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arium Willelmi de Worcestre,1 Nasmith's edition, p. 241.)

In the register of William of Wickham, Bishop of Winchester, is the following particular of the chapel of St. Brendan: "Ibidem 14 die Augusti 1403 dominas concessit, etc., he granted to all benefactors to the chapel of St. Brendan nigh Bristol, and to Reginald Taillor, the poor hermit of it, forty days of indulgence by his letters for one year only to continue"; by which it appears there was an

1 William Wircestre, or Worcestre, popularly, but erroneously, known as "William of Worcester," who, as it will presently appear, was the chronicler of the first English attempt to sail in search of the island, was the son of a person of the same name, who was a worthy burgess of Bristol, and engaged in trade. He was born at a house in a very ancient street, called St. James's Back, in 1415. His mother was Elizabeth Botoner, of an opulent family settled in Coventry. After having passed four years as a student of Hart Hall, in Oxford, he became a retainer to Sir John Falstaff, of Caistre Castle, in Norfolk, and, in process of time, his secretary, physician, and finally was appointed one of his executors. It appears that Wyrcestre occasionally assumed the designation of W. Botoner, otherwise Wyrcestre, preferring his mother's name to that of his father. In the decline of life he established himself in Bristol, having a house and garden near St. Philip's churchyard gate. His chief amusement in his old age was most minutely to survey his native town by paces and measurements, committing the result of such investigation daily to his notebook. He died about the year 1484 (Dallaway's Antiquities of Bristow). The Worcestre family was for a long period connected with the ancient parish of St. James in Bristol. In the will of John Pedewell, burgess, proved in the year 1385, who desired to be buried in the cemetery of the parish church of St. James of Bristol, we find that "William Worcestre "" was appointed one of the executors, and Richard, the prior of St. James, overseer of the will. In the will of Henry Calf, burgess, proved in 1394, the testator appointed Richard "Wircestre," prior of St. James of Bristol, to be overseer. John Fluyt, burgess, who died in 1398, desired to be buried in the parish of St. James of Bristol, in the chapel of the Blessed Mary there, and he appointed "Sir Richard Wircestre, prior of St. James of Bristol," one of the overseers of his will. By his will, dated October 20, 1420, William Worcestre expressed a wish to be buried in the east corner of St. James's cemetery at Bristol, beside Sir Richard, formerly parish chaplain of that church.

hermitage here, with a chapel dedicated to St. Brendan, an Irish saint. In the year 1351, Lucy de Newchirche repeatedly offered to the Bishop of Worcester, and desired leave to be shut up in the hermitage of St. Brendan of Bristol, and to quit the world, which, after due inquiry into her conduct and purity of life and necessary virtues for it, was granted her as we find by the deed (E. Registris Wygorniæ, Thoresby, f. 21a. Barrett's History of Bristol, pp. 60, 61).

Dr. George Sigerson, the author of Irish Literature, its Origin, etc., says that the [mythical] voyage of St. Brendan "was influential in the discovery of America.' He also says: "As you sail into Bristol, you must pass under a high hill which is known to this day as St. Brendan Hill. There was a little chapel of St. Brendan on its summit, because of the reverence which all seamen, whether Norse, Saxon, or Celt, professed for the sailor saint.'

It was in Bristol ships, and at the risk and expense of Bristol men, that the first practical attempt was made to sail from England in quest of the unknown lands which, according to ancient writers and contemporary cosmographers, existed in the Western Sea.

"In 1480, on July 15th, the ship [of] . . and John Jay, junior, of the burthen of 80 tons. . began a voyage from the port of Bristol . . . in search of the island of Brasylle, to the west of Ireland. . . . Thlyde, the most scientific mariner in all England being the pilot, that news came to Bristol . on the 18th September, that the ships

2

1 Probably a ship called Trinite (infra, p. 109). Wyrcestre, the chronicler, had a sister, Joan, who was married to John Jay.

2 Mr. Harrisse is of opinion that "Thlyde" is the equivalent of Thomas Lloyde; Professor Fiske puts after "Thlyde ""[i.e. Th. Lyde=Lloyd]."

cruised about the sea for about nine months 1 without finding the island, but in consequence of tempests they returned to a port in Ireland for the repose of the ships and the mariners." 1480 die 15 julii, navis . . . et Joh[ann]is Jay junioris ponderis 80 doliorum inceperunt viagium apud portum Bristolliæ de Kyngrode 2 usque ad insulam de Brasylle in occidentali parte Hiberniæ, Sulcando maria per . . . et [?] Thlyde est magister navis scientificus marinarius tocius Angliæ; et nova venerunt Bristolliæ die lunæ 18 die septembris, quod dicta navis velaverunt maria per circa 9 menses, nec invenerunt insulam, sed per tempestas maris reversi sunt usque portum . . . in Hibernia pro reposicione navis et marinariorum"] (Wyrcestre MS. in library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, No. 210, p. 195).

The following information as to certain voyages from Bristol, for the purpose of discovering unknown islands, is contained in a despatch, dated London, 25th July 1498, from Don Pedro de Ayala to Ferdinand and Isabella :

The people of Bristol have, for the last seven years, sent out every year, two, three, or four light ships (caravels), in search of the island of Brasil and the seven cities." ["Los de Bristol ha siete años que cada año an armado dos, tres, cuatro caravelas para ir a buscar la isla del Brasil y las siete ciudades."]3

1 It seems almost certain that "nine months" should read "nine weeks," which corresponds with the dates "July" and "September." Kingroad is outside the river Avon, but the boundary of the county of Bristol includes the waters called Kingroad.

2

3 Šir Clements Markham, who inclines to the opinion that other voyages took place of which no record was made, says: "It is clear that numerous voyages of discovery were despatched while the Portuguese were still creeping along the African coast, and long before Cabota appeared on the scene,"

CHAPTER II

IF any of the voyages from Bristol, prior to the year 1493,1 in search of the imaginary islands had resulted in the discovery of land, whether continent or island, it would in all probability have necessitated an application by King Henry VII. to the pope for the grant of a papal bull, because we may readily imagine that the cautious monarch, from motives alike of prudence and of policy, would have applied for a bull or dispensation to enable him to hold such newly-discovered territory against all persons whomsoever; in other words, he would most certainly have availed himself of the papal authority for the purpose of strengthening and confirming his title. We may not be strictly defining the pope's position at this period, according to the canons of the Church, when we say that he claimed power over the lands of all persons other than Christians; however, it is clear that some of the Catholic monarchs of Europe formally conceded to His Holiness the right to authorise them to take possession of all the lands of the "heathen and infidels," and to hold such lands against all other potentates. It was clearly in a deferential spirit of submission to the authority, or alleged authority, of the papal chair that first

1 The date of the papal bull by which all undiscovered lands were divided between Portugal and Spain.