The Westminster Tournament Challenge (Harley 83 H 1) and Thomas Wriothesley s Workshop

Transcription

1 The Westminster Tournament Challenge (Harley 83 H 1) and Thomas Wriothesley s Workshop Alison Tara Walker On New Year s Day 1511, King Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon celebrated the birth of their first son. 1 To mark the occasion, Henry sponsored a lavish pageant and tournament to take place in Westminster on the twelfth and thirteenth of February The manuscript evidence for this tournament is particularly rich; in the Revels Account, the Serjeant of the Tents, Richard Gibson, compiles a detailed record of the supplies necessary for the pageant that preceded the tournament, jousting cheques provide a play-by-play record of the joust, and two contemporary chronicles describe the festivities. 2 In particular, the Westminster Tournament Roll (London, College of Arms, Great Tournament Roll of Westminster) provides an impressive visual record of the processions and jousting that took place at the Westminster Tournament. 3 The focus of this paper is the Westminster Tournament s illustrated challenge (British Library, Harley 83 H 1) the only original manuscript of its type known to survive housed in the British Library s Harleian Collection (fig. 1). 4 Under the guise of an allegorical narrative, the Westminster Tournament s challenge dictates the purpose of the joust and the articles of combat. In spite of its exceptional status, Harley 83 H 1 (more commonly known as the Westminster Tournament Challenge) has been overshadowed by the more audacious Westminster Tournament Roll. 5 A paleographical analysis of the Challenge suggests a strong connection with Thomas Wriothesley, Garter King of Arms at the time of the tournament, and also provides insight into the manner in which the document may have interacted with the tournament proceedings. 1 Robert Yorke, archivist at the College of Arms, and Kathleen Doyle, curator of illuminated manuscripts at the British Library, were generous with their time and ideas during my research for this article. 2 Gibson s Revels Account for the Westminster Tournament (The National Archives of the UK: Public Record Office, E. 36/217, ff. 41r-55r). Gibson s account is reprinted in S. Anglo (ed.), The Great Tournament Roll of Westminster: A Collotype Reproduction of the Manuscript (Oxford, 1968), vol. i, pp A fair copy of the Revels Account exists in Public Record Office, E. 36/229, ff. 23r-87r. A warrant that records the delivery of banners for the trumpeters is extant in British Library, Add. MS. 18,826, f. 16r and is reprinted in Anglo, op. cit., p The jousting cheques from the Westminster Tournament are the earliest original document of this type to survive: see S. Anglo, Archives of the English Tournament: Score Cheques and Lists, Journal of the Society of Archivists, ii (1961), pp For descriptions of the Tournament in contemporary chronicles, see E. Hall (ed.), The Vnion of the Two Noble and Illustre Famelies of Lancastre & Yorke (London, 1809), pp , and A. H. Thomas and I. D. Thornley (eds.), The Great Chronicle of London (London, 1938), pp Anglo, The Great Tournament Roll, edits the Tournament Roll in its entirety. 4 According to Anglo, Harl. Ch. 83 H 1 is the only one original challenge, that is the actual document circulated amongst the knights, signed both by Challengers and Answerers, and proclaimed aloud by the heralds to survive in England: S. Anglo, Financial and Heraldic Records of the English Tournament, Journal of the Society of Archivists, ii (1961), p My research corroborates his claim. 5 C. Ffoulkes, Jousting Cheques of the Sixteenth Century, Archaeologia, lxii ( ), plate V, is the first scholar to reproduce the Challenge. H. Ellis, Original Letters, Illustrative of English History, Series II, vol. i (London, ), pp , includes the text of the Challenge. Anglo, Archives of the English Tournament, pp , reproduces the text as well. The challenge is catalogued in R. Marks and A. Payne (eds.), British Heraldry from its Origins to c (London, 1978), no

2 Literary challenges in the early Tudor tournament As the surviving evidence suggests, the Westminster Tournament was a spectacular moment in Tudor pageantry, but it was also one of the first Burgundian-style tournaments held in England. Gordon Kipling describes Burgundian tournaments as those in which costumed knights regularly entered the lists in pageant cars, hung their shields upon trees, and fought among elaborate scenic devices that transformed their combat into episodes from chivalric romances. One of the most distinguishing aspects of Burgundian tournaments is its challenge, which is written in the form of an allegorical narrative and provides the festivities with an over-arching narrative script. 6 Although England had a long tradition of tournaments, most were sporting exercises, and it was not until late in Henry VII s reign that Burgundian influence began to shape English tournaments. Before that time, even the most lavish festivities, like the tournament that celebrated the wedding of Prince Arthur and Katherine of Aragon in 1501, used the challenge as a written record of rules and regulations for the tournament s participants. 7 It was not until February 1506 that England held its first tournament with a distinctly literary challenge: a letter from Lady May to hold jousts in honor of Lady and Sovereign Dame Summer. 8 Narrative challenges continued to develop during the first decade of the sixteenth century and soon became an integral part of the English tournament. Description and provenance of the Westminster Tournament Challenge The Westminster Tournament Challenge is written on a single piece of parchment and measures 460 mm x 354 mm, its large size making it suitable for presentation at the tournament itself. The main hand uses a legible, if not clearly written, secretary script with a round ductus and distinctive flourishes. The text of the Challenge is surrounded by a partial border, which has been badly rubbed, making many of the decorations almost illegible. The top border has a crowned Tudor rose in the centre and a Tudor portcullis on the right, both of which are surrounded by leaves, roses, and pomegranates, the latter two representing Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon. The border on the Challenge s left side has the shields of the tournament s four challengers, with the initials of the challengers allegorical soubriquets in the middle of each shield. The shields are surrounded by the same rose and pomegranate motif, which sprouts from a plant at the bottom of the border. The Challenge for the tournament at Westminster itemizes the rules and regulations that the challengers and answerers will follow and describes the tournament s allegorical theme. The beginning of the Challenge introduces the four challengers who have come from the realm of Cuere Noble to accomplish certain feates of Armes in honour of the byrthe of a yong prynce. 10 Each challenger is given an allegorical name: Sir William Courtenay as Bone voloyr, Sir Edward Neville as Joyous panser, Sir Thomas Knyvet as Vailliaunt desyre, and Henry VIII as Cuere loyall. As evidenced by the signatures of the answerers and challengers at the bottom of the Challenge, the document itself was part of the tournament s festivities. The signatures are divided into two sections: those present on the first day of the tournament and those in attendance at the second, suggesting that the Challenge was used during both days of the 6 G. Kipling, The Triumph of Honor (Leiden, 1977), p Kipling (pp ) calls the challenge from this tournament curiously devoid of narrative and traditionally matter-of-fact. 8 Harl. MS. 69, ff. 2v-3r. It is important to note that, although Harl. MS. 69 contains transcriptions of Tudor challenges, it does not include the original documents themselves. For a fuller description of this tournament, consult Kipling, op. cit., pp The shields are catalogued as nos 43, 58, 208, 501 in Alan R. Young, The English Tournament Impresse (New York, 1988). 10 I have retained the Challenge s original spelling throughout. 2

3 tournament. Henry VIII s signature larger than the others spans the middle of the two sides. Signatories from the first day include: Rycharde Gray, Thomas Cheyny, William Par, Robert Morton, Richard Blunt, Thomas Tyrell, Sir Rowland, and Cristoffer Wylougby. Those who signed on the second day include: Lord Marquis, Sir Thomas Boleyn, Thomas Howard, Henry Stafford Erll of Whyllsyre, John Grey, Henry Guilford, Charles Brandon, Edmund Howard, Lenard Grey, Richard Tempest, Thomas Lucy, J Melton, and Gryffyth Don. 11 The surviving chronicle accounts corroborate the theory that the Challenge itself played a part in the tournament s festivities. Hall s Chronicle states that the names of the four challengers were set upon a goodly table, and the table hanged in a tree, curiously wrought and that the four challengers would runne at the tilte against all comers, with other certayne Articles comprised in the said table. 12 In the Revels Accounts, Richard Gibson describes the artificial forest that was built for the pageant, which preceded the first day of the tournament as containing xxvj foot long and xvj foot brood and in haythe ix foot of assyes, weche forest was garnechyd wyth trees and bowes artyfycyall as hawthornes, okes, mapylles, hasylles, birches, fern, broom, fyrs. 13 Based on the information provided in these sources, the challengers and answerers most likely signed their names to the Challenge before the day s joust, and afterward it was hung in an artificial tree for all to see. 14 Judging by the lack of other surviving challenges, this type of document, along with many of the props and sets from these tournaments, was seen as ephemeral. The Westminster Tournament Challenge s prominent fold lines suggest that, after the end of the tournament, it was stored in the manner of a charter, and what little is known of its provenance supports this claim. In 1716, Edward Harley s librarian, Humfrey Wanley, records the gift of a parcel of old deeds, about 363 in number the Challenge among them from the then Garter King of Arms, John Anstis. 15 Anstis does not record where he obtained the Challenge although, given his interest in heraldry, he may have acquired it through his connections with the College of Arms. Alternatively, the Challenge may have remained in the College of Arms since the time of the Westminster Tournament and Anstis gave Wanley the documents from the College itself. Constructing the Westminster Tournament Challenge None of the surviving material regarding the tournament mentions the Challenge by name. One possibility is that the Challenge was drawn up by members of the Painter-Stainers Company under the supervision of the Sergeant Painter, John Browne. The Serjeant Painter and his workshop were responsible for painting the elaborate sets and banners featured at tournaments and court festivities. In the Revels Report, Richard Gibson records the minutest of details regarding the materials he procured for the painters, joiners, carpenters and other artisans who were hired for the preparations, including the Painter-Stainers Company, but nowhere does he make mention of the Challenge. The other workshop that may have been responsible for creating the Challenge is that of the Garter King of Arms, Thomas Wriothesley, which, as Ann Payne has shown, worked closely with John Browne and other painters at royal events. 16 The initials IHC which are written on the Challenge s verso imply that Thomas Wriothesley came into contact with the Challenge. Wriothesley is known for writing an IHC mark on many 11 Anglo, Archives of the English Tournament, p. 111, transcribes J Melton as John Melton. 12 Hall, op. cit., p PRO E. 36/217, f. 41r. 14 The first example of an English Tree of Chivalry is for the wedding of Prince Arthur and Katherine in 1501, but it is common trope in late medieval European tournaments (Anglo, The Great Tournament Roll, op. cit., pp. 35-6; Kipling, op. cit., pp ). 15 C. E. and R. C. Wright (eds.), The Diary of Humphrey Wanley, (London, 1966), vol. i, p. 176, n Ann Payne, Sir Thomas Wriothesley and his Heraldic Artists, in M. Brown and S. McKendrick (eds.), Illuminating the Book: Makers and Interpreters (London 1998), pp

4 documents that he produced, but he is also known for adding this mark, and making numerous additions, to manuscripts in his possession. 17 Although an important connection, the IHC mark alone does not necessarily indicate that Wriothesley was responsible for creating the Challenge itself. 18 It does suggest that Wriothesley interacted with the Challenge during the tournament or that his workshop may have produced the document. In addition to Wriothlesey s IHC mark, two pieces of evidence link Wriothesley and his heralds to the Westminster Tournament. A copy of the Warrant for Payment that requests the presence of the Garter King at Arms and his heralds at the Westminster Tournament survives in Add. MS. 6113, f. 208v. 19 Membranes seven and eight of the Westminster Tournament Roll (College of Arms, Great Tournament Roll of Westminster), titled Les Officiers Darmes, depict three groups of pursuivants and heralds on horseback during the procession to the lists. 20 Both suggest that Wriothesley and his heralds were an important part of the festivities at the tournament, as does a closer examination of the illustrations from the Westminster Tournament Challenge. The Challenge s illustrated border and Wriothesley s workshop Stylistically, the border from the Challenge shares many similarities with other images produced by Wriothesley s workshop. Figure 2 shows a detailed image of a rose and pomegranate from the Challenge, and Figure 3 features two detailed images of standards and banners from Add. MS , a manuscript produced by Wriothesley s workshop. 21 Perhaps the most distinctive feature of the workshop is the black pen-work that provides depth and shading to his illustrations in lieu of gradations in colour. All the images include shading and outlining in black ink to bring out the detail of the stems and leaves. Another notable feature of Wriothesley s workshop is his distinction between roses, which have spiky leaves, representing thorns, and other varieties of plants. Both the Tudor rose from Add. MS (fig. 3) and the foliage around the roses in the Challenge (fig. 2) have serrated leaves, while the tree (fig. 3) and the pomegranate leaves (fig. 2) are smooth. 22 Another motif shared by the documents produced by Wriothesley s workshop and the Challenge is the Tudor rose. By the later part of Henry s reign, the rose had become a common symbol, but one that could be drawn in a variety of ways. The roses in the Challenge (fig. 2) and those from Add. MS (fig. 3) both have a cross-hatch design in the rose s centre, giving the rose more depth without the use of multiple paint colours. The petals on each of the roses all have a pen outline, which emphasizes the shape of the individual petals. Finally, the Westminster Tournament Challenge uses the display script that Wriothesley s workshop employed for many of its banners and standards. The Challenge s border has four blue shields, each with the initials of one of the challengers (fig. 4). Wriothesley s workshop uses the 17 Marks and Payne, op. cit., no For an example of Wriothesley s notes and additions to his manuscripts, see the description of London, College of Arms MS. M. 3 in Louise Campbell (ed.), A Catalogue of Manuscripts in the College of Arms, vol. i (London 1988), p Reprinted in Anglo, The Great Tournament Roll, appendix iv. 20 Membranes 2-23 of the 36-membrane roll illustrate the procession to the lists. Indeed, Wriothesley s workshop is thought to have been responsible for the Westminster Tournament Roll, as Anglo notes: the identity of the artist responsible for the execution of the Roll is not known although the subject-matter, form, and style of the manuscript, together with the fact of its survival at the College of Arms, indicate that he was a herald or in the heralds employ, The Great Tournament Roll, pp Add. MS contains headings and notations in Wriothesley s hand, as noted in the manuscript s catalogue description. 22 The stylized roses on Membrane 1 of the Westminster Tournament Roll also have serrated leaves much like those found in the Westminster Tournament Challenge. 4

5 same lettering in Add. MS (fig. 5), drawing a circular joint in the middle of each letter and at the end of each ascender and descender. In each of these images, the letter d is always written in uncial script, which stands out from the capital letters that are mainly used in the display script in both the Challenge and in Add. MS The secondary hand of the Westminster Tournament Challenge The handwriting of the Westminster Tournament Challenge provides further evidence that Wriothesley s workshop may have produced the Challenge and also suggests how it was used in the tournament itself. A closer look at the Challenge s script shows clearly that two distinct ink colours were used in the making of the document; the main text of the Challenge is written in a brown ink, and the lower portion of the challenge, which the participants signed on the first and second day of the Tournament, is written in black (fig. 6). In the same black ink as the participants signatures is a statement that reads: The ffirst day at Westminster the 12th day of February the second yere of our sovereign lord, King Henry the Eight and another, directly under the signature of Henry VIII, marking the second day s participants. This statement of participants is written in a different hand than that of the Challenge s primary scribe, and it is this secondary hand that further suggests the Challenge s connection with Thomas Wriothesley s workshop, and with Wriothesley himself. The primary scribe writes in a legible secretary script with a round ductus. One of the most unusual features of the primary scribe s hand is the consistent use of an otiose stroke above the ascenders of words that end in th (fig. 7). This stroke adds to the energetic ductus of the script, and serves as a marker to distinguish the primary scribe s hand from the Challenge s secondary scribe. Upon a close examination, the secondary scribe s hand shares important features with the script of Thomas Wriothesley. The first characteristic of Wriothesley s script that the secondary scribe shares is a fish-hook stroke when words end in f, as is illustrated by the examples from headings written by Wriothesley from Add. MS , ff. 67v-68r (fig. 8). As a means of determining how regular a feature Wriothesley s use of the fish-hook final f is, I analysed College of Arms MS. L 12, f. 83v, a miscellany that describes military events during Henry VIII s reign written almost entirely in Wriothesley s hand. On f. 83v, which was written five years after the Challenge, Wriothesley uses the fish-hook f for every instance of a final f, for a total of fourteen instances on f. 83v alone. Elsewhere this trend continued, with the fish-hook f as one of the key features of Wriothesley s hand. The Challenge s primary hand does not use the fishhook stroke on any letter f in the Challenge, while the secondary scribe employs the stroke at the end of the word of (fig. 9). Further, the Challenge s primary scribe uses two distinct strokes to create the top and bottom portions of f, while the secondary scribe of the Challenge and Thomas Wriothesley do not. Another distinguishing feature of Wriothesley s script is his use of a final d with a rightangled flourish, reminiscent of the fish-hook f (fig. 10). Using the same method as above, I found the right-angled flourish in approximately half of words that have a final d, and appears across Wriothesley manuscripts. The secondary scribe of the Challenge also uses the same type of final d, while the primary scribe finishes the letter with a more typical downward stroke without the right angle (fig. 10). As a final example, the overall aspect of Wriothesley s script is quite similar to the second scribe s hand in the Challenge. In Figure 11, both Wriothesley and the second scribe write the same phrase. Both hands use the same, restrained ductus while making the word our, with hardly any flourish on the ending r. Next, in both hands, the descender of the final n in souuerain curves under in each instance. Finally, both Wriothesley and the secondary scribe use a horned g in the word eight, in which the tail of the g begins above the letter s bowl. There is much evidence that suggests Thomas Wriothesley may very well be the secondary scribe of the Westminster Tournament Challenge. If true, this provides a clearer image of how the Challenge may have been used during the Westminster tournament and the ways in which 5

6 the Garter King of Arms participated in the tournament itself. With Hall s Chronicle as a guide to where the Challenge fits into the programme of festivities, the signing of the Challenge would have happened before the pageant of challengers and answerers and it would have been displayed in a prominent location for the audience to witness. The main text of the Challenge and the decoration were completed beforehand and taken to the signing. Given that the first day s answerers are on the left of the page and the second s on the right, there may have been a signing on each day of the tournament. A common pot of ink was shared by the challengers and answerers, making the signing of the Challenge part of the ceremony that preceded the tournament. This is just the sort of moment over which a Garter King of Arms would have presided in an official capacity, and afterwards, using the same pot of ink, he would note on which day the answerers signed. After the tournament someone in his workshop may have taken down the Challenge before it went out with the rubbish and folded it up with other charters and deeds, where it waited to be found. 6

7 The Westminster Tournament Challenge (Harley 83 H 1) and Thomas Wriothesley s Workshop Fig. 1. Harley 83 H 1, The Westminster Tournament Challenge. 7

8 Fig. 2. Detail of a rose and pomegranate from the Westminster Tournament Challenge. 8

9 Fig. 3a. Add. MS , f. 59v, detail. Fig. 3b. Add. MS , f. 65r, detail. 9

10 Fig. 4. Detail of a shield from the Westminster Tournament Challenge. 10

11 Fig. 5a. Add. MS 45132, f. 59r, detail. Fig. 5b. Add. MS 45132, f. 65r, detail. 11

12 Fig. 6. Detail showing the main hand of the Challenge, the Secondary Hand, and the signatures of the Challengers and Answerers. 12

13 Fig. 7. Detail of the primary scribe s hand: Item who breketh. Harley 83 H 1, line 36. Fig. 8a. Example of Thomas Wriothesley s hand. Add. MS , ff. 67v, line 1. Fig. 8b. Example of Thomas Wriothesley s hand. Add. MS , f. 68r, line 13. Fig. 9a. The primary scribe s hand. Harley 83 H 1, line 23. Fig. 9b. The secondary scribe s hand. Harley 83 H 1, line 47. Fig. 10a. Wriothesley s script. Add. MS , f. 68r, line 6. Fig. 10b. The Challenge s secondary hand. Harley 83 H 1, line 48. Fig. 11a. The words our souuerain and henry the eight written by Wriothesley. Add. MS , f. 67v, lines 1-2. Fig. 11b. The same words written by the secondary scribe. Harley 83 H 1, lines