charge only of such as were thought willing and able to defend them to the uttermost.  When the army of Edward, the Black Prince, was drawn up against that of Henry the Bastard, king of Castile, “Than Sir Johan Chandos brought his baner, rolled up togyder, to the prince, and said, ’Sir, behold, here is my baner.  I requyre you display it abrode, and give me leave, this daye, to raise it; for, sir, I thanke God and you, I have land and heritage suffyciente to maynteyne it withal.’  Than the prince, and King Dampeter (Don Pedro), toke the baner betwene their handes, and spred it abrode, the which was of sylver, a sharp pyle gaules, and delyvered it to hym, and said, ’Sir Johan, behold here youre baner; God sende you joye and honour thereof!’ Than Sir Johan Chandos bare his baner to his owne company, and sayde, ’Sirs, beholde here my baner, and yours; kepe it as your owne.’  And they toke it, and were right joyful therof, and sayd, that, by the pleasure of God, and Saint George, they wold kepe and defend it to the best of their powers.  And so the baner abode in the handes of a good Englishe squyer, called William Alery, who bare it that day, and acquaytted himself right nobly.”—­Froissart, Vol.  I. ch. 237.  The loss of a banner was not only great dishonour, but an infinite disadvantage.  At the battle of Cocherel, in Normandy, the flower of the combatants, on each side, were engaged in the attack and defence of the banner of the captall of Buche, the English leader.  It was planted amid a bush of thorns, and guarded by sixty men at arms, who defended it gallantly.  “There were many rescues, and many a one hurt and cast to the earth, and many feats of armes done, and many gret strokes given, with good axes of steel, that it was wonder to behold.”  The battle did not cease until the captall’s standard was taken and torn to pieces.

We learn, from the following passage in Stowe’s Chronicle, that the standard of Edward I. was a golden dragon.  “The king entred Wales with an army, appointing the footmen to occupie the enemies in fight, whiles his horsemen, in a wing, set on the rere battell:  himselfe, with a power, kept his place, where he pight his golden dragon, unto whiche, as to a castle, the wounded and wearied might repair.”

“Where was thou bred? where was thou born?  Where, or in what countrie?” “In north of England I was born:  (It needed him to lie.)—­P. 29. v. 5.

Stratagems, such as that of Maitland, were frequently practised with success, in consequence of the complete armour worn by the knights of the middle ages.  In 1359, Edward III. entered France, to improve the success of the battle of Poictiers.  Two French knights, Sir Galahaut of Rybamont, and Sir Roger of Cologne, rode forth, with their followers, to survey the English host, and, in short, to seek adventures.  It chanced that they met a foraging party of Germans, retained in King Edward’s service, under the command of Reynold of Boulant, a knight of that nation.