The Last Knight Errant: Sir Edward Woodville & the Age of Chivalry (40 page)

22. From the ‘Epitaph on the Army of Mercenaries’ by A.E. Houseman.

23. Considerable mystery surrounds Lambert Simnel and it is uncertain which ten-
or 11-year-old boy was the real Warwick. It is hard to understand why Lincoln
and his Aunt Margaret should support an impostor when Lincoln himself was
King Richard’s designated heir. King Henry and his people presented a story
that diminishes and ridicules his adversary and is believable. Whether it is true
is another matter. The conundrum is explored in
Lambert Simnel and the Battle
of Stoke
by M. Bennett. The Warwick in the Tower was slightly simple and was
executed for no good reason, other than birth.

24. According to the
Middle English Dictionary
one meaning of
ape
is ‘one who does
tricks, a trickster’.

Chapter 10. Onwards to Glory

1. The principal sources for the chapter have been the
Chroniques
by Jean Molinet,
chapter 192; Polydore Vergil’s
Anglica Historia
, Book XXIV; Edward Hall’s
Chronicle
, pp 439–41; Pocquet du Haut-Jussé,
François II, Duc de Bretagne, et
l’Angleterre
;
Correspondence de Charles VIII avec Louis de la Trèmoille
;
L’expédition de
Edouard Wydeville en Bretagne
; and Bridges,
History of France
, vol. 1.

2.
Revue Historique
, vol. xxv, quoted in Bridges,
History of France
, vol. 1, p 133.

3. Commines,
Memoirs 1461–1483
, vol. ii, p 122. He was second cousin of the late
Louis XI and son of Duke Charles d’Orléans, taken prisoner at Agincourt, who
spent 25 years in England waiting to be ransomed. Charles was an accomplished
musician and poet who married his first cousin, Isabella. She was the widow of
Richard II of England and Louis XI’s aunt.

4. Alain, 16th Count d’Albret, 1440–1522, had been loyal to Louis XI. His son,
Jean, married Catherine de Foix in 1486 and so ruled Navarre (Jean’s great-
grandson was Henry of Navarre who became King of France in 1589); his
daughter married Cesare Borgia in 1500.

5. Bridges,
History of France
, vol. 1, p 151.

6. David Hume,
History of England
(New York: Virtue, 1859), vol. i, p 315.

7. Rev. E. Boucher James,
Letters Archaeological and Historical Relating to the Isle of
Wight
(1896). The King was recorded visiting Southampton (close to Porchester)
in both January and September 1487. See Davies,
History of Southampton
, p 475.

8. Oppenheim,
Administration of the Navy
, p 35.

9. Access was impossible without a patron. Bishop Russell told the Lords in 1483,
‘the people must stand afar and not pass the limits; you speak with the prince
which is like God on earth’. People without access had to use an intermediary
to see someone powerful. Columbus, with his Spanish experiences, was well
aware of that. He must have been confident of getting access, for his brother and
Edward had easy access to the King.

10. Francis Bacon,
History of the Reign of King Henry the Seventh
, ed J. Weinberger
(Cornell University Press, 1996), p 167.

11. A painted shield of Lord ‘Wodwill’ or ‘Wodvill’, encircled by the Garter, on a
page of similar shields of Knights of the Garter dating from the reign of Henry
VII, is on page 32 of the College of Heralds MS. M.7 (unpublished). The bulk
of this manuscript was compiled by Sir Thomas Wriothesley (d. 1534 as Garter
King of Arms), the son of John Wrythe (also Garter King of Arms), but this
particular section of the MS may be earlier.

12. According to S.R. Chrimes,
Henry VII
, ‘the Garter rather than anything that
could be called a peerage was the ultimate mark of honour favoured by Henry
VII’.

13. Leyland,
Collectanea
(‘The Herald’s Report’, vol. iv), pp 185–257.

14. Bridges,
History of France
, vol. 1, p 159.

15.
Correspondence de Charles VIII et de ses consellors avec Louis de la Trémoille
(Paris, 1875), pp 121–2.

16. ‘Cauldrons of hypocras,’ a deeply aromatic and sexually stimulating drink made
from ground Malaguetta (pepper) called
grains of paradise
, wine, sugar, ginger,
mace and cinamon. It was said that Venus served it to lovers on their first visit to
her tavern.

17. Campbell (ed),
Materials for a History of the Reign of Henry VII
, pp 322, 324.

18. Bacon,
History of the Reign of King Henry the Seventh
, p 67.

19. The numbers are (mainly) taken from de Beauchesne. As usual, they do not quite
add up; perhaps some were exaggerated to show the international support.

20. The French artillery was built up by the brothers Bureau for King Louis XI. The
brothers were succeeded by Jacques de Genouille who was constantly adding
new technical improvements. See Oman,
The Art of War in the Sixteenth Century
,
pp 30, 49.

21.
Correspondence de Charles VIII et de ses consellors avec Louis de la Trémoille
, pp 131–2.

22.
Calender of Letters, Dispatches and State Papers, England and Spain, Preserved at
Simancas
(London: Longman, 1862), vol. i. Henry had just written (6 July) to
congratulate Ferdinand and Isabella on their success against the Moors; their
letters will have crossed. The Spanish ambassador in London was de Puebla and
Johan de Sepalveda was a special envoy who journeyed between capitals.

23. Molinet,
Chroniques
, p 394.

24.
Hall’s Chronicle
, p 141.

25. Pocquet du Haut-Jussé,
François II, Duc de Bretagne, et l’Angleterre
, provides a
detailed description.

26. ‘San-San-Son’ sounds an excellent, onomatopoeic chant which would do
splendidly on the battlefield (or indeed on the terraces) as does ‘San-Lau-trois’;
it is reported that around half the French army were Swiss mercenaries.

27. Molinet,
Chroniques
, p 396.

28. It is difficult to imagine the concentration, the adrenalin, the sweat and the
scrambling. Hutton’s
Bosworth
(1788) has a report of a nobleman in similar
circumstances who had ‘several [bodies] at his feet. He followed his blows as
if determined his single sword should win the field...he furiously engaged…
some of them surrounded him with a design to take him alive but he resolved
not to yield but die sword in hand...without one friend to support him he
fought. Two courageous men resolved to rescue him. The enemy commander
surrounded them with some of his soldiers who cut them to pieces...he was
again left to cope with a surrounding multitude and his powers gone...himself
as well as his sword was dyed in blood. One soldier tried to take him prisoner but
collecting strength from anger, with one desperate blow, cut off his arm which
fell to the ground.’

29.
Hall’s Chronicle
, p 141.

30. Commines rated Galliota highly, both as a soldier and an honourable man. The
Venetians had decided to appoint him their Captain General and he was due
to take up the post after this campaign. Their ambassador to France had been
instructed (4 January 1488) to visit the ‘condottiere Jacopo Galeotto’, inquire
about his eyesight and offer him the job.
Calendar of State Papers at Venice
, p 169.

31. Molinet,
Chroniques
, p 396.

32.
Hall’s Chronicle
, p 141.

33.
Correspondence de Charles VIII et de ses consellors avec Louis de la Trémoille
, pp 246–8.

34. The monument states ‘Talbot Earl of Scales’ which is a mistake. It could stem
from ‘Sir Edward Woodville called Lord Wideville’ and ‘George Talbot, Earl
of Shrewsbury’, both being installed as Knights of the Garter on 29 April 1488.
Talbot was 10 years younger and a close Tudor supporter who was present at the
signing of the Treaty of Etaples on 3 November 1492.

35. Jean de Beuil,
Le Jouvencel
(Paris: SHF, 1887), vol. ii, pp 20–1.

36. The embassy sailed on 22 December 1488 in two Spanish ships and returned on
25 July 1489. See Davies,
History of Southampton
, p 475.

37.
Calendar of State Papers at Venice
vol. i, p 177.

38. He wrote on 28 January 1489,
Calendar of State Papers at Venice
, vol. i, p 177.

39. J. Dennistoun,
Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino 1440–1630
, ed E. Hutton (London:
Lane, 1910), vol. i, pp 346–7.

40. The Isle of Wight Records Office has a census for 1559 (70 years later) which
records the island’s population as 8,767, of which 1,880 were rated as able for
military service.

41. Rev. E. Boucher James, confirmed by the Records Office.

42. National Archives E 405/76 (215629), quoted in Campbell (ed),
Materials for a
History of the Reign of Henry VII
, p 455.

Epilogue

1. Hicks,
Richard III
, p 263.

2. Anne was married to Sir John Walsh and they lived at Little Sodbury Manor,
Gloucestershire. It was during an argument in the great hall, which is still there,
that William Tyndale famously put down a silly priest: ‘If God spare my life,
ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth the plough shall know more of the
Scriptures than thou dost.’ Tyndale is responsible for about 80 per cent of the
wonderful English in the King James Bible and he was one of the seminal figures
of the Reformation. Brian Buxton has published a paper on Thomas Poyntz
(2005) showing he was of the Essex family, rather than of Gloucestershire. The
conflict between Tyndale and Thomas More is well documented.

3. Richard Ameryk was a leading Bristol merchant, a Poyntz cousin and a backer
of Cabot’s voyage. There is an argument, but little evidence, to show that Cabot
named America after Ameryk.

4. Among Elizabeth Woodville’s grandchildren were Henry VIII and Margaret and
Mary who married, respectively, King James IV of Scotland – from whom the
present royal family is descended – and King Louis XII of France (his third wife
and the same Louis d’Orléans who had fought at St Aubin). Amongst her great-
granddaughters were Queens Mary and Elizabeth and great-great-granddaughters
were Mary, Queen of Scots, and Lady Jane Grey.

Appendix A

1. Oppenheim,
Administration of the Royal Navy
, pp 48–58.

2. J.A. Williamson,
The Voyages of the Cabots and the English Discovery of North America
under Henry VII and Henry VII
, ed N.M. Penzer (The Argonaut Press, 1929), p 91.

Appendix C

1. The
arroba
was about 25lbs; ‘quarter-hundredweight’ (28lbs) is probably the
nearest pre-metric English dry-weight equivalent.

Primary and early sources

André, Bernard,
Vita Henrici Septemi: Memorials of King Henry VII
, ed J. Gardner
(London, 1858)

Bacon, Francis,
History of the Reign of King Henry the Seventh
, ed J. Weinberger (Cornell
University Press, 1996)

Beauchamp Pageant
, ed Dillon and St John Hope (London: British Museum, 1914)

Bernáldez, Andrés,
Memorias del reinado de los Reyes Católicos
, ed M. Gómez-Moreno
and J. de Mata Carrizo (Madrid, 1962)

Black, W.H. (ed),
Illustrations of Ancient State and Chivalry
(London, 1840)

Blomfield, Francis (and Parkin),
History of Norfolk
(Linn, 1769)

Boucher James, Rev. E.,
Letters Archaeological and Historical Relating to the Isle of Wight
(London: Frowde, 1896)

British Library Harleian Manuscript 433
, ed R. Horrox and P. Hammond (Stroud:
Sutton, 1980)

Buhler, C.F. (ed),
The Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers
(Oxford: Early English Text
Society, 1941)

Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers 1471–1484
(London: HMSO, 1955)

Calendar of Patent Rolls
(London: HMSO, 1900–14)

Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts Existing in the Archives and Collections of Milan, I,
1385–1618
, ed A.B. Hinds (London: HMSO, 1913)

Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts Relating to English Affairs in the Archives and
Collections of Venice and Other Libraries of Nothern Italy
, vol. 1, ed Rawdon Brown
(London, 1864).

Campbell, W. (ed),
Materials for a History of the Reign of Henry VII
, 2 vols. (Rolls Series,
1873–77)

Caxton, William,
The Prologues and Epilogues of William Caxton
, ed W. Crotch (Oxford:
Early English Text Society, 1928)