Archaeological Journal/Volume 2/The Will of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Essex

by Thomas Hudson Turner

THE WILL OF HUMPHREY DE BOHUN, EARL OF HEREFORD AND ESSEX, WITH EXTRACTS FROM THE INVENTORY OF HIS EFFECTS. 1319—1322.

The importance of Wills and Inventories as illustrations not only of the manners but of the arts of the middle ages has been of late so fully recognised, that no apology can be required for presenting the accompanying documents to the Members of the Archæological Institute. The will in question, although not one of the earliest extant, is perhaps one of the most interesting yet printed, considering the rank of the testator, the minuteness of the document, and the peculiarity of certain of its provisions, which we may fairly assume to be in this, as in other cases, indicative of the character of the individual. It is also a valuable addition to the series of wills of the Bohun family already published^[1].

If these remarks be true of the Will, they are not less so as regards the Inventory, which is beyond doubt the most curious of its early date yet discovered. Both documents are preserved in the archives of the duchy of Lancaster, into which they passed by the marriage of Mary the second daughter and co-heir of Humphrey de Bohun, fourteenth earl of Hereford, and twelfth earl of Essex, with Henry Plantagenet, earl of Derby, afterwards King Henry the Fourth.

Dugdale has so amply and, allowing for a few inaccuracies, so well illustrated the history of the Bohuns, that it may be sufficient for the present purpose to state that the testator Humphrey de Bohun, fourth earl of Hereford of his name, and third earl of Essex, the son of that Humphrey who had distinguished himself in the Scottish wars of Edward the First, particularly by his victory at Roxburgh, was the representative of a family pre-eminent among the Anglo-Norman baronage. He married Elizabeth, seventh daughter of Edward and Alianore of Castile, and widow of John, count of Holland. This alliance which placed him in near relation to the crown, did not render him its creature, and as we find a Bohun foremost among the barons who obtained the great charter from John at Runnymead, so the subject of this notice was among the first in opposition to the mischievous favourites of his brother-in-law Edward the Second. The league which he formed with Thomas earl of Lancaster, against Piers Gaveston, had a successful issue, but, as is well known, the death of Gaveston only opened the way to the ascendancy of another favourite, and after the lapse of a few years, during which the earl of Hereford served for some time in Scotland, he was again in the field with Lancaster against the Despensers. At first their rising was triumphant and procured the banishment of the Despensers; this temporary success, however, was effectually reversed at the fatal battle of Boroughbridge, March 16, 1321, where the earl of Hereford was slain in attempting to force the bridge^[2], and Thomas of Lancaster being taken prisoner, suffered at Pontefract the doom he had inflicted on Gaveston at Warwick. On the person of Bohun was found a counterpart of the treaty offensive and defensive, which the insurgents had concluded with Robert Bruce^[3]. Much stress was laid on this document at the trial of the earl of Lancaster: in point of law it was certainly treasonable, yet, regarding it dispassionately, at this distance of time, we may be justified in doubting the treason of its spirit. It provided that the king of Scots and his adherents should aid the earls in the maintenance of their cause; in consideration of such assistance the earls agreed they would not assist the king of England against the Scots, and they covenanted that on attaining their own ends, they would use their best power to make good peace between the two lands of England and Scotland; an object, which under the then state of affairs, every good subject as well as every wise statesman might have desired conscientiously and with the purest loyalty to attain.

The will of the earl of Hereford was made on the 11th of August, 1319, at Gosforth, near Newcastle on Tyne, a place which was then the patrimony of a branch of the ancient house of Surtees, and is now the seat of the family of Brandling. He was then on his march to besiege the town of Berwick, which had been taken by the Scots in the preceding- year. The expedition proved unsuccessful, for the earl of Lancaster withdrew from the siege, not without suspicion of having been bribed by the Scots, and was accompanied in his retreat by all the barons of his party, and among them by the earl of Hereford.

The document was therefore made in contemplation of the possibility of sudden death in the field. With this contingency before him, the earl desired that he might be buried in the abbey of Wahlen in Essex, near the body of Elizabeth his late wife (jadys ma cumpaigne), and bequeathed the magnificent sum of one thousand marks for the general expenses of his funeral, charging his executors that the bodies of his father, mother, and wife, should be as honourably covered^[4] as his own, and that there should be but one herce, of one course of lights over all their bodies. It may be observed that this natural and amiable desire of the testator to repose beside his nearest relatives was not eventually gratified. After the conflict at Boroughbridge, his corpse was conveyed to York, and interred in the church of the Friars Preachers. Among the numerous legacies in his will may be enumerated the gift of his "black charger, which he brought from beyond sea," to Bartholomew lord Badlesmere of Leeds castle in Kent, who was also one of the partizans of the earl of Lancaster, was captured like his chief at Boroughbridge, and hanged at Canterbury: his ignominious death may be partly attributed to the resentment of Queen Isabella, whom lady Badlesmere had refused to admit into the castle of Leeds, during her lord's absence.

To his sons Humphrey, Edward, William, afterwards earl of Northampton, and Eneas, he bequeaths two thousand marks each, to be employed according to the discretion of his executors. At the period of the will, two only of the earl's daughters were living, Alianore, afterwards the wife of James Butler, earl of Ormond, and Margaret, who was contracted to Hugh Courtenay, son of Hugh lord Courtenay subsequently first earl of Devon of his name. To Alianore he left two hundred pounds, for her "apparel" against her marriage, and to Margaret two hundred marks for the same purpose. Among the miscellaneous objects bequeathed by the earl are—to his eldest son all his armour, and "an entire bed of green powdered with white swans," the Bohun badge^[5]. To master John Walewayn, one of his executors, a cup "stamped (emprenté) and embossed with fleurs-de-lis," which had belonged to St. Edmund de Pounteny^[6], and a gold ring with a ruby, which his wife devised to him, "and which is all covered with bruises, and is in a little casket in a great box at the end of the lower wardrobe^[7]." To the persons who had the care of his sons and daughters, the earl leaves sums varying in amount. Yet it is singular, that although he mentions John, his son and heir, no particular bequest is made to him. The will notices also Maud Bascreville "my sister," a personage who does not appear in Dugdale's account of the Bohun family^[8]. His bequests to religious communities are numerous, but need not be here detailed: his various servants in every grade are remembered, and among them occur the names of the constables of his castles of Brecknock and Plessy. To each of his garsçons who should have been in his service more than a year on the day of his death he left twenty shillings, and, finally, he ordained that his best horses should be selected as an offertory at his interment. The abbot of Walden was nominated one of his four executors.

This document is in a fair state of preservation, and a good impression of the earl's seal^[9], of which a cut, the full size, is annexed, is still pendant to it. There were other seals, which have been broken.

I have now to notice the Inventory. The circumstances under which it was prepared cannot be ascertained. We may assume either that the abbot of Walden had the charge of the earl's effects as one of his executors, or that, in accordance with the usage of those times, they had been deposited in the abbey for safe custody. It seems probable also, that Sir Nicholas de la Beche received these effects as an agent of the crown, which would take possession of the earl's property after his death; and it was possibly owing to such seizure that his will was not proved. But in the absence of all information it is useless to indulge in mere conjecture^[10]. I shall therefore proceed to offer a few remarks upon the objects described in this curious deed.

Perhaps the most valuable passage in it is one which will be most interesting to the herald. I allude to the evidence it affords of the practice of quartering arms in England some time before the date of the earliest instance of it extant, and also previously to the date generally received, on the authority of Camden^[11]. Among the objects which the abbot received from John de Tosseburi, was a courte-pointe^[12] (quintepoint) quartered (quartelé^[13]) with the arms of England and Hereford. It is well known that the earliest example of a quartered shield in England occurs on the third^[14] great seal of Edward the Third; hence, it has been inferred that the fashion began in his reign. Here we have clear evidence of its existence in 1322, five years before that monarch's accession. This fact may serve, in some measure, to remove the doubts which have been hitherto entertained respecting the genuineness of the quartered shield on the curious sepulchral effigy in Winchester cathedral, commonly called the effigy of William de Foix.

An interesting circumstance in connexion with military costume, presents itself in this document; it is the mention of those singular appendages to the shoulders, appropriately termed ailettes or alerons. They came into fashion early in the reign of Edward I., although they are not to be seen on any English royal seal before the reign of Edward III., but they appear on the seal of that sovereign as duke of Aquitaine, in the lifetime of his father. The first mention of ailettes which has been noticed in any document occurs in the roll of articles purchased for the tournament of Windsor, A.D. 1278, by which we learn that they were formed of leather, lined or covered with cloth called carda, and attached to the shoulders by laces of silk^[15]. A pair of ailettes, garnished and fretted with pearls, occur in the inventory of the effects of Piers Gaveston taken in 1313^[16]. They were much in fashion both in France and Flanders, as shewn by personal seals, sepulchral memorials, and illuminated manuscripts. The little "prente," with silver leaves and a frontal of cloth of say, destined for the decoration of the basinet, was probably a coronal formed of metal by impression, or what is technically called repoussé, and this entry affords an interesting illustration of the peculiar fashion which is exhibited by the effigy of John of Eltham, who died 1334^[17]. His basinet is curiously ornamented with a foliated coronal, and pendant lappets around the head. It appears moreover from this inventory, that the basinet was occasionally covered with leather, and these circumstances may serve to explain the term hourson, or houson^[18], a portion of the equipment of the headpiece, the precise nature of which has not hitherto been ascertained. Syr Gawayn is described as having worn "a lyzth vrysoun ouer the auentayle" of his headpiece, formed of a broad silken band, embroidered and set with gems^[19]. In the detailed account of the judicial conflict between the Sire de Beaumanoir and Pierre Tournemine, in the year 1385, the leathern and other coverings of the basinet are minutely described^[20], and they appear to be represented on several monumental effigies of the fourteenth century in England, such as that of Sir John Laverick, at Ash, in Kent. The haubergeon called Bolioun was possibly of Bolognese manufacture^[21], and the sword of Sarracenic work might have been of Moorish fabrication. The description of a sword, as being of the arms of Bohun, probably implied that an escutcheon of arms was affixed to the pomel, a fashion of which sepulchral effigies afford numerous examples. The sword of state formerly preserved at Chester, and now in the British Museum, is curiously decorated with armorial bearings on the pomel.

Amongst the minor objects of personal use, which appear to have belonged to Margaret de Bohun, here enumerated, the "poume de aumbre," or scent ball, in the composition of which ambregris probably formed a principal ingredient, may deserve notice. I am not aware that any other evidence of its use at so early a time has been noticed. We here learn also that a nutmeg was occasionally used for the like purpose; it was set in silver, decorated with stones and pearls, and was evidently an object rare and highly prized. Amongst the valuable effects of Henry V., according to the inventory taken A.D. 1423, are enumerated a musk-ball of gold, weighing eleven ounces, and another of silver-gilt. At a later period the pomander was very commonly worn as the pendant of a lady's girdle: a receipt for compounding it may be found in the "Treasury of Commodious Conceits," 1586^[22]. The peres de Eagle were the stones called ætites, supposed to be found in the nest of the eagle, to which various medicinal and talismanic properties were attributed, especially during child-birth.

The wooden table "painted for an altar" among the effects of Alianore de Bohun is worthy of remark: it formed a part of the moveable chapel-furniture (capella) which persons of rank took with them on their journeys, or used when through infirmity, the badness of roads, or some other cause valid in those days, they were prevented from attending public worship. Licenses to use such portable altars are of frequent occurrence on the older episcopal registers^[23]. I am not cognisant of an earlier mention of coral than that which occurs in this inventory; the Paternoster of coral with gilded gaudeez^[24], which belonged to Margaret de Bohun, and the three branches of coral which Alianore possessed, are the instances to which I refer.

The library of the carl of Hereford consisted of only one secular volume, but one that was in great repute in his age; the book which the fabulous king Boctus caused to be written on all the sciences by the equally fabulous Sydrac^[25]. The collection of books for the service of the chapel of Denney is very complete, and among other furniture there may be noticed the cloths for covering the lettern or lectron.

In conclusion I would observe, that the portions of the Inventory which are omitted, enumerate merely rings, brooches, and other articles of jewellery and plate, which, although they shew the wealth of the Bohun family, are common to similar documents as well of earlier as of later date. T. H. TURNER.

 

WILL.

En le noun du piere et du fuiz et du seint esperit Jeo Humfrai de Bohun Counte de Hereford et Dessex en bone memoire et en sanctie facz mon testament en la manere qe sensuit. Primes je devis malme a nostre seigneur Jhesu crist qe soffri mort en la croiz pur moi et pur touz pecheours et ala benuree virgine Marie sa benoite mere et a touz les seinz de Parays et moun corps a sevelir en leglise nostre tres douce dame de Waledene pres du corps Elizabethe jadys ma cumpaigne. Ensement je devis qe touz mes dettes soient pleinement paiez et acquitez. et ce qe defaut du testament ma femme je voil qil soit perfourmy en toutes choses. Ensement je devys pur le cariage de mon corps du lieu la ou je sui mort tauntqe al Abbeye de Waledene et pur aumosnes faire et pur mon enterrement et pur la departie faire a mon enterrement et pur toutes autres choses qe a ce apendent. mille mars. en chargaunt mes Executours qe les corps de mon piere de ma mere et de ma cumpaigne soient auxi honestement covertz come mon corps et qe entre touz noz corps ne soit qe une herce de une course de luminaire. Ensement je devis a mon seignur le Roi un pot et une coupe dor. les queux ma femme me devisa. Item a Mons. Berthelme de Badlesmere le noir destrer qe je menai de ultremer. Et pur qe mon seignur le Roi la son merci me ad graunte par ses lettres patentes la moitie des issues de toutes mes terres du jour qe dieus avera fait sa volentie de moi tauntqe au plein eage de mon hoir et touz les deners qe purrent estre levez del mariage mon dit hoir et de touz les deners qe mon dit seignur le Roi me doit par acounte fait en sa gardrobe de ma demoere ovesqes lui. et auxint de touz les deners qe le counte de Haynaud de Hollande et de Zelaunde me doit^[26]. Jeo devis

a Humfrai Edward William et Eneas mes fuiz cest asavoir a chascun de eux. ij. mille livres. pur achater terres ou mariages. ou pur emplyer en autres choses solonc ce qe noz Executours verront qe plus soit a lour proffet. et si les deners avauntditz amountent a plus nous voloms qil soient owelement parti entre noz quatre fuitz susditz. Ensement je devis a Alianore ma fille pur son aparail entre son mariage. cc. livres. Item je devis a Mons. Hughe de Courtenay M^le. mars. les queux je lui doi pur le mariage de Margarete ma fille. et de son fuiz et hoir. Item je devis a meismes cele Margarete pur laparail entre son mariage. cc. mars. Ensement je devis a mon enizne fuiz toutz mes armures et un lit entier de vert poudre de Cynes blaunches ove toutes les apurtenaunces. Item je devis a Mestre Johan Walewayn une coupe emprenté et enbocé de flurs de lis le quel fut a seint Edmon de Pounteny. et une petite coupe qe Giles de Herteberghe me dona a Bruges. et un anel dor ove un ruby qe ma femme me devisa qe ad tout pleni de coups et est en un petit forcer en une graunt husche au bout de la basse gardrobe. Ensement je de is a Monsire Robert de Haustede le piere et a dame Margerie sa femme pur la garde de Eneas mon fuiz. C. li. Et a monsire Robert de Walkefare. lx. livres. et a Monsire Wautier de Shorne a qui nous navons fait nul regard, c. li. Ensement je devis a Phelippe Wake mestresse Alianore ma fille. xx. li. et a Mahaud de Bascreville ma soer pur son mariage xl. li. Item je devis a Katerine de Boklaunde mestresse Margarete ma fille. x. livres. Et a Isabel la femme Peres de Geudeford. c. s. Ensement je devis au Chapitre general des freres prechours pur messes et autres oreisons chaunter et dire pur malme. xx. li. Et au chapitre general des freres Menours pur meismes les choses. xx. livres. Item au chapitre des freres de seint Augustin pur meismes les choses. xx. mars. Et au chapitre general des freres Carmeux pur meismes les choses. xx. mars. Ensement je devis al Abbe et Covent de Waledene^[27] pur messes chaunter et autres bienfaitz faire pur malme. x. li. Et au Priour et Covent de Launthony^[28] pres de Gloucestre pur meismes les choses faire. x. livres. Item au Priour et Covent de Farleghe^[29] pur meismes les choses. x. li. Et au Priour et Covent de Breckeñ^[30] pur meismes les choses faire. x. li. Et au Priour et Covent de Harle^[31] pur meismes les choses faire x. li. Et au Priour et Covent de Stonle.^[32] c. s. Et au Priour et Covent de Wirecestre pur meismes les choses faire. x. li. Ensement je devis a Huard de Soyrou mestre Humfrai mon fuiz. xx. li. Et a Robert Swan qe est ove Johan nostre fuiz et ses frerres. xx. li. Item je devis a Robert de Clifton, x. li. Et a Robert de la Lee. x. livres. Item a mestre Wauter mon Keu. x. li. Et a William mon fauconer. x. li. Et a Robert Brutyn. x. li. Item a Berthelet le fauconer. c. s. Et a Johan de Gynes. c. s. Ensement je devis a Richard Wrothe mon Conestable de Breckeñ^[30]. xx. li. Et a Thomas Gobyoun mon Conestable du Plesci.^[33] xx. li. Et a Henri Herbert, x. li. Item je devis a Wauter le Seler. c. s. et a Roger le Keu. c. s. et a Richard le Deen. c. s. Item je devis a Johan le Deen l. s. et a Adam de Rothingge. c. s. Item a Johan le Chaundeler. l. s. et a Willym le ferour. x. li. Item je devis a Adam le ferour. c. s. et a William de Weston. c. s. Item a Milles. c. s. et a Thomas le Pestour. c. s. Ensement je devis a Thomas de la despense mon Chaumberlein. x. mars. Et a Poun mon barber, x. mars. Item a Williem de la Gardrobe. c. s. et a Robert mon palefreiour, c. s. Item je devis a Gilbert le Poleter. c. s. et a chascun de mes garscons qe ad esté ovesqes moi outre un an le jour qe dieus avera fait sa volentie de moi. XX. s. Ensement je devis qe de touz mes chevaux des meillours soient assignez pur mon enterrement. Et a toutes les choses susdites parfaire Je ai ordeiné Mestre Johan Walewayn. Monsire Bertheleme Denefeud. Labbé de Waleden et Sire Johan de Waleden. mes Executours. Escritte a Goseford pres du Noef Chastel sur Tyne. le xj. jour Daugust Lan de grace. Mil treis centz et disnoef.

 

INVENTORY.

Ceste Endenture tesmoigne des divers chose qe furent au Counte de Hereforde trovez en Labbaye de Waledene le Meacredy prochein apres la Anunciacion nostre dame Lan du Regne le Roi Edward fuiz le Roy Edward quinzisme^[34] et livereez par labbe de meisme le lieu a Mons. Nichol de la Beche. cest à savoir de Eneas de Bohun. une Nouche dor ove iij. greyns des Esmeraudes et noef perles ove une Saphir en my lieu. un anel dor ove une Ameraude. xij. esqueles dargent. xij. sausers. et ij. bacyns dargent. De William de Bohun [inter alia] ij. bacyns dargent des escuchouns darmes Dengleterre et Wolvistir^[35]. De Umfrey de Bohun [inter alia] ij. petitz bacyns dargent ove les armes Dengleterre et de Fraunce. De Johan de Bohun [inter alia] une firmaille dor ove vj, Esmeraudes graundes. ij. bacyns dargent darmes Dengleterre et de Hoilaund. De Edward de Bohun [inter alia] un firmaille dor ove iiij. Esmeraudes et iij. Rubies. De Margarete de Bohun [inter alia] j. table de pees^[36] ove une ymage dargent suzorré. une coupe de Cristal ove une pee dargent suzorré. j.

ensenser dargent. j. Buket dargent pur ewe beneyt. j. escurge ovesqes dargent. ij. petitz cruettes dargent. ij. plates ove les peez dargent pur espices. ij. petites ymages de nostre dame de yvor. j. petite forcere ove follies dargent. j. petite table dor et enaumaillé, dedeinz ij, peire des Paternoster, lun de coral, lautre de Geet, ove les gaudeez suzorrez. j. poume de aumbre mys en iij. crampouns dargent. j. braunche de coral, iij. peres de Eagle, j. Nef dargent pur Aumoigne. De Alianore de Bohun. j. table de fuist depeynt pur un auter. une croice ove j. pee dargent suzorré. j. ymage de nostre dame de yvor en une Tabernacle cluse. j. petite ymage de yvor de Seinte Katerine. j. buket et j. escurge dargent pur eawe beneyt. ij. cruettes et j. sonet dargent. et j. Navette dargent pur ensens. j. senser dargent suzorré. j. plate dargent pur espices ove le pee ove escuchouns des divers armes. et ij. autres plates playnes dargent pur espices. j. mazer blaunk ove la covercle. j. Nouche dor taillé come j. escu ove une egle Saphirs Rubies perlis, et j. Rubie pendaunt en son Beek. j. boyste dargent enaumaillé ove j. anel dor ove j. Rubie. j. petite prente ove follies dargent ove j. frountele de Saye pur j. bacynet. iij. braunches de coral. j. poume muge mys en un crampoun dargent ove menues piers et perles. j. flour de nostre dame. j. petite coupe de muge ove le pee et le covercle dargent suzorré. iij. petiz quilliers dargent ove kockilies de la meer. j. petite Tablette ove une Crucifixe et une Mariole de nostre dame enaumaillé. ij. broches dargent pur mauntel en un petite cas de yvoir. j. pigne dor et j. myrour dargent ove j. broche dargent en un cas. et. j. neyre boiste herneisé dor. j. peyre des Paternoster de Aumbre. et j. autre dargent. et iij. aymaux. et j. forcer de yvor lié dargent.

Pur le Counte de Hereford [inter alia] la graunde Coroune ove Rubies Esmeraudes et perils et sur la creste Rubies et Saphirs la quele la Reigne sa mere^[37] devisa au Countesse de Hereford.

Ces sunt les choses qe le dit Abbe ad resceu de Johan de Tosseburi. cest a savoir xvij. tapites et Banquers de vert poudreez des cygnes. et j. Hauberjoun qe est apele Bolioun. et j. peire des plates covertes de vert velvet, ij. Gipeaux. ij. cotes darmes le Counte. iiij. peire de alettes des armes le Counte de Hereford, j. drap dor pur un lit * * * j. petite coverture de Seye. pur une berse des enfauntz. iiij. cspeies. lun des armes le dit Counte. lautre de Seint George^[38] et le tieree Sarziney. le quarte de Guerre, j. quintepoint de Hoylaund et j. de blaunk cendal. et j. palé de Rouge velvet et de penne de Paun.^[39] j. autre quartelé des armes Dengleterre et de Hereford * * * * * j. livre qe est apelée Sydrak. ij. baeynettes. lun covert de quir. lautre bourni. ij. coverchiefs pur chief de lit furreez de meneveir. lun de drap de Tarce lautre broudé, * * * *. ij. tapites de Inde. j. peire de Huses de Cordewan botoneez. j. corset de fer. j. coverture pur j. chival des armes de Hereford. j. summer bay^[40].

Estre ceo furent trovez en un cofre de la Chapele de Deneye les choses ensuauntz cest à savoir.

ij. Messals. j. legende. ij. auntefiniers.^[41] j. porthors.^[42] j. sautier glosé en ij. volumes. iij. greieles. j. manuel. j. epistolarie. ij. tropiers. j. Sautier ovesqes. j. ympner. le eanoun de la messe per sei. * * * * *. ij. corporaux ovesqe les cas. * * * * iiij. chapes de quer. * * * ij. draps pur lettroun * * * j. petit cofyn ove reliqes. j. bourse ove chartres. j. vessel de latoun enaumaillé. j. boiste dargent dorré. j. paper.

En tesmoignaunce des queux choses liverées &c. les avantditz Abbe et Sire Nichol de la Beche à lune et lautre endenture unt mys leurs seaux.

The seal of Sir Nicholas de la Beche, in tolerable preservation, is still pendant to the indenture.

1. In the Collection of Royal Wills. 4to. 1780.
2. Rot. Parl. ii. p. 3.
3. Ib. 4.
4. Covertz. That is, that their tombs should be hung with rich cloths.
5. In 1399, Eleanor de Bohun, duchess of Gloucester bequeathed, to her son Humphrey, a psalter richly illuminated, with clasps of gold enamelled with white swans. Royal Wills, p. 181. See also the seal of Thomas, earl of Gloucester—engraved in Sandford's Genealogical History of England—the ground of which is a diaper of ostrich feathers and swans. The seal of his duchess on the same plate may be remarked.
6. Archbishop of Canterbury, who died in exile at Pontigny, A.D. 1240. He was canonized by Innocent IV.
7. Probably the identical ring mentioned in the Inventory.
8. According to Dugdale the earl's mother was "Maud Fienles."
9. His arms were—az. a bend ar. between two cotises and six lions rampant, or.
10. The sheriff of Essex was present at the delivery, yet this does not absolutely prove that the document was the result of a fiscal process on behalf of the crown.
11. Remaines, ed. 1629, p. 159.
12. Culcitra-puncta: a quilt.
13. Ecartelé.
14. It is engraved in Sandford. See also Professor Willis's paper on the Great Seals of England, especially those of Edward III., in the fifth number of the Archæological Journal.
15. Archæol., vol. xvii. p. 302.
16. Fœdera, vol. ii. pt. 1. p. 204.
17. See Stothard's representation of this beautiful effigy, which is in Westminster Abbey.
18. Probably the diminutive of housse, a cover or case; for instance, the cover of a chair.
19. See Sir Frederick Madden's note on this curious passage. Gawayn, lin. 605, p. 21.
20. Dom Morice, Hist. de Bret. Preuves ii. 498.
21. Milan was particularly celebrated for the manufacture of armour, but the work produced in other Italian states was highly esteemed. In the inventory of Louis X. of France (A. D. 1316) occur "Un haubert et haubergeon de Lombardie."
22. See Privy Purse expenses of the Princess Mary, edited by Sir F. Madden. The derivation of the word pomander is noticed by Minsheu and Skinner. Elyot renders diapasma, "a swete perfume or pomeambre." Librarie. 1542.
23. They are very numerous in the registers at York.
24. The larger beads. One of the same material is named in the will of Eleanor de Bohun, duchess of Gloucester, in 1399.
25. Printed by Verard in 1586. See also Les Manuscrits François de la Bibliothèque du Roi, par Paulin Paris, vi. p. 14. There are several MSS. of this work in the British Museum.
26. The arrears of the dower of his wife Elizabeth Plantagenet, as countess of Holland. See Fœdera, vol. ii. pt. 1, p. 271.
27. Walden in Essex.
28. Lanthony.
29. Farleigh, Wilts, a cell to Lewes priory, founded by Humphrey de Bohun the second.
30. Brecknock or Brecon.
31. Hurley, Berks.
32. Stoneley, in Huntingdonshire, near Kimbolton.
33. Plessy or Plashy, in Essex.
34. A.D. 1322.
35. Sic in orig.
36. A pax,—osculatorium.
37. Alianore of Castile.
38. An early mention of this device.
39. Peacock's feathers.
40. A bay pack or sumpter-horse.
41. Antiphonars.
42. Portiforium; breviary.