Chapter 1

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HENRY THE SIXTH

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

C. F. CLAY, MANAGER

LONDON: FETTER LANE, E.C. 4 NEW YORK: G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS BOMBAY } CALCUTTA } MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD. MADRAS } TORONTO: J. M. DENT AND SONS, LTD. TOKYO: MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Henry the Sixth

A REPRINT OF JOHN BLACMAN'S MEMOIR WITH TRANSLATION AND NOTES

BY

M. R. JAMES, LITT. D., F.B.A., F.S.A.

PROVOST OF ETON FORMERLY PROVOST OF KING'S COLLEGE

CAMBRIDGE AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 1919

CONTENTS

PREFACE PAGE vii

TEXT 1

TRANSLATION 23

NOTES 45

SPECIAL NOTES

I. A PRAYER TO HENRY VI IN ENGLISH VERSE 50

II. ON THE MANUSCRIPT MIRACLES OF HENRY VI. 51

III. ON JOHN BLACMAN'S BOOKS 55

PREFACE

The tract on the Personality of King Henry VI (as I may perhaps be allowed to call it), which is here reprinted, has hitherto been almost inaccessible to ordinary students. It is not known to exist at all in manuscript. We depend ultimately for our knowledge of it upon a printed edition issued by Robert Coplande of London, of which the date is said to be 1510. Of this there may be two copies in existence. This text was reprinted by Thomas Hearne in 1732, in his edition of the Chronicles of Thomas Otterbourne and John Whethamstede, of which 150 copies were issued.

I have here reprinted Hearne's text, and have collated it with Coplande's. This I was enabled to do through the great kindness of the authorities of St Cuthbert's College at Ushaw, who most generously lent me a copy of the tract preserved in their Library. This copy I will endeavour to describe.

It is in a modern binding lettered: _Hylton's Lives of British Saints. Blackman's Life of Henry VI_. The pressmark is

XVIII C 4 7

The size is 185 × 130 mm. There are 32 lines to a full page.

_Collation_: A6 B4.

_Signatures_: A I (2 not signed): A III (4-6 not signed).

B I (2 not signed): B III (4 not signed). Ab I _a_ has the title at top:

¶Collectarium Mansuetudinum et bono- rum morum regis Henrici. VI. ex col- lecti[=o]e magistri Joannis blak man bacchalaurei theo logie / et post Car tusie monachi Londini.

Below this is a woodcut measuring 99 × 76, and representing a bearded king in hat with crown about it, clad in ermine tippet, and dalmatic over long robe. He holds a closed book in his _R._ hand, a sceptre in his _L._: on the _L._ wrist is a maniple. His head is turned towards _R._ On _R._ a tree, plants across the foreground: a mound on _L._ with two trees seen over it.

I feel confident that the woodcut is not intended for a portrait of Henry VI, and that it really represents some Old Testament personage: but I have not attempted to trace it in other books.

It has a border in three pieces. Those on _R._ and _L._ are 115 mm. in height and contain small figures of prophets standing on tall shafts: that at bottom was designed to be placed vertically, and contains a half-length figure of a prophet springing out of foliage, and with foliage above.

On A I _b_ the woodcut is repeated without the border.

Then follows the text as given by me. After it, on B IV _a_, is Robert Coplande's device, measuring 80 × 95; a wreath of roses and leaves, comprised within two concentric circles: within it the printer's mark.

Outside in the upper _L._ corner a rose slipped and leaved: in the upper _R._ corner, a pomegranate.

Below, a scroll inscribed: Robert (_rose_) Coplande.

On B IV _b_ the woodcut of the king, without border.

Below it, in a neat hand:

R. Johnson. prec. 1d. 1523.

For the rest, the volume contains:

Capgrave's _New Legende_, beginning imperfectly in the Table

De S. Esterwino abbate. fo. xxxviii.

This is preceded by two inserted leaves of paper: on the first are the missing items of the Table, supplied in a rough hand of cent. XVI. On the second, in a hand of cent. XVIII, is:

Printed at London by Richard Pynson Printer to the Kings Noble Grace the 20th day of February 1516. Vid. Page 133.

Newcastle upon Tyne.

This book was found in the Town Clerk's Office about the latter end (of) the year 1765.

(?) A P G.

At the end of the Table (before A I) is written in a hand of cent. XVI:

The abbridgement of henry the syxthes lyfe ys fastned to the ende of this booke.

At top of A I (cent. XVI) is: T. T. Collected by Caxton.

On A VIII _b_, B II _a_ is the name (cent. XVI):

Alexander Ridley of ye brom hills.

He has written a good many marginal notes in the book.

_Collation_: Table 2 ff. A8 B4 C8 D4 E8 F4 G8 H4 I8 K4 L8 (i-iii signed) M4 N8 (as L) O4 (i-iii signed) P8 (as L) Q4 R8 (as L) S4 (i-iii signed: ii, iii both numbered i) T8 (+ 1: 4 leaves CIX-CXII on the 11000 Virgins inserted after CVII* instead of after CVIII) U6 (6 blank unnumbered) X8 (Life of S. Byrgette) Y6.

Followed by tract of Walter Hylton: 'to a deuoute man in temperall estate howe he shulde rule hym' etc. A8 B8 (leaves not numbered).

On CXIX _b_ is Pynson's device: no date.

On CXXXIII _a_ (Life of S. Byrgette) the date M.CCCCCXVI. XX Feb. On the verso Pynson's device with break in lower border.

At the end of Hylton's tract B VIII _a_ the date MCCCCCXVI last daye of Feb.

On the verso Pynson's device with break in lower border.

Hearne's preface to _Otterbourne_ (I, p. xliv) contains some interesting matter bearing on the tract, which I summarize here.

No one, he says, except John Blakman has yet written a special life of Henry VI, and Blakman's is not an _opus absolutum_ but a "fragmentum duntaxat operis longe majoris alicubi forte nunc etiam latentis."

Vita haecce qualiscunque in lucem prodiit Londini A.D. M.D.X. a Roberto Coplandio ... excusus. Eiusdem exemplaria adeo rara sunt ut vix reperias in bibliothecis etiam instructissimis. Penes se autem habet amicus excultissimus Jacobus Westus, qui pro necessitudine illa quae inter nos intercedit, non tantum mutuo dedit, sed et licentiam concessit exscribendi. Id quod feci.

West had acquired his copy by purchase, among a number of printed books formerly the property of Archbishop Sancroft.

On p. xlix Hearne tells us that Sancroft had written the following note in his copy of the tract:

Hunc libellum conscribendum curavit Henricus VIIus, cum Julio papa II agens de Henrico VI in Sanctorum numerum referendo. De quo vide Jac. Waraei annales H. 7. Aº 1504.

Ware (and Hearne) print the Bull of Julius, directing an inquiry into Henry's sanctity and miracles. I may add that some part of the results of this negotiation may be seen in the manuscript collection of Henry VIth's miracles preserved in the Royal MS. 13. C. VIII and in the MS. Harley 423 (a partial copy of the other), both in the British Museum.[1]

Furthermore Hearne reprints what is properly called a _Memoria_ of King Henry VI such as is to be found in a fairly large number of Books of Hours or Primers both manuscript and printed. Hearne's text is taken from _Horae_ printed by Wynkyn de Worde 1510, f. cli _a_, and is as follows.

_A prayer to holy kynge Henry._ Rex Henricus sis amicus nobis in angustia Cuius prece nos a nece saluemur perpetua Lampas morum spes egrorum ferens medicamina Sis tuorum famulorum ductor ad celestia. Pax in terra non sit guerra orbis per confinia Virtus crescat et feruescat charitas per omnia Non sudore uel dolore moriamur subito Sed viuamus et plaudamus celis sine termino. _Ver._ Ora pro nobis deuote rex Henrice. _Resp._ Ut per te cuncti superati sint inimici. Oremus. Presta, quesumus, omnipotens et misericors deus, ut qui deuotissimi regis Henrici merita miraculis fulgentia pie mentis affectu recolimus in terris, eius et omnium sanctorum tuorum intercessionibus ab omni per te febre, morbo, ac improuisa morte ceterisque eruamur malis, et gaudia sempiterna adipisci mereamur. Per Christum dominum nostrum. Amen.

Here is another form, which occurs in the Fitzwilliam MS. 55 (a Norfolk book of about 1480):

_Antiphon_. Rex Henricus pauper(um?) et ecclesie defensor ad misericordiam semper pronus in caritate feruidus pietati deditus clerum decorauit, quem deus sic beatificauit. _Vers._ Ora pro nobis deuote Henrice. _Resp._ Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi. Oremus. Deus sub cuius ineffabili maiestate vniuersi reges regnant et imperant, qui deuotissimum Henricum Anglorum regem caritate feruidum, miseris et afflictis semper compassum, omni bonitate clemenciaque conspicuum, ut pio (pie) creditur inter angelos connumerare dignatus es: concede propicius ut eo cum omnibus sanctis interuenientibus hostium nostrorum superbia conteratur, morbus et quod malum est procul pellatur, palma donetur et gratia sancti spiritus nobis misericordiam tuam poscentibus ubique adesse dignetur. Qui uiuis, etc.

Yet another form is seen in a manuscript (V. III. 7) in Bishop Cosin's Library at Durham, of cent. XV late: it is written, with a good many other miscellaneous verses, at the end of the book.

O rex Henrice vincas virtute pudice Anglorum vere cum recto nomine sexte [Es] wynsorie natus et ibi de fonte leuatus Atque coronatus in Westm(ynster) veneratus Et post ffrancorum rex es de iure creatus Post mortem carnis miracula plurima pandis Confirmante deo qui te preelegit ab euo Et tibi concessit plures sanare per illum Cecos et claudos cum debilitate retentos Atque paraliticos egrotos spasmaticosque In neruis plures contracti te mediante In te sperantes sanantur et auxiliantur Et laudes domino per te semper tribuantur. Ora pro nobis dei electe rex Anglie Henrice sexte. Ut digni, etc. Oremus. Omnipotens eterne deus qui electis tuis multa mirabilia operaris: concede quaesumus ut electi tui Anglorum regis Henrici sexti meritis et precibus mediantibus et intercedentibus mereamur ab omnibus angustiis anime et doloribus membrorum liberemur(-ari). Et cum illo in vita perpetua gloriari. Per, etc.

These three forms of _Memoriae_ are probably not all that exist; but they will suffice as representative specimens of the popular devotions used in honour of our Founder.

Besides the _Memoria_ Hearne gives two prayers, attributed to the King himself, and largely identical in language with that which is prefixed to Blakman's tract. He takes them from the same printed _Horae_ of 1510 whence the _Memoria_ comes. They are on p. lv _a_ and run thus:

_Two lytell prayers whiche King Henry the syxte made._

Domine Ihesu Christe, qui me creasti, redemisti, et preordinasti ad hoc quod sum: tu scis quid de me facere vis: fac de me secundum voluntatem tuam cum misericordia.

Domine Ihesu Christe, qui solus es sapientia: tu scis que michi peccatori expediunt: prout tibi placere[2] et sicut in oculis tue maiestatis videtur, de me ita fiat cum misericordia tua. Amen. Pater noster. Aue Maria.

Of John Blacman or Blakman, the author of our tract, not a great deal is known. He was admitted Fellow of Merton College, Oxford, in 1436, and of Eton in 1447: he was Cantor of Eton College, and, as we read in the title of his book, a bachelor of Divinity, and later a Carthusian monk. But before he 'entered religion' he held an important post in University circles, for, in 1452, on the death of Nicholas Close, he was appointed by the Provosts of Eton and King's (who at that time owned this piece of patronage) Warden of King's Hall at Cambridge, that royal foundation which was eventually absorbed into Trinity College. As Warden (I quote from Mr W. W. Rouse Ball's privately printed account of King's Hall) he introduced into the College "some scheme of reorganization, which involved a division of the Society into four classes, fellows, scholars, commoners, and servi-commoners.... The scheme, whatever it was, was abandoned on Blacman's resignation" which took effect on 11 July 1457. Blacman then entered the Carthusian house of Witham in Somerset, and subsequently that of London, where he probably died. When, and for how long, he held the post of spiritual director or confessor to Henry VI, I have no evidence to show.

Of one thing about him, namely, his literary possessions, we know more. The Bodleian manuscript Laud. Misc. 154 contains two lists, one short, and one long and elaborate, of books given by him to the Witham Charterhouse. Several of these exist in the Bodleian and other libraries, and one, a notable copy of the Polychronicon, which contains the earliest known picture of Windsor Castle (and of Eton), very probably drawn by Blacman himself, has in recent years been acquired by the library of Eton College. The full list of Blacman's books is given in a separate note.

In reprinting Hearne's text I have retained his spelling, which does not correspond completely with that of Coplande's print. Hearne gives _æ_ for _e_ throughout, and expands contractions without notice. Had I had access to the original tract before Hearne's text was put into type, I should have retained the medieval spelling; but I did not think it worth while to make the change _après coup_. The actual words of the text represent Blacman as faithfully as possible; and that is the chief matter.

I need not, I think, say much by way of commending this little memorial of our Founder to the _pietas_ of the many who have owed and still owe to his bounty such pleasant and peaceful years, and such opportunities for the gaining of knowledge and the forming of friendships, as he himself never enjoyed. The evils which his weak rule brought upon England have faded out of being: the good which in his boyhood he devised for coming generations lives after him. _Pro eo quod laborauit anima eius, uidebit et saturabitur._

M. R. J.

Footnotes:

[1] See a special Note on these.

[2] Read _placet_, as in a vellum-printed Paris _Horae_ of 1572 (?), reported to Hearne by a friend.

Mr Cosmo Gordon of King's College tells me that these prayers also occur in W. de Worde's Primer of 1494 (sig. F 8 _b_). In this edition the words read "prout tibi placeret," but a copy at Lambeth in which the page has been reset, has "prout tibi placet." The prayers also occur in some Sarum _Horae_ printed in France, e.g. Jean Jehannot's of 1498, of which there is a copy in the Sandars collection in the University Library.

COLLECTARIUM MANSUETUDINUM ET BONORUM MORUM REGIS HENRICI VI.

EX COLLECTIONE Magistri JOANNIS BLAKMAN bacchalaurei theologiæ, et post Cartusiæ monachi Londini.

[A II _a_] _Oratio ejus devota._

Domine Jesu Christe, qui me creasti, redemisti, et ad id quod sum prædestinasti, tu scis, quid de me facturus sis, fac de me secundum tuam misericordissimam voluntatem. Nam scio et veraciter confiteor, quod in tua manu cuncta sunt posita, et non est qui possit tibi resistere: quia Dominus universorum tu es. Ergo Deus omnipotens, misericors & clemens, in potestate cujus sunt regna omnia atque dominationes, et cui omnes cogitationes, verba et opera nostra præterita, præsentia et futura continue sunt cognita et aperta, qui solus habes scientiam & sapientiam incomprehensibilem. Tu scis, Domine, quæ michi misero peccatori expediunt: prout tibi placet, et in oculis tuæ divinæ majestatis videtur de me fieri, ita de me fiat. Suscipe, pater clemens et misericors Deus omnipotens, preces mei indignissimi servi tui: et perveniant ad aures misericordiæ tuæ orationes, quas offero coram te et omnibus sanctis tuis. Amen.

PROHEMIUM.

Scriptum est, quod neminem laudabimus ante mortem suam, sed in fine erit denudatio operum ejus, unde, cessante jam omni impedimento veræ laudis, Quia coeli gloriam Dei omnipotentis enarrant, & omnia quæ fecit Dominus ipsum in factura sua laudant, idcirco in laudem Dei & serenissimi principis regis Henrici. VI. corpore jam defuncti, quem licet minime peritus laudare anticipavi, aliqua tractare necessarium duxi. Maxime quia sanctos Dei laudare, quorum in cathologo istum puto regem eximium, ob sancta sua merita quoad vixit per eum exercitata, merito computari, omnipotentis Dei laus est & gloria, ex cujus coelesti dono est, ut sancti sint. De prænobili ejus prosapia, quomodo scilicet ex nobilissimo sanguine & [A II _b_] stirpe regia antiqua Angliæ secundum carnem progenitus erat, et qualiter in duabus regionibus, Angliæ s. & Franciæ, ut verus utriusque regni heres coronatus fuerat, tacere curavi, quasi manifestum & notum. Maxime propter casum ejus infaustissimum, qui eidem inopinate postea evenit.

_Virtutum ejus commendatio._

Verum ut de virtutibus non paucis istius regis, quibus Deus omnipotens animam ejus insignivit, aliquid edicam, &[3] pro modulo meo Deo propicio prout noverim, & ex relatu fidedignorum, quondam ei assistencium, didicerim, propalabo. Fuerat enim, quasi alter Job, vir simplex, & rectus, Dominum Deum omnino timens, & à malo recedens. Erat autem vir simplex, sine omni plica dolositatis aut falsitatis, ut omnibus constat. Nulli enim dolose egerat: aut falsum aliquod cuiquam proferre solebat: sed veridica semper exercuerat eloquia. Fuerat & rectus et justus, per lineam justiciæ semper in actis suis procedens. Nulli vero injuriam facere voluit scienter. Deo & omnipotenti quod suum erat fidelissime tribuerat. quia decimas & oblationes, Deo et ecclesiæ debitas, amplissime persolvere studuit. simul cum religiosissimo cultu etiam hoc peregit, ita quod ipse & regalibus infulis trabeatus, diademateque regio coronatus, tam profundas sibi instituit exhibere Domino inclinativas supplicationes, ac si fuisset juvenis quispiam religiosus.

_Timor Domini inerat ei._

Quod & princeps iste timorem habuerat filialem ad Dominum, patet in quammultis ejus actis et devotionibus. Primo referre solebat quidam Angliæ reverendus antistes, se per decem annos confessoris sui officio functum apud ipsum regem Henricum fuisse. Sed neque per tantum tempus mortalis alicujus [A III _a_] criminis maculam animam ejus tetigisse asserebat. O! quanta vigilantia! O! quanta diligentia placendi Deo in tam sublimi et juvenili persona reperta est! Attendite reges & principes universi, juvenes et virgines & populi quique, & laudate Dominum in sanctis ejus. Hunc quoque regem virtute imitamini, qui malum fecisse poterat & non fecit: sed omnino dum vixit refugit, in quantum potuit, propter Dei displicentiam, hujuscemodi malum vel noxam.

_Cultor Dei sedulus erat._

Sedulus & verissimus Dei cultor erat rex iste, magis Deo et devotioni orationum deditus, quam mundanis vel temporalibus rebus tractandis, aut vanis ludis vel occupationibus exercendis: qualibus ut frivola ab eo despectis, aut in orationibus, aut in scripturarum vel cronicarum lectionibus assidue erat occupatus, ex quibus non pauca eloquia hauserat, ad ipsius aliorumque consolationem spiritualem. Unde omni statui, omnique conditioni hominum et ætati sedulus hortator & consultor extiterat, juvenibus consulens, ut à vitiis declinarent, et virtutis viam assequerentur. Provectæque ætatis viros et presbiteros, ut virtutis complementum, braviumque æternæ vitæ prosequendo attingerent, ammonuit, proferens id psalmi: _Ite de virtute in virtutem: videbitur enim hinc Deus deorum in Syon._

_Devota habitudo ejus in ecclesia._

In ecclesia vel oratorio nunquam sedere sibi complacuit super sedile, aut huc illuc ve, ut moris est mundanorum, deambulare: sed nudato semper capite, dum divina saltem celebrarentur officia, rarissime regios erigens artus, quasi continue coram libro genua flectens, oculis ac manibus erectis, missalia, oracula, epistolas, euangelia internis visibus[4] promere gestiebat cum celebrante. Nonnullis etiam solebat clericis destinare epistolas [A III _b_] exhortatorias, coelestibus plenas sacramentis et saluberrimis admonitionibus, in stuporem multorum.

Item & ubic[~u]que fuerat rex iste, semper devotissimus sanctæ crucis, aliorumque Christianæ religionis sacramentorum vel sacrorum, cultor et sedulus adorator extiterat. In hujusmodi enim opere nudato capite devotius insedere[5] solebat, etiam in itineribus equitando. ita quod regale caputium terram petere ultro sæpius faciebat, etiam dextrario insidens, nisi id manus suorum sitius[6] apprehenderet. Unde et maluit sanctæ crucis signorum seriem in corona sua regia situari, quam florum vel foliorum similitudines quasc[~u]que, juxta illud sapientis: _Corona aurea super caput ejus, expressa signo sanctitatis_. &c. Tempestive valde, et quasi in initio divinorum officiorum solebat interesse. Sed et de prolixa protractione divinorum officiorum nusquam fastidium passus erat, quanquam ultra meridiem protelabantur.

Item in ecclesia nullatenus accipites,[7] gladios, basillardos,[8] contractus, confabulationes ve fieri sinebat: sed orationibus etiam suis potentatibus & proceribus, juxta illud Salvatoris eloquium, _Domus mea domus orationis est_, jussit crebrius esse vacandum, quod et fecerunt devote.

_Pudicitia ejus._

Pudicus enim & purus fuerat rex iste H. ab ineunte ætate sua. Omnem vero lasciviam verbo & opere dum juvenis erat declinaverat, quoadusque duxerat, nubilibus venientibus annis, prænobilem dominam, dominam Margaretam, regis Ceciliæ[9] filiam, ex qua unicum tantummodo procreavit filium, Edwardum s. prænobilem & virtuosum principem, cum qua & cui conjugale foedus syncerissime omnino servaverat, etiam in ipsius dominæ absentia, quæ aliquando perlonga fuerat: nullam aliam à sua feminam tota sua [A IV _a_] vita impudice tangens. Non etiam ad præfatam suam conjugem effrenate, vel more impudicorum, habere solebat accessum dum insimul commanserunt: sed tantummodo ut ratio et rei necessitas, servata semper inter eos honestate conjugali et cum magna gravitate.

_Exemplum._

In argumentum vero suæ servatæ pudicitiæ, omnino consueverat effugere nuditatem et virorum et mulierum incantius[10] aspicere. ne, ut David, amore illicito caperetur, cujus animam, prout legimus, oculi deprædati fuerant. Propterea princeps iste pepigerat cum oculis suis foedus, ut nec saltem impudice quamlibet aspicerat[11] feminam.

_Aliud exemplum._

Unde semel contigit, quod tempore natalis Domini choreas, vel spectaculum quoddam generosarum juvencularum, resolutis sinibus suis nudatas mamillas proponentium, quidam adduceret magnus dominus coram eo, ut ante regis aspectum juvenes illæ mulierculæ sic denudatæ tripudiarent, ad probandum forsan eum, vel ad alliciendum regis juvenilem animum. Sed rex iste non improvidus, nec diabolicæ fraudis ignarus, his spretis præstigiis, nimium indignatus, oculos avertens, dorsum ejus citius posuit, et ad cameram suam exivit dicens, =Fy fy, for shame, forsothe ye be to blame.=