When Knighthood Was in Flower | Page 5

a duelist was as broad as
the land. He had been at court upon several occasions, and, at one time,
upon the king's birthday, had fought in the royal lists. So the matter
came in for its share of consideration by king and courtiers, and young
Brandon became a person of interest. He became still more so when
some gentlemen who had served with him in the continental wars told
the court of his daring and bravery, and related stories of deeds at arms
worthy of the best knight in Christendom.

He had an uncle at the court, Sir Thomas Brandon, the king's Master of
Horse, who thought it a good opportunity to put his nephew forward
and let him take his chance at winning royal favor. The uncle broached
the subject to the king, with favorable issue, and Charles Brandon, led
by the hand of fate, came to London Court, where that same fate had in
keeping for him events such as seldom fall to the lot of man.
CHAPTER II
How Brandon Came to Court
When we learned that Brandon was coming to court, every one
believed he would soon gain the king's favor. How much that would
amount to none could tell, as the king's favorites were of many sorts
and taken from all conditions of men. There was Master Wolsey, a
butcher's son, whom he had first made almoner, then chief counselor
and Bishop of Lincoln, soon to be Bishop of York, and Cardinal of the
Holy Roman Church.
From the other extreme of life came young Thomas, Lord Howard, heir
to the Earl of Surrey, and my Lord of Buckingham, premier peer of the
realm. Then sometimes would the king take a yeoman of the guard and
make him his companion in jousts and tournaments, solely because of
his brawn and bone. There were others whom he kept close by him in
the palace because of their wit and the entertainment they furnished; of
which class was I, and, I flatter myself, no mean member.
To begin with, being in no way dependent on the king for money, I
never drew a farthing from the royal treasury. This, you may be sure,
did me no harm, for although the king sometimes delighted to give, he
always hated to pay. There were other good reasons, too, why I should
be a favorite with the king. Without meaning to be vain, I think I may
presume to say, with perfect truth, that my conversation and manners
were far more pleasing and polished than were usual at that day in
England, for I made it a point to spend several weeks each year in the
noble French capital, the home and center of good-breeding and
politeness.

My appointment as Master of the Dance, I am sure, was owing entirely
to my manner. My brother, the baron, who stood high with the king,
was not friendly toward me because my father had seen fit to bequeath
me so good a competency in place of giving it all to the first-born and
leaving me dependent upon the tender mercies of an elder brother. So I
had no help from him nor from any one else. I was quite small of
stature and, therefore, unable to compete, with lance and mace, with
bulkier men; but I would bet with any man, of any size, on any game, at
any place and time, in any amount; and, if I do say it, who perhaps
should not, I basked in the light of many a fair smile which larger men
had sighed for in vain.
I did not know when Brandon first came to London. We had all
remained at Greenwich while the king went up to Westminster to waste
his time with matters of state and quarrel with the Parliament, then
sitting, over the amount of certain subsidies.
Mary, the king's sister, then some eighteen or nineteen years of age, a
perfect bud, just blossoming into a perfect flower, had gone over to
Windsor on a visit to her elder sister, Margaret of Scotland, and the
palace was dull enough. Brandon, it seems, had been presented to
Henry during this time, at Westminster, and had, to some extent at least,
become a favorite before I met him. The first time I saw him was at a
joust given by the king at Westminster, in celebration of the fact that he
had coaxed a good round subsidy out of Parliament.
The queen and her ladies had been invited over, and it was known that
Mary would be down from Windsor and come home with the king and
the court to Greenwich when we should return. So we all went over to
Westminster the night before the jousts, and were up bright and early
next morning