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FITZALAN AND POYNTZ. 315
So if Brian Fitzalan was a great, man, Hugh Poyntz was a great man
too, and as they were both members of the Parliaments which were
summoned at York, it is probable that they were both here during the
building of the nave and chapter-house, and gave windows thereto ;
and it
is certain that between this mighty baron of the south and the great baron
of the north there must have been considerable jealousy, and a vigorous
claim, on either side, to the exclusive monopoly of the same arms. Brian
Fitzalan, as a Yorkshireman, would be strongly supported by kindred and
neighbours on his own soil ;
but Hugh Poyntz, though living in the south,
was related by kindred to the powerful houses of Clifford and Zouche, and
was numbered amongst the retainers of the great family of Clare, Earl of
Gloucester, whose arms are in the windows close by.
It may seem a trifling matter to us now : it was a grave matter then
a matter grave enough to stir men's .
angry passions jealousy, and
provoke bloodshed and feuds ;
a matter, as we see in the Scrope and
Grosvenor case, weighty enough to occupy three years, and the testimony of
two hundred of the bravest and wisest in the land. It was a matter, as we
have seen in the Hastings' case, which might entail imprisonment for life
upon a costly lawsuit. But it came to none of these, and, if I interpret
Brian Fitzalan's quaint motto aright, his was the wise counsel which kept
the peace. He would not cause a schism amongst the King's soldiers,
when the King and the country needed their united power against the
enemy. He could not bear arms borne by another, or fall back on some
other family quartering, leaving these to his rival ;
so he adopted the
third course good-humoured philosophy, ridiculed and caricatured, as
strutting cocks or foolish apes, his opponents, and dismissed all further
consideration of the vexed question from his mind with the wise aphorism,
Tot capita tot sentencie ("So many heads, so many opinions").
If I am right, the arms in the chapter-house and the quaint fantastic
bordure in the nave,* express in characters so distinct that he who runs
may read it that which is a truism for all time, and the more general
recognition whereof would not only shew genuine wisdom in those who
hold it, but soften many a hot controversy, smooth many ruffled feelings,
and allay many a rising tempest, which, Fitzalan has shewn us, it is the
part of true courage not to excite or aggravate, but to subdue.
Perhaps you may be disposed to question whether the arms which
I have been describing are the arms of Fitzalan, and to assert that they
are the arms of Poyntz. Well, don't let us quarrel over it. Let us keep
our own opinions and be content :
yes, and maintain this policy, not only
as regards the windows, but all which concerns the Church. Better, peace
than discord ;
aye, and braver far the peace-maker and the peace-holder
than the noisy, reckless, sharp-tongued, vehement partizan. And as
* See coloured illustration.