IX. Narratives of the arrival of Louis de Bruges, Seigneur de la Gruthuyse, in England, and of his Creation as Earl of Winchester, in 1472: Communicated in a Letter from Sir Frederic Madden, K.H. F.R.S., &amp;c. to Hudson Gurney, Esq. Vice-President

Frederic Madden

doi:10.1017/S0261340900018889

IX. Narratives of the arrival of Louis de Bruges, Seigneur de la Gruthuyse, in England, and of his Creation as Earl of Winchester, in 1472: Communicated in a Letter from Sir Frederic Madden, K.H. F.R.S., &c. to Hudson Gurney, Esq. Vice-President

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 June 2012

Frederic Madden

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You may, perhaps, recollect, that after the singular reverse of fortune by which King Edward the Fourth was obliged to leave his crown and kingdom in the hands of the Earl of Warwick, he embarked on the 3d October, 1470, from Lynn, accompanied only by his brother the Duke of Gloucester, the Lord Scales brother of the Queen, the Lord Hastings his Chamberlain, and some few hundred followers; and with this comparatively scanty retinue steered in three small vessels for the dominions of his brother-in-law, the Duke of Burgundy, under whose protection his only hope of safety seemed to lie. So sudden had been the change which reduced the monarch to the condition of an exile, that he had not time even to collect his treasure or wearing apparel, and, in the words of Hall (who here follows the testimony of the contemporary historian Philippe de Comines) he departed “without bagge or bagage, without clothe, sacke, or male!”

Type: Research Article
Information: Archaeologia , Volume 26 , 1836 , pp. 265 - 286

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261340900018889 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1836

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^{page 265 note a} So says Hall, f. 208b, ed. 1548, but Jean de Waurin, author of the Anciennes Chroniques d'Angleterre, and a contemporary, states it to have been at Ipswich (Hepshuye). See Recherches sur Louis de Bruges, Seigneur de la Gruthuyse, &c. by M. Van Praet, 8vo. Par. 1831, p. 329.

^{page 265 note b} Afterwards King Richard the Third. Maurice (Hist, de la Toison d'Or) and M. Van Praet call him Duke of York, which is not so correct, since he was not created Duke of York till 28th May, 1474.

^{page 265 note c} Anthony Wydeville, Lord Scales, second Earl Rivers, beheaded in 1483.

^{page 265 note d} William de Hastings, made Lord Chamberlain and Baron Hastings, 1 Edw. IV., and K. G. the year following. Beheaded by order of Richard Duke of Gloucester, 13th June, 1 Edw. V.

^{page 266 note e} The expression of Comines is, “si l. ‘avoient ni croix ny pille.” He adds, that the King was obliged, for want of money, to take from his back a robe furred with martin, to recompense the master of the vessel he sailed in. Memoires, tom. i. pp. 156, 158, ed 4to. 1747.

^{page 266 note f} f. 208b.

^{page 266 note g} Memoires de Comines, 1. iii. c. 5. Hall, ff. 208, 209. Recherches sur Louis de Bruges, p. 10.

^{page 267 note h} The name of Gruthuyse was derived from two Flemish words signifying grout-house, so called from a tax on beer, under the denomination of gruyte, or grains, the proceeds of which were named gruyte-geldt, grout-money; which tax had been granted to one of Louis de Bruges’ ancestors, as early as the year 1200.

^{page 267 note i} A principality two leagues from Grammont, acquired by the father of Louis de Bruges, on his marriage with Marguerite, heiress of Felix, Prince of Steenhuyse.

^{page 267 note k} Situated two leagues and a half from Courtrai. It was the seignory of the Chatelainship of Audenaerde, and brought to the family of De la Gruthuyse, by the mother of Louis de Bruges.

^{page 267 note l} A village and seignory in the isle of Schouwen, purchased the 21st June, 1455, of Philip the Good.

^{page 267 note m} A village lying three quarters of a league from Bruges, on which stood a beautiful château, now destroyed.

^{page 267 note n} A seignorial territory, four leagues from Courtrai.

^{page 267 note o} Adjoining to the town of Thielt, about four leagues and a half from Bruges.

^{page 267 note p} A seignory in Austrian Hainaut, held in right of his grandmother, Agnes de Mortagne.

^{page 268 note q} M. Van Praet commits an error in calling the husband of Agnes de Mortagne Guildolf d'Aa, and then confounding him with Guildolf de Bruges, who was living in 1293. See p. 1, and compare pp. 47–60 of the “Recherches.”

^{page 268 note r} Recherches sur Louis de Bruges, p. 5. M. Van Praet adds, “Néanmoins, aprês son départ, cette alliance s'efféctua;” which is altogether an error. Mary, the daughter of James the Second, married first Thomas Boyd, Earl of Arran, in 1466; and secondly, James, Lord Hamilton, in 1474.

^{page 269 note s} Rymer, vol. xi. p. 574.

^{page 269 note t} See along and curious account, printed in the Excerpta Historica, pp. 227–239.

^{page 269 note u} Rot. Cart. 12 Edw. IV. n. 9. The document itself (in which Edward speaks in the highest terms of praise of the services rendered him by Louis de Bruges) has been printed in the Report from the Lords’ Committee touching the dignity of a Peer of the Realm, vol. v. p. 392 (1829); but as these volumes are extremely scarce, and the Grant intimately connected with the narratives before us, I have judged it advisable to annex it to them, from a scrupulously correct transcript made from the original in the Tower. In the Act of Resumption, 13 Edw. IV. a proviso was made in favour of Gruthuyse, to enjoy the above grant, Rot. Parl. vi. 96.

^{page 269 note v} Printed in Rymer, xi. p. 765.

^{page 269 note w} Dugdale; Bar. ii. 283. Van Praet, p. 14.

^{page 270 note x} This tomb was destroyed in 1797. On it were placed the effigies of Louis de Bruges and his lady in bronze. Beneath was the inscription, “Hier light hooghe ende mogende heere m'er Lodewyck van Brugghe, heer van Gruuthuse, grave van Wincestre, prince van Steenhuuse, etc. eersten camerlinck van onsen geduchtigen heere, en’ rudder van der ordene, ende in synen tydt gouuerneur general van Hollandt, Zeelant ende Vriesland, ende rudder van eeren van onse geduchtige vrauwe Marie, die starf in't jaer M. vierhundert xcij. den xxvj van nouembre.” An engraving of the monument is given by M. Van Praet, p. 38, and more in detail by M. Rudd, in his Description des Plans de la ville de Bruges, pl. 20.

^{page 270 note y} See M. Van Praet's Notice sur Colard Mansion, 8vo. Par. 1829. Louis de Bruges stood godfather to one of the printer's children, and the latter in consequence, in his MS. translation of La Penitence d'Adam, addresses his Patron (for whom it was executed) by the familiar appellation of compere. Dr. Dibdin, in the Bibliotheca Spenceriana, vol. i. erroneously translates this appellation “godfather,” p. 284, and in the next page “father-in-law,” both of which need correction. It may here be incidentally noticed, that at p. 89 of M. Van Praet's last eited work may be found a document, dated 1469, which satisfactorily proves William Caxton, the English printer, to have held the office of Consul at Bruges, or, as there specified, “maitre et gouverneur des marchands de la nation d'Angleterre.”

^{page 272 note z} It is worthy of remark that this autograph is written on an erasure, of which the traces yet remain sufficiently legible to make out the motto, “Sur tous autres,” which is repeated at fol. 387, of the volume. Query, did Isabel of Bavaria ever use such a motto?

^{page 272 note a} See Essai Historique sur la Bibl. du Roi, 12mo. Par. 1782, p. 13.

^{page 272 note b} The love of literature which distinguished so remarkably the second Earl Rivers, seems to have descended to him from his father, as we may infer from a memorandum annexed to the splendid volume containing the metrical Romance of Alexander the Great, preserved in the Bodleian library, No. 264. This memorandum has been wholly overlooked by Warton and others who have described the MS. and is as follows: “Cest liure est a monseignor richart de Wideuielle seigneur de Riuiers, vng dez compaignons de la t's noble ordre de la gartiere, & le dist seigneur acetast le dist liure l'an de grace mille cccclxvi. le p'mier Jor de l'an, a londres, & le v^e an de la coronacion de la t's victorieux roy Eduard quart de che non, & le second de la coronacion de t's vertueuze royne Elyzabeth, lendemain du Jor de sainctmarc”

^{page 272 note c} Dugd. Bar. ii. 201.

^{page 272 note y} Dugd. ii. 230.

^{page 272 note d} See Excerpta Historica, p. 171, seq. and Walpole's Noble Authors, vol. i. pp. 208–224, ed. Park. The writer in the former accuses Walpole of inaccuracy, in stating that Lord Scales was sent over to Burgundy to negociate the marriage between Charles and the sister of Edward IV. The assertion rests, however, on the authority of the French Rolls, 7 Edw. IV. m. 5, referred to by Dugdale.

^{page 273 note e} Probably the same as used at the Tournament with the Bastard of Burgundy. See Excerpt. Hist. p. 206.

^{page 275 note a} Sir John Howard, K. G. summoned to Parliament as a Baron, in 1470, afterwards created Duke of Norfolk by Richard III. He was killed at the battle of Bosworth.

^{page 275 note b} He was one of the ambassadors sent in March, 1471–2, from Edward IV. to the Duke of Burgundy, and entertained at Bruges by the Lord de la Gruthuyse. MS. Add. 6113, f. 102^b.

^{page 275 note c} Sir Williame Peche, of Lullingstone, in Kent, who was Sheriff of that county, 2d and 3 Edw. IV. He died 9 Apr. 1487. Hasted, i. 311.

^{page 275 note d} Sir Geoffrey Gate was six years Lieutenant of the Isle of Wight, and afterwards Marshal of Calais. He obtained from Edward IV. various giants of land in Essex, and at his death, 22 Sept. 1477, was buried in the church of High Estre, in that county. See Morant's Essex, vol. ii. pp. 146, 457, and Rot. Parl. vol. v. 472, vi. 82.

^{page 275 note e} Probably we should read be ij.

^{page 276 note f} In 1472 Roger Brent was mayor. Hasted's Canterbury, ii. 605.

^{page 276 note g} The Sheriffs this year (1472) were John Browne and Thomas Bledlow. Stow.

^{page 276 note h} Chamberlain to the Prince. Probably the same who was Treasurer of the Chamber in 1470, and one of the persons sent to deliver the Order of the Garter to Charles, Duke of Burgundy. Rymer, xi. 651.

^{page 276 note i} Sir John a Parr is noticed among the knights who were present at the coronation of Richard the Third, 6 July, 1483. MS. Add. 6113, f. 18^b; and Excerpta Historica, p. 384.

^{page 277 note k} In Roquefort's “Glossaire de la langue Romaine,” 1808, I find “Marteaux, jeu des petits palets.” Strutt does not mention it. It was a game, probably, resembling bowls.

^{page 277 note l} The game of closh only differed in name from the nine-pins of the present day. The game of Kayles was nearly the same, but played with a stick instead of a bowl. By the Statute 17 Edw. IV. c. 3. it was enacted, “q’ null p'sone use ou jeue as jewez appellez Cloissh, Kaillez, Halfboule, Handyn, Handoute, et Quekeborde,” on pain of two years imprisonment, and forfeiture of 10l.

^{page 277 note m} Born 11 Feb. 1465. MS. Add. 6113, f. 48^b. Sandford is certainly in error, in ascribing it to 11th Feb. See Sir H. Nicolas's memoir prefixed to the Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York, and a communication sent by me to the Gentleman's Magazine, Jan. 1831, vol. ci. pt. i. p. 24.

^{page 277 note n} According to the belief of this and earlier periods, supposed to guard against the existence of poison in the cup.

^{page 277 note o} Edward the Fifth, born in the Sanctuary at Westminster, 2nd Nov. 1471. MS. Add. 6113, f. 48^b. Sandford and others say 4th November, and Sir H. Nicolas the 14th.

^{page 278 note p} Badges.

^{page 278 note q} Anne, daughter of Richard Duke of York, and sister to Edward IV. wife of Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter, from whom she was divorced, 12 Nov. 1472. She afterwards married Sir Thomas St. Leger, Knt. Dugd. Bar. ii. 82.

^{page 278 note r} Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Thomas Lord Scales, wife of Anthony second Earl Rivers, who succeeded to the title 9 Edw. IV.

^{page 278 note s} Henry Stafford, who succeeded his grandfather in 1460, being then somewhat more than five years of age. Beheaded by Richard the Third, in 1483.

^{page 278 note t} Katherine, daughter of Richard Wydeville, first Earl Rivers.

^{page 278 note u} Sir John Bourchier, Lord Barnes, or Berners, K.G. made Constable of Windsor Castle in 1472. He died 16 May, 1474.

^{page 278 note w} Usher?

^{page 278 note x} View, sight, or number.

^{page 279 note y} Manufactured at Rennes in Britanny. It was celebrated as early as the fourteenth century. Thus Chaucer:

“I wol geve him a fether bed,

Rayed with gold, and right wel cled

In fine blacke satten d'outremere,

And many a pilowe and every bere

Of clothe of Raines to slepe on softe.

Booke of the Duchesse, v. 251, ed. Urry.

And in the Romance of the Squire of Low Degree:

“Your blankettes shall be of fustyane,

Your shetes shall be of clothe of Rayne.” v. 841

^{page 279 note z} Bath.

^{page 279 note a} Jean de Bruges, sixth of that name, Seigneur de la Gruthuse, Prince of Steenhuyse, earl of Winchester, &c. He was knighted by Maximilian of Austria, previous to the battle of Guinegate (7 Aug. 1479), in which he was made prisoner, with many other Flemish nobles, by the French. Subsequently he attached himself to the service of Louis XI. from whom he received the highest favours; was made Seneschal of Anjou; and subsequently Governor and Lieutenant General of Picardy. He was married three times, but left male issue only by the third wife, Marie de Melum, Dame de Montmirail, to whom he was united in 1505. He died at Abbeville, in 1512, and was buried in the abbey of St. Riquier, where his monument still exists. See, for more minute biographical details, the work of M. Van Praet, “Recherches sur Louis de Bruges,” &c. pp. 64–77.

^{page 280 note b} Query, Congy. Cf. p. 284.

^{page 280 note c} 13th October.

^{page 280 note d} Grave.

^{page 281 note e} Read who were constrained to take, or some similar phrase.

^{page 281 note f} John Alcock, who held the See from 1471 to 1476.

^{page 281 note g} Robert Stillington, Bishop of Bath and Wells, 1465–1491, appointed Chancellor in 1468.

^{page 281 note h} A small chapel, near to the chapel of St. Stephen, dedicated to the Lady of Pew, “to the which Lady,” says Stow,” great offerings were used to be made.” Survey of London, ii. 633, ed. 1755.

^{page 281 note i} William Fitzalan, who died in 1488.

^{page 281 note k} Henry Bourchier, created Earl of Essex in 1461, and made Lord Treasurer, 1471. He died 4 April, 1483.

John Stafford, younger son of Humphrey Duke of Buckingham, created Earl of Wiltshire 1469, and died 8 May, 1473.

^{page 282 note m} John Smert, who succeeded his father-in-law William Bruges (the first Garter) 3 Apr. 1450, and died before 6 July, 1478. See Anstis's Order of the Garter, vol. i. pp. 347–355, and his valuable MS. collections for a History of the Curia Militaris, now in the British Museum, MS. Add. 9010, vol. i. pp. 447–470.

^{page 282 note n} More properly, Hatcliffe. He was one of the persons sent to Bruges on an embassy in the spring of the year 1472. MS. Add. 6113, f. 102b.

^{page 282 note o} Thomas Scot, alias Rotherham, 1471–1480, Keeper of the Privy Seal, who became subsequently Lord Chancellor, and Archbishop of York.

^{page 282 note p} William Waynflete, who held the See from 1447 to 1486.

^{page 282 note q} William Grey, 1454–1478.

^{page 282 note r} Lawrence Booth, 1457–1476, afterwards Lord Chancellor, and Archbishop of York.

^{page 282 note s} John Halse or Hales, 1459–1492, who should have been styled more properly Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, as the Bishopric of Chester was not made a distinct See till the reign of Henry VIII.

^{page 282 note t} John Booth, 1466–1478.

^{page 282 note u} John de la Pole, restored to the dignity of Duke of Suffolk by letters patent, 23 March, 1463. He died in 1491.

^{page 282 note v} Henry Percy, restored in 1470. He died in 1489.

^{page 283 note w} John Talbot, third of that name, who obtained livery of his lands in 1464, and died 28 June, 1473.

^{page 283 note x} William Tourney, elected in 1471.

^{page 283 note y} Henry Grey, who in 1463, obtained from the crown licence to practise the transmutation of metals. He died in 1495, s. p. 1.

^{page 283 note z} John Tuchet, Lord Audley, who succeeded his father in 1458, and died in 1491.

^{page 283 note a} Humphrey Lord Dacre of the North, who attended the King's sister on her marriage with the Duke of Burgundy. He died in 1486.

^{page 283 note b} William second Lord Stourton, who died 18 Feb. 1478.

^{page 283 note c} John Grey, son of Reginald. He died about 1502.

^{page 283 note d} Walter Blount, created Lord Montjoy, in 1465, and died 1 Aug. 1474.

^{page 283 note e} Sir John Dynham or Dinaut, created Lord Dinant by summons to parliament in 1466. He died in 1502.

^{page 283 note f} Thomas Holme, who was created Norroy, 23 Sept. 1467, with a grant of 20l. per ann. He had previously held the office of Windsor Herald. On Candlemas day [2nd Feb.] 1476–7, he was promoted to the rank of Clarenceux. His will is dated 12 July, 1493, and was proved 10 June, the following year. See Anstis's MS. Collectious, vol. ii. pp. 304–316. MS. Add. 9011.

^{page 284 note g} This creation is noticed by Anstis, but the person who was thus raised from the office of Richmond to that of Guienne, is not certainly known.

^{page 284 note h} A slight repast or collation.

^{page 284 note i} William Hawkeslowe, who was Clarenceux in the 5 Edw. IV. and was subsequently drowned in the Spanish seas. His body was buried at the church of St. Mary Somerset, in the city of London, 1476. Anstis's Collections, vol. iii. MS. Add. 9011, f. 316.

^{page 284 note k} Perhaps John Ferrant. Anstis, ut supr. vol. i. MS. Add. 9009, f. 135.

^{page 284 note l} It is not certain who succeeded Thomas Holme as Windsor Herald, on his appointment as Norroy, 7 Edw. IV., but in the 15 Edw. IV. John Moore held the office, and afterwards was created also Norroy. Anstis, MS. Add. 9012, f. 382.

^{page 284 note m} It is not known who held this office in 1472. See Anstis, vol. v. MS. Add. 9013, p. 646.

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IX. Narratives of the arrival of Louis de Bruges, Seigneur de la Gruthuyse, in England, and of his Creation as Earl of Winchester, in 1472: Communicated in a Letter from Sir Frederic Madden, K.H. F.R.S., &c. to Hudson Gurney, Esq. Vice-President

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