Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 11.djvu/121

 9*s. XL FIB. 7, iocs.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

113

Robsart : her Death,' Macmillaris Magazine, vol. liii. I think that in the first-named volume it is probable MR. ASTLEY will find all the information he requires.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.

Lady Robert Dudley had a half-sister Ann Appleyard, her mother, Elizabeth Scott, of Camberwell, Surrey, being, on her marriage with John Robsart, lord of the manor of Siderstern, Norfolk, widow of Roger Apple- yard (d. 1530), lord of the manor of Stanfield, Norfolk. The existence of this half-sister may perhaps account for Froude's mention of Anne Robsart ; otherwise we might suppose the confusion to have arisen from the simi- larity of the names to careless ears or eyes. In like manner Jane is written for Joan, Anne for Agnes. A. R. BAYLEY.

MR. ASTLEY will find all the information he requires in 'Who Killed Amy Robsart?' published by Elliot Stock in 1901 ; but for his convenience I may state here that the Christian name of this unfortunate lady was Amy, and not Anne. She signs her name Amy in an existing MS. Amy Robsart was born either in 1531 or in 1532, and (probably) at Sedistern, where she spent a great portion of her childhood. PHILIP SIDNEY.

Royal Societies' Club, S.W.

Much interesting information about this unfortunate lady will be found in a little volume entitled ' Who Killed Amy Robsart 1 ' by Philip Sidney, F.R.Hist.S. (Elliot Stock, 1901). So far as can be ascertained, Amy Robsart was born about 1530, but the place of her birth is unknown. Mr. Sidney states that in the county of Norfolk, we can but conjecture, Amy passed the days of her early youth. Until, indeed, the appearance of Robert Dudley on the scene, history reveals nothing as to the chief incidents of her maidenhood. Amy Robsart was married to Lord Robert Dudley (born on 24 June, 1532) at Sheen on 4 June, 1550. The marriage was one of pure mutual affection. With regard to the question, Was her real name Amy or Anne? perhaps the following, from my copy of the book I have referred to, may interest MR. H. J. DUKINFIELD ASTLEY :

"Certain modern writers have raised the point that the Christian name of Dudley's wife was not Amy, but Anne. A fairly strong case can without doubt be made out in favour of Anne, but insuf- ficient to prove the older spelling incorrect. It is possible, of course, that the word ' Amie ' or ' Aimie ' may have been a misreading of the MS. for 'Anne.' Anne, moreover, was a far more com- mon name than Amy. But in her funeral certifi- cate the name is spelled 'Amie,' and she signed

icrself ' Amye ' in a letter still extant. In another contemporary document, however, her name reads Anne, but the word is not written by her, but of ler." Vide p. 54.

HENRY GERALD HOPE. 119, Elms Road, Clapham, S.W.

"YEOMAN" (9 th S. x. 204, 354, 474). If OMESTOR OXONIENSIS has time to refer to the treatment of this word by Sir George Sitwell in the Ancestor, he will see that that gentleman does purport to deal with the formal history of this word, though not in the way that a pure Anglicist might do. My object was to query humbly whether it were not

better to bear the yoong men that we have, Than fly to *geamen that we know not of,

specially when the latter hypothetical word, being fissiparturient, has to be assumed to be "two gentlemen at once," geaman and gedman.

Sir George cites from Sir Harris Nicolas's 'Agincourt' (third_ ed., 1833), App. viii. 42, certain "other ordinances made by the E. of Shrewsburie and of Pearche, Lord of Mount- hermer, at his seiges in mayne and other places, from a MS. in the College of Arms (L. 5), collated with the Additional MS. 5758 in the British Museum." I have no know- ledge of the former MS., but the latter seems to be a most carelessly written one ; and I should not be disposed to place any reliance on its forms. Its uses of the word are as follows :

" [Ord. viii.] For to make stakes against A battaile or iourney.

" Alsoe that euery Capitaine doe Compell their yog men euery man in all hast to make him a good substantiall stake of xi. foot of length for certeyne tydinges that the 11s. [lordships] haue hearde and in

payne to be punished as thearto longeth "

Fo". 202 dorso.

"[xiv.] ForPauises. Alsoe that euery ij. yeomen make them A good Pauise of bordes or of p a p [? paper] in the best manner they can best deuise that one may holde it whilest that other doth shete vpon ye payne," &c.*

Some confirmation of the suggestion that the two words were capable of being con- fused in sound in the sixteenth century will be found in the following passage from statute 33 Henry VIII. c. x. 6, where yeomen occurs in the original petition in the place where yongemen appears in the enrolment of the Act :

"Thesaide Justices of Peace shall have full

power to examine inquyre here and determyne

all defaultes and contemptes which shalbe done

or comytted by any servauntes comonly called

readers information as to the MS. in the College of Arms.
 * Perhaps we may have from another of your