THE MASTERS. 3 



family was John de Pelham, and at the battle of Poictiers 

 we are told that the French king gave up his sword to 

 Sir Koger la Warr and John de Pelhara, in remembrance 

 of which the Pelhams were given as an honourable aug- 

 mentation the buckle of a belt as a bad2;e. John de 

 Pelham accompanied John of Gaunt through subsequent 

 campaigns, proving one of his most trusted followers, 

 and at his death a stained-glass window, representing 

 the soldier in full armour, with a surcoat embroidered 

 with three pelicans, was placed in the chapter-house of 

 Canterbury Cathedral in his memory. This honour was 

 only conferred on distinguished members of the Church 

 or State. 



The son of John de Pelham, also named John, was 

 likewise a great soldier, and being from his youth a great 

 friend of Henry of Bolingbroke, the son of John of Gaunt, 

 followed him stoutly through the Wars of the Roses that 

 broke out afterwards. He w^as made Constable of Pevensey 

 in 1394, and when the Duke of Lancaster landed near 

 Spurn to seize the tlirone, Pelham in return proved most 

 active in his behalf But his wife was even more devoted, 

 for while her husband was away in the north, she held out 

 stoutly in the Castle of Pevensey when besieged by the 

 followers of Richard II., until they were forced to raise 

 the siege. A letter written by her " to my trewe Lorde 

 by yhowr awnn pore J. Pelham " is referred to by Hallam 

 as one of the earliest instances of female penmanship in 

 English, most people writing in Norman French at that 

 time. 



When Henry IV. came to the throne, he made Pelham 

 a Knight of the Bath, and further granted the privilege 

 of bearing the Sword of State before his sovereign at all 

 royal functions. He was a Knight of the Shire for Sussex, 

 and was allowed £14 4^. for seventy-one days' attendance 

 in Parliament, and his rent-roll in 1403 was £870 5s. Scl., 

 or some £18,000 of our money. Henry IV. appointed 

 him one of the executors of his will, and at the coronation 

 of his son Henry V., he was present among the Privy 



