Appendix
A RUNDEL CASTLE.—King Alfred’s Will.—The portion from which the text is a translation is thus given in Asser. de Ælfredi Reb. Gestis, fol. 23: “Athelmo, vero fratris mei filio, do villā de Edingburn et de Cumptune et de Erundele, et de Bedingn et de Dinghā, et de Burnham, et de Thumesfelde, et de Aschōgum.”—“Forty-nine Castles are enumerated in Domesday Book; that of Arundel only as existing in the time of Edward the Confessor. Many single towers were built during the Heptarchy and by King Alfred. The Castle of Arundel dates perhaps its true origin from that monarch.”—Dallaway.
“Fama verò tota est ex castro quod Saxonico imperio floruit; et statim ab ingressu Normanorum. Rogerum de Montgomericum restaurasse legimus, qui inde Arundeliæ Comes dictus.”—Camden.
Harold, Earl of Sussex, A.D. 1053.—Ingulph, relating the death of Earl Godwyn at the royal table, adds “Comitatusque Westsaxoniæ Haroldo filio suo datus est”—fol. 510, 540. Hardyng, page 229, after his manner relates the same in two stanzas:—“And as Kynge Edwarde,” &c.
Roger Montgomery, pp. 8, 9.—“Prædictus autem Rogerus de Montegummerici bello Anglico interfuit, et a Willelmo rege Anglorum Comitatus Arundelli et Sálopesberiæ dono áccepit.”—Wilhelm. Gemitens. De Ducib. Normannis. fol. 686. “Rex Gulielmus Rogerio de Monte Gomerici in primis Castrum Arundellum et urbem Cicestram dedit; cui posteà comitatum Scrobesburiæ quæ in monte super Sabrinam fluvium sita est, adjecit. Hic sapiens et moderatus et amator æquitatis fuit, et comitatem sapientum et modestorum dilexit. Tres sapientes clericos Godebaldum, Odolerium, ac Herbertum, diutiùs secum habuit; quorum consilium utiliter paruit,”—p. 254. “Warino autem calvo, carpore parvo, sed animo magno, Aimeriam neptem suam et Præsidatum Scrobesburiæ dedit: per quem Guallos aliosq’ sibi adversantes fortiter oppressit, et provinciam totam sibi commissam pacificavit. Guillelmum cognomento Pantalfum, et Picoldum atque Corbatum filiosque ejus, Rogerium et Rodbertum, aliosque fideles fortissimosq’ viros comitatui suo præfecit; quorum sensu et viribus benigniter ajutus inter maximos optimates maximè effloruit.”—Order. Vital. de Guliel. primo.
His pious retirement from the world and death in the cloisters is thus related by Orderic—the authority referred to in the text:—“Having by the hands of Reginald, then Prior of Shrewsbury, obtained from the house of Cluni, in Burgundy, the coat of St. Hugh, some time abbot there, for himself to put on, he caused himself to be shorne a monk in the said Abbey of Shrewsbury, with the consent of his wife; where it is observed of him, that three days before his death he wholly applied himself to divine conference and devout prayers with the rest of that convent; and died on the sixth of the Kalends of August, 1094.”—Baron. i. 28. “Monachile scema devotus suscepit... et tribus diebus in colloquiis divinis et oratione inter servos Dei permaneit. Tandem Kal. Augusti mortuus est.”—Ord. Vital. p. 708.
Hugh Montgomery, page 9.—The death of this nobleman, as briefly mentioned in the text, is taken from Giraldus Cambrensis, Itin. Camb. p. 194, and thus rendered by Dugdale, Bar. i. 28. “There is in this island of Anglesey a church of St. Teuredaucus the Confessor, in which Earl Hugh, after he had subjugated these parts of Wales, having kennelled his dogs all night, found them every one mad next morning; and that he himself died a miserable death within a month thereafter. For hearing that certain pirates were come to the haven of this island in long-boats, and making haste to oppose their landing, the principal commander of them, called Magnus, standing at the fore end of the boat with a bow in his hand, let flie an arrow at our earl, then armed cap-à-pié, so that no entrance could be made except through his helmet, at the sights for his eyes; but so fatally was the arrow directed, that it passed through his head-piece upon his right eye, and piercing his brain, caused him to fall (from his horse) headlong into the sea.” Girald. Cambrensis erroneously attributes it to Hugh, Earl of Chester, but by all other authorities it is related as having occurred to Hugh Montgomery. Polyd. Virgil. fol. 173, says—“Hugo Comes Salopiæ obvium factus ex ictu sagittæ periit.” After which, “within a few days, his body being earned to Shrewsbury, was there buried in the cloister of the abbey, with great lamentation.”—Dugd. i. 28. Roger Hovedon, fol. 268, mentions his death in nearly the same terms: “Sagitta percussus—interijt.” Also, Speed, fol. 445.
Mabel, Roger Montgomery’s first wife, was the only daughter, and heiress, of William Talvace—grandson of Ivo de Belesmo—a person of great power and note in the time of Richard, Duke of Normandy, with whom he had a large inheritance. But this lady, says the monk of Utica, “caused his abbey to be greatly burthened with quartering of soldiers; for which, and other oppressions exercised towards the nobility, she was murdered in her bed.” By this wife Earl Roger had issue, as briefly mentioned in the text, five sons and four daughters:—Robert de Belesme; Hugh de Montgomery; Roger of Poictou; Philip, a priest; Arnulf, a soldier of fortune, Lord of Dyvet, now Pembrokeshire, who, like his father, was liberal in his benefactions to the church. Of his four daughters, Emma, the eldest, was Abbess of Almanisca; Maud was the wife of Robert de Moreton, half brother to the Conqueror; Mabel married Hugh de Novo Castello; and Sibyl became the wife of Robert Fitz-Hamon, whose name and family have been noticed in our account of Tewkesbury. For his second wife, Earl Roger espoused Adeliza, daughter of Ebrard de Pusaic, and by her had issue one son, called after his grandfather Ebrard, who, entering on a course of ecclesiastical discipline, became one of the chaplains to King Henry I. Of the Countess Adeliza, a monastic writer records the following anecdote:—Being on her first passage by sea, from Normandy to England, there happened so great a storm that the mariners were in imminent danger of shipwreck. A priest, who was the countess’s private chaplain or confessor, and attended her in the voyage, being much wearied with anxiety and watching, fell fast asleep. And lo! while he slept, there stood before him a comely matron, who addressed him in these words: ‘If thy lady would be preserved from the danger of this dreadful tempest, let her vow to God forthwith, that she will build a church to the honour of Sainte Marie Magdalene in the place where she shall first meet the Earl Roger, her husband, in England; and especially where an old hollow oak groweth near a hogstye.’ Now all this, when he woke up, the priest told to his Mistress, who, gladly accepting deliverance on such terms, made her vow accordingly; whereupon the winds were hushed, the sea became tranquil, and she came safely to land with all her attendants. At length, after several days’ journey to meet her husband, she found him near Quadford, hunting in the out-forest, at a certain place where a hollow oak tree, like that described in the vision, was then growing. Relating to him without loss of time what had happened, she so prevailed upon him that he agreed to fulfil her vows, and accordingly built and amply endowed a church in honour of Sainte Marie Magdalene, and gave it to his collegiate chapel in the Castle of Bridgenorth, in Shropshire, one of his many lordships. Like the monk who told his dream to Robert Fitz-Hamon (see Tewkesbury), Adeliza’s confessor—“monachiliter somniavit”—dreamed to good purpose. It is truly remarkable, that, so far as the interests of their order were concerned, these worthy monks always slept with their eyes open—
“By day with praying, plotting, scheming;
By night o’er beads and reliques dreaming;
They still contrived to lay their hand
Upon the fatness of the land.”
The Fitzalan Family, Text, p. 10.—The account of this Norman family is taken from that of Dugdale and the monastic writers, on whose report the genealogy is founded, namely, Ord. Vital., Matth. Paris, &c.; and the reader who may be curious in such matters, will find the whole subject fully detailed in the Baronage, i. p. 314, and Monasticon, vol. i., the sources from which the materials of all the later accounts which we have seen have been taken.
As progenitors of the royal family of Stuart, the claim is supported by Chalmers in his Caledonia, vol. i. p. 572, 573. Alan, the son of Flaald, a Norman, acquired the manor of Oswestrie, in Shropshire, soon after the Conquest—married the daughter of Warine, the famous sheriff of Shropshire—had two sons, Walter and William. Influenced by the Earl of Gloucester, the powerful partizan of his sister the Empress Maud, William seized Shrewsbury in September 1139, and held it for her interest—attended her at Winchester in 1141—adhered to her interests, and was rewarded by her son Henry II. By the marriage of his son with Isabel-de-Say, Clun in Shropshire was added to the Fitzalan estates. Oswestrie, or Oswaldestre, was the original seat of Alan on the Welsh border. Lord Hailes acknowledges that Walter (the son of Alan), who flourished under David I. and his successor Malcolm IV., was indeed the Stewart of Scotland. John Fitzalan, Lord of Clun and Oswestrie, by marrying Isabella, second sister of William de Albini, became Earl of Arundel.
De Albini, p. 9.—William-with-the-Strong-hand.—Dugdale gives the genealogical history of this family in the work above mentioned, vol. i. p. 118. The following anecdote, highly characteristic of the age in which he lived, is narrated with amusing gravity by our old Norroy king-at-arms, as one of the credible adventures in the life of this hero:—“I now come,” says he, “to William, who was called William-with-the-Strong-hand, in regard that, among his valiant exploits, he slew a fierce lion, the occasion of which was thus: It happened that the Queen of France, being then a widow, and a very beautiful woman, became much in love with a knight of that country, who was a comely person, and in the flower of his youth: and because she thought that no man excelled him in valour, she caused a Tournament to be proclaimed throughout her dominions, promising to reward those who should exercise themselves therein, according to their respective merits; and concluding, that if the person whom she so affected should act his part better than others in these military exercises, she might marry him without any dishonour to herself. Hereupon divers gallant men from foreign parts hasting into Paris, amongst others came this our William de Albini, bravely accoutred; and in the tournament excelled all others, overcoming many, and wounding one mortally with his lance, which being observed by the Queen, she became exceedingly enamoured of him, and forthwith invited him to a costly banquet; and afterwards bestowing upon him certain jewels, offered him marriage. But, having plighted his troth to the Queen of England, then (also) a widow, he refused her; whereat she grew so much discontented, that she consulted with her maids how to take away his life; and in pursuance of that design enticed him into a garden, where there was a secret cave, and in it a fierce lion, into which she descended by divers steps under colour of showing him the beast. And when she told him of his fierceness, Albini merely answered, ‘that it was a womanish, and not a manly quality, to be afraid thereof.’ But having him there, by the advantage of a folding door, she thrust him into the lion’s den. Being therefore in this danger, he folded his mantle about his arm, and putting his hand into the mouth of the beast, pulled out his tongue by the root; which done, he followed the Queen to her palace, and gave it to one of her maids to present to her.”—On his return to England, the lion was given him for his arms, and he was thenceforward distinguished as “William-with-the-Strong-hand.” Commenting on this marvellous portion of Albini’s adventures, Vincent expresses regret that the hero did not, when once in, thrust his hand further, so as to catch the lion by the tail and “turn him inside out”—an operation which would certainly have been an improvement on the other, as well as an agreeable addition to the family arms. This valiant act was afterwards, it appears, revived by a royal crusader, and with still better success; for he extracted the ‘lion’s heart at a grasp!’
Text, p. 9. “Illa (Adeliza), rege defuncto, Gulielmum de Albineto in maritum assumpsit, qui cū Matildi Augustæ contrà Stephanum regem studeret, et hoc castrum contrà illum propugnaret, in navatæ operæ præmium Arundeliæ Comitis titulum, à Matilde Augusta Anglorum domina (hoc enim usa est titulo) accepit: cùmq’ post quartum ab eo comitem, proles ejus mascula deficeret, Richardum Fitzalanum jure uxoris in eum honorem evexit Rex Edwardus Secundus,” &c. With respect to the fourth Earl, Brooke, in his “discoveries,” has stated objections, p. 32, 33.
With respect to the part taken by Albini subsequent to his marriage with Adeliza, queen dowager, on the part of the Empress Maud, her son, and King Stephen at Wallingford—as well as the embassy in which he took the lead—as mentioned p. 42, Dugdale has condensed the particulars under the head of “Will. de Albini Pincerna,” i. 118, as well as all others of any importance respecting the descent of the Castle of Arundel through the families of the Fitzalans and Howards. Albini is thus complimented in the old Rhyming Chronicle; and the orthography shows the pronunciation in that day:—
¶ Wyllyam, the Earle of Arundell that hyght,
Awbeny (Albini) by his surname full well then knowe,
At Wimondham, in Northfolke buryed ryght,
Father was of Philyp full yonge unknowe
[That full courteous was both to hye and lowe]
That after him was Earle of Arundell,
As Chronycles wryten can clerely tell. P. 273.
Robert de Belesmo, Text p. 9.—“Supradictus Comes Robertus de Belesmo qui comitatum etiam Pontinensis pagi rexit eo tempore, ac in Normannia Castella possedit quam plurima; civitatem Scrobesbiriam et castellum in ea situm, castella quoque Arundel et Tikehil, alimentis machinis, armis, militibus, et peditibus contra regem Henricum fortiter munivit. Muros quoque, ac tunes castellorum, videlicet Brige et Carracoue, die noctuque operando perficere modis omnibus festinavit.... At Rex sine delatione Castellum ejus Arundel primitùs obsedit, et castellis ante illud firmatis, recessit; deinde Robertus Lindicolniæ civitatis episcopum cum parte exercitûs Tykehil obsidere jussit. Illè autem Brige cum exercitu penè totius Angliæ obsedit, machinas quoque ibi construere et castellum firmare præcepit. Interim Walanos, &c. Infra igitur triginta dies civitate et omnibus castellis redditis inimicum suum Robertum superavit etignominiosè de Anglia expulit.”—Hov. Annal. Hen. pr. 269.
Text p. 39.—“Junior Wilhelmus anno decimo regni sui cū Normanniam, quam à Roberto fratre suo ad Jerusalem profecto, in vadimonium acceperat pro libitu suo disposuisset, redijt ad Vigiliam Paschæ in Angliam, appulit apud Arundel.”—Henric. Huntingd. lib. vi. p. 216.
King Stephen, p. 38.—“Statim namque filia regis Henrici, quæ fuerat Romanorum imperatrix, cui Anglia juramento fuerat addicata, venit in Angliam; quam cum Rex Stephanus obsedisset apud Arundel, vel perfida credens consilia, vel quia castrum videbat inexpugnabile, ire permisit ad Bristowe.”—Hoved. Steph. Rex. fol. 278.
The Empress Maud, p. 41.—Holinshed, on the authority of Polydor, relates a “scandalous story” affecting the character of this lady, which, if true, robs William de Albini of the credit so generally given him, for having been the pacificator between King Stephen and young Duke Henry. It is very quaintly told by the old chronicler, p. 63, and by Polydor. Verg. lib. xij.:—“Sunt qui tradunt aliam fuisse causam qua Stephanus flexus sit ad pacem, qui referūt Mathildē amicā potius q’ inimicā Stephani fuisse, et eam, cum videret rem inter ipsum Stephanū et Henricū filiū eò deductā, ut armis finienda esset, clàm ad Stephanū adivisse atq’ sic eum allocutā: Ecquid, impie ac tui generis immemor, facere tētas? Decet ne patrem perdere filiū? an fas est ut filius patrem occidat? Amabo te, des locum iræ, projiciasq’ tela manu, nā Henricū, uti probè scis, ex te enixa sum! Et his dictis, ordine cōmemorasse quem admodum paullo antèq’ Gaufredo nuberet, ab eo compressa fuisset; ac ijs verbis Stephanū motū pacē fecisse.”
Syr Bevis, Text 37.—For the groundwork of the following legend, as connecting Sir Bevis with Arundel Castle, we are indebted to a lady resident near the spot. Sir Bevis, as noticed, p. 326, is familiar to every reader of romance; and the traditional history of his prowess has often been heard at the baron’s hearth, when the spirit of chivalry was fanned by the approving smile of beauty, and the sound of the harp sweetened the intervals of repose.
“O, who has not heard of Bevis the Bold?
Whose sword was the theme of harpers old;
Compared with which, like a willow-wand
Was the sword that gleamed in Paynim hand.
And oft through the Pagan’s steely array,
For the Cross of St. George, it had cleft his way.
Syr Bevis was stout of heart and limb:
And his meekest look was so stern and grim,
That even his squire grew deadly pale,
As he buckled for battle Syr Bevis’ mail!
And wherever for knightly feats he went,
Equipped for battle or tournament,
His very shadow refused to stay,
And shrunk like a craven thing away.
So fierce and fell was the hero’s stroke,
’Twould have cleft at a blow the forest oak;
While around him heads of Saracen lay,
Paving with helms Syr Bevis’ way.
But at length, in old Arundel’s Castellan,
When chilly and slow the life-blood ran,
And he bask’d his old frame in its evening sun,
And dreamed o’er the battles his youth had won;
As musing he sat on yon battled keep,
O’erlooking the forest and distant deep—
Come, bring me,’ quoth he, ‘my trusty sword!’
And swiftly his squire obeyed the word.
Then swift from his seat Syr Bevis sprung,
And thrice round his head the blade he swung—
‘Now mark me well,’ said the chief, ‘and obey
The command I leave, and the word I say:
Where ye find again this trusty glaive,
There hollow the ground for Bevis’s grave!
For my eyes wax dim and my blood runs cold,
And my heart of life hath lost its hold.’
He said: and fleet from his hand he threw
The deadly weapon so tried and true;
And away—as impelled by some nameless charm—
Like a shaft that’s shot by a wizard’s arm;
Away the falchion glanced, and fell
In the depth of Pugh’s deserted dell.—
That night there was mass for a parted soul;
At St. Martin’s gate there was Christian dole;
Where priest and vassal the dirge began,
For Syr Bevis the warlike Castellan!
Then they searched the shadowy forest round,
And they hollowed a grave where the sword was found;
And there they have laid each stiffened limb
Of the brave Syr Bevis, the wise and grim.
Where at noon the trooping deer convene,
Where at night the timid hare is seen,
Where the monk of St. Lazarus counts his beads,
They have laid him down in his warrior’s weeds;
They have monks to chant, and bells to toll—
And all for the rest of Syr Bevis’ soul.
Now ye who visit that haunted dell,
To count your beads in St. James’s cell,
Or haply to slay Montgomery’s deer,
Tread light on the ashes that slumber here.”
The anecdote related at p. 40 of the text, is thus told in the Latin of Father Matthew of St. Albans, p. 853:—“A.D. 1252. Tempore quoque sub eodem domino rege adhuc moram Londini continuante, venit ad eum in cameram suam Isabella, comitissa Harundelliæ, relicta Comitis Harundelliæ H. et ejusdem regis cognata; ut pro jure suo de quadam custodia ipsam contingente verba faceret sibi profectura. Rex autem vultum ei primò protendens serenum, posteà cum verbis asperioribus objurgans, nihil quod postulavit comitissa favorabiliter exaudivit; vindicavit enim sibi rex custodiam cujusdam custodiæ ratione particulæ, ipsum regem contingentis. Unde ipsa comitissa, licèt mulier, non tamen muliebriter respondit imperterrita. ‘O domine rex quare avertis faciem tuam à justitia? Jam in curia tua quod justum est nequit impetrari, medius inter Dominum et nos constitueris; sed nec teipsum nec nos sanè regis, nec ecclesiam veritus es multipliciter perturbare; quod non tantum in presentiarum, sed multoties est experta. Nobiles insuper regni modis variis vexare non formidas vel erubescis.’ Quod cùm audîsset rex, corrugans nares et subsannans, voce dixit elevata: ‘Quid est hoc, ô domina Comitissa? Confeceruntne Magnates Angliæ Chartam, et pepigerunt tecum, ut fieres eorum quia eloquens es, advocata, et prolocutrix?’ Ad quod comitissa, licèt juvencula non tamen juveniliter respondit: ‘Nequaquam mihi, domine, regni tui primates chartam confecerunt; sed tu chartam, quam confecit pater tuus, et tu eam concessisti, et jurasti observare fideliter et irrefragabiliter, et multoties ut eam observares à fidelibus tuis pecuniam de libertatibus observandis eorum extorsisti, sed tu semper eis impudens transgressor extitisti. Unde fidei læsor enormis, et sacramenti transgressor manifestus esse comprobaris. Ubi libertates Angliæ toties in scripta redactæ, toties concessæ totiesque redemptæ? Ego igitur, licèt mulier, omnesque indigenæ et naturales ac fideles tui appellamus contrà te antè tribunal tremendi Judicis: et erunt nobis testes cœlum et terra, quoniam iniquè nimis nos tractus insontes, et nos Deus ultionum dominus ulciscatur.’ Ad hæc Rex siluit confusus, quia dictante propria conscientia cognovit, quoniam a tramite veritatis non exorbitavit Comitissa, et ait: ‘Nonne postulas gratiam eò quòd mihi cognata sis?’ At illa: ‘Ex quo mihi quod jus expostulat denegâsti, quo modo spem concipiam, ut mihi gratiam facias postulanti? Sed et contra illos ante faciem Christi appello, qui te fascinantes et infatuantes consiliarii tui sunt, et te à via veritatis avertunt, suis tantummodo commodis inhiantes.’ His igitur auditis Rex siluit, satis civiliter redargutus.”
Knighthood, p. 45.—The grand festival mentioned in the text is thus described by Matthew of Westminster; and in Anstis’ Order of the Bath, p. 12:—“The king, to render his expedition into Scotland more splendid and numerous, caused proclamation to be made throughout England, whereby all persons entitled or compellable to take knighthood by right of hereditary succession, that is, by lands descended to them, or who had estates sufficient to support that degree, were required, on the Feast of Pentecost, to attend at Westminster, where every one of them should receive severally out of the king’s wardrobe, at the king’s expense, all things belonging to the habit of knighthood, except what related to the furniture of his horse (or armour for such knight). At the time and place appointed, there was an appearance of three hundred young gentlemen, sons of earls, barons, and knights, to whom was distributed in ample measure, according to their different qualities, purple, fine linen, furs, and mantles embroidered with gold; and because the Royal Palace, though spacious, was not of extent sufficient to accommodate so great a number, they repaired to the New Temple, where they erected tents and pavilions, having first cut down the trees in the orchard, and levelled the walls of it, that they might separately and more commodiously dress themselves in their splendid habits. That night as many of them performed their vigils in the Temple Church as the place would well contain; but the Prince of Wales, by command of the king his father, kept his vigils in the Church of Westminster, with some other persons of the first dignity. There the noise of trumpets and pipes was so great, and the acclamations of the people so loud and extended, that the voices in one choir could not be distinctly heard in another. On the day following, the king invested his son with the military belt, and consigned to him the Duchy of Aquitain. The prince, being knighted, went to the Church of Westminster, that he might confer the like military honour on his companions; there the press, occasioned by a promiscuous concourse of people, was so great before the high altar, that two knights were stifled, and several fainted away; for every knight had at least three other knights to conduct and support him. But the prince was obliged, by reason of the tumultuous crowd, to invest his companions upon the high altar, having, by his guards, made way for them to pass through the people. Then were brought and presented two Swans, introduced with much pomp, and covered with golden nets, adorned and embossed with golden studs, a solemnity highly grateful to the spectators. The king offered a vow to God, upon the presentation of the Swans, that he would make a descent upon Scotland, with a design, whether he should live or die in the attempt, to revenge the death of John Comyn, and the violated faith of the Scots, &c.
“In the celebration of this great festival there is a particular article, which is thus explained:—A vow, made upon the exhibition before-mentioned of two swans, in conformity to an usage continued for some ages; according to which, when any hostile expedition was intended, the commanding prince formally and solemnly bound himself to execute it, upon the oblation of some bird, as a visible test or signal of such engagement.”
Page 62.—In the letter here quoted—supposed to have been the last ever written by Norfolk, on the eve of Bosworth Field—the duke directs his well-beloved friend, John Paston, to bring with him such company of tall men, and “ordain them jackets of my livery.” The Duke of Norfolk’s livery, on the authority of Fenn, was particoloured of blue and tawny—a yellowish dusky brown orange colour—having the left side of the former of these, and the right side of the latter, and both dark shades of their respective colours.
S T. ALBAN’S ABBEY.—Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester.—The anecdote of this worthy, referred to in the text, is thus told by Grafton in his Chronicles, ii. 630:—“This Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, descending of the blood royal, was not only noble and valyant in all his actes and doings, but sage, politique, and notably well learned in the ciuile law. And among his other worthy prayses, this followyng is not to be forgotten, which most liuely and plainley declareth him to be both prudent and wyse, and to his great laude and prayse is written, and set forth by Sir Thomas Moore, knight, in this wyse following:—‘In the reign of King Henry the Sixt,’ saith he, ‘there came to the towne of Sainct Albons a certaine beggar with his wyfe, and there was walkeng about the towne begging fiue or six dayes, before the kinges comming thether; sayeing that he was born blinde, and never sawe in all his lyfe, and was warned in hys dreme that he should come out of Berwike, where he saide that he had ever dwelled, to seke Sainct Albon, and that he had been at hys Shrine, and was not holpen, and therefore he would go seeke him at some other place: for he had heard some saye sinse he came, that Sainct Albons body should be at Colyn (Cologne), and indede such a contention hath there bene. But of a truth, as I am certainly informed,’ sayth Sir Thomas Moore, ‘he lyeth here at Sainct Albons, saveing some reliques of him which theye there shewe shryned. But to tell you foorth, when the kinge was come, and the towne full of people, sodainely this blinde man at Sainct Albones Shryne had his sight, and the same was solemnly rong for a miracle, and Te Deum songen; so that nothing was talked of in all the towne but this miracle. So happened it then, that Duke Humffrey of Gloucester, a man no lesse wise than also well learned, having great joy to see suche a miracle, called the poore man unto him, and first shewyng himself joyous of God’s glorie, so shewed in the getting of hys sight, and exhorting him to meeknesse, and to no ascrybing of any part of the worship to himselfe, not to be prowde of the people’s prayse, which would call hym a good and a godlie man thereby. At last he looked well upon his eyen, and asked whether he could ever see any thing at al, in all hys lyfe before. And when as well hys wyfe as himselfe affirmed fastlie ‘No!’ then he looked advisedly upon hys eyen agayne, and sayde, ‘I beleue you very well, for methinketh that ye cannot see well yet.’ ‘O yes, Sir,’ quoth he, ‘I thanke God and his holy martir, I can see now as well as any man.’ ‘You can,’ quod the duke; ’what colour is my gowne?’ Then anon the beggar tolde hym. ‘What colour,’ quod he, ’is this man’s gowne?’ He told him also, without anye stayeng or stombling, and told the names of all the colours that coulde be shewed. And when the duke sawe that he bade him, walke faytoure, that is to say, vagabond; and made him to be set openly in the stockes: for though he could have seen sodaynely, by miracle, the difference betwene dyvers coloures, yet could he not by sight so sodainely tell the names of all these coloures, except he had knowne them before, no more than he coulde name all the men whom he should sodainely see.’ Thus far Maystir Moore.” Reference has been already made to the play in which Shakspeare has made use of the above, as the ground of a very amusing dialogue, into which he has infused much additional humour; and thus concludes:—
“Glo. Then, Saunder, sit thou there, the lying’st knave
In Christendom. If thou hadst been born blind,
Thou might’st as well have known our names, as thus
To name the several colours we do wear.
Sight may distinguish colours; but suddenly
To nominate them all’s impossible.
My lords, Saint Alban here hath done a miracle;
And would ye not think that cunning to be great
That could restore this cripple to his legs again,” &c.
Gloucester accordingly advises the application of the whip, and finds that the cripple is suddenly transformed into an athlete, with the full and free use of his limbs. Such were the devotees usually met with in places of pilgrimage—and such the miracles that obtained ready belief in the vulgar mind.
The Priory of Tinmouth in Northumberland was a cell of St. Alban’s Abbey. “One Simon of Tinmouth claimed a right to two corodies, or the maintenance of two persons in the priory; but which the prior and monks denied. This cause was brought before the Abbot of St. Alban’s and his Court-baron, who appointed it to be tried by combat on a certain day before him and his barons. Ralf Gubion, prior of Tinmouth, appeared at the time and place appointed, attended by his champion, one William Pegun, a man of gigantic stature. The combat was fought. Pegun was defeated, and the prior lost his cause; at which he was so much chagrined, that he immediately resigned his office.” This judicial combat is the more remarkable, that it was fought in the court of a spiritual baron, and that one of the parties was a priest.
E LTHAM HALL, p. 111.—It was whilst residing at his Palace of Eltham that King Richard II. resolved upon the murder of the Duke of Gloucester. “Unable,” says Froissart, “to conceal any longer the great hatred he bore to his uncle, he determined to have him cut off according to the advice given him, namely, that ‘it was more advisable to destroy than to be destroyed.’ Accordingly, the king having rode to the Castle of Pleshy, about thirty miles from London, with fair words cajoled the duke out of his castle, and was attended by him to a lane that led to the Thames, where they arrived between ten and eleven o’clock at night. Here the Earl-Marshal, who there lay in ambush, arrested him in the king’s name, and forced him towards the Thames in spite of his cries to the king to deliver him. He was conscious, from the moment of his being thus arrested, that his end was resolved on; and it was confirmed to him by the king turning a deaf car to his complaints, and riding on full gallop to London, where he lodged that night in the Tower. The Duke of Gloucester had other lodgings; for whether he would or not, he was forced into a boat that carried him to a vessel at anchor in the Thames, into which he was compelled to enter. The Earl-Marshal embarked also with his men, and having a favourable wind and tide, they fell down the river, and arrived late on the morrow evening at Calais, without any one knowing it but the king’s officers. The Earl-Marshal, as governor, could enter Calais at all hours, without any one thinking it strange: so he carried the duke to the castle, and there placed him in confinement.... In the meantime King Richard, leaving the Tower at an early hour, rode to his palace of Eltham and there remained; while the same day toward evening, the Earls of Arundel and Warwick were both brought to the Tower and there confined, to the great surprise of the citizens. But to return to Calais: When the Duke of Gloucester saw himself shut up in the castle, abandoned by his brothers, and deprived of his attendants, he began to feel alarmed; and addressing himself to the Earl-Marshal—‘For what reason,’ he inquired, ‘am I thus carried from England, and confined here? Do you mean to retain me a close prisoner? Let me go and view the castle, the garrison, and the people of the town.’ ‘My lord,’ replied the earl, ‘I dare not comply with your demands; for you are consigned to my guard, under pain of death. The king, our lord, is at this moment somewhat wroth with you; and it is his orders that you abide here awhile in banishment with us, which you must have patience to do until we have other news, and God grant that it may be soon! for as the Lord liveth, I am truly concerned for your disgrace, and would cheerfully aid you if I could; but knowing the oath I have taken to the king, you know I am bound in honour to obey.’ This was the only answer the Duke of Gloucester could obtain; he too well judged from appearances, that his life was in jeopardy; and asked the priest who had said mass, if he would confess him. This he did with great calmness and resignation; and with a devout and contrite heart, cried before the altar of God, the Creator of all things, for his mercy and forgiveness. He was repentant of all his sins, and lamented them greatly. He was right thus to exonerate his conscience, for his end was nearer than he imagined: for being on the point of sitting down to dinner, while he was washing his hands, four men rushed suddenly out from an adjoining chamber, and, throwing a towel round his neck, strangled him by two drawing one end and two the other. When he was quite dead they carried him to his chamber, undressed him, and placed the body between two sheets with his head on a pillow, and covered him with furred mantles. They then re-entered the hall, properly instructed what to say and how to act, and declared that the Duke of Gloucester had been seized with an apoplexy as he was washing his hands before dinner, and that they had great difficulty to carry him to bed. This was the report published in the garrison and the town, where some believed it, and others not. Within two days after, it was published abroad that the duke had died in his bed at the Castle of Calais; and in consequence the Earl-Marshal, who was the duke’s near relation, put on mourning, as did all the knights and squires in the town of Calais.” As to the manner of his death, it appears by the confession of Hall, one of the accomplices, that the duke was smothered with pillows, not strangled, as Froissart was informed.
T EWKESBURY, p. 167.—By papers in the Bodleian Lib. Hist. of Tewkesb. 107, 1574, it appears, that on the twenty-fourth of July, being fair day, such a quantity of bats came floating down the river Avon, at Tewkesbury, that they covered the surface of the water for above a land’s length, in heaps above a foot thick, which so dammed up the mills for three days, that they could not go till the bats were dug out with shovels!
Page 189, A.D. 1578.—In the churchwardens’ book of accounts for this year, are the items here annexed:—“Payd for the plaiers geers six sheepskins for Christ’s garments,” ibid. 1585. “Order eight heads of hair for the Apostles, and ten beards, and a face or visor for the Devel,”—which show that mysteries, as plays were then called, were probably acted in the churches. In Italy the practice is still kept up, as every traveller in that and other parts of the Continent has observed; particularly during the Christmas festival, when nearly every church and convent have exhibitions of the Saviour’s birth, and the miraculous circumstances attending it.
K ENILWORTH CASTLE, p. 211.—Thomas de la Moore, in his Life and Death of Edward II., relates the following, as part of the cruel and insulting treatment to which the unhappy sovereign was subjected by his keepers, on leaving Kenilworth for Berkeley Castle. It is of a serio-comic nature; but no reader who ever held a razor, but will sympathize with the wretched monarch in his stipulations for at least the indulgence of warm water, under such an operation:—“Attestamur et scribimus quæ luce clariora innotuerunt mundo, si non timor æmulorum regis devotissimi adhuc superstitis clarere prohiberet, quæ non poterint occultare. Tum abducitur Edwardus (ut præscriptum est) versus Berkleyam à satrapis Sathanæ equitans stipatus, duxerunt etiam exemplar patientiæ per grangias Castri Bristollii, ubi de fœno factam coronam capiti jumdudum oleo sancto consecrato imposuit nefarius ille de Gorney, ausus contingere Christum Dei, cui illudentes ironia nimis acerba milites dixerunt, Fareforth Syr Kynge. Metuentes maligni, ne pariter directè incedentibus obuiaret aliquis amicus Edwardi et manus misericors ipsum liberatura, declinauerunt ad Smischam per mariscum ad flumen Sabrinæ terminatum. Excogitârunt inimici Dei quomodo Edwardum deformarent, ne foret facilè notus. Vnde cauariem et barbam radendas cōstituerunt. Venientes proinde in itinere ad fossam, iusserunt ipsum radendū descendere. Cui assidenti super cujusdam talpæ monticulum pelvim aqua frigida de fossa recepta attulit barbitonsor. Cui et aliis asserentibus quod aqua talis pro tune deberet sufficere, ait Edwardus—Velitis, nolitis, habebimus pro barba aquas calidas; et ut promissum consequeretur veritas, cepit profuse lachrymare. Ita mihi retulit viuens post magnam pestilentiam Gulielmus Bischop, qui ductoribus Edwardi sodalis, unde confessus et contritus pœnituit, sub spe misericordiæ divinæ.”—P. 602, edit. Francofort.
“This Kyng Herolde at Waltam, which he found,
Of foure score chanons, full fayre was buryed
At the hye aulter, and as a kyng was crownde,
All yf he were intrusor notifyed,
And in batayl slayne and victoryed,
Of gentylnesse the Conquerour bad so
As yf he were afore his mortall fo.”—Hardyng, 3234.
W ALTHAM.—Death of Harold, Text, p. 266.—“Ipse carens omni decore quibusdam signis nequaquam facie recognitus est, et in castra Ducis delatus qui tumulandum eum Guillelmo agnomine Maletto concessit, non matri pro corpore delectæ prolis auri par pondus offerenti.” The quantity of gold which Harold’s mother is here related to have offered to the victorious duke for the body of her son, may be reasonably estimated, as Maseres has shown in a note on this passage of the “Gesta Guillelmi,” at eleven thousand pounds. The supposed visit of Harold’s mother to the field of battle in search of his body, and that of Edith with the Swan’s neck—mentioned in the text, who finally discovered it by some secret token—are thus described in a MS. ballad on the subject:—
“The day is lost! The din of war is hushed on Hastings’ field:
In triumph rolls the Norman car o’er England’s trampled shield.
‘Prepare the feast!’ Duke William cries. The midnight feast is spread;
And there, in gilded canopies, they banquet ’midst the dead!
The bowl is drained, the oath renewed of fealty to their Chief;
But how shall gilded tents exclude the wail of woman’s grief!
‘Where is my son?’ a mother cries; ‘his corse but to behold,
And lay it where his kindred lies, I’ll give its weight in gold!’
‘Thy son is slain! his crown is sold! Duke William wears it now;
We’ll give thee iron for thy gold—Lady, what more would’st thou?’
She heard and wept—then faltered on: her heart with anguish bled,
As wistfully she gazed upon the faces of the dead!
But ’midst the thousand forms of death that show’d the ghastly wound.
And weltering strew’d the gory heath, her Harold was not found!
She sat her down and wept aloud: and sighed—‘Undone—undone!
Now lay me in the hallowed shroud that should have wrapt my son!’
* * * * *
At length the gentle Edith came, led by a holy man,
And, lighted by a taper’s flame, again the search began.
Darkly her raven tresses hung upon her neck of snow,
And still her lily hands she wrung in ecstacy of woe!
Around her, Harold’s warriors true lay heaped upon the plain,
Where high the Norman banner flew insulting o’er the slain;
A friar of Waltham’s Holy Rood stood in that mournful ring,
And wiping off the clotted blood—‘Oh, Christ! is this the king?’
Down to the earth fair Edith bent, upraised the lifeless head,
And ’neath the light that taper lent, gazed wildly on the dead!
One pause of fearful agony—a breathless, deep suspense—
Was visible in every eye, and felt in every sense!
There, like a cedar in his pride struck down, a warrior lay;
And here extended at his side a chieftain’s proud array.
They scann’d his features o’er and o’er, but ’wildered was their view,
Until the secret mark appeared, which Edith only knew—
And then a shrill and piercing shriek the fearful truth confess’d,
The hue of death was on her cheek—she sunk upon his breast!
But Harold’s lip and Harold’s eye, in cold forgetfulness
For ever sealed, made no reply to Edith’s frantic kiss.
Oh, must I see thee thus, and live? Yet Heaven be witness here,
How gladly would thy Edith give her bosom for thy bier!’”
* * * * *
R OCHESTER CASTLE.—Anno dominicæ incarnationis DCCCI. nativitatis autem Ælfredi regis xxxiv. exercitus in duas turmas divisit. Una etenim turma in orientalem Franciam perrexit; et altera ad Britanniam veniens, Cantium adiit; civitatemq’, quæ Hrofceastre Saxonicè dicitur, in orientali ripa fluminis Medwæg sitam obsedit. Ante hujus portam pagani Castellum ibimet firmum subitò fabricauerunt. Nec tamen illam civitatem expugnare potuerunt; quia cives illi se viriliter defenderunt, quousque Ælfred rex cū magno exercitu adiutorium illis conferens superuenit. Et tunc pagani relicta arce sua et omnibus equis, quos de Francia secum adduxerant derelictis; maxima parte nec non captiuorum suorum in arce dimissa adueniente subitò rege, ad naues suas confestim confugiunt. Et Saxones statim derelictos à paganis captiuos et equos diripiunt.—Asser. de Ælfred. Reb. Gest. fol. 11.
C ARISBROOKE CASTLE, p. 284.—Of the circumstances mentioned in the text, the following is the relation given by the learned monk already quoted:—“Rogerius verò de Britolio, Comes Herefordensis ad curiam regis vocatus venit, et inquisitus manifestam toti mundo proditionem negare non potuit. Igitùr secundùm leges Normanorum judicatus est, et amissa omni hæreditate terrena, in carcere Regis perpetuò damnatus est. Ibi etiam Regi multoties detraxit, et contumacibus actis, implacabiliter offendit. Nam quondam, dum plebs Dei Paschale festum congruè celebraret, et Rex structum preciosarum vestium Rogerio Comiti per idoneos satellites in ergastulo mitteret; ille pyram ingentem antè se jussit præparari, et ibidem, Regalia ornamenta, chlamydem sericamq’ interulam, et renonem de preciosis pellibus peregrinorum murium subitò comburi. Quod audiens Rex iratus dixit: ‘Multùm superbus est qui hoc mihi dedecus fecit; sed, per splendorem Dei, de carcere mea in omni vita mea non exibit.’ Sententia regis tàm fixa permansit, quòd nec etiam post mortem Regis ipse, nisi mortuus, de vinculis exiit. Rainaldus et Rogerius filii ejus, optimi tirones, Henrico Regi famulantur et clementiam ejus—quæ tardissima iis visa est—in duris agonibus præstolantur.” In commenting upon the above passage, a learned writer has made the following remarks:—“It appears from the text that Roger, Earl of Hereford, was brought to his trial before the king’s court, or council of the proceres, or great men of the kingdom, and was condemned by them to suffer perpetual imprisonment, with the loss of all his inheritance. So that, in this instance, as well as in the case of Ralph de Guader, the said court or council appear to have acted as a court of criminal jurisdiction. But it seems remarkable that the judgment they passed upon this great and notorious rebel, who could not, and did not, deny the crime he was charged with, should not have extended to his life; more especially, as Waltheof, Earl of Northampton, who had refused to have any share in the rebellion raised by the other two earls, and had only been guilty of concealing his knowledge of their intentions, was, in a short time after, condemned to lose his life for that lesser offence, and was, as stated in the text, actually beheaded at Winchester. One would almost suspect that they were tried by two different laws; namely, Roger, Lord of the Isle of Wight, who was a Norman, by the law of Normandy; and Waltheof, Earl of Northampton, who was an Englishman, by the law of England; and that the Norman law of that period did not punish high treason with death, although the English law did. With respect to the garments sent by the king to this haughty prisoner, they are understood by commentators on the original passage to have consisted of—First, an outer garment or coat; secondly, an inner garment or waistcoat, made of silk; and thirdly, a short cloak to be thrown over the shoulders, and that reached only to the waist, made of the rich furs of some foreign animals, which the author calls mice (murium), and were probably either ermines or martins. It is also conjectured that the present thus sent to the earl was a set of robes, suited to the rank and office of Earl of Hereford, which he had lately held, and to which it might have been King William’s intention to restore him, “if his inconceivable pride had not prevented it.”
In his interesting notice of the lives and fortunes of this great family, the learned monk of Utica concludes with these striking moral reflections on the transitory nature of all human grandeur:—“Verè gloria mundi, ut flos fœni decidit et arescit; ac, velut fumus deficit et transit. Ubi est Gulielmus Osberni filius, Herefordensis Comes, et Regis Vicarius, Normanniæ dapifer, et magister militum bellicosus? Hic nimirùm primus et maximus oppressor Anglorum fuit, et enormem causam per temeritatem suam enutrivit, per quam millibus ruina miseræ mortis incubuit. Verùm justus Judex omnia videt, et unicuique, prout meretur, redhibet. Proh dolor! ecce Gulielmus corruit, audax athleta recipit quod promeruit. Ut multos ense trucidavit, ipse quoque ferro repentè interiit. Denique post ejus occasum antequam lustrum compleretur annorum, spiritus discordiæ filium ejus et generum contra dominum suum et cognatum hostiliter excivit, qui Sichimitas contrà Abimelech (quem occicis LXX. filiis Jerobaal sibi præfecerant) commovit! En veracitur à me descripta est offensa, pro qua Guillelmi progenies eradicata sic est de Anglia, ut nec passum pedis, nisi fallor, jam nanciscatur in illa.” Duchesne—Excerp. Order. Vital. De Gul. primo rege Anglorum 322. Selecta Monumenta.
That the Conqueror’s philosophy was not proof against any little disappointment of the palate is evident from the following anecdote:—“When his prime favourite, William Fitz-Osborne, steward of his household, served him with the flesh of a crane scarcely half roasted, he was so highly exasperated that he lifted up his fist, and would have struck him had not Eudo, appointed ‘dapifer,’ immediately after warded off the blow.”—Warner, i. 307.
It was to the Isle of Wight that the Earl of Warwick—when brought to trial along with the Earl of Arundel—was banished in these terms: “Earl of Warwick! this sentence is very favourable, for you have deserved to die as much as the Earl of Arundel; but the handsome services you have done in time past to King Edward, of happy memory, and the Prince of Wales, his son, as well on this as on the other side of the sea, have secured your life; but it is ordered, that you banish yourself to the Isle of Wight, taking with you a sufficiency of wealth to support your state so long as you shall live, and that you never quit the island.”—Froissart.
The passage referred to Monstrelet in the text, is as follows:—“In this year Waleran, Comte de St. Pol, assembled at Abbeville, in Ponthieu, about sixteen hundred fighting men: among whom were numbers of the nobility, who had made great provisions of salted meats, biscuits, wines, brandy, flour, and other things necessary on board of ships. From Abbeville the Count led them to Harfleur, where they found vessels of all descriptions ready to receive them. When they had remained there some days, to arrange their matters and to recommend themselves to St. Nicholas (the sailors’ patron-saint), they embarked on board these vessels, and sailed direct for the Isle of Wight. Landing on the island, they made a bold countenance to face their enemies, of whom they had seen but little on their landing; for all, or at least the greater part of the islanders, had retreated to the woods and fortresses. In the meantime several new knights were created by the Count; namely, Philippe de Harcourt, Jean de Fosseux, Lord of Guiency, and others, who went to burn some miserable villages, and set fire to some other places. In the meanwhile a sensible priest of the island came to the Count to treat for the ransom and security of the island; for which he gave the Count to understand that a very large sum of money would be paid to him and his captains. The Count lent a ready ear to this proposal; but it was a mere ruse on the part of the priest to delay their operations, till the military force of the island could be brought together. Waleran discovered the plot, but it was too late to take revenge; and re-embarking his men in all haste, set sail, and returned home without doing anything more. The nobles were much displeased at this conduct; for they had expended large sums in laying in stores for the expedition, which, after all, was completely defeated by a single priest.”—Monstrelet, vol. i. 32.
N ETLEY ABBEY. The following incident—interesting as connected with the ruins—is related by Digby in his Mores Catholici:—“I found a stranger,” says he, “once in Netley, on the eve of St. John, standing contemplative, who, after some space, accosted me. It was some holy solitary man, who told me he had been singing vespers to himself within the ruins of the church, and a thought had been suggested to him by a verse of the Magnificat, which he was eager to communicate. ‘The poor persecuted monks,’ said he, ‘are now for ever blessed in the centre of all felicity, while the proud, who made their dwelling-place a heap of ruins, as we see, have been scattered in the conceit of their heart, and dispersed through all the wastes of doubt, distrust, and error.’ Thus did the ruins assist his meditation.” The elder Pliny observes, that the houses which had been once inhabited by heroes of a noble race, lamented when they passed to new and unworthy masters; and that the very walls reproached the cowards who entered a place consecrated by the monuments of virtue.” A modern author also says, “It may be generally remarked, that the more nobly a mansion has been tenanted in the day of its prosperity, the viler are its inhabitants in the day of its decline. Thus, boors are the only inhabitants of Croyland, gipsies of Netley, while other religious houses are now possessed by the same class as that which caused their overthrow.”
Footnotes
1 Having thus faintly premised the leading features of the work in hand, it may be proper to add a few words respecting the origin of the design, and the humble qualifications of the writer for the task he has undertaken. Familiar in early life with the feudal and monastic ruins which invest Border history with so many stirring tales and traditions, a taste for the deeds and days of old, fostered both at school and college, was much strengthened by subsequent travelling in France and Italy; where, besides the classical monuments of antiquity, an unlimited field was thrown open for the study and investigation of those which more forcibly illustrate the middle ages. To the facilities acquired on the shores of the Mediterranean, others were presented to him in Germany, where much of the feudal character is still preserved in the living habits of the people. Honoured with the commands of a late illustrious Personage{*}, on three successive occasions, to attend him professionally at some of the minor courts of that country, he had various opportunities of visiting those religious and baronial edifices which, in the old German principalities, are both numerous and splendid. He next spent a considerable time in Switzerland, among the High Alps and in the valleys of Piedmont, where many vestiges of feudal customs and government were found to illustrate the history of the middle ages in Great Britain.—But although the writer had published works descriptive of the countries mentioned, the plan of the work now in hand was partly the result of a conversation with a late distinguished and highly accomplished lady{**}, whose family honours had descended to her through a long succession of ancestors. Being at that time engaged in an illustrated work on Scotland, her Grace favoured the author with an original drawing of her ancestral castle; and on a subsequent occasion suggested an illustrated history of our castellated mansions, with their legends and traditions, as a popular subject. He was honoured at the same time with a family memoir, and some MSS. respecting the ancient Sutherland estates, such as might have been useful in a work like the present. Circumstances, however, which occurred shortly after, precluded all further attention to the subject; and it was not till the beginning of last autumn that leisure was found to make arrangements for publishing the work in a cheap, popular form: a plan which it is hoped will bring an originally voluminous and expensive field of illustration within the reach of every admirer of English monuments.
{*} His late Majesty William IV., while Duke of Clarence.
{**} The late Duchess-Countess of Sutherland.
2 Asser de Ælfred. rebus. gestis, fol. 23.; Athelmo vero fratris mei filio, &c.—Appendix to this vol. p. 331.
3 Ibid.—Camden, 308. 230. See the original in Append. to this volume, p. 331.
4 Ingulph. folio 510.—Hardyng, p. 229.—Simeon Dunelmensis, 184.—Hovedon, fol. 254.
5 Caraccioli, p. 5.—Dallaway.—Archit. in England.—Forty-nine Castles are enumerated in Domesday Book, that of Arundel only, as existing in the reigns of Edward the Confessor, p. 269. The Castle of Arundel dates perhaps its true origin from that monarch, King Alfred.—p. 316.
6 Camden, 229-30. Fama vero tota est ex Castro, quod Saxonico imperio flouit. See Append. p. 331.
7 Wilhelm. Gemitens, f. 686. Ingentes possessiones habuit in diversis regionibus Normanniæ.
8 Dugd. Bar. 1. 26.—Camden, p. 86. “Normanni.” Primam Normannorum aciem ducebant Rogerus Montegomericus et Guil. Fitzosberne.
9 Ord. Vitalis De Gul. primo. Excerp. p. 208-254. A Wilhelmo rege Anglorum Comitatus Arundelliæ, et Salopesberiæ dono accepit.
Ao. Dni. 1071. Rogerus de Montegomerici, Comes Arundel, fuit pacificè seizit’, &c. Inprimis de Castro Arundell, forest’ Warren’ hundr’ et aliis libert’ spectant’ ad Honorem Castri, &c. Tierney, 1. 14.
10 Dallaway’s Rape of Arundel.—Hist. of Sussex.
11 Estimated at 57·460 acres. Hist. of Arundel, p. 21.
12 Honour, in this sense, means a superior Seignory to which other lordships and manors owe suit and service, and which itself holds only of the Sovereign.—Feudal Syst.
13 Orderic, 522.—Excerpt. p. 254.—App. 332.
14 Order. Vitalis, 708. monachile seema devotus suscepit, etc.—v. also Dugd. Bar. i, 28.
15 Girald. Cambrens. Itinerar. p. 194.—Dugd. Bar.
16 Polyd. Virgil, f. 173.—Hovedon, f. 268.—Speed, 445.—Grafton, i. 177.—Tierney, i. 158.—Append. to this Volume, p. 332.
17 History of Arundel, i. 15. Orderic Vitalis, p. 708.
18 Chalmers’ Caledonia, vol i. 572—4. Anno 1158. “Ego Milcolumbus, rex, confirmavi, Waltero, filio Alain (Fitzalan), Dapifero meo, et heredibus suis, in feodo et hereditate, senescalliam meam... ita bene et plenarie, sicut Rex David senescalliam suam ei dedit.” In consequence of this grant, Richard Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel, sold the stewardship as an hereditary possession in 1336 to Edward the Third. Sec Dugd. Bar. i. 314.—Append. to this Vol. p. 334.
19 Mem. Howard Family—Descent of the Earldom, in Tierney’s Hist. and Antiq. of Arundel, vol. i.
20 See Appendix to this vol. p. 338, also Ellis’s Metrical Romances, vol. ii. p. 245.
21 Castrum Harundel T. R. E. reddebᵈᵉ qoda molⁱⁿᵒ XL. solⁱᵈ. et de iiibus conuviis (conviviis?) XX solⁱᵈ. et de uno pasticio XX solⁱᵈ. etc. etc.—Domesday Survey, quoted by Tierney.
22 A careful examination of the evidence in respect to its foundation, inclines us to refer that event to the time of Alfred, whose policy, it will be remembered, led him to augment the national security by the erection of numerous fortresses, particularly in the maritime districts; and it may be readily concluded that the ‘Castrum de Harundel,’ a royal residence, was one of those which survived the demolition of English fortresses which succeeded the Conquest. [Tierney, i. 33; and Dallaway.] It is supposed that, at the death of Alfred, fifty castles or upwards had been raised under his direction, and it is not probable that the whole of that number could have disappeared in the comparatively short period which elapsed between the demise of that monarch and the establishment of the Norman dynasty. Ante, p. 8, n. ¶.—Also App. p. 334.
23 For other particulars the reader may consult Wright—Caraccioli—Dallaway—Horsfield, and Tierney.
24 For other particulars the reader may consult Wright—Caraccioli—Dallaway—Horsfield, and Tierney.
25 Register, R. f. 106. quoted in Tierney, vol. i. 44.
26 A.D. 1275.
27 Tierney, i. 45. Pat. 3. Edw. I. m. 30—1.
28 As shown in the view taken from the battlements of the castle, p. 26.
29 Abridged from the History.
30 Tierney, vol. i. 48-9.—Dallaway’s Arundel.—Horsted, vol. i. 120-5, 6.—Wright 32-36.
31 Tierney, vol. i. 48-9.—Dallaway’s Arundel.—Horsted, vol. i. 120-5, 6.—Wright 32-36.
32 Tierney, vol. i. 48-9.—Dallaway’s Arundel.—Horsted, vol. i. 120-5, 6.—Wright 32-36.
33 In a cause tried at Hawarden, in Flintshire, long previous to his reign, we have a list of the twelve jurors; confirmed, too, by the fact that the descendants of one of them, named Corby of the Gate, still preserve their name and residence, at a place in the parish called the Gate.—Phillips.
34 See list of authorities at the end of this subject, also Append. to this volume.
35 Portrait of Captain Morris.
36 The late Duke of Norfolk.
37 Henry Howard of Greystoke.
38 H. C. Coombe, Esq. Alderman of London.
39 On the corner of a stone in this superb hall is the following votive inscription:—
“LIBERTATI
PER BARONES REGNANTE JOHANNE
VINDICATÆ,
CAROLUS HOWARD NORFOLCIÆ DUX,
ARUNDELIÆ COMES
A.C. MDCCCVI.
ÆTATIS LX.”
D. D.
40 Sepulchral Antiq. Hist. of Arundel Church and Priory—Dallaway and Wright.
41 Causa nominis nec ab Arundelio, Bevisii fabuloso equo, nec ex Charudo, Cimbricæ Chersonesi promontorio, quod Goropius per quietem vidit; sed ex valle in qua sedet ad Arun flumen.—Camden.
42 See ante. p. 12, also Appendix to this Vol. p. 338-9, where the legend is given.
43 See Appendix to this vol. pp. 336, 7; also Dugdale Bar. i. pp. 42, 118.
44 Rediit ad vigiliam Paschæ in Angliam, appulit apud Arundel. Henr. Huntingd. lib. vii. 216.
45 Tierney. i. 55. Patent 30th Edw. I. M. 9, is dated at Arundel.
46 See a full and interesting account of this conspiracy, with its disastrous consequences, at pp. 49, 50, 51, of this vol.
[47] Tempore quoque sub eodem domino rege adhuc moram Londini continuante, venit ad eum in Cameram suam Isabella, Comitissa Harundelliæ relicta Comitis Harundelliæ H. et ejusdem regis cognata; ut pro jure suo de quadam custodia ipsam contingente verba faceret sibi profectura, &c. Paris, p. 853, A. D. 1252. The original will be found in the Append. p. 339.
48 The particulars are thus related by Speed:—Henry, “after he had calmed the boisterous stormes of warre, in the partes beyond the seas, came over into England well appointed, unto whom also resorted many of the nobilitie who yeelded up themselves, and above thirtie strong castles, to the young duke, now hasted to raise the siege of Wallingford; Stephen following hastily to succour his men—though with the lesse edge, for that he never sped well in any assault of that castle—pitched downe his tents, even neere his enemy, and ready on bothe sides to give battaile, the winter stormes were suddenly so troublesome that nothing could be done, but those somewhat overblowne, and the armies scarce three furlongs asunder, as Kinge Stephen was busied in disposing of his hoaste, and giving directions for order of the battaile, his horse under him, rising with his fore feet fell flat back upon the earth, not without danger to his rider; and thus did he thrice ere hee left; which things his nobles secretly muttering, interpreted for an unlucky presage; when William, Earle of Arundell, a bold and eloquent man, went to him and advised him to a peace, affirming the title of Duke Henry to be just: that the nobilitie on bothe parts there present were nearly linked in alliances and bloud, and how these stood affected was very doubtfull. Yea that brethren were there assembled, the one against the other, whereof must needs follow an unnatural war betwixt them, and of dangerous consequences even to him that conquested. With these and the like allegations, at last Stephen began to bend, and a parley for peace was signified unto the Duke.”—Speed, edit. 1629, fol. 481.
49 “...estre grand voyagier,
Tournoiz suir et jouster pour sa mie.”—
Deschamps, cité par Sainte Palaye.
50 Siege of Caerlaverock.—Edited by Sir Harris Nicolas.
51 Hume, 4to, 175; Wals. 148.
52 Speed, fol. 689.
53 Froiss. C. 132.
54 The fortunes and fate of the noblemen and prelates will be detailed in a future page of this work.
55 “They sware each to other to be assistant in all such matters as they should determine; and therewith received the sacrament at the hands of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who celebrated mass before them the following morning, which done, they withdrew into a chamber and fell into conversation together. When in the end they light upon this point—to take King Richard, the Dukes of York and Lancaster, and commit them to prison; and also the lords of the King’s Council they determined should be drawn and hanged. Such was the purpose which they meant to have accomplished in the August following. But the Earl Marshal, Arundel his son-in-law, discovered all to the King.” Holinshed, 1. 448.
56 “He was arrayned,” says the old picturesque chronicle, “in a red gown and scarlet hood; and forthwith the Duke of Lancaster, John-of-Gaunt, said to the Lord Neville, Take from him his girdle and hood, and so it was done; and herewith the appeal being to the said Earl declared, with a valyaunt and bolde minde he denies that he was a traytor, and required benefit of y pardon, protesting that he would not go from the benefit of the King and his grace. The Duke of Lancaster then said, Why didst thou purchase the pardon? The Earl answered, To the tongues of mine enemies, whereof thou art one. The Duke of Lancaster said, Thou traytor, this pardon is revoked. The Earl answered, Truely thou lyest, I never was a traytor.”
57 “The constancy of this Earl’s courage,” says Speed, “as well as his arraignement, passage, and execution, in which he did not discolour the honour of his blood with any degenerous word, look, or action, encreased the envy of his death upon his his persecutors. That he was a traitor either in word or deed, he utterly did deny, and died in that denial.”—Speed, 739.
58 “In the form and manner as you have heard did Duke Henry take King Richard, his lord. The duke led him straight to the Castle, which is fair and strong, and caused him to be lodged in the dungeon. And then he gave him in keeping to the son of the Duke of Gloucester, Humphrey Plantagenet; and Thomas Fitzalan, the son of the Earl of Arundel; who hated him more than any man in the world, because King Richard had put their fathers to death.”—French Metrical History, deposition of King Richard, Archæologia, vol. xx. 173. By the Rev. John Webb, M.A.; also Dallaway, p. 139.
59 Froissart, vol. ii. 295. Dallaway, 139.
60 “The next day after the coronation, were kepte triumphant joustes and tourneys, in which the Erle of Arondelle and the Bâtard de St. Pol, by the judgement of the ladyes, wanne the prize.”—Holinshed.
61 Monstrelet, vii. 51.
62 The French historians bear ample testimony to his prowess:—“Le Comte d’Arondelle, Anglais de grande réputation, se mit en campagne pour prendre des places sur les Français.”—Dallaway, quoting Montfaucon, t. iii. 309.
63 Grafton’s account of this affair is very picturesque:—“The which town of Builleyne, he, King Henry VIII., so sore assaulted, and so besieged with such abundance of great ordnance, that never was there a more valyaunt assaut made, for beside the undermyning of the castell, tower, and walles, the towne was so beaten with ordinaunce, that there was not left one house whole therein. In the morning the Duke of Suffolk rode into Bulleyne, to whom in the king’s name they delyvered the keyes of the towne; and at afternoone departed out of Bulleyne all the Frenchemen. The last person that came forthe was Monsire de Verinne, graund captaine of the towne, which, when he approched near where the kinge stoode, he alighted from his horse, and came to the kinge. And after he had talked with him a space, the kinge toke him by the hande, and he reverently kneeling upon his knees, kissed his hand, and afterward mounted upon his horse and so departed. The xviii. day the kingis highnesse, having the sworde borne naked before him, like a noble and valyaunt conqueror rode into Bulleyne, and all the trumpetters standing on the walles of the towne, sounded their trumpettes, to the great comfort of all the kinges true subiectes, the same beholding.”—Vol. ii. 492.
64 Arundel affirmed that the only method of making atonement for their past offences, was by a speedy return to the duty which they owed to their lawful sovereign; the motion was seconded by Pembroke, who clapping his hand to his sword, swore that he was ready to fight any man that expressed himself of a contrary sentiment.—Hume, 373.
65 This however did not “enable him to ascertain, according to the old English proverb, the exact length of her Majesty’s foot!”—Anon.
66 Shakspeare, in his Richard the Third, has introduced this incident into the opening scene of the battle.
Norfolk. This found I in my tent this morning. {Giving a scroll.
Richard. [reads] “Jocky of Norfolk, be not too bold,
For Dickon, thy master, is bought and sold.”
A thing devised by the enemy. Then dismissing them, continues:
Go, gentlemen—every man unto his charge,
Let not our babbling dreams affright our souls;
Conscience is but a word that cowards use,
Devised at first to keep the strong in awe;
Our strong arms be our conscience, swords our law.
King Richard III. act v. sc. 3.
67 History of Framlingham and its Lords, p. 89, 90. R. Green.
68 Hist. of Framlingham, note, p. 90.
69 Sir Walter Scott’s Lay of the Last Minstrel.
70 Arundelian Marbles, called also the Parian Chronicle, are ancient stones on which is inscribed, in capital letters, a chronicle of the city of Athens, supposed to have been engraved in the island of Paros, 264 years before Christ. They take their name from the Earl of Arundel, who procured them from the East, or from this Earl, his grandson, who, as above stated, presented them to the University of Oxford.
71 The origin of this screen is thus gravely recorded: During the Abbot Richard’s visit at Tinmouth, he received a wonderful cure of a withered arm, with which he had been afflicted many years. It is related, that being present at Durham, when the monks were removing the corpse of St. Cuthbert, the founder of Durham Cathedral and the Apostle of the North, he assisted to lift and support the shrine, and received from that instant a cure of his malady, and found his arm restored to health. And accordingly, on his return, he built a wall, or screen, across the nave of the church, about 50 feet below the choir; and, adjoining to the wall, a chapel, dedicated to St. Cuthbert. This chapel stood on the west side of the said screen, and had service performed in it, and an altar; but has been long since pulled down, though the screen remains to this day.—Lives of the Abbots.
72 “It is to be understood, that in those days,” says the historian of the abbey, “there was no screen at the top of the choir, that the great altar stood where the rails and table now stand, and the shrine was placed in what is now the consistory; so that it was all open, even from Cuthbert’s screen, to the view of the whole choir and congregation.
“Abbot Symond caused the shrine to be a little elevated, for a better view, and to appear directly before the eye of the priest who was celebrating mass; whose place it was to stand and kneel with his back to the people, and on the west side of the altar. This position of the shrine was not only the most splendid to the eye of the beholder, but was intended to raise and elevate the devotion of the priest; and to this purpose, also, was intended the Decollation of St. Alban, which was painted on the wall opposite.
“The Shrine was in form somewhat resembling an altar-tomb, but rising with a lofty canopy over it supported on pillars, and was intended to represent the saint lying in great state. The inside contained a coffin, wherein had been deposited the bones of Alban by Abbot Geoffrey. This was enclosed in another case, which, on the two sides, was overlaid with figures cast in gold and silver, showing the chief acts of Alban’s life, in work that was highly raised and embossed. At the head, which was toward the east, was placed a large “Crucifixion,” with a figure of the Virgin Mary on one side and of St. John on the other, ornamented with a row of very splendid jewels. At the feet, which were towards the east and in front of the choir, was placed an image of the Virgin, holding her son in her bosom, seated on a throne; the work seemingly of cast gold highly embossed, and enriched with precious stones and very costly bracelets.
“The four pillars which supported the canopy, and stood one at each corner, were shaped in resemblance like towers, with apertures to represent windows, and all of plate gold, supporting the roof or canopy, whose inside was covered with crystal stones.”—Newcome, ed. 1793, p. 76.
73 In the “Philosophical Transact.” No. 333, p. 426, the reader will find a paper on the extraordinary size of human bones dug up in this neighbourhood, communicated by the celebrated Mr. Cheselden.
74 “As protector of the realm,” says Hollinshed, “he was highlie esteemed of learned men, himselfe also not meanlie furnished with knowledge, hauing rare skill in astrologie, whereof beside manie other things he compiled a singular treatise, obteining the name of Tabula directionum.” Whethamstead, the abbot above-named, concludes a copy of Latin verses on the death of the Good Duke in the following complimentary terms:—
Fidior in regno regi duce non fuit isto,
Plusque fide stabilis aut major amator honoris,
Et tamen ut prædo voto potiretur iniquo,
Fraudem consuluit, cum fraude dolum sociavit,
Sicque ducem falsi maculans cum proditione
Obtinuit votum praedator oratque bonorum
Illius, et tristis obiit Dux criminis expers.
75 Abbot Geoffrey de Gorham built a large and noble hall, with a double roof, to entertain strangers in; near which he built a fair bedchamber. Abbot John of Hertford built a noble hall for the use of strangers, adding many parlours, with an inner chamber and a chimney, (no common luxury in those times,) with a noble picture. He built also an entry, a small hall, and a most noble entry with a porch or gallery, and many fair bedchambers, with their inner chambers and chimneys, to receive strangers honourably.—Willis’ Mitred Abbeys.
76 The buildings called the “royal lodging,” were separated from the rest of the monastery by a range of cloisters, running nearly the whole length of the church, but divided from it by the great square, and by all the principal buildings of the convent. The royal apartments were pleasantly and quietly situated near the southern edge of the hill, overlooking the valley of the Ver.—Notes to “St. Albans Abbey,” p. 89.
77 In the Archæologia, vol. xx. p. 519, is an interesting account of the first battle of St. Albans, from a contemporary MS., communicated by John Bayley, Esq., F.S.A., to which the reader is referred.
78 History of St. Albans, p. 358.
79 The Rev. Peter Newcome, Rector of Shenley, Herts, whose history of St. Albans is compiled from that of Matthew Paris and Walsingham (both monks of this Abbey, and men of undoubted veracity), and from numerous MSS. in the Cotton Library, Harleian Collection, &c. &c. London, printed for the author, 1793, 4to. pp. 547.
80 Sir Thomas Meautys, who erected the monument, was Lord Bacon’s private secretary. He continued his faithful services to him through all his troubles, and at his death inherited as next heir the family possessions.
81 The woodcut here introduced, shows the north entrance, with part of the interior, of the Lady-Chapel, through which there is a common passage leading to the town, called the ante-chapel.
82 Among the lesser works expressly devoted to Eltham Palace, Mr. Buckler’s “Historical and Descriptive Account,” published about sixteen years ago, and just when the repairs had been commenced, under the direction of Mr. Smirke the Architect, is the best. But in “the Gentleman’s Magazine,”—the grand repertorium of subjects of this class—some excellent papers, accompanied with illustrative engravings of Eltham, have appeared from time to time, during the last fifty years.—Some years ago, “The Graphic and Historical Illustrator,” edited by E. W. Brayley, Esq., F.S.A. &c. opened a fine field of investigation; but, much to the regret of every littérateur and antiquary, it was discontinued. It contains a good paper on Eltham.
83 From the Doomsday record it appears “Hanno the sheriff of the county holds of the bishop Aletham, which is taxed at one suling and a half. The arable land is twelve carucates: on the demesne there are two ploughs: there are forty-four villans and twelve bordars who employ seven ploughs: there are nine slaves, and twenty-two acres of meadow: there is pasture for fifty hogs. In the time of Edward the Confessor it was valued at sixteen pounds, when it came into the present owner at twelve pounds; now at twenty pounds. Alwold held this manor of the Confessor.”—Hasted’s “Kent;” also “Eltham Palace.” Lond. 1804.
84 “Eltham Palace.” Anon. 1804, with authorities from history.
85 Camden, in his brief notice of Eltham, confirms this charge in the following terms; “Antony Becke, Bishop of Durham and patriarch of Jerusalem, built this ‘Eltham,’ in a manner new, and gave it unto Queen Eleanor, wife of Edwarde the Firste, after he had craftily conveyed unto himself the inheritance of the Vescyes, unto whom the place before belonged. For that Bishope, whom the last baron de Vescye had made his feofie for trust of all his inheritance to the use of William Vescye his little base sonne, dealt not so faithfully as he should with this orphan and warde of his, but despoiled him of Alnwick Castle, of this Eltham, and other faire lands.”—Camden, 327, 8.
86 Chronicles. Stow. Holinshed. Grafton.
87 King Henry keeping his Whitsuntide at the palace of Eltham, the next year ensuing, commanded that for those valiant acts against the Scots, as also for that his ancestors bore the eagle in their crest, he should be proclaimed Lord of Mounteagle, which was accordingly then and there done; and he gave to the officers of arms five marks, besides the accustomed fees, and likewise to Garter, principal king-at-arms, his fee; whereupon, he had special summons to parliament, the same year, by the title of Mounteagle, and was installed one of the Knights of the Garter. Rot. Parl. Collins, vol. ii. p. 450. This title has been recently revived, and conferred on Mr. Spring Rice, late Chancellor of the Exchequer.
88 After the martyrdom of King Charles, three years later, the manor-house was surveyed and the materials valued at £2754. It was then described in the Parliamentary survey as built of brick, wood, stone, and timber—consisting of one fair CHAPEL, one great HALL, thirty-six rooms and offices below stairs, with two large cellars. Above stairs were seventeen lodging-rooms on the King’s side, nine on the Prince’s side, and seventy-eight rooms in the offices round the court-yard, which contained an acre of ground. None of the rooms enumerated were then furnished, except the chapel and hall; and the house was reported as untenantable. Parliam. Survey. Paper on the Hall of Eltham, N. R. S., also Lysons, vol. i. pt. ii. p. 50.
89 It appears, by a passage in the works of Erasmus, that Henry the Eighth and all the children of Henry the Seventh, except Prince Arthur, were educated at Eltham. The learned writer describes a visit which he paid them, accompanied by his friend Mr. Thomas More, afterwards Lord Chancellor, and at this time a student at Lincoln’s Inn. [Ed. 1811, Lysons, vol. i. 788, refers to Knight’s Life of Erasmus, p. 69.]
90 Lysons—Buckler—Hist. of Kent.
91 Parliam. Survey—Lysons, vol. i. pt. ii.
92 Mr. Buckler remarks, that the external wall within the moat was built with great care and strength, and that its basement is likely to remain long after all other traces of the palace have disappeared. See “Eltham Hall,” edit. 1828.
93 Lysons—Buckler—“Environs.”
94 Buckler’s Eltham.—Graph. Illustrator.
95 See Gent. Mag., sig. N. R. S. 1811-1822.
96 The upper or western part had suffered the most from neglect; the cornices and beams, which were dangerously decayed, had been repaired, and perhaps restored to their original stability. Formerly, the deficiencies were supplied with chestnut, which is now substituted by oak, strongly bolted and strapped with iron. Whatever might have occasioned the injury, which was arrested several centuries ago, it is certain that the mischief which has been in operation upwards of fourscore years to the present time, was not accelerated by the dry-rot, which has not been discovered in any part of the building, except a small spot in the principal wall-plate, over the south bay-window.—Buckler’s Eltham.
97 Buckler’s Eltham Hall.
98 This is in the open court, and, being exposed to the rain, cannot be explored with convenience but in summer, when the subterraneous passages on which it opens, are accessible.
99 Sed memorabilis amœnitas penè citius animum quam oculos diffudit aspectu, non Britanniâ tantum, sed fortasse tota Europa pulcherrimo! Ingens planities aliquot suspensa colliculis, rursus montes in orbem effusi, neque cito castigabant oculos, neque illos per immensum cœlum spargebant. Tamesis lætissima ubertate in viciniam exudat, et ad radices mentis redeuntibus ni gyrum fluctibus insulam pene molitur. Passim toto alveo naves, et omnis generis onerariæ: ut proximas quidam totas aspicerem cæterum longius stantes, aut sub altiori ripa, ex malis antennisque tantum nudam ut brumalem sylvam cognoscerem.—Lysons—Barclaii Icon. Animorum, 518.—1614.
100 See Holinshed—Stow—Hasted—Kilburne—Lambard—with the condensed account by Lysons.
101 M. de Caumont.
102 Jean de Culmien, in his “Détails sur l’Architecture des Forteresses,” has left us a vivid picture of this wretched state of society; for which see “France Monumentale,” vol. iii., following Note.
103 See the Roll, in France Monumentale, vol. iii.
104 C’est l’usage de nos jours, dit Culmien, pour les hommes les plus riches et les plus nobles, ou pour ceux qui, par conséquent, consacrent le plus exclusivement leur temps à satisfaire leurs haines privées par le meurtre, de se procurer avant tout une retraite où ils puissent se mettre à l’abri de l’attaque de leurs ennemis, combattre leurs égaux avec avantage, et retenir dans les fers ceux qui se sont trouvés les plus faibles.
The following is a correct description of a baronial fortress:—Ils élèvent aussi haut qu’il leur est possible un monticule de terre transportée; ils l’entourent d’un fossé d’une largeur considérable et d’une effrayante profondeur. Sur le bord intérieur du fossé, ils plantent une palissade, de pièces de bois équarries et fortement liées entres elles, qui équivaut à un mur. S’il leur est possible, ils soutiennent cette palissade par des tours élevées de place en place. Au milieu de ce monticule, ils bâtissent une maison, ou plutôt une citadelle, d’où la vue se porte de tous côtés également. On ne peut arriver à la porte de celle-ci que par un pont qui, jeté sur la fossé, et porté sur des piliers accouplés, part du point le plus bas au-delà du fossé, et s’élève graduellement jusqu’à ce qu’il atteigne le sommet du monticule et la porte de la maison, d’où le maître le domine tout entier.—France Historique, p. 416.
105 Our antiquarian friends will readily excuse us if, in our anxiety to make the subject intelligible to every class of readers, we avoid as much as possible all technical phraseology.
106 See this exemplified in one of the subsequent illustrations, page 153.
107 To this we have alluded in Scotland Illustrated. See also New Statistical Account of Glamis, or Glammiss; Art. Forfarshire, part xii. p. 344.
108 Odonem fratrem suum de proditione in se accusatum, cepit et incarcerari præcepit, (fol. 11, ii. A.D. 1078.) Cum olim Willielmus rex senior coram Lanfranco conqueretur se ab Odone fratre suo episcopo descri, tum Lanfrancus: “cur,” inquit, “apprehensum vinculis non coerces?” Rege autem respondente: quod “clericus et episcopus esset;” respondit archiepiscopus—“non episcopum Baiocensem apprehendes, sed Cantiæ comitem.” Hujus itaque consilio Odo custodiæ est. Matth. Par. Hist. Angl. fol. 14, 1088. See further traits of this prelate in the same authority.
109 History of England. Civ. and Milit.
110 Ibid.—Pictor. Hist.—Paris.
111 In Anglo-Saxon, a niddering, or un-nithing—“one of the strongest terms of contempt,” says Camden. The original expressions are, “Baed that aelc man the waere un-nithing, sceolde cuman to him, Frencisce and Englisce, of porte and of upplande.” Literally, “ordered that every man who is not a mere nothing, be he French or English, in town or country, should repair to him.” Hist. of Engl. Civil and Military Transact. vol. i. 394. Nithing,—quod Latinè nequam sonat: Paris, f. 15.
112 Episcopum vero in posteriori castello Pevensey interceptum, vinculis mancipavit. Milites autem regii ad castrum Roffense illum ducentes, ab illis qui castro præerant, ingressum postulant: hoc enim dominum suum velle, hoc regem absentem jubere dicunt. Erant autem tunc in castro illo omnis fere juventutis Angliæ et Normanniæ nobilitas, tres scilicet filii comitis Rogeri, et Eustachius comes Bononie, junior, cum multis aliis.... Illi vero qui in castro erant ex muro prospicientes, vultum episcopi cum militum verbis non convenire percipientes, ocyus apertis valvis exeuntes, omnes cum episcopo milites vinctos reducunt.... Obsessi autem longiorem obsidionem ferre non valentes, castellum regi reddiderunt. Par. Hist. Angl. fol. 15.
113 History of England—Civil and Military Transact. vol. i.
114 Ibid. p. 395.
115 History of Eng. Civ. and Milit. Transact. vol. i. 395, quoting the authority of Thierry, Chron. Sax. Orderic. Vitalis, etc. Also, Selecta Monum. 203-280. Paris, f. 15. 8.
116 Holinshed, fol. 188.
117 The following passage illustrates the preceding facts:—“Duraverat autem obsidio tribus ferè mensibus: unde Rex tum propter multitudinem interfectorum, tum propter infinitam pecuniæ summam, quam in obsidione consumpserat, nimio furore succensus, universos nobiles illos, sine misericordiæ consideratione, patibulo suspendi praecepit. Sed vir nobilis Savaricus de Malloleone, in faciem Regi resistens, ait: Domine Rex, guerra nostra nondum finita est, unde vobis diligenter considerandum est, quàm varios eventus bello sortiantur. Nempe si nobis istos nunc suspendio tradatis, Barones adversarii nostri, vel me fortè vel alios de exercitu vestro nobiles intercipere potuerunt; et consimili casu in brevi et exemplo vestri suspendio tradere, quod absit à vobis, ne contingat: quia tali conditione nullus in vestro obsequio militaret. Tunc Rex, licèt invitus, consilio ejus et aliorum virorum prudentum adquiescens, Willielmum de Albineto, W. de Lancastre, W. de Emeford, Thomam de Muleton, Osbertum Giffard, Osbertum de Bonbi, Odinellum de Albineto, et alios nobiliores misit ad Castrum de Corf, sub arcta custodia deputandos. Robertum verò de Chaurna, et Richardum Giffart, cum Thoma de Lincoln, apud Castrum de Nothingham; aliosque per loca diversa carcerali custodiæ mancipandos direxit.
“Servientes vero omnes, præter balistarios, qui multos in obsidione milites et servientes interfecerant, patibulo suspendi præcepit. His ita gestis, pars Baronum non erat mediocriter infirmata.”—Matt. Par. Hist. Angl. fol. 268, et seqq.
118 The names here enumerated as the friends and abettors of Albini were—William de Lancaster, William de Emeford, Thomas de Muleton, Osbert Gifford, Osbert de Bobie, Odinell de Albiney, Robert Charnie, Richard Gifford, and Thomas de Lincoln—names which are variously spelt in the different chronicles.—See the preceding note.
119 The following occurrence, as mentioned by the same historian, shows the force upon which King John had calculated in addition to the powerful army with which he actually beleaguered the castle:—“Here is to be remembred, that whilest the siege laie thus at Rochester, Hugh de Boues, a valiant knight, but full of pride and arrogancie, a Frenchman borne, but banished out of his countrie, came down to Calice with an huge number of men of warre and souldiers to come to the aid of King John. But as he was upon the sea with all his people, meaning to land at Dover, by a sudden tempest which rose at that instant, the said Hugh with all his companie was drowned by shipwracke. Soone after the bodie of the same Hugh, with the carcases of other innumerable both of men, women, and children, were found not farre from Yermouth, and all along that coast. There were of them in alle fortie thousand, as saith Matthew Paris; for of all those which he brought with him, there was (as it is said) not one man left alive.
“The king (as the same went, but how true I know not) had given by charter vnto the said Hugh de Boues the whole countrie of Northfolke, so that he ment to have expelled the old inhabitants, and to have peopled it with strangers. But whether this was so or not, sure it is that he was verie sorowfull for the losse of this succor and aid which thus perished in the seas, though it happened verie well for his subiects of England, that should have been sore oppressed by such multitude of strangers, which for the most part must needs have lived upon the countrie, to the utter undooing of the inhabitants wheresoever they should have come.”
120 Una dierum dum obsidio castri Roffensis duraret, Rex et Savaricus circumibant castrum, ut infirmiora ejus considerarent. Quos cùm cognovisset quidam optimus arcubalistarius Willielmi de Albineto, ait illi: Placeat tibi, domine mi, ut occidam Regem hostem nostrum cruentissimum spiculo hoc, quod habeo promptum? Cui ille: Non, non, absit gluto pessime, ut in sanctum Domini mortem procuremus. Et ille: Non parceret tibi in consimili casu. Tum Willielmus: Fiat Domini beneplacitum: Dominus disponet, non ille. In hoc similis erat David parcentis Saul, cùm occidisse potuit. Hoc posteà non latuit Regem, nec ob hoc voluit parcere capto, quin ipsum suspendisset, si permissum ei fuisset.—Matth. Paris. Hist. Angl. 270.
The above anecdote is also related in the “Admirable Curiosities of Englande, 1682,” with some little difference in the expression. It is honourable to Albini, of whose character notice has already appeared in this work.
121 Holinshed, 188. Also Paris.
122 Hist. and Antiq. of Rochester. Hume, Hist.
123 Op. citat.—Chronicles.—Antiq. of Roch.—Paris. Hist. Angl. fol. 282.
124 Hist. of the Castle. Civil and Milit. Transact.—Chronicles.
125 Between the reign of Henry the Third and that of Edward the Fourth, who contributed the last repairs to the Castle, Guy de Rochfort, one of the King’s foreign minions—William de St. Clare, Robert de Houghan, Robert de Septuans, Stephanus de Dene—“a great enemy to the monks”—William Skarlett, and William Keriel, had each in turn the custody of this fortress; but they have left behind them no remarkable traits of character.—Hist. of Rochester.
126 One incident, however, may be mentioned, namely; in 1382, the fifth year of Richard the Second, while the rebellion of Wat Tyler was at its height, a party of the insurgents had the hardihood to lay siege to Rochester Castle, and penetrating into the interior, carried off a prisoner in triumph. (History of Rochester Castle, 34.) From all the information recorded respecting this fortress, it has never apparently sustained a siege with that degree of obstinacy which its strength and position would have led one to suppose. Pestilence in the first—starvation in the second instance, compelled the surrender of its garrison; and on the third occasion it was only saved from a similar fate by the unexpected recal of Leicester from under its walls to more important duties in Sussex. But, ill provisioned, the siege could be protracted neither by the thickness of the walls, nor the bravery of the garrison.
127 King James I. having in 1610 granted this castle, with all the services and emoluments appertaining thereto, to Sir Anthony Weldon, of Swanscombe; Walker Weldon, a descendant, sold the timber-work belonging to the castle to Gimmet, who, not many years ago, applied a part of it in building a brewhouse on the common.—Antiquities of Rochester Castle.
128 But all the beer, it is said, ever brewed within the new precincts partook so largely of the virtues of oak, that the drinkers underwent the internal process of tanning, till the beverage became known as the “Baron’s Oak-wort.” The case was then laid before a learned chemist, who declared that “whereas the oak was without bark, so ought the beer to have been without bitter.” But another, much more acute in questions of taste, gave it as his opinion, that the old oak having been thrice steeped in the bitter tyranny of King John, as he proved from history, had imbibed so much of the spirit of these times, that the flavour now complained of was nothing more than the natural consequence of using old baronial oak for modern brewhouses; a measure, he averred, that could not be too severely reprobated. The solution thus given to an intricate question was lucid and satisfactory; but the brewer “never once blessed the day that he bought the venerable roof-tree and beams of Rochester Castle at the hammer.”—MS. Old Castles.
129 Some masons of London bought the stone stairs, and other squared and wrought stones of the windows and arches; and the rest of the materials were offered to a pavior, but he declined purchasing them, finding, upon trial, the cement so hard, that the expense of separating and cleaning the stones would amount to more than their value. This essay was made on the eastern side, near the postern leading to Bully Hill, where a large chasm shows the effects of it.—History and Antiquities of Rochester.
130 Antiquities of Kent—Rochester.
131 In this we shall be guided by the authorities of Grose, Denne, Kilburne, the Kentish Tourist, and the various archæological and historical writers who have successively made the “Castrum Cantuariorum” the subject of personal study and research; but still reserving to ourselves the privilege of making such comments or corrections as a personal investigation of the Castle shall appear to warrant.
132 History and Antiquities of Rochester Castle.
133 In the old palace of Stuttgardt, the grand staircase is so spacious, and so gradual in the ascent, that a cavalier might ascend and descend without any difficulty. It is the old feudal mansion of the Dukes of Wirtemberg, and possesses many striking characteristics of the castles of that age and country.
134 See the Work above quoted.
135 See the Engraving, p. 146, with these arches.
136 See also Mr. Dallaway on this subject; “Rape of Arundel;” Discourses on Architecture, 277.
137 From a dateless rescript in the Regist. Roff. it appears that there was a Chapel in the Castle; but whether in this Tower, or some other part, we cannot determine. “It was named the King’s Chapel, and the ministers that officiated in it were called King’s Chaplains. Their stipend was fifty shillings a-year.”
138 From the many urns and lachrymatories found on Boley Hill, there is no doubt but it was the burying-place of the Romans, when stationed at Rochester. Denne’s Antiquit. Rochester.
139 Military Architecture in England.—Dallaway, 285.
140 Discourses.—Milit. Archit.
141 Dallaway’s Discourses, etc.
142 Military Architect. in England, p. 274. Antiq. of Rochester.
143 Lambard, Perambul. ed. 1576.
144 Antiquities, p. 148.
145 Antiq. of Rochester.
146 Ibid.
147 Kentish Traveller, p. 140. Joneval, p. 85.
148 Such were the general features of this bridge down to 1793, when a series of improvements was commenced under the direction of Mr. Alexander, a London architect. The breadth of the road-way then was increased from fifteen to twenty-seven feet, by springing new arches in every opening of the bridge from the points of the piers in the old work, without any new foundations. The centre arch was then formed by throwing the two middle arches into one, and is nearly as large as that of Blackfriars, London; so that great convenience has been offered to the navigation in the Medway above Rochester. The balustrade is formed of white freestone, very substantial and elegant in appearance, with commodious footpaths on either side; and the whole expense was defrayed from the improved income of the bridge-estates, without establishing any toll upon the thoroughfare. Since that period it has undergone various minor repairs, and with the Castle in the background, and the various trading craft passing and repassing with every tide, few objects can be more pleasing and picturesque than the bridge of Rochester.
149 In the Dutch life and achievements of Van Ruyter, a goodly 4to, there is a large engraving of Rochester, Upnor Castle, and the bridge, with a most exaggerated picture of the engagement.
150 Hist. of Rochester. Hist. of the War—Reign of Queen Elizabeth.
151 Warton also mentions his having seen a ballad by Faire, called “Gadshill,” under the year 1588; and adds in a note—See Clavell’s “Recantation,” a poem in 4to, London, 1634. Clavell was a robber, and here recites his adventures on the highway. His first depredations were on Gadshill. Further particulars in the Kentish Traveller’s Companion, ed. 1799.—Simmons and Kirby.
152 Simul et videbatur voluntati religiosæ nomen applaudere, quod Theokesburia dicatur quasi Theotokos-biria, id est, Dei genetricis curia, vocabulo ex Græco et Anglicano composito. Will. Malmesbur. Edit. fol. 1596, p. 162.
153 Sir R. Atkyns, Rudder, Camden, Dyde, and the various “Directories;” Notes on the Great Charters, Dugdale’s Monasticon, Chron. of Tewkesb., etc.
154 HĀNC · ĀVLĀM · RELIĀM · ÐODO · DVX · CONSECRĀRI · FECIT· IN ECCLESIĀM · IN HONOREM · SĀNCTÆ · MĀRIÆ · VIRGINIS · Monast. f. 154.
155 Dugdale, Leland.
156 Speaking of the cell of Cranburne, belonging to Tewkesbury:—Alredus Meauw, Comes Glocestriæ, primus fundator.—Fabulabatur huic antiquitus monasterium Theokesbyri: sed Robertus, filius Haimonis, comes Glocestriæ, dedit prædia hujus domus monasterio de Theokesbirie.—See Dugd. p. 163.—Chronic. of Tewkesburye.
157 Being sent as ambassador to the Court of Baldwin, Count of Flanders, Brictric made so tender an impression upon the heart of the Count’s daughter, Matilda, that, unable to disguise her partiality for the English noble, she resolved to unite her destiny with his. No object could delight her eye, no sound could charm her ear, but the figure and voice of Brictric! But here the course of true love did not run smooth—it ran all on one side; for, occupied perhaps with politics, or haply with some early predilections nearer the Severn, Brictric was obviously insensible to the tender appeal, and so ungallant, moreover, as to treat the affections lavished upon him by the fair Maud with a callousness of look and expression which proved almost a death-blow to so doting a heart. The ambassador, however, little consulted his own interest when he slighted these tender overtures on the part of the maid of Flanders. But he lived in times when plenipotentiaries were not so wise as they are in the present day; for on the very first protocol being submitted to his consideration, he broke off the negotiations and returned to England. For a time the daughter of Baldwin was inconsolable. Like Queen Dido of old, she exclaimed in great bitterness—for Latin was no mystery to the ladies of her time—
——“Siquis mihi parvulus aula
Luderet Æneas, qui te tantem ore referret,
Non equidem capta ac deserta viderer,
Crudelis”——
But while the lady was thus giving vent to her love in pathetic hexameters, Brictric had arrived at Tewkesbury, little thinking of that storm which was soon to burst on the shores of Britain, and in which he was to be stripped of his ancient patrimony.
158 In “France Monumentale” there is a full-length portrait of the Conqueror, which bears a striking resemblance to that of Henry the Eighth.
159 Dudg. 154, 50.
160 Fuerat Illiud monasterium primitus apud Craneburnam: sed abbatis Giraldi prouisione, pro vicini fluminis opportunitate, et dominicarum terrarum contiguo. Theokesburiæ aptius locari visum. Will. Malmesbur. (fol. 162.)
161 Ibi nempe (Theokesburiæ) Cœnobium Sanctæ Mariæ, Robertus filius Haimonis, super Sabrinam fluvium construxerat et multis opibus tempore Gulielmi junioris Anglorum regis affatim locupletavit. Ord. Vital. Hist. Eccl. 600.
162 His words are, (folio 162, edit. 1596,) “Est et monachorum Theokesburiæ, quod noviter Robertus filius Hamonis favore suo prouexit, nec facile memoratu, quantum exaltavit vbi et ædificiorum decor, et monachorum charitas aduentantium rapit oculos et allicit animos.” This is a repetition of what the same writer has stated in the same words at fol. 89, sect. 28-9.
163 Order. Vitalis Histor. Ecclesiæ, p. 598-600. Giraldus autem in veteri monasterio Sancti Petri Monachile Schema devote suscepit... unde post aliquod tempus ad regimen ecclesiasticum canonice provectus est et Theokesburiæ primus Abbas effectus est.
164 Willielm. Malmesbur. fol. 89, ed. 1596. Non tamen sine sanguine tantam victoriam consummans multos ex charissimis amisit. Inter quos Rogerium de Glocestre, probatum militem in obsessione Falesij arcubalistæ jactu in capite percussum, præterea Robertum filium Haimonis qui conto ictus tempora, hebetatusque ingenio non pauco tempore, quasi captus mente, supervixit.... Robertus monasterium Theokesburiæ suo favore, etc. This compliment is repeated at fol. 162.
165 His high titles were—Prince of Glamorgan, Earl of Corboile, Baron of Thorigny and of Granville, Lord of Gloucester, Bristol, Caerdiff, and Tewkesbury, and near kinsman of the king. But having in 1091 made a descent into South Wales, slain its last prince, Rhys ap Tewdwr, and subdued Glamorgan, he assumed in his charters the proud title of Conqueror of Wales.—Hist. of Tewkesb.—Baronage.
166 Robert of Gloucester, in commemorating these objections on the part of the Lady Mabilia, and their removal and adjustment on that of King Henry, gives the following shrewd and amusing dialogue. The king having proposed to the heiress, as a state measure, that she should give her hand to his son Robert, the lady, who was fully sensible that the grand charm which made the King suitor for his son was her princely “heritage,” answers him thus:
Mabel. Sir, she saide, ich wote your herte upon me is
More for myne heritage, than for myselfe, I wis;
And suche heritage as ich have, itt were to mee grit shame
To take a lorde but he haddé any surname.
K. Henry. Damoseill, quod the Kingé, thou seest well in thys case,
Sir Robert Fitz-Häyman thi faders namé was;
As fayre a name he shall have, as you may see,
Sir Robert le Fitz-Roy shall his name be.
Yea, Damoseill, he sayd, thy lorde shall have a name
For him and for his heires, fayre without blame:
For Robert Earl of Gloucestre his name shall be, and ’tis
Hee shall be Earl of Gloucestre, and his heirés, I wis.
This declaration on the part of the king having instantly removed every possible objection, the heiress no longer hesitates, but in great and amiable simplicity answers—
Mabel. Inne this forme, quod shee, ich wole that all my thyng be hys.
Robert, a monk of Gloucester, is supposed to have finished his rhyming Chronicle about 1280.—Campbell’s Essay on English Poetry, note, p. 37. This extract from the Chronicle is slightly modernized; but in Hearne’s edit. vol. ii. 431, the reader will find it in its original purity.
167 Hist. and Antiq. of Tewkesb.
168 Dyde.
169 It is extremely uncertain what Richard de Clare is alluded to in the Baronial Covenant in the time of King John. The Richard who was living nearest to the time died in 1200, 8vo. K. John; and in 1215 the title was held by his eldest son Gilbert de Clare, who was also one of the witnessing barons. See Milles, Catal. of Honor. Lond. 1610, p. 334, who states that this Richard died the 3 Kalend. Dec. in the year 1218. That this account is probable may be shown from the following circumstance:—All genealogical writers agree that he married Amicia, second daughter (and co-heiress) of the Earl of Gloucester, by whom he had Gilbert his successor and a daughter.—Notes on the Great Charters, 271.
170 Dugd. 1. 156. Dyde, 38. Leland. Collect. vol. i. p. 456.
171 It is recorded among the memorabilia of this earl, that a Jew having accidentally fallen into a common sewer on Saturday, refused all assistance to extricate him from his loathsome prison, lest he should profane the Sabbath of his nation. Richard de Clare, lord of the manor, hearing of the circumstance and the man’s obstinacy, gave orders that none should assist him on the Sunday, resolving to make him observe the Christian Sabbath with the same solemnity with which he had observed his own. But before Monday this strict observer of the ceremonies of the law had fallen a victim to his conscientious scruples.—Dyde.
172 Lord of the Isles, 267.
173 Hist. and Antiq. of Tewkesb.—Dugdale, Chron.
174 To the office of sacrist in the Abbey of Tewkesbury he appropriated certain rents in Bristol: and to the priest who should say the first mass for the soul of the said Guy every day at the altar of St. Margaret in the church of Tewkesbury, with certain prayers specified for his surviving kindred, and his kindred deceased, the mass of the Trinity on Sunday, the mass of the Holy Ghost on Monday, the mass of St. Thomas on Tuesday, the mass of the Holy Rest on Wednesday, the mass of Ascension on Thursday, the mass of the Holy Cross on Friday, the mass of St. Mary on Saturday—twenty-one pence weekly. Farther, to him who should celebrate mass on his anniversary, or on that of his wife Elizabeth—if the abbot, five shillings; if the prior, three shillings and four-pence: to him who should read the Gospel, to the reader of the Epistle, to him who should hold the paten, and to the precentor and his two assistants, eight-pence each; to the prior twelve-pence, and to every monk four-pence.—Monast. Anglican. I. 157.
175 The custom of the day: trinkets, robes, needlework, apparel of all kinds, were usually left to the church, which declined nothing by way of gifts, from a coronet to a coral bead.—See the enumeration in the Monast. Anglican. I. 157.
176 Then under the guardianship of Edmund, Duke of York, who had married him to Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Ralph Nevil, Earl of Westmoreland. He left no issue, and was buried with his ancestors in the Abbey church. Hist. and Antiq. of Tewkesb.
177 See Dyde, Hist. and Antiq. Chron. of Tewkesb.
178 Edward the Fourth confirmed all the privileges granted by his ancestors to the Abbey of Tewkesbury, as well as the charter of fishing in the Severn and Avon, granted by Warwick. Hist. of the Abbey, p. 48.
179 Hist. and Antiq. of Tewkesbury, 1798, p. 51.
180 Ibid.
181 Edit. 1574, p. 164.
| Dimensions.— | Original length of the Church, including the Lady Chapel, nearly | 400 | ft. |
| Length from east to west, in its present state | 300 | ||
| “ of the great Cross Aisle | 120 | ||
| Breadth of the Choir and side Aisles | 70 | ||
| “ “ West front | 100 | ||
| Height from the area to the roof of the Tower | 120 |
183 Analysis of Cathedral Churches, &c.
184 History of Gloucest.
185 Here her deare Devonshiere, noble Covrtney, dyed;
Her faithful friend great Somerset here fell.
—Drayton.
186 Ejus corpus, cum reliquis interfectorum cadaveribus, in proximo Cœnobio monachorum ordinis Divi Benedicti humatur.
| LIVINGS. | PARSONAGES. | VICARAGES. | |
| In | Gloucestershire | 4 | 10 |
| Worcestershire | 2 | 2 | |
| Warwickshire | 2 | — | |
| Wiltshire and Bristol | 5 | 3 | |
| Oxfordshire | 1 | 2 | |
| Somersetshire | 3 | — | |
| Devonshire | — | 1 | |
| Cornwall | — | 2 | |
| Glamorgan | — | 5 | |
| Dorsetshire | — | 2 |
188 Who had been put in possession of the ancient manor of Brictric in the way already mentioned.
189 In his observations on the value of silver at the time of the Survey, 1086, Sir Robert Atkyns gives the following statement:—The rate of necessaries which subsist human life is the true estimate of money. Since, therefore, wheat-corn seems to be the most necessary of anything, we may best value coin by the price of wheat in the several ages. A bushel of wheat, soon after the Norman Conquest, was sold for a penny, which was equal in weight to our threepence. At this day (1729) a bushel of wheat, one year with another, may be valued at four shillings, which is sixteen times the value of it six or seven hundred years ago. The conclusion will be, that a man might live in that time as well on twenty shillings a year of our money, as on sixteen pounds a year at present. And, to carry it further, two pounds money would buy as much wheat as ninety-six pounds of the present.—Dyde on Atkyns’ Hist. Gloucest. 142. Hist. of the Abbey.
190 “Anno Domini M.C. Nam idem Rex pridie ante necem suam, vidit per somnum sese fleubotomiæ ictu sanguinem emittere, et radium cruoris in cœlum usque extentum, lucem obnubilare, et Dei interpellare claritatem. Rex autem Sancta Maria invocata et somno excussus, lumen inferri præcepit, et cubicularios à se discedere non permittens, residuum noctis insomne peregit. Mane verò cùm aurora illuxisset, Monachus quidam transmarinus, qui pro ecclesiæ suæ negotiis Regis curiam sequebatur, Roberto filio Hamonis viro potenti et Regi familiari somnium retulit, quod nocte eadem viderat mirificum et horrendum. Vidit enim per somnum Regem in quandam venire ecclesiam, gestuque superbo et insolenti (ut solebat) cœpit despicere circumstantes, ubi crucifixum dentibus apprehendens, brachia illius corrosit, et crura pene detruncavit. Quod crucifixus cum diu tolerasset, Regem demum dextro pede ita depulit, ut caderet in pavimentum supinus: et ex ore jacentis tantam exire flammam conspexit, et ita diffusam, ut fumorū nebula, quasi chaos magnum usque ad sidera volitarat. Hanc visionem cùm Robertus Regi retulisset, cachinnos ingeminans ait: Monachus est, et lucri causa monachiliter somniavit: da ei centum solidos, ne videatur inaniter somniasse. Item videbatur Regi per somnium nocte proxima ante diem mortis suæ, quòd vidit unum Infantem pulcherrimum super altare quoddam, et cupiens et esuriens supra modum, adiit et corrosit de carne infantis, et videbatur ei prædulce quod gustaverat: et volens plus avidius sumere, infans torvo aspectu et voce minaci ait: Desisti, nimis accepisti. Expergefactus à somno Rex, consoluit mane super hæc quendam episcopum. Episcopus autem suspicans judicium vindictæ, ait: Desine Rex bone à persecutione ecclesiæ præmonitio enim hæc Dei est, et beniga castigatio; nec ut proposuisti, venatum eas. Rex contemnens salutaria monita, in sylvas venatum ivit. Et ecce casu, cervus magnus cum ante eum transiret, ait Rex cuidam militi, scilicet Waltero Tyrell: Trahe, diabole. Exiit ergò telum volatile, de quo bene et vere potuit dici, et vaticinio denotari,
Et semel emissum volat irrevocabile telum.
Et obstante arbore, in obliquum reflexum faciens, per medium cordis Regem sauciavit, qui subito mortuus corruit. Sui autem, et præcipuè miles ille, in partes fugerunt. Aliqui tum redeuntes corpus in sanguine suo circumvolutum et tabefactum, supra bigam cujusdam carbonatoris imposuerunt fragilem, et macilentissimo jumento vno tractam. Rusticulus igitur coactus corpus ad civitatem transportare, dum transiret per quandam profundam et lutosam viam, fracta biga sua debili, corpus, immo cadaver rigidum et fœtens, in luto circumvolutum, volentibus asportare dereliquit. Eadem hora Comes Cornubiæ, in sylva, ab illa in qua hæc acciderant per duas dietas distante, dum venatum iret, et solus casu à suis sodalibus relinqueretur, obviavit magno piloso et nigro hirco, ferenti Regem nigrum et nudum per medium pectoris sauciatum. Et adjuratus hircus per Deum-trinum-et-unum quid hoc esset, respondit: Fero ad judicium suum Regem Vestrum, immo tyrannum Willielmum Rufum. Malignus enim spiritus sum, et ultor maliciæ suæ, qua desævit in ecclesiam Christi, et hanc suam necem procuravi, imperante promartyre Angliæ beato Albano, qui questus est Domino, quòd in sula Britanniæ, cujus ipse fuit primus sacrator, supra modum grassaretur. Comes igitur hæc sociis statim narravit. Infra triduum autem hæc omnia vera reperit, per mediatores oculata fide expertus.”—Matth. Par. p. 51-2, fol. ed. 1565.
191 “The Dictum de Kenilworth,” here referred to, was made by twelve persons, bishops and peers of the king’s selection; the object of which was to soften the severity of the parliament holden at Winchester, which had entirely confiscated the estates of the rebels and their adherents; instead of which, this decree—that they might not be rendered desperate—sentenced them only to a pecuniary fine of not more than five years’ income of their estates, nor less than two.—Hist.
192 “Of this Erle speaketh Ranulph, Monke of Chester, in his Policronion, and calleth him Symon the ryghtwise, sayinge that God wrought for him miracles after his deth: The whyche, for fere of the kynge and Sir Edwarde, his sonne, were kept close and secret, so that no man durst speke of theym.” Fabyan. 358. Not only the Monk of Chester, however, but also Matthew of St. Albans, gravely records the same popular belief; for it was supposed that, having fallen in defence of the national liberty and in the performance of his oath, his death was that of a martyr: and afterwards, when free utterance could be given to this opinion without fear of the court, the clergy was reviled for not granting him the honours of canonization. “Sir Symon” was a brave soldier; and, compared with other saints of his day, would have been no disgrace to the calendar.
193 “He spent,” says Lombard, “greatlie upon it; in so much, as Leland wryteth, that he consumed a round table and tresselles of massie golde, which the same King Edward had not long before made to honoure the knighthood of that order withall.”
194 In the old Baronage, vol. i., p. 143, the circumstances attending this splendid fête are thus somewhat differently and more fully related:—Having procured the honour of knighthood to be conferred upon him by Edward the First, Mortimer, at his own cost, caused a tournament to be held at Kenilworth, where he sumptuously entertained a hundred knights and as many ladies for three days, the like whereof was never before in England; and there began the Round-table—so called by reason that the place wherein they practised those feats was environed with a strong wall, made in a round form. Upon the fourth day, at the close of the fête, the golden lion, in sign of triumph, being yielded to him, he carried it, with all the company, to Warwick. The fame thereof being spread into foreign countries, occasioned the Queen of Navarre to send unto him certain wooden bottles, bound with golden bars and wax, under the pretence of wine, which, in truth, were all filled with gold, and for many ages after were kept in the Abbey of Wigmore—whereupon, for the love of that queen, the said Sir Roger Mortimer added a carbuncle to his arms.
195 Of both these apartments, as of the White Hall, nothing now remains but fragments of walls and staircases, and a part of two large bow windows; the inner of which, like those of the hall, is picturesquely festooned with ivy.—Notes.
196 Isabel, daughter of Philip the Fair, King of France, married in her twelfth year to Edward, Jan. 22, 1308, in the church of Our Lady at Boulogne, was “his wife twenty years, his widow thirty, and died at the age of sixty-three.”—See Eltham Hall, in this work.
197 By his first wife, the countess of Kenilworth, he had, besides his son and heir (Henry de Bolingbroke), two daughters, Philippa, Queen of Portugal, and Elizabeth, Countess of Pembroke. By his second wife, Constance, daughter of the King of Portugal, he had another daughter, Catherine, who became consort of the Spanish king. And by Catherine Swinford, his third wife, he had five sons, namely, John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset; Henry, Bishop of Winchester; Thomas, Earl of Dorset, afterwards Duke of Exeter; and a daughter, Joan, who married, first, Sir Robert Ferrers, and secondly, the Earl of Westmoreland.—Dugd. Bar. art. Lancast.
198 Harrison.
199 Holinshed.
200 Among other repairs and alterations, he is said to have caused the “banqueting-house,” erected by Henry the Fifth, to be taken down, and part of it to be rebuilt within the base-court, near the Swan Tower. But the “banqueting-house” here mentioned, appears to have been the same as that already noticed as “le Plaisant Marais.”
201 Book ii. Chap. 15. Surely one may say of such a guest, what Cicero says to Atticus on occasion of a visit paid him by Cæsar: “Hospes tamen non es cui diceres, Amabo te, eodem ad me cùm revertere.” Lib. xiii. Ep. 52. If she relieved the people from oppressions (to whom it seems the law could give no relief), her visits were a great oppression on the nobility.—See Hume.
202 Among other embellishments of the “great chamber of state,” was a most sumptuous Chimney-piece, composed of alabaster or marble, richly carved and gilt. It was usually of very large dimensions, widely spread, and reaching from the floor to the ceiling. There were sometimes statues placed within columns and niches, which represented some of the cardinal virtues, or grotesque termini, in the Roman manner, then lately introduced into this country. The whole was painted with gaudy colours; and the armorial bearings of the family, in one large escóchéon, or the quarterings dispersed into many others, were an indispensable decoration. In certain instances, the chimney-piece was of carved freestone, left plain. The almost perfect resemblance of these to the superb monuments which in that age were dedicated to the memory of the dead, leave no doubt that the original idea had the same analogy. Of this opinion one most splendid instance will suffice—that of the mausoleum of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, in the Beauchamp Chapel, Warwick, and the CHIMNEY-PIECE (see preceding Woodcut) of Kenilworth Castle.—Dallaway’s Discourses, page 363, 364.
203 Hock-Tuesday, Hoke-day, or Hoke-tide. The origin of this once popular game, or play, which the author of Kenilworth describes as being represented to the Queen by the men of Coventry, is involved in considerable obscurity. By some writers it is supposed to be commemorative of the massacre of the Danes, in the reign of Ethelred, on the 13th of November, 1002; whilst by others, the deliverance of the English from the tyranny of the Danes by the death of Hardicanute, on Tuesday, the 8th of June, 1042, is pointed out as its origin. The weight of argument preponderates in favour of the national deliverance by Hardicanute’s death: and it must not be forgotten, that the festival was celebrated on a Tuesday, and that Hoke-Tuesday was the Tuesday in the second week after Easter. Spelman derives the term from the German Hocken, in reference to the act of binding, which was formerly practised by the women upon the men on Hoke-Tuesday; an opinion which Mr. Denne has well supported. [Archæolog. vol vii. p. 244.] A payment, called Hock-Tuesday money, was anciently made by the tenant to the landlord, for the permission given by the latter to the former to celebrate the festivities of this memorable day. [Jac. Law Dic. in verb.] Whatever the etymology of its name, or the origin of the game itself might be, its subject was the massacre of the Danes, expressed in actions and rhymes, and acted annually in the town of Coventry, till its suppression, shortly after the Reformation. It consisted of fierce sham contests between the English and Danish forces; first by the “launce knights,” on horseback, armed with spears and shields, who, being many of them dismounted, then fought with swords and targets. Afterwards succeeded two “hosts of footmen,” one after the other; first marching in ranks, then facing about in military array, then changing their form from ranks into squadrons, then into triangles, then into rings, and then, “winding out again, they joined in battle. Twice the Danes had the better; but at the last conflict they were beaten down, overcome, and many of them led captive for triumph by our English women.”—Illustration of the Waverley Novels, vol. iii. p. 45.
204 In Lands, £16,431 9s. In Woods, £11,722 2s. The Castle, £10,401 4s.—Total, £38,554 15s. Thus the whole demesne, including the Castle, is valued little more than the half of what, only a few years previously, Dudley had expended in improvements.
205 The romance of this story is certainly not improved by the fact, that the gallant knight had left behind him one who justly claimed him as her husband, namely, the Lady Alice Leigh. “But,” says the author of the Baronage, “to countenance his marriage with Mistress Southwell, he did allege his marriage with the said Lady Alice Leigh to be by the canon law illegal, inasmuch as, &c.,” and obtaining a papal dispensation for that purpose, espoused [Biog.] “the said Blanche Southwell at Florence, who, as well as other members of her family, was not aware,” according to the MS., “of the Knight’s previous engagement.”—Ed.
206 This was Doctor Julio, or Giuglio. Camden says that the disgrace of Archbishop Grindal was owing “to his having condemned the unlawful marriage of this Julio, an Italian physician, with another man’s wife, while Leicester in vain opposed his proceedings therein.”
207 This legend is preserved in two manuscripts now in the British Museum (MS. Harl. No. 3776, and MS. Cotton., Julius, D VI.), both of which formerly belonged to Waltham Abbey, and were written in the twelfth century, the date of both the manuscripts. It was to the following effect:—In the time of King Canute, there lived at Lutegaresberi a smith, a man remarkable for the simplicity of his life, and respected amongst his neighbours for his virtues. One night he had a vision—an angel appeared to him, and directed him to repair early in the morning to the priest, and exhort him to proceed in solemn procession to the top of the hill, and there dig. The smith passed it over as a mere dream; but the warning was repeated the following night. He then consulted his wife, and by her advice again disregarded the injunction of the angel; but the latter repeated his visit on the third night, and threatened him with severe punishment for his continued disobedience. On the morrow the smith arose, and told his dream to the priest, who proceeded immediately with the town’s people to the summit of the hill, where, after digging according to their directions, they found a large cross, with a smaller one, a little bell, and a book. (Ecce repentè apparuit oculis intuentium inestimabilis imago decoris crucifixi Salvatoris ex atro silice sic manuum extensione et omnium corporis liniamentorum compositione miro fabrili et inaudito opere composita, ut ipsius summi artificis manibus perpendens operatam, et sub dextro ipsius brachiis alteram crucifixi effigiem modicam in sinistra parte, nolam antiqui operis quales bestiarum collo applicare solet antiquitas, ne iudesuetione insolescant, librum etiam cognomento Nigrum Tertum sicut vix perpendere possumus Evangeliorum quem usque hodiè celebrem habet Walthamensis ecclesia propter multa quæ ipsi oculis nostris perspeximus miracula.) Having made known their discovery to Earl Tovi, they placed the cross on a cart, to which they yoked three red oxen and three white cows. Uncertain whither to convey their precious burden, the priest uttered in succession the names of the most famous monasteries of that day, such as Dover, Winchester, Glastonbury, London, &c., but the oxen and cows remained fixed to the spot. At length some one mentioned by accident the name of Waltham, when the animals immediately put themselves in motion, and conducted the cart to that place, amid the acclamations of the people, and of the crowds of cripples and invalids who were cured on the way by the miraculous influence of the cross. This story was long implicitly believed by our superstitious forefathers.
208 See the Vita Haroldi, in the Chroniques Anglo-Normandes, Rouen, 1836, tom. ii. p. 156. The portions of the other Waltham Legend (De Inventione Sanctæ Crucis Walthamensis), which relate more particularly to the history of Harold, are printed in the same work.
209 Jaciuntur festinato ecclesiæ amplioris fundamenta, surgunt parietes, columpuæ sublimes distantes ab invicem, parietes arcuum aut testudinum emicidiis mutuo fœderantur, culmen impositum æris ab introgressis plumbei objectivæ laminis variam secludit intemperiem.—Vita Haroldi, p. 161.
210 Venusto enim admodum opere ecclesiam à fundamentis constructam laminis æreis, auro undique superducto, capita columnarum et bases flexurasque arcuum ornare fecit mirâ distinctione.—De Invent. Sanct. Cr. Waltham.
211 De Invent. Sanctæ Crucis Waltham. p. 231.
212 Decano cessit præ cæteris Westwaltham, ut aliis in eo præcelleret, qui primatum et regimen cæterorum habebat, in victualibus etiam aliquantisper magis auctus, quid pluribus habebat benefacere quam simplex canonicus.
213 Ailric was probably the schoolmaster of the Abbey, for we know that a school was part of Harold’s foundation.
214 This is the story given in the treatise, De Inventione Sanctæ Crucis Walthamensis.
215 This legend forms the body of the Vita Haroldi, printed, with the treatise De Invent. Sanct. Cr. Waltham., in the Chroniques Anglo-Normandes.
216 Vita Haroldi, pp. 162, 163. De Invent. S. Crucis, pp. 252, 253.
217 MS. Harl. No. 3776, fol. 3, iº and vº.
218 Hanc insuper ecclesiam, quasi novam Christi sponsam nova dote, sicut decebat, dignum duximus esse ditandam.—The alliteration in this passage is remarkable.
219 Matthew Paris, sub ann. See Fuller’s History of Waltham Abbey, p. 21.
220 The account of these disputes is chiefly taken from Fuller, and from Farmer’s History of Waltham Abbey.
221 Farmer’s History of Waltham Abbey, p. 100.
222 A dark vaulted structure of two divisions connected with the Convent Garden, is all that remains of the old Abbey House, the residence of the Dennys; even the large mansion erected on its site, of which a view is given in Farmer’s History of Waltham Abbey, has been long demolished. In the Convent Garden, which is now tenanted by a market-gardener, there is a tulip-tree, remarkable equally for its magnitude and antiquity. The Abbey mills are still used as a cornmill.
223 Cujus corporis translationi, quum sic se habebat status ecclesiæ fabricandi, vel devotio fratrum reverentiam corpori exhibentium, nunc extremæ memini me tertio affuisse, et, sicut vulgo celebre est et attestationes antiquorum audivimus, plagas ipsis ossibus impressas oculis corporeis et vidisse et manibus contrectam.—Chron. Anglo-Norm, tom. ii. p. 250.
224 The following attested account of this discovery is preserved by Fuller, in his Worthies:—
“The ensuing relation, written by the pen of Master Thomas Smith, of Sewarstone, in the parish of Waltham Abbey, a discreet person, not long since deceased.
“It so fell out that I served Sir Edward Denny (towards the latter end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth of blessed memory), who lived in the Abbey of Waltham Cross, in the county of Essex, which at that time lay in ruinous heaps; and then Sir Edward began slowly now and then to make even and re-edify some of that chaos. In doing whereof, Tomkins, his gardener, came to discover (among other things) a fair marble stone, the cover of a tomb hewed out in hard stone: this cover, with some help, he removed from off the tomb; which having done, there appeared to the view of the gardener, and Master Baker, minister of the town (who died long since), and to myself and Master Henry Knagg (Sir Edward’s bailiff), the anatomy of a man lying in the tomb abovesaid, only the bones remaining, bone to his bone, not one bone dislocated. In observation whereof, we wondered to see the bones still remaining in such due order, and no dust or other filth besides them to be seen in the tomb: we could not conceive that it had been an anatomy of bones only, laid at first in the tomb; yet if it had been the whole carcass of a man, what became of his flesh and entrails? For (as I have said above) the tomb was clean from all filth and dust, besides bones. This when we had all observed, I told them, that if they did but touch any part thereof, that all would fall asunder, for I had only heard somewhat formerly of the like accident. Trial was made, and so it came to pass. For my own part, I am persuaded, that as the flesh of this anatomy to us became invisible, so likewise would the bones have been in some longer continuance of time. O! what is man then, which vanisheth thus away, like unto smoke or vapour, and is no more seen! Whosoever thou art that shalt read this passage, thou mayst find cause of humility sufficient.”
In Mr. Edgar Taylor’s translation of “Master Wace, his Chronicle of the Norman Conquest,” (London, 1837,) p. 259, is given a beautiful drawing from a manuscript of the thirteenth century, representing the deposition of the body of King Harold in his tomb at Waltham.
225 According to the parish books, quoted by Farmer, (History of Waltham Abbey,) p. 149, the sum of £100 was expended between 1669 and 1672; £46 4s. 10d. in 1674; £64 13s. 5-1/2d. in 1679; and £78 5s. 2d. in 1680.
226 MS. Cotton. Julius D. VI. fol. 117, vº, nearly contemporary.
227 Ricardus Pungiant tenet Latelie. Aluuardus tenuit de Rege Eadwardo, et potuit ire quo voluit.
228 This matrix was exhibited before the Society of Antiquaries of London, by the Rev. John Brand, Jan. 26, 1797. An account of it, and the other seals, will be found in the thirteenth volume of the Archæologia.
229 This grant is mentioned in the Placit. de Quo Warranto, of the 9th Edw. I.; but in the original document the name is Nottele (not, as quoted in the common books, Notele), and it is probable that the grant has no reference to Netley in Hampshire.
230 The legend says it was the key-stone of the east window; but that is still standing.
231 The college Combination-Rooms were formerly called Parlours (parluræ).
232 The work from which this anecdote is taken is inedited, and exists only in one contemporary manuscript. The story has been printed from it in the first volume of the Reliquiæ Antiquæ, by Wright and Halliwell.
233 J. Bullar’s Companion in a Visit to Netley Abbey, p. 10.
234 Tot enim videas piscium genera, assa quidem et elixa, farta et frixa; tot ovis et pipere cibaria cocorum arte confecta; tot sapores et salsamenta ad gulam irritandam et appetitum excitandum eorundem arte composita. Ad hæc etiam in tanta abunduntia vinum hic videas et ciceram, pigmentum, claretum, mustum, et medonem, atque moretum, et omne quod inebriare potest, adeo ut cervisia qualis in Anglia fieri solet optima, et præcipue in Cantia, locum inter cætera nou haberet; sed hoc ibi cervisia inter pocula, quod olus inter fercula.—Giraldus Cambr. Specul. Eccles. in MS. Cotton. He is here speaking of the Cistercian monks of Canterbury.
235 “And the wicked Ham with his people drew him towards the wood:—Arviragus followed him, and continually struck [his men] to the ground. At last he gained very little by his treason; he overtook him at a haven, and slew him right there:—it were little harm if all traitors were served so. The haven where he was slain, after Ham’s name truly, was called Hampton, as it is called yet,—for it is called Southhampton, and will be evermore.”—Robert of Gloucester’s Chronicle, ed. Hearne, p. 64.
236 Of which a description and view will be found in the present volume, p. 37. See also Appendix, p. 338.