Although the castles, and entertainments of the knights, have been incidentally touched upon, a few particulars may be added. Towards the court yard of the castle, there were generally open galleries, from which the ladies might view the procession, and the sports, and distribute the prizes at tournaments. St Palaye supposes, that the barriers, which enclosed the houses that were occupied by the princes of the blood and the grand officers of the crown, in Paris, before the revolution, took their origin from the circumstance, that they alone could celebrate justs and tournaments, and were, in fact, the lists erected and used for that purpose. In the great hall of the castle, there were two longitudinal scan, in the middle of which, and generally fronting the southern door, was a bench more raised than the rest. This was the scat of honour. At solemn feasts, movea ble tapestry was placed behind it, and a canopy hung over it. When it was intended to receive a knight, who had distinguished himself in battle, or in feats of arms, with more than usual dignity, he was placed on the high table, to which he was permitted to ride through the hall on his war horse, adorned with his armorial bearings, and all its trappings. In the language of chivalry, he was, when thus placed, said to begin the board.
At their entertainments, but especially in the evening, different spiccries, sweet-meats, and wines, were served up by the esquires ; clairet, or wine clarified with spi ces; pinzeate, which consisted of wine, spices, and ho ney; and burnt wine, were most commonly used. Just before they retired to bed, yin du coacher, consisting of wine and the other materials just mentioned, was given to each guest. At the close of the entertainment, either the esquires brought in water for the guests to wash themselves, or the guests went, for that purpose, to ano ther apartment ; in the latter case, the lady of the castle led out first the guest which she wished particularly to distinguish.
As the dignity, the duty, and the privileges of chi valry were so great and numerous, and as the ceremonies, by which an esquire was admitted into the order, were solemn and imposing, so also was the ceremony by which an unworthy member was declared to the world stripped of his dignity and his privileges, and deficient in his duty. This degradation took place, when a knight was guilty of treason, murder, or cowardice ; sometimes, even the circumstance of his being defeated in single combat, as in the case of Henry de Essex, in 1163, who was van quished in a duel with Robert de Montfort, was sufficient to degrade him.
The knight who was adjudged to this punishment, was led upon a scaffold, his spurs were hewn off by a ser vant, his sword broken over his head, his armorial bear ings torn to pieces, and his shield tied, with the upper part downwarcis, to the tail of a horse, was dragged along the ground. This position of the shield was deem ed a symbol of the death of a chevalier, and a chevalier who had dishonoured himself was looked upon as dead. To follow up this idea, the priests, after having recited the funeral ceremony, repeated, over his head, the 107th Psalm, which contains imprecations on all traitors. Thrice the herald at arms demanded the name of the criminal ; and as often as the pursuivant at arms named him, thc former replied, that this could not be the name of the knight they said, since in him he beheld only a traitor, at the same time pronouncing him no longer a knight, but a knave. On this the herald threw over him a bason
full cf warm water, to efface the sacred character of chi valry, which the accolade had bestowed. He was after wares taken l'rom the scaffold, with a cord fastened un der i is arnts, laid on a hurdle, covered over with a pall, and placed t us in a church, where the funeral service was again said over him.
For lesser faults, a knight was degraded by being obliged to ride on a work-horse ; or by being deprived of part of his a. morial bearings. There was also a kind of punishment inflicted on him, when he misbehaved, la diculous, and tantalizing, rather than severe. This con sisted in snatching away the cloth from the table where he was eating, if he presumed to seat himself near un sullied knights ; and if thus disturbed, he ‘vent to the ta ble of the esquires, he was there treated in the same manner. Sometimes, when a knight had been LI:nomini ously conquered in battle or in feats of arms, lie volun tarily condemned himself to abstain from chivalry for a year and a clay.
As a chevalier advanced in years, he gradually with drew himself from the employments of knighthood. He first abstained from engaging in tournaments ; and when he had reached his sixtieth year, he was authorised to de cline any challenge, and exempted from his fief; he was, however, expected to give his horse and his arms to the lord under whose banner he had fought, and under whom he had held his lands. These were in exchange for his personal service ; if lie held no fief, he generally, at the close of his military life, laid his arms at the feet of his mistress, or deposited them in a church. It not unfre quently happened, that the religious feeling, which had been early instilled into his mind, and which, in the prime of his life, had been overshadowed by his love of arms and his gallantry, broke out with redoubled force in his old age ; in this case, he exchanged the duties of a che valier for those of a monk, or, taking up the cross, went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. A Provencal poet, in his Lay of a Bachelor at Arms, expressly states, that, in order to obtain and deserve the appellation of a per fect chevalier (Preudhonznze), it is necessary that the last years of a knight should bo spent in this manner. If a chevalier was killed in the field of battle, his funeral rites were celebrated with more regard to his glory than to pomp and magnificence. If he was killed storming a castle or a fortress, his body was buried in the breach. When he died a natural death, the ceremonies of his funeral were varied according to circumstances ; if he had performed, or even only planned and begun a cru sade, he was carried to the grave armed, with his legs crossed ; and the sculpture on the tomb was in the same attitude.* The swords of the most renowned and valiant knights, which had been the instruments of their victo ries, were held in the highest estimation : they were sought after with avidity ; and when obtained, they were hung tip in the arsenal or great hall of the castle, as ho nourable monuments, and as proper incitements to rival the courage of those, by whom they had been so often wielded with success, in advancing the glory, and per forming the duties cf chivalry.