Magna Carta

‘…The wise and attentive precautions adopted for his safety touched

Richard's feelings, and removed any slight grudge which he might retain

on account of the deception the Outlaw Captain had practised upon him.

He once more extended his hand to Robin Hood, assured him of his full

pardon and future favour, as well as his firm resolution to restrain the

tyrannical exercise of the forest rights and other oppressive laws, by

which so many English yeomen were driven into a state of rebellion. But

Richard's good intentions towards the bold Outlaw were frustrated by the

King's untimely death; and the Charter of the Forest was extorted

from the unwilling hands of King John when he succeeded to his heroic

brother…’

King John, or John Lackland, takes part in Walter Scott’s “Ivanhoe”, from which the passage above is taken.  John is remembered for putting his seal to the Magna Carta, on June 15, 1215.

Harold Godwinson Crowned

‘Those who occupied the gallery to whom this injurious and unpolite speech was addressed, were the family of Cedric the Saxon, with that of his ally and kinsman, Athelstane of Coningsburgh, a personage, who, on account of his descent from the last Saxon monarchs of England, was held in the highest respect by all the Saxon natives of the north of England….

"The baffled envoy," continued Cedric, pursuing with animation his tale, though it interested not the listener, "retreated, to carry to Tosti and his ally the ominous answer of his injured brother. It was then that the distant towers of York, and the bloody streams of the Derwent, beheld that direful conflict, in which, after displaying the most undaunted valour, the King of Norway, and Tosti, both fell, with ten thousand of their bravest followers. Who would have thought that upon the proud day when this battle was won, the very gale which waved the Saxon banners in triumph, was filling the Norman sails, and impelling them to the fatal shores of Sussex?—Who would have thought that Harold, within a few brief days, would himself possess no more of his kingdom, than the share which he allotted in his wrath to the Norwegian invader?—Who would have thought that you, noble Athelstane—that you, descended of Harold's blood, and that I, whose father was not the worst defender of the Saxon crown, should be prisoners to a vile Norman, in the very hall in which our ancestors held such high festival?"...

"The Lady Rowena," answered Athelstane, with the most steady countenance, "is my affianced bride. I will be drawn by wild horses before I consent to part with her. The slave Wamba has this day saved the life of my father Cedric—I will lose mine ere a hair of his head be injured."

'

Walter Scott’s Athelstane the Unready, in “Ivanhoe”, is descended from Harold Godwinson, who was crowned King Harold II of England on January 6, 1066. The last Saxon king’s reign ended nine months later at Hastings.

Saint Nicholas

"Where is the Miller?" was his first question.

"On the road towards Rotherham."

"With how many?" demanded the leader, for such he seemed to be.

"With six men, and good hope of booty, if it please St Nicholas."

Christmas is coming, and St. Nicholas Day is here.  Nikolaos, Bishop of Myra, died on December 6^th, 343. The text above is from Walter Scott's "Ivanhoe".

Ralph Thoresby

On August 16, 1658, the antiquary Ralph Thoresby was born.  Like Scott, Thoresby was a diarist.  Thoresby started his diary earlier in life than Scott did, beginning in 1677, when he was about 19.  Thoresby focused his attention on his native Leeds.

One point of connection with Walter Scott involves the legend of Robin Hood.  Scott included Robin Hood as Lockesley , and others of Hood's band: Friar Tuck, Allen-a-dale, and Little John in his novel “Ivanhoe”.  There is even a Thoresby; ‘…Broad Thoresby, and the Three Spears of Spyinghow, come to me instantly;…’

A likely candidate for the historical Robin Hood is Robert Hode, the Earl of Huntington.  Thoresby is quoted as a source for this intelligence, as in the following:

‘According to The Annotated Edition of the English Poets - Early ballads (London, 1856, p.70):
"His death is stated by Ritson to have taken place on the 18th of November, 1247, about the eighty-seventh year of his age; but according to the following inscription found among the papers of the Dean of York, and quoted from the Appendix to Thoresby's Ducatus Leodiensis, by Mr. Gutch... the death occurred a month later. In this inscription, which bears evidence of high antiquity, Robin Hood is described as Earl of Huntington - his claim to which title has been as hotly contested as any disputed peerage upon record. 

Hear undernead dis laitl stean
Lais Robert Earl of Huntingtun
Near arcir der as hie sa geud
An pipl kauld im Robin Heud
Sic utlaws as hi an is men
Vil England nivr si agen.
          Obiit 24 Kal Dekembris 1247"

Dragon of Wantley

June 26 [1830].—Miss Kemble and her father breakfasted here, with Sir Adam and Lady Ferguson. I like the young lady very much, respecting both her talents and the use she has made of them. She seems merry, unaffected, and good-humoured. She said she did not like the apathy of the Scottish audiences, who are certain not to give applause upon credit. I went to the Court, but soon returned; a bad cold in my head makes me cough and sneeze like the Dragon of Wantley.

In Walter Scott's journal  entry of June 26, 1830, he refers to the dragon from an old poem.  The dragon lived in a cave in Wharncliffe Crags, and Scott introduces the dragon's turf in "Ivanhoe":

'In that pleasant district of merry England which is watered by the river Don, there extended in ancient times a large forest, covering the greater part of the beautiful hills and valleys which lie between Sheffield and the pleasant town of Doncaster. The remains of this extensive wood are still to be seen at the noble seats of Wentworth, of Warncliffe Park, and around Rotherham. Here haunted of yore the fabulous Dragon of Wantley; here were fought many of the most desperate battles during the Civil Wars of the Roses; and here also flourished in ancient times those bands of gallant outlaws, whose deeds have been rendered so popular in English song...'

Feast of St. Mark

Today, April 25th, is the Feast of Saint Mark the Evangelist. The author of the gospel of Mark is thought to have been killed in Alexandria, having been dragged through the street until he was dead. Mark may have been the first bishop of Alexandria. Relics of his body may be in San Marco Basilica in Venice, but the true disposition of his remains is not known with certainty. His body and remains are objects of devotion, and may educe emotional oaths from some, like Prince John in Walter Scott's "Ivanhoe".

'The figure of Rebecca might indeed have compared with the proudest beauties of England, even though it had been judged by as shrewd a connoisseur as Prince John. Her form was exquisitely symmetrical, and was shewn to advantage by a sort of Eastern dress, which she wore according to the fashion of the females of her nation. Her turban of yellow silk suited well with the darkness of her complexion. The brilliancy of her eyes, the superb arch of her eyebrows, her well-formed aquiline nose, her teeth as white as pearl, and the profusion of her sable tresses which, each arranged in its own little spiral of twisted curls, fell down upon as much of a lovely neck and bosom as a simarre of the richest Persian silk, exhibiting flowers in their natural colours embossed upon a purple ground, permitted to be visible—all these constituted a combination of loveliness, which yielded not to the most beautiful of the maidens who surrounded her. It is true that of the golden and pearl-studded clasps, which closed her vest from the throat to the waist, the three uppermost were left unfastened on account of the heat, which something enlarged the prospect to which we allude. A diamond necklace, with pendants of inestimable value, were by this means also made more conspicuous. The feather of an ostrich, fastened in her turban by an agriffe set with brilliants, was another distinction of the beautiful Jewess, scoffed and sneered at by the proud dames who sat above her, but secretly envied by those who affected to deride them.

" By the bald scalp of Abraham," said Prince John, " yonder Jewess must be the very model of that perfection, whose charms drove frantic the wisest king that ever lived ! What sayest thou, Prior Aymer ?—By the Temple of that wise king, which our wiser brother Richard proved unable to recover, she is the very Bride of the Canticles ! "

" The Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley,"— answered the Prior, in a sort of snuffling tone; " but your Grace must remember she is still but a Jewess."

" Ay," added Prince John, without heeding him, " and there is my Mammon of unrighteousness too—the Marquis of Marks, the Baron of Byzants, contesting for place with penniless dog, whose threadbare cloaks have not a single cross in their pouches to keep the devil from dancing there. By the body of St. Mark, my prince of supplies, with his lovely Jewess, shall have a place in the gallery!—'What is she, Isaac ? thy wife or thy daughter, that Eastern houri that thou lockest under thy arm as thou wouldst thy treasure-casket ? "

Canine Ties

'...Home by water to dinner, and with my father, wife, and Ashwell, after dinner, by water towards Woolwich, and in our way I bethought myself that we had left our poor little dog that followed us out of doors at the waterside, and God knows whether he be not lost, which did not only strike my wife into a great passion but I must confess myself also; more than was becoming me. We immediately returned, I taking another boat and with my father went to Woolwich, while they went back to find the dog. I took my father on board the King’s pleasure boat and down to Woolwich, and walked to Greenwich thence and turning into the park to show my father the steps up the hill, we found my wife, her woman, and dog attending us, which made us all merry again, and so took boats, they to Deptford and so by land to Half-way house, I into the King’s yard and overlook them there, and eat and drank with them, and saw a company of seamen play drolly at our pence, and so home by water...'

Samuel Pepys spends much of his April 8, in the year 1663, searching for a lost pet (from Pepys' Diary). Certainly, dog lover Walter Scott could relate to the Pepys family's concern. Scott employs a similar concern, though from the dog's point of view, in this scene from "Ivanhoe":

'In the present instance, the apprehension of impending evil was inspired by no less respectable a prophet than a large lean black dog, which, sitting upright, howled most piteously as the foremost riders left the gate, and presently afterwards, barking wildly, and jumping to and fro, seemed bent upon attaching itself to the party.

" I like not that music, father Cedric," said Athelstane; for by this title of respect he was accustomed to address him.
" Nor I either, uncle," said Wamba; " I greatly fear we shall have to pay the piper."


" In my mind," said Athelstane, upon whose memory the Abbot's good ale (for Burton was already famous for that genial liquor) had made a favourable impression— " in my mind we had better turn back, and abide with the Abbot until the afternoon. It is unlucky to travel where your path is crossed by a monk, a hare, or a howling dog, until you have eaten your next meal.


" Away !" said Cedric, impatiently ; " the day is already too short for our journey. For the dog, I know it to be the cur of the runaway slave Gurth, a useless fugitive like its master."


So saying, and rising at the same time in his stirrups, impatient at the interruption of his journey, he launched his javelin at poor Fang-—for Fangs it was, who, having traced his master thus far upon his stolen expedition, had here lost him, and was now, in his uncouth way, rejoicing at his reappearance. The javelin inflicted a wound upon the animal's shoulder, and narrowly missed pinning him to the earth; and Fangs fled howling from the presence of the enraged thane. Gurth's heart swelled within him for he felt this meditated slaughter of his faithful adherent in a degree much deeper than the harsh treatment he had himself received. Having in vain attempted to raise his hand to his eyes, he said to Wamba, who, seeing his master's ill humour, had prudently retreated to the rear, " I pray thee, do me the kindness to wipe my eyes with the skirt of thy mantle; the dust offends me, and these bonds will not let me help myself one way or another."...'

Edward the Confessor Crowned

'There remained betwixt Cedric and the determination which the lovers desired to come to, only two obstacles,— his own obstinacy, and his dislike of the Norman dynasty. The former feeling gradually gave way before the endearments of his ward, and the pride which he could not help nourishing in the fame of his son. Besides, he was not insensible to the honour of allying his own line to that of Alfred, when the superior claims of the descendant of Edward the Confessor were abandoned for ever. Cedric's aversion to the Norman race of kings was also much undermined,—first, by consideration of the impossibility of ridding England of the new dynasty, a feeling which goes far to create loyalty in the subject to the king de facto; and secondly, by the personal attention of King Richard, who delighted in the blunt humour of Cedric, and, to use the language of the Wardour Manuscript, so dealt with the noble Saxon, that, ere he had been a guest at court for seven days, he had given his consent to the marriage of his ward Rowena and his son Wilfred of Ivanhoe.'

The text above is from Walter Scott's "Ivanhoe".  Edward the Confessor was crowned king of England on April 3, 1043.  Upon his death, Harold Godwinson, the last Saxon king took power.  His rule lasted just long enough to run up against William the Conqueror, who ushered in the Norman era in England that, against the Saxons, forms the clash of culture in "Ivanhoe".

Burnt Wine

March 26, 1667 was a busy day for Samuel Pepys.  He begins by ruminating over the impending death of his mother.  But he has official business to attend to, people to see, and good food and wine to enjoy.  Pepys mentions wine several times in his diary, and this day he's taking it burnt.

'...So at noon home to dinner, where I find Creed, who dined with us, but I had not any time to talk with him, my head being busy, and before I had dined was called away by Sir W. Batten, and both of us in his coach (which I observe his coachman do always go now from hence towards White Hall through Tower Street, and it is the best way) to Exeter House, where the judge was sitting, and after several little causes comes on ours, and while the several depositions and papers were at large reading (which they call the preparatory), and being cold by being forced to sit with my hat off close to a window in the Hall, Sir W. Pen and I to the Castle Tavern hard by and got a lobster, and he and I staid and eat it, and drank good wine; I only burnt wine, as my whole custom of late hath been, as an evasion, God knows, for my drinking of wine (but it is an evasion which will not serve me now hot weather is coming, that I cannot pretend, as indeed I really have done, that I drank it for cold), but I will leave it off, and it is but seldom, as when I am in women’s company, that I must call for wine, for I must be forced to drink to them...'

Walter Scott was familiar with burnt wine as well, which leads the friar in "Ivanhoe" to a surprising discovery:

'..."Nay, we will have no profanation, mad Priest," said Locksley; " let us rather hear where you found this prisoner of thine."


" By Saint Dunstan," said the Friar, " I found him where I sought for better ware! I did step into the cellarage to see what might be rescued there ; for though a cup of burnt wine, with spice, be an evening's draught for an emperor, it were waste, methought, to let so much good liquor be mulled at once ; and I caught up one runlet of sack, and was coming to call more aid among these lazy knaves, who are ever to seek when a good deed is to be done, when I was advised of a strong door —Aha! thought I, here is the choicest juice of all in this secret crypt; and the knave butler, being disturbed in his vocation, hath left the key in the door—In, therefore, I went, and found just nought besides a commodity of rusted chains and this dog of a Jew, who presently rendered himself my prisoner, rescue or no rescue. I did but refresh myself after the fatigue of the action with the unbeliever, with one humming cup of sack, and was proceeding to lead forth my captive, when, crash after crash, as with wild thunder-dint and levinfire, down toppled the masonry of an outer tower, (marry beshrew their hands that built it not the firmer !) and blocked up the passage...'

Templars Disbanded

'Returning in less than three minutes, a warder announced ``that the Prior Aymer of Jorvaulx, and the good knight Brian de Bois-Guilbert, commander of the valiant and venerable order of Knights Templars, with a small retinue, requested hospitality and lodging for the night, being on their way to a tournament which was to be held not far from Ashby-de-la-Zouche, on the second day from the present.''...'

The Templar Brian de Bois-Guilbert did not fare entirely well in Walter Scott's "Ivanhoe".  The real Knights Templar fared poorly on March 22, 1312, when the order was officially disbanded by Pope Clement V.

Juvenal

'He [Ivanhoe] was deposited in the horse-litter which had brought him from the lists, and every precaution taken for his travelling with ease. In one circumstance only even the entreaties of Rebecca were unable to secure sufficient attention to the accommodation of the wounded knight. Isaac, like the enriched traveller of Juvenal's tenth satire, had ever the fear of robbery before his eyes, conscious that he would be alike accounted fair game by the marauding Norman noble, and by the Saxon outlaw. He therefore journeyed at a great rate, and made short halts, and shorter repasts, so that he passed by Cedric and Athelsiane who had several hours the start of him, but who had been delayed by their protracted feasting at the convent of Saint Withold's. Yet such was the virtue of Miriam's balsam, or such the strength of Ivanhoe's constitution, that he did not sustain from the hurried journey that inconvenience which his kind physician had apprehended.'

Latin poet Juvenal's actual birth date is unknown, though the Book of Days quotes March 2nd, around the year 40 AD.  Juvenal's tenth satire, employed by Scott in "Ivanhoe",  is "The Vanity of Human Wishes".  Another of Juvenal's satires, his third, was used as a model by Samuel Johnson for his famous poem "London".

Knights Hospitallers

‘…The crusades were in reality military expeditions to the Holy Land to recover the sepulcher of Christ, which was in the possession of the Mohammedans. Of the eight expeditions the first four were the most important. The first occurred in 1096-1099.


The military orders were the three orders of knights: the Templars, the Hospitallers, and the Teutonic Knights.

 It was in the interval between the crusades that the two orders known as the Knights Templars and the Knights Hospitallers grew up. There had long been monks at Jerusalem who received travelers and cared for sick pilgrims at their hospital. When the need of soldiers to defend the city became great, these monks were enrolled as soldiers and became the Knights Hospitallers. Founded in 1092, forty years after the first crusade, "the servants of the Hospital of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem" became "a military order of monks, the first body of men united by religious vows, who wielded the temporal sword against the enemies of the Church." They are sometimes called the Knights of Rhodes, from their first great conquest, which was the island of Rhodes, which in two centuries they rendered one of the strongest places in the world. In 1522 they were driven out of the island by the Turks; they then established themselves in the island of Malta, which fact gave to them the name of Knights of Malta, by which they are also known in history. "Their chief seat in England was at Clerkenwell; this property was destroyed by an insurrection under Wat Tyler, but their priory was afterward restored."— Timbs. …‘

From the introduction to Walter Scott’s “Ivanhoe”. On February 15, 1113, Pope Paschal II issued a bull which sanctioned the establishment of the Knights Hospitallers.

Order of the Templar Approved

"Tush," said the Abbot, "thou canst tell us if thou wilt. This reverend brother has been all his life engaged in fighting among the Saracens for the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre; he is of the order of Knights Templars, whom you may have heard of; he is half a monk, half a soldier."

Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert is Walter Scott's Templar character in "Ivanhoe".  On January 14, 1129 the Order of the Templar was approved at the Council of Troyes, which was called by Pope Honorius II.

Templars Executed

On May 11, 1310, more than 50 Knights Templar were burned at the stake in France as heretics.  In "Ivanhoe", Walter Scott sets his character Brian de Bois-Guilbert as a Templar.

The Canterbury Tales

CHAPTER II


A Monk there was, a fayre for the maistrie,
An outrider that loved venerie;
A manly man, to be an Abbot able,
Full many a daintie horse had he in stable :
And whan he rode, men might his bridle hear
Gingeling in a whistling wind as clear,
And eke as loud, as doth the chapell bell,
There as this lord was keeper of the cell.

Chaucer

Walter Scott employed the above passage from the prologue to "The Canterbury Tales" as the motto to Chapter II of  "Ivanhoe".  April 17 has two resonances with Chaucer's work.  In 1397, Chaucer told "The Canterbury Tales" for the first time, in the court of English King Richard II.  It is also the date the pilgrimage to Canterbury is supposed to have begun, in 1387.

Richard the Lionheart

Richard I of England took the throne in 1189, at 31 years of age.  The next two years of his life were spent en route to the Holy Land.  On July 12, 1192, he participated in taking Acre with Philip of France.  At the end of September of that year, Richard reached a truce with Saladin, and left for home. 

Shipwrecked near Aquilcia, he was taken prisoner by the Austrian Duke Leopold V, and ultimately ransomed, returning home in 1194  Austria gained a city, Wiener Neustadt, funded by the ransom money, and England had its king back.  It is at this point in time that Walter Scott's Ivanhoe is set.  Richard died on April 6, 1199.

From Chapter I:

"...Such being our chief scene, the date of our story refers to a period towards the end of the reign of Richard I., when his return from his long captivity had become an event rather wished than hoped for by his despairing subjects, who were in the meantime subjected to every species of subordinate oppression. The nobles, whose power had become exorbitant during the reign of Stephen, and whom the prudence of Henry the Second had scarce reduced to some degree of subjection to the crown, had now resumed their ancient license in its utmost extent; despising the feeble interference of the English Council of State, fortifying their castles, increasing the number of their dependants, reducing all around them to a state of vassalage, and striving by every means in their power, to place themselves each at the head of such forces as might enable him to make a figure in the national convulsions which appeared to be impending..."

Saxon + Norman = English

From Scott's Ivanhoe:

"...it was not until the reign of Edward the Third that the mixed language now termed English, was spoken at the court of London, and that the hostile distinction of Norman and Saxon seems entirely to have disappeared..."

The last king of the House of Wessex, Edward III, died on January 5, 1066.  Edward reigned for roughly 24 years.  Edward favored Normans at his court, which was a cause of discontent with his powerful father-in-law, Godwin, Earl of Wessex.  Wessex is the traditional stronghold of the Anglo Saxon monarchy.  Edward himself was the son of Emma of Normandy, and he had spent time in Normandy in his youth.

Edward's death led to the short-lived reign of Harold II, the last Anglo-Saxon king before the Norman invasion.  Harold reigned from Edward's death to October 14, 1066, when he was killed at the Battle of Hastings, and William the Conqueror took England.

Thomas Becket's Martyrdom

Thomas Becket's birth was celebrated recently.  On December 29, 1170, Becket met his death at the hands of four of Henry II of England's knights.  There are multiple accounts of the scene near the cloister in Canterbury Cathedral.  According to one: Reginald FitzUrse struck the first glancing blow to Becket's head.  William de Tracy aimed next, partially intercepted by the arm of a monk who attempted to intercede in Becket's defense.  Tracy ultimately stunned the archbishop; Richard le Breton (or de Brito) then severed his head with a strong blow.  Hugh de Morville, the fourth knight, is not mentioned in the action.

Becket's destiny may have been sealed when he refused to sign the Constitutions of Clarendon, which were designed by King Henry to rein in the independence of the clergy.  Subsequently, Becket was tried and convicted on charges of contempt of royal authority.  He fled to France, where he lived for several years.  Through diplomatic efforts involving Pope Alexander III, a reconciliation was effected, and Becket returned to Canterbury in 1170.

A key element leading to Henry's final command, or interpreted command, to kill Becket was Becket's excommunication of the archbishop of York, and the bishops of London and Salisbury, who had presided in Henry's son's coronation.  This office was reserved for the Bishop of Canterbury.

Continuing from the December 21 post from "Ivanhoe":

“...—Tracy, Morville, Brito
loyal and daring subjects, your names, your spirit, are extinct!
and although Reginald Fitzurse hath left a son, he hath fallen
off from his father’s fidelity and courage.’’
“He has fallen off from neither,” said Waldemar Fitzurse;
“and since it may not better be, I will take on me the conduct
of this perilous enterprise..."

Runnamede

John Logan was a Scottish minister and poet.  Logan is perhaps best known for his sermons and hymns.  Born into a family that worshiped in the Secession Church, he later left that sect, and was licensed in 1770 as a preacher in the Presbytery of Haddington.

Logan's father was a farmer.  As second born, John may have been destined by his parents to be a minister.  He was provided with an education, and exhibited a significant affinity for learning.  He was sent to Edinburgh College, and at one point served as a tutor for John Sinclair - later Sir John Sinclair of Ulbster.

Logan's connection to Sir Walter Scott derives from his tragedy "Runnamede", which was produced in 1783.  Scott saw a production of Runnamede as a youth.  In this play, Normans and Saxons were presented on opposite sides of the stage.  This play is thought to have influenced Scott's creativity in the writing of his novel "Ivanhoe".

John Logan died on December 28, 1788.

Thomas Becket

"Come hither, Waldemar," said Prince John. "An unhappy prince am I. My father, King Henry, had faithful servants - he had but to say that he was plagued by a factious priest, and the blood of Thomas-a-Becket, saint though he was, stained the steps of his own alter. - Tracy, Morville, Brito..."

- From Scott's "Ivanhoe".

Thomas Becket is best known for his death, at the hands of his childhood friend Henry II of England's men. Today is his birthday; December 21, 1117. Thomas was the son of a London merchant. While, as a young man, employed by the sheriff of London, Thomas met Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury. Theobald sent him to study civil law in Italy and France. Becket was very successful in his studies, and among those who noticed was Henry II. Henry raised Thomas to the position of chancellor of the realm (1158), a post which he filled admirably. Trusting that Becket was of the same mind as he, and wanting to check the power of the church, Henry further promoted the future saint to become Archbishop of Canterbury. The seeds of dissension that led to Thomas-a-Becket's death will be covered in a future post.