Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 12.djvu/503

 i is. XIL DEC. 25, i9i5.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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Jehan Bouratier, Archbishop of Bourges, did not avail to avert the impending inva- sion of France. Traces of these public events occur in our College records : "

" In trutis cerisis et vino [trout, cherries, and vine] emptis et datis tarn domino Episcopo Wyntoniensi [Beaufort] quam aliis generosis supervenientibus ad collegium tempore quo Bex fuit Wyntonie, ijs. xd." Roll of 1414-5, under ' Expense forinsece cum clonis.'

"In j laborario conducto ad pariattandum muros [hired to plaster the walls] coquine et latrine erg'a adventum domini Regis, viijd." Ibid., under ' Custus domorum cum necessariis.'

The sole reference to French affairs that I have noticed in the Hall-book of 1414-5 is in the diary for the last week of the 2nd quarter :

" Die lune [Monday, 25 March] Miles gallicus cum iij sociis suis ad prandium in alta mensa. [The other guests of the day being :] Magister Theologie cum socio suo ad prandium cum sociis : Lamport, Bowremane, Sybbyscotte ad prandium cum sociis : Suffriganus ad prandium in alta mensa : puer eius ad prandium cum sociis."

I cannot put a name either to the Suffragan or to the French knight. As they dined on Lady Day they had the opportunity of enjoying a pittance or extra course.

For mention of Agincourt itself, where the battle was fought on 25 Oct., we have to turn to the Account-roll of 1415-6 :

" In dat. Johanni Coudray filio Edwardi Coudray armigeri domini Episcopi Wyntoniensis deferenti novos rumores ad collegium de ultra mare de Ducibus Comitibus Baronibus militibus et aliis generosis de Francia captis per dominum Regem nostrum nunc Anglie in quodam bello facto apud Agyncourt in Picarda in festo sanctorum Crispini et Crisp iniani a Regni sui tercio et usque in Angliam postea [i.e., since John Coudray's coming] cum dicto domino Rege ductis, vj. viijd." ' Expense forinsece cum donis.'

Young Coudray apparently did not stay to dine or sup ; at any rate, he does not figure in the Hall-book of 1415-6, to tell us the date when he brought news of victory. But the diary, under the 4th week of the 2nd quarter, gives us a glimpse of some one who had probably experienced the seamy side of the war :

" Die Martis [21 Jan., 1415/6] ij servientes patris Ryngewod conducentes filios eius ad collegium et j ex eleemosyna et caritate invitatus veniens de ultra mare, ad prandium cum famuli*."

A few weeks earlier than that, however, one " Lowes " begins to appear among the " pagetti " in the weekly lists of the ser- vants. He was the French boy whom the College had apparently ransomed :

" In soluto pro quodam Francigeno nomine Lodewico serviente in coquina hoc anno, xx.. iii.jr/." Roll of 1415-6, under ' Solucio forinscca.'

Kirby's allusions to this ex-prisoner of war (' Annals,' p. 177) foster an impression" that Lewis, having been straightway ap- pointed College cook, failed in that capacity,, and was shortly degraded into a stable- help. But the fact is that the kitchen establishment consisted in 1415-6 of William Kenne, the cook (" cocus qui simul est lardarius") at 26s. $d. a year, John Nowell, " garcio coquine" at 10s., and two

pagetti," of whom Lewis became one ; and so he remained until 1424, when the better- paid office of "garcio stabuli " at 13s. 4d.- a year fell vacant, and he got double his former wages by promotion to it. In 1438, however, he returned with the like wages to the kitchen as " garcio coquine," and wa-' thought so well of there that he soon received the more dignified title of " subcocus." The Account-rolls supply an annual list of the servants under Stipendia servientium Collegii ' ; Lewis disappears from the list after 1448-9, when he had served the College for thirty-four years. The labourer had proved worthy of his ransom as well as of his hire.

Ought the duty of defending the realm to* be confined to the laity ? No matter what should be the answer to this question nowa- days, it is on record that in the summer of 1416, when our coasts were being attacked by the French fleet, Hayne and Grover, tv o Fellows, who were, therefore, necessarily priests, gave their own practical answer by leading the contingent which the College dispatched to the muster of bowmen at Hamble. Hayne being one of the Bursars for 1415-6, it may be presumed that he has acted as " eyewitness " :

" In expensis domini Willelmi Hayne Walterr- Harley [one of the Chaplains] et magistri Willelmii Grovere et aliorum de Collegio equitancium et peditancium ad Hamele in the Rys [where the manor belonged to the College] et ibidem existen-- cium per iiij or dies pro defensione patrie contra inimicos domini Regis et Regni sui et tocius patrie una cum expensis Walteri Wallyngfes et aliorum hominum secum peditancium ad Hamele predict' pro simili causa alia vice et ultra expensas factas et solutas per Robertum Ticch' [Titchfeld] firmarium ibidem, xa. ixd. ob. In cordulis et capitibus sagittarum emptis eodem tempore, xijrf. In datis iij tenentibus de Roppele [Ropley] existentibus apud Hamele predict per j diem et j noctem post recessum patrie pro maiore securi- tate &c., xijd." Account-roll, 1415-6, uiu! r ' Expense forinsece cum donis.' For the King's letters patent of 14 May, 1416, " de arraiatione contra invasionem Gallicorum," see ' Fcedera,' iv. 161.

Returning now to the Hall-book of 1414-5,. I notice that John Pole's tenure of the headmastership ended in October, 1414. Iifc