nd brilliancy of the prince's court had drawn the knights-errant and
pursuivants-of-arms from every part of Europe. In the long lists by the
Garonne on the landward side of the northern gate there had been many a
strange combat, when the Teutonic knight, fresh from the conquest of the
Prussian heathen, ran a course against the knight of Calatrava, hardened
by continual struggle against the Moors, or cavaliers from Portugal
broke a lance with Scandinavian warriors from the further shore of the
great Northern Ocean. Here fluttered many an outland pennon, bearing
symbol and blazonry from the banks of the Danube, the wilds of Lithuania
and the mountain strongholds of Hungary; for chivalry was of no clime
and of no race, nor was any land so wild that the fame and name of the
prince had not sounded through it from border to border.

Great, however, was the excitement through town and district when it
was learned that on the third Wednesday in Advent there would be held
a passage-at-arms in which five knights of England would hold the lists
against all comers. The great concourse of noblemen and famous soldiers,
the national character of the contest, and the fact that this was a last
trial of arms before what promised to be an arduous and bloody war,
all united to make the event one of the most notable and brilliant that
Bordeaux had ever seen. On the eve of the contest the peasants flocked
in from the whole district of the Medoc, and the fields beyond the walls
were whitened with the tents of those who could find no warmer lodging.
From the distant camp of Dax, too, and from Blaye, Bourge, Libourne, St.
Emilion, Castillon, St. Macaire, Cardillac, Ryons, and all the cluster
of flourishing towns which look upon Bordeaux as their mother, there
thronged an unceasing stream of horsemen and of footmen, all converging
upon the great city. By the morning of the day on which the courses were
to be run, not less than eighty people had assembled round the lists
and along the low grassy ridge which looks down upon the scene of the
encounter.

It was, as may well be imagined, no easy matter among so many noted
cavaliers to choose out five on either side who should have precedence
over their fellows. A score of secondary combats had nearly arisen from
the rivalries and bad blood created by the selection, and it was only
the influence of the prince and the efforts of the older barons which
kept the peace among so many eager and fiery soldie