Chapter III: Part 3

Henry by the grace of God King of England and of France and Lord of Ireland: To our Chancellor of England greeting. Forasmuch as the right reverend father in God the Archbishop of Canterbury and the reverend father in God the bishop of London, considering the great abuses that have been of long time within our city of London that many and divers persons, not sufficiently instructed in grammar, presuming to hold common grammar schools in great deceit as well unto their scholars as unto the friends that find them to school, have of their great wisdom set and ordained five schools of grammar, and no more, within our said city. One within the churchyard of St. Paul's, another within the collegiate church of St. Martin, the third in Bow church, the fourth in the church of St. Dunstan in the East, the fifth in our hospital of St. Anthony within our said city; the which they have openly declared sufficient, as by their letters patent thereupon made it appeareth more at large. We, in consideration of the premises, have thereunto granted our royal will and assent. Wherefore we will and charge you that hereupon ye do make our letters patent under our great seal in due form, declaring in the same our said will and assent, giving furthermore in commandment by the same our letters unto all our subjects of our said city that they nor none of them trouble nor hinder the masters of the said schools in any wise, but rather help and assist them inasmuch as in them is. Given under our privy seal at Guildford the 3rd day of May, the year of our reign xxiiij.

THE FRENCH RECOVER FOUGÈRES (1449).

=Source.=--"Le recouvrement de Normendie," par Berry, Herault du Roy, printed in _Reductio Normannie, pp. 245 et seq._ (Rolls Series, 1863.)

[+Note.+--The author of this and other extracts relating to the loss of Normandy was Jacques le Bouvier, surnamed Berry, the first King-of-Arms of Charles VII. of France.]

The duke of Bretagne everywhere sent to all his subjects, well-wishers, friends and allies, asking them to be so good as to help him to avenge himself upon the English, and to help him to recover his town of Fougères. And on this occasion to please the said duke of Bretagne, M. Jehan de Bressay, knight, a native of the country of Anjou, Robert de Flocques, esquire of the country of Normandy, bailly of Evreux, Jacques de Clermont, esquire of the country of Dauphiné and lord of Mannay, and Guillaume le Vigars, esquire, made the attempt to take the town and castle of Pont de l'Arche, on the river Seine, by means of a merchant of Louviers who often took a cart by the said Pont de l'Arche to go to Rouen, which is about four short leagues above it.... And the said merchant, with two others, upon a day in the month of May, being the Thursday before the Ascension of our Lord, set out from Louviers and went to take his cart, as he had often done, through the town of Pont de l'Arche, pretending that he was taking merchandize to Rouen; and in passing he asked the porter of the castle to be so good as to open the gate of the castle for him very early next morning, and he would give him a good gratuity, for he made him believe that he wished to return speedily to Louviers for some merchandize. And so the merchant passed through the town; and he returned about the hour of midnight, accompanied by many of the said ambuscade on foot; and they lodged at an inn in the country, adjoining the castle. They entered into the said inn secretly, where they found the wife in bed alone, (who was exceedingly terrified), for her husband was absent on his business. And when it drew near daybreak, the said merchant went all alone to call the said porter, who came to open the gate of the castle and the bulwark for him, as he had promised the day before; and immediately two persons came out of the inn to come to the bulwark along with the merchant, of whom the said porter was apprehensive when he saw them approach. But the said merchant told him that they were people of Louviers, and then he was satisfied. Then the merchant entered with all his wares, leaving the cart upon the bridge until such time as he had thrown upon the ground for his (the porter's) reward, two bretons and a placque; and as he was stooping to gather them, the merchant killed him with a dagger.... The men of the castle heard the noise, and an Englishman came down in his night-shirt, (a handsome fellow, young and brave), who attempted to raise the bridge of the said castle, because he saw that the said bulwark was already lost; but the said merchant hastened to go to him, and killed him before he could raise the bridge, which was a pity, for he was one of the bravest and most active young men of his party. And thus the castle was won.

And then all the foot-soldiers went along the bridge making great shouts, to enter the town which they took; for the greater part of the inhabitants were still in their beds, excepting one Englishman, who valiantly and for a long time defended the gate of the bridge, to hinder them from entering; but in the end he was killed and the town taken.

HOW THE KING OF FRANCE DECLARED WAR AGAINST THE ENGLISH, AND WHY; AND OF THE CAPTURE OF VERNEUIL (1449).

=Source.=--"Le recouvrement de Normandie," printed in _Reductio Normannie, pp. 254 et seq._ (Rolls Series, 1863.)

The King of France was duly informed of the war which the English made upon the realm of Scotland, which was comprehended in the truce; and also of the war which they made by sea upon the King of Spain, his ally, who was also in the said truce; and in like manner upon his subjects of La Rochelle and Dieppe, and elsewhere.... For as long as the truce had continued, the English came from Mantes, Verneuil and Loigny upon the roads from Paris and Orleans, robbing and murdering the merchants and the honest people who were travelling along the roads ... and they went by night to their houses in the open country, and took prisoners in their beds the gentlemen who were of the party of the King of France, cut their throats and murdered them vilely in their beds. And it was their custom to cut the throats of these gentlemen during the said truce. And these malefactors were called _False-Faces_, because, when they did these things, they disguised themselves with disorderly and frightful dresses and headpieces, painted with various colours, and other clothes, so that they should not be known....

At this time a miller of the town of Verneuil who had his mill opposite the walls of the town, was beaten by an Englishman who was going the rounds, because he was asleep at his post. And for revenge he went to the bailly of Evreux, and, after a certain treaty made between them, he promised that he would admit him within the said town. Hereupon assembled messire Pierre de Bressay, seneschal of Poitou, the said bailly of Evreux, Jacques de Clermont and others. They came on horseback and found themselves on Sunday 19th July in this year, at break of day, near the walls of the said town. The said miller (who had been on watch that night) made the others who kept watch with him go down from the wall sooner than usual, because (in order to accomplish his purpose) he made them believe that, as it was Sunday, they should hasten to go, the bell having rung for Mass. By the help of the miller the French placed their ladders to the right of the wall, and entered the town without anyone noticing them. Six score Englishmen were within, of whom some were slain and taken prisoners, and the others betook themselves in great haste to the keep of the castle.

THE BATTLE OF FORMIGNY (1450).

=Source.=--"Le recouvrement de Normendie," in _Reductio Normannie_, pp. 333 _et seq._ (Rolls Series.)

... On the fifteenth of April they (the French) came up with the English in a field near a village named Formigny, between Carentan [Triviers] and Bayeux. And when the said English saw and perceived them, they put themselves in order of battle, and sent very hastily for the said Matthew Gough, who had left them that morning to go to Bayeux, and he immediately returned. And then the French and the English were one in the presence of the other, for the space of three hours, skirmishing. And in the meantime the English made large holes and trenches with their daggers and swords before them, in order that the French and their horses should stumble if they attacked them. And at the distance of a long bowshot behind the English there was a little river between them, with a great abundance of gardens full of various trees, as apples, pears, elms, and other trees; and they encamped in this place because they could not be attacked in the rear.

And in the meantime the lord of Richmond, Constable of France, the lord of Laval, the lord of Loheac, marshal of France, the lord of Orval, the marshal of Bretaigne, the lord of Saint-Severe, and many others set out from Triviers, where they had slept that night, and joined them, to the number of three hundred lances, and the archers. And when the said English saw them come, they left the field, and the troops marched and came to the river to place it behind them; for they were afraid of the Constable's company, who had slept the night at a village named Triviers, and had put himself in order of battle upon the arrival of the said English at a wind-mill above the said Formigny. And then marched the troops of the said lord of Clermont and his company, in which were from five to six hundred lances and the archers, and they charged the said English, as did also those of the said Constable, who crossed the river by a ford and a little bridge of stone. And there they attacked the English on both sides very bravely, so that in the end they discomfited them close by the said river.

And there there were killed, by the report of the heralds who were there, and of the priests and good people who buried them, three thousand seven hundred and seventy-four English.

A FATHER'S COUNSEL (+April 30, 1450+).

=Source.=--_Paston Letters_, vol. i., No. 91.

["Whoever has read this affecting composition will find it difficult to persuade himself that the writer could have been either a false subject or a bad man."--+Lingard.+]

_The Duke of Suffolk to his Son._

+My dear and only well-beloved Son+,

I beseech our Lord in Heaven, the maker of all the world, to bless you, and to send you ever grace to love him, and to dread him; to the which, as far as a father may charge his child, I both charge you, and pray you to set all spirits and wits to do, and to know his holy laws and commandments, by the which ye shall with his great mercy pass all the great tempests and troubles of this wretched world. And that also, wittingly, ye do nothing for love or dread of any earthly creature that should displease him. And there as any frailty maketh you to fall, beseech his mercy soon to call you to him again with repentance, satisfaction, and contrition of your heart never more in will to offend him.

Secondly, next him, above all earthly thing, to be true liege man in heart, in will, in thought, in deed unto the King our most high and dread Sovereign Lord, to whom both ye and I be so much bound to; charging you, as father can and may, rather to die than be the contrary, or to know any thing that were against the welfare or prosperity of his most royal person, but that as far as your body and life may stretch, ye live and die to defend it, and to let his highness have knowledge thereof in all the haste ye can.

Thirdly, in the same wise, I charge you, my dear son, as ye be bound by the commandment of God to do, to love, to worship your lady and mother, and also that ye obey always her commandments, and to believe her counsels and advices in all your works, the which dread not but shall be best and truest to you. And if any other body would stir you to the contrary, to flee the counsel in any wise, for ye shall find it nought and evil.

Furthermore, as far as father may and can, I charge you in any wise to flee the company and counsel of proud men, of covetous men, and of flattering men, the more especially and mightily to withstand them, and not to draw, nor to meddle with them, with all your might and power. And to draw to you and to your company good and virtuous men, and such as be of good conversation, and of truth, and by them shall ye never be deceived, nor repent you of. Moreover, never follow your own wit in no wise, but in all your works, of such folks as I write of above, ask your advice and counsel; and doing thus, with the mercy of God, ye shall do right well, and live in right much worship, and great heart's rest and ease. And I will be to you as good lord and father as my heart can think.

And last of all, as heartily and as lovingly as ever father blessed his child in earth, I give you the blessing of our Lord and of me, which of his infinite mercy increase you in all virtue and good living. And that your blood may by his grace from kindred to kindred multiply in this earth to his service, in such wise as after the departing from this wretched world here, ye and they may glorify him eternally among his angels in heaven.

Written of mine own hand

The day of my departing from this land

Your true and loving father
+Suffolk+.

THE MURDER OF THE DUKE OF SUFFOLK (+May 5, 1450+).

=Source.=--_Paston Letters_, vol. i., No. 93.

+Right worshipful Sir+,

I recommend me to you, and am right sorry of that I shall say, and so washed this little bill with sorrowful tears, that on these ye shall read it.

As on Monday next after May day there come tidings to London that on Thursday before the Duke of Suffolk come unto the coast of Kent full near Dover with his two ships and a little spinner; the which spinner he sent with certain letters to certain of his trusted men unto Calais wards, to know how he should be received; and with him met a ship called _Nicolas of the Tower_, with other ships waiting on him, and by them that were in the spinner the master of the _Nicolas_ had knowledge of the duke's coming. And when he espied the duke's ships, he sent forth his boat to know what they were, and the duke himself spake to them, and said, he was by the King's commandment sent to Calais wards, etc.

And they said he must speak with their master. And so he, with two or three of his men, went forth with them in their boat to the _Nicolas_; and when he come, the master bade him "Welcome, Traitor," as men say; and further the master desired to know if the shipmen would hold with the duke, and they sent word they would not in no wise; and so he was in the _Nicolas_ till Saturday next following.

Some say he wrote much things to be delivered to the King, but that is not verily known. He had his confessor with him, etc.

And some say he was arraigned in the ship on their manner upon the impeachments and found guilty, etc.

Also he asked the name of the ship, and when he knew it, he remembered Stacy that said, if he might escape the danger of the Tower, he should be safe; and then his heart failed him, for he thought he was deceived, and in the sight of all his men he was drawn out of the great ship in to the boat; and there was an axe and a block, and one of the lewdest of the ship bid him lay down his head, and he should be fair fared with and die on a sword; and took a rusty sword, and smote off his head within half a dozen strokes, and took away his gown of russet, and his doublet of velvet mailed, and laid his body on the sands of Dover; and some say his head was set on a pole by it....

And the sheriff of Kent doth watch the body, and sent his under-sheriff to the judges to know what to do, and also to the King what shall be done.

CADE'S REBELLION (1450).

=Source.=--_Three Fifteenth-Century Chronicles_, pp. 66-68 _and_ 94-99. (Camden Society.)

A.--+A Proclamation made by Jack Cade, Captain of the Rebels in Kent.+

These be the points, causes and mischiefs of gathering and assembling of us the King's liege men of Kent, the iiij day of June the year of our Lord +M+iiijcl, the which we trust to Almighty God to remedy, with the help and the grace of God and of our sovereign lord the King, and the poor commons of England, and else we shall die therefore:

We, considering that the King our sovereign lord, by the insatiable covetous malicious pomps, and false and of nought brought up certain persons, that daily and nightly is about his highness, and daily inform him that good is evil and evil is good, as Scripture witnesseth, _Ve vobis qui dicitis bonum malum et malum bonum_.

Item, they say that our sovereign lord is above his laws to his pleasure, and he may make it and break it as him list, without any distinction. The contrary is true, and else he should not have sworn to keep it, the which we conceived for the highest point of treason that any subject may do to make his prince run into perjury.

Item, they say that the commons of England would first destroy the King's friends and afterwards himself, and then bring the Duke of York to be King....

Item, they say the King should live upon his commons and that their bodies and goods be the King's; the contrary is true, for then needed him never parliament to sit to ask good of his commons.

* * * * *

Item, it is to be remedied that the false traitors will suffer no man to come into the King's presence for no cause without bribes where none ought to be had, nor no bribery about the King's person, but that any man might have his coming to him to ask him grace or judgement in such case as the King may give.

* * * * *

Item, the law serveth of nought else in these days but for to do wrong....

Item, we say our sovereign lord may understand that his false council hath lost his law, his merchandise is lost, his common people is destroyed, the sea is lost, France is lost, the King himself is so set that he may not pay for his meat and drink, and he oweth more than ever any King of England owed, for daily his traitors about him, where anything should come to him by his laws, anon they ask it from him.

* * * * *

Item, his true commons desire that he will avoid from him all the false progeny and affinity of the Duke of Suffolk ... and to take about his noble person his true blood of his royal realm, that is to say, the high and mighty prince the Duke of York, exiled from our sovereign lord's person by the noising of the false traitor, the Duke of Suffolk and his affinity.

* * * * *

Item, taking of wheat and other grains, beef, mutton, and other victual, the which is unbearable hurt to the commons, without provision of our sovereign lord and his true council, for his commons may no longer bear it.

Item, the statute upon the labourers and the great extortioners of Kent.

B.--+The Capture and Death of Cade.+

... Then the commons of Kent arose and had chosen them a captain the which named himself John Mortimer, whose very true name was John Cade, and he was an Irishman, and so he come to Blackheath with the commons of Kent. And the King with all his lords made them ready with all their power for to withstand him.... And the Mayor of London with the commons of the city came unto the King beseeching him that he would tarry in the city and they would live and die with him and pay for the cost of his household an half year; but he would not, but took his journey to Kenilworth. And when the King was gone, the captain with the commons of Kent came again to Blackheath. And the iij^{rd} day of July he came to London; and as soon as they came to London they robbed Phillip Malpas. And the iiij^{th} day of July he beheaded Crowmer and another man at Mile End; and the same day at afternoon the Lord Say was fetched out of the Tower to the Guild Hall for the mayor to have judgement, and when he came before the mayor he said he would be judged by his peers. And then the commons of Kent took him from the officers and led him to the Standard in Cheap and there smote off his head. And then the captain did draw him through London, and over London Bridge to Saint Thomas, and there he was hanged and quartered, and his head and Crowmer's head and another man's head were set on London Bridge.... And the v^{th} day of July at night (and being Sunday) the commons of London set upon the commons of Kent, for they began to rob.... Then the xij^{th} day of July was in every shire proclaimed that what man that could take the aforesaid captain and bring him to the King quick or dead, should have a thousand marks, and as for any man that belonged to him x marks; for it was openly known that his name was not Mortimer, his name was John Cade.... And so one Alexander Iden, a squire of Kent, took him in a garden in Southsea the xiij^{th} day of July; and in the taking of him he was hurt and died that same night, and on the morrow he was brought into the King's Bench, and after was drawn through London and his head set on London Bridge.

PACKING A JURY (1451).

=Source.=--_Paston Letters_, vol. i., No. 155.

Master Paston, we commend us unto you, letting you know the Sheriff is not so whole as he was, for now he will show but a part of his friendship. And also there is great press of people and few friends, as far as we can feel yet.... Also the Sheriff informed us that he hath writing from the King that he shall make such a panel to acquit Lord Molynes. And also he told us, and as far as we can conceive and feel, the Sheriff will panel gentlemen to acquit the lord, and jurors to acquit his men; and we suppose that this is by the motion and means of the other party. And if any means of treaty be proferred, we know not what means should be to your pleasure. And therefore we would fain have more knowledge, if ye think it were to do.

No more at this time, but the Holy Trinity have you in his keeping. Written at Walsingham, in haste, the second day of May,

By your true and faithful friends,
+Debenham, Tymperley and White+.

PARTIAL JUDGES (1451).

=Source.=--_Paston Letters_, vol. i., No. 158.

_Sir Thomas Howys to Sir John Fastolf._

Right reverend and worshipful master, I recommend me lowly unto you.... The more special cause of my writing at this time is to give you relation of the untrue demeaning of this our _determiner_, by the partiality of the judges of it; for when the council of the city of Norwich, of the town of Swafham, yours, my master Inglos, Pastons, and many other plaintiffs had put in and declared, both by writing and by word before the judges, the lawful exceptions in many wise, the judges by their wilfullness might not find in their heart not as much as a beck nor a twinkling of their eye toward, but took it to derision. God reform such partiality.... It was the most partial place of all the shire, and thither were called all the friends, knights and squires and gentlemen that would in no wise do otherwise than they would. And the said Tudenham, Heydon and other oppressors of their set came down hither with four hundred horse and more; and considering how their well-willers were there assembled at their instance, it had been right jeopardous and fearful for any of the plaintiffs to have been present....

LAWLESSNESS (1454).

=Source.=--_Paston Letters_, vol. i., No. 201.

* * * * *

These be divers of the riots and offences done in the hundred of Blofeld in the county of Norfolk, and in other towns by Robert Ledham, of Wytton by Blofeld, in the county of Norfolk.

* * * * *

_In primis_, on the Monday next before Easter day and the shire day, the thirtieth year of our sovereign lord the King, ten persons of the said rioters, with a brother of the wife of the said Robert Ledham, lay in wait in the highway under Thorpe wood upon Phillip Berney, esquire, and his man coming from the shire, and shot at him and smote the horse of the said Phillip with arrows, and then overrode him, and took him and beat him and spoiled him. And for their excuse of this riot, they led him to the Bishop of Norwich, asking surety of the peace where they had never warrant him to arrest. Which affray shortened the life-days of the said Phillip, which died within short time after the said affray.

Item, three of the said riotous fellowship the same day, year, and place, lay in wait upon Edmond Brown, gentleman, and with naked swords and other weapons fought with him by the space of one quarter of an hour, and took and spoiled him, and kept him as long as they list, and after that let him go.

Item, forty of the said riotous fellowship, by the commandment of the same Robert Ledham, jacked and saletted, with bows and arrows, bills, and glaives upon Maundy Thursday, at four of the clock at afternoon, the same year, coming to the White Friars in Norwich, and would have broken their gates and doors, feigning them that they would hear their evensong. Where they were answered such service was none used to be there, nor within the said city at that time of the day, and prayed them to depart; and they answered and said that afore their departing they would have some persons out of that place, quick or dead, inasmuch the said friars were fain to keep their place with force. And the mayor and the sheriff of the said city were fain to arraign a power to resist the said riots, which to them on that holy time was tedious and heinous considering the loss and letting of the holy service of that holy night. And thereupon the said rioters departed.

Item, the said Robert Ledham on the Monday next after Easter day, the same year, took from one John Wilton four cattle for rent arrear as he said, and killed them, and laid them in salt, and afterwards ate them.

* * * * *

Item, in likewise the said Robert Ledham and his men assaulted one John Coke of Witton, in breaking up his doors at eleven of the clock at night, and with their swords maimed him and gave him seven great wounds, and took from him certain goods and chattels, of which he had, nor yet hath, no remedy nor restitution.

Item, the same day and year they beat the mother of the same John Coke, she being four score years of age and more, and smote her upon the crown of her head with a sword; of which hurt she might never be healed to the day of her death.

* * * * *

Item, on Mid Lent Sunday, the thirtieth year of our sovereign Lord the King that now is, Robert Dallyng, Robert Church, Robert Taillor, Henry Bang, Adam at More, with others unknown, by the commandment and assent of the said Robert Ledham, made affray upon Henry Smith and Thomas Chamber at South Birlingham, the said Henry and Thomas at that time kneeling to see the using of the mass, and then and there would have killed the said Henry and Thomas at the priest's back, unless they had been prevented.

* * * * *

Item, the said Robert Ledham, continuing in this wise, called unto him his said misgoverned fellowship, considering the absence of many of the well-ruled of the said hundred, of afore-cast malice concocted, purposed and laboured to the Sheriff of the shire that the said Robert Church, one of the said riotous fellowship, was made baillie of the hundred; and after caused the same Roger to be beginner of arising and to take upon him to be a captain and to excite the people of the country thereto. And thereupon, by covin of the said Robert Ledham, to impeach all these said well-ruled persons, and as well other divers substantial men of good fame and good governance that was hated by the said Robert Ledham, and promising the said Roger harmless and to sue his pardon by the men of Danyell; to the which promise the said Roger agreed, and was arrested and taken by the said Ledham by covin betwixt them, and impeached such persons as they list, to the intent that the said substantial men of the country should be by that means so troubled and endangered that they should not be of power to let and resist the misrule of the said Ledham and his misgoverned fellowship, the which matter is confessed by the said Robert Church.

* * * * *

Item, six or seven of the said Ledham's men daily, both work day and holy day, use to go about in the country with bows and arrows, shooting and playing in many closes among men's cattle, going from alehouse to alehouse and menacing such as they hated, and sought occasion to quarrel and debate.

Item, notwithstanding that all the livelihood that the said Ledham hath passeth not £20, besides the repairs and out-charges, and that he hath no cunning nor true means of getting of any good in this country, as far as any man may conceive, and yet keepeth in his house daily twenty men, besides women and great multitude of such misgoverned people as [have] been resorting to him, as is above said, to the which he giveth clothing, and yet beside that he giveth to others that be not dwelling in his household; and of the said men there passeth not eight that use occupation of husbandry; and all they that use husbandry, as well as other, be jacked and saletted ready for war, which in this country is thought right strange, and is verily so conceived that he may not keep this countenance by no good means.

Item, the said Ledham, hath a _supersedeas_ out of the Chancery for him and divers of his men, that no warrant of justice of peace may be served against him.

* * * * *

THE CONDITION OF IRELAND (1454).

=Source.=--Ellis's _Original Letters_, Second Series, vol. i., pp. 117 _et seq._ (London: 1827.)

[_A report, drawn up by the chief persons in the County of Kildare, to Richard Duke of York, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland._]

Right high and mighty Prince and our right gracious lord, Richard Duke of York, we recommend us unto you as lowly as we can or may; and please your gracious Highness to be advertised that the land of Ireland was never at the point finally to be destroyed, since the conquest of this land, as it is now, for the true liege people in these parts dare nor may not appear to the King our sovereign lord's courts in the said land, nor none of the true liege people there to go nor ride to market towns nor other places, for dread of being slain, taken or spoiled of their goods; also the misrule and misgovernance had, done and daily continued by divers gentlemen of the county and your liberty of Meath and the county of Kildare, and namely because of a variance between the earl of Wiltshire, lieutenant of the said land, and Thomas Fitzmaurice of the Geraldines for the title of the manors of Maynooth and Rathmore in the county of Kildare.... For Henry Bonyn knight, constituted Treasurer of the said land under the great Seal, assembling with him Edmund Butler cousin germane to the said Earl of Wiltshire and William Butler, cousin to the said Earl, with their following, of the which the most part was Irish enemies and English rebels, came unto the said County of Kildare and there burnt and destroyed divers and many towns and parish churches of the true liege people, and took divers of them prisoners and spoiled them of their goods. And after the departure of the said Henry and Edmund, the said William ... did so great oppression in the said county of Kildare and in the county and liberty of Meath that twenty-seven towns and more which was well inhabited on the feast of St. Michael's last passed are now wasted and destroyed.... Also please your Highness to be advertised that the said William Butler, Nicolas Wogan, David Wogan and Richard Wogan came, with divers Irish enemies and English rebels to the castle of Rathcoffy there, as Ann Wogan sometime wife to Oliver Eustace, then being the King's widow,[15] was dwelling, and burnt the gates of the said place, and took her with them and Edward Eustace, son and heir to the said Oliver ... of the age of eight years, and yet holdeth them prisoners, and took goods and chattels of the said Anne to the value of five hundred marks.

[15] Ellis notes "disposable in marriage by the King."

BEGINNINGS OF CIVIL STRIFE (1454).

=Source.=--Ingulph's _Chronicles_, p. 419. (Bohn Edition.)

In the meantime, you might plainly perceive public and intestine broils fermenting among the princes and nobles of the realm, so much so, that in the words of the Gospel, "Brother was divided against brother and father against father"; one party adhering to the King, while the other, being attached to the said duke by blood or by ties of duty, sided with him. And not only among princes and people had such a spirit of contention arisen, but even in every society, whether chapter, college, or convent, had this unhappy plague of division effected an entrance; so much so, that brother could hardly with any degree of security admit brother into his confidence, or friend a friend, nor could any one reveal the secret of his conscience without giving offence. The consequence was that, from and after this period of time, the combatants on both sides, uniting their respective forces together, attacked each other whenever they happened to meet, and quite in accordance with the doubtful issue of warfare, now the one and now the other for the moment gained the victory, while fortune was continually shifting her position. In the meantime, however, the slaughter of men was immense; for besides the dukes, earls, barons, and distinguished warriors who were cruelly slain, multitudes almost innumerable of the common people died of their wounds. Such was the state of the kingdom for nearly ten years.

THE KING'S MADNESS AND RECOVERY (1454-1455).

=Source.=--_Paston Letters_, vol. i., Nos. 195, 226.

A.--+January, 1454.+

As touching tidings, please it you to wit that at the Prince's coming to Windsor, the Duke of Buckingham took him in his arms and presented him to the King in godly wise, beseeching the King to bless him; and the King gave no manner of answer. Nevertheless the Duke abode still with the Prince by the King; and when he could no manner answer have, the Queen come in, and took the Prince in her arms and presented him in like form as the Duke had done, desiring that he should bless it; but all their labour was in vain, for they departed thence without any answer or countenance saving only that once he looked on the Prince and cast down his eyes again, without any more.

B.--+January, 1455.+

_Edmund Clere to John Paston._

To my well-beloved Cousin, John Paston, be this delivered.

Right well-beloved cousin, I recommend me to you, letting you wit such tidings as we have.

Blessed be God, the King is well amended, and hath been since Christmasday, and on Saint John's day commanded his almoner to ride to Canterbury with his offering, and commanded the Secretary to offer at Saint Edward's.

And on the Monday afternoon the Queen came to him, and brought my Lord Prince with her. And then he asked what the Prince's name was, and the Queen told him Edward; and then he held up his hands and thanked God thereof. And he said he never knew till that time, nor wist not what was said to him, nor wist not where he had been while he hath been sick till now. And he asked who were godfathers, and the Queen told him, and he was well pleased.

And she told him that the Cardinal[16] was dead, and he said he knew never thereof till that time; and he said one of the wisest Lords in this land was dead.

[16] Kemp, Archbishop of Canterbury.

And my Lord of Winchester and my Lord of Saint John were with him on the morrow after Twelfth day, and he speak to them as well as ever he did; and when they come out they wept for joy.

And he saith he is in charity with all the world, and so he would all the Lords were. And now he sayeth Matins of Our Lady and evensong, and heareth his Mass devoutly; and Richard shall tell you more tidings by mouth.

THE BATTLE OF ST. ALBANS (+May 21, 22, 1455+).

=Source.=--_Archæologia_, vol. xx., p. 519.

Be it known and had in mind that the 21st day of May the twenty-third year of the reign of King Henry the sixth, our Sovereign Lord the King took his journey from Westminster toward Saint Albans, and rested at Watford all night; and on the morrow betimes he came to Saint Albans, and with him ... gentlemen and yeomen to the number of two thousand and more. And upon the twenty-second day of the said month above rehearsed assembled the Duke of York, and with him came in company the Earl of Salisbury, the Earl of Warwick with divers knights and squires unto their party into the field, called the Key Field, beside Saint Albans. Furthermore, our said sovereign Lord the King, hearing and knowing of the said Duke's coming with other Lords aforesaid, pitched his banner at the place called Boslawe in Saint Peter Street, which place was called aforetime Sandiford, and commandeth the ward and barriers to be kept in strong wise; the aforesaid Duke of York abiding in the field aforesaid from seven of the clock in the morning till it was almost ten without any stroke smitten on either party. The said Duke sent to the King our sovereign Lord, by the advice of his Council, praying and beseeching him to take him as his true man and humble subject; and to consider and to tender at the reverence of Almighty God, and in way of charity the true intent of his coming--to be good and gracious sovereign Lord to his liegemen, which with all their power and might will be ready at all times to live and die with him in his right.

"Moreover, gracious Lord, please it your Majesty Royal of your great goodness and righteousness to incline your will to hear and feel the righteous party of us your subjects and liegemen; first, praying and beseeching to our Lord Jesus of his high and mighty power to give unto you virtue and prudence, and that through the mediation of the glorious martyr Saint Alban to give you very knowledge to know the intent of our assembling at this time; for God that is in Heaven knoweth that our intent is rightful and true. And therefore we pray unto Almighty Lord Jesus, these words--_Domine sis clipeus defensionis nostræ_. Wherefore, gracious Lord, please it your high Majesty to deliver such as we will accuse, and they to have like as they have deserved and done, and ye to be honoured and worshipped as most rightful King, our governor. For and we shall now at this time be promised, as afore this time is not unknown, of promises broken which full faith fully hath been promised, and there upon great oaths made, we will not now cease for none such promise, surety, nor other, till we have them which have deserved death, or else we to die therefore."

And to that answered the King our sovereign Lord and said: "I, King Henry, charge and command that no manner of person, of what degree, or state, or condition that ever he be, abide not, but void the field, and not be so hardy to make any resistance against me in mine own realm; for I shall know what traitor dare be so bold to raise a people in mine own land, wherefore I am in great distress and heaviness. And by the faith that I owe to Saint Edward, and to the Crown of England, I shall destroy them every mother's son, and they be hanged, and drawn, and quartered, that they may be taken afterward, of them to have example to all such traitors to beware to make any such rising of people within my land, and so traitorously to abide their King and governor. And for a conclusion, rather than they shall have any Lord here with me at this time, I shall this day, for their sake, and in this quarrel myself live or die."

Which answer come to the Duke of York, the which Duke, by the advice of the Lords of his Council, said unto them these words: "The King our sovereign Lord will not be reformed at our beseeching nor prayer, nor will not understand the intent that we be come hither and assembled for and gathered at this time; but only his full purpose, and there none other way but that he will with all his power pursue us, and if taken, to give us a shameful death, losing our livelihood and goods, and our heirs shamed for ever. And therefore, since it will be none otherwise but that we shall utterly die, better it is for us to die in the field than cowardly to be put to a great rebuke and a shameful death; moreover, considering in what peril England stands in at this hour, therefore every man help to help power for the right thereof, to redress the mischief that now reigneth, and to quit us like men in this quarrel; praying to that Lord that is King of Glory, that reigneth in the Kingdom celestial, to keep us and save us this day in our right, and through the help of His holy grace we may be made strong to withstand the great, abominable and cruel malice of them that purpose fully to destroy us with shameful death. We therefore, Lord, pray to Thee to be our comfort and Defender, saying the word aforesaid, _Domine sis clipeus defensionis nostræ_."

And when this was said, the said Duke of York, and the said Earl of Salisbury, and the Earl of Warwick, between eleven and twelve of the clock at noon, they broke into the town in three divers places and several places of the aforesaid street. The King being then in the place of Edmond Westby hundredor of the said town of Saint Albans, commandeth to slay all manner men of lords, knights, and squires and yeomen that might be taken of the foresaid Duke of York. This done, the foresaid Lord Clifford kept strongly the barriers that the said Duke of York might not in any wise, with all the power that he had, enter nor break into the town. The Earl of Warwick, knowing thereof, took and gathered his men together, and furiously brake in by the garden sides between the sign of the Key and the sign of the Chequer in Holwell street; and anon as they were within the town, suddenly they blew up trumpets, and set a cry with a shout and a great voice, "A Warwick! A Warwick! A Warwick!" and unto that time the Duke of York might never have entry into the town; and they with strong hand kept it, and mightily fought together, and anon, forthwith after the breaking in, they set on them manfully. And of them that were slain and buried in Saint Albans, forty-eight. And at this same time were hurt Lords of name--the King, our sovereign Lord, in the neck with an arrow; the Duke of Buckingham, with an arrow in the visage; the Lord of Stafford in the hand, with an arrow; the lord of Dorset, sore hurt that he might not go, but he was carried home in a cart; and Wenlock, knight, in like wise in a cart sore hurt; and other divers knights and squires sore hurt. The Earl of Wiltshire, Thorpe, and many others fled, and left their harness behind them cowardly, and the substance of the King's party were despoiled of horse and harness. This done, the said Lords, that is to wit, the Duke of York, the Earl of Salisbury, the Earl of Warwick, come to the King, our Sovereign Lord, and on their knees besought him of grace and forgiveness of that they had done in his presence, and besought him of his Highness to take them as his true liegemen, saying that they never intended hurt to his own person, and therefore the King our sovereign Lord took them to grace, and so desired them to cease their people, and that there should no more harm be done; and they obeyed his commandment, and let made a cry in the King's name that all manner of people should cease and not so hardy to strike any stroke more after the proclamation of the cry; and so ceased the said battle, _Deo gratias_.

AN UNRULY NOBLE (1455).

=Source.=--_Rotuli Parliamentorum_, vol. v., p. 285.

... There be great and grievous riots done in the West Country at the city of Exeter by the earl of Devonshire, accompanied with many riotous persons, as it is said, with eight hundred horsemen and four thousand footmen, and there have robbed the church (cathedral) of Exeter, and taken the canons of the same church and put them to ransom, and also have taken the gentlemen in that country, and done and committed many other great and heinous inconveniences; that in abridging of such riots ... a Protector and Defensor must be had ... and that he, in abridging of such riots and offences, should ride and labour into that country, for but if the said riots and inconveniences were resisted, it should be the cause of the loss of that land, and if that land were lost, it might be the cause of the subversion of all this land.

THE LITIGIOUSNESS OF THE AGE (_circa_ 1455).

=Source.=--Gascoigne's _Loci e Libro Veritatum_, edited by Rogers, pp. 108, 109. (Oxford: 1881).

Formerly, when there were many good and mature rectors of churches resident there, the quarrels and dissensions which arose within a parish or between parishioners, were generally settled by the good handling and advice of such rectors, and there were few pleas and actions through lawyers.... But now, by the lack of such good rectors, strifes, quarrels, dissensions, actions and pleas are multiplied and prolonged, and thus the money, which might have gone to good works, owing to the number of the quarrels goes to the lawyers, advocates, and counsel; whence by the multiplication of such dissensions and actions, the number of these lawyers, jurists, advocates and defenders of evil (who defend evil for love or for fear of evil) is far greater than it need be. And yet many times the cause which has been pleaded long and at great expense is settled and concluded by the interference of the great.

THE TRIAL AND RECANTATION OF BISHOP PECOCK (1457).

=Source.=--_An English Chronicle_, edited by Davies, pp. 75-77. (Camden Society, 1856.)

And this same year, and the year of our Lord 1457, master Reginald Pecock, bishop of Chichester, a secular doctor of divinity that had laboured for many years for to translate Holy Scripture into English; passing the bonds of divinity and of Christian belief, was accused of certain articles of heresy, of the which he was convicted before the archbishop of Canterbury and other bishops and clerks, and utterly abjured, revoked and renounced the said articles openly at [St.] Paul's Cross in his mother tongue, as followeth hereafter: "In the name of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, I, Reginald Pecock, bishop of Chichester unworthy, of my own power and will, without any manner of coercion or dread, confess and acknowledge that I here before this time, presuming of my natural wit, and preferring my judgement and natural reason before the New and the Old Testament, and the authority and determination of our Mother, Holy Church, have held, written and taught otherwise than the holy Roman and universal church teacheth, preacheth or observeth ... and specially these heresies and errors following, that is to say:

'In primis, quod non est de necessitate fidei credere quod Dominus noster Ihesus Christus post mortem descendit ad inferos.

'Item, quod non est de necessitate salutis, credere in sanctorum communione.

'Item, quod ecclesia universalis potest errare in illis quæ sunt fidei.

'Item, quod non est de necessitate salutis credere et tenere illud quod consilium generale et universalis ecclesia statuit, approbat, seu determinat in favorem fidei et ad salutem animarum, est ab universis Christi fidelibus approbandum, credendum et tenendum.'[17]

[17] "First, that it is not necessary to faith to believe that our Lord
Jesus Christ, after His death, descended into hell.

_Item_, that it is not necessary to salvation to believe in the
communion of saints.

_Item_, that the Church universal can err in matters of faith.

_Item_, that it is not necessary to salvation to believe and to hold
that whatever a general Council of the Church ordains, approves, or
determines in matters of faith and for the salvation of souls, ought to
be approved, believed, and held by all faithful Christians."

"Wherefore I, miserable sinner which here before long time have walked in darkness, and now by the mercy and infinite goodness of God reduced into the right way and light of truth, and considering myself grievously to have sinned and wickedly have informed and infected the people of God, return and come again to our Mother, Holy Church; and all heresies and errors written and contained in my said books, works and writings here solemnly and openly revoke and renounce ... submitting myself, being now very contrite and penitent sinner, to the correction of the Church and of my said lord of Canterbury.... And over this declaration of my conversion and repentance, I here openly assert that my said books, works and writing, for declaration and cause above rehearsed, be deputed unto the fire and openly burnt in example and terror of all other.

'Why wonder that reason not tell can,
How a maid is a mother, and God is man,
Flee reason and follow the wonder,
For belief hath the mastery, and reason is under.'"

This made the said Pecock, as it was said.

And after this he was deprived of his bishopric, having a certain pension assigned unto him for to live on in an abbey, and soon after he died.

A SEA FIGHT (+June 1, 1458+).

=Source.=--_Paston Letters_, vol. i., No. 317.

_John Jerningham to Margaret Paston._