Exploring history 1400–1900

An anthology of primary sources

Rachel Gibbons

• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN:
  9780719075889
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781847792587
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Cultural & Social Anthropology
• Index: Social Sciences

Exploring history 1400–1900: An anthology of primary sources reaches out to the reader across an expanse of 500 years. It offers a broad sweep of history in the light of three key themes: consumers and producers; beliefs and ideologies; and state-formation. Spanning continents and genres, the selection of documents illuminates the links between concurrent events in diverse places and illustrates the legacies of important social, religious and political trends. Previously unpublished accounts and newly translated material reveal new perspectives on both familiar and less well-known events. In capturing this spectrum of human activity and endeavour the book uniquely provides insights into the daily concerns and critical debates of the day, and the opportunity to engage with primary sources as tools for the knowledge creation and critical evaluation. It will be an essential companion to a wide range of courses in historical study and an engaging read for anyone interested in researching, reviewing or relating more closely to a rich historical past.

Chapter 1

England, France and Burgundy in the fifteenth century

Introduction

Historians of Europe in the later Middle Ages use a wide variety of sources, ranging from the visual, such as paintings, stained glass, illuminated manuscripts and both ecclesiastical and secular architecture, to the written, both official and unofficial. The documents in this chapter have been chosen to give some flavour of the range of written sources available to the historian of fifteenth-century Burgundy, France and England. The choice of documents has been further informed by the themes of state formation; beliefs and ideologies; and producers and consumers.

Prominent in the collection are documents pertaining to state formation and the political crisis in France, c. 1415–61. These sources range from the Treaty of Troyes of 1420 (document 1.2), designed to repair the ‘great and irreparable evils’ caused by the dissensions between England and France, through a contemporary description of the jubilant entry of King Henry VI into Paris in 1431 (1.3), and several documents concerning English rule in Normandy, to a further group dealing with French resistance to this situation.

The nature of the Burgundian state, c. 1440–70, forms the basis of a further group of documents. The Treaty of Arras in 1435 (1.12) indicates the nature of the official relationship between the duke of Burgundy and the French king. Other documents supply descriptions of the Burgundian court and the household, which imply the development of Burgundy as an independent state. Especially illuminating are the writings of Georges Chastelain, and the statutes of the Order of the Golden Fleece.

1.1 Depiction of the State Opening of Parliament, 1523, by Henry VIII, in a ceremony unchanged since medieval times. Seated on the left of the picture are the clergy (Wolsey under the red cardinal’s hat), to the centre and right, the Lords and, standing, behind the king’s dais, are members of the Commons.

The writings of the lawyer Sir John Fortescue, the premier fifteenth-century English political theorist, are represented here by 1.22. They provide a penetrating contemporary diagnosis of the nature of the English crisis in government. Considerable runs of English family correspondence (as opposed to stray letters) survive for the first time in the fifteenth century. Extracts from the Paston and Stonor correspondence (1.24 and 1.25) throw some light on the society of hierarchy and deference. Indentures of life service (1.23) and descriptions of dining and seating arrangements at the funeral of Thomas Stonor (1.27) further illuminate divisions within society and relationships between lords, clergy and servants. The Stonor and Paston letters also indicate the variable effect that the Wars of the Roses had upon gentry families.

The collection concludes with a group of documents relating to beliefs and ideologies current in fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century Catholic Europe. These include a contemporary creed (statement of belief) in 1.26. Churchwardens’ accounts and inventories of church goods provide evidence of styles of worship and of community involvement in the life of the church (1.30). Depositions from the Coventry Lollards may be used to indicate their beliefs but also suggest the socio-economic reach and vigour of this heretical movement in the English Midlands prior to the Reformations (1.28 and 1.29).

Rosemary O’Day

1.1 The Armagnac-Burgundian dispute (Journal of a Citizen of Paris)

The Bourgeois of Paris (1968) Journal of a Citizen of Paris, ed. & trans. J. Shirley, Oxford: Clarendon Press, pp. 146–7.

This work is a major source on events in Paris between 1405 and 1449. The anonymous author was probably a cleric, shown by his interest in ecclesiastical affairs, church processions and his grasp of the complex calendar of feasts in the liturgical year. A few references in the text suggest that he may have been a member of the University of Paris, with connections to the cathedral chapter of Notre-Dame, but the evidence is inconclusive. In this extract, the author gives his views on the impact on France of the conflict between the Armagnacs and Burgundians, the rival factions that were competing to control royal government.

[1419] … I do not think that anyone, not the most brilliant, could enumerate all the unhappy, appalling, monstrous and damnable sins that have been committed since the disastrous and damnable appearance in France of Bernard, Count of Armagnac, Constable of France [1360–1418]. Ever since France first heard the names of ‘Burgundian’ and ‘Armagnac’, every crime that can be thought or spoken of has been done in the kingdom of France, so that innocent blood cries for vengeance before God. It is my sincere opinion that this Count of Armagnac was a devil in the shape of a man, because I cannot see that anyone who belongs to him or who holds by him or who wears his sash¹ ever obeys the law or the Christian faith. On the contrary, they behave towards all those over whom they have power like men who have denied their creator, as is perfectly plain throughout the kingdom of France. I am sure that the King of England [Henry V]² would never have dared to set foot in France in the way of war but for the dissensions which sprang from this unhappy name. Normandy would still have been French, the noble blood of France would not have been spilt nor the lords of the kingdom taken away into exile, nor the battle lost, nor would so many good men have been killed on that dreadful day of Agincourt³ when the king [Charles VI]⁴ lost so many of his true and loyal friends, had it not been for the pride of this wretched name, Armagnac. Alas! Nothing will be left to them of all their wickedness except the guilt. If they do not amend during this poor bodily life they will be for ever damned in great pain and grief, for certainly no one can hide anything from God. He, full of mercy, knows everything, so let no one put his trust in that nor in long life nor any other foolish hope or vainglory. He will indeed render to everyone according to his deserts. Alas, never, I think, since the days of Clovis the first Christian King,⁵ has France been as desolate and divided as it is today. The Dauphin⁶ and his people do nothing day or night but lay waste all his father’s land with fire and sword and the English on the other side do as much harm as Saracens.⁷ (It is better, though, much better, to be captured by the English than by the Dauphin or his people who call themselves the Armagnacs.) And the poor King and Queen have not moved from Troyes since Pontoise was taken,⁸ where they are with their poor retinue like fugitives, exiled by their own child, a dreadful thought for any right-minded person.

Notes

1 To show their political allegiance, supporters of the Armagnac party wore a white sash: their Burgundian opponents wore a St Andrew’s cross (like an X).

2 Henry V (1386/7–1422), king of England (1413–22).

3 The battle of Agincourt took place on 25 October 1415 on Henry V’s first expedition to France. Many leading French nobles were killed, others were taken prisoner by the English. Henry V took Normandy on his second expedition to France, between 1417 and 1419.

4 Charles VI (1368–1422), king of France (1380–1422).

5 Clovis (c. 466–511), king of the Franks, who was converted following a battlefield vision in 496 CE and came to be seen as the first Christian king of France.

6 The future Charles VII (1403–61).

7 That is, Moslems, regarded as mortal enemies of Christendom.

8 Pontoise, a key strategic point between Paris and Rouen, fell to the English at the end of July 1419.

1.2 The Treaty of Troyes, 21 May 1420

E. Cosneau (ed.) (1889) Les Grands Traités de la Guerre de Cent Ans, Paris: Picard, pp. 102–15. Translation from French by Kathleen Daly.

The Treaty marks a major new departure in Anglo-French relations. It was intended to bring peace to the two countries by uniting them under a single ruler. The Treaty maintained the independence of each kingdom. It made provisions for them to keep their separate customs and laws, and for Charles VI, king of France, to keep his throne until his death. However, it was also the outcome of French weakness and Henry V’s military and diplomatic success. It was not accepted south of the Loire, which was largely loyal to Charles VI’s son, the dauphin. These extracts are taken from the French version of the Treaty (the corresponding copy for the English was written in Latin).

Charles by the grace of God, king of France, in perpetual memory. Whereas several notable and divers treaties … have been made in time past between our noble [p]rogenitors of good memory and those of the very noble prince our very dear son Henry king of England, heir of France, and between us and our said son, in order to restore peace and remove dissensions between the kingdoms of France and England, but which have not brought the desired fruit of peace: Let it be known to everyone now and in future, that having considered and weighed in our heart how many great and irreparable evils, what enormities and what a pitiful universal and incurable wound the aforesaid division of the two kingdoms has brought, not just to those kingdoms, but to the whole Church Militant, we have recently made a treaty of peace with our said son Henry once again, which … is concluded and agreed in the following manner.

1. First, because by the marriage alliance, for the good of the said peace, between our said son King Henry and our dear and much loved daughter Katherine, he has become our son and that of our most dear and most beloved wife, the queen, our son will hold and honour us and our said queen like a father and mother, and as such a great prince and princess should be honoured, before all lay persons in the world.

2. Item, that our said son, King Henry, will not disturb or prevent us, as long as we shall live, from holding, as we hold at present, the crown and royal dignity of France and its revenues, fruits and provisions, to support our royal state and the burdens of the kingdom, and that during her lifetime, our wife shall also keep her state and dignity, according to the custom of the kingdom, with an appropriate part of the rents and income.

[…]

6. Item, it is agreed that immediately after our death and from that time forward, the crown and kingdom of France, with all their rights and possessions, will belong forever to our son King Henry and his heirs.

7. Item, as we are frequently prevented from understanding and dealing with the affairs of our kingdom, the power and practice of governing and ordering the government of our kingdom shall be and remain with our said son Henry during our lifetime, with the counsel of noble, wise men obedient to us, who desire the profit and honour of the kingdom, so that ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Copyright page
• List of illustrations
• Acknowledgements
• General introduction
• Chapter 1 England, France and Burgundy in the fifteenth century
• Chapter 2 The European Reformation, 1500–1600
• Chapter 3 The wars of the three kingdoms, 1640–90
• Chapter 4 Slavery and freedom
• Chapter 5 Creating nations, 1789–1871
• Chapter 6 Nations and Empire, 1870–1914
• Index