1 7° Chaucer and Henry, Earl of Derby 



A mantelet^ tipon his shuldre hanginge, 

 Bretful of rubies' rede, as fyr sparklinge. 

 His crispe heer lyk ringes' was yronne. 

 And that was yelow,* and glitered as the sonne. 

 His nose was heigh,^ his eyen bright citryn, 

 His lippes rounde, his colour was sangwyn," 

 A fewe fraknes' in his face yspreynd, 

 Betwixen yelow and somdel blak ymeynd, 

 And as a leoun he his loking caste. 

 Of fyve and twenty yeer* his age I caste ; 

 His herd was wel bigonne for to springe. 

 His voys was as a trompe thunderinge. 

 Upon his heed he wered of laurer' grene 

 A gerland'" fresh and lusty for to sene. 

 Upon his hand he bar, for his deduyt. 



with gold harness (4. 240) ; in 1403, palfrey-saddles with gilded harness 

 (4. 222; cf. 2. 438). 



"Burnished, brilliant; or, perhaps, refined by fire. 



" Overlaid, inlaid, embossed, damascened, or embroidered (New. Eng. 

 Diet.). 



^ Short mantle. In 1391-2 Henry had one of white cloth for Christmas 

 (Wylie 4. 160; cf. 4. 162). Sixteen yards of white velvet are bought 

 in 1391-2 for such a mantlet for Henry and his knights (D. A. 282. 13; 

 cf. 234. 3). In 1520, at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, Francis I wore, 

 over a short cassock of gold frieze, a mantle of cloth of gold covered 

 with jewels — diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and large, loose-hanging pearls 

 (Brewer, Reign of Henry VIII i. 353). 



" See Wylie's index, 4. 529; and s. v. Balais, 4. 334. 



^ In the Frampton illumination, which has some 'claims to genuine 

 portraiture' (Wylie 4. 121), Henry's 'hair is long and flowing.' Doyle 

 gives a picture from MS. Harl. 1819 {Peerage 2. 316). 



* See above, p. 167. 



^ When Henry's tomb was opened in 1831 (Ramsay, Lancaster and 

 York I. 142), his nose was found to be 'elevated, with even the cartilage 

 remaining' (Wylie 4. 125). 



° See above, p. 167. 



" See above, p. 167. 



* See above, p. 166. 



"In 1395 Gilbert Prince made for Henry a golden fillet with golden 

 laurel-leaves, the leaves being made of gilded parchment. This was for 

 a Tournament of Peace (Wylie 4. 170). 



'"In March, 1393, Henry bought at Venice a chaplet, or jeweled circlet, 

 for $41 {D. A. 284. 8), and in 1400 had a chaplet with gold fretwork 

 (Wylie 4. 196). Perhaps it was worn over a helmet, as in the effigies 

 of Sir Hugh Calverley and the Black Prince (see Stothard, Monuuiental 

 Effigies, pp. 77, 79). 



