On this Day in History ... 10 July

Chronicle of Gregory 1460. 10 Jul 1460 And there they mete with the kynge and foughte manly with the kyngys lordys and mayny, but there was moche favyr in that fylde unto the Erle of Warwycke (age 31). And there they toke the kynge (age 38), and made newe offycers of the londe, as the chaunceler and tresyrar and othyr, but they occupy de not fo[r]thewith, but abode a seson of the comyng of Duke of York (age 48) owte of Irlonde. And in that fylde was slayne the Duke of Bokyngham (age 57), stondyng stylle at hys tente, the Erle of Schrovysbury (age 42), the Lord Bemond (age 50), and the Lord Egremond (age 37), with many othyr men. Ande many men were drownyd by syde the fylde in the revyr at a mylle. And that goode knyght Syr Wylliam Lucy (age 56) that dwellyd besyde Northehampton hyrde the gonne schotte, and come unto the fylde to have holpyn the kynge, but the fylde was done or that he come; an one of the Staffordys was ware of hys comynge, and lovyd that knyght ys wyffe (age 21) and hatyd hym, and a-non causyd hys dethe.

Letters and Papers 1528. 10 Jul 1528. R. O. 4493. Sir Rob. Wingfield (age 64) to Tuke.

Wrote at 4 in the morning, and sent a letter received yesterday from a spy. Was informed by the scourer of the West Pale that, notwithstanding the great storm, the inhabitants were driving their cattle to the Marches, and conveying their goods to Guisnes and to this town, by reason of a report that war should be proclaimed between England and France, at Boulogne, at 7. Sent out horsemen to inquire the grounds of it, and comfort the people, assuring them they had nothing to fear. A man has come from Abbeville, who said that upon Wednesday morning, at the opening of the gate, the peasants came and said with a loud voice that the Burgundians had broken the truce, and the Emperor refused to ratify it with England on that account. All this has arisen from the taking of prisoners at St. Omer's. Sends his spy's letter in proof. This morning 20 horsemen armed came from Boulogne to Guisnes, conveying a prisoner, who had been taken by the Burgundians and escaped; and if the writer had not sent horsemen, the inhabitants would have removed their goods and chattels. Four more are dead of the plague. One of the men was of the number of the two sent by my lord of Bath from Paris, named Denham, "a personage of goodly fashion, and marvellously well learned, both in Latin and Greek, but was also right excellent in musical instruments." The other was the keeper of the water-house, excellent in the science of geometry. Both of them were in good health yester even when they went to their beds. Calais, 10 July 1528.

Hol., pp. 2. Add. Endd.: "Second."

Letters and Papers 1528. 10 Jul 1528. R. O. 4492. Sir Rob. Wingfield (age 64) To Tuke.

Wrote on the 8th, sending a letter from one of his spies. Sends him another of the same, showing that the people of these parts were more afeared than needed. The French merchants taken at St. Omer's were released within 24 hours. Calais, 10 July 1528, at 4 in the morning.

P.S.—The sweat has arrived, and has attacked many. Two only are dead: one, a gentleman of Lancashire, named Syngilton, "who was toward the religion of the Rhodes," the other a fisherman.

Hol., p. 1. Add. Endd.: "First."

Chronicle of Queen Jane and Two Years of Queen Mary 1553. 10 Jul 1553. The 10. of July, in the afternoone, about 3. of the clocke, lady Jane (age 17) was convayed by water to the Tower of London [Map], and there received as queene.^a After five of the clocke, the same afternoone, was proclamation made of the death of king Edward the sixt, and how hee had ordained by his letters pattents bearing date the 21. of June last past^b that the lady Jane should be heire to the Crowne of England, and the heire males of her body, &c.

Note. a. Dr. Peter Heylyn, in his History of the Reformation, fol. 1674, p. 159, has described the interview supposed to have taken place between the dukes of Northumberland and Suffolk and their daughter the lady Jane, when they waited upon her on the morning of the 10th of July, and then first made known to her the fatal diadem to which she was destined. The scruples of the gentle heiress were overcome with much difficulty, and the whole course of argument, pro et contra, is stated at considerable length. I believe, however, that this is only one of those dramatic scenes in which historical writers formerly considered themselves justified in indulging, as I have not been able to trace it to any earlier authority. Its verisimilitude may indeed be justified by the passage of the duke of Northumberland's speech recorded by our present chronicler (p. 6), "Who, by your and our enticement, is rather of force placed therein, than by her own seeking and request." However, having been adopted by the writer of the Life of Lady Jane Grey in the Biographia Britannica, it is followed as authentic history by many subsequent writers. The more recent authors (including sir Harris Nicolas, Mr. P. F. Tytler, and Mr. Aungier the historian of Syon-house and Isleworth) have placed the scene of this interview at Syon; but Heylyn himself fixed it at Durham-house in the Strand: which was the duke of Northumberland's town mansion, and where the lady Jane's marriage had been celebrated only a few weeks before. Here Heylyn might well suppose she would be lodged at this critical period of her father-in-law's conspiracy. The fact, however, seems to have been otherwise. In the chronicle of the Grey Friars (which will be found in the Appendix) she is stated to have come down the river from Richmond to Westminster, and so to the Tower of London. If, then, she was supposed to have come from Richmond, she may very well have come from Syon, which was also at this time in the hands of the duke of Northumberland.

Note. b. Scarcely any of our historical writers show an acquaintance with these letters patent, though they have been conversant with the substance of them from the recital which is made in queen Jane's proclamation. A copy of the letters patent exists among Ralph Starkey's collections in the Harl. MS. 35, bearing this attestation: "This is a true coppie of Edward the Sixte his Will [this terme is misapplied], takene out of the original! undere the greate scale, which sir Robart Cottone delyvered to the King's Ma tie the xij th of Apprill 1611 at Roystorne to be canseled." From this source the document is printed, in connection with the lady Jane's trial, in Cobbett's State Trials; and Mr. Howard, in his Lady Jane Grey and her Times, pp. 213-216, has described its contents.

It is set forth in these letters patent that the king intended to complete this settlement of the crown by making a will, and by act of Parliament: thus following the precedent of his father Henry the Eighth's settlement, which this was to supersede (see an essay by the present writer in the Archaeologia, vol. xxx. p. 464). But the rapid termination of king Edward's illness prevented these final acts of ratification; and Northumberland, in consequence, could only rely upon the validity of the letters patent, which had passed the great seal upon the 21st of June.

There are, besides the letters patent, two other documents extant, marking the earlier stages of this bold attempt to divert the succession.

Note. 1. The king's "own devise touching the said succession." This was "first wholly written with his most gracious hand, and after copied owt in his Majesties presence, by his most high commandment, and confirmed with the subscription of his Majesties owne hand, and by his highnes delivered to certain judges and other learned men to be written in full order." It was written in six paragraphs, to each of which Edward attached his signature. Burnet has printed the whole in his History of the Reformation, Documents, book iv. no. 10, from the MSS. of Mr. William Petyt, now in the Inner Temple Library. Strype, in the Appendix to his Life of Cranmer, has printed the first four clauses only, from the same manuscript, the fifth and sixth having, as Burnet remarks, been erased with a pen, but not so as to render them illegible nor was it intended to cancel them, for they are followed in the letters patent.

Note. 2. An instrument of the Council, undated, but signed at the head by the King, and at its close by twenty-four councillors, &c. in which they "promise by their oaths and honors to observe, fully perform, and keep all and every article, branch, and matter contained in the said writing delivered to the judges and others." This also is printed both by Burnet and Strype.

Besides these documents, three very important papers in reference to this transaction are, 1. the narrative of chief justice Montagu, printed in Fuller's Church History; 2. sir William Cecill's submission to queen Mary, printed in Howard's Lady Jane Grey and Tytler's Reigns of Edward VI. and Mary; and 3. his servant Alford's statement as to Cecill's conduct at this crisis, written in 1573, and printed in Strype 's Annals, vol. iv. p. 347.