chivalric sentiments, it is still to be remembered that very absurd
class-prejudices exist in all ages, and they must not always be taken in
proof of the general opinions of society. It is indisputable that, from the
Conquest downwards, the "younger brothers" of some of our greatest families
have been bred to the law, and the inns of court were always the resort of
young men of noble birth.
[22] The notices which the chroniclers Fabyan and Hall give of the first
Benevolence will be found in a subsequent page.
[23] Commines gives the following somewhat satirical account of an English
parliament. "The king was not able to undertake such an affair without
calling his parliament, which is in the nature of our Three Estates, and,
consisting for the most part of sage and religious men, is very serviceable
and a great strengthening to the king. At the meeting of this parliament
the king declares his intention, and desires aid of his subjects, for no
money is raised in England but upon some expedition into France or
Scotland, and then they supply him very liberally, especially against
France. Yet the kings of England have this artifice when they want money,
and have a desire to have any supplies granted,--to raise men, and pretend
quarrels with Scotland or France, and, having encamped with their army for
about three months, to disband it, return home, and keep the remainder of
the money for their own private use; and this trade king Edward understood
very well, and often practised it."
[24] At that time the parliament first granted the number of 20,000
archers, which was afterwards reduced to 13,000. Rot. Parl. v. 230, 231.
[25] Rotuli Parl. vi. 4.
[26] Ibid. p. 6.
[27] Ibid. p. 39.
[28] The parliament re-assembled accordingly on the 9th of May 1474: and
during that session, on the 18th of July, the commons again granted to the
king a quinsisme and a disme (a fifteenth and a tenth), and the further sum
of 51,147l. 4s. 73/4d. in full payment of the wages of the 13,000 archers,
who, notwithstanding the condition of the former grants, were still
maintained in readiness for the proposed expedition. In making these votes,
the commons recited, as before, the king's intention to set outward a
mighty army, "as dyvers tymes by the mouth of your chancellors for the tyme
beyng hath to us been declared and shewed;" and it was now ordained "that,
if the said viage roiall hold not afore the feste of seynt John Baptist the
year of our Lord M cccclxvj. that then aswell the graunte of the forsaid
xiij M. men as of all the sommes severally graunted for the wages of the
same," should be utterly void and of none effect, (Rot. Parl. vi. 111,
118.) On the re-assembling of parliament in January 1474-5 a further act
was passed to hasten the payment of the disme first voted (Ibid. p. 120);
and again, on the 14th of March, immediately before the dissolution of the
parliament, the commons granted another fifteenth and tenth, and three
parts of a fifteenth and tenth, to provide for the before-mentioned sum of
51,147l. 4s. 73/4d. (Ibid. pp. 149, 153.)
[29] They are printed in Rymer's Foedera, &c. vol. xi. pp. 804 et seq.
[30] An account of the payment of these wages for the first quarter, is
preserved on the pell records of the Exchequer, and an abstract printed in
Rymer's Foedera, vol. xi. p. 844. It includes the names of the dukes of
Clarence, Norfolk, and Suffolk, the earls of Ormonde and Northumberland,
the lords Grey, Scrope, Ferrers, Stanley, Fitzwarren, Hastynges, Lisle, and
Cobham, and as bannerets sir Ralph Hastings, sir Thomas Mountgomery, and
sir John Astley; besides the earl of Douglas and the lord Boyd, noblemen of
Scotland; with many knights, esquires, and officers of the king's
household.
The item to the duke of Clarence will afford a specimen of these payments:
"Georgio duci Clarentiae pro Cxx hominibus ad arma, seipso computato ut Duce
ad xiijs. iiij d. per diem, et pro viginti eorum Militum quilibet ad ij s.
per diem, et xcix aliis Hominibus ad Arma quilibet ad xij d. per diem et vj
d. ultra de regardo, et pro mille Sagittariis [2275li.
Summa totalis,] MMMCxciij l. vj s. x d.
The payments to the Duke of Gloucester (omitted by Rymer, but extracted in
Devon's Issues of the Exchequer, 1837, p. 498,) were nearly to the same
amount, viz. For 116 Men at Arms, to himself as a Duke at 13 s. 4 d. per
day, 60 l. 13 s. 4 d.; for six Knights, to each of them 2 s. per day, 54 l.
12 s.; to each of the remainder of the said 116 Men at Arms 12 d. per day,
and 6 d. per day as a reward,--743 l. 18 s. 6 d.; and to 950 Archers, to
each of them 6 d. per day, 2161 l. 6 s.--Total 3020 l. 8 s. 10 d.
Rymer has also (vol. xi. pp. 817-819) given at length three specimens of
the indentures made with several persons. The first (dated 20 August 1474)
is an indenture retaining sir Richard Tunstall to serve the king for one
whole year in his duchy of Normandy and realm of France, with ten speres,
himself accompted, and one hundred archers well and sufficiently abiled,
armed and arraied, taking wages for hymself of ij s. by the day, for
everiche of the said speres xij d. by the day, and rewardes of vj d. by the
day for everich of the said other speres, and for everich of the said
archers vj d. by the day. The next is an indenture made (on the 13th
November) with Thomas Grey esquire, "for one whole year, as a custrell to
attend about the king our soveraine lord's own persone, and with six
archers well and sufficiently abled, armed, and arraied," his pay being xij
d. by the day, an additional vj d. by the day by "meane of reward," and vj
d. a day for each of his archers. The third is the indenture made with
Richard Garnet esquire, serjeant of the king's tents, who was retained for
the like term to do service of war "as a man of armes at his spere, with
xxiiij yomen well and sufficiently habiled, armed and arraied," taking
wages himself iiij s. a day, for two of the yeomen each xij d. a day, and
for the remainder each vj d. a day.
[31] Ibid. pp. 837, 838.
[32] Ibid. pp. 839, 840, 843.
[33] Rymer, xi. 848.
[34] Foedera, vol. xii. p. 1. Lord Dynham had the principal command at sea
by previous appointments in the 12 and 15 Edw. IV. See Dugdale's Baronage,
i. 515.
[35] Fabyan says that "upon the iiij day of July (_an error for_ June) he
rode with a goodly company thorugh the cytie towarde the see syde."
[36] Printed in the Excerpta Historica, 1831, p. 366.
[37] They are printed in Rymer, vol. xii. pp. 13, 14. This was merely a
constitutional form, for the prince was then only four years of age.
[38] Hall states that "he hymself with his nobilitie warlikely accompaigned
passed over betwene Dover and Caleys the iiij daye of July," his army,
horses, and ammunitions of war having in their transport occupied twenty
days.
[39] Monstrelet in his Chronicle attempts to present a list of the
principal English lords and knights (the latter more than fifty in number),
but every name is so disfigured that they are almost past recognition: as
the names he gives to the nobility will show. He calls them, the dukes of
Sufflocq and Noirflocq, the earls of Crodale (Arundel?), Nortonbellan,
Scersebry, (Shrewsbury, and not as Buchon his editor suggests Salisbury,
which title did not then exist,) Willephis (Wiltshire?), and Riviere; the
lords Stanlay, Grisrufis, Gray, Erdelay, Ondelay, Verton, Montu, Beguey,
Strangle, Havart, and Caubehem. The last name (Cobham) and that of lord
Fitzwaren are among the indentures printed by Rymer in his vol. xi. pp.
844-848, already noticed in the note in p. xx.
[40] These particulars are derived from the diary kept by the _maistres
d'hostel_ of the Burgundian court, which gives the following minute and
curious account of the duke's movements, including the positions, not
elsewhere to be found, of the English army during the months of July and
August.
"Le 6. Juillet la duchesse de Bourgoyne, qui avoit ete presque toujours a
Gand, arriva a Calais vers le roy d'Angleterre son frere, qui la deffraya.
"Le 14. ce duc arriva a Calais vers le roy d'Angleterre, qui le deffraya,
la duchesse etant pour lors a Sainct Omer, avec les ducs de Clarence et de
Glocestre ses freres. Le 18. il alla au chasteau de Guines avec ce roy, qui
le fit deffraiyer. Il en partit le 19, et alla a Sainct Omer, ou il trouva
la duchesse. Il en partit le 22., et alla a Fauquemberghe, pres l'ost du
roy d'Angleterre. Il y sejourna le 23., et en partit le 24. apres dejeuner,
et alla disner, soupper, et coucher en la cite d'Arras; et ce jour il
mangea du poisson, a cause de la veille de Sainct Jacques. Le 27. il partit
d'Arras apres disner, et alla coucher a Dourlens. Il en partit le 29. apres
disner, et alla voir l'ost du roy d'Angleterre, et coucher en le cense de
Hamencourt: la duchesse partit ce jour de Sainct Omer, pour retourner a
Gand, ou mademoiselle de Bourgoyne etoit restee.
"Le mardy premier Aout, ce duc disna en la cense de Hamencourt, coucha au
village d'Aichen, pres l'ost du roy d'Angleterre. Il en partit le 2. apres
disner, et coucha a Ancre. Il en partit le 3. apres disner, et coucha a
Curleu sur Somme, pres ledit ost. Il y disna le 6. passa par l'ost du roy
d'Angleterre, et coucha a Peronne. Il y resta jusques au 12. qu'il en
partit apres disner, passa par l'ost du roy d'Angleterre, et alla coucher a
Cambray. Il y disna le 13. et coucha a Valenciennes, d'ou il partit le 18.
apres disner, souppa a Cambray, et alla coucher a Peronne. Il y disna le
20. alla encore voir le roy d'Angleterre au mesme camp, et alla coucher a
Cambray. Le 21. il disna a Valenciennes, coucha a Mons. Le 22. il disna a
Nivelle, et coucha a Namur, ou les ambassadeurs de Naples, Arragon, Venise,
et autres se rendirent. Le 29. Aout, entreveue du roy avec le roy
d'Angleterre, au lieu de Pequigny; ces princes convinrent d'une treve entre
eux, et que le Dauphin epouseroit la fille de ce roy d'Angleterre."
(Memoires de P. de Cominines, edited by Lenglet du Fresnoy, 1747, vol. ii.
p. 216.)
[41] Another version of this omen of the dove will be found in the extracts
from Commines hereafter.
[42] The fact of earl Rivers having repaired to the duke of Burgundy
_once_, at the end of April, is confirmed by the chronicle formed from the
journals of the duke's _maistres d'hoste_: "Le 29. de ce mois (Avril) le
sire de Riviers, ambassadeur du roy d'Angleterre, arriva vers ce duc, et en
fut regale." (Appendix to the edition of Commines, by the Abbe Lenglet du
Fresnoy, 4to. 1747, ii. 216.) But in the previous January we read, "The
King's ambassadors, sir Thomas Mountgomery and the Master of the Rolls
(doctor Morton), be coming homeward from Nuys." (Paston Letters, vol. ii.
p. 175.)
[43] _i.e._ their horses protected by armour.
[44] Hall, following this part of Commines's narrative, on mentioning this
English herald, adds, "whome Argenton (meaning Commines,) untrewly calleth
Garter borne in Normandy, for the rome of Gartier was never geven to no
estraunger." The office of Garter was at this time occupied by John Smert,
who was appointed in 28 Hen. VI. and died in 18 Edw. IV. He was the
son-in-law of Bruges his predecessor in the office: and there are large
materials for his biography in Anstis's Collections on the heralds, at the
College of Arms, but containing no evidence either to prove Commines's
assertion, or Hall's denial, of his being a native of Normandy.
[45] The constable of France, Jacques de Luxembourg, comte de St. Pol.
After temporising between Burgundy and France at this crisis, he paid the
penalty for his vacillation, the duke surrendering him to Louis, by whom he
was decapitated before the end of the year (Dec. 19, 1475).
[46] Jacqueline duchess of Bedford, the mother of the queen of England, was
one of the constable's sisters. The constable was also connected by
marriage with king Louis, who called him "brother" from their having
married two sisters. The relationship of all the principal actors in the
transactions described in the text is shown in the following table:--
Pierre Louis Charles VII. Richard
Comte de St. Pol Duke of Savoy. King of France. Duke of York.
= = = =
| | | |
+-----+ +-----+-----+ +-----+-+ +-----+
| | | | | | | |
| Louis Comte=Mary of Charlotte=Louis Katharine=Charles=Margaret |
| de St. Pol, Savoy. of Savoy. XI. of Duke of of York.|
| the Constable. France. Burgundy. |
| |
Jacqueline = Richard |
Duchess of | Earl |
Bedford. | Rivers. |
+-+------------------------------------+ +-------+
| | |
Anthony Lord Scales, Elizabeth Wydville.=King Edward
and Earl Rivers. the Fourth.
[47] Afterwards the first duke of Norfolk and earl of Derby of their
respective families.
[48] The narrative is continued on the authority of Commines.
[49] See the extracts from the register of the Burgundian _maistres
d'hostel_ already given in p. xxiii. The English camp is described as near
Fauquemberghe on the 22d of July, and near Aichen on the 1st of August. Its
position near Peronne is believed to have been at St. Christ, on the river
Somme, and it appears to have remained there for a considerable time.
[50] The duke was at Peronne from the 6th to 12th of August. See the note
on his movements before, p. xxiv.
[51] The last was afterwards the husband of the king's daughter the lady
Anne of York, and ancestor of the earls and dukes of Rutland.
[52] The prudent and conciliatory conduct of Louis XI. towards the English
at this crisis seems to have had a precedent in that of his ancestor
Charles V. "Le sage roy de France Charles quint du nom, quant on lui disait
que grant honte estoit de recouvrer des forteresses par pecune, que les
Anglois a tort tenoient, comme il eust assez puissance pour les ravoir par
force, Il me semble (disoit-il,) que ce que on peut avoir par deniers ne
doit point estre achete par sang d'homme." (From the end of the twelfth
chapter of the second book of the Faits d'armes de Guerre et de Chevalerie
par Christine de Pisan.)
[53] St. Christ.
[54] It is printed in Rymer's Collection, vol. xii. p. 14.
[55] Lord Hastings was previously a pensioner of the duke of Burgundy.
Lenglet du Fresnoy has published a letter of the duke granting to William
lord Hastings a yearly pension of 1000 crowns of Flanders, dated at the
castle of Peronne, 4 May 1471; a receipt of lord Hastings for that sum on
the 12th July 1474; and another receipt for 1200 livres of Flanders, dated
12th April 1475. (Memoires de P. de Commines, 1745, iii. 616, 619.)
Commines, in his Sixth Book, chapter ii. relates how he had himself been
the agent who had secured lord Hastings to the Burgundian interest, and how
he subsequently negociated with him on the part of king Louis. Hastings
accepted the French pension, being double the amount of the Burgundian, but
on this occasion, according to Commines, would give no written
acknowledgment. In an interview with the French emissary, Pierre Cleret, of
which Commines in his Book VI. chapter ii. gives the particulars at some
length, he said the money might be put in his sleeve. Cleret left it,
without acquittance; and his conduct was approved by his master.
[56] In the article of plate "his bountie apperyd by a gyfte that he gave
unto lorde Hastynges then lord chamberlayne, as xxiiij. dosen of bollys,
wherof halfe were gylt and halfe white, which weyed xvij. nobles every
cuppe or more." Fabyan's Chronicle.
[57] This passionate interview must have taken place on the 19th or 20th of
August: see the note on the Duke's movements in p. xxiv.
[58] We are continuing to follow the account of Commines. But the truce,
which was not yet concluded, was made for seven years only; and the dukes
of Burgundy and Britany were not mentioned in the articles. The duke of
Burgundy, shortly after, himself made a truce with France for nine years.
It was dated on the 13th of September, only fifteen days after that of the
English.
[59] Molinet says, "de quatrevingts a cent chariots de vin."
[60] The real Childermas day was on the 28th of December; but sir John
Fenn, the editor of the Paston Letters, has suggested that the 28th of
every month was regarded as a Childermas day; for the 28th of June, 1461,
being Childermas, and consequently a day of unlucky omen, was avoided for
the coronation of Edward the Fourth. From other authorities it appears that
the day of the week on which Childermas occurred was regarded as
unfortunate throughout the year.
[61] Molinet mentions three other names, those of the admiral, the seigneur
de Craon, and the mayor of Amiens.
[62] According to our London historian, Fabyan, Louis's attire was by no
means becoming:
"Of the nyse and wanton disguysed apparayll (he says) that the kynge Lowys
ware upon hym at the tyme of this metynge I myght make a longe rehersayl:
but for it shulde sownde more to dishonour of suche a noble man, that was
apparaylled more lyke a mynstrell than a prynce royall, therfor I passe it
over."
[63] Commines saw king Edward at the Burgundian court in 1470. On that
occasion he gives him this brief character: "King Edward was not a man of
any great management or foresight, but of an invincible courage, and the
most beautiful prince my eyes ever beheld."
[64] The documents which bear date on the day of the royal interview are
these, as printed in the edition of Commines by the Abbe Lenglet du
Fresnoy, 1747, 4to. vol. iii:--
1. The treaty of truce for seven years between Edward king of France and
England and lord of Ireland and his allies on the one part, and the most
illustrious prince Louis of France (not styled king) and his allies, on the
other. (In Latin.) Dated in a field near Amiens on the 29th August 1475.
The conservators of the truce on the part of the king of England were the
dukes of Clarence and Gloucester, the chancellor of England, the keeper of
the privy seal, the warden of the cinque ports, and the captain or deputy
of Calais for the time being; on the part of the prince of France his
brother Charles comte of Beaujeu and John bastard of Bourbon admiral of
France.
2. Obligation of Louis king of the French to pay to Edward king of England
yearly, in London, during the life of either party, the sum of 50,000
crowns. (In Latin.) Dated at Amiens on the 29th of August.
3. A treaty of alliance between king Edward and Louis of France (in Latin)
stipulating, 1. that if either of them were driven from his kingdom, he
should be received in the states of the other, and assisted to recover it.
2. to name commissioners of coinage, which should circulate in their
dominions respectively. 3. that prince Charles, son of Louis, should marry
Elizabeth daughter of the king of England, or, in case of her decease, her
sister Mary. Dated in the field near Amiens, on the 29th of August.
4. Another part of the treaty, bearing the same date, appointing for the
arbiters of all differences, on the part of the king of England his uncle
the cardinal Thomas archbishop of Canterbury and his brother George duke of
Clarence, and on the part of Louis of France, Charles archbishop of Lyons
and John comte de Dunois.
In April 1478 the three years were prolonged by another like term to the
29th August 1481; the letters patent relative to which are printed ibid. p.
536.
On the 13th Feb. 1478-9 the truce was renewed for the lives of both
princes, and for one hundred years after the decease of either, king Louis
obliging himself and his successors to continue the payment of the 50,000
crowns during that term: the documents relating to this negotiation are
printed ibid. pp. 560--570.
[65] Molinet, in his account of the conference, states that it lasted for
an hour and a half, and that a principal topic of discussion was the
conduct of the constable, Louis showing a letter, in which the constable
had engaged to harass the English army as soon as it was landed.
[66] This Gascon gentleman is a person of some interest, from his name
being mentioned by Caxton. He was resident at the English court, as a
servant of Anthony lord Scales (the queen's brother) as early as the year
1466, when in a letter, dated at London, on the 16th of June, he challenged
sir Jehan de Chassa, a knight in the retinue of the duke of Burgundy, to do
battle with him in honour of a noble lady of high estimation, immediately
after the performance of the intended combat in London between the lord
Scales and the bastard of Burgundy. His letter of challenge, in which he
terms the king of England his sovereign lord, is printed in the Excerpta
Historica, 1831, p. 216; and that of sir Jehan de Chassa accepting it at p.
219, addressed, _A treshonnoure escueire Louys de Brutallis_. His own
signature is _Loys de Brutalljs_. The encounter is thus noticed in the
Annals of William of Wyrcestre: "Et iij^o die congressi sunt pedestres in
campo, in praesencia regis, Lodowicus Bretailles cum Burgundiae; deditque Rex
honorem ambobus, attamen Bretailles habuit se melius in campo:" and thus by
Olivier de la Marche: "On the morrow Messire Jehan de Cassa and a Gascon
squire named Louis de Brettailles, servant of Mons. d'Escalles, did arms on
foot: and they accomplished these arms without hurting one another much.
And on the morrow they did arms on horseback; wherein Messire Jean de
Chassa had great honour, and was held for a good runner at the lance."
Lowys de Bretaylles, as his name is printed by Caxton, was still attendant
upon the same nobleman, then earl Rivers, in 1473, when he went to the
pilgrimage of St. James in Galicia; and upon that occasion, soon after
sailing from Southampton, he lent to the earl the Book of _Les Dictes
Moraux des Philosophes_, written in French by Johan de Tronville, which the
earl translated, and caused it to be printed by Caxton, as _The Dicts and
Sayings of the Philosophers_, in 1477.
[67] Fabyan's Chronicle.
[68] The former importance and power of the constable are thus described by
Commines: "Some persons may perhaps hereafter ask, Whether the king alone
was not able to have ruined him? I answer, No; for his territories lay just
between those of the king and the duke of Burgundy: he had St. Quintin
always, and another strong town in Vermandois: he had Ham and Bohain, and
other considerable places not far from St. Quintin, which he might always
garrison with what troops (and of what country) he pleased. He had four
hundred of the king's men at arms, well paid; was commissary himself, and
made his own musters,--by which means he feathered his nest very well, for
he never had his complement. He had likewise a salary of forty-five
thousand francs, and exacted a crown upon every pipe of wine that passed
into Hainault or Flanders through any of his dominions; and, besides all
this, he had great lordships and possessions of his own, a great interest
in France, and a greater in Burgundy, on account of his kinsmen."
[69] None had actually been made with Burgundy by the treaty of the 29th of
August. Commines certainly wrote under a misapprehension in that respect,
as well as upon the number of years of the truce with England.
[70] Besides the lady Margaret there were two sons: Maximilian, afterwards
the emperor Maximilian, and Philip. There was a contract of marriage in
1479 between the latter and the lady Anne of England, one of the daughters
of Edward the Fourth. (Rymer, xii. 110.)
[71] Margaret herself was eventually rejected by Charles VIII. who was
nearly nine years her senior. When he had the opportunity of marrying the
heiress of Bretagne, and thereby annexing that duchy to France, Margaret
was sent back to her father in 1493, and afterwards married in 1497 to John
infante of Castile, and in 1501 to Philibert duke of Savoy. She
subsequently nearly yielded to the suit of Charles Brandon lord Lisle,
(afterwards the husband of Mary queen dowager of France,) who was made duke
of Suffolk by his royal master in order to be more worthy of her
acceptance; but at last she died childless in 1530, after a widowhood of
six and twenty years, and a long and prosperous reign as regent of the
Netherlands.
[72] Paston Letters, vol. i. p. 172.