PLATE no. XIV
Collection of the Directors of Museums to the Corporation of Liverpool.

No. 64. Boots and gloves worn by Henry VI., which were left by him at Bolton Hall after the battle of Hexham, May 15th, 1463, when he took to flight. The boots, made of tanned deer-skin, somewhat resemble elongated gaiters, being buttoned on the outside, and without stiffening; they have wedge heels, which are very low. Boots of the same cut, with similar fastenings, were worn in the middle of the eighteenth century by infantry.

The gloves, which bear a resemblance to the fur-lined gloves of the present day, are made of alum-tanned deer-skin with the hair on.

After the disastrous battle of Hexham, Henry escaped by hard riding from the close pursuit of Edward IV’s followers, and took refuge, after various changes of abode, at Bolton Hall, then the abode of Sir Ralph Pudsey, where he remained for about six weeks. Finding, however, that his retreat either was or would soon be known to his rival, and desiring not to involve in his ruin his friend Sir Ralph, the monarch voluntarily quitted the hail, leaving behind the above-mentioned objects. From Bolton Henry fled to Waddington Hall, the ancient seat of the Tempest family, where he left a penner or pen-case of leather or cuir bouilli, ornamented with gilt roses and crowns, which is now in the South Kensington Museum. A print of this relic appears in Mr. Shaw’s publication, “Dresses and Decorations of the Middle Ages.” Soon after his arrival at Waddington he was betrayed by Talbot of Bashall into the hands of the Earl of Warwick, by whom he was conveyed a prisoner to the Tower of London.

The boots, gloves, and penner were exhibited at the Loan Exhibition of 1862, at South Kensington, by the Rev. James Beck, M.A.

These relics are particularly interesting, as Henry VI. granted to the Cordwainers’ Company, in 1439, their original charter; but it was more a matter of business than of royal kindness, for the king pocketed fifty marks over the transaction.