300 
MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS 03? 
Now, in order thoroughly to understand the bearing of these documents 
upon this French campaign of 1346, we must keep in mind that on the 1st 
July of that year Edward III. was at Freshwater, in the Isle of Wight, 
waiting for a fair wind to carry him across the channel. On the 12th July 
he landed at La Hogue in Normandy, devastated the country for a consider¬ 
able distance, and returning northwards, fought the battle of Cre$y on the 
26th August. He then marched on Calais, where he arrived on the 4th 
September, and the siege of that place lasted until late in the year 1347. 
At the time in question, the Tower of London was the great repository of 
the king's weapons of war, which were considered as belonging to one of the 
king's wardrobes; and the officer in charge was called the clerk or keeper 
of the king's privy wardrobe at the Tower. During the years of which we 
are now treating, this office was held by Thomas de Boldeston ; whom we 
also find employed in making powder for the king's use a little time before 
or during the expedition. 
In a book of accounts of money, paid out of the king's chamber in the 
time of Bobert de Burton, receiver of the king's moneys in the said 
chamber, from 25 December, 18 e. iii. 1344 to 18 October 1347, deposited 
among the records of the Exchequer, are sundry payments to Boldeston for 
things provided for the king's use by him, including cases for bows and arrows, 
a tent for the king's own use, &c., &c., and “ Eidem Thomse super facturam 
pulveris pro ingeniis, et emendatione diversarum armaturum— xl sol." 
Was this “pulver pro ingeniis" gunpowder? Mr Hunter maintains 
that it was, and that the fact of the king's own tent being one of the items 
of this account, proves that these articles were provided before the king's 
departure. It is scarcely necessary to discuss either of these points, for we 
possess stronger and more conclusive evidence than this document affords. 
John Cook, the clerk of the king's great wardrobe, (not the Tower ward¬ 
robe), renders accounts of moneys received and expended by him from 22nd 
December 19 Edw. III. 1345, to 31st January 23rd Edw. III. 1349; and 
gives the dates of the king's writs authorizing the payments. We have an 
entry for wax for the manufacture of the king's tent, under authority of the 
king's writ 4th May, 1346; and immediately following, and in connexion 
with this entry appears :— 
“Et eidem Thomse de Boldeston per manus Willielmi de Stanes, ad opus ipsius 
Begis pro gunnis suis, ix c xii lib. sal petrse, et dccc nn xx vi lib. sulphur vivi, 
per breve Begis datum x die Maii, dicto anno xx°: per quod Bex mandavit prefato 
custodi quod computaret cum prefato "Willielmo de Stanes de sal petra et sulphur 
vivo per ipsum provisa et de precepto ipsius Begis, allocando eidem ratiouabile 
precium percellarum quas idem Willielmus per indenturam prefato Thomse liberavit, 
per indenturam ipsius Thomse receptionem ejnsdem sal petrse et sulphur vivi 
testificantem, sicut continetur ibidem." 
This quantity of 912 lb. of saltpetre, and 886 lb. of sulphur for the use 
of the king's guns is a larger amount than we have yet met with, but it 
seems to us a small provision for a large army. Whatever quantity of 
powder it may have made, when mixed with the charcoal, seems to have been 
either consumed or approaching its end, when the king had been between 
two and three months before Calais, and a fresh supply seems to have been 
urgently required; for, on the 25th November, 1346, he issued a writ. 
