of lowly service
or who had specially rough work to perform. Her ladies-in-waiting, of
whom there were always two or three, appear to have received for their
services no money payment, but, over and above the cloth and fur
already alluded to, gifts, on special occasions, of girdles and
satchels (very often jewelled), gold chaplets, and gold and silver
braid, jewelled, and used for twining in the hair. In addition to
this, presents of jewels and silver cups were made to them by the
noble ladies who came to stay with the Countess, just as she, on her
part, presented similar gifts to those who accompanied her guests.
How well we can picture to ourselves these maidens (for such is all
they were), decking themselves in their girdles and jewelled braid,
comparing their gifts, and perhaps even standing on some oaken bench
the better to get a view of their finery, for the mirrors were small,
and the girdles were long, and could not otherwise be seen in all
their glory. When they married, the Countess made gifts to them
without stint, not only of the beautiful and the needful for their
wardrobes, but also of household goods, and sometimes, when she knew
their parents or kinsmen to be too poor to provide the usual dowry,
even of a sum of money. To the retainers also we find the same kind
and helping hand held out. If any were sick they were taken care of,
and, if needs be, sent to some place where they could the better be
cured, as we read of one who, suffering from gout, was sent to take
healing waters. To another retainer was given the necessary money to
pay for his son on entering a monastery, another receiving the
wherewithal to go to his native village to attend his mother's burial.
Old servants, past work, were cared for in the monasteries or
hospitals, or given some post suitable to their years. To a poor
knight was given money to enable him to buy a good horse and armour,
for poverty of purse was no disgrace in the thirteenth century. At the
beginning of winter a distribution, organised by the clergy and
stewards of the rural communities in Artois, but superintended by
the Countess herself, was made to the poor of blankets, garments, and
shoes, and so arranged that the same person did not receive the like
gift two years in succession. In truth, no details seemed too small,
none too onerous, for Mahaut's untiring solicitude. She had heart and
brain for everything. It is these intimate touches which make the time
so living