_The Last Struggle of York and Lancaster--the Tudors and Stuarts_
The men of Coventry settled down under the rule of Edward IV.; and if
the clash of arms was heard in the north--for Margaret would not tamely
submit to lose her son's inheritance--it did not disturb the Midlands.
Henry VI., the weak, mad, saintly King, lay in the Tower of London, and
men thought the Yorkist firmly seated on his throne. The wars and party
troubles had, however, much disorganized the city finances, and it is
probably from this time that we must date the backwardness of the city
in paying their ferm to the exchequer; and though the vigorous measures
of the leet may have kept temporary order for those within and without
the ruling body, yet the embarrassments of the corporation were not
past. An attack on the franchises,[278] made, so it would appear from
some words the steward of Cheylesmore let fall, at the instigation of
some of the malcontents within the city in 1464, was the cause of much
trouble and fear to the townsfolk. The arrest of one Hikman, a dyer,
a craft always at daggers drawn with the corporation, in Cheylesmore
Park, was the occasion of the trouble. At the instance of the officials
of the royal manor,[279] Edward IV. called in question the right of
the city officers to make arrests within the manorial territory. The
matter was decided in the city's favour after many journeys and much
suffering of the law's delays.
[Illustration: SMITHFORD STREET COVENTRY]
Edward treated the Coventry folk graciously enough, paying them several
visits at this time[280]; but another figure had begun to loom large
in English politics, and Warwick, the King-maker, now exercised even
more power in the Midlands than had been enjoyed by the Lancastrian
Buckingham. In 1464 the earl first appears as meddling in the internal
affairs of Coventry. A quarrel arose between a certain William Bedon
and William Huet about a debt--it may have been a party affair between
the weavers and tailors--and appeal was made to Edward IV. The matter,
the King declared, was "screpulus and doubtefull," and directed that
the litigants should abide by the arbitration of certain citizens, or
that the mayor, in the event of their inability to decide upon the case
before Michaelmas, should step in and dispose of the matter.
Accordingly at the appointed time, when the arbitrators failed to
agree, the mayor took the matter into his own hands, and decreed that
Huet should ask Bedon's forgiveness for his behaviour towards him,
giving also 40s. "for amends." "Which laude and decree," the _Leet
Book_ says, "the seid William Huet yn neyther braunche wold not obey,
but utterly refusyd," using "right vnfyttyng, inordinate and ceducious
langage sownyng to the derogacion of the kynges lawes and of his peace,
yn right evyll example, for the which the seid mair, vmper,[281] be the
advyse of his seid brethern, comyttid hym to warde," the King giving
him "right good and special thank" for his action in this behalf.
Tiptoft, it appears, who was then in the city, kept Edward informed
of the progress of the business. But the affair soon assumed serious
proportions, and the King wrote to inform the mayor that if any others
vexed their neighbours by any "imaginacions, sclaundours or feyned
accusacions hereafter," or made any "conventicles," they were to be
repressed; the officer requiring all the king's liege men in the city
to aid him in the work "at thair peril."[282]
But peace was not to be restored by these means, for the city
authorities had still to reckon with Huet, who lay in prison. By
the "meane of his frendes," the account goes on, he "labored vnto
my lord of Warrewyk for favor and ease to be had yn the seid decree
at my lordes instaunce, so that to ouer gret rebuke ne charge were
not don to the seid William yn makyng therof. And theruppon the seid
mair, allethough after his dimeretys, well and indifferently be hym
vnderstondon, he were worthy to have made as lowly submission as
cowde be thought therfore, and to have boron to the utmost of his
godes besides that, and rightwesnes without mercy shold have ben
don therin; but at the seid instaunce leying rightwesnes apart and
folowyng mercy," the mayor "made his laude and decree thus: that the
seid William Huet shuld be of good seying and behavyng fro that tyme
fourth, and that he shuld yeve the seid William Bedon 10 marcs in
amendes towards his costes. And so he did, which amounted not to the
thryd peny that he had made hym to spende; and yette further at my
seid lordes instaunce"--here the mayor, sadly confused and harassed
by the divergence of the paths of "mercy" and "righteousness," takes
up the account in his own person--"my worshipfull Brethren and I so
effectuelly entreted the seid William Bedon, that he yave the seid Huet
agayn V nobles of the seid X marcs." Then Huet, being further bound
over to keep the peace, was "set at his large," or released.
Owing to these repeated attacks, as well as to the unsettled state of
the kingdom, things had not prospered with the Coventry corporation.
They were in 1468 £800 in arrear of their annual ferm of £50. The
sheriff was ordered to seize the goods of the mayor and men of the
place as distress. He could find no more than 106s. worth of goods,
and these "remained on his hands for lack of buyers," "and since the
said mayor and men had no other goods or lands within the bailiwick
that could be taken into the king's hands, no further payment was
then made,"[283] a rather amusing betrayal of the helplessness of
the central government. But the Trinity and Corpus Christi guilds
were bodies possessed of great wealth, though upon their funds the
exchequer had no claim, thanks to the astuteness of the corporation
in thus disposing of its possessions. But no doubt the resources both
of guilds and townsmen were failing, even as those of the monastery,
for in 1466 the prior was £550 in arrears to the Crown for the rent
of the Earl's-half; his tenants in the city must therefore have been
backward in paying the rent due to the priory treasury. And to add to
the general confusion in 1469 the commonalty rose crying that they were
defrauded of their lawful share of the Lammas lands. More serious than
all, when civil war again broke loose and Edward and Warwick measured
swords together, the men of Coventry chose the losing side, nor did a
too late repentance avail to save them from the terrible humiliation of
a temporary forfeiture of their franchises.
Meanwhile matters were going from bad to worse in the government of
England. The great earl was becoming rapidly estranged from his young
kinsman, Edward, whom he had helped to place on the throne. Jealousy
of the Queen's relations, and the decay of his own influence in the
royal councils, were rapidly converting Warwick into a secret enemy of
the ruling house. Edward[284] was in favour of a Burgundian alliance;
the King-maker, on the contrary, pressed forward the claims of France
to the friendship of England, and when the King treated the French
ambassadors with scant courtesy, his too powerful subject entered into
intrigues with Louis XI. on his own behalf. He had some thoughts of
placing on the throne his future son-in-law, the Duke of Clarence; and
Calais, where the earl and the King's brother were staying, became in
1469 a perfect hot-bed of conspiracy.
How far Warwick carried with him the general sentiment of English folk
is rather doubtful, but so great was his territorial influence that he
was a highly dangerous enemy. Besides, there were various elements of
disaffection abroad in the land. The Lancastrians had still some hold
on the hearts of those living in the north and west, while others who
had expected an era of peace and perfection under Yorkist rule were
naturally disappointed at the small results of Edward's government.
Though there seems to have been no very distinct notion of what the
people wanted, one thing was clear, they wanted a change, and the
country was filled with the old tokens of unrest and discontent.
Bad times seem rather unaccountably to have befallen the people of
Coventry; the city was deeply in debt, and on that account the citizens
were probably more willing to lend an ear to Warwick's emissaries.
It is possible that foreign trade relations may have more to do than
we are at present aware with town politics. The great merchants of
the Staple, who were heads of the powerful civic families, and who
possessed the monopoly of trade in wool, would welcome the alliance
with Burgundy, and a ready export of the raw material to Flanders;
while the bulk of the townsfolk, cloth workers and artisans, were glad
that the wool should be kept in England and be converted into cloth
by home manufacture. For that reason Warwick and his anti-Burgundian
policy may have been popular in cloth-working towns such as Coventry
then was.
We follow with difficulty the record of obscure risings which marked
the beginning of a fresh struggle. Two movements agitated the north in
the early part of the year 1469. One seems to have been a Lancastrian
outbreak; the other, under Robin of Redesdale, was undoubtedly fomented
by Warwick. The men of Coventry found themselves as usual drawn into
the strife. They were compelled to pay, and send fifty men to York
against the rebels,[285] who joined their forces together, and finally
turned southwards under Sir John Coniers towards the Midlands. For some
time Edward appeared unconscious of the danger that threatened him, and
during June he went quietly on a progress through the eastern counties.
At last there came a rude awakening. On July 1,[286] he wrote from
Fotheringay, bidding the mayor take and commit to ward any person using
seditious language among the King's liege people to the intent to "stor
and incens theym to rumor and comocion"; and later letters were urgent
in their appeals for dispatch of men. Meanwhile the extent of Warwick's
plotting stood revealed. On July 12 came tidings from this arch
conspirator, who, far from being the haughty noble of the conventional
type, was, as his latest biographer[287] tells us, very affable in his
bearing and an ardent seeker after the commonalty's good will. Warwick
had very probably gained a strong party among the populace at Coventry,
and in addition to the letter destined for the mayor, the messenger
bore a duplicate addressed to his master's "servonds and welwyllers"
within the city.[288] "Ryght trusty and well belovyd frende," the earl
wrote to the mayor, William Saunders, "I grete you well. Forsomuche as
hyt hath pleasyd the kings gode grace to sende at this tyme for hys
lords and other hys subgetts to atende on hys hygnes northwards, and
that both the rihgt hye and myghty prince, my lord the duke of Clarens,
and I be fully purposid, after the solempnizacion of the maryage by
Godds grace in short tyme to be hadde bitwene my sayd lord and my
dohgter, to a wayte on the same, and to drawe vn to our sayd soveren
lordes hyghnes, therfor desire and pray you that ye woll in the meene
tyme geve knowlache to all suche felisshipp as ye mowe make [toward
theym] to arredy theym in the best wyse they can, and that bothe ye
and they defensibly arrayd be redy apon a days warnyng to accompany my
sayd lord and me toward the sayd highnes, as my specyall trust ys in
yowe; yevyng credens to this berer in that he shall open vnto you on
my behalve, and ore Lord have you in hys keping. Writon at London the
xxviii day of Juyn." The marriage thus referred to was solemnised some
ten days or more after the date of the missive--July 11, Clarence and
Archbishop Neville having secretly stolen over to Calais, where Warwick
was then posted, to take part in the ceremony; and the next day the
King-maker and his following landed on the coast of Kent.
[Illustration: COOK STREET, GATE]
The letter[289] as it stands conveys but scanty indications of the real
state of affairs, but no doubt the citizens read between the lines, and
in "giving credence to the bearer" heard as much as the earl wished of
his plans for the overthrow of the Queen's relations and the recovery
of the Neville influence. Whether they understood that Clarence,
Warwick's son-in-law, was to occupy his brother Edward's place, and be
raised to the throne, is another matter. Nevertheless they must have
been somewhat bewildered by Warwick's change of front. Lancaster they
knew, and York they knew, but they might with all justice ask, "Who are
ye?" of the King-maker.
Once more, as in Margaret's time, Coventry, with its command of
the north-western road, became a centre of operations. News now
came thick and fast. Coniers' army of Yorkshiremen, supplied with a
later manifesto and petition of grievances promulgated by Warwick,
and the royal troops under Herbert and Stafford of Southwick, were
converging towards Banbury. On Maudlin day (July 22) Coventry was
hastily fortified, certain of the principal citizens overlooking the
equipment of soldiers and the strengthening of the gates with cannon.
On the 26th July the battle of Edgcote was fought near Banbury, ending
in the discomfiture of Herbert and the royalist troops. For just when
victory seemed assured, a rabble of Northampton men, led by one John
Clapham, bearing the banner of the White Bear, and shouting "a Warwick!
a Warwick!" appeared over the hillside in the rear of Lord Herbert's
men, and they, thinking the Earl himself was come, broke and fled.
"Lord Herbert," the _Leet Book_ says, "was taken in fight by Banbury
with Robin of Redesdale" on the vigil of S. James, and was brought
to Northampton, and there beheaded, and Lord Richard Herbert, with
others.[290] Some days afterwards Edward was captured at Honiley or
Olney, near Kenilworth, and brought by Archbishop Neville to Coventry,
there to meet the Archbishop's "brother of Warwick."[291] He was
detained in the city as a prisoner until August 9. But even then his
humiliation was not complete. Three days later, when the King was
certainly no further removed from the city than Warwick, the father and
brother of Edward's Queen, Lord Rivers and his son, John Woodville,
who had been captured by rioters at Chepstow, fell into Warwick's
hands, and were beheaded on Gosford Green by his order.[292] The _Leet
Book_ also records the executions of Lord Stafford of Southwick at
Bridgewater, and again that of Sir Humphrey Neville, a Lancastrian,
and Charles, his brother, who had risen in rebellion in September,
in the "north coasts," and that of the bailiff of Durham at the same
time ("et ballivus de Duram eodem tempore"). It was on the occasion of
this northern or Lancastrian rising that the Nevilles found themselves
forced to release Edward; for the unpopular ministers having been
brought to justice, there was a feeling abroad that the King should be
set free.
So far Warwick's revolt had been successful, but it did not wholly
gratify his ambition. No doubt he felt that the King was hopelessly
alienated, and, whenever powerful enough, would free himself from the
influence of the house of Neville. Fresh troubles broke out, this time
in Lincolnshire, in February 1470. Warwick's agents so worked on the
fears of the people that they rose in great numbers, and converted
a local dispute into a rising of some magnitude. A royal missive,
bearing date February 9, arrived at Coventry late in the evening, and
in accordance with the commission, money was collected throughout the
wards for men to go to Grantham by March 12.[293] The King's letter
was imperative; there were rebels abroad, it said, "and many assemble
for the retaining of the said enemies ... so that if their malice be
not ... withstanden, it might grow to the great jeopardy of us and to
the destruction of all true subjects." Edward defeated the rebels at
Empingham, near Stamford, on 12th March, and so sudden was their flight
that the battle received the name of _Lose-coat Field_. Meanwhile
the ringleaders, mainly belonging to the Welles family, were brought
in; but before execution they showed that Clarence and Warwick were
seriously implicated in their designs. Edward, whose suspicions were
thoroughly aroused, sent to the duke and earl at Coventry, bidding them
disband their levies, for they were followed by a great number of men,
and join him without delay; but they would not, merely sending excuses
and promises.[294] And perhaps it was then that Clarence, being in
need of money, left in pledge a "coronall," garnished with "rubies,
diamonds, and sapphires," in return for a loan of 300 marks from the
citizens.[295] Finally Warwick and the King's brother, after trying
the disposition of men's minds towards their cause in the northern
parts, turned southwards, whither Edward followed them; but they had
already taken ship at Dartmouth when the King reached Exeter. Edward
passed through Coventry on his way southwards, and forty men went
with the King on April 5 to the south coasts, taking the great sum of
12d.[296] a day for payment. For the citizens of Coventry--provident
men--afforded help to either party, hoping surely to have their reward
whichever side might prevail in the end. They admitted Clarence and
Edward, and furnished the former with money and the latter with men.
This shows either that they took a dispassionate view of these dynastic
and political struggles in which they had no concern, or that they
were more deeply involved in them than we imagine, but parties being
so evenly balanced in the city, the presence or near neighbourhood of
a leader of either party was sufficient for the time being to turn the
scale in his favour.
The two conspirators sailed for Calais, but there the merchants of
the Staple were heart and soul for Edward and the Burgundian alliance,
and the garrison, being in their pay, closed the harbour against them.
So they put into the Seine, and Warwick, abandoning his old project
of dethroning Edward to make room for Clarence, prepared to take up a
more definite policy, and made overtures to the Lancastrians. It is
difficult to imagine how Queen Margaret could bring herself to forgive
the man who had wrought so much evil to her and hers. But Louis XI.,
King of France, who knew that if the Yorkists continued to reign they
would strengthen Burgundy, his great foe, acted as peacemaker, and the
compact between Lancaster and Neville was sealed by the betrothal of
Warwick's daughter to the Prince of Wales. When the King-maker and the
Lancastrian lords landed at Plymouth in September, they caught Edward
unawares in the north, and they replied to his summons, ordering them
to appear at court, "humbly and measurably accompanyed," by proclaiming
Henry VI. King of England. The army in the north declared for King
Henry; for the moment the game was up; Edward IV. fled to Lynn, and
took ship for the Low Countries.
[Illustration: OLD HOUSE IN LITTLE PARK STREET]
The Coventry _Leet Book_ thus summarizes the year's events:[297] "In
the Lenton when William Stafford was mayor ... the Lord Wellys[298]
were byhedyd. The duke of Clarance and the yrle of Warw[ick] w[ent]
o[ut] of the londe, and went to the kynge off Franse, and there were
gretly cheryshyd, and there was a m[arriage] m[ade] by twix prinse
Edward and a dohgter of the sayd yrle of Warwic. And in the monthe
of Sept[ember] the sayd duke and yrle with the yrle of Oxynford,
the yrle off Pembroke,[299] brother to kyng Harry, the bastard
ffawkynbruge[300] comyn a londe at Ex--.[301] They ther drewe to hem
muche pepull, or they com to Coventry, they wer xxx thowsand. [Ky]ng
Edward laye at Notynham, and sende for lordes and all other men, but
ther com so lytell pep[ull] to hym that he was not abyll to made a
fylde a gaynes hem, and then he with the yrle [R]evers, the lorde
Hastyng,[302] the lord Haward, and the lorde Say went to Lynne, and
ther goten hem shippes, and sayledon to the duke of Borgoyne,[303] the
whiche duke hade weddyd kyng Edwards syster, the lady Margete. And
then the duke of Clarans, the yrle off Warwic, the yrle of Oxynford,
the yrle of Shroysbere, the lord Stanley, [and] the bysshoppe of
Yorke[304] went to the towre at London, and set out of prison kyng
Harre the Syxt, the wyche hade be ix yer and a halfe and mor[305] as
a prisonere, and brohgt hym to the bysshoppes palys at Powlys[306] in
London, and made hym there to take on hym to be kyng as he was afore
tyme. And then was the yrle of Wyrseter[307] behedyt at London....
The quene that was wyfe to kyng Edward, with hyr moder, the duches of
Bedford,[308] toke seynt wary[309] at Westmynster, and ther the quene
was lyght of a son that was crystonyd Edward."
So the year that had seen such astonishing events now drew to a close.
England saw one king displaced by a powerful subject after a bloodless
struggle, and another, weak, possibly imbecile, and long a neglected
prisoner, restored to his former state; a queen driven to take
sanctuary for fear of her husband's enemies, and the birth of a Prince
of Wales, the history of whose short unhappy life accords well with the
inauspicious season of his coming into the world. Though Englishmen
passively accepted these changes, Warwick's position was still one of
great difficulty; the King's weakness, Margaret's delay in France,
and last the unstable temper of "false, fleeting, perjured Clarence,"
all combined to make the firm establishment of the restored dynasty a
matter involving risk on every hand.
John Bette counted the beginning of his mayoralty in January, 1471,
according to the regnal year of Henry VI., and the townspeople
doubtless considered that the rule of the Yorkists was a thing of the
past.[310] Perhaps the craftsmen party were pleased with the reversal
of policy which followed on the reaccession of the Lancastrian King.
The French King held Warwick to an agreement to make war with Burgundy.
And war with Burgundy meant interruption in the Flemish wool trade, and
a plentiful supply of wool for the home market. In the following March,
forty men, now waged at 6d. a day, were commissioned to go for two
months to Flanders. But the Flemings, by their support of the fugitive
King, Edward IV., carried the war into the enemy's country. On March
14, 1471, Edward landed at Ravenspur, to claim--so he averred--the
duchy of York, his ancestral inheritance. Slipping past Montagu,
who had been set to guard the north road, he pressed on towards the
Midlands. Followers presently flocked to his standard, and on March 29,
coming from Leicester, he offered battle beneath the walls of Coventry.
Warwick, who lay within the city, waiting for fresh levies, had not
troops sufficient to accept the challenge, and suffered Edward to pass
on, and cut off his communications with London.
The citizens of Coventry must have long remembered this terrible
season, "the Lenton next afore Barnet ffeld," and the hurried and
almost unintelligible writing of the _Leet Book_, with the frequent and
probably intentional mutilation of its pages, bespeak the agitation and
confusion which filled men's thoughts. There could be no temporizing
now the great earl was within their gates, no making overtures to the
returning Yorkists, who, now that there was no army barring the way
to the capital, found their position greatly increased in strength.
The townsfolk lent Warwick 100 marks,[311] and during that period of
terrible anxiety, wherein the earl was waiting for the levies under
Montagu from the north, Oxford from the east, and Clarence from the
south-west, they sent "riders into the country" to bring back tidings,
and having fortified their city, kept a strict watch.[312] The levies
under Clarence never came to the earl's aid, for meeting Edward on
the road between Warwick and Banbury, the duke deserted the cause of
his father-in-law, and was "right lovingly reconciled" to Edward.
Afterwards Clarence, stung perhaps with remorse at his desertion,
sent unto the earl "to require him to take some good way with king
Edward[313] ... the earle (after he had patientlie heard the duke's
message) he seemed greatlie to abhorre his unfaithfull dealing.... To
the messengers (as some write) he gave none other answer but this: that
he had rather be like himselfe than like a false and perjured duke; and
that he was fullie determined never to leave warre till he had either
lost his owne life or utterlie subdued his enimies."
Strengthened by Clarence's levies, the King again returned to offer
battle on April 5 before the gates of Coventry, but as Warwick still
refused, he drew off down the Watling Street towards London. The
citizens of Coventry continued faithful to Warwick, and when he left
for the capital to stake his all on a battle with Edward, twenty
horsemen and twenty foot from the city set forth with him on the
eventful march, and fought at Barnet Field. But when the battle was
over the terror-stricken townsmen would fain--in Clarence's words--have
"made so good a way with king Edward," and did all that in them lay to
appease the conqueror. Margaret of Anjou and her son had landed two
days after the battle. Prince Edward no doubt expected aid from the
Lancastrian stronghold, and sent a proclamation from Chard, where he
then was, to Coventry. But the townsfolk knew that the day was with the
Yorkist King.
The Leet Book records the receipt of "a letter fro Edward, the son
of Harry the VIte, the xxv day of Aprile, that was wryton at Cherd
the xviii day of Aprile _the whyche was sent to Kyng Edward and the
messenger therewith to Abyndon_."[314] But they were not allowed
to make their peace after this easy fashion. In May Edward came to
Coventry, deprived the mayor, John Bette, of the civic sword, and
confiscated the liberties of the city, which were only redeemed by
a payment of 500 marks.[315] The citizens owed even this grace to
Clarence's mediation. They received a charter of pardon "for the hevy
greffe that our soveraign lord beer to the citee ... ffor the tyme that
Richard, late Erle of Warwyke, with oder to hym then acompanyed, kept
the citee in defence agenst his Royall highnes in the Lenton next afore
Barnett ffeld."[316] Clarence's mediation and the king's pardon cost
the citizens a further sacrifice. Edward brought his influence to bear
upon them for the release of the jewel, which the duke's necessities
had induced him to leave in pledge, in return for the loan of 300
marks. This "coronall," the deed declares, "had been utterly forfeit
for two years past," as the duke had not discharged the debt. But as
Clarence had "laboured to be good lord" unto the citizens, the mayor
agreed to remit a portion of the money owing, and to deliver up the
jewel "for the singular pleasure and good grace of our sovereign lord,
king Edward."[317]
The reconciliation being accomplished, the citizens were eager to show
their entire loyalty to King Edward, and accordingly granted a most
splendid reception--equal to that given to Margaret eighteen years
before--to the four-year-old prince of Wales on his visit to Coventry
(April 1474) for S. George's feast. The mayor and divers of the
commonalty, arrayed in green and blue, met the prince with the gift of
100 marks in a gilt "cuppe" upon which was a "kerchief of plesaunce."
At the Bablake gate stood a pageant, with figures of Richard II. and
many nobles thereupon. The character of King Richard II. in allusion
to the York genealogy, saluted the child, "of the right lyne of royall
blode" with a verse of greeting. There were further pageants "with
mynstralcy of harpe and dowsemeris" (dulcimers); and at the Broadgate
stood S. Edward (who had done duty on a previous occasion) with
"mynstralcy of harpe & lute," and more verses with allusions to the
prince's father's "imperial right," wherefrom he "had been excluded by
full furious intent," by way of welcome.
What wonderful memories these local poets possessed! Their verses show
how the old friendship of the city to Lancaster had wholly escaped
their remembrance! When the little prince rode in his "chare" down to
the Cheaping, he beheld three prophets at the Cross, and above were
"Childer of Issarell" (the Innocents) casting down flowers and cakes,
and four pipes running wine. The three kings of Colen (Cologne) were
also pressed into the service; but the great feature of the show was
the pageant of S. George upon the conduit of the Cheaping, the saint
being represented armed, "and a kynges daughter knelyng a fore hym with
a lambe, and the father & the moder beyng in a toure a boven, beholdyng
Seint George savyng their daughter from the dragon."
"O myghty God, our all socour celestiall,
Wich this royme hast geven to dower,
To thi moder, and to me, George, proteccion perpetuall,
Hit to defende from enimies ffere and nere,
And as this mayden defended was here,
Bi thy grace from this Dragon devour,
So, Lorde, preserve this noble prynce and ever be his socour."[318]
A truly splendid reception for such a young child, who, we will
hope, appreciated the "kerchief of plesaunce," if the drift of the
political allusions was above his understanding. True to his policy of
ingratiating himself with the burghers and moneyed classes, the King
allowed his little son to stand godfather to the mayor's child on this
occasion. Nevertheless Edward was not content with mere compliments or
protestations of loyalty from the lips of actors, but made this visit
of his son an opportunity for strengthening his political position.
The mayor and his brethren were called upon to cause the commons of
the city to swear an oath of allegiance to the Prince of Wales.[319]
After this the King and Elizabeth Woodville were all graciousness to
the citizens. The Queen in September of that year sent twelve bucks
from Fakenham Forest as a present to the mayor, his brethren and
their wives.[320] She also praised their "sadde polit[y], guydyng and
diligence" in appeasing an affray, and thanked them warmly for their
duties ... "by you largely shewed vnto vs and to our derrest son the
prince; and in like wyse to all oure childern ther in sundry wises
heretofore, and namely vnto our right dere son, the Duc of York, in
this time of our absens."[321] Four years later, Edward sent the prince
of Wales with his court to Cheylesmore, where the child sojourned for
some time, and was admitted a member of the Trinity and Corpus Christi
guilds.[322]
But the fair words of royalty often bore a most unwelcome meaning, and
the yoke of the Yorkists was not light. Edward, in 1474, applied to
"his feythful subgetts" in the city of their "benevolence" to aid him
with a substantial sum of money for various undertakings incident to
a war with France.[323] The king found "benevolences" or forced loans
more convenient than subsidies granted by parliament, and in the wars
a treaty better served his purpose than a battle, when the French king
was willing to pay for peace. The frequent interference of the Prince
of Wales's council in city disputes at first ruffled the tempers of the
great folk at Coventry not a little. "We, your humble and true servants
here," the corporation wrote to the Prince of Wales in 1480, "know of
no variance ... here but that we among ourselves, be the grace of God
shall amicably and righteously settle." But all thoughts of resistance
had been abandoned, when the next year a commotion, raised by the
common folk at the enclosure of the Lammas pastures, put the franchises
in danger of confiscation a second time, and the corporation earnestly
entreated the Prince of Wales by intercession to avert his father's
wrath.
Richard III., in his brief reign, did all that in him lay to conciliate
the Coventry folk; in 1485 he kept Whitsuntide at Kenilworth,[324] and
paid a visit to the city to witness the Corpus Christi pageants, but we
hear of no joyous welcome given him by the citizens. Perhaps--though
there was little sentiment in contemporary politics--they could not
lightly forget the faces of the two little boys, who had visited
the city during their father's lifetime, and had since mysteriously
disappeared, men knew not by what means, in the Tower of London. In
an interesting letter written probably in the previous year, the King
charges the authorities of this thoroughfare city to provide horses for
the royal messengers.
"Forasmoche," he says, "as we have appointed and ordeined certain of
our servants to lye in diverse places and townes betwix us and the
west parties of this our royaume for the hasty conveiaunce of tydings
and of all other things for us necessarie to have knowledge of, we
therefore wol and desire and also charge you that, if any of oure seid
servants comyng by you shal nede any horses for thair hasty spede to
or from us, ye wil see them shortly for to be provided therof for
thair redy money. And also if it fortune any of them to travell from
you by nyght that than ye will see that they may have guydes and that
they shalbe suffisauntly rewarded for thair labors. And that ye faile
not to doo your effectual diligence herein as we trust you, and as we
may undrestande the redynesse and good will that ye have to please
us."[325] There is an undertone of threat underlying these last few
words, shewing maybe something of the anxiety the King felt concerning
the loyalty of the citizens. But the inhabitants were decidedly worth
conciliating, and Richard wrote very cordially in the last year of his
reign praising the "sadness and circumspect wisdoms" of the mayor and
his brethren in allaying debate, and acknowledging their "auctorite
to provide, make and establisshe ordenaunces and rules ... for the
vniversall wele and pollitique guiding of" the said city.[326]
It seems that this cordiality was wasted on the men of Coventry, so
gladly did they welcome King Richard's rival, the victor of Bosworth,
when he took up his lodging at the Bull, in Smithford Street, after the
battle.[327] The wardens' accounts record payments made "for brede, ale
and wyn and other vitailes that was hadde to Maister Onleys, he then
beyng mair, at the comyng of Kyng Henre," the most expensive items of
the account being "i pype claret wyn iii li., i pype redde wyn iii
li.," with "xx motons," "ii oxen," and 7 "stockfishes," the price of
which made a total of £4, 13s. 6d. It is true that the citizens, with
their old supreme indifference to political party, also supplied bread
and ale "to the feld of Kyng Richard,"[328] and one of their number
fought, we know not on which side, at Bosworth, for the accounts record
that 2s. 6d. was paid by the Corpus Christi guild "towards the hurt
that Thomas Maideford had in the fylde." Two years after Henry kept S.
George's feast at Coventry, and also, like his predecessor, saw on S.
Peter's day later on in the year (June 29) a performance of the famous
mystery plays.
A great council was held at this time in the city, and the Archbishop
of Canterbury and other bishops read in the minster the papal
bulls, affirming Henry's right of succession, and threatening with
excommunication all such as should rebel against him.[329] The King was
still at Coventry when he heard that the Earl of Lincoln, a Yorkist,
with help from Burgundy, had landed in Lancashire to support the claim
of Lambert Simnel, whom historians call "the organ-maker's son," but
who gave himself out to be the son of the duke of Clarence. After the
defeat of the rebels at Stoke, near Newark, Simnel, as all the world
knows, became a scullion in the royal kitchen. The annals record that
another pretender, Thomas Harrington, who also called himself the son
of Clarence, was beheaded in this year "on the cunduit by the Bull,"
and was buried at the Grey Friars'.[330] At the King's second visit at
S. Peter's-tide he lodged with Robert Onley, who had been mayor when
the battle of Bosworth was fought, and conferred on him the honour of
knighthood.[331] After Simnel's rising had been crushed, the good folk
no doubt expected to enjoy an era of peace, and in the following year
the churchwardens of S. Michael's, and other well-disposed people, "for
joy brought to S. Michael's a great bell, and called it Jesus Bell."
Lollardry had never died out, and it flamed up anew when the land was
at peace. In 1485 Foxe records that various people of Coventry were
"troubled for religion," and compelled to recant, though not without
injunction to penance.[332] The annals tell us they bore faggots about
the city on the market day, the dread of fire being no doubt more
convincing to the suspected heretics than the bishop's logic. But
in the next generation both men and women had strength to endure to
the end. In 1511 Bishop Blythe held a "Court of Heresy" at Maxstoke,
but the accused saved themselves by abjuration, and went through
the form of bearing faggots throughout the city. All were not thus
to be delivered, however, and a persistent heretic, Joan Ward, who
had performed this penance, was handed over to the secular arm to be
burned. Seven suffered in the Little Park at Coventry this year (1512),
say the city annals (differing in date from that given by Foxe in his
account of the "Seven Godly Martyrs burnt at Coventry"), but one, who
was not staunch enough for martyrdom, recanted, and did penance "on a
pipe head," holding a faggot on his shoulder while his comrades were
burning.[333]
Henry's frequent appeals for money must have somewhat lessened the
goodwill the Coventry men bore him for his frequent visits[334] and
complimentary membership of the city guilds. It was in 1500 that he and
his Queen became a brother and sister of the Trinity fraternity.
Echoes reach us of the wars he undertook, which after vast
preparations and much ingathering of money, usually ended in a truce
or peace. We hear of the depredations of the King of Scots, who in
1496 broke the truce, crossed the border, and after doing all "the
harme and crueltee to men, woman, and children ... that he coulde to
th'uttermuch of his power," returned in great haste over Tweed, a
crossing which occupied him but six or seven hours, whereas in coming
over the river two whole days had been taken up.[335] The insult was to
be avenged, and two of the most expert men of the city were summoned
to meet at a great council to confer upon this matter. The conference
naturally ended in a demand for a loan. Henry had in Richard Empson,
who succeeded Boteler in the recorder's office, a servant well able
to aid him in extorting money from his loyal Coventry subjects. No
doubt the citizens were most unwilling to part with their substance.
One Richard Smith, by an appeal to the King's "ffader of Derby," the
husband of Lady Margaret, and by his "importune and dissimuled sute,"
managed to gain an abatement of the sum he had originally agreed on,
so that others of the city who knew of Smith's wealth were "greatly
discouraged" at the inequality of the assessment. Empson was to
proceed, said King Henry, as he thought fit, an injunction which may
be construed to mean that he was to get all the money he could out of
Richard Smith for the King's use.[336]
Yet the citizens prospered no doubt under Henry's firm and sagacious
rule, and when they recorded his death chronicler-fashion in the _Leet
Book_, it is with some appearance of regret. In "this year," the
account begins, "dyed king Henry the VIIth, the xxii day of April,
... at Rychemount ... and was brought to London in to Pollys[337] with
many nobles of the realme and grete nombre of torches, and a grete
nombre of peple both on horsbak and a fote. And after iii dayes beying
in Pollys he was brought to Westmynster, and ther he lieth and his
quene Elizabeth with him in a newe chapell, which he causid to be made
in his lyffe, on whoos saule Jhesu have mercy. And his son kyng Henry
the VIIIth was crownyd the same yere at Westmynster the Sonday next
after Midsomer day."[338]
If the father had chastised the men of Coventry with whips, the son was
to chastise them with scorpions. Loans and subsidies were the order of
the day, for the great treasure gathered together by Henry VII. was
quickly dissipated by his successor. In 1524 a hundred and ninety-four
persons advanced to Henry a hundred and fifty pounds eleven shillings
by way of loan,[339] and this is only a single example of what was then
a very common arrangement. But the citizens could ill bear the pressure
of increased taxation. For some time their prosperity had been waning,
for foreign competition had begun to tell upon the English cloth
manufacture.[340] Discontent and divisions were rife among them as in
the preceding century. During years of dearth the common lands had been
ploughed up, and when the dearth was over--when, "thanks be now to
almighty God," as the _Leet Book_ says, "corn is comen to good plente
and to easy and reasonable price," the ploughing was still continued,
and the cattle of the common folk deprived of pasture.
In 1525 the citizens rose, after their old practice, to resist the
enclosure of the common lands. On "Ill Lammas Day," say the annals,
"... the commons of Coventre rose and pulled down the gates and hedges
of the grounds inclosed, and they that were in the cittie shutt the
Newgate against the chamberlain and their company. The mayor was
almost smothered in the throng; he held with the commons, for which he
was carried as prisoner to London; he was put out of his office and
Mr. John Humphrey served out his year." A special commission under
the Marquis of Dorset was appointed to try the rioters. Thirty-seven
prisoners were sent to Warwick and Kenilworth Castles, and seven to
the Marshalsea.[341] Some suffered at the pillory, others after long
imprisonment were pardoned by the King on the occasion of the Pope's
jubilee.[342] But the rulers of the city were highly unpopular, and
frequent "slanders" were proclaimed against them.[343]
The annals record the discovery of the wildest schemes, which sprang,
no doubt, from the misery of the people. In 1523 two men, Pratt and
Sloth, were arrested in Coventry on the charge of treason. They
confessed that their purpose was to kill the mayor and his brethren,
rob S. Mary's Hall, where the common chest was kept, and take
Kenilworth Castle. They were taken to London for judgment, but executed
at Coventry, and their remains figured on the city gates.[344] The
next year a further scheme came to light. This time the King's subsidy
was the object at which the plunderers aimed; it was to be stolen from
the collectors on the highway to London; the conspirators proposed
to seize Kenilworth Castle and to fight there for their lives. These
men, Phillips, a schoolmaster, Pickering, clerk of the King's larder,
and Anthony Manville, gentleman, were hanged, drawn and quartered at
Tyburn.[345]
The "King's Proceedings" of 1536 undoubtedly intensified the misery of
the citizens. The monastery was dissolved by the royal commissioners;
the cathedral church defaced and its roof pulled off, and the lead,
worth £647, stacked within the desecrated building;[346] the house
of the Franciscans razed "because the poor people lay so sore upon
it;[347] and all monastic property seized into the King's hand."
Dugdale, quoting Hales' letter to the Protector Somerset, attributes to
the dissolution the state of decay and misery into which the city had
fallen in the third year of Edward VI. "There were not at that time,"
the letter runs, "more than 3,000 inhabitants, whereas within memory
there had been 15,000."[348] It is very doubtful whether the high
figure is correct, and certainly the population never sank to so low
as 3,000. In a petition coming from the people of Coventry in 1548 it
is stated that there were "to the number of eleven to twelve thousand
housling people"[349] within the city. But it was the sweeping and
iniquitous act of confiscation, known as the suppression of the guilds
and chantries, rather than the dissolution of the monasteries, which
brought the citizens to the verge of ruin. So extensive was the house
property belonging to the guilds, and so intimately were these bodies
connected with the corporation, that this calamity involved the city
finances in the most terrible confusion. Having no property from which
to draw the money for the annual fee-ferm of £50, one or two persons,
the citizens declared to the Earl of Warwick, were yearly ruined by
the tax levied for its payment.[350] The poorer class--of late years
greatly increased in numbers--were deprived of the guild charities, the
children of a schoolmaster[351] and the less wealthy craftsmen of all
hope of provision for old age and an honourable burial after death.
The burgesses of Lynn and Coventry protested against the confiscation.
There were but two churches in the city, the latter declared, "wherein
God's service is done, whereof the one, that is to say, the church of
Corpus Christi, was specially maintained of the revenues of such guild
lands as had been given heretofore by divers persons to that use....
If therefore now by the act the same land should pass from them, it
should be a manifest cause of the utter desolation of the city." For
the people, the petitioners declared, "when the churches were no longer
supported, nor God's service done therein, and the other uses and
employments of those lands omitted, should be of force constrained to
abandon the city and seek new dwelling places."[352] This energetic
protest was not without its effect. The citizens were permitted to
purchase back the guild lands for the sum of £1315, 1s. 8d., a very
large amount in those days,[353] which, in spite of their poverty, they
were enabled to gather together.
Once more in Mary's reign, January 31, 1554, when Coventry closed
its gates against Lady Jane Grey's father, the Duke of Suffolk, the
city became of strategic importance. The city failed to rise, and the
Protestant cause in the midlands was for the moment lost. May be the
citizens regretted their inertia in the years that followed when in
1556 Laurence Saunders and Robert Glover, martyrs, were led out to die
in the Little Park. Of Glover, it is said that he remained "lumpish,"
being dull of spirit, and fearing that the Lord had withdrawn His
favour from him. But a change overtook him on his way to the stake, so
that he clapped his hands with joy, "seeming rather to be risen from
some deadly danger to liberty and life, than as one passing out of the
world by any pains of death."
[Illustration]
By this time a royal visit had ceased to be a political event, it
became merely an occasion for splendour, or an act of courtesy.
Elizabeth visited the city in 1565, being lodged at Mr Hales' at the
Whitefriars, and was greeted with much courtier-like compliment by the
recorder, but the reception given to her has none of the significance
which attaches to the welcome, say, of Margaret of Anjou. Little
remains of Whitefriars save the east wing of the cloister with its
fine groined roof of the fifteenth century; but an oriel window on
the western side is still called after Queen Elizabeth, Coventry saw
the great Queen's rival a few years later, when in 1569, in order to
be out of reach of her confederates in the north, Mary Queen of Scots
was hurriedly conveyed from Tutbury to the city, and placed under a
strong guard. She was confined first in the "Bull Inn," and then in S.
Mary's Hall. Some years later this Queen's grand-daughter, another of
the fascinating, luckless Stuarts, was hurried in November 1605 from
Combe Abbey to Coventry, out of reach of the plotters of the Gunpowder
Treason. This was Elizabeth, later the "winter Queen" of Bohemia. She
was lodged for the nonce with Mr Hopkins of Palace Yard.
[Illustration Queen Mary's Chamber]
The old town house of the Hopkins' family still stands in Earl Street,
having undergone perhaps more vicissitudes than any other well-known
house in Coventry. Once a coaching-inn, known as the "Golden Horse,"
and a ladies' school, kept by one Miss Sheldrake, it was originally
the home of the Hopkins' family, who first appear in Coventry
history in the late fifteenth century. Its best-known member, when
sheriff of Coventry, suffered much by reason of his openly expressed
Protestantism, and fled to Basle in Queen Mary's reign. In this house
James II. held his court in 1687, and here were also lodged Princess
Anne and George of Denmark. It is a beautiful old seventeenth-century
quadrangle with fine exterior lead-work, containing in its upper
storey, a stone chimney-piece of classic type, disfigured by a coat of
paint, while its banqueting-chamber with its finely panelled plaster
ceiling presents a veritable image of decay. The tombs of the family
with their busts and togas, 'mid all the panoply of classic memorial
and woe, appear in the Cappers' chapel of S. Michael's church.
The chief feature of the Stuart period is the strengthening of the
Puritan feeling among the citizens. Either owing to the influence of
the Presbyterian Cartwright, who, during his tenure of the mastership
of Leycester's hospital at Warwick, established his system of church
discipline among the clergy of the county, or from some hereditary
instinct, which had led them to embrace Lollardism under the
Lancastrians, and furnish martyrs for the faggot under the Tudors, the
men of Coventry grew more Puritan year by year. They greatly vexed
the soul of King James in 1611 by refusing to kneel in receiving the
Sacrament, a circumstance the English Solomon never forgot, and ten
years later he refused to grant a new charter to the city until he was
certified by the bishop that the orders of the Church were complied
with.[354] Nor did a lawsuit, which the Prince of Wales carried on
for many years with the corporation about the rent due to him from
the monastery lands as lord of Cheylesmore, improve the understanding
between the people and the Stuart kings. When, however, the famous
writ of ship-money was first issued in 1635, it was not against the
principle, but rather against the unfair assessment of the local tax,
that the men of Coventry murmured. The city, they complained, was no
longer prosperous, nor was it able to pay a sum so disproportionate to
that levied on the remainder of the county. Many were the journeys the
diligent town clerk, Humphrey Burton, undertook ere he could get the
tax lightened for the citizens.[355]
[Illustration: PALACE YARD]
But no readjustment of the assessment of this unpopular tax could win
over the hearts of the Coventry men to King Charles. And when in August
1642, a few days before the royal standard was unfurled at Nottingham,
Charles appeared before the walls and summoned the people of Coventry
to admit him, they refused to allow him to enter the city.[356] This
circumstance rankled sore in the King's mind, and it seems that the
feeling was shared by his son, for when Charles II. came into his own
again, he ordered that the walls of the city where his father had
suffered this check should be demolished. The work of destruction,
which was begun by the Earl of Northampton on July 22, 1662, occupied
nearly 500 men for three weeks and three days,[357] and when it was
over the history of Coventry as a fortification comes to a close.
Moreover, the title of the bishopric was now transposed, running
henceforth not Coventry and Lichfield but Lichfield and Coventry.
King James II., who tampered here as everywhere with the civic
constitution in favour of the Tories, his supporters, paid the city
a peaceful visit in 1687, was lodged in Palace Yard, and touched for
the evil in S. Michael's church, on which occasion "the very galleries
crackt again," the throng was so great.[358] This closes the list
of notable royal visits to Coventry, and the interest shifts to the
varying fortunes of the citizens. Although, as compared with London,
provincial towns ceased to be great centres of trade, Coventry never
gave itself wholly up to stagnation and decay, but always kept alive
some sort of manufacturing activity. At first the settlement of
Huguenot exiles gave an impulse to the silk industry, and for nearly
two centuries the weaving of silk and ribbons was the main employment
of the citizens. In the eighteenth century the manufacture of watches
was introduced,[359] but it has been reserved for our own day to see
the city again put on that busy, eager, thriving look which must have
distinguished it under the later Plantagenets. The cycle manufacture
has won back for the city some of the prosperity it once enjoyed. But
nothing can bring back the pomp and grandeur and the semi-independence
of mediæval times; neither can the modern builder lend it any of the
consistent beauty of the architecture of the Middle Ages. Still, unlike
Abingdon, Winchester, or S. Alban's, it is a town with a present to
work in, as well as a past on which to look back. As for the future,
who can tell?
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 278: _Leet Book_, 322.]
[Footnote 279: They declared that Cheylesmore was "seyntwary," _i.e._
sanctuary. On the evils of rival jurisdictions, and the consequent
escape of offenders fleeing from town justice, see Green, i. 311.]
[Footnote 280: _Leet Book_, 326.]
[Footnote 281: _i.e._ umpire.]
[Footnote 282: _Leet Book_, 331.]
[Footnote 283: Madox, _Firma Burgi_, 217.]
[Footnote 284: The King was at Coventry at Christmas 1467, doubtless to
keep an eye on Warwick's movements (Ramsay, ii. 327).]
[Footnote 285: _Leet Book_, 343. The mayor, William Saunders, dyer,
gave £5 to the collection of money for the soldiers, so that poor
people might be spared (_Ib._, 344). Either owing to the fact that the
cause was unpopular, or that the people were weary of war, soldiers
could not be had under 10d. a day. The air at this time was filled with
rumours; one John Baldwin, cordwainer, of Dartmouth, had been committed
to ward within the city for delivering treasonable letters in England,
though he did it out "of innocence and simpleness," being unaware of
their contents (_Ib._, 340).]
[Footnote 286: The first commission of array, dated Stamford, July 5,
urged the citizens to send 100 archers against the rebels. The second
(Newark, July 10) bade them hasten their preparations and make no
risings or assemblies (_Ib._, 341, 343).]
[Footnote 287: See Oman, _Warwick the King-maker_.]
[Footnote 288: _Leet Book_, 342.]
[Footnote 289: A manifesto, issued July 12, calling upon all "true
subjects to join Warwick in presenting certain articles of petition to
the king" (_v._ Ramsay, ii. 337), is not mentioned in the _Leet Book_.
The citizens of Coventry did not, it seems, join Warwick, they sent men
to Edward (_Leet Book_, 345-6).]
[Footnote 290: _Leet Book_, 346.]
[Footnote 291: Ramsay, ii. 343; Oman, _Warwick_, 189. Oman says Olney
in Northamptonshire.]
[Footnote 292: "Item XIIo die Augusti eodem anno dominus le revers
(Lord Rivers), tune thesaurarius Anglie, fuit decollatus apud Gosford
grene, et dominus Johannes Wodvyle, filius ejus, similiter" (_Leet
Book_, 346).]
[Footnote 293: _Leet Book_, 354.]
[Footnote 294: Ramsay, ii. 350.]
[Footnote 295: Corp. MS.; see below, p. 152.]
[Footnote 296: _Leet Book_, 355. Troops went from Coventry to support
Edward in 1469 and 1470. On both these occasions the men took 12d.
a day. But the next year, when the Lancastrians were ruling and a
war with Burgundy was in prospect, only 6d. a day was given to the
soldiers. Was the Lancastrian cause and war with Burgundy popular then?]
[Footnote 297: The square brackets enclose words which are missing in
the MS. The records were hastily written at the time, and are much
mutilated (_Leet Book_, 358).]
[Footnote 298: Welles, leader of the revolt in Lincolnshire.]
[Footnote 299: Jasper Tudor, half-brother to Henry VI.]
[Footnote 300: Thomas Neville, natural son of Lord Fauconberg.]
[Footnote 301: Query? They landed at Dartmouth and Plymouth.]
[Footnote 302: Hastings.]
[Footnote 303: Burgundy.]
[Footnote 304: Archbishop Neville.]
[Footnote 305: Not quite correct. Henry VI. was taken by the Yorkists,
July 1465. Hence he had only been in prison five years.]
[Footnote 306: S. Paul's.]
[Footnote 307: Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, the "Butcher," beheaded
October 18, at Tower Hill.]
[Footnote 308: Widow, first of the Duke of Bedford, and then of Lord
Rivers.]
[Footnote 309: Sanctuary.]
[Footnote 310: _Leet Book_, 362.]
[Footnote 311: _Ib._, 364.]
[Footnote 312: _Leet Book_, 366. 33s. was paid to gunners, to "riders
in the country and watchmen."]
[Footnote 313: Holinshed, iii. 682.]
[Footnote 314: _Leet Book_, 367.]
[Footnote 315: Dugdale, i. 143. In the _Leet Book_ (370-1) there is the
record of a collection evidently made for this fine.]
[Footnote 316: _Leet Book_, 381.]
[Footnote 317: Corp. MS. (Not in Mr. J.C. Jeaffreson's catalogue.) See
also _Leet Book_, 381.]
[Footnote 318: _Leet Book_, 393. It must be remembered that S. George,
according to legend, was born at Coventry. See _Seven Champions_. S.
George's day is April 23. All the characters of the pageant are taken
from the shearmen and tailors' play. See below, chap. xv.]
[Footnote 319: _Leet Book_, 393.]
[Footnote 320: _Ib._, 405.]
[Footnote 321: _Ib._, 407.]
[Footnote 322: Harl. MS. 6,388 f. 23.]
[Footnote 323: _Leet Book_, 409 _sqq._]
[Footnote 324: Ramsay, ii. 535.]
[Footnote 325: Corp. MS. A. 79, i. 8. Written from Burton Monastery,
April 2.]
[Footnote 326: _Leet Book_, 523-4.]
[Footnote 327: Fretton, _Mayors of Coventry_, 12. They presented him
with £100 and a cup.]
[Footnote 328: _Leet Book_, 530-2. It is not quite certain that the
words are to be understood as implying that the citizens fed Richard's
soldiers.]
[Footnote 329: Gardiner, _Henry VII._, 53.]
[Footnote 330: Harl. MS. 6,388, f. 24.]
[Footnote 331: _Ib._]
[Footnote 332: Foxe, _Martyrs_ (1823), xxxix.]
[Footnote 333: Harl. MS. 6,388, f. 28. The more probable date is 1519
or 1520. In 1521, the next year, one Robert Silkeb was taken and burnt
for not believing in transubstantiation (_Ib._).]
[Footnote 334: He twice visited the city to see the Corpus Christi
plays (Sharp, _Mysteries_, 5).]
[Footnote 335: Corp. MS. A. 79, f. 17.]
[Footnote 336: Corp. MS. A. 79, f. 20.]
[Footnote 337: S. Paul's.]
[Footnote 338: _Leet Book_, 625-6.]
[Footnote 339: Corp. MS. B. 60.]
[Footnote 340: In Henry VIII.'s reign the woollen manufacture of
Norwich was at a low ebb; the principal cause of this was the
manufacture abroad, which led to the export of the raw material to
Flanders (Burnley, _Hist. of Wool and Wool Combing_, 66-7).]
[Footnote 341: Harl. MS. 6,388, f. 30.]
[Footnote 342: Corp. MS. A. 79, f. 27.]
[Footnote 343: _Ib._, f. 28.]
[Footnote 344: Harl. MS. 6,388, f. 29_a._]
[Footnote 345: _Ib._]
[Footnote 346: Gasquet, _Monasteries_, ii. 427.]
[Footnote 347: _Ib._ ii., 265.]
[Footnote 348: Dugdale, _Warw._ i. 146.]
[Footnote 349: Harl. MS. 6,195, f. 7.]
[Footnote 350: Vol. of correspondence, Corp. MS. A. 79, f. 63.]
[Footnote 351: The schoolmaster's salary was discharged by the Trinity
guild.]
[Footnote 352: Harl. MS. 6,195, f. 7. See also Ashley, pt. ii. 148. The
church referred to is the now demolished one dedicated to S. Nicholas,
which was supported by the Corpus Christi guild.]
[Footnote 353: Corp. MS. B. 75.]
[Footnote 354: Sharp, _Antiq._, 18.]
[Footnote 355: Burton on Ship Money, Corp. MS. A. 35.]
[Footnote 356: Poole, _Coventry_, 75.]
[Footnote 357: Poole, 80.]
[Footnote 358: Sharp, _Antiq._, 22.]
[Footnote 359: Poole, 359-363.]