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Some Aspects of Medieval Travel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

Extract

The Public Record Office possesses, among the archives of the Duchy of Lancaster, two wardrobe accounts, dealing with the expenses of Henry Earl of Derby's travels in the years 1390–3. The documents, unique of their kind, present an accurate picture of the means of transport and accommodation available to travellers in the later middle ages ; and, though lacking the personal, picturesque side of travel-memoirs, preserve for that very reason a truer picture of that kind of undertaking which provided so large a part of the interests and amenities of life.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Historical Society 1924

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References

page 77 note 1 These Accounts [Duchy of Lancaster: Accounts (Various), 1, 7 and 8] have been printed by two learned Societies—the Camden Society in England, and the East and West Prussian Historical Society [under the title “Rechnungen über Heinrich von Derby's Preussenfahrten, 1390–1 und 1392”], but have been very little used, either for facts relating to Henry himself, or for the light they throw on the conditions of life at the time. The English edition gives the complete text of the Accounts, the German edition those parts only which relate to Prussia.

page 77 note 2 All records of the later Middle Ages abound in evidence of the constant movements of folk of all classes, from motives of religion, trade, politics, warfare, feats of arms; the nobles moved about the country for economic reasons.

page 78 note 1 Though the clerk himself, drawing up the accounts, gives the heading, “Computus … pro viagio … ordinato usque partes Barbarie, et … partes Prucie,” etc., misleading without an examination of the details of expenses.

page 78 note 2 106/1. All references to the Wardrobe Accounts are given simply with a page and line reference to the Camden Society's edition, 1894.

page 78 note 3 i.e. Wilna.

page 78 note 4 A parting gift of £400 from the Marshal of Prussia appears among the “Recepta” (149/20). Henry went hunting with Wenzel (191/8); and was entertained by the Duke of Austria (150/17).

page 78 note 5 The Prior of St. John in England, Radyngton, was with Henry during part at any rate of the journey (150/1).

page 78 note 6 276/2.

page 78 note 7 R. Brown: Cal. of State Papers (Venetian) I, under Nov. 30, 1392, and March 31, 1393.

page 79 note 1 Nearly all the names can be traced in Duchy of Lancaster; Accounts (Various), I, Household and Wardrobe, III Receiver General; and in John of Gaunt's Register, passim.

page 79 note 2 276/18.

page 79 note 3 50/25, horses were bought “pro cariagio domini in le Wyldrenesse eo quod caruce non poterunt ulterius transire.”

page 79 note 4 15/4.

page 79 note 5 Vision of Piers Plowman, II, 60.

page 79 note 6 60/22.

page 79 note 7 105/2.

page 79 note 8 pp. 211–224.

page 80 note 1 Miss Rose Graham suggests that this bears out the general impression of the devastated condition of France.

page 80 note 2 40/7.

page 80 note 3 107/6, he was paid the large sum of £20.

page 80 note 4 107/10.

page 80 note 5 107/2.

page 80 note 6 107/3.

page 80 note 7 107/28.

page 80 note 8 110/8.

page 80 note 9 110/13.

page 80 note 10 105/7. IO5/13, etc.

page 81 note 1 64/5, various medicaments for the creature.

page 81 note 2 9/7.

page 81 note 3 P. 112. In all, twenty-two horses were given.

page 81 note 4 Two “trotters,” the property of Sir John Loudenham, one of the party, were bought for Henry's use, after Sir John's death “in partibus de Lettowe,” i.e. Lithuania.

page 81 note 5 6/1.

page 81 note 6 7/11.

page 81 note 7 7/19.

page 81 note 8 241/16.

page 81 note 9 158/5 ; this refers to a large ship crossing the North Sea.

page 82 note 1 36/14. 36/11.

page 82 note 2 37/3.

page 82 note 3 164/27.

page 82 note 4 177/8.

page 82 note 5 See note at the end on the use of the word “harness.”

page 82 note 6 7/8 from London to Dover: 226/29 in Cyprus; 225/28 from Raman to Jerusalem.

page 82 note 7 13/16 for Richard Messenger.

page 82 note 8 240/16 for a man carrying falcons in Italy; 199/17 for an esquire taking Henry on his way from Austria to Italy.

page 83 note 1 49/10.

page 83 note 2 180/17, 190/21, 190/23, 191/24.

page 83 note 3 163/18, 172/23.

page 83 note 4 The wages, etc., of those driving and attending to the carts hired especially for the “reysa” amounted to £106 13s. 4d. (p. 54 et seq.)—these in addition to the ordinary baggage-train.

page 83 note 5 180/7.

page 83 note 6 186/18, 189/30.

page 83 note 7 180/16, tallow; 189/30, etc., fats.

page 83 note 8 Dr. Fortescue says that in these waggons the wheels and axle probably rotated together.

page 83 note 9 e.g. 177/28 various harness for two carts; 180/12, saddles; 238/12 a pole and girths.

page 83 note 10 203/32.

page 84 note 1 5/7, 178/33, etc.

page 84 note 2 34/17.

page 84 note 3 154/29.

page 84 note 4 35/15.

page 84 note 5 19/18.

page 84 note 6 46/18.

page 84 note 7 64/10.

page 84 note 8 177/13..

page 84 note 9 237/7.

page 84 note 10 41/26.

page 84 note 11 179/30.

page 84 note 12 233/24.

page 84 note 13 152/4.

page 84 note 14 6/8.

page 84 note 15 19/1.

page 84 note 16 6/3, 241/25 ostrich-egg cups.

page 84 note 17 187/24.

page 84 note 18 92/30.

page 84 note 19 73/34.

page 85 note 1 189/2.

page 85 note 2 46/17.

page 85 note 3 92/17.

page 85 note 4 Henry had his own special barrel of drinking water on board ship, 23/18.

page 85 note 5 51/30.

page 85 note 6 194/2, in Bohemia.

page 85 note 7 229/3, a cabin on the galley.

page 86 note 1 285/24. The parrot and the leopard evidently survived, for later Wardrobe Accounts give entries for “popingaysed” and for “Marc,” the custodian of the leopard.

page 86 note 2 166/21. See note on “language” at the end of the essay.

page 86 note 3 278/4.

page 86 note 4 8/10, 37/11.

page 86 note 5 7/16, 37/6.

page 86 note 6 8/7.

page 86 note 7 I.e. Danube, 194/13.

page 86 note 8 247/3.

page 86 note 9 15/22, both at Canterbury.

page 86 note 10 In these Accounts the generic name for a Prussian seems to be Hans.

page 86 note 11 E.g. 43/20, various “hostelers” at Dantzic.

page 87 note 1 191/8.

page 87 note 2 150/16.

page 87 note 3 150/20, John Sobieslaw.

page 87 note 4 168/23.

page 87 note 5 227/3.

page 87 note 6 39/13.

page 87 note 7 38/19.

page 87 note 8 65/13, 24.

page 87 note 9 259/12.

page 87 note 10 259/16.

page 88 note 1 75/21.

page 88 note 2 281/13.

page 88 note 3 79/9, 93/20.

page 88 note 4 227/3.

page 88 note 5 234/24.

page 88 note 6 177/20. It is noteworthy that among the things bought for the Prussian expedition was “j tabulam pro altare … por le Reys,” 49/18.

page 88 note 7 284/29.

page 88 note 8 58/2.

page 88 note 9 63/25.

page 88 note 10 63/24, eight dining-tables, 64/1 a “cuppeborde.”.

page 89 note 1 60/29.

page 89 note 2 69/6.

page 89 note 3 Pp. 72–75 passim..

page 89 note 4 239/10.

page 89 note 5 240/26, entry of a payment to a friar, “custodienti cameras domini et famulorum suorum pro perdicione clavium et aliorum necessariorum fratrum.”.

page 89 note 6 68/20.

page 89 note 7 The phrase is Professor Calender's.

page 89 note 8 76/9, 11.

page 89 note 9 154/12.

page 89 note 10 156/21, 153/23.

page 89 note 11 56/17.

page 89 note 12 157/17.

page 90 note 1 157/21, made of canvas; Henry had a special cabin even for a Channel crossing, 36/18.

page 90 note 2 156/26.

page 90 note 3 158/9.

page 90 note 4 To be interpreted bulkheads, according to Prof. Callender.

page 90 note 5 81/8.

page 90 note 6 76/22.

page 90 note 7 281/25.

page 90 note 8 N. Gras: English Customs System, pp. 436 et seq., gives various woods coming in to the port of Lynn. Acts and Ordinances of the Eastland Company (Camden Society, yd series, Vol. XI), p. 21, details of woods from Norway.

page 90 note 9 76/7.

page 90 note 10 43/16.

page 90 note 11 Pp. 40–41.

page 90 note 12 I am indebted to Prof. Callender for this classification.

page 92 note 1 7/17, 8/7, 23/27, etc. Three great ships took the party out, and two brought them back (first journey); for the second journey, three great ships took them out; and one galley was hired in the Mediterranean.

page 91 note 2 97/26, 98/6.

page 91 note 3 39/5.

page 91 note 4 99/20, 23.

page 91 note 5 206/20, 23.

page 91 note 6 19/24.

page 91 note 7 37/29, 41/22, 238/22, etc.

page 91 note 8 257/15.

page 91 note 9 Pp. 36–37.

page 91 note 10 Statham, S. P., Dover Charters, pp. 3436Google Scholar.

page 91 note 11 103/27, etc.

page 91 note 12 54/1.

page 92 note 1 5/15, 257/4.

page 92 note 2 10/5, 152/1.

page 92 note 3 Pp. 4. 149.

page 92 note 4 P. 150.

page 92 note 5 Duchy of Lancaster; Accounts (Various). III, Receiver General, No. 2.

page 92 note 6 The treasurer has written in various marginal notes to assist him in his reckonings.

page 92 note 7 Lockhart: Life of Sir Walter Scott, 1839 edition. Vol. IV, pp. 94–95. I owe this reference to the kindness of Mr. Charles Johnson.

page 93 note 1 Camden Soc., Old Series, 1843.

page 93 note 2 Durham Account Rolls (Surtees Soc), III, p. 607.

page 93 note 3 Manners and Household Expenses (Roxburghe Club), p. 455 (Howard Household Accounts).

page 93 note 4 Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, IV, p. 680.

page 93 note 5 In the arsenal at Venice—Voyage de la Sainct Cyté de Hierusalem, 1480 (Cordier and Schefer's Receuil de Voyages, Tome II).

page 94 note 1 Liber Quotidianus Contrarotulatoris Garderobe (Soc. of Antiquaries), p. 98.

page 94 note 2 York Merchant Adventurers (Surtees Soc, No. 129), p. 60.

page 94 note 3 John of Gaunt's Register (Camden Soc, 1911), II, 940.

page 94 note 4 Earliest English Wills (Early English Text Society, No. 78), p. 36.

page 94 note 5 Archaeologia, 62. A Wardrobe Account of 16–17 Richard II.

page 94 note 6 Chaucer's Prologue: The Yeoman.

page 94 note 7 Fleta. Tome 3, cap. 21. The duty of the sergeant of the sumpters.

page 94 note 8 Scriptores Rerum Prussicarum (Hirsch, Toppen and Strelke), Band III, p. 747; Nederheim's Wardrobe Accounts.

page 94 note 9 Introduction to Knowledge (Early English Text Society).

page 95 note 1 From MS. Harl. 3988. Edited by Paul Meyer, 1873.

page 95 note 2 W. Wey. Itineraries and Informacyon for Pilgrimes (Roxburghe Club).

page 95 note 3 Evagatorium … in Terram Sanctam (Stuttgart Literarish. Verein, Bde. 2, 1843), p. 4.

page 95 note 4 El viaggio all' Santo Sepolcro … 1413 (Ed. G. Ghinassi), p. 117.

page 95 note 5 Gentlemen Errant (Mrs. Henry Cust), p. 27.

page 95 note 6 Des Ursins, I 384 (b) says that, at the siege of “Africa,” were present some Genoese who could speak the language of the Saracens.

page 95 note 7 Travels of Venetians in Persia (Hakluyt Soc., 1873), p. 30.

page 96 note 1 C. P. Serrure's edition of de Lannoy (1840), p. 34.

page 96 note 2 Un Empereur Byzantin … à Paris et à Londres (G. Schlumberger), pp. 20, 23.

page 96 note 3 Evagatorium, p. 31. “et per signa omnia postulavimus.”.

page 96 note 4 R.H.S. Transactions IV, 6. “The English Colony at Rome in the Fourteenth Century.”.

page 96 note 5 Canon Pietro Casola's Pilgrimage in 1483 (Manchester Univ. Publications).

page 96 note 6 Ibid., pp. 123, 124, 138.

page 96 note 7 Ibid., p. 154.

page 96 note 8 Evagatorium, p. 83.