Abbot John Whethamstede’s Chronicle of the Abbey of St Albans
Abbot John Whethamstede's Register aka Chronicle of his second term at the Abbey of St Albans, 1451-1461, is a remarkable text that describes his first-hand experience of the beginning of the Wars of the Roses including the First and Second Battles of St Albans, 1455 and 1461, respectively, their cause, and their consequences, not least on the Abbey itself. His text also includes Loveday, Blore Heath, Northampton, the Act of Accord, Wakefield, and Towton, and ends with the Coronation of King Edward IV. In addition to the events of the Wars of the Roses, Abbot John, or his scribes who wrote the Chronicle, include details in the life of the Abbey such as charters, letters, land exchanges, visits by legates, and disputes, which provide a rich insight into the day-to-day life of the Abbey, and the challenges faced by its Abbot.
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On 23rd January 1305 Bishop Henry Woodlock was elected Bishop of Winchester.
On 30th May 1305 Bishop Henry Woodlock was consecrated Bishop of Winchester at Canterbury Cathedral [Map].
On 25th February 1308 King Edward II of England [aged 23] was crowned II King of England at Westminster Abbey [Map] by Henry Woodlock, Bishop of Winchester. Isabella of France Queen Consort England [aged 13] was crowned Queen Consort England.
Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall [aged 24] carried the Royal Crown.
William Marshal 1st Baron Marshal [aged 30] carried the Gilt Spurs.
Humphrey Bohun 4th Earl Hereford 3rd Earl Essex [aged 32] carried the Royal Sceptre.
Edmund Fitzalan 2nd or 9th Earl of Arundel [aged 22] was Chief Butler, a heriditary office.
Henry Plantagenet 3rd Earl of Leicester 3rd Earl Lancaster [aged 27] carried the Royal Rod.
Thomas Plantagenet 2nd Earl of Leicester, 2nd Earl Lancaster, Earl of Salisbury and Lincoln [aged 30] carried the sword Curtana.
Roger Mortimer 1st Earl March [aged 20] carried the table bearing the Royal Robes.
Thomas Grey [aged 28] and Robert Fitzwalter 1st Baron Fitzwalter [aged 61] attended.
Thomas Walsingham [~1422]. In the same year, on the sixth day before the Kalends of March1 [25th February 1308], that is, on the Feast of Saint Matthias the Apostle, the King and Queen were, with the greatest solemnity, magnificently crowned at Westminster by the Bishop of Winchester, acting under the commission of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was in exile. On the day the King was to be crowned, in the presence of Charles and Louis, counts and uncles of the Queen, of John, Duke of Brabant, and Margaret, Duchess, the Count of Savoy, and many other nobles, the earls and barons of the realm of England discussed the state of the kingdom, and requested of the King the removal of Piers Gaveston from the realm. But the King was unwilling to consent. Therefore, the earls proposed to prevent the royal coronation. When the King became aware of this, he promised in good faith that he would do for them in the next Parliament whatever they might ask, only that the coronation should not be delayed. Meanwhile, the King sent for the regalia of Saint Edward from the monks' church there, intending that after Mass he would return to the palace and sit down to the banquet. By right, the Chancellor of the realm and the Treasurer, if they were priests, ought to carry before the King the chalice of Saint Edward with the paten. But the King, instead of giving them to those to whom they belonged, voluntarily distributed portions of the regalia of Saint Edward, namely the cross, the sceptre, the rod, the spurs, and the swords. But the crown of Saint Edward he entrusted to Piers to carry in his defiled hands, for which reason, and not without cause, both people and clergy were indignant. The crowd was so tightly packed that a certain knight, John de Blakewell, who had long been an enemy of that church, died without the sacrament. Nor did the violence of the people spare either the King to be crowned or the bishops who were to crown him. And so, with great haste and almost without reverence, this solemnity was completed. On that day, the Mass in the church was finished after the ninth hour (mid-afternoon), and the banquet in the palace at night.
Eodem anno, sexto Kalendas Martii, die videlicet Sancti Matthiæ Apostoli, Rex et Regina cum solemnitate maxima apud Westmonasterium ab Episcopo Wyntoniensi, commissione Archiepiscopi Cantuariensis exulantis, magnifice coronatur. In die quo Rex debebat coronari, coram Karolo et Lodewico Comitibus, patruis Reginæ, Johanne Duce Brabantiæ, et Margareta Ducissa, Comite Sabaudiæ, et multis aliis nobilibus, tractaverunt Comites et Barones regni Angliæ de statu regni, petieruntque a Rege amotionem Petri de Gaverstone a regno; sed Rex noluit consentire. Ideirco proposuerunt Comites coronationem regiam impedire. Quod Rex intelligens, promisit bona fide se facturum illis in Parliamento proximo quicquid peterent, tantum ne coronatio differatur. Interim, Rex misit post Regale Sancti Edwardi in ecclesia monachorum ibidem, in quo post Missam est in palatium reversurus, et ad prandium est sessurus. Cancellarius regni et Thesaurarius de jure portare debent calicem Sancti Edwardi cum patena, si presbyteri fuerint, ante Regem: tradidit autem Rex non quibus debebat, sed voluntarie portiunculas Regalis Sancti Edwardi, puta crucem, sceptrum, virgam, calcaria, et gladios; sed coronam Sancti Edwardi tradidit Petro ad portandum manibus inquinatis, ex quo non immerito indignati sunt populus atque clerus. Fuit autem ibi tanta compressio populi, ut quidam miles, Johannes de Blakewelle, qui ab antiquo hostis illius ecclesiæ fuerat, sine viatico expiraret. Sed nec Regi coronando, nec Episcopis, ipsum coronaturis, pepercit violentis populi. Et ideo, cum festinatione nimia, et quasi sine reverentis, fuit ista solemnizatio consummata. Illo die, Missa in ecclesia din post nonam, et prandium in palatio de nocte, sunt finita.
Note 1. The sixth day before the Kalends of March is the 24th of February. However, 1308 was a leap-year. At the time, rather than add an extra day to February, the calendar inserted a second 24th of February, which was known as the "bisextus" or "twice sixth". In a leap year the Church held that St Matthias's Feast Day, usually the 24th of February, was held on the "twice sixth" i.e. the 25th of February in the modern calendar.
On 25th November 1313 Bishop Gilbert Segrave [aged 47] was consecrated as Bishop of London by Bishop Henry Woodlock.
On 28th June 1316 Bishop Henry Woodlock died at Farnham Castle, Surrey [Map]. He was buriedt at Winchester Cathedral [Map].
Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough. The final Mass was celebrated by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, who was the Bishop of Durham, and he performed the burial rites. His ministers at the altar were two bishops: the Bishop of Winchester1, who read the Gospel, and the Bishop of Lincoln2, who read the Epistle. And so the most mighty, most prudent, and wisest king was laid to rest among his ancestors, in the sixty-eighth year of his age and the thirty-fifth of his reign.3
Ultimam autem missam celebravit patriarcha Jerosolimitanus, qui erat Dunolmensis episcopus, et officium sepulturæ peregit. Erantque ministri ejus ad altare duo episcopi, Wintoniensis scilicet qui evangelium, et Lincolniensis qui epistolam perlegerunt. Appositusque est ad patres suos rex fortissimus, prudentissimus, et sapientissimus, anno atatis suze sexagesimo octavo, et regni sui tricesimo quinto.
Note 1. Henry Woodlock, alias Merewell, formerly Prior of St. Swithun's, Winchester.
Note 2. John d'Aldreby.
Note 3. This terminates the portion of Guisborough given in MS. Lansdown, 239. After quinto, in a contemporary hand, is written,
Here end the three books compiled by Lord Walter of Guisborough, canon of Guisborough, concerning the deeds of the English from the coming of William the Bastard, the Conqueror, up to the death of the most valiant King Edward the First after the Conquest.
Expliciunt tres libri compilati a domino Waltero Guisborought canonico de Gyseburne, de gestis Anglorum ab adventu Willelmi Bastardi Conquæstoris usque ad mortem strenuissimi regis Edwardi primi post conquæstum. MS. C, C. C. Cant. 250, concludes the reign of Edward I at fol. 136, b, and continues the history of Edward II on the following page (f.137, a.) thus, "Liber Quartus. De Coronatione Regis Edwardi Secundi et Martyris."