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In or before 1310 [his father] Jean "le Borgne" de Masny and [his mother] Jeanne de Jenlain were married.
Around 1310 Walter Manny 1st Baron Manny was born to Jean "le Borgne" de Masny and Jeanne de Jenlain.
In 1324 [his father] Jean "le Borgne" de Masny was killed at La Réole.
On 12th August 1332 Battle of Dupplin Moor was fought between the supporters of the infant King David II of Scotland (age 8), son of King Robert the Bruce I of Scotland, and the supporters of King Edward I of Scotland (age 49), supported by the English. The Bruce army included Robert Bruce Lord of Liddesdale and Domhnall Mar II Earl of Mar (age 39). The Balliol army included David III Strathbogie 11th Earl Atholl (age 23), Ralph Stafford 1st Earl Stafford (age 30), Thomas Ughtred 1st Baron Ughtred (age 40) and Walter Manny 1st Baron Manny (age 22). The battle is notable for being the first to use dismounted men-at-arms supported by archers; a formation that would bring repeated success to the English both in Scotland and France.
Robert Bruce Lord of Liddesdale was killed leading a charge.
Nicholas Hay (age 47) was killed.
Thomas Randolph 2nd Earl Moray was killed. His brother John (age 26) succeeded 3rd Earl Moray.
Domhnall Mar II Earl of Mar was killed.
Chronicle of Geoffrey the Baker of Swynebroke. In the same year [1337], the king wrote explanatory letters detailing the origins of the hostilities that had arisen between himself and the tyrant of France. He entrusted these to his loyal knight Walter de Mauny (age 27)1 (called 'le Magne'), a Burgundian, to be delivered to the Counts of Hainault, Guelders, and Jülich. All of these pledged2, through their sealed letters, friendship and fidelity to the king against all unjust adversaries. During the course of his embassy, the aforementioned Walter de Mauny, seeking to avenge the blood of two Englishmen3 who, while in search of fresh water by ship, had been murdered by the inhabitants of a certain island near Flanders, ordered all he found on that island to be put to the sword. This was carried out effectively, under his own direction. There also he captured the brother of the Count of Flanders, whom he brought to the King of England. The king received him graciously, honoured him with fine gifts, horses, and jewels, and then sent him back to Flanders at liberty.
Eodem quoque anno scripsit literas expositorias inicia inimiciciarum inter ipsum et tirannum Francie exortarum continentes, quas Waltero le Magne, militi suo fideli, Burgundinensi, tradidit deferendas comitibus Hannonie, Gelrie, et Iuliacensi; qui omnes amiciciam et contra omnes iniustos suos adversarios fidelitatem regi per eorum literas patentes compromiserunt. Prefatus Walterus le Magne, pro tempore sue legacionis vindicaturus sanguinem duorum Anglicorum, quos quesituros navibus aquas recentes indigene cuiusdam insule iyxta Flandriam necuere, omnes quos invenit in eadem insula iussit in ore gladii trucidari; quod effectualiter fuit impletum, ipso prestante. Ibidem eciam cepit germanum comitis Flandrie, quem rex Anglie sibi adductum, pulcris muneribus, equis, et iocalibus honouratum, Flandriam remisit cum libertate.
Note 1. Sir Walter Mauny, or Manny, was the son of a knight of Hainault, and was born at Valenciennes, thus being a fellow townsman of Froissart. He came to England in the train of queen Philippa. He was knighted in 1331, and rapidly rose to distinction, serving in the various campaigns of Edward's reign. He was summoned to parliament, as baron, in 1347; became K.G. in 1359; and died in January, 1372. He married Margaret, daughter of Thomas of Brotherton, earl of Norfolk.
Note 2. The formal agreement with the counts of Hainault and Guelders and the marquis of Juliers, to levy troops, is dated 24th May 1337. Fœdera, ii. 970. The principal ambassador, with whom however many others were associated, was Henry Burghersh or Burwash, bishop of Lincoln.
Note 3. Baker here simply follows Murimuth. The attack on Cadzand, an island at the mouth of the western Scheldt, which was held by Guy, bastard brother of Louis of Flanders, was the object of an organized expedition under the earl of Derby. The garrison was routed on the 10th November 1337.
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On 24th June 1340 King Edward III of England (age 27) attacked the French fleet at anchor during the Battle of Sluys capturing more than 200 ships, killing around 18000 French. The English force included John Beauchamp 1st Baron Beauchamp Warwick (age 24), William Bohun 1st Earl of Northampton (age 30), Henry Scrope 1st Baron Scrope of Masham (age 27), William Latimer 4th Baron Latimer of Corby (age 10), John Lisle 2nd Baron Lisle (age 22), Ralph Stafford 1st Earl Stafford (age 38), Henry of Grosmont 1st Duke Lancaster (age 30), Walter Manny 1st Baron Manny (age 30), Hugh Despencer 1st Baron Despencer (age 32) and Richard Pembridge (age 20).
Thomas Monthermer 2nd Baron Monthermer (age 38) died from wounds. His daughter Margaret succeeded 3rd Baroness Monthermer.
Chronicle of Geoffrey the Baker of Swynebroke. 1343. In the nineteenth year of the king's reign, Henry, Earl of Derby1, later created Duke of Lancaster, and the Earls of Devon (age 39) and Pembroke (age 23), as well as Lord Ralph Stafford (age 41); not yet Earl of Stafford but still a baron, and Lord Walter de Mauny (age 33), were sent to Gascony. There, having conquered walled towns and castles, they won many glorious battles with great bravery. The town of Aiguillon, which they captured by assault, was placed under the guardianship of Ralph of Stafford. Afterward, they moved against other towns, such as Bergerac, which due to its strength was called "the chamber of the French," and also Saint-Jean, La Réole, and many other large, strong, and well-fortified places, which they captured through great effort and perilous assaults. In these campaigns, the Duke of Lancaster fought in underground tunnels, which were being dug to undermine the towers and walls, and suffered fierce attacks from the valiant defenders, fighting hand-to-hand against the besieged. And, something unheard of before, he knighted both Gascon and English soldiers in those very tunnels. Indeed, by conquering towns, cities, castles, and fortresses numbering two hundred and fifty, he marched across a large part of Gascony and advanced as far as Toulouse. There, he invited the ladies of Toulouse and noble maidens, through letters, to dine with him, his fellow nobles, and Lord Bernard de Libreto1, a loyal Gascon. But, with God's protection, he did no harm to the city or its inhabitants, except for instilling in them unbearable terror, as those who had been besieged later told me. The terror was such that even mendicant friars took up arms, and the Prior of the Carmelite order of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Toulouse, bearing a silver banner with a golden image of the Virgin, led the citizens of his quarter from the walls. He raised his banner in defense3, and by this display, he stirred pious devotion in the duke and many in the army, though some mocked him as well.
Anno Domini MCCCXLV, regis XIX, Henricus comes Derbie, postea dux Lancastrie creatus, et comes Devonie et comes Pembrochie et dominus Radulfus, nondum comes Staffordie set baro, et dominus Walterus de Magne Vasconiam destinantur; ubi, conquisitis villis muratis et castris, multa gloriosa certamina fortiter vicerunt. Villam Daguiloun per insultum adquisitam deputabant custodie Radulphi Staffordie. Postea diverterunt se ad alias villas, ut Brigerak, vocatam pre sua fortitudine 'cameram Francorum,' et ad villam sancti Iohannis et de la Ruele et alias multas grandes et fortes et bene munitas, quas magnis laboribus et insultibus periculosis adquisierunt. Ibi dux Lancastrie, militans in fossatis subterraneis que pro diruendis turribus et muris effodiebantur, graves a virilibus defensoribus insultus paciebatur, et manualiter contra obsessos dimicavit, et, quod antea fuit inauditum, in eiisdem fossatis milites tam Vascones quam Anglicos effecit. Quippe villas, civitates, castra et fortalicia ducentas l. conquirendo, magnam partem Vasconie et usque Tolosam transequitavit, ubi dominas Tolosanas et virgines nobiles per suas literas ad convivandum secum et suis comitibus et domino Bernardo de Libreto, Aquitannico fideli, invitavit. Set, civitatem Deo conservante, nihil eius incolis malefecit, nisi quod terrorem intollerabilem, ut obsessi mihi retulerunt, eiis intulit; ita quod, religiosis mendicis ad arma compulsis, prior Carmelitarum beate Marie Tolose, sub vexillo argenteo ymaginem auream beate Virginis habente, de quarterio sui incolatus civibus prefectus, ostendens suum vexillum ad muros, per armorum errancias descriptum ducem ad devocionem piam et quam plures de exercitu, atque nonnullos ad derisionem, provocavit.
Note 1. Henry of Grosmont (age 33) succeeded as earl of Lancaster, 22nd September 1345, and was created duke on the 6th March, 1352. Hugh Courtenay succeeded as earl of Devon in 1341; died in 1377. Laurence de Hastings was created earl of Pembroke, 12th October 1339; died in 1348. Ralph de Stafford succeeded as baron Stafford in 1308, and was created earl on the 5th March, 1351; died in 1372.
Baker is very confused as to the capture of the different places. Bergerac was first taken on the 24th August 1345, Aiguillon, early in December, La Réole, in January 1346. The Saint-Jean-d'Angely was not taken till September 1346. Derby did not go near Toulouse, although it is not impossible that some incursion was made thither. Baker says that he had his information from persons who were besieged there; but he was quite capable of confusing events, and he is most probably referring to the expedition of 1349.
Note 2. Bernard, sire d'Albret; died 1358.
Note 3. This seems to mean: by the procession of his banner, on which the picture of the Virgin stood for his armorial device.
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Around 25th August 1345 Henry of Grosmont 1st Duke Lancaster (age 35) commanded the English forces at Bergerac, Dordogne during the Battle of Bergerac. The English army including Walter Manny 1st Baron Manny (age 35) won a decisive victory over the French with Henri Montigny captured.
On 21st October 1345 Henry of Grosmont 1st Duke Lancaster (age 35) commanded an English army including Walter Manny 1st Baron Manny (age 35) at Auberoche, Perigueux during the Battle of Auberoche. The battle was a significant victory for the English with the French forces being heavily defeated. The ransoms alone made a fortune for many of the soldiers in Derby's army, as well as Derby himself, who was said to have made at least £50,000 from the day's captives, and sealed his reputation as 'one of the best warriors in the world'.
On 12th November 1347 Walter Manny 1st Baron Manny (age 37) was created 1st Baron Manny.
Chronicle of Geoffrey the Baker of Swynebroke. In this year, after the feast of Saint Martin, there assembled at Calais1 the Bishop of Norwich (age 50), the Earl of Lancaster, the Earl of Suffolk (age 50), and Lord Walter Mauny (age 38) on the part of the English; and on the part of the French, the Bishop of Lyon, the Duke of Bourbon, the Duke of Dauphiné, the Count of Guînes, the Lord of Tancarville, and Lord Geoffrey de Charny, for the purpose of renewing the truces. But the Earl of Lancaster refused to give his assent until two fortifications at Calais, which were harmful and built contrary to the terms of the previous truces, had been demolished. Once that had been done, the truces were renewed, set to last until the first day of December of the following year.
Isto anno, post festum sancti Martini, convenerunt apud Calesiam episcopus Norwycensis, comes Lancastrie, comes Suthfolchie, et dominus Walterus Magne, ex parte Anglorum; item, episcopus Lugdunensis, dux de Burbone et dux Dactenes et comes de Gynes et dominus de Tankerville et dominus Galfridus de Charny, ex parte Francorum, pro treugis renovandis; quibus noluit comes Lancastrie assentire, quousque duo fortalicia Calesie nociva et contra formam pristinarum treugarum edificata fuerant diruta. Quo facto, renovate sunt treuge, usque ad primum diem Decembris anni proximo futuri durature.
Note 1. The commission to the English envoys is dated 25th September 1348. The French envoys were Hugues, bishop of Laon, Jean de Nesle, sire d'Offemont, Geoffroi de Charny, and the master of the crossbowmen. The prolongation of the truce to the 1st September (not December) of the following year was agreed to on the 13th November. Fœdera, iii. 173, 177. Baker appears to have confused the negotiations of this and the next year.
Chronicle of Geoffrey the Baker of Swynebroke. In this year1, on the feast day of Saint George [23rd April 1350], the king held a great banquet at Windsor Castle [Map], where he established a chantry of twelve priests, and founded a hospital, in which impoverished knights, whose means were insufficient, could, in the service of the Lord, receive suitable support from the perpetual alms of the founders of that college. Besides the king, other nobles contributed to the foundation of this hospital, namely: the king's eldest son, the Earl of Northampton (age 40), the Earl of Warwick (age 37), the Earl of Suffolk (age 51), the Earl of Salisbury (age 21), and other barons. Also included were simple knights, such as: Roger de Mortimer (age 21), now Earl of March, Lord Walter de Mauny (age 40), Lord William FitzWarin (age 34), John de Lisle (age 14), John de Mohun (age 30), John de Beauchamp (age 31), Walter de Pavely (age 31), Thomas Wale (age 47) and Hugh de Wrottesley (age 16). Men whose proven virtue ranked them among the wealthiest earls. Together with the king, all these men were clothed in robes of powdered russet, with garters of Indian color, also wearing garters on their right legs, and mantles of blue, adorned with the shield of Saint George. In such attire, bareheaded, they devoutly attended a solemn Mass, sung by the bishops of Canterbury, Winchester, and Exeter. They then sat together at a common table, in honour of the holy martyr, to whom they dedicated this noble brotherhood, calling their company "The Knights of Saint George of the Garter."
Isto anno, in die sancti Georgii, rex celebravit grande convivium apud Wyndesore in castro, ubi instituit cantariam xij. sacerdotum, et fundavit zenodochium, in quo milites depauperati, quibus sua non sufficerent, possent in Domini servitute de perpetuis elemosinis fundatorum illius collegii sustentacionem competentem habere. Preter regem fuerunt alii compromittentes in fundacionem istius zenodochii, scilicet regis primogenitus, comes Norhamptonie, comes Warewici, comes Suthfolchie, comes Salisbiriensis, et alii barones; simplices quoque milites, scilicet Rogerus de Mortuo mari, nunc comes Marchie, dominus Walterus de Magne, dominus Willelmus filius Garini, Iohannes de Insula, Iohannes de Mohun, Iohannes de Bealchampe, Walterus de Pavely, Thomas Wale, et Hughe de Wrotesley, quos probitas experta ditissimis comitibus associavit. Una cum rege fuerunt omnes isti vestiti togis de russeto pulverizato cum garteriis Indie coloris, habentes eciam tales garterias in tibiis dextris, et mantella de blueto cum scutulis armorum sancti Georgii. Tali apparatu nudi capita audierunt devote missam celebrem per antistites Cantuariensem, Wintoniensem, et Exoniensem decantatam, et conformiter sederunt in mensa communi ob honourem sancti martiris, cui tam nobilem fraternitatem specialiter intitularunt, appellantes istorum comitivam sancti Georgii de la gartiere.
Note 1. Stow, Annales, 390: "This yeere, on Saint Georges day [23rd April 1350], the king held a great and solemne feast at his castle of Windsor, where he had augmented the chappel which Henry the first and other his progenitors, kings of England, had before erected, of eight chanons. He added to those eight chanons a deane and fifteene chanons more, and 24 poore and impotent knights, with other ministers and servants, as appeareth in his charter dated the two and twentieth of his reigne. Besides the king, there were other also that were contributors to the foundation of this colledge, as followeth: i. The sovereigne king Edward the third, 2. Edward, his eldest sonne, prince of Wales, 3. Henry, duke of Lancaster, 4. the earle of Warwicke, 5. Captaine de Bouch (age 19), 6. Ralph, earle of Stafford (age 48), 7. William Montacute, earle of Salisburie, 8. Roger, lorde Mortimer, earle of March, 9. sir John de Lisle (age 31), 10. sir Bartholomew Burwash (age 22), 11. sir John Beauchampe (age 34), 12. sir John Mahune, 13. sir Hugh Courtney, 14. sir Thomas Holland (age 36), 15. sir John Grey (age 49), 16. sir Richard Fitz Simon, 17. sir Miles Stapleton (age 30), 18. sir Thomas Walle, 19. sir Hugh Wrothesley, 20. sir Nele Loring (age 30), 21. sir John Chandos (age 30), 22. sir James de Audley (age 32), 23. sir Othes Holland (age 34), 24. sir Henry Eme, 25. sir Sechet Dabridgecourt (age 20), 26. sir Wiliam Panell. All these, together with the king, were clothed in gownes of russet, poudered with garters blew, wearing the like garters also on their right legges, and mantels of blew with scutcheons of S. George. In this sort of apparell they, being bare-headed, heard masse, which was celebrated by Simon Islip, archbishop of Canterbury, and the bishops of Winchester and Excester, and afterwards they went to the feast, setting themselves orderly at the table, for the honour of the feast, which they named to be of S. George the martyr and the choosing of the knights of the Garter."
It will be seen that Stow here alters the names to tally with the list of the original knights or First Founders of the order of the Garter. Baker seems to be anticipating. William Bohun, 1st earl of Northampton, and Robert Ufford, 1st earl of Suffolk, and sir William Fitz-Warine became knights of the order at an early date; but Roger Mortimer, here styled 'now Earl of March,' did not have that title before 1352, and sir Walter Manny did not receive the garter till the end of 1359.
The date of the foundation of the order of the Garter has never been exactly determined. Froissart, iii. 37, places it in the year 1344; but it is evident that the festival which he describes is the one in which Edward established the Round Table only. Murimuth, 155, gives a full account of this festival, which was celebrated at Windsor and began on the 19th January; the Round Table was established on the 28th Jan., and its first festival was appointed for Whitsuntide, 23rd May:
In this year [1344], the Lord King ordered that the most noble tournament or chivalric contest be held at the place of his birth, namely, Windsor Castle, on the 19th of January, that is, the 14th day before the Kalends of February. He had it publicly proclaimed at an appropriate earlier time, both across the sea and in England. He also had all the ladies of the southern parts of England and the wives of the London burgesses invited by letter. So, on Sunday, the 14th day before the Kalends of February [19th January], when the earls, barons, knights, and a great many noble ladies had gathered at the castle, the king held a magnificent feast— such that the great hall of the castle was completely filled with ladies, and no man was among them, except two knights from France who had come solely for the celebration. At that feast were two queens, nine countesses, and the wives of barons, knights, and burgesses, whose numbers could hardly be counted. The king himself personally placed each woman in her seat according to rank. Meanwhile, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cornwall, the earls, barons, and knights, together with the common people, dined in tents and other locations, where food and all necessities were provided—freely and without complaint. In the evening, there were various dances and revels, solemnly arranged. For the three days following, the king, along with nineteen other knights, held the tournament against all challengers from outside. And the king himself, not because of royal favour, but because of the great effort he made and the fortune he had during those three days, was awarded the prize among the English participants. Among the foreign challengers, on the first day, Sir Miles de Stapleton, the second day, Sir Philip Despenser, the third day, Sir John Blount (age 46) were each honoured for their performances. On the Thursday following, during the squires' tournament, the king held a great banquet, at which he inaugurated his Round Table, and took the oaths of certain earls, barons, and knights whom he wished to include under a specific form associated with that Round Table. He then set the next meeting of the Round Table to be held at the feast of Pentecost, and gave all those present leave to return home, with thanks and blessings. Later, he ordered that a magnificent building be constructed at Windsor, in which the Round Table could be held on the assigned date. To that end, he appointed masons, carpenters, and other craftsmen, and commanded that timber and stone be provided—sparing no labor or expense. However, this work was later abandoned, for certain reasons.
The Brute chronicle (Egerton MS. 650) has this description, although under a wrong year: And in the XIX yere of his regne, anone aftre, in Jannuere, before Lenten, the same kyng Edward lete make fulle noble iustice and grete festes in the place of hys byrth, at Wyndsore, that ther were never none suche seyne before that tyme, ne I trowe sythene. At whech iustice, festis and ryalte weryn II kinges, II quenys, and the prince of Wales and the duke of Cornewale, ten erles, nine countesse, many barons, knyghttes, and worthy burgesse, the whech myght not lyghtly be nombrede; and also of dyverse londes as byyonde the see were many strangers. And at that tyme, whene |>e iustes had done, the kyng Edward made a grete souper, in the wheche he begone fyrst hys round table, and ordayned stedfastly the day of the forsayd table to be holde ther at Wyndessore in the Whytesonwyke evermore yerely.
Relying on the date given in the statutes of the order and on this passage in Baker, writers on the subject have adopted 1349 or 1350 as the year of foundation. But an entry in the household-book of the Black Prince affords a reason for dating the event a year earlier, payment having been made on the 18th November, 1348, for twenty-four garters which were given by the prince "militibus de societate garterias" i.e. "garters [were given] to the knights of the society"; Beltz, Memorials of the Garter, pp. XXXII, 385. Proof however is not conclusive, as the ministers' accounts in the household-book were rendered between 1352 and 1365, and there is therefore room for error; moreover, the garters in question may have been prepared in anticipation. The date of 1349, which is given in the preamble to the earliest copies of the statutes, although it is true that those copies are not contemporary, is not to be lightly set aside. It is, indeed, most probable that the order was never solemnly instituted at an early period, but that it was gradually taking shape during the years following the foundation of the Round Table. Edward's patent, bearing date of 22nd August 1348, whereby he instituted a chapel at Windsor, with a fraternity of eight secular canons and a warden, fifteen other canons, and four-and-twenty poor knights, appears to be the first formal document which can be quoted as a foundation-deed of the order. After this there is no direct reference to it until 1350, when robes were issued for the King against the coming Feast of St. George, together with a Garter containing the King's motto, "Hony soyt qui mal y pense!" Nicolas, Hist, of Orders of Knighthood, i. 24.
Before 1st April 1353 John Segrave 4th Baron Segrave (age 37) and [his future wife] Margaret Plantagenet 2nd Countess Norfolk were married. She by marriage Baroness Segrave. She the daughter of Thomas of Brotherton 1st Earl Norfolk and Alice Hales Countess Norfolk. They were fourth cousin once removed. He a great x 5 grandson of King John of England. She a granddaughter of King Edward I of England.
In 1354 Walter Manny 1st Baron Manny (age 44) and Margaret Plantagenet 2nd Countess Norfolk were married. She by marriage Baroness Manny. She the daughter of Thomas of Brotherton 1st Earl Norfolk and Alice Hales Countess Norfolk.
In 1357 [his son] Thomas Manny was born to Walter Manny 1st Baron Manny (age 47) and [his wife] Margaret Plantagenet 2nd Countess Norfolk in London. He a great grandson of King Edward I of England.
In 1360 King Edward III of England (age 47) created new Garter Knights:
31st Thomas Ughtred 1st Baron Ughtred (age 68).
32nd Walter Manny 1st Baron Manny (age 50).
33rd Frank Hale.
34th Thomas Ufford (age 27).
In January 1362 [his son] Thomas Manny (age 5) drowned in a well at Deptford, Kent [Map].
Before 1368 [his step-daughter] Elizabeth Segrave 5th Baroness Segrave Baroness Mowbray (age 29) died. Her son John (age 2) succeeded 6th Baron Segrave. The date somewhat uncertain but consistent with John Mowbray 1st Earl Nottingham succeeding.
In July 1368 [his son-in-law] John Hastings 2nd Earl Pembroke (age 20) and [his daughter] Anne Manny Countess Pembroke were married. She by marriage Countess Pembroke. She the daughter of Walter Manny 1st Baron Manny (age 58) and [his wife] Margaret Plantagenet 2nd Countess Norfolk. He the son of Laurence Hastings 1st Earl Pembroke and Agnes Mortimer Countess of Pembroke. They were half fourth cousins. He a great x 5 grandson of King John of England. She a great granddaughter of King Edward I of England.
On 12th January 1372 Walter Manny 1st Baron Manny (age 62) died. His daughter [his daughter] Anne succeeded 2nd Baroness Manny. [his son-in-law] John Hastings 2nd Earl Pembroke (age 24) by marriage Baron Manny.
On 24th March 1399 [his former wife] Margaret Plantagenet 2nd Countess Norfolk died. Her grandson Thomas (age 31) succeeded 3rd Earl Norfolk. Elizabeth Fitzalan Duchess Norfolk (age 33) by marriage Countess Norfolk.
[his daughter] Anne Manny Countess Pembroke was born to Walter Manny 1st Baron Manny and Margaret Plantagenet 2nd Countess Norfolk. She a great granddaughter of King Edward I of England.
Chronicle of Geoffrey the Baker of Swynebroke. But eventually, it violently invaded Gloucester, then Oxford, then London, and finally all of England, so that scarcely one in ten of either sex survived. As graveyards became insufficient, open fields were chosen for the burial of the dead. The Bishop of London1 purchased a plot called 'Nomanneslond' in London, and Lord Walter de Mauny acquired a place called 'the new churchyard,' where he founded a religious house for the burial of the dead. Court proceedings in both the King's Bench and Common Bench necessarily ceased. Few nobles died, among them Lord John de Montgomery2, captain of Calais, and the Lord of Clisteles, both of whom died in Calais and were buried with the friars of the Blessed Mary of Carmel in London. The number of common people who perished was beyond counting, and likewise the multitude of religious and other clerics—known only to God—passed away.
Set tandem Gloverniam, immo Oxoniam atque Londonias, et finaliter totam Angliam tarn violenter invasit, quod vix decimus utriusque sexus superfuerat. Cimiteriis non sufficientibus, campi eligebantur mortuorum sepulture. Episcopus Londoniensis emit illam croftam 'Nomanneslond' vocatam Londoniis, et dominus Walterus de Magne illam que vocatur 'þe newe chierche hawe,' ubi fundavit domum religiosorum ad sepeliendum morientes. Placita in bancis u regio et communi necessario cessavere. Pauci proceres moriebantur, de quibus erant dominus Johannes de Montgomurri, capitaneus Calesie, et dominus de Clisteles, in Calesia mortui et apud fratres beate Marie de Carmelo Londoniis sepulti. Wlgus innumerum, et religiosorum atque aliorum clericorum multitudo soli Deo nota, migravere.
Note 1. Stow, Survey of London, ed. 1754-5, ii. 60: 'Ralph Stratford, bishop of London, in the year 1348, bought a piece of ground called No Man's Land, which he inclosed with a wall of brick and dedicated for burial of the dead; built thereupon a proper chapel, which is now enlarged and made a dwelling-house. And this burying-place is become a fair garden, retaining the old name of Pardon Church-yard.' Sir Walter Manny purchased an adjoining piece of land of more than thirteen acres, the site of the Charterhouse which he founded in 1371. Stow says that he had seen a stone cross which stood in Manny's cemetery, bearing an inscription which recorded the burial of 50,000 victims of the plague.
Note 2. He died in 1348, for John Beauchamp was appointed captain of Calais on the 1st January, 1349. Owing to the transposition of words in the Bodleian MS. (or, at least, in the MS. which he used) Stow (Annales, 386) has made 'Lord Clisteles ' captain of Calais. Who this Clisteles was, does not appear. He was, however, probably of the family of the lords of Ghistelles in Flanders. Wulfart de Ghistelles was in Edward's service, and was the officer who captured Poix in the Crécy campaign. The name is not found in the list of persons buried in the church of the White Friars, in Stow's Survey (i. 742). There is however an Elianor Gristles, or Gistles, who may have been one of his family. Bourgeois de Valenciennes, 225: When King Edward of England had stayed at Poissy for about six days and saw and understood that he was enclosed by the waters of the Somme and that the king (of France) was not coming toward him to fight or otherwise, he held a council and resolved to depart from Poissy. Then the Earl of Warwick and Lord Godfrey of Harcourt and their division set out first, riding ahead, and King Edward of England and his host followed, with the rearguard behind them, marching in ordered formations. They burned and pillaged the town of Poissy upon leaving, but the abbey was spared. The host then marched through the Beauvais region, where they did great damage, burning the suburbs of Beauvais and much of the surrounding area. They came upon the abbey and the town of Beaupré, which they burned, along with Marseilles and all the towns as far as Poix. They burned that town as well, but the castle would not surrender. Then Lord Wulfart of Ghistelles assaulted the castle of Poix with a great number of archers, and those within the castle defended themselves vigorously. There was a fierce assault, with many wounded and killed. In the end, the castle was taken by force, then destroyed and burned, and all those inside were killed. The English then departed, having taken the spoils and prisoners from the town; the gain was theirs.