Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 58.djvu/68

Usk USK, THOMAS (d. 1388), the author of ‘The Testament of Love,’ formerly ascribed to Chaucer, was born in the city of London. His family resided in the neighbourhood of Newgate. The documents of the period mention several persons bearing the same surname, to whom he may possibly have been related; a Roger Usk and Agnes his wife, living in London, received a life interest in property at Queenhithe by a will dated 1368 (, London Wills, ii. 111); in 1377 a Roger Usk was commissioned at Westminster to arrest a runaway friar (Cal. Pat. Rolls, Richard II, i. 91); and a Nicholas Usk was treasurer of Calais in 1403 (Issue Rolls of Exchequer, p. 287). The chronicler Adam of Usk (who mentions Thomas Usk's execution) does not come into consideration, as he was so called from his birthplace, his real surname being unknown [see ].

The statement that Usk was a priest (English Continuation of, Rolls ser. viii. 467) is probably erroneous; but he belonged to the clerical order, and his book gives evidence of considerable theological and philosophical reading. It appears from his own statements that he had at one time held lollard opinions, which he afterwards recanted. He says further that in his youth he was induced by his zeal for the welfare of his native city to enter into certain conspiracies professing to aim at bringing about a reform in the government of London, but that he discovered, to his great grief, that the leaders whom he had followed were actuated by base and self-interested motives. He admits, however, that desire for personal advancement had had too great a share in determining his own conduct. He professes to have made great sacrifices for the cause which he had espoused, paying for the maintenance of some of his fellow-conspirators ‘till they were turned out of Zealand.’ He also says that he had spent some time in exile, and had been treated with gross ingratitude by those whom he had assisted.

The meaning of these autobiographical allusions is in part elucidated by the facts that are known from other sources respecting Usk's life. He was private secretary to John de Northampton [q. v.], the leader of the democratic and Wyclifite party in the city of London; and during Northampton's two years' mayoralty (1381–3) was the chief instrument in carrying out his patron's designs against the power of the city companies. It appears from Usk's own language that he occupied a highly lucrative and influential position. At the end of 1383 Northampton was defeated in a contest for the mayoralty by Sir Nicholas Brembre [q. v.], and in February 1384 the new lord mayor caused his rival to be arrested on a charge of sedition. Usk appears from his own statements to have fled the country; but, failing to receive the help in money which he expected from his friends in England, he was obliged to return, and early in August was committed to Newgate (Cal. Pat. Rolls, Richard II, ii. 500) as an accomplice in his master's crimes. On promising to reveal all he knew he was set at liberty, and was entertained for a time in the house of the lord mayor.

On 18 Aug. Northampton was brought before the king and his council at Reading, and Usk appeared as the principal witness against him, accusing his master of a long series of crimes, to which he confessed that he had himself been accessory. Northampton angrily denied the charges, and challenged his accuser to single combat. His contumacious behaviour exasperated the king, who ordered him to be hanged; but, on the intercession of the queen, the sentence was commuted to imprisonment for life. In September Richard, sensible of the illegality of his procedure, caused Northampton to be brought before the judges at the Tower. Usk was again the accuser, and (according to his own assertion, which is indirectly corroborated by Walsingham) offered to prove the truth of his words by wager of battle. Northampton was sentenced to death, but reprieved. On 24 Sept. Usk received the king's pardon (ib. ii. 467). It was generally believed that he had been suborned by Brembre to make false charges against his master. In ‘The Testament of Love’ he shows himself deeply sensible of the odium which his treachery had brought upon him. He endeavours to justify himself for having revealed secrets which, as he admits, he had sworn to preserve. From some of his expressions it appears that he had failed to gain the confidence of his new associates, and that his recantation of lollard heresies had proved unavailing to procure his reconciliation with the church. No further mention of him occurs until 7 Oct. 1387, when the king addressed a letter to the lord mayor, thanking the citizens for having, at his request, appointed Usk under-sheriff. The appointment appears to have been made with some reluctance, and the king promised that it should not be treated as a precedent (, London and the Kingdom, i. 231).

In the following month Usk's fortunes underwent a fatal reverse. The king was compelled by the rebellion headed by his uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, to consent to the impeachment of his five principal 