The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bayard: The Good Knight Without Fear And
Without Reproach, by Christopher Hare

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: Bayard: The Good Knight Without Fear And Without Reproach

Author: Christopher Hare

Release Date: February 28, 2004 [EBook #11363]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BAYARD: THE GOOD KNIGHT ***

Produced by Ted Garvin, Andrea Ball, Thomas Ruley and the Online

[Illustration: BAYARD.]

BAYARD

THE GOOD KNIGHT WITHOUT
FEAR AND WITHOUT REPROACH

BY CHRISTOPHER HARE

WITH COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS
BY HERBERT COLE

INTRODUCTION

That courtesy title which flies to the mind whenever the name Bayard is
mentioned--"The Good Knight without Fear and without Reproach"--is no fancy
name bestowed by modern admirers, but was elicited by the hero's merits in
his own day and from his own people.

The most valuable chronicle of the Good Knight's life and deeds was written
with charming simplicity by a faithful follower, who, in single-hearted
devotion to his beloved master's fame, took no thought for himself, but
blotted out his own identity, content to remain for all time a nameless
shadow--merely the LOYAL SERVITOR. It is from his record that the incidents
in the following pages are retold.

The "Loyal Servitor" is now believed from recent research to have been
Jacques de Mailles, his intimate friend and companion-at-arms, probably his
secretary. He certainly learnt from Bayard himself the story of his early
years, which he tells so delightfully, and he writes with the most minute
detail about the later events which happened in his presence, and the
warlike encounters in which he himself took part; and a most vivid and
interesting account he makes of it. In an ancient catalogue of the Mazarine
Library, his book is first set down as the _Histoire du Chevalier Bayard,
par_ Jacques de Mailles, Paris, in 4to, 1514 (probably a mistake for 1524).
The better-known edition, with only the name of the "Loyal Servitor," was
published in 1527, under the title of

THE VERY JOYFUL AND VERY DELIGHTFUL
HISTORY
OF THE LIFE, THE HEROIC DEEDS, THE TRIUMPHS
AND THE VALOUR OF THE GOOD KNIG