One afternoon in August, 1350, the view from the Sussex downs was even more splendid than usual. The king of England, Edward III, had mustered a fleet to engage the Spanish, and now his galleons lay basking in the summer haze off Winchelsea. Edward stood on the prow of his ship, wearing a hat of beaver fur ‘which suited him very well’. At hand were several knights of the Garter, a new company of chivalry with its home at Windsor, where King Arthur had once reigned in majesty (or so it was believed). The foundation of the Order gave a special exhilaration to Edward’s wars, and as he paced the deck with the sun high in the sky and a battle on the sparkling water before him, he was in good spirits; indeed he wanted music. He commanded his minstrels to pipe a certain ‘German dance’ that one of the knights, Sir John Chandos, had newly brought, and to add to the merriment he bade Sir John to sing it, ‘taking great delight therefrom’.