A MEDIEVAL POTPOURRI

Old London – City of Churches.   Bow Church can be seen to the left.  Part of the The Visscher Panorama of London, 1616. Image Peter Harrington Rare Books.  

Orange and lemons say the bells of Saint Clement’s

You owe me five farthings say the bells of St Martin’s

When will you pay me say the bells at Old Bailey

When I grow rich say the bells at Shoreditch

Pray when will that be say the bells at Stepney

I do not know said the Great Bell at Bow..

This has to be perhaps the most charming of all nursery rhymes but did we, as kids, ever stop to cogitate about the six old London churches whose names rolled off our tongues?  On the whole I don’t think we did.  And yet there can’t be many adults who sung this old rhyme as children who can’t recall the names of those six lovely old churches some of which were destroyed in the disastrous conflagration known as the Great Fire of London in 1666.

St Clement Danes at nightfall.  Note the statue of Hugh Lord Dowding.  Photo enacademic.com

St Clement Danes There is some debate about which of two churches is the one mentioned in the rhyme but the consensus is that it is St Clement Danes.  According to Stow the church was named after ‘Harold, a Danish King and other Danes buried there‘. Harold was the son of King Canute by a concubine but we won’t go into that here except to say that after he popped his clogs Harold’s remains spent some time in the Thames after being thrown there by an annoyed brother, Hardicanitus (and no dear reader I’m not making this up!). However a kindly fisherman retrieved him and he was reburied in St Clement Danes churchyard. Another story suggests that the church was named thus after the burial of Danes that were slain in the aftermath of a great looting, murder and general mayhem committed by them. Time passed and the medieval church was partly rebuilt in 1640. The parish of St Clement Danes was heavily hit by the Great Plague in 1665 with 1,319 deaths from that awful pestilence alone (1). However the church managed to escape destruction from the Fire of London 1666 only to fall into such disrepair in 1679, except for the tower, that it was declared unsafe and rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren. Spire rebuilt by James Gibbs c.1719, with the surviving tower being, happily, incorporated. Interesting members of the congregation included Samuel Johnson and James Boswell.  William Webb-Ellis, was a rector between 1843 and 1855, who as a schoolboy at Rugby ‘with a fine disregard of the rules of the game (football) as played in his time, first took the ball in his arms and run with it, thus originating the distinctive feature of the Rugby game’

The interior was badly damaged during the Blitz in 1941 but miraculously the exterior and tower survived. The remains of the medieval crypt were discovered in 1942. Restored in 1958 and now in use as the Central Church of the Royal Air Force. A Latin inscription now over the main door reads

AEDIFICAVIT CHR WREN
AD MDCLXXII
DIRUERUNT AERII BELLI
FULMINA AD MCMXLI
RESTITUIT REGINAE CLASSIS
AERONAUTICA AD MCMLVIII

which translates as 

“Christopher Wren built it 1672. The thunderbolts of aerial warfare destroyed it 1941. The Royal Air Force restored it 1958”

However, it should be noted that the church referred to in the rhyme could very well have been :

St Clement Eastcheap.  First mentioned in the IIth century, repaired in 1632 only to be destroyed in the Great Fire and rebuilt by Wren 1683-7.    The grateful parishioners presented Wren with one third of a hogshead of wine cost £4 2s.  The claim to being the church mentioned in the rhyme is based upon its close proximity to the wharves where citrus fruit from the Mediterranean used to be unloaded although it should be said there were other churches that were even closer.  Yet another church badly damaged in 1940.

Delightful carved cherubs from the 17th century pulpit St Clement Church.

St Martin Orgar  is gone.  Situated in Martin Lane and first mentioned 12th century.  Described by Stow as ‘a small thing’.   Popular with 15th and 16th century mayors and their families for a burial place.  Much damaged in the Great Fire,  although the Tower and part of the nave survived, it was abandoned.  French Protestants restored the tower and used it for worshop for over a century.  However it was finally demolished in 1820.

Old Bailey.  The bells referred to are those of St Sepulchre’s, first mentioned in 1137.  Known in  Stow’s time as St Sepulchre’s in the Bailey.   Stow described it  as a fair parish church in a fair churchyard.  Another church gutted by the Great Fire with the outer walls surviving.  Famous burials include courtier Thomas Culpeper executed in 1541 accused of being the lover of Queen Catherine Howard and Captain John Smith d.1631 of Pocahontas fame.  In close proximity to Newgate prison, there is a story that posies were handed to the condemned as they passed the church on their way to execution.  A reminder of a less kinder practice is the hand bell kept in the church which was rung outside the condemned person’s cell the night before execution.

The Newgate Execution Hand Bell..

St Leonard’s Shoreditch.  Probably founded 12th century.  In the 18th century part of the tower collapsed during a service.  Rebuilt by George Dance the Elder in 1736 who attempted to build the steeple in the same style as that of Mary-le-Bow.  Another city church damaged during the Blitz but since repaired.  Among the famous buried here is Will Somers d.1560, Henry VIII’s jester and the only man able to lift Henry’s spirits who was in chronic pain through an ulcerated leg. However he did sometimes overstep the mark which resulted on one occasion in Henry threatening to kill him with his own bare hands.  Will managed to outlive his tyrannical boss and a plaque marks his burial in St Leonards 15th June 1560.

Henry VIII and his fool, Will Somers who was buried in St Leonard’s Shoreditch

St Leonard’s Shoreditch

St Dunstan’s and All Saints Stepney.  The oldest of the Orange and Lemon Churches.  A church has stood on this site for over 1000 years, the existing building being the third church on the site.  One of its oldest bells still in use was cast in 1385.  The churchyard was enlarged to cope with the massive amount of deaths – 6,583 in 18 months –   during the Great Plague of 1665.  A disastrous fire in 1901 caused a large amount of destruction including an organ carved by Grinling Gibbons.  The funds were raised to repair the church although of course some of the features such as the 15th century roof were irreplaceable.  Fortunately St Dunstan’s survived the Blitz unscathed although the surrounding areas suffered greatly due to the proximity of the docks.  For anyone wanting to read more about St Dunstan’s here is a link to an interesting article.  

St Dunstan’s, a survivor amongst the destruction of the Blitz.  Modern window by Hugh Easton.  Photo thanks to david.robarts

St Mary-le-Bow Cheapside.  Almost totally destroyed in the Great Fire and rebuilt by Wren.  Norman crypt survived the Fire and was allowed to survive the rebuild by Wren.  Pevsner wrote   ‘The glory of the church is its steeple,  the proudest of all Wrens steeples.   Built in 1678 at a cost of £7,388 as against £8,033 for the rest of the church.   It is a triumph of the skill of Wren’s masons Thomas Cartwright and J Thompson that it withstood the fire inside the steeple and the crashing down of the bells during the Second World War (2).  Bravo gentlemen!  The bells of this church are the famous bells that according to London folklore persuaded Richard/Dick Whittington as a young lad to turn around, turn around and return to London!  Which he did.  Became Lord Mayor and a great doer of many, many good deeds.   The bells nowadays can be heard tolling on every quarter of the hour.

Beautiful St Mary-le-Bow at twilight.   

So dear reader we have come to the end of our armchair perambulation of the Orange and Lemon churches of Old London.  I have only been able to touch briefly upon the rich history of each church due to time and space but if you wish to delve deeper I can thoroughly recommend A Survey of London by John Stow 1598 and Pevsner’s Cities of London and Westminster.

 

1.The Great Plague of London p.113.  Walter George Bell

2.The Buildings of England, London, Vol.1.p.170.  Nickolaus Pevsner. Third Edition.

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Humphrey Duke of Gloucester from the Talbot Shrewsbury Book

A print by an unknown artist now in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich depicting the Palace c 1487.

Greenwich Palace, or Placentia as it is often known, was built around 1433 by Henry V’s brother, Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, who named it Bella Court after he had been granted the Manor of Greenwich by his nephew Henry VI.  There had been   been an even older palace on  that site, perhaps dating from the reign of Edward I.  Henry IV dated his will from his ‘Manor of Greenwich January 22nd 1408′ and the palace appears to have been his favourite residence.  However, the grant in 1433 of 200 acres of land was for the purpose of enclosing it as a park.  It would seem that Humphrey was pleased with the spot because four years later he and his ill-fated wife, Eleanor Cobham,  obtained a similar grant and in that, licence was given for the owners to ’embattle and build with stone’ as well as ‘to enclose and make a tower and ditch within the same and a certain tower within the part to build and edify’ (1)

View of the Old Palace of Placentia at Greenwich.  English School National Trust Kingston Lacey

Accordingly soon after this  Humphrey commenced building the tower within what is now the site of the Royal Observatory which was then called Greenwich Castle,  and he likewise rebuilt the old palace on the spot where the west wing of the Royal Naval College now stands which he renamed from its agreeable situation, Pleazaunce or Placentia although this name was not commonly used until the reign of Henry VIII.

Greenwich Palace from Wyngaerde’s drawing c 1558

Upon Humphrey’s death the palace was granted to his nemesis, Margaret of Anjou.  Margaret added embellishments including terracotta tiles bearing her monogram, filled the windows with glass and built a landing stage and treasure house (2)

Later Edward IV enlarged the park, stocked it with deer and bestowed it as a residence upon Elizabeth Wydeville.  Greenwich has been mentioned as one of Elizabeth’s favourite homes and it certainly crops up regularly in Edward’s itinerary (3).  A joust was held there on the occasion of Richard of Shrewsbury’s marriage to Anne Mowbray and it was there at Greenwich  on the 19th November 1481 that Anne tragically died at the age of just 8 years old and a few short months later,  Edward and Elizabeth’s own daughter,  the 15 year old Princess Mary  was also  to die there on either the 20th or 23rd May 1482.  The manuscript covering Mary’s death says she died ‘in the town’  but it is probable this meant the palace and presumably she would have ‘lain in the chapel of the palace with appropriate services and perhaps the attendance of her parents‘(3).  A week after her death, on the 27th May,  Mary’s body was taken to the parish church of Greenwich on the first stage of the final journey to St Georges Chapel Windsor.  Mary may have been visited by her father,  Edward IV,  a few days before her death.  He was at Canterbury on the 17th and back in London on the 23rd which may have been the day that his daughter breathed her last so clearly if he did indeed visit he did not linger.  Numerous Wydeville ladies were conspicuous among the mourners including Jane, Lady Grey of Ruthin, sister to the queen and Jacquetta, another sister’s daugher,  Joan Lady Strange, wife of George Stanley.  Another niece, Lady ‘Dame’ Katherine Grey, possibly the daughter of Jane Wydeville was also present.  Dinner for the funeral group was at the palace after which Mary’s body was taken from the church and begun its last sad journey to Windsor.  Mary’s funeral is more than adequately covered in The Royal Funerals of the House of York at Windsor by Anne F Sutton and Livia Visser-Fuchs.  It may well be that sisters-in-law Anne and Mary knew each other well and that perhaps  Greenwich Palace was being used as a royal nursery in much the same way as Sheriff Hutton was later  to become, although the age gap would perhaps have prevented them from being actual playmates.

The Royal Window, Canterbury Cathedral.  Elizabeth Wydeville and her daughters.  Mary is shown as the last figure on the right hand side.  Greenwich was one of Elizabeth’s favourite homes and where her daughter Mary died in 1482.

Greenwich Palace was also one of the first places to be visited by Richard III after his coronation at Westminster which took place on Sunday 6th July 1483 for he stayed there between the 13th and 19th July.  A happy and promising occasion indeed.  It was from Greenwich that Richard wrote to Harry Duke of Buckingham, who was yet to turn his coat and be uncovered as that most untrue creature living…..a story well covered elsewhere.  

The Palace came into Henry Tudor’s hands when Elizabeth Wydeville was,  ummmmm,  retired to Bermondsey Abbey on an altogether frivolous charge. It is true to say that Tudor heavily rebuilt the palace between 1498 and 1504, renaming it Placentia, (the pleasant place),  and the result of which is that any reference to Placentia usually finds it referred to as a Tudor palace but it is the earlier years of the palace with its Lancastrian and  Yorkist links that I find the most intriguing.

Modern plaque commemorating the ‘building’ of Greenwich Palace by Henry Tudor.  Visitors could be forgiven for mistakenly thinking , with no mention made of the earlier palace, that Tudor was reponsible for the building of Greenwich Palace from the onset.  

Later in its long history the palace was to see many important events including the birth of Henry VIII on the 28 June 1491 –  Oh Happy Day!  Henry jnr was later to spare no expense in beautifying Placentia and his marriage to Katherine of Aragon was solemnised there on the 3 June 1509.  Many sumptuous banquets, revels and jousts were held there (including the joust where Henry had a nasty fall)  –  Henry’s ‘Manor of Pleazaunce’  – and it was where both his daughters,  Mary and Elizabeth were born.   Details of these and other less salubrious events such as the arrest of Anne Boleyn are readily available to anyone who is interested in the Tudors and their shenanigans and I will not  cover them here.  The Tudors were emulated  by the Stuarts in choosing Placentia  as a favourite residence until Charles II,  finding the old palace greatly decayed,  ordered it to be taken down and yet another new palace to be built.  Thus Greenwich or Placentia – whichever name you prefer arose, phoenix like from the ashes and a new chapter in its long history commenced.

Greenwich Palace c.1680.  Unknown artist.

As a footnote to Greenwich Palace and its rich history, much excitement has been created by the discovery by archaeologists  working on the painted hall at the Old Royal Naval College  of the discovery of two room, thought to have been used as kitchen or laundry rooms from the old palace.  One of these rooms featured a lead-glazed tiled floor and wall cavities which may have been used to store food and drink or even ‘bee boles’ which would have housed beehive baskets or ‘skeps’ during the winter when the bee colonies hibernated.

Lead glazed tiled floor believed to have been a service range  on the site of the kitchens, bake-house, brew-house or laundry room.

The cavities from Greenwich Palace believed to be for storing food, drink or even ‘bee boles’.

 

1. Old and New London, vol 6 p.165 Edward Walford.
2.  The London Encyclopaedia pp 345, 346.  Edited by Weinren and Hibbert
3.  The Private Life of Edward lV John Ashdown-Hill pp 48,49,62,63, 87, 88, 114, 115, 117, 118, 119, 155, 157, 158, 188, 189, 190,191, 192, 204, 205, 206

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A young Henry weeping on the empty bed of his dead mother Elizabeth of York.  His two sisters Margaret and Mary sit at the foot of the bed.  From the Vaux Passional, in the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth

As an enthusiastic amateur I do love all the minutiae of history particularly the coincidences which crop up now and again and which really pique my interest.     One I mentioned only recently was the burial of Sir James Tyrell in Austin Friars Church where also lay buried Perkin Warbeck the young man who claimed to be Richard of Shrewsbury, son of Edward IV and who if he were Richard would have spent time in Sir James’ home of Gipping Hall if the Tyrell family tradition be true. 

There is also Elizabeth Talbot Viscountess Lisle.   Elizabeth was married to Edward Grey Viscount Lisle.   Edward Grey was the brother of Sir John Grey,  first husband of Elizabeth Wydeville,  bigamous wife to Edward IV.   However the coincidence here is that Elizabeth Talbot was also the niece of Lady Eleanor Butler (Elizabeth Wydeville’s very own personal nemesis) who was true wife of Edward IV.  

Possible portrait of Elizabeth Talbot, Viscountess Lisle c1468 Petrus Christus of Bruge Gemäldegalerie, Berlin.

Next on my list is the the coincidence of the timing of the deaths of the heirs and wives of both Richard III and Henry VII .  Strange to think that these two kings, so utterly different would have been able to commiserate with each other on the pain of having major bereavements so close to each other there was  scarce time to come to terms with their loss before another befell them. Richard’s small son Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales  died some time around the 9th April 1484 – there is some confusion over the exact date – his wife Anne Neville passed away but eleven months later on March 16th 1485.  Henry’s heir Arthur,  Prince of Wales,  15 years old and recently wed was to pass away on the 2 April 1502 followed by his mother Elizabeth of York on the 11th February 1503 –  not quite the eleven months that were between Edward and Anne but pretty close.   Both kings are said to have taken the deaths of their wives badly and for Richard the death of his heir was catastrophic.  Henry at least had a spare, the young Henry Jnr – Oh Joy!

Holbein’s sketch of Henry VIII as a child.   What a little tinker..bless.  A  medieval Chukkie only more cuddly…Yikes! 

Elizabeth fared better than Anne,  well tombwise,  having a tomb and monument that cost a small fortune whereas  the grave of  Anne,   who was buried in Westminster Abbey  ‘with honours no less than befitted the burial of a queen’ , is lost and unmarked other than a plaque put up  courtesy of the Richard III Society in 1960 in the area where she is known to rest that is ‘by the South dore that does ledyth Into Seynt Edwardys Chapell’(1).  The plaque reads:

ANNE NEVILL

1456-1485

QUEEN OF ENGLAND

YOUNGER DAUGHTER OF RICHARD EARL OF WARWICK CALLED THE KINGMAKER WIFE TO THE LAST PLANTAGENET KING RICHARD III  

 ‘In person she was seemly, amiable and beauteous and according to the interpretation of her name Anne full gracious’

REQUIESCAT IN PACE.  

The plaque given by The Richard III Society           

Arthur lays at rest in a beautiful tomb in Worcester Cathedral.  Edward’s grave is now lost but I believe he rests somewhere in the Church of St Mary and St Akelda, Middleham as that is where Rous said he was and I’m inclined to believe him as he would have been in a position to know.

The tomb of Arthur Princes of Wales.  Worcester Cathedral.  Photographer unknown. Pinterest.

Prince Arthur Tudor.  16th century oil on panel.  Philip Mould Historical Portraits

Edward of Middleham from the Rous Roll

But back to Elizabeth of York.   The desperate attempts to get a doctor to her proved to no avail after she lay dangerously ill following the recent birth of a daughter who had not lived for very long.   

‘Itm To James Nattres for his costes going into Kent for Doctour Hallysworth phesicon to comme to the Quene by the Kinges commaundement.  Furst for his bote hyre from the Towre to Gravys ende and again iiij s, iiij d.   Itm to twoo watermen abiding at Gravys ende unto suche tyme the said James came again for theire expenses viij d.    Itm for horse hyre and to guydes by night and day ij s.iij d.and for his awe expenses xvj d.’ (2).

Having died on the 11th February  (which was her birthday and thus another coincidence) in the Royal Apartments at the Tower of London  her body lay in repose amidst the serenity of the beautiful chapel of  St John the Evangelist.   Her funeral was held on the Wednesday 22 February although she was temporarily interred in a side chapel in Westminster Abbey,  the tomb  her husband commissioned for  both of them having not yet been completed (3). However on completion of  the new Lady Chapel and tomb she was finally laid to rest besides her husband in a vault beneath their monument  as dictated in his will:

Also we wol that incontinent after our decefle, and after that our bodye be buried with in the said Towmbe, the bodie of our said late wif the Quene, bee translated from the place where it nowe, is buried, and brought and laid with oure bodye in ow said Towmbe, yf it be not soo doon by our self in our daies

It was here in the stunning simplicity of the Chapel of St John the Evangelist in the Tower of London that Elizabeth’s body lay in repose.   Photo James Brittain

That is not the end of the story though because much later on someone thought it was a good idea for the  coffin of James Ist (d.1625) to be interred with them despite the instructions left in Henry’s will :

AND we wol that our Towmbe bee in the myddes of the same Chapell, before the High Aultier, in such distance from the same, as it is ordred in the Plat made for the fame Chapell, and signed with our haude: In which place we wol,  that for the said Sepulture of vs and our derest late wif the Quene, whose soule God p’donne, be made a Towmbe of Stone called Touche, sufficient in largieur for The us booth’.

Elizabeth’s  bronze effigy on her tomb, Westminster Abbey, Torrigiano

I can only imagine Henry’s annoyance from up above when after the  fortune  shelled out for their tomb etc., a gooseberry albeit a royal gooseberry got to intrude on his and Elizabeth’s space. 

 The Henry VII vault.  Opened in 1869.  Drawn by George Scharf.

Elizabeth of York.  Her wooden funeral effigy.  Westminster Abbey.

The inscription on Elizabeth’s tomb reads:

‘Here lies Queen Elizabeth, daughter of the former King Edward IV, sister of the formerly appointed King Edward V, once the wife of King Henry VII, and the renowned mother of Henry VIII. She met her day of death in the Tower of London on the 11th day of February in the year of Our Lord 1502, having fulfilled the age of 37 years’ (4).

 

1. The Great Chronicle of London, written in the 1530s 
2. The Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York Sir Nicholas Harris Nicholas 1830.
3. Westminster Abbey p.171 Dean Stanley
4. http://www.Westminster-abbey.org Online article.

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 15th century stained glass from  great east window St Nicholas Chapel, Gipping.  Did Elizabeth Wydeville gaze up at this very window if the family tradition is correct.    Photo thanks to Gerry Morris @ Flickr

While there is much information on Sir James  Tyrell, c.1455-1502  available,  unfortunately some of it is erroneous and distortion at its best,  a fine example of history being written by the victor.  As we know Sir Thomas More in his History of King Richard III painted a slanderous characterisation of Sir James who he said  ‘devised that they ( the princes) should be murdered in their beds..’  which has been and still continues to be used to malign a loyal Yorkist and I have to say  Sir Thomas was a writer of rubbish.   There may be some small kernels of truth in his History, for example the meeting of the Council in the Tower on the 13 June 1483 does have some ring of truth about it but on the whole and as the story of Richard waving a  withered arm about perfectly illustrates the bulk of History is  so far removed from the truth to the point of silliness.  Sir Thomas did add as a kind of afterthought that ‘some remain in doubt whether they were in his (Richard’s) day destroyed or no.. ‘ but by then the damage was well and truly done.  Recently, and thank goodness for it, more enlightened historians have shredded Sir Thomas’ daft  version of events.  I won’t go into it too much here as it’s readily available for those who wish to delve deeper other than to point out one of the most blatant errors/lies,  besides the gammy arm,  is that there was no need for a  page to introduce Richard to Sir James while he was sitting on the loo –  really Sir Thomas! –   as Richard already knew him very well.   Sir James had fought for York at Tewkesbury in 1471 and  had in fact been knighted by Edward IV after the battle.   ‘By the following winter he was in the service of Richard Duke of Gloucester.  He became a ducal councillor and feoffee and was used by Richard on sensitive business'(1).   For an example Sir John Paston wrote ‘The Countess of Warwick is now out of Beaulieu Sanctuary, and Sir James Tyrell conveyeth her northward, men say by the King’s assent‘.   However Sir Thomas was not going to let the truth get in the way of a good story.

The Tyrell Knot found carved above a door in the Gipping Chapel along with the words Pray for Sir Jamys Tirrell. Dame Anne his wyf.  Photo thanks to Simon Knott.

Moving on Sir James was not at Bosworth and was able to transfer his services to Henry Tudor.  However,  and cutting to the chase,  he become involved with Edmund de la Pole in 1499 setting off a chain of events that led to his arrest in 1502,  as well as that of his son, Thomas,  and to their imprisonment in the Tower of London.    After a trial in the London Guildhall he was convicted of treason on Monday 2nd May and executed on the 6th.  After his execution it was given out that Sir James had confessed to the murder of the princes back in 1483.  No copies of the ‘confession’ have survived, quelle surprise!  

Now here’s a thing.   I  have recently become familiarised with the mystery of Coldridge Church in Devon and a very plausible story with some compelling evidence  that John Evans, who had been given the deer park and manor of Coldridge by none other than Thomas Grey,  Marquess of Dorset,  could actually have been  Edward V incognito.  Dorset was of course half brother to Edward V they both sharing the same mother, Elizabeth Wydeville/Woodville.    This mystery is now being investigated by The Missing Princes Project led by Philippa Langley, who along with the late John Ashdown-Hill played such a pivotal role in the discovery of Richard’s remains in Leicester in 2012.   Philippa’s Devonshire team have uncovered much information, records and clues particularly in the church and  also the connections that certain persons such as Robert Markenfield and Sir John Speke had to John Evans.    

Surprising it is, as well as a huge coincidence,  but it transpires that Sir John Speke had links to none other than Sir James Tyrell.   Anne Arundel, wife to Sir James, had a  half brother Thomas Arundel,  who in turn had a daughter, Alice,  who was married to, yes none other than to Sir John’s eldest son and heir,  also named John (2).  Which leads me to the crunch point of my story – at last I hear you groan.   Audrey Williamson in her excellent book the Mystery of the Princes  – first published in 1972  –  unearthed a curious and intriguing story from a lady called Kathleen Margaret Drew,  a member of the Tyrell family,  who contacted Williamson following publication of her article in the Sunday Times Magazine in 1973 to inform her of  a ‘longstanding and specifically worded tradition‘  that had been handed down in the Tyrell family.   This family tradition had not been made public due to the stigma that was still,  unjustly,  attached to Tyrells’s name as a murderer of the boys as well as the belief that Elizabeth Wydeville and her sons stayed at Gipping Hall prior to the supposed murder of the princes.   For had not the sainted Sir Thomas More himself named Sir James as the murderer ? Ergo it must be the truth!   This story had been handed down orally since before the 18th century (3).  I would suggest that the earlier Tyrells had felt it unsafe to talk openly about this family tradition having received a stark warning by the execution of Sir James that it was dangerous to know or speak about the whereabouts of the missing princes.  The story told to Audrey Williams is that after Elizabeth Wydeville left the sanctuary of  the Abbots House at Westminster Abbey, she and the princes were ‘allowed to live at Gipping Hall by the permission of the uncle‘ i.e. Richard III.   The  whereabouts of Elizabeth and her sons after Richard become king has always been a tantalising mystery.  

After Sir James’ execution his family were able to take his body for  burial in the west wing of Austin Friars church where his father William who had been executed in 1462 lay at rest.     Nearby, in a poignant coincidence,  lay the grave  of Perkin Warbeck – Pretender to the Throne or possibly a true son of Edward IV who may as a child have lived with his mother and brother for a time at Gipping Hall, home to the Tyrells.  

St Nicholas Chapel Gipping.  Sadly the manor house was demolished in the 19th century.  

1. Tyrell, Sir James c.1455-1502.  Rosemary Horrox ODNB 3 January 2008.

2.Sir James Tyrell: with some notes on the Austin Friars London and those buried there.  W E Hampton.

3.  Audrey Williamson explained that ‘Mrs Drew was directly descended from one of three French boys refugees from the Revolution adopted as sons and given the Tyrell name by a descendent of James Tyrell in the 18th century. Mrs Drew’s grandmother obtained a story not only from her husband but also from her mother,  the daughter of the original French adopted sons.   It is said to be already a tradition of long-standing in the family’.  

4. Harleian MSS 433

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Lady Katherine Gordon – Wife to Perkin Warbeck

Austin Friars – Last Resting Place of Perkin Warbeck

The Privy Purse Accounts of Henry VII 1491 to 1505

Elizabeth of York – Her Privy Purse Accounts

Cheyneygates, Westminster Abbey, Elizabeth Woodville’s Pied-à-terre

 

 

 

  

St Michaels Mount.  ‘A Strong Place and Mighty’  wrote Warkworth in his Chronicle. Perkin left Katherine and their son here prior to his march to Exeter.  Note the causeway.  Thanks to John Starkey @ Flikr for this atmospheric photo.

It may seem prima facie that Katherine was a tragic figure, and perhaps she was for a while, but a further delve into her story and it becomes apparent that this lady was the epitome of a survivor.  

Born into Scottish aristocracy around  1474 – depending on who her mother was –  she was  kinswoman to James IV.  Her father was George Gordon second earl Huntley, described as the ‘most powerful Lord in Scotland below the King himself’.  There is some confusion which has long plagued historians  as to the identity of her mother, who could have either been Annabella Stewart, a daughter of James I and his English wife Joan Beaufort,  or his third wife, Lady Elizabeth Hay, the sister of the earl of Erroll (1).  However the consensus of opinion does seem to be that her mother was Elizabeth Hay.  This is of some importance which I shall come to later.  

Around the time of Perkin’s arrival in Scotland in November 1495  James paid the enormous sum of £108.17s.6d for fifteen and a quarter ells of crimson satin brocaded with gold and fifteen ells of velvet to be delivered ‘My Lady Huntly in Edinburgh‘ which would appear to have been for a gown suitable for her to meet the young man who was to become her husband,  Perkin Warbeck,  who as we we know was presenting himself as Richard duke of York, son to the late Edward IV and one of the “Princes in the Tower’.   With her noble linage she was ‘the closest and noblest woman of marriageable age whom James could offer‘ (2). In a time when all ladies of nobility seem to have been routinely  described as beautiful it would seem there is this time a fair chance  that Katherine was exactly that.  No doubt Perkin, for I shall call him that although he may well have been Richard, was totally smitten and perhaps she for him.  Certainly there was no procrastinating for the couple  were  swiftly betrothed and married on the 13 January 1496 with a child being born in September.   The wedding sounds as if it were sumptuous with Perkin in an outfit made up from fourteen and a half yards of white damask which had cost £28,  his six servants also suitable attired in outfits of damask, his two trumpeters in gowns of tawny cloth and red hose (3). How splendid it all must have been and how promising.    What could possibly go wrong?

On 6 July 1497, perhaps having outstayed his welcome,  Perkin, Katherine and their small son left Scotland and sailed to Ireland on a ship purchased for them by James aptly named “The Cuckoo”.      James was not there that day to wish them bon voyage but he had presented Katherine with a goodbye gift of three and a half yards of tawny Rouen cloth for a sea-gown and two and a half yards of black Lille cloth for a cloak.  Oh and yes he also paid Perkin the July instalment of his pension early on 27 June (4).  James’ relief at the departure of Perkin is almost palpable even five centuries later.    After a short stay in Ireland and finding little support they clambered once more upon The Cuckoo and sailed to Cornwall accompanied by one other ship plus a ‘Breton pinnace’  and it is said about 200 men arriving at Whitesand Bay on the 7 September.  Cornwall was at that time in a state of high tension  after a rebellion,  later known as the First Cornish Rebellion,  in May 1497  triggered  by Henry Tudor’s high taxes had only recently been quelled on the 17th June.   Why Perkin should choose to have his wife and child accompany him on such a dangerous enterprise  as the invasion of England is rather baffling.   But of course perhaps this would merely indicate a scarcity of options open to him.    In the event Katherine, and it is thought their son, were left at St Michaels Mount, although they may have moved on to  St Buryan, while Perkin marched eastwards heading towards Exeter gathering followers along the way.    It was while he was a short ride away from the Devonshire Village of Coldridge it’s possible he  had a meeting with  John Evans who there is very good reason to believe was actually Edward V incognito.

We can only guess at the extreme fear and stress Katherine suffered  while she awaited news of  the outcome of her husband’s perilous venture.    It was not a long wait as it transpired.  After his arrival on the 17 September Perkin was defeated after a valiant but doomed attempt on the gates of Exeter, and was captured after surrendering at Beaulieu Abbey where he had taken sanctuary.   On the 5 October Perkin was taken to Henry at Taunton Castle where he confessed to being an imposter (5).   Well his choices being rather limited he would have wouldn’t he?   A John Bowes of Hythe would be awarded  £1 in rewarde for bringing Perkin’s standard to Henry (6).

An interior shot of a room at St Michaels Mount.  Did Katherine look out of this very window while awaiting news from her husband?  Thank you Lee Sullivan @ Flikr for this photo.  

Henry Tudor sent men to St Michaels Mount –  or St Buryan  – to bring Katherine to him at Taunton. Henry’s Privy Purse accounts records a payment made to a Robert Southewell for ‘horses, sadells, and other necessarys bought for the conveying of my Lady Kateryn Huntleye, £7.13s.4d.’    There was also ‘To my lady Kateryn Huntleye, £2’ on December 1.  It is said he was much captivated by her beauty – ‘much marveled at her beauty and amiable countenance, and sent her to London to the Queen‘  – but whether that is a load of old flannel, as they say in South London, or the truth who knows.  It is known that Henry could be taken by the sight of a pretty face as his privy purse accounts bear out – September 5th 1493.  ‘To the young damoysell that daunceth £30‘ – really Henry!   However and moving on Henry sent Katherine to his wife Elizabeth of York  to be taken into her household.  What Elizabeth  and Katherine made of each other is lost to us.  But they must have surely had some interesting and perhaps awkward conversations, these two ladies who may or may not have been sister in laws.  Of course this was a clever ploy of Henry’s as no doubt his wife could be trusted to relay anything back to him of interest that Katherine uttered about her husband.  

Perkin was taken to  London where he and his wife were allowed to meet at times.   Their child has disappeared off the radar by this time, who knows where, and as  Henry instructed the couple were not to be  allowed to have a sexual relationship there were to be no more little Perkies to grow up and upset his heirs.  Could this indicate that Henry may have lived with a fear that Perkin was indeed Richard and not a base born pretender? Bernard Andrè a French Augustian friar and blind poet wrote a wordy description, much in the mode of Thomas More’s witterings on Richard III, describing the scene where with Henry present, Perkin and Katherine were brought together for the first time, Perkin ‘confessing’ to her of his duplicity.  

Then his wife with a modest and graceful look and singularly beautiful was brought into the kings presence in an untouched state with great blushing and breaking into tears.  Henry addressed her ‘most noble lady I grieve too  and it  pains me very much second only to the slaughter of so many of my subjects that you have been deceived by such a sorry fellow….. because it has pleased God that you should be reduced to this miserable condition by the perfidy  and wickedness of this lying scoundrel here’.  Katherine had sunk to the floor during Henry’s speech ‘soaked through with a fountain of tears…  “.   Henry  then ordered her husband ‘to repeat to her that same thing he had said to the King..’  Perkin then repeated his ‘confession’ whereupon Katherine sobbed/screamed  ‘So after you seduced me as you wanted with all your false stories why did you carry me away from the hearths  of my ancestors from home and parents and friends and into enemy hands? Oh wretched me!  How many days of grieving,  how many worries will this give my most noble parents! Oh  that you would never come to our shores. Oh misery…  I see nothing before me now but death since my chastity is lost.  Alas for me.  Why don’t my parents send someone here to punish you?   Most wicked man.   Are these the sceptres you were promising me we would have.   Most accursed man,  is this the honour of a king to which you boasted that our glorious line would come?   And as for me hopeless and destitute.. what can I hope for?   Whom can I trust?   With what can I ease my pain I see no hope ahead…  Poor Perkin and no doubt at this stage he was rapidly losing the will to live in any case.  Addressing Henry Katherine said ‘I would say more but the force of pain and tears chokes off my words..’ and give thanks for that.  However as Wroe points out both she and Perkin would have fully been aware of how things would go if he were to fail and such a ‘confession’  would be forthcoming if things went pear shaped which indeed they did.  What a dreadful and bitter moment that must been as their hopes and dreams imploded around them.  Katherine was indeed up the Swanee without a paddle.  

No contemporary portraits of Katherine have survived.   However we do have this pencil sketch of Perkin c1560 as well as what is thought could be his portrait from the Valencienne  tapestry.  Note the blemish above the eye apparent in both these images.

Katherine seems to have been treated  kindly by the Queen while Perkin was taken on Henry’s progresses until on the 9th June 1498 he made his escape.  Gunn suggests this may have been with the king’s ‘connivance’.  Was this escape plan shared by Katherine?  The finale to Perkin’s story drew to a rapid conclusion shortly after when he was discovered at the Charterhouse at Sheen, the Prior begging Henry to spare his life. His end was ignoble, which if he was a true son of Edward IV,  albeit illegitimate,  is rather disturbing.  Shackled he was displayed in stocks set up high on a scaffold made up of wine barrels from whence he was sent to the Tower of London.  There he became, conveniently, entangled in a plot with the tragic Edward of Warwick, son of George Duke of Clarence and a true scion of the House of York.  This plot was used by Henry as an excuse to kill two birds with one stone and after a trial in the White Hall of Westminster on the 16th November Perkin was found guilty, quelle surprise, and executed.  Warwick, found guilty two days later was beheaded but Perkin, his face said to have been bashed in by  Spanish Ambassadors who saw him , was drawn on a hurdle to Tyburn where he suffered death by hanging on the 23 November 1499.  His body was taken to Austin Friars for burial but his grave, already lost in the 16th century when Stow undertook his Survey of London, would have been completely obliterated when the  church was destroyed in an air raid in 1940. 

Photo taken in 1947 of a service being held in the ruins of Austin Friars

What became of Katherine after her husband’s execution?  What were her thoughts?  Was she in turmoil?  Perhaps she was pragmatic.  In any case time is a great healer and after Henry’s death in 1509 Katherine went on to marry three more times –  

1. James Strangeways – Usher of the King’s Chamber.   Upon her marriage to Strangeways in 1512 Katherine resigned  the grant of Fyfield Manor made to her in  1510 for life.  Freshly re-granted to both her and  James on condition that she did not go to Scotland or any other foreign country without licence (7)

Fyfield Manor.  Home to Katherine and second husband James Strangeways.  Also lived here with her last husband Christopher Ashton.  

2. Sir Matthew Cradock  d.1531.   Chancellor of Glamorgan and Steward of Gower.  Married almost immediately on the death of Strangeways.   Cradock had a double monument  built for Katherine and himself  in St Mary’s Swansea although Katherine would finally be buried at Fyfield, Berkshire with her fourth and final husband Christopher Ashton.   She was noted on the Cradock tomb, which was destroyed during a bombing raid, as ‘Mi Ladi Katerin‘.   Referred to Cradock in her will as ‘dear and well beloved husband‘.

The Cradock tomb, St Mary’s Church Swansea after an air raid.  Although this tomb had an effigy of Katherine, according to her will she was buried at Fifield. 

3. Christopher Ashton of Fyfield.   Another Usher to the Chamber.  Lived at Fyfield Manor.   Survived Katherine who having died in 1537  had requested burial in the Parish Church of  St. Nicholas Fyfield  (7).

Did Katherine herself ever leave any signs that Perkin was indeed the Duke of York OR that she herself had believed him?  Wendy Moorhen makes a good point in her article in the Richard III Society publication The Ricardian : 

“If Katherine was not the daughter of Annabella Stewart and therefore not related to the family of Edward IV through the Beauforts then the interpretation  of her description as Margaret Kyme as ‘my cousin’ in her will is reduced to them being cousins by marriage.  This could indeed mean that Lady Katherine believed, almost forty years after his execution, that her first husband was the person he claimed to be for so many years,  Richard, duke of York’ (9 )

Lisa Hopkins also writing in the Ricardian in a similar vein points out that in her will dated 1537 Katherine left a bequest  to Mistress Margaret Kyme/Keymes whom she terms ‘my cousin‘. This Margaret Kyme was the daughter of Cicely Plantagenet, daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Wydeville who had disgraced herself by marrying a simple gentleman, Thomas Kyme,  after which she lived out her life in virtual exile on the Isle of Wight.  One of the possibilities this means is that if Perkin had indeed been Richard duke of York, then Cicely would have been his sister and thus Margaret Kyme, Cicely’s daughter would thus indeed have been Katherine’s  first cousin by marriage (10).   If this was the case, and of course we can’t be sure,  it would be a clear indication that 38 years after her first husband’s death, Katherine had lived with the belief that her husband had truly been Richard of Shrewsbury Duke of York.  

 

1. Lady Katherine Gordon, a Genealogical Puzzle Wendy E A Moorhen.  Article in the Ricardian December 1997 pp.191-213 
2. Perkin, a Story of Deception p.264 Ann Wroe
3. Ibid p.269
4. Ibid p.313
5. Warbeck, Perkin (Pierrechon de Werbecque; alias Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York).  S J Gunn Oxford DNB 4 October 2008
6. Excerpta Historica:Or Illustrations of English History p.117.  Ed.Samuel Bentley 
7. Parishes: Fyfield British History Online A History of the County of Berkshire: Volume 4
8. Ibid.
9. Lady Katherine Gordon, a Genealogical Puzzle Wendy E A Moorhen.  Article in the Ricardian December 1997 p.207
10. Lisa Hopkins. ‘Research Notes and Queries, Lady Katherine Gordon and Margaret Kyme: A Clue to a Question of Identity The Ricardian. vol. I0, March I994, p. I9.  See also (1) above.p.208

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Perkin Warbeck and the Assaults on the Gates of Exeter

Austin Friars – Last Resting Place of Perkin Warbeck

The Privy Purse Accounts of Henry VII 1491 to 1505

Elizabeth of York – Her Privy Purse Accounts

 

St Mary’s, Fairford, Gloucestershire.  ‘A complete and perfect Perpendicular church’  and famous for it fine collection of medieval glass.

Described in Betjeman’s Best British Churches as ‘a complete and perfect Perpendicular’ church(1) this beautiful wool church was rebuilt by John Tame, a wool merchant from Gloucester , in the late 15th Century to replace a much older church.  The tower had already been rebuilt by Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick and Lord of the manor around 1430.  St Mary’s possesses a complete set of medieval stained glass, amongst the finest in England and it is this glass that I want to focus on now.  The glass was made between 1500 and 1517 and, other than the west window, which was severely damaged in a storm in 1703 and later restored, the glass has somehow miraculously survived, although how this has happened remains a mystery.  It has been suggested that their survival is due to the Tudor royal portraits contained in them. The windows are thought to have been a gift from Henry VII himself.  It should be remembered that when Henry had the young Edward Earl of Warwick executed in 1499 he seized his estates which included Fairford.  It has also been suggested that Henry may have then given the manor to Prince Arthur whose badge of ostrich feathers and motto appear in some of the windows and one of the portraits is thought to have been modelled upon his wife, Katherine of Aragon.  Thirty years after Arthur’s death Henry VIII presented Fairford manor to Katherine of  Aragon after he had divested her of her title of queen.  The portraits are mostly members of the Tudor royal family and influential people in the Tudor court  although one of them is thought to be of a Plantagenet, that of Henry’s brother-in-law, the young Edward V, one of the ‘princes in the Tower’ and with a Sunne in Splendour heraldic badge above his head. Other portraits were modelled on Henry himself, obviously, his wife Elizabeth of York, Catherine of Aragon, Prince Arthur, Henry’s  daughters Mary and Margaret and a young Henry VIII and last but not least Margaret Beaufort (2)   I also think its possible that one of them is based on Richard III, depicted as holding a severed head and a fine piece of Tudor propaganda but that is purely my own speculation.

Nave, north aisle, north Window.  The figure of the Queen of Sheba is believed to be a likeness of Elizabeth of York

Chancel, north chapel, Lady Chapel, North window.  Jesus as a small boy in the temple modelled on a young cherublike Henry VIII possibly...ah bless..

Holbein’s sketch of Henry VIII as a child to compare.  What a dear little chap… whats not to love? 

Nave,north aisle, west window.  The figure of Solomon is thought to have been modelled on Edward of Westminster, one of the ‘princes in the Tower’, for a short while Edward V and brother to Elizabeth of York

Nave, north aisle, west window.  Could this figure be Morton? It has been described as Wolsey but I disagree.

A wooden boss on the roof of Bere Regis church thought to represent Morton in comparison.

Chancel, south chapel, Corpus Christi Chapel, east window.  This version of the Virgin Mary is believed to have been modelled on Mary Tudor, Henry VII’s daughter.   See picture below to compare likenesses.

A portrait of Mary Tudor to compare to her likeness in the above portrait of her at Fairford.

Nave, West Window.  The figure with the crown is thought to be that of Henry VII entering Heaven.

Chancel, north chapel, Lady Chapel, north window.  The Magus is believed to have been modelled on Prince Arthur.

Chancel, north chapel, Lady Chapel, north window.  Two royal likenesses here.  It it thought that the Virgin Mary was modelled on Catherine of Aragon while that of the attendant with the doves is modelled on Margaret Tudor, Henry VII’s daughter.  Could the lady in red be modelled on Margaret Beaufort?

Two kings here..Henry VI on the left and Henry VII on the right.

Purely my speculation here but could the warrior holding the severed head be a Tudor representation of King Richard III?  For surely one shoulder has been depicted higher than the other one! 

If in the area I do recommend a visit to St Mary’s. It is quite stunning when you enter and thoughtfully binoculars have been made readily available.

I am  indepted to the excellent Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi  online for these images

(1) Sir John Betjeman, updated by Richard Surman, Betjeman’s Best British Churches p.270

(2) Sir Nickolaus Pevsner, The Buildings of England, Gloucestershire 1. The Cotswolds, p367 

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This is thought to be a portrait of Perkin Warbeck/Richard Duke of York from the Tournament Tapestry at Valenciennes

Perkin Warbeck.  Pencil sketch c1560.  Note the eye blemish in both portraits.

Following on from my earlier post and the theory that John Evans, who lies buried in Coldridge Church Devon,  was indeed Edward V,  has led me to wonder did he ever meet Perkin Warbeck who claimed to have been his brother, the youngest ‘Prince in the Tower’, Richard of Shrewsbury,  Richard Duke of York.   Warbeck’s – or should I say Richard Duke of York’s –  story is very well covered elsewhere, and I will only be focusing on the events of late 1497, the  Second Cornish Rebellion  and a window in time where it is possible that Warbeck met John Evans.  I shall also for clarity stay with the name Perkin Warbeck although he may well truly have been Richard the Duke of York or Richard of England as he also called himself.   The one opportunity for this meeting  would have arisen following Warbeck’s  arrival  at Whitesand Bay near Land’s End, Cornwall on 7 September from Ireland on ‘2 ships and a Breton pinnace.’   Attainders would later  say that he came with a ‘a great multitude and number‘ while Raimondo Soncino, Milanese Ambassador to England ‘thought they amounted to 80 savage Irishmen‘ who arrived on ‘fishing boats‘.(1)  For some baffling reason, Warbeck chose to bring with him his wife, Lady Katherine Gordon or Kateryn Huntleye as she was called in Henry VIIs Privy Purse Expenses  and their almost one year old child, as you do when you embark on a perilous invasion of a country (2).  However common sense must have prevailed as both she and the child were sent to safety at St Michaels Mount then, according to Wroe,  perhaps to St Buryan, to await the outcome.

St Michael’s Mount and the Causeway. Photograph © Richard Bowden/Shutterstock

Notwithstanding the defeat of the Cornish rebels at Blackheath on the 17th June  – known as the First Cornish Rebellion and sparked off by Henry Tudor’s heavy taxation –  Warbeck raised his standard at Penzance and begun his march eastwards gathering followers described as ‘undisciplined’ along the way. 

What was his route and did it take him close to Coldridge?  Bodmin is mentioned where his following had grown to three thousand.  Crossed the River Tamar at Launceston and entered Devon.  Crossed Dartmoor and thus to Exeter, the north Gate to be precise, his followers now amounting to nearly eight thousand men arriving on 17 September, St Lambert’s day.    It’s interesting to note that  Coldridge would have been as the crow flies just a little over 18 miles to Exeter.  Surely it’s inconceivable that John Evans/Edward V would not have made the short journey to meet up with this young man who claimed to be his brother and who was now being addressed in some quarters as King Richard IV?

John Evan’s effigy in Coldridge church.  Depicted wearing chainmail beneath his robe.  

It should be remembered that Edward V and Richard Duke of York, as children, would not have had much chance to bond.  Edward had been sent as a toddler to Ludlow, in the Welsh Marches whereas the younger brother, Richard, grew up with his sisters in Westminster and probably Greenwich Palace where their mother Elizabeth Wydeville appears to have had a royal nursery.   A few short weeks were spent together in the Tower of London in  the summer of 1483 and then no doubt the brothers were speedily separated after a failed rescue attempt forced Richard III’s hand.   However casting that aside it’s not hard to envisage that John Evans/Edward V would have been both amenable and perhaps intrigued in having a meeting with his possible brother.   This creates a number of interesting scenarios.

Working on the hypothesis that John Evans was Edward V –

1.  Did John Evans on meeting Warbeck/Richard of York and ascertaining  that Warbeck was the genuine article perceive that his younger brother’s intention was to gain the throne from himself and not to put his older brother on the throne?  Did a row ensue?
2. Did John Evans realise that Warbeck was a fake and thus turn around and leave him to it?
3. Or did John Evans on meeting his genuine brother after such a length of time, realise that it was too risky to throw his lot in with him for some reason.  Perhaps he was underwhelmed by Warbeck’s followers quickly perceiving that the enterprise was doomed to  fail? Henry Tudor made the comment ‘on Monday last,  the 18th day of September, there was not one gentleman‘ (3).
4. Was John Evans comfortable with his now quiet and peaceful life, living incognito as well as wealthy, and having no wish to risk losing it all plus the danger it would put his wife and children in not to mention Thomas Grey his half brother?
5. Did a quarrel erupt? Noblemen of that time, even those living incognito,  were well known for their massive egos and were prone to throwing their toys out of their prams at any given time – picture Richard Neville aka Warwick the Kingmaker.   Did John Evans and his brother not hit it off  for some reason lost to us now resulting in  John Evans turning  around and riding back to Coldridge in a fit of pique?
6. There is no indications that John Evans took part in the attempted storming of Exeter but might he have?  Could he possibly have taken part and perceiving it was going disastrously wrong made his escape? Alternatively did they meet betwixt Coldridge and Exeter – a meeting that amounted to nothing?

Please feel free to add any other possible scenarios to the above.   I think it was Sir Thomas More  who said you might as well shoot too far as to shoot too short – well if he didn’t say it he should have!

Despite ‘King Richard’s‘ promise to the citizens of Exeter that he would make their city like ‘another London‘  the gates were closed to him. The attacks on Exeter’s North and East  gates failed despite the valiant attempts by Warbeck and his followers – repelled by the doughty citizens who amongst other thing were eager to prove their loyalty to Henry Tudor after the Cornish rebellion earlier in the year.   The attempts to take Exeter and its  defence are well told in Perkin a Story of Deception by Ann Wroe.  A further good account can be found  here ‘Devon Perspectives‘ which covers both Cornish rebellions and Warbeck/Richard’s flight to Beaulieu Abbey, where he took sanctuary.  The rest is history.

Medieval Exeter.   The North Gate can be seen to the left.  From a map c1587.

The North Gate from outside the city. Courtesy Devon Library Services

East Gate from the Exterior.  Steel line engraving by C J Sprake 1831.  The gate was demolished in 1784.

1. Perkin, a Story of Deception p.324 Ann Wroe
2. Excerpta Historica: or, Illustrations of English History p.115. Samuel Bentley.
3. Perkin, a Story of Deception p.337 Ann Wroe

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The beautiful and irreplaceable Merlina…

It was sadly reported on the 13 January 2021, that one of the famous Tower of London ravens has gone missing and presumed she had passed away. Merlina or Merlin as she was first known arrived at the Tower in 2007 after being found by the side of a Welsh road aged about a year old and later went on to become the favourite raven of Chris Skaife, present Ravenmaster of the Yeoman Warders – well one of them. She had originally been taken care of by the Swan Rescue Centre in Barry where she became well known for ‘throwing tantrums and mimicking the other birds‘. A strong character she refused to sleep with the rest of the ravens at night in their purpose built enclosure (thought to be built on the site of the Grand Hall where Anne Boleyn was imprisoned prior to her execution 1536) and instead had her own ‘private night box behind an old window on the ground floor of the Queens House on Tower Green where she graciously allows the Constable of the Tower and his family to live‘ where she would return to most nights. Along with the other ravens she was free to leave the Tower and tootle around the perimeter , their flight feathers not being so harshly cut as in previous times thanks to Chris Skaife who prefers a more gentler approach, the idea being that with good plentiful food and accommodation the ravens would choose to live at the Tower of their own free will. This unfortunately entails some risk and give some ravens an inch they will take a mile as the old saying goes – ‘However, some ravens have gone absent without leave in the past and others have even been sacked. Raven Munin flew off to Greenwich and was eventually returned by a vigilant member of the public after seven days. Raven George was dismissed for eating television aerials and Raven Grog was last seen outside an East End pub‘. (1)

The full, and amusing, story of the retaking of Raven Munin is in Chris Skaife’s book The Ravenmaster: My life with the Ravens at the Tower of London which is full of funny anecdotes and recommended if anyone wants to go more fully into the story of the Ravenmaster and the Tower Ravens.

Merlina and the other ravens are fed twice a day, the official diet being  6oz of fresh meat daily, including chicken, lamb and pig hearts, liver, kidney, peanuts in their shells, defrosted rats, mice, day old chicks, hard-boiled eggs, biscuits soaked in blood, and the occasional road kill rabbit. However her favourite food was crisps or Pringles if she could get hold of any i.e. purloin from unsuspecting tourists which she would soften by dipping into water. One of her favourite tricks was to lie on her back, legs sticking in the air, faking dead to the distress of passing tourists. What a girl!

Chris informs us in his book for ease of identification the ravens wear coloured anklets: Munin lime green, Jubilee Gold, Gripp Light blue, Harris purple, Rocky brown, Erin red and Merlina bright pink and quotes Charles Dickens who described their walks as ‘like that of a very particular gentleman with exceedingly tight boots on, trying to walk fast over loose pebbles’. (2)

A watchful Raven on the lookout for unsuspecting tourists and their sandwiches,  especially the ham version, sausage rolls and Pringles..

Jubilee and Munin  conspiring – Whats not to love?   photo wikipedia.org

There is a legend that says Charles II initially ordered the ravens removal from the Tower following complaints from the Royal Astronomer,  John Flamsteed (1646 – 1719) that they were ‘flying in front of his telescope’ and ‘interfering with his observations‘.  However,  after someone brought to his attention the story that if the Ravens ever left  the Tower, a great disaster would come about and both the Tower and the monarchy would fall,  a rattled Charles had a change of heart –  the ravens stayed  at the Tower and the Royal  Observatory found a new home Greenwich. I should think so too.  It is said that it was also Charles who decreed that the number of ravens should not fall below six and indeed at least seven are kept there just in case.

“History and prehistory, legends, fables, and stories, they’re everywhere here. I sometimes think that the Tower is just a vast storehouse of the human imagination, and the ravens are its guardians….” Chris Skaith Ravenmaster 

A spokesperson from Historic Royal Palaces said “Since joining us in 2007, Merlina was our undisputed ruler of the roost, Queen of the Tower Ravens.   She will be greatly missed by her fellow ravens, the Ravenmaster, and all of us in the Tower community.”

Ravenmaster Chris Skaith and raven

Queen Raven Merlina..much missed and a very hard act to follow.  

1. Historic Royal Palaces – The Tower of London On line article.
2. The Ravenmaster: My Life with the Ravens at the Tower of London p.63 Christopher Skaith

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Ancient Gateway at Astley Castle.  Photo tysallsphotography.org.uk

Astley Castle, Warwickshire, was the marital home of Sir John and Elizabeth Grey nee Wydeville.  Sir John has somewhat been cast in the shadows by the eminence of his wife.   He fought and died for Lancaster at the Second Battle of St Albans in 1461 and his widow would go on to catch the eye of a king with tragic results.   This story is of course well known and documented and I won’t go into it here but rather focus on Astley Castle itself.  Astley has a long and rich history.  Beginning life as a Manor House in 1266, the then owner, Warin de Bassingbourne was given a licence to crenellate and enclose with a moat.    The medieval house was much added to during the 17th century but I’m sure John and Elizabeth would still have been able to recognise the old original rooms and features.

Medieval fire place Astley Castle

In the 1960s the parts that had survived the centuries were in use as a hotel and perhaps the very rooms used by John and Elizabeth deployed as rooms for paying guests.  Alas in 1978 a disastrous fire took hold and Astley, reduced to a shell , was abandoned.  Various proposals to rebuild proved to be too financially prohibitive and the ruins were declared a Scheduled Ancient Monument.  However in 2005 the Landmark Trust came forward with a solution and what was left of Astley was saved by the novel idea of building and incorporating modern accommodation within the ruinous walls.  Astley arose, like a Phoenix out of the flames, as they say, and today its possible to stay in what was once the marital home of the Greys.

An old photo date 1900 showing the stone archway.

The same view during renovation work

The Great Hall today in use as a dining room.  Note the remains of the lovely 14th century windows and brickwork incorporated into the renovated castle.

But that is not all.  In one of those strange quirks of history in the nearby church of St Mary the Virgin, a Talbot lies buried.   No other than  Elizabeth Talbot,  later Viscountess Lisle,  who was niece to Eleanor Butler nee Talbot, Elizabeth Wydeville’s very own nemesis,  who married John Grey’s brother Edward.   This Elizabeth Talbot was to become the heiress to John Talbot, lst Viscount Lisle.  John Talbot was the son of that staunch warrior, John Talbot lst Earl of Shrewsbury, Eleanor’s father and known in history as Great Talbot. Both father and son perished at the Battle of  Castillion 17 July 1453.   Elizabeth Talbot, having married our John Grey’s brother, Edward, was  thus also Elizabeth Wydeville’s sister-in-law. Elizabeth Talbot, having lived until 1487, saw the disastrous outcome of  her former sister-in law,  Elizabeth Wydeville’s bigamous ‘marriage’.  What her thoughts on the matter were,  frustratingly we will never know.

Elizabeth Talbot Viscountess Lisle.  John Ashdown-Hill suggests this portrait was painted in Flanders during the wedding ceremonies of Margaret of York (1).   Certainly the likeness is very similar to Elizabeth’s effigy in the church.  See below.  Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz Gemaldegalerie, Berlin. (no.532)

St Mary the Virgin Church, Astley,  Mausoleum of the Grey family.  Photo http://www.tysallsphotography.org.uk

1. Eleanor the Secret Queen p.8.  John Ashdown-Hill

    2.  Memorials of the Wars of the Roses p.188.  W E Hampton.

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The Empress from the Eton Wall Paintings.  Her eyes have been deliberately damaged. 

If you should happen to visit Eton College and enter the chapel there you will find the glorious range of medieval murals now known as the Eton Chapel Wall Paintings.  Painted between 1479-87 and thought to  be the work of at least four different artists they were whitewashed over by the College barber in 1560 as part of the drive by the Protestant Church to ban pictures of apocryphal miracles and largely forgotten until 1847 when they were discovered and finally, with the removal of stall canopies making it possible,  restored in 1923.   

The paintings on the north side of the chapel tell the story of the miracles of the Virgin Mary while those on the south the popular medieval story of ‘The  Empress Falsely Accused‘  (for a synopsis of this story see below).   It’s the latter paintings I find the most intriguing not the least because I believe some of the portraits, particularly the Empress and the Emperor were  based on actual members of the royal family at the time – namely Queen Anne Neville and King Richard III.  Interestingly the Emperor and Empress have been painted  wearing the closed crowns of Edward the Confessor and Queen Edith which are so recognisable in portraits of our medieval monarchs. It is this which caused me to take a closer look at the portraits.  

The first facial representation of the Empress is the most detailed and with more of her personality shining through.    Could this be a portrait of Queen Anne Neville?  Compare it with the drawing of Anne from the Rous Roll.  Rous’ drawing should be a good likeness as he would have known Anne by sight.  Is it just wishful thinking on my part but I can see a resemblance particularly around the mouth although the eyes have been obliterated.

Queen Anne Neville from the Rous Roll wearing the closed crown of Queen Edith –  almost identical to the crown in the Eton Mural.

Sadly the portrait of the Emperor has been deliberately defaced.  But we are still able to discern the hairstyle is one very similar to the hairstyle worn by Richard in his portraits.

Portrait of the Emperor from the Eton mural,  Note the strong chin.

Portrait of Richard III  Society of Antiquaries.

We do know Richard –  no doubt sometimes accompanied by Anne –  visited Windsor, which is but a short distance from Eton,  on numerous occasions ranging from 19th July 1483 to 16th May 1485 – the last visit shortly after Anne’s sad death on the 16th March 1485.  Did they also visit Eton on some of their visits?   If they did they would have seen the murals which were then a work in progress having been begun in 1479.  Did the royal couple give their permission and were indeed pleased to see their portraits featured in the mural?  OR was the legend tweaked and the portraits added after Richard’s death at Bosworth in 1485 to be used as another fine piece of mud to be thrown at the now dead king and his queen.     Of course if this were the case then the likelihood of the portraits being those of the Yorkist King and his Queen grows more certain.   It does seem a little odd that Richard would have no objections to being depicted as the Emperor who, to be honest comes across as a bit of a plonker and is portrayed assaulting his wife.    Of course the legend predates the reign of Richard III and it’s just an unfortunate coincidence that it contains a couple of  similarities with the traditional and false story – given out by Richard’s enemies and hostile historians –  including a wicked brother who committed infanticide.  

Furthermore I believe at least one more of the portraits may have been based upon another member of the Plantagenet royal family, that of Anne’s sister, Isobel.  An interesting and plausible article found here has suggested that one of the ladies in the Luton Guild Book could be Isobel Neville, sister to Anne and wife of George Duke of Clarence.  Can anyone else see the quite remarkable similarity between that portrait,  shown below,  and that of St Catherine in the Eton mural?

Possible portrait of Isobel Neville Luton Guild Book – thanks to The Dragonhound for their very  persuasive article on this theory..

St Catherine Eton Wall Painting.  A  resemblance to the possible portrait of Isobel Neville in the Luton Guild Book?

Finally to summarise the legend – An Emperor goes on a pilgrimage leaving the running of his realm to his chaste and beautiful wife.  After his departure his gittish brother,  whom  fancied her, tried to pursude her to be unfaithful to her husband.  She indignantly refused and morever imprisoned him in a tower.  After five years the Emperor returned.  His brother who had been released just prior to his return went to the Emperor and accused the Empress of infidelity and treason.  Whereupon the Emperor whacked his wife in the face when she came to greet him and ordered that his guards take her away into a forest and slay her.  Just in the nick of time a noble knight who happened to be passing rescued her and took her to his castle although he was unaware of who she was.  She took up the vacancy of the knight’s baby son’s nurse.  The knight’s brother, another evil git – where do all these evil brothers come from? – tried to have his mucky way with her.  She was having none of it and said evil brother, thwarted, plotted her ruin. He crept into her bedchamber, which she shared with baby, cut the infant’s throat and left the blood stained knife in the hand of the Empress.   However instead of putting her to death, the knight took pity on her and put her on a ship whereupon the captain and the whole crew were tempted by her great beauty.  So they marooned her on a little island just to be on the safe side.   Here the Virgin Mary appeared before her in a dream and assured her all her travails would soon come to an end and showed her where a herb grew that was capable of curing leprosy.  Gathering a supply of it she returned to the mainland where she proclaimed she was able to cure lepers.  Her fame spread although no-one recognised her as to her true identity. The knight on hearing of this wonder  took her back to his castle where none other than his gittish brother had contracted the disease.  However despite the great harm he had done to her the Empress still agreed to cure him on the condition that he owned up to the heinous crime he had committed.  This he did and was cured.  Then the Empress returned to her homeland only to find that none other than her brother-in-law had also become a leper.  Posessing a great heart she agreed to heal him if he too confessed to his sins.  Which he did.  Thereafter she revealed her true identity but,  presumably really hacked off by men and their silliness refused to return to her old life/husband and took herself off into a convent to live out her life in perpetual chastity.  

The Emperor draws his hand back in order to strike the Empress..lawks!

The Knight’s evil brother creeps into the bedchamber of the Empress to slit the throat of the baby..Yikes!

Eton Chapel.  Photo etoncollege.com 

Another view of the chapel.  Unknown photographer Pinterest.

If anyone wishes to delve deeper into the story of Eton Chapel and its paintings I can recommend Wall Paintings of Eton.  

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