Eldrige sword

§ Sir Cawline, Percy Folio

The unique copy of thew work as it exists in Percy's folo manuscirpt is flawed and cotains a lacuna probably due to scribal error. Bishop Percy when he published the metrical romance in Reliques "extended to nearly twice the amount of what is found in the manuscript (Child)". In the First Part (or first adventure) where the hero defeats the Eldrige king, the Bishop augmented the 129 lines in manuscript, into 189 lines^*1. In the Second Part (or adventure), the Bishop took even greater license and created the story nearly out of whole cloth (except for the fact that a fight took place with the giant/soldan), even inventing a tragic death-ending.

According to first two stanzas of the original, the events took place when "Sir Robert Briuse" was invading Ireland, and that was where lived the king whom Sir Cawline served. Percy's Reliques completely rewords the stanzas, so that there is no mention of Robert the Bruce, although "syr Cauline" still hails from Ireland. Child purges these stanzas, discounting them as originating in an unrelated historical romance, and only misplaced here by the careless scribe.

The king has a daughter who is a lady without peer (vv.13-). Sir Cawline loves her but is unable to declare it, and the dole and care causes him to be bedridden (vv. 17-28). When the king is dining, he notices Sir Cawline who service him ale and wine to be missing, and is informed that he is direly sick and in need of leedginge (leeching, medical care, v. 38). The king instructs his men to fetch his daughter who is a fine leech (doctor) so she could minister the patient, and to take him bread and wine, and any any other dainties he would not begrudge for fear of losing him. Now the lady (Percy names her Chrisabelle) appears to the sick man. She has already learned from rumors in the court that he is deblitated on account of his love for her, and rebukes him for this cowardliness. He admits this to be true and asks "if you wold comfort me with a Kisse" (v. 55). She rejects the knight, telling him she cannot be her peer, and the knight says he would willingly perform a feat of arms to be her bachelor (v. 61). She then asks the knight to hold a vigil at the Eldrige hill [* or "Eldridge" is the way it is consistently spelt throughout in Percy's Reliques. Since eldritch means "weird, ghostly"^*2 this was probably a fairy hill], where a thorn tree (hawthorn or blackthorn) grows out of the wide moor^*3 .

"vpon Eldrige hill there growes a thorne,
vpon the mores brodinge; ^*3
& wold you, Sir Knight, wake there all night
to day of other Morninge?

for the Eldrige King that is mickle of Might
will examine you beforne;
& there was neuer man that bare his liffe away
since the day that I was borne.

—vv. 62-69

So the vigil is deadly, as a mighty fairy king or Eldrige King [Eldrige (v.66); Elridge (v.102); Eldryge (v.118); ] will appear and contest the vigil-keeper, and he has always taken the life of the challenger attempting the ordeal. But Cawline agrees to "walke on the bents [soe] browne" (v. 71) that is, go to the grassy field of battle^*4 , and bring back a "readye token" to prove he has completed the deed.

Cawline went to the moor, and as the moon rose, he heard in the distance the bugle from the town (which was blowing to announce nightfall). And soon there appeared a furious fell king, and a seemly lady (vv.84-7) leading his bridle. The king says "I redd thee fflye" (v.89), that is he redes (tells, counsels) him to flee because if cryance (fear) comes over his heart he will die. Cawline is undaunted, and he begins fighting with the spear (and supposedly, so too the king, and each of them mounted on horses). But each one endures the blows of the "timber". And so they tooke & 2 good swords, / & they Layden on good Loade. (vv. 100-101), thus landing good blows on one another. But then Cawline delivers the crucial blow:

but the Elridge King was mickle of might,
& stiffly to the ground did stand;
but Sir Cawline with an aukeward stroke
he brought him ffrom his hand,
I, & fflying ouer his head soe hye,
ffell down of that Lay land:

—vv. 102-7

Here Cawline has used the decisive "aukeward" (backward) stroke, much as Grime used the "arkward" stroke with the sword ⇒Egeking in the romance Eger and Grime.

Although the wording is not exactly straightforward in expressing it, it will become more than evident from subsequent passages that with the stroke Cawline has cut off his opponent's hand. The king's lady now begs to cease the attack. And she promises he will never again appear on the Eldrige hill, to "meete noe man of middle earth, / & that liues on christs his lay." (vv. 114-5), that is, will disturb no man in the human word who lives by Christian law (religion).

And the king and the lady depart to their castle. Cawline now picks up the sword and the severed hand bearing five fiery (red) rings, which he presents to his beloved princess.

& hee tooke then vp & that Eldryge sword
as hard as any fflynt,
& soe he did those ringes 5,
harder then ffyer, and brent.
ffirst he presented to the Kings daughter
they hand, & then they sword.

—vv. 120-5

The princess goes on to comment on what a "serrett buffett" (v. 126) or clench-fisted[?] blow Cawline gave the king. By this she probably meant a sound trouncing or fine thrashing. Meanwhile, she says she had given herself only "34 stripes beside the rood" (v. 128-9), so she must have been lashing herself with the scourge to pray for Cawline's success after all.

And now a second ordeal is in store, for a "Gyant that was both stiffe [&] strong he lope" (lope: jump, leap, or run with long strides) among them. Moreover, as Hale & Furnivall explains in the side margins and in footnote, this was a five-headed giant, for "vpon his squier (swire, neck) 5 heads he bare (v. 132), and thus formed in an vnmackly (uneven, unequal, misshapen) fashion. [Percy reads the above as the giant's squire carrying five severed heads, and makes this squire out to be a dwarf. Moreover, Percy makes the giant declare himself to be the Eldridge king's cousin.]

The giant says to the king he will burn his temples unless he hand over his daughter. Or else, if he cannot make up his mind, he should find him a ppeare (peer, i.e, an opponent) (v. 143). The king asks if there is any knight of the round table who would undertake, promising his land to keep for the duration of his life, and the hand of his daughter in marriage. And Sir Cawline stands and vows to fight the Soldan (sultan, a saracen monarch) (v.155). He asks for the Eldrige sword to be fetch and so they fight. Cawline slays the soldan, and carries away his five heads.

The king offers the kingdom and his daughter's hand as promised. On the wedding night, a false steward attempts to kill Cawline by letting loose a lion. Cawline was unarmed but stuffs a Mantle of greene into the lion's month and causes its heart to burst. A watchman raises a false cry that Cawline is slaine, and the princess fell down swoon, but Cawline calls on her in reassurance. They marry and have fifteen sons.

[* Percy completely reworks the ending, as already noted, where Cauline is fatally wounded by the soldan. The plot is as follows: When Cauline is found with the princess, the king is angered, and considers execution, but reduces the punishment to banishment due to intercession by the queen. The king holds a tournament, intending to marry his daughter to the champion. Then a mysterious knight whom no one knew enters the list (this is obviously Cauline entering incognito) and wins three days. But on the fourth day, the giant Soldan appears. He came to avenge his cousin, the Eldridge knight. But he will be appeased by the hand of the princess, or the head of the king, or find someone in the tournament who proves his peer (equal). The king asks, and the stranger volunteers, and tells the princess to fetch the Eldridge sword in her bower. The giant lands three severe strokes on Cauline. But Cauline finds a hidden spot and runs the sword through his side, piercing the heart. But Cauline is gravely wounded. The king tells his daughter, the skilled leech, to minister to his wounds. She raises the beaver (faceguard) of his helmet (and discovering his identity), she cries out. Soon Cauline draws his last breath. And Princess Christabelle, her heart burst from sorrow, and she too is dead. ]

§ Sir Cawline, Percy Folio

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