Vintry, City of London, England, British Isles

Archaeologia Volume 22 Section XVI. The convocation at London agaynst the Duke [aged 36] and Henry Percy, and of there flyght.

[March 1377] The morrow after the Londoners collyng the cytezyns together, tooke counsell uppon such demande as the day before the Lord Thomas Woodstoke and the Lord Henry Percye affyrmed did procede ofthe kyngs will and pleasure concernyng the creation of a captayn in the cyty, & of the use of the Marshalls offyce in the same, as is before declared. Besydes, of the injury that was offered to his byshop and other matters, and whilst there was longe and great ado and talke about these thyngs, there entered in the Lord Ffyzwalter,^z and the Lord Wydo de Bryon,^a whether to know there mynde, or for what other cause it is uncertayne. The commons at there fyrst comyng scarcely held there hands from beatyng them that came, and were not called for; but at last, after they had sworne that there comyng to there counsell was not for any hurt unto them or the cytye, they were suffered of the cytezyns, as well for that they themselves were cytezyns, as also had many possessions in the cytye. The Lords tooke an othe of fydelyty to be observed to the cyty & cytezyns, or els sel or let there goods to others, because now it was agreed that none of there enemyes should enjoye any tenement or rent in the cytye, therfore these lords put there hands to the booke in a hye place of the hall, the cytezyns & commons requestyng that so it myght be. The Lord Fyzwalter having gotten favor thus at the cytezyns hands, began his oration on this wyse :-Worthy Cytezyns, synce by the othe that I have presently taken, I am bound to love and obeye you, & that by my auncyent inherytance, as may appere, I ought to be your standard bearer, & one of your specyall favorers, there is none that doubt but that your losse redoundeth to myne, & the injuryes that be offered to you are in lyke sort to mee, I thought good, for that it concerns mee as well as you, to forewarn you that your lybertyes are in great daunger, & it were good that you looked more watchfully unto your selves, and whether it be with your knowledg or not, yt is for your discredyt that one should be kept in the inn of the Marshall, namely, of the Lord Henry Percye, where it is well known that the pryson ought not to be any such custodye, which if you neglygently at this tyme suffer, it may come to passe that when you wold you shall not be able to repulse or withstand the lyke chaunce with all your forces. Now therefore you ought to take counsell what is to be done in it, and see whether the remyssyon of this dede be not hereafter a thorne in your eyes, & this present presumption unpunyshed bring over you new customs to your manyfest losse & hynderance. The cytezyns, whome the comon people for the auncyent nobility of London call proceres, state they all with a shout consent, and every man cryes out that by manyfest judgement they wold condemme such injurye; nether made they any delay, but presently tooke armor, & ran with great rage to the marshall his inn; they break up the doores, brought out the prysoner, & cary away the gyves wherein his feete were bounde, entendyng to burne them in the mydst of the cytye. The Lord Percy is sought for doubtles to receyve punyshment for the injury, if he could have been founde. The armed men wander up & downe the chambers, thrustyng thorowe the bedds with there launces. The privy houses are searched, but all in vayne; ffor that daye he and the duke were to dyne with one John de Ipres, who before had bydden them; but the Londoners knew it not, for they thought that he & the duke had bene at the Savoye, & therfore with all hast, they posted thyther, but whylst these thyngs were doynge, one of the duke's soldyers seeing this, in great hast came to the place where the duke was,^b & after he had knocked rudelye, and could not get in as he wold, with great feare he sayed to Haverland, the porter, if thou love, sayth he, my lord & hys lyfe, open me the gate quycklye, with which words he gat entrye, and with great feare, scarce able to speake, he tells the duke, that without the doores were infynyte numbers of armed men, & unles he tooke heede, this day should be his last; and with his words he made the Lord Percy no less afrayd, for he opened unto hym how for his cause this comotion was made, and what they had done at his inn. They were, when [this man] he came in, standyng about there oysters, & some had eaten some of them, and others none at all. The duke, when he hard this message, thought it nothyng safe to tary any longer there, lept so hastely from his oysters, that he hurt both his leggs aganst the forme, whereby being greved, his offycers offered hym wyne, but he wold not drynke, and sayinge as it were it is fynyshed, the ungodly man fled with his felow the Lord Percy, no man following them, and, entryng the Thames, never stynted rowynge untyll they came to a house nere the maner of Kenygton, where at that tyme the prynces with the young prynce aboade, before whome (with great feare, as appeared by hys sweatynge and tremblynge) he made his complaynt of all those thyngs that had happened. The prynces hearyng there talke comforted them with such wordes as she thought best for the tyme, promysyng that she wold make a fynall end of all those matters which should be profytable to them, as they should well perceyve.

Note z. Of Walter Lord Fitzwalter [aged 31] a particular account will be found in Dugdale's Baronage, vol. i. p. 220. As hereditary Constable of Castle Baynard, and Banner Bearer of London, he enjoyed very important rights and privileges in the City, which are set forth in Stow's Survey of London, Strype's edition, vol. i. p. 60.

Note . a Guy de Bryan [aged 58] was, as Dugdale observes, a person of very great note in his time. He had been Standard Bearer to the King at Calais, and was afterwards employed in many important military and civil services. Baronage, vol. ii. p. 151.

Note b. This was at Ipres Inn, in St. Thomas Apostle, west of the church. William of Ipres, a Fleming, who came over to the aid of King Stephen against the Empress Maud in 1138, built this "great messuage" (as Stow calls it) near the Tower Royal, where the king "was then lodged, as in the heart of the city, for his more safety." Stow's London by Strype, b. iii. p. 8. William was created Earl of Kent by Stephen, but in the subsequent reign was forced to leave England, and died a Monk at Laon, according to Dugd. Bar. i. p. 612. But Stow says he was recalled and restored to his possessions, which remained to his descendants. John of Ipres, named in the text, was a person of sufficient importance to be appointed one of King Edward's executors. See Nichols's Royal Wills, p. 63.