General Notes

He began life, like his grandfather, the squire of Agincour
t for whom
he was named, as a professional soldier; but, unlike his gr
andfather,
he did not live to retire to his estates. The earliest reco
rd of him
is on the page of national history, at the very end of hi
s career.
.
The Chronicle of Calais (Camden Society, No. 35, p. 6) reci
tes him in
October, 1508 as under marshall of that town, present at th
e treaty
for the marriage of Mary, daughter of Henry VII to the Duk
e of
Burgundy, afterwards the emperor Charles V; and in that cap
acity there
was assigned to him at the beginning of the next reign (Jul
y, 1509) a
Crown tenement in Fisherstrete in Calais and an annuity o
f 20 pounds.
Out of the revenues of the town. Two years later, in Novemb
er, 1511,
being then recited a 'squire of the body' of Henry VIII, li
e was
granted also the post of bailiff of the Scavage of Calais a
nd the isle
of Colne (L. & P. Henry VIII, i, 47, 94, 298).
.
His crowding hour came in August, 1513, when his young mast
er was
engaged in the invasion of France to assert an outworn clai
m of
inheritance of that realm, and it was Walter's fortune to b
e left for
the moment in responsible command of the garrison of Calais
. The
chronicler Hall records (Holinshed iii, 580) that as the Ki
ng lay
before Therouanne on the Flemish border, the captain of Bou
logue made
a night foray on Calais seeking booty and to insult the inv
ading
English. Arriving with a thousand men at the bridge which d
efended the
causey leading to the town, the Frenchman surprised the gua
rd and
captured the ordnance there mounted. Retaining 600 men at t
he bridge
'for a stale' he then dispatched the remaining 400 'into th
e marishes
and meadows to fetch away the beasts and cattle which the
y should find
there.' Some of these foragers approached so near the wall
s of Calais
as to raise the alarm, whereupon:
.
"about five of the clocke in the morning the gate of Calis
, called
Bullongue gate, was opened, and by permission of the deputi
e one
Culpeper, the under marshall, with two hundred archers unde
r a banner
of Saint George, issued forth,' and 'set so fiercelie on th
at finallie
the Frenchmen were discomfited and four and twentie of the
m slaine,
besides twelve score that were made prisoners and all the o
rdnance and
bootie again recouered. These prisoners were brought to Cal
ais and
there sold in open market."
.
Walter died before June 24, 1515 (when he was recited dea
d on the
appointment of Sir H. Banaster to his bailiffry, L. & P. He
nry VIII',
ii, 168), leaving a will which bristles with as many old wo
rld weapons
as a modern museum. The will was as follows:
.
14 Sept 1514 (P.C.C. 16 Holder)
I Walter Colepepir onder m'shall of the town of Calays. T
o be byried
in the Resurreccon Chapell within Saint Nicholas Churche, t
o the
whiche chapell my newe poleax and ij of my spere staffs my
n Ermite and
my swarde. To St George Chapell within the same Churche m
y cote of
plate couered wt chamlet and myn old polleax. To Jhus (Jesu
s) Chapell
wtin the seyd Churche my best Javelyn and a copyll of my sp
ere stavys.
Unto St John in the wall 6s Vnto the reparacons of the sai
d Church of
St Nicholas 10s. "I wyll that Anne my wyff haue all my land
s lying
within the Shyre of Kent and Sussex, or in any other plac
e within the
Realme of England during hir lyff and after hir decesse t
o remayne to
the heires of my body lawfully begotten after the course o
f the comen
lawe of Ynglond and laudable customes of the seyd Shyres o
f Kent and
Sussex where the lond lyeth. To my seruants that ar sworn
e in the
Retynewe her onder me and in my petie wags ther brigandyne
s folds
standards saletts and musteryn cotes stavys and saletts tha
t they wer
wont to were at the musterys." To Richard Payn myn old seru
ant my
gowne of marble