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Home  »  The Sonnets of Europe  »  Folgóre da San Gemignano (c. 1270–c. 1332)

Samuel Waddington, comp. The Sonnets of Europe. 1888.

On Knighthood (I.)

Folgóre da San Gemignano (c. 1270–c. 1332)

Translated by John Addington Symonds

THIS morn a young squire shall be made a knight;

Whereof he fain would be right worthy found,

And therefore pledgeth lands and castles round

To furnish all that fits a man of might.

Meat, bread, and wine he gives to many a wight;

Capons and pheasants on his board abound,

Where serving men and pages march around;

Choice chambers, torches, and wax candle light.

Barbed steeds, a multitude, are in his thought,

Mailed men at arms and noble company,

Spears, pennants, housing cloths, bells richly wrought;

Musicians following with great barony

And jesters through the land his state have brought,

With dames and damsels whereso rideth he.