To browse Academia. King Henry the vijth-after his noble coronacion, Christemas and parliament, holden at his paloys of Westminster-towardes the northparties. BL, MS. Cotton Julius B.
XII, fol. So commences the memoir of court affairs for the years By , the year in which John Writhe, Garter King of Arms, died the memoir-lay complete in the archives of the heralds of England.
Seemingly compiled piecemeal over some five or more years, and written at least partly under 'licence and correction', the memoir represents an extended, descriptive report of the principle solemnities and other events that occupied the king and court during the years The memoir's creation was clearly governed by some form of editorial policy, but whether this was in anyway direct royal sanction, and how far it shaped the extant tract, remains a matter of question.
The account of the first provincial progress of Henry VII, mentioned above, comprises the first quarter of the extant tract now housed in Julius B. It recounts in detail, from an eye-witness perspective, the new king's journey from London into the northern and western provinces of his realm during the spring of from his ride northwards at the head of an impressive entourage; to his celebration of the first Easter of his reign in the cathedral city of Lincoln; to his entry into York and lavish welcome by the civic officials.
The 'progress narrative', as it may conveniently be called, also lists those lords and retainers rallying to the king's banner between Lincoln and York, and provides a breakdown of the earl of Northumberland's own retinue: king, lord and knight responded to the gathering of certain rebels in the Preface districts of Ripon and Middleham.
