Notes to the diary: 1555

The Diary of Henry Machyn, Citizen and Merchant-Taylor of London, 1550-1563. Originally published by Camden Society, London, 1848.

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'Notes to the diary: 1555', in The Diary of Henry Machyn, Citizen and Merchant-Taylor of London, 1550-1563, (London, 1848) pp. 341-347. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/camden-record-soc/vol42/pp341-347 [accessed 23 April 2024]

1555

P. 80. Funeral of lady FitzWalter. Lady Elizabeth Wriothesley, daughter of Thomas earl of Southampton. She was the first wife of Thomas Ratcliffe, (afterwards) third earl of Sussex, K.G. and had issue two sons, who both died young.

P. 81. Knightes mayde by kinge Phillip in his chambre upon Sunday the xxvij.th of January, in An°. 1554. (MS. Harl. 6064, f. 80b.)

Sir John Lyon, lorde maior of London.

Sir Robert Broke, lord chief justice of the comon place.

Sir Edward Saunders, judge.

Sir John Whiddon, judge.

Sir William Staimford [judge of the common pleas.]

Sir Clement Hygham [afterwards chief baron of the exchequer.]

The droughtes that is to be payde by them that be mayde knightes by the kinges Matie in his chambre under the degre of a baron: (Ibid. f. 79.)

Imprimis, to the office of armes for the enteringe of their armes in record xxs.

Item, to the gentlemen ushers of the chambre . . . . xxs.

Item, to the yeoman ushers . . . . . . . xs.

Item, to the gromes of the chambre . . . . . . vs.

Item, to the pages of the chambre . . . . . . vs.

Notwithstandinge these recordes afore rehersed, their was taken by them of the chambre of divers knightes that were made by kinge Phillip the xxvijth of Januarie in A°. 1554, these summes followinge, the which was never had before:

Item, to the gentlemen of the privy chambre . . . xiijs. iiijd.

Item, to the gentleman ushers of the chambre . . . . xxs.

Item, to the yeoman ushers of the chambre . . . . xs.

Item, to the gromes of the chambre . . . . . xs.

Item, to the pages . . . . . . . xs.

Ibid. Funeral of the duchess of Northumberland. Jane daughter and sole heir of sir Edward Guilford, lord warden of the Cinque Ports, and widow of John Dudley, duke of Northumberland. She gave birth to thirteen children, eight sons and five daughters. Her monument, decorated with coloured brass plates, still remains in Chelsea church, and is engraved in Faulkner's History of that parish. Her will, which is remarkable as having been written entirely with her own hand, though of considerable length, is printed in Collins's Memoirs of the Sidneys, &c. prefixed to the Sidney Papers, fol. 1746, p. 33.

P. 82. Burning of bishop Hooper. The letter from the queen to lord Chandos directing him to repair to Gloucester and assist at the execution of bishop Hooper, has been published in Miss Wood's Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies, iii. 284.

Ibid. Marriage of lord Strange. The date of this was Feb. 7th, not the 12th. "The vij. of February the lord Strange being maried at the court, the same day at night was a goodly pastime of Juga cana by cresset lyght; there were lxx. cresset lightes." Stowe's Summarie, 1566.

P. 82. The image of St. Thomas pulled down. It had been erected only two days before. One Barnes a mercer, who lived opposite to the chapel, was suspected of being accessary to its destruction. He, therefore, was committed with some of his servants, and afterwards bound in recognizance to watch it, and make it good if defaced. The 2d of March it was restored at his charge; but on the 14th (as Machyn records) again broken.

P. 83. Funeral of the earl of Bedford. John first earl of Bedford, K.G. created lord Russell 1539, and an earl in 1550. See a portrait with memoirs of him in Wiffen's House of Russell, vol. i.; another in Lodge's Illustrious Portraits; and his portrait is also in the collection by Houbraken, and in Chamberlain's Holbein Heads. The chapel at Chenies, which has ever since been the cemetery of the Russells, was built by his widow in 1556, in pursuance of his last will. His effigy at Chenies is described in Lipscomb's Buckinghamshire: but in the inscription, "Lord President of the Western Portes" is an error for Partes.

P. 86. False report of the queen's delivery. See the article before referred to in the Gentleman's Magazine for Dec. 1841, at p. 598. At St. Benedict Gracechurch the churchwardens paid to a prieste and six clerks for singing of Te Deum and playing upon the organs for the birth of our Prince (which was thought then to be), 1l. 8s. (Malcolm.)

Ibid. Body of thief burned at Charing cross. The name of the "pulter," or poulterer, the object of this posthumous vengeance, was Tooly. His case is related at large by Foxe. He had received pardon of some other crime July 5, 1553, the very day before king Edward's death. (Strype, Mem. ii. 509.)

P. 88. The child supposed to speak. "By a lettere dated in London, 11 May, 1555, it appeares that in Poules churche yearde, at the signe of the hedgehog, the goodwyfe of the house was brought to bedde of a mane child, beinge of the age of 6 dayes, and dienge the 7th daye followinge; and halfe an houre before it departed spake these words followinge (rise and pray), and so continued halfe an howre in thes words, and then cryenge departed the worlde. Hereuppon the bushope of London examined the goodman of the house, and othur credible persones, who affirmed it to be true, and will dye uppon the same." (MS. Harl. 353, f. 145.)

Ibid. Funeral of the countess of Westmerland. Katharine, daughter of Edward Stafford, duke of Buckingham, K.G. and wife of Ralph earl of Westmerland. A letter from her to the earl of Shrewsbury, 25 Apr. 1544, has been published in Miss Wood's Letters of Ladies, iii. 182. She died at Holywell, the house of her son-in-law the earl of Rutland, in the parish of Shoreditch, on Tuesday, May 14, 1555. (MS. Harl. 897, fol. 78b, 80.) In that church was erected a joint monument, with four kneeling effigies, representing Elinor (Paston) countess of Rutland, who died in 1551; this countess of Westmerland; her daughter Margaret countess of Rutland, who died 1560 (see Note hereafter to p. 215); and lady Katharine Constable, who died 1591, a granddaughter of the first; which see engraved in Ellis's Shoreditch, p. 56, or Nichols's Leicestershire, vol. ii. pl. xii.

P. 90. Funeral of the queen of Spain at Saint Paul's. The full ceremonial of this is preserved in the College of Arms, I. 14, ff. 111–114; and see a letter of the lord treasurer to the bishop of London respecting preparations for the solemnity in Strype, Memorials, iii. 220. The deceased was Jane, the grandmother of king Philip, and the aunt of queen Mary, being the elder sister of queen Katharine. She was the eldest daughter of Ferdinand the Catholic by Isabel queen of Castille; and having married Philip of Austria, they succeeded to the kingdom of Castille on the death of her mother in 1504. On the death of her father in 1516, her husband having previously died in 1506, she was from insanity unfit to reign, and her son Charles (afterwards emperor) was acknowledged sovereign of all Spain.

Ibid. Proclamation for bringing in heretical books. A printed copy of this, dated 13 June, is in the collection at the Society of Antiquaries: it is inserted in Foxe's Actes and Monuments, vol. iii. p. 271. Of its objects see also Strype, Mem. vol. iii. p. 250.

P. 91. Funeral of alderman Thomas Lewen. That the name which our MS. has here lost should be thus supplied is shown by the following inscription from the church of St. Nicholas Olave's: "Here lies the bodies of Thomas Lewen, ironmonger and some time alderman of the city of London, and Agnes his wife; which Thomas deceased the 29. day of June, Anno D'ni 1555, and the said Agnes deceased the 26. day of October, Anno D'ni 1562. This monument of Thomas Lewen and Agnes his wife was newly revived and beautified at the charge of the right worshipful company of the Ironmongers, of which he was free, the 29th May, Anno D'ni 1623." By his will dated in the year of his death (which is enrolled at Guildhall), Lewen left to the Ironmongers a messuage in Breadstreet, and four other houses, for the observance of an obit, the support of four almspeople, and a scholarship at Oxford, and another at Cambridge of 50s. each: see the Report of the Commissioners of Public Charities, and abstract therefrom in Herbert's City Companies, p. 615. A portrait of alderman Lewen is still preserved at Ironmongers' hall. His arms were, Ar. on a chevron engrailed gules, between three crescents of the second, each charged with a bezant, as many estoiles or, and between them two lozenges of the field, each charged with a martlet sable, all within a bordure engrailed gu.—a somewhat remarkable example of a fully, but not unartistically, crowded coat. (MS. Harl. 6860.) He was sheriff 1537–8, but not lord mayor.—A few particulars remain to be given in a subsequent page on occasion of the death of Mrs. Lewen, the alderman's widow.

Ibid. Master Eton. George Eyton, master in 1557 (see p. 141.) William Heton was warden of the Merchant-taylors in 1566–7. Wilson's Merchant-taylors' School, p. 1150.

P. 91. Master Rowe. Sir Thomas Rowe was an alderman, sheriff in 1560, and lord mayor in 1568. By his will dated May 2, 1569, he was a munificent benefactor to the Merchant-taylors' company; as may be seen by the particulars given in Herbert's City Companies, p. 504. He died Sept. 2, 1570, and his monument at Hackney, having kneeling effigies of himself and wife, was engraved at the expense of his descendant Mr. Rowe-Mores in 1752, and inserted in Robinson's History of that parish, 1842, ii. p. 8. The very full and curious directions which he left for his funeral are printed in Lysons's Environs of London, 1811, vol. ii. p. 302. See memoirs of him also in Wilson's History of Merchant-taylors' school, pp. 5, et seq.; and a pedigree of his descendants in Rowe-Mores' History of Tunstall, 4to. 1780, p. xvii.

Ibid. Master Hylle warden. This was Richard Hills, the benefactor whom Stowe commemorates in his chapter on the "honour of citizens." He gave 500l. towards the purchase of the manor of the Rose, where Merchant-taylors' school was established; also (according to Stowe) fourteen almshouses for poor women on Tower-hill. The latter statement however is not confirmed by Herbert's account of the Merchant-taylors' almshouses; but it appears that by will dated June 28, 1586, he gave certain tenements in St. Botolph's, Aldgate, for the payment of 5l. yearly among six poor tailors, and that the Company still owns thirteen houses from this bequest. (Hist. of the City Companies, pp. 496, 506.) Strype mentions Richard Hills as having been resident at Strasburg in 1548, and commissioned by Cranmer to help Martin Bucer to his journey to England. He became master of the Merchant-taylors' company in 1561. (Wilson's Merchant-taylors' school, p. 10.)

Ibid. Master God. The Survay of Finsbury manor, dated 1567, mentions "a lodge and certain gardens and tenter grounds in the tenure of John God, merchant-taylor, inclosed on the north towards Chiswell-street by a brick wall." (Herbert's Twelve City Companies, ii. 389.) He was again warden of the company in 1563–4, and master in 1565–6.

Ibid. All v. born in London, and taylors' sons all. Herbert remarks, that, though "there are not at this time half a dozen tailor brothers of this dignified corporation," the case was quite the reverse formerly, (contrary to some affected aristocracy of the Merchanttaylors, absurdly advanced by the Rev. Dr. Wilson in his History of Merchant-taylors' School,) and the company itself continued a working one until the reign of James I. When it is recollected that the great city historian Stowe was a taylor of London, and his cotemporary Speed, the general historian, as well as Anthony Munday, Thomas Middleton, and others, besides a fair proportion of the distinguished civic senators and benefactors of former days, there can be no reason to despise the brethren of this very necessary craft, at any stage of its history, even if, besides "manufacturing pavilions for our kings, robes of state for our nobles, and tents, &c. for our soldiers," (Wilson, p. xix.) they also condescended to become "makers of ordinary garments" (ibid.) by stitching jerkins for our prentices, doublets for our shopmen, and trunk-hose for our cooks. It is true that trades were much more subdivided formerly than at present: thus we hear of bowyers and fletchers; armourers and linen armourers (the latter were associated with the tailors); and there were cappers and hosiers, distinct trades, though the material they used, as well as the tailors, was cloth. But a tailor, or a "taylor," has remained much the same from generation to generation.

P. 93. Departure of king Philip. The king crossed to Calais on the 4th Sept. "and so foorth to Brusselles in Brabant to visite the emperour hys father." (Stowe's Summarie, 1566.) He went to assume the government of the Low Countries, and was received into Antwerp with great solemnity about the 18th January. (Ibid.)

P. 94. Funeral of lady Lyons. Alice wife of sir John Lyons then lord mayor, who has been noticed in p. 340. "A remembraunce for thenterement of my ladye Lyons" is in I. 3, in Coll. Arm. f. 94b. After the death of his first wife Alice, sir John Lyon married "Elsabeth doter of Lee and widow of Austen Hynde alderman and shreve of London. This Elsabeth dyed the xth of July in A° 1569. He dyed the 7th Sept. 1564 sans issue, wherefore he made his heyre . . . . . Lyon, his brother's son, of Acton, unto whosse sons he gave all his landes." (MS. Harl. 874, f. 25b.)

Ibid. The Lollards' Tower. When I wrote the note in this page, and another in p. 118, I was not aware that there had been any other "Lollards' Tower" than that still remaining at Lambeth. I have since noticed in Stowe's Survey that the southern bell-tower at the west end of St. Paul's cathedral was so called. The tower towards the north, next the Bishop's palace, was attached to "the use of the same palace; the other, towards the south, is called the Lollards' Tower, and hath beene used as the bishop's prison, for such as were detected for opinions in religion, contrary to the faith of the church." The last prisoner Stowe had known confined there was in 1573. It is probable therefore that our Londoner meant the Lollards' Tower nearest at hand.

P. 95. Funeral of master Barthelet. Thomas Barthelet, made king's printer by patent dated 22 Feb. 21 Henry VIII. (1529–30). The place of his interment is not recorded. What is known respecting him, with a catalogue of his works, will be found in Ames's Typographical Antiquities, by Dibdin, vol. iii. pp. 271, et seq.

Ibid. Burial of hereticks in Morefields. This was the usual practice with those who by a natural death (if such a term can be applied to the result of imprisonment and privations) escaped the stake and the faggots. See in Foxe, vol. iii. p. 537, a graphic cut of such a burial, with archers from the neighbouring butts as spectators.

Ibid. Funeral of doctor Wotton. In St. Alban's Wood-street: "Here lieth Edward Wotton, doctor of phisick, ob. 5 Octobr. 1555, æt. 63, and Katharine his wife, who died 4 Decembr' 1558." (MS. Lansdowne 874.)

Ibid. The serjeants' feast. As many as eleven barristers had been recently called to be serjeants: see Dugdale's Chronica Series, p. 89. One of them, George Wood, had been excused. (Ibid.) Machyn, however, says, only seven were made. One of the new serjeants, Anthony Brown, was appointed the king and queen's serjeant by patent dated Oct. 16, the day of the feast. (Ibid. p. 91.)

P. 96. The lord mayor's pageant. The new mayor was "sir William Garrard, haberdasher, a grave, sober, wise, and discreet citizen, equall with the best and inferior to none of our time, deceased 1571, in the parish of St. Christopher, but was buried in this church of St. Magnus, as in the parish where he was borne. A faire monument is there raised on him. This monument is lately re-edified and new fenced by sir John Garrard, his sonne, and L. Maior 1602." (Stowe's Survay.) "He dwelled at the pissing conduit in St. Xp'ofer's parish." Arms, Argent, on a fess sable a lion passant of the first. (Wm. Smith, Rouge-dragon.)

P. 97. Funeral of lord chancellor Gardiner. The ceremonial of this is preserved in the Coll. Arm. I. 11. 121–124, and a second copy in pp. 127–133.—Machyn's extraordinary word "inowlle" is converted by Strype into "jewels:" and in my marginal note I have suggested "enamel." Both explanations are wrong: as no doubt our painter meant that the banners were painted with images of saints in oil and "with fine gold."

P. 98. Committal of sir Anthony Kingston to the Tower. This was for his "contemptuous behaviour and greate disorder by him lately comytted in the Parlemente house." He was discharged on the 24th Dec. See the minutes of the privy council, Dec. 10, 11, 18, 24. (MS. Harl. 353, ff. 146, 147.) He soon after again got into disgrace, and, being summoned to attend the privy council, died on his road to London. See Bayley's History of the Tower, pp. 449, 450.

P. 99. Funeral of alderman Henry Heardson. His widow Barbara was remarried to alderman Richard Champion; and she erected a monument in St. Dunstan's in the East, with kneeling effigies of herself and both the aldermen her husbands. See it described, with the poetical epitaphs, in Stowe's Survay. His arms were Argent, semee of fleursde-lis gules, a cross engrailed sable. He was never sheriff nor lord mayor. (List by Wm. Smith, Rouge-dragon.)