196 Chaucer and Henry, Earl of Derby 



same place, for all of these themes would have been welcome 

 to Chaucer. Henry had visited each of these scarcely two months 

 before.^ Gian Galeazzo, whose sister Lionel had married, him- 

 self conducted Henry to the tomb of Augustine,- 'which', says 

 Capgrave — but he was an Augustinian^ — 'he embraced, not with- 

 out many thoughts' (non sine magna coiitemplatlonc)^ Henry 

 may also have talked about his visit with Wenceslaus, brother 

 of Queen Anne, with whom he spent Oct. 21-24, 1392, at the 

 king's hunting-seat of Bettlern, southwest of Prague^ ; and of 

 that with another brother, or rather half-brother, Sigismund, 

 King of Hungary, about Nov. 6, 1392.*^ He would surely have 

 heard from Albert HI of Austria,^ brother-in-law of Anne, of his 

 famous reyse in 1377, and the table of honor at which he had 

 been present- ; and the conversation might easily have turned to 

 this, and to the exploits of Henry and his men at Vilna in the 

 autumn of 1390, as detailed below. ^ 



5. HENRY AT THE SIEGE OF VILNA 



An interesting episode in Henry's career, consisting of his 

 voyage to Prussia, adventures there, and return, is detailed at 

 length in Vol. 52 of the Camden vSociety, New Series (1894),^° 

 edited by Lucy Toulmin Smith. After lengthy preparations, and 

 a false start, Henry sailed from Boston on July 19, 1390, reached 

 Dantzic on Aug. 9, and Konigsberg on Aug. 16. About a week 

 later, the incursion (reyse) into Lithuania began, and Henry 

 was back in Konigsberg by Oct. 22. Here he remained till Feb. 



*D. A., p. Ixxvii. 



' D. A., pp. cxi, 277. 29. 



'D. A., p. Ixviii. 



*£>. A., p. cxi. As to Henry's interest in theology, see Wylie 4. 138. 

 Augustine is referred to 22 times in the Parson's Talc, twice in the 

 Talc of McUbciis, once in the Nun's Priest's Tale, and (as St. Austin) 

 5 times besides. 



^ D. A., pp. Ixxiii, Ixxxiii, 191 -8, 310; Wylie'4. 139, note 11. 



°Z). A., pp. Iviii, Ixxxiii, 195. 13. 



'Nov. 4-7, 1392; cf. D. A., pp. Hx, Ixxxiii. 



^ Jour. Eng. and Germ. Phil. 14. 380. 



" See pp. 197-202. 



^"Expeditions to Prussia and the Holy Land made by Henry, Earl of 

 Derby (=^ Derby Accounts). 



