Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 124, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 October 1903 — A Knight's Way of Marrying. [ARTICLE]

A Knight's Way of Marrying.

Of all the matrimonial trafficking— In the agh of chivalry—the ways of widows are at once the boldest and most comprehensive. As a rale their methods seldom resort to blandishment; it Is remarkable when tenderness Is an item In their bargain. Speed was their maxim; it was one King John honored, for he profited by it Yet one of the rarest exceptions In the way of delicacy to these commercial negotiations has evidently been prompted by a widow who had. quite an exceptional lover. In 1200 William de I^anda —either one of the most famous of the crusaders or his son—offers 50 marks and a palfrey for having to wife Joan, who the wife of Thomas de Aresey, “If he may be pleasing to the said Joan,” the sheriff Is Instructed to, ascertain the widow’s wishes, “and if the said Joan shall be pleased to have him for a husband then the sheriff shall cause William to have seizin of Joan and her land," both of which he obtained in the name of gentle love and the faith of a true soldier. It Is fitting that the name of one of the men who fed the assault of Acre should be preserved In such a record as the above. He was In truth a very perfect knight.—Gentleman's Magazine.