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Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York:
Wardrobe Accounts of Edward IV

Part XVI.3: Index and Notes for Privy Purse Expenses
Clarychords through Dyer

  • Dachet ferry, the keeper of, - Ent. 35.
  • Damask, for - Ent. 11, 14, 38, 41 - ----gold of, - Ent. 5.
  • Dancing, to a maid of Spain that danced before the queen, - Ent. 55 - Apparently one of the servants of Katherine of Aragon. Payments of this kind were extremely common. In the Privy Purse Expenses of Henry VII., are entries of payments "to a woman that sung before the king and queen in reward, 6 s. 8 d." "To a woman that singeth with a fiddle, 2 s. "To the queen's fiddler, 1 l. 6 s. 8 d. "To little maiden the tumbler, 20 s. Attiditional MS. 7099. See Strutt's remarks on dancing, tumbing, &c., in his Sports and Pastimes.
  • Darcy, Sir Thomas, - Ent. 1 - Probably Sir Thomas Darcy, K.G. who was afterwards summoned to parliament as Lord Darcy of Chiche, and who was eminently distinguished in the reigns of Henry VII. and VIII.; but incurring the displeasure of the latter monarch, was beheaded and attainted in 1538. His wife is called in these accounts "Lady Nevill:" he is stated to have married to his first wife Dousabella, daughter and heir of Sir Richard Tempest, Knt., but whether she was the widow of a Knight of the name of Nevill has not been ascertained. In the 17th Hen. VII., Sir Thomas Darcy was sent on an embassy to Scotland, and the following entry occurs in the Privy Purse of that sovereign. "To Sir Thomas Darcy going in embasade to Scotland 20 s."
  • Darrell, Sir Edward, - Ent. 55 - Of Littlecotes in Wiltshire, afterwards vice-chamberlain to Queen Katherine of Aragon, and a person of some eminence in the reign of Henry VIII. He was married on the 25th April, 1512, as on that day Henry VIII. offered at his marriage, but whether the lady was his first wife Alice, daugher of Sir Richard Croft, Knt., or his second, the daughter of Lord Fitzwalter (Harl. MS. 807) is uncertain.
  • Dartford, - Ent. 26.
  • Davy, Edward, - Ent. 5 - One of the queen's servants.
  • Davys, Mrs., - Ent. 37.
  • Dean, Agnes, - Ent. 24, 37, 62 - The queen's laundress. Her wages were 3 l. 6 s. 8 d. per annum, and she was allowed 4 d. per diem for food for her horse when attending her majesty on her journies.
  • Dean of the King's Chapel, - Ent. 37.
  • Dean, Little, and forest of Dean, in Gloucestershire, to a person who found iron there, - Ent. 21 - In the reign of Edward II, the tythe of a mine there was granted to the Bishop of Landaff; and in the 2nd of Edward III., that bishop claimed the tenth of all iron within the parish of Newland, as impropriator, which was allowed. - Rot. Parl., ii., p. 13, 85.
  • Deacouns, Richard, Mr., - Ent. 1, 18, 63, 64,68 - The receiver of the revenues of the queen's lands, and the keeper of the expenses of her privy purse. He belonged also to the office of the Signet.
  • Deconson, John, - Ent. 7 - Servant of the Prior of Hechyn.
  • Denouse, Richard, - Ent. 63 - A minstrel.
  • Denton, Mrs. Elizabeth, - Ent. 54, 62 - One of the ladies attached to the queen's person, with a salary of 20 s. per annum. After her majesty's death, on 23rd June, 1503, she was paid 20 l., probably her wages, "for the queen's debts." Privy Purse Expenses of Henry VII. -----William, - Ent. 63 - Carver to the queen. He was specially protected in the enjoyment of the carvership in the Act of Resumption, 1 Hen. VII. -- Rot. Parl., vi. 356.
  • Denys, Mrs. Mary, - Ent. 62 - A lady attached to the queen's person. ----- Hugh, - Ent. 23 - One of the queen's servants.
  • Derby, Earl of, - Ent. 12 - Thomas, second Lord Stanley, and first Earl of Derby, K.G. He married Margaret, Countess of Richmond, mother of King Henry VII., and died in 1504.
  • Dertford, Abbess of, - Ent. 17 - Lady Bridget Plantagenet, the queen's sister, took the veil in the abbey of Dertford. This notice of the abbess was of a payment to her of 3 l. 6 s. 8 d. for the expenses of her charge.
  • Desar. See Disar.
  • Devon, Earl of, - Ent. 3, 53 - Edward Courtenay, K.G., grandson and heir of Hugh, brother of Edward third Courtenay Earl of Devon. He was created Earl of Devon 26th October, 1485, and died in 1509. The "Lord William Courtenay," his son and heir, married Katherine Plantagenet, daughter of Edward IV., and the queen's younger sister. See Courtenay, and the Introductory Remarks.
  • Devizes in Wiltshire, - Ent. 39 the keeper of the park of, - Ent. 25.
  • Dice, money for playing at - Ent. 27 - See note in the Privy Purse Expenses of Henry VIII., p. 315.
  • "Disguysing," the, - Ent. 12, 47 - Disguisings, so termed from the performers appearing disguised, and which are the origin of masquerades, very nearly resembled mumming, and were the chief amusement at Christmas, and on other great occasions, in the houses of persons of rank from a very early period. Strutt states that "it frequently happened that the whole company appeared in borrowed characters, and full license of speech being granted to every one, the discourses were not always kept within the bounds of decency;" he adds that they were particularly splendid in the reign of Henry VIII., and extended to the lower orders, but that many irregularities having arisen from persons going in the streets in masks, it was enacted by statute 3rd Henry VIII., cap. ix., that no person should appear abroad like mummers, covering their faces with visors, and in disguised apparel, under the pain of imprisonment for three months; and a penalty of 20 s. was exacted from all persons who kept visors in their houses for the purpose of mumming. -- Sports and Pastimes, p. 223, 224. The entires in this Accounts relating to the subject are of payments for ornaments for the jackets of the performers, and of costs of the royal livery for the trumpeters, and for various minstrels, who assisted. An idea of the expense attending these amusements may be formed from the following entries among the Privy Purse Expenses of Henry VII. and VIII., one of which corroborates Strutt's statement, that persons of the highest rank condescended to take a part in them. "To Walter Alwyn in full payment for the Disguising made at Christmas, 14 l. 13 s. 4 d." "To Jaques Haute for the Disgiusing, 20 l." At another time "for his bille for his Disguysings, 13 l. 10 s. 6 d." "To my Lord Suffolk, my Lord Essex, my Lord William, and other, for the Disguysing, 40 l." "To Peche (qr. Patch the fool) for the Disguising in reward, 26 l. 14 s.." "To Lewis Adam that made disguisings, 10 l." On 2nd September, 1st Henry VIII. "For the Disguysings before the Ambassadors of Flaunders, 60 l. 17 s. 11 d." In the Privy Purse Expenses of the latter Monarch in 1532, is a payment of 11 l. 3 s. for "masking gere when the King was at Calys," p. 270.
  • Disar, to a, - Ent. 28, 53 - Evidently the more ancient Disours or Sayers, and in French, Conteurs or Jestours, literally Tale-tellers, who recited either their own compositions or those of others, consisting of popular tales and romances. Gower, describing a coronation of a Roman Emperor, says --
    "When every ministrell had playde,
    And every dissour had sayde,
    Which was most pleasant in his ear." -- Strutt's Sports and Pastimes, p. 162, 163.
    The entry #28 justifies the idea that, in 1503, a Disar or Desar was an actor as well as a reciter. "To a Disar, that played the Shepherd before the Queen, in reward 3 s. 4 d.," which it is presumed meant the Shepherd in the Adoration. From entry #53, of money paid in reward "to William Tyler, Desar, late servant of the Earl of Oxford," and an entry in the Privy Purse Expenses of Henry the Seventh, in August, 1498, of 6 s. 8 d. being given "to my Lord of Oxford's Jocular," it appears that a Disar and a Jocular, like Minstrels and Fools, then formed part of the establishment of persons of rank.
  • Does, brought, - Ent. 49, 51, 53, 60.
  • Dolbyn, Hugh, - Ent. 5 - One of the Royal Servants.
  • Dorset, Receipt of the Queen's revenues in the County of, - Ent. 68.
  • Doublets, for making, - Ent. 19, 24, 41, 58.
  • Dover, Our Lady of, - Ent. 2 - Called "Our Lady in the Rock at Dover," in the Privy Purse Expenses of Henry VIII., p. 273. Henry himself paid 4 s 8 d as his offering there on his landing at Dover from Calais on the 14th November, 1532.
  • Droon, A Minstrel that played on the, - Ent. 1 - A Drum. "To a droner that played on the drone, 10 s." Privy Purse Expenses of Henry VIII. "1579. Paid to the soiers, the ansyant bearer, and to him that played upon the drone." -- Churchwarden's Accounts of St. Margaret's, Westminster, in Nichols' Illustrations of Ancient Times, p. 19. The person who beat the instrument was also called a "drombeslade" and a "drounslate." -- Privy Purse Expenses of Henry VIII., 1532. p. 316.
  • Drops, for, - Ent. 12 - An ornament on jackets used by Mummers.
  • Drying money, to footmen, for their, - Ent. 49 - The word drying thus occurs in the Chardwardens' Accounts of St. Mary's Hill, London, 1527, and is supposed by Dr. Pegge to mean cleaning. "For drying of the Pix for the sacrament against Ester, 4 d." -- Nichols' Illustrations of Ancient Times, p. 109. There is no difficulty in supposing that the Queen's footmen received an allowance of money for cleaning, whilst her Majesty was on a progress.
  • Duffyn, John, - Ent. 3, 18, 20, 25, 32, 39, 42, 58, 60 - A groom of the Queen's chamber. His wages were 10 d. a day.
  • Dung hill, for casting a, - Ent. 48.
  • Durham, Bishop of, his residence in London, - Ent. 34 - The Princess Katherine was there on the 6th November, 1502.
  • Dyer, to a, for dyeing cloth, - Ent. 49.

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