The king of England, A, B, sends Hugh Spencer as ambassador to France, to know whether there is to be peace or war between the two lands. Spencer takes with him a hundred men-at-arms, A; twenty ships, B. The French king, Charles, A 30, declares for war, A, C; says that the last time peace was broken it was not along of him, B. The queen, Maude, B 9, is indignant that the king should parley with traitors, A, with English shepherds, B. She proposes to Spencer a joust with one of her knights. The Englishman has no jousting-horse. Three horses are brought out for him, all of which he rejects, A, B; in C, two. In A he calls for his old hack which he had brought over sea; in B, C, he accepts a fourth [third], a fiery-eyed black. Spencer breaks his spear, a French shaft, upon his antagonist; three spears [two] are tied together to make something strong enough for him to wield. He unhorses the Frenchman, then rides through the French camp and kills some thirteen or fourteen score of King Charles's men, A. The king says he will have his head, A, with some provocation certainly; the queen says as much in B, though Spencer has only killed her champion in fair fight. Spencer has but four true brethren left, A 33; we are not told what had become of the rest of his hundred. With these, or, in B, with two, he makes a stand against the royal guard, and kills scores of them. The French king begs him to hold his hand, A 34, B 35. There shall never be war with England while peace may be kept, A; he shall take back with him all the ships he brought, B.[foot-note]
Hugh is naturally turned into a Scotsman in the Scottish version, C. The shepherd's son that he is matched with, 7, 15, is explained by traditional comment to be the queen's cousin.
These feats of Hugh Spencer do not outstrip those of the Breton knight Les Aubrays, when dealing with the French, Luzel, I, 286-305, II, 564-581; nor is his fanfaronnerie much beyond that of Harry Fifth. The Breton knight was explicitly helped by St. Anne, but then Spencer and Harry have God and St. George to borrow.
Liebrecht well remarks, Göttinger Gelehrte Anzeigen, 1868, p. 1900, that Spencer's rejecting the three French horses and preferring his old hack is a characteristically traditional trait, and like what we read of Walter of Aquitania in the continuation of his story in the chronicle of the cloister of Novalesa. After Walter, in his old age, had entered this monastery, he was deputed to obtain redress for a serious depredation on the property of the brethren. Asking the people of the cloister whether they have a horse serviceable for fight in case of necessity, he is told that there are good strong cart-horses at his disposal. He has these brought out, mounts one and another, and condemns all. He then inquires whether the old steed which he had brought with him is still alive. It is, but very old, and only used to carry corn to the mill. "Let me see him," says Walter, and, mounting, cries, "Oh, this horse has not forgotten what I taught him in my younger days." Grimm u. Schmeller, Lateinische Gedichte des X. u. XI. Jahrhunderts, p. 109. See 'Tom Potts,' II, 441.[foot-note]
Of the many Hugh Spensers if we select the younger of the favorites of Edward II, his exploits, had they any foundation in reality, would necessarily fall between 1322, when Charles IV came to the French throne, and 1326, when the Spensers, father and son, ended their career. The French king says in B 8 that Spenser had sunk his ships and slain his men. Hugh Spenser the younger (both, according to Knyghton, col. 2539, but the father was a very old man) was engaged in piracy in 1321. The quarrel between Edward II and Charles IV, touching the English possessions in France, was temporarily arranged in 1325, but not through the mediation of the younger Spenser, who never was sent on an embassy to France. Another Sir Hugh Spenser was a commander in the Earl of Arundel's fleet in the operations against the French in Charles VI's time, 1387, and was taken prisoner in consequence of his ship grounding: Knyghton, col. 2693; Nicolas, History of the Royal Navy, II, 322f. No one of the three queens of Charles IV bore the name of Maude, which is assigned to the French queen in B, neither did the queen of Charles VI.
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