Richard Caudray Explained

Richard Caudray (c. 1390–1458) was an English cleric. He was a clerk of the king's council, a chancellor of Cambridge University, and dean of the College of St. Martin le Grand, London.^[1] He was Henry V's secretary in France.^[2] As a Westminster secretary, he would have had various literary connections, such as to John Hethe, John Offord, and Thomas Hoccleve; he was also a personal friend of John Shirley.^[3]

He is likely the author of the Libelle of Englyshe Polycye.

Notes and References

1. McSheffrey . Shannon . 2018 . Richard Caudray (ca. 1390–1458): Fifteenth-Century Churchman, Academic, and Ruthless Politician . Medieval Prosopography . 33 . 167–180 . 26630022 . 0198-9405.
2. Sebastian Sobecki, “The Handwriting of Fifteenth-Century Privy Seal and Council Clerks,” Review of English Studies 72/304 (2021): 253–79, at 257–63.
3. Sobecki . Sebastian . 2024-07-01 . Quo vadis, Adam Pinkhurst? Scripts, Scribes, and the Limits of Paleography: A Response Essay . Speculum . en . 99 . 3 . 780–804 . 10.1086/730765 . 0038-7134.