THE BOOK OF THE COURT.

INTRODUCTORY ESSAY ON REGAL STATE AND CEREMONIAL.

In a work destined, like the present, to exhibit a view of the nature of the Kingly Office, of the gradual formation of the Nobility, and of the constitutional history of the Great Officers of State, and, at the same time, to record some of the more striking usages of Courtly and official Life, a preliminary sketch of the rise and progress of that Regal State, Etiquette, and Ceremonial, which have at all times exercised so much influence upon these several matters, will not, it is presumed, be considered out of place.

Though Ceremonial, like civilization, may have been derived by us from the East,-ex Oriente lux,-from that East, which is at the present day its chosen resting-place,-it may be deemed a sufficiently rigid observance of the long-established rule, "commençons au commencement," if we state that it migrated from the Oriental Courts, in the time of Charlemagne; that by the marriage of Otho the Second with the Grecian Princess Theophania, at the close of the tenth century, it became still more widely developed; until, at length, under the influence of the Emperor Charles V, it found its way into every Court in Europe.

* If Charles V. be really entitled to the credit of having disseminated Etiquette and Courtly Ceremonials throughout Europe, verily he had his reward; for it is recorded, that on his entry into Douay, not only was he received in great state under triumphal arches decorated with flowers, but that the Magistrates, to do honour to the occasion, put a clean shirt upon the body of a malefactor, that was hanging in chains at the city gate.

B

An examination into the Ceremonial of the ancient British and Anglo-Saxon Courts, though far more to our present purpose, would, however, occupy so large a portion of the space allotted to this division of the work, that we have no alternative but to refer the reader who may be desirous of information upon these points, to" The Anglo-Saxon Laws," edited by Schmid, and to "The Laws of Howel Dha," edited by Walton. We fear, indeed, that the result of such an examination would fearfully disappoint such as anticipate that the courtly reunions of those days bore any resemblance, however remote, to the polished meetings of our own times. Had the magnates of the Principality been distinguished for courtesy, it would scarcely have been deemed necessary to pass a law, that none of the courtiers should "give the Queen a blow, or snatch anything with violence from her, under the penalty of incurring her Majesty's displeasure." That courtiers should contemplate such a thing as striking a woman, and that woman a Queen, is scarcely credible; it might surely have contented them to have given such a blow to the King, at least to his Prerogative, as they did, when they forbade him to "do what he pleased with his own,' and decreed that there were three things which he had no power to part with, viz., "his treasure, his hawks, and Horresco referens !` -his breeches!"

Of the numerous Officers and Retainers, who, under the influence of ambition, and a love of aggrandisement, thronged the busy halls of the Conqueror, there are many valuable records preserved in Doomsday Book. Rufus, his son and successor, as we are told by Lord Lyttleton, "in the magnificence of his Court and buildings greatly exceeded any King of that age;" and an anecdote, very characteristic of his vanity and extravagance, is given in the old

* "Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen," von Dr. R. Schmid. 1er Theil. 8vo. 1832. Ingulphus tells us that Alfred, who lived two centuries before the Conquest, divided his attendants into three classes, who were appointed to wait, by turns, monthly.

+ "Leges Wallica," folio 1730.

Metrical Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester, and which may be thus modernized:

"As his Chamberlain him brought, as he arose one day,

The morrow for to wear a pair of hose of sey,

He asked what they cost him ?-three shillings,' the other said;

'Fy a dibles,' quoth the King, who says so vile a deed?

A King wear any cloth, but what should cost him more ;—

Buy a pair of a mark, or you shall rue it sore!'

A worse pair full enough, the other sith him bought,

And said they cost a mark, and therefore so were brought!—
'A bel amy,' quoth the King, these are now well bought ;—

In this manner serve thou me, or thou shalt serve me not.'

To correct the dissolute habits which had prevailed among the courtiers of William Rufus, was one of the earliest steps adopted by Henry I. to ingratiate himself with his subjects. An edict against all offenders and oppressors was published by him in the first year of his reign; but still with so little effect as to render it necessary to publish a second, five years afterwards; and we are told by Eadmer, that Henry's attendants plundered every thing that came in their way, so that the country was laid waste wherever the King travelled; for which reason people, when they knew of his approach, left their houses, carrying away what provisions they could, and sheltering themselves in the woods, and by-places, for fear their provisions should be taken away by the King's Purveyors.†

The story is likewise told by William of Malmsbury, who styles the monarch's attendant "Cubicularius," which Pegge, from the rough language the King uses to him," Fili ait Meretricis,"-supposes to mean not a Lord, but an inferior Officer of the Bed-chamber.

+ In the reign of John, the abuses of Purveyance had risen to such a height that they were made the subject of three articles of Magna Charta; and almost every subsequent reign produced some enactment to repress the abuses to which this branch of the Prerogative gave rise; until 1661, when the grievance was wholly abolished by the act of 12 Charles II, the Parliament, at the same time, granting to the King, in satisfaction of

These things called loudly for redress; it was therefore made public, by the King's command, that whoever belonging to the Court spoiled the goods of those who entertained them in these progresses, or abused the persons of their hosts, should, on proof of their crime, have their eyes put out, or their hands and feet cut off.

Of the Officers of the Court of Henry II. we have a very detailed account in the "Black Book of the Exchequer," published by Hearne. Among these appears one, which, though he figures conspicuously in the Household of John, has not formed a part of the Royal Establishment for some time. He is styled the Aquarius, being obviously an attendant upon the King's bath, for which he was allowed a double mess; and, when the King travelled, one penny for drying the King's cloths; and, when the King bathed, four-pence, except on the three great feasts of the year. The number and variety of Officers mentioned in this document confirm the reputation for a love of splendour, which is always ascribed to our Kings of the Norman dynasty.

Madox, among others, notices their fondness of display, and the manner in which they manifested it. "The Kings of that race," he says, "were exceeding pompous, both in Court and camp. In their Court they showed their magnificence in the stateliness of

the interest which he conceded, a certain tax upon beer. We have elsewhere noted (vide page 38) that the only trait of this ancient right of the Crown now existing, consists in the impressment of vehicles for the removal of the Queen's forces, baggage, &c.

Hearne "Liber Niger Scaccarii," i. 353. The profits of office are frequently styled, in derision, "candle ends and cheese parings." It is perhaps going far to find the origin of this phrase; but "candle ends" used anciently to form an important part of the allowance to the King's Officers. In the very Record before us, the Chancellor is spoken of as being entitled, among other allowances, to one great wax and forty candle ends!-unum grossum cereum et xl. frusta candelarum.

+ Madox-"History of the Exchequer," cap. 11. § i.