CHAPTER XXV.

THE FALSE CHARGE AND THE TRUE.

As for the rest appealed, It issues from the rancor of a villain, A recreant and most degenerate traitor; Which, in myself, I boldly will defend; And interchangeably hurl down my gage Upon this overweening traitor's foot, To prove myself a loyal gentleman, Even in the best blood chambered in his bosom.

KING RICHARD II.

So soon as the court was opened on the following morning, to the astonishment of all parties, and to that of no one, as it would seem, more than of the grand justiciary himself, Kenric was again introduced; but this time heavily ironed, and in the charge of two ordinary constables of the hundred.

"Ha! what is this?" asked Ranulf de Glanville, sharply. "For what is this man brought here again in this guise? Judgment was rendered in his case, last night; and I would have all men to know, that from this court there is no appeal. Or is there some new charge against him?"

"In some sort, a new charge, my lord," replied the clerk of the court; "he was arrested last night, the moment he had left this court, on the complaint of Ralph Brito, next of kin to the deceased, for the murder of Ralph Wetheral, the seneschal of Waltheofstow, at the time and in the place, which your lordship wots of, having heard all about it, in the case decided yesterday _de nativo habendo_!"

"Now, by my halidom!" said Glanville, the fire flashing to his dark eyes, "this is wonderful insolence and _outrecuidance_ on the part of Master Ralph Brito, who is himself, or should be, under arrest for perjury----"

"So, please you, he hath entered bail for his appearance, and is discharged of custody."

"Who is his bondsman, and in what bail is he held?"

"So please you, in a hundred marks of silver. Sir Foulke d'Oilly is his bondsman."

"The bail is well enough; the bondsman is not sufficient. Let the proper officer attach the body of Ralph Brito. Upon my life! he has the impudence to brave us here, in court."

"Who? I not sufficient," cried Sir Foulke d'Oilly, fiercely, rising to his feet, as if to defy the court. "I not sufficient for a paltry bail of a hundred marks of silver? I would have you to know, Sir Ranulf----"

"And I would have you to know, sir," thundered the high justiciary, "that this is 'the King's court,' in the precincts of which you have dared to make your voice be heard; and that I, humble as I am, stand here in _loco regis_, and will be treated with the reverence due to my master. For the rest, I will speak with you anon, when I shall have dealt with this case now before me, which seems one of shameful persecution and oppression."

Sir Foulke d'Oilly had remained on his feet during the time the justiciary was speaking; and now, turning his eye to his barons and the knights of his train, who took the cue, and rose silently, he began to move toward the door.

"Ha! is it so? Close up, halberdiers; guard the doors! Pursuivants, do your duty. Sheriff of Lancaster, have you a guard at hand to protect the court?"

"Surely, my lord," replied Sir Yvo de Taillebois. "Without, there! pass the word to the proper officer, that he turn out the guard."

In a moment, the call of the bugles of the archery was heard, and was shortly succeeded by the heavy, ordered march of infantry, closing up to the doors, while the cavalry-trumpets rang through the narrow streets of the old city, and the clash of mail-coats and the tramp of chargers told that the men-at-arms were falling in, in great numbers.

Meanwhile, two of the pursuivants, in waiting on Clarencieux, had made their way to Sir Foulke d'Oilly, and whispered something in his ear, which, whatever it was, made him turn as pale as death, and sink down into his seat, without saying a word, while the pursuivants remained standing at his back. The nobles and knights of his train looked at him, and looked at one another, with troubled glances; but, finding no solution to their doubts or answer to their question, seated themselves in sullen discontent.

The multitude which filled the court-house, meantime, was in the wildest state of confusion and consternation; the call for the military force had struck terror into all, especially the feebler part of the crowd, the aged persons and women, many of whom were present; for none knew, in those stormy times, how soon swords might be drawn in the court itself or the hall cleared by a volley of cloth-yard arrows from the sheriff's Kendal archers.

After a while, however, by the exertions of the proper officers, order was restored; and then, as if nothing had occurred to interrupt the thread of his thoughts, de Glanville continued in the matter of Kenric, who still waited in custody of the sheriff's officers.

"Be there any other charges against this man, Kenric, beside this one of murder?"

"One of deer-killing, my lord, against the statute, in the forest court, at the same time, and in the same place, as stated yesterday."

"And on the same evidence, doubtless, on which the jury pronounced yesterday. In fact, there can be no other. In the last charge, who is the prosecutor?"

"Sir Foulke d'Oilly, my lord."

"Ah! Sir Foulke d'Oilly! Sir Foulke d'Oilly!" cried Sir Ranulf, looking lightnings at him, and then turning to the clerk. "Well, sir. This matter is not as yet in the province of this court. Let it go to the grand jury now in session, and see that they have copies of the warrants, and full minutes of all the evidence rendered in the case _de nativo_, and of the jury's finding, that they may have the power to judge if these charges be not purely malicious."

A solemn pause followed, full of grave expectation, while the officers were removing Kenric from the hall, and while the high-justiciary, his assessors on the bench, the high-constable, the earl mareschal, and the sheriff of the county were engaged in close consultation.

At the end of this conference, the high-sheriff formally appointed Sir Hugo le Norman to be his deputy, with full powers, by the consent of the court, invested him with his chain and staff of office, and, shortly afterward, appeared in his private capacity, in the body of the hall; and it was now observed, which had not been noticed while he wore his robes of his office, that he carried his right arm in a sling, and halted considerably in his gait, as if from a recent injury.

"Stand forward, now, Sir Foulke d'Oilly," exclaimed the justiciary. "Crier, call Sir Foulke d'Oilly into court."

Then, as the knight made his appearance at the bar, followed by the two pursuivants--

"Now, Sir Foulke d'Oilly," he proceeded, "what have you to say, why you stand not committed to answer for the murder of Sir Philip de Morville, and his esquire, Jehan de Morville, basely and treacherously by you and others unknown, on them, done and committed, in the forest of Sherwood, by the river of Idle, in the shire of Nottingham, on the sixth day of August last passed, as charged on good and sufficient evidence against you?"

"By whom is the charge put in?" inquired the felon knight, who, now that he was certain of the worst, had mustered all his ruffian courage to his aid, and was ready to bear down all opposition by sheer brute force and determination.

"By Sir Yvo de Taillebois, Lord of High Yewdale, Hawkshead, Coniston, and Kendal, and High-Sheriff of this shire of Lancaster."

"The Knight of Taillebois," retorted the other, "can put in no such charge, seeing that he is not of the blood of the man alleged to be murdered."

"Ha! how say you to that, Sir Yvo de Taillebois?"

"I say, my lord," replied De Taillebois, "that in this, as in all else, Sir Foulke d'Oilly lies in his teeth and in his throat; and that I _am_ of the blood of Sir Philip de Morville, by him most foully and most treacherously murdered. May it please you, my lord, call Clarencieux, king-at-arms."

"Ho! Clarencieux, what knowest thou of this kindred of these houses?"

"We find, my lord," replied Clarencieux, "that in the reign of Duke Robert, father of King William the Conqueror, Raoul, Count of Evreux, in the Calvados, gave his daughter Sybilla in wedlock to Amelot, Lord of Taillebois, in the Beauvoisis. The son of this Raoul of Evreux was Stephen, invested with the fief of Morville, in Morbihan, who fought at Hastings, and for good service rendered there and elsewhere, received the fief of Waltheofstow in Sherwood. The son of Amelot of Taillebois and Sybilla was Yvo de Taillebois, the elder, who fought likewise at Hastings, and for good service performed there and elsewhere was enfeoffed of the lordships of Coniston and Yewdale; as his son became seized, afterward, of those of Hawkshead and Kendal, in right of his mother, sister and sole heiress of the Earls Morear and Edwin, and wife of Yvo de Taillebois, first Norman Lord of Kendal. Therefore, this Stephen de Morville, first Norman lord of Waltheofstow, was maternal uncle to Yvo de Taillebois, first Norman lord of Coniston and Yewdale. Now, Philip de Morville, deceased, was fourth in descent, in the direct male line, from Stephen, who fought at Hastings; and Yvo de Taillebois, here present, is third in descent, in the direct male line, from the elder Yvo, the nephew of Stephen, who also fought at Hastings; as is set down in this parchment roll, which no man can gainsay. Therefore, Sir Yvo de Taillebois _is_ of the blood of Sir Philip de Morville, deceased; and is competent to put in a charge of the murder of his kinsman."

"On what evidence does he charge me?"

"On that of an eye-witness," exclaimed Sir Yvo de Taillebois. "Let them call Eadwulf the Red."

"A fugitive serf, deer-slayer, and murderer!" cried Sir Foulke d'Oilly.

"But under the king's safe conduct, here in court," said Sir Ranulf, "and under proclamation of liberty and free pardon of all offenses, if by his evidence conviction be procured of the doers of this most foul murder."

Then Eadwulf was produced in court, miserably emaciated and half-starved, but resolute of mien and demeanor, and obstinate as ever. He had been discovered, by mere chance, in a cavern among the hills, half-frozen, and more than half-starved, by the foresters of High Yewdale, who had been instructed to keep a lookout for him; and, having been with difficulty resuscitated, and made acquainted with the tenor of the king's proclamation, had been forwarded, in a litter, by relays of horses, in order to give evidence to the murder.

But, as it proved, his evidence was not needed; for, so soon as he saw him in court, Sir Foulke d'Oilly pleaded not guilty, flung down his glove, and declared himself ready to defend his innocence with his body.

"The matter is out of my jurisdiction," said Sir Ranulf de Glanville. "My Lord High Constable, and you, Earl Mareschal of England, it is before your Court of Chivalry."

"Sir Yvo de Taillebois is the appellant," said the high-constable. "Do you take up the glove, and are you ready in like manner to defend your charge with your body?"

"I am ready, with my own body, or with that of my champion; for, unless the wager of battle be deferred these two months, I may not brook the weight of my armor, or wield a sword, as my leech has herein on oath testified;" and, with the words, he handed a scroll to the court.

"Thou hast the right to appear by thy champion. To defer the trial were unseemly," said the constable, after a moment's consultation with the mareschal. "Take up his glove, Sir Yvo de Taillebois."

De Taillebois took it up; and both parties being called upon to produce their pledges, Sir Yvo de Taillebois gave Lord Dacre and Sir Hugo le Norman, and Sir Foulke d'Oilly, Sir Reginald Maltravers and Sir Humphrey Bigod, who became their godfathers, as it is termed, for the battle. Whereupon, Sir Humphrey de Bohun, the high-constable, thus spoke, and the herald, following his words, made proclamation--

"Hear ye, Sir Yvo de Taillebois and Sir Foulke d'Oilly, appellant and appellee; ye shall present yourselves, you Sir Yvo de Taillebois, appellant, in your own person, or by your champion, to be by this court approved, and you, Sir Foulke d'Oilly, appellee, in your person, in the tilt-yard of this Castle of Lancaster, at ten o'clock of the morning of the third day hereafter, to do battle to the uttermost on this quarrel. And the terms of battle shall be these--on foot, shall ye fight; on a spot of dry and even ground, sixty paces in length, and forty in breadth, inclosed with barriers seven feet high, with no one within them, to aid or abet you, save God and your own prowess. Your weapons shall be a long sword and a short sword, and a dagger; but your arms defensive may be at your own will; and ye shall fight until one of you be slain, or shall have yielded, or until the stars be seen in heaven. And the conditions of the battle are these; if the appellee slay the appellant, or force him to cry 'craven,' or make good his defense until the stars be seen in heaven, then shall he, the appellee, be acquitted of the murder. But if the appellant slay the appellee, or force him to cry 'craven,' or if the appellee refuse to continue the fight, then shall he, the appellee, be held convicted of the murder. And whosoever of the two shall be slain, or shall cry 'craven,' or shall refuse to continue the fight, shall be stripped of his armor, where he lies, and shall be dragged by horses out of the lists, by a passage made in one of the angles, and shall be hanged, in the presence of the mareschal; and his escutcheon shall be reversed, and his name shall be declared infamous forever. This is the sentence of this court, therefore--that on the third day hence, ye do meet in the tilt-yard of this Castle of Lancaster, at ten o'clock of the morning, and there do battle, in this quarrel, to the uttermost. And so may God defend the right!"

Before the court adjourned, a messenger came into the hall from the grand jury, and Kenric was re-conducted into the presence, still ironed, and in custody of the officers.

Sir Ranulf de Glanville opened the parchment scroll, and read aloud, as follows--

"In the case of Kenric surnamed the Dark, accused of deer-slaying, against the forest statute, and of murder, or homicide, both alleged to have been done and committed in the forest of Sherwood, on the 13th day of September last passed, the grand inquest, now in session, do find that there is no bill, nor any cause of process.

"Done and delivered in Lancaster Castle, this 6th day of December, in the year of Grace 1184.

"WALLERAN DE VIPONT, "_Foreman of ye Grand Inquest_."

"Why, of course not," said Ranulf de Glanville. "Not a shadow of a cause. Strike off those irons. He stands discharged, in all innocence and honor. Go thy ways, sirrah, and keep clear of the law, I counsel you, in future; and, for this time, thank God and the laws of your country, that you are a freeman, in a whole skin, this evening."

"I do thank God, and _you_, Sir Ranulf, that you have given me a fair trial and free justice."

"God forbid, else, man! God forbid, else!" said the justiciary; "and now, this court stands adjourned until to-morrow, in the morning, at six of the clock. Heralds, make proclamation; God save the King!"