drawne out with cobweb lawn, a stomacher of white satin lined with
sarcenet laced with gold lace ... the bodyes of carnation satten.
Another year she had a gown of carnation velvet with silk lace, cut,
and drawn out with cobweb lawn and tinsel, sleeves of white satin laced
with gold. The price of the material is given in this series. In 1590
she had a blue velvet dress, seven yards, at 24_s._ the yard; the next
year a carnation velvet of same price, richly adorned, sleeves of
white satin and gold lace; a loose gown of black damask, with a pair
of sleeves of tawny satin. In 1592 there is “a gowne of tawny silk
grograine at 16_s._ the yard, sleeves of white satin”; next year a
yellow velvet again. In 1594 we find
a haire coloured velvet gown and hanging sleeves wrought with silver,
white satin showes laced with gold lace, a gown of white taffeta lined
with satin tincel; a gowne of willow-coloured velvet at 22_s._ a yard.
She was in flame-coloured silk in 1596, next year in black velvet and
black silk, and the following year in purple tuft taffeta, as if she
had been in mourning. In 1600, after all the honourable ladies of the
Court, appears “Thomasina our Woman Dwarf,” and the supply allowed to
her is noted. The following volume in this series seems to have been
lost.
But in another series she is entered still as “Thomazina Muliercula,”
43-44 Elizabeth, on which occasion she had a “robe of satin tawny with
sleeves of cut satin lined with gold,” etc. This series runs through
five volumes, but I am afraid of giving references, they have changed
so often since I began to go through the whole of the books twelve
years ago. They used to be L.C. II. 22, etc. I thought the names which
I have selected worth noting, as they may hereafter explain some
recondite allusions. I remember having seen “Monarcho” mentioned in
contemporary literature, but forget the reference.[98] I have found no
further notices of William Shenton, nor any further information about
Thomasina. She disappears from the Lord Chamberlain’s books with her
royal mistress, and she is resuscitated nowhere else. She evidently did
nothing to distinguish herself for good or bad. But she lived longer
in her office than any of the others, and she adds a feature to our
picture of Court life during the later years of Elizabeth.
_“Athenæum,” 16th August 1913._
FOOTNOTES:
[97] In the account of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation is mentioned “Mrs.
Snow, five yards scarlet,” among the “Extraordinary women of the Privy
Chamber when the Queen pleaseth to call for them.”
[98] Mr. J. F. in the “Athenæum,” 30th August 1913, reminds me it is in
“Love’s Labour’s Lost,” iv, 1, l. 103: “A phantasime, a Monarcho, and
one that makes sport to the Prince,” and Mr. Littledale refers me to
Scot’s “Discouerie of Witchcraft,” 1584, “The Italian whom he called
The Monarch,” p. 42.
XXVIII
THE ROLL OF COVENTRY
THE ARREST OF PRINCE HENRY
There is a delightful roll in Birmingham Public Library, not like those
massive lesson-books called in the Record Office, “Recusant Rolls,”
“Coram Rege Rolls,” etc., but a little roll, not six inches in breadth,
and not very long, though it records notes on the history of Coventry
during three hundred years.
It is entered in the Catalogue of Warwickshire MSS. as “No. 115,915.
Citizens of Coventry with right to wear swords, 1352-1650.” Though this
can hardly be called incorrect, it is, as a title, certainly incomplete
and misleading; for the little roll is _a list of the Bailiffs or
Mayors of Coventry_ during that period. Very often it is only a bare
list, and as none of the names of the office-holders are very striking,
I did not transcribe them altogether, finding a lack of consecutive
interest in a string of mere names.
But against some of these names are remarks, records of the most
notable events of the year of each man’s mayoralty, or what the writer
took to be such. I am not about to discuss the position or office of
the writer, or even to attempt to fix the exact date at which the roll
was written, if it did not grow through the ages. It is at least old.
But the writer seems to have been a selector and a copyist, because
he is not certain in the reckoning of the regnal years, and generally
renders them as a year too late. I give here the double date of the
years of a mayoralty. I am only about to record those remarks which
can, in general, be understood in the light of contemporary history,
and occasionally reflect some light upon its pages.
The Roll begins with a bare list of names from 1352. The first which is
annotated is:
1403-4, John Smither. In this year a Parliament was held at
Coventry....[99]
1405-6, William Attleborrowe. In his year the Commons of Coventry
rose....
1406-7, John Boutener. Ther was the pauement made in the city....
1412-3, John Horneby. Hee arrested the Prince in the city of
Coventry....[100]
1423-4, Henry Peytoe. The Crosse was beegunn in the Cross Cheaping his
yeare.
1424-5, Thomas Walgraue. This yeare the hermite preached in the King’s
parke, where was a greate audience.
1425-6, John Braytoft. Hee arested the Earle of Warwick and brought
him to the gaole in Coventry....
1433-4, Richard Sharpe. In this yeare began the new workes in St.
Michell Church from the Battlement to the top.
1434-5, John Michell. In his yeare came the small strikes....
1444-5, 1445-6, Richard Braytoft. Maior two years, and St. Mary Hall
was robed.
1451-2, Richard Boyes. In his yeare the King maid this a county.
1452-3, John Willgraue and Reignold his brother were the first
Sheriffs here, also heard masse at St. Michael’s Church....
1457-8, Richard Braytoft. In his year the King and Queen came to
Coventry....
1460-1, William Kempe. The King, Queen, and Prince came to Coventry,
and held the Parliament there....
1467-8, John Garner. In his yeare the King Edward keep his Christmas
heere....
1469-70, William Dawes. King Edward held his Councell in Coventry....
1471-2, William Stafford. Now was one Clapham beheaded, and his head
was sett on Bablake Gate.
1472-3, John Bett. The sword taken from the Maior and the yerdes from
the Sheriffes; the city was faine to give 500 marks to redeeme the
Franchises.
1473-4, John Thornton. In this yeare Kent rose, sett fire on London
Bridge; the King took the Captaines and beheaded them in Coventry....
1476-7, Robert Onley. Prince Edward came to Coventry, which gave
100_l._ and a cup; at Easter came there and kept St. George’s Feast,
and afterwards his Christmas here at Chellesmore House....
1479-80, Robert Bornell. The king keep his Christmas at Chellesmore
House.
1480-1, William Marshall. In this yeare died in thie city and the
Liberties thereof 3400 people....
1482-3, Richard Collenes. In this yeare the Commons of Coventry
rose....
1485-6, Henry Keball. Hee maide the Bakers fly to Bagginton Castle....
1497-8, John Dove, who died in his mairalty.
1498-9, William Ford. In his yeare was much rising in Coventry and
Daventrye.
1499-1500, Thomas Bond. Prince Arthur came to Coventry, and had a
hundred pounds and a cup given to him....
1512-3, John Strong. In his yeare King Henry the 8 and Queen Katherine
cam to Coventry, wheare they were receved with 2 paggenes and a Stage
Play, and logged at the Priory.
1513-4, Richard Horsall. In this yeare one [should be “seven”] was
burned in Littell Parke. There was given to the Marquise one hundred
men with horse by the citty. The ould Crosse in the Crosse Cheaping
pulled down and new built....
1524-5, Julimus Nethermill. This yeare Pratt and Sloth were araigned
of treason, and theire heads and quarters sett upon the gates of
Coventry....
1526-7, Nicholas Haines. An evell Lammas Day.[101]
1527-8, Henry Wall. The Lady Mary came to Coventry, was royally
receved at the Priory, staid two dayes, at whose departure the city
gave her 100 marks and a kerchiefe....
1536-7, Robert Keruin. The Dukes of Norfolke and Richmond came to
Coventry, were receved by the Crafts in Liveries and a Banquett on
horseback....
1552-3, Richard Hunt. In this year the Magistrates of Coventry made a
great seale of wood in the Park, and made it a pasture....
1563-4, Thomas Ryley. In this yeare was a great plague in Coventry....
1565-6, Edward Brownell. In this yeare Queen Elizabeth came to
Coventry and lay there three nights, and had given to her a purse and
a hundred pounds in itt....
1568-9, John Harford. This Harford in a quarrel betwixt one Heyle and
him about there two dogges stroke the said Heyle soe that he died
within one fortnight, for which fact he was put out of his mairalty
and Mr. John Sanders served out the rest of his time....
1577-8, Robert Letherborough.... [His daughter married Thomas
Shakespeare.]
1596-7, John Whitehed, who died in his Mairalty, and one Breers
searued out his yeare.
1597-8, John Rogerson. A good man....
1601-2, Richard Butler. In this yeare the Library at Coventry was
begun to be builded....
1604-5, William Wheate. In this year was a great plague in Coventry.
1605-6. Mathew Collines.[102]...
1616-7, Samuell Myles. In this year came King James with a greate
traine to this citty and laye heere one night, and had a cup of gould
given him of the value of one hundred and sixty pounds....
1622-3, Thomas Potter. Hee caussed the tops of St. Michael’s Steeple
and Trinity to bee new sett up and painted.
1623-4, John Thomas. A Dutchman....
1625-6. William Burbage....
1649-50. Samuel Snell.
The Roll ends without any concluding remark. Now the Leet-Book of
Coventry has been edited (or at least full selections from it from 1384
to 1590) by Miss Dormer Harris, and though it gives very much fuller
information concerning the history of Coventry, some items occur in
this Roll which do not occur in the Leet-Book. “Life in an Old English
Town: a History of Coventry,” also by Miss Dormer Harris, gives very
many more details, but misses some of these.
There remains a special charm in this little roll compared to the
comparatively commonplace quartos which give even fuller information. A
copyist, about the end of the seventeenth century, compiled a sort of
history of the Mayors of Coventry (Harleian MS. 6388, f. 15).
While many of these short notes have a special value of their own, we
may be allowed to express a particular interest in the record of John
Hornby, here given as 1412-13.
Many able articles have been written, and speeches made, about the
possibility or impossibility of a Lord Chief Justice committing a
prince to prison. Many researches have been undertaken, in the Record
Office and elsewhere, to try to discover any historical basis for the
story regarding Prince Hal and the Lord Chief Justice Gascoigne, which
so delighted Shakespeare that he added to it. But all researches have
been in vain. No fact that in any way supports the tradition has been
preserved. The story itself has been traced no further back than to Sir
Thomas Elyot, who refers to it without giving the name of the Justice.
Here, in this little Coventry Roll, it is recorded, as _the_ event
of John Hornby’s year, that “he arrested the Prince in the city of
Coventry.” We should like to have been told more, and to have heard the
cause and consequence of the arrest.
This is the only trustworthy story of any _arrest_ of Prince Henry,
and it is possible that the action of Mayor John Hornby, as Justice of
the Peace in right of his office, became the foundation for the legend
concerning the anonymous Lord Chief Justice. We know from other sources
that Prince Henry was a good deal in Coventry when acquiring military
experience in the Welsh wars, that he lay at Cheylesmore House in the
immediate vicinity, and he probably took his amusements in Coventry.
It may only be Shakespeare’s imagination which fixed the scene of his
convivial gatherings with Falstaff and his train at the Boar’s Head
Tavern in East Cheap. It is possible--indeed, more than likely--that
these were carried on at Coventry, and that some breach of the peace
there forced the courageous Mayor to do justice even against his
popular prince.
We know that Shakespeare, to glorify Henry V, makes him retain the
Lord Chief Justice Gascoigne in office on his accession, as a proof
of his recognition of courage and directness in the administration of
justice. This, as Dr. Blake Odgers pointed out, in an address to the
Shakespeare League, was proof positive that Bacon did not write the
play of “Henry IV, Part II,” at least. He _knew better_. For Gascoigne
had been a Gray’s Inn man, and so was Bacon, and the latter knew that
the young king Henry V did _not_ appoint Gascoigne to be his Lord Chief
Justice. The records of Gray’s Inn prove that, and also the epitaph
on Gascoigne’s tombstone, where it was clearly stated that he “had
been Lord Chief Justice to King Henry the IV.” That epitaph would not
have been silent about King Henry V if he had reappointed his father’s
choice in the office of Lord Chief Justice.
It seems ungracious to dispute the credit of Shakespeare as an
historian; but truth is better than fiction. The testimony that Prince
Hal _was_ arrested at Coventry may stimulate our imaginations anew, and
lead us to further research in fresh directions.
One other point may be noted. It is generally supposed that the local
records say nothing about the intended duel between Bolingbroke
and Mowbray. But this authority gives the suggestive idea that the
combatants were received by the crafts in liveries, and had a banquet
“on horseback”! King Richard II himself is not referred to.
Each of the short notes might be dwelt on and expanded indefinitely. As
they stand, they only show us what struck the scribe as the note of the
year.
“_Athenæum,” 8th October 1910._
PS. A captious correspondent writing the following week was very
scornful about my calling this a “delightful little roll” when there
were other manuscripts, (which I had mentioned), about my publishing
extracts from it, indeed, as it had already been printed. Some form
of it had appeared in Dr. Thomas’s edition of Dugdale, p. 147. But
the printing referred to had been sandwiched irrelevantly into an
appendix to a little-known book, “Fordun’s Scotochronicon,” by Hearne,
and he certainly had _not_ taken this little roll as his copy. His
recension is indeed different in some details from Harl. MS. 6388,
and also from Add. MS. 11364. Neither of these seem to have been known
to my critic, who thought he made a point, that a third MS., called
the City Annals, containing similar entries, is to be found among
the muniments of Coventry from 1350 to 1566, the continuation from
that year having been torn away and replaced in a later hand. This,
however, Miss Dormer Harris had mentioned in a note in her “Life in an
Old English Town.” But the objections were made only to lead up to the
discussion of the arrest of the prince. He did not consider the story
at Coventry trustworthy, and blamed me for suggesting even that it
might have given the idea to Shakespeare. He considered Shakespeare’s
story incorrect, and only invented by Sir Thomas Elyot. Such a fact
must have attracted attention, and must have been mentioned in some of
the records of the time. But a most exhaustive search had been made,
without avail, therefore it must be supposed to have been taken from
the story of Edward II, who when a prince was expelled from Court for
half a year for insulting one of his father’s ministers, though he was
not imprisoned for the offence, as the Rev. A. J. Church noted in his
“Henry V.”
The critic was desirous of supporting the character of Prince Hal,
and added that the day after he succeeded his father he caused to be
summoned to his first Parliament “Sir William Gascoigne Knight, Chief
Justice of our Lord the King, assigned to hold pleas before our Lord
the King, before the King himself.” He had also a grant of four bucks
and does annually for life, which shows that the King did reappoint
him, and his intention was to keep him in office. It must have been,
therefore, at his own request that his patent was not renewed. To this
I replied, pointing out that Henry V summoned his first Parliament on
23rd March, and appointed a new Lord Chief Justice on the 29th, _the
only one of the Judges replaced_.
Miss Dormer Harris joined in the discussion as to the truth of the
record, and added that there were two Ardens, John and Geoffrey,
mentioned in the Leet Book in 1461; that it noted in 1545 “Shakespere’s
house in the new rent vacant the yeir 2/6” that a “Richard Shackspeare
of Hinkly and Jane Erdsone of the cittie of Coventry widow were marryed
before Mr. Matthew Smith Justis of peace the 20th of August 1656” (Holy
Trinity Register).
Lastly, the citizens in Hornby’s year, Candlemas 1412 to Candlemas
1413, lent £100 to the Prince (Leet Book 61).
Sir James H. Ramsay wrote to say historical students were much indebted
to me for having published the extracts, especially the one about the
Prince, which shows that a Prince _could_ be arrested. The original
disputant wrote again against my “little roll,” as compared to the
“other rolls” (which are paper quartos), and then turned his attention
to demolishing Sir James Ramsay’s remarks,
The small quarto, Harl. 6388, was bought in 1690 by Mr. Humfrey Wanley,
with accounts of Coventry and its Mayors from 1348 till the Revolution.
The Collector’s name seems to have been Miles Flint, who gives the
following account of his authorities: “This book was taken out of
Manuscripts. The one written by Mr. Christopher Owen Mayor of this
Citty, which contains the charter of Walter de Coventre, concerning
ye Comons &c. to Godfrey Leg, Mayor 1637. The other beginning at the
36 Mayor of this citty and continued by several hands, and lately by
Edmund Palmer, late of this Citty Counsellor, till Mr. Yardly late
Mayor 1689 1690; and another written by Mr. Bedford, and collected
out of divers others and continued to Mr. Septimus Bott: and two
others collected by Tho. Potter, and continued to Mr. Robert Beake,
and another written by Mr. Francis Basnett, to the first year of Mr.
Jelliff’s mayoralty and another written by Mr. Abraham Ashley and
continued to Mr. Sep’ Bott; and another written by Mr. Abraham Boune
and Humphrey Wightwick, 1607.” On the title-page is recorded:
“Humphrey Wanley (that is Oneley) bought this of Mr. Tipper, December
17th 1690, price 6_d._” The book notes that--
“Richard Stoke 1356, brought in the good strikes.” John Smith is called
“Smither,” and the Parliament is called a “layman’s parliament.” When
it reaches the special date, it reads, “William Hornebye 1411-12. He
arrested the Prince in the Priory of Coventry. A quarter of wheat sold
for twenty shillings,”
“William Dilcocke, 1412-13. In his year died King Henry.”
The later entries are not dated, and John Yardeley was the last mayor
mentioned.
Add. MS. 11364, “presented by Mr. Joseph Gibbs,” contains:
“A brief History of Ye city of Coventry from Ye most early accounts of
it,” which tells about Leofric and Godiva.[103]
It begins in 1348 the story of the mayors with John War. It gives:
1412. John Horneby. He arrested ye Prince in ye Priory of Coventry.
1512. Richard Horsfell Draper seven burned in little parke and one did
penance for heresy, viz. for hearing ye Lords prayre &c. in English.
1597. John Whitehead and John Breers. (Here is much writing of
scarcity and its causes--great differences from roll.)
1703. Jonah Crynds (the last mayor mentioned).
Miss Dormer Harris, in the year after my paper, brought out her “Story
of Coventry and the Kingdom,” in which she discusses the arrest, from
the point of view of the fact that the later recorded arrest of the
Earl of Warwick can be proved to be an error, and an explicable one.
* * * * *
Mr. Fowler gave me an interesting note which may come in here, as it
may have some bearing on the reality of Shakespeare’s Boar’s Head Inn.
It is from Chancery Inquisitions, Post Mort., Vol. 151, No. 72. London,
1568-9.
Robert Harding held land in the city, including: “... one messuage,
tenement, or tavern, called ‘Le Boares Heade,’ situated and lying in
Eastcheap in the parish of St. Michael in Crooked Lane ... formerly in
the tenure and occupation of John Broke and now of Edward Beltam. He it
was held it of the Lady the Queen ‘in libero Burgagio ciuitatis London
... et valet per annum ... decem Libri.’”
FOOTNOTES:
[99] In Harl. MS. 6388: “The King Sent Process to the Sheriffes that
they should choose no Burgesses nor Knights that had any Knowledge of
the laws of the Realm by reason whereof it was called The Layman’s
Parliament.”
[100] In the same MS., f. 15, there is a transcript of a similar text
with notable differences: “John Hornby arrested the Prince in the
Priory.” (Date a year earlier.) Also Add. MS. 11364.
[101] Referring to the popular risings which commenced at that date.
[102] I noted this name because Francis Collins of Warwick became
Shakespeare’s lawyer, and town clerk of Stratford-upon-Avon after
Thomas Green.
[103] The first note is of Canute’s time and St. Nicholas Church. The
annals proper begin in 1348 with John Ward, Jordan Sheppy, Nicholas
Michell, Richard Freeborne, “William Horne. 1352-3 a drie Summer,
rained not from March till July, and there was a dearth.”
XXIX
THE STRATFORD POET
The Editor[104] has courteously allowed me to reply to his article,
“The Great Stratford Superstition,” as I have studied all the works of
Bacon and Shakespeare, most of the writings concerning the Baconian
Heresy, and have answered the chief of them. The first recorded student
of Shakespeare was a woman, Mrs. Ann Merrick, who, on 21st January
1638, wrote from the country to a friend in London, that she could not
come to town that year, but must content herself “with the _study_
of Shakespeare and the History of Women” (State Papers, Dom. Ser.,
Charles I, 409 (167).) In these two interests, thus early and specially
combined, I follow the lady’s lead.
One short magazine article cannot possibly deal with the subject
exhaustively, therefore I only attempt to make a general protest
against the Editor’s paper, and to illustrate a few of its weaknesses.
“Possession is nine-tenths of the law”; from which proverb it would
seem that the arguments for Bacon’s authorship would require to be ten
times as strong as Shakespeare’s, before they can have a reasonable
chance of ousting the present possessor from his dramatic name and
fame. On the contrary, there is no real _argument_ for putting Bacon
out of the great sphere which he designed for himself, into one
designed by his admirers, but utterly incongruous to his nature and
powers. All his own contemporaries, all his immediate successors,
and all their descendants for 250 years, attributed the plays to
their author, Shakespeare. Guess-work began about the middle of the
nineteenth century, and like a snowball rolling, gradually increased
by external accretion, but not by vital energy. I do not deny that
there are some apparent difficulties and some strange coincidences,
or Baconianism, as a cult, could not have been possible. But these
difficulties depend upon our temporary ignorance, these coincidences
may be explained in a different way from that on which the Baconians
insist.
Francis Bacon was a genius, and a well-trained one. He early saw the
deficiencies of the science and philosophy of his day. His devotees
to-day do not follow his prime advice for conducting investigations
enunciated in his great “Novum Organum,” “to search after negatives” to
any hypothesis they may start. On the contrary, they greedily accept
everything, however unfounded, that tells in the favour of their new
theory, and ignore whatever contradicts their points. No amount of
repetition will make a hazy and unfounded tradition into a fact, and
inferences from unsound premises give no worthy conclusion. I can only
bring forward a few of my facts here, and still fewer of my inferences.
Echoing the cry of old, “Can any good come out of Nazareth?” the
Baconians commence by crying, “Can any good come out of Stratford and
Warwickshire?” and to give weight to the cry, strive to belittle the
place.