Poems Concerning the Stanley Family (Earls of Derby) 1485-1520
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POEMS CONCERNING THE STANLEY FAMILY (EARLS OF DERBY) 1485-1520 by IAN°FORBES BAIRD A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts of the University of Birmingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of English, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B 15 2TT. September 1989 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT This thesis is an edition of four poems (Lady Bessiye, Bosworth Feilde, Scotish Feilde, and Flodden Feilde) which were written in celebration of the military successes of, the family of Stanley, Lords Stanley and Earls of Derby, at the-battles of Bosworth (1485) and Flodden (1513). The introduction discusses the manuscripts and editions, the conditions for which the poems were composed, the style of the poems, and their contributions to the history of the- period. The poems are newly edited, and --the- commentaries attempt, as well as elucidating the meanings of obscure lines, to identify the people and places which would have been of interest to the Stanley family and friends. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The preparation` of this thesis has necessarily involved visits to parts of the country many miles from Birmingham in pursuit of long-forgotten scraps of local knowledge, and I would like to record my amazement - and been in thanks - that in every single library -I have (Birmingham University, Birmingham University's Shakespeare Institute, Birmingham Central Library, the British Library, the Bodleian, Liverpool University, 'Sheffield University, the John Rylands Library Manchester, ' Preston' Records Library, the Battlefield Centre at Bosworth, and local libraries in Ashton-under Lyne, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Chester,, Eccles, Hawarden, Leigh, Middleton, Stalybridge, Wythenshawe) the librarians have responded to my outlandish requests for help in tracking down obscure moments from the past with not only politeness and efficiency, but in almost every case positive enthusiasm. The Earl of Derby's librarian (until 1983) Mrs Diana Kay has been a particularly fruitful source of encouragement and help, and I am grateful to her and to the Earl for allowing me to go and examine the books and manuscripts at Knowsley on so many occasions. Much useful information about the obscure past can be gained from local amateurs who, for reasons best known to themselves, have made a lifelong study of some very restricted area of interest, and several of these people have opened their treasure-chests to me willingly and, if nothing else, pointed in me the right direction on many occasions: Mr North, verger St Leonard's of Church Middleton; Mr Dean, a local man also from Middleton; Mrs Marshall from Disley; Miss Raybould of branch Richard the midlands of the III society; and the late Mr D. Corbett of Long Eaton, whose work on the participants at Bosworth and their heraldic devices was simply staggering. I would also like to thank Dr S. C. Rapson, who gave much encouragement, advice, and time, particularly on matters of presentation. My greatest debts have been to Professor G. T. Shepherd of Birmingham University, who was a mine of wisdom and inspiration to me and all his students, but who alas died while this thesis was still in preparation, and to my wife and children who willingly undertook so many sacrifices so that I could pursue this research. September, 1989. TABLE OF CONTENTS THE INTRODUCTION Introduction 7 Manuscripts and Editions 12 The Poems 31 The Poems as History 60 Editorial Principles 113 Style 126 Footnotes to Introduction 141 THE POEMS Lady Bessiye 146 Bosworth Feilde 201 Scotish Feilde 229 Flodden Feilde 249 THE COMMENTARIES Some Family Trees and a Map 271 on Lady Bessiye 276 on Bosworth Feilde 328 on Scotish Feilde 346 on Flodden Feilde 388 THE AFTERTHOUGHTS Indexes 413 Glossary 429 Bibliography 441 INTR0DUCT10N INTRODUCTION This thesis, which can be seen simply as an edition of four rather obscure poems, is intended rather as a study of a in late fifteenth particular centre of poetic production the and early sixteenth centuries. The poems are edited and because presented as part of the thesis, but mainly without them, and especially without the notes on the texts, which illustrate again and again the peculiar local upper-class interest which informs the whole group of poems, the material in the introductory sections would be void of reference. The particular centre of interest is the noble family of Stanley, raised in 1485 to become Earls of Derby, whose sphere of influence was mainly in South Lancashire, Cheshire, and North Wales, although, depending on how far one pursues cousins and other dependants, it can fairly safely be claimed that they had connections throughout the country. These four poems all emphasise the local atmosphere, however, and it is this social and geographical unity which lies at the heart of the thesis. It would be possible to study the Stanley family and its connections with English literature within many different chronological limits. From that Lord Stanley who, in the middle of the 15th century commissioned the collection now known as Bodley MS Fairfax 16, through the great age of Elizabethan drama, when the Earl of Derby's Players were one of the more important groups by whom and for whom the drama existed; through the connections between the 5th and 6th Earls 7 with Shakespeare himself, including the suggestion, not without several books in its support, that some of Shakespeare's works were actually written by William, 6th Earl of Derby; on through the 13th Earl, literary patron of Edward Lear, up to the 14th Earl, who, in spare moments snatched from a political career which saw him three times as Prime Minister, translated the works of Homer into English verse: the connections between the family and English Literature are legion. It happens that the thirty years 1485-1515 saw two major military campaigns in this country, in both of which the Stanleys played a significant and ultimately a decisive role. At Bosworth in 1485, the balance between the two main armies, those of King Richard III and Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, appeared to favour the King. All depended on which side the other two armies in the field, those of Lord Stanley and his brother, Sir William, would join. The outcome is well-known, and the victory went to Henry because certainly one, and probably both (historians are divided) of the Stanley armies threw their power behind the invading army and against the King. Historians are not all convinced that Lord Stanley, whose son George Lord Strange was being held hostage by Richard, joined battle on behalf of the invader, though nearly all would say that his involvement was decisive, but what is is agreed that he did not, as Richard hoped and expected that he would, side with the King. At Flodden in 1513 the Stanleys, while not this time holding the balance of power, eventually tipped the scales of 8 battle by a smart out-flanking movement round the edge of the Scots' army, and King Henry VIII, who was not himself at the battle, was quick to acknowledge the part played in the victory by Sir Edward Stanley and his men from Lancashire and Cheshire. This decisive manoeuvre has not always been recognised for what it was by historians, but 'a contemporary verse-writer1 introduces Sir Edward as the man 'on whom the matter wholly hings'; and one later historian, G. F. T. Leather (1937, p. 11), after re-assessing the evidence of the battle, offers his opinion that 'the battle was really won by Sir Edward Stanley. ' The details of the battles are still being fought over, but what is beyond argument is that, as a direct result of these two successes, Thomas, 2nd Lord Stanley, was raised to become Ist Earl of Derby, and Sir Edward Stanley was raised to become Lord Mounteagle. Other Stanley men, cousins, nephews, in-laws, and (extending the limits generously) neighbours and dependants of all sorts, were also involved in these victories, were rewarded for their efforts, and rightly belong in the celebrations. is It hardly surprising, given that anyone should ever in write poems praise of a family, that Bosworth and Flodden should draw forth poems in praise of the Stanleys. At least six such poems survive, but two of them were clearly composed many years after the events they deal with. It is always difficult be to confident when dating early poems, but the four remaining poems all have the indications (see pp. 77-82, 93-7) having been of composed very soon after they events they 9 from describe, and are therefore in a different category poems which are already 'historical' when composed. The four poems, as with most poems until at least the delivery fifteenth century, seem to be intended for oral rather is than for silent reading (see p. 126), and there also a good friends case to be made for the members of the family and their 42-9). being involved in the composition of the poems (see pp. This thesis, then, examines the four poems as oral, self-congratulatory entertainment at one provincial court at implies one specific moment in history - but tacitly that this was by no means the only centre for such esoteric entertainments.