Adam of Usk
Encyclopedia
Adam of Usk (c. 1352 – 1430) was a Welsh
priest, canonist, and late medieval historian and chronicler.
in what is now Monmouthshire
, southeast Wales
, Adam received the patronage of Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March, who inherited the Lordship of Usk (Brynbuga) through his wife Philippa. Mortimer encouraged and enabled Adam to eventually study at Oxford
, where he obtained his doctorate and became extraordinarius in Canon law
.
Adam settled at Oxford University as a teacher of law. Here by his own admission he was involved in armed struggle of 1388 and 1389 between the Northerners and the Southerners, which included the Welsh.
Adam left Oxford and practiced his profession for seven years as an advocate in the archiepiscopal court of Canterbury
, 1390–1397, sitting on the Parliament of 1397 and in 1399 accompanied the Archbishop
and Bolingbroke
's army on the march from Bristol
to Chester
. These experiences and the connection with Thomas Arundel
shaped his views thereafter, he was hostile in his chronicle to Richard II
.
He was a member of the commission appointed to find secure legal grounds for the deposition of King Richard II and met with the King during his captivity in the Tower of London
.
Adam was rewarded for his part in Richard II
's surrender, imprisonment and fall with the living of Kemsing and Seal
, and later with a prebend in the church of Bangor
. These nicely supplemented his professional legal income and status. However one living, his title to the prebend of Llandygwydd in Cardiganshire
given under the college of Abergwili, was to be contested by one Walter Jakes alias Ampney, who had obtained it by exchange in 1399. The two were in an affray
, in Westminster
, in November 1400, which resulted in charges being brought against Adam and his company, for highway robbery. The outcome is unknown, however it didn't immediately limit his legal activities, he continued as a lawyer.
Adam held strong devotion to Saint Teilo (associated with Llandaff Cathedral) and to Saint (presumably the Apostle) Thomas of India (whose cult had been vitalised by Dominican missions in Asia).
in February 1402. Here Adam realised he could impress other influential people. Once in Rome he met Pope Boniface IX
and Pope Innocent VII
, both of whom were sufficiently impressed to offer him English Bishophrics in 1404 and later he was successively nominated to the sees of Hereford
and St. David's, but was unable to obtain possession of either. The Avignon Pope Benedict XIII also nominated him to Llandaff.
Events outside his influence or control took over. The rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr
was enveloping Wales and focusing attention from England. In the summer of 1405 riots swept Rome, driving the Pope from the city in August, stranding Adam and leaving him far from home, separated from patronage and exacerbated by Adams own dangerous illness, suffered probably as a result. Adam left Rome in June 1406, making his way to Bruges
. Here he attended closely to events in Wales and England and again developed his legal work, in France
and Flanders
this time. He listened to the plans of Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland
to overthrow King Henry IV
, but adroitly avoided any implication, involvement or commitment to either side.
In 1408 Adam was ready to return to Wales, landed at Barmouth
, and hoped to secure the Lordship of Powis, then held by Edward Cherleton - whose first wife's dower had included the Lordship of Usk. Adam lived under Cherleton's protection for some years at this period, as a poor Chaplain
at Welshpool
.
, where his epitaph composed in Welsh cywydd
metre can still be seen. His Will is also preserved. In it he makes bequests to Llandaff Cathedral
and to friaries in Newport and Cardiff as well as to individual persons bearing Welsh names. He makes a legacy to his executor and one to a relative, one Edward ab Adam, quite a telling gift; Adam's own copy of Ranulf Higdon
's Polychronicon, maybe his own inspiration as a young boy. With it he must have left the material that formed his chronicle to 1421, which twenty years later was put in manuscript form.
This chronicle is his major legacy, providing contemporary detail on events in Wales, England and abroad and an insight into the life of an educated man moving through important spheres of influence at the time. He met Kings and Popes, chronicles the Peasants' Revolt (the chronicle opens with a description of Jack Straw) and Emperor Manuel II's Christmas visit to Richard II, lived in various cities and towns but was often on the move (observant of phenomena from his youth Adam is struck by the beauty of the Lake of Lucerne and the quality of Beaune wine, but draws a pessimist conclusion from the night-time behaviour of Rome's canine population) offering a useful interpretation of the history of his times. The chronicle throws particular light on the Glyndŵr revolt.The interest of the content is generally far superior to the Latinity of the work.
The Chronicle survives in a single manuscript. At some point, the final quire of the manuscript became separated from the manuscript. The final quire was discovered in 1885 at Belvoir Castle
, where it remains. The main manuscript is in the British Library (Add. MS 10104).
His Latin chronicle
of English history from 1377 to 1421, edited and translated by Edward Maunde Thompson
for the Royal Society of Literature, as "Chronicon Adæ de Usk" (London: J. Murray, 1876), Second edition, adding the text and translation of final quire, Chronicon Adæ de Usk, A. D. 1377-1421 (London: H. Frowde, 1904). Second edition reprinted twice (New York: AMS Press, 1980 and Felinfach, Lampeter, Dyfed: Llanerch Enterprises, 1990). New edition and translation by Chris Given-Wilson, The Chronicle of Adam Usk, 1377-1421 (Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press, 1997).
Welsh people
The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...
priest, canonist, and late medieval historian and chronicler.
Patronage
Born at UskUsk
Usk is a small town in Monmouthshire, Wales, situated 10 miles northeast of Newport.The River Usk flows through the town and is spanned by an ancient, arched stone bridge at the western entrance to the town. A castle above the town overlooks the ancient Anglo-Welsh border crossing - the river can...
in what is now Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire is a county in south east Wales. The name derives from the historic county of Monmouthshire which covered a much larger area. The largest town is Abergavenny. There are many castles in Monmouthshire .-Historic county:...
, southeast Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, Adam received the patronage of Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March, who inherited the Lordship of Usk (Brynbuga) through his wife Philippa. Mortimer encouraged and enabled Adam to eventually study at Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, where he obtained his doctorate and became extraordinarius in Canon law
Canon law (Catholic Church)
The canon law of the Catholic Church, is a fully developed legal system, with all the necessary elements: courts, lawyers, judges, a fully articulated legal code and principles of legal interpretation. It lacks the necessary binding force present in most modern day legal systems. The academic...
.
Adam settled at Oxford University as a teacher of law. Here by his own admission he was involved in armed struggle of 1388 and 1389 between the Northerners and the Southerners, which included the Welsh.
Adam left Oxford and practiced his profession for seven years as an advocate in the archiepiscopal court of Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
, 1390–1397, sitting on the Parliament of 1397 and in 1399 accompanied the Archbishop
Thomas Arundel
Thomas Arundel was Archbishop of Canterbury in 1397 and from 1399 until his death, an outspoken opponent of the Lollards.-Family background:...
and Bolingbroke
Henry IV of England
Henry IV was King of England and Lord of Ireland . He was the ninth King of England of the House of Plantagenet and also asserted his grandfather's claim to the title King of France. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence his other name, Henry Bolingbroke...
's army on the march from Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
to Chester
Chester
Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
. These experiences and the connection with Thomas Arundel
Thomas Arundel
Thomas Arundel was Archbishop of Canterbury in 1397 and from 1399 until his death, an outspoken opponent of the Lollards.-Family background:...
shaped his views thereafter, he was hostile in his chronicle to Richard II
Richard II of England
Richard II was King of England, a member of the House of Plantagenet and the last of its main-line kings. He ruled from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. Richard was a son of Edward, the Black Prince, and was born during the reign of his grandfather, Edward III...
.
He was a member of the commission appointed to find secure legal grounds for the deposition of King Richard II and met with the King during his captivity in the Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
.
Adam was rewarded for his part in Richard II
Richard II of England
Richard II was King of England, a member of the House of Plantagenet and the last of its main-line kings. He ruled from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. Richard was a son of Edward, the Black Prince, and was born during the reign of his grandfather, Edward III...
's surrender, imprisonment and fall with the living of Kemsing and Seal
Seal, Kent
Seal is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. The parish is located in the valley between the North Downs and the Greensand ridge to the north east of Sevenoaks town....
, and later with a prebend in the church of Bangor
Bangor, Wales
Bangor is a city in Gwynedd, north west Wales, and one of the smallest cities in Britain. It is a university city with a population of 13,725 at the 2001 census, not including around 10,000 students at Bangor University. Including nearby Menai Bridge on Anglesey, which does not however form part of...
. These nicely supplemented his professional legal income and status. However one living, his title to the prebend of Llandygwydd in Cardiganshire
Ceredigion
Ceredigion is a county and former kingdom in mid-west Wales. As Cardiganshire , it was created in 1282, and was reconstituted as a county under that name in 1996, reverting to Ceredigion a day later...
given under the college of Abergwili, was to be contested by one Walter Jakes alias Ampney, who had obtained it by exchange in 1399. The two were in an affray
Affray
In many legal jurisdictions related to English common law, affray is a public order offence consisting of the fighting of two or more persons in a public place to the terror of ordinary people...
, in Westminster
Westminster
Westminster is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and southwest of Charing Cross...
, in November 1400, which resulted in charges being brought against Adam and his company, for highway robbery. The outcome is unknown, however it didn't immediately limit his legal activities, he continued as a lawyer.
Adam held strong devotion to Saint Teilo (associated with Llandaff Cathedral) and to Saint (presumably the Apostle) Thomas of India (whose cult had been vitalised by Dominican missions in Asia).
Rome
However, he forfeited the King's favour and was either effectively banished or chose to leave England, with the sanction of the Crown, having begged for the Kings Pardon for the Westminster misdeed, which was granted in January 1403, for RomeRome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
in February 1402. Here Adam realised he could impress other influential people. Once in Rome he met Pope Boniface IX
Pope Boniface IX
Pope Boniface IX , born Piero Tomacelli, was the second Roman Pope of the Western Schism from November 2, 1389, until October 1, 1404...
and Pope Innocent VII
Pope Innocent VII
Pope Innocent VII , born Cosimo de' Migliorati, was briefly Pope at Rome, from 1404 to his death, during the Western Schism while there was a rival Pope, antipope Benedict XIII , at Avignon.Migliorati was born to a simple family of Sulmona in the Abruzzi...
, both of whom were sufficiently impressed to offer him English Bishophrics in 1404 and later he was successively nominated to the sees of Hereford
Hereford
Hereford is a cathedral city, civil parish and county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, southwest of Worcester, and northwest of Gloucester...
and St. David's, but was unable to obtain possession of either. The Avignon Pope Benedict XIII also nominated him to Llandaff.
Events outside his influence or control took over. The rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr
Owain Glyndwr
Owain Glyndŵr , or Owain Glyn Dŵr, anglicised by William Shakespeare as Owen Glendower , was a Welsh ruler and the last native Welshman to hold the title Prince of Wales...
was enveloping Wales and focusing attention from England. In the summer of 1405 riots swept Rome, driving the Pope from the city in August, stranding Adam and leaving him far from home, separated from patronage and exacerbated by Adams own dangerous illness, suffered probably as a result. Adam left Rome in June 1406, making his way to Bruges
Bruges
Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country....
. Here he attended closely to events in Wales and England and again developed his legal work, in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
this time. He listened to the plans of Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland
Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland
Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, 4th Baron Percy, titular King of Mann, KG, Lord Marshal was the son of Henry de Percy, 3rd Baron Percy and a descendent of Henry III of England. His mother was Mary of Lancaster, daughter of Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster, son of Edmund, Earl of Leicester and...
to overthrow King Henry IV
Henry IV of England
Henry IV was King of England and Lord of Ireland . He was the ninth King of England of the House of Plantagenet and also asserted his grandfather's claim to the title King of France. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence his other name, Henry Bolingbroke...
, but adroitly avoided any implication, involvement or commitment to either side.
In 1408 Adam was ready to return to Wales, landed at Barmouth
Barmouth
Barmouth ; Y Bermo ) is a town in the county of Gwynedd, north-western Wales, lying on the estuary of the River Mawddach and Cardigan Bay.The town is served by Barmouth railway station.- History :...
, and hoped to secure the Lordship of Powis, then held by Edward Cherleton - whose first wife's dower had included the Lordship of Usk. Adam lived under Cherleton's protection for some years at this period, as a poor Chaplain
Chaplain
Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...
at Welshpool
Welshpool
Welshpool is a town in Powys, Wales, or ancient county Montgomeryshire, from the Wales-England border. The town is low-lying on the River Severn; the Welsh language name Y Trallwng literally meaning 'the marshy or sinking land'...
.
Legacy
In March 1411 Adam was granted a royal Pardon which should have signalled his return to influence. However in 1414 Thomas Arundel died and a major patron's influence was removed. Adam spent the rest of his life and career in relative obscurity and died in early 1430. He is buried in the priory church at UskUsk
Usk is a small town in Monmouthshire, Wales, situated 10 miles northeast of Newport.The River Usk flows through the town and is spanned by an ancient, arched stone bridge at the western entrance to the town. A castle above the town overlooks the ancient Anglo-Welsh border crossing - the river can...
, where his epitaph composed in Welsh cywydd
Cywydd
The cywydd is one of the most important metrical forms in Welsh traditional poetry.There are a variety of forms of the cywydd, but the word on its own is generally used to refer to the cywydd deuair hirion as it is by far the most common type.The first recorded examples of the cywydd date from the...
metre can still be seen. His Will is also preserved. In it he makes bequests to Llandaff Cathedral
Llandaff Cathedral
Llandaff Cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of Llandaff, head of the Church in Wales Diocese of Llandaff. It is situated in the district of Llandaff in the city of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. The current building was constructed in the 12th century over the site of an earlier church...
and to friaries in Newport and Cardiff as well as to individual persons bearing Welsh names. He makes a legacy to his executor and one to a relative, one Edward ab Adam, quite a telling gift; Adam's own copy of Ranulf Higdon
Ranulf Higdon
Ranulf Higden was an English chronicler and a Benedictine monk of the monastery of St. Werburgh in Chester....
's Polychronicon, maybe his own inspiration as a young boy. With it he must have left the material that formed his chronicle to 1421, which twenty years later was put in manuscript form.
This chronicle is his major legacy, providing contemporary detail on events in Wales, England and abroad and an insight into the life of an educated man moving through important spheres of influence at the time. He met Kings and Popes, chronicles the Peasants' Revolt (the chronicle opens with a description of Jack Straw) and Emperor Manuel II's Christmas visit to Richard II, lived in various cities and towns but was often on the move (observant of phenomena from his youth Adam is struck by the beauty of the Lake of Lucerne and the quality of Beaune wine, but draws a pessimist conclusion from the night-time behaviour of Rome's canine population) offering a useful interpretation of the history of his times. The chronicle throws particular light on the Glyndŵr revolt.The interest of the content is generally far superior to the Latinity of the work.
The Chronicle survives in a single manuscript. At some point, the final quire of the manuscript became separated from the manuscript. The final quire was discovered in 1885 at Belvoir Castle
Belvoir Castle
Belvoir Castle is a stately home in the English county of Leicestershire, overlooking the Vale of Belvoir . It is a Grade I listed building....
, where it remains. The main manuscript is in the British Library (Add. MS 10104).
His Latin chronicle
Chronicle
Generally a chronicle is a historical account of facts and events ranged in chronological order, as in a time line. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events, the purpose being the recording of events that occurred, seen from the perspective of the...
of English history from 1377 to 1421, edited and translated by Edward Maunde Thompson
Edward Maunde Thompson
Sir Edward Maunde Thompson, GCB was a British palaeographer and Principal Librarian and first Director of the British Museum. He is also noted for his study of William Shakespeare's handwriting in the manuscript of the play Sir Thomas More.-Biography:Thompson's father was Edward Thompson, Custos...
for the Royal Society of Literature, as "Chronicon Adæ de Usk" (London: J. Murray, 1876), Second edition, adding the text and translation of final quire, Chronicon Adæ de Usk, A. D. 1377-1421 (London: H. Frowde, 1904). Second edition reprinted twice (New York: AMS Press, 1980 and Felinfach, Lampeter, Dyfed: Llanerch Enterprises, 1990). New edition and translation by Chris Given-Wilson, The Chronicle of Adam Usk, 1377-1421 (Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press, 1997).