Read A Gentleman-at-Arms: Being Passages in the Life of Sir Christopher Rudd, Knight Page 7

  *Interim*

  My grandfather told me that upon his return, after near a year'sabsence, his parents' joy was such that they forbore to upbraid andscold him; indeed, they killed for him the fatted calf, as it were, andmade much of him. His father was for putting him again to school, buthe protested that he had had enough of schooling, and desired nothingmore than to follow a man's vocation. Thereto his father consented,provided he first kept a term or two at one of the Inns of Court, andlearnt so much of law as would suffice for a justice of the peace whenhe should have come to man's estate.

  It was in the summer after his return that the great fleet upon whichthe King of Spain had spent so much pains and treasure came at last toinvade our shores; and my grandfather, being then at home, hied him toSouthampton, to learn the course of its progress. He watched enviouslythe English vessels sail out from the haven, even the smacks andshallops being filled with young lads and gentlemen of the county eagerto bear their part in the fray, or at the least to witness the unequalcombat between the cumbersome great vessels of the Spaniards and thelight, nimble ships that my Lord Howard commanded, with his lieutenantsDrake and Hawkins and Frobisher and the rest. To serve with those greatseamen was not permitted him, but he accompanied Sir George Carey whenhe ran out in a pinnace on the night of July 24, and found himself, ashe wrote, "in the midst of round shot, flying as thick as musket-ballsin a skirmish on land." But for the strict command of his father,doubtless he would have followed the Armada up the Channel, and beheldhow it was stung and chevied, and finally discomfited in the Calaisroads.

  About twelve months thereafter, claiming the fulfilment of his father'spromise, he joined himself to the company that his friend and captainHilary Rawdon was raising for service under King Henry of Navarre, whosefortunes were at that time at a turning point. King Henry III, hiscousin, had fallen to the assassin's knife, and Henry of Navarre shouldthen have ascended the throne of France; but he was of the Huguenotparty, and the Catholic League was bent upon crushing the Huguenots andexcluding Henry from the enjoyment of his heritage. The army of theLeague, commanded by the Duke of Mayenne, held Paris; and Henry,desiring to put an end to the religious struggle that rent Franceasunder, and to make himself master of a united kingdom, saw himselfconstrained to fight for his crown. His army was choice and sound, butsmall, and in his extremity he sought the help of Queen Elizabeth, whosent him aid in money and men, and permitted gentlemen to enlistvoluntarily under his flag. Many flocked to him, both as upholding hisrightful cause, and from the love of adventure, and hatred of theSpaniards, with whom the Leaguers were in alliance. At that time mygrandfather, his age being but eighteen, was moved rather by the latterconsiderations than by the former, though in after years the justice ofa cause held ever the foremost place in his mind.

  Henry of Navarre had broken up the siege of Paris and withdrawn with hisarmy into Normandy, hoping thereby to tempt the Duke of Mayenne tofollow him, and so enforce him to a decisive battle. Mayenne, on hisside, issuing forth from the city, had sworn to drive the Bearnais intothe sea, or to bring him back in chains. Such was the posture ofaffairs when that adventure befell my grandfather which I set down as hetold it me, as now follows.

  *THE SECOND PART*

  *CHRISTOPHER RUDD'S ADVENTURE IN FRANCE, AND HIS BORROWING OF THE WHITE PLUME OF HENRY OF NAVARRE*