178 THE KING'S MIRROR 



at the courtjvOn returning to their own lands, they will 

 describe the customs and relate the happenings which 

 they saw or heard at the court to which they were sentj 

 But_all the rumors^ that travel to other lands and are 

 circulated about a lord, if they be truthful, will usually 

 either bring him ridicule and contumely or be turned to 



Jn's hLQL!Ii^ a y a l so frequently come to pass that the 

 kings themselves need to meet in conference to discuss 

 such rules and arrangements as must be kept jointly by 

 (^the kingdoms. *MVherever kings meet, there the best 

 5 men are always assembled ;} for the kings bring their 

 chief men with them to such conferences: archbishops, 

 bishops, earls, landedmen, and hirdmen or knights. 

 And the conduct and breeding of those who assemble 

 are carefully noted, first the manners of the mighty ones, 

 /* and then those of all the rest^for everyone watches 

 ? closely the behavior of all the othersV^Lnd if one of the 

 kings or one of his principal men is round indecorous, 

 he soon becomes the subject of ridicule and contempt 

 and is regarded as a common churl And if a king's ret- 

 inue is found to be poorly trained and is lacking in 

 polish, especially if the service of the king's apartments 

 is not performed in a comely and proper manner, then 

 the king himself is pronounced unfit^for it will be held 

 that if he himself were polite and perfect in manners, 

 all would acquire good breeding from him. Cpnsegfuenlly 

 it^is possible for a courtly chief to suffer great shame 

 amHncIecent man; wherefore it is very 



* Such meetings of two or three of the kings of the North were occasionally 

 held all through the later middle ages. The conferences were often held at 

 some point near the mouth of the Gb'ta River, on the southwest coast of 

 modern Sweden. See above, p. 30. 



