The origin of the Berners’ monkey

The Abduction of Maud the Fair, by King John,

and the story of the origin of the Berners’ monkey

*****

A hundred years have passed since Senlac’s fray,

Five Norman knights have occupied the throne,

And John now reigns, alas! alack the day!

That ever we so bad a king should own.

*

The grand-son of the Archer in the strife,

The Berners of the time, another Raphe,

Has lovely Maud Fitz Walter, taken to wife,

And in short absence, left her, seeming safe.

*

No war assails the land, men tend their sheep,

And go about their daily tasks with ease,

So Maud is left in stately Baynard’s Keep,

With children fair that prattle round her knees.

*

This castle grim, erected by her sire,

The Lord Fitz Walter, who on Maud doth dote,

Is suddenly attacked, and set on fire,

Is speedily in flames down to the moat.

*

The youngest of Maud’s children, babe in arms,

Sleeps in his cradle, in a turret room,

Neglected by his nurse in her alarms,

Is left poor innocent to face his doom.

*

His mother cannot save him, for the dame

Herself to brigand arms has fallen a prey,

A brutal villain knight unknown to shame,

Has snatched her up and borne poor Maud away.

*

How awful would have been that infant’s lot!

(He’d ne’er have wakened from his smothered sleep)

Had not a monkey who played near his cot,

Rescued the child and clambered down the keep.

*

A previous Berners had in Richard’s reign,

Been with that gallant monarch on Crusade,

And midst his share of booty did retain

The monkey who so well the babe does aid.

*

The servants now collected, take the child

Retainers quickly summoned, save the rest,

But, their dismay is great, their cries are wild,

They cannot find their mistress, spite of quest.

*****

Now while her children cry, her castle burns,

Poor Maud’s a victim to King John’s base power:

He bears her off, to prayers a deaf ear turns,

And straightly prisons her in London’s Tower.

*

But yet he cannot bend her to his will

And Maud’s fair virtue shews its finest fruit

She cares not for his threats of coming ill,

But haughtily disdains his amorous suit.

*

Meanwhile, her husband, in is great despair,

Assisted by Fitz Walter, in his task,

Seeks, the French King, to succour Maud the Fair,

And for his aid to rescue her, they ask.

*

Louis consents, but ‘ere the plans arranged,

Poor Maud’s assailed King John with just reproach

Until, by her refusal, he’s estranged,

And poisons her in dish of eggs they poach.

*****

Baynard’s Castle

Baynard’s castle was built by Ralph Baynard, a contemporary of Wiiliam 1, who was the first feudal baron of Little Dunmow, Essex. The castle was located at the point where the Roman walls and the River Fleet, which was a much larger river then, met the River Thames, just east of what is now Blackfriars Station. It was just inside the Roman walls on the south east and a counter point to the Tower of London, located in the south west corner. The castle was demolished on the orders of King John in 1213. A second Baynard Castle was built on new site, slightly to the east, several years later.

The Beners family motto is: “Del Fuego Io Avolo” – He saves from fire, as translated by M A Spencer Warwick. (nee Berners)