Alianore de Bohun herself in the earlier and in the closing scenes of her life.

In the pavement of this chapel, toward the south from the de Bohun tomb, lies the Brass to ROBERT DE WALDEBY, Archbishop of York, A.D. 1397; and further southward, upon a raised tomb adjoining the canopied monument to Sir Bernard Brocas with its sculptured effigy, are the remains of a third Brass, originally the memorial of Humphrey Bourchier, son and heir of John Lord Berners, who fell at the Battle of Barnet, A.D. 1471. I leave for future pages of our Society's "Transactions" all description of these Brasses, and of the monuments of William de Valence, John of Eltham, and others which are in this same chapel. But there is here one monument which appears, from the inscription which it bears, to claim some present attention. It is situated in close proximity to the tomb of Alianore de Bohun, toward the north, and it differs from it but little in height and general form; it is shorter, however, and altogether without pretension to any artistic character, and is composed of a whitish veined marble; upon its upper surface the following lines are inscribed:—

E REGIA STIRPE

THOMÆ DE WOODSTOCK ET ELEANORÆ

DE BOHUN DUCUM GLOCESTRIÆ

ORIUNDA,

BARONUM ET COMITUM STAFFORDIÆ

ET DUCUM BUCKINGHAMIÆ

FILIA ET HÆRES,

GULIELMI VICECOMITIS STAFFORDIÆ

VXOR,

MARIA COMITISSA STAFFORDIÆ

JUXTA CINERES AVIE SUE SUB

HOC MARMORE JACET.

OBIJT IDIB. IANNUAR. AN. ÆTATIS LXXIV.

SALUTIS M.DC.XCIII.

This noble lady, the direct lineal representative of Thomas de Woodstock and Alianore de Bohun, and of the Dukes of Buckingham and the Earls and Barons of Stafford, married Sir William Howard, who, after having been created Viscount Stafford, was most unjustly beheaded on Tower Hill, A.D. 1680, the 32nd year of Charles II.

The body of the murdered Thomas de Woodstock himself rests in the chapel of Edward the Confessor, close beside the remains of his royal parents, having been removed thither from its first resting-place. The slab which covers his grave still continues in situ; but it has been despoiled of the very curious Brass which was originally affixed to its surface. Sandford and Dart have given engravings of this Brass; and the latter author describes it after the following manner:-" Between the shrine of St. Edward and the tomb of Queen Philipa, under a large stone, once finely

Sketch from Dart's Engraving of the lost Brass

to Thomas de Woodstock.

*

sage in this author it would appear that this Brass was placed over the body on the occasion of its first interment, and that it was afterwards removed to Westminster Abbey. The peculiarity in the design of this Brass appears to have consisted in the absence of what may be termed any principal figure or figures. The entire stone was apparently covered with a series of small canopied figures, eighteen in number, with twenty shields of arms, various accesso

Sandford, p. 231; Dart, ii. 47.

ries of an architectural character, and a border inscription upon fillets set on the face of the slab and having at the angles the evangelistic emblems. In the absence of any more trustworthy authority for exact correctness, from the representation of it which is introduced into Dart's pages I have given the annexed wood-cut, in order to convey some idea of this remarkable composition.

On the 17th day of January, in the year 1373, two youthful sisters, Alianore and Mary, were left the sole heiresses and representatives of the ancient and powerful House of Bohun. On that day, in the thirty-second year of his age, died their father, Humphrey de Bohun, the eleventh and the last of the name, Earl of Hereford, Essex, and Northampton, Baron Brecknock, and Constable of England. Never before had an heir male failed in this noble family, since the accession of William the Norman to the English crown; and throughout this period of upwards of three centuries the wealth, power, and honours of the de Bohuns had continued to increase. They had formed great alliances; they had acquired an illustrious reputation; and but little had they experienced of the sharp and sudden vicissitudes of those stormy times. Good service they had done to England: they had always been found ready alike to uphold the rightful prerogatives of the crown, to enforce the just observance of the Great Charter, and openly and fearlessly to resist the aggressive policy of the Court of Rome. Wise statesmen and gallant soldiers, they held a distinguished place amongst the ever-to-be-honoured barons who vindicated the principles of that true freedom, combined with that no less true loyalty from which, in union, has grown up the unique fabric of the English constitution. But the fortunes of this great house did not attain to their highest exaltation, so long as there remained a de Bohun to bear the title of Earl of Hereford. The last Earl surpassed all his predecessors in the accumulation both of his dignities and his wealth: his daughters were elevated to a rank higher than he had himself enjoyed; they were married, the one to a son and the other to a grandson of the King. The descendants of the elder sister attained to the ducal rank; and the husband, the son, and the grandson of the younger sat in succession upon the throne of England. With this culmination.

G

of their fortunes, however, the true prosperity of the de Bohuns may be said to have ceased. A marked and most terrible change thenceforth attended them, so that scarcely a generation passed away without some overwhelming reverse of fortune, or some violent death.

It will not be possible for me here to attempt more than the slightest sketch of the history of the House of Bohun; yet even such a sketch, executed in the most simple outline, may serve to show how striking was the contrast between the Earls of Hereford, and the Lancastrian Princes, the Dukes of Buckingham and the Earls of Stafford, their successors; it may also, perhaps, induce some persons to extend an inquiry, which is able to illustrate in the most graphic manner the history of England.

The Ladies Alianore and Mary de Bohun were left by their father the two noblest and most wealthy heiresses in the realm. Alianore became the wife of THOMAS, surnamed, from the place of his birth, DE WOODSTOCK, seventh son of King Edward III. Mary was married to HENRY OF LANCASTER, the powerful and aspiring son of John of Gaunt; but she did not survive to witness his elevation to the throne, as HENRY IV. While yet young she died, Countess of Derby, A.D. 1394, "leaving behind her," says Weever, "a glorious and faire renowned issue of children, to the comfort of her husband and good of the commonwealth, viz.: Henry, afterwards King of England; Thomas, Duke of Clarence; John, Duke of Bedford; Humphrey, Duke of Gloucestre; Blanch, married to William, Duke of Bauaria and Emperour; and Philipa, married to John, King of Denmarke and Norway."* A single individual represented this family in the next generation—the unfortunate Henry VI. The fifth Henry, whose brief career forms so brilliant an episode in our national history, died in 1422, aged 34 years, and was buried in Westminster Abbey; Thomas Plantagenet, K.G. Earl of Albemarle and Duke of Clarence, fell at Baugy, A.D. 1421; John Plantagenet, K.G. Earl of Kendal and Duke of Bedford, Constable of England and Regent of France, died A.D. 1435, and was buried in Rouen Cathedral;† and Humphrey Plantagenet, Earl of Pembroke and Duke of Glou申 Weever, p. 210. See also Appendix, p. 109. † See Gough, ii. 111.

cester, was murdered A.D. 1446, and buried in the abbey church of St. Alban. At their deaths all their honours became extinct. The two royal sisters of these princes died childless. Their father, Henry Bolingbroke, was created a Knight of the Garter by Richard II.; in 1385 he was also created, by that same Prince, Earl of Derby; and afterwards, in 1397, he was elevated to the dukedom, with the title of Duke of Hereford-a title evidently derived from the ancient earldom of the de Bohuns. The following year witnessed his disgrace, and his banishment from the memorable lists at Coventry.* In 1399 he was crowned King, when the dukedoms of Lancaster and Hereford, with the earldoms of Derby, Lincoln and Leicester, and the barony of Brecknock, merged in the crown. He died in 1412, and was buried in Canterbury Cathedral. The reign and the life of his sole grandson, Henry VI., were terminated by the same deed of violence, in 1471; and in that same year, " in the field by Tewkesbury," the only child of Henry VI., Edward, Prince of Wales, was murdered; he was in the 20th year of his age; and his tragical death closed the line of Mary de Bohun and Henry of Lancaster.

The tragedy of their race began to be enacted at an earlier period with the Lady Alianore than with her younger sister. Having been at an early age affianced by Edward III. to his youngest son, Thomas de Woodstock, she was united to that Prince by command of Richard II.; and she conveyed to her husband, with her portion of the vast estates and wealth of her late father, his hereditary office of Constable of England, and the earldom of Essex. The earldom of Northampton is also said to have passed to Thomas de Woodstock; but he does not bear this title, either in his seal or in the inscription upon his widow's tomb. He had been appointed Constable, during the Lady Alianore's minority, by Edward III., and in 1377 he was confirmed in that office and rank by Richard II.†

* On this occasion Hereford displayed the de Bohun swan in union with his own badge, the antelope: his "charger was barded with green and blue velvet, richly embroidered with swans and antelopes of goldsmith's work.”— Sandford, p. 266. Henry V. adopted the same badges; and the swan and antelope are also said to have been used as supporters by both Henry IV. and Henry V.

+ Rymer, vol. iii. part iii. p. 60. See also Appendix, pp. 109, 112.