Henry the Sixth. John Blakman

ac improuisa morte ceterisque eruamur malis, et gaudia sempiterna adipisci mereamur. Per Christum dominum nostrum. Amen.

      Here is another form, which occurs in the Fitzwilliam MS. 55 (a Norfolk book of about 1480):

       Antiphon. Rex Henricus pauper(um?) et ecclesie defensor ad misericordiam semper pronus in caritate feruidus pietati deditus clerum decorauit, quem deus sic beatificauit.

      Vers. Ora pro nobis deuote Henrice.

      Resp. Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.

       Oremus. Deus sub cuius ineffabili maiestate vniuersi reges regnant et imperant, qui deuotissimum Henricum Anglorum regem caritate feruidum, miseris et afflictis semper compassum, omni bonitate clemenciaque conspicuum, ut pio (pie) creditur inter angelos connumerare dignatus es: concede propicius ut eo cum omnibus sanctis interuenientibus hostium nostrorum superbia conteratur, morbus et quod malum est procul pellatur, palma donetur et gratia sancti spiritus nobis misericordiam tuam poscentibus ubique adesse dignetur. Qui uiuis, etc.

      Yet another form is seen in a manuscript (V. iii. 7) in Bishop Cosin's Library at Durham, of cent. xv late: it is written, with a good many other miscellaneous verses, at the end of the book.

      O rex Henrice vincas virtute pudice

      Anglorum vere cum recto nomine sexte

      [Es] wynsorie natus et ibi de fonte leuatus

      Atque coronatus in Westm(ynster) veneratus

      Et post ffrancorum rex es de iure creatus

      Post mortem carnis miracula plurima pandis

      Confirmante deo qui te preelegit ab euo

      Et tibi concessit plures sanare per illum

      Cecos et claudos cum debilitate retentos

      Atque paraliticos egrotos spasmaticosque

      In neruis plures contracti te mediante

      In te sperantes sanantur et auxiliantur

      Et laudes domino per te semper tribuantur.

      Ora pro nobis dei electe rex Anglie Henrice sexte.

      Ut digni, etc.

       Oremus. Omnipotens eterne deus qui electis tuis multa mirabilia operaris: concede quaesumus ut electi tui Anglorum regis Henrici sexti meritis et precibus mediantibus et intercedentibus mereamur ab omnibus angustiis anime et doloribus membrorum liberemur(-ari). Et cum illo in vita perpetua gloriari. Per, etc.

      These three forms of Memoriae are probably not all that exist; but they will suffice as representative specimens of the popular devotions used in honour of our Founder.

      Besides the Memoria Hearne gives two prayers, attributed to the King himself, and largely identical in language with that which is prefixed to Blakman's tract. He takes them from the same printed Horae of 1510 whence the Memoria comes. They are on p. lv a and run thus:

      Two lytell prayers whiche King Henry the syxte made.

      Domine Ihesu Christe, qui me creasti, redemisti, et preordinasti ad hoc quod sum: tu scis quid de me facere vis: fac de me secundum voluntatem tuam cum misericordia.

      Domine Ihesu Christe, qui solus es sapientia: tu scis que michi peccatori expediunt: prout tibi placere2 et sicut in oculis tue maiestatis videtur, de me ita fiat cum misericordia tua. Amen. Pater noster. Aue Maria.

      Of John Blacman or Blakman, the author of our tract, not a great deal is known. He was admitted Fellow of Merton College, Oxford, in 1436, and of Eton in 1447: he was Cantor of Eton College, and, as we read in the title of his book, a bachelor of Divinity, and later a Carthusian monk. But before he 'entered religion' he held an important post in University circles, for, in 1452, on the death of Nicholas Close, he was appointed by the Provosts of Eton and King's (who at that time owned this piece of patronage) Warden of King's Hall at Cambridge, that royal foundation which was eventually absorbed into Trinity College. As Warden (I quote from Mr W. W. Rouse Ball's privately printed account of King's Hall) he introduced into the College "some scheme of reorganization, which involved a division of the Society into four classes, fellows, scholars, commoners, and servi-commoners… The scheme, whatever it was, was abandoned on Blacman's resignation" which took effect on 11 July 1457. Blacman then entered the Carthusian house of Witham in Somerset, and subsequently that of London, where he probably died. When, and for how long, he held the post of spiritual director or confessor to Henry VI, I have no evidence to show.

      Of one thing about him, namely, his literary possessions, we know more. The Bodleian manuscript Laud. Misc. 154 contains two lists, one short, and one long and elaborate, of books given by him to the Witham Charterhouse. Several of these exist in the Bodleian and other libraries, and one, a notable copy of the Polychronicon, which contains the earliest known picture of Windsor Castle (and of Eton), very probably drawn by Blacman himself, has in recent years been acquired by the library of Eton College. The full list of Blacman's books is given in a separate note.

      In reprinting Hearne's text I have retained his spelling, which does not correspond completely with that of Coplande's print. Hearne gives æ for e throughout, and expands contractions without notice. Had I had access to the original tract before Hearne's text was put into type, I should have retained the medieval spelling; but I did not think it worth while to make the change après coup. The actual words of the text represent Blacman as faithfully as possible; and that is the chief matter.

      I need not, I think, say much by way of commending this little memorial of our Founder to the pietas of the many who have owed and still owe to his bounty such pleasant and peaceful years, and such opportunities for the gaining of knowledge and the forming of friendships, as he himself never enjoyed. The evils which his weak rule brought upon England have faded out of being: the good which in his boyhood he devised for coming generations lives after him. Pro eo quod laborauit anima eius, uidebit et saturabitur.

M. R. J.

      COLLECTARIUM MANSUETUDINUM ET BONORUM MORUM REGIS HENRICI VI.

      EX COLLECTIONE

      Magistri Joannis Blakman bacchalaurei

      theologiæ, et post Cartusiæ monachi Londini.

[A ii a] Oratio ejus devota

      Domine Jesu Christe, qui me creasti, redemisti, et ad id quod sum prædestinasti, tu scis, quid de me facturus sis, fac de me secundum tuam misericordissimam voluntatem. Nam scio et veraciter confiteor, quod in tua manu cuncta sunt posita, et non est qui possit tibi resistere: quia Dominus universorum tu es. Ergo Deus omnipotens, misericors & clemens, in potestate cujus sunt regna omnia atque dominationes, et cui omnes cogitationes, verba et opera nostra præterita, præsentia et futura continue sunt cognita et aperta, qui solus habes scientiam & sapientiam incomprehensibilem. Tu scis, Domine, quæ michi misero peccatori expediunt: prout tibi placet, et in oculis tuæ divinæ majestatis videtur de me fieri, ita de me fiat. Suscipe, pater clemens et misericors Deus omnipotens, preces mei indignissimi servi tui: et perveniant ad aures misericordiæ tuæ orationes, quas offero coram te et omnibus sanctis tuis. Amen.

      PROHEMIUM

      Scriptum est, quod neminem laudabimus ante mortem suam, sed in fine erit denudatio operum ejus, unde, cessante jam omni impedimento veræ laudis, Quia cœli gloriam Dei omnipotentis enarrant, & omnia quæ fecit Dominus ipsum in factura sua laudant, idcirco in laudem Dei & serenissimi principis regis Henrici. VI. corpore jam defuncti, quem licet minime peritus laudare anticipavi, aliqua tractare necessarium duxi. Maxime quia sanctos Dei laudare, quorum in cathologo istum puto regem eximium, ob sancta sua merita quoad vixit per eum exercitata, merito computari, omnipotentis Dei laus est & gloria, ex cujus cœlesti dono est, ut sancti sint. De prænobili ejus prosapia, quomodo scilicet ex nobilissimo sanguine & [A ii b] stirpe regia antiqua Angliæ secundum carnem progenitus erat, et qualiter in duabus regionibus, Angliæ s. & Franciæ, ut verus utriusque regni heres coronatus fuerat, tacere curavi, quasi manifestum & notum. Maxime propter casum ejus infaustissimum, qui eidem inopinate postea

2

Read placet, as in a vellum-printed Paris Horae of 1572 (?), reported to Hearne by a friend.

Mr. Cosmo Gordon of King's College tells me that these prayers also occur in W. de Worde's Primer of 1494 (sig. F 8 b). In this edition the words read "prout tibi placeret," but a copy at Lambeth in which the page has been reset, has "prout tibi placet." The prayers also occur in some Sarum Horae printed in France, e.g. Jean Jehannot's of 1498, of which there is a copy in the Sandars collection in the University Library.