Work Text:
Climpson, K., The Wimseys of Bredon: a textual study in marital relationships among the 14th century English high nobility (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), [xi, 439pp].
Introduction
Peter, second son of Mortimer Wimsey, 5th Duke of Denver, is well-known as an exemplar of unconventional medieval noble life. His bibliophily, cultural patronage and prominence in jurisprudence have been examined by, most recently, Pharos and McLellan in their illustrated biography, and challenged by Jones, who sees the Wimsey reputation for charitable giving as a typical example of high-status fourteenth-century power politics, rather than an exceptional personal commitment. This work does not attempt to reappraise the life of Wimsey alone. It contends, on the contrary, that his relationship and eventual marriage with Harriet (also Harriott, Henriet) Vane is a genuinely enlightening and exceptional case. With parallels to the John of Gaunt-Katherine Swynford marriage, its successor by half a century, the relationship transgressed social norms and was subject to censure and comment within high-status circles. These will to some extent be examined within the present volume. The focus, however, is on the reconstruction of an emotional relationship from the surviving records.
[…]
The Wimsey archives, legendarily copious, contain an unusually rich number and range of documentary testimony to the relationship. These have been transcribed, translated and edited to form the core of this book. Spellings have been modernised. Parallel text is provided for those who would prefer the original Latin, French or Middle English. The author notes that, far from feeling distant from her subjects, unhappily departed these six centuries, she has come in the course of the decade of research required to complete the work, to feel that Peter and Harriet live with us still. A fanciful thought, perhaps, and not one common to the historical profession. But the modern reader is invited to share this sensation. The author welcomes correspondence on this fascinating subject, which she intends to explore in future work.
*
Chapter 2: travail and separation
Text 2.6: Pilgrim itinerary, 1340, in two hands, tentatively identified as MB and PW.
The “Domina” addressed is commonly identified with HV, although this remains supposition. The Wimseys did complete a tour of the region once married, as a prelude to their famous Italian peregrination, which makes some of the promises made particularly intriguing. The echo of Text 7.1 in the Cologne passage is potentially significant.
“[MB]…at Aix-la-Chapelle can be seen the Octagon of Great Charles, and the careful traveller will find here commodious lodgings for a stay of up to four nights but no longer.
[PW] Domina, when you are recovered from your close captivity, you must come here. The steps of Charlemagne, my lady.
…
[MB] At Colonia, where the Rhine flows fast, are twelve great churches, and many halls for the partaking of strong beer, even in Lenten fast. Inns are commonplace and not recommended.
[PW] I feel far from you, Domina. If you won’t let me bring you here myself, promise me that you will come yourself. I will send guards. You must see the city. Even more than Bruges or Middelburg, you will feel Coln your own place. It will inspire. You will dream.
*
Text 2.25 Letter, 1348, at Avignon. PW to HV
My love*, the black sickness is here. If you receive this, pray burn it. I cannot write, I must not write, I shall not put you in further danger, although where may be safe from this maelstrom I cannot tell. And yet I must write, for if I am to die here among the dispossessed clerics, I must tell you one last time that you are my all. I regret forever the circumstances of our meeting**, but I shall never regret that we met. Should I return, I shall ask once more.***
*This is the first text in which PW directly salutes HV in this manner. One may speculate as to motivation, but the emotion within the text is transparent.
**Another tantalising reference to the conundrum explored in chapter one. The Wimsey letters are filled with these tactful yet pointed references to what was evidently a lasting trauma to HV, and which brought these socially misaligned lives together.
***This time, it appears PW was successful in his suit. While long engagements were uncommon in the period, there is a gap of barely six months following his probable return date and the wedding bill, Text 3.2.
*
Chapter 3: reunion and union
Text 3.2 Account of the wedding of My Lord Peter and Mistress Vane, 1350
“Item……. Cloth of gold…….. 45l 6s 2d
Item…….. Cloth of silver…… 17l 7s 0d
Item…….. For silks for my lady…. 16l 19s 11d
Item…….. For velvets from Italy… 10l 8s 10d
Item…….. Ermines… 2l 16s 1d…
Item………For roses for the chapel… 15s 18d…”
Editor’s note on the account: although not out of scale for the high nobility, the expenditure on the Wimsey wedding is unusual for a second son, particularly one marrying late in life to a widowed gentlewoman with (presumably) limited expectation of childbearing. It would be foolish to speculate on the psychology of the spending, but certainly the power and wealth of the Wimseys of Bredon was on full display at this event.
*
Chapter 4: domesticity
Text 4.7 My Lord’s Simples c1351
This text of 16pp reveals a number of unusual features. The conversational annotations in PW’s hand are by now a style familiar to readers, but it appears likely that the primary author is HV. This is an uncommon evidence of high-status women undertaking direct domestic work. HV’s literacy, discussed and evidenced at texts 4.15-18 and in later chapters, was however exceptional, and there is little doubt that in her previous married and widowed lives she would have been responsible for domestic medical duties.
“HV[?]A cure for the head ache, from Mistress Marie, which I do not believe efficacious
Three hedgehog bristles, one onion picked under a gibbous moon, the feather of a jay, an ounce of milk thistle. Steep for a week, apply to the throat, to draw out the choleric humour from the brain.
PW: Another folly. I believe air, water and rest more likely worthwhile. Leave the poor hedgehog alone.
*
Text 4.23 Inventory of the Wimsey possessions at Ca’ Loredan, Venice, 1356.
Although chronologically fitted with the long period of international travel undertaken by the Wimseys from 1353, this unusually detailed inventory tells us much about the provision for the couple’s private life.
“Item: my Lord’s books nine and twenty
Item: my Lady’s books in her writing room seven and thirty
Item: books of my Lord and Lady nineteen
….
Item: collars of my lady in gold two
Item: collar of my lady in leather with gold and emeralds one*
Item: collar of my lady in leather plain*
…”
*These items have proven hard to identify. Leather collars were not a frequent item in Venetian inventories of the period, nor have my enquiries among colleagues specialising in female dress identified a likely analogous item of costume. Their position within the inventory, among the bedroom furnishings rather than the wardrobe, may give rise to ribald speculation, not least in view of Text 6.25. However, we must be wary of imposing modern interpretations onto what can at times be frustratingly uncommunicative sources.
*
Chapter 5: the law
Texts 5.6-5.10 Correspondence between PW and HV regarding the murder of Magdalen Hornsey, and subsequent trial and acquittal of Jane (also Jenet) Callow 1351
This exceptional series suggests that HV remained in London throughout the case, with PW moving between Hertfordshire and London, presumably on estate business. Thus it can be suggested that HV was seen as an equal partner in the investigation and defence. The denouement at 5.10 suggests one Ellen Lacy, wet nurse, was believed to be the guilty party. The Assize Courts record a Nell Lacey prosecuted at Trinity Sessions 1352. The outcome of that trial is unknown. The Wimseys left for their five-year tour of the Holy Roman Empire and Italy one month after the trial.
*
Text 5.19 Harriet Vane on the duty to truth. Extract from Lectures at Bologna, textbook attributed to Girolamo da Pezzalotti
One of the first examples of student crib-notes, this exceptional survival records a fully-authenticated lecture by HV to the law students at Bologna, most likely delivered 1355 on the return leg of their journey, which had reached Rome and Venice in the previous year. PW is also believed to have lectured at the University of Bologna, which was pre-eminent in legal training within Italy until modern times. Although HV is not the first woman recorded to have lectured at the university, the practice did not become fully accepted until the eighteenth century. There is a further tantalising hint that the Wimseys were regarded as equal partners, from archaeological evidence. A panel tentatively identified as part of the destroyed glossatoro tomb of Rinaldo di Maria di Pelliculo (d. 1362) shows a man and woman sharing a lecture to students. The Wimseys are known to have worked with di Pelliculo and PW continued to correspond with him after leaving Italy. It is unconfirmed but viable speculation to suggest that the pictured couple represent PW and HV. The woman is depicted unveiled, highly unusual for married women, but likely in the course of university teaching.
“First, in examination, you must consider the possibilities. Do not constrain your mind only to the likely, or the obvious. A subtle consideration must be given to what is not said, and what is not seen. Only then can one hope to penetrate to the holiest of truths. And, gentlemen, you must understand that this is a grave duty upon you. Precedent and practice are only a part of the profession of the law. The law is, as is truly named in the French tongue, a question of what is right. For when the processes of the law forget that right is their prime duty, terrible consequences can fall upon the innocent, and great is the suffering thereof…”
Chapter 6: under shadows
Text 6.3 Feoffment of lands at Hertfordshire, Duke of Denver to his Duchess, 1364
This is the first document in which PW assumes the title of Duke, following the death of his brother Gerald. This deed is a curiosity, unlikely to have had legal effect. Like all married women, HV could not own her own property unless some exceptional provision was made through a record which does not survive. See also Text 6.24 for confirmation.
“…all the lands acquired upon our marriage commonly named Tallboys to my lady Harriet for her own usage and usufruct only…”
*
Text 6.24 Will of Peter, Duke of Denver, 15 June 1369
“In the name of god amen the xv day of June in the xxxxth year of the king’s reign, I Peter Duke of Denver, Marquess of Bredon &c being sick in body but whole of mind do make here my last will and testament. First I do give and bequeath to the canons of Denver for my soul… Item to my wife I leave the lands at Tallboys previously enfeoffed, with xxxl per annum for her own use absolutely, and my stilled heart for what good it may do her eternally…
Witnessed this day 15 June 1369 by Edward Beaumaris Earl of Ely….. Mervyn Bunter….”
*
Text 6.25 Extract from the archidiaconal court of Peterborough St David’s Day [1 March] 1370
“…did wantonly and openly fail to keep the chastity of Lent to the great scandalising* of the manor.
“Witness: Mervyn Bunter attested that my lord and my lady of Denver have been long married and their affection is well known and that my lord’s late illness was a time of great heaviness and fear and that fear now being vanquished there had been a flourishing of affection once more between the husband and wife to the great comfort of their household…”
*This is a routine form of words and in fact there appears to have been a single complainant, a newcomer to the parish who had come upon the duke and duchess in an intimate situation on a Sunday in Lent (a double technical sin). The outcome of the case is not known, but is unlikely to have incurred a serious penalty if the couple were adjudged guilty. It is worth noting that both PW and HV are likely to have been aged over 60, regarded at the time as past most earthly pleasures. This may have contributed to the “scandalising”.
Chapter 7: dreams eternal
Text 7.1: Anon, The Dreme of Lady Haryot c1370-80
This polylingual, punningly romantic text is of course well known to students of medieval literature, and its origins in the Wimsey circle of cultural production have been suggested by previous editors. Its dialogue form is considered a breakthrough in literary concepts and to an extent a precursor to the more colloquial and accessible works of Chaucer. The serious student of literary form seeking a full understanding of the conceptual legal and theological framework underpinning the poem should consult the authoritative edition by Pardew (1965).
It is however time to reconsider the context in which the poem was written, and it is the author’s contention that it should be firmly attributed as a joint work of HV and PW themselves. The texts contained in this volume collectively demonstrate the collaborative spirit, loving relationship and intellectual sparring which animated their partnership, and which make them the most convincing author proposition. The “Haryot” may therefore not be an imaginary ideal woman, as previously assumed, but be Harriet Vane, Duchess of Denver, speaking to her literal lover, and husband of some twenty years.
“Canto 1:
The Lady: Speak to me not of love, for I am weary on’t.
The Lover: I am love. I can offer no more.
The Lady: Then speak to me of love, and awaken me.
The Lover: But which form of love, My Lady True? The brotherly? The amative? The love of parent for child? The love of God? The love of servant for master? The love of learning? A love-
The Lady: I weary anew.*
The Lover: Then, My Lady, to bed?
The Lady: Aye, and alone.
The Lover: Not alone, My Lady.
The Lady: Not alone? Am I not chaste?
The Lover: Thou knowst it. But no one can be alone who dreams…”
*This is the first of many pleasantries in the Dreme, whose pattern of teasing intimacy is so different to the chivalric and troubadour traditions. It is these domestic humours which have led the present author to a firm attribution to the Wimseys. The intimate, conversational style of the Dreme is in itself perhaps sufficient explanation of that sensation that they are not entirely gone from the world.