Part 37 (1/2)
”En sa baniere trois luparte De or fin estoint mis en rouge Courant felloun fier et harouge Par tel signifiance mis Ke ausi est vers ses enemis Le Rois fiers felouns et hastans Car sa morsure n'est tastans Nuls ki ne en soit envenimez.”]
P. 37. Anno 24 Edward I, 1296. ”Also in this yere S^{r}. Thomas Turbevyle for treson was drawen and hanged.”
Of the conduct which caused Sir Thomas Turbeville's execution, the following fragment of a curious contemporary poem in the Cottonian MS.
_Caligula_ A. xviij, presents perhaps the most accurate information which is extant. It immediately precedes, and is written in the same hand as, the only _contemporary_ copy of the Roll of Carlaverock which is known to exist, and hence it is highly probable that it was composed by the same person. Under any circ.u.mstances, however, it cannot fail to be deemed to possess sufficient interest to render it a valuable ill.u.s.tration to the pa.s.sage in the text.
Seignurs e dames estutez De un fort tretur orrez Ke aveit pur veu une treson Thomas Turbelvile ot a non A Charlys aveit p'mis E jure par seint Denys Ke il li freit tute Englet'e Par quentise e treson conquere E Charles li premist grant don Teres e bon garison Li treitre a Charlis dit Ke il aparillast sanz respit De bone nefs grande navie E de gent forte co'paignie E il le freit par tens garner Ou il dussent ariver En Engleter sodeinement Li traiture sanz targement en Englet'e tot se mit Au rei sire Edewars vint e dist Ke si apres li vodera fere Tutes ses choses deust co'quer Ki sire Charlis li aveit A force e a tort tollet Issi ke' li losengur de ambe part fu t'tur Sire Edeward nentendi mie Del treitre sa tricherie Ke il aveit issi purveu A grant honur le ad receu E en sa curt fut grant mestre Q'nt ot espie tut son estre E le conseil de Engleter Li treitre feseit un bref fere A sire Charlis priveme't On ariver devisse't sa gent En Engletere e li pais prendre A sire Edeward fu fet entendre c.u.m den le ont destine E le bref ly fut mustre E tout ensemble la treson Li rei fit prendir cel felon Thomas le treitur deva't dit Ke fist fere cel estrit A Lundres par mie la citee Treigner le fist en une coree De une tor envolupe Nul autreme't ne fut arme Haume nont ne habergun Cillante pierres a g'nt fusui'
Aveit il entur son flanc Ke li raerent le sanc Apres fu li traiture pendu E le alme a la Belzebub rendu Je aveit autre gareson Issi deit len servir felon En furches peut li malurez Des chenes e de fer liez Nul home nel deit enterrer Tant cu' son cors porra durer Iloec pendra cel trichur Ten garison ad pur son labour Ore puira Charles pur ver Apres li longem't garder Einz kil venge pur sa treison Demander de li garison Sire Edeward pur la g'nt navye De France ne dona une aylle De vaillante gent fist la mer De tut part mut ben garder De Engleter sunt failliz Ly Franceys e sunt honiz En la mer grant tens flote'nt Li cors plusurs de eus tuere't A Dovere firent sodoineme't Une a.s.saut e de lur gent Plus de v sent y perdirent Unkes plus de prou ne firent Ore sunt tuz ieo quide neez Ou en lur teris retornez E penduz pur lur servise Ke Engleter naveyent prise E ceo Charles lour p'mist Si nul de ens revenist Sire Charles bon chevaler Lessez ester ton guerrer Acordez a ton cosin E pur pensez de la fin Si Engleter guerirez James ben nes pleyterez Je ne firent voz ancestres Ke se tindrent si grant mestres Ly ducs Lowys ton parent E stace le moyne enseme't E autres Franceys a.s.sez Ke ne sunt pas ici nomez d.a.m.ne deu omnipotent Vo' doynt bon acordement avie.
P. 57. ”This same yere [anno 14th Edw. III. 1340] the kyng faught with the Frensshmen at Scluse, where there were sclayn of Frensshmen x.x.x m^{l}; and the kyng toke and scomfyted at the sayd bataill of Scluse cccx schippes.” Of this pa.s.sage, the following letter from king Edward the Third to Edward the Black Prince, giving an account of his victory over the French fleet at Sclyse, on Sat.u.r.day the 24th of June 1340,--which, with the permission of Henry Woodthorpe, Esq., the Town Clerk, has also been extracted from the City Archives, letter F. fol.
39,--is an interesting ill.u.s.tration. This doc.u.ment, which has escaped the attention of Historians, presents an authentic detail of that memorable event; and it is evident from it that Robert de Avesbury, the contemporary writer upon whom the greatest reliance has. .h.i.therto been placed, has fallen into some errors in his narrative of the transaction. He informs us that on the day after the battle a rumour of it reached London, but that it was discredited until the ensuing Wednesday, namely the 28th of June, when the Prince of Wales received a letter from the king informing him of his success, of which letter that writer a.s.serts that the annexed was a copy:
”Edwardus Dei Gracia Rex Angliae et Franciae et Dominus Hiberniae, &c.
Effusam circa nos hiis diebus propiciacionis divinae clemenciam, ad vestri contemplacionem et laeticiam, vobis ducimus intimandam. Scitis autem, immo vos et alios[136] fideles nostri quadam partic.i.p.acione sensitis, quantis fuimus et sumus guerrarum lacessiti turbinibus, et velut in mari magno procellosis fluctibus agitati. Sed licet sint mirabiles elaciones maris, mirabilior tamen in altis Dominus, qui procellam convertens in auram, jam inter tot adversa clementissime nos respexit. Nam c.u.m pridem ordina.s.semus pa.s.sagium nostrum necessarium versus partes Flandriae, Dominus Philippus de Valesio, persecutor noster infestissimus, hoc praevidens, cla.s.sem maximam navium armatarum quam in expugnacionem nostram nostrorumque fidelium misit, ut vel sic nos caperet, vel nostrum transitum impediret. qui transitus si, quod absit, fuisset impeditus, ardua negocia, quae prosequimur, fuissent penitus in ruina: quinimmo nos et nostri fuissemus verisimiliter confusionis[137] magnae subjecti. Sed Deus misericordiarum, videns nos in tantis periculis const.i.tutos, graciosius et cicius, quam humana racio judicare poterat, misit n.o.bis magnum navale subsidium, et insperatum numerum armatorum, ac semper ventum prosperum juxta votum, et sic, sub spe coelestis auxilii, et justiciae nostrae fiducia, dictum portum navigio venientes, invenimus dictam cla.s.sem et hostes nostros ibidem paratissimos ad praelium in mult.i.tudine copiosa; quibus, in festo Nativitatis Sancti Johannis Baptistae proximo praeterito, ipse spes nostra Christus deus per conflictum fortem et validum nos praevalere concessit, facta strage non modica dictorum hostium, capta eciam quodammodo tota dicta cla.s.se, c.u.m laesione gentis nostrae modica respective, sicque tucior de cetero patebit transitus nostris fidelibus supra mare, et alia bona plurima sunt ex hoc n.o.bis et nostris fidelibus verisimiliter proventura, de quo spes pulcherima jam arridet. Nos autem, tantam coelestem graciam devotissime contemplantes, ipsi Salvatori nostro laudes et gracias humiliter exsolvimus, deprecantes, ut, qui jam et semper in oportunitatibus copiosis graciis[138] nos praevenit continuatis, nos auxiliis prosequatur, et n.o.bis regere temporaliter sic concedat in terris, ut in eo laetemur aeternaliter in excelsis. Dileccionem vestram attente rogamus et per Dei misericordiam obsecramus, quatinus soli Deo vivo, qui tantum signum n.o.bisc.u.m fecit in bonum, in devotae laudis praeconium a.s.surgentes, nos, jam in remotis agentes, et nedum jura nostra recuperare, sed sanctam ecclesiam catholicam attollere, et in justicia populum regere cupientes, sibi devotis oracionum instanciis recomendare curetis, facientes pro n.o.bis missas, et alia piae placacionis officia misericorditer exerceri, et ad hoc clerum et populum vestrae diocesis salutaribus monitis inducatis, ut Deus ipse, miseratus n.o.bis, progressum felicem et exitum annuat graciosum, detque servo suo cor docile, ut recte judicare possimus et regere et sic facere quod praecipit, ut mereamur a.s.sequi quod promitt.i.t. Teste Edwardo duce Cornubiae et Comite Cestriae filio nostro carissimo Custode Angliae apud Waltham Sanctae Crucis xxviii^{vo}. die Junii, anno Regni nostri Angliae xiiii^{to}. Regni vero Franciae primo.”
[Footnote 136: _Sic._]
[Footnote 137: _Sic._]
[Footnote 138: _Sic._]
It is however manifest from that doc.u.ment having been tested by the Prince of Wales, that it was rather a proclamation issued in consequence of the dispatch from the king to the prince, than the dispatch itself, of which the letter now for the first time printed may be deemed the only copy which is extant. Nor must it be forgotten that the date affixed to the article given by Avesbury tends to excite a suspicion of its authenticity; for it is tested by the prince at Waltham Holy Cross upon the precise day, the 28th of June, on which the king's letter was written, and which could not therefore possibly have arrived on the day in question at Waltham. It is somewhat singular that as the battle was concluded on the 25th of June, the king should not have written until the 28th; but this may perhaps be accounted for by those arrangements which his success would necessarily have required, and which may be supposed to have engaged the monarch's whole attention for some days. The letter in Avesbury's Annals gives no particulars of the battle, though that writer relates that the enemy were beaten; that more than thirty thousand of them were slain; that many leapt into the sea from fear and were drowned; and that their fleet consisted of two hundred large s.h.i.+ps, on board of one of which four hundred dead bodies were found. The Royal dispatch, however, affords much more minute information, and corrects the statements both in Avesbury and in the preceding Chronicle. It a.s.serts that the French fleet amounted to one hundred and eighty sail; that they were n.o.bly defended the whole of a day and a night; that they were all captured in the engagement excepting twenty-four which took to flight, and part of them were subsequently taken at sea; that the number of the men at arms and other armed persons amounted to thirty-five thousand, of whom five thousand escaped; that the English s.h.i.+ps captured by the French at Middleburgh were then retaken; and that among the prizes were three or four as large as 'the Christopher,' which we may infer was then the largest s.h.i.+p of the English navy.
It is unquestionable from what has been said, that this doc.u.ment supplies some important facts in the history of the times, whilst its entry among the Records of the City of London tends to establish that the Mayor of the city was accustomed at that early period to receive an official account of every public transaction, and of which another example will be found in a subsequent page.
The events which led to the battle of the Swyne, or as it is more generally termed of the Scluse, are too familiar to require repet.i.tion.
”NOTA DE BELLO AQUATICO:-- L'RA D'NI E' DIRETT'
FILIO SUO DUCI CORNUB'
DE BELLO SUP' MARE P'CUSSO DIE NATIVIT'
S'C'I JOH'IS BAPT'
”Tresch' fitz no' pensoms bien q' vo' estes desirons a.s.savoir bones novelles de no' et coment il no' est avenuz puys n're aler Denglet're si vo' fesom savoir q' le Joedi'[139] ap's ceo q' no' dep'times du Port Dorewe[-ll-],[140] no' siglames tut le iou ret la nuyt suaunte, et le vendredi[141] en tour hour de noune no' venismes s' la costere de fflaundres devant Blankebergh ou no' avioms la vewe de la fflote de nos enemys qi estoyent tut ama.s.sez ensemble en port del Swyne et p'
ceo q' la Tyde nestoit mis adonges p' a.s.sembler a eux no'
yherbergeasmes tut cel noet le samady le iour de seint Johan[142] bien ap's houre de noune a la Tyde nous en noun de Dieu et en espoire de n're droite querele entrames en dit port s' nos ditz enemys qi avoyent a.s.semble lours niefs en moult fort array et lesqu'x fesoient ml't n.o.ble defens tut cel iour et la noet ap's, mes dieu p' sa puissaunce et miracle no' ottroia la victorie de mesmes no[z/] enemys de qai no'
m'cioms si devoutement come no' poems. Et si vo' fesoms savoir q' le nombre des niefs galeyes et g'nt barges de nos enemys amounta a ix^{xx} et ditz, lessqueles estoient toutz pris sauve xxiiij. en tut lesqueles senfuirent et les uns sont puye pris s' mier et le nombre des gentz darmes et autres gentz armez amounta a x.x.xv Mi[-ll-] de quele nombre p' esme cink' M^{l} sont eschapees, et la remenaunt ensi come no' est donc a entendre p' ascuns gentz q' sont pris en vie, si gissent les corps mortz et tut pleyn de lieux s^{r} la costere de fflaundres. Dautre p't totes nos niefs, cest a.s.savoir Cristofre et les autres qi estoient p'dues a Middelburgh, sont ore regaignez, et il yount gaignez en ceste navie trois ou quatre auxi graundes come la Cristofre: les fflemengs estoient de bone volente davoir venuz a no'
ala bataille du commencement tanqe ala fin issint dieu n're seign^{r} ad a.s.sez de grace monstre de qei' no' et toutz nos amys sumes tut ditz tenutz de lui rendre grace et m'ciz. N're entent est a demorer en pees en le ewe taunt qe no' eoms pris c'teyn point ove no' alliez et autres nos amys de fflandres de ceo q' soit affaire. Trescher fitz dieu soit gardeyn de vo'. Don' souz n're secree seal en n're nief Cogg[143]
Thom', le Mescredy en la veille seint Piere et seint Paoul.[144]
14^{o} R. Edw. 3^{ii}.”
[Footnote 139: June 22, 1340.]
[Footnote 140: Dover.]