The Last Knight Errant: Sir Edward Woodville & the Age of Chivalry by Christopher Wilkins Page B

Pardon at Santiago de Compostela, the shrine of St James the Greater. Anthony wrote, ‘I shipped from Southampton in the month of July the said year, and so sailed from thence till I came into the Spanish sea, there lacking sight of all lands, the wind being good and the weather fair, then for recreation and a passing of time I had delight and asked to read some good history.’
    One of his fellow pilgrims was ‘Lowys de Bretaylles’ or Louis de Bretelles, a Gascon knight who had been in English service since the 1450s.7 He gave Anthony a French manuscript to while away the time on the voyage. It was titled  Dits Moraulx  and was a compendium of information on a range of philosophers and heroes: Plato, Diogenes, Hippocrates, Alexander the Great and so on. Anthony much appreciated the gift, commenting that it was ‘a book that he trusted I should like it right well’. The work has an interesting history, first compiled in a comparable form by an Arab philosopher in Damascus around ad 1053, then translated into Spanish in the thirteenth century, then into Latin and, in the late fourteenth century, into French.
    The Cathedral of Santiago was described as ‘immense, with four round and two square towers’ where there are ‘innumerable relics of St James, the most interesting were the sickle with which he was beheaded and his famous banner, already falling into sore decay’. It is ‘of a red colour, and on it is painted his image, seated on a white horse and clad in garments of white. On the horse and on the head dress of the rider are to be seen painted shells or scales.’ 8 So there was Anthony’s scallop of Scales in pride of place at Santiago. No wonder he kept it as his badge even after he became Earl Rivers.
    On their return to England appointments were heaped on Anthony: Chief Butler of England9 and the Receivership of Cornwall – the latter having only recently been surrendered by Lord Hastings. In November Anthony was awarded the greatest honour with his appointment as ‘Governor and ruler of the King’s first begotten son that he may be virtuously, cunningly and knightly brought up’.10
    This was a public statement of the King’s belief in his brother-in-law’s integrity and ability; Anthony was responsible for the prince’s education. He thought about his new role: ‘After the King’s grace command me to give my mine attendance upon my lord the Prince...when I had leisure I looked upon the said book ( Dits Moraulx ) and at the last concluded in myself to translate it into the English tongue.’ His title was  The Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers . There was some editing; for instance he omitted Socrates’s rather rude observations about women, writing, ‘and the said Socrates had many seyings ayenst women which is not translated’.
    It is clear that Anthony was an exceptional man and he must have been a wonderful elder brother. Thomas More declared Anthony to be ‘a right honourable man, as valiant of hand as politic [prudent] in council’, while Philippe de Commines, a senior civil servant, first in Burgundy and then in France, who knew him both socially and professionally, wrote that Anthony was ‘un tres gentil chevalier’ (a very gentle knight).11
    Meanwhile the first steps were being taken towards the proposed war. It is fascinating to see how the diplomatic manoeuvring developed various alliances, then moved towards the invasion. However, there seems to have been a secret agenda – King Edward was concocting a plan to extricate England from the war, if necessary.
    Anthony was directly involved with some of the diplomacy. The main work began with English embassies going to Naples, Urbino, Hungary and the German emperor, Frederick III. The trade war with the Hanseatic League was brought to a close and Scotland was seduced with promises of gold. At home the justice of the war was propounded and Edward needed money from parliament and recruits.
    In the Middle Ages a war had to be