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116:, in whose charge Gloucester was held after his recent arrest on the King's order. According to the 1404 confession of Mowbray's valet, John Hall, he was told by Colfox to help to get the Duke away from his usual lodging. Hall helped to move Gloucester to a different house where Colfox and others were waiting. They then strangled the Duke.
241:- the cockerel in the allegory - is described in colours unknown to any breed of cockerel but which coincide with Bolingbroke's coat of arms, as worn at his famous trial by combat against Mowbray. Scholars have criticised Hotson's theory by suggesting that Chauntecleer's colours are in fact similar to those of the
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After the overthrow of
Richard and the death of Mowbray, the killers of Woodstock were arrested. Hall was executed following his confession implicating the others. Another assassin, William Serle, was also executed after extreme torture. But Colfox was pardoned shortly after their deaths for reasons
217:, explaining Chaucer's use of his unusual name, not appearing elsewhere in English literature. He traced Nicholas's Parliamentary denouncement, the petition by the then knighted Sir Nicholas Colfox and his subsequent pardon in 1404 (available online from the
168:
unknown. The following year he was also pardoned for all other "treasons, insurrections, rebellions and felonies". He subsequently appears in records only for minor matters, including debt and tax assessment of his property in
Gloucester.
176:
Chaucer's poem is a fable of a fox and a cockerel in which the sly fox first catches the cockerel by appealing to his vanity, but is finally outwitted by the bird who escapes. The fox is described in the following lines:
245:
cockerel, though
Hamburgs do not have a black beak. Modern critics do not all reject Hotson's allegory theory, but believe that Chaucer's long version of the fable is written on many different levels of meaning.
236:
is an allegory for the murder of Thomas of
Woodstock by Nicholas Colfox and a coded accusation against both Colfox's employer, Thomas Mowbray and the latter's rival, Henry Bolingbroke. According to Hotson,
88:
A close ally of
Richard II, Mowbray was later exiled. During Mowbray's exile, Barton Seagrave Castle was held by Richard Colfox, possibly Nicholas's son. The Colfoxes were well connected, educated
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and obtaining their name from the trade in black fox fur which underwrote the re-circulation of trade cash from the Far East during the
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The rewards for the murder of Thomas of
Woodstock were substantial. Six months after the overthrow of the other
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Colfox murdered the Duke of
Gloucester in Calais. He was probably instructed personally by Thomas Mowbray, then
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where he owned several salt furnaces and accompanying shares in the salt springs. He also held property at
47:, apparently on the orders of the king. Colfox's involvement in the killing may have been alluded to in
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57:, in which a duplicitous fox is referred to as a "Colfox" and described as "liking to murder men".
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39:(flourished 1400) was a medieval English knight who in 1397 was involved in the murder of
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with the murder of Thomas of
Woodstock and execution of the
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Knights, deriving their wealth from the luxury trades of
85:, part of the latter's inheritance as Earl of Norfolk.
284:Chaucer in context: society, allegory, and gender
210:(1897–1992) published Nicholas Colfox's story in
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286:, Manchester University Press ND, 1996, p.3
41:Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester
65:Nicholas Colfox appears to have come from
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20:The murder of Thomas of Woodstock in
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201:O false mordrer, lurking in thy den!
191:As gladly doon thise homicydes alle,
313:Recipients of English royal pardons
196:That in awayt liggen to mordre men.
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273:, PMLA, 1924, vol 39, pp.762-781
1:
144:. Mowbray's grandmother, the
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224:Hotson's thesis, entitled
186:, ful of sly iniquitee...
140:and the first Hereditary
271:Colfox vs. Chauntecleer
243:Golden Spangled Hamburg
24:by Colfox's gang, from
226:Colfox vs Chauntecleer
206:Shakespearean scholar
171:
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308:The Canterbury Tales
303:People from Nantwich
250:Notes and references
234:Nun's Priest's Tale
146:Countess of Norfolk
54:Nun's Priest's Tale
37:Sir Nicholas Colfox
148:was made Duchess.
114:Governor of Calais
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154:Henry Bolingbroke
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172:Chaucer's Riddle
162:Duke of Hereford
79:Northamptonshire
49:Geoffrey Chaucer
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318:English knights
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282:Stephen Rigby,
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269:Leslie Hotson,
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219:British Library
208:J Leslie Hotson
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138:Duke of Norfolk
136:was made first
130:Earl of Arundel
126:Lords Appellant
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75:Barton Seagrave
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45:King Richard II
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120:Consequences
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43:, uncle of
297:Categories
228:, is that
215:XXXIX 1924
30:Chroniques
160:was made
102:Dark Ages
26:Froissart
71:Cheshire
67:Nantwich
230:Chaucer
184:col-fox
152:'s son
90:Lollard
61:Origins
108:Murder
22:Calais
81:from
213:PMLA
98:wool
96:and
94:salt
232:'s
221:).
77:in
69:in
51:'s
28:'s
299::
258:^
182:A
164:.
156:,
132:,
104:.
32:.
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