The Hollow Crown: A History of Britain in the Late Middle Ages

502 Pages·2005·4.36 MB·English

by  Miri Rubin

The Hollow Crown
THE PENGUIN HISTORY OF BRITAIN
I: DAVID MATTINGLY Roman Britain: 100–409
II: ROBIN FLEMING Anglo-Saxon Britain: 410–1066
III: DAVID CARPENTER The Struggle for Mastery: Britain 1066–1284*
IV: MIRI RUBIN The Hollow Crown:
A History of Britain in the Late Middle Ages*
V: SUSAN BRIGDEN New Worlds, Lost Worlds: Britain 1485–1603*
VI: MARK KISHLANSKY A Monarchy Transformed: Britain 1603–1714*
VII: LINDA COLLEY A Wealth of Nations? Britain 1707–1815
VIII: DAVID CANNADINE At the Summit of the World: Britain 1800–1906
IX: PETER CLARKE Hope and Glory: Britain 1901–2000, 2nd edition*
MIRI RUBIN
The Hollow Crown
A History of Britain in the Late Middle Ages
ALLEN LANE
an imprint of
PENGUIN BOOKS
ALLEN LANE
Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
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First published 2005
1
Copyright © Miri Rubin, 2005
The moral right of the author has been asserted All rights reserved. Without limiting the
rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both
the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book
EISBN: 978–0–141–90800–7
Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
Editorial Note
Maps
Introduction
1 Famine and Deposition, 1307–1330
2 Plague and War, 1330–1377
3 An Empty Land and its King, 1377–1399
4 Usurpation and the Challenges to Order, 1399–1422
5 ‘For the world was that time so strange’, 1422–1461
6 Little England and a Little Peace, 1462–1485
Epilogue
Genealogical Table
An Essay on Further Reading
Index
List of Illustrations
Photographic acknowledgements are given in parentheses.
1. Zodiac Man, British Library Egerton 2572, fol. 50v (British
Library) 2. Edward III granting the Black Prince the principality of
Aquitaine (Bridgeman Art Library) 3. Women throwing corn to hens
and chickens, British Library Additonal 42130, fol. 166v (British
Library) 4. Virgin and Child, Eaton Bishop Church (Eaton Bishop
Church/Bridgeman Art Library) 5. Bamburgh Castle (Corbis) 6. Effigy
of the Black Prince, Canterbury Cathedral (Canterbury
Cathedral/Corbis) 7. Battle of Crécy, British Library Cotton Nero E II,
fol. 152v (British Library) 8. Effigy of Walter de Helyon, Much Marcle
Church (Much Marcle Church/photograph by kind permission of
David Mocatta) 9. Death of Wat Tyler, British Library Royal 18 E I,
fol. 175 (Bridgeman Art Library) 10. Frontispiece to Chaucer’s
manuscript of Troilus and Criseyde, Cambridge, Corpus Christi College,
Manuscript 61, fol. IV (Master and Fellows of Corpus Christi College,
Cambridge) 11. Wilton Diptych, National Gallery (by kind permission
of the National Gallery of London/Corbis) 12. Richard II receiving the
Earl of Northumberland, British Library Harley 1319, fol. 37v (British
Library) 13. Henry Bolingbroke claiming the throne, British Library
Harley 1319, fol. 57 (British Library) 14. Effigies of Henry IV and
Queen Joan of Navarre on their tomb in Canterbury Cathedral
(Bridgeman Art Library) 15. Duke of Clarence effigy, St Michael’s
Chapel, Canterbury Cathedral (Corbis) 16. Henry V with the English
poet Thomas Hoccleve (Corbis) 17. Battle of Agincourt, Lambeth
Palace Library 6, fol. 243 (Bridgeman Art Library) 18. The Duke of
Bedford worshipping Saint George, British Library Additional 18850,
fol. 256 (British Library) 19. Thomas Mac William Burke, MS 1440
fol. 21v (The Board of Trinity College Dublin) 20. Henry VI gives the
Earl of Shrewsbury the sword of the Constable of France, British
Library Royal 15 E 6, fol. 405 (British Library) 21. Manchester
misericord, Manchester Cathedral (Manchester Cathedral and
Manchester University Art History Department) 22. King’s College
Chapel, Cambridge (Corbis) 23. Parchment illustrated with historical
passages from the life of Edward IV and his pedigree, British Library
Harley 7353 (Bridgeman Art Library) 24. Image of a clandestine
marriage, British Library Royal 6 E 6, fol. 286v (British Library) 25.
Obverse of a rose-noble of Edward IV (Bridgeman Art Library) 26.
Wenhaston Doom, St Peter’s Church, Wenhaston (Rector and
Churchwardens of St Peter’s, Wenhaston and Blythweb Ltd,
http://www.wenhaston.ws)
Preface
The first history book I ever bought was Dorothy Stenton’s volume of
the Pelican History of England. Although in paperback it was an
expensive treat for a poor undergraduate in Jerusalem in the 1970s. To
the pleasure of buying it was added the thrill of rummaging through the
shelves of the most old-fashioned of scholarly bookshops, Ludwig
Mayer’s. Since then much has come and gone, in Jerusalem, in my life,
in our book-buying habits, and in the practice of history. Like that much
treasured book, The Hollow Crown aims to share historical reflection,
discovery and enthusiasm with those who love and cherish history, but
who have not made it their vocation. It is the product of the quarter-
century of my life as a historian, but it is not for historians alone. The
French have an excellent term to describe the intended audience – le
grand publique – the great public, the many who devote some of their
leisure to reading and visiting, and finally asking: How did we get here?
How have we become what we think we are? How different are we from
those who lived before us? What may we choose to learn and what to
discard from the dizzying range of human experience which history
reveals?
I say this book is not primarily for historians, or even history
students, but it could not have been made without the incorporation of
the intelligence, diligence and commitment of hundreds of workers in
the historical fields: academic historians, historians of art, students of
medieval literature, miners of archaeological remains. While writing The
Hollow Crown I came to realize just how many historians there are in
Britain today outside the universities: people who research and publish
excellent scholarship while preserving archives, teaching in schools,
guarding historic sites, curating in museums; how many continue to
study and write long after retirement, or during years at home while
caring for children.
The main, and perhaps sole, frustration arising from the writing of
this book has been the impossibility of acknowledging debts in footnote
form. I aim to do justice to the most heavily used sources in the Essay on
Further Reading at the end of this book, and have listed all sources in a
full bibliography which is available on-line at
http://www.history.qmul.ac.uk/staff/rubinbiblio.html. My reading and
research at the Cambridge University Library was graciously supported
by the assistance of Colin Clarkson, Lucas Elkin, Michael Fuller, Neil
Hudson, Andrew Kennedy and Morag Law.
I name here with pleasure those who generously provided material as
yet unpublished or who answered queries: Caroline Barron, Jim Bolton,
Chris Briggs, Christopher Fletcher, Ian Forrest, Harold Fox, Barbara
Hanawalt, Katie Hawks, Richard Helmholz, Brian Patrick McGuire,
Marygold Norbye, Mark Ormrod, Danna Piroyanski, Ivan Polancec,
Richard Smith, Craig Taylor, Anne de Windt and Edwin de Windt. As to
the many friends who helped me along the years – over cups of coffee
and tea in the Cambridge University Library or the British Library, at
meetings and seminars and conferences – they know how grateful I am,
and what fun it has been to make history together.
Some people must be mentioned by name. My young colleagues,
whom I have seen grow from brilliant and blushing graduate students to
confident and creative scholars – Anthony Bale, Chris Briggs,
Christopher Fletcher, Ian Forrest, Julian Luxford, Ruth Nisse, Danna
Piroyanski, Max Satchell, Phillip Schofield, David Stone, Marion Turner,
Anna Whitelock – have kept me alert and abreast of their exciting ways
of making history. I am delighted to thank, for his formative intellectual
gifts, Richard Smith, who presides over the buoyant study of British
rural societies; Mark Bailey, who combines subtle understanding of
landscape with the best that economic history has to offer; Paul Binski,
who knows English medieval art in all its forms as no other does, and is
passionate and generous too; John Watts, who, together with the late
and sorely lamented Simon Walker, has brought new grace and vision to
the study of late medieval politics; Mark Ormrod, who always reminds
us that Britain is part of Europe, and toils at the long history of state
formation; Christopher Dyer, who has made the feeding, clothing and
housing of medieval British people a central historical preoccupation,
with a combination of erudition and common sense; Richard Britnell,
who explores the creative forces of medieval exchange and town life;
Paul Strohm and David Wallace, who have taught me how to read texts
historically; Ira Katznelson, who excels in using contemporary politics as
a historian’s tool, without shame; and Rees Davies, a luminous
practitioner of histoire totale, a supportive friend and shining example in
all my endeavours.
At Queen Mary, University of London, I am surrounded by wonderful
examples of innovation in British History. My move from Oxford to
London in 2000 brought me into touch with a wonderful new group of
colleagues and friends. With some I run the European History Seminar –
David Carpenter (the author of the volume preceding my own in this
series), David D’Avray, Sophie Page, Brigitte Resl and Nigel Saul. From
them and from the seminar’s alert and lively participants I have learned
much that is offered in this book.
Thanks to Joan Stedman Jones I have come to know Herefordshire
and the Marches well. She and Christopher Walbank, both lovers of
everything historical, have served as my intelligent lay readers, and have
contributed meaningfully to the book’s improvement. Christopher
Brooke, Shulamith Shahar, Jon Parry and Gareth Stedman Jones turned
their formidable historical minds to my draft; they read the volume
closely and with the commitment of real friends. They indicated
delicately points for improvements and have thus become partners in the
book. My son Joseph Stedman Jones is the best possible companion on
the trips and walks which have contributed to the making of this book.
I live in a very historically minded household. My partner is a
historian, his son studies history, and our son, Joseph, once told me –
after a visit to Castle Acre in Norfolk – that he is keen on castles and
priories almost in equal measure. When he was six years old Joseph
developed a passion for Shakespeare through viewing the History Plays,
directed by Michael Boyd during the 2001 season of the Royal
Shakespeare Company. Most mothers would consider this passion a
blessing – and I definitely did – but it also dramatized the weight of
history, story and drama, which we all carry with us when approaching
any area of history, above all late medieval British history. I have
acknowledged this fact by letting Shakespeare in so he doesn’t haunt us
so much; his words will accompany us through each chapter, the ghost
at the feast, less voracious, I hope, for having been allocated a space at