And beams. Montague's treachery is not certain. the morning, unto ten of clock the forenoon. divers times the Earl of Warwick's party had the victory, and supposed that they had won the field. But it happened so, that the Earl of Oxford's men had upon them their lord's livery, both before and behind, which was a star with streams, which (was) much like King Edward's livery, the Le. rays, sun with streams; and the mist was so thick, that a man might not perfectly judge one thing from another; so the Earl of Warwick's men shot and fought against the Earl of Oxford's men, thinking and supposing, that they had been King Edward's men; and anon the Earl of Oxford, and his men, cried, "treason! treason!" and fled away from the field with eight hundred men. The Lord Marquis Montague was agreed, and appointed with King Edward, and put upon him King Edward's livery; and a man of the Earl of Warwick's, saw that, and fell upon him, and killed him. And when the Earl of Warwick saw his brother dead, and the Earl of Oxford fled, he leaped on horseback and fled to a wood by the field of Barnet, where was no way forth; and one of King Edward's men had espied him, and one came upon him, and killed him, and despoiled him naked. And so King Edward got that field. And there was slain of the Earl of Warwick's party, the Earl himself, Marquis Montague, Sir William Tyrell, Knight, and many others. The Duke of Exeter fought manly there that day, and was greatly despoiled, and wounded, and left naked for dead in the field, and so lay there from seven of clock, till four afternoon, which was taken up and brought to a house by a man of his own, and a leech brought to him and so afterwards brought into sanctuary at Westminster. And (of) King Edward's party was slain the Lord Cromwell, son and heir to the Earl of Essex; Lord Berners (his) son and heir, (Sir Humphrey Bourchier ;) Lord Say, and divers other to the number [of both parties] four thousand men. And after that the field was done, King Edward commanded both the Earl of Warwick's body, and the Lord Marquis' body, to be put in a cart, and returned himself with all his host again to London; and there commanded the said two bodies, to be laid in the church of Paul's, on the pavement, that every man might see them; and so they lay three or four days, and afterwards were buried. And King Harry being in the forward during the battle, was not hurt; but he was brought again to the Tower of London, there to be kept. John Warkworth, A Chronicle of the First Thirteen Years of the Reign of King Edward IV (edited by J. O. Halliwell, Camden Society, 1839; reprinted with spelling modernized in Chronicles of the White Rose, London, 1845), 123–126. CHAPTER VIII — THE REFORMA- 44. Henry VIII and Wolsey (1519) HIS IS majesty is twenty-nine years old and extremely handsome. Nature could not have done more for him. He is much handsomer than any other sovereign in Christendom; a great deal handsomer than the King of France; very fair, and his whole frame admirably proportioned. On hearing that Francis I wore a beard, he allowed his own to grow, and as it is reddish, he has now a beard that looks like gold. He is very accomplished, a good musician, composes well, is a most capital horseman, a fine jouster, speaks good French, Latin, and Spanish, is very religious, hears three masses daily when he hunts, and sometimes five on other days. He hears the office every day in the queen's chamber, that is to say vesper and compline. He is very fond of hunting, and never takes his diversion without tiring eight or ten horses, which he causes to be stationed beforehand along the line of country he means to take, and when one is tired he mounts another, and before he gets home they are all exhausted. He is extremely fond of tennis, at which game it is the prettiest thing in the world to see him play, his fair skin glowing through a shirt of the finest texture. He gambles with the French hostages, to the amount occasionally, it is said, of from 6000 to 8000 ducats in a day. He is affable and gracious, harms no one, does not covet his neighbour's goods, and is satisfied with his own dominions, having often said to me, "Sir Ambassador, we want all potentates to content themselves with By SEBAS- Venetian sixteenth began what century has been called the diplomatic period of European history, but it was "only by slow degrees sional mis that the occa si sion of special envoys was consolidated into the permanent resi dence of an accredited agent." Venice, however, had a peculiar need of strengthening her conEngland, for at this time the Republic was threatened with nection with spoliation by the great continental powers. Thus it came their own territories; we are satisfied with this island of He seems extremely desirous of peace. about that from 1509 to the final overthrow of the Republic in 1797, the succes sion of Vene tian ambas sadors to the English court was un broken, save for special political reasons. The correspon dence and Venetian agents form a valuable source of information on English affairs. ours." He is very rich. His father left him ten millions of ready money in gold, of which he was supposed to have spent onehalf in the war against France, when he had three armies on foot; one crossed the Channel with him, another was in the field against Scotland, and the third remained with the queen in reserve. His revenues amount to about 350,000 ducats annually, and are derived from estates, forests, and meres, the customs, hereditary and confiscated property, the duchies of Lancaster, York, Cornwall and Suffolk, the county palatine reports of the of Chester, and others, the principality of Wales, the export duties, the wool staple, the great seal, the annates yielded by Church benefices, the Court of Wards, and from New Year's gifts; for on the first day of the year it is customary for his majesty to make presents to everybody, but the value of those he receives in return greatly exceeds his own outlay. His majesty's expenses may be estimated at 100,000 ducats, those in ordinary having been reduced from 100,000 to 56,000 to which must be added 16,000 for salaries, 5000 for the stable, 5000 for the halberdiers, who have been reduced from 500 to 150, and 16,000 for the wardrobe, for he is the best dressed sovereign in the world. His robes are very rich and superb, and he puts on new clothes every holyday. Francis I, King of France. Meres, i.e. lakes. Charles V, Thomas Wolsey. On Wolsey, see G. Cavendish, The Life of Car The queen is the sister of the mother of the king of Spain, now styled King of the Romans. She is thirty-five years old and not handsome, though she has a very beautiful complexion. She is religious and as virtuous as words can express. I have seen her but seldom. The Cardinal of York is the same as he whom I have styled Orion, in a work composed by me. He is of low origin and has two brothers, one of whom holds an untitled benefice, and the other is pushing his fortune. He rules sey; Bishop both the king and the entire kingdom. On my first arrival dinal Wolin England he used to say to me, "His majesty will do so and so." Subsequently, by degrees, he forgot himself, and commenced saying, "We shall do so and so." At this present he has reached such a pitch that he says, "I shall do so and so.". He is about forty-six years old, very handsome ansible learned, extremely eloquent, of vast ability and indefatiga-" ble. He alone transacts the same business as that which occupies all the magistracies, offices and councils of Venice, both civil and criminal, and all State affairs likewise are managed by him, let their nature be what it may. He is thoughtful, and has the reputation of being extremely just. He favours the people exceedingly, and especially the poor, hearing their suits and seeking to despatch them instantly. He also makes the lawyers plead gratis for all who are poverty-stricken. He is in very great repute, seven times more so than if he were Pope. He has a very fine palace, where one traverses eight rooms before reaching his audience chamber. They are all hung with tapestry which is changed once a week. Wherever he is, he always has a sideboard of plate worth 25,000 ducats. His silver is estimated at 150,000 ducats. In his own chamber there is always a cupboard with vessels to the amount of 30,000 ducats, as is customary with the English nobility. He is supposed to be very rich indeed in money, plate and household stuff. The Archbishopric of York yields him about 14,000 ducats, and the Bishopric of Bath 8000. One-third of the fees derived from the Great Seal are his, the other two are divided between the king and the chancellor. The cardinal's share amounts to about 5000 ducats. By New Year's gifts he makes about 15,000 ducats. Sebastian Giustinian, Report of England made to the Senate, September 10, 1519 (Calendar of State Papers, Venetian, 1509-1519, No. 1287, London, 1873). |