundy, called John the Fearless, in prdor to 
 gratify his personal hatred to his cousin, Louis of Orleans, made himself 
 the instrument of the strong popular feeling by assassinating that prince 
 as he was returning from an entertainment. The tragical death of the 
 Duke of Orleans no more alleviated the ills of France thtin did that of 
 the Duke of Burgundy sixteen years later — for he in his turn was the 
 victim of a conspiracy, and was assassinated on the bridge of Montcreau in 
 the presence of the Dauphin (Fig. 283). The marriage of Isabel of France 
 with the young king Richard of England, the ransom of the Christian 
 prisoners in the East, the money required by the Emperor of Constantinople 
 to stop the invasions of the Turks into Europe, the pay of the French army, 
 which was now permanent, each necessarily required fresh subsidies, and 
 money had to be raised in some way or other from the French people. 
 Distress was at its height, and though the people were groaning under 
 oppression, they continued to pay not only the increased taxes on pro- 
 visions and merchandise, and an additional general tax, but to submit 
 to the most outrageous confiscations and robbery of the public money 
 
 u u 
 
330 TAXES, MONEY, AND FINANCE. 
 
 from the public treasuries. The State Assemblies held at Auxerre and 
 Paris in 1412 and 1413, denounced the extravagance and maladminis- 
 tration of the treasurers, the generals, the excisemen, the receivers of 
 roj'al dues, and of all those who took part in the direction of the finances ; 
 though they nevertheless voted the taxes, and promulgated most severe 
 regulations with respect to their collection. To meet emergencies, which 
 were now becoming chronic, extraordinarj^ taxes were established, the non- 
 payment of which involved the immediate imprisonment of the defaulter ; 
 and the debasement of the coinage, and the alienation of certain parts of 
 the kingdom, were authorised in the name of the King, who had been 
 insane for more than fifteen years. The incessant revolts of the bourgeois, 
 the reappearance of the English on the soil of France, the ambitious rivalry 
 of Queen Isabel of Bavaria leagued with the Duke of Burgundy against 
 the Dauphin, who had been made regent, at last, in 1420, brought about 
 the humiliating treaty of Troyes, by which Henry V., king of England, 
 was to become king of France on the death of Charles VI. 
 
 This treatjr of Troj^es became the cause of, and the pretext for, a vast 
 amount of extortion being practised upon the unfortunate inhabitants of the 
 conquered country. Henry V., who had already made several exactions from 
 Normandy before he had obtained by force the throne of France, did not 
 spare the other provinces, and, whilst proclaiming his good intentions 
 towards his future subjects, he added a new general impost, in the shape of 
 a forced loan, to the taxes which already weighed so heavily on the people. 
 He also issued a new coinage, maintained many of the taxes, especially those 
 on salt and on liquors, even after he had announced his intention of abolishing 
 them. 
 
 At the same time the Dauphin Charles, surnamed Roi de Bourges, 
 because he had retired with his court and retinue into the centre of the 
 kingdom (1422), was sadly in want of money. He alienated the State 
 I'evenues, he levied excise duties and subsidies in the provinces which 
 remained faithful to his cause, and he borrowed largely from those members 
 of the Church and the nobility who manifested a generous pity for the 
 sad destiny of the King and the monarchy. Many persons, however, 
 instead of sacrificing themselves for their king and countrj', made con- 
 ditions with him, taking advantage of his position. The heir to the throne 
 was obliged in many points to give way, either to a noble whose services 
 
TAXES, MONEY, AND FINANCE. 
 
 11^ 
 
 Fig. 284. — The llouso of Jacques Cceiir at Lieiuges, uuw cuuverted into the Hotel de Ville. 
 
 he bargained for, or to a town or an abbej' whose aid lie sought. At times ho 
 bought over influential bodies, such as universities and other corporations, 
 by granting exemptions from, or privileges in, matters of taxation, &c. So 
 
,332 TAXES, MONEY, AND FINANCE. 
 
 mucli ■was this tlie case tliat it may be said that Charles YII. treated 
 by private contract for the recovery of the inheritances of his fathers. 
 The towns of Paris and Rouen, as well as the provinces of Brittany, Lan- 
 guedoc, ]!^orniandy, and Guyenne, only returned to their allegiance to the 
 King on conditions more or less advantageous to themselves. Burgimdy, 
 Picardy, and Planders — which were removed from the kingdom of 
 Charles VII. at the treaty of peace of Arras in 1435 — cordially adopted 
 the iinancial system inaugurated by the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the 
 Good. 
 
 Charles YII. reconquered his kingdom by a good and wise poHcj' as 
 much as by arms. He, doubtless, had cause to be thankful for the valour 
 and devotion of his oiEcers, but he principally owed the success of his cause 
 to one man, namely, his treasurer, the famous Jacques Cceur, who possessed 
 the faculty of always supplying money to his master, and at the same 
 time of enriching himself (Fig. 284). Thus it was that Charles TIL, 
 whose finances had been restored by the genius of Jacques CcEur, was at 
 last able to re-enter his capital triumphantly, to emancipate Guyenne, 
 Normandy, and the banks of the Loire from the English yoke, to re- 
 attach to the crown a portion of its former possessions, or to open the way 
 for their early return, to remove bold usurpers from high places in the 
 State, and to bring about a real alleviation of those evils which his 
 subjects had so courageously borne. He suppressed the fraud and extor- 
 tion carried on under the name of justice, put a stop to the sale of offices, 
 abolished a number of rates illegally levied, required that the receivers' 
 accounts should be sent in biennially, and whilst regulating the taxa- 
 tion, he devoted its proceeds entirely to the maintenance and pay of 
 the army. From that time taxation, once feudal and arbitrary, became a 
 fixed royal due, which was the surest means of preventing the pillage and 
 the excesses of the soldiery to which the country people had been subjected 
 for many years. Important triumphs of freedom were thus obtained over 
 the tyrannical supremacy of the great vassals ; but in the midst of all this 
 improvement we cannot but regret that the assessors, who, from the time of 
 their creation by St. Louis, had been elected by the towns or the corporations, 
 now became the nominees of the crown. 
 
 Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, taxed his subjects but little: 
 " Therefore," says Philippe de Commines, " they became very wealthy, and 
 
TAXES, MONEY, AND FINANCE. 
 
 333 
 
 lived in much comfort." But Louis XI. did not imitate him. His first care 
 was to reinstate that great merchant, that clever financier, Jacques Coeur, to 
 whom, as much as to Joan of Arc, the Idngdom owed its freedom, and 
 whom Charles VII., for the most contemptible reasons, had had the weakness 
 
 Fig. 28.5. — jimciide honorable of Jacques Ciiur Ix-fore Charles VII. — Fac-similo of a Miniature 
 of the " Chroniques " of Monstrelet, Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century, in tlio National 
 Library of Paris. 
 
 to allow to he judicially condemned (Fig. 280). Louis XL would have been 
 very glad to entrust the care of liis finances to another Jacques Cocur ; for 
 being sadly in want of money, lie ran through his father's earnings, and, to 
 refill his coffn's, he increased ta.vatiun, imposed a duty on the importation 
 
3 34 TAXES, MONEY, AND FINANCE. 
 
 of wines, and levied a tax on tliose Holding offices, &c. A revolution broke 
 out in consequence, whicli was only quenclied in the blood of the insurgents. 
 In this manner he continued, by force of arms, to increase and strengthen 
 his own regal power at the expense of feudalism. 
 
 He soon found himself opposed by the Licjue dii Bien Fuhlic, formed by 
 the great vassals ostensibly to get rid of the pecuniary burden which oppressed 
 the people, but realh' with the secret intention of restoring feudalism and 
 lessening the King's power. He was not powerful enough openly to resist 
 this, and appeared to give way by allowing the leagued nobles immense 
 privileges, and himself consenting to the control of a sort of council of 
 " thirty-sis notables appointed to superintend matters of finance." Far 
 from acknowledging himself vanquished, however, he immediately set to 
 work to cause division among his enemies, so as to be able to overcome 
 them. He accordingly showed favour towards the bourgeois, whom he had 
 already flattered, by granting new privileges, and abolishing or reducing 
 certain vexatious taxes of which they complained. The thirty-six notables 
 appointed to control his financial management reformed nothing. They 
 were timid and docile under the cunning eye of the King, and practically 
 assisted him in his designs ; for in a very few years the taxes were 
 increased from 1,800,000 ecus — about 45,000,000 francs of present money — 
 to 3,600,000 ^cus — about 95,000,000 francs. Towards the end of the 
 reign they exceeded 4,700,000 ecus — 130,000,000 francs of present money. 
 Louis XI. wasted nothing on luxury and pleasure ; he lived parsimoniously, 
 but he maintained 110,000 men under arms, and was ready to make the 
 greatest sacrifices whenever there was a necessity for augmenting the 
 territory of the kingdom, or for establishing national unity. At his cleath, 
 on the 25th of August, 1483, he left a kingdom considerably increased in 
 area, but financially almost ruined. 
 
 When Anne de Beaujeu, eldest sister of the King, who was a miaor, 
 assumed the reins of government as regent, an immediate demand was made 
 for reparation of the evils to which the finance ministers had subjected the 
 unfortunate people. The treasurer-general Olivier le Dain, and the attorney- 
 general Jean Doyat, were almost immediately sacrificed to popular resent- 
 ment, six thousand Swiss were subsidised, the pensions granted during the 
 previous reign were cancelled, and a fourth part of the taxes was removed. 
 Public opinion being thus satisfied, the States-General assembled. The 
 
TAXES, MONEY, AND FINANCE. 
 
 335 
 
 bourgeois here showed great practical good sense, especially in matters of 
 liaance ; they proved clearly that the assessment was illegal, and that the 
 
 Fig. 286. — The Mint. — Fac-simile of a Woodcut in the Translation of the Latin Work of Francis 
 Patricias, " De I'lnstitution et Administration do la Chose Politique :" folio, 1520. 
 
 accounts were fictitious, inasmuch as the latter only showed 1,050,000 livres 
 of subsidies, whereas tbcy amounted to three times as much. It was satisfac- 
 torily established that the excise, the .salt tax, and the revenues of the public 
 
336 
 
 TAXES, MONEY, AND FINANCE. 
 
 Fig. 287. — The Receiver of Taxes. — Fac-siinile of a AVoodcut in Damhoudere's " Praxis 
 Kerum Civilium." 
 
 lands amply sufficed for the wants of tte country and the crown. The 
 young King Charles was only allowed 1,200,000 livres for his private purse 
 for two years, and 300,000 livres for the expenses of the festivities of his 
 
TAXES, MONEY, AND EINANCE. 337 
 
 coronation. On the Assembly being dissolved, tbe Queen Regent found ample 
 means of pleasing the bourgeois and the people generally by breaking 
 through the engagements she had entered into in the King's name, by 
 remitting taxation, and finally by force of arms destroying the power of 
 the last remaining vassals of the crown. 
 
 Charles VIII., during a reign of fourteen years, continued to waste the 
 public money. His disastrous expedition for the conquest of the kingdom 
 of Naples forced him to borrow at the rate of forty-two per cent. A short 
 time previous to his death he acknowledged his errors, but continued to 
 spend money, without consideration or restraint, in all kinds of extravagances, 
 but especially in buildings. During bis reign the annual expenditure almost 
 invariably doubled the revenue. In 1492 it reached 7,300,000 francs, about 
 244,000,000 francs of present money. The deficit was made up each year 
 by a general tax, " which was paid neither by the nobles nor the Church, 
 but was obtained entirely from the people " (letters from the ambassadors 
 of Venice) . 
 
 "When the Duke of Orleans ascended the throne as Louis XII., the people 
 were again treated with some consideration. Having chosen George d'Amboise 
 as premier and Florimond Eobertet as first secretary of the treasury, he 
 resolutely pursued a course of strict economy ; he refused to demand of his 
 subjects the usual tax for celebrating the joyous accession, the taxes fell 
 by successive reductions to the sum of 2,600,000 livres, about 76,000,000 
 francs of present money, the salt tax was entirely abolished, and the 
 question as to what should be the standard measure of this important article 
 was legislated upon. The tax-gatherers were forced to reside in their 
 respective districts, and to submit their registers to the royal commissioners 
 before beginning to collect the tax. By strict discipline pillage by soldiers 
 was put a stop to (Fig. 288). 
 
 Notwithstanding the resources obtained by the King through mortgaging 
 a part of the roy;J domains, and in spite of the excellent administration of 
 Robertet, who almost always managed to pay the public deficit without any 
 additional tax, it was necessary in 1513, after several disastrous expeditions 
 to Italy, to borrow, on the security of the royal domains, 400,000 livres, 
 10,000,000 francs of present money, and to raise from the excise and from 
 other dues and taxes the sura of 3,300,000 livres, about 80,000,000 francs 
 of present money. This caused the nation some distress, but it was only 
 
 X X 
 
33^ 
 
 TAXES, MONEY, AND FINANCE. 
 
 temporary and was not mucli felt, for commerce, both, domestic and foreign, 
 mucli extended at the same time, and the sale of coUectorships, of titles of 
 nobility, of places in parliament, and of nominations to numerous judicial 
 oiSces, brought in considerable sums to the treasury. The higher classes 
 surnamed the king Le Roitelet, because he was sickly and of small stature, 
 parsimonious and economical. The people called him their "father and 
 master," and he has always been styled the father of the people ever since. 
 
 Kg. 288. — A Village pillaged by Soldiers. — Fao-simile of a "Woodcut in Hamelmann's 
 " Oldenburgisches Chronicon :" in folio, 1599. 
 
 In an administrative and financial point of view, the reign of Francis I. 
 was not at all a period of revival or of progress. The commencement of a 
 sounder system of finance is rather to be dated from that of Charles V. ; and 
 good financial organization is associated with the names of Jacques Coeur, 
 Philip the Grood, Charles XI., and Florimond Eobertet. As an example of 
 this, it majr be stated that financiers of that time established taxes on regis- 
 tration of all kinds, also on stamps, and on sales, which did not before exist in 
 France, and which were borrowed from the Roman emperors. "We must 
 also give them the credit of having first coinmenced a public debt, under the 
 
TAXES, MONEY, AND FINANCE. 
 
 IV) 
 
 name of rentes perpetuelles, -which at that lime realised eight per cent. 
 During this brilliant and yet disastrous reign the additional taxes were 
 enormous,, and the sale of oiEces produced such a large revenue that the 
 post of parliamentary counsel realised the sum of 2,000 golden ecus, or 
 
 Gold and Silver Coins op the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries. 
 
 Fig. 289. — Royal d' Or. Charles VII.; Fig. 290.— Ecu d'Argent a la Couronne. Louis XI. 
 
 Fig. 291.— Ecu d'Or a la Couronne. Charles VIII. Fig. 292.— Ecu d'Or au Porc-epLC. Louis XU. 
 
 Fig. 293.— Teston d'Argent. Francis I. Fi{ 
 
 , 294.— Teston d'Argent au Croissant. Henry II. 
 
 nearly a million francs of present currency. It was necessary to obtain 
 money at any price, and from any one who would lend it. The ecclesiastics, 
 the nohility, the bourgeois, all gave up their plate and their jewels to 
 furnish the mint, which continued to coin money of every description, and, 
 in consequence of the discovery of America, and the working of the gold 
 and silver mines in that country, the precious metals poured into the hands 
 
34° 
 
 TAXES, MONEY, AND FINANCE. 
 
 of the money-cliaiigers. The country, however, was none the more 
 prosperous, and the people often were in want of even the commonest 
 necessaries of life. The King and the court swallowed up everything, and 
 consumed all the resources of the country on their luxury and their wars. 
 The towns, the monasteries, and the corporations, were bound to furnish a 
 certain number of troops, either infantry or cavalry. By the establishment of 
 a lottery and a bank of deposit, by the monopoly of the mines and by the taxes 
 on imports, exports, and manufactured articles, enormous sums were realised 
 to the treasury, which, as it was being continually drained, required to be as 
 continually replenished. Francis I. exhausted every source of credit by his 
 luxury, his caprices, and his wars. Jean de Beaune, Baron de Semblancay, 
 the old minister of finance, died a victim to false accusations of having 
 misappropriated the public funds. E,obertet, who was in office with him, 
 and William Bochetel, who succeeded him, were more fortunate : they so 
 managed the treasury business that, without meeting with any legal diffi- 
 culty, they were enabled to centralise the responsibility in themselves instead 
 of having it distributed over sixteen branches in all parts of the kingdom, a 
 system which has continued to our day. In those days the office of superin- 
 tendent of finance was usually only a short and rapid road to the gibbet of 
 Montfaucon. 
 
 Fig. 295. — Silver Franc. Henry IV. 
 
LAW AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 The Family the Origin of Government.— Origin of Sujjreme Power amongst the Franks.— The 
 Legislation of Barbarism humanised by Christianity.— Right of Justice inherent to the Right 
 
 of Property. — The Laws under Charlemagne. — Judicial Forms. — Witnesses. — Duels, &c. 
 
 Organization of Royal Justice under St. Louis. — The Chatelet and the Provost of Paris. — 
 Jurisdiction of Parliament, its Duties and its Responsibilities. — The Bailiwicks. — Struggles 
 between Parliament and the Chatelet. — Codification of the Customs and Usages. — Official 
 cupidity. — Comparison between the Parliament and the Chatelet. 
 
 McXGiST the ancient Celtic and Ger- 
 man po25iilation.s, before any Greek 
 or Roman innovations had become 
 engrafted on to their customs, every- 
 thing, even poKtical power as well 
 as the rightful possession of lands, 
 appears to have been dependent on 
 families. Julius Ct^sar, in his " Com- 
 mentaries," tells us that "each year 
 the magistrates and princes assigned 
 jjortions of land to families as well as 
 to associations of indiv idiials having u common object whenever they thought 
 proper, and to any extent they chose, though in the following year the same 
 authorities compelled tliem to go and estaldish themselves elsewhere." We 
 again find families {familice) and associations of men {corjnationes hominum) 
 spoken of by Cx-sar, in the barbaric laws, and referred to in the histories of 
 the Middle Ages under the names oi (/omi/of/i/e, /((ni»wiiiii, farce, &c.; but the 
 extent of the relationship (painifch) included under the general appellation 
 of familicH varied amongst the Franks, Lombards, Visigoths, and Bavarians. 
 Generally, amongst all the people; of German origin, the relationship only 
 extended to the seventh degree ; amongst the Celts it was determined merely 
 by a common ance.stry, with endless subdivisions of the tribe into distinct 
 
342 LA W AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 families. Amongst the Germans, from whom modern Europe has its origin, 
 we find only three primary groups ; namely, first, the family proper, com- 
 prising the father, mother, and children, and the collateral relatives of all 
 degrees ; secondly, the vassals (^ministeriales) or servants of the free class ; 
 and, thirdly, the servants (niansionarii, coloni, liti, servi) of the servile class 
 attached to the family proper (Fig. 296). 
 
 Domestic authority was represented by the mund, or head of the family, 
 also called rex (the king), who exercised a special power over the persons and 
 goods of his dependents, a guardianship, in fact, with certain rights and pre- 
 rogatives, and a sort of civil and political responsibility attached to it. Thus 
 the head of the family, who was responsible for his wife and for those of his 
 children who Kved with him, was also responsible for his slaves and domestic 
 animals. To such a pitch did these primitive people carry their desire that 
 justice should be done in all cases of infringement of the law, that the head 
 was held legally responsible for any injury which might be done by the bow 
 or the sword of any of his dependents, without it being necessary that he 
 should himself have handled either of these weapons. 
 
 Long before the commencement of the Merovingian era, the family, 
 whose sphere of action had at first been an isolated and individual one, 
 became incorporated into one great national association, which held official 
 meetings at stated periods on the Malherg (Parliament hill) . These assemblies 
 alone possessed supreme power in its full signification. The titles given to 
 certain chiefs of rex (king), dux (duke), graff (count), hrenn (general of the 
 army), only defined the subdivisions of that power, and were applied, the last 
 exclusively, to those engaged in war, and the others to those possessing 
 judicial and administrative functions. The duty of dispensing justice was 
 specially assigned to the counts, who had to ascertain the cause of quarrels 
 between parties and to inflict penalties. There was a coiint in each district 
 and in each important town ; there were, besides, several counts attached to 
 the sovereign, under the title of counts of the palace {comites 2)alatii), an 
 honourable position, which was much sought after and much coveted on 
 account of its pecuniary and other contingent advantages. The counts of 
 the palace deliberated with the sovereign on all matters and all questions of 
 State, and at the same time they were his companions in hunting, feasting, 
 and religious exercises ; they acted as arbitrators in questions of inheritance 
 of the crown ; during the minority of princes they exercised the same 
 
LAW AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 343 
 
 authority as that which the constitution gave to sovereigns who wore of full 
 age ; they confirmed the nominations of the principal functionaries and even 
 those of the bishops ; they gave their advice on the occasion of a proposed 
 alliance between one nation and another, on matters connected with treaties of 
 peace or of commerce, on militarj' expeditions, or on exchanges of territory, 
 as well as in reference to the marriage of a prince, and they incurred no re- 
 sponsibility beyond that naturally attached to persons in so distinguished a 
 position among a semi-barbarous community. At first the legates ijegati), and 
 afterwards the King's ambassadors {misd doiiiiiiici), the bishops and the dukes 
 or commanders of the ai-my were usually selected from the higher court officials, 
 
 Fig. 296.— Tho Families and the Barbarians.— Fac-simile of a Woodcut in the " Cosmographie 
 Universelle " of Munster: in folio, Basle, 1552. 
 
 such as the counts of the palace, whereas the minisfenaks, forming the second 
 class of the royal officials, filled inferior though very honourable and lucrative 
 posts of an administrative and magisterial character. 
 
 Under the Merovingians the legal principle of power was closely bound up 
 with the possession of landed property. The subdivision of that power, how- 
 ever, closely followed this imion, aud the constant ruin of some of the nobles 
 rapidly increased the power of ..thers, wIk) absorbed to themselves the lost 
 authority of their more unfortunate brethren, so much so that the Frank kings 
 perceived that society would soon escape their rule unless they speedily foxmd 
 a remedy for this state of things. It was then that the loi.s SaUqnc and 
 mpuairc appeared, whidi were subjected to successive revisions and gradual 
 
344 LAW A/Vn THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 or sudden modifications, necessitated by political changes or by tbe increasing 
 exigencies of tbe prelates and nobles. But, far from lessening the supremacy 
 of the King, the national customs ^vliicli were collected in a code extended 
 the limits of the royal authority and faciKtated its exercise. 
 
 Tn 596, Childebert, in concert with his leitdes, decided that in future the 
 crime of rape should be punished with death, and that the judge of the 
 district (pagus) in which it had been committed should kiQ the rayisher, 
 and leave his body on the public road. He also enacted that the homicide 
 should have the same fate. "It is just," to quote the words of the law, 
 "that he who knows how to kill should learn how to die." Eobbery, 
 attested by seTen witnesses, also involved capital punishment, and a judge 
 convicted of having let a noble escape, underwent the same punishment 
 that would have been inflicted on the criminal. The punishment, how- 
 ever, differed according to the station of the delinquent. Thus, for the 
 non-observance of Sunday, a Salian paid a fine of fifteen sols, a Eoman 
 seven and a half sols, a slave three sols, or "his back paid the penalty 
 for him." At this early period some important changes in the barbaric 
 code had been made : the sentence of death when once given had to be 
 carried out, and no arrangements between the interested parties coidd avert 
 it. A crime could no longer be condoned by the payment of money; 
 robbery even, which was still leniently regarded at that time, and beyond 
 the Rhine even honoured, was pitilessly punished by death. TVe therefore 
 cannot have more striking testimony than this of the abridgment of the 
 privileges of the Frankish aristocracy, and of the progress which the 
 sovereign power was making towards absolute and uncontrolled authority 
 over cases of life and death. By almost imperceptible steps Eoman legisla- 
 tion became more humane and perfect, Christianity engrafted itself into 
 barbarism, licentiousness was considered a crime, crime became an offence 
 agaiast the King and society, and it was in one sense by the King's hand 
 that the criminals received punishment. 
 
 From the time of the baptism of Clovis, the Church had much to do with 
 the re-arrangement of the penal code ; for instance, marriage with a sister- 
 in-law, a mother-in-law, an aunt, or a niece, was forbidden ; the travelling 
 shows, nocturnal dances, public orgies, formerly permitted at feasts, were for- 
 bidden as being profane. In the time of Clotaire, the prelates sat as members 
 of the supreme council, which was strictly speaking the highest court of the 
 
LAW ANB THE ADMINJSTRATIUN OF JUSTICE. 
 
 345 
 
 land, having the power of reversing the decisions of the judges of tlu' 
 lower courts. It pronounced sentence in conjunction with the Kin", :nid 
 from these decisions there was no appeal. The nation had no longer a voice 
 in the election of the magistrates, for the assenddies of Mnlhcnj did not meet 
 except on extraordinary occasions, and all government and judicial business 
 was removed to the supreme and often capricious arbitration of the Kin"- and 
 his council. 
 
 As long as the mayors of the palace of Austrasia, and of that of IJur- 
 gundy, were only temporarily appointed, royal authority never wa\-ered, and 
 the sovereign remained supreme judge over his subjects. Suddenly, jiowever, 
 after the execution of Erunehaut, who was sacrificed to the hatred of the 
 feudal lords, the mayoralty of the palace became a life appointment, and, in 
 consequence, the person holding the office became possessed almost of supreme 
 power, and the rightful sovereigns from that time practically became subject to 
 the authority of the future usurpers of the crown. The edict of 615, to which 
 the ecclesiastical and State nobility were parties, was in its laws and customs 
 completely at variance with former edicts. In resuming their places in the 
 French constitution, the Merovingian kings, who had been deprived l)oth 
 of influence and authority, were compelled by the Germanic institutions to 
 return to the passive position which their predecessors had held in the forests 
 of Germany, but they no longer had, like the latter, the prestige of military 
 authority to enable them to keep the position of judges or arbitrators. The 
 canons of the Council of Paris, which were confirmed by an edict of the King 
 bearing date the l^th of the calends of November, 615, upset the political and 
 legal system so firmly established in Europe since the fifth century. The 
 royal power was shorn of some of its most valuable prerogatives, one of which 
 Was that of selecting the bishops; lay judges were forbidden to bring an 
 ecclesiastic before the tribunals ; and the treasury was prohibited from 
 seizing intestate estates, with a view to increasing the rates and taxes ; and it 
 was decreed that Jews should not lie employed in collecting the public taxes. 
 By these canons the judges and other ofiicers of State were made responsible, 
 the benefices which had l)eon witlidrawn from the kudea were restored, the 
 King was forbidden from gi'aiiting written orders dmecepta) for carrying off 
 rich widows, young virgins, and nuns; and the penalty of death was ordered 
 to be enforced against those who disobeyed the canons of the council. Thence 
 sprung two )iow species of legislation, one ecclesiastical, the other end, 
 
 V V 
 
346 LA W AND THE ADMINISTRA TION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 between wliich royalty, more and more curtailed of its authority, was 
 compelled for many centuries to struggle. 
 
 Amongst the Germanic nations the right of justice was inherent to 
 landed property from the earliest times, and this right had reference to 
 things as well as to persons. It was the patronage {patrocinium) of the pro- 
 prietor, and this patronage eventually gave origin to feudal jurisdictions and 
 to lordly and customary rights in each domain. We may infer from this 
 that under the two first dynasties laws were made by individuals, and that 
 each lord, so to speak, made his own. 
 
 The right of jurisdiction seems to have been so inherent to the right of 
 property, that a landed proprietor could always put an end to feuds and 
 personal quarrels, could temporarily bring any lawsviit to a close, and, by 
 issuing his ban, stop the course of the law in his own immediate neighbour- 
 hood — at least, within a given circumference of his residence. This was 
 often done du.ring any family festival, or any civil or religiou.s public 
 ceremony. On these occasions, whoever infringed the han of the master, 
 was liable to be brought before his court, and to have to pay a fine. The 
 lord who was too poor to create a court of sufficient power and importance 
 obtained assistance from his lord paramount, or relinquished the right of 
 justice to him ; whence originated the saying, " The fief is one thing, and 
 justice another." 
 
 The law of the Visigoths speaks of nobles holding local courts, similar to 
 those of the ofiicial judge, count, or bishop. King Dagobert required the 
 public and the private judges to act together. In the law of Lombardy 
 landlords are mentioned who, in virtue of the double title of nobles and 
 judges, assumed the right of protecting fugitive slaves taking shelter in their 
 domains. Ey an article of the Salic law, the noble is made to answer for 
 his A'assal before the court of the count. "We must hence conclude that the 
 landlord's judgment was exercised indiscriminately on the serfs, the colons, 
 and the vassals, and a statute of 855 places under his authority even the 
 freemen who resided with other persons. 
 
 From these various sources we discover a curious fact, which has 
 hitherto remained unnoticed by historians — namely, that there existed an 
 intermediate legislation between the official court of the count and his subor- 
 dinates and the private courts, which was a kind of court of arbitration 
 exercised by the neighbours (vicini) without the assistance of the judges of 
 
LAW AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 347 
 
 Fig. 297.-Tl,r. lOmprror fharlrmaKi.o l.oLling in on. hand the Olohe and in the other the 
 Sword.-After a Miniature in the Regieters of the University of Paris (Archives of the Minister 
 of Pi.hliu rnstr.ietioii of the Univernity). The Motto, In scdu. cxuvgo, m-lerh di.snwn.w p<,n,o. 
 is written on a Sr'roll loiinil thi- Swonl. 
 
34« LAW AArn THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 the county, and this was invested with a sort of authority which rendered 
 its decisions binding. 
 
 Private courts, however, were limited in their power. They were neither 
 absohitely independent, nor suprenre and without appeal. All conducted 
 their biisiness much in the same way as the high, middle, and lower courts 
 of the Middle Ages ; and above all these au.thorities towered the King's 
 jurisdiction. The usurpation of ecclesiastical bishops and abbots — who, 
 having become temporal lords, assumed a domestic jurisdiction — was curtailed 
 by the authority of the counts, and they were even more obliged to give 
 way before that of the min&i dominici, or the official delegates of the monarch. 
 Charles the Bald, notwithstanding his enormous concessions to feudalism 
 and to the Church, never gave up his right of final aj^peal. 
 
 During the whole of the Merovingian epoch, the inahl (malhis), the 
 general and regular assembly of the nation, was held in the month of 
 March. Persons of every class met there clad in armour ; political, com- 
 mercial, and judicial interests were discussed under the presidency of the 
 monarch ; but this did not prevent other special assemblies of the King's 
 court {curia regalis) being held on urgent occasions. This court formed a 
 parliament {parlamenium,), which at first was exclusively military, but from 
 the time of Clovis was composed of Franks, Burgundians, Gallo-Eomans, as 
 well as of feudal lords and ecclesiastics. As, by degrees, the feudal system 
 became organized, the convocation of national assemblies became more 
 necessary, and the administration of justice more complicated. Charlemagne 
 decided that two mahk should be held annvially, one in the month of May, the 
 other in the autumn, and, in addition, that in each county two annual plaids 
 should meet independently of any special mahk and plaids which it should 
 please him to convoke. In 788, the emperor found it necessary to call three 
 general plaids, and, besides these, he was pleased to summon his great vassals, 
 both clerical and lay, to the four principal feasts of the year. It may be 
 asserted that the idea of royalty being the central authority in matters of 
 common law dates from the reign of Charlemagne (Fig. 297). 
 
 The authority of royalty based on law took such deep root from that 
 time forth, that it maintained itself erect, notwithstanding the weakness 
 of the successors of the great Charles, and the repeated infractions of it 
 by the Church and the great vassals of the crown (Fig. 298). 
 
 The authoritative and responsible action of a tribunal which represented 
 
T.A W AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF /US77CE. 
 
 W) 
 
 society (Fig. 299) thus took the place of the unchecked animosity of private 
 feuds and family quarrels, which were often avenged by the use of the gibbet, 
 a monument to be found erected at abnost every corner. Not unfrequently, 
 
 Fig. 298.— Cai-IovinRian Kin- in his riilato personiiying Wisdom appealing to the whole Human 
 Race.— After a Miniaturo in a Manuscript of the Ninth Century in the Burgundian Lihrary of 
 Brussels, from a Drawing by (V.nnt Horace (le Vielcastel. 
 
 in those early limes, tbc uncbeckcd passions of a chief of a party would be 
 the (miy rcuH.ni f„r iuHictlng a, penalty ; often such a person would constitute 
 himself ho1<! judf,^e, and, wifluiut the advice of any one, he would pass sentence, 
 
350 
 
 LAW AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 and even, with his own sword or any other available instrument, he would 
 act as his own executioner. The tribunal thus formed denounced duelling, 
 the pitiless warfare between man and man, and between family and family, 
 and its first care was to protect, not each individual man's life, which 
 Avas impossible in those days of blind barbarism, but at least his dwelKng. 
 Imperceptibly, the sanctuary of a man's house extended, first to towns of 
 refuge, and then to certain public places, such as the church, the mahlum, 
 or place of national assemblies, the market, the tavern, &c. It was next 
 required that the accused, whether guilty or not, should remain unharmed 
 from the time of the crime being committed imtil the day on which judgment 
 was passed. 
 
 Pig. 299. — The Court of the Nobles. — Fac-simile of a Miniature in an old Poetical Romance of 
 Chivalry, Manuscript of the Thirteenth Century, in the Library of the Arsenal of Paris. 
 
 This right of revenge, besides being thus circumscribed as to locaKty, 
 was also subject to certain rules as to time. Sunday and the principal feasts 
 of the year, such as Advent, Christmas week, and from that time to the 
 Epiphany, from the Ascension to the Day of Pentecost, certain vigils, &c., 
 were all occasions upon which the right of revenge could not be exercised. 
 " The power of the King," says a clever and learned writer, " partook to a 
 certain degree of that of God and of the Saints ; it was his proAance to calm 
 human passions ; by the moral power of his seal and his hand he extended 
 peace over all the great lines of communication, through the forests, along 
 the principal rivers, the highways and the byways, &c. The Trite cle Bien 
 in 1035, was the logical application of these humane principles." 
 
LA W AND THE ADJIIXISTRA TION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 35' 
 
 "VYe must not suppose that justice in those days was dispensed without 
 formalities, and that there were no regular intervals between the various steps 
 to be gone through before final judgment was given, and in consequence of 
 which some guarantee was afforded that the decisions arrived at were care- 
 fully considered. No one was tried without having been previously sum- 
 moned to appear before the tribunal. Under the C'arlovino-ians, as in 
 pre^aous times, the periods when judicial courts were held were regulated by 
 the moon. Preference was given to the day on which it entered the first 
 quarter, or dui-ing the full moon ; the summonses were returnable by moons 
 or quarter moons — that is, every seventh day. The summons was issued 
 four times, after which, if the accused did not appear, he lost the right of 
 counterplea, or was nonsuited. The Salic law allowed but two simimonses 
 before a count, which had to be issued at an interval of fortj' nights the one 
 from the other. The third, which summoned the accused before the King, 
 was issued fourteen nights later, and if he had not put in an appearance 
 before sunset on the fourteenth day, he was placed hors de sa parole, his goods 
 were confiscated, and he forfeited the privilege of any kind of refuge. 
 
 Among the Visigoths justice was equally absolute from the count to the 
 tithe-gatherer. Each magistrate had his tribunal and his special juris- 
 diction. These judges called to their assistance assessors or colleagues, 
 either )-ac//ii/>boiirr/s, who were selected from freemen ; or provosts, or 
 ec/ieriiis (scnhiiii), whose appointment was of an oiEcial and permanent 
 character. The scabins created by Charlemagne were the first elected magis- 
 trates. They numbered seven for each bench. They alone prepared the 
 cases and arranged as to the sentence. The count or his delegate alone 
 presided at the tribunal, and pronounced the judgment. Every vassal 
 enjoyed the right of appeal to the .sovereign, who, with his court, alone 
 decided the quarrels between ecclesiastics and nol>les, and between private 
 Individuals who were specially under the royal protection. Criminal 
 business was specially referred to the sovereign, the missi, or the 
 Count Palatine.- Final appeal lay with the Count Palatine in all cases 
 in which ihr i,ubli<- peace was endangered, such as iu revolts or in armed 
 encounters. 
 
 As early as tb.. time of the invasion, the Franks, Bavarians, and 
 Visigoths, wlu.n investigating cases, began l)y an inquiry, and, previously to 
 having recourse to trials before a judge, they examined witnesses on oath. 
 
352 
 
 LAW AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 Then, he who swore to the matter was believed, and acquitted accordingly. 
 This system was no donbt flattering- to human veracity, but, unfortunately, 
 it gave rise to abuses; which it was thought would be avoided by calUng 
 the family and friends of the accused to take an oath, and it was then 
 administered by requiring them to place their hands on the crucifix, on 
 some relics, or on the consecrated Host. These witnesses, who were called 
 conjuratores, came to attest before the judges not the fact itself, but the 
 
 Fig. 300.— The Judicial Uuel. The Plaintitt' opening his Case before the Judge.— Fac-simile of a 
 Miniature in the " Cer(5inonies des Gages des Batailles," Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century, 
 in the National Library of Paris. 
 
 veracity of the person who invoked their testimony. The number and 
 respectability of the conjuratores varied according to the importance of the 
 case in dispute. Gregory of Tours relates, that King Gontran being 
 suspicious as to the legitimacy of the child who afterwards became 
 Clotaire II., his mother, Fredegonde, called in the impartial testimony of 
 certain nobles. These, to the number of three hundred, with three bishops 
 at their head {tribus episcopis et trecentis viris optimin), swore, or, as we say, 
 made an affidavit, and the queen was declared innocent. 
 
LAW A.Vn THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 353 
 
 The laws of the Burgundians and of the Anglians were more severe 
 than those of the Germanic race, for they granted to the disputants Irial hy 
 combat. After having employed the ordeal of red-hot iron, and of scaldino- 
 water, the Franks adopted the judicial duel (Fig. 300). This was imposed 
 first upon the disputing parties, then on the witnesses, and sometimes even 
 on the judges themselves. Dating from the reign of the Emperor Otho 
 the Great in 967, the judicial duel, which had been at first restricted to the 
 most serious cases, was had recourse to in almost all suits that were brought 
 before the courts. Neither women, old men, children, nor infirm persons 
 were exempted. When a person could not himself fight he had to provide a 
 
 Fig. 301.— Judicial Duel.— Combat of a Knight with a Dog.— Fac-simile of a iliniature in the 
 Eomance of " Macaire," of the Thirteenth Century (Lihrary of the Arsenal of Paris). 
 
 champion, whose sole business was to take in hand the quarrels of others. 
 Ecclesiastics were obliged, in the same manner, to fight by deputy. The 
 champion or substitute required, of course, to be paid beforehand. If the 
 legend of tlie Dog of Moatargls is to be believed, the judicial duel seems to 
 have been resorted to oven against an animal (Fig. oOl). 
 
 In (he twelfth century Europe was divided, so to speak, into two vast 
 judicial /„nos: the one. Southern. Gallo-lioman, and Visigoth ; the other, 
 Northern and Western, half (Jcnnanic and half Scandinavian, Anglian, or 
 Saxon. Christianity established common ties between these difi-erent legisla- 
 tions, and imperceptibly softened their native coarseness, although they 
 retained the elements of their pagan and barbaric origin. Sentences were 
 not as yet given In writing: ihey were entrusted to the memory of the 
 
 z z 
 
354 LAW AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 judges who had issued them ; and when a question or dispute arose between 
 the interested parties as to the terms of the decision which had been pro- 
 nounced, an inquiry was held, and the court issued a second decision, called 
 a recordatum. 
 
 As long as the King's court was a movable one, the King carried about 
 with him the original text of the law in rolls (rotuli). It was in consequence 
 of the seizure of a number of these by- the English, during the reign of 
 Philip Augustus in 1194, that the idea was suggested of preserving the text 
 of all the laws as st_ite archives, and of opening authentic registers of 
 decisions in civil and criminal cases. As early as the time of Charles the 
 B.ild, the inconvenience was felt of the high court of the count being 
 movable from place to place, and having no special locality where instruc- 
 tions might be given as to modes of procedure, for the hearing of witnesses, 
 and for keeping the accused in custody, &c. A former statute provided for 
 this probable difficulty, bvit there seems to be no proof that previous to the 
 twelfth century any fixed courts of justice had been established. The 
 Kings, and likewise the counts, held courts in the open air at the entrance 
 to the palace (Fig. 302), or in some other public place — under a large tree, 
 for instance, as St. Louis did in the avoocI of Yincennes. 
 
 M. Desmaze, in his valuable researches on the history of the Pai'liament 
 of Paris, says — "In 1191, Philip Augustus, before starting for Palestine, 
 established bailiwicks, which held their assizes once a month ; during their 
 sitting they heard all those who had complaints to make, and gave summary 
 judgment. The bailiffs' assize was held at stated periods from time to time, 
 and at a fixed place ; it was composed of five judges, the King deciding the 
 number and quality of the persons who were to take part in the deliberations 
 of the court for each session. The royal court only sat when it pleased the 
 King to order it ; it accompanied the King wherever he went, so that it had 
 no settled place of residence." 
 
 Louis IX. ordered that the courts of the nobles should be consolidated 
 with the King's court, and succeeded in carrying out this reform. The bailiffs, 
 who were the direct delegates of the sovereign power, assumed an authority 
 before which even the feudal lord was obliged to bend, because tliis authority 
 was supported by the people, who were at that time organized in corpora- 
 tions, and these corporations were again bound together in communes. 
 Under the bailiffs a system was developed, the jJi'inciples of which more 
 
LAW AXB THE ADM/XISTRATIOX OF JUSTICE. 
 
 355 
 
 nearly resembled the Roman legislation than the right of cust,mi, wlildi it 
 nevertheless respected, and the judicial tri:d l)y duel completely di.sajijJL'ari'd. 
 Inquiries and appeals were much resorted to in all kinds of proceedings, and 
 Louis IX. succeeded in controlling the power of ecclesiastical courts, wldcli 
 had been much abused in reference to excommunication. He also sui)- 
 pressed the arbitrary and nunous confiscations which the nobles had unjustly 
 made on their vassals. The edict of 127(3 very clearly established tlie juris- 
 
 
 Fig. 302.— The Piilace iis it waH in tlio JSixtoeiith Century.— After an Engraving of that I'e 
 Nation.'il Library of Paris (Cabinet des Estampes). 
 
 diction of parliaments and bailiwicks ; it defined the important duties of the 
 bailiffs, and at the same time specified the mode in which proceedings should 
 be taken ; it also regulated the duties of counsel, maitres dr.i n'qin'fe.% auditors, 
 and advo(;atos. 
 
 To the bailiwicks already in existence Louis IX. added the four great 
 assizes of VerniaiHlois. of Sens, of Sainl-ricrre-le-Mousfier, and of Macon, 
 "to act as courts of final ajipeal from th,' judgment of the nobles.'- Philippe 
 
35 6 LAW AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 le Bel went still further, for, in 1287, lie invited "all those who possess 
 temporal authority in the kingdom of France to appoint, for the purpose of 
 exercising civil jurisdiction, a bailiff, a provost, and some Serjeants, who 
 were to be laymen, and not ecclesiastics, and if there should be ecclesiastics 
 in the said offices, to remove them." He ordered, besides, that all those who 
 had cases pending before the coui-t of the King and the secular judges of the 
 kingdom shou.ld be furnished with lay attorneys ; though the chapters, as 
 well as the abbeys and convents, were allowed to be represented by canons. 
 M. Desmaze adds, " This really amounted to excluding ecclesiastics from 
 judicial offices, not only from the courts of the King, but also from those of 
 the nobles, and from every place in which any temporal jurisdiction 
 existed." 
 
 At the time of his accession, Hugh Capet was Count of Paris, and as 
 such was invested with judicial powers, which he resigned in 987, on the 
 ■understanding that his county of Paris, after the decease of the male heirs of 
 his brother Eudes, should return to the crown. In 1032, a new magistrate 
 was created, called the Provost of Paris, whose duty it was to give assistance 
 to the bourgeois in arresting persons for debt. This functionary combined in 
 his own person the financial and political chief of the capital, he was also the 
 head of the nobility of the county, he was independent of the governor, and 
 was placed above the bailiffs and seneschals. He was the senior of the urban 
 magistracy and police, leader of the municipal troops, and, in a word, the pre- 
 fect [prcefectm urhis), as he was called under the Emperor Aurelian, or the first 
 magistrate of Lutetia, as he was still called imder Clotaire in 663. Assessors 
 were associated with the provost, and together they formed a tribunal, which 
 was afterwards known as the Chatelet (Fig. 303), because they assembled in 
 that fortress, the building of which is attributed to Julius Ctesar. The fanc- 
 tionsof this tribunal did not differ much from those of the royal chateUenies : its 
 jurisdiction embraced quarrels between individuals, assaults, revolts, disputes 
 between the universities and the students, and improper conduct generally 
 {ribaudailles) , in consequence of which the provost acquired the popular sur- 
 name of Roi des Ribauds. At first his judgment was final, but xerj soon 
 those under his jurisdiction were allowed to appeal to Parliament, and that 
 court was obliged to have certain cases sent back for judgment from the 
 Chatelet. This was, however, done only in a few very important instances, 
 notwithstanding frequent appeals being made to its supreme arbitration. 
 
LAW AA^D THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 357 
 
 In addition to the courts of the counts and bailiffs established in certain 
 of the large towns, aldermanic or magisterial courts existed, which rather 
 resembled the Chatelet of Paris. Thus the capifouhit of Toulouse, the senior 
 alderman of Metz, and the burgomaster of Strasburg and Brussels, possessed 
 
 Fig. 303. — ^The Great Chatelet of Paris. — Principal Front opposite the Pont-an-Chan<?e. — Fac- 
 simile of an Engraving on Copper by Merian, in the "Topographia Gallije " of Zeller. 
 
 in each of these towns a tribunal, which judged without appeal, and united 
 the several functions of a civil, criminal, and simple police court. Several 
 places in the north of France had provosts who held courts, whose duties were 
 various, but who were principally charged with the maintenance of public; 
 order, and with suppres.sing disputes and conflicts arising from the privileges 
 
3S8 LAW A2VZ> THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 granted to tlie trade corporations, whose importance, especially in Flandersj 
 had much increased since the twelfth century. 
 
 " On his return from abroad, Louis TX. took his seat upon the bench, 
 and administered justice, by the side of the good provost of Paris." This 
 provost was no other than the learned Estienne Boileau, out of respect to 
 whom the provostship was declared a charge de magistratiire. The increase of 
 business which fell to the provost's office, especially after the boundaries of 
 Paris were extended by Philip Augustus, caused him to be released from the 
 duty of collecting the pubhc taxes. He M^as authorised to furnish himself 
 with competent assistants, who were employed with matters of minor detail, 
 and he was allowed the assistance oi'juges auditetirs. " We order that they 
 shall be eight in number," says an edict of Philippe le Bel, of February, 
 1324, " four of them being ecclesiastics and four laymen, and that they shall 
 assemble at the Chatelet two days in the week, to take into consideration the 
 
 suits and causes in concert with our provost " In 1343, the provost's 
 
 court was composed of one King's attorney, one civil commissioner, two 
 King's counsel, eight councillors, and one criminal commissioner, whose 
 sittings took place daily at the Chatelet. 
 
 From the j^ear 1340 this tribunal had to adjudicate in reference to all the 
 affairs of the university, and from the 6th of October, 1380, to all those of 
 the salt-fish market, which were no less numerous, so that its importance 
 increased considerably. Unfortunately, numerous abuses were introduced 
 into this municipal jurisdiction. In 1313 and 1320, the officers of the 
 Chatelet were suspended, on account of the extortions which they were 
 guilty of, and the King ordered an inquiry to be made into the matter. The 
 provost and two councillors of the Parliament sat upon it, and Philip de 
 Valois, adopting its decisions, prescribed fresh statutes, which were naturally 
 framed in such a way as to show the distrust in which the Chatelet was then 
 held. To these the officers of the Chatelet promised on oath to submit. The 
 ignorance and immorality of the lay officers, who had been substituted for 
 the clerical, caused much disturbance. Parliament authorised two of its 
 principal members to examine the officers of the Chatelet. Twenty years 
 later, on the receipt of fresh complaints. Parliament decided that three 
 qualified councillors, chosen from its own body, should proceed with the 
 King's attorney to the Chatelet, so as to reform the abuses and infoi malities 
 of that court. 
 
LAW AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 359 
 
 In the time of Philippe le Bel there existed iu reality but one Parlia- 
 ment, and that was the Kiiicfs Court. Its action was at once political, 
 
 Fig. 304. — Tlic King's Court, or Grand Couir-U. — Fac-tiuiile of a Miniature in the " Chroniques " 
 of Froissart, Manuscriiit of the Fifteenth Century (formerlyin the possession of Charles V.), in 
 tlie Library of the Areenal, Paris. 
 
 administrative, financial, and judicial, and was necessarily, therefore, of a 
 most complicated character. Philippe le Bel made it exclusively a judicial 
 court, defined the territorial limit of its power, and gave it as a judicial body 
 
36o ZA W AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 privileges tending to strengthen its independence and to raise its dignity. 
 He assigned political functions to the Great Council (Gonseil cl'Etat) ; finan^ 
 cial matters to the chamber of accovmts ; and the hearing of cases of heresy, 
 wills, legacies, and dowries to the prelates. But in opposition to the wise 
 edict of 1295, he determined that Jews should be excluded from Parliament, 
 and prelates from the palace of justice ; by which latter proceeding he was 
 depriving justice of the abilities of the most worthy representatives of the 
 Gallicau Church. But Philippe le Bel and his successors, while incessantlv 
 quarrelling either with the aristocracy or with the clergy, wanted the great 
 judicial bodies which issued the edicts, and the urban or municipal magis- 
 trates — which, being subject to re-election, were principally recruited from 
 among the bourgeois — to be a common centre of opposition to any attempt 
 at usurpation of power, whether on the part of the Church, the nobility, or 
 the crown. 
 
 The Great Days of Troyes {dies magni Trecenses), the assizes of the 
 ancient counts of Champagne, and the exchequer of Normandy, were also 
 organized by Philippe le Bel ; and, further, he authorised the maintenance 
 of a Parliament at Toulouse, a court which he solemnly ojjened in person on 
 the 10th of January, 1302. In times of war the Parliament of Paris sat 
 once a year, in times of peace twice. There were, according to circumstances, 
 during the year two, three, or four sittings of the exchequer of Normandy, 
 and two of the Great Days of Troyes, tribunals which were annexed to the 
 Parliament of Paris, and generally presided over by one of its delegates, and 
 sometimes even by the supreme head of that high court. At the King's council 
 (Fig. 304) it was decided whether a case should be reserved for the Parliament 
 of Paris, or passed on either to the exchequer or to the Great Days of Troyes. 
 
 As that advanced reformer, Philippe le Bel, died before the institutions 
 he had established had taken root, for many years, even down to the time of 
 Louis XI., a continual conflict for supremacy was waged between the 
 Parliament of Paris and the various courts of the king-dom — between the 
 counts and the Parliament, and between the latter and the King, which, 
 Avithout lessening the dignity of the crown, gradually tended to increase the 
 influence which the judges possessed. Immediately on the accession of 
 Louis le Hutin, in 1314, a reaction commenced — the higher clergy re-entered 
 Parliament ; but Philippe le Long took care that the laity should be in a 
 majority, and did not allow that in his council of State the titled councillors 
 
LA IV AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 J6, 
 
 should be more numerous than the lawyers. The latter succeeded in com- 
 pletely carrying the day on account oi' the services they rendered, and the 
 influence wHich their knowledge of the laws of the country gave them. As 
 for centuries the sword had ruled the gown, so, since the emancipation of 
 the bourgeois, the lawyers had become masters of the administrative and 
 judicial world ; and, notwithstanding the fact that they were still kept in a 
 somewhat inferior position to the peers and barons, their oj)iuion alone 
 predominated, and their decision frequently at once settled the most 
 important questions. 
 
 An edict issued at Val Xotre-Dame on the 11th of March, 1344, increased 
 the number of members of Parliament, which from that time consisted of 
 three presidents, fifteen clerical councillors, fifteen lay councillors, twenty- 
 four clergjTnen and sixteen laymen of the Court of Inquiry, and five 
 clergymen and sixteen laymen of the Court of Petitions. The King filled up 
 the vacant seats on the recommendation of the Chancellor and of the Parlia- 
 ment. The reporters were enjoined to write the decisions and sentences 
 which were given by the court " in large letters, and far apart, so that they 
 might be more easily read." The duties of police in the courts, the keeping 
 of the doors, and the internal arrangements generally for those attending the 
 courts and the Parliament, were entrusted to the ushers, " who divided among 
 themselves the gratuities which were given them by virtue of their ofiice." 
 Before an advocate was admitted to plead he was required to. take oath and 
 to be inscribed on the register. 
 
 The Parliament as then established was somewhat similar in its character 
 to that of the old national representative government under the Germans 
 and Franks. For centuries it protected the King against the imdue inter- 
 ference of the spiritual power, it defended the people against despotism, but 
 it often lacked independence and political wisdom, and it was not always 
 remarkable for its correct appreciation of men and things. This tribunal, 
 although supreme over all public afiairs, sometimes wavered before the threats 
 of a minister or of a court favourite, succumbed to the influence of mtrigues, 
 and adapted itself to the prejudices of the times. We see it, in moments of error 
 and of blindness, both condemning eminent statesmen and leading citizens, 
 such as Jacques Cocur and Robertet, and handing over to the executioner 
 distinguished men of learning and science in advance of the times m which 
 they lived, because they were falsely accused of witchcraft, and also doing 
 
 3 A 
 
36z LA W AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 tlie same towards unfortunate maniacs who fancied they had dealings with 
 the devil. 
 
 Fig. 305.— Trial of the Constable de Bourbon before the Peers of France (1523).— From an 
 Engraving in " La Monarchie Fran^'oise " of Montfaucon. 
 
 In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries all the members of Parliament 
 formed part of the council of State, which was divided into the Smaller Council 
 
LAIV AXB THE ADMINISTRATIOX OF JUSTICE. 363 
 
 and the Greater Council. The Greater Council only nRscniblcd in cusos of 
 urgency and for extraordinary and very important purposes, the Smaller 
 Council assembled every month, and its decisions were registered. From this 
 arose the custom of making a similar registration in Parliament, confirming 
 the decisions after they had been formally arrived at. The most ancient 
 edict placed on the register of the Parliament of Paris dates from the year 
 1334, and is of a very important character. It concerns a question of royal 
 authority, and decides that in spiritual matters the right of supremacy does 
 not belong more to the Pope than to the King. Consequently Philippe de 
 Valois ordered "his friends and vassals who shall attend the next Parliament 
 and the keepers of the accounts, that for the perpetual record of so memorable 
 a decision, it shall be registered in the Chambers of Parliament and kept 
 for reference in the Treasury of the Charters." From that time " cases of 
 complaint and other matters relating to benefices have no longer been dis- 
 cussed before the ecclesiastical judges, but before Parliament or some other 
 secular court." 
 
 During the captivity of King John in England, royal authority having 
 considerably declined, the powers of Parliament and other bodies of the 
 magistracy so increased, that under Charles VI. the Parliament of Paris 
 was bold enough to assert that a royal edict should not become law until 
 it had been registered in Parliament. This bold and certainly novel 
 proceeding the kings nevertheless did not altogether oppose, as they 
 foresaw that the time would come when it might afford them the means 
 of repudiating a treaty extorted from them under difficult circumstances 
 (Fig. 306). 
 
 The close connection which existed between the various Parliaments and 
 their political functions— for they had occasion incessantly to interfere between 
 the acts of the government and the respective pretensions of the provinces or 
 of the three orders— naturally increased the importance of this supreme magis- 
 tracy. More than once the kings had cause to repent having rendered it so 
 powerful, and this was the case especially with the Parliament of Paris. In this 
 difficulty it is interesting to note how the kings acted. They imperceptibly 
 curtailed the various powers of the other courts of justice, they circumscribed 
 the power of the Parliament of Paris, and proportionately enlarged the juris- 
 diction of the great bailiwicks, as also that of the Chatelet. The provost of 
 Paris was an auxiliary as well as a support to the royal power, which never- 
 
364 LAW AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 I'ig. 30B. — Promulgation of an Edict. — Fac-simile of a Miniature in " Anciennetea des Juits, 
 (French Translation from Josephus), Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century, executed for the 
 Duke of Burgund}- (Library of the Arsenal of Paris). 
 
 theless held him in its grasp. The Ch&telet was also a centre of action and 
 of strength, which counteracted in certain cases parliamentary opposition. 
 
LAW AA'D THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 3^5 
 
 Thence arose the most implacable rivalries and dissensions between these 
 various parties. 
 
 It is curious to notice with what ingenuity and how readily Parliament 
 took advantage of the most trifling circumstances or of charges based upon 
 the very slightest grounds to summon the officers of the Chatolet before its 
 bar on suspicion of prevarication or of outrages against religion, morals, or 
 the laws. Often were these officers and the provost himself summoned to 
 appear and make amende honorable before the assembly, notwithstanding 
 which they retained their offices. More than once an officer of the Chatelet 
 was condemned to death and executed, but the King always annulled that part 
 of the sentence which had reference to the conflscation of the goods of the 
 condemned, thus proving that in reality the condemnation had been unjust, 
 although for grave reasons the royal authority had been unable to save the 
 victim from the avenging power of Parliament. Hugues Aubriot, the provost, 
 was thus condemned to imprisonment for life on the most trivial grounds, 
 and he would have undergone capital pimishment if Charles V. had abandoned 
 him at the time of his trial. During the English occupation, in the disastrous 
 reign of Charles VI., the Chatelet of Paris, which took part with the people, 
 gave proof of extraordinary energy and of great force of character. The 
 blood of many of its members was shed on the scafiold, and this circumstance 
 must ever remain a reproach to the judges and to those who executed their 
 cruel sentences, and a lasting crown of glory to the martyrs themselves. 
 
 An edict of King John, issued after his return from London in 136-3, a 
 short time before his death, clearly defined the duties of Parliament. They 
 were to try cases which concerned peers of France, and such prelates, 
 chapters, barons, corporations, and councils as had the privilege of appealing 
 to the supreme court; and to hear cases relating to estates, and ajjpeals 
 from the provost of Paris, the bailiffs, seneschals, and other judges (Fig. 307). 
 It disregarded minor matters, but took cognizance of all judicial debates 
 which concerned religion, the King, or the State. We must remark here 
 that advocates were only allowed to speak twice in the same cause, and that 
 they were subjected to fine, or at least to remonstrance, if they were tedious or 
 indulged in needless repetition in their replies, and especially if they did not 
 keep carefully to the facts of the case. After pleading they were permitted 
 to give a summary in writing of " the principal points of importance as well 
 as their clients' grounds of defence." Charles V. confirmed these orders and 
 
366 
 
 LAW AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 regulations witli respect to advocates, and added others which were no less 
 important, among which we find a provision for giving " legal assistance to 
 poor and destitute persons who go to law." These regulations of Charles 
 also limited the time in which officers of justice were to get through their 
 business under a certain penalty ; they also proclaimed that the King should 
 no longer hear minor causes, and that, whatever might be the rules of the 
 court, they forbad the presidents from deferring their judgment or from 
 retarding the regular course of justice. Charles VI., before he became insane, 
 contributed no less than his father to the establishment on a better footing of 
 the supreme court of the kingdom, as well as that of the Chatelet and the 
 bailiwicks. 
 
 Fig. 307. — Bailiwick. — Fac-simile of a Woodcut in the " Cosmographie Uuivprselle " of Munster : 
 
 in folio, Basle, 1552. 
 
 In the fifteenth century, the Parliament of Paris was so organized as not 
 to require material change till 1789. There were noble, clerical, and lay 
 councillors, honorary members, and maitres de requite, only four of whom 
 sat ; a first president, who was supreme head of the Parliament, a master of 
 the great chamber of pleas, and three presidents of the chamber, all of whom 
 were nominated for Kfe. There were fifteen masters [maistres) or clerical 
 councillors, and fifteen Avho were laymen, and these were annually approved 
 by the King on the opening of the session. An attorney-general, several 
 advocates-general, and deputies, who formed a committee or coUege, consti- 
 tuted the active part of this court, round which were grouped consulting 
 
LA W AND THE ADMIXISTRA TlOX OF JCSTJC 'E. 367 
 
 advocates (consiliarii), pleading advocates (proponcntes), advocates who were 
 mere listeners (audientes), ushers and Serjeants, whose chief, on his appoint- 
 ment, became a member of the nobilitj-. 
 
 The official costume of the first president resembled that of tlio ancient 
 barons and knights. He wore a scarlet gown lined with ermine, and a black 
 silk cap ornamented with tassels. In winter he wore a scarlet mantle lined 
 with ermine over his gown, on which his crest was worked on a shield. This 
 mantle was fastened to the left shoulder by three gold cords, in order to leave 
 the sword-side free, because the ancient knights and barons always sat in 
 court wearing their swords. Amongst the archives of the mayoralty of 
 London, we find in the " account of the entry of Henry V., King of Eno-hmd, 
 into Paris" (on the 1st of December, 1-1 '20), that " the first president was in 
 royal dress {estoit en habit roial), the first usher preceding him, and wearin"- 
 a fm- cap ; the church dignitaries wore blue robes and hoods, and all the 
 others in the procession scarlet robes and hoods." This imposing dress, in 
 perfect harmony with the dignity of the office of those who wore them, 
 degenerated towards the fifteenth century. So much was this the case, that 
 an order of Francis I. forbad the judges from wearing pink "slashed hose" 
 or other " rakish garments." 
 
 In the early times of monarchy, the judicial functions were performed 
 gratuitously ; but it was the custom to giv'e presents to the judges, consisting 
 of sweetmeats, spices, sugar-plums, and preserves, xmtil at a subsequent 
 period, 1498, when, as the judges " preferred money to sweetmeats," says the 
 Chancellor Etienne Pasquier, the money value of the spices, &c., was fixed 
 by law and made compulsory. In the bills of expenses preserved among the 
 national archives, we find that the first president of the Parliament of Paris 
 received a thousand litirs parisi, anniuilly, representing upwards of one hun- 
 dred thousand francs at the present rate of money ; the three presidents of 
 the chamber five hundred livres, equal to fifty thousand francs ; and the other 
 nobles of the said Parliament five sok parisia, or six sols thi-ee dcniers — about 
 twenty-five francs — per day for the days only on which they sat. They 
 received, besides, two mantles annually. The prelates, princes, and barons 
 who were chosen by the King received no salaries — //« ne prennent nith 
 guaiges (law of 27th January, IJJGT). The seneschals and high bailifl's, like 
 the presidents of the chambers, received five hundred livres — fifty thousand 
 francs. Tliey and the bailifis of inferior rank were expressly forbidden from 
 
368 LAW AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 recei^'ing money or fees from the parties in any suit, but they were allowed 
 to accept on one clay refreshment and bottles of wine. The salaries were paid 
 monthly ; but this was not always done regularly ; sometimes the Kiag was 
 to blame for this, and sometimes it was owing to the ill-nature of the chiefs 
 of finance, or of the receivers and payers. When the blame rested with the 
 King, the Parliament humbly remonstrated or closed the court. When, on the 
 contrary, an officer of finance did not pay the salaries. Parliament sent him the 
 bailiff's usher, and put him under certain penalties until he had done so. The 
 question of salaries was frequently arising. On the 9th of February, 1369, 
 " the court having been requested to serve without any remuneration for one 
 Parliament, on the understanding that the King would make up for it another 
 time, the nobles of the court replied, after private deliberation, that they 
 were ready to do the King's pleasure, but could not do so properly without 
 receiving their salaries " (Register of the Parliament of Paris). 
 
 At the commencement of the fifteenth century, the scale of remuneration 
 was not increased. In 1411 it was raised for the whole Parliament to twenty- 
 five thousand livres, which, calculated according to the present rate, amounted 
 to nearly a million francs. In consequence of financial difficulties and the 
 general distress, the unpleasant question in reference to claims for payment 
 of salaries was renewed, with threats that the course of justice would be 
 interrupted if they were not paid or not promised. On the 2nd of October, 
 1419, two councillors and one usher were sent to the house of one of the 
 chiefs of finance, with orders to demand payment of the salaries of the 
 court. In October, 1430, the government owed the magistrates two years 
 of arrears. After useless appeals to the Regent, and to the Bishop of 
 Therouanne, the then Chancellor of France, the Parliament sent two of its 
 members to the King at Rouen, who obtained, after much difficulty, " one 
 month's pay, on the understanding that the Parliament should hold its 
 sittings in the month of April." In the month of July, 1431, there was 
 another deputation to the King, " in order to lay before him the necessities of 
 the court, and that it had for some time been prorogued, and was stiU pro- 
 rogued, on account of the non-payment of salaries." After two months of 
 repeated remonstrance, the deputies only bringing back promises, the com-t 
 assumed a menacing aspect ; and on the 11th of January, 1437, it pointed 
 out to the chancellor the evil which would arise if Parliament ceased to hold 
 its sittings ; and this time the chancellor announced that the salaries would 
 
LA W AND THE ADMINISTRA TIOX OF JUSTICE. 369 
 
 te paid, though six months passed without any result or any practical step 
 being taken in the matter. This state of affairs grew worse until the 
 year 1443, when the King was obliged to plead with the I'lirliameut in 
 the character of an insolvent debtor, and, in order to obtain remission of 
 part of his debt to the members, to guarantee to them a part of the salt 
 duties. 
 
 Charles VII., after having reconquered his states, hastened to restore order. 
 He first occupied himself with the system of justice, the Parliament, the 
 Chatelet, and the bailiwicks ; and in April, 14.>3, in concert with the princes, 
 the prelates, the council of State, the judges, and others in authority, he 
 framed a general law, in one himdred and twenty-five articles, which was 
 considered as the great charter of Parliament (Fig. 308). According to the 
 terms of these articles, " the councillors are to sit after dinner, to get throueh 
 the minor causes. Prisoners are to be examined without delay, and to hold 
 no communication with any one, unless by special permission. The cases are 
 to be carefully gone through in their proper order ; for courts are instructed 
 to do justice as promptly for the poor as for the rich, as it is a greater hard- 
 ship for the poor to be kept waiting than the rich." The fees of attorneys 
 were taxed and reduced in amount. Those of advocates were reduced 
 "to such moderation and fairness, that there should be no cause for com- 
 plaint." The judgments by commissary were forbidden. The bailifis and 
 seneschals were directed to reside within their districts. The councillors 
 were ordered to abstain from all communication with the parties in jDrivate, 
 and consultations between themselves were to be held in secret. The judg- 
 ments given in law-suits were inscribed in a register, and submitted every 
 two months to the presidents, who, if necessary, called the reporters to account 
 for any neglect of duty. The reporter was ordered fo draw attention to any 
 point of difficulty arising in a suit, and the execution of sentences or judg- 
 ments was entrusted to the ushers of the court. 
 
 In 1454 the King, in consequence of a difficulty in paying the regular 
 instalments of the usual salaries of the Parliament, created " after-dinner 
 fees" {den gagea d'aprh dinees) of five sols parisis— more than ten francs 
 of our money — per day, payable to those councillors who should hold a 
 second hearing. Matters did not improve much, however ; nothing seemed 
 to proceed satisfactorily, and incmbers of Parliament, deprived of their 
 salaries, were compelled to contract a loan, in order to commence pro- 
 
 3 1) 
 
37° 
 
 LAW AA'B THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 ceedings against tlie treasury for the non-payment of the amount due to 
 tliem. In 1493, the annual salaries of Parliament were raised to the sum of 
 40,630 livres, equal to about 1,100,000 francs. The first president received 
 
 y Fig. 30S. — Supreme Court, presided over by the King, who is ia the act of issuing a Decree which 
 is being registered by the Usher. — Fac-simile of a lliniature in Camaieu of the " Information 
 des Rois," ilanuscript of the Fifteenth Century, in the Library of the Arsenal of Paris. 
 
 4 livres, 22 sols parisis — about 140 francs — per day ; a clerical councillor 
 25 sols parisis — about 40 francs — and a lay councillor 20 sols — about 
 32 francs. This vras an increase of a fifth on the preceding year. 
 Charles Till., in thus improving the remuneration of the members of the 
 
LAW AND THE ADMINISTRATION Oh' /CSI/C/-:. 
 
 .57' 
 
 first court of the kingdom, reminded them of their duties, which hiid been too 
 long neglected; he told them " that of all the cardinal virtues justice was tlio 
 most noble and most important ;" and ho pointed out to them the line of 
 conduct they were to pursue. The councillors were to be present daily in 
 their respective chambers, from St. Martin's day to Easter, before seven 
 o'clock in the morning ; and from Easter to the closing of Parliament, 
 immediately after six o'clock, without intermission, under penalty of punish- 
 ment. Strict silence was enforced upon them during the debates ; and 
 they were forbidden to occupy themselves with anything which did not 
 concern the case under discussion. Amidst a mass of otbor jjoints upon 
 which directions are given, we notice the following : the necessity of keeping 
 secret the matters in course of deliberation ; the prohibition to councillors 
 from receiving, either directly or indirectly, anything in the shape of a 
 douceur from the parties in any suit ; and the forbidding all attorneys from 
 receiving any bribe or claiming more than the actual expenses of a journey 
 and other just charges. 
 
 The great charter of the Parliament, promulgated in April, 1453, was 
 thus amended, confirmed, and comiDleted, by this code of Charles VIIL, with 
 a wisdom which cannot be too highly extolled. 
 
 The magistrature of the supreme courts had been less favoured during 
 the preceding reign. Loms XL, that cautious and crafty reformer, after 
 having forbidden ecclesiastical judges to examine cases referring to the 
 revenues of vacant benefices, remodelled the secular courts, but he ruthlessly 
 destroyed anything which offended him personally. For this reason, as he 
 himself said, he limited the power of the Parliaments of Paris and Toulouse, 
 by establishing, to their prejudice, several other courts of justice, and by 
 favouring the Chatelet, where he was sure always to find those who would 
 act with him against the aristocracy. The I'arliament would not give way 
 willingly, nor without the most determined opposition. It was obhged, how- 
 ever, at last to succumb, and to pass certain edicts which were most 
 repugnant to it. On the death of Louis XL, however, it took its revenge, 
 and called those who had been his favourites and principal agents to answer 
 a criminal charge, for no other reason than that they had exposed themselves 
 to the resentment of the supreme court. 
 
 The Chatelet, in its judicial functions, was inferior to the Parliament, 
 nevertheless it acquired, through its provost, who represented the bourgeois 
 
372 
 
 LAW AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 of Paris, considerable importance in the ej^es of the supreme court. In 
 fact, for two centuries the provost held the privilege of ruling the capital, 
 both politically and financially, of commanding the citizen militia, and 
 of being chief magistrate of the city. In the court of audiences, a canopy 
 was erected, under which he sat, a distinction which no other magis- 
 trate enjoyed, and which appears to have been exclusively granted to hira 
 because he sat in the place of Monsieur Saint Loys (Saint Louis), dispensing 
 iustice to the good people of the City of Paris. When the provost was 
 installed, he was solemnly escorted, wearing his cap, to the great chamber 
 
 Fig. 309. — The Court of a Baron. — Fac-simile of a Woodcut in the " Cosmographie Universelle" 
 ofMunster: in folio, Basle, 1552. 
 
 of Parliament, accompanied by four councillors. After the ceremony of 
 installation he gave his horse to the president, who had come to receive 
 him. His dress consisted of a short robe, with mantle, collar turned 
 down, sword, and hat with feathers ; he also carried a staff of office, pro- 
 fusely ornamented with silver. Thus attired he attended Parliament, and 
 • assisted at the levees of the sovereign, where he took up his position on 
 the lowest step of the throne, below the great chamberlain. Every day, 
 excepting at the vintage time, he was required to be present at the Chatelet, 
 either personallj^ or bj^ deputy, punctually at nine in the morning. There 
 he received the list of the prisoners who had been arrested the daj^ before ; 
 
LA W AND THE ADMINISTRA TION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 .373 
 
 after that he visited the prisons, settled business of various kinds, and thou 
 inspected the town. His jurisdiction extended to several courts, which were 
 presided over by eight deputies or judges appointed by him, and who were 
 
 Fig. 310.— Serjeants-at-Arms nl' the Fourteenth Century, eari-cd in Stone.— From the Church of 
 St. Catherine du V;d des Ecoliers, in Paris. 
 
 created officers of the Chatclet by Louis XII. in 1498. Subsequently, the.se 
 received their appointment.s direct from the King. Two auditing judges, 
 one king'.s attorney, one registrar, and some bailiffs, completed the provost's 
 staff. 
 
374 LAW ANn THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 The bailiffs at the Chatelet were divided into five classes : the king's 
 sergeant-at-arms, the sergeants de la douzaine, the sergeants of the mace, or foot 
 sergeants, the sergeants fleffes, and the mounted sergeants. The establishment 
 of these officers dated from the beginning of the fourteenth century, and 
 they were originally appointed by the provost, but afterwards by the King 
 himself. The King's sergeants-at-arms (Fig. 310) formed his body-guard ; 
 they were not under the jurisdiction of the high constable, but of the 
 ordinary judges, which proves that they were in civil employ. The ser- 
 geants de la douzaine were twelve in number, as their name implies, aU of 
 whom were in the service of the provost ; the foot sergeants, who were 
 civilians, were gradually increased to the number of two hundred and twenty 
 as early as the middle of the fifteentb century. They acted only in the 
 interior of tbe capital, and guarded the city, the suburbs, and the surround- 
 ing districts, whereas the mounted sergeants had " to watch, over the safety 
 of tbe rural parishes, and to act throughout the whole extent of the provost's 
 jurisdiction, and of that of the viscount of Paris." 
 
 In the midst of the changes of the Middle Ages, especially after the 
 communes became free, all those kings who felt the importance of a strict 
 system of justice, particiolarly St. Louis, Philippe le Bel, and Charles VIII., 
 had seen the necessity of compiling a record of local customs. An edict of 
 1453 orders that "the custom shall be registered in writing, so as to be 
 examined by the members of the great council of the Parliament." Never- 
 theless, tbis important work was never properly carried out, and to Louis XII. 
 is due the honour of introdiicing a customary or usage law, and at the same 
 time of correcting the various modes of procedure, upon which customs and 
 usages bad been based, and which bad become singularly antiquated since 
 the edict of 1302. 
 
 No monarcb showed more favour to Parliament than Louis XII. During 
 his reign of seventeen years we never find complaints from the magistracy 
 for not having been paid punctually. But in contrast with this, on the 
 accession of Francis I., the court complained of not having been paid its first 
 quarter's salary. From that moment claims were perpetually being made ; 
 there were continually delays, or absolute refusals ; the members were ex- 
 pecting " remuneration for their services, in order absolutely to enable them 
 to support their families and households." We can thus judge of the state 
 of the various minor courts, which, being less powerful than the supreme 
 
LAW AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 375 
 
 fig. 311.— Inferior Court in the Great Bailiwick. Adoption of Orphan Children.— Fac-simile of 
 a Woodcut in J. Damhoudere's " Refuge ct fiarand dea Pupilles, Orphelins :" Antwerp, 
 J. Bellere, 1557. 
 
 triljunaLs, and especially than that of Pari.9, were quite unable to get their 
 murmurings even listened to by the i^'ojier authorities. This sad .state of 
 things confiiiuod, and, iu fict, grew wor.sc, until tlie assemlily of the League, 
 
376 LAW AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. . 
 
 wlien llayenne, the chief of the leaguers, in order to gratify the Parliament, 
 promised to double the salaries, although he -n-as unable to fulfil his promise. 
 
 Towards the end of the sixteenth century the highest French tribunal 
 was represented by nine superior courts — namely, the Parliament of Bor- 
 deaux, created on the 9th of June, 164"2 ; the Parliament of Brittany, which 
 replaced the ancient Grands- Jours, ia March, 1553, and sat alternately at 
 S'antes and at Eennes ; the Parliament of the Dauphine, estabhshed at Grenoble 
 in 1451 to replace the Delphinal Council ; the Parliament of Burgundy, 
 established at Dijon in 1477, which took the place of the Grands- Jours at 
 Beaune ; the movable ParKament of Dombes, created in 1528, and consist- 
 ing at the same time of a court of excise and a chamber of accounts ; the 
 Parliament of !Xormandy, established by Louis XII. in April, 1504, intended 
 to replace the Exchequer of Eouen, and the ancient ducal coxmcil of the 
 prcsince ; the Parliament of Provence, founded at Aix in Julv, 1501 ; the 
 Parliament of Toulouse, created in 1301 ; and the Parliament of Paris, 
 which took precedence of all the others, both on account of its origin, its 
 antiquity, the extent of its jurisdiction, the number of its prerogatives, and 
 the importance of its decrees. In 1551, Henry II. created, besides these, an 
 inferior court in each bailiwick, the duties of which were to hear, on appeal, 
 all matters iii which sums of less than two hundred livres were involved 
 (Fig. 311). There existed, besides, a branch of the Grands-Jours, occasion- 
 ally sitting at Poitiers, Bayeux, and at some other central towns, in order to 
 suppress the excesses which at times arose from religious dissensions and 
 political controversy. 
 
 The Parliament of Paris — or Great French Parlianienf, as it was called by 
 Philip Y. and Charles Y., in edicts of the 17th of Xovember, 1318, and of the 
 8th of October, 1371 — was divided into four principal chambers : the Grand 
 Chamber, the Chamber of Inquiry, the Criminal Chamber, and the Chamber 
 of Appeal. It was composed of ordinary councillors, both clerical and lay; of 
 honorary councillors, some of whom were ecclesiastics, and others members of 
 the nobility ; of masters of inquiry ; and of a considerable number of officers 
 of all ranks (Figs. 312 to 314). It had at times as many as twenty-four pre- 
 sidents, one hiiadred and eighty-two councillors, four knights of honour, four 
 masters of records ; a public prosecutor's office was also attached, consisting ot 
 the king's counsel, an attorney-general and deputies, thus forming an assembly 
 of from fifteen to twenty persons, called a college. Amongst the inferior officei-s 
 
LAiV AND THE ADMlXhSTRATION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 in 
 
 we may mention twenty-six usliers, four receivers-general of trust money, 
 three commissioners for the receipt of goods which had been seized under 
 distress, one treasurer and paymaster, three controllers, one physician, two 
 surgeons, two apothecaries, one matron, one receiver of fines, one inspector of 
 estates, several keepers of refreshment establishments, who resided witJiin the 
 
 Ji:z~^ 
 
 Fig. 312.— Judge.— From a Drawing in '• Proverbes, Adages, &c.," Manuscript of the Fifteenlh 
 Century, in the Imperial Library of Paris. 
 
 precincts of the palace, sixty or eiglity notaries, four or iivo himdred advocates, 
 two hundred attorneys, besides registers and deputy registers. Down to the 
 reign of Charles VI. (1380—1422) members of Parliament held their appoint- 
 ment by commissions granted by the King, and renewed each session. From 
 Charles VI. to Francis I. these appointments became royal charges ; but 
 from that time, owing to the office being so often prostituted for reward, it 
 got more and juore into disrei)ute. 
 
378 
 
 LAW AND THE ABiSlINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 Loviis XI. made the office of member of the Parliament of Paris a per- 
 manent one, and Francis I. continued this privilege. In 1580 the supreme 
 magistracy poured 140,000,000 francs, which now would be worth fifteen or 
 twenty times as much, into the State treasury, so as to enable members to 
 sit permanently aur les fleiirs de lis, and to obtain hereditary privileges. The 
 hereditary transmission of office from father to son dealt a heavy blow at 
 
 Fig. 313. — Lawyer. — From the " Danse des 
 Morts " of Basle, engraved by Meiian : in 4to, 
 Frankfort, 1596. 
 
 Fig. 314. — Barrister. — From a Woodcut in the 
 " Danse Macabre :" Guyot's edition, 1490. 
 
 the popularity of the parliamentary body, which had already deeply suffered 
 through shameftd abuses, the enormity of the fees, the ignorance of some 
 of the members, and the dissolute habits of many others. 
 
 The Chatelet, on the contrary, was less involved in intrigue, less occupied 
 with politics, and was daily engaged in adjudicating in cases of litiga- 
 tion, and thus it rendered innumerable services in promoting the pubHc 
 
LAW AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICK. 
 
 379 
 
 Fig. 315.— Assemljly of tlin Provoslsliip of tlic Jlerchants of Paris.— Fac-simil.' of a Woodcut in 
 " Onlonnancea Royaiix do la Jurisdiction de la Prevote des JIarchands et Esclievinage de laVille 
 de Paris:" in small folio, Roth, edition of Paris, Jacques Nyvcid, l.i2S. 
 
 welfare, ;ui(l muintaiticd, and even inereaseil, tlio respect which it h;ul 
 enjoyed from the commencement of its existence. In 1498, Loui.s XII. 
 reqiiir.Kl that tlie provost should possess the title of doctor w ufroqiir jiirr, 
 
38o LA W AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 and that liis officers, whom lie made to hold their appointments for life, 
 should be chosen from amongst the most distinguished counsellors at law. 
 This excellent arrangement bore its fruits. As early as 1510, the " Usages 
 of the City, Provosty, and Viscounty of Paris," were published in extenso, 
 and were then received with much ceremony at a solemn audience held on 
 the 8th of March in the episcopal palace, and were deposited among the 
 archives of the Chatelet (Fig. 315). 
 
 The Parliament held a very different line of policy from that adopted by 
 the Chatelet, which only took a political part in the religioiis troubles of 
 Protestantism and the League with a view to serve and defend the cause of 
 the people. In spite of its fits of personal animosity, and its rebellious freaks. 
 Parliament remained almost invariably attached to the side of the King and 
 the court. It always leaned to the absolute maintenance of things as they 
 were, instead of following progress and changes which time necessitated. It 
 was for severe measures, for intimidation more than for gentleness and 
 toleration, and it ^'ielded sooner or later to the injunctions and admonitions 
 of the King, although, at the same time, it often disapproved the acts which 
 it was asked to sanction. 
 
 Fig. 316. — 8eal of King Chilperic, found in his Tomb at Tournay in 1654. 
 
SECRET TRIBUNALS. 
 
 The Old Man of the IMoiintain and his Followers in Syria.— The Castle of Alamond, Paradise of 
 Assassins.— Charlemagne the Founder of Secret Tribunals amongst the Saxons.— The Holy 
 Vehme.— Organization of the Tribunal of the Ta-re Rouge, and Modes adopted in its Pro- 
 cedures.- Condemnations and Execution of Sentences.— The Truth respecting the Free 
 Judges of Westphalia.— Duration and Fall of the Vehmic Tribunal.— Council of Ten in 
 Venice ; its Code and Secret Decisions. — End of the Council of Ten. 
 
 URING the Middle Ages, human life 
 was generally held in small respect ; 
 various judicial institutions — if not 
 altogether secret, at least more or 
 less enveloped in mystery — were re- 
 markable for being founded on the 
 monstrous right of issuing the most 
 severe sentences with closed doors, 
 and of executing these sentences with 
 inflexible rigour on individuals who 
 had not been allowed the slightest 
 chance of defending themselves. 
 
 While passing judgment in secret, they often openly dealt blows as 
 unexpected and terrible as they were fatal. Therefore, the most innocent 
 and the most daring trembled at the very name of the Free Judges of the 
 Terre-Rouge, an institution which adopted "Westphalia as the special, or rather 
 as the central, region of its authority ; the Council of Ten exercised their power 
 in Venice and the states of the republic ; and the Assassins of Syria, in the 
 time of St. Louis, made more than one invasion into Christian Europe. We 
 must nevertheless acknowledge that, terrible as these mysterious institutions 
 were, the general credulity, the gross ignorance of the masses, and the love of 
 the marvellous, helped not a little to render them even more outrageous and 
 alarming than they really were. 
 
382 SECRET TRIBUNALS. 
 
 Marco Polo, the celebrated Venetian traveller of tlie thirteenth century, 
 says, " We will speak of the Old Man of the Mountain. This prince was 
 named Alaodin. He had a lovely garden full of all manner of trees and 
 fruits, in a beautiful valley, surrounded by high hills ; and all round these 
 plantations were various palaces and pavilions, decorated with works of art 
 in gold, with paintings, and with furniture of silk. Therein were to be seen 
 rividets of wine, as well as milk, honey, and gentle streams of limpid water. 
 He had placed therein damsels of transcendent beauty and endowed with 
 great charms, who were taught to sing and to play all manner of instru- 
 ments ; they were dressed in silk and gold, and continually walked in these 
 gardens and palaces. The reasons for which the Old Man had these palaces 
 built were the following. Mahomet having said that those who should obey 
 his will should go to paradise, and there find all kinds of luxuries, this prince 
 wished it to be believed that he was the prophet and companion of Mahomet, 
 and that he had the power of sending whom he chose to paradise. No one 
 could succeed in entering the garden, because an impregnable castle had 
 been built at the entrance of the valley, and it could only be api^roached by 
 a covered and secret way. The Old Man had in his cou.rt some young men 
 from ten to twenty years of age, chosen from those inhabitants of the hills 
 who seemed to him capable of bearing arms, and who were bold and 
 courageous. From time to time he administered a certain drink to ten or 
 twelve of these young men, which sent them to sleep, and when they were 
 in deep stupor, he had them carried into the garden. When they awoke, 
 they saw all we have described : they were surrounded by the young damsels, 
 who sang, played instruments together, caressed them, played all sorts of 
 games, and presented them with the most exquisite wines and meats (Fig. 
 317). So that these young men, satiated with such pleasures, did not doubt 
 that they were in paradise, and would willingly have never gone out of it 
 again. 
 
 " At the end of four or five days, the Old Man sent them to sleep again, 
 and had them removed from the garden in the same way in which thej^ had 
 been brought in. He then called them before him, and asked them where 
 they had been. ' By your grace, lord,' they answered, ' we have been in 
 paradise.' And then they related, in the presence of everybody, what they 
 had seen there. This tale excited the astonishment of all those who heard 
 it, and the desire that they might be equally fortunate. The Old Man would 
 
SECRET TRIBUNALS. 
 
 383 
 
 then formally announced to those who were present, as follows : ' Thus saith 
 the law of our prophet, He causes all who light for their Lord to enter into 
 paradise; if you obey me you shall enjoy that happiness.' By such words 
 and plans this prince had so accustomed them to believe in him, that he 
 whom he ordered to die for his service considered himself lucky. AU the 
 nobles or other enemies of the Old Man of the Mountain were put to death 
 by the assassins in his service ; for none of them feared death, provided 
 he complied with the orders and ^^-ishes of his lord. However powerful a 
 
 Fig. 317.— The Castle of AJamon.1 and its Knchantments.— Fac-simile of a Miniature in " Marco 
 Polo's Travels," Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century, in the Library of the Arsenal of Paris. 
 
 man might be, therefore, if he was an enemy of the Old Man's, he was sure 
 to meet with an untimely end." 
 
 In his story, which wo translate literally from the original, written in 
 ancient French, the venerable traveller attributes the origin of this singular 
 system of exercising power over the minds of persons to a prince who in 
 reality did but keep up a tradition of his family; for the Alaodin herein 
 mentioned is no other than a successor of the famous Hassan, son of Ali, 
 who, in the middle of the eleventh century, took advantage of the wars 
 which devastated Asia to create himself a kingdom, comprisino- the three 
 
384 SECRET TRIBUNALS. 
 
 provinces of Turkistan, Djebel, and Syria. Hassan had embraced the doctrine 
 of the Ishmaelian sect, who pretended to explain allegorically all the precepts 
 of the Mahometan religion, and who did away with public worship, and 
 originated a creed which was altogether philosophical. He made himself the 
 chief exponent of this doctrine, which, by its very simplicitj^, was sure to 
 attract to him many people of simple and sincere minds. Attacked by the 
 troops of the Sultan Sindgar, he defended himself vigorously and not unsuc- 
 cessfully ; but, fearing lest he should fall in an unequal and protracted struggle 
 against an adversary more powerful than himself, he had recourse to cunning 
 so as to obtain peace. He entranced, or fascinated probably, by means 
 analogous to those related by Marco Polo, a slave, who had the daring, during 
 Sindgar's sleep, to stick a sharp dagger in the ground by the side of the 
 Sultan's head. On waking, Sindgar was much alarmed. A few days after, 
 Hassan wrote to him, " If one had not good intentions towards the Sultan, 
 one might have driven the dagger, which was stuck in the earth by his head, 
 into his bosom." The Sultan Sindgar then made peace with the chief of the 
 Ishmaelians, whose dynasty lasted for one hundred and seventy years. 
 
 The Castle of Alamond, built on the confines of Persia, on the top of a 
 high mountain surrounded with trees, after having been the usual residence 
 of Hassan, became that of his successors. As in the native language the 
 same word means both ijrince and old man, the Crusaders who had heard the 
 word pronounced confounded the two, and gave the name of Old Man of the 
 Mountain to the Ishmaelian prince at that time inhabiting the Castle of 
 Alamond, a name which has remained famous in history since the period 
 when the Sire de Joinville published his " Memoires." 
 
 Ancient authors call the subjects of Hassan, HaschicJuni, Heississini, 
 Atmissini, Assassbd, various forms of the same expression, which, ia fact, 
 has passed into French with a signification which recalls the sanguinary 
 exploits of the Ishmaelians. In seeking for the etymology of this name, one 
 must suppose that Haschichini is the Latin transformation of the Arabic 
 word Hachychy, the name of the sect of which we are speaking, because 
 the ecstacies during which they believed themselves removed to paradise 
 were produced by means of haschisch or haschkcha. We know that this 
 inebriating preparation, extracted from hemp, really produces the most 
 strange and delicious hallucinations on those who use it. All travellers who 
 have visited the East agree in saying that its efiects are very superior to 
 
SECRET TRIBUNALS. 
 
 385 
 
 those of oiiiiuu. We evideiith' must attribute to some ecstatic \ isiun Ihe 
 supposed existence of the enchanted gardens, wliich Jlarco I'olo describi'd 
 from popular tales, and which, of course, never existed but in the imagina- 
 tion of the youiig men, who were either mentallj- excited after fasting and 
 prajrer, or intoxicated bj' the haschisclia, and consequentl}^ for a time lulled 
 in dreams of celestial bliss which they imagined awaited them under the 
 guidance of Hassan and his descendants. 
 
 ^^^^^^^g 
 
 I'ig. Lil8.— Tin: Old ilaii ol Umj ilouiit;uii v,i\nv^ Oiiln,, tn In., J'Mlln«,,is. la. -.,iii,ile of a 
 Miniature in the " Travels of MMrco Polo," Manuscript of the Fifteenth Ccntuiy (Library of 
 the Arsenal of Paris). 
 
 The Haschischini, whom certain contemporary historians describe to us as 
 infatuated by the hope of some future boundless felicity, owe their melan- 
 choly celebrity solely to the Idind oliedience with wliich they executed the 
 orders of their chiefs, and to the coolness with which they sought the 
 favourable moment for fulfilling their sanguinary missions (Fig. 318). The 
 Old Man of the Mountain (the master of daggers, magkicr ciiUrllorum, as lie is 
 also called by the chronicler Jacques de Vintry), was almost continually at 
 war with the MussulmaTi princes who reigned from the banks of the Nile 
 to the borders of the Caspian Sea. He continually opposed them with the 
 
 3 D 
 
386 SECRET TRIBUNALS. 
 
 steel of his fanatical emissaries ; at times, also, making a traffic and mer- 
 chandise of murder, he treated for a money payment with the sultans or 
 emirs, who were desirous of ridding themselves of an enemy. The Ishmaelians 
 thus put to death a number of princes and Mahometan nobles ; but, at the 
 time of the Crusades, religious zeal having incited them against the 
 Christians, they found more than one notable victim in the ranks of the 
 Crusaders. Conrad, Marquis of Montferrat, was assassinated by them ; the 
 great Salah-Eddin (Saladin) himself narrowly escaped them ; Richard Coeur 
 de Lion and Philip Augustus were pointed out to the assassins by the Old 
 Man, who subsequently, on hearing of the immense preparations which 
 Louis IX. was making for the Holy War, had the daring to send two of his 
 followers to France, and even into Paris, with orders to kill that monarch in 
 the midst of his court. This king, after having again escaped, during his 
 sojourn in Palestine, from the murderous attempts of the savage messengers 
 of the Prince of Alamond, succeeded, by his courage, his firmness, and his 
 virtues, in iaspiring these fanatics with so much respect, that their chief, 
 looking upon him as protected by heaven, asked for his friendship, and 
 offered him presents, amongst which was a magnificent set of chessmen. La 
 crystal, ornamented with gold and amber. 
 
 The successors of Hassan, simultaneously attacked by the Moguls under 
 Houlayon, and by the Egyptians commanded by the Sultan Bibars, were con- 
 quered and dispossessed of their States towards the middle of the thirteenth 
 century ; but, long after, the Ishmaelians, either because their chiefs sought to 
 recover their power, or because they had placed their daggers at the disposal 
 of some foreign foe, continued notorious in history. At last the sect became 
 extinct, or, at least, retired into obscurity, and renounced its murderous 
 profession, which had for so long made its members such objects of terror. 
 
 We have thus seen how a legion of fanatics in the East made themselves 
 the blind and formidable tools of a religious and political chieftain, who was no 
 less ambitious than revengeful. If we now turn our attention to Germany, 
 we shall here find, almost at the same period, a local institution which, 
 although very different from the sanguinary court of the Old Man of the 
 Mountain, was of an equally terrible and mysterious character. We must 
 not, however, look at it from the same point of view, for, having been 
 founded with the object of furthering and defending the establishment of a 
 regular social state, which had been approved and sanctioned by the sove- 
 
SECRET TRIBUNALS. 
 
 387 
 
 reigns, and recognised by the Cliurcli, it at times rendered great service to 
 the caiise of justice and humanity at a period when might usurped right, 
 and when the excesses and the crimes of shameless evil-doers, and of petty 
 t3Tants, entrenched in their impregnable strongholds, were but too often 
 made lawful from the simple fact that there was no power to opf)Ose them. 
 
 The secret tribunal of Westphalia, which held its sittings and passed 
 sentence in private, and which carried out its decrees on the spot, and 
 
 Pigs. 319 and 320.— Hermensul or Irmensul and Crodon, Idols of the Ancient Saxons.— Fac-simile 
 of a Woodcut in the " Annales Circuli WestphaliiE," by Herman Stangefol : in 4to, 1636.— The 
 Idol Hermensul appears to have presided over Executive Justice, the attributes of which it holds 
 in its hands. 
 
 whose rules, laws,' and actions were enveloped in deep mystery, must 
 unquestionably be looked upon as one of the most remarkable institutions 
 of the Middle Ages. 
 
 It would be difficult to state exactly at what period this formidable 
 institution was established. A few writers, and amongst these Sebastian 
 Munster, wish us to believe that it was founded by Charlemagne himself. 
 They affirm that this monarch, having subjugated the Saxons to his sway, 
 
SECRET TRIBUNALS. 
 
 and liaving forced them to be baptized, created a secret tribunal, the duties 
 of which were to watch over them, in order that they might not return to 
 the errors of Paganism. However, the Saxons were incorrigible, and, 
 although Christians, they still carried on the worship of their idols 
 (Figs. 319 and 320) ; and, for this reason, it is said by these authorities 
 that the laws of the tribunal of "Westphalia were founded by Charlemagne. 
 It is well known that from the ninth to the thirteenth century, all that 
 part of Germany between the Rhine and the Weser suffered under the most 
 complete anarchy. In consequence of this, and of the increase of crime 
 which remained vmpunished, energetic men established a rigorous juris- 
 diction, which, to a certain extent, suppressed these barbarous disorders, 
 and gave some assurance to social intercourse ; but the very mystery 
 which gave weight to the institution was the cause of its origin being 
 unknown. It is only mentioned, and then cursorily, in historical docu- 
 ments towards the early part of the fifteenth century. This court of 
 judicature received the name of Femgericht, or Vehmgcrichf, which means 
 Vehmic tribunal. The origin of the word Fern, Vchm, or Fam, which has 
 given rise to many scientific discussions, still remains in doubt. The most 
 generally accepted opinion is, that it is derived from a Latin expression — 
 vemi [vcB mihi), "woe is me ! " 
 
 The special dominion over which the Vehmic tribunal reigned supreme was 
 Westphalia, and the country which was subjected to its laws was designated 
 as the Tcrre Rouge. There was no assembly of this tribunal beyond the hmits 
 of this Terre Rouge, but it would be quite impossible to define these limits 
 with any accuracy. However, the free judges, assuming the right of sup- 
 pressing certain crimes committed beyond their territory, on more than 
 one occasion summoned persons living in various parts of Germany, and 
 even in provinces far from Westphalia, to appear before them. We do not 
 know all the localities wherein the Vehmic tribunal sat ; but the most 
 celebrated of them, and the one which served as a model for all the rest, 
 held its sittings under a lime-tree, in front of the castle-gate of Dortmund 
 (Fig. 321). There the chapters-general of the association usually assembled ; 
 and, on certain occasions, several thousands of the free judges were to be 
 seen there. 
 
 Each tribunal was composed of an unlimited number of free judges, 
 under the presidency of a free count, who was charged with the higher 
 
SECRET TRIBUNALS. 
 
 administration of Vehmic justice. A free counfij generally comprised several 
 free tribunals, or friestuhle. The free count, who was chosen by the 
 prince of the territory in which the tribunal sat, had two courts, one 
 secret, tlie other public. The public assizes, which took place at least 
 three times a year, were announced fourteen days beforehand, and any 
 person living within the coiinfi/, and who was summoned before the free 
 count, was bound to appear, and to answer all questions which might be put 
 to him. It was required that the free judges (who are generally mentioned 
 as femnoten — that is to say, mges — and who are, besides, denoted by writers 
 
 Fig. 321.— View of thu Xuwn of Dortmund in th.j Sixk-enth Crntuiy.— From ;iii Kngiaving on 
 Copper in P. Bertiua'a " Theatrum Geographicum." 
 
 of the time by the most honourable epithets : such as, " serious men," 
 "very pious," "of very pure morals," " lovers of justice," &c.) should be 
 persons who had been bom in lawful wedlock, and on German soil ; they 
 were not allowed to belong to any religious order, or to have ever them- 
 selves been summoned before the Vehraic tribunal. They were nominated 
 by the free counts, but subject to the approval of their sovereigns. They 
 were not allowed to sit as judges before having been initiated into the 
 mysteries of the tribunals. 
 
 The initiation of a free judge was accompanied by extraordinary formali- 
 ties. The candidate appoarod barehcadod ; he knelt down, and, placing two 
 
390 
 
 SECRET TRIBUNALS. 
 
 fingers of his right hand on his naked sword and on a rjpe, he took oath to 
 adhere to the hiws and customs of the holy tribunal, to devote his five senses 
 to it, and not to allow himself to be allured therefrom either by silver, gold, or 
 even precious stones ; to forward the interests of the tribunal " above every- 
 thing illumined by the sun, and all that the rain reaches ;" and to defend them 
 " against everything which is between heaven and earth." The candidate 
 was then given the sign by which members of the association recognised 
 
 in^Coz 'vo 'Vii^rlant. 
 
 Fig. 322. —The Landgrave of Thuringia and hia Wife.— Fac-simile of a Miniature in the Collection 
 of the Minnesinger, Manuscript of the Fourteenth Century. 
 
 each other. This sign has remained unknown ; and nothing, even in the 
 deeds of the Yehmic archives, leads one even to guess what it was, and 
 every hyjjothesis on this subject must be looked upon as uncertain or 
 erroneous. By one of the fundamental statutes of the Terre-Rouge, a 
 member convicted of betraying the secrets of the order was condemned to 
 the most cruel punishment ; but we have every reason for asserting that 
 this sentence was never carried out, or even issued against a free judge. 
 
SECRET TRIBUNALS. 
 
 391 
 
 In one case alone during the fourteenth century, was an accusation of this 
 sort made, and that proved to be groundless. 
 
 It ^yould have been considered the height of treason to have given a 
 relation, or a friend, the slightest hint that he was being pursued, or that 
 he had been condemned by the Holy Yehme, in order that he might seek 
 refuge by flight. And in consequence of this, there was a general mistrust 
 of any one belonging to the tribunal, so much so that " a brother," says a 
 German writer, " often feared his brother, and hospitality was no longer 
 possible." 
 
 The functions of free judges consisted in going about the country seeking 
 
 Figs. 323 and 321. — Free Judges. — Fac-simile of two Woodcuts in llie " Cosmographic 
 Universellft" of Munster : in folio, 1552. 
 
 out crimes, denouncing them, and inflicting immediate punishment on any 
 evil-doer caught in the act (Figs. 323 and 324). The free judges might 
 assemble provided there were at least seven in number to constitute a tribunal ; 
 but we hear of as many as three hundred assisting at a meeting. 
 
 It has been erroneously stated that the .sittings of the Yehmic tribunals 
 were held at night in the depths of forests, or in subterranean places ; but it 
 appears that all criminal business was first heard in public, and could only be 
 subjected to a secret judgment when the accused had failed either publicly 
 to justify himself or to appear in person. 
 
 "Wlien three free judges caught a malefactor in the very act, tlicy could 
 seize liim, judge liiiii, and inflict the penalty on the spot. In other cases, 
 
392 
 
 SECRET TRIBUNALS. 
 
 when a tribunal considered that it should pursue an individual, it summoned 
 him to appear before it. The summons had to be written, without erasures, 
 on a large sheet of vellum, and to bear at least seven seals — that of the free 
 count, and those of six free judges ; and these seals generally represented 
 either a man in full armour holding a sword, or a simple sword blade, or 
 other analogous emblems (Figs. 325 to 327). Two free judges delivered the 
 summons personally where a member of the association was concerned; but 
 if the summons affected an individual who was not of the Vehmic order, a 
 sworn messenger bore it, and placed it in the very hands of the person, or 
 slipped it into his house. The time given for putting in an appearance was 
 originally six weeks and three days at least, but at a later period this time 
 
 Fig. 32.5.— Seal of Herman 
 Loseckin, Free Count of 
 Medebach, in 1410. 
 
 Fig. 326.— Seal of the Free 
 Count, Hans Vollmar von 
 Twern, at Freyenhagen, in 
 1476—1499. 
 
 Fig. 327. — Seal of Johann 
 Croppe, Free Count of 
 Kogelnberg, in 1413. 
 
 was shortened. The writ of summons was repeated three times, and each 
 time bore a greater number of seals of fr'ee judges, so as to verify the 
 legality of the instrument. The accused, whether guilty or not, was liable 
 to a fine for not answering the first summons, unless he could prove that it 
 was impossible for him to have done so. If he failed to appear on the third 
 summons, he was finally condemned en corps et en honneur. 
 
 We have but imperfect information as to the formalities in use in the 
 Vehmic tribunals. But we know that the sittings were invested with a 
 certain solemnity and pomp. A naked sword — emblematical of justice, and 
 recalling our Saviour's cross in the shape of its handle — and a rope — 
 emblematical of the punishment deserved by the guilty — were placed on the 
 
secrilt tribunals. 
 
 393 
 
 taLle before the president. The judges were bareheaded, with bare bauds, 
 and each wore a cloak over his shoulder, and carried no arms of any sort. 
 
 The plaintiff and the defendant were each allowed to produce thirty 
 witnesses. The defendant could either defend himself, or entrust his case to 
 
 Fig. 328. — The Duke of Saxony and the Marquis of liiandenljurg. — From the "Theatrum Orbis 
 Terrarum sivc Tabula veteris Geographise," in folio. Engraved by Wiericx, after Geiard de 
 Jode. 
 
 an advocate whom he brought with him. At first, any free judge being 
 defendant in a suit, enjoyed the privilege of justifying himself on oath ; 
 but it having been discovered that this privilege was abused, all per.sous, of 
 whatever station, were compelled to be confronted with the other side. 
 
 3 E 
 
394 SECRET TRIBUNALS. 
 
 The wituesses, wlio were subpoened by eitber accuser or accused, bad to give 
 their evidence according to the truth, dispassionately and voluntarily. In 
 the event of the accused not succeeding in bringing sufficient testimony to 
 clear himself, the prosecutor claimed a verdict in his favour from the free 
 count presiding at the tribunal, who appointed one of the free judges to 
 declare it. In case the free judge did not feel satisfied as to the guilt, 
 he could, by making oath, temporarily divest himself of his office, which 
 devolved upon a second, a third, or even a fourth free judge. If four free 
 judges were unable to decide, the matter was referred to another sitting; 
 for judgment had to be pronounced by the appointed free judge at the 
 sitting. 
 
 The various penalties for different crimes were left to the decision of the 
 tribunal. The rules are silent on the subject, and simply state that the 
 culprits will be punished " according to the authority of the secret bench." 
 The royale, i.e. capital punishment, was strictly applied in all serious cases , 
 and the manner of execution most in use was hanging (Figs. 329, 330). 
 
 A person accused who did not apjaear after the third summons, was out- 
 lawed by a terrible sentence, which deprived him of all rights, of common 
 peace, and forbad him the company of all Christians ; by the wording of this 
 sentence, his wife was looked upon as a widow, his children as orphans ; his 
 neck was abandoned to the birds of the air, and his body to the beasts of the 
 field, " but his soul was recommended to God." At the expiration of one 
 year and a day, if the culprit had not appeared, or had not established his 
 common rights, all his goods were confiscated, and appropriated by the King 
 or Emperor. When the condemnation referred to a prince, a town, or a 
 corporation (for the accusations of the tribunal frequently were issued 
 against groups of individuals), it caused the loss of all honour, authority, 
 and privileges. The free count, in pronouncing the sentence, threw the 
 rope, which was before him, on to the ground ; the free judges spat upon it, 
 and the name of the culprit was inscribed on the book of blood. The sen- 
 tence was kept secret ; the prosecutor alone was informed of it by a written 
 notice, which was sealed with seven seals. When the condemned was 
 present, the execution took place immediately, and, according to the custom 
 of the Middle Ages, its carrying out was deputed to the youngest of the 
 free judges. The members of the Vehmic association enjoyed the privilege 
 of being hung seven feet higher than those who were not associates. 
 
SECRET TRIBUNALS. 
 
 395 
 
 The VeLmic judgments were, LoweTer, liable to be appealed against : the 
 accused might, at the sitting, appeal either to what was termed the imperial 
 chamber, a general chapter of the association, which assembled at Dortmund, 
 or (and this was the more frequent custom) to the emperor, or ruler of the 
 country, whether he were king, prince, duke, or bishop, provided that these 
 authorities belonged to the association. The revision of the judgment could 
 only be entrusted to members of the tribunal, who, in their turn, could only 
 act in AVestphalia. The condemned might also appeal to the lieutenant- 
 general of the emperor, or to the grand master of the Holy Vehme, a title 
 which, from the remotest times, was given to the Archbishop of Cologne. 
 
 
 ^(y/w^ 
 
 ^CM^I 
 
 A^lJjffljJf V*^ 
 
 ^^^^ 
 
 rm/^ 
 
 \^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ii 
 
 JK^ijji^^^^^Xl^ 
 
 f^^ 
 
 ^^^S 
 
 ^^fcl 
 
 ^=i=S=! 
 
 
 Figs. 329 and 330.— Execution of the Sentencp.s of the Secret Trilmnal.— Kan-simile of Wooacuts 
 in the " Cosmographie Unirerselle " of Munster : in folio, Basle, 1.5.52. 
 
 There are even instances of appeals having been made to the coimcils and to 
 the Popes, although the Vehmic association never had any communication or 
 intercourse with the court of Eome. We must not forget a very curious 
 privilege which, in certain cases, was left to the culprit as a last resource; 
 he might appeal to the emperor, and solicit an order which required the 
 execution of the sentence to be applied after a delay of one hundred years, six 
 weeis, and one day. 
 
 The chapter-general of the association was generally summoned once a 
 year by the emperor or his lieutenant, and assembled either at Dortmund or 
 Arcnsberg, in ord(;r to receive the returns of causes judged by the various 
 
396 SECRET TRIBUNALS. 
 
 Velimic tribunals ; to hear the changes which had taken place among the 
 , members of the order ; to receive the free judges ; to hear appeals ; and, 
 lastly, to decide upon reforms to be introduced into the rules. These reforms 
 usually had reference to the connection of imperial authority with the 
 members of the secret jurisdiction, and were generally suggested by the 
 emperors, who were jealous of the increasing power of the association. 
 
 From what we have shown, on the authority of authentic documents, we 
 understand how untrue is the tradition, or rather the popular idea, that the 
 Secret Tribunal was an assembly of bloodthirsty judges, secretly perpetrating 
 acts of mere cruelty, without any but arbitrary laws. It is clear, on the 
 contrary, that it was a regular institution, having, it is true, a most mysterious 
 and complex organization, but simply acting in virtue of legal prescriptions, 
 which were rigorously laid down, and arranged in a sort of code which did 
 honour to the wisdom of those who had created it. 
 
 It was towards the end of the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth 
 centuries that the Vehmic jurisdiction reached its highest degree of power ; 
 its name was only pronounced in a whisper and with trembling ; its orders 
 were received with immediate submission, and its chastisements always fell 
 upon the guilty and those who resisted its authority. There cannot be a 
 doubt but that the Westphalian tribunal prevented many great crimes and 
 public misfortunes by putting a wholesome check on the nobles, who were 
 ever ready to place themselves above all human authority ; and by punishing, 
 with pitiless severity, the audacity of bandits, who would otherwise have 
 been encouraged to commit the most daring acts with almost the certainty of 
 escaping with impunity. But the Holy Vehme, blinded by the terror it 
 inspired, was not long without displaj'ing the most extravagant assumption 
 of power, and digressing from the strict path to which its action should have 
 been confined. It summoned before its tribunals princes, who openly denied 
 its authoritjr, and cities, which did not condescend to answer to its behests. [ 
 In the fifteenth century, the free judges were composed of men who could 
 not be called of unimpeachable integrity ; many persons of doubtful morals i 
 having been raised to the dignity by party influence and by money. The ' 
 partiality and the spirit of revenge which at times prompted their judg- 
 ments, were complained of; they were accused of being open to corrup- 
 tion ; and this accusation appears to have been but too well founded. It 
 is known tha+, according to a feudal practice established in the Vehmic 
 
SECRET TRinUXALS. 
 
 397 
 
 system, every new free judge was obliged to make a present to the free count 
 who had admitted him into the order ; and the free counts did not hesitate to 
 make this an important source of revenue to themselves by admittino-, 
 according to an historian, " many people as juchiea who, in reality, deserved 
 to he judged." 
 
 Fig. 331. — View of Cologne in the Sixteenth Century. — From a Copper-plate in the "Theatrum 
 Geographifum " of P. Bertius. The three largo stars represent, it is supposed, the Three 
 Persons of the Trinity, and the seven small ones the Electors of the Empire. 
 
 Owing to the most flagrant and most insolent abuses of power, the ancient 
 authority of the institution became gradually more and more shaken. On 
 one occasion, for instance, in answer to a summons issued by the Imperial 
 Tribunal ag-ainst some free iudjTes, the tribunal of the Terre-Ilouo:e had the 
 
398 
 
 SECRET TRIBUNALS. 
 
 
 Fig. 332.-German Knights (Fifteenth Century).-Froin a Plate in the "Life of the Emperor 
 Maximilian," engraved by Burgmayer, from Drawings by Albert Diirer. 
 
SECRET TRIBUNALS. 3qg 
 
 daring to summon the Emperor Frederick III. before it to answer for this 
 want of respect. On another occasion, a certain free count, jealous of one of 
 his associates, hung him with his own hands while out on a hunting excursion, 
 alleging that his rank of free judge authorised him to execute summarj' 
 justice. From that time there was a perpetual cry of horror and indignation 
 against a judicial institution which thus interpreted its duties, and before 
 long the State undertook the supjiression of these secret tribunals. The first 
 idea of this was formed by the electors of the empire at the diet of Treves in 
 1512. The Archbishop of Cologne succeeded, however, in parrying the 
 blow, by convoking the chapter-general of the order, on the plea of the 
 necessity of reform. But, besides being essentially corrupt, the IIol_v Vehme 
 had really run its course, and it gradually became effete as, 'by degrees, a 
 better organized and more defined social and political state succeeded to the 
 confused anarchy of the Middle Ages, and as the princes and free towns 
 adopted the custom of dispensing justice either in person or through regular 
 tribimals. Its proceedings, becoming more and more summary and rigorous, 
 daily gave rise to feelings of greater and greater abhorrence. The common 
 saying over all Germany was, " They first hang you, and afterwards inquire 
 into 3'our innocence." On all sides opposition arose against the jurisdiction 
 of the free judges. Princes, bishops, cities, and citizens, agreed instinctively 
 to counteract this worn-out and degenerate institution. The struggle was 
 long and tedious. During the last convulsions of the expiring Holy Vehme, 
 there was more than one sanguinary episode, both on the side of the free 
 judges themselves, as well as on that of their adversaries. Occasionally the 
 secret tribunal broke out into fresh signs of life, and proclaimed its existence 
 by some terrible execution ; and at times, also, its members paid dearly for 
 their acts. On one occasion, in 1570, fourteen free judges, whom Kaspar 
 Schwitz, Count of (Ettingen, caused to be seized, were already tied up in 
 bags, and about to be drowned, when the mob, pitj-ing their fate, asked 
 for and obtained their reprieve. 
 
 The death-blow to the Vehmic tribunal was struck by its own hand. It 
 condemned summarily, and executed without regular procedure, an iahabitant 
 of Munster, who used to scandalize the town by his profligacy. He was 
 iirrested at night, led to a small wood, where the free judges awaited him, 
 and condemned to death without being allowed an advocate ; and, after being 
 refused a respite even of a few hours, that he might make bis peace with 
 
400 
 
 SECRET TRIBUNALS. 
 
 heaven, he was confessed hy a mont, and his head was severed from his 
 body by the executioner on the spot. 
 
 Dating from this tragical event, which excited universal indignation, the 
 
 Fig. 333.— Interior Court oi the Palace of the Doges of Venice : Buildings La which are the Cells 
 and the Leads. — From Cesare Yecellio. 
 
 authority of the free judges graduallj' decKned, and, at last, the institution 
 became almost defunct, and merely confined itself to occasionally adjudicatmg 
 in simple civil matters. 
 
 TTe must not omit to mention the Council of Ten of Venice when speaking 
 
SECRET TRIBUNALS. ^oi 
 
 on the subject of arbitrary executions and of tyrannical and implacable 
 justice. In some resjjects it was more notorious than the Vohmic tribunal, 
 exercising as it did a no less mysterious power, and inspiring equal terror, 
 though in other countries. 
 
 This secret tribunal was created after a revolt which burst on the republic 
 of Venice on the 15th of June, 1310. At first it was only instituted for two 
 months, but, after various successive prorogations, it was confirmed for five 
 years, on the 31st of January, 1311. In 1316 it was again appointed for 
 five years ; on the 2nd of May, 1327, for ten years more ; and at last was 
 established permanently. In the fifteenth century the authority of the 
 Council of Ten was consolidated and rendered more energetic by the creation 
 of the Inquisitors of State. These were three in number, elected by the 
 Council of Ten ; and the citizens on whom the votes fell coidd not refuse the 
 functions which were thus spontaneously, and often unexpectedly, assigned 
 to them. The authority of Inquisitors of State was declared to be 
 "unlimited." 
 
 In order to show the power and mode of action of this terrible tribunal, 
 it is perhaps better to make a few extracts from the code of rules which it 
 established for itself in June, 1454. 
 
 This document — several manuscript copies of which are to be found in 
 the public libraries of Paris — says, " The in(iuisitors may proceed against 
 any person whomsoever, no rank giving the right of exemption from their 
 jurisdiction. They may pronounce any sentence, even that of death ; 
 only their final sentences must be passed unanimously. They shall 
 have complete charge of the prisons and ihe leads (Fig. 333). They 
 may draw at sight from the treasury of the Council of Ten, without 
 having to give any account of the use made of the funds placed in their 
 hands. 
 
 " The proceedings of the tribunal shall always be secret ; its members 
 shall wear no distinctive badge. No open arrests shall be made. The 
 chief of the bailiffs (sbirri) shall avoid making domiciliary arrests, but 
 he shall try to seize tlic culprit unawares, away from his home, and so 
 securely get him under t;,r lauh of the Palace of the Doges. When the 
 tribunal shall deem the death of any person necessary, the execution 
 shall never be public; tlie condemned shall be drowned at night in the 
 Orfano Canal. 
 
 3 1.' 
 
40 2 
 
 SECRET TRIBUNALS. 
 
 " The tribunal shall authorise the generals commanding in Cyprus or in 
 Canclia, in the event of its being for the welfare of the Republic, to cause 
 any patrician or other influential person in either of those Venetian provinces 
 to disappear, or to be assassinated secretly, if such a measure should con- 
 
 Fig. 334. — Member of the Brotherhood of Death, whose duty it was to aicompany ihuseoeineuced 
 to death. — From Cesare Vecellio. 
 
 scientiously appear to them indispensable ; but they shall be answerable 
 before God for it. 
 
 " If any workman shall practise in a foreign land any art or craft to the 
 detriment of the Eepublic, he shall be ordered to return to his country ; imd 
 should he not obey, all his nearest relatives shall be imprisoned, in order th;i1 
 
SECRET TRIBUNALS. 403 
 
 his affection for them may bring him to obedience. Should he still persist in 
 bis disobedience, secret measures shall be taken to put him to death, wherever 
 he may be. 
 
 " If a Venetian noble reveal to the tribunal propositions which have 
 been made to him by some foreign ambassador, the agent, excepting it 
 should be the ambassador himself, shall be immediately carried off and 
 drowned. 
 
 " If a patrician having committed any misdeed shall take refuge 
 under the protection of a foreign ambassador, he shall be put to death 
 forthwith. 
 
 " If any noble in full senate take upon himself to question the authority 
 of the Council of Ten, and persist in attacking it, he shall be allowed to 
 speak without interruption ; immediately afterwards he shall be arrested, 
 and instructions as to his trial shall be given, so that he may be judged by 
 the ordinary tribunals ; and, if this does not succeed in preventing his pro- 
 ceedings, he shall be put to death secretly. 
 
 " In case of a complaint against one of the heads of the Coimcil of Ten, 
 the instructions shall be made secretly, and, in case of sentence of death, 
 poison shall be the agent selected. 
 
 " Should any dissatisfied noble speak ill of the Government, he shall hrst 
 be forbidden to appear in the councils and public i^laces for two years. 
 Should he not obey, or should he repeat the offence after the two years, he 
 shall be drowned as incorrigible . . . ." &c. 
 
 One can easily understand that in order to carry out these laws the most 
 careful measures were taken to organize a system of espionage. The nobles 
 were subjected to a rigorous supervision ; the privacy of letters was not 
 respected ; an ambassador was never lost sight of, and his smallest acts were 
 narrowly watched. Any one who dared to throw obstacles in the way of the 
 spies employed by the Coimcil of Ten, was put on the rack, and " made 
 afterwards to receive the punishment^ which the State inquisitors might con- 
 sider befitting." Whole pages of the secret statutes bear witness that lying 
 and fraud formed the basis of all the diplomatic relations of the Venetian 
 Govei-nment. Nevertheless the Council of Ten, which was solely instituted 
 with the view of watching over the safety of the Republic, could not inter- 
 meddle in civil cases, and its members were forbidden to hold any sort of 
 coranuinlcafion with foreigners. 
 
40+ 
 
 SECRET TRIBUNALS. 
 
 The list of names of Venetian nobles and distinguislied persons who 
 became victims to the suspicious tyranny of the Council of Ten, and of the 
 State inquisitors, would be very long and of little interest. We may mention 
 a few, however. We find that in 1385, Peter Justiniani, and, in 1388, 
 
 Figs. 335 and 336. — Chiefs of Sbirri, in the Secret Service of the Council of Ten.- 
 From Cesare Vecellio. 
 
 Stephen Monalesco, were punished for holding secret transactions with the 
 Lord of Padua; in 1413, John Nogarola, for having tried to set fire to Yeroua; 
 in 1471, Borromeo Memo, for having uttered defematory speeches against the 
 Podestat of Padua. Not only was this Borromeo Memo punished, but 
 three witnesses of the crime which was imjjuted to him were condemned to a 
 
SECRET TRIBUNALS. 
 
 4'55 
 
 year's imprisonment and three years' banishment, for not having denouncecl the 
 deed " between evening and morning." In 1457 we find the Council of Ten 
 attacking the Doge himself, by requiring the abdication of Francis Foscari. 
 A century earlier it had caused the Doge, Marino Faliero, who was convicted 
 
 l"'ig. 'iZl. Doge of Venice. Costume btiuie tlie Fig. 33S.— Doge of Venice in Cercmoniiil Cos 
 Sixteenth Century. tume of the Sixteenth Century. 
 
 Fiom Ccsiirc Vrcellio. 
 
 of having taken part in a plot to dcstroj- the influence of the nobility, to be 
 executed on the very staircase of the ducal palace, where allegiance to the 
 Republic was usually sworn. 
 
 Like the IFolv Velnne, the Council of Ten compromised its authority by 
 
4o6 
 
 SECRET TRIBUXALS. 
 
 the abuse of power. In 1540, unknown to the Senate, and in spite of the 
 well-prescribed limit of its authority, it concluded a treaty with the Turkish 
 Sultan, Solinian II. The Senate at first concealed its indignation at this 
 abuse of power, but, in 1582, it took measures so as considerably to 
 restrain the powers of the Council of Ten, which, from that date, only existed 
 in name. 
 
 Fig. 339. — i^eal of the Free Count Heiniich Beckmann, 
 of Medebach (1520—1533). 
 
PUNISHMENTS. 
 
 Refinements of Peniil Cruelty. — Tortures for difl'erent Purposes. — Water, Screw-boards, nnd the 
 Raek. — The Executioner. — Female Executioners. — Tortures. — Amende Honorable. — Torture 
 of Fire. Real and Feigned. — Auto-da-fe. — Red-hot Brazier or Basin. — Beheading.— 
 Quartering-.— Wheel.— Garotte.— Hanging.— The Whip.— The Pillory.— The Arquebuse.— 
 Tickling. — Flaying. — Drowning. — Imprisonment. — Regulations of Prisons. — The Iron 
 Cage. — The Leads of Venice. 
 
 T is very sad," say.s the learned 
 M. de Villeg-ille, "to observe the 
 infinite variety of tortures which 
 "nave existed since the beginning of 
 the worhl. It is, in fact, diificult to 
 realise the amount of ingenuity exer- 
 cised by men in inventing new 
 tcjrtures, in order to give themselves 
 the satisfaction of seeing their fellow- 
 creatures agonizing in the most awful 
 suft'erings." 
 
 In entering upon the subject of ancient modes of punishment, we must first 
 speak of the torture, which, according to the received jDhrase, might be either 
 previous or proparatory: previous, v/hen it consisted of a torture which the con- 
 demned had to endure previous to capital piniishmont; and preparnfori/, when 
 it was applied in order to elicit from the culprit an avowal of his crime, or of 
 that of his accomplices. It was also called onliiianj, or crtnioydinarij, according 
 to the duration or violence with which it was inflicted. In .some cases the 
 torture lasted five or six consecutive hours ; in othci-s, it rarely exceeded an 
 hour. IIippol3'te de Marsillis, the learned and venerable jurisconsult of 
 Bologna, who lived at the beginning of the fifteenth century, mentions 
 fourteen ways of inflicting torture. The compression of the limbs by special 
 inslruments, or by ropes only ; iiijrcHon of waler, vinegar, or oil, into the 
 
4o8 PUNISHMENTS. 
 
 body of tlie accused ; application of liot pitch, and starvation, were the pro- 
 cesses most in use. Other means, which were more or less applied according to 
 the fancy of the magistrate and the tormentor or executioner, were remark- 
 able for their singular atrocities. For instance, placing hot eggs under the 
 arm-pits ; introducing dice between the skin and flesh ; tying lighted 
 candles to the fingers, so that they might be consumed simultaneously with 
 the wax ; letting water trickle drop by drop from a great height on the 
 stomach ; and also the custom, which was, according to writers on criminal 
 matters, an indescribable torture, of watering the feet with salt water and 
 allowing goats to lick thein. However, every country had special customs 
 as to the manner of applying torture. 
 
 In France, too, the torture varied according to the provinces, or rather 
 according to the parliaments. For instance, in Brittany the culprit, tied in 
 an iron chair, was gradually brought near a blazing furnace. In Normandy, 
 one thumb was squeezed in a screw in the ordinary, and both thumbs in the 
 extraordinary torture. At Autun, after high boots made of spongy leather had 
 been placed on the culprit's feet, he was tied on to a table near a large fire, 
 and a quantity of boiling water was poured on the boots, which penetrated 
 the leather, ate away the flesh, and even dissolved the bones of the victim. 
 
 At Orleans, for the ordinary torture the accused was stripped half naked, 
 and his hands were tightly tied behind his back, with a ring fixed between 
 them. Then, by means of a rope fastened to this ring, they raised the poor 
 man, who had a weight of one hundred and eighty pounds attached to his 
 feet, a certain height from the ground. For the extraordinary torture, which 
 then took the name of efstrapade, they raised the victim, with two hundred 
 and fifty pounds attached to his feet, to the ceiling by means of a capstan ; 
 he was then allowed to fall several times successively by jerks to the level of 
 the ground, by which means his arras and legs were completely dislocated 
 (Fig. 340). 
 
 At Avignon, the ordinary torture consisted in hanging the accused by the 
 wrists, with a heavy iron ball at each foot ; for the extraordinary torture, 
 which was then much in use in Italy under the name of vcglia, the body 
 was stretched horizontally by means of ropes passing through rings riveted 
 into the wall, and attached to the four limbs, the only support given 
 to the culprit being the point of a stake cut in a diamond shape, which 
 just touched the end of the back-bone. A doctor and a surgeon were 
 
310.— The Estrapade, or Question Extraordinary.— Fac-simile of > Woodcut in the Work of J. MilLinis, " Traxis 
 Criminia Persequendi :" folio, Paris, 1541. 
 
PUNISHiMENTS. 
 
 400 
 
 always present, feeling the pulse at the temples of the patient, so as to be 
 able to judge of the moment when he could not any longer bear the pain. 
 
 Fig. 341.— The Water Torture.— Fac-similc of a Wnodcnt in P. Damhoudfere's " Praxis Eerum 
 Criminalium :" in 4to, Antwei-p, 1550. 
 
 At that moment he was untied, hot fomentations were used to revive him, 
 restoratives wore administered, and, as soon as he had recovered a little 
 
4 1 o PUNISHMENTS. 
 
 strength, he was again put to the torture, which went on thus for six 
 consecutive hours. 
 
 In Paris, for a long time, the u'(dc)- torture was in use ; this was the most 
 easily borne, and the least dangerous. A person undergoing it was tied to 
 a board which was supported horizontallj'- on two trestles. By means of 
 a horn, acting as a funnel, and whilst his nose was being pinched, so as 
 to force him to swallow, they slowly poured four coquemars (about nine 
 pints) of water into his mouth ; this was for the ordinary torture. For 
 the extraordinary, double that quantity was poured in (Fig. 341). When 
 the torture was ended, the victim was untied, " and taken to be warmed in 
 the kitchen," says the old text. 
 
 At a later period, the hrodeqnins were preferred. For this torture, the 
 victim was placed in a sitting posture on a massive bench, with strong 
 narrow boards fixed inside and outside of each leg, which were tightly bound 
 together with strong rope ; wedges were then driven in between the centre 
 boards with a mallet ; four wedges in the ordinary and eight in the extra- 
 ordinary torture. Not unfrequently during the latter operation the bones of 
 the legs were literally burst. 
 
 The brodequins which were often used for ordinary torture were stock- 
 ings of parchment, into which it was easy enough to get the feet when it 
 was wet, but which, on being held near the fire, shrunk so considerably 
 that it caused insufferable agony to the wearer. 
 
 Whatever manner of torture was applied, the accused, before undergoing 
 it, was forced to remain eight or ten hours without eating. Damhoudere, in 
 his famous technical work, called "Practique et Enchiridion des Causes I 
 Criminelles " (1544), also recommends that the hair should be carefully 
 shaved from the bodies of persons about to undergo examination by torture, 
 for fear of their concealing some countercharm which would render them 
 insensible to bodily pain. The same author also recommends, as a rule, 
 when there are several persons " to be placed on the rack" for the same 
 deed, to begin with those from whom it would be most probable that con- 
 fession would be first extorted. Thus, for instance, when a man and a 
 woman Avere to suffer one after the other, he recommended that the woman 
 be first tortured, as being the weaker of the two ; when a father and sou 
 were concerned, the son should be tortured in presence of the father, " who 
 naturally fears more for his son than for himself." We thereby see that 
 
PUNISHMENTS. 
 
 411 
 
 the judges were adepts iu the art of adding moral to physical tortures. 
 The barbarous custom of punishment bj- torture was on several occasions 
 condemned b}' the Church. As earlj' as 866, we find, from Pope Nicholas Y.'s 
 letter to the Bulgarians, that their custom of torturing the accused was 
 considered contrary to divine as well as to human law : " For," says he, " a 
 
 ^^B^^s^m 
 
 Fig. 342. — Type of Executioner in the Decapitation of John the Baptist (Thirteenth Century). — 
 Fac-simile of a Miniature in the Psalm-book of St. Louis. Manuscript preserved in the Musee 
 des Souverains. 
 
 confession should bo voluntary, and not forced. By means of the torture, an 
 innocent man may suffer to the utmost without making any avowal ; and, in 
 such a case, what a crime for the judge ! Or the person may be subdued by 
 pain, and may acknowledge lilmself guilty, although he be not so, which 
 throws an equally great sin upon the judge." 
 
 After baying endured the prrrioiis toi-ture, the different phases of which 
 
PUNISHMENTS, 
 
 were carried out by special tormentors or executioners, the condemned was 
 at last handed over to the niaistre des hauUes ceuvrcs — that is to say, the 
 executioner — whose special mission was that of sending culprits to another 
 world (Fig. 342). 
 
 The executioner did not hokl the same position in all countries. For, 
 
 Pig. 343.— Swiss Grand Provost (Fifteenth Ceutury).— From a Painting in the " Danse des Morts ' 
 of Basle, engraved \>j Merian. 
 
 whereas in France, Italy, and Spain, a certain amount of odium was attached 
 to this terrible craft, in Germany, on the contrary, successfully carrying out 
 a certain number of capital sentences was rewarded by titles and the 
 privileges of nobility (Fig. 343). At Reutlingen, in Suabia, the last of the 
 councillors admitted into the tribunal had to carry out the sentence with his 
 
PUNISHMENTS. 4,5 
 
 OWE hand. In Franconia, this painful duty fell upon the coumilhjr wlio had 
 last taken a ■wife. 
 
 In France, the executioner, otherwise called the Kiiirfs Sironi Tunuoitur, 
 was the lowest of the officers of justice. His lettei-s of appointment, which 
 he received from the King, had, nevertheless, to be registered in Parliament ; 
 but, after having put the seal on them, it is said that the chancellor threw 
 them under the table, in token of contempt. The executioner was generally 
 forbidden to live within the precincts of the cit}% unless it was on the 
 grounds where the pillory was sitmitod ; and, in some cases, so that he 
 might not be mistaken amongst the people, he was forced to wear a particular 
 coat, either of red or yeUow. On the other hand, his duties ensured him 
 certain privileges. In Paris, he possessed the right of Iiavage, which con- 
 sisted in taking ;dl that he could hold in his hand from every load of grain 
 which was brought into market ; however, in order that the grain might 
 be preserved from ignominious contact, he levied his tax with a wooden 
 spoon. He enjoyed many similar rights over most articles of consumption, 
 independently of benefiting by several taxes or fines, such as the toll 
 on the Petit-Pont, the t.ix on foreign traders, on boats arriving with fish, 
 on dealers in herrings, watercress, &c. ; and the fine of five sous which 
 was levied on stray pigs (see previous chapter), &c. And, lastly, besides the 
 personal property of the condemned, he received the rents from the shops 
 and stalls surrounding the pillory, in which the retail fish trade was 
 carried on. 
 
 It appears that, in consequence of the receipts from these various duties 
 forming a considerable source of revenue, the prestige of wealth by degrees 
 dissipated the unfavourable impressions traditionally attached to the duties 
 of executioner. At least, we have authority for supposing this, when, for 
 instance, in 1418, wc see the Paris executioner, who was then captain of tlie 
 bourgeois militia, coming in that capacity to touch the hand of the Duke 
 of Burgundy, on the occasion of his solemn entry into Paris with Queen 
 Isabel of Bavaria. We may add that popular belief generally ascribed to 
 the executioner a certain practical knowledge of medicine, which was sup- 
 posed inherent in the profession itself; and the acquaintance with cei'tain 
 methods of cure unknown to doctors, was attributed to him ; people went to 
 buy from him the fat of culprits who had been liung, which was supposed to 
 be a marvelhjus pniacea. We may also remark that, in our day, the 
 
4'4- 
 
 PUNISHMENTS. 
 
 proficiency of the executioner in setting dislocated limbs is still proverbial 
 in many countries. 
 
 More than once during the thirteenth century the duties of the executioner 
 were performed by women, but only in those cases in which their own sex 
 was concerned ; for it is expressly stated in an order of St. Louis, that persons 
 
 Fig. 344. — Amende Honorable before the Tribunal. — Fac-simile of a Woodcut in J. Damhcudere's 
 " Praxis Rerum Criminalium :" in 4to, Antwerp, 1556. 
 
 convicted of blasphemy shall be beaten with birch rods, "the men hymen, 
 and the women by women only, without the presence of men." This, how- 
 ever, was not long tolerated, for we know that a period soon arrived when 
 women were exempted from a duty so little adapted to their phj'sical 
 weakness and moral sensitiveness. 
 
PUNISHMENTS. 
 
 4'S 
 
 The learned writer on criminal cases, Josse Damhoudere, whom wo have 
 already mentioned, and whom we shall take as our special guide in the 
 enumeration of the various tortures, spocifies thirteen ways in which the 
 executioner " carries out his executions," and places them in the following 
 
 order : — " Fire " — " the sword" — " mechanical force" — " quartering " 
 
 "the wheel"— "the fork "—" the gibbet" — "drawing" "spikino-"— 
 
 "cutting oiF the ears" — "dismembering" — "flogging or beatino-" and 
 
 the " piUory." 
 
 But before entering upon the details of this revolting subject, we must 
 state that, whatever punishment was inflicted upon a cidprit, it was very rare 
 
 Fig. 345.— The Punishment by Fire.— Fac-siniile of a Woodcut ot the " Cosmographie Universelle " 
 of Munster : in folio, Basle, 1.5.52. 
 
 ' that its execution had not been preceded by tlie (niitndp honorable, which, in 
 certain cases, constituted a distinct punishment, but which generally was but 
 the prelude to the torture itself Tlie aiiirii(Ir honoyaUv which was called 
 «imple or short, took place without the assistance of the executioner in the 
 council chamber, where the condemned, bareheaded and kneeling, had to 
 state that "he had falsely said or done something against the authority of 
 the King or the honour of some person (Fig. 34^). For the amende honor- 
 able in fi(jurk — that is to say, in public — the condemned, in his shirt, bare- 
 footed, the rope round his neck, followed bj' the executioner, and holding in 
 his hand a wax taper, with a weight, which was definitely specified in the 
 sentence which had been passed upon liim, but which was generally of 
 
4i6 PUNISHMENTS. 
 
 two or four pounds, prostrated himself at the door of a church, where in a 
 loud voice he had to confess his sin, and to heg the pardon of God and 
 man. 
 
 When a criminal had been condemned to be burnt, a stake was erected 
 on the spot specially designed for the execution, and round it a pile was 
 prepared, composed of alternate layers of straw and wood, and rising to 
 about the height of a man. Care was taken to leave a free space roimd 
 the stake for the victim, and also a passage by which to lead him to 
 it. Having been stripped of his clothes, and dressed in a shirt smeared 
 with sulphur, he had to walk to the centre of the pile through a narrow 
 opening, and was then tightly bovmd to the stake with ropes and chains. 
 After this, faggots and straw were thrown into the empty space through 
 which he had passed to the stake, until he was entirely covered by them ; 
 the pile was then fired on all sides at once (Fig. 345). 
 
 Sometimes, the sentence was that the culprit should only be delivered to 
 the flames after having been previously strangled. In this case, the dead 
 corpse was then immediately placed where the victim would otherwise have 
 been placed alive, and the punishment lost much of its horror. It often 
 happened that the executioner, in order to shorten the sufferings of the con- 
 demned, whilst he prepared the pile, placed a large and pointed iron bar 
 amongst the faggots and opposite the stake breast high, so that, directly the 
 fire was lighted, the bar was quickly pushed against the victim, giving a 
 mortal blow to the unfortunate wretch, who would otherwise have been 
 slowly devoured by the flames. If, according to the wording of the sentence, 
 the ashes of the criminal were to be scattered to the winds, as soon as it was 
 possible to approach the centre of the burning pile, a few ashes were taken • 
 in a shovel and sprinkled in the air. 
 
 They were not satisfled with burning the living, they also delivered to 
 the flames the bodies of those who had died a natural death before their 
 execution could be carried out, as if an anticipated death should not be 
 allowed to save them from the punishment which they had deserved. It also 
 happened in certain cases, where a person's guilt was only proved after his 
 decease, that his body -was disinterred, and carried to the stake to be 
 burnt. 
 
 The punishment bj' fire was alwaj^s inflicted in cases of heresy or 
 blasphemy. The Spanish Inquisition made such a constant and cruel use of 
 
PUmSHMEXTS. 4 , 1 
 
 it, that the expression auto-da-fe (act of faith), strangely perverted from 
 its original meaning, was the only one employed to denote the punishment 
 itself. In France, in the beginning of the fourteenth century, fifty-nine 
 Templars -were burned at the same time for the crimes of heresy and witch- 
 craft. And three years later, on the ISth March, 1314, Jacques Molay, and 
 a few other dignitaries of the Order of the Templars, also perished in the 
 flames at the extremity of the island of Notre Dame, on the very spot where 
 the equestrian statue of Henry lY. now stands. 
 
 Every one is acquainted with the fact that judges were found iniquitous 
 enough to condemn Joan of Arc to death bj' fire as a witch and a heretic. 
 Her execution, which took place in the market-place of Eouen, is remark- 
 able from a circumstance which is little known, and which had never taken 
 place on any other occasion. ^Vhen it was supposed that the fire which 
 surrounded the young heroine on all sides had reached her and no doubt 
 suflfocated her, although sufiicient time had not elapsed for it to consume her 
 body, a part of the blazing wood was withdrawn, " in order to remove any 
 doubts from the people," and when the crowd had satisfied themselves by 
 seeing her in the middle of the pile, " chained to the post and quite dead, 
 the executioner replaced the fire . . . ." It should be stated in reference to 
 this point, that Joan having been accused of witchcraft, there was a general 
 belief among the people that the flames would be harmless to her, and that 
 she would be seen emerging from her pile imscathed. 
 
 The sentence of punishment by fire did not absolutely imply death at the 
 stake, for there was a punishment of this description which was specially 
 resen-ed for base coiners, and which consisted in hurling the criminals into 
 a cauldron of scalding water or oil. 
 
 We must include in the category of punishment by fire certain penalties, 
 which were, so to speak, but the preliminaries of a more severe punishment, 
 such as the sulphur-fire, in which the hands of parricides, or of criminals 
 accused of high treason, were burned. "We must also add various punish- 
 ments which, if they did not involve death, were none the less cruel, such as 
 the red-hot brazier, bamn ardent, which was passed backwards and forwards 
 before the eyes of the culprit, until they were destroyed by the scorching 
 heat ; and the process of branding various marks on the flesh, as an inefi'ace- 
 able stigma, the use of which has been continued to the present day. 
 
 In certain countries decapitation was performed with an axe; but m 
 
 o II 
 
4i8 
 
 PUNISHMENTS. 
 
 France, it was carried oat usually by means of a two-liandecl sword or 
 glave of justice, which was furnished to the executioner for that purpose 
 (Fig. 346). We find it recorded that in 1476, sixty sous parisis were paid to 
 the executioner of Paris " for having bought a large ft<pee a feuille," used for 
 beheading the condemued, and " for having the old sword done up, which 
 was damaged, and had become notched whilst carrying out the sentence of 
 justice upon Messire Louis de Luxembourg." 
 
 Originallj', decapitation was indiscriminately inflicted on all criminals 
 condemned to death ; at a later psriod, however, it became the particular 
 
 Fig. 346. — Eehtadinj-. — I'ac-simile of a liliniature on Wood in the " Cosmographie Universelle " 
 of Munster: in folio, Basle, 15-52. 
 
 privilege of the nobilitj"-, who submitted to it without any feeling of degrada- 
 tion. The victim — unless the sentence prescribed that he should be blind- 
 folded as an ignominious aggravation of the penalty — was allowed to choose 
 whether he would have his eyes covered or not. He knelt down on the 
 scaffold, placed his head on the block, and gave himself up to the executioner 
 (Fig. 347). The skill of the executioner was generallj' such that the head 
 was almost invariably severed from the body at the first blow. Nevertheless, 
 skill and practice at times failed, for cases are on record where as many as 
 eleven blows were dealt, and at times it happened that the sword broke. It 
 was no doubt the desire to avoid this mischance that led to the invention 
 
ft 
 
 * 
 
 I 
 
DECAPITATION OK GUILLALMK DE POMMIEUS 
 
 And his Confessor, at liorclfaiix in i:i77, liy order of the King of England's Lieutenant. 
 Froissart's (hrunicks. N" 2044, Bihl. imp. de Paris. 
 
PrXISHMl'A'JS. 
 
 419 
 
 kr 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ", 
 
 ii2i'i\\^C\ ' 
 
 
 lig. 317. — Public Extuulious. — Fac- simile of ;i Woodcut in the Latin AVork of J. Jlillseus, 
 " Praxis Criiiiinie Ptisequmdi :" briiall folio, Paiisiis, Simon de Colines, 1341. 
 
 ot tho iJieoliiaiical iiisliiniiciil, ijo^ kiioAMi iiiicU'i- the uaiue of tLe tjtdllotine, 
 which is merely aii iiupiovcmeiit on a LOinijlicutod luachiue which was much 
 more ancient than is generally suiiposccl. As early as the sixteenth century 
 
420 PUNISHMENTS. 
 
 the modern g-uillotine already existed in. Scotland under the name of the 
 Maiden, and English historians relate that Lord Morton, regent of Scotland 
 during the minority of James VI., had it constructed after a model of a 
 similar machine, which had long been in use at Halifax, in Yorkshire. They 
 add, and popular tradition also has invented an analogous tale in France, that 
 this Lord Morton, who was the inventor or the first to introduce this kind of 
 punishment, was himself the first to experience it. The guillotine is, besides, 
 very accurately described in the " Chronicles of Jean d' Anton," in an 
 account of an execution which took place at Genoa at the beginning of the 
 sixteenth century. Two German engravings, executed about 1550 by Pencz 
 and Aldegrever, also represent an instrument of death almost identical with 
 the guillotine ; and the same instrument is to be found on a bas-relief of that 
 period, which is still existing in one of the halls of the Tribunal of 
 Luneburg, in Hanover. 
 
 Possibty the invention of such a machine was prompted by the desire to 
 curtail the physical sufferings of the victim, instead of prolonging them, as 
 under the ancient system. It is, however, difficult to believe that the 
 mediaeval judges were actuated by any humane feelings, when we find that, 
 in order to reconcile a respect for propriety with a due compliance with 
 the ends of justice, the punishment of burying alive was resorted to for 
 women, who could not with decency be hung up to the gibbets. In 1460, a 
 woman named Perette, accused of theft and of receiving stolen goods, was 
 condemned by the Provost of Paris to be " buried alive before the gallows," 
 and the sentence was literally carried out. 
 
 Quartering may in truth be considered the most horrible penalty invented 
 by judicial cruelty. This punishment really dates from the remotest ages, 
 but it was scarcely ever inflicted in more modern times, except on regicides, 
 who were looked upon as having committed the worst of crimes. In almost 
 all cases, the victim had previously to undergo various accessory tortures : 
 sometimes his right hand was cut ofi", and the mutilated stump was burnt in 
 a cauldron of sulphur ; sometimes his arms, thighs, or breasts were lacerated 
 with redhot pincers, and hot oil, pitch, or molten lead was poured into the 
 wounds. 
 
 After these horrible preliminaries, a rope was attached to each of the 
 limbs of the criminal, one being bound round each leg from the foot to the 
 knee, and round each arm from the wrist to the elbow. These ropes were then 
 
rrXlSHMEXTS. 
 
 4Zt 
 
 fastened to four bars, to each of whicli a strong horse was harnessed, as if for 
 towing a barge. These horses were first made to give short jerks ; and when 
 the agony had elicited heartrending cries from the unfortunate man, who 
 felt his limbs being dislocated without being broken, the four horses were 
 all suddenly urged on with the whip in different directions, and thus all the 
 limbs were strained at one moment. If the tendons and ligaments still 
 resisted the combined eff jrts of the four horses, the executioner assisted, and 
 
 Fig. 348.— Demons applying thn Torture of the Wheel.— Fac-siraile of a Woodcut in the " Grand 
 Kalendrier ou Compost des Bergera :" small folio, Troyes, Nicholas le Kouge, 1529. 
 
 made several cuts with a hatchet on each joint. When at last — for this 
 horrible torture often lasted several hours— each horse had drawn out a 
 limb, they were collected and placed near the hideous trunk, which often 
 still showed signs of life, and the whole were burned together. Sometimes 
 the sentence was, that the body should be hung to the gibbet, and that the 
 limbs should be displayed on the gates of the town, or sent to four prin- 
 cipal towns in the extremities of the kingdom. "When this was done, "an 
 
PUNISHMENTS. 
 
 inscription was placed on each of the limbs, which stated the reason of its 
 being thus exposed." 
 
 The wheel is the name appKed to a torture of very ancient origin, but 
 which was applied during the Middle Ages to quite a different torture from 
 that used in olden times. The modern instrument might indeed have been 
 called the cross, for it only served for the public exhibition of the body of 
 the criminal whose limbs had been previously broken alive. This torture, 
 which does not date earlier than the days of Francis I., is thus described : — 
 The victim was first tied on his back to two joists forming a St. Andrew's cross, 
 each of his limbs being stretched oat on its arms. Two places were hollowed 
 out under each limb, about a foot apart, in order that the joints alone might 
 touch the wood. The executioner then dealt a heavy blow over each hollow 
 with a square iron bar, about two inches broad and roiinded at the handle, 
 thus breaking each limb in two places. To the eight blows required for this, 
 the executioner generally added two or three on the chest, which were called 
 coupH de grace, and which ended this horrible execution. It was only after 
 death that the broken body was placed on a Avheel, which was turned round 
 on a pivot. Sometimes, however, the sentence ordered that the condemned 
 should be strangled before being broken, which was done in such cases by 
 the instantaneous twist of a rope round the neck. 
 
 Strangling, thus carried out, was called garoitiiig. This method is still 
 in use in Spain, and is specially reserved for the nobility. The victim is 
 seated on a scaffold, his head leaning against a beam and his neck grasped 
 by an iron collar, which the executioner suddenly tightens from behind by 
 means of a screw. 
 
 Por several centuries, and down to the Revolution, hanging was the most 
 common mode of execution in France ; cousequentlj^, in every town, and 
 almost in every village, there was a permanent gibbet, which, owing to the 
 custom of leaving the bodies to hang till they crumbled into dust, was 
 very rarely without having some corpses or skeletons attached to it. These 
 gibbets, which were called fourches patibulaires, or Justices, because they 
 represented the authority of the law, were generally composed of pillars of 
 stone, joined at their summit by wooden traverses, to which the bodies of 
 criminals were tied by ropes or chains. 'She gallows, the pillars of which 
 varied in number according to the will of the authorities, were alwaj's placed 
 by the side of frequented roads, and on an eminence. 
 
PCWJSHMKXTS. 
 
 4^3 
 
 According to prescribed rule, the gallows of Paris, which played such an 
 important part in the political as well as the criminal history of that city, 
 were erected on a heiglit north of the town, near the high road leading into 
 Germany. Montfaucon, originally the name of the hill, soon became that 
 of the gallows itself. This celebrated place of execution consisted of a heavy 
 mass of masonry, composed of ten or twelve layers of rough stones, and 
 
 l.li. I (,1 -M..iitiaijf(in.— Fii.m ;ni l''.iigra\iiig' (.1 the Topogriiphy of Paris, in tin 
 Collection of Engravings of the National Library. 
 
 formed an enclosure of forty feet by twenty- five or thirty. At the upper part 
 there was n platform, which was reached by a stone staircase, the entrance 
 to which was closed by a massive door (Fig. 349). Un three sides of this 
 platform rested sixteen square pillars, about thirty feet high, made of blocks 
 of stone a fcjot thick. Thcsr pilhirs were Joined to one another ly double 
 bars of wood, which were fastened into them, and bore iron chains three feet 
 
42+ PUNISHiVENTS. 
 
 •and a half long, to which the criminals were suspended. Underneath, half- 
 way between these and the platform, other bars were placed for the same 
 purpose. Long and solid ladders riveted to the pillars enabled the execu- 
 tioner and his assistants to lead ujj criminals, or to carry up corpses destiaed 
 to be hung there. Lastly, the centre of the structure was occupied by a deep 
 pit, the hideous receptacle of the decaying remains of the criminals. 
 
 One can easily imagine the strange and melancholy aspect of this monu- 
 mental gibbet if one thinks of the number of corpses continually attached to 
 it, and which were feasted upon by thousands of crows. On one occasion 
 only it was necessary to rejAace fi/ti/-tivo chains, which were useless; and the 
 accounts of the city of Paris prove that the expense of executions was more 
 heavy than that of the maintenance of the gibbet, a fact easy to be understood 
 if one recalls to mind the frequency of capital sentences during the Middle 
 Ages. Montfaucon was used not only for executions, but also for exposing 
 corpises which were brought there from various places of execution in every 
 part of the country. The mutilated remains of criminals who had been 
 boiled, quartered, or beheaded, were also himg there, enclosed in sacks of 
 leather or wicker-work. They often remained hanging for a considerable 
 time, as in the case of Pierre des Essarts, who had been beheaded in 1413, 
 and whose remains were handed over to his family for Christian burial after 
 having hung on Montfaucon for three years. 
 
 The criminal condemned to be hanged was generally taken to the place of 
 execution sitting or standing in a waggon, with his back to the horses, his 
 confessor by his side, and the executioner behind him. He bore three ropes 
 round his neck : two the size of the little finger, and called torfdiises, each of 
 which had a slip-knot ; the third, called the Jet, was only used to pull the 
 victim off the ladder, and so to launch him into eternity (Fig. 350). When 
 the cart arrived at the foot of the gallows, the executioner first ascended the 
 ladder backwards, drawing the culprit after him by means of the ropes, and 
 forcing him to keep pace with him ; on arriving at the top, he quickly 
 fastened the two tortouaes to the arm of the gibbet, and by a jerk of his knee 
 he turned the culprit off the ladder, stiU holding the jet in his own hand. 
 He then placed his feet on the tied hands of the condemned, and suspending 
 himself by his hands to the gibbet, he finished off his victim by repeated 
 jerks, thus ensuring complete strangulation. 
 
 When the words " shall be hung until death doth ensue " are to be found 
 
PUNISHMENTS. 
 
 42 s 
 
 in a sentence, it must not be supposed that tliey \yere used merely as a form, 
 for in certain cases the judge ordered that the sentence shouhl be only carried 
 out as far as would prove to the culprit the awful sensation of hanging. In 
 such cases, the victim was simply suspended by ropes passing under the arm- 
 pits, a kind of exhibition which was not free from danger when it was too 
 prolonged, for the weight of the body so tightened the rope round the chest 
 that the circulation might be stopped. Many culjjrits, after hanging thus 
 an hour, when brought down, were dead, or only survived this painful 
 process a short time. 
 
 Fig. 3.50. — Hanging to Music. (A Jlinstrel condemned to the (liiUows obtained permission that 
 one of his companions should accompany him to his execution, and jday his favourite instru- 
 ment on the ladder of the Gallows.) — Fac-simile of a Woodcut in Jlichault's "Doctrinal du 
 Temps Present :" small folio, goth., Bruges, about 1490. 
 
 We have seen elsewhere (chapter on rridkrjes and RifjMs, Feudal and 
 Municipal) that, when the criminal passed before the convent of the Filkfi- 
 Dieu, the nuns of that establishment were bound to bring him out a glass of 
 wine and throe pieces of broad, and this was called Ic dernier morceaii den 
 patien/x. It was hardly ever refused, and an immense crowd assisted at this 
 sad meal. After this the procession went forward, and on arriving near the 
 gallows, another halt was made at the foot of a stone cross, in order that the 
 culprit might receive the religious exhortations of his confessor. The moment 
 
 ■6 1 
 
4-26 
 
 PUNISHMENTS. 
 
 the execution was over, tlie confessor and the officers of justice returned to the 
 Chatelet, where a repast provided by the town awaited them. 
 
 Sometimes the criminals, in consequence of a peculiar wording of the 
 
 Fig. 351. —View of the Pillory in the Market-place of Paris in the Sixteenth Century, after a 
 Drawing by an imlino'wii Artist of 1670. 
 
 sentence, were taken to Montfaucon, whether dead or alive, on a ladder 
 fastened behind a cart. This was an aggravation of the penalty, which was 
 called {vainer siir la claic. 
 
PLW/.SHMEA'JS. 
 
 The penalty of the lash was inflicted in two ways : first, under 
 the cmiode, that is to say within the prison, and by the hand of the 
 gaoler himself, in which case it was simply a correction; and secondly, 
 in public, when its administration became ignominious as well as pain- 
 ful. In the latter case the criminal was paraded about the town, stripped 
 to the waist, and at each crossway he received a certain number of blows 
 on the shoulders, given by the public executioner with a cane or a knotted 
 rope. 
 
 When it was only required to stamp a culprit with infamy he was put 
 into the piUonj, which was generally a kind of scaffold furnished with chains 
 and iron collars, and bearing on its front the arms of the feudal lord. In 
 Paris, this name was given to a round isolated tower built in the centre of 
 the market. The tower was sixty feet high, and had large openings in its 
 thick walls, and a horizontal wheel was provided, which was cnpable of 
 turning on a pivot. This wheel was pierced with several holes, made so as 
 to hold the hands and head of the culprit, who, on passing and repassing 
 before the eyes of the crowd, came in full view, and was subjected to their 
 hootings (Fig. 351). The pillories were always situated in the most 
 frequented places, such as markets, crossways, &c. 
 
 K^otwithstanding the long and dreadful enumeration we have just made of 
 medifeval punishments, we are far from having exhausted the subject ; for we 
 have not spoken of several more or less atrocious punishments, which were 
 in use at various times and in various countries ; such as the Pdin of th;i 
 Crons, specially employed against the Jews ; the Arqiichiixnclc, which was well 
 adapted for carrying out prompt justice on soldiers ; the ChatoiiiJkmeiit, which 
 resulted in death after the most intense tortures ; the Pal (Fig. 'ib'2), flayiiuj 
 (ilive, and, lastly, dvoiouiuj, a kind of death frequently employed in France. 
 Hence the common expression, (jeuH de sac et dc cordr, which was derived 
 from the sack into which persons were tied who were condemned to die 
 
 by immersion 15 ut wo will now turn away from these horrible 
 
 scenes, and consider the several methods of penal sequestration and prison 
 arrangements. 
 
 It is unnecessary to state that in barbarous times the cruel and pitiless 
 feeling whicli induced legislators to increase the horrors of tortures, also 
 contributed to the aggravation of the fate of prisoners. Each adminis- 
 trator of the law had liis private gaol, which was entirely under his will and 
 
4-2 8 
 
 PUNISHMENTS. 
 
 control (Fig. 353). Law or custom did not prescribe any fixed rules for the 
 internal government of prisons. There can be little doubt, however, that 
 these prisons were as small as they were unhealthy, if we may judge from 
 that in the Rue de la Tannerie, which was the property of the provost, the 
 merchants, and the aldermen of Paris in 1383. Although this dungeon was 
 
 Fig. 352. — Empalement. — Fac-simile of a Woodcut in the " Cosmographie CTniverseDe ' 
 of Munster : in folio, Basle, 1552. 
 
 only eleven feet long by seven feet wide, from ten to twenty prisoners were 
 often immured in it at the same time. 
 
 Paris alone contained twenty-five or thirtj' special prisons, without 
 counting the vade in pace of the various religious communities. The most 
 important were the Grand Chatelet, the Petit Chatelet, the Bastille, the 
 Conciergerie, and the For-1'Eveque, the ancient seat of the ecclesiastical 
 jurisdiction of the Bishop of Paris. Nearly all these places of confinement 
 
PUNISHMENTS. 
 
 429 
 
 Fig. 353.— The Provost's Prisuu.— Fac-similu of a Woodcut in J. Damhoudere"s "Praxis 
 Rerum Civilium." 
 
 contained subterranean cells, Avhich were almost entirely deprived of air and 
 light. As examples of these may be mentioned the chartres basses of the 
 Petit Chatelet, where, under the reign of Charles VI., it was proved that no 
 
430 PUNISHMENTS. 
 
 man could pass an entire day without being suiFocated ; and the fearful cells 
 excavated thirty feet below the surface of the earth, in the gaol of the 
 Abbey of Saint Germain des Pres, the roof of which was so low that a man 
 of middle height could not stand up in them, and where the straw of the 
 prisoners' beds floated upon the stagnant water which had oozed through 
 the walls. 
 
 The Grand Chatelet was one of the most ancient prisons of Paris, and 
 probablj' the one which held the greatest number of prisoners. By a curious 
 and arbitrary custom, prisoners were compelled to pay a gaol fee on entering 
 and going out of this prison, which varied according to their rank, and which 
 was established by a law of the year 1425. We learn from this enactment 
 the names by which the various places of confinement composing this 
 spacious municipal prison were known. A prisoner who was confined in the 
 Beauvoir, La Mate or La Salle, had the right of "having a bed brought 
 from his own house," and only had to pay the droit de place to the gaoler; 
 any one who was placed in the Boucherie, in the Beaumont, or in the Griesche, 
 "which are closed prisons," had to pay four deniers " jMur place;" any 
 one who was confined in the Beauvais, "lies on mats or on layers of rushes 
 or straw" (gist sur nates ou sur couche de feurre ou de ^xdlle) ; if he preferred, 
 he might be placed an Puis, in the Oonrdaine, in the Bercueil, or in the 
 Oubliette, where he did not pay more than in the Fosse. For this, no doubt, 
 the smallest charge was made. Sometimes, however, the prisoner was left 
 between two doors (" entre deux huis"), and he then paid much less than he 
 would in the Barbaric or in the Gloriette. The exact meaning of these curious 
 names is no longer intelligible to us, notwithstanding the terror v/hich they 
 formerljr created, but their verj^ strangeness gives us reason to suppose that 
 the prison system was at that time subjected to the most odious refinement of 
 the basest crueltj''. 
 
 , From various reliable sources we learn that there was a place in the 
 Grand Chatelet, called the Clucusse d'Hypocras, in which the prisoners 
 had their feet continually in water, and where they could neither stand 
 up nor lie down ; and a cell, called Fin d'aise, which was a horrible 
 receptacle of filth, vermin, and reptiles ; as to the Fosse, no staircase 
 being attached to it, the prisoners were lowered down into it by means 
 of a rope and pulley. 
 
 By the law of 1425, the gaoler was not permitted to put more than t'co or 
 
Pi'XISHMEXTS. 
 
 431 
 
 three persons in the same bed. He was bound to give " bread and water" to 
 the poor prisoners who had no means of subsistence ; and, histly, he was 
 enjoined " to keep the hirge stone basin, which was on the pavement, fidl of 
 water, so that prisoners might get it whenever they wished." In order 
 to defray his expenses, he levied on the prisoners various charges for 
 attendance and for bedding, and he was authorised to detain in prison 
 any person who failed to pay him. The power of compelling pavmeut 
 of these charges continued even after a judge's order for the release of a 
 prisoner had been issued. 
 
 The subterranean cells of the Bastille (Fig. 3-54) did not differ much 
 
 Fig. 'A'A. — The D;istilli'.— I'lv.in an anfient Engraving of the Topography of Paris, in thi^ 
 CoUbction of Engravings of the National Library. 
 
 from those of the Chatelet. There wore several, the bottoms of which were 
 formed like a sugar-loaf upside down, thus neither allowing the prisoner to 
 stand up, nor even to adopt a toleral)le position sitting or lying down. 
 It was in these that King Louis XI., who seemed to have a partialitj' for 
 filtliy dungeons, placed the two young sons of the Duke de Nemours 
 (beheaded in 1477), ordering, besides, that they .should be taken out twice a 
 week and beaten with birch rods, and, as a supreme measure of atrocity, he 
 had one of their teetli extracted every three months. It was Louis XL, too, 
 who, in ]47(), ordered tlie famous inm (■(ujv to be erected iu one of the 
 towers of the Bastille, in wliidi Guillauuu', Bisliop of Verdun, was incar- 
 cerated i'lir fointeen years. 
 
+32 
 
 PUNISHMENTS. 
 
 The Chateau de Loches also possessed one of these cages, which received 
 the name of Cage de Baliie, because the Cardinal Jean de la Balue was 
 imprisoned in it. Philippe de Commines, in his " Memoires," declares 
 that he himself had a taste of it for eight months. Before the invention 
 of cages, Louis XI. ordered very heavy chains to be made, which were 
 fastened to the feet of the prisoners, and attached to large iron halls, 
 called, according to Commines, the King's little daughters (les fillettes dii 
 roy) . 
 
 The prison known by the name of The Leads of Venice is of so notorious 
 a character that its mere mention is sufficient, without its being necessary 
 for us to describe it. To the subject of voluntary seclusions, to which 
 
 Fif 
 
 355. — Movable Iron Cage. — Fac-simile ol' a Woodcut in the " Cosmograpliie Unu'erselle " 
 of Munster : in folio, Basle, 1552. 
 
 certain pious persons submitted themselves as acts of extreme religious 
 devotion, it will only be necessary to allude here, and to remark that 
 there are examples of this confinement having been ordered by legal 
 authority. In 1485, Renee de Vermandois, the widow of a squire, had 
 been condemned to be burnt for adultery and for murdering her husband ; 
 but, on letters of remission from the King, Parliament commuted the sentence 
 pronounced by the Provost of Paris, and ordered that E,enee de Vermandois 
 shoidd be " shut up within the walls of the cemetery of the Saints-Innocents, 
 in a small house, built at her expense, that she might therein do penance and 
 end her days." In conformity with this sentence, the culjjrit having been 
 conducted with much pomp to the cell which had been jorepared for her, the 
 door was locked by means of two kej's, one of which remained iu the hands 
 
PUNISHMENTS. 
 
 43^ 
 
 of the churchwarden {marguillier) of the Church of the Innocents, and the 
 other was deposited at the office of the Parliament. The prisoner received 
 her food from public charitjs and it is said that she became an object of 
 veneration and respect by the whole town. 
 
 Fig. 356. — Cat-o'-nine-tails.— Fac-simUe of a Woodcut in the 
 " Cosmographie UniTeraelle " of Munster. 
 
 '^ K 
 
JEWS, 
 
 Dispersion of the Jews. — Jewish Quarters in the Mediaeval Towns. — The Ghetto of Rome. — Ancient 
 Prague. — The Giurleeca of Venice. — Condition of the Jews. — Animosity of the People against 
 them. — Severity and vexatious Treatment of the Sovereigns. — The Jews of Lincoln. — The 
 Jews of Blois. — Mission of the Pastoureaiix. — Extermination of the Jews. — The Price at which 
 the Jews purchased Indulgences. — Marks set upon them — Wealth, Knowledge, Industry, and 
 Financial Aptitude of the Jews. — Regulations respecting Usury as practised by the Jews.— 
 Attachment of the Jews to their Religion. 
 
 PAINFUL and gloomy history com- 
 mences for the Jewish race from the 
 day when the Romans seized upon 
 Jerusalem and expelled its unfortu- 
 nate inhabitants, a race so essentially 
 homogeneous, strong, patient, and 
 religious, and dating its origin from 
 the remotest period of the patri- 
 archal ages. The Jews, proud of the 
 title of " the People of God," were 
 scattered, proscribed, and received 
 universal reprobation (Fig. 357), notwithstanding that their annals, collected 
 under divine inspiration by Moses and the sacred writers, had furnished a 
 glorious prologue to the annals of all modern nations, and had given to the 
 world the holy and divine history of Christ, who, by establishing the Gospel, 
 was to become the regenerator of the whole human family. 
 
 Their Temple is destroyed, and the crowd which had once pressed beneath 
 its portico as the flock of the living God has become a miserable tribe, rest- 
 less and unquiet in the present, but full of hope as regards the future. The 
 Jewish nation exists nowhere, nevertheless, the Jewish people are to be foimd 
 everywhere. They are wanderers upon the face of the earth, continually 
 pursued, threatened, and persecuted. It would seem as if the existence of 
 
JEWS. 
 
 435 
 
 the offspring of Israel is perpetuated simply to present to Christian eyes a 
 clear and awful warning of the Divine vengeance, a special, and at the same 
 
 Fig. 357. — Expulsion of the Jews in the Reign of.the Emperor Hadrian (a.d. 135) : "How Heracliua 
 turned the Jews out of Jerusalem." — Fac-simile of a Miniature in the " HistoiredesEmpereuis," 
 Manu.script of the B'ifteenth Century, in the Library of the Arsenal, Paris. 
 
 time an overwhelming example of the vicissitudes which God alone can 
 determine in the life of a people. 
 
436 JEWS. 
 
 M. Depping, an historian of this race so long accursed, after having been 
 for centuries blessed and favoured by God, says, " A Jewish community in 
 an European town during the Middle Ages resembled a colony on an island 
 or on a distant coast. Isolated from the rest of the population, it generally 
 occupied a district or street which was separated from the town or borough. 
 The Jews, like a troop of lepers, were thrust away and huddled together iato 
 the most uncomfortable and most unhealthy quarter of the city, as miserable 
 as it was disgusting. There, in ill-constructed houses, this poor and 
 numerous population was amassed ; in some cases high walls enclosed the 
 small and dark narrow streets of the quarter occupied by this branded 
 race, which prevented its extension, though, at the same time, it often 
 protected the inhabitants from the fury of the populace." 
 
 In order to form a just appreciation of what the Jewish quarters 
 were like in the mediaeval towns, one must visit the Ghetto of Rome or 
 ancient Prague. The latter place especially has, in all respects, preserved 
 its antique appearance. We must picture to ourselves a large enclosure of 
 wretched houses, irregularly built, divided by small streets with no atttempt 
 at uniformity. The principal thoroughfare is lined with stalls, in which are 
 sold not only old clothes, furniture, and utensils, but also new and glittering 
 articles. The inhabitants of this enclosure can, without crossing its Hmits, 
 procure everything necessary to material life. This quarter contains the old 
 synagogue, a square building begrimed with the dirt of ages, and so covered 
 with dirt and moss that the stone of which it is built is scarcely visible. The 
 building, which is as mournful as a prison, has only narrow loopholes by way 
 of windows, and a door so low that one must stoop to enter it. A dark passage 
 leads to the interior, into which air and light can scarcely penetrate. A few 
 lamps contend with the darkness, and lighted fires serve to modify a little the 
 icy temperature of this cellar. Here and there pillars seem to support a 
 roof which is too high and too darkened for the eye of the visitor to 
 distinguish. On the sides are dark and damp recesses, where women 
 assist at the celebration of worship, which is always carried on, according 
 to ancient custom, with much wailing and strange gestures of the body. 
 The book of the law which is in use is no less venerable than the edifice in 
 which it is contained. It appears that this synagogue has never imder- 
 gone the slightest repairs or changes for many centuries. The successive 
 generations who have prayed in this ancient temple rest under thousands 
 
JEWS. 4,7 
 
 of sepulchral stones, in a cemetery which is of the same date as the 
 sjmagogue, and is about a league in circumference. 
 
 Paris has never possessed, properly speaking, a regular Jewish quarter; 
 it is true that the Israelites settled down in the neighbourhood of the 
 markets, and in certain narrow streets, which at some period or other 
 took the name of Juiverie or Vieille Jiiirerie {Old Jewry) ; but they were 
 never distinct from the rest of the population ; they only had a separate 
 cemetery, at the bottom or rather on the slope of the hill of Sainte-Genevieve. 
 On the other hand, most of the towns of France and of Europe had their 
 Jewry. In certain countries, the colonies of Jews enjoyed a share of immu- 
 nities and protections, thus rendering their life a little less precarious, and 
 their occupations of a rather more settled character. 
 
 In Spain and in Portugal, the Jews, in consequence of their havino- been 
 on several occasions useful to the kings of those two countries, were allowed 
 to carry on their trade, and to engage in money speculations, outside their 
 own quarters ; a few were elevated to positions of responsibilitj', and some 
 were even tolerated at court. 
 
 In the southern towns of France, which they enriched by commerce and 
 taxes, and where they formed considerable communities, the Jews enjoyed the 
 protection of the nobles. We find them in Languedoc and Provence buyino- 
 and selling property like Christians, a privilege which was not permitted to 
 them elsewhere : this is proved by charters of contracts made during the 
 twelfth and thirteenth centuries, which bear the signature of certain Jews 
 in Hebrew characters. On Papal lands, at Avignon, at Carpentras, and at 
 Cavaillon, they had hailes, or consuls of their nation. The Jews of 
 Rousillon during the Spanish rule (fifteenth century) were governed by two 
 syndics and a scribe, elected by the communit}^ The latter levied the taxes 
 due to the King of Aragon. In Burgundy they cultivated the vines, which 
 was rather singukir, for the Jews generally preferred towns where they could 
 form groups more compact, and more capable of mutual assistance. The 
 name of Sahath, given to a vineyard in the neighbourhood of Macon, still 
 points out the position of their synagogue. The hamlet of Moki/x, a 
 dependency of the co-nmunes of Prissey, owes its name to a rich Israelite, 
 Moses, who had received that land as an indemnity for money lent to the 
 Count Gerfroy de Macon, which the latter had been unable to repay. In 
 Vienna, where the Israelites had a special quarter, still called t/ie Jewn' 
 
Fig. 358. — Jews taking the Blood from Christian Children, for their Mystic Eitea. — From a 
 Pen-and-ink Drawing, illuminated, in the Book of the Cahala of Abraham the Jew (Library of 
 the Arsenal, Paris). 
 
 Square, a special judge uamecl by the duke was set over them. ■ Exempted 
 from the city rates, they paid a special poll tax, and they contributed, but 
 on the same footing as Christian vassals, to extraordinary rates, war taxes, 
 
and travelling expenses of the nobles, &c. This community even became 
 so rich that it eventuallj' held mortgages on the greater part of tlie houses 
 of the town. 
 
 In Venice also, the Jews had their quarter— the Giiidecca—v^hich is still 
 one of the darkest in the town ; but they did not much care about such 
 trifling inconveniences, as the republic allowed them to bank, that is, to 
 lend money at interest; and although they were driven out on several 
 occasions, they always found means to return and recommence their opera- 
 tions. When they were authorised to establish themselves in the towns of 
 the Adriatic, their presence did not fail to annoy the Christian merchants, 
 whose rivals they were ; but neither in Venice nor in the Italian repub- 
 lics had they to fear court intrigues, nor the hatred of corporations of trades, 
 which were so powerful in France and in Germanv. 
 
 It was in the north of Europe that the animosity against the Jews was 
 greatest. The Christian population continually threatened the Jewish 
 quarters, which public opinion pointed to as haunts and sinks of iniquity. 
 The Jews were beHeved to be much more amenable to the doctrines of the 
 Talmud than to the laws of Moses. However secret they may have kept 
 their learning, a portion of its tenets transpired, which was supposed to incul- 
 cate the right to pillage and murder Christians ; and it is to the vague 
 knowledge of these odious prescriptions of the Talmud that we must attribute 
 the readiness with which the most atrocious accusations against the Jews 
 were always welcomed. 
 
 Besides this, the public mind in those days of bigotry was naturally 
 fiUed with a deep antipathy against the Jewish deicides. "When monks and 
 priests came annually in Holy week to relate from the pidpit to their hearers 
 the revolting details of the Passion, resentment was kindled in the hearts of 
 the Christians against the descendants of the judges and executioners of the 
 Saviour. And when, on going out of the churches, excited by the sermons 
 they had just heard, the faithful saw in pictures, in the cemeteries, and 
 elsewhere, representations of the mystery of the death of our Saviour, 
 m which tlie Jews played so odious a part, there was scarcely a spee- 
 titor who did not feel an increased hatred against the condemned race. 
 Hence it was that in many towns, even when the authorities did not compel 
 them to do so, the Israelites found it prudent to shut themselves up in their 
 own quarter, and even in their own houses, during the whole of Passion week ; 
 
440 
 
 JEWS. 
 
 for, in consequence of the public feeling roused during those days of mourn- 
 ing and penance, a false rumour was quite sufficient to give the people a 
 pretext for offering violence to the Jews. 
 
 In fact, from the earliest days of Christianity, a certain number of accu- 
 sations were always being made, sometimes in one country, sometimes in 
 another, against the Israelites, which always ended in bringing down the 
 same misfortunes on their heads. The most common, and most easily 
 credited report, was that which attributed to them the murder of some 
 Christian child, said to be sacrificed in Passion week in token of their hatred 
 
 Fig. 359. — Secret Meeting of the Jews at the Eabbi'a House. — Fuc-simile of a Jliniature of tiie 
 " Pfelerinage de la Vie Humaine," Manuscript of the Fourteenth Century, in the National Library 
 of Paris. 
 
 of Christ ; and in the event of this terrible accusation being once uttered, 
 and maintained by popular opinion, it never failed to spread with remark- 
 able swiftness. In such cases, popular fury, not being on all occasions 
 satisfied with the tardiness of judicial forms, vented itself upon the first Jews 
 who had the misfortune to fall into the hands of their enemies. As soon as 
 the disturbance was heard the Jewish quarter was closed; fathers and 
 mothers barricaded themselves in with their children, concealed whatever 
 riches they possessed, and listened tremblingly to the clamour of the multitude 
 which was about to besieare them. 
 
JEWS. 
 
 44' 
 
 In 1255, in Lincoln, the report was suddenly spread that a chUd of tlie 
 name of Hughes had been enticed into the Jewish quarter, and tlicre scouro-ed, 
 crucified, and pierced with hxnces, in the presence of all the Israelites of the 
 district, who were convoked and assembled to take part in this horrible 
 barbarity. The King and Queen of England, on their return from a journey 
 to Scotland, arrived in Lincoln at the very time when the inhabitants were 
 so much agitated by this mysterious announcement. The people called for 
 vengeance. An order was issued to the baili£Fs and ofRcers of the King to 
 deliver the murderer into the hands of justice, and the quarter in which 
 the Jews had shut themselves up, so as to avoid the public animosity, was 
 immediately invaded by armed men. The rabbi, in whose house the child 
 was supposed to have been tortured, was seized, and at once condemned to be 
 tied to the tail of a horse, and dragged through the streets of the town. 
 After this, his mangled body, which was only half dead, was hung 
 (Fig. 359). Many of the Jews ran away and hid themselves in aU parts of 
 the kingdom, and those who had the misfortune to be caught were thrown 
 into chains and led to London. Orders were given in the provinces to 
 imprison all the Israelites who were accused or even suspected of having taken 
 any part, whether actively or indirectly, in the murder of the Lincoln child ; 
 and suspicion made rapid strides in those days. In a short space of time, 
 eighteen Israelites in London shared the fate of the rabbi of their communitjr 
 in Lincoln. Some Dominican monks, who were charitable and courageous 
 enough to interfere in favour of the wretched prisoners, brought down odium 
 on their own heads, and were accused of having allowed themselves to be 
 corrupted by the money of the Jews. Seventy-one prisoners were retained 
 in the dungeons of London, and seemed inevitably fated to die, when the 
 king's brother, Richard, came to their aid, by asserting his right over all the 
 Jews of the kingdom — a right which the King had pledged to him for a 
 loan of 5,000 silver marks. The unfortunate prisoners were therefore saved, 
 thanks to Richard's desire to protect his securities. History does not tell 
 what their liberty cost them ; but we must hope that a sense of justice alone 
 guided the English prince, and that the Jews found other means besides 
 money by which to show their gratitude. 
 
 There is scarcely a country in Europe which cannot recount similar tales. 
 In 1171, we find the murfler of a child at Orleans, or Blois, causing capital 
 punishment to be inflicted an several Jews. Imputations of this horrible 
 
 3 L 
 
44 7- 
 
 /ElVS. 
 
 cliaracter were continually renewed during the Middle Ages, and were of 
 very ancient origin ; for we hear of them in the times of Ilonorius and 
 Theodosius the younger ; we find them reproduced with equal vehemence 
 in 1475 at Trent, where a furious mob was excited against the Jews, who 
 were accused of having destroyed a child twenty-nine months old named 
 Simon. The tale of the martyrdom of this child was circulated widely, and 
 woodcut representations of it were freely distributed, which necessarily 
 
 Tier. 3(i0. — The lufant Kichard crucified by tlie Jews, at Pontoise. — Eac-sunile of a Woodcut, with 
 Figures by Wohlgemutli, in the "Liber Chronicarum Mundi:" large folio, Nuremberg, 1493. 
 
 increased, especially in Germany, the horror which was aroused in the minds 
 of Christians against the accursed nation (Fig. 361). 
 
 The Jews gave cause for other accusations calculated to keep up this 
 hatred ; such as the desecration of the consecrated host, the mutilation of the 
 crucifix. Tradition informs us of a miracle which took place in Paris in 1290, 
 in the Rue des Jardins, when a Jew dared to mutilate and boil a consecrated 
 host. This miracle was commemorated by the erection of a chapel on the 
 
JEWS. 
 
 443 
 
 spot, wliicli was afterwards replaced by the church and convent ot the 
 Billettes. In 1370, the people of Bmssels were startled in consequence of 
 the statements of a Jewess, who accused her co-religionists of havin"- made 
 her carry a pyx full of stolen hosts to the Jews of Cologne, for the purpose of 
 
 
 Fig. 361.— Martyrdom of Simon at Treat.— Fac-simile, reduced, of a "Woodcut of Wohlgemuth, 
 in the " Liber Chronicurum Mundi:" large folio, Nuremberg, 1493. 
 
 Buhmitting them to the most horrible profanations. The woman added, that 
 the Jews having pierced these hosts with sticks and knives, such a quantity 
 of blood poured from them that the culprits were struck with terror, and 
 concealed themselves in their quarter. The Jews were all imprisoned, 
 
444 
 
 JEWS. 
 
 tortured, and burnt alive (Fig- 362) . In order to perpetuate the memory of 
 the miracle of the bleeding hosts, an annual procession took place, which 
 was the origin of the great kermesse, or annual fair. 
 
 In the event of any unforeseen misfortune, or any great catastrophe 
 occurring amongst Christians, the odium was frequently cast on the Jews. 
 If the Crusaders met with reverses in Asia, fanatics formed themselves into 
 bands, who, under the name of Pastoureaux, spread over the country, killing 
 and robbing not only the Jews, but many Christians also. In the event of 
 
 Fig. 362. — The Jews of Cologne burnt alive.— From a WooJcat in the " Liber Chronicarum 
 Mundi :" large folio, Nuremberg, 1493. 
 
 any general sickness, and especially during the prevalence of epidemics, the 
 Jews were accused of having poisoned the water of fountains and pits, and 
 the people massacred them in consequence. Thousands perished ia this way 
 when the black plague made ravages in Europe in the fourteenth centuiy. 
 The sovereigns, who were tardy in suppressing these sanguinary proceedings, 
 never thought of indemnifying the Jewish families which so unjustly 
 suffered. 
 
 In fact, it was then most religiously believed that, by despising and 
 
JEWS. ,^5 
 
 holding the Jewish nation under the yoke, hanished as it was from Judcca 
 for the murder of Jesus Christ, the will of the Almighty was being 
 carried out, so much so that the greater number of kings and princes 
 looked upon themselves as absolute masters over the Jews who lived under 
 their protection. All feudal lords spoke with scorn of their Jews; thoy 
 allowed them to establish themselves on their lands, but on the condition 
 that as they became the subjects and property of their lord, the latter should 
 draw his best income from them. 
 
 We have shown by an instance borrowed from the history of England that 
 the Jews were often mortgaged by the Idngs like land. This was not all, for 
 the Jews who inhabited Great Britain during the reign of Henry III., in the 
 middle of the thirteenth century, were not only obliged to acknowledge, by 
 voluntarily contributing large sums of money, the service the King's brother 
 had rendered them in clearing them from the imputation of having had any 
 participation in the murder of the child Richard, but the loan on mortgage, 
 for which they were the material and passive security, became the cause of 
 odious extortions from them. The King had pledged them to the Earl of 
 Cornwall for 5,000 marks, but they themselves had to repay the ro3'al loan 
 by means of enormous taxes. When they had succeeded in cancelling the 
 King's debt to his brother, that necessitous monarch again mortgaged them, 
 but on this occasion to his son Edward. Soon after, the son having rebelled 
 against his father, the latter took back his Jews, and, having assembled six 
 elders from each of their communities, he told them that he required 
 20,000 silver marks, and ordered them to pay him that sum at two stated 
 periods. The payments were rigorously exacted ; those who were behind- 
 hand were imprisoned, and the debtor who was in arrear for the second 
 payment was sued for the whole sum. On the King's death his successor 
 continued the same system of tyranny against the Jews. In 12 TO they were 
 charged with having issued counterfeit coin, and on this vague or imaginary 
 accusation two hundred and eighty men and women were put to death in 
 London alone. In the counties there were also numerous executions, and 
 many innocent persons were thrown into dungeons ; and, at last, in 1290 
 King Edward, who wished to enrich himself by taking possession of their 
 properties, banished the Jews from his kingdom. A short time before 
 this, the English people had offered to pay an annual fine to the King on 
 condition of his expelling the Jews from the country ; but the Jews outbid 
 
446 
 
 JEWS. 
 
 them, and thus obtained the repeal of the edict of banishment. However, on 
 this last occasion there was no mercy shown, and the Jews, sixteen thousand 
 in number, were expelled from England, and the King seized upon their 
 goods. 
 
 At the same period Philippe le Bel of France gave the example of this 
 system of persecuting the Jews, but, instead of confiscating all their goods, 
 he was satisfied with taking one-fifth ; his subjects, therefore, almost accused 
 him of generosity. 
 
 The Jews often took the precaution oi purchasing certain rights and 
 
 Fig. 36S. — Jewish Conspiracy in France. — From a Miniature in tlie " Peltrinage de la Vie 
 Humaine " (Imperial Library, Paris). 
 
 franchises from their sovereign or from the feudal lord under whose sway 
 they lived ; but generally these were one-sided bargains, for not being pro- 
 tected by common rights, and only forming a very small part of the popu- 
 lation, they could nowhere depend upon promises or privileges which had 
 been made to them, even though they had purchased them with their own 
 money. 
 
 To the uncertainty and annoyance of a life which was continually being 
 threatened, was added a number of vexatious and personal insults, even in 
 ordinary times, and when they enjoyed a kind of normal tolerance. They 
 
-^"■^ 447 
 
 were almost everywhere obliged to wear a visible mark on their dress, such as 
 a patch of gaudy colour attached to the shoulder or chest, iu order to prevent 
 their being mistaken for Christians. By this or some other means they were 
 continually subject to insults from the people, and only succeeded in ridding 
 themselves of it by paying the most enormous fines. Nothing was spared 
 to humiliate and insult them. At Toulouse they were forced to send a repre- 
 sentative to the cathedral on every Good Friday, that he might there publicly 
 receive a box on the ears. At Beziers, during Passion week, the mob 
 assumed the right of attacking the Jews' houses with stones. The Jews 
 bought ofi" this right in 1160 by pajdng a certain sum to the Vicomte de 
 Beziers, and by promising an annual poll-tax to him and to his successors. 
 A Jew, passing on the road of Etampes, beneath the tower of Montlhery, had 
 to pay an obole ; if he had in his possession a Hebrew book, he paid four 
 deniers ; and, if he carried his lamp with him, two oboles. At Chateauneuf- 
 sur-Loire a Jew on passing had to pay twelve deniers and a Jewess six. It 
 has been said that there were various ancient rates levied upon Jews, in which 
 they were treated like cattle, but this requires authentication. During the 
 Carnival in Rome they were forced to run in the lists, amidst the jeers of 
 the populace. This public outrage was stopped at a subsequent period by 
 a tax of 300 ecus, which a deputation from the Ghetto presented on their 
 knees to the magistrates of the city, at the same time thanking them for 
 their protection. 
 
 When Pope Martin IV. arrived at the Council of Constance, in 1417, the 
 Jewish community, which was as numerous as it was powerful in that old 
 city, came in great state to present him with the book of the law (Fig. 364). 
 The holy father received the Jews kindly, and prayed God to open their eyes 
 and bring them back into the bosom of his church. We know, too, how 
 charitable the popes were to the Jews. 
 
 In the face of the distressing position they occupied, it may be asked 
 what powerful motive induced the Jews to live amongst nations who almost 
 invariably treated them as enemies, and to remain at the mercy of sovereigns 
 whose sole object was to oppress, plunder, and subject them to all kinds of 
 vexations ? To understand this it is sufficient to remember that, in their 
 peculiar aptness for earning and hoarding money, they found, or at least 
 hoped to find, a means of compensation whereby they might be led to forget 
 the servitude to which they were subjected. 
 
44? 
 
 JEWS. 
 
 There existed amongst them, and especially in the southern countries-, 
 some very learned men, who devoted themselves principally to medicine ; and 
 in order to avoid having to struggle against insuperable prejudice, they were 
 careful to disguise their nationality and religion in the exercise of that art, i 
 
 Fig. 364. — The Jewish Procession going to meet the Pope at the Council of Constance, in 1417. — Ij 
 
 After a Miniature in the Manuscript Chronicle of Ulric de Keichental, in the Library of the 
 , Mansion-house of Basle, in Switzerland. 
 
 They pretended, in order not to arouse the Suspicion of their patients, to be 
 practitioners from Lombardy or Spain, or even from Arabia ; whether they 
 were really clever, or only made a pretence of being so, in an art which was 
 then very much a compound of quackery and imposture, it is difficult to say, 
 
but they acquired wealth as well as renown in its practice. But there was 
 another science, to the study of which they applied themselves with the 
 utmost ardour and perseverance, and for which they possessed in a mar- 
 vellous degree the necessary qualities to insure success, and that science was 
 the science of finance. In matters having reference to the recovering of arrears 
 of taxes, to contracts for the sale of goods and produce of industrj', to turning 
 a royalty to account, to making hazardous commercial enterprises lucrative, 
 or to the accumulating of large sums of money for the use of sovereigns or 
 poor nobles, the Jews were always at hand, and might invariably be reckoned 
 upon. They created capital, for they always bad funds to dispose of, even 
 in the midst of the most terrible public calamities, and, when all other 
 means were exhausted, when all expedients for filling empty purses had 
 been resorted to without success, the Jews were called in. Often, in con- 
 sequence of the envy which they excited from being known to possess hoards 
 of gold, they were exposed to many dangers, which they nevertheless faced, 
 buoying themselves up with the insatiable love of gain. 
 
 Few Christians in the Middle Ages were given to speculation, and they 
 were especially ignorant of financial matters, as demanding interest on loans 
 was almost always looked upon as usurj', and, consequently, such dealings 
 were stigmatized as disgraceful. The Jews were far from sharing these high- 
 minded scruples, and they took advantage of the ignorance of Christians by 
 devoting themselves as much as possible to enterprises and speculations, 
 which were at all times the distinguishing occupation of their race. For this 
 reason we find the Jews, who were engaged in the export trade from tlie 
 twelfth to the fifteenth centuries, doing a most excellent business, even in the 
 commercial towns of the Mediterranean. We can, to a certain extent, m 
 speaking of the intercourse of the Jews with the Christians of the Middle 
 Ages, apply what Lady Montague remarked as late as 1717, when com- 
 paring the Jews of Turkey with the Mussulmans : " The former," she says, 
 " have monopolized all the commerce of the empire, thanks to the close 
 ties which exist amongst them, and to the laziness and want of industry of 
 the Turks. No bargain is made without tlieir connivance. They are the 
 physicians and stewards of all the nobility. It is easy to conceive the 
 unity wliich this gives to a nation which never despises the smallest 
 profits. They have found means of rendering themselves so usefid, that 
 they are certain of protection at court, whoever the ruling minister may 
 
 3 Jl 
 
45° 
 
 JEWS. 
 
 be. Many of them are enormovisly ricli, but tbey are careful to make but 
 little outward display, although living in the greatest possible luxury." 
 
 The condition of the Jews in the East was never so precarious nor so 
 
 Fig. 365. — Costume of an Italian Jew of the Fourteenth Centurj^ — From a Painting hy Sano di 
 Pietro, preserved in the Academy of the Fine Arts, at Sienna. 
 
 difficult as it was in the West. From the Councils of Paris, in 615, dowa 
 to the end of the fifteenth century, the nobles and the civil and ecclesias- 
 tical authorities excluded the Jews from administrative positions ; hut it 
 continually happened that a positive want of money, against which the Jews 
 
THE JEWS' PASSOVER. 
 
 •■'ac-siniili' of a miuialiirc from a iiiis?el of fiffoenth i-entiin ornamented with paintings 
 
 of tlicSclrool of Van Eyei<. 
 
 P.ibi. i\r TArscnai, Tli. lat., iiM99. 
 
JEWS. ^5, 
 
 were ever ready to provide, caused a repeal or modification of these arbitrary 
 measures. Moreover, Christians did not feel any scruple in parting with their 
 most valued treasures, and giving them as pledges to the Jews for a loan 
 of money when they were in need of it. This plan of lending on pledge, or 
 usury, belonged specially to the Jews in Eui-ope during the Middle Ages, 
 and -nas both the cause of their prosperity and of theii- misfortune. Of 
 their prosperity, because they cleverly contrived to become possessors of all 
 the coin ; and of their misfortune, because their usurious demands became so 
 detrimental to the public welfare, and were often exacted with such unscru- 
 pidous severity, that people not unfrequently became exasperated, and acts of 
 violence were committed, which as often fell upon the innocent as upon the 
 guilty. The greater number of the acts of banishment were those for which 
 no other motive was assigned, or, at all events, no other pretext was made, 
 than the usury practised by these strangers in the provinces and in the 
 towns in which they were permitted to reside. When the Christians heard 
 that these rapacious guests had harshly pressed and entirely stripped certain 
 poor debtors, when they learned that the debtors, ruined by usury, were still 
 kept prisoners in the houses of their pitiless creditors, general indignation 
 often manifested itself by personal attacks. This feeling was frequently 
 shared by the authorities themselves, who, instead of dispensing equal justice 
 to the strangers and to the citizens, according to the spirit of the law, often 
 decided -with partiality, and even with resentment, and in some cases 
 abandoned the Jews to the fuiy of the people. 
 
 The peoi^le's feelings of hatred against the sordid avarice of the Jews 
 was continually kept up by ballads which were sung, and legends which 
 were related, in the public streets of the cities and in the cottages of the 
 villages — ballads and legends in which usurers were depicted in hideous 
 colours (Fig. 36G). The most celebrated of these popiJar compositions was 
 evidently that which must have furnished the idea to Shakespeare of the 
 Meycliant of Venice, for in this old English drama mention is made of a 
 bargain struck between a Jew and a Christian, who borrows money of him, 
 on condition that, if lie cannot refund it on a certain day, the lender shall 
 have the right of cutting a pound of flesh from his body. All the evil 
 which the people said and thought of the Jews during the Middle Ages 
 seems concentrated in the Shy lock of tlie English poet. 
 
 The rate of interest for loans was, nevertheless, everywhere settled by law. 
 
452 
 
 JEWS. 
 
 and at all times. This rate varied according to the scarcity of gold, and was 
 always high enough to give a very ample profit to the lenders, although they 
 too often required a very much higher rate. In truth, the small security 
 offered by those borrowing, and the arbitrary manner in which debts were 
 at times cancelled, increased the risks of the lender and the normal difE- 
 cidties of obtaining a loan. We find everj'where, in all ancient legislations, 
 a mass of rules on the rate of pecuniary interest to be allowed to the Jews. 
 
 Fig. 366. — Legend of the Jew calling the Devil from a Vessel of Blood. — Fac-simile of a Woodcut 
 in Boaistuau's " Histoires Prodigieuses :" in 4to, Paris, Jinnet Briere, 1560. 
 
 In some countries, especially in England, precautionarj'- measures were taken 
 for regulating the compacts entered into between Christians and Jews. 
 One of the departments of the Exchequer received the register of these 
 compacts, which thus acquired a legal value. However, it was not un- 
 frequent for the kings of England to grant, of their own free will, letters of 
 release to persons owing money to Jews ; and these letters, which were often 
 equivalent to the cancelling of the entire debt, were even at times actually 
 
JEWS. 
 
 453 
 
 purchased from the sovereign. Mention of sums received by the royul 
 treasury for the liberation of debtors, or for enabling them to recover their 
 mortgaged lands without payment, may still be found in the registers of the 
 Exchequer of London ; at the same time, Jews, on the other hand, also paid 
 the King large sums, in order that he might allow justice to take its course 
 against powerful debtors who were in arrear, and who could not be induced 
 to pay. "SVe thus see that if the Jews practised usury, the Christians, and 
 
 Fig. a67.— ViBwand I'laii of Jerusalem. — Fac-simile of a Woodcut in the "Liber Chronicarum 
 Mundi :" large folio, Nuremberg, 1493. 
 
 especially kings and powerful nobles, defrauded the Jews in every way, and 
 were too often disposed to sell to them the smallest concessions at a great 
 price. Indeed, Christians often went so far as to persecute them, in order to 
 obtain the greatest possible amount from them ; and the Jews of the Middle 
 Ages put up with anything provided they could enrich themselves. 
 
 It must not be supposed, however, that, great as were their capabihties, 
 the Jews exclusively devoted themselves to financial matters. When they 
 
454 J£:ws. 
 
 were permitted to trade they were well satisfied to become artisans or agricul- 
 turists. In Spain they proved themselves most industrious, and that kingdom 
 suffered a great loss in consequence of their being expelled from it. In 
 whatever country they established themselves, the Jews carried on most of 
 the mechanical and manual industries with cleverness and success ; but they 
 could not hope to become landed proprietors in countries where they were in 
 such bad odour, and where the possession of land, fiir from offering them any 
 security, could not fail to excite the envy of their enemies. 
 
 If, as is the case. Oriental people are of a serious turn of mind, it is 
 easy to understand that the Jews should hare been still more so, since they 
 were always objects of hatred and abhorrence. TTe find a touching allegory 
 in the Talmud. Each time that a human being is created Grod orders his 
 angels to bring a soul before his throne, and orders this soul to g'o and 
 inhabit the body which is about to be born on earth. The soul is grieved, 
 and supplicates the Supreme Being to spare it that painful trial, in which it 
 only sees sorrow and affliction. This allegory may be suitably applied to a 
 people who have only to expect contempt, mistrust, and hatred, everywhere. 
 The Israelites, therefore, clung enthusiastically to the hope of the advent of a 
 Messiah who should bring back to them the happy days of the land of 
 promise, and they looked upon their absence from Palestine as only a passing 
 exile. "But," the Christians said to them, "this Messiah has long since 
 come." "Alas!" they answered, "if He had appeared on earth should we 
 still be miserable ? " Fulbert, Bishop of Chartres, preached three sermons to 
 undeceive the Jews, by endeavouring to prove to them that their Messiah was 
 no other than Jesus Christ ; but he preached to the winds, for the Jews remained 
 obstinately attached to their illusion that the Messiah was yet to come. 
 
 In any case, the Jews, who mixed up the mysteries and absui-dities of the 
 Talmud with the ancient laws and numerous rules of the religion of their 
 ancestors, found in the practice of their national customs, and in the celebra- 
 tion of their mysterious ceremonies, the sweetest emotions, especially when 
 they could devote themselves to them in the peaceful retii-ement of the 
 Ghetto ; for, in all the countries in which they lived scattered and isolated 
 amongst Christians, they were careful to conceal their worship and to 
 conduct their ceremonial as secretly as possible. 
 
 The clergy, in striviag to convert the Jews, repeatedly had conferences 
 with the rabbis of a controversial character, which often led to quarrels, and 
 
jrcws. 
 
 455 
 
 aggravated the lot of the Jewish coiniminity. If Catholic proselytism suc- 
 ceeded in completely detaching a few individuals or a few families from the 
 Israelitish creed, these ardent converts rekindled the horror of tlie people 
 against their former co-religionists by revealing some of the precepts of the 
 Talmud. Sometimes the conversion of whole masses of Jews was effected, 
 but this happened much less through conviction on their part than throu'vh 
 the fear of exile, j^luuder, or execution. 
 
 These pretended conversions, however, did not always protect them from 
 danger. In Spain the Inquisition kept a close watch on converted Jews, 
 and, if they were not true to their new faith, severe punishment was inflicted 
 upon them. In 1506, the inhabitants of Abrantes, a town of Portugal, 
 massacred all the baptized Jews. Manoel, a king of Portugal, forbad the 
 converts from selling their goods and leaving his dominions. Tlie Church 
 excluded them from ecclesiastical dignities, and, when they succeeded in 
 obtaining civil emploj'ments, they were received with distrust. In France 
 the Parliaments tried, witli a sliow of justice, to prevent converted Jews from 
 being reproached for their former condition ; but Louis XII., during his 
 pressing wants, did not scruple to exact a special tax from them. And, in 
 1611, we again find that they were unjustly denounced, and under the form of 
 a Remonstrance to the Kiiitj aiul the Parlieniient of Prorei/ce, on ncronnt of the 
 (jreat family alliances of the ne/c converts, an appeal was made for the most 
 cruel reprisals against tliis unfortunate race, " which deserved only to be 
 banished and their aroods confiscated.'" 
 
 TJaty,gj^ 
 
 ^^g^ 
 
 '/^^^^ 
 
 ^m 
 
 if/ y 
 
 -i O ^^S^. *"' n ^ 
 
 ^msim-^i 
 
 O 
 
 
 Kv 
 
 mm 
 
 
 \ Zlffc^'^'' 
 
 
 Mw 
 
 rhi^ 
 
 r™*— -^ 
 
 
 
 
 ^^tlL^ 
 
 308.— Jewish Ceremony Ijefore the Ark.— Fac-simile of a 
 Woodcut printed at Troyes. 
 
GIPSIES, TRAMPS, BEGGARS, 
 
 AND COUKS DES MIEACLES. 
 
 First Appearance of Gipsies in the AVest. — Gipsies in Paris. — Manners and Customs of these 
 Wandering Tribes.— Tricks of Captain Charles.— Gipsies expelled hy Royal Edict.— Language 
 of Gipsies.— The Kingdom of Slang.— The Great Coesre, Chief of the Vagrants ; his Vassals 
 and Suhjects.— Divisions of the Slang People ; its Decay and the Canses thereof.— Cours des 
 Miracles. — The Camp of Rogues. — Cunning Language, or Slang. — Foreign Rogues, Thieves, 
 and Pickpockets. 
 
 N tlie year 1417, the inhabitants of 
 the countries situated near the mouth 
 of the Elbe were disturbed by the 
 arrival of strangers, whose manners 
 and appearance were far from pre- 
 possessing. These strange travellers 
 took a course thence towards the 
 Teutonic Hanse, starting from Lune- 
 burg : they subsequentlj' proceeded 
 to Hamburg, and then, going from 
 east to west along the Baltic, they 
 visited the free towns of Lubeck, "VYismar, Rostock, Stralsund, and 
 Greifswald. 
 
 These new visitors, known in Europe under the names of Zliigari, Cigaiii, 
 Gipsies, Gitanos, Egyptians, or Bohemians, but who, in their own language, 
 called themselves Romi, or gens inaries, numbered about three hundred men 
 and women, besides the children, who were very numerous. They divided 
 themselves into seven bands, all of which followed the same track. Very 
 dirty, excessively ugly, and remarkable for their dark complexions, these 
 people had for their leaders a duke and a count, as they were called, who 
 were superbly dressed, and to whom they aclcnowledged allegiance. Some of 
 
G/PS/ES, THAjUPS. and BEGGARS. 
 
 457 
 
 them rode on horseback, whilst others went on foot. The women and 
 children travelled on beasts of burden and in waggons (Fig. 369). If we 
 
 
 ~>~ \ y~' 
 
 ,0 
 
 I H ), 
 
 Fig. 3G9.-Gip3ies on the March.-Fifteenth Century Piece of old Tapestry in the Chateau 
 d'Effiat, contributed by M. A. Jubinal. 
 
 are to believe their own story, their wandering life was caused by their return 
 to Paganism after having been previously converted to the Christian faith, 
 
 3 N 
 
4S8 GIPSIES, TRAMPS, AND BEGGARS. 
 
 and, as a pimisliineiit for their sin, they were to continue their adventurous 
 course for a period of seven years. They showed letters of recommendation 
 from various princes, among others from Sigismund, King of the Romans, 
 and these letters, whether authentic or false, procured for them a welcome 
 wherever they went. They encamped in the fields at night, because the 
 habit they indulged in of stealing everything for which they had a fancy, 
 caused them to fear being disturbed in the towns. It was not long, however, 
 before many of them were arrested and put to death for theft, when the rest 
 speedily decamped. 
 
 In the coiirse of the following year we find them at Meissen, in Saxonjr, 
 whence they were driven out on accomit of the robberies and disturbances 
 they committed ; and then in Switzerland, where they passed through the 
 countries of the Grrisons, the cantons of Appenzell, and Zurich, stopping in 
 Argovie. Chroniclers who mention them at that time speak of their chief, 
 Michel, as Duke of Egypt, and relate that these strangers, calling themselves 
 Egyptians, pretended that they were driven from their country by the 
 Sultan of Turkey, and condemned to wander for seven years in want and 
 misery. These chroniclers add that they were very honest people, who 
 scupulously followed all the practices of the Christian religion; that they 
 were poorly clad, but that they had gold and silver in abundance ; that they 
 lived well, and paid for everything they had ; and that, at the end of seven 
 years, they went away to return home, as they said. However, whether 
 because a considerable number remained on the road, or because they had 
 been reinforced by others of the same tribe during the year, a troop of fifty 
 men, accompanied by a number of hideous women and filthy children, made 
 their appearance in the neighbourhood of Augsburg. These vagabonds gave 
 out that they were exiles from Lower Egypt, and pretended to know the art 
 of predicting coming events. It was soon found out that they were much 
 less versed in divination and in the occult sciences than in the arts of 
 plundering, roguery, and cheating. 
 
 In the following year a similar horde, calling themselves Saracens, 
 appeared at Sisteron, in Provence ; and on the 18th of July, 1422, a 
 chronicler of Bologna mentions the arrival in that town of a troop of 
 foreigners, commanded by a certain Andre, Duke of Egypt, and composed of 
 at least one hundred persons, including women and childi-en. They 
 encamped inside and outside the gate di Galiera. with the exception of the 
 
GIPSIES, TRAMPS, AND BEGGARS. 
 
 459 
 
 duke, who lodged at the inn del lie. During- the fii'teen days which they 
 spent at Bologna a number of the people of the town went to see them, and 
 especially to see "the wife of the duke," who, it was said, knew how to 
 foretell future events, and to tell what was to happen to people, what their 
 fortunes would be, the number of their children, if they were good or bad, 
 and many other things (Fig. 370). Few men, however, left the house of the 
 so-called Duke of Egj^pt without having their purses stolen, and but few 
 women escaped without having the skirts of their dresses cut. The Egyptian 
 
 I'ig. 370. — Gipsies Fortuue-telling. — Fuc-simile of a Woodcut in the " Cosmographie Universelle ' 
 ofMunster: in folio, Basle, 15.52. 
 
 women walked about the town in groups of six or seven, and whilst some were 
 talking to the townsjioople, tolling them their fortunes, or bartering in shops, 
 one of their number would lay her hands on anything which was within reach. 
 So many robberies were committed in this way, that the magistrates of the 
 town and the ecclesiastical authorities forbad the inhabitants from visiting 
 the Egyptians' camp, or from having any intercourse with them, under 
 penalty of excommunication and of a fine of fifty livres. Besides this, 
 by a strange application of the laws of retaliation, those who had been 
 
46o GIPSIES, TRAMPS, AND BEGGARS. 
 
 robbed by tbese foreigners were permitted to rob tbem to tbe extent of the 
 value of the things stolen. In consequence of this, the Bolognians entered a 
 stable in -which several of the Egyptians' horses were kept, and took out one 
 of the finest of them. In order to recover him the Egyptians agreed to 
 restore what they had taken, and the restitution was made. But perceiving 
 that they could no longer do any good for themselves in this province, they 
 struck their tents and started for Rome, to which city they said they were 
 bound to go, not only in order to accomplish a pilgrimage imposed upon 
 them by the Sultan, who had expelled them from their own land, but 
 especially to obtain letters of absolution from the Holy Father. 
 
 In 1422 the band left Italy, and we find them at Basle and in Suabia. 
 Then, besides the imperial passports, of which they had up to that time 
 alone boasted, they pretended to have in their possession bulls which they 
 stated that they had obtained from the Pope. They also modified their 
 original tale, and stated that they were descendants of the Egyptians who 
 refused hospitality to the Holy Virgin and to St. Joseph during their flight 
 into Egypt : they also declared that, in consequence of this crime, Grod had 
 doomed their race to perpetual misery and exile. 
 
 Five years later we find them in the neighbourhood of Paris. " The 
 Sunday after the middle of August," says " The Journal of a Bourgeois of 
 Paris," "there came to Paris twelve so-called pilgrims, that is to say, a 
 duke, a count, and ten men, all on horseback ; they said that they were very 
 good Christians, and that they came from Lower Egypt ; . . . . and on the 
 29th of August, the anniversary of the beheading of St. John, the rest of 
 the band made their appearance. These, however, were not allowed to enter 
 Paris, but, by order of the provost, were lodged in the Chapel of St. Denis. 
 They did not number more than one hundred and twenty, including women 
 and children. They stated that, when they left their own country, they 
 nimibered from a thousand to twelve hundred, but that the rest had died on 
 
 the road "Whilst they were at the chapel never was such a concourse 
 
 of people collected, even at the blessing of the fair of Landit, as went from 
 Paris, St. Denis, and elsewhere, to see these strangers. Almost aU of them 
 had their ears pierced, and in each one or two silver rings, which in their 
 country, they said, was a mark of nobility. The men were very swarthy, 
 with curly hair ; the women were very ugly, and extremely dark, with long 
 black hair like a horse's tail ; their only garment being an old rug tied 
 
GIPSIES, TRAMPS, AND BEGGARS. 
 
 461 
 
 round the shoulder by a strip of cloth or a bit of rope (Fig. 371). Amongst 
 them were several fortune-tellers, who, by looking into people's hands, told 
 them what had happened or what was to happen to them, and by this 
 means often did a good deal to sow discord in families. What was worse, 
 either by magic, by Satanic agency, or by sleight of hand, they managed 
 
 to empty people's purses whilst talking to them So, at least, every 
 
 one said. At last accounts respecting them reached the ears of the Bishop 
 of Paris. He went to them with a Franciscan friar, called Le Petit 
 Jacobin, who, by the bishop's order, delivered an earnest address to them, 
 and excommunicated all those who had anything to do with them, or who 
 
 Fig. 371.— A Gipsy Family.— Fac-simile of a Woodcut in the " Cobuiographie Universelle " 
 of Munster : in folio, Basle, 1.5-52. 
 
 had their fortunes told. He further advised the gipsies to go awaj-, and, 
 on the festival of Notre-Dame, they departed for Pontoise." 
 
 Here, again, the gipsies somewhat varied their story. They said that 
 they were originally Christians ; but that, in consequence of an invasion by 
 the Saracens, they had been forced to renounce their religion ; that, at a 
 subsequent period, powerful monarchs had come to free them from the 
 yoke of the infidels, and had decreed that, as a punishment to them for 
 having renounced the Christian faith, they should not be allowed to 
 return to their country before they had obtained permission from the Pope. 
 They stated that the Holy Father, to whom they had gone to confess their 
 sins, had then ordered them to wander about the world for seven years. 
 
462 GIPSIES, TRAMPS, AND BEGGARS. 
 
 without sleeping in beds, at the same time giving direction to every bishop 
 and every priest whom they met to offer them ten livres ; a direction which 
 the abbots and bishops were in no hurry to obey. These strange pilgrims 
 stated that they had been only five years on the road when they arrived in 
 Paris. 
 
 Enough has been said to show that, although the object of their long 
 pilgrimage was ostensibly a pious one, the Egyptians or gipsies were not 
 very slow in giving to the people whom they visited a true estimate of their 
 questionable honesty, and we do not think it would be particularly interesting 
 to follow step by step the track of this odious band, which from this period 
 made its appearance sometimes in one country and sometimes in another, not 
 only in the north but in the south, and especially in the centre of Europe. 
 Suffice it to say that their quarrels with the authorities, or the inhabitants of 
 the countries which had the misfortune to be periodically visited by them, 
 have left numerous traces in history. 
 
 On the 7th of Jfovember, 1453, from sixty to eighty gipsies, coming from 
 CourtisoUes, arrived at the entrance of the town of Cheppe, near Chalons- 
 sur-Marne. The strangers, many of whom carried "javelins, darts, and 
 other implements of war," having asked for hospitality, the mayor of the 
 town informed them " that it was not long since some of the same company, 
 or others very like them, had been lodged in the town, and had been guilty 
 of various acts of theft." The gipsies persisted in their demands, the indig- 
 nation of the people was aroused, and they were soon obliged to resume their 
 journey. During their im willing retreat, they were pursued by many of the 
 inhabitants of the town, one of whom killed a gipsy named Martin de la 
 Barre : the murderer, however, obtained the King's pardon. 
 
 In 1532, at Pleinpalais, a suburb of Geneva, some rascals from among a 
 band of gipsies, consisting of upwards of three hundred in number, fell upon 
 several of the officers who were stationed to prevent their entering the town. 
 The citizens hurried up to the scene of disturbance. The gipsies retired to 
 the monastery of the Augustin friars, in which they fortified themselves : the 
 bourgeois besieged them, and would have committed summary justice on 
 them, but the authorities interfered, and some twenty of the vagrants were 
 arrested, but they sued for mercy, and were discharged. 
 
 In 1632, the inhabitants of Viarme, in the Department of Lot-et- Garonne, 
 made an onslaught upon a troop of gipsies who wanted to take up their 
 
GIPSIES, TRAMPS, AND BEGGARS. 463 
 
 quarters in that town. The whole of them were killed, with the exceijtion 
 of their chief, who was taken prisoner and brought before the Parliament of 
 Bordeaux, and ordered to be hung. Twenty-one years before this, the 
 mayor and magistrates of Bordeaux gave orders to the soldiers of the watch 
 to arrest a gipsy chief, who, having shut himself up in the tower of Veyrines, 
 at Merignac, ransacked the surrounding country. On the 21st of July, 1622, 
 the same magistrates ordered the gipsies to leave the jiarish of Eysines within 
 twenty-four hours, under penalty of the lash. 
 
 It was not often that the gipsies used violence or openly resisted authority ; 
 they more frequently had recourse to artifice and cunning in order to attain 
 their end. A certain Captain Charles acquired a great reputation amongst 
 them for the clever ti'ickeries which he continually conceived, and which his 
 troop undertook to carry out. A chronicler of the time says, that by means 
 of certain herbs which he gave to a half-starved horse, he made him into a 
 fat and sleek animal ; the horse was then sold at one of the neighbouring 
 fairs or markets, but the purchaser detected the fraud within a week, for the 
 horse soon became thin again, and usually sickened and died. 
 
 Tallemant des Reaux relates that, on one occasion, Captain Charles and 
 his attendants took up their quarters in a village, the curt? of which being 
 rich and parsimonious, was much disliked by his parishioners. The cure 
 never left his house, and the gipsies could not, therefore, get an opportunity 
 to rob him. In this difficulty, they pretended that one of them had com- 
 mitted a crime, and had been condemned to be hung a quarter of a league 
 from the village, where they betook themselves with all their goods. The 
 man, at the foot of the gibbet, asked for a confessor, and they went to fetch 
 the cure. He, at tirst, refused to go, but his parishioners compelled him. 
 During his absence some gipsies entered his house, took five hundred ecus 
 from his strong box, and quickly rejoined the troop. As soon as the rascal 
 saw them returning, he said that he appealed to the king of la peiife 
 Egijpte, upon which the captain exclaimed, " Ah ! the traitor ! I expected 
 he would appeal." Immediately they packed up, secured the prisoner, and 
 were far enough away from the scene before the cure re-entered his house. 
 
 Tallemant relates another good trick. Near Roye. in Picardy, a gipsy 
 who had stolen a sheep ofiFered it to a bulcher for one hundred sous (about 
 sixty francs of our money), but the butcher declined to give more than four 
 Hvres for it. The butcher then went away ; whereupon the gipsy pulled the 
 
464 GIPSIES, TRAMPS, AND BEGGARS. 
 
 sheep from a sack into wliich he had put it, and substituted for it a child 
 belonging to his tribe. He then ran after the butcher, and said, " Give me 
 five livres, and you shall have the sack into the bargain." The butcher paid 
 him the money, and went away. When he got home he opened the sack, 
 and was much astonished when he saw a little boy jump out of it, who, in 
 an instant, caught up the sack and ran off. " Never was a poor man so 
 thoroughly hoaxed as this butcher," says Tallemant des Reaux. 
 
 The gipsies had thousands of other tricks in stock as good as the ones 
 we have just related, in proof of which we have but to refer to the testimony 
 of one of their own tribe, who, under the name of Pechon de Ruby, published, 
 towards the close of the sixteenth century, " La Vie Gen^reuse des Mattois, 
 Gueux, Bohemiens et Cagoux." " "When they want to leave a place where 
 they have been stopping, they set out in an opposite direction to that in 
 which they are going, and after travelling about half a league they take 
 their right course. They possess the best and most accurate maps, in which 
 are laid down not only all the towns, villages, and rivers, but also the houses 
 of the gentrjr and others ; and they fix upon places of rendezvous every ten 
 
 days, at twenty leagues from the point from whence they set out The 
 
 captain hands over to each of the chiefs three or four families to take charge 
 of, and these small bands take different cross-roads towards the place of 
 rendezvous. Those who are well armed and mounted he sends off with a 
 good almanac, on which are marked all the fairs, and they continually 
 change their dress and their horses. When they take up their quarters in 
 any village they steal very little in its immediate vicinity, but in the 
 neighbouring parishes they rob and plunder in the most daring manner. 
 If they find a sum of money they give notice to the captain, and make a 
 rapid flight from the place. They coin counterfeit money, and put it into 
 circulation. They play at all sorts of games ; they buy all sorts of horses, 
 whether sound or unsound, provided they can manage to pay for them in 
 their own base coin. When they buy food they pay for it in good money 
 the first time, as they are held in such distrust ; but, when they are about to 
 leave a neighbourhood, they again buy something, for Avhich they tender 
 false coin, receiving the change in good money. In harvest time all doors 
 are shut against them ; nevertheless they contrive, by means of picklocks 
 and other instruments, to effect an entrance into houses, when they steal 
 linen, cloaks, silver, and any other movable article which they can lay their 
 
GIPS/ES, TRAMPS, AXD BKGGARS. 
 
 465 
 
 hands on. They give a strict account of everythin;? to their captain, who 
 takes his share of all they get, except of what they earn by fortunc- 
 teUing. They are yery clever at making a good bargain ; when they know 
 of a rich merchant being in the place, they disguise themselves, enter into 
 communications with him, and swindle him after which they chano'e 
 
 373.— The Gipsy who usrxl to wash his Hands in Molten LeaJ.— Farj-simile of a Woodcut 
 in the " Histoires ilorveiUeiises " of Pierre Boaistiiau : in 4to, loUO. 
 
 their clothes, have their horses shod the reverse way, and the shoes covered 
 with some soft material lest they should be lieard, and gallop away." 
 
 In the "Histoire Generale des Larrons" we read that the vagabonds called 
 gipsies sometimes played tricks with goblets, sometimes danced on the tight- 
 rope, turned double somersaidts, and performed other feats (Fig. 373), which 
 proves that these adventurers adopted all kinds of methods of gaining a live- 
 lihood, liighway robbery not excepted. We must not, therefore, be surprised 
 
466 GIPSIES, TRAMPS, AND BEGGARS. 
 
 if in almost all countries very severe police measures were taken against this 
 dano-erous race, thougli we must admit tliat these measures sometimes partook 
 of a barbarous character. 
 
 After having forbidden them, with a threat of six years at the galleys, 
 to sojourn in Spain, Charles V. ordered them to leave Flanders under penalty 
 of death. In 1545, a gipsy who had infringed the sentence of banishment 
 was condemned by the Court of IJtrecht to be flogged till the blood appeared, 
 to have his nostrils slit, his hair removed, his beard shaved off, and to be 
 banished for life. "We can form some idea," says the German historian 
 Grrellman, "of the miserable condition of the gipsies from the following 
 facts : many of them, and especially the women, have been burned by their 
 own request, in order to end their miserable state of existence ; and we can 
 give the case of a gipsy who, having been arrested, flogged, and conducted 
 to the frontier, with the threat that if he re-appeared in the coimtry he 
 would be hanged, resolutely returned after three successive and similar 
 threats, at three different places, and implored that the capital sentence 
 might be carried out, in order that he might be released from a life of such 
 misery. These unfortunate people," continues the historian, " were not even 
 looked upon as human beings, for during a hunting party, consisting of 
 members of a small German court, the huntsmen had no scniple whatever in 
 killing a gipsy woman who was suckling her child, just as they would have 
 done any wild beast which came in their way." 
 
 M. Francisque Michel says, " Amongst the questions which arise from 
 a consideration of the existence of this remarkable people, is one which, I 
 although neglected, is nevertheless of considerable interest, namely, how, with 
 a strange language, unlike any used in Europe, the gipsies could make them- 
 selves understood by the people amongst whom they made their appearance 
 for the first time : newly arrived in the west, they could have none of 
 those interpreters who are only to be found amongst a long-estabHshed 
 people, and who have political and commercial intercourse with other 
 nations. Where, then, did the gipsies obtain interpreters? The answer 
 seems to us to be clear. Receiving into their ranks all those whom crime, 
 the fear of punishment, an uneasy conscience, or the charm of a roaming life, 
 continually threw in their path, they made use of them either to find their 
 way into countries of which they were ignorant, or to commit robberies 
 which woidd otherwise have been impracticable. Themselves adepts m all 
 
GIPSIES, TRAMPS, AND BEGGARS. 
 
 4f'7 
 
 sorts of bad practices, they were not slow to form an alliance with profli- 
 gate characters who sometimes worked in concert with them, and sometimes 
 alone, and who alwaj^s framed the model for their own organization from that 
 of the gipsies." 
 
 This alliance — goTcrned by statutes, the honour of compiling which 
 lias been given to a certain Eagot, who styled himself captain — was composed 
 of matois, or sharpers; of merceJots, or hawkers, who were very little better than 
 the former; oi guen.r, or dishonest beggars, and of a host of other swindlers, 
 constituting the order or hierarchy of the Argot, or Slang people. Their chief 
 was called the Grand Cocsrc, "a vagabond broken to all the tricks of his trade," 
 
 Fig. a?!.— Oriihans, CtUols and the Fiimily of the Grand Coesre. — From painted Hangings and 
 Tapestry from the Town of Rheims, executed dm-ing the Fifteenth Century. 
 
 says M. Francisque Michel, and who frequently ended his days on the rack or 
 the gibbet. History has furnished us with the story of a "miserable cripple" 
 who used to sit in a wooden bowl, and who, after having been Grand Coesre for 
 three years, was liroken alive on the wheel at Bordeaux for his crimes. He 
 was called Roi dr Tmirs (Tunis), and was drawn about liy two large dogs. One 
 of his successors, the Grand Coesre sumamed Anacreon, who suffered from the 
 same infirmity, namely, that of a cripple, rode about Paris on a donkey begging. 
 He generally held his court on the Port-au-Foin, where he sat on his throne 
 dressed in a manth^ nvide of a thousaiid pieces. The Grand Coesre had a 
 lieutenant in each province called erifjon, whose business it was to initiate 
 
468 
 
 GIPSIES, TRAMPS, AND BEGGARS. 
 
 apprentices in t]ie secrets of tlie craft, and who looked after, in diiferent 
 localities, those whom the chief had entrusted to his care. He gave an 
 account of the property he received in thus exercising his stewardship, and of 
 the money as well as of the clothing which he took from the Argoiiers who 
 refused to recognise his authority. As a remuneration for their duties, the 
 cagoux were exempt from all tribute to their chief; thejr received their 
 share of the property taken from persons whom they had ordered to he 
 robbed, and they were free to beg in any way they pleased. After the 
 cagoux came the archisuppots, who, being recruited from the lowest dregs of 
 
 Fig. 375. — The Blind and the Poor Sick of St. John. — From painted Hangings and Tapestry 
 in the Town of Eheims, executed during the Fifteenth Century. 
 
 the clergy and others who had been in a better position, were, so to speak, 
 the teachers of the law. To them was intrusted the duty of instructing the 
 less experienced rogues, and of determining the language of Slang ; and, as a 
 reward for their good and loj^al services, they had the right of begging 
 without paying any fees to their chiefs. 
 
 The Grand Coesre levied a tax of twenty-four sous per annum upon 
 the young rogues, who went about the streets pretending to shed tears 
 (Fig. 374), as " helpless or^Dhans," in order to excite public sympathy. 
 The marcandiers had to pay an ecu ; they were tramps, clothed in a tolerably 
 good doublet, who passed themselves off as merchants ruined by war, by 
 
GIPSIES. TRAMPS, AND BEGGARS. 
 
 +'") 
 
 fire, or by having been robbed on the highway. The malincjrcux had to pay 
 forty sous ; they wei'c covered with sores, most of which were self-inflictod, 
 or they pretended to have swellings of some kind, and stated that they were 
 about to undertake a pilgrimage to St. Miien, in Brittany, in order to be cured. 
 The pietres, or lame rogues, paid half an ecu, and walked with crutches. 
 The mhoulciLr, who were commonly called the jjoor nicl; af Si. John, were 
 in the habit of frequenting fairs and markets, or the vicinity of churches ; 
 
 Fig. 376.— The Jluffis and tlie Millarda.—Yvom paintu-d Hangings and Tapestry of Rheims, executed 
 about the Fifteenth Century. 
 
 there, smeared with blood and ai:)pearing as if foaming at the mouth by 
 means of a piece of soap they had placed in it, they struggled on the ground 
 as if in a fit, and in this way realised a considerable amount of alms. 
 These consequently paid the largest fees to the Coesre (Fig. 875). 
 
 Besides these, there were the callots, M'ho were either atfected with a 
 scurfy disease or pretended to be so, and who were contributors to the civil 
 list of their chief to the amount of seven sous ; as also the coquillards, or pre- 
 
470 
 
 GIPSIES, TRAMPS, AND BEGGARS. 
 
 tended pilgrims of St. James or St. Micliael ; and the huhins, wlio, according to 
 tlie forged certificate which they carried with them, were going to, or returning 
 from, St. Hubert, after having been bitten by a mad dog. The polissons paid 
 two ecus to the Coesre, but they earned a considerable amount, especially 
 in winter ; for benevolent people, touched with their destitution and half- 
 nakedness, gave them sometimes a doublet, sometimes a shirt, or some 
 
 other article of clothing, which of course 
 they immediately sold. The francs mitoutr, 
 who were never taxed above five sous, were 
 sickly members of the fraternitj^, or at all 
 events pretended to be such ; they tied their 
 arms above the elbow so as to stop the pulse, 
 and fell down apparently fainting on the public 
 footj^aths. We must also mention the ric/fes 
 and the milktrds, who went into the country in 
 groups begging (Fig. 376). The capons were 
 cut-purses, who hardly ever left the towns, 
 and who laid hands on everything within their 
 reach. The courtauds de hoidanche pretended 
 to be workmen, and were to be met with 
 everywhere with the tools of their craft on their 
 back, though they never used them. The 
 convertis pretended to have been impressed by 
 the exhortations of some excellent preacher, 
 and made a public profession of faith ; they 
 afterwards stationed themselves at church 
 doors, as recently converted Catholics, and in 
 this way I'eceived liberal contributions. 
 
 Lastly, we must mention the drilles, the 
 narqvois, or the people of the petite flambe, who for the most part were old 
 pensioners, and who begged in the streets from house to hoiise, with their 
 swords at their sides (Fig. 377). These, who at times lived a racketing and 
 luxurious life, at last rebelled against the Grand Coesre, and would no longer 
 be reckoned among his subjects — a step which gave a considerable shock to 
 the Argotic monarchy. 
 
 There was another cause which greatly contributed to diminish the power 
 
 Fig. 377. — The Drilte or Narqnoh. 
 — From painted HangiDgs from 
 the Town of Eheims (Fifteenth 
 Century). 
 
GIPSIES, TRAMPS, A. YD BE(;(;aPS 4-, 
 
 as well as tlie prestige of this eccentric sovereign, and this was, that the 
 cut-purses, the night-prowlers and wood-thieves, not finding sufficient means 
 of livelihood in their own department, and seeing that the Argotiers, on the 
 contrary, were always in a more luxurious position, tried to amalgamate 
 robbery with mendicity, which raised an outcry amongst these sections of 
 their community. The archisuppots and the cagoux at first declined such 
 an alliance, but eventually they were obliged to admit all, with tlu' 
 exception of the wood-thieves, who were altogether excluded. In the seven- 
 teenth century, therefore, in order to become a thorough Argotier, it was 
 necessary not only to solicit alms like any mere beggar, but also to 
 possess the dexterity of the cut-purse and the thief. These arts were 
 to be learned in the places which served as the habitual rendezvous of 
 the very dregs of society, and which were generally known as the Coiir/i 
 des Miracles. These houses, or rather resorts, had been so called, if we 
 are to believe a writer of the early part of the seventeenth ceuturv, 
 "Because rogues . . . and others, who have all day been cripples, maimed, 
 dropsical, and beset with every sort of bodily ailment, come home at night, 
 carrying under their arms a sirloin of beef, a joint of veal, or a leg of 
 mutton, not forgetting to hang a bottle of wine to their belt, and, on enter- 
 ing the court, they throw aside their crutches, resume their healthy and lusty 
 appearance, and, in imitation of the ancient Bacchanalian revelries, dance 
 all kinds of dances with their trophies in their hands, whilst the host is 
 preparing their suppers. Can there be a greater miracle than is to be seen 
 in this court, where the maimed walk upright ?" 
 
 In Paris there were several Cours des Miracles, but the most celebrated was 
 that which, from the time of Sauval, the singular historian of the " Anticpiities 
 of Paris," to the middle of the seventeenth century, preserved this generic name 
 ]iar excellence, and which exists to this day (Fig. 379). He says, "It is a jjluce 
 of considerable size, and is in an unhealthy, muddy, and irregular blind alley. 
 Formerly it was situated on the outskirts of Paris, now it is in one of the 
 worst built, dirtiest, and most out-of-the-way quarters of the town, between the 
 Rue Moutorgueil, the convent of the Filles-Dieu, and the Eue Neuve-Saint- 
 Sauveur. To get there one must wander through narrow, close, and 
 by-streets; and in order to enter it, one must descend a somewhat wiudiug 
 and rugged declivity. In this place I found a mud house, half buried, very 
 shaky Irom old age and I'ottenness, and only eight metres square; but in 
 
472 
 
 GIPSIES, TRAMPS, AND BEGGARS. 
 
 Fig-. 379.— C'(««- des Minifies of Paris. Talebot the Huncliback, a celebrated Scamp during the 
 Seventeenth Century. — Fi om an old Engraving' in the Collection of Engravings in the 
 National Library of Paris. 
 
 -which, nevertheless, some fifty families are living, who have the charge of 
 a large nuniber of children, many of -^'hom are stolen or illegitimate .... 
 I was assured that upwards of five hundred large families occupy that 
 
GIPSIES, TRAMPS, AND BEGGARS. 473 
 
 
 
 and other houses adjoining Large as this court is, it was ibnnerly 
 
 even bigger Here, without any care for the future, every one enjoys 
 
 the present ; and eats in the evening what he has earned during the day with 
 so much trouble, and often with so many blows ; for it is one of the funda- 
 mental rules of the Cour des Miracles never to lay by anything for th 
 morrow. Every one who lives there indulges in the utmost licentiousness ; 
 
 both religion and law are utterly ignored It is true that outwardly 
 
 they appear to acknowledge a God; for they have set up in a niche an 
 image of God tlie Father, which they have stolen from some church, and 
 before which they come daily to offer up certain prayers ; but this is only 
 because they superstitiously imagine that by this means they are released 
 from the necessity of ijerforming the duties of Christians to their pastor and 
 their parish, and are even absolved from the sin of entering a church for the 
 purpose of robbery and purse-cutting." 
 
 Paris, the cai^ital of the kingdom of rogues, was not the only town which 
 possessed a Cour des JMiracles, for we find here and there, especially at 
 Lj-ons and Bordeaux, some ti'aces of these privileged resorts of rogues and 
 thieves, which then flourished under the sceptre of the Grand Coesre. Sauval 
 states, on the testimony of people worthy of credit, that at Sainte-Anne 
 d'Auray, the most holy jjlace of pilgrimage in Brittany, under the superin- 
 tendence of the order of reformed Cai-melite friars, there was a large field 
 called the Bofjiie's Field. This was covered with mud huts ; and here the 
 Grand Coesre resorted annually on the principal solemn festivals, with his 
 officers and subjects, in order "to hold his council of state, that is to say, 
 in order to settle and arrange respecting robbery. At these atate meetings, 
 which were not always held at Sainte-Aime d'Auray, all the subjects of the 
 Grand Coesre were present, and paid homage to their lord and master. 
 Some came and paid him the tribute which was reipiired of them by the 
 statutes of the craft ; others rendered him an account of wliat they had done, 
 and what they had earned during the year. When they had executed their 
 work badly, he ordered them to be punished, either corporally or jjecuniarily, 
 according to the gravity of their oflenccs. When he had not himself pro- 
 perly governed his people, he was dethroned, and a successor was appomted 
 by acclamation. 
 
 At these assemblies, as well as in the Cours des Miracles, French was 
 not spoken, but a strange and artificial language was used called pinjon, 
 
 '6 V ' . 
 
47+ 
 
 GIPSIES, TRAMPS, AND BEGGARS. 
 
 langue matoise, narquois, &c. This language, wliicli is still in use under the 
 name of argot, or slang, had for the most part been borrowed from, the jargon 
 or slang of the lower orders. To a considerable extent, according to the learned 
 
 Fig. 380. — Beggar playing the Fiddle, and his Wife accompanying him with the Bones. — From 
 an old Engraving of the Seventeenth Century. 
 
 philologist of this mysterious language, M. Francisque Michel, it was com- 
 posed of French words lengthened or abbreviated ; of proverbial expressions ; 
 of words expressing the symbols of things instead of the things themselves; 
 of terms either intentionally or unintentionally altered from their true 
 
GIPSIES, TRAMPS, A XT) BFCdARS. 475 
 
 meaning; and of words which resemLlcd other words in sound, but wliicli 
 had not the same signification. Thus, for mouth, thej' said prnifiirc, from 
 pain (bread), which they put into it ; the arms were ///aiif: (binders) ; an ox 
 was a cornant (horned) ; a purse, a fouille, ov fouillonsp ; a cock, a horhxjc, or 
 timepiece ; the legs, des quilles (nine-pins) ; a sou, a roud, or round thing ; 
 the eyes, des hiimnts (spai'klers), &.c. In jargon several words were also 
 taken from the ancient language of the gipsies, which testifies to the part 
 which these vagabonds played in the formation of the Argotic community. 
 For example, a shirt was called limn ; a chambermaid, limof/h-e ; sheets, 
 /imans — words all derived from the gipsy word lima, a shirt : they called 
 an ecu, a rusquin or roiff/cfime, from rujia, the common word for monej' ; a 
 rich man, rupin ; a house, tiirne ; a knife, cJwuriv, from nip, tnrna, and 
 cJwri, which, in the gipsy tongue, mean respectively silver, castle, and 
 knife. 
 
 From what we have related about rogues and the Cours des Miracles, 
 one might perhaps be tempted to suppose that France was specially 
 privileged ; but it was not so, for Italy was far worse in this respect. The 
 rogues were called by the Italians bianti, or rerefeiiii, and were subdivided 
 into more than forty classes, the various characteristics of which have been 
 described by a certain Hafael Frianoro. It is not necessary to state that the 
 analogue of more than one of these classes is to be found in the short 
 description we have given of the Argotic kingdom in France. We will 
 therefore only mention those which were more especially Italian. It must 
 not be forgotten that in the southern countries, where religious superstition 
 was more marked than elsewhere, the numerous family of rogues had no diffi- 
 culty in practising every description of imposture, inasmuch as they trusted to 
 the various manifestations of religious feeling to effect their purposes. Thus 
 the nffnifi, in order to obtain more alms and offerings, went about in the 
 garb of monks and priests, even saying mass, and pretending that it was the 
 first time they had exercised their sacred office. So the morghigeri walked 
 behind a donkey, carrying a bell and a lamp, with their string of beads in 
 their hands, and asking how they were to pay for the bell, which they were 
 always "just going to buy." The fihi pretended that they were divinely 
 inspired and endowed with the gift of second sight, and announced that 
 there were hidden treasures in certain houses under the guardianship of evil 
 8pirit.s. They asserted that these treasures could not be discovered without 
 
476 
 
 GIPSIES, TRAMPS, AND BEGGARS. 
 
 i<'jg-. 381. — Italian Beggar. — From an Engraving ty Callot. 
 
 danger, except by means of fastings and offerings, wlaicli they and then- 
 brethren could alone make, in consideration of which they entered into a 
 bargain, and received a certain sum of money from the owners. Ihe 
 
GIPSIES, TRAMPS, AND BEGGARS. 
 
 477 
 
 uccatoHl deserve mention on account of the cleverness with wliicli they con- 
 trived to assume the appearance of captives recently escaped from slavery. 
 Shaking the chains with which they said they had been bound, jabberji- 
 unintelligible words, telling heart-rending talcs of their sufferings and priva- 
 tions, and showing the marks of blows which they had received, they went 
 on their knees, begging for money that they might buy off their brethren 
 or their friends, whom they said they had left in the hands of the Saracens 
 or the Turks. We must mention, also, the aUacrimanti, or weepers, who 
 owed their name to the facility which they possessed of shedding tears at 
 will ; and the tesfatori, who, pretending to be seriously ill and about to die. 
 
 ^!%J 
 
 ^ 
 
 miix 
 
 
 # ) 
 
 M 
 
 #■' 1 
 
 |i H 
 
 1 ■■ ^MIK 
 
 
 Figs. 382 and 383. — German Beggars. — Fac-simile of a Woodcut in the " Cosmographii 
 Uriiverselle " of Munster: in folio, Basle, 1.5.52. 
 
 extorted money from all those to whom they promised to leave their for- 
 tunes, though, of course, they had not a sou to leave behind them. We 
 must not forget the protohianfi (master rogues), who made no scruple of ex- 
 citing compassion from their own comrades (Fig. 381), nor the vergognosi, 
 who, notwithstanding their poverty, wished to be thought rich, and con- 
 sidered that assistance was due to them from the mere fact of their being 
 noble. We must here conclude, for it would occupy too much time to 
 go through the list of these Italian viigabonds. As for the German 
 (Figs. ;j82 and 383), Spanish, and Engli.sh rogues, we may simply remark 
 that no type exists among them which is not to be met with amongst 
 
478 GIPSIES, TRAMPS, AND BEGGARS. 
 
 I 
 
 the Argotiers of France or the Bianti of Italy. In giying a description, 
 therefore, of the mendicity practised in these two countries during the 
 Middle Ages, ■n'e are sure to be representing what it was in other parts of 
 Europe. 
 
 The history of regular robbers and highwaymen during this long period 
 is more difficult to describe ; it contains only disconnected anecdotes of a 
 more or less interesting character. It is probable, moreover, that robbers 
 did not always commit their depredations singly, and that they early under- 
 stood the advantages of associating together. The Tafurs, or Hakgrins, whom 
 we notice as followers of Godefroy de Bouillon at the time of the Crusades, 
 towards the end of the eleventh century, were terribly bad characters, and 
 are actually accused by contemporary writers of violating tombs, and of 
 living on human flesh. On this account they were looked upon with 
 the utmost horror by the infidels, who dreaded more their savage ferocity 
 than the valour of the Crusaders. The latter even, who had these hordes 
 of Tafurs under their command, were not without considerable mistrust 
 of them, and when, during their march through Hungary, under the 
 protection of the cross, these miscreants committed depredations, Godefroy de 
 Bouillon was obliged to ask pardon for them from the king of that 
 country. 
 
 An ancient poet has handed down to us a story in verse setting forth 
 the exploits of Eustace the monk, who, after having thrown aside his frock, 
 embraced the life of a robber, and only abandoned it to become Admiral of 
 France under Philip Augustus. He was killed before Sandwich, in 1217. 
 We have satisfactory proof that as early as the thirteenth century sharpers 
 were very expert masters of their trade, for the ingenious and amusing 
 tricks of which they were guilty are quite equal to the most skilled of those 
 now recorded in our police reports. In the two following centuries the 
 science of the pince and of the croc (pincers and hook), as it was then called, 
 alone made progress, and Pathelln (a character in comedy, and an incom- 
 parable type of craft and dishonesty) never lacked disciples any more than 
 Villon did imitators. We know that this charming poet, who was at the 
 same time a most expert thief, narrowly escaped hanging on two occasions. 
 His contemporaries attributed to him a poem of twelve hundred verses, 
 entitled " Les Repues Franches," in which are described the methods in use 
 among his companions for procuring wine, bread, meat, and fish, without 
 
GIPSIES, TRAMPS, AXD PEGGARS. 479 
 
 having to pay for them. They form a series of iuteresting stories, the moral 
 of which is to be gathered from the following lines : 
 
 " C'est bieu disue, quand on eschapjie 
 Sans desbourcer pas ung denier, 
 Et diie adieu au ta vernier, 
 En torchant son nez a la nappe." 
 
 The meaning of this doggrel, which is somewhat broad, may be rendered — 
 "He dines well who escapes without paying a penny, and who bids farewell 
 to the innkeeper by wiping his nose on the tablecloth." 
 
 Side by side with this poem of Villon we ought to cite one of a 
 later jieriod — "La Legende de Maitre Faifeu," versified by Charles 
 Boudigne. This Faifeu was a kind of Villon of Anjou, who ex- 
 celled in all kinds of rascality, and who might possibly have taught 
 it even to the gipsies themselves. The character of Panurge, in the 
 " Pantagruel," is no other than the type of Faifeu, immortalised by the 
 genius of Rabelais. We must also mention one of the jjamphlets of 
 Guillaume Bouchet, written towards the end of the sixteenth century, which 
 gives a very amusing account of thieves of every description, and also 
 "L'Histoire Generale des Larrons," in which are related numerous 
 wonderful tales of murders, robberies, and other atrocities, which made our 
 admiring ancestors well acquainted with the heroes of the Greve and of 
 Montfaucon. It must not be supposed that in those days the life of a robber 
 who pursued his occupation with any degree of industry and skill was un- 
 attended with danger, for the most harmless cut-purses were hung without 
 mercy whenever they were caught ; the fear, however, of this fate did not 
 prevent the Enfants ik la Matte from performing wonders. 
 
 Brantome relates that King Charles IX. had the curiosity to wish to 
 " know how the cut-purses performed their arts with .so much skill and dex- 
 terity," and begged Captain La Chambre to introduce to him, on the occasion 
 of a banquet and a ball, the cleverest cut-purses, giving them full liberty to 
 exhibit their skill. The captain went to the Cours des Miracles and fetched 
 ten of the most expert of these thieves, wliom he presented to the King. 
 Charles, " after the dinner and the ball had taken place, wished to see all the 
 plunder, and found that they had absolutely earned three thousand ecus, 
 either in money from purses, or in precious stones, pearls, or other jewels; 
 some of the guests even lost their cloaks, at which the King thought he 
 
480 
 
 GIPSIES, TRAMPS, AND BEGGARS. 
 
 should die of laughter." The King allowed them to keep what they had 
 thus earned at the expense of his guests ; but he forbad them " to con- 
 tinue this sort of life," under penalty of being hung, and he had them 
 enrolled in the army, in order to recompense them for their clever feats. 
 We may safely assert that they made but indifferent soldiers. 
 
 Fig. 384. — The Exhibitor of strange Animals (Twelfth Century 
 Manuscript, Eoyal Library of Brussels). 
 
CEREMONIALS. 
 
 Origin of Modem Ceremonial.— Uncertainty of French Ceremonial up to the End of the Sixteenth 
 Century.— Con sf oration of the Kings of France.— Coronation of the Emperors of Germany.— 
 Consecration of the Doges of Venice.— Marriage of the Doge with the Sea.— State Entries of 
 Sovereigns.— An Account of the Entrj- of Isahel of Bavaria into Paris.— Seats of Justice.— 
 Visits of Ceremony hetween Persons of Eanl^.— Mourning.— Social Courtesies.— Popular 
 
 Demonstrations and National Commemorations. — New Year's Day.— Local Festivals. Viiis 
 
 d'Hoxnenr. — Processions of Trades. 
 
 LTHOUGH society during the Middle 
 Ages was, a.s a whole, clo-scly cemented 
 together, being animated by the same 
 sentiments and imbued with the same 
 spirit, it was divided, as we have 
 already stated, into three great classes, 
 namely, the clergy, the nobility, and 
 the tiers-etat. These classes, each of 
 which formed a distinct body within 
 the State, carried on an existence 
 l^eculiar to itself, and presented in 
 its collective capacity a separate individuality. Hence there was a dis- 
 tinct ceremonial for each cla.ss. We will not attempt to give in detail 
 the innumerable laws of these three kinds of ceremonial, our attention 
 will be directed .solely to their most characteristic customs, and to their 
 most remarkable and interesting a.spects taken as a whole. We must 
 altogether lay aside matters relating .specially to ceremonies of a purely 
 religious character, as they are connected more or less with the tradi- 
 tions and customs of the Church, and belong to quite a distinct order of 
 things. 
 
 "When the Germans, and especially the Franks," says the learned 
 
 3 Q 
 
CEREMONIALS. 
 
 paleographer Vallet de Viriville, "liad succeeded in establishing their own 
 rule in place of that of the Romans, these almost savage nations, and the 
 barbarian chiefs who were at their head under the title of kings, necessarily- 
 borrowed more or less the refined practices relating to ceremonial possessed 
 by the people whom they had conqiiered. The elevation of the elected chief 
 or king on the shield and the solemn taking of arms in the midst of the 
 tribe seem to be the only traces of public ceremonies which we can discover 
 among the Grermans. The marvellous display and the imposing splendour 
 of the political hierarchy of the Roman Empire, especially in its outward 
 arrangements, must have astonished the minds of these uncultivated people. 
 Thus "we find the Frank kings becoming immediately after a victory the 
 simple and clumsy imitators of the civilisation which they had broken 
 up." Clovis on retvirning to Tours in 507, after having defeated Alaric, 
 received the titles of Patrician and Consul from the Emperor Anastasius, 
 and bedecked himself with the purple, the chlamys, and the diadem. 
 The same principle of imitation was afterwards exhibited in the internal 
 and external court ceremonial, in proportion as it became developed in 
 the royal person. Charlemagne, who aimed at everything which could 
 adorn and add strength to a new monarchy, established a regular method 
 for the general and special administration of his empire, as also for the 
 internal arrangement and discipline of his palace. We have already 
 referred to this twofold organization {vide chapters on Private Life and on 
 Food), but we may here remark that, notwithstanding these ancient ten- 
 dencies to the creation of a fixed ceremonial, the trifling rules which made 
 etiquette a science and a law, were introduced by degrees, and have onty 
 very recently been established amongst us. 
 
 In 1385, when King Charles VI. married the notorious Isabel of 
 Bavaria, then scarcely fourteen years of age, he desired to arrange for her 
 a magnificent entry into Paris, the pomp and brilliancy of which should 
 be consistent with the rank and illustrious descent of his young bride. 
 He therefore begged the old Queen Blanche, widow of Philippe de Yalois, 
 to preside over the ceremony, and to have it conducted according to the 
 custom of olden times. She was consequently obliged, in the absence of 
 any fixed rules on the subject, to consult the oflicial records, — that is to 
 say, the " Chronique du Monastere de Saint-Denis." The first embodiment 
 of rules relating to these matters in use among the nobility, which had 
 
CEREMONIALS. 
 
 4h3 
 
 aijpeared in France under the title of " Iloimeurs de la Cour," only poos 
 back to the end of the fifteenth century. It appears, however, Ihut even 
 then this was not generally admitted 
 among the nobilit}' as the basis of cere- 
 monial, for in 1548 we find that nothing 
 had been definitely settled. This is 
 evident from the fact that when King 
 Henri III. desired to know the rank 
 and order of precedence of the princes 
 of the royal blood, both dukes and 
 counts — as also that of the other 
 princes, the barons, the nobles of the 
 kingdom, the constables, the marshals 
 of France and the admirals, and what 
 position they had held on great public 
 occasions during the reigns of his ju'e- 
 decessors — he commissioned Jean du 
 Tillet, the civil registrar of the Par- 
 liament of Paris, to search among the 
 royal archives for the various authentic 
 documents which mig-ht throw lio-ht 
 on this question, and serve as a pre- 
 cedent for the future. In fact, it was- 
 Henri III. who, in 1585, created the 
 office of Grand Master of the Cere- 
 monies of France, entrusting it to. 
 Guillaume Pot, a noble of Ehodes,. 
 which office for many generations 
 remained hereditary in his family. 
 
 Nevertheless the question of cere- 
 monial, and especially that of prece- 
 dence, had already more than once 
 occupied the attention of sovereigns, 
 
 not only within their own states, but also in relation to diplomatic matters. 
 The meetings of councils, at which the ambassadors of all the Christian 
 Powers, with the delegates of the Catholic Church, were assembled, did 
 
 Fig. 38.5.— Herald (Fourteenth Century).— 
 From a lliniature in the "Chroniques do 
 Saint-Denis " (Imperial library of Paris). 
 
484 CEREMONIALS. 
 
 not fail to bring this subject up for decision. Pops Julius II. in 1504 
 instructed Pierre de Crassis, bis Master of tbe Ceremonies, to publisb a 
 decree, determining the rank to be taken by the various sovereigns of 
 Europe or by their representatives ; but we should add that this Papal decree 
 never received the sanction of the parties interested, and that the question 
 of precedence, even at the most unimportant public ceremonies, was during 
 the whole of the Middle Ages a perpetual source of litigation in courts of 
 law, and of quarrels which too often ended in bloodshed. 
 
 It is right that we should place at the head of political ceremonies 
 those having reference to the coronation of sovereigns, which were not only 
 political, but owed their supreme imp)ortance and dignity to the necessary 
 intervention of ecclesiastical authority. We will therefore first spaak of the 
 consecration and coronation of the kings of France. 
 
 Pepin le Bref, son of Charles Martel and founder of the second dynasty, 
 was the first of the French kings who was consecrated by the religious rite 
 of anointing. But its mode of administration for a long psriod underwent 
 numerous changes, before becoming established by a definite law. Thus 
 Pepin, after having been first consecrated in 752 in the Cathedral of 
 Soissons, by the Archbishop of Mayence, was again consecrated with his two 
 sons Charlemagne and Carloman, in 753, in the Abbey of St. Denis, by 
 Pope Stephen III. Charlemagne was twice anointed by the Sovereign 
 Pontiff, first as King of Lombardy, and then as Emperor. Louis le Debon- 
 naire, his immediate successor, was consecrated at Rheima by Pope Stephen IV. 
 in 816. In 877 Louis le Begue received imction and the sceptre, at 
 Compiegne, at the hands of the Archbishop of E-heims. Charles le Simple in 
 893, and Hobert I. in 922, were consecrated and crowned at E.heim3 ; but the 
 coronation of Raoul, in 923, was celebrated in the Abbey of St. Medard de 
 Soissons, and that of Louis d'Outremer, in 936, at Laon. From the accession 
 of King Lothaire to that of Louis VI. (called Le Gros), the consecration of 
 the kings of France sometimes took place in the metropolitan church of 
 Rheims, and sometimes in other churches, but more frequently in the former. 
 Louis VI. having been consecrated in the Cathedral of Orleans, the clergy 
 of Pheims appealed against this supposed infraction of custom and their o^ti 
 special privileges. A long discussion took place, in which were brought 
 forward the titles which the Church of Eheims possessed subsequently to 
 the reign of Clovis to the exclusive honour of having kings consecrated 
 
CEREMONIALS. 
 
 48s 
 
 in it ; and King Louis le Jeune, son of Louis le Gros, who was himself con- 
 secrated at Rheims, promulgated a special decree on this question, in anticipa- 
 tion of the consecration of his son, Philippe Auguste. This decree finally 
 settled the rights of this ancient church, and at the same time defined the 
 order which was to be observed in future at the ceremony of consecration. 
 From that date, down to the end of the reign of the Bourbons of the elder 
 line, kings were invariablj' consecrated, according to legal rite, in the metro- 
 politan church of Eheims, with the exception of Henri lY., who was crowned 
 at Chartres by the bishop of that town, on account of the civil wars which 
 
 Fig. 386. — Coronation of Charlemagne. — Far-simile of a Jliriiature in the " Chroniques de Saint- 
 Denis," Manuscript of the Fourteenth Century (Imperial Library of Paris). 
 
 then divided his kingdom, and caused the gates of Rheims to be closed 
 against him. 
 
 The consecration of the kings of France alwaj's took place on a Sunday. 
 On the previous day, at the conclusion of evening prayers, the custody of the 
 cathedral devolved upon certain royal oSicers, assisted by the ordinary officials. 
 During the evening the monarch came to the chui-ch for devotion, and 
 "according to his religious feelings, to pass part of the night in prayer," 
 an act which was called la teillee des amies. A large platform, surmounted 
 by a throne, was erected between the chancel and the great nave. Upon 
 this assembled, besides the King and his oflficers of State, twelve ecclesiastical 
 
486 CEREMONIALS. 
 
 peers, together with those prelates whom the King might be pleased to 
 invite, and six lay peers, with other o£&cers or nobles. At daybreak, the King 
 sent a deputation of barons to the Abbey of St. Eemi for the holy vial, which 
 was a small glass vessel called ampoule, from the Latin word ampulla, contaiuing 
 the holy oil to be used at the royal anointing. According to tradition, this 
 vial was brought from heaven by a dove at the time of the consecration of 
 Clovis. Four of the nobles remained as hostages at the abbey during the 
 time that the Abbot of St. Eemi, followed by his monks and escorted bj^ the 
 barons, went in procession to the cathedral to place the sacred vessel upon 
 the altar. The abbot of St. Denis in France had in a similar manner to 
 bring from Eheims with great pomjj, and deposit by the side of the holy vial, 
 the royal insignia, which were kept in the treasury of his monastery, and 
 had been there since the reign of Charlemagne. They consisted of the crown, 
 the sword sheathed, the golden spurs, the gilt sceptre, the rod adorned with 
 an ivory handle in the form of a hand, the sandals of blue silk, embroidered 
 with fleur de lis, the chasuble or dalmatique, and the surcot, or roj^al mantle, 
 in the shajje of a cape without a hood. The King, immediately on rising 
 from his bed, entered the cathedral, and forthwith took oath to maintain the 
 Catholic faith and the privileges of the Church, and to dispense good and 
 impartial justice to his subjects. He then walked to the foot of the altar, and 
 divested himself of part of his dress, having his head bare, and wearing a 
 tunic with openings on the chest, on the shoulders, at the elbows, and in the 
 middle of the back ; these openings were closad by means of silver aigulets. 
 The Archbishop of Rheinis then drew the sword from the scabbard and handed 
 it to the King, who passed it to the principal officer in attendance. The 
 prelate then proceeded with the religious part of the ceremony of consecration, 
 and taking a drop of the miraculous oil out of the holy vial by means of a 
 gold needle, he mixed it with the holy oil from his own church. This being 
 done, and sitting in the posture of consecration, he anointed the King, who 
 was kneeling before him, in five different parts of the bod}', namely, on the 
 forehead, on the breast, on the back, on the shoulders, and on the joints of 
 the arms. After this the King rose up, and with the assistance of his officers, 
 put on his royal robes. The Archbishop handed to him successively the ring, 
 the sceptre, and the rod of justice, and lastly placed the crown on his head. 
 At this moment the twelve peers formed themselves into a groui^, the lay peers 
 being in the first rank, immediately around the sovereign, and raising their 
 
CEREMONIALS. 
 
 I'ig. 387.— Dulni.ilica and Sanjals of Chnrlemagne, Insignia of the Kings of France at their 
 Coronation, presorycd in the Treasury of the Abbey of St. Denis. 
 
CEREMONIALS. 
 
 hands to the crown, they held it for a moment, and then they conducted the 
 King to the throne. The consecrating prelate, putting down his mitre, then 
 knelt at the feet of the monarch and took the oath of allegiance, his example 
 being followed by the other peers and their vassals who were in attendance. 
 At the same time, the cry of "Vive le Roi !" uttered by the archbishop, was 
 repeated three times outside the cathedral by the heralds-at-arms, who shouted 
 it to the assembled multitude. The latter replied, "■ Noiil ! Noel! Noel!" 
 and scrambled for the small pieces of money thrown to them by the officers, 
 who at the same time cried out, " Largesse, largesse aux manants ! " Every 
 part of this ceremony was accompanied by benedictions and prayers, the 
 form of which was read out of the consecration service as ordered by the 
 bishop, and the proceedings terminated by the return of the civil and 
 religious procession which had composed the cortege. When the sovereign 
 was married, his wife participated with him in the honours of the consecra- 
 tion, the symbolical investiture, and the coronation ; but she only partook of 
 the homage rendered to the King to a limited degree, which was meant to 
 imply that the Queen had a less extended authority and a less exalted rank. 
 
 The ceremonies which accompanied the accessions of the emperors of 
 Germany (Fig. 388) are equally interesting, and were settled by a decree 
 which the Emperor Charles IX. promulgated in 1356, at the Diet of Nurem- 
 berg. According to the terms of this decree — which is still preserved among 
 the archives of Frankfort-on-the-Main, and which is known as the btclle d'or, 
 or golden bull, from the fact of its bearing a seal of pure gold — on the death 
 of an emperor, the Archbishop of Mayence summoned, for an appointed day, 
 the Prince Electors of the Empire, who, during the whole course of the 
 Middle Ages, remained seven in number, " in honour," says the bull, " of 
 the seven candlesticks mentioned in the Apocalypse." These Electors — who 
 occupied the same position near the Emperor that the twelve peers did in 
 relation to the King of France — were the Archbishops of Maj^ence, of Treves, 
 and of Cologne, the King of Bohemia, the Count Palatine of the Rhine, the 
 Duke of Saxony, and the Margrave of Brandenburg. On the appointed day, 
 the mass of the Holy Spirit was duly solemnized in the Church of St. Bar- 
 tholomew of Frankfort, a town in which not only the election of the Emperor, 
 but also his coronation, almost always took place, though one might have 
 supposed that Aix-la-ChapeUe would have been selected for such ceremonies. 
 The Electors attended, and after the service was concluded, they retired to the 
 
CEREMONIALS. 
 
 +Kg 
 
 l-'if. 388.— Coslume of Kmperm-e at their CoroDalion siree the Time of Charl™agTio.-Fr<.m aii 
 Engravin;,' in a Work entitled " Insignia Sacra; Majestatis Caesaruni Piincipum ." Fraukioit, 
 1579, in folio. 
 
49P CEREMONIALS. 
 
 sacristy of tlie church, accompanied by their officers and secretaries. They 
 had thirty days for deliberation, but beyond that period they were not 
 allowed " to eat bread or drink water " until they had agreed, at least by a 
 majority, to give a temporal chief to the Chrisitian jieople, thai is to say, a King 
 of the Romans, tcho should in due time be prom.ofed to be Emperor. The newly- 
 elected prince was, in fact, at first simply King of the Romans, and this title 
 was often borne by persons who were merely nominated for the office by the 
 voice of the Electors, or by political combinations. In order to be promoted 
 to the full measure of power and authoritj'-, the King of the Romans had to 
 receive both religious consecration and the crown. The ceremonies adopted 
 at this solemnity were very analogou.s to those used at the consecrations 
 of the kings of France, as well as to those of installation of all Christian 
 princes. The service was celebrated by the Archbishop of Cologne, who 
 placed the crown on the head of the sovereign-elect, whom he consecrated 
 Emperor. The symbols of his authority were handed to him by the Electors, 
 and then he was proclaimed, " Ccesar, most sacred, ever august Majesti/, Emperor, 
 of the Holy Ro?)ian Empire of the nation of Germany ^ 
 
 The imperial cortege then came out from the Church of St. Bartholomew, 
 and went through the town, halting at the town-hall (called the Rcemer, 
 in commemoration of the noble name of Rome), where a splendid banquet, 
 prepared in the Kaysersaal (hall of the Ciesars), awaited the principal per- 
 formers in this august ceremony. 
 
 At the moment that the Emperor set foot on the threshold of the 
 Rnemer, the Elector of Saxony, Chief Marshal of the Empire, on horse- 
 back, galloped at full speed towards a heap of oats which was piled up in 
 the middle of the square. Holding in one hand a silver measure, and in 
 the other a scraper of the same metal, each of which weighed six marks, he 
 filled the measure with oats, levelled it with the scraper, and handed it over 
 to the hereditary marshal. The rest of the heap was noisily scrambled for 
 by the people who had been witnesses of this allegorical performance. 
 Then the Count Palatine, as chief seneschal, proceeded to perform his part 
 in the ceremony, which consisted of placing before the Emperor, who was 
 sitting at table, four silver dishes, each weighing three marks. The King of 
 Bohemia, as chief butler, handed to the monarch wine and water in a silver 
 cup weighing twelve marks ; and then the Margrave of Magdeburg presented 
 to him a silver basin of the same weight for washing his hands. The other 
 
CEREMONIALS. 
 
 491 
 
 three Electors, or arch-chancellors, provided at their own exijeuse the silver 
 baton, weighing twelve marks, suspended to which one of them carried the 
 seals of the empire. Lastlj^ the Emperor, and with him tlie Empress if lie 
 was married, the princes, and the Electors, sat down to a banquet at separate 
 tables, and were waited upon by their respective officers. On another table 
 or stage were placed the Imperial insignia. The ceremony was concluded 
 
 Fig. 389.— Imperial Procession.— From an Engraving of the "Solemn Entry of Charles V. and 
 Clement VII. into Bologna," by L. de Cranach, from a Fresco by Brusasorci, of Verona. 
 
 outside by public rejoicings: fountains were set to play; wine, beer, and 
 other beverages were distributed; gigantic bonfires were made, at which 
 whole oxen were roasted ; refreshment tables were set out in the open air, 
 at which any one might sit down and partake, and, in a word, every bounty 
 as well as every amusement was provided. In this way for centuries public 
 fetes were celebrated on these occasions. 
 
492 CEREMONIALS. 
 
 The doges of Venice, as well as the emperors of Grermany, and some 
 other heads of states, differed from other Christian sovereigns in this respect, 
 that, instead of holding their high ofRce by hereditary or divine right, they 
 were installed therein by election. At Venice, a conclave, consisting of forty 
 electors, appointed by a much more numerous body of men of high position, 
 elected the Doge, or president of the most serene Republic. 
 
 From the day when Laurent Tiepolo, immediately after his election in 
 1268, was spontaneously carried in triumph by the Venetian sailors, it 
 became the custom for a similar ovation to take place in honour of any newly- 
 elected doge. In order to do this, the workmen of the harbour had the new 
 Doge seated in a splendid palanquin, and carried him on their shoulders in 
 great pomp round the Piazza San Marco. But another still more characteristic 
 ceremony distinguished this magisterial election. On Ascension Day, the 
 Doge, entering a magnificent galley, called the Bucentaur, which was 
 elegantly equipped, and resplendent with gold and precious stuffs, crossed 
 the Grand Canal, went outside the town, and proceeded in the midst of 
 a nautical cortege, escorted by bands of music, to the distance of about a 
 league from the town on the Adriatic Gulf. Then the Patriarch of Venice 
 gave his blessing to the sea, and, the Doge taking the helm, threw a gold 
 ring into the water, saying, " sea ! I espouse thee in the name, and in 
 token, of our true and perpetual sovereignty." Immediately the waters 
 were strewed with flowers, and the shouts of joy, and the clapping of 
 hands of the crowd, were intermingled with the strains of instruments of 
 music of all sorts, whilst the glorious sky of Venice smiled on the poetic 
 scene. 
 
 The greater part of the principal ceremonies of the Middle Ages acquired, 
 from various accessory and local circumstances, a character of grandeur well 
 fitted to impress the minds of the populace. On these memorable occasions 
 the exhibition of some historical memorial, of certain traditional symbols, of 
 certain relics, &c., brought to the recollection the most celebrated events in 
 national history — events already possessing the prestige of antiquity as well 
 as the veneration of the people. Thus, as a memorial of the consecration of 
 the kings of Hungarj^ the actual crown of holy King Stephen was used ; 
 at the consecration of the kings of England, the actual chair of Edward 
 the Confessor was used ; at the consecration of the emperors of Germany, 
 the imperial insignia actually used by Charlemagne formed part of the 
 
if Vk >4 
 
 
 IT ■ ,v.-.„rnth Centurv-) -deduced fiom one of iourteentDg.aviDgs 
 g. aOl.-Urand Procession of the Doge, Venice (bixUenth Centuiy> i^e 
 
 representing this Ceremony, designed and engraved by J. Amman. 
 
CEREMONIALS. 
 
 493 
 
 display ; at the consecration of the kings of France at a certain period, 
 the hand of justice of St. Louis, which has been before alluded to, was 
 produced. 
 
 After their consecration by the Church and by the spiritual power, the 
 sovereigns had simply to take actual possession of their dominions, and, so 
 
 Kg. 390. — Standards of the Church and the Empire.— Reduced from an Engraving of the " Entry of 
 Charles V. and Clement VII. into Bologna," by Lucas de Cranach, from a Fresco by Brusasorci, 
 of Verona. 
 
 to speak, of their subjects. This positive act of sovereignty was often 
 accompanied by another class of ceremonies, called joyous enfnj, or 2»Mic 
 entry. These entries, of which numerous accounts have been handed down 
 to us by historians, and which for the most part were very varied in character, 
 naturally took place in the capital city. We will limit ourselves to transcrib- 
 ing the account given by the ancient chronicler, Juvenal des Ursins, of the 
 entry into Paris of Queen Isabel of Bavaria, wife of Charles VI., which was 
 a curious specimen of the public fetes of this kind. 
 
494 CEREMONIALS. 
 
 " In the year 1389, the King was desirous that the Queen should make 
 a public entry into Paris, and this he made known to the inhabitants, in 
 order that they should make preparations for it. And there were at each cross 
 road divers histoires (historical representations, pictures, or tableaux vivants), 
 and fountains sending forth water, wine, and milk. The people of Paris in 
 great numbers went out to meet the Queen, with the Provost of the Mer- 
 chants, crying ' Noiil!' The bridge by which she passed was covered with 
 blue taffeta, embroidered with golden fieurs-de-lys. A man of light weight, 
 dressed in the guise of an angel, came down, by means of some well- 
 constructed machinery, from one of the towers of Notre-Dame, to the said 
 bridge through an opening in the said blue taffeta, at the moment when the 
 Queen was passing, and placed a beautiful crown on her head. After he had 
 done this, he withdrew through the said opening by the same means, and 
 thus appeared as if he were returning to the skies of his own accord. 
 Before the Grand Chastelet there was a splendid court adorned with azure 
 tapestry, which was intended to be a representation of the lit- de-justice, and 
 it was very large and richly decorated. In the middle of it was a very large 
 pure white artificial stag, its horns gilt, and its neck encircled with a crown 
 of gold. It was so ingeniously constructed that its eyes, horns, mouth, and 
 all its limbs, were put in motion by a man who was secreted within its body. 
 Hanging to its neck were the King's arms — that is to say, three gold fleur- 
 
 de-lys on an azure shield Near the stag there was a large sword, 
 
 beautiful and bright, unsheathed ; and when the Queen passed, the stag was 
 made to take the sword in the right fore-foot, to hold it out straight, and 
 to brandish it. It was reported to the King that the said preparations were 
 made, and he said to Savoisy, who was one of those nearest to him, 
 ' Savoisy, I earnestly entreat thee to mount a good horse, and I will ride 
 behind thee, and we will so dress ourselves that no one will know us, and 
 let us go and see the entry of my wife.' And, although Savoisy did all he 
 could to dissuade him, the King insisted, and ordered that it should be done. 
 So Savoisy did what the King had ordered, and disguised himself as well as 
 he could, and mounted on a powerful horse with the King behind him. 
 They went through the town, and managed so as to reach the Chastelet at the 
 time the Queen was passing. There was a great crowd, and Savoisy placed 
 himself as near as he could, and there were sergeants on all sides with thick 
 birch wands, who, in order to prevent the crowd from pressing upon and 
 

 «;■:: = 
 
 < ^ 3 
 - II 
 
 -t: 
 
CEREMONIALS. 
 
 495 
 
 injuring tlie court where the stag was, hit away with their wands as hard as 
 they could. Savoisy struggled continually to get nearer and nearer, and the 
 sergeants, who neither knew the King nor Savoisy, struck away 'at them, 
 and the King received several very hard and well-directed hlows on the 
 shoulders. In the evening, in the presence of the ladies, the matter was 
 
 Fig. 392. — Tournaments in honour of the Entry of Queen Isabc4 into Paris. — From a Miniature 
 in the "Chroniques" of Froiasart, Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century (National Library of 
 Paris). 
 
 talked over, and they began to joke about it, and even the King himself 
 laughed at the blows he had received. The Queen on her entry was seated 
 on a litter, and very magnificently dressed, as were also the ladies and maids 
 of honour. It was indeed a splendid sight ; and if any one wished to 
 describe the dres.ses of the ladies, of the knights and squires, and of those 
 who escorted the Queen, it would take a long time to do so. After .supper. 
 
4g6 
 
 CEREMONIALS. 
 
 singing and dancing commenced, wliicli continued until daylight. The next 
 day there were tournaments and other sports" (Fig. 392). 
 
 In the course of this simple and graphic description mention has heen made 
 of the lit de justice (seat of justice). AH judicial or legislative assemblies at 
 which the King considered it his duty to be present were thus designated ; 
 when the King came there simjaly as a looker-on, they were more commonly 
 
 Fig. 393.— Seat of Justice, held by King Philippe de Valois, on the 8th April, 1332, for the Trial 
 of Robert, Comte d'Artois. — From a Pen-and-ink Slietch in an Original Manuscript (Arch, of 
 the Empire). 
 
 called phidoyers, and, in this case, no change was made in the ordinary 
 arrangements ; but when the King presided they were called conseik, and then 
 a special ceremonial was required. In fact, by lit de Justice (Fig. 393), or 
 coiir des pairs, we understand a court consisting of the high officers of the 
 crown, and of the great executive of the State, whose duty it was to determine 
 whether any peer of France should be tried on a criminal charge ; gravely to 
 deliberate on any political matter of special interest ; or to register, in the 
 
CEREMONIALS. 
 
 497 
 
 name of the absolute sovereignty of the King, any edict of importance. 
 We know the prominent, and, we may say, even the fatal, part plajod Ly 
 these solemnities, which were being continually re-enacted, and on every 
 sort of pretext, during the latter days of monarchy. These courts were 
 always held with impressive pomp. The sovereign usually summoned to 
 them the princes of the blood royal and the officers of his household ; the 
 members of the Parliament took their seats in scarlet robes, the presidents 
 being habited in their caps and their mantles, and the registrars of the court 
 also wearing their official dress. The High Chancellor, the First Chamber- 
 lain, and the Provost of Paris, sat at the King's feet. The Chancellor of 
 France, the presidents and councillors of the Parliament, occupied the bar, 
 and the ushers of the court were in a kneeling posture. 
 
 Having thus mentioned the assemblies of persons of distinction, the inter- 
 views of sovereigns (Fig. -394), and the reception of ambassadors— without 
 describing them in detail, which would involve more space than we have at 
 our command — we will enter upon the subject of the special ceremonial 
 adopted by the nobility, taking as our guide the standard book called 
 "Honneurs de la Cour," compiled at the end of the fifteenth century by the 
 celebrated Alienor de Poitiers. In addition to her own observations, she 
 gives those of her mother, Isabelle de Souza, who herself had but continued 
 the work of another noble lady, Jeanne d'Harcourt — married in 1391 to the 
 Count William de Namur — who was considered the best authority to be found 
 in the kingdom of France. This collection of the customs of the court forms 
 a kind of family diary embracing three generations, and extending back over 
 more than a century. 
 
 Notwithstanding the curious and intei-esting character of this book, and 
 the authority which it possesses on this subject, we cannot, much to our 
 regret, do more than borrow a few passages from it ; but these, carefully 
 selected, will no doubt suffice to give some idea of the manners and customs 
 of the nobility during the fifteenth century, and to illustrate the laws of 
 etiquette of which it was the recognised code. 
 
 One of the early chapters of the work sets forth this fundamental law of 
 French ceremonial, namely, that, " according to the traditions or customs 
 of France, women, however exalted their position, be they even king's 
 daughters, rank with their husbands." We find on the occasion of the 
 marriage of King Charles VII. with Mary of Anjou, in 1413, although 
 
 3 s 
 
498 
 
 CEREMONIALS. 
 
 probably there bad never been assembled together so many princes and 
 ladies of rank, that at the banquet the ladies alone dined with the Queen, 
 "and no gentlemen sat with them." We may remark, whilst on this 
 subject, that before the reign of Francis I. it was not customary for the two 
 sexes to be associated together in the ordinary intercourse of court life ; and 
 
 Fig. 394. — Interview of King Charles V. with the t-mperor Ch.iiles I V. in I'aris in 1378. — FaC- 
 Bimile of a Miniature in the Deseriptinn of this Interview, Manuseript of the Fifteenth Century, 
 in the Library of the Arsenal of Paris. 
 
 we have elsewhere remarked (see chapter on Private Life) that this departure 
 from ancient cvistom exerted a considerable influence, not only on manners, 
 but also on public aifairs. 
 
 The authoress of the " Honneurs de la Cour " specially mentions the 
 respect which Queen Mary of Anjou paid to the Duchess of Burgundy when 
 
CEREMONIALS. 
 
 499 
 
 she was at Chalons in Champagne in 1445 : " The Duchess came with all her 
 retinue, on horseback and in carriages, into the courtyard of the mansion 
 where the King and Queen were, and there alighted, her first maid of 
 honour acting as her train-bearer, il. de Bourbon gave her his right hand, 
 and the gentlemen went on in front. In this manner she was conducted to 
 the hall which served as the ante-chamber to the (Queen's aijartineut. There 
 she stopped, and sent in ^l. de Creqid to ask the (^ueen if it was her pleasure 
 
 that she should enter When the Duchess came to the door she 
 
 took the train of her dress from the lady who bore it and let it trail 
 on the ground, and as she entered she knelt and then advanced to the 
 middle of the room. There she made the same obeisance, and moved straio-ht 
 towards the Queen, who was standing close to the foot of her throne. When 
 the Duchess had performed a further act of homage, the Queen advanced 
 two or three steps, and the Duchess fell on her knees ; the Queen then put 
 her hand on her shoulder, embraced her, kissed her, and commanded her to 
 rise." 
 
 The Duchess then went up to Margaret of Scotland, wife of the Dauphin, 
 afterwards Louis XL, " who was four or five feet from the Queen," and 
 paid her the same honours as she had done to the Queen, although the 
 Dauphine appeared to wish to prevent her from absolutely kneeling to her. 
 After this she turned towards the Queen of Sicily (IsabeUe de Lorraine, 
 wife of Rene of Anjou, brother-in-law of the King), "who was two or 
 three feet from the Dauphine," and merely bowed to her, and the same to 
 another Princess, Madame de Calabre, who was still more distantly connected 
 with the blood royal. Then the Queen, and after her the Dauphine, kissed 
 the three maids of honour of the Duchess and the wives of the gentlemen. 
 The Duchess did the same to the ladies who accompanied the Queen and the 
 Dauphine, " but of those of the Queen of Sicily the Duchess kissed none, 
 inasmuch as the Queen had not kissed hers. And the Duchess would not 
 walk behind the Queen, for she said that the Duke of Burgundy was nearer 
 the crown of France than was the King of Sicily, and also that she was 
 daughter of the King of Portugal, who was greater than the King of Sicily." 
 
 Further on, from the details given of a similar recei^tion, we learn that 
 etiquette was not at that time regulated by the laws of politeness as now 
 understood, inasmuch as the voluntary respect paid by men to the gentle 
 sex was influenced much by social rank. Thus, at the time of a visit of 
 
500 
 
 CEREMONIALS. 
 
 Louis XI., then Dauphin, to the court of Brussels, to which place he went 
 to seek refuge against the anger of his father, the Duchesses of Burgundy, of 
 
 
 v^-'y^-.^ 
 
 
 ^"^// 
 
 riiaai 
 
 Fig. 395. — The Entry of Louis XU. into Paris. — Fac-simile of a Miniature in the " Chroniques ' 
 of Monstrelet, Manusorijjt of the Fifteenth Century (Imperial Library of Paris). 
 
 Charolais, and of Cleves, his near relatives, exhibited towards him all the 
 tokens of submission and inferiority which he might have received from ii 
 vassal. The Dauphin, it is true, wished to avoid this homage, and a dis- 
 
CEREMONIALS. 501 
 
 cussion on the suLjcct of "more than 11 quarter of an hour ensued;" at 
 last he took the Duchess of Burguuc\y by the arm and led her away, in 
 order to cut short the ceremonies "about which Madame made so mucli to 
 do." This, however, did not prevent the princesses, on their withdrawiuo-, 
 from kneeling to the ground in order to show their respect for the son of 
 the King of France. 
 
 We have already seen that the Duchess of Burgundy, when about to 
 appear before the Queen, took her train from her train-bearer in order that 
 she might carrj^ it herself. In this she was only conforming to a general 
 principle, which was, that in the presence of a suj)erior, a person, however 
 high his rank, should not himself receive honours whilst at the same time 
 paj'ing them to another. Thus a duke and a duchess amidst their court had 
 all the things which were used at their table covered ; hence the modern 
 expression, mettre le convert (to lay the cloth), even the wash-hand basin and 
 the cadenas, a kind of case in which the cups, knives, and other table articles 
 were kept ; but when they wei-e entertaining a king all these marks of 
 superiority were removed, as a matter of etiquette, from the table at which 
 they sat, and were }xissed on as an act of respect to the sovereign present. 
 
 The book of Dame Alienor, in a series of articles to which we shall merely 
 allude, speaks at great length and enters into detail respecting the interior 
 arrano-ements of the rooms in which princes and other noble children were 
 born. The formalities gone through on these occasions were as curious as 
 they were complicated ; and Dame Alienor regretted to see them foiling into 
 disuse, "owing to which," she says, "we fear that the possessions of the 
 great houses of the nobility arc getting too large, as every one admits, and 
 chicanery or concealment of birth, so as to make away with too many children, 
 is on the increase." 
 
 Mourning is the next subject which we shall notice. The King never 
 wore black for mourning, not even for his father, but scarlet or violet. The 
 Queen wore white, and did not leave her apartments for a whole year. 
 Eence the name of c/iufcnn, JiuM, or tour fh' la Reine Blanche, which many of 
 the buildings of the Middle Ages still bear, from the fact that widowed 
 queens inhabited them during the first year of their widowhood. On occa- 
 sions of mourning, the various reception rooms of a house were hung with 
 black. In deep mourning, such as that for a husband or a father, a lady 
 wore neither gloves, jewels, nor silk. The head was covered with a low 
 
50* 
 
 CEREMONIALS. 
 
 black head-dress, witli trailing lappets, called chaperons, barbettes, couvre-che/s, 
 and tourets. A duchess and the wife of a knight or a banneret, on going into 
 
 Fig. 396. — " How the King-at-Arms presents the Sword to the Duke of Bom-bon." — Prom a 
 Miniature in " Toumois du Eoi Rene," Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century (Imperial Library 
 of Paris). 
 
 mourning, stayed in their apartments for six weeks ; the former, during the 
 whole of this time, when in deep mourning, remained lying down all day on 
 
CEREMONIALS. ... 
 
 5"* 
 
 a bed covered with a white sheet ; whereas the latter, at the end of nine days, 
 got up, and until the six weeks were over, remained sitting in front of the 
 bed on a black sheet. Ladies did not attend the funerals of their husbands, 
 though it was usual for them to be present at those of their fathers and 
 mothers. For an elder brother, they wore the same mourning as for a 
 father, but they did not lie down as above described. 
 
 In their everyday intercourse with one another, kings, princes, dukes, 
 and duchesses called one another momieur and mmlame, adding the Christian 
 name or that of the estate. A superior speaking or writing to an inferior, 
 might prefix to his or her title of relationship hcnu or hdk ; for instance, 
 mon bel onclc, ma heUe cousiiie. People in a lower sphere of life, on being 
 introduced to one another, did not say, " Monsieur Jean, ma belle tante " — 
 " Mr. John, allow me to inti-oduce you to my aunt" — but simjjly, "Jean, ma 
 tante." The head of a house had his scat under a canopy or dos.seref (Fig. .396), 
 which he only relinquished to his sovereign, when he had the honour of 
 entertaining him. "Such," says Alienor, in conclusion, "are the points of 
 etiquette which are observed in Germany, in France, in Naples, in Italy, and 
 in all other civilised countries and kingdoms." We may here remark, that 
 etiquette, after having originated in France, spread throughout all Christian 
 nations, and when it had become naturalised, as it were, amongst the latter, 
 it acquired a settled position, which it retained more finnly than it did in 
 France. In this latter countiy, it was only from the seventeenth century, 
 and particidarly under Louis XIY., that court etiquette really became a 
 science, and almost a species of religious observance, whose minutia; were 
 attended to as much as if they were sacramental rites, though they were not 
 unfrequently of the most childish character, and whose pomp and precision 
 often caused the most insufferable annoyance. But notwithstanding the per- 
 petual changes of times and customs, the French nation has always been dis- 
 tinguished for nobility and dignity, tempered with good sense and elegance. 
 
 If we now direct our attention to the tiers etat, that class which, to quote 
 a celebrated expression, " was destined to become everything, after ha^-ing 
 for a long time been looked upon as nothing," we shall notice that there, too, 
 custom and tradition had much to do with ceremonies of all kinds. The 
 presence of the middle classes not only gave, as it were, a stamp of 
 grandeur to fetes of an aristocratic and religious character, but, in addition, 
 the people themselves had a number of ceremonies of every description, in 
 
504 
 
 CEREMONIALS. 
 
 "wliijh etiquette was not one whit less strict than in those of the court. The 
 variety of civic and popular ceremonies is so great, that it would require a 
 large volume, illustrated with numerous engravings, to explain fully their 
 characteristic features. The simple enumeration of the various public fetes, 
 each of which was necessarily accompanied by a distinct ceremonial, would 
 take up much time were we to attempt to give it even in the shortest manner. 
 
 Fig. 397. — Entry ol' the Roi de I'Epinette at Lille, in the Sixteenth Century. — From a JUiuiature 
 in a Manuscript of the Librarj' of Ronen. 
 
 Besides the numerous ceremonies which were purely religious, namely, 
 the procession of the Fete-Dieu, in Eogation week, and the fetes which were 
 both of a superstitious and burlesque character, such as des Fotis, de I'Ane, 
 des Innocents, and others of the same kind, so much in vogue during the 
 Middle Ages, and which we shall describe more in detail hereafter, we should 
 like to mention the military or gymnastic fetes. Amongst these were 
 
CEREMOXIALS. 5^5 
 
 what were called the processions of the Confreres de rArquchuse, the Archern, 
 the Faporjauf, the roi de I'Epinette, at Lille (Fig. 397), and the Foredier at 
 I3ruges. There were also what may he termed the fetes peculiar I0 certain 
 places, such as those of BeJwrn, of the Champs Galat at Epinal, of the 
 Lnboureiirs at Montelimar, of Guji run ncnf at Anjou. Also of the fetes of 
 Mai/, of the sJieaf, of the spri)i(j, of the rOHCS, of the fres of St. John, &c. 
 Then there were the historical or commemorative fetes, such as those of the 
 Gearit Retiss at Dunkerque, of the Gayani at Douai, &c.; also of Guet de Saint- 
 Maxbiie at Riez in Provence, the processions of Jeanne d'Arc at Orleans, of 
 Jeanne Hachetfe at Beauvais ; and lastlj-, the numerous fetes of public cor- 
 porations, such as the Ecoliers, the Nations, the Vnirersites ; also the Lendit, 
 the Salnt-Charhmagne, the Baillee des roses au Parlemcnt ; the literary fetes of 
 the Pai/s ei Chamhres de rhctorique of Picardy and Flanders, of the Clemence 
 Isaiire at Toulouse, and of the Capitok at Rome, &c. ; the fetes of the Ser- 
 menfs, Metiers, and Devoirs of the working men's corporation ; and lastly, 
 the Fetes Patronales, called also Assemljlees, Dueasses, Folies, Foires, Kermesses, 
 Pardons, &c. 
 
 From this simple enumeration, it can easily be understood what a useless 
 task we should impose upon ourselves were we merely to enter upon so wide 
 and difficult a subject. Aj^art from the infinite variety of details resulting 
 from the local circumstances under which these ceremonies had been insti- 
 tuted, which were everywhere celebrated at fixed periods, a kind of general 
 principle regulated and directed their arrangement. Nearly all these fetes 
 and public rejoicings, which to a certain extent constituted the common 
 basis of popular ceremonial, bore much analogy to one another. There are, 
 however, certain peculiarities less known and more striking than the rest, 
 which deserve to be mentioned, and we shall then conclude this part of our 
 subject. 
 
 Those rites, ceremonies, and customs, which are the most commonly 
 observed, and which most persistently keep their place amongst us, are far 
 from being of modern origin. Thus, the custom of jovially celebrating the 
 commencement of the new year, or of devoting certain particular days to 
 festivity, is still universally followed in every country in the world. The 
 practice of sending presents on New Year's Doij is to be foimd among 
 civilised nations in the East as well as in our own country. In the Middle 
 Ages the intimate friends of princes, and especially of the kings of France, 
 
So6 
 
 CEREMONIALS. 
 
 Fig. 398.— fiepresentation of a Ballet before Henri III. and his Com-t, in the Gallery of the 
 Lo\ivre. — Fac-simile of an Engraving on Copper of the " Ballet de la Koyne," by Balthazar de 
 Beaujoyeulx (folio, Paris, Mamert Patisson, 1582). 
 
 received Christmas gifts, for whicli thej^ considered themselves bomid to make 
 an ample return. In England these interchanges of generosity also take 
 place on Christmas Day. In Eussia, on Easter Day, the people, on meeting 
 
CEREMONIALS. 507 
 
 in the street, s.ilute one another by saying " Christ is risen." Those practices, 
 as well as many others, have no doubt been handed diiwu to us tV(jni the early 
 ages of Christianity. The same may be said of a vast number of custom.s 
 of a more or less local character, which have been observed in various 
 countries for centuries. In former times, at Ochsenbach, in Wurtemberg, 
 during the carnival, women held a feast at which they were waited ujDon by 
 men, and, after it was over, they formed themselves into a sort of court of 
 plenary indulgence, from which the men were uniformly excluded, and sat 
 in judgment on one another. At E,amerupt, a small town in Champagne, 
 every year, on the 1st of May, twentj' of the citizens repaired to the adjoin- 
 ing hamlet of St. Remy, hunting as they went along. They were called tho 
 fools of Ramvni, and it was said that the greatest fool led the band. The in- 
 habitants of St. Remy were bound to receive them gratuitously, and to supply 
 ihem, as well as their horses and dogs, with what they required, to have a 
 mass said for them, to put up with all the absurd vagaries of the captain and 
 his troop, and to supply them with a, fine and hanxhoine horneil ram, which was 
 led back in triumph. On their return into Eamerupt they set up shouts at 
 the door of the cure, the procurator fiscal, and the collector of taxes, and, 
 after the invention of gunpowder, fireworks were let off'. They then went 
 to the market-place, where they danced round the ram, which was decorated 
 with ribbons. No doubt this was a relic of the feasts of ancient 
 heathenism. 
 
 A more cuiious ceremony still, whose origin, we think, may be traced to 
 the Dionysian feasts of heathenism, has continued to be observed to this day 
 at Beziers. It bears the names of the Fcant of Pepeznch, the Triumph of 
 Beziers, or the Fni-st of Caritah or Charifes. At the bottom of the Rue 
 Francaise at Beziers, a statue is to be seen which, notwithstanding the 
 mutilations to which it has been subjected, still distinctly bears traces of 
 being an ancient work of the most refined period of art. This statue repre- 
 sents Pepezuch, a citizen of Beziers' who, according to somewhat questionable 
 tradition, valiantly defended the town against the Goths, or, as some say, 
 against the English ; its origin, therefore, cannot be later than the thirteenth 
 century. On Ascension Day, the day of the feast of Pepezuch, an immense 
 procession went about the towm. Three remarkable machines were par- 
 ticularly noticeable; the first was an enormous wooden camel made to 
 walk by mechanism, and to move its limbs and jaws ; the second was a 
 
5o8 CEREMONIALS. 
 
 galley on. wheels fully manned ; the third consisted of a cart on which a 
 travelling theatre was erected. The consuls and other civic authorities, the 
 corporations of trades having the pastors walking in front of them, the 
 farriers on horseback, all bearing their respective insignia and banners, 
 formed the procession. A double column, composed of a division of young 
 men and young women holding white hoops decorated with ribbons and 
 manj'-coloured streamers, was preceded by a young girl crowned with 
 flowers, half veiled, and carrj'ing a basket. This brilliant procession 
 marched to the sound of music, and, at certain distances, the youthful 
 couples of the two sexes halted, in order to perform, with the assistance of 
 their hoops, various figures, which were called the Danse des Treilles. The 
 machines also stopped from time to time at various places. The camel was 
 especially made to enter the Church of St. Aphrodise, because it was said 
 that the apostle had first come on a camel to preach the Gospel in that 
 country, and there to receive the palm of martyrdom. On arriving before 
 the statue of Pepezuch the young people decorated it with garlands. When 
 the square of the town was reached, the theatre was stopped like the ancient 
 car of Thespis, and the actors treated the people to a few comical drolleries 
 in imitation of Aristophanes. From the galley the youths flung sugar- 
 plums and sweetmeats, which the spectators returned in equal profusion. The 
 procession closed with a number of men, crowned with green leaves, carry- 
 ing on their heads loaves of bread, which, with other provisions contained in 
 the galley, were distributed amongst the poor of the town. 
 
 In Germany and in France it was the custom at the public entries of 
 kings, princes, and persons of rank, to offer them the wines made in the 
 district and commonly sold in the town. At Langres, for instance, these 
 wines were put into four pewter vessels called cimaises, which are still to be 
 seen. They were called the lion, monkey, sheep, and pi(j wines — symbolical 
 names, which expressed the dififerent degrees or phases of drunkenness which 
 they were supposed to be capable of producing : the lion, courage ; the 
 monkey, cunning ; the sheep, good temper ; the pig, bestiality. 
 
 We will now conclude by borrowing, from the excellent work of 
 M. Alfred Michiels on Dutch and Flemish painting, the abridged description 
 of a procession of corporations of trades, which took place at Antwerp in 
 1520, on the Sunday after Ascension Day. " All the corporations of trades 
 were present, every member being dressed in his best suit. In front of each 
 
CEREMONIALS. 
 
 509 
 
 guild a banner floated ; and immediately behind an enormous linhtcl wax- 
 taper was carried. March music was plaj-ed on long silver trumpets, flutes, 
 and drums. The goldsmiths, painters, masons, silk embnjiderers, sculptors, 
 carpenters, boatmen, fishermen, butchers, curriers, drapers, bakers, tailors, 
 and men of everj' other trade marched two abreast. Then came cross- 
 bowmen, arquebusiers, archers, &c., some on foot and some on horseback. 
 After them came the various monastic orders ; and then followed a crowd of 
 bourgeois magnificently dressed. A numerous company of widows, dressed 
 in white from head to foot, particularly attracted attention ; they constituted 
 a sort of sisterhood, observing certain rules, and gaining their livelihood by 
 various descriptions of manual work. The cathedral canons and the other 
 priests walked in the procession in their gorgeous silk vestments sparkling 
 with gold. Twenty persons carried on their shoulders a huge figure of the 
 Virgin, with the infant Saviour in her arms, splendidly decorated. At the 
 end of the procession were chariots and ships on wheels. There were various 
 groups in the procession representing scenes from the Old and New 
 Testament, such as the Salutation of the Aiir/ck, the Vkitation of the Ma<ji, 
 who appeared riding on camels, the Flight into E(jijpt, and other well-known 
 historical incidents. The last machine represented a dragon being led by 
 St. Margaret with a magnificent bridle, and was followed by St. George 
 and several brilliantly attired knights. 
 
 Fig. 399.— Sandal and 
 Buskin of Charlemagne, 
 —From the Abbey of St 
 Denis. 
 
COSTUMES. 
 
 Influence of Ancient Costume.— Costume in the Fifth Century.— Hair.— Costumes in the Time of 
 Charlemagne.— Origin of Modern National Dress.— Head-dreases and Beards: Time of 
 
 St. Louis.— Progress of Dress : Trousers, Hose, Shoes, Coats, Surcoats, Capes Changes in 
 
 the Fashions of Shoes and Hoods.— Z««»-eV.— Cloaks and Capes.— Edicts against Extravagant 
 Fashions.— Female Dress : Gowns, Bonnets, Head-dresses, &c.— Disappearance of Ancient 
 Dress.— Tight-fitting Gowns — General Character of Dress under Francis I.— Uniforujity of 
 Dress. 
 
 ONG garments alone were worn by the 
 ancients, and up to the pei'iod when 
 the barbarous tribes of the North 
 made their appearance, or rather, 
 until the invasion of the Eoman 
 Empire by these wandering nations, 
 male and female dress differed but 
 little. The Greeks made scarcely 
 any change in their mode of dress 
 for centuries ; but the Romans, on 
 becoming masters of the world, par- 
 tially adopted the dress and arms of the people they had conquered, where 
 they considered them an improvement on their own, although the original 
 style of dress was but little altered (Figs. 400 and 401). 
 
 Roman attire consisted of two garments — the under garment, or tunic, 
 and the outer garment, or cloak — the latter was known under the various 
 names of chlaiiips, toga, and palliiini, but, notwithstanding these several appel- 
 lations, there was scarcely any appreciable distinction between them. The 
 simple tunic with sleeves, which answered to our shirt, was like the modern 
 blouse in shape, and was called by various names. The chiridota was a tvmic 
 with long and large sleeves, of Asiatic origin ; the mamilcata was a tunic 
 with long and tight sleeves coming to the wrists ; the talaris was a tunic 
 
COSTUMES. 
 
 S" 
 
 reacliing to the feet; the pahnrda was ;i stiite tunic, cinhrouh'red willi 
 palms, which ornamentation was often found in other ])arfs of dic>s. Tlie 
 lacerna, Iwna, ciicii/his, chlami/s, sagum, paludamcntiiDi, were upper gaTiticnts, 
 more or less coarse, either full or scant, and usually short, and were 
 analogous to our cloaks, mantles, &c., and were made l)otli with and without 
 hoods. There were many varieties of the tunic and cloak invented hy female 
 ingenuity, as well as of other articles of dress, which formed elegant acces- 
 sories to the toilet, hut there was no essential alteration in the national 
 costume, nor was there any change in the shape of the numerous descriptions 
 of shoes. The barbarian invasions brought about a revolution in the dress 
 as well as in the social state of the people, and it is from the time of these 
 
 Figs. 400 and iOl.— Gallo-Komim Costumes.— From Jla^-ivlitl.-i di.stovrn d in I'Mris in 1711 
 undorneath the Chcjir of Xotre-Dame. 
 
 invasions that we may date, properly speaking, the history of modern dress ; 
 for the Roman costume, which was in use at the same time as that of the 
 Franks, the Huns, the Vandals, the Goths, &c., was subjected to various 
 changes down to the ninth century. These modifications increased after- 
 wards to such an extent that, towards the fourteenth century, the original 
 type had altogether disappeared. 
 
 It was ciuite natural that men Uving in a temperate climate, and bearing 
 arras only when in the service of the State, should be satisfied with garments 
 which they could wear witliout wrapping themselves up too closely. The 
 northern nations, on the contrary, had early learned to protect themselves 
 against the severity of the climate in which they lived. Thus the garments 
 known by them as hruic, and by the Partbians as mMhara, doubtless gave 
 
■512 COSTUMES. 
 
 origin to tliose which have been respectively called by us chausses, haut-de- 
 chausses, trmcsscs, greguefi, culottes, pantalons, &c. These wandering people 
 had other reasons for preferring the short and close-fitting garments to those 
 which were long and full, and these were their innate pugnacity, which 
 forced them ever to be under arms, their habit of dwelling in forests and 
 thickets, their love of the chase, and their custom of wearing armour. 
 
 The ancient Greeks and Romans alwaj^s went bareheaded in the towns ; 
 but in the coimtry, in order to protect themselves from the direct rays of 
 the sun, they wore hats much resembling our round hats, made of felt, 
 plaited rushes, or straw. Other European nations of the same period also 
 went bareheaded, or wore caps made of skins of animals, having no 
 regularity of st3'le, and with the shape of which we are but little 
 acquainted. 
 
 Shoes, and head-dresses of a definite style, belong to a much more modern 
 period, as also do the manj^ varieties of female dress, which have been known 
 at all times and in all countries under the general name of robes. The 
 girdle was only used occasionally, and its adoption depended on circum- 
 stances ; the women used it in the same way as the men, for in those daj'S it 
 was never attached to the dress. The great diSerence in modern female 
 costume consists in the fact of the girdle being part of the dress, thus 
 giving a long or short waist, according to the requirements of fashion. In 
 the same manner, a complete revolution took jjlace in men's dress according 
 as loose or tight, long or short sleeves were introduced. 
 
 "VVe shall commence our historical sketch from the fifth century, at which 
 period we can trace the blending of the Roman with the barbaric costume — 
 namel}', the combination of the long, shapeless garment with that which 
 was worn by the Germans, and which was accompanied by tight-fitting 
 braies. Thus, in the recumbent statue which adorned the tomb of Clovis, in 
 the Church of the Abbey of St. Genevieve, the King is represented as wearing 
 the tunic and the toga, but, in addition, Gallo-Eoman civilisation had actuall}' 
 given him tight-fitting braies, somewhat similar to what we now call panta- 
 loons. Besides this, his tunic is fastened by a belt ; which, however, was not 
 a novelty in his time, for the women then wore long dresses, fastened at the 
 waist by a girdle. There is nothing verj' remarkable about his shoes, since 
 we find that the shoe, or closed sandal, was worn from the remotest periods 
 bj' nearlj' all nations (Figs. 402 and 403'). 
 
Fig. 4C2. — Costume of King Clovis (Sixth Fig.403.— Costuraeof KingChildebert(Seven1h 
 Century).— From a Statue on .his Tomb, Century).— From a Statue foraerly placed 
 
 formerly in the Abhoy of St. Genevieve. in the Refectory of the Abbey of St. Germain- 
 
 des-Pre3. 
 3 U 
 
514 C0STU3IES. 
 
 The cloak claims an equally ancient origin. The principal thing worthy of 
 notice is the amount of ornament with which the Franks enriched their girdles 
 and the borders of their tunics and cloaks. This fashion they borrowed from 
 the Imperial court, which, having been transferred from Rome to Constan- 
 tinople during the third century, was not slow to adopt the luxury of 
 precious stones and other rich decorations commonly in use amongst Eastern 
 nations. Following the example of Horace de Vielcastel, the learned 
 author of a history of the costumes of France, we may here state that it 
 is very diiilcult, if not impossible, to define the exact costume during 
 the time of the early Merovingian periods. The first writers who have 
 touched upon this subject have spoken of it very vaguely, or not being 
 contemporaries of the times of which they wrote, could only describe 
 from tradition or hearsay. Those monuments in which early costume is 
 supposed to be represented are almost all of later date, when artists, whether 
 sculptors or painters, were not very exact in their delineations of costume, 
 and even seemed to imagine that no other style could have existed before 
 their time than the one with which they were daily familiar. In order to be 
 as accurate as possible, although, after all, we can only speak hypothetically, 
 we cannot do better than call to mind, on the one hand, what Tacitus says of 
 the Grermans, that they " were almost naked, excepting for a short and tight 
 garment round their waists, and a little square cloak which they threw over 
 the right shoulder," and, on the other, to carry ourselves back in imagi- 
 nation to the ancient Roman costume. We may notice, moreover, the 
 curious description given of the Franks by Sidoine ApoUinaire, who says, 
 " They tied up their flaxen or light-brown hair above their foreheads, into 
 a kind of tuft, and then made it fall behind the head like a horse's tail. 
 The face was clean shaved, with the exception of two long moustaches. 
 They wore cloth garments, fitting tight to the body and limbs, and a 
 broad belt, to which they hung their swords." But this is a sketch made 
 at a time when the Frankish race was only known among the Gauls 
 through its marauding tribes, whose raids, from time to time, spread terror 
 and dismay throughout the countries which they visited. From the moment 
 when the uncultivated tribes of ancient Germany formally took possession 
 of the territory which they had withdrawn from Roman rule, they showed 
 themselves desirous of adopting the more gentle manners of the con- 
 quered nation. " In imitation of their chief," says M. Jules Quicherat, 
 
COSTUMES. 
 
 5'S 
 
 the eminent antiquarian, "more than ouce the Fi-unks doffed the war 
 coat and the leather belt, and assumed the toga of Roman dignity. More 
 than once their flaxen hair was shown to advantage by flowing over the 
 imperial mantle, and the gold of the knights, the piu'ple of the senators 
 and patricians, the triumphal crowns, the fasces, and, in short, everything 
 which the Roman Empire invented in order to exhibit its grandeur, assisted 
 in adding to that of our ancestors." 
 
 One sjreat and characteristic difference between the Romans and the Franks 
 
 Figs. 404 and 405.— Saints in the Costume of the Sixth to the Eighth Ceuturies.— P'roni Jliniatures 
 in old Manuscripts of the Eoyal Library of Brussels (Designs by Count H. de Vielcastel). 
 
 should, however, be specially mentioned ; namely, in the fashion of wearing 
 the hair long, a fashion never adopted by the Romans, and which, during the 
 whole of the first dynasty, was a distinguishing mark of kings and nobles among 
 the Franks. Agathias, the Greek historian, says, " The hair is never cut from 
 the heads of the Prankish kings' sons. From early youth their hair falls grace- 
 fidly over their shoulders, it is parted on the forehead, and falls equally on 
 both sides ; it is with them a matter to which they give special attention." 
 We are told, besides, that they sprinkled it with gold-dust, and plaited it in 
 small bands, which they ornamented with pearls and precious metals. 
 
 Whilst persons of rank were distinguished by their long and flowing 
 
5i6 COSTUMES. 
 
 hair, tlie people wore theirs more or less short, according to the degree of 
 freedom which they possessed, and the serfs had their heads completely- 
 shaved. It was customary for the nohle and free classes to swear by their 
 hair, and it was considered the height of politeness to pull out a hair and 
 present it to a person. Fredegaire, the chronicler, relates that Clovis thus 
 pulled out a hair in order to do honour to St. Germer, Bishop of Toulouse, 
 and presented it to him ; upon this, the courtiers hastened to imitate their 
 sovereign, and the venerable prelate returned home with his hand full of 
 hair, delighted at the flattering reception he had met with at the court of the 
 Frankish king. During the Merovingian period, the greatest insult that 
 could be offered to a freeman was to touch him with a razor or scissors. 
 The degradation of kings and princes was carried out in a public manner 
 by shaving their heads and sending them into a monastery ; on their regain- 
 ing their rights and their authoritj^ their hair was always allowed to grow 
 again. We may also conclude that great importance was attached to the 
 preservation of the hair even under the kings of the second dynasty, for 
 Charlemagne, in his Capitulaires, orders the hair to be removed as a punish- 
 ment in certain crimes. 
 
 The Franks, faithful to their ancient custom of wearing the hair long, 
 gradually gave up shaving the face. At first, they only left a small tuft 
 on the chin, but by degrees they allowed this to increase, and in the 
 sixth and seventh centuries freemen adopted the usual form of beard. 
 Amongst the clergy, the custom prevailed of shaving the crown of the head, 
 in the same way as that adopted by certain monastic orders in the present 
 day. Priests for a long time wore beards, but ceased to do so on their 
 becoming fashionable amongst the laity (Figs. 406, 407). Painters and 
 scidptors therefore commit a serious error in representing the prelates and 
 monks of those times with large beards. 
 
 As far as the monumental relics of those remote times allow us to judge, 
 the dress as worn by Clovis underwent but trifling modifications during the 
 first dynasty ; but during the reigns of Pepin and Charlemagne considerable 
 changes were efi'ected, which resulted from the intercom-se, either of a friendly 
 or hostile nature, between the Franks and the southern nations. About this 
 time, silk stufls were introduced into the kingdom, and the upper classes, in 
 order to distinguish themselves from the lower, had their garments trimmed 
 round with costly fvirs (see chapter on Commerce). 
 
COSTUMES. 
 
 5'7 
 
 We have before stated (see chapter on Private Life) that Cluirlcmaf,nu', 
 who always was very simple in his tastes, strenuously set his face against 
 these novel introductions of luxury, which he looked upon as tcudiiig to do 
 
 Fig. 406 and 407.-Costume of the Prelates from the Eighth to the Tenth Centuries.-After 
 Miiiiatures in the " JOssal of St. Gregory," in the National Library of Paris. 
 
 harm. "Of what use are these cloaks?" he said; "in bed they cannot 
 cover us, on horseback they can neither protect us from the rain nor the 
 wind, and when we are sitting they can neither preserve our legs from 
 the cold nor the damp." He himself generally wore a large tunic made of 
 
5 1 8 COSTUMES. 
 
 otters' skins. On one occasion his courtiers went out hunting- with him, 
 clothed in splendid garments of southern fashion, which became much torn 
 by the briars, and begi-imed with the blood of the animals they had killed. 
 " Oh, ye foolish men ! " he said to them the next day as he showed them his 
 own tunic, which a servant had just returned to him in perfect condition, 
 after having simply dried it before the fire and rubbed it with his hands. 
 " Whose garments are the more valuable and the more useful ? mine, for 
 which I have only paid a sou (about twenty-two francs of present money), or 
 yours, which have cost so much ? " From that time, whenever this great 
 king entered on a campaign, the officers of his household, even the most rich 
 and powerful, did not dare to show themselves in any clothes but those made 
 of leather, wool, or cloth ; for had they, on such occasions, made their 
 appearance dressed in silk and ornaments, he would have sharply reproved 
 them and have treated them as cowards, or as effeminate, and consequently 
 unfit for the work in which he was about to engage. 
 
 Nevertheless, this monarch, who so severely proscribed luxury in daily 
 life, made the most magnificent displaj^ on the occasions of political or reli- 
 gious festivals, when the imperial dignity with which he was invested 
 required to be set forth by pompous ceremonial and richness of attire. 
 
 During the reign of the other Carlovingian kings, in the midst of political 
 troubles, of internal wars, and of social disturbances, they had neither time 
 nor inclination for inventing new fashions. Monuments of the latter part of 
 the ninth century prove, indeed, that the national dress had hardly under- 
 gone any change since the time of Charlemagne, and that the influence of 
 Roman tradition, especially on festive occasions, was still felt in the dress of 
 the nobles (Figs. 408 to 411). 
 
 In a miniature of the large MS. Bible given by the canons of Saint-Martin 
 of Tours in 869 to Charles the Bald (National Library of Paris), we find 
 the King sitting on his throne surrounded by the dignitaries of his court, and 
 by soldiers all dressed after the Roman fashion. The monarch wears a cloak 
 which seems to be made of cloth of gold, and is attached to the shoulder by 
 a strap or ribbon sliding through a clasp ; this cloak is embroidered in red, 
 on a gold ground ; the tunic is of reddish brown, and the shoes are light red, 
 worked with gold thread. In the same manuscript there is another painting, 
 I'epresenting four women listening to the discourse of a prophet. From this 
 we discover that the female costume of the time consisted of two tunics, the 
 
COSTUMES. 
 
 S'9 
 
 under one being longer but less capacious tlian the other, the sleeves of ll,,. 
 former coming down tight to the wrists, and b..ing plaited in many t'ulds 
 
 Fig. 408. — Costume of a Scholar of the CarloviDgian Period (St. Matthew writine; hi.s Gospel under 
 the Inspiration of Christ). — From a Miniature in a Manuscript of the Ninth Century, in the 
 Burgundian Library, Bru.sscl3 (drawn by Count H. de Vielcastel). 
 
 whilst those of the latter open out, and only reach to the elbow. The lower 
 part, the neck, and the borders of the sleeves are trimmed with ornamented 
 
520 COSTUMES. 
 
 bands, the waist is encircled by a girdle just above the hips, and a long veil, 
 finely worked, and fastened on the head, covers the shoulders and hangs 
 down to the feet, completely hiding the hair, so that long plaits falHng in 
 front were evidently not then in fashion. The under dress of these four 
 women — who all wear black shoes, which were probably made of morocco 
 leather — are of various colours, whereas the gowns or outer tunics are white. 
 
 Notwithstanding that under the Carlovingian dynasty it was always con- 
 sidered a shame and a dishonour to have the head shaved, it must not be 
 supposed that the upper classes continued to wear the long Merovingian 
 style of hair. After the reign of Charlemagne, it was the fashion to shave 
 the hair from above the forehead, the parting being thus widened, and the 
 hair was so arranged that it should not fall lower than the middle of the 
 neck. Under Charles the Bald, whose surname proves that he was not 
 partial to long hair, this custom fell into disuse or was abandoned, and men 
 had the greater part of their heads shaved, and only kept a sort of cap of 
 hair growing on the top of the head. It is at this period that we first find 
 the coxd worn. This kind of common head-dress, made from the furs of 
 animals or from woollen stuflis, continued to be worn for many centuries, and 
 indeed almost to the present day. It was originally only a kind of cap, 
 light and very small ; but it gradually became extended in size, and succes-! 
 sively covered the ears, the neck, and lastly even the shoulders. 
 
 JS^o great change was made in the dress of the two sexes during the tenth 
 century. "Nothing was more simple than the head-dress of women," says 
 M. Jules Quicherat ; "nothing was less studied than their mode of wearing 
 their hair ; nothiag was more simple, and yet finer, than their linen. The 
 elegant appearance of their garments recalls that of the Greek and Roman 
 women. Their dresses were at times so tight as to display all the elegance 
 of their form, whilst at others they were made so high as completely to cover 
 the neck ; the latter were called coties-hardies. The coUe-hardie, which has at 
 all times been part of the dress of French women, and which was frequently 
 worn also by men, was a long tunic reaching to the heels, fastened in at the 
 waist and closed at the wrists. Queens, princesses, and ladies of the nobility 
 wore in addition a long cloak lined with ermine, or a tunic with or without 
 sleeves ; often, too, their dress consisted of two tunics, and of a veil or drapery, 
 which was thrown over the head and fell down before and behind, thus 
 entireh' surroundino- the neck." 
 
COSTUMES. 
 
 S«' 
 
 We cannot find that any very decided change was made in dress hefore 
 the end of the eleventh century. The ordinary dress made of thick cloths 
 and of coarse woollen stuffs were very strong and duniLlo, and not, easily 
 spoiled ; and it was usual, as we still find in some provinces which adhere 
 to old customs, for clothes, especially those worn on festive occasions and at 
 
 Fig. 409.— Costume of a Scholar. Fig. 410.— Costume ol a I'm^Ihij. or Aljbot. 
 
 Fac-similes of Miniatures in a Manuscript of the Ninth Centurj' (" Biblia Sacra "), in the Eoyal 
 
 Ijibrary of Brussels. 
 
 ceremonials, to be handed down as heirlooms from father to son, to the third 
 or fourth generation. The Normans, who came from Scandinavia towards 
 the end of the tenth century, A. I). 970, with their short clothes and coats of 
 mail, at first adopted the dress of the French, and continued to do so in all 
 its various changes. In the following century, having found the Saxons and 
 
 3 X 
 
Fig. 411.— Costume of Charles the Simple (Tenth Century).— From a Miiiiatui-e in the "Eoia de 
 France," by Du Tillet, Manuscript of the Sixteenth Century (Imperial Library of Paris). 
 
COSTUMES. ' 5J3 
 
 Britons in England clad in the garb of their ancestors, slightly modified hv 
 the Roman stjde of appnrcl, thej' began to make groat changes in their manner 
 of dressing themselves. Thej' more and more discarded Roman fashions, and 
 assumed similar costumes to those made in France at the same period. 
 
 Before proceeding further in our history of mediajval dress, we must fore- 
 stall a remark which will not fail to be made by the reader, and this is, that 
 we seem to occupy ourselves exclusively with the dress of kings, queens, and 
 other people of note. But we must replj', that though we are able to form 
 tolerably accurate notions relative to the dress of the upper classes during 
 these remote periods, we do not possess any reliable information relative to 
 that of the lower orders, and that the written documents, as well as the 
 sculptures and paintings, are almost useless on this point. Nevertheless, we 
 may suppose that the dress of the men in the lowest ranks of society has 
 always been short and tight, consisting of hmies or tight drawers, mostly 
 made of leather, of tight tunics, of saijons or doublets, and of capes or cloaks 
 of coarse brown woollen. The tunic was confined at the waist by a belt, to 
 which the knife, the purse, and sometimes the working tools were suspended. 
 The head-dress of the people was generally a simple cap made of thick, coarse 
 woollen cloth or felt, and often of sheep's skin. During the twelfth century, 
 a person's rank or social position was determined by the head-dress. The 
 cap was made of velvet for persons of rank, and of common cloth for the poor. 
 The coniette, which was always an appendage to the cap, was made of cloth, 
 with which the cap might be fastened or adjusted on the head. The mortier, 
 or round cap, dates from the earliest centuries, and was altered both in shape 
 and material according to the various changes of fashion ; but lawyers of 
 high position continued to wear it almost in its original shape, and it became 
 like a professional badge for judges and advocates. 
 
 In the miniatures of that time we find Charles the Good, Count of 
 Flanders, who died in 1127, represented with a cap with a point at the top, 
 to which a long streamer is attached, and a peak turned up in front. A 
 cap very similar, but without the streamer, and with the point turned towards 
 the left, is to be seen in a portrait of Gcoffroy le Bel, Comte de Maine, in 1160. 
 About the same period, Agnes de Baudcment is represented with a sort of cap 
 made of linen or stuff, with lappets hanging down over the shoulders; she is 
 dressed in a robe fastened round the waist, and having long bands attached to 
 the sleeves near the wrists. Queen Ingcburge, second wife of Philip Augustus, 
 
I'ig. 412. — Costume of King Louis le Jeune. — Miniature 
 of the "Eois de France," by Du Tillet (Sixteenth 
 Century), in the National Library of Paris. 
 
 Fig. 413.— Royal Costume.— From a Miniatiiie 
 in a Manuscript of the Twelfth Century, in 
 the Burgundian Library, Brussels. 
 
COSTUMES. jjjj 
 
 also wore the tight gown, fastened at the coUar by a round l)uckk>, and two 
 bands of stuff forming a kind of necklace ; she also used the long cloak, and 
 the closed shoes, which had then begun to be made jjointed. Robert, Comtc do 
 Dreux, who lived at the same period, is also dressed almost precisely like the 
 Queen, notwithstanding the difference of sex and rank ; his robe, however, only 
 descends to the instep, and his belt has no hangings in front. The Queen is 
 represented with her hair long and flowing, but the count has his cut short. 
 
 "Women, in addition to their head-dress, often wore a broad band, wliich 
 was tied under the chin, and gave the appearance of a kind of frame for the 
 face. Both sexes wore coloured bands on their shoes, which were tied round 
 tie ankles like those of sandals, and showed the shajJe of the foot. 
 
 The beard, which was worn in full at the beginning of the twelfth cen- 
 tury, was by degrees modified both as to shape and length. At first it was 
 cut in a point, and only covered the end of the chin, but the next fashion 
 was to wear it so as to join the moustaches. Generally, under Louis le 
 Jeune (Fig. 412), moustaches went out of fashion. We next find beards 
 worn only by country people, who, according to contemporary historians, 
 desired to preserve a " remembrance of their p-irticij^ation in the Crusades." 
 At the end of this centurj', all chins were shaved. 
 
 The Crusades also gave rise to the general use of the purse, which was 
 suspended to the belt by a cord of silk or cotton, and sometimes by a metal 
 chain. At tlie time of the Holy War, it had become an emblem characteristic 
 of pilgrims, who, before starting for Palestine, received from the hands of the 
 priest the cross, the pilgrim's staif, and the purse. 
 
 We now come to the time of Louis IX. (Figs. 414 to 418), of that good 
 king who, according to the testimony of his historians, generally dressed 
 with the greatest simplicity, but who, notwithstanding his usual modesty 
 and economy, did not hesitate on great occasions to submit to the pomp 
 required by the regal position which he held. " Sometimes," says the Sire 
 de Joinvillc, "he went into his garden dressed in a camel's-hair coat, a sur- 
 coat of linsey-woolsey without sleeves, a black silk cloak without a hood, 
 and a hat trimmed with peacocks' feathers. At other times he was dressed 
 in a coat of blue silk, a surcoat and mantle of scarlet satin, and a cotton 
 
 cap." 
 
 The surcoat {mr-cotte) was at first a garment worn only by females, 
 but it was soon adopted by both sexes : it was originally a large wrapper 
 
526 
 
 COSTUMES. 
 
 with sleeves, and was thrown over the upjDer part of the robe {cotte), hence 
 its name, sur-cotte. Very soon it was made without sleeves — doubtless, as 
 M. Quicherat remarks, that the under garment, which was made of more 
 costly material, might be seen ; and then, with the same object, and in 
 order that the due motion of the limbs might not be interfered with, the 
 
 Fig. 414. — Costume of a Princess dressed in a 
 Cloak lined with Fur. — From a Miniature of 
 the Thirteenth Century. 
 
 Fig. 415. — Costume of William Malgeneste, 
 the King's Huntsman, as represented on his 
 Tomb, formerly in the Ahbey of Long-Pont. 
 
 surcoat was raised higher above the hips, and the arm-holes were made very 
 large. 
 
 At the consecration of Louis IX., in 1226, the nobles wore the cap 
 {mortier) trimmed with fur; the bishops wore the cope and the mitre, and 
 carried the crosier. Louis IX., at the age of thirteen, is represented, in a 
 picture executed in 1262 (Sainte-Chapelle, Paris), with his hair short, and 
 wearing a red velvet cap, a tunic, and over this a cloak open at the chest. 
 
COSTUMES. 
 
 527 
 
 having long sleeves, whicli are slit up for the arms to go through ; this cloak, 
 or surcoat, is trimmed with ermiue in front, and has the appearance of wliat 
 we should now call a fur shawl. The young King has long hose, and shoes 
 similar in shape to high slippers. In the same painting Queen Margaret, 
 his wife, wears a gown with tight bodice opened out on the hips, and having 
 long and narrow sleeves ; she also has a cloak embroidered with fleurs-de-lis, 
 the long sleeves of which are slit up and bordered witli ermine ; a kind of 
 
 Fig. 416.— Costumes of the Thirteenth Century : Tristan and the beautiful Yscult. 
 Miniature in the Romance of "Tristan," Manuscript of the Fourteenth Century 
 Library of Paris) . 
 
 —From a 
 (Imperial 
 
 hood, much larger than her head, and over this a veil, which passes under 
 the chin without touching the face; the shoes are long, and seem to enclose 
 the feet very tightly. 
 
 From this period gowns with tight bodices were generally adopted ; the 
 women wore over them a tight jacket, reaching to a little below the hips, 
 often trimmed with fur when the gown was richly ornamented, and itselt 
 richly ornamented when the gown was plain. They also began to plait 
 
528 COSTUMES. 
 
 the liair, whicli fell down by tlie side of the face to the neck, and they 
 profusely decorated it with pearls or gold or silver ornaments. Jeanne, 
 Queen of Navarre, wife of Philippe le Bel, is represented with a pointed 
 cap, on the turned-up borders of which the hair clusters in thick curls on 
 each side of the face ; on the chest is a frill turned down in two points ; 
 the gown, fastened in front by a row of buttons, has long and tight sleeves, 
 with a small slit at the wrists closed by a button ; lastly, the Queen wears, 
 over all, a sort of second robe in the shape of a cloak, the sleeves of which 
 are widely slit in the middle. 
 
 At the end of the thirteenth century luxury was at its height at the 
 court of France: gold and silver, pearls and precious stones were lavished 
 on dress. At the marriage of Philip III., son of St. Louis, the gentlemen 
 were dressed in scarlet; the ladies in cloth of gold, embroidered and 
 trimmed with gold and silver lace. Massive belts of gold were also worn, 
 and chaplets sparkling with the same costly metal. Moreover, this magnifi- 
 cence and display (see chapter on Private Life) was not confined to the 
 court, for we find that it extended to the bourgeois class, since Philippe 
 le Bel, by his edict of 1294, endeavoured to limit this extravagance, which 
 in the eyes of the world had an especial tendency to obliterate, or at least 
 to conceal, all distinctions of birth, rank, and condition. Wealth strove hard 
 at that time to be the sole standard of dress. 
 
 As we approach the fourteenth century — an epoch of the Middle Ages at 
 which, after many changes of fashion, and many struggles against the 
 ancient Roman and German traditions, modern national costume seems at 
 last to have assumed a settled and normal character — we think it right to 
 recapitulate somewhat, with a view to set forth the nature of the various 
 elements which were at work from time to time in forming the fashions in 
 dress. In order to give more weight to our remarks, we will extract, almost 
 word for word, a few pages from the learned and excellent Avork which 
 M. Jules Quicherat has published on this subject. 
 
 " Towards the year 1280," he says, " the dress of a man — not of a man 
 as the word was then used, which meant serf, but of one to whom the exercise 
 of human prerogatives was permitted, that is to say, of an ecclesiastic, a bour- 
 geois, or a noble — was composed of six indispensable portions : the braies, or 
 breeches, the stockings, the shoes, the coat, the surcoat, or cotte-hardie, and 
 the chaperon, or head-dress. To these articles those who wished to dress more 
 
COSTUMES. 
 
 529 
 
 Fig. 417.— Costumes of the (Joiiuiiuu i^eoplt: in the Foiiriecuth Century : Italian Gardener and 
 Woodman. — From two En"Tavin<>-s in the Bonnart Collection. 
 
 elegantly added, on the body, a shirt ; on the shoulders, a mantle ; and on 
 the head, a hat, or fronfnaii. 
 
 " The ImticH, or hrmjcs, were a kind of drawers, geuerally knitted, some- 
 
 3 Y 
 
53° COSTUMES. 
 
 times made of woollen stuff or silk, and sometimes even of undressed leather. 
 . . . Our ancestors derived this part of their dress from the ancient Grauls ; 
 only the Gallic braies came down to the ankle, whereas those of the thirteenth 
 century only reached to the calf. They were fastened above the hips by 
 means of a belt called the braier. 
 
 " By chausses was meant what we now call long stockings or hose. The 
 stockings were of the same colour and material as the braies, and were kept 
 up by the lower part of the braies being pulled over them, and tied with a 
 string. 
 
 " The shoes were made of various kinds of leather, the quality of which 
 depended on the way in which they were tanned, and were either of common 
 leather, or of leather which was similar to that we know as morocco, and was 
 called cordouan or cordiia (hence the derivation of the word cordouannier, 
 which has now become cordonnier). Shoes were generally made pointed; 
 this fashion of the poulame&, or Polish points, was followed throughout the 
 whole of Europe for nearly three hundred years, and, when first introduced, 
 the Church was so scandalized by it that it was almost placed in the catalogue 
 of heresies. Subsequently, the taste respecting the exaggerated length of 
 the points was somewhat modified, but it had become so inveterate that the 
 tendency for pointed shoes returning to their former absurd extremes was 
 constantly showing itself. The pointed shoes became gradually longer 
 during the struggles which were carried on in the reign of Philippe le Bel 
 between Church and State. 
 
 " Besides the shoes, there were also the e&tiviaux, thus named from estim 
 (summer thing), because, being generally made of velvet, brocade, or other 
 costly material, they could only be worn in dry weather. 
 
 "The coat [cotte) corresponded with the tunic of the ancients, it was a blouse 
 with tight sleeves. These sleeves were the only part of it which were exposed, 
 the rest being completely covered by the surcoats, or cottc-hardie, a name the 
 origin of which is obscure. In shape the surcoat somewhat resembled a 
 sack, in which, at a later period, large slits were made in the arms, as well 
 as over the hips and on the chest, through which appeared the rich furs and 
 
 satins with which it was lined The ordinarj^ material of the surcoat 
 
 for the rich was cloth, either scarlet, blue, or reddish brown, or two or 
 more of these colours mixed together ; and for the poor, linsey-woolse)^ or 
 fustian. The nobles, princes, or barons, when holding a court, wore surcoats 
 
COSTUMES. 
 
 5J» 
 
 of a colour to match their arms, which were embroidered upon them, but the 
 lesser nobles who frequented the houses of the great spoke of fliemsclves as 
 
 Fig. 418.— Costume of English Servants in the Fourteenth Century.— From Manuscripts in the 
 
 Britisli JIuseum. 
 
 in the robes of such and such a noble, because he whose patronage they 
 courted was obliged to provide thcni with surcoats aud mantles. These were 
 
532 • 
 
 COSTUMES. 
 
 Jig 419.— Costume of Philip the Good, with Hood and " Cockade."— From a Miniature in it 
 Manuscript of the Period. 
 
COSTUMES. 533 
 
 of their patron's favourite colour, and were called the livery {lirn'-r), on 
 account of their distribution (lirraimi), which to(jk place twice a year. The 
 word has remained in use ever since, but with a difiereut signification ; it 
 is, however, so nearly akin to the original meaning that its affinity is 
 evident." 
 
 An interesting anecdote relative to this custom is to be found in the 
 chronicles of ilatthew Paris. When St. Louis, to the dismay of all his 
 vassals, and of his inferior servants, had decided to take up the cross, he 
 succeeded in associating the nobles of his court with him in his vow by a 
 kind of pious fraud. Having had a certain number of mantles prepared for 
 Christmas-day, he had a small wliite cross embroidered on each above the 
 right shoulder, and ordered them to be distributed among the nobles on the 
 morning of the feast when they were about to go to mass, which was cele- 
 brated some time before sunrise. Each courtier received the mantle given by 
 the King at the door of his room, and put it on in the dark without noticing 
 the white cross ; but, when the day broke, to his great surprise, he saw the 
 emblem worn by his neighbour, without knowing that he himself wore it 
 also. "They were surprised and amused," says the English historian, "at 
 finding that the King had thus piously entrapped them. ... As it would 
 have been unbecoming, shameful, and even unworthy of them to have removed 
 these crosses, they laughed heartily, and said that the good King, on starting 
 as a pilgrim-hunter, had found a new method of catching men." 
 
 " The chaperon," adds M. Quicherat, "was the national head-dress of the 
 ancient French, as the cucullm, which was its model, was that of the Grauls. 
 We can imagine its appearance by its resemblance to the domino now worn 
 at masked balls. The shape was much varied during the reign of Philij^pe 
 le Bel, either by the diminution of the cape or by the lengthening of the 
 hood, which was always sufficiently long to fall on the shoulders. In the first 
 of these changes, the chaperon no longer being tied round the neck, required 
 to be held on the head by something more solid. For this reason it was set 
 on a pad or roll, which changed it into a regular cap. The material was so 
 stitched as to make it take certain folds, which were arranged as puffs, as 
 ruffs, or in the shape of a cock's comb ; this last fashion, called cockade, was 
 especially in vogue (Fig. 419) — hence the origin of the French epithet 
 coqitard, which would be now expressed by the word (hdidi/. 
 
 "Hats were of various shapes. They were made of different kinds of 
 
5 34 
 
 COSTUMES. 
 
 felt, or of otter or goat's skin, or of wool or cotton. The expression 
 cliape.au de fleurs (hat of flowers), which continually occurs in ancient works, 
 did not mean any form of hat, but simply a coronet of forget-me-nots or 
 roses, which was an indispensable part of dress for balls or festivities 
 
 Fig. 420. — Costumes of a rich Bourgeoise, of a Peasant-woman, and of a Lady of the Nohilitj', 
 of the Fourteenth Century. — From various painted Windows in the Churches of Moulins 
 (Bourbonnais). 
 
 down to the reign of Philippe de Valois (1317). Frontlets [fronteaux), a 
 species of fillet made of silk, covered with gold and precious stones, super- 
 seded the cJiaperiu de fleiirs, inasmuch as they had the advantage of not fading. 
 They also possessed the merit of being much more costly, and were thus the 
 
SAINT CATHl-RINE SURIIOUNDED BY TIIE DOCTORS OF ALEXANDHIA. 
 
 A miniature from the Jim'm.^ oHlu: c;ua,n.l (iriniaiu, attrilnilea lo Memlin-. 
 
 Hilil. ofSainl-.Maif, Vciiiio. 
 
 (Trom a copy belonging to M. Aiulu'ois.,' Firinin-lJi'lot.;' 
 
COSTUMES. 535 
 
 means of establishing iu a still more marked manner distinctions in the soeial 
 positions of the wearers. 
 
 " There were two kinds of mantles ; one was open in front, and fell over 
 the back, and a strap which crossed the chest held it fixed on the shoulders ; 
 the other, enveloping the body like a bell, was slit up on the right side, 
 and was thrown back over the left arm ; it was made with a fur collar, cut 
 in the shape of a tippet. This last has been handed down to us, and is worn 
 by our judges under the name of toge and epitorje. 
 
 " It is a very common mistake to suppose that the shirt is an article of 
 dress of modern invention ; on the contrary, it is one of great anticpiily, 
 and its coming into genei'al use is the onlj' thing new about it. 
 
 " Lastly, we have to mention the chape, which was always regarded as a 
 necessary article of dress. The cliapc was the only protection against bad 
 weather at a period when umbrellas and covered carriages were unknown. 
 It was sometimes called chape de phiic, on account of the use to which it was 
 applied, and it consisted of a large cape with sleeves, and was completely 
 waterproof. It was borne behind a master hy his servant, who, on account of 
 this service was called a porte-chape. It is needless to saj' that the common 
 people carried it themselves, either slung over their backs, or folded imder 
 the arm." 
 
 If we now turn to female attire, we shall find represented in it all the 
 component parts of male dress, and almost all of them under the same 
 names. It must be remarked, however, that the women's coats and sur- 
 coats often trailed on the ground ; that the hat — which was generally called 
 a coiivrc-chcf, and consisted of a frame of wirework covered over with stufl' 
 which was embroidered or trimmed with lace — was not of a conical shape ; 
 and, lastly, that the cliapo-on, which was always made with a tippet, or 
 chaiLsfe, never turned over so as to form a cap. We may add that the 
 use of the couvre-chef did not continue beyond the middle of the four- 
 teenth century, at which time women adopted the custom of wearing any 
 kind of head-dress they chose, the hair being kept back by a silken net, or 
 crepixe, attached either to a frontlet, or to a metal fillet, or confined by a 
 veil of very light material, called a moUcqiiin (Fig. 420). 
 
 With the aid of our learned guide wo have now reached a period (end 
 of the thirteenth century) well adapted for this general study of the dress 
 of our ancestors, inasmuch as soon afterwards men's dress at least, and 
 
536 
 
 COSTUMES. 
 
 Fig. 421. — Costumes of a young Nobleman and of a Bourgeois in the Fourteenth Century. — From 
 a painted Window in the Church of Saint-Ouen at Eouen, and from a Window at Moulins 
 (Bourbonnais). 
 
COSTUMES. 
 
 537 
 
 especially that of yo'ing courtiers, became most ridiculously and even in- 
 decently exaggerated. To sucli an extent was this the case, that serious 
 calamities having befallen the French nation about this time, and its 
 fashions having exercised a considerable influence over the wholo'eontincnt 
 of Europe, contemporary historians do not hesitate to regard these public 
 misfortunes as a providential chastisement inflicted on France for its dis- 
 graceftil extravagance in dress. 
 
 " We must believe that God has permitted this as a just judgment on 
 us for our sins," say the monks who edited the " Grande Chronique de St. 
 Denis" in 1346, at the time of the unfortunate battle of Cressy, "although 
 it does not belong to us to judge. But what we see we testify to ; for pride 
 was very great in France, and especially amongst the nobles and others, 
 that is to say, pride of nobility, and covetousness. There was also much 
 impropriety in dress, and this extended throughout the whole of France. 
 Some had their clothes so short and so tight that it required the help of two 
 persons to dress and undress them, and whilst they were being undressed 
 they appeared as if they were being skinned. Others wore dresses plaited 
 over their loins like women ; some had chaperons cut out in points all 
 round ; some had tippets of one cloth, others of another ; and some had their 
 head-dresses and sleeves reaching to the ground, looking more like moimte- 
 banks than anything else. Considering all this, it is not surprising if God 
 employed the King of England as a .scourge to correct the excesses of the 
 French peoj^le." 
 
 And this is not the only testimony to the ridiculous and extravagant 
 tastes of this unfortunate period. One writer speaks with indignation of the 
 goats' beards (with two points), which seemed to put the last finishing touch 
 of ridicule on the already grotesque appearance of even the most serious 
 people of that period. Another exclaims against the extravagant luxurv 
 of jewels, of gold and silver, and against the wearing of feathers, which 
 latter then appeared for the first time as accessories to botli male and 
 female attire. Some censure, and not without reason, the absurd fashion 
 of converting the ancient leather girdle, meant to supj)ort the waist, into 
 a kind of heavy padded band, studded with gilded ornaments and precious 
 stones, and apparently invented expressly to encimiber the person wear- 
 ing it. Other contemporary writers, and amongst these Pope Urban V. 
 and King Charles V. (Fig. 422), inveigh against the jmulaines, which had 
 
 o z 
 
538 
 
 COSTUMES. 
 
 more than ever come into favour, and which were only considered correct in 
 fashion when they were made as a kind of appendix to the foot, measuring 
 
 Fig. 422. — Costume of Charles V., King of Fig. 423. — Costume of Jeiiime de Bourbon, Wife 
 France. — From a Statue formerly in the of Charles V. — From a Statue formerly in 
 
 Church of the Cflestins, Paris. the Church of the Celestina, Paris. 
 
 at least double its length, and ornamented in the most fantastical manner. 
 The Pope anathematized this deformity as "a mockery of God and the holy 
 Church," and the King forbad craftsmen to make them, and his subjects to 
 
COSTUMES. 535 
 
 wear them. All this is as nothing in compu,risou with tlio ])rofim(; extrava- 
 gance displayed in furs, which was most oiitragcuiis and luiiioiis, and ol' wliich 
 we could not form an idea were it not for the items in corlaiii inyal duL-unients, 
 from which we gather that, in order to trim two complete suits foi' Iv'in- 
 John, no fewer than six hundred and seventy martens' skins were u.sed. It 
 is also stated that the Duke of Berry, the youngest son of that mduarch, pur- 
 chased nearly ten thousand of these same skins from a distant cuuutry in tlu; 
 north, in order to trim only five mantles and as many surcoats. We read 
 also that a robe made for the Duke of Orleans, oraudson of the same kine, 
 required two thousand seven hundred and ninety ermines' skins. It is 
 unnecessary to state, that in consequence of this large consumption, skins 
 could only be purchased at the most extravagant prices ; for example, fifty 
 skins cost about one hundred francs (or about six thousand of present cur- 
 rency), showing to what an enormous expense those f)ersous were put who 
 desired to keep pace with the luxury of the times (Fig. 424) . 
 
 We have already seen that Charles V. used his influence, which was unfor- 
 tunately very limited, in trying to restrain the extravagance of fashion. This 
 monarch did more than decree laws against indelicate or unseemly and 
 ridiculous dress ; he himself never wore anything but the loug and ample 
 costume, which was most becoming, and which had been adopted in the pre- 
 ceding century. His example, it is true, was little followed, but it neverthe- 
 less had this happy result, that the advocates of short and tight dresses, as if 
 suddenly seized with instinctive modesty, adopted an upper garment, the 
 object of which seemed to be to conceal the absurd fashions which they had 
 not the courage to rid themselves of This heavy and ungraceful tunic, 
 called a hoime, consisted of two broad bands of a more or less costly material, 
 which, starting from the neck, fell behind and before, thus almost entirely 
 concealing the front and back of the person, and only allowing the under 
 garments to be st^en tlirougli the slits which naturally opened on each side 
 of it. 
 
 A fact worthy of remark is, that whilst male attire, through a depravity 
 of taste, had extended to the utmost limit of extravagance, women's dress, on 
 the contrary, owing to a strenuous effort towards a dignified and elegant 
 simplicity, became of such a character that it combined all the most. 
 Jtpproved fashions of female costume which had been in use in former periods. 
 
 The statue of Quccu Jeanne de Bourbon, wife of Charles^ Y-, formerly 
 
54° 
 
 COSTUMES. 
 
 Fig. 424. — Costumes of Bourgeois or Merchant, of a Nobleman, and of a Lady of the Court or rich 
 Bourgeoise, with the Head-dress {escoffion) of the Fifteenth Century. — From a Painted Window 
 of the Period, at Moulins (Bouibounaisi), and from a Painting on Wood of tl;ie same Period, in 
 the Musce de Cluny. 
 
 placed witli that of her husband in the Church of the Celestins at Paris, 
 gives the most faithful representation of this charming costume, to which our 
 
COSTUMES. 5^, 
 
 artists continually have recourse when they wish to depict any poetical scenes 
 of the French Middle Ages (Fig. 423). 
 
 This costume, without positively differing in style fronr that of the thir- 
 teenth century, inasmuch as it was composed of similar elements, was never- 
 theless to be distinguished by a degree of elegance which hitherto had been 
 unknown. The coat, or under garment, which formerly only showed itself 
 through awkwardly-contrived openings, now displayed the harmonious out- 
 lines of the figure to advantage, thanks to the large openings in the overcoat. 
 The surcoat, kept back on the shoulders by two narrow bands, became a sort 
 of wide and trailing skirt, which majestically draped the lower part of the 
 body ; and, lastly, the external corset was invented, which was a kind of 
 short mantle, falling down before and behind without conceaUng anv of the 
 fine outlines of the bust. This new article of apparel, which was kept in 
 its place in the middle of the chest by a steel busk encased in some rich 
 lace-work, was generally made of fur in winter and of silk in summer. If 
 we consult the numerous miniatures in manuscripts of this period, in which 
 the gracefulness of the costume was heightened by the coloiu's employed, we 
 shall understand what varietur and what richness of effect could be displayed 
 without departing from the most rigid simplicity'. 
 
 One word more in reference to female head-dress. The fashion of wear- 
 ing false hair continued in great favour during the middle of the fourteenth 
 century, and it gave rise to all sorts of ingenious combinations; which, how- 
 ever, always admitted of the hair being parted from the forehead to the back 
 of the head in two equal masses, and of being plaited or waved over the ears. 
 Nets were again adopted, and head-dresses which, whilst permitting a display 
 of masses of false hair, hid the horsehair or padded puffs. And, lastly, the 
 escoffion appeared — a heavy roU, which, being placed on a cap also padded, 
 produced the most clumsy, outrageous, and ungracefid shapes (Fig. 424). 
 
 At the beginning of the fifteenth century men's dress was still very 
 short. It consisted of a kind of tight waistcoat, fastened by tags, and 
 of very close-fitting breeches, which displayed the outlines of the figure. 
 In order to appear wide at the shoulders artificial pads were worn, called 
 mahoitrcs. The hair wiis allowed to fall on the forehead in locks, which 
 covered the eyebrows and eyes. The sleeves were slashed, the shoes armed 
 with long metal points, and the conical hat, with turned- up rim, was 
 ornamented with gold chains and various jewels. The ladies, during the 
 
542 
 
 COSTUMES. 
 
 Fig. 425. — Italian Costumes of the Fifteenth Century : Notary and Sbirro.— From two Engravings 
 in the Bonnart Collection. 
 
 reign of Charles VI., still wore long trains to their dresses, wliicli they 
 carried tucked up under their arms, unless they had pages or waiting- 
 maids (see chapter on Ceremonials). The tendency, haweYcr, was to shorten 
 
COSTUMES. 
 
 5+3 
 
 Fig. 426. — Costumes of a Meclianic's Wife and a ricli Bourgeoia in the latter part of the Fifteenth 
 Century. — From Windows in the Cathedral of Moulins (Bourhonnais). 
 
 these inconvenient trains, as well as the long hanging and embroidered or 
 fringed sleeTCS. On the other hand, ladies' dresses on becoming shorter were 
 trimmed in the most costly manner. Their head-dresses consisted of very large 
 
S44 COSTUMES. 
 
 rolls, surmounted by a high conical bonnet called a hennin, the introduction 
 of which into France was attributed to Queen Isabel of Bavaria, wife of 
 Charles VI. It was at this period that they began to uncover the neck and 
 to wear necklaces. 
 
 Under Louis XI. this costume, already followed and adopted by the 
 greatest slaves of fashion, became more general. 
 
 " In this year (1487)," says the chronicler Monstrelet, "ladies ceased to 
 wear trains, substituting for them trimmings of grebe, of martens' fur, of 
 velvet, and of other materials, of about eighteen iuches in width ; some wore 
 on the top of their heads rolls nearly two feet high, shaped Kke a roimd cap, 
 which closed in above. Others wore them lower, with veils hanging from the 
 top, and reaching down to the feet. Others wore unusually wide silk bands, 
 with very elegant buckles equally wide, and magnificent gold necklaces of 
 various patterns. 
 
 "About this time, too, men took to wearing shorter clothes than ever, 
 having them made to fit tightly to the body, after the manner of dressing 
 monkeys, which was very shameful and immodest ; and the sleeves of their 
 coats and doublets were sHt open so as to show their fine white shirts. They 
 wore their hair so long that it concealed their face and even their eyes, and 
 on their heads they wore cloth caps nearly a foot or more high. They also 
 carried, according to fancy, very splendid gold chains. Knights and squires, 
 and even the varlets, wore silk or velvet doublets ; and almost every one, 
 especially at court, wore poulaines nine inches or more in length. They also 
 wore under their doublets large pads [mahoitres) , in order to appear as if 
 they had broad shoulders." 
 
 Under Charles VIII. the mantle, trimmed with fur, was open in front, 
 its false sleeves being slit up above in order to allow the arms of the under 
 coat to pass through. The cap was turned up ; the breeches or long hose 
 were made tight-fitting. The shoes with poulaines were superseded by a 
 kind of large padded shoe of black leather, round or square at the toes, and 
 gored over the foot with coloured material, a fashion imported from Italy, 
 and which was as much exaggerated lq France as the poulaiae had formerly 
 been. The women continued to wear conical caps (Jiennins) of great height, 
 covered with immense veils ; their gowns were made with tight-fitting bodies, 
 which thus displayed the outUnes of the figure (Figs. 427 and 428). 
 
 Under Louis XII., Queen Anne invented a low head-dress — or rather it 
 
ITALIAN LACEWORK, IN GOLD THREAD. 
 The cypher and arms of Henry III. ()(*'•' century.) 
 
COSTUMES. 
 
 5*5 
 
 Kg. 427.-C08tame of Charlotte of Savoy, second Wife of Louis XI.-Fio.n a Picture of the 
 Period formerly in the Castle of Bourbon-l'Archambault, M. de Quedeville's CoUect.on, m i-ans. 
 The Arms of Louis XL and Charlotte are painted behind the pictuie. 
 
 4 A 
 
S4t> 
 
 COSTUMES. 
 
 
 v_ 
 
 Fig. 428.— Costume of Mary of Burgundy, Daughter of Charles the Bold, Wife of Maximilian of 
 Austria (end of the Fifteenth Century). From an old Engraving in the Collection of the 
 Imperial Library, Paris. 
 
COSTUMES. j^. 
 
 was invented for her— consisting of strips of velvet or of bliK^k or violut 
 silk over otlier bunds of wliite linen, whicli encircled tlie fiice ;ind fell 
 dov.u over the back and shoulders ; the large sleeves of the dresses h:id 
 a kind of turned-over borders, with trimmings of enormous width. Men 
 adopted short tunics, plaited and tight at the waist. The upper part of the 
 garments of both men and women was cut in the form of a square over the 
 chest and shoulders, as most iigures are represented in the pictures of Raphael 
 and contemporary painters. 
 
 The introduction of Italian fashions, which in reality flid not much 
 differ from those -s^hich had been already adojited, but which exhibited 
 better taste and a greater amount of elegance, dates from the famous expedi- 
 tion of Charles Till, into Italy (Figs. 429 and 430). Fidl and gathered or 
 puffed sleeves, which gave considerable gracefulness to the upjjer part of the 
 bodj', succeeded to the inahoitrvi, which had been discarded since the time 
 of Louis XI. A short and ornamented mantle, a broad-brimmed hat covered 
 with feathers, and trunk hose, the ample dimensions of which earned for 
 them the name of froum-a, formed the male attire at the end of the fifteenth 
 century. "Women wore the bodies of their dresses closely fitting to the figure, 
 embroidered, trimmed with lace, and covered with gilt ornaments; the sleeves 
 were very large and open, and for the most part they still adhered to the 
 heavy and ungraceful head-dress of Queen Anne of Brittany. The principal 
 characteristic of female dress at the time was its fulness ; men's, on the con- 
 trary, with the exception of the mantle or the upper garment, was usually 
 tight and very scanty. 
 
 We find that a distinct separation between ancient and modern dress took 
 place as early as the sixteenth century ; in fact, our present fashions may be 
 said to have taken their origin from about that time. It was during this 
 century that men adopted clothes closely fitting to the body; overcoats with 
 tight sleeves, felt hats with more or less wide brims, and closed shoes and boots. 
 The women also wore their dresses closely fitting to the figure, with tight 
 sleeves, low-crowned hats, and richly-trimmed petticoats. These gannents, 
 which differ altogether from those of antiquity, constitute, as it were, the 
 common type from which have since arisen the endless varieties of male and 
 female dress; and there is no doubt that fashion will thus be continuaUy 
 changing backwards and forwards from time to time, sometimes returnmg to 
 its original model, and sometimes departing from it. 
 
5+8 
 
 C0STU31ES. 
 
 Figs. 429 aud -ioi). — Costumes of Young Nobles of the Court of Charles VIII., hefore and after the 
 Expedition into Italy. — From Miniatures in two Manuscripts of the Period in the Xational 
 Library of Paris. 
 
 Dui-ing the sixteentli century, ladies -sv^ore the skirts of their dresses, 
 which were tight at the waist and open in front, very wide, displaying 
 the lower part of a very rich under petticoat, which reached to the ground, 
 
rosTU/Jics. 
 
 5+9 
 
 completely concealing the feet. This, like the sleeves with puffs, which 
 fell in circles to the wrists, was altogether an Italian fashion. Frequently 
 the hair was turned over in rolls, and adorned with precious stones, and 
 was surmounted by a small cap, coquettishly placed either on one side 
 or on the top of the head, and ornamented with gold chains, jewels, and 
 feathers. The body of the dress was always long, and pointed in front. 
 Men wore their coats cut somewhat after the same shape : their trunk hose 
 were tight, but round the waist they were puffed out. They wore a cloak, 
 which only reached as far as the hip-, and was always much ornamented; 
 they carried a smooth or ribbed cap on one side of the head, and a small 
 upright collar adorned the coat. This collar was replaced, after the first 
 half of the sixteenth century, by the high, starched ruff, which was kept out 
 by wires ; ladies wore it still larger, when it had somewhat the appearance of 
 an open fan at the back of the neck. 
 
 If we take a retrospective glance at the numerous changes of costume 
 ■which we have endeavoured to describe in this hurried sketch, we shall find 
 that amongst European nations, during the Middle Ages, there was but one 
 common standard of fashion, which varied from time to time according to the 
 particular custom of each country, and according to the peculiarities of each 
 race. In Italy, for instance, dress always maintained a certain character of 
 grandeur, ever recalling the fact that the influence of antiquity was not quite 
 lost. In Germany and Switzerland, garments had generally a heavy and 
 massive appearance ; in Holland, still more so (Figs. 436 and 437). England 
 uniformly studied a kind of instinctive elegance and propriety. It is a 
 curious fact that Spain invariably partook of the heaviness peculiar to 
 Germany, either because the Gothic element still prevailed there, or that 
 the Walloon fashions had a special attraction to her owing to associations and 
 general usage. France was then, as it is now, fickle and capricious, fantas- 
 tical and wavering, but not from indifference, but because she was always 
 ready to borrow fi-om every quarter anything which pleased her. She, how- 
 ever, never failed to put her own stamp on whatever she adopted, thus making 
 any fashion essentially French, even though she had only just borrowed it 
 from Spain, England, Germany, or Italy. In all these countries we have 
 seen, and still see, entire provinces adhering to some ancient costume, causing 
 them to differ altogether in character from the rest of the nation. This is 
 simply owing to the fact that the fixshions have become obsolete in the 
 
55° 
 
 COSTUMES. 
 
 <y\ii/tMi''-^ 
 
 Fig. 431. — Costumes of a Nobleman or a very rich Bourgeois, of a Bourgeois or Merchant, and of a 
 Noble Lady or rich Bourgeoise, of the Time of Louis XII. — JFrom Miniatures in Manuscripts 
 of the Period, in the Imperial Library of Paris. 
 
 neigtbouring places, for every local costume faithfully and rigorously pre- 
 served by any community at a distance from tbe centre of political action or 
 government, must have been originally brought there by the nobles of the 
 
COSTUMES. 
 
 55' 
 
 Fig. 432.-Costume of a rich Bourgeoise, and of a Noble or Person of Distinelion, of the Time ot 
 LnciBl.-From a Window in the Church of St. Ouen at Rouen, by Gaignieres (.National 
 Library of Paris). 
 country. Thus the head-dress of Anne of Brittany is still that of the peasant- 
 women of Penhoet and of Labrevack, and the hemin of Isabel of Bavaria is 
 still the head-dress of Normandy. 
 
S." 
 
 COSTUMES. 
 
 Although the subject has reached the limits we have by the very nature 
 of this work assigned to it, we think it well to overstep them somewhat, in 
 order briefly to indicate the last connecting link between modern fashions 
 and those of former periods. 
 
 Under Francis I., the costumes adopted from Italy remained almost 
 
 Figs. 433 aud i'ii. — Costumes of the Ladies aud Damsels of the Court of Catherine de Mediois. — 
 
 After Cesare Vecellio. 
 
 Stationary (Fig. 432). Under Henri II. (Figs. 433 and 434), aud especially 
 after the death of that prince, the taste for frivolities made immense progress, 
 aiid the style of dress in ordinary use seemed day by day to lose the few 
 traces of dignity which it had previouslj' possessed. 
 
 Catherine de Medicis had introduced into France the fashion of ruffs, aud 
 
cosrrMf:s. 
 
 553 
 
 at the beginning of the fourteenth century, Marie de Medicis that of small 
 collars. Dresses tight at the waist began to be made very full round flie 
 liips, by means of large padded rolls, and these were still mure cnlar^^'cd, 
 under the name of verfiKjadins (corrupted from rcrtu-gardiciiii), by u mon- 
 strous arrangement of padded whalebone and steel, which subsccjuentlv 
 became the ridiculous panicrs, which were worn almost down to the com- 
 mencement of the present century ; and the fashion seems likely to come 
 into vojrue ao-ain. 
 
 Under the last of the Yalols, men's dress was short, the jacket was pointed 
 
 L'ig. 435.-Costume of a Gentleman of the French Court, of the End of the SLxteenth Century. - 
 Fac-simile of a Miniature in the " Li\Te de Poesies," Manuscript dedicated to Henri IV. 
 
 and trimmed round with small peaks, the velvet cap was trimmed with 
 aigrettes; the beard was pointed, a pearl hung from the left ear, and a small 
 cloak or mantle was carried on the shoulder, which only reached to the 
 waist. The use of gloves made of scented leather became universal. Ladies 
 wore their dresses long, very full, and very costly, little or no change being 
 made in these respects during the reign of Henri IV. At this period, the 
 men's high hose were made longer and fuller, especially in Spain and the 
 Low Countries, and the fashion of large soft boots, made of doeskin or of 
 black morocco, became universal, on account of their being so comfortable. 
 
 4 li 
 
SS+ 
 
 COSTUMES. 
 
 "VYe may remark tLat the costume of the bourgeois was for a long time 
 almost unchanged, even in the towns. Never having adopted either the 
 tight-fitting hose or the balloon trousers, they wore an easy jerkin, a large 
 cloak, and a felt hat, which the English made conical and with a broad brim. 
 
 Towards the beginning of the seventeenth century, the high hose which 
 were worn by the northern nations, profusely trimmed, was transformed into 
 the culotte, which was full and open at the knees. A division was thus 
 suddenly made between the lower and the upper part of the hose, as if the 
 garment which covered the lower limbs had been cut in two, and garters 
 were then necessarily invented. The felt hat became over almost the whole 
 of Europe a cap, taking the exact form of the head, and having a wide, flat 
 brim turned up on one side. High heels were added to boots and shoes, 
 
 which up to that time had been flat and with single soles Two 
 
 centuries later, a terrible social agitation took place all over Europe, after 
 which male attire became mean, ungraceful, plain and more paltry than ever ; 
 whereas female dress, the fashions of which were perpetually changing from 
 day to day, became graceful and elegant, though too often approaching to 
 the extravagant and absurd. 
 
 Figs. 436 and 437.— Costumes of the German Bourgeoisie in the Middle of llic 
 Sixteenth Century. — Drawings attributed to Holhein. 
 
 LO.N'DON : PRINTED BY VIRTUE AND CO., CITY ROAD. 
 

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