The Fears of Henry IV: The Life of England's Self-Made King (76 page)

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.

  
3
.
PROME,
1394 January, item 20. Goodman,
John of Gaunt,
p. 153, states that Talbot was captured prior to this interrogation, which took place some time before the January 1394 parliament, but he was still at large at the time of the parliament, as Richard gave orders for him to be apprehended. See Goodman,
John of Gaunt,
p. 172, n. 46, for John of Gaunt’s whereabouts. A detailed note of proceedings against Talbot appears in Tuck, p. 167, n. 3.

  
4
. John was at Beverley in Yorkshire on 28 August; Henry was at Peterborough on 2 September. See Goodman,
John of Gaunt,
p. 172, n. 46; DL 28/1/5 fol. 16v. He was at Peterborough again on 12 December (
CPR 1396–99,
p. 501), and probably had simply stayed with Mary there during the intervening period.

  
5
. DL 28/1/4 fol. 14v–15r. For Thomas Beaufort being equipped at Henry’s expense, see
ibid.,
fol. 14v. The date of the Hertford tournament is given on fol. 16v.

  
6
. DL 28/1/4 fol. 20v.

  
7
. DL 28/1/4 fol. 18v.

  
8
. He was still there on 12 January:
CPR 1396–99,
p. 469.

  
9
. Goodman,
John of Gaunt,
p. 153, quoting DL 28/1/4.

10
. DL 28/1/4 fol. 19v.

11
. For this argument, see
SAC,
p. 957;
PROME,
1394 January, introduction and item 11. Also see
Froissart,
ii, p. 495, where the disagreement between Gloucester and Arundel against John over France is mentioned, although it needs to be remembered that Gloucester was one of John’s negotiators in 1393, and so can hardly have been as firmly against the peace deal as Froissart suggests.

12
. Goodman,
John of Gaunt,
p. 153; Tuck, p. 169.

13
. This had been the case in Edward III’s reign even when that meant appointing an infant, as had happened in 1338 (when the keeper, Edward of Woodstock, was only eight), and in 1345 (when Lionel of Antwerp was only six), and in 1359 (when Thomas of Woodstock was only four).

14
.
CCR 1392–96,
p. 325;
LK,
p. 40.

15
.
LC,
p. 156. Henry gave the collar after his return in 1393; it is shown on Gower’s tomb effigy.

16
. It is not certain that Henry returned to Hertford; however as that is where his wife was and where his father returned to (Armitage-Smith, p. 448), it is likely.

17
. Goodman,
John of Gaunt,
p. 154; Armitage-Smith, p. 429.

18
. Armitage-Smith, p. 449; Goodman,
John of Gaunt,
p. 155.

19
. There is considerable doubt about the date of Mary’s death, and all we can say for certain is that she died in June or very early July 1394.
ODNB
states (under ‘Henry IV’) that Mary died ‘perhaps on 4 July, the date her anniversary was celebrated in 1406’. This is supported by
WC,
p. 521, which states that ‘about the beginning of July the countess of Derby died in childbed and was buried at Leicester’. However, Knighton (
KC,
p. 551) records that she was buried on Monday 6 July, the Monday being supported by Walsingham (
SAC,
p. 961), and this is surely too soon after the 4th for her to have died that day. Although the Westminster chronicler states that Anne died on 7 June and was buried on the 9th – dates followed by Goodman in his
John of Gaunt
(p. 155) – Anne was actually buried on 3 August, as noted by the editors of the
WC,
p. 520, n. 3.
HBC
states that Mary died on ‘? 4 June’, but does not explain why this date has been chosen. It may be that the editors guessed that the 4 July date was an error for 4 June, which would allow enough time for the funeral preparations. If so, this would explain why Walsingham mentions Mary’s death after Constanza’s and before Anne’s.