Chapter 6

JOHN PHILIPOT is treated in D. N. B. He was apparently a ship owner, and certainly a member of the Grocers' Company. In 1363 he was appointed on a commission to seize forfeited goods for the King. In 1364 he was granted license to buy victuals and take them to Calais. In 1378 he was elected Mayor. In 1379 Sir Roger Beauchamp, lord chamberlain to the King's household, bequeathed him "my great cup gilt, which the King of Navarre gave me," and made him one of the executors of his will. In the same year he contributed largely to fitting out a fleet against the French, hiring a number of ships at his own expense and redeeming a thousand sets of armour and arms which had been pawned. In 1383 he was appointed on a commission to treat of peace with the Duke of Flanders. He died in 1384.

JOHN OEGSN was alderman of London and sheriff in 1385. [Footnote: Oal. Pat. Roll, p. 90.] I have not been able to discover what company he belonged to. In 1378 he was appointed one of the collectors of the tax of two-fifteenths. [Footnote: Rymer IV, 34.] In 1383 he was appointed one of the collectors of the subsidy of 2s. from each tun of wine and 6d. in the pound from the merchandise in the port of London. [Footnote: Oal. Pat. Roll, p. 128.] From these appointments it seems likely that he was friendly to the Brembre faction--note also that he succeeded Philipot at the latter's death.

JOHN DE BURLEY

John de Burley, with whom Chaucer in 1376 went on a diplomatic mission, was a brother of Simon de Burley. [Footnote: R. 242 mem, 17.] He was certainly attached personally to the Black Prince, for in 1378 Richard II confirmed to him a grant made by himself, when prince (51 Ed. III) confirming a grant of his father the prince of Wales (41 Ed. III) of L40 yearly for de Burley's services, especially at the battle of Nazare where he was the prince's bodyguard. [Footnote: Cal. Pat. Roll, p. 19*7.] In 1373 he was appointed Captain of Calais and commissioned to supervise the fortifications of Oderwyk and other places besides Calais. [Footnote: Rymer III, 989, 992.] In 1375 he was on a commission to treat for peace with France. [Footnote: Rymer III, 1021.] In 1377 he was a witness of Edward III's will, [Footnote: Test. Vet. p. 11.] and stepped out of the position of Captain of Calais. [Footnote: Rymer IV, 2.] In 1377 he was granted the constableship of Nottingham Castle for life. [Footnote: Cal. Pat. Roll, p. 34.] (He gave it up in 1381). [Footnote: idem, p. 60.] In 1378 Richard II confirmed to him a grant (47,50 Edward III) of 40m. yearly in addition to the L40 already granted. [Footnote: idem, p. 108.] In 1378, L40 yearly were granted at his supplication, to his son W. de Burley, esquire, "retained to stay with the King." [Footnote: idem, p, 283.] In 1377 John de Burley, Knight of the King's Chamber, [Footnote: He was also so mentioned in 1370.] was given the custody of Sherwood Forest. [Footnote: Cal. Pat. Roll, p. 88.] In 1378 he had the King change his grants of L40 and 40m. to one of 100 m. and give the latter to his son, John de Burley, Kt. [Footnote: idem, p. 281.] In 1378 he was on a commission to treat for the marriage of Richard II with a daughter of the Duke of Milan. [Footnote: Rymer old ed. VII, 213.] Later he was engaged in negotiations for Richard's marriage with Anne of Bohemia. While so employed, he and Michael de la Pole and Gerard del Isle were taken prisoners and held for ransom. On this occasion the King sent money for the ransom of the three. [Footnote: Devon's Issues III, 224-5.] On another occasion he was taken prisoner in Germany after having been sent as messenger to the King of Bohemia, and the King contributed 500m. to his ransom. [Footnote: Issue Roll (Devon) 7 Rich. II, p. 225. ] In 1381 he gave up the custody of Sherwood forest, and also that of Nottingham Castle. [Footnote: Cal. Pat. Roll, pp. 54, 60.] In that year and the following he and Simon de Burley are mentioned in connection with transfers of land. [Footnote: idem, p. 160.] In 1382 he was a Justice of the Peace in Hereford. In 1385 he was granted for life the custody of the alien priory of Wotton Waweyn, provided that its value should not exceed L45, 13s. 4d. yearly, the rent which he was wont to pay for it. [Footnote: Cal. Pat. Roll, p, 45.] I find no later mention of him, except the rather doubtful one of his inheriting land from Simon de Burley (in 1388).

SIR EDWARD DE BERKELEY

Sir Edward de Berkeley was a Knight of the chamber to Richard II. [Footnote: Rymer IV, 53.] In 1376 he was appointed on a commission to treat for peace with France. [Footnote: idem III, 1067, 9.] In 1378, Richard II confirmed a grant made by himself when Prince (50 Edward III) confirming letters patent of his father (45 Edward III)--of fifty pounds yearly. [Footnote: Cal. Pat. Roll, p. 232.] In 1378 he is mentioned as going on an expedition with John of Gaunt, [Footnote: Rymer IV, 45.] and is again appointed on a commission to treat for peace with Flanders. [Footnote: Rymer IV, 53] He died 4 Richard II, leaving a manor and some lands in Suffolk. [Footnote: Cal. Inq. P. M. III, 28.] His will, which is extant, [Footnote: Test Vet., p. 113.] directs that his body be buried in the church of St. Mary Carmelites in Calais; and bequeathes his "dominion and monastery at Hikeling" to "Sir John Clanbrow" (probably Sir John Clanvowe),

SIR THOMAS DE PERCY

Sir Thomas de Percy, with whom Chaucer was sent to Flanders in 1377, was brother of Henry de Percy, count of Northumberland. [Footnote: Rymer IV, 51.] He was with the Black Prince at Bergerath, 44 Edward III. [Footnote: Dugdale 1, 285.] In 1378 a grant by Edward III to Thomas de Percy, "whom the King has retained to stay with him," of 100m. yearly was confirmed. [Footnote: Cal. Pat. Roll,.108.] In that year and at many times subsequent he was admiral of the north. [Footnote: idem, p. 327.] In 1378 he was appointed with others to treat with the King of Scotland, [Footnote: Rymer IV, 51.] in 1379 to treat with the Duke of Brittany. [Footnote: Rymer old. ed. VII, 223.] From 1381 on many pardons were granted at his request. In 1381 he was appointed custodian of the Castle of Brest. In 1383 he was on a commission to treat with Flanders and France. [Footnote: idem, 412.] In 1386 he was sub-chamberlain in the King's household (literally "south chamberlain"). [Footnote: idem, 675] By 1392 he was chamberlain of the household. [Footnote: idem, 721.] In 1398 he was made Earl of Worcester [Footnote: Dugdale I, 285.] and appointed with John of Gaunt on a commission for redressing violations of the truce. In 1399 he was appointed executor of the Duchess of Gloucester's will. He was beheaded in 1403 because of his connexion with the rising of Hotspur. He was a Knight of the Garter.

SIR WILLIAM DE BEAUCHAMP

That Sir William de Beauchamp was a friend to Chaucer has been recognized for some time. In May 1888 Mr. W. D. Selby called attention to this connection with Chaucer in a short article in The Athenaeum. In this article Mr. Selby gave a few facts about him, gathered professedly from Dugdale, but omitted all mention of the curious connection Sir William de Beauchamp had with the property of the Earl of Pembroke, for his custodianship of which Chaucer was one of the sureties.

William de Beauchamp was a younger son of Thomas, Earl of Warwick. [Footnote: Cf. Dugdale's Baronage I, 238 ff, Dugdale Antiquities of Warwickshire II, 1029 ff.] In 40 Edward III he attended John of Gaunt in his expedition into Spain. In 44 Edward III he served as a Knight in France, in the retinue of John of Gaunt, and again in 47 Edward III. In 47 Edward III de Beauchamp signed an indenture to serve John of Gaunt in peace and in war during his life in consideration of one hundred marks yearly and wages for six horses and four boys. [Footnote: Register of John, duke of Lancaster, vol. 13. Misc. Books-Rec. Off.] He had been connected with John of Gaunt's household even earlier, in 1340 and 1346. [Footnote: Same book.] In 1 Richard II he served with Edmund de Langley, Earl of Cambridge, in Spain with 200 men-at-arms and 200 archers, and in the King's navy at sea under John of Gaunt. In 13 Richard II he served again in France.

In 1377 he was granted for life the custody of Feckanham forest and park at a farm of L37, 14s. 4-1/2d. From the beginning of his reign, Richard II granted many pardons at the supplication of William de Beauchamp. In 1379 he was chamberlain of the King's household; in 1380 he was granted an annuity of 200m. [Footnote: Not L200 as Mr. Selby says. See Pat. Roll 1380, pp. 561, 600.] He was regularly on commissions of the peace in Warwick, in company with his brother, the Earl of Warwick. In 1379 he and Lewis de Clifford aided Robert de Ferrers in acquiring the manor of Wemme in fee. [Footnote: Cal. Pat. Roll, p, 332.] In 1383 he was appointed on a commission to treat with Flanders. In 1384 he was appointed Captain of Calais--a position he held until 1392.

To return now to one matter in which Chaucer is closely connected with William de Beauchamp. In 1378 the King granted William de Beauchamp the custody of the Castle and estates of Pembroke, in his hands by reason of the minority of the Earl of Pembroke. The father of the last Earl of Pembroke, John de Hastings, had, by license from the crown, settled all his possessions, in the event of failure of his own issue, except the Castle and town of Pembroke, upon his cousin William de Beauchamp (his mother's sister's son) [Footnote: Surrey Arch. Coll. XVH, 29, 30.] These lands were in the hands of the King in 1378 because John de Hastings had died and his son was still a minor; naturally he appointed the next heir custodian of them. But William de Beauchamp's management of the estates was certainly not satisfactory and, if the suretyship of Chaucer was anything but a form, the poet stood a good chance of losing by it. The first notice we find of Beauchamp's unsatisfactory management is in 1386, when a commission was appointed to enquire touching the waste in the possessions of John de Hastyngs by William de Beauchamp, to whom the King had committed the custody of the land. In the same year we find record of an indenture made between Margaret Mareschall, countess of Norfolk, guardian of John de Hastyngs, and the said John, on the one side, and William de Beauchamp on the other, whereby the latter agreed to surrender his custody of the estates, and the former in return to free him of liability for the "waste." [Footnote: Cal. Pat. Roll, p. 257.] In 1389 the King appointed a commission to enquire touching the waste in the lands of the alien priory of Kirkeby Monachorum, county Warwick, in the time of William de Beauchamp, Knight, farmer thereof. [Footnote: idem, p. 350. i idem, p. 208.]

In 1390 we find a "Revocation for reasons declared before the King and council in the present parliament, with the assent of the nobles, magnates, etc., of recent letters granting during pleasure to William de Beauchamp the custody of the lands, tenements, etc. of John de Hastyngs." [Footnote: Whether these were part of the Pembroke holdings or not, I do not know.] In the same year the custody was regranted to John Golafre, Knight of the King's chamber, at a farm of L600 (Beauchamp had paid L500). [Footnote: Gal. Pat. Roll, p. 180.] In 1390, however, the young Earl of Pembroke was killed in a tournament, and according to the provisions made by his father, the estates devolved upon William de Beauchamp. Other heirs contested his rights to them, but he won. A curious story told about his claim, is as follows: "Beauchamp invited his learned counsel to his house in Paternoster Row in the city of London; amongst whom were Robert Charlton (then a judge), William Pinchbek, William Brenchesley, and John Catesby (all learned lawyers); and after dinner, coming out of his chapel in an angry mood, threw to each of them a piece of gold and said: 'Sirs, I desire you forthwith to tell me, whether I have any right and title to Hasting's lordships and lands!' Whereupon Pinchbek stood up (the rest being silent, fearing that he suspected them) and said: 'No man here, nor in England, dare say that you have any right in them, except Hastings [Footnote: Evidently Edward Hastings, a contesting heir.] quit his claim therein; and should he do it 'being now under age, it would be of no validity.'" (Dugdale).

In 1387 [Footnote: According to Beltz, p. 229]when Richard II was preparing for his assault upon the Gloucester faction with which William de Beauchamp was evidently, as his brother the Earl of Warwick was certainly, connected, he tried to remove Beauchamp from the office of Captain of Calais, by messenger. Beauchamp refused to leave the office, "saying that he received that charge and trust publicly from the King, in the presence of his nobles, and therefore would not quit it in a private manner" (Dugdale). When his successor arrived, Beauchamp arrested him, and took him to England. There Beauchamp himself was arrested but was soon released. In 1393 he was summoned to Parliament as Baron Bergavenny (a title received in connection with the Pembroke estates). From 1390-96 I find reference to grants of land made by him to religious bodies. He seems to have been rather in disfavour in these closing years of Richard II's reign, but under Henry IV he received new grants, of the manor of Feckenham, rent-free, and of the custody of the Castle and county of Pembroke. He died 12 Henry IV and was buried in Black Friars, Hereford.

He married Joan, second sister and coheir of Thomas Fitz Alen, Earl of Arundel. He was a Knight of the Garter. Dugdale prints (in his Warwickshire) the wills of William de Beauchamp and his wife, remarkable medieval documents.

RICHARD FORESTER

The name of Richard Forester is connected with Chaucer's first in 1378, when Chaucer, about to go abroad on a mission for the King, had letters of attorney under the names of John Cower and Richard Forester, [Footnote: Life Records, No. 120, p. 216.] and again in 1386, when a lease for the house over Aldgate which Chaucer had occupied during his years as controller of the customs in London was made out by the Mayor and Aldermen to Richard Forester, citizen of London. [Footnote: Life Records, No. 192, p. 264.] Various entries with regard to Richard Forester occur in the public records. Whether all of them refer to one man or not, and whether any concerns Chaucer's friend, I cannot say. I shall merely present them in order of their occurrence.

In 37 Edward III Richard Forester was appointed custodian and supervisor of the river bank called "la Ree de Ettemore." [Footnote: Pat. Roll 267, mem. 6.] In 1369 he is on the list of esquires of less degree. [Footnote: L. R., p. 174.] In 1370 ten pounds were paid out of the Exchequer to Richard Forester, of Stanton, who had been sent with six archers to Shropshire to carry a certain sum of money from thence to London. [Footnote: Devon's Issues, p. 170.] Later in the same year he received ninety-one pounds, two shillings, seven pence half penny for the expenses of himself, his men at arms and archers in the war. [Footnote: idem, p. 461.] In 44 Edward III our beloved armiger Richard Forester of Stanton was granted custody of the manor of Stokelaty in Hereford which had belonged to Richard Rissholm, deceased. [Footnote: Pat. Roll 281, mem. 36.] In 47 Edward III, Richard la Forester de Beckele had a grant of ten pounds and one robe per annum as a "vallettus" of the royal chamber. [Footnote: Pat. Roll 289, mem. 21.] In 50 Edward III Richard Forester was granted custody of the manor of Waterpyrye and one messuage in Thomele in Oxfordshire, and the manor of Wormenhale in Buckinghamshire, during the minority of the heir. [Footnote: idem 293, mem. 8.]

In 1378 Richard II confirmed to Richard le Forester of Beckele, "whom the King has retained to stay with him," his annuity of ten pounds. [Footnote: Cal. Pat. Roll, p. 126.] In 5 Richard II the King granted to Richard Forester and his son Lambert custody of the royal manor of Bekkele with the hamlet of Horton for ten years at a rent of fifty marks per annum. [Footnote: Fine Roll 184, mem. 14.] In 7 Richard II Forester is referred to as an inhabitant of Oxfordshire. [Footnote: idem 187, mem. 25.] In 12 Richard II Richard Forester of Stanton paid two marks for a confirmation of a grant of Edward III of certain lands in Oxfordshire. [Footnote: idem 192, mem. 3.] In 16 Richard II Richard Forester, citizen of London, with a group of London mercers acquired some land. [Footnote: C. R. 234, mem. 20 dorm.] Again in 21 Richard II he acquired more land, but later assigned it to his associates. [Footnote: C. R. 241, mem. 14 dorm, mem. 12 dorm.]

HENRY SCOGAN

With regard to Henry Scogan I have but few facts which do not appear in Professor Kittredge's article. [Footnote: Harvard Studies and Notes I.] In 9 and 10 Richard II he was a vallettus of Simon de Burley's. Many entries in the Issue Roll of those years indicate that he was employed to carry money from the exchequer to de Burley, and to arrange for the fortification of Dover. [Footnote: Issues, P. 313, mem. 12, 13, 19, 21 (2 entries) P. 314, mem. 1, 4, 7, 12, 13. P. 315, mem. 15, 18. P. 316, mem. 1, 2, 16.] In 15 Richard II ten pounds were given to Henry Scoggan, scutifer, at Nottingham. [Footnote: Issues, P. 325, mem. 8.] In 20 Richard II Henry Sooggan of Reynham granted to Thomas Wery and others three pieces of land in Tostes, for which they were to pay him a penny yearly. [Footnote: C. R. 238, mem. 32 dorso.] In the same year he and John Hollech, chivaler, went on a bond for Henry Recheford, under penalty of two hundred pounds each, that the latter should do no harm to the Gedneys. [Footnote: C. R. 238, mem. 12 dorm.] In 21 Richard II he conveyed a hundred shillings from the Exchequer into the King's chamber [Footnote: Issues, P. 343, mem. 12.]--an action which suggests that he was probably connected with the King's court at this time.

OTO DE GRAUNSON

The only important fact which I have found with regard to de Graunson--aside from those mentioned in Romania XIX--is an indenture made apparently in 48 Edward III, between Otz de Granson chivaler, and John of Lancaster. [Footnote: Duchy of Lancaster Registers, No. 13 f, 134 dorm. On de Graunson, see note in Earl of Derby's Expeditions (Camden Soc.) p. 309.] According to this document de Granson agrees to serve the Duke in time of peace as well as of war in return for a fee of a hundred marks a year.

BUKTON

Skeat has supposed the Bukton mentioned in Chaucer's Lenvoy a Bukton, to be Sir Peter Bukton of York. There is, however, at least one other possibility. A Robert de Bukton is mentioned in 3 Richard II as armiger to Thomas de Percy, [Footnote: Issues, P. 301, mem. 21.] with whom it will be remembered Chaucer had some three years before been associated in a diplomatic mission. In 14, 15 and 16 Richard II, Robert de Bukton, scutifer of Thomas de Percy, is frequently mentioned in the Issue Roll as transmitting money from the Exchequer to de Percy, [Footnote: P. 323, mem. 11. P. 324, mem. 1, 12, 21. P. 327, mem. 17, P. 328, mem. 16. P. 330, mem. 1, 22.] and in one case to Louis Clifford. [Footnote: p. 323, mem. 8.] In 15 Richard II, the King inspected and confirmed a patent of Queen Anne dated 15 Richard II, being a grant for the term of her life to her esquire Robert Bucton, of a quantity of pasture and wood called "Gosewold" in her lordship of Eye, "by the yearly service of the rent of a rose." [Footnote: Cal. Pat. Roll, p. 324.] In 1399 this was confirmed, [Footnote: idem 1399, p. 16.] and in 1401 Robert de Bukton is mentioned as constable of the Castle of Eye. [Footnote: idem 1401, p. 540.] Robert de Bukton was returned to Parliament from the county of Suffolk in 17 Richard II (1393-4), 20 Richard II (1396-7), 21 Richard II ( 1397, 1397-8) and 2 Henry IV, (1400-1). On account of his constant connection with the court, Robert de Bukton would seem more probably to have been Chaucer's Bukton, than Skeat's candidate. [Footnote: On Sir Peter Bukton, see note in Scrope-Grosvenor Roll, II, 466-7, containing many facts not in Skeat.]

CHAUCER'S CAREER AND HIS RELATION TO JOHN OF GAUNT

What then is the bearing of all this upon Chaucer's career? Let us take up the matter point by point. In the first place it is clear that although in a few cases the esquires were connected with important families, in none did any come from a major branch of an important family and in most the derivation is from ordinary stock. Chaucer was then associated with a group of men who came from much the same class as himself. [Footnote: Cf., pp. 6-11 above.] Secondly it appears that the esquires were frequently the sons of men connected in some way with the court. [Footnote: p. 12.] In this respect also Chaucer, was like his associates, for his father, in 1338 at least was in the King's service. [Footnote: L. R. No. 13, p. 145 Intro. p. XI.] Further many of the esquires had served in the household of one of the King's children before becoming members of the King's household. In this respect also Chaucer with his service in the Duke of Clarence's house was like a number of his fellows.