Historic Yorkshire

Front matter

■ Historic Yorkshire. Historic Yorkshire BY jjlLLIAM HNDREWS, F.R.H.S. LONDON : REEVES AND TURNER, 196, STRAND. LEEDS: FRED. R. SPARK. "EXPRESS" OFFICE, 18 & 19, SWINEGATE. PRINTED BY FRED. R. SPARK, "EXPRESS" OFFICE, LEEDS. PREF A CE . \$^Pjip%HE following chapters recently appeared in the KmfSnv columns of the Leeds Express, and, as news- W/Slllwji Paper contributions, met with such favour as %S^z&il to induce the Proprietor of that journal to Jsgy issue them in a volume. In collected form, I $s> trust that the sketches may not be deemed an unwelcome addition to local literature. I do not profess this work to be a complete History of Yorkshire, but a varied, and, I hope, an entertaining, series of articles from the highways and by-ways of the annals of the county. It affords me pleasure to express my deep obligations to Mr. Edward Lamplough, Mr. J. W. Gould, Mr. F. Ross, and Mr. T. Tindall Wildridge, for favouring me with facts and suggestions, and to Mr. Page, of the Hull Subscription Library, for preparing my index.

I desire to also record my thanks for the uniform courtesy I have experienced from the Proprietor of the Express and the editorial staff; and to the many kind correspondents who have written to me letters of encouragement I am also grateful. WILLIAM ANDREWS. Hull Literary Club, January, 1883. CONTENTS. Chapter. Page I. Alfred, King of Northumbria - The Story of St. John of Beverley i II. 8 III. Leeds Before the Conquest, and Notes on Leeds Castle _- - - - '7 IV. Leeds Under the Normans - The Jewish Massacre at York - Mystery Plays in Yorkshire Bolton Abbey : its History and Traditions 23 V. 30 VI. 36 VII. VIII. 45 Black-Faced Clifford 5^ IX. The Shepherd Lord 58 X. XI. How King Henry III. Kept Christmas at York 63 The Tragic Story of the Ellands The Fall and Death of Richard II. 6g XII. 76 The Story of York Castle §3 XIII XIV.

The Battle of the Standard, 1138 97 The Battle of Wakefield, 1460 The Battle of Towton, 1461 The Battle of Marston Moor, 1644 XV. 102 XVI io8 XVII XVIII "3 The Story of a Tax ; or, the Death of the Fourth Earl of Northumberland n8 XIX. XX. XXI. XXII. Catholic Persecution - 124 The Story of Pontefract Castle 130 Beverley Sanctuary 139 Death of the Duke of Buckingham at Kirkby-Moorside 146 Eugene Aram, the Yorkshire Murderer - History of the Yorkshire Resurrection Men XXIII. XXIV. XXV. XXVI. 154 l62 The Luddite Riots i6g Echoes of Old Leeds — Leeds in the Last Century - - - - - 176 The Bishop Blaize Festival 184 XXVII. XXVIII. The Press-Gang in Yorkshire igi Index HISTORIC YORKSHIRE

Chapter I. Alfred, King Of Northumbria Fter

the invasion of England by the Jutes, Angles, and Saxons, in 450, and their subsequent subjugation of it, occupying a period of about one hundred and fifty years, the northern part of the country was as yet maintaining a feeble independence. Effemi nated by a long period of protection by the Romans, and constantly harassed by the Picts and Scots, who, crossing the wall of defence, which (now the legions of the Cæsars had gone) proved of little or no service, the Britons of the north offered an easy prey to any enterprising warrior who should desire to make that part of the country his own. Such a one was Ida, a Viking, or sea warrior, of a bold, adventurous spirit. He was an Angle, and claimed descent from the Scandinavian God Woden himself. In the year 547, when the Heptarchy was well advanced in formation, Ida left his possessions on the shores of the Baltic, and sailed for England with a fleet of forty war galleys.

Landing at Flamborough, he quickly had the satisfaction of seeing the whole northern county subjected to his arms. The Picts were driven back to their mountain fastnesses, and his success was complete. A few years after, however, a kinsman of the victorious Ida, seeing his good fortune, sailed up the Humber, and seized from him a portion of his territory from the Tees to the Humber, called Deira. The remainder of Ida's district was named Bernicia, and the whole country, when united (for in the time of their descendants it was alternately governed as one kingdom or two, according to the descent and power of the kings) was known as Northumbria. It was extended from the north side of the Mersey to the Eden on the west coast, and from the Tweed to the Humber on the east coast ; though in the time of Eadwine (the son of Ella, the kinsman of Ida) who became King of Northumbria, it stretched as far north as the Forth, where a fort was built, round which a town sprang up — Eadwinsburg — now Edinburgh.

Such is the description of the founding of the kingdom of Northumbria. Ida died, and was succeeded by his son Ethelfrith, who was killed in battle. After an interval of sovereignty by the Deiran kings, Oswy, of Bernicia, a natural son of Ethelfrith, became the King of Northumbria by the murder of Oswine. He reigned for 28 years, leaving by his queen one son, Ecgfrid, and another, and elder, Elfrid, illegitimately born. This latter is the subject of our present notes. Oswine was the King of Deira, and on his murder by Oswy, the latter elevated Alchfrid, Ealfride, Elfrid, or Alfred, as he is variously called, to the Deiran throne as his Viceroy. Alfred was a young man of an ambitious, bold, and energetic character, and by his importunity, mingled with threats of revolt, etc., persuaded Oswy to this step.

He even aspired to be independent of his father's kingly authority, and to be absolute Sovereign of Deira ; but Oswy refused this, probably by the advice or remonstrances of his nobles, to whom the illegitimacy of Alfred was an insurmountable obstacle. Accordingly, at the death of Oswy, in 670, we find Alfred's claim to the Northumbrian Crown disputed on account of the bar sinister, and his younger brother, Ecgfrid, was elected. Alfred either withdrew from his native country for prudential reasons, or was compelled to abdicate. Whatever was the immediate cause of his expatriation is of little moment. He left Northumbria for Ireland, where he spent fifteen years. While yet in power on the Deiran throne, his occupations had been those usual to the Anglo-Saxon youth of the time — athletic and martial exercise, varied in his case by considerable attention to politics.

During the period of his retirement in Ireland, then the great seat of learning in every branch, he devoted himself to the study of theology, philosophy, science, and the general literature of the age. By his assiduity and intellectual endowments, combined with the great advantage of having the best teachers, he eventually arose to be one of the most learned and finished scholars of his day. It must be recollected, however, that pre-eminence in this respect was not excessively difficult of accomplishment, as few could even write their own names, even among the priests, whose class the professed teachers of the nation were. At the end of this period of almost compulsory seclusion, in 686, the Northumbrian throne was again rendered vacant by the death of Ecgfrid, and the nobles, to whom the report of Alfred's great and varied accom plishments was familiar, offered the crown to him.

He returned, and during the nineteen years he reigned, governed the people with great wisdom. He established order in the affairs of both secular and ecclesiastical government ; he founded numerous churches and monasteries, and was a zealous promoter of the cause of learning. Though liberal of patronage to priests whose qualities and erudition brought them under his notice, he was far from being entirely subservient to ecclesiastical authority, however highly placed. In his youth he had received his education at Ripon, under Wilfrid (who afterwards received canonisation as St. Wilfrid of Ripon). Alfred, soon after his return to his native land, recommenced his old friendship with Wilfrid, and bestowed upon him the Archiepiscopal mitre of York ; but Wilfrid (who has been termed by that eminent antiquary, Mr. Frederick Ross, a seventh-century Beckett), encroaching on the favour displayed to him, began a series of presumptive aggressions on the prerogatives of the King.

Alfred, who was little of a disposition to brook such return for his kindness, banished the haughty Wilfrid, who fled to Rome, and laid his grievances at the feet of His Holiness the Pope. The Holy Father, John VII., listened with complacency, and ordered his immediate return, sending at the same time, by the hands of the triumphant priest, a letter couched in the most peremptory terms, ordering his reinstatement in all the dignities and emoluments of his late office. Probably the elated ecclesiastic, upon speeding back to the King of Northumbria, was consider ably astonished at being addressed to the following effect by that independent and liberal-minded man : "You bring a writing from the apostolic seat, as you choose to term it, couched in dictatorial terms to me, the King of Northumbria ; but I wish you to understand that I do not alter my course of conduct at the dictation of a foreign priest ; nor do I render obedience to any writing, whether from the apostolic seat or elsewhere."

From the foregoing it is evident that the supremacy of the papal decrees was a growth of mediæval times, rather than a necessary, and always present, portion of their history. Alfred married Kyneburga, the daughter of Penda, the King of Mercia, who had been slain in battle with the Northumbrians, under Oswy, at Winwinfield. By this marriage, which has been regarded as a political measure, he had issue one son, Osred, who afterwards became king on his death, and was killed in a revolt of his western subjects at Winandermere in 716. From a booklet published by Mr. Thomas Holderness, and which is a curious speculative account, elaborate in details which are plausible to perfection, of Alfred's funeral, we gather much interesting information. Those Northumbrian kings, who were lords both of Bernicia and Deira, held their chief court and Witena gemot (or Council of Wise Men) at York, and an inferior residential court in Deira, with a Witenagemot here also for the transaction of the district affairs.

The site of this East Riding Court was called Derrifield by the vulgar — Deira-feld by the more cultivated ; that is, the Field of Deira, or the Field of the King of Deira — our present Driffield. This castle or centre of Government was situated not far from the old Roman road from York to Filey, and had at some time (probably the period of which we deal) a large population, as the numerous tumuli or burial mounds testify. In addition to the Royal Castle or mansion, there were also the church and the Mot House, where the local Parliament met to enact the laws of Deira. The Castle and the Mot House were one at each side of, though at some little distance from, a hill, known as the Mot Hill, where upon occasions when the people were to be addressed the Council walked in pro cession, and from the summit harangued the populace.

The cottages which formed the village were built of mud and stones, and thatched. The doors were roughly battened together, and secured by wooden pegs, as was the case with all the woodwork for long ages subsequent to this period. All were one storey high. The castle itself was a large structure, consisting of many hetero geneous buildings, erected upon a square mound, surrounded by a walled fosse, while on the inner side of the fosse rose a wall some twelve feet high. In this seemingly impregnable stronghold stood the Royal Palace, approachable on the north side only by a massive gateway, with a drawbridge. In the midst of the group of buildings was the keep, a stupendous structure of stone four storeys high. Outside of the fosse were the domestic offices of the household, the brewhouse, the maltkin, stables, and wolf-hound kennels.

The whole of these buildings, with the castle, were in an enclosure of about six acres in area, which was sur rounded with a wall and ditch, and with four towers (after the manner of Barbican towers) opposite to the four sides of the castle. Here the King and his nobles feasted, and here he entertained the distinguished and learned foreigners and others. Through the massive gateway he rode forward with his retinue and attendants, to hunt, hawk, or fish. As we have said, for nineteen years Alfred reigned over his dominions with vigour and wisdom ; a friend to learning, a good husband, a kind father, a Christian king. But his reign was brought to an abrupt termination in 705. In the summer of 704 a marauding fleet of Danish and Norwegian vessels sailed down the north-eastern coast, burning, after plundering, the towns and villages on the path.

At Filey they stopped and landed a powerful army, which marched inward. Alfred, who was then at his castle at Deirafeld, immediately despatched a messenger to York for the portion of his arm}' stationed there to proceed to his assistance. With the force he had with him in the castle, some two or three hundred men, he marched towards Malton, where he met the York contingent. Alfred then at once pursued the invaders, overtaking them at Ebberston, where a fierce engagement took place, the Danes being as little disposed to turn their back upon the fruitful land of the Northumbrians as the Saxons were to welcome them. During the whole ofthe afternoon both sides fought with the most determined bravery until, darkness coming on, the conflict was stayed without victory being established for either side.

The King, who took command in person of the Saxon host, his general, Ethelweard, being in the north for the repression of an expected invasion of the Picts, was continually in front of the battle, and towards night he fell, pierced by an arrow. Before his attendants could prevent, a Danish warrior, fleeing as the ranks of the invaders were broken, rushed up and inflicted a fearful wound with a spear on the thigh of the prostrate King. He was conveyed in the darkness to a cave, and there tended while the Danes should have left the neighbourhood, which they did in a few days. Then the King was conveyed to Deira-feld Castle, where in about a week's time he died, in spite of all that could be done by his physician, who came from York to attend him. On his death, also from the same place was fetched a stone coffin, in which he was buried in the church (of the present Little Driffield), where there is now an inscrip tion as follows : — Within this Chancel Lies Interred the Body of ALFRED, King of Northumberland, Who Departed this Life, January igTH, a.d. 705, In the 20TH Year of his Reign.

Statum Est Omnibus Semil Mori. The character of Alfred of Northumbria bears a great similarity to that of the great Alfred of English history, with whom he has been frequently confounded. In his patronage of the learned, his justice and moderation, he will indeed bear comparison even with his more illustrious namesake.