Chronicle of the Grey friars of London/Henricus Tertius Rex

by John Gough Nichols

HENRICUS TERTIUS REX

And here beganne the rayne of kyng Henry the third, sonne unto kynge John.

Pi.^o. A^o. Thys yere was Walis interdityd. And Lewys of France had one thousand marke of sylver for his rewarde.

ij^o. A^o. Thys yere the kynge had of every plough land C^s. And the same yere Thomas Becket removyd uppe behynde the hye auter in Christes church in Canterbery.^[1]

v^o. A^o. Thys yere the kyng Henry the third was crownyd at Glossytor.^[2] And alle pleys longynge to the crowne was pletyd in the tower of London. And the castelle of Bedford was destroyed.

And this yere, on sent Lewys daye, was soch a stronge wynde in the north-est that it overturnyd houses, toweres, trees, and in the ayre was sene fyere draggons and sprettes flyenge. And this yere began the ordere of the Freeres Carmelyttes.

vij^o. A^o. Thys yere came the Freeres Minors into Ynglond. And a man of Oxenford feynyd hym to be Cryst, and was crucifyed at Addurbury.

xl^o. A^o. Thys yere a Jew felle in to a drawte on a satorday, and he wolde not be draune owte that day for the reverens of hys sabbot day, and sir Richard Clare, that time tyme beynge erle of Gloucseter,^[3] seynge that he wolde not be drawne owte that day, he wolde not suffer hym to be drawne owte on the sonday, for the reverens of the holy sonday, and soo thus the false Jue perished and dyde therein.

liv^o. A^o. Thys yere this kynge Henry the thirde dyde, and ys burryd at Westmynster on sent Edwardes daye the marter.

1. This refers to the removal of the body of Becket from the undercroft of the church, where it was at first interred, to the shrine prepared for its reception in the new chapel of the Trinity. This event was afterwards annually celebrated as the Translation of the saint, upon the 7th July. See Pilgrimages of Walsingham and Canterbury, 1849, p. 224.
2. King Henry was crowned for the second time this year, but it was at Westminster. His first coronation took place at Gloucester, shortly after the death of his father.
3. Other chronicles which contain this story relate that it took place at Tewkesbury, where the earl of Gloucester was lord of the town.