Cotton MS Julius E IV/3

This manuscript is the third volume of Cotton MS Julius E IV. The other volumes are Cotton MS Julius E IV/1 and Cotton MS Julius E IV/2. This volume contains the only surviving copy of a Middle English illustrated biography of Richard Beauchamp (b. 1382, d. 1439), 13th Earl of Warwick during the reigns of King Henry IV (r. 1399–1413), Henry V (r. 1413–1422) and Henry VI (r. 1422–61, 1470-1).

Contents:

ff. 1r-28r: The Pageants of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick.

Decoration:

55 three-quarter-page pen drawings in brown ink over pencil sketches. Several banners and most of the shields of arms in the genealogies have been left unfinished. The subjects of the drawings are as follows:

f. 1r: The birth of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. His mother, Margaret Ferres, Countess of Warwick (d. 1406), lies in a bed, with a lady-in-waiting holding the child and three female attendants serving.

f. 1v: The baptism of Beauchamp, with King Richard II (r. 1377–99) laying on his hand and Richard Scrope, Bishop of Lichfield and Archbishop of York (b. c. 1350, d. 1405), and others in attendance.

f. 2r: A young Beauchamp is made Knight of the Bath by King Henry IV.

f. 2v: The coronation of Joan of Navarre (b. c. 1368, d. 1437), second wife of Henry IV.

f. 3r: Beauchamp jousting in Queen Joan's coronation tournament as her champion.

f. 3v: A battle between Beauchamp and the Welsh leader Owen Glendower (b. c. 1359, d. c. 1415); in the sky the stella comata (comet) that appeared in 1402, foreshadowing the war between England and Wales.

f. 4r: The Battle of Shrewsbury, 21 July 1403, with Richard Beauchamp fighting with Henry IV to defeat Sir Henry Percy (b. 1364, d. 1403).

f. 4v: After the battle, Henry IV invests Beauchamp with the Order of the Garter.

f. 5r: Beauchamp, wearing a pilgrim's dress, embarks on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

f. 5v: Beauchamp is received at a quay by his cousin, Robert de Bar, Duke of Bar, Count of Soissons (b. 1390, d. 1415). In the background, a walled town, or possibly a palace, with a portcullis set in a grand gatehouse.

f. 6r: Beauchamp and the Duke of Bar ride together to Paris.

f. 6v: A feast held on Whitsun by Charles VI, King of France (r. 1380–1422), with Robert de Bar and Beauchamp sat beside him in a place of honour.

f. 7r: Beauchamp receives a herald with a challenge from Sir Pandolfo Malatesta, the Italian lord of Fano and Brescia; a kneeling Beauchamp is presented to the Pope in Rome.

f. 7v: Beauchamp in combat with Malatesta, both on foot, before Galeas of Mantua.

f. 8r: Beauchamp is received by the Doge, Michele Steno (b. 1331, d. 1413), and lords of Venice.

f. 8v: Beauchamp is welcomed to Jerusalem by the deputy of the city's Patriarch.

f. 9r: Beauchamp and his company arrive at the Holy Sepulchre; Beauchamp kneels before the tomb in the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre and makes an offering to a friar.

f. 9v: Beauchamp is received and invited to dine by Sir Baltirdam, the Sultan's Lieutenant.

f. 10r: Sir Baltirdam's banquet for Beauchamp and his men, with Beauchamp's chaplain sitting in the place of honour, Beauchamp next to him, and Baltirdam acting as marshal. Separetely, Baltirdam is shown giving Beauchamp three precious jewels and his men cloth of silk and gold.

f. 10v: Beauchamp's banquet for Sir Baltirdam and his men, with Beauchamp giving his guests English cloth.

f. 11r: Beauchamp's return to Venice, where he is met by the Doge and his retinue at the quay.

f. 11v: Tournament scene of mounted combat that takes place during Beauchamp's return journey to England.

f. 12r: Beauchamp arrives back in England; a court scene, with King Henry V receiving news of the Lollard rebellion of 1414.

f. 12v: Beauchamp arms himself for battle; Henry V sitting in council.

f. 13r: Beauchamp is made Captain of Calais by Henry V. A bishop, most likely Henry Beaufort of Winchester (b. c. 1375, d. 1447), hands him a letter, appended with a great seal, which details his appointment.

f. 13v: Beauchamp kneels outside the gates of a city (most likely Calais) and kisses a cross, offered to him by the city's bishop.

f. 14r: Beauchamp sends a messenger to the French court bearing letters with an invitation to a joust. Above, three of his pavises, or shields, are shown, each depicting a female figure, one harping, another working pearls, and a third making a chapelet.

f. 14v: Beauchamp's messenger delivers the invitation to the French king; a knight presents himself for the joust.

f. 15r: The joust. Beauchamp dismounts the first French knight, the Red Knight, before the king and a crowd of spectators.

f. 15v: Beauchamp dismounts his second opponent, Sir Hugh Lawney, the White Knight.

f. 16r: Beauchamp dismounts his third opponent, Sir Colard Fynes, the Black Knight; Beauchamp dismounts from his own horse to show that he was not tied to the saddle during the joust.

f. 16v: Henry V makes Beauchamp, Robert Hallam, the Bishop of Salisbury (d. 1417), and others his ambassadors to the Council of Constance (held in the German bishopric of Constance between 1414 and 1418).

f. 17r: Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (r. 1411–1415), receives Beauchamp and the Bishop of Salisbury.

f. 17v: Beauchamp kills a duke in mounted combat; the Holy Roman Empress, Barbara of Cilli (b. 1392, d. 1451), receives Beauchamp's livery of a bear.

f. 18r: A procession, in which Beauchamp acts as the Emperor's swordbearer; on the landing above, the Emperor gives Beauchamp the heart of St George, held in a monstrance.

f. 18v: A sea battle during Beauchamp's return voyage to England.

f. 19r: Beauchamp kneels before Thomas of Lancaster, Duke of Clarence (b. 1387, d. 1421); the Siege of Rouen (or possibly Caudebec).

f. 19v: Beauchamp kneels before Henry V; Beauchamp standing in his tent; in the background, a view of the city of Rouen.

f. 20r: A kneeling Beauchamp receives a letter from Henry V addressed to Charles VI, King of France (r. 1380–1422); Beauchamp and his escort leave the court.

f. 20v: Beauchamp and his men are attacked by the Dauphin and his army.

f. 21r: Beauchamp and his company arrive at the French court, delivering a marriage letter to the French king.

f. 21v: Beauchamp entering the palace, where he delivers the French king's reply to Henry V.

f. 22r: The marriage of Henry V and Catherine of Valois (b. 1401, d. 1437), daughter of Charles VI, with royalty and others in attendance.

f. 22v: The birth of Henry VI.

f. 23r: Beauchamp is given custody of the young Henry VI by Parliament.

f. 23v: Coronation of Henry VI as King of England at Westminster.

f. 24r: Coronation of Henry VI as King of France at Saint-Denis near Paris.

f. 24v: Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (b. 1390, d. 1447), Beauchamp, and Humphrey, Earl of Stafford (b. 1402, d. 1460), forcing the retreat of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1396, d. 1467) and his army; in the background, a view of the city of Calais.

f. 25r: Henry VI makes Beauchamp Lieutenant of France and Normandy.

f. 25v: Beauchamp, his wife Isabel le Despenser (b. 1400, d. 1439), and his son Henry de Beauchamp (b. 1425, d. 1446), tied to the mast of their ship during a storm.

f. 26r: Beauchamp, enthroned as Regent of France, before the royal court.

f. 26v: The dying Beauchamp receives the Last Sacrament.

f. 27r: Beauchamp's burial service at Warwick, presided over by William Heyworth, Bishop of Lichfield (d. 1447), with his coffin shown being lowered into the tomb.

f. 27v: Genealogical scheme of Richard Beauchamp, his two wives, Elizabeth de Berkeley (b. c. 1386, d. 1422) and Isabel le Despenser and his five children, Margaret de Beauchamp (b. 1404, d. 1468), Eleanor de Beauchamp (b. 1407, d. 1467), Elizabeth de Beauchamp (b. 1417, d. 1480), Henry de Beauchamp, and Anne de Beauchamp (b. 1426, d. 1492).

f. 28r: Genealogical scheme of Anne de Beauchamp and her husband Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury (b. 1428, d. 1471), their daughter Isabel Neville, Duchess of Clarence (b. 1451, d. 1476) and her husband George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, (b. 1449, d. 1478), and their daughter Anne Neville, Queen of England (b. 1456, d. 1485), and her husband King Richard III (r. 1483–5).

The manuscript's drawings have been linked to an artist now known as the 'Caxton Master', named after his illustrations of William Caxton's translations of the Metamorphoses of Ovid (Cambridge, Magdalene College, Old Library, MS.F.4.34) and the Mirroure of the Worlde (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 283). The same artist was probably responsible for a pen drawing included among a set of coloured illustrations of the ceremony of the knight of the Bath, now part of Writhe's Garter Book (British Library Loan MS 90).