The Fears of Henry IV: The Life of England's Self-Made King

by Mortimer, Ian

  66. The earls of Arundel and Warwick both witnessed a charter granted at Westminster on 18 November (C 53/162 no. 25). Six days later a pardon for manslaughter was granted at Henry’s request to his clerk, William Loveney (CPR 1385–89, p. 531). The latter request could have been communicated by letter, but it also might indicate his presence. Normally such grants were made when Henry was present.

  67. Tuck, pp. 136–7.

  68. CCR 1385–89, p. 571.

  69. LC, p. 52.

  70. Saul, p. 203.

  71. CCR 1385–8, p. 676; Saul, p. 203; LC, p. 52. It met in the Marcolf Chamber.

  72. Henry did not witness the charter of 28 May at Westminster (C 53/162 no. 17). He was back at Kenilworth by 12 June (CPR 1396–99, p. 518).

  73. PROME, 1397 September, part 1, item 53 shows Richard never forgave Henry for Radcot Bridge. Henry’s response in the Record and Process acknowledged this lack of reconciliation.

  4: Iron Wars

  1. Henry was still at Kenilworth on 1 July (CPR 1396–99, p. 122). He was at Clarendon on 13 September for a council meeting (PC, p. 11) and at Westminster on 14 November (C 53/162 nos 3, 10 & 11). There is no direct evidence that Henry rode to join John but it would have been usual and respectful.

  2. Goodman, John of Gaunt, p. 144.

  3. Both Henry and his father attended the meeting of the privy council at Reading on 10 December 1389. See PC, p. 17.

  4. Richard’s request to Jagiello of Poland to grant Henry safe-conduct was dated January 1390. See du Boulay ‘Expeditions to Prussia’, p. 155.

  5. Jean le Maingre (1366–1421) was the second to bear this nickname. His father – also Jean le Maingre – had borne it at the time of Edward III’s 1355 campaign. See PK, p. 315.

  6. Foedera, vii, pp. 665–6.

  7. This is the description in Moranville (ed.), Chronographia, pp. 97–100. Froissart, who describes each set of strokes, or courses, in minute detail, states that each of the three champions had his own war target, but Froissart is mistaken as to dates and many other events in relation to this tournament.

  8. From his poetic description of the jousts taking place in May – not March – it is clear that Froissart was not there himself, but was using a source which had mistakenly copied Martii for Maii.

  9. Froissart gives the same names for the first day’s joust, on Monday 21 March, only differing in that his source mistakenly names Peter Shirbourne, not Thomas Swinburn. Swinburn was shortly afterwards given custody of Guines Castle (E 101/69/1/282).

  10. Froissart and the Saint-Denis chronicler differ on the number and names of the participants. They have six in common: Thomas Messendon, Thomas Balquet, John Lancaster, Thomas Talbot, Thomas Clifton and Nicholas Cliston/Clinton [recte: Clifton] (although Froissart mistakenly has John Talbot instead of Thomas and William Clifton instead of Thomas). In addition, Saint-Denis names Thomas Querry, Nicholas Saton [recte: St John?], William Heron [recte: Gerard Heron?] and William Stadon. Froissart names instead William Seimort [Seymour], Godfrey de Seca, John Bolton and two squires, ‘Navarton’ and ‘Sequaqueton’.

  11. The Saint-Denis chronicler names thirteen; Froissart names eight of these and adds three others.

  12. The Saint-Denis chronicler names seven; Froissart names three of these and adds six others.

  13. The anonymous poem ‘The Jousts of St Inglevert’, printed in Lettenhove’s edition of Froissart’s chronicles, agrees that Henry’s joust was towards the end of the tournament but states that it took place on Wednesday 16 April (Tuck, ‘Henry IV and chivalry’, p. 57). However, in 1390, 16 April fell on a Saturday, so this chronology was probably drawn up in a different year, with poetic effect in mind, and is not reliable. The date here is inferred from the Saint-Denis chronicle.

  14. Sarcasm seems to have been a common form of wit in the fourteenth century. Edward II as a young man had written letters to his French relations relating how he would give them a pack of slow hounds ‘who can well catch a hare if they find it asleep, for we know that you take delight in lazy hounds’. Similarly, Roger Mortimer had made a sarcastic joke to the earl of Lancaster in 1328: when accused of impoverishing the realm he had replied that if Lancaster knew how to enrich them, he would be welcome at court. See Mortimer, Greatest Traitor, p. 214.

  15. Expeditions, p. 34. As for the Lord de Saimpy taking no further part, this is implied by the two other knights alone taking on challengers after Henry’s company met them.

  16. Saint-Denis is the source for this compliment. The date adopted here contradicts most writers on the subject. The jousting did not begin on 1 March, as some chronicles state, but on 21 March. Obviously it went on beyond the end of the month. If the tournament actually lasted ‘thirty days’, however, the first day was the first of three days of ceremonies and feasts, i.e. 18 March (according to Saint-Denis). Wednesday 13 April was the twenty-seventh day. Froissart (although his source left after the first four days) states that the English departed from Calais on a Saturday. The Saturday after the 13th would have indeed been the thirtieth day of the tournament. Henry would have had an obligation to be at Windsor for the Order of the Garter feast on 23 April, and so probably did not leave any later than this. The Saint-Denis chronicler notes Ralph Rochford, Thomas Toty and John Dalyngrigge – all esquires in Henry’s service in 1390 – jousted on the last day of the tournament, and so Henry probably remained for the duration.

  17. Moranville (ed.), Chronographia, pp. 97–100.

  18. Expeditions, p. 1. His accounts and other documents at this time normally only name him as earl of Derby. The writ ordering their auditing (ibid., p. 2) also has all four titles, so it was probably in regular use by 1390.

  19. Du Boulay, ‘Expeditions to Prussia’, p. 162. Richard had certainly tried to restrict some of those taking part in the St Inglevert jousts from going on crusade. See Foedera, vii, pp. 665–6.

  20. The situation was a complicated one, and never static. For a background on the shifting alliances see du Boulay, ‘Expeditions to Prussia’, pp. 156–60, especially p. 158, where the question of whether this was really a crusade is discussed.

  21. Details of the participants in the Prussian crusades have been drawn from Keen, ‘Chaucer’s Knight’, pp. 50–56; LC, p. 2.

  22. C 53/162 no. 2. The date conflicts with Expeditions, xxxv and xlii, but the charter witness list in this case is a more reliable guide than Toulmin Smith’s estimate.

  23. Expeditions, p. 19.

  24. Expeditions, pp. 21–2.

  25. PK, p. 346.

  26. For example, in August 1403 his cousin the duke of York gave him a present of pike, bream and tench; that same year he gave him another present of ‘6 fresh salmon and 12 bream’. Wylie, iv, p. 206.

  27. Expeditions, pp. 19–20.

  28. There is no indication that his family came ‘to see him off’. But he and Mary did give alms together at Lincoln, and the amounts they gave were large for oblations: 10s and 6s 8d. Furthermore these payments appear just after those for getting the ship ready. See Expeditions, p. 27.

  29. The three hundred men is often quoted and disputed. It is probably not an overestimate, if one takes into consideration menial servants and also the number of sailors on the boat.

  30. According to the Saint-Denis chronicler, Thomas Swynford fought with Henry in his party; Peter Bucton and Richard Dancaster took part on the next day of jousting, and Thomas Toty, John Dalyngrigge and Robert Rochford took part on the last day. It seems likely that John Clifton and Roger Langford had also taken part in the jousts, as suggested by the chronicler’s references to John Claquefort (which appears as ‘Cliston’ in Froissart) and Roger Long.

  31. Henry had his chess board brought to him on the reyse. See Expeditions, p. 49. For his gambling with dice, see ibid., pp. 28, 31, 35, 107, 109, 110, 115. For his backgammon see pp. 113, 178, 264. For jeu de paume, see ibid., p. 263.

  32. Expeditions, p. 164.

  33. Du Boulay describes this as mainly ‘an archer victory’ but
there were few recorded archers in the English force. Having said that, at Vilnius there was an English ‘gunner-archer’, so it seems that some English archers and gunners were not on Henry’s payroll. This might explain why the sources state that Henry had three hundred men with him and yet many fewer appear in his accounts. On this matter see Expeditions, xliv.

  34. Henry later rewarded an English esquire for first planting the flag above Vilnius. See du Boulay, ‘Expeditions to Prussia’, pp. 164–5; Expeditions, p. 105.

  35. WC, p. 449.

  36. Goodman, John of Gaunt, p. 148. One of the men, Thomas Rempston, later served in Henry’s retinue, so he was at least half-successful, if not wholly so.

  37. Wylie, iv, p. 153.

  38. Expeditions, p. 107. Clearly Mary was responsible for naming the boy, as she not only gave him her father’s name, but Henry’s Prussian accounts note he was called Humphrey.

  39. The famous declaration by Henry in 1407 that ‘I too am a child of Prussia’ was made to Prussian envoys and may have been a diplomatic nicety. Even so it supports the view here. See du Boulay, ‘Expeditions to Prussia’, p. 153.

  40. Expeditions, p. 108. Postage is one of the few services which is actually cheaper in monetary terms today than it was in the fourteenth century.

  41. For instance, Henry paid rewards of twenty shillings to ‘diverse French musicians’ who played for him on 10 November. Expeditions, p. 107.

  42. Expeditions, p. 114 (one mark) and p. 115 (half a Prussian mark, roughly 3s 2d, according to the calculations directly beneath this entry) were paid to Hans.

  43. An earlier (1372) reference to imported ‘beer’ (as opposed to ale) appears in A. H. Thomas (ed.), Plea and Memoranda Rolls 1364–1381 (Cambridge, 1929), p. 147. For references to Henry buying continental ‘beer’ as well as English ale (‘servisia’) see Expeditions, p. 85.

  44. Kirby, p. 33.

  45. Expeditions, p. 111.

  46. Expeditions, p. 113.

  47. Expeditions, p. 116.

  48. DL 28/1/3 fol. 23r. See du Boulay, ‘Expeditions to Prussia’, p. 170.

  49. He landed at Hull by 30 April, when his war account ends.

  50. See for example du Boulay, ‘Expeditions to Prussia’, p. 167, where this question is addressed.

  51. WC, pp. 445–9.

  52. For the lances see DL 28/1/3 fol. IIV; for the date see ibid., fol. 16v. This was to take place at an as yet unidentified place, Brembeltee.

  53. Henry was at London on 7 July, as shown by his giving a gift there (DL 28/1/3 fol. 20v). The Kennington tournament may have been on 10 July, as on or about that day the king gave him two pieces of armour.

  54. DL 28/1/3 fol. 18r.

  55. DL 28/1/3 fol. 17v.

  56. WC, pp. 475, 479, 483–5; SAC, p. 913.

  57. DL 28/1/3 fol. 20v (lewt and fithele).

  58. DL 28/1/3 fol. 17v. The present included a hundred ‘koynes’.

  59. WC, pp. 477; SAC, p. 913.

  60. PROME, 1391 November, introduction.

  61. On 3 December his horses were led to Hertford. See DL 28/1/3 fol. 16v

  5: As Far as to the Sepulchre of Christ

  1. SAC, p. 917.

  2. DL 28/1/3 fol. 20v.

  3. DL 28/1/3 fol. 20v. He gave a mark each to two of John’s minstrels, and to two of his own minstrels.

  4. Although the new calendar year did not start until 25 March, and the new regnal year not until 22 June, it was traditional for lords and ladies to exchange presents on 1 January and call them New Year gifts.

  5. DL 28/1/3 fol. 16r.

  6. DL 28/1/3 fol. 15v. It should be noted that Thomas, duke of Gloucester, also used the swan as a livery badge, it being used in right of the descendants of the Bohun family.

  7. DL 28/1/3 fol. 19r. If the amounts he paid as rewards to the men who delivered these presents is an indication of the esteem in which he held the giver and their present, it is noticeable that Richard’s messenger received only one mark (13s 4d) while the queen’s received £1, and so did the duchess of Lancaster’s and the countess of Hereford’s valets. His father’s messenger, Master Ludvig the goldsmith, received £2. To the duke and duchess of Gloucester’s and Thomas Mowbray’s valets he gave a mark each, and to his sister’s half a mark.

  8. King’s Council, p. 493.

  9. WC, p. 485; King’s Council, pp. 494–5.

  10. Armitage-Smith, p. 346; Froissart, ii, p. 516; Goodman, John of Gaunt, p. 150. It should be remembered that Henry was not an official member of this embassy.

  11. See Froissart, ii, p. 518, for the full extent of these precise arrangements.

  12. Henry sent ahead to his London wardrobe to send him six horses at Rochester on 18 April, so he had returned by then. DL 28/1/3 fol. 16v–17r.

  13. After returning from Calais, Henry attended the Order of the Garter festivities at Windsor on 23 April, then returned to London where he was on 10 May (DL 28/1/3 fol. 18v, 20v). I have not found any definitive evidence that he was at Stamford, but it is likely in view of his father’s presence, and the fact that so many gentry were summoned. See WC, pp. 489–91.

  14. WC, pp. 493–5.

  15. See for example the list of creditors in DL 28/1/3 fol. 21v.

  16. Expeditions, xlvii.

  17. Expeditions, p. 161.

  18. Du Boulay, ‘Expeditions to Prussia’, p. 167, states that they met at Danzig but does not cite the source, and I cannot find this in the accounts. The payment of £400 was made at Königsberg.

  19. They were the daughters of Blanche de Valois, daughter of Charles de Valois, whose half-brother Philip de Valois was Henry’s great-great-grandfather.

  20. Expeditions, pp. 187–8, 194, 260.

  21. It was while he was at Prague that he marked the anniversary of the death of Thomas, Lord Clifford, who had died on 4 October 1391 on an island in the Mediterranean on his way to Jerusalem. This may have inspired Henry’s journey, not least because he also gave alms in memory of Thomas when at Rhodes, later on the expedition. See Expeditions, pp. 275, 312; WC, p. 480.

  22. In Expeditions, lix, Toulmin Smith mentions that Henry received a pair of leggings embroidered with the king’s livery; when he had them repaired the following year, it was noted that they were a gift from the king. See DL 28/1/5 fol. 15v.

  23. Expeditions, p. 207.

  24. Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts Relating to English Affairs Existing in the Archives and Collections of Venice … 1202–1509 (1864), p. 33.

  25. IH, p. 105. Capgrave states that the doge went with him to Jerusalem. This is not correct.

  26. This estimate is based on the presumption that they stopped to pray at Zara principally because it was Christmas Day. The approximate 250-mile stages on the outgoing journey are marked by stops on Vis, Corfu, the Peloponnese, Rhodes, Cyprus and Jaffa. They were eighty-eight days away from Venice, and ten of these were spent in the Holy Land. Probably a few more were spent on Cyprus and Rhodes. This leaves about seventy sailing days, or about five weeks in each direction. Hence the estimate of stopping every six days. It should be noted that they stopped more frequently on the way back. Also it should be noted that it is not clear that they stopped at Cyprus on the way out; Toulmin Smith thought they did not. The anonymous Informacion for pylgrymes, printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1500 but written in about 1430, states that John Moreson sailed straight from Rhodes to Jaffa.

  27. RHL, i, p. 422.

  28. Tuck suggests that they may have travelled by donkeys but no payment for donkeys appears in his accounts. See Tuck, ‘Henry IV and Chivalry’, p. 61.

  29. This and subsequent material about the medieval pilgrimages in the Holy Land is from the anonymous medieval printed book, Informacion for pylgrymes (unpaginated).

  30. DL 28/1/4 fol. 18r.

  31. Expeditions, lxvii.

  32. Expeditions, p. 234. Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas, ‘Observations of the Origin and History of the Badge and Mottoes of Edward Prince of Wales’, Archaeologia, 31 (1846), p. 365,
mentions some armorial bearings at Venice which include the ostrich feathers, swan badge, esses livery collar and a hart. These are supposed to represent Thomas Mowbray, who died in Venice in 1399. However, although the esses livery collar and ostrich feathers might have belonged to either man, the swan was Henry’s personal badge and the hart was that of his wife. It is possible that this relates to arms left by Henry. Henry’s arms were placed in St Mark’s by Mowbray Herald. Henry also bought collars while in Venice (Expeditions, lxviii, p. 280).

  33. Wylie, iv, p. 128.

  34. Hinds (ed.), State Papers … Milan, i, p. 2.

  6: Curst Melancholy

  1. SAC, p. 945. Although Walsingham states that the king did nothing, he did send the earl of Huntingdon and Sir John Stanley to threaten the insurgents with forfeiture if they created trouble. See Goodman, John of Gaunt, p. 153. However, this was a very weak response. See Saul, pp. 219–20.

  2. There are no indications as to Henry’s whereabouts in his own accounts; hence it would appear that he left his own household and joined that of his father soon after arriving in London.