Latin tomb inscription

[Zaphod99]

Google translate, A knight Robert named Manfelde is founded here,
The shining court of Henry the fifth time,
He undertook various labors for the king,
While he subdued the Gauls and the Normans during the wars,
Armiger and the fourth H. for the protection of the sixth,
He stood by the chosen one while death drew in the funeral.

[Watson]

Et tu, Brute?

[bearkin]

Thanks guys.

I wonder if the last 2 lines make more sense if for "ac" we read "ad", assuming ac to be a mistranscription which is possible since it was taken from online VCH.

Armiger ad quartus H. pro tutamine sexti
Extitit electus dum mors in funera traxit

Man-at-arms to Hen IV. for the protection of the sixth
He stood forth chosen until death pulled him into the graves

Armiger can also mean an armed soldier. funera is a plural as far as I can see.

A Robert Manfelde is listed in a muster for Henry IV in 1374 as a man-at-arms.

Does any of that make sense or seem reasonable? It would be do much easier if these things were punctuated.

Peter

[Watson]

Peter,

Your idea of a mistranscription seems to me not unreasonable, but not quite in the way you suggest:

ad quartus would be ungrammatical, since the preposition ad needs to be followed by the accusative case.   

funera is plural, but that is quite normal in verse, yet having a singular meaning.

(The verse is in the Latin hexameter.  If you vary the text, it needs to scan correctly).

Addendum:

As I tried to convey with my suggested translation above, I don't think quartus goes with H., but, rather, the H. goes with sexti (meaning: of Henry the sixth).  This view seems to be supported by George Lipscomb's work on Buckinghamshire (1847, volume 1, page 300), which places a comma between quartus and H.

[bearkin]

Thank you Watson! That helps enormously. And thanks for the Lipscombe reference which clarifies the quartering nicely. Peter