June 3. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



517 



in the third volume of the Miscellanies as repub- 

 lished in 1731. What are the facts ? P. J. D. 



Minav &uttie& un'tf) gntftcerS. 



The Irish at the Battle of Crecy — I should feel 

 obliged if any of your readers could inform me 

 where the authority is for the Irish at the battle 

 of Crecy having been the first to come to close 

 fight with the French, and doing, " after the 

 manner of their own countrie," effective service 

 with their skenes or long knives. M. P. 



[There is the best authority for this assertion, even 

 that of the veritable Holinshed, who quotes from 

 Froissart, the cotemporary of our victorious Edward. 

 " The armie which he (Edward) had over with him, 

 was to the number of 4000 men of armes, and 10,000 

 archers, besides Irishmen and Welshmen that followed 

 the host on foot." • The French historian also informs 

 ns, that the skene or knife was the chief weapon used 

 by the Irish in .that age : " The Irish have pointed 

 knives with broad blades, sharp on both sides, like a 

 dart-head, with which they kill their enemies," &c. 

 Johnes's Translation, vol. iv. p. 428. : see also Grafton's 

 Chronicle, p. 261. ; and Keightley's History of Eng- 

 land, vol. i. p. 279.] 



King of the Isle of Wight. — I was not aware 

 that the Isle of Wight, like the Isle of Man, had 

 once been a kingdom. It seems that Henry de 

 Beauchamp, Earl and Duke of Warwick, was 

 crowned, circa 1445, King of the Isle of Wight. 

 Perhaps some of your correspondents may be able 

 to throw some light on this matter. E. H. A. 



[Henry Beauchamp, Duke of Warwick, son of 

 Richard Earl of Warwick, was crowned King of the 

 Isle of Wight by patent 24 Henry VI., King Henry 

 in person assisting at the ceremonial, and placing the 

 crown on his head. Leland (Itiner., vol. vi. p. 91.) says, 

 -" Henricus Comes de Warwike ab Henrico VI. cui 

 carissimus erat, coronatus in regem de Wighte, et postea 

 nominatus primus comes totius Angliae." Leland takes 

 this ex Libello de Antiquitate Theoksibriensis Monasterii, 

 in the church of which house this Duke of Warwick 

 was buried. But little notice has been taken of this 

 singular event by our historians, and, except for some 

 other collateral evidence, the authenticity of it might 

 be doubted ; but the representation of this duke with 

 an imperial crown on his head and a sceptre before him, 

 in an ancient window of the collegiate church at War- 

 wick, leaves no doubt that such an event did take 

 place. (See Worsley's Hist, of the Isle of Wight for a 

 plate copied from an accurate drawing of the king. ) 

 This honourable mark of the royal favour, however, 

 conveyed no regal authority, the king having no power 

 to transfer the sovereignty of any part of his dominions, 

 as is observed by Lord Coke in his Institutes, where 

 this transaction is discussed ; and there is reason to 

 conclude that, though titular king, he did not even 

 possess the lordship of the island, no surrender appear- 

 ing from Duke Humphrey, who was then living, and 

 had a grant for the term of his life. Mr. Selden too, 



in his Titles of Honour, p. 29., treating of the title of 

 the King of Man, observes that " it was like that of 

 King of the Isle of Wight, in the great Beauchamp, 

 Duke of Warwick, who was crowned king under 

 Henry VI." Henry Beauchamp was also crowned 

 King of Guernsey and Jersey. He died soon after 

 these honours had been conferred on him, June 11, 

 1445, when the regal title expired with him, and the 

 lordship of the island, at the death of the Duke of 

 Gloucester, reverted to the crown.] 



Theodore de la Guard. — I have a tract by him 

 with the title of The simple Cobler of Aggawam, 

 in America, London, 1647. Who was he ? and 

 where can I find any account of him or his work ? 



Cpl. 



[The Rev. Nathaniel Ward was the author of this 

 work. He was born at Haverhill in Essex, of which 

 place his father was a clergyman ; and after studying 

 at Cambridge, became minister of Standon in Herts ; 

 but was cited before the bishop, Dec. 12, 1631, to 

 answer for his nonconformity. Being forbidden to 

 preach, he embarked for America in April, 1634, and 

 settled as pastor of the church at Ipswich, or Aggawam. 

 He returned to England in 1646, and on June 30, 

 1647, preached before the House of Commons, and 

 the same year published The Simple Cobler. He was 

 afterwards settled at Shenfield, near Brentwood, where 

 he died in 1653, in his eighty-third year. Fuller, in 

 his Worthies, co. Suffolk, speaking of him, says, that he, 

 " following the counsel of the poet, 



' Ridentem dicerc verum, 

 Quis vetat?' 

 4 What doth forbid that one maj smile, 

 And also tell the truth the while ? ' 



hath in a jesting way, in some of his books, delivered 

 much smart truth of the present times." Dr. Mather, 

 in his Magnolia, remarks of him, that " he was the 

 author of many composures full of wit and sense ; 

 among which that entitled The Simple Cobler (which 

 demonstrated him to be a subtil statesman) was most 

 considered." This work passed through several edi- 

 tions in England in 1647. It was reprinted in Boston 

 in 1713. The best edition, containing the author's 

 subsequent additions, is that edited by David Pulsifer, 

 Boston, 1843.] 



Bach. — What is the meaning and derivation 

 of " Back," as applied to several localities in Bris- 

 tol, as, for instance, The Back, Welsh Back, Tem- 

 ple Back, St. Augustine's Back, St. James' Back, 

 Redeliffe Back ? Many of them are not on the 

 river, or I should have imagined it a corruption 

 of the word bank. Malcolm Eraser. 



Clifton. 



[Barrett, in his History of Bristol, p. 72., gives a 

 clue to the origin of this local name : " Before the 

 quay was made the usual place, as Leland says, for 

 landing goods out of the ships was at the Back (or 

 Bee, a Saxon word for a river), where was the old 

 Custom-house. The quay being completed, and the 

 marsh of Bristol thereby effectually divided from that 



