A charolais bull on the southeast of the Isle of Wight near Sandown, looking back towards the Solent and Portsmouth behind. When the French came to the Isle of Wight just before Christmas 1403, they landed a thousand men and began rustling cattle until the islanders drove them away. Their return in the New Year evidently did not enjoy much more success.
Introduction
Shortly before Christmas 1403, French pirates landed a thousand men on the Isle of Wight only to be scared off by irate islanders. In the New Year more ships came. Since Henry Bolingbroke (said their captains) had seen fit to depose his cousin King Richard II, and call himself Henry IV, some recompense was surely due for the humiliation of Richard’s young French wife, Isabella of Valois.
THE Frenchmen about the same time came before the Isle of Wight with a great navy,* and sent certain of their men to the shore, to demand in name of King Richard,* and of his wife queen Isabel, a tribute or special subsidy in money, of the inhabitants of that Isle; who answered, that King Richard was dead, and queen Isabel sometime his wife had been sent home to her parents and country, without condition of any dowry or tribute:* wherefore, they answered reasonable, that none they would give: but if the Frenchmen had desire to fight, they willed them to come on land, and there should be none to resist them; and after they were on land, they promised to give them respite for six hours space to refresh themselves, and that time being once expired, they should not fail to have battle. When the Frenchmen heard of this stout answer made by the Islandmen, they had no lust to approach near to the land, but returned without further attempt.
From ‘Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland in Six Volumes, Volume 3’ (1808) first published by Raphael Holinshed in 1587. Additional information from ‘The Chronicles of Enguerrand de Monstrelet’ Volume 1 (of 2) (1840), translated by Thomas Johnes.
* Northern Europe in Henry IV’s time (r. 1399-1413) was blighted by a turmoil of lawlessness and piracy, some of it radiating from Brittany and Burgundy but much of it from England. Henry was powerless to intervene: his cousin Richard II had demoralised the realm, and Wales was on the brink of revolt. There were tit-for-tat raids across the Channel, at Plymouth and Brest, at Calais and Poole. So bad was it on the Baltic shores that the Hanseatic League put an embargo on English trade.
* In 1399, the deeply unpopular King Richard II was deposed by his cousin Henry Bolingbroke, who declared himself King Henry IV. Richard was imprisoned, and quietly murdered in February the following year.
* Richard II’s second wife, Queen Isabella of Valois (1389-1409), daughter of King Charles VI of France, was only ten when she was widowed, having been married (as a matter of politics) to the twenty-nine-year-old Richard in 1396 just before her seventh birthday. Henry sent her back home to France where in 1406 she married Charles, son and heir of Louis I, Duke of Orléans. Whether these French seamen had any right to demand this money, and whether any of it would have reached Isabella had they received it, Holinshed does not say.
* Shortly after the French fleet came to the Isle of Wight, Isabella’s uncle Louis I, Duke of Orleans, younger brother of King Charles VI, issued Henry with a challenge to single combat: see A War of Words. In the testy exchange of letters that followed, the duke renewed the complaint on behalf of his niece. “How could you suffer my much redoubted lady the queen of England” he asked “to return so desolate to this country after the death of her lord, despoiled, by your rigour and cruelty, of her dower, which you detain from her, and likewise the portion she carried hence on her marriage?” Henry replied that when it came to money and jewels, Isabella had been given upon her departure “much more than she brought hither”, which did not exactly answer the question of her dowry. “We wish to God” added the English king, aware of Louis’s unsavoury reputation among women “that you may never have acted with greater rigour, unkindness, or cruelty, towards any lady or damsel than we have done to her, and we believe it would be the better for you.”
Questions for Critics
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.
Précis
Early in 1404, French captains brought a flotilla of ships to the Isle of Wight and demanded compensation for the distress of Queen Isabella, sent home to France after her husband Richard II was deposed by Henry IV. The islanders refused, but when they invited the French to step ashore and fight if they pleased the flotilla melted away. (59 / 60 words)
Early in 1404, French captains brought a flotilla of ships to the Isle of Wight and demanded compensation for the distress of Queen Isabella, sent home to France after her husband Richard II was deposed by Henry IV. The islanders refused, but when they invited the French to step ashore and fight if they pleased the flotilla melted away.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: although, because, despite, may, must, or, whereas, who.
Archive
Word Games
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Dead. Money. Sometime.
2 Her. Isle. Six.
3 Hear. Make. Same.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Opposites Find in Think and Speak
Suggest words or phrases that seem opposite in meaning to each of the words below. We have suggested some possible answers; see if you can find any others.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1.
After.
2.
Answer.
3.
Come.
4.
Fail.
5.
Give.
6.
Great.
7.
Home.
8.
Man.
9.
Once.
Variations: 1.instead of opposites, suggest words of similar meaning (synonyms). 2.use a word and its opposite in the same sentence. 3.suggest any 5 opposites formed by adding im-.
High Tiles Find in Think and Speak
Make words (three letters or more) from the seven letters showing below, using any letter once only. Each letter carries a score. What is the highest-scoring word you can make?
x
0
Add
Your Words ()
Post Box : Ask Nicholas
Grok : Ask Grok
You are welcome to share your creativity with me, or ask for help with any of the exercises on Clay Lane. Write to me at this address:
See more at Post Box.
If you like what I’m doing here on Clay Lane, from time to time you could buy me a coffee.
Buy Me a Coffee is a crowdfunding website, used by over a million people. It is designed to help content creators like me make a living from their work. ‘Buy Me a Coffee’ prides itself on its security, and there is no need to register.
Related Posts
A veteran of the Battle of Salamanca in 1812 was boasting of his lieutenant’s bravery when his wife sprung some unwelcome news upon him.
Picture: Anonymous, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted March 1 2021
A few years before the Battle of Agincourt, the Duke of Orléans challenged King Henry IV to meet him in Bordeaux for a winner-takes-all joust.
Picture: © Paul Fleury, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.. Source.
Posted November 24 2020
As a young prince Henry V was ‘fierce and of wanton courage,’ Thomas Elyot tells us, but there was one man with courage to match his.
Picture: By an anonymous artist, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted July 16 2020
Picture: From the British Museum, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted January 30 2018