Walford's Antiquarian. William Thynne, Chaucer's First Editor. PART I. N 1864 I published a volume entitled "Collections in Illustration of the Parochial History and Antiquities of All Hallows Barking," of which parish I was for some ten years curate. The book was tentative only, and I purposely called it "Collections," because I was conscious of its imperfect and fragmentary character. It has been long out of print; but the subject has never lost interest with me, and I have devoted many hours of leisure from more serious pursuits since my "Collections were begun, to the work of increasing, revising, and correcting them, so that I have now on hand a mass of material which will, no doubt, be of use to some more able and accomplished antiquary to come. Amongst the names of the many eminent persons connected with the parish of All Hallows Barking, that of William Thynne, the first editor of the complete works of Chaucer, particularly deserves to be remembered with honour by the antiquarian and the bibliographer. Many interesting facts in the life of Thynne, and his son Francis, the antiquary, are contained in a reprint of the latter's "Animadversions" upon Speght's edition of Chaucer, with an introduction and notes by that most genial of writers, F. J. Furnivall, published for the Chaucer Society in 1875. Although in the preparation of this paper I have in all cases sought information from original sources, I have found Mr. Furnivall's notes of the greatest service for the confirmation and correction of my own independent researches. William Thynne, who was "Clerk of the Kitchen" to Henry VIII., lies buried in the south-east aisle of the Church of All Hallows, Barking, beheath a slab of Hopton stone, bearing a memorial brass, restored by Messrs. Waller in 1861. The restoration was done, at my suggestion, with the approval, and at the expense of the Marquis of Bath, lineally descended from William Thynne's nephew, Sir John Thynne, of Longleat, and therefore from a common ancestor. It has been aptly said that if the distinguished family of Thynne had no other honours to inherit, the services to English literature of this worthy member of it would alone entitle it to the regard of all English-speaking people. The tomb bears the following inscription : "Here lyeth M. Willm. Thynne, Esq., one of the masters of the honourable household of King Henrie VIII., our Soveraigne Lord. He departed from the prison of this frayle body the xth day of August, Anno Dom. 1546, in the xxxviii. yeere of our said Soveraigne Lord the King; whose bodye, & every part thereof, in the last daye shall be raised up againe at the sound of the loud trumpet. In whose coming, that we may all joyfully meet him, our heavenly Father grant to us, whose mercies are so great that He freely offereth to all them that earnestly repent their sins everlasting lyfe, through the death of his dearly beloved Son Jesus, to whom be everlasting praises. Amen." The original inscription, according to Stow's "Survey of London," began with "Praye for the soule of," but this, with the exception of the ye, had been obliterated with a chisel, in accordance with the Reformation Statutes against purgatory and prayers for the dead, and it was considered by the authorities illegal to restore it. When the plates of the memorial were taken from their bed for the purpose of restoration, the brass was found to be a palimpsest. The reverse side proved to be part of an old brass of English workmanship; portions of the effigy of an ecclesiastic holding a chalice distinctly appeared. Whether this was a damaged plate, employed by the artist because cheaper than new material, or whether, which is quite possible, it had done duty before, and had been sacrilegiously torn from some other tomb, did not appear. At the dissolution of the monasteries, many treasures of this kind found their way into the market, the old and already used material being both cheaper and stronger than a new sheet of latten, although disfigured on the reverse side. The figures in this memorial are well drawn. The male figure is two feet six inches in length, represented in armour, of a character more showy than useful, being puffed and slashed like the ordinary costume of the times; the skirt is of chain mail, a sword hangs from the left side, across the figure behind; a dagger is also worn. The head, uncovered, rests on a helmet; round the neck there is a chain, a badge worn by every officer of the Court in the sixteenth century. The figure of the lady before Messrs. Waller took it in hand was very imperfect, and had been roughly used. It is now carefully restored: she wears a close-fitting robe and a narrow girdle; the ends, hanging down, support a square of embroidery with I.H.S. The sleeves are ribbed and puffed, but close-fitting, and gathered at the wrists. The dress opens at the breast, displaying the partlett beneath, type of the modern habit-shirt. The head-dress is a cap of horseshoe shape with a lappet behind This species of head-gear became historical as the "Mary Queen of Scots cap!" William Thynne was the son of Ralph of the Inn (or mansion) of Botfield, descended from an ancient family seated at Church Stretton, in Salop. On the division of the family estates in 1439, Thomas Botfield settled his copyholds upon his younger son, John, who thus obtained a family settlement in Stretton, separate from his elder brother William, the Lord of the Manor, and heritor of the freeholds. The latter would occupy the manor-house or inn, and would be called in consequence "Botfield of the Inn," to distinguish him from his younger brother. By degrees this designation would be exclusively used for the elder branch of the family, especially if there were two local representatives of the Botfields, each bearing the same Christian name. Hence the surname of The Inn, or Thynne, which was certainly exclusively borne by Ralph Thynne, the father of our William, who died at Stretton in 1515. William was the second son of this Ralph and of Anne, his wife,* His elder brother, Thomas, seems to have been honourably employed at the Court, since he received, according to the Patent Rolls, 17 & 18 Henry VIII., the grant of "a yerely pension of xl'. a yere for his good service." This disposes of the statement sometimes made that The pedigree on p. 90 of the Harleian MS. No. 1,364, makes him the son of William Thynne, and Joan, daughter of John Higgons; apparently there are two mistakes, it was Thomas, an uncle, who married Joan Higgons and died s.p., and the father of William Thynne was named Ralph. See the " Topographer and Genealogist," vol. iii. p. 483, for an account of the family of Thynne, written with great attention to accuracy and more trustworthy than that in Hoare's "Modern Wiltshire,” i. 60. the rise of the family was due to our William Thynne's courtly employment. It is clear that his elder brother preceded him in the service of the crown, and secured for his two sons, John and William, the rank and influence they afterwards acquired; it is from the former of these that the noble family of Bath is descended. At what period, and in what capacity, our William entered the Royal service, cannot now be ascertained. According to Anthony Wood, (Athenæ Oxon, i. 336), he was "a Salopian born, and educated amongst the Oxonians for a time; afterwards retiring to the Court he became, through several petty employments, chief clerk of the kitchen to Henry VIII." I have not been able to confirm these statements, with the exception of the last. The earliest date at which any contemporary reference to Thynne can be found is in the State papers, calendared by Mr. Brewer, for the reign of Henry VIII. In a patent dated February 15, 1524, William Thynne, who is described as "Second Clerk of the Kitchen," is appointed "Bailiff in reversion of Rye, in Sussex." There is no record in the patent rolls of his first appointment in the Royal household, but from this time he is frequently mentioned by name and in connection with grants of money or offices of trust. Thus, in 1526, by which date he has been promoted to be "Chief Clerk of the Kitchen," he receives a grant of an "annuity of £10 out of the issues of the manor of Cleobury Barnes, in Salop;" and in 1528 he is made bailiff of the town and keeper of the park of Beaudley, in Salop, in place of Sir William Compton, treasurer of the chamber, who died suddenly in that year of the sweating sickness, holding many high offices of State. In 1529 Thynne was appointed to a similar office to that held by the Father of English poetry himself, "Customer of wools, hides, and fleeces in the port of London ;" in the same year he was made "Receiver-General of the Earldom of March and keeper of Gately Park, Wigmoresland;" the Earldom of March (whose chief centre was Wigmore Castle) having merged in the Crown after the decease of Edward IV. This office had been held by Sir Edward Crofte, of Crofte Castle, Sheriff of Hereford in 1523 and again in * No doubt Bewdley, formerly in the Marches of Wales, but admitted in Henry's reign into Worcestershire. It was an important place; its palace and park were intended for the establishment of Arthur, Prince of Wales, and Catherine of Arragon. Bewdley, Cleobury, and other possessions administered by William Thynne, annexed to the Earldom of March, were in the next reign granted to the ill-fated Lord Admiral Seymour. Cleobury Barnes should be "Cleobury Barons," ie., the baronial lands of the Mortimers, which were then Crown property. |