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The First Parte of the Life and Raigne of King Henry the Fourth

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 December 2009

Extract

The noble and victorious prince, king Edward the third, had his fortunate gift of a long & prosperous raigne over this realme of England much strengthned and adorned by natures supply of seven goodlye sonnes: Edward his eldest sonne, prince of Wales, commonly called the Blacke Prince; William of Hatfield; Lyonel, Duke of Clarence; John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster; Edmund of Langley, Duke of Yorke; Thomas of Woodstocke, Duke of Gloucester; and William of Windsore.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Historical Society 1991

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References

page 67 note 4 Pertinent selected biographical information about the more notable persons in Hayward's narrative is given in the index, at the appropriate entry for each.

page 68 note 5 Hayward probably means the parliament of Oct. 1385, although the report of Mortimer's confirmation as heir presumptive at this session is probably apocryphal. Throughout the text Hayward's references to the Mortimers are somewhat unreliable (see below).

page 69 note 6 By this device, Hayward reduces his detailed treatment of Richard's downfall, which occupies the next 90-odd quarto pages, to the status of prelimary material, in keeping with his announced purpose of explaining the full career of Henry Bolingbroke.

page 70 note 7 22 June 1377.

page 70 note 8 1379–80.

page 70 note 9 This is the first of many instances exhibiting Hayward's sustained bias in favour of governance by hereditary aristocracy, a theme especially congenial (as noted above, introduction) to the views of the Essex party from before 1599.

page 71 note 10 Before the parliament of October 1382.

page 71 note 11 1384.

page 71 note 12 Richard was about seventeen when this crisis with Gaunt erupted. Joan, princess of Wales, ‘The Fair Maid of Kent,’ exercised a strong influence upon the king until her death in August 1385.

page 71 note 13 De la Pole actually became chancellor in March 1383.

page 72 note 14 13 October 1386.

page 72 note 15 This seems to be another instance of Hayward overextending his evidence in favour of his notion of aristocratic honour. Although Earl of Suffolk by marriage, and not derived from the ancient nobility, Pole was certainly no mere arriviste. The son of a wealthy Hull merchant, he was a knight as early as 1355 and veteran of several foreign military campaigns; Dr. Steel terms him a ‘seasoned soldier, diplomat and administrator:’ see Anthony Steel, Richard II (Cambridge, 1962), 96.Google Scholar

page 73 note 16 John Fordham, bishop of Durham, was later bishop of Ely.

page 74 note 17 Alexander Neville.

page 74 note 18 A: ‘played,’ a listed ‘faulte.’

page 75 note 19 Early 1387.

page 75 note 20 Robert De Vere, ninth earl of Oxford, was first married to Philippa de Coucy, granddaughter to Edward III; his affair with Agnes Launcecrone began around 1385.

page 76 note 21 August 1387.

page 77 note 22 A: ‘pleaseth,’ a listed ‘faulte.’

page 78 note 23 A: ‘present,’ a listed ‘faulte.’

page 78 note 24 By endorsing the charge of treason in these essentially political matters, Richard had reawakened an issue that in his grandfather's reign had caused much bitterness. Since a proved charge of treason could cause certain forfeitures of property, Edward III had found it a powerful weapon against his barons. On the other hand, since the charge could be appealed by combat, its invocation was inherently dangerous to the realm's stability. Edward had eventually agreed to a narrow, and hence infrequently applicable, interpretation of what constituted treason. The verdicts at Nottingham broadened the meaning of the crime once more, thus re-opening the quarrel between crown and nobility at a new level of disruption. An early consequence was the appeal of Vere, Neville, de la Pole, Tresilian and Brembre of treason brought by the duke and earls, with its attendant offer of combat. The confrontatation between Hereford and Mowbray at Coventry was another.

page 79 note 25 A: ‘favououred.’

page 79 note 26 Robert Braybrooke.

page 80 note 27 Alexander Neville.

page 81 note 28 This characterization of Lynn earned Hayward later criticism: see Fasti, I, 368.Google Scholar

page 81 note 29 A: ‘sport,’ a listed ‘faulte.’

page 81 note 30 William Courtenay.

page 81 note 31 Thomas Arundel.

page 81 note 32 Failure, neglect (OED).

page 82 note 33 17 Nov. 1387.

page 82 note 34 Marginal note here: ‘Crastino purificationis.’

page 86 note 35 ‘Jeofaile’ = ‘to fail to meet an obligation’ (OED).

page 87 note 36 Marginal note: ‘1388.’ (This was the ‘Merciless’ parliament, 3 February–4 June 1388.)

page 88 note 37 Richard's eleventh regnal year, toward the end of which this parliament sat, was 22 June 1387–21 June 1388.

page 88 note 38 Marginal note: ‘1389.’

page 88 note 39 Richard had turned twenty-one on 6 Jan. 1388.

page 89 note 40 Marginal note: ‘1390.’

page 89 note 41 See above, introduction.

page 90 note 42 I.e., ‘in sum.’

page 90 note 43 Marginal notes, ‘1392, 1393.’

page 90 note 44 ‘evill intreated’ = ‘evilly treated’ (OED).

page 90 note 45 John Waltham.

page 91 note 46 This had occurred 20 June 1382, during Aston's hearing at Blackfriars, London.

page 93 note 47 November 1396.

page 93 note 48 Although Isabell was not yet eight, Richard was himself only twenty-nine at the time of his marriage.

page 93 note 49 Marginal note: ‘1397.’

page 93 note 50 This was Waleran of Luxembourg, who married Richard's half-sister, Maud (Matilda) Courtenay, daughter of Richard's mother Joan and her first husband, Sir Thomas Holland, first earl of Kent.

page 94 note 51 A: ‘weedlesse,’ a listed ‘faulte.’

page 96 note 52 17 September 1397.

page 97 note 53 A: ‘cause,’ a listed ‘faulte.’

page 97 note 54 Marginal note: ‘1398.’

page 98 note 55 A: ‘Lord Thomas Darcy,’ a print-shop error repeated in subsequent quartos.

page 98 note 56 A: ‘too,’ a listed ‘faulte.’

page 99 note 57 A prints ‘in in reporting,’ although the list of ‘faultes escaped in the printing’ has the erratum as ‘to reporting.’

page 100 note 58 16 September 1398.

page 103 note 59 Quartos: ‘be.’

page 105 note 60 3 February 1399.

page 106 note 61 ‘moved,’ a listed ‘faulte.’

page 107 note 62 This comment is the first of several detailed instances of Richard's maladministration that Hayward records in this and in the following four paragraphs; it is also one of the points in this part of the history (like the comment about the Irish forces ‘scatteringly and dropping,’ in the next sentence) upon which Coke challenged not only Hayward's accuracy, but his motive for including it. Hayward's reply here, that he found in Walsingham the figures upon which he based the comparison of Edward's military expenditures with Richard's, was correct.

page 107 note 63 A: ‘this,’ a listed ‘faulte.’

page 107 note 64 A: ‘challenged,’ a listed ‘faulte.’

page 108 note 65 Another point challenged by Coke, like the comment upon borrowing under the privy seal, in the sentence next following.

page 108 note 66 Another item on which Hayward was questioned.

page 109 note 67 A omits ‘or,’ and reads ‘of high waies: else in drayning,’ a listed ‘faulte.’

page 110 note 68 A ‘beetle’ was a heavy maul or mallet for driving wedges, setting paving stones, etc., or for crushing or beating material. The phrase suggests being trapped between a crushing force and an immovable surface; it was current by the mid-16th century, and was used again by Hayward in The Lives of the III Normans, 274. (OED)

page 111 note 69 Observed 18 May 1399.

page 112 note 70 A: ‘theit.’

page 115 note 71 A: ‘carried,’ a listed ‘faulte.’

page 117 note 72 A misprints by inverting the final ‘n:’ ‘imprisonmeut’.

page 117 note 73 In A, the ‘u’ is inverted: ‘yonr’.

page 117 note 74 A misprints: ‘state ane sleepe.’

page 118 note 75 A: ‘Saind.’

page 118 note 76 4july 1399.

page 119 note 77 A inverts the first ‘n’: ‘couutenance.’

page 119 note 78 A inverts a ‘u’ here: ‘lenetie,’ a listed ‘faulte.’

page 120 note 79 An effeminate person; a coward, a weakling (OED).

page 120 note 80 A: ‘Bush,’ a listed ‘faulte.’

page 122 note 81 A misprints an inverted ‘n’: ‘uo.’

page 122 note 82 A: ‘officers of so long aide,’ a listed ‘faulte.’

page 123 note 83 A: ‘castle Trim,’ a listed ‘faulte.’

page 123 note 84 A inverts the ‘u’: ‘conntrimen.’

page 123 note 85 A: ‘of the one,’ a listed ‘faulte.’

page 124 note 86 ‘To foyle’ = ‘to foul,’ i.e., to drop excrement (OED).

page 125 note 87 A: ‘at men,’ a listed ‘faulte.’

page 126 note 88 A: ‘increased,’ a listed ‘faulte.’

page 128 note 89 A: 'relinquisht.‘

page 130 note 90 A inverts the ‘n’: ‘beue.’

page 131 note 91 29 September.

page 131 note 92 A: ‘Thirminges,’ a listed ‘faulte.’

page 131 note 93 A: ‘Lophane,’ a listed ‘faulte.’

page 133 note 94 A: ‘confessed,’ a listed ‘faulte.’

page 136 note 95 Embezzled.

page 137 note 96 A reservation or provision made for precaution's sake. This legal language reflects the ‘constitutional’ concerns of some of Henry's party.

page 139 note 97 The coronation was actually set for 13 Oct. This lapse, common to all the quartos, is put right in the second paragraph next following.

page 141 note 98 The battle of Evesham (1265), at which Monfort was killed, reversed the fortunes of the barons struggling against the crown, 1263–7.

page 141 note 99 A: ‘homour.’

page 141 note 100 Hayward seems here (as he certainly does below) to confuse the young Edmund (1391–1425), who succeeded as fifth earl of March and third earl of Ulster upon his father Roger's death in battle in Ireland in 1398, with his uncle, Roger's youngest brother, Sir Edmund de Mortimer (1376–1409). Roger may have been declared heir presumptive in 1385. His son and heir was now about nine years old.

page 141 note 101 July 1398.

page 142 note 102 Poitou and Aquitaine, after the peace of Brétigny (1360), were known as the Duchy of Guyenne. Guyenne, the ancient Aquitaine, had been conferred upon Gaunt in 1389; he was reconfirmed as duke of Guyenne in 1390.

page 142 note 103 Thomas Merks.

page 143 note 104 Marginal note here: ‘Tranquil. in Caligula. Tacitus, in proaemio.’ From this point onward throughout this speech, A (like all the QQ) bears scattered but copious marginal references to texts, both scriptural and from classical antiquity, cited by the bishop. It is clear that for Hayward, Carlisle's oration amounted to a legal brief crafted on the civil law pattern.

page 144 note 105 Marginal notes clustered here: ‘lerem. 25. 9.; Ezech. 29. 18.; lerm. 29. 7.; Baruch, 1. 11.’

page 145 note 106 Here the QQ show a more extensive marginal insert, offering further precedents from classical antiquity, the text of which is: ‘So did Domitian put to death Epaphroditus, Neroes libertine, because he helped Neroe (although in love) to kill himselfe. So did Severus kill all the killers of Pertinax his predecessour: and likwise Vitellius did put to death all the murtherers of Galba. Theophilus Emperour of Grecia caused all those to be slaine, who had made his father emperour, by killing Leo Arminius. And Alexander the great put to cruell execution those that had slaine Darius, his mighty and mortall enemy.’

page 145 note 107 Marginal notes as follows: ‘Deut. 17. 12.; Psal, 105; Exod. 22. 28.; Act. 23. 5.; Rom. 13. 1. 13.; Tit. 3. 1.; 1 Pet, 2. 13, 14, 17; 1 Tim. 2, 2.’

page 145 note 108 Marginal notes: ‘Rom. 13. 2.; John 19. 11.’

page 145 note 109 Marginal note: ‘Cap. 45. 1.’

page 145 note 110 Marginal notes: ‘2. Chro. 36. 22.; 2. Chron. 19.6.’

page 145 note 111 Marginal note: ‘Psal. 28.’

page 145 note 112 Marginal note: ‘Sap. 6.’

page 146 note 113 Marginal note: ‘Quintil in declam.; Cic. offic. lib. 1.’

page 146 note 114 Marginal note: ‘Nehem. 9. 37.’

page 146 note 115 Marginal notes: ‘Alphons. a cast in lib. de haeresi. in verb. Tyrannus. Dominie.; Soto lib. 5. de just. et jur. q. 1. artic. 3.’

page 147 note 116 1385.

page 147 note 117 A: ‘… Edward the 2. is no more to be urged …,’ a listed ‘faulte.’

page 149 note 118 I.e., the acts of the ‘Merciless’ Parliament (1388) supplanted those of Sept. 1397, when Richard had moved against Warwick, Gloucester and Arundel.

page 153 note 119 Guyenne.

page 154 note 120 Actually, Thomas (Merks), Bishop of Carlisle 1397–9.

page 161 note 121 A: ‘Redding,’ a listed ‘faulte.’

page 161 note 122 7 January 1400.

page 163 note 123 A: ‘injury he had done,’ a listed ‘faulte.’

page 163 note 124 A misprints ‘quarter.’

page 163 note 125 A: ‘hardly,’ a listed ‘faulte.’

page 164 note 126 A: ‘… offence was notwithstanding,’ a listed ‘faulte.’

page 164 note 127 A: ‘bloud’ a listed ‘fault.’

page 164 note 128 ‘To sewe’ = to serve at table; ‘to take the assaye’ = to sample food and drink (as a precaution), before serving it to the king (OED).

page 171 note 129 This was actually Sir Edmund de Mortimer, uncle of the young earl, who at this date (1402) was only eleven. Sir Edmund was at this time the most powerful representative of his nephew's interests, which included the fact that the boy was male heir of Roger de Mortimer, Richard's heir presumptive.

page 171 note 130 Sir Edmund's sister Elizabeth married Sir Henry Percy (Hotspur).

page 175 note 131 22 June 1401.

page 175 note 132 A: ‘which purposelie reteyned,’ a listed ‘faulte.’