VI.—The Loss of King John's Baggage Train in the Wellstream in October, 1216

W. H. St. John Hope

doi:10.1017/S026134090000936X

VI.—The Loss of King John's Baggage Train in the Wellstream in October, 1216

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 November 2011

W. H. St. John Hope

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The subject of this paper has been suggested by a well-known story, to be found in one form or another in many a popular History of England, that the young King Henry the Third was crowned at Gloucester in 1216 with a golden circlet, because the crown of King John his father had been lost with all his other treasures in the waves of the Wash.

Type: Research Article
Information: Archaeologia , Volume 60 , Issue 1 , 1906 , pp. 93 - 111

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S026134090000936X [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1906

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^{page 93 note a} Matthew Paris has, as the heading of the account of King Henry's coronation: “De prima regis Henrici Tertii coronatione, quæ per quendam circulum aureum facta fuit, a qua coronatione oomputantur anni coronationis ejus.” Chronica Majora (Rolls Series 57), iii. 1Google Scholar.

^{page 93 note b} John died on 19th October, and Henry was crowned on the 28th of the same month.

^{page 94 note a} See the Itinerary for his reign in Rotuli Litterarum Patentium, vol. i. part i., edited for the Commissioners of the Public Records by Sir T. D. Hardy, and published in 1835.

^{page 95 note a} So the Barnwell Chronicler in Memoriale Walteri de Coventria (Rolls Series 58), ii. 231; and Roger of Wendover, Flores Historiarum (Rolls Series 84), ii. 193.

^{page 95 note b} Flores Historiarum, ii. 192, 193. Roger of Wendover transposes the raid on the Welsh border and the ravaging of East Anglia, or rather interposes the ravaging between two raids, but John's itinerary shows that so far as the king's movements are concerned the chronicler is not quite accurate.

^{page 95 note c} On 25th or 26th March.

^{page 95 note d} de Coggeshall, R. , Chronicon Anglicanum (Rolls Series 66), 183Google Scholar.

^{page 95 note e} de Wendover, R. , Flores Historiarum, (Rolls Series 84), ii. 193Google Scholar.

^{page 96 note a} de Wendover, R. , Flores Historiarum, (Rolls Series 84), ii. 193Google Scholar.

^{page 96 note b} Memoriale fratris W. de Coventria (Rolls Series 58), ii. 231, 232.

^{page 96 note c} The account of the Barnwell chronicler, used later in the Memoriale of Walter of Coventry, says of this journey of John: “Ubicunque autem in hoc itinerario hostium terras reperit, direptioni eas dedit; factæque sunt in combustionem et eibum ignis, ita ut non meminerit ætas nostra tantillo tempore talem combustionem nostris in partibus factam fuisse.” The use of the possessive pronoun is interesting in view of the nearness of Barnwell to the scene of operations.

^{page 97 note a} “Deinde versus aquilonem iter arripiens in fluvio, qui Wellestrem dicitur, carretas omnes, bigas et summarios, cum thesauris, vasis pretiosis et rebus omnibus, quæ propensiori cura dilexit, inopinato eventu amisit; aperta est enim in mediis fluctibus terra et voragines abyssus, quæ absorbuerunt universa cum hominibus et equis, ita quod nec pes unus evasit qui casum regi nuntiaret. Rex tamen cum exercitu suo vix elapsus nocte sequenti apud abbatiam, quæ Swinesheved dicitur, pernoctavit, ubi, ut putabatur, de rebus a fluctibus devoratis tantam mentis incurrit tristitiam, quod acutis correptns febribus cœpit graviter infirmari; auxit autem ægritudinis molestiam perniciosa ejus ingluvies, qui nocte illa de fructu persicorum et novi ciceris potatione nimis repletus febrilem in se calorem acuit fortiter et accendit. Veruntamen summo inde diluculo, licet cum labore recedens, ad castellum de Lafort hospitaturus perrexit, ubi maxima corporis prægravatus molestia in crastino vix ad castellum de Newerc equo vehente pervenit; quo in loco invalescente morbo, ab abbate de Crocstuna consilium confessionis et eucharistiam suscepit. … Qui postea in noctc, quæ dicm sancti Lucæ evangelistæ proxime secuta est [19 Oct. 1216], ex hac vita migravit.” Rogeri de Wendover Flores Historiarum (Rolls Series 84), ii. 195, 196.

Matthew Paris lias the same verbatim, in his Majora, Chronica(Rolls Series 57), ii. 667, 668. Another and shorter version, based on and written by M. Paris, is given in the Flores Historiarum erroneously attributed to Matthew of Westminster. See Luard's edition (Rolls Series 95), ii. 161.Google Scholar

^{page 98 note a} “Deinde vero rex J. versus aquilonem iter arripiens, cum fugerent omnes incolæ a facie ejus, velut adveniente rapidissima tempestate, aquam marinam cum fluviali mixtam transire sine duce priæsumpsit, qui locus Wellestrem dicitur; sed vix evadens, ibidem bigas, summarios prædas et rapinas portantes, et omnem thesaurum et supellectilem irrecuperaliter amisit. Aperta [est] enim in mediis fluctibus terra, et sabulo, qui vivus dicitur, et absorbuit universa, equos cum hominibus, arma, tentoria, et victualia, et quæ in mundo rex præter vitam possedit cariora.” Matthew Paris, Historia Anglorum (Rolls Series 44), ii. 190.

^{page 99 note a} “Rex, comporto quod barones cessassent ab ejus insecutione, conversis habenis, reversus est ad Len, et præfecto ibidem Savarico de Malo-leone, Pictavino, coepit firmare Leu. Sed ibidem, ut dicitur, ex nimia voracitate qua semper insatiabilis erat venter ejus, ingurgitatus usque ad crapulam, ex ventris indigerie solutus est in dysenteriam. Postea vero cum paululum cessasset fluxus, phlebotomatus est apud villam in Lindessi, quæ dicitur Lacford. Hue ergo cum venissent nuncii inclusorum castri Doveræ, et intimassent causam adventus sui, morbus ex dolore concepto recruduit. Præterea maximus dolor eum augebat, quod capellam suam cum suis reliquiis, et quosdam summarios suos cum varia supellectili, in itinere illo amiserat apud Wellestrem, et multi de familia ejus submersi sunt in aquis marinis, et in vivo sabulone ibidem absorpti, quia incaute et præcipitanter se ingesserant, æstu maris nondum recedente.” Radulphi de Coggeshale Chronicon Anglicanum (Rolls Series 66), 183, 184.

^{page 100 note a} The king might have gone southwards from Lynn to Wiggenhall St. Mary's, where there was a ford, if not a bridge, and thence across the marshes by the old road to Wisbech. But the point is not material.

^{page 101 note a} Shakspeare, in his “King John,” written in 1594, makes the Bastard Fauconbridge tell Hubert de Burgo:

“I'll tell thee Hubert half my power this night, passing these flats, are taken by the tide. These Lincoln-Washes have devoured them, myself, well-mounted have escaped.”

(Act v. Scene 6.)

^{page 102 note a} Sic.

^{page 102 note b} Vol. ii. 516.

^{page 103 note a} Vol. iv. 722, and vol. ix. 121 of the reissue of 1808.

^{page 103 note b} Walker, Neil and Craddock, Thomas, The History of Wisbech and the Fens (Wisbech, 1849), 213.Google Scholar

^{page 103 note c} Gardiner, F. J., History of Wisbech and Neighbourhood (Wisbech, 1898), 5, 6.Google Scholar

^{page 105 note a} That is, on the date when King John crossed over from Lincolnshire to King's Lynn.

^{page 107 note a} On the 8th October it would have been low water in the Wellstream estuary about 9 a.m. and a little later on the following day.

^{page 108 note a} See The History of Imbanking and Draining of divers Fens and Marshes (London, 1662), 219.

^{page 110 note a} Under this again are

resting on stiff grey clay of unascertained thickness.

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VI.—The Loss of King John's Baggage Train in the Wellstream in October, 1216

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