The Problem of Labour in Fourteenth-Century England 1903153042, 9781903153048

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England

Lesley A. Coote

YORK MEDIEVAL PRESS

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England In the ®rst general survey of political prophecy in medieval England for almost a hundred years, Lesley Coote examines the nature of political prophecy, its audience and its reception, from its emergence in the twelfth century to the end of the Middle Ages. Working from original manuscripts, she reveals prophecy to have been a major language for the discussion of public affairs, enshrining ideas of `Englishness' and a `national' community, and introducing a great crusading hero-ruler, a second Arthur, who would lead his people into the Last Days. Dr Lesley A. Coote is a Research Fellow in the Department of English at the University of Hull.

YORK MEDIEVAL PRESS York Medieval Press is published by the University of York's Centre for Medieval Studies in association with Boydell & Brewer Ltd. Our objective is the promotion of innovative scholarship and fresh criticism on medieval culture. We have a special commitment to interdisciplinary study, in line with the Centre's belief that the future of Medieval Studies lies in those areas in which its major constituent disciplines at once inform and challenge each other.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England

Lesley A. Coote

YORK MEDIEVAL PRESS

# Lesley A. Coote 2000 All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system, published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the copyright owner First published 2000 A York Medieval Press publication in association with The Boydell Press an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd PO Box 9 Woodbridge Suffolk IP12 3DF UK and of Boydell & Brewer Inc. PO Box 41026 Rochester NY 14604±4126 USA website: http://www.boydell.co.uk and with the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York ISBN 1 903153 03 4 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Coote, Lesley A. (Lesley Ann), 1954± Prophecy and public affairs in later medieval England/Lesley A. Coote p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-903153-03-4 (hardback: alk. paper) 1. English literature ± Middle English, 1100±1500 ± History and criticism. 2. Politics and literature ± Great Britain ± History ± To 1500. 3. Great Britain ± Politics and government ± 1154±1399. 4. Great Britain ± Politics and government ± 1399± 1485. 5. National characteristics, English, in literature. 6. Public opinion ± England ± History ± To 1500. 7. Arthurian romances ± Appreciation ± England. 8. Nationalism ± England ± History ± To 1500. 9. Great Britain ± History ± Prophecies. 10. Nationalism in literature. 11. Prophecies in literature. 12. Prophecy in literature. 13. Heroes in literature. I. Title. PR275.P63 C66 2001 820.9'358±dc21 00±042876 Use the Internet and eliminate mail time and postage costs htt;://cip.loc.gov/cip

This publication is printed on acid-free paper Typeset by Joshua Associates Ltd, Oxford Printed in Great Britain by St Edmundsbury Press Ltd, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

CONTENTS Acknowledgements

vii

Abbreviations

ix

Introduction

1

1

What is Political Prophecy?

13

2

The Second Arthur: The King as hero c. 1135±1307

43

3

Expectation and Disappointment 1307±1340

83

4

Debate and Crusade 1340±1399

121

5

The Imperial Hero 1399±1440

157

6

Cadwallader and the Angelic Voice: The Rationalization of Chaos 1450±1485

195

Postscript

235

Handlist of Manuscripts

239

Bibliography

281

Index

297

v

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have to acknowledge the often considerable assistance of the librarians and staff of all the libraries I have visited, and from whom I have requested information. The staff of the three main repositories, the British Library, the Bodleian Library and the Cambridge University Library, have been particularly helpful. I have also received help and support from particular individuals, and in this connection I would like to mention Dr Kathryn Kerby-Fulton, Dr Henry Hargreaves, Rev. John Proctor of Westminster College, Cambridge, and particularly Dr Gillian Evans, without whom this project would never have been begun. Above all, I am grateful to my son Jonathan, who has endured much, and my husband David, who has endured very much, during the preparation of this book. Finally, my thanks to staff and colleagues at the Centre for Medieval Studies in York, especially Dr James Binns, for surveying my Latin texts and translations, and Professors Mark Ormrod and Felicity Riddy, for creating the atmosphere of stimulation and challenge which a work such as this one needs in order to `grow'.

vii

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ABBREVIATIONS AHR ANTS BIHR BL BJRL EETS EHR ELN JCWI NQ PP RS TRHS

American Historical Review Anglo-Norman Text Society Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research London, British Library Bulletin of the John Rylands Library Early English Text Society English Historical Review English Language Notes Journal of the Courtauld and Warburg Institutes Notes and Queries Past and Present Rolls Series Transactions of the Royal Historical Society

ix

INTRODUCTION Writing in 1911, Rupert Taylor remarked that political prophecy `as a type of English literature' had, as yet, received little attention.1 He noted that there had been editions and studies of particular texts, but there had been no work on political prophecy in general. Many texts were still unedited, in manuscript form only, and therefore were not readily available to the majority of students and scholars.2 Taylor set out to remedy this situation himself, and the resulting book became, and still remains, the standard background work on political prophecy in medieval England. It has to be recognized that Taylor was a pioneer in this ®eld, the ®rst scholar to identify political prophecy as having a form and a purpose distinct from other species of historical writing. On the other hand, the continued reliance upon Taylor's book as the ultimate reference for political prophecy in England is unfortunate, as his work can now be seen to contain some fatal ¯aws. Taylor studied the syntax of the texts, but was chie¯y interested in their imagery and symbolism. This gave the impression, shared by other scholars before and since, that prophecy was a kind of code, or puzzle-language, put together by the initiated, in order that other initiated persons might then decipher it. Writing sixty years after Taylor, Basil Clarke said of the prophecies in the Vita Merlini, `they can be tedious, apart from the interest of the form itself. There is a cryptographic attraction in trying to identify references to current and earlier personalities and events.'3 This ignored the fact that the message of many prophetic texts was quite easy to discover, even to the uninitiated reader. Taylor's approach laid stress on the writer and the text, not on the copyist, or the audience, many of whom themselves copied prophecies. However, Taylor stressed two important points: that there was a certain type of prophetic text which was `political'; and that Geoffrey of Monmouth was extremely important in the development of these texts. Having invented the term `political prophecy', Taylor classi®ed it as a literary genre, a classi®cation which has been accepted ever since. As Taylor admitted, there had been considerable interest in political prophecies before 1911, leading to a series of editions of particular texts. In the second half of the nineteenth century, there had been considerable interest in the study of political literature, including prophecies, during the course of 1 2 3

R. Taylor, The Political Prophecy in England (New York, 1911), p. 1. Having said this, most of the texts used by Taylor came from published editions. The Life of Merlin: Geoffrey of Monmouth Vita Merlini, ed. B. Clarke (Cardiff, 1973), p. 16.

1

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England which some valuable progress had been made. Thomas Wright published his collection of Political Poems and Songs in the Rolls Series between 1859 and 1861, in which he included a version of the long prophetic poem which I have called `Bridlington', also known as `The Prophecy of John of Bridlington', along with a commentary on this poem by John Erghome, an Augustinian canon of York.4 Although almost certainly wrong in ascribing both texts to the same author, Wright attempted to place the texts in their historical background, and drew attention to the fact that these texts were intended by their authors to carry a `political' message. That is to say, the texts related to the public affairs of the time in which they were written. Other scholars of the same period edited texts, and noted that there was sometimes considerable variation between texts which appeared to be closely related. Scholars such as Brandl and Murray also attempted to ®t prophecies into their historical contexts.5 The second half of the nineteenth century also witnessed important scholarship in the ®eld of theological, apocalyptic prophecy. Ernst Sackur produced Sibillinische Texte und Forschungen in 1898, which contained editions of apocalyptic texts such as `Sibille generaliter' and `Pseudo-Methodius'.6 At the same time, Holder-Egger wrote a series of articles on Italian prophecies of the thirteenth century, taken from manuscripts in German and Austrian collections.7 He noted that versions of some of these texts could also be found in Italian manuscripts, and that these prophetic texts had been used as weapons in the struggle for power between the Holy Roman Emperors, notably Frederick II, and the popes in the thirteenth century. Although they sometimes contained apocalyptic elements, these prophecies were political, in that they related to the public affairs of the time in which they were written. Holder-Egger published edited examples of his texts, avoiding the temptation to create composite versions. H. L. D. Ward also made the connection between text and manuscript but, because of the nature of his work, he put manuscript origin before textual 4

5

6 7

Political Poems and Songs relating to English History, ed. T. Wright, 2 vols., RS 14 (London, 1859±61), I, 123±215. A. Brandl, Thomas of Erceldoune (Berlin, 1880); The Romance and Prophecies of Thomas of Erceldoune, ed. J. A. H. Murray, EETS OS 61 (London, 1875). Also, A. Brandl, The Cock in the North: Poetische Weissagung auf Percy Hotspur, in Sitzungberichte der KoÈnigliche Preussichen Akademie der Wissenschaften (Berlin, 1909). Brandl believed that it was possible to make a composite text of `a prophecy'. This limits the value of his text considerably. Murray, on the other hand, prints texts side-by-side; his is still the best edition of the `Thomas of Erceldoune' romance. Other early editions include the socalled `Scottish Prophecies' and the `Alliterative Becket' in Bernardus de cura rei familiaris, ed. J. R. Lumby, EETS OS 42 (London, 1870), pp. 18±34; also Adam Davy's Dreams about Edward the Second, ed. F. J. Furnivall, EETS OS 69 (London, 1878). Sibyllinische Texte und Forschungen, ed. E. Sackur (Halle, 1898). `Italienische Prophetieen das 13 Jahrhunderts', ed. O. Holder-Egger, Neues Archiv der Gesellschaft fuÈr Altere Deutsche GeschichtskuÈnde 15 (1889), 143±78; 30 (1904±5), 323±86; 33 (1907±8), 97±187.

2

Introduction content. In his Catalogue of Romances, Ward dealt with some of the smaller texts, which he entitled `Prophecies of Merlin'.8 He placed both prophetic texts and the Historia Regum Britannie in a section entitled `British and English Traditions'.9 In doing this, Ward realized that there was a relationship between political prophecy and the British History, and that this was also somehow `English'. He showed that these two subjects often occurred in the same manuscripts. English translations of Geoffrey's Historia Regum Britannie were already available by the beginning of the 1850s.10 By using the manuscripts as a starting-point, Ward was acknowledging the importance of the audience in the development of political prophecy, but this point appears to have been lost on Taylor, who used Ward's Catalogue as a source-book only. The importance of his method of approach to the subject was not conceded, and this method was not followed up by subsequent writers. Since Taylor wrote his study of political prophecy, work on the subject has been advanced in a number of directions. The most popular of these has been the study of the life and works of Geoffrey of Monmouth. In 1929, Griscom and Jones produced their edition of the Historia Regum Britannie.11 This was followed in the 1930s and 40s by the work of Jacob Hammer.12 Besides reediting the Historia, Hammer researched commentaries on the `Prophecia Merlini', in an effort to contextualize the prophecies, as well as the Historia itself, and to understand more about their author. More recently, this work has been taken up by scholars such as Caroline Eckhardt, David Dumville and Neil Wright.13 Wright has produced the two latest scholarly editions of 8

9 10

11

12

13

H. L. D. Ward, Catalogue of Romances in the British Museum, 2 vols. (London, 1883± 93), I, 203±338. Ward, Catalogue of Romances, I, 203±22. Such manuscripts were also available on the Continent, where Schulz edited the Historia Regum Britannie and the `Prophecia aquile'. A. Schulz (San Marte), Die Sagen von Merlin (Halle, 1853); Gottfrieds von Monmouth, Historia Regum Britanniae, mit literar-historischer Einleitung und ausfuÈrlichen Anmerkungen, und Brut Tysylio, altwalsche Chronik in deutscher Uebersetzung, ed. A. Schulz (Halle, 1854), with a version of the `Prophecia aquile' on pp. 463±5. See also Taylor, Political Prophecy, p. 3, citing Historia Regum Britanniae, ed. and trans. J. A. Giles (London, 1844). The Historia Regum Britanniae of Geoffrey of Monmouth with contribution to the study of its place in early British History, ed. A. Griscom and R. Jones (New York, 1929). Geoffrey of Monmouth Historia Regum Britanniae: A Variant Version Edited from Manuscripts, ed. J. Hammer (Cambridge MA, 1951); J. Hammer, `Note on a Manuscript of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae', Philological Quarterly 12 (1933), 225±34; J. Hammer, `A Commentary on the Prophetia Merlini (Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britannie, Book VII)', Speculum 10 (1935), 3±30, continued in Speculum 15 (1940), 409±31; J. Hammer, `Another Commentary on the Prophetia Merlini (Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, Book VII)', Bulletin of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America 1 (1942±3), 589±601; J. Hammer, `Bref commentaire de la Prophetia Merlini du ms 3514 de la bibliotheÁque de la catheÂdrale d'Exeter', in Hommages aÁ Joseph Bidez et aÁ Franz Cumont, ed. J. Hammer (Brussels, 1949), pp. 111±19. The Prophetia Merlini of Geoffrey of Monmouth: a Fifteenth-Century English Commentary,

3

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England the Historia Regum Britannie, whilst Eckhardt and Dumville have examined not only Geoffrey and his Historia, but also the `Prophecia Merlini' and Vita Merlini.14 These scholars have placed more emphasis on the manuscript background of these works than Taylor did, and the ®rst comprehensive survey of manuscripts of the Historia Regum Britannie was published in 1989.15 Current work on Geoffrey of Monmouth has attempted to place the writer in his literary and historical context.16 Other ®elds of study which have increased our knowledge of political prophecy are the study of Welsh literature, apocalyptic literature, and individual prophetic texts, or groups of texts. It is now possible to detect some of the Celtic source material of Geoffrey of Monmouth and his contemporaries, and to see how they used these sources.17 Apocalyptic prophecy is closely related to political prophecy, and much recent work has been done in this ®eld. The work of Marjorie Reeves has proved extremely in¯uential, particularly her 1969 study of the work and in¯uence of the Calabrian abbot, Joachim of Fiore.18 Reeves stressed the audience and manuscript contexts of Joachim's texts, showing how his language was taken up in the generation after his death, and used in power struggles both inside and outside the Church. It is thus possible to see that, although Joachim had claimed for himself only the roÃle of exegete, his language was taken and used

14

15

16

17

18

ed. C. Eckhardt (Cambridge MA, 1982); C. D. Eckhardt, `The Date of the Prophetia Merlini Commentary in MSS Cotton Claudius B. vii and BibliotheÁque Nationale fonds latin 6233', NQ n.s. 23 (1976), 146±7; C. D. Eckhardt, `The Prophetia Merlini of Geoffrey of Monmouth: Latin Manuscript Copies', Manuscripta 26 (1982), 167±76; D. N. Dumville, `The Origin of the C-Text of the Variant Version of the Historia Regum Britannie', Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies 26 (1974±76), 315±22; D. N. Dumville, `The Manuscripts of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae', Arthurian Literature 3 (1983), 113±28; 4 (1985), 164±71; 5 (1985), 149±51. The Historia Regum Britannie of Geoffrey of Monmouth I: Bern BuÈrgerbibliotek MS 568, ed. N. Wright (Cambridge, 1985); The Historia Regum Britannie of Geoffrey of Monmouth II: the First Variant Version, a Critical Edition, ed. N. Wright (Cambridge, 1988). J. C. Crick, The Historia Regum Britannie of Geoffrey of Monmouth III: A Summary Catalogue of the Manuscripts (Cambridge, 1989). On this see C. N. L. Brooke, `Geoffrey of Monmouth as a Historian', in Church and Government in the Middle Ages, ed. C. N. L. Brooke, D. Luscombe, G. Martin and B. Owen (Cambridge, 1976), pp. 77±91; V. J. Flint, `The Historia Regum Britannie of Geoffrey of Monmouth: Parody and its Purpose: A Suggestion', Speculum 54 (1979), 447±68. See also B. L. McCauley, `Giraldus ``Silvester'' of Wales and his Prophetic History of Ireland: Merlin's RoÃle in the Expugnatio Hibernica', Quondam et Futurus 3±4 (1993), 41±62. M. E. Grif®ths, Early Vaticination in Welsh with English Parallels (Cardiff, 1937); G. Williams, `Prophecy, Poetry and Politics in Medieval and Tudor Wales', in British Government and Administration: Studies Presented to S. B. Chrimes, ed. H. Hearder and H. R. Loyn (Cardiff, 1974), pp. 104±16; J. E. Caerwyn Williams, The Poets of the Welsh Princes, 2nd edn (Cardiff, 1994); A. Breeze, Medieval Welsh Literature (Dublin, 1997). M. Reeves, The In¯uence of Prophecy in the Later Middle Ages: A Study in Joachimism (Oxford, 1969); M. Reeves, `Some Popular Prophecies from the Fourteenth to the Seventeenth Centuries', Studies in Church History 8 (1972), 107±34.

4

Introduction politically.19 Scholars such as Bernard McGinn, Robert Lerner and, most recently, Katherine Kerby-Fulton, have continued to work on apocalyptic literature, and prophecy in particular.20 The ®nal area of study, and one which has proved more popular than the study of prophecy in general, is the study of individual texts, or groups of texts.21 None of these studies, because of the exclusive nature of their material, addresses adequately the question; `what is prophecy?'. The only general background against which these authors may view their subjects is that provided by Taylor. This point has recently been made by Sharon Jansen in her survey of prophecy in the reign of Henry VIII. Jansen notes that the prophecies of this period were being used as political tools, and she traces this use back to the middle of the ®fteenth century. In Jansen's view, the genre which was once used as government propaganda had, by the 1530s, become a genre of protest. This, of course, re¯ects Taylor's conclusions about prophecy in medieval England.22 19 20

21

22

Reeves, In¯uence of Prophecy, pp. 10 and 56±7. Major works are: B. McGinn, Visions of the End (New York, 1979); R. Lerner, The Powers of Prophecy: The Cedar of Lebanon Vision from the Mongol Onslaught to the Dawn of the Enlightenment (Berkeley CA, 1983); R. Lerner, `Medieval Prophecy and Religious Dissent', PP 72 (1976), 3±24; K. Kerby-Fulton, `Hildegard of Bingen and Antimendicant Propaganda', Traditio 43 (1987), 386±99; K. Kerby-Fulton, Reformist Apocalypticism and Piers Plowman, Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature 7 (Cambridge, 1990). This last study has a very full bibliography of secondary sources. Most of the work on texts other than the `Prophecia Merlini' is relatively modern: M. J. Curley, `Versus Prophecialis: Prophecia Johannis Bridlingtoniensis (The Prophecy of John of Bridlington), An Edition' (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Chicago, 1973); M. J. Curley, `The Cloak of Anonymity and John of Bridlington', Modern Philology 77 (1980), 361±9; M. J. Curley, `Fifteenth Century Glosses on the Prophecy of John of Bridlington', Mediaeval Studies 46 (1984), 321±39; A. G. Rigg, `John of Bridlington's Prophecy: A New Look', Speculum 63 (1988), 596±613; V. J. Scattergood, `Adam Davy's Dreams and Edward II', Archiv fuÈr das Studien Der Neueren Sprechen und Literatur 206 (1970), 253±60; T. M. Smallwood, `The Prophecy of the Six Kings', Speculum 60 (1985), 571±92; A. F. Sutton and L. Visser-Fuchs, `The Dark Dragon of the Normans: A Creation of Geoffrey of Monmouth, Stephen of Rouen, and Merlin Silvester', Quondam et Futurus 2 (1992), 1±19; J. R. S. Phillips, `Edward II and the Prophets', in England in the Fourteenth Century: Proceedings of the 1985 Harlaxton Symposium, ed. W. M. Ormrod (Woodbridge, 1986), pp. 189±201; A. Allan, `Yorkist Propaganda: Pedigree, Prophecy and the ``British History'' in the Reign of Edward IV', in Patronage, Pedigree and Power in Later Medieval England, ed. C. Ross (Gloucester, 1979), pp. 171±92; E. B. Lyle, `The Relationship Between ``Thomas the Rhymer'' and ``Thomas of Erceldoune'' ', Leeds Studies in English n.s. 4 (1970), 23±30; M. O'Sullivan, `The Treatment of Political Themes in Late Medieval English Verse, with Special Reference to British Museum Cotton Roll ii.23' (unpublished D.Phil. thesis, University of London, 1972). A notable exception is R. Haferkorn, When Rome is Removed into England: Eine Politische Prophezeiung des 14. Jahrhunderts (Leipzig, 1932). S. Jansen, Political Protest and Prophecy under Henry VIII (Woodbridge, 1991), pp. 1± 19. The study of prophecy under the Tudors has recently undergone a revival; Jansen gives a bibliography of several key works. Also, a book by Dr Tim Thornton, on Nixon, the Cheshire prophet, is forthcoming.

5

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England In 1972, following the publication of Marjorie Reeves's The In¯uence of Prophecy, R. W. Southern addressed the Royal Historical Society on the need for further understanding of prophecy in the context of medieval history.23 Southern noted the close relationship between prophecy and historiography. He saw prophecy as a strange, predictive genre, related to astrology and other forms of experimental science. He remarked upon the change in the nature of prophecy in the twelfth century noted by Reeves, but related this to the availability of sources and the growth of intellectual aspirations, not to the political outlook and attitudes of the audience. The in¯uence of prophecy, Southern maintained, was kept intact by the survival of the system of thought upon which it was based. Like Taylor, Southern was concerned about the writers and their texts, not about the audience and their reception of, or participation in, the texts. However, the writers of prophetic texts are mostly unknown, and the copyists themselves belonged to the audience of the texts they copied. Political prophecies have survived in around two hundred manuscripts of medieval English origin, which may not represent a very large total in terms of the general survival of manuscripts of this date. However, if we then add the manuscripts of the Historia Regum Britannie, which contain the `Prophecia Merlini' as Book Seven, and the two hundred and ®fteen extant manuscripts of the English Brut, containing `The Last Kings of the English', the total rises to around ®ve hundred surviving manuscripts containing political prophecies. This number does not include the French or Latin Brut, or the extant manuscripts of chronicles, such as those of Adam of Usk, Thomas Walsingham and the Eulogium Historiarum, all of which contain prophetic texts. If these are added, the total rises to over ®ve hundred surviving manuscripts containing political prophecy, from medieval England alone.24 If we are to conclude that political prophecy was an intellectual game, or a series of coded messages for the initiated, then either the game was extremely popular among a large group of intellectuals, or the number of initiates was very large indeed. Political prophecy needs to be re-classi®ed if we are to understand an important part of the historiographical material which remains from medieval England. Against this background, I set out to answer some all-important questions: 23 24

R. W. Southern, `History as Prophecy', TRHS 5th ser. 22 (1972), 159±80. An approximate ®gure of 40,000 manuscripts and rolls for the period from the late fourteenth century to the early sixteenth century has been suggested. See K. L. Scott, `Design, Decoration and Illustration', in Book Production and Publishing in Britain: 1375±1475, ed. J. Grif®ths and D. Pearsall (Cambridge, 1989), pp. 31±64. For the Historia Regum Britannie, see Crick, Historia Regum Britannie III; J. C. Crick, `Update: The Manuscripts of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britannie', in Arthurian Literature 7 (1987), 158±62. For the Brut, see E. D. Kennedy, `Chronicles and Other Historical Writing', in A Manual of Writings in Middle English: 1050±1500 VIII, ed. J. B. Sievers and A. E. Hartung (New Haven, 1989), pp. 2629±2637 (manuscripts listed pp. 2818b±2821a).

6

Introduction what is political prophecy and what makes it `political'? That is, what are the features which distinguish this type of prophecy from others, and what relationship, if any, exists between them? I also examined the textual and social environments of the prophecies, in an attempt to discover what kind of people wrote, read, copied and collected them, and the way in which these people interpreted the texts. What motivated them to write, collect and read political prophecies, and how did these texts function in their political and social environment? The answers to such questions are essential to our understanding of the texts themselves: it is my view that the audience is the essential element in the understanding of political prophecy in medieval England. In offering my solutions, I am aware of my position at the end of a long line of scholars who have all sought, and are still seeking, the same truths. This book is a contribution, not a ®nal solution.

A Note on Method It is important to remember that, in political prophecy, there is no such thing as an `original text' which is open to subsequent corruption and adaptation. Every text is an original. In the ensuing chapters, when I speak of a `text', I am referring to that part of a text (usually from eighty to ninety per cent of the whole) which remains essentially the same in all extant copies. Any further degree of instability is regarded as a separate text. Another important point to remember is that the audience's interpretation may change according to political circumstances, and that this interpretation is as important as the written text. Continental texts, for example, take on new meanings in manuscripts of English origin. In this way, between the twelfth and the ®fteenth centuries, prophetic discourse encompassed civil wars, the deposition of kings, military success and failure against the French and the Scots, the increasing wealth and importance of urban communities, a hero (Edward III) who became old and ill, a king who was feeble-minded (Henry VI) and the realization that collective in¯uence in public affairs might be applied through a parliament. In locating texts chronologically, the handling of evidential material is crucial. Many texts do not reveal their age by means of their content, and I have not attempted to reveal the date of a text by searching for `hidden' historical events. The vagueness of prophetic discourse leaves many texts open to different interpretations, according to their contexts. I shall use the textual content for dating purposes only when the meaning is obviously stated by the author. Another problem is that the date of the earliest manuscript in which a text appears may not be the same as the date at which it ®rst became known in England, and is rarely the same as the date of composition. There may have been earlier manuscript examples which have either not survived, or have not yet come to light. In these cases I have 7

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England examined the date of the earliest manuscripts, the subject matter and type of the text, the nature of the texts surrounding it (if any) in the manuscripts, and the frequency of its occurrence in the time-period immediately following its earliest manuscript appearance. An example is `Adam Davy's Dreams', which concerns Edward II, but appears in only one manuscript at the very end of the fourteenth century, almost a hundred years after it was written. I have, therefore, been very cautious about the dating of texts. I prefer to locate texts within fairly broad time-periods, but use narrower ones in cases where more exact dating is possible. Prophetic texts are frequently added to earlier manuscripts, as marginalia or on ¯yleaves. In such cases, I use the date of the addition, not the date of the original manuscript. Sometimes a prophetic text may be glossed or annotated at a later date. In this case I shall consider the main text and the notes to be two separate, albeit related, texts. The same applies to commentaries. As for texts which originated outside England, I am only interested in the date of `importation' into this country, not their previous history. All this needs to be borne in mind when reading what follows. Finally, in considering what the manuscript evidence can reveal about the circulation of political prophecy in later medieval England, there are a number of caveats to be taken into account. First, there is the large number of such manuscripts ± just over a half of the total corpus ± for which early owners, and thus the social milieu in which the manuscript was produced and circulated, are unknown. It is unlikely that the patterns of ownership so strongly evident in the remainder would not also be re¯ected in the others. The possibility that this might not be so must be borne in mind; the likelihood of this, however, is not so great that it would invalidate any conclusions reached by studying the manuscripts for which evidence is available. A further problem is the haphazard nature of manuscript survival. A comparison of the manuscripts listed in the few book lists and catalogues which survive from medieval English religious houses with the volumes which have been located, for example, by Neil Ker, gives a rough idea of the great mass of books which have either been lost or cannot now be traced.25 25

There are studies on individual monastic libraries, most of which are listed in Medieval Scribes, Manuscripts and Libraries: Essays Presented to N. R. Ker, ed. M. Parkes and A. G. Watson (London, 1978), and a full survey is being attempted in The Corpus of British Library Catalogues, of which there will eventually be sixteen volumes. Four have already been produced: The Friars' Libraries, ed. K. W. Humphreys (London, 1990); Registrum Anglie de libris doctorum et auctorum ueterum, ed. R. A. B. Mynors, R. H. Rouse and M. A. Rouse (London, 1991); The Libraries of the Cistercians, Gilbertines and Premonstratensians, ed. D. N. Bell (London, 1992); English Benedictine Libraries: Lesser Catalogues, ed. D. N. Bell (London, 1994). Also The English Library before 1700: Studies in its History, ed. F. Wormald and C. E. Wright (London, 1958); N. R. Ker, Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books, 2nd edn (London, 1964); N. R. Ker, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1969±77).

8

Introduction The books of religious houses, such as Bury St Edmunds and St Mary's, York, which used pressmarks to identify their books, are more likely to be traceable than unmarked ones. Collections which, like that of the monks of Durham, were kept together after the Dissolution of 1535±41, were more likely to survive.26 Many of the remaining survivors owed their survival to the tastes and objectives of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century collectors. This was important for the survival of prophetic texts. When John Leland made his survey of monastic collections, he was listing manuscripts which would be of interest to his sponsor, Henry VIII. Henry used Leland's research to build up the core of what is now the Royal Collection in the British Library.27 Henry was particulary interested in historical material, and so was the great collector of the mid-seventeenth century, Sir Robert Cotton.28 Given the close relationship between prophetic texts and historical material, it is hardly surprising that the bulk of the British Library's prophetic texts are contained in the Royal and Cottonian collections. In fact, if these two collections did not exist, our ideas about the importance of prophecy as a political discourse in later medieval England would be seriously affected: they account for around a half of the British Library's prophetic texts.29 A book which is intrinsically valuable, with painted miniatures and illuminated borders and capitals, is far more likely to be desired by a collector than a small, cheap volume, written on paper rather than on more expensive vellum or parchment. Prophetic texts, on the whole, did not appear in luxury manuscripts, but in more utilitarian volumes. Fortunately, suf®cient examples of these have survived for this fact to be known. What is more dif®cult to envisage, however, is how many manuscripts of prophetic texts, cheaply produced on paper in the ®fteenth century (such as Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Hatton 56), have perished because of their lack 26

27

28

29

The core of Durham's collection is still there. See A. G. Piper, `The Libraries of the Monks of Durham', in Medieval Scribes, Manuscripts and Libraries, ed. Parkes and Watson, pp. 213±49. The will, personality and tastes of a bishop might preserve the core of a collection in a cathedral community. This was the case at Durham. Many Norwich manuscripts were transported in the sixteenth century to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, on the orders of Bishop Matthew Parker, where they remain in the Parker Library. The only edition of Leland is J. Leland: Comentarii de scriptoribus Britannicis, ed. A. Hall (Oxford, 1709). Edward IV, sometimes regarded as the founder of the Royal collection, also favoured historical works. See S. McKendrick, `The RomuleÂon and the Manuscripts of Edward IV', in England in the Fifteenth Century: Proceedings of the 1992 Harlaxton Symposium, ed. N. Rogers (Stamford, 1994), pp. 149±69 (pp. 164±5). Unlike Henry VIII, later collectors were affected also by availability. Many books had been bought up by bookbinders for use as raw materials. See A. G. Watson, `Thomas Allen of Oxford and his Manuscripts', in Medieval Scribes, Manuscripts and Libraries, ed. Parkes and Watson, pp. 279±313 (pp. 285±6). Twenty-seven out of the British Library's ®fty-®ve prophecy manuscripts are in these two collections; another nine are in the collection made by Robert Harley, earl of Oxford, in the early years of the eighteenth century.

9

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England of intrinsic value and the friable nature of the material on which they were written.30 It is also dif®cult to trace the movements of books in the Middle Ages. The fact that a volume was owned by a particular religious house in the ®fteenth century, for example, does not necessarily mean that it had always been there, or that the community was the original owner. From the fourteenth century onwards, individual community members owned their own book collections, which they might have built up over a number of years, perhaps outside their order, and which re¯ected their own personal interests. Many of these bequeathed, or donated, books to their community. They might also bequeath books outside the community, and lay-people or secular priests might donate books to a community. Religious communities also lent books (presumably not all of them returned) to other communities, and to individuals and groups outside the community. Books belonging to a large monastic foundation would be sent out to the house's dependencies, so books with a pressmark of Norwich Cathedral Priory might have spent all or part of their existence in Great Yarmouth, or a book from Durham on Lindisfarne. Houses also sent books to members of their communities studying at Oxford and Cambridge.31 In a world without the mass production of cheap books, manuscript books passed from hand to hand very frequently, and people with similar social status and interests would form reading groups.32 The sharing of books was also a feature of the noble and, increasingly, the bourgeois, household.33 Lay ownership of books is more dif®cult to trace than that of religious houses. Relatively few early owners of books wrote their names in them. Some are identi®able by the manuscript's contents, such as William Swann's letter book in BL MS Cotton Cleopatra C. IV. The ultimate purchaser of a book may not have been the original patron, and sometimes a manuscript produced for use in a religious community ended up being purchased by a lay owner. Changes of fortune, lack of funds and death sometimes prevented the commissioner of a manuscript from taking possession of the ®nished prod30

31

32 33

This manuscript has pages worn, in some places deeply, at the edges ± the result of being turned by many hands, or many times by a few hands. A. G. Piper, `The Libraries of the Monks of Durham', in Medieval Scribes, Manuscripts and Libraries, ed. Parkes and Watson, pp. 239±45; R. W. Hunt, `The Library of the Abbey of St Albans', in Medieval Scribes, Manuscripts and Libraries, ed. Parkes and Watson, pp. 251±77 (pp. 257±8 and 267); N. R. Ker, `Oxford College Libraries before 1500', in The Universities in the Late Middle Ages, ed. J. Ijsewijn and J. Paquet, Medievalia Lovaniensia 1:6 (Louvain, 1978), pp. 293±311. Such a group formed the readership of Dublin, Trinity College, MS 516. Examples are BL MSS Harley 2253 and Royal 12. C. XII, and Lincoln Cathedral, MS 91. See also K. Mertes, The English Noble Household 1250±1600: Good Governance and Politic Rule (Oxford, 1988) and, for the importance of the household for the patronage of political literature, S. Delany, `Bokenham's Claudian as Yorkist Propaganda', Journal of Medieval History 22 (1996), 83±96.

10

Introduction uct. There are very few inventories of lay owners' books, and these rarely identify individual volumes in such a way that they can be traced.34 Few list books of little intrinsic value. The same is true of wills, which list mainly books of economic or personal value, such as books of hours and other devotional and liturgical volumes. References to the kind of books which contained prophetic texts are unlikely to be found frequently in wills.35 The true extent to which prophetic texts were available to, and noted and collected by, the laity in the later Middle Ages remains largely a matter of informed deduction. What is apparent from all of this is that most of the extant manuscripts do not survive for the sake of their prophetic content alone, although in some cases, such as the historical volumes, it may have contributed to the desirability of the whole.36 Although many are of unknown origin, it is possible to make some useful observations from the others about the social milieu in which they circulated and for which they were produced, the type of owner who bought, received or commissioned them, and the type of text which they contain. The general trend shows an early movement from monastic to non-monastic and lay ownership, from Latin and French to Latin and English, from relatively expensive (if only in a few cases de luxe) books to cheaper, even very cheap, volumes, and from an association with historical texts to associated texts of a more varied nature. By the end of the period, the advent of printing seems to have had little effect on the circulation of prophetic texts in manuscript form.

34

35

36

Important inventories associated with forfeiture for treason are those of Henry Scrope of Masham (executed 1415), Simon Burley, companion of the Black Prince and tutor to Richard II (executed 1388), and Thomas of Woodstock, duke of Gloucester (murdered in prison 1397). See Historical Papers and Letters from the Northern Registers, ed. J. Raine, RS 61 (London, 1873), pp. 432±6; V. J. Scattergood, `Literary Culture at the Court of Richard II', in English Court Culture in the Later Middle Ages, ed. V. J. Scattergood and J. W. Sherborne (London, 1983), pp. 29±43 (pp. 34±6); V. J. Scattergood, `Two Medieval Book Lists', The Library 4th ser. 23 (1968), 236±9; Viscount Dillon and W. H. St John Hope, `Inventory of the Goods and Chattels belonging to Thomas, Duke of Gloucester', Archaeologia 54 (1897), 275±308. See P. J. P. Goldberg, `Lay Book Ownership in Late Medieval York: the Evidence of Wills', The Library 6th ser. 16 (1994), 181±9. The values and view of history represented by prophecy continued to be popular into the sixteenth century, and there was considerable interest in prophecy in some circles in the early seventeenth century. See Jansen, Political Protest and Prophecy; A. Fox, `Prophecies and Politics in the Reign of Henry VIII', in Reassessing the Henrician Age: Humanism, Politics and Reform, 1500±1550, ed. A. Fox and J. Guy (Oxford, 1986), pp. 77±94. On the later period see the ®nal chapter of Taylor, Political Prophecy; T. Thornton, `Reshaping the Local Future', in Prophecy: The Power of Inspired Language in History 1300±2000, ed. B. Taithe and T. Thornton (Stroud, 1997), pp. 51±67; C. Eckhardt, `The First English Translations of the Prophecia Merlini, The Library 6th ser. 4 (1982), 25±34.

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CHAPTER ONE

What is Political Prophecy? Rupert Taylor concluded that political prophecy was a literary genre, in which texts were constructed using a specially-developed language, known to initiates. The texts, therefore, resembled coded messages, which could then be deciphered by those who knew how they had been encoded. Most medieval political prophecies, however, were not hard for educated contemporaries to understand; the intention was that the message should be clear, not that it should be enveloped in a thick fog impenetrable to all but the few. If this were so, political prophecy would not have survived in such large quantities, and would not feature so prominently in hugely popular and widely circulated works such as the Brut. Political prophecy is treated with deadly seriousness by the chroniclers who use it. It cannot, therefore, be reduced to the status of an intellectual game. In other words, it is time to re-classify political prophecy. Prophecy is not a genre, but a discourse. Much work has been done on the subject of discourse since the 1960s, particularly by French and American scholars, a summary of which was made available by Diane Macdonell in her book, Theories of Discourse.1 Important analyses of discourse can also be found in the work of Lodge and Kress, Copley and Barrell.2 Discourse is a particular range of language, which provides a speci®c and exclusive way of talking about and viewing a subject, or subjects: Each [discourse] develops a characteristic vocabulary [and syntax], establishes a particular order of priorities in its discussion and implies particular ideological valuations of the subjects it has de®ned. If we can identify the characteristics of a discourse we can begin to understand texts constructed within it.3

The writer is free to choose his discourse, but he is not totally free. If he does create something new, or react to new circumstances, his reaction will be restricted by the nature of the discourse in which he has chosen to express himself: 1 2

3

D. Macdonell, Theories of Discourse: An Introduction (Oxford, 1986). R. Hodge and G. Kress, Language as Ideology, 2nd edn (London, 1993); S. Copley, Literature and the Social Order in Eighteenth Century England (London, 1984); J. Barrell, Poetry, Language and Politics (Manchester, 1988). Copley, Literature and the Social Order, p. 2 (my additions in brackets).

13

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England The discourse within which we make an utterance determines to a large extent the nature of the connections that we can make between ideas; it determines, for example, what can stand as the cause of an effect, and what can be claimed to be the effect of a given cause.4

So, if a writer chooses to use political prophecy, he will be restricted by the type of subject matter with which this discourse deals, and the valuejudgements which it makes. He knows what these restrictions will be before he makes his choice. The subject of political prophecy is king, people and nation. Although these subjects were presented in other, similar, discourses, no other discourse constructs them in quite the same way as political prophecy. Whether a text is written in Latin, French or English, and whatever genre might be used, this fundamental construction of king, people and nation remains the same. The positions taken up by the discourse are in¯uenced by the way in which this subject is constructed. However, because political prophecy is concerned with recent and contemporary events, it must be able to, and indeed does, react creatively to altered circumstances. This ¯exibility allowed texts constructed within the discourse of political prophecy to survive for generations, and still be considered appropriate. Political prophecy did not exist in isolation from other discourses used in the writing of history. It shared some of their characteristics, and is clearly related to both moralizing and chivalric discourse. However, each of these discourses placed a slightly different and particular emphasis upon the events and conditions they described. As Barrell says, with each discourse we use, we are attempting `to claim for ourselves particular positions in language, which represent us as the subjects of knowledge, and represent the world as we, and as those whose interests we claim we share, claim to see it'.5 This is very important in studying the audience of political prophecy. This audience, including those who copied and composed political prophecies, were taking up positions in this way, and assembling the reality they wished to see. They claimed to represent the position of people of similar views. This position was taken up within language, but it depended on factors outside language, such as social status, wealth, occupation and gender. Political prophecy was not only `political' in the wider sense of claiming to represent the views of a particular group within society, but also in the narrower sense that it related exclusively to public affairs and public policy. This discourse was both a tool and a weapon in struggles which were carried on, at various times in later medieval England, both inside and outside language. Political prophecy was, therefore, not a code, but a `living language' in which people communicated their feelings about people, king and nation to one another.6 This accounts for the fact that prophetic texts are so many and 4 5 6

Barrell, Poetry, Language and Politics, p. 8. Barrell, Poetry, Language and Politics, pp. 8±9. For examples, see T. Thornton, `The Language of History: Past and Future in

14

What is Political Prophecy? so varied. Writers, copyists and audience all participated in the creation of each political prophecy, and might go on re-creating it as circumstances changed. It is not possible to create stemmata for prophetic texts. There is not, in most cases, an `original' from which other versions deviate. Sections of text, images, even lines and half-lines, may be combined in a variety of different ways, so that their exact relationship to similar or identical images and text is obscured. Because political prophecy is a discourse and not a genre, this did not matter to the medieval copyist or his audience. What really mattered was that this was the language in which the subject of people, king and nation might be constructed as writer, or copyist, and audience wished. In studying political prophecy, then, the emphasis should be placed less upon the writer and his text, than upon the audience and their interpretation of texts. It was their interpretation which made prophecy `political'. Prophecy frequently appears in chronicles and in manuscripts alongside two other discourses, with which it shares certain important characteristics. I have called these `moralizing' and `chivalric' discourses.

Moralizing Discourse I have called this discourse `moralizing' because of its preacherly nature. It was often used in sermons, and is heavily dependent upon attitudes to sin and divine intervention in the human world. It frequently uses biblical imagery and vocabulary. In his Historia Anglicana, Thomas Walsingham tells us that people said that the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 had happened because of the sinful conduct of the English people, and especially those, such as lords, with responsibility for others: vivebant in terra pacis sine pace, vixando, litigando, cum proximis contendendo, fraudes et falsitates jugiter meditando, libidini dediti, fornicationibus assueti, adulteriis maculati . . . Quare non immerito opinatum est iram Dei descendisse in ®lios dif®dentiae. (`They were living in a land of peace without peace; quarreling, litigating, disputing with their neighbours, continually thinking up deceits and falsehoods, given up to pleasure, accustomed to fornication, de®led by adulteries . . . wherefore it was not unjustly believed that the wrath of God had descended upon the sons of dif®dence')7

7

Prophecy', and L. Coote, `A Language of Power: Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England', in Prophecy, ed. Taithe and Thornton, pp. 17±30. Thomas Walsingham: Historia Anglicana, ed. H. T. Riley, 2 vols., RS 28 (London, 1863± 4), II, 12. Thomas Walsingham was a monk of St Albans, writing at the end of the fourteenth century. St Albans saw much violence directed against the property rights and claims of the abbey during the Revolt.

15

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England Walsingham gives a list of sins, amongst which drinking, lying and sexual sin predominate, linked chie¯y by participles. This is typical of moralizing discourse. Pride, the other great sin, is not mentioned here, though it is elsewhere. In this discourse, people are often named according to their (sinful) actions, as `liars', `adulterers', `fornicators'; these are usually used as collective nouns, as sin is frequently seen as a group activity. There are many abstract nouns dealing with qualities and values, as this discourse is all about making value-judgements. The idea behind these accusations is one of collective moral responsibility for the state of the nation, a theme well illustrated by a sermon preached by Thomas Brinton, bishop of Rochester, on 21 January 1375. The great hopes of victory in France fostered by CreÂcy, Poitiers and Sluys had been frustrated, there had been plague and bad harvests, and the administration had (so we are told) become prey to corruption through the decline in health of Edward III, who was to die in 1377: iuste permittit Deus terram et cetera elementa homini suo superiori esse non pro®cua sed dampnosa, et dic quomodo. Secundo vbi est ociositas, ibi omne malum quia furtum, rapina, gula, luxuria, incestus, et adulterium, nec est nacio sub celo adeo diffamata sicut nacio Anglicana . . . Sumus ne fortes in bello et fortunati . . . (`God has justly allowed the earth and other elements to be not advantageous but destructive to man their superior, and you tell me how! Secondly, where there is idleness, there is all evil, such as theft, pillage, gluttony, excess, incest and adultery, nor is any nation under heaven as infamous as the English nation . . . We are not strong and successful in war . . .')8

Here we have more lists, more abstract nouns featuring qualities such as luxuria and ociositas. The account of the sinfulness of the English people is highly coloured and dramatized, with comparatives and superlatives such as pessima and falsiores, and it is once again falsehood and sexual sin which feature heavily. People are grouped together in terms such as homines falsiores. This gives them an anonymous collective identity. Rarely in moralizing discourse is anyone singled out for blame, except in some cases a prominent leader, or the king. This collective identity is emphasized by Brinton's use of sumus instead of sunt. By using `we' instead of `they' he places himself within the nacio Anglicana, but he also stands outside it in the sense that he is able to see and pronounce upon their sinfulness. The writer shares in a sense of 8

Sermons of Thomas Brinton, ed. M. A. Devlin, 2 vols., Camden Society 3rd Series 85±6 (London, 1954), I, 216 (my punctuation). Educated at Cambridge and Oxford, Brinton was bishop of Rochester from January 1372 until his death in May 1389. He defended the Church against secular inroads into its civil dominion, and against the followers of Wyclif. He was a prominent advocate of moral reform, in particular of the clergy, as he believed this would counter some of the Wyclif®tes' most attractive arguments.

16

What is Political Prophecy? corporate guilt, a guilt responsible for the ills which have fallen upon the whole nation as a result of God's wrath. This is the point which Brinton is making; the present misfortunes, the lack of victory overseas, natural disasters such as the plague, are all results of God's anger at the sinfulness of the English people as a whole, from which even the preacher is not wholly exempt. This idea that God is a judge who punishes the people with defeats and disasters as a result of sin lies at the heart of moralizing discourse. Speaking of the English defeat at the battle of Bannockburn in 1314, the author of the Gesta Edwardi de Caernarvon says `Scoti praevaluerunt, arrogantiam namque et invidiam Anglicanum per Scotorum nequitiam corripuit Dominus et punivit' (`The Scots prevailed, for God chided and punished the English arrogance and pride through the wickedness of the Scots').9 God's judgement was a good way of explaining defeat, but it could also be used to explain success, as Henry Beaufort, bishop of Winchester and Chancellor of England, proved in his speech to parliament in 1416. A small force under Henry V had just defeated a much larger French army at Agincourt (20 October 1415), and many noble French leaders had been killed or captured: tetigit de triumphis Regis nostri quos ei deus providit in obstinaciam rebellium Gallicorum, et de ostensa clemencia dei in occultis iudiciis suis, declarans quod sicut inter habentes superiorem in terris controversia subcelesti iudicio discutitur, ita inter non habentes superiorem de sub celo celesti arbitrio declaratur gladio exequente. (`he referred to the triumphs of our king which God had afforded him against the obstinacy of the rebellious French, and to God's clemency made manifest in his secret judgements, declaring that just as a dispute between those having a superior on earth is resolved by an earthly judgement, so one between those having no superior under Heaven is made plain by a Heavenly arbitrament carried out by the sword.')10

The French have been given the divine judgements of Sluys, Poitiers and Agincourt. The writer of the Gesta Henrici Quinti asks, `O deus, cur non paret 9

10

`Gesta Edwardi de Carnarvan, Auctorie Canonico Bridlingtoniensi, cum Continuatione ad AD 1377', in Chronicles of the Reigns of Edward I and II, ed. W. Stubbs, 2 vols., RS 76 (London, 1882±3), II, 25±131 (p. 46). These annals were written in the ®rst half of the fourteenth century, probably early in the reign of Edward III, by a canon at the Augustinian priory of Bridlington, on the Yorkshire coast. Bridlington experienced the Scots at ®rst hand in the reign of Edward II, when Robert Bruce raided and burned the town, and the canons had to negotiate with the Scots to protect their house. Gesta Henrici Quinti: The Deeds of Henry the Fifth, ed. and trans. F. Taylor and J. S. Roskell (Oxford, 1975), p. 123. The Gesta was written in the winter of 1416±17 by a clerk who had been present with the royal household on the Agincourt campaign of 1415. Its actual purpose and intended audience are still a matter of debate; Taylor and Roskell suggest it was intended for the English negotiators at the Council of Constance.

17

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England hec gens misera et dure cervicis tot terribilibus divinis sentenciis, quibus manifestissima ulcione ab eis exigit obediri?' (`O God, why does this wretched and stiff-necked nation not obey these divine sentences, so many and so terrible, to which, by a vengeance most clearly made manifest, obedience is demanded of them?').11 The guilt of disobedience is, once again, collective. Speaking of the immediate aftermath of the battle of Boroughbridge in 1322, where Edward II and the Despensers defeated the nobles opposed to them, under the leadership of Thomas, earl of Lancaster, the Gesta Edwardi says: Ecce qualiter peccata nostra nobis multiplicant dies malos, juxta quod scribitur in Apocalipsi: ``Et exiit equus rufus et qui sedebat super eum, datum est ei ut sumeret pacem de terra et ut invicem se inter®ciant''. Sic in praesenti, quia Anglici mutuo iam con¯igunt . . . (`Behold, how our sins are increasing the evil days for us, just as it is written in the Apocalypse: ``And the red horse went forth, and he who sat upon him, it was given to him that he would take up peace from the earth and all would kill one another''. Thus it is at the present time, because Englishmen are ®ghting among themselves . . .)12

Of the Peasants' Revolt in 1381, the poet John Gower says: Crudelesque manus, orbem sine lumine iuris Percipiens dixi, ``Iam cadit ordo viri''; Bestia cum regimen hominum rapuisset et arma, Et quod nulla suis legibus equa forent. (`Seeing the cruel hands, seeing the world without the light of righteousness, I said, ``Now mankind is coming to an end'', since the beast and warfare had seized control of men, and since there was no justice in their laws.')13

Although the Revolt is represented as taking place in the cosmic frame of the working out of history within the divine will, this discourse is not deterministic. The divinely pre-determined course of history will happen, but the possibility of salvation is left open. The cataclysm may be avoided by the rejection of sin, and prayers for divine mercy. Gower says that God saved `us' from the disasters unleashed by the rebels of 1381 by his mercy, and Brinton 11 12 13

Gesta Henrici Quinti, ed. and trans. Taylor and Roskell, p. 124. Chronicles of Edward I and II, ed. Stubbs, II, 76. `Vox Clamantis', in The Complete Works of John Gower, ed. G. C. Macaulay, 4 vols. (Oxford, 1899±1902), IV, 3±313 (pp. 42, 43 and 60); `Vox Clamantis', in The Major Latin Works of John Gower, ed. and trans. E. W Stockton (Seattle, 1962), pp. 49±288 (pp. 66, 67 and 88±9, slightly altered translation). Gower, born around 1330, was probably the son of a Yorkshire gentry family. He himself held lands in Kent, and remained an esquire until his death in 1408.

18

What is Political Prophecy? says that England may yet be saved from decline by repentance and by praying for the intercession of the Virgin Mary. This is not a discourse of `fatalism', but is essentially one of hope. The author hopes, as, it is implied, does God himself, that there will be repentance, and that this will bring salvation.14 In moralizing discourse, God is the main actor. He is the cause, and sinful mortals feel the effects of his anger. Although they are active in the sense that they are doing all manner of wrong things and have the power to amend, their roÃle in this discourse is essentially a passive one. The position of the writer is like that of Old Testament prophets such as Jeremiah; he is the ®rsthand mediator of divinely-inspired knowledge. The news he conveys may be good or bad, but, as we have seen in the case of Brinton and Beaufort, this is determined by the author's purpose, not by race or gender. French and English, men and women, can all sin, all repent. Some form of moral response is sought.

Chivalric Discourse The other major discourse associated with political prophecy is the one I have called `chivalric'. This discourse deals with the ideals of the chivalric code, the ideals of true knighthood. This included not only conducting war according to a certain set of rules and behaving in a particular way socially, but also having the kind of moral character and disposition which enabled a gentil homme to react to circumstances in the manner expected of him. The herald of Sir John Chandos writes of Edward, the Black Prince (eldest son of Edward III), a man viewed by English writers of his day as the epitome of chivalry: Cils frans Princes dont je vous dy, Depuis le jour que il nasquy, Ne pensa fors que loiaute, ffranchise, valour et bonte, Et se fu garniz de proece. (`This noble Prince of whom I speak, from the day of his birth cherished no thought but loyalty, nobleness, valour, and goodness, and was endued with prowess.')15

Nouns italicized in the text show that this, like moralizing discourse, is a language full of abstract qualities, but in this case they are affective qualities; that is, they are qualities of feeling, of sentiment. They are qualities which 14 15

Sermons of Thomas Brinton, ed. Devlin, II, 372±6. Life of the Black Prince by the Herald of Sir John Chandos, ed. and trans. M. K. Pope and E. C. Lodge (Oxford, 1910), pp. 2±3 (my italics).

19

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England concern personality and relationships, such as franchise (open-handedness), valeur (courage) and bonte (goodness). All of these are the result of the allimportant birth, the right kind of upbringing and study of the right things. The verbs are all of thinking, feeling and doing, and the lives and deeds of individuals feature strongly. Direct speech is often used to make characters seem more `real'. Here is a description of the conduct of the Lord Edward, heir to the English throne, after his defeat of Simon de Montfort and the baronial party at the battle of Evesham, 5 August 1265. It was written by Nicholas Trevet shortly after Edward's death in 1306: Ceciderunt in ea pugna milites vexilliferi duodecim . . . [there follows a list, headed by Simon de Montfort's son, Henry] . . . alii quoque minoris gradus in multitudine magna, cum scutiferorum et peditum, et maxime Gallensium, numero excessivo. Edwardus, potitus victoria, monarchis illius loci post praelium mandavit, ut corpora defunctorum, et praecipue majorum, decenter humari curarent. Interfuit autem personaliter exequiis Henrici de Monte-forti, quem pater ejus rex de fonte sacro levaverat, et ipse secum nutritum a puero familiariter dilexerat; cujus etiam funeri dicitur lacrymas impendisse. (`There fell in that battle twelve standard-bearing knights . . . others also of lesser rank in a great multitude, with esquires and foot soldiers, and many Frenchmen, a very large number. After the battle Edward, master of the victory, commanded of the monks of that place that they should take care to accord decent burial to the bodies of the slain, especially the lords. However, he personally saw to the burial of Henry de Montfort, whom his father [i.e. Edward's father, Henry III] the king had lifted from the sacred font, and he himself had been brought up with as a boy in the household; it is said that at his [i.e. Montfort's] funeral he [Edward] was close to tears . . .')16

This shows us several features of chivalric discourse. First, the writer gives a list of notable individuals who have died in the battle. This is part of the respect for a defeated enemy, and magnanimity in victory which was desirable in a true knight; it is not simply gloating. Lists of the captured and slain were drawn up by heralds after a battle, and frequently appear in `chivalric' chronicles, or as additional items in the manuscripts which contain them. It is only gentils who are listed, the lower classes being included under the term alii minoris gradus. Edward takes great care to show respect for the bodies of the slain, dead gentils in particular, and especially the body of Henry de Montfort, with whom he has a personal connection. Personal involvement plays a considerable part in chivalric discourse. Where a close personal 16

F. Nicholai Triveti, Annales, ed. T. Hog, English Historical Society (London, 1845), p. 266 (my words in brackets).

20

What is Political Prophecy? relationship exists, each side is expected to show affection for the other, revealed in the physical manifestation of feelings. In this case Edward takes a personal hand in, and almost sheds tears at, the burial. This is very reminiscent of Henry V before Har¯eur in 1415, weeping and personally closing the eyes of his dead friend Stephen Courtenay, bishop of Norwich.17 It does not matter in chivalric discourse that the latter died of natural causes and the former died ®ghting against the man who eventually buried him. All that is required is to demonstrate feeling for someone with whom there are close personal ties, either of family or of a more contractual nature, such as a feudal bond (such as that between lord and man), a religious contract (in Trevet's text, Edward's father's godson), or companionship (Edward's childhood companionship with Henry de Montfort and Henry V's personal friendship with Courtenay). In the discourse, as long as you show this affection to your `brother', it does not matter if you have been the instrument or occasion of his death, especially, as in Edward's case, if you are deemed to be on the right side. The relationship of family is important, allowing wives and lovers to appear in an important roÃle, as the queen and Princess Joan, lover and then wife of the Black Prince, do in the Vie du Prince Noir. Chivalric discourse demands equal respect for both mother and father, brother and sister. In the Arrivall of Edward IV, the writer describes how Edward IV and his brother George, duke of Clarence, who had supported the rebellion against him, were reconciled `with par®te accord knyt togethars for evar here aftar, with as hartyly lovynge chere and countenaunce, as might be betwix two bretherne of so grete nobley and astate.' Their quarrel, he says, was `unnaturall, and agaynes God'.18 The personal nature of chivalric discourse is often highlighted by the use of monologue or dialogue. The most usual place for this is on the ®eld of battle, in the speech of a leader to encourage his men before the battle, or the conversation before the battle with a less hardi subordinate: Syres and ffelowes, ‡e ondere mayne ‡enk to lette vs of oure way: and ‡ei wil nat come to vs, lete euery man preve hym silfe a good man ‡is day, and avant baner in ‡e best tyme of the yere; for as I am trew kynge and knyht, for me ‡is day shalle never Inglonde rawnsome pay . . .19

This speech attributed to Henry V illustrates some very important points about chivalric discourse. It is heroic, active, con¯ictual, religious and patriotic, even nationalist. 17 18

19

Gesta Henrici Quinti, ed. and trans. Taylor and Roskell, p. 44. Historie of the Arrivall of Edward IV in England And the Finall Recouerye of his Kingdomes from Henry VI, AD MCCCCLXXI, ed. J. Bruce, Camden Society 1st Series (London, 1838), p. 11. Four years later, Clarence was arrested and murdered in the Tower of London, probably on Edward's orders. Chronicles of London, ed. C. L. Kingsford (Oxford, 1905), p. 119, from BL MS Cotton Cleopatra C. IV.

21

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England Heroism, activity and con¯ict go together in the discourse of chivalry. Public affairs are seen largely in terms of con¯ict, to the extent that histories such as the Brut tend to concentrate on war to the exclusion of many other, more peaceful, subjects.20 This gives the impression that history is made up of one con¯ict after another. In this it resembles the action of historical verse epics. This is because the discourse used in these works, as opposed to the genre, is the same. Chivalric discourse demands heroes, and these heroes must always be doing something. As they are knights, they must demonstrate personal valour and must be ®ghting, otherwise they will not get and keep their honour. Honour is what the chivalric hero must have, and this can only be obtained and defended by ®ghting: `The honourable man must demonstrate his honour continually before his peers, and this in turn often involves challenging the honour of others.'21 Chivalric discourse is very much concerned with honour and shame. The Brut says of the defeat of Thomas of Lancaster by Edward II at Boroughbridge in 1322: `And when ‡ei were ¿olden, ‡ai wer robbed, and bonde as ‡eues. Allas ‡e shame and despite, ‡at ‡e gentil ordre of Knyghthode ‡ere hade at ‡at bataille!'22 Chivalric discourse contains the vocabulary of violence and descriptions of violence. Most of its verbs are active, and are verbs of motion, of thinking, feeling and of doing. This makes chivalric discourse very immediate and dramatic. Its activities take place in a tangible world, with a physical geography, unlike the cosmic struggles of moralizing discourse. Chivalric geography consists of a world in which places are either `here' (England or a place within it), `further away' (the near Continent, such as France), `even further away' (the Empire or the Mediterranean), or `really far away' (the Holy Land and the empire of Prester John). Chivalric discourse is not, however, merely concerned with an abstract mundus; it concerns real people living in an immediate, physical world.23 The object of con¯ict is success, and chivalric heroes must be very successful to be effective. This is why Henry V receives much more space in chivalric histories than Richard II, although the latter reigned for twentytwo years and the former only nine. This discourse is concerned with victory and empire. Its leaders are winners and conquerors, but the vocabulary is only concerned with the activity of conquering and subjection; there is no interest in the functions of government and administration, or even the mechanics and logistics of war itself. Comparisons are made between the reigns of successful men and those of military heroes of old, such as Charlemagne, King Edgar and, especially, Arthur. Kings actively sought 20

21

22 23

The Brut, or the Chronicles of England, ed. F. W. D. Brie, 2 vols., EETS OS 131 and 136 (London, 1906±8). J. Barnie, War in Medieval Society; Social Values and the Hundred Years War 1337±99 (London, 1974), p. 75. Brut, ed. Brie, I, 220. In this, it resembles prophetic discourse.

22

What is Political Prophecy? such comparisons, in particular Edward I and Edward III. This Arthur is not Arthur the British chieftain, but the medieval, chivalric Arthur, as described by Pierre Langtoft, who makes a clear comparison between this Arthur and his hero, the curtais Edward I.24 The chivalric Arthur is both king and knight, the man who conquered and subjected many continental lands, defeated the Roman emperor, then created an imperial city at Caerleon.25 There is a religious aspect to chivalric discourse, in that the hero is seen as God's Knight, and, as we have seen from the Gesta Henrici Quinti, his people are God's chosen people. God's knight prays for help from one, two, or all of the Trinity, saints, or the Virgin, before undertaking a military enterprise such as a march or battle. The opposing leaders are always guilty of pride (the sin of Lucifer), trusting in their own abilities and numbers, not God. This leads to exaggeration of the smallness of numbers on the winning side and the great superiority of numbers on the losing one: Rex, Deo se et gladii fortune animose et tanquam alter leo se commitens, decem vix milibus bellicosus stipatus, versus Calesiam peregrinandam per medium pagi, imo per medium Francie, poncium ob fracturam, cautus vias suas dirigit. (`The king, eagerly and like a lion, committing himself to God and to the fortune of the sword, accompanied by barely ten thousand ®ghting men, carefully directed his path in warlike fashion towards Calais, passing through the middle of the land, indeed through the centre of France, because the bridges had been broken down.')26

In a Christian society, which is, in theory, meant to be peaceful, the ultimate objective of knighthood, the ethos of which is ®ghting, is the crusade. Crusading, with the freeing of the Holy Places from the rule of the in®del, is seen as the greatest of aspirations in chivalric discourse. John Gower, addressing Henry IV on the virtues of peace and the `wronges' of war, says: Thus were it (good) to setten al in evene, The worldes princes and the prelatz bothe, Ffor love of him which is the king of hevene; And if men scholde algate wexe wrothe, The Sarazins, which unto Crist be lothe, Let men ben armed aein hem to ®ghte, So mai the knight his dede of armes righte.27 24

25

26

27

The Chronicle of Pierre Langtoft, ed. T. Wright, 2 vols., RS 47 (London, 1866±8), I, 160. Langtoft was a canon of Bridlington, who wrote shortly after the death of Edward I. Brut, ed. Brie, I, 69±90; The Alliterative Morte Arthure: A Critical Edition, ed. V. Krisha (New York, 1976). The Chronicle of Adam of Usk, ed. E. M. Thompson, 2nd edn (London, 1904), p. 126. Adam of Usk, then an old man, was writing at the end of the reign of Henry V. See Thompson's introduction for Usk's very eventful life. Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, II, 7.

23

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England The idea of the successful crusade as the ultimate con¯ict and the goal of con¯ict is another feature shared by chivalry and political prophecy, and one which has an equally prominent place in both. The ideals inherent in chivalry had, by the fourteenth century, become associated with the nation, and with the people or gens. With the people was associated the king, as we saw in our initial quotation about Henry V, where the king says `these I have here with me are God's people'. There is here an implied association between the king, his army and `the people of England' as a whole. It is what Susan Reynolds calls `regnal solidarity', in which royal dynasties become associated with origines gentium myths.28 This myth was represented in England by the story of Brutus, the founder of Britain. Unlike some other countries, the myth had to be modi®ed to suit the fact that English and British were not quite the same. However, this could be done by careful manipulation of the royal line to include British descent, by stories explaining the supremacy of the southern kingdom over the northern and western ones (i.e. England, Scotland and Wales), and by prophecies about British reuni®cation. Chivalric discourse includes legendary histories such as the Historia Regum Britannie and the Brut. There is more to this than myths. The discourse speaks frequently of `them' and `us', `oure Englisse men', nos gentz, `our enemies', nostri. This became associated with chivalry and the activity of knights, and was used by people who were not themselves ®ghters at all: Owre kynge went forth to normandy, with grace & my¿t of chyualry; ther god for hym wrou¿t mervelusly, wherfore Engelonde may calle & cry, Deo gratias!29

The knights are the ®ghting arm of a national interest, an interest shared with those who do not participate in their profession of arms. A sermon preached in 1421 takes this up in the form of the `ship of state', in which Henry V is described as the master mariner, steering the ship which contains the English people, among whom are the military eÂlite, who are associated with national, not merely class interest.30 This indicates a possible relationship between the two. War is described in a way which denigrates the other side because they are England's enemies, and which expresses a corporate pride in the 28

29

30

S. Reynolds, `Medieval ``Origines Gentium'' and the Community of the Realm', History 68 (1983), 375±390. Historical Poems of the XIVth and XVth Centuries, ed. R. H. Robbins (New York, 1959), p. 91: `The Agincourt Carol', written in celebration of Henry V's victory on 20 October 1415. R. M. Haines, `Church, Society and Politics in the Early Fifteenth Century, as Viewed from an English Pulpit', in Studies in Church History 12, 143±57; R. M. Haines, ` ``Our Master Mariner, Our Sovereign Lord'': a Contemporary Preacher's View of Henry V', Mediaeval Studies 38 (1976), 85±96.

24

What is Political Prophecy? achievements of English arms. The poet Laurence Minot described the achievements of Edward III and his son in terms of the triumph of the whole nation. If Minot was not a knight or an aristocrat, then this is chivalric discourse being used about the same events by someone who did not belong to the knightly caste. He is seeking to involve himself and his audience in events in which only those who ®ght can actually take part.31 The nationalism of writers such as Minot was shared by the knightly classes, however. Thomas Grey, himself a knight, uses the same discourse in his Scalacronica. Those who took part in the wars against the Scots and the French shared the same position as the non-combatants who wrote about them. This is not only social, but exists in language, and is common to all who use this discourse. It is not simply a reinterpretation of the chivalric code, a social phenomenon, but a use of the language associated with that code by those who are not knights. It is not possible to say that because people in England had interests in other places, such as France, they did not see themselves, or were not seen by others, as English. The Chandos Herald's Black Prince is an Englishman, even when living and holding court in Aquitaine. He dies and is buried in England. The Vie du Prince Noir is written in a discourse which is patriotic and nationalist, although it is written in French about a man who spent long periods of his life in France. This is possible because discourse does not depend on the language or the genre it uses. Thorlac Turville-Petre has shown that some English writers were, indeed, expressing nationalist sentiments by the end of the thirteenth century.32 In fact, English writers (as opposed to writers in English) were expressing such sentiments from the middle of the twelfth century. They did this because an audience already existed among certain social groups within the English national community. This audience demanded, and understood, works written in prophetic discourse, to which they then gave political, nationalist, interpretations.

The Discourse of Political Prophecy The close relationship between the discourses of prophecy, morality and chivalry is illustrated by the frequent close association of these discourses in historical works. Whenever political prophecy is used in a chronicle the 31 32

The Poems of Lawrence Minot, ed. T. B. James and J. Simons (Exeter, 1989), pp. 10±12. T. Turville-Petre, England the Nation: Language, Literature and National Identity 1290± 1340 (Oxford, 1996), pp. 1±35. His view is narrowed by his choice of examples in the English vernacular only. The earliest English audiences of political prophecy were almost certainly bi- or tri-lingual. Writers expressed ideas of national identity in English, French and Latin for this audience. Some of the English writers cited by Turville-Petre, such as Robert Mannyng and the Cursor Mundi author, use prophetic discourse.

25

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England discourses which surround it are chivalric, or moralizing, or both. In the Gesta Edwardi de Carnarvon and the Brut, political prophecy is an important and integral part of the narrative. In each case the prophecy interacts with moralizing and chivalric discourse. Although the emphasis of each discourse is different, the similarities are such that they can be ®tted together to make a narrative which, if not seamless, can be sympathetic to the values of all three, constituting an overall view of events which does not contradict itself. This is also apparent from many of the manuscripts in which political prophecies occur. The context of the prophecies is usually one of historical works, sometimes didactic, and romances.33 This implies that the audience of political prophecy shared the views presented by the other two discourses. They represent the views and tastes of the social and administrative classes, the lesser gentry, the clergy, the administrators and clerks who formed the bulk of political prophecy's audience. Like chivalric discourse, political prophecy is a con¯ictual language, with a vocabulary of violence, which sees public affairs as a series of con¯icts. However, prophecy does not have a vocabulary for the gory details of battle, nor for the physical description of the combatants. Terms such as multa proelia or sanguinis diluvium are used without further elaboration; they are simply formulae. As with chivalric discourse, the object of violence is victory, resulting in conquest and imperial domination.34 The hero of political prophecy is, above all, a winner of battles. However, the prophetic hero must not just be a great soldier, defeating his country's enemies. He must subjugate peoples and lands; that is, he must win something. Victory alone is not enough; it must have an object. Authority over the ruled must change hands: `Imperium mundi retinet' . . . `cesar regnabit ubique' . . . `he shall conquere a gret part of the world'.35 When conquest and subjugation is not speci®ed, it is made clear that other nations must `tremble' at the hero's name: . . . he shal whet his tei‡ vppon ‡e ¿ates of Parys, and vppon iiij landes. Spayne shal tremble for drede of him; Gascoyne shal swete; in Fraunce he shal put his wynge; his grete taile shal reste in Engeland softely; Almayn shal quake for drede of him.36

In chivalric discourse warfare, especially successful warfare, is lauded for its own sake as well as for the rewards it brings. In prophetic discourse it is the power conferred by successful warfare which is always emphasized. This power is the aim and justi®cation of that warfare. Political prophecy is about an abstract idea of power and domination, or imperium, to which military victory, and the personal qualities which bring that victory, are only the 33 34 35

36

See the handlist for examples; there are many. For examples of this see Coote, `Language of Power', pp. 19±20. Dublin, Trinity College, MS 516, fol. 15r; Cambridge, University Library, MS Kk. vi.16, fol. 159v; Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R. iii. 21, fol. 244r. Brut, ed. Brie, I, 74.

26

What is Political Prophecy? means. The relationships between peoples are de®ned by conquest and subjection, in this case the English and the Rest. This is why political prophecy presents public affairs as a series of con¯icts, and why it has a vocabulary which is both violent and authoritarian. The personal element of chivalric discourse is entirely lacking in political prophecy. Prophetic heroes do not have personal relationships. Their personal, human functions are limited to occasionally getting married and fathering children. Even these are not treated in a personal way, as wives and sons, but are institutionalized to become the consorts and heirs of rulers. Prophetic heroes do not possess qualities of feeling such as we noted in the Vie du Prince Noir. Rulers are described, if at all, in terms of their warlike qualities, not how tall they were or the colour of their hair, or how they dressed. Political prophecy is about the king as the ruler of a people and a kingdom. This ruler then goes out and subjects other peoples to his rule. In this, prophetic discourse is entirely impersonal. However, the relationship between the ruler and his people is a personal one and, in this close association between king and people, political prophecy does mirror chivalric discourse. As was the case with Minot and his audience, people who are not themselves ®ghters are involved in the conquests made by the king and his troops. They, like the king and his armies, are chosen by God, and will also be involved, if not physically, in his ®nal crusade, the saving of the Holy Land, and the events of the Last Days. The king's sanctity is theirs, also. All of these elements, which are present in chivalric histories, are also present in political prophecies. The relationship between ruler and ruled involves an element of moral responsibility which, as in moralizing discourse, does not involve only movement downwards from above. It is clear that the moral stature and example of the king are important for the moral health of the nation. If the king is immoral, the nation may suffer politically, as well as morally. Before he can become the great crusading hero, Sextus must undergo a moral conversion from the `wandering affections' of his youth, and the 1350s reviser of `Bridlington' believed that the nation also suffered physically for the king's immorality and resulting laziness. The need for success to be the reward for religious faith and moral rectitude sometimes leads to a distortion of historical fact. For example, in `The Last Kings of the English', the Lamb of Winchester (Henry III) is portrayed as possessing both of these qualities. As a result, `he shal haue pees ‡e most parte of his lif '.37 The civil strife of the reign is presented as a small challenge to the Lamb's authority at the end of his life, by one particular individual, known as the Wolf, and from which the Lamb emerges victorious.38 Within the discourse of political prophecy, it could not be admitted that the Lamb's holiness and moral righteousness was, in fact, accompanied by a lack of political ability and a breakdown of authority, culminating in civil war. The 37 38

Brut, ed. Brie, I, 73. Brut, ed. Brie, I, 73.

27

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England Wolf (Simon de Montfort?) is presented as a foreigner; he comes from `a straunge lande'. This, again, could not be further from the truth. De Montfort did have French relatives and French landed connections, but he and his fellow barons claimed to act in the interests of England and the English national community against the king and his relatives, who were, in terms both of family and of interest, far more `foreign' than they were. The politics of the previous hundred years are being realigned in order to validate the position taken up by the discourse: if a ruler has the right qualities to be a hero, he will also be strong and successful per se. Faith and righteousness in a weak or irresponsible ruler would be an unacceptable contradiction.39 It is also clear that the audience of political prophecy has a responsibility to support their heroic ruler; they must behave as the people whom God has chosen. Political prophecy not only promises great things, it also threatens to withhold them if the audience do not play their part. This `collective responsibility' is similar to that of moralizing discourse. The great ruler is coming, and will be known by his deeds when he arrives, but he must be recognized, and therefore the audience must not only know what to look for, but be actively looking for it. If collective sin causes political disaster, then collective faith and moral righteousness leads to success. In chivalric discourse, collective identity is based upon a narrow ideal of social class; that is, those who have received a knightly education. However, in the hands of writers such as Minot and Langtoft this came to serve a national ideal. In political prophecy, the heroic nationalism of chivalric discourse and the moral and religious nationalism of moralizing discourse are both present. They are welded together into a nationalism which will conquer the rest of the world. The geography of political prophecy resembles that of chivalric discourse. Action takes place on the orbsterrarum, and peoples and countries, although often just listed as names, are to be understood as `real'. There is no need to understand where places are or where people come from in a geographical sense, and nothing geographical or descriptive is given. The underlying knowledge is like that of chivalric geography, a question of `here', `there' and `further away'. Some writers, and their audience, did have knowledge of foreign parts, especially France, Gascony and Flanders, due to military activity, trade and the fact that from the Treaty of BreÂtigny until 1453 Englishmen held lands, and lived and worked, on the other side of the Channel. Merchants, pilgrims and soldiers, and clerical circles in Rome, Constance and Pisa, would have had more knowledge than others. A major source of geographical information was De Proprietatibus Rerum, compiled by Bartholomaeus Anglicus c. 1245, of which an English translation by John Trevisa was completed on 6 February 1398/9.40 The range of Bartholomaeus' geography covered Europe, the former Roman provinces of Asia Minor and 39 40

For problems with the failure of Henry VI, see Chapter Six. On the Properties of Things: John Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum, ed. M. C. Seymour, 3 vols. (Oxford, 1975±88), II, 726±84.

28

What is Political Prophecy? North Africa, Syria and its neighbours, including the Holy Land. Beyond this, his knowledge is vague, and the marvellous, which Bartholomaeus usually avoids, tends to appear.41 Lists of kings and countries were available, which listed the names of the kings of Christendom and their coats of arms, as well as the Emperor and the Sultan.42 Whether a writer or copyist relied on personal knowledge or a literary source, the audience is intended to have some idea of geographical space and location. Above all, they are to understand that the events prophesied are to happen in the `real' world, to `real' people, which includes themselves. What descriptive passages there are in political prophecy are those which are necessary to the action. We are given the qualities of a ruler when these explain his success in war, or lack of it. In `Adam Davy's Dreams' the king's appearance is described, but this is because it is necessary for the revelation of what he is, what he is doing and why he is doing it. In the language of political prophecy the emphasis is always on moving and doing. This is achieved by the use of verbs which suggest movement and action in the indicative mood, giving an impression of de®niteness and purpose. Here is an extract from the `Prophecia Merlini': Cadualadrus uocabit Conanum et Albaniam in societate accipiet. Tunc erit strages alienigenarum, tunc ¯umina sanguine manabunt. Tunc erumpent Armorici montes et diademate Bruti coronabitur. Replebitur Kambria letitia et robora Cornubie uirescent. Nomine Bruti uocabitur insula et nuncupatio extraneorum peribit. (`Cadwallader will call Conan and will obtain Albania as an ally. Then there will be a slaughter of aliens, then the rivers will run with blood. Then the mountains of Armorica will burst forth and he [i.e. Cadwallader] will be crowned with the diadem of Brutus. Then Kambria will be full of joy and the oaks of Cornwall will grow stronger. The island will be called by the name of Brutus and the name given by outsiders will perish.')43

It is clear from this extract that the combination of short sentences and active verbs sets up a continual motion, leading quickly from one action to the next, frequently punctuated with words such as tunc, nam and et. In English this becomes `and' and `then'. In other words, political prophecy is paratactic. Parataxis is the use of `a simple declarative sentence or collocation of coordinate main clauses, and the expression by this of a sequence of actions, perceptions or facts'.44 This is obvious in the Latin quotation from the `Prophecia', but it is also true of prophetic texts in English and French, 41

42 43 44

On the Properties of Things, ed. Seymour, II, 771, for example, tells of men with no mouths, living at the source of the Ganges. See also M. C. Seymour et al., Bartholomaeus Anglicus and his Encyclopedia (Cambridge, 1992), pp. 158±9. Aberdeen, University Library, MS 123, fols. 158v±159r is an early example of such a list. Historia Regum Britannie, ed. Wright, I, 77. P. Field, Romance and Chronicle (London, 1971), p. 35.

29

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England prose and poetry. That writing in this style is a deliberate choice on the part of the writer is clear from the Historia Regum Britannie. Geoffrey of Monmouth was an extremely good Latin writer; he did not need to write in this apparently `simple' fashion, and did not do so in his introduction to the `Prophecia Merlini'. As soon as Merlin begins to prophesy, Geoffrey uses paratactic construction. Why, then, should a writer choose to write in this way, and what makes such a construction particularly suitable for prophetic writing? In order to answer this question, we might look at the syntax of annals, where the paratactic narrative is also used. In annalistic writing, the simplicity of statements made in parataxis adds to the overall impression of `plain truthfulness' which the writer requires, as what he is presenting in his annal is what he perceives to have been historical truth, and he wishes the reader to share in this perception. The writer does not intercede, or suggest the nature of connections between events, which are simply presented sequentially. In annals the verbs are mostly in historic tenses, but if we look at the extract from the `Prophecia Merlini' again we can see that the verbs are in the future tense. Most verbs in prophetic texts are in future tenses, not historic. The writer wishes to tell the reader that he is writing `annals of the future'; that is, he is recording faithfully what will happen in the future, and that what he says is truth. This is similar to the technique used by writers of predictions such as those in almanacs, but most political prophecy is not predictive in this way. Political prophecy has various ways of dealing with the issue of time. The 1350s version of `Bridlington' obviously features events in France and on the Scots border in and around the years 1347±9 (notably the siege of Calais by Edward III), but sets these events in `future truth', although they have already happened; a fact which would be apparent to someone reading them shortly after they were written. This type of prophecy is termed ex eventu, being written `after the event', and is frequent in political prophecies. It helps the reader to understand the present events and characters to which the writer will then refer. The predictive part of `Bridlington' is very small, consisting only of the ®nal four short chapters, in which the glorious future reign of the gallus (the Cock) is brie¯y described. Because of the ex eventu part, contemporaries would associate this with the hoped-for future of England in the forthcoming reign of the Black Prince, who was still alive at the time when the verses were written (he died, before his father, in 1376): Amodo de tauro taceo, gallo tibi psallo; Gallum de bruto nosces genitum fore scuto. In mundo talis nullus gallus volat alis. (`Now I am silent about the Bull, I sing to you of the Cock; You will know the Cock, of the line of Brutus, by his shield. Such a Cock never spread its wings in the world.')45 45

Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, I, 203±4.

30

What is Political Prophecy? The ex eventu section has made obvious that the taurus (the Bull) is the Black Prince's father, Edward III. The writer is telling us what he, and by implication his reader, thinks about the Black Prince now, not what he will be like, and what the writer believes and hopes will be England's future in the reign of such a person. The text as a whole, although it talks in the future tense about past and future events, is really telling us what the writer, and his subjected reader, think about the present. Political prophecy is very vague about time, whilst appearing to be very precise. One way of dealing with time in prophetic texts is to make the events portrayed dependent upon the ful®lling of another condition, or set of conditions. Sometimes these conditions use the `world upside down' topos, as in this poem: Whan man as mad a kyng of a capped man; When mon is leuere o‡ermones ‡yng ‡an is owen; When londyon ys forest, ant forest ys felde; . . . Whenne shal ‡is be? Nou‡er in ‡ine tyme ne in myne, ah comen & gon wi‡-inne twenty wynter ant on.46

Sometimes these are impossibilia; that is, the conditions are seemingly impossible of ful®lment: Quando sambucus cerasa fert fructi®cando Et violas donant urtice degenerando Et rosas salices & lilia edent. (`When the fruiting elder tree brings forth cherries, And wilting nettles sprout violets, And willow trees bring forth roses and lilies.')47

This leaves the audience to interpret whether or not they think that these conditions have been ful®lled in a hermeneutic fashion. Some prophetic texts do not carry references to particular times and dates at all. Others use formulae for dates and times. Here is an example: Anno cephas mille canus catulus cocadrille Post binos quartus vulnera quinque canis . . . Mens curtor cupiunt cristi lex vera jocunda . . .48

None of this makes much sense, but if we take the ®rst letters of mille canus catulus cocadrille we get MCCC, followed by two fours; that is, eight, then ®ve (quinque), so we get a date of 1385. Or do we? It could be 1,385 years. When? It could be before something, or after something ± not necessarily `from the Incarnation'. It could be `from the beginning of the World' or ab urbe condita 46 47 48

Historical Poems, ed. Robbins, p. 29. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Hatton 56, fol. 35r. MS Hatton 56, fol. 35r.

31

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England (usually the putative foundation date of Rome). This shows that what is at ®rst sight a formula for dating these `future events' is not as exact or revealing as it seems. The second is more apparently straightforward. Take the ®rst letters MCCCLVI and we get the date 1356. However, this may be taken to mean 1,356 years, as in the ®rst example. The poem itself does not relate to a speci®c event, but to the victory of the red dragon over the white, and the British reconquest of the island of Britain. If the text is to be associated with the battle of Poitiers, which took place in 1356, this is by means of the audience's interpretation, whether intended by the writer or not. A different audience might interpret the text differently. All of these methods of supposedly ®xing the time of ful®lment serve merely to authenticate the contents of the prophetic message by making them appear precise. In fact, the dating of such texts is entirely subject to the interpretation of the audience. This ensures the survival of the text itself, as it may be resurrected and re-interpreted as many times as its audience wishes. Sometimes timing in political prophecies is given as a mathematical puzzle: Ter tria lustra tenent cum semi tempora sexti En vagus in primo perdet, sub ®ne resumet Multa capit medio volutans sub ®ne secundi Orbem subvertet, reliquo clerumque reducet Ad statum primum semi renovat loca sancta Hinc terrena spuens, sanctus super ethera scandit. (`The times of Sextus will endure for three times three lustres and a half; The ®rst he will waste in wandering, towards the end he will come back; In the middle he will conquer much, turning towards the end of the second; In the remainder he will overthrow the world, he will lead the clergy back to their original state; in the half he renews the Holy Places: thence, rejecting earthly things, he ascends, blessed, above the heavens.')49

This entire text is based on the time formula, dividing both the reign of Sextus and the text itself into four parts, `three times three lustres and a half '. A lustre is ®ve years, three lustres ®fteen years, so three times three lustres and a half is forty-seven and a half years. We are told that this will be the length of the reign of Sextus. What we are not told is precisely when these forty-seven and a half years will occur. The four periods are each described in terms of the ruler's actions, but we are not told at what chronological time these things will take place. In `The Holy Oil of St Thomas', the fugitive archbishop Becket is told by the Virgin, `Est etenim rex futurus qui per ista[m] unccione[m] ungetur qui terras a parentibus amissas videlicet Normanniam & Aquitaniam recuperabit sine vi' (`It is the future king who will be anointed with this oil who will recover the lands lost by his ancestors, that is Normandy and 49

Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 249/277, fol. 182r.

32

What is Political Prophecy? Aquitaine, without force').50 Considering that this means the twelfth-century archbishop's future, as it is the archbishop who is being addressed, the time involved includes the late medieval reader's past, present and future. This is important, as the medieval reader would have viewed any text from the standpoint of his own time and situation. He would look for the rex futurus in his own present and future, not simply Becket's. The way in which time is treated in political prophecy helps to create an aura of mystery. The discourse has other features which help to do this. One is the use of ancient and legendary place-names, another is the use of what Taylor calls `prophetic disguise' for the characters in the text, and another is the attribution of texts to specially quali®ed ®gures from the past, legendary or otherwise. Yet another is the use of `precious' language, in which a more prosaic term is replaced by another, more arcane, word or phrase.51 Many political prophecies use names drawn from British histories, such as the Historia Regum Britannie and the Brut. Sometimes the English texts speak of a people called Bruti, or britones, who may represent the Welsh, or Scots, or both, but this is not made clear within the text. However, from the middle of the twelfth century the English audience of political prophecy considered the British past to be their own. London is sometimes referred to as `New Troy', the name given to it by Brutus when he founded it to be the capital of his new kingdom. Terms such as these invoke the authority of the island's legendary past, linking together the present and the prophetic future with the origines gentium myth of the English people. Other references to `place' may appear to have similar ancient, legendary connotations, but this usage does not necessarily differ from that common among contemporary writers. Places may be referred to in terms of the people who live there, such as the Langobardes or the Burdegales. The Holy Land is frequently mentioned as terra sancta, or loci sancti. The German states are usually referred to as Almayne or Allemania, a name derived from the eastern part of Charlemagne's Frankish empire in the eighth century. The lands of the western Frankish empire provide the name Gallia, used to represent France; the king of France is referred to as lilia galli. In English texts this is rendered as `Gaule', but the more usual term is `Fraunce'. Francia is rare in Latin prophetic texts, where Gallia is preferred. Trevisa, however, states that `Fraunce hat Francia and Gallia also', and that `Normandye hat Normannia and Neustria also'.52 Almania is also called Germania, and Aquitania is `Gyan'.53 `Spain' is the name given to the whole of the Iberian peninsula, with areas such as 50

51 52 53

Cambridge, University Library, MS Gg. iv. 25, fol. 61v. Becket, ¯eeing through France from the wrath of King Henry II of England, has a vision of the Virgin Mary whilst celebrating Mass. She gives him an ampulla of holy oil, with which this great future king will be the ®rst to be anointed. Taylor, Political Prophecy, pp. 5±6. On the Properties of Things, ed. Seymour, II, 758±9 and 785±6. On the Properties of Things, ed. Seymour, II, 732±3 and 735.

33

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England Aragon being referred to as provinces of Spain.54 Trevisa's geography, translated from Bartholomaeus and much of it stemming ultimately from Isidore of Seville, has its basis in the provinces of the Roman world, which it uses frequently as referents.55 This type of nomenclature cannot, therefore, be claimed as contributing to the hermeneutic nature of political prophecy. Trevisa, however, in company with contemporary historio-political writers, treats the legendary British names differently. Britannia refers to the whole island of Britain, and is differentiated from `lesse Bretayne', or Brittany.56 Anglia is `Ingland', but Britain, so named from the Trojan conqueror Brutus, is now called Anglia, probably after a queen of the Saxons, although Trevisa also tells the story of Gregory the Great and the slave children, citing Isidore (although the story, of course, comes ultimately from Bede). So, ®rst Britain was `Albion', then `Bretayne', now Anglia. In political prophecy, whenever the name Britain is used, it carries this meaning of the whole island, which is understood somehow also to be England. It has, therefore, imperial connotations relating to the rule of the island by one ruler, based in `New Troy', or London. Trevisa does not use the term Albania to mean Scotland, but to refer to an area in continental Europe, corresponding more closely to what is now understood as Albania.57 He refers to Scotland only as Scocia.58 When the name Albania is used of the Scots in political prophecies, it refers to the British History, not to common usage. In English prophecies, it implies the subjection of the Scots to the kings of England. Political prophecies in English manuscripts almost never mention Wales as a separate country, or the Cymri as a distinct people. Those which do are usually Welsh `imports'.59 Contemporaries of Geoffrey of Monmouth took the `Welshness' of his British History very seriously and regarded it as threatening, but the evidence appears to show that after Edward I's conquest of Wales, at the latest, English political prophecies no longer regarded Wales as separate from England.60 The contemporary audience of the prophecies, informed by the Historia Regum Britannie, the Brut and earlier political prophecies, would have understood these connotations. Another way in which political prophecy is `mysterious' is in the use of what Taylor calls `prophetic disguise' for the human characters in prophetic texts.61 54 55

56 57 58 59 60

61

On the Properties of Things, ed. Seymour, II, 766±7. For example, Flanders is referred to as a province of Gallia Belgica: On the Properties of Things, ed. Seymour, II, 759. That Trevisa's geography was commonly used by contemporary writers is borne out by a reading of any, or all, of the primary sources listed in the bibliography of this book. On the Properties of Things, ed. Seymour, II, 733±4 and 740±1. On the Properties of Things, ed. Seymour, II, 728±9. On the Properties of Things, ed. Seymour, II, 812±13. Such as the texts in Dublin, Trinity College, MS 516. Interestingly, Trevisa appears to have no geographical term for Wales, and does not describe that country. Taylor, Political Prophecy, pp. 5±6.

34

What is Political Prophecy? This may take the form of `accidental designation', or the use of imagery taken from someone's coat of arms, badge or any form of heraldic device associated with that person. The Lily usually represents the king of France, whose coat of arms was silver lilies on a blue ground, and the Leopard is the king of England, from his coat of arms (three gold leopards on a red ground). In the 1450s and 1460s Richard, duke of York is often represented by his heraldic badge, the Falcon. Edward IV is the White Rose, another Yorkist badge. The Crescent Moon represents the House of Percy, and the Bear that of Warwick. The Lion is sometimes a bestiary beast and sometimes heraldic; in its heraldic capacity, it represents the king of Scotland, from the red lion on his coat of arms. Images, like other aspects of prophetic discourse, are ¯exible in their associations. They draw their meaning from the text in which they appear, a meaning which may not be applicable to other texts, no matter how similar their language. All of these devices would have been readily recognizable to most people with an interest in public affairs at the time, and are really cognizances, rather than `disguises'. It is a means whereby the discourse symbolizes, institutionalizes and de-personalizes the people who are its objects, but is certainly not an attempt, as Taylor suggests, to codify and thus to obscure a text's real meaning. Another way in which this is done is by the use of what Taylor calls `arbitrary names'. The choice is not, however, purely arbitrary. Many texts use animal symbols to designate their human characters, including the heroes. Most of the animals and birds used to symbolize prophetic heroes have very positive, regal and warlike associations, such as lion, bull, eagle, falcon, cock, boar, unicorn and dragon. One mysterious prophetic name which came to have apocalyptic associations in later medieval England was Sextus, one of the names for the great hero/ruler which originated in the `Prophecia Merlini'. This name may have originally been related to contemporary number symbolism. The number seven was the number of completion, the number frequently associated with Christ. Six had signi®cance as the number just before seven, and Sextus may therefore indicate the king who is not quite perfect, but almost. The reign of the Sixth may indicate the rule of the king who is to come before the rule of Christ, the perfect ruler. As we have seen before, the ®rst use of this name for a prophetic hero is in the `Prophecia Merlini'. Subsequent uses may all stem from this one, but we cannot be absolutely sure about that; prophetic names and motifs may resemble one another without any traceable connection between the texts in which they occur.62 The important point about all of these names is not what word or symbol they use but what they represent. All of them are associated with particular qualities of a prophetic hero, or an aspect of his rule, which has a bearing on what he does. They are positive, warlike, heroic qualities and aspects of rule which imply greatness, glory and divine sanction. The names of prophetic 62

On the Properties of Things, ed. Seymour, II, 1358.

35

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England heroes serve the purpose of political prophecy in that they both illustrate and explain the narrative. It is because these people are what they are that they are able to do what they will do. The `villains' of political prophecies are sometimes baser animals such as wolves, serpents, owls and herons, but not always. If the loser himself is not base, the greater the honour to the victor. There are a few more forms of prophetic disguise mentioned by Taylor. One he calls `etymologized translation', in which the component parts of a word are translated literally, such as mare mortis for Mortimer, bello campo for Beauchamp, and penetrans for Percy. This is not `disguise' as such, for it resembles very closely the way in which family names are translated in other historiographical material, such as chronicles, where the meaning is very clear. However, in prophetic texts the words do not take a `®xed' form; they may be used as words in their own right. For example, the writer of the `Bridlington' verses uses mare mortis to show his dislike of Roger Mortimer, the lover of Edward II's wife Isabella, and speaks of how Percy (penetrans) `pierces' the Scots.63 Another `disguise', the use of capital letters to indicate names, can also be seen in historical narrative and poems on public affairs. Prophetic abbreviation is not the same as that seen in formulary letters, but stems from the tradition of the Sibilline oracles, in which different emperors are identi®ed by the ®rst letter of their names, such as C for Constantine, A for Augustus, and so on. In historical poems and in prophetic texts we ®nd H for Henry, R for Richard, and E for Edward. This does cause ambiguity, although the context usually implies the meaning.64 Also used are the numbers on the face of a die, or dice. In one manuscript, Dublin, Trinity College, MS 516, there is a `dice prophecy' in which the faces are actually drawn in the text, instead of writing. This makes the text into a kind of puzzle, based on the use of dice-casting for the telling of fortunes, a kind of social `game' in the later Middle Ages. The subjects were usually love, fortune and money, not public affairs.65 Finally, there is `precious' language. This, in effect, is the substitution of a phrase where a word would do. Thus we have ships described as `wooden horses on the sea', drowning is being `eaten by sea ®shes', defeating the French is `ripping up the Lily's ¯owers', and war is `rivers of blood'. In fact, none of Taylor's `prophetic disguises' is limited to political prophecy alone; they may all be found elsewhere. They are not important in their own right, but as part of the whole mysterious discourse of political prophecy. All of these devices create a mysterious language which is very involving for the reader. It is a hermeneutic language; 63 64

65

Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, I, 137 and 156. Gower uses this device extensively in the Tripartite Chronicle. See, for example, Works of John Gower, ed. Macaulay, IV, 342. Dublin, Trinity College, MS 516, fol. 115r, printed in Historical Poems, ed. Robbins, p. 120. There is a very different prophetic `dice' poem without drawings in Cambridge, University Library, Ii. vi. 11, front ¯yleaf. Both are ®fteenth-century manuscripts.

36

What is Political Prophecy? it says `Interpret me'. Most texts then guide the reader towards complicity in the writer's, or copyist's, own interpretation. By this means the writer gains control over the reader, and is able to place the reader in the relationship which he, the writer, wishes, to the subject of public affairs. The audience participate, even collude in, this `knowingness'. The `future truth' recorded by prophetic writers differs from simple prediction in that the events recorded have not been immutably ®xed by an outside agency such as God or Fate. They record what should happen but might not. Political prophecy carries an element of responsibility. If certain conditions are not ful®lled, the hoped-for future will not happen. `Adam Davy' says of King Edward: Blissed be ‡e tyme ‡at he was bore! ffor we shullen ‡e day see, Emperour ychosen he wor‡e of cristiente. God vs graunte ‡at ilk bone, ‡at ‡ilk tydyng here we sone Of sir Edward oure derwor‡ kyng.66 If the timing and the favour itself are God's to grant, then this cannot be ®xed truth. The writer hopes that it will be so, and soon. The implied condition is that others share his belief in the king's destiny, and have the same hope as he does for the king's, and by implication his country's, future greatness. The reader must demonstrate his agreement by loyalty to king and country. This is not communicated in a direct way to the reader, but his acquiescence is assumed, and so the reader is subjected by the discourse. He is constructed as one of a group of people who share in the writer's ideas about his king, his people and his country. Political prophecy is not really about predicting the future at all but, like the other discourses we have looked at, it presents a view of public affairs. It does not describe events in the same way as the other discourses, but it describes how some people feel about particular issues involved in them; that is, the relationship of king and people, the issue of `Englishness', and what this means in terms of the wider world. It does this by projecting past and present events into the future, but in such a way that the reader understands that it is the present which is really being discussed.

The Source of Prophetic Authority There is a further means by which the writer gains power over his audience; by claiming the authority of special individuals or situations (or both) for his texts. Not all prophetic texts do this, but many of them do. Most political 66

Adam Davy's Dreams about Edward II, ed. F. J. Furnivall, EETS OS 69 (London, 1878), p. 12.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England prophecies are anonymous in the sense that the actual writers are unknown.67 Anonymity, for whatever reason, is not unusual in medieval texts. Mistaken attribution is not unknown either. This is not necessarily, therefore, an indication that the real author wishes to `hide'.68 What is signi®cant in political prophecy is the importance of attribution to the writer and to his audience. There is no set pattern to these attributions, and it is often unclear whether they have been made by the writer or by the copier. The same text may be attributed to different `prophets' in different manuscripts, or be attributed in one manuscript and not in another. The attributees of political prophecies are of several different types. First, there are the saints ± people set apart by holiness or martyrdom, or both. In this class we may include Thomas Becket, martyred in 1170 by followers of Henry II; John Thweng, prior of Bridlington priory (East Yorkshire) in the 1360s (who had a local, and possibly wider, reputation for holiness); and `local' saints such as Richard Scrope, the archbishop of York, executed on the orders of Henry IV in 1405 for his part in the rebellion of that year and venerated as a saint in the North, or Edmund Lacy, bishop of Exeter, a saintly and learned cleric who retired from public life in 1422, devoting the rest of his life (he died in 1455) to his diocese.69 This saintly group also includes Edward the Confessor, not only saintly but royal. He and Becket also have the distinction of being regarded as national saints in the later Middle Ages; unlike the imported ®gure of St George, they were regarded as being `English', and were therefore more suitable vehicles for a discourse about `Englishness'. Secondly, there are the legendary ®gures, some of whom were also regarded as saintly. This includes legendary dreamers such as Thomas of Erceldoune and Alanus Sompniator, the Irish abbot Malingulus and, of course, Merlin. There were two Merlins, as Giraldus Cambrensis explains: Erant Merlinus [sic] duo, iste qui et Ambrosius dictus est, quia binominus fuerat, et sub rege Vortigerno prophetizavit, ab incubo genitus, et apud Kaemerdyn inventus . . . alter vero de Albania oriundus, qui et Celidonius dictus est, a Celidonia silva in qua prophetizavit, et Silvester, qui cum inter acies bellicas constitutus marstrum horribile nimis in aera suspiciendo prospiceret, dementire coepit, et ad silvam transfugiendo silvestrem usque ad obitum vitae perduxit.

67

68

69

This is not true of all. Some authors are known, and contemporary attributions are correct, such as John of Rupescissa's `Vade Mecum in Tribulatione' and Bridget of Sweden's Revelationes. This did help if the author was criticizing the mighty, as was the author of `Bridlington' in the early 1350s. J. W. McKenna, `Popular Canonisation as Political Propaganda: The Cult of Archbishop Scrope', Speculum 45 (1970), 608±23; A. B. Emden, A Biographical Register of the University of Oxford to AD 1500, 3 vols. (Oxford, 1957±9), II, 1081±3.

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What is Political Prophecy? (There were two Merlins, the one who was called Ambrosius, because he was named twice, and prophesied under King Vortigern, sired by an incubus, and found at Kaemerdyn . . . the other, truly, originated in Albania [i.e. Scotland], who is called both Celidonius, from the Caledonian forest in which he prophesied, and Silvester, who, when he was placed among the ®ghting forces, saw a most awful hand axe hanging in the air; he began to go out of his mind, and, ¯eeing to the forest, led a wild existence until his death.')70

Characters from the legendary continental past included Charlemagne and the Frankish bishop Germanus of Auxerre, and the unidenti®ed `Hermerus', supposedly the European equivalent of Merlin. Alongside these, there are biblical characters such as King David, Solomon and the prophet Ezekiel, and men known for learning as well as holiness, such as Joachim of Fiore. Cicero, also known as Tullius, is sometimes included among the `prophets', probably because of his study of dreams. Sometimes exotic ®gures appear, such as Mahomet and `Baltazar Cador doctor of Astronomy & Souerayn philoso®er of ye partes of Almayn'.71 The only great classical ®gures are the Sibyls. The prologue to the prophetic text beginning `Sibille generaliter' tells us that there were ten Sibyls. The most frequent by far in English manuscripts is the Tiburtine, or Roman Sibyl: `Fuit igitur hec Sibilla Priamidis regis ®lia ex matre nomine Hecuba procreata, vocata est autem in Greco Tiburtina, Latino vero nomine Abulnea. Hec circumiens diversas partes orbis predicavit' (`This Sibyl, therefore, was the daughter of King Priam, begotten on her mother, named Hecuba; however, she is called Tiburtina in Greek, and called in Latin Abulnea. She preached, travelling in various parts of the world').72 The Sibyl is not the only woman to whom prophetic texts are attributed. Extracts from Chapter Four of the Revelationes of St Bridget of Sweden appear among prophetic texts of the ®fteenth century. A few texts are attributed to the daughters of St Germanus. It does seem that it is the qualities of a `prophet' which are important, not necessarily the sex. It just happens that, as with many well-known saints and most scholars in the Middle Ages, most `prophets' were men. Because political prophecies concern public affairs, which was regarded as the domain of men, most of the characters in prophetic texts are male. If queens, for example Edward II's wife Isabella, become important in public affairs, then they may be mentioned. The tasks performed by the heroes of prophecy were those which were usually limited to males, so the heroes of prophetic discourse in later medieval England are always men. The discourse does not allow for military domination and 70

71 72

`Itinerarium Kambrie', ed. J. F. Dimock, in Giraldi Cambrensis: Opera, ed. J. S. Brewer, J. F. Dimock and G. F. Warner, 8 vols., RS 21 (London, 1861±91), VI, 3±152 (133) (my punctuation). Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Hatton 56, fol. 7r. Sibyllinische Texte, ed. Sackur, p. 177 (my punctuation).

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England crusading to be carried out by females. Matters of war and peace, of kingship and nationhood, were not considered suitable subjects for discussion by women. No extant manuscript containing political prophecies is known to have been owned by a woman. On the basis of this evidence, it would appear that if prophets were sometimes female, their audience was male.73 As well as being attributed to a `special' personage, the prophetic text may claim to have been inspired in special circumstances. This usually takes the form of a dream or vision. Becket has a vision of the Virgin Mary, `Adam Davy' has a series of dreams, the writer of `Bridlington' has a revelation during his last hours of fevered delirium. There may be other circumstances: John of Rupescissa wrote his `Vade Mecum in Tribulatione' in prison, Erceldoune's prophecy was told to him by a faery lady, and Merlin Ambrosius delivered his whilst in a prophetic trance. This highlights the fact that the text is meant to be a revelation from God, delivered to a particularly favoured individual, who has earned the right to be so favoured by possessing qualities which make him a suitable candidate for such favour, or in circumstances which highlight their receptivity to God's voice, such as a dream, trance or fever during the course of which the faculties of human reason are suspended. Evidence for this is provided by two of the illustrations in BL MS Cotton Julius A. V. There are three full-page pictures in the manuscript, all of them depicting prophetic texts. They may have been part of the manuscript as originally conceived, or they may have been added later in order to `upgrade' an already existing volume. In the picture on fol. 53v, Merlin is depicted as a young man with yellow hair, and in the picture on fol. 54r, Merlin, tonsured as a priest, is addressing King Vortigern.74 It is interesting that Merlin, the prophet, is depicted on fol. 54r as a cleric. His clerical garb implies that there is a connection between Merlin, the person 73

74

Bridget of Sweden uses beast imagery, but this may be more to do with the tradition of apocalyptic, theological language, represented by women such as Hildegard of Bingen. Bridget, like as Hildegard, speaks of bestiae, not particular beasts. Her prophecy is, however, consciously political. Women, especially high-ranking, literate women such as Bridget, must, therefore, have been aware of political prophecy, although it was not considered suitable for them by men. On women and their reading, see F. Riddy, ` ``Women Talking About the Things of God'': A Late Medieval Sub-Culture', in Women and Literature, ed. C. M. Meale (Cambridge, 1993), pp. 104±27, and C. M. Meale ` ``alle the bokes that I haue of latyn, englisch, and Frensch'': Laywomen and their Books in Late Medieval England', in Women and Literature, ed. Meale (Cambridge, 1993), pp. 128±58. For the use of pictorial illustration as a reading guide, see E. Salter and D. Pearsall, `Pictorial Illustration of Late Medieval Poetic Texts: the RoÃle of the Frontispiece or Prefatory Picture', in Medieval Iconography and Narrative: a Symposium, ed. F. G. Andersen, E. Nyholm, M. Powell and F. T. Stubkjaer (Odense, 1980), pp. 100±23. See also K. L. Scott, `Design, Decoration and Illustration', in Book Production and Publishing in Britain 1375±1475, ed. J. Grif®ths and D. Pearsall (Cambridge, 1989), pp. 31±64 (pp. 38±47). The picture on fol. 54r is used as the frontispiece for Prophetia Merlini, ed. Eckhardt.

40

What is Political Prophecy? with God-given prophetic knowledge, and the clergy, who are also blessed by God with divine knowledge. Merlin, as a cleric, has the right, as well as the ability and the divine sanction, to impart this knowledge to the king, who, by implication, does not have it. The clergy are set apart, not by birth or royal favour, but by their education and the grace of God. It is his divinely-given prophetic knowledge which separates Merlin, as the priest of fol. 54r, from the yellow-haired young man of fol. 53v. He expounds the meaning of the prophecy to the king, who lacks the learning necessary to do this for himself. The king is, therefore, able to `read' the text through an educated, divinely informed and privileged intermediary. Why do writers of texts in prophetic discourse make such claims, on behalf of themselves and their audience? It is a question of authority, privilege and power. The ultimate origin of political prophecies is God. The prophecy represents what God wills, not a series of pre-determined certainties in the ful®lment of which the human will has no part. This is communicated to men, sometimes by special means, through individuals chosen by God. Thus God confers a particular privilege on these chosen individuals; they share in the knowledge of his will in a way in which others do not. They are charged with revealing God's will to others, just as the preacher of moralizing discourse is divinely privileged to perceive the people's sins and to communicate God's reaction to them. In the case of the prophetic material in this book, what the privileged individual communicates is God's will in England's public affairs. The nature of the revelation and the status of the one to whom it had been ®rst revealed were important in establishing the authority and veracity of the text. These were trustworthy and authoritative witnesses, and their names made the texts more believable in the eyes of the medieval reader. The privilege conferred on the original recipients of the prophetic message was then shared with those to whom the knowledge was passed on. By this means the medieval writers of political prophecy, and their audience, shared the privilege of knowing God's will for their king and country. They became members of a select group of eÂlite people who shared, and might communicate, this knowledge. This knowledge gave them power over others, and over the people at the centre of the public affairs which they described. The source of authority in chivalric discourse is social class and nurriture, and historical precedent in the deeds of heroes such as Edward I. The source of authority in moralizing discourse is the Word of God and its written form, the Bible, interpreted by the preacher or preacherly writer. Political prophecy conveyed power through knowledge. Those who had the knowledge were part of a privileged, powerful eÂlite. Even if they did not have the actual power to shape public affairs, they might assume such power through prophetic discourse, and they might share this power with other privileged people who adopted the same position as themselves. Political prophecy was only one of a variety of languages in which public affairs were presented and commented upon in later medieval England. 41

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England These languages, or discourses, all gave the writer power over his subject, and over his readers. This power was conveyed by different means, and a different position was taken up by each discourse in relation to the same subject. In fact, the discourse limited what could be said. The same language used by writers to depict the wars of Edward I and Edward II with the Scots was used to describe the wars of Edward III and Henry V against the French, and was still being used in 1471 to describe the recovery of the English throne by Edward IV. Prophecies, which began to be written and understood politically in twelfth-century England, were still being understood in this way at the end of the ®fteenth century. The nature of the prophetic hero did not change, neither did his world-conquering, Britain-ruling, pagan-slaying career or the qualities he needed in order to perform his divinely-appointed tasks. Despite its apparent rigidity, however, political prophecy, being a discourse and not a genre, was inherently ¯exible. It enabled many people to participate in the construction of a political message; indeed, the part played by the audience of a text was as important as that of the writer and copyist.

42

CHAPTER TWO

The Second Arthur: The King as hero c. 1135±1307 In 1278 the supposed bodies of Arthur and Guinevere, having been `discovered' at Glastonbury, were re-interred there by command of King Edward I of England. Before reburial, the bodies were re-clothed by the king and queen in person. This form of identi®cation with the dead was chivalric, as was the Lord Edward's burial of Henry de Montfort, but on this occasion it was more than that. This action did, indeed, show the Welsh that Arthur was truly dead, and would not, therefore, return to oust their English overlords as Welsh prophecies claimed. However, this apparently (to us) ghoulish ceremonial was directed also at the English. The great future king prophesied by Merlin would be the resurrected Arthur, so his initial death was immaterial in terms of prophecy. What Edward was showing in this extremely personal identi®cation with the (supposed) body of the dead king was that he himself was the second Arthur. By the time of Edward's death in 1307, the idea of the king of England as the prophetic hero who embodied all the political hopes, ideals and the nature of the English people had taken ®rm root in the political consciousness of many Englishmen.1 This hero, frequently identi®ed with Arthur redivivus, was the result of a process of accumulation which had been occurring from the twelfth century onwards, stimulated by an ever-growing demand for political prophecies. This demand for political prophecy was not created by the production of literary texts; rather, it was the demand which stimulated the production of text. When examining the development of political prophecy, this point must always be borne in mind. Political prophecy was always produced for use. Although some prophetic texts are of better literary quality than others, their quality as literature was not the medieval audience's ®rst priority. Readers and writers were chie¯y interested in what the texts said, and how that might be applied. Apocalyptic prophecy, statements about God's will for the Last Days of human history, was not new in the twelfth century. In the Books of Daniel and of Revelation, it formed an integral part of Holy Scripture, and was a subject of theological study. Prophecy had been secular in classical times, being associated with the fortune of the Roman state, but this secular branch 1

J. C. Parsons, `The Second Exhumation of King Arthur's Remains at Glastonbury, 19 April 1278', Arthurian Literature 12 (1993), 173±77.

43

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England of hermeneutics had been lost in the early Middle Ages, by which time it had become a theological subject. However, eschatological prophecy was concerned with the fate of human societies and their rulers; the difference between this and political prophecy was a matter of emphasis. The same text could be seen as theological or as political, according to the view of the reader or hearer. What appears to have happened in the twelfth century, particularly in England, was a shifting of the audience's viewpoint on two of these eschatological prophecies in particular, `Sibille generaliter', also known as the prophecy of the Tiburtine Sibyl, and `Pseudo-Methodius'.2 The Sibylline Oracles originated in the Greek colonies of Asia Minor at least as early as the eighth century BC, and spread around the known world in the Hellenistic period. They reached Rome in the sixth century BC, were destroyed by ®re in 83 BC but were quickly replaced. There were Jewish versions from the second century AD, but the chief stimulus for Christian ones was the fall of the Roman Empire and the uncertainty of the fourth and ®fth centuries. It is likely that the prophecy of the Tiburtine, or Roman, Sibyl originated in the fourth century, but it was subsequently reworked, notably in the late tenth or early eleventh century, when it became popular as a theological, and increasingly as a political, prophecy.3 A hundred Roman senators have the same dream on the same night. They see nine suns, each with different characteristics, and the Sibyl is sent for in order to interpret the dreams. Her interpretation, in terms of the future political and religious history of the Roman Empire and its rulers, forms most of the text. `Pseudo-Methodius' does not have an introductory story such as that of `Sibille generaliter', but begins with the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise. The incipit, `Sciendum namque est . . .' is standard for didactic and scienti®c works in the Middle Ages. Although it bore his name, the text had nothing to do with the fourth-century martyr Methodius. It originated in the Middle East, incorporated Persian and Syrian traditions, and was originally written in Syriac. It was known in Europe in the seventh century, when it became associated with the rulers of the western Frankish empire, which suggests a political use of the text at that time. It was a source for Adso, abbot of Moutier-en-Der, when writing De Antichristo in the tenth century. In English twelfth-century manuscripts, these texts begin to appear alongside historical works on the Greek and Roman Empires, the Fall of Troy, short histories of the world such as that of Julius Solinus, and the British Histories of Nennius and Gildas. Later in the century, the histories include Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britannie and Henry of Huntingdon's Historia Anglorum. In both `Sibille generaliter' and `Pseudo-Methodius', the unifying factor is 2

3

Sibyllinische Texte, ed. Sackur, pp. 177±87 (`Sibille generaliter') and 59±96 (`PseudoMethodius'); B. Z. Kedar, Crusade and Mission: European Approaches Towards the Musims (Princeton, 1984), p. 29, n. 68. McGinn, Visions of the End, pp. 18±24 and 43±50.

44

The Second Arthur: The King as hero c. 1135±1307 a regnum (kingdom, or `that which is ruled by a rex, meaning a king, or simply `ruler'). The nature of the regnum is constant, and although the human actors come and go, the relationships between the regnum, its gens (people) and its reges (rulers) are also constant. This regnum is the Roman Empire. Both texts are based on the linear passage of time, from the present to the end of human history; time during which the empire as a political entity never ceases to exist, and after the end of which it will continue to exist. Therefore, although people and rulers as individuals live and die, the empire itself is immortal. It is the image and the precursor on earth of God's own eternal rule. At the end of history, God will take the earthly empire and turn it into his own, everlasting empire. It is symbolized, on earth, by the regalia which belong to the last human emperor, which he surrenders to God at the end of his reign. In `Pseudo-Methodius' this is the crown only, which the emperor takes from his head and places on the Cross, but `Sibille generaliter' speaks of the crown and royal clothing. This imparts special, theological, signi®cance to the symbols of imperial power; in particular to the crown, the symbol of temporal rule. In both texts, there is an implication that this rule itself is greater than those individuals who may temporarily hold it. Rulers come and go, sometimes with great rapidity and without comment. `Sibille generaliter' gives the impression that the prophet must get to the end of the world at breakneck speed. `Pseudo-Methodius', however, although it purports to cover human history from Adam and Eve (a much greater range of history than the Sibyl, which starts with the Roman Empire), appears much less hurried. This is because it is far more selective. `Sibille generaliter' attempts to include biblical history as part of the history of the Roman Empire, which means including Roman rulers as well, and this leads to a certain amount of congestion in the space of a fairly short text. `PseudoMethodius' does not attempt this. From Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, it traces the descendants of Noah and Abraham. These become respectively the Israelites and the Ishmaelites, the latter being identi®ed with the Saracens who will persecute the Roman Empire in the Last Days. It then gives a very short `history' of the great biblical and classical empires, giving special prominence to the uniting of the empires of Ethiopia, Greece and Rome in the person of Alexander. The writer then goes on to speak of how the Romanorum regnum (`kingdom of the Romans') will become regnum christianorum (`kingdom of the Christians'), and will be scourged by the children of Ishmael, the Arabs, until a last great ruler arrives to defeat them. There is no attempt to describe how, why or when the Roman Empire becomes Christian, or what Christianity is. The historical ®gures of Jesus Christ and Emperor Constantine do not appear in this account; the author moves straight from the joining of the empires to the Last Days. `Sibille generaliter', however, speaks of the physical birth of Jesus Christ in the reign of Tiberius, of his execution and the eventual acceptance of the Christian faith by the emperors of Rome. The scourging of the empire in the Last Days is simply described as a result of 45

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England the wrath of God, ending with the rise of the last emperor. Unlike `PseudoMethodius', there is no break in the historical narrative. The empire of `Sibille generaliter' is ®rst Roman and then Christian, whereas the empire of `Pseudo-Methodius' is ®rst Christian, then Roman. The writer of `PseudoMethodius' is not concerned with what the real Roman Empire was like, although he does feel that he should identify himself with others who share his religious beliefs, in the face of attack by non-Christians who do not. The rulers of `Sibille generaliter' are representatives of the idea of empire, enshrined in the rule which they take up and pass on to their successors.4 They may be good or bad as men and as kings, but the of®ce which they hold and pass on, with the idea of empire which it embodies, is not itself diminished. In `Pseudo-Methodius', it is not an idea of empire which is passed on, but one of blood, or race. The writer does not distinguish between gens (`people') and natio (`nation'). He begins with Genesis, and traces not a succession of rulers, but the generations and rami®cations of a family, the family of Israel, God's chosen race. This is then contextualized in the form of an empire based on religion, in this case Christianity. Because of the way in which the story of the Last Days and the last emperor follows straight on from that of the people of Israel and their relatives, we are led to assume that the Christian empire and its last emperor are a part of this family, and the immediate successors of the ®rst great empires, who were themselves `chosen' by God. `Sibille generaliter' is addressed to members of the Roman senate, the representatives of Roman citizens. The citizens of the empire are those who feel that they belong to this political community. The ruler represents and serves the community, and his abilities and actions determine whether they will thrive or not. His moral qualities are important. If he is sinful, those he rules will be sinful, too, and their sin will have political as well as social consequences. If he is a tyrant or a bad ruler, the whole community will suffer. There is no question that the people should choose their rulers, whose rise and fall is due to circumstances beyond their control, within the will of God. The idea behind `Sibille generaliter' is that God has a purpose and a plan, which he knows but ordinary mortals do not, and this plan will be worked out in his own good time. Both `Sibille generaliter' and `PseudoMethodius' offer the reassurance that, whatever happens, God is in control, and will ensure that his plan is carried out in the end. This plan includes a special place for God's chosen people, whether this is the New Israel of `Pseudo-Methodius' or the Romans of `Sibille generaliter'. Both prophecies look forward to the rule of one last great emperor at the end of human history. He will arise at a time known initially only to God, and 4

As Reynolds points out, this may only be true in the discourse; kings as individuals could be seen as separate from their of®ce when this was considered necessary or desirable. S. Reynolds, Kingdoms and Communities in Western Europe 900±1300 (Oxford, 1984), pp. 325±6.

46

The Second Arthur: The King as hero c. 1135±1307 will be the ruler of the empire. `Sibille generaliter' calls him `rex Grecorum, cuius nomen Constans, et ipse erit rex Romanorum et Grecorum' (`king of the Greeks, named Constans, he will also be king of the Romans and the Greeks'), and `Pseudo-Methodius' calls him `rex Grecorum, sive Romanorum' (`king of the Greeks, or the Romans').5 This great ruler will be a mighty warrior, who will subdue pagan lands, and free them from the pagan yoke. He will bring a period of peace and plenty, when men will rejoice. It will a time of rebuilding: Erit enim laetitia super terram et commorabuntur homines in pace et reedi®cabunt civitates et liberabuntur sacerdotes de necessitatibus suis et requiescent homines in tempore illo a tribulationibus suis. (`For there will be joy on the earth and men will live together in peace and they will rebuild cities and priests will be freed from their necessities and men will rest from their tribulations in that time.')6

Then the gates of the North will open, and the tribes of Gog and Magog which Alexander imprisoned behind them will spill out and overwhelm the earth with their vileness and atrocities. There is no evidence that this great emperor will be recognized initially by his people for what he is, although he is their representative in God's plan. The time of his coming is known only to God. He is God's gift to the people and to the entire Christian world. He has, therefore, a special relationship with God, whose divine instrument he is. He is the scourge of God for the heathen, whom he defeats and punishes in God's name. He is the blessing of God for his own people, because they are blessed through his actions and his status. Their enhanced status re¯ects back upon the ruler, although the relationship is very unequal. His authority is given to the ruler by God alone, and he is responsible only to God. He is given to the people by God, regardless of whether or not they deserve this honour. It is implied that the citizens of the empire are united behind this great ruler, for they could hardly refuse to follow and support God's chosen instrument. It is taken for granted that the ruler is loyally and faithfully followed and supported by his people as a single, united community. Although `Sibille generaliter' implies that he is morally upright, the great ruler will be known by his actions rather than by his personality or morality. When they see his conquests, all people, including the people of his own empire, will know who he is. The community of the `empire' is bound together by another common bond; it represents the Christian world. In `Sibille generaliter' the last emperor is the leader of a Christendom which corresponds exactly with the Roman Empire. In `Pseudo Methodius' the last emperor is at the head of the New Israel, specially chosen by God to be a blessing to the rest of the Christian world. His people occupy the premier position in the Christian 5 6

Sibyllinische Texte, ed. Sackur, pp. 89 and 185. Sibyllinische Texte, ed. Sackur, p. 91.

47

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England community, in company with the ruler who represents them. He is the successor of leaders such as David and Judas Maccabeus, warrior heroes of Israel, restoring Christianity to its rightful place as the triumphant faith of the world, enabling the ®nal, cosmic victory of God himself over the powers of evil. Why the emphasis should be so different is apparent when we realize that `Sibille generaliter' was written to comfort the citizens of a disintegrating Roman Empire, whereas `Pseudo Methodius' was written to the glory of the Frankish rulers of the West. When the hordes of Gog and Magog break free from the gates of the North, and Antichrist appears, the rex Romanorum will go to Jerusalem and surrender his power to God, who will then defeat the forces of Antichrist. In effect, God himself will take the place of the last Roman emperor. `Sibille generaliter' says that the rex Romanorum `relinquet regnum Christianorum Deo patri et Iesu Christo ®lio eius' (`will surrender the regnum of the Christians to God the Father and to Jesus Christ his son').7 `PseudoMethodius', however, says that the rex Romanorum goes to Golgotha et tollet rex coronam de capite suo et ponet eam super crucem, et expandit manus suas in caelum et tradit regnum christianorum Deo et patri et adsumetur crux in caelum simul cum corona regis . . . Et cumque exaltabitur crux in celum sursum, etiam tradet continuo spiritum suum Romanorum rex. (`and the king will take off the crown from his head and place it on the Cross, and will stretch out his hands to heaven and surrender the regnum of the Christians to God and the Father and the Cross will be taken up into heaven at the same time as the king's crown . . . and whenever the cross shall be lifted up towards heaven from above, then the king of the Romans will be straight away yielding up his spirit.')8

This is a more potent theological symbolism than that of `Sibille generaliter'. The last emperor is being presented in Christological terms. The symbolism of the cross is very important in `Pseudo-Methodius'. It forms the turning point of the narrative, ®lling the space between the story of Israel and the great empires of antiquity and the coming of the last emperor. In this space the narrative tells how the early Christians built a great cross in the middle of the earth, symbolizing the universality of the Christian faith, which will be restored by the last emperor, acting as the instrument of God. The crown on the cross is the symbol of Christus Victor, the triumphant Christ of Easter. The last ruler is offering himself as mediator between God and the people he represents, and to this end he sacri®ces his own life for their bene®t, so that God can carry out his purpose by defeating Antichrist and bringing about the end of human history. This is a `second Good Friday', a sacri®cial act by 7 8

Sibyllinische Texte, ed. Sackur, p. 186. Sibyllinische Texte, ed. Sackur, p. 93.

48

The Second Arthur: The King as hero c. 1135±1307 God's Anointed, which makes God's ®nal victory possible. To this end, the last emperor gives up his spirit, in the manner of Christ on the cross. He is not only giving up his life for his own nation, but on behalf of all Christian people. The idea of the king as Christ was already a theologically familiar concept. At the beginning of the twelfth century the `Norman Anonymous' of York had spoken of the king as having two natures; in nature, he was a human individual, but by grace he was Christus, God made Man.9 He was Christ only by the grace of God, whereas Jesus was Christ by his nature. According to the Church, it was consecration which made this change, but in the prophecy of public affairs this is less clear. Political prophecy tends to imply that the consecration is made by God either before birth, or at the moment of the king's accession. It prefers coronation, the symbolic acknowledgement of secular power, to anointing by the clergy.10 The earthly and heavenly empires meet in Jerusalem, where the transfer of power takes place. Earthly rule was seen as a mirror of the order which existed in heaven, which was to be found throughout the world of nature. In both prophecies special emphasis is laid on the recovery of the Holy Land. This, and the conquest of Egypt and Africa, is not viewed as the conquest of new lands, but the recovery of what has been lost to the Christian world. This was not just a literary motif in the second half of the twelfth century. Although the English did not take a leading part in the crusades until the Third Crusade of 1188, there was considerable interest in the Second Crusade of 1147, when the commitment of those of `middle' rank ± that is, lesser landowners, knights, burgesses, merchants and priests ± was considerable. Despite the political instability of Stephen's reign, these people felt strongly that the preservation of Christianity in the East was worth contributing to, and, in some cases, dying for.11 These two texts, `Sibille generaliter' and `Pseudo-Methodius', would have been known at least to some of the readers of Geoffrey of Monmouth's works, and were probably known to Geoffrey himself, who was, after all, an Oxford scholar of European reputation.12 Taylor credited Geoffrey of Monmouth with introducing the political prophecy to England, but, in view of existing works being read in this way, this assertion cannot be true. It does remain true, however, that Geoffrey's `Prophecia Merlini' and the Historia Regum 9

10

11 12

E. H. Kantorowicz, The King's Two Bodies: A Study in Medieval Political Theology (Princeton, 1957), p. 46. Kantorowicz, King's Two Bodies, pp. 46±61. The `Norman Anonymous' states that the king offers himself as `a living host, a holy host, a host that pleases God': Kantorowicz, King's Two Bodies, p. 117. An exception, of course is `The Holy Oil of St Thomas'. C. Tyerman, England and the Crusades 1095±1588 (Chicago, 1988), pp. 32±5. C. N. L. Brooke, `Geoffrey of Monmouth as a Historian', in Church and Government in the Middle Ages, ed. C. N. L. Brooke, D. Luscombe, G. Martin and D. Owen (Cambridge, 1976), pp. 77±91; V. J. Flint, `The Historia Regum Britannie of Geoffrey of Monmouth', Speculum 54 (1979), 447±68.

49

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England Britannie of which it formed a part were extremely popular in the second half of the twelfth century, and became one of the most popular historical works in medieval England. If Geoffrey did not introduce the political prophecy to England, he was vitally important in enhancing its popularity. It is generally accepted that Geoffrey of Monmouth, described by Wright as a `Normanized Celt', wrote the `Prophecia Merlini' whilst he was a scholar at Oxford, in or shortly before 1135, the year in which Henry I, the last of the Conqueror's sons to rule England, died.13 The `Prophecia' ®rst circulated as an independent text, but by 1139 had been incorporated by Geoffrey in his Historia Regum Britannie. This was the year in which Henry of Huntingdon was shown a copy of the Historia at Le Bec. Henry admitted to being `astonished' by Geoffrey's book, which Henry would surely have known of earlier if it had been in circulation.14 Geoffrey later incorporated similar texts, which he placed in the mouths of Merlin and his sister Ganeida, in the Vita Merlini.15 The large number of surviving twelfth-century manuscripts of the Historia Regum Britannie is evidence of the early popularity of this work. Texts of the `Prophecia Merlini' also survive from this early date, although there are many more manuscripts of the Historia than of the `Prophecia' alone.16 The Historia tells how the British king, Vortigern, having gained his kingdom by murder and employed Anglo-Saxon mercenaries to help him keep it, wanted to build a tower on top of a great cliff. When the walls kept falling down, Vortigern's wise men advised him that the walls would only stand if the foundations were sprinkled with the blood of a youth who had no mortal father. After a search, the young man Merlin, reputedly the son of a mortal princess and an incubus, was found. Brought before the king, and ®nding his life in danger, Merlin challenged the explanation of Vortigern's wise men and began to prophesy. The independent text of the `Prophecia Merlini' usually begins at the point where Merlin is brought before Vortigern, just before the prophetic utterances begin. Merlin tells Vortigern that if his men drain the pool at the base of the cliff, they will ®nd two dragons, one red and one white. The dragons will ®ght, and the red will be defeated. However, the red dragon will return and defeat the white dragon. The red dragon, Merlin explains, represents the Britons, and the white dragon the Saxons. For a while the Saxons will be victorious, but then the Britons, aided by a boar from Cornwall, will defeat them. The islands of the ocean and the forests of Gaul will be subject to the boar. There then follows an account of good fortune and 13

14 15

16

Historia Regum Britannie I, ed. Wright, p. x. Wright believes that Geoffrey may have been not of Welsh, but of Breton extraction. Historia Regum Britannie I, ed. Wright, p. xvi. Vita Merlini, ed. and trans. Clarke, pp. 82±9 (Merlin) and 132±5 (Ganeida). Grif®ths, Early Vaticination in Welsh, gives examples from the point of view of the Welsh tradition. When Welsh prophetic material was `taken over' by the English, it has to be viewed as `English'. This is true for all periods. See J. C. Crick, Historia Regum Britannie III.

50

The Second Arthur: The King as hero c. 1135±1307 disaster which will befall the people of Britain and the kings who will rule them. Some of the characters in the island's story are named, and others are represented by dragons, lions, eagles, wolves, serpents, dogs, boars, goats and other animals. The prophecy ends with an astrological description of chaos in the heavens, of a type which usually denotes the End of the World, and which appears to bear little relationship to the rest of the text. The ending provides a universal, cosmic framework for the story of Britain, but within the `Prophecia' itself it is incongruous; it needs to be viewed in the general context of the Historia, and of other prophetic texts available at the time it was written, in order to make any sense. The `Prophecia Merlini' is not really one, but a series of different prophecies, moulded together by Geoffrey, or by the compiler of the source he translated. This is an important point, because some of the characters in the `Prophecia' reappeared as heroes in later prophecies, but others did not. Those who did were the ones whose predicted qualities and, above all, actions, ®tted the requirements of other writers. Chief among these characters, besides the two dragons, who represent the British and the Saxon peoples, are: Sextus, or the Sixth, who will overthrow the walls of Ireland and change the woods into plain. He will reduce several parts into one, and be crowned with the head of a lion. In the beginning he will be a prey to wandering affection, but at his ending he will be given a place among the blessed. He will care for the Church.17 Cadwallader, who will ally with Albania (at this time the name given by the Scots to their own kingdom). Foreigners will be slaughtered, and there will be rivers of blood. He will be crowned with the diadem of Brutus, and the name given to the island by foreigners will be abolished. Cadwallader is the last king featured in the Historia Regum Britannie. He is also the king who went to Rome, and was promised by an angel that one of his descendants would return, reunite Britain, and drive away foreigners.18 The Boar, a descendant of Conan, who will sharpen his tusks in the woods of Gaul. He will cut down all the big oaks, and defend the small. Arabians and Africans will dread him, and he will extend his warlike career as far as Spain.19 The Boar of Cornwall. After the initial defeat of the red dragon, the Boar of Cornwall will help the Britons to overcome the Saxons. The islands of the ocean will be subject to him, and he will possess the forests of Gaul. The 17 18

19

Historia Regum Britannie I, ed. Wright, p. 76. Historia Regum Britannie I, ed. Wright, p. 77, also K. Stringer, `Social and Political Communities in European History: Some Re¯ections on Recent Studies', in Nations, Nationalism and Patriotism in the European Past, ed. C. Bjorn, A. Grant and K. J. Stringer (Copenhagen, 1994), pp. 9±34 (40±6). Historia Regum Britannie I, ed. Wright, p. 77.

51

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England house of Romulus (that is, the Roman emperors or the Romans) will dread him, and his end will be shrouded in mystery. In the Historia Regum Britannie, this king is the legendary hero-ruler Arthur, son of Uther Pendragon.20

These heroes all have one thing in common, that is; they are all great warriors, who stamp their authority on the island of Britain, and on various different parts of the rest of the world. Conan's boar will be dreaded by Britain's neighbours, although it is not said that he will conquer and rule any of them. Likewise, Sextus will overthrow the walls of Ireland, but we are not told that he will translate his military success into subjugation of his opponents' lands. The Boar of Cornwall, however, will be a conqueror; he will possess the forests of Gaul. He will be dreaded by the Romans, but the `Prophecia' does not say that he will be made emperor. Cadwallader will be the ruler of a united Britain, which he will rid of `foreigners'. (Later, this is how the `reducing several parts to one' of Sextus's career was to be understood, but there is nothing textually to indicate this in the `Prophecia'.) The idea that the Boar will be dreaded by Arabs and Africans is the only reference to non-Christians, but Geoffrey makes no effort at all to expand this within the `Prophecia'. He does not give special prominence to any of these heroes. What is important in the context of the `Prophecia' is that the heroes are British; what the `Prophecia' gives us is a series of episodes in the future history of the British people and the island which they inhabit, a future history told in terms of their rulers. The best of these rulers will unite the island under the name of Brutus, and retain the identity of her people, defending that identity from the threat of `foreigners', who appear to be anyone who is not British. This term is not simply racial: it indicates a group of people who feel that they belong to the kingdom, or regnum, of Britain; it serves their interests, and they have a stake in the community it represents. Or, as Susan Reynolds puts it, it is `a natural, inherited community of tradition, custom, law and descent.'21 The hero-ruler, the people and the territory are one, and are de®ned in opposition to the foreigners, some of whom are on British soil, and who must be driven out.22 However far-ranging their careers, these hero-rulers are securely rooted in their own island. Sextus and Conan's boar have other qualities relating to good rulership. Sextus will protect the Church, and the boar will protect the weak. In other words, they will exercise the strong ruler's function of protecting those who 20 21 22

Historia Regum Britannie I, ed. Wright, p. 74. Reynolds, Kingdoms and Communities, p. 250. Members of the ruling classes with interests on both sides of the Channel were now sometimes seen as `foreign', as opposed to those who, although of mixed ancestry (usually Norman in the male line), had interests and possessions centred on England: J. Gillingham, `Henry of Huntingdon and the Twelfth Century Revival of the English Nation', in Concepts of National Identity in the Middle Ages, ed. S. Forde, L. Johnson and A. V. Murray, Leeds Texts and Monographs n.s. 14 (Leeds, 1995), pp. 75±101 (pp. 88±9).

52

The Second Arthur: The King as hero c. 1135±1307 cannot take care of themselves. In twelfth-century terms, they are examples of the rex utilis, the effective ruler.23 Sextus has two other interesting features: he undergoes a moral conversion after what might possibly be described as a `misspent youth', and at the end of his life he is sancti®ed: Sextus hybernie menia subuertet. & nemora in planiciem mutabit. Diuersas portiones in unum reducet. & capite leonis coronabitur. Principium eius uago affectui succumbet. set ®nis ipsius ad superos conuolabit. Renouabit namque beatorum sedes per patrias. & pastores in congruis locis locabit. Duas urbes duobus palliis induet. & uirginea munera uirginibus donabit. Promerebitur inde fauorem tonantis. & inter beatos collocabitur. (`Sextus will overthrow the walls of Ireland and he will change the groves into a plain. He will reunite separate parts into one and he will be crowned with the head of a lion. At his beginning he will succumb to an inconstant disposition, but at his end he will ¯y to join those above. For he will restore the seats of the blessed ones throughout the native lands and he will establish shepherds in appropriate places. He will clothe two towns with two cloaks and he will give virgin gifts to maidens. He will deserve favour and he will be placed among the blessed.')24

Prophetic heroes do not usually display their holiness in any devotional way. Although he is a giver of particular gifts, Sextus is sancti®ed, by the will and power of God who alone can do this, because of the way in which he has performed his of®ce. Although he appears to have undergone some form of moral conversion, it is not claimed that Sextus, although he may set a good moral example, is personally saintly. As we have already seen, political prophecy is not really interested in the hero as a human being; any personal qualities are relative to his roÃle as a ruler. As a great ruler, it is accepted that Sextus must be morally upright. At the same time as Geoffrey was writing the `Prophecia Merlini', Philippe de Thaon composed a version of `Sibille generaliter' in Anglo-Norman, the Livre de Sibile, which he coupled with a request to the Empress Matilda for the restoration of his family lands in Normandy. This is likely to have been composed within a few years of the death of Matilda's father, Henry I, who, as Philippe's latest editor points out, had an illegitimate daughter called Sibylla, a possible indication of a taste for this kind of literature among the aristocracy of the time.25 Fulk, count of Anjou, also had a daughter called Sibyl. Some ®fteen years later, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa was enjoying a play based on Adso and `Pseudo-Methodius', which lauded him as the great hero of the Last Days.26 23

24 25 26

This topic has been extensively covered in E. Peters, The Shadow King: Rex Inutilis in Medieval Law and Literature, 751±1327 (New Haven, 1970). Historia Regum Britannie I, ed. Wright, p. 388. Le Livre de Sibile by Philippe de Thaon, ed. H. Shields, ANTS 37 (London, 1979), pp. 3±27. McGinn, Visions of the End, p. 117.

53

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England The texts used by Geoffrey of Monmouth were not the only prophecies of Celtic origin, either Welsh, Cornish or Breton, which were circulating in the middle years of the twelfth century. Materials used by Orderic Vitalis and John of Cornwall differ from those used by Geoffrey, although others are the same or similar, and both Orderic and John appear to have known, and used, the `Prophecia Merlini' as a source. Orderic uses the account of the two dragons as given by Nennius in his account of Vortigern's tower, but follows this with material very similar to the `Prophecia Merlini'. Taylor suggests that Geoffrey and Orderic may have used the same source, which Orderic calls a Libellus Merlini, now lost. It is equally likely that there was more than one book containing this type of literature, attributed to Merlin, who was known as a prophet in Italy in the early twelfth century, before Geoffrey or Orderic wrote.27 Some of the characters used by Geoffrey can be traced in tenthcentury Welsh sources; such sources were presumably available to others, either those writers who could read Celtic vernaculars, or who had translators available. It has recently been noted that, in a period in which landowners might hold land in many areas, on both sides of the Channel, the need for household interpreters was a necessary fact of life. Giraldus Cambrensis calls himself an `interpreter'.28 Geoffrey, whether or not he had access to Walter the Archdeacon's `great book', was only one of the contemporary writers working in this ®eld.29 Geoffrey did not need to interest people in political prophecy, although as a result of his work many more may have been `converted'. The choice of a discourse, as we have seen, is based on factors outside language, and it is outside language, in society, where the `political' view of prophecy must be sought. That prophetic texts are not in themselves necessarily political, in the sense that they refer to public affairs and policies, is shown by `Sibille generaliter' and `Pseudo-Methodius', which both occur in manuscripts of the same period in theological, not historio-political, contexts. They were valued as eschatological prophecies, as well as political ones, and as such have a place in the history of apocalyptic, as well as political, prophecy. The 27

28

29

A. G. Rigg, A History of Anglo-Latin Literature 1066±1422 (Cambridge, 1992), pp. 41± 7. Taylor, Political Prophecy, pp. 14±15. Expugnatio Hibernica, ed. and trans. A. B. Scott and F. X. Martin (Dublin, 1978), pp. 255±7. La¿amon intimates an ability to read English, French and Latin, and could almost certainly read Welsh: see La¿amon: Brut, ed. G. L. Brook and R. F. Leslie, 2 vols., EETS OS 250 and 277 (Oxford, 1963±78), I, 2 and II, 1±24; F. H. M. Le Saux, La¿amon's Brut: The Poem and its Sources, Arthurian Studies 19 (Cambridge, 1989), p. 143; A. Sutton and L. Visser-Fuchs, `The Dark Dragon of the Normans: A Creation of Geoffrey of Monmouth, Stephen of Rouen, and Merlin Silvester', Quondam et Futurus 2 (1992), 1±19; B. L. McCauley, `Giraldus ``Silvester'' of Wales and his Prophetic History of Ireland: Merlin's RoÃle in the Expugnatio Hibernica', Quondam et Futurus 3±4 (1993), 41±62; A. Breeze, Medieval Welsh Literature (Dublin, 1997), pp. 28±62. Historia Regum Britannie I, ed. Wright, p. xi.

54

The Second Arthur: The King as hero c. 1135±1307 work of Geoffrey of Monmouth needs to be seen in this light. Geoffrey, and others like him, were writing for a ready market, but the difference between Geoffrey and the others was the immediate and enduring appeal of what he produced.30 Geoffrey dedicated his `Prophecia Merlini' to Alexander, bishop of Lincoln; he says in a dedicatory letter that Alexander `ordered' him to write it. The audience, the `market', for Geoffrey's prophecies already existed. As the Historia Regum Britannie was not in circulation at the time, it must be assumed that Alexander, and others like him, would interpret the text according to a view which they already possessed, or to which they already had access; that is, they did not require the Historia Regum Britannie in order to put the prophecies into a political context. Geoffrey must have been aware of this audience, and the way in which his text would be interpreted. Alexander, although a member of an Anglo-Norman, Francophone, society, was proud of his `Englishness', and was also the patron of Henry of Huntingdon, who produced his Historia Anglorum under Alexander's patronage. Alexander was the nephew of Bishop Roger of Salisbury and brother of Nigel of Ely, and was `persecuted' by the Norman, baronial party of Stephen, being arrested and deprived in 1144. An Anglo-Saxon law collection has also been associated with the bishop.31 Geoffrey dedicated the Historia Regum Britannie to laypeople. In fact, he dedicated it to both sides in the con¯ict of Stephen's reign; to Stephen himself, to his chief supporter Count Waleran of Meulan, and to his chief adversary and supporter of Matilda, Robert of Gloucester.32 The Vita Merlini was also dedicated to a bishop of Lincoln, Alexander's successor, Robert Chesney.33 In doing this, Geoffrey reveals that there was an audience for these texts among both clergy and educated laypeople, and that they were all capable of interpreting them. In fact, Geoffrey never interpreted any of his texts in terms of current, or recent, politics. He must have been well aware that others would do this, and Orderic Vitalis and John of Cornwall both take this approach to Geoffrey's texts and to the other prophetic texts which they use. In context of the Historia Regum Britannie, the `Prophecia Merlini' may be taken as referring only to characters and events within the Historia itself, and in the Vita Merlini Geoffrey even goes so far as to suggest that prophecy may be connected with insanity. In this way, he distances himself from any politically dangerous interpretation which might be put upon his prophecies, 30 31 32

33

A. Gransden, Historical Writing in England, 2 vols. (London, 1974±82), I, 187±8. Gillingham, `Henry of Huntingdon', p. 79. D. Dumville, `An Early Text of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britannie and the Circulation of Some Latin Histories in Twelfth Century Normandy', Arthurian Literature 4 (1985), 1±36. Had Stephen's, rather than Matilda's, party been ultimately victorious, it might have been Waleran and his followers who were regarded as `British', and their opponents as `foreign'. J. S. P. Tatlock, `Geoffrey of Monmouth's Vita Merlini', Speculum 18 (1943), 265±87.

55

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England without having to go so far as Wace, who was forced to `admit' that he lacked the necessary learning to interpret Geoffrey's text, and so was able to omit it altogether from the Roman de Brut. Such a claim would have been galling to Geoffrey, who thus deftly avoided having to make it, and yet still managed to distance himself from the consequences of any political interpretation of his own work.34 The Historia Regum Britannie (and with it the `Prophecia Merlini', which usually circulated as part of the Historia, but sometimes alongside it and sometimes independently) rapidly became a widely-read book. It was soon translated into French, without the `Prophecia', by Geffrei Gaimar in his Estoire les Engleis, and so became available to Francophone laypeople who were unable to read the Latin original. Wace's translation did not include the `Prophecia'. This audience did not represent the entire national community, but they were a very important group within that community, in economic, social and political terms. Before the fourteenth century, the known owners of manuscripts containing political prophecies were all religious houses, although one of these manuscripts was owned, brie¯y, by a high-ranking ecclesiastic. The ancient and wealthy Benedictine houses of Bury St Edmunds and St Augustine's, Canterbury are represented, respectively, by London, College of Arms, MS Arundel XXX and Dublin, Trinity College, MS 514. Both of these houses were Anglo-Saxon foundations, possessing large book collections by the beginning of the fourteenth century.35 St Mary's, York (BL MS Additional 40007), although not such an ancient foundation, was a wealthy house with several dependencies. BL MS Cotton Faustina A. VIII came from the Augustinian priory of St Mary Overy, Southwark. The priory was founded early in the twelfth century, although it had been a college of secular priests from AngloSaxon times. The manuscript dates from about a hundred years after the foundation. Manuscript survival can be quite deceptive, as other evidence, particularly the interest in French translations of the Sibyl and Geoffrey of Monmouth, shows that there was interest among laypeople in this type of text. St Mary's, York received London, British Library MS Add. 40007 from St Paul's, London, at some time before 1300. The manuscript is contemporary with the dean of St Paul's, Ralph Diceto, two of whose letters are preserved in it. Diceto, as well as being a historical writer, was also a generous donor of books to his cathedral library. His brother William was abbot of St Mary's, so this may have been how the manuscript got to York. It bears the fourteenthcentury pressmark of St Mary's. Manuscripts donated by, and work written by, Diceto appear in the St Paul's library list of 1295, but this manuscript is 34

35

J. Blacker, ` ``Ne vuil sun livre translater'': Wace's Omission of Merlin's Prophecies from the Roman de Brut', in Anglo-Norman Anniversary Essays, ed. I. Short, ANTS Occasional Publications 2 (London, 1993), pp. 49±59. For Bury and its library catalogue see R. H. Rouse, `Bostonus Buriensis and the Author of the Catalogus Scriptorum Ecclesiae', Speculum 41 (1966), 471±99.

56

The Second Arthur: The King as hero c. 1135±1307 not one of them.36 It was originally written for William Longchamp, bishop of Ely, one of the two justiciars appointed by Richard I in 1189. Longchamp was of relatively humble origin, and had been a chancery clerk. His fellow justiciar was the aristocratic Hugh de Puiset, bishop of Durham. From this time until the autumn of 1191, when he was forced into exile, Longchamp was one of the major ®gures in English politics, combining the of®ces of justiciar, chancellor and papal legate. He was one of the chief negotiators for the release of Richard, when the king was being held captive by Emperor Henry VI, and was reinstated by Richard on his return to England in 1194. Returning to the Continent with King Richard, Longchamp remained there until his death in 1197. The owner of this manuscript was a very high-ranking ecclesiastic and public servant who, for a short time, had a place at the centre of public affairs. In this, Longchamp may be compared with Alexander, bishop of Lincoln, to whom Geoffrey of Monmouth dedicated the `Prophecia Merlini'. Both were men of wealth and power in Church and state, but both came from families who relied ultimately on royal service for their advancement. In the chronicle which bears his own name, Roger of Howden tells how Richard I of England, on his way to the Third Crusade, wanted to meet Joachim of Fiore. Joachim, says Howden, expounded his theories about the coming of Antichrist, who now, Joachim alleged, held sway in Rome. Richard exclaimed that the present pope must, therefore, be Antichrist. Whether this meeting actually took place in the manner described is not important here. What is important is that Howden understood that prophecies could be perceived as either historical-theological or political, and that the difference was in the interpretation. He also expected high-ranking, literate laymen, such as King Richard, to be able to make that interpretation for themselves.37 Evidence that Richard's crusade was associated with political prophecy is provided by BL MS Cotton Domitian XIII, which contains the Chronicle of Richard of Devizes for this period. Alongside this is a Gesta Saracenorum, stressing the deeds of Saladin, Richard's famed opponent and conqueror of Jerusalem, and `Sibille generaliter'. The great Constans of this prophecy will defeat the pagans and convert them at the point of the sword: Omnes ergo insulas et civitates paganorum devastabit et universa idolorum templa destruet, et omnes paganos ad babtismum convocabit et per omnia templa crux Iesu Christi erigetur. 36

37

N. R. Ker, `Books at St Paul's Cathedral before 1313', in Studies in London History presented to Philip Edmund Jones, ed. A. E. J. Hollaender and W. Kelleway (London, 1969), pp. 43±72 (pp. 46, 49 and 64). Reeves, In¯uence of Prophecy, pp. 6±10. However, it is not possible to determine whether Roger was admiring Richard's ability to understand prophecy politically, or denigrating his inability to understand that Joachim did not intend his calculations to be interpreted in this `simplistic' way.

57

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England (`Therefore he will lay waste all the islands and cities of the pagans and he will tear down all the temples of idols, and he will gather together all pagans for baptism and the cross of Jesus Christ will be erected in all temples.')38

It is easy to see how this material provided the motivation for, and rationalization of, a crusade to free the Holy Places, and such a belief provides some measure of explanation for the bloody deeds of the crusaders. Richard's father had not always been impressed by political prophecy. Despite the potentially ¯attering ®gure of kingship portrayed in prophecies, kings had realized by this time that they could also be dangerous. Prophecy, as propaganda, could be very useful to a ruler's opponents, and stimulated the nationalism of England's Welsh and Scottish neighbours. Henry II was troubled by Welsh hostility. Giraldus Cambrensis tells the story of Henry II and the Stone of Lechlaver; Henry met a Welsh woman at St David's, who called for vengeance upon him by invoking a prophecy which said that a king of England, conqueror of Ireland, would be wounded and die across the stone called Lechlaver. Henry found the stone, leapt across it, and challenged anyone else to believe in Merlin's lies.39 What is interesting about this incident is that either the king felt the need to engage with, and to disprove, hostile political prophecies, or that Gerald felt the need to show him doing so. A further testament to the in¯ammatory nature of the political interpretation, and use, of prophecy in Henry's day is the use of the `Prophecia Merlini' by those involved in refuting Gilbert Foliot's claim to metropolitan status for the see of London in 1169. London's claim was based upon the system of British bishops depicted by Geoffrey of Monmouth in the Historia Regum Britannie, but the party of Thomas Becket refuted this with the statement from the `Prophecia' that the dignity of London should adorn Canterbury.40 This is the political climate which underlies William of Newburgh's famous denunciation of Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Rerum Anglicarum.41 As his work displays, William was comfortable with properly authenticated and examined signs, wonders and marvels, even prophetic dreams, but he made a particular point of denigrating Geoffrey as a historian, and of castigating the Historia Regum Britannie, including the `Prophecia Merlini'. This is all the more interesting in view of the fact, as Nancy Partner points out, that William did not actually need to consult Geoffrey at all; he could simply have ignored him.42 He could not, as an intellectual making a point about the need for the 38 39 40

41

42

Sibyllinische Texte, ed. Sackur, p. 185. Expugnatio Hibernica, ed. and trans. Scott and Martin, p. 106. A. Morey and C. N. L. Brooke, Gilbert Foliot and His Letters (Cambridge, 1965), pp. 156±60. Chronicles of the Reigns of Stephen, Henry II and Richard I, ed. R. Howlett, 4 vols., RS 82 (London, 1884±9), I and II, 1±500; I (11±13) for the attack on Geoffrey. N. Partner, Serious Entertainments: The Writing of History in Twelfth-Century England (Chicago, 1977), p. 62.

58

The Second Arthur: The King as hero c. 1135±1307 examination and use of evidence by experts, have pleaded his own ignorance in the same way as Wace. William may, as Partner suggests, have `found Geoffrey a gross and careless amateur in a ®eld for specialists', but this would have been immaterial had Geoffrey's work not been so very popular and widely used.43 Closer to the truth is Partner's suggestion that William's attack on Geoffrey was not directly related to his own Historia at all; as she says, `he seems to be arguing with some other body of opinion'.44 There may have been a debate about Geoffrey's worth among historians, but it seems from the evidence that William (along with his Cistercian patron, the abbot of Rievaulx) was protesting about a climate in which the Historia Regum Britannie, the `Prophecia Merlini' and related prophecies were being used as weapons in political struggles by those who were not properly quali®ed to evaluate or interpret them. By denying it to anyone else, William is claiming this power for himself and others like him; that is the learned, or perhaps even simply the regular, clergy. By the end of the twelfth century, three other texts had become associated with the existing corpus of political prophecies, often, although not always, appearing in manuscripts alongside the Historia Regum Britannie. These texts are generally referred to under the overall title of the `Prophecia aquile', the `Prophecy of the Eagle', but they do not always occur together, so it cannot be said that all contemporaries saw them as related, nor can knowledge of one or two of these texts be said to imply knowledge of the others. Political interest in these texts had arisen out of the circumstances of the reign of King Stephen (1135±1153), and the replacement of his heir by Henry, count of Anjou, son of Henry I's daughter Maud, who had been disinherited by Stephen on her father's death in 1135. The writers of prophetic texts, and their audience, responded to the civil war of King Stephen's reign, and the development of prophecy as a political language was stimulated as a result. Available texts could be reinterpreted, but the situation demanded further explanations, so new texts were created (and perhaps `discovered') to take account of the issues raised by recent events. The way in which prophetic writers, copyists and their readers dealt with these events led to the further development of prophecy as a political discourse, particularly in their treatment of the prophetic hero. Henry II, who succeeded Stephen to the English throne in 1154, was the ®rst king of England since the Conquest who was able, with some truth, to claim both the blood of the Norman dukes and of the Anglo-Saxon kings, through the marriage of Henry I and the Anglo-Saxon princess Edith/ Matilda, whose daughter Matilda was Henry II's mother. Ailred, abbot of Rievaulx, wrote a life of Edward the Confessor shortly after Edward's canonization in 1161. In this, Ailred was re-working a life ®rst written 43 44

Partner, Serious Entertainments, p. 65. Partner, Serious Entertainments, p. 62.

59

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England c. 1066 for Edward's widow Edith, and subsequently re-worked at least twice, by William of Malmesbury and Osbert de Clare.45 All of these `Lives' contained a short text known as `Arbor fertilis'. In the previous three `Lives', this is an impossibilia prophecy. Edward, in a vision, meets some monks from Normandy, where he had lived in his youth, and asks them whether anything can be done to avert God's wrath against the corruption of the English, notably the higher clergy. They tell him no: unlike the people of Nineveh, who repented at the preaching of Jonah, these men will not repent. He might just as well take a green tree, cut it into three parts, and wait for them to rejoin themselves and grow again without the help of human hand as to try to avert God's punishment, which is, of course, to be supplied by the Norman Conquest (ex eventu in 1066±7): Tunc, inquiunt, quasi si arbor uiridis succiditur in medio et pars asbcissa deportetur a stipite trium iugerum spatio, cum sine quolibet adminiculo suo iterum connexa trunco, coeperit et ¯oribus pubescere et fructus protrudere ex coalescentis succi amore pristino, tunc demum poterit sperari talium malorum remissio. (` ``At that time'', they answered, ``when a green tree, if cut down in the middle of its trunk, and the part cut off carried the space of three furlongs from the stock, shall be joined again to its trunk, by itself and without any help, and begin once more to push leaves and bear fruit from the old love of its uniting sap, then at last can a remission of these great ills be hoped for.'' ')46

Ailred, however, asserted that this was not a real tree at all, but a stirps or genealogical tree. The royal lines of England and Normandy, joined by the marriage of Ethelred II and Emma, but separated by the Conquest, had once again become united by the marriage of Henry I and Edith/Matilda. The signi®cance of these two marriages had also been stressed by Henry of Huntingdon in his Historia Anglorum. The view presented by Ailred not only makes the king an Englishman, but, as in Henry of Huntingdon's Historia, makes the king, and his people, the heirs of a glorious Anglo-Saxon and Norman past.47 As this interpretation is not found in earlier lives of the Confessor, its popularity may be roughly dated to around, or immediately after, 1153. The prophecy itself was an old one, which may have existed before 1066; it was the interpretation (i.e. in terms of current politics) which was new.48 45

46

47

48

Vita Edwardi Regis: The Life of King Edward, ed. and trans. F. Barlow (London, 1962), pp. 116±19; Turville-Petre, England the Nation, p. 18. Vita Edwardi Regis, ed. and trans. Barlow, p. 130, from William of Malmesbury's Gesta Regum, with William's interpretation on p. 131. Barlow places this alongside Ailred, for comparison. My translation. Gillingham, `Henry of Huntingdon', pp. 75±101; L. Johnson, `The Anglo-Norman Description of England: An Introduction', in Anglo-Norman Anniversary Essays, ed. Short, pp. 11±30 (pp. 20±30). John of Cornwall was a contemporary of Ailred, and wrote his exposition of `British' prophecies between the end of 1154 and the beginning of 1156. He

60

The Second Arthur: The King as hero c. 1135±1307 By the end of the twelfth century, `Arbor fertilis', the text which was interpreted as making the king English, and therefore creating a bond between the ruler and those of his subjects who were aware of their `Englishness', is frequently found alongside `Mortuo leone justicie' and `Sicut rubeum draconem'.49 These texts have recently been shown to have Welsh origins, similar to those of the `Prophecia Merlini', which they resemble. Lines similar to some of those in the `Prophecia aquile' are also quoted by Giraldus Cambrensis, who says that he found them on his journey around Wales, at Nefyn, in 1188.50 In `Sicut rubeum draconem', there are no choristers, damsels, men riding dragons or talking stones, as there are in the `Prophecia Merlini'. The story is told as a continuous rise and fall of rulers, whilst the nation and the ruled people are constant. The `last days' seem to refer to a point in the history of Britain, rather than the Apocalypse.51 The writer is concerned only with his own country. The identi®cation between people (that is, race), country (in geographical terms) and ruler is very close. The rulers are described as animals, as in Geoffrey: a lion, a turbot, a crab and a lynx. Rubeus draco and albus draco, as in Geoffrey, are racial terms, signifying the British, or, as this was being interpreted, the English. The two dragons are introduced right at the beginning of the text, in order to emphasize the importance of what they represent. The red dragon drives away the white, and a dark dragon (not in Geoffrey) incinerates the whole island with its ®ery breath. Neither white nor red dragon is mentioned again until the end of the text, when the writer says: In ultimis diebus albi drachonis semen ejus trifarium spergetur. pars in Appuliam tendens orientali gaza locupletabitur, pars in Yberniam descendens ocidua temperie delectabitur. pars vero in patria permanens vilis et inanis reputabitur. (`In the last days of the white dragon his seed will be scattered three ways. One part will go into Apulia and will enrich itself [himself] with the treasure of the East, one part will descend into Ybernia and will be content

49 50

51

interprets the Boar, i.e. the second Arthur, as Henry II: Rigg, Anglo-Latin Literature, pp. 47±8. Osbert de Clare welcomed the young Henry II as a saviour, as in the post1153 interpretation of the `Prophecia aquile': Rigg, Anglo-Latin Literature, p. 33. The texts may be found alone, or without `Arbor fertilis'. McCauley, `Giraldus ``Silvester'' of Wales', p. 46. Geoffrey of Monmouth mentions an eagle twice; once at the founding of Shaftesbury and again at the end of the Historia, when Cadwallader asks his host, Alan of Brittany, for advice concerning the Angelic Voice. Alan consults his books of prophecy, including the Sibyl and `the Eagle': Historia Regum Britannie I, ed. Wright, pp. 144±47. However, this seems to refer to something more substantial than these short texts. All the Historia can reveal is that Geoffrey of Monmouth knew of a prophetic eagle. The texts ®rst appear in this particular grouping in the early thirteenth century. `In the last days of the white dragon his seed will be scattered three ways': Gottfrieds von Monmouth, ed. Schulz, p. 464.

61

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England with the temperateness of the West. Truly, one part will remain in its [his] homeland and will be accounted worthless and useless.')52

We know that these lines, or a variant version of them, existed in English in the early thirteenth century. They are mentioned by Roger of Howden, in his Gesta Regis Henrici Secundi, attributed to `Benedict of Peterborough'.53 `Benedict' relates them to Henry II's attempts to establish English overlordship of Ireland. Taylor has pointed out that these lines appear to follow very closely a section of `Sicut rubeum draconem'. What is unclear is whether these verses represent a translation from Latin or a vernacular original which was itself translated, in the same way as the Welsh originals, or indeed if this was a vernacular translation made direct from a British language, such as Cornish or Welsh.54 It is not even clear whether the text represents the whole of `Sicut rubeum draconem', or what became the last part of it. These verses may have been circulating orally in the area, in the manner of the short texts which came to form the component parts of the `Prophecia Merlini'. However, this text is important in showing that such prophecies existed in English as well as in Latin from the end of the twelfth century, at the latest.55 The verses are in alliterative lines, in the vernacular dialect of south-western England. This does not necessarily mean that they were originally composed by, or for, laypeople, but they would certainly have been accessible to those who knew neither Latin nor French. The semen albi drachonis (`seed of the white dragon') may originally have meant three divisions of the English people, two of which would be scattered to different parts of the world and one which would remain. In the thirteenth century, however, they were being interpreted as three sons of Henry II; Richard, Geoffrey and John. This interpretation is interesting, as one would expect these three individuals to be described as `seed of the Turbot', the ruler whose sons they actually were. They are, however, seen as the `seed of the white dragon'. As the albus dracho represents a race or nation, not an individual, we can detect through this the way in which the minds of thirteenth-century Englishmen were moving. The ruler, the `Turbot' or Henry II, represents the English, and his sons are not only his sons, but sons of the English race. `Sicut rubeum draconem' emphasizes that these rulers have a respons52 53

54 55

Gottfrieds von Monmouth, ed. Schulz, p. 464 (my additions in brackets). J. Taylor, Medieval Historical Writing in Yorkshire, Borthwick Papers 19 (York, 1961), p. 13; D. Corner, `The Gesta Regis Henrici Secundi and Chronica of Roger, Parson of Howden', BIHR 56 (1983), 126±44. The dialect of the verses suggests the area around the Devon-Cornwall border. Gesta Regis Henrici Secundi Benedicti Abbatis: The Chronicle of the Reigns of Henry II and Richard I AD 1169±1192, known commonly under the name of Benedict of Peterborough, ed. W. Stubbs, 2 vols., RS 49 (London, 1867), II, 139; Taylor, Political Prophecy, pp. 21± 2. There are similar verses in English in Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 313 (2), fol. 73v.

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The Second Arthur: The King as hero c. 1135±1307 ibility towards their people. The Lion is praised for the strength of his justice, and the moral turpitude of the Boar leads to moral, social and political degeneration: Ex apri libidine catuli nascentur, qui protinus in patrem morsibus convertentur. Patris injuria prosternet ®lios, quorum primus regium culmen adscendens subito tamquam ¯os vernus citra fructum emarescet. Ex delicto genitoris geniti delinquent in genitorem, et precedens delictum ®et ratione subsequencium delictorum. (`From the lust of the Boar cubs will be born, who will be straight away turning on their father with bites. The wrong of the father will prostrate the sons, the ®rst of whom, ascending the royal height, will suddenly wither away like a spring ¯ower before the harvest. From the transgression of the parent the offspring will do wrong to their parent, and preceding wrong will be the reason of subsequent wrong.')56

Such personal sin in a ruler is infectious, and affects the quality both of his own rule and that of his children. The Turbot and this son are both warriors, whose conquests glorify and enrich the people, who share in them. Disaster follows in the wake of the pars . . . vilis et inanis. Interestingly, these terms are similar to those used to describe King John by Ralph of Coggeshall, although it is not he who cites the English version of part of the text.57 The nature of kingship receives much more emphasis in `Mortuo leone justicie'. Like `Sicut rubeum draconem', the story it tells is not placed in any kind of universal frame, nor is it theological. The Lion of Justice appears in the `Prophecia Merlini', and the character may have been drawn from the `Prophecia' itself, or from a similar source.58 Orderic Vitalis interpreted the Lion of Justice as Henry I, and this is what seems to be meant in `Mortuo leone justicie'.59 The situation being discussed in the early thirteenth century, and possibly earlier, form of the text is the political instability of the reign of Stephen. The prophecy emphasizes the need for royal responsibility and good rule. The rex albus (`White King') is an example of what a king should not be, and the pullus aquilae (`Eagle's Chick') is what a king should be like. The contrast is not one of vice and sanctity or moral uprightness, but of weakness and strength. The White King is `nobilis in Britannia, primus volans postea equitans et postea descendens et in eo descensu justi®cabitur' (`noble in Britain, ®rst ¯ying, then riding and then descending and in his 56 57

58 59

Gottfrieds von Monmouth, ed. Schulz, p. 464. Ralph of Coggeshall: Chronicon Anglicanum, ed. J. Stevenson, RS 66 (London, 1875), p. 106; Benedict of Peterborough, ed. Stubbs, II, 139. This raises the question of whether Ralph knew the text, although he does not cite it, or whether this was a way in which plurimi (`very many people') were accustomed to speak of John. Historia Regum Britannie I, ed. Wright, pp. 75±6. The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis, ed. M. Chibnall, 6 vols. (Oxford, 1969±80), VI, 387±9.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England descent he will be justi®ed').60 However, he will be surrounded by a rapacious `swarm', and together they will exact money from his people: `et tunc alius vadet ubi sol orietur. et alius ubi sol occidit. post haec dicetur per Britanniam: rex est et rex non est' (`and then another will go where the sun will rise and another where the sun sets. After these things it will be said throughout Britain: he is a king and he is not a king').61 The taking of his people's property unjustly is one of the marks of a tyrant, and the king's authority disintegrates as a result. This leads to disorder and con¯ict. The White King is not, however, a tyrant, but a rex inutilis. His moral weakness, his inability to resist the counsel of evil men, brings evil upon his people and his kingdom. A saviour is at hand in the person of the pullus aquilae, who sails to Britain to do battle with the White King. The Eagle, in this case, is heraldic, representing the imperial coat of arms. Henry II was the son of the empress, Matilda, although his father was not her ®rst husband, the Holy Roman Emperor, but her second husband, Geoffrey of Anjou. Henry found it advantageous to `bask in the re¯ected glory' of his mother's former title.62 The ineffectiveness of the White King excuses the Chick's attack on an anointed ruler; there is no suggestion of any superior hereditary right to rule, a claim which could have been made for Henry, as the son of Henry I's only legitimate heir. After a year and a half the Chick is victorious, and the White King falls. The question of possible deposition is thereby avoided. The Eagle's chick then builds his nest on the top of the cliffs of the whole of Britain `nec juvenis occidetur nec ad senium veniet. tunc probitas generosa non patietur illi irrogari injuriam, qui paci®cato regno occidet' (`the young man will not be killed, neither will he reach old age. Then noble goodness will not suffer injury to be in¯icted on he who will kill when the kingdom has been paci®ed').63 In other words, order and authority are restored, and peace reigns. The last line could be interpreted to mean that the new ruler is so strong that he does not need to in¯ict capital punishment upon murderers, but it could also be taken to mean that the strength of the ruler's position means he is able to ensure that `justice' is done by nobody but himself. `Mortuo leone justicie' ends with a form of golden age of peace and justice, but this is not apocalyptic. It is a secular golden age, brought about by an earthly saviour. It stresses the power of the pullus aquilae, which enables him to conquer, enforce his authority, and thereby bene®t the people of Britain, which seems, in this text, to be the whole island. The pullus aquilae is the second Arthur, the great British ruler foretold at the end of the Historia Regum Britannie. Both Scots and Welsh believed this type of prophecy foretold a future Celtic ruler of Britain, but the writer and audience of `Mortuo leone justicie' had other ideas. This Britain has the king of England at its head. 60 61 62 63

Gottfrieds von Monmouth, ed. Schulz, p. 465. Gottfrieds von Monmouth, ed. Schulz, p. 465. Reynolds, Kingdoms and Communities, pp. 320±1. Gottfrieds von Monmouth, ed. Schulz, p. 465.

64

The Second Arthur: The King as hero c. 1135±1307 These prophetic texts demonstrate that there were two sets of ideas available to English scholars by the end of the twelfth century. In some ways they were similar, but in important ways they were very different. One was apocalyptic, cosmic and universal, concerned with a great ruler who will be God's specially chosen instrument in the ful®lling of human history, and the other was more secular, concerned with the history of a particular race, its territory and its rulers, concentrating on their immediate, rather than their apocalyptic, deeds. At the beginning of the thirteenth century, using the political prophecies known to have been available, we can see a prophetic hero beginning to develop. He is a great warrior, who will be dreaded in other lands, some of which he will conquer. He will rule a united Britain, which he will rid of `foreigners', who are seen as an abstract group, that is, people who are not `us'. He is closely identi®ed with his people, who are God's chosen, and their land. He is a mediator between God and all Christians, and will act as the agent of God, by whom alone he has been chosen and consecrated. He will ful®l a central roÃle in human history, on their behalf, in the Last Days. He will destroy, reconvert or drive out the pagans from the lands of the Christian, Roman empire, and by his actions all people will recognize him. He will be a rex utilis, protecting the weak. He is the heir of Greek and Roman emperors, of the rulers of biblical empires and of the patriarchs, and he is to be regarded as an emperor. He rules a people who are heirs of these empires, and are specially chosen by God to be associated with him. He is the heir of Brutus, of Arthur, of Cadwallader and of the great Anglo-Saxon and Norman rulers, and is the representative of the people who are the heirs of their achievements. These associations are borne out by the contemporary manuscript contexts of prophetic texts, and of the Historia Regum Britannie, which are often accompanied by material concerning Troy, the classical empires, Alexander the Great, the Holy Land, histories of the Anglo-Saxon kings and Norman dukes, and material on Frankish crusades, such as Pseudo-Turpin. These apparently unconnected historical miscellanies are examples of the world-view of many literate Englishmen in the twelfth century. Last, and most importantly of all, the hero-ruler and his people are English. This `Englishness' is territorial, racial and regnal. That is, it is based on living in a particular geographical location and having one's interests concentrated there (although not necessarily having been born there), within a the land ruled over by the king of England, and ®nding common cause with others who may similarly be described. It is not linguistic: apart from the vernacular verses cited by `Benedict of Peterborough', all known political prophecies before 1300 were written in Latin or French. A common literary language is not one of the bases of English nationality. Throughout the reign of Henry III, the `Prophecia Merlini' remained the chief prophetic reference for contemporary politics. Fewer manuscripts of the Historia Regum Britannie survive from the thirteenth than from the twelfth century, but the copies already produced were still in circulation. 65

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England Furthermore, the `Prophecia Merlini' was not only transmitted by means of the Historia Regum Britannie; there are other thirteenth-century manuscripts in which it appears independently, such as Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 313 (2), BL MSS Cotton Faustina A. VIII and Harley 1605 (in French), and Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson D. 893. BL MS Royal 8 D. III can be dated to just after 1250, and was the property of the Benedictine monks of Ramsey Abbey. This manuscript, and BL MS Royal 5 F. XV, also from Ramsey, also contain `Mortuo leone justicie'. So does BL MS Cotton Nero D. VIII, and Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 313 contains all three texts of the `Prophecia aquile', including `Mortuo leone justicie'. This shows that, in his own day and shortly after, Henry III was being identi®ed by contemporaries as the tyrannical rex inutilis, the White King. This need not have been a result of prophetic propaganda on the part of Simon de Montfort and the baronial opposition to the king; the prophecies existed as a reference, and were used as such. The monks of Ramsey did not need to be told how to do this by someone else's propaganda; they looked at events, and made the connection themselves. In St Albans, another Benedictine monk, Matthew Paris, was also making reference to political prophecies in relation to Henry III. In his Chronica Maiora, Paris includes a gloss on the `Prophecia Merlini', which may be his own, or may have been copied from an exemplar.64 In it, Henry III is described as the Lynx of the `Prophecia': Egredietur ex eo [that is, Sextus] lynx penetrans omnia que ruine proprie gentis imminebit. Per illam enim utramque insulam amittet Neustria et pristina dignitate spoliabitur. (`There will come forth from him a lynx penetrating all things, who will preside over the ruin of his own people. Through the lynx Neustria will lose both islands and Neustria and will be despoiled of her former majesty.')65

Paris says that this is because of the king's extravagance, which has ruined the kingdom; but the loss of Neustria, identi®ed as Normandy, was linked with the terms of the Treaty of Paris of 1259. Under the terms of the treaty, Henry renounced his claim, on behalf of the kings of England, to Normandy, Maine, Touraine and Anjou. In a concordat of 1244, Henry and Louis of France had agreed that neither's subjects would hold land in the other's kingdom. The identi®cation of Henry as the Lynx through whom the island had lost Neustria and had been despoiled of its former dignity re¯ects the deeply felt antagonism of the readers of prophecy towards the king's foreign policy, an antagonism apparently shared by Prince Edward, Henry's eldest son. Edward feared for the security of his own possessions in Gascony. The 64 65

Chronica Maiora, ed. H. R. Luard, 7 vols., RS 57 (1872±3), I, 198±215. Historia Regum Britannie I, ed. Wright, p. 77.

66

The Second Arthur: The King as hero c. 1135±1307 identi®cation of Henry as the Lynx was accompanied by the identi®cation of his father, King John, as Sextus, an identi®cation which Ralph of Coggeshall tells us was made in John's own lifetime. Glosses on the `Prophecia Merlini' as late as the ®fteenth century continue to identify John as Sextus. John's submission to Pope Innocent III was regarded as being the `conversion' of Sextus.66 If it is true that Henry III swore an oath at his consecration to maintain the rights of the crown unimpaired, then the concessions of the Treaty of Paris might also be seen as the breaking of his coronation oath.67 Viewed in the light of the political instability following the king's ineffective rule, and the loss of Norman and Angevin possessions in France, the career of the White King from the `Prophecia aquile' would have seemed apposite to some observers at the height of the Barons' Wars.68 There are some other prophetic texts in the Chronica Maiora, which shed light on another aspect of foreign policy on which many politically-informed Englishmen felt strongly: the militant power of the papacy. In 1239 Innocent IV had excommunicated Emperor Frederick II, and in 1245 he had declared Frederick deposed. In the same year, Innocent had deposed Sancho II of Portugal.69 In 1263 Urban IV had ordered the crusade to be preached against the baronial opposition to Henry III.70 Papal interference in English political affairs, the fate of rulers abroad at the hands of the pope, recurrent dif®culties over Papal provision to English bene®ces and resentment at Papal taxation made opposition to the papacy itself a feature of `Englishness' in the thirteenth century.71 In the Chronica Maiora, Matthew Paris records the excommunication of Frederick II in 1239, followed by a series of prophetic texts. The ®rst of these is `Cedrus alta libani', which purports to have been mysteriously written on the corporal whilst a Cistercian was celebrating Mass. It is an apocalyptic prophecy, telling of the imminent coming of the Last Days, which will be ushered in by the felling of `the high cedar of Lebanon'. The cedars of Lebanon, in this case the higher clergy, with whom the Franciscans were in con¯ict, were a symbol of pride, so the `high cedar' was their head and the embodiment of pride. In other words, the prophecy 66

67 68

69 70

71

On the `Prophecia Merlini' and its commentaries, see C. D. Eckhardt, `The Prophetia Merlini of Geoffrey of Monmouth: Latin Manuscript Copies', Manuscripta 26 (1982), 167±76; An English Commentary, ed. Eckhardt, bibliography; Historia Regum Britannie III, ed. Crick, bibliography; M. Prestwich, Edward I (London, 1988), p. 29. For the impact of 1244 on language, see Hussey, `Nationalism and Language', p. 96. H. G. Richardson, `The English Coronation Oath', Speculum 19 (1944), 44±75. The White King allows himself to be swayed by evil counsellors; this might easily be interpreted as the `foreigners', notably the Savoyard relations of Queen Eleanor of Provence, at the court of Henry III. At the end of `Mortuo leone justicie' and the `Prophecia Merlini', `foreigners' are expelled. Peters, Shadow King, pp. 135±69. M. T. Clanchy, England and Its Rulers 1066±1272: Foreign Lordship and National Identity (London, 1989), pp. 244±7. Clanchy, England and Its Rulers, pp. 241±62.

67

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England encompasses the downfall of the pope.72 This text, originally concerned only with ecclesiastical power struggles, continued to feature in prophetic collections throughout the fourteenth and ®fteenth centuries, although it is not among the most popular of texts. In these collections, as in the hands of Matthew Paris, it is being used to make a political point. Paris follows this text with further anti-papal prophecies, all of which feature in thirteenthcentury continental manuscripts.73 He then notes that the papal envoys found the emperor innocent of all allegations made against him by the pope. After this, he notes the birth of Prince Edward, the future Edward I. What is revealed in the Chronica Maiora is that prophecy was being used to voice opposition to royal policy, domestic and foreign, and also to papal policy, which involved interference in England's domestic affairs. This did not imply disloyalty to the ruler, but the perception that the papacy posed a threat to king, people and nation. On the whole, this was expressed in terms of prophecies, such as the `Prophecia Merlini', which had already been available in England for some time. However, Matthew Paris also reveals that the English were beginning to `import' more recent prophetic texts from the Continent, especially those concerned with the con¯ict between the Holy Roman Emperor and the pope. The precise date of the importation of these texts into England is unknown, but the Chronica Maiora is the earliest known example of them in England.74 `Cedrus alta libani' is the ®rst political prophecy recorded in England which is explicitly and violently anti-papal. Henry III himself sought to harness the power of `Englishness' to his own, and his dynasty's, advantage.75 He also made use of the ideas, symbols and ceremonial of imperial, and theological, kingship. The most obvious examples are Henry's association with the rebuilding of Westminster Abbey and of Edward the Confessor's shrine, and the naming of his eldest son: Edward was a name not used by kings of England since 1066.76 As `Arbor 72

73 74

75

76

R. Lerner, The Powers of Prophecy: The Cedar of Lebanon Vision from the Mongol Onslaught to the Dawn of the Enlightenment (Berkeley CA, 1983). Lerner believes `Cedrus alta libani' to have originally been written about the Mongols, and so misses this point. `Italienische Prophetieen', ed. Holder-Egger. These are contained in the portion written shortly after 1253. Chronica Maiora, ed. Luard, VI, viii; Reeves, In¯uence of Prophecy, pp. 306±19. He was not entirely unsuccessful in this. The identi®cation of the barons with national identity was more a product of the 1260s than has previously been admitted: D. A. Carpenter, `King, Magnates and Society: the Personal Rule of King Henry III, 1234±1258', Speculum 60 (1985), 39±70; D. A. Carpenter, `An Unknown Obituary of King Henry III from the Year 1263', in England in the Thirteenth Century: Proceedings of the 1984 Harlaxton Symposium, ed. W. M. Ormrod (Woodbridge, 1985), pp. 45±51. Although it should be mentioned that Henry's commitment to the rebuilding was not wholehearted; the initiative seems to have come from the monks themselves. The association between Henry and the Confessor was made by outsiders, and reinforced by Edward I.

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The Second Arthur: The King as hero c. 1135±1307 fertilis' shows, the Confessor was associated with the Englishness of the king. Henry's opponents claimed to stand for the national community, but the king, despite his Angevin father and French mother, notwithstanding his ProvencËal wife and her unpopular relations, could be English. By this means Henry III could claim an Anglo-Saxon and British ancestry which no member of his nobility could match. For his tomb at Westminster Henry chose a combination of porphyry and Cosmati mosaics. This was a conscious reference to the decoration of papal tombs and St Peter's in Rome, giving Henry's royal power papal and imperial connotations.77 Carpenter, citing the Furness chronicler and the Flores Historiarum, maintains that Henry's son Edward intended the tomb to be the focus of a royal cult, similar to that of St Louis.78 Henry also frequently displayed the thaumaturgical power of the `right heir' to the throne, by touching his subjects for the healing of scrofula.79 He also took part in ceremonial crown-wearing, accompanied by the singing of the Laudes Regiae, the liturgical adoration of the king. These three aspects of kingship, that is, the Laudes, touching for scrofula and the use of imperial and Roman motifs in Westminster Abbey, were continued by Edward I.80 This may have been in¯uenced by other royal personages, notably Louis of France, and may also have suited Henry's almost excessively devout nature, but there was no reason why Edward I, conventionally devout but not nearly as demonstrative as his father, should have continued to pursue these images of kingship if there was no audience to appreciate them. The evidence of the prophecies is that Henry and his son were exploiting, and thereby reinforcing, views of kingship and nationality already held by many of their more articulate subjects. Thirteenth-century manuscripts, on the whole, show the same association of ideas as those of the later twelfth century. The `Prophecia Merlini' and Historia Regum Britannie are accompanied by material on Troy, Alexander the 77

78

79

80

P. Binski, Westminster Abbey and the Plantagenets: Kingship and the Representation of Power (New Haven, 1995), pp. 10, 40, 96±104 and 133; Clanchy, England and Its Rulers, pp. 380±3. D. A. Carpenter, The Reign of Henry III (London, 1996), pp. 423±4. The inscription on the sanctuary pavement, `King Henry the Third, the city, Odoricus, and the abbot joined together these porphyry stones', may be a reference to the city of Rome, as Carpenter suggests, but it also carries implications of the status of New Rome (i.e. London) and its relationship with the king/emperor, as seen in the prophecies of the time (p. 424). M. Bloch, The Royal Touch: Sacred Monarchy and Scrofula in England and France, trans. J. E. Anderson (London, 1973). E. H. Kantorowicz, Laudes Regiae: A Study in Liturgical Acclamations and Mediaeval Ruler Worship, University of California Publications in History 33 (Berkeley CA, 1946), pp. 171±80. For the portrayal of Henry III as David and Alexander in art see R. M. Wright, `An Image Fit for a King: the Glazier Psalter Reconsidered', Journal of Medieval History 19 (1993), 69±124; J. Le Goff, `Le Roi dans l'Occident MedieÂval', in Kings and Kingship in Medieval Europe, ed. A. J. Duggan, Kings College, London Medieval Studies 10 (London, 1993), pp. 1±40.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England Great, apocalyptic and devotional material. A few manuscripts also contain the three texts of the `Prophecia aquile'. Only two are of sure origin, and are monastic: Dublin, Trinity College, MS 514 (St Augustine's, Canterbury), and BL MS Arundel 326 (Abingdon Abbey). Some manuscripts, including these two, contain a selection of this material with `Sibille generaliter'.81 This is not surprising, considering the survival of the crusading ideal. Prince Edward took the cross in March 1267, in order to join the crusade of Louis IX and his sons. He appears to have been genuine in his desire to free the Holy Places, and remained abroad when the other leaders had already left. He was still abroad when his father died in 1272, and was not crowned until two years later. What is interesting is that, for all the rhetoric of prophecies such as `Sibille generaliter', there was little support for this crusade from the parliament which met at Bury St Edmunds in February 1267. This is not so much hypocrisy on the part of the English, but evidence that the crusade was part of a discourse about king and nation, even though not always seen as a realistic political aim.82 The great royal crusade of the political prophecies represented a fundamental part of `being English', that is, a desire that the Holy Places should be freed and that the king of England was great enough to free them. It did not mean that, faced with the practical realities of such a crusade, particularly the need to pay for it, the political nation would respond with great enthusiasm. In manuscripts such as MS Trinity College 514, MS Arundel 326 and Lincoln, Cathedral Library, MS 98, the crusading ideal of `Sibille generaliter' is associated with the second Arthur, the great Britain-ruler, of the Historia Regum Britannie and the `Prophecia Merlini'. The idea of the Britain-ruler lies behind the contents of Cambridge, University Library, MS Ff. i. 27(2), which appears to have been made for presentation to a king. The manuscript contains Gerald of Wales's Expugnatio Hibernie, Topographica Hibernie and Itinerarium Kambrie, with the `Prophecia aquile'. The exemplar is BL MS Royal 13 B. VIII, a twelfth-century manuscript, which does not contain any prophetic texts. The prophecy was added when the copying was done, as it is an integral part of the manuscript, with a seven-line initial A (for `Arbor fertilis') in gold, pink and blue. The whole manuscript has been illuminated, soon after writing, with coloured drawings of characters and scenes from Gerald's texts, coloured, historiated capitals and inhabited borders of scrolls and leaves.83 On fol. 253v, in the ®rst historiated initial, a monk sits in a chair, 81 82 83

Also Lincoln, Cathedral Library, MS 98 and London, Lambeth Palace, MS 401. Prestwich, Edward I, p. 67. By `historiated initial', I mean an initial containing a representation of a person or scene, illustrating the text it introduces, and by `inhabited' I mean containing ®gures of humans, beasts, or both. This terminology is that of L. N. Valentine, Ornament in Medieval Manuscripts: A Glossary (London, 1985), p. 78. The illuminations are fully described in A Catalogue of the Manuscripts Preserved in the Library of the University of Cambridge, 5 vols. (Cambridge, 1856±67), II, 318±29.

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The Second Arthur: The King as hero c. 1135±1307 writing a book. In the second initial, on fol. 290v, a monk offers a book to a king, seated on his throne. Whatever the identity of the monk, or monks, who intended this book to be offered to the king, they felt that they needed to include the `Prophecia aquile', as an indication of the king's great future as ruler of all Britain.84 The manuscript came into the possession of the monks of Bury St Edmunds early in its history. Of course, the monks of Bury may have had the book made, but for some reason it was never given; perhaps the original donor, or donee, died before the gift could be made. On the other hand, the king might have given them a gift which he had already received from someone else. Unfortunately, the identity of the king has to remain a matter of conjecture. It could be Edward I, although it could also be Edward II. In Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 233, prophecies, including `Mortuo leone justicie', are accompanied by Merlin's prophecy of Sextus's conquest of Ireland and a statement of Edward I's right to sovereignty in Scotland, based on the submission of Brutus's son Albanact, ruler of Albania (Scotland), to his brother Locrinus, king of England. This sovereignty had been accepted by John Balliol and Robert Bruce, the two main candidates for the Scottish throne, made vacant in 1290 by the death of Margaret of Norway, the only undisputed heir of Alexander III. However, it had subsequently been rejected by both, and had led to a war which was to outlast Edward I himself. The Anglo-Scottish con¯ict was promoted throughout the nation by Edward I, and Englishmen across the country were called upon to pay for it and to provide ®ghting men and munitions.85 Although the future of the southern counties of Scotland, and possibly also of Northumbria, was still in doubt, national feeling in both countries was, especially on the part of the nonaristocratic groups in society, strongly engaged.86 Both sides produced bitter, racist literature.87 `Regnum scottorum', in London, College of Arms, MS Arundel XXX, was to become closely associated with the violently antiScottish chronicle of Pierre Langtoft, with which it appears in some early fourteenth-century manuscripts.88 Most of the manuscripts of Langtoft's chronicle derive from the north-east of England, where Langtoft himself was born and lived, but `Regnum scottorum' does not only appear in northern manuscripts. `Regnum scottorum' follows the course of Geoffrey of Monmouth's predictions about the reuni®cation of Britain by an alliance of Celtic peoples, culminating in the island reverting to its former name of Britain: 84

85 86

87

88

The book came into the possession of Bury St Edmunds Abbey. Who originally commissioned it is not currently known. Prestwich, Edward I, pp. 405±27. R. Nicholson, Edward III and the Scots: The Formative Years of a Military Career 1327±35 (Oxford, 1965), pp. 44±5. For examples, see Langtoft, ed. Wright, II, 248; Brut, ed. Brie, I, 208; Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, I, 41±58 and 160±79. EÂdition Critique et CommenteÂe de Pierre de Langtoft: Le ReÁgne d'Edouard 1er ed. J. C. Thiolier (CreÂteil, 1989), pp. 32±153.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England Sanguine Saxonico tincta rubebit humus Regnabunt britones albane gentis amici Antiquum nomen insula tota ¯eret ut prefert aquila veteris de terre locuto Cum scottis britones regna patria regent Regnabunt patria in prosperitate quieta hostibus expulsis iudicis usque diem historie veteris gildas lutulentus orator hec retulit carmine plura notans. (`The ground will grow red, stained with Saxon blood; the Britons will rule, friends of the Alban race; the whole island will lament the ancient name; as the eagle of the ancient land demonstrates by his word, the Britons, with the Scots, shall rule their native kingdom. They will rule their native land in peace and prosperity, having driven out all their enemies, until the Day of Judgement. The obscure orator Gildas, in ancient histories, recorded these things, writing in song.')89

In `Regnum scottorum' this island kingdom will be presided over by one of the `reges magni®ci bruti de stirpe' (noble kings from the line of Brutus). Perhaps the text is recorded in English manuscripts for the same reason as Pierre Langtoft recorded the vitriolic verses produced by the Scots: in order to make a record of them, to arouse nationalist hatred against the Scots, and to ridicule their authors when their predictions remained unful®lled. It may also be that they were recorded for their own sake, because any prophecy was regarded as intrinsically valuable. The English believed that they were the Britons, and the new overlord of the united Britain was to be not the king of Scotland, but the king of England. It was thought that Edward I would be the one who was to reunite the island kingdom. It is the view given by Robert Manning of Bourne and by Langtoft. Manning says speci®cally that the uni®ed rule over Britain will come to the English, according to the prophecy of Merlin.90 The text thus became bitterly, even cruelly, ironic, especially when recording English successes. In `Regnum scottorum' the English are referred to as danaos novos. This is a reference to their claim to Trojan, or Daneaan, descent through Brutus, as outlined by Geoffrey of Monmouth: Dicitur Albania littera prista conprobat A Scocia nata pharaonis regis egipti Ut veteres tradunt Scocia nomen habet Post britones danos pictos dacosque repulsos Nobiliter Scoti ius tenuerunt suum.

89 90

fol. 5r. Turville-Petre, England the Nation, p. 16. Langtoft, ed. Wright, II, 264, claims this for Edward I, again on the basis of Merlin's prophecy.

72

The Second Arthur: The King as hero c. 1135±1307 (`It has been said, ancient writing proves, from Scocia, born of Pharaoh, of the king of Egypt, as the ancients proclaim, Albania takes the name Scocia. After repelling the Britons, Danes, Picts and Dacians, the Scots nobly kept their own law.')

Here the Scots have a separate ancestry from the English, claiming that the kingdom of Scotland was named after Pharaoh's daughter. In the Declaration of Arbroath, made by the faction of Robert Bruce to the pope on 6 April 1320, at least partially in order to justify Bruce's seizure of the Scottish throne, the Scottish ruler claimed that the Scots had a biblical ancestry, as opposed to the Trojan ancestry claimed by the English. The claim to an older heritage supported resistance to English claims to the overlordship of Scotland, based on the history of Brutus and his sons.91 The Welsh and the Scots did, however, use the British History to express their national identity. Edward I is said to have built Caernarvon Castle on a particular site because of a Welsh prophecy.92 Edward's use of the public execution is interesting in this respect. The head of Llewellyn the Last, killed in battle in 1283, was carried through the city of London crowned with a paper crown because, it was alleged, Llewellyn had said that he would be the great ruler of the `Prophecia Merlini' (and the Historia Regum Britannie), who would reunite Britain under his rule. The same allegation was levelled at the Scottish leader William Wallace, who was taken to execution in August 1305 wearing an imitation crown. In both cases this represents a public `defacing' of the Welsh and Scottish leaders similar to the public, ceremonial `defacing' of knighthood carried out before execution on individuals such as Sir Simon Fraser in 1306, in which the knight's shield was either carried upside down or broken over his head. In the case of Llewellyn and Wallace, the national identity of the Welsh and the Scots, as represented in their interpretation of prophecies, was being `defaced' and held up to ridicule. This was done, not in Wales or Scotland, but in London, for the bene®t of an English audience. King Edward was using the public ridicule of Welsh and Scottish national identity in order to reinforce the national identity of the English.93 Edward I understood what political prophecy meant to England's British neighbours, and attempted to use the same language both as a weapon against them, and as part of his own attempt to build and reinforce an English national identity. Edward I did not only have to ®ght the Welsh and the Scots. At the same 91

92

93

A. Grant, `Aspects of National Consciousness in Medieval Scotland', in Nations, Nationalism and Patriotism, ed. Bjorn, Grant and Stringer, pp. 81±8; B. Webster, `The Declaration of Arbroath and Scottish National Identity', Medieval History 3 (1993), 156±65. J. Vale, Edward III and Chivalry: Chivalric Society and its Context 1270±1350 (Woodbridge, 1982), pp. 18±20. The stance taken by Langtoft. Both are reported by Andrew Horn: `Annales Londinienses', in Chronicles of the Reigns of Edward II and Edward III, ed. Stubbs, I, 3±251 (139±42 [Wallace] and 148 [Fraser] ).

73

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England time as he was adjudicating the Scottish succession, Edward became embroiled in a con¯ict with his own feudal overlord, Philippe IV of France, over the question of Gascony, which was part of Edward's own family inheritance. Eventually, Philippe declared Edward a contumacious vassal, and his duchy forfeit to the French crown. This led to a war over Gascony, which later escalated into the Hundred Years' War. Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 234/120 contains the ®rst political prophecy recorded in an English manuscript which is speci®cally hostile to the French. This is `Quando sambucus fert ceresa', which foretells the fall of France. When the elder tree has cherry fruits, and violets grow from nettles, and roses and lilies from willow trees: Tunc honor a Francis & laus antiqua recedet Hec prophetauit Elpes regno dogoberti Quod non errauit ®ent Franci sibi certa [sic]. (`Then the ancient honour and praise will depart from the French. This Elpes prophesied to the kingdom of Dagobert: the French themselves are sure that he did not err.')94

This text purports to use the political prophecy of the French against themselves, in much the same way as Edward I was trying to do with that of the Scots and the Welsh. In this way, the English de®ned themselves, and the idea of an English nation was built up, in relation to who they were not; that is, in terms of hostility towards their neighbours. To aid this development, an image had also to be created of neighbours who were hostile to the English themselves. Edward leaned heavily on these ideas in the promotion of `Englishness', as in his famous declaration that the king of France intended to destroy even the English language.95 Edward adopted a similar stance in his portrayal of the war with the Scots, stressing Scottish atrocities, and appealing to English national interest and self-preservation.96 This is not only mirrored in the political prophecies of the time, but is actually being carried on within the language of political prophecy. What the prophecies said both re¯ected and reinforced what their audience already believed. MS Bodley 233 also contains `Ter tria lustra', an elaboration of the story of Merlin's hero Sextus, making its ®rst appearance in an English manuscript. There is a slight difference between this Sextus and the hero of the `Prophecia Merlini'. In the latter, the hero unites Britain, founds archbishoprics and joins the ranks of the blessed, after a moral conversion. In `Ter tria lustra', these 94 95

96

MS Hatton 56, fol. 35r. Prestwich, Edward I, p. 383; Select Charters and Other Illustrations of English Constitutional History from the Earliest Times to the Reign of Edward I, ed. W. Stubbs, 9th edn (Oxford, 1913), pp. 480±1, gives the text. Prestwich, Edward I, pp. 412±16.

74

The Second Arthur: The King as hero c. 1135±1307 elements are all present, with important additions: this Sextus will rule the world and free the Holy Places: Multa capit medio volutans sub ®ne resumet Orbem subvertet, reliquo clerumque reducet Ad statum primum semi renovat loca sancta Hinc terrena spuens, sanctus super ethera scandit. (`In the middle he will conquer much, turning towards the end; in the remainder he will overthrow the world, he will lead the clergy back to their original state; in the half he renews the Holy Places: thence, rejecting earthly things, he ascends, blessed, above the heavens.')

His original function, the re-uniting of Britain, is omitted altogether. This was probably too well known to need reinforcement. In fact, it seems as if the writer of this text wanted to add these extra dimensions to the career of Sextus, in addition to what was already known. The text adds the worldconquering, crusading elements of the great Constans of `Sibille generaliter', and his ambiguous passing out of this world in the Holy Land, to a hero who is already identi®ed with the second Arthur. It also adds another dimension. Instead of simply granting pallia to archbishops, as in the `Prophecia Merlini', this Sextus has the power to reform the Church itself, internally. He will make the clergy return to their apostolic state, in the days of the early Church. In reforming, apocalyptic theology this was the function of the great emperor of the Last Days, and its presence in this text re¯ects the growth in importance of the idea of the king as emperor during the thirteenth century. The Roman emperors, and their medieval successors, had a particularly close relationship with Rome, the imperial city. In MS Arundel XXX, this theme is taken up by the text `Gallorum levitas', another imported continental text, one used by the Hohenstaufen emperors in their struggle against the papacy. This is the earliest known English text of the prophecy, which may, of course, have been known in England before this date. Gallorum levitas Germanos iusti®cabit Ytalie gravitas Gallos confusa necabit Gallus succumbet, aquile victricia signa Mundus adorabit . . . (`The inconstancy of the Gauls will justify the Germans; the confused dignity of Italy will destroy the Gauls; the Cock will be overcome, the world will glorify the victorious signs of the eagle . . .')

The hero is not introduced until the end of the poem, although he is implied by the presence of the imperial symbol, the Eagle. Rather like `Sibille generaliter', the empire is more important than the ruler. In this text the ruler is presented as the representative of a communitas; the Roman people, 75

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England and their city, are the source of his power, and share in his glory. The opening lines of the prophecy, like others of the period, identify the emperor's people in terms of their neighbours. In the case of the original text, the hero's people are named as Germans and Italians, but English readers would have reinterpreted this in terms of the English and `foreigners', as they were already accustomed to do with political prophecies. The real villains of the piece are, as in `Quando sambucus', the Gauls, or French. They are faithless: the hostility of other peoples towards them is entirely excusable; and they will be overcome, as a prelude to world domination by the imperial people, led and represented by their emperor. In order to make plain his connection with the Roman empire, this hero is called cesar in the text. This term bridges the gap between the Roman emperors of Antiquity and the medieval Holy Roman Emperors. It thereby circumvents the claims of the Byzantines to be the heirs of the Roman empire and leaders of Christendom's ®ght against the in®del. That privilege now belongs to the emperors of the West. The emperor of `Gallorum levitas' is not merely the successor of Constantine, the ®rst Christian Roman emperor, but his replacement: `Constantine, cades et equi marmore facti / Et lapis erectus et multa palacia Rome' (`Constantine, you will fall, and the horses made of marble, and the lofty stone and the many palaces of Rome'). The former is dramatically swept away by an act of God, in this case an earthquake of which the like has never been seen before, and replaced by the new and, by implication, better version.97 Thus the sempiternal Rome, which existed outside time, could be re-embodied in a different place, at a different time in history.98 The halo of the Roman empire had fallen upon the king of England, his country, his people and his capital city. This idea of sovereignty is essentially a secular one. Writing in 1302, John of Paris maintained that the kingdom was `the government of a perfect or selfsuf®cient community by one man for the sake of the common good'.99 Christian kings should be anointed, to show that they were members of the Christian community, as Jewish kings had been, but this was not essential to their kingship. Royal power was in itself spiritual, its purpose being not just any good, but the common good. The pope might direct the king in spiritual matters, but not in government. If a pope was negligent or heretical, an emperor might correct, even depose him. `Each king', wrote John of Paris, `is head in his own kingdom, and the emperor, if there is one, is monarch and head of the world'.100 `Gallorum levitas' re¯ects the theories of government 97 98 99

100

`terremotus erit, quod non procul auguror esse'. Kantorowicz, King's Two Bodies, pp. 82±4. John of Paris: On Royal and Papal Power, ed. and trans. J. A. Watt (Toronto, 1971), p. 73. John of Paris, ed. and trans. Watt, pp. 182±193. Edward I clashed with successive popes, notably over taxation and foreign policy. Papal policy was felt to be favourable to the party of Robert Bruce in Scotland, and to the French: Prestwich, Edward I, pp. 372±9.

76

The Second Arthur: The King as hero c. 1135±1307 which had grown out of struggles with the papacy in the thirteenth century, and which culminated in the seizure and deposition of Boniface VIII by Philippe IV of France in 1303. The anti-papal stance it represented was entirely in keeping with the attitudes earlier displayed in the Chronica Maiora. As for the imperial city, by the late thirteenth century London was becoming the centre of government, and was the country's commercial capital. It was also becoming the ruler's chief place of residence. The claim to close ties between the ruler and his city was not the product of total harmony between the two; far from it. Henry III and the Londoners, most of whom were in sympathy with the baronial cause, had clashed violently, and Edward I, as prince, had also clashed with the city. His family had been humiliated by the citizens, and he had exacted bloody revenge during his father's reign. From 1285 to 1298, Edward held the government of the city in his own hands.101 The rulers of London had, however, also contributed men and money for Edward's wars. One guaranteed way to make subjects, particularly burgesses, wish to be involved in a close relationship with royal policy was to make them pay for its conduct, and this claim to a close mutual relationship also indicates the economic roÃle which London was beginning to play, particularly in the ®nancing, and supplying, of war. London was New Troy, successor of Rome.102 In `Gallorum levitas', the city shares `equal billing' with the people and their hero; the city is the `communitas' to which the hero belongs and which he also represents. The symbol of the Eagle, used to denote the empress in `Mortuo leone justicie', is again used as an imperial symbol. As well as cesar, the emperor is also called aquila, the Eagle, and his standard is aquile victricia signa. This recalls the standard, or tufa of ancient Rome, which was borne in procession before the emperor, and formed the standard of legions in battle. (Both Henry III and Edward III had a dragon banner, which they used in battle. Prestwich says that Henry III used the dragon banner in a manner akin to the French Ori¯amme, and le Baker implies that Edward III did the same.)103 In the Eagle symbol, the undying spirit of the empire, the emperor and the city of Rome was portrayed. The Italians and Germans, in the person of cesar, have just defeated the Gauls, and the whole world adores the victorious symbol of the Eagle. This embodies the apocalyptic theme of world domination by an emperor who is the instrument of God. The emperor is about to enter his city of Rome in triumph. This text is the earliest prophetic text in English sources to introduce the concept of the imperial city. Like Rome in `Sibille generaliter', the city has a special place in the empire. It is at the centre of that empire, and has an equally special relationship with the emperor. The city is 101

102 103

Prestwich, Edward I, pp. 264±5. G. A. Williams, Medieval London: From Commune to Capital (London, 1963), pp. 219±63 (pp. 254±63). Brut, ed. Brie, I, pp. 11±12; Historia Regum Britannie I, ed. Wright, pp. 13±14. Prestwich, Edward I, p. 43; Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke, ed. E. M. Thompson (Oxford, 1889), pp. 82±3. Was it the same banner?

77

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England regarded as the natural seat of the ruler; it is the place he makes for in order to proclaim his triumph. Rome is not just a city, but the city. It has a right to expect the emperor to display the fruits of his triumph in its streets. Its citizens are entitled to share in the emperor's triumph in a way that the people of no other place are able. The city is the centre of that which is civilized; it is both an embodiment of the empire itself and the centre of its power, its culture and its wealth, as represented by its marble horses, its monuments and its many palaces. The `new Rome' was to stand at the centre of a world empire, and be its cultural, administrative and economic powerhouse. It would receive and display the glory of the empire, but would also give glory back to the empire and its ruler. By the late thirteenth century, Londoners believed that this `new Rome' was their own city.104 His dramatic intervention indicates that, as in the apocalyptic prophecies, God is in control of history. It is God who gives the ruler his power, and makes his choice known to the people in the form of the earthquake which presages the emperor's arrival in Rome. It is not only, therefore, the hero, but also his people and his city who are specially chosen by God to be the instruments of his will, the recipients of his grace and the mirror of his glory. There is a further dimension to the emperor's triumph: Erit urbs vix presule digna . . . Papa cito moritur, cesar regnabit ubique Sub quo tunc vana cessabit gloria cleri. (`The city will barely be worthy of a bishop . . . The pope will soon die, caesar will rule everywhere, under whom then the vainglory of the clergy will cease.')

This text is violently anti-papal, even going so far as to predict the pope's imminent death. This hero, like Sextus in `Ter tria lustra', is not merely the protector of the Church. He is also responsible for its reform, that is, he is responsible to God for its moral state, a roÃle previously claimed exclusively for the papacy. The identi®cation of this new, much more complex hero with the king of England is shown in the text `Catulus linxeis', of which a single copy from this period survives, in BL MS Royal 13 A. III. The manuscript also originally contained the Historia Regum Britannie. `Catulus linxeis' uses imagery similar to that of Geoffrey of Monmouth. The hero of this text is identi®ed, initially, as the Lynx's Cub: Catulus linxius in lupum rapidum convertetur insularum enim coriam vix relinquens sumpto quidem diademate apices humiliabit britonicas subiugabit albaniam & aduolatus egipcios asperabit.

104

Historia Regum Britannie I, ed. Wright, pp. 13±14.

78

The Second Arthur: The King as hero c. 1135±1307 (`The Lynx's Cub will be turned into a fast wolf of the islands, for having just given up his skin and taken up the diadem he will lay low the Welsh summits, subjugate Albania and, hastening forward, will rouse up the Egyptians.')

As we have seen, thirteenth-century glosses on the `Prophecia Merlini' identi®ed Henry III as the Lynx. The Lynx's Cub turns into a fast Wolf to defeat his enemies, and bring peace and prosperity to his realm, which we are to understand is the whole island of Britain. The Holy Places will also rejoice, `in eis namque distillabit aurum ex arbore & lapides reuelabunt argentum' (`for in them he will distil gold from the trees and the stones will show forth silver'). This Wolf then turns into a Boar, who will, once again, sharpen his tusks in the forests of Gaul. This Boar will overcome two of the main peoples in the immediate vicinity of his island, the Gauls and the Teutonices: Lupus enim lana teutonicos loricabit & montes alpini armabit argento. bestias ferro truncatas conuocaverit in girum & in aprum transmutabitur bellicosum qui infra gallicana nemora acumen dencium exercebit. (`For the wolf will clothe the Teutonic ¯ock in wool and will arm the alpine mountains with silver. He will call together in a circle the beasts cut down with iron, and he will be changed into a very warlike boar, who will sharpen his teeth in the gallic groves.')

These lines about a Boar have been borrowed from the `Prophecia Merlini'. Having been a Wolf and a Boar, the Lynx's Cub ®nally turns into a Lion, `et prius hec in leonem conuersus premerebitur fauorem altissimum & ad sidera conuolabit' (`and before these things, changed into a lion, he will deserve the highest of blessings and he will ¯y to the stars'). Here, then, we have not a succession of rulers symbolized by a variety of animal symbols, but one ruler who metamorphoses into several different animals in the course of his lifetime. The reason for these changes is that the natural qualities of the beasts in this text are related to their function in the story. The Wolf `ha‡ vertu in ‡e feet as ‡e leoun ha‡ and so what he trede‡ wi‡ his foot lyue‡ nought'.105 The Wolf was considered fast, bold and hardy. It protected its cubs, even if they were blind. Then the hero turns into a Boar. The Boar was `®ers and cruel', and `ha‡ gret might and strengthe'. As a result of this he `despyse‡ and sette‡ nou¿t by de‡', and would even attack the hunter when his own body was stuck with spears.106 Finally, the Boar 105 106

On the Properties of Things, ed. Seymour, II, 1222. On the Properties of Things, ed. Seymour, II, pp. 1117±20; The Bestiary, being an English version of the Bodleian Library, Oxford MS Bodley 764, ed. and trans. R. Barber, Folio Society (London, 1992), p. 87. The boar was hunted for its strength, its ferocity and its wildness, and hunting it was a proof of similar qualities in its conqueror; J. Cummins, The Hound and the Hawk: the Art of Medieval Hunting (London, 1988), pp. 96±105.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England becomes a Lion. The name leo was believed to be synonymous with rex, king, and therefore the Lion was `kyng and prince of alle bestes'. The Lion was noble and merciful, sparing women, children, prisoners, `hem ‡at liggen on ‡e grounde', and those who `comen out of ‡raldome'. The Lion would only eat a man if he was really very hungry. He could in¯ict deep wounds, and when he was angry his aspect was terrible. When he had captured his prey, the Lion was generous with his meal, and `of his grace of fre herte he leue‡ som of his pray to o‡ere bestes ‡at folowe‡ him aferre'.107 These qualities were those traditionally required of medieval rulers, that is, they were the qualities needful to be a rex utilis.108 In `Catulus linxeis', the emphasis is shifted from the nation and its relationship with its ruling dynasty, to a particular ruler, in this case Edward I, as the embodiment of the nation. This nation, rather than being de®ned in terms of `foreigners', is now de®ned in terms of particular groups of `foreigners': that is, the people of Albania, Neustria, Gaul, and Spain. Albania had been the name used by the people of Scotland to describe their own nation since the tenth century.109 Neustria was understood as meaning Normandy, and Gaul as France. Spain might mean either Aragon or LeÂonCastile, although the kings of Castile were by this time portraying themselves as kings `of Spain', and Edward I's wife was King Alfonso's sister. According to Bartholomaeus Anglicus, the name `Spain' appears to have been applied territorially, regardless of political circumstances, to the whole Iberian peninsula south of the Pyrenees.110 Whether or not the writers and users of prophecy knew precisely what they meant, what matters is that they perceived these other people as `nations'; an indication of how they viewed themselves. The names `Neustria', `Gaul', `Spain' and `Africa', as well as the tooth-whetting in the forests of Gaul, are all taken, as is the Lynx, from the `Prophecia Merlini', but the con¯ict between these nations would have been all the more signi®cant at the end of the thirteenth century, when Edward I was at war with both Scotland and France. The indebtedness of this text to the `Prophecia Merlini', and the English bias of its content, suggest that it was an English production. There is another important change evident in `Catulus linxeis'. As well as conquering Gauls and Teutonices, we are told that, exactly like the Boar in the `Prophecia Merlini', the Boar will be feared by Arabs and Africans, and will pursue his course as far as Spain. However, we are also told, `Deinde decimabuntur loca tutaminis & templorum depredacionem non cessabit . . . ydola egipti comminet & imperium suscipiet a romanis' (`Then places of 107

108

109 110

On the Properties of Things, ed. Seymour, II, 1214±17; Bestiary, ed. and trans. Barber, pp. 23±4. The `Mirror for Princes' is a genre which I do not have space to discuss in this context. See S. Bagge, The Political Thought of the King Mirror (Odense, 1987). Stringer, `Social and Political Communities', pp. 40±55. On the Properties of Things, ed. Seymour, III, 766.

80

The Second Arthur: The King as hero c. 1135±1307 defence will be decimated and he will not cease the plundering of temples . . . he will crush the idols of Egypt and receive the imperium from the Romans'). The fact that the Boar will be made Holy Roman Emperor is now made explicit. In the `Prophecia Merlini', it is the Boar of Cornwall who will be feared by the Romans, so in `Catulus linxeis' the careers of Geoffrey's two Boars are merged into one. Although no apocalypse is speci®ed in the text, the hero is a Christian leader in the style of the continental apocalyptic prophecies. He takes his place at the head of Christendom in reclaiming land lost to the Faith, crushing the Egyptians.111 He will crush their idols, and receive the Empire as a reward or in recognition of his worthiness and his status. The hero of `Catulus linxeis' does not surrender his rule or put his crown on the Cross, but he does achieve the favour of the Most High and is taken up to heaven. Once again, we are not told whether he actually dies, or ascends after the manner of Elijah, taken up by God in a ®ery chariot without experiencing actual physical death; but the implication, to readers who knew their Old Testament well, is there. This ruler, like Sextus, is sancti®ed as a reward for carrying out his appointed tasks well. A theological element has been introduced into a text using the same basic symbolism, terminology and ideas as those based on the `Prophecia Merlini'. `Catulus linxeis' is a very important text, as it demonstrates the beginning of the merger between the two prophetic traditions which we noted earlier, the tradition of Geoffrey of Monmouth and the `British' prophecy, and that of the continental apocalyptic prophecies. Unfortunately, it is not possible to tell whether this text was meant to refer to Edward I as prince or as king. The manuscript cannot be dated precisely enough. It is in this context that Edward's Arthurian interests and self-promotion must be viewed. This was not necessarily, in itself, evidence of the king's use of prophetic discourse. The cult of Arthur was a part of chivalric culture, and Edward's evocation of the great British king was a manifestation of this culture. This was not prophetic, but chivalric, discourse. Prophecy was, however, an important political language for many of those who witnessed Edward's Arthurian displays.112 To them, Arthur was the Boar of Cornwall, who would one day be resurrected to reunite the whole of Britain under the king of England. An important section of Edward's people were identifying him with this great king, Arthur redivivus. The king, as we have seen, was aware of, and himself promoted, the political meaning of prophecy. He must, therefore, have been aware of the interpretation which was being put on his Arthurian displays. The identi®cation of himself as the living image of King 111

112

By now they were the most potent military force in Islam. They eventually took Acre, the last remnant of `Outremer', in 1291. A. S. Atiya, The Crusade in the Later Middle Ages (London, 1938), pp. 31±3; Tyerman, England and the Crusades, pp. 116± 17. Henry III took the cross three times, in 1216, 1250 and 1271. Tyerman maintains that the king was serious in his crusading intentions. R. S. Loomis, `Edward I, Arthurian Enthusiast', Speculum 28 (1953), 114±27.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England Arthur, implicit in the ceremonial reburial of Arthur's body at Glastonbury in 1278, was therefore an overt political statement. It was not only a form of selfpromotion, but a statement of intent. Implicit in it was the commitment to reunite the island of Britain.113 This reuni®cation was part of a much wider plan, already ordained by God Himself, involving the defeat of France, assumption of the Empire, the freeing of the Holy Land, world-rule, and eventual sainthood, a heavenly crown. This aim became part of the English nation's integrity and identity, and Edward himself became its embodiment, at once the hero of the British History and of Galfridian prophecy. It is hardly surprising that other aspects of prophetic heroism became attached to the same man. Edward I promoted himself as a prophetic hero in a way that Edward III did not, but he helped to shape the ideas which were to make his grandson the greatest prophetic hero of later medieval England. The writers and audience of prophecy had come to see Edward I as a hero who embodied all the qualities, apocalyptic and Galfridian, of the various prophetic heroes. This was understood in the reading of older texts, and expressed more fully in new ones such as `Catulus linxeis'. It demonstrated the hopes which were invested in a king who had succeeded to the throne after a period of civil war and bloodshed, as a result of which people had been forced to think carefully about their own, and their community's, political identity. They had also been forced to think about the nature of kingship, about the relationship between the king and the English political nation, and about what `being English' meant. This `Englishness' found an expression, not merely in the idea of the `otherness' of foreigners, but in con¯icts closer to home. English animosity came to be directed towards the king of France, but mostly it was the con¯ict with the Welsh and the Scots, themselves already conscious of their national identity, which brought ideas of English nationhood into sharper focus. The king was very closely identi®ed with the English nation, becoming its representative and its personi®cation, as well as its lord and father. Edward I was a strong ruler, a rex utilis, who was seen to embody all these qualities. Unlike his father and grandfather, he was also victorious in what were seen to be `national' wars. An astute politician and self-publicist, Edward understood, encouraged and stimulated these developments.

113

Parsons, `Second Exhumation', pp. 173±77.

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CHAPTER THREE

Expectation and Disappointment 1307±1340 The period 1307±40 was one of the most productive for political prophecy in England. Many of the texts which became most popular in the fourteenth and ®fteenth centuries made their ®rst appearance at this time, whether they were written in England or imported from the Continent. This was due, in part, to the political circumstances of these years, and was in part a result of the political and literary legacy of Edward I. Edward had both nurtured and harnessed English national feeling by all the means at his disposal, including political prophecy. In his lifetime the optimism of the prophecies would have appeared well-founded. Edward was committed to the crusading ideal, and had been successful in both Wales and Scotland. There was no reason why he should not have settled the questions of sovereignty in Scotland, or have mended relations with the king of France over Gascony. That done, he might have been the natural leader of a great crusade. After Edward's death this hope did not die; the fact that Bruce was unbeaten and the English government in debt did not weigh as heavily with contemporaries as it does with modern historians. The immediate prospects for Edward II did not appear as gloomy as might, with hindsight, be supposed. In the `imperial' city of London, the great hope engendered during the reign of Edward I did not die with him. Andrew Horn, ®shmonger and onetime recorder of the city, cites the `Prophecia Merlini' in order to describe the mood of the urban eÂlite: Eodem anno Domini millesimo CCCo VIIo, Edwardus ®lius Edwardi, mortuo patri suo, culmen regni sui suscepit, de quo Merlinus sic vaticinavit `Succedit hircus venerei castri, aurea habens cornua et argenteam barbam, qui ex naribus suis tantam ef¯avit nebulam quanta tota super®cies insulae obumbrabitur,' etc. Et comparat Merlinus istum Edwardum regi Alexandro Macedonico, qui universum mundum potestati suae subdidit, sicut dicitur in libro Danielis prophetiae viii capitulo sic ``Ecce enim hircus caprarum veniebat ab occidente super faciem totius terrae,'` etc. Velut enim hircus caprarum et rex Alexander totum mundum subjugavit, sic iste hircus cornua habens, id est, Edwardus ®lius Edwardi conquaestris, Scotiam, Norwegiam, Daciam, Franciam, et omnes terras, quas Arthurus, victoriosissimus miles, gladio adquisivit, viriliter subvertet et optimebat [sic].

83

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England (`In this year of our Lord 1307, Edward son of Edward, on the death of his father, took up the highest place in the kingdom, of whom Merlin prophesied thus, ``the Goat of the venereal [i.e. beautiful] castle will succeed, having golden horns and a silver beard, who has exhaled such a breath from his nostrils that it will overshadow the whole surface of the island'`, etc. And Merlin compares this Edward to king Alexander of Macedon, who subdued the whole world to his power, as it is said in the eighth chapter of the book of the prophecy of Daniel thus, ``Behold, truly the Son of the She-Goat came from the West, over the entire surface of the earth'`, etc. For just as the son of the she-goat and king Alexander subdued the entire world, so will this Goat with horns, that is, Edward son of Edward the Conqueror, manfully defeat and take possession of Scotland, Norway, Dacia, France, and all the lands which the most glorious soldier Arthur gained by the sword.')1

In other words, Edward II was to ful®l all the expectations which had clustered around the person of Edward I. He would be the second Arthur, but would do far more than the original Arthur, even the Arthur of the legendary British History as recorded in the Historia Regum Britannie and the Brut. He would perform the additional tasks of the apocalyptic world-ruler, which had now become part of the same prophetic vision. By comparing the `Prophecia Merlini' with the Bible, Horn accords Merlin the same status as the prophet Daniel, giving the `Prophecia' the authority of Scripture. If Daniel's prophecies were divinely inspired and canonical, so are Merlin's. To Horn and his contemporaries in the city, political prophecy was far from trivial. They truly believed that the Last Days were approaching, and that God was about to provide the great hero whom Merlin had foretold. The prophetic legacy of Edward I can be seen in the text named by its editor, F. J. Furnivall, `Adam Davy's Dreams about Edward II'. The manuscript in which `Adam Davy's Dreams' is preserved belongs to the end of the fourteenth century, but the text clearly refers to the beginning of Edward II's reign. In this case the hero is called by his Christian name rather than an animal symbol. He is also speci®cally identi®ed as Edward II of England.2 The text is in twelve-line stanzas of English verse, supposedly written by a man named Adam Davy, who identi®es himself as the marshal of Stratfordat-Bow in London. Adam has ®ve dreams, on different nights, about `sir Edward ‡e kyng . . . prince of Wales'. This can only be Edward II, the ®rst 1

2

Chronicles of Edward I and II, ed. Stubbs, p. 151. The text cited by Horn is also similar to `The Last Kings of the English'. `Adam Davy's Dreams' have been convincingly dated to the years 1307±8, 1308 being the coronation year of Edward II (he was crowned on 25 February 1308). See V. J. Scattergood, `Adam Davy's Dreams and Edward II', Archiv fuÈr das Studien der Neuren Sprechen und Literatur 206 (1970), 253±60; Adam Davy's Dreams, ed. Furnivall, pp. 11±17; J. R. S. Phillips, `Edward II and the Prophets', in England in the Fourteenth Century: Proceedings of the 1985 Harlaxton Symposium, ed. W. M. Ormrod (Woodbridge, 1986), pp. 189±201.

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Expectation and Disappointment 1307±1340 English prince of Wales.3 Edward III was never invested with the title, and his son Edward, although prince of Wales, never became king. `Adam' has a series of divine revelations, in the form of dreams, with Edward at their centre. The king is ®rst seen armed and crowned, standing before the shrine of Edward the Confessor in Westminster Abbey: Me mette ‡at he was armed wel, Bo‡e wi‡ yrne & wi‡ stel; And on his helme ‡at was of stel, A Coroune of gold bicom hym wel. Bifore the shryne of Seint Edward he stood, Myd glad chere, & mylde of mood . . .4

There is no evidence that this is a coronation scene, but the location, being the place where the coronation of English kings actually took place, is suggestive. It also suggests that the writer knew the coronation ritual, and was probably familiar with the topography of Westminster Abbey ± although he could, of course, have had access to a written account. `Adam' stresses the connection between the saint's name and that of the king; this connection may be one of the reasons why the king's personal identity, usually hinted at in political prophecies, is here made obvious. Andrew Horn had also stressed the importance of Edward's name, this time in relation to his father, Edward I. The naming of royal children was extremely important, as the same qualities and achievements were looked for in the named individual as had belonged to the name's original possessor.5 So, Horn was expecting Edward II to inherit some of his father's qualities and achievements along with his name. This may lie, albeit invisibly, behind `Adam's' stress on Edward's name, although he is also stressing the relationship to the Confessor, who was remembered for his Englishness, his saintliness and his regality, rather than his lack of political ability and his penchant for Normans. Two knights enter and attack Edward ®ercely with their swords, but Edward's body is invulnerable. This invulnerability is a sign that Edward is God's Elect, under the Almighty's special protection. The writer also notes that, He stood ‡ere wel swi‡e stille, And ‡oled al-to-gedres her wille; No strook ne ¿af he a¿einward To ‡ilk ‡at hym weren wi‡erward.6 3

4 5 6

The only surviving manuscript which contains the text, Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud misc. 622, is dated to the end of the fourteenth century, so the text must be at least that old. Adam Davy's Dreams, ed. Furnivall, p. 11. J. Dunbabin, `What's in a Name? Philip I of France', Speculum 68 (1993), 949±68. Adam Davy's Dreams, ed. Furnivall, pp. 11±12.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England This likens Edward to Christ, who took the punishments meted out to him by the Jews. This is the ®rst of many allusions to Christ in the poem, in which King Edward is consistently likened to the Saviour. When the knights have gone, rays of red and white light shine out of Edward's ears, and `spredden far & wyde in ‡e cuntre'.7 The reason for the light to shine from Edward's ears, rather than from any other part of his body, may be iconographical, the writer meaning to describe a halo. Trevisa, translating Bartholomaeus Anglicus (citing Aristotle), says that `‡e lyme of herynge . . . is ful of kynde spirit, for as ‡e kynde spirit make‡ ‡e meuynge of puls in ‡e veynes, so he make‡ in ‡e eere ‡e vertu of heringe'. This links the ear both with blood and with the force of life, which Edward is communicating to his mystical, political body. The ear is possibly also linked with the idea of purity (and therefore Christlike sacri®ce), as ¯eshly lust is said by Bartholomaeus to lead to loss of hearing. Colour is associated with inner state in romances. In King Horn the hero is described as both red and white, and dark-skinned people usually turn white when they are baptized, as in The King of Tars. The writer dwells on these rays and describes them in some detail: Hij wexen out so bri¿th so glem ‡at shyne‡ of ‡e sonne-bem; . . . Of diuers colours, red & white als hij were; Als fer as me ‡ou¿th ich mi¿th see . . .8

Red and white were the colours of blood and purity, of sacri®ce and atonement, again symbolic of the cruci®ed and resurrected Christ. The light from Edward's ears is like a kind of nimbus, spreading salvation to the whole of his realm. In medieval organic metaphor, Edward is the mystic head from which life ¯ows to the members of the mystical body. He is the life and salvation of the whole body, in which the esse mysticum is also the esse politicum.9 `Adam Davy's Dreams' represent this in a more symbolic form, which has a parallel in contemporary romance. The light ¯owing from King Edward shows the inherent sanctity of his status, to which he was born. This inner light, escaping from within the body to reveal the true nature of its bearer is parallelled in contemporary romance. In Havelok the Dane, the Princess Goldborough has been married to Havelok, whom she believes is a ®sherman's son. This makes her `sory and sorwful', until one night she sees a marvellous light shining from Havelok's mouth and notices a red cross on his shoulder. An angel tells her that this denotes that Havelok is a king's son 7

8 9

On the Properties of Things, ed. Seymour, I, 191; King Horn, ed. J. R. Lumby, EETS OS 14 (London, 1866), p. 1; `The King of Tars', ed. F. Krause, Englische Studien 2 (1888), 1±62 (p. 55). Adam Davy's Dreams, ed. Furnivall, p. 12. J. H. Burns, Lordship, Kingship and Empire: the Idea of Monarchy 1400±1525: The Carlyle Lectures 1988 (Oxford, 1992), pp. 52±4.

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Expectation and Disappointment 1307±1340 and heir.10 Scholars have recently noticed the relationship between Havelok and other forms of political theory, so it should not be surprising to ®nd it related to a contemporary prophetic text. Edward has received his kingship from God alone, who has elected him by birth and survival. This is how God elects, and the king's subjects merely approve God's choice. The people do this by acclamation, and the Church by liturgical coronation, unction, and the singing of the Laudes regiae.11 The light shining from King Edward signi®es more than mere nobility, or even royalty. The king of `Adam Davy's Dreams' is a sacri®cial mediator between God and his people, like Christ, in the tradition of `Pseudo-Methodius'. The king not only brings God's blessing and salvation to his people, he actually is God's blessing and salvation for his people. The king's body is the symbolic space in which God's relationship with his people is depicted.12 The idea is developed further in the dreams which follow. In `Adam's' second dream King Edward goes to Rome as a pilgrim. He is wearing grey pilgrim's clothing with a grey cap on his head ± symbols of penitence ± and yet `his shankes semeden al blood rede': ywonden he was in a Mantel gray; Toward Rome he nom his way; Upon his heuede sat an gray hure . . . . . . he rood wi‡outen hose & sho . . .13

The writer does not say that Edward's legs were actually bleeding, merely that it seemed as if they were. We are also told that the king journeys to Rome `vpon an Asse', just like Christ on the occasion of his last, triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The writer has already told us that one day Edward will be chosen `Emperour . . . of cristiente', and this theme is carried on in the third dream, which ®nds King Edward in Rome. Here Edward is crowned, still wearing his pilgrim's clothing. From the setting, and from what the writer has previously told us, we must assume that the Holy Roman Empire is referred to. Before him, in a position of spiritual authority similar to that taken up by the archbishop of Canterbury at an English coronation, comes 10

11

12

13

The Lay of Havelok the Dane, ed. W. Skeat, EETS ES 4 (London, 1868), pp. 38±40 and 59±60. Also, on p. 19, the same light shining from the baby Havelok prevents the ®sherman's wife from drowning him: D. Staines, `Havelok the Dane: A ThirteenthCentury Handbook for Princes', Speculum 51 (1976), 602±23; S. Delany, `The Romance of Kingship: Havelok the Dane', in Medieval English Poetry, ed. S. Trigg (London, 1993), pp. 172±85. M. Michael, `The Iconography of Kingship in the Walter of Milemete Treatise', JCWI 57 (1994), 35±47. For the body as a signi®er in discourse, see M. Foucault, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, trans. A. Sheridan (London, 1975). Adam Davy's Dreams, ed. Furnivall, p. 13.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England the pope, also clad in penitential grey, wearing his `mitre': `‡e pope ¿ede bifore, mytred wel faire I-wys; / ‡e kyng Edward com corouned myd gret blis . . .'14 Where this text differs from those we have previously discussed is in the humility of the new emperor. It is implied that King Edward has been chosen emperor because of his humility, holiness and divine election, not because of his military standing or his ability to inspire fear. There is no mention in `Adam Davy's Dreams' of any violence or military activity within the boundaries of Christendom at all, apart from the wish that Edward will overcome his enemies. Even in the fourth dream, when King Edward is riding to ®ght in the name of Christ against the heathen, the opportunity to show the king in a warlike guise is deliberately passed over, and we are offered instead an image of the cruci®ed Christ, coming down from his cross in a wayside chapel, to ask his mother's permission to help Edward's cause because he `vs ha‡ serued day and ni¿th'. This is done so that the continuity of the Edward/Christ image is not broken. To show the king as a crusading knight would distract the reader from the idea of Edward as sacri®ce and saviour. `Adam Davy's Dreams' is a very theological poem. It is a verbal icon of the king, through whose image we see God, Father and Son. The presentation is meditative and devotional, resembling that of later medieval devotional lyric poetry. It might almost be parallelled in art, in the form of a retable or a series of wall-paintings similar to those in the Painted Chamber at Westminster. The reader is confronted with a series of static, pictorial images, on which he may meditate and worship the prophetic image of King Edward. Edward is, in a sense, a second Christ, suffering at the behest of the Father for the salvation of his people. King Edward, then, having been chosen and crowned Holy Roman Emperor, leads a more warlike pilgrimage, to ®ght against the `wicked sarasynes', the enemies of Christ and Our Lady. The last of `Adam's' dreams does not follow the rest with any kind of continuity. After the fourth dream, a voice tells `Adam' to write down his dreams and take them to the king. Although he is afraid of the dark, `Adam' is encouraged by the voice, which tells him that he should not let anything prevent him from going to the king. He sets off eastward, until he reaches the light of heaven. Overcome, he yields his body to the Lord, to do what he will with it. Then, suddenly, the continuity is broken by the announcement that `‡e ‡ursday next ‡e beryng of our lefdy', `Adam' has had another dream. This is followed by a series of long lines which upset the rhythm of the poem. There is nothing in the text to lead us to expect a ®fth dream at this point, where the story appears to be leading in a quite different direction. It also breaks the natural progression of the story as prophecy, which up to now has followed a traditional format for the career of a prophetic hero. The ®fth dream is preceded by a little scene in which,

14

Adam Davy's Dreams, ed. Furnivall, p. 13.

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Expectation and Disappointment 1307±1340 Me thou¿th an Aungel com sir Edward by: ‡e Aungel bitook sir Edward on honde; Al bledyng ‡e foure for‡er clawes so were of ‡e lombe.15

The writer seems to be raising the possibility that Edward may have received the stigmata, but it is not quite clear in the text whether the recipient is Edward or the angel. The implication of cruci®xion and divine acceptance is clear. We are then taken to Canterbury, where King Edward stands before the high altar (he does not kneel), covered entirely in blood-red. Canterbury was the shrine of the most well-known of English saints, Thomas Becket, whose sainthood lay in his martyrdom, so it could be that the king is here being presented as a martyr who is both royal and English. He is a second Confessor, and also a Becket. This would mean that by the time this verse was written Edward II would have already been dead. There is another possibility, which might have been written whilst the king was still alive, and could have been written as part of the same poem. The robes in which Edward I had been buried in 1307 were the same as those used at his coronation, consisting of a dalmatic of red samite with orphreys and stones, a mantle of red samite with orphreys and precious stones, stockings of red samite with orphreys, and a pair of shoes of red samite.16 Edward II was also to be buried in this red coronation costume. This may be seen as representing the ®nal act in the career of Edward, the prophetic hero-ruler. Having carried out the rest of the prophetic agenda, he is to be buried, in that he will die or be taken up into heaven, but he is also to be crowned among the saints, like Sextus, wearing his coronation robes, which he will also wear at his burial. This scene may not represent the martyrdom of a royal victim, although by the time the Laudian manuscript was compiled it could easily have done so, but the culmination of a great apocalyptic career. Although the last vision appears to be distinct from the rest of the poem, it could have been written whilst Edward II's throne was still unchallenged. The author of `Adam Davy's Dreams' has never been located historically. The name is included, on the admission of the writer himself, to add authenticity to the visions. This does not necessarily mean that it could not be false. An early fourteenth century audience was less likely than we might be to seek out the author in order to check the poem's veracity. In contemporary romances names are given to minor characters for no other reason than to add colour and authenticity to the tale.17 The hero of `Adam Davy' is a second Christ. Theologically, Christ is the `second Adam', whose atoning sacri®ce reinstated humankind after Adam's fall. Adam is a ®gure for all mortal human beings. In `Adam Davy's Dreams', King Edward is a similarly representative ®gure. He mediates for humankind, who are again in 15 16 17

Adam Davy's Dreams, ed. Furnivall, p. 15. D. A. Carpenter, The Reign of Henry III (London, 1996), p. 435. Havelok the Dane, ed. Skeat, pp. 48 and 66.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England need of a saviour. In theological terms, he, too, is Adam. He is also David, God's elected leader at the head of God's own people. In theological terms, Christ, the pattern for King Edward in this poem, is also the `Son of David'. David, like Adam, is the Old Testament ®gure for Christ in the New. `Adam', being the terminology used to represent the whole of humankind, is also `everyman'. By using this name for himself, the author may also be implying that he is only telling his audience what `everyone' knows. The author's statements seem to point to a London writer for `Adam Davy's Dreams', which also appears to have Westminster connections, in its use of Westminster Abbey as a location for one of the scenes. The writer appears to have some knowledge of London. There are some problems with this, however. If `Adam Davy' is a pseudonym, then the writer's claim to be known to many people in London would invite potential ridicule in the capital, at least among a lay audience. The other problem is the manuscript: this, although later, derives not from London or the South East, but from the west Midlands. The texts in the manuscript are concerned with theology and the Crusade, not with politics or history as such. `Adam Davy's Dreams' may have been written in London or by someone who knew, or had lived in, London, but there is no evidence that it was intended for a wide audience. If `Adam Davy's Dreams' was written by a layman, he would have had a very wide, or very speci®c, theological education. `Adam Davy's Dreams' is unusual among English prophetic texts for portraying the pope in a favourable light. The image of Edward and the pope may very well be a reference to the apocalyptic tradition, associated with the Franciscans in particular, of a holy emperor and a holy pope who would unite to renew the Church before the Last Days.18 This type of apocalyptic prophecy had recently come to prominence following the election of the hermit-pope Celestine V in 1294. Celestine's `resignation' and his replacement by Boniface VIII had given a fresh impetus to literature claiming that Antichrist had arrived, and the Angelic pope was imminent. Some had believed that Celestine would be this pope. `Adam Davy's Dreams' is presenting Edward II as the holy emperor who will assist the Angelic pope in the Last Days. By implying that the present pope is not the one God wishes, the writer of `Adam Davy's Dreams' manages to be apparently anti-papal, as in all English political prophecy, and still to revere the ideal of the papacy. Taylor believes that it was de®nitely a propaganda work, but there is absolutely no evidence for this.19 It could, however, have been written by a London friar. Both Dominican and Franciscan friars had arrived in London early in the reign of Henry III, and had attracted patronage from the king, his wife, and his successor Edward I and his ®rst wife, Eleanor of Castile.20 The Domin18

19 20

Reeves, In¯uence of Prophecy, pp. 192±225; B. McGinn, `Angel Pope and Papal Antichrist', Church History 47 (1978), 155±73. Taylor, Political Prophecy, pp. 92±3. J. Rohrkasten, `The Origin of the London Mendicant Houses', in The Church in the

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Expectation and Disappointment 1307±1340 icans held their general chapters in London in 1250 and 1263. The Franciscans did not hold their general chapters in England, but had held their provincial chapters in London as recently as 1297 and 1302. Payments from the royal coffers were made on a regular basis to all of London's Orders of friars, with the Franciscans getting marginally the most, ahead of the Dominicans. Signi®cantly, the Franciscans received a special donation on St Edward's Day. The angel's voice tells `Adam Davy' to take his visions to the king; this indicates that the poem may have been intended for Edward himself. Given the importance of royal patronage to the London friars, the death of a king might make a signi®cant economic difference to the fortunes of their convent. Rather than propaganda intended for the general populace, it is much more likely that `Adam Davy's Dreams' was written by a London friar for the king himself, as a literary offering intended to ensure the continuation of allimportant royal patronage. The poem was not quoted or used by any other writer, according to surviving evidence, and the theological ideas expressed do not appear to have circulated widely outside clerical circles. The writer of `Adam Davy's Dreams' was dealing with a complex theological subject in the English language. Although prophecies continued to be written and copied in Latin, this text was one of the earliest vernacular compositions. It did not exist in isolation, but was roughly contemporary with the vernacular texts of the Auchinleck manuscript, the so-called `London romances'.21 `Adam Davy', like the writer of Havelok the Dane, seems to have considered that kingship was a good subject for vernacular writing, a result of the promotion of the vernacular as a component of `Englishness' by Edward I. These hopes for the future reign of Edward II turned to frustration when the king's inability to repeat his father's military success, or to provide strong rule in his own land, became apparent. Seven years after Edward's accession, the author of the Vita Edwardi Secundi complained that the king had so far managed to do nothing for his country but produce handsome children.22 This was not simply a matter of regret; the sheer weight of this disappointment cannot but have been signi®cant in political terms. The same Londoners who had welcomed Edward II as Arthur and Alexander in 1307 played an important part in his downfall twenty years later. Edward's laziness, moral laxity and partiality for favourites are cited, in some measure, by all the chroniclers of his day as reasons for the collapse of central authority and the resulting years of civil war. Although Edward triumphed at Boroughbridge in 1322 and his main

21

22

Medieval Town, ed. T. R. Slater and G. Rosser (Aldershot, 1998), pp. 76±99 (pp. 88± 90). Stratford was also the site, recently excavated, of a large Cistercian monastery, comparable in size and prestige to Fountains Abbey: C. Thomas, `London's Monasteries', Current Archaeology 162 (1999), 204±22 (pp. 206±8). The Auchinleck Manuscript, ed. D. Pearsall and I. C. Cunningham (London, 1979); Turville-Petre, England the Nation, pp. 113±38. Vita Edwardi Secundi: The Life of Edward the Second by the so-called Monk of Malmesbury, ed. N. Denholm-Young (London, 1957), pp. 39±40.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England rival, Thomas of Lancaster, was executed, Edward was deposed in 1327 by his estranged wife Isabella and her lover, Roger Mortimer. In 1326 they gained control of Prince Edward, the heir to the throne: they returned to England in October, and, with considerable help from the city of London, obtained the `abdication' of Edward II in 1327. Edward III was proclaimed and crowned, but he was not in a position to overthrow Mortimer until 1330. In these conditions political prophecy ¯ourished. Surprisingly enough, this was not because the political prophecy was an instrument of royal propaganda. Unlike his grandfather, there is no evidence that Edward III either understood, or used, this particular discourse in the furtherance of his aims. As Andrew Horn's comments about the young Edward II demonstrate, this was no longer necessary. Political prophecy had become so well established among the governing and administrative classes as a discourse of `Englishness' that it no longer needed of®cial stimulation. It might be said, rather, that from now on royal propaganda reacted to political prophecy, or at least to the attitudes and beliefs the prophecies displayed. On the whole, political prophecy's optimism, its exaltation of the king as hero and its tendency to rationalize political crises after the event meant that it posed no threat to the reigning monarch; in fact, it was positively favourable. If the frustration of the prophetic hopes engendered by Edward I worked ultimately to the disadvantage of his son, prophetic optimism worked very much in favour of the young Edward III. Unfortunately, manuscripts of the period 1320±40 cannot be dated accurately enough to place the texts they contain before or after Edward II's deposition in 1327. Two of these manuscripts, BL MS Royal 12. C. XII and BL MS Harley 2253, are closely related. MS Harley 2253 is a planned volume, containing vernacular material from all over England, particularly from the central and eastern Midlands. One of the scribes of the Harley manuscript, who was also the scribe of MS Royal 12. C. XII, was working in the Ludlow area during the ®rst two decades of the fourteenth century, his earliest known work being dated c. 1314.23 It was Neil Ker who suggested the household of the bishops of Hereford as a provenance for the manuscript, on the basis that MS Royal 12. C. XII, by one of the same scribes, bears the seal-mottoes of the bishops of Hereford, but Revard challenged this with the suggestion that the patrons were the Talbot family of Richard's Castle, near Ludlow, who had links with the Mortimers of Wigmore.24 Revard's view is 23

24

See C. Revard, `Richard Hurd and MS Harley 2253', NQ 224 (1979), 199±202; C. Revard, `Three More Holographs in the Hand of the Scribe of MS Harley 2253', NQ 227 (1982), 62±3. A Facsimile of British Museum MS Harley 2253, with an Introduction, ed. N. R. Ker, EETS OS 255 (London, 1965); Turville-Petre, England the Nation, pp. 182±98. There are notes on the manuscript in Historical Poems, ed. Robbins, pp. xxxiii±xxxiv and G. Guddat-Figge, A Catalogue of Manuscripts containing Middle English Romances (Munich, 1976), pp. 195±201.

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Expectation and Disappointment 1307±1340 supported by Turville-Petre, on the basis of the manuscript's language and content.25 All of these evidences are inconclusive in the context of the early fourteenth century; a scribe might work for different patrons, and Revard's evidence shows that this scribe clearly did. The tastes of, and the language spoken by, the bishop's household, with its servants and guests, would differ little, if at all, from that of a lay magnate. English and French were not used exclusively by laypeople. The bishops of Hereford at this time were hardly saintly recluses. Thomas Charleton (1328±43) was treasurer of England from 1329, and in 1337 went as chancellor to Ireland. His predecessor, Adam Orleton (1316±27) was an ally of Roger Mortimer, responsible, according to some chroniclers, for the capture and enforced abdication of Edward II at Neath Abbey in 1326.26 Whilst these events were taking place, Queen Isabella was at Hereford, and it was there that Hugh Despenser the younger was taken and executed. Orleton was responsible for extensive repairs to the fabric of Hereford Cathedral, and for the completion and dedication of the Cantilupe shrine there.27 Turville-Petre dates MS Harley 2253 as c. 1340, but an alternative explanation is offered by the editors of Fulk le Fitz Warin. They note that the scribe of MS Royal 12. C. XII, also identi®able as one of the scribes of Harley 2253, had an extremely good personal knowledge of Ludlow Castle, and that MS Harley 2253 was probably part of a manuscript tradition represented at Worcester by the earlier Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Digby 86, derived from the environs of Worcester, and dated 1272±82. They then note that the seal-mottoes, included in a verse on fol. 6v of MS Royal 12. C. XII, refer to Richard de Swin®eld, bishop of Hereford 1282±1307, and Adam Orleton, his successor. They therefore conclude that the scribe was a priest in the household of Adam Orleton, made bishop of Worcester in 1327. This would account for the move to Worcester after the writing of the Royal manuscript, which uses sources from Ludlow, but before the writing of MS Harley 2253, for which a Worcester model was available. This account is far more satisfactory than that of Revard and Turville-Petre. Authorities seem to agree that the manuscripts were intended for consumption by a household. The scribe may have been part of that household, but the manuscript would probably have been commissioned by, or may even have belonged to, Orleton himself.28 It is not possible, however, to determine precisely when the scribe collected his material, or how much of the material used in MS 25 26 27

28

Turville-Petre, England the Nation, pp. 192±203. In particular, Geoffrey le Baker accuses Orleton: Le Baker, ed. Thompson, p. 18. For a view which is less than enthusiastic about Orleton's `alliance' with Mortimer, see G. A. Usher, `The Career of a Political Bishop: Adam de Orleton (c. 1279±1345)', TRHS 5th s. 22 (1972), 33±47. For the career and familia of Adam Orleton, the chief source is R. M. Haines, The Church and Politics in Fourteenth Century England: The Career of Adam Orleton c. 1275±1345 (Cambridge, 1978). Fouke le Fitz Waryn, ed. E. J. Hathaway, P. T. Ricketts, C. A. Robson and A. D. Wilshere, ANTS 26±28 (Oxford, 1975), pp. xxxvi±liii.

93

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England Harley 2253 was actually gathered in Worcester, or taken by the scribe from Hereford. Some of the material in the Royal manuscript, such as the Fulk le Fitz Warin story, has been located in the Ludlow area. If all of the material in the Royal manuscript was collected before Orleton's translation in 1327, after the deposition of Edward II, this is quite important, because it contains two prophetic texts which were to become very popular over the next two centuries: `Lilium regnans' and `The Holy Oil of St Thomas'. `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' has often been associated with Edward II, on the basis of a papal letter intimating that the king wished to be anointed a second time, using holy oil believed to have been given to Thomas Becket by the Virgin Mary.29 However, the text and the oil are two different things, each with its own history. The papal letter does not make any mention of a text being associated with the chrism, which had recently been `discovered' and passed into the possession of King Edward. The view of previous scholars that Edward wanted the re-anointing in order to increase his status after his victory at Boroughbridge ± that is, for its propaganda value ± seems reasonable enough in the light of the evidence. However, there is no mention in the papal letter of any other story, or property, associated with the oil. Edward would not, of course, have told the pope that this oil was expected to make him master of France and help him to overrun the Middle and Near East; diplomatically, this would have been unwise. The fact remains that there is no link between the contents of the text and the chrism itself. The holy oil may have existed as an idea, even as a physical object, before the text was written. Given that political prophecy was usually written ex eventu, as a reaction to events and policies, it may be that the text was similarly `discovered', when the existence of the oil became known, in order to give it a function within the wider framework of political beliefs. It may have originated in the reign of Edward II, or early in the reign of the young Edward III; all that can be said, in the light of present knowledge, is that it certainly originated in the crisis period of 1320±40. The text, beginning `Quando ego Thomas', as opposed to the later alliterative prophecy about Becket, concerns not only the martyred archbishop, but the Virgin Mary, as in `Adam Davy's Dreams'. The idea was gaining ground that England had a special relationship with Christ's Mother, whose dowry or morning-gift the nation was said to be. Because the king of England is God's Anointed, Christ on earth, then the Virgin may be expected to have a special concern for him. As the exiled Becket prays for the king of England, it is the Virgin herself who gives him the holy oil. She tells him that the kings of England who will follow are bad, so the oil 29

T. A. Sandquist, `The Holy Oil of St Thomas of Canterbury', in Essays in Medieval History presented to Bertie Wilkinson, ed. T. A. Sandquist and M. R. Powicke (Toronto, 1969), pp. 330±344; W. Ullmann, `Thomas Becket's Miraculous Oil', Journal of Theological Studies n.s. 8 (1957), 129±33.

94

Expectation and Disappointment 1307±1340 must be hidden until the time of the great future king, who will be the ®rst to be anointed with the oil: Ista est uncio de qua debent ungi reges Anglorum non isti qui modo regnant set qui regnabunt quia maligni sunt & erunt . . . (`This is the oil with which the kings of England should be anointed; not these who are reigning now, but those who will rule, because they are and will be evil . . .')

The writers of prophecy must have felt a pressing need for the kings of England to be reconciled with the ghost of Becket; having as the centre of a popular national cult a cleric who had been murdered on the orders of a king was most embarrassing. It is striking that this text should be contemporaneous with the last verse of `Adam Davy's Dreams', where King Edward is shown in the guise of Becket. St Thomas was to take away the king of England's guilt by providing him with unction from heaven. The great future king who will be the ®rst to be anointed with the holy oil will recover the lands of his ancestors which are his, and his country's, right. It is stressed that he will recover them sine vi, without the use of force: Est etenim rex futurus qui per ista[m] unccionem ungetur qui terras a parentibus amissas videlicet Normanniam & Aquitaniam recuperabit sine vi. Rex iste maximus erit inter reges & est ille qui recuperabit multas ecclesias in terra sancta & effugabit omnes paganos de Babilonia & ibidem plures ecclesias sanctas edi®cari faciet. (`Truly, it is a future king who will be anointed with this oil, who will recover the lands lost by his ancestors, that is, Normandy and Aquitaine, without force. This king will be the greatest among kings and it is he who will win back many churches in the Holy Land and will drive all the pagans out of Babylon and he will cause many holy churches to be built there.')

The lands in Normandy and Aquitaine are given a special mention, showing that their loss was still a vital issue in the ®rst half of the fourteenth century. When this king carries in his bosom the eagle in which the oil has been kept, he will always be victorious. In the end this hero, too, like the hero of `Adam Davy's Dreams', will ®ght against the unbelievers in the East. It is God who elects and blesses this hero, and God protects him from harm, as in `Adam Davy's Dreams'. The sign of this protection is the talisman of the eagle which he, like a Roman emperor, carries into battle. This, however, is not a public symbol, as is the eagle in `Gallorum levitas', but a secret, personal symbol, indicating that it is the election of an individual, rather than a people or nation, which is important here. The implication is that the individual is God's choice to lead his people. Like the king of `Adam Davy's Dreams', the ruler of `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' is a Davidic leader, leading Israel against the enemies of God. This hero is like the last emperor of `Sibille generaliter', 95

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England who, after chasing away the `pagans' of Egypt, is actually rebuilding the Church of God in the places where it has been destroyed, in both a spiritual and a physical way. He will be the protector of the Church for which Becket died. He will be `maximus inter Reges', the greatest among kings. It is not the holy oil itself which has made him thus, but God. The oil is merely the sign of God's election, as when the prophet Samuel anointed David at God's behest. The great ruler is the gift of God, as are his reconquests, which is why they are achieved sine vi. He arises in God's time, and only God knows when that is. The signs of his arrival are the ®nding of the holy oil and, as in other prophecies, the great king's marvellous deeds. The claims being made in `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' are strikingly similar to those made by the Capetian, and later Valois, kings of France. They were anointed with a holy oil given by an angel for the anointing of Clovis, the ®rst Carolingian ruler, and they either called themselves, or claimed to be, David, with a right to be the secular leader of the Christian world. It may not have been coincidental that Edward II was brother-in-law to three kings of France.30 What does not necessarily follow, however, is that Edward II saw, or presented himself, as a prophetic hero because of his wish to be anointed with Becket's oil. He may only have seen this anointing as a blessing equal with that of the kings of France. To him it was probably, therefore, a matter not of prophecy, but of prestige. Even if Edward II did request re-consecration with the oil, and if his successor was so consecrated, this is not evidence that either of them used prophetic discourse. It was the audience of prophecy who saw these things and understood them in a different way. This was then expressed in prophetic discourse, as represented by `The Holy Oil of St Thomas'. The other text associated with MS Royal C. XII is `Lilium regnans'. This has not one hero, but two. First, there is a ®gure known as the Son of Man, who is `timendus per uniuersum mundum' (`feared throughout the whole world'), such as the rex futurus of `The Holy Oil of St Thomas'. He is a mighty warrior, who goes to the aid of those who are weaker and in need of help. When the Lily invades the Lion's territory, the Son of Man goes to help him.31 At this stage the Son of Man is himself helped by the second hero, the Eagle from the East, with whom he then works in alliance. Amid a scene of battle and bloodshed, the Lily loses his crown, which is given to the Son of Man. The Son of Man and the Eagle triumph, and there is a golden age after the apocalyptic tradition: 30

31

A. Grabois, `Un mythe fondamental de l'histoire de France au Moyen Age: Le ``roi David'`, preÂcurseur du ``roi treÁs chreÂtien'' ', Revue Historique 18 (1992), 11±31. Also LeGoff, `Le Roi dans l'Occident MedieÂval', 16±18. The Lily is always the king of France in this type of text, because his coat of arms was azure, powdered with ¯eurs-de-lys argent. Later in the century it was changed to azure, three ¯eurs-de-lys argent. In `The Last Kings of the English', Isabella, wife of Edward II, is called the `¯our of lif and of de‡', because she was instrumental in her husband's downfall and death: Brut, ed. Brie, I, 73.

96

Expectation and Disappointment 1307±1340 Lilium regnans in nobile parte mundi manebit contra semen leonis et veniet in terram leonis et stabit in agro inter spinas regni sui. Tunc veniet ®lius hominis ferens tres feras in brachiis suis cuius regnum est terra lune timendus per universum mundum cum magno exercitu pertinebit aquas et ingredietur terram leonis carentis auxilio quia bestie regni sui iam pellem eius dilaceraverunt. Illo anno veniet aquila parte orientali alis extensis sub sole cum multitudine pullorum suorum in adiutorum ®lii hominis . . . (`The Lily, ruling in a noble part of the world, will stand against the seed of the Lion and will come into the land of the Lion and will stand in the ®eld among the thorns of his kingdom. Then a Son of Man, carrying in his arms three wild beasts, whose kingdom is the land of the moon, feared throughout the entire world, will come; he will reach the seas with a great army and enter into the land of the Lion lacking aid, because the beasts of his [i.e. the Lion's] kingdom will already have torn his coat to pieces. In that year will come an Eagle from the East, his wings outstretched under the sun, with many of his chicks, to help the Son of Man . . .')

The Son of Man, like Edward II in `Adam Davy's Dreams', `accipiet signum mirabile'; that is, he takes the cross and goes to the Holy Land. We are not told whether this is a peaceful pilgrimage, but on the basis of the hero's previous military career, this would seem counter to the main argument of the text. The story concentrates upon the deeds of individuals, not peoples or nations, depicted mainly in heraldic terms. The Lily loses his crown, rather than has it taken from him. This cannot be the equivalent of the sine vi in `The Holy Oil of St Thomas', however, as the hero has certainly been ®ghting. It does, however, imply that this loss is the Lily's own fault. The hero receives the crown of France and goes on a crusade, but he is not made emperor. This presents a dif®culty, as the Eagle is the heraldic sign for the Holy Roman Emperor, and often means this in prophetic texts. This continental import is actually about a Holy Roman Emperor and a holy pope, who will be his ally in the Last Days, as depicted in the third scene of `Adam Davy's Dreams', but it was read otherwise in England. We know this from a `key' which survives, albeit in slightly later manuscripts: Lilium rex francie. leo ¯andria. ®lius leonis dux ¯andrie. ®lius hominis ferens feras rex anglie. Terra lune Anglia Wallia hibernia. Aquila imperatoris arma. Sol francia. Caput mundi papa. Signum mirabile signum crucis. (`The lily, the king of France. The lion, Flanders. The son of the lion, the duke [sic] of Flanders. The son of man bearing wild beasts, the king of England. The land of the moon, England Wales and Ireland. The eagle, the arms of the emperor. The sun, France. The head of the world, the pope. The marvelous sign, the sign of the Cross.')32 32

Coote, `Language of Power', pp. 19±20. Note that only England and Wales have capital letters in the original. The ruler of Flanders was a count, not a duke as in the text.

97

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England If the text originally intended the Son of Man to be a pope, then it is evident that the English have taken this and turned the text into an anti-papal one: `Caput mundi erit ad terram declinatum'. Caput mundi would originally have been Rome itself, but here it is being read to prophesy the imminent fall of the papacy, as foretold also in `Gallorum levitas' and `Cedrus alta libani'. Most English prophetic texts, and those imported into England from the Continent, if they mention the papacy at all, are against papal power. Anti-papalism had remained an important element in `Englishness'. Interestingly, the English chose to represent their king as the Son of Man rather than as the Eagle. It was more important to gain the king of France's crown and go on crusade than to become emperor. The Son of Man is one of the titles which Christ gave to himself in the New Testament. This is redolent of the images of `Adam Davy's Dreams', but there is no heavenly reward for the king at the end of `Lilium regnans'. In the context of other political prophecy, this may have been `understood'. These images of kingship occur in a manuscript which is closely connected with a high-ranking ecclesiastic, who was close to the centre of power up to, and during, the events of 1327. Orleton, or a member of his travelling household, could have obtained them from any of the places they visited, from anyone they knew, or from the circles around the king himself. If from the royal court, this would not mean that they constituted royal propaganda, but that this was how his supporters felt about Edward II, even towards the end of his reign, at the end of which he was castigated as a rex inutilis. Orleton was personally involved in the downfall of Edward II, as one of the negotiators who went to receive the king's abdication. The bishop's supposed close association with Queen Isabella and Roger Mortimer has recently been questioned by Haines, claiming that he was not a clerical monster supporting the interests of an earthly patron, but that he acted as a leader of the English Church, according to his own political beliefs. The images of kingship in the Royal manuscript lend support to this view. By 1327 Orleton, like many other politically aware Englishmen, had abandoned his belief in the prophetic greatness of Edward II, the second Alexander and the hero of `Adam Davy's Dreams', and transferred it to the young prince of Wales. In helping the new, young king to replace his father he, and they, were simply helping God's will for their country to prevail. As `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' says, the old kings would be bad, and cause great harm to their kingdom, but the great rex futurus was still to come. He would be the ®rst king to be anointed with the Virgin's holy oil ± a privilege apparently refused to Edward II. As a poet was to say of the young Edward III some years later, `Est David Edwardus, sancto cum crismate clarens' (`Edward is David, gleaming with holy oil').33 33

Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, I, 30. This is one of a series of poems which use the image of the Boar, and whose ethos is very similar indeed to the prophecies of the ®rst part of Edward III's reign: Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, I, 28±58.

98

Expectation and Disappointment 1307±1340 The golden age promised for the new king was all the more attractive when set against the perceived disorder of the previous reign. MS Harley 2253, the `Worcester' manuscript which may date from after Orleton's translation in 1327, contains verses known as `Thomas of Erceldoune's Prophecy' on the basis of the introduction provided by the scribe of the manuscript: La countesse de Donbar demanda a Thomas de Essedoune quant la guere descoce prendreit fyn e yl la respoindy e dyt: [the verses follow] (`The Countess of Dunbar asked Thomas of Essedoune when the war with Scotland would end, and he answered her, saying:') 34

These verses associate reversal of the social and natural order with the breakdown of authority and law, and bloody con¯ict between the English and Scots. The writer looks forward to the eventual defeat of the Scots, but this is important because it will bring peace, and the threat of chaos will be removed `When scottes ¯en so faste, ‡at for faute of ship, hy droune‡ hemselue'.35 To themes of natural and social reversal this writer adds re®nements such as slavery, or possibly ransom (`when men ledes men in ropes to buyen & to sellen'), the natural world invading the hearth, the very heart of the home and safety (`when hares kendles o ‡e herston'), unavailability of the necessities of life (`white wheat' is ten marks a quarter), and no-one may call anything his own: When hares kendles o ‡e herston . . . When men ledes men in ropes to buyen and to sellen: When a quarter of whaty whete is chaunged for a colt of ten markes.36

The fact that `man as mad a kyng of a capped man' may be either cause or effect. Some of the predictions have a speci®cally northern interest, such as Bamburgh being ®lled with corpses, or Lothian turning from forest to ®eld. This prophetic pessimism does not contain any reference to God or to his plan in history. The impression given is that this inexorable future overtakes very human beings in a very human world. God does not intervene either to condemn or to save them. It is not theological, even if a member of the clergy may have written it and formed part of its audience. This prophecy tells us what the people who read and wrote it feared most. In the reign of Edward II, with Robert Bruce triumphant and crossing the border to raid and possibly preparing the future annexation of Northumbria, these fears would have seemed very real. The breakdown of authority in England itself meant that 34 35 36

Historical Poems, ed. Robbins, p. 29. Historical Poems, ed. Robbins, p. 29. Historical Poems, ed. Robbins, p. 29.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England fear of chaos was not simply a northern phenomenon. In the context of MS Harley 2253, the `capped man', or fool, is Edward II, and what were originally northern interests are seen as the interests of the whole nation. It was the king of England's duty to protect his subjects from political chaos. The writer of the Gesta Edwardi castigates Edward II for his inability, indeed, unwillingness, to protect his people in the North, whilst praising the heroism and sacri®ce of the Northerners themselves. Left to fend for themselves, many died ®ghting alongside the higher clergy of the northern provinces at the battle of Myton on 20 September 1319. Thomas Grey of Heton, another Yorkshireman, levels the same accusation at King Edward in the Scalacronica.37 The political prophecies associated with Thomas of Erceldoune begin at the end of the thirteenth century, although they represent an earlier Celtic, originally oral, tradition.38 Thomas the Rhymer, or Thomas of Erceldoune, is mentioned in historical records in the area of Melrose, in Roxburghshire, during the second half of the thirteenth century.39 What is interesting about the prophetic lines in MS Harley 2253, as with later political prophecies of this type, is their apparently proverbial nature, which suggests that they were related to oral culture. Another political prophecy which uses short, disjointed fragments is the `Prophecia Merlini', which also originated in a Celtic, oral tradition. The prophecies of MS Harley 2253 are not speci®c, and, unlike most other political prophecies, they are predictive. Nor do they make their message clear, as most political prophecies of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries do. These lines are more akin to the predictions of almanacs than to the political prophecies of the intellectual and socially-aspiring audience of mainstream political prophecy. They have their origin in a popular, oral tradition of political protest, and appear in medieval English manuscripts only at times of political crisis, when central authority fails. After their appearance in the years 1320±40, they do not resurface until the ®fteenth century, in another political crisis, Cade's Rebellion of 1450. When Edward III ascended the English throne in 1327 his father Edward II was still alive. As after the death of Stephen in 1153, a political situation had been created which people felt was in need of explanation. Political prophecy had already developed into a language in which such an explanation might be made. The prophetic hero, as developed during the reign of Edward I, was 37

38

39

Chronicles of the Reigns of Edward I and Edward II, ed. Stubbs, I, 80; Scalacronica: The Reigns of Edward I, Edward II and Edward III as recorded by Sir Thomas Grey, ed. and trans. H. Maxwell (Glasgow, 1907), pp. 65±6. E. B. Lyle, `The Celtic Af®nities of the Gift in Thomas of Erceldoune', ELN 8 (1971), 161±4; E. B. Lyle, `Thomas of Erceldoune', Folklore 79 (1968), 111±21; E. B. Lyle, `Sir Laundevale and the Fairy-Mistress Theme in Thomas of Erceldoune', Medium Aevum 42 (1973), 244±49. Thomas of Erceldoune, ed. J. A. H. Murray, EETS OS 61 (1875), pp. xliv±xlix; E. B. Lyle, `A Reconsideration of the Place Names in Thomas the Rhymer', Scottish Studies 13 (1969), 65±71.

100

Expectation and Disappointment 1307±1340 to be central to the political prophecies of the years following 1327. Edward III was to become the greatest prophetic hero of later medieval England; the hero who would embody the identity and aspirations of political prophecy's audience in a way no other king of England had done. This would not, however, have been possible without the developments which had taken place in political prophecy during the previous century. The deposition of Stephen had been explained by `Mortuo leone justicie', but there is only one instance of this text from the period surrounding the deposition of Edward II. The White King had also been interpreted as Henry III, but for Edward II a new model was conceived, in a text written ®rst in French (that is, in AngloNorman, or `English' French), then in English and Latin. This prophecy, `The Last Kings of the English', was to become one of the most widely circulated political prophecies in later medieval England, even more so than the `Prophecia Merlini', by virtue of the fact that it became incorporated into the French, English and Latin versions of the Brut, in the fourteenth and ®fteenth centuries the most popular history of England. The British History of Geoffrey of Monmouth was, in any case, made available in French and English prose by the Brut, although it did not contain the `Prophecia Merlini', which was generally only available in Latin. With the arrival of the Brut, a translation of the `Prophecia Merlini' may have been considered no longer necessary.40 This does not mean that the `Prophecia Merlini' no longer had a wide audience, but that the audience of political prophecy was widening to include those who could not read Latin. Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O. 1. 17, Dublin, Trinity College, MS 496, BL MS Cotton Claudius B. VII, BL MS Cotton Julius A. V, and Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Digby 28 all contain the `Prophecia Merlini', and Trinity MS O. 1. 17, MS Cotton Galba E. IX and MS Douce 115 all contain the Historia Regum Britannie. `The Last Kings of the English', in the style of the `Prophecia Merlini', `Sicut rubeum draconem' and `Mortuo leone justicie', uses animal symbols to represent the human actors in its story. In the version of the Brut which Brie has dated to just after Edward III had in¯icted a crushing defeat on the Scots at Halidon Hill on 19 July 1333, the prophecy is interwoven into the text in such a way that it acts as a gloss upon the lives and achievements, or lack of them, of English rulers since Henry III. At the end of each reign the Brut writer explains how the reign ful®lled its own part of the prophecy. The implication is that, because each part of the prophecy came true in the past, then the future events outlined in the prophecy will also come true. These follow what is essentially the traditional career of the prophetic hero, with a 40

An English verse translation was made in Castleford's Chronicle in York just after 1327, and production of the Historia Regum Britannie appears to have accelerated at this time: Castleford's Chronicle or The Boke of Brut, ed. C. D. Eckhardt, 2 vols., EETS OS 305 and 306 (Oxford, 1996), I, 414±51; C. D. Eckhardt, `The First English Translations of the ``Prophecia Merlini'' ', The Library 6th s. 4 (1982), 25±34; T. M. Smallwood, `The Prophecy of the Six Kings', Speculum 60 (1985), 571±92.

101

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England few adaptations to cover the current political situation. The great hero, of course, will be Edward III. This `prophetic' mode of writing occurs only in Brie's 1333 Brut, not in any of the subsequent versions or continuations. It is, therefore, a product of the period 1320±40, in which so many other political prophecies were produced, and re¯ects the hopes, as seen in `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' and `Ter tria lustra', which resided in the young king at the beginning of his reign. `The Last Kings of the English' tells the story of England and her people in terms of their rulers. Each of the ®rst three kings is clearly recognizable as a historical ®gure; the Lamb (Henry III), the Dragon (Edward I) and the Goat (Edward II). This, in turn, identi®es the Boar, who succeeds the Goat, as Edward III. After this, Brie's text gives a Lamb and a Mole as rulers, but their deeds are spoken of with little detail, and cannot be assigned to any historical ruler without considerable (and dubious) interpretation. Such interpretation would be out of character for a text which is so very clear in its identi®cation of previous kings. The events of 1326 and 1327 are depicted at some length in the story, as if to stress the importance of the date of writing: And ‡o ij oweles shullen do miche harme to ‡e foresaide ¯oure of lif, and here shul lede in distresse, so ‡at she shal passe ouer into Fraunce, forto make pees bituene ‡e gote & ‡e ¯our delice; and ‡ere she shal duelle to a tyme ‡at her sede shal come to seche here; and ‡ere ‡ai shl bene stille til a tyme ‡at ‡ai shul ham clo‡e with grace: and ‡ai shul seche the Owelyn, and put ham vnto despitous de‡. And after shal ‡is goot bene brou¿t to disese; and in grete anguisshe and sorwe he shal leue al his lif.41

The two Owls are the Despensers, father and son, favourites and chief counsellors of Edward II. The `¯our of lif ' is Isabella, Edward's wife, who went to France in 1326 to negotiate peace between her brother Charles V and her husband, Edward. There she met and plotted his overthrow with Roger Mortimer. Later in 1326 the two came into possession of Edward, prince of Wales, sent by his father to do homage for his possessions in France. It was possession of the prince which allowed Isabella and Mortimer to return to England and depose Edward II in favour of his son: in the course of these events, the Despensers were both summarily tried and executed, the father at Bristol in October, 1327, and the son at Neath in November. The original writer was not, however, aware of the death of Edward II at Berkeley, announced in September 1327, followed by the public display of the king's corpse. The original text must, therefore, have been written in the period between Edward II's deposition and his death, or at least in the period shortly after his death, when some still believed (or chose to believe) that Edward might still be alive.42 41 42

Brut, ed. Brie, I, 74. Edward II's brother Edmund, earl of Kent, was victim of such rumours; he was executed for treason in 1330 after plotting to release Edward II from prison: G. P. Cuttino and T. W. Lyman, `Where is Edward II?', Speculum 53 (1978), 522±44.

102

Expectation and Disappointment 1307±1340 The animal species used to identify particular kings in the text have been chosen for their appropriateness, according to the point which the writer wishes to make about that individual. The accepted nature of the animal, as given in bestiaries and encyclopaediae, must accord with the perceived nature of the ruler who is being depicted, such as the animals in `Catulus linxeis'. The Lamb (Henry III) is innocent, mild and meek, never doing anyone any harm, even in self-defence. It is also, of course, a symbol of Christ, and denotes holiness.43 This is appropriate for the man who `shal make meny Goddes house . . . and he shal make one of ‡e faireste places of ‡e worlde ‡at in his tyme shal nou¿t fully ben made an ende'.44 This is a reference to the connection between the rebuilding of Westminster Abbey and Henry III. It uses that connection to create an impression of Henry III as both saintly and holy, glossing over negative aspects of his reign or character, such were apparent to contemporaries such as Matthew Paris. The civil wars of his reign, often violent and bloody, and the king's part in them, are similarly glossed over, and are not depicted as his fault, but that of the `wolf of a straunge lande'. Any ®tfulness or lukewarmness in Henry's support for the monks of Westminster has been erased completely, so that the king is glori®ed as a saint ± and possibly, by implication, also a holy martyr ± by the survival of his great building work. The text gives no indication of any involvement on the part of anyone but Henry III. The strength of the Dragon (in the prophecy, Edward I) lies in his teeth and his tail, and the prophecy stresses the beast's mouth and breath. The Dragon's mouth is said to be full of venom, which appears to set his breath on ®re when he drinks in the cold air. He is the greatest and most fearsome of serpents; he sleeps little, sees clearly, and `deuore‡ bestes and foules'.45 The reign of Edward I is depicted as one of war and turbulence: In ‡at tyme ‡e sonne shal bene also rede as blode, as meny men shul see ‡rou¿ al ‡e worlde: ‡at shal bitoken grete pestilence, and de‡ of folc ‡rou¿ dent of swerde; and ‡is peple shal bene faderles til ‡e tyme ‡at ‡e dragon shal dye ‡rou¿ an hare ‡at shal meve a¿eynes him werr in ‡e ende of his lif, ‡at shal nou¿t bene fulliche endede in his tyme.46

The Hare is ruler of a people from the north-west. He will be crowned by order of the Dragon, but will then ¯ee for good for fear of him. This can only be John Balliol, crowned king of Scotland after Edward I's decision in his favour in 1292, who then rebelled against English domination, but was eventually forced to ¯ee. Although a time of war, the reign of the Dragon also provides security for his own people, as he will `kepe the lande from colde and hete'. This not only means that he will protect the land physically, 43 44 45 46

On the Properties of Things, ed. Seymour, II, 1111±16. Brut, ed. Brie, I, 72. On the Properties of Things, ed. Seymour, II, 1184±6. Brut, ed. Brie, I, 72±3.

103

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England but politically, keeping men's humours in balance for the bene®t of the community. He is feared, but he is extremely strong, and will be considered by contemporaries `‡e best body of al ‡e worlde'. Many people weep at his death. Edward I inspires fear by his strength and the power of his presence, he is a great warrior and a conqueror, and is greatly mourned. His political vacillations in his father's reign are not mentioned, nor, somewhat surprisingly, is his devotion to the crusading ideal. Edward II is the `gote oute of a Kar', the reference to Caernarvon as his place of birth making clear who is meant. This Goat is responsible for many ills which will befall his people: `‡ere shal come out of his nose‡relles a drop ‡at shal bitoken hunger & sorw, & grete de‡ of ‡e peple'.47 The use of the Goat for Edward II is interesting in this context, particularly in the Brut, which has London associations. The symbol had been associated with Edward since the beginning of his reign, as Andrew Horn's chronicle reveals, but in order to glorify, not to revile, the king. In `The Last Kings of the English', the Goat, which had been used with reference to the Book of Daniel to signify the second Alexander, has become a pejorative image, more closely associated with bestiary descriptions of the goat. Here the goat is known for `feruent and hoot worchinge of generacioun', and so becomes a symbol for moral degeneration, which often means sexual immorality. Thomas Grey says that Edward II was known for this.48 The degeneracy and apparent indolence of the Goat in this prophecy represent the qualities of the rex inutilis, and imply that this was the reason for the king's downfall. In the deposition of Edward II, the idea of the rex inutilis was applied by a purely national assembly, without the participation of the pope.49 Although this was the nature of the reasons given for Edward's deposition, no reference to any deposition is made at all in the prophecy. In fact, the text is arranged so that the Goat appears to die before the accession of the Boar, `and after [i.e. after the death of the Owls] shal ‡is goot bene brou¿t to disese; and in grete anguisshe and sorwe he shal leue al his lif.'50 This was not the case; Edward III was acclaimed before the death of his predecessor. The audience of the text would probably know enough about the `abdication' of Edward II, and the charges made against him, to understand what was being implied. That this was not stated, however, is very obvious, as is another omission: although Piers Gaveston, the Despensers, the queen and the prince are mentioned, there is no mention at all of Roger Mortimer, although he was the queen's lover, and from 1327 to 1330 was the `power behind the throne'. The text makes it appear that the queen and the prince were alone responsible for the 47 48

49 50

Brut, ed. Brie, I, 73. On the Properties of Things, ed. Seymour, II, 1162±4; Scalacronica, ed. and trans. Maxwell, p. 70. The king did everything that wholly un®tted him for chivalry, delighting himself in avarice and in sensual pleasures, disinheriting his subjects who had rebelled against him, and enriching himself with their great property in lands. Peters, Shadow King, pp. 238±10. Brut, ed. Brie, I, 74.

104

Expectation and Disappointment 1307±1340 eventual deposition of Edward II. Unfortunately, it cannot be deduced from this that Mortimer or anyone connected with him was the source of the prophecy. It is more likely that the prophecy re¯ects the discretion with which Mortimer exercised his power. Aftre ‡is goote, shal come out of Wyndesore a Boor, ‡at shal haue an heuede of witte, a lyons hert, a pitouse lokyng; his vesage shal be reste to sike men; his bre‡ shal bene stanchyn of ‡erst to ham ‡at bene a‡rest ‡erof shal; his worde shal bene gospelle; his beryng shal bene meke as a Lambe.51

The Boar of Windsor is immediately identi®able, like the Goat, from his birthplace. The qualities of the Boar encompass both those of the Lamb and the Dragon; he is humble like a lamb, but valiant, strong and ®erce as a lion. The language of the description also contrasts him with the Goat: instead of the harmful exhalations of the Goat, which damaged his people, the Boar's gaze will give rest to the sick and weary, and his breath will satisfy the thirsty. His word will be true. Like the hero of `Adam Davy's Dreams', his esse mysticum will ¯ow out to the furthest bounds of his esse politicum. The word `gospelle' draws the reader's attention to the fact that this is theological language, and the ®gure it describes is Christ-like. If Henry III and Edward I represent different aspects of the great ruler, Edward III possesses all the good qualities of both, and none of their disadvantages. He is the ultimate achievement of a dynastic line which is seen as beginning with Henry III. Why Henry III? First, it would be dif®cult to include King John, because of his bad reputation as a king (vilis et inaniter), a reputation hardly enhanced ± in the eyes of English people to whom `Englishness' was anti-papal ± by his becoming Innocent III's vassal. Secondly, this text is a tribute to the success of Henry III's, and Edward I's, association of themselves with an English national identity. The reign of Edward II is seen as an aberration, and the heroism of the Boar identi®es him with his grandfather, the `dragoun mellede wi‡ mercy and ek wodeness', rather than with his father's degeneracy and miserable end. Lawrence Minot saw Halidon Hill as the English revenge for Bannockburn, a restoration of English honour which had been lost during the reign of Edward II, and his poem about the battle revives Edward I's warning about the threat posed to England, and to `Englishness', by the king of France.52 Minot's latest editors also note that Edward III's court seems to have had an interest in reviving `the almost old-fashioned nostalgic form of chivalric writing', another possible symptom of this linking of Edward's image with that of his grandfather, rather than his father. The use of the Boar as a symbol for Edward III has great signi®cance in terms of political prophecy, especially because of its relationship with the Boars of the `Prophecia Merlini'. In texts such as `Catulus linxeis', these Boars 51 52

Brut, ed. Brie, I, 74. Poems of Lawrence Minot, ed. James and Simons, p. 9.

105

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England were merged into a single character, the second Arthur. In the `Prophecia Merlini', Arthur is the Boar of Cornwall. Politically, therefore, to say that Edward III is the Boar of Windsor is a very important statement. It links him not only with the British king and the supposed royal line of Brutus, but also forms another link with his grandfather, who was himself seen as the new Arthur, and took pains to present himself publicly in this way.53 Arthur was seen not only as a great British king of the past, but also as a great conqueror, who had conquered many lands, fought the unbeliever and defeated the Roman emperor.54 The association of the Boar with Edward III re¯ects that king's promotion of his own Arthurian image, which he supported by pageantry, feasting and tournaments.55 The career of the Boar in `The Last Kings of the English' is similar to the `Prophecia Merlini', as we can see from the wording, but it has been expanded: and he shal do mesurabli al ‡at he shal haue to done vnto ‡e Burgh of Ierusalem; and he shal whet his tei‡ vppon ‡e ¿ates of Parys, and vppon iiij landes. Spayne shal tremble for drede of him; Gascoyne shal swete; in Fraunce he shal put his wynge; his grete taile shal reste in Engeland softely; Almayn shal quake for drede of him . . . he shal gete as miche as his auncestres deden; & er ‡at he bene dede he shal bere iij crones; and he shal put on lande into gret subieccioun; and after hit shal bene releuede, but nou¿t in his tyme. This Boor, after ‡at he is dede, for his dou¿tynesse shal bene enterede at Coloigne, and his lande shal bene ‡an ful®llede wi‡ al goode.56

The ®rst part of this Boar's career re¯ects the public perception of the early years of Edward III's reign. First there is the unease at the very beginning of the reign, when political opponents had to be faced, and Edward was under the domination of his mother Queen Isabella and Roger Mortimer. The multiplicity of aliens is the view taken by the writer and his audience of Edward's marriage to Philippa of Hainault, and the subsequent (or so it seemed to them) in¯ux of Hainaulters to the English court. There was a minor battle between the English and Hainaulters attending on the king at York in June 1327.57 If we compare the career of the Boar of Windsor with that of the Boars in the `Prophecia Merlini' 53

54 55

56 57

Vale, Edward III and Chivalry. Vale notes the Round Table of 1344 (pp. 67±8) and the fact that Edward III wore an eagle crest on more than one occasion (p. 69). For tournaments and `games', see Vale, Edward III and Chivalry, pp. 57±75: the costumes owed much to literature, but this was not all Arthurian. Brut, ed. Brie, I, 79±87. There are good descriptions in the `Annales Paulini', and the `Gesta Edwardi de Carnarvan', written around 1340, takes the opportunity of Edward III's coronation to compare him with Arthur: `Annales Paulini', in Chronicles of the Reigns of Edward I and II, ed. Stubbs, I, 255±370 (p. 95). Minot is backward-looking, linking the young Edward III with memories of his grandfather: The Poems of Lawrence Minot, ed. James and Simons, p. 9; Vale, Edward III and Chivalry, pp. 4±24. Brut, ed. Brie, I, 74±5. Nicholson, Edward III and the Scots, p. 21.

106

Expectation and Disappointment 1307±1340 and `Catulus linxeis', we can see that the writer of `The Last Kings of the English' has taken this `standard' and developed it. The tooth-sharpening is there, but this Boar sharpens his tusks, not on the woods or forests of Gaul, but on the gates of Paris, and on four more, unspeci®ed, lands. Spain still trembles, and the Teutonices still quake, but they are now identi®ed as a territorial unit, `Almayn' or the German states. `Gaul' is translated, as it was understood in the fourteenth century, as `France'. The link between the Boar and his own country is strengthened by the fact that his tail remains in England. Gascony, over which Edward I had fought with Philippe IV of France, is added to the list of lands which will tremble before the Boar. This Boar, like the heroes of earlier prophecies, will regain the lands of his ancestors, which makes this, again, a matter of national integrity and dynastic right rather than one of conquest. The Boar will give `mantels' to two English towns; this is probably the two pallia given by Sextus in the `Prophecia Merlini', or it may refer to a text or variant which has since been lost.58 Wearing three crowns and being buried at Cologne could refer to Edward III's devotion to the three kings of Cologne, or more generally may be attributed to a rise in popularity of their cult, but at this early date they are more likely to refer to the crowns of England, France and Scotland. These were the con¯icts uppermost in the minds of the English in 1327, and represent the achievements foretold in earlier political prophecies for the second Arthur, who was Edward I.59 Like the hero of `Adam Davy's Dreams', the Boar will crusade against the heathen, reaching as far as Jerusalem, but we are not told if he will die there. He is a great warrior hero who will rule well and enforce his right to his ancestral possessions, who will ®ght his way successfully as far as Jerusalem, who will have a glorious reputation throughout the world, who will wear three crowns and be buried, as his glory be®ts, with the three kings of the Nativity in Cologne.60 We are not told that he will be either a Holy Roman Emperor or a saint, but the burial in Cologne may imply the former. The distinguished company with whom he is to be buried also implies high status in the next world, related to, but surpassing his status in his mortal life. Of course, this great career has only been made possible by the removal of the Goat. The future greatness of the Boar is intended to distract the reader from the fact that the Goat, whose eventual fate is very vague, is still alive. The Goat's fate is his own fault. This is acceptable because the Goat has been a rex inutilis, and his fall is part of a divinely ordained pattern of historical events which will culminate in the glories of the second Arthur, the Boar of Windsor. Those involved in the deposition of Edward II, and those who seek to rationalize it, are exonerated by the knowledge that they have done a praiseworthy deed, enabling God's plan for England, which the reign of the Goat had threatened to subvert, to be ful®lled. 58 59 60

Historia Regum Britannie I, ed. Wright, p. 76. For the `shameful peace' of 1328 see Nicholson, Edward III and the Scots, pp. 48±52. W. M. Ormrod, `The Personal Religion of Edward III', Speculum 64 (1989), 849±77.

107

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England After the rule of the Boar of Windsor, there will be two more rulers: a Lamb and a Mole. These will be much lesser rulers than the Boar, the Lamb losing much of his land, and then recovering it. Part of his land will be ruled by an Eagle, but will revert to the Lamb after the Eagle has been killed by his own brother, and the Lamb will then rule in peace. The Mole is `acursede of Godes mou‡, a caitif, a cowarde as an here. He shal haue an elderliche skyn as a goot; and vengeance shal fal vppon him for synne.'61 The Mole will preside over the fall of the dynasty, and the kingdom will be divided between a Dragon, a Lion and a Wolf. There will be natural disasters, and the Mole will ¯ee. He will be drowned, and his seed will remain fatherless in a foreign land forever. The kingdom will remain forever divided in three, `and ‡an shal ‡is land bene callede ``‡e lande of conquest'`, & so shal ‡e ri¿t heires of Engeland ende.'62 The meekness, weakness and ®nal peaceful rule of the Lamb mirrors that of the Lamb of Winchester, Henry III, and thus accords with the known qualities of the chosen beast. According to bestiary lore, the mole `is dampned in euerlastynge blyndenesse and derknesse and is wi‡oute yhen'; he hates the sun and ¯ees the light. This is why he is chosen for the last, damnable ruler of the dynasty. It would be tempting to see these lines as a later addition to the original prophecy, which has then been added to Brie's manuscript at a later date ± the text was later subject to additions, and the description of the Mole, with `elderliche skyn as a goot' is temptingly close to the `leprous' skin condition of Henry IV (1399±1413). However, this is not possible, as the Lamb and the Mole also occur in unpublished, French versions of the prophecy, in manuscripts dating from within ten years of the text's composition. The problem posed by the ending of the prophecy has to be faced. Neither of the animals given as Edward III's successors are recognizable historical ®gures, although Richard II and Henry IV may be `read into' them by later readers, including modern historians. Why are they there, and why is the ending of this text so pessimistic? The three-fold division of the land at the end of the story is similar to the three-fold division of Britain at the end of `Sicut rubeum draconem'. This relationship may well be a real one, as this, too, is a prophecy of the British History. It is given by Merlin in answer to the curiosity of King Arthur, who wants to know what will be the fate of his dynasty. As with `Sicut rubeum draconem', this part of the prophecy may have a Celtic source, which is similar to, but not the same as, the `Prophecia Merlini'. These last two sections of the prophecy have a predictive quality which is similar to the prophecy of `Thomas of Erceldoune', and, like the `Erceldoune' verses, they appear to be a series of coded messages, in the way in which other political prophecies are not. This is particularly apparent in view of the deliberate transparency of the ®rst three ruler characterizations in 61 62

Brut, ed. Brie, I, 75 and On the Properties of Things, ed. Seymour, II, 1252±3. Brut, ed. Brie, I, 75.

108

Expectation and Disappointment 1307±1340 `The Last Kings of the English'. The great hero in this text is a man who will live, die and be buried. It cannot be denied that this text is ultimately pessimistic. There is no mention of the return of the dynasty at the end, nor is there any hint of Cadwallader or the Angelic Voice. This may re¯ect a pessimism engendered by the chaos of the previous reign, but it may also be symptomatic of an upsurge of popular, orally-based political prophecy during that time, represented also by Erceldoune. This popular tradition, being concerned with a fear of chaos, stresses calamity and social upheaval, and is essentially pessimistic, unlike the literary, mainstream political prophecy, which is optimistic in the extreme. The second Lamb and the Mole belong to a popular tradition, and are a matter for later interpretation; it is enough that Edward III is the Boar of Windsor, the second Arthur. Around this image of the Boar all the other qualities and achievements of the prophetic hero could accrue. `The Last Kings of the English' creates a picture of English history by presenting four kings of England side by side, as if they were painted on a wall. This picture is striking, as it is very similar to the impression which has ultimately been passed down to modern historians. The holy Henry III, builder of Westminster Abbey, hounded by his barons, is ®nally at peace, and is succeeded by his son Edward I, the great conqueror and feared ruler of his own realm, also feared by England's neighbours. He is succeeded by the lamentable, debauched Edward II, beset by favourites who wrong his poor wife, Isabella, who is then forced, in alliance with her son, to ®ght back. The miserable Edward II is defeated, and replaced by a dazzling hero who embodies the merciful and benevolent nature of his great-grandfather with his grandfather's warlike abilities. He will be far greater than both of these; he is the second Arthur, who will save his people from the chaos of his father's reign, and heal all their hurts. This picture of English history, told in terms of four kings, is skilfully compressed and extremely effective. Kings are judged by their deeds, and the way in which they perform their of®ce. They have a responsibility to rule their people well, although there is no suggestion that if they do not, their people may depose them. There is an implication, however, that if, like the Mole, they fail in the performance of their of®ce and are defeated and overcome by other individuals of very high social standing, they have only themselves to blame. On the death of the Mole, it is the people whom the writer pities, not the ruler or his family. This prophecy sets out an agenda for good kingship, which must be carried on for the good of all. Its message carries an implied threat that those who are not good kings, who do not rule for the good of the whole community, do not have to be tolerated. This text is not Edwardian propaganda; it does not set out the personal agenda of Edward III. It was, rather, fortunate for Edward that he did ultimately ful®l the expectations of the prophets and their audience. There is evidence that this audience was continuing to widen in the period from 1320 to 1340. The types of text contained in the manuscripts become 109

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England more diverse during these years. This is particularly noticeable in manuscripts of unknown origin, a number of which are also marked by their inclusion of texts in French. Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R. 7. 23 is a miscellany, containing the `Prophecia Merlini' in Latin, alongside a French Brut. (Leeds, Brotherton Library, MS 29 has Latin prophecies with the Anonimalle Chronicle, also in French, in a manuscript from St Mary's, York.) Devon, Pennsylvania, Boies Penrose, MS 11 has `Les Prophecies de Merlin' in French verse, and BL MS Royal 12. C. XII, one of the earliest examples of `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' and `Lilium regnans', has prophecies all in Latin, but in a miscellany which also contains the romances of Fulk FitzWarin and Amys and Amiloun, both in French. This manuscript also contains a metrical Brut in English. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Douce 115 has the Historia Regum Britannie and a French prose Brut. It is likely that at least some of these manuscripts may have been in lay ownership, on the evidence of their French, and occasionally English, contents.63 The Chronicle of Pierre Langtoft, Augustinian canon of Bridlington, written at the beginning of the fourteenth century, has an interesting relationship with certain prophetic texts, including `The Last Kings of the English'. Thiolier has identi®ed twenty-three manuscripts containing Part Three of the chronicle, which lauds the victories of Edward I, particularly against the Scots.64 Of these manuscripts, ®ve have prophetic texts associated with the chronicle. BL MS Cotton Julius A. V contains the `Prophecia Merlini', whilst this manuscript, along with BL MS Royal 20. A. XI, Cambridge, University Library, MS Gg. i. I, Cambridge, Sidney Sussex College College, MS 39 and Paris, BibliotheÁque Nationale, fonds francËais MS 12154 all contain `The Last Kings of the English'. MS Cotton Julius A. V, MS Royal 20. A. XI and the Sidney Sussex manuscript all contain ex eventu verses about the exile of John Balliol which, apparently, do not occur anywhere else. All of these manuscripts come from the north-east of England, apart from MS Gg. i. I, which may derive from the north-west Midlands, although it does contain northern forms, and may therefore have had a northern exemplar.65 Other prophetic texts, such as `Regnum scottorum' and `Gallorum levitas', are associated with the chronicle in MS Royal 20 A. XI and the Sidney Sussex manuscript. A rubric in MS Royal 20 A. XI, referring to `The Last Kings of the English', says that this is `De apro bellicoso que modo regnat' (about the warlike boar who is now reigning), so this 63

64 65

On lay literacy see R. V. Turner, `The Miles literatus in Twelfth Century and Thirteenth Century England: How Rare a Phenomenon?', AHR 83 (1978), 928±45; M. T. Clanchy, From Memory to Written Record: England 1066±1307, 2nd edn (Oxford, 1993), pp. 197±252 (pp. 224±52). EÂdition Critique et CommenteÂe de Pierre de Langtoft, ed. Thiolier, pp. 32±3. Thiolier rejects the assertion of A. McIntosh and M. L. Samuels that this manuscript originated in Ireland. The majority of the Langtoft manuscripts are from the northeast of England: EÂdition Critique et CommenteÂe de Pierre de Langtoft, ed. Thiolier, pp. 75±83 and 148.

110

Expectation and Disappointment 1307±1340 manuscript was written early in the reign of Edward III. Certain texts, therefore, in particular `The Last Kings of the English', written in French prose, were associated with a group of manuscripts, mainly from the northeast of England, containing a particular chronicle concerned with Edward I's wars against Scotland (and, to a much lesser extent, France). All of these manuscripts were written in the early part of Edward III's reign. One of these particularly speci®es that king as the Boar. Political prophecies written in Latin might have been read by unusually well educated laymen, but the French texts would certainly have been intelligible to educated laypeople, and English texts to everyone. However, this also depends upon how we de®ne `literacy'. A lay household, for example, would have included priests and chaplains with the ability to expound, and perhaps translate extempore, the fairly easy, paratactic Latin of prophetic texts. It could be argued that, without a demand from a potential lay audience, there would have been very little impetus for the translation of texts like `The Last Kings of the English' into French in the early fourteenth century. We know that such an audience existed in London, from the evidence of Andrew Horn, at the beginning of the reign of Edward II. When speaking of the Book of Daniel and political prophecy which is remarkably similar to the `Prophecia Merlini' and the `Last Kings of the English', Horn does not give the entire reference for the sources to which he is referring. Instead, he simply gives enough information to introduce his source, then indicates the rest with `etc.'. Horn must have had good grounds for presupposing an audience who were capable of supplying the rest of the information themselves, because they knew perfectly well, or had access to, the prophecies to which he was referring. The writing of `Adam Davy's Dreams' in English in the same reign also presupposes a non-clerical, in this case probably a London, audience. Most of the manuscripts which contain political prophecies in the fourteenth century are of a kind which might be termed `handsome but utilitarian'. They are made of parchment or vellum, carefully cut to size, pricked and ruled with plummet, ink or occasionally dry point, in single or double columns, within a frame or between a right and left-hand margin. On the whole, they are all neatly and clearly written, each in a number of different hands. The manuscripts have frequently been compiled in quires or sections, which have been bound together after completion.66 They frequently have blue or red initials, either plain or decorated with ®ligree, although a few have more elaborate initials, decorated with pen drawings or with gold.67 66

67

For example, Cambridge, Trinity College, MSS O. 1. 17 and R. 7. 23, and BL MS Cotton Appendix IV. For example, BL MS Royal 12 C. XII has gold, Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O. 1. 17 has red, blue and purple ®ligree, Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Douce 115 has red and blue ®ligree, whereas Dublin, Trinity College, MS 496 has no decoration of this kind.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England The volumes come in all sizes, although most are quarto or folio sized. From this we can see that most of these books were intended for reading and for reference, not for display. Having said this, it is necessary to remember that this does not mean that any books were actually cheap in the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. These `handsome but utilitarian' volumes represented a considerable outlay on the part of their purchasers, involving payments for parchment, ink, colours and gold if used, as well as the services of scribes and illuminators.68 Prophetic texts were not regarded as ephemeral literature; they took up valuable space in relatively costly volumes. Those who commissioned and owned these manuscripts must, therefore, have exercized a deliberate choice in the matter of their inclusion. The texts must have had some value to them and, by implication, other readers and users of their books. BL MS Cotton Claudius B. VII contains several political prophecies, alongside the chronicles of Roger of Howden and Pseudo-Turpin (on the crusades of Charlemagne), lists of kings of England and dukes of Normandy, and the ®ctitious letter supposedly sent by the great eastern potentate `Prester John' to the emperor of Byzantium, describing the marvels and fantastic wealth of his kingdom in the Far East. These prophecies encompass the expanded career of the great hero-ruler of the early fourteenth century: `Ter tria lustra', `Gallorum levitas', `Regnum scottorum', `Sicut rubeum draconem' and `Mortuo leone justicie', `Sibille generaliter' and the `Prophecia Merlini'. With these there are some other texts making their ®rst known appearance in English manuscripts: `Anglia transmittet', `Illius imperium' and `Bruti posteritas'. `Anglia transmittet' is an English text which deals speci®cally with England's relationship with France: Anglia transmittet leopardum lilia Galli Qui pede calcabit cancrum cum fratre superbo; Ungues diripient leopardi gallica regna. (`England will send the Leopard, Lilies of Gaul, who will grind underfoot the Crab with his proud brother; the claws of the Leopard will tear apart the gallic kingdom.') 69

Although this is about a victorious military hero, this time called the Leopard, the involvement of the nation with his career is made clear from the outset. The Leopard in this text is not the bestiary beast, who is a sly character, but is heraldic, so called from the king of England's coat of arms, of gules, three leopards or. The Lilies of Gaul are also heraldic, 68

69

On this, see H. E. Bell, `The Price of Books in Medieval England', The Library 4th s. 17 (1936±7), 312±32. Eulogium Historiarum sive Temporis, ed. F.S. Haydon, 3 vols., RS 9 (London, 1858±65), II, 419±20, has a version.

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Expectation and Disappointment 1307±1340 representing the king of France. The con¯ict is presented as a personal one, which accords with the presentation made by contemporary poets and chroniclers, who frequently delight in contrasting the valiant behaviour of the king of England with the shameful cowardice of the king of France, Philippe VI. The con¯ict had, in a real sense, become personal, as it was essentially a dynastic one. After the death of Charles IV in 1328 the crown of France had passed to the late king's cousin, Philippe of Valois, on the grounds that the succession could neither pass through, or to, a woman. This debarred Edward III, whose mother Isabella had been Charles IV's sister. This was actually, therefore, a family quarrel between two branches of the Capetian royal house, but contemporary evidence, including that of `Anglia transmittet', shows that it was very quickly absorbed into a con¯ictual relationship which already existed. The reconquest of Normandy and Gascony was already considered to be an essential part of English national integrity, so the dynastic struggle for the French crown between Philippe (always called `Valois' in English sources, never `king') and Edward also became a matter of concern for the national community. In `Anglia transmittet', however, the issue of Gascony is regarded as separate from that of the throne, although a solution to the second problem is also a solution to the ®rst. First of all, however, the Leopard must defeat the Crab `with his proud brother'. Scotland is part of the overall problem for the king of England, as this prophecy recognizes. The king of Scotland is usually described as the Lion, but in this text he is identi®ed with the Crab. The reasons for using this name are based on the astrological properties of Cancer, the crab. `†e signe ‡at hatte Cancer is wattry, female, vnstabillich, a ny¿t signe, ‡e hous of ‡e mone', writes Trevisa, translating Bartholomeus, noting that Cancer is the northern house, in which the moon rises.70 What is true astrologically is true also geographically; the king of Scotland comes from the North, the area associated with the moon, the devil and the vile, demonic hordes of Gog and Magog.71 The sin with which he is particularly associated in the text is pride, the sin of the devil. The Crab's astrological provenance also affects his nature and appearance: fram ‡e middel he make‡ a man greet and euel-schape and boistrous, and vpward sotile; and make‡ schort te‡ and croked . . . ‡is signe hatte Cancer `‡e crabbe' [for ‡e crabbe] is a schaylinge best and goo‡ bacward . . .72 70 71

72

On the Properties of Things, ed. Seymour, I, 462, 464 and 468. See `Sibille generaliter' for the breakout of the barbarian hordes in the Last Days, and for pejorative aspects of the moon see the section on William Swann's book (Chapter Five). On the Properties of Things, ed. Seymour, I, 468. `Schayling' is related to ME `shali', meaning `crusty', `scaly', or `scabby'.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England The sun travels backwards in the sign of Cancer. Apart, therefore, from being somewhat less than handsome, the king of Scotland is a person who `goes backwards', and the only kind of person who travels backwards (particularly in battle) is a coward. Because the Crab is a low, short beast which travels close to the ground, being ground underfoot by the Leopard is an apt, and suitably undigni®ed, fate.73 According to this text, the Leopard does not embark on his career of his own accord, or even at the prompting of the Almighty, but is sent by his country: `Anglia transmittet leopardum, lilia Galli'. This identi®cation of the hero with his people, as far as prophetic discourse is concerned, is part of the legacy of Edward I. The imprecise dating of the manuscript makes it dif®cult to date the text precisely, but Edward III did not of®cially claim the throne of France until 1340. The ideas expressed in this text cannot, therefore, be seen as a result of royal propaganda surrounding that event. In the eyes of the audience of political prophecy, Edward III was rightful king of France long before he stepped onto a boat, let alone of®cially claimed the French crown. In making his claim, Edward was appealing to a nationalism upon which he knew he could rely to support that claim; it was already part of `Englishness', and would become more emphatically so during the course of the next century. Initially, the prophecy is limited to what the writer perceived to be the immediate aims of the French war, namely the conquest of France, control of Gascony and its return to its `iuga consueta', namely direct English rule, and the submission of the Flemings (the `Gascon gate' may be a reference to the port of Bordeaux): Anglia regnabit Vasconia porta redibit Ad iuga consueta leopardi ¯andria magna Flumina concipient que con®ndent genetricem . . . (`England will rule; the Gascon gate [or port] will return to its customary allegiance, to the Leopard: the great Flemish rivers will conceive that which will cleave asunder their mother . . .')

Once these have been achieved, the Leopard completes a series of tasks like those of Sextus in `Ter tria lustra': he regulates the affairs of the Church in his own lands, then puts himself at the head of a Christian army to lead a crusade to free the Holy Places, whose people rejoice at returning to the Christian faith. In the last line we are told that, like Sextus, the Leopard will rule the world: 73

It is highly unlikely that this originally referred to David II, who was king of Scotland at the time of the Halidon campaign, as he was then a young child, only ®ve years old when he succeded his father in 1329. The reference to the Crab's brother seems to indicate that the original lines were meant to refer to David's father, Robert the Bruce (acknowledged as Robert I by the `shameful peace' of 1327), and his brother Edward. The lines about the Crab's being crushed by the Leopard could later be referred to David, however, as he was captured and imprisoned by the English at the battle of Neville's Cross in 1347.

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Expectation and Disappointment 1307±1340 Ecclesie subquo libertas prima redibit Hunc babilon metuet crucis hostes nam teret omnes Acon Jerusalem leoparde posse redempte Ad cultum ®dei gaudebunt se redituras Imperium mundi sub quo dabit hic heremita. (`Under him [i.e. the Leopard] the initial freedom of the Church will return; Babylon will fear him, for he will grind down all the enemies of the Cross. Saved by the Leopard's power, Acre and Jerusalem will rejoice at their return to the cult of the faith; the empire of the world as the hermit will give.')74

The war in France was viewed as the opening salvo in a campaign which would lead to world domination, and a campaign under a great Davidic king to free the Holy Land. This text appears with considerable regularity in collections of prophetic texts, large and small, throughout the fourteenth and ®fteenth centuries, often in association with `Ter tria lustra', with which it has much in common. The ®nal line may, in fact, be a corrupted reference to `hermerus', the mysterius Germanic Merlin-type ®gure who came to be regarded, in some cases, as the author of `Ter tria lustra'. `Illius imperium', like `Gallorum levitas', is about the relationship between empire, emperor and city. It is a very short text: Illius imperium gens barbara sentiet illum Roma volat tanto principe digna dari Conferet hic Romae plus laudis quam sibi Roma Plus dabit hic urbi quam dabit urbs ei. (`The barbarian people will know his famous imperium: Rome, worthy of such a prince, ¯ies to be given to him: He will give to Rome more praise than Rome will give to him: He will give to the city more than the city will give to him.')75

Here, as in the earlier text, we have the city as the centre of the empire and of civilization, with all those outside described as `gens barbara'. The emperor glori®es Rome by his deeds and the nature of his rule. The emperor, of course, is the king of England. Rome gives glory to the emperor; in this text, she gives to the emperor just as much glory as he gives to her. The city's claim has become stronger; rather than simply existing in the shadow of the emperor and re¯ecting his glory, the New Rome, alias New Troy, or London, is also a source of glory to the emperor, not simply his supporter or the basis of his power. In `Illius imperium' the city is as active as she is passive, giving back as much as she receives. Civic pride and expectation in this text are greater than those of `Gallorum levitas'. `Illius imperium' was 74 75

Other versions have `foretold by hermes, or hermerus'. Eulogium Historiarum, ed. Haydon, II, 419. Texts also say `orbs', instead of `urbs'.

115

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England originally composed about the city of Rome, but its sentiments were applicable to the educated classes of any of the large, socially aspiring urban communities in later medieval England, not just the city of London, although London was the obvious candidate for New Rome, as she acquired the status of `capital city'.76 It is against the background of texts such as these that the royal urban rituals, the victory parades, coronation processions and other `entries' of the fourteenth and ®fteenth centuries must be seen. `Bruti posteritas' is another prophecy, like `Regnum scottorum', based on the second coming of the great Britain-ruler as foretold to Cadwallader by the Angelic Voice at the end of the Historia Regum Britannie. It looks forward to a Celtic alliance which will defeat the `Saxons', that is, the English, and a great Celtic ruler will rule the entire island, returning to it its ancient name of `Britain', and, like `Regnum scottorum', is probably a Scottish, or possibly Welsh, prophecy which has been absorbed into the idea of a Britain-ruler who will be English. It is one of several short political prophecies of this nature which continued to be absorbed into the mainstream of English political prophecy, demonstrating the continued importance of the relationship between England and Scotland in particular, and the appeal of the ideas enshrined in the last chapters of the `Prophecia Merlini', for politically aware Englishmen. These continued to exist alongside the increasingly important con¯ict with the king of France, which overshadowed, but did not entirely replace, the hopes for Cadwallader's heir. Another text with a likely Celtic source, like that of `Erceldoune', is `Als y yod', in MS Cotton Julius A. V. The main work of the manuscript is Langtoft's Chronicle, but political prophecy was very important to the book's early owner. The volume contains three illustrations, probably added to the original work, and all of these illustrate political prophecies, rather than the Chronicle itself. Two are illustrations of the `Prophecia Merlini', and another is an illustration of John Balliol's ¯ight to France, in ful®lment of another political prophecy. `Als y yod' is unusual in that it is written in English, and it has several features which link it to the `Erceldoune' tradition, such as its place of origin: `Als y yod on ay Mounday by twene Wytenden and Walle'. Wall is situated, as its name suggests, on Hadrian's Wall, near Hexham, in Northumberland. Wytenden may very well refer to Great Whittington, which is within comfortable walking distance of Wall. This is, like `Erceldoune', a text originating on the northern border, but, unlike Thomas of Erceldoune's prophecy, it is contained in a north-eastern manuscript. The story is told by a traveller, who is accosted on his journey by a strange, undersized man who insists on telling him a `ferly', or wonder: 76

Williams, Medieval London; S. L. Thrupp, The Merchant Class of Medieval London (Chicago, 1948).

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Expectation and Disappointment 1307±1340 I bi held yat litel man bi ye strets als we gon gae His berd was bryde ay large span and glided als ye fether of pae His heued was wyte als any swan his hegehen war gret and gra also Brues large we I ye can merke it to ®¿e inches and mae.

The `litel man' is otherworldly, like the faery people who accost and carry off human beings in stories of the Celtic tradition, such as the faery lady who forces Thomas of Erceldoune to go to the `otherworld' with her. He then tells the future by casting stones, another Celtic trope: Ay stan he tok up yar it lay and castid it forthe yat I moth see Ay merk soot of large way bi for me strides he castid three.

The traveller is astounded at the strength of the man, who does not appear strong enough to cast large stones so far, and asks the `miri man': For him yat mensked man wyt mith wat sal wath of yis were And eke our folke hou sal yai far yat at ere bi northen non Sal yai haue any contre yare other wether hande sal haue ye pron.

His concern, as with the other `Erceldoune'-type poems, is with the North and with the country as a whole, with region and with nation, as part of the same national community, and the answer is couched in the same terms: Ay toupe he sayde es redy yare agayn him es nane yat don On yon dealfes humbe[r]es ay bar be he sped sal sides son Thi he haue sped als sal yai sped and redi gates on to fare And man be mensked for his mede and stable stat for euermare And sethen you frames y wille ye say and sette yi state in stabilite Symitt rith als you may for ay skill y tellit ye And wern em will wyt outen nay a tyme bi for ye trinite y are sall deye on ay day a folke on feld ful sa sall ¯ee Wa so ¯ees sall duelle in care for y are may naman time tyde A toupe sal stande agayn ay bare he es ful bald him dar habide

This text, like `Erceldoune', exhibits a fear of chaos, which is brought on not only by war between the English and the Scots, but is also a result of a lack of `stabilite' in England itself. Concern for the region is also concern for the nation as a whole; the writer and his immediate audience are Northerners, but they are also English. Loyalty towards the region is part of a greater loyalty, towards the national community. The text also abounds in animal symbolism, using animals similar to those in `The Last Kings of the English', the Mole and the Boar. This Boar is not necessarily Edward III, however, as the text later speaks of the Leopard and the Lion, in heraldic terms the kings of England and Scotland:

117

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England So lange ye lebard loues ye layke wit his oushed your sped ye spille And later ye lion haue his raike wat werke in werdl als he wille Ye bare es bonden hard in batte wit foles yat wil folies pille . . .

There will be disasters, as foretold in the `Erceldoune' verses: Symith reeth als ye sayn als sal you redi ®nd it yare And fel be of yi tithinges fain wen lines liggen on holtes hare Bot oute sal ride a chiuauche wit febel fare on ay nith So false sal yaire waytes be yat deye sal many a doughty knyth Knyth and scoyer bathe sal deye yat other moven biyond ma . . .

A people will come out of the South-West `wyt reken routes ful on ride', leading to the death of a `fole', which will then lead to a time of peace, when `yer bare es brouth out of his denne ye lepard haldes hu[m] so la[n]ge . . .'. In the end some `blessed brether' will come from the South and `dele ye lande euen i[n] twa'. These are disjointed prophecies in strange, coded language very much like that of Erceldoune's prophecy in MS Harley 2253. They are proverbial and predictive, and may be interpreted to ®t any suitable situation. There is nothing in the text itself to identify the battles and disasters foretold with any known historical situations, and the only ®gures who might just be identi®able are the Leopard and the Lion, if we may assume that they refer to the gules, three leopards or of the the king of England and the or, lion rampant gules of the king of Scotland. They may, because of the opacity of the language, be assigned to any suitable candidate. The division of the land (presumably England, or possibly Britain, which at this time is identi®able as England) in two at the end is interesting, in that it echoes the division of the land at the end of `The Last Kings of the English', adding strength to the hypothesis that ®nal two sections of `The Last Kings' has a Celtic source. `Als y yod' has the same pessimistic ending as `The Last Kings', and has the same air of `folk wisdom' as `Erceldoune', imparted by the linguistic arrangement, the predictive, proverbial content and the opaque language of the text. Finally, it was probably in the 1330s that the ®rst verses of the prophecy which I shall call simply `Bridlington' were written. Some verses, very similar to those of Wright's, and Curley's, editions, were used by the anonymous author of the Gesta Edwardi de Caernarvon, in the section written shortly after 1340.77 The author of the Gesta, an anonymous canon of the Augustinian priory at Bridlington, in East Yorkshire, uses verses up to, but not including, the battle of Halidon Hill in 1333. If this represents the extent of the period 77

Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, I, 123±215 is still the most accessible published edition, but also the edition by Curley, Versus Prophecialis; Curley, `Cloak of Anonymity'; Rigg, `John of Bridlington's Prophecy'; Curley, `Fifteenth Century Glosses'; H. Peck, `The Prophecy of John of Bridlington' (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Chicago, 1930).

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Expectation and Disappointment 1307±1340 covered by the verses then in existence, the `Bridlington' text referred originally to the deposition of Edward II, and the Scottish campaigns of the early part of Edward's reign. As the full text no longer survives, it is impossible to know exactly how much of the text, as edited by Wright and Curley, formed part of the earliest version.78 As it stands, this early version appears to have been a condemnation of the ineffectiveness and moral degeneracy of Edward II (as in `The Last Kings of the English'), and a celebration of the victories of his successor. In these ideas it resembles `The Last Kings of the English'; Edward II is the rex inutilis, and he has to be removed in order to make way for the glorious Bull. The early part of `Bridlington' presents Edward III as the great Britain-ruler who will follow the rex inutilis, after the model developed to describe his grandfather, Edward I. The ethos of the early part of `Bridlington' is the same as that of `The Last Kings of the English' and `The Holy Oil of St Thomas', other texts which appeared in the early 1330s. The viewpoint of the Gesta author is summed up by the prophetic verses he quotes: H patre submarcet post R reget J que relicto E post H rex ®t, E post E postea mira. (`H. will submit to the father, after R., J. will rule, and after J., E. will become king after H., E. after E., afterwards wonderful things.')79

The sequence of rulers runs: Henry II, Richard I, John, Edward I after Henry III, Edward III after Edward II, `postea mira'; then there will be wonderful things. Fortunately, Edward III was able to convert these expectations into achievement, and thereby to build himself a reputation unsurpassed in later medieval England. Although he was able to use these political beliefs as a platform on which to build, it was to Edward's credit that he managed to do this ± the existence of such expectations did not guarantee success, and the fate of his father demonstrated the price which might be paid for failure.

78

79

This would make the early version contemporary with the poems about the English victories at Neville's Cross and Halidon Hill. The last event to be mentioned in the Gesta extracts is the deposition of John Balliol, and his ¯ight to England to ask help of Edward III. Nicholson, Edward III and the Scots, p. 64; Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, I, 41±53; The Poems of Lawrence Minot, ed. James and Simons, pp. 26±9 and 51±3. Chronicles of the Reigns of Edward I and Edward II, ed. Stubbs, II, 93±4.

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CHAPTER FOUR

Debate and Crusade 1340±1399 Edward III reopened hostilities with France in 1337, although he did not of®cially claim the French throne by right of descent from Philippe IV until 1340, quartering the French lilies with the leopards of England on his coat of arms. Despite early setbacks, mostly ®nancial, Edward's military campaigns were brilliantly successful, beginning with the destruction of a large French ¯eet at Sluys in 1340, and culminating in the defeat of Philippe of Valois's army at CreÂcy in August 1346 and the taking of Calais a year later. The war was both politically and economically successful; the resettlement of Calais by the English created an easily-reached trading bridgehead in northern France, and strategically it provided a base for the patrolling of the Channel against pirates and potential invaders. On a less exalted level, the general ransoming and looting which accompanied Edward's French campaigns made fortunes for some at the enemy's expense. However, the success at Calais was followed by the catastrophe of the bubonic plague. This was, of course, a European, not simply an English, disaster, but for a nation which had achieved so much since 1340, it must have seemed doubly catastrophic, and also dif®cult to understand. Edward III evacuated Calais in August 1347, and the plague arrived in England exactly a year later. It spread to London, then to Norwich, then northwards, dying down in the winter of 1349. Thousands died, and the king remained in England, unable to pursue his war in view of the social and economic havoc wrought by the deaths of so many. In the aftermath of the plague, an anonymous canon of Bridlington priory gave vent to his feelings by revising the prophetic verses associated with his house. The `Bridlington' reviser discusses Edward III's claim to the French throne, then describes the siege of Calais, the Black Death and its immediate aftermath, in a way which leaves no doubt about which events are being described, although they are presented as `future truth'. Events after this date are described in a less precise way, using prophetic commonplaces such as plague and war, and it is clear that these are not descriptions of known historical events. The motif of the dreamer dying of plague may have been original, but it may have been added by the reviser, whose recent experiences of the impact of the Black Death in the north-east of England would have been uppermost in his mind: 121

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England Febribus infectus, requies fuerat mihi lectus, Vexatus mente dormivi nocte repente; Noscere futura facta fuerat mihi cura. (Having caught the fever, my recreation had been in bed, when night crept on, I slept with a fevered mind; my care had been to know future happenings.)1

It does appear, from the opening lines and the further mentions of the dreamer in the text, that the poet had seen the effects of plague at ®rst hand; he may even have experienced them himself and survived. The ®nal distinctio presents a prophetic future, in particular the reign of Edward III's successor, who seemed likely at this date to be the Black Prince. Edward had produced several sons, ®ve of whom survived to manhood, so the succession was assured. Edward, prince of Wales, had already reached adulthood when the `Bridlington' reviser composed his text, and was a seasoned warrior who had taken a prominent part in the battle of CreÂcy. He must have appeared destined to further his father's achievements. The `Bridlington' reviser begins by showing what Edward III is not. That is, he presents the image of Edward II as the rex inutilis, or rex insensibilis. The rex insensibilis, however, has a wonderful son, the Bull: Taurus erit fortis, metuens nil tristia mortis; Sobrius et castus, justus, sine crimine fastus; Ad bona non tardus, audax veluti leopardus. (`The Bull will be strong, fearing not at all the sadness of death: sober and chaste, upright without any crime, fortunate: Not slow to do good, bold as a leopard.')2

The Bull has the kind of qualities which make him not only a great warrior, which is most important, but he also has qualities which make him a noble man, and a good king. This ruler has a very close relationship with his people. The writer shows this relationship by playing with words. The ®rst hero of `Bridlington' is called taurus, the Bull. By adding an `s' to the beginning of taurus we get staurus, the store, or stable, which is, the writer tells us, England and the community of the people of England. So, the `Bridlington' writer demonstrates etymologically what the writer of `Anglia transmittet' is also expressing, that the king is part of the English nation, and they are part of him. They have a series of mutual responsibilities towards one another, and they have a territorial base with which they all identify themselves, even if they do not happen to be there physically. This alliance is successful against the Scots, and it is in 1 2

Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, I, 128. Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, I, 137.

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Debate and Crusade 1340±1399 describing the con¯ict with the Scots that the `Bridlington' reviser uses lines very similar to those used by the author of the Gesta Edwardi de Carnarvon, although the earlier writer does not use the verses to describe Halidon Hill: Nam loco laeto non sunt Scoti sine letho: Scotorum gentes terebrabunt arcitenentes, Et viduae ¯entes sponsos quaerent morientes. Sponsus coelestis taxatur, et incola [sic] restis, Dum Scotis moestis regnant reges duo pestis. In sacro monte pugnans gens Scotica sponte, Ursina fronte cadent, Angli nam sine ponte. (`For in a joyful place the Scots are not without death; the archers will pierce the people of the Scots, and weeping widows seek their dying spouses. The Bride of heaven is taxed, it is a yoke to the inhabitant, whilst two kings rule, a plague to the sad Scots. The Scottish people ®ghting of their own accord on the holy hill [i.e. Halidon Hill], the English fall at the front of the Bear [i.e. Berwick], for lack of a bridge.')3

The people must support their king, especially with money, apart from the clergy, whom it is sinful to tax. The early part of the text is full of references to Edward's lack of money, in reference to the ®nancial problems which beset the king during his early campaigns in Flanders. Presumably, the clergy as a whole support the king with their prayers. The king must perform his of®ce well, and avoid moral failings, particularly lust for women, which would stand in the way of the ful®lment of his duty. In the case of `Bridlington', this is chie¯y to protect his people from the Scots and to pursue the war in France. The writer does not, however, claim that the king is answerable to the people for the performance of his duty as ruler. He is acclaimed and supported by the people, but is answerable only to God. When the war effort falters due to the king's own fault, it is God's forgiveness that the hero must seek. There is no question that the people may act against him. The partnership is, therefore, an unequal one. The writer does realize that the people's support cannot be taken for granted. They will not always support the king, but this is accounted as their failure, even sin, not his responsibility. Edward III's claim to the crown of France is set out in dynastic terms, and the writer of `Bridlington' is very aware of the importance of birth, and of family inheritance. He expresses the inherent royalty and election by birth of the Bull in an etymological way, with hircus being his father, Edward II: `Ex hirco taurum gignet redimita per aurum, / Ex auris aurum ventis componitur aurum' (`She who has been bought with gold will bear the Bull out of the Goat, / Gold from the gold of the wind (Windsor) will be united 3

Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, I, 141.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England with gold'.)4 The ruling dynasty is identi®ed with the English people and their origines gentium myth, and into this is drawn their right to the throne of France: Taurus cornutus, ex patris germine Brutus, Anglicus est natus, Gallus de matre creatus; Anglicus et Brutus, Gallus certamine tutus, Triplex natura perquiret pristina jura . . . (`The horned Bull, Brutus from the line of his father, is born an Englishman, created a Frenchman by his mother; Englishman and Brutus, a Frenchman, con®dent in battle, his triple nature will seek his former rights . . .')5

The Bull's successor will be of similar parentage: Gallum de Bruto nosces genitum fore scuto . . . Ad gallum nomen tauri transibit et omen; Nomen mutatur, species sed continuatur. (`You will know the Cock, born of Brutus' line, by his shield [`de Bruto . . . scuto' also means `Woodstock'] . . . To the Cock will pass the name and omen of the Bull; the name will be changed, but the blood will be continued.')6

The Cock is of the Bull's lineage. Identi®cation of the Plantagenet dynasty with the nation was an important part of the policy, and the piety, of Edward III.7 As in `Adam Davy's Dreams', the hero is spoken of in Christological terms: Nam rex robustus armis, per singula justus, Rex bonus et fortis, cui nulla nocent mala mortis, Rex nunquam victus, gladii cui non nocet ictus; Emanuel dictus . . . (`For the king, strong in arms, just in all respects, the king good and strong, to whom no evils of death can do harm; the never-conquered king, to whom the blow of the sword can do not harm, called Emmanuel . . .')

If the king of England is God's Elect, then God is an Englishman: `diceturque Deus anglus quondam Nazareus' (`and God will be said to be English who was formerly a Nazarene').8 Emmanuel is the name of Christ, meaning `God is 4 5 6 7

8

Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, I, 131. Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, I, 192. Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, I, 203. Ormrod, `The Personal Religion of Edward III', pp. 849±77 (p. 872). J. Evans, English Art 1307±1461, Oxford History of English Art 5 (Oxford, 1949), p. 51, notes the fourteenthcentury development of the depiction of lines of kings in visual art, including that over the main door of Lincoln Cathedral, dating from the reign of Edward III. Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, I, 161 and 201.

124

Debate and Crusade 1340±1399 with us'. So, in the person of the king, God is with `us', the English people, amongst whom the writer counts himself. England also receives the support of the Virgin Mary, as in `Adam Davy's Dreams' and `The Holy Oil of St Thomas'. The king of England is God's chosen instrument, as he punishes the French, the Scots and the Flemings, and to oppose him is sin. It is as much his resistance to God's chosen leader as his moral failings which will send Philippe of Valois to hell. When the king's lieutenants, such as Percy and Lancaster, take on the Scots on his behalf, their king's special blessing from God is passed down to them. Their victories are God's gift, not to them, but to the king. The king is David, therefore his people are Israel; he is also Samson, because of his strength. The war with France is, as in other texts before 1350, seen as a con¯ict between the valiant Edward and the cowardly, sinful Philippe: Falsus non stabit, Phi et lippus fugitabit, Cum sit con¯ictus non expectabit ad ictus: Est nimis af¯ictus a Christo quisque relictus, Descendensque fora descendet ad inferiora. (`The false one cannot stand, Philippe will ¯ee; when there is a con¯ict, he will not wait for a blow. He is af¯icted beyond measure who has been abandoned by Christ, And going down to the heart of his city [Paris] he is going down to hell.')9

The reviser notes the death of Philippe VI in 1350 and the accession of his son, Jean II, who, he says, will not last long: `non binis annis durabit pompa Johannis' (`the pride of John will not last two years').10 The reviser does not, however, mention Jean's defeat and capture at Poitiers six years later. This tends to suggest a date for the text between 1350 and 1356. The closeness of king and people, and their mutual responsibility, is essential to the main point which the `Bridlington' reviser wishes to make. All is well, and the partnership is successful, until the siege of Calais, when the king breaks the relationship. In the eyes of the reviser, it is the fact that the relationship is broken from above which is important. If the people do not ful®l their responsibilities, the consequences can be bad, but if the king does not ful®l his, the consequences will be dire. At the siege of Calais, the king falls victim to `Diana': Ad loca praefata veniet Diana parata, Simia lactata dicetur clunigitata. Vespere vel mane grex non satus est bene pane, Taurus vesanae lapidat dum crura Dianae . . .

9 10

Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, I, 166. Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, I, 168.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England (`To the aforesaid place [i.e. Calais] will come Diana, prepared, the cajoling monkey [she will be called], wiggling her backside. In the evening or in the morning the company cannot be satis®ed with bread, whilst the Bull throws stones [i.e. testicles] at the legs of wild Diana.')11

It thus becomes apparent why the Bridlington reviser has chosen to call Edward III `the Bull'. According to medieval beast lore, bulls are strong, ®erce and cannot be overcome. They are also headstrong and proud; they will ®ght for `maystry' of a female, exhaust themselves `by moche work of lecchery' and thus be overcome by a rival. The image of Edward III being conveyed in `Bridlington', therefore, has a duality appropriate to the poem's message. The invincible, conquering Bull becomes the lecherous Bull, and is thus overcome by his enemy, the devil, who works on behalf of the kingdom's enemies: `Taurum vexabit amor, et taurum superabit, / Subdola vesanae dum complet vota Dianae' (`Love will harass the Bull, and will overcome the Bull, / Whilst he ful®ls wild Diana's secret longings').12 The reviser compares this to the seduction of Samson by Delilah, and the adultery of David with Bathsheba. The result is that the king loses his appetite for war, and does not ful®l his sacred mission, to pursue the war with France.13 Precisely what was the nature of Edward III's sexual sin remains unknown. `Diana' may represent women in general, in which case this is a comment on the morals of the king and his household at Calais. If she is one woman in particular, her identity is unknown. Interestingly, though, it was shortly after this version of `Bridlington' was written that French sources began to voice rumours about Edward and a particular lady, although they could not agree on her exact identity. The `Bridlington' reviser seems very speci®c in his insistence that this is one woman in particular; if there had been a scandal involving Edward and a noble English lady, it would have been covered with a veil of discretion, so it is possible that rumours of events which went unrecorded in England could have reached France, and been exploited there.14 The `Bridlington' reviser is concerned with the moral implications of Edward's sins. The Black Death may prevent the king from pursuing the war, but is has been caused by his unwillingness to pursue the war in the ®rst place, due to weakness engendered by his adulterous relationship with `Diana'. In short, Edward III has in¯icted the Black Death on his own people, as God's retribution for 11 12

13

14

Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, I, 159. Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, I, 159. Note that the desire and, therefore, the blame is attributed to the woman, with the king being the agent of ful®lment. The ultimate responsibility is not Edward's, for thinking lecherous thoughts, but Diana's, for inducing them. On the Properties of Things, ed. Seymour, II, pp. 1251±2; Bestiary, ed. Ad trans. Barber, pp. 88±9. A. Gransden, `The Alleged Rape by Edward III of the Countess of Salisbury', EHR 87 (1972), 333±44.

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Debate and Crusade 1340±1399 his own sin. It is not, as in the general view, the sins of the people which have caused such a calamity, but the sins of the king. Because the relationship, previously successful, of king, people and nation is so close, this can happen. Given the sheer extent, and cost in lives, of God's retribution, the canon must have been a very angry man; small wonder, then, that he chose to remain anonymous. The young David is successful against Scots, Flemings and French, but the mature David commits the sin of David, and his whole people are punished. Edward III will repent, says the canon, and renew the war with France: `Contritus corde meruit esse sine sorde, / Eructans vere `Deus, alme, mei miserere' (`Contrite in heart, he deserves to be without stain, / Exclaiming truly, ``God, father, have mercy on me'' ').15 The poem then goes on to catalogue further successes against French and Scots. However, the Bull will never be king of France, his ultimate goal. He has forfeited that right because of his sin, the consequences of which, like that of David, can never be washed away. This will fall to his successor, the Cock, who has similar qualities: `Gallus erit magnus, justus, mansuetus ut agnus; / Ut taurus fortis . . .' (`The Cock will be great, just, gentle as a lamb; / Strong as the Bull . . .').16 The `kok . . . is ful bolde and hardy' and will ®ght and tears his adversaries with his spurs. He is loving and protective to his wife and children, and will ®ght (like a knight) for his special wife.17 Its song is seen as a sign of hope after the dangers of the night. Its song brings back hope to everyone, eases the pain of the sick, cools the fevered brow and brings faith back to those who have lapsed. This is an indication of the hope which resided in the Black Prince in the early 1350s, and is also an implicit criticism of the rule of his father on the part of the `Bridlington' reviser. Just as the English should recognize God's Elect by his deeds and his worthiness, so, eventually, will the French. The Cock will be given the French crown by the people of France themselves: `Lethum praecedet, tunc gallo Gallia cedet; / Quod Deus ipse dare vult nemo valet revocare' (`Death will go before, then Gaul will surrender to the cock. / What God himself wishes to give no-one is able to take away').18 Thus the integrity of the English crown is restored sine vi, as in `The Holy Oil of St Thomas'. However, this is not the recovery of ancestral Norman and Angevin lands. The king of England's right to the throne of France has been added to the list of the ancestral possessions of his nation.19 The national interest is inherent in Edward's 15 16 17

18 19

Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, I, 171. Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, I, 204. On the Properties of Things, ed. Seymour, I, 627±8; Bestiary, ed. and trans. Barber, pp. 172±3. Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, p. 211. Thomas Grey considered it a king's duty to pursue his right, even if this destroyed his own comfort: Scalacronica, ed. and trans. Maxwell, pp. 164±5. Edward's `of®cial' announcement of his assumption of the arms of France can be found in Adae

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England dynastic right to the crown of France. Previously, the king had based his right to aggression on the intractability of the French over Gascony and their support for the traitorous Scots. Another similarity between contemporary historians and prophecy is the tendency to see the dynastic con¯ict as a personal struggle between Edward III and his rival Philippe of Valois, the usurper of his rights. The way in which prophecy speaks of national struggles in terms of individuals, and vice versa, makes it an ideal conveyor of such an idea. At the end of the poem, the writer says that the Cock is `worthy to be emperor', but there is no suggestion in the text that he actually becomes one. `Bridlington' has no apocalyptic ending, and there is no mention of any crusade. It is concerned solely with the wars against the Scots and the French, and its vision is limited to English victory against the Scots, and the successful `recovery' of the French crown. The anti-papalism of `Bridlington' is also related to the war with France. Pope Clement is regarded as being in league with the king of France, and so untrustworthy and on the side of hell.20 To be English is to be antagonistic towards both the pope and the king of France, who are presented as being in league with one another. This was given added impetus after 1303, when Philippe IV had arrested Boniface VIII, and the popes had remained resident in Avignon. Despite the genuine efforts of successive popes to return to Rome, the English viewed them as subject to the king of France. The chief concerns of the `Bridlington' reviser, however, were to show the forces of evil opposing, and being castigated by, God's chosen people and their ruler, and to show what dreadful consequences had ensued when the ruler broke his faith with God and his people. It must be seriously doubted whether the writer intended his stinging rebuke to reach the king himself; there is no record of any copy outside the East Yorkshire priory for at least twenty-®ve years. He does, however, reveal that not all his subjects were enamoured of Edward III in the early 1350s, and the enhanced political pro®le of the prince of Wales was leading some, already, to look forward to future glories in the reign of `Edward IV'. The death of Philippe VI in 1350 gave added impetus to the English will to recover Normandy. Before his death, Philippe had invested his son Jean, now king, with the duchy, thus uniting it with the crown of France. However, the English still remembered how Normandy had been seized from King John

20

Murimuth continuatio chronicarum 1303±47, Robertus de Avesbury de gestis mirabilibus regis Edwardi tertii, ed. E. M. Thompson, RS 93 (London, 1889), p. 309; another piece of historical writing which echoes the `of®cial' line. There is an English translation in English Historical Documents 1327±1485, ed. A. R. Myers (London, 1969), pp. 66±7. Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, I, 149, 153 and 164. This attitude was not necessarily well-informed, nor was it shared by the king, although it might be useful to him: W. M. Ormrod, The Reign of Edward III: Crown and Political Society in England 1327±1377 (New Haven, 1990), pp. 124±8.

128

Debate and Crusade 1340±1399 and `given away' by Henry III in 1244. The accession of Jean II, duke of Normandy, placed additional emphasis on the past relationship of the duchy with the kings of England. In two manuscripts of the period, Cambridge, Trinity College, MS B. 14. 6 and Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Fairfax 20, extracts from the ®rst chapter of Book Six of the Historia Anglorum by Henry of Huntingdon are accorded the status of political prophecy. Henry, a contemporary of Geoffrey of Monmouth, who also worked for bishop Alexander of Lincoln, tells the story of the marriage of Aethelred the Redeless and Emma, the duke of Normandy's sister. This is how the royal blood of the Anglo-Saxons and Normans ®rst became intermingled, and Henry uses this to foretell the coming of Duke William in 1066, as God's punishment for the Anglo-Saxons' sin: Predixit etiam eis quidam uir Dei, quod ex scelerum suorum inmanitate, non solum quia semper cedi et prodicioni studebant, uerum etiam quia semper ebrietati et negligentie domus Domini dediti erant, eis insperatum a Francia aduenturum dominium. Quod et eorum excellentiam in eternum deprimeret, et honorem sine termino restitutionis euentilaret. Predixit etiam quod non ea gens solum uerum et Scotorum, quos uilissimos habebant, eis ad emeritam confusionem dominaretur . . . Hac igitur prouidentia, cum legatariis ad ducem Normannorum missis rex Anglorum sue peticionis concessionem optinuisset . . . (`A certain man of God, too, prophesied to them that because of the enormity of their crimes ± for they were not only at all times bent on slaughter and treachery, but also continually given over to drunkenness and the neglect of the Lord's house ± an unforeseen lordship would come upon them from France. This would for ever suppress their pre-eminence and would scatter their honour to the winds, never to be recovered. He also predicted that not only that people, but also the Scots, whom they considered to be most vile, would lord it over them to their well-merited confusion . . . And so, ful®lling this prophecy, the English king sent emissaries to the duke of the Normans, obtaining the grant of his request . . .')21

Subsequent events, says Henry, proved that this was indeed the will of God, since from this union the Normans were justi®ed in claiming and gaining possession of England. This, after the uniting of Normandy with the French crown, could be seen to work the other way; the king of England, by descent from Isabella of France the rightful king of France, was also the rightful duke of Normandy. The Trinity College manuscript is a miscellaneous collection, mostly of theological tracts and notes on the arts and sciences, of unknown origin, but MS Fairfax 20 originated at Norwich Cathedral Priory. The extract from Henry of Huntingdon is accompanied by `Anglia transmittet', `ter tria lustra' and `H. patre submarcet', a version of the lines cited by the Gesta 21

Henry, Archdeacon of Huntingdon Historia Anglorum: The History of the English People, ed. and trans. D. Greenway (Oxford, 1996), pp. 338±41.

129

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England Edwardi de Carnarvon author to foretell the wonders which would be seen in the reign of Edward III. In this context, the recovery (not conquest) of Normandy is seen as part of the great hero-ruler's prophetic agenda. Also present is `Illius imperium'; the Norwich compiler probably thought that this referred to his city, not London. The English war effort in France reached its zenith in 1356, when Prince Edward defeated a large French army at Poitiers, and Jean II was taken prisoner. In terms of political prophecy, this victory was far more signi®cant than that of CreÂcy ten years earlier. Although CreÂcy had been a great victory, the king of France had not been present, and authority had, therefore, not changed hands. This was different in 1356, as the king had been taken, and it appeared only a matter of time before Edward III could take his rightful place as ruler of both kingdoms. The text which I call the `Alliterative Becket' concerns the Battle of Poitiers.22 As the existing text is known only from incomplete versions, it is not possible to tell how many variants on this theme may originally have existed. The Cambridge version is contained in a late ®fteenth-century Scottish manuscript, but appears to be the more complete. The version in MS Hatton 56 is less so, but is earlier (c. 1450), and the manuscript is English. On the basis of this evidence, the poem was better known than the number of extant copies indicates. The poem is in northern dialect, in alliterative verse, and it tells another Thomas Becket story. It is related to `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' only by its use of prophetic discourse, the use of the archbishop and the Virgin Mary as mediators of prophecy, and of a physical token of that prophecy, in this case a book. The poet appears to have adapted the story from another, unidenti®ed text about Becket: `Thus he wendes on his way (wysse hume our lord!) / Twelff days Jurnay, as the buk tellys'.23 Becket reaches Avignon, where he `foretells' that it will be the seat of future popes. The story moves like a peripatetic romance, with the exiled archbishop moving through France with his small band of followers. The Virgin Mary gives Becket a book of prophecies, which he takes with him as he journeys for twelve days through the southern part of France. He goes on from Avignon to Poitiers, where he sups at the house of a burgess. He sees the foundations of a tower and asks the burgess what it is. His host says that King Charles wanted to build the tower, but the workmen on the site found an inscribed stone, which said that a Boar would come out of `Brettane' with tusks so broad that they would root up the tower, and the town, and the Boar will make his den in `‡e derrest place ‡at euer aucht kynge charl[es]'. They stopped the work in fear, and all the residents live in fear of the Boar. Becket prays to Our Lady, asking her about the Boar, and 22

23

Bernardus de cura rei familiaris etc., ed. J. R. Lumby, EETS OS 42 (London, 1870), pp. 23±31. I have amended Lumby's text, where necessary, from my own transcription. Bernardus de cura rei familiaris, ed. Lumby, p. 23.

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Debate and Crusade 1340±1399 she says that this is true. On hearing this, Thomas gathers 140 masons, and builds the tower so that the Boar may rest there. The archbishop then orders them to build three crosses; at the ®rst the king of France will lose his crown, at the second the higher clergy will fall, and at the third the crown shall fall to the ground after a battle of `berdles barnes'. Becket prophesies that the Boar will `tumble up' France, and a body will abide in London, without ruf¯ing the Boar's bristles. He then foretells misery for the French people, for the Boar will claim his rights throughout all France. `Cretoye' will be sorrowful, and wonders will be seen on the banks of the Seine. Abbeville will be burned, and its knights slain; Mountjoy, Caen, Calais and La Hogue will mourn, and `Valois, wythtoutyne fale, sall fall to the erth'.24 A king from the North will invade the Boar's kingdom, but he will be taken prisoner, and the Boar will rest until he is stirred up by Berwick. He will ®ght a battle at Boulogne, and will take Paris. This is an annal of the campaigns of Edward III to the battle of Poitiers, and is followed by the hoped-for agenda, in which the hero defeats the emperor and the heathen, which we have already seen in other texts. The `Alliterative Becket', like other political prophecies, has a God-given hero, whose destiny is known only to God. It is for the English and the French to discover who he is from his deeds. The close involvement of the hero's people in his deeds which was evident in `Bridlington' and `Anglia transmittet' is found again in `Alliterative Becket'. As well as his obvious pride in the hero's achievements, the writer says on behalf of Becket, `He [i.e. the Boar] is my contre-man, my comforth is the mor'. From being a saint who was believed to be English, Becket has become more Englishman than saint. The hero of `Alliterative Becket' is described as the Boar. This Boar has a right to the crown of France, and, as in `Bridlington', his recovery of the French throne is part of his duty as king of England, for which he is answerable to God. The writer of the `Alliterative Becket' states plainly what has hitherto only been implied in prophetic texts. The English king, and not the French, is David, and is entitled to the headship of Christendom. He is also entitled to possess the relics of the Passion brought to St Denis by Louis IX, now claimed as their own by the pretended kings of France: `For hime behowes Semble, fursuth, ‡at lange has beyne sund[er], / †e crowne, and the thre nalles, & A spere Rycht'.25 The English and their king are not given all this as a gift from God; it is their right. This right is God-given; it has not been earned in any way. It is not given to the English because they are better than anyone else morally, but because they are English, and God has chosen them. It is not God, however, to whom the Boar calls for help when he is in trouble, but `the blessyt mary': 24 25

Bernardus de cura rei familiaris, ed. Lumby, p. 27. Bernardus de cura rei familiaris, ed. Lumby, p. 28.

131

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England Then sall he cast vp his crowne to the blessyt mary, And besek hyr of helpe, helle of all succure: He sall be ware in the west whare A wye comes, A lefe knyght & a lene, wytht two long syd[e]s; He salbe hardy, ande hathell, and her of hime selwyne; Lacede iij libertt[e]s, ande all of golde lyke, Wytht A labell full lele, laide ewene our . . .26

This coat of arms, the arms of England with a label, identi®es the young knight as Edward, prince of Wales, sent by the Virgin to help his father.27 Only a few years after the work of the `Bridlington' reviser, Prince Edward has become closely associated with his father in the achievement of the king's prophetic destiny. He is increasingly seen as a prophetic hero-ruler of the future. If his father is the Boar, he is the porcellus (Piglet), and Geoffrey le Baker identi®es the prince as the Boar of Cornwall.28 This implies that the Boar of Windsor is only the image of Arthur; it is the prince who is the genuine article. There is no implication in the `Alliterative Becket', however, that Edward III will not succeed in subduing the French, forcibly converting the heathen and reaching Jerusalem, as we are told that he will do this. Unlike the Edward III of the revised `Bridlington', this hero is not too sinful to succeed on his own behalf. The prince is simply his (albeit indispensable) helper. The Boar will attack the bird with two beaks, a reference to the Holy Roman Emperor's coat of arms, who will not be able to stand against the Boar: †is Byrde thare no¿t trest on no tre, & he be anes turnede, No perk hime on no proper perk wytht no proude pales, For the Rych bare wytht his tuskes wyll Rywe †ame in sonder . . .

The Bird will bring three crowns, with which the Boar will be crowned (as was the Boar in `The Last Kings of the English') after he has subdued Italy. The Boar will then go on crusade, And sall fayr to Famagoste, forlyes to seke, And saill furthe be cipres, as the buk tellis, And renne up at Ryche Jaffe (Joys to ‡ame all!), To convert the cateffes ‡at nozth one Crystis lewys.29

26 27

28

29

Bernardus de cura rei familiaris, ed. Lumby, p. 29. The arms of England, differentiated with a white label. Only the king's eldest son was entitled to these arms, which were borne in 1356 by the Black Prince. These arms were displayed on public occasions: Vale, Edward III and Chivalry, p. 85. Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynbroke, ed. E. M. Thompson (Oxford, 1889), p. 152. Bernardus de cura rei familiaris, ed. Lumby, p. 29.

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Debate and Crusade 1340±1399 The great hero, in the tradition of `Sibille generaliter' and `Pseudo-Methodius', will `lewe his trouth on crystis owyne grawde'. Although this prophecy is not apparently eschatological, this is implied by the ending of the Boar's career. This is not, however, the end of the text. Becket then goes on to prophesy that all the lords of the land will be laid low, with no surviving relatives `‡ar castels to welde'. In the far future, the land will be ruled by women (a terrible fate!) and there will be a great pestilence, after which the people who remain will forget Christ and his Mother. Hunger, hate and many other af¯ictions will walk the land, until the people know Christ and his Mother again: He sall passe his courss, and ‡at salbe well kennede, Ande do haly kyrke to heylde, I say the for suthe, To wend out our the wan watterys, as ‡ar none war; It Sall Ryne Red in the est, and Rewth it is the mor. And ‡en salbe wanttynge of wode, and wanyng of Irne; Suilk wonderys salbe wroucht whar the ber wendis.30

The Boar will restore a proper respect for Christ and the Virgin, but this poem does not say that he will actually reform the Church. The natural disasters are interesting, because they are similar to those which occur in `Erceldoune' and the vernacular, Celtic-based prophecies; this text is very similar to the ending of `The Last Kings of the English' in its pessimistic lack of closure. The natural phenomena, the red rain and the lack of wood and iron, give it a proverbial quality which is also true of the `Erceldoune' prophecy and `Als y yod'. These, the disastrous pestilence and other af¯ictions are entirely unneccessary to the story, and have been added because they are an essential part of the tradition to which it belongs. This locates the text within a tradition of vernacular prophecy, which gives added authority to Becket's prophecy. The `Alliterative Becket' does not, however, use the opaque, coded language of the `Erceldoune' prophecy for its main political message. Like `The Last Kings of the English', this message is stated clearly, in a manner which would leave a contemporary audience in no doubt as to what was being said, and about whom. The popular, proverbial tradition is evident only in a few lines at the end of the text, and serves only to authenticate the central political message, that Edward III will win (i.e. has won) a great victory at Poitiers which will be the prelude to his conquest of France and Italy, his coronation as Holy Roman Emperor, his forcible conversion of the Saracens and his apocalyptic passing in Jerusalem. This destiny is now at Edward's feet. The same theme is taken up in Oxford, Bodliean Library, MS Bodley 302, which features material on Edward III's success in Scotland, in particular the battle of Neville's Cross in 1346, when David II of Scotland was taken prisoner. This is followed by an account of the battle of Poitiers and the 30

Bernardus de cura rei familiaris, ed. Lumby, p. 30.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England capture of Jean II of France. Serving as a commentary on these events, the manuscript also contains `The Last Kings of the English', `Anglia transmittet', `Ter tria lustra', `Lilum regnans' and `Quando sambucus fert ceresa'. The compiler of the manuscript is making the same point as the writer of the `Alliterative Becket'. Edward III, already ruler of Wales and lord of Ireland, has captured the king of Scotland and the king of France, and can now take possession of his (and his people's) French heritage. From there he can procede to ful®l his (and their) divinely-appointed apocalyptic destiny. There is no doubt that Edward has ful®lled the ®rst part of the political prophecies' agenda. It was against the background of expectation such as this that Edward III set out in 1359 to ®nish the task in France. The hopes were not altogether misplaced; the dauphin was only nineteen, and was faced with external hostility from Charles of Navarre and with internal disorder from communal and peasant movements. Edward did, in fact, attempt to take Rheims, the traditional site of the coronation of French kings, but failed. He must have intended to have himself crowned king of France, but this did not happen. The French did not, as foretold in `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' and `Bridlington', see the shameful illegality of the Valois claim to the throne, and give the crown sine vi to the king of England. Having failed in this objective, Edward III, probably not as sincerely moved by apocalyptic beliefs as were his subjects, began to negotiate. It had become clear to Edward III himself that he would not gain the crown of France, and he accepted this situation in the Treaty of BreÂtigny of 1360, by which he accepted Aquitaine in full sovereignty, whilst waiving his claim to the French throne.31 Although this was a shrewd move on the king's part, for economic reasons if nothing else, it was unlikely to please the audience of political prophecy, committed as they were to the hope of a conquering hero. The peace between England and France proved uneasy, and war broke out again in 1369.32 The ageing Edward III was becoming an increasingly isolated ®gure, and the perceived corruption and ineptitude of William of Wykeham's administration was heightened by William's own great wealth, based on the plurality of his ecclesiastical of®ces.33 The renewed war with France did not go well, in stark contrast to the heady victories of Edward III's earlier campaigns. The king was forced to release Jean II on payment of a huge ransom, and had done the same with the king of Scotland. David II's heir, Robert Stewart, was pro-French and anti-English. When David died in 1371, 31

32

33

This was a much enlarged `Aquitaine', which included Poitou, Quercy, Limousin and the Agenais. Edward also obtained lands in the March of Calais (and, of course, he kept Calais itself), in Ponthieu, Montreuil and Guines: M. H. Keen, England in the Later Middle Ages: A Political History (London, 1973), p. 140. Ormrod, Reign of Edward III, pp. 26±30; J. Le Patourel, `The Treaty of Bretigny, 1360', TRHS 5th s. 10 (1960), 19±39. Wykeham was a civil servant, successively Edward III's secretary, keeper of the Privy Seal and, in 1367, chancellor: Ormrod, Reign of Edward III, pp. 90±4.

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Debate and Crusade 1340±1399 Stewart became Robert II, and concluded an alliance with the young Charles V of France, whose father had died in 1364. Already in 1362, Edward bestowed the duchy of Aquitaine on his eldest son, and the prince left England to live in Bordeaux. After the death of Queen Philippa in 1369, Edward III was perceived to be falling more and more under the in¯uence of his mistress, Alice Perrers, and her associates William Latimer (the king's chamberlain) and Lord Neville (the king's steward), who controlled access to his person. It may be, of course, that a king who could govern with a heavy hand was more agreeable whilst continually on foreign campaigns than when he was permanently at home, but such criticism of Edward III, the great Arthurian hero and victor of Poitiers, would not have been acceptable in the 1360s. The prince of Wales returned, probably by this time a sick man, in 1371, and the French began to regain the territory they had ceded at BreÂtigny. As was the case in the early 1320s, the excitement and expectation of victory had turned to disappointment. The years between the Treaty of BreÂtigny in 1360 and the Peasants' Revolt in 1381 produced a climate in which political debate about the nature of government, of salvation and of kingship itself was carried on in an extraordinarily open way, giving rise to what Anne Middleton has termed `public poetry', to Piers Plowman and the works of Wyclif and his Oxford disciples.34 Thomas Brinton attempted to stir up concern in his audience's minds for the moral health of the nation, which he held to blame for the nation's ills, whereas Wyclif and the Lollards saw the cancer in the Church, and Langland blamed both lay society and the Church. Expectation of the apocalyptic hero-ruler did not die, however, a fact revealed by manuscripts of the period. Paris, BibliotheÁque Nationale, MS Lat. 4126 was partly transcribed by Robert Popultoun. Popultoun joined the Carmelites in York, where he was licensed to hear confessions in 1351±2. A note on fol. 155v suggests that he died about half-way through the writing of BN MS Lat. 4126. Other notes show that the work was partly done at York, but completed at the Northumbrian Carmelite house of Hulne, where Popultoun was prior by 1366.35 There were a considerable number of Popultouns in the clerical population of the area surrounding York, but also interesting is the fact that Popultoun, like William Swann later, had urban connections; one branch of the family were members of the guilds of bowmakers and weavers in York.36 Friedman lists the signatures in the book, and notes that they convey the impression of one 34

35

36

A. Middleton, `The Idea of Public Poetry in the Reign of Richard II', Speculum 53 (1978), 94±114. For Popultoun and his manuscript, see J. B. Friedman, Northern English Books, Owners and Makers in the Late Middle Ages (New York, 1995), pp. 41±52. Fol. 155v says `anima fratris Roberti de Popultoun illa quiete perfruatur, amen, amen', and fol. 211v says `Ora pro Popiltoun qui me compilavit Eboraci'. The patrons of Hulne were the Percy family.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England person overseeing the creation of the book and adding to it himself. It is unlikely to have been a communal manuscript, but to have re¯ected the wishes of Popultoun himself, as patron; as Friedman points out, `qui me fecit scribi' (fol. 13v) usually means that the person named, in this case Popultoun, paid someone else to do the work. However, others may have shared the readership of Popultoun's book. This is important, as this relationship between patron, part-scribe, book and readership is true of other volumes containing prophecies, such as those compiled by John Herryson and John Benet in the ®fteenth century. Popultoun's book places works on the history of Britain, Alexander and Troy, including the prophecy `Regnum scottorum', into a framework of apocalyptic prophecy, including the `PseudoMethodius', the letter of Hildegard to the citizens of Cologne and the pseudo-Joachite `Oraculum Cyrilli'. A similar apocalyptic mixture, ®tting the history of England and her kings into an apocalyptic background (including pseudo and genuine Joachite material) is to be found in Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 404, which derives from Bury St Edmunds. The Corpus Christi College manuscript uses texts such as `Arbor fertilis', `Catulus linxeis' and `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' alongside the theological, apocalyptic prophecies. It was compiled, in part personally and with the help of amanuenses, by Henry of Kirkstede, sacristan and librarian of the abbey of Bury St Edmunds. Because it is roughly contemporary with Popultoun's manuscript, and because it is also personal, it enables us to see the similar points of view of two highly literate members of the regular clergy, one Carmelite and the other Benedictine, in the latter part of the reign of Edward III, and the important part that England, and her king, played in their view of the cosmos and of world history.37 The optimism of these men for the future was not diminished by the worsening political situation of the present, nor was that of the compiler of Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R. VII. 2, probably a monk of Malmesbury Abbey, who inserted a copy of John of Rupescissa's `Vade Mecum in Tribulacione' into his manuscript of the Eulogium Historiarum. This work really belongs to the theological, apocalyptic tradition of Europe, and is thus outside the scope of this study. However, a compressed version of it does sometimes appear alongside prophecies about public affairs and policy, as do extracts from the apocalyptic prophecies of Hildegard, and pseudoHildegardian prophecies against the friars.38 Rupescissa predicts that there 37

38

For the Corpus Christi College manuscript see Reeves, In¯uence of Prophecy, pp. 93± 4; for Kirkstede see Rouse, `Bostonus Buriensis', pp. 471±99. Reeves, In¯uence of Prophecy, pp. 320±32; J .Bignami-Odier, EÂtudes sur Jean de Roquetaillade (Johannes de Rupescissa) (Paris, 1952); Lerner, Powers of Prophecy, pp. 137±8; Kerby-Fulton, Reformist Apocalypticism, pp. 26±75 and 162±91; K. KerbyFulton, `Hildegard of Bingen and Antimendicant Propaganda', Traditio 43 (1987), 386±99; R. Lerner, `Medieval Prophecy and Religious Dissent', PP 72 (1976), 3±24; E. F. Jacob, `John of Roquetaillade', BJRL 39 (1956), 75±96.

136

Debate and Crusade 1340±1399 will be many disasters, wars and plagues, beginning in the years 1360±5. An eastern Antichrist will cause the in®dels to persecute and make war against the Christians in the East, followed by the rise of a western Antichrist, who will appear between 1362 and 1370. The clergy will have much to suffer, and will lose all their worldly goods to laymen and tyrants. There will then be earthquakes and the overturning of kingdoms. In 1367, Christ will elect a new pope, who represents the Angel of the Apocalypse. A king of France will be made Holy Roman Emperor because of his sanctity, he will put on imperial robes of purple, God will put the whole of the western world under his rule, and he will possess a sanctity not seen since that of Christ himself. This emperor will execute the decrees of Christ's pontiff, the reparator orbis. `Sarazeni, Turci, Greci & universi heretici' will be defeated and the obdurate extirpated: `Papa & cardinales & Archiepiscopi, episcopi & unversalis ecclesie clerus debent reduci ad modum christi & apostolorum' (`the pope and cardinals and archbishops, bishops and the clergy of the universal Church should be reduced to the way of life of Christ and the apostles').39 This is a reforming hero as in `Ter tria lustra', reducing the clergy to the simplicity of the early Church.40 In the extract popular among English copyists much stress is laid on the destruction of heresy, which from this period onwards included, and to English eyes meant, Wyclif and his followers: Omnes heretici [adversus] christum indurati in omnibus mortalibus peccatis debent funditus de terra extirpari in tribulacionibus aduenientibus infra annum mm ccc lxx. (`all heretics hardened against Christ are destined to be utterly eradicated from the earth in the tribulations beginning in the year 1370.')

The arrival of the eastern Antichrist would soon be made manifest, and his disciples would preach publicly in Jerusalem. This would be followed by the election of a king of France to the of®ce of Holy Roman Emperor: cui deus subiciet totum mundum qui tante sanctitatis existet ut aliquis Imperator vel Rex in sanctitate ei similis non fuerat ab origine . . . hic est consecutor omnium mandatorum domini papae predicti et per eos dominos recuperabitur totus mundus. (`to whom God will subject the whole world; his sanctity will be so great that there has been no other emperor or king like him from the beginning of the world . . . he is the instrument of all the decrees of the aforesaid lord pope and through these two lords the whole world will be regained.') 39 40

MS Hatton 56, fols. 8r±9r. The Eulogium Historiarum contains `Ter tria lustra', along with `Anglia transmittet', `Illius imperium' and, included separately, `The Holy Oil of St Thomas': Eulogium Historiarum I, 406±7 (Becket), II, 417±20 and II, 284±301 (`Prophecia Merlini' as in the Historia Regum Britannie).

137

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England Apart from the fact that he is a king of France, not of England, this ruler is remarkably similar to the hero of other political prophecies in English manuscripts. It is easy to see the appeal of this scenario to English prophecy writers and collectors, whose king was, after all, the rightful king of France. That being so, Rupescissa's prophecy concerning the king of France could also be interpreted as referring to the king of England. The shortened form in which it was generally presented in English manuscripts included only the elements which agreed with the contents of other English political prophecies, leaving out the sufferings of the clergy and many of the natural disasters in Rupescissa's original. The reparator orbis is presented in such a way that he appears to be the king, not a pope.41 Most of Rupescissa's dates are removed, but the apocalyptic golden age which results from the hero's career (he does not die and hand his empire to Christ in the shortened English text) remains: In illis diebus referabuntur archana scripturarum et dabitur Spiritus prophecie et eciam tota in sanctitate fulgebit. Vicia euanescent in populo et vigebit nobilis honestas in conuersacione orbis. (`In those days the secret things of scripture will be recovered and the Spirit of prophecy will be given, and, in addition, everything will shine with holiness. Vices among the people will disappear and noble honesty [i.e. nobilis] in the life of the world.')

The inference of collective moral guilt is in harmony with contemporary English political perceptions. A copy of the `Vade Mecum in Tribulacione' was owned by another learned clergyman, John Erghome, an Augustinian from their convent in York. Sometime between the years 1361 and 1372, Erghome wrote his commentary on the text of the `Bridlington' reviser. He dedicated the work to Humphrey Bohun, earl of Hereford and constable of England, a member of the group of non-royal nobles who felt themselves being excluded from the in¯uence which should rightfully be theirs by a combination of the king's policies and a small clique at the centre of power.42 About the writer himself, not much is known apart from the contents of his large library. He was a member of the York convent by 1372, he studied at Oxford, and he was a doctor of theology by 1385.43 On 25 May 1385 he became prior of the York convent. This indicates that he was probably in his early thirties, or perhaps a little younger, when he wrote the commentary.44 Another uncertainty is the 41 42

43

44

Compare these ideas with those presented in `Adam Davy's Dreams'. P. Meyvaert, `John Erghome and the Vaticinium Roberti Bridlington', Speculum 41 (1966), 656±64. A. B. Emden, A Biographical Register of the University of Oxford to AD 1500, 3 vols. (Oxford, 1957), I, 644. If the timetable given by Francis Roth is to be accepted: F. Roth, The English Austin Friars 1249±1538 (New York, 1966), pp. 177±8. Ordination took place no earlier than

138

Debate and Crusade 1340±1399 source of the commission. It could have been Bohun himself, or it could have been the Bridlington convent or its prior: hence, perhaps, the future connection of the reviser's verses with John Thweng, and the title `Prophecy of John of Bridlington'. Curley's preferred date, using dating evidence within the text, is c. 1363, and there are other reasons for accepting this as the most likely time for Erghome's composition.45 Humphrey Bohun, sixth earl of Hereford, had been one of the principal patrons of the Augustinian order in England, and was patron of their London convent. He employed an Augustinian illuminator, John de Teye, a member of the London convent, who was illustrating manuscripts for Humphrey at Pleshy castle, in Essex, when the earl died in 1361.46 The earl's successor was his nephew, the seventh earl Humphrey, who had inherited the earldom of Northampton on his father's death in the preceding year. As Erghome addresses the earl under both titles in his dedication, the commentary can have been written no earlier than 1361. It must have been written before 1372, when Humphrey himself died. As we have already seen, `Bridlington' was concerned with the plague, and the most serious outbreak of plague since the Black Death occurred in the years 1361± 2. Perhaps of more importance to the Augustinians, the orders of friars had just had to withstand the attacks upon them by Richard ®tzRalph, archbishop of Armagh, at the papal Curia in the years 1358±60. FitzRalph had died in 1360, but the anxiety caused by the case was still being felt in early 1360s.47 It was at this critical point that the Augustinians had lost their greatest lay patron. In 1361, at a provincial synod of the order held in York (half the expenses of which had been defrayed by the late earl Humphrey), Geoffrey Herdeby had been elected prior provincial.48 Herdeby, an Oxford scholar, had spearheaded the intellectual response to ®tzRalph. He may have known the scholar Erghome, who may even have been at the Oxford convent with Herdeby at the time of the ®tzRalph crisis. Whether Herdeby was the prime mover behind Erghome's work may never be known, but the commentary may in part be seen as an attempt to secure the patronage of the new earl, in the light of the perilous situation in which the Augustinian order in England had found themselves in the recent past. The material, that is the poem, was supplied by John Thweng, the saintly prior of the Bridlington convent, who had himself taken up of®ce only recently, when his predecessor had died of the plague.49 Thweng was canonised on 24 September 1401, thus giving rise

45 46

47

48 49

twenty-two, then the student spent three years at a studium generale, and another seven or eight years at a provincial `school' before undertaking the baccalaureate. Curley, `Cloak of Anonymity', p. 361. L. F. Sadler, `A Note on the Illuminators of the Bohun Manuscripts', Speculum 60 (1985), 364±72 (365±7). K. Walsh, A Fourteenth-Century Scholar and Primate: Richard ®tzRalph in Oxford, Avignon and Armagh (Oxford, 1981), pp. 355±450. Roth, English Austin Friars, p. 487. J. S. Purvis, `St John of Bridlington', Journal of the Bridlington Augustinian Society 2 (1924), 202.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England to the attribution of the prophecy to `St John of Bridlington', although he was actually associated with the writing of the commentary, not the original verses. Erghome's interpretation makes the entire third distinctio of the poem relate to his own day and beyond. `Bridlington' reads: Me timor invadit describere quae nocitura . . . Quam mala praecinere de magnis malo tacere; Solus secura novit Deus ipse futura. (`I am ®lled with fear in describing that which is harmful . . . I prefer to be silent than to prophesy of the great; only God truly knows the future.')

Erghome says that this means the poet should not be damned for his condemnation of the great, as his inspiration is the Holy Spirit.50 Having thereby excused himself, as well as the poet, Erghome goes on to speak of a great pestilence, identi®able as the Black Death, which he says will be a result of the sins of the nation, and some lords will die, although the king and queen will be spared. Among the reasons for the plague he notes `peccata luxuriae vel regis vel papae, quia qui gaudent in locis occultis per luxuriam in loco digne punientur secrete' (`sins of excess of both king and pope, because those who rejoice in secret places through excess will be punished in a suitably secret place').51 There will then be `unam destructionem futuram Anglicorum per ignem super terram et per undas maris' (`a future destruction of the English by ®re on the earth and throughout the waves of the sea'), and these will cause the king to return from France in 1351.52 After a short section on crusading and the deceitfulness of women, Erghome locates the text's predictions in 1362; that is, the decade in which he is composing his commentary. Immediately after this he goes on to interpret the text: Nulla pejor pestis quam familiaris amicus; Traulus erit testis, qui tauro ®et iniquus. Spirans ut Saulus, tandem periet male traulus. Seduus [sic] et blaesus, hircus genitalia laesus, Panniculos caesus, glaucus, sic fulvus, obesus. (`There is no worse plague than a very close friend; a stutterer will be witness, who will become hostile to the Bull. Blowing like the stutterer, like Saul, he will come to a bad end. Fat and lisping, the Goat damaged in the genitals, tattered, bright like gold, very fat.')53 50 51 52 53

Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, I, 179±80. Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, I, 181. Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, I, 182. Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, I, 183. The word `seduus' does not correspond to any known Latin adjective. Erghome suggests `homo qui non potest bene dicere s., qui Anglice dicitur wlysp'. As `blaesus' also means `lisping', this could be an example of the repetition of adjectives used in English writing from Old English

140

Debate and Crusade 1340±1399 These, says Erghome, are descriptions of individual characters who are the king's intimates. `Ad ampliorem intelligentiam istorum versuum', says Erghome, `est notandum primo quod illi qui volunt cognoscere eos in societate, et tunc applicare nomina praedicta eis secundum conditiones' (`For a better understanding of these verses it is ®rst necessary to note that those who want to know these men should consider their habits and know them in society, and then apply the above names to them according to their condition'). He has already told us that he is referring to his own time, so this has the force of `think about it, you know who they are'.54 These men have come between the king and his lords (domini), where natural bonds of love and support ought to exist. Such people do not want to ®ght, to win honour in battle; they are afraid to die and face the punishment for their sins. There will be peace between England and France. Ultimately, the kingdom of France is in God's gift, and he will not give it to the Bull, because of his sins, but to his successor, the Cock, whom Erghome identi®es as the Bull's son, although the text itself is not speci®c about the relationship between them. The justices, or perhaps ministers, appointed by the Bull are unjust, and wealth is draining away from the kingdom because of maladministration, corruption, papal levies and monies destined for the papal courts. Erghome says that the staurum, used to mean people and nation in the text, also means the domini Angliae, thereby identifying the magnates closely with the national community and the common good. When the Scots invade, the king will turn again to the domini, and the Scots will be defeated. Erghome says that the false justices (or maybe, ministers), are `conspiratores . . .contra dominos regni et contra communem populum' (`conspirators against the lords of the kingdom and against the people as a whole'), again stressing a community of interest between the lords and the rest of the political nation.55 An examination of John Erghome's commentary on `Bridlington' re¯ects the transitory nature of the BreÂtigny settlement; people in England felt that the basic issue, that is, the English king's claim to the French throne, which was now perceived to be a matter of national honour, was unresolved. In the years immediately after 1360, Edward III did stop using the title `King of France', but Erghome shows that some of Edward's people, at least, found this dif®cult to accept. Erghome resorts to saying that it is bad counsel, the wiles of women, lack of ®nancial support and the king's own sinfulness

54 55

onwards, represented, for example, in the Chronicle of Robert Mannyng. There is also the possibility that Erghome himself is guessing; the word could represent an earlier mis-transcription of `fedus' or `foedus', meaning `foul' (i.e. offensive), `ugly' or `deformed'. Other meanings of `fedus' imply shameful and/or destructive qualities. Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, I, 185. Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, I, 197. Erghome strains the original meaning of the text to place Hereford, his intended patron, at the centre of the political stage (193).

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England which prevent the war from proceeding to a conclusion. However, Erghome also says that war is the instrument of the devil, who is the enemy of peace, and the crown of France will not be won by force of arms. In this he follows `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' and the `Bridlington' text. The kingdom of France will be God's gift to the most favoured and most deserving party; that is, the Cock. This re¯ects the tension between political reality and the ideal, usually resolved in prophetic texts by the fact that peace is above all to be desired, but it must be a `just' peace, which may have to be gained by the exercise of military force. The strength of the language used by Erghome in his support of peace and denunciation of war indicates a difference of emphasis in the approach to the con¯ict between England and France. The need to achieve peace is as strong a motivation as the need to vindicate the king's dynastic claim.56 In the end, the `Bridlington' poet, and Erghome, avoid a great future war by making the French see the error of their ways, and pass the crown of France peacefully to the rightful claimant. This is part of a new, more realistic, view of war which was to become apparent in English literature from the time of Erghome.57 Erghome's commentary also re¯ects what the Augustinian believed to be the concerns of his intended patron, Humphrey Bohun. These indicate a feeling of exclusion from what Humphrey would have perceived to be his natural position as counsellor of the king and guardian of the nation's interests, a dissatisfaction with the situation created by the Treaty of BreÂtigny, and a concern that the nation's honour was being compromised by not achieving a military solution.58 Despite the military ethos of the aristocracy, Erghome assumes that Humphrey will share his, and the poet's, view that peace is the ultimate objective of the war with France, and that this is best achieved with as little bloodshed as possible. The ideals of Christian knighthood are best turned against the in®del. Erghome says that anyone who dies in battle against the Saracens, who are God's enemies, will go straight to heaven.59 There is no suggestion that Humphrey has the ability to express these concerns in prophetic discourse on his own behalf. It is accepted, rather, that he needs Erghome, the scholar, to do this for him. It is also accepted that prophecy is a discourse in which such things may be well expressed. It would be easy to see Erghome's portrait as one of decline and despondency, but this is very far from the truth. Although he presents a picture of corruption, bad government, pestilence and lack of military 56 57

58 59

Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, I, 203 and 207±8. J. Coleman, English Literature in History 1350±1400: Medieval Readers and Writers (London, 1981), p. 97; Barnie, War in Medieval Society, pp. 119±38. Ormrod, Reign of Edward III, pp. 115±20. Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, I, 184; Barnie, War in Medieval Society, p. 75, addresses this problem. The Bohuns were one of the great English families with a tradition of crusading: Tyerman, England and the Crusades, p. 268.

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Debate and Crusade 1340±1399 success, the Augustinian is, in fact, optimistic about England's future. There is nothing wrong in the current political situation which cannot be put right. Erghome's vision is of a future in which there will be peace, fairness and justice; `taxaque cessabit, illo tempore in regno Angliae . . . sacra templa et monasteria augebit.' (`and taxes will cease, at that time in the kingdom of England . . . he [i.e. the king] will strengthen holy temples and monasteries').60 He has great hopes for the year 1377, the coming jubilee of Edward III, when the world will rest in peace, and there will be great rejoicing among the people.61 The king and his great men will be reconciled, the Scots will be defeated, and good government will have returned. Great celebrations will centre on Canterbury, the seat of St Thomas, although Erghome makes no mention of the saint's holy oil. This does indicate, however, Becket's status as a national saint, despite Edward III's espousal of St George, and the special relationship that he was seen to have with the nation's ruler and representative. Erghome's view of Edward III is not that of an ageing, in®rm monarch who is best laid to rest in favour of his son. The year 1377 will be a very special time, which will inaugurate a golden future for England and her people. Edward III will be a central ®gure in bringing about, and presiding over, this golden age. Erghome says: Septimo ostendit [i.e. the poet] vitam regis post tempus jubilaei, dicens quod meditatio regis ®et, scilicet tunc temporis, divinae legis, scilicet in meditatione et oratione, non curando de temporalibus, et quae tunc temptabuntur, per eum prosperabuntur, scilicet ad vitam aeternam. (`Seventh, he shows the life of the king after the time of the jubilee, saying that the king's thoughts will, at that time, truly be on the divine laws, that is, in thought and prayer, with no regard to the things of this world, and whatever is attempted will prosper through him, that is, to eternal life.')62

This is not the Davidic king, glistening with holy unction, who led his forces into battle in the 1330s, but he is still the image of Arthur, the Boar of Windsor. He is not now the young Arthur, performing deeds of honour, but the older, wiser Arthur, who, although still capable of donning his armour in the defence of his kingdom, is seen sitting on his throne being judge, arbiter, governor and personi®er of his realm. The task of performing deeds of valour is passed on to younger men. Prophecy was now looking forward to the king's successor. If Edward III had been the image of Arthur, the Boar of Windsor, his successor would be Arthur redivivus, the great future king of the British History. Erghome, like Geoffrey le Baker, saw this great king in the 60 61

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Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, I, 193. Edward III had been campaigning as late as 1360, although Erghome is clearly writing about an older man, who is not expected to ®ght. Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, I, 203. Wright's italics, from Erghome's highlighted text.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England person of Edward, prince of Wales. The king is no longer perceived as a young David, but as an older Solomon.63 His piety, and his attitude to the performance of his kingly of®ce, can still determine the present and future of his kingdom.64 Erghome identi®es himself with an acrostic at the beginning of his commentary. He did not need to hide behind his anonymity like the reviser of the early 1350s. The loyalty of his commentary, and its optimism about the continuing roÃle of the ageing king, made `Bridlington' politically acceptable. The verses, together with the commentary, were soon circulating in the form of small pamphlets. Fourteenth-century examples are Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Digby 89, most likely a London manuscript, and BL MS Royal C. XVII, a pamphlet of twenty-two folios, which contains the hand of Henry of Kirkstede, as in Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 404. `Bridlington', with Erghome's commentary, had reached Bury St Edmunds and London in the form of a small, relatively cheap, unbound pamphlet. Before this date the text appears to have been unknown outside Bridlington, so it must have been Erghome's commentary which made the difference, and caused it to be widely circulated. The commentary answered a widely-felt need, by offering a way in which its audience could continue to respect their king as a great hero, despite his political and moral failings and the disappointment of their hopes, and could look forward to a future in which his qualities and achievements would be perfected in his successor. Until 1376 prophetic hope could centre on the Black Prince and his father. However, Prince Edward died in that year. Although he lived to inaugurate the jubilee year for which Erghome had hoped so much, Edward III did not survive it; he suffered a stroke, and died on 21 June 1377. Despite the troubles of his later years, the king's death was seen as a national bereavement. As far as prophecy was concerned, the need to accommodate a ruler of advanced age disappeared. However, King Edward's passing did mark the end of a great period for prophetic discourse in England. He had been Arthur, the Boar, and no subsequent monarch, not even the victorious Henry V, would again give rise to so many prophecies. In the ®rst half of the ®fteenth century, the Boar of Windsor was still a very powerful image, and Edwardus was regarded as a suitable name for a prophetic hero, although no king of England had borne that name since 1377. Edward III's death might have created dismay, but the audience of prophecy was too optimistic to be 63

64

It is generally believed that the king in the Alliterative Morte Arthure represents Edward III. Interestingly, it represents an Arthur who overcomes a tyrant, becomes emperor and ruler of many lands, then becomes a tyrant himself and falls through his own fault. See Alliterative Morte Arthure, ed. Krisha; W. Matthews, The Tragedy of Arthur (Berkeley CA, 1960); The Alliterative Morte Arthure: A Reassessment of the Poem, ed. K. H. GoÈller (Cambridge, 1981). For the relationship between Edward III's piety and victory see Ormrod, `The Personal Religion of Edward III', p. 849.

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Debate and Crusade 1340±1399 dismayed for long. The mantle of the great British hero-ruler now came to be borne by the ten-year-old Richard II. The early years of Richard's reign were no more conspicuous for their prosperity and military success than the last years of Edward III had been, but just as Edward III had not been blamed for the lack of success in his later years, so Richard II was not blamed because of his youth. During the later fourteenth century, as in the earlier part of the century, most of the surviving manuscripts of traceable origin belonged to members of the clergy. By the end of the fourteenth century the major religious orders, apart from the orders of nuns, are all represented by manuscripts containing prophecy. Either nuns did not wish to know prophetic texts, or the discourse itself, dealing with public affairs which were the accepted concern of men only, was not considered to be suitable for women.65 The Benedictine communities represented are St Augustine's, Canterbury, Bury St Edmunds, Malmesbury (Wiltshire), St Albans and its dependency at Hat®eld Peverell (so the manuscript may have actually belonged to the mother house, or a monk who had travelled from the mother house), St Mary's, York, and Norwich Cathedral Priory. BL MS Cotton Titus D. VII is probably from a Cistercian house, and Merton, Surrey, was a community of Augustinian canons.66 In the second half of the fourteenth century, an increasing number of manuscripts can be traced to lay owners. Of the manuscripts from Norwich and London, some are clerical, some lay. The contents of Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 138 are chie¯y liturgical, with some astronomical predictions, so this is likely to have been in clerical ownership, or at least was used by clergy.67 BL MS Cotton Vespasian E. VIII was also in clerical ownership. BL MS Cotton Cleopatra C. X is composed of a variety of items, related only by their interest or usefulness to the compiler. It, too, derives from Norwich, and is a composite manuscript, containing material 65

66

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It could also be true that convents did not mark their books in the way that at least the larger monasteries did. Women seem to have been expected (by men) to read devotional, `improving' literature. See N. Orme, From Childhood to Chivalry: the Education of the English Kings and Aristocracy 1066±1530 (London, 1984), p. 162. There is an increasing concentration of manuscripts from the south-east of England in the second half of the fourteenth century. London, Public Record Of®ce, MS E 164/9 and Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Digby 89 are from London, whilst BL MS Royal 13. E. IX is from St Albans. Three manuscripts are from Surrey and Kent respectively. There is one manuscript from Essex and one from Bury St Edmunds: Valenciennes, BibliotheÁque Municipale, MS 792 (Merton, Surrey), London, Lambeth Palace, MS 144 (I); BL MS Cotton Tiberius A. IX (Canterbury); Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson B 189 (Hat®eld Peverell, Essex, a cell of St Albans); Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 404 (Bury St Edmunds). Three manuscripts, Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 138; BL MSS Cotton Claudius E. VIII and Cotton Cleopatra C. X, are from Norwich. For notes on the apocalyptic content of Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 138 see Reeves, In¯uence of Prophecy, pp. 51, 84 and 519.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England gathered from different sources, some of it produced on coarse, low-grade paper. As well as historical material (the Chronicle of Ralph Niger to the capture of Richard I, material of the Anglo-Saxons and an extract from Geoffrey of Monmouth on Glastonbury), there is Prester John's letter on the supposed marvels of the Far East, miracles of the Virgin, and a fragment on the Host. There are also orders and rules concerning the choosing of a mayor, and other material relating to the city, rather than the religious houses, of Norwich. Most of the contents are in Latin, but the item concerning the mayoral elections is in English. The Latin content would seem to suggest clerical ownership. The city-related material in English suggests a lay origin. This is not rendered impossible by the Latin elements, as the Latin of these works would not have been too dif®cult for anyone with a grammar school education, and there was plenty of opportunity for learning in late fourteenth-century Norwich and the surrounding area.68 However, it is equally true that a religious community, such as the cathedral priory, with a vested interest in civic affairs, might include such a document whole, without translating it. The evidence is inconclusive, but it is not unlikely that the book was the property of a clerk of the city. One of the two manuscripts from London, Public Record Of®ce, MS E 164/9 contains legal documents and extracts, and was being kept at the Exchequer at Westminster by 1354. The document has close connections with the royal administration; the compiler had access to the Memoranda Roll of 18 Edward I. It appears that this book was originally the property of a thirteenth-century Exchequer clerk, who would have been either a layman or have belonged to the lower orders of clergy. During the second half of the fourteenth century, the volume had passed into the hands of another Exchequer clerk, who added the prophecies to it. By this time some royal clerks were still bene®ced, but the lay element in this branch of the administration was growing rapidly.69 John Erghome, of course, wrote for a layman, Humphrey Bohun, so it is not possible to say that political prophecies in Latin must have been purchased originally by a member of the clergy. Although a good knowledge of Latin would have been needed to understand the `Bridlington' verses, Erghome's commentary was straightforward enough to be expounded, translated for, or even read by, a layperson with a good grammar education. Most political prophecies did not achieve the complexity of `Bridlington'; they were short and written in 68

69

N. Orme, English Schools in the Middle Ages (London, 1973), notes the presence of schools in the city, and the higher education which was available there. For lay literacy in general see M. B. Parkes, `The Literacy of the Laity', in Literature and Western Civilization: The Medieval World, ed. D. Daiches and A. D. Thorlby (London, 1973), pp. 555±77. R. L. Storey, `Gentlemen-Bureaucrats', in Profession, Vocation and Culture in Later Medieval England: Essays dedicated to the Memory of A. R. Myers, ed. C. H. Clough (Liverpool, 1982), pp. 90±129.

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Debate and Crusade 1340±1399 straightforward, paratactic language, so would have been easy enough for a Latin-literate layperson. A clerical administrator or lawyer, possibly a member of the bishop of Lincoln's episcopal staff, appears to have been the original owner of Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 33, the main contents of which are canon law codices. On fol. 324r is a note about a case held `coram nobis Of®ciale d. Lincoln Episcopi'.70 Another known owner of prophetic texts was John Erghome himself, the commentator of `Bridlington', who not only owned more than one copy of this text, but also owned `Vade Mecum in Tribulacione' by John of Rupescissa, and the `Prophecia Merlini'. These are listed among the books Erghome donated to the Augustinians of York, of which community he was a member. Apart from the `Prophecia Merlini', the rest of Erghome's prophetic texts were catalogued under the heading prophecie et supersticiosa. They were thus viewed by the cataloguer as being worthy of some scepticism. Unfortunately, although Erghome was a member of the community at the time the catalogue was made, there is no way of telling whether this was his own classi®cation, or someone else's.71 Many of the other works under this heading in the Augustinian catalogue are works of experimental science. There is only one other manuscript which places prophecy in association with such works before the end of the ®fteenth century; this is Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Digby 28. This manuscript includes some moral and devotional material, but its contents are mostly scienti®c: works by Roger Bacon, some alchemical texts, and experimental science.72 The prophetic texts in this manuscript are the `Prophecia Merlini' and the `Prophecia aquile', which may have been included in such a manuscript because of their use of mysterious language and imagery, by someone who was fascinated by the arcane. After all, alchemy had a mysterious, hermeneutic language of its own.73 If the classi®cations in the Augustinian 70

71

72

73

For the roÃle of canon lawyers in the cathedral clergy, albeit of a slightly later period, see R. L. Storey, Diocesan Administration in Fifteenth Century England (York, 1972). M. R. James, `The Catalogue of the Library of the Augustinian Friars at York', in Fasciculus Joanni Willis Clark dicatus (Cambridge, 1909), pp. 2±96. This is re-presented in Friars' Libraries, ed. Humphreys, the prophecies on pp. 37±97. See also K. W. Humphreys, `The Library of John Erghome and Personal Libraries of the Fourteenth Century in England', Proceedings of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society 18 (1982), 106±23. In using the word `science' I follow the de®nition given by Linda Voigts, citing Mahmoud Manzalaoui: 1) activities that are experimentally sound, mathematically true, or empirically useful (geometry, astronomy, pharmacology, herbal lore); 2) pseudo-sciences or consistent logical systems involving study but which cannot now be substantiated by experimental fact (dream lore, lapidaries, judicial astrology, physiognomy); 3) the occult (alchemy, geomancy, chiromancy). L. E. Voigts, `Scienti®c and Medical Books', in Book Production and Publishing in Britain 1375±1475, ed. J. Grif®ths and D. Pearsall (Cambridge, 1989), pp. 345±402. E. J. Holmyard, Alchemy, 2nd edn (New York, 1990), pp. 153±164; A. De Pascalis, Alchemy, The Golden Art: Secrets of the Oldest Enigma (Rome, 1995), pp. 73±87.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England catalogue are his, Erghome also had an interest in prophecy as language, as well as its usefulness for conveying political messages.74 There are no other associations of this type of material with prophecy until the reign of Henry VII. On the basis of the evidence, or lack of it, this type of association was rare in medieval England; prophecy was related to past and current political history, not to witchcraft, divination of the future or any kind of experimental science. Somewhat surprisingly, the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 has produced no surviving political prophecy. If there was any, it would probably be of the popular, vernacular variety, and would, perhaps, have been suppressed by the authorities when the Revolt was crushed. It remains surprising, however, that if such prophecy did exist, no trace of it remains.75 The `Prophecia Merlini', the Historia Regum Britannie and the Brut were still circulating widely, but all the `new' political prophecies of Richard II's reign have an imperial, crusading bias. The young king's actions at Smith®eld in 1381, apparently riding out alone to prevent bloodshed after the killing of Wat Tyler (in defence, it must be said, of the interests of the very people who formed the audience of political prophecy), must have given proof of his ability to ®ll this roÃle.76 Dublin, Trinity College, MS 172 is an earlier fourteenth-century copy of the Historia Regum Britannie, to which political prophecies have been added. These include `Illius imperium', `Anglia transmittet', `Ter tria lustra', `The Holy Oil of St Thomas', `Lilium regnans' and `Bridlington'. Together with the `Prophecia Merlini' in the Historia Regum Britannie, they cover the whole range of the prophetic hero-ruler's career. Alongside these texts, there is another text not previously known in an English manuscript, `Cesaris imperium': `Cesaris imperium per tempora longa latebit / Et binum gladium longeve papa tenebit' (`The imperium of Caesar will be hidden for a long time, and the pope will hold the two swords for a long time').77 The rule of the emperor is contrasted with that of the papacy. The emperor's power has lain hidden for a long time, whilst his authority has been exercised by the pope.

74

75

76 77

à ge: De Quelques Textes Alchimiques D. Kahn, `LitteÂrature et Alchimie au Moyen A AtribueÂs aÁ Arthur et Merlin', Micrologus 3 (1995), 227±63, suggests that copyists of alchemical texts were making associations between these and the `romance' (I would prefer `prophetic') ®gures of Arthur and of Merlin from the ®fteenth century onwards. This evidence appears to suggest that such associations were being made in the fourteenth century. What Erghome's library does not show is a strong `interest' in political prophecy; this forms a very small part of what is basically the library of a high-ranking academic of the later fourteenth century. It may be possible that the line in `When Rome is Removyd' which says `add an R' may originally have read `add a 2', making the date read 1382; this is attractive, maybe even likely, but not conclusive enough without much further research. N. Saul, Richard II (New Haven, 1997), pp. 68±72. MS Hatton 56, fol. 66v.

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Debate and Crusade 1340±1399 The two swords represent the spiritual and the temporal power of the empire, which the papacy claimed had been given to them by the Donation of Constantine. This text states that the pope is certainly not entitled to both `swords', and implies that he may not be entitled to either. Rather, they belong of right to the emperor. This is a statement of the ideas contained in `Gallorum levitas', that Constantine will fall, the pope will soon die, and `cesar regnabit ubique'. That the hero of this poem is a Roman emperor is reinforced, as in the earlier poem, by the use of the Eagle as his symbol. This Eagle will join forces with a Boar who has caused the downfall of the French; `aquila consurget aprum sibi consociabit' (`the Eagle will rise up, he will ally the Boar with himself '). The fact that the empire has long remained hidden reinforces the link between the hero-emperor and the Roman empire of antiquity, which, it implies, ceased with Constantine, whose successor the new aquila is. The anti-papal theme is also continued, with the implication that papal power exists in opposition to that of the emperor. This papal power of the `two swords' was being discussed in an English context at the beginning of the 1370s, as it is mentioned by the continuator of the Eulogium Historiarum. Under the year 1372, he speaks of a debate about the power of the pope in England. King John, he says, gave his kingdom to the pope without the consent of his barons and his `kingdom', so his gift was not worth anything.78 The French, as in earlier prophecies, fall through their own deceit (fraude sue), and are overcome. Interestingly, the reuni®cation of the island, although present, is extended to cover the kingdom of Aragon, which will be united with Albania.79 This may have been introduced because of the high political pro®le of John of Gaunt's claims to the throne of Castile, and his Spanish expedition of 1387± 9.80 Unlike `Gallorum levitas', or `Illius imperium', this poem does not mention Rome speci®cally. It does mention the urbs in such a way that we may understand it to mean Rome, but this is not made explicit. The writer's knowledge of speci®cally English concerns, as well as his use of Galfridian geography, shows that it is the king of England who is meant to be the hero, although it is unclear whether he is the Eagle or the Boar. There will be many disasters, including an earthquake, as in `Gallorum levitas', accompanied by the fall of the papacy. However, there will not then be a golden age, as in other texts of this type, but a disastrous breakdown of society's moral and 78

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Eulogium Historiarum, ed. Haydon, III, 337±9. This is the beginning of the continuation to 1413. The previous writer ended by noting that in May 1366 parliament had refused to pay a `tribute' to Pope Urban V: Eulogium Historiarum, ed Haydon, II, 329. `Albion albaniam iunget & aragoniam'. For Gaunt's claim see A. Goodman and D. Morgan, `The Yorkist Claim to the Throne of Castile', Journal of Medieval History 2 (1985), 61±9; A. Goodman, John of Gaunt: The Exercise of Princely Power in Fourteenth Century Europe (Harlow, 1992), pp. 111±43; P. Russell, The English Intervention in Spain and Portugal in the time of Edward III (Oxford, 1955).

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England social fabric, from the top downwards: `Pro tholor hoc mundus non spernet episcopus unus / Ut placeant Regi facient contraria legi . . .' (`alas! not one bishop rejects the world / in order to please a king they will do things contrary to the law . . .'). The pope's moral authority is revealed as bankrupt, but this also implies that `true' papacy is desirable ± in this text a reformed papacy, as in `Adam Davy's Dreams'. It is the implication of the text that the power to reform lies, at least in part, with the emperor. It is unclear whether this emperor is the king of England, but the context of the other political prophecies in the manuscript makes it extremely likely that this is the way in which it was understood. In the contemporary BL MS Cotton Titus D. VII, `Cesaris imperium' is placed alongside the `Prophecia Merlini', `Catulus exunctus' (a version of `Catulus linxeis'), `Gallorum levitas', `Regnum scottorum', `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' and extracts from `Anglia transmittet'. These texts reinforce the British and imperial themes, and set them in a background of the sacred, apocalyptic world-ruler.81 In Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 138, a manuscript from Norwich Cathedral Priory, the texts `Catulus leenicus' (another variant of `Catulus linxeis'), `Anglia transmittet' and `Illius imperium' are associated with `Ter tria lustra' and the prophecy of the Erithrean or Babylonian Sibyl, `Equiritis a me', which, like `Sibille generaliter', is also found in theological, apocalyptic contexts.82 The same imperial and British themes are represented here as are present in the Glastonbury manuscript, and `Exquiritis a me' adds the theme of Troy, which is implicit in the `Prophecia Merlini', but which is not present in the other texts of this manuscript, except by allusion.83 The Sibyl is asked to foretell the future of the turba Danae, the descendents of the Trojans, after the fall of Troy. The actors in this drama are all symbolized by animals, as in the `Prophecia Merlini', but the subject is imperial world history, as in `Sibille generaliter'. The greatest ruler of antiquity is the Goat, meant, as in the Book of Daniel, to be Alexander the Great. After him will come a Lamb, Jesus Christ, whose laws will subdue the whole world, but are frequently subverted by ®erce, proud animals who, although initially triumphant, are always overcome in the end. In the Last Days will come a great Lion, with one head and ®fty-®ve feet, `de regali prosapia, affectus macie, habens catulos novem et leenam luxuriosissimam, plenam mendaciis et nominibus blasfemie' (`of a royal lineage, af¯icted with thinness, having nine cubs, and a most lecherous procuress, full of lies and with blasphemous names'). This Lion, and his ally the Goat, will be opposed by a great Eagle, 81

82 83

The local community, in this case the monks of Glastonbury, is made a part of this by the introduction of some local material and the attribution of the anti-fraternal text `Filia syon' to Joseph of Arimathea, reputed founder of the community. For Sibyl Erithraea, see `Italienische Prophetieen', ed Holder-Egger (1889), pp. 154±73. For the relationship between Geoffrey of Monmouth and Troy see F. Ingledew, `The Book of Troy and the Genealogical Construction of History: the Case of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae', Speculum 69 (1994), 665±704.

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Debate and Crusade 1340±1399 and there will be much bloodshed. Although the Lion will be defeated, the Eagle will die and the Lion will be restored. He will ®nally be destroyed by the Eagle's son, who will, however, die without descendants. A few more beasts will then rule, before the End comes: `et abhominatio subsequetur'. In the context of this manuscript, the reader may understand the Eagle to be Edward III and the Eagle's `son' to be his grandson, Richard II, who had no children. This text is quite rare in English historical contexts, being more closely allied with theological eschatology.84 The great ruler is placed in the tradition of Geoffrey of Monmouth as well as of theological eschatology. The rubric says `Versus Gilde de Sexto hibernie', attributing a work which originated in the Middle East and travelled to England by means of continental Europe to a British writer. As a historian, Gildas focused on the coming of the Anglo-Saxons to Britain as God's punishment for the sins of the Britons. This was linked, in the British History of the medieval English, to the coming of the Normans as a punishment for the sins of the Anglo-Saxons.85 In `Exquiritis a me', the fall of another people closely associated with the British History, the Trojan ancestors of Brutus, is the focus of the narrative. The scribe, whether of this manuscript or a previous one, who made the attribution was aware of the links between these events in contemporary histories of England. The other work associated with this group is the preÂcis version of John of Rupescissa's `Vade Mecum in Tribulacione', another work which is theological as well as political. Alongside this group of prophecies is a small selection of chronicle material, with a very little, added, local material, relating to Norwich.86 Also from Norwich is the most interesting of all the manuscripts of Richard II's reign, BL MS Cotton Vespasian E. VIII. This sumptuous volume once belonged to Bishop Henry Despenser, whose episcopate at Norwich coincided approximately with the reign of Richard II himself.87 Henry Despenser was the younger son of the same family which had provided Edward II's unpopular favourites, who left England in his youth to seek military employment as a crusader in the service of Pope Urban VI, who had already employed his elder brother in a similar capacity. Henry Despenser had a successful career as a soldier in the pope's service, and when the rich see of Norwich became available Urban was able to bestow it upon Henry, as he had already taken some form of holy orders. Despenser, therefore, had not 84

85

86

87

This may be the origin of the Eagle's Chick in `Mortuo leone justicie'; the text was known to theological scholars in the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, and was used during the imperial-papal con¯icts of the thirteenth century. This is not only apparent in works such as the Brut, but also in many of the manuscripts in the handlist. It once belonged to Matthew Parker, bishop of Norwich, and was moved to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, with the rest of Parker's library. Perhaps the presence of books such as this at Norwich stimulated the interest of Bishop Despenser. He was bishop of Norwich from 1370±1406, and Richard reigned from 1377±99.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England chosen an ecclesiastical career for himself, and was always ready to don his armour; one of his early acts as bishop was to put down the Peasants' Revolt in East Anglia. It may be that the bishop saw his presentation to Norwich as a step towards enlisting the king of England, and his valuable resources, in the cause of Urban VI. In fact, this may also have been, at least in part, Urban's reason for the appointment. Despenser's ®rst act on returning to English soil was to cause a bloody riot in King's Lynn, where he insisted on having the town mace borne before him in procession, a privilege claimed exclusively by the mayor. Despenser is best remembered historically for his crusade of 1383. Although he ultimately failed in his attack on Flanders, and became the butt of jokes calling him the `King of Ypres', Despenser's motives were entirely genuine, and there were many others who supported him in good faith. The expedition was accorded the status of crusade by Pope Urban. Besides being the crusader of 1383 and an important ®gure in Norfolk, Despenser was a royal councillor after 1388, although Richard II's chosen companions and advisers were more spiritual, less martial men. The contents of BL MS Cotton Vespasian E. VIII are highly idiosyncratic, the ideals of a former crusader and soldier.88 Bishop Henry was not an inconspicuous man; the same is true of his manuscript. The volume is large quarto-sized, excellently produced in a textura quadrata hand, and brilliantly decorated with foliage border decoration, beasts and lion-masks. Many pages are copiously decorated with gold leaf. Its main contents are documents of English, ecclesiastical and imperial history, which include the Flores Historiarum and the Chronicle of Adam Murimuth. There are descriptions of England and of Rome, and of the clergy there, and historical notices about Ireland and Scotland, particularly the rights of the English king and Church over the Scottish. There are the letters of kings and popes, and the correspondence between the emperor Frederick and Saladin, along with lists of emperors, kings and bishops of both East and West. Then there are some more curious items: a list of Edward III's jewels, which he pawned to the abbot of Reading whilst on expedition in France; how the captive Richard I of England invested Henry VI as emperor; and the form of the coronation of, and the coronation oath taken by, Richard II. Most interesting of all is the fact that this manuscript, so striking in the universal, imperial ± and nationalistic ± nature of its contents, begins not with a chronicle, as most historical manuscripts do, but with three prophecies. These are `Catulus lincieus' (`Catulus linxeis' again), `Lilium regnans' and `The Holy Oil of St Thomas'. 88

R. Allington-Smith, `Not Yorkist but anti-Lancastrian: Henry Despenser, Bishop of Norwich', The Ricardian 10 (1994), 16±18. For the lack of literary in¯uence of the king on his council see J. W. Sherborne, `Aspects of English Court Culture in the Later Fourteenth Century', in English Court Culture, ed. Scattergood and Sherborne, pp. 1±27.

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Debate and Crusade 1340±1399 In a manuscript which was planned and created as a de luxe volume for, and probably with considerable input by, its possessor, this is not coincidental. These texts are intended to tell the reader about the vision which lies behind the rest of the material. The manuscript presents the king of England as the conquering, crusading, world-ruling emperor who is also the Galfridian hero who will reunite the island and be sancti®ed by his kingship. This king is Richard II, to whom Despenser was unswervingly loyal, even after Richard's deposition.89 The bishop's arms appear throughout the manuscript, but his portrait, with that of Richard II, appears on the ®rst folio. Bishop and king are portrayed in medallions at the top corners of fol. 1r., the bishop on the reader's left and the king on the right. This leaves no doubt as to the nature of the contents, or the nature of the relationship between the two men which the manuscript is intended to construct. The text immediately below the portraits is `Catulus linxeis'. Despenser saw himself as a crusader and servant of the pope, but always in the service of his own king, his own people and his own nation. Such beliefs are entirely consistent with those displayed in contemporary manuscripts and texts such as `Cesaris imperium', `Exquiritis a me' and `Adam Davy's Dreams'. Most sources agree that it is from Richard's reign that we have Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud misc. 22, which contains, along with material about Roman and Eastern saints and the Middle English `Siege of Jerusalem', the only surviving text of `Adam Davy's Dreams'. The relationship between Richard II and the fate of his grandfather Edward II, the subject of `Adam Davy's Dreams', was a close one. As early as 1383 Richard arranged for Edward's anniversary to be celebrated annually at Gloucester Abbey, where he had been interred. In 1385 he began to petition the pope for Edward to be made a saint. The bishop of London and the archbishop of Canterbury compiled a book of Edward's miracles, which was sent to the pope, and negotiations culminated in an embassy led by Richard Scrope, bishop of Coventry and Lich®eld, in 1397±8. The process ended in 1399 with Richard's deposition. Whether or not this was an attempt by Richard to sanctify Edward's `massive territorial aggrandizement' at the expense of the house of Lancaster in 1322, or to counter the growing popularity of the cult of Thomas of Lancaster in the late 1380s, it certainly was intended to remove the stain on royal reputation which resulted from the deposition and murder of Edward II. This Richard, with his elevated ideas of kingship, regarded as a personal affront.90 Richard II demonstrated a preference, especially after the death of his wife, for the company of Dominican and Franciscan friars; members of these 89 90

Saul, Richard II, p. 410. C. Given-Wilson, `Richard II, Edward II and the Lancastrian Inheritance', EHR 109 (1994), 553±71; R. H. Jones, The Royal Policy of Richard II: Absolutism in the Later Middle Ages (Oxford, 1968), pp. 76±87.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England orders were prominent among those who died for the Ricardian cause under Henry IV.91 They were noted for their zeal and piety at this time, and Richard's chosen intimates in the 1390s were monks and students of theology.92 These men taught, and Richard believed, that reverence for royal authority was part of a Christian's sacred duty, and this was bolstered, in the ®nal decade of Richard's reign, by devout attention to the symbols, liturgy and theology of kingship. These are an essential part of the ethos of `Adam Davy's Dreams', which may even have been Franciscan in origin, as some of its ideas probably were.93 It may be that the monks of Norwich used their account of Richard's coronation to perform some kind of liturgical act in the cathedral, accompanied by the singing of the Laudes Regiae.94 Richard also had a special relationship with the royal saint, Edward the Confessor, who appears, along with John the Baptist, as the king's sponsor in the Wilton Diptych. This is an artistic representation of the ideas of kingship evident in `Adam Davy's Dreams', the God-given majesty of the imperial, sacred monarch.95 King Richard had his own tomb built close to the Confessor's shrine in Westminster Abbey, and quartered his own arms with those of the saint.96 The same ideas of imperial and sacred kingship lay behind the ceremonial reception of the king and queen in London in 1392, commemorated in a contemporary poem by Richard Maidstone, Carmelite friar and confessor to John of Gaunt.97 The king is angry with London, who has earned his displeasure, and she must sue for his favour. He has been pleased to restore his favour to London, but the city must indulge in a display of total submission to the royal authority. The city is thus personi®ed, a personi®cation made physical in the presence of the city of®cials who kneel 91 92 93

94 95

96

97

Jones, Royal Policy, p. 169; Eulogium Historiarum, ed. Haydon, III, 390±3. Jones, Royal Policy, p. 169. On the subject of the apocalyptic background and Christological imagery of `Adam Davy's Dreams', note the similarity between the picture of King Edward in the prophetic text and that of the Christ/Piers ®gure in Langland; Piers Plowman by William Langland: An Edition of the C-Text, ed. D. Pearsall (London, 1978), pp. 342±3. Kantorowicz, Laudes Regiae, pp. 96±7. F. Wormald, `The Wilton Diptych', JCWI 17 (1954), 191±203; J. H. Harvey, `The Wilton Diptych, A Re-Examination', Archaeologia 98 (1961), 1±28; for its link with the crusade and the peace with France in 1395, Tyerman, England and the Crusades, p. 297; Making and Meaning: The Wilton Diptych, ed. D. Gordon (London, 1993). Binski, Westminster Abbey, pp. 119±205. Binski calls Richard's full-face portrait in the Abbey `an audacious icon of power' (p. 204). Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, II, 282±99, for the text: comments by Rigg, Anglo-Latin Literature, pp. 285±6. For background, see R. Bird, The Turbulent London of Richard II (London, 1969); A. R. Myers, London in the Age of Chaucer (Norman OK, 1974); M. James, `Ritual, Drama and the Social Body in the Late Medieval English Town', PP 98 (1983), 3±29. Maidstone did not live to see the fall of Richard II; he died at the Carmelite convent of Aylesford, Kent, in 1396, at the height of Richard's power.

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Debate and Crusade 1340±1399 before Richard and Anne; the relationship between king and city is essentially the relationship of two individuals. This is very much like the relationship portrayed by texts such as `Gallorum levitas' and `Gens barbara'. London is New Troy, falling at the feet of her king, who is the Sun. Maidstone sets out the relationship between the king and the city implicit in texts such as `Gallorum levitas', `Gens barbara' and `Cesaris imperium' ± the New Troy, the new Rome, is the emperor's wife; she is also described as his `bedchamber'. The city has been ®ckle and faithless, but the king has forgiven her in his love, mercy and care.98 Biblical allusions are used to portray the king as Christ: `Psallite, nunc, vices, regi nunc psallite vestro, / En! rex vester adest . . .' (`Sing, now, choristers, sing now to your king / Behold, your king is coming . . .').99 The queen, too, is presented in a personal relationship with the great imperial city: `Pulchra quidem pulchris stat circumcincta puellis, / Vincit Amazonibus Troja novella sub his' (`Beauty indeed stands surrounded by beautiful ladies, / New Troy conquers with these Amazons').100 Queen Anne and her ladies are exoticised, in the same way as the Amazons who appear in contemporary courtly romance.101 The images used to display the relationship of city and queen are, therefore, different from those used to show the relationship of city and king. City and king are one, in the sense that neither can exist without the other, and this relationship can be enshrined in political discourses like prophecy. The same discourses cannot explain the relationship between the queen and the city; she is seen as a heroine of romance, not of prophecy. It has been said that ideas of sacred majesty were inspired by Richard II, with his displays of regal magni®cence, and the symbolism which he publicly employed, and by the language which his councillors used to address him.102 This may be so, but the use of prophecy shows that this was how Richard's people wanted to see their king. Richard II may have sponsored a `court culture' centred on the divine nature of the king's majesty, but his ideas, indeed his vision, of the king of England's glorious status, which was also that of his country and his people, was mirrored by the aspirations of many of his people.103 Like Edward III, Richard II may not have used prophetic discourse himself, but the images of kingship he presented were interpreted and expressed as prophecy by some of his subjects, including Henry Despenser. In the years before the `tyranny' of 1397±9, Richard II was not seen as the great tyrant or the feckless young man presented by historians 98

99 100 101 102 103

Actually, she had given him a `gift' of £10,000 to regain his favour. Saul, Richard II, pp. 259, 343±4 and 438. Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, I, 285. Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, I, 286. For example, in Chaucer's `Knight's Tale'. N. Saul, `Richard II and the Vocabulary of Kingship', EHR 110 (1995), 854±77. G. Mathew, The Court of Richard II (London, 1968).

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England after his fall, but as the great ruler who would ful®l prophecy; in particular the ruler who would lead a great apocalyptic crusade. There is no hint, in political prophecies written or copied before he was deposed, of any of the `crimes' of which Richard was declared guilty in and after 1399.104

104

Select Documents of English Constitutional History, 1307±1485, ed. S. B. Chrimes and A. L. Brown (London, 1961), pp. 184±93.

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CHAPTER FIVE

The Imperial Hero 1399±1440 The deposition of Richard II has been studied by generations of historians and the events of 1399 do not need to be repeated in detail here. In September 1398 Richard interrupted a duel at Coventry, in which the duke of Norfolk was preparing to defend himself against charges of treason levelled by Henry Bolingbroke, earl of Hereford and eldest son of John of Gaunt. Norfolk and Hereford were both exiled, one for life and the other for ten years, but Hereford's exile was extended to life four months later, when Gaunt died. This enabled the king to seize the duchy of Lancaster, to which Hereford was the heir. Bolingbroke made common cause with another exile, Thomas Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury, with whom he returned in July 1399, ostensibly to claim his inheritance. The returning exiles were met by members of the disaffected Percy family: the earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland, and Northumberland's son Henry Hotspur. Richard II was captured, and a `parliament' summoned in Richard's name declared him deposed. On 30 September the estates of the realm renounced their homage, and Henry Bolingbroke was declared Henry IV. This shows far more purpose on the king's part, and is far more speci®c, than the charges against Edward II, and political prophecies made in an attempt to rationalize the situation could be expected to show the same tendencies. The prophecy `Asinus coronatus' does not appear in English manuscripts until the early years of the ®fteenth century; that is, in the reign of Henry IV. The image of the Crowned Ass is an obvious parody of the Crowned King, seated in majesty, bearing the symbols of his power, a manner in which Richard II is to be seen in his Westminster Abbey portrait and in Maidstone's poem about the London pageant. We are told that Richard liked to sit in state for hours at a time, and anyone he looked at had to kneel.1 It was presumably on these occasions, or when he sat in Parliament, that his of®cers would have used, if they did so use, the `new-fangled' forms of address castigated by Walsingham. `Asinus coronatus' takes one of the best-known, public images of the monarch and replaces it with the burlesque. There is a hint of this in the rex insensatus of `Bridlington', but in 1

Saul, Richard II, p. 342.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England `The King Who Will Find the Holy Cross' the Ass is one of the names assigned to the hero. The image as it is used in `Asinus coronatus' is closer to that used by John of Salisbury in the fourth book of his Policraticus, where he discusses kingship, tyranny, and the people's right to depose tyrants: `rex illiteratus est quasi asinus coronatus' (an unintelligent king is like a crowned ass).2 It may be that the prophecy writer had the Policraticus in mind when he wrote, as `Asinus coronatus' was written in the years following the deposition of Richard II. The writer makes it clear that his subject is a king; there are asses in the `Prophecia Merlini', but they are not, as this Ass is, crowned. The ass was simple and slow, was made for carrying burdens, and was easy for people to sit and ride upon. Fair when young, the ass became ever uglier as it grew older: Ande is a malencolik beste ‡at is colde and druye and is ‡erfore kyndeliche heuy, slowh, and lustiles, dulle and witles and for¿etful. Na¿eles he bere‡ ber‡enes and may with trauayle and ‡raldome.3

The king is meant to be the most noble of men, the image of God in majesty, and yet this king is the image of the most ignoble of beasts, not a ruler but a thrall. As he gets older, he becomes worse. The use of the Ass image implies that the king's personality and judgement are defective. Contemporary historical writing makes the same implication about the personality of Richard II: The cheuyteyns cheef that ye chesse euere, Weren all to yonge of yeris to yeme swyche a rewme, Other hobbis ye hadden of Hurlewaynis kynne, Reffusyng the reule of realles kynde.

In this way, a contemporary poem on his deposition presents the young, feckless Richard, although in reality Richard was very close in age to Henry Bolingbroke, who is held up as an example of sage maturity.4 John Gower says that Richard took to himself `the poisonous counsels of brash youths', and that he did this because he was himself `lacking in righteousness'.5 The Ass is guilty of the chief sins of a tyrant: . . . accumulabit sibi diuicias multas & se super omnes exaltabit in superbia magna. Reputabit se non habere parem sibi in omnibus bestiis universe terre . . . gentem iuramentis ligare putabit ut sic desuper eos pelles euellet.

2 3 4

5

Peters, Shadow King, pp. 83±4; Le Goff, `Le Roi dans l'Occident MedieÂvale', p. 25. On the Properties of Things, ed. Seymour, II, 1120. `Richard the Redeless', in The Piers Plowman Tradition: A Critical Edition of Pierce the Ploughman's Crede, Richard the Redeless, Mum and the Sothsegger, and The Crowned King, ed. H. Barr (London, 1993), p. 107. Major Latin Works, ed. and trans. Stockton, p. 290.

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The Imperial Hero 1399±1440 (`He will gather to himself many riches and he will exalt himself above all in great pride. He will claim that he has no equal among all the beasts of the entire world . . . he will aim to bind the people with oaths in order that thus he might strip off their hides from above.')6

The king is therefore a thief, who takes money from the people to spend in ostentatious display for its own sake (i.e. not to bene®t his kingly status or that of his country). He is proud, in that he thinks he is greater than all other beasts in the world (although this is, of course, what other prophecies quite legitimately say of Richard II) and he has attempted to subvert the law to his own advantage, which is contrary to that of his people: . . . R. ab H. distare videtur! Clarus sermone, tenebrosus et intus agone, R. Pacem ®ngit, dum mortis federa stringit: Duplex cautelis fuit R., pius H. que ®delis; R. pestem mittit, mortem pius H. que remittit; R. seruitutem statuit, pius H. que salutem; R. plebem taxat, taxas pius H. que relaxat; R. proceres odit et eorum predia rodit, H. fouet, heredesque suas restaurat in edes; R. regnum vastat vindex et in omnibus astat, Mulset terrorem pius H., que reducit amorem. (`. . . O how different R seems from H! Brilliant of speech yet inwardly dark with suffering, R made a pretence of peace even as he drew tight the bonds of death. R let loose destruction and the merciful H forsook bloodshed. R decreed servitude, and the merciful H, well-being. R laid taxes upon the people and the merciful H alleviated their taxes. R hated the nobles and plundered their estates; H cherished them and restored their heirs to their homes. The vindictive R laid waste his kingdom and stood over everyone; H mitigated fear and brought back brotherly love.')7

Richard was not directly accused of tyranny in the articles of accusation presented to the parliamentary assembly of 1399, but this is how his `crimes' were viewed. The substance of these articles, although they were both more numerous and more detailed than the accusations made in `Asinus coronatus', 6 7

Cambridge, University Library, MS Gg. iv. 25, fol. 64. `Cronica Tripertita', in Complete Works of John Gower, ed. Macaulay, IV, 314±43 (p. 342); Major Latin Works, ed. and trans. Stockton, p. 325. Stockton adds the full names `Richard' (for `R') and `Henry' (for `H'), but I have removed them, as Gower intended only the initials. There is a large literature about John Gower as a political and moral poet: J. H. Fisher, John Gower, Moral Philosopher and Friend of Chaucer (London, 1965); G. R. Coffman, `John Gower, Mentor for Royalty: Richard II', PMLA 69 (1954), 953±64; F. Grady, `The Lancastrian Gower and the Limits of Exemplarity', Speculum 70 (1995), 552±75; E. Porter, `Gower's Ethical Microcosm and Political Macrocosm', in Gower's Confessio Amantis: Responses and Reassessments, ed. A. J. Minnis (Cambridge, 1983), pp. 135±62.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England point to the same general conclusions.8 The Ass goes to the island in the West, not because of the political situation there (the real reason for Richard II's expedition to Ireland in 1399), but because he is so proud and greedy that the boundaries of his kingdom are not good enough for him. This is blatantly untrue in reality, as kings of England were also the lords of Ireland. The prophecy makes another accusation, saying `mulieres mundum diliget sed non seminabit fructum prilantem [sic] in eis' (`he will love money and women, but he will not sow worthy [?] fruit in them'). This must be an allusion to the fact that Richard and the queen, `glistening in her jewels', who was so adored by Maidstone, had failed to produce any children.9 This is seen as the king's fault; the writer is implying that Richard failed to get any return on the country's investment.10 Producing heirs was one duty which all the kings of England since Richard I, whether good or bad in other ways, had managed to perform. After this, one particular beast, who has previously been exiled, will return. Whilst on the sea journey to face the Ass, he will transform into a Bull. It is hard not to conclude that the Bull, although he is portrayed as a saviour in `Asinus coronatus', is not a very prominent character in the text. The main character is the anti-hero, the Ass, whose nature and activities take up about two-thirds of the text. This agrees with other evidence that, in the eyes of some, Henry IV found it hard to escape from the ghost of Richard II.11 Whether as `Caesar' or as the Crowned Ass, Richard remained, even in death, larger than life in the eyes of prophecy's audience. The Bull will be helped by the light of the Moon, which will be hidden behind the clouds, but will then shine clearly again.12 The Crescent Moon, called the Moon with Two Horns in the text, was the badge of the house of Percy, whose leaders and supporters provided invaluable help to Henry Bolingbroke in 1399. This is a rare instance of an identi®able noble family featuring in this type of prophecy, re¯ecting the important roÃle that the Percy family was seen to play, and for which they were handsomely rewarded by Henry IV, in the events of 1399±1405.13 A government propaganda text would be highly unlikely to do this, so, despite its clear denigration of Richard II, it would be unwise to consider this an of®cial Lancastrian propaganda text. This 8 9

10 11

12 13

C. M. Barron, `The Tyranny of Richard II', BIHR 41 (1968), 1±18. Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, II, 286: `Sternitur ex gemmis nitidis sparsim sua vestis, / Ad caput a planta nil nisi gemma patet'. Anne died, childless, in 1394. Saul, Richard II, pp. 455±7. P. McNiven, `Rebellion, Sedition and the Legend of Richard II's Survival in the Reigns of Henry IV and Henry V', BJRL 76 (1994), 243±87; P. Strohm, `The Trouble with Richard: The Reburial of Richard II and Lancastrian Symbolic Strategy', Speculum 71 (1996), 87±111. `obducta nubibus postea resplendisset'. For the Percies, J. M. W. Bean, `Henry IV and the Percies', History 44 (1959), 212±7; J. M. W. Bean, The Estates of the Percy Family 1416±1537 (Oxford, 1958). For background, A.Tuck, Richard II and the English Nobility (London, 1973); A. Tuck, `War and Society in the Medieval North', Northern History 21 (1985), 33±52.

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The Imperial Hero 1399±1440 does not negate the possibility that it originated as propaganda on behalf of the Percies and their supporters. That it became associated with the fall of Richard II is shown by its inclusion in BL MS Cotton Faustina B. IX, where it has been added at the end of a chronicle from St Albans Abbey, following entries for the year 1399. The text was an apt commentary upon the current political situation, as viewed from the intellectual environment of men such as Thomas Walsingham, a member of the St Albans community in 1399. The manuscript also contains material from Melrose Abbey, just north of the contemporary Anglo-Scottish border, and could have been the property of the monks of Melrose. If this is true, the manuscript demonstrates how the political views, and prophecies, of a religious community such as St Albans, could be `exported' to other communities. BL MS Royal 13. E. IX does originate at St Albans, and is dated c. 1400. This contains Walsingham's Historia Anglicana, along with world history, Mandeville's travels and some early British genealogies. Alongside these are `Lilium regnans', `The Last Kings of the English' and `The Holy Oil of St Thomas'. At the end, a contemporary hand has added `Cedrus alta libani', the prophecy about the fall of the pope as contained in Matthew Paris' Chronica Maiora, also a St Albans work. The presence of `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' in a St Albans manuscript contemporary with Thomas Walsingham is interesting, as the text was used by Walsingham in the Historia Anglicana to show God's rejection of Richard II and his acceptance of Henry Bolingbroke as rightful king. Walsingham describes how the golden eagle in the stone ampulla, which contained the oil, was hidden for many years, until a holy man discovered it by divine revelation, and gave it to Henry, ®rst duke of Lancaster, who gave it to the Black Prince. He kept the oil in the Tower of London, until he should be anointed king with it. When he died, it lay forgotten in the Tower. In 1399, Richard II found the eagle and ampulla whilst examining some of his late father's possessions, with the prophecy explaining its signi®cance. He asked Thomas Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury, to re-anoint him with the oil, but Thomas refused, saying that one anointing should be enough. Richard took the eagle and ampulla with him to Ireland in 1399, but after the king's fall Arundel kept the oil in case there should be some future king worthy of the anointing.14 Walsingham's account has formed the basis for an assertion, frequently made by historians, that Henry IV used the holy oil prophecy as dynastic propaganda. In support of this, historians have cited Henry's relationship with Canterbury and its archbishop. Thomas Arundel, exiled by Richard II in 1398, had a close relationship with Henry, who was eventually buried in his cathedral at Canterbury, rather than at Westminster.15 Henry's second son was called Thomas, although this may have been less due to saintly devotion 14 15

Historia Anglicana, ed. Riley, II, 239. On Arundel, see M. Aston, Thomas Arundel: A Study of Church Life in the Reign of Richard II (Oxford, 1967).

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England and more to the reputation of his great ancestor, Thomas of Lancaster. Henry IV, and his mentor Arundel, may have made much of the use of Becket's oil at the coronation, hence the attention drawn by Henry's subsequent detractors to the fact that, when the ceremonial cap with which the king's head was covered after the anointing was removed, Henry's hair was found to be full of lice. A coronation was a great public occasion, with which such imagemaking was bound to be associated, but there is no evidence that Henry's government of®cially circulated the prophetic text as part of its propaganda. Walsingham evidently knew the prophecy, for the details are textually correct. The story may have come from a source close to the archbishop, for Arundel is central to the tale. He is the bearer entrusted with the oil, and he, not the pope, as in the original story, decides who will or will not be anointed with it. In another source Arundel is called `Thomas, successor to Thomas', identifying him with Becket.16 Arundel may have sought such comparisons, but it is hardly likely that, at least after the immediate political crisis was over, Henry IV would have acquiesced in the grandiose claims made by Walsingham's story. Richard II's deposition was the kind of event around which stories gathered, and this represents one of them.17 As far as political prophecy is concerned, it does not matter whether Henry IV used anointing with the oil as propaganda: it is the interpretation of his actions in terms of prophecy which matters. If people knew of the king's consecration, and turned to `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' because of it, this was their interpretation, not one which needed to be forced upon them. The ostentatious use of the oil at the coronation ceremony was suf®cient encouragement for them to do this. A similar picture of Richard as tyrant is painted in `Vulpis cum cauda'. The Fox, `a fals beste and deceyuable', rejoices with the `pernicious clergy', as `siccantur stagna iusticiae spina tacebatur' (`the pools are dried up and the thorn of justice is silent').18 The fox's tail, his most visible distinguishing feature, may be a reference to Richard's evil counsellors, or to those of his court who were perceived to be his `hangers-on'. `Vulpis cum cauda' ®rst appears in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson D. 1230, alongside documents relating to Richard II's renunciation of power and Henry Bolingbroke's subsequent challenge in Parliament, and the text `Bruti posteritas', about the reuni®cation of Britain. The new king was associated by some with Galfridian, British prophecy, and this was related directly to the deposition of Richard II. BL MS Royal 15 C. XVI, dated c. 1400, contains the `Prophecia aquile', with its stress on dynasty and nation (`Arbor fertilis'), and Galfridian 16

17

18

Sandquist's view is more sceptical than that put forward by J. W. McKenna, `The Coronation Oil of the Yorkist Kings', EHR 82 (1967), 102±4. For example, Brut, ed. Brie, II, 590; Adam of Usk, ed. Thompson, p. 42. For Walsingham as a mirror of changing perceptions, see G. B. Stow, `Richard II in Thomas Walsingham', Speculum 59 (1984), 68±102. On the Properties of Things, ed. Seymour, II, p. 1263.

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The Imperial Hero 1399±1440 reuni®cation under a deliverer from over the seas, in association with the Historia Regum Britannie.19 It was the property of Henry Spycer, a canon of Windsor from 1402 to 1437. Various monks of Worcester continued to add political prophecies to a small copy of the Historia Regum Britannie, now Cambridge, University Library, MS Kk. vi. 16. A contemporary manuscript containing the `Prophecia Merlini' shows that an interest in the Galfridian view of politics was not limited to the theologically orthodox. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Digby 98 is a composite manuscript, owned by one Peter Partridge, who annotated and updated some of the texts during the course of his studies at Oxford.20 The manuscript originally contained two letters, said to be by Wyclif. Partridge was the man who was said to have introduced Peter Payne to the teachings of Wyclif, whilst Payne was still at Oxford (he graduated in October 1406). Partridge later abjured his Wyclif®te beliefs, and was made chancellor of Lincoln in 1424, under another former Lollard, Bishop Philip Repingdon. He disputed publicly with Payne at the Council of Constance in 1433, but it is not clear whether he actively persecuted Lollards in the diocese.21 The Lollard compiler of Dublin, Trinity College, MS 244 included among the texts in his collection the prophetic `Last Age of the Church'.22 Although this is essentially an apocalyptic text, intended to encourage the heterodox faithful in dif®cult times, it looks forward to the great rex futurus: Herwi‡ acordi‡ Merlyn Ambrose ‡at such angusche [i.e. persecution] is ny¿e for as by hem in ‡e tyme of ‡e myscheif of ‡e kok ‡at we clepe Fraunce ‡at schal be distroyed by ‡e sixte of irlond ‡e witt is our kyng wi‡ his children. Sibille acordi‡ herto ‡at suche tribulacioun is ny¿e in ‡es verse: Gallus sucintus aquile victricia signa / Mundus adorabit est urbs vix presule digna / Papa cito moritur Sesor regnabit ubique / Sub quo tunc ana cessabit gloria cleri.

The Lollard writer, and his audience, see Sextus' reform of the Church in their own way. Their own `poor preachers' are the godly clerics who will help the 19

20

21

22

Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson B. 189, possibly early ®fteenth century, also contains the `Prophecia aquile'. L. E. Voigts, `Scienti®c and Medical Books', p. 356; K. Harris, `The RoÃle of Owners in Book Production and the Book Trade', in Book Production and Publishing in Britain, ed. Grif®ths and Pearsall, pp. 163±199 (pp. 173±4). The then bishop of Lincoln, Philip Repingdon, was another former Lollard, whose record was better for pursuing heretics than for actively punishing them. Anne Hudson suspects that Repingdon never ceased being sympathetic to Lollards: A. Hudson, The Premature Reformation (Oxford, 1988), p. 158; H. B. Workman, John Wyclif: A Study of the English Medieval Church, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1926), II, 352 for Partridge. In June 1435 Partridge was attacked and left for dead by the dean of Lincoln's men. He died, and was buried in Lincoln Cathedral, in 1451. Interestingly, one `partrich' has added his name to Cambridge, University Library, MS Kk. vi. 16. The Last Age of the Church ed. J. H. Todd (Dublin, 1840).

163

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England great rex futurus to ful®l his apocalyptic destiny. This places the Lollards ®rmly within the national community, of which they must have seen themselves as an important part. They, like the rest of prophecy's audience, perceived themselves as playing an important part in the relationship of king, people and nation. They were equally patriotic and equally nationalist, just like Peter Partridge, with the `Prophecia Merlini' in his academic notebook. To the copyist of MS Trinity College 244, `oure kyng' would have been Henry IV, but the text may date from the later years of Edward III. In his commentary on `Bridlington', the orthodox John Erghome had said that the ageing king would be supported in his intercessions for the people of England by his loyal, apostolic clergy. Wyclif®tes did not have different political beliefs; they held different beliefs about the identity of the apostolic clergy whose duty it was to uphold king, people and nation with their prayers. Another prophetic text which has been associated by historians with Henry IV is `Bridlington'. There is no apparent connection between the Bull as a symbol in `Asinus coronatus' and the Bull as a hero in `Bridlington', although Henry's chief supporters, the Percies, as lords of Holderness, would have known the place and, probably, also the text. Henry's wife's family, the Bohuns, were important patrons of the Augustinian Order in England, and Humphrey Bohun, for whom John Erghome had written his commentary on `Bridlington', had been the father of Henry's ®rst wife, Mary. Immediately after his accession, on 4 October 1399, Henry granted privileges to the burgesses of Beverley `in honour of the glorious and blessed confessor (i.e. John of Bridlington, supposed author of the prophetic text), whose body lies buried in the church of Beverley', a grant repeated on 24 May 1403.23 St John's body was translated on 11 May 1404, but the Lancastrian kings continued to patronize Bridlington Priory, and to honour its saint. Two manuscripts of likely late fourteenth or early ®fteenth century date contain `Bridlington', one in association with `Ter tria lustra', the text concerned with the great apocalyptic world-ruler who is ®nally sancti®ed. It is, however, doubtful that `Bridlington' was circulated deliberately by Henry IV's government for propaganda purposes; if this was the case, then the evidence that such measures could be dangerously counter-productive was soon manifest. The Eulogium Historiarum continuator tells of the arrest, trial and execution of several friars in the spring and early summer of 1402, including eight Franciscans from Leicester, Northampton and Nottingham, on the grounds that they were preaching that Richard II was still alive, and planning to help restore him to the throne. According to the continuator, one of these friars, a learned `old master', cited the `Bridlington' verses as evidence for Richard's survival.24 Unfortunately, the continuator does not detail the friar's argument 23

24

J. H. Wylie, The History of England under Henry the Fourth, 4 vols. (London, 1884), I, p. 272. Eulogium Historiarum, ed. Haydon, III, 390±3.

164

The Imperial Hero 1399±1440 with relation to the text. This appeal to political prophecy was not uncharacteristic in the continuation to the Eulogium Historiarum, as the original also contained political prophecies: `Anglia transmittet', `Ter tria lustra', `Lilium regnans' and a paraphrase of `The Holy Oil of St Thomas'. The episode concerning the friars shows, apart from the fact that `Bridlington' was known in the west Midlands, that a prophetic text could be potentially dangerous in the hands of the discontented and the disaffected.25 Particularly dangerous was the opaque language of popular prophecies such as the `Erceldoune' verses. In December 1403 the abbot of St John's Abbey in Colchester was accused of preaching about the ful®lment of a prophecy, related to the instructions given to one of the servants of the countess of Oxford, that he was to guide a French army to Northampton, where they would be met by the `risen' Richard II. A `dead man rising' is one of the features of prophetic verses such as `The Cock in the North', which survives in manuscript form only from the middle of the ®fteenth century, but which represents an oral tradition which may be much older. According to contemporary sources, predictions of many kinds, originating in popular and folk traditions, accompanied the deposition of Richard and abounded in the years immediately after.26 These `coded messages', unlike the political prophecies of Latin, literary tradition, could be interpreted in many ways because of the opacity of their language. Like all codes, they were potentially subversive. In 1406, Parliament acted against `false prophecies', which were reputedly being used by Lollards and their allies to say that Richard still lived.27 This was only à r's aimed at the banning of `false' prophecies, and was a reaction to Glyn Dw rebellion of 1406, in which this type of political prophecy was associated with the rebel cause. Prophetic texts such as `Bridlington', `Anglia transmittet', `Lilium regnans', `Ter tria lustra' and `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' continued to circulate, but those of the `Erceldoune' tradition did not. It may, of course, be purely a matter of survival, but no texts of this type of political prophecy are extant in manuscripts before the middle of the ®fteenth century. It seems likely, therefore, that this is the type of political prophecy which was considered to be `false' by those in authority who made the decisions about a text's veracity. There is a further piece of evidence to support this view, contained in an early ®fteenth-century sermon from a collection in the Bodleian Library.28 The 25

26

27 28

Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS 851 contains `Bridlington', with a poem on the battle of Neville's Cross and the death of Archbishop Scrope, executed as a traitor in 1405 on Henry IV's orders. Scrope was considered a martyr by many in the North, and later by Yorkist supporters. For this, and for prophecies of the Welsh rebellion, see. J. H. Wylie, Henry the Fourth, Ã r, Mortimer and II, 375±8 and 380±1. Wylie alleges that all the main rebels, Glyn Dw the Percies, all had their own versions of a prophecy akin to `The Cock in the North', but he does not give evidence for this statement. Taylor, Political Prophecy, pp. 104±5. A. J. Fletcher, Preaching, Politics and Poetry in Late Medieval England (Dublin, 1998), pp. 160±66.

165

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England preacher exhorts laypeople to respect the of®ce of priesthood, and those who carry it out. He attacks those members of the laity who do not show respect for priests: Many of these ley pepyll despise prestholde, ne they take none hede to ‡e worde of God. They ¿efe no credens to ‡e Scripture of almy¿ti God. Thei take more hede to these wanton pro®cijs, as Thomas of Arsildowne [and Robyn Hoode], and soche sympyll maters, but ‡ei ¿efe not so fast credens [to] the prophettis of God . . .29

The voice of the preacher represents the voice of authority, and his sermon presents social (and therefore political) harmony in terms of a song, in which the three parts, `a trebill, a mene and a tenor', must all sing in tune. `Wanton pro®cijs' like `Erceldoune' are out of tune and, therefore, disruptive of social and political life. They are also described as `sympyll maters', which distract laypeople from believing God's own prophets, who are listed as Isaiah, Jeremiah, David, Daniel and the twelve prophets (i.e. apostles) of God. They are associated with the Robin Hood stories, also representative of popular, and potentially subversive, culture. This distinguishes the `Erceldoune' material from the political prophecies which are part of theological and literary culture, associated with education and with God-given wisdom. The latter serve to uphold, sustain and even deify the monarch, whereas the former are a manifestation of popular political discontent. The position of Henry IV, that of his grandson and even that of his son Henry V, was not so dynastically secure that they could tolerate such subversive material. Historical writers used prophecy to demonstrate the legitimacy of Henry IV's claim to rule. In his Tripartite Chronicle, John Gower follows the deposition of Richard II, and Gower's exposition of Henry IV's title to the throne, with the creation of the king's son Henry (the future Henry V) as prince of Wales: Henrici natus Henricus, honore beatus, Est con®rmatus heres Princepsque vocatus Sic pars abscisa, summo de iudice visa, Arboris est uncta veteri stipitique reiuncta. Istud fatatum fuit a sanctisque relatum, Quod tunc compleuit deus, ex quo terra quieuit. (`Blessed with honour, Henry the son of Henry was con®rmed as heir and named Prince. Thus the part of the tree which had been cut off was anointed in the sight of the highest Judge and rejoined to its former trunk. That was foretold and prophesied by the saints, God then ful®lled it, and the land grew peaceful because of it.') 30 29 30

Fletcher, Preaching, Politics and Poetry, p. 162. Complete Works of John Gower, ed. Macaulay, IV, 339; Major Latin Works, ed. and trans. Stockton, p. 322.

166

The Imperial Hero 1399±1440 This is a reference to the text `Arbor fertilis', the prophecy of Edward the Confessor. Gower was either unaware of the text's origin, or, like other details in his version of the events of the 1390s, he chose to ignore it. Here Gower is implying that the creation of Henry as prince of Wales is somehow restoring the rightful succession. This may be a reference to Henry IV's claim to be descended from Edmund Crouchback, the legendary elder son of Henry III, who resigned his right to rule in favour of his brother Edward I, because of his disability.31 This may be why Gower does not say that the prophecy is attributed to Edward the Confessor, a fact which he is very likely to have known, as the attribution was frequent. By calling the prince of Wales `Henry, son of Henry', he is calling to mind the other Henry, Henry III, from whom Henry IV was claiming a prior right to the throne by direct descent from the rightful heir. This denies the claims of the three Edwards and Richard II, the last of whom had had a special association with the Confessor. In the context of a defence of Henry IV's title to the throne, even the use of the name `Edward' would have had unwelcome associations with Henry's predecessors. Adam of Usk maintained that Henry's arrival as a national saviour from his exile ful®lled the prophecies of Merlin and `Bridlington'. In the margin of the manuscript, where Usk tells how Henry's army surrounded the castle of Flint, a hand has added `illam propheciam implendo ``Rex albus et nobilis ad modum scuti, etc . . .'' ' This is the White King, from a version of the `Prophecia aquile'. Henry is being understood in the roÃle of the Eagle's Chick, the imperial saviour who crosses the seas to destroy the power of the White King, and who will eventually reunite the island of Britain.32 This, and the use of prophecy in the Tripartite Chronicle, shows that there was a view of Henry IV which was based on the imperial warrior-hero. It also shows that older texts were still being re-interpreted in the light of recent events. At the end of a Latin poem he addressed to King Henry, in which he presents Henry as God's Anointed and `pie rex', Gower writes: H. aquilae pullus quo nunquam gratior ullus Hostes confregitque tyrannica colla subegit H. aquilae cepit oleum quo regna recepit, Sic juncta stipiti nova stirps redit uncta . . . (`The Eagle's Chick, than whom no-one was ever more welcome, crushed enemies and lifted the tyrannical yoke. H. received the oil of the eagle by which he received the kingdom; thus a new stock has returned anointed, joined to the old . . .')33 31

32 33

P. McNiven, `Legitimacy and Consent: Henry IV and the Lancastrian Title 1399± 1406', Mediaeval Studies 44 (1982), 470±88. Adam of Usk, ed. Thompson, p. 28. Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, II, 1±3, and 4±7, a similar English poem by the same author.

167

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England He is referring to `Catulus linxeis' and `The Holy Oil of St Thomas', the same texts used by Henry Despenser to refer to Richard II. In BL MS Cotton Titus D. XIX, events to 1399 are associated with the prophecies `Anglia transmittet', `Ter tria lustra' and `Lilium regnans', and in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson 389 `Lilium regnans' and `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' occur in a manuscript of devotional works, some by Richard Rolle. These texts present the king as hero, emperor and crusader in a prophetic scenario unchanged since the early fourteenth century. Henry IV had crusaded in eastern Europe during his father's lifetime, and this must have seemed hopeful to those who looked for a great leader of Christendom.34 John Strecche, canon of Kenilworth, observed that at the Parliament of 1413 Henry IV appeared, declaring he would recover the Holy Cross for Christendom if God should give him life and strength. This is highly unlikely, as Henry was already stricken by his ®nal illness, and he died soon after. We are then told that Henry had intended to die in Jerusalem, but found himself in the Jerusalem Chamber at Westminster instead.35 Whether or not such stories are true, it is important that the clerics who recorded them thought that this was important, and a most praiseworthy sentiment for a dying king. These writers expected their king to have the recovery of the Holy Land as his ultimate objective. Political prophecy after 1399 shows Henry IV as a prophetic saviour, although the character of Richard II still looms large in some texts. Prophecy was used to explain why Richard had been deposed, and perhaps also to assuage the feelings of guilt harboured by some about their part in his downfall. However, the idea of Henry IV as the nation's champion against tyranny became absorbed in the wider expectations of his people ± that he would be the uni®er of Britain and the champion of Christendom. There is no indication that Henry IV or his government used political prophecy in forwarding his claim to rule, nor is there any indication that Henry or his government were associated with the promotion of any prophetic text in particular, although individuals close to the king, such as Arundel and the Percies, may have been. Henry Bolingbroke may, like the Franciscans, have found texts such as the `Erceldoune' prophecies and `Bridlington' to be of bene®t whilst in opposition to the reigning monarch. However, once Henry himself had become ruler, these texts, used as propaganda, could be more dangerous than helpful. As king, Henry automatically became the hero-ruler to those who were loyal to whatever individual occupied the throne, a majority of the political community to which most of the owners and users 34

35

Tyerman, England and the Crusades, pp. 266 and 296; J. L. Kirby, Henry IV of England (London, 1970). Always indispensable is Wylie, Henry IV. `The Chronicle of John Strecche for the Reign of Henry V (1414±1422)', ed. F. Taylor, BJRL 16 (1932), 137±87, and Brut, ed. Brie, II, 372±3. Thomas Elmham has a different version: `Ficta prophetia sonuit quam vivus habebat, / Quod sibi sancta fuit terra lucranda cruce. / Improvisa sibi sacra terra datur nescius hospes / In Bethlem camera Westque monasterio.' Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, II, 122.

168

The Imperial Hero 1399±1440 of political prophecy belonged. Therefore, they applied the `mainstream' prophetic texts to Henry regardless of Richard II's deposition, and used new texts to rationalize the political crisis it created. Although most political prophecy was bene®cial to the current monarch, whoever that individual might be, Henry IV's government found it necessary to suppress the prophecies which were the voice of protest against the reÂgime. Although Henry V ascended the English throne at Easter 1413, he had headed the country's government before that date, during the period from 1410 to 1411, when Henry IV's illness prevented him from taking an active roÃle in political affairs. It was during this ®rst period of government, when Henry was seeking to end the hostilities with France by means of his own marriage to a French princess, that Thomas Hoccleve wrote The Regement of Princes, an English version of Aegidius Romanus' De Regimine Principum, which Hoccleve dedicated to Henry.36 Scholars now believe that Henry himself promoted the distribution of this work among his family and other members of his circle, and that Hoccleve was probably writing at Henry's behest. After setting out the qualities of the ideal ruler, Hoccleve urges the princes of Christendom to make peace; notably the kings of England and France. This will enable them to turn the forces of Christendom against the Saracens, and free the Holy Places. He then gives advice about how this peace might be achieved, giving as his authority `The book of reuelaciouns of Bride': ``But verray pees may be had by no way, But if trouthe and Iustice loued be; And for ‡at a kyng ha‡ right, forthi may By matrimoigne pees and vnite Ben had; cristes pleasance is swiche; ‡us he That right heir is, may ‡e reme reioyse, Cesynge al strif, debate, or werre, or noyse.''

The king is urged to purchase peace by way of marriage.37 36

37

Thomas Hoccleve: The Regement of Princes, A.D. 1411±12, ed. F. J. Furnivall, EETS ES 72 (London, 1897); J. Mitchell, Thomas Hoccleve: A Study in Early Fifteenth Century English Poets (Urbana, 1968); L. Scanlon, `The King's Two Voices: Narrative and Power in Hoccleve's ``Regement of Princes'' ', in Literary Practice and Social Change in Britain, 1380±1530, ed. L. Patterson (Berkeley CA, 1990), pp. 216±47; D. Pearsall, `Hoccleve's ``Regement of Princes'': The Poetics of Royal Self-Representation', Speculum 69 (1994), 386±410; J. H. Fisher, `A Language Policy for Lancastrian England', PMLA 107 (1992), 1168±80; J. E. Krochalis, `The Books and Reading of Henry V and his Circle', Chaucer Review 23 (1988), 50±77. On the relationship between Henry V and another poet, see L. Patterson, `Making Identities: Henry V and Lydgate', in New Historical Literary Study, ed. J. N. Cox and L J. Reynolds (Princeton, 1993), pp. 69±107, and references therein. V. Scattergood, Politics and Poetry in the Fifteenth Century (London, 1971), provides a background to history and literature, but needs to be approached with a certain amount of caution; although there is a de®nite relationship between some literary works and events, this is not always as de®nite as it may appear. Regement, ed. Furnivall, pp. 194±5.

169

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England The text to which Hoccleve is referring is part of Book Four of the Revelaciones of St Bridget of Sweden, which ®rst appears in English prophetic manuscripts in the reign of Henry VI.38 Bridget's beast imagery is not that of the English, Galfridian type; her prophecy is in the style of the apocalyptic prophecies of Hildegard of Bingen. The kings of France and England are not represented, as in English texts, as particular animals. They are simply referred to as `bestiae'. Bridget's prophecy is about moral responsibility. If the two kings wish to kill one another in their anger and greed, then it is their own fault if they die. However, she highlights the effect of their con¯ict on their subjects, and ultimately the way in which they are wounding the Body of Christ. The Virgin says: ista duo reges perdunt multas animas de ®lio meo qui eas redemit sanguine suo. Ille vero bestie qui priuantur vellere sunt homines simplices qui contentant bonis suis [sic] qui hac intencione procedunt ad bella quia credunt se habere iusticiam & bellum esse iustum. (`these two kings are destroying many souls of my son, who redeemed them with his blood. Truly, these beasts who are deprived of their ¯eece are simple men, who are content with their lot, who go into battle with this purpose because they believe themselves to be in the right and the war to be just.)39

These rulers are not kings, but proditores, traitors to their own people. The people clamour that they should no longer be condemned to the death and poverty which follows war. Christ will give these two kings perpetual peace, but only if they both want it, and truth and justice prevail. The royal lines must be joined by marriage, and the child of this marriage will be the true heir of both kingdoms. The kings must follow Christ's way in their hearts, and Christ will help and ®ght for the king who is just and wishes to obey Him. The French must accept the rightful king, and there will be peace. This prophecy is entirely compatible with the framework of The Regement of Princes and the manifesto it seeks to promote. If the king of England follows the book's advice on kingship, if he follows the way of Christ, and if he actively seeks the peace through marriage which Bridget's prophecy advocates, then he will be on the side of the angels, and favoured by Christ, who will help and ®ght for him. The onus is on the French side to match this. It has been noted by historians that the motivation for the French war changed with Henry V.40 38

39 40

For Bridget see J. Jorgenson, St Bridget of Sweden, trans. I. Lund, 2 vols. (London, 1954); R. Ellis, ` ``Flores ad fabricandum . . . coronam'': An Investigation into the Uses of the ``Revelaciones'' of St Bridget of Sweden in Fifteenth Century England', Medium Aevum 52 (1983), 163±86; K. Haines, `Attitudes and Impediments to Paci®sm in Medieval Europe', Journal of Medieval History 7 (1981), 369±88. The only edition of Book Four is Revelationum S. Birgitte, ed. G. Durante (Antwerp, 1611). Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Hatton 56, fols. 62r±63v. M. Keen, `Diplomacy', in Henry V: The Practice of Kingship, ed. G. L. Harriss (Oxford, 1985), pp. 181±99 and Harriss, `Introduction', in Henry V, ed. Harriss, pp. 24±5.

170

The Imperial Hero 1399±1440 Previously, the war had been justi®ed in terms of the nation's obligation to seek justice for the Plantagenet claim to the French throne. This still remained under Henry V, but was subordinated to the obligation to pursue the war in the interests of a just peace. The French wished to avoid a just peace, so it was their fault that the king of England had to ®ght. The ultimate goal was to be that of Bridget; to make peace in the West and to free the Holy Land. If The Regement of Princes represents self-promotion on the part of Prince Henry, soon to be Henry V, then this would make Henry V the ®rst monarch since Edward I to use political prophecy as propaganda. This does, of course, rely upon the assumption that the reference to Bridget was a result of, or at least accorded with, Henry's personal involvement in the making of the book. Henry was capable of reading, understanding and interpreting Bridget politically, but whether he actually did this is a question which cannot be answered conclusively.41 This use of political prophecy for propaganda purposes was both unusual and speci®c to the political situation at the time of Hoccleve's commission. An important factor is that Henry, although regent, was still prince of Wales, and not yet king. He did not yet possess the authority of the prophetic hero for himself, as it was coronation and anointing, not the possession of power alone, which conveyed imperial, heroic status in political prophecy. The prince needed to explain his actions in a manner in which the king did not, because the king's actions were automatically subject to prophetic interpretation. Prince Henry's authority was not unchallenged; his supporters, headed by his Beaufort uncles Henry, bishop of Winchester, and Thomas, his chancellor, had supplanted those of a rival faction, headed by Archbishop Arundel, in association with Henry's eldest brother Thomas, who was to take the prince's place at the head of an English army in France in July 1412. Henry was both profoundly religious and very well educated; he understood political prophecy and its modus operandi, and would be aware that, although a king simply had to do, a prince who was acting in the place of a king needed to explain. By using political prophecy as part of his propaganda, Prince Henry was identifying himself with the hero-ruler's deeds; that is, he was attempting to attach himself to the regal element in the union of king, people and nation. After his accession in 1413, this was no longer necessary, as he himself was the ruler. The evidence is inconclusive, but such associations could be taken as indicating that Henry, or at least his mentor Henry Beaufort, aspired to higher status than that of regent in 1410±11. The rumour that Henry IV might be persuaded to abdicate in the prince's favour cannot be discounted, but all political prophecy reveals is that Prince Henry was taking a long-term view already by 1411; the king's recovery in September of that year could not have been foreseen.42 Henry V reigned for only nine years, from 1413 to 1422, so the identi®able 41 42

For an examination of this question, see Krochalis, `Books and Reading of Henry V'. The St Albans Chronicle, ed. V. H. Galbraith (Oxford, 1937), p. 65.

171

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England prophecy manuscripts for his reign are very few. Even if some of the manuscripts designated `early ®fteenth century' do belong to the reign, it is not possible to tell without internal evidence. The impact of Henry V is not fully re¯ected in prophetic texts and manuscripts until the reign of his son.43 Eton College, MS 191 is a genealogy dating from the reign of Henry V. The accompanying text claims that Henry is the ®rst king of England to be anointed with the holy oil of St Thomas. The implication of this is that Henry will be the great rex futurus, who will regain his ancestors' possessions in France sine vi, be the greatest king in the world, and free the Holy Places. The second manuscript dates from the later part of Henry's reign, 1421 or after.44 This is a collection of historical material relating to English and universal history, the deeds of the emperors to Frederick II, lists of cardinals, religious foundations and bishops of Lincoln, with a few medical and astrological notes. There is a genealogy of the kings of France, then some prophecies: `The Holy Oil of St Thomas', `Lilium regnans', the `Prophecia aquile' (without `Arbor fertilis') and an apocalyptic prophecy `Attende secundum Eusebium'.45 The English victory at Agincourt gave great impetus to the image of the apocalyptic ruler and champion of Christendom. In the winter of 1415±16, Henry V received a letter from the Council of Constance telling of a victory of Christian forces over the Turks. The Christians were told by the `in®del' survivors that an ancient writing had been found amongst them (i.e. the Turks), stating that within ®ve years they would either be conquered by the Christians, or converted to the Christian religion.46 This schedule, which excited the writer, one of the English delegation at Constance, enough to write to King Henry about it, allows up to 1420±1 for Henry V to become Christendom's champion. The item's inclusion implies that Henry himself would be interested in it, too. Another letter, written to Henry after Agincourt, encourages the king's belief that the victory is the work of God's hand, and identi®es Henry as more favoured than Maccabeus, Saul, 43

44 45

46

For the reign of Henry V, see the bibliography in C. T. Allmand, Henry V (London, 1992). Of the books mentioned there, the best overall compilation is Henry V, ed. Harriss. For sheer weight of information, neither of these books can approach J. H. Wylie and W. T. Waugh, The Reign of Henry the Fifth, 3 vols. (Cambridge, 1914±29), still unsurpassed after nearly a century. BL MS Additional 14251. K. Kerby-Fulton and E. R. Daniel, `English Joachimism, 1300±1500: The Columbinus Prophecy', in Il profetismo gioachimita tra Quattrocento e Cinquecento: Atti del III Congresso Internaxionale di Studi Gioachimiti S. Giovanni in Fiore, 17±21 settembre 1989, ed. G. L. Potesta (Genova, 1991), pp. 313±50. Letters of Margaret of Anjou, ed. C. Munro, Camden Society OS 86 (London, 1863), p. 10; J.-P. Genet, `English Nationalism: Thomas Polton at the Council of Constance', Nottingham Medieval Studies, 38 (1984), 60±78; C. M. D. Crowder, `Correspondence between England and the Council of Constance', Studies in Church History 1 (London, 1964), 184±206.

172

The Imperial Hero 1399±1440 David, Solomon and Alexander.47 This letter is generally believed to have been written by Henry Beaufort, bishop of Winchester, chancellor of England, Henry V's uncle, close political associate, and probably also the king's political mentor.48 Beaufort was involved in the reception of Henry V in London on the king's return from the Agincourt campaign. This is graphically described in the Gesta Henrici Quinti, a short Latin prose work written in the winter of 1416.49 The pageantry of this occasion represents the king as the recipient of divine authority and favour, and associates him in his status with his city, London. This is a Roman triumph in the manner of `Gallorum levitas' and `Gens barbara'. The legend at the entrance to London Bridge announces that Henry is about to enter `Civitas Regis Iusticie', and further on St George gives the glory to God alone, with the nearby legend `Fluminis impetus leti®cat civitatem dei'.50 At the conduit in Cheapside the emblems of royalty, sanctity and the city mingle in the ®gures of the twelve apostles, twelve kings `martiribus et confessoribus de successione Anglie', and the arms of the city. The cross in Cheapside was hidden by a tower, declaring `Gloriosa dicta sunt de te, civitas dei', and on top of the castle were the arms of St George, Henry V and the Emperor.51 This imagery has a clear message. The Emperor's arms here have nothing to do with the person of Sigismund, who did not visit until 1416. Henry's arms are of equal status with those of St George and the Emperor; King Henry is St George, God's champion, he is king of England and France, and he is, or will be, an emperor. Concerning the nature of the king's rule, the conduit at the other end of Cheapside presents a ®gure of majesty in the form of a sun, emitting dazzling rays. Majesty's canopy is upheld by angels. The king's power is divinely given, and represented by a glorious sun, like that of Richard II.52 Henry himself is depicted `indutus veste purpurea', not in exalted pride or with a large retinue: Sed et Rex ipse, inter haec laudum preconia et apparamenta civium, indutus veste purpurea, non in elato supercilio, equitatu pompatii seu multitudine gravi, sed in vultu solido, incessu venerando et paucis concomitantibus domesticis ®delissimis incedebat, sequentibus eum, in securitate militum, dictis ducibus, comitibus et marescallo captivis. Ex ipsa quidem vultus tactiturnitate, mansueto incessu et progressu sobrio, 47

48

49

50 51 52

Letters of Margaret of Anjou, ed. Munro, p. 4: `Estimat et pro ®rmo tenet ut reor magestas regia quod non sua, sed Dei manus extenta, hec fecerit universa, ad ipsius laudem, Anglorum plebis decus et gloriam, regalis nominisque memoriam sempiternam.' Henry is warned to beware lest he forgets who is the real author of victory. For these ideas, and a valuable exploration of the relationship between Beaufort and Henry V and VI, see G. L. Harriss, Cardinal Beaufort: A Study of Lancastrian Ascendancy and Decline (Oxford, 1988). Gesta Henrici Quinti, ed. and trans. Taylor and Roskell; C. T. Allmand, Henry V, pp. 404±25. Gesta Henrici Quinti, ed. and trans. Taylor and Roskell, pp. 102 and 104. Gesta Henrici Quinti, ed. and trans. Taylor and Roskell, pp. 106 and 108. Gesta Henrici Quinti, ed. and trans. Taylor and Roskell, p. 110.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England colligi poterat quod Rex, tacite rem gerens in pectore, soli deo non homini grates et gloriam referebat. (`Amid these public expressions of praise and the display made by the citizens, however, the king himself, wearing a gown of purple, proceeded, not in exalted pride and with an imposing escort or impressively large retinue, but with an impassive countenance and at a digni®ed pace, and with only a few of the most trusted members of his household in attendance, there following him, under a guard of knights, the dukes, counts and marshal, his prisoners. Indeed, from his quiet demeanour, gentle pace, and sober progress, it might have been gathered that the king, silently pondering the matter in his heart, was rendering thanks and glory to God alone, not to man.')53

The purple robe represents not the colour of mourning, but imperial purple, the train of prisoners a classical imperial triumph, and the demeanour of King Henry is not sternness or moroseness, but imperial detachment, described by the writer in language very similar to that of classical Roman writers.54 Thomas Elmham, using the Gesta Henrici Quinti as a framework, introduces the story of how the dauphin sent Henry V some tennis balls to play with, as a slight on the king's youth. A similar story is told of Alexander and King Darius; Elmham, like the 1415 letter, is comparing Henry with the Macedonian world-conqueror.55 Although these events took place in the early ®fteenth century, the world-view which lay behind them, portraying the king of England as the successor of the Greeks and Romans, was essentially the same as that of the mid-twelfth century. The reception of Henry V in London in 1415 was not a display of royal propaganda, but the acting-out of the relationship between the emperor and his imperial city as described in texts such as `Illius imperium' and `Gens barbara' ± a relationship which had existed in political prophecies since the end of the thirteenth century. The victorious imperial hero gave glory to his city, which gave as much glory back to him. Elmham and the Gesta writer also link Henry's victories in France with his victory against heretics in England. This is a programme similar to that of 53

54

55

Gesta Henrici Quinti, ed. and trans. Taylor and Roskell, p. 112. In line 2, pompatico would be correct, rather than pompati'. Compare with the description of Constantius II's triumph (AD 357) by Ammianus Marcellinus: `Being saluted as Augustus with favouring hails, while hills and shores thundered out the roar, he showed himself as motionless [in Rome] as he was commonly seen in the provinces . . . As if his neck were in a vice, he kept the gaze of his eyes straight ahead, and turned his face neither to right nor to left, and like a human statue he did not even nod when jolted by the wheels of his chariot.': Bk 16, Ch. 10, 9±10, cited by Kantorowicz, Laudes Regiae, p. 66. John Page says something similar about Henry at the siege of Rouen in 1418±19: see Brut, ed. Brie, II, 410. `Thomas Elmham: ``Liber Metricus'' ', in Memorials of Henry V, King of England, ed. C. A. Cole, RS 11 (London, 1858), 79±166 (p. 101); Brut, ed. Brie, II, 374.

174

The Imperial Hero 1399±1440 texts such as `Ter tria lustra', in which the hero not only conquers the world and frees the Holy Land, but cleanses the Church also.56 The writer of the Gesta ends with the hope that his hero will eventually ®ght the Saracens and free the Holy Land, as Strecche had hoped of Henry's father. These writers represent a change of emphasis in the way the war with France was now being viewed. This view was of®cially endorsed and promoted by Henry V, although an inclination towards peace, and the crusade as the object of peace, had existed since the reign of Richard II. Like the prophecy of Bridget, this point of view could be used to promote war in the service of peace. The fate of Bridget's text provides further evidence of the importance of interpretation in the understanding of political prophecy. The original intention of the writer might be to promote peace and the crusade, but the interpretation turned the writer's words into a justi®cation for war ± precisely the opposite of the text's intended meaning. Others shared the Gesta writer's view. BL MS Cotton Cleopatra B. I, from the Gilbertine convent at Sempringham in Lincolnshire, contains material relating to the Holy Land (the Historia Belli Sacri), an `Epistola luciferi ad papam et prelatos', urging them to carry on subverting the laws of Christ, and a prediction that the world will be consumed by ®re in AD 1500. Alongside this apocalyptic and crusadeorientated material is `The Holy Oil of St Thomas'. Although the British History occurs in the `Prophecia aquile', the majority of this material emphasizes the crusade and the apocalypse. BL MS Additional 14251, from the same geographical area (either Beverley, in East Yorkshire, or Lincolnshire), contains the same prophetic material. Another manuscript, Notre Dame, Indiana, University Library, MS 40, contains the Historia Regum Britannie, accompanied by material about Troy, an account of English history to 1412, and `Pseudo-Methodius', the prophecy in which the Last World Emperor yields up his empire on the Cross in Jerusalem. In the north of England, BL MS Cotton Galba E. IX provides evidence that Lancastrian successes against the Scots had given rise to hope of the second Arthur, who would end cross-border con¯ict by reuniting Britain. It contains the poems of Lawrence Minot on the successes of Edward III, mostly in Scotland, together with a vernacular verse variant of `The Last Kings of the English'. The dating of the manuscript, however, as 1400±25, covers the entire reigns of Henry IV and Henry V, and part of the reign of Henry VI, so cannot be ascribed to any particular monarch. This prophetic view of the king of England's destiny was one which Henry V and the political classes of England shared. If the coming of the great hero-ruler 56

This is the ®rst time this hero-®gure is linked with the extirpation of heresy. The only known Lollard prophecy is of an orthodox, heroic kind, and intensely loyal and nationalistic. This implies that Lollardy was not seen as a threat to be so violently dealt with before the reign of Henry V, and would tend to support Hudson's view that the heterodox still had hopes of political acceptance in 1415: Hudson, Premature Reformation, pp. 113±19.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England was to be made apparent by his deeds, then neither the king nor the political community were in any doubt concerning his identity. During the years 1415± 20 Henry V conducted the most successful military campaigns against the French since Poitiers in 1356. The writer of the Gesta Henrici Quinti not only highlighed the battle of Agincourt and Henry's triumphal entry, but the visit of the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund in 1416. Sigismund's visit was intended to seek reconciliation between French and English preparatory to a crusade which would relieve the imperial lands in Central Europe from Turkish pressure. The visit had additional signi®cance for the audience of political prophecy. Texts such as `Lilium regnans' foretold that an Eagle would come from the East to help the hero, who would also reform the Church and return it to its apostolic state. Sigismund was not only the Eagle from the East, he was also pressing for ecclesiastical reform at the Council of Constance, a cause to which Henry V was also committed. It would be dif®cult not to conclude that the audience of political prophecy thought that the apocalyptic scenario of the texts was being played out before their eyes. It was because Thomas Elmham also believed this that he chose to build his Liber Metricus around the text of the Gesta. King Henry himself, as part of prophecy's audience, also believed. This accounts for the apparent irrationality of some of the king's policies, not least his pursuit of marriage to Charles VI's daughter, regardless of all other options, the time and effort involved, and his own need for an heir. Most kings married before, or shortly after, their accession for this reason, but Henry was thirty-three at the time of his marriage to Catherine.57 Henry was also concerned to reform the Church. As well as the founding of the Charterhouse at Sheen and the Bridgettine convent at Syon, and his liturgical reforms, Henry summoned a General Chapter of the Benedictines in 1421 with a view to reform of the Order. Harriss has raised the suspicion that Henry Beaufort's `pilgrimage' in 1417 was not due to royal displeasure, but to King Henry and Beaufort's desire that the latter might be elected to the papacy.58 Prophecy dictated that the great world-conquering hero would be aided by a reforming pope, and it is highly likely that Beaufort saw himself in this roÃle. In the event, the bishop played his part in the election of Martin V, and was rewarded with a cardinalate and a legateship, an outcome probably not foreseen by the king. The recovery (not, in terms of political prophecy, conquest) of Normandy in 1418±20 served to reveal further the king's prophetic identity. Henry V's abandonment of his hereditary claim to the throne of France in favour of adoption as Charles VI's heir after his marriage to Catherine in 1420 must be seen in this light. Not expecting to die at the end of August 1422, Henry must have been con®dent of his ultimate destiny, and 57

58

C. S. L. Davies, `Henry VIII and Henry V: The War in France', in The End of the Middle Ages? England in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries, ed. J. L. Watts (Stroud, 1998), pp. 235±62 (pp. 256±9). Harriss, Cardinal Beaufort, pp. 116±17.

176

The Imperial Hero 1399±1440 therefore con®dent also in his ability to subdue the rest of France, and to pass this on to his son, born in 1421. This would ful®l the prophecy of Bridget. Also in 1421, Henry, jointly with his ally, Philip the Good of Burgundy, despatched the Burgundian courtier Ghillebert de Lannoy on a military reconnaisance of Egypt and Syria on their behalf.59 The freeing of the Holy Places, the other goal of the prophetic hero, was also in Henry's mind. The Brut tells us that on his deathbed, when Henry heard the penitential psalm `Miserere mei deus', at the words `Benigne fac tunc in bona voluntate tua, Syon, ut edi®centur muri Ierusalem', he said, `O goode Lorde, ‡ou knowest ‡at myne entent hath bene, & yet is, if I might lyve, to reedify ‡e walles of Jerusalem'.60 If this is to be believed, Henry, no more that his subjects, believed that God would allow him to die with this work un®nished. Henry V's death was a surprise and a shock to Henry, as well as to his subjects, for whom the prophetic vision appeared to be not only capable of ful®lment, but in the process of being ful®lled. This was an apocalyptic, imperial vision; Henry V did not claim to be, nor was he seen as, a second king Arthur. No prophetic texts commemorated the battle of Agincourt, as `Alliterative Becket' had commemorated Poitiers. Although the scale of the victory was just as great, Agincourt was seen as a sign of God's favour. The king of France, the symbol of imperium, had not been present, whereas at Poitiers he had been captured. Agincourt was, however, along with the recovery of land lost in France, seen as part of a universal, theological programme. Conquest and world rule still featured in prophecies, but they had become a means to the ful®lment of a greater end. The audience of prophecy had become enthused by Henry V's vision of a great apocalyptic king who was at once a hero and an emperor. This vision was too great to die with Henry V in 1422; the prophetic reaction to his conquests only becomes fully visible in the reign of his son. In terms of political prophecy, the death of Henry V was not an end, but the stimulus for a re-interpretation of prophetic texts. The great king was dead, and his successor was a child, in this case a baby less than a year old. On the death of his father Henry V in August, and that of his grandfather Charles VI in October 1422, Henry VI succeeded to the crown of France, as well as of England. This situation had been created in 1420 by the Treaty of Troyes, which decreed that any other children of Charles VI would be set aside at his death in favour of Henry and Catherine's heirs, who would become rulers of both kingdoms.61 Henry V's eldest surviving brother, John, was regent of France, and England, after the rejection of Henry's ®nal wishes (for his brother Humphrey to be 59 60 61

A. S. Atiya, The Crusade in the Later Middle Ages (London, 1938), pp. 191±7. Brut, ed. Brie, II, 493. For the treaty and its terms, see `Gregory's Chronicle', in The Historical Collections of a Citizen of London in the Fifteenth Century, ed. J. Gairdner, Camden Society n.s. 17 (London, 1876), pp. 57±239 (Treaty of Troyes on pp. 128±9).

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England protector), was ruled during Henry VI's minority by a regency council. None of these great magnates and councillors appears in prophetic texts; most prophecies require a royal hero. `Bridlington' says that the Bull will die with his destiny as king of France unful®lled, but his son will be even greater than he, and will be given the French crown by the French themselves.62 The father would not be permitted by God to gain the French throne because of the sins of his past. In this prophetic scenario, Henry VI's extreme youth was not a hindrance at all, but a great advantage. The new king must be the sinless successor, because he was too young to have sinned. The greatness of the father, and more, would be realized in the son. As king of England and France, Henry VI assumed the titular leadership of Christendom, formerly claimed by the kings of France and, as their prophecies show, aspired to by the English.63 The subject most prominent in the of®cial propaganda of Henry VI's government was the young king's lineage. Possibly the earliest example of a genealogy stressing Henry's descent from both lines of St Louis, divided by the accession of Philip of Valois and reunited by the marriage of Henry V and Catherine of Valois, occurs in Aberdeen, University Library, MS 123.64 In this, Henry VI is described as `roy dengleterre herette et regent de France'. Henry only held these titles between 31 August 1422 (the death of his father Henry V) and 21 October 1422 (the death of his grandfather Charles VI), after which he was styled king of England and of France. The genealogy must have been produced immediately after his father's death. The uniting of the double line of St Louis was presented in tableaux at Henry's coronations and at his reception into London in 1432, and on public displays such as the genealogy and accompanying poem in Notre Dame cathedral, commissioned by John, duke of Bedford and executed by one of his notaries, Lawrence Calot. The poem was translated for English consumption by John Lydgate, as a commission for the great literary patron Richard Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, in 1426. Henry's genealogy was also represented pictorially in the Bedford Book of Hours, given by John of Bedford to his new wife, Anne of Burgundy, in 1423. Less ornate and expensive genealogies, such as those of Roger of St Albans, became popular with the less exalted members of society who could afford them. They were kept for looking at, meditating upon, and for displaying to others.65 They frequently contained the `Arbor fertilis' 62 63

64 65

This is in William Swann's book: BL MS Cotton Cleopatra C. IV. J. R. Strayer, `France, the Holy Land, the Chosen People, and the Most Christian King', in Action and Conviction in Early Modern Europe: Essays in Memory of E.H. Harbison, ed. T. K. Rabb and J. E. Seigel (Princeton, 1968), pp. 3±16. fols. 140v and 141r. J. W. McKenna, `Henry VI of England and the Dual Monarchy: Aspects of Royal Political Propaganda, 1422±32', JCWI 28 (1965), 145±62; B. J. H. Rowe, `King Henry VI's Claim to France: in Picture and Poem', The Library 4th s. 13 (1932), 77±88; D. Styles and C. T. Allmand, `The Coronations of Henry VI', History Today 32 (May 1982), 28±33; N. Saul, `Henry V and the Dual Monarchy', History Today 36 (May

178

The Imperial Hero 1399±1440 prophecy, showing how Henry II had reunited the Norman and Saxon bloodlines, in the manner of Ailred of Rievaulx.66 However, as John Lydgate points out in his poem on Henry VI's reception into London in 1432, there was now another possible interpretation: Two green treen ther grewe vp-ariht Fro Seint Edward and ffro Seint Lowys, The roote y-take palpable to the siht, Conveyed by lynes be kyngis off grete prys;

The reference to the `green treen' and `Seint Edward' makes the association with `Arbor fertilis', which in some manuscripts begins `Arbor viridis'.67 The belief that the great hero-ruler had arrived, and that his glorious career would culminate in the freeing of the Holy Places, was passed from the father to the son. Aberdeen, University Library, MS 123 is to be dated from the late 1430s, although some of the material it contains, such as the genealogy of Henry VI, dates from early in the reign. The quality of writing in parts of the manuscript is poor; there are crossings-out, and in places the ink has off-set onto the next page, indicating that the book was closed before the ink had dried. As professional scribes would be unlikely to do this, it follows that this was probably produced by a group of readers for their own use. The manuscript derives from the Augustinian convent at Warrington, near Chester, so is highly likely to have been the product of a group of canons from the same house, and may have belonged to one, or to a group of them. One scribe in particular was interested in astrological and computational material, and it is this scribe who has also copied prophetic material into the volume. First, there is the text `Lilium regnans', about the Son of Man and the Eagle from the East. The Son will become king of France, and will end his career by freeing the Holy Land. Secondly, there is a letter, in English, purporting to be addressed to King Henry by the sultan of Syria. After introducing himself with a series of high-¯own titles such as `Steward of hell, porter of paradys, Constabul of Jerusalem, lord of all Inde, ¯ory of all ye werld and Cosyn to cryst', the sultan makes a proposal to the king:

66

67

1986), 39±42. For a contrast with what was happening in France see P. S. Lewis, `War Propaganda and Historiography in Fifteenth Century France and England', TRHS 5th s. 15 (1965), 1±21; R. Osberg, `The Jesse-Tree in the 1432 Entrance of Henry VI', Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies 16 (1986), 213±32; The Minor Poems of John Lydgate, ed. H. N. MacCracken, 2 vols., EETS ES 107 and OS 192 (London, 1910 and 1934), II, 613±22. Allan, `Yorkist Propaganda'. Allan gives a list of genealogical manuscripts with prophecies, which I have not included in my handlist. R. A. Grif®ths, The Reign of King Henry VI: The Exercise of Royal Authority 1422±61 (London, 1981), p. 221; Henry's English coronation and banquet are recorded in Historical Collections, ed. Gairdner, pp. 165±71. See also Brut, ed. Brie, II, 451±3.

179

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England and he wil wed my do¿ter I schal becom crysten and all myne and those that wil not bycom crysten ‡ay schal be brent or drowned and I schal gyf hym iiii myllyonys of gold be twene vii sun rysyngys. And I schal gyf hym ‡o cros that cryst dyed on on gode fryday and ros ‡o thryd day and I schal make rest and pes in al crystendom . . .68

The sultan also promises to make `‡o kyng of ingelond emperor'. This is an offer to help King Henry to complete the work which was expected of him as the prophetic hero of texts such as `Lilium regnans'. It is not an invitation to crusade, but offers a peaceful alternative to a military campaign. It invites the king to free the Holy Land and convert the in®del sine vi, in the manner prescribed for the conquest of France by `Bridlington' and `The Holy Oil of St Thomas'. The text stresses that the sultan will `make rest and pes in al crystendom'. Later, he says that he will `make all pes as on'. The list of kingdoms given is similar to that which, in other versions of the text, is the list of kingdoms the sultan will give to King Henry as sovereign. The kingdoms on this list, although not identical, recall the lands subject to King Arthur in the British History: `France, Pelond, Portyngale, Naverne, Denmark, Sefyle, Cyprys, Spayne, Norwey, Swethn, Icelond, Wyssiall [sic], Bune, Hungry, Aragon and Naples'. In the Aberdeen manuscript, the king offers a reply: harry be ‡o grace of god kyng of Inglond and of France, lord of Irelond, prynce of Walys, lord of Gyan and Gasquyn, Erle of Derby, Duke of Cornwayle, Erle of Chester, Duke of lancaster and conqueror of Scotland: of ‡is message I thank hym and of his sonde and of ‡is I take auysement to ‡o date of cryst cum to a mt cccc xli ¿ers and ‡en I schal gyf hym answer.

The king's titles are somewhat exaggerated, which may be due in part to the fact that this letter is a fake, by a writer who was not entirely aware of what the royal `style' should be. It is also due to the fact that Henry's credentials as the prophetic hero-ruler must be established. Henry must have titles as extensive as the sultan's, and these titles, unlike the sultan's, are genuine. As well as being king of England and of France, prophecy dictates that the hero should be the ruler of all Britain, so the salutation makes clear that he is prince of Wales and lord of Ireland, and adds the title `conqueror of Scotland' to make up for a de®ciency of of®cial titles in respect of the northern kingdom. Normandy no longer appears as a separate political entity, unlike Gascony and Guienne, but is regarded as part of the kingdom of France. The king says that he will reply in 1441, an indication of the date of the manuscript. The scribe has struck out the entire prophecy with one large cross; perhaps 1441 came and went, and the king did not reply. In an addition to a calendar in another part of the manu68

fol. 121r.

180

The Imperial Hero 1399±1440 script, the same scribe has added a notice of the king's marriage in 1445 to Margaret of Anjou, so this may have provided the stimulus for the excision of the sultan's letter. The verso is blank, apart from what appear to be some scribbled lines. These are, however, very relevant to the subject of the sultan's letter and the prophetic scenario they represent, comprising, in part, the text of the bills cast into the streets of Canterbury by the servants of the Emperor Sigismund in 1416, praising `felix anglia'. The emperor's visit was remembered as playing an important part in the ful®lment of the prophetic agenda. The writer of the Tractatus de Regimine Principum in 1435 told Henry that the greatest good would be to achieve peace between England and France, so that Henry could then drive the in®del from the Holy Land.69 Henry VI began his personal rule in 1437, and peace negotiations, albeit futile, were being carried on in 1439. At the same time, the king's possible marriage to one of the daughters of the count of Armagnac was being mooted. This would have provided a suitable political background for interest in the letter. The letter may, however, have been older than this. A version in BL MS Cotton Vespasian B. XVI is dated 1416, and the climate certainly existed at that time in which the text might have been produced. It would have been contemporary with the Gesta Henrici Quinti, Sigismund's visit and the letter from Constance. The Cottonian manuscript also contains a vitriolic poem against the Lollards, John Oldcastle in particular, whose defeat became part of the prophetic scenario as portrayed by Elmham and the Gesta writer. Variants of the letter in all manuscripts other than Aberdeen, University Library, MS 123 also stress the eventual defeat of Lollardy, which is equated with witchcraft and Islam. One of a set of formulary letters in MS Aberdeen UL 123, from St Mary's, Leicester (another Augustinian house) is addressed to the prior of Lenton, then at Leicester.70 At the time covered by the letters, the priors of Lenton were Elmham himself and one John Elmham, possibly a relative. Another text in the manuscript is Elmham's own poem of advice to Henry V.71 The canons of Warrington were part of a literary culture not far removed from that of Thomas Elmham and the Liber Metricus; they had a direct line of communication from St Mary's at Leicester, one of the main centres of Lancastrian power, to Elmham's own priory of Lenton, near Nottingham, and much of the material in their manuscript originated in the west Midlands. The poet John Audelay, writing about the young Henry VI, declares that Henry will be the king who, according to the prophecy, will free the Holy Cross on which Christ died on Good Friday. Unfortunately, 69

70

71

Four English Political Tracts of the Later Middle Ages, ed. J.-P. Genet, Camden Society 4th s. 18 (London, 1977), p. 71: Henry VI is called `christianorum christianissime Rex'. fol. 117v. Humphrey was created duke in 1414, and died in 1447. The last dated letter is December 1431. fol. 139r. See also Political Poems and Songs, ed. Wright, II, 118±19.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England Audelay does not give enough detail to reveal the exact prophecy to which he is referring.72 Audelay may have had access to a prophecy the same as, or similar to, that used by the original west Midland writer of the sultan's letter, as he was a Shropshire man, and Shropshire material also occurs in the manuscript.73 One of Henry VI's royal chaplains, John Blacman, owned a manuscript, now Eton College, MS 213, which is a version of Ranulph Higden's Polychronicon, followed by a genealogy to Henry VI, completed in that king's early years. From 1443 to 1453 Blacman was a tutor at Henry VI's college of Eton, and in 1459 he joined the Carthusian order. It is not clear whether he became a member of the Carthusian community at Witham, or whether he served both Witham and the London Charterhouse as a clericus redditus. Blacman is best known as the writer of a hagiographical biography of the king, on which Henry's saintly reputation was to be based.74 The main content of the manuscript is Higden's Polychronicon, with many annotations and annals from Richard II to 1420 as a continuation. A genealogy has been added, with `Henricus Sextus' as an addition. Some of the annotations are in Blacman's own hand, as found in London, Lambeth Palace, MS 436 and BL MS Sloane 2515. The source for `Vulpis cum cauda' is given as the St Albans Chronicle, and a date two years before the deposition of Richard II is given; `hec in cronici S. Albani 1397'. This, expanded, version of the prophecy states that the destroyer of the Fox will be succeeded by a Lion, who will in turn be succeeded by the Lion's Cub, a great ruler under whom the Church will prosper. Blacman's political message is one of loyalty to the Lancastrian monarchy, which culminates in the reign of the great hero who will be ruler of all Britain and protector of the Church. The dynasty progresses from a monarch who is good, to one who is great, to one who is even greater. Fifteenth-century manuscripts reveal an increasing number of lay, as opposed to clerical, owners of prophetic texts. Cambridge, University Library, MS Dd. XIV. 2 belonged to Nicholas Bishop, a wealthy Oxford burgess and landlord, and is dated c. 1432 by internal evidence. Bishop, like his father Bartholomew, was a taverner, one of the wealthiest groups of people in the city in the early ®fteenth century. Bishop's wealth had a 72

73 74

Historical Poems, ed. Robbins, p. 110; Minor Poems of John Lydgate, ed. MacCracken, II, 630±48. fol. 135v. Blacman was more of a scholar than a political careerist. Three lists of the books he owned survive in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud misc. 154. See A. B. Emden, A Biographical Register of the University of Cambridge (Cambridge, 1963), pp. 670±71; E. M. Thompson, The Carthusian Order in England (London, 1930), pp. 316±22; the introduction to The Life of Henry the Sixth, ed. M. R. James (Cambridge, 1919). Blacman gave his library, and some vestments, to Witham Charterhouse: R. Lovatt, `The Library of John Blacman and Contemporary Carthusian Spirituality', Journal of Ecclesiastical History 43 (1992), 195±230.

182

The Imperial Hero 1399±1440 limited but stable local base; he was a churchwarden of St Michael's at the North Gate, and a benefactor of Oseney Abbey. His manuscript includes the life of St Frideswide, Oxford's local saint.75 Bartholomew Bishop had rebuilt the White Hall, annexed to St Edmund Hall towards the end of the fourteenth century, which he leased as a residence for scholars, and his son Nicholas was still the landlord in 1413, when he was forced to terminate the tenancy of the notorious Lollard Peter Payne. Payne, as has already been established, was a university colleague of Peter Partridge, the owner of MS Digby 98, whose manuscript, like Bishop's, contains the `Prophecia Merlini'. Although a layman, Bishop had considerable contact with men at all stages of clergy, and the `Prophecia' formed part of his cultural and literary milieu. The manuscript contains legal documents and depositions relating to Bishop's rents and tenements. Amongst these documents there is a short chronicle of England in Latin, followed by extracts in prose and verse from a Brut chronicle, then the `Prophecia Merlini'. Bishop appears to have felt that he should possess this material, and placed it, or had it placed, in a reference book of his own, and his family's, records. He thereby places himself and his family within the history of England as portrayed in these historical works, and also recognizes his own, and his family's, place in the prophetic history of the `Prophecia Merlini'. Bishop's book shows that lay townspeople outside London, albeit in a great university centre, were claiming a personal share in their country's British past and prophetic future. In the north of England vernacular prophecy still formed part of literary culture. This is demonstrated by another layman's manuscript, Lincoln, Cathedral Library, MS 91. This was partly written and owned by Robert Thornton, a gentleman from Ryedale in Yorkshire. The manuscript is a miscellany of romances, charms, prayers and devotional items, and is written in a single hand, assumed to be that of Thornton himself, who thereby exercized a high degree of personal control over the manuscript's contents. Thomas of Ersseldoune may have been included by Thornton because it is a romance, rather than for its prophetic content, but its presence in the manuscript shows that prophecy was part of the culture of this northern gentleman's household, even if it was in romance form. The story tells of Thomas of Erceldoune's romantic encounter with a faery lady, who takes him to live in her faery kingdom, inside a mountain, for a year. On parting with her human lover, the lady gives Thomas the gift of poetry and of prophecy, in answer to his questions: 75

See J. I. Catto, `Citizens, Scholars and Masters', in A History of the University of Oxford I: The Early Oxford Schools, ed. J. I. Catto (Oxford, 1984), pp. 151±192 (pp. 156±78); The Register of Exeter College, ed. C. W. Boase, Oxford Historical Society (Oxford, 1894), pp. 304±7; Oxford City Documents, ed. J. E. Thorold Rogers, Oxford Historical Society (Oxford, 1891), p. 25. Estimates of Bishop's wealth are based on poll tax returns.

183

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England Telle me of this gentill blode, Wha sall thrife, and wha sall thee: Wha sall be kynge, wha sall be none, And wha sall welde this northe countre?76

The Ersseldoune romance connects king, people and nation with ideas of social class and regional loyalty, under the aegis of political prophecy. As a member of the northern gentry, the answers to Thomas's questions were precisely what interested Thornton himself, and they demonstrate how these potentially con¯icting ideas and loyalties formed part of a single political consciousness. The lady gives Thomas a catalogue of battles and disasters, which Murray has traced from the battle of Falkirk in 1298 to the battle of Otterburn in 1388.77 Several elements, such as the battles at Sandyford and that between Seton and the sea, and a bastard who will die in the Holy Land, are common to other prophetic texts of the Erceldoune tradition, and feature in manuscripts from the middle of the ®fteenth century. The story, as we have it, ends with a `world upside down' scenario such as that of the `Erceldoune' verses in MS Harley 2253: I wepe not [says the lady] for my waye wendinge, but for ladyes, faire & fre, when lordes bene deade, without leasynge, shall wedd yomen of poore degre. he shall have steades in stabull fedd; a hawke to bare upon his hand; a lovly lady to his bedd; his elders before him had no land!78

This social, and therefore political, chaos, as in the `Erceldoune' verses, is the result of war between England and Scotland. MS Lincoln Cathedral 91 remained in the Thornton family until the sixteenth century, and is one of two such volumes known to have been compiled by Thornton, the other being BL MS Additional 31042. MS Lincoln Cathedral 91 has initials decorated with scrolls and animal heads, and what Guddat-Figge describes as an `artless' full-page drawing of two knights and a horse.79 These would seem to be the product of a non-professional artist. The background and social milieu of Robert Thornton shows the danger of assuming that a member of the `country gentry' in the ®fteenth century was simply an isolated, rural ®gure. Thornton, who was lord of East Newton from 1418 (and was therefore, assuming he was no longer a minor on that date, 76 77 78 79

Thomas of Erceldoune, ed. Murray, p. 20. Thomas of Erceldoune, ed. Murray, p. xxv. Thomas of Erceldoune, ed. Murray, p. 44. The scribe in both manuscripts is given as `Robert Thornton', and the watermarks are alike: Guddat-Figge, Index of Middle English Romances, pp. 135±40.

184

The Imperial Hero 1399±1440 well into middle age when he compiled MS Lincoln Cathedral 91), had contacts with Richard Neville, earl of Salisbury, Ralph, Baron Greystock, and various chaplains, mayors and aldermen of the city of York. He also had contacts with local religious houses, possibly with Robert Stillyngton, bishop of Bath and Wells and from 1467 chancellor of England, as well as the local gentry who served as M.P.'s and acted with Thornton as tax collectors in 1453. Among these people were many book owners, lenders, borrowers and collectors.80 Thornton was writing between 1430 and 1440, at the same time as the canons of Warrington. During most of this decade Henry VI was still a minor, and the inability of his government to fully maintain royal authority had not yet become apparent. The 1440s, however, was a time of unrest and a lack of governmental control. According to John Watts, it was during these years that the duke of Suffolk attempted to carry on the government in the king's name, hampered by his need for household and magnate support.81 In 1445 Henry was married to Margaret of Anjou, Charles VII's niece, who was accused of persuading the king to surrender Anjou and Maine to the French. Strategically this was disastrous, as it opened the way for a French attack on Normandy, which was effectively lost by 1450. Watts, however, maintains that the English lords were aware of the policy, which was essentially theirs, not Henry's, as the king was incapable of formulating policy himself. The lords distanced themselves from the political classes, and it was the need to sti¯e public discussion which led to the arrest of the duke of Gloucester in 1447. Gloucester, leader of the `war' party, represented those who still believed, like the prophecies, that the recovery of France was both possible and necessary. The Commons' demand for a resumption of royal grants and for better government in the parliament of spring and summer 1449 was a result of this divergence of interests.82 The crisis of 1450 exposed a complete divorce between, on the one hand, popular and `communal', expectations of royal government ± represented 80

81 82

On the social milieu of Robert Thornton and his manuscripts, see G. R. Keiser, `Lincoln Cathedral MS 91: Life and Milieu of the Scribe', Studies in Bibliography 32 (1979), 158±79, G. R. Keiser, `More Light on the Life and Milieu of Robert Thornton', Studies in Bibliography 36 (1983), 111±19. On Thornton and the Lincoln manuscript, see The Thornton Manuscript: Lincoln Cathedral Library MS 91, ed. D. S. Brewer and A. B. Owen, 2nd edn (London, 1978); J. Thompson, `Robert Thornton and his BookProducing Activities' (unpublished D.Phil. thesis, University of York, 1983). More technical is S. M. Harrall, `The Watermarks of the Thorton Manuscripts', NQ 225 (1980), 385±6. On Thornton's access to devotional material, see G. R. Keiser, `†e Holy Boke Gratia Dei', Viator 12 (1981), 289±317; G. R. Keiser, ` ``To Knowe God Almyghtyn'': Robert Thornton's Devotional Book', in SpaÈtmittelalterliche Geistliche Literatur in der Nationalsprache, ed. J. Hogg (Salzburg, 1984), pp. 103±29; J. Thompson, Robert Thornton and the London Thornton Manuscript (Cambridge, 1987). J. Watts, Henry VI and the Politics of Kingship (Cambridge, 1996), pp. 216±20. Watts, Henry VI, pp. 229±31 and 244±5.

185

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England by the commons and the people of the towns and shires ± and, on the other, the considerations which had, from the 1430s to about 1448, in¯uenced the lords and others who had actually participated in that government.83

The commons and people of towns and shires were also the audience of political prophecy, so this might be expected to re¯ect the unease of the contemporary situation in the 1440s. Only one manuscript of political prophecy, the commonplace book of William Swann, can be dated to this period. William Swann was a canon lawyer who spent most of his career working at the court of Pope Gregory XII, although he did some diplomatic work for Henry VI in the 1430s, and made regular visits to England during this time. Despite his clerical career, Swann was a married man, whose wife belonged to a family of London vintners, and who appears to have lived in London under the protection of her family during her husband's absences. By 1420 Swann had risen to the important post of abbreviator of papal letters, which of®ce he retained for over twenty years, during which time he represented many English interests at the Curia. In 1440 he was an envoy charged with concluding a treaty of alliance with the archbishop of Cologne. He retired to England around 1445, at which time he requested his contacts in London to have his collected papers bound together. E. F. Jacob has identi®ed the volume now known as BL MS Cotton Cleopatra C. IV as a collection put together for Swann at the time of his retirement.84 The volume is a composite one, consisting of several independent volumes bound together. If these were bound together sometime after 1445, then the texts must be slightly earlier than this. The latest date in the letter-book collection is 1443, and the handwriting supports Jacob's dating, although the margin for error in any palaeographical analysis renders this form of dating too imprecise in a case such as BL MS Cotton Cleopatra C. IV, where as exact a date as possible is necessary. The section of the manuscript which contains the political prophecies may, however, be slightly older than the letter-book. As each section is of independent origin, exact dating is not possible. One section contains a history of Henry V from Agincourt to 1422, followed by brief notes on the events of 1419 to 1444, arranged in annalistic form alongside the terms of of®ce of mayors and sheriffs of London. There are some short moral and historical notes, after which comes some 40 folios of prophetic texts. A blank folio between (fol. 73r) suggests that the prophecies formed a separate volume. If this is so, they form the earliest surviving anthology of political 83 84

Watts, Henry VI, p. 248. Emden, University of Oxford, III, 1829±30; E. F. Jacob, `To and From the Court of Rome in the Fifteenth Century', in Essays in Later Medieval History, ed. E. F. Jacob (Manchester, 1968), pp. 58±78. For the London Chronicle, see Chronicles of London, ed. C. L. Kingsford (London, 1905), pp. 117±52; Kingsford, English Historical Literature, p. xiii.

186

The Imperial Hero 1399±1440 prophecies in an English manuscript. Another separate volume, Swann's letter-book, follows the prophecies on fol. 124v. The book contains no less than nineteen political prophecies of varying lengths, some in English, although the majority are in Latin. They represent all the attributes of the prophetic hero which had gathered around the king by the middle of the ®fteenth century, although most of the texts were already over a century old by the time the manuscript was written. The oldest is the `Prophecia Merlini', representing the British History, as does `Bruti posteritas', but the collection is dominated by texts concerning the great apocalyptic hero and crusader who will also be king of France; `Vade mecum in tribulacione', `The Last Kings of the English' (in Latin), `The Holy Oil of St Thomas', `Bridlington', `Lilium ¯orebit' (similar in content to `Lilium regnans' but much longer), `Sibilla regine austri' (a small text which paraphrases the `Prophecia Merlini' on Sextus hibernie, but which also gives him a crusading career as in `Ter tria lustra'), `Tolle caput martis' (a date formula for the hero's advent), `Quando sambucus fert ceresa' and the two texts which describe the hero's relationship with his imperial city, `Illius imperium' and `Gallorum levitas'. `Asinus coronatus' represents the origins of the Lancastrian dynasty, and a small text, `Anglorum regimen bastard bello superavit', re¯ects the Norman, as opposed to the British and AngloSaxon, bloodlines of the English kings (it tells how the Conqueror was told that the length of the church at Battle Abbey would be the length of Norman rule in England). The text `Cum rex Andronicus' is a variant of `Dum rex Henricus', a more contemporary text relating to the situation in the 1440s.85 `Dum rex Henricus' concerns a king called Henry, who is `Rex bis sanctus & re et nomine natus'. This must be Henry VI, the only king of England to be consecrated to two kingdoms on the grounds of his lineage. He will pull up seven lilies from his own soil in the year 1448: `Rex cadet & vulgus Francie militia clerus' (`The king will fall, and the people of France, and the knighthood, and the clergy'). The seven lilies are a reference to the Dauphin Charles, who, in the eyes of the English, called himself Charles VII of France. That Henry will defeat him in 1448 is easy to see, but the fact that the king will fall in war, along with the the most brilliant of the French, is more dif®cult. It should be remembered here that astrologers were predicting the imminent death of Henry VI in 1441, and this may be related to such predictions.86 In this context it may imply the socalled `king' Charles, as the last line goes on to say, `Ferro fame situ ¯amina festu [sic] peribit' (`He will perish in that place by iron [i.e. war], starvation, wind and gluttony [?]'). Henry's `own soil' is the kingdom of France. The dynastic issue of the French succession, which had been introduced into 85 86

fol. 112v. This was related to the disgrace and punishment of Humphrey, duke of Gloucester's wife, Eleanor: see H. M. Carey, Courting Disaster: Astrology at the English Court and University in the Later Middle Ages (London, 1992), pp. 138±53.

187

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England prophetic discourse in the reign of Edward III, had been invested with a new meaning by the Treaty of Troyes. The possession of the French throne had become a part of `Englishness' as important, if not more important (certainly, perceived at this stage to be more immediate), than the relationship with the Scots. The king of England had been crowned king of France, and the supporters of `Charles VII' were no longer enemies, but rebels and traitors. In the 1440s the political prophecies still express a belief that Henry VI can, and will, overcome them, and ful®l his heroic potential, the legacy of his father, as foretold in the other prophecies in the collection. As the peace negotiators of 1439 had been forced to admit, there were many English who would allow concessions, but would not submit to the French condition that the king of England should renounce his title to the French throne.87 `When Rome is Removith' is a short version, in rhyming couplets, of a text which appears in later manuscripts in a variety of different forms.88 It is the only vernacular prophecy which is contemporary with the manuscript.89 This text belongs to the `Erceldoune' tradition of popular, predictive prophecy: Whe[n] Rome is removith i[n]to englond and ilke p[r]est hayt the pope is pour i[n] hand Be tuene the iije and the sixte who wolde ond[er]stond Moch wer and wo schall a rysse in englond.

The language of this prophecy is of the opaque, `coded message' variety, and the events which it predicts are of suf®cient generality to indicate absolutely any event to which the reader wishes to ascribe such meaning. The predicted `wer and wo' are typical of this type of prophecy, as is the use of numbersymbolism, and the image of the priests who hold the pope's power is a symptom of chaos, although in this case it is the ecclesiastical world which is `upside down'. The text speaks of `a striffe be the stremis of ho[m]mo[r]', after which the Third shall recover and retain his rule. This may have originally been a Scottish king, as the text urges fellow Celts to rise up and ®ght: †an worth upp walis ‡[at] vantith no vylis And holpe up ‡i brother w[ith] brith hardde brandis thi kynnys me[n] of yrlond lord of hono[r] ‡y schalt spende ther spere[s] w[ith] dents of dolo[r]

As with texts such as `Regnum scottorum' and `Bruti posteritas', the object is the reuni®cation of Britain, as promised by the Angelic Voice in the Historia Regum Britannie: `To bring out of brawlis the kynd blod of brute[s] / Tho which schalt lyue on to lyne of lande[s]'. 87

88 89

`Documents Relating to the Anglo-French Negotiations of 1439', ed. C. T. Allmand, Camden Miscellany 24, 4th s. 9 (1972), 79±149. Historical Poems, ed. Robbins, pp. 312±13. The two others, on fols. 73r and 123v, are later additions.

188

The Imperial Hero 1399±1440 Texts in the `Erceldoune' tradition appear, from the evidence of manuscript survival, to have been rare outside northern England until the 1440s: the only other survival is the Worcester miscellany, MS Harley 2253, and a note in a Canterbury manuscript of the same period. These texts are marked by their fear of social and political chaos, and it would appear signi®cant, therefore, that these two earlier occurrences date from the years surrounding the deposition of Edward II, a time when political authority at the centre was weak. The same kind of prophecy appeared again at the time of Richard II's deposition, but was suppressed by authority of Henry IV's government. The fact that these texts appear in what is likely to be a London manuscript of the late 1440s would seem to accord with Watts's conclusions about the nonexistence of royal authority, which was exercized on the king's behalf, as it were, by deputy, and about the growing disaffection and unease of prophecy's audience. The rising status of English certainly led to greater numbers of political prophecies in English, but this cannot be argued in the case of Swann's manuscript, where even `The Last Kings of the English' is given in a Latin version. The legislation of 1406 was not repealed; it appears to have simply been ignored, and subsequent manuscripts show that these texts entered the mainstream of English political prophecy during the Wars of the Roses. On fol. 120v, the last of the prophetic texts, there is a list of the heroes and villains of political prophecy: Hec sunt nomina Regis illius qui sanctam crucem cristi inveniet secundum diuersas prophecias autenticas qui verus heres erit electus a deo de semine Bruti Francie & hispanie cui victoria semper commutetur . . . (`These are the names of that king who will ®nd the Holy Cross according to various genuine prophecies: he will be the true heir, elected by God from the seed of Brutus, France and Spain, to whom victory will always awarded . . .') Edwardus. Brutus. Rubeus draco. Cadwalladrus. Animal occidental. Aquila. Filius hominis. Unicornus. Gallus. Sol. Aper. Asinus. Sextus hibernie. Anglie dominum. Nuncius celi. Albus leo. Alba rosa. Taurus. Coruus. Cornix. Falco. leopardus. Rex sensibilis. Jovis.90

The names of the king `qui iniuste coronam anglie occupavit secundum eas diuersas prophecieas autenticas' (who has usurped the crown of England unjustly according to these various genuine prophecies) are: Taurus. Albus draco. predator. usurpator. Filius aquile. Talpa. Vulpes. Linx. Abrolle. Stella. Canis. Antilupus. Fatuus. Rex insensibilis. Saturnus.

Some of these names are recognizable from prophecies we have already seen. The Red Dragon appears in the `Prophecia Merlini', and so does Sextus, 90

fols. 120v±122r.

189

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England although he is now `of Ireland', whereas in the `Prophecia Merlini' it was the walls, not the man, which were Irish. The Bull and the Cockerel may refer to `Bridlington', although this is not made clear in the text. Similarly, the Son of Man may be the character in `Lilium regnans', and the Boar the character in `The Last Kings of the English', derived from the `Prophecia Merlini'. There are many Eagles in prophetic texts, and `Anglie dominum' is just another term for the king of England, whose heraldic emblem is the Leopard. The reference to Cadwallader returns to the theme of the end of the Historia Regum Britannie, the Angelic Voice and the return of the great king who will reunite Britain.91 The Sun represents the king's divine majesty, and Jove refers to the planet, which was said to be `a godeliche planete, hote and moist, male, and a day planete, temporat in his qualitees'.92 The Ass is not the Ass of `Asinus coronatus', but resembles the heroic Ass of the `Dum rex Henricus' addition in MS Hatton 56, or it may refer to a text which is no longer known.93 The Western Beast may refer to a character in the prophecy of Sibyl Erithrea, `Exquiritis a me', which occurs very infrequently in historical contexts. This speaks of a terrible Beast from the East, which terri®es the world: `porro leo fortissimus ab occidente rugiet coloris celestis, maculatus auro, cuius capita V pedes quingenti' (`Far off the very strong Lion will roar from the West in heavenly hue, spotted with gold: he will have ®ve heads and ®fteen feet).94 This Western Beast destroys the Eastern Beast and all his followers. The unicorn (which appears as a hero in BL MS Cotton Vespasian E. VII) could ®ght and kill elephants, stabbing them in the stomach with the single horn in the middle of its brow. It was so swift that no hunter could catch it; it could only be overcome by a virgin, into whose lap it would lay its head and allow itself to be caught. From early on in English literature the raven was associated with the ®eld of battle, where it fed on the corpses of the slain.95 Medieval people believed that the raven pecked out the eyes of the dead ®rst, before consuming the body, and therefore identi®ed its colour with the consuming blackness of sin. However, it could also signify male beauty, as in the Song of Songs.96 Given the emphasis put upon war and its consequences in prophetic texts, it is likely that the image is a gruesome reminder of the way in which the hero is intended to treat his enemies. The crow, although of similar colour and eating habits to the raven, was not so badly regarded. It 91

92

93 94 95

96

J. Crick, `Geoffrey of Monmouth: Prophecy and History', Journal of Medieval History 18 (1992), 357±71. On the in¯uence of Geoffrey's history on the chroniclers of the period see L. Keeler, Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Late Latin Chroniclers 1300±1500 (Berkeley CA, 1946). On the Properties of Things, ed. Seymour, I, 480. The `cause of wel‡e' lay in the orbit of Jove, or Jupiter. It could also refer to the `ace' of the dice prophecies. `Italienische Prophetien', ed. Holder-Egger (1904±5), p. 163. The `Prophecia Merlini' says, `Aduolabit coruus cum miluis et corpora peremptorum deuorabit': Historia Regum Britannie I, ed. Wright, p. 81. Song of Solomon 5. 11.

190

The Imperial Hero 1399±1440 was believed to be a wise bird which lived to a great age, and was an example of good parenthood, caring for its young and bringing them food for a long time after they had ¯edged. There was also a belief that the crow had access to divinely-given foreknowledge; it could predict the future, especially the weather, reveal the purpose of men's actions, and disclose the whereabouts of an ambush. When a hunter made a kill, he would ritually cut up or `unmake' his quarry. In doing this, he would take a specially-reserved part of the animal's gut and feed it to the crows. These images of parenthood, wisdom and a special relationship with the Deity offer a view of kingship compatible with other prophetic sources, but the origin of the character is obscure.97 As for the villain, it is dif®cult to see how he and the hero can both be the Bull. The White Dragon is the term used for the villainous Saxons in the `Prophecia Merlini', and the Lynx, who causes the ruin of the kingdom, is another Galfridian character. The Fox could refer to the `Vulpis cum cauda', and the Dog and the Mole are beasts of low degree; there is an accursed Mole in `The Last Kings of the English'.98 There is an Eagle's Son in `Exquiritis a me', but this is a very unimportant, if predatory, character. The Star may be included because it is lesser than the Sun, and only re¯ects the Sun's light; that is, it is a kind of impostor.99 Similarly, in astronomy Saturn is the opposite planet to Jove, or Jupiter, and has the opposite effect: `Saturnus is an yuel-willid planete, colde and drye, a ny¿t planete . . . His cercle is most ferre fro ‡e er‡e, and ne‡eles it is most noyfulle to ‡e er‡e'.100 The prophetic villain represents all that is evil and harmful to the world. He is also `predator' and `usurpator', a tyrant preying on a kingdom to which he has no right. Nor is he a good king, as he is both fatuus and rex insensabilis, rather like the anti-hero of `Asinus coronatus'. The hero is also called Edward, which appears strange in the 1440s, when there had been no king of this name since 1377. By this time, then, Edward was no longer just a personal name indicating a particular individual, but a prophetic name which could be applied to anyone, such as Sextus. The remaining names are also very interesting. The White Lion, the White Rose, and the Falcon were all badges of the House of York, and the Antelope was associated with the Lancastrian dynasty; it had been one of the badges of Henry V, and is still to be seen on his chantry chapel in Westminster Abbey.101 97

98 99

100 101

On the Properties of Things, ed. Seymour, I, 621±2 (raven) and 620±1 (crow); Cummins, Hound and the Hawk, p. 42; Bestiary, ed. Barber, p. 160. On the Properties of Things, ed. Seymour, II, 1164±7 (dog) and 1252±3 (mole). `. . . as ferfor‡ as ‡ey mowe, ‡ey ben in stede of ‡e sonne, of ‡e whiche ‡ey fongen li¿t': On the Properties of Things, ed. Seymour, I, 498. On the Properties of Things, ed. Seymour, I, 479. The chantry chapel was built under the auspices of Henry Beaufort: R. A. Brown, H. M. Colvin and A. J. Taylor, The History of the King's Works: The Middle Ages, 2 vols. (London, 1963), II, 488±90.

191

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England The writer of this prophecy, in the late 1440s, seems to be challenging the House of Lancaster's right to rule. It seems that William Swann, lifelong servant of the dynasty, either overlooked, or did not notice, this. The unbound volume may represent a species of anthology which was being produced commercially in London in the 1440s, or one which had been compiled on Swann's behalf by an amanuensis, but it reveals the nature of the prophecies which were available in the capital at that time. Although insuf®cient as evidence on their own, the texts show signs of lack of governmental control, and of the discontent among the `commons' which surfaced in 1450, and led to the Commons' attack on Suffolk in that year. This lends credence to the suggestions which scholars are now making, that there were those who contemplated the replacement of Henry VI by the Duke of York at the time of Cade's Rebellion.102 Even in a volume belonging to a supporter of Henry V and his son, there is the recognition that an alternative dynasty existed. Another collector of political prophecies around the year 1450 was John Shirley. His manuscript, Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 59, is datable to 1447±56. It is therefore later than Swann's, and may belong to the early 1450s, rather than to the earlier decade. Shirley, however, was an old servant of a servant of the House of Lancaster, and was part of a social circle in which the legacy of Henry V would have been preserved. Shirley (c. 1366±1456) was secretary to Richard Beauchamp, earl of Warwick (1382± 1439). Warwick was an ambassador to the Council of Constance in 1414, and captain of Calais, as well as tutor to the young Henry VI. It is likely that he was accompanied by Shirley, described as his `secretary', on these occasions, who performed errands for him during these years. Shirley is described as `esquire' to Warwick in 1415, and `servant of the earl' in 1431. He is also, in 1429, described as `esquire of London', where he lived, in the precincts of St Bartholomew's Hospital, until his death in October 1456. He was buried in the nearby church of St Bartholomew. Shirley, like Swann, had connections with London citizens, as well as with his social circle as servant of Warwick. He had attended the Council of Constance, and may have met the delegate who later wrote to Henry V about the impending fall of Islam. He may have shared manuscripts with other like-minded members of his social circle, a practice which appears to have been quite common in the days before cheap, printed books.103 Boffey and Thompson 102

103

P. A. Johnson, Duke Richard of York 1411±1460 (Oxford, 1988), pp. 32±157, covers Yorkist sympathies and activity during the period from 1440 to 1455. For York's involvement in the events of 1450, see R. Virgoe, `The Death of the Duke of Suffolk', BJRL 47 (1965), 489±502. For Cade's Rebellion, see I. M. W. Harvey, Jack Cade's Rebellion of 1450 (Oxford, 1991). E. P. Hammond, `Ashmole 59 and other Shirley Manuscripts', Anglia 18 (1907), 320±48; A. I. Doyle, `More Light on John Shirley', Medium Aevum 30 (1961), 93±101. For reading circles, see `John Benet's Chronicle', ed. G. L. and M. A. Harriss,

192

The Imperial Hero 1399±1440 describe him as a litteÂrateur, rather than a scribe or middleman. He translated several Latin and French prose works into English, and composed vernacular poetry, although this was somewhat unpolished verse. He had access to a wide variety of texts, and may have owned a variety of books.104 Shirley's manuscript-compiling activities were far-ranging. Three major anthologies written in Shirley's hand survive (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 59; Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R. 3. 20 and BL MS Additional 16165), and the fragment existing in BL MS Harley 78 (fols. 80r-83r) shows that there were others. Of all the remaining manuscripts, only MS Ashmole 59, his latest surviving manuscript, has prophetic texts. Shirley was about eighty years old when he copied this volume, and Boffey and Thompson suggest that at least some of the text was written from memory. He may have procured his texts from the same type of source as the compiler of BL MS Cotton Cleopatra C. IV, but whether these sources were private or commercial is at present unknown. Five of the texts are in Latin, and `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' is quite long, so Shirley is likely to have written these down with some kind of exemplar in front of him. The prophetic texts are located in the same section of the manuscript, but are interspersed with other material, so no particular signi®cance can be ascribed to the ordering of the texts; they either came to mind, or became available, at different stages in the compilation of the book. The manuscript contains short items of historical, devotional and proverbial interest, amongst which is a small group of prophetic texts. After John Lydgate's poem on the kings of England to Henry VI, the texts are `The Holy Oil of St Thomas', `Whan Lordes wol leese ‡eire olde lawes' (a `world upside-down' prophecy, of the `Erceldoune' variety, attributed to Merlin), `Cesaris imperium', `Lilium regnans', and `velit aut nolit' (a prophecy which predicts that Roman imperium will pass to the French and then to the English). The presence of these texts in a manuscript which contained important `bits and pieces' which Shirley felt that he should know and keep, reveals an attitude to English history, and to the king of England, which accords with manuscripts from 1413 to the late 1440s, but by then Shirley's views might have been seen by some as old-fashioned. Henry VI is the divinely appointed, favoured and protected ruler who will restore the Christian Roman empire, and lead it against the enemies of Christ. Watts maintains that the loyalty felt by the lords to the personal rule of Henry VI

104

Camden Miscellany 24, Camden Society 1st s. 9 (London, 1972), pp. 157±8; C. Meale, `Manuscripts, Readers and Patrons in Fifteenth Century England: Sir Thomas Malory and Arthurian Romance', Arthurian Literature 4 (1985), 93±126 (p. 106). See J. Boffey and J. Thompson, `Anthologies and Miscellanies', in Book Production and Publishing, ed. Grif®ths and Pearsall, pp. 279±315 (pp. 284±90), which includes Shirley's relationship to Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R. 3. 21, for which see below. Shirley's verse-writing talent may be compared with that of John Paston; his talents sprang from a mid-®fteenth century gentleman's education.

193

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England can be `characterized as the willing suspension of disbelief '.105 For the audience of political prophecy this can rather be characterized as an inability to believe that the king was incapable of ful®lling the destiny bequeathed to him by his father.

105

Watts, Henry VI, p. 195.

194

CHAPTER SIX

Cadwallader and the Angelic Voice: The Rationalization of Chaos 1450±1485 In 1450, tensions and divisions in the political structure surfaced in the impeachment of the duke of Suffolk by the Commons in February, followed by his exile and murder in the name of `the community of the realm' in April.1 From May to July a rebellion begun in Kent, under an unknown individual calling himself `Jack Cade', culminated in the rebels' capture of London and the `execution' of Lord Say, one of Suffolk's associates. The city was recaptured by Lord Scales on 5 July, but the revolt was more widespread than this. Bishop Ayscough who, like Say, was associated with Suffolk's reÂgime, was murdered in Salisbury at the same time as Cade's men were advancing on London. The citizens themselves were not ill-disposed towards the rebels. Their support only evaporated when the mob sacked the house of a former mayor, and propertied interests felt threatened.2 The rebels demanded the removal of courtiers who had been, or were perceived to have been, close to the duke of Suffolk, who were felt to be preventing access to the royal person for anyone not favoured by them. These men, together with Suffolk, were accused of the murder of the duke of Gloucester in 1447, of impoverishing the king, and of the loss of France.3 In being responsible for the loss of the king's majesty and the king's possessions in France, these men were also responsible for the non-ful®lment of the prophetic agenda. There is some evidence that political prophecies may have been associated with the rebellion. BL MS Cotton Rolls ii. 23 is datable by its contents to c. 1451.4 It contains historical material relating to the murder of the duke of Suffolk in 1450, Cade's Rebellion of the same year, and the prosecutions which followed its suppression. It also contains prophetic texts, all in English. `The Prophecy Proffesid and j Pight' is a very short text, which says that, according to 1 2 3

4

Virgoe, `Death of the Duke of Suffolk', 496±9 (p. 499). Grif®ths, Reign of Henry VI, pp. 636±40; Harvey, Jack Cade's Rebellion, pp. 94±5. Grif®ths, Reign of Henry VI, pp. 301±4; Harvey, Jack Cade's Rebellion, pp. 33±47; Three Fifteenth Century Chronicles, ed. J. Gairdner, Camden Society n.s. (London, 1880), pp. 96±7. O'Sullivan, `Treatment of Political Themes in Late Medieval English Verse, with Special Reference to British Museum Cotton Roll ii.23'.

195

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England `maiden Sibille and many mo' there will be a `man of mykill might / That in his thradam was full ‡roo', and the realm of France will `Disseyvere on syndere' in the year 1450 `and moo'. The `man of mykill might' is not speci®ed. He could, in fact, be anyone; in this case, he need not be the king. The stress laid on the recovery of the kingdom of France is a measure of how deeply the need to possess it had become ingrained into the political consciousness of the groups who sympathized with Cade ± so deeply that they were prepared to turn to someone who might not be the king to recover it. The obvious candidate is Richard, duke of York who, although almost certainly still loyal to the reÂgime himself, may have become, unknowingly or not, the focus of dynastic ambition on behalf of some of his supporters. In effect, this represents a tacit acknowledgment that the king is unable to undertake such an enterprise himself. There are two versions of a `dice' prophecy, `S mysed in myndes', and `When Sonday Goo‡'. These prophecies are based on a popular parlour game, in which dice were thrown, and a fortune told on the basis of the combinations revealed on the faces.5 The texts often use dominical letters to reveal the date on which the predicted events are expected to happen. In the case of `When Sonday Goo‡' in BL MS Cotton Rolls ii. 23, the letters are C, D and E, representing the years 1449±51. Six is always the best throw, and England will be paradise when the ace bears up the six. The most obvious interpretation of this is that the number six represents Henry VI. The ace, or one, was regarded as the root and beginning of all other numbers: When ase bereth upp syse Then is England paradise When synk & cater is sett asyde Then ye worde of syse springeth ffull wyde When Dewsse puttith owght tree yen ys all shentt . . .

One was also the number of unity; the `commons' must unite behind their king.6 Two was the number which signi®ed division, and so when Two overcomes Three (which is a bene®cial number, being the number of the Trinity and half of Six), all is lost. By uniting behind their king, the `commons' can prevent this. When this unity is achieved, says the text, there will be a new king at a new Parliament. `The Cock in the North', in the same manuscript, also says that the people will choose a new lord. Some later texts say `we must all go into Parliament'. Parliament is regarded as a place where the politically represented classes gather to witness momentous events. It does not say that a new king is chosen by Parliament, or even that he is chosen at all, except by divine election. It does, however, imply that 5

6

W. L. Braeckman, ` Fortune-telling by the Casting of Dice', Studia Neophilologica 52 (1980), 3±29. On the Properties of Things, ed. Seymour, II, pp. 1353±8.

196

Cadwallader and the Angelic Voice Parliament has an important place in the making of a king. Whether or not there will be a new king, Parliament is a place where people go when all is lost. It is a place where a remedy for the nation's ills may be discussed or sought; a place which provides some sense of stability and hope for the future, in times of chaos.7 The identity of `we' is not given, but is more likely to apply to commons than to lords, as the lords might attend royal councils and provide other forms of `counsel'. Only the knights and burgesses of the Commons would have to attend Parliament to meet one another and make their corporate voice heard. This implies that there were those who felt, or sought to engender, a feeling of coporate solidarity among the `commons', which can only be explained in opposition to the idea of `lords'. If this is so, it appears to bear out Watts's idea of a divergence of interests between lords and `commons' in or around 1450. The dice prophecies usually couple the Red Rose with the Fleur-de-Lys. This may be testimony to the increasing importance of the queen, Margaret of Anjou, who came to be a prominent political ®gure in the 1450s, as the incapacity of her husband became an increasingly important factor in national politics. Her ®rst political act on a national scale took place after the birth of her son, when she allowed herself to be put forward as an alternative to Richard of York as regent during the king's illness.8 In the poems, the Red Rose and the Fleur de Lys are coupled together, implying either mutual dependence, or the dependence of one upon the other. Mutual responsibility may also be implied. If the king is to be replaced, this may be a sign that the writer sees both king and queen as responsible for the state of England. A later continuator of the Brut blamed the loss of France on Henry VI's breaking of his promise to marry one of the daughters of the count of Armagnac, but there is no indication of that in any of the `dice' poems. In the context of Cade's Rebellion, however, the loss of English possessions in France was seen as one of the failings for which Suffolk's reÂgime was responsible. It had also, as part of its policy of peace with France, arranged the king's marriage with Margaret of Anjou. The rebels saw the loss of French possessions as a contributing factor to the internal situation of 1450. For these reasons, although she did not enter the political arena until after the birth of her son, the queen was already unpopular with the audience of political prophecy. `S Mysed in Myndes' is a predictive prophecy in the opaque language of 7

8

S. B. Chrimes, English Constitutional Ideas in the Fifteenth Century (New York, 1966) p. 109. On Parliament, A. L. Brown, The Governance of Late Medieval England 1272± 1461 (London, 1989); J. S. Roskell, The Commons and their Speakers in English Parliaments 1376±1523 (Manchester, 1965); J. S. Roskell, `The Social Composition of the Commons in a Fifteenth-Century Parliament', BIHR 24 (1951), 152±72. Johnson maintains that Margaret may even have been sympathetic to York up to this time, only stepping into the political arena when she felt the inheritance of her newborn son to be under threat from York: Johnson, Richard, Duke of York, pp. 128±9. Wolffe says that this was the ®rst evidence of any hostility to York on Margaret's part: Wolffe, Henry VI, p. 276.

197

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England the `Erceldoune' tradition. It predicts unspeci®ed doom and disaster, and shows signs of being a northern poem: The lion be busked and lased in sonder Saue a legge laste in Albany landes Unnethes shall he shyne for shade of the mone The Saxons shall sigh when ‡ai Eyre co[m]mys . . .

The people of Britain are divided into Britons and Saxons, the Saxons usually representing the English in this type of text, and con¯ict with Scotland is highlighted. The reference to the shade of the moon lying over the Scots is likely to be another reference to the House of Percy, and another northern lord, the Neville earl of Warwick, is mentioned later in the poem: `the unce and the ragged tre the redde ban[er] under . . .'. The Bear and Ragged Staff were the badge of Richard Neville, earl of Warwick. The anti-English stance of the writer indicates a northern origin, with Scottish, probably Border, in¯uence, as he wishes `all Saxons sede sorow for eu[er]', and he cares whether `‡e north shall haue noy'. The writer also stresses the power of the name of Cadwallader: `whan Cad Wallis name called is ‡e curse may drede . . .'. Richard of York could claim genuine, if distant, Welsh ancestry through the marriage of one of his Mortimer ancestors to a Welsh princess.9 He could, therefore, claim to be better quali®ed as heir of Brutus, and consequently as prophetic hero, than the Lancastrian kings, whose claim was entirely based on legend and on prophetic tradition. This poem does not make that claim, and its interpretation is entirely subjective, because of the opacity of its language. The prophecies in this manuscript, connected as they are with Cade's Rebellion, are being used as a weapon of the `commons' protest, if not of popular protest in the strictest sense of the word. Their anonymity, and the obscure, coded language which they use, makes them ideally suited to this purpose. Code is an alternative discourse, set up in opposition to the of®cial discourses which prevail in society. All codes are, in consequence, subversive. This is a political coded language, set up in opposition to the authorized political discourses of later medieval England. Its presence in Cotton Rolls ii. 23, in which it is the only prophetic discourse used, reveals the inability of the political authorities to suppress its use. It is, therefore, symptomatic of the breakdown of the government's control over the forces which seek to subvert it and, as Henry IV had recognized, these forces might also threaten to subvert not only political order, but the dynasty itself. The other prophetic text in BL MS Cotton Rolls ii. 23 is `The Cock in the North'. Although this poem, written in English alliterative verse, may be earlier in date, this is the earliest English manuscript in which it appears.10 9 10

For this see the genealogies in Allan, `Yorkist Propaganda'. Printed from this manuscript in Historical Poems, ed. Robbins, pp. 115±17. There is a Latin version in BL MS Cotton Vespasian E. VII, fol. 132r.

198

Cadwallader and the Angelic Voice This is another prophecy of the `Erceldoune' type. It makes reference to Thomas of Erceldoune and his predicted battle at `sondyford', where a proud prince will fall, and `betwene seton and ‡e se a sorow shall be wroght'.11 The writer had some knowledge of the prophecies contained in poems such as the romance `Thomas of Ersseldoune', but this may have been as part of a popular tradition, rather than at ®rst hand. The writer calls on other sources: This bridlyngton, bede, bokis and Banaster tellis, Thomas [of Erceldoune], and merlyon, the same with-outen lese, They recorden and other that with prophecy mellis.12

The author does not obviously refer to the works of all, or any, of the prophets he mentions; the use of `bokis' is interesting. This probably refers to Lydgate (`Bocas' after his English version of The Fall of Princes, based on Boccaccio), who is hereby identi®ed with the prophets. The language and terminology he uses are, however, mostly Galfridian. He speaks of Britain, and of the days of King Arthur, and describes people in terms of animals and birds. What concerns him is not England's continental empire, but con¯ict within the island of Britain. London is called, not New Troy, but `troy untrew', indicating that the writer sees something wrong in the political alignment of her citizens, whilst maintaining her imperial, Trojan connections. One of the leaders is a Bastard, but in this poem he is only a marginal character. The affairs of the North, particularly the relationship between the kings of England and Scotland, are given an important place, although in this text the kings of Scotland and England are not really central to the plot. What is important is that there should be peace, rather than that either one has total victory. The kings are not alone; the nobility are just as important and heroic as their kings. A new feature in this poem is the importance of a `dede man' who speaks, at whose voice London trembles: Than shall troy vntrew tremble ‡at dayes, ffor drede of a dede man when ‡ey here hym speke . . . He that is ded and buryed in sight, Shall ryse agayn, and lyve in lond . . .13

It has been said that this is a reference to Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, brother of Henry V, opponent of the Duke of Suffolk and the Beaufort interest at Henry VI's court, who was held in veneration by those who believed that he had been murdered on the orders of Suffolk, which was the stance taken by Cade's rebels.14 The character is, however, not clearly identi®able from the 11 12 13 14

Historical Poems, ed. Robbins, p. 116. Historical Poems, ed. Robbins, p. 117. Historical Poems, ed. Robbins, pp. 116 and 117. This may even be a reference to Arthur redivivus. This vernacular prophetic tradition had developed its own particular imagery, which was not always directly related to its intended subject.

199

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England text, and actually belongs to the prophetic tradition to which this text belongs. What is more likely is that the ®rst of the `dead men' represents a tradition about Cadwallader, whose statue protected London in the `Prophecia Merlini', and the second dead man is Arthur redivivus, foretold to Cadwallader at the end of the `Prophecia Merlini'. These two stories could have survived in popular, oral tradition, where they would have become confused in transmission. The writer associated himself with the Kentish contingent of Cade's rebel army, although there is no record of any major events at Brickhill, near what is now Milton Keynes. At the end of the poem, a Boar will go to the Holy Land, `wynne ‡e beme', die, and be buried `in Iosephath'. Even this Boar, though, is not the hero, as the text does not have one hero in particular. It is very dif®cult to interpret this text at all, as it does not have any obvious references to known individuals, even the king. The events surrounding the Boar at the end may re¯ect the events foretold in `Baltasar Cador', that the Boar would win the Holy Cross, then die in a strange country. The Boar appears to be the same character as the Young Knight who is described in an earlier verse. He is favoured not by God, but by Fortune: `The whele shall turne to hym full ryght, / †at ffortune hath chosen to be here fere'.15 Although the Boar ends in the Holy Land, and wins the Holy Cross, he is not an apocalyptic character. This episode provides a suitable ending to a prophetic poem, but the real emphasis of the text is on British affairs. Perhaps most interesting of all is the line which says, `then shall the saxons chese theym a lord'.16 This lord will rule them `rightfully' and `bryng hem vndere'. First, this implies that the present lord cannot control his people, as one of the ®rst principles of kingship is to maintain order through justice. Secondly, it implies that the present lord may not rule `rightfully', which may be a challenge to the ruling dynasty's right to rule. What is really interesting is the apparent reference to election by the people. The Saxons, according to the `Prophecia Merlini', are the English. So, the writer is saying that the English may choose their own king. This assertion is unparalleled in the prophetic discourse of England. The writer may have in mind the foundation of the kingdom of Britain, where Brutus is chosen as leader by his companions, who judge him to be the most worthy.17 If this is so, then the implication is that there is one who is worthy to be chosen king of England by his people, in place of the one who now rules. This must be, in the context of 1450±1, a challenge to Henry VI on behalf of Richard of York. It only shows that there were those who thought this, and that they took part in, sympathized with, even fomented, the events of the early 1450s; it does not show that Duke Richard himself put out propaganda to this effect.18 15 16 17 18

Historical Poems, ed. Robbins, p. 117. Historical Poems, ed. Robbins, p. 117. Brut, ed. Brie, I, 3. Grif®ths, Reign of Henry VI, p. 629. Henry's relations with York himself may not have been so hostile at this time: Grif®ths, Reign of Henry VI, pp. 686±7.

200

Cadwallader and the Angelic Voice BL MS Cotton Rolls ii. 23 is a small, portable roll, written throughout in one neat, secretary hand, and is likely to have belonged to a clerk or lawyer who was involved in the proceedings against the rebels, as all of the contents are either records of indictments, or have evidential value. If the prophecies of BL MS Cotton Rolls ii. 23, all in English, are meant to be used in evidence against those involved in Cade's Rebellion, then the implication is that they were used as propaganda by the rebels, or that the prosecution ± that is, the voice of authority ± thought it helpful to allege that the rebels had used them as propaganda. How this propaganda might have been transmitted is not evident, but the suspicion must be that they were published in some public place, as `bills', or scattered in the streets as broadsheets.19 The fact that all the texts were in English indicates that a broad audience, including laypeople, was envisaged. Had they been posted in a public place, the prophecies would have reached a wide audience, especially in a city such as London. The evidence is, unfortunately, inconclusive. Dissatisfaction with the reÂgime did not necessarily imply disloyalty. Beliefs about the destiny of the English king did not die in the years after 1450, but some confusion is evident. This can be seen in the contents of Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Hatton 56. MS Hatton 56 is very similar in size to the anthology of political prophecies contained in BL MS Cotton Cleopatra C. IV.20 The manuscript has been written by a single scribe, in an anglicana hand of the mid-®fteenth century, which ranges from fairly neat and legible to rather tired and sprawling. The comparable section of the Cottonian manuscript is written by two scribes, both using rather variable anglicana hands, each scribe writing roughly one half of the volume. The scribe of BL MS Hatton 56 has marked the volume in various places with small pen drawings of a pointing hand. Some of these hands mark the beginning of texts, but others do not, and they appear to be placed randomly throughout the manuscript. Both of these volumes have the appearance of being written by scribes doing routine, somewhat boring work, but the scribe of BL MS Hatton 56, having a sense of humour, relieved the tedium by making little drawings, which may also have been intended to make the book more interesting to a would-be purchaser.21 Both manuscripts are written on 19

20

21

For example, the `open letter' of the Yorkist lords was displayed in this way on the gates of Coventry in 1459, and the Emperor Sigismund had caused broadsheets to be scattered in the streets of Canterbury in 1416. Another example was the alleged posting of `false prophecies' by the Lollards in 1431; we do not, however, know any details of this, which remains a government allegation. No prophecies appear to have been produced, and none can be identi®ed, but it is interesting that the government felt that this would be a valid allegation to make, and would imply treasonable activity. Presumably the authorities were to be the judges of what did, or did not, constitute `false': Grif®ths, Reign of King Henry VI, pp. 218±25, 629 and 808. There are about ten folios missing from the beginning of MS Hatton 56. Both volumes would be between forty and ®fty folios in length. For other examples of simple pen drawings used to enliven a cheap little book, see

201

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England paper, most of it of a common variety imported from eastern France and northern Italy, although in BL MS Hatton 56 this is interspersed with a paper from the Mediterranean area; the scribe seemingly used whatever was to hand. Volumes such as these would have been relatively cheap. What this evidence appears to be implying is that, during the troubled years of the 1440s and 50s, cheap volumes of prophetic texts were being produced by scribes, particularly in the London area, which was, by this time, the main centre of book production in England. The likelihood of this is enhanced by the evidence that `Bridlington' had already been made available in this way. It may be that people such as Benet and Herryson were able to copy prophetic texts from volumes such as these. If they were, then their selection of texts is all the more interesting, involving a greater element of personal choice than might otherwise have been thought. No such anthologies exist from the period before the 1440s. Some of the political prophecies in BL MS Hatton 56 are written in the vernacular, some in Latin, and not all show Henry VI in a favourable light. Like the prophetic section of Swann's book, MS Hatton 56 contains purely prophetic material, although some of it may also be described as theological or visionary, according to the contexts in which it is found. The texts in MS Hatton 56 relate to the political situation in the early 1450s. As well as texts such as `Lilium regnans', `Ter tria lustra', `Anglia transmittet' and `The Holy Oil of St Thomas', there is the prophecy of Bridget, and some texts which are found in few, and in some cases no other, sources. One of these is: the copye of the lettres writen & lete sent by ‡e kyng of Garnard in®dele to the kyng of Arragon cristian translated into Frensshe and sent by the kyng of Arragon unto ‡e kyng of Fraunse for to geue hym knowlege of seson of ‡e yere begynneth the ®rst day of September next followyng & duryth all ‡e hole yeer and he shall gouerne hym after disposicion of ‡e Nedyr & planetts.22

It is not clear who is being referred to as the king of France. If this is a reference to Charles VII, then it shows that some prophetic writers were prepared to accept Charles's position, even if it was a false one, only to be held until the rightful king recovered his heritage. The letter warns of apocalyptic disasters, and the imminent birth of Antichrist, under the sign of Saturn:

22

Boffey and Thompson, `Anthologies and Miscellanies', pp. 298±9, the work of `Rate' in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 61. It is also possible, because of the proYorkist nature of one of the prophecies, that this book was compiled for a particular individual, for personal use. This is not, however, necessarily true, as the scribe or seller may simply not have noticed, or may not have felt this to be an issue, given the political climate of the time and the nature of his audience/clienteÁle. fol. 5r.

202

Cadwallader and the Angelic Voice . . . he shall haue eyen indifferent & divers ‡t one shall be rede yt othir shall be frekelid and ‡t shall stand higher ‡an ‡t othir this child shall nat speke tyll he be vij yeer of age and or he speke he shall be strongly berdid . . .23

As the great saving emperor was expected to rule just before the reign of Antichrist, this allowed the right amount of time for King Henry to ful®l his destiny before the dreadful, dis®gured child grew to maturity. The writer sets English history into this universal scenario: A kyng shall be bysegid wt his co[mons] and to hem he shall be yelden by ‡e mene of a souerain lo[rd] ‡t gouernith ‡e seid kyng. And he shall be lij dayes wt [‡e] seid comons. And duryng ‡t tyme ther shall assemble grete Christeynes ‡t shull mayntene ‡r comons. And ‡an ‡er shall go to their noble men and revissth ‡eir tresures and exile ‡eir generacions.

All will be saved by three hosts under a bastard, an apostle and a beardless child `‡at neuer shall engendir chil[dren]'. In the circumstances of the early 1450s, this could be seen as a reference (albeit confused by the use of what were now `traditional' images in vernacular prophecy) to the turmoil of Cade's Rebellion. The letter in MS Hatton 56 shows the sympathy felt for the rebels by the author, who aligns himself with the `grete Christeynes' who care for the `comons'. However, the `commons' need to be put down when they begin to threaten their betters. The lord who yields the king to the `commons' appears to refer to a great lord who, by implication, supports the `commons'. The only possibility here is, as in William Swann's prophetic list, Richard of York, who was implicated in the events of 1450± 1.24 There is no hint of disloyalty in this text, however, and his full apocalyptic roÃle is still reserved to the king. The last lines indicate that he should look to the reform of the Church as well as the government, as he will be troubled by `abused cristen senators & of®cers temporalles the whiche lyve ayenst ‡e volunte of thi souerayn god'. The writer of this text feels that he has a right to tell the king to rectify secular, governmental abuses as well as the more traditional advice to reform the Church. An increased awareness of responsibility to advise the king on governmental matters is a feature of many texts which ®rst appear in England in the mid®fteenth century. An example of this is a vernacular interpretation, which is in itself a new prophetic text, added to the short poem `Dum rex henricus'. This reveals that the writer felt the king to be under threat from his magnates:

23

24

For the characteristics of Antichrist, see R. K. Emmerson, Antichrist in the Middle Ages: A Study of Medieval Apocalypticism, Art and Literature (Manchester, 1981). Grif®ths, Reign of Henry VI, p. 629. Johnson, however, is against this suggestion, maintaining that the duke had a different agenda from some of his followers, notably the notorious Sir William Oldhall: Johnson, Richard, Duke of York, pp. 82±3.

203

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England in ‡is tyme ‡e Prynces shull be full of ye pride & angir & cruell wtout drede of god or of his seyntes of ye [ ] & undir a couered stryfe feyned & sotell ‡ei shull assemble in a grete nombre ayenst ‡is leoberd & his generation for to devoure his blode & to conquere hym & his . . .

The mention of `his generation' implies that this was written after the birth of Henry's son Edward in April 1453. The text reveals the writer's view of the situation prior to the ®rst battle of St Albans in 1455, when York and his supporters openly took up arms, ostensibly not against the king, but against his favourites, headed by the duke of Somerset. The writer of this text was obviously not persuaded by the rebel lords' public protestations of loyalty. He believes that those who place their king under threat are committing sin, and do not fear the wrath of God or his saints. He who sides with the king (again symbolized by his `leopard' emblem) is on the side of God and the angels. That the villains are called `Prynces' appears to support theories that the governing and administrative classes saw their own aspirations and loyalties as different from those of the magnates. The writer is in no doubt that the ultimate objective is to extinguish the royal lineage. This adds a dynastic element to the threat; it implicates York, head of the alternative dynasty, without any actual mention of this alternative dynasty's existence. The result of this threat will be the rebels' own confusion, but there will be `mutacion of londe'. In an England in which the stability of property and possessions meant so much, this was a dire threat to everyone's well-being, and the writer, like the writers of the `Erceldoune' prophecies, feared it. All will be well, however, as `the herry asse shall come out of Albyon wt a gret company of wo[ ] & abill to werri upon ‡e ¯eying here & his meyne'. The Ass's vengeance will be bloody and terrible, and neither the Hare nor any of his people shall come again to his city. This will cause yet more `mutacion of lond'. The city here is not speci®ed; it could be the Hare's city (possibly York), or the Ass's city, which, on the evidence of earlier prophetic texts, is likely to mean London. It was for London that the Yorkist lords were heading when they were intercepted at St Albans. The `herry asse' is an obvious pun on `herry' or `Harry', and makes it clear that the text refers to King Henry. This is a heroic Ass, like the one in Swann's list. The Ass is depicted as a huntsman, pursuing a ¯eeing Hare. The hare was noted for its swiftness of foot, `a swift beste, fereful, and ®ghte‡ nou¿t.'25 The hunting metaphor offers the writer a chance to charge the king's enemy (it is a `singular' Hare) with cowardice and inability to ®ght. It also depicts the completeness of the hero's victory.26 The writer did not know the eventual outcome of the rumblings he describes; his glorious victory did not happen, and Richard of York asserted his authority as regent over Henry VI. 25 26

On the Properties of Things, ed. Seymour, II, 1220±1. The hunting metaphor occurs in a poem on the battle of Northampton (1460): Historical Poems, ed. Robbins, pp. 210±15.

204

Cadwallader and the Angelic Voice Another text unique to this manuscript is `the extret of ‡e prophecy of Baltazar Cador doctor of Astronomy & Souerayn philosophier of ye partes of Almayn'. `The Prophecy of Baltasar Cador' is another vernacular text, which predicts the glorious future career of Henry VI along similar lines to that of the prophecies of earlier in his reign, although it does, like the explanation of `Dum rex henricus', admit that things have not gone smoothly in the recent past: After ‡e prophecy of david som doctors seyen & glose in a certeyn place of ‡e saint ‡t in ‡e tyme of ‡e yeer of our lord god ml iiije li in many kyngdomes & grete regions of cristiante ho shall be so grete diuisioun & shedyng of blode by ‡e way of werre so ‡t ml yeer bifore was none seyn so dampnable so cruell nor destruable as shall be at ‡t tyme.

The text says that it concerns the realms of Gaul, Albion and Almanye, and notes especially Gaul, which the Leopard (i.e. the king of England) will assail `so sharply ‡t neuer shulbe eny contradicton ayenst hym nor mayntenyng'. It is precisely this `contradicton and mayntenyng' which has happened, and this is what the writer fears. This language is both more precise and stronger than that used in earlier prophecies, indicating some urgency in the need to believe in the king's ultimate victory. The Leopard in this text is Henry V, who thus represents England by bearing the symbol of the nation's arms. The symbol for Henry VI, interestingly, is the Boar. The last king of England for whom the Boar symbol was extensively used was Edward III. It can be used of Henry VI because, as the text tells us, Henry VI was born at Windsor, also the birthplace of the ®rst Boar, Edward III, `and of hym [the Leopard, Henry V] shall come a bore which shall be born at Wyndesore / and right wele he shall love ‡e place of his natiuite & shall signi®e'. This conjures up the Arthurian associations of Edward, and consciously looks backwards to a time of great national success, pride and aspiration. The Boar image evoked is that of the Boar of Windsor, not the Boar of Cornwall, as in the `Prophecia Merlini', so this would appear to be an appeal to nostalgia, to people's feelings for the two great rulers of England's recent past, and for Edward III in particular, who is placed by the writer in a very close relationship with Henry V. A time of conquest and heady successes is evoked, and the deposition of Richard II by Henry IV is ignored: And ‡e same bore shall whet his tethe upon ‡e yates of Paris where he shall make grete effusion of blode so ‡t ‡e labours of ye comons of ‡t lond shull ban out ‡er lordes of ‡e land and shull take ‡e bore to ‡eir lord.

The ®rst part of this is taken from the description of Edward III as the Boar in `The Last Kings of the English', and the idea of the French people adopting the king of England as their ruler accords with that of `Bridlington'. However, 205

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England there are two differences. In this case, we know that the king had already been crowned king of France, so he could not be offered the crown again. We are, however, prepared for this earlier in the text, when we are told that the Boar has been crowned `in his yonge age' with two crowns, but he will be put from one of them `for a certeyn tyme bij diuers & strange menes'. He will regain the crown from which he has been ousted. `Baltasar Cador' con®rms that it was still believed in the 1450s that Henry VI would recover his French lands. Gascony was ®nally lost in 1453, and the survival of this text records the de®ant reaction of political prophecy to that loss. The second difference is the way in which `comons' and `lordes' are differentiated. In the interests of king and nation, the French `commons' will `ban out ‡er lordes' and take the Boar as their lord. The interests of these two groups are not the same, and the writer identi®es his interests with those of the `comons'. Another implication is that the interests of king and nation coincide with those of the commons, not the lords, and that the commons have a responsibility to help the king for their mutual bene®t, and that of the nation. The lords are squeezed out, and the true nature of the prophetic relationship between king and commons, that is, the politically aware and responsible nation (not labourers and churls), is exposed. King and commons belong to one another, and the aristocracy may challenge both in their own interests. It also appears to re¯ect a growing disillusion with the quarrels of powerful aristocrats; it implies that the French lords are responsible for the loss of Henry VI's French lands, not the king, and assumes a community of interest between members of the same class, the commons, in both lands. There is another reason for the loss of English lands in France: he [i.e. Henry VI] shall alwey bere ye name of ‡e kyng of Fraunce laboryng in his werres / And duryng ‡e same werres ‡r shall be made a tretis of pees & a feyning of marage wt whiche tretis & pees shall be fraude & stryfe couerd duryng loue dissimiled.

`Baltasar Cador' con®rms the evidence of the `dice' prophecy in BL MS Cotton Rolls ii. 23, that the loss of France was the initial cause of Margaret of Anjou's unpopularity. Regardless of her sex, this would have been enough to prevent her from gaining the regency during the king's illness in 1453, particularly when York was associated with the possible recovery of French lands. Henry VI is also referred to as the Son of Man, and the text foretells that he will join with the Eagle: . . . & by hem aleyne ‡e puyntement shall be made ageyn & set in trew feith, And o‡r lands by her tracius menes set in paes & in ‡e feith thurgh all ‡e wurld as fer as cristendom endureth.

This section uses the same symbolic names and agenda as `Lilium regnans', which must have been known to the writer, as was `The Last Kings of the 206

Cadwallader and the Angelic Voice English'. The text goes on to repeat almost exactly the words of the latter prophecy concerning the Boar of Windsor, that he will go to Jerusalem, and Spain and Aragon will tremble in fear of him. As expectations have risen since the reign of Edward III, the Boar will wear not three, but seven crowns. He will die in a strange country, like the Dragon in `The Last Kings of the English'. The writer of `The Prophecy of Baltasar Cador' had a literary knowledge of several other well-known prophetic texts, although this was not necessarily a knowledge of the Latin texts, as all were available in English at this time.27 This use of a prophetic name relating originally to Edward III, which fact would be known to all readers of the Brut and the independent text of `The Last Kings of the English', is a conscious appeal to the name and reputation of Edward III. This was important at the time of the manuscript's compilation, because Queen Margaret had given birth to a son in April 1453, and Henry VI, or at least his wife and her advisers, had named the baby Edward. This was not a family name of the house of Lancaster, nor was it a Bohun family name, and the new prince's father, grandfather and great-grandfather had all been called Henry. Edward and Richard were Mortimer family names, and the Mortimers, represented by York, were being seen as an alternative to the house of Lancaster. This may be a conscious attempt on the part of the ruling dynasty and its supporters to `claim' Edward III, in order to prevent one of the most powerful of national images from becoming a preserve of the house of York. MS Hatton 56 contains a Latin version of `The Last Kings of the English', including the section which describes the career of the victorious Boar of Windsor. MS Hatton 56 also contains the earliest version of `The King who will Find the Holy Cross', written in English. This text is frequently found after 1461 in association with Edward IV, but such an association is highly unlikely at this date, as Edward, earl of March's father York was still alive, and head of the House of York. The intended reference is much more likely to be to the young prince of Wales. The text is a list of the prophetic authorities who have foretold the prophetic hero, and the writer tells his audience that these are named in order to authenticate the king's claim to be the great prophetic hero: `these ben ye names of ye kyng ‡at shall wynne ‡e holy crosse after [certain pro®cies] awtentid'. The author assumes that his audience will already know the prophetic background implied by `winning the holy cross'. He does not attempt, however, to be accurate in his ascriptions, several of which are obscure, unless this implies a literature of political prophecy which was much greater than the surviving texts would allow:

27

Oxford, University College, MS XCVII contains English versions of `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' and `Lilium regnans'.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England Seint Thomas of Caunterbury callith hym ‡e virgyn kyng And merlyon callith hym a bull of ‡e threfold nature John ‡e Eremyte callith hym kyng of herdys And tullyus callith hym kyng of ‡e brood forthes And merlyns Siluester callith hym kyng of wrecches And Abyon a monk of Almayne callith hym a lyon of the eyer ‡e which shall take his wynges & ¯e to rome And Arphin patryark within Affrik callith hym a westron beest ‡at shall destroye ‡o ordre of freres prechers and ‡erto shall wynne ‡e grete part of ‡e werlde and shall make free weye to ‡e holy land. And in ‡at time many thyngs shall be herd of Antecrist and many merveyles shal be sen by . . . Malyngulus an abbot of Ierlond callith hym ‡e vjthe of Irelond The which will not be gouerned but be god alone and by hym self. Sybyle ‡e wyse calleth hym ‡e second lyon of grete Bretayne ‡e which shall wynne the holy crosse Petris de Bal della in Almayny callith hym ‡e Egle the which shall ouercom vi kynges of [langage?] Master Tullyus of Serra callith hym an unycorn David callith hym the Son of man Banaster of Inglond callith hym a boor of [clene nature] The Dottour of Seynt Jermyn callith hym a trew dragon the whiche shall treden onder fote ‡e kyng of pryde and shall take his winges & ¯ee to ‡e holy land. Robert ‡e Scrybe of Bredelyngton callith hym ‡e [Cocke] of the Brute Mahemyte callith hym to ‡e paynymys the delyca[t] Rose of Bretayne called Edward.

The reader, having been overwhelmed by the number of witnesses, is ®nally told the name of this great hero. The entire prophetic agenda is covered by this text, which ends with a reference to the Cock of the `Bridlington' prophecy. It is not Malingulus, as stated in the text, but the tradition which grew around the `Prophecia Merlini', which describes the hero as the Sixth (i.e. Sextus) of Ireland. The fact that he will be governed only by God and by himself reveals that his power is based on imperium, divinely-ordained imperial rule, rather than dominium, an implied contract between ruler and ruled. He is a Lion, a Boar, a Dragon and a Unicorn, as he was in Swann's list, and his rule will coincide with the beginnings of the career of Antichrist, as `Baltasar Cador' foretells. The last line plays on the similarity of sound between the Islamic word for `rose' and the name `Edward'. The colour of the rose is not given, as it is in some later texts associated with Edward IV. The ®nal lines appear out of place in a manuscript dating from before 1461: `He that is lord aboue all thyng / Save Edward oure kyng'. Edward was not a king, but prince of Wales, and Edward of York was simply Duke Richard's eldest son. If the dating of the manuscript is to be accepted, then this prophecy, like `Baltasar Cador', may also represent a borrowing from a text originally written about Edward III. 208

Cadwallader and the Angelic Voice The presence of `Bridlington' among the prophetic authorities would con®rm this, as the verses are not known to have existed before the 1330s. The text is attributed to Robert the Scribe, rather than to John of Bridlington, so is not necessarily limited to late in the reign. If this is so, the text is another example of the application of the name and reputation of Edward III to the future king. The boy is thus portrayed as the successor of Edward III, in `Bridlington' the Cock who will inherit the name and nature of the Bull, the king who will succeed sine vi where his ancestor has failed. In these texts in MS Hatton 56, the prince is associated with the apocalyptic, imperial hero Henry V, and the Galfridian hero Edward III, the Boar of Windsor and the Bull of `Bridlington', who was identi®ed with, but himself was not, Arthur redivivus. This was the hero of whose advent the `commons' were convinced. Given this evidence, it seems likely that it was considerations of this kind which led the king and queen to dispense with family tradition, and name their son `Edward'. Amongst these texts which still foretell a great prophetic future for Henry VI and his son, there is a poem entitled, `Of Wonders ‡t Shall Fall After Our Day'. This has an entirely different agenda, and concerns a hero who is called the Falcon: In tyme to come a fawcon drevyn shall be Out of Bretayn our the se Where he shall ¯e fro tre to tre28

The Falcon will gather `grete route', but will not be happy until he may build his nest `as a foule of high & grete parage / kyng of fowles of Emprors lynage', and return to Britain. There he will be chased by a Heron (the bird of cowardice), but Wales will rise to support him. After this, the prophecy becomes general and predictive, and has many features of the texts associated with Cade's Rebellion in BL MS Cotton Rolls ii. 23: For seven shall set on ‡e a sise And jugge ‡e after ‡eir devise V shall passe & ij shull come †an all from ye shall be fornome . . .

The poem then speaks of woe, death, plague and `amange ‡e pouer grete scarste'. A headless man will rise and make a garland for the Falcon, and an outlaw will become a lamb to help him. At the last the Falcon will `as an egill . . . mount at last', to the amazement of all the beasts, who will bow down to him. The Falcon will bring grace and mercy, and truth and justice shall reign. Given the dating of the manuscript as c. 1453, the historical context of this poem is clear. Richard, duke of York (one of 28

fol. 9v.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England whose best-known badges was the falcon) was in Ireland in 1450, organizing military support for a return to challenge the dominance of the duke of Somerset in the counsels of Henry VI. He returned to England in September, progressing ®rst through Wales. A wide-ranging propaganda offensive was launched early in 1452, with letters in York's name being sent to major towns in England to press for their support.29 York issued a manifesto from Shrewsbury in February, maintaining that he was acting in the interests of the `common weal', to keep the land from destruction by evil counsellors about the king. In the end, an accommodation was reached, but Somerset continued to consolidate his power. This poem in support of Duke Richard does not say that he eventually will become a king, and it has also, unfortunately, been damaged by modern rebinding, which has cut off the ends of some crucial lines. It does treat this subject ambiguously, however, and states that the Falcon will be a conqueror, who will be immune from harm in battle, and divinely protected from treason and treachery. He will be buried among the `kynges of coleyn', the ®nal resting-place reserved for the Boar of Windsor in `The Last Kings of the English'. The poem is less ambiguous about the Falcon's son: Of hym shall come an egil stowte An aventurous bird full fayr of ¯ight & in many betels he shall ®ght In unknowene landes wt many bold knyght All cristendom to him shall lowte fer & nere remes about . . .

He will know the laws of King Arthur, and will never be overcome until he wears three crowns like an emperor. This Eagle is not speci®cally referred to as a king of England, but the prophetic agenda is that of the hero-ruler always associated with the king of England in political prophecies. The poem could be treasonable, but the writer avoids making any direct statements which could be identi®ed as such, relying on the discourse itself, and the audience's knowledge and expectation, to make the desired associations. Why this poem should be included in an anthology of `loyal' texts such as those in MS Hatton 56 is problematic, but it should be remembered that Swann's book contains prophecies with a similar variety of political agendas. This not only re¯ects the confusion of the contemporary political situation, but also the nature of the prophecies themselves. A text which was most certainly politically subversive in one context, such as `Of Wonders ‡t Shall Fall', could be equally supportive of authority in another, just as York's position in 1453 could be interpreted as 29

Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council, ed. H. Nicholas, 7 vols. (London, 1834±47), VI, 90±2; J. S. Roskell, `Sir William Oldhall, Speaker in the Parliament of 1450±1', Nottingham Medieval Studies 5 (1961), 87±112.

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Cadwallader and the Angelic Voice either loyal or rebellious, depending upon the political allegiances of the observer. BL MS Additional 46846 provides evidence that the hopes for Prince Edward's prophetic future existed close to the king and queen, at the heart of the royal administration. The manuscript contains a set of royal letters, deposited for security at the royal castle of Chirk by a secretary or amanuensis during the Wars of the Roses.30 The bulk of the letters are made up of the correspondence of Thomas Beckyngton, who was Henry VI's secretary from the mid-1430s until 1443, after which he was Keeper of the Privy Seal until 11 February 1444, and the correspondence of Margaret of Anjou for the years 1445±56.31 From 1461 it was illegal to possess any of Margaret's correspondence, so this would be a very likely time for the deposition of the letters at Chirk, close to the border of north Wales, one of the last centres of resistance to Yorkist rule. What is remarkable in this collection from the point of view of political prophecy, however, is neither Beckyngton's nor Margaret's correspondence. Among the letters are the letter congratulating Henry V on the battle of Agincourt, and the letter from Constance telling the king that Christianity will soon triumph over Islam. These must have been preserved by the royal secretariat, or were added to the royal collection by a secretary, perhaps Beckyngton himself, during the ®fteenth century. Along with these, there is a version of the sultan of Syria's letter, this time addressed to King Henry and his son Prince Edward. The prince, rather than his father, is the intended bridegroom. Edward's birth had given fresh impetus to the belief that the great hero-ruler would be a descendant of Henry V, who would continue his grandfather's victorious career. Whereas the future greatness of the king of England had been predicated onto Henry VI from his father, so the prophecies were to be passed on to the next generation of the House of Lancaster. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Digby 196 is a miscellany, containing devotional, liturgical, astrological, apocalyptic and anti-fraternal material, together with a series of historical extracts, mostly from Higden's Polychronicon, and political prophecies. There is a genealogy to Prince Edward on fol. 35r, and a king-list, again to Prince Edward, on fol. 69v, but the political prophecies are not physically close to either of these texts within the context of the manuscript, in which subjects are arranged apparently at random. The prophecies, unlike the rest of the items in the manuscript, are located together, on fols. 18r to 29r, giving the impression that they have been copied from a single exemplar, perhaps a manuscript such as MS Hatton 56 or the prophecies in BL MS Cotton Cleopatra C. IV. If there was such an exemplar, it need not have been compiled during the prince's lifetime, but the later contents of the manuscript locate the prophecies in that period by 30 31

Letters of Margaret of Anjou, ed. Munro, pp. xv±i Emden, University of Oxford, I, 157±9.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England association. The texts, as in previous anthologies, cover all aspects of the potential career of the prophetic hero-ruler. There are `Lilium regnans', `Dum rex Henricus', `Quando sambucus fert ceresa', `Gallorum levitas', `Anglia transmittet', `Asinus coronatus', `Tolle capud milvi', `Lilium ¯orebit', `The Holy Oil of St Thomas', `The Last Kings of the English' (in Latin), and `Cesaris imperium', with some other small, prophetic verses. The British History is represented, but the texts do not include the `Prophecia Merlini', nor do they include any of the vernacular prophecies of the `Erceldoune' type, such as `The Cock in the North'. The greater part of the manuscript is made up of historical materials, indicating that the prophetic agenda which the compiler envisaged for the House of Lancaster, now represented by Edward of Westminster, was an integral part of his view of English history. In the genealogy, Edward is described as `verum heredem anglie', implying that his legitimacy was something which needed to be stressed. This may indicate that the manuscript was produced in the later 1450s, when York and his supporters were openly challenging the prince's right to inherit the throne, a challenge which led to the prince's disinheritance in the settlement of 1460. The liturgical content and the use of the Polychronicon as a source for historical material suggests that this may have been compiled in a religious house where the study of history was traditional, as is the case with the historical miscellanies from St Albans, but this is purely a matter of conjecture. Unfortunately, the origins of MS Digby 196 are, as yet, unknown. The short text `Flamine romano crescit britannicus honor' occurs in some verses which are associated with a history of England to 1447 in BL MS Cotton Titus D. XV. This consists of what is essentially a series of statements about the future of the prophetic hero-ruler. He will represent the British (`britannicus honor'), he will receive glory from his people (`dum sibi cunctorum referatur laus populorum'), he will be a boy, and will win the joys of heaven whilst still young. He will free the oppressed, wear three crowns and undertake a crusade to free the Holy Cross.32 After this illustrious career, he will win glory in heaven. The text is a fusion of different ideas about the hero's career, which had become inextricably bound together. The exact date of this text, or this manuscript, is unknown, but the emphasis on the fact that the hero will be a boy (`puer') or youthful (`iuvenilis') would suggest that it is Henry VI's son who is meant, not the king himself, although it must be remembered that Henry was still only twenty-®ve in 1447, the same age his illustrious father had been at his accession. When Prince Edward was born in 1453, his father was still only in his thirty-second year, and when Henry was deposed he was still only thirty-nine. The king would have still appeared iuvenilis in 1447, and the signi®cance of his age in that year may not have been lost on the Cottonian manuscript's owner. During this period, the ownership of manuscripts containing political 32

`Crux sancta feretur & illi triplex coronis'.

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Cadwallader and the Angelic Voice prophecies was widening. This was the result of a combination of factors, including wider literacy, greater ef®ciency in the production of books, and larger amounts of disposable income on the part of that section of the population who had most interest in political prophecy. The mid-®fteenth century also coincided with the large-scale use of paper in manuscript production and, although `political prophecy' manuscripts continued to be written on parchment or vellum, an increasing number were written mostly on paper, using parchment for support. The cost of producing manuscripts such as these would have been much less than that of the parchment volumes of a century earlier. Lyall has estimated that a quire of paper (i.e. twenty-®ve sheets) cost the same as a skin, but gave eight times as many leaves of equivalent size. By the middle of the ®fteenth century the price of paper had halved, and it halved again by 1500.33 The availability and widespread use of cheaper materials, and the increasing evidence of non-professional scribes producing manuscripts for their own, and others', use indicates a broadening of the basis of ownership of prophecy in the ®fteenth century. Few manuscripts, however, were written wholly on paper. There are more manuscripts of unknown origin in the ®fteenth century than in the fourteenth. Of the manuscripts from the early ®fteenth century, about a third are of entirely unknown origin. Of the rest, a smaller proportion than previously can be traced to religious houses. Of these, Norwich Cathedral Priory (Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 148), St Albans (Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 230) and St Mary's, York (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Digby 186), are Benedictine houses which have appeared in previous lists. Alongside these there are the Gilbertine house at Sempringham, Lincolnshire (BL MS Cotton Cleopatra B. I) and two communities from the western side of England; the ancient Benedictine community of Worcester Cathedral (Cambridge, University Library, MS Kk. vi. 16), and the Augustinian priory of Warrington, near Chester (Aberdeen, University Library, MS 123). Of the remaining manuscripts, ®ve are from the south-west and west Midlands, three from the north of England, and three from London.34 Of the remainder, seven are known to be of nonmonastic origin, leaving only three which might have been. In the absence of further evidence, it is not possible to tell whether about two-thirds of these manuscripts were in the possession of religious or not. It is highly unlikely 33

34

R. Lyall, `Materials: The Paper Revolution', in Book Production and Publishing, ed. Grif®ths and Pearsall, pp. 11±29 (p. 11). South-west and west Midlands: Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 369 (Lich®eld); Cambridge, University Library, MS Dd. xiv. 2; Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Digby 98 (Oxford); Eton College, MS 213 (Somerset); San Marino, Huntington Library, MS HM. 1346 (Devon). North of England: Lincoln, Cathedral Library, MS 91; BL MSS Additional 14251 (East Yorkshire or Lincolnshire); Cotton Galba E. IX (North). London: BL MSS Cotton Cleopatra C. IV and Royal 15. C. XVI; Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 59.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England that none of them were, but in view of the evidence of those manuscripts whose origins have been traced, it is also extremely unlikely that they all were. A far greater proportion of the manuscripts which contained political prophecies were owned by laypeople in the middle and later ®fteenth century than ever before. Many of these owners, both clerical and lay, had urban connections. An important point to be made about the provenance of manuscripts containing prophecy is the importance of townspeople as sources of interest in, and the collecting of, prophetic texts. As well as wealthy burgesses such as Nicholas Bishop and, later, Roger Thorney and the Wyggestons, and laymen such as Shirley, we must also recognize the importance of urban clergy such as Henry Spycer and university men such as Peter Partridge and, later, John Herryson, who lived and studied in towns. Spycer gave his manuscript to a London religious house with which he had connections, and Shirley had connections with the Franciscan nuns of the Minories.35 These, and houses like them, existed in towns and cities, and were patronized by burgesses and citizens, whose relatives were often members of their communities. This includes the religious communities of cathedral cities such as Canterbury, Norwich, Lincoln, Lich®eld, Winchester and York, all of them represented by manuscripts with prophetic texts. Urban connections may be hidden; although he spent most of his working life in Rome, William Swann was married to the daughter and sister of a London citizen. He came from Rochester in Kent, and may have been related to other London families. The reason for this urban in¯uence may be connected with practical realities, such as the fact that the cities and towns, London in particular, were the centres for manuscript production in the ®fteenth century. It was in towns that more opportunities for education were available, but there is no evidence that the governing classes in the country were less educated than their urban counterparts. In fact, the evidence suggests that literacy, particularly of the laity, grew rapidly in the ®fteenth century, whether in town or country.36 There is evidence that information travelled more quickly to urban areas, especially in London; news and views were more readily, and more promptly, available. This stimulated interest, and put places such as London at the `cutting edge' of political life, and thus of political literature.37 The 35

36

37

J. Boffey, `Some London Women Readers and a Text of The Three Kings of Cologne', The Ricardian 10 (1996), 387±96. C. P. Christianson, `A Century of the Manuscript-Book Trade in Late Medieval London', Medievalia et Humanistica, n.s. 12 (1984), 143±65; C. P. Christianson, `Evidence for the Study of London's Late Medieval Manuscript-Book Trade', in Book Production and Publishing, ed. Grif®ths and Pearsall, pp. 87±102. For the relationship between greater disposable income and book buying, see C. Meale, `Book Production and Social Status', in Book Production and Publishing, ed. Grif®ths and Pearsall, pp. 201±238 (pp. 201±2). C. Richmond, `Hand and Mouth: Information Gathering and Use in England in the Later Middle Ages', Journal of Historical Sociology 1 (1988), 233±52.

214

Cadwallader and the Angelic Voice answer cannot lie solely in accidents of survival; there is too much evidence for this to be the whole answer. In fact, if we add to the manuscripts in our list the circulation of the Brut, and urban chronicles such as the chronicles of London, the relationship between urban communities, especially those with power in urban communities, and prophecy is a very real one. For some reason, the wealthy burgess and citizen wanted to possess manuscripts containing prophecy. Much of this is connected with the British History, after the manner of Geoffrey of Monmouth, and the preferred prophetic texts (although not exclusively so) are the `Prophecia Merlini' and `The Last Kings of the English'. Both of these are connected with an Arthurian hero. The will to possess these texts, and the histories with which they are so intimately connected, may be seen as the will, on the part of urban communities, to `possess' a history of their country which had always been presented as both military and aristocratic. An aristocratic, military education was not necessary to possess the power conveyed by prophecy. The audience of political prophecy was, however, widening by the middle of the ®fteenth century, to include members of the nobility. During this period BL MS Royal 15. C. XVI, the property of the late Henry Spycer, passed into the hands of James Butler, earl of Ormonde. Ormonde's father had been a member of Clarence's expedition in support of the Armagnacs in 1412, had been on the Agincourt campaign with Henry V, and had taken part in the reconquest of Normandy. He was, therefore, a contemporary of William Swann and John Shirley, and he died in 1452. The old earl had a repertoire of stories about Henry V, which were later used by the writer of The First English Life of Henry V, completed in 1513.38 Many of these stories relate to the alleged wild youth of Henry V, including the tale of how he robbed his own receivers, assaulted the Lord Chief Justice, and had to be dramatically reconciled with his sick father after the latter had heard of the movement to force him to abdicate in Henry's favour. Some other stories relate to the campaigns on which the earl was present, but these cannot have been obtained by him at ®rst hand. As Kingsford notes, there must have been `a good deal of ¯oating legend about Henry V' in the 1450s, but what is interesting about these stories, for which there is absolutely no evidential proof (although, interestingly enough, such proof exists in relation to Henry's brothers, who are not castigated in historical sources), is their stress on Henry's alleged transformation at his accession, from a wild youth into a responsible national hero. The prince of Wales's moral transformation was not necessary for him to be a great warrior hero. It was, however, necessary for him to be a great prophetic hero in the tradition of Merlin's Sextus, who, as stated in the `Prophecia Merlini' and re-stated in prophecies such as the wellknown `Ter tria lustra', had been prey to `wandering affections' in his youth. 38

C. L. Kingsford, English Historical Literature in the Fifteenth Century (Oxford, 1913), pp. 64±7.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England `Bridlington' declared that the son would succeed because of the father's sins; sinful conduct could hardly be levelled at the pious Henry V. It may be that a generation which cherished the idea of the great prophetic destiny of the House of Lancaster felt the need to construct its greatest hero to ®t into the mould created by political prophecies. The younger Ormonde certainly possessed the Historia Regum Britannie with `Arbor fertilis', `Sicut rubeum draconem' and `Mortuo leone justicie'. In the manuscript, on fol. 183v, a sixteenth-century hand has written, `liber domus sancti Thome de Acon London ex dono dom. Jacobi comitis Ormundie' (`the book of the house of St Thomas of Acon, London, by the gift of the lord James, earl of Ormonde'). At some point the manuscript must have passed out of the possession of the Hospital, and thence into the possession of either the younger Ormonde, who restored it to the Hospital, or of his father. On Lady Day 1458 the queen, the duke of Somerset and the Yorkist lords walked together in procession to St Paul's cathedral in London, as a sign of their reconciliation after open hostilities had broken out between them in 1455. A contemporary described the event in a poem, at the end of which he expresses the hope that this reconciliation will lead eventually to the recovery of the Holy Land.39 Shortly after the poem was written, another contemporary wrote it into the back of his copy of Piers Plowman, alongside a poem against Lollardy, a vicious satire on the death of the duke of Suffolk, and the sultan of Syria's letter, offering his daughter to King Henry. This version bears the date 1416, but the king is described as `‡e frenshwoman sone'. As there is other material of this date in the manuscript, this may be an interpolation into an earlier version of the letter, in order to make Henry VI, not his father, the addressee. This material expresses the continued hope that, the satanic forces of Lollardy and evil counsel defeated, Henry VI will now ful®l his destiny as champion of the Church, great and wise king of England, and saviour of the Holy Land. This was just possible, as the king was still only thirty-six, and he now had an heir who might ful®ll the prophecies if his father did not. All of this has been copied into the back of a great apocalyptic, reforming poem.40 Within a few years of this writing, York and Somerset were both dead, Henry VI was in exile, and York's son ruled in London as Edward IV. The copyist of 1458 did not foresee any of these events, which must have taken him, and others like him, by surprise. The manuscripts of other prophecy owners and copyists reveal a little of the fear and uncertainty created by the events of the Wars of the Roses, and something also of their unpredictability. On 16 October 1460 Richard of York of®cially laid claim to the throne of England, on the grounds of hereditary right of succession from Edward III. It was agreed that York should be Henry VI's successor, setting aside Prince 39 40

Wolffe, Henry VI, p. 312 and references. BL MS Cotton Vespasian B. XVI.

216

Cadwallader and the Angelic Voice Edward. Queen Margaret, with the earls of Devon and Northumberland and the duke of Somerset, raised an army in the North, which defeated and killed York at the battle of Wake®eld. The queen, however, failed to enter London, leaving the way clear for the entry of Edward of Rouen, son and heir of York, who was proclaimed King Edward IV on 4 March 1461. York's army subsequently defeated the queen at Towton on 29 March, and he was crowned and anointed on his return to London in April. Of greater importance to prophecy's audience during this period was the fact that, after each military engagement, the losers were attainted and their lands forfeit. If taken prisoner, members of more prominent families, and those closely connected with them, were likely to lose their heads. The loss of property and in¯uence was a continual threat. On his assumption of the throne in 1461, Edward IV addressed his Parliament in person, using the ®rst person singular pronoun, `I', which was unusual for English kings. He promised them that he would not tax them unneccessarily or beyond their means to pay, to protect them and the realm with his life, if neccessary, and `to reigne as rightwissely uppon you as ever did eny of my progenitours uppon commons of this my reame in dayes past'.41 Like any appeal for support and loyalty, it had to be couched in terms which the appellant felt to be acceptable to his audience, and we have seen this tendency to look backwards to the past of Edward III and his Arthurian, Galfridian associations in some of the prophecy collections made in the years preceding this event. Historians have stressed the traditional, backwardlooking, nature of Edward IV's kingship.42 Edward claimed to restore the right line of succession from Richard II after the usurping rule of the house of Lancaster, and he is thus presented in contemporary poetry. He is also hailed as God's chosen, whose status is revealed by miraculous signs.43 What he is not called is the people's choice, as the people's task is still to af®rm God's choice only; Edward, like Henry IV in 1399, could not afford to be seen as dependent upon the will of the people for his of®ce. Edward cultivated personal magni®cence, and his system of government was `highly personal'.44 He could claim Welsh ancestry through the marriage of a Mortimer ancestor into the family of Llewelyn the Great, prince of Wales, and Spanish ancestry through Isabel of Castile, wife of his York ancestor, Edmund of Langley. The Welsh ancestry was used by Welsh bards to depict Edward as the ful®ller of prophecies that a Welshman would rule in England, but this is not important in English manuscripts. Edward can hardly have claimed this ancestry for the bene®t of his Welsh subjects. Tracing one's ancestry from the Welsh would not of itself be of bene®t in the eyes of an English audience, accustomed to seeing the Welsh as (often savage) rebels. However, for his 41 42 43 44

Constitutional Documents, ed. Chrimes and Brown, p. 329. C. Ross, Edward IV (London, 1974), especially pp. 299±307. Historie of the Arrivall of Edward IV, ed. Bruce, p. 13. Ross, Edward IV, p. 301.

217

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England English subjects Edward had to be Arthur; in a sense, he needed to be more Arthurian than his rivals, the House of Lancaster. He could be so, by having genuine, rather than the (implied) pseudo, British blood of his rivals.45 Edward IV needed to use political prophecy in his propaganda, because of the instability of his position. Henry VI was not dead, and until 1464 he was still in the hands of Queen Margaret and her allies. By publicising and making much of his British ancestry, Edward was trying to gain the loyalty of the `political' classes. He was attempting to supplant the prophetic destiny of the House of Lancaster, which was such a deeply-held political belief, with a Yorkist hero-ruler, based more fully upon the British History, and Edward's own ancestor (or so he felt he could claim), the British King Cadwallader, to whom the Angelic Voice had promised the second Arthur. The appeal of Yorkist political prophecy, although based on the British History of the Historia Regum Britannie, is to an Edwardian, Arthurian past which is English, not British in the original sense of Geoffrey of Monmouth's history.46 In BL MS Cotton Vespasian E. VII, fol. 21v, there is what appears to be a Yorkist propaganda document of the period. This text is addressed to `eny trewe cristen men of god', who are urged `be ye now faithfull and trewe And be Wise and Well Ware hough and what oppynyons yt ye hold'. The writer then warns against the `peyne of euerlastyng dampnacion' which results from not taking enough care in these matters. He takes a high moral tone, berating all the sinful ways of modern society, and tells of the divine judgement which awaits all who sin against God's commands. The text resembles a moral tract or sermon up to this point. Sources of divine wisdom are mentioned at length, as the writer comes slowly to the point of his text. Amongst these sources of wisdom, he says, are the prophets, to whom all people should listen, although they should pay no heed to false prophecy. They will then be helped to eschew evil and follow good: Now tak hede any man hough right for syne be wrong was put oute anno 689. And nowe ageine wrong for syne be right is ¯emed oute of the lond for en anno 1460, ‡us it is knowen & proued of oure lord be reuelacion in oure lady Aungell, Sibille, Quene of ye Sou‡e, A doughter of Seynt Germane, Seint Edwarde, Seint Thomas of Caunterbury [erased], Birgitt, Bede, Gildas, Ricardus Scrope & many mo . . .

The political message is contained in a very short passage, which alters the entire compexion of the text. The sermon about the need to listen to the 45

46

Allan, `Yorkist Propaganda'. A. F. Sutton and L. Visser-Fuchs, `The Prophecy of G', The Ricardian 9 (1990), 449±50, discount the Tudor allegation that this prophecy in¯uenced Edward IV to have his brother Clarence murdered in the Tower. This appears, however, to have been a version of `H. submercet', which could very well have existed shortly after Clarence's death. Interestingly, it was at this time that Thomas Malory wrote his great Arthurian cycle.

218

Cadwallader and the Angelic Voice wisdom of God, and to eschew sin, is now to be understood in political terms; the sin which should be avoided, above all others, is to question the will of God as spoken by the political prophets, that the right line of England, `long tyme wrongfully kepte oute & was oute of mynd' has returned in 1460 (i.e. by the settlement which adopted York as Henry VI's heir apparent). The result of such sin is political chaos, `Where fore god take‡e vengeance daile', as well as personal damnation. The abominable penalties of sin, in religious terms, will fall upon those who trespass politically, by refusing to support the House of York. The text is a skilful intermixture of moralising and prophetic discourse. It could have been written at any time after 1460, and the appeal is for partisan support, rather than support for a particular individual. It was also over this period of uncertainty and upheaval that Dublin, Trinity College, MS 516 was compiled. The owner, who was also the scribe of most of the manuscript, was John Benet, vicar of Harlingdon in Bedfordshire from 1443 to 1471, when he resigned and was presented to the rectory of Boughton, near Newport Pagnell, also in Bedfordshire. He died in 1474, but his book was compiled during his tenure of Harlingdon. Harriss, in his short biography of Benet, notes that there is no record of him among the magistri of Oxford or Cambridge.47 The contents of his volume, which has earlier works such as John of Legnano's De Bello bound in with his own work, and the variety of his interests, which included music, medicine, astronomy and grammar, indicate someone who had been educated at a university, as also does Benet's Latin literacy and the fact that he was able to compose most of the chronicle which bears his name. The vicarage of Harlingdon was in the gift of Dunstable Priory, so Benet may have been an Augustinian. Harriss has also noted that some of Benet's chronicle must have originated in Oxford and some in London, although there is no evidence that Benet spent time in either of these places. He could have obtained material from several sources, including nearby Dunstable. This is a market town, close to St Albans, on the route between London and the Midlands, including Leicester, which had acted as an intermediate stage for the transmission of material to the Augustinians of Warrington. The town is close enough to London for the canons to obtain materials from the capital, and is halfway between the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, on a direct route between the two. If Benet had studied in Oxford, he could have obtained his Oxford material at that time. Harriss also points out that Benet may have been one of a circle of readers, that he lent his book out to, and borrowed from, a circle of friends and associates. In several places, Benet has signed his work, `quod Benet', and in three places he has dated it: 1461, 1468 and 1471.48 John Benet's book demonstrates its owner's passion for history. The bulk of 47

48

`John Benet's Chronicle', ed. G. L. and M. A. Harriss, Camden Miscellany 24, Camden Society 1st s. 9 (London, 1972), pp. 153±74. fols. 75v, 121r and 189v.

219

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England the manuscript is made up of historical items, including Benet's own chronicle, king-lists and extracts from Higden's Polychronicon, but mostly poems on contemporary, or near-contemporary, political subjects. Interspersed with these, again in no particular rational order, are many political prophecies, ranging from the `Bridlington' verses and the `Prophecia Merlini' to short texts of a few lines only. Benet appears to have collected these simply because they were prophecies, as they do not necessarily have any relationship with the texts which surround them, apart from the fact that prophecy was an integral part of Benet's understanding of history, and of his own country's history in particular. Benet's collection of history and prophecy shows no sign of active partisanship. As well as the verses about the ®ve dogs of London (1456), a gruesome piece of anti-Yorkist propaganda, and a poem `De Naui uel Puppe' (1458), a poem which exalts Henry VI, Prince Edward and the anti-Yorkist lords as the upholders of the English nation, the manuscript contains the cruelly satirical poem about the death of the duke of Suffolk in 1450 also contained in BL MS Cotton Rolls ii. 23, and prophecies, such as a version of `The King Who Will Find the Holy Cross', directly related to the prophetic heroism of Edward IV.49 In this, Benet represents the greater part of prophecy's audience. He is simply a loyalist, who will support the Crown, whoever wears it, and what he cares about most is that the person who wears the Crown will do his job properly, creating stability and eliminating `mutacion'. From Benet's collection it is possible to gain an idea of the number and variety of political prophecies available in the years surrounding the deposition of Henry VI, an illustration of the close relationship between political prophecy and political crisis. Prophecy provided comfort, in that what had happened was the working out of the will of God. This made prophecy a valuable tool in the rationalisation of the political chaos and sudden changes of fortune which occurred during the years in which Benet was compiling his manuscript. A comparatively large number of `political prophecy' manuscripts date from the early 1460s. There are two main reasons for this, apart from the fact that more manuscripts as a whole have survived from the later ®fteenth century than from previous periods. One reason is the need to rationalize the political trauma of the immediate past, and another is the stimulus given to political prophecy as a tool of explanation by Edward IV's appeals to his `prophetic' Welsh lineage. Two manuscripts in Trinity College, Cambridge, contain `Lilium regnans'. MS Trinity College B. 15. 24, datable by a note concerning the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in 1465, associates the text with devotional material and the apocalyptic prophecies of Hildegard of Bingen; most of the volume's contents are written in the same hand. In MS Trinity College R. 14. 26 the text has been added on the front ¯yleaf, in the same hand, of the second half of the ®fteenth century, which has also added a 49

Historical Poems, ed. Robbins, pp. 189±90 and 191±3.

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Cadwallader and the Angelic Voice note of the debt owed to one `Thomas Pierson de Houeden in Com. Ebor. clericus' by John Palmer, also of Howden. Also added on the front ¯yleaf are ®ve prophetic verses `M simplex C ter L duplex', highly corrupted, which tell of uprisings by the Scots, Welsh and Danes, and the defeat of the `albani'. An invasion by Danes was part of the popular, probably northern, tradition which lay behind the `Erceldoune' prophecies. This is a northern manuscript, locatable ®rmly in East Yorkshire. As well as the evidence of ownership by Thomas Pierson of Howden, the manuscript had also been in Beverley. One of the original scribes has given his name on fol. 11r, and the name of an early, possibly the original, owner: `This booke belonges to the good wife Sanderson at Beuerley dwellyng in Weddysday market etc. per me John Anlaby'. The Anlabys were a family from the Beverley area, of whom more than one male member was a scribe. The book contains scienti®c and philosophical works in Latin, so Mistress Sanderson, if she used this book herself, must have had very intellectual interests, as well as being literate in Latin. Friedman suggests that she may have been the wife of a scribe or had worked with one.50 Wednesday Market lies at the `clerical' end of the town, close to the Minster and the school, so this lady may have been connected with the educational, clerical community (hence her acquaintance with the Anlabys), rather than with the `commercial' side of Beverley, centred on Saturday Market at the other end of the town. If she was the original owner, the book may no longer have been in her possession when the prophecies were added. She did, however, belong to a community in which political prophecy circulated, and, if she could read the contents of MS Trinity College R. 14. 26, `good wife Sanderson' could certainly read and understand political prophecies. Although political prophecy was a male discourse, in that it dealt with subjects not considered proper for women, this does not mean that women could not, and did not, read or understand it. `Bridlington' was one of the most widely-known political prophecies of the period, as it had been earlier in the ®fteenth century, when it was related to the House of Lancaster. After 1461, it was related to the House of York, and was particularly relevant because of Edward IV's claim to be the true successor to Edward III. The Cock would be the successor of Edward III by blood, which meant that Edward IV, being of the senior line, was the Cock, rather than his Lancastrian predecessors, so it was he, and not they, who would carry out the hero's prophetic agenda. There is no evidence that Edward himself used `Bridlington' as part of his propaganda; it was rather the audience of political prophecy, reacting to the king's other prophetic propaganda, who made the connection for themselves. This reasoning explained why Henry V had not been able to ®nish the work he had begun, and why his son had proved unable to maintain his conquests. 50

J. B. Friedman, Northern English Books, Owners and Makers in the Late Middle Ages (New York, 1995), pp. 14±15.

221

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England They had not been the true heirs of the Bull, but the present king was the true heir, and so he could succeed where they had not. Chicago, University Library, MS 697, from Lincolnshire, contains only `Bridlington', with Erghome's commentary, and is the basis for Curley's edition. BL MS Cotton Domitian IX is a miscellany which appears to have had a clerical owner, because of the presence of Easter tables and other theological material, which also contains `Bridlington' with Erghome's commentary, along with a Latin version of `The King Who Will Find the Holy Cross'. This is followed by a note of the hour and minute of Edward IV's birth ± information which would have been neccessary in order to construct the king's horoscope. Two other clerical miscellanies which contain `Bridlington' are Oxford, Bodleian Library MSS Bodley 487 and 648. MS Bodley 648 belonged to William Boolde, an otherwise anonymous monk of Christ Church, Canterbury, and is dated 1468.51 Bodley 487 was the property of John Curteys. Curteys was the son of a tenant of Winchester College from Colerne, in Wiltshire. He entered Winchester in 1469, then William of Wykeham's other foundation, New College Oxford, in 1474. He became a fellow of New College in 1476, then a fellow of Winchester College in 1480. He twice held the of®ce of second bursar at Winchester, where he died in 1510, and was buried in the cloisters. Curteys, therefore, belongs to the category of intellectuals associated with universities and the scholastic life; like many others, he was also a priest.52 `Bridlington' appears in a non-clerical milieu in Manchester, John Rylands Library, MS 228. This manuscript contains poetry, patristic literature, itineraries to Palestine, material on accountancy and medicine, and an inquest for the honour of Richmond, Yorkshire. This is a copy of an inquest of 1285, made under the auspices of John de Kirby, treasurer of Edward I. The manuscript also contains an account of feudal dues owed by the tenants. It is bound in a parchment wrapper, fastened with a single leather thong, to which a spine has been added at a later date. The quality of the parchment is poor, and the book may be considered a Yorkshire gentleman's commonplace book. On fol. 9v there is a pen-drawing of the head and shoulders of a young man, dressed in headgear fashionable in the 1470s and 1480s. Besides the `Bridlington' verses, the manuscript contains prophetic verses on the reuni®cation of Britain, including `Posteritas bruti cum albanicis sociata' (a version of `Bruti posteritas cum albanis associata') and `Regnum scottorum', which are not placed in a close relationship with `Bridlington', and `Anglia transmittet', which is. The scribe says that the last of these was written by one `Nicholas Taybot' (Talbot?) in the year 1332. Interestingly enough, it is during 51

52

He may have been related to John Bolde, who was a member of the household of Archbishop Chichele, and a king's clerk, in the 1440s. Emden, University of Oxford, I, 212. He was ordained on 27 March 1479, before entering into his fellowship at Winchester: Emden, University of Oxford, I, 529.

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Cadwallader and the Angelic Voice the years 1327±40 that `Anglia transmittet' ®rst appears in English manuscripts. It may be that a popular tradition has preserved a knowledge of the period during which the text was written. There are a few prophetic verses of a more proverbial type, whose general meaning is obscure, on fol. 49v. During the reign of Edward IV, the honour of Richmond was contested by his brothers George, duke of Clarence and Richard, duke of Gloucester. Until the early 1470s, part was held by Jacqueline, duchess of Bedford, the queen's mother. From this time Richard of Gloucester was in effective possession of the honour.53 It is interesting, in view of associations which can be made between Richard and political prophecy, that these prophecies about the defeat of the Scots and the French by a British (i.e. English) hero should be found in a manuscript very close to the centre of Gloucester's power, from which he was able to launch his bid for the throne in 1483. BL MS Additional 20059 may also be a `lay' manuscript. A miscellaneous collection of material has been added to a `Registrum brevium cancellarie', originally compiled c. 1335. It appears to have been a portable reference volume, belonging to a clerk of the Exchequer in the ®rst half of the fourteenth century. In the ®fteenth century the owner, who had an extremely neat, professional hand, and may have been in the same form of employment, copied some devotional verses and political prophecies onto the blank folios at the beginning and end of the volume. The prophecies are `Flamine romano crescit britannicus honor', `Lilium regnans' and `The Holy Oil of St Thomas'. Historians have noted that Edward IV was anointed with Becket's oil, and that the Laudes regiae were sung for him.54 It has been assumed, therefore, that Edward used both oil and text as propaganda. However, apart from the anthologies of political prophecies, which contain many texts, this manuscript is one of only two surviving examples of the text in a contemporary manuscript. The other is in Cambridge, University Library, MS Gg. iv. 25, where it is contained in a group of prophecies which includes several familiar texts, such as Book Four of Bridget's Revelationes, `Lilium regnans', `Gallorum levitas', `Sibilla regina austri', `Asinus coronabitur', `Cesaris imperium', `Anglia transmittet' and `The King Who Will Find the Holy Cross' (in Latin). The Cambridge manuscript comprises a group of political prophecies arranged in no apparent order, which extends over seven folios of a volume of some 116 folios, so it can hardly be termed an anthology. The manuscript itself is a miscellany, probably clerical, so all the texts reveal is that the owner had a view of prophecy in history similar to that of other owners of clerical miscellanies, such as Boolde and Curteys. The text about Becket's oil has been extended to include the defeat of the Turks, a contemporary touch of 53

54

A. J. Pollard, North-Eastern England during the Wars of the Roses: Lay Society, War and Politics 1450±1500 (Oxford, 1990), pp. 318±19. McKenna, `The Coronation Oil of the Yorkist Kings'; Sandquist, `The Holy Oil of St Thomas'; Ullmann, `Thomas Becket's Miraculous Oil'.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England particular relevance since the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Three copies of the text survive in anthologies, along with every other text which the compiler could gather. `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' was far less popular as a political prophecy under the Yorkist kings than it had been during the reigns of Henry V and Henry VI. Compared with the number of extant copies of `Bridlington', it does not appear to have been very popular at all. Edward IV would, of course, have been anointed with Becket's oil, as would any ®fteenth-century king of England. It could be claimed that the Lancastrians were the `bad kings' who would rule before the great one. However, the text's very popularity during the two preceding reigns would have detracted from its appeal for supporters of the House of York. Besides, the great rex futurus had to be the ®rst king to be anointed with the holy oil; the Lancastrians had also been anointed with it, and this fact was well known. By stretching the interpretation it was possible to say that Edward IV was the ®rst king of the true line of Edward III to be anointed with the oil, but the evidence of existing manuscript copies reveals that contemporaries seem to have been more reluctant to do this than modern historians. There are three collections of prophecies extant from the period 1461±80. These are: Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 623; Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College MS 249/277 and BL MS Cotton Vespasian E. VII. MS Bodley 623 is entirely dedicated to the prophetic status of Edward IV. It contains a genealogy, showing his Welsh and Spanish descent, and a diagram showing the prophetic names of a hero and a villain, exactly as in William Swann's list. In this case, the hero is named as Edward IV, and the villain as Henry VI. The rest of the manuscript contains a selection of all the well-known prophecies, a considerable number of which had been written in the fourteenth century with reference to Edward III. This is basically a work of reference, an anthology of works of the past relating Edward IV to his Plantagenet predecessor Edward III, and to the representative of the wrongfully crowned and anointed House of Lancaster, Henry VI. Edward's Welsh, English and Spanish descents present a possible new interpretation of the `three crowns' with which the hero will be crowned, which are also represented in BL MS Cotton Vespasian E. VII, and of the three parts of the `Arbor fertilis', which had been used of Henry VI's lineage. Alongside the prophetic texts, the scribe has added a commentary which relates each text, or group of texts, to King Edward. The manuscript contains a calendar for London, dated 1464, and there is a date of 1465 on fol. 38r. An addition has been made on fol. 68v for 1470, in the original hand of the manuscript. MS Bodley 623 was produced (and probably kept) in London in or around the year 1465, from materials already available in the City.55 These materials were then adapted by the compiler to suit the dynastic 55

London, Lambeth Palace, MS 878 is a London manuscript, completed in 1468, but the list of mayors and sheriffs has been added to by its original scribe up to 1472. The prophecy associated with these lists and a history of England to 1468 is `Lilium regnans'.

224

Cadwallader and the Angelic Voice claims of Edward IV. They present Edward IV as the ful®ller of the promise to Cadwallader, and as the great Sextus, with all the implications this name carried in the ®fteenth century. This is a carefully-compiled work of reference akin to the genealogies which contemporaries also kept. It may very well have had a lay owner. By 1500 it had `travelled' to Wimborne Minster in Dorset, where it was the property of one Richard Laynam.56 Although all the prophecies are in Latin, the state of lay education in London at this time does not preclude lay ownership of Latin texts.57 BL MS Cotton Vespasian E. VII is also an anthology of prophetic texts of the past. The texts contained in the manuscript not only look forward to the great king who is to come, but link him with the Percy family, for whom the manuscript was made. Although other aristocrats owned manuscripts containing prophecies in the later ®fteenth century, this is a rare example of textual linkage between the prophetic hero-ruler and the owner. On fol. 70r occur the arms of Henry Percy, fourth earl of Northumberland, who was restored to his family title and estates by Edward IV in 1469. These had been declared forfeit to the Yorkist king in 1461, after the earl's father had died supporting Henry VI at Towton. BL MS Cotton Vespasian E. VII is not a de luxe manuscript, but it is well written in very good, clear bookhands, and very neatly and formally presented, in small octavo size, with some good illustrations. It is not a book to be displayed, but to be used. The very good hands in which the volume is written indicate the high status of the owner.58 The bulk of this volume has been conceived and executed as a demonstration of the status of Edward IV, as in MS Bodley 623. A diagrammatic representation of the names of the prophetic hero, here described as the king who will ®nd the Holy Cross, on fol. 74v, is strikingly similar to the diagram in the Bodley manuscript, and to the list in BL MS Cotton Cleopatra C. IV. BL MS Cotton Vespasian E. VII is dated in the Cottonian catalogue between 1460 and 1480, although the prominence of Henry Percy's arms would suggest a date after the family's restoration in 1469.59 It could have been compiled as a 56 57

58

59

fol. 100r. The text added to Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R. 3. 21 for Roger Thorney is in Latin, so is the prophecy in the manuscript of Nicholas Bishop. There are coloured drawings of shields, and a representation of Edward IV, wearing three crowns, with astrological tables. They appear to belong to the same manuscript, although the folios are in some disarray. Capgrave and Hardyng had different scripts, the best and neatest of which they used for patrons of the highest status. The status of the owner is thus demonstrated by the nature of the script, not by the lack of pictures. For Capgrave see P. J. Lucas, `John Capgrave OSA (1393± 1464), Scribe and ``Publisher'' ', Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society 4 (1969±71), 1±35 (p. 1); for Hardyng, A .S. G. Edwards, `The Manuscripts and Texts of the Second Version of John Hardyng's Chronicle', in England in the Fifteenth Century: Proceedings of the 1986 Harlaxton Symposium, ed. D. Williams (Woodbridge, 1987), pp. 75±84. Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Cottonian Library deposited in the British Museum (London, 1802), p. 480. The statement that the prophecies appear to relate to early in

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England celebration of the earl's loyalty to Edward during the crisis of 1469±71, at the expense of Percy's northern rivals, the Nevilles. His support had proved vital in 1471, allowing Edward IV to land at Ravenspur and pass unhindered through Yorkshire.60 In a few of the texts, a Percy family connection is made. The compiler was taking pains to accord the Percies a place in the prophetic history of the nation. Gonville and Caius MS 249/277 was compiled by John Herryson, who was also one of the scribes. His manuscript cannot be termed an anthology of political prophecies, as these form only a small part of a composite volume in which various elements from different sources have been bound together, in the manner of MS Trinity College 516, Benet's book. Little is known about the owner, John Herryson, except that he was a Yorkshireman who attended Cambridge University, where he had gained an MA by 1450, and went on to study medicine. At this time he was chaplain to the nuns of St Radegund in the City, but became vicar of Ashwell, Hertfordshire, in 1460.61 Herryson has signed his manuscript in the same manner as Benet, `quod Herryson', and has, like Benet, dated some of his entries. From this it is possible to say that the manuscript was compiled in or around the year 1464. The two main works of the early part of the manuscript are Higden's Polychronicon and the Historia Regum Britannie. These are followed by a group of political prophecies, beginning with `Bridlington' and including `The Last Kings of the English' (in Latin), `Tolle capud martis', `Regnum scottorum', `Ter tria lustra', `Anglia transmittet', `Lilium regnans' and `Quando sambucus fert ceresa'. These prophecies present the current ruler, Edward IV, whose genealogy occurs on fol. 235v, in all the aspects of the prophetic hero, and they are here connected with the British History of Geoffrey of Monmouth. It may not be Herryson who has made this connection; his exemplar may have taken this form, but he saw no need to rearrange it. Herryson also includes the history of his university, Nicholas of Cantelupe's Historiola. After this in the manuscript comes a second set of political prophecies, including `The Holy Oil of St Thomas', `Lilium regnans', `Arbor fertilis', `The Cock in the North' and `The King Who Will Find the Holy Cross' (in Latin). Herryson

60 61

the reign of Edward IV is assumption; the texts are all older than this particular manuscript, and their relationship to the reign of Edward IV is general. In 1471 the Percies acquired a powerful rival in northern politics, when Richard, duke of Gloucester was given the northern lands forfeited by Richard Neville, earl of Warwick, after the latter's death at the battle of Barnet. An amicable agreement was reached between Richard and Henry Percy, and they became `partners' in ruling the North until the death of Edward IV in 1483. By 1485, this had broken down, as Percy failed to support Gloucester, then Richard III, against Henry Tudor at Bosworth. See M. A. Hicks, `Dynastic Change and Northern Society: the Career of the Fourth Earl of Northumberland, 1470±89', Northern History 14 (1978), 78±107. Arrivall of Edward IV, ed. Bruce, pp. 31±2. A. B. Emden, A Biographical Register of the University of Cambridge to 1500 (Cambridge, 1963), p. 290.

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Cadwallader and the Angelic Voice must have copied his political prophecies when they became available, without a great deal of descrimination, or he would have noticed that he already possessed a copy of `Lilium regnans'. The ¯yleaves at the end of the manuscript are very interesting, as these relate to the years 1469±70, when Edward IV was temporarily deposed by the earl of Warwick and Edward's brother George, duke of Clarence. He was forced to ¯ee to the Low Countries, but returned in 1471 to defeat the Lancastrian forces at the battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury. With Prince Edward killed and Henry VI murdered, he was then able to rule unopposed. This was not to be known in 1469, however, and there is a note of panic in the way in which John Herryson and those connected with him begin immediately to record portents and prophecy in that year. Some of these are written in Herryson's own hand. The copying of texts onto the ¯yleaves ceases after the crisis has passed. These individuals appear to have been expressing their anxiety about the situation, and seeking some kind of reassurance, in prophecies. A text headed `Effectus eclipsis solis Jii mense Julii Anno 1469' warns of disastrous upheavals to come: And dyurse astatys schall dye thys ¿ere And women schall be cawse of dyurse insurreccions Stabyllnesse non schall be thys ¿ere in thys regine And euery man schall be fayne to save and provyde for hym selfe for the iiij partys off thys regine schall be ¿yffyn to insurreccions . . . And olde trowbyll schall spryng newe . . .

The `woman' who will cause trouble is very likely to be Margaret of Anjou, who had made an alliance with Warwick in France in that year, with whom she planned to invade England in the name of her husband Henry VI. After eight years of comparative stability, this was regarded as `olde trowbyll', a threat to the `stabyllnesse' which the audience of political prophecy really desired. More disasters are predicted by the text dated `ye 24 day off Januarii for sayde in ye ¿ere of or lorde 1471': itt [i.e. the comet of that year] pronosticatis Batells and werysse both be water and be londe . . . yis comete be tokyns subvercion and chawnyng of kyngs, princes, lordys and astatis and signifyes off thar mortalite and strange deth¿ys.

The text beginning `Videbunt iusti et timebunt', on fol. 246v, is an appeal for support on behalf of Edward IV. It is addressed to `ye comyns and trewe comynalte off Ingelande', and goes on to say, `ye knawe wele that ¿e walde fayne have pece and ryste Bot ¿e may have no ryst nor pece excepte ¿e inqyyre after the lyone the Egele and the Facone . . .'. The writer addresses the need felt by the `commons' for peace and stability, and says that they may only have this by supporting King Edward, whose family badges included the lion, the eagle and the falcon. If they do not support him then `yor rysyngs and steryngs wyll be to yor confusion'. Those who 227

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England are in doubt are to look to `ye fawcon whyette', so that he may show them the right way, `be the grace of jhu'. A note in this part of the manuscript says `1470 expulsis erat Rex Edwardus quartus et apud villam de Lynn suscepit navum' (`1470 King Edward the Fourth was driven out and took ship at the town of Lynn'). Herryson and his friends and colleagues were apparently not alone in their fear that the instability of the 1450s would return. A similar appeal is contained in Norfolk Record Of®ce MS BradferLawrence Xa/15. This is a bundle of legal and other documents relating to the priory at South Creake, in Norfolk. The whole has been stitched into an unbound volume, with a front cover made of parchment. Inside the front cover, a ®fteenth-century hand has copied this document. Some of the words have been lost through wear and staining: In dei nomine Amen ± this londe was ®rst & formust in habite with Britons two mt ¿ere be inheritance & is & was namet [. . .] Brutus / And aftyr that name called Bretayne to the tyme of Cadwalladrus deyes that gret synnes reyned [. . .] fore god was gretly displesid. And sufferid them for to be drewyn for synne out of this londe.

The writer introduces the Britons and Cadwallader, and thereby de®nes the parameters of his work. This text will be based upon the British History, and the promise made to Cadwallader by the Angelic Voice. After this, the writer tells the story of Cadwallader's journey to Rome, and the prophecy of the Angel that `he schuld not come a gene to his ryght ne non of his bl[ood? . . .] tyme that thoo peple that ocupyed hys ryght & his lond be fownden in the same synnes'. The writer has begun to manipulate the Cadwallader story, suggesting that the sinfulness of the Saxons is involved in the regaining of the king's `right', introducing the idea of the heirs of Cadwallader and the idea of rightful inheritance. He then delivers the prophecy which is the main purpose of the text: In the ¿ere of owre lord mt cccc lx schall re [. . .] by the merytes of hys feyth be all londes what so eu[er] his Auncestres hath before owt of mynde. An [. . .] ben a ®neall distruccion of the Saxons & Normands. And all othyr straungers of his lond . . .

This is the agenda of the prophecies associated with the British History, taken from the end of the Historia Regum Britannie, and found in `Mortuo leone justicie'. It is to be carried out by one who merits that honour not only by his lineage, but by his faith. This tells the reader that the hero is king by the grace and predetermined will of God, as well as because of his lineage and the sins of the `Saxons', in this case the House of Lancaster and their supporters, who are also termed Saxons in `The Cock in the North'. These people are also, says the author, called a Bull or the White Dragon, but he who restores the Britons will be a Red Dragon, a reference to the `Prophecia Merlini'. The island `schall 228

Cadwallader and the Angelic Voice be called & reduced a¿en Bretayn', an outcome which also occurs in prophecies based on the British History. The writer then quotes from the `Prophecia Merlini' a line concerning Sextus: `Sextus hibernicus menia subuertet . . .' He then abandons Geoffrey of Monmouth and quotes lines about the return of the island to her original name from two other prophetic texts, citing Bede and Merlin as the authors. Finally, this is applied to present circumstances: Item this lord [i.e. Sextus, the prophetic hero, the heir of Cadwallader, or Edward of York] with his children eyres that were dreuyn [. . .] of this lond be owre lawis of conquest. Contrys to goddis lawis ¿et god hath don as the Aungell seyd trusted [. . .] the seyd Relikes & Eyres of Cadwalladrus bodi from Rome by the Pope is power. And blesseth all tho that helpeth [. . .] hym in his ryght. And cusseth all them that doth the contr[ar]y. And allys they scall be browght into wyld deserts [. . .] to owre ®nall distruccion. And the lond schall be called Bretayn a gen dowtles. Amen.

Nowhere is Edward's proper name actually given, but the attribution is unmistakable. The statement that he and his heirs have been driven out of England contrary to God's will suggests a date after October 1470, when Edward was temporarily an exile at the court of his brother-in-law Charles of Burgundy, although his children did not leave the country. As in the previous text, the appeal is followed by a direct threat; God curses those who do not support Edward, and they will have little in¯uence on the outcome, in any case, as God's will is ultimately inescapable. The ®nal destruction, however, is not just theirs, but `ours', so to support King Edward is also to exercise one's public responsibility for the `common weal'. This is a repetition of the theme which was so prominent in the 1450s, an appeal to the recent past and an imitation of the stance taken up by Edward's father, York, as champion of the `commons' at that time. The text is very similar to the earlier text in BL MS Cotton Vespasian E. VII, fol. 21v. In this way, too, it makes an appeal to Yorkist propaganda of the early 1460s, imitating both its form and its themes. Evidence that loyalty towards Henry VI had not died out everywhere is shown by the continued existence of the sultan's letter to King Henry and Prince Edward, in BL Add. MS 31493. This manuscript, in a hand of the second half of the ®fteenth century, contains works such as Stephen Scrope's translation of the Secreta secretorum and a translation of DeGuilleville's Pilgrimage of the Soul, as well as the vision known as St Patrick's Purgatory and the vision of Edmund Leuersegge. The inclusion of the letter in a manuscript of devotional material gives it a completely new raison d'eÃtre. What began as a statement of political belief is here treated as an object of devotion. The volume originated in the city of York, belonging to a member of the community of secular canons serving York Minster, where Henry VI 229

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England was venerated after his death.62 The manuscript is illustrated with some skill, and is probably a local production. Henry Percy was not the only northern magnate interested in political prophecy in the second half of the ®fteenth century. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Douce 115 is a fourteenth-century copy of the Historia Regum Britannie, with the prophecy `Gallorum leuitas'. On fol. 73v, a ®fteenthcentury hand has added, `Iste liber constat Johanni Stwarde (Stewart?) militi ®lio Io. Scotangli militis ex dono prepotens . . . et noblissimi don. dompni ducis Bedfor[ ]'. This has prompted Julia Crick to suggest that the volume was given to John Steward by George Neville, duke of Bedford.63 Neville was the heir of John, marquess Montagu, killed ®ghting alongside his brother Richard, earl of Warwick at the battle of Barnet in April 1471. Montagu's estates had been forfeited by attainder, and were granted for life by Edward IV to his brother Richard, duke of Gloucester. George may not have been the only member of the Neville family with an interest in political prophecy. On fol. 75r of John Benet's manuscript, MS Trinity College 516, is written `Georgii [Nevile] militis [dominus] Danby de Latimer'. Colker has identi®ed this as the George Neville who lived from 1432 to 1469.64 The Nevilles and the Latimers were related by marriage, and the young Lord Latimer became heir to the Montagu estates after the death of another George Neville, duke of Bedford, in 1483. The estates granted to Richard, duke of Gloucester would have reverted to Latimer after Gloucester's death, which was one of the factors contributing to Richard's decision to take the throne in 1483. Richard of Gloucester had an interest in political prophecy himself. Richard was the owner of St Petersburg, Saltykov-Schedrin State Public Library, MS Lat. F. IV. 76, which contains the `Prophecia aquile' with a commentary ®rst known to exist in England in the fourteenth century. That Richard had some kind of personal contact with his book is shown by the presence of his signature `loyaute me lie' on fol. 1r. The volume itself is not a de luxe one, and resembles more the neat script and unpretentious nature of Henry Percy's prophetic anthology. That is, it is a book for reading, not for display. Whether or not Richard had a `working knowledge' of, and regard for, prophecy is not known, and cannot be displayed by his ownership of one manuscript, but he can hardly have avoided a political language known to, and used by, his contemporaries in the north of England. The civil war of the mid-®fteenth century had differed from those of the 1260s and the 1320s in that a rival dynasty had been involved. In 1399 it had been Henry Bolingbroke's intention to claim the throne by right of inheritance. In 1461 the king's only son, still living, had been set aside in favour of a dynastic alternative. 62

63 64

This was not simply the feeling of the canons of York. In Cambridge, Peterhouse, MS 177, Henry VI is described as `inhumaniter occisus'. Crick, Historia Regum Britannie III, p. 140. Colker, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts, II, 1001.

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Cadwallader and the Angelic Voice This resembled the situation of 1153, to which the `Prophecia aquile' had originally been applied: it was this prophecy which Richard of Gloucester owned. Richard could very well have re-interpreted the `Prophecia aquile' to suit his family's situation. Edward of York had come from the East to displace a rex inutilis (Henry VI), and would be the one who would reunite the island of Britain. As the self-proclaimed heir of Cadwallader, he was quali®ed racially and dynastically to do this. All the magnates connected with political prophecy manuscripts from the middle to the late ®fteenth century had power bases in the north of England. It seems very likely that this interest arose because there was a popular, oral tradition of prophecy in the North, which became more prominent and politically useful, and therefore more interesting to the aristocracy, during the unsettled period of the Wars of the Roses. This is the tradition partly represented by the `Erceldoune' prophecies, which had existed since at least the end of the thirteenth century. No satisfactory explanation has yet been given for Richard's choice of the boar as his badge. It may be that this was a reference to the political, prophetic tradition of the North, and was therefore part of his strategy in the building of a hegemony based on the Neville estates. The Horned Moon of the Percy family was already associated with political prophecy, so Gloucester, as the chief source of power in the North, albeit a relative newcomer, would have wanted such an association for his family, also, particularly as he was attempting to oust the Nevilles from their traditional stronghold, based at Middleham. The Boar was already a symbol used in northern prophecy, as in `Als y yod', and he was also the symbol of Arthur, the Britain-ruler, and of Edward III, who had conquered the Scots at Halidon Hill. The subduing of the Scots had always been the main feature of northern political prophecy, and Richard himself undertook successful campaigns against the Scots in the last years of his brother's reign. As he ruled only from July 1483 to August 1485, Richard never had time to establish himself on the English throne, and so was unable to contribute to the prophetic tradition of the House of York. Political prophecies were still circulating south of the Humber during the second phase of Edward IV's reign, from 1471 to 1483, but these are very few by comparison with the earlier period. BL MS Harley 220 is a Devon manuscript, containing `Ter tria lustra', `Bruti posteritas' and `Pardus vastabit ¯ores gallosque fugabit', a short text about the reconquest of France by the Leopard, who will also raise up and bring down the Burgundians. The manuscript contains documents which associate it with the diocese of Exeter, and a note of the comet of 1472, which gives its earliest possible date. Edward IV led an expedition to France in 1475, but it is not possible to connect the texts in this manuscript with the invasion, because of lack of a precise date of compilation and the vague nature of the prophecies. It does provide evidence that prophecies of the reconquest of France were available in the years after 1472. 231

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Lyell 35 belonged to a certain Reginald Andrew, a gentleman who lived in the area of Winchester, Hampshire, in the late ®fteenth century. The manuscript, dated c. 1475±91, contains Andrew's legal documents, some household accounts, medical notes, devotional and moral poetry, and charms. The political prophecies in Andrew's manuscript are the `Prophecia Merlini', `Cedrus alta libani' and `The King Who Will Find the Holy Cross'. Separate from these are `When Rome is Removyd' and `The Cock in the North'. All the evidence reveals is that Reginald Andrew had studied at William of Wykeham's foundation in Winchester. The litigation records in the manuscript mention places in the north-east of Wiltshire, northern Hampshire and the area around Fareham, Hampshire. On a blank folio (fol. 3r) is a note of books lent and the name of Thomas Knyght, the name of a scholar known to have been at Winchester in 1466. In 1402 a monk named John Andrew was one of those who rebelled against the prior at the Augustinian priory of Twynham (Christchurch), on the Hampshire coast near Fareham; given the geographical evidence, he may have been a family member.65 Evidence from the University of Oxford and Winchester College, however, shows that the Andrew family were very closely connected with both. During the reign of Henry V, one Richard Andrew had attended Winchester and New College, had become a king's clerk, dean of York and had taken part in the mission to bring back Margaret of Anjou as the bride of Henry VI. He had a considerable library, which he left to New College and All Souls College in Oxford. A Nicholas Andrew had attended Winchester and New College in the 1420s, and a Robert Andrew attended both Winchester College and New College in the 1430s. In 1484, a John Andrew was admitted to Winchester, and proceeded to New College in 1490, where he became a fellow in 1492. He became second master of Winchester in 1495.66 Andrew's family connections with Winchester and with the university of Oxford were very close. He may have been a pupil there during the time that John Curteys, owner of Bodley 487, was a fellow. Curteys had studied at Oxford, and additions to fol. 34v connect the manuscript with John Respis, Fellow of All Souls, Oxford in 1503, and with John Holwell, Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford from 1501 to 1508. In this way Andrew, although he might be classed as a provincial gentleman, was closely connected with the intellectual society of Oxford, and was therefore part of a milieu in which political prophecy can be shown to have circulated. Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R. 3 21 is a London manuscript, owned by Roger Thorney, a wealthy member of the Mercers' Company, to which he was admitted in 1474.67 Thorney's known contacts include William Warham, 65

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A. de la Mare, Catalogue of the Collection of Medieval Manuscripts Bequeathed to the Bodleian Library Oxford by James R. Lyell (Oxford, 1971), pp. 87±92; Victoria County History: Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, 4 vols. (London, 1900±14), II, 157±8. Emden, University of Oxford, I, 34±6. One of the scribes also worked on Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R. 3. 19, known

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Cadwallader and the Angelic Voice archbishop of Canterbury, John More (Sir Thomas More's father), Sir Richard Pole (husband of the countess of Salisbury), Sir Thomas Bourgchier (constable of Leeds Castle, Kent), Sir Edward Poynings (Lord Deputy of Ireland), Sir Thomas Brandon (uncle of Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk, later husband of Henry VIII's sister), William Colet (cousin of the educationalist John Colet) and two lord mayors of London, Sir John Shaa and Nicholas Ailwyn. Roger Thorney cannot simply be considered as a buyer and seller of goods.68 The contents of MS Trinity College R. 3. 21 are similar to those of MS Ashmole 59, which served as an exemplar for this volume, but the emphasis is not so much on history, as on moral and devotional verse. Some of the items are duplicated, indicating that the booklets of which the manuscript is made were produced speculatively, then chosen by the customer and bound together. Allowance has been made for a possible armigerous purchaser on fol. 85r, where there is a blank coat of arms. Some of the booklets are un®nished, but others are illustrated in a style of pen drawing representative of what Kathleen Scott describes as a particularly English phenomenon of the late ®fteenth century.69 Thorney has autographed the manuscript (fol. 245r) and he has used a marginal drawing of a ¯eur-de-lys or trefoil symbol alongside the text `The King Who Will Find the Holy Cross' to indicate that he took this to be a reference to Edward IV.70 The producers of one of these speculative booklets expected that their customers would want patriotic material, loyal to Edward IV, in their collections, as two verses have been added to a prayer for Henry VI (no longer acceptable since his deposition in 1461, and probably already dead) to make it into a prayer for Edward IV. This is accompanied by `The King who will Find the Holy Cross', in English, the only prophetic text which forms an integral part of the manuscript; that is, it is the only political prophecy which was part of the original conception. `Lilium regnans' does not ®t inside the margins of the page in the same way as the other texts. It has been made to ®t a space at the base of one of the

68

69

70

to have been produced in London. See Boffey and Thompson, `Anthologies and Miscellanies', pp. 288±9; Hammond, `Ashmole 59 and other Shirley Manuscripts', p. 347, gives BL MSS Harley 2251, Additional 34360, Royal 17. C. XV, Arundel 59 and Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R. 3. 19 as examples of this hand. For the stationers and their customers, see A. I. Doyle, `The Work of a Late Fifteenth Century Scribe, William Ebesham', BJRL 29 (1957), 298±325; G. Pollard, `The Company of Stationers before 1557', The Library 4th s. 18 (1937), 1±37; A. I. Doyle, `English Books in and out of Court', in English Court Culture, ed. Scattergood and Sherborne, pp. 163±81 (pp. 176±9); Meale, `Manuscripts, Readers and Patrons', p. 117. See G. Bone, `Extant Manuscripts Printed by Wynkyn de Worde with Notes on the Owner, Roger Thorney', The Library 4th s. 12 (1931±2), 284±306. A `sort of underground adherence to penwork in the face of the mass of books with painted pictures, many imported': K. L. Scott, The Caxton Master and his Patrons, Cambridge Bibliographical Society Monographs 8 (Cambridge, 1976), pp. 68±9. John Capgrave also uses a trefoil symbol to indicate Edward IV: Lucas, `John Capgrave O.S.A', pp. 21±3.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England pages, but has been written by one of the main scribes of the manuscript. It may have been added at Thorney's request, and therefore represents his personal choice. As the booklets were produced speculatively, the stationer may be said to have exercised a certain amount of choice in the content of this manuscript. It is ®tting that this survey of political prophecy in later medieval England should end with Thorney, as, in prophetic terms, he looks both backwards and forwards. He is backward-looking, in that he represents an association between the urban eÂlite of London and political prophecy ®rst witnessed by Andrew Horn in 1307, and one of the prophecies in his manuscript dates from early in the reign of Edward III, if not before. Thorney is representative of the literary past and future, in that he possessed not only manuscripts but printed books (he was a patron of Wynkyn de Worde) and manuscript copies of printed books. He is also representative of the political future, because he lived through the reign of Richard III, into the last years of the reign of Henry VII. His will is dated 6 January 1514±15.

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POSTSCRIPT Political prophecy did not `die' in 1485. Henry VII also owned a book containing political prophecy. The volume, BL MS Arundel 66, was made speci®cally for presentation to the king himself. This is a de luxe volume, which was made for presentation to Henry VII as king.1 On fol. 201r, a historiated initial, executed by three English artists in the fashionable Flemish style, shows two men presenting the book to the king. The king sits enthroned and crowned, whilst two men kneel before him with their hands upon the book. One is a ®nely-dressed layman, and the other, a scholar, is pointing to the stars, indicating his ®eld of expertise. The book was made in London, as were other books which Henry VII is known to have owned, which contained works on similar subjects.2 As it is a de luxe volume, and therefore very expensive, the book is highly unlikely to have been produced speculatively, without prior knowledge of King Henry's tastes. The manuscript's contents may be assumed, therefore, to be either what the king himself ordered, or what someone else was aware that he would like. They include astronomical works, including tables, and two works on geomancy, including that written for Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, youngest brother of Henry V. Alongside these are the `Prophecia Merlini', `Bridlington', `Anglia transmittet', Book Four of Bridget's Revelaciones, and the `Prophecia aquile'. All of these prophecies originated in the fourteenth century or earlier; in the case of the ®rst and last of them, in the twelfth century. Here they are put forward for re-interpretation in the light of Henry Tudor's victory at Bosworth, and his subsequent reign as king of England. These texts lay stress on the recovery of France as a matter of national integrity and as a means of obtaining peace between the two kingdoms, with the ultimate goal of a crusade to free the Holy Places. They also show the king as a saviour, saving England from a rex inutilis, and as the great rex futurus of the British History, who will re-unite the island and restore its ancient name. This manuscript belonged to the king; if it did not represent Henry VII's personal vision, it must have been either the donor's personal vision, or the vision (maybe his own) that the donor thought the king did, or should, have. What it does show is that Henry VII was personally receptive to these ideas, and was expected to understand the language in which they were written. In other words, Henry Tudor understood prophetic discourse as a political 1

2

K. L. Scott, A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles: Later Gothic Manuscripts 1390±1490, 2 vols. (London, 1996), II, 164±7. Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts, II, 365±6.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England language. Unlike Edward IV, Henry VII did not have to look back to Llewelyn the Great to ®nd Welsh, i.e. British, ancestry. Henry was himself Welsh on his father's side.3 The English, as well as the Welsh, saw Henry as the great rex futurus of the British History, and prophecies were still collected. London, Society of Antiquaries, MS 101 is a very late manuscript, perhaps of the early sixteenth century. It was owned by a member of the Wyggeston family of Leicester. The family, who had a wool business based on Leicester and Coventry, rose to prominence in the Leicester area by the middle of the ®fteenth century, and family members occupied the mayoralty nine times between 1448 and 1499. The family tombs occupied the north side of the nave of St Mary's, the church of the Augustinian canons, in Leicester, alongside the tombs of the Lancaster family, including the ®rst duke, Constance, second wife of John of Gaunt, and Mary Bohun, mother of Henry V. In the Lady Chapel were buried prominent local gentry, and on the south side of the nave Lady Hungerford and her second husband. This topography of burial shows the social position, locally and nationally, to which the Wyggeston family aspired. The date of c. 1480 places this manuscript in the lifetime of the family's most prominent medieval member, William Wyggeston the younger, who lived from c. 1457 to 1536, and was, in his day, the wealthiest man in Leicester.4 Such a man might very well have owned MS Society of Antiquaries 101, which contains, besides all the kinds of things which a household ought to have, a copy of the Secreta secretorum. The prophecies, including `Bridlington' and `The Holy Oil of St Thomas', demonstrate not only an expectation of the great crusading hero, but they also bear witness to the fact that the recovery of France was still hoped for in the reign of Henry VII. After 1486, `Arbor fertilis' was open to further interpretation, as the union of the Houses of Lancaster and York by the marriage of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, Edward IV's heiress. The two Houses were physically reunited in the person of their eldest son, Arthur, born in the following year. It may be that the owner of this manuscript was hoping that Prince Arthur would be the Cock of `Bridlington' who would be given the throne of France. Political prophecy may also provide a clue to why Henry VII chose to name his eldest son Arthur. This was not done simply to please the Welsh, or to celebrate Henry's Welsh ancestry, or even to recall a great hero from the glorious past of both the Welsh and the English peoples. Through his understanding of political prophecy, King Henry knew that the great rex futurus foretold by the Angel to Cadwallader was identi®ed, in the minds of a 3

4

Unless Harriss is to be believed. He maintains that Henry's father, Edmund Tudor, was the illegitimate son of Catherine of Valois and Edmund Beaufort, but his evidence is too circumstantial for the conclusion to be anything more than speculative: Harriss, Cardinal Beaufort, pp. 144 and 178±9. His tax assessment in 1527 was nearly a quarter of that levied on the town as a whole. See J. Simmons, Leicester Past and Present, 2 vols. (London, 1974), I, 41±52 and 69. The next wealthiest paid six times less, and was his cousin.

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Postscript large section of the English national community, with Arthur redivivus. In naming his son Arthur, Henry showed that he was the ®rst king of England since Edward I to truly understand the important place which Arthur held in the national identity of the English. Like Edward, he addressed his English subjects in a political language which many of them used amongst themselves, the language of prophecy. In giving his heir the name of the great Britain-ruler, Henry VII was identifying his dynasty with the national aspirations of a politically, socially and economically important section of the English national community. He was ensuring that the English would identify themselves with his successors in the close `king, people and nation' relationship of prophetic discourse. By the early sixteenth century, manuscripts containing political prophecy were becoming rarer. This is not because prophecy ceased to exist, or ceased to be useful, but because printed books and pamphlets were taking over the market from handwritten manuscripts. As Sharon Jansen has demonstrated, political prophecies were still very much in use as a form of political protest during the reign of Henry VIII.5 That, however, is outside the scope of this book, as are speculations about precisely when and why prophecy ceased to be an important political language. It may be that a study of the origins of political prophecy will help in ®nding the answers to those questions. By the time Richard III was killed at the battle of Bosworth in 1485, political prophecy as a discourse of English politics was already just over 350 years old. It had begun as a means of vocalizing what it meant to be `English', but by the time of Edward II it had also become a means of expressing fundamental beliefs about the relationship of king, people and nation. Through the person of the apocalyptic hero-ruler who emerged during the reign of Edward I, it also expressed the beliefs of its English audience about their status as a nation within the wider world, and within the divinelyordered history of the cosmos itself. Arguably the most complete embodiment of those beliefs was Edward III, who was both Arthur, conqueror and Britain-ruler, and Sextus, the apocalyptic world-ruler and saviour of the Holy Places. The impact of Edward's prophetic career was still being felt in the second half of the ®fteenth century. Henry V, however, preferred to present himself as the apocalyptic, crusading hero, an image passed on to his son, who was still being presented in this way up to his deposition in 1461. However, the dynastic struggles of the ®fteenth century led to prophecy's use as a partisan tool. This was particularly evident during the years surrounding the deposition of Richard II in 1399, and in the political con¯icts of the Wars of the Roses. After the return of Edward IV, and the deaths of Henry VI and Prince Edward in 1471, this appears to have died down, and far fewer texts can be found. The partisan con¯ict of the Wars of the Roses, and the breakdown of authority at the centre of politics, led to the emergence of a 5

Jansen, Political Protest and Prophecy, deals with this subject in detail.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England form of vernacular prophecy which was both predictive and potentially subversive, which was particularly associated with the north of England. Political prophecy is, above all, concerned with power. Its hermeneutic language empowered its audience in areas over which they personally had no control, such as war and peace and the making and unmaking of kings. It enabled them to take a share in the making of their country's destiny, by identifying them with the person of their king, access to whom was, in reality, either strictly controlled or non-existent. It enabled them to express their own ideas about king, people and nation anonymously, by placing those ideas into the mouths of dead `prophets', and the nature of those authorities added stature to their pronouncements. It also gave stature and anonymity to their criticisms and protests in a very dangerous area where criticism could be construed as treason. Political prophecy is not a game, nor is it a code or a form of intellectual exercise, and it is most certainly not unimportant. In fact, it is vital to our understanding of English politics in the later Middle Ages. It expresses the political consciousness of an important section of the English national community.

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HANDLIST OF MANUSCRIPTS This list contains only manuscripts of known, or likely, English origin, written, compiled or added to in the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth or ®fteenth centuries. Within these classi®cations, the manuscripts are listed in alphabetical order of the city or town of the repository in which they are held. These repositories are listed in alphabetical order. Thus, the British Library is listed in alphabetical order with other London repositories. I have stated provenance, and more precise dating, where this is known. There are no complete lists of manuscript contents in this handlist, but I have indicated the general nature of the manuscript's other contents; if this includes relatively well-known works, I have mentioned them. I include catalogue references for each manuscript. Further references may be found in the notes and in the Bibliography. This is a `working' handlist, based upon current knowledge at the time of publication; it claims neither to be exhaustive, nor a catalogue, but is purely a research tool. Only texts which ful®l the criteria of this book are included in this handlist; the predictions, astrological and theological material sometimes called `prophecy' or `prognostication' in manuscript catalogues have been omitted. Folio numbers are given, but where relatively small texts follow one another continuously, I have included only the folio number of the ®rst text. Although texts with the same incipit are very similar, and may be exactly the same, most political prophecies vary in differing degrees. ABERDEEN, University Library, MS 123 c. 1440, Warrington (Augustinians), Lancs. Latin and English. N. R. Ker, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries, 4 vols. (Oxford, 1969±92), II, 4±11. `Lilium regnans' (fol. 138r) Miscellaneous items, many relating to computation and astronomy; Geoffrey Chaucer, Treatise on the Astrolabe; some devotional material; a set of formulary letters. Prophecy occurs in a small section of historical material relating to Henry V: an extract from Thomas Elmham, Liber Metricus, on John Oldcastle; Elmham's poem to Henry V; a genealogy of Henry VI. The genealogy and the historical material, including the letter of `the Sultan of Syria' at fol. 121r and the text of the emperor Sigismund's broadsheets of 1416, are between twenty and thirty years older than the manuscript. CAMBRIDGE, Corpus Christi College, MS 37 (V) Early fourteenth century, Boxley Priory, Kent. French and Latin. M. R. James, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of Corpus Christi College Cambridge, 2 vols. (Cambridge, 1912), I, 73±77; N. Wilkins, Catalogue des Manuscrits FrancËais de la BibliotheÁque Parker (Parker Library) Corpus Christi College (Cambridge, 1993), p. 18.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England Prophecy that Ireland will be conquered by the English, reputedly found by `Magister Walterus de Istelep, Thesaurarius Hibern[iae]' in the year 1317, and attributed to the prophet Malingulus, from the `Prophecia aquile', as in Corpus Christi College, MS 404 (fol. 91r). Contains mostly administrative documents from the reigns of Edward II and III. Some writs and statutes relate speci®cally to London; also the Customs of London, the price of English wool, and the `Lex Marisci'. Another section (different hand) has an ordinance for the king's household, a list of Scottish nobles, the conditions for the surrender of Berwick in 1333 and a list of administrative units in Ireland, followed by the prophecy. The next section (different hand) has notices about Robert of Artois, the ending of the truce between Edward III and Philippe of Valois in 1343; lists of weights and measures. A further item about Berwick has been added at the end. CAMBRIDGE, Corpus Christi College, MS 138 c. 1350, Norwich. Latin. James, Descriptive Catalogue: Corpus Christi, I, 313±16. `Exquiritis a me' (fol. 179r) `Catulus linxeis' (fol. 183r) `Anglia transmittet leopardum' (fol. 183r) `Illius imperium gens barbara sentiet illum' (fol. 183r) `Ter tria lustra' (fol. 183r) Abbreviation of Rupescissa, `Vade mecum in tribulacione' (fol. 183r) Between `Ter tria lustra' and Rupescissa is a list of predictions based on planetary conjunctions, mostly for the 1360s. Mainly historical material; a genealogy showing Edward III's claim to the French throne; several chronicles, latest entry the capture of Charles of Blois in 1347. Another hand takes over from the main hand after `Exquiritis a me', but the form and layout of the book is not interrupted. CAMBRIDGE, Corpus Christi College, MS 148 Early fourteenth century, with ®fteenth-century additions, Norwich Cathedral Priory. Latin. James, Descriptive Catalogue: Corpus Christi, I, 336±7. `Anno cephas mille canus catulus et cocadrille' (front ¯yleaf). The prophecy is one of the ®fteenth century additions, to a Memoriale for parish priests, chie¯y on confession. Two forms of absolution and confession are scribbled in a ®fteenth-century hand on the end ¯yleaves. CAMBRIDGE, Corpus Christi College, MS 267 Eleventh century, prophecy added ®fteenth century, St Augustine's, Canterbury. Latin. James, Descriptive Catalogue: Corpus Christi, II, 22±3; M. J. Curley, `Versus Prophecialis: Prophecia Johannis Bridlingtoniensis (The Prophecy of John of Bridlington), An Edition' (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Chicago, 1973), pp. 375±6. `Bridlington' (fol. 120r) Frethulf 's Chronicle, with hymns to St Mellitus.

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Handlist of Manuscripts CAMBRIDGE, Corpus Christi College, MS 313 (II) Thirteenth century, bound with a volume of the twelfth century. Latin, with thirteenth-century additions in English. James, Descriptive Catalogue: Corpus Christi, II, 114±17. `Prophecia Merlini' (fol. 68r) `Arbor fertilis' (fol. 73r) `Sicut rubeum draconem' (fol. 73r) `Mortuo leone justicie' (fol. 73v) `del sal into puille' . . . as `Mortuo leone', in English (fol. 73v) Kings of England, popes, archbishops of Canterbury and bishops of London; British historical material, on Romans, Assyrians, Medes, Persians and Goths; notes on the reign of King John of England; on Mahomet. CAMBRIDGE, Corpus Christi College, MS 369 Fourteenth-century manuscript with ®fteenth-century additions, Lich®eld (?). Latin and English. James, Descriptive Catalogue: Corpus Christi, II, 205±8. `In domino con®do morte dura nunc pereo' (fol. 4r) Chronicle from Creation to 1337, genealogies of the earls of Chester and the Hastang family, notes on St Chad, and the poem `Tax has tenet us alle'. Prophecy added in ®fteenth-century hand, attributed to Thomas of Woodstock, duke of Gloucester, murdered on the orders of Richard II in 1397. CAMBRIDGE, Corpus Christi College, MS 374 (2) Late ®fteenth century, Canterbury. Latin. James, Descriptive Catalogue: Corpus Christi, II, 218±19; Wilkins, Catalogue des Manuscrits, p. 99. `Bridlington: Non est res ira', frag. (fol. 15r) A few miscellaneous notes on a small fragment. CAMBRIDGE, Corpus Christi College, MS 404 Second half of fourteenth century, at Bury St Edmunds c. 1380, annotated by Henry of Kirkestede. Latin. James, Descriptive Catalogue: Corpus Christi, II, 269±77. `Sibille generaliter' (fol. 1r) `Pseudo-Methodius' (fol. 4r) `Arbor fertilis', as expounded by Ailred of Rievaulx, followed by `Prophecia aquile' (fol. 96v) `Aquila neustrie', from `Prophecia Merlini' (fol. 98r) `Catulus linxius' (fol. 98r) `Anglia transmutet leopardum' (fol. 99r) `Mens cor cupiunt' (fol. 99v) `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' (fol. 99v) Henry of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum Bk VI (fol. 100r) Other contents include apocalyptic prophecies such as `Cedrus alta libani' and the `Columbinus' prophecy; apocalyptic works by Joachim of Fiore and others, with some `Joachite' ®gurae; one or two astrological observations.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England CAMBRIDGE, Gonville and Caius College, MS 33/139 Late fourteenth century (possibly early ®fteenth), diocese of Lincoln (?). Latin. M. R. James, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of Gonville and Caius College, 2 vols. (Cambridge, 1907±8), I, 25±28. `Gallorum levitas' (fol. 323r), an addition to the original manuscript `Tolle capud milui', with date formula for 1381 and a note on the beheading of Archbishop Simon Sudbury during the Peasants' Revolt of the same year. Added to the original manuscript (fol. 488r). Main contents are Canon Law codices. On fol. 324r is an added note of a case `Coram nobis Of®ciale d. Lincoln Episcopi'. Flyleaves at front and back are taken from a thirteenth-century Italian manuscript of canon law. CAMBRIDGE, Gonville and Caius College, MS 230/116 First half of ®fteenth century, St Albans. Latin and English. James, Descriptive Catalogue: Gonville and Caius, I, 268±76. `Flamine romano crescit britannicus honor' (fol. 22v) A miscellany, with no main works. Prophecy is not speci®cally connected with any of the other contents. Possible connection with John Whethamstede, whose poems against the bishop of Norwich and Ralph Cromwell (?) are in the manuscript. CAMBRIDGE, Gonville and Caius College, MS 234/120 Late thirteenth century. Latin and English. James, Descriptive Catalogue: Gonville and Caius, I, 278±80. `Quando sambucus ceresas fert fructi®cando' (fol. 353r) Devotional and theological items, including Adso's Antichrist and the Ancren Riwle. CAMBRIDGE, Gonville and Caius College, MS 249/277 c. 1464, Cambridge, and (?) Ashwell, Herts. Latin and English. James, Descriptive Catalogue: Gonville and Caius, I, 300±5; J. C. Crick, The Historia Regum Britannie of Geoffrey of Monmouth III: A Summary Catalogue of the Manuscripts (Cambridge, 1989), pp. 45±9; Curley, `Versus Prophecialis', pp. 385±6. `Bridlington' (fol. 177v) `Extincto herede': `The Last Kings of the English', frag., in Latin (fol. 181r) `Tolle capud mercis' (fol. 181v) `Regnum scottorum' (fol. 182r) `Ter tria lustra' (fol. 182r) `Cambria carnerwan' (fol. 182r) `Gens normannorum' (fol. 182v) `Anglorum regnum bastard bello superavit' (fol. 182v) `Quando sambucus fert ceresa' (fol. 182v) `Gallorum leuitas' (fol. 182v) `Ueniet aquila ardens' (fol. 182v) `Sibilla regina austri' (fol. 182v)

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Handlist of Manuscripts `Catulus linxeus' (fol. 183r) `Gens barbara' (fol. 183r) `Ueniet ab occidente francorum quidem rex britannie' (fol. 183v) `Misterium hominis' (fol. 183v) `Egredietur unicornus de plaga' (fol. 183v) `Vade mecum in tribulacione' (fol. 216v) `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' (fol. 217r) `Prophecia aquile' (fol. 217v) `Lilium regnans' (fol. 218r) `The Cock in the North' (fol. 227v) `The King who will Find the Holy Cross', in Latin (fol. 228v) `Videbunt iusti et timebunt' (fol. 246r) `Kyngys schulde lofe gretly' (fol. 246v) Owned, and partly written, by Dr John Herryson of Gonville Hall, University of Cambridge. The ®rst group of prophecies is part of a manuscript containing Higden's Polychronicon and the Historia Regum Britannie, with associated notes on English history; six books on rhetoric, attributed to Cicero (Tullius). The group of prophecies is followed by more Cicero and Nicholas Cantelupe's Historiola, a history of the University of Cambridge. The second set of prophecies has been added, in Herryson's hand; more notes; an extract from Cicero, De Oratore; a genealogy of English kings from Henry III to Edward IV. As well as political items, there are apocalyptic prophecies in the group, such as the `Vaticinium Toleti'. The last item in the main manuscript is a biblical history from the Creation to the twelve apostles, in diagrammatic form. The last two prophecies are dated 1469±70, and are accompanied by astrological observations for these years. Some of these are in Herryson's own hand, added to the main manuscript on the blank folios at the back. CAMBRIDGE, King's College, MS 43 Before 1445, origin unknown. Latin. Ker, Medieval Manuscripts, II, 229. `Arbor quelibet viridis' (i.e. `Arbor fertilis') A genealogy, with the prophecy, with explanation, used to demonstrate the right of the kings of England to the throne of France. CAMBRIDGE, Magdalene College, MS Pepys 1236 1474±5, Kent(?). Latin and English. D. McKitterick and R. Beadle, Catalogue of the Pepys Library at Magdalene College Cambridge V, Manuscripts I: Medieval (Cambridge, 1992), pp. 12±14. `When feyth fayleth in prestys sawys' (fol. 91r) Poem attributed to Merlin, in a miscellany of music, computational and medical material, also including `Stans puer ad mensam'. CAMBRIDGE, Peterhouse, MS 177 Second half of ®fteenth century, origin unknown. Latin. M. R. James, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of Peterhouse College Cambridge (Cambridge, 1899), pp. 204±6.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England `Prophecia Merlini', with gloss (fol. 222r) Manuscript of historical items, to the death of Henry VI, who was `inhumaniter occisus'. Gerald of Wales, Topographia Hibernie; Higden, Polychronicon; a history of the Three Kings; a history of the kings of England from Edward III to Henry VI. Prophecy is at the end of the manuscript, but not an addition. CAMBRIDGE, St John's College, MS G. 16 Late fourteenth century, given to Exeter cathedral c. 1500, earlier history unknown. Latin. M. R. James, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of St John's College Cambridge (Cambridge, 1913), pp. 217±22; Crick, Historia Regum Britannie III, pp. 51±5. `Gallorum leuitas' (fol. 44r) `Prophecia aquile' (fol. 103v), with interpretation, as in Leningrad, Saltykov Shehedrin State Public Library, MS Lat. F. IV. 76. `Sibille generaliter' (fol. 251v) `Liber Methodius' (fol. 285r) Much material relating to the life and deeds of Alexander surrounds the Historia Regum Britannie, also material on the beliefs of Saracens and Greeks, and the kings of Israel, with lists of kings and patriarchs. The manuscript ends with material on the Franks, including an account of the battle of Roncesvalles, the union of the Anglo-Saxon royal house with the blood of Rollo of Normandy, and the history of Troy, including Dares Phrygius, De Excidio Troiae. CAMBRIDGE, Trinity College, MS B. 1. 37 Eleventh and twelfth century, bound with ®fteenth-century material. Origin unknown. Latin. M. R. James, The Western Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College Cambridge, 3 vols. (Cambridge, 1900±2), I, 46±8; Curley, `Versus Prophecialis', pp. 367±8. `Bridlington' (fol. 106r) CAMBRIDGE, Trinity College, MS B. 14. 6 Fourteenth century, origin unknown. Latin. James, Western MSS: Trinity College, I, 408±409. Henry of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum, Bk VI (fol. 1v) First of two volumes, bound together later. Mostly contains theological tracts and extracts from scriptural commentators; notes on the Arts and Sciences. There is no known connection between the two parts of the manuscript. The prophecy stresses the passage's moral content, ie. that the Norman Conquest will be a punishment for the sin of the English. CAMBRIDGE, Trinity College, MS B. 15. 24 1465, spent part of its early history in the Low Countries. Latin. James, Western MSS: Trinity College, I, 469. `Lilium regnans' (fol. 81v)

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Handlist of Manuscripts Devotional items, one relating to pilgrimage, and the apocalyptic prophecies of Hildegard of Bingen. The prophecy appears to be dated for 1462. CAMBRIDGE, Trinity College, MS O. 1. 17 First half of the fourteenth century, from Whalley Abbey. Latin and French. James, Western MSS: Trinity College, III, 16±19; Crick, Historia Regum Britannie III, pp. 64±6. `Prophecia Merlini' (fol. 177r) Prophecies follow the Historia Regum Britannie. Contents are mixed, including material on Alexander and the dukes of Normandy; a genealogy of English kings from Henry I to Edward III; Visio de Spiritu Guidonis; Bernard of Clairvaux's Meditationes; a prose translation of Edmond de Pontigny's Speculum; pieces, in French, on love and courtesy. CAMBRIDGE, Trinity College, MS R. 3. 21 1471±83, London. English and Latin. James, Western MSS: Trinity College, II, 83±95. `Lilium regnans' (fol. 243v) `The King who will ®nd the Holy Cross' (fol. 244r) Belonged to Roger Thorney, a mercer of the City of London. Miscellaneous texts, almost all in English, including many poems on religious and moral subjects. Prophecies follow Lydgate's verses on the kings of England, and are followed by a ballad entitled `Gaudete iusti in domino', and beginning `Conuertimini ye comons and drede your kynge', which appears related to the prophetic texts dated 1469±70 in Gonville and Caius College MS 249/277, fol. 246rv. CAMBRIDGE, Trinity College, MS R. 4. 26 Late fourteenth century, origin unknown. Latin, English and French. James, Western MSS: Trinity College, II, 154±55. `Prophecia Merlini' (extract) (fol. 1r) `Gallorum levitas' (fol. 1v) `Pro dolor non modicum', on the English conquest of Ireland (fol. 1v) A faithful copy of Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle as found in London, British Library, MS Cotton Caligula A. XI, a manuscript of c. 1320±30. The prophecies are not in the earlier manuscript. Also a short Anglo-Norman Brut, and a note about Edward I's conquest of Wales. CAMBRIDGE, Trinity College, MS R. 7. 2 1362±66, Malmesbury. Latin. James, Western MSS: Trinity College, II, 216±17. `Vade mecum in tribulacione' (fol. 393r) Compiled by one scribe over a period of years. Additions made by the scribe to the text of the Eulogium Historiarum bring the date to 1366. Contains the Eulogium Historiarum, preceded by a chronicle from the Incarnation to 1364, and followed by two genealogies: the descent of William I from the Anglo-Saxon kings, and the

245

Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England descent of Edward III from Rollo of Normandy. Rupescissa's book is inserted into the Eulogium Historiarum, which also contains the prophetic texts `Ter tria lustra' and `Anglia transmittet'. CAMBRIDGE, Trinity College, MS R. 7. 23 First half of fourteenth century, with fourteenth- and ®fteenth-century additions, origin unknown. Latin and French. James, Western MSS: Trinity College, II, 233±35. `Prophecia Merlini' (extract) (fol. 3r) A miscellany containing medical receipts and astronomical material. Prophecy is part of a section containing a French Brut, ending with the death of Richard I. CAMBRIDGE, Trinity College, MS R. 14. 26 Fifteenth century, East Yorkshire. Latin and English. James, Western MSS: Trinity College, II, 307±9. `M. simplex C. ter L. duplex' dated for 1415 (front ¯yleaf) `Lilium regnans' (fol. 1v) Manuscript of logic, philosophy and music, with the `Ave Maria' and a sermon. Once owned by a woman (`good wife Sanderson at Beverlay dwellyng in Wddysday market') but was not in her possession when the prophecy was added. CAMBRIDGE, University Library, MS Dd. xiv. 2 c. 1432, Oxford. Latin and English. A Catalogue of the Manuscripts preserved in the Library of the University of Cambridge, 5 vols. (Cambridge, 1856±67), I, 520±2. `Prophecia Merlini' (fol. 291r) The register of Nicholas Bishop, burgess of Oxford. This contains, at fol. 244r, a list of kings of England, and topographical lists (parishes, ®efs, towns etc), then a small chronicle from Brutus to 1432. The same hand continues with the `Prophecia Merlini'. The chronicle is in English, but the prophecy is in Latin. CAMBRIDGE, University Library, MS Ff. i. 27 (II) First half of fourteenth century, Bury St Edmunds. Latin. Catalogue of Manuscripts: University Library, II, 318±29. `Prophecia aquile' (fol. 497r) `Prophecia Merlini' (fol. 610r) Contains Gerald of Wales, Expugnatio Hibernie; Topographica Hibernie; Itinerarium Kambrie; lives of saints Patrick and David; the work known as St Patrick's Purgatory by `Owen Miles'. The main works of this manuscript are a copy of London, British Library, MS Royal 13. B. VIII, from Canterbury. The prophecies are not in the earlier manuscript. CAMBRIDGE, University Library, MS Gg. i. 1 Early fourteenth century, north-west Midlands. French, Latin and English. Catalogue of Manuscripts: University Library, III, 1±8; EÂdition Critique et CommenteÂe

246

Handlist of Manuscripts de Pierre de Langtoft: Le ReÁgne d'Edouard 1er, ed. J. C. Thiolier (CreÂteil, 1989), pp. 75±84. `The Last Kings of the English', in French (fol. 120r) A miscellany, mostly in French but with some Latin and English, containing theological, devotional and some apocalyptic material, prognostications, prayers, homilies and psalms; Les Proverbis de Hending in English verse; the Chronicle of Pierre Langtoft. CAMBRIDGE, University Library, MS Gg. iv. 25 Second half of ®fteenth century, after 1460, origin unknown. Latin. Catalogue of Manuscripts: University Library, III, 166±71. `Pseudo-Methodius' (fol. 58r) `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' (fol. 61v ± these prophecies form a continuous group on fols. 61v±67r) `Veniet aquila ardens' Bridget of Sweden, Revelaciones Bk IV `Lilium in meliori parte' `Lilium regnans' `Asinus coronatus' `Porcelli apri tenebunt' `Gallorum levitas' `Sibilla regina austri' `Quando sub egipti ®lia' `Cesaris imperium' `Tolle caput martis' frag.: `Inde mil ter & sex' `Si pax formetur' `Anno cephas mille' `Anglia transmittet' `The King who will Find the Holy Cross' Contains a universal chronicle from Creation to 1447; a Brut chronicle from Brutus to Edward IV's coronation (1460); a genealogy of Edward IV from Adam; the Secreta secretorum in Latin. This is followed by the prophecies, which are in turn followed by notes on Rome, Pilate, Adam and the Holy Cross. CAMBRIDGE, University Library, MS Gg. vi. 42 Fifteenth century, origin unknown. Latin. Catalogue of Manuscripts: Cambridge University Library, III, 231±4. `Prophecia Merlini' (fol. 213r) `Cesaris imperium' (fol. 235r) Miscellany, with theological extracts from Alexander Neckham; passages on the virtues of wine and venison; on Rome; on the eucharist; on the Passion. CAMBRIDGE, University Library, MS Ii. vi. 11 Fifteenth-century addition on ¯yleaf, to thirteenth-century manuscript, origin unknown. Latin manuscript, prophecy added in English.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England Catalogue of Manuscripts: Cambridge University Library, III, 506±9. `When Sonday gothe by D & C' (front ¯yleaf) Added to manuscript of theological works and sermons. CAMBRIDGE, University Library, MS Kk. vi. 16 Fifteenth-century additions to fourteenth-century manuscript, Worcester. Original Latin, additions in Latin and English. Catalogue of Manuscripts: Cambridge University Library, III, 714±15; Crick, Historia Regum Britannie III, pp. 83±5; Curley, `Versus Prophecialis', p. 392. `Bridlington' (fol. 146r) `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' (fol. 154r) `Flamine romano crescit britannicus honor' (fol. 155r) `Ter tria lustra' (fol. 155r) `Gallorum nouitas' (i.e. `Gallorum levitas') (fol. 155v) `Cesaris imperium' (fol. 156v) `Regnum scottorum' (fol. 156r) `Anno cephas mille' (fol. 159r) `Anno cephas mille' (fol. 159v), text is inserted again `Lilium regnans' (fol. 160r) `Carolus Philippi ®lius' Main manuscript is a copy of Historia Regum Britannie, with prophetic texts inserted into gaps on pages, blank pages, ¯yleaves and even sideways in the margins. Some are written in a very small hand indeed, in order to ®t into the available space. There are a few small notes added as well as the prophecies, but most of the added texts are prophecies. CAMBRIDGE, University Library, MS Mm. v. 29 Twelfth century, origin unknown. Latin. Catalogue of Manuscripts: Cambridge University Library, IV, 356±9; Crick, Historia Regum Britannie III, pp. 86±9. `Sibille generaliter' (fol. 15r) Dares on Troy, Historia Regum Britannie, Henry of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum Bk I; Nennius; Alexander; description of Jerusalem; an epitome of history. CAMBRIDGE, Sidney Sussex College, MS 43 First half of fourteenth century, North-East, possibly Durham. At Swineshead in Lincolnshire by the reign of Henry VIII (origin of pen trial on fol. 20v). Mostly French, some Latin. M. R. James, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of Sidney Sussex College (Cambridge, 1895), p. 26; EÂdition Critique et CommenteÂe de Pierre de Langtoft, ed. Thiolier, pp. 128±32. `The Last Kings of the English', in French (fol. 183v) `Regnum scottorum' (fols. 185v±187r) Pierre Langtoft's Chronicle. On fol. 63v a fourteenth-century hand has noted the slaying of Colebrand by Guy of Warwick. The note says that the head `is now' in Winchester.

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Handlist of Manuscripts CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, University Library, MS 697 Lincolnshire, c. 1460. Latin. S. de Ricci and J. Wilson, Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada, 2 vols. (New York, 1935±7), I, 594±5; Curley, `Versus Prophecialis', pp. 361±2 (this manuscript is the basis for Curley's edition). `Bridlington' (fol. 91v) Contains only the prophecy, with Erghome's commentary. DEVON, PENNSYLVANIA, Boies Penrose MS 11 c. 1300, origin unknown. French and Latin. de Ricci and Wilson, Census, II, 1997. `Les prophecies de Merlin' (inserted into a copy of Le Roman de Brut by Wace) Two mystery plays in French, one fragmentary; abbreviated Latin version of Dares; a copy of the Statute of Westminster of 1275. DUBLIN, Trinity College, MS 172 Additions, second half of fourteenth century, to an earlier fourteenth-century manuscript. Latin. Colker, Trinity College Dublin : Descriptive Catalogue of the Mediaeval and Renaissance Latin Manuscripts, 2 vols. (London, 1991), I, 310±20; Crick, Historia Regum Britannie III, pp. 98±101. `Illius imperium' (fol. 403r) `Anglia transmittet' (fol. 403r) `Ter tria lustra' (fol. 403r) `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' (fol. 403r) `Prophecia aquile', without `Arbor fertilis' (fol. 404r) `Lilium regnans' (fol. 405r) `Cesaris imperium' (fol. 405r) `Tolle capud milia' (fol. 405r) `Bridlington' (fol. 407r) `H.patre defuncto reget' (fol. 414r) `Anno Cephas mille canus catulus et cocadrille' (fol. 414r) These have been added to a manuscript containing the Historia Regum Britannie; genealogies of English and Scottish kings; a series of lives of Anglo-Saxon saints, among whom is included Thomas Becket. DUBLIN, Trinity College, MS 244 c. 1400, origin unknown. English. T. K. Abbott, Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin (Dublin, 1900), pp. 35±6. `The Last Age of the Church' (art. 24) A collection of heterodox works in English, by the followers of John Wycliffe. DUBLIN, Trinity College, MS 496 First half of fourteenth century, possibly Wymondham, Norfolk. Latin. Colker, Trinity College Dublin: Descriptive Catalogue, II, 907±14; Crick, Historia Regum Britannie III, pp. 105±7.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England `Prophecia Merlini', commentary (fol. 139r) `Catulus leonis' (i.e. `Catulus linxeis') (fol. 227v) The `Prophecia Merlini' in Book VII of the Historia Regum Britannie is glossed. Besides the Historia, the manuscript contains material relating to Anglo-Saxon kings and Norman nobles; early Christian history; the sons of Noah, the `Mirabilia Britannie'; Bede's De Locis Sanctis. DUBLIN, Trinity College, MS 514 Thirteenth century, and ®rst half of fourteenth, St Augustine's, Canterbury. Latin. Colker, Trinity College Dublin: Descriptive Catalogue, II, 959±72; Crick, Historia Regum Britannie III, pp. 107±10. `Prophecia aquile' (fol. 78r) `Prophecia Merlini' (fol. 79v) `Sibille generaliter' (fol. 89v) Diverse theological material, with historical material at the beginning. This includes the Historia Regum Britannie; an extract from Dares Phrygius, De Excidio Troiae; notes on the clergy of Rome; Welsh place-names. This is all bound together with Seneca `de naturalibus questionibus'. The prophecies are associated with the historical material. DUBLIN, Trinity College, MS 516 1461±c. 1474, Harlingdon, Bedfordshire. Latin and English. Colker, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts: Trinity College, Dublin, II, 976±1002. `H. patre sublato reget' (fol. 14v) `Cambria carneyian' (i.e. `carnarwan') (fol. 15r) `Ter tria lustra' (fol. 15r) `This is the propheci †t thai have in Wales' (fol. 16r) `Edward 3'us rex', about a successor of Edward III (fol. 16r) `Conuertimini ad me in toto corde vestro: The prophete in his prophecye' (fol. 24r) `F¯os ¯orum patitur', as Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 249/277, fol. 38v. `Gens romanorum [i.e. normannorum] consensu fulta priorum' (fol. 39r) `Draco draconem rebeus [sic] album superabit', as in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Hatton 56, fol. 45r. `Anglorum regnum bastard bello superabit' (fol. 46r) `Veniet ab occidente francorum quidam rex britannie' (fol. 48r) `Gallus rex francie', etc. (fol. 41r) `Anno cephas mille' (fol. 42v) `Aper per iudicium ferocitatis cordis sui' (fol. 45r) `Tolle caput martis' (fol. 46r) `Regnum scottorum' (fol. 46v) `Anglia transmittet' (fol. 47v) `Draco maxime ®delis' (fol. 47v) `The Last Kings of the English', frag. (fol. 48r) `In novissimis temporibus' (fol. 48r) `Surget leo aureus' (fol. 48v)

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Handlist of Manuscripts `Merlin to Arthur' (fol. 48v) `Illius imperium' (fol. 48v) `Quando sambucus fert ceresa' (fol. 48v) `Gallorum levitas' (fol. 48v) `Draco maximus' (fol. 111r) `Vade mecum in tribulacione' (fol. 111r) `Few lord in Ynglon' (fol. 112r) `Pagani habentes' (fol. 112v) `The King who will Find the Holy Cross', in Latin (fol. 112v) `Lilium regnans' (fol. 114r) `The Cock in the North' (fol. 114r) `Euermore shall the [here MS shows a die face with six dots] be the best cast on the dyce' (fol. 118r) `When lord' Wille is Lond' law' (fol. 118r) `Long berde herteles' (fol. 118r) `Videbunt iusti et timebunt' (fol. 188v) A miscellany, compiled by, and much in the hand of, John Benet, vicar of Harlingdon in Bedfordshire, a living in the gift of Dunstable priory (Augustinian). Benet signs and dates some of the passages he has written. The miscellany is mostly historical in the part in which the prophecies occur, with extracts from Higden's Polychronicon and verses about political subjects. Also notes and extracts about computational, medical, grammatical and musical subjects. DUBLIN, Trinity College, MS 517 (IV) Second half of ®fteenth century, origin unknown. Latin, English and French. Colker, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts: Trinity College Dublin, II, 1002±11. `Prophecia Merlini', with commentary (fol. 135r) `The Last Kings of the English', in French Theological subjects, including Martinus Blessensis, Formula honestae vitae, and the Secreta Secretorum. ETON, Eton College, MS 191 Between 1413 and 1422, origin unknown. Latin. Ker, Medieval Manuscripts, II, 776±7. `The Holy Oil of St Thomas', applied to Henry V A `Considerans' chronicle, naming Henry V as the ®rst king to be anointed with the holy oil of St Thomas. ETON, Eton College, MS 213 Early ®fteenth century, after 1422, Somerset. Latin. Ker, Medieval Manuscripts, II, 782±4. `Vulpes cum cauda', described as `hec in cronici S. Albani' (fol. 252r) Copy of Higden's Polychronicon, continued by annals from Richard II to 1420. Belonged to Henry VI's confessor, John Blacman, and was possibly intended as a gift for Eton, where he was a tutor 1443±53, but he gave it to Witham Priory, where he became a religious in 1459.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England LEEDS, Brotherton Library, Brotherton MS 29 Late fourteenth century, St Mary's, York. French and Latin. The Anonimalle Chronicle 1307 to 1334, ed. W. R. Childs and J. Taylor (Leeds, 1991), pp. 12±24. `Prophecia Merlini', with commentary (fol. 10v) `The Last Kings of the English', in French (fol. 16r) `Regnum scottorum' (fol. 18r) `Agnes curtor cupiunt' (fol. 33v) `Post . . . marcet post R. reget J' (fol. 33v) Notes on St Mary's, York; Anglo-Saxon and Norman kings to the children of Edward II; a genealogical representation of the claim of Edward III to the throne of France; the Fall of Troy. The main item is the Anonimalle Chronicle. The earlier items, including the prophecies, look earlier than the rest of the volume, but have been partly written in one of the main Chronicle hands: they may have been copied from an earlier fourteenth-century exemplar. LENINGRAD (St PETERSBURG), Saltykov Shehedrin State Public Library, MS Lat. F. IV. 76. Fifteenth century, Richard III, king of England 1483±5. Previous history unknown. Latin. Crick, Historia Regum Britannie III, pp. 129±30. `Prophecia aquile', with commentary (fol. 79v) Geoffrey of Monmouth, Historia Regum Britannie, only LINCOLN, Lincoln Cathedral Library, MS 91 (A. 5. 2) c. 1430±1440, North Yorkshire. English and Latin. R. M. Woolley, Catalogue of the Manuscripts of Lincoln Cathedral Chapter Library (Oxford and London, 1927), pp. 51±61. Thomas of Ersseldoune (fol. 149v) A miscellany of prayers, charms, poems and romances, many in English. LINCOLN, Lincoln Cathedral Library, MS 98 (A. 4. 6) Late thirteenth, early fourteenth century, Midlands. In Latin, with late fourteenth-, or ®fteenth-century additions in English. Woolley, Catalogue, pp. 63±5; R. M. Thomson, Catalogue of the Manuscripts of Lincoln Cathedral Chapter Library (Cambridge, 1989), pp. 47±49; Crick, Historia Regum Britannie III, pp. 130±3. `Sibille generaliter' (fol. 15v) `Prophecia Merlini', ®fteenth-century addition, with commentary (fol. 170). Dares Phrygius, De Excidio Troiae; Historia Regum Britannie; material on Britain (description from Henry of Huntingdon); on Alexander; on Jerusalem; on the Holy Cross. The second prophecy is in a hand of the ®fteenth century, or maybe even later. The ®rst is part of the main manuscript, where it follows Dares and precedes the Historia Regum Britannie.

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Handlist of Manuscripts LONDON, British Library, MS Additional 14251 1421, East Yorkshire, or Lincolnshire (?). Latin. A Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts in the British Museum in the years 1841± 1845 (London, 1850), p. 48. `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' (fol. 214v) `Prophecia aquile', without `Arbor fertilis' (fol. 216v) Last prophecy is followed by the apocalyptic `Attende secundum Eusebium'. Some computational material, but mostly works on English history, including the account of St Fursey from the Historia Ecclesiastica and material on the church at Beverley; the bishops of Lincoln to 1420; some material on Holy Roman Emperors. LONDON, British Library, MS Additional 20059 Second half of ®fteenth century additions to manuscript compiled c. 1335, London. Latin and English. A Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts in the British Museum in the years 1854± 1860 (London, 1875), p. 34. `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' (fol. 4r) `Lilium regnans' (fol. 4v) `Flamine romano crescit britannicus honor' (fol. 5r) Miscellaneous hymns, zodiac tables and diagram, devotional verses and prophecies added to a Registrum brevium cancellarie. LONDON, British Library, MS Additional 40007 c. 1195, St Paul's, City of London. At St Mary's, York in the fourteenth and ®fteenth centuries. Latin. A Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts in the British Museum in the years 1916± 1920 (London, 1933), pp. 282±5. `Prophecia Merlini' (fol. 40r) `Arbor fertilis' (fol. 40v) Letters, and some historical work, by Ralph Diceto. Henry of Huntingdon on Ireland, geographical notes on Britain; a genealogy of Henry II from Noah. Written for William Longchamp, chancellor of England, at St Paul's, whilst Ralph Diceto was the dean. The contents resemble MSS Cotton Faustina A. VIII and Cotton Tiberius A. IX. LONDON, British Library, MS Additional 40015 Late fourteenth or early ®fteenth century. Latin. Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts in the British Museum in the Years 1916± 1920, pp. 290±2; Curley, `Versus Prophecialis', p. 369. `Bridlington', frag. (fol. 49r) Various unconnected fragments of different dates bound together.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England LONDON, British Library, MS Arundel 57 1340, St Augustine's, Canterbury. Prophecies second half of fourteenth century. English, French, Latin. Catalogue of Manuscripts in the British Museum n.s. 1, I: The Arundel Manuscripts (London, 1834), p. 12. `Tolle caput martis' (fol. 4v) `Anglia transmittet' (fols. 4v±5r) `Gallorum leuitas' (fol. 5r) `Continentur inter dicta heremite' ± on `British' prophecy (fols. 5r±8r) `To ny¿t is boren a barn' ascribed to Thomas of Erceldoune (fol. 8r) `The Last Kings of the English' in French (fols. 8v±10v) `Anno mille . . .' (fol. 10v) Prophetic verses on King Edward, in English (fol. 11r) The Ayenbite of Inwyt, with a few notes added later, prophecies at the beginning and some theological and liturgical notes, including the Pater Noster, Ave Maria and Creed in English. LONDON, British Library, MS Arundel 66 After 1485, origin unknown. Latin. The Arundel Manuscripts, p. 14; Curley, `Versus Prophecialis', pp. 381±2. `Prophecia Merlini' (fol. 267r) `Bridlington' (fol. 288r) `Anglia transmittet' (fol. 290v.) Bridget of Sweden, Revelaciones Bk IV (fol. 291r) `Prophecia aquile', without `Mortuo leone justicie' (fol. 291v) A late, de luxe, manuscript, bearing the image of king Henry VII on fol. 201r. Contains works on astronomy, with tables, two works on geomancy, including that made for Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, brother of Henry V. The ®rst prophecy occurs between the astronomical tables and the ®rst book of geomancy, and the rest are at the end of the manuscript. LONDON, British Library, MS Arundel 326 End of thirteenth/beginning of fourteenth century, possibly from Abingdon. Latin. The Arundel Manuscripts, p. 94; Crick, Historia Regum Britannie III, pp. 142±4. `Sibille generaliter' (fol. 60v) Legends of Adam and the Cross; apocalyptic material; the foundation of the English Church by Gregory the Great (from Bede). Prophecy is followed by Historia Regum Britannnie; notes on popes and emperors; French history 640±1270. LONDON, British Library, MS Cotton Appendix IV After 1343, origin unknown. Written on vellum, in Latin. Blue and red ink used, capitals with ®ligree: three or more hands. Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Cottonian Library deposited in the British Museum (London, 1802), p. 614. `Prophecia aquile', without `Mortuo leone justicie' (fol. 103r)

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Handlist of Manuscripts Contains Mandeville's Travels, Richard de Bury Philobiblon; a `Provinciale' (latest date 1343); examples of ars dictaminis. The prophecy occurs at the end of the manuscript, after the `Provinciale', but it is part of the main manuscript, not a later addition. LONDON, British Library, MS Cotton Claudius B. VII First half of fourteenth century, origin unknown. Latin. Cottonian Catalogue, p. 192. `Ve rubeo draconi', from `Prophecia Merlini' (fol. 213r) `Ter tria lustra' (fols. 215v±216) `Illius imperium' `Anglia transmittet' `Regnum scottorum' `Bruti posteritas' `Gallorum levitas' `Sibille generaliter' (fol. 222r) `Prophecia Merlini' (fol. 224r) `Prophecia aquile', without `Arbor fertilis' (fol. 234r) Historical material, with a few astronomical notes at the end. Includes Roger of Hoveden; pseudo Turpin; genealogies of kings of England from Rollo; kings of France from the Merovingians; bishops of England from Augustine; Prester John's letter; Cornelius Nepos, Historia Daretis. LONDON, British Library, MS Cotton Claudius E. VIII Last decade of fourteenth century, Norwich Cathedral priory, belonged to, given or bequeathed by, Henry Despenser, bishop of Norwich 1370±1406. Latin. Cottonian Catalogue, pp. 199±200. `Catulus lincieus' (i.e. Catulus linxeis) (fol. 1v) `Exquiritis a me': `egredietur unicornus' (fol. 1v) `Lilium regnans' (fol. 1v) `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' (fol. 1v) The manuscript begins with a note on the foundation of the English church, and the three prophecies. The two main works are the Flores Historiarum and the Chronicle of Adam Murimuth, with other material on the crusade; the investiture of the emperor Henry VI by Richard I of England; the rights of the kings of England in Ireland; descriptions of England and Rome; the coronation of Richard II and other kings; the coronation of John, son of Henry II, as ruler of Ireland; the rights of the English church over that of Scotland, as given by Pope Clement III; the rights of the kings of England over the kings of Scotland; notes on the emperors, kings and bishops of both East and West; an account of the jewels pawned by Edward III to the Abbot of Reading; an account of the death of Becket; a few legal, local and ecclesiastical miscellanea. LONDON, British Library, MS Cotton Cleopatra B. I Between 1400 and 1450, Sempringham. Latin. Cottonian Catalogue, p. 577.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' (fol. 182v) A collection bound together at Sempringham. Works on St Edmund and Gilbert of Sempringham; items about the priory at Sempringham; an `Epistola Sathanae'; a fragment of Bonaventure's Life of Christ; verses praising Henry V for his action against the Lollards. Also a prophecy about the end of the world in AD 1500. LONDON, British Library, MS Cotton Cleopatra C. IV Between 1444 and c. 1450, London. Latin and English. Cottonian Catalogue, p. 614; Curley, `Versus Prophecialis', pp. 376±7. `Anno milleus quatuor et octoque', for 1486 (fol. 73r) `Lilium ¯orebit' (fol. 74r) `Gallorum leuitas' (fol. 80r) `Quando sambucus fert ceresa' (fol. 80v) `When Rome is Removyth' (fol. 87v) `Prophecia Merlini' (fol. 88r) `Illius imperium' (fol. 96r) `Tolle caput martis' (fol. 96v) `Anglorum regimen bastard bello superauit' (fol. 99v) `Bridlington' (fol. 100r) `Cum rex Andronicus' (fol. 112v) `Vade mecum in tribulacione' (fol. 113r) `Bruti posteritas' (fol.116v) `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' (fol. 117r) `Arbor fertilis' (fol. 117r) `Asinus coronatus' (fol. 117v) `Sibille regina austri' (fol. 118r) `The Last Kings of the English' frag., in Latin (fol. 120r) List of prophetic heroes: `Edwardus etc.' (fol. 120v) `The blake shall blede': Dice prophecy (fol. 123v) The prophecy for 1486, asserting that a king will rise from his sepulchre, is a later insert, on parchment, and is repeated on another insert, fol. 121r. The manuscript consists of several independent parts bound together. The prophecies are associated with a London chronicle from 1419 to 1444; a fragment on the reign of Henry V from 1415 (Agincourt) to 1422; a few other notes; some English verses. This volume is bound up with documents relating to the diocese of York, and with the letter-book of William Swann. Swann had his papers bound together as he prepared to retire from his position at the Papal Curia, and to retire to England, sometime after 1445. LONDON, British Library, MS Cotton Cleopatra C. X Second half of fourteenth century, Norwich. Latin. Cottonian Catalogue, p. 582. `Prophecia Merlini' (fol. 56v) The prophecy is written in a fourteenth-century hand, on a page originally blank at the end of a quire. Contains the chronicle of Ralph Niger, to the capture of Richard I, a short account of the deeds of the Anglo-Saxons; the antiquities of

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Handlist of Manuscripts Glastonbury; the letter of Prester John; an account of the miracles of the Blessed Virgin Mary; a fragment on the Host; an apocalyptic prophecy, `Attende secundum Eusebium'; the method of choosing a mayor, and other matters relating to the city of Norwich. The prophecy precedes these, and follows the chronicle of Ralph Niger. A miscellany of various works, bound together in the fourteenth century, with a few ®fteenth-century additions. LONDON, British Library, MS Cotton Cleopatra D. III Fifteenth century, Selby (?). French and Latin. Cottonian Catalogue, p. 583. `Lilium regnans' (fol. 1r) Prophecy is written on the ®rst page of a French Brut, now bound up with documents from Selby Abbey, Yorkshire. Also a Latin chronicle of England compiled at Halesowen, Shropshire. LONDON, British Library, MS Cotton Domitian IX After 1461, origin unknown. Latin. Cottonian Catalogue, pp. 583±4; Curley, `Versus Prophecialis', pp. 362±3. `Bridlington' (fol. 17r) `The King who will Find the Holy Cross' (fol. 83r) Contains some theological material, but mostly historical, including an explanation of the runic alphabet and the Anglo-Saxon language; a king-list from Ine of Kent to Edward I; apocalyptic prophecy; notes on blood-letting; some astrological and computational material, including a note of the hours and minutes of the birth of Edward IV, i.e. material required for calculating the king's horoscope. LONDON, British Library, MS Cotton Domitian XIII Early thirteenth century, Winchester(?). Latin. Cottonian Catalogue, p. 574. `Sibille generaliter' (fol. 132v) Winchester chronicle; Richard of Devizes, Gesta Saracenorum; passages on Saladin and Saffadin. LONDON, British Library, MS Cotton Faustina A. VIII First half of thirteenth century, St Mary Overy, Southwark. Latin. Fols. 40±146 are dated 1205±7. Cottonian Catalogue, pp. 603±4. `Prophecia Merlini' (fol. 109v) `Prophecia aquile' (fol. 115r) Miscellany, with material on computation and Easter tables; devotional material and saints' lives; material on the wards of London and St Mary's, Southwark; notes on kings and princes of Spain, Aragon, Jerusalem, Flanders, Apulia and Sicily; notes on rulers of the Medes, Persians, Egyptians and other former empires, including Rome and Thrace; popes and bishops; the foundations of the early English Church; deeds of the Normans from Rollo to William I; the

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England Norman invasions of France. Prophecies follow a genealogy of Henry II and the kings of Scotland, and information on Ireland. Later, additional, material includes historical notes from the time of Edward I, the consecration of St Paul's in 1316, and a list of the kings of England from the Conquest to Henry III. LONDON, British Library, MS Cotton Faustina B. IX Early ®fteenth century, Melrose (?). Latin. Cottonian Catalogue, pp. 607±8. `Asinus coronatus' (fol. 242v) Consists of two chronicles, bound together. The ®rst is a thirteenth-century chronicle of Melrose, with a list of its abbots, and the second the Chronicle of William Rishanger, monk of St Albans, to 1360 with a continuation to the coronation of Henry IV. The main hand of the second chronicle has added the prophecy at the end. LONDON, British Library, MS Cotton Galba E. IX 1400±25, north of England. English and Latin. Cottonian Catalogue, pp. 363±4. `Herkenes speches of mani kyn thinges', an English poem based on `The Last Kings of the English' (fol. 49r) Mostly poems in English, many on historical subjects, including the poems of Lawrence Minot on the campaigns of Edward III; devotional material; the vernacular romance Ywaine and Gawain. LONDON, British Library, MS Cotton Galba E. XI Fourteenth century, Canterbury (Franciscans). Latin. Cottonian Catalogue, p. 364; Crick, Historia Regum Britannie III, pp. 147±9. `Sibille generaliter' (fol. 119r) Historia Regum Britannie; Martinus Polonus; a collection of material relating to Alexander. The prophecy is in the centre of the Alexander material, and is associated with it by the compiler. LONDON, British Library, MS Cotton Julius A. V Early fourteenth century, origin unknown. French, Latin and English. Cottonian Catalogue, pp. 1±2; EÂdition Critique et CommenteÂe de Pierre de Langtoft, ed. Thiolier, pp. 35±40. `Prophecia Merlini' (fol. 48r) `Als y yod on ay Mounday' (fol. 175r) Verses on love, Merlin, the Virgin Mary and William LongspeÂe; the Chronicle (also in Anglo-Norman), of Pierre Langtoft. The prophecy divides the chronicle into two halves; the ®rst from Brutus to Cadwallader, the second from Cadwallader to Edward I. The homage of the king of Scotland to Edward I in 1291 is noted elsewhere in the manuscript.

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Handlist of Manuscripts LONDON, British Library, MS Cotton Nero A. IV After 1338, London (?). Latin. Cottonian Catalogue, p. 202. `Prophecia aquile', without `Arbor fertilis' with commentary (fol. 63r) `Prophecia Merlini', with commentary (fol. 65r) A chronicle of London to 1338 and a history of Britain from the Roman emperors to the coronation of Edward I (the prophecies occur between these two items); correspondence between the pope and the emperor Frederick II; formulary letters; measurements. LONDON, British Library, MS Cotton Nero D. VIII Early thirteenth century, in Colchester by the sixteenth century, but early history unknown. Latin. Cottonian Catalogue, pp. 238±9; Crick, Historia Regum Britannie III, pp. 149±54. `Mortuo leone justicie' (fol. 175r) Historia Regum Britannie; Dudo of St Quentin's history of the Normans; material on Alexander. Later additions include Gerald of Wales, Descriptio Kambriae; an extract from Ranulph Higden, Polychronicon, to 1376. LONDON, British Library, MS Cotton Rolls ii. 23 c. 1451, Kent, or Surrey. English and Latin. M.O'Sullivan, `The Treatment of Political Themes in Late Medieval English Verse, with Special Reference to British Museum Cotton Roll ii.23' (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of London, 1972). `The Cock in the North' `S. mysed in myndes and make ‡er a P': Dice prophecy `The prophecy professid and j pight' `When Sonday goo‡ by E D and C': Dice prophecy A small roll, containing verse on the current political situation, all of it in English; administrative material relating to the rebellion of Jack Cade in 1450 and its aftermath. LONDON, British Library, MS Cotton Tiberius A. IX Second half of fourteenth century, St Augustine's, Canterbury, and/or Oseney Abbey, Oxon. Latin and French. Cottonian Catalogue, pp. 33±4. `Prophecia aquile' (fol. 2r) `Prophecia Merlini', in French (fol. 4r) Contains account of the Normans from William I; Norman attacks on France; other historical material, as in MS Cotton Faustina A. VIII; chronicle of Oseney Abbey, Oxon, to 1347; an account of the abbey's relics; material on the Carthusian order; lives of the abbots of St Augustine's, Canterbury.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England LONDON, British Library, MS Cotton Titus A. XXV (IV) Fifteenth century, added to fourteenth-century manuscript, origin unknown. Latin and English. Cottonian Catalogue, p. 515; Crick, Historia Regum Britannie III, pp. 155±6. `Bridlington' (fol. 94r) Prophecy associated with some receipts in Latin and English, and a medical note. The rest of the manuscript is unconnected. LONDON, British Library, MS Cotton Titus D. VII Second half of fourteenth century, origin unknown, possibly Cistercian. Latin. Cottonian Catalogue, p. 564. `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' (fol. 28r) `Catulus exunctus' (i.e. `Catulus linxeis') `Anglia transmittet', frag. `Tolle caput mille', frag. (fol. 29r) `Exquiritis a me', frag. (fol. 30r) `Gallorum levitas' `Regnum scottorum' `Cesaris imperium' (fol. 31r) `Prophecia Merlini' (fol. 32r) The group of prophecies also contains the apocalyptic `Filia syon'. Otherwise, the manuscript contains a Chronica Beluacensis to the emperor Frederick II; an English chronicle from the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons to Edward III; Jacobus de Vitry's history of Jerusalem; chronicles of the Popes to Boniface VIII; computational material; accounts of the relics of Glastonbury Abbey; an account of Joseph of Arimathea. LONDON, British Library, MS Cotton Titus D. XII Second half of fourteenth century. Rievaulx Abbey, Yorkshire(?). Latin. Cottonian Catalogue, p. 564; Curley, `Versus Prophecialis', p. 373. `Bridlington' (fol. 81r) Genealogy of the kings of France; a Chronicle of British, Saxons and Normans to Henry II; description of England; creation of the World; the state of France in 1356. Prognostication of the destruction of Rievaulx Abbey on fol. 93v. LONDON, British Library, MS Cotton Titus D. XV After 1447, origin unknown. Latin. Cottonian Catalogue, p. 565. `Flamine romano crescit britannicus honor' (fol. 59v) Prophecy follows a Calendarium and a history of the kings of England to 1447. LONDON, British Library, MS Cotton Titus D. XIX Early ®fteenth century, origin unknown. Cottonian Catalogue, pp. 565±6. `Anglia transmittet' (fol. 117r)

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Handlist of Manuscripts `Ter tria lustra' (fol. 117r) `Lilium regnans' (fol. 117v) Begins with an item on the antiquities of Rome (in an Italianate hand); then the signs before the Judgement; a chronology of England, 1326±99. The prophecies follow this. LONDON, British Library, MS Cotton Vespasian B. XXV Twelfth century, origin unknown. Latin. Cottonian Catalogue, p. 442. `Sibille generaliter' (fol. 117v) Julius Solinus on the wonders of the world; Liber Periegesis; Dares on the fall of Troy; Gildas. LONDON, British Library, MS Cotton Vespasian E. VII 1461±80, north of England. Latin. Cottonian Catalogue, p. 480; Curley, `Versus Prophecialis', pp. 387±8. `Anno milleno quadragenteno' ± on the Lion and the Moon (fol. 20r) `In the name of god and of oure Ladi' (fol. 20v) `Anno milleno' (fol. 22v) `Tolle caput martis' `Mens cor cupiunt' Names of prophetic hero and villain (fol. 74v) `Surget leo aureus' (fol. 85v) `Veniet aquila ardens' `Anglia te perdit gens' ± on the sins of the English (fol. 86r) `Anno milleno' `Anglici qui perdicioni' ± on the sins of the English `Gens normannorum' (fol. 86v) `Tolle caput martis' `Regnum scottorum' (fol. 87v) `Ter tria lustra' (fol. 88r) `Anglia transmittet' `Ni pax formetur' `Veniet aquila ardens' (fol. 88v) `Anno domini 1450 corruent nobiles' (fol. 89r) `Veniet ab occidente Francorum quidam Rex' (fol. 89v) `Lilium regnans' `Cedrus alta libani succidetur' (fol. 90r) `Cambria carnarwan' (fol. 90v) `Draco maximus' (fol. 91r) `Orietur draco' `Asinus coronatus' (fol. 91v) `Extincto herede' ± `The Last Kings of the English', in Latin (fol. 92r) `Cesaris imperium' (fol. 95r) `Villa super Twedam' ± prophecy on Berwick (fol. 95v) `Intras cum sole' (fol. 95v)

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England `Mortuo leone justicie' (fol. 96r) `Orabiem britonum quos copia diuiciarum' ± on the sins of the English (fol. 109v) `Flamine romano crescit britannicus honor' (fol. 112r) `In occidentis partibus' ± animal prophecy `Classes diverse tendent' (fol. 112v) `Fortes ecce Reges' (fol. 113v) `Ecce dies venient' (fol. 114r) `Anno cephas mille canus catulus cocadrille' `Arbor fertilis' (fol. 114v) `Remeans in angliam Rex' `Anglorum regnum bastard bello superavit' (fol. 115r) `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' Bridget of Sweden, Revelaciones Bk IV (fol. 116v) `Taurus cornutus' from `Bridlington' (fol. 117v) `Sedente Rege Ricardo', about Richard II and the hare (fol. 119v) `Cum rex henricus' `Sextus hibernie', from the `Prophecia Merlini' (fol. 120r) `Lilium ¯orebit' (fol. 120v) `Vade mecum in tribulacione' (fol. 123r) `De catulis' ± animal prophecy (fol. 124v) `On Antichrist' (fol. 126r) `Signs before the Judgement' (fol. 127v) `Quando Gallus boree volare nitendens nidi®cabit', `The Cock in the North' in Latin, as the English version in MS Cotton Rolls ii. 23 (fol. 132r) `Hec sunt nomina Regis', names of the prophetic hero (fol. 137v) The whole begins with John Somer's calendar, and ends with the ®fteen signs before the Judgement; the genealogy of Joseph and Mary; a statement of the right of Edward IV to the English throne; some astrological tables; dominical letters; a `man of signs'. The rest is an anthology of prophetic texts. On fol. 70r are the arms of Henry Percy, fourth earl of Northumberland. The heads of the Percy family had lost their lives and estates ®ghting the cause of Henry VI, but the family was restored in 1469, in the person of the fourth earl. LONDON, British Library, MS Harley 200 Second half of fourteenth century, after 1356, origin unknown. Latin and French. Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols. (London, 1808± 12), I, 62. `Tolle caput mille' frag. (fol. 147r) `H. p[at]re sublato' (fol. 143v) Miscellany, containing a French chronicle (Brut?) to Edward III; Robert of Avesbury, De Mirabilia Gesta Magni®ci Regis Anglie, to Edward III; the names of those killed and captured at the battle of Poitiers, 19 September 1356. Among miscellaneous verses are: the lament of Jean II of France; the king of England's reply; a poem on Edward III. The last item is Aelred of Rievaulx, Vita Edwardi Confessoris.

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Handlist of Manuscripts LONDON, British Library, MS Harley 220 After 1472, Devon. Latin. Harleian Manuscripts, I, 70. `Bruti posteritas' (fol. 76r) `Ter tria lustra' (fol. 76r) `Pardus vastabit' (fol. 76r) Contains canon law, documents relating to Hartland in Devon; documents relating to the diocese of Exeter; some graces for before and after meals; a note on the comet of 1472. LONDON, British Library, MS Harley 225 Late twelfth century, origin unknown. Latin and French. Harleian Manuscripts, I, 71; Crick, Historia Regum Britannie III, pp. 164±5. `Epistre de Sibille', not `Sibille generaliter' (fol. 78v) Historia Regum Britannie. LONDON, British Library, MS Harley 746 Late thirteenth century, Lincolnshire. French and Latin. Harleian Manuscripts, I, 430±1. `The Last Kings of the English', in French (fol. 3r) Codex of statutes to Edward I (includes reference to Sir Gilbert Umfraville, temp. Edward III); with some notes on chiromancy (added at the end); liberties of the city of London; Charter of the Forest; rights conceded to the Church by King John and Henry I; a genealogy from Rollo to Henry II; Ranulph Glanville's Tractatus de legibus. Prophecy added at the beginning of the manuscript. At the end of the thirteenth century belonged to Hugh Obthorp, of Boston, then to John Warner, chaplain, of Sutton, both in Lincolnshire. LONDON, British Library, MS Harley 838 After 1461, origin unknown. Latin and English. Harleian Manuscripts, I, 454. `Prophecia Merlini', frag. (fol. 92r) Contains chie¯y heraldic material; a bestiary; a work on hunting; history of the popes; wonders of England; the names of the chief captains who came to England with William I; a genealogy of Edward IV, from Adam; a poem on Troy; two sets of thirteenth-century monastic annals. LONDON, British Library, MS Harley 1008 After 1456, origin unknown. Latin and French. Harleian Manuscripts, I, 507. `Vade mecum in tribulacione' (fol. 27r) `Lilium regnans' (fol. 40r) `Hic tria lustra' `H. pa[tre] sublatu post R. puere rege relicte' Miscellany, mostly philosophical. Prayers and other items on the Virgin Mary, St Barbara and St Catherine; a letter claiming to be from the Sultan of Babylon to Pope Calixtus.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England LONDON, British Library, MS Harley 1337 Mid to late ®fteenth century, added to manuscript of earlier ®fteenth century, origin unknown. English and Latin. Harleian Manuscripts, II, 8±9. `The King who will Find the Holy Cross' (fol. 105r) `When faith faileth' `Bridlington', frag. Prophecies added to a Brut which ®nishes in 1419 (taking of Rouen by Henry V). LONDON, British Library, MS Harley 1605 Thirteenth century, origin unknown. French. Harleian Manuscripts, II, 149. French version of `Prophecia Merlini' (fol. 1r) A series of unconnected fragments, bound together. LONDON, British Library, MS Harley 1717 Fifteenth-century additions to thirteenth-century manuscript, origin unknown. French, English and Latin. Harleian Manuscripts, II, 184±5. `The Cock in the North' (fol. 250r) `Prophecia aquile', without `Arbor fertilis' (fol. 250v) The main work is a history of the dukes of Normandy. LONDON, British Library, MS Harley 2253 c. 1330±40, Hereford. English, French and Latin. Harleian Manuscripts, II, 585±91. `Thomas of Erceldoune's prophecy', French and English (fol. 127r) Miscellany, containing some verse on current political affairs and society. Probably in the household of Adam of Orleton, bishop of Hereford. LONDON, British Library, MS Harley 3908 Fifteenth century, St Augustine's, Canterbury. Latin. Harleian Manuscripts, III, 95; Curley, `Versus Prophecialis', p. 372. `Bridlington' (fol. 106r) Unconnected with the rest of the manuscript. LONDON, British Library, MS Harley 5418 (I) Fifteenth century, origin unknown. English and Latin. Harleian Manuscripts, III, 266±7. `Prophecia aquile' (fol. 78r) Prophecy follows part of a Brut chronicle; another chronicle of England to 1192. LONDON, British Library, MS Royal 5. F. XV Thirteenth century, composite, Ramsey Abbey. Latin.

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Handlist of Manuscripts G. F. Warner and J. P. Gilson, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Old Royal and King's Collections in the British Museum, 2 vols. (London, 1921), I, 125±6. `Mortuo leone justicie', with lines relating to London (fol. 3v) Rule of St Benedict; theological and devotional tracts; names of several monks of Ramsey Abbey. LONDON, British Library, MS Royal 8. C. XVII Late fourteenth century, Bury St Edmunds. Some writing in the hand of Henry of Kirkstede, as Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 404. Latin. Warner and Gilson, Western Manuscripts: Royal and King's, I, 229±32; Curley, `Versus Prophecialis', pp. 370±1. `Bridlington', with Erghome's commentary and dedication (fol. 1r) This small pamphlet of twenty-two folios contains these works only. They were bound in the ®fteenth century with medical notes and apocalyptic, theological works. This small volume, and the Corpus manuscript, were both in the library of Bury St Edmunds Abbey in the late fourteenth century, when it was catalogued by Henry of Kirkstede. LONDON, British Library, MS Royal 8. D. III Soon after the middle of the thirteenth century. Ramsey Abbey(?) Latin. Warner and Gilson, Western Manuscripts: Royal and King's, I, 240±2. `Prophecia Merlini' (fol. 160v) `Mortuo leone justicie', with lines relating to London (fol. 163r) Theological and canon law miscellany. LONDON, British Library, MS Royal 12. C. XII c. 1330, written on vellum, origin unknown. Latin, French and English. Warner and Gilson, Western Manuscripts: Royal and King's, II, 26±9. `Gallorum levitas' (fol. 66r) `Ni pax formetur' (fol. 15r) `Catulus lintheus' i.e. Catulus linxeis (fol. 15v) `Lilium regnans' (fol. 16r) `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' (fol. 16v) A miscellany of medical notes; chiromancy; astronomical material; predictions; hymns; recipes; puzzles; apocalyptic material; Fulk le Fitz-Warin; Amys and Amiloun (both in Anglo-Norman); an English metrical Brut. LONDON, British Library, MS Royal 13. A. III First half of fourteenth century, on vellum, in Latin. Origin unknown. Linedrawings, in brown pencil, of coats of arms and views of English towns. Warner and Gilson, Western Manuscripts: Royal and King's, II, 74±5; Crick, Historia Regum Britannie III, pp. 177±8. `Catulus linxeis' (fol. 135v) Originally contained Historia Regum Britannie; two hymns, with staves and some musical notation. A third hymn was added later, after the prophecy.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England LONDON, British Library, MS Royal 13. E. IX c. 1400, St Albans. May have been worked on over a period of ten or more years. Latin. Warner and Gilson, Western Manuscripts: Royal and King's, II, 113±16. `Lilium in meliori parte' (i.e. `Lilium regnans') (fol. 27r) `The Last Kings of the English', in Latin (fol. 27r) `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' (fol. 27v) `The Holy Oil of St Thomas', longer version (fol. 94r) `Prophecia aquile', without `Arbor fertilis' (fol. 327r) Contains Walsingham, Historia Anglicana; a world chronicle; Martinus Polonus, Mandeville's Travels; other notes on the marvels of the world and its geography; early British genealogies; stories from Gervase of Tilbury's Otia Imperialia; a vision of Purgatory. The prophecies occur at the end of the manuscript, written as a single text. The ecclesiastical, apocalyptic prophecy `Cedrus alta libani succidetur' has been added at the end. LONDON, British Library, MS Royal 15. B. XI Early thirteenth century, Rochester, Kent. Latin. Warner and Gilson, Western Manuscripts: Royal and King's, II, 157±8. `Sibille generaliter' (fol. 67r) Liber Periegesis, Julius Solinus, Dares on the fall of Troy. LONDON, British Library, MS Royal 15. C. XVI Early ®fteenth century, given to the Hospital of St Thomas of Acon, City of London, in the early ®fteenth century, by Henry Spycer, canon of Windsor (1402± 37). Latin. Warner and Gilson, Western Manuscripts: Royal and King's, II, 170; Crick, Historia Regum Britannie III, pp. 188±9. `Prophecia aquile' (fol. 184r) Contains Richard de Bury, Philobiblon; an edition of Ovid, Metamorphoses; Guido delle Colonne, Historia Destructionis Troiae; Historia Regum Britannie. The prophecy is closely associated with the last of these works: they may have been copied together, as the folios before and after these two works are blank. LONDON, British Library, MS Royal 20. A. XI Early fourteenth century, North-East. French and Latin. Warner and Gilson, Western Manuscripts: Royal and King's, II, 157±8; EÂdition Critique et CommenteÂe de Pierre de Langtoft, ed. Thiolier, pp. 41±5. `The Last Kings of the English' (fol. 137v) `Regnum scottorum' (fol. 139r) `Gallorum levitas' (fol. 140r) `Ecce dies veniunt' Pierre Langtoft's Chronicle. Prophetic contents are similar to BL MS Cotton Julius A. V.

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Handlist of Manuscripts LONDON, College of Arms, MS Arundel 1 Fifteenth-century addition to fourteenth-century manuscript, origin unknown. Latin. C. G. Young, Catalogue of the Arundel Manuscripts in the Library of the College of Arms (unpublished, 1829), pp. 1±4. `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' (fol. 234v) A miscellany of historical material on England, including the Historia Regum Britannie; material on Rome; material on Troy (including Dares Phrygius); on the Franks; on the Normans; on Alexander; on the Holy Land; some apocalyptic material, including Adso, De Antichristo.

LONDON, College of Arms, MS Arundel XXIX Various dates through the ®fteenth century, origin unknown. Latin and English. Young, Arundel Manuscripts, pp. 40±4. `Pseudo-Methodius' (fol. 41r) `The King who will Find the Holy Cross' (fol. 62v) Much material about the campaigns of Henry V. First prophecy is associated with material about Henry IV and the deposition of Richard II; material on Henry V follows. Then a `Sultan's Letter'; the ®fteen signs before the Judgement follow this; then the apocalyptic prophecy `Insurgent gentes'. The last two prophecies follow.

LONDON, College of Arms, MS Arundel XXX End of thirteenth, or very early fourteenth, century. Bury St Edmunds. Latin. Young, Arundel Manuscripts, pp. 44±57. `Gallorum levitas' (fol. 4r) `Catulus lincis' (i.e. `Catulus linxeis') `Regnum scottorum' (fol. 5r) Material on St Benedict and St Edmund; description of part of St Edmunds Abbey, at Bury St Edmunds. Parts of manuscript written `apud Spalding' and `apud Lincoln in hospicio decani'. Among ecclesiastical and devotional miscellanea are lists of kings of the Medes, Persians and Egyptians; extracts from the ®rst book of Henry of Huntingdon; Gildas; a genealogy of the Saxon kings from Woden; a few historical notes and documents from the reigns of Henry III and Edward I.

LONDON, Lambeth Palace, MS 144 (I) Fourteenth century, St Augustine's, Canterbury. Latin. M. R. James, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of Lambeth Palace (Cambridge, 1930), pp. 228±31. `Prophecia aquile', without `Arbor fertilis' (fol. 33r) Theological and devotional miscellany. No historical material.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England LONDON, Lambeth Palace, MS 205 Second half of fourteenth century, origin unknown. Latin, some additions in English. James, Descriptive Catalogue: Lambeth, pp. 327±8. `Anno cephas mille' (fol. 238r) `Tolle capud mil[le]', with date formula for 1387 Bartholomeus, De casibus consciencie, with miscellaneous later additions, which include the prophetic verses. LONDON, Lambeth Palace, MS 401 Early-mid fourteenth century with some later additions, origin unknown. Latin. James, Desciptive Catalogue: Lambeth, pp. 556±8; Crick, Historia Regum Britannie III, pp. 202±4. Sibille generaliter (fol. 14) Contains Dares Phrygius, De Excidio Troiae; Historia Regum Britannie; material on Alexander; material relating to the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem; a complaint supposedly written by Christian subjects of Muslim rulers. LONDON, Lambeth Palace, MS 527 Fourteenth century, origin unknown. Latin and French. James, Descriptive Catalogue: Lambeth, pp. 725±7. `Prophecia aquile', without `Arbor fertilis' (fol. 44r) Chronicle to Edward I, Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica from Book VI to the end; notes on the ®nding of apocalyptic prophecies at Constantinople and Toledo; notes on Rome; notes on the Holy Land. LONDON, Lambeth Palace, MS 878 c. 1468, London. English and Latin. James, Descriptive Catalogue: Lambeth, pp. 815±17. `Lilium regnans', with `exposicio' (fols. 118r and 120r) Chronicles of England to the year 1468; a list of mayors and sheriffs of London. LONDON, Public Record Of®ce, MS E. 164/9 c. 1291, with fourteenth- and ®fteenth-century additions, London. French and Latin. Ker, Medieval Manuscripts, I, 185±90. `Exquiritis a me': `egredietur unicornis' (fol. 227v) `Gallorum leuitas' `Regnum scottorum' A book of legal documents and extracts, by someone with access to the Memoranda Roll of 18 Edward I. The manuscript was being kept at the Exchequer by 1354. The prophecies are fourteenth- or ®fteenth-century additions, along with statutes of 36±50 Edward III and 8±16 Richard II; that is, as far as 1394.

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Handlist of Manuscripts LONDON, Society of Antiquaries, MS 47 Fifteenth century, Kent. Latin, English and French. Ker, Medieval Manuscripts, I, 301±2. (Society of Antiquaries Catalogue forthcoming). `Pseudo-Methodius' (fol. 1r) `Gens normannorum' (fol. 206r) `Scoti cum britone' `Bridlington', two frags. (fol. 206r and fol. 206v) `Asinus coronatus' `Taxi tunc a patria' Chronologies of popes, emperors and kings of England; some saints' lives; moral verses and proverbs; an itinerary from Walsingham, Norfolk, to Broom®eld, Essex. Owned in sixteenth century by John Ramsey OSA, canon of Merton, Surrey, and prior of Merton 1530±8. Canterbury binding. Ker relates the prophecies to Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 623, although the contents of this manuscript are of a different nature. LONDON, Society of Antiquaries, MS 101 Late ®fteenth century or early sixteenth century, Leicester. English, French and Latin. Ker, Medieval Manuscripts, I, 304±6; K. E. Mura, `Thomas Wardon's Book' (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1990). `Anno domini Mcccclxxxii the Skottes schall Rysse' `Bridlington' `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' `S misid in ‡e middes in merked (?) A P' `Porcelli apri tenebunt' `Arbor fertilis' `Sibilla regina austri' Commonplace book, with medical receipts; administrative documents; historical notes; a chronicle; the Secreta Secretorum. Belonged to the Wyggeston, or Wigston, family, some of whom were merchants of the Staple, from Leicester (fol. iv is a fragment of a letter, written at Calais, from one R. Shipden to a member of the Wygston family). LONDON, Westminster Abbey, MS 27 Before 1461 (?), origin unknown. English and Latin. J. A. Robinson and M. R. James, The Manuscripts of Westminster Abbey (Cambridge, 1908), pp. 85±8; Curley, `Versus Prophecialis', pp. 377±9. `Bridlington', with Erghome's commentary (fol. 1v) `Ter tria lustra' (fol. 31v) `Tolle caput martis' (fol. 31v) `When Rome is removyd' `An.d.mil ter c.sex non sunt ista reperta' `The Cock in the North' Contains historical entries only, to 1432, with a few other notes; a list of the badges of the duke of York.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England MANCHESTER, John Rylands Library, MS 228 (246) formerly Phillips MS 25136 Late ®fteenth century, Richmond, Yorkshire. Latin and English. R. Fawtier, `A Hand-List of Additions to the Collection of Latin Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library 1908±1920', BJRL 6 (1921±22), 186±206 (p. 196). (It does not appear in the catalogue by M. R. James.) `Qwhen sharpe & fair feld ar mared in fere' (fol. 49v) `Regnum scottorum' (fol. 53v) `Regina austri . . . scripsit Bladudo' (fol. 56v) `Anglia transmittet' ± gives 1332 as date of composition (fol. 79r) `Bridlington', with Erghome's commentary (fol. 80r) John de Kirby's inquest of 1285 for the honour of Richmond, Yorkshire; poetry; patristic literature; itineraries to Palestine; entries relating to accountancy and medicine. NEW YORK, Columbia University, George A Plimpton Library, MS 266 c. 1350, origin unknown. Latin. de Ricci and Wilson, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts, II, 180; S. A. Ives, unpublished notes (c. 1940). `Ve rubeo draconi' (from Historia Regum Britannie Bk VII) (fol. 30r) Chronicle to 1347, then prophecies, followed by a description of Scotland. Otherwise miscellaneous devotional material, including a note on the fall of Troy; notes on the Holy Land; Alexander's letter to Aristotle; St Patrick's Purgatory. NORWICH, Norfolk Record Of®ce, MS Bradfer-Lawrence Xa/15 Third quarter of ®fteenth century, South Creake Abbey, Norfolk. Latin and English. `In dei nomine, Amen ± This londe was ®rste & formust' (front inside cover of wrapper). A bundle of miscellaneous deeds and documents from South Creake Abbey. NOTRE DAME, INDIANA, University Library, MS 40 After 1414, origin unknown. Latin. Crick, Historia Regum Britannie III, pp. 129±31. `Pseudo-Methodius' (fol. 38r) Prophecy associated with historical material about Troy, some from Martinus Polonus; an extract from Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica; an English chronicle from Noah to 1412. OXFORD, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 12 1413±22, extended c. 1483, origin unknown. Latin. W. H. Black, A Descriptive, Analytical, and Critical Catalogue of the Manuscripts bequeathed unto the University of Oxford by Elias Ashmole esq. MD FRS, Windsor Herald (Oxford, 1845), p. 6.

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Handlist of Manuscripts `Arbor fertilis', with explanation A genealogy of Henry V, with the prophecy at Edward the Confessor. Extended later to Edward V. As in London, College of Arms, MS Arundel XXIX. OXFORD, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 59 1447±56, London. English and Latin. Black, Descriptive Catalogue: Ashmole, pp. 95±105. `Gens erit australis' (fol. 72r) `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' (fol. 77r) `Whan lordes wol leese ‡eire olde lawes' (fol. 78r) `Cesaris imperium' (fol. 78r) `Lilium regnans' (fol. 84r) `Velit aut nolit' Miscellany of English verse, some by John Lydgate. Like Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R. 3. 21, but with slightly more historical content, e.g. Lydgate's verses to Henry VI. Owned by John Shirley. OXFORD, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 1393 (IV) Fifteenth century, origin unknown. Latin. Black, Descriptive Catalogue: Ashmole, p. 1082. `The Holy Oil of St Thomas', frag. (fols. 52r and 54r) Small part of a composite manuscript: the parts are unconnected. OXFORD, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 1481 (IV) Fifteenth century, origin unknown. Latin and English. Black, Descriptive Catalogue: Ashmole, pp. 1320±5. `Ter tria lustra' `Sibilla in libris . . . Bladud' Small part of a composite manuscript: the parts are unconnected. OXFORD, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 1804 Late fourteenth or early ®fteenth century, origin unknown. Latin and English. Black, Descriptive Catalogue: Ashmole, pp. 1510±11; Curley, `Versus Prophecialis', pp. 366±7. `Bridlington' (fol. 42v) Mandeville's Travels. OXFORD, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 233 (Summary Catalogue 2188) Late thirteenth, early fourteenth century, west Midlands. F. Madan and H. H. C. Craster, A Summary Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford which have not hitherto been catalogued in the quarto series, 7 vols. (Oxford, 1895±1953), III, 251; Crick, Historia Regum Britannie III, pp. 219±21. `Mortuo leone justicie' (¯yleaf fol. vi) `Sicut rubeum draconem', frag. (¯yleaf fols. v and vi)

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England Some prophetic lines derived from the `Prophecia Merlini' `Illius imperium' `Ter tria lustra' (fol. 107r) The Historia Regum Britannie, with historical notes referring to Edward I's right of sovereignty over the kings of Scotland; a note on Merlin's prophecy of the conquest of Ireland. Most of the prophetic references are said to concern Sextus. OXFORD, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 302 (Summary Catalogue 2086 39) (III) After 1356, bound with two other manuscripts of fourteenth, and ®fteenth century, origin unknown. French and Latin. Madan and Craster, Summary Catalogue, III, 204±205. `The Last Kings of the English: cum enim desierit esse capra', Latin (fol. 141r) `Anglia transmittet' (fol. 141v) `Ter tria lustra' `Regina Egypti et Ethiopie' `Lilium regnans' (fol. 142r) `Quando sambucus fert ceresa' Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica; material on Scotland, her kings and their relationship with the kings of England, notably from Henry I to Edward I; the prophecies; an account of the battles of Poitiers and Neville's Cross, the latter by Thomas Samson. OXFORD, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 487 (Summary Catalogue 2067) Second half of ®fteenth century, Winchester or Oxford. Madan and Craster, Summary Catalogue, III, 193±4; Curley, `Versus Prophecialis', p. 375. `Bridlington', frag. (fol. 60v) The commonplace book of John Curteys, 1457±1509. Curteys entered Winchester college in 1469, and New College, Oxford, in 1474, and became a Fellow of both. Book contains chronicle material (English and general); poems and proverbs; astrological and computational material; an itinerary to Rome; the Statutes of Oxford. OXFORD, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 622 (Summary Catalogue 2156) Second half of fourteenth century, possibly Glastonbury. Latin and English. Madan and Craster, Summary Catalogue, III, 234; Crick, Historia Regum Britannie III, pp. 224±5. `Bridlington', frag. (added to front ¯yleaf) Historia Regum Britannie Bk VII (`Prophecia Merlini'), glossed (fol. 62r) Historia Regum Britannie; material on origins of Albion; on King Arthur and his burial at Avalon, from John of Glastonbury. Late ®fteenth or early sixteenth century owned by one John Clerk, possibly bishop of Bath and Wells 1523±41. OXFORD, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 623 (Summary Catalogue 2157) 1465, London.

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Handlist of Manuscripts Madan and Craster, Summary Catalogue, III, 234±35; Curley, `Versus Prophecialis', pp. 383±4. Bridget of Sweden, Revelaciones Bk IV (fol. 9r) `Prophecia Merlini', extract about Cadwallader (fol. 22) `Veniet aquila ardens' (fol. 35r) `Tolle caput martis' (fol. 35r) `Arbor fertilis' (fol. 63r) `H. p[at]re defu[n]cto reget R rex I que relicto' (fol. 64v) `Veniet aquila ardens' (fol 75v) `Lilium regnans' (fol. 76r) `Bridlington', extract (fol. 77r) `Te genti peccativi' (fol. 77v) `Prophecia Merlini', extract (fol. 83r) `Draco maximus ®delis' (fol. 84r) `Ouet draco de asino' (fol. 84v) `Tolle caput martis' (fol. 85r) `Cambria carnarvan' (fol. 86r) `Gens normannorum' (fol. 86v) `Extincto herede' (fol. 86v) `Mortuo leone justicie', extract (fol. 88r) `Asinus coronatus' (fol. 88v) `Arbor fertilis' (fol. 88v) Bridget of Sweden, Revelaciones Bk IV (fol. 91r) `Bridlington', extract (fol. 91v) `Anglorum regnum bastard bello superabit' (fol. 93r) A calendar for London; prophecies, with explanations on how they apply to Edward IV; a chronology of the world from Creation to 1464; a statement of the king of England's claim to be king of France. OXFORD, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 648 (SC 2291) c. 1465, Christ Church, Canterbury. Latin. Madan and Craster, Summary Catalogue, III, 291±2; Curley, `Versus Prophecialis', pp. 384±5. `Bridlington': `Taurus cornutus', frag. (fol. 21v) Contains moral treatises; short treatises on astrology and urine; historical lists of counties of Britain; churches founded before the Norman Conquest; short accounts of archbishops of Canterbury to 1381 and popes from St Peter to 1342. At the end `Iste liber constat W. Boolde monacho Ecclesie Christi. Cantuarie. anno Domini M8CCCC8lxviij'. OXFORD, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 851 (Summary Catalogue 3041) (I) Early ®fteenth century, origin unknown. Latin and English. Madan and Craster, Summary Catalogue, III, 574±6; Curley, `Versus Prophecialis', pp. 365±6. `Bridlington' (fol. 94v) Walter Map, De Nugis Curialium; the death of Archbishop Scrope; miscellaneous

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England verses, including a poem on Neville's Cross and a poem against the French; attack on the regular clergy. OXFORD, Bodleian Library, MS Digby 22 Early ®fteenth century, origin unknown. Latin. W. D. Macray, Catalogi Codicorum Manuscriptorum Bibliothecae Bodleianae Pars Nona: Codices a viro clarissimo Kenelm Digby, Esq Anno 1634 Donatos (Oxford, 1883), pp. 18±19. `Lilium regnans' Contains material on arithmetic and compotus; the zodiac; the theology and symbols of divine of®ce; on hearing confessions. Prophecy has been added on blank space at the end. OXFORD, Bodleian Library, MS Digby 28 Early fourteenth century, origin unknown. Latin. Macray, Catalogi Codicorum Manuscriptorum: Digby, pp. 23±5. `Prophecia Merlini' (fol. 162r) `Prophecia aquile' (fol. 168r) Some moral and devotional content, but mostly a miscellany of medical and physical science; alchemy (Roger Bacon); astronomy. OXFORD, Bodleian Library, MS Digby 82 After 1461, origin unknown. Latin. Macray, Catalogi Codicorum Manuscriptorum: Digby, pp. 88±9. `Grex borealis' `bene canis latrabit leo' Prophetic extracts added to spaces at the beginning of the manuscript. Contains historical and devotional material; the badges of the duke of York. Some of the contents are very similar to Westminster Abbey MS 27. OXFORD, Bodleian Library, MS Digby 89 Last quarter of fourteenth century, London (?). Latin. Macray, Catalogi Codicorum Manuscriptorum: Digby, p. 100; Curley, `Versus Prophecialis', pp. 364±5. `Bridlington' (fol. 1r) `Bridlington', with a commentary by John Erghome, is the only work in this manuscript. Belonged to Thomas Lyseux, dean of St Paul's 1442±56. OXFORD, Bodleian Library, MS Digby 98 Early ®fteenth century, origin unknown. Latin and English. Macray, Catalogi Codicorum Manuscriptorum: Digby, pp. 108±13. `Prophecia Merlini' A manuscript of science, mathematics and astronomy. Once said to have contained two letters of Wycliffe, reputed to have belonged to Wyclif®te publicist Peter Partridge.

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Handlist of Manuscripts OXFORD, Bodleian Library, MS Digby 186 Fifteenth century, York. Latin. Macray, Catalogi Codicorum Manuscriptorum: Digby, pp. 196±9; Curley, `Versus Prophecialis', pp. 373±5. `Bridlington', with marginal gloss (fol. 5r) `Asinus coronatus' (fol. 14r) Signi®cance of some symbols used in prophecies (fol. 14r) `Intras cum sole cani taurusque leone' (fol. 14v) `Scoti cum britone' (fol. 14v) `Mens cor cupiunt lex Christi' (fol. 14v) `Anno cephas mille' (fol. 14v) `Tolle caput milvi' (fol. 15r) `Lilium regnans' (fol. 15v) `Veniet aquila ardens' (fol. 39r) `Tolle caput martis' (fol. 39r) `Cambria carnarvan' (fol. 40v) `Ter tria lustra' (fol. 40v) `Anglia transmittet' (fol. 41r) `Flamine romano crescit britannicus honor' (fol. 64r) A life of Edward the Confessor, dedicated (so the writer says), to Henry VI; some notes on northern places such as Berwick and Newcastle; a Latin Brut, in prose and verse. Some later, sixteenth-century, hands have added notes, but these do not include the prophecies. OXFORD, Bodleian Library, MS Digby 196 1453±61, origin unknown. Latin. Macray, Catalogi Codicorum Manuscriptorum: Digby, pp. 212±18. `Prophecia aquile', with commentary (fol. 18v) `Lilium regnans' (fol. 21v) `Dum rex Henricus' (fol. 22r) `Quia sambucus fert ceresa' (fol. 22r) `Gallorum levitas' (fol. 24r) `Anglia transmittet' `Azinus coronatus' (fol. 24v) `Tolle capud milvi' (fol. 25r) `Lilium ¯orebit' `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' `Externis populis dominabatur aquila fortis' (fol. 28r) `Cum enim desierit esse capra': `The Last Kings of the English' `Cesaris imperium' (fol. 29r) Many extracts from the Polychronicon and other historical material; genealogies, one of Henry VI and Prince Edward; geographical, devotional, theological and medical material; charms. Most of the contents are historical, relating in particular to Richard II, Henry IV, Henry V and Henry VI.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England OXFORD, Bodleian Library, MS Douce 115 (Summary Catalogue 21689) 1313±27, origin unknown. Given to John Steward by the duke of Bedford (George Neville, duke 1470±77 ?) in the later ®fteenth century. French and Latin. Madan and Craster, Summary Catalogue, IV, 526±7. `Gallorum leuitas' (fol. 68v) Contains Historia Regum Britannie and the French prose Brut to 1274. OXFORD, Bodleian Library, MS Fairfax 20 (Summary Catalogue 3900) 1344±52, Norwich Cathedral priory. Latin. Madan and Craster, Summary Catalogue, II: II, 781±2. Henry of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum, Bk VI (fol. 8v) `Illius imperium' (fol. 81v) `Anglia transmittet' `Ter tria lustra' `H. patre submarcet' First prophecy in main manuscript, others added at the end, slightly later, but in a hand similar to one of the main manuscript. Contents are somewhat similar to BL MS Cotton Claudius E. VIII. Descriptions of England and Rome; St Peter's Pence; coronation of King Richard; Domesday Book entry for Great Yarmouth's liberties, received from Edward III; early history of Ireland; a list of the priors of Norwich. OXFORD, Bodleian Library, MS Hatton 56 (Summary Catalogue 4062) c. 1453, origin unknown. Latin and English. Madan and Craster, Summary Catalogue, II: II, 821±2; Curley, `Versus Prophecialis', pp. 391±2. Bridget of Sweden, Revelaciones Bk IV (fol. 1r) `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' (fol. 3v) `Letters of the King of Garnard' (fol. 4r) `Sibille generaliter' (fol. 4v) `Baltasar Cador' (fol. 5r) `Draco maximus' (fol. 8r) `Of wonders ‡at shull fall after our day' (fol. 9v) `Bridlington' (fol. 11r), with explanation (fol. 20r) `Anglia transmittet' (fol. 19v) Sibille regine austri (fol. 21r) `Mortuo leone justicie' (fol. 21v) `Lilium in meliore parte': `Lilium regnans' (fol. 22v) `Prophecia Merlini' (fol. 23r) `Vade mecum in tribulacione' (fol. 29v) `Ter tria lustra' (fol. 32v) `Gens normannorum' (fol. 34r) `Scoti cum britone' (fol. 34r) `Tolle caput martis' (fol. 34r) `Cum rex henricus regnabit' (fol. 34v) `Anno cephas agille' (fol. 35r) `Quando sambucus fert ceresa' (fol. 35r)

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Handlist of Manuscripts `H Patre sub uncto post rex reget' (fol. 35r) `Cum enim desert esse capra': `The Last Kings of the English' (fol. 35v) `Consurgent Galli regnents per loca bruti' (fol. 37r) `Thomas of Erceldoune's prophecy' (fol. 39r) `The King who will Find the Holy Cross' (fol. 41r) `Seint Thomas of Cauntubery', poem (fol. 45r) Some apocalyptic texts are interspersed with these prophecies: this manuscript consists entirely of prophecy, almost all of it `political'. OXFORD, Bodleian Library, MS Laudian misc. 622 Late fourteenth century, west of England. English. Index in Catalogum Codicum MSS Laudianorum Latinum et Miscellanorum qui in Bibliotheca Bodleiana adservantur (Oxford, 1885), pp. 447±9. `Adam Davy's Dreams' (fol. 26v) Devotional and apocalyptic material; on pilgrimage to the Holy Land; St Alexius; The Bataile of Jerusalem. OXFORD, Bodleian Library, MS Lyell 35 c. 1478±91, Hampshire. Latin, English and French. A. de la Mare, Catalogue of the Collection of Medieval Manuscripts Bequeathed to the Bodleian Library Oxford by James R Lyell (Oxford, 1971), pp. 87±92. `Prophecia Merlini' (fol. 9v) `The King who will Find the Holy Cross' (fol. 17v) `When Rome is removed into Engelond' (fol. 24r) `The Cock in the North' (fol. 26r) Legal notes; household accounts; medical notes; charms; other literary commonplaces belonging to a Hampshire gentleman, Reginald Andrew. OXFORD, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson A. 389 Early ®fteenth century, origin unknown. English and Latin. W. D. Macray, Catalogi Codicum Manuscriptorum Bibliothecae Bodleianae Partis Quintae: viri muni®centissimi Ricardi Rawlinson JCD, 5 vols. (Oxford, 1862± 1900), I, 386±9. `Lilium regnans' (fol. 72v) `The Holy Oil of St Thomas' (fol. 73r) Devotional works by Richard Rolle; some historical notes. OXFORD, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson B 189 Late fourteenth, or ®fteenth century, Hat®eld Peverell, Essex. Latin. Macray, Catalogi Codicum Manuscriptorum: Rawlinson, I, 524. `Prophecia aquile', without `Arbor fertilis' (fol. 117v) Historia Regum Britannie; a note on King Arthur; on the settlement of Britain. OXFORD, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson D 225 Fifteenth century, origin unknown. Latin. Macray, Catalogi Codicum Manuscriptorum: Rawlinson, III, 100±1; Curley, `Versus Prophecialis', pp. 386±7.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England `Bridlington', frag. (fol. 1v) `Ter tria lustra' Johannes de Bado Aureo, De Armis; dialogue between a monk and a cleric. OXFORD, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson D 248 Fifteenth century, origin unknown. Latin, English and French. Macray, Catalogi Codicum Manuscriptorum: Rawlinson, III, 109±10. `Regnum scottorum' (fol. 5r) `Inter saxosum fontem' (fol. 5r) `Bruti posteritas' (fol. 14v) Medical notes; letters of the alphabet; on the planets; the ®fteen signs before the Judgement; a historical note on the arrival of Brutus in England. Some of the prophecies have notes in French. OXFORD, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson D. 893 (Summary Catalogue 13659) First half of thirteenth century, origin unknown. Latin. Madan and Craster, Summary Catalogue, III, 242; Crick, Historia Regum Britannie III, pp. 248±9. `Prophecia Merlini' (fol. 28v) Manuscript of miscellaneous fragments. OXFORD, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson D. 1230 Beginning of ®fteenth century, origin unknown. Latin and English. Macray, Catalogi Codicum Manuscriptorum: Rawlinson, IV, 364±5. `Bruti posteritas' (fol. 2r) `Vulpis cum cauda' (fol. 2r) Material on the deposition of Richard II; notes on the collation of proverbs. OXFORD, Corpus Christi College, MS LV End of fourteenth century, origin unknown. H. O. Coxe, Catalogus Codicum MSS qui in Collegiis Aulisque Oxoniensibus Hodie Adservantur, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1852), II: III, 19±20. `Illius imperium' (fol. 132v) `Anglia transmittet' `Ter tria lustra' A history of the popes; prophecies; Guido delle Colonne, Historia Troiana. OXFORD, Jesus College, MS 2 Fifteenth century, origin unknown. Latin. Coxe, Catalogus Codicum, II: VII, p. 1; Crick, Historia Regum Britannie III, pp. 230±1. `Arbor fertilis' (fol. 145r) Added to Historia Regum Britannie Bk VII: the `Prophecia Merlini', is glossed.

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Handlist of Manuscripts OXFORD, University College, MS XCVII Fifteenth century, Westminster (?). Latin and English. Coxe, Catalogus Codicum, I: I, 28±29. `The Holy Oil of St Thomas', in English (fol. 1r) `Lilium regnans' (fol. 4r) `The King who will ®nd the Holy Cross' (fol. 164r) `Prophecia Merlini' (fol. 356r) A miscellany with many devotional items; some medical items; some historical material, including chronicles to 1382 and 1399. PARIS, BibliotheÁque Nationale, MS fonds francËais 12154 North-east of England, possibly County Durham. French and Latin. EÂdition Critique et CommenteÂe de Pierre de Langtoft, ed. Thiolier, pp. 109±18. `The Last Kings of the English', in French (fol. 137v) Prophecies precede Langtoft's Chronicle. PARIS, BibliotheÁque Nationale, MS Lat. 4126 Late fourteenth or early ®fteenth century, added to manuscript of earlier fourteenth century, Hulne, Yorkshire, or York (Carmelites). Latin. `Regnum scottorum' (fol. 9v) `Pseudo-Methodius' (fol. 45r) The original manuscript contained Historia Regum Britannie, with a gloss on book VII, the `Prophecia Merlini'; Gerald of Wales on Ireland; Petrus Alphonsus, De disciplina clericalis; Alexander's letter to Aristotle; `Pseudo-Methodius'. The added sections contain miscellaneous material on English history; on Alexander; on Troy; on Scotland; on Ireland (including the other prophecy); apocalyptic material, such as the Joachite `Epistola Cyrilli'. RUGBY, Rugby School, MS Bloxam 1008 Second half of ®fteenth century, west Midlands. Latin and English. Ker, Medieval Manuscripts, IV, 222. `Lilium regnans' (fol. 37v) `Anglorum regimine bastard bello superavit' Contains Mandeville's Travels. SAN MARINO, CALIFORNIA, Huntington Library, MS EL. 34. C. 9 (EL1121) (I) Mid ®fteenth century, origin unknown. Latin. C. W. Dutschke, Guide to Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Huntington Library, 2 vols. (San Marino, 1989), I, 63±4. `Porcelli apri tenebunt', with gloss (fol. 27r) Main contents of this section of manuscript are N. Trevet's Annales. The rest of the manuscript is unconnected.

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Prophecy and Public Affairs in Later Medieval England SAN MARINO, CALIFORNIA, Huntington Library, MS HM. 1346 Beginning of ®fteenth century, added to fourteenth-century manuscript, Devon. Latin and French. Dutschke, Guide to Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts, II, 580±2. `Lilium regnans' (fol. 187r) Prophecy has been added to a liturgical manuscript, containing: Calendar; Of®ce for the Dead; Psalms; Hours of the Virgin (all according to the Sarum Use). VALENCIENNES, BibiotheÁque Municipale, MS 792 (589) Mid to late fourteenth century, possible connection with Merton, Surrey. Latin. `Prophecia Merlini', with commentary by Alain de Lille (fols. 159 and 224) The early history of Britain; extract from William of Malmesbury; prophecy; a description of Britain based on Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica; Deeds of Britons, Anglo-Saxons and Normans to King John; the arrival of the Normans in Britain; the Charter of the Forest; two charter con®rmations of Henry III.

280

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296

INDEX Adam of Usk 6, 23, 167 `Adam Davy's Dreams' 5, 8, 29, 37, 40, 84±91, 94±5, 97±8, 105, 107, 111, 124±5, 150, 153±4 Adso (abbot) 44, 53 Aethelred the Redeless, king of England 60, 129 Agincourt, battle of 17, 172±3, 176±7, 186, 211, 215 Alanus Sompniator 38 Alexander III, king of Scotland 71 Alexander the Great 45, 48, 65, 69, 83±4, 91, 98, 104, 136, 150, 173±4 `Alliterative Becket' 2, 130±3, 231 `Als y yod' 116±18, 133, 231 Andrew, Reginald 232 `Anglia transmittet' 112±15, 122, 129, 131, 134, 148, 150, 165, 202, 212, 222, 223, 226, 235 Anjou, Fulk count of 53 Anne of Bohemia, queen of England 154±5, 160 Antichrist 44, 48, 57, 90, 137, 202±3, 208 `Arbor fertilis' 60±1, 68±70, 136, 166±7, 172, 179, 216, 224, 226, 236 Arbroath, Declaration of 73 Armagh, Richard FitzRalph bishop of 139 Arrivall of King Edward IV 21 Arthur, king of Britain 22±3, 43, 52, 64±5, 70, 75, 81±4, 91, 132, 135, 175, 177, 199, 200, 205, 209±10, 215, 217±18, 236±7 Arthur, prince of Wales 236±7 `Asinus coronatus' 157±61, 164, 212 Audelay, John 181±2 Auxerre, St Germanus bishop of 39 Bacon, Roger 147 Balliol, John 71, 103, 110, 116 `Baltasar Cador' 200, 205±8 Bannockburn, battle of 17, 105 Barnet, battle of 227, 230 Beckyngton, Thomas 211

Bede 34, 199, 218, 229 Bedford, Anne duchess of 178 Bedford, Jacqueline duchess of 223 Bedford, John duke of (regent of France) 177±8 Bedford, George Neville duke of 230 `Benedict of Peterborough' 62, 65 Benet, John 136, 202, 219±20, 226, 230 Bishop, Bartholomew 182±3 Bishop, Nicholas 182±3, 214 Blacman, John 182 Black Death 121, 126, 139, 140 Bohun, Mary 164 Boniface VIII, pope 77, 90, 128 Boolde, William 222±3 Boroughbridge, battle of 18, 22, 91, 94 BreÂtigny, treaty of 28, 134±5, 141±2, 170±1, 175, 177, 202, 223, 235 Bridget of Sweden 39, 169±71 `Bridlington' (prophecy) 2, 27, 30, 36, 118±19, 121±8, 131±2, 134, 138±44, 146±7, 157, 164±8, 178, 202, 205, 208±9, 216, 220±2, 224, 226, 235±6 Bridlington, John Thweng prior of 38, 139, 164 Brut (chronicle) 6, 13, 22, 24, 26, 33±4, 84, 101±2, 104, 110, 148, 177, 183, 197, 207, 215 Brutus 24, 29, 30, 33±4, 51±2, 65, 71±3, 106, 116, 124, 151, 162, 187±9, 198, 200, 208, 222, 228, 231 Burgundy, Philip the Good duke of 177

Cadwallader 29, 51±2, 65, 109, 116, 190, 198, 200, 218, 225, 228±9, 231, 236 Cade's rebellion 100, 192, 195±201, 203, 209 Calais, siege of 30, 121, 125±6, 131 Calot, Laurence 178 Canterbury, Thomas Becket archbishop of 38, 58, 89, 143, 162, 208, 218 Canterbury, Thomas Arundel archbishop of 157, 171

297

Index Catherine of Valois, queen of England 136, 178 `Catulus linxeis' 78±81, 103, 105±6, 136, 149±50, 152±3, 168 `Cedrus alta libani' 67±8, 98, 161, 232 Celestine V, pope 90 `Cesaris imperium' 148±9, 150, 153, 155, 193, 212, 223 Chandos' Herald 19±21, 25 Charlemagne 22±3, 39, 112 Charles IV, king of France 102, 113 Charles V, king of France 135 Charles VI, king of France 176±8 Charles VII, king of France 185, 187±8, 202 Cicero 39, 208 Clarence, Thomas duke of 171, 215, 228 Clarence, George duke of 21, 223, 227 Clovis 96 `Cock in the North' 165, 196, 198±200, 226, 228, 232 Cologne, Three Kings of 107, 210 Conan 29, 51±2 Constance, council of 17, 28, 163, 172, 176, 181, 192, 211 Constantine, emperor 36, 45, 76, 149 Constantine, Donation of 149 Cotton, Sir Robert 9 CreÂcy, battle of 16, 121±2, 130 Crouchback, Edmund 167 Crusade, Second 49 Crusade, Third 49, 57 Curteys, John 222±3, 232 Daniel, book of 43, 83±4, 104, 111, 166 David, king 39, 48, 89±90, 95±6, 98, 125±7, 131, 143±4, 166, 173, 205, 208 Despensers, Older and Younger 18, 93, 102, 104 `Dice prophecy' 36, 93, 196±7, 206 Diceto, Ralph 56 Dominican Order (friars) 90±1, 153 `Dum rex henricus' 187±8, 190, 203±5, 212 Durham, Hugh du Puiset bishop of 57 Eagle, prophecy of (`Prophecia Aquile') 61±4, 67, 70±1, 147, 162, 167±8, 172, 175, 230±1, 235 Edgar, king of England 22 Edith, queen of England (wife of Edward the Confessor) 60

Edith/Matilda, queen of England (wife of Henry I) 60 Edward the Confessor, king of England 38, 59±60 Edward I, king of England 20, 23, 42±3, 69±74, 77, 79±84, 89±91, 102±5, 107, 109, 237 Edward II, king of England 8, 18, 22±3, 42, 83±4, 102, 104±5, 109, 111, 119, 153, 189, 237 Edward III, king of England 7, 16, 19, 25, 30±1, 42, 77, 92, 100±11, 113±15, 117, 119, 121±8, 130±4, 136, 141±5, 151, 155, 164, 188, 205±9, 217, 221, 224, 237 Edward IV, king of England 35, 42, 207, 216±29, 231±3, 237 Edward, prince of Wales (the Black Prince) 19±21, 25, 30±1, 122, 127±8, 130, 132, 135, 143±4, 161 Edward of Westminster, prince of Wales 204, 207, 211±12, 216±17, 220, 229, 237 Eleanor of Castile, queen of England 90 Eleanor of Provence, queen of England 67 Elizabeth of York, queen of England 236 Elmham, Thomas 174±6, 181 Ely, William Longchamp bishop of 57 Ely, Nigel bishop of 55 Emma of Normandy, queen of England 60, 129 Eulogium Historiarum 6, 136, 149, 164 Evesham, battle of 20 Exeter, Edmund Lacy bishop of 38 `Exquiritis a me' 150±1, 153, 190±1 Falkirk, battle of 184 First English Life of King Henry the Fifth 215 `Flamine romano' 212, 223 Flores historiarum 69, 152 Franciscan Order (friars) 90±1, 153, 164, 168 Fraser, Sir Simon 73 Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor 2, 53, 67, 172 Fulk le Fitz Warin 93±4, 110 Gaimar, Geoffrey 56 `Gallorum levitas' 75±7, 95, 98, 110, 112, 115, 149±50, 155, 173, 187, 212, 223

298

Index Gaveston, Piers 104 Geoffrey, son of Henry II 62 Geoffrey of Monmouth 1, 3±4, 30, 44, 49±56, 61, 71±2, 78, 81±2, 101, 129, 146, 151, 199, 215, 218, 226, 229 Geoffrey le Baker 93, 103, 132, 143 Gerald of Wales (Giraldus Cambrensis) 58, 61, 70 Gesta Edwardi de Caernarvon 17±18, 26, 100, 118±19, 123, 129±30 Gesta Henrici Quinti 17, 23, 173±6, 181 Gesta Saracenorum 57 Ghillebert de Lannoy 177 Gildas 44, 72, 151, 218 Ã r, Owen 165 Glyn Dw Gloucester, Robert earl of 55 Gloucester, Humphrey duke of 195, 199, 235 Gog and Magog 47±8, 113 Gower, John 18, 23, 158±9, 166±7 Gregory the Great, pope 34 Grey, Thomas 25, 100, 104, 127 Guinevere 43

Hereford, Adam Orleton bishop of 92±4, 98±9 Hereford, Thomas Charleton bishop of 92±3 Hereford and Essex, Humphrey Bohun earl of 138±9, 142 Herryson, John 202, 214, 226±8 Hildegard of Bingen 5, 40, 136, 170, 220 Hoccleve, Thomas 169±71 `Holy Oil of St Thomas' 32±3, 94±8, 102, 110, 119, 125, 127, 130, 134, 136, 142±3, 148, 150, 152, 161±2, 165, 167±8, 175, 180, 187, 193, 202, 212, 223±4, 226, 236 Horn, Andrew 73, 83±5, 92, 104, 111, 234

`H. patre submarcet' 119, 129 Har¯eur, siege of 21 Halidon Hill, battle of 101, 105, 118, 123 Havelok the Dane 86±7, 91 Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor 57, 152 Henry I, king of England 53, 60, 63 Henry II, king of England 58±9, 62, 64, 119, 129 Henry III, king of England 65±9, 77, 79, 90, 101±3, 105, 109, 119, 129 Henry IV, king of England 23, 38, 108, 153±4, 159±62, 164, 166±9, 171, 189, 198, 217 Henry V, king of England 17, 21±2, 24, 42, 166, 169±78, 181, 186, 191±2, 209, 221, 224, 232, 237 Henry VI, king of England 7, 170, 175, 178±82, 185±7, 192±4, 196±200, 203±7, 210±12, 216±20, 224, 227, 229±30, 231, 233, 237 Henry VII, king of England 234±7 Henry VIII, king of England 5, 9 Henry de Montfort 20, 43 Henry of Huntingdon 44, 50, 55, 60, 129 Herdeby, Geoffrey 139 Hereford, Richard Swin®eld bishop of 91±3

Jean II, king of France 125, 128±30, 134 Joachim of Fiore 57 Joan, princess (wife of Edward prince of Wales) 21, 126 John, king of England 62±3, 67, 105, 119, 128±9, 149 John de Teye 139 John of Cornwall 54±5 John of Paris 76 John of Rupescissa 40, 136, 147, 151 Judas Maccabeus 48, 172 Julius Solinus 44

Innocent III, pope 67, 105 Innocent IV, pope 67 Isabella of Castile 217 Isabella of France, queen of England 36, 39, 92±3, 98, 102, 104, 106, 109, 113, 129 Isidore of Seville 34

King Horn 86 `King of Garnard' 202±4 King of Tars 86 `King Who Will Find the Holy Cross' 158, 207±9, 220, 222±3, 226, 232±3 Lancaster, Thomas earl of 18, 22, 92, 153 Lancaster, John of Gaunt duke of 149, 154, 157 Langtoft, Pierre 23, 28, 71±2, 110, 116 `Last Age of the Church' 163±4 `Last Kings of the English' 6, 27, 101±11, 118±19, 132±4, 161, 175, 187, 189±91, 205, 207, 210, 212, 215, 226 Latimer, William Lord 135

299

Index Laynam, Richard 225 Lechlaver, stone of 58 Leicester, Simon de Montfort earl of 20, 28 Leland, John 9 Leuersegge, Edmund 229 `Lilium regnans' 94, 96±8, 148, 152, 161, 165, 168, 172, 176, 179±80, 187, 190, 193, 202, 212, 220, 223, 226±7, 233 Lincoln, Alexander bishop of 55, 57, 129 Lincoln, Robert Chesney bishop of 55 Lincoln, Philip Repingdon bishop of 163 Llewelyn the Great, prince of Wales 217 Llewelyn the Last, prince of Wales 73 London, Gilbert Foliot bishop of 58 Louis IX, king of France (St Louis) 66, 69±70, 131, 178 Lydgate, John 178±9, 193, 199 Mahomet 39, 208 Maidstone, Richard 154 Malingulus 38, 208 Manning, Robert 72 March, Roger Mortimer earl of 36, 92±3, 98, 102, 104±6 Margaret of Anjou, queen of England 197, 206±7, 211, 216±18, 227 Margaret of Norway 71 Matilda, empress 53, 55, 59, 64 Merlin 38±9, 40±1, 43, 50±1, 115, 193 Merlin, prophecy of 2±4, 29±30, 35, 49±56, 58±9, 61±3, 65±75, 79±82, 83±4, 100±1, 105±12, 116, 147±8, 150±1, 158, 163±4, 183, 187, 189±91, 200, 205, 208, 212, 215±16, 220, 228±9, 232, 235±7 Minot, Laurence 25, 27±8, 105, 175 Mortimer, family of 92, 198, 207, 217 `Mortuo leone justicie' 61, 63±4, 66, 71, 77, 101, 112, 151, 216, 228 Murimuth, Adam 127±8, 152 Myton, battle of 100 Navarre, Charles king of 134 Nennius 44, 54 Neville's Cross, battle of 133 `Norman Anonymous' 49 Norwich, Henry Despenser bishop of 151±3, 155, 168 Norwich, Stephen Courtenay bishop of 21

Northumberland, Henry Percy 4th earl of 225±6, 230 `Of Wondyrs that shall Fall' 209±11 Oraculum Cyrilli 136 Ormonde, James Butler earl of 215±16 Osbert de Clare 60±1 Otterburn, battle of 184 Palmer, John 221 Paris, treaty of 66±7 Paris, Matthew 66±8, 103, 161 Partridge, Peter 183 Payne, Peter 183 Peasants' Revolt 15, 18, 135, 148, 152 Percy, family of 35±6, 125, 135, 157, 160, 198, 231 Perrers, Alice 135 Philippa of Hainault, queen of England 106, 135, 140 Philippe IV, king of France 74, 77, 107, 121, 128 Philippe VI, king of France 113, 121, 125, 128 Philippe de Thaon 53 Piers Plowman 135, 216 Pierson, Thomas 221 Pisa, council of 28 Poitiers, battle of 16±17, 32, 125, 130±3, 135, 176±7 Polychronicon 182, 211±12, 220, 226 Popultoun, Robert 135±6 Prester John 22, 112, 146 `Pseudo-Methodius' 2, 44±50, 53±4, 87, 133, 136, 175 Pseudo Turpin 65, 112 `Prophecy profesyd and y-pight' 195±6 `Quando sambucus fert ceresa' 31, 74, 76, 134, 187, 212, 226 Ralph of Coggeshall 63, 67 Richard I, king of England 57, 119, 146 Richard II, king of England 108, 145, 148, 151±62, 164±6, 168, 182 Richard III, duke of Gloucester and king of England 230, 234, 237 Richard of Devizes 57 Rievaulx, Ailred abbot of 59, 179 Robert I (Bruce), king of Scotland 114 Robert II (Stewart), king of Scotland 134±5

300

Index Rochester, Thomas Brinton bishop of 16±19, 135 Roger of Howden 57, 62, 112 Roger of St Albans 178

Towton, battle of 217, 225 Trevet, Nicholas 20±1 Trevisa, John 28±9, 33±4, 86, 113±14 Tyler, Wat 148

St Albans, battle of 204 St Patrick's Purgatory 229 Saladin 57, 152 Salisbury, Roger bishop of 55 Sancho II, king of Portugal 67 Sanderson, goodwife of Beverley 221 Sextus 27, 32, 51±3, 66±7, 71, 74±5, 78, 81, 89, 107, 114, 163, 187, 189±90, 208, 215, 225, 229, 237 Shirley, John 192±3 `Sibille generaliter' 2, 39, 44±50, 53±5, 57, 70, 75, 77, 95, 112, 133, 150 `Sicut rubeum draconem' 61±3, 101, 108, 112, 216 Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor 173, 176, 181, 201 Sluys, battle of 16, 17, 121 Somerset, Edmund Beaufort duke of 204, 210, 216 Spycer, Henry 163, 214±15 Stephen, king of England 55, 59, 63±4 Stewart, John 230 Strecche, John 168, 175 Swann, William 186±92 Suffolk, William de la Pole duke of 195, 199, 216, 220 `Sultan of Syria' 180, 211, 216

Urban IV, pope 67 Urban VI, pope 151±2

`Ter tria lustra' 32, 74±5, 78, 101, 112, 114±16, 129, 134, 137, 148, 150, 164, 165, 168, 175, 187, 202, 215, 226, 231 Tewkesbury, battle of 227 Thorney, Roger 214, 232±4 Thornton, Robert 183±5

Vita Edwardi Secundi 91 Vitalis, Orderic 54±5, 63 Vortigern 39±40, 50, 54 `Vulpis cum cauda' 162, 190 Wace 56, 59 Wake®eld, battle of 217 Waleran of Meulan 55 Wallace, William 73 Walsingham, Thomas 6, 15±16, 157, 161±2 Warwick, Richard Beauchamp earl of 178, 192 Warwick, Richard Neville earl of 198, 227, 230 `When Rome is Removyd' 148, 188, 232 `When Sonday Goth' 196±7 William I, king of England 129 William of Malmesbury 60±1 William of Newburgh 58±9 Winchester, William of Wykeham bishop of 134, 222, 232 Winchester, Henry Beaufort bishop of 17, 171, 173, 176 Winchester College 222, 232 Wyclif, John 135, 137, 163±4 Wyggeston, family of 214, 236 York, Richard Scrope archbishop of 38 York, Richard duke of 192, 196±8, 200, 204, 207±11, 216±17, 219

301

YORK MEDIEVAL PRESS: PUBLICATIONS

God's Words, Women's Voices: The Discernment of Spirits in the Writing of LateMedieval Women Visionaries, Rosalynn Voaden (1999) Pilgrimage Explored, ed. J. Stopford (1999) Piety, Fraternity and Power: Religious Gilds in Late Medieval Yorkshire 1389±1547, David J. F. Crouch (2000) Courts and Regions in Medieval Europe, ed. Sarah Rees Jones, Richard Marks and A. J. Minnis (2000) Treasure in the Medieval West, ed. Elizabeth M. Tyler (2000)

York Studies in Medieval Theology I Medieval Theology and the Natural Body, ed. Peter Biller and A. J. Minnis (1997) II Handling Sin: Confession in the Middle Ages, ed. Peter Biller and A. J. Minnis (1998)

York Manuscripts Conferences Manuscripts and Readers in Fifteenth-Century England: The Literary Implications of Manuscript Study, ed. Derek Pearsall [Proceedings of the 1981 York Manuscripts Conference] Manuscripts and Texts: Editorial Problems in Later Middle English Literature, ed. Derek Pearsall [Proceedings of the 1985 York Manuscripts Conference] Latin and Vernacular: Studies in Late-Medieval Texts and Manuscripts, ed. A. J. Minnis (1989) [Proceedings of the 1987 York Manuscripts Conference] Regionalism in Late-Medieval Manuscripts and Texts: Essays celebrating the publication of `A Linguistic Atlas of Late Mediaeval English', ed. Felicity Riddy (1991) [Proceedings of the 1989 York Manuscripts Conference] Late-Medieval Religious Texts and their Transmission: Essays in Honour of A. I. Doyle, ed. A. J. Minnis (1994) [Proceedings of the 1991 York Manuscripts Conference] Prestige, Authority and Power in Late Medieval Manuscripts and Texts, ed. Felicity Riddy (2000) [Proceedings of the 1994 York Manuscripts Conference] Nunneries, Learning and Spirituality in Late Medieval English Society: The Dominican Priory of Dartford, Paul Lee (2000)