Several princes allied to the royal house--Guise, Conde,
Nevers, and Vendome, etc.--had pages chosen among the sons of the best
families,--a last lingering custom of departed chivalry. The wealth of
the Duc d'Herouville, and the antiquity of his Norman race indicated
by his name ("herus villoe"), permitted him to imitate the
magnificence of families who were in other respects his inferiors,
--those, for instance, of Epernon, Luynes, Balagny, d'O, Zamet,
regarded as parvenus, but living, nevertheless, as princes. It was
therefore an imposing spectacle for poor Etienne to see the assemblage
of retainers of all kinds attached to the service of his father.
The duke seated himself on a chair of state placed under a "solium,"
or dais of carved word, above a platform raised by several steps, from
which, in certain provinces, the great seigneurs still delivered
judgment on their vassals,--a vestige of feudality which disappeared
under the reign of Richelieu. These thrones, like the warden's benches
of the churches, have now become objects of collection as curiosities.
Pages:
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111