Mirror for Magistrates
Encyclopedia
Mirror for Magistrates is a collection of English
poems from the Tudor period
by various authors which retell the lives and the tragic ends of various historical figures.
. Lydgate's work was in turn inspired by Giovanni Boccaccio
's De Casibus Virorum Illustrium ("Concerning the Falls of Illustrious Men") and the other significant work of exemplary literature in English: The Monk's Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer
. The title refers to holding a mirror up to the actions of famous people and reflecting their deeds so that magistrate
s and other people in important positions can learn from their errors. Most of the poems take the form of ghosts examining themselves and their deeds in front of a mirror. Similar titles were popular in the middle ages
and there were numerous other works which presented themselves as a speculum
(Latin
for "mirror") chief among them the Speculum Maius by Vincent de Beauvais, who lived during the time.
and George Ferrers
were the first editors of the work and the principal contributors. Between them they are credited with writing fifteen of the nineteen lives which made up the work when it was published in 1559 by Thomas Marsh, although some of the lives are unsigned and are only conjectured to be written by them. Other contributing poets include: Thomas Phaer, Thomas Chaloner
and Thomas Churchyard
, with one poem supposedly by John Skelton
despite him having died thirty years before. There are also some links in prose
between the poems, conversations between the poets themselves which mention several other noble lives. Baldwin also sets forth his reasons for beginning the work:
Stephen Gardiner
effectively suppressing the work and putting the publisher out of business. Baldwin in a later printing commented that:
Gardiner died the same year but the work was still not immediately published. This was a difficult time in England
during the reign of Mary I
when most works were suspected of having a political subtext. Poems dealing with the mistakes of the nobility of the proceeding age were bound to be controversial, either by insulting the ancestors of the ruling class or, under the pretext of criticism, subtly praising the regime's political enemies.
The accession of Queen Elizabeth I
, which brought with it a change in the country's religion, allowed the publication of the 1559 edition. Despite press restrictions easing under the new queen the subject was still difficult. Baldwin's original plan, inferred from clues in the extant poems, seems to have been to write three volumes of lives: up to the reign of Edward VI, up to the reign of Richard III of England
and lastly lives up to the reign of Mary. Although it appears that the work was well received Baldwin did not continue the plan. Whether this was due to the ill health—he probably died around 1563—or whether this was because of the more recent lives were more controversial, is uncertain, but it is significant that the next major expansion of the work confined itself mainly to the ancient past.
Traditionally the impetus and planning for the entire work has been ascribed to Thomas Sackville
. As he was only eighteen years old at the time of the first edition this seems unlikely, and his is listed as a contributor only in the third edition of 1563. The reason for Sackville receiving much of the credit for the work is in part that he was the most famous of the writers to work on the Mirror but also because his contributions, Induction and The Complaint of Henry Duke of Buckingham, are often the only ones regarded as having any lasting literary merit. Another reason for the ascription to Sackville is due to the reorganisations the work underwent in later editions, giving accidental prominence to Sackville's sections and confusing later readers.
The edition of 1563 contained only eight extra lives and of these at least one is known to have been written around the time of the earlier poems but left out when they were published. The next edition in 1574 was printed again by Thomas Marsh with the editor and main author being John Higgins. Confusingly the new edition was named The first parte of the Mirour for Magistrates as it dealt with much earlier lives which were placed before the poems of the previous editions. Whilst the poetic style is markedly similar to the other poems, Higgins is seen as a much inferior poet and he greatly changed the focus of the work.
The critical assessment of the lives of people from recent history which was evident in the compositions of Baldwin's and his contemporary writers, gave way to mostly laudatory accounts of the distant legends of the early Britons. What was once a politically contentious book, examining lives offering warnings to the present on the errors of the past, was now a work displaying national pride in England's history; many of which were taken from the largely mythical Historia Regum Britanniae
. This focus on England's supposed glorious past and often defiance of Rome
had much to do with the country being alienated from much of the rest of Europe because of its Protestant religion.
Thomas Blenerhasset, in 1578, took it upon himself to write another collection of lives of ancient Britons but as this was with a different printer it did not include the previous poems. Because this work robbed Higgins of British material for his next edition, the majority of the new lives printed in 1587 were noble Romans
. He also include a couple of poems by Francis Dingley: Flodden Field and Lamentation of James IV. By the 1610 edition the once popular Mirror had fallen out of fashion and its reputation was tarnished even more by the poor editing skills of Richard Niccols
. He incorporated most of Blenerhasset's work but removed numerous lives and most of the links in prose between the poems. Why some of the lives were removed is unclear but some clearly might have embarrassed the new Scottish
ruling class of the new king James I
. He also added ten of his own poems including a more patriotic account of Alfred the Great
to replace Blenerhasset's poem, which focused on Alfred being destroyed by lust, and England’s Eliza a homage to the late queen.
Ignoring the omissions of the Niccols edition, the entire work contained almost one hundred lives, covering the period from Albanact in 1085 BC to Elizabeth in 1603 and written over 60 years. Whilst the work was dismissed and largely forgotten after 1610 the lives from the Baldwin era were popular and highly regarded during the Tudor period
. Philip Sidney
, mentions the work in his Defence of Poesy, saying that it was "meetly furnished of beautiful parts". The influence of the work was evident in many contemporary works such as Albion's England by the poet William Warner
and Cromwell by Michael Drayton
which was actually included in the 1610 edition. It was also significant for its development of the form of tragedy
in English literature
, with Higgins' story of Lier and Cordila providing a source for Shakespeare's King Lear
.
, writing in 1913, whilst offering guarded praise, said "…the unflinching poetasters grind out in their monotonous rime royal…"
, Roger Mortimer
, Thomas, Duke of Gloucester
, Thomas Mowbrey
, Richard II
, Owen Glendower, Henry Percy
, Richard, Earl of Cambridge
, Thomas, Earl of Salisbury
, James I of Scotland
, William de la Pole
, Jack Cade
, Richard, Duke of York
, John Clifford
, John Tiptoft
, Richard, Earl of Warwick
, Henry VI
, George, Duke of Clarence
, Edward IV
Story in prose of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester
and his wife Eleanor Cobham
, William Hastings
, Henry, Duke of Buckingham
, William Collingbourne
, Richard III, Shore’s Wife (Jane Shore
), Edmund Beaufort and the Blackesmith (Lord Audley
)
, Humber
, Locrinus
, Estrildis
, Sabrine daughter of Estrildis, Maddan
, Malin son of Maddan, Mempricius
, Bladud
, Cordila
, Morgan
, Forrex
, Porrex
, Kimarus
, Morindus
, Nennius
and in a 1575 copy Irenglas
, Carassus
, Helena
, Vortiger, Uther Pendragon
, Cadwallader
, Sigebert
, Lady Ebbe
, Alurede
, Egelrede
, Edric
and Harold
, Pinnar, Stater, Rudacke, Brennus
, Emerianus
, Chirinnus
, Varianus
, Julius Caesar
, Tiberius
, Caligula
, Guiderius
, Lelius Hamo, Claudius
, Nero
, Galba
, Otho
, Vitellius
, Londricus, Severus
, Fulgentius a Pict, Geta
, Caracalla
, Nicholas Burdet, James IV
, Flodden Field and Cardinal Wolsey
, Edmund Ironside
, Alfred
, Godwin
, Robert Curthose, Richard I, John
, Edward II
, Edward V, Richard III
and Elizabeth
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
poems from the Tudor period
Tudor period
The Tudor period usually refers to the period between 1485 and 1603, specifically in relation to the history of England. This coincides with the rule of the Tudor dynasty in England whose first monarch was Henry VII...
by various authors which retell the lives and the tragic ends of various historical figures.
Background
This works was conceived as a continuation of the Fall of Princes by the 15th century poet John LydgateJohn Lydgate
John Lydgate of Bury was a monk and poet, born in Lidgate, Suffolk, England.Lydgate is at once a greater and a lesser poet than John Gower. He is a greater poet because of his greater range and force; he has a much more powerful machine at his command. The sheer bulk of Lydgate's poetic output is...
. Lydgate's work was in turn inspired by Giovanni Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio was an Italian author and poet, a friend, student, and correspondent of Petrarch, an important Renaissance humanist and the author of a number of notable works including the Decameron, On Famous Women, and his poetry in the Italian vernacular...
's De Casibus Virorum Illustrium ("Concerning the Falls of Illustrious Men") and the other significant work of exemplary literature in English: The Monk's Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer , known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey...
. The title refers to holding a mirror up to the actions of famous people and reflecting their deeds so that magistrate
Magistrate
A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...
s and other people in important positions can learn from their errors. Most of the poems take the form of ghosts examining themselves and their deeds in front of a mirror. Similar titles were popular in the middle ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
and there were numerous other works which presented themselves as a speculum
Mirror
A mirror is an object that reflects light or sound in a way that preserves much of its original quality prior to its contact with the mirror. Some mirrors also filter out some wavelengths, while preserving other wavelengths in the reflection...
(Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
for "mirror") chief among them the Speculum Maius by Vincent de Beauvais, who lived during the time.
Contributors
William BaldwinWilliam Baldwin (author)
-Life:From the West Country, England, Baldwin studied logic and philosophy at Oxford. On leaving Oxford, he became a corrector of the press to the printer Edward Whitchurch. During the reigns of Edward VI and Queen Mary, it appears that Baldwin was employed in preparing theatrical exhibitions for...
and George Ferrers
George Ferrers
George Ferrers was a courtier and writer. In an incident which arose in 1542 while he was a Member of Parliament for Plymouth in the Parliament of England, he played a key role in the development of parliamentary privilege.-Life:...
were the first editors of the work and the principal contributors. Between them they are credited with writing fifteen of the nineteen lives which made up the work when it was published in 1559 by Thomas Marsh, although some of the lives are unsigned and are only conjectured to be written by them. Other contributing poets include: Thomas Phaer, Thomas Chaloner
Thomas Chaloner (statesman)
Sir Thomas Chaloner was an English statesman and poet.-Life:He was the son of Roger Chaloner, mercer of London, a descendant of the Denbighshire Chaloners...
and Thomas Churchyard
Thomas Churchyard
Thomas Churchyard , English author, was born at Shrewsbury, the son of a farmer.-Life:Churchyard received a good education, and, having speedily dissipated at court the money with which his father provided him, he entered the household of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey...
, with one poem supposedly by John Skelton
John Skelton
John Skelton, also known as John Shelton , possibly born in Diss, Norfolk, was an English poet.-Education:...
despite him having died thirty years before. There are also some links in prose
Prose
Prose is the most typical form of written language, applying ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than rhythmic structure...
between the poems, conversations between the poets themselves which mention several other noble lives. Baldwin also sets forth his reasons for beginning the work:
- When the printer had purposed with hym selfe to printe Lidgate’s booke of the fall of Princes, and had made privye thereto, many both honourable and worshipfull, he was counsailed by dyvers of them, to procure to have the storye contynewed from where as Bochas [Boccaccio] lefte, unto this presente time, chiefly of such as Fortune had dalyed with here in this ylande…which advice liked him so well, that hee requyred mee to take paynes therein.
Editions
A first edition of the work was compiled as early as 1555 by the publisher John Weyland, but only the title page remains, attached to his edition of Lydgate. Weyland was apparently denied a license to publish by the Lord ChancellorLord Chancellor
The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...
Stephen Gardiner
Stephen Gardiner
Stephen Gardiner was an English Roman Catholic bishop and politician during the English Reformation period who served as Lord Chancellor during the reign of Queen Mary I of England.-Early life:...
effectively suppressing the work and putting the publisher out of business. Baldwin in a later printing commented that:
- "The wurke was begun & part of it printed iiii years agoe, but hyndred by the Lord Chancellor that then was."
Gardiner died the same year but the work was still not immediately published. This was a difficult time in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
during the reign of Mary I
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
when most works were suspected of having a political subtext. Poems dealing with the mistakes of the nobility of the proceeding age were bound to be controversial, either by insulting the ancestors of the ruling class or, under the pretext of criticism, subtly praising the regime's political enemies.
The accession of Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
, which brought with it a change in the country's religion, allowed the publication of the 1559 edition. Despite press restrictions easing under the new queen the subject was still difficult. Baldwin's original plan, inferred from clues in the extant poems, seems to have been to write three volumes of lives: up to the reign of Edward VI, up to the reign of Richard III of England
Richard III of England
Richard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty...
and lastly lives up to the reign of Mary. Although it appears that the work was well received Baldwin did not continue the plan. Whether this was due to the ill health—he probably died around 1563—or whether this was because of the more recent lives were more controversial, is uncertain, but it is significant that the next major expansion of the work confined itself mainly to the ancient past.
Traditionally the impetus and planning for the entire work has been ascribed to Thomas Sackville
Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset
Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset was an English statesman, poet, dramatist and Freemason. He was the son of Richard Sackville, a cousin to Anne Boleyn. He was a Member of Parliament and Lord High Treasurer.-Biography:...
. As he was only eighteen years old at the time of the first edition this seems unlikely, and his is listed as a contributor only in the third edition of 1563. The reason for Sackville receiving much of the credit for the work is in part that he was the most famous of the writers to work on the Mirror but also because his contributions, Induction and The Complaint of Henry Duke of Buckingham, are often the only ones regarded as having any lasting literary merit. Another reason for the ascription to Sackville is due to the reorganisations the work underwent in later editions, giving accidental prominence to Sackville's sections and confusing later readers.
The edition of 1563 contained only eight extra lives and of these at least one is known to have been written around the time of the earlier poems but left out when they were published. The next edition in 1574 was printed again by Thomas Marsh with the editor and main author being John Higgins. Confusingly the new edition was named The first parte of the Mirour for Magistrates as it dealt with much earlier lives which were placed before the poems of the previous editions. Whilst the poetic style is markedly similar to the other poems, Higgins is seen as a much inferior poet and he greatly changed the focus of the work.
The critical assessment of the lives of people from recent history which was evident in the compositions of Baldwin's and his contemporary writers, gave way to mostly laudatory accounts of the distant legends of the early Britons. What was once a politically contentious book, examining lives offering warnings to the present on the errors of the past, was now a work displaying national pride in England's history; many of which were taken from the largely mythical Historia Regum Britanniae
Historia Regum Britanniae
The Historia Regum Britanniae is a pseudohistorical account of British history, written c. 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It chronicles the lives of the kings of the Britons in a chronological narrative spanning a time of two thousand years, beginning with the Trojans founding the British nation...
. This focus on England's supposed glorious past and often defiance of Rome
Rome
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...
had much to do with the country being alienated from much of the rest of Europe because of its Protestant religion.
Thomas Blenerhasset, in 1578, took it upon himself to write another collection of lives of ancient Britons but as this was with a different printer it did not include the previous poems. Because this work robbed Higgins of British material for his next edition, the majority of the new lives printed in 1587 were noble Romans
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
. He also include a couple of poems by Francis Dingley: Flodden Field and Lamentation of James IV. By the 1610 edition the once popular Mirror had fallen out of fashion and its reputation was tarnished even more by the poor editing skills of Richard Niccols
Richard Niccols
-Life:He was born in London. He may have been the son of Richard Niccols who entered the Inner Temple in 1575, and who wrote ‘A Treatise setting forth the Mystery of our Salvation,’ and ‘A Day Star for Dark Wandring Souls; showing the light by a Christian Controversy’ .The younger Richard Niccols...
. He incorporated most of Blenerhasset's work but removed numerous lives and most of the links in prose between the poems. Why some of the lives were removed is unclear but some clearly might have embarrassed the new Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
ruling class of the new king James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
. He also added ten of his own poems including a more patriotic account of Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming the only English monarch still to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself...
to replace Blenerhasset's poem, which focused on Alfred being destroyed by lust, and England’s Eliza a homage to the late queen.
Ignoring the omissions of the Niccols edition, the entire work contained almost one hundred lives, covering the period from Albanact in 1085 BC to Elizabeth in 1603 and written over 60 years. Whilst the work was dismissed and largely forgotten after 1610 the lives from the Baldwin era were popular and highly regarded during the Tudor period
Tudor period
The Tudor period usually refers to the period between 1485 and 1603, specifically in relation to the history of England. This coincides with the rule of the Tudor dynasty in England whose first monarch was Henry VII...
. Philip Sidney
Philip Sidney
Sir Philip Sidney was an English poet, courtier and soldier, and is remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan Age...
, mentions the work in his Defence of Poesy, saying that it was "meetly furnished of beautiful parts". The influence of the work was evident in many contemporary works such as Albion's England by the poet William Warner
William Warner (poet)
William Warner was an English poet.-Life:William Warner was born in London about 1558. He was educated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, but left the university without taking a degree. He practised in London as an attorney, and gained a great reputation among his contemporaries as a poet...
and Cromwell by Michael Drayton
Michael Drayton
Michael Drayton was an English poet who came to prominence in the Elizabethan era.-Early life:He was born at Hartshill, near Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England. Almost nothing is known about his early life, beyond the fact that in 1580 he was in the service of Thomas Goodere of Collingham,...
which was actually included in the 1610 edition. It was also significant for its development of the form of tragedy
Tragedy
Tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...
in English literature
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
, with Higgins' story of Lier and Cordila providing a source for Shakespeare's King Lear
King Lear
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
.
Modern reception
Most later critics, if they mention the work at all, can not avoid pointing out its many faults. Often only Sackville's contribution is regarded as worthy of preservation. Many of the other poems are told in a dull, didactic tone and Edmund GosseEdmund Gosse
Sir Edmund William Gosse CB was an English poet, author and critic; the son of Philip Henry Gosse and Emily Bowes.-Early life:...
, writing in 1913, whilst offering guarded praise, said "…the unflinching poetasters grind out in their monotonous rime royal…"
The lives of the various editions
What follows is a list of the lives added in the principal editions of the Mirror for Magistrates:1559
Robert TresilianRobert Tresilian
Robert Tresilian was an English lawyer, and Chief Justice of the King's Bench between 1381 and 1387. He was born in Cornwall, and held land in Tresillian, near Truro...
, Roger Mortimer
Roger de Mortimer, 1st Earl of March
Roger de Mortimer, 3rd Baron Mortimer, 1st Earl of March , was an English nobleman and powerful Marcher lord, who had gained many estates in the Welsh Marches and Ireland following his advantageous marriage to the wealthy heiress Joan de Geneville, 2nd Baroness Geneville. In November 1316, he was...
, Thomas, Duke of Gloucester
Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester
Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester, 1st Earl of Buckingham, 1st Earl of Essex, Duke of Aumale, KG was the thirteenth and youngest child of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault...
, Thomas Mowbrey
Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk
Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk, KG, Lord Marshal and Earl Marshal was an English nobleman.-Life:...
, 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...
, Owen Glendower, Henry Percy
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...
, Richard, Earl of Cambridge
Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge
Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge was the younger son of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York and Isabella of Castile....
, Thomas, Earl of Salisbury
Thomas Montacute, 4th Earl of Salisbury
Thomas Montacute, 4th Earl of Salisbury, 6th and 3rd Baron Montacute, 5th Baron Monthermer, and Count of Perche, KG was an English nobleman...
, James I of Scotland
James I of Scotland
James I, King of Scots , was the son of Robert III and Annabella Drummond. He was probably born in late July 1394 in Dunfermline as youngest of three sons...
, William de la Pole
William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk
William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, KG , nicknamed Jack Napes , was an important English soldier and commander in the Hundred Years' War, and later Lord Chamberlain of England.He also appears prominently in William Shakespeare's Henry VI, part 1 and Henry VI, part 2 and other...
, Jack Cade
Jack Cade
Jack Cade was the leader of a popular revolt in the 1450 Kent rebellion during the reign of King Henry VI in England. He died on the 12th July 1450 near Lewes. In response to grievances, Cade led an army of as many as 5,000 against London, causing the King to flee to Warwickshire. After taking and...
, Richard, Duke of York
Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York
Richard Plantagenêt, 3rd Duke of York, 6th Earl of March, 4th Earl of Cambridge, and 7th Earl of Ulster, conventionally called Richard of York was a leading English magnate, great-grandson of King Edward III...
, John Clifford
John Clifford, 9th Baron de Clifford
John Clifford, 9th Baron de Clifford, also 9th Lord of Skipton was a Lancastrian military leader during the Wars of the Roses...
, John Tiptoft
John Tiptoft, 1st Earl of Worcester
John Tiptoft, 1st Earl of Worcester KG , English nobleman and scholar, was the son of John Tiptoft, 1st Baron Tiptoft and Joyce Cherleton, co-heiress of Edward Charleton, 5th Baron Cherleton. He was also known as the Butcher of England...
, Richard, Earl of Warwick
Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick
Richard Neville KG, jure uxoris 16th Earl of Warwick and suo jure 6th Earl of Salisbury and 8th and 5th Baron Montacute , known as Warwick the Kingmaker, was an English nobleman, administrator, and military commander...
, Henry VI
Henry VI of England
Henry VI was King of England from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and disputed King of France from 1422 to 1453. Until 1437, his realm was governed by regents. Contemporaneous accounts described him as peaceful and pious, not suited for the violent dynastic civil wars, known as the Wars...
, George, Duke of Clarence
George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence
George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, 1st Earl of Salisbury, 1st Earl of Warwick, KG was the third son of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and Cecily Neville, and the brother of kings Edward IV and Richard III. He played an important role in the dynastic struggle known as the Wars of the...
, Edward IV
Story in prose of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester
Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester
Humphrey of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Gloucester, 1st Earl of Pembroke, KG , also known as Humphrey Plantagenet, was "son, brother and uncle of kings", being the fourth and youngest son of king Henry IV of England by his first wife, Mary de Bohun, brother to king Henry V of England, and uncle to the...
and his wife Eleanor Cobham
Eleanor Cobham
Eleanor [née Eleanor Cobham], Duchess of Gloucester , was a mistress and the second wife of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester. A convicted sorceress, her imprisonment for treasonable necromancy in 1441 was a cause célèbre.-Family:...
1563
Anthony WoodvilleAnthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers
Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers was an English nobleman, courtier, and writer.He was the eldest son of Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers and Jacquetta of Luxembourg. Like his father, he was originally a Lancastrian, fighting on that side at the Battle of Towton, but later became a Yorkist...
, William Hastings
William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings
William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings KG was an English nobleman. A follower of the House of York, he became a close friend and the most important courtier of King Edward IV, whom he served as Lord Chamberlain...
, Henry, Duke of Buckingham
Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham
Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, KG played a major role in Richard III of England's rise and fall. He is also one of the primary suspects in the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower...
, William Collingbourne
William Collingbourne
William Collingbourne was an English landowner and administrator. He was an opponent of King Richard III - corresponding with his enemies and penning a famous lampoon - and was eventually executed for treason.-Family background and marriage:...
, Richard III, Shore’s Wife (Jane Shore
Jane Shore
Elizabeth "Jane" Shore was one of the many mistresses of King Edward IV of England, the first of the three whom he described respectively as "the merriest, the wiliest, and the holiest harlots" in his realm...
), Edmund Beaufort and the Blackesmith (Lord Audley
James Tuchet, 7th Baron Audley
Sir James Tuchet, 7th Baron Audley was born in the Heleigh Castle, Staffordshire, England to John Tuchet, 6th Baron Audley and Ann Echingham....
)
1574
AlbanactusAlbanactus
According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, Albanactus was the founding king of Albania or Albany. He was the youngest of three sons of Brutus, a descendant of Aeneas of Troy. According to legend, upon their father's death, the eldest son Locrinus was given Loegria, Camber was given Cambria and Albanactus...
, Humber
Humber the Hun
Humber the Hun was a legendary king of the Huns as accounted by Geoffrey of Monmouth. According to Geoffrey, following the separation of Britain by Locrinus, Kamber, and Albanactus, Humber invaded Albany and killed Albanactus in open battle. The remaining people fled south where Locrinus allied...
, Locrinus
Locrinus
Locrinus was a legendary king of the Britons, as recounted by Geoffrey of Monmouth. He was the oldest son of Brutus and a descendant of the Trojans through Aeneas. Following Brutus's death, Britain was divided amongst the three sons, with Locrinus receiving the portion roughly equivalent to...
, Estrildis
Estrildis
Estrildis was the legendary daughter of the king of Germany according to Geoffrey of Monmouth. She was found in the ships of Humber the Hun after his defeat by Locrinus, son of Brutus. She was said to be the most beautiful woman of her time and Locrinus sought to marry her. Unfortunately,...
, Sabrine daughter of Estrildis, Maddan
Maddan
Maddan was a legendary king of the Britons as accounted by Geoffrey of Monmouth. He was the son of King Locrinus and Queen Gwendolen, who both ruled Britain separately....
, Malin son of Maddan, Mempricius
Mempricius
Mempricius was a legendary king of the Britons, as recounted by Geoffrey of Monmouth. He was the son of King Maddan and brother of Malin.-War:...
, Bladud
Bladud
Bladud or Blaiddyd was a legendary king of the Britons, for whose existence there is no historical evidence. He is first mentioned in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, which describes him as the son of King Rud Hud Hudibras, and the tenth ruler in line from the first King, Brutus....
, Cordila
Queen Cordelia
Queen Cordelia was a legendary Queen of the Britons, as recounted by Geoffrey of Monmouth. She was the youngest daughter of Leir and the second ruling queen of pre-Roman Britain. There is no independent historical evidence for her existence....
, Morgan
Marganus
Morganus was a legendary king of the Britons as accounted by Geoffrey of Monmouth. He was the son of Maglaurus, Duke of Albany, and Goneril, the daughter of King Leir....
, Forrex
Ferrex
Ferrex was a legendary king of the Britons as accounted by Geoffrey of Monmouth. He was the son of Gorboduc and Judon.When his father had become old, he waged war on his brother, Porrex, for who would succeed to the kingship. He fled to Gaul and enlisted the help of Suhard, the king of the...
, Porrex
Porrex I
Porrex I was a legendary king of the Britons as accounted by Geoffrey of Monmouth. He was the son of Gorboduc and his death began a dynastic civil war....
, Kimarus
Kimarcus
Kimarcus was a legendary king of the Britons according to Geoffrey of Monmouth. He was the son of Sisillius I and was succeeded by Gorboduc....
, Morindus
Morvidus
Morvidus was a legendary king of the Britons from 341 to 336 B.C., as recounted by Geoffrey of Monmouth. He was the illegitimate son of Danius by his mistress Tanguesteaia....
, Nennius
Nennius of Britain
Nennius is a prince of Britain at the time of Julius Caesar's invasions of Britain in Geoffrey of Monmouth's legendary History of the Kings of Britain . In Middle Welsh versions of Geoffrey's Historia he is called Nynniaw....
and in a 1575 copy Irenglas
1578
GuidericusGuiderius
Guiderius is a legendary British king according Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae and related texts. He can probably be identified as deriving from the historical Togodumnus....
, Carassus
Carausius
Marcus Aurelius Mausaeus Valerius Carausius was a military commander of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century. He was a Menapian from Belgic Gaul, who usurped power in 286, declaring himself emperor in Britain and northern Gaul. He did this only 13 years after the Gallic Empire of the Batavian...
, Helena
Helena of Constantinople
Saint Helena also known as Saint Helen, Helena Augusta or Helena of Constantinople was the consort of Emperor Constantius, and the mother of Emperor Constantine I...
, Vortiger, Uther Pendragon
Uther Pendragon
Uther Pendragon is a legendary king of sub-Roman Britain and the father of King Arthur.A few minor references to Uther appear in Old Welsh poems, but his biography was first written down by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae , and Geoffrey's account of the character was used in...
, Cadwallader
Cadwaladr
Cadwaladr ap Cadwallon was King of Gwynedd . Two devastating plagues happened during his reign, one in 664 and the other in 682, with himself a victim of the second one. Little else is known of his reign...
, Sigebert
Sigeberht of Wessex
Sigeberht was the King of Wessex from 756 to 757.Sigeberht succeeded his distant relative Cuthred, but was then accused of acting unjustly. He was removed from power by a council of nobles, but given control of Hampshire. There, he was accused of murder, driven out and ultimately killed...
, Lady Ebbe
Aebbe the Younger
For the earlier Abbess of Coldingham, see Æbbe the Elder.Saint Æbbe of Coldingham [also Ebbe, Aebbe, Abb], sometimes styled as "the Younger", was an Abbess of Coldingham Priory in south-east Scotland. There are several local Scottish legends associated with Æbbe...
, Alurede
Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming the only English monarch still to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself...
, Egelrede
Ethelred the Unready
Æthelred the Unready, or Æthelred II , was king of England . He was son of King Edgar and Queen Ælfthryth. Æthelred was only about 10 when his half-brother Edward was murdered...
, Edric
Eadric Streona
Eadric Streona was an ealdorman of the English Mercians. His name a loose translation of the Anglo-Saxon "the Grasper." Streona is historically regarded as the greatest traitor of the Anglo-Saxon period in English history....
and Harold
Harold Godwinson
Harold Godwinson was the last Anglo-Saxon King of England.It could be argued that Edgar the Atheling, who was proclaimed as king by the witan but never crowned, was really the last Anglo-Saxon king...
1587
IagoJago of Britain
Jago was a legendary king of the Britons according to Geoffrey of Monmouth. He was the nephew of Gurgustius and was succeeded by Kimarcus....
, Pinnar, Stater, Rudacke, Brennus
Brennius
Brennius was a legendary king of Northumberland and Allobroges, as recounted by Geoffrey of Monmouth. He was the son of Dunvallo Molmutius and brother of Belinus, probably based upon one or both of the historical Brenni.-Claimant to the throne of Britain:...
, Emerianus
Enniaunus
Enniaunus was a legendary king of the Britons as accounted by Geoffrey of Monmouth. He was the son of King Archgallo and brother of Marganus II. According to Geoffrey, he ruled poorly and harshly causing him to be deposed due to tyranny. He was replaced with his cousin Idvallo....
, Chirinnus
Cherin
Cherin was a legendary king of the Britons as accounted in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae. His father was King Porrex II and he was succeeded by his three sons in turn, Fulgenius, Edadus, and Andragius....
, Varianus
Urianus
Urianus was a legendary king of the Britons as accounted by Geoffrey of Monmouth. He was the son of King Andragius and was succeeded by Eliud. Geoffrey may possibly have based the character on that of Urien Rheged , although there is no resemblance between them....
, Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
, Tiberius
Tiberius
Tiberius , was Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced Nero and married Augustus in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Octavian...
, Caligula
Caligula
Caligula , also known as Gaius, was Roman Emperor from 37 AD to 41 AD. Caligula was a member of the house of rulers conventionally known as the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Caligula's father Germanicus, the nephew and adopted son of Emperor Tiberius, was a very successful general and one of Rome's most...
, Guiderius
Guiderius
Guiderius is a legendary British king according Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae and related texts. He can probably be identified as deriving from the historical Togodumnus....
, Lelius Hamo, Claudius
Claudius
Claudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...
, Nero
Nero
Nero , was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne in 54 following Claudius' death....
, Galba
Galba
Galba , was Roman Emperor for seven months from 68 to 69. Galba was the governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, and made a bid for the throne during the rebellion of Julius Vindex...
, Otho
Otho
Otho , was Roman Emperor for three months, from 15 January to 16 April 69. He was the second emperor of the Year of the four emperors.- Birth and lineage :...
, Vitellius
Vitellius
Vitellius , was Roman Emperor for eight months, from 16 April to 22 December 69. Vitellius was acclaimed Emperor following the quick succession of the previous emperors Galba and Otho, in a year of civil war known as the Year of the Four Emperors...
, Londricus, Severus
Septimius Severus
Septimius Severus , also known as Severus, was Roman Emperor from 193 to 211. Severus was born in Leptis Magna in the province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary succession of offices under the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. Severus seized power after the death of...
, Fulgentius a Pict, Geta
Publius Septimius Geta
Geta , was a Roman Emperor co-ruling with his father Septimius Severus and his older brother Caracalla from 209 to his death.-Early life:Geta was the younger son of Septimius Severus by his second wife Julia Domna...
, Caracalla
Caracalla
Caracalla , was Roman emperor from 198 to 217. The eldest son of Septimius Severus, he ruled jointly with his younger brother Geta until he murdered the latter in 211...
, Nicholas Burdet, James IV
James IV of Scotland
James IV was King of Scots from 11 June 1488 to his death. He is generally regarded as the most successful of the Stewart monarchs of Scotland, but his reign ended with the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Flodden Field, where he became the last monarch from not only Scotland, but also from all...
, Flodden Field and Cardinal Wolsey
1610
ArthurKing Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
, Edmund Ironside
Edmund Ironside
Edmund Ironside or Edmund II was king of England from 23 April to 30 November 1016. His cognomen "Ironside" is not recorded until 1057, but may have been contemporary. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, it was given to him "because of his valour" in resisting the Danish invasion led by Cnut...
, Alfred
Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming the only English monarch still to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself...
, Godwin
Godwin, Earl of Wessex
Godwin of Wessex , was one of the most powerful lords in England under the Danish king Cnut the Great and his successors. Cnut made him the first Earl of Wessex...
, Robert Curthose, Richard I, John
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
, Edward II
Edward II of England
Edward II , called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed by his wife Isabella in January 1327. He was the sixth Plantagenet king, in a line that began with the reign of Henry II...
, Edward V, Richard III
Richard III of England
Richard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty...
and Elizabeth
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
External links
- The Mirror for Magistrates parts I & II, poor quality scan of the first volume of a 1815 edition from Google Books
- Induction by Thomas Sackville