BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT>-^UN-D. THE GIFT OF Heiirg 191. Sage 1891 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924027926298 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY BY CHARLES LETHBRIDGE KINGSFORD, M.A. ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE EDITOR OF ' CHRONICLES OF LONDON ', ETC. WITH AN APPENDIX OF CHRONICLES AND HISTORICAL PIECES HITHERTO FOR THE MOST PART UNPRINTED OXFORD AT THE CLARENDON PRESS ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY BY CHARLES LETHBRIDGE §INGSFORD, M.A. ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE EDITOR OF ' CHRONICLES OF LONDON ', ETC. WITH AN APPENDIX OF CHRONICLES AND HISTORICAL PIECES HITHERTO FOR THE MOST PART UNPRINTED OXFORD AT THE CLARENDON PRESS '"i, OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON EDINBURGH GLASGOW NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE BOMBAY HUMPHREY MILFORD M.A. PUUI.ISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY PREFACE The purpose and scope of this volume (which is founded on a course of lectures deUvered at Oxford in 1910) are explained sufficiently in the introductory chapter. I have added an appendix of short chronicles and historical pieces, which, with some partial exceptions, have not hitherto been printed. Their primary object is to illustrate the text; thus the interest of some of them is mainly textual or literary ; but others, as notably the Northern Chronicle and the Sherborne Annals, have an intrinsic value of their own. They are all too short to have obtained independent publication ; their usefulness will, I hope, be increased by their collection in the same place. I have to thank Mr. E. H. Dring for directing my atten- " tion to The Great Chronicle of London, and for the courtesy with which he allowed me to make such free use of the manuscript ; Dr. WilUam Hunt for his kindness in reading part of my manuscript and for some useful criticism ; Mr. W. A. Lindsay, K.C., Windsor Herald, for the oppor- tunity to consult manuscripts at the College of Arms ; Mr. D. T. Baird Wood and his colleagues in the Students' Room at the British Museum for assistance always readily given ; and Mr. R. L. Poole and Messrs. Longmans, Green & Co. for permission to make use of two articles on ' The Early Biographies of Henry V ' and ' The First Version of Hardyng's Chronicle ', which I contributed to the English Historical Review. C. L. K. January 23, 19 13. CONTENTS BIBLIOGRAPHY : I. Printed editions of original authorities . viii II. List of Manuscripts deucribed or noticed in this VOLUME .... • "" CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY Political characteristics of the fifteenth century. Their reflection in histori- cal material. The literary development ; beginnings of the Literary Renaissance ; educational and intellectual ferment. The changes in historical literature. Scope of the proposed inquiry. Summary of the lines on which it proceeds. PP- i-i i CHAPTER 11 THOM.\S WALSINGHAM AND HIS CONTEMPOR.\RIES 1399-14^2 Walsingham : his Historia Anglicana ; the Ypodigma Seuslruu. The Annates Henrici Quarti. Thomas Otterbourne. The \'ita Ricardi by the Monk of Evesham. Giles's Chronicle of Henry IV. The Continua- tion of the Eutogium Historiarum. A Southern Chronicle. Adam Usk. A Northern Chronicle. Continuations of Higden. Minor monastic annals. Clement Maidstone. John Capgrave. John Strecche. General characteristics. pp. 1 2-44 CHAPTER HI THE BIOGRAPHIES OF HENRY V Thomas Elmham : the Gesia Henrici Quinii ; the Liber MftricHS ; minor works. Tito Livio : his Vita. The Pseudo-Elmham : his Vila ft Gesta ; the Latin abridgement ; the English version. The ' Translator of Lii.-ius ' and the Earl of Ormonde. John Basset. Robert Redmayne. lUustni- tion of littrary development. pp. 45-6.> CHAPTER IV THE CHRONICLES Ol" LONDON General characteristics , sysUm of chronology ; their development ; their classification. V.rsions o( i4jt>- .■. Viision of 1440. Version of 1445. Short vnsion of 1440. llio Contiiuiations of S. Miscellaneous: CONTENTS V Robert Bale's Chronicle ; Gregory's Chronicle ; Short Chronicle, 1461-83. The Main City Chronicle, 1440-85. Robert Fabyan. The Greyfriars' Chronicle, ^chaxd Arnold's Customs of London. John Stovr's Summary. Sources and historical value of the London Chronicles. Use made of them by other writers. Minor Town Chronicles. pp. 70-1 12 CHAPTER V THE BRUT Its importance ; its early history ; its historical interest ; the main version ending in 1419 ; John Page's Siege of Rouen ; the Continuation of 1430; the Continuation of 1461, or Caxton's Chronicles; the versions of Harley 53, and Lambeth 84; Davies's Chronicle; the Latin Brut; evidence for versions earlier than 1419 ; relation to Chronicles of London ; sources ; literary importance ; use of by Waurin ; and by Caxton. pp. 113-39 CHAPTER VI MINOR CHRONICLES OF THE MIDDLE OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY I 42 2- I 469 Their fragmentary character. John Hardyng : his Chronicle ; its sources and value. Lives of Henry VI by Capgrave and Blakman. The anony- mous St. Albans Annals. John Whethamstede's Register. Giles's Chronicle of Henry VI. Continuations of the Latin Brut : Chronicle for 1445-55 i Sherborne Annals ; a Brief Latin Chronicle to 1471. Minor monastic chronicles : Waltham Annals ; Ely Brief Notes ; Gloucester Annals. William Worcester : his Annates ; his Collections. Genea- logical and Heraldic Rolls ; the ' Considerans Chronicle '. Collections of a Yorkist Partisan. John Piggot's Memoranda. Gascoigne's Theological Dictionary. Politico-legal controversy : the Somnium Vigilantis ; Sir John Fortescue's writings. Minor English works. Decay of Latin. pp. 140-70 CHAPTER VII CHRONICLES OF THE HOUSE OF YORK I 470-1 48 5 Increased prevalence of English. Warkworth. Chronicle of the Rebellion in Lincolnshire. Manner and Guiding of the Earl of Warwick. Arrival of Edward IV; French versions. Hearne's Fragment. Yorkist Notes, 1 47 1. Records of state ceremonies. Continuations of the Croyland Chronicle. John Rous. History of King Richard III. Polydore Vergil. pp. 171-92 vi CONTENTS CHAPTER VIII COKRESPONDENC !■:. PRIVATE ANT) OFFICIAL Inxportanc- as a source for (Iftcinth-ccntury hUory. State of education at the time and increasing use of EnKlish. Collections of private corre- spondence ; the Paslon Letters ; their history ; the history of the faraUy ; the Pastons and Fastolf ; illustration of political history ; illustration of social life. The Stunm Letters. The Flumplon Correspondence. The Cely Papers. The Trcvityaii Papers. The Letters of John Shillin^ford. General collections : Ellis's Original Letters ; official correspondence in Cotton. MSS. ; Halliwell-I'liillipps's Letters of the Kings of England; ChampoUion-Figeac's Lettrcs de hms, &c. ; Delpifs Collection ; Ancient Correspondence at the Record Olhce ; London Letters in the Guildhall Archives ; Letter-books of Christ Church, Canterbury ; Epislolae Academicae. Collections of a more limited range : Hinyeston's Royal and Historical Letters, Henrv I\' ; Le Cotton. .MS. Galba B i ; Aus der Kanzici Sii^miiiids ; Stevenson, Letters and Papers, &-c., Henry I'/; Official Correspondence of T. Bekynlon ; Letters of Margaret of Anjou ; Memorials of St. Edmund's Abbey ; Letter-book of William Swan ; Gairdner's Letters, i~r., Richard III ; Davies's York Records. Royal Historical MSS. Commission. Isolated letters. pp. 193-227 CHAPTER IX POETRY AND BALL.\DS Latin Poetry. English poets : Hoccleve ; Lydgate ; George Ashby. Political poems from Digby MS. 102. Politico-religious poems. The Libel of English Policy. ' Prophecies.' Ballads : the Battaile of Agin- court ; other Agincourt ballads ; ballads on the defence of Calais. Some minor poems. Satirical verses against Suffolk. Ballads of the Wars of the Roses. Ballads on the downifall of Richard III. \\'illiam Peeris. pp. 22^-5^ CHAPTER X SIXTEENTH-CENTURY HISTORIANS AND FIFTEENTH- CENTURY HISTORY Reasons for their inclusion. Polydore \ergil : his sources and prejudice; his advance in historical method. Use of English by the ' Translator of Livius ■. The change of method and form a result of past development. Influence of London as the centre of national life. i:d\\-anl Hall : his sources ; his prejiulices ; his influeiue on his succcs,sors. Richard Grafton. Lanquet and Coopei . John Stow : «idth of his research; his .Su,nwn>v of F.ntilish CInnnules ; his .(»..„;,.( ; his sources; his merits as ,in historian. Haph.ul lloluished chanicter of his Chronicles ; his sources; ^i.lojHs II;,Us prejudices; his inlUionce on Shakespeare, and coiiseiiuenllv on populir opinion. pp ^-t-jA CONTENTS vu APPENDIX I. A Southern Chronicle, 1 399-1422 II. A Northern Chronicle, 1399-1430 III. Extracts from London Chronicles : (i) London Chronicle for 141 3-18 (2) London Chronicle for 1421-30 (3) London Chronicle for 1446-52 IV. The Brut, 141 3-1 7 . . . . V. The Latin Brut . . . . . (i) The Common Version for 1399 to 1437 (2) The Longer Version for the reign of Henry V VI. Brief Notes for 1440-43 . VII. A Chronicle for 1445 to 1455 . VIII. Sherborne Annals, 1437-56 IX. Waltham Annals, 1422-47 X. Gloucester Annals, 1449-69 XI. Collections of a Yorkist Partizan, 1447-52 XII. John Piggot's Memoranda, 1450-54 . XIII. Yorkist Notes, 1471 XIV. From a Chronicle of Tewkesbury Abbey, 1 47 1 . XV. The Record of Bluemantle Pursuivant, 1471-2 . XVI. Calendar of Fifteenth-Century Letters contained Reports of the Royal Commission on Historical scripts ....... XVII. On the MutabUity of Worldly Changes . PAGES 275 279 292 295 296 299 310 312 338 342 346 350 355 358 369 374 376 379 in the Manu- 389 395 INDEX 398 BIBLIOGRAPHY I. PRINTED EDITIONS OF ORIGINAL AUTHORITIES i Agincourt, Datailc of, ap. i:imham Vita Heiinci Quiiili, ed. Hearne, pp. 359-75 ; and Nicolas, Chronicle of London, pp. 216-33. Amundesham, John. Annates, ed. H. T. Riley, Rolls Series, 1870. (Includes the anonymous St. Albans Atnials.) Annates Hcnrici Quarti, ap. Troketowe, Blaneford, <&•£., ed. H. T. l^ey, Rolls Series, 1866. Anstey, H. Epistotae Academicae. Oxf. Hist. Soc., iS'^s. Archaeotogia, vols, xxix, xxxiii. Political Poems. Arnold, Richard. Customs of London, ed. Ellis, iSii. Arrival of King Edward IV, The, ed. J. Bruce, Camden Soc., 1st Series, 1838. AsHBY, George. Poems, ed. Mary Bateson. Early English Text Societ\-, 1899. Bekynton, Thomas. Official Correspondence, ed. G. Williams, Rolls Series, 1872. Bermondsey Annals, ap. Annates Monastici, iii, ed. H. R. Lnard, R-4;. Christ Church Letters relalin. to the I'no.v of' Chnsl Chuuh, Canterbury, ed. J. B. Sheppard. CanuUn Soc , 2nd Siiios, iS,-,-. Cole, C. A. M,n,on„l. of lle»,v V (i. Kolnrt Kedmnyne, Utstoria ' This list ddcs not iiH-Uule the |.i«-cs primed in the Apjicndix to this volume. BIBLIOGRAPHY ix Henrici Quinti ; 2. Versus Rythmici ; 3. Elmham, Liber Metricus). Rolls Series, 1858. Collections of a London Citizen (John Page, Siege of Rouen ; Gregory's Chronicle), ed. J. Gairdner. Camden Soc, 2nd Series, 1876. Croyland Chronicle, Continuation of, ap. Gale's Scriptores, 1684. ' Davies, J. S. English Chronicle, 1377-1461. Camden Soc, ist Series, 1856. Davies, R. Extracts from the Municipal Records of the City of York, 1843. Delpit, J. Documents frangais en Angleterre (Documents inedits). Paris, 1847. Dring, E. H. The Great Chronicle of London, 1913. Ellis, Sir H. Original Letters Illustrative of English History (Three Series), 1825-40. Elmham, Thomas.'- Gesta Henrici Quinti, ed. B. Williams. Engl. Hist. Soc, 1850. Liber Metricus. See Cole, C. A. Eulogium Historiarum, Continuation of, ed. F. R. Haydon, Rolls Series, 1863. Evesham, Chronicle of, ed. W. D. Macray. Rolls Series, 1863. Evesham, Monk or. Vita Ricardi Secundi, ed. T. Hearne, 1729. Excerpta Historica, ed. S. Bentley, 1831. Fabyan, Robert. The New Chronicles of England and of France, ed. Ellis, 181 1. Flenley, R. Six Town Chronicles, 191 1. FoRTESCUE, Sir John. Works, ed. Lord Clermont, 1869. Governance of England, ed. C. Plummer, 1885. Somnium Vigilantis, ap. Engl. Hist. Rev., xxvi. 512-25, 191 1. Gairdner, J. Letters and Papers illustrative of the Reigns of Richard III and Henry VII. Rolls Series, 1861-3. See also Collections of a London Citizen, Paston Letters, and Three Fifteenth-Century Chronicles. Gascoigne, Thomas. Loci e Libra Veritatum, ed. J. E. T. Rogers, 1881. Gesta Henrici Quinti. See Elmham. Giles, J. A. Incerti Scriptoria Chronicon de regnis . . Henrici IV, Henrici V, et Henrici VI, 1848. — —La Rivolte du Conte de Warwick. Caxton Soc, 1839. GiLLioDTS van Severen, L. Le Cotton. MS. Galba B i (Chroniques Beiges inedites). Brussels, 1896. Gower, John. Chronica Tripertita, ap. Works, iv. 314-43, ed. G. C. Macaulay, 1 899-1 901. Grafton, Richard. History of the reigns of Edward IV, Edward V, and Richard III. Printed with th« Chronicle of John Hardyng ; ed. Ellis, 1812. Gregory's Chronicle. See Collections of a London Citizen. Grey friars' Chronicle of London, ap. Monumenta Franciscana, ii. 143-262, ed. R. Howlett, Rolls Series, 1882. Hall, Edward. Chronicle, ed. Ellis, 1809. ' See also Pseudo-Elmham. X BIBLIOGRAPHY HAl.MWELL-PHlLi.irrs, J. O. Letlirs of the Kings of England, 1846. Hardync, John. C/imnicle, ud. JCllis, 1812. Extracts from Ihe first version of his Chronicle, ap. /T";'/. Hist. Rev. xxvii. 740-53, 191 J. HiiARNE, Thomas. A h'nnar/uih/c J-ragmenl of an Old English Chronick, ap. Thomas Sprott, 67/f->"/V/i, pp. 283-306, 1719. HiGDEN, Ranulph. I'otvc/irnvictin, vol. viii (giving Caxton's Continuation), ccl. J. R. Lumby, Rolls Scries, 1882. HiNGESTON, F. C. Roval and Historical Letters, Heiirv IV. Rolls Series, i860. Historical Manuscripts, Noyal Commission on. Reports. (See pp. 389-94, below.) HoccLEVE, Thomas. Works, ed. F. J. Furnivall. Early English Text Society, 1892-7. HoLiNSHED, Raphael. Chronicles, ed. Ellis, 1807-8. Kail, J. Twenty-six Political and other Poems. Early English Text Society, 1904. Lincolnshire, Chronicle of the Rebellion in, ed. J. G. Nichols, ap. Camden Miscellany, vol. i. Camden Soc, 1847. Livio D.\ FoRLi, Tito. Vita Henrici Quinti, ed. T. Hearne, 17 16. See also Translator of Livius. London, Chronicles of (Julius B ii, Cleopatra C iv, and \'itellius .\ xvi), ed. C. L. Kingsford, 1905. See also Arnold, R., Brut, Collections of a London Citizen, Drinc, E. H. (The Great Chronicle), Fabyan, R., Flenley, R., Greyfrijrs' Chronicle, Nicolas, Sir N. H., Three Fifteenth-Century Chronicles. Louth Park Abbey, Chronicle of. Lincolnshire Record Society, 1891. Lydgate, John. Minor Poems, ed. H. MacCracken. Early English Text Society, 191 1. Verses on the Reception of Henry VI in London in February 1432, ap. Chronicles of London, pp. 97-116. Battaile of Agincourt and London Lickpenny, ap. Nicolas, Ch>OHuU of London. See also Wright, Political Poems. Maidstone, Clement. Historia Martyrii Ricardi Scropc. ap. \\Tiarton. Anglia Sacra, ii. 169-72, 1691. Margaret of Anjou, Letters of, ed. C. Monro. Camden Soc., ist Series, 1863. Meaux Abbey, Chronicon de Melsa, ed. E. .\. Bond, Rolls Series, iS«>-S. More, Sir Thomas, History of Richard III, ed. J. R. Lumbv, 1SS3, Nichols, J. G. Grants of Edward V. Camden Six-., 1st Series, 1S54. Nicolas, Sir N. H. Proceedings and OrrfiHaiiiv.< ,)/ Ihe /'mv Coimcil. Record Commission, 1834-7. and E. Tyrrell. Chronicle of London (Harlov ;(i;. and Julius Hi), i.S.;;. Otterhourne, Thomas. Chronicle, ed. T. H.aruf, .\y. Duo urum .Ingli- carinn Scriplores, 173.". Taci;, John. .Siege oj Uonen. Si-i> Hrul and Collections oj ,1 London Citizen. I'lislon Letters, The, ed. J. Gairdnor, 6 vols., 1904. BIBLIOGRAPHY • xi Percy, T. Bishop Percy's Folio MS., ed J. W. Hales and F. J. Furnivall, 1867-8. Plumpton Correspondence, ed. T. Stapleton. Camden Soc, ist Series, 1839. Political Poems. See Archaeologia, Kail, J., and Wright, T. Pseudo-Elmham. Thomae Elmham, Vita et Gesta Henrici Quinti, ed. T. Hearne, 1727. Latin abbreviation, ap. Gesta Henrici Quinti. Engl. Hist. Soc, 1850. RiCART, Robert. The Maire of Bristowe is Kalendar, ed. L. Toulmin Smith. Camden Soc, 2nd Series, 1872. Richard III, Letters and Papers. See Gairdner, J. Ru-EY, H. T. Memorials of London Life, 1868. Rous, John. Historia Regum Angliae, ed. T. Hearne, 1729. St. Albans Annals, ap. Amundesham Annates, vol. i. Rolls Series, 1870. St. Edmund's Abbey, Memorials of (Bury Chronicle, ad. 1471, and Letters), ed. T. Arnold, Rolls Series, 1890-6. Seyer, S. Memorials of Bristol (with extracts from Bristol Chronicles), 1821. Sharpe, R. R. London and the Kingdom (with Letters from the City Archives in vol. iii. 359-92), 1895. Calendars of Letter-boohs, I and K, 1 909-1 1. Sheppard, J. B. See Cantuarienses and Christ Church Letters. Shillingford, John. Letters and Papers, 1447-50, ed. S. A. Moore. Camden Soc, 2nd Series, 1871. Stevenson, J. Letters and Papers Illustrative of the Wars of the English in France, Rolls Series, 1861-4. Stow, John. Annates, or a General Chronicle of England, ed. E. Howes, 1631. Summary of English Chronicles, 1575. Survey of London, ed. C. L. Kingsford, 1908. Three Fifteenth-Century Chronicles (A Short English Chronicle = London Chronicle S. ; Continuation of the Latin Brut to 1471 ; Ely Brief Notes), ed. J. Gairdner. Camden Soc, 2nd Series, 1880. Translator of Livius. The First English Life of Henry V, ed. C. L. Kingsford, 191 1. Trevelyan Papers, vol. i, ed J. P. Collier. Camden Soc, ist Series, 1857. UsK, Adam. Chronicle, ed. Sir E. M. Thompson, 1904. Vergil, Pol ydore. Anglica Historia, 1557. English Translation for 1422-85, ed. Sir H. Ellis. Camden Soc, 1844. Walsingham, Thomas. Historia Anglicana, ed. H. T. Riley, Rolls Series, 1863. Ypodigma Neustriae, ed. H. T. Riley, Rolls Series, 1876. Warkworth, John. Chronicle, ed. J. O. Halliwell. Camden Soc, ist Series, 1839. Waurin, Jean. Chroniques, ed. Hardy, Rolls Series, 1868-91. Wharton, Henry. Anglia Sacra, 1691. Whethamstede, John. Registrum Abbatiae, ed. H. T. Riley, Rolls Series, 1872. White Rose, Chronicles of the, 1845. xii BIBLIOGRAPHY Worcester, William. Annates llcnim Anglicarum, and ColUctions, ap. Stevenson, Letters, Ac, Rolls Series, 1864. Itinerarium, ed. J. Nasmith, 1778. Wright, Thomas. I'olilUal I'oiws and Songs, vol. li, Rolls Series, 1861. II LIST OF MANUSCRIPTS DESCRIBED OR NOTICED IN THIS VOLUME 1. l.\ LONDON (a) At the Britnh Museum Additional MSS. : 4596-616. Transcripts for Ryraer's Foedera. See p. 213. 61 1 3, fi. 101-7, The Record of Bluemantle Pursuivant. See pp. 17S, 379-88. 10104. Adam Usk's Chronicle. See p. 35. 1 1269. Calendar of Harley 433. See p. 224 n. 11714. A Southern Chronicle. See pp. 31, 275-8. 34764.. An English Chronicle to 1440. See p. 169. 35295. John Strecche, Historia Regum Anglie. See pp. 39, 40. Arundel MS. 28, f. 25, Yorkist Notes, 1471. See pp. 178, 374-5. Cotton. MSS. : Julius A V, ff. 177-9, ' Prophecy ' of Merlin. See p. 236 n. Julius B i. London Chronicle. See pp. 75, 80, 81, 99. Julius B ii. London Chronicle. See pp. 76, 77, 80. Julius B iii. Latin Unit. See p. 31 1 n. Julius C vi, fi. 255-9, The Record of Bluemantle Pursuivant. See pp. 17S, 379-88. Julius E iv, ff. 10-87, Pseudo-Elmham, Vita et Gesta Henrici Quinti ; ff. 88-111, Thomas Elmham, Liber Metricus ; ff. 113-27. Thomas Elmham, Gesta Henrici Quinti ; Article 6, Life of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. See pp. 49, 56, 185. Tiberius A viii. Capgrave, De Illustribus Henricis. See p. 39. Tiberius C ix. Vita Ricardi Secundi, by a Monk of Evesham. See p. 24. Claudius A viii. Brut. See p. 1 20 n. Claudius B ix. Vita Ricardi Secundi, by a Monk of Evesham. See p. 24. Claudius E iii. Tito Livio, Vita Henrici Quinti. See pp. ;i, ;;, Claudius E iv. Thomas Elmham, Cronica Regum. See p. ;o. Nero C xi. Fabyan, Chronicle. See pp. 103, 104. Galba B i. Papers relating to Flanders. See pp. 214. 220. Galba E vii. Eulogium Historiariint. See p. 2S. Galba E viii. Unit. See pji, 2911-300. Galba E ix, ff. 49, 50, ' Pnijihocy ' of Mcilin ; II. 1 13-I4, Ballad on the Siege of Calais. See pp. 23(1 11., 241. Otho B xiii. Fonuiily contained the Cic'i/iim/ Chtoniile. See p. I79n. \it(IU\is A xvi. London L hroiiute. Sec pp. Si, 01, 90. VitcDiiis I) xii. l'"oriiuilv contained the Jtatlaile of .l^incourt. See p. 238. BIBLIOGRAPHY xiii Vitellius F ix, S. 1-70, London Chronicle ; fi. 147-239, Otterbourne, Chronicle. See pp. 23, 80, 84. Vespasian B xvi, ff. 1-4. Jack Napes, See p. 244 n. Vespasian C xii. Papers relating to Spain. See p. 214. Vespasian E viii. Latin Prophecies. See p. 236 n. Vespasian F iii. State Papers and Letters. Seep. 213. Vespasian F vii. Papers of the Privy Council. See p. 214. Vespasian F xiii. State Papers and Letters. See p. 213. Titus D XV. Waltham Annals. See pp. 160, 350-4. Domitian A iv, fE. 53-7, Latin Brut ; iif. 246-56, Gloucester Annals. See pp. 310-12, 355-7. Domitian A xii. Northern Chronicle. See pp. 279-91. Cleopatra C iv, ff. 22-61, London Chronicle ; ff. 124-204, Letter-book of William Swan. See pp. 77, 80, 88, 89, 224. Cleopatra E ii and E iii. Papers on ecclesiastical affairs. See p. 213. Cleopatra F iii and F iv. Papers of the Privy Council. See p. 214. Faustina B ix, ff. 241-2, ' Prophecy '. See p. 236 n. Cotton. Roll, ii. 23. Collections of a Yorkist Partizan. See pp. 165, 236, 242-4, 358-68. Egerton MSS. : 650. Brut; London Chronicle. See pp. 85 n., 86. 1992. Hardyng, Chronicle. See p. 149 n. 1995, ff. 87-109, John Page, Siege of Rouen ; ff. 1:3-222, Gregory's Chronicle. See pp. 81, 91, 96, 117. 2885. Latin Chronicle of London to 1382. See p. 71 n. Harley MSS. : 35. ' Translator of Livius.' See p. 64. 53. Brut. See pp. 30, 122-5. 266. Brut. See p. 302. 283, f. 2, Confession of Sir R. Welles. See p. 174. 367, ff. 89-100, Song of the Lady Bessy. See p. 252. 433. Register of Grants under Privy Seal, temp. Richard III. See p. 224. 530, fi. 19-30, English abridgement of Pseudo-Elmham. See p. 64. 540, ff. 7-21, London Chronicle, 1527-55 ; ff. 40-5, London Chronicle, 1421-47. See pp. 81, 92, 93, 108, 295-6. 541, ff. 215-19, London Chronicle. See p. 106 n. 543, ff. 31-49, Arrival of Edward IV ; f. 144, John Piggot's Memoranda. With other Collections of John Stow. See pp. 166, 174, 369-73. 545, f . 1 32, A Chronicle of Tewkesbury Abbey. With other Collections of John Stow. See pp. 178, 370, 376-8. 565. London Chronicle ; Battaile of Agincourt. See pp. 80, 83, 84, 135 n., 238. 661. Hardyng, Chronicle. Seep. 149 n. 746, ff. 1-3, ' Prophecy ' of Merlin. See p. 236 n. 753. Brut. See pp. 132, 302. 864. Pseudo-Elmham, Vita et Gesta Henrici Quinti. See pp. 56, 62 n. 2256. Brut. See p. 302. xiv BIBLIOGRAPHY 3600. Northern Chronicle. See pp. 35, 279-91. 3643. Ottcrbounie, Chronicle. See p. 23. 3775, ff. 7«-9i), London Chronicle ; ii. 100-20, St. Albans .innals. See pp. 76, 80, 83, 15011., 292-5. 3884, ff. 226-7, Latin Unit ; ff. 228-9, Chmniclcjor 1445-55- See pp. 158, 310, 342-5. 3906, ff. 101-7, Latin Urul ; ff. 108-11, Sherborne Annals. See pp. 158, 310-12, 34f)-9. (\2i6, i. 23, Extract from ' Translator of Liviu.s ' See p. 64 n. 6223, ff. 4-21, Stow's tran.slation of Otterbourne. See p. 23 n. 7353. Illuminated Roll, Edward IV. See p. 165. Rolls C 5, C 7. The Claim of Richard Duke of York. See p. 165 n. Roll C 8. London Chronicle. See pp. 81, 94, 95- Roll C 9. ' Considerans ' Chronicle. See p. i''4 n. Lansdowne MSS. : 204. Hardyng, Chronicle. See pp. 42 n., 1490. 212. Latin Brut. See pp. 310-12, 323-37. Roll 6. Genealogical Roll, with historical notes. See pp. 165, 183-S4. Royal MSS. : 13 C i. Giles's Chronicle, and Brief Notes for 1440-j. See pp. 24, 62, 155. 338-41. 13 E ix. Walsingham, Historica Anglicana. See pp. 13, 14. 14 B viii. ' Considerans ' Chronicle. See p. 164 n. 17 D XV, ff. 302-10, Somnium Vigilantis ; ff. 327-32, 'The Balet of the Kynge,' styled by Wright The Recovery of the Throne. See pp. 167, 24S. 18 D ii. W. Peeris, Chronicle of the Family of Percy. See p. 2^2 n. Sloane 1776. Giles's Chronicle; Elmham, Gesta Henrici Quinti. See pp. 24, 63, 155, 338. Stowe 73. ' Considerans ' Chronicle. Seep. 164 n. (b) ^/ the Record Office .Ancient Correspondence : xliii, xliv, Ii, Ivii, Iviii. Miscellaneous Letters. See pp. ; 15-16. xlvi. Stonor Letters. See pp. 208-10. liii. Cely Papers. See p. 210. (c) At the Colle!;c of Arms Arundel MSS. : 3. Whethamstede's lu!;islei . Seep. 154, 5. Latin Brut witli Conlitnialinn to 14^1. Sot- pp. 150, 3U'>-I2, 3140. 7. Walsingham, Hi.'^lorid .■ini;licana. See pp. i ?, 15. 12. Tito l.ivio, Vila Henrici Quinti. Soo pp. 52, 50. I 5. Pseudo-IClmhani, I ila el C,esl,i Heniici Quiiili. See pp. 50, 59 n., 62. 1 11. London Chronicle. Sco pp. 80, >ki, 200-8. 4K. William Worcostc-r's i olleclions. Sec pp. (..), n^j. 1. ''>. (I)) College Libraries All Souls College : 38. Pseudo-Klmham, Vila ct Gesta Henrici Quinti. See pp. sO, 5^. 40. ' Considerans ' Chronicle. See p. 164 n. Balliol College : 354. Lamentation of the Duchess of Gloucester. See p. 242 n. Corpus Christi College : 208. Croyland Chronicle. Seep. 17911. Jesus College : 29. Chronicon Reqiim An«liac. See p. 160. Lincoln College : 117, 118. T. Gascoigne, Theological Dictionary. See p. 1G7. Magdalen College : 200. Latin Brut. See p. 311. Queen's College : 168. ' Considerans ' Chronicle. See p. 164 n. St. John's College : 23. ' Considerans ' Chronicle. See p. 104 n. 57. London Chronicle. See pp. 76, 77, So, 87. 58. ' Considerans ' Chronicle. See p, 164 n. 78. Latin Brut. See pp. 310-12, 323-37. 209. Bury St. Edmund's Chronicle. See p. l6o. 4. .\T DUBLIN Trinity College : E 5. 9. Robert Bale, London Chronicle. See pp. 81, 95. 5. AT PARIS BiBLiOTHiguE Nationals, Latin 6240. Pseudo-Elmham, Vita ei Gfsta Henrici Quinti. See p. 56 n. 6. IN PRIVATE COLLECTIONS Marquis of Bath at Longleat : Continuation of the Polvchronicon. See p. 37. Londnii Chronicle. See pp. 77, 80, 88. Eshton Hall. London Chronicle. See pp. 80, S4. Earl of Leicester cit Holkham. Fabyan, cVikhmV/^. Seep. lOin. Mr. Quaritch ; ' Fabian's MS.' (77if Guat Chronicle of Loiult^ii). See pp. 7;, So, Si, 83, 100, 101. IJrut. See p. 31)2. l.ouuToLLEMAtin. ;il ilelmiiiKhiUu. Harilyii.i;, (.'ArDiiic /,-. Seep. I49n. Yklvkkton 35. Docunuiits lel.itins t» liltecnth-century history. See p. 270 n. CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY The history of the fifteenth century in' England leaves on a first acquaintance the impression that it is somewhat barren of interest and deficient in unity and concentration of purpose. It does not present the same richness of promise or achievement as we find in the thirteenth, nor even the chivalrous glamour of the fourteenth century. On the other hand it hardly seems to foreshadow the new enterprises and developments of the sixteenth. We are struck by the disas- trous ending of the French war, by the confused tumult of civil strife, and by the consequent breakdown of the govern- ment and prevalence of social disorder. But underlying all this evil there was much that was strong and promising. The age that produced Henry V and John of Bedford, Richard of York and his sons, let alone the four Earls of Salisbury and Warwick, cannot have been wanting altogether in virility and high purpose. Its apparent lack of unity and concentration is to be explained by the fact that it was a time of transition. The old order both in Church and State was breaking down. Men could see the need for reformation, but did not realize how much ruin had to be cleared away so that a new road might lie open before them. As regards the early part of the fifteenth century at all events it would be more just to charge it with precocity than with unfruitfulness. Henry V realized hardly less clearly than did his Tudor successors the great aims and broad principles which underlay both his policy and theirs. Like them he sought to make England self-reliant and in - a sense self- sufficient. Like them he found the means to his end in the establishment of a firm central government ; in the restora- tion of the Church to its position as a truly national institution ; in the creation of a strong navy ; in the development of social prosperity at home, and of commerce abroad. It was in the 1458 B 2 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE application rather than in the idea that he, or his immediate successors, failed ; for that failure it was their environment and the trammels of worn-out principles and methods that were most to blame. So also of parliamentary government under the Lancastrian kings it has become an historical commonplace to say that constitutional progress had outrun administrative order.i Under Henry IV Parliament some- times dictated to the King. If Henry V knew how to control his Parhaments he did not dictate to them. It was the lack of driving force in the Government which led to the break- down of constitutionaHsm under Henry VI. The strength of the Yorkist kings, and still more of the Tudors, enabled them to bend ParUament to their will. But the forms of constitutional government were too strong to be altered, and the principles which the fifteenth century had established were to bear their fruit two hundred years later. Thus the age was not uncreative. That the nation was at its heart poHtically sound is proved sufficiently by the fact that the very years when social disorder and administrative chaos were at their height witnessed the striking growth of municipal life and of a popular movement towards more effective self-government. After the worst of the trouble followed the strong rule of the House of York. Though much of the old evil still continued, we can now see more clearly that all the time those creative forces were at work which were to show forth their fruit in the next age. It is important to realize the poUtical and social charac- teristics of the fifteenth century, because they are reflected in the materials with which the historian has to deal. Here again we are at first sight confronted with barrenness of achievement and lack of concentration; here also appear- ances are in some degree deceptive. The age which produced the translations of ' Mandeville ' and Malory's great romance cannot have been wanting wholly in the literary instinct It is true that we have no History which deserves to be ranked as a literary production with those two works. It is true also that we have in England no contemporary authority who gives us a comprehensive survey of any considerable period. * Stubbs, Cotisliliiliotiat Hislotv, iii. 276, jril ed. INTRODUCTORY 3 For the most part we must piece together our story from a number of small sources, many of them of a more or less avowedly partisan character, which require to be used with discrimination and to be weighed carefully one against another. Nevertheless, closer study reveals that English historical literature in the fifteenth century is neither un- fruitful nor lacking in interest. The literary development is in some respects curiously parallel to the course of political events. At the beginning of the century we are still in the Middle Ages. History was still for the most part being written on mediaeval models by ecclesiastics. But the signs of decay and of the imminence of change are obvious. It is no mere chance that the victories of Henry V should coincide so closely with the first displace- ment of French or Latin by English as the recognized medium of official correspondence ; ^ that at this time the English Chronicles of London should begin to take shape,^ and the great English Chronicle of the Brut should be in process of compilation as a contemporary authority for popular reading.^ If in a sense more natural it is hardly less noteworthy that the battle of Agincourt in 1415 and the defence of Calais in 1436 should furnish the occasion for two of our oldest groups of historical ballad poetry. The twenty years which separate those two events were on the whole glorious for England. They assuredly witnessed a great awakening of vigorous national feeling, and not less assuredly did that feeling find expression in the historical literature of the day. The thirty years which followed were a time of political and social i disorder, which has its reflection in the formless and frag- mentary character of contemporary historical narratives. But if the period of disorder was not without more hopeful elements of political life, so also it is to be remarked that the most valuable of the Paston Letters date from this time, and that London citizens were then setting down their freshest and most spontaneous accounts of contemporary events. If neither the Letters nor the London Chronicles are literary productions of a high order, they were not artificial. It is ^ See pp. 196, 214, 218 below. ^ See pp. 75-77 below. * See p. 133, below. B 2 4 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE not without a very real significance that they should both have sprung from the upper middle and commercial classes, which showed the best promise of political and social recovery. The middle of the fifteenth century in England was indeed far from devoid of literary and intellectual interests. The patronage which Henry V extended to Hoccleve and Lydgate was not merely formal ; he was fond of reading not only works on hunting and goodly tales, but also Chronicles and even theology ; for his own share of the spoils of Caen, the Earl of Ormonde relates that he chose a book of histories.^ Whether the story that Henry had received part of his education at Oxford be true or not, he seems to have taken a genuine interest in the welfare of the University, and promised to enrich it with a donation of manuscripts.^ It was, however, I not Henry but his brother, Humphrey of Gloucester, who was pre-eminent as the first patron of the new learning in England. Humphrey of Gloucester was himself a great collector of books, and his munificence to the University Library at Oxford has done more than aught else to preserve his good fame. The lists of his books show that his interests were more with classical antiquity and Italian literature than with mediaeval learning. He was, however, much more than a mere collector. Through his correspondence with Italian humanists like Leonardo Bruni and Pier Candido Decembri, he established a link between the revival of Letters on the Continent and in England. The assertion by the University of Oxford that under Gloucester's patronage Greek was coming to life,* may be regarded either as flattery for the recipient or as conceit of the writer. Still, when this was written in 1441 the reproach of Poggio Bracciolini, who had visited this country some twenty years earlier, that English scholars delighted more in scholastic disputation than in the new learning," would have been hardly fair. For the historio- grapher Humphrey's patronage of Letters has a more practical bearing. It was on Humphrey's invitation that Tito Livio ' First English Life 0/ llcniy I', p. 92. ' Aiistoy, Episiolae Aiadcminir, pp. iso--'. ' Id. p. 203. * I''>i:k'' l-/>istolac, p. 43, 0(1. Tonelli, 1S32. INTRODUCTORY 5 da Forli came to England, and at Humphrey's suggestion that he compiled in his Vita Henrici Quinti a work which, though not of the first importance, was to have a distinctive influence in the development of EngHsh historical Hterature.^ Duke Humphrey was not alone as a patron of letters and learning. The pseudo-Elmham was encouraged to write his Life of Henry V by Walter, Lord Hungerford.^ James Butler, fourth Earl of Ormonde, had in his service scholars like James Yonge, who translated into English the Secreta Secretorum. Ormonde himself was a diligent student of history and antiquities, the rediscovery of whose Reminis- cences is of importance alike for the history of the fifteenth century and for the study of its sources.* Lydgate counted amongst his patrons the Earls of Warwick and Salisbury, whilst Hardyng benefited by the assistance of Cardinal Beaufort. The Duke of Suffolk, who was a friend of the poet-Prince Charles of Orleans, himself wrote poetry in French,* whilst his duchess, who was a granddaughter of Chaucer, was a benefactress to the library at Oxford.^ If none of these did much to foster the new learning, they furnish evidence that even the highest nobility was not without its intellectual sympathies and tastes. Less important officials, like Adam Moleyns,® Thomas Bekynton,' and John Somerset,* were themselves men of some learning, and were in friendly correspondence with scholars both in England and in Italy. The interest in learning was not artificial, nor was it con- fined to the patronage of high persons. Education was in the air. The great foundations of Henry VI at Eton and Cambridge did not stand alone. Bequests for scholars and colleges at Oxford and Cambridge begin to appear in the ' See pp. 51, S3 below. ^ See p. 58 below. ^ See p. 65 below. * See Dr. MacCracken, 'An English Friend of Charles of Orleans,' in Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, xxvi. 142-80, where it is suggested that Suffolk may have been the author of some of the English pieces included in the poems of Charles of Orleans. " Anstey, Epistolae Academical, p. 326. For a list of his books see Napier, Swyncombe and Ewelme, pp. 1 27-8. ° Aeneas Sylvius {Epp. 80, 186 ; De Europa, p. 443) commended his literary style. ' Correspondence ofT. Bekynton, i. 160-61, 170-75, 264-75. 8 See pp. 57-59 below and Diet. Nat. Biog. liii. 245; 6 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE wills of rich London citizens.^ The University of Oxford appeals with confidence for the assistance of wealthy mer- chants.2 Schools were springing up in many- places, as was natural enough at a time when men of all classes found need to be able to express themselves clearly in wriring.' The desire for instruction was not merely practical. Young Englishmen like William Grey, John Phreas or Free, and John Gunthorpe, all of them scholars of Balliol College, went to study in Italy under Guarini at Ferrara. William Sellyng, who is said to have been a Fellow of All Souls College and was afterwards prior of Christ Church, Canterbury, made more than one visit to Italy and was a zealous collector not only of Latin, but also of Greek manuscripts. William Grocyn and Thomas Linacre, who was Sellyng's pupil, came only a little later in date. Learning cannot have been altogether dead in the University which gave this succession of scholars their first training. In Thomas Bekynton, William Waynfiete, John Morton, and John Russell we have another succession of men who were trained at Oxford for the service of the State ; they all retained their interest in learning, and in after-life showed their gratitude to the University in a practical manner. Bekynton and Waynfiete were mutual friends of Thomas Chaundler, who was Warden of New College from 1454 to 1475, whilst Russell was a Fellow and Grocyn a student there. Chaundler was a man of enlightened culture, at whose invitation Cornelio Vitelli came to lecture, perhaps as the first teacher of Greek, at Oxford. The notorious John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, did more than study law at Padua ; he was a friend of John Phreas, and like him had studied under Guarini ; his translation of Cicero's De Amicitia was printed by Caxton. Anthony \\'ood\-ille is another instance of a nobleman of culture, and like Tiptoft was the translator into EngHsh of books which Caxton printed. All this evidence of intellectual ferment relates to the most ' Cf. Sharpe, Calendar of Wills in Court of HusUng, ii. 460, 510, 534. ' Anstey, Epislolac Acatlrmicae, pp. 20, .-29, J75, 3;;. •' On the educational (lovclopmnit in tho middle of the fifteenth century, s('<' Loach, Educational Charters, pp. xxxvii-xli. INTRODUCTORY 7 troubled period of the fifteenth century. It proves to the full that, however deficient in immediate results that age may have been, it was pregnant with promise as the seedtime of a more fruitful future. It is in this spirit that we must study both the history and the historical literature of England in the fifteenth century. For the historian there is a peculiar interest in tracing the decay of mediaevalism, and the beginnings and growth of the gireat ideas which were to make the next age so memorable. The student of literature, and perhaps still more the student of historical sources, is able to note the stages of a similar development. At the beginning of the fifteenth century contemporary historians and chroniclers preserve, if in decay, the characteristics of the past. For the most part they are monastic, writing from a narrow point of view, in Latin, and for a limited circle of readers. At its close we are on the threshold of a new epoch in historical literature. Our historians are beginning to put on a modern dress ; they write, if with prejudice, yet from a broader and more national standpoint, they use most commonly the language of the people, and they appeal deliberately to a popular audience. The development was of course no sudden thing. It was going on throughout the whole century, and it was very far from complete at its close. The two causes which most obviously contributed to bring it about were the growth of national consciousness and the revival of learning. Neither by itself would have been sufficient. The first gave the living substance, and the second added the critical spirit and literary sense. The ' Translator of Livius ' grasped the nature of the problem when he determined to write his history in rude and homely English, but realized how difficult a task it was to do so in a language from which all famous inditing was far exiled.^ The measure of success which he achieved was due to the fact that he had thus unconsciously summarized the teaching of the past hundred years. English literature had of course shown that it was recovering its national vigour before the fifteenth century opened. Chaucer was to have no immediate successor worthy of the name, But ' See pp. (>T, 6S, 259 below. y / 8 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE John de Trevisa by translating Higden's Polychronicon did no more than prepare the way for others to follow on more original lines. It was the early success of the French war which gave the stimulus that was needed to produce the firstfruit of a national historical literature. When this cause had for the moment spent its force there came the begmnmgs of the new learning. It is not insignificant that the best historical work of that time should have been written by the Italian, Tito Livio, and based in part on English originals. It was the first union of the two forces of national feeling and foreign culture. When the troubles cleared away English had gained the mastery as the right medium wherein to tell the story of England. If another Italian, Polydore Vergil, was to set our native historians a new model of historical method in Latin, his influence extended no further. His successors in the sixteenth century all wrote in English.* Viewed in this light English historical literature in the fifteenth century has a real unity. In no period of equal length can we trace a development of such great importance. For all practical purposes we are able to follow the movement from the start. I need make no excuse for closing my main inquiry with the downfall of the House of York. If there is something arbitrary about all chronological divisions of history, there are few dates for which more may be said than for 1485. In political history it marks fairly the close of the Middle Ages in England. Its near coincidence with the 1 invention of printing and the first activity of the hterary Renaissance makes it still more appropriate for the purprose of this volume. We have here a well-marked halt, and could find no better till a much later time. In all that is essential the age of transition was over, and we need only consider what followed so far as it may be necessary for the under- standing of what had passed. It is thus a principal purpose of this volume to trace during an important epoch the literary development of the writing of history in England. But whilst I shall endeavour always to keep this development in view, I do not intend to • Camden writing for scliolars hardly forms an exception. Nicholas Harpsfield and other minor writirs do not count. INTRODUCTORY 9 restrict at all the critical examination of the works to be discussed as sources for the historian. The need for such an examination must have impressed all who have had occasion to study the history of England in the fifteenth century. The defective character and doubtful quality of many of the contemporary Chronicles is not the least difficulty in the way of arriving at a sound judgement. If the problems of their interdependence and relative importance can be solved, a great obstacle will be removed. It was the study of Chronicles for this purpose which led incidentally to the recognition of their literary interest, and it is only through / their critical examination that the course of literary develop- ment can be traced. The literary aspect has determined naturally the scope of this inquiry into the sources of our fifteenth-century history. I do not propose to treat at all of Records : their bibhography can be found in other quarters, and this is not the place in which to discuss their proper use and value. Municipal growth and ecclesiastical controversy are important elements in fifteenth-century history ; but the consideration of such questions, and therefore also any discussion of the sources on which our knowledge of them depends, lies outside my province. Nor even after these are excluded do I propose to deal exhaustively with all the available sources for political history. In the fifteenth century the affairs of England and of France were so closely interwoven that the history of neither country can be studied properly without reference to the historians of the other. But to attempt any adequate criticism of French chroniclers as sources of English history would absorb too great a space, and would interrupt the unity of treatment at which I aim. It would, moreover, be vain, in view of the admirable work of M. Auguste Molinier on Les Sources de Vhistoire de France, to give a brief summary here. Furthermore, though French sources are indispensable to the modern historian, they have little bearing on our own con- temporary authorities. To the rare occasions on which the two touch I shall make reference from time to time. When in the last chapter I come to discuss the value of the history given by the historians of the sixteenth century, I shall 10 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE allude briefly to their use of French originals as contributing to the formation of English opinion. Having thus explained the general aims of this inquiry it will be useful to summarize here the particular lines on which it proceeds. It will begin with Thomas Walsingham and his Contemporaries, who wrote during the first quarter of the century, and represent with little variation the methods of the past. The Biographies of Henry V will not only furnish a homogeneous subject, but also, through the fact that their composition was spread over the whole period, enable us to trace through a connected series successive stages in the literary development of historical method. In the London Chronicles and the Brut we shall have presented the growth of history in English from a beginning, which if rude was popular and spontaneous, to a work which was not unworthy of its place as the first of our printed histories. The Minor Chronicles of the Middle Period will illustrate how completely old methods had failed before new ones were ready to take their place. The contemporary Chronicles for the latest years of the House of York do not possess any uniform characteristic ; but they are instructive, on the one hand as showing the established position of English as the medium for popular history, and on the other hand as giving us in the Croyland Chronicle a Latin history remarkable for its breadth and critical power. The end is told in More's History of Richard III, which is the first historical work of outstanding literary merit in the English language, and in Polydore Vergil's Anglica Historia, which marked a new departure in historical method. The general poverty of contemporary Chronicles in the fifteenth century has given the correspondence of private and official persons a place of exceptional importance amongst our historical sources. For that rc.ison it would not be possible to pass over such m.itcrial. If, moreover, even the Paston Letters do not in the strictest sense belong to literature, their unstudied and spontaneous character afi^ords the best of evidence for the genuine quality of the intellectual movement which made them luissiblc. The Paston Letters have been too often quoted as if tlu-y were a unique pheno- INTRODUCTORY ii menon instead of a happy survival. There is much other V. material of a similar character which must be brought into account. It would not be possible to discriminate exactly between the correspondence of private persons and officials. Therefore I have not hesitated to make my survey as wide as possible without extending it to include documents of a purely administrative character. The historical material of this class is so scattered that even a moderately com- prehensive review will I hope be of service. Ballads and poems form so essential a feature of English historical literature in the fifteenth century that their inclusion here needs no excuse. It has, however, seemed to be of more importance to fix their setting and value as sources for history than to consider their literary quality. It may seem strange to conclude an account of English historical literature in the fifteenth century by a review of sixteenth-century historians. But it is requisite both to the history of the Hterary development and to the study of sources. It was only in the more finished product of the next age that the painful efforts of the fifteenth century showed fruit. I have endeavoured throughout to keep in view the relationship of the works of Hall, Stow, and Hohnshed to their originals. But such isolated references would be inconclusive without a more detailed summary. The works of all three are still in some degree of value. Until of late they were the only medium through which many earlier writers were accessible. Their presentment of their material has done much to colour subsequent opinion. Recognition of their prejudices has sometimes carried reaction too far. It is therefore needful to mark clearly their sources and the use which they made of them. It was, moreover, on their narratives that Shake- speare founded his historical plays. The dramatist was perhaps even more than they were responsible for the framing of popular opinion. To trace his material to its ultimate original is therefore a proper conclusion to the study of English historical literature in the fifteenth century. CHAPTER II THOMAS WALSINGHAM AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES 1399 TO 1422 It is not unfitting that wc should have to begin with a typical mediaeval historian whose work stands in the strongest possible contrast to the writings of those whom we shall have under consideration at the close. Thomas Walsing- ham was the last representative of the St. Albans school of historians who wrote on a large scale and travelled in his narrative beyond the walls of his monastery. Though we are indebted to him for the most complete consecutive account of the whole of the reigns of Henry IV and Henry V, he composed this part of his history at the close of a long life, and he belonged in spirit to the previous generation. It was probably in the latter part of the reign of Edward III that Walsingham became a monk at St. Albans. There he served as Precentor, and as Scriptorarius, or head of the copying- room, under Abbot Thomas de la Mare, who died in 1396. Two years earlier he had been appointed Prior of Wymond- ham, a post which he held till 1400, when he returned to St. Albans. He seems to have died about the beginning of the reign of Henry VI. Walsingham's uneventful life gave him no special experience, but subject to such a limitation he had the advantage of a long training as a professional annalist. He was probably engaged on historical work soon after 1380 ; for in a passage written before 1388 the reader is referred for further informa- tion on Wat Tyler's rebellion to the ' Chronica Majora Fratris Thomae de Walsingham '.* This reference is further of importance as illustrating the writer's practice of compiling a detailed Chronicle and afterwards reducing it to a briefer ' Chronicon Angliac, i_u'8-S8, IVifaco, p. xxxii. This is an early work of WiilHingham'.s. WALSINGHAM AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES 13 version, whether with or without the occasional insertion of fresh material. Besides the Chronica Majora, which is now lost, Walsingham was the author or compiler of several other historical works, out of which we are here concerned only with the Historia Anglicana, called also by some sixteenth- century writers Historia Brevis, and the Ypodigma Neustriae, both edited by H. T. Riley in the Rolls Series. The Historia Anglicana extends from 1272 to 1422. The earlier part is of course compiled from older writers, and does not concern us. Riley further argued that in the later portion only the narrative for the fifteen years from 1377 to 1392 can be attributed to Walsingham himself. Down to the latter date the Historia is derived immediately from an older compilation of Walsingham's, which is contained in a volume once belonging to the Abbey of St. Albans and now forming part of Royal MS. 13 E ix at the British Museum. The source of the later portion, from 1392 to 1422, is found in MS. no. 7 at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. This volume, which is also of St. Albans' composition, contains three Chronicles : (i) for 1392 to 1405 ; (2) for 1392 to 1406, of which as the Annates Henrici Quarti we shall have more to say ; and (3) for 1392 to 1422. The second, as far as it extends, was the original of the other two, but does not seem to have been used directly by the compiler of the Historia Anglicana, which is preserved in its completed form in Arundel MS. 7 at the College of Arms, and is based mainly on the third Chronicle of the Cambridge manuscript, but with some additions from the first.^ On this evidence Riley arrived at the conclusion that the latter part of the Historia Anglicana was not Walsingham's work. He admits that either or both of the first and third Cambridge Chronicles might have been compiled by Walsing- ham himself, but thinks it improbable. This opinion he bases on the style, diction, and treatment of the subject, the abrupt manner in which matters of high interest and political importance are disposed of, and the comparatively numerous inaccuracies in reference to persons and facts, which render ^ The peculiar passages of the first Cambridge Chronicle are given by Riley as an Appendix to the Historia Anglicana, ii. 411-24. 14 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE it unlikely that these Chronicles were compiled by the same person as the Chronicle for i377 to 1392 in the Royal MS.^ Riley's opinion was accepted by Sir E. M. Thompson.* But Dr. James Gairdner, in his Early Chronicles,^ writes : ' The evidences adduced for this extraordinary opinion seem to me singularly weak. It is quite true that one manu- script of the history terminates in the year 1392, and that after that date the narrative is for some years less full and satisfactory. But a sufficient explanation of this may, I think, be found in the personal history of the author.' When Walsingham returned from Wymondham to St. Albans, ' he would naturally resume those literary labours which had been interrupted by duties elsewhere.' Dr. Gairdner can see ' nothing in the nature of internal evidence to create a doubt that the writer of the history during the reigns of Henry IV and Henry V is the same as the writer of the history in Richard IPs time. On the contrary the style is the same throughout '. The question is not one that is susceptible of proof, and the answer must remain a matter of opinion. My own opinion is on the same side as Dr. Gairdner's. Riley seems to lay too much stress on the errors of fact and names. They are such as might befall a writer who had not been careful to verify all details ; if further explanation is needed it may be enough to remember that Walsingham was an old man when he completed his work. Such as the errors are, some are repeated, and a few are corrected, in the Ypodigma Neustriue, which is avowedly a genuine work of Walsingham. Two, which would be perhaps the most important, exist only in Riley's imagina- tion. The death of Archbishop Arundel is placed correctly in the Historia Anglicana under February 1414; it is Riley who is wrong in assigning it to 1413; nor does the writer (as Riley alleges) say that Stephen Patrington became Bishop of St. Davids in 1414, but only that ho succeeded Chichele, which is correct.'' Morcn\or, the Ypodigma Neustriae, which was written in 1419, for the previous nineteen years agrees I Hist. Anfil. ii. pp. vii-ix, xv, xvi. ''■ Chr(»H{ ii>i Angliar, pp. xxxi, xxxii. " P- 262. * Hist. .^„,./. ii. 300; cf. p. xvi .1. 3 WALSINGHAM AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES 15 very closely with the Historia Anglicana, and like it was for the most part derived from the third Chronicle of the Cambridge MS. Walsingham wrote it for Henry V, and it seems hardly probable that in a work intended for presenta- tion to the King, he, who was the foremost and most practised writer of his abbey, should have been content to follow so slavishly the work of a younger colleague of his own. In the Ypodigma, under date 1405, Walsingham relates that the Danish Bishop of Anselowe, during a visit to the abbey, talked with the ' scriptor praesentis Chronicae ', about the life of St. Alban.^ The passage is identical with one in the Historia Anglicana.^ In a corresponding passage in the Annates Henrici Quarti * the expression used is ' qui mecum diu contulit de Sancto Albano '. The variation may suggest that the writer of the Annates was a different person from the author of the Historia Anglicana, though both had talked with the bishop ; but the sentence as it stands in the Historia and the Ypodigma is ungrammatical, a circumstance which, taken with its identity of form, seems to make it incredible that Walsingham should have borrowed it from another man's work, though he might have reproduced it from a work of his own. For myself, therefore, I would accept the Ypodigma as proof for the authorship of the Historia Angticana by Walsingham, and further suggest that Riley's admission that Walsingham might also have been the compiler of the first and third Chronicles of the Cambridge MS. is very probably correct. The narrative for the last three years of the Historia Angticana, 1419 to 1422, stands on a somewhat different footing, since it does not appear in the Ypodigma. But it is found both in the Cambridge and in the Arundel MSS., and in its general character resembles the rest of the work. I therefore see no reason for supposing that it was of different authorship. Walsingham's Historia Anglicana is a somewhat dry and annalistic work with no particular literary merit. In his earlier writings, as notably in the Chronicon Angliae for 1328 to 1388, he had shown some political partisanship, and by his subsequent alterations a capacity for time-serving. In the 1 Ypodigma, p. 415. ^ Hist. Angl. ii. 271. ' Annales, p. 412. i6 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE Historia he does not seem to have written with any ulterior object, or to display any more bias than is to be expected in a monastic historian, when he has to deal with questions touching ecclesiastical interests. For the first part of his work, down to 1406, the material is derived ultimately from the Annates Henrici Quarti with a few slight variations. The only additions of importance are as to the treasonable conduct of the Countess of Oxford in 1404,^ and the altercation of Archbishop Arundel with the Speaker (wrongly called Sir John Chcyne) in the Parliament of that year.^ Of this part of the work I will therefore say no more. In the Historia Anglicana the last seven years of Henry IV fill only sixteen pages. The nine years of Henry V (in spite of a gap from August 1418 to July 1419) take fifty-seven. The first portion is therefore much more brief, and for the most part it is little more than a bare record of facts in chronological order. In matter it resembles closely the Chronicle of Thomas Otterbourne,' and since the latter is here at times the fuller it may be conjectured that both had a longer common original. The most important passages relate to ecclesiastical affairs. There is a long notice of the Council of Pisa, which is followed by accounts of the execu- tion of John Badby, and of the attempted Lollard legislation in the Parliament of 1410.* The record of this legislation was deliberately withdrawn from the Roll of the Parliament, and Walsingham's narrative was consequently the only one available of earher date than Fabyan till the printing of the English text of the Bill in the Chronicles of London.^ Walsing- ham gives a Latin version of the opening clause, which helps to confirm the authenticity of the English. His account is further of interest for the statements that the Lollards failed to justify the exaggerated financial basis of their scheme, and that it was defeated by the opposition of the Prince. Upon the English interference in France in 1411-12 Walsingham's History is interesting ; but it requires to be supplemented from other sources, and pivis no indication of the bearing of these events on the conflict bi-twcon the King and his son.* ' Hist. -tngl. ii. 26J. » /,/. ii. .'(11;. ' Sec pp. ji, 2; below. * llisl. .Ihc/. ii. :H,> S (. » pp. (,;, jg; -6. • Hist. Angl. ii. 285-8. WALSINGHAM AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES 17 For the first two years of Henry V the Historia Anglicana is similar in character to its narrative of the previous reign. Its chief features are a lengthy account of the trial of Old- castle,^ which is, however, inferior in value to the more complete records in the Fasciculi Zizaniorum, and Wilkins's Concilia ; and a notice on the eariier stages of the Council of Constance.* A statement as to the impHcation of Oldcastle and the Lollards in the Scrope and Cambridge plot of 1415 ^ is of more importance. With the beginning of the French war the Historia assumes a different character. Notices of events in England, apart from valuable details on Oldcastle's later career and death,* are brief and trivial. They are interspersed in a succession of long passages on the war, which though unequal in value to the continuous narrative of the set biographies of Henry V, are of independent origin, and contain details not given in other accounts. Walsingham of course could not write from any personal knowledge, but he clearly used material supplied from an authoritative source. The narrative of the siege of Harfleur is brief, that of its surrender is peculiar.^ The accounts of the march to Agincourt and of the battle, though inferior to those in the Gesta Henrici Quinti, supply some additional details and deserve attention.* For the fighting round Harfleur in 1416 Walsingham's account is again of value.' For the siege of Caen in 1417 he has material not to be found elsewhere ; especially for the ruse by which Clarence captured the Abbey of St. Stephen, preventing thereby its intended destruction, and for the circumstances of the final assault.* The subsequent notices for 1417-18 are brief and of no special value. The history stops short at the beginning of the siege of Rouen, and without any sign of omission resumes at the taking of Pontoise a twelvemonth later.* The events which led up to the Treaty of Troyes, and the subsequent operations of the war, are dealt with very briefly. The most important parts of the Historia for the last two years relate to Henry's last visit to England, and his death and * Hist. Angl. ii. 291-7. 2 Id. ii. 302-4. ' Id. ii. 306. * Id. ii. 326-8. ^ Id. ii. 307-9. ° Id. ii. 309-14. ' Id. ii. 314-15. ^ Id. ii. 322-5. * Id. ii. 329. 1458 C i8 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE burial.i There are two long digressions ; one on the chapter of the Benedictines at Westminster in 1421,2 and the other on the warfare of Sigismund in Bohemia.' Though the narrative for the reign of Henry V is broken and imperfect, the detailed accounts of isolated incidents and its fullness on some matters indicate that we have in it the original work of the St. Albans scriptorium, and not, as in some of the previous parts of the work, an abbreviated compilation from longer versions. Throughout the Historia Anglicana lacks continuity, and its chief value consists in isolated passages. But apart from those portions which relate to Oldcastle and the Lollards it is free from bias. It appears to be based on good information and to be trustworthy. It is, moreover, the chief Chronicle which covers the whole of these two reigns, and must always continue to be an authority of weight. It is often quoted by Stow and Holinshed, through whom it has contributed much to the established history of England. It was first printed under the care of Archbishop Parker in 1574. The Ypodigma Neustriae* calls only for brief notice. Walsingham wrote it in 1419, and dedicated it to Henry V as a manual of the history of Normandy from the time of Rollo to its recovery by the King in the sixth year of his reign. We are only concerned with the last portion from 1399 to 1419. For the reign of Henry IV it is an abbreviation of the Historia Anglicana, with some omissions and occasional verbal variations. A solitary insertion is a notice of the death of Edmund, Duke of York, borrowed from the Annaies Henrici Quarti ; ^ from the same source a blank in the Historia, on p. 259, is made good by inserting ' Cantuariensis '.* For the reign of Henry V the text of the Historia is rigidly adhered to, except that in one or two places a few words are supplied from the Cambridge MS.' Like the Historia the Ypodigma passes over the siege of Rouen. It ends wth the capture of Pontoise in 1419. The practical identity of the text of the Ypodigma (which preserves even trivial notices relating to ' Hist. Angl. ii. 336-7, ^^^-t.. a /,/. ii. ViT-S. » Id. ii. 341. * First printed in 1574 ; cditfJ by II. T. Kilevin the Rolls Series, 1876. » Ypodigma, p. 395. Id. p. 403. ' Id. pp. 460, 488. WALSINGHAM AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES 19 St. Albans) with that of the Historia Anglicana appears to afford a strong presumption that Walsingham was author of them both. If he were not he must have lost in his old age all sense of the duty and dignity of an historian. Apart from this the Ypodigma has for our present purpose no value whatever. The Annates Henrici Quarti ^ cover the years 1399 to 1406. They are for this period deservedly pronounced by their editor, H. T. Riley, to be the most valuable memorial that we now possess. They are contained in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, MS. 7, and, as already noted, form the original of the other two Chronicles contained in that volume, which Walsingham made use of for the Historia Anglicana. The Annates Henrici Quarti are written as a Continuation of the Annates Ricardi Secundi in the same volume, though there is some evidence for supposing that the annals for the earlier reign had been in circulation separately. The beginning of the Annates Henrici Quarti coincides very nearly in date with Walsingham's return to St. Albans, and the possibility that he was responsible for their compilation is not, I think, altogether to be rejected. As noted just now, Walsingham made some slight use of them in the Ypodigma Neustriae. His failure to employ them more fully in the compilation of the Historia Angticana was not therefore due to ignorance ; probably it was deliberate, and not, as Riley suggested, a mere oversight. It would be quite in accordance with Walsingham's earlier manner to have written in the first instance a detailed history, and subsequently to have extracted from it a shortened version. However, it must be observed that at the beginning of the Cambridge MS. there is a note that the collection of Chronicles therein contained was found at the death of Dom William Wyntershylle by Dom Robert Ware in loose sheets, and by him collected together. Wynters- hylle, who died about 1424, is described as a man of great learning ; but though Riley conjectured that the contents of the volume may have been compiled under Wyntershylle's direction, there is no real evidence to support this theory. '^ ap. Trokelowe, Blaneforde et Anonymorum Chronica, pp. 281-420; ed. H. T. Riley in the Rolls Series. C 2 20 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE It is at least as likely that the sheets only came into Wynters- hylle's possession a few years earlier, at the death of Waking- ham. I see no necessary objection to Walsingham's authorship in the point of style ; the arguments as to neglect of matters of high interest will at all events not apply to the Annates; whilst the fact that those errors on which Riley laid such stress, so far as they belong to these years, are perpetrated for the first time in the Annates, shows that an otherwise praiseworthy historian may fall into slight inaccuracies.* However, we can say no more for certain than that the Annates Henrici Quarti represent in the fullest and most authoritative form the work of the St. Albans scriptorium, at a time when Walsingham had probably resumed his super- intendence of it. Riley has described at length * the points in which the Annates excel the Historia Anglicana, and I need not go ova the ground again in detail. The work opens with the docu- ments relating to Henry's coronation and first Parliament, which are found elsewhere, as in the Vila Ricardi by the Monk of Evesham, in the Chronicles of Otterboume and Adam Usk, in the Rolls of Parliament, and in an English version in some of the London Chronicles.* The last alone can compare for fullness with the Annates. The frequency with which these lengthy documents occur suggests that they were circulated deliberately by the new government Of subsequent incidents the Ammles are most important for the insurrection of the Earls in 1400 ; the circumstances of the death and burial of Richard II ; the battle of Shrews- bury, and the movements of the Earl of Nortliumberland ; the hostile incursions of the Bretons in the south of England, and the exploits of Harry Pay of Poole ; the Parliament at Coventry in 1404 ; the accusation brought against Edward of York by his sister Constance Despencer ; the insurrection of Archbishop Scropc and the Earl Marshal ; and Northumber- land's rebellious conduct in 1405. For the most part the Annates differ from the Historia Anglicana only in their 1 Two very similar errors occur in the peculiar portions ol the Annates, see p. 2 2 below. » I'lot.ici', pp. xxxiii-xli. » Soe p. 87 below. WALSINGHAM AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES 2X greater fullness of detail, though this of course is the very essence of their superiority. But sometimes they include matter for which there is nothing to correspond in the Historia, such as Archbishop Scrope's statement of grievances, and a curious notice of the discovery of the Canary Islands by the Spaniards. For the Unlearned Parliament at Coventry the sources of the Annales and Historia appear to be distinct ; though each has matter not to be found in the other, the Annales are the more valuable. This is the only important point on which the Annales require to be supplemented by the Historia. From a contemporary note,^ ' Christe, tibi supplico, destrue Glendor,' it would appear that the Annales were written whilst Owen Glendower was still dangerous, i.e. before 1408. Nearly related both to the Annales and to the Historia Anglicana is the Chronicle of Thomas Otterbourne, which was edited by Hearne in 1732. Otterbourne has been described as a Franciscan, but this seems to be due to confusion with a friar of that name, who was reader of his order at Oxford about 1350.^ Nothing is really known about him, though from certain characteristics of his Chronicle he appears, as his name implies, to have been of northern origin. He may possibly be identical with the Thomas Otter- bourne who became rector of Chingford in 1393, His Chronicle begins with the earliest times and ends abruptly in 1420. Nearly one-half is devoted to the reigns of Richard II, Henry IV, and Henry V, for all of which period it is in some sense contemporary. The part with which we are concerned is short, and resembles closely the Historia Anglicana. Nevertheless, it is at times the fuller, and therefore, as already suggested, the two Chronicles may for the reign of Henry IV have had a common original more detailed than either. In the account of the revolution of 1399, and for the subsequent seven years, Otterbourne's Chronicle resembles the Annales more closely than the Historia, and was evidently derived from a copy of the former work. Though much abbreviated it supplies occasional small corrections as ' domino Radulpho 1 On p. 374. * See Little, Greyfriars in Oxford, pp. 174-5, and Diet. Nat. Biog. xlii. 341. 22 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE de Lumley ' on p. 226 for the ' domino . . . Bunney ' of the Annates, and ' Janico de Arteys ' on p. 230 for the obviously corrupt ' Ranico '. On the siege of Berwick by Henry IV in 1405 something is added from another source ; ^ this may be due to the writer's probable Northumbrian connexion, and is possibly derived from the same original as the account in the Northern Chronicle printed in this volume.^ Similarly the notice of Northumberland's defeat at Bramham Moor in 1408 is fuller than that in the, Historia Anglicana ; ' in this latter case there does not seem to be any connexion between Otterbourne and the Northern Chronicle* The chief points on which Otterbourne supplements the Historia Anglicana for the reign of Henry IV relate to the siege of Aberystwith, the King's illness in 1408, and the death of the Earl of Kent at St. Brieuc in Brittany (where the mistake of calling the earl Thomas appears as in Walsingham *). None of these are of much importance, but the last-named is of interest because it seems to be derived from the same source as the account in the Brut.^ The original of the Brut seems also to have supplied Otterbourne with the material for his account of the events of 1412.' But Otterbourne has pre- served some details not found in the other extant narratives, such as the King's intention to take the field in person, the offence given to the Prince by the reversal of his policy, his quarrel with his father and subsequent reconciliation.' The difference between the King and Prince is not to be minimized ; in their divergence of opinion as to the line to be taken in intervention in France, whether on the side of Burgundy or of Orleans, we get a clue to much of the politics not only of the following reign but of the next generation. For this incident Otterbourne is one of our earliest and most important authorities. For the reign of Henry V Ottcrbourne's Chronicle preserves the same characteristics of close resemblance to the Historia Anglicana with occasional additions ; only there is now no ' P- 257 ; Annalcs, p. 414. a Sec pp. ;8.--! below. » p. zi)2 ; Hist. Atigl. ii. J7S. ♦ Sec p. jS i below. " 1>I'- -:j. PP- 49. 54, 55, 60, 6l ; C,f,-i;ory'x Chto,iul<\ pp. 104-t) ; CkrOHtcltS of London, pp. (,4, (,H ; Nuh.Uis, I.oiuI. Cl„,>nul.-. pp. 90-4. J I"- ^'- . . * PP- 1^. 46. » pp. ,;-», 40-;-'. pp. 3')-4-2 ; this IS llir omIv ccuiliMiipotMrv Chronicle which mentions the Convention ; then- is a poss.l.lo nUiciicr to it in i.\./. Parll. ui. M.', under (late December 2, 1407. ,\ c»ni,n \ later Ihxll (c /.,..„,Vfo, p ;S) refers to it, but places il liefore the battle of Sluensburv. ' Vol 11 pp 4';-44 WALSINGHAM AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES 27 Lancastrian there is a little more evidence ; Glendower is called ' venerabilem et decentem armigerum ', the epithets being an insertion which does not appear in the Evesham Chronicle ; ^ the sending back of Richard's Queen Isabella without her dowry is commented on unfavourably in another insertion.* For these, however, it is perhaps a sufficient explanation that the Chronicle was composed at least a dozen years later than the Evesham Vita Ricardi. The Chronicle is no doubt at fault in some points of chronology, as in the insertion of the creation of Henry of Monmouth to be Duke of Cornwall in 1401,* and the description of the French expedition of 141 1 under the thirteenth instead of the twelfth year of Henry IV ; but though the expedition was arranged in the twelfth, its main events fell in the thirteenth year, to which the greater part of the French affair is correctly ascribed. Tyler's adverse criticism is due to his desire to discredit the chronicler's accounts of the Tripartite Con- vention, and of the dispute between Henry IV and his son in 1411-12. But as regards the first of these incidents I agree with Dr. Wyhe's argument that it is correctly placed by the Chronicle after the battle of Shrewsbury, and not before ; the error probably consists in dating it a year too soon, in 1405 instead of 1406.* As for the second matter, the dispute of the Prince and King, and the projected forced abdication of the latter are well accredited ; though the chronology of the Chronicle is somewhat confused, it is clear from the context, which describes how the Prince subsequently made a progress through England to collect support, that it must intend the Parliament of November 141 1, and that the writer has not, as Tyler supposed, made any confusion with the Parliament of February 1413. The earliest possible date for the compilation of Giles's Chronicle is fixed by a reference to the deposition of Pope John XXIII at the Council of Constance,^ which was on May 29, 1415. The London Chronicles and the Brut, with both of which this Chronicle is connected, probably began to take shape about that date or a little later. If we suppose ' p. 20 ; Vita, p. 170. ^ p. 25. 2 p. 23. "■ Wylie, Henry IV, vol. ii, pp. 378-81. '' p. 58. 28 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE that Giles's Chronicle was compiled some years afterwards, we shall have a sufficient explanation of its faulty chronology. Apart from its imperfections it may be accepted as a useful authority, though it requires to be checked by comparison with other narratives. The Chronicles with which we have so far been concerned are more or less closely connected with the St. Albans school. The last part of Giles's Chronicle, and in a less degree Otter- bourne, have introduced us to an EngUsh source of London origin. This we can trace with greater distinctness in the brief account of the reign of Henry IV which is given in the Con- tinuation of the Eulogium Historiarum. The main text of the Eulogium ends in 1366, and was probably written at Malmesbury. The Continuation, which is found in a single manuscript — Cotton. Galba E vii, at the British Museum- extends from 1364 to 1413 ; it is added without any break at the end of the original work. F. R. Haydon, who edited it in 1863 for the Rolls Series, was of opinion on internal evidence that it may have been written at Canterbury.^ The chief points by which this conjecture can be supported relate to the reign of Richard II. But the Continuation in its present form is certainly a composite and not an original work ; it would therefore be hazardous to draw any positive conclusion as to the place in which the existing compilation was made. The small amount of peculiar matter contained in its latter portion includes a reference to a portentous flight of crows and starlings in Somerset in 1404 ; * this may, however, be an interpolation made by a west-country compiler when putting together material derived from various sources. The Continuation of the Eulogium as it now stands cannot have been finished till after 1428; since under date 1384' reference is made to the exhumation of Wiclif's remains. On the other hand, one source must have been written before 1404; since under date 1382 Philip the Hardy, Duke of Burgundy, is spoken of as still alive" This would be sufficient ' Preface to vol. iii, p. lii. I lie Conlinuaiion is contained in vol. iii, pp. 333-421- » F.ulogium, iii. 4(13. a /,/, \\\, ,(,, . ^f. Daviess Chron. p. 6. • F.ulof;iin>i, iii. 355 ; in ])avi,ss Chnot. p. 3 the reference is different. WALSINGHAM AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES 29 to prove the composite character of the existing Chronicle. The internal evidence is confirmed by comparison with the Southern Chronicle,^ which I shall describe presently ; that work is from 1367 to 1401, derived clearly from the same source as the Continuation. This common original appears also in the peculiar version of the English Brut, which is known as Davies's Chronicle.^ But whilst the resemblance of the Continuation to the Southern Chronicle ceases in 1401, the resemblance to Davies's Chronicle continues to the end. The earlier part of Davies's Chronicle, as I shall show later on,' was founded upon an original compiled about 1437 ; but that original was itself derived from more than one source. Of these earlier sources one was no doubt the Latin Chronicle (possibly of Canterbury origin), which ended in 1401. Since the resemblance of the Continuation to Davies's Chronicle after 1405 is not so close as before, it is possible that another of the common originals may have ended about this date. But even for the last eight years of the reign of Henry IV it is clear that both the existing Chronicles come in part from the same source. There are, however, a number of passages where the Continuation contains matter not found in the English Chronicle.* Of these passages several, as the notice of Sautre, Homildon Hill, the verses for the ^ See pp. 31, 32 below. ^ An English Chronicle, 1377-1461, edited for the Camden Society by the Rev. J. S. Davies in 1856. ^ See pp. 127, 128 below. * In view of their importance in other connexions, and especially for the history of the Brut, it will be useful to specify these passages here. — ^The King's loan from the Londoners, p. 387 ; the fate of William Sautre, p. 388 ; the friar of Norfolk and the chapter of the Franciscans at Leicester, p. 389 ; the friar and the fool at Bristol, pp. 393-4 ; the friars executed at Lichfield, p. 394 ; an informer friar killed in Wales, p. 394 ; Homildon Hill and the events of 1403, p. 395 ; the northern hermit executed, p. 397 ; memorial verses for the battle of Shrewsbury, p. 398 ; the King in Wales and Percy's Scottish prisoners, p. 398 ; the Duke of Orleans at Bordeaux, the French attack on the Isle of Wight, and part of the Parliament of 1404, p. 399 ; the aliens dismissed, p. 400 ; the battle of Mark, p. 401 ; the treason of the Countess of Oxford, p. 401 ; the abduction of the Earl of March and imprisonment of the Duke of York, p. 402 ; the por- tentous flight of crows, and the Breton raid of 1404, p. 403 ; a story of the Franciscan friars of London, pp. 403-5 ; the friars of York, p. 407 ; sieges of Berwick and Coyty, p. 408 ; events of 1406, p. 409 ; nearly all the history of 1407-11, pp. 410-18 ; the notices of the first year of Henry V, p. 421. 30 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE battle of Shrewsbury, and the battle of Mark, are found in the copy of the Brut in Harley MS. 53, which seems to represent one of the English originals of Davies's Chronicle.^ Of the other incidents it will be observed that many relate to stories of the Franciscan Friars ; it is for other stories of the same character that the Continuation and Davies's Chronicle are most noteworthy ; it is possible that one original may have been a Franciscan compilation.^ In the matter common to the two Chronicles the Continuation occasionally preserves some small details not found in Davies's Chronicle,^ whilst the latter in its turn has also something peculiar. The more independent part of the Continuation from 1407 to 141 1 is concerned chiefly with papal history ; besides some things found in Davies's Chronicle it also includes a little which is not found there but appears in other versions of the Brut* With the events of 1411-12 the more precise resemblance of the two Chronicles is resumed, though as before they supplement one another. The foregoing comparison has revealed not merely the close connexion of the two Chronicles, but also points of dissimilarity which indicate that they were derived indepen- dently from their common source. It is only on the theory of independent derivation that we can explain the appearance of matter in the Continuation which is not given in Davies's Chronicle but is to be found in the probable English source of the latter work. As for the character of the ultimate original the evidence of the Southern Chronicle would seem to show that down to 1401 it was a brief Latin Chronicle possibly of Canterbury origin ; at all events the Continvatim and the Southern Chronicle have a common Latin source. Whether the original from 1402 to 1413 was written in Latin or in English is less clear. But the points in which the ' See p. 123 below ; and compare Brut, pp. 54S-50. ^ The latest Franciscan reference (on p. 413) belongs to 1408. It is peculiar to the Continuatioti . 3 Sucli as the reference to thi- Welsh ns ■ scurrae nudipedes', and the mention of AnRkscy on p. 38S ; the phrase ' ad suggestionem amicomm muher pacificata ab accusationo cessavit ' on p. -,89 • the passage ' et stahituscsl ■to-clamabalcaiisasoorum 'ottpp. 390-1 ;' and the references to Bridhngton and HiRhgate on pp. ^ji and iih ♦ e. g. the death of the Iv.rl of Kent, and' the execution of Badby on pp. 41.1, 4>/-; compare /(,„/, p. 369, Chronichs of London, p. 68, and Orogory s Chronulr, \), 105. '^ WALSINGHAM AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES 31 Continuation resembles other versions of the Brut than Davies's Chronicle incHne me to the opinion that in this part of his work the compiler made use of an English original. The Continuation was certainly not written till after 1428, and so far as the hand of the solitary manuscript gives us any assistance might well be dated a dozen years later. By that time the Brut was well established in its English form. The material for the reign of Henry IV which is most dis- tinctive of the English Brut is found only in Latin Chronicles which, like the Continuation, are of comparatively late date and not improbably derived from an English source.^ Some of the English versions, on the other hand, probably date from the reign of Henry V.^ The fact that the Continuation ends with 1413 is rather to be taken as evidence for an English Chronicle which ended at that date than as affording any proof of the existence of a Latin original. It will have been obvious that the Continuation of the Eulogium is most valuable for the purpose of textual com- parison with other Chronicles, and in particular for the light which it throws on the early history of the Chronicles of London and the Brut. Still, though most of its contents are to be found in kindred Chronicles, it is sometimes useful for small details in places where it seems to represent better the more strictly contemporary original. In dealing with the Continuation of the Eulogium it has been necessary to refer to a brief work, the latter part of which is printed in this volume for the first time, under the title of A Southern Chronicle,^ from Additional MS. 'L'lTI/\ in the British Museum. The complete Chronicle begins from the earliest times, but is brief and unimportant down to 1367. From this point to 1401, as already noted, it is derived from the same original as the Continuation. The verbal resemblances are so close that in spite of some differences of arrangement there can be no question as to the relation- ship. The Southern Chronicle is much abbreviated (though with occasional small additions). It does not contain the Canterbury references, nor the curious anecdotal stories about ^ See pp. 22, 25, 26 above, and 311 sqq., 342, 351-2 below. ^ See pp. 133 and 299-301 below. ^ See pp. 275-8 below. 32 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE the conspiracy of the Earls in 1400 ; since, however, these are given both in the Continuation and in Davies's Chronicle they may be assumed to come from the common original. The Southern Chronicle resembles the Continuation in having a notice of the execution of William Sautre, which does not appear in Davies's Chronicle. The reference to WiUiam Ferriby is peculiar ; this and some small variations may be due to the ultimate compiler. The concluding part of the Southern Chronicle from 1402 to 1422 differs so completely from the Continuation as to preclude any idea that they can have borrowed from one another or be in any way con- nected. It would seem to be an independent work, which was added as a continuation to an abbreviation of the original which ended in 1401. It contains nothing of note except for a commendation of Henry IV, and a reference to the youthful wildness of Henry V which is a little more explicit than usual. It has the air of having been written from memory by a tolerably well-informed person. This would explain its vagueness, and such curious errors as the statement that the Dauphin was killed at Agincourt. The writer was clearly an ecclesiastic ; perhaps, to judge from the prominence which he gives to the visit of Sigismund, a Londoner. The southern origin of the Chronicle seems to be marked by the references to ' partes occidentales ' and ' partes boriales '. There are some phrases which suggest that the writer could have expressed himself more readily in English. At all events, it is a specimen of the Latin mediaeval Chronicle in its deca- dence, and though of some slight literar%' interest, has Uttle value for history. Quite apart from all the histories of which we have yet treated stands the Chronicle of Adam Usk ; which, though written at the end of a copy of Higden's Polycltronicon as a continuation of that work, approaches rather in the charac- ter of its composition to a modern volume of reminiscences. It is stamped throughout by its author's personality, and to a great extent follows the changes of his career. Hence, though wc do not get a properly reasoned history of the time, wc have a more literary composition, which is often of peculiar interest since it describes the writers own impres- WALSINGHAM AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES 33 sions, whether truthful or not, of events which he witnessed, or in which he had even played some part. It begins with the reign of Richard II, and ends in the summer of 1421. Of the first seventeen years Usk's history is meagre ; he tells us that he set it not in the order of years, having stored in his memory what he heard and saw rather with regard to the truth of the events than to the time when they took place.i Usk had been an Oxford student and teacher, and like a hot-headed Welshman mixed himself up in the riots* of the northern and southern scholars in 1388, for which, as he naively confesses, he was indicted, not undeservedly, as the ringleader of his party. Nevertheless, he continued at Oxford some years as a lecturer in civil law, and then left to practise his profession in the court of Canterbury. He was present as a lawyer in the Parliaments of 1397 and 1399, of both of which he gives a detailed account. During the next three years he was employed as counsel in various legal suits, sometimes in the King's behalf. Then in 1402 he got into trouble for horse-stealing, and found it expedient to leave the country ; though he modestly left the reason to be discovered in modern times by a record in the Patent RoUs.^ For an ecclesiastical lawyer Rome was the most promising haven of refuge. Of his journey thither Usk has left us an interesting summary of how he travelled up the Rhine to Lucerne with its wondrous lake (an uncommon early instance of apprecia- tion of Swiss scenery), and so crossed the St. Gothard in an ox-wagon, blindfold that he might not see the dangers of the road, and half-dead with cold. At Rome for four years he practised successfully as a lawyer in the Papal Court. Then came evil days, and he turned homewards ; but at Bruges he was warned that it would not be prudent to ven- ture into England. For two years longer he wandered abroad, tempted by the exiled Earl of Northumberland to join forces with him, and perhaps intriguing with his countryman Glen- dower. At last, in 1408, he formed a scheme with Lancaster King-of-Arms, whom he met at Paris, to cross to Wales, feign to be Owen's man, and when the chance offered to ' Chronicon, p. 8. * Thompson, Preface, p. xxi. 1458 D 34 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE steal away and seek the King's pardon. The plan was put into execution, and Usk spent several months skulking in the hills of Merioneth. Glendower suspected him, and it was with difficulty that he at last escaped. Even then he could not obtain pardon, till after three years, for his treasonable adherence to rebels and for his past felonies and transgres- sions. He lived for eighteen years longer (till 1430) in a more or less honoured old age. This sketch of Adam Usk's career gives an idea of what may be expected of his Chronicle. The most valuable por- tions are the story of the fall of Richard II, which he witnessed in the train of Archbishop Arundel ; the narrative of occurrences at Rome during his residence there ; and the Welsh war, in which he took a peculiar interest, even whilst at Rome receiving and recording reports of events in his native country. Documents incidental to his professional career fill a good many of his pages. Of more general interest are the outspoken letter of remonstrance addressed by Philip Repingdon to the King in 1401,1 which gives voice to the popular disappointment at the results of the revolution ; and the text of the appeals which Owen Glendower addressed to the King of Scotland and the Irish chiefs.* In spite of the desultory and broken character of the Chronicle, it sup- plies us also with other little details, which probably came under Usk's personal observation, such as of the mishap at the coronation of Henry IV, of the pageant in London after Agincourt, of a pilgrimage paid to Holywell in Flint by Henry V, of the sale of the booty of Normandy in every quarter of England, and of the dancing and precisions in London after the fall of Rouen.^ The Chronicle was finished in May 1421, for it ends with a reference to the impending return of Henry V to France.* But it was not written all at once ; some events were recorded as they occurred, others written down long after from memory. Hence the chronology is often at fault, and towards the end there are some careless repetitions.^ But with all its imperfections and shortcomings ' pp. 65-9. Sc'i- anotlu'v copy in Bf,A„:./,.«s Cof„-!^f^ondc;,c.; i. I si. ?-?;^'' "■ I. , ^'''- ""• '-■''• '-9- '3>, .3-. ♦ p. 133- " Thompson, rrcf.uc, p. xxxvi. WALSINGHAM AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES 35 as a record, it is a human document which historians cannot afford to disregard. Adam Usk's Chronicle was unknown till Sir E. M. Thompson edited a portion of it for the Royal Society of Literature in 1876, This portion, which ends abruptly in 1404, was derived from a unique copy in Additional MS, 10104 at the British Museum. Nine years later the missing conclusion came to light amongst the manuscripts of the Duke of Rutland at Belvoir Castle. This fragment had clearly formed part of the same volume as the Additional MS. It is written in several different hands, but the date of writing may be fixed between 1440 and 1450. The complete Chronicle was re-edited by Sir E. M. Thompson in 1904. Interesting by reason of the fact that it appears, in spite of its brevity, to be independent of all the works previously described is the Northern Chronicle printed below. This appears as part of a so-called ' Kirkstall Chronicle ' in Cotton, MS. Domitian A xii, and as a Continuation of Higden's Polychronicon^ in Harley MS. 3600. The latter volume belonged to Whalley Abbey, which, like Kirkstall, was a Cistercian house. So though the title ' Kirkstall Chronicle ' is certainly a misnomer, it is probable that this Chronicle was of north-country origin, and possibly written by a monk in one of the Cistercian houses of Yorkshire or Lancashire. Its northern associations are well marked by internal evidence, beginning with the notice of the invasion of Scotland in 1400. Under Henry IV much of the space is occupied with the history of the old Earl of Northumberland, the sieges of Berwick and Alnwick, and Scrope's rebellion. Short though : the Chronicle is, it contains some small details of interest, i such as the name ' Bullefeld ' for the site of the battle of : Shrewsbury, the story of Northumberland's imprisonment at ; Baginton, and the account of how the citizens of York sought 1 pardon from the King.^ The history of the reign of Henry V ( is noteworthy for its account of Oldcastle's rebellion, with ; the story of how the King was warned of the Lollard rising by :, ^ The ' Kirkstall Chronicle ' is itself only an abbreviation of the Poly^ I chronicon. ^ pp. 281-2 ; cf. Cont. Eulog. iii, 407, and. Wylie, ii. 231. D 2 36 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE a London carpenter.^ The narrative for the French campaign of 1415 and the sea-fights of 1416 and 1417, if it adds little to our knowledge, has the merit of independence. In the later years the most interesting passage is the list of the knights and nobles who lost their lives in the war. Its northern character is still marked by its references to the Percies and Cliffords,* and to the King's Yorkshire pilgrimage in 142 1.* The Chronicle closes with a brief notice for 1430. The date of writing was therefore at least as late as the autumn of that year. But it was probably founded on Chronicles of an earlier date. There is some internal sug- gestion for an original which ended with Bramham Moor in 1408 ; since the Chronicle is most exclusively northern for 1400 to 1408, and there is no history at all from 1408 to 1412. Two passages point to some connexion with other Chronicles. The first is the name ' Bullefeld ' for the site of the battle of Shrewsbury. Dr. Wylie found an instance in a document of 1416.* But the only other Chronicles where it occurs are the Waltham Annals,^ Gloucester Annals* and the Chronicon Regum Angliae in Jesus College, Oxford, MS. 29 ' ; it is possible that the use of this name comes from a common original. The account of the King's Yorkshire pilgrimage in 142 1 is found only here, in the Vita et Gesia Henrici Quinti of the Pseudo-Elmham,® and in the Chronicle of John Strecche ' ; in this instance the evidence for a common original is very strong. The Northern Chronicle and Adam Usk's Chronicle have this in common — that they both appear as continuations of the Polychronicon of Ranulph Higden. The Polyckrmucon was a popular work to which continuations were often appended. It is as such a continuation that the work of the Monk of Evesham most usually appears.*" Other continua- tions extending well into the fifteenth century are extant. One which ends in 1425 is found amongst the manuscripts ^ Confirmed by Cal. Pat. Rolls, i. 157. " PP- 287, 290 bolow. » p. ,go below. * Heurv IV, i. 360; ' apud bcllum ilc Bolefield in vUla de Harlescot' Inquis. ad quod Damnum 4 Hen. V. » See p. 350 below. « See p. 355 below. » i:„gl,sh Historical Review, xxvi. 750. " pp. 304-7. » Sec p. 4i below. " See p. 24 above. WALSINGHAM AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES 37 of the Marquis of Bath.^ Another, which comes down to 1429, is contained in Corpus Christi College MS. 367 at Cambridge. Except at St. Albans the tradition of keeping regular monastic annals dealing with general history was almost extinct. The few which still struggle on are very meagre. The Bermondsey Annals ^ were regularly kept till 1437, but only six pages belong to our period ; the history, such as it is, relates almost entirely to the affairs of the abbey, and ■the few notices of outside events are of little value. There are some very brief annals which were written at Hickling Priory * in Norfolk. The Chronicle of Louth Park Abbey * has two bald pages for the reign of Henry IV. The Chronicles of Evesham 5 and Meaux* are concerned only with their own abbeys ; the former ends in 1418, and the latter in 1417. The first Continuation of the Croyland Chronicle'' is a more important work ; but it was not written till the reign of Edward IV, and will be more conveniently noticed in a later chapter. A few other instances of monastic annals occur in the middle of the century ; where they contain matter for the earlier years it is generally of no value.^ Some of these latter were composed as continuations of the Latin Brut ; that work relates chiefly to the reigns of Henry IV and Henry V, but was not written till 1437, and it will be best considered in connexion with its English original.® There are various episcopal Chronicles which extend into the fifteenth century i" ; but they are of even less value for general history than the contemporary annals kept in monastic houses.' They are in the form of short Lives of the bishops, and none of them possess any literary distinction. So far our attention has been confined to authors who ^ Hist. MSS. Comm., 3rd Report, p. 183. ^ Annales Monastici, iii. 482—7. ' ap. Oxenedes' Chronicle, pp. 438-9, in Rolls Series. * Published by the Lincolnshire Record Society in 18 91. ■ * Chronicon Abbatiae Eveshamensis, Rolls Series, 1863. ' Chronicon de Melsa, Rolls Series, 1866-8. ' See pp. 179, 180 below. * See pp. 154, 158-60 below. ' See pp. 129-31 below ; the so-called Godstow Chronicle is only a copy of the Latin Brut, see p. 3 1 1 below. *" See Wharton, Anglia Sacra, vol. i. 38 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE wrote during the reigns of Henry IV and Henry V or not long afterwards. We now come to some works which were composed at a much later date ; but since they relate exclu- sively to this period it will be best to take them here. Clement Maidstone's Historia Martyrii Ricardi Scrope^ is a brief tract which is useful for one episode in the reign of Henry IV. Maidstone entered the Priory of the Trinitarian Friars at Hounslow in 1410. He relates that he was hving there in 1413, when he heard that as Henry IV was being taken by water for burial at Canterbury there arose a great storm, which ceased when the body of the wicked King was thrown into the Thames. This story, which is supposed to redound to the glory of Archbishop Scrope, is demonstrably false. Though Maidstone professes to write from his own know- ledge, he did not set down his narrative till long after the event. The valuable part of it comes from an account com- piled by Thomas Gascoigne^ about 1433. Gascoigne was then Rector of Kirk Deighton in Yorkshire, and drew much of his material from friends, who spoke from personal know- ledge, of the facts of Scrope's execution. His story, apart from his readiness to accept the marvellous, is of the highest value. It is printed in Rogers's edition of Gascoigne's Lod e Libra Veritatum. ' from Bodley MS. Auct. D. 4, 5. Gascoigne died in 1458, and bequeathed his books to the Brigittine monks of Sion at Isleworth. In later life Maidstone had left Hounslow to enter Sion, and it was probably there that he became acquainted in his old age with Gascoigne's story. So, though he writes of events within his own memory, his additions have no value other than that which attaches to the credulous traditions of the next generation. Another late authority for this period is John Capgrave {d. 1464), an Augustinian friar of Lynn, who included lives of Henry IV and Henry V in his Liber dc lUustribus Henricis, which he composed about 1444. The former is a meagre compilation derived for the most part from the AnnaUs Henrici Quarti. Except for a bald reference to Owen Glen- dower, it contains nothing bi-twccii the battle of Shrewsbury 1 Wharton, Anglia Smtn, ii. 169-7J. « See p. 167 below. ° PP- --5-3-- WALSINGHAM AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES 39 and the King's death. The only peculiar passages are a character of Henry IV, and his dying address to his son ; there is here a general resemblance to the accounts given by Elmham,^ Hardyng,^ John Strecche,* and the ' Translatof of Livius ' * ; they are all probably based on more or less authentic reports current at the time, and need not of neces- sity have a common origin. The Life of Henry V is merely a prose version of the Liber Metricus of Thomas Elmham.^ It is convenient here to notice also Capgrave's English Chronicle of England, which ends abruptly in 1417. It is derived very closely from Walsingham's Historia Anglicana, but with some additions from the Annates Henrici Quarti. There is a little fresh detail on Northumberland's rebellion in 1408, and a notable story of Henry IV's death-bed con- fession to Friar John Tille, that he could set no remedy for his usurpation, ' for my children will not suffer that the regalie go out of our lineage.' * The Chronicle of England was written shortly before the author's death and dedicated to Edward IV. Both the Liber de Illustribus Henricis and the Chronicle of England were edited somewhat indifferently in the Rolls Series by F. C. Hingeston in 1858. The author's autograph of the former is in Corpus Christi College, Cam- bridge, MS. 408, and another copy is in Cotton. MS. Tiberius A viii. Of the latter work the manuscripts are both at Cambridge: University Library, Gg iv 12 (the autograph), and Corpus Christi College, 167. I have left to the end, as being still unprinted, a Chronicle which, though little known, is of so much interest that I must describe its contents at some length. Additional MS. 35295 in the British Museum, for which it was purchased from the Earl of Ashburnham's Library, contains a collection of romances and history put together early in the reign of Henry VI. The compiler was one John Strecche, Canon of Kenilworth, who reveals his name in 1 ap. Wright, Political Poems, ii. 120 ; see p. 50 below. 2 Chronicle, p. 370, ed. Ellis. ' See p. 40 below, and First English Life of Henry V, p. xxviii. ' Id. pp. 1 3-1 6 ; see p. 66 below. ' See p. 49 below. ' Chronicle of England, pp. 295, 302. 40 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE a note which he inserted in the volume.^ He does not tell us anything further about himself, though he was probably resident at Kenilworth when the tombs of the founders were discovered in 1416, an event which he celebrated in verse. Several persons of the name occur in contemporary Patent Rolls, but none of them can be connected with Kenilworth or our author. The fourth article in the volume is a Hisloria Regum Anglie from the earliest times to 1422.^ The work is divided into five books ; the first three, as shown by the note quoted below, come down to the Norman Conquest; the fourth covers the period from 1066 to 1399, and the fifth is devoted to the reigns of Henry IV and Henry V. The fourth book deals chiefly with the history of the Priory, for which it seems to contain much that is new ; the political history, as might be expected, relates commonly to events at Kenilworth, such as the siege in the reign of Henry III and the imprisonment of Edward II ; with the reign of Richard II it becomes somewhat fuller. The fifth book, with which we are here concerned, occupies eighteen leaves or well over a third of the whole work. For the reign of Henry IV the narrative is brief, and though occasionally of interest has little of importamce. Two out of seven pages are devoted to the history of the Priory. The most noteworthy things are a character of Henry IV, who is described as ' in musica micans et mirabilis litterature maxime in morali ', and a report of his death-bed advice to his son, which resembles the versions given by Elmham and other writers.^ ^ On f. 246^". ' Explicit liber tercius de Monarcbia Regum Anglorum, Saxonum et Dacorum ante conquestum Normannorum. In quibus tribns libris nomen compilatoris huius operis continetur in litteris capitalibas capitulorum dictorum trium librorum immediate precedentium, incipiendo ab Hengesto, qui fuit primus Rex Cantuarlorum post aduentum Saxonum in Britanniam. Qui quidem compilator scripsit in hoc volumine de omnibus Regibus Saxsonicis, Danicis et Anglicis ante Monarchiam et post, ex quo Saxsones in hac insula regnare ceperunt ab Hcngisto vsque ad nobilissimum Henricum Sextum Regem Anglorum inclusiue, Ulium Regis Henrici quinti et conquestoris optimi.' The capital letters spell lohannes Strecche Cajioni- cus. The monogram I.S. appears on i. j*". » The Historia Regum Anglie fills fl. 233-79 ; the filth book, ff. 262-79. Prefixed on ff. 22<)-32 is a short history from Bnitus to a.d. 827. " Strecche 's account is quotod ap. The First English Lije of Henry V, p. xxxviii. See also pp. 39 above and 50 below. WALSINGHAM AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES 41 For the reign of Henry V Strecche's History is full, and of real value in spite of some tincture of untrustworthy gossip and report. The storm at the King's coronation is said to have been worse than any on such an occasion since the days of King Lear. For the Parliament of Leicester in 1414 Henry had a hall built in the middle of the town near the Franciscan Priory ; it was forty yards long and forty feet wide, and was begun and fully finished in twenty-four days. Of Oldcastle's execution there is a peculiar account, with a story of his conversation with John of Bedford foretelling his resurrection, and another of the blindness which befell his misguided followers, who anointed their eyes with his ashes : the place of execution is described as in the Old Field by the unlicensed chapel at Tyburn. The story of the tun of tennis-balls sent to Henry V by the Dauphin is given with some detail ; ^ the addition of cushions for the King to lie on shows that Strecche did not follow the contemporary ballad ^ but an independent version, which by some chance survived elsewhere to reappear as a new invention in The Famous Victories of Henry V, wherein the French Prince sends ' a carpet and a tunne of tennis-balls ' : Meanijig that you are more fit for a Tennis-court Then a field, and more fitter for a carpet then the camp. The peculiarity of the version given by Strecche serves to authenticate the story, which as a Canon of Kenilworth he might have heard on the spot. However, the most valuable passages in Strecche's work relate to the French war. The narrative of the campaign of 1415 is moderately full without being noteworthy. The account of the fighting round Harfleur in 1416 is good ; that of the earlier operations of 1417 and 1418 brief. Then come two stories : one of a narrow escape of Thomas of Clarence from being killed by a cannon-ball at the siege of Bee Hellouin on Easter Day 1418 ; the other of how at the siege of Louviers a French gunner struck the King's tent, and of how after the town had been taken by assault Henry had eight gunners hanged in revenge.^ Of the taking of Pont de I'Arche in 1 See First English Life of Henry V, p. xliii. ^ See p. 239 below. ^ Cf. Holinshed, iii. 99. 42 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE July 1418 there is a long description : first of an exploit of Gilbert Umfraville, who constructed a ' Bulewarke ', which, says Strecche, ' means in Latin, as I think, optis belHcum ' ; and secondly of Sir John Cornwall's wager with the Sire de Graville that he would cross the Seine in spite of the French army, which is much fuller than the version given by Men- strelet.^ A very long history of the siege of Rouen is derived almost entirely from John Page's poem * ; but at the end there is added an account of a sortie from the Port Beau- voisin on November 25, 1418. Events down to the taking of Melun in 1420 are then described at fair length with some fresh detail ; the credit of the capture of Pontoise is attributed to Clarence, and the help of a traitor, Andrew Lombard; Lombard tried to appropriate the plunder, and was punished by the loss of his promised reward. Of Henry's Ei^lish progress in 142 1 there is a detailed account, describing how he visited his beloved castle of Kenilworth, and his manor of the Pleasant Mareys.' The itinerary of Henry and Catherine in Yorkshire and on their way south is fuller than those given in the Northern Chronicle* and by the Pseudo-Elmham.* The defeat of Clarence at Baug6 is changed into a treacherous surprise by Andrew Lombard at Pont de I'Arche ; this looks like some early rumour of the disaster in which the truth was concealed ; Hardyng,* however, also speaks of the death of Clarence as caused By counsayll of Andrew, fals Lombarde, That was his spy betrayed him thederwarde. In this last story and in some other places Strecche seems to depend on unauthentic rumours and gossip. But though his History is largely made up of picturesque tales which had caught the popular fancy, it is not the less interesting for their novelty. It contains, moreover, some matter of more solid quality, and in this summary of its contents I have not exhausted its value. It is clear that both for details of domestic history and for incidents of the French war, Strecche 1 Chroniqucs, iii. 276. » Sci' pp. n6, ii; below. " Cf. I.ibcr Mclrinis, ap. !\Ii-»h'n,ils of Henry \\ pp. uv, lOi. « See p. 11)11 below. » Vila Henrici, pp. 300, 304. " ap. I..-iiis(l(nvm- MS. zo.^, f. .'[4 ; it is a detail vyhich Joes not appear in the printeil vcr.sioii. Sci' aUo U.Ul, Chnunck, p. 100. WALSINGHAM AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES 43 had collected much independent if not always trustworthy information. Except for the siege of Rouen, he does not seem to have made use of any Chronicle now extant, though the itinerary of Henry's English progress in 1421 may come from the same source as those in the Northern Chronicle and the Pseudo-Elmham. Strecche's Latin style is bad ; as a literary production his work is worthless, but for its con- tents it well deserves to be printed in full ; I regret that it is too long for inclusion in this volume. The Chronicles dealt with in this chapter are all of an ordinary mediaeval character. None of them, with the partial exception of Adam Usk's Chronicle, are of any literary merit. None of them get out of the annalistic form, or attempt to give a reasoned history. All, as might be expected, are more or less Lancastrian in tone, though censure of Henry IV for the execution of Archbishop Scrope is common ; here, as in their uniform Anti-Lollardism, the ecclesiastical prepossessions of the authors or compilers find expression. All are in the main hostile to the Welsh, though Usk gives us something on the other side. On this subject, and on all that relates to the downfall of Richard II, a corrective may be found in the Anti-English narratives of French historians.^ To the defects of a narrow outlook, of professional bias, and of lack of literary form must be added the absence of competing schools of historical study. Save at St. Albans, the old tradition of national historiography was nearly extinct. If at St. Albans it retained enough vigour to furnish writers like the Monk of Evesham and Thomas Otterbourne with material for their Chronicles, this was rather due to the decay of learning in other quarters than to the possession of any superlative quality by Walsingham and his collaborators. Nevertheless, the comparatively wide circulation which seems to have been enjoyed by the St. Albans Chronicles is not to be overlooked. With the exception of Usk all other con- temporary writers of importance with whom we have so far had to deal were in a greater or less degree indebted to St. Albans — or at least all of them who wrote in Latin. ^ Cf. Tralson et Mart du Roy Richart (Engl. Hist. Soc.) and Chronique du Religieux de St. Denys. 44 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE In the Continuation of the Eulogium and in the Northern Chronicle wc may find traces of earlier histories in Latin. But both arc meagre, and in their present shape not strictly contemporary. The undoubted original of the former stopped short in 1401 ; probably it contained little of value which has not been preserved. The existence of an earlier original of the Northern Chronicle rests only on hypothesis ; still, enough material of apparently north-country origin is to be found in various quarters to make it probable. What has survived has the merit of independence, but is not sufficient to justify a theory of a northern school of history. Greater interest attaches to the signs of another original, probably written at London and in English, which we can trace in Giles's Chronicle, in the Continuation of the Eulogium, and less certainly in Otterbourne. It is here that we get the germs of a new literary development of history. We shall trace it more fully in the English Chronicles of London and the Brut. Still, it is not without significance that thus early in the fifteenth century Latin writers should have begun to draw their material from English sources. Of the more original writers in Latin we can say no more than that they vary enough and plagiarize enough to show that if an interest in history continued, the writing of it as an art had decayed. CHAPTER III THE BIOGRAPHIES OF HENRY V Three Lives of Henry V in Latin prose, and one in verse, were written during his lifetime or within thirty years of his death. In the next sixty years one Latin Life, and at least two Lives in English, all in part founded on the earlier Lives, were composed. They all present some points of interest, and between them they illustrate the passage from the mediaeval type, through the work of scholars of the early Renaissance, to a more or less critical biography almost of a modern character.^ The earliest and, so far as it extends, the most valuable is the Gesta Henrici Quinti, which was first printed by J. A. Giles in 1846, and four years afterwards edited in far better manner by Benjamin Williams for the English Historical Society. Of this Chronicle good use had previously been made by Sir Harris Nicolas in his Battle of Agincourt, where it is described as ' Chronicler A.' or ' The Chaplain's Account ', from the fact that it was obviously written by a royal chaplain who had served in the campaign of Agincourt. Williams conjectured on very slender grounds that the author was one Jean Bordin. The true solution was first given in 1874 by Dr. Max Lenz,^ who argued that the Gesta is the prose Life which Thomas Elmham, author of the Liber Metricus de Henrico Quinto, stated that he had written. Thomas Elmham was a monk of St. Augustine's, Canter- bury, of which house he wrote a history.' In 1414 he became prior of the Cluniac monastery of Lenton, in Nottinghamshire. Two letters in Duckett's Charters and Records of Cluni * show that in the following year he was one of the King's chaplains ^ With some of the problems discussed in this chapter I have dealt at more length in the English Historical Review, xxv. 58-92. * Konig Sigmund und Heinrich der Filnjte, p. 14. ' Edited for the Rolls Series by T. Hardwick. » ii. 15-22. 46 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE engaged on his master's business at Westminster. There is no reason to doubt that he made the campaign of Agincourt in the train of Henry V. He seems to have continued in attendance on the King throughout the following year, and from a statement in his Liber Metricus^ appears to have rejoined Henry in Normandy in the early summer of 1418. The Croyland Chronicle * mentions the Prior of Lenton as one of those present at the Chapter of the Benedictines at West- minster in 142 1, and styles him ' scholaris in Theologia '. Elmham resigned the Priory of Lenton in February 1427, and probably died not long afterwards. Besides the Historia Monasterii Sancti Augustini he composed a chronologic^ work styled Cronica Regum Angliae, to which he prefixed a prologue with initial letters spelling ' Thomas Elmham, Prior Lentonie '.* In a similar way the first letters of some verses at the end of the Liber Metricus spell ' Thomas FJmh am^ Monachus '.* In his preface to the Liber Metricus Elmham refers to a prose Life of Henry V which he had written pre- viously.^ Hearne, when editing another Vita et Gesta Henrici Quinti, too hastily identified it with this prose Life, and printed it under Elmham's name in 1727.® His error long passed muster, and its general acceptance has confused the whole history of the early biographies of Henry V. But for this false presumption, C. A. Cole, when editing the Liber Metricus, the resemblance of which to the ' Chaplain's Account ' is, as he states, patent on every page, must have arrived at the truth, instead of conjecturing that F.lmham had borrowed a copy of the Gesta from its author. Out of one hundred and thirty-four chapters of the Liber Metricus, ninety-eight follow, often with close verbal agreement, the narrative of the Gesta. Of the remainder, twenty-eight relate to a period subsequent to the conclusion of the prose Life in 1416 ; and out of the portion common to the two works only eight are entirely new. In the preface to the Liber Mdricus Elmham described his motives for writing it. I lis verses, he says, do not contain all 1 Memorials of Ihmv \\ pji, 163-4. a r.alo, ScHptores, i. 514. ' Printed l)y Heariic ap. IMmhain, liV.i, pp. ^77-81. • Memorials of I Iriirv I', p. 166. * Id. p. 79. e s,-e pp. 56-9 below. BIOGRAPHIES OF HENRY V 47 that he had described in prose in another work, but put the more important matters in a form easy to be remembered. It was expedient that subjects should be well acquainted with the exploits of their rulers. But the King, who would not permit any songs to be written in his praise, would hardly allow Elmham to discover the bare and notorious truth by diligent inquiry of his nobles. Nevertheless, Elmham assures his readers that they need have no doubt that what was written here in verse was true ; ' for the compiler was either an eye- witness of these things, or received a trustworthy account, whether verbal or written, from those who were present.' ^ How just was this claim for the Liber Metricus, and still more for the Gesta, is apparent on an even moderately careful study of the latter work. The Gesta opens with a brief notice of Henry's coronation, followed by a fairly full account of Oldcastle's trial and insurrection. Oldcastle, says the writer, still skulks from the sight of men in caves ; * thus it is clear that the work was written before the capture of the Lollard leader in November 1417, The only other matter for the first two years of the reign consists of a note on Henry's foundations at Sheen, and a summary account of the negotiations with Sigismund and the French. In this part of his History the author probably did not write from his own knowledge. Although he must have been present at Southampton in July 1415, the account of the Scrope and Cambridge plot contains nothing of peculiar importance. But with the sailing of the fleet a fresh note is struck in the description of how ' as we left the shores of the Isle of Wight, swans came swimming amongst our ships'.* Henceforward the narrative of the campaign of Agincourt is the manifest work of an eyewitness. For the siege of Harfleur, the march to Agincourt, and the battle, it is, taken as a whole, by far the best account which we possess. The long description of the triumphal pageant in London is no doubt based in part on the official programme, but the writer clearly witnessed what he describes. The campaign and the pageant have filled almost exactly one-half of the whole work.* 1 Memorials of Henry V, pp. 79, 80. ^ Gesta, p. 5. 3 Id. p. 13. ^ Id. pp. 13-68. 48 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE The concluding portion contains only the history of another twelvemonth, which it describes in a very unequal fashion. From the pageant of November 14 15 the writer passes at once to the Parliament of March 1416, but immediately turns aside to describe the battle of Valmont, though he had given no account of Dorset's previous warfare round Harfleur. Return- ing to the Parliament he gives a speech made by Henry Beaufort, which is not to be found in the official Roll, and describes at fair length the coming of Sigismund and the beginning of negotiations with the French. Much of this part must have been written from the reports of others, though the author was no doubt in a position to obtain good informa- tion. With the departure of the King from London for Southampton in July the personal narrative ' is resumed, and is marked by the frequent use of a'e, which continues to Henry's return from Calais in October. The description of the sequence of events which made Henry leave Southampton to rejoin Sigismund and led up to the Treaty of Canterbury is particularly noteworthy, and is fully confirmed by the docu- mentary evidence. The account of Bedford's naval engage- ment off Harfleur ^ is probably based on the reports received by the King. That of Warwick's fight with a carrack ofi Calais ' came almost within the writer's own knowledge. Of interest for the writer's own personality are the record of Henry's directions for services in his chapel,* and two curious acrostic-like verses worthy of the author of the Liber Metricus} The Gesta closes with an account of the Parliament of October- November 1416. Three-quarters of the Gesta relates to the two periods, only six months in all, when the writer was in attendance on the King. Naturally these are the most valuable portions. But much of the rest is clearly based on good infonnation. The writer had access to official records. He refers several times to documents as preserved in the ' Liber cvidentiarum regalium ct recordorum '." In other iil.iccs he is of interest for the frankness with which he repeats popular opinions, such as the ' CrsI,!, pp. ,S.:-ui?. a /,/. pp. S5-(). ° /''• I'- '17- • / pp. ,;;_Sl. BIOGRAPHIES OF HENRY V 51 different character. Titus Livius Forojuliensis, as he is styled on Hearne's title-page, appears in the official record of his denization in England on March 7, 1437,^ as ' Titus Livius de Frulovisiis de Ferrara ', and is better described as Tito Livio da Forli. He was a native of Forli, about forty miles from Ferrara. The date of his birth was probably some years later than 1400, since he tells us that from his earliest years he had heard his father talk of Henry V as the most famous Prince of the age.^ Hence when Tito Livio refers to Emanuel Chrysoloras as ' preceptor noster ',* he must not be taken literally. But his further statement that he had received instruction from Guarini of Verona is probable enough ; * for that famous scholar settled at Ferrara in 143 1, though he did not begin to teach pubhcly till 1436. Tito Livio's acquain- tance with Guarini may, however, belong to a later period. At all events it cannot have been later than 1436 that he left Italy to take service in England with Humphrey of Gloucester, who made him his ' poet and orator '.^ At a. time when he was about to return to his native country Humphrey entrusted him with the task of writing a Life of Henry V.^ The dedica- tion of his work shows that before its completion he had already been ' indigenated ' in England. The date of writing was therefore later than March 1437. In an Encomium ^ of sixty- three hexameter lines addressed to John Stafford, then Bishop of Bath, Tito declared that he had been anxious to sing the praise of Britain ; but as Britons were poor and he was entangled with debt, he must go home to Italy. Since Stafford was translated to Canterbury in 1443 the Encomium must in any case have been written before that date. As a matter of fact it must have been in 1438 or 1439 that Tito Livio left England. After a visit to Milan, he went to Tou- louse, where he stayed long enough to graduate as doctor. From Toulouse he journeyed to Barcelona, whence, apparently 1; 1 Foedera, x. 66i. * Vita Henrici Quinii, p. i. * He speaks of his knowledge of Greek as learnt ' ex doctissimo et in 'i, primis humanissimo preceptore nostro Emanuele Chrisolora.' De Orto- graphia, pt. iii, Prologus. 1^, * Id. cap. xli ' de quibus certior factus fui a Guarino Veronensi Emanuelis ft Chrisolorae discipulo. ^ Foedera, x. 66i. ' Vita, p. 2. ' ap. Cotton. MS. Claudius E iii, f. 353^". E 2 52 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE in 1440, he wrote to his friend the Milanese humanist, Pier Candido Decembri, describing his adventures since leaving Milan, and sending him a copy of the Vita Henrici. Decembri much later, in 1462, made an Italian translation of his friend's History, and dedicated it to Francesco Sforza in 1463-^ Some extracts from this translation, a copy of which is preserved at Vienna, were published by Dr. Wylie in the English His- torical Review for January 1909. Together with the copy of the Vita in Arundel MS. 12 at the College of Arms, which is illuminated with the armorial bearings of Humphrey of Gloucester, they fully authenticate the printed Life as the genuine work of Tito Livio. Of Tito's later career we know no more. But he clearly enjoyed a good reputation in his own country. Towards the end of the fifteenth century there appeared under his name a Liber de Ortograpkia* in which he is described as a famous orator and poet and praised for his services to the cause of sound Latinity. It is from this work that we learn of Tito's association with Guarini. The fact that it shows us the author of the Vita Henrici as a zealous supporter of the new learning is not without importance as illustrating the growth of culture and development of historical literature in England. It is clear that Tito Livio's Vita was written after March 1437, and probably not later than 1438, since Tito must have been absent from England some considerable time when he wrote to Decembri from Barcelona. The Life is short, ^ Archivio Storico Lombardo, ser. ii (Anno xx), vol. x, pp. 63, 42S. " Titi Liuii de Frulovisiis ferrariensis, Oratoris ac Poete celeberrimi, de Ortographia "Liber admodum singularis pro sua precellentia non miiiDS magistris quam scholaribus vtilUssimus feliciter Incipit. Anthonii liberi Susatensis epigramma in laudem Autoris : Qui cupit errantem linguam renouare Latinam, Bonosque libros scriptaque prisca sequi, Barbarico Liuium pulse sermoue sequatur, Cuius habet veram hec Ortographia fidem. The book contains seventy-six unnumbered leaves, ^^^thout date or place, or name of printer. In the British Museum Catalogue it is assigned to 1488. The colophon substantially repeats the title. The author describes his subject as ' recta scriptura quam recta appellatione Orto- graphiam dicimus '. As an essential part of an orator's office he thinks it useful to bring together what he has found in ancient commentaries. In the first part he gives general rules for composition and spelling. The second part deals with ' aiivgulae dietioiies ', giving lists of words with derivations in alph.ibclicul order. 1 he third part is ' De diphthongandis '. BIOGRAPHIES OF HENRY V 53 considerably shorter than the Gesta, though it deals with nearly double the period. It is well written, and justifies Holinshed's description of it as in ' a good, familiar, and easy stile '.^ Avowedly composed at the suggestion of Humphrey of Gloucester at a time when the war was the burning question of English politics, it is naturally martial in tone and favour- able to the author's patron and his pohcy. For his material Tito states expressly* that Humphrey supplied him with all the monuments of his hero's exploits that could be found. Part of his information was no doubt obtained from Humphrey himself and his associates. The statement is, however, obviously intended to cover written sources, and one such source we are able to identify with' certainty. This is a Latin version of the Brut composed in 1436 or 1437, which the Italian scholar followed where it served his purpose, with no more alteration than is involved in an occasional embellish- ment of its phraseology.* The chief material which Tito Livio derived from this source relates to events in England previous to the commencement of the French war in 1415, the conclusion of the campaign of Agincourt, the naval war of 1416, the negotiations with Sigismund, the main narrative of the negotiations in France in 1419-20 (other than the actual terms of the Treaty of Troyes), and some scattered frag- ments for the last two years of the reign.* The whole of this material forms a little less than a fifth of the Vita. It is perhaps natural that an Italian should have used the Brut through the medium of a Latin translation. But there are some passages which point to familiarity with the English original ; such are the notice of the expedition of 141 1, the triumphal return from Agincourt, the coming of Sigismund, Bedford's naval engagement, some details for the siege of Rouen, and possibly something for the capture of Pontoise and Clarence's reconnoitring of Paris.* 1 Chronicles, in. 136. ^ Livius,"p. 2. " See the original on pp. 323-37 below. For the date of this Chronicle see p. 130. « Vita, pp. 5-7, 20-1, 23, 24-5, 26-7, 71-2, 75, 78, 81-2, 83-5, 88, 90, 92, 93 ; see more fully the footnotes on pp. 323-37 below. " Id. pp. 4-5, 21-3, 23-4, 25-6, 61, 65, 75-7 ; compare Brut, pp. 371, 380-1, 388-90, 424. 54 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE The list of Sigismund's company in 1416 shows obvious signs of being derived from the same source as one in the Cleopatra Chronicle of London. ^ It is clear also that Tito Livio had access to official documents ; as for the numbers of the host in 1417, the Treaties of Canterbury and Troyes, and Henry's letter to Amiens in 1422.* In two places Tito Livio refers definitely to other written sources without any precise indication ; one relates to the legislation at Leicester in 1414,' and the other to Henry's ordinances for his troops at Troyes.* We have left as more or less original in its contents less than three-fourths of the Vita, the greater part of which is descriptive of the actual warfare in France ; the only noteworthy excep- tions are the story of Olandyne,* the conference at Melun,' Henry's stay at Paris in 1420,' and the story of his last days.* In the military narrative the two chief passages deal with the campaign of Agincourt,* and the second expedition from August 1417 to May 1419.^" These two passages take nearly half the whole work. Shorter passages treat of the capture of Pontoise, and the sieges of Gisors, Montereau, and Melun." The campaign of 1421 and the important siege of Meaux are dismissed in two pages. ^* It is noteworthy that Humphrey of Gloucester returned to England in December 1419. Thus the full military narrative is confined to those campaigns in which the Duke had taken part. It does not seem too much to assume that the meagre account of subsequent events is due to the fact that Tito Livio's main source of information here failed him. The conjecture that the author was indebted mainly to his patron for his history of the war is supported by the prominence given to Humphrey's own exploits, above all in the long account of the campaign in the Cotentin and the siege of Cherbourg.^' The circumstance that Tito Li\'io'3 Vita dwells so much on the war and so little on events in England is probably to be explained by the tact that he wrote ' Vita, p. 23 ; Chronicles of London, p. 124. « Vita, pp. 27-a, 31-i, 84-8, c)4. ' Id. p. 7. ♦ Id. p. S3. » /,/. p. 7. • Id. pp. 74-5. ' Id. pp. <)o, Qi. • Id. pp. q4. 9;. » Id. pp. 8-20. »» Id. pp. 5-,-;.'. " Id. pp. 75-7, 7H. 89, 90. '» Id. pp. OJ, 93. '■■' Id. pp. 50-6 ; (or otlu-[ noUcos in 1 lumplircy's honour see pp. 20, 41, 4J, 64, 7->, 7.1. BIOGRAPHIES OF HENRY V 55 in his patron's interest at a time when Duke Humphrey, as the leader of the war party after the breach with Burgundy, was naturally anxious to magnify English exploits and especi- ally those in which he had himself taken part. Humphrey may have furnished material for the speeches which Tito Livio puts into Henry's mouth. These have usually a brevity and directness which accord well with the habit of a Prince who spoke but little and that to the point ; though Henry's reply to Sir Walter Hungerford before Agincourt is inferior to the version given in the Gesta} But in many instances the speeches may preserve some reminiscence of what Henry really said. A weak point in Tito Livio's History is chronology. English events and the course of negotiations with France in 1414-15 are confused through a too slavish following of the Latin Brut.^ But Tito Livio's own dates in 1418 to 1420 are frequently at fault as to the exact day ; * however, some of these errors do not appear in the best manuscript. Though Tito Livio could write nothing from his own know- ledge, it is clear that he had access to trustworthy and authen- tic material. Of our English sources his Life ranks next in value to the Gesta, and after that work fails us, is on the whole for 1417 to 1420 the best. It may be described as the official biography of Henry V. As such it became the chief source of the narratives of later writers, and firstly of the Pseudo- Elmham about 1446. At a later time Polydore Vergil used it, either directly or through the medium of the Pseudo- Elmham. Edward Hall seems to have had no knowledge of it ; but Stow and Holinshed knew it well, though the former depended almost entirely, and the latter in great part, on the English version of the ' Translator '. Through the medium of Stow and Holinshed Tito Livio's Vita contributed the principal historical basis to the popular conception of its hero. Thomas Goodwin, whose History of the Reign of Henry V appeared in 1704, had only a second-hand knowledge of Tito Livio's Vita. Hearne's text of 1716 was based on Cotton. MS. Claudius E iii, collated with Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, MS. 285, 1 Fjigl. Hist. Kev. x.w. 62. ' See pp. 40, 47 above. BIOGRAPHIES OF HENRY V 57 Moreover, the Life by the Pseudo-Elmham, apart from those portions which are related closely to Tito Livio's Vita, con- tains internal evidence that it was written long after Henry's death. In one of the early chapters Henry's foundations at Sheen are referred to as of long standing : ' earum condiciones . . . vera experiencia usque hodie manifestat.' ^ In a later passage (which also corresponds with nothing in Livio's Vita) a disparaging allusion to Philip of Burgundy and the insertion of a story reflecting on the good faith of his subjects suggest that the Pseudo-Elmham wrote after the breach between England and Burgundy in 1435.^ It might of course be contended that Tito Livio was the later writer, and bor- rowed from the Life by the Pseudo-Elmham. So long as it was supposed that the latter was the true work of Thomas Elmham, this seemed a natural hypothesis. But for the last three years of the reign the history given by the Pseudo- Elmham is much the superior, and comes obviously from another source. It is most unlikely that Tito Livio should have had it before him, and been content to substitute for it his own brief and inferior narrative. However, the Pseudo-Elmham himself supplies us with more conclusive evidence. His last chapter is an address to John Somerset, whom he describes as one who had informed the King's person with health, and his mind with under- standing, the servant of the state and the proctor of the poor, who had lately established a chapel of royal foundation in honour of St. Raphael, St. Gabriel, St. Michael, and all the Holy Angels of God.^ Somerset was a Cambridge scholar and Fellow of Pembroke College who was appointed physician to Henry VI in 1427, and was employed in teaching him and preserving his health.* Afterwards, in 1434, he was made Chancellor of the Exchequer and warden of the King's ex- change in the Tower ; he resigned the latter office in 1447, but held the former till he was dismissed on the petition of the Commons in 1451.* In 1443 he was appointed lieutenant of the manor of Sheen,^ a post which led to the foundation by ^ Pseudo-Elmham, p. 25. ^ Id. pp. 281-4. ^ Id. pp. 338-42. * I'd. p. 348 ; Cal. Pat. Rolls, Henry VI, i. 460, ii. 241. ^ Cal. Pat. Rolls, iii. 418 ; Rolls of Parlt., v. 216. « Cal. Pat. Rolls, iv. 82. ' 58 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE him, as parcel of the royal monastery of Sion, of a chapel and guild in honour of the Nine Orders of the Holy Angels. For this foundation, which included an almshouse for nine poor men, he obtained letters patent on October 12, 1446.^ Somerset was himself a man of learning, and as one of the executors of Humphrey of Gloucester was appealed to, not very success- fully, for his help in securing the Duke's books for Oxford. However, he made a present of some of his own, and the University, in thanking him for his liberality, complimented him because whilst busy with the affairs of state he could find time for letters and learning.* Somerset's history thus fixes the latter part of 1446 as the earliest possible date for the concluding chapter of the ' Life' by the Pseudo-Elmham. The main text of the work is not likely to have been written much earlier. Nor is it very likely, in view of the prominent position given to Humphrey of Gloucester, to have been written after the death of the Duke in February 1447. More absolute evidence of the latest date is afforded by the preface in the All Souls MS.,' which is addressed to Walter, Lord Hungerford, who died on August 9, 1449. The address to Somerset at the end is of course missing in the imperfect AH Souls MS. ; it is possible that it may have been added to a second edition at the same time as the change in the dedication ; but even so it must have been written before Somerset's dismissal in 145 1. Who the author of the Vita of the Pseudo-Elmham really 1 Cal. Pat. Rolls, v. 29 ; see further Engl. Hist. Rev. xxv. 68, 69. ^ Anstey, Episiolae Academicae (Oxford Hist. Soc.), pp. 258, 286, 309. 3 In the other MSS. the preface is addressed to the reader. The All Scab preface agrees nearly with the printed text till the fifth line on p. 3, when it proceeds thus : ' Gregoriani eciam pectinis angelici melodia inertis cithe- redi deliris tractibus et concentibus inconsonis sese exibere precauet per- tractandam. Quis, quaeso, extra fores rctorice positus peregrinas et aduena tantam perfecte posset polire paginam, aut ab angusti pectoris exsiccato fonticulo tarn spaciosam deriuare valeret abissum ? Pnidencie igitur tue, illustris domine et miles nobilis, Walttro, Domine de Hungreford, qui, qualiter prefatum Principem in tue dileccionis amplexatus es toacchiis post mortem, ostendere argumentis minimis [si.- MS.] non desistis, huius paruitatem opusculi, quod ociam tuis .-vlloctuiis iussionibus me fecisti ingredi, rccommondo, quatcnus istud cuicunqui- viro pnidenti tua discrecio (kxrcuorit offcras corrigendum, qui, cciam nu-o humilime supplicacionis instancia cornccionis limas .ippoiiomlo, iinpolita poliendo, et dissuto . consuendo, hoc idem adhuc sesc in pupUcum deuclare non audens deducat tucius in apertuMi.' BIOGRAPHIES OF HENRY V 59 was remains an unsolved problem. In his preface he speaks of himself as ' extra fores rhetoricae positus peregrinus et aduena '. This may be no more than a flourish intended with mock modesty to excuse his own want of capacity. The form of the words in the AH Souls MS. favours this interpreta- tion.^ It has, however, been conjectured on the strength of this expression that the writer was a foreigner,^ and such a conjecture may be plausibly supported for other reasons. The author was obviously proud of his hterary craftsmanship, ^ and set out to write on classical models, a purpose which he thought to achieve by verbose rhetoric and by sprinkling his text freely with mythological allusions : Henry is the soldier both of Mars and of Venus ; Ceres and Bacchus flee in terror from Rouen ; Eolus swells the sails ; the eastern side of a town is the one which looks towards the rising of the star of Phebus ; and so forth. All this points to the author as one who had been caught by the new learning, of which Humphrey of Gloucester was the patron in England. It is possible that, like Tito Livio, he was one of the foreign scholars whom Humphrey attached to his service. Such a theory is con- sistent with his friendship for Somerset, who was familiar with the Duke and himself a friend of learning. It does not fit so well with the statement that he wrote at the request of Lord Hungerford,* who in his later life was a political opponent of the Duke. Hearne's blunder in attributing this ' Life ' to Elmham has been the cause of so much error and confusion that it was necessary to deal with it in detail. We may now turn to a more fruitful topic in the ' Life ' itself. The Vita of the Pseudo-Elmham is to be divided into two sections. The first consists of chapters i-xci, and resembles very closely the work of Tito Livio ; the second, chapters xcii-cxxix, is derived for the most part from other sources. In the first section, chapters x-xii, which describe at length the ceremonies connected with the coronation of Henry V, are almost entirely 1 The printed text differs in being more personal to the writer : ' Non enim valeo extra fores rhetoricae peregrinus positus et advena.' " James Tyrrell ap. Arundel MS. 15 : ' per Authorem anonymum sed Peregrinum ; ' c£. Hearne, p. xvii. ^ See note on p. 58 above. 6o ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE new ; Livio simply records the fact of the coronation ' with all solemnity and pomp '. Otherwise in this section the additions of the Pscudo-Elmham are little more noteworthy than his omissions. It is chiefly by mere empty rhetoric that he more than doubles in bulk the narrative of his predecessor. For the most part the additions are names which Livio had not specified : as of Monmouth for Henry's birthplace ; of the hulk, the Mountnegrie, which was sunk at Harfleur in 1416 ; of Baawmore as the place where the Scots were defeated in 1417.^ Of more importance are details of the muster at Southampton in 1415, of the siege of Harfleur, and in particular of Clarence's share in it.^ The inaccurate dates often receive correction ; as for instance those for the surrenders of the castle of Falaise and of Cherbourg,' and a whole series in chapters Ixii and Ixiii. A considerable space is occupied by long-winded speeches attributed to Henry V ; they are mani- festly less authentic than those given by Livio. The first section closes with a marked difference in the account of the negotiations at Troyes in 1420, where the Fseudo-Elmham omits the text of the oaths taken by Charles of France and Philip of Burgundy, but gives the terms of the treaty much more fully ; in this it is possible that he was guided by the example of Monstrelet. The chief omissions made by the Pseudo-Elmham from Tito Livio's narrative are the statement that Henry con- sulted the Universities on his right in France ; the story of the Sire de Helly ; the details of the visit of Sigismund in 1416, and the composition of the army in 1417.'' A notable \'aria- tion relates to the death of John of Burgundy, of whom Livio, quoting the Latin Brid,^ writes ' spoliatus et nudus in puteum delectus est ' ; for this the Pseudo-Elmham has ' nee tunica nee ocreis spoliatum ', which seems to be a translation of ' rescrvd son pourpoint et ses houseaux ' of Monstrelet* In the second section of the ]'ita of the Pseudo-Elmham (chapters xcii-cxxix) the relation to the work of Tito Livio is ' pp. 4, 81, K.l. » pp. 35, 4,. ' VV- >.?7. !'>-! ; cf. l.ivins, pp. 4q, 56. * Sec Livins, pp. (1, iS, j ^, j; ,). » Soo p. J,?4 below. " l.ivius, p. ;« ; rMiul.i i:iinlmm, y. .",(., c(. p. -■;.• ;" Monstrelet, iii. 347i 404 ; the Krul, p. 561, li.is ' put into .1 pil, botit and spurrct '. BIOGRAPHIES OF HENRY V 6i very different. Instead of being somewhat more than twice as long, it is now nearly tenfold longer. Even when the two go over the same ground they here seem to be independent. In spite of his brevity, Tito Livio gives a few details which do not appear in the other author : thus he describes the fate of Barbasan and his release from captivity, ten years after- wards ; mentions the departure of Philip of Burgundy from Paris in 1420 ; has a peculiar notice of the birth of Henry VI, and records the Duke of Brittany's assent to the Treaty of Troyes in 1422.^ But apart from these details the narrative of the last two years of the reign of Henry V as given by the Pseudo-Elmham is altogether superior to that of his pre- decessor. For the sieges of Melun and Meaux, for Henry's visit to England, for his Progress in the Midlands and in Yorkshire, and for the story of his last days it is of exceptional interest and value. As regards the sources used by the Pseudo-Elmham for his additions to, and corrections of Tito Livio's Vita, some of the details in the first section, such as the name of the Mount- negrie, may have come from the English Brut. The correc- tions of dates might have been taken from official documents, like the appointments for the surrender of towns, which were such common property that they are quoted in various London Chronicles.^ On other matters the Pseudo-Elmham's turgid rhetoric makes it difficult to trace his sources. For the siege of Harfleur he seems to have had a different and independent source. In the second section he had, as noted before, prob- ably made some use of Monstrelet. The accounts of the siege of Meaux, and of the last days of Henry V, may very possibly be derived from the information of Walter Hunger- ford, who was present on both occasions. But probably the author had access to a lost English source, as well for the French war as for events in England. Strecche's Historia * shows us that narratives of the war, which differed materially from the printed ones now extant, were current in the fifteenth CMitury. Both in Strecche and in the Northern Chronicle'^ we find notices of Henry's English Progress in 142 1 analogous to ^ Livius, pp. 90, 91, 95. " See p. 82 below. 2 See pp. 41, 42 above. * See p. 290 below. 62 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE that given by the Pscudo-Elmham ; they may all have come from some common source now lost or untraced. The Pseudo-Elmham's Vila is referred to by Archbishop Parker in the preface to his edition of Walsingham, where he censures Tito Livio for not having made better use of this anonymous writer. Stow ^ quotes the Pseudo-Elmham occa- sionally under the name of Roger Wall, who was Archdeacon of Coventry from 1442 till his death in 1488, and writer of the copy in Arundel MS. 15, in which his name and rebus appear ; ' this manuscript in Stow's time belonged to his acquaintance Lord William Howard. Holinshed made more copious use of the Pseudo-Elmham in his Chronicle,' where the work is referred to as by an anonymous author, who changed the good, familiar, and easy style which Livio used into a certain poetical kind of writing. Hearne's edition in 1727 was based on a collation of Arundel 15 and Harley 864.* In the Lives of Henry V composed by Tito Livio and the Pseudo-Elmham we have a marked stage in the developmoit of historical writing in England. Though widely different in literary merit, both writers were avowedly under the influence of the Renaissance, and departing from the monastic tradition wrote upon classical models. Apart from the circumstance that they wrote in Latin, it is obvious that they wrote for a more or less cultured circle. They probably were not in their original dress very widely read ; but they were works of repute, and both were within the next two generations trans- lated into English. In consequence Tito Livio at all events has had a lasting influence on the common store of our English histories. Within a very few years the Vita of the Pseudo-Elmham appeared in an abbreviated Latin version, in which it was rid of most of its verbiage. This version is preser\'ed in a mutilated form* in Royal MS. 13, C i, of which I spoke in the last chapter in connexion with Giles's Chronicle 0} Henry IV. ' Annales, pp. 345, 347, 3fyi. " Sec /rug. Hist. licv. xxv. 63, 89. ' iii. 136. * On the other MSS. sic p. 5(1 above. ILtrlcy 864 may perhaps be the author's autograph ; mc / h^,/. //,sr. AVf. xxv. 69 n. " It begins 'roncussis vires suns altcrutrum multa strenuitate ', COFT*- sponding with p. 41 of tli6 rseudo-Elmham. BIOGRAPHIES OF HENRY V 63 The volume contains Chronicles of the reigns of Richard II, Henry IV, Henry V, and Henry VI. That for Henry V is in a different hand to the other three, and is probably somewhat older. The Chronicle for Henry VI was written after 1457, since it refers to the death of Eleanor Cobham. The abbrevia- tion of the Pseudo-Elmha may therefore be dated about 1455. The Chronicles as given in the Royal MS. are probably the sources of the continuous Chronicle in Sloane MS. 1776. But in this latter manuscript the reign of Henry V is given differently. Down to 1416 the Gesta, or work of the true Elmham, is followed, and the abbreviation of the Pseudo- Elmham is used only as a continuation for the later years. As such the abbreviation of the Pseudo-Elmham has been in part printed by Williams in his edition of the Gesta. Giles, who depended only on transcripts, has misrepresented the character of the manuscripts for the reign of Henry V in his preface, and printed only the text of the Gesta. Williams correctly described the continuation as ' little more than an abridgement of Elmham ', but added : ' In one instance (p. 131) the author adopts the statement of Livius in his very words, and in other places he has added the names of the barons and knights present at the principal sieges.' ^ This is inaccurate. In the instance cited the author adopts ' the very words ' not of Livius, but of the Pseudo-Elmham, whilst for ' other places ' I can find only the single case of Melun ; the list there given resembles one in the Latin Brut.^ The author of the abridgement follows the Pseudo-Elmham with extra- ordinary verbal fidelity, only departing slightly from his original when through his omissions something is required to restore the sequence of the sense. Consequently his work has no independent value except for the addition of a few small details, as on the Scottish invasion of 1417, and on the death of Sir John Cornwall's son at Meaux.* Probably much about the same time as the compilation of the abridgement in the Royal and Sloane MSS. another writer made an abridgement in EngHsh of the work of the Pseudo- Elmham. This Enghsh abridgement is preserved only in ^ Gesta, p. viii. * See p. 319 below. ' Gesta, pp. 121, 155. 64 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE some mutilated fragments of a sixteenth-century transcript amongst the Collections of John Stow in Harley MS. 530. I described its contents in the English Historical Review^ for January 1910. The narrative is much curtailed, and adds nothing to the Latin original. It has therefore only a literary interest, as illustrating the development of historical writing and the passage from Latin to English as the popular medium. It is worth noting that the Pseudo-Elmham's long description of Duke Humphrey's campaign in the Cotentin and siege of Cherbourg is omitted altogether. Another Life of Henry V, which also seems to have been written in English soon after 1455, and was of far greater interest, has unfortunately survived only in some second- hand fragments. In Holinshed's Chronicles,^ mention is made of an English translation of Tito Livio's Vita, ' adding sundry things for the more large understanding of the history.' In two places Holinshed quotes the ' Translator of Livius ' specifically as his authority. Before him Nicholas Harpsfield in his Historia Anglicana, and Stow in the editions of his Summary of the Chronicles of England, published in 1570 and 1575, had referred to the ' Translator of Livius ', and alleged that his additions were taken from the information of the Earl of Ormonde. The long-lost work of the ' Translator of Livius ' came recently to light in Bodley MS. 966, which was written about 1610 ; another copy in Harley MS. 35 at the British Museum \ is of a little later date. I edited it in 1911 as Tlie First Englidt Life of Henry V? It is not quite accurate to describe it as a translation of Livius. It is in fact a compilation made, not without some faculty of critical selection, from a variety of sources. The writer in his proem explains that he had translated ' two books, the one of Titus Livius out of facund Latin, the other of Enguerrant Monstrelet out of the common language of France', adding divers sayings of the English Chronicles (i.e. the Brut), and also divers opinions that he had 1 XXV. 74-8. 1 iii ,,6. ' For a fuller description ami discussion see my Introduction. A brief quotation in Harley MS. (,.■!(., f. .' i (Sigismunds visit) is somewhat earlier than either of the complete manuscripts. BIOGRAPHIES OF HENRY V 65 heard of the report of the Earl of Ormonde. The date of composition can be fixed precisely to the autumn of 1513 by a reference to the French campaign of Henry VIII in that year. The work has therefore no historical importance of its own except as an early compilation from other sources. But the passages which it has preserved from the information of the Earl of Ormonde are of great interest. They include three out of four statements attributed specifically by later writers to the ' Translator ', the fourth being only a trivial allusion, and also four other stories, for which Stow and Holinshed had not given their authority, together with two that are entirely new. The majority of them may be described as relating to the legend of Henry V, the origin of which they thus carry back to the middle of the fifteenth century, when they were told on the authority of a man who had served in the Court and wars of Henry V. The Earl of Ormonde is obviously James Butler, the fourth Earl, who took part in the French expedition of 1412, was present at Agincourt and in the subsequent campaigns of 1418 and 1419, and died in 1452. The ' Translator ' states in his proem that he adds opinions ' that I have read of the report of a certain honourable and ancient person ' ; in his text he writes of what ' I have heard of the credible report of my said lord and master, the Earl of Ormonde '.^ From the form of the latter allusion it must be accepted that he gives the ipsissima verba of his original. We may therefore be satisfied that the stories have come down to us substantially in the form in which they were told by Ormonde himself. The original cannot have been written by Ormonde, since it was not finished till after 1455. Prob- ably it was compiled from his material by an author in his service. It may have taken the form of a Life of Henry V, or possibly was a work of a more general character. But the fragments which have survived may deservedly be described as ' Personal Reminiscences of Henry V '. I have discussed the statements and stories attributed to Ormonde at length elsewhere.^ It will be sufficient here to give a bald list. The. first is of Henry's continence after he 1 First English Life, pp. 3, 13. ^ Id. pp. xx-xxxviii. 1458 F 1/ 66 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE became King; ' it was quoted by Harpsficld. The second ^ is the story of the quarrel between Henry IV and his son, and of how the Prince came before his father, disguised in a gown of blue satin worked with eyelets, and was reconciled to him. This is followed by a long narrative of the King's death-bed discourse with the Prince.* The whole of these are repro- duced with very slight variation by Stow, through whom they have found an established place in our popular histories. Stow states expressly that Ormonde was a witness of the scene of the Prince's disguising. The next story is of how the young Henry would lie in wait for and rob his own receivers ; * this is given ' as I have learned of the evidence before re- hearsed, and also as the common fame is '. A little later comes the story of how, after his accession, Henry dismissed all the followers of his young acts.^ Both these stories are repro- duced by Stow ; the second appeared in a somewhat different form in Fabyan,* and in one peculiar version of the Brut.'' No doubt they were, as alleged, matter of common fame. But the original of the scenes in Shakespeare's Henry IV relating to the robbery at Gadshill arc to be traced back through Stow to this story of the Earl of Ormonde's. To Tito Livio's account of Henry's foundations at Sheen there is added a note on the abortive attempt to found a house of Celestins as ' heard of the tofore credible report '.* The story that the archers at Agincourt were equipped with stakes by the advice of the Duke of York, is taken by Stow from the ' Translator ' ; it is found in some copies of the Brui* In the account of the visit of Sigismund in 1416 comes the story of how he was not permitted to land till he disclaimed imperial authority ; i" this is given ' as I have heard the Earl of Ormonde say, that he heard of credible report ' ; Holinshed has the story almost in the same words, but docs not mention the source. In the account of the siege of Caen there is a new story of how Henry divided the spoils, reserving for himself only a French book of histories." Under the siege of Rouen ' First F.in'Jt-,!, Life, p. 5. a /,/. pp. 11-13. ' •'''• PP' U"'*- ' 1^- V- '7- ' p. 14- ' p- .s;7. ' li'ut, PP- 594-5. " /lis/ Ini^hsh l.i/r, |>. 30. » /,/. p. 55 ; flrn/, p. 555. '" liist lini'lish l.ijr, p. 67. u yj. p, ^j. ; BIOGRAPHIES OF HENRY V 67 ;here is another long and interesting story of how St. Vincent ?"errer came and preached in rebuke of the King, but was ;onverted by Henry to acknowledge the justice of his cause.^ The fact is confirmed by Otterbourne, and by the process at Vincent's canonization ; Ormonde, whilst giving new details, las misplaced the visit, which took place at Caen in May 1418. A. reference to Vincent's canonization shows that Ormonde's icribe wrote after 1455. The history of the siege of Melun includes a long story of Henry's fight in the mines with the 3ire de Barbasan, and of his adversary's subsequent fate ; ^ Holinshed reproduced this more briefly, and gave the ' Trans- lator ' as his authority. To have carried back a whole group of the legends about Henry V to the middle of the fifteenth century has both an historical and a literary interest. Some of them were bor- rowed by Shakespeare from the versions given by Stow and Holinshed. The fidelity with which those writers reproduced their originals adds to their credibility in other matters, which they relate upon evidence still unknown. No doubt there was a good deal of floating legend about Henry V ; and with this proof of the early date of some which have been doubted as sixteenth-century embellishments, we should hesitate to dismiss altogether any of the stories which have survived. The ' Translator ' has preserved no trace of the story of Henry and the Chief Justice. But that story belongs to another cycle which relates to the Prince's riotous hfe in London. Of these latter I shall have something to say in the next chapter.' Ormonde's stories relate not unnaturally to the Court and camp. Apart from the Ormonde stories the ' Translator ' has added nothing of historical importance. He inserts, it is true, long passages of his own composition, but they are for the most part moral disquisitions intended to point his purpose in writing. The work has, however, a distinct literary interest. »/ In his preface the ' Translator ' says that he had translated and reduced his originals into ' rude and homely EngUsh, from ,whome all pratique and famous inditinge is far exiled '. Never- theless, by this modest profession he shows that he wrote with ^ Id. pp. 130-2. " Id. pp. 167-71. ' See p, 107 below. F 2 68 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE a conscious intention of style, and, as a matter of fact, in his paraphrasing and expansion of Livio's Vita he displays con- siderable literary skill, as he does also in combining it with material from other sources. His didactic purpose, he wrote for an example to Henry VIII, and his own comments, if not profound, are in their way evidence of his sense of the his- torian's duty. His care in the citation of his authorities deserves also to be noticed. He has travelled far on the way towards writing history on modern methods. In the develop- ment of historical literature his work has, moreover, a distinct place. Stow not only borrowed from it some of the Ormonde stories, but was content to adopt with very slight change the ' Translator's ' renderings of Tito Livio and Monstrelet, even where they were erroneous. It is not too much to say that the ' Translator ' is the true author of the main part of Stew's history of Henry V, and through Stow and Holinshed the chief originator of the traditional view of Henry's character. It had been his chief object to magnify the fame of Henry V as a model for Christian princes, and this he helped to achieve by emphasizing and popularizing the official eulogy of Tito Livio. It is a curious irony that by preserving Ormonde's stories he should have contributed still more to the creation of the contrary side of his hero's character as the wild Prince HaL Edward Hall mentions amongst the authorities of whom he had made use 'John Basset ', and in the text of his Chronide, with reference to Henry V, writes : ' Peter Basset, esquire, j which at the time of his death was his chamberlain, afi&rmfith that he died of a Plurisis.' ^ Bale ^ attributes to Peter Basset ' Acta Regis Henrici Quinti '. Tanner * makes him author of ' De Actis Armorum et Conquestus Regni Franciae, ducatus Normanniae, ducatus Alenconiae, ducatus Andegaviae et Cenomanniae, etc. Ad nobilem virum Johannem Falstolf, baronem de Cyllcquotem '. Hearnc * speaks of ' adversaria imperfecta ' by Peter Basset, as preserved at the College of Arms ; apparently he obtained his information from Anstis, and it should therefore be authentic. Basset's work is not • Cliuniiilr, pp. viii, ii j ; Holiiislunl (iii. 134) quotes from Hall. « .S, (//./.DCS, p. .;(kS ; Ball" prolMibly (oUow-s Hall. •I Uiblutllicia Unlanitiai, 7.), « Preface to Elmham's ri/j, p. xxxi. BIOGRAPHIES OF HENRY V 69 mentioned in Black's Catalogtie of the Arundel MSS. ; but it might conceivably be buried amongst the papers of William Worcester, who was Fastolf's secretary. The suggested identification ^ of it with a French history in Arundel MS. 48, ff. 236-69, is untenable ; that work is a copy of the Chronique de Normandie.^ From Hearne's description it does not seem likely that Basset's work was either long or important. There is no reason to suppose that Hall borrowed much from it ; it might possibly have supplied him with such details as the names of persons knighted by Henry V.' Basset's Christian name was probably John ; there is no mention of a Peter Basset in the Patent Rolls; but a John Basset occurs as in the service of Henry V in 1418 and 1421.* In the Memorials of Henry F ^ in the Rolls Series there is a Life of Henry V, written in Latin by Robert Redmayne about 1540. It is a literary curiosity, but except for one or two small incidents, of which the chief is the story of the reception of the Emperor Sigismund by the Earl of Warwick at Calais,* has no value as history. It has, however, a certain interest for the growth of the stories of the Prince and the Chief Justice, and of the pretended debate on the French war in 1414.'' For these matters Redmayne was probably indebted to Elyot and Hall. The four Lives of Henry V with which this chapter has been chiefly concerned illustrate well the development of historical writing in England during the fifteenth century. We start with Elmham's Gesta, written in the manner and from the standpoint of a mediaeval churchman. We see in the works of Tito Livio and the Pseudo-Elmham the influence of the Early Renaissance and of classical models. The English translation of the Pseudo-Elmham shows how Latin was by the middle of the century losing its place as the popular medium, though there is yet no attempt at a new method of treatment. In the work of the 'Translator', just after the century had closed, we find a deUberate intention to write critical history in a form which would be acceptable to native readers. 1 Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. ix. 512 ; Diet. Nat. Biog. iii. 384. ' Black, Catalogue, p. 84 ; see Gesta, Henrici Quinti, p. viii. ^ Chronicle, p. 64. * Cal. Pat. Rolls, Henry V, ii. 148, 400. CHAPTER IV THE CHRONICLES OF LONDON The Chronicles of London are perhaps the most important for the student of sources of all the original authorities for English history in the fifteenth century. This is partly due to the lack of other continuous and more detailed narratives. But they have also an intrinsic value of their own, both a^ being in their origin strictly contemporary, and as presenting the popular opinion of the time on the events which they record. They are further of importance for the constant use which was made of them by other writers of their own ^e, and also by the historians of the sixteenth century. It is hardly too much to describe them as the primary Chronicle source of the period. At all events there is no other work for which such a claim could be made. The copies of these London Chronicles which have surNived are so numerous, and vary so much from one another, that a careful study of their relative importance and interdepen- dence is essential to their proper understanding. I dealt from this point of view with eight of the more important in the Introduction to my Chronicles of London. Whilst the main conclusions at which I there arrived stand, it is here necessary to take into account a number of other copies, some of which were not then accessible. First there are four versions for different periods between 1419 and 1446, which have been preserved as continuations of the Brut, and were printed by Dr. Brie in his edition of that Chronicle in 1908.^ In the second place there are the copies contained in Mr. R. Flenley's Six To'd'H Chronicles published in 1911. There are also a few others of less value.'-* But most important of all, the work quoted by John Stow as ' Fabian's MS.' has recently come to light and proved to be the fullest and most valuable copy ' Brut, pp. 440-90. " Soe especially pp. 292-8 below. THE CHRONICLES OF LONDON 71 of the London Chronicles which we possess.^ In addition to the originals it is also necessary to take into account the versions preserved by Fabyan, and by Stow in his Summary of the Chronicles of England. Altogether there are nearly thirty known copies, none of which are entirely identical. It is not to be supposed that these represent more than a small proportion of those that formerly existed. This adds at once to the necessity of attempting some classification, and to the difficulty of formulating positive conclusions. I will, however, begin with a brief account of the general quality and characteristics of the Chronicles. At a very early date it was no doubt found convenient by those concerned with the government of the City to have a readily accessible record, giving at least the succession of civic officers. To the record thus established it was natural to add year by year notices, whether of landmarks in the history of the City, or of some great event which had made the year in question memorable. The oldest of such extant records was of a definitely official character, and is contained in the Liber de Antiquis Legibus,^ compiled by Arnold Thedmar, an alderman, in 1274, and still preserved in the Record Room of the Guildhall. A second, which was perhaps also of an official character, is contained in the Annales Londonienses,^ possibly compiled by Andrew Horn, Chamberlain of the City, who died in 1328. Horn seems to have made use of a London Chronicle ending at 1289, which was probably to that point the main basis of the later English Chronicles of London. No doubt, however, there were written during the fourteenth century many other brief London Chronicles in Latin * or French. Of the latter, instances are to be found in the French additions to the Liber de Antiquis Legibus, and in G. J. Aungier's French Chronicle of London? 1 It is being edited by Mr. E. H. Dring. Stow's title is a misnomer ; see p. 83 below. The manuscript was formerly in the possession of Mr. W. Bromley-Davenport at Baginton Hall, Warwickshire ; see Hist. MSS. Comm., 3rd Report, App. p. 229. ^ Ed. by T. Stapleton for the Camden Society in 1846. ' ap. Chronicles of the Reigns of Edward I and Edward II, i. 4-251, Rolls Series, 1882. * For an instance of a Latin Chronicle ending in 1 388, seeHist. MSS. Comm. ii. 68 ; this manuscript belonged to John Stow. There is another, ending in 1 382, in Egferton MS. 288 5 . See further. Chronicles of London, pp. v-viii. * Ed. for Camden Society in 1844. 72 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE Dr. Brie argues with good reason that a City Chronicle was the main source of the Brut or General English Chronicle for the reign of Richard II.* It was not, however, till about the beginning of the fifteenth century that the English Chronicles of London began to take shape, and their chief importance as historical sources belongs to that age. As noted, the copies are very numerous, and we can trace nearly a dozen more or less distinct recensions as having been made during the century. At its close Robert Fabyan cast his New Chronicles of England and of France in the form of a City Chronicle, and took for his chief authority in English affairs one of the fuller versions of the London Chronicle. Even after the invention of printing the tradition was strong, and till well into the reign of Elizabeth we find instances of manuscript records kept in mayoral annals by citizens of London. A London Chronicle from 1527 to 1555 * was one of Stow's chief sources for the early editions of his Summary. The Greyfriars Chronicle^ which ends in 1556, is another instance. Wriothesley, whose Chronicle* ends in 1562, wrote in deliberate continuation of the City Chronicle of Richard Arnold, which was first printed in 1502. Stow himself put his Summary and its Abridgement in civic form, which he also retained for his Chronicles of England in 1580. Of Stow's Summary or Abridgement there were at least thirteen editions during his lifetime ; three editions of the former were published after his death by Edmond Howes, the latest being dated in-i6i8.' The long continuance of London Chronicles as a popular form of English history shows that they supplied a genuine need. Of their practical utility there is proof in Stow's description of the Summary Abridged as brought ' into a new form such as may both ease the purse and carriage ', and in his insertion of a calendar, the terms, the distances of towns from London, and the dates of the principal fairs. If more evidence was needed it could be found in the numerous examples of similar ' Geschichle und Quillrn, pp. 66, 67. * Camden Miscellany, xii. 1-43, witli nnotlicr example for 1547-64 on pp. 44-9. See al.so Klenloy, y\i. 97, .jS. •' Monumcnta J-'iiiiiciscaiia,\\. I43-.j(ki. " Ed. Camden Society, .'nd Serits, 11, 20. '' Siu Survey of London, i. Ixxxii-lxxxiv. THE CHRONICLES OF LONDON 73 chronicles kept in provincial towns. It cannot be doubted that the London Chronicles of the fifteenth century were in like manner intended to be of practical service to their owners. It is the common characteristic of the London Chronicles that events are recorded under the years of the mayoralty, each year being headed by the names of the Mayor and Sheriffs, with in some instances the Guilds to which they belonged. A new reign has generally a heading in Latin or English : ' These be the names of Mayors and Sheriffs of the City of London in the time of King,' &c. The mayoral years are then numbered throughout the reign : ' Anno primo,' ' Anno secundo,' &c. The mayoral year of London in the Middle Ages began on October 29, the day when the mayor went to take his charge in the Exchequer at Westminster. Consequently the mayoral and regnal years were hardly ever even approximately coterminous. Hence arises some difficulty in the chronology, as to which caution is necessary. In the reign of Henry IV, when the true regnal year began on October i, the difference was not of much moment. But in the reign of Henry V, though the true first regnal year began on March 20, 1413, the first year in the London Chronicles is naturally October 29, 1413, to October 28, 1414. Accordingly in Nicolas's Chronicle of London ^ the coronation of Henry V and the trial of Oldcastle appear under the last year of Henry IV. In Gregorys Chronicle ^ there is a note at this point — ' Walderne, mayor, the same xiiij yere of his fadyr [Henry IV], and the fyrste yere of the sone [Henry V], and thys ys rekynde but for oone yere.' The writer then repeats Waldern as mayor for ' Anno primo Henrici quinti ', and gives William Crowmer as mayor for the second year. But according to the more usual practice Crowmer would be reckoned as mayor for the first year. Gregory's Chronicle has in consequence the appearance of accuracy when it places Agincourt in the third instead of in the second mayoral year. For events which happened near the beginning or close of a mayoral year there is occasionally some confusion of chronology for the sake of convenience in ' * PP- 95. 96. " p. 107. 74 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE the narrative. Thus Gregory's Chronicle places the reception of Henry V in London in November 1415, along with Agin- court, under Thomas Falconer's year. In the older version, in Nicolas's Chronicle of London, Agincourt appears under Falconer's year and the triumph under that of his successor. The fact is that Gregory's Chronicle is at this point a copy of a late recension made in 1440, of which the peculiarities here noted are characteristic. Any difficulties as to the dates can, as a rule, be solved by reference to an authoritative list of the mayors.^ Generally the order of events is well preserved, especially in those parts of the Chronicles which most nearly represent the original contemporary record. In the Vitellius Chronicle for the reign of Henry VII the diary-like precision is so marked that an account of the Kentish rising of 1495 is interrupted to give at its proper date the dispensation of a citizen from serving as sheriff.^ The London Chronicles have sometimes been described as giving general English history from the point of view of the London citizen. This is not quite accurate, for as a rule the main theme of the Chronicles is afforded by events in and around London ; and the Chronicles contain much that is of specific interest for civic history. Nevertheless, it is true that for the historian of a larger sphere, one of the main interests of the London Chronicles is that they do reflect in a measure the popular opinion of the capital on events of the time. It must be remembered in consequence that they are not written without prejudice, and that they are less authori- tative for events at a distance, which they can only describe from report, than for those which took place in or near London and fell more or less within the writer's own knowledge. Along with much that is of general interest and importance the London Chronicles contain many small details, on robberies and fires in the City, on prices, and on the weather. Some of these are useful for social history, and some were no doubt of practical value at the time ; but they arc often trivial, and led Nash, in the reign of Elizabeth, to speak of ' Liy chronographers • See Stow, Suivw of l.oii,lon, ii. 149-S6. For the fifteenth century the ordinary lists are as a ruU- accurate, but before 1300 errors are common. ' Chronicles of London, p. .;o(i. THE CHRONICLES OF LONDON 75 that write of nothing but of Mayors and Sheriffs and the dere yere, and the great frost '.^ I will now turn to the history and classification of the Chronicles themselves. It is in the reign of Henry IV that ,/ the Chronicles first show signs of having been written in their present shape contemporaneously with the events which they record. In the earliest portion there are a number of small incidents, common to the majority of the Chronicles, which are clearly derived from a tablet of Latin historical memoranda formerly set up in St. Paul's Cathedral. This tablet, of which a copy is printed in Nicolas's Chronicle of London ^, ends in 1382. Thus we can fix the earliest date for the first composition of the English Chronicles. The year 1414 may be taken as approximately the latest date, since down to that point the variation of the different versions is nowhere so marked as to be incompatible with their derivation from a common original. Nor previous to that year is the division of the existing manuscripts into classes so clear as it becomes at a later stage. For instance, under 1409-10 it is evident that the accounts of John Badby's execution in Nicolas's Chronicle (or H.), Gregory's Chronicle (or G.), and the unprinted version of Cotton. MS. Julius B i all come from the same source; but the last named, which probably best represents the oldest version, in some verbal points resembles H. and in others G. ; Julius B i in this year adds only a notice of the rebuilding of the Stocks Market, which is found in H. but not in G., and omits all reference to the ' hurling in East Cheap ' by the King's sons, which is given by both H. and G.^ With the year of Agincourt there comes a marked divergence. Cotton. MS. Julius B ii resembles H., but not so closely that we can be certain of a common origin ; Julius B i and G. have only textual variations, whilst the Vitellius Chronicle (or V.), which belongs to the same class, has some additional matter, which clearly comes from a source used in H., namely the story of how the news of Agincourt was received in London.* The ^ Pierce Penilesse, ap. Works, ii. 62. 2 p. 175. ^ Id. p. 92 ; Gregory's Chronicle, p. 105. For the symbols made use of to designate various copies see the list on pp. 80- 1 below. * Chronicles of London, p. 369. 76 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE existence of separate versions is further attested by the appearance under 1416-17 in H. of two distinct accounts of the sea-fight off Harfleur.i We can thus already distinguish two main classes : the first represented by Julius B ii and H., to which after 1420 the Cleopatra Chronicle (or C.) also belongs ; the second by JuHus B i, G., and V. The date — 1414 — which is thus assumed for the early setting down in their present form of the English Chronicles of London is conjectural, and rests only on the internal evidence of the extant manuscripts. The first dates for which we can obtain other evidence are suppHed by three nearly contem- porary manuscripts— Harley 3775, St. John's College, Oxford, 57, and Cotton. Julius B ii — which end respectively in 1429, 1432, and 1432. But all three of these are clearly derived from older copies, and there can be little doubt that between 1414 and 1430 the London Chronicles were undergoing a constant process of rewriting and continuation. In the Introduction to my Chronicles of London 1 suggested that there was evidence for copies which ended in 1423 and 1427. The first of these dates is supported by the close resemblance to this point of Julius B i and G. ; whilst the second seemed to be indicated by the absence of any notice for 1427-8 in Julius B ii, and the interruption of its closest resemblance to H. and C.^ I had not then discovered the early copy in Harley 3775, which resembles H. to 1417, and from that date to 1429 agrees in turn with Julius B ii, H., and C. A com- parison of these four manuscripts suggests the possibility of copies which ended in 1417, 1419, 1421, and 1425.* It might be difficult to establish a positive case for any particular date. But the cumulative evidence of variation and agreement in the manuscripts is strongly in favour of their derivation from older and divergent copies ending at various dates. With 1430-2 we come to surer ground, and there can, I think, be no question of the completion of an important version in each of those three years. I will state briefly the evidence for each in turn. Version of 1430. The primary evidence is still internal. ' Nicolas, l.iniil. CInoii. pp. loi, lo.', 104. ■* Chroniiki of I.niidoit, p. xix. ' Sec further, p. 292 below. THE CHRONICLES OF LONDON 77 For 1429-30 H., Julius B ii, and C. all have a common original ; for 1430-1 and 1431-2 the two latter are in close agreement, but H. follows another source. The most prob- able explanation is that they were all derived from an original ending in 1430.^ There are other reasons for believing in the existence of this original. An important version of the Brut, which, as will be seen in the next chapter, is dependent on the London Chronicles, ends with this year.^ Moreover, the versions of 1431 and 1432, though markedly divergent from one another, both show signs of derivation from a fuller and probably common source. Such a source is to be found in ' Fabian's MS.', which, on account of its exceptional fullness, may be fitly described as The Great Chronicle. It is true that in its present form The Great Chronicle belongs to the later recension of 1440 ; but down to 1430 it is nevertheless the fullest copy which we possess, and combines in a superior form the distinctive features of both of the succeeding versions of 1431 and 1432. I conclude, therefore, that 1430 is the date of the first important recension of the Chronicles of London for which we can now obtain positive evidence. Traces of this version appear also to be preserved in H., in Dr. Erie's Appendix D, E., and Appendix E,* and Stow's copy in Harley 540. Version of 1431. This is well marked by 1430-1 as the last year for which the late copy Julius B i agrees with the ancient Vitellius F ix. The similar version of St. John's College, Oxford, MS. 57 ends with the names of the civic officers for 1432-3.* Version of 1432. For this we have conclusive evidence in Julius B ii, which ends with Lydgate's verses on the reception at London in February 1432. The Longleat MS., a sixteenth- century copy, appears to represent this version in a somewhat superior form.^ It has been important to state briefly the evidence in sup- port of the early versions of the Chronicles of London in order ^ The expression ' and he is called Martinus Quintus ', which is peculiar to Julius B ii (Chronicles of London, p. 72), points to an original written before February 1431. 2 See pp. 1 1 6- 1 7 below. ' Brvi, pp. 440, 444, 452. * Flenley, Six Town Chronicles, p. 62. ^ Id. pp. 57-60. 78 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE to bring out their strictly contemporary character. It will now be useful to summarize the results thus far obtained. The English Chronicles of London were first put into shape towards 1414. To this original continuations were added from time to time, between 1417 and 1430. An important and probably very full version was compiled in 1430, and from it were derived in 143 1 and 1432 two versions which have well- marked and distinctive characteristics. With the conclusions thus obtained from the London Chronicles themselves it is instructive to compare the evidence furnished by their deriva- tive, the Brut. As I shall show in the next chapter, there are traces of versions of the BriU which ended in 1415 and 1417 ; a version which ended in 1419 was probably made a little before 1430 ; and an important version ending with 1430 was certainly made in that or the succeeding year.^ The close agreement of these two sets of dates (arrived at independently) is remarkable, and its significance can hardly be set aside. With 1430-2 we have reached a marked stage in the develop- ment of the London Chronicles. That development was, however, continuous and progressive. The production of three separate versions within three years is sufficient proof that the Chronicles were in great request. Under such circum- stances new copies were constantly being produced, with con- tinuations bringing them up to date. There is evidence for the completion of more than one such copy during the follow- ing eight years (1432-40). 2 It would be a natural tendency for these latest additions to be long, and to include matter of only passing interest. It would also be natural that after a while some revised version should obtain a special vogue. The result of these tendencies appears in the next important stage. Version of 1440. This was to prove the most permanent of all the early versions. Its existence is most clearly shown by the fact that the close agreement of Grt\i:ory's Chronicle (G.) and the Vitcllius Chronicle (V.) ends at this point. Here J Sei' pp. 118-11), 131-2, ;oi) .^oi below. - Vitellius Fix ending in 1.130, and the Eshton Hall MS. ending in 1440, arc instances. Si-o p. 84 lielow. Cambridge I'liiv. Libr. Hh vi. 9 has a copy indinR in 1434. THE CHRONICLES OF LONDON 79 also the first hands both of V. and of The Great Chronicle stop. Confirmatory evidence is to be found in other quarters. It is ■with 1441 that the Latin Chronicle in Rawlinson B 355, and Robert Bale's Chronicle begin to be of independent interest.^ Evidence of a similar kind is to be found in Worcester's Annales,^ and perhaps also in Giles's Chronicle of Henry VI? The version of 1440 was essentially a compilation based on earlier versions, though preserving some matter not found in most earlier copies still extant or represented. But its greatest interest for us consists in the fact that it formed the basis of the most important later version. Version of 1445. This is represented only by Dr. Brie's F., and in a shortened form in Stow's copy in Harley 540. The first ends with the civic officers for 1445-6; the latter goes on to give a short notice for 1446-7. Version of 1446. A number of copies show that at this date a much abbreviated version was compiled, to be used by later writers as the basis for their longer continuations. The version of 1446 was the last definite recension of the earlier Chronicles. But numerous continuations appeared, and these may be grouped conveniently in three classes : — {a) Continuations of S., or the Short Version of 1446, to the early years of Edward IV. (i) Miscellaneous continuations from 1440 to various dates, (c) The Main City Chronicle, which was the source of the continuations of The Great Chronicle and of V., of Caxton's Chronicles, and of Fabyan. I will now proceed to a formal classification, of the extant copies of the Chronicles of London. It must, however, be remembered that of the main versions only those for 1431, 1432, and 1445 are represented by strictly contemporary copies, free from subsequent continuations. Some of the most important copies are as late as the reign of Edward IV. There is always the possibility that the scribe of a particular copy may have derived material from more than one of the earlier versions, or may have omitted things which did not appear ^ Flenley, Six Town Chronicles, pp. 64, 71. 2 See p. 163 below. ' See p. 157 below. 8o ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE to him to be of sufficient interest. As a matter of fact, nearly- all the extant copies contain some matter of peculiar value, whether in their independent conclusions, or in passages which in the process of selection chance to have been specially retained from some older version. In consequence there is much overlapping, and it is often difficult to assign a par- ticular copy without qualification to a particular class. For the sake of simplicity I avoid any attempt at minute sub- division, and content myself with an arrangement under the main groups. For a similar reason the independent con- tinuations of copies of the early versions will be dealt with in the classes to which their main texts belong ; the presence of such continuations will be shown by the date or dates attached. It will be obvious that some copies must appear in more than one class. Title. Date. PrinJed. I. Versions of 1430-2. (a) Version of 1430. The Great Chronicle 1440, 1496, 1 5 12 Ed. E. H. Dring, 1913. Harley 3775 1429 See pp. 2q:!-5 below. Harley 565 = H. 1443 Nicolas, Chronicle of Lon- don, pp. 1-133; "Sjg. Eshton Hall MS. ? 1440 (See Hist. MSS. Commis- sion, 3rd Report, p. 399). Appendix D 1428 Brut, pp. 440-3 ; ed- ^ 1908. E. H30 /d. pp. 444-51. Appendix E 1431 Id. pp. 45--5 (b) Version of mi. St. John's College, Ox- ford, 57 1432 (See Flenley, pp. 60-3). Vitellius F ix 1439 (See Chronicles of LondM, pp. xiii, xiv). Nicolas, pp. 153-71 ; Col- lections of a Londm Julius B i 1483 Citiuii, pp. 258-63; ChronicUs of London, pp. ^79-88. (c) Version of 14^2. Julius B ii I43i Chroiiiihs of London, pp. 1-116; 1905. I^onglcat MS. t43-' I'lciiU-y, pp. 99-101 ; 1911. Cleopatra C iv - C. 1443 Chronicles of London, pp. 117-53; 1905. Arundel Kj (College of Arms) '4.!-, 145- See pp. J96-8 below. THE CHRONICLES OF LONDON 8i Title. Date. Printed. II. Version of 1440. The Great Chronicle 1496, 1512 Ed. E. H. Bring, 191 3. Gregory's Chronicle = G. 1470 Collections of a London Citizen, pp. 57-183, ed. J. Gairdner, Camden Society, 1876. Vltellius A xvi = V. 1496, 1509 Chronicles of London, pp. 153-4, 265-75. Rawlinson B 355 1459 Flenley, pp. 101-13, 1911., Robert Bale's Chronicle 1461 7(i.pp. 114-53. III. Version of 1445. F. I44S Brut, pp. 456-90. Harley 540 1447 See pp. 295-6 below. IV. Version of 1446.^ Short English Chronicle = S. Three Fifteenth Century Chronicles, pp. 1-65, ed. J. Gairdner, Camden Society, 1880. Julius B i — Nicolas, Lond. Chron. pp. 1 33-5. 171-3- Harley RoU C 8 — Gk)ugh, London, 10 — — V. Continuations of S. Short English Chronicle 1465 U.S. pp. 65-80. Julius B i 1461 U.S. pp. 135-41- Harley Roll C 8 1462 — Arundel 19 (College of Arms) 1452 See pp. 296-8 below, VI. Miscellaneous Chronicles, 1440-85. Robert Bale's Chronicle 1461 Flenley, pp. 1 14-53- Gregory's Chronicle 1470 Collections of a London Citizen, pp. 183-239. Julius B i 1483 Nicolas, Lond, Chron. pp. 142-7. VII. The Main City Chronicle, 1440-85. The Great Chronicle 1496, 1512 Ed. E. H. Dring, 191 3. Vitellius A xvi = V. 1496, 1509 Chronicles of London, pp. 154-93- Rawlinson B 355 I4S9 Flenley, pp. 101-13. Gough, London, 10 1471, 1495 Id. pp. 153-64. Fabyan's Chronicle 1485, 1509 Ed. Ellis, 18 12. See also : Caxton's Chronicles 1461 Brut, pp. 491-533 1 All the copies of this version have continuations. 1458 82 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE I will now discuss the main characteristics and importance of the several extant copies under their classes in order. I. The Versions of 1430-2 It has seemed best to put the versions of these three years in one class, with subdivisions, because the version of 1430 can only be restored conjecturally, and because the two versions of 1431 and 1432 appear to branch off directly from it, (a) Veriion of 1430. The Great Chronicle. Although this copy in its present form belongs to the version of 1440, it appears to represent most fully the earlier version of 1430, since it combines the characteristic features of both the versions of 1431 and 1432. Like Julius B i it gives the appointments for the surrender of French towns,' and the terms of the Treaty of Troyes ; the feasts made for Sigismund in 1416, and at the coronations of Catherine in 1421 and of Henry VI in 1430 ; * the full accounts of the Par- liaments of 1423-8 ; 3 the full text of Henry Beaufort's letter to Bedford in 1426 ; * the English conquests in Guienne ; * and Philip of Burgundy's letter to Henry VI in May 1430.* Like Julius B ii it has the long account of the revolution of 1399,' the text of the Lollards' Bill of 1410,* and the Articles and Arbitrament between Henry Beaufort amd Humphrey of Gloucester in 1426.' In smaller matters it appears to ap- proach more nearly to H. The story of how after the afiFray at St. Dunstan's in the East in 1417 the Lord Strange had to do penance seems to be pecuUar ; it is quoted by Stow." It is thus clear that in The Great Chronicle we have the most ample extant representation of the English Chronicles of London in their earliest form. Its identity with the volume which Stow repeatedly quoted as ' Fabian's MS.' " is shown by its complete agreement with his citations ; notes in Stow's ' Falaise, Rouen, Meaux, Pont-Meulan, Lp Mans. Cf. Collfctions of a London Citizen, pp. 117-38, 143-8, 150-3, ;i;8-6j ; Chrotticlrs of London, p. 286. • Nicolas, Chron. Land. pp. 162-5, 168-9 ; lor Sigismund see GregOfy's Chronicle, p. 113. " Chronicles of London, pp. 379-88. * Id. p. 84. ' Id. pp. 283-4. • Nicolas, p. 170. ' Chtotticlfs of London, pp. 19-6J. » Id. pp. 65-8. » Id. pp. 76-94. •» AnnaUs, p. 352. " Sec Chronicles of London, pp. xxvii-xxix ; Survey of London, ii. 275, 280, 283, 303, 305-6, 310, 317, 365-(., 377. THE CHRONICLES OF LONDON 83 writing appear in various places. Stow's description of it suggested that it was a manuscript copy of Fabyan's own Chronicle, or at least of the London portion of it. That it certainly is not ; for instance, in the Lollards' Bill it agrees with Julius B ii, and not with the printed Fabyan, and in 1432 Lydgate's verses are given without Fabyan's characteristic variations. It is possible, however, that the manuscript may have belonged to Fabyan, though the later continuation must have been added after his death. It seems to have been used for the 1559 edition of Fabyan. A hand of the middle of the seventeenth century has added a fly«leaf in which it is described as ' Fabyan's Chronicle '. In 1702 it was in the possession of the family of Bromley-Davenport at Baginton Hall in Warwickshire, where it remained till a few years ago.^ The earlier portion, down to 1440, is in a hand of the reign of Edward IV. With the contents subsequent to 1430 I shall deal later.^ The Chronicles in Harley 3775, and Nicolas's Chronicle of London, or H., are best placed under the version of 143a because, apart from The Great Chronicle, they seem to represent most nearly the original archetype. These two Chronicles are closely related, and lack both the sets of long documents which are distinctive of the versions of 1431 and 1432, all of which seem to have been comprised in the version of 1430, This omission, coupled with the fact that Harley 3775 ends with the names of the civic ofi&cers for 1429-30, may point to the early circulation of a shorter version. In other respects, however, the two Harley copies, at all events down to 1417, furnish us conjointly with one of the fullest examples which has survived. Harley 3775, though the older manuscript, is of distinctive importance only for 1413-14, and for 1418-19, in which two years it best preserves the older originals.* Before ' See Hist. MSS. Comm. ii. 80, where it is very imperfectly describesd. See also Lot 326 in Catalogue of Sale, May 8, 1903, at Sotheby's. It is no doubt the copy of Fabyan which Sir H. Ellis described as existing in a private Library in Warwickshire. I have to thank Mr. E. H. Dring for his great courtesy in allowing me to examine the manuscript, which is now in the possession of Mr.- Quaritch. 2 See pp. 91, 100, 1 01 below. i " See further, pp. 292-5 below ; there are a few small points of a similar, quality between 1414 and 141 6. G 2 84 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE 1413 and between 142 1 and 1425 it is inferior to H., and as regards those periods does not call for separate consideration. More perhaps than any of the other copies H. is throughout of a distinctively civic character. But though events in or about London are its chief concern, it includes also some niatter of wider interest. The account of the relations between Henry of Monmouth and his father in 1412^ is of peculiar value ; and for small points concerning the Lollard move- ment* and the French war it is helpful in conjunction with the longer accounts. Under 1423-4 there is a story of how Henry VI, then less than three years old, cried and screamed when they tried to make him travel on a Sunday ; ' this might have been taken for part of the saintly legend of the King but for its appearance in a Chronicle of such early date ; it is given also in the version of 1431.* The allusion to Joan of Arc as a false witch, through whose help our adversaries trusted to have conquered all France, for they held her amongst them for a prophetess and a worthy goddess,^ is interesting as the one absolutely contemporary reference in English sources outside Records ; the conclusion that it was written in 1430 is confirmed by the absence of any reference to Joan's execution. For the next eight years, from 1431 to 1439, H., preserving its civic character, is not peculiarly valuable. Down to 1439 it is closely resembled by Vitellius F ix, which ends ' and that made Bakers lordes, but I pray God lette us never see that day no more, if hit be his wille '.' The Eshton Hall 1 MS. ended originally in the following year with : ' And the good man of the Egle had moche harme as it is seyd.' ^ H. and these two other copies may represent a Continuation compiled in 1439-40. For the last four years, 1439-43, H. is independent and valuable ; like all the London Chronicles it is of interest for the downfall of Eleanor Cobham. At the end of the manu- script there are given Lydgate's verses on the reception of ' Nicolas, Land. Chron. pp. 94, 95. 3 ' Id. pp. 97, 99 ; cf. pp. 293-4 below. Id. p. 112. « Chrouichs of London, pp. 279-80. • Nicolas, p. 1 18 ; cf. Chronicles of London, p. 96, and Brut, p. 439. THE CHRONICLES OF LONDON 85 Henry VI at London in February 1432 ; this seems to indicate that the writer had used a copy of the version of 1432 in addition to his principal original. The date at which H. was written is fixed for 1443-4 by a list of the Kings of England on folio I of the manuscript (Harley 565), where Henry VI is stated to have reigned twenty-one, years. The Chronicle in Dr. Erie's Appendix D^ would seem to belong to the version of 1430 ; unless, as is possible, it repre- sents a still earlier copy. But it is connected closely with Dn Erie's D.,^ which is the 1430 version of the Brut. In these two Chronicles the City Chronicle appears in the process of transformation into a continuous narrative in chapters as part of the Brut ; in D. the process is complete ; in Appenf dix D the names of mayors and sheriffs are given, but only for four years out of ten, whilst the successive paragraphs begin ' And in this same yere ', without any indication of change of date. The chronology must therefore be rectified by comparison with more perfect copies. In its contents Appendix D most nearly resembles H., though in some details it approximates to Julius E ii and C, and has also some peculiar matter especially under 1427-8. Dr. Erie's E. and Appendix E end respectively in 1430 and 1431.^ E. is marked by an account of the coronation feast of Queen Catherine, but these Chronicles from 1427 to 1430 show more resemblance to G. than to Julius E i. It is there- fore more reasonable to regard them as based on the version of 1430 than on its derivative of 1431. The notice for 1431 in Appendix E is unimportant. Both E. and Appendix E preserve their civic form ; the former as printed puts the events of 1427-8 under 1423-4, but a leaf may be missing in the manuscript.* The specimens of City Chronicles which have thus been preserved in the Brut all come from manuscripts of a late date, but appear to preserve something of the version of 1430, or of the earlier copies from which that version was compiled. ^ Brut, pp. 440-3 : from Cambridge Univ. Libr. MS. Hh vi. 9. a Id. pp. 394-439- ^ Brut, pp. 444-55 : E. comes from Egerton MS. 650 at the British Museum, Appendix E from Rawlinson MS. B 173 in the Bodleian Library. * Between f. 113 and f. 114 ; cf. Brut, p. 449. 86 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE No doubt they were added by the scribes in order to carry on the imperfect narrative in the copy of the Brui which they were using. This is illustrated by a naYve note in Egerton MS. 650, the main narrative of which ends in 1418.1 The scribe there explains : ' Here is no more of the sege of Rone : and }>at is because we wanted pe trewe copy yeroi : bot who so euer owys )»is boke may wryte it oute in \)e henderend of )?is boke, or in jie for^erend of it, whene he gettes j^e trew copy.' This indicates that the addition of civic endings to copies of the Brut was due merely to the lack of more finished material. That the continuation stops short with 1430 may be accepted as proof that the scribe's copy of the City Chrooicle extended no further. (b) Version of 1431. The distinctive features of this version have been specified above.^ The most characteristic are the agreements for the surrender of towns in France. The long account of the revolution of 1399 ^i^d the Lollards' Bill do not appear. Under 1425-6 the Arbitrament between Henry Beaufort and Humphrey of Gloucester is given, but the Articles are omitted, though Beaufort's letter to Bedford is quoted in full instead of partially as in the version of 1432.^ For this year the versions of 1431 and 1432 must have had a common original, which we can find in The Great Chronicle. For the reign of Henry IV this version of 1431 has a certain interest as resem- bling sometimes H. and sometimes G. For the year of Agincourt the narrative shows some resemblance to that of C. Under Henry VI the most valuable things are the accounts of the treason of Sir John Mortimer, and of the financial legisla- tion of the Parliaments of 1423 to 1428. Of the three chief copies of this version the St. John's College MS. is noteworthy as one of the oldest extant copies of the English Chronicles of London. It ends with the names of the City officers for 1432-3, and was probably written not ' At ' manfully countcrcil with our Engh'sslimen ' ; see Brui, p. 390i 1. 28. Egerton 650 thus far follows the version of the Brut, which ends in 141 9 ; SCO p. 1 1() hclow. ' See on p. 8^ ;il)ovi'. " C(. Chronicles of London, p. 84. THE CHRONICLES OF LONDON 87 long afterwards. In some places it seems to resemble H. more closely than Julius B i, but it contains nothing of value which is not printed elsewhere.^ The other two — Vitellius F ix and Julius B i — present only textual variations. The former is an early copy, probably written in 1439; the latter a very late one, not earlier than 1483. After 1432 Vitellius F ix is related to H., and Julius B i to S. (c) Version of 1432. Of this version the most obvious characteristic is the inclu- sion of Lydgate's verses on the reception of Henry VI, with which it originally ended. But it is also remarkable for having preserved from its longer original the account of the revolu- tion of 1399, the Lollards' Bill, and the Articles and Arbitral- ment of 1425-6. These documents occupy by far the greater part of the Chronicle. The rest of the narrative resembles H., but is very much shorter and consequently of less value. The account of the revolution of 1399 ^ is similar to those in the Annates Ricardi Secundi and Annales Henrici Qtiarti,^ but is on the whole the most complete history of the Parliament of 1399 which has survived. As compared with the Annales it presents some marked variations. The account of Henry's coronation is quite different ; there is a nearly complete list of the new knights of the Bath, and the actual words of the challenge of Dymmok, the King's champion, are given. But of more importance are the minute and vivid descriptions of the scenes between Aumarle and his opponents during the subsequent sessions of the Parliament. This English narrative is a translation of Latin and French originals, of which imper- fect copies are preserved in Bodley MS. 596, where they occur in association with a brief London Chronicle in Latin, which ends in 1418.* A translation of part of the Bodley MS. is printed in Archaeologia? This narrative was made use of by Fabyan, and through him by Holinshed, probably from a copy of The Great Chronicle. The Lollards' Bill of 1410 is incorrectly assigned in Julius B ii * Flenley, pp. 60-2. * Chronicles of London, pp. 1 9-62, ^ Annales, Sec, pp. 254-311. * With the untimely end of John Bryan, see p. 295 below. * XX. 275-81. 88 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE to 1407. The Great Chronicle and the Longleat MS., like Walsingham ^ and Fabyan,* give the true date. The text of the Bill was long known only through an imperfect copy preserved by Fabyan. It is noteworthy that The Great Chronicle agrees with the other London Chronicles and not with Fabyan. Fabyan's inclusion of it in his Chronicle may have been the cause of the traditional censure of his work by Cardinal Wolsey. The Lollards' Bill is very similar to a docu- ment put forth by Jack Sharpe in 1431 ; * the near coincidence of this with the revision of the London Chronicle in 1430 is interesting, but probably accidental. The Articles and Arbitrament of 1425-6, as given in the ver- sion of 1432, lack the full text of Beaufort's letter to Bedford Thus the documents are complete only in The Great Chronicle, whilst the version of 1431 is less perfect than that of 1432. The London Chronicles furnish us with the oldest extant copies of these documents, superior alike to the official text in the Rolls of Parliament,* and to the late and somewhat different copies in the Chronicles of Arnold * and Hall.* The prejudice of the London Chronicles is illustrated by the favour which they show at this point for Humphrey of Gloucester. Lydgate's verses for the pageant of February 1432 come in the body of the text in all true copies of the version of 1432. Their appearance in The Great Chronicle shows that it followed this version as the continuation of the previous version of 1430. H., as noted above, has the verses at the end of the manuscript. The Longleat MS. stops short in the middle at the second line of the twenty-third stanza. Of minor matters in the version of 1432 the only noteworthy point is the account of Agincourt, which differs somewhat from that in H. The Longleat MS. has a few variants (of no great importance) from Julius B ii ; they are printed by Mr. Flenley.' The Cleopatra Chronicle (or C.) is naturally assigned to the version of 1432, by the inclusion of Lydgate's verses in the text. But it is only for the years from 1420 to 1432 that it belongs strictly to this class. From 1420 to 1429 it agrees 1 Hist. Angl. ii. 282. ■ p. 575. a up. Amundesham, .-I Huafas, i. 453-6. « Rolls of Parliament, iv, 296-8. » Customs of London, pp. 387-300. " Chronicle, pp. 130-7. ' Flenley, pp. 99-101. THE CHRONICLES OF LONDON 89 very closely with Harley 3775, except that under 1424^5 it gives the sentence omitted in that copy.^ Consequently it agrees with Julius B ii for 1421 to 1425, as it does again for 1429 to 1432. C. begins imperfectly in 1415 and ends in 1443. The notices for 1417 to 1420 are an insertion made on a blank page from the short version of 1446.2 Those for 1440 to 1443 agree nearly with H. The rest of the Chronicle consists of two peculiar and valuable passages, viz. for the years 1415 and 1416, and 1433 to 1440. The first begins imperfectly in the middle of the siege of Harfleur, and ends in June 1416. Linguistically it is the most ancient passage in the London Chronicles, and historically it is one of the most valuable. It may be described as a cento of original documents, which is the more precious by reason of the lack of skill which pre- vented the compiler from destroying their true character. The lists of hostages at Harfleur and the itinerary of Agincourt appear to be based on official or semi-official records. In the account of the battle itself we get a noteworthy ballad, of which the compiler began, but fortunately did not finish, a prose paraphrase. The list of prisoners agrees so closely with the apparently official bulletin, of which a copy is preserved in the Salisbury City archives,^ that we are justified in assuming that it is derived therefrom.* Under 1416 there is a useful notice of the fighting round Harfleur, and a description of the early part of the visit of Sigismund, which is important as showing the popular opinion on the negotiations between the Emperor, the English king, and the French princes. As noted in the previous chapter,^ the original appears to have been known to Tito Livio, perhaps through a copy of the Brut, one version of which shows points of resemblance to the Cleopatra Chronicle.* The second independent part of C, from 1432 to 1440, is of peculiar interest for the frequent notices of the war in France down to 1438. They are valuable both as one of the best of the scanty narratives of the war ^ See p. 292 below. ^ See p. 94 below, and Chronicles of London, pp. 126-7. ' Printed by ChampoUion-Figeac in Z-eWf^s (Z« Rois, Reines, &c., ii. 337-9 (Documents inedits sur I'histoire de France). * Harley 3775 supplies the explanation ; see p. 294 below. ^ See p. 54 above. ' Brut, pp. 554-7 ; see p. 123 below. 90 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE from the English side, and also as supplementing the fuller accounts of the French writers. A chronicle of the same type was made use of by Hall in the sixteenth century. Apart from its account of the war C. between 1433 and 1440 resembles G. and v., but with some additions in the last three years. C. is a composite Chronicle written in three different hands of about the same date : (i) for 1415-16 ; (2) for 1417-20 ; (3) for 1420- 43. The third cannot be earlier than 1446, since reference is made to the confinement of Eleanor Cobham in the Isle of Man.^ The second is probably the latest written. Arundel 19 at the College of Arms is an abbreviated copy of this version. It does not contain any of the documents which are characteristic of the longer copies ; but is marked as belonging to this version by a prose paraphrase of Lydgate's verses, and by the fact that its chief original did not extend beyond 1432. At one point it shows a slight resemblance to Gregory's Chronicle^ and to the version of 1431' in giving a brief account of the attack on St. James de Beuvron in 1426. The notices from 1432 to 1446 are very meagre; but the Chronicle from 1446 to 1452 is of a special character.* The manuscript was probably written in 1475, since the names of the mayors and sheriffs are entered down to that year. But the Chronicle is clearly a copy of an original written in 1452. A sixteenth-century hand has added a few notes for the later years. It has been convenient to treat the contents of the versions of 1431 and 1432 separately. But it will be obvious that the whole of the versions of 1430-2 will be best used in The Great Chronicle, which combines the long version of 1430 with the Continuation of 1432. For the eight subsequent years to 1440 the narrative of The Great Chronicle is of an ordinary civic type, approximating most nearly to that of G. II. The Version of 1440 It is clear that a number of copies of tlu- London Chronicles ended in or about 1440. With the simple continuations of which II. may he taken as rcprcscntati\o wc are not further ' Chronicles of I. mid, m, p. 149. a p. 161. " Nicolas, l.oiidon Chtoiiule, p. 167. ♦ Scopp. 05and ;96-8 below. THE CHRONICLES OF LONDON 91 concerned. But it is also clear that in this year there was a revision of the Chronicles, which obtained popularity as the standard text to that date. This is now represented directly by G. and V. Its main source was naturally the version of 1430. Down to 1423 it resembles the version of 1431 in giving the agreements for the surrender of French towns> though it does not do so as fully. Between 1423 and 1430 it resembles rather H., and Dr. Brie's E. and Appendix E. This may be accounted for by its independent derivation from the version of 1430 ; or it may be due to the existence of separate versions for 1423-30. The Articles of 1425-6 do not appear at all, though the narrative for these years is fuller than that of H. Like the version of 1431 it contains the coronation feasts, and is peculiar for its long description of the ceremonies at the English coronation of Henry VI. It shows affinity to the version of 1432 by giving a paraphrase of Lydgate's verses ; much of the narrative for 1430-2 comes from that version. From 1432 to 1440 this version most nearly resembles the civic part of C. Of the two principal manuscripts V. is on the whole the better copy ; the first chronicle in V. ends at this point, and is written in a hand of the latter part of Henry VI ; it preserves some noteworthy variations.^ G. is a later copy, probably written in 1470. The chronological peculiarities for 1413-14, and 1415-16 ^ are a feature of the version of 1440 ; their appearance in The Great Chronicle marks that copy as derived from the version of 1440 as well as from those of 1430 and 1432. Robert Bale seems to have taken the version of 1440 as the basis for his own Chronicle.* The Latin Chronicles in Rawlinson B 355 * and in William of Worcester's Annales ^ are derived from this version. There may also be traces of it in Giles's Chronicle of Henry V I.^ III. The Version of 1445 This is a peculiar version, containing exceptional matter which calls for special notice. It is best represented by 1 See Chronicles of London, pp. 265-75. ^ See pp. 73, 74 above. * Flenley, p. 71. * Id. p. 64. * See p. 163 below. « See p. 157 below. 92 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE Dr. Erie's F.,^ which covers the period for 1430 to 1445, but gives the names of the mayor and sheriffs for 1445-6; it may therefore be assigned at the latest to the early part of 1446. Another copy, in the writing of John Stow in Harley MS. 540, preserves some, but not all, of the most interesting passages of this version ; it begins, however, in 1420, and adds a brief notice for 1446-7 on the combat between an armourer and his servant in Smithfidd, which is given in a different form in G. Stow's original clearly differed from Dr. Erie's F. The early part of Harley 540, from 1420 to 1430, is very brief, but has a few things otherwise found only in Dr. Erie's three earlier civic texts ; like them it may preserve relics of the version of 1430 or its older sources.* The narrative from 1430 to 1440 may represent the fuller original of the civic part of C, and of the version of 1440 ; the concluding portion, from 1440 to 1445, is new and of great interest. Apart from the military chronicle peculiar to C, this version of 1445 is for its period the most valuable which has survived. Eetween 1430 and 1440 there are fuller notices of various small matters found in other copies and also some that are new, particularly in civic matters. But there are likewise some passages of wider interest. The chief of these is a long account of the reception of Henry VI at Paris in December 1431 ; it confirms the narratives of Monstrelet ^ and the Journal d'un Bourgeois de Paris* but is independent of them ; probably it is derived from the narrative inserted in ' Letter-book K ' ' at the Guildhall, which Delpit thought might have been written by the Master of the Ceremonies, and described as surpassing all other accounts in its wealth of detail.* The similar descrip- tion of the London pageant for Henry's return in February 1432 seems also to be the work of an eyewitness, and to be independent of Lydgate's verses ; ' Letter-book K ' may again be the source, the narrative given there was written by 1 Brut, pp. 456-90, from Trin. Coll. Camb. MS. O 9. i. Another copy— Camb. Univ. Libr. Hh vi. 9— ends in 1434 : this is the manuscript from which Appendix D comes. » See pp. 2c)5-6 below. 3 Chroniiiues, v. 1-7. * pp. 274-80, cil. liutcy. ' Sharpe, Cnliiulm oj LctUr-hook h\ pp. 135-7. " Delpit, Collfitwii lies Docuiiii-iils, pp. clx, 238-44. THE CHRONICLES OF LONDON 93 John Carpenter, the town clerk.^ The descriptions of the pageants appear in both copies of this version. Dr. Erie's F. alone has a long account of the siege of Calais in 1436, and of Humphrey of Gloucester's expedition into Flanders,^ which is the fullest and most original of the narratives for these events in the London Chronicles. In the concluding portion for 1440 to 1445 the most note- worthy passage is an entirely novel account of the fall of Eleanor Cobham.^ A story that she fell under suspicion of witchcraft by reason of a storm which overtook the King when riding through London on July 19, 1441, would be un- tenable on grounds of chronology alone ; but it is interesting for the suggestion that the attack on her was due to her own unpopularity, and was not merely a political move on the part of her husband's enemies. The further novel statement that Eleanor and Humphrey were ' devorsed and departed as for matrimony made before between them two ' is of interest both as showing why Eleanor was subsequently styled ' late duchess of Gloucester ', and also for its suggestion that there was an endeavour to save the Duke's honour, and that Hum- phrey himself may not have been an altogether unwilling party to the proceedings. On the other hand there is evidence that Eleanor was not without her sympathizers ; the ordinary London Chronicles mention the fate of a poor woman who used ungodly words to the King and was pressed to death for refusing to plead ; * here it is added that she ' reviled the King for dame Eleanor, that he should have her home to her husband , , . with which words the King waxing wroth, took it to heart and sent her to prison ', Eleanor is alleged to have denied the charge against her, and " said that she did it for to have borne a child by her lord ' ; this refers clearly tO the image which she was said to have made for the King's undoing, but it puts a different complexion on the purpose of her practice of the black art. A large part of the rest of the Chronicle is occupied with the marriage of Margaret of Anjou, and is of particular interest for the narrative of Suffolk's embassy to Tours for ^ Liber Albus, ii. 457-64, Rolls Series. 2 Brtd, pp. 469-70. * 14- pp. 477-82. 1 Nicolas, p. 133 ; Chronicles of London, p. 152. 94 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE her betrothal in 1444, and for the youthful Queen's reception in England and entry into London.^ It is to be noted that in this narrative there is no suggestion of hostility to Suffolk and his pohcy. The Chronicle ends with a record of the French embassy to treat 'for a final peace' in 1445. Both for Eleanor Cobham and for Margaret of Anjou Dr. Erie's chronicle includes some matter not found in Stow's manuscript. Other passages of interest are the accounts of the combat of John Ashley with Sir Philip le Beef, a knight of Aragon, in 1442,^ and of the burning of St. Paul's steeple in 1445.* These last two passages, together with some smaller stories, were made use of by Stow in the later editions of his Survey of London* in 1603, and of his Annales ^ in 1605. IV. The Short Version of 1446 This version is for the most part very brief, and is no more than an abbreviation from a copy of the previous version, with the omission of almost all that was of peculiar interest. The version has not, however, been preserved in its original form. The oldest extant fragment is the narrative for 1417 to 1420, which seems to have been interpolated on a blank leaf in C* Harley Roll C 8 dates from 1462, and S. (Lambeth 306) from 1465. Julius B i and Gough ' are much later. All the copies show frequent textual variations. In the account of the expedition into Flanders in 1436, the Harley Roll and Julius B i most nearly resemble the original in Dr. Brie's F. V. The Continuations of S. These are of more interest and importance than the abbre- viated Chronicle to which they are attached. The three copies — S., Harley Roll C 8, and Julius B i — ^between 1447 and 1460 clearly come from the same source or sources. The variations in their texts indicate the probability that they depend on more than one intervening copy. Possibly one such copy ended at 1448, for the three extant versions agree in having no notice for 1448-9. Under 1449-50 S. has an > Brut, pp. 485-6, 488-9. « Id. p. 48J. » Id. p. 487. * >• 37. 97. 32(1 ; ">■ ii, 7'>. 7>. 75. 76. " PP- 592-3. f>^7, 'M*>, <>3.', "1- 1605 ; pp. j6i, 3SJ-4, cd. 1631. « Sec p. Hy above. J See Flenley, p. 77. THE CHRONICLES OF LONDON 95 excellent and indispensable account of Jack Cade's rebellion, where the other two manuscripts agree in a much shorter description. From 1451 to 1458 the Chronicle is brief ; but the three copies appear to be derived from the same source, though with considerable textual variation, especially under 1454-5. From 1458 to 1462 S. and the Roll resemble one another in a narrative which is much longer and better than that of Julius B i. The Roll, though it is the older manu- script (it ends in February 1462), is the inferior. S. continues with a somewhat brief narrative to 1465. Apart from the account of Cade's rebellion the history of the two years 1458-60 in S. is the most valuable. For the last five years — 1461-5 — the Chronicle, though brief, has some useful details. Like all the London Chronicles of the time it is definitely Yorkist. The Chronicle for 1446-52 in Arundel 19 is best put in this class. The scribe seems to have used the same Short Version of 1446 for his short entries from 1433 to 1446. He has a similar notice for 1446-7, and, like the copies just described, has none for 1448-9. But his narrative for 1449-52 would appear to represent one of the original sources of the Main City Chronicle. The notice for 145 1-2 is made particu- larly valuable by its precise chronology.^ VL Miscellaneous Chronicles, 1440-85 These have nothing in common, and are only grouped together for convenience. {a) Robert Bale's Chronicle (1440-61). Robert-Bale is described by John Bale {d. 1563), who owned the manuscript (Trinity College, Dublin, E 5. 9), as a native of London, a lawyer, and a judge ; Tanner adds incorrectly that he was Recorder of London.^ Nothing is really known about him ; but his Chronicle is a valuable and contemporary original, though it shows a Yorkist bias and a partiality for Warwick the King-maker. As far as 1440 Robert Bale followed the version of that year, whilst for 1440 to 1442 he used the older narrative of H. and C. From 1442 onwards 1 See pp. 297-8 below. * cf_ pienley, pp. 68-70. 96 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE his Chronicle is an original work except for some possible indebtedness to the Main City Chronicle at the start. It is throughout valuable for the illustration which it affords of the disordered state of England in the latter part of the reign of Henry VI. Still, its value consists rather in small details and in its presentment of contemporary opinion than in anything of distinct novelty. But the history of 1449 to 1451 is note- worthy, and useful for its precise chronology. (b) Gregory's Chronicle (1440-70). The early part of G. down to 1440 has been already de- scribed.^ The whole Chronicle, which comes from Egerton MS. 1995 in the British Museum, is written in the same hand, the later continuation ending abruptly in 1470. For the last thirty years it is the best of the London Chronicles, and is one of the most valuable authorities which we possess at all. It owes its name of Gregory's Chronicle to the entry under 1451-2, when William Gregory was mayor, of a note of ' the greatest pardon that ever came to England from the Conquest unto this time of my year, being mayor of London '.* Since Gregory died in 1467,* he cannot possibly have been the author of the whole Chronicle as it now stands. The Chronicle falls into three sections, (i) for 1440-51, (2) 1451-3, and (3) 1454-70. The first section, though it contains some peculiar matter, is not without points of resemblance to other London Chronicles. The account of Cade's rebellion is, however, remark- able as based on personal knowledge. Up to 1451 the names of the civic officers are properly given,- but from that year onwards the entries are careless, and some names are omitted altogether. The notice for 1451-2 contains nothing but the account of the pardon, and that for 1452-3 is merely a retro- spect of a year that was ' competent well and peaceable for any rising among ourselves ' ; the names of the mayor and sheriffs for 1453-4 are given, but those for the next year are omitted ; there is no notite for 1453-4, and the notice for 1454-5 is entered as if it belonged to the mayor of the previous year ; this error has made the chronology from 1453 to 1460 faulty. It is possible, though not vcrv likelv. that Gregory THE CHRONICLES OF LONDON 97 may have been the author of the Chronicle from 1440 to 145 1 ; if he were the author of such a work, it would be strange that he should have omitted everything of importance in the year of his own mayoralty. It would be more reasonable that the two curious notices for 1451-3 should have been added by Gregory as personal notes at the end of his copy of the Chronicle.! The omission of any notice for 1453-4 points to a break at that date. The remainder of the Chronicle seems to be the work of a single writer, and cannot therefore be Gregory's. Of the later portion of the Chronicle Dr. Gairdner writes : ^ ' It is clear that during the remainder of Henry VI's reign, or at least till the last year of it, the continuator does not chronicle the facts so immediately after their occurrence as Gregory did before he was mayor.' That the account of the last years of Henry VI was not absolutely contemporary is conjectural only, but the date of the composition of the concluding portion from 1461 onwards can be proved on the evidence of incidental allusions. Under 1461 the writer states that Dr. Morton ■ schapyd a way longe tyme after, and ys by yonde the see with the queue ' ; this points conclusively to the entry having been written after April 1463, when Margaret began her long exile, and before the restoration of Henry VI in the autumn of 1470, when Morton returned. A similar conclusion may be drawn from the reference, under 1465-6, in the present tense to Henry Parker, who died in 1470, and from the statement under the same year, that John Milverton had been released from San Angelo, but was still detained at Rome. Milverton was released in 1468 ; consequently the Chronicle, as it now stands, must have been composed not earlier than that year, nor later than the summer of 1470.' The Chronicle ends abruptly in the spring of 1470 ; something has certainly been lost, but probably not more than a leaf or two. Whether Gregory's Chronicle from 1440 to 1470 is the work of more than one hand or not, it is marked throughout by a curiously personal note, though mostly in the concluding 1 See Kriehn's English Rising of 14^0, pp. lo-i 5, for an argument against Gregory's authorship. Dr. Kriehn suggests that the entry for 145 1-2 may be due to some other mayor ; this seems superfluous. 2 Collections of a London Citizen, p. xxiii. ' Id. pp. 218, 228, 232. 1458 H 98 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE portion, the writer of which, as Professor Oman* observes, had a strong sense of humour and a merry wit. ' Meat and drink was dear enough as though it had been in the land of war, for a shoulder of mutton was sold for izd. ; and as for bedding, Lyard my horse had more ease than some good yeomen ; for my horse stood in the house, and the yeomen sometimes lay without in the street ; for less than 4^. a man should not have a bed a night. Lo, how soon they could play the niggards ! ' ^ In the first part of Gregory's Chronicle, save for the expres- sion of some personal and popular criticisms, there is nothing of great importance for its novelty except the account of Jack Cade's rebellion, which Dr. Gairdner describes as ' certainly of no small value '.^ It is very much longer than the account in S., and contains matter not to be found elsewhere. In the liatter part of the reign of Henry VI, Dr. Gairdner notes that • great events are but slightly mentioned for the most part, and a good deal of space is devoted to occurrences of no great political interest '.* There is, however, some good matter, of which the most noteworthy is the story of Queen Margaret's adventures between the battles of Northampton and Wake- field.^ For the first ten years of the reign of Edward IV there is much of value, and much that is not to be found in other writers. The interest is not confined to political events, and there are useful contributions both to civic and religious his- tory. But Dr. Gairdner has dealt at length in his Introduction with the contents of the Chronicle, and there is no need to go over the ground again. The writer was clearly a London citizen, whose feelings are shown in his comment on the knighting of five aldermen by Edward IV : ' It is a great worship to all the city.' * His pcrsonahty adds verv materially to the value and interest of his narrative, even where he writes of things which cannot have come under his owti notice. (c) A Short Chronicle (1461-S3). Of the conclusion of Julius B i, which covers the whole reign of Edward IV, little need be said. It is very brief, and ' Political Historv of !'iigl,i,ul, iv. 503. * Collections of a London Citisen, p. j -,8. > Id. p. xx. ♦ Jd. p. xxiii. » Id. pp. jivS-io. « Id. p. 228. THE CH^RONICLES OF LONDON 99 the little which does not appear elsewhere relates chiefly to incidents of civic history. Probably it is an abbreviation of some longer Chronicle. It was of course compiled after the death of Edward IV ; but from the interpolation in the notice of the birth of Elizabeth of York, of the words ' after quene and maried to Kyng Henry the vii** ' ^ it may be conjectured that its date is earlier than i486. VII. The Main City Chronicle, 1440-85 We here have to deal with a Chronicle which was not the work of a single writer, but Hke the versions of 1430 and 1440 was a redaction of a number of earher Chronicles. Of its conipleted form we have three copies, viz., The Great Chronicle^ the Second Chronicle of Vitellius A xvi ( = F.), and Robert Fabyan's Chronicle. In the former two the narrative to 1485 forms part of a later Chronicle ending in 1496. Fabyan's own work ended originally with 1485. To that point all three copies come no doubt from a common source, though they now show very considerable variations. This common source is to be traced in other earlier works, and had itself gone through several editions. In the Introduction to the Chroni-. cles of London^ I suggested on internal evidence that the Vitellius Chronicle for 1440 to 1485 consisted of two portions, (i) 1440-74, being itself a compilation from earlier sources, and (2) 1474-85, the completed Chronicle, of which Fabyan made use, probably compiled soon after the end of the reign of Richard III. The Main City Chronicle was, however, also the source of the version of the Brut known as Caxton's Chronicles, which ends with 1461, and as will be shown in the next chapter was probably compiled between 1464 and 1470. Caxton's Chronicles, The Great Chronicle, and the Vitellius Chronicle agree on two points which are useful for determining the common original of their earlier portion. Under 1453 the latter two describe the establishment of the mayor's procession to Westminster by water as ' well-allowed ' ; ^ the first records it as ' never used afore, but sith that time they have gone ever by water '.* Under 1457 all three record the ^ Nicolas, p. 143. " p. xvii. ' Chronicles of London, -p. 164. * Brut, p. 521. H 2 100 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE invention of printing.^ Neither of these notices could in their existing form be quite contemporary. Both are probably due to a version of the City Chronicle ending in 1461 and compiled a few years later. The same two notices help to fix an earlier copy. The Latin Chronicle of Rawlinson, B 355, which ends with 1460, states that by the establishment of the water- procession ' the honourable riding of the citizens of London was destroyed \^ and does not notice the invention of printing at all. Thus we can distinguish two versions of the City Chronicle, both written soon after 1461, according to the character of the notices for 1453 and 1457. It is not so easy to fix dates for earlier copies, but a comparison of those which exist suggests that 1450 or 1451 was a probable date for one of the original sources ; Arundel 19 shows more clearly that one ended in 1452.' In all likelihood numerous copies were written be- tween 1440 and 1485, each following for its principal source a text of established authority, but with variations to suit its own occasion or purpose. Thus the compilation of the Main City Chronicle was the result of a long process, and the dates suggested, 1450, 1452, 1461, 1474, and 1485, mark only some of the stages in its evolution. The Great Chronicle must now be accepted as the best representative of the Main City Chronicle. For 1440 to 1450 it is better, more homogeneous, and fuller than V. The account of Cade's rebellion is similar, and the two copies agree closely down to 1460.* For 1460-1 it seems to have the same original, but is much fuller than V. For the reign of Edward IV it furnishes us with a new authority of much value; it contains a great deal which is not to be found either in V. or in Fabyan, and though Stow borrowed from it the material which has given his Annales their distinctive importance for this reign, he did not exhaust its usefulness. For the reigns of Edward V and Richard III The Great Chronicle is of peculiar interest. It clearly preserves the best form of the narrative which is given in V. and by ' Brut, p. 524 ; Chronicles of London, p. 167. THE CHRONICLES OF LONDON loi Fabyan, and is fuller than either of them, though with some errors of chronology ; it is perhaps a little more coloured by Tudor prejudices. It is stated that Stanley would have been executed at the same time as Hastings, but for fear of his son, Lord Strange, who was in Lancashire. After Easter 1484 there was much whispering amongst the people that the King had put the children of Edward IV to death, poisoned his wife, and intended to marry his niece, ' which caused him- to fall in great hatred.' This is obviously inaccurate in date,^ and can only be accepted as a reproduction of current report by a Tudor chronicler. Even thus it is important as presenting the popular opinion, adverse to Richard III, which was current in the early years of Henry VII. The Chronicle which ended with 1485 was prob- ably written not more than a few years later. But we do not possess it in its original shape. In The Great Chronicle and in V. it forms part of a Chronicle which ends in 1496, whilst Fabyan's Chronicle was, according to his own account, com- pleted in 1504. Nevertheless a comparison of the three versions points to the continuation from 1485 to 1496 being the work of a later hand, and indicates that the Chronicle which ends in 1485 was written some time before 1496. The continuation of The Great Chronicle beyond 1485, though it falls outside our period, calls for brief notice. The whole narrative from 1440 to 1496 is written in one hand, which has added a list of mayors to Henry Kebyll or Keble in 1510. Another hand — the third in the MS. — then added a Chronicle from 1496 to the autumn of 1513. As far as 1502-3 it is a superior copy of the Chronicles for 1485-1503 in V. The final continuation is a narrative of great value. Stow quoted much from it as ' Fabian's MS.', but it was clearly not written by Fabyan since it ends some months after his death. It does not seem to have any connexion with the brief continua- tions of V. and the printed Fabyan. The Second Chronicle of Vitellius A xvi resembles the previous copy in covering the whole period from 1440 to 1496, 1 Anne Neville did not die till March 1485, but in her lifetime there were shameful rumours of Richard's intentions. 102 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE The earlier portion from 1440 to 1450 is brief, and marred by- repetitions and errors of chronology, which seem to point to its derivation from more than one source.^ In 1450 we come to a long and valuable account of Jack Cade's rebellion, which through the medium of the substantially identical narrative of Fabyan is the source of the most popular version of the incidents of the year.- This narrative must, however, be supplemented from the different accounts of S. and G. After 1450 the Vitellius Chronicle is fairly full, though it does not add anything to Fabyan of such value as the history of the reign of Edward IV in The Great Chronicle. Most of the new material relates to small details before 1472.* Of more impor- tance are the narrative for 1454-6 (where it agrees with The Great Chronicle, but differs from Fabyan, who here followed some other source), and the accounts of the reception of Edward IV in London in 1461, and of the Lancastrian restora- tion in 1470 (for which it is, however, inferior to The Great Chronicle). The account of the latter part of the reign of Edward IV is very short, and between 1470 and 1475 there are some errors of chronology. The account of the reigns of Edward V and Richard III, whilst derived from the same source as that of The Great Chronicle, is not nearly so complete. Here, as in the subsequent continuations to 1503, the original is best preserved in that work. The minor Chronicles which I have put in this class are of interest for the Ught which they throw on the early history of the Main City Chronicle. The Chronicle in Rawlinson B 355 is peculiar as written in Latin, but was no doubt translated from an English original. From 1440 to 1450 it is free from the errors of chronology which disfigure V., and contains a little fresh matter, in part of which it resembles Fabyan. The narrative for 1450-1 is peculiar, and so also is that for 145.1-3. For 1454-5 it resembles Fabyan, but for the next yearfollows the original of v., but with some additional matter. For 1456-9 it resembles v., but again with additions. It ends in 1460, and probably 1 See Chronicles of Lmuloii, p. xvi. Since William of Worcester's .innahs (see p. 163 below) have similar ciotocts this faulty original must be as early as 1468. « Cf. y Henry VI, Act iv. ^ See Chronicles of London, pp. xxxii, uj-.'o. THE CHRONICLES OF LONDON ^[03 represents a copy compiled soon after. As in so many other instances, this Chronicle is most useful for its later years, where the notices of riots in London are of special interest.^ Gough, London, 10 follows the Short Version of 1446 with some variations to 1440. From 1440 to 1450 it is very brief ; after 1450 it is closely related to V., and occasionally supplies some additional detail, especially in more exact dates. The most distinctive passage is the account of the accession of Edward IV. The main narrative ends abruptly in 1470. A fragment for 1495 resembles the Chronicle in V., but has some superior features. Gough is remarkable as containing some indications of its authorship. There are entries in the volume which suggest that the compiler was Chamberlain of the City and a member of the Goldsmiths' Company. Under Edward IV two Goldsmiths were successively Chamberlain, William Philip from 1474 to 1479, ^nd Miles Adys from 1479 to 1484. A reference to ' Letter-book L ' with the date 1483 points to Adys as the more likely.^ In any case it is evident that the principal chronicle in Gough was compiled late in the reign of Edward IV, but it probably preserves material from one of the early copies of the Main City Chronicle, though its peculiarities may be due in part to the exceptional circum- stances of its compilation by a high official of the City, and not by a professional writer. The Chronicle of Robert Fabyan is to be treated naturally as one of the London Chronicles. He himself styled his work ' The Concordance of Chronicles ', but when it was printed by Richard Pynson in 15 16 it appeared with the title of The new Chronicles of England and of France. In Pynson's edition it ends with the reign of Richard III, and this probably repre- sents the work as Fabyan left it, though with the omission of an autobiographical note and some verses of a rehgious character which form the ' Envoi ' of his History.* The note and verses were printed in Rastell's edition of 1533, together with continuations down to 1509. Fabyan himself in the note ^ Flenley, pp. 62-6 ; see p. 112 below. * Flenley, pp. 75-6. ^ The manuscript copy in Cotton. Nero C xi ends in 1485, but gives the ' Envoi '. Another manuscript (apparently contemporary) in the posses- sion of the Earl of Leicester ends at the same date. {Hist MSS. Comm. 9th Report, p. 354.) 104 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE in question says : ^ ' And here I make an ende of the vij parte and hole werke, the vij day of Nouembre in the yere of our Lord Jesu Christes Incarnacion, M vC. and iiij, . . . and thus endeth the seuenth parte.' The conclusion seems to be obvious that in 1504 Fabyan did not contemplate any extension of his Chronicles beyond 1485. Stow, however, states that Fabyan ' wrote a chronicle of London, England, and of France, beginning at the creation and endynge in the third of Henry the 8, which both I have in written hand '.* Dr. Busch * suggested that Stow must by speaking of ' both ' have intended to distinguish the ' Chronicle of London ' and the ' Chronicles of England and of France '. This suggestion is no doubt correct ; the ' Chronicle of London ' is clearly The Great Chronicle, which Stow often cites as ' Fabian's MS.' ; the ' Chronicles of England and of France ' is of course the printed work, and Stow's MS. may probably be identified with Cotton. Nero C xi.* It may be that Stow had some reason for connecting the former with Fabyan, but he was certainly in error if he intended to imply that Fabyan was the author of any part of it. The first two continuations ending in 1496 and 1503 were probably composed before Fabyan ' made an end of his whole work ' ; for this reason alone they are not likely to have been written by him. The internal evidence of the first and the literary quality of the second point to the same conclusion. The two continuations do not seem to be the work of the same hand ; both in ' Fabian's MS.' and in Vitellius A xvi we have only copies, and not the original.* Still less could Fabyan have been the author of the third continuation which ends in the autumn of 1513, some months after his death on February 28 of that year. The continuation printed by Rastell is merely an independent abbreviation of the original of the Vitellius continuations. It has been useful to dissociate Fabyan's Chronicle from the 1 Chronicle, p. 68i. " Suivcv of LoiuL^n. ii. 305-6. ' England under the Tudors, i. 410. • There appear to be notes of his on ff. 52, 55, 56. ' See CAromc/eio/Lonrfon, pp. xxix, XXX. 1 of course abandon the sugges- tion that Fabyan had written any continuation at all. The quotations in Hakluyt prove to come from 'Fabian's MS.', the variations from the text of the Vitellius Chronicle bting due to the writer of the third continuation. THE CHRONICLES OF LONDON . 105 later continuations, because by so doing we strengthen the case for beheving that there was a version of the Main City Chronicle ending in 1485. Suqh a version was clearly a princi- pal source of Fabyan's Chronicle. Fabyan himself makes no pretence of originality, stating expressly that his work was ' gathered with small understanding '. His Chronicle is little more than an industrious compilation, stringing together the accounts of older authorities without any attempt to har- monize them and with little critical capacity. For the French part of his History he followed chiefly the Compendium super Francorum Gestis of Robert Gaguin, which was printed at Paris in 1497 ^. His English history of the fifteenth century is taken from one or more of the older Chronicles of London. His original must have contained the full version of 1430, with the continuations of 1432 and 1440, and the Main City Chronicle to 1485. This agrees broadly with The Great Chronicle. But that copy cannot be his sole original ; he has a different text for the Lollards' Bill, and has some peculiar variations for Lydgate's verses (these latter may be of his own making) and a different notice for 1454-6, whilst for the reign of Edward IV his narra- tive (though better than that in V.) is so inferior to The Great Chronicle as to make it doubtful whether he had used that work at all. Moreover Fabyan on one occasion quotes an earlier London Chronicle specifically, when he states that the prisoners taken at Agincourt amounted to the " number of twenty-four hundred and above, as witnesseth the book of Mayors ' ; ^ no such statement appears in The Great Chronicle, or in any other of the extant copies of the London Chronicles. After 1440 Fabyan's Chronicle has some occasional additions which are found in the Brut, but not in the normal City Chronicle, and some small interpolations, personal to himself, which become more frequent as he approaches his own time, and relate chiefly to events in London.* It must be added that he has sometimes imparted a touch of Lancastrian sympathy which did not appear in his original. From a comparison with 1 For a French Chronicle used by Fabyan see Sharpe, Calendar of Letter-book A, p. iii. n. "■ Chronicle, p. 580. ^ Id. pp. 619, 624, 628, 633, 639, 654; cf. Chronicles of London, pp. 313-20. io6 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE the Vitellius Chronicle it seemed possible that Fabyan had added something from his own knowledge to the account of the usurpation of Richard III ; but this is disposed of by the discovery of the still fuller account in The Great Chronicle. If Fabyan's Chronicle is thus entirely superseded as an original authority, his work has a permanent Hterary interest as the chief medium through which the Chronicles of London were quoted by later writers during more than three centuries. The Main City Chronicle was no doubt a popular work at the end of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth centuries. Traces of its influence are to be found in other places such as the brief London Chronicle of Richard Arnold, and the late Grey friars Chronicle,^ which was compiled in 1556. Arnold's work is mainly a commonplace book deahng with London antiquities. It was first printed in 1502, and reprinted in 1811 under the title of The Customs of London. It includes a Chronicle of little value, but greater interest attaches to the full text of the Articles and Arbitrament between Gloucester and Beaufort in 1426, and of the charges brought by Gloucester against his uncle in 1440.* The former certainly come from the London Chronicles ; the latter may do so also, since there is a reference to them in one copy.* Arnold's Chronicle furnished the base for the earlier part of a London Chronicle in Tanner MS. 2 in the Bodleian Library. This latter Chronicle, which extends to 1524, contains a few things of interest as giving Tudor opinion, such as the references to the secret murder of Henry VI, and to the death of the little Princes in the Tower.* The history of the London Chronicles of the fifteenth century cannot be completed without an account of John Stow's use of them. He owned, and after his manner annotated, at least four of the extant copies,* and in his Collections * has preserved fragments of others. Further, in his Summary of English ^ Monutncnta Franciscana, ii. 1 61-80 ; these twenty pages are all that belong to our period. > Customs of London, pp. 279-86. ' Chronicles of London, p. 153. ♦ Flenley, pp. i66-;o. ' The Great Chronicle ; Cotton. MS. \"itcllius .\ x\-i ; The Short English Chronicle ( - Lambeth 306) ; and Harley Roll C S ; he had also used Harley 3775, though theri.' is no oviiloncc that he owned it. ' Especially in Harley 540 (sol- pp. »j, 113 and 108); in Harley 54' there IS a list of Mayors with a few notos(cf. ChionicUs 0/ London, p. 321), and in Harley 543 extracts from a Chronicle of the type of Julius B i. THE CHRONICLES OF LONDON 107 Chronicles ^ he quotes frequently a work which he styles the 'Register of Mayors'. These quotations range from 1410 to 1464. Most of the earlier ones seem to come from a copy of type of H., but are occasionally fuller. Under 1452 is quoted a notice of the knighting of Henry VI's half-brothers ; this appears in WilUam of Worcester's Annales,^ but not in the EngHsh Chronicles. Under 1437 there is a longer account of how Thomas Percy and his brother broke out of Newgate. The last notice from the ' Register of Mayors ' is for the ■Sergeants' Feast in 1464, which is also given in the Survey of London ; * it differs from the story in Gregory's Chronicle* But the most interesting of them all is the first, which also appears in the Survey.^ This is the story of the great debate of the king's sons, Thomas and John, at supper in Eastcheap in 1410, which led to the Mayor and Sheriffs being called to answer before the Chief Justice, William Gascoigne. In the ordinary London Chronicles* there is only a brief reference to the ' hurhng in Eastcheap '. Stow's story shows that the Chronicles had originally a longer story, and is further of interest for the introduction of Gascoigne. The story of the Prince and the Chief Justice clearly belongs to the cycle of City Legends about Henry V, and it is not impossible that Sir Thomas Elyot, who first gave it in his Boke called the Governour, may have borrowed it from a London Chronicle. The discovery of The Great Chronicle has revealed the source of much valuable material in Stow's historical works, especially ■for the reign of Edward IV. Stow also made frequent use of the other copies which were in his possession. It is not always ■easy to trace the sources of his information, and for events about London he may have derived some material from a lost City Chronicle. As already noted, his own early histories were written on the model of the old Chronicles of London. In conclusion I will discuss briefly the sources and historical value of the Chronicles of London. In the second chapter 1 Ed. 1575, pp. 339, 345-6, 375, 383. ■^ p. [770]. ^ ii. 36. * p. 222. ^ i. 217 ; Stow's narrative ■was folio-wed very closely by the author of The Famous Victories of Henry V. Shakespeare only used it incidentally. See First English Life of Henry V, pp. xlviii, li. ' Chronicles of London, p. 341. io8 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE I pointed out that some of the Latin Chronicles for the reign of Henry IV appear to have a common original with the English Chronicles of London. * Whether that original, which is now most fully preserved in the Brut, was itself a City Chronicle is not absolutely clear ; but it was certainly the work of a Londoner. From the .beginning of the reign of Henry V onwards the London Chronicles were assuredly an original compilation, which was in constant process of being written up and revised. Where they show points of resem- blance to other works, as to the anonymous St. Albans Annals,^ to William of Worcester's Annates,^ and above all to the Brut, there can be no room for doubt as to the nature of the debt. Of their connexion with the Brui I shall have more to say in the next chapter.* The London Chronicles bear every sign of having been written in the first instance contemporaneously with the events which they record. In some cases notes were probably made when anything of sufficient interest occurred ; this was almost certainly the case in the Vitellius Chronicle for the reign of Henry VII, where the original seems to have been little altered by subsequent rehandling. In other cases the narrative for several years may have been written up by the compiler of a new copy ; this appears to have been the method adopted in some of the earlier versions. It is probable that the owner of a copy often added at the end a record of his own. Such a theory will explain the curiously personal note of Gregory's Chronicle. A more positive instance is afforded by the London Chronicle for 1527 to 1555 in Harley MS. 540, which appears to be made up of two separate records entered by successive owners at the end of an older Chronicle.^ Events in or about London were no doubt described by the writers from their own know- ledge. But there is much other matter, such as the incidents of the French war and the battles of the Roses, which must have had a different origin. Some of it may have been based on the hearsay reports of persons who had been present ; * but ' See pp. 26, 28 above. ' Sec p. i 50 below. ^ 5^,^ p jgj below. * See pp. 121, 1 33 below. ^' CnmJiii Misclluiiv, xii, p. v. THE CHRONICLES OF LONDON 109 some other things were probably derived from news-letters, to which we find occasional reference.^ Other material was derived from official or semi-official documents, as notably in the early part of the Cleopatra Chronicle ; ^ nearly all that is most valuable for general history in the Version of 1430 is of this character.' Evidence of the use of official city documents is less frequent than might have been expected ; there are some instances in the Version of 1445, and in the Gough MS., but these are Chronicles of an exceptional character. It is curious that in the early Chronicles there is little evidence that the writers had made use of the letters which Henry V and other high personages addressed to the Mayor and City ; * an instance in Arundel MS. 19 seems to stand alone.* In the con- tinuation for 1496-1503 we, however, find frequent reference to ' tydynges which came to the Mair '.® The manner of the composition of the London Chronicles indicates the nature of their value as historical sources. That consists, as before observed, in the fact that they were in' their origin strictly contemporary, and reflect the popular opinion of the time upon the events which they record. The opinion is of course the opinion of the Capital, and perhaps especially of the mercantile class. So in the earlier years of Henry VI the London Chronicles are commonly favourable to Humphrey of Gloucester, whilst for the later years and for the reign of Edward IV they are predominantly Yorkist. The narrative of the reign of Richard III is hostile to the usurper ; this follows naturally on the fact that it was written in the following reign. The London Chronicles are therefore not free from prejudice. But, if used with due caution, they are of all the more value as a contemporary interpretation of history. If at times they leave us a sense of regret for lost opportunities, they nevertheless possess something of that personal element which makes ' Memoirs ' so fruitful in side- lights on history. That they had a practical value in their own time is shown by the frequent record of prices, and by ^ Cf. Gregory's Chronicle, p. 179 — ' as letters made mencyon '. ^ See p. 89 above. ^ See p. 82 above. * See p. 217 below. ^ See p. 297 below. ° Cf . Chronicles of London, p. xxiv. no ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE the insertion of matters of commercial interest, such as the financial legislation of 1425 and 1428, and the regulations for foreign merchants in the Parliament of 1439.* In their form the London Chronicles are for the most part but rude and artless compilations. Nevertheless their popu- larity affords the strongest evidence for the growth of a wide- spread interest in history, and for the process by which English was displacing Latin as its natural medium. In the point of language alone, if we compare such pass^es as the older part of the Cleopatra Chronicle, or Julius B ii, with the conclusion of the Vitellius Chronicle, we can see how rapid the change had been ; the former are markedly archaic, the latter presents hardly any difficulty to the most unfamiliar of readers. Quite apart from their own contents and style, the London Chronicles have a distinct interest for historical literature. They furnished the groundwork of the Brut, which was for nearly a century the most popular and widely read history of England. Whether directly or through the BriU they underlie the majority of the minor Chronicles of the fifteenth century ; ^ between Walsingham and the continuator of the Croyland Chronicle there is hardly any writer, except Whethamstede, who was not in some degree indebted to them. In the sixteenth century extensive use was made of them by Hall, Stow, and Holinshed, both through the medium of Fabyan and through the older versions. Their consequent influence on the narratives of later historians is not to be lightly estimated. Through the use which Shakespeare ' made of the sixteenth-century historians the London Chronicles have had an abiding effect in the formation of popular opinion on the character of the fifteenth century. We may re^^se that opinion, but we cannot do so without giving due weight to the new material which has been brought to hght in such accounts as that of the concluding portion of Gregory's Chronicle. ' Chronicles of Lo>i(li»i , pp. 15J, ;Si, zf^c,-';. 2 See pp. 148, 150, 157, i5i)--(,'i, i(,,, 17"; below. " Instances of material in Shakespeare's plays which comes from the London Chronicles are Henry of Monniouth's riotous conduct in London, the Lollards' Bill, anil Cade's rebellion. Cf. 1-iist English Life of Henry V, ]ip. 1-liv. THE CHRONICLES OF LONDON iii It seems necessary here to add a brief note on the Town Chronicles which were compiled in other places more or less on the model of the Chronicles of London. Such chronicles were kept commonly in many English towns, consisting as a rule of lists of the municipal ofl&cers with occasional notices of events in local history or references to more important incidents in the life of the nation. The most striking instance is to be found at Bristol. Seyer, the historian of that city, says that he had seen as many as twenty civic chronicles of Bristol ; most of these, but not all, were written within the last two hundred years (i.e. after 1600), but they are evidently derived from more ancient copies.^ Seyer in his Memorials of Bristol ^ quotes a few passages of interest for our period from such sources. The oldest and most important of the Bristol Chronicles is that contained in the Kalendar of Robert Ricart,^ who was town clerk from 1479 to 1503. From 1447 onwards this Chronicle contains a fair number of brief entries, of which the most valuable, though by no means all, relate to local affairs ; the references to royal visits are worth notice. Ricart's Kalendar has at least the merit of being an original compila- tion. This is more than can be said of the Chronicle of William Adams, which Seyer describes as ' far the best '. Adams's Chronicle, which extends to 1639, has recently been printed,* and so far as regards the fifteenth century proves for the most part to be derived from Fabyan. This seems to be a usual characteristic of those Town Chronicles which are more than mere lists. Such is the case with the Chronicle of King's Lynn, written at the end of the reign of Henry VIII, which down to 1541 depends on the third edition of Fabyan, which appeared in the following year. Its brief notices for 1477 to 1485 are consequently of little interest.® The best of the Dublin Chronicles — 1401 to 1576 — also derives much of its material from Fabyan, or a copy of the Main City Chronicle of London.® ^ Memorials of Bristol, Preface, pp. x, xi. 2 m jj i3g_ ' Ricart's Kalendar, Camden Society, 2nd ser., 1872. * Adams's Chronicle of Bristol, published for the owner of the manuscript, Mr. F. F. Fox, in 1910. It becomes full and interesting with the reign of Elizabeth. * Flenley, Totun Chronicles, pp. 30, 84, 85, 184-6. * Id. p. 33. 112 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE , The late dates of the Lynn and Dublin Chronicles are charac- teristic of most of the extant Town Chronicles. The material in them for local history may be derived from more ancient copies ; but there seems little reason to suppose that much of wider interest has perished. If, however, the Chronicles of the lesser towns cannot compete with the Chronicles of London in historic interest, and are as a rule too late in date to be of impor- tance for our purposes, there is enough evidence that the compilation of them was not unusual in the later years of the fifteenth and earlier years of the sixteenth centuries to illus- trate the growing demand for some form of historical literature during that period.^ * On the lesser Town Chronicles see Flenley, Town Chronicles, pp. 27-38, and Gross, Bibliography of Municipal History, pp. xxi-xxiv ; for a Ciuiter- bury Chronicle, 1448-15 54 (list of Mayors with a few entries), see Royal Hist. MSS. Comm. 5th Report, p. 434. Addendum to Page 102 A further fragment of the London Chronicle in Rawlinson B 35; has recently been discovered. It carries on the narrative from July 1459 to November 1 460, and ends imperfectly. See English Historical Revita, jcxviii. 124-7, for January 1913. CHAPTER V THE BRUT It will have been obvious from the previous chapters how important the Brut or English Chronicle is, if not for our actual history, yet certainly for a study of the sources of our history, during the fifteenth century. It was, as we have seen, very closely related to the London Chronicles, and underlies in a greater or less degree many even of the Latin Chronicles such as the Continuation of the Eulogium Historia- rum, Giles's Chronicle, the Si. Albans Annals, and the Lives of Henry V by Tito Livio and the Pseudo-Elmham, It was indeed the most popular and widely diffused history of the time, and for this reason alone should command careful attention. Not less is it necessary to consider it in reference to its influence on the subsequent writing of history in England. The Chronicles of England, which were printed by Caxton in 1480, were no more than a version of the Brut ; and the Continuation of Trevisa's Polychronicon, which Caxton published in 1482, was derived by him from similar sources. So the Brut became the first of our printed histories, and has had an abiding influence on our historical Uterature. Polydore Vergil made use of it in his Anglica Historia. The ' Translator of Livius ' consulted both Caxton's Polychronicon and the manuscript Chronicles. Hall, Stow, and Holinshed were all under a great debt, both direct and indirect, to the Brui. It is somewhat surprising that the Brut should have received so little attention from modern historians. Neither Sir James Ramsay nor Professor Oman mentions the Brut or Caxton's Chronicles amongst his authorities at all ; and the latter, when referring to the abbreviation of the Brut which is contained in the English Chronicle from ijjy to 1461, edited by the Rev J. S. Davies for the Camden Society, speaks of it as ' in its earlier parts a compilation of no value '.^ 1 Political History of England, iv. 500. 1158 I 114 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE I doubt whether ' compilation ' is a good description of a work which even in the shortened form of Davies's Chronicle contributed more to the histories of other writers than it borrowed from them ; and the earlier and longer versions of the Brut deserve still less to be dismissed as ' of no value '. Yet the explanation is not far to seek. Though many editions of the Polychronicon and of Caxton's Chronicles of England appeared between 1480 and 1530, both works have long been rare and wellnigh inaccessible. Blades, it is true, printed the Continuation of the Polychronicon in his Life of Caxton^ more than forty years ago ; but for a scholarly and complete text of the Brut we have had to wait till the publication of Dr. Erie's edition by the Early Enghsh Text Society in 1906-8. It is only through the authentic text and various versions given in Dr. Erie's volumes that we can trace the relation of the Brut to other Chronicles, and form any just opinion of its historical value as a primary source. Unfortunately Dr. Erie's Introduction, containing his own final criticism, has yet to appear. I am therefore at some disadvantage in forming a judgement, which to be authoritative should rest on an intimate personal acquaintance with the numerous manu- scripts and the history of their development. A brief abstract of his Introduction with a critical account of the manuscripts was, however, published by Dr. Erie in Germany in 1905,* and from this I have derived much assistance. The Brut, as its name implies, is a history of Eritain from mythical times. It was written originally in French, in which language there are two versions; the longer of these, ending at 1333, was probably written by William Pakington, who was Treasurer to Edward the Black Prince. Towards the end of the fourteenth century it was translated into English, with a continuation to 1377.' Sir E. M. Thompson, in the notes to his edition of the Chronicle* of Geoffrey le Baker, has called attention to the value of the Brut for the history ' Vol. i, pp. 215-65. " Gcschichte und QucHcn der mittcknglischen Pntsachtonih, ' the Brute ol Kngland '. ' A later English version is attributed to John Mandeville, who was rector of Burnliam Thorpe in 1435. * Chronicon Oalfridi le Baker, p. 183. THE BRUT 115 of the reign of Edward III, where it often preserves material otherwise unknown.^ With the earlier portions of the Brut we are not here con- cerned. Its interest for us begins with a continuation from 1377 to 1419, the manuscripts of which are more or less uniform in type though very varying in quality. Dr. Brie is of opinion that the whole continuation for forty-two years was written at one time ; and though there is no manuscript which can be shown to be older than 1450, thinks that the date of composition, though certainly later than 1419, was nearer to that year than to 1450.^ At a later point I will suggest some reasons why it seems probable that the date must be at least as early as 1430 ; and also for the existence of versions ending between 1415 and 1419.^ The version which ended in 1419 was soon followed by further continua- tions. Some of these, which I described in the previous chapter, are based directly on the London Chronicles, pre- serving with greater or less fidehty their civic character. Of the more set and artistic continuations the first ends in 1430 ; the second is that which was adopted by Caxton for his Chronicles of England, and extends to 1461. Besides these two main continuations Dr. Brie gives a number of peculiar passages from two other versions. The most numerous and important come from one which ends in 1436. The others, chiefly of a legendary character, are found in a unique copy which includes a brief continuation to 1475. I will now turn to consider the historical interest of the Brut, beginning with that version which ends in 1419.* In the earlier part for the reign of Henry IV, the first thing which strikes the reader is the close resemblance to the London Chronicles. But a careful comparison shows that the Brut preserves the fuller narrative, and that in the London Chronicles we have a rehandling of the original by later abbreviators. Probably that original was itself a London Chronicle, which was reduced into a consecutive narrative in ^ On the early history of the Brut see Brie, Geschichte und Quellen, pp. 32-51. ^ Geschichte und Quellen, p. 66. * See pp. 119, 133 below. * This account of the various versions is based on Dr. Erie's printed texts. But see further, pp. 132, 133, and 299-301 below. I 2 ii6 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE the Brut. But whilst the extant Chronicles of London have best preserved the form, the substance is best expressed in the Brut. Although our copies are of late date, this latter work is to be accepted as in its foundation a contemporary authority for the reign of Henry IV. Much of the material is not of great importance, but the details are often useful. For the story of the differences of opinion and policy between the King and Prince in 1411-12 ^ we here come nearest to the original, which we have traced in the London Chronicles, in Giles's Chronicle, and in Otterbourne. We have it, more- over, in a more accurate shape. With the French war in the reign of Henry V the Brut undergoes a change of character, and, as Dr. Brie observes, puts on a certain poetical style. I do not think that there can be any doubt that the narrative of the siege of Harfleur and the battle of Agincourt are based upon some current ballads of the time, whether those which have survived or others that have perished.* We need not regard this as detracting from the value of the Brut. Ballad-literature has its own use as representing popular opinion, and not uncom- monly preserves details which are of interest for the illustra- tion of more bald if more accurate prose. That is certainly the case in the present instance. The history from 1415 to 1418 is brief, but not without value ; as I have pointed out in a previous chapter, it was made use of by Tito Livio.' With the siege of Rouen we get back to a poetical original in John Page's rude verses, which are paraphrased in some copies, and given at more or less length in others. Page's poem is of so much interest that we must allow it to detain us a little. The versions of the Brut which stop in 1419 contain only a prose paraphrase, and that an imper- fect one. Caxton's Chronicles were also printed from a copy which had only the prose paraphrase. But other versions, and amongst them the continuation to 1430, give the first , part of the poem in a fuller paraphrase and the last part in verse. An imperfect copy was first printed in Archaeologia in 1827,* and the concluding portion was added from two I Brut, pp. 371-2. a seo further, pp. 3?S. 2^} below. " Sec p. 53 above. « Vol. xxi, 43-;S, from Bodley MS. I24' THE BRUT 117 manuscripts of the Brut ^ by Sir F. Madden in the following year. The complete poem is found only in Egerton MS. 1995, whence it was edited for the Camden Society in 1876 by Dr. Gairdner in his Collections of a London Citizen. The text as given by Dr. Gairdner differs a good deal from the other versions; 'though, perhaps,' as its editor observes, 'it is a trifle less polished, it appears to be taken from the first draft of the poem, and is on this very account all the more interesting.' * The Egerton MS. alone gives the author's name in the concluding lines : * With owtyn fabylle or fage Thys processe made John Page, All in raffe and not in ryme By cause of space he had no tyme ; But whenne thys were ys at an ende, And he have lyffe and space he wyll hit amende. From the changes in the other versions he would seem to have performed his promise. Of John Page himself we know no more than his own statement : * At that sege with the Kyng I lay. This much we could have guessed in any case, for the whole poem is manifestly the work of an eyewitness. That he wrote soon after the siege seems obvious from the manner of his personal references, as in his description of the Duke of Clarence : * Of pryncehode he may bere a floure ; and of Henry V : * He ys a prince for to commende. But fewe in londe suche we fynde. I think we may safely assume that in this poem we have a narrative written at the latest within two years of the end of the siege. For all its rude versification it is the most authentic account which we possess. There is, it is true, in the earlier portion some confusion of chronology.' But I do not understand why Professor Oman should dismiss it as 1 Harley MSS. 753 and 2256; Archaeologia, xxii. 350-98. ^ Collections of a London Citizen, p. x. ' Id. p. 45. * Id. p. i. * Id. p. 7. * Id. p. 25 ; cf. p. 27. ' As on p. 12. n8 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE containing ' little accuracy of detail '.* I prefer the judge- ment of Dr. Gairdner : ^ "No other contemporary writer states the facts with so much clearness, precision, minuteness, and graphic power. That the author's information was not only minute but on the whole exceedingly accurate, we have little reason to doubt. It abounds in details which are met with nowhere else.' I need only add that though his language is simple and unpretentious. Page shows a very real capacity for vivid narrative, and a genuine sense of pathos in his story of the sufferings of the hapless Rouennois. If the Brut had preserved nothing else of value, no historian could afford to despise it. Although the poem has only of late become familiar in its entirety, either the original or the paraphrase gave colour to all other English accounts, from those of John Strecche, Tito Livio, and the Pseudo-Elmham to those of Hall, Stow, and Holinshed. From Page's poem we pass on to the prose part of the Continuation of the Brut, which ends in 1430. The first incident recorded is the trouble of Queen Joanna and her confessor. Friar Randolph. This I note because the reference to Randolph's death shows that even the beginning of this Continuation must be of later date than 1429.' The mjun source of the Continuation is no doubt a London Chronicle of the version of 1430 ; it often resembles JuHus B ii and H., but like the London Chronicle of 1445 this copy of the Brut preserves traces of having been based on the fuller version of 1430.* I think we may be justified in assuming that the whole of this Continuation in its present shape was originally compiled soon after that date. As compared with the regular London Chronicles it does not contain much that is entirely new, but has greater fullness of detail. It is particularly useful for the last years of Henry V, where the corresponding London Chronicles are weak. It is curious that it has no reference to the battle of Verneuil. The last event recorded is the capture of Joan of Arc ; since there is no hint of her fate, the original is hardly likely to have been written after ' Political History of England, iv. 501. • Collections, p. xi. ' p. 423 ; cf. Chronicles o/LoiiJcn. pp. 73, 398 ; Gregory's Chronicle, p. 164. * See p. 92 above. THE BRUT 119 1431, If I am right in this conjecture the version of the Brut which ends in 1419 was probably first compiled a few years earlier. But it must be remembered that no extant manuscript of either version was written till considerably later ; and also that the version of 1430 is not, even for the early part of the reign of Henry V, derived from the other version.^ The second Continuation, which ends in 1461, was probably written all at one time. Throughout there are repeated allusions which show that the existing text was composed long after the events to which it relates. As early as 1431, in recording the election of Eugenius IV, there comes a reference to his death in 1447.^ The papal notices, of which this is the first instance, are characteristic of the Chronicle ; they seem to be derived from the Fasciculus Temporum of Caspar Rolewinck. The latest, which records the election of Pius II, marks the date of composition as after his death in August 1464.* This is the earliest date at which the Chronicle as it stands can have been compiled. From the conclusion, which is a prayer for the happy fortune of Edward IV,* it was, I conjecture, written before the Lancastrian Restoration of 1470. These dates are confirmed by the notice of Margaret of Anjou under 1445, where it is said that after the deposition of Henry VI she was ' fain to flee into Scotland, and from thence into France and Lorraine ',^ without any reference to her subsequent return ; again the time of writing would seem to be not earlier than 1464, and not so late as 1470. But though the Chronicle as a whole is thus a late compilation, it must be remembered that for the most part it is based on older and more strictly contemporary narratives. When, however, we meet with any statement for which confirmation cannot be found elsewhere, we must regard it with some doubt. This Continuation, as I mentioned above, is the one which was adopted by Caxton for his Chronicles of England, printed in 1480, and has passed commonly under his name ; as Caxton's Chronicles it will still be convenient to refer to it. 1 See pp. 132 and 299-301 below. ^ BrUt, p. 502. ^ p. 526 ; cf. Brie, Geschichte und Quellen, p. 114. * P- 533- ° P- 512. 120. ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE The earlier part of Caxton's Chronicles ^ resembles the copies of the version of 1419 in giving only a brief para- phrase of John Page's poem. The history from 1419 to 1430 is very much shorter than that of the previous Continuation. For the most part it is based on a London Chronicle of similar type, but with some details not found in the longer version of the Brut. There is also some new matter relating to Henry V, which seems to be of Westminster origin. We are given the King's dying words : ' Good Lord ! Thou knowest that mine intent hath been, and yet is, if I might live, to re-edify the walls of Jerusalem.'* Also we are told that his tomb had ' a royal image of silver and gilt made at the cost of Queen Catherine'.* Henry's tomb took long to complete, and the work on it was still in progress as late as 1438.* There is a chapter, ' Of the Laud of King Henry the Fifth, and what he ordained for King Richard, and for himself after his death.' * This contains a brief story of his change suddenly into a new man, and a record of the masses which he endowed at Westminster. Here also is found for the first time the story that the ' bishops and men of the spiritualty doubted that he would have had the temporaUties out of their hands : wherefore they encouraged the king to challenge Normandy, and his right in France, to the end to set him a work there, so that he should not seek occasions to enter into such matters '.* Late in date though the Chronicle is, it shows that this story was not, as has often been alleged, an invention of the Protestant sympathies of sixteenth-century historians. It was, it is true, developed by Hall ' and Redmayne,* with considerable embellishments, in part no doubt of their own devising, and assigned definitely to a debate in the Parlia- ment of Leicester in 1414, with long and manifestly fictitious speeches by Archbishop Chichele, the Earl of Westmorland, and the Duke of Exeter. From Hall, through Holinshed,* Shakespeare derived the first two famous scenes of his ' Cotton. Claudius MS. A viii, which has often Ix-eu quoted by modem historians, is a copy of Caxton's Chrciiirli-!: for the reign of Henry V. " P- 493- » p. 494- ' Sec Cal. Pal. Rolls, Henry VI, ii. 129, iii. 197. " PP- 494-'>- • p. 49';- ' Chronicle, pp. 49-56. " Memorials 0} H,nry V, pp. J4-30, » Chroukks, iii. 65-7. THE BRUT 121 Henry V. There is no trace of any such discussion at Leicester in contemporary authorities, and as a matter of fact Chichele was not then Archbishop, and Thomas Beaufort was not created Duke of Exeter till nearly three years later. If the story is an instance of the dangers of legendary and manu- factured history, it is also a warning to us not to be too hasty in condemning as wholly false a narrative which has received indefensible embellishments. The history of the early years of Henry VI in Caxton's Chronicles is brief. I will only touch one point. The battle of Verneuil is assigned apparently to the first year, 1423, instead of to 1424.^ This is worth noting, because it illustrates how the Brut grew out of the London Chronicles. The London Chronicler put down the names of the mayor and sheriffs, and then began the record of each event ' This yere ', &c. The compiler of the Brut omitted the names of mayor and sheriffs, but copied down the entries ^ often without any alteration to show the true date. We see the change in process in Dr. Erie's Appendix D, to the faulty chronology of which I directed attention in the previous chapter. How- ever, the present instance is of value as showing how closely the compiler of Caxton's Chronicles reproduced his older original. Caxton's Chronicles from 1431 to 1440 are, as before, derived from a London Chronicle, with, as before, some fresh details. From 1440 onwards they follow closely the Main City Chronicle, but with additional matter which shows that the writer had made use of one of the longer and better copies. For the events of 1440 to 1446 they are much superior to the Vitellius Chronicle, and are interesting for their adverse judgement on Suffolk's policy in promoting the marriage of Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou. ' Many men deem that the breaking of the King's promise to the sister of the Earl of Armagnac was cause of this great loss and adversity.' * The comment is, of course, that of the Yorkist compiler of the time of Edward IV; but it was adopted by Hall* and Holinshed,* ' P- 497- * See p. 85 above ; see also Note on p. 301 below. * p. 512. * Chronicle, p. 205. ' iii. 208. 122 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE and through them inspires the last scene of / Henry VI and the first scene of 2 Henry VI. It is noteworthy that Caxton's Chronicles contain most of the material which is to be found in Fabyan but not in the Vitellius Chronicle, and on the other hand omit certain things, like the assembly at Clerkenwell in 1461, which are peculiar to the Vitellius Chronicle.^ In Caxton's printed text there is a gap which covers nearly the whole of 1458 and 1459, and even the text as given by Dr. Brie* lacks some important matter which appears both in Fabyan and in the Vitellius Chronicle. As might be expected from the time at which they were written, Caxton's Chronicles are Yorkist; favourable to Humphrey of Gloucester, and hostile to Suffolk and Margaret of Anjou. Henry VI is, however, called ' a good, simple and innocent man '. I now turn back to the peculiar versions of the BrtU given by Dr. Brie. The first of these, which ends in 1437, is in some respects the most important and valuable of all. It seems to represent in part the longer original of the English Chronicle from ijyy to 1461, edited by the Rev. J. S. Davies for the Camden Society, of which I shall have more to say presently. Even in the earlier portion before 1419 this version, of which the chief manuscript is Harley 53, contains some peculiar matter. Under Henry IV there is a curious story of a debate between the King and Hotspur.* Percy demanded the payment that was due to him, ' for ne had he been, he had never been King of England.' The King in wrath struck Percy on the cheek. Then said Sir Henry : ' In faith this shall be the dearest bought buffet that ever was in England.' In a later version of the story, in Lambeth MS. 84, the quarrel is alleged to have begun with Percy's reproach of the King for breaking his promise not to claim the crown.* It is given somewhat differently ia Davies's Chronicle,^ where the King is said to have drawn his dagger on Percy ; a similar tale is alluded to by Thomas Gascoigne in his Theological ' See Notes in Chroiticlfs of London, pp. 31 ^-17. ' pp. 524-7- ' p. 548. ' P- 593 ; tf. / Hctiry /I', iv. iii. ° p. 27 ; so also Cont. Enhgii Historiarum, iii. 396. THE BRUT 123 Dictionary.^ The story is no doubt legendary, and may point to the somewhat late date (1430-6) of the original of this part of this version. Of more serious importance is an account of the capture of Mark near Calais by John Beaufort in I405,which seems to come from the same source as one in the Continuation of the Eulogium Historiarum, but is not given in Davies's Chronicle.^ The narrative of Harley 53 for 1406 to 1413 is very similar in its general character to Davies's Chronicle, though with some omissions and one or two slight additions.* For the reign of Henry V Harley 53 has a peculiar and interesting account of Oldcastle's rebellion,* which was appa- rently used by Stow^ in combination with the London Chronicle in Harley MS. 3775. In other places these two versions of the Brut and of the London Chronicle show signs of relationship. The narrative of the campaign of 1415® in Harley 53 is different from that of the other versions, and in its lists of the hostages at Harfleur, and of the French lords slain at Agincourt, resembles the Cleopatra Chronicle of London.' It contains the statement that the archers were provided with stakes by the advice of the Duke of York. Stow ? gives the same story from the ' Translator of Livius '. The narrative of Harley 53 for 1417 and 1418 ^ is not given by Dr. Brie. It is very similar to that of Davies's Chronicle,^'* but has a few peculiarities. The execution of Oldcastle is wrongly placed before August 1417. The account of the siege 1 Loci e Libra Veriiatum, p. 230 ; Waurin borrowed it from this version of the Brut. 2 Brut, p. 550 ; Eulogium, iii. 401. There is an independent version in Annates Henrici Quarti, p. 400. ' This passage is not given by Dr. Brie. It omits the long account of Scrope's rebellion (but adds a miracle), and the first three notes on p. 35 of Davies's Chronicle. It adds a reference to the weirs on the Thames and Medway in 1405-6 (cf. Chron. Lond. p. 64), and another on the change of coinage in 1412 {id. p. 68 ; Brut, p. 372) ; it is a little fuller on the fight at St. Cloud, where it reads ' the lorde Bravile ' instead of ' the lorde Hambe ' (cf. Davies's Chron. p. 37). Henry IV is said to have been buried ' besides queene Johan his wif ' ; this cannot have been written till after August 1437. * Brut, p. 551 ; cf. Waurin, ii. 95-8. 6 Annates, p. 344. * Brut, pp. 553-7. ' Chronicles of London, pp. 1 17-18, 122-3. 8 Annates, p. 349. » Harley MS. 53, fi. 157, 158. w pp. 44-8 ; it omits the references to the Council of Constance, and to Earl Douglas on p. 44. 124 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE of Caen is a little different, and records the death of Edmund Springge, ' a good squire and a manly man : wherfore the Kyng was hevy and sory.' The account of the siege of Rouen is also different ; Henry is said to have learnt of the distress in the city ' by a spy that come out of the town privily and went in again '. In these points Harley 53 differs both from Davies's Chronicle, and from the ordinary text. But in one or two places it approximates to the latter. From the fall of Rouen to the end of the reign of Henry V Harley 53 is almost verbally identical with Davies's Chronicle.^ It is a good deal shorter than the common version, especially in its narrative for the last year ; at the same time it con- tains some additional matter. From 1422 to 1436 it is of more independent value ; it differs from the main text of the Brut throughout, though down to 1434 there is only a little that is not to be found in the London Chronicles. There is, however, an unusually good and correctly-dated description of the battle of Verneuil,^ which is no doubt the original of that in Caxton's Chronicles. Another point which deserves to be noticed is the definite statement that Cardinal Beaufort diverted his army of Crusaders to serve in France 'for the weal and the worship of all the realm of England ' ^ ; for this we are, I beheve, otherwise dependent on documentary evidence. In 1434 there begins a characteristic account of events at Calais, with a fuller history of the mutiny of the garrison in that year.* After a notice of the Conference at Arras come stories of an insult to the English envoys as they returned through Popering, and of the despite which the Flemings showed to the English.^ There then follows a long and most interesting description of the siege of Calais in 1436.* There is nothing to compare with it in English accounts, and the racy anecdotes with which it teems make it superior to the full narratives given by the French historians.' It is mani- festly the work of an eyewitness, proud of the gallant defence, and of the skill shown by his commanders, and not least by 1 Brut, pp. 559-63 ; Dwiis's Chroti. pp. 48-5^. ' Brut, pp. 565-7- ■' P- 568. * p. 570. ' pp. 571-J. " PP- 573-80. ' -Xs Waurin, iv. 150-99, and Monstrelet, v. 238-6*. THE BRUT 125 Edmund Beaufort. The Harley MS. ends at the defeat of the Flemish on July 27. Another copy, in Lambeth MS. 6, carries on the history to the actual raising of the siege, and ends with a fine ballad in scorn of the Flemings, who with great pride and boast had laid siege to Calais, that little town.i It is curious that the narrative should not extend to cover Gloucester's raid into Flanders and vengeance on Popering in August. I think that any one who reads this Chronicle will agree with Dr. Brie * that it was written very soon after the last events recorded. For the siege of Calais this version of the Brut is of more original value than even the best of the London Chronicles.' It should be noted that Harley 53 is a late copy of the Chronicle which it contains. From a royal genealogy * which is prefixed to the text it would seem to have been written after the birth of Richard of Gloucester and before the birth of Edward, Prince of Wales, i.e. between October 1452 and October 1453. But the evidence of Davies's Chronicle and of the Latin Brut supports the conclusion that the narrative was originally composed in 1436 or 1437.^ The second of the peculiar versions of the Brut, which is found in a unique copy in Lambeth MS. 84, is of very late date, the direct narrative extending to 1475, with vague references for some years later. It seems to have . been written in 1478-9, for a list of the children of Edward IV ^ includes George, who was born in 1478 and died in March 1479, but not Catherine, who was born about the end of the latter year. Its Yorkist character is shown in the statement that when Henry IV was made king, Richard, Earl of Cambridge, was put aside ; ' Richard and his future wife had of course at that time no sort of claim to the crown. An account of the murder and burial of Richard II contains the story of how he was killed by Sir Piers Exton.^ Under 1403 ^ pp. 581-4 ; the ballad was printed in Archaeologia, xxxiii. 129-32. 2 Geschichte und Quellen, p. 109. ' See p. 93 above. * On f. II. On f. 13^^ there are the arms : ' Silver, a chevron azure with three trefoils silver, within a border gules bezanty ; ' and the motto, ' Laus Deo honor et gloria '. These arms belong to the Stokes family. ^ See pp. 131 and 132 below. ' p. 603. Richard is called Duke of York and of Norfolk; he received the latter title in February 1478. ' p. 589. « pp_ 590-2. 126 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE appears another version of the legend of Henry IV's quarrel with Hotspur.^ But the most novel and interesting passage is a long story of Henry V's riotous youth and change when he became king.'' It is stated that as Prince of Wales he ' intended greatly to riot and drew to wild company ', but three men of his household were " full heavy and sorry of his governance ' and therefore he hated them most. When, however, Henry became king, he dismissed all his household with rich gifts, save for these three men ; and sent to Catherine Swinford, his father's step-mother (who is wrongly styled Countess of Hereford *), for men that were of good disposi- tion, and she sent him twelve gentlemen of sad governance. Catherine Swinford had been dead ten years, but Henry's own grandmother, the Countess of Hereford, was still alive. It is the most detailed fifteenth-century story of Henry's riots and conversion which we possess ; but though it is pure legend, is as such interesting ; it seems to come from the same source as Ormonde's story given by the ' Translator of Livius '. The same passage contains an anecdote of Henry's justice as king, in stopping the private warfare of two north- country lords ; Hardyng * here has a tale under date 1421 which seems to refer to the same incident. For the battle of Agincourt there is a peculiar narrative,* with nothing very fresh. Under the siege of Rouen comes a unique legend of how an old prophecy was fulfilled, which told that the city should be taken by a king with thirty kings in his retinue.' The history of Henry VI is brief and somewhat legendary, till we come to the siege of Calais. Even there the Chronicle shows its late and untrustworthy character, by making Thomas Beaufort take part in the siege, and by calling him brother of Humphrey of Gloucester. But in compensation we get another of the ballads which were made in despite of the Flemings.' The history for 1455 to 1475, which is printed by Dr. Brie, though peculiar, is very brief and un- important.8 It ends with a record of plagues and portents. ' P- 593- " pp. S03-(v ' Probably the original had siniiily ' Countess of Hereford ', meaning Joan Bohun ; Cithi-nno Swinford iliod in 1403. * Chronicle, p. 383, cd. Ellis. » pp. 596-8. • p. 598. ' PP- 599-601 : sec p. J41 bilow. * pp. 601-4. THE BRUT 127 The version of the Brut vfhich was edited fifty years ago by the Rev. J. S. Davies as An English Chronicle from ijjy to 1461 presents some remarkable differences from those before described. Down to 1413, as explained above, it is closely related to the Continuation of the Eulogium Historiarum, and as far as 1401 the two works seem to have had a common Latin source which may have been of Canterbury origin. Even in this part Davies's Chronicle adds matter from the common versions of the Brut. But the appearance of the reference to the exhumation of Wiclif ^ shows that the English writer used, not the original Chronicle ending in 1401, but the recension made after 1428. From 1401 to 1413, and again from 1417 to 1422, Davies' s Chronicle is certainly very closely related to the version of the Brut in Harley 53. I have already discussed sufficiently the relationship of the Chronicle to the Continuation and to the Harley MS.^ It is enough to repeat here that the latter two agree in containing some things which are not found in the Chronicle ; and that this last in its turn has some peculiar matter of its own, the most important instance being the long account of Archbishop Scrope's rebellion.' All three works have a common original with the Latin Brut for the reign of Henry IV, For the first six years of the reign of Henry V Davies' s Chronicle resembles the longer version of the Latin Brut, and from 1419 to 1437 their relationship is singularly close. An important point in this last resemblance is the story of the Earl of Douglas's ^ On p. 6, under date 1384. See pp. 28-32 above. This is a difficult point. It is clear that the compiler of Davies' s Chronicle had used a copy of the English Brut for the whole period from 1377 to 141 3, and also that his work is during the same period closely related to the Continuation. On the other hand the verbal resemblances of the Continuation and the Southern Chronicle seem conclusive as to the existence of a Latin original ending in 1401. The Continuation cannot therefore be simply a translation from the English before that date, though it already shows traces of connexion with the Brut. But it is also fairly clear that the Continuation, Davies' s Chronicle, and the version of the Brut in Harley 53 had a common English original between 1401 and 1413. I can only suggest that the Continuation and Davies's Chronicle were compiled independently, the writers of both making use in different ways of two versions, the one English and the other Latin, of an older Chronicle. ^ See pp. 29, 30 and 123, 124 above. 3 Davies's Chron. pp. 31-4; the Latin Brut has some resemblance, see p. 314 below. 128 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE oath to Henry V in 1417, and of his subsequent death at Verncuil.^ Herein we have proof that the common original of the Latin and English versions was not compiled till after 1424. Probably it was an English version of the BrtU coming down to 1437 ; at all events some manuscripts of the English version of this type actually end, like the Latin Brut, in that year.^ Tito Livio by quoting the story of Earl Douglas with reference to Verneuil proves that his original was written before 1437 or 1438. As before explained, Tito Livio followed very closely that version of the Latin Brui which is most nearly connected with Davies's Chronicle.^ In Daoies's Chronicle itself we seem to have clear evidence that one original ended in 1437, since there is a gap from the death of James I of Scotland in that year to 1440. It must not be overlooked that this original of 1437 was a composite work made up from a number of older sources. Comparison with the Continuation of the Eulogium indicates that one source ended with 1401, and others possibly with 1406 and 1413. From comparison with the Latin Brut and Harley 53 we get signs of possible breaks at 1415 and 1417, and more certainly at 1419, where the closest relationship of Davies's Chronicle and Harley 53 begins, and at 1422, where it ends. The over- lapping and interlacing of these Chronicles makes the history of their development a difficult problem. The most likely solution is that the Brut was not the homogeneous work of a single writer, but that various hands were at work on it during a number of years, selecting their material sometimes from one quarter and sometimes from another. The concluding part of Davies's Chronicle covering the period from 1440 to 1461 differs altogether from the ordinary version of the Brui or Caxton's Chronicles. The history of Eleanor Cobham is, for instance, much fuller. The main source down to 1450 is, however, again a London Chronicle. The text as it stands was not written till after Eleanor Cob- ham's death,* and probably, therefore, the whole Chronicle from 1440 to 1461 is in its present form the work of a single ' Davics' Chron. p. 44 ; see p. ; 50 below ; the refert'nce does not appear in Uiirley 53. a Brio, Ceuhuhte und Qurllen, pp. 07, 99. " Sco p. 53 above. « Cf. p. 60. THE BRUT 129 hand. The really distinctive, fullest, and most important part is for the last eleven years, the history of which takes more space than that of the whole of the previous half- century. The detailed account of Jack Cade's rebellion ^ seems to be independent of any of the versions of the London Chronicles. From 1450 to 1457 there is not much of impor- tance besides a fairly good account of the first battle of St. Albans,^ and a lengthy notice of the trial of Reginald Pecock.* For the last three years of Henry VI Davies's Chronicle is one of our most valuable authorities, incorporating copies of documents and a ballad which was set up on the gates of Canterbury in 1460.* It ends with the election of Edward IV on March 3, 1461, and was probably written not much later. As may naturally be expected from the date of composition it is pronouncedly Yorkist, and particularly bitter against Margaret of Anjou. The manuscript belonged to John Stow, who took from it the account of Pecock's trial and abjuration, and most of his history for 1459 and 1460, including the documents. Afterwards it passed into the hands of John Speed, who used it in his History of England, and from whom it descended to its editor. Mr. Davies in an Appendix to his Chronicle printed some extracts from a version of the Brut written by Richard Fox of St. Albans in 1448. The most important is an account of the Parliament of Bury and death of Duke Humphrey in 1447, which is of peculiar value as a strictly contemporary record.^ It is a somewhat remarkable illustration of the growing strength of the English language and of the wider interest in English History that the only continuous Chronicle of the early fifteenth century should have been composed in the popular speech ; yet more that it should not only have furnished much material to those who still wrote in Latin, but also have itself been translated into Latin for the use of those to whom the ancient literary tradition still appealed. The Latin versions of the Brut are not uncommon,* but they do not all cover the whole ground of the English original, 1 pp. 64-8. 2 pp. 7i_2. 3 pp. 75_7. " See p. 246 below. ^ pp. 111-18. ' See pp. 310-12 below. 1468 K 130 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE and some copies extend no further than the Norman Con- quest. I am here only concerned with those which reach the fifteenth century. Of these it appears to be a common characteristic that they should end with the death of James I of Scotland in 1437. With a notable exception, for the reign of Henry V, they all seem to be derived from the same English original. But whilst the manuscripts agree very closely in their matter and its arrangement, they present frequent textual variations, which often seem to be due to indepen- dent translations from the English. The common version, as will be seen from the text printed below, is very brief; it is indeed but a meagre abridgement, and it is its textual interest alone which makes it worth printing and study. For the reign of Henry IV the Latin Brut appears to be derived from the English original represented by Harley 53 and Davies's Chronicle. The relationship may be illustrated suffi- ciently by the references to the Prior of Launde, and to Sir William Plumpton, as a supporter of Archbishop Scrope,^ and by the memorial verses on the battle of Shrewsbury.* For the reign of Henry V the earlier part of the common Latin Brut seems to follow the common English version. For the campaign of Agincourt some copies are extremely brief, whilst others have a fuller narrative. This latter narrative probably comes from the same source as that in Davies's Chronicle, which differs somewhat both from the common version and from Harley 53. From 1415 to 1422 the common Latin version is very brief. The short notes for 1416-17 are of the same origin as Davies's Chronicle. The remainder of the history of Henry V is peculiar, and does not seem to be derived from any existing English original. For the most part it consists of lists of sieges and of the persons who took part in them ; one of these lists is found also in the abbrevia- tion of the Pseudo-Elmham.* The short notices of the siege of Rouen and the defeat of Clarence at Baug6 may be taken from the common English version.* The brief history from ' Davies's Chron. pp. 23, a ; Brut, p. i;47 ; ci. p. 314 below. - lirut, p. 549 ; cf. p. 314 below. ' Ocsta, pp. 143, 144; cf. p. 319 below. * lirut, pp. 391, 427 ; c(. pp. 31S- JO below. THE BRUT 131 1422 to 1437 is only of interest for the circumstance that it comes from the same source as Davies's Chronicle ; a few names are added in the account of Verneuil. The exceptional version of the Latin Brut is of interest for the fact that we have in it one of the original sources made use of by Tito Livio,^ who has reproduced the greater part of it with such verbal fidelity that it has no value except for literary history and textual comparison. The only consider- able passage which Livio does not make use of is the earlier part of the campaign of Agincourt ; in this place the excep- tional version follows exactly the narrative of the superior copies of the common version.^ Lest it might be suggested that Livio's Vita is the original and the Latin Brut the copy, I may point out that whilst it would be natural for Livio with the better sources at his disposal to give a different account of the French war, it is unlikely that the compiler of the Latin Brut, if he had had the Vita before him, would have omitted so much of the superior narrative, and in other places have substituted inferior material. Apart from this it is clear that this version of the Latin Brut comes from the same source as Davies's Chronicle. In the earlier years the resemblance is not always plain. But from 1416 onwards it is well marked, and after 1419 the Latin is virtually a transla- tion of Davies's Chronicle. As before observed, the versions of the Latin Brui are chiefly of textual or literary interest. Their most obvious value is for the light which they throw on the composition of Tito Livio's Vita and Davies's Chronicle, and as proving the existence of a version of the English Brut, which ended in 1437 and was compiled not long afterwards. But they also furnish some useful suggestions as to the earlier develop- ment of their English original. In the common Latin version there seems to be a break after 1415, when it ceases to resemble the longer version.* This latter version comes from the same source as Davies's Chronicle for the events of 1416 and down to August 1417, but is almost barren for the next ' See p. 53 above. 2 Compare the two passages on pp. 316-17 and 326-7 below. •• Cf. pp. 317 and 326 below. K 2 132 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE twelve months ; the resemblance is resumed with the siege of Rouen, but becomes closest after the capture of that city.^ The peculiar version in Harley 3884 also suggests the existence of originals ending in 1417 and 1419 ; after translating the common English version down to 1419, it goes back to the longer Latin version for a narrative beginning in August 1417.^ A close examination of some of the English copies points to similar conclusions. The history of the first six years of the reign of Henry V in the version of 1430 is not derived from the version which ends in 1419. In the first chapter' — March 1413 to October 1416 — the two versions come from the same sources ; but the version of 1430 is on the whole the fuller, and contains some noteworthy additions, especially for the visit of Sigismund ; it leaves one with the impression that it represents more faithfully the common original, which, to judge from one expression, — ' The King, the worthy prince, that God save and keep '■ — must have been written during the life of Henry V. In the second chapter — October 1416 to July (?) 1418 — the variation of the two versions is much more marked ; they agree very closely down to the landing in Normandy, but from this point the differences both of matter and form are so great, that though they are in part derived from the same sources they must assuredly have been composed independently* Neither ver- sion notices the siege of Falaise, and thus there is a gap in the narrative from November 1417 to July 1418. The third chapter in both versions gives a description of the siege of Rouen, based on John Page's poem ; but the version of 1430 gives a new and fuller rendering of the original, and pre- serves much of it intact.* One manuscript — Harley 753— follows the common version nearly to the end of the second chapter, and then adds some matter from the version of 1430, which it also follows for the third chapter.' This com- ' C£. pp. 329-31 below, and Davics's Chron. pp. 42-6. - See p. 342 below. » BnU, pp. .(;3-8i. * Dr. Brie does not give either of these chapters o£ the version of 1430. Some passages from the first, and the whole of the second are printed in the Appendix to this volume (pp. 29Q-309), where their character and deri- vation are more fully discussed. » Cf. Brut, pp. 387-01 and 394-422. " See p. 3(1.' below, where is also noted another instance of a composite copy. THE BRUT 133 parison of the two versions points to the possibihty of earlier versions ; one perhaps ending in November 1415 or in October 1416,1 and others more certainly in July 1417 and November 1417. The probability that one version may have ended in 1415 is supported by the peculiar narrative of the campaign of 1415 in Harley 53, which shows some resemblance to another peculiar narrative in the Cleopatra Chronicle of London.^ With these considerations before us it does not seem possible to reject the probability of there having been earlier recensions of the English Brut than that great one which ended in 1419 at the fall of Rouen. At all events the existence of such divergencies proves that the development of the English Chronicle was not a homogeneous process; but that, as in the case of the London Chronicles, different scribes made use of different originals, or used the same originals in different ways. It will have been obvious throughout how closely the Brut is related to the London Chronicles. Nevertheless, it will be useful to recapitulate the points at which the two touch one another in the dates of their composition. Like the London Chronicles, the Brui seems to have undergone a process of gradual compilation between 1415 and 1430. There may have been early versions of the Brut ending at various dates between 1415 and 1419 ; but the evidence for this is not positive, and may merely indicate that some of its originals in the shape of City Chronicles ended at such dates. The version of the Brut which ends in 1419 has no exact parallel in a City Chronicle. But the more important version, which ends in 1430, coincides in date with an important version of the London Chronicle and was probably derived from it. The version of the Brut ending in 1437 stands by itself ; in its history of 1436 it. is original and is not derived from any City Chronicle. It is curious that, though so many of the existing manuscripts of the Brut date from the next twenty years, there should have been a complete cessation of literary activity as regards any continuation of the narrative. In its final version ending with 1461 the Brut returned to the ^ Like the Gesla. ^ Brut, 553-7 ; Chronicles of London, 118, 122. 134 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE original source ; though we have no direct proof of a copy of the Main City Chronicle which ended at that date, it is certain that early versions of that Chronicle were already in existence,^ and that one of them was, with slight additions, adopted by the latest continuator of the Brut. Though the main narrative of the Brut was formed by a rehandling of the material contained in the London Chronicles, it must not be supposed that they represent its only source. Something of the additional matter may be due to the use of fuller copies of the London Chronicles. But other things were derived from such sources as ballads and popular poems, as in the case of Agincourt, the siege of Rouen, and the defence of Calais.^ News-letters and reports of eyewitnesses were suggested as a probable source of some of the history given in the London Chronicles ; the compilers of the Brut certainly made additions from similar sources, the most notable instances being the stories of the expedition of the Earl of March in 1417,' and of the siege of Calais in 1436.* The accounts of the campaign of 1415, and of Sigismund's visit to England are very probably based on contemporary records.* Other material such as the account of the last days of Henry V in the version of 1430, and the still fuller account with ' The Lawde of Kyng Henry V ' in Caxton's Chronicles* seem to come from other written narratives ; the passage in Caxton's Chronicles, as before noted, is probably of West- minster origin. Something may also be due to floating tradi- tion, such as the stories in Lambeth 84." But whatever its intermediate sources may be, it cannot be questioned that a great part of the Brut rests ultimately on the evidence of eyewitnesses. Confusion and mistakes have sometimes crept in through the ignorance or carelessness of the compilers, but at the bottom we have an authentic and contemporary narra- tive. The Brui contains many facts and details not to be found elsewhere ; it often adds materially to the narrative of the extant London Chronicles, though in its finished form ' (;f. pp. .)<), 100 .iliovc. ■' See pp. u6-i8, 238-41. •' Sue pp. 301; liflow. ' Sfe p. 1 '4 above. [J See pp. 2<)it-joi below. ' Brut, pp. 429-30, 493-6. ■ See p. 1 jfi above. THE BRUT 135 it omits all the lengthy documents which are so characteristic of them.^ We do not look to a popular history for reasoned or profound judgements ; but we can trace in the Brut the germs of that opinion which in the hands of the Elizabethan historians and dramatists made Henry V the national hero and the struggle of Lancaster and York the theme of a national cycle of tragedies. Dr. Brie has remarked, with some justice, that till of late the London Chronicles have not received the attention which they deserve.^ This observation applies with even more justice to the Brut. It requires no doubt to be studied in association with the London Chronicles and extant ballads ; but if so studied no future historian of the fifteenth century can afford to neglect it. The literary importance of the Brut is hardly less great. '^ Its remarkable popularity is proved by the large number of manuscripts which have survived ; and also by the frequent use made of it by other writers of the fifteenth century. Dr. Brie enumerates no less than 121 copies of the English original, of which 36 are in the British Museum, and 22 at Oxford * ; some of course do not reach so far as 1400, and only a few go beyond 1437. Of the Latin version I notice 11 copies below.* Neither list is exhaustive. The wide diffusion of the Brut in manuscript and the numerous printed editions which appeared between 1480 and 1530 would alone make it important. There is even greater significance in the fact that through the London Chronicles and the Brut a narrative written in English speech for popular use for the first time takes rank as a leading contemporary authority. This of itself should make the Brut of unique interest to students both of our history and of our literature. Viewed simply as a literary production it is of no great merit, though passages of a good, simple, forceful kind are not lacking. However, the immaturity of its style is of small moment as compared with ^ Some of them are, however, preserved in the transitional copies ; see p. 85 above, and Brut, 445-7. Harley 565 seems to represent a copy of the London Chronicle of 1430, from which the Documents have been omitted. To this extent it is an intermediary between the original City Chronicle and the Brat. ^ Geschichte und Quellen, p. 115. ' Id.pp. 3-5. * See pp. 310-12. Dr. Brie («.s. pp. 127-8) notices three other copies which end at 1066. 136 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE the fact of its existence. Trevisa's translation of Higden's Polychronicon had helped to set the fashion, and was no doubt written to meet a genuine need. But the constant writing and rewriting during the fifteenth century of an original popular history in English carries us much further than any translation of a monastic chronicle, and marks an important stage in the development of our historical literature. Before leaving the Brut it is necessary to say something of its influence on later histories of the fifteenth century. Jean Waurin, when he compiled his Recueil des Croniques d' Engleterre,^ took for his chief original the English Brut. Starting from its legendary opening he followed it down to the fourteenth century, when he began to make more use of Froissart, as he did subsequently of Monstrelet. But even in the later part of his history Waurin employed English sources. He had certainly access to a version of the Brut of the type of Harley 53, whence he took his story of ' le grand soufilet ', which was the beginning of the quarrel between Henry IV and Percy.* To the same version he may have been indebted for some other details down to 1415;' but afterwards, so long as Monstrelet lasted him, Waurin had no occasion to use the more meagre English narrative. When he came to Cade's rebellion and the Wars of the Roses his information was of necessity derived from English sources. Waurin himself visited England during these years, and part of his material was no doubt of his own collecting. But his account of Cade's rebellion clearly depends on the common narrative of the Brut and the Main City Chronicle,* with a few details not given there for which parallels can be found in Gregory's Chronicle.^ Possibly also he may have used an English written source for the latter years of Henry VI, though certainly after 1458 his narrative is fuller and con- ' Ed. Hardy in Rolls Series, and Dupont, Soc. de I'Hist. de France. - ii. 57, ed. Hardy. s ,;_ gj_s^ ,,,- ■* Croniques, v. 261-3; cf. Brut, $17-20. '' The mention of Haywardyn, and the action ol the Archbishops, Waurin, v. 26,^-4, Greg. Chron. 193 ; at a later point for the disputes of Somerset and York in 1453 (Waurin v. 265) there are further resemblances to the London Chronicle (Gregoty's Chroii. pp. 195-6). THE BRUT 137 tains much that is of independent origin, as for instance in his account of Towton, for which he obtained information from some who were there present.^ Waurin ended his work with the Restoration of Edward IV, the history of which is told in an abridged translation of The Arrivall.^ If the Brut supplied material to a French historian it was also, as we have seen, to win the distinction of becoming the first of English printed histories. CaxtorCs Chronicles appeared in 1480 and again in 1482 ; four other editions followed during the fifteenth century, and at least seven within the next thirty years. Caxton's book has often been referred to as though it were in some degree a compilation of his own ; but, as before noted, it followed simply the main version of the Brut which ended in 1461. So far as his Chronicles of England are concerned, it is clear that no credit can be claimed for Caxton as the author of the first printed English history. Stow realized this when he wrote of ' The English Chronicle printed by William Caxton and therefore called Caxton's Chronicle '.* A somewhat better case may be made for Caxton's share in the Polychronicon. When in 1482 he printed Trevisa's translation of Higden he added as an eighth book a con- tinuation from 1377 to 1461. Of this he writes by way of introduction : ' I have emprysed to ordeyne this newe booke by the suffraunce of Almyghty God to contynue the sayd werk bryefly, and to sette in hystoriall thynges, suche as I have conne gete.' * In the colophon he asks pardon of his readers : ' Wher as ther is fawte, I beseche them that shal rede it to correcte it, for yf I could have founden moo storyes I wold have sette in hit moo ; but the substaunce that I can fynde and knowe I have shortly sette hem in this book, to thentente that such thynges as have ben done syth the deth or ende of the sayd boke of Polychronycon shold be had in remembraunce and not putte in oblyvyon ne forgetynge.' ^ The naive simplicity of Caxton's claim to have here made a new compilation is not entirely without justification. Caxton at the end of the seventh book of his edition of Trevisa 1 Croniques, v. 339-41. 2 See pp. 175-6 below. " Annales, p. 411. * Higden, viii. 522. ' Id. viii. 587. 138 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE writes that for later events he could get no book of authority ' except a lytel booke named Fasciculus temporum and another called Aureus de universo '.^ The former of these, as we have seen,-^ was made use of by the original compiler of the Chronicles of England. Both, however, were concerned with general history, and for his main narrative in the Poly- chronicon Caxton was dependent on various versions of the Brut. Here I need deal only with the portion subsequent to 1399- For the first twenty years down to the end of the siege of Rouen he would seem to have compiled his narrative from more than one of the old copies. This is most evident in the account of the death of Richard II, where, after giving the legend of Sir Piers of Exton, he continues, ' The comyn oppynyon of Englysshmen is that kynge Rychard deyde not after the maner a foresayd, but that he deyd other wyse,' and then gives a different story.^ Most, however, of Caxton's narrative comes from the common version which ended in 1419. But he incorporates also some matter from the version of his own Chronicles,* and in some places there are resem- blances to one or the other of the Chronicles of London, or to some other version of the Brut.^ For the later portion from the siege of Rouen onwards, beginning with chapter 15, the Polychronicon is nearly identical with Caxton's Chronicles. The notice of the fall of Constantinople is correctly transferred from 1450 to 1453 ; a few things are added, as the siege of Dieppe in 1442, the story of Chalons and Sir Lewis de Buriell in 1449, the battle of Formigny in 1450, and some notes on the fighting at Calais in 1459.* Of the Polychronicon, as of the Chronicles of England, many editions appeared during the next half-century. Though these printed versions are not in themselves of any particular value to the historian, they are of interest to the student of historical * Higden, viii. 353. =" p. 1 19 above. " Higden, viii. 540-1 ; cf. Brul, pp. jdo, 591. This i.-; the Exton legend which comes from Lambeth 84 ; tlie other story that Richard starved himself is found somewhat differently in Brut, pp.' ',60 and 54^. * Higden, viii. 548, S4'), 553-4; cf. Biut, pp. 491-5. '■ Higden, viii. 548-50, 552-3; cf. Clno»ul,-s of London, 69, 70, Nicolas, f hron. Land. 104, Brut, pp. 495, 554. « Higden, viii. 567, 571, 573, 58.-; cf. Brut, pp. ^04, u5, 517, 528; .some of the added matter appe.irs in CA»o>nV/,s of London, pp. 15O, 158. THE BRUT 139"' literature. Their popularity shows how firmly English was established as the medium, and they are the sources from which later historical writers derived much of their informa- tion. But for the further change in the form and treatment of history, for which they had helped to prepare the way, we must look elsewhere.^ ^ See pp. 258-61 below. CHAPTER VI MINOR CHRONICLES OF THE MIDDLE OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 1422-1469 The Chronicles with which the present chapter is concerned do not lend themselves to any unity of treatment. They have little in common with one another, and are themselves often broken and fragmentary. The majority of them, so far as they are original, and not mere richaujfis of older works, do not cover periods of more than ten or a dozen years, and some of them not so many. It is not therefore easy to classify them to any advantage except in so far as some of them have a certain affinity owing to the fact that they were composed, albeit independently, as Continuations of the Latin Brut. On the other hand it would not be possible to deal with them satisfactorily in the order of the dates at which they chance to end. I must therefore be content to group them as con- veniently as may be, and treat each on its own merits. Even so I shall hope to extract from them some illustration of the changes which were taking place in our historical literature. I have included in this chapter the Chronicle of John Hardyng, in spite of the fact that some of its most useful history belongs to the earliest part of our period. If this fact may seem to have called for an earlier discussion of its contents, its prolongation and the late date of its composition make its treatment here more convenient. Since as regards its contents it is for the greater part a secondary authority, it can only be considered with reference to what has gone before. Furthermore, it derives its most peculiar interest chiefly from the fact that in its original form it wivs composed in the latter part of thi- reign of Henry \I. But since it stands apart from all the other histories to be dealt with here, it will be best to take it first. MINOR CHRONICLES, 1422-1469 141 Hardyng was born in 1378, and as a boy of twelve entered the service of Sir Henry Percy (Hotspur), under whom he fought at the battles of Homildon and Shrewsbury.^ On the fall of the Percies, he took service with Sir Robert Umfraville, who made him Constable of Warkworth Castle, and at a later date Constable of Kyme, in Lincolnshire. Under Robert Umfraville, and his more famous nephew Gilbert, titular Earl of Kyme, Hardyng had a long experience of war on the Scottish Border and in France. With Robert Umfraville he served in the campaign of Agincourt, and probably also in the sea-fight off Harfleur in 1416, and in the Scottish war of 1417. If he was not in the company of Gilbert Umfraville in the French expedition of 1411, and at Bauge in 1421, he had certainly good sources of information about those events. Through his association with the Umfravilles Hardyng came under the notice of Henry V, who in 1418 entrusted him with a mission to Scotland to spy out the prospects of an invasion of that country, and to collect evidence on the English claim to Sovereignty.^ This mission determined the subsequent course of Hardyng's life, and led directly to the composition of his Chronicle. The first-fruits of Hardyng's inquiries were presented to Henry V at Bois de Vincennes, probably in May 1422. According to his own account he was promised in reward the manor of Geddington in Northamptonshire, but lost it through the King's early death.* The choice of Hardyng for this mission seems to indicate that he had already some reputation for historical research. So far, however, his studies had not taken shape, though in a note in the earlier version of his Chronicle he relates that he received instruction in Justinus's Epitome of Trogus Pompeius from JuUus de Caesarinis, who was present in England as a papal envoy in 1426 and 1427.* It is possible that Hardyng paid a second visit to Scotland on the same errand as his first in 1434. At all events he made the alleged offer of a bribe by James I in that year one reason for his claim to be rewarded when 1 Chronicle, ed. Ellis, p. 351. - English Historical Review, xxvii. 742, 751. 3 Chronicle, ed. Ellis, pp. 392-3. ■* Engl. Hist. Rev. xxvii. 464 n. Ellis, through a misinterpretation of this note, thought that Hardyng had visited Rome in 1424. 142 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE he presented a second instalment of documents on the English claims in Scotland to Henry VI at Easthampstead in July 1440.1 On this occasion Hardyng obtained a yearly pension of £10 as a reward for his services in obtaining certain evi- dences concerning the king's overlordship of Scotland. Still he did not consider this adequate, and in 1451 put up a fresh petition. By his own account he then actually obtained Letters of Privy Seal granting his desire, but was baulked of its fulfilment through the intervention of Cardinal Kemp.^ In the original version of his Chronicle Hardyng states that this had happened six years before the time at which he wrote. Thus we get 1457 as the date for the completion of his Chronicle. It was no doubt the presentation of his work to the King that led to the grant of a further £20 a year in return for the delivery of six documents relating to the Scottish overlordship in November 1457.* Still Hardyng was not satisfied, and he set to work at once on a revised version of his Chronicle, to which he prefixed a fresh dedication to Richard, Duke of York. This later version was continued to May 1464, and since it contains a reference to Elizabeth Woodville as Queen, cannot have been finished till some months later. Apparently, however, a copy had been presented to Edward IV at Leicester in May 1463, again with a selection of his Scottish documents. Hardyng was then a very old man, and he probably did not long survive the completion of his Chronicle. This account of Hardyng's life has been necessary to show how closely the composition of the Chronicle was connected with his Scottish mission, and with his endeavour to obtain a reward for his real or fancied services. The services were more fancied than real, since Sir Francis Palgrave had no difficulty in showing that the documents, the majority of which are still preserved in the Record Office, were forged. ' The language, the expressions, the dates, the general tenor, all bespeak the forgery.' * Their concoction affords some proof of Hardyng's antiquarian knowledge and skill, but ' Cal. Pat. Rolls, Henry VI, iii. 431, 484, 490. 2 Engl. Hist. Rev. xxvii. 743, 752. ' Palgrave, Documents and Records relating to Scotland, pp. 377-8 : Cal. Pat. Rolls, Henry VI, vi. 31)3. * Palgrave, Documents, pp. cc-cvi, ccxxiii. MINOR CHRONICLES, 1422-1469 143 inevitably discredits him as a trustworthy historian. The discredit is the greater because it is manifest that his purpose in writing was to urge his claims to reward in return for the forged documents. The references to the Scottish overlord- ship appear throughout the whole Chronicle as occasion offers, and are coupled with notices of his delivery of the documents, and of his disappointed hopes. If Hardyng's autobiographical notices have been so little to his own credit, they are of service to us as revealing the purpose with which he composed the two versions of his Chronicle, and as enabling us to fix quite closely the dates of their composition. As we have seen, the first version was completed and presented to Henry VI in 1457. This is shown by the statements that it was six years since his petition for reward had been frustrated by Cardinal Kemp, at that time Archbishop of York and Chancellor,^ and that some of the Evidences of Scotland had been in his keeping for thirty-six years.^ Moreover, the dedication contains a reference to Edward, Prince of Wales,' whilst much of the conclusion would seem to relate to the early years of the Wars of the Roses. The main part of the Chronicle was probably com- posed somewhat earlier. The stanzas in praise of Henry V * would seem to have been written before 1449, since in them the King is advised to send the disturbers of his peace over the sea. To keep your right in France and Normandy. The favourable tone of the references to Suffolk would also appear to indicate that the time of writing was previous to his fall in 1450. No doubt the original composition of the Chronicle, which in the first version contains nearly 2,700 stanzas, was spread over a considerable period. Hardyng must have set to work on his second version very soon after the presentation of the first to Henry VI, since he dedicates it to Richard of York, who was killed in December 1460. But as I have stated above, this version was not completed ^ Kemp was made Chancellor on January 31, 1450, and translated to Canterbury early in 1452. ^ Engl. Hist. Rev. xxvii. 743. 3 Id. xxvii. 740. * Id. xxvii. 744-6. 144 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE in its present shape till late in 1464, though an earlier copy may have been presented to Edward IV in May 1463. As regards the form of the Chronicle the second version is much the shorter, containing less than 1,800 stanzas, or about two-thirds the number of the first. The abbreviation is most marked in the earlier part of the Chronicle, with which we are not here concerned. For that part of the fifteenth century which is common to both versions the first has 206 stanzas as against 185 in the second. The abbreviation is really greater, since the second version contains some passages of considerable length which did not appear in the first. It is not therefore surprising that Sir Henry Ellis should have found the text of the first version ' altogether so different from the other copies as not to admit of a collation '. But in spite of the very marked textual variation, the difference in the substantial material of the two versions is not very important. The narrative proceeds on much the same lines, and is for the most part derived from similar sources. The first version is generally somewhat fuller on the exploits of Hardyng's patrons, the Umfravilles ; though it omits the well-known passage describing how Robert Umfraville came to be known as Robin Mendmarket. For the reign of Henry IV the two most noteworthy variations are for Archbishop Scrope's rebellion in 1405, and for the dispute between the Prince of Wales and the King in 1411-12 ; both of these passages contain some detail which may be derived from the writer's own knowledge. Under Henry V the first version is on the whole the inferior, though it has a rather better account of the ' Foul Raid ' in 1417, and supplies some fresh details for the defeat of Clarence at Baug6 in 1421. The main narrative of the first version ends with the death of James I of Scotland in 1437. For these fifteen years of the reign of Henry VI Hardyng seems to have followed the Latin Brut. His narrative has no interest except for the character of his references to persons, and especially to Henry VI and Suffolk, of both of whom he writes favourably. The proper history closes with a reference to York's seven years' rule in Normandy, which shows that it was not written before 1446; in the second version there appears a further reference to MINOR CHRONICLES, 1422-1469 145 York's banishment to Ireland, which may possibly indicate that the first version was written before 1447. The real importance of the first version consists in the introductory dedication and proem, a chapter in praise of Henry V, and three chapters at the end in which Hardyng extols his old master Robert Umfraville, exhorts the King to reform his realm by Umfraville's example, and urges his own claims to reward. The proem and the final chapter are of value for the autobiographical matter which they con- tain. The stanzas on Robert Umfraville are noteworthy for Hardyng's picture of his old master : Truly he was a jewel for a King In wise counsayle and knightly deeds of war ; and also for the fact that, perhaps through his personal interest in his theme, the writer was warmed into something more approaching to poetry than the common doggerel of his main Chronicle. The praise of Umfraville, who was no rioter but a true justice of peace in his country, is made the occasion for an exhortation to Henry VI to rule most specially for the common profit of his Realm : In every shire with Jakkes and Salades clean Misrule doth rise : the poor were oppressed and there was no justice of peace who dared to resist the evil. The King is adjured to with- stand the rioters and maintainers, or his monarchy would be ruined ; and is warned to take heed of the fate of kings who kept neither law nor peace. These stanzas seem to have reference to the disorders in the years immediately before 1457, In the stanzas in praise of Henry V Hardyng had contrasted the good order which that King had kept with the little rest which prevailed at the time when he wrote. As I have pointed out above, these stanzas were probably written before 1449. The two passages furnish a valuable illustration of the state of England in the middle of the fifteenth century, which is the more striking for its appearance in an exhortation addressed to the Lancastrian King. Had they been additions to the second or Yorkist version, they might have been discounted as at least coloured by partisan 14SS L 146 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE bias ; but coming as they do tliey must be accepted as a faithful picture. The first version closes with a long descrip- tion of how Scotland might be conquered, with the route to be taken and the distances from town to town. The greater part of this is wanting in the extant copies of the second version ; but it probably appeared in some copies, since it is given in full by Grafton, whose main text follows the second version. In the second version the changes, other than mere abbrevi- ation, were chiefly due to its altered purpose. In his address to Edward IV Hardyng says that the King's kin had been divorced of all the royalty for sixty-three years. So he was anxious to show that Henry IV obtained the crown Not for descent nor yet for any art Or might of himself.^ With this intention he no doubt inserted his prose account of the relations of the Percies with Henry IV, and of the alleged scheme to manufacture an hereditary title for the new dynasty by pretending that Edmund Crouchback was the elder brother of Edward I.^ The insertion of lines depre- ciating Henry IV ^ and the curtailing of the praise of Henry V * would follow naturally. These latter changes are significant, but they are not really so important as some additions to the main narrative. Of these the chief are the story of Robert Umfraville at Peebles, and the better accounts of the French war in 1412, and of Baug6 in 1421.'' The nature of Hardyng's sources is illustrated by the insertion of a stanza describing Sigismund's retinue in 1416,' and of a story of how Henry V put a stop to the private war of two lords.' Of a different character is the prose account in Latin of the campaign of Agincourt,^ which is not, as Ellis seems to have supposed, a personal journal of Hardyng's own composition, but is derived in the main from the Gesta Henrici Quinti of Thomas Elmham, though with some small additions relating to the Umfravillcs ; its chief interest consists in the fact that it seems lo be the only instance in the fifteenth century of the ' Chron. ('(1. ICllis, pp. 400, .\\a. * Id. pp. ',U-4. "■ Id. p. 371. » Id. p. 388. » Id. pp. \'()b-i, 384. « Id. ]), 376. ' Id. p. 383. » Id. pp. 389-91 ; cf. Gesta, pp. I3-58. MINOR CHRONICLES, 1422-1469 147 use of Elmham's prose narrative. Under the first fifteen years of Henry VI there is little change in the actual history. But the alteration in tone is now very noteworthy. The references to Suffolk are less favourable. The praise of Salisbury is amplified, and the marriage of his daughter to Richard Neville, father of the Kingmaker, is recorded. The Earl of Warwick is commended even more warmly than before. Of Henry VI it is said : He could Httle within his heart conceive. The good from evil he could uneth perceive.^ Warwick is alleged to have sought his discharge from his oflSce with the King out of weariness with his ' symplesse '.* The account of the siege of Calais in 1436 is much shorter ; the creditable part played by Edmund Beaufort is slurred over, and even Duke Humphrey is depreciated as having done little ' to count a manly man '.^ The stanzas which Hardyng added to bring his Chronicle down to 1464 * contain little of importance. The most valuable part is the final chapter, which deals with events in the north, on which the author may have had special information. Hardyng writing in retirement was hardly in touch with Yorkist sentiment ; his chilly reference to the downfall of Humphrey of Gloucester, and his condemnation of Suffolk's murder do not reflect the opinion which became popular after 1461. That in his address to Edward IV he urged the wisdom of treating Henry VI and his family with generosity is to his credit. As regards Hardyng's sources it is to be noted that the most valuable parts of his main narrative are the passages in which he treats of the exploits of his patrons, the Percies and the Umfravilles, on the Scottish Border and in the French war. These were no doubt written from his own knowledge, and contain material not to be found elsewhere. The rest of the Chronicle contains nothing of original value. The first version ended, like the Latin 'Brut, in 1437,^ and the points of resemblance in the two works are so close as to leave no doubt that the 1437 edition of the Brut, whether in its English ■ ' Chron. p. 394. " Id. p. 395. 3 Id. ib. * Id. pp. 399-408. ' See pp. 129-31 above. L 2 148 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE or Latin dress, was the source from which Hardyng derived his material. In marginal notes ^ to the copy of the first version in Lansdowne MS. 204, Hardyng states that he had based his history on what he had heard or seen, together with the Chronicle of Master Norham, doctor in theology. Of Norham's Chronicle nothing else is known ; for though Stow cites it he seems to do so only through the medium of Hardyng. Probably it was merely a copy of the Latin Brut, of which Norham happened to be the owner. Two passages in the second version suggest that Hardyng had there used another copy of the BnU. The list of Sigismund's retinue clearly comes from the same source as that in the Cleopatra Chronicle of London.^ The story of how Henry V stopped a private war, though Hardyng claims to write as a witness, seems to refer to the same incident as that in the Lambeth MS. of the Brut? The concluding portion of the second version has little or nothing which might not be written from common knowledge. It will be obvious that Hardyng's Chronicle has no claim to be regarded as an original authority, except for the isolated passages which the author wrote from his own knowledge, and those other passages in which he describes incidentally the state of England at the time at which he wrote. His obvious purpose in writing, and the circumstances under which he composed two different versions, would be enough to discredit him. As a consequence no reliance can be placed on him as a faithful judge of other men. Except for its long currency the Chronicle would not have called for such full treatment. Grafton first printed it in two separate editions* in 1543, following a copy of the second version, which seems to have differed somewhat from those now extant. At a later time Grafton was involved in a dispute as to the true character of Hardyng's work with John Stow, who had access to the very different first version. Hall, Stow, and Holinshed all made use of Hardyng in their own histories. The edition ' See Engl. Hnt. Rev. xxvii. 476. '* Chronicles of London, p. 124 ; cf Tito Livio, Vita Henrici, p. 23, and 1' 54 above. 3 Their difference is chiefly typographical. * ^"'t, p. 595 ; cf. p. [00 above. MINOR CHRONICLES, 1422-1469 149 which Sir Henry Ellis printed in 1812 renewed Hardyng's position as a source of information, but the editor's neglect of the Lansdowne MS. prevents it from being accepted as definitive. The Chronicle is hardly of sufficient importance to justify the reprinting of the complete text of both versions.^ Hardyng's Chronicle, it is true, has covered the whole reign of Henry VI, but in a very imperfect fashion. Still, even thus there is no other contemporary work besides the Brut of which so much can be said. There are two Lives of Henry VI, but neither of them is of great value from a purely historical point of view. The eariier of these Lives is the one given by Capgrave in his Liber de Illustrihus Henricis, which ends in 1446. Most of it is mere pious eulogy ; the only piece, of criticism of any value is a regret that the sea was not better kept.^ The second Life is by John Blakman, who was an original Fellow of Eton College. He states that he wrote from his own knowledge and from information supplied by Henry's attendants. Clearly Blakman was in a position to obtain good material, but his work is in no sense a history. It is concerned almost entirely with the King's virtues, but gives some interesting details about his personal character, and patient conduct during his long imprisonment in the Tower. Blakman very probably composed his panegyric with a view to Henry's suggested canonization after the accession of Henry VII ; it is styled De Virtutibus et Miraculis Henrici Sexti, and was edited by Thomas Hearne in the same volume with Otterbourne's Chronicle. In the second chapter mention was made of various monastic Annals which struggle on into the early years of Henry VI. ^ As is there pointed out, they contribute only a few casual facts of interest. Some of them, however, had at least the merit of keeping up an old tradition. The first Continuation * I have discussed Hardyng's own history, and the first version of his Chronicle at more length in the English Historical Review, xxvii. 462-82. The most distinctive passages of the Lansdowne MS. are printed there on pp. 740-53. Lansdowne 204 is the only MS. of the first version. Harley 661 is the best MS. of the second version ; others are Selden B 10, Ash- mole 34, and Douce 345 in the Bodleian Library, Egerton 1992 in the British Museum, and one in Lord ToUemache's Library at Helmingham (Hist. MSS. Comm. i. 60). The last three are imperfect. * De illustrihus Henricis, p. 134. ' See p. 37 above. 150 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE of the Croyland Chronicle is not without a certain value for the reign of Henry VI, but this will be more conveniently dealt with in the next chapter.' At St. Albans the line of true historians had come to an end with Walsingham. His successors in the scriptorium were concerned chiefly with the history of their Abbey.- Two works of more general interest were, however, composed at St. Albans during this period. The first is an anonymous Chronicle for 1422 to 1431, which is printed with Amundesham's Annates in the Rolls Series. It is clearly a St. Albans compilation, but the humble and unpretending appearance and slovenly character of the manu- script led H. T. Riley, its editor, to suggest that it was rather a private journal of events kept by one of the monks for reference or amusement than an Abbey Chronicle intended for the use of the whole community.' Be that as it may, the greater part relates to the Abbey and to events which took place in its neighbourhood ; prominent amongst these are the records of visits paid to the Abbey by great personages, like Humphrey of Gloucester and his duchess Jacqueline, which have an interest of their own. But interspersed in the history of the Abbey are many notices of wider importance, and in particular of events in London. Of these the greater number are to be found in one or other of the London Chronicles. Such are the execution of John Mortimer in 1424 ; the story of W. Wawe the thief, and the destruction of bad wine in 1427 ; the Duke of Norfolk's escape from drowning in 1428 ; the death of Friar Randolph in the Tower in 1429 ; the executions of Cole and Hunden ; the fight by two men of Feversham in 1430 ; and the notices of Thomas Baggely and Jack Sharpe in 1431.* The points of resemblance are too numerous and too marked to be entirely fortuitous. It ^ See pp. 179-84 below. ^ lohannis Araundesham, Annates, 2 vols. ; Regislin Abbatwn, 2 vols., covering the rule of Abbots Whethamstede, Albon, and Wallingforde. ' Amundesham, Annates, i. p. xiii. Tlu-so SI. Albans Annaks come from Harley MS. 3775, flf. 100-20. They were written in two hands of little later date than 1430. The second hand (S. 119, i;o) is of a similar character to that of the London Chronicle, in the same manuscript. There are some notes by John Stow in the margins. * See Chronicles of London, pp. 133, J73, 282-3; Nicolas, Land. Chron. pp. 117, 118; Groporv's Chron. pp. i6i, 16.?, 171 ; Bn4<, pp. 441, 453. MINOR CHRONICLES, 1422-1469 151 may therefore be assumed with confidence that the St. Albans writer had made use of one of the early versions of the London Chronicles. The same volume contains a London Chronicle, which may possibly have been copied at St. Albans ^ ; but this is certainly not the sole source of the St. Albans Annals, which contain some London matter which does not appear in the ordinary Chronicles, and when on common ground are sometimes fuller. The St. Albans writer may possibly have followed a lost early copy superior to those now extant. Amongst the additions are a story of an impostor, who styled himself the ' Baron de Blakamore ', and the account of the complaint of the woman of the Stocks Market against Hum- phrey of Gloucester.^ Both these stories are quoted by Stow,^ notes in whose writing appear in the margins of the manu- script. Amundesham's own Annals from 1421 to 1440 are concerned almost entirely with the history of the Abbey ; an exception, if it be one, is the account of Abbot Whetham- stede's long visit to Rome in 1423-4. It is to Whethamstede himself that we are indebted for the second of the St. Albans narratives. This is a far more valuable production (giving the history of the six years from 1455 to 1461), which is incorporated in Whethamstede's Register. The Register as it stands appears to have been drawn up between 1465 and 1476 from two original records. The main subject of the Register is of course the affairs of the Abbey, but a number of lengthy passages bearing on general English history are inserted. The first occasion for such digression comes with the first battle of St. Albans ; to a description of the battle is prefixed an account of the causes which led York to take up arms.* There follows a notice of the subsequent Parliament, in which the memory of Humphrey of Gloucester and the character of the Yorkists were cleared.^ The Bill of Resumption in the Parliament of 1456 threatened to affect the Abbey, and so receives detailed notice.® The reconciliation of 1458, with its provision of 1 This is suggested by the similar style of handwriting, see note on p. 1 50 above. For this London Chronicle see further, pp. 292-5 below. 2 Amundesham, Annates, i. 7, 20. ' Survey of London, i. 58 ; Annates, p. 369. * Registrum, i. 159-76. 5 Id. 178-86. ' Id. 250-60. 152 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE masses for those who had fallen at St. Albans three years before, was also of interest to the Abbey Chronicler ; it is consequently described at length, with the full text of the award.^ The history of the next three years, beginning with Warwick's victory at sea in May 1458, and ending with the first Parliament of Edward IV, is given in much detail, and includes copies of many documents.^ It is of course peculiarly useful for the second battle of St. Albans, but the whole history is valuable and important. Whethamstede had been a friend of Humphrey of Glou- cester, and the sufferings of St. Albans at the hands of the northern army in 1461 would naturally have inclined the Abbey Chronicler to the Yorkist side. Hallam asserted that the pillage of the Abbey changed Whethamstede ' from a violent Lancastrian into a Yorkist ', adding : ' His change of party is quite sudden and amusing enough.'* This view seems to be mistaken. The attitude of the writer of the Chronicle is consistent ; the record of events was no doubt set down in the original Register as they occurred. Even in 1455 it is clear on which side the writer's sympathies lay.* But for that Whethamstede's lifelong friendship with Duke Humphrey is a sufficient explanation. The acceptance of the Yorkist monarchy, as shown by the favourable reference to Edward IV towards the end of the history,* is not enough to justify the charge of a violent change of opinion. Nor for that matter is the partisanship ever pronounced. Richard of York's haughty conduct in the Parliament of 1460, which is described at length, meets with due criticism in the detailed account of the popular objections to his claims.* The writer feels that York was in need of defence for the breach of his oath to Henry VI, and puts forward the excuse that he had been absolved by the Pope. He seems once more to reveal his own sympathies when he adds that the chaises made against the Duke had no great efficacy.'' King Henry himself is referred to not ungenerously, but without warmth ; he is spoken of as simple and upright, but unable to withstand ' Ref>istrum, i. 291-308. a ;j 330-1, 336-56, 367-420. ■' Middle Ages, iii. 198. « lifgistrum, i. 160, 162, 179. « Jd. 387. « /,/. 377-80. • Id. 38^-.,. MINOR CHRONICLES, 1422-1469 153 the evil suggestions of others, who led him into unwise courses aiid wasteful expenditure.^ This criticism, though not un- warranted, is certainly not the language of a violent Lan- castrian. On the other hand, the history is throughout free from that marked bias which Yorkist opinion has impressed on other Chronicles which were completed after 1461. The historical interest of Whethamstede's Register is not confined to English politics : there are long digressions on the alleged heresy of Reginald Pecock,^ on the warfare with the Turks,' and on the projected Council of Mantua in 1458.* The narra- tive was no doubt based on material collected under Whetham- stede's direction. He had been twice abbot of St. Albans, first from 1420 to 1440, and secondly from 145 1 to tiis death in 1465. During his second tenure of ofifice two Registers were kept, the first ending with his seventh year ; the second resuming at once and continuing to the end of the tenth year in 1461. That these Registers were kept under his own direction is clear from the words with which the first was closed, since age and sickness made the toil distasteful.* When the second comes to an end three years later, old age, illness, and failing sight are again pleaded as the reasons why the writer could add no more.* Riley, however, showed that the Register as it now exists is a compilation based on these two originals ; ' so much is indeed admitted by the compiler's references to ' Registrum alterum, parumper brevius '.* Further, there is much in the existing work for which it does not seem hkely that Whethamstede would have been responsible ; this is especially the case as regards the violent attacks on William Wallingford, who was a principal officer of the abbey during the whole of Whethamstede's second term. Thus it would seem likely that the Register was put into its present form in the interval between the death of Whethamstede in 1465 and the accession of Wallingford to the abbacy in 1476. The additions which appear to have been made in the process relate, however, to affairs in the 1 Id. 248-9, under date 1456. ^ Id. 279-88. 3 Id. 268-72. * Id. 331-5. " Id. 322. ' Id. 420. ' Introduction to Registrum, i. pp. xv-xvii. » Registrum, i. 375, 383, 420. 154 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE abbey ; the political history, with which we are here alone concerned, probably remains in the form which it received under the abbot's direction. If Whethamstede was not actually the author of this history, it certainly owes its merits to his inspiration. 1 It is a pity that of the forty-five generally obscure years, from his first election as abbot to his death, he has left us such a record for six alone. One could forgive him even more of his own very bad Latin verses, if his scribe had given us more of his prose. Hearne printed the parts of Whethamstede's Register which are of interest for political history under the title of lohannis Whethamstede Chronicon, together with Otterbourne's Chronicle in 1732. He had previously printed the account of Reginald Pecock in his Chronicon Walteri Hemingford. The edition in the Rolls Series is due to H. T. Riley. The manuscript is Arundel 3 at the College of Arms, which has on a fly-leaf the autograph of Robert Blakeney, who was a monk at St. Albans about 1515 ; this has led to an erroneous ascrip- tion of the authorship to him.^ The manuscript was purchased by Lord William Howard in 1589, and whilst in his possession was no doubt made use of by John Stow ; * it is also quoted independently in Holinshed's Chronicles. If the Chronicle contained in Whethamstede's Register stands by itself amongst the Latin histories composed about the middle of the century, there are not wanting in other quarters signs that an interest in History lingered on in monastic houses. The London Chronicles and the English Brut were probably written to meet the desire of laymen for a history of their native land in their own familiar speech. But amongst ecclesiastics the tradition of Latin as the right medium for historical literature was still strong. Perhaps it is not too rash to conjecture that the translation of the Brut into Latin was made primarily to meet their needs. At all events, several of the brief chronicles which were composed by ecclesiastics at this time take the form of continuations 1 Duo rerum Anglicarum Scii/^loirs. ■ vols. ; Whethamstedi-s Chronick forms the second volume. 2 Ncwcomi-, Hislory of St. Albans, \t. 40:. " Comparo his account of events at St. Alb.ins in 1461 {Annates, p. 414) with Hr-i^istrnni, i, ,10^-4. MINOR CHRONICLES, 1422-1469 155 of the Latin Brut ; whilst in other cases the more original earlier matter shows obvious traces of derivation from an English source. Even in the entirely original continuations we are commonly left with the impression that the author thought, though he did not write, in English. Herein we have evidence of the continuing tradition of Latin, and also of its growing displacement by English. The most important, though not the most typical, of the minor Latin histories with which we are thus about to deal is the anonymous Chronicle of Henry VI edited by J. A. Giles in 1846. With the Chronicles for the reigns of Henry IV and Henry V, which are contained in the same volume,^ I have dealt in previous chapters. Reference was there made to the defective editing of the book,^ and here I must deal with it at more length as a preliminary to any criticism of the original writer. Giles himself admits that he was dependent for his text on transcripts made by Petrie, and it is obvious that he had no acquaintance with the manuscripts from which those transcripts were made. Some description of the manu- scripts is therefore needful. The complete Chronicle for the reign of Henry VI is given only in Royal MS. 13, C i, at the British Museum. That manuscript begins with a mutilated copy of the abbreviation of the Pseudo-Elmham's Vita Henrici Quinti,^ followed in another hand by the Chronicle for the reign of Henry VI, which the scribe clearly intended to be read as a continuation of the foregoing. There then follow Chronicles for the reigns of Richard II and Henry IV in the same hand as that for Henry VI. In the other manuscript — Sloane 1776, also at the British Museum — the four Chronicles are formed into a continuous narrative (with a variation for the reign of Henry V as explained in a previous chapter) ; this manuscript ends imperfectly in 1440. From the fact that the Sloane MS. gives the four reigns continuously, we may fairly conclude that it was the later written. There is, moreover, other evidence which suggests that in the Royal MS. we have the autograph of the original compiler. On two leaves of this manuscript there appear a number of alternative * Incerii scHpioris Chronicon . . . de regnis . . . Henrici IV, Henrici V, Henrici VI. " See p. 25 above. ^ See p. 63 above. 156 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE versions for events between 1440 and 1443,^ which appear to represent various attempts on the part of the author to pro- duce a narrative to his Hking. The scribe of the Sloane MS. followed what he no doubt conceived to be the author's final intention ; Giles, whose transcript at this point was made from the Sloane MS., consequently gives no indication of the existence of any alternative matter, though some of it should have appeared on page 22 of his edition. The Sloane text ends imperfectly on page 29; on the next page Giles notes 'Hie quedam desunt in manuscripto ' ; though, as a matter of fact, the Royal MS., from which of course the text is now derived, at this place contains some matter which Giles has omitted. The hitherto unprinted matter in the Royal MS. is chiefly of value as illustrating the composition of the Chronicle itself. The most interesting thing is a story that Eleanor Cobham was arrested on June 25, 1441, as she sat at supper at the King's Head in Cheap, whither she had gone to witness the Marching- Watch ; since the King's Head was the later name for the Crown Seld, which Edward III built for ' the Kings of England and other great Estates, therein to behold the shows of the City ',^ we get a hint at the overweening pride which went before Eleanor's fall. The statement that Richard of York achieved little in Normandy, because he followed the advice of young councillors and especially of Sir John Oldhall, has a certain interest in view of the Yorkist tone of the later part of the Chronicle. Giles's Chronicle of Henry VI has, at all events, the merit of being the most nearly complete Latin history of the reign, coming down to 1455. The date of its composition was clearly some years later, probably in or soon after 1460 ; for there is a reference under 1442 to the death of Eleanor Cobham sixteen years afterwards ; » and under 1447 John Delabere, Bishop of St. Davids, is said to have never \isited his diocese as long as he lived * — he resigned in 1451) ; the Yorkist tone ^ Printed on pp. ,i,5.,-4i bolow. ^ Stow, Survey of London, i. 2S7 ; tliis is, 1 believi'. the earliest instance of the name ' l^inK's Head ' for the Crown Seld. •' Chron. p. 31. • ftl. p. u MINOR CHRONICLES, 1422-1469 157 of the Chronicle rather points to a date after 1460. The compiler of the Chronicle of Henry VI had, of course, no share in the Chronicles for the three earlier reigns ; those for Richard II and Henry IV were much older works, and that for Henry V, though probably abbreviated from the Pseudo- Elmham about 1455, is, to judge from the difference of the handwriting in the Royal MS., not his work. Even the Chronicle of Henry VI is only in a limited degree an original composition. It seems to consist of two portions ; the first, from 1422 to 1438, is little more than a compilation derived chiefly from a London Chronicle or the Brut ; but the second, which covers the last seventeen years, contains some new and valuable matter. The author was apparently an ecclesiastic. His chief addition in the earlier part is a notice of the Council of Basle and the renewal of the Schism, which was not written till after the death of Eugenius IV in 1447.^ In this earlier part there is no particular bias. The more original portion, from 1438 onwards, is strongly Yorkist. All the ministers of Henry VI, except Cardinal Beaufort,^ are censured ; even comparatively humble Lancastrians, like John Langton and John Delabere, successively Bishops of St. Davids, are spoken of with a contempt ^ which is probably political. Eleanor Cobham was not likely to have won favour with an ecclesiastic; but her husband's death is alleged to have stirred all the people of England against Suffolk and his colleagues.* The most valuable part is that dealing with the last five years, where we get a good account, from a Yorkist point of view, of events down to the autumn of 1455. The chronology is, however, unsound ; the attempted arrest of Edmund, Duke of Somerset, at Blackfriars in December 1450, is followed by the movements of Richard of York in the spring of 1452 without anything to show that a year had intervened ; ^ similarly, though the Chronicle ends abruptly on the eve of the first battle of St. Albans on May 22, 1455,^ a notice of the conflict between the Earl of Devon and Lord Bonville, which occurred just five months later, had already been given.' The difficulty of the text is increased by the very » Id. p. 12. 2 7^ p 34 3 icl. p. 35. * Id. p. 34. 6 Id. p. 43. " Id. p. 48. ' Id. p. 46. 158 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE inaccurate dates which Giles has put at the heads of his pages. Even at its best the Chronicle is meagre : such value as it possesses is due more to the defect of other authorities than to any merit of its own. Let us now turn to three short pieces which were written in the form of continuations of the Latin Brut. The first of these is contained in Harley MS. 3884, wherein the Brvi is followed after an interval of seven years by a brief Chronicle for i^4j to I4JJ-^ Though very short it contains a few things of interest. A notice of the Parliament of 1445-6 includes a list of the constituencies represented, which is rather curious than important, since it cannot be trusted entirely.* Hum- phrey of Gloucester is praised as a friend of the Church and of learning, and above all for his gift of books, ' precious, fair, and costly,' to the University of Oxford, ' where his memory will ever be held in honour.' An account of the fall of Suffolk contains some small details which seem to be novel. The reference to Humphrey of Gloucester suggests that the author was an Oxford scholar, a conclusion for which there is some other slight corroboration. The other contents of the volume indicate that the date of writing was before 1460. In the Sherborne Annals, contained in Harley MS. 3906,* the continuation of the Brvit comes down to 1456. Notices of the burning of Sherborne Church on October 28, 1437, and of the troubles at Sherborne in 1450, prove clearly that the Chronicle was written in Sherborne Abbey. The interest of it consists entirely in the history of 1450, relating how the Commons of the realm were filled with infamy, and fearing neither King nor law made 1;hemselves captains in many places. A brief account of the murder of Bishop Ayscough at Edington is followed by a long and obviously local history of the troubles of the same time at Sherborne, which is noteworthy for its definite connexion of the West Country disturbances with Cade's rebellion. The other notices in this Sherborne Chronicle are slight and unimportant. The last is of the comet in June 1456, and the Chronicle was probably written soon afterwards. ' Printicl 01) pp. 34.V 5 liolow. ' Sco further, p. 342 below. " l^inUil on pp. 347-9 below. MINOR CHRONICLES, 1422-1469 159 The third of these continuations of the Latin Brut is of more importance, and extends to 1471. It was printed by Dr. Gairdner from Arundel MS. 5 at the College of Arms, in his Three Fifteenth Century Chronicles''- under the title of ' A Brief Latin Chronicle '. From 1437 to 1460 there are only short notices of isolated incidents, which contain nothing that cannot be found elsewhere. The descriptions of the battle of Northampton, and of the Duke of York's claim in Parliament, are somewhat fuller. The account of the acces- sion of Edward IV is interesting, and for the military and naval movements at the commencement of that King's reign Dr. Gairdner describes it as ' perhaps the clearest contem- porary account that we possess '. Of the conclusion from 1464 to 1471 he writes : ' There is comparatively little recorded that is not to be found elsewhere ; but the narrative, slender as it is, ought certainly not to be overlooked by any one who proposes to study the history of the period from original sources '.^ Dr. Gairdner observes that the notice of the executions after Hexham corresponds with that of Gregory's Chronicle, and must have been derived from a common source.* Other matter, such as the accounts of Edward IV's coming to London in 1461, and of his coronation, shows points of resemblance to the Vitellius Chronicle of London.* No doubt a good deal of the material used in the City Chronicles was common property, and for that matter those Chronicles themselves were widely distributed. The occur- rence of such points of resemblance need therefore excite no surprise. But this Latin Chronicle was itself clearly the work of some one resident in London. It ends with an account of the Bastard of Fauconberg's attack on the City in 1471. It was probably written not long after ; but certainly before 1480, since Berwick was still in the hands of the Scots.^ These continuations of the Latin Brut have one feature in common that they were clearly written with no other object than to bring the particular copy to which they were attached 1 Camden Society, 2nd Series, No. 28, 1880, pp. 164-85. 2 Preface, pp. xxi, xxvi. ^ pp. 178-9 ; Gregory's Chronicle, pp. 225-6. 4 pp. 173-4; Chronicles of London, -p^. 173, 176. ^ p. 180. i6o ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE a little more up to date. It is also characteristic of them all that they bear obvious evidence of the place at which they were written. They were no doubt composed without any literary purpose, or intention for a wider circulation. Such local records were probably common ; the preliminary matter, where it did not follow some Chronicle of estabUshed reputa- tion, being usually of the most meagre and worthless descrip- tion, whilst the concluding portion may contain something of value. On the other hand, the compiler may sometimes preserve an interesting fragment of a lost Chronicle, or some curious tradition. A case in point is the Chronicon Regwn Angliae, in Jesus College, Oxford, MS. 29, which has a very brief continuation to 1445.^ It seems to have been written about 1447. The reign of Henry VI is dismissed in a few lines. But the account of the battle of Shrewsbury is note- worthy for the occurrence of the name ' Bolefield ', and under Henry V we get a curious story of how Sigismund came to England in 1416 to demand by what title the King held his lands. The latter is of interest since it seems to be the oldest version of the story that Sigismund was not allowed to land till he had disclaimed the right to exercise imperial authority in England. It is likely enough that other Chronicles of similar quality still exist, though their contents would hardly reward the labour of the searcher. The meagre Bury Chronicle which is printed in Arnold's Memorials of St. Edmund's Abbey ^ from St. John's College, Oxford, MS. 209, is an instance; it ends in 1471, but has no value. I will, however, describe three specimens which are of some interest. Cotton. MS. Titus D xv, ff. 7-57, contains a Chronicon Angliae or Waltham Annals ' down to 1447. The concluding part is very brief. For the reigns of Henry IV and Henry V it is mainly derived from the English Brut. The account of the battle of Shrewsbury is, however, peculiar, and is again marked by the name ' Bullfield '. The part for the reign of Henry VI is more original, though for the earlier years it may owe something to a London Chronicle. It is, however, ' Engl. I-Iisl. liev. xxvi. 750-1. '' iii. 295-7 (Rolls Scries). For remains of a Tewkesbury Chronicle see pp. 37(>-8 below. 9 Printed pp. 350-4 below. MINOR CHRONICLES, 1422-1469 161 of little importance. The writer seems to have been chiefly impressed by 'horrible coruscations of thunder'. A few things are of more interest, the most noteworthy being the story of ' le wode Munday ' on June 25, 1436, when a false report of a Burgundian invasion led to a riot in Essex. Of this I have found no other mention. The local references point clearly to Essex, and probably to Waltham Abbey, as the place where the Chronicle was written. Perhaps its interest is greatest as a specimen of what passed for history in monasteries of the time. The writer seems to have been rather relieved when he brought his work to an end in 1447. In his Three Fifteenth Century Chronicles ^ Dr. Gairdner in- cludes under the title Brief Notes (1422-62) a short Chronicle which was written at Ely. It begins with some bald annals, which end in 1456 and were clearly derived from a London Chronicle. There then follow longer notices, beginningwith the Parliament of Bury in 1447. This first notice is interesting, both as giving the current impression in a neighbouring monastery, and for some circumstantial details not found elsewhere. Other- wise there is nothing of any consequence before 1459. The subsequent notices, though somewhat carelessly dated and entered, give useful details. They are obviously a record of news written down from time to time as received at the Abbey. Most are in Latin, but a few are in Enghsh. One begins : ' These tidings hath my Lord of Lincoln ; ' and another : ' These ben the tidings sent out of Scotland.' Events in Northumberland in 1462 are described in the present tense. Even the errors are those which might be expected in flying reports at the time. As a contemporary record of fighting and Lancastrian conspiracy, with a number of new and not unimportant details, the Brief Notes are useful. In Cotton. MS. Domitian A iv, ff. 246-56, there are some short Latin Annals written at Gloucester Abbey, which are of a worthless character down to 1422, but resume in 1449 with broken notes of more value spread over the next twenty years.2 The latter part of the Gloucester Annals begins with a description of a local riot caused, by the unpopularity of ^ pp. 148-63 ; from Lambeth MS. 448. ^ Printed, pp. 355-7 below. 14S8 M i62 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE Reginald Bowlers, the abbot, afterwards bishop of Hereford, who was accused as one of the royal ministers of being responsible for the loss of Normandy. Bowlers was an adherent of Somerset, and this disturbance was no doubt political; it may have had something to do with his arrest by the Duke of York a little later.^ There is also an account of another local riot in 1463, which was important enough to call for the personal intervention of Warwick and the King. A notice of the battle of Edgcote in 1469 is not with- out interest ; the writer was clearly on the side of Warwick and Clarence. At the end another hand has added a notice of a dispute at Lanthony Priory. If one could not have expected to meet with any literary merit in such pieces as those which have just been described, it is somewhat disappointing to find how little different either in matter or form (except for its greater fullness) is the work composed about the same time by a man of superior oppor- tunities and attainments. William Worcester, or William Botoner, as he sometimes signed himself (using his mother's maiden name), was born at Bristol in 1415, and educated at Oxford. He left Oxford about 1438 to take service with Sir John Fastolf as his secretary, and thus appears as the writer of some letters in the Paston Collection.* He was disappointed of his expectations under Fastolf's will, and found himself involved instead in a dispute with John Paston, who would not recognize his claims. Ultimately he parted with all his documents relating to Fastolf's estate to Bishop Waynflete, who was also interested in the will, and received in exchange some lands near Norwich.^ For ten or twelve years from 1458 Worcester resided in London. Subsequently he settled at Pokethorp near Norwich, but spent a good deal of his time in travels through the south of England. His record of these journeys is preserved in his Itiuaarium ;* it is a mass of undigested notes, but it gives a few historical details, and is interesting for topography, and especially for that of Bristol. Worcester died between 1480 and 1483. He • stow, Annaks, 3^2, and y. Jo; below. ^ See pp. ;;oo, 202-4 below. For a list of his letters (21) see Paslon Letters, vi, p. 253. 3 Id. Nos. 401, g22. * In part edited by James Nasmith in J778. MINOR CHRONICLES, 1422-1469 163 was a man of antiquarian tastes, and an industrious collector of historical and topographical material. Further he had varied intellectual pursuits, with an interest in medicine and astronomy, as well as in classical literature. A translation which he made of Cicero's De Senectute seems to be identical in part with the one printed by Caxton in 1481. From such a, man one might have hoped to obtain historical work of value, both in form and in substance. But he was without literary skill ; and, though his letters are interesting, did not write well either in Latin or in English. Probably he had suspended his studies whilst in Fastolf's service ; for in 1458 a friend wrote that he had gone to school ' to be learned or read in poetry or else in French '.^ It was during his residence in London that Worcester compiled his Annates Rerum Anglicarum, of which his auto- graph is preserved in Arundel MS. 48 at the College of Arms. The work extends from 1324 to 1468, and in its earlier part is derived from a London Chronicle. Down to 1440 Worcester used a copy of the recension of that year, adding only the epitaph on Catherine of Valois and the dates of birth of the older children of Richard of York. From 1440 to 1446 his narrative is marked by errors of chronology and repetitions not dissimilar to those in the Vitellius Chronicle. The account of Cade's rebellion comes clearly from the same source as those in the Vitellius Chronicle and in Fabyan, though in some details it is a little fuller than either. Worcester's own material seems to begin about the time when he settled in London towards the end of the reign of Henry VI. Under 1460 he mentions that he had seen the body of Lord Scales lying naked in the cemetery of St. Mary Overy.^ At this same point he begins to head each year with the names of the mayor and sheriffs. With much fresh matter he still shows points of resemblance to the Vitellius Chronicle. It is not unlikely that he compiled his Annates even for the latest years from a London Chronicle ; though he supplemented it from his own observations and recollections, as, for instance, of the meeting at Clerkenwell when Edward IV was proclaimed * Paston Letters, No. 370. * p. [7731- M 2 i64 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE King, at which he tells us that he was himself present.^ The manuscript of the Annales is imperfect : blanks have been left in many places ; and at two points one or more leaves arc missing, the first where the account of the second battle of St. Albans has been lost, and the second where a gap occurs in the midst of the history of 1463.^ Even in their concluding portion the Annales are somewhat bald and un- interesting ; but in the absence of any full history of the period they are valuable for the close of the reign of Henry VI, and for the first eight years of Edward IV. The Annales were first printed by Hearne with the Liber Niger Scaccarii in 1728, and were reprinted in 1771. The latest edition is that given by J. Stevenson in Letters and Papers Ulustrative of the Wars in France.^ Besides his Annales Worcester was responsible for a collec- tion of documents relating to the French war, which he made for Edward IV ; after his death his son altered the dedication into one to Richard III. The collection belongs primarily to the Regency of the Duke of Bedford ; but numerous other documents are added down to 1452, especially with reference to the cession of Maine and Anjou. This collection was also printed by Stevenson.* Genealogical and Heraldic Rolls dating from the middle of the fifteenth century are not uncommon. They often include brief historical notes, or a short chronicle. The most usual is one attributed to Roger of St. Albans, a Carmelite of London, which begins : ' Considerans prolixitatem Chroni- corum ; ' ^ it is a general Chronicle from the Creation, with lists of Kings, Popes, &c., and originally ended in 1453, but some copies are continued to Edward I\' ; its purpose was educational, and it has no value. Some Rolls give ' P- [7771 » pp. [;;6]. [;S;!]. => Vol. 11, pt. li. pp. [756-92]. * Jd. pp. [5.M--4;]. '• e.g. Royal MS. i4Bvui (ends in 1453) ; Harley Roll C 9 (a very fine Roll, with a continuation to Edward 1\' ; it Rive.* his children, ending with Margaret, who was born and died in 147J) ; Stowe MS. 73 (an English translation coming down to Edward 1\' ; originally a Roll, but now cut up and bound in book form). Those arc all in tlio Britisli Museum. Other copies aro at Oxford : All Souls Collogo 40 (a large folio, ending in 1453), St. Johns Collom' J ! :uul qH, and giu-on's ColleRO HvS (where Roger is named as the author); and Trinity ("ollof;u, Cambridge, 636 (later than 1470- See also Hist. /i;65. Cowm. iii. j (j and Did. Xal. Biog. xlix. H3- MINOR CHRONICLES, 1422-1469 165 'The Claim of Richard, Duke of York, in 1460';! these have a certain interest as indicating the strength and extent of popular feehng. The Roll in Harley MS. 7353 deserves special mention for its fine illumiinations illustrative of the rise of Edward IV, which were apparently executed before 1465.2 Lansdowne Roll 6, in the British Museum, is a six- teenth-century roll, which has some brief notes of interest as expressing Tudor opinion.^ Of far more interest than these Genealogical and Heraldic Rolls is one to which I have given the title Collections of a Yorkist Partizan.* It consists of documents relating to the period between the death of Humphrey of Gloucester in February 1447 and May 1452, but is chiefly concerned with the fall of Suffolk and the troubles of 1450. Besides five valuable political poems ^ and some obscure prophecies,* it includes a variety of notes and memoranda, such as lists of Gloucester's adherents, and of the persons indicted at Rochester in August 1450. Whilst these are useful, a state- ment of Commercial Grievances is of more value for comparison with the Libel of English Policy, and for its indication of the discontent of the mercantile class with the Lancastrian Government. Other documents, like the account of Events in Kent, &c., in 1452, contain details which are not given else- where. The Petition of the Commons of Kent and York's Bill to the King exist in other copies ; but those in this Roll supply some noteworthy textual variations. The whole Collection is of great value, and the fact that all these isolated pieces were brought together by a contemporary hand gives it additional interest,' The Collection was probably made soon after May 1452, which is the date of the latest reference. It 1 e. g. Harley Rolls C 5 and C 7 (see quotation in Notes to Warkworth's Chronicle, pp. 59, 60). 2 See Notes to Warkworth's Chronicle, p. 62. The fact that the genea- logical tree does not give Edward's Queen or children fixes the date. " e. g. of Henry VI : 'He dyid put to silence in the Tower of London, the xxj day of May, 1471, buryid first at Chertesey and after at Wyndesore.' See also pp. 183-4 below. The date of this Roll is after 1513. For further evidence on the true date of Henry's death see pp. 370, 374-5. * Cotton. Roll, ii. 23. See pp. 358-60 below. ^ See pp. 242-4 below. ' See pp. 236-7 below. ' I have accordingly given all the prose pieces, whether previously printed or not, in the Appendix, pp. 360-8 below. i66 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE was very probably the work of a London citizen ; whoever the writer was, his sympathies were clearly with the Anti- Court party and the Yorkist opposition. There are other Rolls, described as containing charges against Suffolk,^ which may possibly include material of a similar character. Another contemporary source, likewise, as it would appear, written by a Londoner, is contained in the Memoranda of John Piggot. Only a fragment of them has been preserved through extracts made by John Stow.^ What has thus sur- vived relates to the years between 1450 and 1454. Piggot's Memoranda are rather curious than important, but their gossipy and anecdotal character makes one regret that we have no more of them. Such as they are, the information which they contain is nearly all novel. The precise date given for Richard of York's arrival at Stony Stratford on September 23, 1450, is useful.^ Although it is not strictly an historical work it would be impossible to pass over the Theological Dictionary of the Oxford scholar, Thomas Gascoigne, who was born in 1403 and died in 1458. Thus his manhood nearly coincides with the period covered by this chapter. The contents of his work arc mainly of a theological or moral interest. Much of the remainder is autobiographical, but instructive as illustrating the condition of the University of Oxford and the Church of England. Incidentally, however, we find also comments and criticisms on political aflairs, which are all the more useful since they do not form part of a professed history of the time. But Gascoigne was a bitter partisan, who indulged freely in scandalous gossip. His statements, and in particular his criticisms of persons, must be accepted with caution. With this warning, however, he may be con- sulted with advantage for many small details and incidents. He has a Yorkist bias, and is hostile to Margaret of Anjou, who, he alleges, ' governed all the affairs of the realm to her own liking '.'' The Theological Dictionary is contained in two ' See Hist. MSS. Conim. ii. 94, iii. 2-j(). " ap. Harley MS. 54,?, f. 144 ; printi-il on pp. 370-3 below. ' Cf. Ramsay, I.ancastrr and York, ii. 135. ' Loci e Libra Vvritatum, p. 204. MINOR CHRONICLES, 1422-1469 167 volumes at Lincoln College, Oxford (MSS. 117, 118). Selec- tions from it were edited by J. E. T. Rogers in 1881 under the title Loci e Libro Veritatum. Mr. R. L. Poole ^ states that the interest of the book is by no means exhausted by this edition, which ' unfortunately abounds also in errors of , transcription '. Some historical memoranda noted by Gascoigne in a Latin psalter (Bodl. MS. Auct. D 4, 5) which belonged to him, furnished the basis for Clement Maidstone's Historia Martyrii Ricardi Scrope.^ The downfall of the House of Lancaster was the occasion of much politico-legal controversy. Though its products do not strictly belong to historical literature, they have some literary interest and considerable importance for the history of the time. They therefore deserve brief description here. The earliest in date is a curious tract dealing with the political situation after the defeat of the Yorkists in October 1459.^ The beginning has been lost, and the title Somnium Vigilantis has been added in a later hand. The title is possibly correct, for the author professes to have had a dream, " and because what I had witnessed had such hkeness to the matters which are now being discussed, I have taken on me to describe it.' The tract is in the form of a dialogue in English between two orators, the one for the exiled lords and the other for the King. The first urges the wisdom of clemency to those who had intended only to the common weal of the realm, and the imprudence of driving to despair men who were still powerful. The King's orator replies at length : after the threefold treason of the lords at Blackheath, St. Albans, and Blore Heath, no claim to mercy could be admitted ; the exiled lords had caused ' the subversion and misdrawing of many men ', yet those who abode in faithfulness were not less deserving of regard ; ' for any fear of your ridiculous reasons it is no need to give them pardon or mercy '. A third person then sums up in French on the side of the King's orator. This is, of course, the merest sketch of the argument of the 1 ap. Diet. Nat. Biog. xxi. 43. I am indebted to Mr. Poole's article for part of the above criticism. ^ See p. 38 above. 3 Edited by Mr. J. P. Gilson from Royal MS. 17 D xv, ap. Engl. Hist. Rev, xxvi. 512-25. i68 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE Somnium, but it will be sufficient to show its general tenor. The date of composition may have been in November 1459, when the Bill of Attainder was under discussion in Parlia- ment, and at the latest it must have been early in the following year. Apart from its value as a clear statement and defence of Lancastrian policy, it has an interest as perhaps the oldest political pamphlet in English prose. Though the use of Latinized words is excessive, the vigorous style would render it noteworthy as a literary production alone. Mr. Gilson suggests with some hesitation that Sir John Fortescue may have been the author. In any case this tract seems to have been the work of a lawyer, and was probably drawn up as an authoritative declaration of the reasons for the policy of the existing government, Fortescue himself speaks of his share in documents drawn up by King Henry's council and passed by a majority of votes ; to some of them he was himself ' not well-willing ', whilst others were of his own composition.^ The dialogue is, moreover, a form characteristic of Fortescue's minor works, so that the ascription of the Somnium to him is plausible. The Claim of the Duke of York ^ is a Yorkist political document put forward in October 1460, of which copies are common. It deals with the duke's right to the throne on legal grounds of succession. Fortescue discussed the same subject from the other side in four tracts : ' De Titulo Edwardi Comitis Marchie ; Of the Title of the House of York ; Defensio Juris Damus Lancastrie ; and A Defence of the House of Lancaster ; and at greater length in the second part of the De Natura Legis Naturae* The direct historical interest of these pieces is not great ; they turn chiefly on the right of females to transmit a succession. Subsequently, after 1471, Fortescue produced a refutation of his own arguments in his Declaration upon Certain Writings,^ which was composed in favour of the House of York, as a condition of the reversal of his attainder. » Worhs, pp. 523-4. « Rot. ParU. v. 375 ; cf. p. 165 above. ' Works, pp. 03*-73', 497-5"-!, f;<>5-io, .S17-18; d- PP- 369-70 below, anil Governance of Knf^land, pp. 74-0, oil, Plunimor. « Worhs, pp. r.3-184. » /(/. pp. 523-41. MINOR CHRONICLES, 1422-1469 i6g Fortescue's constitutional treatises, the De Laudibus Legum Angliae,^ written for Edward of Lancaster in France, and the Governance of England,^ which was probably written in the first instance for the Prince, but afterwards recast for Edward IV, are of more value. Both are useful for their contemporary statement of English constitutional theory. The latter, with its enunciation of the weaknesses of the Lancastrian government, its bad finance, the danger of great lords, the evil of a ' poor King, the need for a sound com- mercial policy, and the importance of good sea-keeping, has the greater historical interest. Fortescue's criticism sums up the mistakes which made it impossible for the House of Lancaster to recover from the discredit of the French war. Lest from the fact that this chapter has been concerned mainly with Latin Chronicles it should be supposed that the use of that language was still predominant, it should be called to mind that the period here treated witnessed the develop- ment and completion in their present form both of the London Chronicles and of the Brut. Nor were those works the only instances of the use of English for historical literature in prose. Capgrave wrote his fragmentary Chronicle of England after 1461, taking his material chiefly from Walsingham.* Another instance of earlier date is found in a very brief Enghsh Chronicle in Add. MS. 34764,* which was written in 1440, and ends with that year. The Collections of a Yorkist Partisan, and John Piggot's Memoranda, though lacking in literary quality, furnish further illustration of the prevalent use of English. However, the Chronicles with which we have been dealing are in themselves sufi&cient proof of how far the 1 Id. pp. 337-83. 2 Ed. by Mr. C. Plummer in 1885, with an Introduction and Notes of great value to the historical student. ^ See p. 39 above. * Formerly PhUlips MS. 8859. One brief passage, relating to 1421-2 deserves quotation : ' And the same yere at seint Nicholas day preceding was borne our gracious King Henri his son. In whos natiuite rongen al ))^ belles in London. And where eny syngers weren in eny chirch, y^ Maier of London commaunded hem to sing Te Deum Laudamus. And after this worthi prince, j)^ noble King, thus decessed the last day of August, this noble King Harri J)^ Sixt began to regne. In whos xviij yere this short trety was ended.' For a similar note see the London Chronicle E. ap. Brut, p. 448. 170 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE use of Latin had decayed. Whethamstede's history is written in a pompous and inflated manner after a bad mediaeval model.i Otherwise there is not one which has any pretensions to be regarded as literature. They are bald in style and meagre in substance, mere records of events set down without any sense of proportion or of what is needed for an historical narrative. As already noted, one is often left with the impres- sion that the writer could have expressed himself better in English. It is again a striking circumstance that when any matter can be traced to another source, it is almost always derived, whether direltly or indirectly, from an English narrative. One could have no stronger proof that the native speech had already established its claim to be regarded as the proper medium for current historical literature. The jejune notes which were jotted down in the Latin Annals of the middle fifteenth century were the last flicker of the old tradition. With the exception of the meagre work of John Rous, the Latin histories which we shall henceforth encounter are the work of scholars of the New Learning. 1 Bekynton (Correspondence, i. 115) censured \Miethamstede for his bad Latin. CHAPTER VII CHRONICLES OF THE HOUSE OF YORK 1470-1485 It is curious how many of the histories of which we have been treating come to an end during the ten years between the accession of Edward IV and the brief Lancastrian Restora- tion. The Brut in its final shape ends with 1461, and was composed before 1470. The best of the independent continua- tions of the London Chronicle were also finished during the same time, and the later continuations, with the exception of The Great Chronicle, are of little value till after the close of our period. Hardyng's, Whethamstede's, and Worcester's chronicles, with several of the smaller pieces described in the last chapter, are in a like case. There is no single original history of importance for the years before 1470 which extends beyond that date ; and none of later composition which is of more than secondary importance till near that date. Prob- ably it is mere accident ; but there is no point in the whole century where we meet with such a complete breach in histori- cal literature. In the last chapter I pointed out how the old tradition of historical Latin came to its feeble end. The stirring events of 1470-1 produced a vigorous crop of English pieces, some of which at all events were intended for popular circulation. The present chapter will deal first with these brief narratives, and finally with those longer works which describe the triumph and downfall of the House of York. If the use of English in the works of the first group was possibly a mere matter of convenience, the works of the second group leave us with no doubt that the writing of history, whether in Latin or in English, was entering on a new stage in its development. The first to be taken is Warkworth'sC/trom'c/e, which, though it covers the first thirteen years of the reign of Edward IV, is chiefly of interest for the events which led up to and followed 172 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE on the Lancastrian Restoration of 1470-1. It owes its name to the fact that it was written by or for John Warkworth, Master of Pctcrhouse, Cambridge, at the end of a copy of Caxton's Chronicles which he presented to the College in 1483. The first part of the volume is itself a manuscript copy of the printed text, but its character is marked by the concluding words : ' Finysched and ended after the copey of Caxtone then in Westmynstcr.' ^ It is further stated that this copy was ended July 2, 1482. The continuation to 1474 was probably written not long after. Of Warkworth himself there is little to be said. He was elected Fellow of Merton College, Oxford, in 1446, was Principal of Neville Inn in 1453,^ and chaplain of William Grey, Bishop of Ely, who was one of the early EngHsh humanists. Grey appointed him Master of Peterhouse in November 1473, a position which he held till his death in 1500. In Warkworth's Chronicle the first eight years of Edward IV are dealt with very briefly.' The real interest begins with Robin of Redesdale's rebellion in 1469. It is of most value for the events of the following year, and for the battles of Bamet and Tewkesbury. It closes with the capture of St. Michael's Mount in February 1474. The Chronicle is very definitely hostile to Clarence and Warwick ; * but though it shows signs of sympathy for Henry VI,^ is rather to be described as critical of Edward IV than definitely Lancastrian. The condemnation of John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, for his executions by law of Padua,* shows no more than the general detestation for that brutal, cultured pupil of the Itahan Renaissance. On two points Warkworth's evidence is of special value. First for the death of Edward, Prince of Wales ; who, he says, was slain in the field whilst he cried for succour to Clarence.'' The second for the death of Henry VI, who " was put to death the 2ist day of May, being then at the Tower the Duke of Gloucester '.8 If the first clears Richard III of having mur- dered the Prince in cold blood, the second proves that in his ' Warkworth's Chronicle, p. xxiv. 2 Brodrick, History of Mnlon Collegr, p. J36. ' C/irnn. pp. i-O. '■ ],l. pp. 8, 15. » Id. p. 12. ° ^d. pp. 5, 9- ' r pp. 101-40. ' pp. 36-9, from College of Arms MS. L 9. 8 pp. 46-51, from Ashmole MS. 11 60. s Camden Miscellany, i. (2), p. 12. 174 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE of Warwick in the following September. There is in it a deliberate purpose to impHcatc Warwick and Clarence in the Lincolnshire RebeUion. Thus it is a purely partisan document ; but it is of great value for its detailed account of Edward's movements, and for his communications with Warwick and Clarence. The Chronicle was supplemented by the Confession of Sir Robert Welles, to which allusion is made in the text.' This Confession was printed in Bentley's Excerpta Historica ^ in 1831, and again in the Notes to the Chronicle? Though apparently only a single copy of the Chronicle has survived, its circulation at the time is shown by the use which Waurin * made of it. The Lincolnshire Rebellion and the colour which Edward IV put upon it led directly to the flight of Clarence and Warwick. The sequel is told in The Manner and Guiding of the Earl of Warwick at Angiers, from the 15th day of July to the 9th of August, 1470. This again is a semi-official document describ- ing the negotiations between Warwick and Margaret of Anjou, and how the scruples of the latter were overcome and a recon- ciUation effected through the mediation of Louis XI. It is preserved in a transcript made by Stow in Harley MS. 543, and was printed in Sir H. Ellis's Collection of Original Letters,^ and again in Chronicles of the White Rose.^ For the events of the Lancastrian Restoration the chief English authorities are Warkworth, the London Chronicle,^ and the Croyland Chronicle, supplemented by the Paston Letters. For the return of Edward IV we have once more an official narrative in the Historie of the Arrivall of Edward IV, which was edited by John Bruce for the Camden Society in 1838. This document also owes its preservation to John Stow, who transcribed it ^ from a copy in the possession of his friend, William Fleetwood, the Recorder of London, and from this circumstance it is sometimes styled ' Fleetwood's Book '. It was written avowedly ' by a servant of the King's that presently saw in effect a great part of his exploits, and 1 Camden l\lisccllanv,i. (2),'p. 15. ^ pp. .'S.'-4, from Harley MS. 283. =• pp. 21-3. ♦ Chrcniques, v. 5S7-93. * Second Series, i. 132-5- " PP- 229- .1o Aiiimlis, p. 412. '^ Chronicles, iii. 303, whore it is cited as ' \V. Fleetwood '. '» pp. 283-306, with the title .-I Remarhabk I'ragmcnl of an Old English Chronicle. CHRONICLES OF THE HOUSE OF YORK 177 present as well within the realm as without, most especially from the year of our Lord 1468 to the year of our Lord 1482, in which the forenamed King Edward departed from this present life '.^ But if the writer thus claims that he had been an eyewitness of what he describes, he shows equally that he did not commit his history to writing till long after the time to which it relates. Thus he refers to the Chronicle of Robert Gaguin, the French historian, which was only printed in 1497.* Again, he refers to the ' late counterfeiters of Chronicles ' as worthy to be punished with the printer for affirming that Clarence was elder brother to Edward IV ; ^ and ' to the lewd fellow that drew those last burnt Chronicles ', as writing falsely that Mary of Gueldres was proposed in marriage to Edward IV.* These references seem to intend Fabyan's Chronicle,^ which was first printed in 1516, and is said to have been burnt by order of Cardinal Wolsey. Finally he claims as witness to the truth of his history ' the right illustrious Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, Treasurer of England ' ; * Howard was not created Duke till 15 14, and resigned the Treasurership in 1522. We have thus sufficient evidence that Hearne's Fragment was written between 1516 and 1522. Hearne's Fragment begins with the accession of Edward IV, and ends abruptly in September 1470, on the eve of the King's flight from England. It is somewhat brief for the earlier years, but lengthens out in 1468, at the point where the author states that his own chief interest began. In spite of his pro- fession to write from his own knowledge, and of his expressed contempt for Fabyan, he seems to have drawn a good deal of information from that writer or the City Chronicle.' Still, he has much fresh and interesting detail not preserved elsewhere ; it is a pity that we have lost his account of the last twelve obscure years of Edward IV, in which he claimed to have been particularly conversant. The Fragment was by its own showing written to combat Tudor or Lancastrian prejudices ; its sympathy is of course Yorkist. Both for this reason, and 1 pp. 98-9. 2 p. 297. * p. 284. * p. 294. s Cf. Fabyan, p. 654. " p. 299. ■' Cf. Chronicles of London, pp. 173-5, 177-8 ; Fabyan, 638-9, 655 ; Fragment, pp. 284-5, 294. It should be noted that all these instances are before 1469. 1458 N 178 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE on account of the late date at which it was written from memory, it must be used with caution. It is printed with modernized spelling in Chronicles of the White Rose} In addition to the English narratives above described, there is a short Latin piece which deals exclusively with the events of 1471, This consists of some rough Yorkist Notes written on a leaf at the end of Arundel MS. 28 at the British Museum. They have no sort of literary pretension, but contain some useful details. Since they have not infrequently been quoted, I have included them in the Appendix to this volume.* The brief narrative from a Tewkesbury Chronicle^ is of a similar quality. In somewhat marked contrast to the excellence of the material for the history of the downfall of the House of Lancaster is the lack of any absolutely contemporary narrative for the next few years. We must depend chiefly on the accounts given by the Croyland Chronicler, Sir Thomas More, and Polydore Vergil. Though the first wrote from personal knowledge and the latter two had good information, all three composed their histories after the overthrow of Richard III, and were in a greater or less degree influenced by subsequent opinion. The history of the reign of Edward IV which Stow gave in his Annales has always been recognized as possessing original value ; the discovery of The Great Chronicle of London* shows that it was based on a record kept at the time. The Paston Letters, though still useful, are less rich in material for this period than for the twenty years from 1450 to 1470. Otherwise we have little of a strictly contemporary character except some records of state ceremonies drawn up by heralds and court officials. These are naturally of more interest for social than political history. .The most important of them is the Record of Bluemantle Pursuivant^ for the years 1471 and 1472. It is chiefly concerned with the festivities at the reception of Louis de Gruthus by Edward IV in September- October 1472. But Bluemantle's account of his meeting with Charles the Bold on September 11, 1472, has a wider interest. Of a similar character, though of an earher date, are the ° See pp. ,^74-5 below. ' See pp. 376-8 below. See pp. 100, 101 above. • See pp. 379-88 below, CHRONICLES OF THE HOUSE OF YORK 179 accounts of the tournament between Anthony Woodville and the Bastard of Burgundy in 1467, and of the marriage of Margaret of York to Charles the Bold in 1468.1 Later records of this class are the descriptions of the funeral of Edward IV ^ and of the coronation of Richard III.^ These records, if only occasionally and incidentally of use for political history, contain some noteworthy illustrations of social life and court ceremonial. It is, however, in the Continuation of the Croyland Chronicle that we must find our best account of the last twelve years of the reign of Edward IV. The writer is the only English historian of nearly contemporary date, and his work is by far the most important contemporary source of EngHsh origin. For anything else of nearly equal value we must go to the Mimoires of Philippe de Comines. There are two Croyland writers who dealt with our period. "The first, who ended his history in 1470, compiled a Continuation* of the spurious Croyland Chronicles attributed to Ingulph and Peter of Blois. His. work is devoted chiefly to the history of his abbey, and though he introduces occasional references to political events during the whole period from 1400 onwards, the late date at which he wrote deprives the majority of them of authoritative value. Some of the most interesting passages are those which relate to the Beaufort family, who owned Deeping, near Croyland.® Under the reign of Henry V he gives the tennis- ball story, and a story of the King's religious devotion at Agin- court.® The latter seems to be peculiar, but the former, with the rest of his narrative, probably comes from some popular source like the Brut. As the writer approaches his own time the interest of his work naturally increases. The hostile refer- ences to the rule of Suffolk, and the accounts of the Parlia- ment in Bury, and of Cade's rebellion are not undeserving of 1 Excerpta Historica, pp. 176-212, 227-39. * Archaeologia, i. 349 ; Letters of Richard III, i. 3-10 (Rolls Series). 3 Excerpta Historica, pp. 380-4 ; Antiquarian Repertory, i. 28-64. ' Gale, Scriptores, i. 494-546. Printed in 1684; there is an English translatioii by H. T. Riley, Bohn's Library, 1854. Gale used a manuscript belonging to Sir John Marsham. His own transcript is Corpus Christi College, Oxford, MS. 208. The Cotton. MS. Otho B xiii was almost entirely destroyed in the fire. s Id. i. 499. 513, 518, 519. 539- ' Id. i. '500. N 2 i8o ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE attention.^ A description of the state of England in the last years of Henry VI, " though coloured by Yorkist sympathies,: is also noteworthy. The historical value of this Continuation really begins with 1461, where there is a vivid account of the terror at Croyland after the Lancastrian victory at Wakefield.* The history of the first nine years of Edward IV is brief ; but as a strictly contemporary account is sometimes useful, especially for the events of the summer of 1469, when the King was in the neighbourhood of Croyland.* The writer is decidedly Yorkist in sympathy ; but he is hostile to the Woodvilles, and favourable to Warwick. His work ends with the death of Abbot Litlyngton in January 1470. The second Continuation ^ of the Croyland Chronicle is of much more importance. The author states that he was moved to undertake his work, beginning with Ludlow Field in 1459, out of regard for the unworldly ignorance of his predecessor, who though well skilled in things divine knew nothii^[ of profane affairs. He tells us that he completed the writing of his history in ten days, finishing it on April 30, 1486.* Sir Clements Markham has argued that there is ' absolute proof that this Continuation of the Croyland Chronicle was written by at least two monks '.' The first, whom he calls ' preju- diced ', he makes responsible for the history of Edward IV; the second, who carried it on to i486, he calls ' credulous ', and says that though generally accurate he knew nothing of the outer world. But near the end of the work the author repeats his motives for writing almost exactly as he had stated them at the start, and says expressly that his narrative covered the whole twenty-six years from Ludlow Field to Bosworth.' Against this positive statement any argument from internal evidence would be untenable. There is, moreover, not the slightest real ground for suspecting a dual authorship ; the history presents every appearance of being the work of a single hand. Sir Clements Markham's opinion to the contrary rests on the reference to the death of Henry VI : ' May God ' Gale, Scriptores, i 521, 525, ^26. • Id. i. $29. ' Id. i. 530, SS'- " Id. i. 542, 543. » Id. i. S40-78. ' Id. i. 549. 575. 578. ' Richard III, His Life and Character, pp. 175-9. • Gale, Scriplore's, i. 575. CHRONICLES OF THE HOUSE OF YORK i8i spare and grant space for repentance to him, whosoever dared to lay such sacrilegious hands on the Lord's anointed. The doer may earn the title of tyrant ; the sufferer that of a glorious martyr.' ^ This Sir Clements Markham considers can only have been written whilst the tyrant, whether Edward IV, Richard, or Lord Rivers, was still alive ; but the allusion which follows immediately to the miracles wrought by the dead ■King is probably of later date than his translation from Chertsey to Windsor in 1484.^ The words of the chronicler are no doubt intentionally vague ; the reference to space for repentance, if it is to be pressed, may allude only to the actual murderer, who was not of necessity Richard himself.' Other references also show that the Chronicle was throughout written after the death of Edward IV.* I have dwelt on this point both as establishing the credit of the continuator and as tending to destroy whatever argument in favour of Richard III may depend on the theory of a dual authorship. The continuator of the Croyland Chronicle shows himself in his history to be neither a prejudiced nor a credulous monk.® He describes himself as one of the King's councillors, and a Doctor of Canon Law, who in the summer of 1471 was entrusted with a mission to Charles the Bold to negotiate an alliance.® No full record of this mission appears to be preserved, and so unfortunately we have lost a sure clue to the authorship of the Chronicle.' The writer seems to ^ Id.i. 556' Parcat Deus et spatium poenitentiae ei donet, quiainque tam sacrilegas manus in christum Domini ausus est immittere. Unde et agens, tyranni : patiensque, gloriosi martyris titulum mereatur.' 2 Rous, Historia Regum, p. 217 ; cf. Ramsay, Lancaster and York, ii. 527 ; no miracles of earlier date seem to be recorded. ^ Rous (Historia Regum, p. 215) says : ' Henricum sextum per alios, vel multis credentibus manu pocius propria, interfecit.' * Gale, Scriptores, i. 562 — fere biennio ante mortem Regis — , and 563 — ' mala . . . quae mox huic Regi et suae clarissimae posteritati miserabiliter evenemnt.' ° It is at least probable that he was not a monk at all : see Note 7 below. * Gale, Scriptores, i. 557 ; he found Charles at Abbeville. Charles was there, with occasional short intervals, from June 14 to August 5 : see Comines-Lenglet, ii. 98. The writer went by Boulogne, as Calais had not been recovered ; when he returned Hastings had taken possession of Calais. The probable date was early in June. ' Edward IV wrote to Charles the Bold from Canterbury on May 28, sending him a ' memoire en papier ' with an account of his good fortune (i.e. a copy of The Arrival). The bearer, 'Pierre Courtois, son serviteur et si i82 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE have accompanied the King on his expedition to France in 1475, and his accounts of events at court, and especially of the scene at the trial of Clarence, read like the work of an eye- witness.^ So also the history of what took place at London in the summer of 1483* seems to be written from personal knowledge. The author was thus well qualified both by knowledge and experience for his task. The Chronicle is just the kind of work which we might expect to have been written down from memory by a well-informed man of affairs. In spite of the occasional insertion of matter relating to Croyland, it is no mere monastic annal, but a careful judgement of Edward's character and policy, a sound specimen of critical history, in the best sense in which that expression can be used of a contemporary writer who was unavoidably influenced bien familier et secretaire,' would give further news (Plancher, Hist. Ginirale de Bourgogne, iv. p. cccvi. ). Peter Curteys was keeper of the palace at Westminster in 1472, and keeper of the Great Wardrobe from 1480 (Cal. Pat. Rolls, Edward IV, ii. 295, iii. 1 98, 222). He lost his offices as from September 1483 (»e, i.4$4; sec also Brklgett, Z.l/s o/Mo«, p. 79= '** Ivnglish is beautiful '. " Cambridge History 0/ I'.nglish Litiuitwc, iii. 335. " pp. 27-3'- CHRONICLES OF THE HOUSE OF YORK 189 Buckingham, is hardly less noteworthy both for matter and form ; here at all events we have something of which More is not unlike to have been the author. But the merit of the j History of Richard HI does not consist solely in the literary distinction of the English version. In it for the first time in our literature we have ' a history which is not a mere collection v of facts, but a deliberately designed and carefully finished whole '. From its composition ' our art of history must date its beginning ' .^ One need only modify this criticism by adding that the History of Richard III was but the most notable expression of a spirit which was in the air. It was in 1513-14, just before the English version was written, that the ' Trans- lator of Livius ' compiled The First English Life of Henry the ^ Fifth. If the latter falls short in achievement, the conscious desire of the author to write in homely English, and his sense of what was needed in an historian, are of a quality to entitle it to be coupled in the second place with the History. As an historical authority the History of Richard III must of course be used with caution, and with due regard to the character of the source from which it was derived. Its judge- ments on Edward IV (not unfavourable) and on Richard III, as well as on minor actors, were no doubt inspired by Morton, who was also clearly the informant for the scene at the arrest of Hastings and for his own negotiations with Buckingham. Other incidents of events in London, as before suggested, might have been learned by More from his father Sir John More, who in the reign of Richard III was already a lawyer of repute. But even in those matters which are derived from other sources the narrative, whether More's or not, is likely to have been coloured by the opinions of Morton, under whose influence it was certainly composed. Morton himself had of course no reason to speak well of Richard III, but he was a man to whose high character More bears witness in Utopia ^ as one who was not more honourable for his authority than for his prudence and virtue. It is not inapposite to the present matter that More speaks also of Morton's polished and effective utterance,* incomparable wit, and memory of wonderful excellence. 1 Mr. Whibley, u.s. ^ Ed. Lupton, pp. 41, 42. ^ 'Sermo politus et efficax.' iQo ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE Another contemporary,^ who was not too friendly, wrote of Morton as ' a man worthy of memory for his many great acts and specially for his great wisdom ... in our time there was no man like to be compared with him in all things '. Still, even such a man could not rid himself of bias about events in which he had played so great a part, and his story must be weighed accordingly. But with all such allowance the History as it stands is a crushing condemnation of Richard III; we may extenuate it in some degree, but we cannot reject altogether the narrative which has come down to us with such weighty authority. As regards More's possible share in the work, it does not seem unreasonable to suppose that as one of his first works he should have amplified and given an English dress to the material obtained from the early patron of whom he preserved so high an opinion. Nor would it under such circumstances be unnatural that he should have been careful to reproduce faithfully the opinions which he had heard or found recorded. On this theory we cannot, it is true, claim for the History any added authority from the weight of More's name. Neither, on the other hand, can we press any argument against his share in the authorship, which rests on the apparent incompatibility of its sentiments with More's own temperament. The History of Richard III has brought us across the threshold of a new era in historical literature, and would thus be an apt conclusion to this review of the histories of the fifteenth century. But there is another work which, like the History, belongs in form to the next age, though in its sub- stance it preserves material of older derivation. The Anglica Historia of Polydore Vergil down at all events to 1461 was a secondary compilation, but from that point it begins to assume something of the quality of an original authority. Of its general character and literary importance I shall write more at large in the final chapter. But with its particular value for the Yorkist period it will be convenient to deal briefly 1 Chronicles of London, p. 23.'. Sir C. Markliam {Richard III, pp. 206-7) stigmatizes Morton as ' an incorrigible plotter ' and ' an odious instrument of extortion '. On any view such criticism seems overdone and calculated to defeat itself. CHRONICLES OF THE HOUSE OF YORK 191 here. In his narrative for the earlier years of Edward IV Vergil has incorporated some touches of traditional scandal, such as the story that the King's quarrel with Warwick priginated in his attempt on the honour of a lady of the King- maker's house,^ a supposed incident of which Lytton made use in The Last of the Barons. He is not always accurate in small details, as when he states that John Neville was made Marquis of Montagu in 1461 ^ (instead of in 1470), and when h^ refers to the defeat of the Lincolnshire Rebellion as the battle of Edgcote.^ It is more serious when he adopts, prob- ably from a French source, the Lancastrian story of the murder of Edward, son of Henry VI, after the battle of Tewkesbury ; * it was probably due to Vergil's authority that the allegation obtained such long currency. Of the death of Henry VI, Vergil states that the continual report is that Richard of Gloucester killed him with a sword. ^ Polydore Vergil of course wrote under Tudor influence. But for that very reason more authentic interest attaches to his stories of the early life of Henry VII ; of how Henry VI in 1470 had foretold his future destiny as one to whom ' both we and our adversaries must yield ' ; of how he escaped into Brittany with his uncle Jasper, Earl of Pembroke ; and of his peril in that country from the emissaries of Edward IV.* All this it is very possible that Polydore may have learnt from Henry himself. For the reign of Richard III it is natural that the quality of Polydore's information should improve, and the strength of his prejudice increase. From the death of Edward IV to the outbreak of Buckingham's rebellion the narrative shows a general resemblance to that given in the History of Richard III ; it is noteworthy that Polydore was on friendly terms with More. Of the latter part of Richard's reign Polydore has given an account of great original value. It is of course prejudiced and partial, but it is clearly written by one who had access to good information about the plans ^ English Translation, p. 117. * Id. p. 113. ' Id. p. 128. * Id. p. 152 ; the story was current in France at an early date, of. La Chronique scandaleuse, ii. yy, ed. B. de Mandrot, Soc. Hist. France. As to other accounts see pp. 172 above and 376-7 below. ^ English Translation, p. 156. See pp. 175, 181, 185 above. • Id. pp. 134, 155, 164-S. 192 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE and movements of Henry Tudor during the two years before the battle of Bosworth. As is natural, the account of the schemes of the exiled Prince and his adherents is better than that of events in England. For the former the author was able to obtain his material, not only from Henry himself, at whose request he wrote, but also from men like Richard Foxe and Christopher Urswick, with the first of whom at all events he was well acquainted. But the material which he would have obtained from such sources as to events in England, and even as to the details of the conspiracy amongst Henry's friends at home, would of necessity be secondhand and less complete. Much of it therefore represents only the popular opinion current in the early Tudor period. Polydore Vergil's Anglica Historia did not appear till 1534, but he had begun to collect his material much earlier, within a few years of his first coming to England in 1502. So he may have known many persons who were familiar with the events of 1483 to 1485, and his history was avowedly written in part from the testimony of such persons.^ * English Translation, p. 183 ; cf. Transactions of Royal Historical Society, 2nd Series, xvi. 1 1 . CHAPTER VIII CORRESPONDENCE : PRIVATE AND OFFICIAL The letters of private individuals are among the most fruitful and faithful sources for social history, and when they touch upon public affairs for political history also. They are, moreover, a form of literature which at its best possesses a singular charm. [But letter-writing as a literary art is a product of an advanced state of culture, which we must not look for in the ordinary correspondence of the fifteenth century, though we may meet with freshness and spontaneity of state- ment even in unexpected quarters^ On the other hand, the historical information to be derived from such private corre- spondence as has survived is of greater moment for the period with which we are concerned than it would be for a later age. This is due partly to the dearth of other material ; but partly also to the circumstances of the time. Official letters and documents are numerous enough at an earlier period, and have their natural value as revealing the intentions and ideas of their writers. -(^^But it is in the fifteenth century that letters of less deliberate import begin first to fill^ any large place in the raw material of our English history.\'Not the least reason for this is the position which the native speech of England was asserting for itself as the ordinary means of written com- munication.V When people set down their opinions and im- pressions in the language of everyday life, the result became naturally less studied and the criticism more spontaneous, with a corresponding increase of advantage to us. Official documents are in their essence written for a purpose, and, whatever value they may possess, are inevitably prejudiced and to be used with caution, except in so far as they are records of fact. But for the historian private letters which deal in any degree with public affairs have another and greater value. When, as is often the case, allusions to public events are simply incidental, they are reasonably free from prejudice ; 14S8 o 194 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE (.and even when they are coloured by the prepossessions of the writers, they reflect not the bias or ulterior aim of the politician or statesman, but the opinion or criticism of the outside observer.^ Thus they have a frankness which is not to be looked for in more carefully drafted documents. Though we must not seek in them for large views or broad narratives, they are invaluable as a record of small facts and details which will often explain and correct the more general state- ments to be found elsewhere. It must be remembered also that, when there were no journals or public newsmongers, the correspondence of private persons dealt more with politics and public events ; not a few, for instance, of the Fasten Letters were written for the sole purpose of supplying the recipient with the latest information on politics or matters of public interest. It is with the correspondence of private individuals that this chapter will be primarily concerned. But apart from formal official documents and state papers there comes a class of letters written by officials and politicians in their public capacity, whether to report facts or to convey opinions and advice. Such letters are increasingly numerous during the fifteenth century. They stand on a somewhat dififerent footing to the record or state-paper properly so called, and in their character approximate in a greater or less degree to the correspondence of private individuals. I shall therefore include in my review such collections of public correspondence as are readily available. Dr. Gairdner ^ remarks of the Paston Letters : ' The first thing which strikes the most casual observer is the testimony they afford to the state of education among the people at the period in which they were written. From the extreme scarcity of original letters of such an early date we are too easily led to undervalue the culture and civilization of the age. But the standard of education was by no means so low, and its advan- tages by no means so exceptionally distributed as might be otherwise supposed. A^o person of any rank or station in society above mere labouring men seems to have been wholly illiterate. All could write letters : most persons could express ' /',js/i)ii I.ttlits, i. -^iS. CORRESPONDENCE : PRIVATE AND OFFICIAL 195 themselves in writing with ease and fluency.'/ It is peculiar, as Dr. Gairdner further observes, that the nobility were the worst writers : he calls their spelling and handwriting alike outrageous. However, this was written without reference to the fantastic spelling and grammar of the Cely Papers. The Paston Letters belong chiefly to the middle and end of the century ; but similar observations would be true, though to a more limited extent, of the earlier years. Our sources for the history of the fifteenth century in England are often so obscure, and for the most part so frag- mentary, that we are apt to transfer to the age itself the difficulties which we encounter, forgetting that the forces which were to produce the Renaissance were already at work, and indeed beginning to bear fruit. \However dark the century may have been politically, it was certainly not barren educationally, nor even wholly so in literature./ There was in truth an earnest desire for educational progress, of which the great foundations of Henry VI were only the crown. We need not take too literally the lamentable assertion of William Bingham,^ that ' the grammar schools, which used to be flourishing and numerous, had decayed for want of masters, and that the faculty of grammar was much neglected both in the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge and in the country generally, whereby not merely was the knowledge of sacred scripture and the Latin requisite for the pursuit of the law and the affairs of the realm likely to perish, but also the power of communicating with foreigners '. These were the considera- tions which moved Bingham to found Clare Hall at Cam- bridge ; we may accept his design as proof of the demand for education, and his reasons as evidence of the inroads which the native English was making on Latin as the principal medium of written communications. The use of French, which had been common enough in previous centuries, was also decaying, and even in the reign of Henry V the fact that Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, could speak French fluently was regarded as something of an accomplishment, and was no doubt one reason for his constant employment as a diplomatist. That the demand for education was not confined 1 Cal. Patent Rolls, Henry VI, iii. 295. O 2 196 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE to the upper classes is shown by such incidents as the founda- tion in 1445 of four grammar schools in London, where there were already a number of similar institutions.^/'That the spread of education should have been more or less coterminous with tlie rapid development of the Enghsh language is not unnatural : the one was no doubt both a cause and an effect of the other. I think it may be claimed that the private correspondence of the age reflects both of these phenomena It is true that the Stonor Correspondence includes a few English letters which date from the fourteenth century. Such instances are, however, rare. ^ At the beginning of the fifteenth century letters in Latin or Anglo-French are more usual, at all events in documents of a semi-official character.\/Long before its middle not only private individuals, but also poh- ticians and statesmen habitually corresponded with one another in their native tongue. The use of Latin or French was then restricted for the most part to foreign diplomacy^ We even find Charles the Bold writing to Lord Wenlock, the governor of Calais, in English and with his own hand.- The spread of education and the development of the mother-tongue, to which the correspondence of the age beare witness, explain the increasing interest which was taken in the reading of histories, and also the growing disuse of Latin as their medium. Paradoxical though it may appear, it is not unreasonable to attribute to the same causes the dearth of good literary narratives ; the one instrument had decayed before the other was perfected. From these general observations I pass to a review of the principal collections of letters, private or semi-official, which are readily accessible. The Paston Letters, both for their celebrity and their own intrinsic importance, claim the first place. From them also can best be illustrated the significance of such material for the political and social history of the period. It will be sufficient to indicate briefly the general character of other collections of private letters without entering into detail. Of the principal collections of semi-official cone- spondcncc it will be necessary to treat at more length, and so ' For the common fouiulation of schools elsewhere see Leach, EdMcaWofw' Charki'., pp. xxxvii, xwviii. a 1^;,.^, CharUs the- Bold, ii. 70- CORRESPONDENCE : PRIVATE AND OFFICIAL 197 far as may be in chronological order. In conclusion I will give such account as is possible of isolated letters scattered in various quarters. The Paston Letters'^ do not begin to be of value till about the end of the first third of the century. They include only a few documents of any note eariier than 1440, in which year the first private letter of interest for public affairs is addressed to John Paston. To John Pastoif s happy propensity for keeping letters and documents, even when their writers had urgently requested that they should be burnt as soon as read, we owe the preservation of the family correspondence. The letters, which had lain in fortunate neglect for over two centuries, first attracted attention nearly two hundred years ago. When, after various vicissitudes, they were at length printed, the originals vanished so completely that an ingenious critic doubted whether they had ever existed. The second Earl of Yarmouth, who was the last male heir of the Pastons, had sold some of his family papers to Peter Le Neve, the antiquary, who died in 1729. Le Neve's collections came into the possession of another antiquary, Tom Martin, who married his friend's widow. After the death of the Earl of Yarmouth in 1732, others of his family papers were acquired by Francis Blomefield, who used them for his History of Norfolk. Blome- field died in 1762, and Martin nine years later. Of the Paston papers owned by Blomefield a part found their way to the Bodleian Library. Martin's collections were eventually pur- chased by Sir John Fenn, who in 1787 printed a selection in two volumes and presented the originals to George III. In 1789 Fenn published two more volumes, and in 1825 a fifth volume was edited from Fenn's transcripts by his nephew, William Frere. The originals were all lost sight of till the discovery in 1865 of those comprised in the fifth volume, to- gether with some unprinted documents. It was this discovery which suggested to Dr. Gairdner his first re-edition of the Paston Letters. That edition was almost complete, when in ' I need hardly say that in the following account of the history and contents of the Paston Letters I am much indebted to Dr. Gairdner's invaluable Introduction. For a few additional letters relating to the Paston family see Hij/. MSS. Comm. I2th Report, App.iv, vol. i,pp. 10-13; Manuscripts of the Duke of Rutland, see p. 393 n. below. igS ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE 1875 the originals of the third and fourth volumes, together with ninety-five new letters, were found in the possession of a member of the Frcrc family. The whole of this part of the Paston papers is now at the British Museum.^ Some other documents arc amongst the Phillipps manuscripts at Chelten- ham. It was not till 1889 that the originals of Fenn's first two volumes were found in the library of Mr. E. G. Pretyman at Orwell Hall, to which they had come with the papers of Bishop Tomline, the tutor and biographer of William Pitt. Since the recovery of the complete originals the whole collec- tion, with many fresh documents, has again been re-edited by Dr. Gairdner.^ From the history of the Letters I go back to the history of the family. The Pastons, though alleged by their enemies in the fifteenth century to have been bondmen by descent, were apparently hard-working yeomen in Norfolk till the time of Clement Paston in the reign of Richard II. Clement educated his son William to the law ; and William, who rose to be a judge of the Common Pleas in 1429, established the fortunes of his family by marrying an heiress, Agnes, daughter of Sir Edmund Berry. William Paston, who was a man of high repute in his profession and native county, died in 1444. He had made it one of his aims to obtain for his family a position as landed gentry. His design was continued by his son John Paston, the eldest, who was bred like his father to the law and like him married a lady, Margaret Mauteby, of good estate and sage abiUty. John Paston, the eldest, though he never attained to his father's professional distinction, was a gentleman of position, with a wide circle of political acquaintance. Like his father he had a large family, but we are concerned only with the two elder sons, both called John. The first, who was knighted as soon as he came of age in 1463, lived much at Court and in good society till his death in 1479. The second, who was also knighted under Henry VII, survived till i503. and was ancestor of the later family, of which the head, Sir Robert Paston, was created Earl of Yarmouth in the reign of » Additional MSS. J744.i-6(IVan, vol. v), ,;4888-9(Fenn, vols, iii and iv). ' In six volumes ; the iirst contains the Introduction. The references in the footnotis hrlow nre to the numbers of the Letters. CORRESPONDENCE : PRIVATE AND OFFICIAL 199 Charles II. With the death of the second Earl in 1732 the male line became extinct. William Paston, the judge, is of little interest in the present connexion, except as founder of the family. The few docu- ments relating to his lifetime deal chiefly with his private affairs, and in particular with his disputes with ' this cursed bishop for Bromholm, Aslak^for Sprouston, and Julian Herberd for Thornham '. His widow survived till 1478. It is round their eldest son, the first John Paston, that the main historical interest of the Letters centres from 1440 till his death in 1466. John had, as before observed, a wide political acquaintance ; he was a cold, shrewd man, intent on the advancement of his family, and trusted by others as a good worldly adviser and agent. It was no doubt his business-like character that made him such a careful keeper of papers. The next generation continued the practice : but of the whole collection three-fifths belong to the five-and-twenty years of his active life. The correspondence of a private family would naturally be most illustrative of social history, but John Paston's affairs and acquaintance have given to his papers a more than inciden- tal importance for politics as well. His wife was a cousin of the famous Sir John Fastolf, with whom he was at an early date brought into close connexion. Fastolf, who was himself a sharp man of business, put much trust in John Paston ; when he died in 1459 he made Paston one of his executors, and left him all his Norfolk and Suffolk estates subject to trust for the foundation of a College in his Castle of Caister. Paston's claims to the estates were disputed by influential rivals. His endeavours to maintain them and to discharge his trust embroiled him and his sons in the stormy politics of the time. It was the relationship of the family to Fastolf whilst he was alive, and their claims to his estates when he was dead, which chiefly imparted to their correspondence more than a private and social interest. At the same time John Paston himself, though not actively concerned in politics, seems to have followed closely the public events of the troubled years in which he lived. No man of good estate could escape from difficulties in his private affairs during such ^00 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE a stormy time, when all private disputes were drawn inevitably into the vortex of politics. Immediately after his father's death John Paston had to defend the possession of one of his manors against Lord Molynes. Molynes had for his represen- tatives in Norfolk a lawyer called John Heydon, and Sir Thomas Tuddenham, who during the ministry of the Duke of Suffolk were all-powerful in the country. Suffolk himself was of such importance in eastern England that his fortunes and fate could not fail, for good or ill, to concern his neigh- bours. Thomas Daniel, another of the unpopular ministers, was also an intermeddler in Norfolk; whilst Fastolf, even in his old age, was a man of too much wealth and importance to keep clear of public affairs. One of Fastolf's men of business was William Worcester, or Botoner, the Annalist. Worcester was a frequent correspondent with Paston ; it is to the news-letters sent by him and other writers of less note, like William Lomnour, James Gresham, John Booking, and Friar Brackley, that we are indebted for the most valuable historical information which the collection contains. Though the Letters were for the most part written to or by members of the Paston family, there are included amongst them many of Fastolf's papers, together with a certain number of documents of more public importance. Dr. Gairdner has also added a few other documents which, though not part of the original collec- tion, are related to it more or less closely. John Paston began to keep his letters as a lad at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. One of the first documents of public interest in the collection is a news-letter ^ written to him in 1440, when he was only nineteen. But political interest really begins during the ministry of Suffolk about 1447, when Edmund Paston, his younger brother, writes to him:* 'He enquired of me of the rule of my master Daniel and my lord of Suffolk, and asked which I thought should rule in this shire; and I said, both as I trow, and he that sur\ivcth to hold by the virtue of the survivor, and he to thank his friends and acquit his enemies.' It is of course in the light thrown by such in Id. pp. 89, 90. CORRESPONDENCE: PRIVATE AND OFFICIAL 211 written in June 1483, which clearly anticipates an untimely end for the little King Edward V.^ The early letters in the first volume of The Trevelyan Papers ^ are of interest only as relating to Suffolk's unpopular colleague, John Trevilian. The volume also includes some prayers and hymns commemorative of Henry VI.^ The Letters and Papers of John Shillingford * deal with a suit between the mayor and citizens of Exeter and Edmund Lacy, the bishop, between 1447 and 1450. They do not touch political history at all, so fall most conveniently under the head of private correspondence. « In turning to correspondence of an official or semi-official character it will be best to begin with collections covering the whole period ; and then to deal with collections of a more limited range, as far as may be in their chronological order. Scattered amongst all such collections there will be found a certain number of letters of a more or less private character. On the other hand there are also many documents of a formal kind which would not strictly come under the head of corre- spondence. It is of course impossible to draw a sharp line between private and official correspondence, or between official correspondence and formal administrative documents. The chief general collection of fifteenth-century letters is contained in the three series of Original Letters edited by Sir Henry Ellis. There are eighty-eight letters in all, of which about half belong to the reigns of Henry IV and Henry V. The most important group consists of fifteen letters in the second series,^ dealing with events in Wales during the first of these two reigns. They are nearly all of the semi-official order, and include some of the dispatches in Anglo-French, in which Henry of Monmouth reported to his father or to the Council the progress of his arms. These and some other letters from the Prince are to be found also in the Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council ; in the absence of any but desultory notices of the Welsh war, they are an indispensable authority, the more so since they enter into considerable 1 Id. p. 132. * Camden Society, ist Series, 67, 1858. ^ The Trevelyan Papers, i. 53-60. * Edited for Camden Society, 2nd Series, in 1871, by Mr. Stuart Moore, ^ Original Letters, 2nd Series, i, Nos. 1-15. P 2 212 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE detail. They arc supplemented by other letters in Ellis's Collection, which were written by captains of castles and officials in Wales and the Marches. We get a vivid glimpse of the state of Wales at the height of Glendower's rebellion when in 1403 Richard Kingston concludes a formal French epistle to the King with an English postscript : ' For God's sake, my liege lord, think on yourself and your estate, or by my troth all is lost else : but and ye come yourself with haste all other will follow after. . . . And I cry you mercy, and put me in your high grace, for by my troth that I owe to you it is needful.' ^ Of the other letters for tl^ reign of Henry IV three are formal diplomatic letters in Latin.* Nearly thirty letters in Ellis's Collection belong to the reign of Henry V.' Many of them are of considerable importance. The majority are reports from officials to the King; a few are written by Henry himself. Of peculiar value are two from English agents in Germany in 1420.* Another small group deal with naval affairs and shipbuilding.* Of a different class is a private letter from a soldier in France to his friends in England, which gives the news of the camp at the time of Henry's abortive negotiations with the Dauphin in March 1419: ' Certes, all these ambassadors be double and false. Pray for us that we may come soon out of this unlusty soldier's life into the life of England.' ^ In Rymer's Foedera ' there are two other letters of a similar character ; one gives the camp gossip as to the causes of the failure of the English negotiations with Burgundy at the Conference of Meulan in June-July 1419; and the other, a year later, describes the marriage of Henry and Catherine of France at Troyes, and the siege of Sens. For the reign of Henry VI Ellis gives twenty letters,* which are generally of no great importance. The most valuable are 1 On'giMa/I.e«ers, 2ndSeries, i,No. 6. * /d. 3rd Series.i, Nos. J.!, 23,;;5. ' Id. 1st Series, i, Nos. 1-3; 2nd Series, i, Nos. ib-.:9; 3rd Series,!, Nos. 26-37. Of the last, No. 26, which is dated from Rouen on October 21, clearly belongs to 1418, and not to 1417, as given by Ellis ; No. 32, which is undated, belongs to 1417. ' Id. 2nd Scries, i, No. 3$ ; 3rd Series, i. No. 39. " Id. jnil Series, i, No. 21 ; 3rd Series, i, No. 31. * Id. 2n(l Series, i. No. 24. ' ix. 789, Qio ; see also the Letter of John Albon noticed on p. 389 below. » Id. 1st Series, i, Nos. 4-7; 2nd Scries, i, Nos. 30-40; 3rd Series, i, Nos. 33-7. CORRESPONDENCE : PRIVATE AND OFFICIAL 213 those dealing with the career of Richard of York/ and two Latin documents relating to the proposed intervention of Pope Pius II in 1460.2 For the reign of Edward IV there are only ten letters ; ^ the chief are a valuable news-letter of 1462,* and the Proclamation of Warwick and Clarence in 1470.^ There are fifteen letters for the reign of Richard III,* all but two of which come from Harley MS. 433 ; ' several are of considerable political interest; the most valuable is one to John Russell, Bishop of Lincoln, from the King, in which Richard calls Buckingham ' the most untrue creature living '.* The greater number of the letters in Ellis's Collection come from manuscripts in the British Museum, of which the chief are Cotton. Vespasian F iii and Vespasian F xiii. The letters given by Ellis are only a small selection. Many of the remainder are official letters of a formal type. Most of the important documents are included in the Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council. Some of the earlier letters are printed in Fonblanque's Annals of the House of Percy.^ Others are still unprinted; two^" of particular interest are a report from Thomas Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, on May 21, 1421, as to the progress of the war; and a letter in which Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, apparently on March 7, 1455, with many protestations of loyalty, asks for the good offices of the Prior of Erdebury or Arbury, with Queen Margaret in the matter of the accusations against him- self, the Earl of Warwick, and the Duke of York. The Welsh letters in Ellis's Collection come from Cotton. MS. Cleopatra F. iii, which contains papers of the Privy Council. Cotton. MSS. Cleopatra E ii and E iii, from which Ellis took a few letters, contain documents relating to ecclesiastical affairs. Others of the letters given by Ellis come from the transcripts made for Rymer's Foedera in Additional MSS. 4596-616. The proportion of early letters written in English is not nearly so great as would be suggested by the selection given by Ellis. 1 Id. ist Series, i, Nos. 5, 6, 7 ; 2nd Series, i, No. 40. * Id. 3rd Series, i, Nos. 36, 37. 3 Id. ist Series, i, Nos. 8, 9 ; and Series, i, Nos. 41-6 ; 3rd Series, i, Nos. 38, 39. * Id. 1st Series, i, No. 8. « Id. and Series, i, No. 42. « Id. 2nd Series, i, Nos. 47-54 ; 3rd Series, i, Nos. 40-6. ' See p. 224 below. ' Id. and Series, i, No. 52 ; from the Record Office. * i. 209, 234-S, 519-29. ^'' Vespasian F xiii, Arts. 46 and 64. 214 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE It is of course obvious that the contents of the volumes from which Ellis obtained most of his material belonged originally to the national archives. Other of the Cotton. Manuscripts are of a similar character, notably: Vespasian F vii, Cleopatra F iii and F iv, which contain papers of the Privy Council ; Galba B i,^ papers relating to Flanders ; and Vespasian C xii, papers relating to Spain. Part also of Rymer's transcripts were obtained from Cotton. Manuscripts which perished in the great fire of 1731. It was from these and similar volumes that Sir Harris Nicolas was able to restore so much of the early Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council. A general description of that collection does not fall within our subject, but attention must be directed to the large number of ofl5cial and semi-ofi5cial letters which it includes. These are most numerous for the reign of Henry IV ; there are a fair number for the reign of Henry V, but comparatively few for the reign of Henry VI. In the first reign nearly all the letters are in Anglo-French ; the only English one is from Edward of York in 1403.* Under Henry V the English letters are about equal in number to those in French ; under Henry VI letters in French are the exception. The case is similar with minutes and other documents, of which the reign of Henry IV supplies only two instances in English ; * but afterwards the use of English increases gradually, till in the latter part of the reign of Henry VI it becomes predominant. The first volume of Halliwell-Phillipps's Letters of the Kings of England is a much less important collection than that of Ellis. It contains over fifty letters relating to our period, but its usefulness is diminished by the translation into English of those which were written originally in French or Latin, and by the change of the English ones to modem spelling. Moreover, by far the greater number, and those the most important, are to be found in their authentic dress elsewhere : in the Collections of Ellis,* and Delpit,' in Nicolas's Proceedings of the Privy Council,^ in Davies's York Records, ' Sec liirtluT, p. 220 below. * rufcfeiiixgs and Ordinanus, i. 271. ' Id. i. 322-7 (1410) and ii. 79 (1403). * llalliwcU-l'hillipps, i. 91, 92, 121-5, uo, 135. » Id. i. 83, 88, 90, 103. « Id. i. 54, 58, Oi, 64-70, 99, 105. ' Td. i. 150, 152, 155. 'S8- CORRESPONDENCE : PRIVATE AND OFFICIAL 215 in Hall's Chronicle,^ and in hahoureur's Histoire de Charles VI.^ Of the others the most valuable belong to the reign of Edward IV.' Attention may be directed to the curious letter professing to have been addressed by Henry V to his cousin of France in 1414,* in which with much jesting he thanks the French Prince for his gifts, and assures him that his mock shall turn to shame, ' for ye wot of right I am master of the game.' It is probably a pure invention ; but, whether genuine or not, is clearly intended to be a jocular retort to the present of the tennis-balls. Champollion-Figeac's Lettres de Rots, Reims, et autres per- sonnages des Cours de France et d'Angleterre^ contains nearly a hundred letters of the fifteenth century. They are nearly all diplomatic documents in French or Latin relating to Anglo-French affairs in the reigns of Henry V and Henry VI. Amongst them is the account of the Agincourt campaign from the Salisbury City Archives,* and a list of the English captains in France ' as given by Williams in his edition of the Gesta Henrici Quinti. Eight documents for the reign of Edward IV include the agreement of Charles of Guienne to support the Lancastrian Restoration in 1470.* The most important papers in Delpit's Collection des docu- ments frangais en Angleterre ® come from the Archives of the City of London at the Guildhall. Many of these can now be found more conveniently elsewhere.^" The few others which- are given in full are formal ofl&cial documents. We cannot leave this part of our subject without some account of the miscellaneous letters contained in the series of Ancient Correspondence at the Record Office. There are up- wards of three hundred letters in all, chiefly in volumes xliii, xliv, li, and Ivii, but there are also a few in volume Iviii.^^ As might be expected, the greater number are formal official I Id. i. 78, 108, 164. ^ Id. i. 93, 96. 3 Id. i. 126, 136-50. ' Id. i. yy ; from Lansdowne MS. 762, f. 3. 5 Vol. ii, pp. 304-500, ap. Documents inedits k servir pour I'histoire de France, Paris, 1847. 6 pp. 336-9. There is an English summary in Hist. MSS. Comnt., 2nd Report, 94 ; see p. 389 below. ' PP- 339-43 ; cf. Gesta, pp. 275-9. » pp. 488-91. ' pp. 212-70. ^° See further, p. 217 below. II See Record Office Lists and Indexes, No. 15, pp. 200-4, 237-9, 258-63. 2i6 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE letters of no particular importance. But there are also some of distinct interest, such as a letter, dated February 12, 1419, in which Henry V writes from Rouen to a bishop in England that the King of Castile was preparing a fleet to attack Southampton, and gives directions for provision of defence.^ In another letter Thomas Langley reports early in 1416 as to negotiations with the French Princes who were prisoners in England.^ A third instance is a Letter of Privy Seal from Henry VI with reference to Burgundy's attack on Calais in 1436.* Besides public documents there are a very consider- able number of private letters. Some are addressed to great personages or to officials ; and so may naturally have found their way to the public archives. But others deal with the affairs of humble individuals ; the presence of these is prob- ably due to the seizure of the correspondence of persons who had fallen under suspicion. Several groups of private letters can be traced; there are, for instance, half a dozen relating to the priory of Berden in Essex.* Most of the private letters are of an ordinary type, and few are of any outstanding interest. One or two contain political references ; in a letter from a young lawyer in London, dated March 13, 1451, there is a statement that 'the noble Bishop of Hereford and the Duchess of Suffolk are acquit by the lords ', together with some other references to judicial proceedings ; * unfortunately this letter is so torn that it is of little use. In another letter, to one Horkesley, the writer states that Master Hawarde (perhaps John Howard, afterwards Duke of Norfolk) said ' that ye have complained on him to the lords at the Parliament at Coventry, and that ye laboured there for to have him attaint for an extorcioner '.* The date of this letter must be at the end of 1459 or beginning of 1460.'' The collections of official correspondence previously described are all more or less artificial. The next to be ^ Ancient Correspondence, xliii, i6j. * Jd. Ivii. 79. ' Id. Iviii. 47. « Id. xliii. 151 ; xliv. 36 ; li. 60, 61, 6;, 94. " Id. li, 59. The Bishop of Hereford is Reginald Bowlers, see pp. 297 and 381; below. « Id. li. 35. ' I do not of course deal with tlic great niimbcr of administrative letters and documents in Kynicr's Foedera, \i)ls. viii-xii. I have noticed two priv.-itc letters on p. ji .• above. Tlu' t-ailii-st official documents in English belong to 1417 (l-'ofdi-ui, ix. 4^7-^11, 4.14-5)- CORRESPONDENCE : PRIVATE AND OFFICIAL 217 treated is a connected series in so far as it consists of letters addressed to the City of London by great persons, or written to such persons on behalf of the City. The originals are preserved in the Archives at the Guildhall. Twenty-nine of them are printed by Dr. Sharpe in the third volume of London and the Kingdom.^ Some others for the reign of Henry V will be found in Riley's Memorials of London Life,^ and still more in Delpit's Collection des documents frangais en Angleterre.^ All these relate to public affairs. Others of a more purely civic character are contained ih Dr. Sharpe's Calendar of Letter-look K.* The series begins with the reign of Henry V, during which most of the letters relate to the French war. The King reports the capture of Caen, and the crossing of the Seine to besiege Rouen.^ The City sends provisions for the army, and gratefully acknowledges dispatches from the King reporting his further progress. The latest reports Henry's movements in July 1421.^ In addition to the mere statement of facts the letters contain some indication of Henry's plans and policy. The whole series is of great interest and value. Whether Henry's letters are actually of his own composition may be doubted, though the substance and comments may be accepted as representing what he desired. That Henry could write well in English is, however, shown by a note of his to a lengthy state paper : ' For the secretness of this matter I have written this instruction with my own hand and sealed it with my signet of the eagle.' '' The letters for the early part of the reign of Henry VI are of a similar character ; the most interesting are one from the Earl of Salisbury on his way to Orleans in 1428,® and another from Cardinal Beaufort at Ghent in April 1432,* announcing his intended return to England ' to know the causes why 1 iii. 359-92. 2 pp. 593, 617-20, 654, 657, 658, 664, 674. ^ pp. 213-17, 219-38, 248-57, 260-3, 265 ; there are 39 documents in all, including some copies of Letters Patent, and 5 letters from the City of Paris ; of 24 letters proper to London, 1 3 are given by Sharpe and 4 by RUey ; for the others see pp. 217, 219-22, 224. * pp. 298, 301-4, 370, 402 ; many other letters are summarized in the Calendars I and K. * Delpit, pp. 220, 224-6 ; Memorials, 657-60. * Sharpe, p. 365. Besides the letters from the King there are others from the Duke of Clarence. ' Foedera, ix. 427-30. * Sharpe, p. 370. ^ Id. p. 374. 2i8 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE I am thus strangely demeaned '. For the latest years of the reign from 1456 to 1460 there are several important documents relating to the taking of Sandwich by the French in 1457, and to the troubles in the City on the arrival of the Yorkist lords in 1460.^ Three documents deal with the Bastard of Faucon- berg's attack on London in May 1470.^ A translation of the minutes of the Common Council on the occasion of the Lancastrian Restoration * deserves attention for its record of how ' the lord Henry the Sixth, who for many years had been confined in a certain cell within the Tower, was conducted by the Mayor and Aldermen to a chamber adorned with handsome furniture, which Queen Elizabeth had fitted up, and in which she purposed being brought to bed.' The minutes were kept in Latin, but the majority of the letters are in English ; Henry V writes in English on and after August 9, 1417 ; the first English letter from Clarence is on August 5, 1418, and the first from the City on August 12 of that year. The English letters are early and interesting specimens of the class of composition to which they belong. The third volume of the Litterae Caninarienses * contains a large number of letters written between 1400 and 1480. Most of them relate only to the affairs of Christchurch Priory, but a few are of political interest. The first is a letter from Archbishop Arundel in which he describes the Rising of the Earls in January 1400, and his own narrow escape.* This is the most important political document in the collection ; but others are the long letter of safe-conduct granted by Charles VII for Margaret of Anjou in October 1443,^ the conditional pardon for Cade in 1450,'' and an English speech addressed to the Commons in Parliament in 1474 seeking their support for the proposed war with France* There are also some letters of commercial interest relating to the Hansc.* As might be expected, the majority of the letters are in Latin ; the earliest English letter (from the Prior) is dated December 11, 1432;^° • Sharpc, pp. 376-85. 3 Id. p. .^S-. 5 Id. p. 385. * Edited by Dr. J. B. Sheppard in tin- Rolls Series, vol. iii, pp. 73-306- ^ Id. iii. 73-5. » Id. iii. 176-82. ' Id. iii. 207-10. " hi, iii. 274-85. » Id. iii. 01-8, loo-S. '» Id. iii, 161.1-1. CORRESPONDENCE : PRIVATE AND OFFICIAL 219 towards the end English letters become more frequent ; there are ten between 1474 and 1480.^ Dr. Sheppard did not reprint in the Rolls Series any of the letters which he had included in his earlier volume of Christ Church Letters.^ In that volume there are about forty letters dated between 1430 and 1485 ; the majority are English letters addressed to the Prior on the business of his monastery. One or two contain political references ; in 1483 Thomas Langton, Bishop of St. Davids, who was with Richard III at York, wrote : [The King] ' contents the people where he goes best that ever did prince . . . On my truth I liked never the conditions of any prince so well as his.' * However, it must be remembered that Langton had just received his bishopric, and was hoping for a speedy translation to a better one. A letter from Prior Sellyng to Thomas Chaundler deserves attention.* The Epistolae Academicae,^ which comprise the correspon- dence of the University of Oxford between 1427 and 1509, are, like the Litterae Cantuarienses, concerned primarily with the affairs of the institution to which they belong. They are often of value for the history of learning in England ; but it is only incidentally and occasionally that they touch politics, as when with tragic irony on May 6, 1450, they congratulate the Duchess of Suffolk on the good speeding of her matters in London,* and in May 1470 assure the King that no scholar had taken arms on either side.' The University congratulated Henry VI on his restoration, and Edward IV on his recovery of the crown. Richard III was complimented on his good government, and the victory of Henry VII at Bosworth was promptly welcomed.* Such letters were merely formal ; the University is cleared of the charge of time-serving by the courage with which it appealed to Richard III in defence of Morton.* Latin, of course, held its own as the language for the of5&cial correspondence of a University. But there are 1 Id. iii. 285-8, 298-306. ^ Christ Church Letters, Camden Society, 2iid Series, 1877. There are some further Christ Church Letters in Various Collections, i. 205-81 {Royal Hist. MSS. Commission) ; see pp. 391, 393 below. 3 Christ Church Letters, pp. 45-6. * Id. p. 23. ^ Edited by Rev. H. Anstey for the Oxford Historical Society. ' Epistolae Academicae, p. 303. ' Id. p. 387. 8 Id. pp. 391, 395, 495, 500- ° Id. p. 494. 220 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE a certain number of English letters,^ of which the earliest is addressed to the Speaker, Knights, and Burgesses of Parlia- ment in 1439.^ The use of English here, and in letters addressed to London citizens, or to the Duchess of Suffolk, explains itself. The Latinity of the letters is mediaeval j those in English are in no way remarkable. Let us now turn to collections of a more limited range, taking them as far as possible in their chronological order. Hingeston's Royal and Historical Letters for the Reign of Henry IV in the Rolls Series stops short at 1404. It includes a certain number of domestic papers, and amongst them the earlier of the Welsh letters given by Ellis. But it is devoted chiefly to diplomatic correspondence, and especially to papers relating to the commercial relations of England with Flanders and the Hanse. These last come from the valuable Cotton. MS. Galba B i, the whole of which was edited by M. Gilliodts van Severen in 1896 ; ^ the bulk of the documents are earlier than 1415, about twenty belong to the reign of Henry VI, and a few to that of Edward IV. Caro's Aus der Kanzlei Sigmunds contains documents from the Imperial Chancery which are of great importance for the negotiations of Sigismund with Henry V. For the history of the French war during the reign of Henry VI we have the Letters and Papers Illustrative of the English Wars in France, edited by the Rev. J. Stevenson in the Rolls Series. It is primarily a collection of official docu- ments, writs, commissions, and reports relating to the English administration of the- conquered territory. Some of the documents, however, touch English history more directly, such as the papers relating to the schemes of Humphrey of Gloucester,* and the valuable series on the negotiations with '^ About twenty of earlier date than 1485 ; the later ones are rather more numerous, but are nearly all addressed to the University by Henry VII and members of his family. * Epistolae Acadcmicae, p. 184. 3 Le Cotton. MS. Galba B i, ap. Collection de Chroniques Beiges infedites. Some documents are wrongly dated : No. cxlviii, by Henry Beaufort, from Bruges on September 4, must belong to 1417, not 1415 ; No. cliii should be assigned to October 21, 1418, not to 141 6 ; No. clvii is assigned by the editor to March-April, 1418, but is itself dated and endorsed ' 1 7 March xxvii Henrici vj ', i.e. 1441), which the contents and its signature by Thomas Kent show to lie correct. ' Vol. ii. pp. 380-93, 401-4, 417-18. CORRESPONDENCE : PRIVATE AND OFFICIAL 22i Charles of Orleans in 1432,^ and on his release in 1440 ; ^ the latter include the protest of Humphrey of Gloucester, and his charges against Cardinal Beaufort.* Another important series deals with the negotiations for peace in 1444-5, and the surrender of Maine in 1447.* The majority of the documents are derived from French archives and libraries. The chief source for the remainder is Arundel MS. 48, at the College of Arms, which contains the Collections of William Worcester. Of greater literary interest is the Official Correspondence of Thomas Bekynton,^ which is a collection of documents made by the bishop in the course of his official career. Henry Wharton ^ described it as comprising ' very many letters of the bishop himself, written in his own or the King's name, and of others sent to him or to the King during the time that he was his secretary, besides other distinguished monuments of his age, which had fallen into his hands, brought together without any order or arrangement.' Bekynton began his official life in the service of Humphrey of Gloucester ; as a scholar he there found congenial colleagues, and his tastes and friendships make his Correspondence occa- sionally of interest for the early history of the Renaissance in England.'' Afterwards he was secretary to Henry VI from 1437 to 1443, and so was in frequent communication with foreign statesmen and diplomatic agents. In 1442 he was sent on an abortive mission to negotiate the suggested mar- riage between Henry VI and a daughter of the Count of Armagnac. The Journal ® of his embassy, and his letters during its progress, are the chief sources of information for that affair. In 1443 he was made Bishop of Bath and Wells. Between that date and his death in 1465 there are comparatively few letters, and those are nearly all of a personal kind. Many of the earliest letters relate to the University of Oxford, in which Bekynton (he was a Fellow of New College) always preserved a lively interest. Others throw light on the career of Humphrey of Gloucester ; such as the agreement 1 Id. ii. 219-62. ^ Id. ii. 440-62. ^ Id. ii. 440-51. * Id. ii. 67-159 [638, 696-704]. ^ Edited by Rev. G. Williams in the Rolls Series, from Lambeth MS. 211. ' Anglia Sacra, i. 178. ' See Correspondence, i. 264-75, 3ii-i5« ' Id. ii. 177-248. 222 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE between Humphrey and John of Bedford,^ attributed by Stubbs to 1426. Bckynton's service with Gloucester no doubt brought into his hands an instructive letter in which the Bishop of Bayeux describes to the Duke the miserable state of Normandy.* The Council of Basle fills a large place in the Correspondence, and after Bekynton became the King's secretary, the majority of the letters are addressed to or from persons at the Papal Court ; as such they are valuable for ecclesiastical history. Others are written to foreign princes, and though generally of a complimentary character, are useful for the foreign relations of England. Special attention may be directed to two of them for their bearing on the Bohemian career of Peter Payne, the Lollard.* All these letters, together with those relating to King's College and Eton, have an interest as indicating how Henry VI was attracted most by ecclesias- tical and educational affairs. The great majority of the letters are, as their nature requires, written in Latin. But it is noticeable that where Bekynton writes to the King he does so commonly in English, as he also does in the unstudied letters which he addressed to friends on his way to Plymouth in 1442.* Bekynton's Latin letters are careful and scholarly pieces of composition. Of his personal correspondence the most interesting are the letters which passed between him and Thomas Chaundler, the Warden of New College at Oxford. The so-called Letters of Margaret of Anjou ^ belong for the most part to the class of semi-official correspondence. They do not all concern the Queen, and there are really three separate collections, which are united through the accident that they were all copied into the same book late in the fifteenth century. The first series consists of forty-two letters, chiefly official, written between 1415 and 1444.' Many of them are concerned with the safe-keeping of Calais, and others ' Correspondence, i. 138-43. ' Id. i. 2S9. ' Id. i. 187-9 ■> they have reference to Payne's capture by John Burian of Gutenstein in 1440 ; for another letter on the same subject see Epistolae Acadetnicae,-p. 195. ♦ Seep. ^^3 below. ' Edited by C. Monro for the Camden Society in 1863. • ' J. B.', the supposed writer of No. xi, is clearly to be identified with John Russell, the assoi iate of John Claydon, the Lollard ; so its date is 1416. Svv HiUy, Mi'wiiiKih 0/ London Life, -pp. 6:-,i>-_\. Some of the other initials (as K. L. B. in Nos. xxv xxvii) may be similarly inaccurate. CORRESPONDENCE : PRIVATE AND OFFICIAL 223 are of a formal character. The majority are written in English. Of the Latin letters only two are of importance : the first 1 a letter of congratulation to Henry V after Agincourt from one of his chaplains ; the other a report to the King from one of his agents at Constance in 1415.^ The second series consists of seventeen English letters of Thomas Bekynton which are not to be found in his Official Correspondence. The first eleven were written by Bekynton on his way to Plymouth, when going to Guienne in 1442. They are interesting for comparison with his Journal, but are not in themselves of much importance. The last six are mere headings of letters from Bordeaux. Of Margaret's own letters (nearly all in English) there are seventy-six. Most of them relate to the affairs of her house- hold and the management of her estates. Many are written to obtain preferment or favours for friends or dependants.^ Some are of interest as illustrating her pleasures and dress.* None are of any political importance. All or nearly all belong to the first ten years of Margaret's life in England. In a negative way they may perhaps indicate how little she con- cerned herself during that time in affairs of State. Sir James Ramsay' thinks they ' do not give a favourable impression of her dealings with her husband's subjects ', and involve ' greater or less interference with private rights ' ; he finds those ' most objectionable in which she seeks to interfere with pending litigation '.^ But it must be remembered in answer to this that Margaret was doing no more than any other person of rank at the time did commonly ; ' there is nothing in the letters to show that her favours were bestowed unde- servedly or her influence used unduly ; they might be cited with equal force in proof of her solicitude to secure her humble dependants from the oppression of others. At all events Margaret cannot be condemned on their evidence. Some other letters for the reign of Henry VI are printed from the Register of Abbot Curteys in Memorials of 1 Letters of Margaret of Anjou, No. i. ^ Id. No. ii. 'e.g. Nos. Ix, Ixii, Ixiii. ' e.g. Nos. Ixi, Ixxiii, Ixxxiii. ^ Lancaster and York, ii. 141. ^ e.g. Nos. cxix, cxx, cxxiii. ' For an outrageous instance see the case of Thomas Banns on pp. 391-2 below. 224 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE Si. Edmund's Abbey ; * there are twenty-one in all, belonging to the years from 1440 to 1444. The most interesting are English letters from the King with reference to his marriage and the prosecution of the war with France. In Cotton. MS. Cleopatra C iv, ff. 124-204, there are copies of letters addressed to William Swan, who was employed in the Papal service at Rome, by high officials in England. They relate chiefly to ecclesiastical affairs, but include some political references. Amongst the writers are John Kemp, Thomas Langley, and John Stafford. Most of the letters are in Latin. For the reign of Edward IV there is no important collection of official correspondence apart from Public Records. In the absence of any such collection it is convenient to note here that a fair number could be brought together from the collections of Ellis, Halliwell-Phillipps, Champoliion-Figeac, the Guildhall Archives, and the Rutland papers.^ Dr. Gairdner's Letters and Papers of the Reigns of Richard 111 and Henry VII, in the Rolls Series, includes in the first volume a number of official documents for the reign of Richard IIL Another valuable source is Harley MS. 433 at the British Museum, which is primarily a register of grants passing under the privy seal, but includes a number of letters and documents of a less formal character. The total number of documents contained in the Register is very large.' Dr. Gairdner made ample use of it in his Life of Richard III, and printed a number of letters in full.* Nearly all the letters for the reign of Richard III in Ellis's collection* come from this manuscript. The Register begins with the assumption of the Protectorate by Richard of Gloucester. The earliest documents therefore belong to the brief reign of Edward V ; these were printed in J. G. Nichols's Grants of Edward V.^ The chief value of the important series of letters which are ' Ed. T. Arnokl in the Rolls Series. Sec vol. iii. J41-79. Two of the letters were printed by Ellis. * See pp. 213, J15 and 218 .-ibovc, and p. MJ Iwlow. " The imperfect Calendar in the CatoJogiw of th/i Harleian MSS. i, 256-311, has nearly 3,000 entries. Another Calendar (also imperfect) is in Additional MS. 11261). '' Gairdner, liichard III, pp. jio, j^S, 247, .:4s, 397, 398. " Sec p. 21 3 above. » Editeil for Camden Society in 1854- CORRESPONDENCE : PRIVATE AND OFFICIAL 225 printed in Robert Davies's Extracts from the Municipal Records of the City of York is for the reign of Richard III. Some earlier letters, which belong to 1475 and 1478, are of less general interest. But those for 1483-5 are of considerable political importance,^ as are also some other documents of a more formal character. These latter include extracts from the accounts of city expenditure, which give a few details of historical interest, and also the municipal minutes between 1480 and 1485, which supply some useful information for events in the north, and illustrate the local popularity of Richard of Gloucester. The record closes with a note on August 23, 1485, of the ' great hevynesse ' with which the City heard of Richard's death. ^ In conclusion I will specify some of the more important isolated letters which are to be found in various places. Scattered through the Reports of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts there are a not inconsiderable number of fifteenth-century letters, private, semi-official, or formal. Since they are not always easy to trace it has seemed useful to construct a Calendar, which will sufl&ciently illustrate their character and value.' The only series of importance is found in the letters which the Duke of Clarence, the Earl of Warwick, and Edward IV addressed to Henry Vernon of Haddon be- tween March 15 and May 10, 147 1 ; they are of great interest for the events of that time. The official letters include some letters of Privy Seal touching political affairs. Of the private letters the one which John Albon wrote with a description of a visit which Henry V paid to Agincourt calls for notice, both as one of the few letters from soldiers serving in France, and as relating to an otherwise unknown incident.* Fonblanque's Annals of the House of Percy contains a few letters of the early part of the reign of Henry IV,^ and one from the then Earl of Northumberland in 1457.® In Pinkerton's History of Scotland'^ there are three letters 1 Some of them are reprinted in Halliwell-Phillipps's Letters, &-c., and in GaLrdner's Richard III. 2 York Records, p. 218. ' See pp. 389-94 below. * The letter is dated simply July 27. The editor suggests for the year 141 7, which is impossible. The most likely date is 141 9 ; see p. 389 below. ^ See p. 213 above. ° Annals, &-c., i. ' i. 448-52, 501. 1453 Q 226 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE on affairs of the Scottish Marches during the reign of Henry IV.* Ducket's Charters and Records of Cluni * contains two letters by Thomas Elmham, which are of some interest for the writer's career and for the prepara- tions for war in 1415. In Sir John Fortescue's Works^ there are printed half a dozen letters ; one, in English, is written by Lord Hungerford and Robert Whittyngham to Queen Margaret from Dieppe on August 30, 1461 ; the others relate to a Lancastrian project to obtain help from Portugal in December 1464 ; they were all no doubt drafted by Sir John Fortescue, who writes in one of them, ' we bethe alle in grete poverte, but yet the quene susteynethe us in mete and drinke ; ' another is signed by Edward, Prince of Wales, ' with myn own hand that ye may se how gode wrytare I am.' Two letters from the Earl of Warwick to Elizabeth Woodville recommending Sir Hugh John as a prospective husband are printed in Archaeologia.^ Bentley's Excerpta Historica, be- sides a few Stonor letters and a variety of state papers, con- tains a private letter of one Lowes Lyneham, written in June 1465.'* Two or three private letters of similar date in Napier's History of Ewelme^ are of little interest. Two private letters from Antony Woodville, Earl Rivers, which are printed by Dr. Gairdner in his Life of Richard 1 11,^ are interesting for the writer's personality. I do not of course pretend to have made here a complete list of all private letters of the fifteenth century" which e^dst in print, much less of those which remain in manuscript. Considering the ravages of time and accident the number of such letters seems to be rather remarkable than otherwise. If they are not of such common occurrence as to make any letters of this age undeserving of attention, they are certainly numerous enough and varied enough to prove that the practice of letter-writing, apart from the necessities of business, was very far from being an unusual accomplishment. They afford ■ ii. 15-22, See p. 45 above. ^ Ed. Lord Clermont, vol. ii, pp. 17, 2;-_^i. " xxix. 1.IJ-3. ♦ Fxcrtflii lliiloiica. p. U. ' pp. 99, 107. • 2n. (17, OS. ■» Bnil, p. 58; ; cf. p. 600. POETRY AND BALLADS 241 other two are rather satirical on the treachery and discom- fiture of Duke Philip. All four appear to be in the fullest sense contemporary. Of the narrative pieces the first is perhaps the best and most spirited of all the fifteenth- century ballads : ^ Remember how ye laid siege with great pride and boast To Calais, that little town ; the number of your host Was a hundred thousand and fifty to reckon by the polls, As it was that same time founden by your rolls ; And yet for all your great host, early neither late Calais was so feared of you, they shut never a gate. Both this and the other narrative ballad,^ which comes from Cotton. MS. Galba E ix, are full of graphic and interesting detail of real value. The early date of the second of these narrative ballads is proved by the quotation of the final lines in the Libel of English Policy.^ Of the two satirical ballads, one which begins Thou Philip, founder of new falsehood, Disturber of peace, captain of cowardice, is imperfect.* It may have been written in 1435 on the occasion of Philip's abandonment of the English alliance ; or it may have gone on to describe the siege of the following year. It is certainly very similar in character to the fourth ballad^, which is said to have been written on the latter occasion, ' in despite of the Flemings ', but is rather aimed at Philip himself, and ends scornfully : What hast thou won with all thy business, And all thy tents to Calais carried down, Thy cowardly flight, cockney of a champioun. Which durst not fight, and canst so well maligna. ^ Brut, pp. 582-4 : it was first printed in Archaeologia, xxxiii. 130-2. 2 Wright, Political Poems, ii. 151-6. 3 Little wote the fool, Who might chese What harm it were Good Calais to lese. Compare the Libel : For little weneth the fool, who so might chese, What harm it were good Calais for to lese. See Wright, u.s. ii. 156, 193. * Id. ii. 148, 149. 5 Brut, pp. 600, 601 ; Dr. MacCracken claims it for Lydgate : see Minor Poems of Lydgate, p. xvii ; and Anglia, xxxiii. 383. 248 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE The French war gave no further occasion for triumph. The next incident for the ballad-maker was the downfall of Eleanor Cobham . The Lamentacion of the Duchess of Gloucester appears in the commonplace book of Richard Hill, which was written much later ; but the poem itself may be of contemporary date.^ With this may be coupled the poem on The Mutability of Worldly Changes,^ which moralizes on the fates of Eleanor Cobham, John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, and Humphrey of Gloucester ; this also exists only in a sixteenth-century copy, but seems to have been written about 1460 ; it gives a dubious story as to the grounds of the charge against Gloucester. Both these pieces are rather literary exercises than political poems or ballads. Their historical allusions are only incidental, and they are more interesting than important. The only other political poems of the fifth decade are Lydgate's verses On the Prospect of Peace, and On the Truce of 1444? Probably they were written to order in support of the foreign policy of the Court party. They certainly do not reflect any strong public opinion. It was the mismanagement of the war, and not its continuance, which stirred popular feeling. The next group of poems (they are rude satires, not ballads) centre round the loss of the English possessions in France and the downfall of Suffolk and his unpopular colleagues.* Most of them come from a Collection ^ made by a London citizen in or about 1452. The earUest of the series is in the form of an attack on William Boothe,* Bishop of Lichfield, who was Chancellor to Queen Margaret, and is said to have owed his advancement to Suffolk.' Boothe is accused of having obtained his see by simony : Suffolk is elsewhere charged with having disposed of bishoprics from corrupt motives.* Whilst the main subject of this poem is the attack on Boothe, ' Wright, U.S. ii. 205-8 ; and Son^s and Carols from Richard Hill's Balliol MS. 354, pp. 115-17, E.E.T.S., 1907. ^ See pp. 394-7 below. ' Wright, u.s. ii. 309-20. * There were no doubt many squibs in doggerel verse circulated at this time : see two instances on pp. 351), 370 below. ° Cotton. Roll, ii. 23. See pp. 357-60 below. • Wright, U.S. ii. 225-g. 1 Id. ii. 232. " Croyland Chronicle, ap. Gale, Sciif'tcres, i. 521. POETRY AND BALLADS 343 and the corruption of the government, other ministers are also censured : Trevilian for his falsehood, and Suffolk for his ambition : The Pole is so parlyus men for to passe, That fewe can escape it of the banck rialle. But set under suger he shewithe hem galle ; Witness of Humphrey, Henry and Johan, Whiche late were on lyve, and now be they goon. These lines refer to Humphrey of Gloucester, Cardinal Beau- fort, and John Holland, Duke of Exeter (a grandson of John of Gaunt), who all died in 1447. Boothe was consecrated in July of that same year. The poem may be as early as 1448, or even as the autumn of 1447, The second of the series in point of time is the Warning to King Henry.^ Suffolk is accused of having sold Normandy ; if the commons do not help the King, he will bear the crown. The King is warned against his ministers, and in particular against Daniel and Saye ; the traitors will never be true, they are all sworn together to hold fast like brothers. They had impoverished him for their own profit : So pore a kyng was never scene. Nor richere lordes alle bydene. Henry himself seems to be excused : ' the King knoweth not alle.' The date was probably the end of 1449. The Verses against the Duke of Suffolk ^ belong clearly to the same time. He must go, or the land is lost : Hong up such menne to oure soverayne lorde. That ever counselde hym with fals men to be accorde. So also do the Verses on the popular discontent at the disasters in France,^ which begin, ' The Rote is dead.' From the reference to the loss of Rouen they must be later than October 1449. The lines And he is bounden that oure dore should kepe, That is Talbot our goode dogge, * Wright, U.S. ii. 229-31. * Id. ii. 231. ^ Id. ii. 221-3. They were first printed in Excerpta Historica, pp. 1 59-62, in 1831. See also Paston Letters, i. 66, 67, where they are best annotated. They are also printed in Trevelyan Papers, i. 65-74 (Camden See), together with the verses on Bishop Boothe and ' Jack Napes soule '. R 2 244 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE no doubt allude to the fact that Talbot had been given as a hostage to the French when Rouen was surrendered. The various personages of the time are satirized or described by their cognizances. The final lines, which refer to Richard of York, show to what direction popular opinion was turning : The Faukoun fleyth, and hath no rest, Tille he witte where to bigge his nest. The lines ' Now is the Fox driven to hole ' ^ must have been written after Suffolk's arrest on January 28, 1450 ; and since he was still in the Tower, before his removal to Westminster on the 9th of March. The writer rejoices that Suffolk (the Fox of the south) is in the Tower, ' if he creep out he will you all undo ' ; it was he who with his clog * had tied Talbot our good dog, and who at Bury slew our great gander. Suffolk was popularly accused of the death of Humphrey of Glouces- ter, though his enemies did not venture to include the charge in the formal indictment. The final, most vigorous and virulent poem of this series is not included in the Cottonian Collection. Suffolk left England on May i, was intercepted by the Nicholas of the Tower in the Channel, and executed on the following day. A poet of the popular party hailed the event with savage glee : all the dead man's friends were bidden to come and assist in performing For Jack Napes soule. Placebo and Dirige.^ It is an extraordinary demonstration of the depth of political hatred, though in a narrower way it is chiefly useful as a list, with some pungent personal touches, of the adherents of the Court party. In one manuscript * it is described as made by the commons of Kent at the time of Cade's rising. The early years of the Wars of the Roses have left us no popular poetry except some pieces which comment in a general * Wright, M.S. ii. 224-5. ' An ape's clog was Suffolk's badge : hence in some of these poems he is called Jack Napes. ' Wright, H.s. ii. 232-4, from Cotton. MS. Vespasian Bxvi; this version has 72 lines. Another version in Political, Religious, and Love Poems, pp. 6-11, from Lambeth MS. 306, has 1 1 6 lines : the longer version is also printed in Three Fifteenth Century Chronicles, pp. 99-103, with notes. * Lambeth 306. POETRY AND BALLADS 245 way on the abuses of the time, the evils of maintenance, the prevalence of violence and disorder, and the miscarriage of justice. A poem of this description with the refrain ' For now the bysom ^ leads the bUnd ' was certainly written before August 1456,^ but is probably not much earlier. Another poem of similar date attributes all the evils to ' Meed '. Others satirize extravagance, and the ' many laws and little right '.^ But it is impossible to date such productions precisely. The great reconciliation of 1458, when the King and Queen and Yorkist leaders all joined in a procession of thanksgiving at St. Paul's on March 25, gave a London poet the oppor- tunity to rejoice at the prospect of peace.* His verses may afford some evidence of the existenceof Lancastrian sympathies in the capital. Another poem, which belongs to the same year, strikes a stronger note. It is remarkable as the only poem definitely on the Lancastrian side which has been preserved. In its form it is an allegory on The Ship of State,^ and is of more than usual literary merit. The King is the ship, and the various Lancastrian leaders are described as the parts of the ship : thus the Earl of Shrewsbury is called the top-mast ■ who keepeth the ship from harm and blame '. Steer well the good ship, God be our guide, This noble ship made of good tree, Our sovereign lord King Henry, God guide him in adversity Where that he go or ride. The Ship of State was written when the prospects of Lancaster were most hopeful. The events of 1460-1, which culminated in the triumph of York, produced a series of poems on the other side. This series begins with two pieces, which were probably intended to prepare the way for the return of the Yorkist leaders in July 1460. In the early summer of 1460 the Earls of March, Warwick, and Salisbury, who were at Calais, entered into communica- tion with their friends in Kent, and when they knew the true 1 A blind man. '' Wright, u.s. ii. 235-7. ' Id. ii. 238-42, 251-3. * Id. ii. 254-6. ^ Archaeologia, xxix. 326-30. 246 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE hearts of tbc people determined to cross over to England. Shortly before their coming there was a Ballad set upon the gates of the City of Canterbury.^ The writer takes for his text the words of Isaiah,'^ ' the whole head is sick and the whole heart faint.' England was divided against herself, and being brought to destruction. King Henry was impoverished, and his rule could not endure; he had banished his true blood. All England mourned for those that were hence. Send home, most gracious lord Jesu most benign. Send home thy true blood unto his proper vein Richard, Duke of York, Job thy servant insign, Whom Satan not ceaseth to set at care and disdain. The writer prays also for the return of the Earls of March, of Salisbury, and of Warwick, ' shield of our defence '. He hints that Henry's son was a false heir, bom in false wedlock ; a venomous slander, which Warwick had fostered. It is probable enough that this ballad was inspired by the Yorkist leaders as part of their propaganda. Another piece,' of the same date but of London origin, describes how the writer walking down Cheapside saw a woman embroidering letters, which he proceeds to expound : Y. for York that is manly and mightful W. for Warwick, good with shield and other defence. The boldest under banner in battle to abide. The glorification of Warwick in the poetry of this time is very apparent. He is, with the Earl of March, the hero of the ballad of The Bearward and the Bear,* which celebrates the Yorkist victory at Northampton. The framework of the ballad is allegorical. The Bearward (Edward, Earl of March) and the Bear (Warwick) went to chase the Dogs (Shrewsbury, Beaumont, and Egremont) and the Buck (Buckingham). The game was done in a little stound. The Buck was slain and borne away ; Against the Bear there was no hound. But he might sport and take his play. ' Davits' s Chronicle, pp. 91-4. * Isaiah i. 5. ' Archaeologia, xxix. 330-4. ' Id. nxix. 334-40. POETRY AND BALLADS 247 The Bear and Bearward save The Hunt (King Henry), and beg him not to take their act unkindly. The Hunt replies that the Buck and the Dogs had brought him- into distress : ' I followed after, I wist not why.' Then the Hunt is brought reverently to London, over which the Eagle (Salisbury) had meantime hovered watchfully. Herein we. see the desire of the Yorkist leaders up to this point to preserve the semblance of loyalty, and to dissociate Henry from his advisers^ The poem ends with a prayer that God may ' bring home the Master of this Game, the Duke of York . . . Richard by name '. From this it is clear that the ballad was written before Richard came over from Ireland in October. The recognition of Richard as Protector seemed to confirm his triumph, but a Yorkist poet warned his leaders not to be too trustful ; for those who now spoke fair, were as false as ever : ^ They say in their assemble, it is a wonder thing To see the Rose in winter so fresh for to spring ; And many barked at Bear that now be full still, Yet they will him worry, if they might have their fill. The terror in London after the victory of the Lancastrians, with their northern army, at St. Albans on Shrove Tuesday, February 17, 1461, the relief with which Edward was welcomed and acknowledged as King, and the triumph of the Yorkists at Towton inspired another fine ballad. The Rose of Rouen.^ The writer was clearly a Londoner : Upon a Shrove Tuesday, on a green leed Betwixt Sandridge and St. Albans many man gan bleed : On an Ash Wednesday we lived in mickle dread ; Then came the Rose of Rouen down to help us in our need. These last three pieces are all of a high degree of merit, and have a certain similarity of form which suggests that they may be the work of one writer. Some pleasant verses of the same date, which begin Sithe God hathe chose the to be his knyght, are noteworthy only for their expression of thankfulness for Edward's victory.^ ^ Id. xxix. 340-2. 2 Id. xxix. 343-7. Edward IV was born at Rouen. ^ Archaeologia, xxix. 130, from Lambeth MS. 306. 248 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE It was a less practised hand than the author of the Rose of Rouen who a little later reviewed the whole situation from the point of view of the successful party in a piece, which Wright styled A Political Retrospect.^ The dethroning of Richard II, whose reign was ' abundant with plenty of wealth and earthly joy ', is described as a great wrong. Henry of Derby won the crown by force and perjury ; he killed Scrope ■ the blessed confessor ', and by the judgement of God was smitten with leprosy. Henry V, though he reigned unright- fully, was the best of his line and upheld the honour of England. Henry of Windsor by great folly brought all into languor. In his days through false treason the good Duke of Gloucester was done to death ; since which time there had been great mourning in England, with many a sharp shower. Woe unto the land where the King was unwise or innocent ! Queen Margaret had endeavoured to rule all England, and would have destroyed the right line : she would have brought the country to confusion, not scrupling in the pursuit of her ends to make use of the help of foreigners. King Edward had appeared to be England's comforter, and banish the black clouds of languor. His threefold victories at Northamp- ton, Mortimer's Cross, and Towton, were a sign of God's favour. In the support of his right the Earl of Warwick, ' lodestar of knighthood,' had ever been foremost. This is an excellent statement of the interpretation put upon the history of the previous sixty years by the bias of the Yorkists. Ten years later The Recovery of the Throne by Edward IV * describes at length the return of the King, his march to London, and victory at Barnet. The battle of Tewkesbury is passed over, and the poem ends with a detailed account of the defeat of the Bastard of Fauconberg's attack on London, which is the most useful part of it. The writer was no doubt a London citizen. Though the poem adds little to the official narrative of The Arrived,^ it is interesting for some personal touches. Earl Rivers, by his share in the defence of London, ' purchased great love of the commons '. Richard of Gloucester, ' young of age and victorious in battle,' was > Wright, U.S. ii, 267-70, from Society of Antiquaries MS. loi. '' Id. ii. 271-82 ; from Koyal MS. 17 U xv. ' See p. 175 above. POETRY AND BALLADS 249 the chosen husband of fortune. Hastings, the Chamberlain, had ' failed his master neither in storm nor stour '. The later years of Edward IV furnished the ballad-makers with no suitable themes. Under Richard III the fate which overtook William Collyngbourne for the couplet which he posted on the doors of St. Paul's ^— The Cat, the Rat, and Lovel our dog Rule all England under a hog — would be a warning to other versifiers. But Richard's down- fall was naturally attractive to writers of the early Tudor period. Their productions, which were probably not com- mitted to writing till long after the date of their original composition, have, survived only in late and altered copies. But even in their present form they preserve genuine con- temporary material. The earliest as regards the date of its subject is a ballad on the Betrayal of Buckingham by Banister.^ Its description of how Banister lived to an old age of misery and shame points to its original composition having been as late as the early part of the sixteenth century; on the other hand, it is not likely to have been much later.* Of more interest are two ballads which were originally composed by minstrels in the service of the Stanleys. The Rose of England * is put in an allegorical form so similar to that of the ballads of 1460-1 as to justify the belief that at all events it preserved the same literary tradition. Since it praises Sir William Stanley, it is not very likely that its original composition was later than Stanley's execution in 1495. England is described as a fair garden with a beautiful red rose-tree. There came a beast called a Boar, who ' rooted this garden up and down ', and tore the rose-tree asunder. But a sprig of the Rose (Henry Tudor) was preserved, and returning to England with the Blue Boar (the Earl of Oxford) sent for help to the old Eagle (Lord Stanley). Together they * Fabyan, p. 672. 2 Bishop Percy's Folio MS. ii. iSS-g. ' Hall, Chronicle, p. 395, has a similar story of Banister's evil end : the ballad may possibly have borrowed from this source ; if so it will be com- paratively late. * Bishop Percy's Folio MS. iii. 187-96. 250 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE won the victory, the Earl of Oxford being in particular distinguished for his skill in manoeuvring Henry's army : The Blue Boar the vanward had, He was both wary and wise of wit ; The right hand of them he took The sun and wind of them to get. This is an historical touch which we do not get elsewhere. Another is the story of Master Mitton, the bailiff of Shrews- bury, who refused to admit Henry, but was pardoned by him for his loyalty to his charge. A much longer and more important piece is The Song of the Lady Bessy, ^ which has survived in several versions. The variation of these versions is probably due to the fact that the poem had been long current before it was put in writing. The Song is poetical both in its construction and its develop- ment, and much of the idea and the detail is due to the author's imagination. As a literary work it is " well con- structed, vivid, dramatic, and marked by an epic breadth of treatment '. Still, underlying its poetic form, there is a solid base of fact, though it is not always easy to disentangle the truth.2 From the part which Humphrey Brereton plays in the story it has been conjectured that he was the actual author. In any case the Song was certainly the work of some one who had a good knowledge of the events which he describes. At the latest the original must have been composed in the early years of the sixteenth century. The Lady Bessy is Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV. The song begins by describing how she was importuned by her uncle Richard to become his Queen. But Richard had murdered her brothers, and rather than wed with him she would be burnt on Tower Hill. She would marry no one but the Earl of Richmond. In her trouble she appeals to Lord Stanley, who is by an anachronism called Earl of Derby. * Two versions are given in The most pleasant 5i>h£; 0/ thf Lady Bessy, edited by J. O. Halliwell for the Percy Society in 1847. For a third, see Bishop Percy's Folio MS. iii. 3 1 0-63. Bosworlh Field in tlie latter coUecticm (ill. 235-9) is only a variant of the same original. * See the criticisms by Professor Firth in Tra^isactions of the Royal Historical Socirty, 3rd Series, ii. 23-6, and by Dr. Gairdner, Life and Reign of Richard III, ed. 1878, pp. 401-19. POETRY AND BALLADS 251 Stanley at first refuses to help her : King Richard was his lord, and they would both be undone if they were discovered. Elizabeth then declares that she knew that the tyrant intended to destroy the Stanleys, as he had destroyed Buckingham. Still Stanley is obdurate. But at last he is overcome by her distress and manifest sincerity. Then Elizabeth and Stanley together plan a great conspiracy : the Princess writes letters to their friends at Stanley's dictation, and Humphrey Brere- ton, an old servant of King Edward, is sent to deliver them. The conspirators meet at Stanley's house in London, and Brereton is chosen to take their message to the Earl of Rich- mond. Brereton does not know the earl, but by good fortune a fellow countryman from Cheshire was porter at Beggrames Abbey, where Henry then dwelt. The porter tells Brereton how to recognize the Prince of England, who, dressed in black velvet, was shooting at the butts with three of his lords ; the Prince had a long pale face, with a wart a little above the chin: His face is white, the wart is red. Thereby you may him ken. This and other minute details as to Brereton's errands seem to bear the stamp of personal knowledge, and furnish the ground for the suggestion that he was the author of the Song, Certainly they leave us in no doubt as to the good quality of the material on which it was based. The principal share which the Lady Bessy is made to take in organizing the conspiracy is an obvious poetical invention. But our other information is so scanty that we cannot tell exactly how much truth there may be in the story. To return to the Song Henry sends back word that he will cross the sea for the Lady Bessy. He lands at Milford Haven, is joined by the Stanleys, and marches to Bosworth. Lord Stanley had, however, been forced to leave his son. Lord Strange, as a hostage with the King. Strange is in danger of his life, and is only saved at the last minute by the imminence of Richard's own peril, which compels him to postpone his vengeance. The battle is won by the help of the Stanleys : There may no man their strokes abide. The Stanleys' dints they be so strong. 252 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE Richard is urged to take horse and flee, but makes answer : Give me my battle-axe in my hand, And set my crown on my head so high, For by him that made both sun and moon, King of England this day I will die. This is an historic touch, but the concluding scene is happily apocryphal. When Richard's dead body is brought naked to Leicester, the Lady Bessy meets it with bitter reviling : How like you the killing of my brethren dear ? Welcome, gentle uncle, home I The Song of the Lady Bessy is very interesting as an example of how early ballads are compacted of truth and fiction ; and also as showing, through its varying versions, how ballads composed for recitation and transmitted from mouth to mouth are changed in the process before they are set down in writing. Of the extant copies of the Song the oldest is no earlier than the reign of Elizabeth,* and one is as late as that of Charles II. It is further of interest as an early specimen of the work of a professional minstrel in the service of a great feudal family. The Stanley cycle of ballads did not of course stand alone. As another instance we have a Percy cycle, including the famous though unhistorical Ckeiry Chace. A poet in the employment of the Percy family, though he was not a ballad-maker, was William Peeris. He was secretary to Henry, fifth Earl of Northumberland [d. 1527), for whom he wrote a metrical Chronicle of the family of Percy?' Its interest is, however, chiefly genealogical, and it contains nothing of importance for general history. 1 Harley MS. 367, ff. 89-100. * Ed. J. Besley in 1845, from a transcript in the Dodsworth MSS. in the Bodleian Library ; the original is contained 'in Royal MS. 18 B ii at the British Museum. For other copies see Reports of Hist. MSS. Commission, ii. 6 and iii. 108. CHAPTER X SIXTEENTH-CENTURY HISTORIANS AND FIFTEENTH-CENTURY HISTORY In the previous chapters an endeavour has been made, on the one hand, to estimate the value of existing sources for the history of the fifteenth century in England, and on the other hand to trace the gradual development of their literary form. On neither point, as already explained,^ is it possible to stop short at the end of the period to which our inquiry strictly relates. It will have been obvious in how large a degree opinion on fifteenth-century history was long depen- dent on the information given by writers of the next age, and in how many cases the original sources of that information have only recently come to light. The process of re-discovery is indeed hardly yet complete. If it were only as a study of ' sources ' it would not be possible to leave unnoticed the great Chronicles of Hall, Stow, and Holinshed. Still more necessary is it to pass them under review if we are to under- stand fully the character of the literary development which made them possible. The value of Fabyan's Chronicle and of More's History of Richard III has already been discussed ; since though written in the sixteenth century, they treat exclusively of our period, and belong essentially to the class of original authorities. So also I have dealt shortly with Polydore Vergil's Anglica Historia in so far as it may be considered to contain first-hand information for events before 1485. This is, however, only an incidental feature in Vergil's work, and is of much less importance than the influence which he exercised in the development of historical literature in England. Nowhere else is a new departure in historical method so clearly marked, and the model which Vergil set was adopted more or less consciously by his successors. ^ See p. 1 1 above. 254 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE Polydore Vergil was an Italian scholar who came to England in 1502 and lived in this country with some intervals for nearly fifty years. At the command of Henry VII he began to write a history of England, which was far advanced towards completion by 1516, though the first edition (ending in 1509) did not appear till 1534. A second edition was published in 1546, and a third with a continuation to 1538 in 1555. As an original authority, Polydore Vergil's work, which he styled AngUca Historia, is of the greatest value for the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII. During our own period it is only in the latest years that we must seek in it for any new information. Till at all events the beginning of the reign of Edward IV it was of necessity a mere compilation. It has many errors of chronology, and does not incorporate anything material which is not to be found elsewhere. Nevertheless in view of its literary importance and the use which was made of it by later writers, and particularly by Hall, it is desirable to inquire into the sources on which it is based. Incidentally we shall obtain some information as to the material which was available to a diligent student at the beginning of the sixteenth century. It is, however, unfortunate that Vergil, though he sometimes makes comparisons between the discor- dant statements which he found in his authorities, never specifies precisely the source from which his information was derived. For the reign of Henry IV Polydore Vergil followed for the most part the French narratives of Froissart and Monstrelet ; the only English authorities with which he appears to have been acquainted are Fabyan and the Brut ; both the latter were of course available in printed copies. In the next reign the use of Monstrelet is less prominent ; the greatest part seems to be derived from Tito Livio, either directly or through the medium of the Pscudo-Elmham.^ Vergil occasionally gives something of which the source seems to be doubtful ; ^ The mention of Gloucester at Horfleur in 141 5 points to the Pseudo- Elmham {Vita, \i. 42) ; the lU-scription of Henry V at Mantes in 1419 as ' visao puclliic forma laptus ' to Livio ( V'lVii, p. 75) ; but the latter might come from the Latin Drut (soo p. 354 below), Cl. Atiglica Historia, pp. 443i 453, i^il. 1557- SIXTEENTH-CENTURY HISTORIANS 255 as for Scrape's plot in 1415. The history of the early years of Henry VI is very imperfect ; it is devoted chiefly to the war, which is described from Monstrelet and supplemented from some other French source.^ For the Parliament of 1433 an English source must have been used, and the notices of the commercial legislation of 1439-40 and other minor incidents in England may come from either Fabyan or the Brut.^ When about 1450 the interest of the Anglica Historia begins to increase, its value consists not in its description of events, but in its presentment of the opinion of fifty years later, which Vergil's influence was to get rooted in our historical literature. Henry VI, the saint of Lancastrian tradition, is described as ' a man of mild and plain-dealing disposition : to be short, there was not in this world a more pure, more honest, and more holy creature '.^ Margaret of Anjou, whom Tudor historians had no call to defend, appears as ' a woman of sufficient forecast, very desirous of renown ', who from her first coming to England was egged on by others ' to take on hand with her husband to rule the realm '.* Suffolk has to suffer for the claims which made his grandsons ill-favoured by the Tudor kings ; he was ' the principal contriver of that devilish device to kill the Duke of Gloucester ', and ' the utter confusion and destruction of his country ', the hateful minister who was the Queen's evil genius.^ Edmund Beaufort, who was great-uncle to Henry VII, comes in for praise, and Richard of York for blame.* As before, Vergil takes his facts chiefly from Fabyan or the Brut. With the more original matter given in the history of the Yorkist kings I have already dealt.' It will be obvious that Polydore Vergil's range of knowledge for the history of the fifteenth century was very limited, and so far as affairs in England were concerned hardly extended beyond the printed Chronicle of Fabyan and the Brut. It must, however, be remembered that other native sources of an independent character had but a small circulation, and that the rare copies of them still lay buried in monastic libraries. The limitation of his knowledge and the time at which he ^ Cf. English Translation, pp. 36, 37. ^ Id. pp. 46, 62, 63. 2 Id, p. 70. * Id. p. 71. 5 j^^ pp ^^^ J 2. ' Id. pp. 87, 96. ' See pp. 190-92 above. 256 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE wrote has given a prejudice to Vergil's narrative. But the interpretation which he was led to place upon events is of importance, since it was in great part adopted by his successors. For our present purpose the method which Vergil practised in the Anglica Historia is of more interest than its contents. ' It was ', writes Dom Gasquet, ' a great advance undoubtedly in the literary form of teUing the story of a nation on anything which had gone before — at least in England. Vergil gave a consecutive readable story, using his materials and weaving them into a narrative on the lines of the modern historian rather than on those of the old English chroniclers.' * Polydore Vergil himself explained his aims in writing in the dedicatory epistle which he addressed to Henry VIII with the first edition of his history. But he did so more fully in an earlier draft, which has only recently come to light. He there puts so clearly the difference between his own methods and those of his predecessors that it must be quoted at length : ' I consider that of the various annals those written by the monks William of Malmesbury and Matthew Paris should be accounted true histories. I call those which were composed of old by monks who were wont to engage in such writing in English monasteries mere annals, and in such records bald statements of events are sometimes made inconsistent with other statements and not unfrequently mingled with obvious errors. Reports of things that have taken place, as they were talked about on the highways, were noted down by the monks in their solitudes from the descriptions of travellers and from popular rumour which reached them. Such annals, long neglected and dust-covered, WiUiam of Malmesbury and Matthew Paris have utilized and called their own. Still, from their own histories and from those of foreign countries that have had relations with England any one who did not mind the labour could get material for a proper history.' After explaining the motives which had induced him to undertake this task, Polydore Vergil then proceeds thus : ' I first began to spend the hours of my night and day in searching the pages of English and foreign histories ... I spent six whole yc:irs in reading those annals and histories, during which, imitating tile bees which laboriously gather their ■ Transactions of the Royal Historical Socitty, 2nd Series, xvj. 3. SIXTEENTH-CENTURY HISTORIANS 257 honey from every flower, I' collected with discretion material proper for a true history. When, on approaching our own times, I could find no such annals (for indeed by the careless spirit of our age none such exist), I betook myself to every man of age who was pointed out to me as having been formerly occupied in important and public affairs, and from all such I obtained information about events up to the year 1500. From that time — since I came to England immediately after that date — I have myself noted down, day by day, everything of importance.' ^ This is not less sound as a criticism of mediaeval writers on history than it is interesting as a statement of the very different methods which Polydore Vergil himself adopted. In this introduction, he explains further that he had not desired to show more than a sufficiency of learning, and had of set purpose ' made use of a simple style by which light is best thrown on difficult matters '. He had written, he says, as an Italian (i.e. as an outside observer), telling everything without fear or bias, and avoiding alike partiality and calum- nious reports. He is conscious that he cannot have escaped error, but trusts ' that at least out of the vast mass of annals, I have prepared material for others who after me may wish to write our history in a more elegant way '.^ Vergil seems to have anticipated that his treatment of Eng- lish history might provoke criticism. His rejection of Geoffrey of Monmouth as an untrustworthy writer who mingled truth with fiction, stirred Leland to patriotic wrath, whilst even Sir Henry Savile censured him as a stranger to our affairs, whose history was both faulty and meagre. Caius alleged that Vergil had burnt the manuscripts of ancient historians in order that his own errors might pass undiscovered. In later times Gale and Wood told a story that he had borrowed books from the University Library in Oxford and never restored them, and had at other places pillaged libraries at his pleasure and sent a whole ship-load of manuscripts to Rome.* Such ^ Id. xvi. 10, II. This comes from a manuscript draft of the Historia, written about 1516 and now in the Vatican Library. 2 Id. xvi. 13. ' These and other criticisms are conveniently brought together by Sir Henry Ellis in his Introduction to the English Translation of the Anglica Historia, edited for the Camden Society in 1844. To them may be added Stow's adverse criticism in Annates, p. 7. 1458 S 258 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE exaggerated charges refute themselves, though the tradition may be evidence of Polydore Vergil's zeal in the search for material. As for his use of his material no one will now question that he had exercised a discrimination in advance of his time. Savile thought the Hisloria to be ' exiliter sane et jejune conscripta '. As regards the narrative for the first part of the fifteenth century the criticism might not be unfair. But even after the lapse of four hundred years the historian of to-day may justly bewail the poverty of the original chronicles which are available for this period, and for all his industry Vergil's opportunities must have been much less. It was not without reason that he lamented the lack of material as he approached his own times. We have to be thankful for the pains which he took to supplement it from the opinions and memories of those who were still alive. If a narrative so composed was coloured inevitably by current prejudices, the blame cannot be laid altogether at his door. It is not, however, so much for what he wrote (at least in the earlier part of his work) as for his manner of doing it that Polydore Vergil is a noteworthy name in English historio- graphy. Even his detractor Humphrey Llwyd [d. 1568) admitted that Vergil's History was in all men's hands. It was impossible that with the example of so popular a work before them later writers should have failed to profit by the model which it afforded, or to make it their endeavour to gather material from the best sources available and weave it into a reasoned and consistent whole. To Polydore Vergil belongs the credit of having been the first to break publicly in England with the long tradition of a purely annalistic form of history. Yet he did but give expression to ideas that were in the air. Before ever Polydore Vergil's labours had borne any visible fruit, the History of Richard III had been told with a narrative skill which could not be excelled. If in that work literary finish is a more pre- eminent quality than the discriminate sifting of material, we \! lind in other quarters recognition of the humbler duties of the historian. The ' Translator of Livius ' was not content simply to turn into English .v book which served well his purpose, bul supplemented it from other sources and was SIXTEENTH-CENTURY HISTORIANS 259 careful to add in the margin from what authority every sentence was taken. ^ In the accomplishment of his task he showed that he was not without the critical sense, even though it be but of a simple order. When to this we add the didactic character of his work, and its definite aim to derive instruction for the present from the lessons of the past, it must be admitted that we have in him the making of an his- torian of far better quality than the great majority of those with whom we have had to deal. Not less memorable is it that he chose to write in ' rude and homely English, from whom all pratique (or experience) and famous inditing is far exiled '. In this he displays at once his desire to give a literary form to his work, and his consciousness of the difficulties that lay before him. It is not surprising that one who began to write in such a spirit of modesty should have ended better than he hoped. Before his time no considerable history had been composed in English with so definite a literary intention. We may claim for him with justice that he was one of the first to grasp the truth that the native speech of England was the proper medium in which to tell her history. Without the literary instrument which he, and others like him, helped to forge, the example of Polydore Vergil's improved historical method must have been less fruitful. Though it was natural for Vergil, as a scholar and a foreigner, to write in Latin, no genuine historical literature could have been created whilst the use of a dead language continued. There could be no better proof that Latin was already obsolete than the speedy translation of the Anglica Historia into our native tongue. Grafton, in the prose continuation which he added to his edition of Hardyng's Chronicle in 1543, translated his account of the reign of Edward IV from Polydore Vergil's work, and when More failed him that of Richard III as well. A few years later another independent and complete transla- tion was made, though none of it was printed until Sir Henry Ellis edited a part of it for the Camden Society some sixty years ago.^ 1 First English Life of Henry the Fifth, p. 3. 2 The three books wMch cover the period from 1422 to 1485 in 1844 ; the first part to the Norman Conquest in 1846. Grafton and Hall had followed S 2 26o ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE We thus perceive that in the early years of the sixteenth century causes were at work which must tend to the creation of a sounder method of history, and of a better medium for its expression. If, however, Polydore Vergil and the ' Translator of Livius ' wrote with a deliberate intention, the improvement which they helped to bring about was no sudden change, but was the result of a long process of gradual development. Tito Livio had sought to weave the material derived from older writers into a readable and consecutive whole. In his Vita Henrici Quinti, only less than in the Anglica Historia of Polydore Vergil, can we trace the influence in England of classical and Italian models. If the Pseudo-Elmham had an inferior taste in literary workmanship, he must at all events be credited with the desire to do better. The Croyland Chronicler, again, was conscious of the drawbacks under which monks writing in solitudes laboured,* and in his own history produced a critical and reasoned account of events which he had himself witnessed or in which he had himself taken part. The very fact that in the monastic houses the practice (and still more the art) of writing history had so decayed is itself eloquent of change. Those into whose hands the writing of contemporary history fell were men who lived in the world and were themselves conversant with the events which they recorded. Though the London Chronicles were cramped by an exaggerated annalistic form, the Brut which resulted from them was intended to be read with pleasure. The Brut itself not only furnished later writers with much of their material, but helped to foster the taste for history and to mould English prose as its proper medium. The change in the character of English historical literature was the outcome of a change in the springs of intellectual activity. Monasteries had ceased to be the conspicuous homes of learning. With the growth of national consciousness the political capital became more and more the centre of national thought and popular opinion. It was this which made the Chronicles of London more than a civic record, at the same the 1534 cclition ol the Anglica Hisloria ; the translation depends on that of I 546. 1 Sec his criticism of his i)rodccessor, quoted on p. 1 80 above. SIXTEENTH-CENTURY HISTORIANS 261 time when those histories (such as they are) which were com- posed elsewhere tended always to a narrower and provincial outlook. The movement which had thus begun, as it were unobserved, received a manifest stimulus through the inven- tion of printing and the coming of the Literary Renaissance. It was therefore a ripe soil to which the dispersal of ancient libraries, through the destruction of the monasteries, brought the opportunity of a fertile crop. In their humble way the compilers of the London Chronicles and of the Brut had prepared the ground for the noteworthy group of sixteenth- century historians, who wrote for London publishers and had at their command a wide class of interested readers. As a printed work Fabyan's Chronicle stands first in point of time ; but if Fabyan was in appearance the first of the London historians of the sixteenth century, he was in reality only the last of the fifteenth-century chroniclers. Here he concerns us only as the link between the two. Our interest is with Hall, Stow, and Holinshed. Though they were not, of course, the only historical writers of their age, they stand out from their fellows as the three who contributed in a pre- eminent degree to create the literary history of the fifteenth century. To them, therefore, I shall confine my attention. Edward Hall, who had been educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge, was a barrister of Gray's Inn, and common Serjeant of the city of London. He was under fifty years of age when he died in 1547, so was emphatically a man of the new era. He had sat in Parliament as a supporter of the political and religious policy of Henry VIII, -and it was in this spirit that he wrote his history, which he styled The Union of the two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancastre and Yorke.^ It was intended as a glorification of the House of Tudor, and its dramatic conception is revealed in its title. Written with a purpose it is inevitably coloured by precon- ceptions ; but that purpose gives it form and enhances its literary merit, which is of a high order. It was, of course, even more than Folydore Vergil's Historia, a compilation. Hall borrowed much from Vergil, by whom no doubt he ^ First edition in 1542, second edition in 1548. 262 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE was influenced also in the form of his writing. But he wrote on a larger scale and carried his researches further. He mentions amongst his authorities Polichronicon, Pohdorus, and Gauguinus (Gaguin) in Latin ; Monstrelet, Jean Mayer de Beiges, Argenton (i.e. Philippe de Comines), and Cronique de Normandie in French ; Trevisa, Fabian, More, Caxton, Hardyng, John Basset,^ Balantyne,* and the Chronicles of London in English ; * I omit some minor authorities. In his preface he speaks of one that wrote the ' Common English Chronicle ',* and he had certainly made good use of the Brid, whether through Caxton or through manuscript copies. Tito Livio's Vita Henrici seems to have been known to him only through the medium of Polydore Vergil. Hall commonly followed Vergil where it served him. But his list of authorities is well justified by his text, which shows that he used other sources than those which he named. For the fall of Richard II and the rising of the Earls in 1400 he derived material from the Traison et Mort du Roy Richart? He refers to the prophecies of the Molewarp which were current in the early years of Henry IV.* He also gives the Tripartite Convention at Bangor, placing it before the battle of Shrewsbury ; for this he seems to have followed a Chronicle now lost.' Another story from a lost source is that of the narrow escape of Henry IV from capture by a French pirate in 1406.* From Basset he may have taken some details on the French war, such as the names of those whom Henry V knighted on the way to Agincourt.^ In his account of the death-bed of Henry Beaufort he quotes a narrative written by one John Baker, who was the Cardinal's chaplain, in which Beaufort is represented as lamenting the failure of his pursuit of riches and power." Another source seems to have been of a private kind. His ancestor, Davy Hall, was captain of Caen at the time of its fall in 1450, and was afterwards in ' See p. 68 above. • Meaning John BcUenden's translation of tho Historia Scotorum of Hector Bocce, which was printed at Edinburgh in 1536. ' Chronicle, p. viii. • Id. p. vi. ' Id. pp. 14, ifr-17 ; cf. TraTsoH, pp. 70, 71, 77-81. • See p. 2 36 above. ' See p. 26 above. • Chronicle, p. .id. » Id. p. (m. "• Id. p. 210. SIXTEENTH-CENTURY HISTORIANS 263 the service of Richard of York, on whose side he was killed at Wakefield. The chronicler describes Davy Hall as York's chief counsellor ; he may have been indebted for information on Yorkist affairs, and in particular for his excellent account of the battle of Wakefield, to material or tradition handed down in his own family.^ Hall also preserves some details, whether of legend as in the story of how Henry of Monmouth struck the chief justice, or of more authentic facts drawn from lost documents. Two important instances of the latter class are the Articles and Arbitrament between Henry Beau- fort and Humphrey of Gloucester in 1426, and the Articles which Humphrey brought against his uncle in 1440 ; it is only recently that better copies of these documents have been available ; Hall, who seems to have used other versions than those given by Richard Arnold, may have obtained them from a London Chronicle.^ It is clear that the copy of the Chronicles of London which he used was of a good type ; * between 1430 and 1438 it must have resembled the Cleopatra Chronicle ; * his account of the French war during these years was long of exceptional value as containing much that was not elsewhere available. For the reign of Edward IV Hall, whilst in the main following Polydore Vergil, supplements the narrative of that writer from other sources like the Memoires of Philippe de Comines. Sometimes also he gives ■details not found elsewhere, as notably for the battles of Towton, Edgcote, and Tewkesbury, and for the Scottish war in 1482. The history of the usurpation of Richard III is borrowed avowedly from Sir Thomas More (in Grafton's version). For the latter part of Richard III Hall was again indebted to Vergil, but adds some embellishments of his own, such as the speeches of Richard III and Henry of Richmond before Bosworth. It will be observed that there is much in Hall's Chronicle which was originally valuable and something which is still of service. But of greater importance is the spirit in which he ^ Id. pp. 40, 188, 215, 250. ^ See p. 88 above. ^ Cf. Chronicle, p. 205, where, writing of the festivities at the reception of Margaret of Anjou, he refers his readers for fuller information to the Chronicles of London and Robert Fabyan. * Cf. Chronicles of London, pp. 308-12. 264 ENGLISH HISTORK^AL LITERATURE wrote. His Protestant and Tudor sympathies appear early in his work, when he speaks of ' fooHsh and fantastical persons ' who wrote of disasters befalling Henry IV through Archbishop Scrope's death/ and of ' proud priors and silly nuns ' in his account of the alleged revival of the Lollards' Bill at the Leicester Parliament of 1414." The long speeches which on this and similar occasions Hall puts into the mouths of Chichele and others are no doubt inventions of his own ; they are literary exercises and not history. It is, however, for such interpretations of history, and for the expression of sixteenth-century opinion, that Hall's work is of most interest to us. His views and statements became the common staple of his successors, and by colouring their writings created a false opinion which long persisted. Similarly the copious use made of Monstrelet by Hall and other English writers of the sixteenth century has given a Burgundian bias to their accounts of events in France. M. Molinier complains with justice of the blind following of Monstrelet as having done much to falsify the history of the time ; so that ' only in the last hundred years has the course of events been judged more intelligently \^ The story of Joan of Arc furnishes a signal instance. The bald references of the London Chronicles and the Brut are all that appears in contemporary Chronicles of English origin. The notion of a recent French historian * that there was an English legend hostile to the Maid is abso- lutely without foundation. Hall, and after him Stow and Holinshed, introduced her history, taken from Monstrelet, as something that would be novel to their readers and required explanation. ' The result ', as Mr. Lang observed, ' was the perplexity, the chaotic uncertainty about the Maid which is so conspicuous in the dubiously Shakespearian play, Henry VI, Part I.' 6 In Hall, as in other writers, sixteenth-century prejudices become most manifest as he approaches the Wars of the Roses. He adopts and develops the ideas of his predecessors, centring them about the myth of the Good Duke Humphrey, ' Chronicle, p. 35. ' Id. pp. 49-56. ' Sources de I'histoirc de Front r, iv. uij. * Chanoino Dunaiul, La I'raic Jeanne d'Arc. " Lang, Tlie Maid of France, pp. vi, J93. SIXTEENTH-CENTURY HISTORIANS 265 the ideal prince, who after doing service in Yorkist propa- ganda was accepted by Tudor tradition. Hall represents the Articles which Humphrey presented against Cardinal Beaufort in 1440 as the occasion of the attack which was subsequently made on him through Eleanor Cobham. ' The Duke of Gloucester took all these things patiently,' wrote Hall,^ putting his own conclusion on the incident with per- haps no more warrant than he has for the assertion that Henry VI was guided by the wise counsel of his uncle till his marriage. As in CaxtorCs Chronicles and in Polydore Vergil, the Angevin marriage is treated as the cause of disaster ; Margaret from her first coming to England, as a girl of six- teen, sets herself to undermine Humphrey's influence ; Suffolk devises the conspiracy for the Duke's destruction, not unaided by Cardinal Beaufort, who now first appears as the greedy and self-seeking prelate ; Margaret is ' a cancred crocodryle and subtile serpent ', Suffolk not merely her evil genius but ' the Queen's darling ' whom she ' entirely loved '.^ So the legend is complete as adopted in the Second Part of Henry VI. The narrative to which Hall thus put the finishing touches is mere Tudor fiction based on Yorkist misrepresentation. If unworthy as history, it is of deep interest for literature. The high quality of the work in which it received its final form secured for the false setting an acceptance which was long unchallenged. Richard Grafton, the printer, was responsible for com- pleting Hall's Chronicle, the second edition of which was published by him in 1548. Twenty years later he produced a work of his own which he styled A Chronicle at large and meere Historye of the Ajfayres of England. Stow alleged that he had patched it up from Robert Fabyan and Edward Hall ; ^ it is a compilation of no value. Grafton's history of the reigns of Edward IV and Richard III, which he appended to his edition of Hardyng's Chronicle in 1543, has already been noticed.* 1 Chronicle, p. 2i8. ^ Id. pp. 204, 205, 207, 208, 219, 239. ^ Survey of London, i. pp. lii, liii ; Grafton's Abridgment of the Chronicles of England, which appeared in 1563, is of still less value. * See pp. 185-8 above. 266 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE The Chronicle of the World,^ which was begun by Thomas Lanquet {d. 1545) and finished by Thomas Cooper, is a com- pilation of no independent value. The English part seems to be based on Fabyan and Hall. Perhaps its greatest interest is that a proposed correction of it was the beginning of Stow's historical labours." No writer of the sixteenth century deserves to be better regarded of us than John Stow. He does not, it is true, show himself in any real sense a great historian in his Annales of England, which is no more than a chronologically exact narrative. Perhaps in that far larger work which he finished, but for which he could find no printer, he would have given us a more reasoned ' History of this Island '.' Since, however, we must judge him by the work which has survived, I cannot do better than repeat Camden's opinion : ' His industry is praised by all, though his judgement leaves something to seek ; but his work is of such quality as to entitle him to a foremost place amongst our Annalists.' * We do not now need to go to Stow for judgements, but it is impossible to try to trace his narrative to its sources without some feeling of amazement for the pains and accuracy with which he had gathered and marshalled his material. Stow was not only a zealous collector of Chronicles and memorials, but also an indefatigable searcher of Records. Herein we have something of a new departure in the art of historical inquiry. Such documents as had been used by earlier historians were commonly of the character of State Papers, which for one reason or another had been made public. But Stow's researches were of another quality. He was the first English historian to make systematic use of the Public Records for the purpose of his work. There can be few Patent Rolls of the fifteenth century * from which he did not derive some information for his Survey of London. His use of such sources is only less conspicuous in the Annales. ' Published in 1549, 1559, 1560, and 1565. ' Survey of London, i, p. xlix. ' Id.i, pp. xxi, Ixxix. * Camdeni Epistotar, p. i j, ed. T. Smith, 1691. • And many of earlier date. See the numerous references in the Notes to ray edition of the Siinu-v, and especially vol. ii, pp. 391-7. SIXTEENTH-CENTURY HISTORIANS 267 It is worth giving an instance by way of illustration. In 1417 he records the robberies committed in Sussex by a male- factor calling himself Friar Tuck. This has often been quoted as an early proof of the existence of the legend of Robin Hood, but the source of Stow's statement was only revealed by the Calendar of Patent Rolls in 1911.^ Though to a less extent, Stow had also made use of other Pubhc Records like the Close Rolls and Inquisitiones post mortem, not to mention local Records of various kinds. ^ Even Charters of early date were pressed into service for such a purpose as the compilation of his list of the Bishops of London ; ^ the fact that some of these Charters are spurious does not affect the point. As for Stow's familiarity with Chronicles the previous chapters will have furnished sufficient proof of the width of his reading. With the majority of the writers with whom we have had to deal he was well acquainted. In several cases the originals have perished, and are now only known through Stow's transcripts.* In other cases the preservation of the originals may be due to his zeal as a collector. If for no other reason we should owe to him a deep debt of gratitude for the many monuments of the past which he helped to save from destruction.^ Both in this and in the use which he made of his material he did more for our knowledge of the fifteenth century than any other writer of his time. Stow relates that his first literary interest was for poetry rather than for history. But from about 1564, ' I seeing the confused order of our late English Chronicles, and the ignorant handling of ancient affairs, consecrated myself to the search of our famous Antiquities.' ^ It was in the following year that his earliest historical work, A Summary of English Chronicles, first appeared. In that edition, as in the subsequent one of 1566, he was content to depend chiefly on such simple sources as the Chronicles of Hardyng, Fabyan, and Hall, though for 1 Annales, p. 352 ; Cal. Pat. Rolls, Henry V, ii. 84, 141 ; cf. Diet. Nat. Biog. xxvii. 259. 2 See Survey of London, i-xxii. ' Id. ii. 128, 381. * See pp. 92-4, 150, 166, and 174 above. ' In the Introduction to the Survey of London, i, pp. xcii, xciii, I gave a list of over twenty ancient manuscripts which belonged to or were used by Stow ; it might be much extended, see pp. 23, 71, 104, 148, 150, and 154 above. ' Survey of London, i, pp. xlix, Ixxxi. 268 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE the first of these he followed not the printed text of Grafton, but the early version of Lansdowne MS. 204.^ The much enlarged editions of 1570 and 1575 were the output of his own researches ; in the former, for instance, the ' Translator of Livius ' first appears as the source for Stow's history of the reign of Henry V.^ The process was carried still further in the Chronicles of England, which was published in 1580. The form of an annalistic City Chronicle, which Stow thus far retained, was abandoned when his history appeared in an enlarged form as the Annales of England in 1592. Though he now dropped the division by mayoral years with its inconvenient chronology,* he still arranged his material by regnal years * and preserved as closely as possible the actual sequence of events. This does not seem to represent Stow's own conception of the best form for a history. He explains in his dedication that he had ready a large volume ' which I was willing to have committed to the press, had not the printer, for some private respects, been more desirous to publish Annales at this present '.* At a later time he lamented that the publication of his larger work, which he seems to have styled ' The History of this Island ', had been ' pre- vented by printing and reprinting of Reyne Wolfe's collec- tions, and other late comers by the name of Ralf Holinshead's Chronicles '.* All trace of it seems now to have perished, but in justice to Stow's literary reputation it must be recorded that we do not possess his historical work in its most finished form. The third edition of the Annales appeared in 1605 just before the author's death. In the later editions of 1615 and 1631 Edmund Howes made some alteration of the text for the sixteenth century, but so far as I am aware left that for our period untouched. Stow's Annales make little pretence to literary form, but ' See pp. 144, 148 above. ^ Amongst other authorities he now also quotes Walsingham, Hocdeve, and John Rous. " In the later editions of the Sumtnaiy, aud Summary Abridged, it was still retained. * As Hall also had done. Stow only put.s the regnal year in the margin ; Hall divided the text. " See Survey of London, i, p. Ixxi.x. " Annales, cd. 1605, p. 1438 ; Sumvinric for 1604, p. 45S. SIXTEENTH-CENTURY HISTORIANS 269 are singularly free from prejudice and justify always his own maxim : ' In histories the chief thing that is to be desired is truth.' If he found a narrative suitable to his purpose, Tie was content to follow it closely. If it was necessary to construct one for himself, he did so faithfully, putting together his material without much art or alteration. So his work is unequal in value, but is most helpful to us where he had least help from others and was most dependent on original research. For the reign of Henry IV Stow found his main framework in the Historia Anglicana of Walsingham. For that of Henry V he followed for the most part the ' Translator of Livius ', whose paraphrasing of his originals, even when at fault, Stow reproduces with great fidelity. As I pointed out in the third chapter. Stow thus preserved for us much tradition which has impressed itself on our later histories. But he supple- mented the accounts of Walsingham and the ' Translator ' from numerous other sources. For the reign of Henry IV he quotes Records at the Tower, John Gower, Hoccleve, the Histoire du due Louis d'Orlians, and Otterbourne. Under Henry V, besides Walsingham and Otterbourne, he quotes the Liber Metricus of Thomas Elmham, and the Pseudo- Elmham (under the name of Roger Wall ^), as well as some minor authorities. Likewise he made much use of London Chronicles, including matter the source of which could till quite recently only be guessed at.^ The history of the earlier part of the reign of Henry VI is similar in character. Stow depends largely on commonplace authorities like Robert Gaguin, Fabyan, and Hall, but supple- ments them from other sources, such as the Chronicles of London and the St. Albans Annals.^ The quotation of local records * makes his work still occasionally useful. For the last ten years of Henry VI Stow's history is of a different quality, and the insertion of numerous documents, which' would otherwise be lost, entitles this part of his work to take rank as an original authority of importance. Of particular value are a series of documents relating to Jack ^ See p. 62 above. ^ See pp. 92, 93, 106, 107 above. 3 See p. 151 above. ^ Cf. Annales, pp. 385, 386, 388. 270 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE Cade's rebellion.^ Others are letters and proclamations by Richard of York and his supporters between 1450 and 1460.* Some of these Stow took from Davies's Chronicle,^ whence he also derived his valuable narrative of Bishop Pecock's down- fall * ; some are to be found elsewhere ; but others are knawn only through Stow's Annates, and his transcripts in Lambeth MS. 306, and Harley MSS. 543 and 545 ; Harley 543 contains much material collected by him for the history of the fifteenth century, which is still unprinted.^ Stow's history of the reign of Edward IV was made pecu- liarly valuable by the continued use of material of his own collection,* and in particular of the Arrival of King Edward IV, the English version of which is preserved only through his transcript.' There is also some material taken from ' Fabian's MS.' {The Great Chronicle of London), for which up to this present we have been dependent on the Annales alone. With Warkworth's Chronicle Stow had a second-hand acquaintance through the collections of Leland. He had also made use of the Mimoires of Philippe de Comines. For the reigns of Edward V and Richard III Stow copies Sir Thomas More without any concealment, using Rastell's edition but inserting some of Grafton's additions. When More fails him he depends chiefly on Hall, supplemented occasionally from ' Records in the Tower ' and John Rous. He may also have added a little from tradition ; Geoi^e Buck relates that Stow had told him how he had talked with old men who remembered Richard III as a comely prince.^ Stow is conspicuous above all his predecessors for the care with which he commonly gives his authorities in the margin ; his recognition of this part of an historian's duties marks ^ Annales, pp. 388-9, 391-2. ' Id. pp. 394-6 (misplaced under 1452; these documents belong to 1450), 405-6, 409-12. ' See p. 129 above. * Annales, pp. 402-3. ^ See further, pp. 368-9 below. Apparently Stow derived his copies from Yelverton MS. 35 ; see Fortescuc, Governance of England, p. 8g, ed. Plummer. Some of the documents not included in the Annalts are printed in Chronicles of the White Rose, pp. Ixxiv-vi, Three Fifteenth Century Chronicles, pp. 94-9, and Ellis, Original Letters. • See p. 369 below. ' See p. 174 above. " Kennet, Complete lUslorv, i. 548. SIXTEENTH-CENTURY HISTORIANS 271 a great advance. Unfortunately he does not do so invariably, and the references which he gives are often vague. It is therefore not always easy to trace his material to its source. Sometimes no doubt he quotes second-hand, as when in his history of Henry V he cites Tito Livio and Monstrelet through the English ' Translator '. Still, the accuracy with which he reproduces the ' Translator's ' errors is itself proof of the trust which may be placed in Stow as a faithful copier. In his own words, he was content as ' some simple feaster . . . to be friended of his neighbours, and to set before them such dishes as he had gotten of others '.^ He made no claim to literary distinction, though he shows in places that he had a capacity for vivid narrative.^ But apart from the question of form his Annales was the best history of England which had appeared up to his death. Whatever other criticism may be passed on him, our debt for the material which he has preserved in his printed works, and in his manuscript Collec- tions, cannot be too highly estimated. The Chronicles of Raphael Holinshed are of a different character. Stow's Annales were the fruit of one man's life- long labours. Holinshed's Chronicles after a modern fashion were the work of a syndicate. Reyne Wolfe, the printer, had designed a ' Universal History ', on which Holinshed worked. After Wolfe's death in 1573 other printers took up the plan on the more modest scale of Histories of England, Scotland, and Ireland. With the help of William Harrison and others the Chronicles at length appeared under Holinshed's name in 1578. Holinshed died in 1580, and not long afterwards another enlarged edition was projected under the super- intendence of John Hooker, who was assisted by Francis Thynne and Abraham Fleming, and in the latter portions by John Stow. This second edition was published in 1587, seven years after Stow's Chronicles of England, and five years before the first edition of the Annales. In point of time Holinshed's Chronicles were therefore the first complete history of England of an authoritative character, composed in English and in a continuous narrative, to appear in print ; ^ Survey of London, i, pp. Ixxv, Ixxvi. * Though not so conspicuously as he does in the Survey. 272 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE though on the mere score of originality a better claim might perhaps be alleged on behalf of Stow. Stow, at least in his later works, seems rather to have avoided the use of recent histories, and may be said to have depended chiefly on his own research in original sources. Holinshed and his collaborators, on the other hand, borrowed freely from Hall and from Stow himself, adopting often their precise words. The works of Hall and Stow were at all events of acknowledged authority ; but the constant quotations from a mere school-book like the Anglorum Praelia ^ of Christopher Ocland does not impress the reader with a high sense of the literary discrimination of Abraham Fleming, who seems to have been responsible for their insertion. Never- theless, Holinshed and his editors were not mere plagiarists. They had themselves made researches in original sources, and not infrequently reproduced material which Stow had missed, though they preserved less which was not easily to be found elsewhere. Since, however, Holinshed's Chronicles followed so closely second-hand authorities, there would be no purpose in recapitulating the original sources, which are as a rule given in the margin. It will be enough to indicate briefly the principal additions ^ to the sources used by Hall and Stow. Under Henry V Tito Livio's Vita was consulted in the Latin original ; but the ' Translator ' was also quoted, both through Stow and directly for some things which Stow had omitted.^ The Pseudo-Elmham was used more fully than by Stow. A series of documents relating to the exploits of John Bromley, an ancestor of Sir Thomas Bromley, ' the Chancellor that now is ', supply a little new matter of interest* The better use made of Monstrelet and of other French writers,' ' It first appeared in 1 580. It is written in hexameter verse, ' in a tame strain, not exceedingly bad, but still farther from good. ' Hallam , Literatun' of Europe, ii. 248. ' The use made of Hall and Stow is generally acknowledged. The latter is quoted both from his ' diligent collected Summary ' and from his ' quarto Chronicles '. •' Sec pp. 66, 67 above. * Chronicles, '\\\. 75-(), 97-q, uxv-l ; those passages are marked W. P., as Bupplied by William Patten, who was also responsible for some other additions. ^ !■.({. Jehan de Tillet, I.cs Clirotiiqui's de Breloigiie, Le Rositt, and La Vic dc Charlia I'll ; tf. Chioiiicles, iii. 163-70. SIXTEENTH-CENTURY HISTORIANS 273 as well as of the Chronicles of Flanders, and of Normandy published by Denis Sauvage, render the history of the French war superior to that given by Stow. Similarly the free following of Hall improves the earlier history of the reign of Henry VI. The most valuable part of the narrative for the ten years from 1450 to 1460 is taken avowedly from StoWj but is supplemented from other sources ; much use is made of Whethamstede, with whose Register the writer of this part of Holinshed's Chronicles had clearly independent acquaintance.^ Much was also borrowed from Hall, whose prejudiced interpretation was grafted on to the more impartial narrative of Stow.^ It is, however, fair to note that when Holinshed quotes the speech which Hall puts into the mouth of Richard of York, in November 1460, he observes that John Whethamstede * who by all likelihood was there present, maketh no further recital of anie words, which the duke should utter '.^ For the reign of Edward IV Holinshed cites Fabyan, Hall, Stow, and The Arrival (under the name of Fleetwood) ; the last is here garbled in the Lancastrian interest. The history of the reigns of Edward V and Richard III is based on the works of More and Hall almost exactly as in Stow, but with some slight interpolations. Hooker, who was an Exeter man, inserted throughout the Chronicles some notes of west-country history ; one which relates to Richard III,* is of interest as the original of Shake- speare's lines ° : When last I was at Exeter, The Mayor in courtesy show'd me the Castle, And call'd it Rougemont : at which name I started. Because a bard of Ireland told me once I should not live long after I saw Richmond. This is a good instance in proof of the fact that it was on Holinshed's Chronicles that Shakespeare depended for the material of his historical plays ; it illustrates also how the 1 Cf. Stow, Annales, 393, and Holinshed, iii. 230. 2 Stow {Annates, 390) says 'the King sent Sir Humphrey Stafford . . . to follow the Kentish men ' ; Holinshed (iii. 224), whUst following Stow for his main narrative, adopts from Hall (Chronicle, p. 220) the words ' The queen (that bare rule) . . . sent,' &c. ^ Chronicles, iii. 262. * Id. iii. 421. ° Richard III, Act iv, Sc. ii. 1458 T 274 ENGLISH HISTORICAL LITERATURE dramatist adopted often not only his facts but even some of his phrases from that source. It is perhaps more due to the service which he rendered to Shakespeare than to any merit of his own that Holinshed has long overshadowed Hall and Stow as an historian of the fifteenth century. He excelled Hall in the extent of his researches, and Stow in the literary form which he gave to them. But to one or the other of his two great predecessors he was indebted for much of his best material. Thus, though his Chronicles were a meritorious compilation, which in default of printed originals were long of much historical value, their greatest interest now consists in their literary associations. Holinshed copied Hall's prejudices rather than Stow's im- partiality, and the colour which he thus gave to his narrative reappears naturally in Shakespeare's plays, and has in con- sequence been stamped on popular opinion. It is somewhat remarkable that whilst the sixteenth-century distortions of fifteenth-century history should have so long passed current, the underlying perception of its unity and importance should have been so often overlooked. That Hall grasped the truth is shown in the title which he gave to his Chronicle. It appears also in the continuous cycle of Shake- speare's histories. The downfall of Richard II, the glories of Henry V, the long struggle of Lancaster and York ending in the happy union of the rival houses, were all stages in the preparation for a greater Age. The artless efforts of fifteenth- century writers paved also the way for greater achievements. We may feel a just pride in realizing that so much of the rude material from which Shakespeare was to construct his chief historical plays was fashioned originally in our native English speech. APPENDIX I. A SOUTHERN CHRONICLE 1399— 1423 This piece is the conclusion of a brief Chronicle from the earliest times to 1423, which is contained in Additional MS. 11714 at the British Museum. The whole work occupies only thirteen leaves, the part which is here printed beginning on f. 12''°. It is followed on ff. 14, 15 by some short chronological annals, which end : ' Anno Domini Mccccxiij°. Coronacio Henrici v", qui regni sui anno x" in francia obiit, apud West- monasterium sepelitur.' The date of composition cannot have been earlier than 1423, and was perhaps not later than 1426; since the concluding paragraph, which refers to the Parliament of Nov. 1422, does not describe Henry Beaufort as Cardinal, and was apparently written whilst Thomas Beaufort was alive. The handwriting belongs to the second quarter of the fifteenth century. As described on pp. 29-31 above the interest of this piece consists in the evidence which it furnishes for the origin of the earlier part of the Continuation of the Eulogium Historiarum. The latter work was not compiled till after 1428, so that this Chronicle is possibly an older though abbreviated representative of the original. For this theory there is some confirmation in the omission of the reference to the exhumation of Wiclif, and in the presence in the earlier part (before 1399) of some small details not found in the Continuation. Of the con- clusion of the Chronicle enough has been said on pp. 31, 32 above. Henricus iste quartus coronatus continuauit Parliamentum apud Westmonasterium, in quo assistentes regi Ricardo examinauit, set ' de pernicioso consilio nullus tunc conuinci potuit ; prohibuitque rex cum parliamento '^ ne sine responcione aliquis dampnaretur in perpetuum. Parliamentum ultimum regis Ricardi indicia in illo facta et ordina- ciones irritauit.' Filium comitis Arundel comitem Arundel fecit; comitem Warr.,* et dominum de Cobenham de exilio reuocauit. Cartas omnes, quas a regno sigillari exegerat, London, patenter comburi fecit. Primogenitum suum"* principem Wallie statuit,'' et omnes duces ordinatos per regem Ricardum' in ultimo parliamento deordinauit. Rogerum Walden omnia, que receperat de episcopatu Cantuar., Thome Arundel restituere coegit, et de episcopatu extulit, vitam sibi conce- dendo ' ; Bonefacius papa indicium Ricardi contra Thomam Arundel ^ si ^. { = Eulogium). ' parliamento in perpetuum £. ' indicia sna et ordiuaciones factas ibidem irritauit et iuramenta atque excom- mnnicationes non observantium evanuerunt. E. * Warr. de carcere E. ^ saum Henricum E. ' fecit E. ' a rege Ricardo E. ' et ad preces eiusdem Thome vitam concessit E. T 3 2T6 APPENDIX Prima insurrexio contra Hcnricnm qaartDDi. cassum fuisse declarauit, et quod ecclesia Cantuariensis propter hoc non vacauit, quamuis ipse ipsam ecclesiam Rogero dederit.' Rex nathale tenuit apud Wyndsor. Interim lohannes Holand, germanus regis Ricardi ex parte matris, comes de Bokyngham,' Comes Cancie, et Comes Sarum collecta comitia in insidiis latuerunt, ut regem ibidem caperent et archiepiscopum ad regem venientem. Set hoc regi inti- mate, rex archiepiscopum premuniuit, et statim deuians de via recta London, adiuit, et archiepiscopus ad castrum de Reygate. Comes Cancie et Sarum frustrati proposito ad villam de Circetre cum comitia sua illo die equitabant. Comes de Huntyngdon se transformans sumpto secum auro et vno solo comite fiagit in Essexiam querens extra regnum nauigare, set captus a populo decollatus est,' comitissa Herfordie ibidem habitante et omnino id volente. Comites autem Sarum et Cancie a villanis de Circetre capti et interfecti sunt ; ceteros vero qui cum eis venerant ligantes regi Oxon. duxerunt, ubi multi nobiles interfecti sunt, quorum numerus ad 26 se extendit, ut dicitur. Fuerunt eciam interfecti eo tempore London, milites et eciam nobiles ecclesiastici, quorum vnus vocabatur magister Willelmus Ferby, decanus maioris ecclesie Ebor., et ahus magnus rector qui fuerat capellanus regis Ricardi. Ricardus, olim rex, in carcere hoc audiens cepit de auxilio desperare, qui ibidem pro tristicia mortuus est. Qui- dam dicebant per famem periit. Eodem eciam tempore dominus comes Wynchestr.,* dominus scilicet de dispensariis, a communitate Bristol!, interfectus est. Hoc anno Scoti treugas violantes multa mala in partibus borialibus fecerunt, quare rex Henricus congregato exer- citu Scociam adiuit, set deficientibus victualibus in AngUam rediit. 2" anno rex tenuit parliamentum London., ubi decima cleri et quintadecima laicorum concessa est. Hoc anno Walenses duce anni- gero Johanne Glendore rebellare ceperunt ad magnum dampaum regni. Eodem eciam anno in parliamento predicto London, archi- episcopus Cantuar. vnum sacerdotem secularem propter heresim Wiclif circa sacramentum eukaristie degradauit, et manu seculari tradidit, qui ibidem combustus est. Quare alii diuersi illius secte hereses suas in cruce sancti Pauli publice reuocabant.' Anno 30 Walenses in partibus occidentalibus multa mala fecerunt ; dominum • n • de Greyrithyn ceperunt et ad redempcionem 12 milium ' quod ecclesia non vacavit ncc pastore dcstituta fnit E, ^ An error for Huntyngdon. E. is lierc muth fuller. ' sc transformans in simplicem per patrie illius communitatem captus et nsqne Plasshe adduclus decoUatur E. The Eulogium iio-.v differs so muih that a collation is uselrsi ; if does vot rotiliuM the next l;vo n-iiletues at all. ' An error for Glouceslr. ' At this faint the rescml>!an,( to the Eulogium ,-eases. A SOUTHERN CHRONICLE 277 coegerunt, multis suorum interfectis. Eodem eciam anno Walenses dominum Edmundum de mortuo mari, comitis Marchie fratrem, ceperant, et interfectis multis viris valentibus parcium occidentalium. Vnde Humerus occisorum ad duo milia se extendit, ut dicebatur. Toto tempore istius Henrici quarti Walenses rebelles regno fuerunt, nee eos domare potuit, et tamen diuersis vicibus Walliam cum exercitu intrauit. Contra istum Henricum insurrexit dominus Henricus Percy, 2' insur- filius comitis Northumbrie, et habuit cum eo bellum durissimum prope traeundem. Salopiam. In quo bello predictus Henricus Percy interfectus est cum multis milibus valencium et vulgi ex utraque parte. Victoria tamen cessit regi. Postea comes Northumbrie, pater predicti Henrici, fugit in Scociam, et cum eo dominus de Bardolf, qui post duos annos intrauerunt partes boriales Anglie sperantes auxilium a valentibus patrie, set frustrati spe per ipsos de parte boriali interfecti sunt. Post istos contra istum Henricum 4™ insurrexerunt episcopus Eboracensis 3' insur- et comes Marescallie, et multi valentes cum eis ; tandem per tractatum ^"° g™.' pads capti archiepiscopus et comes ambo decollati sunt. Archiepi- ttiin. Scopus vero secundum famam vulgi maximis miraculis coruscat. Iste Henricus 4*™, non obstante quod taxas et tallagia omni tempore regni sui exegit a communitate, tamen semper amantissimus communitati fuit. Fuit eciam multum liberalis erga extraneos ; in se vero multum probus ; et in iuuentute sua rebus militaribus multum exercitatus ; in ecclesiasticos in principio regni sui multum austerus, tandem in fine penitens satis fuit eis beniuolens. In fine quoque vite sue infirmitate lepre grauissime percussus grauissima morte vitam finiuit xiiijo anno regni sui, et Cantuarie in ecclesia sancte trinitatis sepelitur. Henricus quintus apud Westmonasterium post mortem patris Mcccix^ coronatus, repente mutatus est in virum alterum.^ Nam contra multorum spem insolencias et lasciuias iuuentutis deferens totum se milicie et probitati, sapiencie et bonitati dedit. Vnde in " anno regni sui secundo intrauit Normanniam, villam de Harflu obsedit et infra duos menses cepit. Deinde per terram veniens Calesiam vix cum vij milibus virorum, et obuiauit apud Agyncoort cum dolphino Francie habente secum in exercitu plus quam 80 milia virorum, et bellum commissum est inter eos ; victoria tamen, deo adiuuante, regi Anglie cessit. In quo bello ex parte francorum interfecti sunt dolphinus et • T/ti's date seems to be a mere accidental error ; cf. p. 275 above. ^ mox ut initiatus est regni insulis, repente mutatns est in virum alteram, Walsingham, Hist. Angl. ii. 290. » et, MS. 278 APPENDIX dux Brabancie, et multi alii nobiles cum uulgi maxima multitudine. Capti vero ex parte francorum fuerunt dux Aurelianensium, dux Burbundie, Dominus Bursigaunt, et alii multi valentes. Ex parte vero anglorum vix fuerunt interfecti ix viri, inter quos fuerunt interfecti dux Eboracensis et comes Suthfolch. Tandem rex gloriose venit Calesiam, et deinde intrauit Angliam. Cui in pascha proximo sequent! venit imperator Almannie volens reformare pacem inter regna. Quern rex recepit London, cum summo honore, et omnes expensas sibi et suis dum infra regnum erant habundantissime ministrauit. Tandem gallicis pacta pacis semper mutantibus vel infringentibus, Imperator ipse proposito fraudatus discessit, nullum defectum quantum ad pacis reformacionem, ut publice professus est, in anglicis reperiens. Qua propter rex Anglie proximo anno sequenti intrauit iterum Norman- niam, omnes ciuitates, villas et castra strenuissime sibi adquirens. Quo facto ciuitas Parisiensis fame et inedia ac terrore compulsum se per tractatum pacis regi Anglie reddidit. Quibus peractis rex Anglie per assensum regine Francie et ducis Burgundie filiam regis francorum acceptus in vxorem, ex qua suscepit filium Henricum vj. Et quia rex francorum a multis annis fuerat lunaticus, et iam non erat capax racionis, conuentum est inter anglicos et francos quod rex francorum leneret nomen regis et portaret coronam ad terminum vita sue; rex vero Anglie vocaretur regens Francie et heres post decessum regis francorum. Iste Henricus rex iterum intrauit in Angliam relinquens ducem exercitus fratrem suum dominum Thomam, ducem Clarencie, qui dux a scotis cum multis aliis interfectus fuit. Rex vero, hoc audiens, cicius quo potuit iterum rediit in Franciam, et ultra Norman- niam multas villas muratas et castra fortissima conquisiuit. Iste rex Henricus renouans totam monetam auream Anglie, que per tonsores et lotores ' tantum erat peiorata quod vnum nobile vix valuit v solidos, ordinauit sub pena deperdicionis, quod nuUus reciperet vel solueret aliquod aurum nisi haberet plenum pondus secundum statutum regni. Tandem infirmitate grauissima anno regni sui x in Francia mortuus est ; apud Westmonasterium sepelitur. Hie reliquit filium nondum vnius anni, et ideo ipse posuit regimen regni usque ad annos discrecionis pueri in manibus fralrum suorum, videlicet domini lohannis, ducis Bodefordie, et domini Vmfridi, ducis Glouernie, et dominorum auunculorum suorum, ducis Exonie et episcopi Wynton. Qui quatuor de assensu parliament! ordinauerunt ducem Bcdcfordic custodem Normannio, et ducem Glouernie custodem Anplie. ' ./«!,'//, f ' clippers nnd wnshcrs'; if. Crtsoryh i'hronhle, p. 14J. II. A NORTHERN CHRONICLE 1399— 1430 This Chronicle occurs as a continuation of Higden's Polychronicon in Harley MS. 3600, ff. 233-7, and in Cotton. MS. Domitian A xii ff. 131-38. In the latter it is headed in a later hand ' Cronica de Kirstall ' ; but, as the editors of the Monasticon ' rightly observe, it is a Chronicle of a general kind and has nothing to do with Kirkstall Abbey ; possibly this manuscript may have belonged to that house. The Harley MS. formerly belonged to Whalley Abbey ; on f. 240''° is the note ' Liber Monasterii beate Marie de Whalley per procuracionem ' ; and on f. 3* 'Anno domini Mocccc° septuagesimo quarto intrauerunt Fratres Jacobus Dugdall, Willelmus Forest, Henricus Salley, Johannes Seller, Johannes Grinhyltone, Johannes Forster, in Cellam Nouiciorum in die apostolorum Philippi et Jacobi. At ab b littera dominicalis apud Whalley. Quorum animis (jzV) per misericordiam Jhu Christi in pace requiescant.' On f. 241''° 'Johes Wakfelde' is twice written. In the seventeenth century it seems to have belonged to one W. Petyt. Both Kirkstall and Whalley were Cistercian houses, and the Chronicle may have been the work of a monk of that order. In any case the northern origin of the Chronicle is manifest. The earliest part of the Harley MS., to the middle of Book II, is in a fourteenth century hand : the remainder is in a hand of the middle of the fifteenth century. The Chronicle in the Cotton. MS. is in the same hand throughout. For a criticism of the contents see pp. 35, 36 above. In the footnotes to the text the Harley MS.=^., and the Cotton MS. = ir. Postquam^ prefatus rex Ricardus regnasset xxij. anniS' et tribus mensibus supradictus Henricus, Dux Herfordie et Lancastrie, con- sensu Ricardi, nuper Regis, et omnium procerum tocius regni vnctus €st in regem apud Westmon. a domino Thoma, Cant, archiepiscopo, in festo sancti Edwardi confessoris.^ Eodem anno* circa festum natalis domini dominus Johannes Holande, dux Excestrie, dux de Surry, comes de Sarum, dominus de Spenser, comes Gloucestrie set non dux, et dominus Radulphus Lumley, prepotentes milites, et alii quamplures consurrexerunt aduersus dominum regem; quod ilium minime latuit; set fauente deo sine 1 Monasticon Anglicanum, v. 326. The Domitian cofy begins with Brutus, and is apparently an abbreviated version of the Polychronicon. ' Anno igitiir domini millesimo ccc°. nonagesimo nono in festo sancti Edwardi confessoris postquam K. ' 13th Oct.; in festo . . . confessoris om. K. * Ricardus antem qnondam rex translatus est de turn London, vsque ad castrum de Pontfrett, vbi din ante mortem pane et aqua, vt dicebatur, snstentatus. tandem fame necatus est secundnm commnnem famam et sepultns apud Langley. Anno primo Henrici regis K. 38o APPENDIX multi sanguinis eifusione predictos duces et comites, proceres, et vulgares in diuersis locis capli sunt et decollati, ac capita eorum allata sunt regi. In estate vero sequenlc dominus rex Henricus, congregatis pro- ceribus regni et exercitu copioso, perrexit in Scociam vsque Edynburgh, vbi xxij. diebus ibi permansit, et quod' nullam resistenciam invenit fecit quicquid voluit"; set auditis rumoribus de Wallencibus rebel- lacionibus rediie compulsus est." Nam hiis temporibus* quidam nomine Owenus de Glendore de W'allia consurrexit aduersus regem et regnum Anglie. Hie cum Britonibus et Wallicis sibi fauentibus fouit guerram contra regnum Anglie per totam vitam regis Henrici. Primo vero deuicit et cepit dominum le Gray de Rethyn, et multos cum illo occidit, ipsum custodians quasi per annum ; tandem data sibi magna redempcione auri ilium liberum dimisit. Post hoc pugnauit cum domino Edmundo Mortimer, et ilium vicit et cepit, ac filiam suam desponsare coegit, ex qua liberos procreauit. Deinde quot Anglos per vices occidit, quot villas cremauit, et quot castella cepit et circumuenit,' non est facile enarrare ; xvj. enim castella et vltra in vno anno, vt dicebatur, diruit et fundo concoequauit. Contra quern Rex sepius' coUecto exercitu debellare cogitabat. Set prediclus Owenus armiger, regis exercitum expectare non audens, de loco ad locum fugiens, semper aut in preruptis montibus aut in siluis latebrosis latitabat. Propterea Rex ' ordinauit principem ' filium suum et alios diuersos dominos cum apparatu sufficient!, qui omnes ciuitates muratas et castella circa Marchiam Wallie bene et fideliter custodirent, et predictum Owenum cum suis Wallicis continue repellendo ex- pugnarent. Circa festum exaltacionis sancte crucis' factum est bellum de Homildon inter Anglos et Scotos,'" vbi Angli victores extiterunt. In quo bello ex parte Anglie capitalis dominus fuit Henricus de Percy, comes Northumbrie et constabularius Anglie, et" dominus Henricus Percy, filius et heres prefati comitis. Captique sunt ex parte Scotorum IMorduc le fif, filius et heres duels Albanie, item comes Dowglas; et multi alii proceres et magnates, et alii" vulgares, quorum numerus ignoratur, sunt occisi. ' vs(^uc ad Edynbnrghe, vbi, sicut in muHis aliis locis, quod A'. ' fecit suum bcneplacitum K. ' set . . . compulsos est oin. A'. ' Circa hec tempora A'. ' cepit et destruxit A'. " Dominus I^es pluribus vicibus A. ' prefatus dominus Rex A'. (lominuni principem A'. ' Circa annum regis Ilenrici tercium A". '" Scolos, circa festum exaltacionis sancte crucis A', " ac cciam A' '" multi alii A'. A NORTHERN CHRONICLE 381 * Hoc anno quidam iniqui et maledicti seminauerunt discordias 1403: 4 inter dominum Regem et prefatum comitem Northumbrie cum filio suo. Propter quod circa festum translacionis sancti Thome * in estate dominus Henricus de Percy quasi cum ducentis hominibus transiuit de Northumbria per comitatum Lancastrie vsque ad Cestriam, vbi con- uenerunt ad eundem omnes quasi proceres et magnates cum populo de comitatu Cestr., de comitatu de Flynt, et de Bromfeld et 3ale^; et factus est excercitus grandis et fortis; perrexeruntque per limites Marchie et ' Wallie vsque ad Shrewesbury. Comes vero Northumbrie, pater illius, parabat excercitum in partibus borealibus vt filio suo subueniret. Pluresque alii comites et proceres regni, vt dicebatur, promiserunt auxilium. Set superueniente comite Westmerlandie, marescallo Anglie, cum multitudine copiosa, comes Northumbrie versus Northumbriam redire cogebatur, et dispersus est populus ab illo. Set Rex Henricus, audito quod consurrexerunt * aduersus eum, reliquit London et venit vsque Derby, Tutbury, et Burton-super-Trent ; et ex omni parte regni conuenerunt ad Regem ; vnde collecto copioso excercitu perrexit versus villam de Shrewesbury, vbi predictus dominus Henricus tunc tempore erat. Preparato igitur excercitu ex vtraque parte Rex cum proceribus regni, et predictus Henricus de Percy cum domino Thoma de Percy comite Wygornie, auunculo suo, et aliis quam plurimis proceribus, baronibus et militibus conuenerunt in campum quendam vocatum Bullfeld ; et congressi sunt ab hora tercia vsque ad vesperas; occisique sunt ex vtraque parte proceres ac multi nobiles, et vulgus quasi innumerabile. Inter quos, heu proth dolor, cecidit inclitus et nobilis dominus Henricus de Percy ex parte sua, et ex parte Regis Comes Staffordie. Comesque Wigomie, Thomas de Percy, et Comes Dovifglas capti sunt. Occisisque ex vtraque parte quasi tribus millibus, ceteri fugerunt, et Rex Henricus potitus est victoria. Sepultique sunt in eodem campo in vno sepulcro mille et quingenta corpora occisorum ; vbi nunc predictum sepulcrum est cimiterium cuiusdam collegii, quod ibidem constructum est ; vbi plures sacerdotes modo habitant, con- tinue celebrantes pro animabus occisorum. Die autem sequente Rex decollari fecit comitem Wigomie apud Salopiam ; et prefatum Henricum de Percy, postquam sepultus fuerat apud Whittchirche, Rex fecit extrahi de sepulcro, et quatuor corporis sui quarteria misit ad diuersa loca, et capud eius fecit suspendi super portam borealem apud Ebor. 1 7th July. ' Yale, in Denbigh. ' et om. K, * consurrexissent K. 28a APPENDIX Post hoc Rex venil ad Pontemfractum, vbi comes Northumbrie venit ad eum, quasi jiro gracia impetranda. Set precepto regio captus est et detentus ac deductus vsque ad quoddam castellum' domini Willelmi Bagott, militis, iuxta Couentr., vbi permansit vsque ad quadragesimam sequentem, ct tunc perductus est ad parliamentum, in quo iudicio parium ct procerum regni inuentus est fidelis de pro- dicione, et sic solutus abire permittitur. Divertitque cito in partes boreales, et copulauit filiam domini Henrici filii sui domino Jobanni Clifford, domino de Westmerland. Ante ista tempora dominus Rex desponsauit ducissam Britannia niinoris, filiam regis Nauerr., de qua, vt dicebatur, genuit duos abortiuos. 1404 : 5 Hoc anno Magister Ricardus le Scrope, Archiepiscopus Ebor., Comes Marescallus, dominus A\'illelmus Plumpton, miles, et plures alii de patria, cum ciuibus Ebor., consurrexerunt aduersus Regem. Set Comes Westmerlandie, dominus Johannes filius Regis, dominus Fitzhewe cum exercitu occurrerunt illis iuxta Ebor., et facto subdolo tractatu et promissione ceperunt predictum Archiepiscopum, comitem Mares- callum, dominum Willelmum Plumpton et plures alios. Populusque, qui cum illis erat, diffugit ab eis; et perduxerunt Archiepiscopum et Comitem ad Regem apud Pontemfractum, et posuerunt eos in custodia. Postea dominus Rex transiuit ad Ebor., vbi populus ciuitatis, toto corpore nudatus exceptis femoralibus, prostratus coram Rege miseri- cordiam precabatur, el tandem optinuit. Deinde Rex iuit ad manerium de Bisshopthorpe ' iuxta Ebor., vbi in festo sancti Willelmi' archiepiscopi Ebor., data sentencia, Archiepi- scopus, Comes, et miles decollati sunt; capitaque comitis et militis posita sunt super portas ciuitatis. Set Archiepiscopus cum suo capile sepullus est in ecclesia beati Petri Ebor., in parte boreali ecclesie iuxta magnum altare. Vbi postmodum infinita miracula choruscabant, et quasi cotidie de nouo choruscant. Nam simulacra et similitudines miraculorum cum cedulis monstrantibus infirmitates et loca personarum testantur satis clare, quod ibidem propter mcrita Archiepiscopi dominus plura miracula ostendere dignatus est. In super dominus Henricus Rex nocte sequente post * decolladonem Archiepiscopi percussus est lepra ins.anabili, que ipsuni circa nouem annos sequentes continue ct cotidie cruciabat, ilium finaliter extin- gucndo. Rex turn profcclus est ad villam dc Ripon '• et sic in Northumbrian!, ' Haginton. « mschotlior|>c A'. » Sth June. ' post I'm. ff- '■ Jhnry -.vas at Kipoii ^th-xuili Jim, ; Wylie, Ilciiry IV, iv. 394. A NORTHERN CHRONICLE 283 €t cepit castella comitis Northumbrie, viz. Prudhawe et Werke- worthe. Deinde perrexit ad Benvicum, vbi, capto tandem castello et villa, decoUari fecit dominum Willelmum de Graystok cum aliis pluribus proceribus et generosis sibi resistentibus. Nam comes Northumbrie, quem Rex tunc persequebatur, cum Henrico de Percy filio filii sui propter metum aufugit in Scociam. Rex vero, postquam desiderium voluntatis sue in partibus borealibus perfecte compleuisset, partes australes adiit. Set antequam Rex partes australes adiret dominus Willelmus de Clifford et dominus Henricus de Percy ' reddiderunt domino Regi castellum de Alnewik, quod Rex cum guerra seu obsidione capere nequiuit, vt dicebatur. Interim dominus Rex Henricus exaltauit dominum Thomara, filium suum, in Senescallum Anglie, et dominum Johannem, filium suum, in Constabularium Anglie. Comes vero Northumbrie, qui prius constabularius erat, quasi per annum moram traxit in Scocia cum duce Albanie, cum quo pacto inito cum iuramenti securitate reliquit cum illo predictum Henricum heredem suum, et perrexit in Walliam pro auxilio habendo ; set non inueniens ibi tutum refugium nauigauit in Franciam, vbi diu transiuit de loco ad locum et de proceribus ad proceres pro refugio optinendo ; set parum vel nullum consilium vel solamen optinere potuit. Tandem '^ vero reuersus est in Scociam ad ducem Albanie, vbi aliquantulum commoratus est. Cito post hoc " intrauit in Angliam, et peruenit ad villam de Ripon, vbi et in illuc veniendo conuenerunt ad eum quasi octingenti viri. Inde diuertit ad villam de Tadcastr. * Set dominus Thomas de Rokeby, vicecomes Ebor., coUecta multitudine copiosa plebis, congressus est cum prefato comite supra moram de Bramham, vbi tandem predictus comes occisus est, et dominus de Bardolfe captus est semimortuus, et multi ex vtraque parte occisi sunt, «t alii ex parte comitis fugerunt seu capti sunt. Deinde vicecomes Ebor. cepit corpus comitis et dominum de Bardolfe, qui cito infra quatuor milliaria exspirauit pro dolore vehementi, et duxit corpora illorum ad castrum Ebor. ; vbi ex precepto regis corpora eorum per quarteria diuisa sunt, et ad diuersas ciuitates transmissa vt ^uspenderentur in introitibus portarum ; et eorum capita similiter sus- pensa sunt. 1 Sir Henry Percy of Athol, son of Thomas Percy (d. 1381) and grandson ■of Northumberland. ' In 1407. ^ A° domini M.ccccvij" K. ; in Feb. 1407-8. * On ig//i Pell. a84 APPENDIX 141J: 14 Circa hec tcmpora Ilcnricus Rex dedit terras et dominia comitis Northumbrie domino Johanni, filio suo tercio genito. Anno doinini Mccccxijo et Hemic! Regis anno xiiij" complete et quasi v. mensibus vltra, idem Rex, ingrauescentc morbo, quo a morte archiepiscopi pre- dict! vexatus fuerat, multipliciter et ilium de die in diem adnichilante, apud Westm. diem clausit extremum, et sepultus est apud Cantuar. cum magna solempniiate, mense marcii anno domini 1412. Hie Ilcnricus vltimo anno regni sui dominum Thomam, fiiium suum, con- stituit ducem Clarencie. 1413: I. Post Henricum quartum successit filius suus primogenitus Henricus quintus, qui primo anno regni patris sui ab eodem constitutus princeps Wallie. Hie coronatus est in Regem apud Westm. a domino Thoma Arundell, Cant, archiepiscopo, dominica in passione domini, que do- minica tunc accidit none die mensis Aprilis, in anno domini millesimo ccccxiijo ex consensu maioris partis omnium dominorum regni tam temporalium quam spiritualium. Hie constituit in coronacione sua thesaurarium Anglie comitem de Arundell, et Magistrum Henricum de Bewford, auunculum suum, episcopum Wynt., cancellarium Anglie. Item circa iiij^ armigeros nobiles erexit in milites. Anno primo Henrici quinti circa Epiphaniam domini consurrexerunt aduersus Regem multi LoUardi ac infideles, conspiracione facta, inter quos capitales erant, prout dicebatur, Dominus Johannes de Olde- castell, tunc dominus de Cobham per uxorem, item dominus T. ,* et dominus Rogerus de Acton, miles, cum exercitu copioso vt Regem apud Westm. nocte preoccuparent. Set dominus Rex, per quendam carpentarium London.' premunitus, circa horam decimam in nocte, accepto consilio procerum et nobilium qui cum illo erant, eadem nocte egressus est cum suis de palacio Westm., et ingressus est in campum in quem prefati LoUardi dis- posuerant intrasse; et nutu dei eadem nocte captus est predictus dominus Rogerus de Acton, miles, cum pluribus aliis fautoribus suis. Quod audiens dominus de Cobham, qui illuc propere festinabat, no- ctantcr aufugit. Et sic execrabilis turba Lollardorum fugit in tabemacuhi t.ua. Benedictus deus per omnia qui tradidit impios. Postera autem die, data sentencia mortis per Justiciarios domini I tl.>minii« T.— //. ; ilominiis T.— T.— A'. Pivhid.y Sir Thomas TalM, ^i'ho 7^'iiy one of the Lollard ka,iers c.\,fl-lf,l ficm l^ruLiii oh 3$/>i .W,in/i, 1414. Cf. Goodwin, //,my V, p. ii, rx Kot. CMiis. .\W also Fiigl. Ht.iame ivas John de l^iirgh; cf. Cni. Pat. Rolls, Henry \', i. 157. On "i Jan. /it was rnoanird -villi ,1 .i'.inl el 10 marts v/arly from the issues of Norfolk. A NORTHERN CHRONICLE 285 Regis in illos, qui contra dominum Regem consurrexerant, suspensus est prefatus dominus Rogerus de Acton, miles, cum aliis multis in furcis erectis in campo prelibato, vbi rebellare cogitauerant. Anno secundo Henrici quinti post festum pasche idem dominus 1414 : 2. Rex tenuit parliamentum aput Leycet'. In quo quidem parliamento concessit graciam Henrico, filio et heredi domini Henrici de Percy qui occisus fuerat apud Schrewesbiry, vt Angliam intraret ad comitatum Northumbrie possidendum. Iste Henricus de Percy fuit in Scocia cum duce Albania, quasi per decern annos, et licet dominus Rex concesserat ei graciam reuertendi, impeditus tamen est introitus eius fere per duos annos. In predicto eciam parliamento Henricus Rex exaltauit duos fratres suos in duces, viz. dominum Johannem in ducem Bedfordie, et dominum Humfredum in ducem Gloucestr. ; nam dominus Thomas, secundogenitus, factus est dux Clarencie viuente adhuc patre suo Rege Henrico quarto. Anno tercio Henrici quinti, idem dominus Rex preparauit exercitum 1415 : 3. fortem et grandem ad recuperandam hereditatem suam in Normannia ; quia miserat ad Regem Francie pro filia sua in vxorem ducenda, et pro hereditate terrarum ad coronam Anglie pertinencium rehabenda. Set in vtraque peticione sua a Rege Francie et nobilibus ibidem non modicum fuerat spretus et contemptus. Propter quod Rex Henricus, de toto regno suo ducum, comitum, baronum et militum collecto exer- citu copioso, transfretauit in Normanniam cum multitudine nauium inaudita, viz. numero M. et DC.^, et applicuit iuxta portum de Hare- flete ; '^ circa festum assumpcionis beate marie * obsedit predictam vrbem de Hareflete sibi resistentem. Deinde circa festum beati Mi- chaelis sequens predicta ciuitas de Hareflete, vlterius resistere non valens, sibi reddita est cum omnibus hominibus et contentis in eadem. Quo facto Rex aliquantulum ibidem moratus constituit capitaneum et cu- stodem ciuitatis predicte comitem de Dorcet, auunculum suum, mille hominibus cum illo retentis. In predicta vero obsidione tanta lues nostrates aflSixit, et specialiter fiuxus ventris ac sanguinis nostros homines afBixit et depressit in tantum vt fere quinque millia de nostris predicto morbo interirent. Inter quos magister Ricardus Cowrtnay, episcopus Norwicensis, comes de Arun- dell,* comes de Suthfolke, dominus Willelmus Butteler, dominus Johannes Sotheworthe, dominus Hugo de Standissh, et multi alii nobiles ex diuersis regni partibus mortui sunt. ' M. et vj C"=. K. " Harfleur. ' 15th August. * Arundel suffered from the flttx, but returned to die on i^th Oct. 1415 at home. 286 APPENDIX Deinde dominus Rex cum decern vix milibus hominum a predicta vrbe de Harflete ad Calisiam per terram Francie transire disposuit; quod tuentes Franci pontes super flumina fregerunt, et regem cmn exercitu circuire fecerunt. Tandem appropinquauit iuxta quandam villam et castellum nomine Assyngcowrte, quod a Calisia quasi us. niiliaribus distat ; vbi exercitus Francorum validus et innumerabilis obuiam sibi venit; missisque ex vtraque parte nunciis inire bellum' disponebant. Sicque aciebus hinc inde dispositis, die veneris in festo sanctorum Crispini et Crispiniaiii, mense Octobri, circa boram die! terciam, anno domini 14 1 5, congressi sunt vsque ad horam vesperarum; tandem vero diuino nutu disponente regi Anglie cessit victoria, et occisi sunt de Francorum exercitu \-ulgus quasi innumerabile circiter XX. M'. hominum. Inter quos interibant dux Brabancie, dux Barre. Archiepiscopus Sononensis, item constabulariub Francie, quatuor co- mites, et alius dux de Lannson- cum iiij^^ aliis dominis et militibas Captique sunt du.x Aurelianus,' dux de Burbo)'n, S' Bursegraunt,* INIarescallus Francie, comes Rychmundie, frater ducis Britannie, et alius quidam comes, cum aliis duobus dominis. Dictumque fiiit a fidedigfnis quod exercitus Francorum erat quasi centum milia hominum, cum exercitus Anglorum vix fuerint decern milia viri. Propterea cum Angli vicissent primam cohortem belli ceperunt captiuos muitos. Set superueniente nouo ac recente exercitu parato ad bellum, coacti sunt necessario licet inuiti, suos captiuos iug^lare; qnod videntes Franci, et inibres sagittariorum non \'alentes sustinere, per- cipientes confugerunt. Rex igitur Anglie cum exercitu suo capta preda sf)olionim cum concaptiuis cepit pergere versus Calisiam, sepultis prius suis aut secum transsumptis. Nam, sicut dicebatur, vix quadraginta viri cecidenint ex parte Anglorum; inter quos dux Ebor., comes Suthfolke, et dominus Ricardus Kyghlay, miles, ceciderunt, quod sine dubio diuino factum consilio credimus, cum de tot et tarn nobilibus viris tam pauci trium- phum reportarunt. Moratus est autem Rex apud ciuitatem Calisie vsque ad festum beati Martini proxime sequens, et tunc cum omnibos suis applicuit ad terram Anglie in portu Doner. ; et sic profectus est London., obuiante sibi plebe, et deum super omnibus collaudante, positisque captiuis in turri London, sub custodi.i, et Rege exerdtui valt'diccnle, vnusquisque domum repedauit. Circa principium quadngcsinic ciusdem anni ex precepto et iussu ' bc-lluni inirc A". • .\lcn90n. • Orlcniis. < lioiicicault. A NORTHERN CHRONICLE 387 Regis intrauit Henricus de Percy, et peruenit ad Regem apud Couentr., qui benigne et graciose suscepit eum.* Anno 4° Henrici quinti, idem Rex tenuit parliamentum apud 1416 : 4. London, cito post pascha. In quo fecit predictum Henricum de Percy militem et comitem Northumbr., suscipiens ab illo in pleno parliamento homagium et iuramentum fidelitatis. In hoc ' tempore Imperator Alemannie venit in Franciam, deinde ad Calisiam ex consensu et voluntate Regis Anglie, et sic in Angliam, cum mille equitibus ; et summe ac honorificentissime susceptus est a Rege obuiante sibi cum xx. milibus decenter ornatis et introducente in ciuitatem London, cum magna gloria, in palacium Westm. honestissime preparatum. Fuitque idem Imperator in Anglia per dimidium anni et vltra, et factus est consors et sodalis collegii Sancti Georgii Wyndeshor. Iste prefatus Imperator venit causa tractandi inter Reges Anglie et Francie. Set de hoc parum vel modicum profecit. Nam Franci, licet de pace cum Rege tractabant, insidiose tamen parabant classem copiosam cum nouem maximis nauibus conductis de ciuitate Januensi, vocatis carrykes,et obsidebant ostium fluminisSecane,per quod victualiavenirent ad ciuitatem de Hareflete nuper captam per Regem Anglie. Vnde Dominus Rex ex hoc multum commotus parauit nauigium, vt predictam obsidionem remoueret. Igitur, magno apparatu nauium secundum ordinacionem regalem disposito. Dux Bedfordie, Comes Marchie, Comes Huntyngton, et Comes Sarum, cum multis aliis proceribus regni et exercitu copioso, acceptis victualibus, nauigauerunt versus Hareflete; et videntes supradictam multitudinem nauium hostilium iuxta Hareflete positam, cito congressi sunt pariter ; et infra tres horas, quo bellare ceperunt, vires hostium defecerunt, aliis necatis, quibusdam submersis, et multis in fugam conuersis. Sicque gracia Dei Angli victores fuerunt, et arreptis tribus magnis carrykes, et %-na in mare submersa, cum vno hulke et aliis compluribus ' nauibus de manibus inimicorum, refocillauerunt ciuitatem de Hareflete cum victuahbus sufficienter copiosis. Deinde in Angliam sani et incolumes, fauente Deo, feliciter reuersi sunt. Circa festum beati Michaelis eiusdem anni Dominus Rex transfretauit cum Imperatore vsque ad Calisiam, vt per mediacionem eiusdem Imperatoris pax inter regna reformaretur. Set Francis semper nequiter et subdole de pace tractantibus, tractatus ille nichil sen modicum profecit. Quapropter Imperator et Rex Anglie, pace inter 1 Richard Grey of Codnor was commissioned to receive Percy and bring him to the King on ^th Feb. 1416 {Cal. Pat. Rolls, i. 399). 2 quo K. ' pluribiis A'. a88 APPENDIX se per iuramenlum firmala, valedicentes, vterque cum suis ad propria remeauit. i4'7= 6- Anno regni Regis Menrici quinto idem Rex, videns se a Francis per multas cxpensas derisum, el in diuersis subdolis tractatibus deceptum pariter el illusum, congregauit exercitum copiosum ex multis nobilibus rcgni ad villam de Southhamplon ; vbi, audito quod hostes sui congregauerant classem in mari, direxit ad illos Comitem de Hunt- yngdon cum aliis dominis cum multitudine numerosa; qui, cum appropinquassent hostibus suis, super mare statim inierunt ceriamen et victores dei gracia extiterunt ; captisque magnis nauibus et carrikes de inimicis ad Regem reuersi sunt ; qui lelificatus est in aduentu eorum audito quod prospere egissent. Vnde circa festum beate M. Magdalene idem Rex cum toto exercitu suo transfretauit in Normanniam. Preterea notandum est, quod in loco suo debito pretermissuin est, viz. quod anno tercio Henrici Regis, dum idem Dominus Rex pre- pararet exercitum suum prope Southampton ad transfretandum in Nor- manniam, quidam magni domini, viz. dominus Ricardus Conesburgh, Comes Cantabrig., frater Ducis Ebor., et dominus le Scrope, ac eciam dominus Thomas Gray de Northumbria, cum aliis, habito consilio et tractatu conspirauerunt aduersus dominum Henricum Regem, ipsum per insidias nequiter et maliciose occidere cupientes, \t fama \-ulgi laborabat. Set Comes Marchie, vi dictum erat, qui eorum consilium iniquum secrete cognoscebat, omnia eorum machinamenta Regi manifestabat. Quapropter Dominus Rex cito conuocari fecit omnes duces, comites, barones et proceres ; et inquisicione facta repertum est, partim ex confessione publica dominorum predictorum, et partim per litteras suas cum suis armis sigillatas, quod communicacionem de morte Domini Regis sine dubio pertractassent. Vnde infra breue apud villam de Southhampton capta inquisicione (Je ducibus, comitibus et nobilioribus tocius regni, per sacramentum illorum inuenlum est coram iusticiariis predictos dominos in mortem Regis consensisse. Quapropter data sentencia quidam illorum per plateas ciuitatis cum equis tracti sunt, el omnes tandem predicti tres domini capidbus decollati sunt. Anno quinto Henrici Regis quinti, vt supradictum est, circa festum bcale Marie Magdalene ' idem Dominus Rex cum toto exercitu suo transfrclauil in Normanniam ; fuilque ibi per tres annos continues et vlira, vsquc ad feslum Purificacionis " in qu.uto anno sequente; in ' ajnd July, 141 ; ; llcniy emthirkf.i .;/ Sc:i:h.iiitp!on en iyj July' ° jiid I'cb. 14 Ji . A NORTHERN CHRONICLE 289 cuius temporis spacio conquisiuit totam Normanniam, licet plures perdidit de magnatibus et proceribus regni in obsidionibus villarum et castrorum ibidem. Nam in capcione ville de Caan ' dominus Jacobus de Haryngton mortale vulnus accepit. Apud obsidionem de Falays " mortuus est dominus de Haryngton. Apud Louers' dominus de Skales/ dominus Darcy,'* et dominus Eadmundus de Thorpe. Item apud obsidionem de Roen obiit Comes de SomersetCj Comes de Mortayn," dominus de Talbot, dominus Johannes Blount, et Prior de Kilmaynande' de Hibernia. Item apud Chirburghe* obiit dominus le Gray de Codnore/ et dominus de Castiloygne '" de Vasconia. Item apud Frenay vicecomes " dominus Karolus de Nauernia," frater Regis Nauernie. Item apud Vernale de Perce '* dominus de Neuell.^* Item in tractatu et convencione pacis "* dominus Ricardus Arundell. Item in Troys en Chaumpayne dominus Willelmus Bowser. Item apud Melon Comes Desmond de Hibernia, dominus le Scrope de Bolton, et dominus le Bowser. Igitvir in predictis obsidionibus et g^erris mortui sunt, secundum estimacionem illorum qui interfuerunt, fere centum milites cum vulgo innumerabili. A" 80 Regis Henrici idem Dominus Rex transiuit de Normannia 1430: 8. Parisius et vsque ad Troes in Chaumpayne cum exercitu xx milium dominorum procerum, et cum vulgari plebe ; duxitque ibi in vxorem dominam Katerinam, filiam Regis Francie, in festo sancte Trinitatis • fuitque ibidem in Francia vsque ad festum Natalis domini. Delude circa festum purificacionis beate Marie eodem anno venit Rex ad Cantuar.^^ et post London.," obuiante sibi plebe et gaudente cum muneribus copiosis. Dominica vero tercia in quadragesima apud London, regina Katerina solempniter coronata est apud Westmonasterium, presentibus ibidem ducibus, comitibus, episcopis, et proceribus quasi tocius regni cum dominabus quamplurimis et apparatu precioso. Set, heu, quod dolendum dico, parum ante pascha eodem anno infortuno^' casu dominus Thomas, Dux de Clarens, frater Regis, ^ Caen; Sept. 1417. ' Falaise; Jan. 1418. s Louviers; June, 1418. * Robert, fifth Lord Scales. ' John lord Darcy. • T/iis is an error ; neither Somerset nor Mortayn died at Rouen. ' Sir Thomas Butler, Prior of Kilmainhatn. ' Cherbourg; 1418. ' Richard Grey, fourth baron ; but he did not die till 141 9. 1" Pontius, Sire de Castelhon. " Fresnay-le-Vicomte ; 1420. 12 Charles of Nayarre. 1* Veraeuil in Perche; Vemayle, K.; 17th August, 1424. '* John Neville. '" factus MSS. '° Rex cum regina Cantuariam K. " post hoc Londonias K. '' infortuuato K. 1458 U 290 APPENDIX dominus Gilbertus Vmfravile, comes de Kyme, dominus Johannes le Gray, comes Tankyrvile, et dominus le Roos per Francos et Scotos occisi fuerunt. Insuper Comes de Huntyngton, Comes de Somersett, et Comes de Suthfolk' capti sunt cum ceteris militibus et generosis, qui ibidem interfecti et capti fuerunt. Post festum autem Pasche idem Rex ' cum Regina et aliis proceribus regni proficisci cepit versus Eboracum, vbi honestissime et magnifice susceptus est cum regina; optulitque ei predicta ciuitas' munera magnifica et regi congrua cum honore. Deinde peregre profectus est versus Brydlyngton et Beuerlay, regina remanente Ebor. Auditaque morte ducis Clarencie, fratris sui, et aliorum supranotatorum in Francia vehementissime doluit, veniensque ad Pontemfractum, vbi regina con- uenerat, cito transiuit Lincolniam ad installacionem Magistri Ricardi Flemyng, nuper episcopi electi ibidem. Deinde London, transmeauit ad parliamentum in primo mensis Maii ibidem tenendum; ad quod parliamentum venit Comes Dowglas de Scocia cum plenaria potestate illius regni pro tractatu pacis inter regna ; treugeque biennales concesse sunt et firmate.* 1421:9, Hoc anno" dominus Rex, congregato exercitu de nobilioribus regni, ante festum Sancti Johannis Baptiste transfretauit in Franciam: mansitque ibidem per totum annum ; cepit • plures ciuitates et villas, inter quas Mewes in Bry capta est, vrbs fortissima, auro, argento et diuiciis infinitis repleta. Circa cuius vrbis obsidionem Comes Wygomie occisus est, et inclitus dominus Johannes Clifford, cuius corpus delatum est in Angliam et sepultum est apud canonicos de Bolton in Crauen. 14J2 : 10. Eodem anno circa concepcionem beate Marie natus est ex Regina Katerina apud Wyndeshor Henricus primogenitus Henrici quinti.' Hoc anno' postquam Regina Katerina transfretauit ab Anglia in Normanniam ad Regem " ; cito post Rex decidit in languorem exicialem, qui continuauit cum illo '" vsque ad nioriem, et in festo decoUacionis sancti Johannis Baptiste diem clausit estremum, postquam regnauerat ix. annis et v. mensibus"; cuius ossa deportata sunt" London., et sepulta honorifice apud Westmonasterium. Anno octauo Henrici Regis Sexti in festo sancti Leonardi idem Rex coronatus est apud London. Circa festum nativitatis sancti Johannis ' /?« error ; Suffolk was n,^t at /Aiwi,/. ^ idem dominus Rex A'. ' vrbs Ebor. A' * ft capta est treuga inter regna Anglic cl Scocie, et (innnta est pax pro ductus annis A'. ' A" nono IlcnricI rcfjis quinti idem A'. ' ccpiique A', ' Eodem nnno . . . (juinti A'. />iils nfttr ni-.r/ /iini<;^,i/'>i. " A" decimo Henrici Rcpis quinti idem dominus rex A'. ' nd ilium A'. '" tcnuit ilium A'. " postquam , . . mensibus om. A'. " deportantur A'. A NORTHERN CHRONICLE 291 Baptiste transfretauit in Franciam cum duce Ebor., duce de Northfolke ; duce de Bedford existente in Normannia et expectante aduentum regis cum Duce Burgundie, et aliis comitibus et nobilioribus regni quamplurimis et cum exercitu copioso : vbi eodera anno circa festum beati Michaelis submersus est Dominus le Roos ^ et dominus Johannes Butteler occisus.' ^ Thomas, Lord de Roos, arowned in the Marne on \%th August, 1430. ^ vbi eodem . . . occisus om. H. U 2 III. EXTRACTS FROM LONDON CHRONICLES (i) London Chronicle for 1413-18 In Harley MS. 3775, ff. 78-99, there is a London Chronicle which ends with the names of the civic officers 1429-30. It is written in a hand of not much later date, and is thus one of the oldest, if not the oldest, of the extant copies of the English Chronicles. It shows, moreover, in a number of places signs of having been copied somewhat carelessly ' from a still older manuscript. It may therefore be accepted as represent- ing an abbreviated version which was current about 1430. Except in a few places the text is very brief. The list of mayors begins in 1189, but the entries are short and rare till after 1377. There are some good entries in the reign of Richard II, especially that for 1398-9, which is a somewhat superior copy of the text in Gregorys Chronicle, pp. 95-7. For the reign of Henry IV it is an abbreviated version of H., containing some things which are otherwise peculiar to that copy. The only variation worth noticing is the addition to the notice of the execution of William Serle of the words ' and the quarters salted'. The remainder of this Chronicle is closely related to three other copies of the same class, H., Julius B ii,and C. From 1413 to 1417 it resem- bles H., but has a much superior account of Oldcastle's rebellion, which is of interest as containing some details, hitherto only known from StoWs Annales, p. 344 ; this and some other variations of less importance are printed below. The narrative for 1417 to 1419 agfrees nearly with Julius B ii, but gives what seems to be the original account of the unhappy fate of John Bryan. For 1419 to 1421 this Chronicle agrees with H., fi» 1421 to 1425 with Juhus B ii (but with the omission of the sentence ' But at the last his malice '), and for 1425 to 1429 with C. (which only differs slightly from H.). Thus Harley 3775 contains only a little new matter. But the manner in which it agrees first with one and then with another of the kindred copies suggests the original existence of Chronicles ending at 1417, 1419, 1421, and 1425. There is a marginal note by John Stow on f. 95^°; the anonymous St. Albans Annales which follow have notes of Stow's in several places. ,,,.,, „ ,, f Tohes Michell 1 anno primo Willms. Crowmere. M. •{ •; . ^ .» \ 1 \ \ Jones Sutton J (1413-14) And in the same jere was Kyng Ric. lionos take \'p and brought fro langleye vn to Wcstni., the viij day of deccnibro, the seynt Mary day to fore Cristomasse. And in tlic same jere was syr John Oldecastell, knyght, lord of Cobhaiii, arcstcd into J" Towrc of London. And the ' 7//(j /t the ■noliime vhi.h iOiilaiiis the aiiotiymotn St. Albans' Annals, tie last leaf of which is -vyiltni in a hand of a similar ,'hiir,i,te/. Seefp. ijo, 151 abme. EXTRACTS FROM LONDON CHRONICLES 293 same jere he brak the prison and wente away. And the same jere purposed the forsayde syr John to haue slayn the kyng and his lordes at Eltham, that is to seye the xij day atte nyght. And p^ same nyght the mayere of London hadde warnyng therof. And he toke the aldermen and all the wardes of London, and made grete wache that nyght. And Jj* same nyght the mayre toke John Burgate, carpenter, and many ojser of the same sekt and consentyng to the forsayde syr John. And js* same jere the xije day fell vp on Jje saterday. And the Moneday next after the Kyng whit his lordes come fro Eltham thorowe London vnto Westm. And on the morn after at nyjth the kyng and his lordes toke the feld : for he hadde tydyng )>* the forsayde syr John and syr Roger of Acton schulde be in the same feld the Wednesday next folowyng w* XXV. M'. people for to distroie the Kyng and all his lordes : and the same nyjght the Kynges men toke of hem iiij''^^ and moo of syr John Oldecastell meyne. And the friday after was forjuged of such traytours atte Westm. Ixix, and led to the Tour. And the same day xij of hem weren drawe from the Towr vnto Neugate. And on the morn after were xxv moo of hem drawen from the Tour vnto Newgate, and forth all in fere vnto seint Giles ; and there was made New galows for hem. And there thei were hanged euerychon : and vij of hem were brent Galows and all, and xxix henge styll on the Galowes. And the ffriday, the xix day of Janyuer, were iiij moo drawen and hanged : of wiche one was a preest J?* hyght syr John Beuerley, the ij was John Burgate, the thirde a texte writer of sent Jones strete, and the iiij was a Glouer on London Brigge. Also the same jere, the xxv day of Janyuer, was a preest that hit syr Water drawen and hanged for treson: the weche preeste, as men seydon, had bought for Cobham as many bowes, arowes and other stuff as cost ix mark. And J>at same jere was taken the forsaide syr Roger of Acton. And the viij day of ffeuerer after he was dampned for treson. And he was drawen and hanged at sent Gyles, and there was he buryed vnder the same Galowes. And in the same 3ere atte Canterbury died syr Thomas of Arundell, Erchebisshopp of Canterbury, the xix day of ffeuerer. And in the same jere was the parlement atte Leycester : and at Jje parlement was my lord syr John, the Kynges brother, made Duke of Bedford, and syr Vmfray his brother Duke of Gloucester, and syr Ric. the Dukes Brother of York Erie of Cambrigge. And the same [jere] was syr Heriy Chicheley Bisshop of sent Davys &c.^ * TAe notice fof the year then ends as in !!• {see Nicholas, pp. 98, gg), but reading Neauncer and Tybbey ; and giving the date And the xxj day of August next after the forsayde John Neauncer. 294 APPENDIX f Johannes Michell ) A" i)" Thorn, ffaukoner. M. | ^^^^^^^ ^,^y„_ } ( 1 4 1 4-i 5) And in the same yere was the Kynges grete werke ymagenyng of the kynges delh.' And in the same tyme was Cleydon, Skynner, Brent in Smylhfcld for an Erytyk, that is to wete the xij day of August afore saide, and on Sent Bartilmews Euen was brent a no)?er Erytyk in Smythfeld, J)* hight Ric. Bakere. The ix day of Septembre the next sewyng the monday : the monday the mom after the Natitiite of our Lada}' day.^ And on the mom after seint Larence day, Jj* is to wete the xj day of August the Sonnday the kynge and all his retenue and of comon peple moo than the noumbre of iij M'.': the weche names of the forsaide lordes ben wreten in diuerse places of the reme.* And so the kyng wanne the Bataill and the ffelde : the Kyng kepte the felde ij dayes after the Bataill. And at the same Bataill were dede of Englis men the Duke of York and the yong Erie of Suff., and ojier comens to the noumbre of xxviij persons atte most paX any men mygh noumbre. And the xxix day of Octobre and seyde Hec dies quam fecit dominus Ac." - , . „, -.T • f Willelmus Caumbrigee ) Anno iii» Johannes ' Wotton, Maior ^ . , ^ , ^^ \ , '. ■' ( Alanus Everard J (1415-16) And the xxviij day of Octobre the kyng come to his towne of Caleys and was there till xvij day of Nouembre basyns of gold worth Vc. li.'' And in the same jere were all the Galey halpens for don atte a parlement holden atte Westm., Tpe weche parlement began the xxv day of Marche. The Emperour of Almayn come into Ingelond and in the same jere the vij day of Octobre was a parchement makere of Trillemyllestrete drawen and hanged and his hede smytten of and sette on London Brigge for Tretorie.' [7%« notice for 1416-17 shows only small variations from H.; as ' the baylys leman of Fynesbery ' and Pittewardyn keper of Sportes keye. Tlie notice for 141 7-18 is put under Willam Sevenoke w iht sixth year, that for 1 418-19 under Richard Merlowe in the fifth year. The former agrees nearly with Julius B ii,' but reads ' pope was callyd', and ' weche was prynce of Erytykes and Cheff leder and mayntenere of all J)e lollardys in )je reme '.] ' yls in II. ; Nir/tolas, pp. 99-100. ' Apparently some entry has /vtn missed here in cofying. ' As in If., with trivial lexhtal variations ; Nicolas, pp. 100, loi. • One suih list hat hcciipitscrw,! at Salisbury \ see pp. 89, 115 above. " As in II.\ Nicolfts, pp. loi, loa. « v-Zx fm)r_/or Nicholas. ' As in //. ; Nicolns, pp. loj, 103. ' As it$ II. ; " The notite of OUhastles t.xfciitioH in H. is shorter. ' As in II. ; Nicolas, pp. 103, 104. EXTRACTS FROM LONDON CHRONICLES 395 The notice for 141 8-19 has a different beginning '. This same yere was John Bryon fyrst chosen shereue be the mayre, but hit fortuned so for hym })* w* Inne vij nyght after that he hadde I-rede and toke his othe at Westm. he felle in to tempse as he wold have esed hym self, as men seyth, be jonde be seint Eaterynes, comynge fro Jjb bentenent whech Y tyme was atte Stratford, nat w* stondyng js* all his sergians were there w* hym, the weche sergeantys w* help of the millenere that there was tokyn hym vp w* an hoke, but forsothe afterward hadde he neuer gode day but peyned and dyed w* ynne the seuenyjth : and in his stede was chose John Perneys. This is the original of the briefer notice in Julius B ii.^ (2) London Chronicle for 1421-30 On p. 92 above reference is made to a London Chronicle for 1421-47 which is preserved in a transcript of John Stow's in Harley MS. 540 ff. 40-5. As there pointed out from 1430 onwards it is merely a some- what shorter version of the Chronicle printed by Dr. Brie as F.'* But the earHer part preserves some peculiar notices of which that for the first year is the only one of importance. The 8 of H 5 on the Sonday aftar the day of S. Matthie in ye lent dame Katheryn was crowned qwene at Westminstar. And on estar even next folowinge Thomas, duke of Clarence, y^ kyngs brothar, by the water of Leyre was slayne w* othar : there was taken prisonars the earle of Huntyngton, the earle of Somerset and his brothar, the lord Fitzwatar and othar. The bastard of Clarence w* strengthe gat his fathar's body, brought it vnto England and buried [it] in the priory of Christ churche at Cantorbury, besyde kynge Henry the fourthe, his fathar.' Henry the 6 was borne at Windsor of S. Nicholas day, anno 142 1. In the same yere on the xiij of August Bartilmew Plomar, dwelling in Finkes lane besyde Cornehill, set vp the newe wetharcoke on seint Pawles steple in London. In the yere 1422 Kynge H. havyng gotten Mews in Bry sent over into England prisonars 160, which landed at Hampton on the i of July, from whence they were brought in carts to the towr of London.* Kynge H. beinge sicke made his testament, apoynted his treasure and Jewells to be solde, his dettes to be payde, as well to the pleasaunce of his souldiours as to othar that he owght good vnto in Englond, and on Fraunce, and ordeyned John, his brothar, duke of Bedforde to be theyr regent and governor of Fraunce and Normandy ; and he comitted the kepinge of 1 Chronicles of London, p. 72. ^ Brut, pp. 456-90. ' Quoted by Stow, Annates, 36r. * Id.,ib. 29(5 APPENDIX II. his yonge sonne and prynce to sir Henry Beaufort, byshope of Winchester, and to sir Thomas Beaufort, duke of Excestar.' This is interesting as giving the source of the quotations made by Stow. The other notices are brief; the only ones worth quoting are : 1423-4. John Mortimer, Knight, brake out of the towr of London, and was taken vpon the towre wharffe, and ther was sore wounded and beaten, and on the morow brought to Westminster, iudged and condemned, brought bake agayne to the towre, and there layde on a hirdle and drawne thrwghe the citie of London to Tibome, and there hanged, heded : his hed set on London bridge. This comes from the same source as the longer notice in Dr. Erie's Appendix E.' Under 1426-7 there is the note (peculiar to this Chronicle) : Thomas Beawford, duke of Excestar, died at Grenewitche, and was buried at S. Edmonds bury. (3) London Chronicle for 1446-52 Arundel MS. 19 at the College of Arms has a peculiar London Chronicle for 1446 to 1452, which seems to represent one of the earlier originals d the Main City Chronicle. The manuscript belonged to Robert Hare (d. 161 1), an antiquarian friend of John Stow,' and afterwards to Lord William Howard. Stow had clearly made use of it, though he does not quote the most interesting passages. The whole of the original chronicle is in the same handwriting. Down to 1432 it is an abbreviated copy of the version of that year. From 1432 to 1446 the entries are very meagre. The year 1446-7 begins with an account of the fight between the armourer and his man,' and a notice of the death of Humphrey of Glouces- ter and the fate of his servants." The notice for this year ends : ' This same yere \>q vj day of August dezeside maister Gilbert Worthington, jje person of Holborne, jjat was a doctour and a good prechour. The next year 1447-8 has a similar notice:" In this yeer the xxvj day of Octobre' died maister William Lichfeld, person of Alhalowes ))e more in Temstrete, the whiche was a good prechour and an holy man jsat made in his dayes MW iiij " and iij sermones, as it was founde in his bokes of his o\ni hande writing. For 1448-9 there is no notice.' The notice for 1449-50 describes the murder of Adam Moleyns, the death of Suffolk ' behedid for treson in the ' /(/. 3Cij. » /Init, p. 4£a ; see oho Clitvui.lcs of ImhJoh, j)p. 181-3. " Sec Surrey of I.otidoH, vol. i, p. Kviii. • Gregory's Chnmic'e, p. 187. " Chronicles of London, p. 157 « .Stow, Annaks, y. 3S6. ' /. e. at the enil of the mayoral ye.ii oh a6tli 0./ l■^^^ ; see his epitaph ap. Sutvey of I.ouJoii, ii, ^ji, " Cf. p. i;.| ahove ; thus it resembles the Continuations ofS. EXTRACTS FROM LONDON CHRONICLES 297 see,' and the loss of Normandy. Jack Cade's rebellion is described in similar terms to the common narrative of the Vitellius Chronicle, though more briefly. But the account of Cade's death is peculiar : On Jje Sonday seuenyght aftyr Jjat ])e said Capteyn was slayne byside Maydeston in Kente by Alisaunder Yden, squier and shereve of Kente. Gregory's Chronicle (p. 194) has the same date— 12th July. Most accounts put the scene of Cade's death in the Weald of Sussex ; but the Short English Chronicle (p. 68) had originally : ' And so the xiij day of Jule John Cade was take in Kentt.' The notice for 1449-50 ends : And Jse same yere afore Mighelmas the Duke of York came out of Ireland, and toke \& baron of Dudley and the abbot of Gloucestre and putte them in Jse castell of Ludlow, and sone aftyr he toke Gergraue, keper of Jie kinges benche at Lundun, and sente hym to the castell of Ludlow. This incident has been known only through Stow's quotation in his Annates, p. 392. The notice for 1450-1 is very similar to the accounts in the Vitellius Chronicle {Chronicles of London, p. 162) and Gregory's Chronicle (pp. 196-7). The following is a little more precise : And on the morne that was Wednesday [ist December], at aftir none and bifore, jser were made cryes in Lundun by Jie Duke of Yorke and Duke of Northfolke, that no man shuld robbe nor take any good within J^e cite, nether wythoute, vpon peyne of deth. The notice for 1451-2 is the most interesting passage in the Chronicle, and is printed in full. The movements of York and the King do not seem to be given anywhere else with quite so much precision. The Chronicle ends so abrupdy that we may fairly assume that this narrative was written very soon after the events which it describes. pe XXX yere of Kyng Henry }ie sixte. This yere on Wednesday the xvj day of Feverere Jje kyng with ]je lordis rode toward the Duke of Yorke for to take hym, because he reised peple to come downe and take fie Duke of Somersete ; but whan the Duke of Yorke herde here of, he toke another waye and so came toward Lundun. And also sone as )3e Kynge herde J^erof he sente letters to the Meir, Aldir- men and comons of Lundun, on seint Mathies day,' jsat fiei schuld kepe the citee and sufTre nat Jje Duke of Yorke to come j^erin; wherfore was made greet wacche in jje citee, \e. whiche was tolde \e. Duke of Yorke, wherfore he lefte Lundun wey and wente ouer Kyngston brygge. And on Sonday " next aftir, ]jat was Jie first Sonday of Lente, ' 24th February. 2 27th February. 398 APPENDIX the Kyngis vaward cam to London eriy in \>e mornyng and loggid in Southwerkc. And on )>e Monday after, in Ipe morning \>ei were remeued fro l^cns into Kente. And at after none J>e same day the Kynge came to London with his oost, and so went into Southwerke and loggid at seint Marie Overeys. And the Duke of Yorke picched his ffeld aboute Dertford whith greet ordinaunce. And whiles )je kyng lay stille at seint Marie Overeys bysshoppe ' rood between Jje kyng and \>e Duke of Yorke to sette hem at reste and pees. But pe Duke of Yorke seid he wold haue Jje Duke of Somerset, or elles he wold dye therefore. And on Wednysday " next folowyng }« kyng with his oost rode to Blakheith, and forth ouer Schoters hylie to Weliyng, and })er loggid Jjat day and 'pe morue. And on Thursday at aftir noon per was maad a poyntement bytwene jje Kyng and J>e Duke of Yorke by Tpe mene of lordis. And on jje morue, fat was Fryday,' pe Kyng ensemblid his oost on }>e Blake heith afore none; and Jjere abode pe comyng of Jjc Duke of Yorke after pe poyntement maad ovir evyne. And in [the] Kyngis oost was nombred xx™ fyghting men, and men seide pe Duke of Yorke hadde as many ' with moche greet stuflf and ordinaunce. And att pe last pe Duke of Yorke cam with xl hors to Jje Kyng aboute none, and obeyed hym to his legeaunce; and wyth [him] pe Erl of Dewynshire and Jje lord Cobham, pe which helde with pe Duke of Yorke and were in oost with hym. And pe Kynge toke hem to grace and alle. ' Something is missing, or the Inie reading may be bysshoppes. Tlu erwojrs were the Bishops of Winchester and Ely, with the Earls of Warwiek aitd Salisbury and some others. See p. 368 below. ' 1st March. ' 3rd March. The date is usually given as 1st March {Paston Letters, i. lOi). The precision of this account is ccmclusivc. * The account on pp. 367-68 below gives 33,000. IV. THE BRUT 1413-17 From the Version of 1430 As explained on pp. 132-33 above, the history of the eariier years of Henry V in the Version of 1430 is interesting for the light which it throws on the manner and date of the composition of the English Brut. I there stated that the first Chapter — March 1413 to Oct. 1416 — seems to represent the common original more faithfully than does the corresponding Chapter ' in the Version which ends in 1419. The differences are not, however, so great as to make it worth while to print this Chapter at length. Generally the Version of 1430 has fuller and better readings, though the 'tennis- ball story' is related more briefly ; but down to the close of 141 5 it does not add anything material. There is only one sentence which calls for quotation : And the kynge, the worthi prynce, that god saue and kepe, wold fro thens to Caleis so stronge thorough the londe, and the ffrensshemen herd &c.^ This, or its original, must have been written whilst Henry V was still alive. There is a ring about it which suggests a Ballad original ; if so, it was not the Battaile of Agincourt. The other Version {Brut, p. 377, 11. 10-13) reads : 'And whenne J>e King saw })is, )>at hit was welle stofTed both of vitaile and of men, bis worthi Prynce and King toke his leve, and went hym to Caleys warde by londe. And )ie Frensch men herd' &c. The Version of 1430 mentions that the Battle of Agincourt was fought : by yonde the water of Somme and by the Riuer of Swerdis. The ' River of Swords ' is not named in the other Version (Brut, p. 379, 1. 17). The reference appears in the LatinBrut (p. 317 below), but might come from the Gesta (p. 46) or The Battaile (Nicolas, p. 225). The account of the Pageant at London is fuller : it describes the preparations of the citizens, and speaks of the streets as hung with Arras (cf. Gesta, pp. 61, 66). Both these points are omitted in the other Version, {Brut, p. 380). The subsequent account of Sigismund's visit is much fuller and suggests strongly that we have here a record drawn up at the time. I will quote the most striking passages. And there thei welcomyd hym with alle honoure and reuerence : and so the meyre and the aldremen, with the Comminalte, brought hym to seint Thomas Wateryng withoute Southewerke, and there the Kynge met with hym, with alle his lordis in good and riall araye, and ther was 1 Brut, pp. 373-81- 2 Cotton MS. Galba E viii. f. 133'° ; the other MSS. agree. 300 APPENDIX a worthi and a solempnc metynge betwix the Emperoure and our Kyng, thcr kyssid togederis and myche obeysaunce yche ' shewid to othir and thankynge (cf. Brut, pp. 380-1). The bysshoppis stoden y-reuersid in her rialte with mitris and copis, with liall senseris sensinge hem bothe, and 80 broughte hem vp to the high auter (cf. Brut, p. 381, I. 7). These two passages illustrate how the original has been condensed in the other Version. The following passages are distinct additions. The first is inserted after line 10 on p. 381. And afturward thanne oure kynge shewid to the Emperoure the worthi and solempne, glorious, diuine seruisis of holy Chirche, bothe of Religious and othir : whiche sight and herynge plesyd hym moche, and moste passyngely [he] comendid the seruyse here in holy chirche aboue alle the londis and conlreis that euyr he come ynne. A somewhat fuller account of the arrival of William of Holland is then followed by the long original of p. 381, lines 14-20 in the printed text And thanne the Kynge toke the Emperoure, and toke hym to see the lande aboute, to knowe the worthinesse, and the good and gracious comoditeis in the londe : and thanne shewid hym Citeis and good tounys, and the rialte and good arayis of the pepull that dwellid in hem. Whiche that piesid and likid welle his sight. And tlianne he brought hym to Castellis and maneris, there as all disportis weren, as huntynge and hawkynge in flforestis, parkis and chasis, and to diuerse Riueris for Whild foule. With that he comen- did and preysid passinge. And whanne he had sen alle the Rialte and disportis in the londe aboute, he thankid moche the Kynge of good herte and high loue and kyndenes, that he had don and shewid to hym of his high worthinesse and manhode, and seid that this lond myght be callid a lond of grete nobley and worthines, and plenteuous of good and riche pepull, and blessid of gouernaunce, with habundaunce of alle worthi comoditeis that longon for a londe. And this worthy Emperoure takynge his leue of lordis and ladyesi and of alle the Rewme of Engelond, yaf hem many a:ood blessyngis with alle maner of thankyngis, went ouyr the see ayen : the Kyng and he to Caleis, and abiden iVc. The remainder of this narrative is only slightly longer than the other Version. At the end of the Chapter there is added an account of r.cdford's victoi7 nil" llarfleur,' similar to that in Nicolas' London Chronicle, pp. 104 -5. ' cilery y4., /.'. » This is c>niitti\lin B, THE BRUT 1413-17 301 The second Chapter— Oct. 1416 to Nov. 1417 — in the Version of 1430 is given in full below. As far as the landing in Normandy the two Versions are very similar, the only variation of importance being the more accurate date for Henry's leave-taking at London in the Version of 1430. In the narrative of the war there is a marked difference. In the Version ending at 1419 Henry is stated to have landed at Touques, and to have made Sir John Kighley captain of that place. The siege of Caen is described at some length, and the capture of Bayeux is attributed to Clarence. The account of the Earl of March's voyage and landing in Normandy is shorter than in the Version of 1430. The subsequent history of the campaign of 1 41 7 is very brief. The Chapter closes with a notice of the capture and death of Oldcastle. In the Version of 1430 Henry is stated to have landed at ' Benvile ', and to have made Clarence captain of Touques. The description of the siege of Caen is shorter. There is much more detail in the history of the expedition under the command of the Earl of March, who is here stated to have assisted the Duke of Gloucester at the siege of Bayeux before joining the King. The history of the subsequent campaign is much fuller, and the reference to ' Bayes ' and ' Mortrival ' is new. The narrative then goes back to describe Huntingdon's sea-fight in June, 1417, which does not appear at all in the other Version. After this follows a notice of the Council of Constance ; the Version of 1419 has none, and the Version represented by Harley 53 and Davies Chronicle has a different one. Next comes a misplaced account of the murder of John of Burgundy, which is incorrectly assigned to the fifth year. The Chapter again concludes with the capture and execution of Oldcastle ; though the substance is similar, the phraseo- logy shows more than mere textual variation. The two Versions only agree precisely for the capture of 'Loueris'; though much of the remainder of the history is clearly derived from the same sources, the Version of 1430 is (except for the siege of Caen) far the better. The story of the Earl of March in particular is superior, and appears to be much nearer the original ; it reads like the description of an eyewitness, a theory which receives confirmation from the use of ' we ' in one sentence of the copy in Harley 266.' The history of the subsequent campaign may also be based on personal knowledge. The rest of the matter which is peculiar to the Version of 1430 is closely paralleled by some of the London Chronicles,'' with which the accounts of Huntingdon's sea-fight and the murder of John of Burgundy are almost identical. It does not seem to be possible that the Version of 1430 was in this passage based on the earlier Version ending in 1419. If it were, the compiler would hardly have omitted the better account of the siege of Caen. I am therefore led to the conclusion that there was a Version of the Brut ending not later than 1417 ; to which in 1430 a Continuation was added, based in part on the London Chronicles, and in part on an independent use of the common stock of other material such as news-letters and John Page's Siege of Rouen. If this Chapter of the Version of 1430 does not contain much that is new, it is of great interest for the light which it throws on the method in which the Brut was composed, and on the relation of that work to the London Chronicles. * See p. 306 below. ^ Nicolas, London Chronicle, 105-7; Chronicles of London, 71-3; they date the murder of Burgimay correctly. The error in the Brut may be due to a slavish following of the London Chronicle, simply omitting the names of the Mayor and Sherriffs ; cf. -what is said of ' Appendix D' on p.Se, above , 3oa APPENDIX The text here given is based on Cotton Galba, E. viii = G., which has been collated with I larley 2256 = A. I larley 266 = B. Harley 753 = W. 1 have retained Ur. Urie's lettering of the MSS. C. and A. so closely resemble one another, as to make it almost certain that one is copied from the other. J>. is of much later date (towards the end of the Fifteenth Century), but has some superior readings, which suggest that it represents an earlier copy. W. only belongs to this version for the additions from the London Chronicles at the end ; but in the next Chapter (on the Siege of Rouen) it follows the Version of 1430. Of a similarly composite character is a Manuscript which formerly belonged to Lord Amherst of Hackney; it is in the possession of Mr. Quaritch. See Quaritch's Catalogue 303, No. 879. It is not noticed by L)r. Brie. It is a small folio, on vellum, ff. 206, with 30 lines on a page. It ends in 1430, and like so many other manuscripts of that Version was written about 1450. It was at one time in the library of the Duke of Buccleuch at Dalkeith House. This copy resembles the Version ending in 1419 down to the beginning of the siege of Rouen, but from that point follows the Version of 1430 ; for the date of Henry's leave-taking in April, 1417, it reads: 'seint Markes day that was that tyme Hoktuysday.'' How Kynge Henry the V purposid and ordeynyd hym ouyr the see ayen in to ffraunce and normandye by counseill of hys lordis and cominnes oflf the Rewme. And in the iiij*® yere of kynge henryis Regne the V. the kynge holdynge his parlement at Western', in the bygynnynge of the monythe of Octobrc, the whiche parlement endid aboute the puryfication of cure lady thanne nexte, by comen assent of alle the clergye and lemperalte ther was grauntid to the kynge bothe dymes and tallagis to fulfille the kyngis purpos in holdynge and susteynynge of chalenge and right that he had to normandye and Guyane, his trew tituU and right heritage. Wherefore the kynge chargid dukis, erlis, Baronys, knyghtis and squveris to make hem redy in the beste and moste worthy aray that thei coude or myght, with all the strengthe of men of armys and archens to helpe and strengthe hym yn his werris for the right of Engelond : and that thei alle be redy to Moustur • at Hampton in the Witsonweke thanne nexte comynge in alle her aray as they ought to Werre. And thanne the kynge ordeynyd and made by alle his worthi and gracious counseill, or he passid oute of Engelond, John the duke of Bedflbrd, his brothir, leutenaunte, deffender and gouernere of his Rewme of Engelond to kepe and maynteyne his lawis in all raaner rightis like as hym self were bodyly presente, and to kepe the londe in quyte reste and pees, with alle maner of rightwisncsse durynge his absence, he alio maner of cquyte and Justnesse to his ayen comynge, and in maynlenynge of alle right Spirituall and tcmperall. ' As aho ,I,HS Colloii. MS. Claudius A. viii. f. 5"". ' Mouslrc A., li. ' iif !■«;. li. THE BRUT 1413-17 303 And thanne whanne the kynge had this don, and set here alia thyngis in his kynde and made hym self redy to his viage and pour- pose ' : thanne the second day aftur seint Markis day that tho was Hoktewisday '' oure kynge come rydyng fro Western', vnto seint poulis in london, and he alight and offrid, and thanne come ayen and toke his hors and rode thorough the Cite of london takynge hys leue of alle pepull as welle of pore as of riche, prayinge hem all in generall too preye for hym to almyghti god to spede hym and all his company wall in her viage : and so he rode forthe to hampton, and there he restid and abode tille ha had gadarid his ratanawe to hym, and alia the nauee of Shippis greta and smale togederis, and late alle these Shippis ban well stuffid with vitaillis as longid for suche a pepull, and also with alle othir maner of stufife that longit to werre,* as armure, Gunys smalle and grata, Trapgettis and Engynes, with bastell,^ bryggis of lethur, scalynge lad- deris, and mallis of led, and pykowis, mattakkis and shoualis ; and of alia maner ynstrumentis the kynge ordeynyd and had grata plente to his nede. And thanne the kynga Shippid at portismougtha with alia his worthi retenewe and toke the sea and seilid ouyr to ° the costis of normandye, and londid on seint petris day, lammassa, at Benvile : and at his londynga he made of his worthinesse xliiij knygtis. And thanne the ' kynge herynga of many anamyas vpon the sea, that ix grata Carrikis and othir moo grata hulkis and Shippis were ordaynyd and lay to take his Shippis : Tho the kynga comaundid the aria of the Marcha to byn chaef cheuantayna, and assygnyd many lordis with hym, with men of armys and archeris, to take his Carrikis and Shippis, and ' go ayen to the see to Skymoure the see that non of his enamyas entarid the londa in no partye to lette nor to distrobuU his viage and iomey. And thanne the Erie with alle his compeny at the kyngis ordynaunce yedan forthe with the Shippis and kapte the see ' and the sea costis. And thanne the kynge toke forthe his wey with his hosta and come to the Castell of" Toke, and sent his haroudis to the Captayne and to the papuU that were with ynne, and comaundid ham to yald the Castella vnto hym or alles thai shold deie euyrycha oon withouta any othir grace. ' pourposid G. ^ The common text (Brut, 382) has: Saint Markes day, fat was fat tyme Hocwednysday ; which is impossible , for in 1417 St. Markes Day fell on a Sunday. ' of am. A., B. * werres B. " bastyles and sowes B. « to om. B. ' oure B. 8 to jj_ ' kepte the shippes and the see B. '" of om. B. 304 APPENDIX And thannc the Capteyne with othir of his compenye comen oute and knelid byforn the kyngc, and besought of hym * mercy and grace, and brought the kyngc "- the keyes : and thannc the kynge comaundid to put out alle the (Trcnsshe pepull that weren withynne the Castell, and let hem go and passe sauf withoute more harme where thei wold. And anon the kynge callid sir Thomas, his brothir, the duke of Clarence, and toko hym the keyes and made hym Capteyne of this Castelle of Toke : and he put there ynne engelisshe men ynowe to kepe the Castell sauf from the power of the ffrensshe men, to his grate worship, profite and honoure. And there beside was the Castell of Loueris,' and thedur sent the kynge ihe erle marchalle with a feire meyne of goode men of armys and archeris : and thanne thei come and sawtid thertoo, and they yolde * it anon to the erle and come and brought to hym the keyes of the Castell, and he brought the keyes to the kynge " : and thanne he voydid alle the ffrensshe pepull ° that he fonde in the castell at the kyngis comaundement ; and the kynge toke hym the keyis and made hym Capteyne of this same Castell of Louerys and of alle that longid therto. And the kyng tho toke forth his iourney, and come to the toune of Cane that was a toune of grete rialte and streng^e : and whanne he was come therto, anon the kynge sent his heraudis in message to the Capteyne of the toune to dellyuyre hym his toune, and his Castell, whiche that was' his owne propur heritage and right, or ellis he wold gete it with strengthe and saue none of her lyues. And thei answerd vtturly that thei wold kepe it while thei myght endure : and thanne " the kynge bisegid the toune a longe t}'me, and shotte therto Gunnys, Trepgettis and engynes: and keste' adoun wallis, and bete adoun howsis, and slowe moche pepull bothe in housis and eke in stretis : and so the duke of Clarence lay on that othir side of the toune, and bete adoun the wallis on his side, and at the laste he wanne ynne, and gate the toune on hem and slowe moche of the ffrensshe pepull. And thanne the duke of Clarence lete yn his brothir into the toune with moche solempnyte and myrthe : and anon the kynge went to the Castell with his pepull, and comaundid it to ben >-old to hym, or ellis vttirly thei shold deie : and anon the captayne come forthe in the ' hisouglil hym of /I. ; bysoujt the kyngc of /•'. • broujt hym B. " Sniiic filii, I- tifiif Toii./ii,-^. * y'oMcow/. C. " crlr, and cdiuc niul lirou5l tlic keyes to the kyiiire /■'. • pepull om. B. ' Is /.'. » thi.^ ./. " cnslo B. THE BRUT 1413-17 305 kyngis presence, and bysoughte hym of grace and merci to yeue hym' xiiij dayes respite if reskewis come, or ellis deliuyr hym keyes and Castell at his will : and so no reskewis come and the kynge had bothe Castell and town at^ his comaundement with all the ojier tounys, abbeyis, Castell, villagis that tho were in composicion to this toune '^ and castell of Cane. And our kynge chargid alle the ffrensshe pepuU to vide the toune, and comaundid all his men' vpon lyf and dethe, no man so hardi to defoule ne robbe no women, but let hem passe free inipes : for this was the kyngis comaundement at the reuerence of our ladi marye,* quene of heuene, and of alle comforte euyr worshippid and blessid mote she be. And ther* passid oute of that toune in 00 day moo thanne xv C. women at the kyngis wille and grace. And thanne oure kynge lete stuff the toune and the Castell with Engelissh pepuU, and ordeynyd there two Capteynys, on for the toune and anothir for the Castell, and chargid hem vpon his legeaunce that placis to ben trewly and saufly kept to the profite and to the crowne of Engelond. And now to speke of the worshipfull Erie of the Marche and of his companye that the kynge comaundid to skure and to scomoure ° the se for his enemyes : and to speke of his passage to and fro or he come ayen into normandye vnto the kynge : for whanne he had byn a while vpon the see with the Carrikis and Shippis the wynde aros and the wauys with tempeste' stronge, and hurlid foule togederis, that thei wenden alle to haue ben perisshid and loste : and ther was at that same tyme drownyd a Carrike and a balynger and all the pepuU that weren there ynne : on whos soule god haue mercy, amen. And thanne the maryneres with her shippis and oJ>er vesselle gate in with in the yle of Whight, and come bifore hampton, and there riden the storme to dethe. And thanne thei come oute ayen out of Whight with her shippis, and seilid ouyr the see into normandye and londid at hoggis : and thanne the ffrensshe men that wonyd there ffleden and wold not abide hem. And whanne thei were all londid thei token her horsis and reden forthe toward the kynge : and as thei reden ther come to hem an antony pigge, and he folowid the hoste all the wey as thei reden till thei come to a grete Washe,' and ther thei drad to haue ben dede alle : I and A., G. '' tonne om. G. ' englissh men A., B, - ladi seint Marie A., B. ^ And that ther G. ; For ther B. ^ to skevre and to skoure and to skeme B. ' tempestes A. ' Baie des Veys. 1458 X 3o6 APPENDIX so the Watir had closid hem rounde aboute that thei myght nowere" gete oute, for the Watir was large and depe. And thanne thci tho cried and prayed to seint George of helpe and socoure, and anon her bone was herd, and thei come oute sauf alle oute of the Wasshe, ythankid be god : and thanne thei toke a guyde to hem, a ffrensshe man, that knewe alle the contre aboute, and he brought hem thorough a quyke sande and so into an yle : and there thei toke many ffrensshe men prisoneris, and herborouyd hem self tho ij nyghtis in ^e ffelde : for the herd that the ffrensshe men wold yeue hem bataill, but thei fledden and durste not abide. And thanne thei ^ toke the wey there as the kynge was, and bighid to hym ward alle that thei ' myght. And thanne come messageris of the kyngis, and met with hem and with othir lordis, and bad hem high faste to Bayous in alle haste,* a stronge toune with a Castell and strongly subarbid and myghti: thaime weren the englisshe lordis loggid alle aboute this toune of Bayous, with the Castell and " subarbis, to besege hem that weren withynne. And thanne come sir Vmfray, the duke of Gloucestre, with a grete meyne of armys and archeris with Gunnys and othir stuflfe, and wanne the toune and the Castell with the subarbis, and made it stronge widi englisshe pepuU : and thanne thei toke her wey toward there as the kynge was hym self. And thanne the kynge toke his ioumey to a toune that me callid argenton, that was a stronge toune and well wallid and welle stuffid with ffrensshe pepuU of defence. And tho the kynge leid to ' his Gounys and barste doune the wallis : and thanne anon thei yold the toune to the kynge in condidon that thei moste haue her lyfis and goodis : and the kynge grauntid hem. And thei yold vp to the kynge bothe toune and Castell, and the kynge comaundid the englisshe hoste to lete the ffrensshe men passe withoute eny skathe or shame or harme vpon ' peyne of dethe. And » with this toune and Castell weren yold to the k)'nge many tounys, vilagis, Castellis and pilis, that weren vndir her composission : and at that tyme the kynge departid ' and )'af to lordis, knyghtis and squyeris for her deserte tounys, vilagis, Castellis and pilis, eche to his proportion for his reward for her grete and longe trauaile. ' now)t where B. ' And then \vc B. ' we B. • hem hye yn nil the hast to H-iyous B, ' and cm. G. • Icydc there to B. ' vp A., G. * And I'w. F. ' depclid <;. ; depart yd />'. THE BRUT 1413-17 307 And thanne oure kynge with his hoste come doune to a cite that me cailid Cessy,' that had a ryall and a strange Mynstir with ynne hym ° : but thay yold hem anon to the kynge withoute eny sawte or stryfe or stroke smeton, with many othir castellis and pilis riall that lonE;id to that cite of Cessy/ that to hit weren compownyd/ And thanne oure kynge, as it lay in his way, come forthe to launson,"* and wanne the Brygge and the toune, and toke there many piysoneris, and grete plente of tresoure there the kynge wanne. And fro thens the kynge sent the Erie ° of Warvvik to a toune that me cailid Belham,' with othir moo lordis and knyghtis, men of armys and archeris, and with stuffe of Gounys and othir ordynauncis. And whanne they sawe and spied ' the englisshe menys ordynauncis, thanne for drede thei tretid and yold hem and put hem holely in the kyngis grace and mercy. And thanne tretid othir dyuerse toimys and strengthis, as Hayes and Mortriuall,' that weren wallid tounys bothe, and many stutte '" and stronge Castellis that weren aboute hem yold hem vp to oure kynge that same tyme and besoughte hym of grace and of mercy, and to become hys liege pepuU and at alle tymes redy to " the kynges com- aundement. And thanne dyuerse lordis of the kyngys hoste, with her peptill of men of armys and archeris, bisegid the toune of VernuU : and thei yold it vp to the kynge bothe toune and Castell, bothe bodyes and goodes to the kynges will and comaundemente : and so the kynge gate and conquerid alle the tounys, vilagis smale and grete, and alle the abbeyis of deffence, castellis and pilis, yeuen to the cite of Rone. "And in the" same yere on seint petur is day and poule in the monythe of Juyne the erle of huntyngdon, with othir lordis and all her retenewe of men of armys and archeris, foughten with ix Carrikkis of Gene, the grettiste that myght ben sene in the costis of normandye : and there thei scomfitid hem, and of whom, thonkyd be god, thei toke iiij grete carrikkis and her patronys, and alle her stuffe, man and good, and her chieff' amyrell of hem that was cailid the bastard of Burbone, with alle the Tresoure that thei shuld haue had for wagis of a quarter of a yere : and the othir carrikis fledden her " wey and durste not abyde. 1 Seez ; Crescy G. ^ ham B. " Cresci G. * compotmed S. ^ Alen9on. ^ Duke G. ' Belleme. ' aspyld A. ; say and aspyyd B, " Mortriuale A. • luyes and Mortyvale B. '" stowte A. ; stovte B. " at B. '^ B. omits the next two paragraphs ; W. inserts them together with Burgundy's murder at the end after the notice of Oldcastle. 18 Also in this A. " he G. X a 3o8 APPENDIX And in the V. yere of kynge henri is regne,' thankid be god, the grete general! counseile was endid, and an vnyon made in holy chirche thorough all cristiante, and a pope chosyn by alle the hole clergie : and at Constaunce vpon seint Martynys day Bisshop and confessoure, and by comen assente of alle the clergie that there weren general} in that tyme," callid hym Martinus Quintus. And also in the same yere the dolfyn of ffraunce sent aftur the duke of Burgoyne, to whom as men seyne not ffuUy viij • dayis afome he was sworn on goddis body sacrid to ben good and trewe togederis, and for to come and speke with hym bysidis pans at the Tonne of Mostreux with serteyne personys vndir the dolfynnys sauf condite. And whanne he was come thedur, nat withstondynge his sauf condite and his grete othe made, that was betwene hem bothe, the Viscounte of* nerbone, as the duke knelid before the dolfyn in a Chambre, he smote hym with an axe on the hede : and so the fals dolfyn and his complices falsly and vntrewly, and ayens all maner lawe of armys murtherid the foreseid duke, and made there an ende of hym. And also in the same ' yere of kynge henryis Regne the V. sir John Oldcastell, knyght, that was callid the lord Cobham, was arestid for loUerye,' and commyttid to the toure of london : and anon aftur he brake oute of the toure, and moo othir prisoneris, and ascapid and fled into Walis ' : and there he kept hjrm a longe tyme. And at the last the lorde powis and his meyne met with sir John oldcastelle in the contre of Walis, and wold haue arestid hym on the kyngis by halflf as for a rebell and a traytour to the kynge and to the Rewme: and right' myghtily he faught a grete while, and was sore woundid and ouyrcome : and so he was take ' there and arestid by the lord powis and his meyne, and brought out of Walis into engelond, and so to london in a Whirlecole, and so in the same whirlicole brought to Western', hall to the parlement, and byforn the kyngis Justicis. And there he was examynyd and araynyd of the poyntis that weren put on hym, and there he was tho conuicte in treson, and there ' hcnreis Regne Jie V ^. • clergie Jrat were J>ere at J«t t>-nie W. ' vij /I., JV. * Viscounte and G. » And in the V" B. ' arcated afore Bollerye B. ' The\error, through whuh Ol'lastU's first amst an,/ tscap4 front the Tmi^ appears under the fifth year, Oiritn in all the Efiglhh vtrsioHS, atul also w '" shorter Latin Version {see p. 318 below^. ' and so B. » and taken B.\ W., tuhich folh:vtd tht Version of 1419 to this point, imk' rhangts to that of i ^yo. THE BRUT 1413-17 309 dampnyd to the dethe : and so he was brought ayen ' fro Western', to the toure of london, and there leid on an hurdill and drawe thorough the Cite to seynt Gylis feld ^ withoute holburne : and there was made a newe peyre of ' Galouys for hym : and there he was hongid and brent galouys and all : and this was his ende here in this worlde.. ' bronjt w' men B. ^ Gylees in the ffelde B. = oiom. A., B. V. THE LATIN BRUT The Latin Brut ends with the murder of James I of Scotland in 1437, though in some copies independent continuations to various dates have been added. The manuscripts (I have examined nine' only, but it is not likely that others vary greatly) fall into two main classes according as they give a brief or a full account of the reign of Henry V. For the reigns of Henry IV and Henry VI all are very similar ; though they have frequent textual variations, which may be due in part to independent translations from the English original. (1) Manuscripts with a brief account of the reign of Henry V. 1. Rawlinson C. 398, flf. 48-51, in the Bodleian Library. An excellent MS. written not long after 1437. For the campaign of Agincourt it a^ees with the copies of the second class. It belonged to die famous Sir John Fortescue (see Mr. Plummer's edition of The Govemana cf England, pp. 180, 181). 2. Cotton Domitian A iv, ff. 53-7, in the British Museum. Written about the middle of the fifteenth century. 3. Harley 3906, ff. loi-il, in the British Museum, with a continuation to 1456 — the Sherborne Annals, printed on pp. 347-49 below. Written about 1456. 4. Anmdel 5, IT. 162-6, at the College of Arms, with a continuatioD 101471 — from 1422 onwards it is printed in Dr. Gairdner's Three Fifteenth Century Chronicles, pp. 164-85, as A Brief Latin Chronicle. Written about 1471. The MS. belonged to John Foxe, the Martyrologist, and afterwards to Lord William Howard. 5. Rawlinson B. 195 in the Bodleian Library. Askteenth-centurycopy. (2) Manuscripts with a full account of the reign of Henry V. 1. Lansdowne 212, ff. 153-71, in the British Museum. A somewhat late copy. It has some noteworthy variations for the reigns of Heniy IV and Henry VI. On f. i is the note ' Liber Monasterii Glastonensis e bibliotheca^Guilielmi Camdeni, Clarenceux ' ; this is confirmed (or perhaps explained) by the interpolation on f. 27 of a notice of SL Joseph of Arimathea and his coming 'in Insula Auallonie que nunc Glastonia dicitur'. 2. St. John's College, Oxford, 7&. An early copy %-ery little later than 1437. 3. Rawlinson B. 169 in the Bodleian Library. Written about the middle of the fifteenth century. For the reign ot Henry IV it does not difler materially from Rawlinson C. 398 ; for the reign of Henry VI it is some- what abbreviated. 4. Harley 3884 in the British Museum. Only for 1415 to i437iW>m a continuation for 1445 to 1455. Written between 1456 and 1460. In this MS. the Chronicle comes at the end of a copy of Higden's Pol}- chronicon. For a further description of the MS. and its contents see pp. 342 below. ' Not loun'iii^ Ihe Coi/s/(m' Ciivnit/e, or Kitwlinson B. 147. THE LATIN BRUT 311 In addition to these MSS. there is the so-called Godstow Chronicle, ap. Hearne's edition of Roper's Life of More, pp. 238-46. Hearne explains that he only gave it its name ' quia in illud forte fortuna inciderim quum anno Mdccxv una cum J. Bagford ad rudera prioratus de Godstowe iuxta Oxoniam animi recreandi gratia perambularem '. It is no more than an imperfect copy of the Latin Brut. Both the beginning and conclusion have been lost. It ends in the middle of the account of the battle of Vemeuil. The text closely resembles that of the Domitian MS., except for the interpolation of a notice of the fight at Bramham Moor, and of some verses on Henry V, and for the somewhat fuller and superior narrative of the years 1415 to 1421 (see Hearne, u. s., pp. 240-3). The manuscript is now Rawlinson C. 234 at the Bodleian Library. In Rawlinson B. 147 (a tiny quarto) there is a peculiar version of the Latin Brut. The history for 1399 to 1437 is contained on ff. 40^-43™. For the reign of Henry IV it is very brief; the defeat of Northumberland and Bardolph in 1408 is said to have taken place at ' Hasulwode ' (the Godstow Chronicle has 'Bramyng More prope Hasylwode'). For Henry V it is short but has some peculiarities ; the Sire de Gaucourt and Dominus de Totevile [Estouteville] appear erroneously amongst the prisoners of Agin- court; there is a reference to the Benedictine Chapter of 1421. The narrative for 1422 to 1430 is superior to that of the ordinary Latin Brut, especially for Vemeuil and the Parliament at Leicester ; but the matter all comes from the English Brut, or the London Chronicles. The very short account of 1430 to 1436 is abbreviated from the ordinary text. This Chronicle is of interest only as proving the existence of another version. In Rawlinson C. 398 the Chronicle is attributed to an otherwise unknown Richard Rede, and it has in consequence sometimes been cited as ' Richard Rede's Chronicle ' ; possibly Rede was no more than the owner or transcriber of that copy. One Richard Rede was Chancellor of the green wax and clerk of the common pleas in Ireland'; but the name was not an uncommon one. The St. John's College MS. ends : ' vt dicitur, difFerebat. Shyrbume.' This has led to the ascription of the Chronicle, by a seventeenth-century writer (after i644)in the Lansdowne MS., to Shyrbume. But Shyrbume was only the scribe or owner of the St. John's College MS., which has at the end of the volume on f. 156 the note: 'Frater Johannes Shyrbume me fecit fieri.' The Latin Brut seems to be the work which Hardyng cites as ' Chronicon Magistri Norham' (see p. 148 above) ; Norham also was probably only the name of an owner. The Latin Brut must be left as an anonymous work. In any case it is not an original composition, but a mere translation. A brief note on the earlier part of the Latin Brut down to 1399 may not be out of place. The original work probably ended at the Norman Conquest, and was composed in the fourteenth century, to the latter years of which two manuscripts of this type (Magdalen College, Oxford, 200 ; and Lambeth, 99) belong.^ Different copies seem to present a good deal of textual variation. I have compared L., D., and S. for the reign of Richard II ; all three are obviously translated (though with much abbreviation) from the common English text ; but L. is fuller than D., and D. is fuller than S. ; this is in agreement with their relative character in the subsequent continuations. The relation of the Latin Brut to the English version preserved in Daviess Chronicle, and of the longer narrative for the reign of Henry V to Tito Livio's Vita Henrici Quintiis discussed on pp. 5 3 and 127-31 above. 1 Cal. Pat. Rolls, Henry VI, iv. 419; cf. Letters of Margaret ofAnjou, p. 149. 2 See Brie, Geschichte und Quellen, pp. 127-30; Cotton Julius B. ili is a. fifteenth-century MS. of the same type. 3ia APPENDIX In the footnotes to the text the MSS. are designated as follows : Rawlinson C. 398 = C. Lansdowne 212 = L. Domitian A. iv = D. St. John's CoUege 78 = 7- Harley 3906 = 'V. Rawlinson B. i6g = £. Arundel 5 = •^- Harley 3884 = -ff- The text of (l) is based on C. collated with D., S., A., L., y., and H. A. for the reigns of Henry IV and Henry V agrees so closely with D. (except in one place, see p. 3 14 «. 9) that I have only noted it for the reign of Henry VI. D. and ^s'. are generally similar ; and so are H., y., and L. ; these groups correspond to the two versions. C, as noted above, for the campaign of Agincourt resembles the longer version. The text of (2) is based on L. collated with y., B., H., and the printed text of Tito Livio's Vita Henrici. B. and y. are similar texts, and resemble the Vita in one or two interesting points, where L. differs ; see especially the reference to the Universities on p. 323. H. is for both versions the least useful text. (i) The Common Version for 1399 to 1437 Henricus de Bolyngbroke, Dux Herefordie, Comes Derbeie, et heres' Johannis de Gaunt nuper' Ducis Lancastrie,' post Regem Ricardum depositum de communi assensu procerum et magnatum ac communitatis Regni, in festo* sancti Edwardi Regis et Confessoris apud Westmonasterium coronatur. Iste Henricum,' filium suum seniorem et heredem,' fecit Principem Wallie, Ducem Coraubie, ac Comitem Cestrie ; et Thomam Arundell, Archiepiscopum Cantuarien- sem,' in suum restituit Archipresulatum : Rogerum vero ■ Walden, quern Rex Ricardus Archiepiscopum Cantuar. fecerat,' in Episcopattim London, tunc vacantem detrusit'"; nee non filium et heredem Co- mi lis Arundellie fecit Comitem Arundell, et in possessionem terranan suarum restituit." Anno prime. Anno primo Regis huius apud Wyndesore in vigilia Epiphanie Domini venit Dux de Awmarle ad Regem, ac ei intimauit qualiter" ipse et Dux Surrie," Dux Exonie, Comes Sarum. Comes Gloucestrie, et alii sui sequaces" fuerant concordati, vt in nocte diei Epiphanie quendam ludum, Anglice a Mommynge Regi facerent, et in eodem ' filius y. ' dudum J. ' dncis Ijincastrie defiincti D., J., L. ' magnatom in festo y. ; magnatum Anglie ac commimitatis R^ni in feslo L. ; Gaunt de communi omnium assensu in festo .9. ° Rex iste Henricus filium y. ; Rex iste anno primi r^ni sui fecit Henricnm L.\ Iste Henricus Henricum, X ' et heredem om. S. ' Archiepiscopum Cnntuariensem aw, 5'. " ac Rogerum /)., S. ' Archiepiscopum ordinauerot S. "> tronstulity., /..; instituit.?.; Cantuar. ordiiianernt.e.'ciiellebatet ad episcopatvun London, tunc vncantem promouebat P. " in possessionem suam restituit y. ; ad suam heieditatem restituit, L. ; necnon . . . restituit om. S. " Dux Alhcmarlic intimauit Regi L. " Epiphanie intimatnm crat Rcgl qualiter Dnx Surrie S.; intimatom ilU (inomoao y. '* com]>licc8 y. THE LATIN BRUT 313 ipsum interficere intentabant.' Qua nocte Rex secrete venit London, acquirere sibi auxilium'* contra suos proditores.' Sed cognito quod eorum prodicio fuerat Regi intimata, festine aufugerunt.* Dux Surreie et Comes Sarum cum tota eorum familia ad villam de Circestre fuge- Tunt, vbi communitas " dicte ville ipsos arestare voluisset ; sed ipsi obedire nolentes pugnauerunt contra ipsos, sed capti sunt et deuicti, et alii plures cum eis, et ibidem decoUantur.^ Postmodum vero apud Pritwelle in Essex in quodam molendino Johannes Holand, Dux Exonie, per communitatem illius patrie capitur, €t vsque Plasshe deductus decapitatus est.^ Comes Gloucestrie apud Bristolliam capitur, et in foro ibidem capite priuatus est.* Hoc eodem anno Bernardus Brokes, Johannes Shelley, milites, Johannes Mawdeleyn, €t Willelmus Fereby, nuper capellani Regis Ricardi, capiuntur, qui postmodum decapitati fuerunt." Hoc anno Isabella Regina, nuper vxor Regis Ricardi, dote sua nudata, cum magnis tamen muneribus, ab Anglia pulsa est, et in Franciam transmissa. Anno secundo Regis huius Rogerus Claryngdon, miles, et Prior de Anno ij. Launde " ac octo fratres minores,^"^ et alii duo seruientes dicti militis, tracti et suspensi fuerunt.'^ Hoc anno" incepit discordia inter dominum Grey de Ruthyn et Owinum de Glendore in '* Wallia. Hoc eciam anno quarterium frumenti vendebatur ad sexdecim solidos." ■ ' intendebant y. ; Regem occidere proponebant D., S. " sibi acqnirere snpportamen D. ' Qua nocte . . . proditores om. S. ; contra suos proditores om. D. ; Rex tlmens €orum prodicionem clam adiuit London. J,, so also L. but reading ipsorum potenciam. * quod hoc fuerat Regi intimatnm, predicti proceres cum omni festinacione aufugerunt D. ; prodicio esset dinnlgata protinus ad dinersa loca dispersi sunt J. ^ populus D. ° Set ipsi huic obedire noluerunt, set contra populum fortiter dimicarunt, qnibus tandem per ipsum populum debellatis, capti sunt et alii plures cum eis et pariter decoUantnr D.; voluisset, restiterunt fortiter dimicantes, ipsis tamen debellatis et captis cum pluribus aliis decoUati sunt J. ; dimicantes, set tandem debellati et capti, ibidem decapitati sunt L. ' Et cognito lioc Regi erat intimatum, predicti proceres cum omni festinacione protinus conliigerunt. Quorum Dux Surreie et Comes Sarum apud Cicestr. decoUati sunt, Johannes Holond, Dux Exonie, in quodam molendino apud Pruttwell in Essex, et vsque Plasch' deducitur et decoUatnr S. * capite est truncatus D. ; capite truncatur L. ' postea decoUantur D. ; capiuntur et decapitantur L. ; Hoc eodem . . . ftienant cm. J. '" Launde iuxta Leycestriam y. " fratres minores ordinis sancti Francisci D. '' Comes Gloncestrie . . . fuerunt om. S. ; minores, quorum quidam erant magistri in theologia, et alii tracti et suspensi simt Z. Q{\ JJavies's Chron. p. 24, where one of the friars is called a maister of diuinite. See also Eulogium Historiarum, iii. 391, 392. '' Anno ij" huius Regis S. '* Glendore armigerum de L. '" Hoc eciam . . . solidos om. y., L., S. ; Et hoc eciam anno erat taristia frumenti, quarterium enim frumenti erat precii xvj. s. D. 314 APPENDIX Anno iij" Anno tercio apparuit Stella comata, et nocte beate Marie Magdalene proximo scquenii commissum est graue bellum apud Salopiam inter istum Rcgem Henricum et dominum Henricum Percy, filium Comitis Northumbrie, et hoc falso consilio et iniqua suggestione donoini Thome Percy auunculi sui, Comitis Wigomie ; vbi prefatus dominus Henricus Percy, Comes StafFordie, et alii quaraplurimi sunt occisi ex vtraque parte ad numerum mille quadringentorum et sexdecim honiinum.' Et dominus Thomas Percy captus ibidem, postea tractus, suspensus et decollatus est. De isto bello metricus quidam sic dicit: — Anno milleno quater et centesirao bino Bellum Salopie fuit in Mag. nocte Marie.'' ^^jmo iiijto Anno quarto Regis huius venit Imperator Constantinopolitanus cum multis aliis proceribus ' in Angliam, Quo eciam anno Domina Johanna, Ducissa Britannie, venit in Angliam quam Rex iste Henricus apnd Wintoniam in Abbathia sancti Swithini desponsauit.' £t eodem anno Domina Blanchea, primogenita huius Regis," nupsit filio Ducis de Barre ° apud Coloniam, presentibus ibidem Ricardo Clifforde, Episcopo Wigorniensi, qui nupcias celebrauit, et Comite Somersetie, qui post nupciarum solemnitatem Angliam reuersi sunt.' Anno yj"> Anno sexto Ricardus Scroop, Archiepiscopus Eboracensis, et Domi- nus de Mowbray, qui et Comes Marescallus dictus erat, ob prodicionem in eis impositam,' apud Ebor. decollantur ; per quem Archiepiscopum deus omnipotens vsque in hodiernam diem plura miracula operatus est.' Anno vijrao Anno septimo Domina Lucia, soror Ducis Mediolanensis, in Angliam ' occisi ad numerum iij M. ccccxvj. hominnm D,, L. ; ad sommam MMM. ccccxvj. j". " Et dominus Thomas . . . Marie, om. S. ' cum . . . proceribus om. L., S. • cum pluribus illius patrie proceribus^. * Quo anno Rex desponsauit Jobannam, dncissam Britanniam, Wintoa in monasterio sancti Swithini .S. » senior filia Regis £>., J., Z., j'. ° Banarre J. ' post nupcias celebratas in Angliam rediemntZ). ; Coloniam, quorum nupcUs Ricardus Clifford, episcopus Wigomiensis, tunc celebrauit, presente Comitt Somersetie, &c. J. ; Regis, per Ricardnm Clifford, Episcopum NVigomiensem, et Comitem Somerset vsque Coloniam adducta filio ducis Banarre ibidem desponstti est L. ; presentibus . . . reuersi sunt, om. S. ' ob . . . impositam om. D. ° plurima signa et mirabilia operantur D. ; dictus, apud Kbor. decoUantni. Deus cnini omnipotens per ipsum Archiepiscopum ^rsque hovlie multR mirabilu operatur J. ; dictus erat, ac VN'illelmus I'lumpton, miles, apud Kbor. decoUantar. Deus cnim omnipotens, &c. L. A. adds ij//th March, 1410, in the eleventh year. ^ Really in 141 1. 1" et Johannem Oldcastell, dominum de Cobham D. *' St. Cloud. " cum potestate magna, qui apud Senclowe iuxta Parisius ducem Aurelianensem debellauerunt J., L. '' For this paragraph D. reads : Et hoc anno dominus Rex fecit Thomam iilium suum Ducem Clarencie, et Johannem alium filium suum minorem Ducem Bedfordie. Rex iste cum xiij annis et quasi dimidio regnasset apud Westm. spiritum exalauit, et in ecclesia Christi Cantuar. sepelitur. y. has simply : Et cum Rex iste regnasset xiij annos et dimidium apud Westra. spiritum exalauit &c., as in D. L. has: Duxerat autem Rex iste dum Comes Derbeie erat filiam Comitisse Herefordie, de qua genuit Henricum, qui post eum regnauit, Thomam Ducem Clarencie, johannem Ducem Bedfordie, et Humfridum Ducem Gloucestrie, et duas filias, Blancheam nnptam filio Ducis Bauarre, et Philippam nuptam Regi Dacie. 316 APPENDIX Henricus quintus, filius Ilenrici iiij*', Princeps Wallie, Dux Comubie et Comes Cestrie, apud Monemoulh in Wallia natus, vicesimo die Marcii, videlicet' in festo sancti Cuthberti, episcopi et Confessoris, accidente tamen Dominica in Passione domini apud Westmonasterium coronatur.' Anno primo huius Regis insurrexerunt plurimi LoUardi, ipsum Regem et clerum sui Regni occidere et destruere proponentes, sed diuino mediante auxilio infra breue penitus sunt extincti. Anno tercio huius Regis Comes Cantebrigie, frater Ducis Ebon, Dominus le Scroop, Thesaurarius Anglie, et Thomas Grey, miles, ipsum Regem Francigenis pro vno millione auri vendidenmt, ac ipsum et fratres suos int»rficere subito proposuerunt. Qui propterea capti et morti adiudicati apud Suthhamptoniam capitibus sunt truncati. Quo facto mox Rex ille, cum multitudine nauium ad numerum mille et quingentarum et potestate magna, versus Hareflieu in Nonnanniam nauigauit, et apud Kitcaws applicuit, ac villam de Hareflieu ' obsedit, diris insultibus ipsam infestando.' Cuius parietes horribilibus bumbar- dorum iaculacionibus pilas lapideas terribiliter euomencium solo tenus consternuntur, turres, campanilia, forcia, et edificia violenter conqna- ciendo. Talium pilarum ludus nusquam a seculo est visus vel auditus in confiniis Francorum." Propterea laceratis meniis, qui infra villain fuerunt pauore concussi ac de rescussu ' penitus desperati, villam Regi reddiderunt. Cui Rex auunculum suum, Thomam Beaufort, tunc Et cum rcgnasset annis xiij et dimidio apnd Westm. spiiitnm exalaait, et in ecclcsia Christi Cantuar. honorifice scpelitur. for the last two paragraphs S. reads : A" xiij" huius Regis Rex Henricus fedt Thomam filium suum Dncem Clarencie, Johannem alium iilium suum Ducem Bedfordie, et Humfredum filium suum inniorem Ducem Glonc ; et cum regn»ss« &c., as in D. ' Princeps . . . videlicet om. S. ^ March 20th was tlie date of Jfenry^s accession. He was avwneJ on Aprii ^h— Passion Sunday. ' villam de Harfliew cum castro obsidiauit et obtinuit. Dcinde N-ero remeanit ad locum qui dicitur Agincourt, vbi francigenas fortiter debellauit, et gloriose cr Picardiam vcjiit ad locum qui vocatur Agingconrt, vbi francigenas fortiter debellauit. In quo bello de frauugenis fneiant numerati centum xx M. virorum, de qnilius xj M. interempti fuerunt, exceptis capitaneis Dcinde Angligcnis voro in toto fucnuit ix milia. Capitanei occisi ex parte Krnncoriim Dux de Ilnrre &c. .?. * Thts text as far ■//«. ' lccmk-9 Z/rvK.i. " quo ailuiiierct Z. THE LATIN BRUT ■i,'i^ Comes Nauernie, principalis Constabularius Francie, et alii octo Comites, centum Barones, mille et quingenti milites et nobiles.' Numerus autem nobilium interfectorum quasi xj M., relique vero plebis M.M.M.'' Capti vero sunt dux Aurelianensis, Dux Burbonie, Arturus ducis Britannia frater, et alii plurimi. Anglicorum Dux Ebor., Comes Suffolchie, et alii ,ad numerum centum virorum, nuUo ex Anglicis capto,' in prima pugna sunt interfecti. Cumque aduesperasset ex vno omnium consilio Rex cum suo exercitu in eandem villulam, in^ qua priori nocte fuerat hospitatus, se recepit ; vbi relicta sui exercitus impedimenta et equos plurimos cum curribus et rebus aliis, ac omni vectura sua^ a predonibus Gallis, dum pugnaret, comperit asportata,* Et in ipsa cena principes capti nobilissimi Regi ministrarunt. Postera die per ipsius campi medium, vbi pugnatum erat, iter habens, mirabile dictu cesorum corpora spoliata nudaque singula comperiens per castellum suum de Gynes,° vnde ad oppidum Calles Rex cum vniuerso exercitu et concaptiuis profectus est; vbi respiracionis ^ gracia morula facta Angliam transfre- tauit, gaudio ineflfabili a cunctis receptus.' Interim Sigismundus Romanorum Rex qui magestatem duorum Regiiorum audierat, que nuper in bella discriminaque tanta conciderant, premissis ad vtrumque Regnum sue voluntatis nunciis, in Galliam primum, vbi cum omni qua debebat obseruacione recipitur. Apud quos super ineunda cum Anglicis pace retulit^ sic et eorum animos mouit vt secum oratores ad id electi mitterentur, quorum Archiepiscopus Remensis legacionis princeps erat. In Angliam inde recta via venit. Quod vt innotuit Henrico Regi Calesiam vltra fretum vbi prius erat nauem accensurus prouidos principes et dominos obuiam mittit, qui tantum principem condigno" in oppidum hospicio recipe- rent.' Regie tunc iussu naues rostrate magne trescente ad hunc Principem et eius commeatum deuehendum parantur, qui tranquillo mari ventisque secundis Douoriam in Angliam delati sunt. Vbi regie stirpis Anglicis principibus et aliis Regni primoribus suscepti London ^ This sentence appears in the other version, p. 317. ^ Erabanciae et ipse Dominus de Helli quem dixi ad regem se de fugasua purgantem venisse, et alii plnres ad decern milia Livius. ' Dullo capto om. Livius. * plurimos, et alias res dum pugnaret a praedonibus Gallis asportatas comperit. Liviiis. ' nudaque omnia, conveniens ad Guynes suum castellum B., J. " recreacionis B., J. ■'vbi receptus om. Livius, who has a longer account from another source. ' digno, ut decebat Livius. ' Livius inserts the names of the Emperor'' s chief companions from an English source, cf. Chronicles of London, p. 124. 328 APPENDIX abinde vsque proficiscuntur ' ; vbi si quid magnifici et apparatus regii potest excogitari aduene Reg! omnia parata fuere. Sigismundus postea pacis inchoatum aggreditur in consilium," in quo Rex Henricus, vt discrimina belli tot tantaque dampna vitarentur, Gallorum offert Icgatis, si sibi dedant quecunque proaui sui Edwardi tercii fuere tempore magne pacis icte tunc inter duo regna cum hiis que nuper ipse tanto discrimine fuerat adeptus, se bellum relicturum. Set omne propositum renuunt Galli dicentes,' quamuis fauste sic omnia successissent tunc ad votum Henrici in futurum se subeundum casibus fortune durioris maiorisque discriminis, detrimenta proinde per- pessurum ; ■" et obstinato animo infectaque pace in Galliam reuertuntur ad suos. Sigismundus Romanorum et Henricus Anglie et Francie Reges temporibus istis maxima familiaritate summa mutuaque beneuolencia inter se complexi sunt, ita quod in fraternitatem Militum Garterii Sigismundus ascribi peteret, et ascriptus est." *Dum hec aguntur in Anglia impacientes ire Galli dedecorisque nuper accepti vlciscendi causa cum maxima manu ad obsidendum Harifluuium proficiscuntur ; huic exercitui preerat Comes Armeniaci nuper in Francia dictus constabularius, qui per terram primum ex omnibus partibus aditum oppido claudit. Set nee sic'' contenti de Januensibus ° rostratas maximas naues, quas nos carrucas vocamus,' stipendiarias conducunt ad ora claudenda Sequane fluuii, que sunt Harifluuii portus. Et breuiter sic omnem aditum vndique clauserunt, ita quod Anglicis ex oppido nulla spes egrediendi nee \'ictum " reci- piendi relinqueretur. Tunc Comes Dorsetie, huius loci prefectus, omnem obsedionem sui suorumque discrimen Regi nunciat, et summam cibi atque potus inopiam. Quas " vt innotuerat Regi, statim valida parata classe cum militibus naualibus et lerrestribus non paucis ad soluendam banc obsidionem fuisset profectus, nisi prudentissimus Rex Sigismundus sibi dissuasisset, inter quas increpabat" Regem, in quo tocius rei 1 Livius inserts a longer account of Sigisimiiui' s nccptionfroni an Enp'isi source; cf. Brut, p. 380 ; t/ic mention of the king's brothers by Livius is pecMliar to him. ° aggreditur. Itur in Consilinm Li-.iiis. ' Livius puts the reply in slii^litly different uvils. ' detrimenta perpessurura oin. Livius. " et ascribcretur Livius. ' j4t this f>oi)it bciciiis the close resemblance cf our text to Dtn'ies's Chronicle. ' clandit. Nee isto, Livius. * Januensibus llala civitale, Livius. " quas istac Karak nationcs vocant Livius. '" Anglicis spes nulla commeatus alicundc Livius. " Quod B., jf. '" incrc|iauit />., y. ; Sigismundus multis et mullis pereuasionibns id sibi dissuasisset; ii\ter quas uanrpalml crebro Livius. THE LATIN BRUT 339 umma reponitur, non sic debere se omnibus obiectare periclis, et istam [uam optabat obsedionem per quern ' de suis principibus mandate regio ;que bene dissolui ^ posse confirmabat. Tunc obsequi volens amici iegis sentencie princeps Henricus' Johannem Bedfordie Ducem huic ilassi prefectum ad maritimam obsedionem soluendam mittit^; qui rates Januensium grossissimas, quas prediximus, obuiam habuit : pugnatumque est tunc diucius inter illos. Capiuntur tandem quattuor de maioribus Januensium nauibus et de Gallicis maior pars. Reliquis pane omnibus confractis et submersis, maior quedam ex omnibus euaserat, set in lateribus adeo perforata in eo prelio quod post pusillum sub vndas dimergitur. Dux autem velut ei fuerat a Rege mandatum cibos et potum, quos secum adduxerat, in Harifluuium intromisit. Omnino " triremes nonnulle, quas Itali galeas dicunt, in Sequane fluuio cuperent Anglicis ad oppidum aditum impedire. Set validis Anglorum viribus triremes abire compulsi^ ad oppidum felici successu profectus ingenti gaudio recipitur a Dorcestrie Comite et reliquis Harifluuii colonis. Postera die Regis pacto mandate Dux optatissimo vento Angliam regreditur.' Rex autem, vt fratrem cum tanta victoria redeuntem vixit, cognito prius quo fuerat ordine pugnatum et quid in omnibus gestum erat, gracias egit Deo immortal!. Et quia ea fuerat optenta victoria feriis Assumpcionis beate Marie virginis mandauit vt singulis diebus vite sue in eius sacrario Antiphona cum versiculo et collecta in commemoracione beate virginis semel a capellanis et sacerdotibus eius decantaretur. Vt autem plane perspexit Romanorum Rex Sigismundus Gallos nullo modo ad pacem inclinari ad contundendam eorum superbiam, quos eciam in suum imperium et alias et nunc pari elacione nouerat astutos, considerato quoque Anglicorum iustissimo titulo societatem iniit cum Henrico Rege et federa vtrique gratissima.* Que non minus apud heredes et successores suos quam apud seipsos inuiolabilia ' quam cupiebat obsidionis solutionem per quenpiam, Livius. ^ fieri Livius. ' princeps prudentissimus Livius. * Livius here inserts a fuller account of the voyage and battle from another source, and then gives the final clauses with some variation. The text above is from the same original as Davies^s Chron., p. 43. ^ Quamvis et Livius. ' impedire, dux ipse quibusdum adductis celocibus, quas nominant Auglici barges, et validis Anglorum viribns triremes abire compellunt Livius. ' Postera die cum iam omnia regia sententia perfecisset, dux navim ascendit, et ram captis rostratis et captivis navalibus militibus in Angliam optatissimo vento tranqnilissimoqne mari proficiscitur Livius ; ' Tlie said duke with his prises and prisoners retonmed into Engelond agayne.' Davies's Chron. ' Livius has an expanded version of this, and then adds a summary of the Urmsofihe Treaty. 330 APPENDIX ct firma manerent.' Hi hec anno quarto Regis Henrici septimo idus Octobris acta sunt.'' Hiis tcmporibus Dux Holandie, cuius nupta tunc erat fiiia Dolfino,' Angliam ad videndam magestatem duorum Regiim maximamque magnificenciam quam crebrius audiebat predicari, et vt ipse partes suas in sedando belio inter duo Regna nuper orta, adueniens honeste recipitur ab Henrico et suis. Interim Sigismundus et Henricus Reges legatos, quendam comitem Romanorum Regis et Anglici Comitem Warwici, cum plurimo sapien- tum comitatu ad Johannem Burgundie ducem miserant ; et inter eos sic conuenit quod Dux Burgundie Calesiam ad Sigismundum et Henricum Reges in Octobri proximo pro patranda pace veniret. Quibus sic conuentis ad Reges suos comites reuertuntur.* Hiis ita patratis Romanorum Rex ad Regna sua cogitans se parat ad iter. Henricus vero parata digna classe tantis deuehendis principibus ipse cum multis e suis proceribus vna cum Sigismundo et suis Calesiam profecti sunt. Quo Johannes Dux Burgundie, fide sibi \adibusque datis, ab Anglicis cum honore receptus est. Et quoniam ea que ad pacem conducunt concludendam secum non adduxit, set in elacione sua perseuerantes abire iussi sunt. Henricus inde Romanorum Regem et quotquot eidem famulabantur magnis donariis egregie munerauit, et Angliam non sine magnis fluctibus nauigauit." Medio tempore Rex Henricus legatos Constanciam ad generale tocius ecclesie consilium legauerat ; qui vna cum reliquis et aduenienie Romanorum Rcge pro vnione sacrosancte Romane ecclesie studerent, et ad toUendum scisma quod trium pastorum tunc \igebat. Quas ob res omnium consensu nacionum hoc in consilio statutum est vt Anglia nacionis nomen optineret, et vnadiceretur de quinque que deuocionem prestant Romano pontifici ; quod ante id temporis nunquam passi ' fuerant aliarum nacionum homines. Eodem anno Dowglas quidam Comes Scocie proficiscitur in Angliam, fecitque fedas et amiciciam init cum Henrico Rege, quam iureiurando et litteris suis patentibus confirmat. Postea lamen contra iusiurandum pcriurus ad hostes Gallos profectus est, post mortem Regis ' firmaque sinto Liviiis. '' acta sum opii. Livius. " eo quod illius filia ilelphino tunc nupta forct /.I'rv'.v.t. * Livius cxpaiuis this passage to iiuludt .m ,i,v,'i/n/ 0/ U',>/-:ii.i's n^eptioH at Lille. " /.tviiis, •Mhilst iisin:; /he a/)07\-, ^i:YS a /«,'/«- <;. , .'««/ 0/ ezviits at Calais and u) Si^ismiiiiil's nliirn to Ga Kiirij: '■ lemiiuris livorc- invidinquc non passi Livius. THE LATIN BRUT 331 in prelio quod gestum est apud Vernulam fortiter pugnans ab Anglicis interfectus est. Anno quinto Rex in ipsa yeme bellum instaurat, classem parat ex Regni validissimsi, et vsque Hamptoniam proficisci iubet, vt cum ventus secundus habeatur in Galliam ad inchoatam tantam rem proficiscitur. Interim Galli, conductis quibusdam Januensium grossis nauibus, ad ipsius Sequane fauces deiectis ancoris transmittunt. Ad quas expu- gnandas missus est Johannes Huntingdonie Comes, qui classem illam hostilem duro marte deuincens cum rostratis pluribus captis et captiuis innumeris Hamptoniam reuertitur ad Regem/ Post cuius reditum ad vj Kalendis Augusti Rex ex Hamptonia cum nauibus ad mille quingentas et omni suo exercitu ad numerum xvj M. cccc militum '^ apud Towk in Normannia applicuit.' Eductoque exercitu e nauibus remissaque classe in Angliam, quosdam de suis principibus ad circumiacencia castra expugnanda mittit.* Quibus deditis ad vrbem Cadomi recta vadit. Qua non pauco cum labore in dedicionem recepta, vrbem petit Rothomagensem ipsius Normannie caput cum obsidione cingens " in girum. Qua in vrbe in primo illic Regis aduentu fertur fuisse hominum, mulierum, paruulorum, iuuenum, et senium ccc'* milia, e quibus quinquaginta milia dira fame perierunt. Nam durante obsedione ciuitas fame permaxima laborabat magis in dies ac magis, ita quod quicquid cibus esse poterat edendi penuria comedunt. At cum cibus defuit, moritur senex et femina, et ipsam matrem moribundam sugitur* infans a matris vbere dependens mortuus. Spes quidem illis subsidii nulla nisi sola Regis clemencia, quanquam rumor assereret omnem Gallic principem eis in succursum cicius aduenturum. Tandem post multas et diras cedes mutuaque vulnera multa timentes ciues fame perire graciam Regis postulantes vrbem reddunt. Durauit hec obsedio a mensis Augusti principio vsque mensis Januarii inicium. Post deditum Rothomagum deditur et oppidum de Cawdebeck et quotquot Rothomago propinqua fuere. Tunc legati Karoli dolfini, velut prius conuenerat, cum pleno paci- scendi mandate dolfinum obligandi et in eius animam iurandi solemniter ' Livius (pp. 30, 31) whilst using the text above, expands it with fresh material from another source. ^ sexdecim milia et quadringentos //. ; sexdecim milia quadringentos Livius. * in Normania telluri scandentes B., j. Livius here inserts a detailed account of the number and composition of the host. * After the landing in Normandy Livius (pp. 33-60) follows another source for a long account of the war down to the siege of Rouen. His account of that siege (pp. 60-70) is also independent, though once or twice he seems to qttote the text above, cf. pp. 64, 65. ^ urgens LL. * sequitar B., H., J., L. For the original see Davies's Chron., p. 47. 332 APPENDIX ediio Rothomagum ad Regem veniunt.' Idcirco post hinc inde petita taliter conuenit quod ad quandam '' statutam diem dolfinus ad oppidum de Dreux, Rex autem ad vrbem Ebroicensem se diuertant, exinde locum medium ex vtriusque sentencia vbi princeps vterque pro ferienda pace conucniant electuri. Que sic conuenta' sigillo suo regio sigillat el munit et iureiurando sine dolo malo * seruire promittit ; sic et legati Karoli sigillis suis et in animam ipsius dolfini iureiurando sine dolo presencia pacta seruire promittunt. Dolfinus eciam hec eadem pacta suo sigillo munita Regi remittit. Rex vero suum statutum tempus seruat, set dolfinus nouo ° consilio functus Regem frustratus ad locum sibi statutum non venit ; et sic pax infecta est.' Johannes interim Dux Burgundie, cui a Gallis Karoli Regis ob suam aduersam valetudinem cura commissa fuerat, litteris et inter- nunciis cum Rege graciam querit, et efficit quod Rex legatos ad oppi- dum de Prouince, vbi prefatus Karolus et Burgundie Dux per id temporis diuertebantur, mittit. Cuius regie legacionis princeps Comes Warwici pauca stipatus comitiua iter ingreditur. Quo in itinere longe ' maior Gallorum manus in insidiis lateris Anglicos prestolabatur, \l infecta pace strenuum Comitem Anglicosque ceteros interciperet. Cumque ad locum insidiarum deuenisset, in Anglicos irruunt Comes cum suis ad terram prosiliens animo forti ' ad pugnam conuolat, et ipsum depredari molientes in predam capit.° Qua potitus victoria Comes, premissis ad suos in isto prelio captiuis, vsque Prouinciam "* legacionem regiam expositurus proficiscitur." Qua exposita post" multas vtrimque suasiones sic conueniunt, vt Henricus et Karolus prefatus cum eius coniuge ^' et Burgundie duce in communem locum " ad agendum de pace conueniant. Pro quibus firm iter obseruandis Comes Sancti Pauli et Burgundie " Ducis filius heres, securi reddit\is prius habita fide,'" ad Henricum oratores legatique veniunt. Tunc Rex omnem a suis et Karoli legatis rem edoctus sic cum aduersariis conuenit: ' Livius (p. 71) now resumes. The text nhovc a Jcriicd from tlu somi soiine as Davics^s Chron.^ p. 48. ^ petita Karoli legati cum rege paciscuntur ut ad quondam L ivius. ' Quo sic conuento B., J. * malove ingenio //. •■ malo I.Mtis. " Livius has sli;:;htly expatided the text above, rvhich in its turn is tiiewhal fuller than the JCttfiHsli version in Din'., '/• " cum coniuge Kranci.ic dicta rcgina Livius. " stmul ail diem locum statutum iiucndam Livius. " Bnrbonie Livius. '" fide, cum allis mullU / ivius. THE LATIN BRUT 333 quod ad pridie Kalend. Junii Anglicus Rex ad oppidum de Maunt, Karolus et Burgundie Dux ad oppidum de Poyntois se deuerterent,' locus vero medius asset ad oppidum de Mulonie ' iuxta Sequanam huic negocio commodus. Ad quern neutra pars cum plusquam militum duobus milibus et quingentis perueniret.' Et quod interim inducie belli firme certissimeque forent. Quern postea locum medium inter duo oppida parauere inter duas fossas limitatum,' quas nuUus nisi cuius interesset ingrederetur. Vbi Anglici tentoria regia ° cum auro, liliis, •leopardis ° et variis intertextis figuris erigunt. Itidem et Galli suis cum tentoriis castrametati sunt, et Rex inter duas fossas erectis duobus tentoriis, in quibus ipsi Principes cum eorum consultis viris agere tanta super re secretis tutisque colloquiis possent.' Vt vtriusque Regis dignitas seruaretur et obseruancia digna, palus quidam ipsa in media planicie confixus, ad quem nee vlterius alter alteri Regum occurrat. Et statuta die Rex Henricus cum litteratissimis atque sapientissimis viris' re pro tanta necessariis ad oppidum de Maunt pergit. Karolus vero, quia per id temporis sua solita valitudine laborabat, statutum locum non aduenit; set eius vxor et Burgundie Dux cum aliis sui generis regii multis et eximiis Gallorum omnium principibus et duobus militum milibus et quingentis ad oppidum de Pountoys. Vtrique ad medium postea locum deueniunt. Anglicus Rex Regine ' prius, post Katerine filie osculum pacis dedit, quod sine rubore virginis esse nequiuit. Tunc et Burgundie Dux cum omni obseruancia principi domine porrecta dextera, simul et Rex cum puella et reliquis in vnum tentorium, vbi de re pacis desiderate'" agere possunt, conueniunt. Vbi pene per triduum mutuis continuisque pacis colloquiis vsi sunt. Set res inpresenciarum ad optatum finem non deuenit." Medio tempore dolfinus cum Burgundie duce litteris et ' diverticula sumerent Livius. ' Meulan ; Mulanke B., y. ' perueniret om. L. ' forent. Sic et post hoc utriusque statim locum tantoium ad Principum conventum parare duoque medius inter oppida locus inter duas fossas limitatus Livius. ' et Sequanam versus hinc Anglici tentoria frequentes pulcherrima Livius. ' leonibus H. ' tentoriis urbis pnlcherrimae castra metantes speciem efficiunt, et inter duas fossas regiis erectis duobus tentoriis, in quibus Principes ipsi cum viris prudentibus et sapientibus agere tanta super re secretis tutisque colloquiis possent Livius. ' cum litterarum omniumque divinae et humanae sapientiae viris peritissimis, antistibus et aliis sacerdotibus, qui tanta pro re pactisque pacis feriendis digni consultores essent, et cum suo militum duum milium et quingentorum comitatu, armis auro vestibus argentoque intertextis mirandum in modum decoro Mante ad oppidum pergit. Livius. ' rex Gallorum, ut dicunt, reginae Livius. " re publica desideratae pacis Livius. " Livius gives a detailed account of the three days oj the conference ; the brevity of the text above agrees with Davies's Chron., p. 49. 334 APPENDIX internunciis agit, quod nee ipse Dux nee vllus ex suis clientibus paci studeat neque consenciat.' Et ad quintum Nonas Quintilis,* qui bus conuenire debebant, Rex ipse ad locum Gallorum nullus neque Regina neque Dux aduenit.' Quamobrem plane patuit omnibus banc pacem non per Anglicos ym- mo per ipsos Gallos infeetam relinqui. Sic et nichil quicquam bonum tunc euenit, prcter quod vise Katerine ' quedam amoris flamma Re- gem " tunc primum accendit." Ad tercium Kalend. Sextilis oppidum de Pountois Rex recipere^ desiderat.* Quo non sine cede et sanguine intercepto cum valida manu fratrem suum Clarencie Ducem Parisius mittit Qua in breui dedita cum preda maxima reuertitur ad Regem.' Rex ex oppido de Pountois egressus vsque Castellum de Bokyndevillers et Gisorcium tendit, que cito deduntur eidem.'" Dum hec aguntur Dux Burgundie, qui prius amiciciam graciamque Regis quesiuerat, allectus Dolfini pollicitacionibus in institute non per- seuerat; cum ad Castellum de Motereaux, vbi tunc temporis mora- batur Dolfinus, de tractanda inter se pace '' aditus redditusque securi sibi data fide profectus asset, contra fidem a prefato Dolfino cesus inhumaniter," spoliatus et nudus in puteum delectus est. Huius Duels filius et heres Philippus Burgundie Dux, postquam tanti facinoris" certos nuncios habuit, dellberato prius consilio graciam Regis " querere et seeum pads fedus inire " statuit, quod et factum est." Eodem tempore Karoli Regis et Philippi Duels Burgundie, ac ciuium Parlsienslum oratores vsque Maunt ad Henrlcum Regem super con- ' Livius (p. 75) inserts : Quod impetratum causa fuit nt hiis in per maximum dolam et contra Adem datam a Delphino crederetur. ' V nonas of August Davies's Chron. ; Quintilis Livius. ' dux constitutum adiit Livius. * regiae Katerinae Livius. " Martium Regem Livius. " Livius inserts an account of a revolt at Rouen. • capere B., "J. * Livius {pp. 75-7) gives a long account of tlu ^a^turc of PotUcisc. Tki test above accords with Davits'' s Chron. ° and he gat it, and retourned ayen to the Kyng, Dacics's Chvii. ; Livius correctly describes Clareiue's expedition, at more lengili, as a rec^tinoitrt. '° Livius has a longer account of the operations bcfoit Vau.cirviliiers and Gisors. Davies's Chron. has simply : and than gat the kyng Bok>ude Villers. '* ad quacdam inter se super eorum reconciliata gratia deque re pnblica Livius. •' immanitcT Livius ; vnmanii Darics's Citron. " luctus Livius. " cum suis omnibus clientibus, aniicis et sequacibus habito diligenti consilio intermissam regis Livius. '" et inire om. Livius. '" quii'l csl otii. Livius, who injcr/s ,m ac, .iI of the negotiations at Gisors, and of the mptuic of St. u'erman's, ,l/.v;//.ijr, and .]/aila» ; D nhm-c. » Chron. (Silts, pp. ai-JJ- ' /''• I'- ■!')• * /'/. p. .lo. " /,/. p. jj. • Seep. 156. ■> /iriit, ]i. 50S; rf. /i.iD/f.i'j Chroil., p. kh. " !U:l. JViU. Bio^. xUi. lOJ. BRIEF NOTES FOR 1440-43 339 (i) Entries for 1440-41 [ Unerased version.'] ^ Anno decimo oclauo Ricardus Wike, wicarius de Armetesworth in Estsaxia, conuictus fueiat de antiqua heresi, quam prius abiurauerat et tanquam relapsum ab ordine sacerdotali et ab omni ordine sacro subordinato prius colato est degradatus, et iuxta Turrini London, incendii supplicio est commissus. Anno xix. obiit apud Bermusse}' in Sothewerkke Margareta, Clarencie ducissa, octauo die Januarii et in ecclesia Chiisti Cantuarii in capella sancti Michaejis, quam fundauit, inter dominum Thomam, ducem Clarencie, et dominum Johannem, comitem Somersetie, eius coniugatos, honorifice sepellitur. [ Two aliernaiive versions erased.] ' (a) Anno xviijo. Ricard Viche, vicarius de Armetesworth in Estsexia, de antiqua heresi, quam prius abiurauerat, fuerat conuictus, et sic relapsus iuxta Turrim London, meruit post degradacionem ordinis penam incendii sustinere. Eodem anno recuperata erat villa de Herflewe per Edmundum, Comitem de Morten, et dominum Johannem de Talbot, qui multum humaniter circauenerunt per tempora et tempora longiora. Eodem anno Dux Ebor. exaltatus est in regentem Francie et Normandie. Set ibidem permansit vix per duos annos, et nichill contra emulos optinere valuit, quod eius satilites non erant ad guerras expediti. Eodem anno liberabatur de carceribus Johannes Bewforth, comes Somercetie, qui tempore interfeccionis patris sui, ducis Clarencie, fuerat captus. (i) Anno xviijo. Ricardus Wiche, vicarius de Armetesviforth, qui ante plures annos conuictus fuerat de heretica prauitate, quam penitus abiurabat et imposita penitencia relapsus posterius est probatus, quare degradari a dignitate ordinis meruit, et posterius ad comburendum London, iuxta Turrim, in festo sancti Botulphi confessoris et abbatis, condempnari legalia decreta discernunt. Anno xix". Eodem anno per dominum comitem de Morten et dominum de Talbot recuperata fuit villa de Herflu, que prius ex negligencia et inhumanitate custodientis fuerat perdita. Et eodem tempore Dux Ebor. fuerat regens et locumtenens in partibus trans- marinis, set modicum contra emulos laborauit, quia iuuenis fuit et concilio iuuenum regebatur. Eciam eodem anno liberatus Johannes ' Added in the second column ofi. 79'". '^ On i. 79". Z 2 340 APPENDIX Bewforde, Comes Somcrcclie, acaptiuitate sua tempore Decision is ducis ClareriLie palris sui ; et libcratus fuit pro solucione redempcionis comitis de Ewe captiuati in bello de Agincovrt. A" xi,\". Obiit Margareta, ducissa Clarencie, apud Bermesey, viz. in oclaua die Januarii et apud Cantuariam in capella Sancti Michaelis, australi parte ccclesie, quam ipsa fabricari fecit, inter suos olira coniugatos, viz. dictum dominum Thomam, ducem Clarencie, et dominum Johannem, Comitem Somercetie, tumulatur." (2) The Storv of Elkanor Cobham [a) [^First erased version.y Eodem anno xix". fuit domina Elinora, vxor ducis Glocestrie, filia Reginaldi Cobham, Regi Anglie accusata de conspiracione mortis eius per diuersos nigromanticos et astrologicos contemplando supersti- siosas artes, vnde coniecturare valeat signis erraticis aut demonicis diuinacionibus eius prauitatis concilium perimplere : set licet iaferiora lege reguntur astrorum, interdum regula fallit, cum sapiens mediante diuino auxilio dominatur astris ; ut quidam astrorum metricus affatur, lege planetarum magis inferiora reguntur : ista set interdum regula fallit opus, vix mediante deo sapiens dominatur astris fata, nee immerito quod nouitates agunt. En ista domina non caute concupitur infortunia agnoscere et euitare satagebat, cum ipsa in honoribus et maxime dignitatis culmine posita, vt puta, tempore iocunditatis et leiicie viz. in noete apostolorum Petri et Pauli splendide cum copia nobilium equitando, rotam sue felicitatis fortuna subuertit in dolorem, cum ipsa eciam et omnes fautores et conciliarii statim arestari iubentur, quorum Rogerus BoUyngbroke, nigromanticus, suspensus et decapitatus existit, magister Thomas Sothewell in Turre London, ante diem sue con- dempnacionis morte preuentus est, Margeria Jordane de Eye con- dempnata est de arte phitonica aut sortilega, et sic tandem London, in Smethefelde combusta fuit. Set ipsa domina Elinora. ducissa Glocestrie, primo ad penitenciam publicam artatur, deindc ad carceres perp)etuas custodiri cum paucis adiudicatur. Et sic patet quod sinistre incipitur et occultis sceleribus continuatur. In fine tandem. (b) [Second unt rased version.] ' Eodem anno in vigilia apostolorum Petri et Pauli domina Elinora, vxor ducis (Jlocestrie, cquiiauit per ciuitateni London, cum plimbus ' 'I'hi!. parai;iaph ha^ not hrtn riiueJ. • In the seccnd column e/(. Tf". " III the Jint I olumn lij /i» as ' cciiaiitc ', continue J in the second to ' |)erpetua3 ', t/ie lOtiitusion l>rini{ wiittcn tif the foot of hoth lotitrntis. BRIEF NOTES FOR 1440-43 341 dominis et magnatibus in splendidissimo apparatu. Set eadem nocte, ipsa cenante in le Chepe apud kynges heede habuit nuncium sue accusacionis contra regiam maiestatem esse ream, vnde incontinenter ex post ad publicam penitenciam fuerat astricta, et postremo ad carceres perpetuas condempnata. Eciam Rogerus Bullingbr., magist. Thomas Sothewell, et Margeria Jordane, omnes conuicti erant de arte nigromantica, vnde dicta Margeria combusta fuit, et Rogerus sus- pensus, et prefatus magister Thomas preuentus est morte ante diem cius condempnacionis. (3) Further Versions for 1440-43.1 Eodem anno '' recuperata fuit villa de Herflu, que prius perdita fuit ex defectu custodiencium et specialiter per set recuperata per Edmundum Bewfurd, tunc Marcas Dorcetie, et Johannem Talbot, comitem Salopie. Set Ricardus, Dux Eboraci, apud Rothomagum residens et concilio domini Johannis Oldehall gubernat, modicum aut nichil contra emulos militauit. Eodem anno venit Johannes Bewford, Comes Somercetie, a captiuitate francorum, diu per annos plurimos detentus eo quod non poterat alio modo redimi quam per cambium domini comitis de Ewe, sub cujus matris demonstratu fuerat detentus ; vnde prefatus Johannes pro sua redempcione domino Regi Anglie satisfacere est compulsus. Anno 20 Johannes Bewford, comes Somercetie, in ducem Somercetie fuerat erectus, ac gladio precinctus, et cappe et circuli aurei in capitis sui per manus regis superimposicione realiter investitus, et omnimodis dicto statui ducatus preeminenciis insignitus, versus francigenas cum magna stipendiorum exercitu dirigitur. Ubi parvum profuit, set stipendium regni inaniter consumpsit, et quia infra quattuor menses in Angliam sine honore rediit, et infra annum post finem huius vite cursus ex inopinata infirmitale complevit. ' f. 83'°. 2 The iSth of Henry VI, i. e. 1439-40. VII. A CHRONICLE FOR 1445 TO 1455 This brief Chronicle comes from Harley M.S. 3S84, which contains Higden's I'vlyihronicon with Contmuations. The latter part of the reign of Richard II follows the narrative of the Monk of Evesham and comes down to 1402, ending on f. 225^" ' fecerat dc die in diem ' ( Vita Ricardi, p. 177). Several leaves are then missing, and the narrative o[>ens on f. 226 at the siege of Rouen with a narrative translated from the English Brut, pp. 387-9. The first paragraph is, however, peculiar : Dicendum est de obsidione regis supradicti contra dictam ciuitatem. Anno supradicto die veneris ante festum quod dicitur ad Vincula Sancti Petri tentoria dicti Regis fuerunt fixa ad finem orientalem in quadam domo ' religiosorum destructa ante eius aduentum per Francigenas, et cum eo multi proceres fuere assignati. Die sabbati proximo assig^natum fuit fundum capitaneis Anglicis ; die lune proximo proclamatum fuit, quod quilibet homo caperet fundum suum secundum assignaciones dicti regis et suorum deputatorum. Dux Clarencie ad finem occi- dentalem cum aliis proceribus in abbathia de songerualis ' destructa &c. After describing the siege of Rouen in this translation from the English Unit, the Chronicle begins again with the narrative for the French expedition of 1417 {Inc. ' Anno quintoRex Henricus in ipsahyeme bellum instaurat ') from the longer version of the Latin Brut (see p. 331 above;. After the conclusion of his new source in 1437 the compiler lett a gap of seven years. There then follows on ff. 228-9 'he brief Chronicle here printed. This is followed by two paragraphs : i. On the reckoning of regnal years ; 2. On the descent of Henry VI from Woden and Adam. At the end come Lists of the Archbishops of Canterbury and the Popes. The first list ends with John Stafford, who died in 1452. The second ends with Pius II, who succeeded in 1458 ; of most of the Popes there are brief biographical notes, the last being for Nicholas V (.is loth Mnv, a u.-vi btfiire Cortus Christi Day (Ml June). '' An error : ;,,i,/\xv". » Oh iStk y^wnary. ' On -'s Church that divided the east part that the monks used from the Ipart that the] townsmen used : and this partition chancing at that time to be thatched in, the roof was ' Collcitioin of a I.oihlon Ciliuti, y. lyp. ' See p. 34S below. ' J'astoti Irttns, ii. K.j. « t.j/. hit. Kolls, Henry VI, v. 434. » See thf le/cmitcs lo dhtmhimes in ll'oiieslers/iirt and /•'linlshire on p. 366 below, and at lllouirslrv 011 p. .15^. SHERBORNE ANNALS 347 set afire, and consequently all the whole church, the lead and bells melted, was defaced '} This fire resulted in the rebuilding of the Abbey, which must have been in progress at the time of the riot in 1450. In 1446 the abbey had licence to acquire lands in mortmain in recognition of their choir, bell-tower, and bells having been burnt by a sudden fire.'' William Bradford was Abbot during the whole period of the troubles, from 1436 to 1457- Harley 3906 is a very small quarto of iii leaves of parchment. In one or two places the text seems to be careless. The chronology of the early years is faulty. Anno domini Mccccxxxvii" combusta erat ecclesia de Chirborn in Dorsetia, in die apostolorum Symonis at Jude," litera dominicali G. Anno domini McccxI" * obiit Katerina regina, mater Regis Henrici vj'i, et sepulta est apud Westmonasterium. Anno domini Mcccxiiiijo " in mense Aprilis applicuit Margareta iilia Regis Cecilie, vt dicebatur, apud Portesmoth. Anno domini Mcccxlvo" parliamentum apud Byry in principio quadragesime, vbi moriebatur dominus Humfridus dux Glouc, et auunculus Regis, in vigilia sancti Mathei apostoli,'' et sepultus est apud sanctum Albanum. Eodem anno obiit papa Eugenius. Anno domini M.cccc.lix". in Octobre apparuit sol sanguineus, grande spectaculum intuentibus. Eodem anno sequent! perdita erat Nor- mannia. A" domini M.ccclo. orta est discencio in regno Anglie propter omis- sionem Normannie, cujus facti reus, Willelmus Pole, Comes Suthfolk, capitur, et in Turri London, ponitur, tandem exilio condempnatur ; set in mari captus est, et decoUatur a quibusdam ignotis. Eodem anno tenuit Rex parliamentum a quindena pasche apud Leicester. Eodem tempore fuit grandis insurreccio in Cancia, in Estsex, et Suthsex, per Johannem Cade, capitaneum, cum magna multitudine ribaldorum et rusticorum apud Blakheth ; ad quos destruendos destinatur Humfredus Stafford de Sarston \ miles, Willelmus Stafford, et multi alii nobiles ; set per prodicionem aliorum a praefatis nebulonibus sunt nequiter interempti. In die Sanctorum Marci et Marcelliani,' post istam victoriam, prefati nebulones London, accesserunt, ubi multa mala gesserunt. Eodem tempore Magister Willelmus Asku, Episcopus Sarum, apud Edyndon in comitatu Wilshire, in die apostolorum Petri et Pauli'" a ministris diaboli capitur et occiditur. Communitas vero I Leland, Itinerary, i. 152, ed. Toulmin Smith. Cf. Archaeological Journal, xxii. 180-90, with the text of Bishop Neville's decision on pp. 197-8. ^ Cal. Pat. Rolls, Henry VI, iv. 416, v. 407. ' 38th Oct. * A mistake; the date was 1437. ^ The date should be 1445. ' The date should be i^^^-";. ' 33rd Feb. 'An error for Gr3.itoa. 'jgthjune. i" 29th June. 348 APPENDIX regni infamia replebatur, non limentes regem nee legem, set in pluribus locis statuerunt sibi capitaneos ' ad spoliandum divites et personas ecclesisiasticas. Vnde, audita morte Episcopi, tenentes sui tarn apud Sarum quam apud Schirborn, insurrexerunt, et in maneria Episcopi deprcdaverunt. Tunc recordati sunt satellites iniquitatis, filii beliall, ministri diaboli quidam ; quorum pedes veloces ad eSun- dendam sanguinem, manus prone ad nequiciam. Illi, scilicet villani' .dc Schirborn, qui dudum contra dominum suum abbatem monasterii ibi pro quodam fonte insurrexerunt, qui quidem fons (fuit baptisterium) ' ex antique in prefato corpOre monasterii consecrabatur, atque per papam Eugenium et regem Henricum atque ceteros magnates sic decretum erat in prefato loco permanere. Set capta opportunitate modo videbatur eis tempus aplum instare, c^uum lex a terra exula- batur, et nullus rex noscebatur eis, set solus magnus proditor Cancie, sub cuius tutela constituerunt Schirburnienses sibi capitaneum; cuius assensu omnes illi predones adierunt abbatem, si possent quows modo eius animum emollescere. Qui plane eis renuit, sanctius esti- mans animam suam pro omnibus ponere quam priuilegium ecclesie sue omittere. Set satellites iniquitatis, in proposito suo versuto persis- tentes, fontem vnum in sua capella erexerunt inuito abbate, et munierunt cum custodibus phaleratis cum gladiis et fustibus, tanqnam milites ante sepulcrum domini. Hoc facto jxjst multas iniurias abbati et eius familiaribus factas constituerunt diem in festo sancti Prothi et lacincti,* in quo aut plane abbatis assensum optinerent, aut in manu forti illo inuito fontem suum exigerent. Statute die convenerunt vndique viri sanguinum et dolosi cum tota fortitudine sua bora sexta diei in ecclesiam intrantes, nuUi venerenciam exhibentes, set tanquam amentes cum gladiis et fustibus, proni ad madendum et spoliandum et occidendum ; quibus visis et, consideratis diebus quia mali erant, consultum erat per abbatem et eius consiliarios vsque ad tempus esse cedendum, et concedendum eorum peticioni; quod et factum est. Quibus auditis merore constricti sunt, quia magis illuc convenerant ad spoliandum quam ad impetrandum. Postea consecratus est prefatus nouus fons in capella in ecclesia parochial! per Ricardum Beauchamp,* episcopum Sarum; quod fecit credendum est eo quod timore fecit, sicut et abbas concessit eis fontem coactus et inuitus, metuens ' IVilliam 1 foilnuarJ or /ien/imueitvas * Caf^taiit of Salishin' ; Cal. Pat, Rolls, Mcnry VI, v. >;30. ' villnm MS. The sciileti,c is not ,ompl(lfJ. ' liiserlcd by a later hand. ' nth Sept. " Tramtalcd to .Salisbiny on x^t/i .■tiif., MSo, ami .i.tmitted to the ttmporalitiit on \st 0,t. SHERBORNE ANNALS 349 inuasionem gregis sue et destruccionem ouilis ad tempus eis concessit non perpetue mansuium. Sic et episcopus, videns eorum crudelitatem, et malum regimen vbique in regno, timens ne sibi eueniret sicut et antecessori Willelmo Asku euenerat, fauorem nimium eis exhibuit, eorum instigacionibus abbati et monachis se semper hausterum et crudelem vbique prebuit. Anno domini M.ccccliij. in die sancti Kenelmi^ Comes Salopie incidit inconsulte in manus Francorum, vbi nequiter peremptus est, et applaudentibus de eo Francigenis sicut quondam Philisteis de Sampsone. Eodem anno in die translacionis sancti Edwardi ^ Regis et confessoris natus est Edwardus, primogenitus Regis Henrici sexti, apud West- raonasterium. Anno domini Mcccclv.t", xxiijo die Maii ^ apud sanctum Albanum, Rege ibidem presente, vbi per Ricardum ducem Eboraci occisi sunt dux Somersett, Comes Northumbr., et dominus Clifford cum multis aliis. Anno domini Mcccclvj'" fuit annus indulgencie* apud sanctum Jacobum. Eodem anno apparuit comata in mense Junii. * lythjuly. ' 13th October. * Supp/y {uitheWnra te/ore apa6. * Originally lubileus was written ; but a later hand has scored it, and put indulgencie in the margin. IX. WALTHAM ANNALS 1422— 1447 These short Annals come from Cotton MS. Titus D. xv, flf. 54-7. They are clearly a monastic production, and the local references point to Essex, and perhaps to Waltham Abbey, as the place of writing. The original begins with the Conquest and is a compilation from various sources including the English Brut. The part from 1400 onwards is very brief, filling less than seven small leaves. For the reigns of Henry IV and Henry V the continuation is based chiefly on the English Brut; for the reign of Henry VI it seems to be more original; it was probably written in 1447. Three brief passages of the earlier part are peculiar enough to deserve quotation. (a) Battle of Shrewsbury. Eodem anno, xij Kal. Augusti, feria sexta, in festo sancti Praxedis apud Salopiam, in campo, qui dicitur Oldefeld,' commissum est bellum inter Regem Henricum et Henricom Percy, vbi ceciderunt Henricus Percy et fere omnes generosi de comitaiu Cestrie; ita quod vix remanebant tres miiites, et septem armigeri in toto comitatu. Et ex parte Regis ceciderunt Comes Stafford, Dominus Walterus Blunt, signifer Reg^s, Dominus Nicholaus Hungerford, Dominus Johannes Clyfton et duo fratres, n. n., Gouteley, et multi alii miiites et nobiles generosi. Et de communibus ex vlraque parte ad estimacionem quinque milia. Hoc infortunium presignauit Stella comata anno preterito. Versus : — Mc. quater, I ter, obiit certamine Percy Festo Praxedis, taurino nomine campa {b) Henry V and the Dauphin. Anno domini Mccccxn-** Rex Henricus tenuit consilium apud Westm., in quo inter dominos questionem mouens de iure et titulo quod antecessores sui habuerunt in Normannia, Vasconia et Aquitania; qui dcderunt ei consilium vt Regi Francie mitteret pro iure suo. Quod audiens delphinus Francie in derisum Regi Anglie doleum plenum misit pilarum manualium. Quo viso Rex ait : ' Cum eis ad pilam volo ludere, si valeam.' {c) llniry V at Harjleur. Hiis itaque peractis Rex cum suis in vigilia Assumpcionis beale l\Iaric cum xV lutuibus applicuit infra Seyne ad porlum de Kedec:uvs, el sic transeundo ad vill.im de Hare- fleet, illamque obsidcbal V\\\\ per mare quam per terram, ludendo cum ' Clearly iiii error for liollcfchl ; ./', Ilu v.r!es at the iihi and t^ 36 above. WALTHAM ANNALS 351 Francigenis ad tenysiam;^ quorum responsio fuit Owt, Alas and Welaway. Et in die sancti Mauricii sociorumque eius sequente capta fuit Villa de Harfleet. These two last passages are of interest as being obviously translated from the English Srui, pp. 375-6. In the Annals printed below some of the entries — as that for 1436 — may come from a London Chronicle or from the Brui. The notice for the storm in 1444 closely resembles one in the Croyland Chronicle; those for 1433-4 and 1437 also resemble the Croyland Chronicle (p. 518) though in a less degree. See further pp. 160-61 above. Anno eodem,' die lune, vltimo die Augusti Henricus Wyndesore, filius Regis Henrici quinti, cepit regnare, puer ix mensium dierum xiiij etate. Anno domini Mccccxxix", sexto die Nouembris, dominica die B., in festo sancti Leonardi apud Westm. ab Henrico Chicheley, Cant. Archiepiscopo, coronatus est Henricus sextus, filius Henrici quinti, A" viijo Regni sui incipiente vltimo die Augusti precedentis, anno sue etatis viij°, iam habens in festo sancti Nicholai sequentis. Vnde versus : — Flamine Romano crescet Britannicus honor, Dum sibi cunctorum referatur laus populorum. En 1 puer M, annis solium subibit honoris C. quater, x. tercio, gallus ibit hiis minus vno. Hinc canant colles per eum, quia subiugabuntur, Qua perpendit homo crux sancta servetur et illi, Duplex coronis caput exiget hiis sibi Rome, Bruto pastore losaphat requies sibi vallis, Virgo prius ac posterius luuenilis in Annis, Posset eterni pro gestis gaudia cell, Pax finalis erit de post per climata mundi, Vnitaque fide simulac vnitur ouile. In eadem coronacione filius ducis Austrie, cum multis aliis factus est miles. Anno domini Mccccxxxj", septimo decimo Kal. lanuar.,'' G. littera dominicalis. Rex Henricus sextus apud Parys ab Henrico Beauford, Cardinalis Wyncestrie, in Regem Francie coronatus. Anno domini Mccccxxxijo, die mensis Mali, feria iija, ab hora xij vsque ad horam terciam post nonam apparuit in firmamento conuersus orientem quedam Stella lucidissima iuxta solem. Anno domini Mccccxxxiijo magnum fuit gelu, incipiens nocte Sancte J i.e. 1422. 1 6th December. 352 APPENDIX Katerine virginis,' et durauit continue per x septimanas vsque ad festum sancte luliane virginis.' Anno domini Mcccc xxxv ' insurrexio comiiatus Essex et Middelsex propter metum ducis Burgundie applicantis apud Maldon in Essex magno cum exercitu, in crastino sancti lohannis Baptiste, scilicet die lune vocato le mode Mtinday vt dicebatur heronice; tamen vulgaris opinio lallebatur. Eodem anno Dux Gloucestrie cum magno apparatu transfretauit in Flandriam, segetes patrie depopulauit et villam de Poperyng comburens, sed parum proficit. Eodem tempore deslructa est obsidio ducis Burgundie apud Calesiam per dominum lohannem Ratclyflfe, time temporis capitaneum ville Calisie ; quod presignatur Stella lucidissima antedicta. Anno domini Mcccxxxvj" ceciderunt turres archus pontis London funditus in Tamesiam. Eodem anno, tercio die lanuar., feria quinta apud Bermondessey iuxta London, obiit Katerina, Regina Anglie, et sepulta est in capella sancte Marie apud Westm. Anno domini millesimo ccccxxxvij" fuit autumpnus aquosus. In sequenti anno cepit fames valida in Anglia durans per duos aimos. Ita quod in quibusdam locis regni modicus frumenti vendebalur pro XXX (/., in quibusdam locis pro iij s., in quibusdam locis pro xl d. Et modicus ordei pro ij s. iiij d. Et modicus pisarum pro xviij d. Et in quibusdam locis regni communis vulgus collegerunt radices filicum, quos siccantes et molentes, inde fecerunt sibi panes, vt dicebatur.' Sed in fine postremi anni modicus frumenti vendebatur pro ^iij d. Lau- detur Deus. Anno domini M"ccccxxxix" ventus fuit validus, vocatus Souikwai- wynd, feria quarta, hora septima post nonam nocte sancti luliani con- fessoris," domos euertens, arbores prostemens, et multa mira et inaudita faciens. Anno domini M^ccccxliij", in die purificacionis beate Marie " com- bustum est campanile Monasterii de Waltham ad crucem cum choruscacione fulminis. Anno domini M"ccccxliiij", in vigilia purificacionis beate Marie diuersis locis Anglie auditus fuit tonitrus terribilis cum clioruscacione horribili ; in quibus ecclesia de Baldok circa horam octauam in mane, ' 35th November. The referenei is to the .i;t (,U frost of nn--., rt/iiii fie^u on St. Catherine s Day and lasted till SI. I '•i/tn/in<:'s Day {dSregtry's Chronicle, p. 178; Chron. London, p. 117). » 1 8th Feb. » The date should dearly be 14,^6, ;('/i/<7/ /> the date of the sie^e of Calais ; in that year i^th June Jell on ,1 .M.'nday. * CI. Brut, p. 507. » afth Jan. » 2nd Feb. 1443-4. WALTHAM ANNALS 353 ecclesia de Walden circa decimam, et vna ecclesia in Cancia con- quassate fuerunt. Campanile sancti Pauli London, circa horam secundam post nonam, et campanile ecclesia de Kyngeston super Tamesiam combusta.^ Eodem anno, xviij Kal. Octobr., in festo exaltacionis sancte crucis '■' Rex Henricus comitem de Staflford fecit ducem Bokynamie, comitem Huntyngdon ducem Exonie, Comitem de Somersett ducem Somersett, comitem de Dorsett marchionem de Dorsett, comitem de Suff. mar- chionem de SufF., et dominum Talbott comitem Salopie. Anno domini Millesimo cccxlv", quinto Kal. Marcii, in crastino sancti Mathei Apostoli,^ incepit parliamentum apud Westm., in quo Rex Henricus fecit comitem de Warewyk ducem de Warewyk. Inde infra breue orta est dissencio inter ducem de Bokyngham et ducem de Warewyk pro sessione in parliamento quis eorum videretur esse maior ; sed statim sopita est dissencio Regis adminiculo. Eodem anno, quinto Idus Aprilis,* feria quinta, hora secunda post nonam Margareta, filia Regis Sicilie, [maritata est] a Magistro Wil- lelmo Ascue, Sar. episcopo, in prioratu canonicorum de Tychefeld ordinis sancti Augustini in Hampshire. Eodem anno, xvij Kal. lunii,^ die pentecost finiente tanta et inaudita tempestas tonitrus choruscacionis, et pluuia cepit ab hora viij, durans vsque ad mediam noctem; ita quod populorum Anglie corda terri- biliter concussit. Eodem anno, tercio Kal. lunii," die dominica apud Westm. a lohanne Stafford, Cant. Archiepiscopo, Margareta, filia Regis Sicilie, in Regi- nam Anglie coronata est. Anno dornini Mccccxlvj", sexto Idus Aprilis,' in vigilia Ramis pal- marum finiuit parliamentum durans anno integro, ebdomadis sex, diebusque duobus; in quo plurima statuta valde necessaria ad com- mune proficuum tocius Regni Anglie fuerunt edita. Eodem anno, xviij die Decembr., media nocte, die dominica, in yeme tanta erat choruscacio et tonitrus horribilis, que corda populorum mirabiliter perterruit. Vnde vulgariter dicebatur: Wynter thunder Iredeih wonder. Anno domini Mccccxlvij", x die Febr. incepit parliamentum apud Buriam in comitatu SufF. ; in quo parliamento, xxiij die eiusdem, obiit Humfridus, Dux Gloucestrie, apud Buriam. Et secundo die Marcii ' Ctfor a similar account Croylatid Chronicle, p. 530. ^ 14th Sept. ' 25th Feb. ' gth April : this was the date on which Margaret landed at Portsmouth, she was not married till the 22nd April. ' i6th May. " 30th May. ' 5th April. 1458 A a 354 APPENDIX sequente apud Sanctum Albanum in comitatu Bedford sepultus est ; et finiuit parliamentutn xviij die Marcii proximo sequente. Eodem anno obiit papa Eugenius quartus, xxiij die Febr., scilicet feria quinta Cinerum in vigilia Mathie Apostoli, et sepultus est die Sabbati sequente ; qui sedit annis sexdecim. Et penultimo die eiusdem mensis, scilicet feria ij" prime ebdomade quadragesime sequente, electus fuit papa Nicholaus quintus. Et viij die Aprilis sequente in vigilia pasche obiit Henricus, Episcopus Wynton. et Cardinalis Sabinensis. Et quinto die Augusti sequente obiit Johannes Holand, dux Exonie, et sepultus est apud Sanctam Katerinam iuxta Turrim London. Finite libro sit laus et gloria Christo. Amen. X. GLOUCESTER ANNALS 1449— 1469 As noted on pp. 161-2 above these short Annals come at the end of a chronicle which ends with 1422 (Cotton MS. Domitian A iv.ff. 246-56). The whole (with the exception of the final note on the dispute at Lan- thony) is written in the same hand^ and not earlier than 1469. The first part is a worthless compilation ; its Gloucester character is marked by notices of the Parliaments held there in 1378 and 1406 ; on the former occasion Richard II is said to have spent some time in the Abbey. Under 1403 the Battle of Shrewsbury is referred to as ' graue bellum Salopie in campo qui dicitur Bolefelde '. ' The chronicle breaks off at 1422 on f. 254", and resumes at 1449 on f 255'". As regards the story of Lanthony Priory with which it ends, it must clearly be earlier than 1467, in which year Henry Deane, the fiiture Archbishop of Canterbury, was certainly Prior of Lanthony.^ It has been stated that Deane was appointed in the first year of Edward I V ' ; if this is correct the quarrel of Schoyer and Heyward would belong to the summer of 1461. Edward IV visited Gloucester in September of that year, and might then have intervened in the dispute. But as the dispute began on 28th and 29th August and apparently lasted eight months before Schoyer was compelled to submit, a later date is preferable. Possibly it was part of the sam quarrel as that assigned m the main text to 1463, when Edward IV visited Gloucester. In any case the Note was written long after the events which it describes. Heyward occurs as Prior of Lanthony in 1457 * ; I have found no other reference to Schoyer. For a further note on the contents of this chronicle see pp.i6i-2 above. Anno domini M.cccc.xlix. Reginaldus Bowleys, quondam abbas GloDC, missus fuit ab Henrico Rege sexto cum aliis diuersis dominis, tam spiritualibus quam temporalibus, quasi ambassiatores et nuncios ad coronacionem imperatoris apud Akun, pro diuersis negociis domini Regis et regni Anglie. Qui cum in Angliam reuersus esset, a populo et communitate Glouc. proditor publice appellatus et vociferatus est, pro eo, vt dicebatur, Franciam totam pro quadam summa pecunie vendidisset. Tunc surrexit communitas Glouc, et manerium de Wyne- yarde totaliter spoliauerunt, et bona omnia, que inuenire poterant, asportauerunt. Feras et cuniculos cum agnis et columbis totaliter destruxerunt et comederunt. Uinum, quod in celario abbatis erat, biberunt, et quod supererat eflfuderunt vel in vasi apportauerant. Deinde maneria eorum et quod in eis inuenire poterant inter eos ■ See p. 36 above. ' Menasticm, vi. 127. ' Archaeological Journal, xvii. 256, but no authority is given. * Monaslicon, vi. 127. A a 2 356 APPENDIX diuiserunt. Et sic de bonis monasterii fecissent, nisi conuentus cum manu forte et bono auxilio laicorum et forestariorum eis restitissent. Anno domini M.cccc, sexagesimo tercio surrexit communitas de Schira Glouc. et villain Glouc. intrauerunt cum manu forti, et vnum de Balliuis, nomine Johannes Dodyng, infra abbathiam latitantem post multas perscrutaciones in infirmaria monachorum inuenerunt, et vulnerauerunt ; et sic eum sanguinem distillantem per claustrum et eciam per ecclesiam sine timore dei cum magno strepitu deduxerunt, et sic ad altam crucem predicte ville, vbi eum crudeliter occiderunt, et postea decapitauerunt, et caput eius super portam occidentalem sus- penderunt. In vigilia apostolorum Simonis et lude. Et infra paucos dies iterum villam intrauerunt, et quam plurimos burgenses predicte ville quesierunt et non inuenerunt. Quod si inuenissent eos morti |)enitus tradidissent. Set postea Comite ' de Warwyke adueniente, et pulcra verba eis pro- mittente, et peticionem eorum concedente, pacati ad propria redierunt Postmodum vero superueniente Rege Edwardo cum multis nobilibus viris et armatis, quosdam de plebi communitatis iussit suspend!, et quosdam iussit decapitari, et capita eonmi sup>er portas Glouc. iussit poni. Et facta est tranquillitas magna. Anno domini Mcccclx. fuit bellum apud Northampton inter Regem Henricum sextum et Ricardum ducem Eboraci et comitem de Warwyke et alios multos,' qui fuerunt in bello predicto contra predictum regem Henricum volentes eum deponere et predictum ducem in Regem conslituere. In quo bello occisi fuerunt dux de Bokyngham, dominos de Schewesbury cum multis aliis generosis, qui fuerunt ex parte Regis Henrici. Anno domini M.cccc. sexagesimo nono in \'igilia' sancti lacobi Apostoli, tempore Regis Edwardi quarti, fiiit bellum apud Banbury inter Anglicos et Wallicos in campo vocato Saxonfelde. In quo bello occisi fuerunt multi Wallici, qui venerant cum domino de Hereberde in manu forti. Set diuino auxilio captus fiiit ibi dominus illorum cum fratribus suis, et sic perductus ad villam de Northampton accepit capi- talem sentenciam coram communitate tocius Anglie.* Nam ad istum bellum surrexit communitas de Kente, et communitas ex boriali parte Anglie ad extinguendum istum dominum de Hereberde, quia homo crudelis erat paratus ad omne crimen, et, vt dicebatur, cogitabat sub- uertere regnum Anglie et earn totaliter spoliare. Set iudicio dei percussus destructus est cum adiutoribns suis. Nam illo tempore ' Comes, MS. " aliis multis, MS. " a4lh July; f/if (rue date was a6th July. « On 28tA July. GLOUCESTER ANNALS 357 proditores multi fuenint vocati, videlicet Comes de Ryuers cum filiis suis, et dominus de Southwyke, comes de Devonshyre, cum multis aliis. Anno domini Mcccc. sexagesimo none, xij" Kalendas Septembris ' decapitatus fuit in ciuitate Coventrensi Comes de Ryuers, thesau- rarius Anglie, cum filio suo, pater Isabelle Regine, coniugis et consortis Regis Edwardi quarti. Anno domini Mcccc. sexagesimo nono, xvj" Kalendas Septembris ^ decapitatus fiiit dominus de Sowthewyke, Comes de Devynschyre, quia, vt dicebatur, consenserat in necem ducis de Clarencie fratris Regis Edwardi quarti, et eciam in mortem Ricardi, Comitis de Warewyke, cum domino de Hereberde, qui cogitabat extinguere eos. Set iudicio dei percussi prius fuerunt decapitati. 'Anno domini M.cccc. sexagesimo' die sancti Augustini^ ante festum decollationis Johannis Baptiste ° facta est magna discordia inter Johan- nem Schoyare priorem Lanthonie et Johannem Heywarde nuper priorem eiusdem loci. Propter quod surrexerunt fforestarii vi et armis ex parte Johannis Schoyare ad roborandam partem illius. Ex alia parte commimitas Glouc. cum generosis prope manentibus in auxi- lium Johannis Heywarde. Factus est magnus conflictus in vtrasque partes. Vnde conuenientibus in vnum apud Lanthoniam forestarii et communitas Glouc. multi vulnerati fuerunt ex ambabus partibus, et plurimi occisi, vt dicebatur. Vnde canonici loci predicti pertimescentes de loco suo discessenmt, et ad comitem de Warwyke fugerunt, et bona monasterii secum asportauerunt. Sicque apud castellum de Hanley per octo menses commorantes religionem et diuinum seruicium ibidem explentes, propter timorem forestariorum sui prioris, videlicet J. Schoyer, non ausi sunt in domo propria commanere. Set postea predictus prior J. Schoyere per regem Edwardum quartum ad domum propriam redire compulsus est. Sic post longam inquietacionem inter ipsum et Johannem Heywarde, nuper priorem, et magnarum erium expensionem congregati sunt iterum canonici predicti domus, et se cum omnibus que habebant ad propria sunt reuersi. Set iste Schoyer in malicia sua perseuerans quosdam ex canonicis iterum carcerauit. Qua ex causa timens populum, qui eum non dilexerunt set magis maledixerunt, monasterium suum de Lanthoniam spoliauit et bona secum asportauit. ' This would be 21st Angust, but the true date was I2tli August. ^ 17th August, correct. ^ In another hand. * The date is impetfect ; probaily it was not later than 1463, but see above. ' 28tli August. « 29th August. XI. COLLECTIONS OF A YORKIST PARTISAN 1447—1452 Cotton Roll ii. 23 at the British Museum contains a Collection of Political Poems and other pieces relating to the troubles of 1447-32. In all there are twenty-two Articles, viz. i. Particulars as to Suffolk's Indictment. 2. Verses against the Duke of Suffolk — 1448. 3. A Warn- ing to King Henry — 144^. 4. 'Now is the Fox driven to hole' — Feb. 1450. 5. A charge agamst Suffolk. 6. Note on Humphrey Stafford. 7. Petition of the Commons of Kent — June 1450. 8. On Bishop Boothe — 1447 or 1448. 9. A Prophecy : ' When the Cocke in the North.' 10. A Prophecy : ' S. mysed in myndes and marke per a P., S. set by himself savand a J.' II. Notes on taxes, &c. 12. Commercial grievances. 13. Namesofthe Dukeof Gloucester'shousehold — 1447. Intergo: 14. Names of persons indicted at Rochester — August, 1450. 15. Note on Jack Cade. 16. Names of persons slain in 1450. 17. York's Bill to the King — Oct. 1450. 18. 'The Rote is ded' — Nov.-Dec. 1449. 19. Names of French prisoners taken at Whitby — Nov. 1451. 20. Events in Kent — March- May, 1452. 21. A Prophecy: 'The prophecy professid and I-pight, Of maiden Sibille and many mo.' (about 300 lines). 22. A Prophecy: ' Wlen Sunday goof> by E., D., and C.' (Dominical Letters for 1449, 1450, and 145 1.) There are thus : 5 Political Poems, (Nos. 2, 3, 4, 8, and 18) ; 4 Prophecies (Nos. 9, 10, 21, and 22); and 13 Documents and Notes (Nos. i, 5, 6, 7, II, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, and 20). The Political Poems have ail been printed in Wright's Political Poems and Songs and elsewhere.* Of the Prophecies, No. 9 is the same as the third section of the first prophecy in The Whole Prophesie of Scotland (Bannatyne edition, pp. 6-9), see also Early Scottish Prophecies, pp. 18-20, E.E.T.S. ; in various forms it is of common occurrence.'' There is a Latin version of it in Cotton MS. Ves- pasian E. viii. f. 132. Of the prose Notes and Documents, No. i comes from the Rolls of Parliament (v. 177); Nos. 5 and 6 were printed in Archaeologia, xxix. 325 ; No. 7 was given in a somewhat different form by Stow — /4««a/«, 389-90 ; Nos. 13, 14, and 15 were printed by Sir Henry Ellis in Original Letters, 2nd Series, i. 108-9, 11 2-13; No. 17 is given from other copies by Stow — Annates, 395, where it is incorrectly assigned to 1452 — and in Paston Letters, No. 143 ; No. 20 was printed by Dr. Gairdner in Paston Letters, i. 335-6. The majority of these prose pieces are therefore not new. But since as printed they are scattered in various places, and the interest of the Collection is so much enhanced by their collocation, it seems useful to bring them all (with the exception of No. i) together here. To speak more particularly of the several pieces. Articles 5 and 6 call for no comment. Article 7 is a copy of a Bill circulated by the Commons of Kent ; it shows a good deal of textual vari.ition from the copy of the same docu- ment given by Stow (.v.). The Bill has a general resemblance to Clauses ' See further pp. i^i-^ ahmx. ' Step, i^d above. A YORKIST collection: 359 14 to 18 of a 'Proclamation of Jack Cade', dated 4th June, 1450 (also preserved by Stow, and printed in Three Fifteenth Century Chronicles, pp. 94-9— noted as T). The first 13 clauses of the Proclamation (it has 22 clauses) agree very closely with a Bill, on a ragged sheet of paper, preserved at Magdalen College, Oxford ; this Bill, which is perhaps one of the copies originally circulated, has 14 clauses and ends with these verses : God be our guide and then schuU we spade, Who so evur say nay, flfalse for ther money reulethe, Trewth for his tales spellethe, God seende vs a ffayre day. Awey, traytours, awey. See Hist. MSS. Comm. Eighth Report, Appendix I, pp. 266-7. In some places the Bill in the Cotton Roll resembles the Proclamation more closely than it does Stow's copy. The allegation that Suffolk and his affinity were responsible for the death of John Beaufort is peculiar to this copy, and is extraordinary as a specimen of the random charges made by Suffolk's enemies. Article ii consists of Notes which are more curious than important. Article 12 is the most important piece, which is entirely new. When found in this place it seems to show that Commercial Grievances had their share in leading to the unpopularity of the Lancastrian government.' It is useful for comparison with the Libel of English Policy. Article 13, as Ellis observed, is curious for the preponderance of Welsh names ; but Gloucester had large estates in Wales. Article 14 is here dated August, 1451 (29th Henry VI). But no doubt it belongs to 1450, when on I7th-I9th August James Gresham wrote to John Paston ^ : ' This same Moneday [17th Aug.] goth my Lord Chaunceller and my lord of Buk. into Kent to set up an oier and deter- miner at Rorchestre.' However, the hearing seems to have been prolonged into September,' and so would have fallen in part within the 29th year. The Article has a further inaccuracy in styling Kemp 'Bysshopof Canterbury'; he was not finally translated to that see till Sept. 1451. Besides the Bishops, Boothe of Lichfield (or Chester) and Lyhert of Norwich, who owed their advancement to Suffolk, and promi- nent ministers like Dudley, Say, Hoo, and Daniell, the list includes many comparatively humble individuals, who held offices in the royal household. It is noteworthy how many of them were concerned with the financial and legal administration of the government. In the Parliament of Jan. 1451 the Commons put up a Bill against certain persons charged 'of misbehaving about your Royal person and in other places ' ; the list then given includes most of those indicted at Rochester, but adds some others {Rolls of Parliament, v. 216). The numbers against the names may refer to charges in the indictments. Article 15 gives particulars as to Cade, which are found here alone. Article 16, besides its bald notes of well-known incidents, refers obscurely to troubles in Worcestershire and Flint. Article 17. 'York's Bill' does not show so much textual variation from the other copies as does the ' Petition of the Commons '- It is perhaps a little closer to the copy in the Paston Letters (P.) than to the ' See p. 335 above. ' Paston Letters, i. 87, ii. 161, i6a ; of. Cal. Pat. Rolls, v. 388, for the commission dated ist Aug. 1450. ' Cf. Foedera, xi. 276, a patent sealed by Kemp at Rochester on nth Sept. 1450. 360 APPENDIX one given by Stow (5.), which more resembles a copy (B.) at Beverley (Beverley MSS., p. 33 Hist. MSS. Commission). Article 19 refers to an attempted French invasion in Nov. 1451, which is briefly recorded in one London Chronicle : ' And this yere was sir Pieres de Brasil, and the bastard of Orliaunce, and Manypeny taken.' ' Article 20. Dr. Gairdner describes this as giving ' the most minute account of the encampment of the Duke of York at Dartford ' in March, 1452.* Some of the other Notes are rather obscure; the latest belongs to May, 1452, and is the latest thing in the Collection. The character of Article 12 suggests that the collector was a London citizen ; Articles 5 and 1 1 are notes which might naturally be made by some one of mercantile interests. Some other references, as for instance the conclusion of Article 20, point to its London origin. Article 5. The Duke of Suffolk hath marryed his nese, His Suster Dowghter, to jje Capdawe ° &c : And yaf hym w* here the Revenewes }>at come fro Bordiaux, that is to wete vjcc townes Wyne yerly, v. C ti. &c. in mony, \)e. whiche my lord of Gloucetter hadde of yiffte of j>e kyng dui- yng his life &c. Memorandum. The Kyng is xxyj M. ti. in det, and he may dispend but xxxiiij M. ; of the which the Kyng hath no more in hond but v M. ti., and his expenses comyth yerly xxxij AL Article 6. At Tonebrigge fast by Sevenoke )jer was Stafford * slayn )je })urs- day next before myssomer. " Article 7. These ben Jje desires of the trewe comyns of your soueraign Iwd ))e Kyng. First the Chapteyn of ^pt same Comyns deserith the welSire of oure soueraign lord jie Kyng, and of all his trewe lordes spirituall and tem- porall, desiryng of our soueraigne lord and all his trewe counseiD to take ageyn " all his demaygnes, and he shall fjen ' raign lyke a Kyng Riall as he is born our trewe cristen K)Tig anoynted. And who saith ' \)t contrary we woll all lyue and dye in that quarell. * Also desiryng his trewe Comyns ]>at he woll voyde all the false progeny and afynyte of the Duke of Southefolke, the whiche ben opynly knowyn traitours, and they to be ponysshed affter custome " and lawe of the " lond. And to take abowte hj-m a nobill persone, )je trewe ' Nicolas, London CAn>nu/t, 137. ' Paslon Letltn, i. 3J5. ' Jean al is to sey the hye and myghty prince pe Dukc- of Yorke, late exiled from our (soueraigrK; lordes preuenu of the false traitour Duke* of Southfolke and his aflftnite, and take to yow' ]>t myghty prince the Duke • of Kxcelter, Duke of Bokyngham, Duke of Northefolke, Erlyg ' and barons of this londe : and Jjen shall he be Jie Richest Kyng cristen. Also desirith his trewe Comyns ' punysshement of the fals traitours, the which contreuyd' and ymagyned the decth of our excellent" prince \xi Duke of Glowcelicr, the wLichc is to myche to Kthcm-., the wbiche Duke was opynly proclamyd at jse Parlement of Bury a tray- tour," vpon jje which quarell we purpose ^^ to lyue and dye that it is false. Also the Duke of Exceter," and our holy fader the Cardenall of Wynchester, the nobill [inncca the Duke of Somersett," the Duke of Warrewike," delyuered and distroyed by the same meanys." Also the Realme of Fraunce," the Duchie of Normandy, Gasguyn, and Guyen, Angoy, and Mayn ** lost by the same " traytours, and our trewe lordes and knygtes, Squyers and good yemen ^ lost and sold " eye they went ouer the See,'''''' which is grel pite and gret losse ^ to our soue- raigne lord and distruccion to his Realme." Also desirith the Capteyn with the commons of Kente,^ that all the extorcions may*' be leid down, that is to sey, the grele extorcion of" g^ene wex, that is falsly vsed to j^e perpetuall distruccion of the ' about his Noble j^erison, ttic true lorat is to say,' the traytours,* Slegge," Crowmere," Ysele," and Robert Est." Article i i . The summe of the dayes in the yere is iijc. iij."* v. Sum of the xvth penny and of the xtl^ and all, is in Inglond xxxviij" K. ijc,, iij.ii. xviijd. ob. And jjerof is alowed to )je Collectors Jserof iijo ti xxij ti. vjs. viijd. ; and so jjer levith clerely Summa xxxvij """ li. ix" xxxiij ti. xiiijs. ixd. ob." The Quinte of the Dymes of Clergye in the province of Canterbmy is xvj." v". iij:^ and x. ti. xviijs. ijd. ob. Quinte of the Dymes of province of York is ij" iij" v. ti. xijs. iv.d. and q^^'. Summa of the x\^^ peny of the lay fee, and of Jje dymes of Clergy of Inglond is summa Ivj." viij" x. li. v.s. iiijd. q". In Anglia sunt ecclesie parochiales xlv"" et xj." Et ville sunt lij mill. iiij=t^. Et feoda militum iij^'^ M. et xv, quibus sunt in manibus religiosorum xxviij Mill. xv. Comitatus vero sunt in Anglia xxxvj &c." Article i 2. Hit is needful! for to knowe how the money, golde and silver gooth in to dyuerse Raimys and Contrays." And how for to let hit that it shulde not passe. And how to gete hit agayn. The [n'f] is ))e sewrist and the most profetable way to Remedy hit, that is to whete for to set ' the kings true commons i'. ; the trew comyns T. ' Kent. Also the Kings bench, the which is greefefuU to the shite of Kent without prouision of .J. ; Kent. Also the extorsiners of the Kynges Benche, the which is ryght chargeable to all the comyns with owten provysyon of T. ° all other .S. * importable hurt, T. ° with out the breefe prouision 5'. ; with out provysyon T. ' our said 5. ' extortioners, which is to say ^. ; extorsiners of Kent, that is to sey 7". ' false traitors S. ; the traytours om, T. » Stephen Slegge, Cal. Pat. Rolls, ,. 382. "> William Crowmer, the Sheriff. " Isle .S'., T. ; William Isle, Cal. Pal. Rolls, v. aS;, 383. '" Yeomnn of the Crown andescheator of Kent, id, v. 471. '" There is an error, either in the gross (wiomtt or in the allmixuue. '* A common exagf^ri-atioH. I" // should he yj, Cheshire, Durham, atui AlonmoHlh not cotmiiHg. '" Cf. Uhr I of English Policy np. Wright, Pol. Poems, ii. 174-6. A YORKIST COLLECTION 363 your mony at dbubull the valowie that it gooth, and that shall cause al marchandes to bryng as myche money as they may chevesshe. The seconde griff is for that the woU and ffell hath course and pas- sage oute of the Ream, wherfore all Straungers take but litell reward to bye oure Inglisshe clothe, but make hit theym selif.^ The Remedy is this : let ordeyne that no woU ne ffell passe not, in payne of forfeture of the good. And the persoone to make ffine wt the Kyng &c. And who so euer speke for the part to excuse hym is to be take culpabuU of treson, and neuer to haue credens. And than woU all Strangers be gladde to take oure [woU] after lpa.t hit is worth. The thridde articuU and full grevous is this that the Lombardes, Esterlinges &c ben suffred to abide so long within the londe, and to vtter ther good at J)®' own lust.'' And Jjer vnder fiey enproche J>e Kynges Customs and engrose Jie gold and send hit over the See and gate vpon the nobuU xvjrf, that is iiijf at the pounde, the whiche hath made the Reeme full bare of gold. pe Remedy of this cause is this. Let ordeyn that all Straungers of all Countrays, to what porte euer they dryve and come, that ]>ey shall sell ther goodes to Marchaundes of the same porte, and to take clothe and other good &c. And the said Marchaundes to certiffye the summe of the good to the Kynges Custymere. And so the Kyng oure Soue- raigne Lorde justly shall haue his right and grete Richese, and full mony Riche Marchaundes in his londe. And who that may be founde brekyng the Statutes, he that certyfieth to haue halff the contemptes. Article 13. These ben the names of the Duke of Glowcetteris maynye that were taken at Bery, and sent in to dyuerse places to preson. To London ' : — Sir Henry Owgan. Thomas Harbert.* Thomas Wyryot. GriflSth ap Dauid ap Thomas. Yevan ap Jankyn. To Barkamstede : — Jankyn thaylde. Jankyn Loyde Wogan. John Wogan. To Redyng : — William Wogan. Evan ap Jankyn ap Rise. Will, ap John ap dd. ap Th. lloyd. ' Cf. Libel of English Policy ap. Wright Pol. Poems, ii. 176, and 284 {the later poem). " Id.'A. 177. ' In the original the names are written in a column, each group being bracketed luith the name of the place against it. * Pardoned, i^hjuly, 1447, Cal. Pat. Rolls, v. 74. 364 APPENDIX To Ledys : — Will. Wogan. Will, ap Thomas son of Robt, ap Ryse. Henry Wogan. To Norlhwich : — Men appe Meredith ap Philipp Madock. Ries appe Dd. appe Thomas. Thomas Jankyne appe Ries. To Wallyngford :— Owen Don. Hugo Gunere. Hugo Bennooth. To Gilford :— John Eyvon. Walter Burthull. Hugo ap Thomas. To Southehampton :— John ap Ries. Ric. ap Robert. Will, ap John. Into jje Kynges Benche : — Dd. ap Thomas. Hugo ap Thomas. GrifiBth ap Nicollasson. To Brystowe : — Sir Robert Were. Sir Roger Chamberleyn.' Sir John Cheyne. To Wynchestre : — Richard Middelton.' Henr. Chechilley. Arteys.' Richard Nedam.' To Notyngham : — Morgan. Bokelond.* Milbom." To Northampton : — Bassyngborn. Wyeld." Shaffeld. Article 14. These ben the namys that were endited at Rowchester afore the Cardinall of York, Bysshop of Canterbury,' and the Duke of Bokyngham &c., in the feste of the Assumpcion ' of oure Lady, and in festo Laurencii* anno Regis Henrici xxix".'" John Sutton de Duddely " in Com. Stafford: Alias dictus John Sutton, miles de London 2. John Trevylian," nuper de London, anniger, 2. Alicia de la Poole, nuper vxor Willelmi Poole, Duds Suff., nuper de Newelme" in Comitatu Oxon., 2. Johannes Polfiford," nuper de London, armiger, 2. Thomas Kent '" de London, gentyllman : Alias ' Pardoned, 14M July, 1447, Cal. Pat. Rolls, v. 68. Artns de Cursy , pardoned, u. s. ' Or 'Sedeiam, poj-.h'iuJ , «. s. * William Bokelond, pardoned, 14M Sept., iti.\. 104. ° Kichard Milbome, cf. id. v. 166. " Thomas \Vylde,/a;- /j>rJ J)ui/ley (Jli.t. A'at. Bi«g. xvi. I07). '" /« t/ic Aing's /loiischold, C'sker oj the Re.eipt in the Ex.hepur {Cat. Pat Kolls, V. 79, 130, J5i\ " I'-welmc. " or V\\\ion\, yeoman of the crvwH (id. \. 43,241). '" C/cri- of the Conn, it. and ic< ondary in the privy setu offiee (id. v. 83, 416). A YORKIST COLLECTION 365 dictus T. K., clericus consilii domini Regis, 2. John Penycol,^ nuper de London, armiger 2. Thomas Hoo " de Hastyng in Com. Sussex of 2. Reginaldus,' abbas sancti Petri Gloucestrie of 2. Jacobus Fynys,* dominus de Say, i. T. Stanley,^ miles, of i. Edmund Hongurford,° of i. Will. Miners,' armiger, i. Edmund Hampdene,' miles, I. John Hall,' armiger, i. Thomas Daniell,' armiger, i. Thomas Thorp," gentilman, I. JohnBlakeney," gentilman, i. Domi- nus Johannes Forstkew,''' of i, miles. Johannes Gargrave,''' i. Walter Liard," episcopus Norwic, i. Ric. Woodville,''^ dominus de Ryuers, i. Robert Manfeld,^' armiger, i. Maister John Somers," i. Edward Grymston," armiger. Willelmus Boothe," episcopus Cestrie, i. Johannes Stanley,'"' armiger, i. Palmere,'" Tressam,''^ Faumpage,'' Gryswold.'^ 2, Hampton,'® esquire, Rest. 2, Gargrave ^^ in the towr. Article 15. This was the name of the Capteyn of Kente, John Cade, Aliis dictus M. John Aylemere, flfysyssyon. And he was gayly beseyn in Skarlet. And wedded a Squiers dowghter of Taundede.*^ ' Penycoke, esquire of the Kin^s body, and escheator in Lincolnshire {id. v. 150,311). ' Lord Yloo, formerly chancellor of Normandy. ' Reginald Bowles o?' Bowlers, see p. 162 above. * Murderedin London, ^hjuly, 1450. ^ Controller of the Kin^ s household {id. iii. 286, v. 320). ' Held various offices in the royal service {id. v. 213, 274, 285). ' Ushers of the Chamber {id. v. 84, 130). * Possibly the Salisbury merchant {Diet. Nat. Biog. xxiv. loi). ' Remembrancer of the Exchequer {Cal. Pat. Rolls, v. 33, 405). '" Treasurer's Remembrancer {id. v. 129). " King's sergeant, and clerk in the Mint (id. v. 57, 563). 1^ Fortescne, the Chief Justice. " Marshal of the Marshalsea {id. vi. 7). " Or X,y\xit, a friend of Suffolk. 1^ Father of Elizabeth Woodville. " Usher of the Chamber, deputy butler in Sandwich {id. v. 35, 407). " Somerset, Chancellor of the Exchequer, see p. 57 aborve. " Treasurer of the Chamber {id. v. 130). '" The Queen's Chancellor, see p. 242 above. ™ Cf. Battersea, sergeant of the Armoury, and usher of the Chamber {id. v. 299, vi. 247). " Probably Thomas Palmer, who appears on various commissions {id. v. 140, 298, 319, 444). '^ Sir Thomas Tresham, a devoted Lancastrian, who was beheaded after the battle of Tewkesbury in 1471 ; he had been brought up in the King's household [Diet. Nat. Biog. Ivii. 203). His father. Sir William Tresham, was Speaker in 1450 and led the opposition to Suffolk {id. Ivii. 205). ^ John Vanmpage, or Vampage, the King's attorney in the Common Bench, 1448 to 1452 {Cal. Fat. Rolls, v. 131, 556). '* Thomas Greswold, or Gryswold, coroner of the King's Bench {id. iv. 1 14, V. 475). » John Hampton, esquire for the Kings boay, master of the Queen's horses, and master of the ordnance {id. v. 214, 332). " Presumably John Gargrave, whose name occurs before. " Probably means Tandridge in Surrey. 366 APPENDIX Article i6. This ben the names that were slayn. At Tonnebrigge vij». At London &c xxvj. vij''* &c penultimo die Junii in vigilia sancti Petri et Pauli. Ao xxviij". Will. Stafford. Vmfrey Stafford de Grafton. Crowmere. And his clerke. Mathew Gowgh in vigil Petri et Pauli, a" supradicto. Shereff of London, a goldesmyth.' Dodenale. The Theffe put went out of Seint Martyns. Say, behedid at Standard in Chepe. Bysshop of Salesbury, Askew." M. Adam Molens.' Willelmus de la Pole at Dovyrr. Thomas Est,* yeman of the Crown. Wodhouse,' yoman of the Crown. Sayes brojjer, areest. Secretory vnto Will, de la Poole. The Shiryff of Worscetter Shire* at Tewkesbury : his Arm smytten of : And his Clerk his bond smyt of &c. At that tyme was Wotton vnder Egge pulled down by Berkely &c.' Also Sir John Hampdenne, knyght, and Steward to Suff., was slayn in the Castell of Flynt. Article 17. This is the Copy of the bill that my Lorde York put vnto the Kynge with other &c. Please it your highnes tendirly to considere that' g^et grucchyng and Rumour ° is '° Vniuersally in this your " Realme of that Justice is not dewly maynteyned " to Suche as trespas and offende ^ agaynst your lawes : And in Especiall of theym that be endited of treson, and other in beyng " noysed of the same : wherby '° grete inconveniens hath ffo- lowed," and gret is likly for to do and fall " heraffter in this " your said Realme, the " which God defend, but yef" your highnes provision conuenable be made for dew reformacion and pimysshment in this ' John Sutton, wAo was Sheriff in 1440-1 ; neither of the Sktriffi of 1450 was killed. * Or Ayscough ; at Edingdcn on t^thjutu. ' Bishop of Chichester, at Portsmouth, oh gth Jan. 1450. ' Cf. Col. Pat. Rolls, V. 228, 232, 550 ; hit he was aliiV. " ininistrecl B., P., S. " of offende MS. " obeyng AfS. ; beyng oiienly B., P., S. '» wherfore, for, P. '« that have fallen /'. ; hauc fallen B., S. " lyke to fallen /'. ; like to fall P., S. '• this om., B., P., S. '» the om. P., P.. S. »» if be /'. ; if by B., S. A YORKIST COLLECTION 367 behalue : Wherfore I, your Sugget ' and trew liege man, Richard, Duke of Yorke, willyng as effectually as I can,'' desiring the ' suerte and prosperite of your most Riall persone, and welfare * of this your noble Reame, Counseill and avertise your Excellens, for the conseruacion " of the' good tranquilite and peassable rewle among all your trewe' Sug- gettes, for to ordeyn and provide that trew * Justice be hadde agaynst all Suche as ben endited and opynly noysed with in your Realme, I ' offur and woU put remedy" for to execute your Commandement in these premisses. for pe punyssion" of Suche offendorres, and redresse the Said myssrewlers '^ to my myght and power &c. And for hasty execucion heroff, like it your excellens '' to adresse your " letturs of Prive Seele and writtes to your oflScers and ministers to do take and areest all Suche persons so noysed or endited, of what Estate, degre, or condicion so euer they be, and theym to commytte to your Towre of London, or to o}5er your prisons, Jjer to abide w* out " Bayell or maynprice, vnto Ipe tyme j^ey be Jserof vtterly tried and declared,'' after the course of your lawys. Article 19. This ben the namys that ben taken of the presoners of Fraunce last in Mensis Nouembris, Ao Regis H. sexti, xxxo, at Whitby Havyn in the North Countre. The Erie of Northombrelond, Syr Henr. Peersy hath thaym in gouetnance. Sir Peers de Brasell, le Senescall de Fraunce et de Normandy. Le Bastard de Orliaunce, le counte de Denas." Jakes of Claremont, Baile de Cane, lej Charlis de Murrey, Capteyn of Depe. Sir William Manypeny, knyght, and Doctor of lawe. ij C. men of Armys, with all fie archeris. And ix shippes. All taken at the said Whitby hauen. Article 20. At Crayfford myle flfro Dertfford. Primo die Mensis Marcii, Anno Regis Henrici sexti xxxo ther was my Lord of Yorkes ordynaunce iij™! Gowneres : And hymselff in Jie myddell ward w* viij™! : My Lord of Devynshere by fie Southe side ' hnmble snget B., P., S. ' can and B., P., S. = the om. P. ' the welfare S. ^ conversacion P. ^ the om. B., P., S. ' all trew P. ; all other S. ' dewe B., P. ' ben so endited or openly so noysed ; wher inne I P. ; such that so be indited or openly named, wherein I S. B. has openly indicted or openly noised. '" pnt me in devour B.,P.; offer my selfe and will put my endeuour S. " for Jie punyssion om. P. " redresse the same misrule B. ; redresse of the said misrule, S. " Hyghnes B., P., S. " these 6'. '° w' with MS. '' determined B., S. " Dunois. 368 APPENDIX w* vj">"' : And my Lord Cobham w* vjm'l at pe water side : And vij Shippcs w* })er stuff. And sith that tyme and sith was poyntement made and taken at Dertfford by embassetours, my Lorde pe B. of Wynchcstcr,' my Lorde B. of Ely,' my Lord pc Erie of Salusbury, my Lordc of Warrewik, my Lord Bewcham,' and my Lord of Sydely * &c. Whiche poyntraent was &c. And soon affter was Chatterlcy," yeman of the crown maymed, notwithstondyng he was taken at Derby with money making and ladde to London. Then affter the Kynges yeman of his Chambur, namyd Fazakerley," w* letteris was sent to Luddelowe to my Lord of Yorke chargyng to do forth a certeyn of his mayny, Arthem, squier, Sharpe, squier &c. The whiche Fazakerley hyld in avowtry Sbarpes wiff, the whiche Sharpe slewe Fazakerley, and a baker of Ludlow roos, and pe comyns &c., the whiche Baker is at Kyllyngworth ' Castell &c. Affter Jiis my Lord of Shrewsbury * &c rode in to Kent and set vp v peyre of Galowes and dede execucion vpon John Wilkyns,' taken and broght to pe town as for Capteyn, and w* other mony mo, of the whiche xxviij were honged and beheded, the whiche hedes were sent to London : and London said per shuld no more hedes be set vpon then And j^at tyme Eton was robbyd," and pe kyng beyng at Wynsore, on Lowe Sonday &c. ' William Waynflete. ' Tliomas Bourchier. ' John Beaochamp of Powyk. * Ralph Boteler, Lord Sndely. i> Thomas Chatterley, CaJ. Pal. R»lls, v. 34. " Richard Fazakerley, id. v. 536. ' Kenilworth. ' Commission dated nth May, 1453 (Cal. Fat. Rolls, v. 577'. ° Pardon to associates of John Wilkyns, mostly of Wrotham, on x^lh Jum, I452(»rf. V. 553). '" Of goods and Jewels {id. v. 584-5). XII. JOHN PIGGOTS MEMORANDA 1450— 1454 These Jifemeran(/a are contained on a single leaf (f. 144) of Harley MS. 543 in the writing of John Stow, who quoted two passages from them in his Survey of London} In one of these he names the author as John Piggot, but without any indication as to who he was. The Memoranda seem to be the work of a contemporary; they consist entirely of current gossip and reports, which might naturally have been jotted down at the time, but could hardly have been included in a narrative of later date. Their disorderly and confused character might be due to Stow having made notes only of those things which he thought of interest ; but it might equally be the result of the original writer having recorded what came to hand from time to time without any attempt at arrangement. However this may be, the whole of the Memoranda, though more curious than important, are novel. I have dealt with such points as call for comment in footnotes. Piggot would seem to have been a Londoner, and was perhaps connected with Stony Stratford, since several of his statements relate to incidents which happened there. In the latter part of the reign of Henry VI there was a John Pigot who was a London citizen and merchant of the staple at Calais; but he died early in 1454,^ and there is nothing to connect him with the writer of the Memoranda. Stow's Collections in Harley MSS. 543 and 545 contain a number of pieces relating to fifteenth-century history, which may be conveniently calen- dared here. Harley 543: ff. 131-9. Marriage of Charles of Burgundy and Margaret of York {Excerpta Historica, 227-39). f- I39"'°- Extract from Bluemantle's Record (see p. 379 below), ff. 140-3. Visit of Philip of Bdrgundy in 1494. f. 144. Memoranda of John Piggot. ff. 145-6. Letters of Privy Seal to Thomas Cook (Ellis, Original Letters, 2nd Ser., i. 126) with instructions for their execution, f. 147. Apparently two drafts of Lancastrian proclamations in 1470-1, headed: 'By the Qwene' and ' By the Prynce '. f. 148. Edward IV to James of Scotland, demanding the surrender of traitors, f. 148™. By the King. To mayor &c. of London, 17th June, 1475 : on the intended war with France, f. 149. By the King : on Scottish affairs, f. 150. By the King from Durham in 1463 : relaring the capture of Bamburgh and Dunstanburgh. ff. 150-60. Extracts from a London Chronicle (for 1417-25) of the type of Cotton Julius B i. ff. 161-3. Articles of the Duke of York against bishop Moleyns of Chichester, with the reply thereto, f. 163. Answer by the Duke of Somerset to the credence sent by him to the kynge of Scots (Nicolas, Proceedings of Privy Council, vi, pp. Ixiii, Ixiv). f. 163^°. Replicacion agaynst y« claymes of the Duke of York, by Sir John Fortescue (printed in full ap. Governance of £»j^/fl«(/, pp. 353-4, and in part in Fortescue's Works,\\. 517-18). f. 164. Articles of y^ Erie of Warwyk coming fro Cales before y^ feld of Ludlow, I459' Inc. ' For as moche as the comon weale, and the good politike laws '. f. 165. Articles of the Commons of Kent at the coming of the Eries of Marche &c. (Chronicles of the White Rose, pp. Ixxiv-lxxvi ; not an exact ' S^'n^ey, i. 91 ; ii. 121. 2 Cai. Pat. Rolls, Henry VI, v. 315, 323 ; vi. 137, 210. 1468 B b 370 APPENDIX copy), f, i66. Articles and causes of thassembly of Robyn of Redesdale, shewn at York 1469 (Warkworth's 67/rc«?V/<',pp.47-5l, from Ashmole MS. 1160). f. 168. Manner and guiding of the Earl of Warwick {Chronicles of the White Rose, pp. 229-34). ff. 169-70. Letter of Clarence and Warwick in 1470, with the King's reply \id., pp. 235-8; Ellis, Original Inciters, 2nd Ser., i. 132). f. 171. Proclamation by the Earl of Warwick (White Rose, pp. 239-40, from another copy), ff. 172, 173. Articles from the Prince to the Earl of Warwick to be conveyed by him to King Henr)'. f. 174. A Letter from Louis XI in 1475. Hari-EY 545: f. 132. Out of y" Chronicle of Tcwkesbur>' of mastar Somerset (see pp. 376-8 below), ff. 133*", 134™. A summary of history from 1431 to 1471. The conclusion alone is of interest: ' The whiche Kyng in the same }ere, )« xxij day of May, F doniinicall, ix primacion,' and Wednysday the vigell and even of thassen- tion of our lord, from y® towre of London was brought dead tlirughe London openly, whiche vpon y* Fridaj' next aflar was had and buried vnto thabbey of Chartsey in Surre)', where he lyethe buryed : vpon whose sowle god take it into his moste mercy. Amen per me J. V.' - ff. I34''°-I35. A remembrance of y" first battayle at scint Albon's ; giving York's letter to the King, the answer of the King, and \'ork's words to his supporters (Stow, Annates, pp. 398-9). f. 136". Replication made agaynst y" title and clayme of y" duke of York : another copy of Fortescue's tract; see Harley 543, f. 163. ff. 136^-138. Documents relating to Jack Cade's rebellion (id., pp. 388-9, 391-2). 1454 }'■ 13 of August Pigot Ryse Richard, Rise Richard, Rise Richard, quia genuisti regeni orbis. Vox in sompnis Anno domini 1454, mensis augusti die 13. William Alnwike the good bysshope of lincolne lent and gave to h. the 6 ^ greate some of golde &c. Anno 1448' billes were set on the gates of powles writen to this eflTecte : But Suthfolke, Salesberi,' and Saye slaine were that England be- trayed, on the first day of Maye we shulde be affrayde and say wele away. But Suthfolke, Salesbery and S.iy Be don to deathe by ]\Iay England may synge well away. ' The first (jiiartcr of the moon. " This precise statement hy a ciitempoiaiy '.eiiur, of a//wn.iv Varkisl sympatliy, is eondusivc that Jinny I / ,:'ieJ on !he night of i\~17 May, and not on jyd May as alleged in the .1 rn'v.iJ—see /. 175 a/vtie. It must have hen wrtllcn liefoie i.|M.(, when litnrys umaiiis -.1; >x traHslated to Windsor. I can malie 110 sii!;f;citirn lu to i(7;<> |. V. ri',;,r. ' ,t ttioie lilifly diiU is \\^a, to -.vhiih year ihi fe'ilc^.ving narrative belongs. "■ Willlnm .\_vscoiik1i, /';j/;i>/ 1^/ .Vii//.r/7'« K. came and then he would gyve place, and went bake w* his hoste. Then the 1. Say was had to the towre vnder govenaunce of the d. of excestar. Syr Humfrey Stafford knight slayne at sevenoke, and William Stafford esquiere, his cosen, that would not yeld but fought w* a two hand sworde on horsebake, and one w* a pike forke bare hym out of his sadle, where he fought on foote tyll he was slayne and xxv mo on ye 18 of July.' Sonday' next cam from Lecestar the archbisshope ' On 26IA April at Leicester Richard Woodville, Thomas Daniell and others Ttiere commissioned to make inquisition in the county of Northampton touching all treasons Sfc. committed by John Harries of Terrington on the Hill in Yorkshire, shifman. Cal. Pat. Rolls, Henry VI, v. 383. ' All this is very disorderly. ^ It was on 18th June. * iistjune. B b 2 37i APPENDIX of Canterbury w* his company thrugh 3erdley ' gobyn. When the K. at grenewiche hard the Slaffords were slayne he retorned to Westminster, and sone after to Kyllingworthe. The 6 of June the 28 year of h. 6 and resorted to tounbridge and to dyvers places there aboute, as holyng- worth and othars, and a fortnight after returned to blake hethe, and so to London, the second day of July cam into Southwarke. The 23 of September Richard duke of Yorke came to stony strat- forde, rydinge in redd velvet, on a blake horse and yrishe hoby : he lodgyd w* out the gate at the red lion. There was slayne one Tresham ' of northamton shire, an extorcioner, vnder multon parke. The duke rode to London and after that cam the d. of somarset from normandy. After whos comminge all the estates of this realme were at the blake friars w* y^ Kynge at parliament ; and there apered somarset and was charged w* the lose of normandy: his place was spoyled and moche of his goods perloned : he was had to the towre, but anon he was delyvered by the Kynge and set in rule as afore. After Christmas the K. made his iomey into Kent, w* whome rode the duke of Excestar, Somarset, Shrewesbery, Lille, and Crumwell, Roos, w* knights, esquires, and gentlemen : which erle of Shrewsbery cam from the courte of Rome, ffovrte sonday of advent, that had bene ferce in fight, moaste dred of all other in france in werr, 60 yeres in jrland, france and gienne. The duke of Yorke kept at stratforih the bowe. So vp Cantorbery, Rochestar, Favarsham &c. xxx persons were put to death, theyr heds were sent to london bridge. The 1. Rivars shuld have past the see, but taried at Plimouthe tyll all his money was spent, and then sent to the d. of Somarset for theyr wages : he sent them the ymage of S. George of sylver and golde to be solde, w* the almes dishe of the d. of Glocestar : for coyne had they none.' The same day the Kynge cam out of London a misfortune fell at our lady called de Pew on the wedensday.* There was a clarke Keper of that ymage dubbed w' iewells of precious stone perle and rings many, no iewellar cowlde iudge the price : this clarke taught children thereby, and comanded a childe to put out the candels, and beinge negligent there was brent ornaments, golde and golde rings, precious ' \'arcllcy. William Tresham ; /if -cas a Vrnl-ist .i/.m' :.i).t J^i//,,i ,1/ Mculton on i^rJ Sef/., -.vliilsl on his way to join \ot<. .SVr A'o.V.t of I'arliammt, >. -mj; Chron. Giles, p. 42. " Stow, Sui-vcy of l.omliii, i. oi. T/ie f.\/^iiti''n :i\ii fmjtilfj at the end 0/ H-^o, hit after niih- inchI/is' delar at I'lvnOMth «w.f atamloned. See Cat. Fat. Rolls, '• 437 '), -til. '147- ';> 462, 47^. 47''; ami Kums^iy, Lnncasf,! and i'ori, ii. 146. * I'lv/'d/'/y ,iotli December, 1451. JOHN PIGGOT'S MEMORANDA 373 stones, apparayle, that were about that ymage &c.' So to Northam- ton the Kynge toke his way and there toke his counseill and sent for his lords : and they had liveries whit and blewe, writhen lyke rope on bawdrikewyse : from thens he went to Donstable, where thrughe cownsell he sent letters to ye D. of Yorke. At this counsell was d. of Excetar, ye d. of buckyngham, good d. of Norfolke, therles of Salis- bery, Shrewsbery, Worcestar, and Wilshire, Vicount Beaumount and Lile, lord Gray Ruthyn, 1. Clifforth, 1. Egremounte, 1. Molenes, Sturton, Camus, 1. Beauchampe. The d. of Yorke cam from poales ^ past ovar Thamis onto Kent to Dartford his owne ground, his bulwarks and bastels were made stronge. The b. of Ely and of Winchestar, w* y^ Erles of Sallisbery and Warwike, his sonne, rod between Kynge and Duke tyll a peace was made betwene them : the d. was sworne.' 1453 the XX of July died the earle of Shrofbery and his sonn Vicount Hie. ' Stow, Survey of London, ii. I2i. 2 There is something wrong ; York crossed the Thames at Kingston, ' See the fuller narratives on pp. 298, 367-8 above. XIII. YORKIST NOTES J471 These brief notes come from f. 25'" of Arundel MS. 28 at the British Museum. They were all apparently written at the same time, and therefore after the execution of the Bastard of Fauconberg on 22 Sept., 1471. Probably, however, the date was not much later ; and thus these Notes, though destitute of any literary character, are of value as a contemporary record. The statement that Richard of Gloucester went into Kent on the morrow of the death of Henry VI, and that Edward IV followed on 23rd May, is significant. The writer at all events believed that Henry VI died on 21st May, though he gives no hint of the manner of his death. The writer is Yorkist, and his statement is probably more nearly con- temporary than that of any other authority except The Arrival} Since the Notes were obviously written without any ulterior motive, their evidence in support of the accepted date — the night of 21-22 May — is strong. The lists of those slain at Bamet and Tewkesbury, and of the Yorkist lords, are interesting. The main content of Arundel 28 is a Latin Chronicle for 1301-68. The volume formerly belonged to Lord William Howard. Anno domini Mcccclx primo, Bellum iuxta Bamet in die pasche (mensis Aprilis die xxiij) : vbi occisi fuerunt Ricardus, Comes Wanric, et Johannes, Marchio de Montagu, eius frater, pro parte Henrici sexti ; et Rex Edwardus iiij"^ obtinuit victoriam, atque ex suis fuerunt ibidem interfecti dominus de Crommewel et dominus de Say, item Humfridus Bourcher, primogenitus et heres domini de Bareners, cum multis aliis. Ex alia parte fugerunt Henricus, Dux Exon., et Johannes. Comes Oxon., cum pluribus aliis. Eodem anno mensis Maii die iiij'" Bellum iuxta Tewkysbury, vbi occisi fuerunt Edwardus, dictus princeps, filius Henrici sexti, Johannes Courtenay, Comes Deuon., Johannes, dominus de Wenlocke, Johannes Beaufort, frater ducis Somersetie, Johannes Langslroiher, prior Sancti Johannis, cum pluribus aliis nobilibus, mililibus et armigeris. Item quod pauci de parte Henrici euaserunt. Et cessit victoria dicto Regi F.dwardo quarto, nemine ex suis nobilibus percimte. Et capta est Margareta, olim dicta regina, vxor prefaii Henrici. Eisdem anno et mensc Kcntenses increduli prioris victorie insur- rexerunt nomine dicti Henrici, ipsorum capitanco et duce Thoma facombcrgc bastardo. Qui volentes inlrare ciuitalcm London, per ' iVIitic the iriotii: ilttlf setnis /o f.' i'/;'i-M itilfulfy. See pp. 175 and 370 above. YORKIST NOTES 375 vim, nouam portam super pontem magnum ciuitatis, cum nonnuUis domibus et tenementis inter ipsam portam et pontem leuabilem/ ibidem hostiliter cremauerunt. Temptarunt insuper vna cum presidio eorum de Essexia apud portam de Algate invenire introitum, qui tamen viriliter per Londonienses post aduentum Antonii, comitis de Ryuers, qui in eos ad dorsum subito irruit, adueniens ex turri London., viriliter fuerunt dispersi, multis ex eis horribiliter interfectis, ceteris captis et fugatis ; quod factum fuit xiiijo die mensis Mail supradicto. Eodem mensis Maii die xxj" rediit Rex Edwardus ad ciuitatem London, cum nobili triumpho, faciens secum adduci dictam Mar- garetam, olim reginam, in curru precedente exercitui. Et equitauit per medium ciuitatis, vexillis et standardis displicatis, tanquam in itinera et expedicione capta aduersus prefatos Kentenses. In cuius comitiva tunc fuerunt duces de Clarence et Gloucester, ipsius fratres ; item duces de Northfolke et Southfolk, et de Bukyngham ; item comites de Northumberland, de Shrovesbury, de Ryuers, de Essex, de Wyltsh3're, de Pembroke; Barones, domini de Audeley, de Stanley, de Grey Ruthyn, filius et heres de Comitis Cancie, de Grey Cotenor, de Bar- reners, de Cromwell, de Dacres, de Hastynges, de Howard, de Dynham, de Cobham, de Mautravers, filius et heres de Arundell, de Bourgcher, de Dudley, de Scrope, de Ferrers, cum aliis nobilibus, militibus et armigeris, ac multitudine equitum maiore quam ante sit visa. Eodem anno decessit Henricus sextus, olim dictus rex Anglic, apud turrim London., et sepultus est in monasterio de Chertesey iuxta Tamisiam, Winton. diocesis. Et sic nemo relinquitur in humanis qui ex illo stipite coronam petat. In crastino Dux Gloucester cum prirao exercitu Regis intravit Canciam ; quern sequitur dominus Rex in die Ascensionis cum residue exercitu, viz. xxiij" die dicti mensis Maii. Eodem anno mense Sep- tembri, dictus Thomas faucomberge propter nouam offensam decapita- tus est, et capud suum super pontem magnum leuabilem dicte ciuitatis positum est. ^ The Drawbridge. XIV. FROM A CHRONICLE OF TEWKESBURY ABBEY 1471 This little piece furnished Stow with the original of a passage in his Annates, p. 424 ; though he seems to have added some things from another source. Stow puts ' Lib. Tews.' in the margin. In another place {Annales, p. 385) he gives 'Lib. Theauxbury' as his authority for a statement as to Henry Beauchamp, Uulce of Warwick ; see also his Summary for 1575, pp. 365, 367, 368 ; probably he took these references from the same volume, which apparently b;-longed to his friend Robert Glover, Somerset Herald ; it now seems to be lost. The narrative is of interest for the names ' Gastum ' and ' Campus Grandis ' given to the site of the battle, in the hilly fields now called the Gastons, which include some old earthworks (probably Roman) sometimes called ' Margaret's Camp', though Sir J. H. Ramsay was 'assured on the spot that the proper name was Camp Ground'.' The list of the slain is noteworthy for its fullness and its description of the places of burial. The reference to Prince Edward supports Warkworth's statement that he was killed in the field, and is against the story that he was murdered after the battle ; the concluding words are suggestive of Lancastrian sympathy. The writer shows himself ill at home in his Latin. Stow's transcript is in Harley MS. 545, f. 132 — see p. 370 above. Out of ye Chronicle of Tewkesbery of mastar Somarset. Memorandum quod anno domini 1471, littera dominicalis F. bellum fuit apud Barnad inter villain sancti Albani et ciuitatem London, die pasche in mane, vbi ex una parte fuit rex Edwardus iiij cum fratribus eius, multis aliis dominis, in quo occisus est dominus de Bowser et alii quamplures, et ex altera parte cum Ricardo Neuel comiti War- wiche et fratre eius Johanne Nevil, qui ambo ibi interfecti sunt cum multis aliis dominis et ulendis' personis, Rege Edwardo victoriam optinente. Item eodem anno iij non. may sequente, uidelicet in festo inuenciouis sancte crucis, uenit Tewkesburie Edwardus Henrici sexti regis filius el princeps cum grande exercitu, et in ciastino intrauit grandem campum ubi uocatur Gastum. \'bi Rex Edwardus iiij cum suo exercitu aduenienspredictumprincipem Edvvardumoccidii in campo predicto, vbi tciam Johannes Somerset frater ducis de Somerset, Comes de devonshire ct dominus de Wenloke cum multis aliis interfecti fuerunt. Exercilus ' /.iiti. aster am! Yerk, ii. 379. ■' I'loliably 'iiiUenilis' in error for ualentibu^. A CHRONICLE OF TEWKESBURY ABBEY 377 vbi predict! regis Edwardi iiij furiosi in monasterium at in villam de Tewks. intrantes spoliauerunt quamplurimos at abstulerunt bona monasterii, et quidam ecclesiam intrantes violenta manu at miseros de exercitu predicti principis necarunt et occiderunt quam in cimiterio quam eciam in ecclesia, ex quo facto poUuta est ecclesia : sic stanta quia nee misse nee aUud diuinum officium ibi fire [? fare] per vnum mensem agerentur. Et reconciliata est ecclesia item cum cimiterio par dom- pnum suffragane episcopi Wigornia iij Kalleds Jun. vij fere v. ante pentecost ex sumptu monasterii. Isti varo capita truncati sunt ad altam crucem ville Tewks. Postquam varo victoriam optinuit predictus rex Edwardus in campo illo uocatur Gastum, et monasterium ac uillam cum suis intrant, mansit iiij dies far. ' : vbi multa dampna perpetrata sunt. Vbi eciam capti sunt dux de Somerset, dominus et prior sancti Johannis apud London., Thomas Trissam, miles, Johannes daluas filius lohannis delvis senioris, qui in campo occisus fuit, James Audeley frater domini de Audaley. These are the names of the noblemen that were slayne at Tewkesbury felde. Lord Edwarde, prince of Kynge Henry, in the felda of Gastum besyde Tewkasbery, slayna and buryed in ye mydste of y^ covent quiere in ye monastery ther : for whom god worketh. Lord Edmunde Duke late of Somarset taken and behadyd and buryad before an ymage of S, James at an autar in y^ sayd monastery churcha on ye northe parte. Lord John Somarset, brother of ye sayd duke of Somarset, slayne in the fylde ther, and buryed w* his sayd brother before ye sayd ymage toward mary mawdlyns auter. Lord Thomas^ Courtney Erie of Devon- shire slayna in the Side and buried about ye mydst of ye sayd auter of saynt James. Syr Vmfray Haudeley ther take and behedyd and buryed w* ye sayd Thomas Courtney, Erie of Devenshire, in one sepulcre before ye sayd altar. Lord Wenloke slayna in the filde & his body take fro hens to be buryad. Sir Edmund Barnarde knight slayne in ye filda and syr William Whytingham knyght, slayn also in f filde and bothe bodyes buryed in ye body of ye sayd monastarye churche callyd ye parishe churche besyde saint Jorges chapell. Syr John Delves, elder, slayne in ye filda : mastar John Delves, his sonne, take and beheadyd ; and both buryed by syds seynt Johns chapell in 3" sayde parishe churche and thayr bodies afterward take fro hens to 'heyr contrey. Syr John Locnor" slayne and buryed in ye sayd parishe churche besyds ye bodies of sar Edmond and ser William '^ Perhaps for itna.i. ^ Should be ]o\\n. ^ Lewknor. 378 APPENDIX l)efore sayde. Syr William Vauce, knyght, slayn in y* fild, and buryed in \° parishe churche before an image of our lady pety in y^ northe syd. Syr Geruase of Clifton, knyght, take and behedyd. Syr William Car, knyght, sor Henry Rose, knyght, taken and behedyd and buryed in yo churche yarde there. Syr William Lyrraouthe, knyght, Ser John Vring, knyght, scr Thomas Semer, knyght, ser William Rowes, knyght, all slayne in y* filde and buryed in y« churche yarde. Syr Thomas Tryssam, knyght, take and behedyd, \\ho.s body was buryed in y« sayd monastary churche by fore a pilar betwyxt y« awtar of s. James and seint nicholas. Syr Willyam Newborow, knyght, take and behedyd, buryed in y« parishe churche, besyds y* fame of baptisme ycr in ye southe syde. Wastar Henry Wraitesley, squier, skyne in )» filde and buryed in s. John baptist chapie in y* monastary churche on y9 southe syde. Maslar Henry Baron, squire, slayn and bur}ed in y» parishe churche before an Image of seint clement pope and martyr, and his body aftarwarde was fet from hens to his contrey. Mastar Fildynge, squire, Mastar Hervy, recordar of Bristow, bothe slayne in y* filde and thcyr bodyes buryed in y^ churche w' many olhar. John Gower. swerde berer of y^ prince, John Flore,' bannarberer of } " duke of Somarset, Henry Tressam, Watar Courtney, Robart Acson," Lewis Milis, Biichfeld of Westminstar, Mastar Gogh, squire, ser Thomas Tressam his clerkc, TurnebuU, all take and behedyd, and theyr bodyes buryed in y* churche in dyvars placis. Also prior and lord of sniit Jones besyds London, taken in y® fild and w* othar behedyd. whos body closyd in leade was take from hens to his owne place. Thes wer ther taken and presentyd to y<^ kynge, and pardonyd: ladye Margaret, qwene, ladye Anne, princes, ser John Foskew, chefe Judge of yngland, doctor Makerell, John Throomorton. M.if tar Beynton, Mastar Wroghton ; all pardonyd. Ser Henry Courtney take and aftarward behedyd.^ ' Klory Siow. ' Jackson S/lKc. ' Willi the above tnay be compaic<1 the shorter lists in Po Ion IfUfts, No. 777, nnd IVarkworth, pp. 18, 19. XV. THE RECORD OF BLUEMANTLE PURSUIVANT 1471— 1472 This narrative is preserved in two sixteenth-century copies in Cotton MS. Julius C. vi, ff. 255-9, and Additional MS. 61 13, ff. 101-7; the latter lacks the accounts of the Feast of St. George and the mission to Charles the Bold (pp. 380-2 below), from which we learn that the original writer was Bluemantle Pursuivant. It is not known who held that position in 1472 (see Anstis ap. Add. MS. 9013, p. 946). The two narratives of the Coming of the Lord Gruthuyse, and of his Creation as Earl of Winchester (pp. 382-8 below) were printed by Sir F. Madden in Arcltaeologia, xxvi. 265-86, from Add. MS. 6113. In both manuscripts they appear in the order here given ; they are clearly two separate accounts, but the second should strictly come first as containing the earliest matter in point of time. Though a considerable part of the Record has thus been printed before, it seems worth giving in full as the personal narrative of a contemporary. The two manuscripts show some small textual variations. I have followed the Cotton MS. {J.), but have taken a few corrections from the Additional MS. (A.) together with such variant readings as seem of sufficient interest. Stow copied a brief extract (p. 380 below) in Harley MS. 543, f. 139'°— see p. 369 above. A" domini M. iiij C. Ixxj. On Christmas day the King our soueraigne lorde, Edward the iiij** after the conqueste, was crowned at Westmester, and y^ quene also. Hee kepte his estate in the Whyt hall the same day. The Bishop of Rochester, w<=t song hyh masse the same day of coronacion, sat at the Kings horde on the right hand, and the Duke of Bokyngham on the left hand. On Neweres day. The King and the quene went in procession, and were not crowned ; the King kept non astate in the hall. On twelf day. The King and quene went a procession : the king crowned, and the quene not' crowned because she was grete with childe. He kept his estate in the whyt hall, the bishop of Rochester on his right hand, and the erles of Shrewesbury and of Essex on the left hand. A" supradicto.^ The ijde day of the month of Apryll came to Bruge worshipful! ambassat of our soveraigne lord the Kinge, the woli were honorably rec* w* out the toune of Bruge of the lord of Gruthuse. ' The Kinge was crouned and went a procession ; the quene went a procession and was not A. ' Clearly 14^2 is meant. 38o APPENDIX The names of the Kinges ambasadours : Sir John Scot, knight, the marshal! ol' Callcs, M^ William Hatclyff, secretary to the Kinge, M"" John Russell, doctor and archdeacon of Barkes, M' Richard Marten, archdeacon of London, S' John Yong, knight and merchant of London,' And on the iiijt* day of the said month the said Embassiat was honorably accompanied w* the foresaid lorde, all on horssebake sauyng there seruauntes, from ther logyng to the dukes court. And on the same day came out of Fraunce a gret embassat to the foresaid duke of Burgoine," and were rd. into Bruge at afternone. On sonday the v** day of the foresaid month. The foresaid embasadours of England dyned in the Dewkes court w* the lorde Bastarde in his chamber; and on the vjt« day of the same month they dyned w* m. lady the duches of Burgoine ' at the male, but not at her owne table but in a chamber w' her chamber- leyn ; and on the vij'e day w* the lord Grutehusse. The feast of S* Jorge kept In the foresaid yere the King, o'' soueraigne lorde, kept his feast of S* Jorge at his castell of Wyndsor, and kept his estate in the foresaid castell ; the Bushope of Wynchester sat on the right hand, and the right noble Duke of Glocester and therle of Essex on the left hand. There were present therle of Douglas, the lord Barnes, the lord Dures. On the morne after the feast come to the chapter of the order of the garter into the chapter howse come the Kinge, the Duke of Glocester, therle of Essex, the lord Berners, the lieutenaunte of ihorder, therle of Doglas, the lord Duras, and sir John Asteley ; the w<* sir John Asieley was sent for to London by Gales pursuyvant to come to furnishe y* chapter. In the v/"^ chapter were chosen to be bretheme of the said order : My lord the Prynce The K. of P/ The Duke of Norff. The Erie of Wylshere The 1. fferrers The 1. montioye & The lord heyward. vij elecied at y* chapter. ' W. nr/i/i M'' Crosby, knight and marchonte of London. See Stow, Annala, 4i6. ' liokyiiijlifim y. » Hokyngham 7. * /'reliably the Kiiii^ of J'criiii,-til. See .Imlis, Kegiiler of the Order of the Garter, i. 50, 51, ii. 1S7, ,uiJ A'l-/.':. Memo nil) of the Order of the Garter, p. Ixix. RECORD OF BLUEMANTLE PURSUIVANT 381 And that day they had a masse of Requyem, and at the tyme of offertory the King offered, and the knightes of the garter ther beinge present, when the [King] had offered, [offered] there one offeringe ; the Duke of Glocester and the lord Barnes offered y^ sword, bering the pomell forward of the goode of the right feyfuU and noble lorde therl of Wychestre * ; therle of Essex and therl Duglas his helme : the lord Duras and sir John Asteley the sword of therl of Pembroke ; the Duke of Glocester and the lord Barnes his helme : therl of Essex and therl of Duglas the sword of therl of Ryvers ; the lord Duras and sir John Asteley his helme. Also the Duke of Glocester and the lord Barnes offered the sword of sir Robert Harcorte ; therl of Essex and therl of Duglas his helme. A" domini M. iiij cc. Ixxij. The King o' soueraigne lord sent a right worshipful! man in his embassat to y* right mighty prynce his brother the Due of Bourgoyne, called M' Willm. Hatcleff, and to wayte vpon hym an harroulde called Lancaster, and a pursuyvant called Blewmantell ; also there wayted vpon hym a shipe called the roos, well furneshet w* men of warre ; and toke his shippe at Wynchelsey on a fryday ' ; and on the saterday londyd in Pyguardi fast by a vyllage called Damme a lytel fro Estaples ; and on the sonday wee rode to Coote, and on the monday by water to Abeville, and there he abode tyll he had certene tydinge where the Duke was : and on o'' Lady day the natyvete,' the was viij days oughter his cominge to toune, he had word y* the Due forward was to yen in Normandy. Wherefore Incontynent as sone as he coude [he sent] me, Blewmantell pursevant, to y^ Duke, and for to let hym have knoledge of his commynge. I rode as far as a vyllage called qwanten a lege fro pero,* where I met w^^ the capytayne of the forward called my lord Phelippe of Creuecure,^ the wol^ for the Kinges sake made me right grete chere and caunsled me to abyde in his' company tyll I shoulde goo thense to the Due. And on the morne he reine to Blange, where he bode tyll the Duke come.* Also he had under hym CCCC. speres, wch were loged in vylages all about hym, ridyng all wey in batell thus : euery C. speres had a standart and ij penons, j penon for the custerelles,'' and y® bowes on horsebake, vi"'^ went before, anoder for the fotemen, and the standart for ye speres ; vnder or fast by the standart rode the capytene of y^ C. speres ; and ' The Sire de Gruthuyse. Seep. 383 ie/oiv. '' 28th August. 3 8th Sept. * ? Peronne. * Crevecceur. " Charles the Bold came to Blangy on 11 th Sept., ou il recent les Ambassadeurs d Angleterre et de Bretagne, Commines-Lenglet, ii. 202. ' The coustilliers : light horsemen, so styled from their long knives or daggers. 382 APPENDIX lykc order kepic enery C. spcres. These were the capitaynes : Syr Phelippe Cjcuecurc, capitayne of all ye forward; Syr Oliuer de la Marche, caijytayne de C. 1. ; Syr Baudwyn de Lanoy, capy* de C. lance ; Mounser Mount taverne, capt. de C. lance ; the baylie of Saint t^>uintyn, capt. de C. lance; Mounsyr de Boi esser, capt. de C. lance. And on the fryday ' about ix of the cloke I had word ye Due was but iij leges thens comyng thedder ward. I rode agenst hym and saw his hoUe host in Remeving ; to my Jugement iher was mor then a M. carles charged w' gonnes, tentes, vyttalles, mjlles, pauys, gunstones and innumerable necessaryes, the Due hym[self] being in his rereward, wher I present hym my letter. In the foresaid yere of or Lord, and in the month of Octobre on the feast of S* Edward, our most dred and lyge lord the Kinge Edward the iiij*t, wch was the xij yere of his most noble Raigne, kepte his Royall estate in his pallayse of Westmester. And about x of the cloke afore none the King come into the parlement chamber in his parlemenl robes, and on his hed a cap of mayntenaunce, and sat in his most Royall maieste, having before hym his lordes spirituall and temporal!, also the speker of the parlement, w<* is ' called WiUm. Alynton, the wich declared byfore the Kinges good grace' and his noble and sadd consell ihentent and desyre of his comyns specially in the coniendacion of the womandly behavyour and the grete constans of o"^ Soueraigne Lady the queue the [King being] ' beyonde the say. Also the grele joy and suerty to this his lond the birth of me lord the prynce." It" the knightly demeninge of my lordes his bredren, my 1. the Duke of Clarence and my lord the Duke of Glocester. It"" the constant fa)th of my lordes Rivers and Hastinges. chaumberleyn to o"" most dred and lyege lorde the Kinge, w* oder nobles and yomen being w* the Kinge beyonde the say. It™ all tlie nobles w' there parte takers to take S'^iiory.' some put into dyuers ' prison, some to make fyne to their Importunate charge. It" the grete humanytie and kyndnes of my lord Gruthuse shewed to his liighnes when he ° was in the counties of Holand and Flaunders, the foresaid lord Gruthuse ther being present. Whcrfore y' shoulde plese his moste noble grace to have all thes byfore rehersed specially commended. Then the Kinge gave in commaundement to ye Bushop of Rochester, then beinc; keper of ye grete scale, for me L. ye chaun- ' llth Sc|il. 2 cmnmyn |iarlomonlc w.is .-/. ^ Ijcforc llic KiiiRc ./. < he licince -•/. " lo bis IninU- ll\e liytllic of the Trince ./. • Snnctimry. ' dures of .4. • when the Kinge .). RECORD OF BLUEMANTLE PURSUIVANT 383 cellor was sicke, to geve them in his behalff his most gracious and laudable thankynges. This done the Kinge torned ageyne to his chamber acompened w* his lordes. The lord Gruthuse' went into a chamber by o^ lady of pu '' and put vpon hym ye habilement of an Erie ; the Kinge ° came eft sones in his most Royall mat'®, crowned like as he went in prosession, into y« parlement chamber, the Due of Clarence bare his trene, wher the King sent for to present the foresaid lorde Gruthuse to his high ma^^'e the right nobles therles of Arundell and of Essex, wot went on ether syde of hym. Also therle of Wylshyre bare a sworde before hym, the pomel vpward ; also ' w* dyuers oder lordes ; also w* the Kinges officers of armes, Garter bering his patent : tyll he come before the Kynges presence, where afterward the King gyrd the said sword abowt hym, and creat hym Erie of Wynchester, Mr Willm. Acleff,* the Kynges Secretory, reding openly his patent. This done the King went into the Whit hall, wheder come the quene crowned. Also my [lord the] prince * in his robes of estate, wot ^as borne next after y« King by his chamberleyn called W Vaghane, and so preceded forth into y® abbey cherche and so vp to ye shryne of S* Edward, where y«y offered. Then the King torned do wne into ye quere, where he sat in his trone unto the prosession tyme; therle of Wynchester bare his sword all y* procession, and so fourth into the tyme that he ' went to dynner. The King kept his estate in y' whyt hall, and the Bushop of Lyncoln sang the high mas ; where- fore he sat on the right honde of the kinge, and on the left bond sat the Due of Clarence, and therl of Wynchester ; at y® beginning of the table on ye right syde of the halle sat ye Bushope of Ely, the B. of Duresme, the B. of Chester, and the Bushop of Excester. And at the table on the other syde sat the Due of Bokyngham and the Duke of Suffoike, and therl of Arundell, therl of Northumberland, therl of Shrowesbery ; and therl of Wylshyre wayted on the Kinges coberd as chef boteler for y* day. Also at the same table sat the prior of St Jones, the lord Gre Codener,^ the lord Audeley, the lord Dacres, the lord Sturton, and the lord Grey of Wylton, the lord Monioy ' and the lord Denant." In all oder service and seremonyes the king was served lyke as is his olde accustome in soche a feaste. My lord Chamberleyn wayted vpon the croune y* day. The Kinge of his grace gave vnto his office of armes his larges. Wherefore at the tyme ' Creacion at the tyme aforesayd of the lorde Grautehuse. The sayde lorde A. ' The Chapelofthe Pew, or king's closet. See Stow, Survey of London,\\.\i\, 379. '■ Kinge om. J. * accompennyed also A. " Attecliffe, or Hatteclyf. " Also the Prence A. ' they A. ' Grey of Codnor. ^i Montjoy. " Sir John Dinham, Lord Dinham 384 APPENDIX accustomed M' Garter ' gave hym thankes in the name of all the office. M"' Norry ' cryed y« larges in iij places of the hall, because Mf Garlcr had an Impediment in his tonge. We come eft sones before the Kinges grace, wer M' Garter Informed hym and prayde hym to geve thankes of y° grele larges y' y® said Erie of Wynchester had yeven to his officers of armes. Norry King of Armes made the crye in to place of the hall as ensheweth : Larges ! Larges ! Larges f De par le treshault et trespuisant seig' le Counte de Wynchestre, Seigf de Gruthuse, prince De Steenhuse, Seig'' de Auelghien, de Spiers, de Hamsted et de Arscampe,' Largesse &c. Not"'. When the King had weshet and graces were seid the King creat a King of Armes, baptysed hym * and set a croune on his hed, ^yoh was called Rychemond. That done y« King had his voyde ' betwyxt v and vj of the cloke ; the voyde done the King went to his chamber accompanied w* his lordes, wher therl of Wynchester toke his conge, and was well accompanied to his loging w* therl of Essex, my lord chamberleyn and dyuers other nobles ; and these heroudes before hym, M"^ Garter principall King of Armes, Clarenceus ' King of Armes, Norry King of Armes, Marche ' King of Armes, Wyndesore herralde, Smowden' herroude to )«> King of Scotes, Blewmantell purseyvant, Esperaunce purseyvant to therl of Northumterland.' In the foresaid yere of o"' lord JM. cccclxxij. In the moneth of September the right high and mighlie prince, Charles Due of Bourgoyne &c, sent in embassat the right noble lord, the lord Gruthuse, to y® high and mighty prince & o' most dred lege lord, the King, Edward the iiij'® by ye grace of God of England & of Fraunce & lorde of Ireland, woli was honoratly received by ij esquyers of 3 ^ Kinge, the tone called Robert RatclyfF, porter of Calles, and the other Thomas Twates, baylie of Guynes, viij myle Engh-she from Cales, at a Toune called Greuenyng : and so come to Calles, were he was also received by y® lorde Haywarde, Syr John Scotte, marshall of Calles, Syr William Peche, Syr Jeffray Gatte, w* dyuers oder nobles, w'' whome as long as he beinge in the toune of Culles daylie and nightly was fested, and as I vndersiande, he was there iij or iiij dayes. Also they of y* kinges counsell of yo toune of Calles ordeined for h\ni iij or iiij shepes well furnesshed w* men of warre to save- ' John .Smcrl, ' Thomas Holme. ' Oorsampc y/. * h.i|ilyscd hym Gyen .-/. " T/ic voyde -t'lis 11 /ii' //«:,'-'■«/. sriveti .1/ lit end i>/ III f feast. " Willinm Unwiicslowc. ' I'erhaps John Mnrclie. ' Snowden A. ° A. lias (m'K 111 the fool of f. 103"', iiitJ on f. 103'° begins the narrative t« I'P- .ITy-l^o above. RECORD OF BLUEMANTLE PURSUIVANT 385 conduicte hym into England. In the whiche were with hym syr Jeffray Gate and M^ Ratclyff, Porter of Calles. And they aryved at Dover, where y^ forsayde Lorde Gruthuse was honorably receved by ye mayre of the toune and his bretherne, also by ij esquiers, y* were sent thether by the Kinge from his owne courte, the tone called Mr Morrys Arnolde, sergent porter, and y® other M^ John Herlis, w<='i allway accompanied hym, and at ye Kinges commaundement and cost, tyll he come to London. And when he was save on londe, the forsaide nobles Syr Jeffray Gatte and M' Ratclyff w* their company tomed agayne to Gales. When the sayde lorde Gruthuse come to Caunterbury he was presented w* wyne, capons, vezandes, partriges and other presentes, soche as they had in the Rehgious places, bothe of Crist cherche and Sainte Augustynes. The meyre and his brethren presented hym also w* soche dyntes ' as they had. Also when he com to Rochester he was presented by ye meyre and his brethern to soper wt wyne, capons, vasants, partridge, and after soper w* frute and swete wyne. Item in the morninge, or he departed to Gravesende, he was represented w* swete wyne. Item when he came to London the ij shreves of London wayted vpon hym at Lyon Key, from whence they sente a bott, in the whiche were iiij sergantes, for to mete hym. And they caused hym to lande at the forsaid Key, wher he was honorably received by the foresayde Shreves. And so fourthe conducte to on of there places to Dynner, whiche ys called Shelley,' where he had an honorable and a plenteous dynner ; and after dynner he was accompanied by the saide Shreves to the Crane in the Vyntry, where they toke there leve. And so the forsayde lorde Grutehuse went by water from thence to Westm., to y^ Dene of S* Stevens chappell place in Chanon Roo, wcl* was ordeined for hym by the Kinge and his Councell. And w* in ij dayes after by the advyse of M^ Thomas Vaghan he rode to Wyndsore, to y® Kinge, accompanied also w* the forsayde ij esquiers, M'' Morrys Arnolde, and Mr John Heryllys, w* oder. And when he come into the castell, into ye quadrante, my lord Hastinges, chamberleyn to o^^ souereigne lorde the Kinge, Syr John A Parre, Syr John Don, w' dyuers oder lordes and nobles, receiued hym to the Kinge. * deyntes A. ^ the sheriffs in Sept. 1472 were John Allin and John Shelley, not John Brown and Thomas Bledlow {as stated in Archaeologia), who only took office at Michaelmas. ' Probaily John Shelley's house; or it may be Shelley House near St Mary 1468 C C 386 APPENDIX Md. that the Kynge dyd to be impareled on the far syde of the quadrant ij chambres richeley hanged w* clothes of Arras, and w' Beddes of astate ; and when he had spoken w* the Kinges good grace and the quene, he was accompanied to his chamber by me lorde Chamberlein [and] Syr John A Parre, w* dyuers moo, v/"^ soopt w* hym in his chamber : also there sopt his servauntes. When they had sopte, my lord chamberleyn had hym againe to y® Kinges chamber, and incontinent the Kinge had hym to y® quenes chamber, wher she sat plainge w' her ladyes at the morteaulx,' and some of her ladyes and gentlewomen at the Closheys' of yvery, and Daunsing. And some at dyuers other games accordinge. The whiche sight was full plesant to them.' Also y® Kinge daunsed w* my lady Eiizabetbe, his eldest doughter. That done, the night passed ouer, they wente to his chamber. The lord Gruthuse toke leue, and my lorde Chamberleyn w* dyuers other nobles accompanied hym to his chamber, where they departed for that night. And in the morninge, when Matens was done, the Kinge herde in his owne chappell o'' lady masse, w«*» was melodyousely songe, the lorde Grutehuse beinge there presente. When the mas was done, the Kinge gave the sayde lorde Grutehuse a cup of golde, garneshed w' perrye, and in mydest of the cup is a grete pece of an Vnicornes home ' to my estimacyon \ij ynches compase. And on the cover was a grete safyre. Then he wente to his chamber where he had his brekefaste. And when he had broken his faste, the Kynge come into ye quadrant. My lorde Prince also, borne by his Chamberleyn called M^ Vaghan, w"* bad y* foresaide lord Gruthuse welcome. Then the Kinge had hj-m and all his company into y* lytell Parke, where he made h}Tn to haue grete sport And there ye Kinge made hym ryde on his ow en horsse, a fayre hoby, the wch the Kinge gave hym. Item, there in the Parke the Kinge gave hym " a royall crosbowe, the strynges of sylke, the case couered w' velvette of the Kinges colers, and his armes and bages thervpon. The heddes of ye quarrelles were gilt. The Kynges dynner was ordeined at the lodge. Before dynner they keld no game, sa\ing a doo, y^ vf^ the Kinge gave to y® seruauntes of ye lorde Grutehuse. And when the Kinge had dyned, they wente a huntinge agarae. And by the castell were founden certein dere lyinge ; and what w' greyhoundes and what were ren " lo dethe w* bok houndes, there were slayne halfe a dosen bokes, the \v<-i» the Kinge gave to tlie sayde lorde Grutehuse. ' /I game re^emliUHf^ tmvls. » Clash, or nine fins. » to them om./. ' As tm aritiJeU to poison. » hym om.J. ° som w' 1,'reylioundes ami som rfiiiic A. RECORD OF BLUEMANTLE PURSUIVANT 387 By yt tyme it was nere night, yet the Kinge shewed hym his garden and Vineyard of Plesyre, and so tourned into ye Castell agayne, where they herde evensonge in theire chambers. The quene dyd order a grete banket in her owne chambre. At the woJi banket were the Kinge, the quene, my lady Elizabethe the Kinges eldest doughter, the Duches of Excester, my lady Ryuers, and the lorde Gruthuse, settinge at oone messe, and at the same table sat the Duke of Bokingham, My lady his wyff, w* diners other Ladyes, whose names I have not,' My Lorde Hastinges, Chamberleyn to the Kinge, My lorde Barnes, chamberleyn to the quene, John Grutehuse son to ye forsaid lorde, M' George Bart, secretory to the Due of Burgoine, Loys Stacy, asher'' to the Duke of Burgoine," [and] George Mytteney: also certeyn nobles of the kinges owne courte. Item, there was a syde table, at the w* sat a grete vewe of ladyes, all on y* one syde. Also in the vtter chamber sat the quenes gende- women all on one syde. And at the other syde of the table agenest them sat as many of the lorde Gruthuse servauntes : as touchinge to ys abondant welfare, lyke as hyt ys accordinge to soche a banket. And when they had sopt, my lady Elizabeth, the Kinges eldest doughter, daunsed w* the Duke of Bokingham : and dyuers other ladyes also. And aboute ix of the clocke the king and the quene w* her ladies and gentlewomen brought ye sayde lorde Grutehuse to iij chambers of Pleasance, all hanged and besyne w' whyt sylke and lynnen-clothe, and all ye flowers couered w* carpettes. There was ordeined a bed for hym selff of as good downe as coulde be thought, the shetes of Raynes, also fyne fustyan, the counterpoynt cloth of gold furred w* ermyne, ye tester and ye seler ' also shyning ° clothe of gold, curtens of wh)rt sarsenette : as for his bed shete ' and pelowes [they] were of the quenes owen ordinaunce. In ye ij^e chamber was an other of astate, the woi was alle whyt. Also in the same chamber was made a couche wt fether beddes, hanged w* a tent knit lyke a nett ; and there was ye coberd. Item, in the iijde chamber was ordeined a bayne or ij, weh were couered w' tentes of whyt clothe. And when the Kinge and the quene, w* all her ladyes and gentlewemen, had shewed hym these chambres, they turned againe to theire owne chambres, and lefte ye said lorde Grutehuse there, accompanied w* my lorde chamberleyn, w* dispoyled hym and wente bothe to gether in the bane. Also there was Syr John a Parr, John Grutehuse, son to ye saide lorde, Mayster George Bartte, Secretory to the Duke of Burgoine, Loys, ' whose ... not om. A. ^ usher; archer/. ' Bokyngham/, * celer A. ; the canopy. ^ sheving J. ^ bedd sate A, c c a 388 APPENDIX Jeys, Mytteney, and those seruauntes that were longinge to theire chatnbres. And when they had been in theire baines as longe as was theire playsir, they had grene gynger, dyuers cyryppes, comfyttes and Ipocras, and then they wcnte to bedde. And on ye morne he toke his conie or leve ' of the Kinge and the quene, and turned to Westmynster agayne, accompanied w* certein knightes, esquiers and Oder the Kinges servauntes, home to his loging.' And the sonday next foloinge " the King gave hym a gowne of cloth of golde furryd. And on seynt Edwardes day ' opynly in y* parlement chamber he was commended to the Kinges good grace by y» speker of y« parlement : were opynly by the iij estates of y« Realme, y* Kinge, beinge crowned, gyrd a sword about hym and creat hym Erie of WjTichester : M' Willm. Atclif, y^ kinges secretory, red openly his patent y' all folke might hear yt. Also he bare y^ Kinges sworde y* day tyll the Kyng went to dynner. Y^ King kept y' day his estate in ye Whyt Hall, where he dyned on the left of y® King at his owne table. M™. he gave to the Kinges ofycers of armes viijoc doble plakkys of mony of Flaunders. Larges. Larges. Larges. ' toke his cuppe A. ' Here A. has : And on Saiate Edwardes daye opynly in the parlement chamt>er was create Erie of Wynchester. Finis : tins omitting the su-bstqiuni /•as.'o^e givf above, ' either a,th or \Uh October. ' \iih October. XVI. CALENDAR OF FIFTEENTH CENTURY LETTERS Contained in the Reports of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts. [In this Calendar the Letters are marked E. F. or L. according as the originals are in English, French, or Latin. The Christ Church, Canter- bury, Letters in the Ninth Report, which have since been printed elsewhere —see p. 218 above — are not included.] Reign of Henry IV. 1405. April. Thomas of Lancaster, Admiral of England, to Mayor &c. of Rye. Summons for ships to join him at Sandwich on 20th April. (Summary in English) F. 5/^ Report, 501. Reign of Henry V. 1413. 8th Nov. Edmund Stafford, Bishop of Exeter, to the Dean and Chapter. On the measures to be taken for the suppression of Lollardy. (Summary) L. Various Collections, iv. 40. 1415. 6th July. Henry Beaufort to William Filliol. On behalf of his secretary Richard Petteworth. E. Lord Middleton's MSS., 102. — Nov. OflBcial Bulletin on the Victory of Agincourt (An English translation; see pp. 89, 215 above) L. and F. Various Collections, iv. 195-7. 1419 (?).^ John Albon to his master Thomas Palmer at Holt of the Hill. The King was in good health the xxvij day of July and at Agincourt the day above written. When the French knew of his coming they burnt all the towns between Calais and Agincourt. The French King is at Paris. Our King has made a vow that he will not abide two nights in a town till he know whether the French King will give him battle or not. E. 2nd Report, 94. ' The editor assigns the letter to 1417, which is manifestly impossible. The reference to the French King indicates that the date was before the Treaty of Troyes, otherwise it would be natural to assign it to 142 1, dnring June of which year Henry mnst have passed near Agincourt. We may dismiss 141 8, since in July— August Henry was entering on the siege of Rouen. In July, 1419, Henry Was at Mantes; he might possibly have visited Agincourt between 1 8th August, when he left Pontoise, and 31st August, when he reached Rouen. If the letter is copied correctly the date is a puzzle. 39C APPENDIX Reign of Henry F7» 1433. I St April. Walter, Lord Hungerford. Letters appointing persons to treat for the ransom of his prisoner John de Venddme, Vidame of Chartres. E. i^th Report, x. 162. 1435. 28 th May. Letters of Privy Seal to the Community of Beverley. For a loan on the occasion of the Council of Arras. E. Beverley MSS. 22. — 2nd July. Reply from the Community of Beverley pleading to be excused. E. id. ib. — 8th July. Robert RoUeston, Wardrober, to the Community of Beverley, remonstrating with them. E. id. ib. 1436. Feb. A letter of news from Ghent as to the Duke of Burgundy's plans and his intention to besiege Calais. E. Various Collections, hi. 197. — 1 4th Feb. Letters of Privy Seal summoning the Mayor of Salisbury to attend at Westminster. E. id. iv. 198. — 14th Feb. Letters of Privy Seal to Mayor &c. of Salisbury. For a loan for the French War. E. id. ib. — 26th March. Letters of Privy Seal to Mayor &c. of Salisbur)-. Asking them to send men for the defence of Calais. E. id. ib. 1439. 24th June. Letter under royal signet to bailiffs of Bridport. Against the giving of liveries. E. 6th Report, App. i. 496-7. 1440. 24th April. Yuon Corre to Ralph, Lord Cromwell. On behalf of his master Bernard Angevin, Sire de Roasan. F. id. i. 235. — ? A complaint to the King's Council of the Duchy of Lancaster. I2//4 Report, iv. i. {Rutland MSS.) 1447. 2nd April. Bailiffs of Oswestry to Bailiffs of Shrewsbury. On behalf of Gruff of Kalcote. E. 15M Report, x. 46. 1 448. 1 5th March. From the Abbot of Malmesbury. A general letter as to manor of Mellesburgh and Wokehole. E. 8/A Report, i. 639. — I St May. John Greyve, collector of ahns for the haven-making of Bridport, to his employers. E. 6th Report, i. 496. 1449. 20th May. Queen Margaret. An award as to the taking of the liveries of Viscount Beaumont and Lord Ferrers of Groby and consequent disputes at Leicester. E. 8/A Report, i. 414-5. 1450- June. Petition of the Commons of Kent. E. id. i. 266-7. (See pp. 359-61 above.) — October. The Duke of York's iirst Bill to the King. E. Beverley MSS. 32. — October. His Second Bill. E. ;,/. i^. (See pp. 366-7 above.) FIFTEENTH CENTURY LETTERS, ETC. 391 ^50 October. The King's Reply to the Duke of York. E. id. 34. ^51. 1 2th June. Appointment for Surrender of Bordeaux. E. z'rf. 31. 452. 8th July. Bond by Sir William Manypenny to the Bishop of Glasgow. E. id. 35. 453. 19th August. John Tanner to Prior of Christchurch, Canterbury. The Queen is with child. E. Various Collections, i. 223. 456. 22nd Dec. Richard, Duke of York, to Charles VII, King of France. As to the proposed ' mariage de Madame Magdalene avecqs mon aisne fils Edward, Comte de la Marche '. F. 9/^ Report, ii, 410. 457. 7th Dec. Queen Margaret to chapter of Exeter. Recommends her chancellor, John Hals, for election to the Deanery. E. Various Collections, iv. 85. 460. 24th August. Safe-conduct from the Earls of March, Warwick, and Salisbury for John Davy. E. yd Report, 315. - nth Sept. Lettersof Privy Seal to Community of Beverley. From Kenilworth. As to great assemblies in the North. Summons them to render aid. E. Beverley MSS. 139. Y uncertain date. efore 1442. 8th Oct. Edmund Lacy, bishop of Exeter, to Earl of Huntingdon. For his help for the church of Exeter. E. Various Collections, iv. 82. Reign 0/ Edward IV. 462. 2 1 St Dec. David Lloyd to WiUiam Oteley, bailiff of Shrewsbury. For the relief of his servant. E. i^th Report, x. 47. 463. 25th May. John, Lord Clinton and Say, to the Mayor &c. of Folkestone. Begs them not to suffer Thomas Banns, ' late pretended Prior of our Priory of Folkestone,' to disturb Henry Ferrers in his possession of the Priory. E. $th Report, 590. - 27th May. ' The Kyngs Moder, Duchesse of York,' to Mayor &c. of Folkestone. On behalf of her Chaplain Thomas Banys. E. id. ib. - 28th May. John, Lord Clinton, to Mayor &c. of Folkestone. Prays them to disregard any letters from the King or my lady of York. He will hold them harmless, and they must maintain the liberties of the Ports. E. id. ib. -29th May. John, Lord Clinton, to the Mayor of Folkestone. Marvels at his disposition with that untrue monk. The mayor will have cause to repent, if he continues to set his commandment at naught. E. id. 591. - 1 St June. The Official of the Court of Canterbury to Morgan Ayssheley, William Barbour and others. Henry Ferrers, who is 39* APPENDIX rightfully possessed of the Priory, has appealed to the Apostolic See. Thomas Banns is excommunicated for an unmentionable oflfence: he is cited to appear at St. Mary Arches in London. L. id. 591. 1463. 5th June. John, Lord Clinton, to Mayor &c. of Folkestone. On behalf of the King and of the warden of the Ports orders the arrest of Thomas Banns. L. id. 592. — nth June. Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury, to Mayor &c. of Folkestone. Thanks them for acting in accordance with his own and the King's letters. Lord Clinton had acted wrongly and they are encouraged to oppose him. E. id. ib. — June. Parts of two letters from Lord Clinton. Charges them not to doubt the Archbishop of Canterbury or any other. Repeats the accusation against Banns. E. id. ib. 1467. May. Alice, Duchess of Suffolk, to Sir Symon Brails, her chaplain. On private business. E. Zth Report, i. 629. 1470. 4th October. George, Duke of Clarence, to Henry Vernon. From Tewkesbury. He will be at Lichfield on Tuesday next, and at Ashbourn on the following Monday. E. nth Report, iv. 2. {Rutland MSS.) 1471. 15th March. Clarence to Henry Vernon. From Bristol. Sends his thanks to the Countess of Salisbury. Vernon is to have his tenants ready in defensible array. E. id. ib. — 1 6th March. Clarence to Henry Vernon. From Wells. He is to keep spies on the Earls of Northumberland and of Shrewsbur}-. and lord Stanley. King Edward is reported to have sailed towards the Humber. He is to obtain news. E. id. iv. 3. — 23rd March. Clarence to Henry Vernon. From Wells. Summons him to come in defensible array at once. E. id. ib. — 25th March. The Earl of Warwick to Henry \'ernon. Edward, ' the King's great enemy, rebel and traitor,' has landed in tlie North. Vernon is to join him at Coventry. E. id. id. — 30th March. Clarence to Henry Vernon. From Malmesbury. Thanks him for his news ; he should hasten his coming. E. id. iv. 4. — 2nd April. Clarence to Henry Vernon. From Burford. He is to join him at Banbury. E. id. ib. — 7th May. Edward IV to Henry A'ernon. From Tewkesbury. Summons him to join him at Coventry on Thursday next. E. id. ib. — 8th May. Edward IV to Henry Vernon. From Worcester. He is to come at once. They have won a great victor)' ; but there are murmurs and commotions of the Commons in diverse parts. E. id. iv. 5. FIFTEENTH CENTURY LETTERS, ETC. 393 1471. loth May. Clarence to Henry Vernon. From Coventry. An- nounces their victory ; presses him to come at once. E. id. ib. — 19th December. Edward IV to Mayor &c. of Sahsbury. As to a dispute between the city and bishop of Salisbury. E. Various Collections, iv. 209. 1475. ist October. Edward IV to Duke of Milan. Safe-conduct for Anthony, Earl Rivers, who is going to Rome. L. ^th Report, ii. 411. 1478. 6th March. Thomas Langton to Prior of Christchurch, Canter- bury. As to events in London (mutilated). E. Various Collec- liom, i. 214-15. 1479. 31st January. Reginald Goldstone to William Sellyng, prior of Christchurch, Canterbury. Mr. Fyneux advises that if you will spend money among men-of-law of his counsel your matter will speed. E. id. i. 232. 1481. 20th October. Edward IV to Henry Vernon. From Nottingham. As to a dispute between Robert Plumpton and his nieces. E. \2th Report, iv. 6 (^Rutland MSS.). Of uncertain date} nth October. Cecily, Duchess of York, 'the King's moder,' to William Waynflete. For her servant William Stephen. E. ?>ih Report, i. 268. After 1470. 25th August. Edward IV to Prior of Christchurch, Canterbury. Thanks him for service to John Grauntford, usher of our chamber. E. Various Collections, i. 223. Before 1476. 9th August. John Scott to Prior of Christchurch, Canterbury. From Calais. Yesterday there was news that the Duke of Burgundy was defeated at Terouanne. To-day there is more certain news that he has the field. E. id. i. 232. After 1480. 5th May. Edward IV to Henry Vernon. From London. As to a dispute between Vernon and John Stanley and William Troutbeck. E. \2th Report, iv. 6 (^Rutland MSS.). — nth July. Edward IV to Henry Vernon. From Westminster. On the same matter. E. id. iv. 7. Reign of Richard III. 1483. 13th October. Letters under sign manual to Mayor &c. of South- ampton. Summons to be ready against the Duke of Buckingham. E. wth Report, iii. 103.^ ' In \2th Report, i\. 8-11 {Rutland MSS.), thcrt are a number of private letters of the latter part of the fifteenth century. One from E. Jenney to Richard Roos {circa 1476) mentions Mr. Paston ; two others were written (before 1483) by William Paston to Mr. Roos. ^ In the lltk Report, iii. 97-106, there are given a number of Letters of Privy 394 APPENDIX 1485. 5th April. Letters under sign manual to Mayor &c. of South- ampton. Against those who 'dailly sowe sede of noyse and dislaunder agenst our person'. E. id. iii. 106. — nth August. Richard III to Henry Vernon. From ' Beskewood '. His enemies have landed at Milford. Vernon is to join him. E. I 2ih Report, iv. 7 {^Rutland MSS). Seal between 1457 and 1485. Those noted above are the only ones of political importance. Some of the others relate to commercial matters. XVII. ON THE MUTABILITY OF WORLDLY CHANGES This is given here as being the only Political Poem referred to in the text which has not already been printed. It comes from Rawlinson C. 813 f. II in the Bodleian Library, where it occurs amongst a Sixteenth Century collection of poetical pieces. It was, however, clearly written about 1460, since the fall of Eleanor Cobham in 1441 is described as having happened within these twenty years. The faulty versification of the last two stanzas suggests that the author was not a practised poet. His purpose in writing was to point the moral, and the historical allusions only occur incidentally. In the story of Eleanor Cobham there is nothing fresh. John Beaufort returned from his long captivity in 1438, and mar- ried Margaret Beauchamp, by whom he was father of the Lady Margaret. In March 1443 he was made Duke of Somerset, and given the command in France. He was not successful, and when he returned home next year was accused of treachery and forbidden to come to Court. This is the story of the Croyland Chronicler (Gale, Scri-ptores, i. 514), who adds that in chagrin at his disgrace he committed suicide, whence it was said. Bis bints annis vix stabat pmnpa Johannis. It seems to have been felt that there was something of a tragedy in his fate. The story that he was killed by a bull is not found elsewhere. The two stanzas on Humphrey of Gloucester are remarkable for the allegation that his arrest was due to the revelation of information obtained under the secrecy of the confes- sional. This is not authenticated by any other authority, and is probably only a piece of scandal, aimed perhaps at some bishop who owed his promotion to Suffolk. Musyng vppon the mutabilitie Of worldlye changes and grett vnstablenes, And me remembryng howe grett aduersite I have seen ffalle to men off hye noblenes, First welthe and then ageyn distres, Nowe vppe nowe downe as Fortune turnethe her whele, Best is me thinke for mannys sikemes To trust in God and labour to doo well. We nede not make to kepe the Croniclez olde Off the Romans nor Bockas ^ tragedye To Rede the Ruyen and ffallys manyffolde Off princys grett putt to dethe and miserye 1 Boccaccio. 396 APPENDIX In sondrye landcs, ITor wee have hardelye Mere in thys lande w*'' in the xx yere As wonder changez been before our eye As euer I trowe before thys any were. Of whiche I shall reherse such as I can, Thoughe I in ordre sett them nott a right. As I trowe a duchess flirst began, Which Elinor off Cobeham sumtyme hight. Or she were weddyd to that ffamose knyght, Off Glocestir the noble Duke Humffrey, Whose soil Jesu bringe to J)tjoyfuIl hight, That you hym bothe humblye beseche and praye. Thys ladye was Soo proude and highe of harte. That she hir selfe thought pereles of estate ; And yet higher fa.yn she wold have starte, Butt sodenlye she fell as was hir fate And was arested, all dismayde and mate,' For Socerye and eke for Suspection Of treason wrought ageynst the King alg^te,* And thervppon committed vnto prisone : And after broughte to the courte Spirituall Before the bisshoppes, and ther of Sorcerye Founden gylte In poyntes specyall : She was Injoyned in London opynlye To doo hir penaunce, and soo full petyously She itt perfformed ; and after was she sent Vnto a castell to abide perpetuallye ; And soo she dyd tyll dethe away hir hent.' The noble duke of Somersett, John, Whome all Brytayne and also Normandye Hadde In grett drcde, and his enemyez euerichone, For his raanhode, puissaunce and cheualrj'C, When he was weddyd and in estate most hye In the best age right and as hys fortune was, The bull to grounde hym cast cruellye, That after soone he dyed, such was livs grace. ' confused. " in all mnniier 373; at battle ol Northampton, 246; men- tioned, 390. Beauvais (Beaufitz), 319. Bee Hellouin, 41. Bedford, 343. Bedford, Dukes of, see George ; John ; Tudor, Jasper. Bedwin, Wills., 343. Beef, Sir Philip le, 94. Bekynton, Thomas, bishop of Bath and Wells, an Oxford scholar, 5, 6 ; his Official Corresponde/tre , 221, 222; other letters, 223. BcllCme (Belham), 307. Bellenden, or Balantyne, John, 262. Benedictines, Chapter of the Order in 1421, 18,46, 3"- lienooth, Hugo, 364. lientley, Samuel, his Ex cerpta Jlistorica, 174, i7y«., 208, 226, 369. Benvile, Normandy, 301 303. Berden Priory, Essex, 216. liergavenny, lord, see Beau- champ, Richard. Berkhampstead, 363. Bermondsey, 339, 340,352. Bermondsey Annals, 37. Bemers, lord, see Bour- chier, John. Berwick, siege of, in 140:. 22, 29 «., 35, 283; Edwara IV at, 237; held by Scots, IS9- Beskwood, 394. Bethlehem, Charterliouse at Sheen, 323. Bettson, Thomas, 209. Beverley, Henry V at, 290 ; letters, &c., in archives of, 360, 390, 391. Beverley, John, Lollard, 293- Beynton, Master, 378. Bingham, William, his rea- sons for founding Clare College, 195. Birchfield, — , executed at Tewkesbury, 378. Bishopthorpe, Yorks., 282. Blackheath, Jack Cade at, 344. 347. 371. 372; Henry VI and Richard of York at, 167, 298. Blades, William, his edi- tion of Caxton's Polychro- nicon, 114. Blakamore, Baron de, an impostor, 151. Blakeney , John, 365 . Blakeney, Robert, Whet- hamstede's Ke^sU-r, m- correctly attributed to, 154- Blakman, John, his Life of Henry VI, 149. Blanche of Lancaster, 314, 3'.S "• Blangy, 381. Hletchingley, Surrey, 343. lilomcfield, l'"rancis, useii the /'as/i'n Letters, 197. Ulore Heath, 167. Hlount, Sir John, aSg. Blount, Walter, lord Mouutjoy, 380, 383. Bluemantle Pursuivant, his Record, 178, 379-88; his mission to Charles the Bold, 381, 382. Blunt, Sir Walter, 350. Booking, John, his corre- spondence with John Paston, 200, 203. Bodmin, 343, BohuD, Joan, Countess of Hereford, 126, 276. Bois de Vincennes, John Hardjmg at, 141; Henry V dies at, 320, 337. Bokelond, William, ser- vant of Humphrey of Gloucester, 364. Bollingbroke, Roger, 340, 341. Bolton in Craven, 390. Boniface IX, Pope, 275. BonviUe, William, lord, 157- Booth, John, bishop of Exeter, 383. Booth, Laurence, bishop of Durham, 383. Boothe, William, bishop of Lichfield or Chester; satirical verses on, 242, 243; indicted in 1450, 365. Bordeaux, 323, 360, 391. Bordin, Jean, GestaHenrici wrongly attributed to, 45. Bosworth, battle of, bal- lads on, 249-^2; speeches of leaders at, 363 ; men- tioned, 180, 193, 319. Boteler, Ralph, lord Sude- ly, Yorkist, 368. Botiller, see Bouteiller. Botoner, William, set Wor- cester. Boucicanit, Jean, Marshal of France, 278, a86, 317. Boulogne, iSi »,, 184 ». Bourbon, Bastard of, 307. Bourbon, Jean, Duke of, 27S. j86, 317, 327. Bourchicr, Henry, Earl of Essex, 375, 379, 380,381. Bourchier, Hamphrey,lonl CromweU, 374, 375. Bourchier, Sir Humphrey, son of John, lord Bemeis, 374- Bourchier, John, lord Ber- ncrs (or Barnes), 374, 375. 3S0. 381, 387. INDEX 4.01 Bourchier, Thomas, arch- bishop of Canterbury, previously bishop of Ely, negotiates between Henry VI and York in 1452.368,373; supports Edward IV, 176; writes on behalf of Thomas Banns, 392. Bourchier, William, lord Bourchier and Earl of Eu, 289, 319- Bourchier, William, Vis- count, son of Earl of Essex, 375. Bouteiller (Botiller), Guy le, 318. Bowes, Sir William, 320. Bowlers or Bowles, Regi- nald, abbot of Gloucester, and afterwards bishop of Hereford, ambassador to Germany, 355 ; riot against , at Gloucester, ib. ; arrested by Richard of York, 162, 297; charges against, 162, 355, 365; I acquitted, 216. Bowser, see Bourchier. Brabant, Antony, Duke of, 278, 286, 317, 326. Bracciolini, Poggio, 4. Brackley, Friar, correspon- dent of John Paston, 200, 204. Bradford, William, abbot of Sherborne, 347, 348. Brails, Simon, 392. Bramham Moor, 36, 283, 311- Brereton, Humphrey, pos- sible author of The Song of Lady Bessy, 250, 251. Brfae (Brasil), Pierre de, 360, 367. Bridget, daughter of Ed- ward IV, 187. Bridget, St., her Revela^ (ions, 230. Bridgnorth, Shropshire, 343- Bridgwater, Somerset, 343. Bridlington, Yorks., 290. Bridport, Dorset, 343 ; the hayen-making at, 390. Brie, Dr. F. W. D., his edition of the £rut, 114, ng, J23, 132; or its de- rivation from a London Chronicle, 72 ; on the date of the continuation 1458 to 1419, 115: on the date of the narrative of Harley, 53, 125; on the manuscripts, 115, 135; on the neglect of the London Chronicles, 135; London Chronicles edited by, 70,77,79,85,91,92, 94 ; his Geschichie and Quellen, 114. Brief Notes for 1440-43, 156, 338-4^- Bristol, Earl of Gloucester beheaded at, 24, 276, 313 ; connexion of Wil- liam Worcester with, 162 ; Sturmyn, mayor of, 202 ; Hervy, recorder of, 378 ; chronicles of, 1 1 1 : men- tioned, 343, 364, 371, 392- Brittany, John, Duke of, 61. Brocas, Sir Bernard, 313. Bromfield, Denbigh, 281. Bromley, John, 272. Bromley, Sir Thomas, 272. Brooke, Edward, lord Cobham, with Richard of York at Dartford, 2C 368. Brooke, John, lord Cob- ham, supporter of Edward IV, 375- Brown, John, sheriff of Worcestershire, 366 n. Bruce, John, his edition of The Arrival, 174, 176. Bruges, Henry Beaufort at, 2 20«. ; Edward IV sends news of his success to the Burgomaster, 175 ; Eng- lish embassy at, 379, 380. Brut, The, or English Chronicle, early history of, 114, 115; manuscripts of, 115, 120 «., 123,125, 1 35 J 3°2 ; editions of, 114, 137, 138; the Ver- sion ending in 1419, 115, 116, 301 ; the Version ofi43o, 115-19,132, 209- 309 ; the Version of 146 1, 119-22, 171 ; Version of Harley 53, 122-5; of Lambeth 84, 125, 126; evidence for Versions earlier than 1419, 131, 132, 301; sources, 134, 135; ballad and poetical originals, n6-i8, 134, 2 39 ; relation of, to Lon- Dd don Chronicles, 70, 72, 78, 8s, 86, 99, 108, 118, 121, 133. '34! to other contemporary Chronicles, 22, 29-31,53,61,64,66, 148, 157, 179, 338, 350; use of, by Waurin, 136 ; by sixteenth-century his- torians, 105, 135, 137, 254, 255, 262 ; literary importance and interest of, 3. 10, 27,44, 113,129, 135. 136, I39i 260, 261; neglect of, by modern writers, 113, 135. See also CaxtorCs Chronicles, Davies's Chronicle, Latin Brut. Bryan, John, sheriff of London, his unhappy fate, 292, 295. Buchan, Earl of, set Stewart, John. Buck, Sir George, on au- thorship of the History of Richard III, 185; ob- tains information from Stow, 270. Buckingham, Dukes of, see Stafford. BuUfield, the old name for the site of the battle of Shrewsbury, 35, 36, 160, 281, 350, 355. Burgate, John, Lollard, 293- Burgh, John, gives infor- mation of Oldcastle's conspiracy, 36, 284. Burgundy, Bastard of, 179, 380. Burgundy, Charles the Bold, Duke of, marries Margaret of York, 179, 369 ; English embassy to, in 1471, 175, 181, i82».; Bluemantle's meeting with, 381, 382 ; embassy from, in 1471, 384; em- bassy to, in 1472, 384; reported success of, 393 ; writes in English to Lord Wenlock, 196. Burgundy, John the Fear- less, Duke of, appeals to England for help against Orleans, 22, 315: meets Henry V and Sigismund at Calais, 330; at con- ference of Meulan, 212, 332,333; death, 60, 301, 4oa INDEX 308, 334; satirical verses on, 233. Burgundy, Philip tlie Har- dy, Dnice of, 28. Burcimdy.Pliilip the Good, Duke of, a hostage in 1419, 33a; makes alli- ance with Henry V, 278, 3.V(-6 1 at siege of Melun, 319, 336; letter from, to Henry VI, 82 : breaks the English alliance, 55, 57i 3^'i dread of inva- sion of England by, 352 ; his siege of Calais, 216, 24°. 241. 331. 390. 397; satirical verses on, 241 ; mentioned, 6[, 291. Burgundy, Philip, Duke of, and Archduke, visits Henry VII, 369. Buriell, Lewis de, 138. BurthuU, Walter, 364. Burton-on-Trent, 281. Bury St. Edmunds, Par- liament of, 1447, and death of Humphrey of Gloucester at, 129, 179, 244> 344. 347i 353, 361, 397 ; Thomas Beaufort buried at, 296 ; Chronicle of the Abbey of, 160; Letters from Abbey Re- gister, 223, 224. Abbot of, see Curteys, William. Busch, Dr.W., on ' Fabian's MS.', 104. Butler, see also Boteler. Butler, James, 4th Earl of Ormonde, account of, 65 ; at siege of Rouen, 318 ; his stories of Henry V preserved by the ' Trans- lator of Livius', 4, 64-7, 126; his patronage of James Yonge, j. Butler, James, Earl of Wiltshire and sth Earl of Ormonde, 373. Butler, Sir John, killed in 1430, 291. Butler, John, 2nd Earl of Wiltshire and 6th Earl of Ormonde, supports Edward IV, 375; K.G., 380; oflTiciates as Chief Butler, 383. Butler, Sir Thomas, Prior of Kilraainham, 289, 318. Butler, Sir William, 285. Butvilanc,Sir Thomas, 320. Cade, Jack, story of his early career, 365 ; narra- tives of his rebellion, 95, 96, 102, 129, 136, 163, 1 79. 344. 347 ; its effect in the West Country, 158, 348 ; his conditional par- don, 218; his death, 297 ; documents relating to, 270.3.^9.360-2,369-70; mentioned, 201, 244. Caen, siege of, in T417, 17, 124, 217, 289, 301, 304, 305, 331 ; Henry V at, 4, 66; St. Vincent Ferrier at, 23, 67 ; St. Stephen's Abbey, 17; fall of, In 1450, 262 ; bailiff of, see Claremont, Jacques de. Caister Castle, 199, 205. Calais, Henry V at, in 1415.277. 286, 294, 299, 317.31S, 327; Sigismnnd at, in 1416, 48, 49, 278, 287, 300, 330; carrack captured off, 48 ; siege of, in 1436, 3,93, 124, 125, 126, 147, 216, 321, 322, 390, 397; ballads on, 134, 240-1 ; Yorkist lords at, in 1459-60, 138, 204, 245, 369 ; Warwick and Clarence at, in 1470, 173; Hastings recovers the town, 181 «. ; the Sire de Gruthuyse at, 385 ; Sir John Paston at, 206 ; the keeping of, 210, 222; its importance, 234; the Staple at, 209, 210. Captains of, see Beaufort, John I; Ratcliffe, Sir John. Marshal of, see Scot, Sir John. Calne, Wilts., 343. Cambridge, the town, 34.V The University : foun- dation of Colleges at, 5, 196, 222 ; scholars at, 57, 172, 261; John Paston at, 200. Cambridge, Earl of, see Richard. Cambridge, William, she- riff of London, 204. Camden, Sir William, wrote in Latin, 8 n. ; his opinion of .Stow, [266 ; owned Lansdowne MS. 212, 310. Camoys, Roger, lord, at defence of Calais, 321, 322 ; with Henry VI in 1452, 373- Canary Islands, 21. Canterbury, Henry IV buried at, 38, 277, 284, 315; Thomas of Clarence i.uricd at, 295, 339, 340 ; master at, in 1436, 322 «. ; Henry VI at, in 1 451, 372 ; ballad set up on the gates of, in 1460, 129, 246 ; Edward IV at, in 1471, 175, 181 «. ; Sire de Gruthuyse at, 385 ; mentioned, 343; a Chro- nicle of possible Canter- bury origin, 28, 29, 127 ; d. Town Chronicle oi, 112 «. — Christ Church Priory at, 385 ; Letter- books of, 218, 219, 391, 391; Prior of, J« SeUyng, William. St. Augustine's Abbey at, 45, 385. Canterbury, Archbidiops of, see Arundel, Thomas ; Bourchier, Thomas ; Chi- chele, Henry ; Deane, Henry ; Kemp, John ; Morton, John ; Stafford, John. Canterbury, Court of, 33, 391- Canterbury, Provmce of, 362. Canterbury, Treaty 'of, 4?. 54- CaHluariensts, Liitenu, 21S, 219. Capgrave, John, his Liber de lUustriius Henricis, 38, 39, 50, 149; his C*r(>- tticle 0/ England, i^, 169. Car, Sir William, 378. Carew, Sir Thomas, 318. Carlisle, 343. Caro, J., his Jus der A'lTHslei Si^Hutids, 220. Carpenter, John, Town- clerk of London, 93. Castelhon , Poncius de, 289. Castile, King of, 216. Catherine of Valois, Queen of England, meets Henry V at Meulan, 333, 334; married, 212, 278, 289, 3'9i 335. 336; crowned, INDEX 403 8a. 395.337; her English progress, 42, 290 ; rejoins Henry V, 337; erects Henry's tomb, 120; death and bnrial, 347, 352 ; her epitaph, 163. Catherine, daughter of Edward IV, 125, 187. Caudebec, 331. Caxlon, William ; his Chronicles of England, 99, "3-15. 119-22, 128. 134, 137, 138, 172. 263, 265 ; Caxton not the anfiior, 137; his Poly- thronicon, 113, 114, 137, 138 ; compiled the eighth hook, 137; other works printed by him, 6, 163. CelyPafers, The, 195, 210, 211. Chalons, John, 138. Chamberleyn, Sir Roger, 364. Chamfew, see Chauffour. ChampoUion Figeac, A., his Letires de Rots, (jfc, 215- Charles VI, King of France, his infirmity, 278; at Menlan, 332, 333; at Paris, 389; at Troyes, 335, 336; at Melun, 319, 336; men- tioned, 60. Charles VII, King of France, as Dauphin ne- gotiates with Henry V, 212, 331, 332; meets John of Burgundy at Montereau, 308, 333, 334; grants safe-conduct for Margaret of Anjon, 218 ; proposed marriage of his daughter to Edward, Earl of March, 391. Charles the Bold, see Bur- gundy, Duke of. Charles of Guienne, 2i£. Charles of Navarre, 289. Charles of Orleans, see Orleans. Charlton, Edward, lord of Powis, 308. Chateau Gaillard, 319. Chatterley, Thomas, 368. Chaucer, Geoffrey, 5, 7. Chauffour (Chamfew), Henri de, 318. Channdler, Thomas, War- den of New College, Oxford, fosters the Early Renaissance, 6 ; corre- spond s with Sellyng, 2 1 9 ; and with Bekynton, 232. Chechilley, Henry, 364. Chef de Canx (Kedecaws), Henry V lands at, 316, 325, 35°- Cherbourg, siege of, in 1418, 54, 60, 64; nobles killed there, 289. Chertsey Abbey, Henry VI buried there, 165 «., 370, 375 ; his remains trans- lated from, i8i. Cheshire, 350. Chester, 281. Chester, bishops of, see Boothe, William ; Hales, John. Chevy Chace, ballad, 238, 252. Cheyne, Sir John (1404), 16. Cheyne, Sir John (1447), 364- Chichele, Henry, Arch- bishop of Canterbury, translated from St. Davids, 14, 293, 325; fictitious speech attri- buted to, at Leicester Parliament, 120,121,264; crowns Henry VI, 351. Chichester, 343. Chichester, bishops of, see Moleyns, Adam ; Pecock, Reginald. Chippenham, 343. Chronicles, see also Arnold, Richard ; Bale, Robert ; Brut; Bury St. Edmunds; Capgrave, J. ; Caxton, W. ; Croyland Chronicle ; Davies^ Chronicle; Giles' Chronicle ; Gregory's Chronicle ; Godstow Chronicle ; Hardyng, J. ; Hall, E.; Holinshed, R. ; London, Chronicles of; A Northern Chronicle ; A Southern Chronicle ; Tewkesbury Chronicle . Chronicle for 1444-55, 158, 342-5- Chronicle to \^^a, English, 169. Chronicles of White Rose, 173. 174, 176, 178, 369. 370- Chronicon Regum Anglicu , Dda (Jesus College, Oxford), 36, 160. Chrysoloras, Emanuel, 51. Cicely, Duchess of York, letters from, 391-3. Cirencester, 276, 313. Claremont, Jacques de, Bailli of Caen, 367. Clarence, Sir John, Bastard of. 29s, 320. Clarence, Duchess of, see Holland, Margaret. Clarence, Dukes of, see George ; Thomas. Clarendon, Sir Roger, 313. C laydon, or Cleydon, John, Lollard, 222 «., 294. Clifford, John, seventh lord, marries daughter of Sir Henry Percy, 282 ; at siegeof Melun, 319; dies at Meaux and is buried at Bolton in Craven, 290. Clifford, Richard, bishop of Worcester, 314. Clifford, Thomas, eighth lord, on the Council, 373 ; killed at St. Albans, 345, 349- Clifford, Sir William, Con- stable of Berwick, 283. Clifton, Sir Gervase, 378. Clifton, Sir John, 350. Clinton, John, lord, letters written by, 391-2. Cobham, lords, see Brooke, and Oldcastle. Cobham, Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester, her arrest, 93, 156, .340; motive for arrest of, 93 ; supposed to be aimed at her hus- band, 265 ; unpopularity of, 84, 157; evidence of sympathy for, 93 ; her pride, 156, 340, 396 ; her defence of her use of magic, 93 ; does penance, 340,341,396; imprisoned in Isle of Man, 90 ; her death, 63 ; poems on, 242, 396 ; mentioned, 128. Colchester, 343. Cole, C. A., editor of Memorials of Henry V, 46, 69. Cole, John, 150. Collections of a London Citizen: see Gregory's Chronicle ; Page, John. 404 INDEX Collyngboume, William, his rliyme on Kichnrd III, '49- Cologne, ,ji4, Comiaes, I'hilippc de, his Memoires, i;0, 179; use of, by Hail, 362, 163 ; and by Stow, 370. Conflans, 319. ' Considerans ' Chronicle, 164. Constance, Council of, 23, 27,123 «., 323, 301,308, 330- Constantinople, 1 38 ; Em- peror of, 314. Cook, Sir Thomas, 369. Cooper, Thomas, his Chro- nicle of the World, 366. Cornwall, Sir John, his wager with the Sire de Graville, 42 ; at siege of Rouen, 318; his son killed at Meaux, 63. Cosne-snr-Loire, 337. Cotentin,The, English war- fare in, 54, 64, 305, 306. Cotton, Sir Robert, 49. Cotton Manuscripts, offi- cial Correspondence con- tained in, 313, 214. /.e Cotton MS. Galba B i, 330. Courtney, Edmund, bishop of Worcester, 315. Courtney, Sir Henry, be- headed at Tewkesbury, 378- Courtney, John, Earl of Devonshire, 374, 376, 377- Courtney, Richard, bishop of Norwich, 285. Courtney, Thomas, Earl of Devonshire, his warfare with Lord Bonville, 157 ; with Richard of York at Dartford, 398, 367, 368. Courtney, Walter, behead- ed at Tewkesbury, 378. Coventry, Parliament at, in 1 404, 1 6, 30, 2 1 ; Hen ry V at, 287; Earl Rivers executed at, 357 ; men- tioned, 3i6, 393, 393. — Archdeacon of, see Wall, Kogcr, Crayford, Kent, 367. Crcveca-ur, Philippe de, 3Sr, 382. Cricklade, 343. Cromwell, Humphrey, lord, see Bourchier. Cromwell, Ralph, lord, at siege of Melun , 3 1 9 ; with Henry VI in Kent, 3721 letter to, 390. Crosby, Sir John, 380 «. Crowmer, William (1414), mayor, of London, 73) 293- Crowmer, W illiam (1450), sheriff of Kent, 362, 366. Croyland Chronicle, The: first Conlinualion of, 37, 1 50, 1 79 ; value of, 1 80 ; reference to John Beaufort in, 395 : second Continu- ation of. Sir Clements Markham on, 180; its unity, 181 ; authorship of, 181, 182; its historical value, 183, 184; its lite- rary quality, 10, 182, 260. Referred to, 46, no. Manuscripts and editions of, 179. Curteys, Peter, Keeper of the Wardrobe to Edward IV, analogy of his career to that of the author of the Croyland Chronicle, 181, 182 «. Curteys, William, Abbot of Bury St. Edmunds, letters in his Register, 2 23-4. D Dacre of the South, lord, see Fiennes, Richard. Damme, 381. Daniel, Thomas, unpopu- lar minister of Henry VI, 200, 243 ; holds inquir}' on treason of John Harries, 371 ; indicted, 365. Darcy, John, lord, 389. Dartford, Kent, Richard of York at, 298, 360, 367, 36S, 373. Dartmouth, Devon, 343. David ap Thomas, 3O4. Davies, J. Silvester, /•-'",<'- lish Clirotiiilc edited by, 29 », 113,1 JJ, 127, 129. Dailies'! Climiuk (^An /''.iif^is/i Chronicle from 1377 /o 1 461), the earlier p.irt of n composite char- acter : its relation to the Continuation of the Eu- logium Hisioriarum, 39, I33,i37«.; totheVersion of the Brut in Harley 53, 122-34, 137 ; totheZo/m Brut, 127-38, 130-31, 328-37 (foot-notes); char- acter and value of the latter part, 138, 139 ; use of, by Stow, 270; criticism of, by Professor Oman, II3> "4- Davies, Robert, his Ex- tracts from tie Municipal RciordsofYork, 2I4, 335. Davy, John, 391. Dam Topias, Reply of Friar, 333. Deane, Henry, prior of Lanthony, afterwards archbishop of Canter- bury, 355. Decembri, Pier Candido, Milanese humanist, cor< responds with Hnmphrey of Gloucester, 4 ; trans- lated Tito LJvio's Vita Henriii into Italian, 52. Deeping,Lincolnshire,i 79. Delabeer, John, bishop of St. Davids, 156, 157. De la Warr, lord, su West. Delpit, J., his ColUctimt dcs (hcununts franfais en AngUtcrrc. 92, 314, 215- Delves, Sir John, 377. Delves, Join-, son of fore- going, 377. Denham,or Dynham. John, lord, at Sandwich, 204; supports Edward IV, 375 ; mentioned, 383, Denmark, King of, see Eric. Deptford, 33S. Derby, 28 1, 343, 368. Desmond, Earl of, see Fitigerald. Despencer, Constance, lady, 30. Despencer, Thomas, Earl of Gloucester, rises in favour of Richard II, 279, 312; beheaded at Bristol, 34, 376,313. Dewreux, Walter, lord Ferrers of Chartley, 375, 380. Deviies, Wilts., 343. Devonshire or Devon, Earls of, see Courtney, . and Stafford, Humphrey. Dieppe, 138, 226, 367. Dodenale, — , killed in 1450. 366- Dodyng, John, bailiff of Gloucester, 356. Don, Sir John, 385. Don, Owen, 364. Dorchester, 343. Dorset, Earls and Marquis of, see Beaufort. Douglas, Archibald, Earl of, taken prisoner at Homildon Hill, 280 ; fights for Percy at Shrews- bury, 281 ; does fealty to Henry V,J27, 330 ; killed at Vemeuil, 128, 290, 321, •331. Douglas, James, son of foregoing, killed at Ver- neuil, 321. Douglas, James, Earl of, at court of Edward IV, 380, 381. Douglas, William, of Drumlanrig, killed at Vemeuil, 321. Dover, Henry V at, 286 ; Sigismund at, 327; men- tioned, 343. Downton, Wilts., 343. Dreux, 332. Dring, Mr. E. H., his edition of The Great Chronicle of London, 71, 80, 81, 83. Dublin, Chronicles of, III, 112. Ducket, Sir George, his Charters and Records of Cluni, 45, 226. Dudley, lord, see Sutton, John. Dugdall, James, monk of Whalley, 279. Dunheved (Launceston), 343- Dnnois, Jean, Count of. Bastard of Orleans, taken prisoner at Whitby, 360, 367- Dunstable, Edward IV at, 176; Henry VI at, 373. Dunstanburgh, 369. Dnnwich, 343. Duras, Seigneur de, at court of Edward IV, 380, 381. INDEX Durham, 369. Durham, bishops of, see Booth, Laurence; Lang- ley, Thomas. Dymmok, Sir Thomas, 87. East or Est, Robert, 363. East or Est, Thomas, 366. East Grinstead, Sussex, 343- Easthampstead, 142. Edgcote, battle of, 162, 191. 263, 356. Edinburgh, Henry IV at, 280. Edingdon, Wilts., 347. Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Leicester, alleged to be elder brother of Edward I , 146. Edmund,Dnke of York, 1 8. Education, interest in, 5, 6, 195; extent of, 194-6; evidence of, in correspon- dence, 194, 227. Edward III, King of Eng- land, 156. Edward IV, King of Eng- land, as Earl of March at Calais, 204, 245 ; his re- ception in London and accession, 102, 103, 129, 159; -at Gloucester, in 1463, 162, 365, 356; in- tervenes in dispute at Lanthony, 357 ; conflict of interests in early part of his reign, 205 ; Poly- dore Vergil's story of his quarrel with Warwick, 191; his overthrow in 1470, 173, 174; in exile, 382; his restoration, 175, 176, 219 ; at Bamet, 374; at Tewkesbury, 374- 5, 376-7 ; triumph in London, 375 ; goes into Kent, ib. ; announces his success to Charles the Bold, 181 «. ; and to the Burgomaster of Bruges, 175; relations with Louis XI, i84«. ; in Parliament of 1472, 382,388; enter- tains Louis de Gruthus, 178,382,386-8; hunts in Windsor Park, 386 ; last days, 186; his funeral, 179; his Court, 178,179, 379> 383-4; 386-8 ; holds 405 Garter feast, 380, 381 ; proposed marriage to Mary of Gueldres, 177; his children, 125, 187; his popularity in London, 98, 247 ; his mercantile interests, 235; his rela- tions with John Hardyng, 142, 144, 146; William Worcester makes his Col- lections for, 164; For- tescue writes for, 169; an illuminated Roll in honour of, 165; letters written by, i8l n., 225, 369. 370, 391-3; men- tioned, 119, 137, 177. Criticism of, by contem- poraries : by Warkworth, 172 ; in Hearnis Frag- ment, 1 76-7 ; in the Croy- land Chronicle, 182, 183; in the History of Richard III, 189. Ballads and verses relating to, 237, 245-9. Narratives of his reign, 98, 100, 102, 159, 170-84, 191. Correspon- dence relatingto his reign, 213, 215, 224, 391-3. Edward V, King of Eng- land, his birth, 382; K.G., 380; as an infant, 383, 386; his death anticipated in June, 1483, 211 ; his murder believed in Eng- land during lifetime of Richard III, 10 1, 183 n., i84«. ; believed in France in Jan. 1484, ib. ; and re- ported even earlier, ib. ; early Tudor statements as to murder, loi, 184 «., 250; his Grants, 224; his chamberlain, Thomas Vaughan, 383, 386. Nar- ratives of his reign, 100, 102, 183, 185, 189. Edward, the Black Prince, 1 14. Edward, Duke of York, formerly Earl of Rutland, and Duke of Aumarle, in the Parliament of 1399, 87 ; informs Henry IV of the intended rising, 312; imprisoned, 29 «.; com- mands the van at Agin- court, 317; advises that the archers should be pro- vided withstakes, 66, 123, 4o6 INDEX 317; killed, 278, 286, 394, 337 i a letter written by, 214. Kdwnrd, Prince of Wales, son of Henry V., his birth, 135,349; Vorklst slander that he was a bastard, 246 ; presented to his father, 203; in exile, 326; Icilled in the field at Tewkesbury, 17a, 376, 377 ; story that he was murdered, 173, 191 ; Poly dore Vergil gives it cur- rency, ib. ; his death glossed over in The Ar- rival, 175; buried in the choir at Tewkesbury Abbey, 377 ; reference to, byHardyng, 143; George Ashby writes The Policy of a Prince for, 232, 235 ; Sir John Fortescue writes Governance of England for, 169; letters, &c., written by, 226, 369, 370. Egremont, lord, see Percy, Thomas. Elizabeth Woodville, Queen of Edward IV, the Earl of Warwick recom- mends Sir Hugh John for a husband to her, 226 ; herchamber in the Tower, 218; her constancy in adversity, 382 ; Edward IV sends n message to her, 1 76 ; goes in procession at Westminster, 379 ; enter- tains the Sire de Gruthus, 386 ; gives a banquet in his honour, 387 ; men- tioned, 142. Elizabeth of York, Queen of Henry VII, her birth, 99; dances with herfather, 386 ; and with the Duke of Buckingham, 387 ; Richard III intends to marry her, 101, 250; her history as given in the Song of the Lady Bessy, 250-2. Ellis, Sir Henry, his edi- tion of Hardyng's Chro- nicle, \^i); an error of his as to HardynjT, 141 «.; on Lansdownc MS. 204, 144 ; on the Latin Chronicle in Hardyng's seconil version, 146 ; on ' Fabian's MS.' 83 » ; his collection of Original Letters, 174, 211-13, 320, 369 ; edits the English translation of Polydore Vergil, 259. Elmham, Thomas, account of, 45, 46 ; the true author of the Gesta Henrici, 45-7 ; historical value of the Gesta, 47, 48 ; its literary quality, 49, 69 ; manuscripts, 49 ; Hardyng acquainted with the Gesta, 140 ; his Liber Metricus , 39, 49, 50 ; used by Stow, 269 : his Cronica Reguni, 46, 50 ; his minor poems, 50,329; letters written by, 45-6, 236; mentioned, 39, 239.— The Vita et Gesta Henrici Quinti erro- neously attributed to, by Hearne, 56, 57. See Pseudo-Elmham. Eltham, 293, 324. Ely, bishops of, see Bour- chier, Thomas ; Grey, William ; Morton, John. Ely Brief Notes, a short chronicle for 1432-1462, 161. Elyot, Sir Thomas, first gave the story of Henry of Monmouth and the Chief Justice, 107. Emmerig, Dr. Oskar, on the ' tennis-ball ' story, English Chronicles, see Brut ; Chronicles ; Da- Ties' s Chronicle; London, Chronicles of. English Language.strength of, 3, 196; stimulus af- forded by growth of na- tional consciousness and the French war, 7, S, 260 ; use of, in the early part of the century, 7S, 133, 214, 216; in the middle, 62, 64, 69, 169, 214 ; at the close, 171, 259, 260. — Endence af- forded by the ChroHicks of L.ondon, 78, 154; by the BrtU, 129, 133, 13J, '36> M"), 154, 3(>o, 261 ; by Correspondence and State Paiiers, U)3, 209, 213, JI4, 216-1S, 220, 222. 223; by contem- porary verse, 238; by the influence of English origi- nals on Latin Chronicles, 44, 129,155,170; by the educational movement, 195. Somnium Vigilan- tis (1460), the first poli- tical pamphlet in English prose, 168. Epistolae Academicae, 6, 219, 320. Erdebnry, or Arbury, Wil- liam Woodcock, Prior oi, 313- Eric, King of Denmark, 315- Erth or Orth, Sir Hngh,32 1 . Essex, Elarl of HnntingdoD killed in 1400 by the populace of, 276 ; ' le VVode Monday ' (1436) in, 161, 353; rising of 1450 in, 347 ; Bastard of Fau- conberg supported in, 375. Essex, Earl of, su Bour- chier, Henry. Eton College, foundation of, 5. '95, 3'3 ; Jolm Blakman, Fellow of, 149; William Paston at, 207, 208 ; Edward Hall at, 261 ; a robbery at, 368 ; Harley MS. 3643, for- merly belonged to, 23. Eu, Charles d'Artois, Coimt of, taken prisoner at Agincourt, 317; his redemption, 340, 341. Eu, Earl of, su Bonichier, William. Eugenius I\', Pope, elec- tion of, 119 ; reveisesthe bishop of Salisbory's de- cision at Sherborne, 346, 34S; death of, 119, 157. 34^! 347. 354- Eulogium Htstoriarum, ContintMtixm of the, a composite work, 38; its relation to the Simthem ChrvHu'e, 29, 30, 31, 32, 1 37 «. ; to DiTZ-ies'l Chrt- nicle, 29, 30, 1 J7, 13S ; to other Engli^ sources, 30, 31, 133; its date, 28; its value, 31 ; mentioned, 44, i'3- E>Tin (Vevan), ap Jankj-n, 364- Evan ap Jankyn ap Rise, Everard, Alan, sheriff of London, 294. Evesham Abbey, Chronicle of, 37- Evesham, Monk of. Vita Ricardi by, date and manuscripts of, 24, 342 ; its connexion with the St. Albans Chronicles, 20, 24, 25, 43; with Giles's Chronicle, 25 ; character and value, 24 ; composed as a continna- tion of Higden's Polychro- nicon, 24, 36, 342. Evreux, 332. Ewelme, Oxford, 364. Excerfta Historica, see Bentley. Exeter, Richard III at, 273; letters relating to, all, 391; mentioned, 343. Exeter, bishops of, see Booth, John ; Lacy, Ed- mund ; Stafford, Edmund. Exeter, Dukes of, see Beau- fort, Thomas; Holland, Henry, and John. Exton, Sir Piers, 125, 138. Eyvon, John, 364. Fabyan, Robert, Chroni- cler : his Chronicle pro- perly included amongst London Chronicles, 7 ' > 72, 261 ; makes no pre- tence of originality, 105 ; its scope, ended in 1485, 104; its sources, 105, 106; after 1440 follows the Main City Chronicle, 99 ; comparison with other versions, 100-2, 163 ; with the Brut, 122 ; the chief medium through which the London Chro- nicles were known to six- teenth-century historians, 106, no; use of, by Polydore Vergil, 254, 255 ; by Hall, 262 ; by Grafton, 265 ; by Lanquet and Cooper, 266 ; by Stow, 267, 269 ; by Ho- linshed, 273; in other Town Chronicles, in; manuscripts of, 103 ».; editions of, 81, 83, 103; the first edition said to INDEX have been burnt by Wol- sey's order, 88, 177 ; ac- count of Revolution of 1399 i°> 87 ; of Lollards' Bill in, 16, 88, 105; of Henry V's riotous youth, 66; Lydgate's verses in, 83> 105 ; history of Rich- ard III in, 106. 'Fabian's MS.' (so-called by Stow) not his work, 70, 83 — see The Great Chronicle of London under London, Chronicles of. Falaise, siege of, in 141 7, 132, 289; agreement for surrender of, 60, 82 ». Falconer or Faukoner, Thomas, mayor of Lon- don, 74, 294. Fampage, see Vaumpage. Fastolf, Sir John, has to defend his place in South- wark during Cade's re- bellion, 201 ; his death, 199, 204; his relations with the Pastons, 199, 204, 205 ; his papers, 200, 203 ; William Worcester his secretary, 69, 162, 163 ; Basset writes for, 68. Fauconberg, Bastard of, see Neville, Thomas. Faversham, executions at, 372- Fazakerley, Richard, 368. Fenn, Sir John, his edition of the Paston Letters, 197, 198. Ferrara, English scholars at, 6 ; Tito Livio at, 51. Ferrers, Henry, prior of Folkestone, 391, 392. Ferrers of Chartley, Ed- mund, lord, at sieges of Rouen and Meaux, 318, 319- Ferrers of Chartley, Wal- ter, lord, see Devereux. Ferrers of Groby, Edward, lord, see Qtxe.-^. Ferriby, William, dean of York, executed, 276, 313 ; his discourse on the fall of Richard II, 25 ; men- tioned, 32. Ferrier, St. Vincent, preaches before Henry V, 23, 67. Fickets Field, 324. Fiennes, James, Lord Say, 407 his unpopularity, 243, 370 ; indicted, 365, in the Tower^ 371; murdered by Cade, 366. Fiennes, Richard, lord Dacre of the South, 375, 383- Fiennes, William, second lord Say, killed at Bamet, 374- Filliol, William, 389. Fitzalan, Thomas, Earl of Arundel, restored to his title and estates, 275, 312 } commands expedition of 1411, 315; made trea- surer, 284; his death, 285. Fitzalan, Thomas, lord Matravers, 375. Fitzalan, William, Earl of Arundel, 383. Fitzgerald, James, Earl of Desmond, 289. Fitzhugh, Henry, lord, at capture of Archbishop Scrope, 282 ; at sieges of Rouen and Meaux, 318, 319- Fitzwalter, Walter, lord, at siege of Meaux, 319 ; taken prisoner at Baug^, 295. 320. Flanders, Flemings: Hum- phrey of Gloucester's in- vasion of, 93, 94, 125, 322, 352 ; commercial relations with, 210, 234; papers relating to affairs of, 214, 220; unpopu- larity of Flemings in England, 125, 126, 233, 234 ; ballads, &c., in de- spite of, 234, 240, 241. Fleetwood, William,owned a copy of The Arrival, 174. 176, 273. Fleming, Abraham, his share in Holinshed'sCAra- nicle, 271, 272. Fleming, Richard, bishop of Lincoln, 290. Flenley, Mr. R., his Six Town Chronicles, 70, 80, 81, 112. Flint, Henry Percy at, 281; troubles at, in 1450, 366. Flore or Flory, John, 378. Flushing, Edward IV sails from, 175. Foix, Jean de. Earl of Ken- dal, 360. 4o8 INDEX Kolkesl.onePriory,39i,39a- Fonblanqne, AUiany de, his Annals of the House of Percy, ai.i, 325. Forest, William, monk of Whalley, 279. Formigny, battle of, 138. forster, John, monk of Whalley, 379. Kortescue, Sir John, Chief Justice, indicted in 1450, 365 ; taken prisoner at Tewkesbury, 378 ; possi- ble author of Soinnium VigiUntis, 168; his writings on the claim of the Duke of York, ib. \ his De Laudihus Legum Angliae, and Governance of England, 169 ; letters written by, 226; manu- script copies of his Refli- cacion, 369, 370 ; owned Rawlinson MS. C. 398, 310. Foul Raid, The, in 141 7, 23, 144. Fox, Richard, his account of events in 1447, 129. Foxe, John, the martyr- ologist, owned Arundel MS. 5, 310. Foxe, Richard, bishop of Winchester, a friend of Polydore Vergil, 192. France : The wars in : ex- peditions of 1 411 -12, 26, 37. 53. 123 «•. 141. 146, 315; under Henry V, 17, 34. 36. 41. 42. 47-9. 53, 54,60,61,89,116-18,123, 124, 130, 217, 277, 278, 285-9°. 30^-8, 316-20. 325-37 ; under Henry VI, 84, 89, 90, 124, 131, 363, 320,321,339-41. Nego- tiations for peace, 119, 231, 242; relations of Edward IV with, 182, 218. Franciscan frinrs, allusions to, in Continuation of EuU'gium, 29 ;/., 30; poems against, 233 ; exe- cution of, in 1 40 1, 313. French Chronicles, indis- pensable ns sources of Engli'ih history in the fifteenth icntury, 9 ; value as comctive of Kngllsh accounts, 43 ; French sources used by l'olydoreVergil,254,255; by Hall, 262-4 ; by Stow, 269; by Holinshcd, 273; effect on English opinion, 264. See also Gaguin; Monstrelet ; Waurin. French Language, use of, in England dying out, 195 ; diminishing use in correspondence, 3, 196, 209, 211, 214; the ability to speak it an accom- plishment, 195. Frere, William, edited fifth volume of Paston Letters, 197. Fresnay-le-Vicomtc, 289. Froissart, Jean, 2 54. Fulthorp, Sir William, 314 «. Fyneux, John, 393. G Gaguin, Robert, his Com- petidium super Fraruo- rum Cestis, use of, by English writers, 105, 177, 262, 269. Gairdner, Dr. James, criti- cisms by: on Walsing- ham's Historia Angli- cana, 14; on Gregory's Chronicle, 97, 98 ; on Page's Siege of Kouen, 117, 118; on a Brief Latin Chronicle to 1471, 1 59 ; on Ely Brief Notes, 161 ; on the History of Richard III, 185, 186. On the state of education in the fifteenth century, 194, 195; his edition of the Paston Letters, 197, 198; his Letters and Papers of the Reign of Richard III, 224. His Life of Richard III, 224, 326. Referredto, 300,302, 303, 360. See aKo Collec- tions of a London Citizen : Three Fifteenth Century Chronicles. Gale, Thomas, his Rcrtim .'Uiglicamm Scriptorfs, >7>i; his scandal nhoul Piilydorc Vergil, 257. Gnrgrnvc or Gcrgmve, John, arrested by Richard of York, 297 ; indicted, 365- Garter, Order of the, Sigis- mund admitted to, 287, 328; feast of, held by Edward IV, 380.— Garter King-of-Arms, see Smart, John. Gascoigne, Thomas, his narrative of Archbishop Scrope's execution, 38, 167 ; historical informa- tion in his Theological Dictionary, 166 ; gives story of Hotspur and Henry IV, 122. Gascoigne, Sir William, Chief Justice : Mayor of London called before, 107 ; story of his relation with Henry V, ib., 363; refuses to try Archbishop Scrope, 314 «. Gasqnet, Right Rev. Abbot, on Polydore Ver- gil. 256- Gate, Sir Geoffrey or Jef- fray. 384, 385- Geddington, N'orthants, 141. Genoa, Genoese fleet de- feated by Bedford, 287, 300, 328, 329; by Hun- tingdon, 307, 331. George, Duke of Clarence, his alliance with Warwick in 1469-7°. i:3- '74. 213; Humphrey Stafford , Earl of Devonshire, ac- cused of plotting his death, 357; his move- ments in 1470-1, 392, 393 ; Edward, Prince of Wales, appeals to, 172; with Edward IV in Lon- don, 375 ; commended in Parliament, 3S3 ; scene at his trial, iSj; all»a- tion that he was dder brother of Edw-aid IV, 177; letters written by, .1^5,370.392.393; ™«"- tioned, 162, 237 «. George, Duke of Bedford, son of Edward IV, 125. Gcrgrave, see Gargrave. Gtsta Henrici Quinli, doubts as to its author- ship, 45 ; correctly attri- buted to Elmhnm, 45, 46 ; connexion with Liber INDEX 409 Metricus, 46; character and value, 47-9; appa- rently known to Hardyng, 49, 146 ; editions and manuscripts, 45, 49. Ghent, Henry Beaufort at, 217 ; news from, in 1436, 390 ; copy of The Arrival at, 176. Giles, John Allen, his faulty editing, 24, 25,45, 49. 155. 1561 158; his Rivolte du Conte de Warwick, 176. Gikis Chronicle {Incerti Scriftoris Chronicon . . . de regnis Henrici IV, Henrici V, Henrici VI), manuscripts, 24, 49, 155- 7, 338 : Chronicle of Henry IV, sources and character, 24, 25 ; Tyler's criticism of, 26, 27 ; London origin of, 26, 44 : Chronicle of Henry V = Gesla, 45, 49, 63 : Chro- nicle of Henry VI, its character and value, 156- 8 ; traces of London ori- ginal, 79, 91, 113, 157; the Brief Notes for\ 440-3 come from same source, 156, 338- Gilson, Mr. J. P., on Som- niuin Vigilantis, 167-8. Gisors,siegeof,54,3i9,334. Glastonbury Abbey, Lans- downe MS. 212 formerly belonged to, 310. Glendower, Owen, his quarrel with lord Grey de Ruthyn, 280, 313 ; his rebellion, 24, 38, 212, 276, 280; Edmund Morti- mer marries his daughter, 380 ; the Tripartite Con- vention, 26 ; dread of, in England, 21, 280; styled ' venerabilis et decens ar- miger', 27; relations of, with Adam Usk, 33, 34; prophecy applied to, 236. Gloucester, troubles at, in 1450, 162, 355 ; in 1463, 356,357; Edward IV at, 354; mentioned, 343. Gloucester Abbey, depre- dations at, 355 ; abbot of, see Bowlers, Reginald. Gloucester Annals, 161, i62> 354-7- Gloucester, Dukes of, see Humphrey ; Richard III ; Duchesses of, see Cobham , Eleanor ; Jacqueline. — Thomas, Earl of, see De- spencer, Thomas. Gloucestershire, troubles in, 356. Glover, Robert, owned a Tewkesbury Chronicle, 376. Godard, Sir Henry, 320 n. Godstow Chronicle, 37 «., 3"- Gogh, — ,asquire,beheaded at Tewkesbury, 378. Goldstone, Reginald, letter written by, 393. Goodwin, Thomas, his History of the Keign of Henry V, 55. Gorges, Sir Walter, 338. Gough, Sir Matthew, 366. Gouteley, — , killed at Shrewsbury, 350. Gower, John, his poems, 228, 229 ; quoted by Stow, 269. Gower, John, beheaded at Tewkesbury, 378. Graeme, William, murders James I of Scotland, 323, Grafton, Richard, his edi. tion of Hardyng's Chro- nicle, 146, 148 ; his prose continuation for the reigns of Edward IV and Rich- ard III, 186-8, 259, 263, 270 ; his edition of Hall's Chronicle, 265 ; his own Chronicle of England, ib. ; his dispute with Stow, 148. Graunt Jaques, 318. Gravelines (Greuenyng) , 384- Gravesend, 385. Graville, Sire de, his wager with Sir John Cornwall, 42. Gray, see Grey. Greenwich, 296, 372. Gregory, William, mayor of London, probably not the author of Gregory's Chronicle, 96, 97. Gregory's Chronicle, the question of its authorship, 96, 97 ; personality of the author, 98, 108; the early part to 1431, 75, 7^, 86 ; represents Version of 1440. 74. 78. 79. 90. 91 ; literary quality and his- torical value of the con- clusion, 96, 98, no ; errors of chronology in, 73, 74, 96 ; date of writ- ing, 97 ; resemblances of: to Harley 3775, 292 ; to Arundel 19, 90, 296, 297 ; parallels to other Chronicles, 26, 136, 159, 278 «.; notice of troubles at Sherborne in, 346 ; criticism of, by Professor Oman, 98. Gresham, James, letters from, to John Paston, 200, 346, 359. Grey of Ruthyn, Edmund, 4th lord, afterwards Earl of Kent, 373,375- Grey, Edward, lord Ferrers of Groby, 390. Grey of Ruthyn, George, lord, 375. Grey of Codnor, Henry, 7th lord, 375, 383. Grey, John, Earl of Tan- kervile, 290, 320. Grey of Codnor, John, 5th lord, 319. Grey, Sir Ralph, 322. Grey of Ruthyn, Reginald, 3rd lord, 276, 280, 313. Grey of Wilton, Reginald, lord, 383. Grey of Codnor, Richard, 4th lord, 287 »., 289. Grey of Heton.Sir Thomas, 288, 316, 325. Grey, William, bishop of Ely, English humanist, studies under Guarini at Ferrara, 6; patron of John Warkworth, 172; at court of Edward IV., 383- Greyfriars Chronicle of London, The, 72, 106. Greystoke, Sir William de, 383. Grey ve, John, letter written by, 390- ^ ., GrifiSth ap David ap Thomas, 363. Griffith ap NicoUasson, 364. Grimsby, 343. Grinhyltone, John, monk of Whalley, 279. 4IO INDEX Grocyn, William, 6. Gruff of Kalcotc, 390. Grnthui, or Gruthuyee, Jolin, 387. Gruthus or Gruthnysc, Louis, Sire de, Ills kind- ness to Edwar7, .-OS ; by Holinshed, 14S; men- tioned, 171, 230, 237. Hare, Robert, owned Arun- del MS. 19, 296. Harflenr, siege of, in 1415, 47, 61, 116, 123, 238, 239. 277. 285, 300, 316, 3»S. 350 ; fighting round, in 1416, 17, 41, 59, 328; Bedford's sea-fight off, 48, 60, 76, 141, 287, 329; Huntingdon's sea- fight off, in 141 7, 288, 307 ; recovery of, by Eng- lish in 1440, 339, 341 ; me- morial verses on siege, 50. Harington, Sir James, 289. Harington, John, lord, 289. Harington, Sir John, on authorship of the History of Richard III, 185. Harington, William, lord, 3'8. 319- Harpsfield, Nicholas, his reference to the ' Trans- lator of Livios', 64,66; mentioned, 8 n. Harries, John, shipman of York, his treascmable conduct, 371. Harrison, William, his share in Holinshed's Chronicles, 271. Hastings, 343. Hastings, William, lord, his loyalty to Edward I\', 249, 382 ; recovers Calais, 1 8 1 n. ; lord chamberlain, 382, 383. 385-7 : attends Gruthus to the tath, 387 ; his intrigue with Jane Shore, 1 87 ; erroneously called Riihard by More, 188 ; mentioned, 375. Hatteclyffe, or Attecliffe, William, secretary to Ed- ward IV, 3S3, 388; em- ployed on missions to Charles the Bold, 380, 381. HawkesloAve, William, Clarenceux, 384. Haydon. F. R., his edition of the KH.'ogiii"' ffisto- ritirum, 28. llaywiml, see Howard. llaywirdyn, — ,a thief exe- cuted by Cade, I36«. Httilewood,Yorks., North- umberland and Bardolf defeated near, 311. Heame, Thomas, anti- quary, works edited by : INDEX 411 Otterboume's Chronicle, 21, 23; Tito Livio's Vita ffenrici, 50, 55, 56 ; Pseudo-Elmham's Vila et Gesta Henrici, 56, 59, 6j ; Blakman's De Virlu- tibus Henrici Sexii, 149 ; Whethamstede's Chro- nicle, 154 ; Worcester's Annates, 164 ; A Re- markable Fragment, 1 76 ; RoDs's Historia Regum, 184; The Battaile of Agincourt, 238 ; Godstow Chronicle, ^11. His error as to the Pseudo-Elmham, 46, 56, 59 ; his notice of Basset, 68, 69. HeamisFragment, author- ship and date, 176, 177; character and value, 177, 178. Helly, Jacques, Sire de, 60. Helston, Cornwall, 343. Henley, 342, 343. Henry IV, King of Eng- land, his coronation, 34, 275, 279, 312 ; his claim to the throne, 146; in Scotland, 275, 280; his quarrel with Hotspur, 122, 126 ; at Shrewsbury, 281 ; at Pontefract, 282 ; at York, ib. ; stricken ■ with illness, 22, 277, 282 ; illness alleged to be punishment for execution of Scrope, 35, 43, 24S, 264, 282 ; in Northum- berland, 283 ; his re- lations with his son, 22, 27, 66, 84, 144 ; his re- lations with Parliament, 2 ; his visits to Evesham, 24; marries Joanna of Navarre, 282, 314; his children, 282, 315 k. ; his death-bed, 39, 50, 66 ; his burial, 123,284,315; Maidstone's fiction about his burial, 38 ; his charac- ter: commended, 32, 40, 277 ; depreciated by Har- dyng, 146. Narratives of his reign, 16, 20, 22, 24-6, 29. 34. 35. 38, 84, 87, 116, 122, 123, 144, 262, 275-7. 279-84. 312-15. 350. Letters relating to hisreign, 21 1-12,220, 225, 226, 389. Poems relating to, 229, 233. 'Prophecies' applied to, 236, 262. Henry V, King of England, date of his birth, 50 «. ; bom at Monmouth, 316, 323 ; created Prince of Wales, 275, 312 ; servesin Wales, 211, 280; his con- cern with the Lollards' Bill, 16 ; at Badby's exe- cution, 230 ; relations virith his father, 22, 27,66, 84, 144; his father's dying advice to, 39, 50,66; story of the Prince and the Chief Justice, 67, 69, 107, 263 ; his youthful wild- ness, and conversion after he became king, 32, 66, 120, 126, 277 ; his coro- nation, 41, 59, 284, 316, 323 ; suppresses Lollard rising, 284, 293, 324 ; at Leicester Parliament, 41, 285, 325 ; consults Uni- versities on his claim in France, 323, 324 ; story that he was instigated by churchmen, 120; the 'tennis-ball' story, 23, 41, 179, 215, 239, 350; his devotion at Agin- court, 179; his visit to the battle-field, 225, 389; visits Holywell, 34 ; his entertainment of Sigis- mund, 300, 328-30 ; St. Vincent Ferrier preaches before, 2 3, 6 7 ; his meeting with Catherine, 333, 334 ; his fight with Barbasan, 67 ; at Kenilworth 42, 49 ; his Yorkshire pro- gress, 36, 42, 290; his death, 61, 68, 120, 134, 290. 295, 320, 337; t>is tomb, 1 20 ; his character, 117, 120, 143, 145, 229, 248 ; his fame in Italy, 51 ; will not have poems sung in his honour, 240 ; evolution of the tradition- al view of his character, 55, 68, 135 ; Ormonde's stories of, 65-7; his speeches, 55, 60 ; his letters, 211, 214, 217, 218 ; wrote in English, 217; his policy, i ; his sea-keeping, 234 ; his re- lations with Parliament, 2 ; his religious founda- tions, 57, 66, 323; his patronage of learning, 4 ; connexion with Oxford, 4, 184 ; Walsingham writes Ypodigma for, 15, 18 ; Hoccleve writes for, 230, 231 ; Lydgate dedi- cates Troy Book to, 231 ; Elmham in his service, 46 ; employs Hardyng, 141. Narratives of his reign, 17, 18, 22, 23, 32, 34. 36. 41. 42, 47-9. 53-5.58-61, 84, 89,116, 123, 124, 126, 132, 144, 277, 278, 284-90, 293-5, 299-3°9. 316-20, 323-37, 342 . Letters relating to his reign, 211, 212, 215- 18, 220, 223, 389. Poems relating to, 117,229,233, 238-40. Henry VI, King of Eng- land, his birth, 278, 290, 295 ; his accession, 278, 320 ; refuses to travel on Sunday, 84 ; John Somer- set, histntor, 57; crowned at Westminster, 290, 320, 351 ; crowned at Paris, 291, 320, 351; reception at Paris, 92 ; reception in London, 87, 92 ; and Eleanor Cobham, 93, 340 ; proposed Armagnac marriage, 1 2 1, 221 ; mar- ries Margaret of Anjou, 121, 344, 353 ; at time of Cade's rebellion, 371 ; journey into Kent, 372 ; at Dartford in 1452, 297, 298 ; his illness, 202 ; his death, 165 «., 172, 175, 180, 181, 191, 370, 375; buried at Chertsey, i65«., 370, 376 ; miracles, 181, 185; translated to Windsor, 181 ; prayers andhymnsin his honour, 211, 229; his character : contemporary criticisms, 122, 142, 143, 147,149, 152, 248; Tudor criticism, 255 ; Lives of, 149; his educational foun- dations, 5, 195, 222 ; dis- orders of his later years, 143, 145, 180; causes ot his dovrafall, 2, 169, 232 ; his poverty, 243, 360 Narratives of his reign 412 INDEX 84-6, 88-99, 121, 144, 145, 150-a, 156-64, 378, jyo, J91, 3ao-3, 339- 41.343-5. 347-';. ss'-fi. 370-3. Letters rcliUiiif; to his reign, aoo-4, 213, a 1 5-34, 390, 31; I . Poems nnj verses relating to his reign, 33'-5, 24°-7> 359. 370, 395-7- Henry VII, King of Eng- land, his early history, 191, 192 ; lands at Mil- ford, 394 ; takes the bailiff of Shrewsbury into favour, 250; at Bosworth, 219, 263; ballads on, 249-52; marries Eliza- beth of \'ork, 99 ; re- tores Peter Curteys to his office of Keeper of the Wardrobe, 1S211.; his expedition to Boulogne, 184 «. ; history of his reign in T/ie Greai Chro- nicle of London, \o\; Poly- dore Vergil writes his His- tory athis request, 192; his personal appearance, 251. Henry VIII, King of Eng- land, the ' Translator of Livius ' writes for his in- struction, 65, 68; Poly- dore Vergil dedicates his History to, 256; Hall supports his policy, 261. Herbert, \Villiam 1, lord Herbert and Earl of Pem- broke, defeated at Edg- cote, 356 ; executed, 357. Herbert, William II, Earl 3^° ; bums Popc- ring in 1436, 332 «.; created Duke of Exeter, 353; hlsdeath, 343, 354; a letter to, 391. Holland, Margaret, Du- chess of Clarence, at Melun, 319; her death and burial, 339, 340. Holland, Thomas, Earl of Kent, previously Dnke of Surrev, joins conspiracy against Henry IV, 279, 312; killed at Cirencester, 276, 313- Holland, \\ ilUam of Bava- ria, Duke of, visits Eng- land, 300, 330. HolUngworth, Kent. 372. Holme, Thomas, Xorrov, 3^4- Holywell, Flint, 34. Homildon Hill, battle of, 29, 141, 238, 2S0. Hoo, SirThomas, 359, 365. Hooker, John, his share in Holinshed's Ci^cnic/e, 271. 373. Horkesley. — . a letter to, ai6. Horn, Andrew, possible author of Annales Lm- donicnsts, 71. Hoisham, 343. Hounslow, Trinitarian Friary at, 38. Howard (Heyward), John, first Puke of Norfolk, kinsman of John Mow- bray VI, knight of the shire for Norfolk, 205 ; 1 complaint against him. 2 1 6 ; supports Edward IV, 375; K.G.,380; his ser- vices to Richard III, 187. Howard, Thomas, second Diike of Norfolk, his ser- vices to Richard III, 1S7; Treasurer of England, 177. Howard, Thomas, third Duke of Norfolk, marries the Lady Anne, 187. Howard, Lord William, of Naworth, manuscripts owned by, 62, 296, 310, 374- Howes, Edmond, his edi- tions of Stow's Summary, 72 ; of Stow's Annales, 268. Hugford, Thomas, sheriff of Worcestershire, 366 n. Hugo ap Thomas, two persons of the name, 364. Hull, 343. Humphrey, Duke of Glou- ■ cester, created duke, 285, 293) 325; captures Ba- yeux, 306 ; his campaign in the Cotentin, 54, 64; at sieges of Rouen and Melnn, 318, 319; returns to England in Dec. 1419, 54; guardian of Henry VI, 2 78 ; his quarrel with Car- dinal Beaufort in 1425-6, 82, 86, 88, 106, 263; complaint of women of theStocks Market against, 151 ; his expedition into Flanders in 1436, 125, 321, 322, 352 ; his Articles against Beaufort in 1440, 106, 221, 263; his attitude to the proceedings against Eleanor Cobham, 93 ; Hall'sversion,265; hisar- restanddeathatBury, 129, 147. 244> 344. 347. 353 ; the story in the Mutability of Worldly Changes, 395, 397; buried at St. Albans, 347 ; Suffolk accused of plotting his death, 243, 244, 361 ; his memory cleared in Parliament of 1455, 15'; adopted by Yorkist writers as the 'Good Dnke', 122, 243, 244, 248 ; this view de- veloped by Tudpr histo- rians, 255, 264, 265; lukewarm reference to, by INDEX Hardyng, 147 ; list of his servants,; 363, 364; his revenues from Bordeaux, 360; his alms-dish, 372; his visits to St. Albans Abbey, 150. His patron- age of learning; his books, 4 ; his correspon- dence with Italian scho- lars, ib. ; Tito Livio enters his service, 51 ; employs Livio to write the Vita Henrici, 6, 51 ; and supplies him with ma- terial, 53-5 ; possibility that the Pseudo-Elmham was a foreign scholar in his service, 59 ; promi- nence of Humphrey in works of Livio and Pseudo-Elmham, 54, 58, 64; a friend of Ab- bot Whethamstede, 152; Bekynton, his secretary, 221 ; John Somerset, his executor, 58 ; Lydgate writes his Falls of Princes for, 231 ; his munificence to the University Library at Oxford, 4, 58, 158 ; his undying fame therefor, 344- Hunden, Richard, Lollard, 150. Hungerford, Edmund, 365. Hungerford, Sir Nicholas, killed atShrewsbnry, 350. Hungerford, Robert, lord, also Lord Molynes, iure uxoris, letter written by, 226 ; suppresses rising in Wiltshire, 346 ; his inter- ests in Norfolk, 200 ; siip- ports Henry VI, 373. Hungerford, Walter, lord, at Agincourt, 55 ; at siege ofMelun, 319 ; his death, 58; Psendo-Elmham origi- nally dedicated Vita et Gesta to, 5, 58, 59; and perhaps obtained material from, 61 ; a letter written by, 39°- Huntingdon, 343. Huntingdon, Earls of, see Holland. Hythe, 343. Iden, o>- Yden, Alexander, 297. 413 Jnglose, Sir Henry, 320. Ingulph, spurious chronicle attributed to, 179. Ipswich, 343, 344. Ireland, Richard of York in, 146, 247, 296, 371; importance of, recognized in Libel of English Policy, 234- Isabella, Queen ofRichard 11, 27, 313. Isabella, Queen of France, at Conference of Meulan, 332.333; supports Treaty ofTroyes, 278, 335, 336; at siege of Melun, 319, 336- Isle, (??■ Ysele, William, 362 . Isleworth, 38. Italian influence : on Eng- lish Renaissance, 4, 6 ; on English historical litera- ture, through Tito Livio and Polydore Vergil, 8, 51, 53, 254, 260. Jack Upland, 233. Jacqueline of Hainault, Duchess of Gloucester, ISO- James I, King of Scotland, at siege of Melun, 319; besieges Roxburgh, 322 ; murdered, 333 ; alleged offer to bribe Hardyng, 141; mentioned, 128, 130, 144. James III, King of Scot- land, 369. Jankyn Thaylde, 363. Jenney, E., letter from, 393 »■ Jerningham, John, 204. Joan of Arc, the only re- ference to, in English contemporary chronicles, 84, 118; fiction of an English legend hostile to her, 264. Joanna of Navarre, Queen of Hen ry IV, her marriage and abortive children, 282, 314 ; and Friar Randolph, 118; buried at Canter- bury, 123 ». John, XXIII, Pope, 27. John, Duke of Bedford, present at capture of Archbishop Scrope, 282 ; 414 INDEX itinde Constable, aSj j receive! lands of Earl of Northumberland, 284 ; at 'hurling in Eastcheap', 107 ; created duke by Henry V, 285, 293, 325; relieves llarllenr, 48, 53, 287, 329 ; Warden of England, 302 ; at execu- tion of Oldcastle, 41 ; at siege of Melun, 319 ; Regent of France, 278, 395 ; his victory at Ver- neuil, 320; letter of Cardinal Beaufort to, 82, 86, 88 ; his agreement with Humphrey of Glou- cester, 232; inNormandy, 291 ; mentioned, i, 164. John of Bridlington, pro- phecies attributed to, 236. John, Sir Hugh, 226. John ap Ries, 364. Jordane, or Jurdemayne, Margery, the witch of Eye, 340. 341- Joseph of Arimathea, St., 310. K Kail, Dr. J., his edition of T\venty-six Political and other Poems, 233. Keble, Henry, mayor of London, loi. Kedecaws, see Chef de Caux. Kemp, John, Cardinal, suc- cessively archbishop of York and of Canterbury, opposes Scots at Rox- burgh, 322; comes to London during Cade's rebellion, 371 ; holds in- quisition in Kent, 359, 364; deprives Hardyng of Geddington, 142, 143 ; letters written by, 224. Kendal, Earl of, see Foix, Jean de. Kenilworth (Kyllyng- worth), Henry V at, 23, 42, 49; Henry VI at, .172. 39' ; John Strecche on events at, 40 ; men- tioned, 3O8. Kent, Cade's rising in, »44. MA, Ml, 371. 37»; Petition of Commons of, '^'i. 368, 360-2, 390; Henry VI in, 37 j ; execu- tions in, 348 ; Richard of York in, 373; Earl of .Slirewsbury suppresses disturbance in, 368 ; sup- ports Yorkists in 1460, 245, 246 ; excitement in, in 1469, 356; Articles 0/ Commons, in 1470, 369 ; supports Fauconberg,374, 375 J Edward IV in, 375 ; a church burnt in, 353. Kent, Earls of, see Grey, lidmund ; Holland, Ed- mund, a»(/ Thomas. Kent, Thomas, Clerk of the Council to Henry VI, 220 «., 364, 365. Kighley, Sir John, 301. Kilmainham, Prior of, see Butler, Thomas. King's Lynn, Chronicle of, III; mentioned (' Len Episcopi '), 343. Kingston-on-Thames, 297, 3.S3- Kingston, Richard, a letter written by, 212. Kirkstall Chronicle, 35, 279. KnoUes, Sir Robert, 26, 315- Kyghley, Sir Richard, 386. Kyme, John Hardyng, Constable of, 141. Kyme, Earl of, see Um- fraville, Gilbert. Lacy, Edmund, bishop of Exeter, his dispute with the city, 311; a letter written by, 391. Lancaster, House of, con- stitutional government under, 3 ; its title de- fended by Fortescue, 169 ; causes of its downfall, a, 169, 232, 255; a defence of its policy, 168. I^ang, Mr. Andrew, on Joan of Arc, 364. Langley, Thomas, bishop of Durham, opposes Scots at Roxburgh, 332 ; letters written by, J 16, 324. Langstrother, Sir John, Prior of St. John's, 374, 377- Langton, John, bishop of St. Davids, 157. Lanquet, Thomas, his Chronicle, 266. Lanthony Priory, 163, 355, 3.17- Latin Brut, The, its char- acter, 129-31 ; chiefly of textual or literary interest, 131 ; illustrates composi- tion of English original, 131-2; its resemblance to Davies's Chronicle, 127, 128; use of it by Tito Livio, 53, 54, 60, 131 ; by Hardyng, 144, 147, 148 ; cootinnatioos of. 154. '55. >58-6o; two versions of, 130, 310; peculiar copies of, 311, 342; manuscripts of, 310-13; text of, 312-37; sometimes attributed to Richard Rede, 311. Latin language, diminish- ing use of, 3, 195 ; dis- placement of, as literary medium, 69, no, 169, 1 70; retains favour wii ecclesiastics, 154, 219, 33 2; but Latin writers use Englishoriginals, 44. 155, 1 70; and write bad Latin, J 55, >7o. 376; early Latin letters, 209, 212, 223; diminished use in ofhcial documents, 214, 222; different character of later Latin Chronicles, 1 70, 171; use of Latin by Polydore Vergil does not influence his successors, 8, 259- Launde, Prior of (Walter Baldock), executed, 130, 233. 313- Lear, King, 41. Leche, Sir Philip, 31 S, Leeds, Kent, 364. Leicester, Parl.ament at, '° M'4. 54. lao, 131, 364, J85, 293, 325; hall erected for the Parlia- ment,4i; Parliamentat,iu '450.347.37>; '^"■'"'""'t proposed to be held at, >4SS. 345; Edward IV nt, 14a; Richard Ill's dead body brought to, 25 a ; Peter Curieys feo- dary of, iSa n. ; a dispute at, 390; mentioned, 343. eland, John, his Colitc- lions, 173, 270 ; his cen- sure of Polydore Vergil, 357- Le Neve, Peter, acquires the Paston papers, 197. Lenton Priory, Northants, 45. 46- Lenz, Dr. Max, first iden- tifies Elmham as author of Gesta, 45. Leominster, 343. Lewes, 343. Lewknor, Sir John, 377. Ziiei of English Policy, The, its character and value, 234, 235; evidence of its date, 241 «. ; paral- lels to, 165, 235, 236, 359- Lichfield, friars executed at, 29 «. ; George, Duke of Clarence, at, 392. Lichfield, bishops of, see Boothe, William ; Hales, John. Lichfield, William, parson of All Hallows the More, London, a great preacher, 296. Linacre, Thomas, 6. Lincoln, Henry V at, 290 ; mentioned, 209, 343, 371- Lincoln, bishops of, see Alnwick, William ; Flem- ing, Richard ; Reping- don, Philip ; Rotherham, Thomas ; Russell, John. Lincolnshire, Chronicle of the Rebellion in, 173, 174. Lindsay, Alexander, 321. Lingard, John, his use of The Arrival, 176; on Suffolk's letter to his son, 201. Liskeard, 343. Lisle, Viscount, see Talbot, John. Litlyngton, John, Abbot of Croyland, 180. Livio da Forli, Tito, ac- count of, 51, 52 ; in ser- vice of Humphrey of Gloucester, 4, 51 ; who employs him to write the Vita Henrici Quinti, 5, 51 ; and supplies him with information, .S3-5; char- acter and quality of Vita, S3) 55 ; its sources, 53, 54i 118; its indebtedness INDEX to Latin Brut, 53, 54, 60, 125, 131. 311,312. 323- 37 {foot-notes) ; its rela- tion to the Pseudo-Elm- ham, 56, S7, S9-6i. 63, 240 ; use of by sixteenth- century historians, 254, 262, 271, 272 ; its im- portance and influence, 55, 62, 64, 68 {see further ' Translator of Livius ') ; Heame's edition of, 50, 55 ; the manuscripts, 52, 55. 56- Tito Livio's £«- comium,c,-i; his Ziierde Ortographia, 52 ; his ac- quaintance with Guarini, 51, 52; his friendship with Decembri, 52 ; his contribution to the Eng- lish Renaissance, 8,52,69, 260. Lloyd, David, letter writ- ten by, 391. Llwyd, Humphrey, on Polydore Vergil, 258. LoUardy: the Lollards' Bill of 1410, 16, 82, 83, 87, 88, 105 ; Lollard rising 1111414. 35.36,234,284, 285, 293, 316, 324, 325 ; implication of Lollards in Scrope's plot, 17; Lol- lard movement in 141 7, 50; executions of Lol- lards, 16, 276, 293, 294, 318 ; a letter on sup- pression of, 389 ; anti- LoUardism of contem- porary writers, 18, 43. Lombard, Andrew, his double treason, 42. Lomnour, William, his correspondence with John Paston, 200, 201. London : Events in : 1400, Henry IV comes to, 276, 313 ; executions at, 276; 1410, the ' hurling in East- cheap ', 67, 107 ; 1414, the Lollard rising, 284, 293, 324; 1415, the news of Agincourt, 75 ; the pa- geant, 34, 47, 238, 239, 286 ; 1416, reception of Sigismund at, 278, 287, 299. 327, 328; 1417, Henry V takes leave of the city, 303 ; 1419, re- joicings after fall of London {continued') Rouen, 34 ; 1421, recep- tion of Henry V and Catherine, 289; rejoicings at birth of Henry VI, 169 «. ; 1432, pageant forHenry VI,77, 85,87, 88,92,332; 1441, Henry VI at, 93 ; arrest and pen- ance of Eleanor Cobham, 156, 340, 341. 396; 1445. reception of Margaret of Anjou, 94; 1450, Henry VI comes to, 371 ; Jack Cade in, 347, 366, 371 ; Richard of York at, 372 ; ^454. events in, 202 ; 1455, Henry VI brought back to, 345 ; 1456, events in, 203; 1457-60, riots in, 103 ; 1458, the recon- ciliation at, 245; 1460, Yorkist lords at, 246, 247, 1461, reception of Ed- ward IV, 102, 159, 204 ; 1470, Edward IV leaves, 173; the Lancastrian Re- storation, 218; 1471, Fau- conberg's attack on the City, 175,248,374,375; triumph of Edward IV at, 375 ; 1472. reception of the Sire de Gruthus, 385 ; 1478, events in, 393. Influence of London, as the centre of national life, on historical literature, 260, 261 ; Chronicles &c. of London origin, 26, 32, 150, 159, 162, 163, 166, 235, 236, 242, 245, 246, 248, 360 (see also London, Chronicles of). Educational interest in, 6, 196. Commercial interests in, 209, 210, 235. Letters in the Guild- hall archives, 317, 218. Political feeling in, 88, 109, 204, 245-7. The Marching- Watch, 156- Returns four members to Parliament, 343. Places in or near : Churches, &c. : AU- hallows-the-More, 296 ; Blackfriars, 157; St.Dun- stan in the East, 26, 82 ; St. John's Priory, 374, 4i6 INDEX London {continued) 383 ; St. Katharine's by the Tower, 354 ; S'- Mary Arches, or How tNiurch, 393, Whitefriars, 315. St. Paul's, Henry Vat.in 1417, 303; new weather- cock set up, 395 ; the steeple burnt, 94, 353; procession at, in 1458, 245; bills, Sec, set up on the doors of, 249, 370; historical tablet in, 75. Streets and public places : Aldgate, 375 ; Cheap, 341, 366; Clerk- enwell, 122, 164; Corn- hill, 295 ; Crane in Vin- try, 385 ; Crown Seld, 156; E^stcheap, 75, 107; Fink's Lane, 295 ; Fins- bury, 294 ; Guildhall, 215, 317 ; Holbom, 396; King's Bench, 297, 364; King's Head, 156, 341 ; Lyon Key, 385 ; Milk Street, 188; New- gate, 107, 393; Red- cross Street, 187, 188; St. Giles's fields, 293, 309 ; St. John's Street, 393 ; St. Katherinc's, 395 ; St. Martin's (the sanctuary), 366; Shelleys, 385; Smith- field, 92, 294,340; Sports Key, 294; Standard in Cheap, 366 ; Stocks Mar- ket, 75, 151 ; Thames Street, 296 ; Trillemell Street, 294; Tower Wharf, 296. See also London Bridge; Towerof London, London, bishops of, see Clifford, Richard; Kemp, John ; Walden, Roger. London Bridge, arches of, fall down, 1^2 \ fight with Fauconberg on, 375 ; heads of traitors on, 294, 296, 368, 372. 375; a glover of, 293. London, Chronicles of, early liistory of, 71,75; Latin instances, 71, ioj ; French, 71; English Chronicles take shape, 3, 27, 75 ; their develop- ment, 75, 76, 78 ; later history ol, 73, 106; their system ol chronology, 73; their 'Sources, 107- I.ondon, Chronicles of {continued") 1 09 ; thcirpractical utility, 73, 109; their historical quality and importance, 70, 74, 109, 1 10, 360, 361. Classification of, with lists of manuscripts and editions, 80,81 ; Version of 1430, 76, 77, 83-') ; Version of 1431, 77, 86, 87 ; Version of 1432, 77, 87-9 ; Version of 1440, 7X, 90, 91; Version of 1445, 79,91-4; Version of 1446, 79,94; Continu- ations of S, 79, 94, 95 ; Miscellaneous Continua- tions from 1440, 79, 95- 9 ; The Main City Chro- nicle, 79, 99-103. Individual copies : The Great Chronicle of Lon- don, 82, 83, 88, 99-101, 107, i84».; Harley3775, 83,84,292-5; Julius Bii, 87-8 ; Cleopatra C iv, 54, 88-90, 339, 240, 263; in Dr. Erie's edition of the 5>-K<, 85,86, 91-4; Bar- ley 540, 91-4, 395, 396; Arundel 19, 90, 95, 296- 8 ; Vitellius A xvi, 99- 103; Rawlinson B 355, 103, 113; Gough,io3. Sec also Bale, Robert ; Gre- gory's Chronicle ; Nicolas, Sir Harris. Their relation to other Chronicles : to the Brut, 10,78,113,115, 116, n8, 120,121,123-5,128,133- 5,300,31 1; to Giles' sChro- nicle, 25, 26, 157; to St. Albans Annals, 150, 151 ; to Ely Brief Azotes, 161 ; to Worcester's Annates, 163; to IValthain An- nals, 351; to Kabyan's Chronicle, 71, 72,99-105. Use of, by Hall, 262. Use of, by Stow, 269; his copies and transcripts, 106,369: his ' Register of Mayors', 107. Lorraine, 119. Lostwithiel.Cornw.'\ll,343. Louis XI, King of France, 174, 1S4 H. 1 ouis tlic Dauphin, sends tennis-balls tn Henry V, 23.4ii2i5.239.35o;en-or as to his presence at Agin- conrt, 32, 277. Louth Park Abbey, Chro- nicle of,n. Louviers, 41, 289. Lovell, Francis, Viscount, writes to Sir William Stonor, 209 ; couplet on, 249. Lovell, William, lord, 319. ' Loveris', 301, 304. Lucerne, Adam Usk at, 33- Lndgershall, Wilts., 343. Ludlow, Salop, 180, 297, 368, 369. Lumley, .Sir Ralph, 22, 279. Lydgate, John, his poetry, 229, 231 ; his verses for Henry VI, 77,84, 87,88, 92, 105, 232 ; minor his- torical poems, 229, 230; a ballad attributed to, by Dr. MacCracken, 241 ; the Battaile of Agincourt incorrectly attributed to, 232,238; London Lick- penny doabtfal, 233 ; his patrons, 4, 5, 331. Lyhert, Walter, bishop of Norwich, 359. 365. Lyme (Lyne), 343. Lyneham, Lewes, letter writteo bv, 336. Lynn Xen , 343. Lynnouthe, Sir William, Lj-tton, Lord, incident in his Last of the Barons, 191. M MacCracken, Dr. H., on Lydgate's poems, 232, 241 ». ; on poems by the Duke of Suffolk, 5 n. Mackerell. Doctor, 378. Madden, Sir Francis, his edition of Page's Sitgt of A'.'»/c/i, 1 17; of the A'«f»rS, .173 ; appeals to Mari;«rct ol Anjou, Ji.K at lirsl li.illlc of .St, .Vlbnns, 345 : at Calais in 1460, 204, 245; notices of,in ballads, 245-7 ; letters written by, 2 '3, 39'; praised by Hardyng, 147. Neville, Richard, Earl of Warwick, mediates be- tween Henry VI and Richard of York, 368, 373 ; at first battle of St. Albans, 345; his victory at sea in 1458, 152, 203-4; his Articles in 1459, 369 : at Calais in 1460, 204; his cam- paign in the North, 237 ; intervenes in a dispute at Gloucester, 162, 356; and at Lanlhony, 357 ; Poly- dore Vergil's story of his dispute with Edward IV, 191 ; with Clarence at Calais in 1469-70, 174, 213, 370; his agreement with Margaret of Anjon, 174 ; killed at Bamet, 374- 376 ; favourable notices in contemporary writers, 95, 147, 180; hostile notices, 172, 183; his prominence in bal- lads, 245-8; letters, &c, written by, 225, 226, 369, 391. 392- Neville, Robert, bishop of Salisbury, 346. Neville, Thomas, the Bas- tard of Fauconberg, his attack on London, 159, 175,248,374; hisexecn- tion, .^74. 375. Newborow, Sir William, New castle-on-T)-ne, 343. Ncwcistle - under - Lyne, Nicholas V. Pope, 354. Nichols. T. G., edited C':)0':i. .', Wlhe RebettioH in LiH*\\tis ':ir\-, 173; and Grants .'/" Ethi\ird V. Nicolis. Sir Harris, uses the t/i-.t/.i JltHrin (' The Cli.iplain's .Vocount') in his /■',!.'/■.'<■ of AghiiOurl, 4s, 40; ChioniiU of 7, iH(/o», edited by, 73, 74, 7(1 ; its character and v.ilue, S3-5 ; other con- tents of the same volume, 75) 238 ; tis Proceedings mid Ordinances of the Privy Council, 211, 213, 214. Nogent, 319, 335. Norfolk, the Fastens in, 198, 199, 200, 205. Norfolk, Dukes of, see Howard ; Mowbray. Noiham, Master, his Chronicle, 148, 311. Normandy, the war in, 1 32, 277) 285, 288, 289, 316, 318, 331 ; the spoil of, 34; state of, under Eng- lish, 222; Richard of York in, 144 ; loss of, 162, 243) 347. 36>) 372; Charles the Bold in, 381 ; Walsingham's History of, 18. Northampton, Henry VI at, 373; battle of, 98, 159, 246, 248; William Her- bert executed at, 356 ; mentioned, 343, 364, 371. Northern Chronicle, A, its character and value, 35, 36 ; possible connexion with other Chronicles, 22 , 42, 43. 44> 61 ; manu- scripts of, 279; text of, 279-91. Northumberland, Henry IV in, 283; Edward IV in, 237, 369. Northumberland, Earls of, see Percy. Northwich, Cheshire, 364. Norwich, 162, 343. Norwich, bishops of, see Courtney, Richard ; Ly- hert, Walter. Nottingham, 343, 364, 393- Nottingham, Earl of, see Mowbray, Thomas. O Ocland, Christopher, his Anglorum Praelia, 272. Olandyne, story of, 54. Oldcastle, Sir John, lord Cobham, takes part in expedition of 1411, 315 ; his trial for heresy, 17; his escape from the Tower, 318, 325 ; his rebellion, 35, 47, 123, 284, 292, 293, 324; in INDEX hiding, 47 ; his later career, 17; his capture, 5°. 308 ; his execution, 309, 318; Strecche's ac- count, 41 ; hostility of Walsinghamto, 17; Hoc- cleve's exhortation to, 231 ; apolitical poem on, 234- Oldhall, Sir John, a youth- ful adviser of Richard of York, 156, 338, 441. Oldhall, Mary, 338. Oldhall, Sir William, at Verneuil, 321 ; process against, reversed, 203; notice of, 338. Old Sarum, 343. Oman, Professor C. W., criticisms by, 98, 113-14, 117.173- Orange, Louis de Chalons, Prince of, 319. Orleans, 217. Orleans, Charles, Duke of, his conflict with Bur- gundy, 22, 315 ; taken prisoner at Agincourt, 278, 286, 317, 327; his release, 221; his poems, 5 "■ Ormonde, Earls of, see Butler. Orth, or Erth, Sir Hugh, 321. Oswestry, Salop, 390. Oteley, William, 391. Otterbourne, Thomas, notice of, 21; his Chro- nicle, 21-^; its connexion with Walsingham, 16,21; 22, 43 ; manuscripts, 23 ; use of, by Stow, 23, 269 ; mentioned, 239. Otteriurn, Battkof, ballad, 238. Owgan, Sir Henry, 363. Oxford, Earls of, see Vere. Oxford, the town, 276, 343, 371- Oxford, University of, state of learning at, 6; scholars at, 6, 21, 33, 162, 166; Walter Paston's life at, 208 ; teaching of Greek at, 4, 6 ; Oxford scholars in Italy, 6 ; connexion of Henry V with, 4, 184; liberality of Humphrey of Gloucester to, 4, 58, 158, 344; Duchess of E e a 419 Suffolk and, 5, 219; Lon- don citizens and, 6, 220; correspondence of, in Epistolae Acadeinicae, 219, 220; allegation that Polydore Vergil pillaged the library, 257. Page, John, his Siege of Rouen, its character and value, 1 16-18; depen- dence of other writers on it, 42, 118, 120, 132, 301 ; mentioned, 237. Pakington, William, au- thor of the French Brut, 114. Palgrave, Sir Francis, on Hardyng's forgeries, 142, Palmer, Thomas (1419), letter to, 389. Palmer, Thomas (1450), 365. Par, Sir John, 385, 387. Paris, reconnoitred by Thomas of Clarence, 53, 334; Charles VI at, 389; surrendered to English, 278; Henry V at, 54, 336; Henry VI crowned at,92, 320,337,351; men- tioned, 184 n., 315, 319. Parker, Henry, 97. Parker, Matthew, arch- bishop of Canterbury, his edition of Walsingham, T 8 ; his reference to Tito Livio and the Pseudo- Elmham, 62. Parliaments : 1399. The Lancastrian Revolution, 20, 33, 87, 275. 1401. Taxation ; prosecution for heresy, 276. 1404. Unlearned Parliament, 16, 21. 1410. Lollards' Bill, 16, 87, 88. 1411. Projected abdica- tion, 27. 1414. Leicester, 41, 54, 120, 121, 264, 285, 293, 325. 1416. March, 48, 287. 1416. October, 294, 302. 1421. Coinage, 278; Earl Dou- glas at, 290. 1423-8. Financial legislation, 82, 86. 1445-6, List of constituencies repre- sented, 158, 342, 343; dispute of the Dukes of 420 INDEX Warwick and Hucking- ham, 353. 1447. Bury, lag, 170, 344, 344, 347. 353. 301. 397- ,H5o- Accusation of Suffolk, 344. 1451. ImlictmcnU, i^')- 1455- li'l' of 'Re- sumption, 151. 1460. York's Claim, 159. 1461. I'irst Parliament of 1'aI- ward IV, 152. 147a. The congratulation of Edward IV, 382; The Sire de Gnithns made Earl of Winchester, 388. 1474. An address to the Com- mons, 21S. Parliamentary govern- ment under the Lancas- trian Kings, 2 ; payment of members, 343. Paston, Agnes, 198, 199, 207. Paston, Clement (1390), 198. Paston, Clement (1460), 204. Paston, Edmnnd, 200. Paston, Elizabeth, 20 1 , 306. Paston, John (rf. 1466), his propensity for keeping letters, 197 ; his family, 198; his character, 199, 206 ; his relations with Fastolf, 199, 204 ; his trust as FastolTs executor and consequent troubles, 199, 205 ; represents Nor- folk in Parliament, ii.; his correspondents, 200, 346, 359- Paston, Sir John the elder (rf. 1479), his Court life, 198, i05 ; his friendship with Anthony Woodville, 206 ; his character, 207. Paston, Sir John the youn- ger (d. 1 503), the ancestor of the later family, 198 ; his correspondence and character, 206 ; his love- making, 207. Paston, Margaret, her mar- riage, 198 ; her letters, 301, 202, 204, 207 ; her character, 206; her house- keeping, 207. Paston, Robert, I'nrl of Yarmoulli, lyS. Pasiou, Walter, his lilc nl Oxford, 20M. Paston, Sir William, foun- der of the family, 198; his correspondence, 199; his family life, 306, 207. Paston, William, son of William, his letters, 303, •'04. 393 »• Paston,' William, son of John, at Eton, 307, 208. Paston, William (d. 1732 , second Earl of Yarmouth, his papers sold, 197. Paslon, Letters, The, their history, 197 ; Sir John Fenn's edition, ib. ; Dr. Gairdner's editions, 197, 198,200; themannscripts, 198 ; their importance for the illustration of politi- cal history, 178,199-206; their illustration of social life, 206-8; their literary quality, 3, 10 ; their evi- dence on the state of edu- cation, 194; some addi- tional letters, 393 ». Patrington, Stephen, bishop of St Davids, 14. Patten, William, his con- tributions to Holioshed's Chronicles, 272 «. Pay, Harry, 20. Payne, Peter, Lollard, 222. Peche, Sir William, 384. Pecock, Reginald, bishop of Chichester, 129, 153, 270. Peebles, 146. Peeris, William, his metri- cal Chronicle of the family of Percy, 352. Pembroke, Earls of, see Herbert ; Tudor, Jasper. Penneux, Monnsyr de, 3i8. Penycoke, or Penycol, John . Percy, Sir Henry (Hot- spur), at Homildon Hill, 3S0; stories of his quarrel with Henry IV, 122, 126, 136; at Shrewsbury, 277, •'^f, 314. 3.S0; his body disinterred and mutilated. 2S1; hisdnughtcr married to John Clifford, 2S2; llar- dyng in his service. 141: prophcciesapplied to. 236. Percy, Henry, lirst Kiil ol Northumberland, at Ho- mildon Hill, J So; held in check by Earl of West- morland, 381 ; arrested at Pontefract, 383 ; im- prisoned at Baginton, 35, 282 ; released, ib. ; takes refuge in Scotland, 383 ; goes to Wales, ib, ; in France. 33, 383 ; defeated and slain at Bramham Moor, 36, 39, 377. 283, 3". 3' 5; prophecies ap- plied to, 236. Percy, Sir Henry, of Athol, surrenders Alnwick, 2S3. Percy, Henry, lecond Earl of Northumberland, taken to Scotland, 383 ; in exile there, 285; restored in blood, ib. ; retu ms to Eng- land, 287 ; defeats Scots at Roxborgfa, 322; cap- tures Pierre de Breze at Whitby, 367; killed at St. .\lbans, 345, 349. Percy, Henry, fourth Earl of Northumberland, his action in 147 1, 392 ; with Edward IV, 375 : at Court, 383 ; his pursui- vant. 384; a collection of prophecies made for him, 236 n. Percy. Henr)', fifth Earl of Northumberland, William Peeris writes for him. 2; 3. Percy, Thomas, Earl of Worcester, the insurrec- tion of 1403 due to his false counsel, 314: be- headed. 381. 314. Percy, Thomas, lord Egre- mont, supports Henry VI in I4,=;2. 373 ; breaks out of Newgate, 107; atbattle of Northampton. 246. Pemevs, John, sheriff of London, 395. Peronne, 38 1. Peter of Blois, forged chro- nicle ol, 1 79. Petrie. Henry, his tran- scripts, 24, i-;5. Petteworth, Richard, v^ij. Pelyt. Willnm. 279. Pew, Our Ijidy of, the King's cha(icl at West- minster. 373, 3S3. Philip, see Burgundy. Duke ol'. Philip, W illiani, chamber- lain pf London, 103. INDEX 421 Philippa, danghtef of Henry IV, 315. Phreas, or Free, John, studies under Guarini, 6. Piggot, John, his Memo- randa, 166, 169, 369-73. Pisa, Council of, 16. Pius II, Pope (Aeneas Sylvius), 6«., 119, 213, Plasshe, Essex, 313. Plomar, Bartholomew, 295. Plumpton, Robert, 393. Plumpton, Sir William (i405),implicated in Arch- bishop Scrope's rebellion, 130, 282, 314 «. Plumpton, Sir William (1460), 210. Plumpton Correspondence, The, 210. Plymouth, Bekynton at, 222, 223; lord Rivers at, 372 ; mentioned, 343. Plympton, 343, Pole, Alice de la. Duchess of Suffolk, granddaugh- ter of Chancer, 5 ; indicted in 1450, 364; acquitted, 216 ; her gifts to the Uni- versity library at Oxford, 5 ; letters from the Uni- versity to, 219, 220; a letter written by, 392. Pole, John de la, second Duke of Suffolk, marries sister of Edward IV, 2 05 ; supports Edward IV, 375 ; at Court, 383. Pole, Michael de la, second Earl of Suffolk, dies at Harfleur, 285. Pole, Michael de la, third Earlof Suffolk, killed at Agincourt, 278, 286, 294, 317 »., 327. Pole, William de la. Earl, Marquis, and Duke of Suffolk, at siegesof Rouen and Melun, 318, 319 ; his mission to Tours for be- trothal of Margaret of Anjou, 93 ; created mar- quis, 353 ; accused of cor- rupt promotionof bishops, 242 ; charges against, 1 66, 344, 360, 361 ; his arrest and imprisonment in the Tower, 344,347; released and leaves England, 201, 344; his farewell letter to his son, 201 ; his mur- der, 296, 344, 347, 366, 371 ; a contemporary no- tice of the French mar- riage shows no hostility, 94; Hardyng'sfirstversion favourable to, 143, 144; the second version hostile, 147 ; adverse Yorkist criti- cism : in the Brut, 121; in the Croyland Chronicle, 179; hostility of Tudor historians : of Polydore Ver- gil, 255 ; and still more, of Hall, 265; satirical verses against, 242-4,358, 370; notices of, in the Paston Letters, 200, 201 ; his poems, 5 n. ; his secretary and steward, 366. Polford, John, 364. Political Poems, 233, 242- 5i 358. 369, 37°- Polydore Vergil , see Vergil. Pont de I'Arche, English cross the Seine at, 41, 42 ; captured, 319; stoi-y that Clarence was slain at, 4"2. Pontefract, death of Rich- ard II at, 279 K. ; Henry IV at, 282; Henry Vat, 290. Pont Meulan, 82 n., 319. Pontoise, John of Burgundy at, 333; capture of, 17, 18, 42, 53, 319, 334- Poole, Dr. R. L., on Gas- coigne's Theological Dic- tionary, 167. Popering, in Flanders, English envoys insulted at, 124; burnt by Hum- phrey of Gloucester, 125, 322, 352- Porke, Sir Matthew, 321. Porter, Sir William, 318. Portsmouth, Henry V em- barks at, 303; Margaret of Anjou lands at, 347 ; mentioned, 343. Portugal, King of, made Knight of the Garter, 380. Poynings, Robert, lord, 321. Poynings, Robert, Cade's standard bearer, 201 ; cleared of treason, 203. Pretyman, Mr. E. G., 19S. Prittlewell, Essex, 313. 'Prophecies', 236, 237, 262, 358. Provins, 319, 332. Prudhow, Northumber- land, 283. Pseudo-Elmham,The, ano- nymous author of Vita et Gesta Henrici Quinti ; Hearne's error in attribu- ting the work to Thomas Elmham, 56, 57 ; possi- bility that he was a foreigner, 59 ; a friend of John Somerset, 57 ; dedi- cates his work to Walter, Lord Hungerford, 5, 58 ; date at which he wrote, 67, 58 ; his literary style, 59, 62, 260,' character of his Vita, 59-61 ; its rela- tion to Tito Livio's Vita, 56, 57, 59, 61 > 63, 240; its other sources, 61 ; pos- sible use of Monstrelet, 60, 61 ; of the Brut, 61, 113, 118; possibly used by Polydore Vergil, 55, 254; quoted by Stow under the name of Roger Wall, 62, 269; use of, by Holinshed, 62, 272 ; manuscripts, 56, 58, 62 ; Hearne's edition, 62 ; Latin abridgement of, 63, 130, i£6i English abridgement of, 64 ; refer- ences to Henry V's north- ern progress in, 36, 42, 43. Pynson, Richard, his edi- tion of Fabyan's Chro- nicle, 103. R Ramsay, Sir James, his criticism of the Letters of Margaret of Anjou, 223 ; on battle of Tewkesbury, 376- Randolph, Friar, 118, 150. Rastell, John, his edition of Fabyan's Chronicle, 103, 104. Rastell, William, his edi- tion of the History of Richard IIP, 185, 187. Ratcliffe, Sir John, captain of Calais, 352. Ratclyff, Robert, porter of Calais, 384, 385. Reading, 343, 363. Rede, Richard, the Latin Brut attributed to, 311. 422 INDEX Redesdnle, Robin of, 172, 370. Redmayne, Robert, his Life of Henry V, 69, 130. Keigiite, 376, 343. Repingtlon, Philip, bishop of Lincoin, his letter to Henry VI, 34. Rheims, 319. Rhys ap Die, 26. Ricart, Robert, town-clerk of Bristol, his Kalendar, III. Richard II, King of Eng- land, at Gloucester Abbey in 1 378, 355 ; his depo- sition, 24, 34, 43, 229, 263, 275, 279, 312 ; his death, 20, 125, 138, 276; his reinterment, 231, 292; masses for, provided by Henry V, 120; a Yorkist view of, 248 ; his chap- lains, 313; his queen, 27; Life of, by a Monk of Evesham, 33. Richard III, King of Eng- land, previously Duke of Gloucester : birth, 1 25 ; charge that he murdered Prince Edward at Tewkes- bury disproved, 173, 173; present in London, 375 ; at the Tower at the time of Henry VI's death , 1 7 2 ; accused of murder of Henry VI, ib., 181, 185, 191 ; goes into Kent on the following day, 374, 375 ; at the Garter feast in 1472, 380, 381 ; his coronation, 1 79; unfair charge that he appropria- ted his brother's wealth, 183; his relations with Buckingham, 185, 313, 25i> 393; t's visit to Exeter, 273 ; believed to have murdered his ne- phews, 101, 165 «., 183, 185 ; rumour that he had poisoned his wife and planned to marry his niece, loi, 350; 'noise and dislaiinder' apainst, 394; alleged intention to destroy tlic Stanleys, 351 ; his cdur.if^c at Hosworlh, 353 ; coniiticndation of, in 1471, 34K, 383; .1 good report of him as king, 219; his popularity at York, 335 J adverse Tudor criticism of, 109. 165 »., 1 89, 263 ; T/ie Jlislory of Richard III a crushing condemnation, lyo; story of his deformity, 184; described as a comely prince, 370; letters writ- ten by, 213, 393, 394; Worcester's Collections dedicated to, 164; Col- lyngboume's couplet on, 249. Narratives of his reign, 100-2, 106, 109, 183-9, '9'. 263, 270; letters relating to his reign, 206, 308, 309, 310, 213, 319, 324, 335, 393, 394 ; ballads on his down- fall, 249-52. Richard, Earl of Cam- bridge, escorts Philippa of Lancaster to Denmark, 315; created Earl of Cambridge, 293 ; his plot against Henry V, 17, 47, 331,388,316,325; York- ist fable of his claim to the throne, 135. Richard, Duke of York, in France in 1430,391; regent of Normandy, 144, 156 ; his small success there, 338.339.341; sent to Ire- land, 145; his popularity in 1450, 344; Commons of Kent complain of his exile, 361 ; leaves Ireland, and arrests Bowlers and others, 162, 397; reaches Stony Stratford on 33rd Sept., and comes to London, 372 ; his Bill to Henry VI, 165, 358, 366-7,390, 391 ; in Jan. 1451, at Stratford-at-Bow, ib.; in London, Dec. 1451, 397; atDartford in Feb. 1453, 297. 298, 368, 373; at Ludlow, 368 ; opposition to Somerset in 1453-4, i36«.,ao3; his dream in August 1454, 371 ; nt St. Albans, 151, 345, 349; comes over from Ireland in Oct. 1460, J47 ; his jiopuliirity, 346 ; appears in Parliament, 15J, i!;g. 373; hisC7.j;m, 1(15, i()S; killed at Wakefield, 204; Hoccleve'sballadto, 231 ; Hardyng addresses his second version to, 142, 143 ; Polydore Vergil's censure, 255; his council- lor, Davy Hall, 263 ; his letters and Proclamations, 213, 270. Richard, Doke of York, son of Edward IV, created Dnke of Norfolk, 1 25 k. ; his murder, 183, 184, 250, 252. Richard ap Robert, 364. Richemont, Arthur de, captured at Aginconrt, 286, 317, 327. Ries ap David ap Thomas, 364- Riley, H. T., works edited by: Walsingham's His- toria Angiicana and YpO' digma Neustriae, 13, 18; Annales Henriti Quarti, 19 ; Amundesbam's An- tiales, 1 50 ; Whetham- stede's Registrum, 154; contests authorship of Historia Anglita, 13-15 ; his conjecture as to au- thorship of Annales, 19; his suggestion on the St. Albans Annals, 150; on the compilation of Whet- hamstede's Registrum, 153; his ^fcinari^jls of London Life, 217: his translation of the Croy- land Chronicle, 179". Ripon, Henr)' IV at. 3Sj ; Eiarl of Northumberland at, 3S3. Rivers, Earls, sec Wood- ville. Robin Hood, 267. Roche Guyon, 319. Roches, Andrieux de (^MounsjT Roche), 31S. Rochester, bishops of, su .\lcock-,John; Rotheram, Thomas; Russell. John. Rochester, indictments at, in 1450, ,^59, 364; Henry VI at, 373 ; Sire de Gruthus at, 3S5 ; men- tioned, 343. Roger of St. .\lbans, re- puted author of ' Cousi- derans' Chronicle, 164. Rogers, J. T., his edition Dictionary, 38, 167. Rokeby, Sir Thomas, 283. RoUeston, Robert, letter written by, 390. RoUewinck, Caspar, his Fasciculus Teinporum, 119, 138. Rome, Adam Usk at, 33, 34; John Milverton at, 97 ; erroneous statement that Hardyngvisited, 1 41 ; Whethamstede's visit to, 151 ; William Swan at, 224; Polydore Vergil al- leged to have sent manu- scripts to, 257? Eari of Shrewsbury returns from, 372; Antony, Earl Rivers, goes to, 393. Romney, 343. Roos, or Rose, Sir Henry, beheaded at Tewkesbury, 378- Roos, John, lord de, at sieges of Rouen and Me- lon, 318, 319; killed at Baugi, 290, 320. Roos, Richard, letters to, 393 ^• Roos, Thomas I, lord de, drovraed in 1430, 291. Roos, Thomas II, lord de, with Henry VI in Kent, 372. Rost of England, The, ballad, 249-50. Eoseof Rouen, 7%^, ballad, 247-8. Rotherham, Thomas, suc- cessively Ijishop of Ro- chester and of Lincoln, afterwards archbishop of York, 176, 379, 383. Rouen, siege of, by Henry V, 17, 18, 23, 42, 53, 82 »., 116-18, 124, 130, 132. 134. 318-19, 331; captains present at, 318 ; deaths at, 289; legend of thirty kings, 126; pro- visions sent to, from Lon- don, 217; rejoicing in London after fall of, 34; Dauphin's envoys at, 332 ; Henry V at, 216, 335, 389 «. ; loss of, 243-4. Rous, John, his Hisioria Regum, 170,184-5; other works, 185; on death, of INDEX Henry VI, 181 n.; use of, by Stow, 268 »., 270. Rowes, Sir William, 378. Roxburgh, siege of, 322. Russell, John, Lollard, 222 n. Russell, John, bishop of Lincoln, an Oxford scho- lar, 6 ; letter of Richard III to, 213; on embassy at Bruges, 380. Rye, Sussex, 343, 389. Rymer, Thomas, his Foe- dera: private letters in, 212 ; transcripts for, 213, 214; English documents in, 216 n., 217. St. Albans Abbey, history of, 19, 150; school of history at, 12, 18-20, 25, 37. 43. 15° ; Humphrey of Gloucester at, 150; buried there, 347. Abbots of, see Mare, Thomas de la; Wallingford,William; Whethamstede, John. St. Albans, first battle of, 129. 151. 157. 167. 203. 210.345.349.37°; second battle of, 152, 164, 247. St. Albans Annals, char- acter and value, 150, 151 ; connexion with Chronicles of London, 108, 150 ; used by Stow, 150 »., 269. St. Brieuc (Briak), Brit- tany, Earl of Kent killed at, 22, 26, 315. St. Cloud, Orleanists de- feated at, 315. St. Davids, bishops of, see Chichele, Henry; Dela- bere, John ; Langton, John ; Patrington, Ste- phen. St. Denys, 319. St. Germain-en-Laye, 319. St. James de Beuvron, 90. St. Michael's Mount, 172. St. Omer, 319. St. Paul's, see London. St. Pol, Waleran, Count of, 332- St. Quentin, 319. St. Thomas Wateryng, Surrey, 299. Salisbury, troubles at, in 1450,348; City Archives, 89, 215 ; letters to mayor of, 390. 393; mentioned, 343- Salisbury, bishops of, see Ayscough, William; Beau- chimp, Richard ; Neville, Robert. Salisbury , Earls of , see Mon- tacute,John,a»rfThomas; Neville, Richard. Salley, Henry, monk of Whalley, 279. Sandwich, Kent, taken by French, 218; Yorkist suc- cess at, 204: mentioned, 343. 389. Santiago, indulgence at, 349- Santre, William, Lollard, 29. 32. 276. Sauvage, Denis, his edi- tions of French Chronicles used by Holinshed, 273. Savile, Sir Henry, his cen- sure of Polydore Vergil, 257. 258. Saxonfield, site of battle of Edgcote, 356. Say, lords, see Fiennes. Scales, Robert, Sth lord, killed, 289. Scales, Robert, 6th lord, at siege of Melun, 319. Scales, Thomas, 7th lord, at Vemeuil, 320; killed, 163. Scaleschif, 344. Scarborough, 343. Schoyer, John, Prior of Lanthony, 355-7- Scot, Sir John, on em- bassy at Bruges, 380 ; marshal of Calais, 384 ; letters from, 393. Scotland, invasion of, in 1400, by Henry IV, 35, 276, 280; Scots defeated at Homildon Hill, ib. ; Earl of Northumberland in, 377, 283 ; Henry Percy in, 285 ; the ' Foul Raid' in 1417, 60, 63, 141, 144 ; Hardyng's mis- sion to, 141-3, 146 ; Scots in France, 319-21, 337; Scots besiege Roxburgh, 322 ; Margaret of Anjou in, 119; Scots invade England in 1480, 210; Scottish war in 1482, 263. 424 Scotland, Kings of, see James. Queen of, sec Mary of Gueldres. Scrope of Masham, Henry, lord, his plot against Ilunry V, 17, 47. 33i. aflS> 288, 316, 335. Scrope, Richard, arch- bishop of York, his state- ment of grievances, ai, 314 «. ; his insurrection, 20, 35. "44. 277. ^82 ; his execution, 26, 38, 382 ; his conversation with John Malvern, 26 ; his miracles, 133H., 277, 382, 314 J Henry IV cen- sured for his execution, 43 ; Henry IV smitten with illness through, 282, 284; the story stigma- tized by Hall, 364 ; Maid- stone's Historia, 38, 167 ; verses on, 229. Scrope of Bolton, Richard, 3rd lord, killed at Melun, 289,319. Scrope of Masham, Tho- mas, lord, 375. See, Martin del, 176. Seez, capture of, 307. Seller, John, monk of Whalley, 279. Sellyng, William, Prior of Christ Church, Canter- bury, his influence in the English Renaissance, 6 ; a letter by, 219; letters to, 393- Semer, Sir Thomas, 378. Sens, siege of, 212, 319, 336 ; Jean de Montagu, archbishop of, killed at Agincourt, 286, 317, 326. Serle, William, 24, 292. Sevenoaks, Kent, 360, 371 . Seyer, Samuel, his Memo- rials of Bristol, III, Sforza, Francesco, Duke of Milan, 52. .ShafTeld, — , servant of Humphrey of Gloucester, Sh.iftesbury, Dorset, 343. Mi.ikcspcnre, Willi.im, ef- fect ol his historical plays in forming popular opi- nion on fifteenth century, II, 274; derived his ma- terial friim Ilolinshcd, 373 ; through llolinshed INDEX he adopted Hall's pre- judices, 120, 264, 365, 274 ; some of his ultimate sources : Henry IV, Pt. I, 66 (Translator of Livius), IJ2 {Brut); Jlenry IV, I't. II, 107 «., no (Lon- don Chronicle) ; Henry V, 120-21 (Act I, 1 and 1 : Brut), no (I-/oIlards' Bill: London Chronicle), 55 (Tito Livio : character of Henry V); ffenry VI, Pt. I, 264 (Joan of Arc : Monstrelet) ; Henry VI, Pt. II, 265 (Suffolk and Margaret : Hall develop- ingthe^/T*/); 110 (Cade: London Chronicle); Rich- ard III, 273 (Holinshed). Sharpe, Jack, 88, 150. Sharpe, Dr. R. R., London letters in his London and the Kingdom, and Calen- dars of Letter-books, 217, 218. Sheen, foundations of Henry V at, 47, 66, 323 John Somerset at, 57. Shelley, Sir John, 313. Shelley, John, sheriff of London, 385. Sheppard, Dr. J. B., his editions of Litterae Can- tuanenses, and Christ Church Letters, 318, 219. Sherborne, troubles at, in 1450, 344-9- Sherborne Abbey, burnt in '437. 347 ; dispute about font in, 346, 348. Abbot of, see Bradford, Wil- liam. Sherborne Annals, 15S, 344-9- Shillingford, John, his Letters and Papers, 2 n . Shooters Hill, 298. Shore, Jane, 1S7, iSS. Shoreham, Sussex, 343. Shrewsbury, Henry Tudor at, 250 ; letters relating 'o, 390, 391 ; Bailiffs of, ajo, 391. Battle of, 20, 2.=;, 30. ,15. 14'. 160, 277. 281, 3M. 3.S0, .155; me- morial verses on, 29 «., ',1°. 3.';o. .Shrcwshurj', Earls of, sec Talbot. .Shyrbunif, John, the ImHh Brut incorrectly attri- buted to, 311. Sigismuud, Emperor, his visit to England, 32, 60, 278. 287, 318, 327; his reception at Calais, 69, 327 ; lands at Dover, 327; story that he had first to disclaim imperial autho- rity, 66, 160 ; his retinue, 54, 146, 148 ; his recep- tion at London, 299, 327-28 ; feasts in his honour, 82 ; made Knight of the Garter, 287, 328 ; goes hunting, 300; his praise of England, ib. ; bis negotiations, 48, 53, 89, 132, 220, 28;, 328, 329 ; bis advice to Henry \', 328 ; at conference at Calais, 330 ; at Cooncil of Constance, ib. ; his war in Bohemia., 18. Sion, bouse of Brigittines at Isleworth, 38, 58, 323. Slegge, Stephen, 362. Smert, John, Garter King of Arms, ,',?3, 384. Somerset, Earls and Dukes of, see Beanfoit. Somerset, John, account of, J7 ; his friendship with the Psendo-Elmham, 57- 9 ; his interest in learn- ing. 55. 58; indicted. 365- Somme, river, 326. Somnium I'igiUmiis, the earliest political pam- phlet in English prose, 167, 168. Song of the Lady Bessy, 250-2. Southampton (Hampton), Henry V at, in 1415. 47, 48, 60, aSS, 316, '325; muster at, in 1417, 302, .103. 33' : Earl of March's fleet at, 305 ; threatened by Spanish fleet, 216; Icttere to Mayor, 39,^-4 ; mentioned, 343, 364. Southern Chronicle, .4, its character, 31, 32; con- nexion with Continuation of the Eulegium, 29, 30, 127 «.; text, 275-88, Southwark, Kastolf s place in, 201 ; Henry VI at, 398; Cade at, 301, 372; St. Mary Overy, 163, 298, ,315 «• Southwell, Thomas, 340, 341. Southworth, Sir John, 285. Speed, John, owned the manuscript of Davies's Chronicle, 129. Springge, Edmund, 1 24. Stacy, Loys, usher to Charles the Bold, 387. Stafford, 343. Stafford, Edmund, Earl of, killed at Shrewsbury, 281, 314, 35°- Stafford, Edmund, bishop of Exeter, 389. Stafford, Henry, second Duke of Buckingham, in train of Edward IV, 375 ; at Court, 379, 383; dances with Elizabeth of York, 387 ; his negotia- tion with Morton, 188, 189 ; his rebellion, 183 «., 191, 209, 210, 393; his betrayal by Banister, 249 ; Richard Ill's opinion of, 213. Stafford of Grafton, Sir Humphrey, sent against Cade, 273 ». ; killed at Sevenoaks, 347, 360, 366, 371- Stafford, Humphrey, Duke of Buckingham, previous- ly Earl of Stafford, at siege of Melun, 319; created Duke, 353 ; his dispute with Duke of Warwick, ib. ; holds in- quisition at Rochester, 369) 364; supports Henry VI, 373 ; killed at North- ampton, 246, 356; men- tioned, 361. Stafford of Southwick, Humphrey, Earl of Devon- shire, accused of plotting against Clarence, and beheaded, 357. Stafford, John, archbishop of Canterbury, previously bishop of Bath, crowns Margaret of Anjon, 353 ; comes to London at time of Cade's rebellion, 371 ; Tito Livio addresses an Encomium to, 51 ; letters written by, 224; men- tioned, 342, INDEX Stafford, William, killed at Sevenoaks, 347 ; his courageous defence, 371. Stallworthe, Simon, letters written by, 208. StandishjSir Hnghde, 285. Stanley, George, lord Strange, fear of him saves his father's life, loi ; his narrow escape at Bos- worth, 251. Stanley, John (1450), 365. Stanley, John (1480), 393. Stanley, Sir Thomas, in- dicted in 1450, 365. Stanley, Thomas, lord, afterwards Earl of Derby, suspected by Clarence in 1 47 1, 392; supports EdwardIV,375 ; his nar- row escape in June 1483, loi ; supports Henry Tudor, 249, 251 ; his prominence in the Song of Lady Bessy, 250, 251. Stanley, Sir William, 249. Stanlow, — , hanged at Maidstone, 371. Stephen, William, 393. Stevenson, Joseph, his edi- tion of Worcester's An- nates, 164; h\i Letters and Papers Illustrative of the English Wars in France, 220, 221. Stewart, John, Earl of Buchan, at Baugi, 320 ; killed at Vemeuil, 321. Stewart, Murdach, Duke of Albany, taken prisoner at Homildon, 280. Stewart, Robert, Duke of Albany, Regent of Scot- land, 283, 285. Stewart, Walter, Earl of Athol, 323. Stillington, Robert, bishop of Bath, and lord Chan- cellor, 382-83. Stokes, arms of, 125 n. Stonor, Elizabeth, 209. Stonor, John, 209. Stonor, Thomas, 209. Stonor, Sir William, 208- 10. Stonor Letters, The, 196, 208-10. Stony Stratford, treason- able conduct of John Harries at, 371 ; Richard of York at, 166, 372. 425 Stourton, John, first lord, ,373- Stonrton, William, second lord, 383. Stow, John, antiquary, his merits as an historian, 266, 270, 271 ; his use of Records, 266, 267, 269 ; his wide familiarity with Chronicles, 267 ; his own works, 267-9; li'S im- portance for fifteenth-cen- tui-y history, 11, 253, 261, 267, 271. His sources, 269-71 ; his use : of Walsingham, 18, 269 ; of Otterbourne, 23, 269 ; of Elmham's Liber Metri- cus, 50, 269; of Tito Livio, 55, 269 ; of the Pseudo-Elmham, 62 ,269; of the ■ Translator of Livius', 64-6, 68, 123, 269 ; of the Chronicles of London, 71, 77, 92, 94, no, i5o»., 269, 292, 295, 297 ; of ' Register of Mayors' cited in the Summary, 107 ; of The Great Chronicle (Fabian's MS.), 70, 82, 83, 100, loi, 104, 270; of the Brut, 113, 118; of Davies's Ch-onicle, 129, 270; of Hardyng, 148; of the.Sy. Albans Annals, 15°> i5i> 269; of Whet- hamstede, 154; ofPiggot's Memoranda, 166, 369; ofWarkwortb, 173,270; of The Manner and Guiding, (Yc, 174 ; of The Arrival, 176, 270; of a Tewkesbury Chro- nicle, 2';6; of Blueman- tie's Record, 379 ; oijohn Rous, 270; oilhe History of Richard III, 270; of Monstrelet, 68, 264, 271 ; ofComines, 270; of docu- ments, 269, 270, 358, 359. Manuscripts owned or used by him, 23, 62, 77, 104, 106 «., 148, 267, 292,297. His transcripts, 23, 64, 77, 106 n., 166, 174, 176, 267, 296, 358, 359. .^69, 370. 376, 379- Calendar of fifteenth-cen- tury historical pieces in his Collections, 369, 370. 426 INDEX His censure of Polydore Vergil, 357 n. His use of Hall, 267, 369. His quarrel with Grafton, 148, 265. His connexion with Holinshed's Chronicles, 371-3. His description of Caxton's Chronicles, 137- Strange, George, lord, see Stanley, George. Strange, Richard, lord, 82. Stratford-at-Bow, 295, 37a. Strecche, John, canon of Kenilworth, 39 ; his His- toria Regum, 40 ; its con- tents, 40-2 ; its value, 42, 43 ; its resemblances to other works, 36, 49, 50 ; ' tennis-ball ' story in, 41, 239 ; use of Page's Siege of Rotten m, ^2, 118. Sudeley, lord, see Boteler, Ralph. Suffolk, Earls, Duchess and Dnkes of, see Pole. Surrey, Duke of, see Hol- land, Thomas. Sussex, Cade's rebellion in, 347- Sutton, John, sheriff of London in 141 3, 292. Sutton, John, sheriff of London in 1440, 366. Sutton, John, lord Dudley, indicted in 14SO, 364; arrested by Richard of York, 297 ; supports Ed- ward IV, 375. Swan, William, his letter book, 224. Swinford, Catherine, 126. Swords, River of, 299, 317, 326. Tadcaster, Vorks., 283. Talbot, Gilbert, lord, at siege of Rouen, 289, 318. Talbot, John I, Earl of Shrewsbury, at siege of Melun, 319: recovers Harfleur, 339 ; created Earl of Shrewsbury, 341, 353 i hostage with the French, 244 ; called ' our good dog' in ballads, 243, 244 ; returns from court of Rome in Dec. ^.so, 371 : with Ilcnry Vlin Kent,;/).; suppnrls lIcTiiy VI, 373 ; doei execution on John Wilkyns, 368 ; killed, 349, 373 ; his prowess, 372 ; his quarrel with the Berkcleys, 366«. Talbot, John, Viscount Lisle, 372. 373- Talbot, John, second Earl of Shrewsbury, prominent Lancastrian, 245 ; at bat- tle of Northampton, 246, 356- Talbot, John, third Earl of Shrewsbury, supports Edward IV, 375 ; at Court, 379, 383. Talbot, Sir Thomas, Lol- lard leader, 284. Tandridge, Surrey, 365. Tankervile, Earl of, see Grey, John. Tanner, John, letter writ- ten by, 393. Taunton, 343. Tavistock, Devon, 343. Termegan, Mounsyr, 318. Tewkesbury, sheriff of Worcester killed at, 366 ; battle of, 17a, 17s, 248, 263.374.376-7.392,393; executions after battle, 175. 377-8; list and burial places of the killed, ib.; prisoners, 374, 378; desecration of the Abbey, 377- Tewkesl>u}yChronicle,\';S, 376-8. Thatcham, Berks., 343, 343- Thedniar, Arnold, 71. Thien (Tyne), Bastard of, 318. Thomas, Duke of Glouces- ter, 24. Thomas, Dnke of Clar- ence, date of birth, 50 «. ; Seneschal of England, 283 ; created Duke, 2S4; at siege of Harfleur, 60 ; captain of Touques, 304; at siege of Caen, 1 7, 304 ; his escape at Bee Hel- louin, 41 ; at siege of Rouen, 318, 342; cre- dited with capture of rontoise,4.' ; reconnoitres Paris, 5.1, 3,14 ; at Troycs, 3.1.S ; al sicj^c of Melun, .liy; lieutenant of Nor- mandy. .119, 3;,;; de- feated and slain at Baag£, 130, 144,278, 289, 320, 337 ; his body recovered, 295 ; buried at Canter- bury, 295, 339, 340; Page's praise of, 117. Thomas Jankyne ap Ries, 364- Thompson, Sir E. M., on Walsingham, 14; on Vita Ricardi, 23 ; his edition of Adam Usfc, 35 ; on the Brut, 114. Thorpe, Sir Edmnnd de, 289. Thorpe, Thomas, 365. Thoulongeon, Antoine de (Mounsyr Antony), 318. Three Fifteenth Century Chronicles, ed. J. Gaird- ner, viz. London Chronicle S, 94, 95 ; A Brief Latin Chronicle, 159 ; Ely Brief Notes, 161. ThroomortoD, John, 378. Thynne, Francis, his share in Holinshed's Chronicles, 271. Tichfield, Hants., 353. Title, John, 39. Tiptoft, John, first lord, 319. Tiptoft, John, Earl of Worcester, on the King's Council, 373 ; detestation of, 172 ; his culture, 6. Tonbridge, Kent, 360, 366, 372- Totnes, Devon, 343. Toulouse, 51. Touques, 301, 303, 304, 318, 331. Tours, 93. Towerof London, prisoners committed to, 292, 295, 309. 3«S. i^i- 340. 344. 347, 37'. 37'; Oldcasile escapes from, 293; John Mortimer breaks out of, 296; Suffolk in, 244, 371 ; cell of Henry VI in, a 18 ; Henry VI dies in, 370, .^75; chamberof EUrabeth Woodville in, 2i!>. Towton, battle of, 137, 204. aio, .'63; ballads on, 247-^- Translator of Livius,' The, his date, 65, 189; character of his work, 65; preserves Earl of Ormonde's Reminis- cences, 65-7, 126; Ms sonrces, 64, 113 ; referen- ces to, by other sixteenth- century historians, 64, 66, 67, 268, 271, 272; his influence on opinion, 68 ; supplied material for Shakespeare, 65, 67; lite- rary interest iind quality, 7,67,68,69,189, 258-60. Tresham, Henry, 378. Tresham, Sir Thomas, a devoted Lancastrian, in- dicted in, 1450, 365 ; taken prisoner at Tewkesbury, 377 ; beheaded, 378 ; his clerk, ib, Tresham, Sir William, Yorkist, Speaker in 1450, 365 «. ; killed, 372. Trevelyan Papers, The, 211, 229. Trevilian, John, unpopular ministerof Henry VI, 211, 243; indicted 36^. Trevisa, John de, his trans- lation of Higden's Poly- chronicon, 8, 136, 262; Caxton's Continuation, "3i 137. 138- Tripartite Convention, the, account of, in Giles's Chro- nicle, 26 ; Hall's account of, 26 «., 262 ; authenti- city of, 27. Troutbeck, William, 393. Troyes, Henry V at, 289, 335, 336; Treaty of, 17, 53, 54, 60, 61, 82, 278, 335-6. Trnro, Cornwall, 343. Tuchet, John, lord Audley, supports Edward IV, 375; at Court, 383. Tuddenham, Sir Thomas, 200, 201. Tudor interpretations of fifteenth-century history, loi, 106, 165, 177, T85, 192, 255, 264, 265. Tudor, Jasper, Duke of Bedford, 191. TumbuU, — , beheaded at Tewkesbury, 378. Tutbury, Staffordshire, 281. Twates, Thomas, bailiff of Guisnes, 384. Tyburn, 41, 296. Tyne, Bastardde, see Thien. INDEX Tyler, James Endell, his criticism of Giles's Chro- nicle, 26, 27. Tyler, Wat, 12. Tyrrell, Edward, co-editor of Nicolas's Chronicle of London, 238. Tyrrell, James, conjectured that the Pseudo-Elmham was a foreigner, 59 n. U Umfraville, Gilbert, titular Earl of Kyme, served in French expeditionof 141 1, 141, 315 ; at Pont de I'Arche, 42 ; at siege of Rouen, 318 ; killed at Bauge, 141, 290, 320. Umfraville, Robert, called Robin Mendmaricet, at Peebles, 144, 146; served in France, 141 ; Hardyng in his service, ib. ; Har- dyng's praise of, 145. Urswick, Christopher, 192. Usk, Adam, his career, 33, 34; character and value of his Chronicle, 32, 34 ; editions and manuscripts, 35 ; records songs in hon- our of Edmund Mortimer, 238; his account of the Revolution of 1399, 20; mentioned, 43. Valmont, 48. Vauconvilliers, 334. Vanghan, Thomas, cham- berlain to Edward V as Prince of Wales, 383, 385, 386. Vaumpage or Faumpage, John, 365. Vaux, Sir William, 378. Vend6me, Jean de, 390. Vendome, Louis, Count of, 317- Venetian merchants in Eng- land, 235. Vere, John de. Earl of Ox- ford, at Bamet, 374; com- mands at Bosworth, 249, 250. Vere, Maud de. Countess of Oxford, her treason, 16, 29 n. Vere, Roger de, 320. Vergil, Polydore, historian, 427 wrote at command of Henry VII, 254; his An- glica Historia: for the Lancastrian period a com- pilation, 254, 255; of more original authority for Edward IV, 191 ; valu- able for Richard III, ib. ; limited acquaintance with original sources for early part of fifteenth century, 254, 255, 258 ; for latter part collected good oral information, 192, 257, 258; his aims, 256, 257; his influence on historical method, 10,253, 256,258, 259, 261; hostile criticism of, 257; his errors, 191, 254; his prejudice, 191, 255 ; use of, by Grafton, 188, 259; by Hall, 262, 263, 265 ; wrote in Latin, 8, 259 ; early English translation, 259. Vemeuil, captured in 1417, 307; battle of, 118, 121, 124, 131, 320, 321; Earl Douglas at, 128, 331 ; killed at, 289, 321. Vernon, Henry, letters to, 225, 392, 393- Vernon-sur-Seine, 319. Versus Rythmici, 22^. Visconti, Lucia, marries Earl of Kent, 314. Vitelli, Comelio, teaches Greek at Oxford, 6. Vring (? Wring), Sir John, 378. W Wakefield, battle of, 98, 180, 204, 263. Walden, Essex, 353. Walden, Roger, bishop of London, translated from Canterbury, 275, 312. Waldern, William, mayor of London, 73. Wales, Glendower's rebel- lion, 24, 26, 29 »,, 34, 43, 211, 212, 276, 277, 280, 281, 313 ; Adam Usk in, 33, 34 ; Earl of Northum- berland in, 283 ; Oldcastle in, 308 ; Humphrey of Gloucester's estates in, 359 ; Welsh at Edgcote, 356- Wall, Roger, archdeacon 438 INDEX of Coventry, the P»cudo- Klmlmm's Vila erroneous- ly attributed to, 6a, 269. WiiUingford, 34S, 364. Wallingford, William, ab- bot of St. Albans, 153. Walsinglmm, Thomas, ac- count iif, 1 2 ; Ills Uisloria Anglicana, 1 3 ; Riley's opinion that Walsingham was not the author, ib. ; this opinion rejected by Dr. Gairdner, 14; and seems untenable, 14, i.s; historical value of Hh- oWo, 15-18; its connexion with Anitales Henrici Quarti, 16, 20, 21 ; with Otterboume's Chronicle, 21, 22; use of, by Cap- grave, 39, 169 ; use of, by titow, 269 ; reference to Lollards' Bill in, 88 ; manuscripts, 1 3 ; editions, ] 8. His Ypodigmi N- siriae, 14, 15, 18, 19. Walter, a priest and Lol- lard, 293. Waltham Abbey, bell- tow er struck by lightning, 3S2- IVaMam A finals, aHichm of, 1 60, 1 6 1 ; extracts from early part of, 350 ; text of, 351-3 ; mentioned, 36. Warde, Thomas, his mis- sion to Louis XI, 184 H. Ware, Robert, monk of St. Albans, 19. Wareham, Dorset, 343. Warkworth Castle, Har- dyng Constable of, 141 ; captured by Henry IV, 283. Warkworth, John, account of, 172; character and value of his Chronicle, ' 7 '-3 ; use of, by Stow, i73i 270; edition of, 173; reference to death of Ed- ward of Wales in, 172, 376. Warwick, 343. Warwick, Duke of, see licauchamp, Henry. Earls of, see Heauchamp, Richard, mui Thomas ; Neville, Richard. Wauriii, Jcth dc, his use of the Jhiil, 13O; other l'.ii)^lish sources, (/'. ; lii< copyof The Arrival, 137, '75. '76. Wawe, Will, a thiel, 150. Waynnete,William, bishop of Winchester, educated at Oxford, 6 ; negotiated between Henry VI and Richard of York, 368, 373 ! "' Garter feast in 1472, 380; his relations with William Worcester, 162 ; a letter to, 393. Welles, Sir Robert, his Confession, 174. Welling, Kent, 298. Wells, 343, 392. Wenlock, John, lord, killed at Tewkesbury, 374, 376 ; taken away for burial, 376 ; letter from Charles the Bold to, 196. Were, Sir Robert, 364. West, Thomas, lord De la Warr, 319. Westminster, Henry IV dies at, 315 ; Lollards at, 284,293,324; Elmhamat, 46; Council of 1 41 7 at, 302; Benedictine Chapter at, inl42i, i8,46;SirJohn Mortimer tried at, 296 ; Suffolk at, in 1450, 244, 344; Edward IV at, 379; Parliaments at, 353, 382, 383; mayor of London takes his charge at, 73, 99, 100. Places at ; Canon Row, 385 ; Chapel of the Pew, 272, 283; St. Stephen's, 385; Sanctuary, 182 «. ; White Hall in the Palace, 379> 383. 388. Westminster Abbey, coro- nations in, 277, 279, 2S9, 295. 3»o. 3S3; Henry V buried in, 27S, 290, 320, 337 ; Catherine of Valois buried in, 352 ; ser\'ices for Richard II at, 120; I'cisiis Kythmici by a monk of, 2 29 ; version of Bnil possibly compiled nt, 120, 134. Westminster Hall, Old- castle tried in, 308. Westmorland, Earl of, set Neville, R.Tlph. WhalUy AMicy, S.^;. 274. \\linrtoii, Henry, his .-/«- ,<7/cl \tii/ii, _\- (;., 3S «. ; cited, 56; his description of Bekyntoiis Correspon- dence, 221. Whethamstede, John, ab- bot of St. Albans, charac- ter and contents of his Register, 151; Hallam's mistaken criticism of , 1 5 2 ; his attitude consistent and temperate, ib. ; his prob- able share in the com- pilation, 153, 154; edi- tions, t^, ; bis Latin verses, ib., 229; bis bad style, 170; use of by Stow, 154; and by Holinsbed, 273. Whibley, Mr. C, questions the ascription of the His- tory of Richard III to More, 1 86 ; on its literary style and importance, 188, 189. Whitby, attempted French landing at, 367. Whitchurch, Salop, Hot- spar baried at, 281. White Rose, Chronicles of the, pieces contained in, 173. 174. 176. T^. 369. 37°- Whittyngbam .Robert, 2 26. Whittyngham, Sir Wil- liam, 377. Wicbe, Richard, Lollard, 338. 339- Wiclif, John, bis exhuma- tion, 28, 127, 275. Wight, Isle of, French at- tack on, 29 n. ; mentioned, 47. 305- WilkjTis, John, bis msur- rection, 368. William ap John, 364. William ap John ap Diavid, 363- William ap Thomas, 364. Williams, Benjamin, his edition of the Gesta Hen- ri:), 45, 49 ; bis conjec- ture that Jean Bordin was the author, 45 ; on the Ijitin abridgement of the Pseudo-Elmham, 63; list of captains given by, 215. WiUoughby, Robert, lord, at sieges of Rouen and Mrlnn, 318, 319; at Ver- neuil, 320. Wilton, 343. Wiltshire, troubles of 1450 i". .m6. 347- INDEX 429 Wiltshire, Earls of, see Butler. Winchelsea, 343, 381. Winchester, 314, 343, 364. Winchester, bishops of, see Beaufort, Henry ; Foxe, Richard ; Waynflete, Wil- liam. Winchester, Earl of, see Gmthus, Lonis de. Windsor, Henry IV at, 276, 31 a; Sigismund at, 287; Henry VI at, 368; Henry VI buried at, 165, 181; Edward IV holds Garter feast at, 380 ; Sire de Gruthus entertained at, 385-8- Wodehouse, John, 366. Wodeward,William, 348 «. Wogan, Henry, 364. Wogan, Jankyn Loyde, 363- Wogan, John, 363. Wogan, William (two persons), 363, 364. Wokehole, Somerset, 390. Wolfe, Reyne, 268, 271. Wolsey,Thomas, Cardinal, ordered Fabyan's Chro- nicle to be burnt, 88, 177. Woodcock, William, see Erdebnry, Prior of. Woodyille, Antony,' 2nd Earl Rivers, at Calais in 1459, 204 ; his tournament with the Bastard of Bur- gundy, 1 79 ; supposed concern in murder of Henry VI, 181 ; defeats Bastard of Fauconberg, 248, 375 ; commended in Parliament, 382; at Court, 387 ; visits Italy, 393 ; his death, 184; his friendship with Sir John Paston, 2 o 5 , 206; his learning, 6; bal- lad by, 184; letters by, 2 2 6. Woodville, Richard, ist Earl Rivers, indicted in 145°; 365 ; Ills projected expedition to Guienne, 372; at Calais in 1459, 204; beheaded, 357. Worcester, 343, 392. Worcester, bishops of, see Clifford, Richard; Coxirt- ney, Edmund. Worcester, Earls of, see Beauchamp, Richard ; Percy, Thomas ; Tiptoft, John. Worcester, or Botoner, William, account of, 162, 163 ; his Annales, 163, 164 ; his use of London Chronicles, 79, 91, 107, 108, 163 ; his Collec- tions, 69, 164, 221 ; in service of Fastolf, 162, 200 ; his letters, 202-4 ; his Itinerarium, 162. Worcestershire, troubles of 1450 in, 366. Worthington, Gilbert, 296. Wotton, Wilts., 343. Wotton-under-Edge, 366. Wotton, Nicholas, mayor of London, 294. Wrattesley, Henry, 378. Wright, Thomas, his Poli- tical Poems and Songs, pieces contained in, 50, 229, 234-6, 242-8, 358. Wriothesley, Charles, his Chronicle, 72. Wroghton, Master, 378. Wycombe, Bucks., 343. Wylde, Thomas, 364. Wylie, Dr. J. H., on the Tripartite Convention, 27; on 'BuUfield', 36; on the Italian translation of Tito Livio's Vita, 52. Wymondham Priory, 13, 14. Wyntyrshylle, William, monk of St. Albans, his connexion with the An- nales Henrici Quarti, 19, 20. Wyryot, Thomas, 363. Yale, Denbigh, 281. Yardley, 372. Yarmouth, 343. Yarmouth, Earls of, see Paston, Robert and Wil- liam. Yong, Sir John, merchant of London, sent on em- bassy to Bruges, 380. Yonge, James, his trans- lation of the Secreta Secre- torzim, 5. York, Hotspur's head set up at, 281; Scrope be- headed at, 282, 314; the citizens seek pardon from Henry IV, 35 , 2 8 2 ; bodies of Northumberland and Bardolf brought to, 283, 315 ; reception of Henry V at, 290 ; John Harries, a shipman of, 371 ; Ed- ward IV at, 173; popu- larity of Richard III at, 225 ; municipal records of, ib. ; mentioned, 343. York, archbishops of, see Kemp, John ; Scrope, Richard; Wolsey, Tho- mas. York, Duchess of, see Cicely. Dukes of, see Ed- mund; Edward; Richard. York, Province of, 362. Yorkist opinion, expres- sion of, in contemporary narratives, 121, 122, 129, M7, i53> 156, 166, 177, 185, 246, 248, 265. Yorkist N^otes,-i'j'&, 374, 375. Yorkist Partisan, Collec- tions of a: its contents, 358-60 ; Documents and Notes, 165, 360-8 ; Poli- tical Poems, 242-4, 358 ; ' Prophecies,' 236-7, 358. Yorkshire, Henry V's pro- gress in, 36, 42, 61, 290. Young, see also Yong. Young, Patrick, 49. OXFORD : HORACE HART M.A. PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY