battle at Patay, in which he was taken prisoner, the fame whereof became so prejudicial to the English, that divers places fell off from them. This was in 1429; but in d 11 Hen. VI. for a great sum of money, and enlargement of Ambrose de Lore (an eminent captain of the French) he was set at liberty. It appears from our records, that on May 28th, 1432, the King granted his letters of safe conduct to certain servants of Ponton de Sainttereraille, prisoner of the Earl of Warwick, to go into France, for setting more easily at liberty the Lord Talbot; and John Duke of Britanny had such a sense of the insupportable hardships which his Lordship underwent in paying his ransom, that he granted him 2000 muves of salt in the isle of Gerraund in Britanny; which grant his Lordship represented in a petition to the King, desiring his leave to transport the said salt into England: whereupon the King, reciting as before-mentioned, grants him licence on July 8th, 1432, to import the same custom free, into such places in the kingdom where he can best dispose of it. He had no sooner gained his liberty, but the same year, raising new forces in England, he sailed to Rohan, and thence advanced to Paris, to the Duke of Bedford; and having consulted with him, marched with some forces to Bellomont, and took it by assault. He continued in those wars, performing many successful exploits; and in 20 Hen. VI. his eldest son, Sir John Talbot, Knight, & served with him. In consideration therefore of his great merit and singular services, he was advanced to the title and dignity of EARL OF SHREWSBURY," his patent of creation bearing date May 20th, 1442, 20 Hen. VI. In 21 Hen. VI. he was constituted one of the ambassadors to treat of peace with Charles VII. King of France, or his ambassadors; and the year after, the King acknowledging himself indebted to him in the sum of ten thousand four hundred twentysix pounds, four shillings and a farthing, in consideration of his great services, as well to King Henry V. (his father) as to himself, both in France and Normandy, granted, that after the sum of twenty-one thousand pounds, wherein he stood indebted unto Henry the Cardinal Bishop of Winchester, were paid, he should c Pol. Virg. p. 473, n. 30. d Ibid. p 481, n. 20. Rot Franc. 20 H. VI. m. 24. h Cart ab. An. 1. usque 21 H. VI. m. 11. ¡ Rot. Franc. 21 H. VI. m. 17. * Pat. 22 H. VI. m. sỹ. receive yearly four hundred marks, out of the customs and duties issuing from the port of Kingston upon Hull. He was the same year again retained' to serve the King in his wars of France, with one barop, two knights, fourscore and sixteen men at arms, and three hundred archers, the King having given him ten thousand pounds in hand. In 23 Hen. VI. he was again constituted m lieutenant of Ireland; and on July 17th the same year, having" then the titles of Earl of Shrewsbury, Lord Talbot, Furnival, and Strange, in consideration of his great services and blood spilt in the wars, as also considering the devastation and spoil done in the county and city of Waterford, and barony of Dungarvan, in the realm of Ireland, by several hostilities of the rebels; to the end that the said realm of Ireland might thenceforth be better defended and preserved, he was advanced to the title and dignity of Earl of Wexford and Waterford; having the said city and county of Waterford, with 1 Ex Autogr. penes Cler. Pell. m Pat. 23 H. VI. p. 2. m. 10. n Cox's Hist. of Ireland, p. 159. . The state of Ireland having been much neglected for the English wars on the Continent, and the intestine broils in England, an Act in 28 Henry VIII, called the statute of Absentees, was passed in Ireland, whereby the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Shrewsbury, Lord Berkeley, and the heirs general of the Earl of Ormond, were obliged, for their absence and carelessness in defending their rights, to surrender the same to the crown: but King Charles II. in 1661, regranted and confirmed the titles of Earl of Wexford and Waterford to this noble family. The following curious account of the deprivation of the Irish Titles, of the noble family of Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, and of their restoration, is related in Lord Mountmorres's History of the early transactions of the Irish parliament. John, the first Earl of Shrewsbury, in the reign of Henry the Sixth, was created Earl of Waterford and Wexford, in the 21st year of the same prince. A large tract of land, and a great jurisdiction, were conferred upon him, by the crown, in Ireland. These titles, and this grant, were forfeited by an act of parliament, the 28th of Henry VIII. known in Ireland by the name of the Statute of Absentees, for non-residence in that country. And these titles were not inserted in the list of the Irish peers, in the journals, till after the Restoration. It may appear extraordinary, that the title should be forfeited for non-residence; but in early times, titles were not merely nominal, but they denoted also a jurisdiction and superintendance in certain territorial districts. Charles the Second restored these titles in 1660, and he was introduced, by his proxy, in the house of lords of Ireland, in the following session. This custom of being introduced by proxy, was peculiar to that body, though it is not to be traced in the Lords of England; from hence the custom of protesting by proxy is derived, a privilege which is not admitted in this country, the castles, honour, lands, and barony of Dungarvan, granted to him, with jura regalia, wreck, &c. from Youghal to Waterford, to hold to himself, and the heirs male of his body; and that he and they should thenceforth be stewards of that realm, to do and execute all things to that office appertaining as fully as the steward of England did perform: which patent was granted by writ of privy-seal and authority of parliament. He returned to England the next year, leaving his brother Richard Talbot, archbishop of Dublin aforesaid, his deputy. In 29 Hen. VI. he was again in the wars of France; in 30 Hen. VI. he was made general P of the English fleet, then going out, having four thousand soldiers with him; and the year following lieutenant of the Duchy of Aquitaine: and, in consideration of his great charges in that high employment, had a grant of the thirds, and the third of the thirds, which were reserved to the King upon his retainer therein. Whereupon he marched thither, took Bourdeaux, and put a garrison therein; which fair success caused " divers remote cities to send to him, with promise to submit to his authority. Thence hearing that the French had besieged Chastillon, he advanced thither, and gave them battle, on July 20th; but the event of that day (though for a while it stood doubtful) at length proved fatal to the English; and this renowned but in Ireland the proxy or deputy was invested with all the powers of bis principal. The lords of Ireland would not suffer Lord Shrewsbury to take his seat, according to the original patent in the 21st year of Henry VI. but placed him after the Earl of Montrath, agreeably to the date of the renewal of these antient titles in 1660. This proxy, though it was admitted, created a long inquiry in the house of Lords of Ireland whether peers, who had no estates in Ireland, could create proxies? and a petition which he presented in the next session relative to his being assessed in the poll tax, though he had no landed property in Ireland, gave rise to a reference to the judges, and to a long debate, though nothing was decisively resolved, in either of those cases. This account resolves a very subtle question, how the first English Earl has been ranked so low in the peerage of Ireland, though his English and Irish titles were originally of the same reign. This Lord Shrewsbury, in whose person the titles of Earl of Waterford and Wexford were renewed, was the father of the Nobleman who was killed in a duel by the Duke of Buckingham, on account of the Countess of Shrewsbury, so celebrated in poetry, and in the annals of gallantry. general being shot through the thigh by a cannon ball, and his horse killed under him, there ended his life: whereupon his whole army became presently routed. He thus died on July 20th, 1453, aged eighty, as the inquisition after his death shews; but the following inscription on a noble monument erected to his memory at Whitchurch, in com. Salop, makes his death on the 7th of that month. "Orate pro anima prænobilis Domini, Domini Johannis Talbot, quondam Comitis Salopiæ, Domini Furnival, Domini Verdon, Domini Strange de Black-mere, et Marescalli Francie, qui obiit in Bello apud Burdeuus, vii Julii, M.CCCC.LIII." b It has been observed of the said noble Earl, "that he had been victorious in forty several battles and dangerous skirmishes." Mr. Anstis, late Garter King of Arms, recites this of him : a "When the body of the Earl of Shrewsbury, the Achilles of England, was found after the battle of Chastillon upon Dordon, in 1453, by his herald, who, as the historian words it, had worn his coat of arms, he kissed the body, and broke out into these compassionate and dutiful expressions: alas! it is you, I pray God pardon all your misdoings; I have been your officer of arms forty years or more, it is time I should surrender it to you;' and, while the tears trickled plentifully down his face, he disrobed himself of his coat of arms, and flung it over his master's body :" which we know was the accustomed rite performed heretofore at funerals. e This great Earl had issue by Maud his first wife, beforementioned, three sons, First, Thomas, who died before him. Second, John, who succeeded him as second Earl of Shrewsbury, &c. and, Third, Sir Christopher Talbot, Knight, who was slain as after mentioned. z MS. D 12. p. 257, in Bibl Joh. Anstis, Armig. Hist Chronol. Du. VII. p. 646. b Regist de Wyrksop. Consult Froissart. Mr. Southey has introduced this passage in his beautiful poem of Joan of Arc. There is a print of him in Upton De Re Militari, published by Bysshe; and in Pennant's Journey to London, and Lodge's Illustrations. e Anstis's Reg. of the Garter, vol. ii. p. 431. f Margaret his second wife, who departed this life June 14, 1468, and was buried in St. Paul's cathedral, London, was eldest daughter and co-heir of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick; he had issue by her three sons, viz. Fourth, John. Fifth, Sir Humphrey, who was marshal of Calais, made his will in 1492, and died the same year at St. Catherine's on Mount Sinai, without issue by his wife Mary, daughter and heir of John Champernoun; and, Sixth, Sir Lewis, who was seated at Penyard in Herefordshire. And also a daughter, Joan, married, first, to James Lord Berkeley, and after his decease to Edmund Hungerford, Esq. The said John, eldest son of the second marriage, was created Lord Lisle of Kingston Lisle in Berkshire, by patent dated July 26th, 1444; and Viscount Lisle on October 30th, 1451. He was slain with his father at the battle of Chastillon; chusing rather to lose his life with filial piety, than save it by deserting a wounded parent, though earnestly urged by his father to reserve himself for better times. This magnanimous nobleman wedded Joan, daughter and co-heir of Sir Thomas Chedder, of Chedder in Somersetshire, widow of Richard Stafford, Esq. and by her, who died July 15, 4 Ed. IV. was father of one son, Thomas; and two daughters, viz. Elizabeth, married to Sir Edward Grey, second son of Edward Lord Ferrers of Groby; and Margaret, the wife of Sir George Vere, Knight. Thomas succeeded to his father's titles and estate; but having a contest with William Lord Berkeley, concerning some lands which he claimed in right of his grandmother Margaret, lost his life, being shot through the mouth with an arrow, in a skirmish between them and their followers, at Wotton-under-Edge, in Gloucestershire, March 20th, A. D. 1469, without leaving any issue by his wife Margaret, daughter of William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke; and then his two sisters became his co-heirs. k JOHN, SECOND EARL OF SHREWSBURY, was forty years of age at the death of his father; and had been knighted in 1426, 4 Hen. VI. when the King himself received that honour, at Leicester, on Whit-Sunday, from John Duke of Bedford his uncle. 'Regist de Wyrksop. ▲ Vincent, p. 629. VOL. 111. Seymour's Survey of London, vol. i p. 676, i Afterwards created Visct Lisle. C Lel. Col. vol. i. p. 705 |