Notes to the diary: 1552

1552

P. 14. The duke of Somerset's execution. A narrative of this, with the last speech delivered by the duke, somewhat different from that in Stowe, has been printed from the Cottonian charters, by Sir Henry Ellis, in his Second Series of Original Letters, vol. ii. p. 215.

P. 15. Execution of sir Thomas Arundell. One of the "metrical visions" of George Cavendish, the gentleman usher of Cardinal Wolsey, furnishes some biographical particulars of sir Thomas Arundell: viz. that he was educated with Cardinal Wolsey, and was chancellor to queen Katharine Howard. He is also made to confess that "I was cheaf councellor in the first overthrowe of the duke of Somerset, which few men did know." (See Singer's edition of Cavendish's Life of Wolsey, 1825, vol. ii. p. 125.) A letter of the earl of Northumberland in 1527, directed "To his beloved cosyn Thomas Arundel, one of the gentleman of my lord legates prevy chambre," and at its foot "To my bedfellow Arundel," with which term he also commences, is printed from the duke of Northumberland's archives, ibid. p. 246. With regard to his fate there is a curious passage in a very rare book, bishop Ponet's "Short Treatise of Politic Power," which Strype has quoted in his Memorials, vol. ii. 306: but with an interpolation which, as it is made silently, is perfectly inexcusable. Writing of the earl of Warwick, Ponet states,—"at th'erles sute Arundel hathe his head with the axe divided from the shoulders."

But Strype, imagining that the earl of Arundel (who was also involved in trouble at this period, having been fined 12,000l. in Jan. 1549–50,) was the suffering party named by the bishop, altered this passage thus:——"at the earl's suit, Arundel escaped, otherwise had his head with the axe been divided from his shoulders."

See the "Life of Henry Earl of Arundel, K.G." edited by J. G. Nichols, 1834, p. 7; or the Gentleman's Magazine for July 1833, p. 16, and for Feb. 1848.

P. 15. Sir Michael Stanhope also makes a poetical lament in Cavendish's Metrical Visions. He states that he had been dubbed knight by king Edward, and had been of his privy chamber. He was half-brother of the duchess of Somerset (as sir Thomas Arundell was half-brother of the countess of Arundel), and was great-grandfather of the first earl of Chesterfield. See a curious letter regarding his widow's funeral written by their son sir Thomas Stanhope in 1588, in the Archæologia, vol. xxxi. p. 212.

Ibid. Funeral of the countess of Pembroke. King Edward in his Diary records the death of the countess of Pembroke on the 20th Feb. 1551–2. As sister to queen Katharine Parr, she was a person of high consideration. A magnificent canopied monument to William Herbert, earl of Pembroke, and his countess Anne, with their recumbent effigies, and kneeling effigies of their three children, Henry earl of Pembroke, sir Edward Herbert knt. and Anne lady Talbot, was erected in St. Paul's cathedral, next the monument of John of Ghent, duke of Lancaster, and is represented in a plate of Dugdale's History of St. Paul's.

P. 16. Funeral of sir Humphrey Style. The name deficient in our MS. from the fire is supplied by the valuable MS. Harl. 897, f. 16: "Sir Humfrey Style dysseased the 7th of Apryll 1552 in A°. R. E. vj^ti. vj^to. and beryed in the parish churche of Bekenham in the county of Kent." His monument with effigies on brass plate is remaining in that church: see Lysons's Environs of London, 1811, i. 412, and the epitaph printed in Thorpe's Registrum Roffense, p. 816.

P. 17. Election of the earl of Westmerland of the garter. In the privy council 10 May 1552. A warrante to the Exchequer to paye unto sir Gilberte Dethicke knighte, alias Garter principall kinge at armes, beinge presently to be sente by the kinges majestie to the earle of Westemerlande with the order of the Garter, the some of twentye poundes.

"A comissyon for the said sir Gylberte Dethicke to take upe v. poste horses for himselfe, his servantes, and guide." (MS. Harl. 352, f. 228 b.)

The following entry may here also be added:

"22 Ap¹. 1553. A warrante to sir John Williames to pay unto sir Gilberte Dethicke knight, alias Garter principall kinge at armes, the some of xxj. poundes for schucheones by him sett upp in an°. 4° et 5° of the kinges [and queenes] majesties raigne at Grenewich, at the feaste of the order of the Garter, accordinge to a bill therof included in the same letter." (f. 250.)

Ibid. Line 20, for earl read duke.

Ibid. Proclamations. The two remaining blanks may perhaps be filled up, "un[der act of] parlementt," and "that [same d]ay."

Ibid. Proclamation against fighting in churches or churchyards. An undated proclamation to this purpose is transcribed in the Society of Antiquaries' collection, vol. ii. p. 104. It prohibits all persons from "henceforth to quarrell, fray or fight, shoote any hande-gonne, bring any horse or mule, into or through any cathedrall or other church, or by any other waies or meanes irreverently use the said churches or any of them."

P. 21. Duke of Northumberland took horse towards Scotland. He had been appointed lord warden of the Scotish Marches some months before: "11th Oct. 1551. A letter to the lord chauncelor to make out for the duke of Northumberlande a pattente of the lord wardenshippe generall in the north partes foranempste Scotland, with asmuch fee, preheminence, and authoritie as any his predecessores in that offyce have had heretofore, with power also to substytute and make deputy wardenes under him, with such fees as any in that rowme heretofore have had, and further the allowance of C. lighte horsemen at x^d. by the daye." (Privy Council Book, MS. Harl. 352, f. 191.)

Ibid. The king took horse on his progress. King Edward's Diary, (May 23, 1551) gives the following enumeration of the bands of men of arms appointed at this time to accompany him on his progress:

Afterwards, on the 22d of June, it was agreed that the bands appointed to Mr. Sidney, Mr. Vice-chamberlain, Mr. Hobby, and Mr. Sadler, should not be furnished, but left off. Again, when the king was in Sussex, on the 24th July, "because the number of bands that went with me this progress made the train great, it was thought good they should be sent home, save only 150 which were picked out of all the bands. This was because the train was thought to be near 4000 horse, which were enough to eat up the country, for there was little meadow or hay all the way as I went."

P. 22. Funeral of sir Robert Dormer. Sir Robert Dormer, knighted in 1537, was grandfather of Robert first lord Dormer. His will is dated June 20, 1552, a few days before his death. "A° D^ui 1552 the ix^th of July sir Robert Dormer knight of Bokyngamshire dysseased at his manner howsse of Aston in the lordship of Wynge, and was buryed the xv^th of the same mounth." (MS. Harl. 897. f. 12^b.) He is termed in our Diary "a great sheep-master in Oxfordshire;" the will of sir Edward Unton, in 1581, printed in the "Unton Inventories" (a publication of the Berkshire Ashmolean Society), is a remarkable illustration of that description of property in the same county.

P. 23. Three great fishes. "The viij. daye of August, there were taken about Quynborough three great fyshes called dolphins, or by some called rygges: and the weke folowyng, at Blackwall, were syxe more taken and brought to London, and there sold; the least of them was greater then any horse." Stowe's Summarie, 1566.

P. 24. Master Maynard chosen sheriff. John Maynard. Stowe relates this anecdote of his provision for serving the office: "whiche, about .ix. or .x. yeares before had geven out wares and jewelles, as it was thought, to the summe of .2000. markes, to be payde hym when he were sherife of London." Summarie, 1566.

Ibid. Funeral of sir Anthony Wingfield, knight of the garter. Biographical particulars of this distinguished person will be found in Lodge's Peerage of Ireland, 1789, vol. v. p. 262. The place of his burial is not there recorded; and if his body was left to rest at Stepney, the fact is now forgotten there, as no monument exists, and the register does not commence until 1568.

Ibid. The vicar of Shoreditch, a Scot. John Macbray, presented to the vicarage on the 15th May preceding (Ellis's Shoreditch, p. 21); deprived in 1554, and afterwards an exile. (Strype, Mem. ii. 341.)

Ibid. Death of sir Clement Smith. Sir Clement married Dorothy Seymour, sister of queen Jane, and of Edward duke of Somerset. King Edward, in his Diary, under the 24th March 1550–1, records his being "chidden" for having a year before heard mass.

Ibid. Proclamation on the price of meat. This was apparently a proclamation of the lord mayor, applicable to the city of London only: but similar regulations were made by the privy council, for the control of the markets in the country at large, or in such places as they chose to extend them to. A proclamation "set furthe by the kinges majestie, in the v. yere of his reigne," and referring to resolutions of the council made at Windsor on the 30th Aug. preceding, was printed by Grafton in the year 1551, (which would therefore be one year earlier than that noticed in the Diary,) and will be found in the collection in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries. It seems difficult to conceive how such regulations could be generally enforced: but no limitation of place is mentioned in the proclamation.

Ibid. Sir John Jocelyn is probably the person whose name is imperfect, of the family seated at Sawbridgeworth, near Hunsdon, in Hertfordshire (not Essex). See a John, stated to have died in 1553, in the pedigree in Clutterbuck, iii. 204.

P. 25. Three great fishes. Strype calls these "porpus's." In the third line of the passage read "m[orice-pikes.]"

Ibid. Whalley the receiver of Yorkshire. Richard Whalley of Screaton, co. Notts, esquire. The charges preferred against him are stated in the king's diary, under the 7th of June, and thence in Strype, Mem. ii. 381. Strype, p. (249), states that he had been politically active in endeavouring to procure the restoration of the duke of Somerset; he was, therefore, the same person who has been mentioned in p. 10 as among the protector's adherents then sent to the Tower. He died Nov. 23, 1583, aged 84; and further particulars respecting him will be found in Thoroton's Nottinghamshire, p. 130, together with an engraving of his monument and effigy.

Ibid. Two sons of the king of Scots. King James the Fifth had several natural sons, who are enumerated in Douglas's Peerage of Scotland, by Wood, i. 52. It does not appear which were the two who visited London in 1552; but James, afterwards the regent Murray, was at Paris in that year. (Ibid. ii. 255.) Another notice of their visit occurs in the form of "a passport for two of the late Scotch king's bastard sons, to transport out of the realm four dozen of bows, twenty dozen of arrows, and four gross of strings, and two geldings. Dated Oct. 1552." Strype, Mem. vol. ii. p. 517.

P. 26. ij. great fishes. These are also mentioned by Stowe, and with a very strange name: "The vii. daye of October were two great fishes taken at Gravesend, which were called whirlepooles. They wer afterward drawen up above the bridge." Summarie, 1566.

Ibid. Seven serjeants of the coif. The king's warrant to the lord chancellor to make out writs to these new serjeants, was dated in June preceding. Their names were, Robert Brook, James Dyer, John Caryll, Thomas Gawdy, Richard Catlyn, Ralph Rokeby, William Stamford, and William Dallison.—In line 6 of this paragraph fill up the blank with the word [council], that is, privy councillors.

P. 27. Funeral of master Davenet. This name was not Davenant, as might be imagined from our author's usual cacography. A later member of the family, John Davennet, was warden of the Merchant-taylors in 1592–3. Wilson's Merchant-taylors' School, p. 1151.

Ibid. Funeral of master John Seymour. His will, dated Dec. 7, 1552, and proved April 26, 1553, is recorded in the prerogative court of Canterbury, and briefly quoted in Collins's Peerage. He died unmarried, making his whole brother sir Edward Seymour, the ancestor of the present duke of Somerset, his heir.

P. 28. The king's lord of misrule. This important officer was "a gentleman, wise and learned, named George Ferrers." (Holinshed, 1st edit. p. 1709.) He was a member of Lincoln's Inn. (Stowe's Chronicle, p. 608.) Many curious documents respecting his revels in this and subsequent years are printed in Kempe's Loseley Manuscripts, 8vo. 1835, pp. 24, et seq. George Ferrers was probably the same person who, being member of Parliament for Plymouth in 1542, was arrested for debt in the city of London, and committed to the counter: whereupon he was reclaimed by the house of commons, and the sheriffs committed to the Tower: see a long narrative in the histories of London.

The procession of the lord of misrule, or "lord of merry disports" (as he was also called), into London, which occurs subsequently in this page, is also described in Stowe's Chronicle, p. 608: "hee was received by sergeant Vawce, lord of misrule to John Mainard one of the sheriffes of London."

Ibid. Children of hospital. This passage, when perfect, seems to have described the Christmas treatment of the children of Christ's Hospital, which, together with the two sister hospitals of St. Thomas and Bridewell, had just been founded by the city with the assistance of the crown. Its original object was to serve for all the fatherless children of London,—"to take the childe out of the strete, which was the seede and increase of beggary, by reason of ydle bringing-up, and to noryshe the same chylde in some good learning and exercise profitable to the common weale."—It was only on the 21st of the preceding month (Nov. 1552) that the children had been first taken into the hospital, "to the numbre of fower hundred." Stowe's Summarie, 1566.