On this Day in History ... 23 May

John of Worcester. 23 May 1070. On Whitsunday [3rd May] the king (age 42), at Windsor [Map], gave the archbishopric of York to the venerable Thomas, canon of Bayeux, and the bishopric of Winchester to his chaplain, Walkeline. On the following day, by the king's command, Ermenfrid, bishop of Sion, held a synod, [the other legates] the cardinals John and Peter having returned to Rome. At this synod, Ethelric, bishop of Sussex, was uncanonically deposed; and although he was guilty of no crime, the king soon afterwards placed him in confinement at Marlborough, Wiltshire [Map]; several abbots were also deprived. After these depositions, the king gave the bishopric of East-Anglia to Arfast, and the bishopric of Sussex to Stigand⁷⁹, who were both his chaplains; which Stigand transferred his see to Chichester, the chief city in his diocese: the king also gave abbeys to some Norman monks. The archbishop of Canterbury being degraded, and the archbishop of York dead, Walkeline was, by the king's command, consecrated by the same Ermenfrid, bishop of Sion, on the octave of Whitsunday [30th May].

Note 79. This first bishop of Chichester must not be confounded with the archbishop of the same name.

Diary of Edward VI. 23 May 1550. Mon. Chastil(lon) (age 31) and Mortier, and Bouchetel, accompanied with the Johann Frederick I Duke Saxony (age 46)¹, Dandelot², the constable's secound sone³, and Chenault the ligier⁴, cam to Durasme place, where in their journei thei wer met by mr. tresoror (Oheyne) and threscore gentlemen⁵ at Whulwhich [Map], and also saluted with great peales both at Whulwich, Dettford [Map], and the Towre [Map].^1a

Note 1. The Johann Frederick I Duke Saxony (age 46) was deprived of his electorate by the emperor after the battle of Muhlberg in 1547, and remained a prisoner at Innspruck until 1552. His nephew Otho-Henry, called the Magnanimous, whose proper title was only count of Neuburg until after his uncle's death in 1556, was at this time in the service of France, and was made a knight of St. Michael in Oct. 1550 (see Tytler, i. 325).

Note 2. The seigneur d'Andelot was François de Coligny (age 29), younger brother of the seigneur de Chastillon (age 31), already noticed in p. 250, and like him a zealous Calvinist and intrepid soldier. He became comte of Laval and Montfort in Britany; and in 1555 he was appointed colonel-general of the French infantry in place of his brother. He died in 1569. (Anselme, vii. 155; viii. 215.)

Note 3. The second son of the constable of France was Henry (age 15) afterwards duc de Montmorency, who now, during his father's (age 57) lifetime, bore the title of seigneur de Damville. (Anselme, Histoire Genealogique, vi. 229.) If the King writes with accuracy, he must have been one of the train; but if he meant one and the same person by "Dandelot, the constable's second sone," this may have arisen from d'Andelot being (by his mother's side) "the constable's nephew, and one of the (French) king's minions." (Tytler, i. 160.)

Note 4. Of Chenault no particulars have occurred. Among the illustrious visitors on this "occasion, or immediately after, appears to have been Claude de Lorraine, due d'Aumale, third son of the late due de Guise. On the 6th Oct. following sir John Mason (age 47) writes from Rouen to the council: "The due d'Aumale is much desirous to have a portrait of the King's person, which he says the King himself promised him at his departing out of England. He hath been in hand with me twice or thrice herein, praying me in my next despatch to desire your lordships to put his Majesty in remembrance hereof. If any shall be sent unto him, this is a very good time therefor, while yet he remaineth in Roan. He speaketh very much honour of the King and of the realm, and hideth not the courtesy he found the time of his being there. He is, as your lordships knoweth, of right good estimation, and therefore the remembring of him in this his request cannot be but well bestowed." (Tytler, i. 330.)

Note 5. In order that the court might make a good show of nobility when the Frenchmen arrived, the council had despatched, on the 17th of April, "Lettres severall to the earles of Rutland (age 23), Bathe (age 51), and Worcester (age 24), to the viscount Hereford (age 62), and the lord Fitzwalter, to repayre to the court out of hand, bringing with them their best apparell and furniture, for the receiving and entertaining of the ambassadors and noble men that came out of France."

On the 4th May, "For the receaving of mouns^r Chastillion, and the rest of the Frenche ambassadors, the lord warden of the Cinque portes, thresorer of the King's Majesties household, was appointed to be the chief, and a nombre of lords and gentlemen apoincted to accompanie him by water with the King's barges, bicause th'ambassadors are determined to come from Bulloigne in their owne galleys up alongest the Teames [River Thames]."

"May xviij. A warrant to the master of the jewelhouse to deliver unto Benjamin Gonstone, threasorer of the King's shippes, one peir of potts, one peir of flagons, iij. nest of bolles, ij. basons and ewers, a garnish and a half of vessell, ij. dozen of plates, and ij. saltes of silver, for the furniture of the galley appointed for the lord wardeigne to mete the French ambassadors coming up by the Temes [Thames], to be restored again upon retorne of the same galley. A warrant to sir John Williams to delyver to the said John Gonstone xlli. in prest towards the furniture of the said galey." (Council Book.)

Note 1a. "On Friday was seven-night [May 23] the galley Subtle, with two other of the King's pinnaces, under the charge of sir William Woodhouse, mr. Brook, and others, were sent to the Thames mouth to meet with the French galleys, and to conduct them upwards, and at their first meeting received them with an honest banquet; so accompanied them along the Thames, where, passing by sundry of the King's ships, they were saluted by honest peals of ordnance; and, a little above Greenwich, I, the lord warden of the Cinque Ports (Cheyne), being accompanied with the earl of Worcester (age 24), the lord Grey of Wilton (age 41), the lord William Howard, with divers other young lords and gentlemen, to the number of sixty, in sundry barges, met with them upon the water, bade them welcome on the King's ma^ties behalf, with other good words to the purpose, and so received them into those barges. They were conveyed by water through the bridge to their lodging, being appointed at Durham-place, which was furnished with hangings of the King's for the nonce: where, against their coming, was ready laid in a very large present of beer, wine, beeves, muttons, wild fowls, poultry, fish, and wax. By the way the King's ships at Deptford shot off; and at the Tower, as they passed, a great peal of ordnance was discharged to welcome them. As soon as they were landed, and in their lodgings, a gentleman was sent from the King's ma^tie, willing me the lord warden, in the King's highness' behalf, to bid them welcome, and tell them that if they would aught, being signified, it should be provided; and so for that night left them." (Narrative of the council addressed to sir John Mason, the ambassador lieger in France, printed from Mason's letter-book in the State Paper office, by Tytler, i. 284.;

The Letter Books of Amias Paulet Keeper of Mary Queen of Scots Published 1874 Marys Execution. Poulet (age 54), as has already been said, was made Chancellor of the Garter in April, 1587, but he did not retain this preferment for a whole year. He continued in the Captaincy of Jersey up to his death, but he appears to have resided in and near London. In the British Museum are two letters from him of small importance. One, addressed to the Lord High Admiral, is dated, "From my poor lodging in Fleet Street [Map], the 14th of January, 1587," about "right of tenths in Jersey, belonging to the Government." The other, "From my little lodge at Twickenham, the 24th of April, 1588," "on behalf of Berry," whose divorce was referred by the Justices of the Common Pleas to four Doctors of the Civil Law, of whom Mr. Doctor Caesar, Judge of the Admiralty, to whom the letter was written, was one.

His name also occurs in a letter, from Walsingham to Burghley, dated May 23, 1587, while Elizabeth still kept up the farce of Burghley's disgrace for despatching Mary Stuart's death-warrant. "Touching the Chancellorship of the Duchy, she told Sir Amias Poulet that in respect of her promise made unto me, she would not dispose of it otherwise. But yet hath he no power to deliver the seals unto me, though for that purpose the Attorney is commanded to attend him, who I suppose will be dismissed hence this day without any resolution." And on the 4th of January following, together with the other lords of the Council, he signed a letter addressed by the Privy Council to the Lord Admiral and to Lord Buckhurst, the Lieutenants of Sussex, against such Catholics as "most obstinately have refused to come to the church to prayers and divine service," requiring them to "cause the most obstinate and noted persons to be committed to such prisons as are fittest for their safe keeping: the rest that are of value, and not so obstinate, are to be referred to the custody of some -ecclesiastical persons and other gentlemen well affected, to remain at the charges of the recusant, to be restrained in such sort as they may be forthcoming, and kept from intelligence with one another." On the 26th of September, in the year in which this letter was written, 1588, Sir Amias Poulet died.

Poulet was buried in St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London. [Map]. When that church was pulled down to be rebuilt, his remains, with the handsome monument erected over them, were removed to the parish church of Hinton St. George. After various panegyrics in Latin, French, and English inscribed on his. Monument, a quatrain, expressive apparently of royal favour, pays the following tribute to the service rendered by him to the State as Keeper of the Queen of Scots: Never shall cease to spread wise Poulet's fame; These will speak, and men shall blush for shame: Without offence to speak what I do know, Great is the debt England to him doth owe.Execution of Mary Queen of Scots.