E-text prepared by Graeme Mackreth
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
()
from page images generously made available by
Internet Archive
(https://archive.org)
| Note: | Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive. See https://archive.org/details/bondmanstoryofti00oneirich |
THE
LIBRARY OF ROMANCE.
EDITED
BY LEITCH RITCHIE.
VOL. V.
THE BONDMAN.
LONDON:
SMITH, ELDER AND CO., 65, CORNHILL.
1833.
Printed by Stewart and Co., Old Bailey.
THE BONDMAN.
A STORY OF
THE TIMES OF WAT TYLER
LONDON:
SMITH, ELDER AND CO., 65, CORNHILL;
1833.
ADVERTISEMENT
The idea of the following tale was suggested on reading the firstvolume of Robertson's Charles the Fifth, on the Feudal Policy ofGermany; and the picture of moral and political debasement presented inthose pages, whether as regards the oppressor or the oppressed. Thoserevolting distinctions have, however, passed away—villein is but athing that was. But if the old chronicles are to be credited, the monk,whom the author has endeavoured to pourtray in the course of this tale,was the first who whispered in the ear of an English serf, that slaverywas not his birthright.
It may, perhaps, be superfluous to add, that all the legal informationscattered through the volume, is strictly correct; and every historicalevent, as nearly so as the machinery of the tale permitted. Thecritical reader, whose indulgence the writer solicits, will immediatelyperceive from whence the information has been derived.
THE BONDMAN.
BOOK I.
CHAPTER I.
About a quarter of a mile south of Winchcombe, on the summit of agentle elevation, are still the remains of a castle, which, as Fullersays, "was of subjects' castles the most handsome habitation, and ofsubjects' habitations the strongest castle."
In the month of August, in the year thirteen hundred and seventy-four,this distinguished place, called Sudley Castle, presented aninteresting scene—the then owner, in consequence of his father'sdeath, holding his first court for receiving the homage and fealty ofhis vassals.
The court-yards were thronged with the retainers of the Baron,beguiling the hour until the ceremony called them into the hall. Thisapartment, which corresponded in magnificence and beauty with theoutward appearance of the noble pile, was of an oblong shape. Carvedrepresentations of battles adorned the lofty oaken ceiling, andsuspended were banners and quarterings of the Sudley and De Botelerfamilies. Ancestral statues of oak, clad in complete armour, stoodin niches formed in the thick wall