1415: Henry V's Year of Glory
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37. Hugh Mortimer, later treasurer of England, had been Henry’s chamberlain when prince of Wales (Pugh, Southampton Plot, p. 58). He was sufficiently close to Henry for the king to be the supervisor of his will (Register of Henry Chichele, ii, pp. 86–7). He was not related to the main Mortimer family of the earls of March, or any of their collateral branches. He and his brother Thomas were the sons of Thomas and Sarah Mortimer of Helpston, Northants. Hugh held the manor of Great Houghton. His father, Thomas the elder, was the son of Ralph Mortimer and the brother of Joan Sulgrave, who confirmed the manor of Helpston on Hugh and his brother (Northants Record Office F(M) Charter/ 913, 930). The grandfather of Thomas and Hugh, Ralph Mortimer, who was born about 1312, was the son and heir of Ralph Mortimer of Helpston (d. 1325), who was the son of Sir Waleran Mortimer of Exton, Rutland, and Eakley, Bucks (fl. 1295–1317). Sir Waleran was the son of William Mortimer (d. c. 1273) who was in turn the son of Waleran Mortimer, who held part of Eakley in 1242–3 (Book of Fees, p. 873). Before that it is not possible to trace the ancestry of this family, but their heraldry shows no connection with the Mortimers of Wigmore.
38. Given-Wilson, Royal Household and the King’s Affinity, p. 60.
39. Queen Joan had her own household. For a set of her household accounts, dating from 1419–20, see E 101/406/30.
40. McFarlane, Lancastrian Kings, p. 124; Wylie, Henry V, i, p. 223.
41. Wylie, Henry V, p. 7.
42. Wylie, Henry V, pp. 34–5. I mistakenly named him Richard Whytlock, not John, in Fears, p. 348.
43. Wylie, Henry V, p. 8.
44. Powell, ‘Restoration of Law and Order’, p. 63.
45. John Fox, Acts and Monuments (1641), p. 739. See also John A. F. Thomson, ‘Oldcastle, John, Baron Cobham (d. 1417)’, ODNB.
46. Fox, Acts and Monuments, p. 742; Ruffhead (ed.), Statutes, i, p. 493.
47. Vale, English Gascony, p. 69.
48. Wylie, Henry V, i, p. 124; Vale, English Gascony, p. 72. Some guns were sent to Gascony (see entry for 23 January 1415) but when they were shipped is not clear.
49. Vaughan, John the Fearless, pp. 99–102.
50. On 4 June 1414 Henry authorised his ambassadors to accept the duke of Burgundy’s homage at the same time as negotiating an alliance with him. Foedera, ix, pp. 137–8.
51. Wylie, Henry V, i, p. 423.
52. Wylie, Henry V, i, p. 477.
53. Barker, Agincourt, p. 92.
54. Foedera, ix, p. 159.
55. Chronica Maiora, p. 402.
56. Wylie, Henry V, i, p. 163.
57. Issues, p. 336.
58. Nicolas (ed.), Privy Council, ii, pp. 142–4.
59. PROME, 1414 November, item 2.
60. CPR, p. 292.
61. HKW, pp. 998–1000.
62. Fears, p. 219; Wylie, Henry V, i, pp. 205–8.
63. Harriss, ‘The King and his Magnates’, esp. pp. 35–9.
64. Powell, ‘Restoration of Law and Order’, p. 61.
January
1. See John Russell’s Boke of Nurture, in Furnivall, Babees Book, p. 182 for the lamp.
2. Henry V’s inventory (PROME, 1423 October, item 31) notes many Arras tapestries. See entries 757–97 in particular.
3. This was in the Prince’s Palace at Westminster at the time of his death. PROME, 1423 October, item 31, entry 773. The following item is no. 768 in the inventory.
4. For Henry’s clock in the shape of a nef, see PROME, 1423 October, item 31, entry 247. In Fears, p. 92, I noted that his father had a portable clock – or at least a basket to transport a clock – even though the portable clock is supposed not to have been invented until the invention of the spring mechanism in the 1430s. Further research needs to be done in this area to establish whether these references really do relate to portable mechanical timepieces.
5. Printed in Furnivall, Babees Book, p. 176.
6. Hutton, Rise and Fall, p. 15. This was normally the duty of the king’s chamberlain, Lord Fitzhugh, but he was abroad at this time.
7. The royal household accounts for the period are not well preserved. Those for 1415 do not survive at all. The statement here is drawn from the accounts of Henry’s father as king, before he was ill, in 1402–3 (E 101/404/23). The amounts spent on the feast for that year, which was held at Windsor Castle, are as follows: Christmas Day £224 18s 5½d; 26th December £76 12s 2d; 27th £81 9s 7d; 28th £81 9s ½d; 29th £64 11s 9d; 30th £67 0s ½d; 31st £87 os 4½d; 1st January £92 8s 10d; 2nd £70 0s ½d; 3rd £68 18s 2½d; 4th £70 9s 2½d; 5th £64 os 4½d; 6th (Epiphany) £89 2s 2d; 7th £72 19s 4½d. After that the sums spent each day sunk back well below the £50 mark.
8. E 101/406/21 fol. 21r (Thomas More’s wardrobe account for 1413).
9. Bellaguet (ed.), Chronique du Religieux, v, pp. 479–80.
10. Allmand, Society at War, pp. 25–7; Barker, Agincourt, p. 179; Wylie, Henry V, i. p.138.
11. Loomis (ed.), Constance, p. 189.
12. Loomis (ed.), Constance, p. 87.
13. Loomis (ed.), Constance, pp. 189–90. For a modern scholar’s estimate of how many men were present – 29 cardinals and 600 prelates – see Chronica Maiora, p. 400.
14. Loomis (ed.), Constance, pp. 189–90.
15. Loomis (ed.), Constance, p. 476.
16. Loomis (ed.), Constance, p. 98.
17. Chronica Maiora, p. 399, note 5 cont. on p. 400.
18. Fears, p. 254.
19. Jacob, Chichele, pp. 35–8.
20. Wylie, Henry V, p. 248; ODNB (under Oldcastle); Spinka (ed.), Letters of Jan Hus, pp. 213–15.
21. Most writers state that the English embassy arrived as one, either on 21 January (following Jacob Cerretano’s journal) or 31 January (following Richental’s chronicle). It was about five weeks’ travel from Constance back to London in summer (see ODNB, under Catterick). In winter it seems to have been more: Warwick took ten weeks, from 11 November to 21 January (E 101/321/27). Sir Walter Hungerford set out on 27 October (according to his expenses, E 101/321/28), two weeks ahead of Warwick. According to his ODNB entry, Robert Hallum preached at Constance on 15 January. Thomas Polton’s petition on Henry’s behalf was delivered in December 1414, before any prelates arrived, due to his being a protonotary at the curia; this serves as a reminder that not all the English nation arrived as one (Loomis (ed.), Constance, p. 471).
22. These men had all been present at a meeting of the great council on 29 December. See Wylie, Henry V, i, pp. 436–8. John, count of Alençon, had been created a duke the previous day, 1 January (Curry, Agincourt, p. 25).
23. Vaughan, John the Fearless, pp. 193–202; Wylie, Henry V, i, p. 401. The council meeting on 2 January can hardly have failed to discuss the civil war.
24. CCR, p. 165; Foedera, ix, p. 188.
25. CCR, p. 169 (Ireland); CPR, p. 288 (man of Calais).
26. Johnes (ed.), Monstrelet, i, p. 320.
27. Hutton, Rise and Fall, p. 16.
28. PROME, 1414 April, item 15.
29. CPR, p. 294.
30. See Mark Ormrod, ‘The Rebellion of Archbishop Scrope and the Tradition of Opposition to Royal Taxation’, in Dodd and Biggs, Reign of Henry IV: Rebellion and Survival (2008), pp. 162–79.
31. Fears, pp. 286–7.
32. Wylie, Henry V, i, p. 434.
33. Spinka (ed.), John Hus at the Council of Constance, p. 30.
34. Spinka (ed.), John Hus at the Council of Constance, p. 48.
35. Fox, Acts and Monuments, p. 789.
36. Spinka (ed.), John Hus at the Council of Constance, pp. 100, 115.
37. Spinka (ed.), John Hus at the Council of Constance, p. 116.
38. He was detained from 28 November. For Lord John de Chlum’s petition for him to be released, in line with the emperor’s safe-conduct, see Fox, Acts and Monuments, p. 823.
39. Spinka (ed.), Letters of John Hus, p. 148.
40. E 403/620.
41. For Henry donating 4s per day in 1413, see Thomas More’s account E 101/406/21 fol. 5r–17r. This was
a regular amount, separate from his oblations.
42. Papal Registers 1404–15, p. 456.
43. ODNB; Pugh, Henry V, pp. 61–4. They were knighted on the eve of Henry’s coronation.
44. Spinka (ed.), Letters of John Hus, p. 143.
45. Spinka (ed.), Letters of John Hus, p. 145.
46. Barker, Agincourt, p. 86 states it was already built; Wylie, Henry V, ii, p. 383 is less certain.
47. CPR, p. 293.
48. Barker, Agincourt, p. 84.
49. Foedera, ix, pp. 178–9. Lisle was appointed on 16 November 1414.
50. Loomis (ed.), Constance, p. 481.
51. Loomis (ed.), Constance, p. 104. Note that Richental is inaccurate not only with respect to the identities but also the dates of arrival. He declares the English arrived on 31 January. He also stated they arrived on 7 December and that Warwick was accompanied by ‘two archbishops and seven bishops’ (Loomis (ed.), Constance, p. 95). Cerretano’s date is to be preferred.
52. Foedera, ix, pp. 167, 169.
53. See Loomis (ed.), Constance, p. 481; Foedera, ix, p. 162.
54. Jacob, Chichele, p. 35.
55. Chronica Maiora, p. 400.
56. Wylie, Henry V, i, p. 425, n. 3.
57. CPR, p. 293.
58. Dodd, ‘Patronage, Petitions and Grace’, in Dodd and Biggs, Reign of Henry IV: Rebellion and Survival, pp. 105–35, at p. 105.
59. Nicolas (ed.), Privy Council, ii, pp. 339–41.
60. Although there is some doubt about this – Thomas Beaufort’s expense account for this journey claims payments from 14 December 1414, and diplomatic expenses were normally reckoned from the day the claimant left London – it is possible that this relates to when his household set out. The documents for the truce, dated 24 January, name all four ambassadors, but Courtenay seems to have travelled ahead without Langley, Beaufort and Grey. Langley and Beaufort were at a council meeting in London in February in the second year of the reign. See Nicolas (ed.), Privy Council, ii, pp. 150–1.
61. E 403/621 under 18 May. Issues, p. 340 correctly transcribes this. Wylie, i, p. 435 n. 6 has this as 14 December.
62. E 101/321/26.
63. E 403/621 records the passage of these three ambassadors under 11 April.
64. Foedera, ix, pp. 196–200. It is assumed here that Courtenay agreed the prolongation. He travelled separately to the other principal ambassadors, and two of the others were still in England in February, as shown by the minutes of a council meeting.
65. Wylie, Henry V, i, p. 436.
66. CPR, p. 294.
67. CCR, p. 169.
68. CCR, p. 172; CPR 1413–1416, p. 280.
69. CPR, p. 277.
70. CPR, p. 275.
71. CPR, p. 295.
72. Barker, Agincourt, pp. 94–5. Wylie, ii, p. 381, states Edward III once owned 150 ships.
73. Foedera, ix, p. 195. The petition is dated 21 January, and endorsed by the chamberlain. The pardon on the Patent Rolls is dated 30 January (CPR, p. 275).
February
1. Hutton, Rise and Fall, p. 17.
2. In 1403, for example, the amount spent on cooking for the royal household on the eve of Candlemas was £11 15d; on the last three days of January that year it had been £13 17s 1d, £11 15s 8½d, £16 5s 4d. Candlemas itself saw £22 10s 1½d spent on cooking. See E 101/404/21.
3. CPR, p. 293.
4. For other letters issued this day, see the three in CPR, p. 278, among others. None were attested by the king personally.
5. Loomis (ed.), Constance, p. 109.
6. Loomis (ed.), Constance, pp. 210–11.
7. Loomis (ed.), Constance, p. 109.
8. Loomis (ed.), Constance, pp. 109–10.
9. Wylie, Henry V, i, p. 311 n. 2.
10. Luke 2: 29–32.
11. CPR, p. 284.
12. Loomis (ed.), Constance, p. 110.
13. Vaughan, John the Fearless, p. 203; Monstrelet, i, p. 324.
14. Curry, Agincourt, p. 47.
15. For the minutes of the meeting see Nicolas (ed.), Privy Council, ii, pp. 150–1. The reference of the original document is now British Library, Cotton Cleopatra F. III fol. 168–9 (formerly foliated 135–6). It reads ‘sensuent certains ordennances faites en le moys de ffeurer l’an du regne du Roy Henri le quint second’. I am grateful to Julian Harrison, Curator of Medieval and Earlier Manuscripts at the BL, for checking this detail for me. The St Denis chronicler states that the English ambassadors rode into Paris on 9 February. Monstrelet states they entered the city with a company of six hundred men on the 10th. However, as noted under 9 February, it is difficult to accept that the whole embassy arrived at that time. Thomas Beaufort was in Paris by 21 February, as the St Denis chronicler stated.
16. This was in line with the advice of the council of the previous autumn. See Nicolas (ed.), Privy Council, ii, pp. 145–8.
17. Nicolas, Agincourt, appendix, p. 21.
18. Note that it was always described as the nation of England, not Britain.
19. Loomis (ed.), Constance, p. 483.
20. The roll in question is E 403/620.
21. Nicolas, Agincourt, appendix, pp. 21–3. In February 1417, six great ships are recorded – the Trinity Royal, the Holy Ghost, the Nicholas and three carracks – plus eight barges and ten balingers (24 vessels in all). The list for August 1417 categorises them differently, naming three great ships (including the Trinity Royal and the Holy Ghost), eight carracks, six ships, one barge, and nine balingers, two of which were associated with the Trinity Royal and the Holy Ghost (27 vessels).
22. Issues, p. 338
23. See also Wylie, Henry V, i, p. 104.
24. Wylie, Henry V, i, pp. 101–2.
25. Curry, Agincourt, p. 48 dates this order to 20 February, citing E 403/619 m. 12. The payment date is clearly under 4 February in E 403/620 as well as under the 20th.
26. CPR, p. 276.
27. Foedera, ix, p. 200; Chronica Maiora, p. 403; CPR, p. 294.
28. CCR, p. 172. John Clyffe is described as ‘master’ of the minstrels in E 405/28.
29. CPR, pp. 278, 281.
30. CCR, p. 167.
31. Loomis (ed.), Constance, p. 483.
32. CPR, p. 280.
33. Johnes (ed.), Monstrelet, i, p. 322.
34. Bellaguet (ed.), Chronique du Religieux, v, p. 409.
35. Note that the French embassy, which left Paris on 4 June 1415, took thirteen days to reach Calais, and that was later in the year, when the weather was better. One way of tallying the discrepancy noted in the text would be to suggest that the privy council minute is wrongly dated to February but this is unlikely. The account of the embassy delivered the following January in the Tower of London dates the ambassadors’ crossing to France in February 1415 (Foedera, ix, p. 209).
36. For the legal travelling day of twenty miles, see Loomis (ed.), Constance, p. 343; for higher travelling speeds see TTGME, p. 132. Information about the phases of the moon has been taken from http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/phase/phases1401.html, downloaded 10 September 2008.
37. Bishop Langley, the earl of Dorset and Richard Grey travelled together, independent of Courtenay, as the Issue Rolls for 11 April make clear. Richard Redman’s chronicle also states that the entry of the embassy was a great spectacle; see Cole (ed.), Memorials, p. 31.
38. The English embassy as a whole is supposed to have stayed at the hôtel de Clisson; but Courtenay was noted as staying at the hôtel de Navarre when he received a visit from Fusoris. Although we do not know the exact date of this meeting, Courtenay’s different residence suggests he was staying elsewhere prior to the arrival of the other English ambassadors, and that he later joined them at the hôtel de Clisson.
39. Allmand, Henry V, p. 8. The astrological treatises quoted by Professor Allmand (Bodleian Library, Ashmole MS 393, fol. 109–11; MS 192 pt iii, fol. 26–36) state that Henry was born at 11.22 am on 16 September 1386.
40. CPR, p. 294; Nicolas, Agincourt, appendix, pp. 21–3.
42. Hutton, Rise and Fall, p. 19.
43. Hutton, Rise and Fall, p. 19.
44. These were favourites of the monks at Westminster in the period. See Harvey, Living and Dying, pp. 34–71; also A Collection of Ordinances and Regulations, pp. 415–76; leche Lombard appears at pp. 458–9.
45. Hutton, Rise and Fall, pp. 18, 58.
46. Fears, pp. 211–19.
47. Brie (ed.), Brut, ii, pp. 494–5.
48. Wylie, Henry V, i, pp. 211–12.
49. CCR, p. 167. This letter was issued under the authority of the privy seal; it could have been issued in response to a letter under Henry’s signet sent from elsewhere.
50. Loomis (ed.), Constance, pp. 483–4.
51. CPR, p. 281.
52. Nicolas (ed.), Privy Council, ii, pp. x, 341.
53. Loomis (ed.), Constance, p. 217.
54. Foedera, ix, pp. 197–200.
55. CPR, p. 284 (both).
56. CPR, p. 286. See also the king’s order of 28 February to the escheator in Gloucestershire in relation to Richard Beauchamp of Bergavenny and his wife Isabel, she being an heir of the late Thomas, Lord Despenser. CCR, pp. 165–6.
57. CCR, pp. 174–5. The grant to Constance was actually dated 18 February 1415; that to Eleanor 22 February 1415. They have been concatenated here with the other Despenser grant because they clearly relate to the same initiative, which was probably issued in respect of all three parties on the same day, and simply drawn up in separate parts on different days.
58. For other acts, see CCR, p. 168; CPR, pp. 285, 294.
59. CPR, p. 288.
60. Foedera, ix, p. 136.
61. Foedera, ix, p. 141; Wylie, Henry V, i, p. 414, n. 6.
62. E 405/28.
63. CCR, p. 173.
64. Foedera, ix, p. 202; CPR, p. 294.
65. Curry, Agincourt, p. 49.
66. Wylie, Henry V, i, p. 527.
67. Hardy and Hardy (eds), Waurin, p. 171.
68. Wylie, Henry V, i, p. 438 (portrait of Katherine); Monstrelet, i, p. 322.
69. E 403/620.
70. Wylie, Henry V, i, p. 415. Vale states that ‘in a convention signed by Henry’s ambassadors at Ypres on 7 August 1414 John the Fearless agreed to support his [Henry’s] claim to the crown [of France] and to furnish him with troops’. Vale, English Gascony, p. 70.