Meanwhile, spectators of every description thronged forward to occupy
their respective stations, and not without many quarrels concerning
those which they were entitled to hold. Some of these were settled by
the men-at-arms with brief ceremony; the shafts of their battle-axes,
and pummels of their swords, being readily employed as arguments to
convince the more refractory. Others, which involved the rival claims
of more elevated persons, were determined by the heralds, or by the two
marshals of the field, William de Wyvil, and Stephen de Martival, who,
armed at all points, rode up and down the lists to enforce and preserve
good order among the spectators.
Gradually the galleries became filled with knights and nobles, in their
robes of peace, whose long and rich-tinted mantles were contrasted with
the gayer and more splendid habits of the ladies, who, in a greater
proportion than even the men themselves, thronged to witness a sport,
which one would have thought too bloody and dangerous to afford their
sex much pleasure. The lower and interior space was soon filled by
substantial yeomen and burghers, and such of the lesser gentry, as, from
modesty, poverty, or dubious title, durst not assume any higher place.
It was of course amongst these that the most frequent disputes for
precedence occurred.
"Dog of an unbeliever," said an old man, whose threadbare tunic bore
witness to his poverty, as his sword, and dagger, and golden chain
intimated his pretensions to rank,--"whelp of a she-wolf! darest
thou press upon a Christian, and a Norman gentleman of the blood of
Montdidier?"
This rough expostulation was addressed to no other than our acquaintance
Isaac, who, richly and even magnificently dressed in a gaberdine
ornamented with lace and lined with fur, was endeavouring to make place
in the foremost row beneath the gallery for his daughter, the beautiful
Rebecca, who had joined him at Ashby, and who was now hanging on her
father's arm, not a little terrified by the popular displeasure which
seemed generally excited by her parent's presumption. But Isaac, though
we have seen him sufficiently timid on other occasions, knew well that
at present he had nothing to fear. It was not in places of general
resort, or where their equals were assembled, that any avaricious or
malevolent noble durst offer him injury. At such meetings the Jews
were under the protection of the general law; and if that proved a
weak assurance, it usually happened that there were among the persons
assembled some barons, who, for their own interested motives, were ready
to act as their protectors. On the present occasion, Isaac felt more
than usually confident, being aware that Prince John was even then in
the very act of negotiating a large loan from the Jews of York, to
be secured upon certain jewels and lands. Isaac's own share in this
transaction was considerable, and he well knew that the Prince's eager
desire to bring it to a conclusion would ensure him his protection in
the dilemma in which he stood.