XXV. Political Poems of the reigns of Henry VI. and Edward IV., communicated by Sir Frederic Madden, K.H., in a Letter to John Gage Rokewode, Esq. Director S.A.

Frederic Madden

doi:10.1017/S0261340900002125

XXV. Political Poems of the reigns of Henry VI. and Edward IV., communicated by Sir Frederic Madden, K.H., in a Letter to John Gage Rokewode, Esq. Director S.A.

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 June 2012

Frederic Madden

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A Short time ago I took an opportunity of laying before the Society of Antiquaries by your hands, a Letter containing much interesting information on the state of parties in the year 1454; and I now beg leave to add, as a supplementary communication, copies of several Political Poems written at various periods of the reigns of Henry the Sixth and Edward the Fourth, all of which, with the exception of the first, have hitherto remained unpublished. Documents of this kind are confessedly not beneath the notice of the historian, since they shew the popular feelings of the time better than any other contemporary record, and often mention minute circumstances worthy of note, which may in vain be sought for elsewhere. In the Transactions of the Society some few specimens of this political versification have already appeared, of the reigns of Edward the Third, Richard the Second, and Edward the Fourth, and some others belonging to the reign of Henry the Sixth, may be found in the Excerpta Historica Of the six poems now sent, five were composed by adherents of the house of York, the first of which relates to the murder of the Duke of Suffolk, in 1450; the second to the chiefs of the Yorkist faction, probably about May, 1460; the third to the battle of Northampton, in July following; the fourth, to the policy and position of the adverse parties, probably towards the end of the same year; and the fifth to the battle of Towton, in 1461. The remaining poem was written by a Lancastrian, and presents a curious contrast to the others. It enumerates the principal Lords on the King's side, and, under the metaphor of a ship, describes the position of each in the guidance and government of the state towards the close of the year 1458.

Type: Research Article
Information: Archaeologia , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , 1842 , pp. 318 - 347

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261340900002125 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1842

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^{page 318 note a} Vol. XVIII. p. 22. Vol. XXI. p. 89. Vol. XXIX. p. 130.

^{page 318 note b} Pp. 159, 279, 360. There are also extant some verses, attributed to Lydgate, composed on the temporary reconciliation of the Yorkist and Lancastrian Lords, in March 1457–8, printed by Sir H. Nicolas, at the end of the Chronicle of London, pp. 251, 254, 4to. Lond. 1827, from MSS. Cott. Nero A. VI. Vesp. B. XVI.

^{page 320 note a} Flagrant for fragrant, as we find flagrantia for fragrantia, in the Middle Age Latinity.

^{page 320 note b} A nickname for William De la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, who, after his fall, embarked from Ipswich with the intention of proceeding abroad, but was intercepted by some ships off Dover, and beheaded without ceremony by the shipmen, 2nd May, 1450. An interesting contemporary account of this transaction is given in the Paston Letters, vol. i. p. 38.

^{page 320 note c} A clog argent with a chain or, was the badge of Suffolk. See Excerpta Hist. p. 161.

^{page 320 note d} The name of the ship which intercepted the Duke was the Nicholas of the Tower.

^{page 320 note e} Richard Beauchamp, consecrated 9 Feb. 1448–9, and translated to Salisbury, 14 Aug. 1450

^{page 320 note f} William Booth, consecrated Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry (then usually called Chester) 9 July, 1447, and translated to York in 1452. In the Excerpta Historica, p. 357, are some curious satyrical verses addressed to him, as one of Suffolk's partisans. He is also named in the petition from the Commons, 29 April, 1451, among the persons whose removal was desired for “mysbehavyng.” Rot. Parl. v. 216.

^{page 321 note g} William Aiscough, Clerk of the Council, consecrated 20 July, 1438. He was one of Suffolk's chief adherents, and murdered by his own parishioners under circumstances of great cruelty whilst saying mass, at Edindon, 29 June, 1450. See Godwin, p. 350. Stowe, p. 392.

^{page 321 note h} Reynold or Reginald Butler, who had the royal assent to his election, 29 Oct. 1437, and received the temporalities, the 12 Nov. following. He was promoted to the see of Hereford in Dec.1450, and translated to Lichfield, 3 April 1453. Whilst Abbot of Gloucester, he rendered himself so obnoxious as a partisan of Suffolk, that he was sent prisoner to Ludlow Castle by the Duke of York, and was included amongst those persons whom the Commons petitioned the King to remove, 29 Apr. 1451.

^{page 321 note i} William Wellys, Abbot of York, succeeded to be Prior of St. Andrew's, Rochester, in 1436. The period of his death is uncertain, but his successor died in 1467.

^{page 321 note k} John Stanbury was Confessor to Henry VI. and the first Provost of Eton College, founded by that monarch. He was made Bishop of Bangor, 4 May, 1448, and translated to Hereford, 7 Feb, 1452–3. He was ever a staunch friend of Henry, and, at the battle of Northampton, induced the Lancastrian soldiers by his exhortations to make the greater resistance, for which he was taken prisoner, and confined a long time in Warwick Castle. He died in 1474. Godwin, p. 492.

^{page 321 note l} There seems to be here some error, as there is no such word in the Service for the Dead. Perhaps we should substitute a repetition of the word levavi.

^{page 321 note m} John Carpenter, appointed by papal bull, 20 Dec. 1443. He resigned in 1476.

^{page 321 note n} John Kempe, Cardinal, and Archbishop of York, made Chancellor for the second time, 31 Jan. 1449–50.

^{page 322 note o} Easter day in 1450 fell on 5th April. It was during the octaves that the Parliament was held at Leicester, in which Suffolk and his adherents were indicted for treason.

^{page 322 note p} Thomas——succeeded 27 Jan. 1449–50, and died about 1461.

^{page 322 note q} John Thorne, elected Abbot 7 Jan. 1445–6, and received the temporalities, 18 Jan. The period of his death is not known.

^{page 322 note r} John Stoke, previously prior of Wallingford, was elected Abbot of St. Alban's 28 Nov. 1440, on the resignation of Whethamstede. He caused a monument to be erected to the memory of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and died in 1451. See Monasticon, ii. 202.

^{page 322 note s} This individual I am unable to identify, owing to the want of a list of the Abbots of St. Mary de Graces, or Newminster, which is the monastery alluded to. In the reign of Henry VIII. a Victualling Office was erected on the site.

^{page 322 note t} Walter Liard or Lyhert, was Provost of Oriel College, Oxford, from which he was removed to the see of Norwich, 24 Jan. 1445–6, and died 17 May 1472.

^{page 322 note u} Edmund Kyrton. who succeeded Abbot Harwedon between the 27 May and 20 Aug. 1440. He resigned 23 Oct. 1462, on account of his age and infirmities.

^{page 322 note x} John De la Bere, consecrated 13 Nov. 1447. He is supposed to have died in 1460. Le Neve, p. 513.

^{page 323 note y} Adam Moleyns, Keeper of the Privy Seal, and Bishop of Chichester, who succeeded to that see 3 Dec. 1445. From his being one of the members of the Suffolk administration, he was murdered by some shipmen at Portsmouth, 9 January, 1449–50. Suffolk, in his reply to the bill of impeachment against him, declared that the surrender of the French provinces of Mans and Anjou, was peculiarly attributable to Moleyns. This is sufficient to account for his unpopularity. In William of Wyrcestre the detail of his death is given with more particulars than elsewhere. “Circa Epiphaniam Domini,” he writes, Magister Adam Moleyns, Episcopus Cicestrensis, apud Portesmothe in hospitali ibidem [the Hospital of God's House, founded by Peter de Rupibus, Bishop of Winchester], portando ac solvendo soldariis aliisque nautis regios denarios, clamando eum proditorem regis et regni, unumque venditorum Normanniæ, miserabiliter interfectus est.” Annales, p. 467, ap. Hearne, Lib. Nig. Scaccarii, 8vo. 1771.

^{page 323 note z} The person here alluded to is, apparently, Sir Robert Roos, banneret, fourth son of William Lord Roos, of Hamlake. In Feb. 1442–3 he was associated with Suffolk, Moleyns, and others, to negotiate the peace between England and France, and the marriage between the King and Margaret of Anjou. He died 30 Dec. 1448. See a memoir of him in Sir H-Nicolas's Journal of Beckington's Embassy, 8vo. 1828, p. lxvii.

^{page 323 note a} James Fiennes, Lord Say, Lord Treasurer, killed by the rebels under Jack Cade, 4 July, 1450. As these verses appear to have been written before his death, they are singularly prophetic of his fate.

^{page 323 note b} Nicholas Close, appointed 14 March, 1449–50, and translated to Lichfield, 30 Aug.1452.

^{page 323 note c} John Sutton, Baron Dudley, summoned to Parliament from 15 Feb. 1440 to 15 Nov. 1482. He is included among those for whose dismissal from the King's person the Commons petitioned in 1451.

^{page 324 note d} Thomas Danyel, Esquire of the King's body. See what has been said of him previously, p. 314.

^{page 324 note e} The commencement of the verse, Qui Lazarum resuscitasti a monumento fetidum.

^{page 324 note f} John Say was a member of the King's Council in 1454 and 1458. As one of Suffolk's partisans he had been named in the petition of the Commons, before referred to.

^{page 324 note g} John Trevilian, Esquire of the King's body. See a previous notice of him, p. 314.

^{page 324 note h} Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset. At the time this poem was composed he was in France, as chief commander, and after the loss of Normandy, and the fall of Suffolk, was chosen as the principal adviser of the Crown. He came to England in November, 1450, and was killed in the first battle of St. Alban's, 22 May, 1455.

^{page 326 note a} Opposite to this line in the MS. is the following marginal note:—Nota, ut poeta satirus dat versus, fungar vice cotis, acutum reddere ferrum; in prologo Pollicronicon hoc.

^{page 327 note b} This may refer to the administration under Suffolk, which was dissolved in 1450.

^{page 327 note c} Edward, only son of Henry VI. born 13 Oct. 1454.

^{page 327 note d} The Duke of Exeter is designated by the same badge in some verses in the Excerpta Hist. p. 161.

^{page 327 note e} Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter. See previously, p. 312.

^{page 327 note f} Henry Beaufort, son of the Duke who fell at St. Alban's. He was beheaded in May, 1464, after the battle of Hexham.

^{page 328 note g} Jasper Tudor, half-brother of Henry VI. created Earl of Pembroke in 1452.

^{page 328 note h} Humphrey Stafford, killed at the battle of Northampton, 1460.

^{page 328 note i} Thomas Courtenay, Earl of Devonshire, who succeeded his father, of the same name, in 1458. He stoutly adhered to Henry VI. and had a yearly sum of 100 marks granted him out of the forfeited estates of the Duke of York. He was beheaded by the Yorkists in 1461.

^{page 328 note k} Edmund, Lord Grey of Ruthyn. He deserted at the battle of Northampton to the opposite party, and was created Earl of Kent by Edward IV. in 1465.

^{page 328 note l} John, Lord Beauchamp of Powyk, created in 1447. He was made Lord Treasurer, 22 June, 1450.

^{page 328 note m} Thomas, Lord Scales. Killed by the Yorkists in 1460, in attempting to escape from the Tower of London.

^{page 328 note n} In nautical language, a ”bonnet” is an addition made to the lower part of a sail, in moderate weather. In Capt. Nathaniel Butler's “Dialogicall discourse concerninge Marine Affaires, 1634,” MS. Sloane, 758, p. 109, the word is thus explained: “The Bonnett is an addition onely of a piece of a sayle, made fitt to bee put unto another, soe that when seamen saye, that the shippe hath her course, and Bonnett abroade, theire meaninge is, that she hath the peice of sayle added unto her course, called the Bonnett, which before shee had not, nor ordinarily hathe.”

^{page 329 note o} Henry Percy, who in the lifetime of his father was summoned to Parliament as Baron Poynings. He succeeded to the earldom in 1455, and was slain at the battle of Towton, 1461.

^{page 329 note p} Thomas de Roos, Baron Roos of Hamlake. He was attainted in 1461.

^{page 329 note q} John, Lord Clifford, the murderer of the young Earl of Rutland at Wakefield. He was killed in 1461.

^{page 329 note r} Thomas Percy, Earl of Egremont, created in 1449. He was killed in 1460, at Northampton.

^{page 329 note s} John Talbot, made Lord Treasurer in 1456, and killed also at Northampton, 1460.

^{page 329 note t} James Butler, created in 1449, and held the office of Lord Treasurer twice, ir 1455 and 1458; beheaded in 1461.

^{page 329 note u} John, Viscount Beaumond, created in 1440. Killed at Northampton, 1460.

^{page 330 note x} Leo, Lord Welles, slain in 1461, at Towton.

^{page 330 note y} Richard Widville, created Baron Rivers in 1448, and father-in-law of Edward IV. by whom he was made Earl Rivers and Lord Treasurer. He was beheaded in 1469 by the peasantry.

^{page 330 note z} The MS. reads erroneously, lordes-sterre.

^{page 331 note a} So in the MS., but we should probably read “a W.”

^{page 331 note b} Richard, Duke of York, was at this time in Ireland, to which he had been obliged to retreat after the failure at Ludlow in the October preceding.

^{page 331 note c} Edward, Earl of March, eldest son of the Duke of York; subsequently Edward IV.

^{page 332 note d} Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury.

^{page 332 note e} Richard Neville, his son, Earl of Warwick. In the same MS. occurs this tristich on his name, composed about the same period:

Warwyh.

W. wisdome monstrat, et adventus A. bene constat,

R. rightwisnes legi, W. willing prospera regi,

I. iust antiqui, K. kynd est, hic et ubique.

^{page 332 note f} The badge of the Duke of York, and used on his seal in 1442 and 1445. See Sandford, p. 380, and Willement's Regal Heraldry, p. 54.

^{page 332 note g} Probably a mistake for Ireland.

^{page 332 note h} Edward, Earl of March.

^{page 332 note i} Sic, perhaps for Ireland.

^{page 333 note k} Richard, Earl of Salisbury. The allusion to his success in the field, must refer to the battles of St. Alban's and Blackheath, the latter of which was fought 23 Sept. 1459. He was beheaded after the disastrous battle of Wakefield, 30 Dec. 1460, which of course will fix the date of this poem anterior to that event.

^{page 333 note l} The badge of the Earl of Warwick. When the Lords of the adverse factions came to London at the commencement of 1458, for the purpose of reconciliation, Fabyan writes, “and the xiiijth day of February came the Erie of Warwyke from Calays, with a great bande of men, all arayed in rede iakettys, with whyte raggyd staues vpon them, and was lodgyd at the Grey Friars.” p. 633.

^{page 333 note m} This probably refers to the separation of the Yorkist lords, some of whom were in Ireland, and some at Calais. In the same manner writes Stowe, when speaking of their dispersion in 1457, “then were they separated in bodies, but in mindes and hearts knit together in one.”

^{page 333 note n} There seems some mistake here in applying the title of king to Edward, whilst his father survived, since the whole tenor of the verses proves that York and Salisbury were both alive when the poem was written. I can only therefore suppose, that Edward is a mistake of the transcriber for Richard.

^{page 334 note a} We should probably read An.

^{page 335 note b} Edward, Earl of March.

^{page 335 note c} Richard, Duke of York.

^{page 335 note d} Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury.

^{page 335 note e} Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick.

^{page 335 note f} Edward, Earl of March, so called from having the Earl of Warwick as his associate.

^{page 335 note g} John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury.

^{page 335 note h} John, Viscount Beaumond.

^{page 335 note i} Thomas Percy, Earl of Egremond.

^{page 336 note k} i. e. leash.

^{page 336 note l} Humphrey Stafford, Duke of Buckingham.

^{page 336 note m} Huntsman; the King, Henry VI.

^{page 336 note n} Compare the account in Whethamstede, p. 482, and Stowe, p. 409.

^{page 338 note o} William of Wyrcestre, after giving the names of the noblemen slain, adds, “et alii ad numerum ccc. personarum. Etiam submersi sunt in fugiendo plures.” p. 481. But Hall states, that 10,000 persons were slain at this battle, f. clxxvi.

^{page 338 note p} William Neville, younger son of Ralph, Earl of Westmoreland. He married the heiress of Thomas, Lord Fauconberg, and was summoned to Parliament in her right, from 1429 to 1461. He was created Earl of Kent in 1461, and died in 1463.

^{page 338 note q} The King reached London on the 16th July, and was lodged in the Bishop of London's palace. See Fabyan and Hall.

^{page 338 note r} Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury.

^{page 339 note o} Thomas, Lord Scales, together with Lords Vesci, Lovell, and Delaware, the Earl of Kendal, a Gascon, and others, had thrown themselves into the Tower, which they held against the Earl of Salisbury. See Stowe, p. 408.

^{page 339 note t} The forces of the Earl of Salisbury.

^{page 339 note u} When the Tower was yielded, Lord Scales, with three others, endeavoured to escape, but was killed by some watermen of the Earl of Warwick, and his body left naked at the gate of “the Clynke.” Hall. p. clxxvi. See also Will. Wyrcestre, p. 482, and Stowe, p. 409.

^{page 341 note a} Edward, Earl of March, whose cognisance of the white rose was derived from the castle of Clifford, and said to have been first used by Edmund of Langley, fifth son of Edward III.

^{page 341 note b} Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick.

^{page 341 note c} The badge of the Earl of Warwick.

^{page 341 note d} A proverb as early as the fourteenth century, and which has descended to our own time.

^{page 341 note e} A common proverbial expression in the fifteenth century. See MS. Harl. 5396, fol. 18^b, 19, 21^b.

^{page 341 note f} John Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, whose cognisance was a lion rampant, argent, for the barony of Segrave. See Excerpta Historica, p. 161, Collectanea Topographica, vol. iii. p. 66, and Retrospective Review, vol. ii. p. 515.

^{page 341 note g} Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, beheaded after the battle of Wakefield, 30 Dec. 1460.

^{page 342 note h} Other allusions to the badges of the Earl of Warwick, the chained bear and the raggedstaff.

^{page 342 note i} The cognisance of the house of Stafford, the head of which was the Duke of Buckingham. See Excerpta Hist. p. 162.

^{page 342 note k} This proverb I recollect elsewhere, but cannot find the passage. Gestenyng means feast, as in LaƷamon, vol. ii. p. 172, and in the romance of Kyng Alisaundre, vv. 1161, 1779. On-set stevyn is a phrase signifying a time not previously appointed, and is used by Chaucer, Cant. Tales, v. 1526, and in the ballad of Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne, ap. Percy, vol. i. p. 87, ed. 1767.

^{page 343 note a} Edward, Earl of March, was born at Rouen, 29 April, 1441.

^{page 344 note b} These were, Northumberland, Westmoreland, Exeter, Somerset, Devonshire, Clifford, Roos, and Dacre.

^{page 344 note c} The second battle of St. Alban's, in which the Yorkists, under Warwick and Norfolk, were beaten, took place on Shrove Tuesday, 17 Feb. 1460–1.

^{page 344 note d} i. e. plain.

^{page 344 note e} Saundridge, two miles and a half from St. Alban's. Stowe writes, “At the north end of the towne, called Barnard heath, towarde a little towne called Syndridge, in a place called No mans lande, they [the Northern Lordes] hadde a far greater conflict, with fower or five thousand of the Kings armie, which gave the onset so fiercely at the beginning, that the victorie rested doubtfull a certaine time, till at the length, through the withdrawing many of the Kentish menne, with their Captaine, Lovelace, that was the vaward, King Henries part lost the fielde.” p. 413. He adds, that 1916 persons were slain, of whom, Sir John Gray was the only man of note.

^{page 345 note f} Ione Iondone, MS. And so again in the last stanza.

^{page 345 note g} The Earl of Warwick.

^{page 345 note h} The Duke of Norfolk.

^{page 345 note i} Lord Fauconberg. So also in the satyrical verses in Excerpta Hist. p. 161, it is said of him, “The Fisshere hath lost his Hangulhooke.”

^{page 345 note k} Probably John, Lord Scrope, of Bolton, whose cognisance was a Cornish chough. Retr. Rev. ii. 515. He was wounded in this battle. Paston Letters, vol. i. p. 218.

^{page 345 note l} Edmund, Lord Grey of Ruthyn, afterwards Earl of Kent. See MS. Harl. 6156, f. 55. Retr. Rev. ii. 515.

^{page 345 note m} Probably Henry, Viscount Bouchier, afterwards Earl of Essex.

^{page 346 note n} Possibly meant for Thomas, Lord Stanley, afterwards Earl of Derby, although he is not mentioned by our historians, in their account of this battle. See “The most pleasant Song of Lady Bessy,” edited by Tho. Heywood, 12°. Lond. 1829, pp. 51, 65.

^{page 346 note o} This and most of the heraldic figures which are subsequently noticed, evidently refer to the banners of the towns which assisted Edward.

^{page 346 note p} John, Lord Clinton, is here alluded to, who joined the Yorkist party in 1459, for which his lands were seized, but subsequently restored by Edward IV. I do not understand the allusion to “his Kay.” His badge was a mullet, nor does he appear ever to have been Lord Chamberlain.

^{page 346 note q} One of the badges of the House of York. See Mr. J. G. Nichols's remarks in the Gent. Mag. Apr. 1842. p. 379.

^{page 346 note r} The Black Bull was used by Edward in reference to his descent from the House of Clare. In the Rolls of Parliament, express mention is made of this standard being carried at Towton by Ralph Vestynden, for which service he received an annuity of £10. Vol. vi. p. 93.

^{page 346 note s} The ostrich feather appears on the seals of Richard, Duke of York, and no doubt was used as a royal badge or banner. See Willement's Heraldic Notices of Canterbury Cathedral, 4to. 1827. p. 48.

^{page 347 note t} In the Bill of Attainder afterwards passed against the Lancastrians, this battle is spoken of as having taken place “in a feld betwene the townes of Shirbourne in Elmett and Tadcastre, called Saxton feld and Towtonfeld.” Rolls Parl. v. 477.

^{page 347 note u} The number of the slain is variously stated, as pointed out by Turner, vol. iii. p. 231. The number above best agrees with the statement given by a writer in the Paston Letters, vol. i. p. 220, where 28 thousand “nomberd by Harrolds” are said to have perished. No doubt this approaches nearest to the truth.

^{page 347 note x} Edward made his triumphal entry into London on 26 June, 1461, and was crowned on Sunday, the 29th following, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, with great pomp.

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XXV. Political Poems of the reigns of Henry VI. and Edward IV., communicated by Sir Frederic Madden, K.H., in a Letter to John Gage Rokewode, Esq. Director S.A.

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