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XXIV.—Inventory of the Goods of Dame Agnes Hungerford, attainted of Murder 14 Hen. VIII.; with Remarks thereon by John Gough Nichols, Esq., F.S.A., and the Rev. John Edward Jackson, M.A., F.S.A.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2012

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Abstract

By the kindness of the Rev. Edgar Edmund Estcourt, M.A., Fellow of the Society, we are presented with a transcript of an Inventory, of which the original is now preserved in H. M. Record Office, bearing the following title: “Inventory of the goods belonging to the King's grace by the forfeiture of the Lady Hungerford, attainted of murder in Hilary term Anno xiiij. Regis Henrici VIII.”

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Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1861

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References

page 353 note a The transcript, having been made at Mr. Estcourt's expense, was offered by him for the use of the Gentleman's Magazine, and transferred, with his consent, by John Henry Parker, Esq. F.S.A., to the Society.

page 353 note b “In media navis Ecclesiæ. Redeundo juxta columpnam in piano jacet domina Alicia Hungerforthe, Qute obijt 20 die mensis February anno Domini 1523. (In a side note, written by a later, but old, hand,) Suspendit apud Tyborne.” (Register of the Grey Friars of London, MS. Cotton. Vitellius, F. XH. p. 294 b.)

page 353 note c The only other place in which any mention of Lady Hungerford's execution has been found, is a local chronicle of Ludlow in Shropshire, which contains the following entry: “1522. The Lady Hungerford hanged.” (Wright's History of Ludlow, 1852, p. 490.) Whether this is due to any connection of the unhappy woman with that part of England remains to be ascertained: but the Corbets (see the Inventory, p. 364,) were numerous in Shropshire.

page 354 note a Printed in the collection of the Letters of Eoyal and Illustrious Ladies, by Miss Wood (now Mrs. Green), 1846, vol. ii. p. 271.

page 354 note b “Cromwelle for tresone and lorde Hungerforthe for bockery.” (Chronicle of the Grey Friars of London, p. 44.) “The eight and twentith of Julie the lord Cromwell was beheaded, and likewise with him the lord Hungerford of Heitesburie, who at the houre of his death seemed unquiet, as manie judged him rather in a frensie than otherwise: he suffered for buggerie.” (Holinshed's Chronicle.) In contradiction to this hateful charge, however, we find that in the survey of his lands he is described as “Walter Hungerford knyght, late lord Hungerford, of hyghe treason attaynted.” (Hoare's Modern Wiltshire, Hundred of Heytesbury, p. 104.) It is also stated that part of his offence was maintaining a chaplain named William Bird, who had called the King a heretic, and that he had procured certain persons, by conjuration, to know how long the King should live. (Dugdale's Baronage, ii. p. 212.)

page 356 note a She is the Jane Zouche mentioned in her grandmother's (Lady Dynham) will, 1496; Testamenta Vetusta, p. 432.

page 356 note b There is no visible memorial to him in Heytesbury church; whether there is any accessible vault that might contain a coffin-plate I do not know.

page 358 note a The ancient badge of the Hungerfords was a single sickle or, handled gules. (Collectanea Topogr. et Geneal. iii. 71.) The sepulchral brass in Salisbury Cathedral of Walter Lord Hungerford (ob. 1449) and his wife, and another supposed to be that of his grandson Robert Hungerford (ob. 1463), were both seme of sickles: see their despoiled slabs or matrices engraved in Gough's Sepulchral Monuments, vol. ii. plate Ivii. The Hungerford knot was formed by entwining three sickles in a circle. Three sickles and as many garbs, elegantly disposed within the garter, formed one of the principal bosses of the cloisters to St. Stephen's Chapel, Westminster. The standard of Sir John Hungerford of Down Ampney (temp. Hen. VIII.) was as follows: Red and Green, in the first compartment, out of a coronet or, a garb of the same (charged with a mullet), between two sickles erect argent, handled gules, banded or; and in the same compartment three similar sickles, each charged on the blade with a mullet; in the second compartment, three sickles interlaced, around a mullet; in the third, three like knots of sickles between two single sickles charged as before. (MS. Coll. Arm. I. 2, and Excerpta Historica, 8vo. 1831, p. 317.) The Hungerford crest was a garb between two sickles, all within a coronet; the garb is supposed to have come from the family of Peverel, one of whose coheirs married Walter Lord Hungerford, K.G. who died in 1449. By that alliance the silver sickles met the golden wheatsheaf.

page 358 note b Also inserted in Nicolas's Testamenta Vetusta.

page 359 note a Sir E. C. Hoare's Modern Wiltshire, Hundred of Heytesbury, p. 105.

page 360 note a Wrethed. Ornamented with a twisted or wreath pattern. In the Inventory of the Regalia and Gold Plate of Henry VIII. (Kal. and Inv. of the Exchequer, ii.) we find several entries containing this term, for instance (p. 289), “A litelle salte of golde chasid, wrethyn w* litelle perles.”

page 360 note b Knottes ofsyhelles. Three sickles interlaced, the Hungerford knot, as already described in the note, p. 358. A good example of them may be seen in paving-tiles in Canninge's House, Bristol: see Shaw's Specimens of Tile Pavements, pi. xlii. &c.

page 360 note c Leyer. A vessel, the exact form of which is not known. It appears to have been intended to hold water, to have had a cover, and to have been frequently made of rich materials. See Inventory of Eegalia and Gold Plate of Henry Vlll. sec. xi., “Layers, ewars, and basones of golde, &c.” (Kal. and Inv. of Exchequer, ii. p. 294.) See also Inventory of the Goods of Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond, in the 18th Henry VIII. (Camden Society,) p. 10. In the Inventory of Jewels of James III. of Scotland (1488) we find “a lewar of sylver overgilt, with a cover.”

page 360 note d Straibere. A strawbery.

page 361 note a To eete grene gynger withall. Such is the usual destination of the forks mentioned in English inventories. Thus, in an inventory of plate belonging to Edward III., Richard II. &c, taken in the first year of Hen. IV. we find the following entries:—“Item, j. fourche de berille garniz d'or pur vert gyngivre garnise d'un baleys, j. saphir, ij. petites perles pris xxs. Item, ij. furches pur zinziber vert d'argent ennorrez. Item, j. petit fourche pur grenginger d'argent. Item, j. large fourche d'argent endorez pur ginger vert poisant j. unc.” (Kal. and Inv. Exchequer, vol. iii. pp. 339, 343, 351, 353.) In an inventory of the plate of the Duchess of Kent, 1 May, 1415, wefind-“j. forke pur vert zz.” (Kal. and Inv. Exch. vol. iii. p. 367.) The forks in the inventory under consideration are mentioned as spoons as well; they may have either had prongs at one end and a bowl at the other, or have been made like the folding spoons of a more recent period, where a bowl fits over the prongs of the fork.

page 361 note b Lybertes. Leopards.

page 361 note c Chales. Chalices.

page 361 note d Sokettes. These candlesticks were evidently prickets, like most of those of the middle ages, and over them was fitted a double branch terminating in sockets.

page 361 note e Halywater styke of sylver. Sprinkler.

page 362 note a Burges. Bruges.

page 362 note b Garter. Walter Lord Hungerford, who died in 1449, was a Knight of the Garter. If this frontal had been made in his time, it was nearly a century old when this inventory was taken.

page 362 note c Canabe. Canopy.

page 362 note d Sepulker. The Easter Sepulchre.

page 362 note e A spruys table. A table of spruce (or Prussian) fir, or deal. See Unton Inventories, p. 39.

page 362 note f A joned cube borde. A joined cup-board. It must be remembered that cupboards were not, as they are now, closets set even into the walls, but literally a board or table on which plate was set out, more like the modern sideboard. A considerable list of cupboard cloths may be found in the Inventory of the Wardrobe Stuff of Katharine of Arragon (Camden Society), p. 28. See also Notes by Sir Harris Nicolas to Privy-purse Expenses of Henry VIH. p. 313; Inventory of the Goods of the Countess of Leicester, 1634-5, edited by J. O. Halliwell, p. 53; and Unton Inventories, p. 41.

page 363 note a Spurver. The canopy of a bed. “Some have curteynes, some sparvers, about the bedde, to kept; awey gnattes: conopeum lecto circumspergunt.” (Horman's Vulgaria.) “Padiglione, a pavilion, or the sparviour of a bedde.” (W. Thomas, Italian Dictionary, 1548.) See also Notes by Sir Harris Nicolas to Privy-purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York, p. 256; Inventory of Plate, &c. in Kenilworth Castle, 1588, edited by J. O. Halliwell, p. 129; and Unton Inventories, p. 46.

page 363 note b Tynsyn. A kind of satin.

page 364 note a Syler. The ceiler or roof of the bed; the tester was the back part, behind the head.

page 364 note b Cornys choyghes. Cornish choughs, corbies, or corbeaux: the cognisance of the Corbet family.

page 364 note c Verder. A kind of tapestry representing foliage.

page 364 note d Bastard. A mixed cloth.

page 365 note a Prase. Press, or smaller closet. b Past. A paste or passement of gold lace, &c. made for ladies' head-dresses; also called occasionally a bride paste. See Sussex Archæological Collections, viii. p. 137. See also note below (p 369) on the word cegge.

page 366 note a Bryggyn irons. Possibly another form of the word brigandines?

page 366 note b Lokeram. A kind of linen, so named from the place of its manufacture, Lokeren in East Flanders.

page 367 note a Pyllos beeres. Pillow cases.

page 367 note b Every. Ivory.

page 368 note a Kelders. Coolers.

page 368 note b Heyrys. Hair-cloths used in malting. See Promptorium Parvulorum, voce Hayyr. Its more usual sense was the hair-shirts worn for mortification.

page 368 note c Comyng. Query, common?

page 368 note d A yaggyn. A wagon.

page 368 note e Alman ryvetts. Armour imported from Germany.

page 368 note f Brygendens. Brigandine armour was formed of small plates of metal quilted within linen or other tissue. See Archæological Journal, xiv. p. 345; Archaeologia, Vol. XXI. p. 271; Hewitt's Ancient Armour, iii. p. 550.

page 369 note a Purselle. Purfle?

page 369 note b Œgge. An edge or edging of goldsmith's work, its weight no doubt being of the value of 9 sterling i n gold. In an inventory taken, on the death of James HI. of Scotland (1488) we find among the Queen's jewels “ane ege of gold wt foure grete diamantes pointit and xxviij grete perlis about thame.” Also “ane uther grete ege wt viij rubies and xxxvj perlis grete.” (Thomson's Scotch Inventories, p. 10.) In the sumptuary law of 33 Henry 'VIII. c. 5, is the following passage: “Any Frenche hood or bonnet of velvett with any habiliment, past, or egge of gold, perle, or stone.”

page 369 note c Trulufe. True-love.

page 370 note a Balys. “Eayle for a woman's necke, crevechief, en quarttre doubles.” (Palsgrave.) See Halliwell's Archaic Dictionary, svb voce.

page 370 note b Partlettes of sypers. The partlet was a gorget for woman; the present instances seem to hare been of Cyprus cloth.

page 370 note c Boyde money. Bent money. In the will of Sir Edward Howard, Knight, Admiral of England, 1512, (Test. Vetusta, p. 533,) “I bequeath him [Charles Brandon] my rope of bowed nobles that I hang my great whistle by, containing ccc. angels.” Money was often bent or bowed when intended to serve aa love-tokens, a custom perpetuated to the days of Butler:

“Like commendation Ninepence bent,

With ‘from and to my love’ he went.”

In the present instance it appears to have been bowed for offerings to saints.

page 371 note a Ryggs. Query rings?

page 371 note b Gawberdyn. A cloak, from the Spanish gavardina.

page 371 note c William Bonnames. Of the Bonham family, of Great Wishford, Sir R. C. Hoare gives some particulars i n his History of Modern Wiltshire, Hundred of Branch and Dole, p. 49.

page 371 note d Bed Aston. Eood Ashton, in the parish of Steeple Ashton, in North Wilts, was formerly a small distinct property of itself: and from about A.D. 1440 to about 1598 belonged to the Temys family. Eobert, mentioned above, was the elder brother of Joan Temys, the last Abbess of Lacock. Eood Ashton subsequently merged in the larger estates of the Long family, and is now the principal residence of Walter Long, Esq. M.P.

page 371 note e Richard Inge. The family of Inge formerly flourished in the neighbourhood of Heytesbury and Stockton.

page 371 note f My husbond house. Hungerford House, in the Strand, was converted into a market temp. Charles II. See its history in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1832, part ii. p. 113.

page 371 note g Donne. Dun.

page 371 note h Skewed. Skew-bald, a variety of pie-bald.

page 372 note a Plagarde. The stomacher.

page 372 note b Illegible.