Note C.—–Minstrelsy.
The realm of France, it is well known, was divided
betwixt the Norman and Teutonic race, who spoke the
language in which the word Yes is pronounced as “oui”,
and the inhabitants of the southern regions, whose
speech bearing some affinity to the Italian, pronounced
the same word “oc”. The poets of the
former race were called “Minstrels”, and
their poems “Lays”: those of the
latter were termed “Troubadours”, and their
compositions called “sirventes”, and other
names. Richard, a professed admirer of the joyous
science in all its branches, could imitate either
the minstrel or troubadour. It is less likely
that he should have been able to compose or sing an
English ballad; yet so much do we wish to assimilate
Him of the Lion Heart to the band of warriors whom
he led, that the anachronism, if there be one may
readily be forgiven.
Note D.—–Battle of Stamford.
A great topographical blunder occurred here in former
editions. The bloody battle alluded to in the
text, fought and won by King Harold, over his brother
the rebellious Tosti, and an auxiliary force of Danes
or Norsemen, was said, in the text, and a corresponding
note, to have taken place at Stamford, in Leicestershire,
and upon the river Welland. This is a mistake,
into which the author has been led by trusting to his
memory, and so confounding two places of the same
name. The Stamford, Strangford, or Staneford,
at which the battle really was fought, is a ford upon
the river Derwent, at the distance of about seven
miles from York, and situated in that large and opulent
county. A long wooden bridge over the Derwent,
the site of which, with one remaining buttress, is
still shown to the curious traveller, was furiously
contested. One Norwegian long defended it by his
single arm, and was at length pierced with a spear
thrust through the planks of the bridge from a boat
beneath.
The neighbourhood of Stamford, on the Derwent, contains
some memorials of the battle. Horseshoes, swords,
and the heads of halberds, or bills, are often found
there; one place is called the “Danes’
well,” another the “Battle flats.”
From a tradition that the weapon with which the Norwegian
champion was slain, resembled a pear, or, as others
say, that the trough or boat in which the soldier
floated under the bridge to strike the blow, had such
a shape, the country people usually begin a great
market, which is held at Stamford, with an entertainment
called the Pear-pie feast, which after all may be
a corruption of the Spear-pie feast. For more
particulars, Drake’s History of York may be
referred to. The author’s mistake was pointed
out to him, in the most obliging manner, by Robert
Belt, Esq. of Bossal House. The battle was fought
in 1066.
