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XV.—Calais and the Pale
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 January 2012
Extract
When Queen Mary was dying, according to Mistress Rice as quoted by Holinshed, she declared, “When I am dead and opened you shall find Calais lying in my heart.”
In her letter of January 7, 1558, to the gentlemen of every shire, urging them to raise men for the succour of that town, which though she was not then aware of it had already fallen; the Queen spoke of Calais as the chief jewel of the realm. That it was so in the opinion of many there is no doubt, and the delineations of the English possessions in France of those days always present the district as viewed from this country, that is with the actual south at the top of the map.
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References
page 290 note a The survey of Calais and the Pale in 1556 is to be found in two large volumes in the Public Record Office. These are known as vols. 371, 372 of Miscellaneous books formerly in the Augmentation Office, and the first bears as its title:
Caleis. A New Survey thereof.
Ye Marches made up A° Dni. 1556to.
These volumes give the names of the owners, the extent and boundaries, rent, and in some cases the names of every holding in the town and Pale. Besides these particulars the parish bounds, the principal roads, waterways, &c. as determined by the “Compass Marine ” are also noted; but the map to which the survey refers, and on which no doubt all the bearings were plotted, has not yet been found. The distances are given in rods of low-country measure, but the length of that unit is difficult to determine. It must be remarked that the various bearings are as a rule given to within a quarter of a point only, and, as a compass point equals degrees, a considerable margin, for error must be allowed for. In many cases also wrong bearings have been noted, as may be seen by the reciprocals. The variation of the magnetic compass has not been recorded at an earlier date than 1576, but as in this survey the bearing of Dover Castle, from the Howberg on the borders of Scales and Sandgate, is noted as north-west by west quarter west, and the actual bearing is north-west three-eighths west, we are enabled to calculate that the magnetic variation in 1556 was about points or 10° west. In one or two cases in the survey, it is noted that a half point to the south must be allowed on certain bearings, “for so the compass stoode.” This may have been due to the deflection of the compass; but in any case it will be seen that great exactitude was not the rule. However, William Pettit, the surveyor, has in this survey thrown more light on the state of the Pale than anyone else, and has unfortunately not been consulted by subsequent historians or geographers as much as his work deserves.
The Edward IV. terrier often quoted in this paper is to be found in the Public Record Office under the title of Augmentation Office Book 407. It is described within as a Terrar and Rentale of the Revenues of the lands holden of the King wtyn his Lordshippe of Oye, also a Terrar by mesurage and rentall of the parishes of S. Omerkerk, Hereway, Hofkirk, Lordship of Marke, Guempe parish, Newkirk parish, Mark parish, S. George Church parish. It appears to have been copied at a later period from one prepared in Edward IV's. reign. It is an 8vo. book, and bound with it is the “Inventary of all the churches in the high and low country, taken the xxixth of May, A° 1553.” This is printed in Appendix V.
Harl. MS. 380, entitled “A Rental of the Crown Lands and Revenues in Calais and Guînes and the marches therof, 6 Ed. VI.” is an account of the holdings in Calais and the Pale. The names of several are given, but their position and extent are not described. The rents of the parishes differ from those given in the survey. This MS. has apparently formed the groundwork of all that is known about the English Pale by French writers.
A MS. in the Public Record Office, described as Calais, Liberties, and Privileges, 1 Hen. VIII. Duchy of Lancaster, Class xxv. m. n. 23. gives an account of many of the ancient customs and privileges of the Pale. It is a recapitulation and confirmation of early charters.
Of printed books which have been consulted, the following are the chief; but it must be remembered that with regard to French works on the subject, there is a natural absence of information so far as the period of the English occupation is concerned, and it must be added that the writers have in most instances copied the earlier works. In point of date the earliest is: (1) Les Annales de la ville de Calais et du pays reconquis, by P. Bernard, 1715. (2) The next, Histoire de la ville de Calais et du Calaisis, by le Febvre, 1766. This is a large work in two volumes 4to. with maps, plans, &c. (3) The Notice Historique sur létat at ancien et moderns du Calaisis de l'Ardresis et des pays de Bredenarde et de l'Angle, by P. J. Collet, 1833, is good for the information about the immediate neighbourhood of the Pale, but is hardly original. (4) The Annals and Legends of Calais, by R. C. Calton, 1852, is a pleasant account of the town and district, but deals more with the romantic history of the place. (5) Les Annales de Calais, by C. Demotier, 1856, gives the chief events concerning Calais in chronological order, but most of them belong to the period subsequent to 1558. (6) Les Tablettes Historiques du Calaisis, by C. Landrin, 1888, are very interesting and cover very many points; but the learned author is more concerned naturally with the place as affecting the history of the Huguenots. (7) The Dictionnaire Historique et Archéologique du département du Pas de Calais, published by “La Commission Départmental des Monuments,” and compiled by M. l'Abbé Haignèré, is a very excellent work, and one which would prove a good model for a history of any district. (8) Harbaville's Mémorial Historique et Archéologique du département du Pas de Calais, 1842, gives very slight notices of the parishes. (9) Ernest Lejeune's Histoire de Calais et des Pays circonvoisins, 1880, is based very largely on the earlier works already mentioned. A few plans, &c. are given, but the extraordinary number of printer's errors make the work less useful than its predecessors. (10) Brullé's notes of the Calais street names is a useful and careful tract. Of course for accounts of the Pale in English times, the two volumes published by the Camden Society, viz., (11) The Chronicle of Calais, edited by John Grough Nichols, 1846, and (12) the Commentary on the Services, &c. of William Lord Grey de Wilton, K.G., edited by Sir Philip Egerton, 1847, are by far the best and most interesting. These give some of the maps and plans to be found in the Cottonian MS. Aug. I. ii.
page 293 note a The word Cling I have not found in any dictionary in a suitable sense, but Mr. Norman, F.S.A. informs me that the similar word Clink, which occurs in the topography of South London, was there associated with a street between the river and the site of Winchester House. Clink Street still exists, and is crossed by Stoney Street. Cling and Polders may then be the term for expressing the idea of a stony steep of land near the shore, and the polders or dyked pastures.
page 293 note b The ancient limits of the Pale on the north-east appear to have extended some distance beyond the present canal or river connecting Gravelines with the sea, and the following note in the survey of 1556 explains this:
The East Hemmes of Oye: The town of Gravelin as tenants to the Eschevins of St Omer and they as tenant to the Cte de St Pol, who holds the same of the grant of Edward, pretend that a piece of land called St Polles Hemes, which they say is so much ground as is contained from the sea on the north between Gravelin Havon on the east and the level of the three posts or stakes set as it seems in our level levelling from the sea to the uttermost of the SpriOry lands towards Flanders; although they seem to have been none other than stakes fitte for the cattle to rubbe on, the which clayme our auncyente recordes of rentale and enquines for the Lordshippe of Marke and Oye do dysprove, the same rentales and enquines butting and lymyting the farme of the Greate Coppe easte upon the Havon of Gravelyn and southe on the Lyttell Coppe Hemmes and the beake waye and butting the Lyttell Coppe Hemmes easte upon the Greate Coppe Hemmes and south upon the Sluice Hemmes and St. Pole Hemmes, and butting the Sluice Hemmes east upon the Havon of Gravelyn and St. Pole Hemmes, whereby it appeareth that the St Pole Hemmes lande lyeth in canton-wise against the river within of the Sluice Hemmes and stretched on no further to the north than a waye which was called the Beake waye. For so much as the butting of the Lyttell Coppe Hemmes easte against the Greate Coppe Hemmes and the Greate Coppe Hemmes butting east upon the river do prove that the Greate Coppe Hemmes stretched by the river towards the south so farre as all the Little Coppe Hemmes, and so the said St Pole to stretch no further north than to a right levell from easte to weste brought by the south parte of the Little Coppe Hemmes. Nevertheless after communication thereof had by Commyssioners in the reign of Edward the VI. the matter not decyded nor concluded the said Eschevins after the departure of the Commissioners conveyed over unto the said in. stakes certain large stones for markes of their boundes graven with the armes of St Omer and they laide them entending to have erected them for monuments and testimony of them lymittes there, which thing was done without agreement or knowledge of the Commyssioners and therefore are no limitts which ground as they claim contained as appeareth in the margent (i.e. M. xi.)
page 294 note a See p. 92.
page 295 note a The word watergangs occurs as early as 1209 in an inedited charter of La Capelle.
page 297 note a Wd du Trackmaer.
page 297 note b Wd de la Vieille Eglise.
page 297 note c Wd Banse Vemalde.
page 297 note d Wd Banse Dutracq.
page 297 note e Wd Sauvage.
page 297 note f On Little Bridge Creek in Calkwell was a bulwark not mentioned, except in the description of the Fishery. St. Tricaise bulwark was evidently on the north side of the river.
page 298 note a This is a copy of an older map of the sixteenth century, and by the kind permission of Commandant D'Or, I was permitted to examine it in the citadel of Calais, where it now hangs.
page 299 note a xi. 488.
page 300 note a In the 1547 inventory are other notices as to towers, etc. from which we learn that of the body of the castle, next to the Old Gatehouse was the Corner tower, this quarter being toward the park hedge. The quarter between this and the Storke Tower was toward the town. The quarter from the Storke Tower to the Mill Tower was toward the marsh, and that from the Mill Tower to the Gate House was toward the Base Court. The traverse wall is also mentioned, and of the Brayes, the “cassymate.” Pirton's Bulwark, the Keep, Whethill's Bulwark, the three cornered Bulwark, the Catt are all mentioned.
The clock tower, now seen on the mound of the Catt, is the second one that has been built since the English days, and dates from 1763. The cellar of this tower was used as a prison till 1794.
page 303 note a A French inventory of the artillery found at Hammes in 1560 mentions only 10 pieces of ordnance, besides 3 muskets and 6 arquebuses à crocq as being there in November. Either the fort had been much reduced in strength between 1547 and 1560, or the Duke of Guise had carried off most of the guns.
page 303 note b The citadel was made by the cutting off and partial levelling of the western part of the town. The bas-relief in stone of Neptune, now over the gateway, was found in 1600 in the sand-hills to the east of the town, and is supposed to be of the time of the English occupation. In 1632 the present arsenal was built by direction of Cardinal Richelieu, and a bust of that minister was erected. This however in 1792 was removed to make way for a “tree of liberty,” and in 1818 was placed on its present pedestal in front of the Hotel de Ville, close to the bust of Eustache de St. Pierre, erected there in 1818. In 1638 the powder magazine in the citadel was erected. About 1632 the small chapel of St. Nicholas was built, but has of late years been secularised and used as a military store.
page 303 note c I have inserted on the plan numbers to indicate such sites of buildings, etc., as I have been able to identify.
page 304 note a It has generally been said that the castle was destroyed in 1560, but from maps and plans of 1633, signed by the Minister Argenson, and now in the British Museum, it will be seen that in that year the castle still existed, though only possessing the eastern gate tower, the north-west and south-west angle towers, and one on the south face. In later plans only the north-west and southwest towers are seen, and in one of 1793 the castle is seen only as the cavalier of the north-west bastion of the new citadel, the western face of which bastion is formed by the Brayes and two towers shown in the Cottonian plan. It is these towers, and not parts of the old castle, which still form part of the modern citadel. All traces of the castle have now disappeared.
page 304 note b According to Holinshed, his murder took place in the Prince's Inn, Calais.
page 304 note c The armaments given above are those in 1547, as noted in the Brander MS. penes the Society of Antiquaries. The armament of the different towers in 1536 will be found in State Papers, Domestic, Henry VIII. xi. 488, but it is probable that there was not much difference between those of 1547 and of 1556. Mary, we know, attempted to reduce the garrisons by cassing or discharging some of the soldiers, but her inability to clear off the arrears of pay prevented this being done in many cases.
page 305 note a Demotier says, that it was on the spot called La Coulevrine, a name the site had acquired after 1713, when the famous Coulevrine de Nancy was transferred thither from Dunkirk. This gun was in 1764 sent to Douai and melted down.
page 305 note b The cannon in 1588 was a sixty-pounder with a bore of 8 inches.
page 305 note c The Cottonian plan shows a double gate at the end of Milgate Street, but in a more exact plan of 1633, signed by the French, minister Argenson, the gate is not seen. The Day Watchtower is shown as a large closed work, and named Tour de la Grille.
page 305 note d In this part, but to the east of the gate, was the Queen's Tower, at the end of Exchequer, or Chequer or Farthing Street. Other towers, as the Mermayden Tower, etc., were hereabouts, but cannot be attributed with certainty.
page 305 note e There were fifty-three guns mounted on it.
page 305 note f The Snayle Tower and Snayle's Bulwark is mentioned as on the south-west, but more definite description is not given.
page 306 note a This was called the Castle Hill Quarter, and between the north-west corner and the Watergate there were some nine pieces of artillery.
page 306 note b John Woodhouse, whose arms were formerly to be seen on the walls of St. Mary's church, was Mayor of Calais in the 13th Henry VI.
Thus, according to the survey, there were for the defence of Calais, in 1547, 478 pieces of artillery, of which there were 56 in the castle, 238 on the town walls, 59 in Risbank, and 125 in the Ordnance House. In 1533 there was 284 pieces in the town.
Highfield, in his memorial to Queen Mary in 1558, says there were at the time of the attack more than 60 pieces mounted in the town.
The “French say that by the capture of Calais they gained 300 pieces of brass and as many more of iron.
page 306 note c Now Cap Gris. There were 13 pieces mounted here.
page 307 note a The Port du Hâvre, the gate painted by Hogarth, is on the site of the Lantern Gate, but is and was in his time a French work. Bernard in 1702 speaks of it as “proprement travaillée et ornée d'une trophée aux armes du Roi et à été ainsi réparée en 1690.” Now the French have so carefully obliterated all traces of English arms, badges, etc. everywhere in Calais, that, accepting Bernard's distinct statement, it is clear that Hogarth, who finished his picture from memory after his return to England, could never have seen the arms of England on this gate. Nor, had they been there, would they have been shown as he has painted them. Hogarth was at Calais in 1748, nearly fifty years after the French king's arms had been put on the gate, and in his diary he only says, “some appearance of the Arms of England.” The gate as he saw it was probably built in 1633, when the old English works were modified and adapted to the improved ideas of fortification.
page 307 note b Rushbank, as it is called in the survey, probably was the original form of the name.
page 307 note c Demotier says it was built in 1405.
page 307 note d In 1586 the fort was altered so as not to command the town. In 1602 bastions were added, and it is now a very strong work.
page 307 note e Mr. Haignèré says that some of the French inhabitants afterwards returned to Calais and mentions the grant by Edward III., 8th October, 1347, to Eustache de St. Pierre of a pension of 40 marks for services rendered in maintaining order in the town.
page 309 note a A very interesting note on the old street-names of Calais, by M. Brullé, was published in 1880.
page 310 note a Dufaitelle says that remains of this chapel were to be seen in “une anciemie dépendance de l'arsenal de la marine, Rue dn Soleil,” and that they dated from the twelfth century. But that street, the Whethill Street of the English days, was further east, and the remains must have been of some other building.
page 310 note b John Duke of Bedford held this as appears by his p.m. inquisition temp. Hen. VI.
page 311 note a This place, at one time called the corn-market, Mercatum Granorum, is often referred to under this name in old documents.
In 1537 a house near the Tilte called Mounteney's House was granted to Rob. Ap Reynolds.
page 311 note b This large storehouse consisted of several rooms and lofts in which were kept the necessary supplies for the defence of Calais. The different parts of the house may give some idea of the building. They were: the long court; the little court next; the court within the gate; the great grene yard, where there was a great bombard of iron, the only gun of its class in Calais, the room under the stairs going to the high tower; the long gonne house, where were kept 14 blacke cartes covered with haire, having 4 bases with 3 chambers to each chamber; 3 shrympes with 3 bases, &c. 22 single bases; also 9 sacres, 11 fawcons, 2 fawconetts, 8 organ pipes, all these of brass. Then the great gonne house, in which were 6 great port pecis of iron. Beneath this was the casting vawte, the forge, the wildfire house, the house above the stair head, the cresset loft, the coller loft (in this, among other stores, were “dartes for Irishmen croked,” i.e. barbed darts for the troops from Ireland, (of which a party is seen in the Cowdray picture of the siege of Boulogne), the little chamber next, the speare loft, the arrowe lofto, the armery where armour was stored, the handgonne chamber, the malle chamber, the crossbow chamber, the salt peter house, the iron house, the great vault. Opposite the Ordnance House was another great storehouse with a powder house, Morris picke house, with a long house underneath; another long house, the Myle house, and last the Foundry. It is not quite clear if this was another foundry, or the one mentioned in the survey, to the west of the Ordnance House, The Foundry consisted of a yard, the workhouse, the forge, and the iron house.
page 312 note a Bernard says in 1702 that this building still stood in the citadel, and till 1636 the governor of the town always resided there; also that within his memory many of the old houses of the town had remained in existence in the citadel. Civilians continued as late as 1660 to reside there, but at the date of his writing there only remained the quarters of the Lieutenant du Roi, the Major, and also the barracks.
page 312 note b Beer brewing in Calais was a very important concern, as is evidenced by the number of brewhouses, and also by certain remarks made at the time of the capture of the town by the French. In 1532 the Council of Calais say, the Picards, who buy flesh and other victuals twice a week, always take back beer brewed in Calais. There were in Calais in 1556 at least six brew-houses, besides the great brew-house of the king called the Swanne, the position of which last is not known as it is not mentioned in the survey. A license was required for holding a brew-house either in the town or in the Pale, and if the outside world was to be supplied with beer, as is suggested by the note of 1532, a good deal of this English liquor had to be made.
Lord Wentworth, the last lord deputy, in his letter to queen Mary on Jan. 1, 1558, at 10 p.m., when speaking of the measures he had taken for defence by cutting the ditches and flooding the country round the town, says: “I would also take in the salt water about the town, but I cannot do it by reason I should infest our own water wherewith we brew; and notwithstanding all I can do our brewers be so behindhand in grinding and otherwise, as we shall find that one of our greatest lacks.” John Highfield, master of the Ordnance at Calais, in his narrative of the capture of Calais addressed to the queen, also says: “And then (Jan. 2,1558) it was moved to my lord deputy that the sea might be let in as well to drown the Causeway beyond Newenham Bridge, as also other places about the town, wherein was answered, ‘not to be necessary without more appearance of besieging,’ and because that ‘the sea being entered in should hinder the pastures of the cattle and also the brewing of the beer.’ ” Beer, it must be remembered, was a very important part of the soldier's ration, and Captain Robert Hitchcock, who served under Charles V. in 1553, and afterwards held commands under Elizabeth, gives as the daily allowance for each soldier, half-a-gallon of double beer rated at Id. and this at a time when the soldier's 1 lb. ration of beef was rated at 1½d. only.
page 313 note a In 1470 Edward IV. granted to J. Langtoft, Primate of St. John of Jerusalem in England, the coinage of gold and silver in England and Calais by patent. In 1544 Martyn Parry suggested to the Master of the Mint in England that a mint for Boulogne, to commemorate its capture, should, according to custom in like cases, be established in that town or at Calais.
page 314 note a The church of St. Nicholas was pulled down in 1564.
page 316 note a James Shaft was son and heir of Symon Shafte and Katryne his wife, daughter of Henry Hilliarde. He was horn in Mark and held land there. Augmentation Office Book, 407.
page 316 note b In Miraulmont's terrier La Siraine Sauvage or l'Homme Sauvage was in this street, perhaps the sign of the Wild Man was adopted hy the new occupier.
page 317 note a Now Rue du Cygne.
page 317 note b Now Rue de Croy.
page 317 note c The “Dukes inne “was so called as early as 8 and 9 of Henry V.
page 317 note d Now Rue Eustaclie St. Pierre from the famous burgess of Calais, whose house was at the south-west corner of it (55).
page 318 note a Now Rue cles Prêtres, one of the very few instances of an English street name being continued on by the French.
page 318 note b Turpyn, in the Chronicle of Calais, says that in 1527 “the church of the Maisondiewe, in the town of Calais, was taken down to the ground, and in the xiiij of May, in the 19 yere of Henry the Eighth was the first stone of the new worke layde.” King Edward the Thirde conqueringe the towne, in all charters and patents, that he gave every howsynge or londs within the sayde towne he gave out of the same a quit-rent to the Maisondiewe, and Kyng Richard the Second dyd the lyke. Of the church there is no mention in the survey. This hospital continued long after the English occupation, and Maisondieu Street, now in this part called Rue St. Nicholas, was for some years called Rue de l'Hopital.
page 318 note c In 1511 there was a grant to Thomas Thwaites, a spear in the King's retinue, of the tenements called the Netylbed tenements.
page 319 note a Now Rue de la Douane, the barracks of the custom-house officers being situate therein.
page 319 note b It was in 1397 that Richard II. gave the Carmes or White Friars this site, occupied in modern times by Dessm's Hotel.
page 319 note c Among the king's payments for the year 1518 is “Pension of the Freiers 131. 6s. 8d.” In 1405 this pension is mentioned as having been given as from the time of Edward III.
page 320 note a The old brick chimneys of octagonal section with crenellated tops can still be seen.
page 320 note b The archway leading into the courtyard has been figured in M. Hédoin's work, 1828, plate 18, and Calton's Annals and Legends of Calais, 1852, gives what purports to be a restored view of the gate. But little value can be attached to this last, and it must rank with another in Nodier's Pittoresque Voyage en Picardie, which. Calton calls “a paraphrase “of the building. In the courtyard some square-headed windows still remain.
page 321 note a Now Rue St. Michel.
page 321 note b The church of St. Mary or Our Lady is a building of the thirteenth century, with additions in the fifteenth and sixteenth, and a lady chapel in the shape of the vesica erected in 1631. The total length is about 286 feet with a breadth of 188 feet. The church consists of a nave about 95 feet long by 78 feet broad, with two aisles separated from it by five pairs of columns alternately circular and prismatic in section. The steeple, 191 feet in height, has always been a prominent landmark and is very frequently noted in the survey. There is an English Perpendicular window in the north aisle. A very incorrect view of it is given in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1814, and in the volumes for the years 1814 and 1816 are various notes about it and the town.
In this church “false, fleeting, perjured Clarence ” married, in 1462, the daughter of the kingmaker. In 1533, John Bourchier, Lord Berners, the translator of Froissart, was buried there, and many other Englishmen were interred in the church during our occupation. Afterwards, in 1583, the burials were restricted in number by the fees being increased. In 1633 the large cistern or reservoir abutting on the church was built.
La Belle Anglaise, the great bell of the church cast in 1462 at the cost of — Flambe, was in 1710 recast, but was eventually broken up at the beginning of the Revolution, 1792. The wardens of the Trinity table* of this church held many sites in the town and the Scunnage. The churchyard was utilised in 1722 for the erection of barracks.
page 321 note * This body, the Brotherhood of the Holy Trinity and the Virgin Mary, in the parish church of St. Mary, was founded by patent 30 Edward IV.
In 1556 it is noted that the total rents of obit lands, church lands, and brotherhood lands in Calais and the Pale, all of which land had been taken into the hands of the crown, amounted to 25l. 13s. 8½d.
page 322 note a The Terrier of Miraulmont, c. 1580, mentions four small shops between the pillars of the fountain in the market place.
page 322 note b The modern Hotel de Ville has at its west end the belfry originally erected in 1609 by Claude Monet, the mayor. The whole building was reconstructed in 1740, and the cupola again repaired in 1771. In 1821 the clock and carillon were renewed. Just above the clock-face are two gilt jacks in form of jousting knights, who retire and advance striking each other's shield at each stroke of the clock. Their date is not known, and Coney's drawing, circa 1840, does not show them, but they are said to be of the seventeenth century, and to commemorate the Tield of the Cloth of Gold. The clock strikes at, and five minutes after, each hour, and at each hour a bell in the Tour du Guet is also struck by hand. This, which used to be the signal for the curfew, cleansing of the streets, etc., is now only used at the hours.
page 322 note b The present place occupies the exact site of the old market place, where the watches used to assemble in the English days. There was at one time a fountain or conduit there, and in 1515 Sir Richard Wingfield refers to the necessity for such in his correspondence with Wolsey. When in 1818 the pavement in front of the Hotel de Ville was laid down it was found necessary to stop up and close a well which from time immemorial had existed about a yard from the walls of the town hall. This was one of the few wells in the town; the chief sources of supply for water were the cisterns erected in 1691 by M. de Laubanie, close to the church of Notre Dame, and others, and the river of Guînes. A cross which was erected on the place d'armes in 1643, was destroyed in 1765, and in 1751 a well was attempted to be sunk opposite the Hotel de Ville but without success. Again, in 1842 an artesian well was begun in the south-east part of the place called now the Marche aux herbes, this also failed. Executions took place on the market place, part of which from the name of the site of the Staple Hall, the Pillory Haven granted to that body by Richard II. in 1389, was evidently the scene of minor punishments also. Turpyn mentions the pillory in the market places under the year 1538. In 1540, “Ser William Peterson, prist late commissary of Calais and the marches, and Ser William Richardson, late maior's preste,” who had been tried at the Guildhall, London, on charges as to the Pope's supremacy, were hanged. As late as 1820 a coiner was guillotined in this place.
page 323 note a It was repaired in 1606, having been much damaged by an earthquake in 1580, which caused the fall of one half of it. It was again repaired and ornamented in 1811, and in 1818 the light was established on its summit till 1849, when the present lighthouse was finished. The hall, where the public scales were, was burnt by accident in 1658.
page 324 note a The George Inn without the walls is mentioned in 1527 as a place where travellers, arriving after the gates were closed, stayed till the morning.
page 324 note b Now the Whyte Harte.
page 324 note c According to Demotier some Dominican nuns received permission from Mary in 1553 to come from Therouenne and settle in Calais under the protection of the Archbishop of Canterbury. These were either the sisters of St. Dominic mentioned by Lord Lisle in his letter to Cromwell (see Ellis's letters, iii. s. vol. ii.) or else a fresh lot who took advantage of the change of religion on Mary's accession. Lord Lisle mentions that the sisters, most of whom were strangers, “desire to depart, because they will not be obedient to the King's Acte.” An inventory of their goods was ordered to be made, and they were forbidden to depart till permission should be granted. The sisters of 1556 it appears were allowed to remain after the conquest by the French, and perhaps the fact of being strangers was the cause. In 1620 they were formally settled and established by the magistrates under their superior Jane Delanoy, who died the same year, aged 105. A namesake of hers, John Delanoy, held a tenement and cellar fronting on the Market Place in 1556. These sisters, under the name of Hospitallers, looked after the poor, receiving a subvention of eight sous a day for each patient, and in 1642 were established at the west end of the present Rue de la Cloche.
page 325 note a The modern Courgain, north of the turnpike on the wharf, is not mentioned in the survey, and the origin and meaning of its name are still doubtful. In the early days of the French conquest the site was surrounded by palisades, within which lived the fisher-folk. In 1623 a wall was built, and four years later regular streets arose, but it was not till 1853 that the church was built.
According to M. Demotier, documents at Lille prove the erection in 1444 of the first jetty. In 1533, when large works were carried on for the improvement and defence of Calais, a west pier was built, and in the survey of 1556 the two jetties east and west are often mentioned. Like the other works on the sea-front, these often suffered from storm, and tine charges for repairs occur very frequently in the accounts. In 1687 new wooden piers were built and prolonged in 1700, and have since been often improved.
As the name implies, the chief lighthouse of Calais was at the Lantern Gate, and this was thought sufficient until 1818, when a light was established in the top of the Tour du Guet, but was done away with in 1845, when the present handsome lighthouse was erected on what was the site of the old Beauchamp Tower.
page 326 note a According to Ferres, at the surrender 4,200 persons passed out of the town.
page 327 note a The artist, in his desire to show as much as possible, has put the Catt of the south face close to the gateway on the north-east corner.
There are also sketchy views of Calais, etc., in the tapestries at Madrid illustrating the exploits of the archduke Albert when the Spaniards overran the country in 1597.
page 328 note a M. Demay, who engraves this seal in his Inventaire des Sceaux de l'Artois et de la Picardie, No. 1,036, describes the boar as cravatté, and the cloak as vaire au lion.
page 328 note b I am indebted to our President, Dr. Evans, for this contemporary instance.
page 329 note a The ancient names of this part, Petresse, Peturnesse, and Petrenesse (charters of St. Bertin), referred to the stony bank extending from Newhaven Bridge to Mark, some 870 rods.
page 331 note a A London goldsmith.
page 335 note a The mill no longer exists.
page 335 note b At the south of this strip was the village of Stone, now called la Pierre.
page 338 note a 440 acres.
page 340 note a Brewring Street was in the north of the parish, running southward from the Haven.
page 342 note a In this plot of 110 acres were Bradfield's Bush of 20 acres and three plots of Queen's Wood, called Guilder's Bush, 11 acres; Watch Hill, 42½ acres; and Hawtingham, 32 acres, the last two abutting on Spellac.
page 346 note a On the banks of the l'Anglais one of the English manufacturers of tulle in St. Pierre has built a house.
page 346 note b Rymer.
page 346 note a John Princeday, or Pinside, whose name occurs often in the perambulation of Mark and Oye, held land in both these parishes where the way from Calais to the Sluice crossed their borders.
page 346 note b The Hemmes land, called Wale Hemmes, which stretched across Mark Parish, included in it cart of the pasture of Wale Dam, which also extended into Oye. “The tenants and inhabitants of Wale and others of the lordship of Mark and Oye held the pasture of the said Hemmes pastured by the cattell of the said tenants and inhabitants to adioystment, paying yerely for every horse or mare xxd qr. and for everie oxe or cowe xijd qr. and for every shepe …. weth hath byn answered communibus annis xli qr.
page 349 note a The following extract from a letter from Henry VIII. to Howard, dated 27° Aprilis, 1541, and printed in the State Papers of Henry VIII. will explain the position of the Cowswade:
“And that the Couswade ys no parcel of Arde it appereth by ther onne allegation, by the which it is alleged that the Conswade was a parishe seperate from Arde before the said treaty of King John …‥ And as to the right of the travers, it is most manifest and redy to be proved, if thinges maye be tryed and determyned frendly and by reason, that whenne there was no bridge, as that bridge called Cowbridge hath only of late dayes been permitted to be made on an hardle and a fewe flakes, the bote of passage over the ryver was on onr side at Botehakes, and not on theirs as it ys snrmitted. And where the situation of two houses ys brought in, which be alledged to stande betwen tholde x-yver and the newe ryver, as they dyvyded them, and to be of the parishe of Arde; as the grounde and treatye conferred together woll playnly shewe, that there was never but oon ryver, and the same of necessitie the ryver beyonde Poile, that is the ryver that nowe hath his cours; soo it wolbe wel proved that, til of late yeres, those houses that have been ever reputed and taken of the parishe of Balingham and not of Arde. And, if thinhabitauntes there have, for there commoditie of late tyme, reasorted to Arde, bycause it is nerer to them, and not to ther very parishe churehe, this ther use maketh no title, but the right remayneth as it dyd, and the grounde, the treatye, and the prouf of thould use must nedes prevaile and take place. And where greatc alligations be made of the rolles of thaccomptes, though they be not to be compared to the treatye, yet, if they shulde be admitted as thinges autentique, they make nother for the clayme of any parte of the Couswade, ne for any travers in the same, but for the tolo which they have taken at the turnepike set on their side. And where they saye that the ryver which goeth beyond the Poile is joyned to the ryver of Hiliar, and from thens to an olde Dike which is called Olde Ryver, going to the lake of Guisnez, the which Olde Ryver maketh the seperation of the grounde of Marke and of the said Couswade, whereby they wolde make an other ryver for our limite, excluding Us from the Couswade; for aunswere herunto you maye saye, as the trouth is, that there is no suche ryver as they alledge, and that the place where they alledge to be suche a ryver ys drye evry sommer, and hath no discent according to such limites as is comprised in the treatye of King John; but the same ryver, wheruppon the Cowbridge was lately set, hath and ever had the same course and discent agreable to the said treaty.”
The question of the boundary had been rendered urgent by reports to Henry VIII. from Lord Sandys, then captain of Grumes (1540), and others, describing the recent additions to the fortifications of Ardres, and the adoption by the French of the passage by Cowbridge instead of the usual one viâ Newenham Bridge. Lord Maltravers had indeed attempted to stop the French works at Cowbridge, but had received a protest from the captain of Ardres.
In the Chronicle of Calais, Camden Society, vol. xxxv. will be found further information on this matter.
page 350 note a The Capell Broke held by Appenrith lay south of Wild Horse Street and west of the Main Lead. Appleblome Street is also mentioned as the eastern boundary of some of his land.
page 352 note a From this stone ran a way to the Marsh known as the way by the Bush called the hand.
page 353 note a In the Edward IV. terrier the extent of the Great Hoff is put at 496 acres.
page 357 note a This plot of 637 acres reached south beyond the South “Watergang to Offkerk parish.
page 358 note a The Lodge Hemmes and Tartar's Land were divided by an ordinary way, called “Ram de Gravens,” now a creek.
page 358 note b The remains are visible just on the west edge of the village north of the modern road.
page 358 note c The present church is a modern one.
page 359 note a The rent of vjii xiijs vd ob. gr. reserved to the king on the grant of the manor of Osterwick, with the lime kiln, etc. surrendered to the king by the Staplers and of the Lordship of Pyshing. with divers rents in the county of Gruines amounting to £50 more, making £81 5s gr. granted in exchange by H. VIII. by letters patent of 5 Oct. 28 H. VIII. to Sir Robert Wingfield and his heirs by fealty only, and a yearly rent of 6l. 13s 3d “payable only in the time of peace and abstinence of warres,” the same being granted to Ld W. in recompense for having surrendered the 500a of the Marisbroke which he then held on lease of the King by letters patent at a yerely rent of 20l.
page 360 note a It is shown in M. P. l'Espinoy's map.
page 362 note a Walter Shawe held a place of 11 acres ditched about, called the Fowling Place: it belonged to St. Tricaise church. Canon Parenty says that the central tower, apparently of the seventeenth century, is all that remains of the old cruciform church.
page 363 note a See the satirical account of this attempt in Archaeologia, xxxv.
page 364 note a Henry VIII. To Maltraveks, &c.
8th Sept. 1541.
“And where as the house of Sandingfield, standing holly within the Kinges Majestes pales, hathe also moche lande in the same, and that the Master therof hathe nevertheles hitherto litle knowleaged his dieuty towardes His Majeste, but rather claymed himself to be newter, and an appendant of the Bisshop of Rome; His Highnes, not being mynded yet to ministre any cause of pike by his sodain apprehension and punishment, hath thoughte good to sende for him hither, as it were to knowe his advese in suohe thinges, as His Grace entendeth to doo there for the benefite of his marches, as by the copie of the letters which the said Commissioners shal receive herwith, together with the same letters to be delyvered, they shall perceyve. Wherfor His Majestie woll, that his said Commissioners shal cause his said letters to be delyvered unto him in good wordes; and if he shall therupon refuse to come over, they shal then advirtise His Majeste of the same, and also of the wordes and langage used at his refusall, to ensue the tenour of them. And if he shal come over according to the Kinges commandement thereof, then, in his absence, they shal secretly vieu his londes, as they shall doo the rest, and secretly allot and divide the same, as they shall doo the rest; to thintent they may make their boke the more perfite accordyngly.”
page 376 note a There was also a toll called “le bille money,” or fines of strangers, which it is noted was granted in 1515 to Robert Garneys; soldier of Calais.
In 1556, John Knight held the office and profits of tackling of wine within the town of Calais. This was the cellarage, drawing forth and carrying of wines within the town, and for some years was unappropriated having belonged to the “late Chantrie called the Roode Service in the church of St. Nicholas.” The tax was for “every tonne of wines not sweet, 4d for cellarage, 4d for drawing it thence, and 4d for carting.” For sweet wines the tolls were double. The last chantry priest let out the toll to one Conye for 11l. for a terme of years. In 1532 it was complained that the constable of Rysbank and other officers, on the arrival of a merchant ship, “claim to fill their bottles or flagons, some of them of an unreasonable size, with wine out of the cargo.”
page 379 note a A rasier or raser was four bushells.
page 382 note a Augmentation office, 407.
page 383 note a Sir John Wallopp was lieutenant of Calais Castle from 6 Oct., 1530.
page 384 note a Q. R. Miscellanea,
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