Caxton's Blanchardyn and Eglantine, c. 1489 : from Lord Spencer's unique imperfect copy, completed by the original French and the second English version of 1595

The liij chapyter speketh how Blanchardyn and Sadoyne dyscomfyted Subyon / And of the grete bataylle / and manere how he was taken
¶ And what folowed after. [Wanting in the French.] expand_less

Whan Blanchardin and Sadoyne sawe hem nyghe Subyons ooste / they caste a ryghte highe crye / and smote hemselfe in to their enmyes by suche a force & vertue that their comynge on [their comynge on = alaborder quilz feirent] they owerthrewe many of theym to grounde / that neuer syth releued hemself / but / deyd myserable there bytwyx the horses feete.

¶ So grete and horyble byganne the batayll. The ayer was derke wyth shotte of arowes, quareylles & dartes [shotte of arowes, quareylles & dartes = por le trait] that flowe bytwene bothe partyes. The dust and the brethe of men and of the horses was so thycke, that wyth peyne they knew one from a nother / Then came they to fyghte wyth sperys, axes, guysarmes, and swerdes, wherof they kylled and slew eche other. Blanchardyn & Sadoyne sette all their entent to slee their enmyes / whan theyr speres were broken they sette hande to their swerdes, wher wyth they parted the grete presses / and wythin a while they had dyed themself in rede wyth the bloode of their enmyes, that made vnto them waye to passe by them. [Wanting in the French.] expand_less

¶ And Blanchardyn

that ceassed not to renne here and there as a mad man, loked and sawe byfore hym a knyghte / whiche was nyghe of sybbe vnto Subyon, that bare the cheff standarde. he tourned brydell to hym ward, and wyth his goode swerde smote hym suche an horryble stroke that he cloue him doune to the chynne / and ſeell ded wyth the standarde to the erthe that was not after reysed vp ayen / How be it that Subyon and his folke putte hem in peyne for to haue hit brought vp ayen / But blanchardyn and Sadoyne kepte hem ther fro / Of that other parte, the good erle of Castelforde, the prouost and the knyght of the fery yssued out of the castell wyth a thousaund knyghtes, that brake vpon their enmyes, castyng a right hyghe crye, wherof Subyon and his men were sore affrayed, for he sawe his cheff banner ouer thrawen, & hym self enclosed of al sydes, his men that fled, & awayte non other but after the stroke of deth. Wherunto he sawe hym self to be brought, yf he fonde not som [sign. M iij.] waye or meanes for to saue hym self [et mettre a garant.] / He putte hym self to flyght, for hym thought / the best manere for to flee / was for to departe by tyme.

¶ Blanchardyn and Sadoyne, that alwayes made watche ouer hym for to take and slee hym, Sawe hym go out of the bataylle / and set vpon a myghty courser / they ranne anone after hym and chassed hym sore /

¶ He was well mounted vpon a goode horse, Wherfore they coude not ouertake hym bycause the nyght byganne to comen, and myght no lenger see him: he toke and entred wythin a forest that was nyghe by / the remenaunt of his folke were al take by blanchardynes men; grete gayne they made there, & a grete foyson of prysoners: they had / grete Ioye and gladnesse they made of their victorye / But the erle of Castelforde and the barons merueylled them muche, bycause they wyste not where their lordes blanchardyn

and Sadoyne were drawen. [were drawen = estoient vectis] they soughte and / serched them all aboute / but they fonde them not.

¶ And for the recounte of their aduenture, they chased Subyon that was horsed at a vauntage better than they were: he walopped soo longe that he came in to a valey where theues were, whiche were ten or twelue in nombre, that were all grete murdrers, wherof the pryncypall and the mayster of them all was named syluayne / that knew well ynough subyon, whiche came vnto theym, & sayd that he had grete nede of theym; And that two knyghtes chased hym for to slee him. And that yf it so happed that they myght catche and gete hem there wythin their caues [Wanting in the French.] expand_less / they sholde haue of them so grete a butyneue, and so grete goodes, that they all shall euer more be ryche /

¶ Whan the theues vnderstode subyon / they were sore desirouse to lodge theym wythin their streyngthe preuely wythin a secrete chambre: whiche thyng they ded, but they had not so soon doon so, that blanchardyn & sadoyne came there, and asked the theues yf they wyste not to speke [yf they wyste not to speke = se Ilz scauoient nouuelles] of a man that was mounted on horsbacke, and armed as they were. They ansuerd that they wyste no tidynges of hym, nor of none suche; but wel they said to blanchardyn & to sadoyne, that yf they wolde be lodged there wythin for the nighte that was comen / they sholde make theim gode chere of suche goodes as god had lent hem: By cause they semed to be knyghtes, and that it was sore late to ryde eny ferther, & that noo housyng nor no retrayt was nyghe by syx myles [Wanting in the French.] expand_less where they myght be lodged. The two barons, heryng the theues speke, consented for to lodge hem selfe for that nyght wyth them / They entred in to their strengthe / And whan they were comen in, and that they had seen the dysposicoun of the place / they Iudged in hem selfe,

that al thys meyne were murderers and theues. [that al thys meyne were murderers and theues = que cestoit voie larronniere et que eulx toux estoyent larrons et murdriers a la facon quilz veoyent deulx.] Wherefor they concluded with in them selfe, that they sholde lye al nyghte in their harneys, and that they sholde not be dysgarnyshed of their swerdes. Whan Sylueyn, the chief mayster of the theeues, see that they had not putte off their harnes / he came toward them, & said that they were in pease & in a sure place / & that they myght wele putte of ther habilymentes of werre. blanchardyn then ansuerd vnto him & sayd / that it was the costome of theire land, not to putte of their armures for the fyrst nyght that they cam to a new lodgyng / the theues that sawe blanchardyn & Sadoyne so fayr, so grete, and so wele armed, durste not assaylle them; but Subyon, that was hidde wythin a chambre, and that wele had herd theym / lept oute of it & gaaff them corage, And sayd that they were all wery of the batayl, And that a grete shame were to them xiij in nombre / yf they durste not sette vpon two men.

¶ Thenne came syluayn, his felawes wyth hym, [syluayn, his felawes wyth hym = siluain auant auec ses compaignons] And ascryed [escrierent] the two barons to [sign. M iiij.] dethe: Thenne saide blanchardyn to sadoyne / 'we must defende oure self now / yf we thinke to scape quyk out of this place, & euer see oure ladyes paramours.' They left their wordes, drewe their swerdes, & set their sheildes afore theym, so bigan they to smyte amonge their felon enmyes / they all to-hewe & cleue them in so moche that eyght of theim fell doun ded to therthe; the other foure trowed to haue fled in to sauete, but they were pursued so nyghe of blanchardyn & of sadoyne that they ouertoke & slew thre of theim; the fourth that was maister of hem all fled wythin the place for to haue saued hymself, in to the chambre where subyon was [ne Ia neust este trouue se par aduenture neust este siluain leur maistre qui leans se cuidoit bouter] / but of so nyghe he

was folowed that Blanchardyn ouer toke hym, and smote hym suche a stroke wyth his swerde, that he made his hede to flee fro the sholdres of hym / and fel ded euyn atte the dore of the chambre / that he had opened all redy for to haue saued him there wythinne, [Wanting in the French.] expand_less wher subyon was in grete fere & drede, & not wythout a cause, for he well ynough byleued and knew that his dayes were come atte an ende / syth that he was fallen into Blanchardynes handes

¶ I shall here leue to speke of Blanchardyn, of Sadoyne, and of Subyon / that in grete fere was of his dethe, And shal retourne to speke of the proude pucelle in amours, and of the barons that were wythin the castell of Castelforde. [Wanting in the French.] expand_less