^{page 61 note 1} Among recent publications there may be noted: J. Vising, Anglo-Norman language and literature; E. Walberg, Quelques aspects de la littérature anglonormande; Legge, M. D., ‘Anglo-Norman and the Historian’, History, xxvi, 163Google Scholar; Wilson, R. M., ‘English and French in England, 1100–1300’, History, ixxviii. 37Google Scholar; Woodbine, G. E., ‘The Language of English Law’, Speculum, ixviii. 395Google Scholar.

^{page 61 note 2} Maxwell-Lyte, H. C., The Great Seal, p. 238Google Scholar.

^{page 61 note 3} These are two proclamations in the form of letters patent dated 18 and 20 October 1258. They are enrolled on Patent Roll 42 Henry, III, m. 1 (Cal. Patent Rolls, 1247–58, pp. 655–6)Google Scholar and are transcribed from other copies in the Annals, of Burton (Annales Monastici, i. 453–6)Google Scholar. The proclamation of 18 October is also in Foedera, i. 377–8. Other letters patent of 28 March 1259 communicating to the counties ordinances made by the council are on Patent Roll 43 Henry, III, m. 10 (Cal. Patent Rolls, 1258–66, p. 19Google Scholar; Foedera, i. 381).

^{page 61 note 4} Numerous examples are to be found in Rymer's Foedera.

^{page 61 note 5} Foedera, ix (1413–1420)Google Scholar.

^{page 62 note 1} It may be added that at least two letters patent of James I concerning Jersey are in French, the warrants being in the same language (Maxwell-Lyte, , op. cit., p. 239)Google Scholar.

^{page 62 note 2} See Appendix V.

^{page 62 note 3} For some examples of French documents on the Memoranda Rolls see p. 72 below. For an inventory of 1419, see Myers, A. R., ‘The captivity of a royal witch’, Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, xxvi. 98–100Google Scholar.

^{page 62 note 4} Calendar of Chancery Warrants, i. 1.

^{page 62 note 5} Déprez, E., Études de Diplomatique Anglaise, p. 11Google Scholar.

^{page 62 note 6} Maxwell-Lyte, H. C., op. cit., p. 52 and note p. 53Google Scholar.

^{page 62 note 7} Ibid., p. 52.

^{page 62 note 8} Déprez, , op. cit., pp. 35–6Google Scholar.

^{page 62 note 9} Chambers, R. W. and Daunt, M., A book of London English, p. 139Google Scholar.

^{page 62 note 10} Déprez, , op. cit., pp. 99–100Google Scholar.

^{page 63 note 1} Perroy, E., The diplomatic correspondence of Richard II (Camden Third Series, xlviii)Google Scholar.

^{page 63 note 2} Ancient Correspondence, iii, vii, x, xi, xvi, xxii, xxiii, xxv, xxx, xlvii and xlviii.

^{page 63 note 3} For Eleanor of Castile, see Ancient Correspondence, x. 52 and 55, xi. 25, xxiii. 45–51, xxx. 44–7, 50, 52, 53; Margaret of France, xxv. 198–204, xxvii. 96–7, xxviii. 27, 86–7, xxxv. 70, 131, 164, xlviii. 78; Isabella of France, xxxv. 62—5, 111—12; Philippa of Hainault, xxxvi. 107, xxxix. 15, 34, 35, 50, 163, 164, 175, xl. 30–2, 116, 137, xli. 80–7, xlii. 101–2, lvi. 26, 39, 40, 50, 78; Anne of Bohemia, li. 21.

^{page 63 note 4} See, for example, the invitation from Margaret, the second wife of Edward I, to the abbot of Ramsey in 1301 to be the godfather of her child, Edmund of Woodstock (Register of Ramsey Abbey, Bodley, Ashmole 1524, fol. 10b–11; printed by Macray, W. D., Chronicon Abbatiae Ramesiensis, Appendix, p. 373)Google Scholar and a letter from Philippa of Hainault asking the abbot of Glastonbury for a loan of a hundred pounds (Register of Glastonbury Abbey, B.M. Arundel ii, fol. 35b).

^{page 63 note 5} P.R.O., C47/9/58. For analysis of contents see Appendix I.

^{page 64 note 1} See B.M. Julius B vi, fol. 54 (two letters written while she was still duchess of Brittany), Vesp. F iii, fol. 5, and Ancient Correspondence li. 41. For a letter written after her widowhood see Register of Lanthony Priory, P.R.O., C115/A3, fol. 95b (1417).

^{page 64 note 2} Rot. Parl., iv. 183b and 186b–187a. Both petitions were made in 1422 after the death of Henry V. Two more petitions are also to be found in Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council of England, iv. 48 and 179, dated 1420 and 1433.

^{page 64 note 3} Monro, C., The letters of Margaret of Anjou (Camden First Series, lxxvi)Google Scholar.

^{page 64 note 4} The letters of Edward Prince of Wales, 1304–5, ed. Johnstone, Hilda (Roxburghe Club)Google Scholar.

^{page 65 note 1} The Register of Edward the Black Prince (P.R.O.). Four parts covering the periods July 1346–January 1348 and February 1351–November 1365.

^{page 65 note 2} John of Gaunt's Register, 1372–1376, ed. Armitage-Smith, S. (Camden Third Series, xx and xxi)Google Scholar; ibid., 1379–1383, ed. E. C. Lodge and R. Somerville (Camden Third Series, lvi and lvii).

^{page 65 note 3} For analysis of the second register see Appendix II.

^{page 65 note 4} The more important are those of Battle Abbey (B.M. Harl. 3586), Bury St. Edmunds (B.M. Harl. 230), Christ Church, Canterbury (C.U.L. Ee. v. 31), Ely (B.M. Add. 41612), Evesham (B.M. Titus C. ix), Langley (Bodley 242), Merton (Bodley, Laud 723), Peterborough (B.M. Vesp. E. xxi, xxii, Add. 25288), Rochester (B.M. Faustina C. v), St. Albans (B.M. Tiberius E. vi), Selby (B.M. Cleop. D. iii; P.R.O., D.L. 42/8), Thetford (Bodley, Gough Norfolk 18) and Whalley (B.M. Add. 10374).

^{page 65 note 5} B.M. Arundel ii.

^{page 65 note 6} P.R.O. C115/A3, A7 and A12.

^{page 66 note 1} For analysis see Appendix III.

^{page 66 note 2} When on one occasion letters in Latin were sent to all these officials it may have been merely a matter of convenience, since a letter in the same terms was being sent to the archbishop of -York, then chancellor. B.M. Arundel ii, fol. 19b. 4

^{page 66 note 3} Ibid., fol. 14b.

^{page 66 note 4} Ibid., fol. 3513–36 and fol. 65b–66.

^{page 66 note 5} P.R.O., C115/A3, fol. 106b.

^{page 66 note 6} Ibid., fol. 130.

^{page 66 note 7} Ibid., fol. 129b.

^{page 66 note 8} Ibid., fol. 166b.

^{page 66 note 9} Ibid., fol. 179.

^{page 66 note 10} Ibid., fol. 188b.

^{page 67 note 1} Ibid., fol. 189–189b.

^{page 67 note 2} Ibid., fol. 199.

^{page 67 note 3} Ibid., fol. 247b.

^{page 67 note 4} Anglo-Norman letters and petitions from All Souls Ms. 182, ed. Legge, M. Dominica (Anglo-Norman Text Society no. 3)Google Scholar.

^{page 67 note 5} Cf. Richardson, H. G., ‘Business Training in Medieval Oxford’, American Historical Review, xlvi. 259Google Scholar.

^{page 68 note 1} See in particular Edward's letter to Louis of France, accompanying gifts of a palfrey and greyhounds: ‘Nous vous enveoms vn gros palefrai trottant… e vous enueoms de noz crocuz leurers de Gales que Men ateindroient vn leure sil le trouassent endormaunt… E, cher cosin, si vous volez dautres choses qui sont en nostre pais de Gales, vncore vous enverrom bien des gentz sauuages, si vous volez…’ (The letters of Edward Prince of Wales, p. 11).

^{page 68 note 2} B.M. Arundel ii, fol. 10.

^{page 68 note 3} Ibid., fol. 27.

^{page 68 note 4} Ibid., fol. 15.

^{page 68 note 5} P.R.O., C115/A7, fol. 74b (from the earl of Buckingham) and fol. 180 (from the duchess of Gloucester); C115/A3, fol. 95b (from Henry IV's widow). In addition, C115/A3, fol. 129b, contains a letter from the prior to the countess of Stafford, dated 11 September 1419, thanking her for her gift of copes, and regretting that the hot, dry summer has prevented him from sending her cheese.

^{page 68 note 6} B.M. Faustina A vi, fol. 90–90b. It has unfortunately been impossible to ascertain the precise year in which these letters were written.

^{page 68 note 7} Hingeston, F. C., Royal and historical letters during the reign of Henry IV, 1399–1404, i. 24Google Scholar. Another letter in English from a Scottish magnate, James Douglas, to Henry IV, written in 1405, has been erroneously dated 1384 in Bentley, S., Excerpta Historica, pp. 142–4Google Scholar: see Wylie, J. H., History of England under Henry IV, ii. 275–6, n. 1Google Scholar.

^{page 69 note 1} Hingeston, , op. cit., p. 158Google Scholar. ‘Jeo prie a la benoft Trinitee que vous bone vie, ove tresentier sauntee a treslonge durèe, and send zowe sone to ows in helth and prosperitee…’

^{page 69 note 2} Ibid., Preface, pp. lxxxvii–lxxxviii, and p. 397. ‘Vestras litteras scriptas in Gallico, nobis indoctis tanquam in idiomate Hebraico, apud Monstreueille xxmo die Octobris, recepimus Calisii eodem xxmo die de sero, inter cetera continentes qualiter…’

^{page 69 note 3} Kingsford, C. L., Prejudice and promise in fifteenth-century England, pp. 22–3Google Scholar.

^{page 69 note 4} The next earliest English letter known appears to be that from Joan Pelham to her husband of 25 July 1399 (Lyle, Laetitia, A mediaeval post-bag, pp. 267–8Google Scholar, from Collins', Peerage, viii. 95–6Google Scholar) though it is possible that the two letters from the earl of March mentioned above may be earlier.

^{page 70 note 1} The earliest known English petition is an enclosure to a Privy Seal warrant to the chancellor: it is from John Drayton and Margery King, his wife, and is dated 5 February 1344. The next does not occur until twenty years later, it is from the abbot and convent of St. Mary Graces, 1364, and there is a third from the folk of the Mercerye dated 1386. After this last date a number of English petitions are to be found (Chambers, R. W. and Daunt, M., A book of London English, 1384–1425, preface, p. 9 and pp. 272–3, 285, 288, 292–3Google Scholar, and Rot. Parl., iv. 22, 57–61, 158–9).

^{page 70 note 2} See Appendix IV for table covering the use of French and English in petitions from 1414 to 1447.

^{page 70 note 2} Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council of England, 1386–1542, ed. Sir H. Nicholas.

^{page 70 note 4} Starrs and Jewish Charters (Jewish Historical Society), i. 12–20. An instrument by Stephen Langton of 29 January 1215 is endorsed on the Charter Roll of 16 John, but this is hardly a private deed (Rotuli Chartarum, p. 209).

^{page 71 note 1} See Richardson, H., ‘A twelfth-century Anglo-Norman charter’, Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, xxiv. 168Google Scholar, and H. Suggett, ‘An Anglo-Norman return to the Inquest of Sheriffs’, ibid., xxvii. 170.

^{page 71 note 2} Riley, H. T., Memorials of London and London Life, 1276–1419, pp. 131–2Google Scholar.

^{page 71 note 3} Magdalen College, Oxford, Muniments, Beighton 114.

^{page 71 note 4} P.R.O., Ancient Deeds, E40/3233, 3234 and 3241.

^{page 71 note 5} Examples of all these types of deeds are to be found in T. Madox, Formulare Anglicanum.

^{page 71 note 6} Historical MSS. Commission, Ninth Report, Appendix, p. 20Google Scholar.

^{page 71 note 7} Queen Philippa's Roll, P.R.O., C47/9/58, m. 2.

^{page 71 note 8} Magdalen College, Oxford, Muniments, Southwark 33.

^{page 71 note 9} For the marble and metal work for the tomb of Richard II and Anne, of Bohemia, see Foedera, vii. 795–6; for Anne of Bohemia's herses, see Gough, R., Sepulchral Monuments, i. 170*Google Scholar, and for an alabaster tomb for Katherine Green and her late husband, see Willis, R., Architectural nomenclature of the Middle Ages, p. 79Google Scholar.

^{page 71 note 10} Cotton Charters xxi, 24. Printed in Archaeological Journal, xii (1855). 173Google Scholar.

^{page 71 note 11} Historical MSS. Commission, Ninth Report, Part I, Appendix, p. 30Google Scholar.

^{page 71 note 12} Pearce, E. H., The Monks of Westminster, p. 106Google Scholar.

^{page 72 note 1} P.R.O., L.T.R. Memoranda Roll, 4 Edward III, E368/102, m. 21. Also in K.R. Memoranda Roll 159/106, m. 154.

^{page 72 note 1} Riley, H. T., op. cit., pp. 261–2Google Scholar. It is interesting to note that a similar document drawn up on the same day, between the same people, namely, an inventory of the articles in the chapel of London Bridge, was in Latin. Cf. ibid., pp. 263–4.

^{page 72 note 3} Ibid., p. 313.

^{page 72 note 4} P.R.O., Coram Rege Roll, Michaelmas 1377, K.B. 27/467, m. 36 schedule.

^{page 72 note 5} P.R.O., E163/6/13.

^{page 72 note 6} A few examples of French bonds have survived, for example, one for the payment of forty shillings to the master of the hospital of St. John at Oxford in 1344 (Magdalen College, Oxford, Muniments, Willoughby 63).

^{page 72 note 7} French wills are numerous and very scattered. Many are to be found in the following collections: Nichols, J., A collection of all the wills of the kings and queens of England; Testamenta Eboracensia, ed. Raine, J. (Surtees Society iv)Google Scholar; Testamenta Karleolensia (1353–1386), ed. Ferguson, R. S. (Cumberland and Westmoreland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society)Google Scholar; Calendar of wills proved and enrolled in the Court of Husting, London, 1258–1688, ed. R. R. Sharpe; The Register of Henry Chichele, ed. Jacob, E. F. (Canterbury and York Society), vol. iiGoogle Scholar.

^{page 72 note 8} Jacob, E. F., op. cit., ii. 457–9)Google Scholar. Two wills of 1429 are also to be found in the same register, they are those of Thomas Colpeper (pp. 382–6) and John, duke of Norfolk (pp. 472–4).

^{page 72 note 9} Kingsford, C. L., op. cit., pp. 24–5Google Scholar.

^{page 73 note 1} P.R.O. Lists of Ancient Deeds, Series D.L.

^{page 73 note 2} Further evidence is afforded by a series of 16 fourteenth-century (1316–32) French deeds relating to Norfolk preserved at Magdalen College, Oxford (Hickling 110–25) in which the same names recur as grantors, grantees and witnesses, and by a series of 36 deeds at Corpus Christi College, Oxford (Ca Kl Ev. 12–35 and 38–49) witnessing sales of land by one Simon Furneux, from 1334 to 1358. These two series point to the fact that losses must have been very great and that many documents considered of minor importance must have perished.

^{page 73 note 3} See Appendix I.

^{page 73 note 4} See Appendix II.

^{page 73 note 5} A deed of 1376 is stated to be the oldest private legal instrument in Middle English (cf. Wells, J. E., A manual of the writings in Middle English, p. 442)Google Scholar. In 1397 an indenture in English was made at Dunfermline abbey, in 1398 two at Haudenstank and one at Clackmabanestane (Chambers, and Daunt, , op. cit., pp. 278–9)Google Scholar. In 1404 two more occur: a bond by John Stewart, knight, to Ralph, earl of Westmorland, and an indenture drawn up at Pontefract castle (ibid., p. 283). No defeasance has been discovered earlier than 1422 (ibid., p. 307).

^{page 73 note 6} For table of French deeds endorsed on the Close Rolls, see Appendix V.

^{page 73 note 7} Register of Lanthony Priory, P.R.O. C115/A3, fol. 238b.

^{page 73 note 8} B.M. Royal 17 B xlvii.

^{page 73 note 9} Ibid., fol. 111b–112. It can hardly be a coincidence that, as stated below, William de la Pole wrote poems in French.

^{page 74 note 1} B.M. Royal, 17 B fol. 21.

^{page 74 note 2} Bémont, C., Simon de Montfort (1930), pp. 276–8Google Scholar, with, facsimile.

^{page 74 note 3} It consists of 15 eight-line stanzas. Cf. Studer, P., Modern Language Review, xvi. 34ffGoogle Scholar.

^{page 74 note 4} Ed. E. J. Arnould (Anglo-Norman Text Society, no. 2).

^{page 74 note 5} Lavision-Christine, ed. SisterTowner, M. L. (Catholic University of America), p. 165Google Scholar. The poems do not seem to have survived.

^{page 74 note 6} His poems in English and French have been edited by MacCracken, H. W. in Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, xxvi. 141—80Google Scholar.

^{page 75 note 1} Tout, T. F., Chapters in the administrative history of Mediaeval England, v. 249Google Scholar.

^{page 75 note 2} M. D. Legge, op. cit., prints seven of his letters (Nos. 44, 55, 58, 62, 64, 297 and 318), the most remarkable of which is his letter of condolence to his niece, Lady Despenser, after the execution of her husband in 1400 (no. 62). Other scattered letters show the bishop of Durham corresponding in French with his chancellor in 1430 (Letter book of Thomas Langley, bishop of Durham, B.M. Add. 27401, fol. 2) and the bishop of Hereford's vicar-general writing in the same language to a noble about some tithes due to the prior of Lanthony, c. 1371 (Register of Lanthony Priory, P.R.O., C115/A12, fol. 63).

^{page 75 note 3} Marquess of Bath, Ms. Longleat 37, fol. 114–114b.

^{page 75 note 4} Register of Merton Priory, Eodley, Laud 723, fol. 30.

^{page 76 note 1} Register of Lichfield Cathedral, Bodley, Ashmole 1527, fol. 79b.

^{page 76 note 2} Register of Lanthony Priory, P.R.O., C115/A3, fol. 109b–111b. It is interesting to note that an English version follows on fol. 111b–114.

^{page 76 note 3} Power, E., Medieval English nunneries, pp. 247–9Google Scholar.

^{page 76 note 4} See, for example, in the register of Blackborough Priory, a letter from the sub-prioress and convent to Roger Scales, asking permission to elect a new prioress (B.M. Egerton 3137, fol. 167b).

^{page 76 note 5} B.M. Egerton 3137, penultimate flyleaf, dorse. Printed in B.M. Quarterly, xi. 65.

^{page 76 note 6} Bodley, Kent Roll 6 (w). Printed in Preface to Calendar of Charters and Rolls preserved in the Bodleian Library, ed. Turner, W. H., p. xGoogle Scholar.

^{page 76 note 7} See above, p. 68.

^{page 76 note 8} An interesting example of this type is preserved in Magdalen College, Oxford, Muniments (Multon 71a). It is a farewell letter from John Multon to his wife in 1367, before his departure to Prussia. The final words are in English: ‘Here have my lovee and keppe it well’.

^{page 76 note 9} The earl of Kent stated in 1330 that a letter was written for him by his wife: ‘fut escripte de la meyn sa femme’ (Murimuth, A., Continuatio Chronicarum (Rolls Series), p. 255)Google Scholar. Agnes, the wife of John the Organist Gallicus, who taught the Scottish orphan Tomlin his letters (literatura) in 1311—12, was also presumably able to write (Bentley, , Excerpta historica, p. 278)Google Scholar.

^{page 77 note 1} One such letter, in the muniments of Corpus Christi College, Oxford (Surrey Gl. cap. 8(1) 11), ends thus: ‘A Deu, tresdouté sire, qe vous sauve et gard et vous defend de mortele peché, et vous salue par celuy enseigne qe le surcote fust detray sur nostre lit mes puys savey pur quey ceo fust.’

^{page 77 note 2} P.R.O., Ancient Correspondence SC1/51/67.

^{page 77 note 3} Ibid., SC1/43/81: printed by Tanquerey, F. J., Recueil de lettres anglofranfaises, pp. 168–9Google Scholar. It is not perhaps due to chance alone that this letter quotes rather formally a proverb: ‘Et pur ce, tresnoble seignur, qe l'anxien proverbe dit en ceste maner qe “celui qu'est avant garnys n'est pas honys”’, when a model letter by Thomas Sampson, conveying a warning about an ambush, begins in a similar manner: ‘Nesqedent pensant q'il est par temps garny n'est pas hony’ (C.U.L. Ee. iv. 20, fol. 159).

^{page 77 note 4} Sharpe, R. R., Calendar of letters from the mayor and corporation of the city of London, A.D. 1350–70, pp. 3–4, 7–8, 11–12, 22, 50–51, 54, 61, 171Google Scholar.

^{page 77 note 5} Ibid., p. 68.

^{page 77 note 6} Ibid., p. 56.

^{page 77 note 7} Ibid., p. 155.

^{page 77 note 8} Ibid., p. 63.

^{page 77 note 9} Ibid., p. 154.

^{page 77 note 10} Ibid., p. 111.

^{page 77 note 11} Ibid., p. 32–3.

^{page 77 note 12} Ibid., p. 124.

^{page 77 note 13} Ibid., p. 59.

^{page 77 note 14} A proclamation in English occurs in 1387; cf. Riley, H. T., op. cit., p. 500Google Scholar.

^{page 77 note 15} Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1396–9, pp. 472–5.

^{page 78 note 1} Studer, P., Supplement to the Oak Book of Southampton, ii. 9Google Scholar. Professor Studer concluded that French, was the language of the seafaring classes gener-ally at this period. Professor Tanquerey came to a similar conclusion regarding the use of French by the commercial classes, but his evidence was drawn from the earlier fourteenth century and particularly from the Literae Cantuarienses (Recueil de lettres anglo-francaises, pp. xxvi–xxvii).

^{page 78 note 2} See H. G. Richardson, ut supra.

^{page 78 note 3} Typical of such letters are one from the Parliament of Carlisle, 1307 (printed by Richardson, H. G. and Sayles, G. O., English Historical Review, liii. 436–7)Google Scholar, another giving news of Edward Ill's campaign, 1339–40 (printed by Richardson, H., Medium Aevum, x. 20–1)Google Scholar, a long letter from a courtier to a noble describing Richard II's reception by the City of London in 1392 (Lanthony Priory Register, P.R.O., C115/A7, fol. 166–166b) and two letters from the countess of Stafford to the prior of Lanthony giving news of Henry V's campaigns in 1418 and 1419 (C115/A3, fol. 106b and 130).

^{page 78 note 4} Victoria, and Museum, Albert, Catalogue of rubbings of brasses and incised slabs, p. 12Google Scholar.

^{page 79 note 1} The Itinerary of John Leland, ed. Smith, L. Toulmin, i. 297Google Scholar.

^{page 79 note 2} At Cople (Beds.) are the brasses of Nicholas Roland and Pernelle, his wife, c. 1410, and of Walter Roland, c. 1415: see Isherwood, G., Monumental brasses in the Bedfordshire churches, pp. 20–1Google Scholar. For a more elaborate inscription at Little Horkesley (Essex), commemorating Sir Thomas Swinburne, see Gough, , Sepulchral Monuments, i. 152Google Scholar: the date should, however, be 1412 and not 1415.

^{page 79 note 3} Griffin, R. and Stephenson, Mill, A list of monumental brasses remaining in the county of Kent in 1922, plate xxiiGoogle Scholar.

^{page 80 note 1} See Appendix V.

^{page 80 note 2} Higden, , Polychronicon (Rolls Series), ii. 159 ffGoogle Scholar.

^{page 80 note 3} ‘Speculum Vitae’ in Historical MSS. Commission, Report on the Manu-scripts of Lord Middleton, p. 239Google Scholar.