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VI. Count Amadeus of Savoy's Visit to England in 12921
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 April 2011
Abstract
Amongst the records of the house of Savoy preserved in the Archivio di Stato at Turin, in the repository known as the Sezioni Riunite, there are to be found what are probably some of the earliest quasi-royal household accounts now surviving outside this country. Dating from 1269 onwards, they include nine rolls of the years of Count Philip of Savoy (1268–85) and some twenty-five of his nephew Amadeus the Great (Count Amadeus V, 1285–1325). Five of the earlier group were printed by Mario Chiaudano before the Second World War, but so far as is known none of Amadeus's accounts are available for study except in the original. They are, however, of great interest, and by reason of the closeness of the Anglo-Savoyard relationship in the time of Edward I especially deserve the attention of English scholars. They record journeyings of the counts that add up to an itinerary second only to that of that much-travelled king himself, and the details of guests and messengers constantly underline the links between the two courts. Sometimes they help to fill in the background of diplomacy, as for instance when they tell us that amongst those dining with Count Amadeus at Cambrai on 27th December 1296 were the bishop of Chester, Sir Otto de Grandison, Master John of Berwick, and Sir Hugh le Despenser; sometimes they leave us guessing at lesser matters, for example, as to what construction should be placed on the payment, a few weeks later, of 13s. 10d. to a little Englishman (parvo Anglico) who carried the ‘moulds for the bells’ (aportanti modulos campanarum)—if that is indeed the meaning—from St. Quentin to Cambrai, and thence on from Cambrai to Chambéry. One of the longest and, from the point of view of its English content, most important of these accounts is that covering a period of more than a year in 1302–3, during which Amadeus crossed twice into England, spending liberally, on each occasion, on London-made purchases to send or take home to Savoy. Amongst them we find such choice acquisitions as nineteen gold rings bought for 76s. sterling by the count at Odiham on New Year's day (‘… in xix. anulis auri emptis per dominum apud Odiham die Martis anni novi’ (1st January 1303)) perhaps for immediate dispatch as seasonable gifts to friends at home, the very next entry being a sum of 50s. sterling paid to send a courier, Raymond de Festerna, from Farnham to Savoy and Geneva; or a gold private seal and chain (‘… in sigillo domini Comitis secreto aureo et cathena ipsius aurea et factura ipsius sigilli et cathene preter partem auri quod tradidit dominus… 31s. 3d. sterl' ’); or two paintings of the Trois Vifs et Trois Marts (‘… in duabus tabulis depictis trium mortuorum et vivorum emptis per dominum, 40s. 6d.’).
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Notes
2 The contents of the Turin archives are listed in Max Bruchet, ‘Répertoire des Sources de l'Histoire de Savoie’ (Extrait de la Revue des Bibliothèques) (Paris, 1935), pp. 1–142.Google Scholar
3 Chiaudano, Mario, La Finanza Sabauda nel sec. XIII, ii, I ‘Rotuli’ e i ‘Computi’ della Corte di Filippo I conte di Savoia e di Borgogna dal 1269 al 1285 (Torino, 1934), pp. 1–298, 304–12.Google Scholar
4 Archivio di Stato di Torino (AST), Inv. Sav. 38, fo. 46, mazzo 2, no. 5.
5 Ibid.
6 AST, Inv. Sav. 38, fo. 21, mazzo 2, no. 14.
7 For the moralizing poem of the Three Living and the Three Dead, probably the earliest manuscript of which (Arundel MS. 83) dates from the end of the thirteenth century, see Rouse, E. Clive and Baker, Audrey, ‘The Wall-Painting at Longthorpe Tower near Peterborough, Northants.’, Archaeologia, XCVI (1955), 1–57, esp. 41–2 and pl. XIII a.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8 AST, Inv. Sav. 38, fo. 21, mazzo 2, no. 9.
9 Cal[endar of] Pat[ent] R[olls] 1292–1301, p. 443. From Voiron (Isère), 35 km. SW. of Chambéry.
10 He also served in the household of Edmund of Lancaster; cf. Cal. Pat. R. 1281–92 and 1292–1301, passim; Tout, Chapters [in the Administrative History of Medieval England], iii, 197 n. 2. See also text, para. 70.
11 Tout, Chapters, i, 159 n. 3, ii, 159; R. R. Sharpe (ed.), Calendar of Letter Books of the City of London, Letter Book B, p. 275 and n. 1, p. 280 and n. 2. Stow says he was ‘a stranger borne, a Burdeaux Marchant of Gascoyne and French wynes’, Survey of London, ed. Kingsford, C. L. (Oxford, 1908), I, 248. See also text, para. 71.Google Scholar
12 For Langton, afterwards bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, see Tout, Chapters, esp. ii, 15–16; also Alice Beardwood, ‘The Trial of Walter Langton, bishop of Lichfield, 1307–12’, American Philosophical Society Transactions, LIV (1904). Langton was keeper of the wardrobe from 1290 to 1295. See also text, para. 69.Google Scholar
13 Treasurer of the exchequer from 1290 to 1295; succeeded Burnell as bishop of Bath and Wells; succeeded Langton as dean of St. Martin's le Grand.
14 Numbers in parentheses refer to paragraphs of the account printed at the end of this paper.
15 Yenne is on the Rhône, west of the Lac du Bourget. ‘Philippo’ (8) and ‘Ph’ (60) may be one and the same person—possibly one of the four new knights and possibly a son of Sir P. de Yenna (60). Cf. Humbert de Yenne, canon of St. Jean de Maurienne, of Hereford from 1273, and rector of Geddington from 1283 (J.-P. Chapuisat, ‘Le chapitre Savoyard de Hereford au XIIIe siècle’, Actes du Congrès de Moutiers, 5–6 septembre 1966, pp. 46, 50, and refs.).
16 Possibly one of the new knights (cf. also para. 93 below); for others of the name cf. Cal. Pat. R. 1281–92, pp. 310, 326. Pontremoli (de Ponte Tremulo) is in Tuscany, between Parma and La Spezia.
17 Not located; probably in the Ain or Jura region and not far from Bourg-en-Bresse; cf. Sir William de Ivys, para. 26 and note 19 below.
18 Paras. 12, 27 also refer.
19 I n 1271–2 a Sir William de Ivys held office as bailiff of Savoy, Chiaudano, op. cit., ii, 191; in 1288 a Sir William de Ivys was paid £20 of his expenses redeundo a Rege Anglie by the castellan of Bourg-en-Bresse (Dijon, Archives de la Côte d'Or, B. 7081/vii).
20 The ‘mistral’ (mistralis) was the administrator of a territory; he might hold office directly under the count or be subordinate to a castellan.
21 Safford, E. W., Itinerary of Edward I, part ii (1291–1307) (List and Index Society, vol. 132, 1976), p. 24.Google Scholar
22 ‘The Song of Carlaverock and the Parliamentary Roll of Arms as found in Cott. MS. Calig. A. XVIII in the British Museum’, Collected Papers of N. Denholm-Young (University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 1969), pp. 121–32Google Scholar (reprinted from Proc. Brit. Acad. XLVII (1962), 251–62)Google Scholar; Johnstone, Hilda, Edward of Carnarvon (Manchester University Press, 1946), pp. 106–9.Google Scholar Cf. also Coulton, G. G.'s article ‘Knighthood’, Encyclopaedia Britannica (11th edn., 1910–1911), XV, 851–60Google Scholar; Bloch, Marc, ‘L'adoubement’, in La Société Féodale (Paris, 1940), pp. 46–53.Google Scholar
23 Pevsner, Nikolaus, County Durham (Buildings of England, 1953), pp. 71–3Google Scholar and plates 16A and 18; Arch. J. CXI (1954), 224–5Google Scholar; Longstaffe, W. H., The History and Antiquities of the Parish of Darlington, in the Bishoprick (Darlington, 1854), pp. 187–9, 213.Google Scholar
24 Pritchett, H. D., History of the Parish Church of St. Cuthbert, Darlington (Darlington, 1921), p. 20; the chapel was already ruinous by 1764, the date of the woodcut reproduced in Longstaffe, op. cit., p. 187.Google Scholar
25 P[ublic] R[ecord] O[ffice] C 47/3/30, E 101/369/4.
26 N. Denholm-Young, op. cit., p. 127 and n. 3, where in referring to Dugdale's statement that Thomas Bardolf was made a banneret by bathing he says ‘there are some twenty instances of this absurdity in the Baronage i. 379, &c, but no warrant has been found for it in thirteenth-century chronicle or record.’ That warrant is now supplied by para. 56 of our account of 1292.
27 The castle of Boczosel is in the Isère, 4 km. NE. of La Côte-St. André, and belonged to Philip of Savoy as archbishopelect of Lyon. In 1283 Humbert (or Imbert) of Boczosel is named as attorney of Amadeus of Savoy, the king's kinsman (Cal. Pat. R. 1281–92, p. 64); in 1289 he did homage to Count Amadeus for his holdings in Boczosel and his rights at St. Simphorien d'Ozon; he was still in the count's service in 1306 (information supplied by J.-P. Chapuisat). Cf. also paras. 29 and 53.
28 Septème (ad septimum lapidem) is a castle on the Roman road from Vienne to Bourgoin in Dept. Isère. Henry appears as a member of count Philip's household in 1281–2 (Chiaudano, op. cit. ii, 310). William of Septeme was constable of Chillon and bailiff of the Chablais from 1292 to 1296.
29 R. R. Sharpe (ed.), Cal. of Letter Books of the City of London, Letter Book B., p. 79; Cal. Pat. R. 1292–1301, p. 543.
30 ‘Thomas’, not identified, was perhaps a buyer for the count's wardrobe; he is also named in paras. 12, 45, 47, 59, and 84.
31 Named also in para. 52; possibly the ‘Pino Bernardini, citizen of London’ named in Cal. Pat. R. 1281–92, pp. 292, 295, 310, 322, 326, and 413.
32 E. W. Safford, Itinerary of Edward I, ii, p. 123.
33 As ‘Baruncinus Walteri of Lucca, citizen of London’, he appears frequently in Cal. Pat. R. 1281–1301; in December 1285 named as one of the merchants of Lucca who are to pay Otto de Grandison ‘as much money as he may require of them for the king's affairs'.
34 Calendar of Liberate Rolls, iii, 19.
35 For Ethelgotha see Flete's History of Westminster Abbey, ed. Robinson, J. Armitage (Cambridge, 1909), pp. IIGoogle Scholar, 45, 83; for Edith and Matilda see Frank, Barlow (ed.), The Life of King Edward the Confessor (Nelson's Medieval Texts, 1962), pp. 100, 121–2.Google Scholar
36 According to Dart, John's History of Westminster Abbey (1723), I, 6, Sebert and Ethelgotha were translated to a new tomb in 1307.Google Scholar
37 Rymer, Foedera (Record edition), I, ii, 774; Stones, E. L. G. and Simpson, Grant G., Edward I and the Throne of Scotland 1290–1296 (Oxford, 1978), I, 97; ii, 127, 160 n. 5, 176 n. 4, 193–4 and n. 2, 226 n. c, 227 n. 4. Professor Stones generously allowed me to see these passages in advance of publication.Google Scholar
38 Cf. P.R.O., List of Documents relating to the Household and Wardrobe, John to Edward I (H.M.S.O., 1964), where only six of the thirty-one headings under which the list is compiled have even the most minor entry for the twentieth year.Google Scholar
39 Stones and Simpson, op. cit. i, 97.
40 Pro Amadeo Com' Sabaud'. Liberate dilecto consanguineo et fideli nostro Amadeo Comiti Sabaudie ijM. marcas tam pro arreragiis feodi sui.CC. marc' quod a nobis percipit singulis annis ad scaccarium nostrum quam de prestito super feodo suo predicto de annis Venturis. Teste R' apud Berewyk super Twed quinto die Julii. (P.R.O. C 62/68.)
41 Cf. Stones and Simpson, op. cit. i, 103–4.
42 For Edward I's part in the affair of the Savoy succession following the death of Count Philip on 16th October 1285 see Mugnier, François, ‘Les Savoyards en Angleterre au XIIIe siècle’, in Méms. et Docts. de la Société Savoisienne, XXIX (Chambéry, 1890), 334–6.Google Scholar For Amadeus's earlier associations with England, and especially with Edward in Wales, see English Historical Review, LXVIII (1953)Google Scholar, ‘A Letter from Lewis of Savoy to Edward I’, 56 n. 2 and 60 n. 4. For his employment by Edward on diplomatic missions cf. Powicke, F. M., The Thirteenth Century (Oxford, 1953), pp. 251Google Scholar, 653, 665 and Cuttino, G. P., English Diplomatic Administration 1239–1339 (2nd edn., Oxford, 1971), p. 182.Google Scholar
43 Stones and Simpson, op. cit. ii, 176. Amadeus was almost certainly again in England in the spring of 1296, when according to the Hagnaby Chronicle, MS. Cott. Vesp. B. xi, fo. 41, he was present with Antony Bek and Otto de Grandison on 28th April at the surrender of the castle of Dunbar to the king; he was probably also at the surrender to Edward of Roxburgh castle on 5th May. I owe this reference to the kindness of Professor Stones. Cf. also Langtoft's Chronicle, ed. Hearne (1725), ii, 274, and Rymer, Foedera, I, ii, 837 ff., where Amadeus is included, with Otto and Walter de Langton, in writs of ‘mittimus ad partes Franciae’ dated at Roxburgh in May 1296.
44 There can be little doubt that in this imperfectly preserved reference to moneys received jointly ‘de magistro Willelmo de Marchia predicto et episcopo abattauen’ ’the latter is a corruption of ‘episcopo Bathon’ ’, i.e. Robert Burnell, the chancellor, bishop of Bath and Wells, who died at Berwick on 25th October 1292, and whose successor as bishop was William of March, the treasurer of the exchequer.
45 Named also in paras. 21, 25, 58, 85; references in Chiaudano, op. cit. ii, 140, 153, 259–60, 262, 291, 310 and iii, 234 show him to have been an officer of Count Philip's household.
46 Named also in paras. 55 and 62.
47 Named also in para. 78. Perhaps to be identified with Othoninus de Burgo, frequently named as a household official in the accounts of Philip of Savoy printed by Chiaudano, op. cit.
48 From Luyrieux, NE. of Belley, a seigneurie in the Bugey; cf. John de Luyr', para. 23.
49 For other references to Peter de Monte Meylorani, Amadeus's clerk, see Eng. Hist. Rev. LXVIII (1953), 56 n. 2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
50 Named also in paras. 17, 64–5.
51 Named also in paras. 80, 88, and 91, John de Montibus is well documented as a wardrobe clerk in the service of Edward I. He came from the Pays de Vaud. Besides canonries of Verdun (Cal. Pat. R. 1281–92, p. 354) and Bayeux (Lincoln, Archives of Dean & Chapter, Dij/55/2, no. 17), his English benefices included the churches of Ilmington (from which in 1277 he had the bishop's dispensation to be absent for three years ‘provided he is in t he service of the lady the Queen or the lord Eadmund, brother of the king’, and for a further three years in 1282 ‘to study canon law and theology’ (Reg. Godfrey Giffard, bp. of Worcester, ed. Bund (1902), pp. 93 and 140)) and Downton, Wilts. Appointed in 1278 with James de Grandson-Belmont to examine dowry assigned to Edward I's daughter Joan for her intended marriage with Hartmann de Habsbourg (P.R.O., SC 1/XIII/70 and XIV/77). An executor of the will of Girard de Grandson, bp. of Verdun (ibid. XVIII/33). Sent by Edward in March 1282 to William VII of Montferrat to appease quarrel with Thomas III of Savoy (C 47/29/1, no. 12; CS 1/XIV/37) and is at Tortona for this purpose in May (E 30/1671). Several other entries in Cal. Pat. R. 1281–92. (Information kindly supplied by M. J.-P. Chapuisat.)
52 Named also in para. 60. References in the Chillon castellan's accounts for the period 1286–90 (AST Inv. Sav. 69, fo. 5, mazzo 1, nos. 7–10) and the Evian castellan's accounts (ibid. 63, fo. 62, mazzo 1, no. 6) to ‘Acarie de Saxo’ (at Geneva in 1288–9 ‘pro restitucione castri differenda’), ‘Acarie Ingeniatori domini Comitis’, ‘Zacarie Ingeniatori’, ‘Acarie Machinatori’ (‘pro operibus duarum machinarum’ made at Evian) leave no doubt that Zachary de Saxo was one of Amadeus's principal military engineers, and his inclusion en suite on the count's journey to Berwick is noteworthy.
53 A Brocardus de Fonte is named in the account of the castellan of Monthey for 1274–5 (Chiaudano, op. cit. i, 255); a list of men-at-arms enrolled by Peter of Savoy as mercenaries for the war of 1264–5 includes Aymon, Brocard, Conon, and Geoffrey de la Fontaine (Mugnier, Savoyards en Angleterre, p. 366).
54 i.e. Henry de Greenford, named in 1279 as one of Edward I's ushers of the chamber (Tout, Chapters, ii, 159); for his duties in this capacity in Wales, where from March 1283 he was the first English constable of Criccieth castle, and in Paris and Gascony in 1286–7, see History of the King's Works, ed. Colvin, H. M. (London, 1963), i, 333 and n. 6, 365; in 1296 he was constable of Yester castle (Joseph Bain (ed.), Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland, ii, 264).Google Scholar
55 ‘Ridelle’ and John de Voyron are unidentified; the pairing here and in para. 86 suggests that ‘Lochet’ and ‘de Voyron’ may be alternative names for one individual.
56 Also named in para. 52; perhaps to be identified with ‘Pinus Bernardini, citizen of London’ named Cal. Pat. R. 1281–92, P 413 (cf. ibid., pp. 292, 295, 310, 322. 326).
57 i.e. Walter de Langton, cf. n. 12 above.
58 For Adam de Bidyk, the king's tailor, see Tout, Chapters, ii, 159, iv, 369 n. 1; he was an old man and superannuated in 1296 (Cal. Pat. R. 1292–1301, p. 185); but cf. the ref. to ‘Adinettus of Gascony’ in 1304 in Thomas, A. H, Calendar of Early Mayor's Court Rolls of the City of London (Cambridge, 1924), p.165.Google Scholar
59 ‘de Burgo’: in this context probably ‘from Bourg’, i.e. Bourg-en-Bresse.
60 John de Dighton is named as a citizen and merchant of London in 1284 (Cal. Pat. R. 1281–92, p. 112).
61 Also named above (para. 22) as ‘de Bacinis’. Property of an earlier Humbert de Bacino, deed., in La Thuile in the Tarentaise was conveyed to Count Philip of Savoy in 1278 (Chiaudano, op. cit., iii, 269–70).
62 Odo Alamandi, mistral of Vienne: not identified.
63 St. Genix-d' Aoste lies to the south of the Rhône, 25 km. W. of Chambéry.