Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 8.djvu/351

 SOME REMARKS ON THE RENT-ROLL OF HUMPHREY, DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. 26 & 27 Hex. VI., 1447, 1448. BEAD AT THE OXFORD MEETING OF THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, JUNE 19, 1850. RY JAMES HEYWOOD MARKLAND, D.C.L, F.R.S., & S.A. The accompanying Roll, preserved amongst the Archives at Longlcat, was obligingly placed by the ]Iarquis of Bath iu my hands for examination. It contains in fift3'-six feet of (parchment the Rent Roll of Humphrey, Duke of Bucking- 'lam, taken in the 26 th and 27th years of the reign of Henry VL (1447, 1448.) A document of this kind must necessarily be far less interesting than a Household Book, or entries of expenses, )ut as this Roll shows us the Rental of one of our most powerful noblemen, four centuries ago, and convej^s other nformation, a statement of its contents, with some few comments, may not be wholly valueless. I In the pages of English History, from the Conquest down '^0 the reign of Henry VIII., the House of Stafford is •onspicuous ; their long unbroken descent, their splendid lUiances, and their vast possessions, naturally imparted to hem great power and influence, and placed them amongst he very foremost of English nobles. At the Conquest they assessed no fewer than eighty-one Lordships in Staffordshire ilone, twenty-six in Warwickshire, and twenty in Leicester- hire. By successivQ alliances with the heiresses of illustrious louses, these possessions swelled to the extent of the Rental )efore us, and they were again increased one-seventh in tmount in the life-time of Henr}^, the second Duke. The contemptuous reflection on Wolsey, which Shakspeare »as put into the mouth of Edward, the third Duke, — styled iy Johnson " one of the ancient unlettered martial nobility" ^may be well understood, considering how different was he origin of these two distinguished persons : — " A beggar's Book Outworths a noble's blood." VOL. VIII. N N