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King John, the Magna Carta and Northants.

2015 brings the 800th anniversary of the sealing of the Magna Carta. Sadly Northamptonshire’s key role in the events leading up to Runnymede have been all but forgotten or ignored by the local council, the media and modern historians. So to redress the balance, if only in a small way, this is what happened:

When John first took the throne, it was Northampton that he chose for where his Barons should assemble and swear fealty to him. For the rest of his reign, Northampton was always one of King John’s favourite castles and as such witness to many of his excesses. When John did decide to indulge, it was often the poor of Northampton that benefited. On one occasion a thousand people from the town were fed fish or meat, bread and beer after he ate meat and drank wine on a fast day. In 1208 he moved his treasury to Northampton after falling out with the people of London. Even Shakespeare sets the opening scene of his play King John in the castle, and has John throwing his brother from its walls.

One of John’s disagreements, was over the appointment of Steven Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury, after which the clergy was outlawed and the Archbishop and the monks of Canterbury were banished. On 12 January 1209, the Pope Innocent III wrote to the bishops of London, Ely and Worcester instructing them to excommunicate the king if he did not repent within three months. He also sent a copy to John.1 John began to negotiate with the Pope but after nine months nothing had been resolved. By this time however, all the Bishops except Peter des Roches, Bishop of Winchester had fled the country, and Roches was one of John’s supporters. So there was no one left to publish the excommunication.2 In October, the Pope published the excommunication in France, however John made sure he did not receive the notice in person. So, as far as he was concerned it had not been carried out.3

In July 1211, Pope sent his legate Pandulf, and a Templar Knight named Durand to England so ” that they might restore peace between the Crown and the clergy.”4 John met them at Northampton on 30 August. In the Great Hall which was packed with Barons, Pandulf demanded Langton’s reinstatement. John refused and furious row broke out between the two. Then, before the assembled barons, Pandulf finally carried out the excommunication on John. But, Pandulf did not stop there, and absolved all John’s subjects from their allegiance, telling them to be ready to join any army which the Pope might send to England. To show his own power, John ordered that all the prisoners held in the castle were to be brought before them. Then one by one John metered out his punishments which were carried out immediately. One was blinded, another, his hands and feet chopped off, another was hanged. Finally a priest was brought out to whom John pronounced the sentence of hanging. Pandulf rose saying only a priest may judge a priest, and threatened to ex-communicate anyone who touched the hapless priest. Pandulf then went to find a candle with which to perform the act. John finally relenting, followed and gave the priest over to Pandulf’s custody, who then set him free. 5

Despite his excommunication John continued to defy the Pope. In January 1213, Innocent III wrote to King Phillipe of France, inviting him and the other heads of Europe to invade England and take the crown for himself.6 France did not waste a moment and began to prepare for war, whilst John began to prepare for England’s defence. At the same time, probably realising he could not withstand the combined might of Europe; John re-opened negotiations with Innocent III. Finally, in May 1213, the two reached an agreement. According to the chronicler Roger of Wendover, in the house of the Knights Templars at Ewell, near Dover, and in front of the archbishop of Dublin, the chief justiciars of England and Ireland, seven earls, and three barons, John freely surrendered to God and His holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and to the Holy Mother

Church of Rome, and to Pope Innocent and his Catholic successors.7 However, he would have to wait for the return of Steven Langton in July to be absolved of his excommunication.
On the day after his absolution, John instructed the sheriffs in England to send four men and the
reeve from each town to meet at St. Albans on 4 August. They were met by Justiciar Geoffrey Fitz Peter, and Peter des Roches, Bishop of Winchester, and in a great ceremony, the laws of Henry I were reaffirmed and peace proclaimed.8 John, in the meantime was preparing to launch an expedition against Poitou and ordered the northern barons to join him. However, they refused, claiming they were not bound to follow him and that they were “worn out and impoverished by expeditions within the realm.”9 John sailed anyway around 5 August, expecting the barons to follow. He finally realised they were not behind him when he reached Jersey a few days later. Furious at the insult, he returned to England.10 As soon as he landed, John headed north with a mercenary army to deal with his rebellious barons. When the newly returned Steven Langton heard this, he raced after him to try and avert a bloodbath. He caught up with John at Northampton on 28 August where another furious row erupted. The Archbishop telling John that he would bring contempt upon the oath which he had sworn before his absolution if he made war upon any man without a legal sentence.John told the Archbishop to mind his own business and early on the morning of 31 August set of for Nottingham via Sauvey Castle. He had not got far when Langton caught up with him again. This time the Archbishop threatened to ex-communicate the whole army and said he would not leave the King alone until he agreed to give the barons a fair trial and set a date. It was enough to force John to back down although he would not return to London until the end of September. 11

Soon after his return, Cardinal Nicolas of Tusculum arrived in England to discuss plans for a pecuniary settlement between the Crown and the clergy. Then on 3 October, the council assembled in St. Paul’s. At the foot of the high altar, in the sight of clergy and people, John placed his crown into the legate’s hands, received it back from him, and swore fealty to him as the Pope’s representative.

Although things seemed to be finally settled with the Pope. Matters at home were entirely the opposite. John had effectively created a system of royal extortion and nothing and nobody was safe. Exorbitant tolls were exacted from merchants, rivers were blocked so that John could take the profits of fishing, even Monasteries were taken into the king’s custody. Men were forced to give up without compensation their corn, horses and wood as the king and his supporters required. Free men could be arrested, imprisoned, ejected from their lands, or even exiled or outlawed, without a fair trial. John, and his favourites could impose taxes as they saw fit ignoring the limits of feudal custom. And, in all this chaos, it was only the barons who could oppose John’s corrupt rule. Despite his settlement with the Pope and the affirmation of Henry I’s charter at St. Albans, John continued to oppress his own people. At the end of November 1214, the Barons met in secret at St. Edmunds Abbey in modern Bury St. Edmunds. Here they all swore on the high altar that if the king continued to flaunt the laws set out in Henry I’s charter they would withdraw their fealty and declare war on John until he sealed the charter and gave in to their demands.. 12
At the beginning of January 1215, the Barons met John in London and gave him their ultimatum. John, playing for time as always, asked that he might have until Easter to consider their demands. The Barons reluctantly agreed and Steven Langton, William Marshal and the Bishop of Ely agreed to stand as surety for John. However, as soon as the meeting ended, John began to raise a mercenary army. He also shrewdly wrote to the Pope offering to go a crusadethereby gaining special papal protection. During this time Steven Langton held several meetings with the Barons. Early in February, the Barons wrote to the Pope begging him for his support.

However, it seems that John’s messenger had got their first for on 19 March 1215, the Pope wrote to the archbishop of Canterbury and the other English bishops, expressing his surprise that they had not stopped the quarrel between the king and “certain magnates and barons”. In the letter he also condemned the “conspiracies and conjurations” which the barons were reported to have made, and ordered the bishops to quash all such conspiracies. At the same time he wrote to the barons, informing them of the contents of his letter to the bishops.13 Then on 1 April, the Pope wrote to the Barons again warning them to agree to the King’s demands.14
Concerned over John’s warlike preparations and Papal support, the Baron’s held another meeting. They decided that they could no longer wait for their appointed meeting with John and agreed to muster at Stamford near Peterborough during Easter week (19-26 April). Five Earls and forty Barons, mostly from the north, are mentioned by name as being present at the muster,” with many others”; they all came with horses and arms, and brought with them ” a countless host,” estimated to comprise about two thousand knights, besides other horsemen, sergeants-at-arms, and foot soldiers.15

From Stamford they marched to Northampton, and from there to Brackley. John was in London when he heard of the uprising and sent William Marshal and Steven Langton to obtain a list of their demands. They met with the Barons on 27 April, who “presented to the envoys a certain schedule, which consisted for the most part of ancient laws and customs of the realm, declaring that if the king did not at once grant these things and confirm them with his seal, they would compel him by force.”16 It was this list of demands that became the Magna Carta.
Langton and the Marshal returned to the king, now in Wiltshire, with the list of demands. One by one the articles were read out to him by the Archbishop. According to Roger of Wendover, after he had heard them all John said ” Why do these barons not ask for my kingdom at once ?… their demands are idle dreams, without a shadow of reason” Then he burst into a fit of rage, and swore that he would never grant to them liberties which would make himself a slave.17 He then sent the two back to the Barons and instructed them to repeat his words verbatim. On hearing this, the Barons immediately renounced their fealty to the King and chose Robert Fitz-Walter as their leader, to whom they gave the grandeous title of ” Marshal of the army of God and Holy Church.”18 They then marched back to Northampton, occupied the town and laid siege to the castle.19 However, they had not brought any siege equipment and after two weeks, were forced to give up, but not before many had been killed including Fitz-Walters standard bearer. The Barons moved to Bedford where William de Beauchamp readily gave up his castle and then to London.

The townsfolk of Northampton had also risen against the royal garrison of the castle and slain several of them. Although the King’s men had sallied out and burnt half the town. Finally, sometime at the beginning of June, John despatched William Marshal to the Barons in London saying “…that for the sake of peace and for the welfare and honour of his realm, he would freely concede to them the laws and liberties which they asked ; and that they might appoint a place and day for him and them to meet, for the settlement of all these things.” In the words of Ralph of Coggeshall, ” By the intervention of the archbishop of Canterbury, with several of his fellow-bishops and some barons, a sort of peace was made.”A meeting was arranged where John would agree to the Barons demands. The meeting was set for 15 June, and the place, a meadow between Staines and Windsor called Runnemede.20

1 Innoc. III. Epp. 1. xi. No. 211.
2 R. Wendover, vol. iii. pp. 222, 228, 229 ;Gerv. Cant. vol. ii. pp. 100, 103, 104 ; Ann. Waverl. and Dunst. a. 1208.
3 Ann. Dunst. a. 1209.
4 R. Wendover, vol. iii. pp. 235, 236.
5 W. Coventry, vol. ii. p. 204 ;R. Wendover, vol. iii. p. 235 Ann. Burton, a. 1211
6 R. Wendover, vol. iii. pp. 241, 242.
7 R. Wendover, vol. iii. p. 252.
8 R. Wendover, vol. iii. pp. 261-262
9 R. Coggeshall, p. 167
10 R. Wendover, vol. iii. p. 261
11 R. Wendover, vol. iii. pp. 262-263
12 R. Wendover, vol. iii. pp. 293, 294. Cf. R. Coggeshall, p. 170.
13 Foedera, vol. i. pt. i. p. 127
14 Foedera, vol. i. pt. i. p. 128
15 R. Wendover, vol. iii. pp. 297, 298 ; M. Paris, Chron. Maj. vol. ii. p.585.
16 R. Wendover, vol. iii. p. 298.
17 R. Wendover, vol. iii. p. 299
18 W. Coventry, vol. ii. p. 219. R. Wendover, vol. iii. p. 299
19 R. Coggeshall, p. 171 R. Wendover, vol. iii. p. 299
20 R. Wendover, vol. iii. p. 301.

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Radio Northampton

Our chair, Mike Ingram will be on BBC Radio Northampton this coming Thursday at about 2:40 talking about the 1460 Battle of Northampton and the forthcoming talk on Sat 17th Jan at Northampton Museum.

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New Year Message

A very happy and prosperous new year to all our members, friends and supporters. It will be an exciting time with the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta although there is a lot of hard work to be done to get the counties role in it recognised at both local and national levels. The 1460 battlefield is also still under threat of development and there is much more to be done if we are to protect it for our descendants. Many thanks to all those who have helped over the last 12 months, your continued support and help is greatly appreciated. If you have not joined as a full member, we hope you will soon. We have a good programme of speakers planned for 2015 and hope you will be able to come along to at least one meeting. There is a talk on the 1460 battle on 17 Jan at Northampton Museum organised by the Battlefields Trust, with talks on Naseby and Edgecote in the subsequent months. A commemoration of the 1460 battle will be held at Delapre Abbey on 4 July and a memorial walk on the anniversary. There will also be an article on the 1460 battle coming out in Medieval Warfare magazine probably in May. Finally we have an exciting announcement for the end of Jan so keep your eyes open.

Mike Ingram

Chairman

Battle of Northampton 1460, Latest News, Meetings, Northampton history, Uncategorized

NBS wins ‘Community Star’ award

We are pleased to announce that Northampton Battlefield Society has been awarded a Community Star Award by the NN48 Community Group which covers the area around Delapré, Far Cotton and Briar Hill in Northampton. There are ten awards in total including the Community Group Award, The Charity Champion Award and the Good Neighbour Award. NBS has been awarded ‘The Roy Connell Award’ for a Community Group have fought for what they believe in. The award itself is in memory of the late Roy Connell, who was the chair of Far Cotton Residents Association and who fought tirelessly for what he believed in for the benefit of the community.

Chair Mike Ingram said, ‘ We are honoured and grateful to receive this award, and although it may sound like a cliché, this really is an award for all those in the community who have said enough is enough, this is our green space and our battlefield, and we don’t want it destroyed. A big thanks must also go to those people and organisations such as Mortimer, the Battlefields Trust and English Heritage who have been helping behind the scenes’.

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Threat to 1460 battlefield continues

Press release issued today by the Lib Dems regarding last nights meeting of the Far Cotton Residents association, and its not good for the 1460 Battlefield.

STARTS

Conservative Portfolio holder still refuses to rule our development on Battlefield Site

 

At a meeting of Far Cotton Residents association last night, the Conservative portfolio holder for parks and the environment once again refused to rule out development on the park land at Eagle Drive.

The Councillor, when questioned, read a statement from the leader and refused to be drawn any further. The statement did not rule out development.

Cllr. Brendan Glynane (Lib Dem, Delapre and Rushmere) said “It is nothing short of cowardice from this Conservative administration to hide important information from residents. Either they should set all of our minds at rest, and confirm they will not allow development on this important historical site, or they should tell us what they really plan – so we can fight them tooth and nail. Sneaking development behind residents back is just dishonest.”

Cllr. Glynane added “It was made extremely clear to the portfolio holder once again last night that the residents of Far Cotton do not want and will not accept development on this site. I hope this administration’s record of complete disregard for our town’s heritage will not continue.”

ENDS

Battle of Northampton 1264, King John, Latest News, Magna Carta, Meetings, Northampton history, Northampton in the 13th Century, Uncategorized

November Meeting

Our next meeting will be held at the Marriott Hotel, Eagle Drive, Northampton Wednesday 26 November at 7:30pm. Our speaker will be Edward Dawson, the Battlefields Trust coordinator for the Magna Carta 800 Project.

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AGM

At last nights AGM the following were voted onto the committee by those present:-
Chair – Mike Ingram.
Vice Chair – Phil Steele.
Treasurer – Steve Machaeson.
Secretary – Peter Brearley.
Corin Brearley, Anthony Rich, Gary Arthur and Graham Evans were also voted on as general committee members.

Andy Brockman and Matthew Ryan were made Honorary members in recognition of their support and assistance.

The annual membership fee was set as £10.00 for individuals and £15.00 for families. We hope you will all join not only to help protect the 1460 battlefield, but also to preserve and encourage further research into the counties incredible history. (Please message for address details etc.). Membership will run from 1 Oct to 1 Oct each year.

Battle of Northampton 1460, Northampton history, Richard III, Uncategorized, Wars of the Roses

King Richard’s Bane

In the hours before the Battle of Northampton, as was tradition, King Henry knighted a number of his men. Little did they know that in just over twenty years, several of them would be instrumental in the downfall of Richard III.

 

Henry Stafford(4 September 1455 – 2 November 1483)

Henry was the grandson and heir of Humphrey Stafford, the Duke of Buckingham and Earl of Northampton, his own father dying at the Battle of St. Albans five years earlier.. Henry was not even five years old when he was knighted at Northampton. On his grandfather’s death at Northampton, he soon became the ward of Elizabeth Woodville, so he probably spent much of his youth with the Woodville’s at Grafton Regis in Northamptonshire. Sometime around 1465 and before he was ten years old, Henry married Elizabeth’s sister Catherine, three years his junior. Although three of his four grandparents were descended from Edward III, Henry played little part in politics of the time. That is until he seems to have become close confidant of Richard of Gloucester, helping him to take the throne. In 1483, Buckingham led a major rebellion against Richard which ended in failure and his execution.

Thomas Stanley (1435 – 29 July 1504)

No doubt through his father’s influence, Thomas had become a Squire to King Henry by 1454. After the death of his father in February 1459, Stanley inherited his father’s titles, including those of Baron Stanley and King of Mann as well as his extensive lands and offices in Cheshire and Lancashire. He therefore, probably came to Northampton in 1460 at the head of the infamous Cheshire archers. His brother William seems devoted to the Yorkist cause and if one chronicle can be believed, sacked the Royal baggage train at Gayton in Northamptonshire after the battle. Thomas would go on to help his stepson Henry Tudor to the throne, whilst his wife Margaret Beaufort would retire to Collyweston in north Northamptonshire.

Sir William Norris  (1433-1506)

Norris was the son of John Norris of Yattenden and Bray in Berkshire, and married to Jane, daughter of John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford. After the battle, he too changed sides, and in 1462, took part in Edward’s invasion of Scotland. His wife became a lady-in-waiting to Elizabeth Woodville and by 1468 he was Sheriff of Oxfordshire and Berkshire. He must have been trusted by Edward as in 1483 he was created a Knight of the Body. After Edward’s death he was at the coronation of the new King, Richard III on 6 July, but then in the October, joined Buckingham’s rebellion. Initially he was one of the leaders in the Newbury area then with John Cheyne led a force blocking the way from Poole to Westminster. On 23 Oct Norris was proclaimed a rebel and attained, but by this time had probably fled to France to join Henry Tudor. When Henry Tudor returned in 1485, Norris was part of his army, fighting at Bosworth. He would go on to command part of the royal army at the Battle of Stoke Field in 1487 and again against Perkin Warbeck ten years later.

 

Thomas Dymoke (ca.1427- 1470)

Thomas was the son of Sir Philip Dymoke and Joan Conyers and was married to Margaret, third daughter of the Lancastrian commander, 6th Lord Welles. After the battle he seems to have changed sides as on 28 June 1461, he is noted as being King Edward IV’s champion at his coronation. However, in 1469          he joined with his brother-in-law, Richard Welles, 7th Lord Willoughby in supporting Warwick’s plot to restore Henry. In            1470, along with Lord Welles, his son, Sir Robert Welles and Sir Thomas de la Launde, he attacked the manor of Sir Thomas Burgh in Lincolnshire. Both Dymoke and Lord Welles were subsequently commanded to appear before the Privy Council, but because of Edward’s rapid move north, they were sent after the army. On hearing that Edward wanted them to explain Sir Robert’s conduct, they took sanctuary in Westminster; after being pardoned, they promised to disband his army, which they failed to do. Dymoke was arrested along with Lord Welles when Robert Welles army began to march south. King Edward with his own army moved to intercept them. On 12 March 1470, the two sides met at the Battle of Empingham better known as Losecote Field.  On the same day, both Dymoke and Welles were executed at Stamford in Lincolnshire.

Thomas Thorpe (died 1461)

Thorpe was of unknown parentage, but was almost certainly a native of Northamptonshire, where he later acquired the manors of Barnwell All Saints and Lilford. He obtained employment in the exchequer, where by about 20 July 1437 he was a summoner. He probably owed his subsequent advancement to the patronage of the Beauforts, with whom Thorpe was associated in the grant of a wardship in 1443. His parliamentary career began in Oct 1449 when he was elected junior knight of the shire (MP) of Northamptonshire along with Thomas Tresham. By 1452 he was the Third Baron of the Exchequer and Knight of the Shire for Essex. In 1453, he was elected Speaker for the first part of the 19th Parliament of King Henry VI. However, the following year, he was imprisoned in the Fleet Prison for falsely confiscating property of the Duke of York and was replaced as Speaker by Sir Thomas Charlton.

In 1455, Thorpe became Chancellor of the Exchequer and was with the King at St Albans where he was among those subsequently accused of having fled ‘and left ther harneys behynde them cowardly’. Afterwards the Duke of York accused him of intercepting messages to the King which might have prevented the Battle of St Albans and Thorpe was stripped of all his public offices. On his return to favour in 1457 he was made Keeper of the Privy Wardrobe in the Tower of London for life and in 1458 was appointed Second Baron of the Exchequer, serving until 1460. At the Parliament of Devils in 1459, he helped to draw up the bill of attainder declaring York and his leading followers to be traitors.

In 1460 he was captured at the Battle of Northampton and brought back to London as a prisoner first to Newgate and then Marshalsea. However he managed to escape disguised as a monk complete with tonsure, but was recaptured and sent to the Tower. He managed to escape a second time, but on 17 February 1461, was caught in Harringay by a London mob and summarily beheaded.

 

Sir Henry Lewys (1439 -1480)

Henry’s father was John Lewys of West Horndon and his mother Alicia, another one of John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford’s daughters.  was another close associate of the Beauforts, marrying Sir Edmund Beaufort, Earl of Somerset’s daughter Elizabeth, sometime after the battle. Their daughter Mary would go on to marry Anthony Woodville, Lord Rivers . Sir Henry’s half-sister Margaret, from his father’s second wife Anne Montagu (d. 1457), who was the daughter of John Earl of Salisbury,was also married to Sir William Lucy. Lucy was also killed at Northampton along with his nephew and heir, Walter Hopton, and his great-nephew William Vaux. Margaret possibly had an affair (and a child) with King Edward but would later go on to marry Sir Thomas Wake. Wake was a prominent Northamptonshire squire, formerly sheriff, and Commissioner of Array, probably fighting for the Lancastrians at the Battle of Northampton. After the death of Buckingham he became a Warwick retainer, accusing his neighbour, Jacquetta, Elizabeth Woodville’s mother of witchcraft.

After Northampton, Sir Henry took part in the Battle of Towton on the Lancastrians side, managing to escape the carnage again.  Along with his brother-in-law Henry Beaufort, he was attained during Edward’s first Parliament in 1461. And the following year, they were both at Dunstanburgh when it surrendered to Yorkist forces in Dec 1462. Both swore their allegiance to Edward, but by 1470 Henry was involved with Welles plotting and rebellion.

 

William Tyrrell

Confusingly there were two William Tyrrell’s knighted at Northampton. The first was William from Gipping in Suffolk, the younger son of John Tyrrell of Heron in Essex, chief steward of the Duchy of Lancaster. He was married to Margaret, the daughter of Sir Robert Darcy. Surviving Northampton, he fought for the Lancastrians at Towton but seems to have escaped an attainder. However, he seems to have not forgotten his Lancastrian sympathies. Tyrrell seems to have had connections to the Earl of Oxford who had a strong affinity in Essex and Suffolk, In 1462, some compromising correspondence between Oxford and Queen Margaret was intercepted. It was read, copied, re-sealed and carried on to Margaret. Her reply was dealt with in the same way, and the Government soon had the details of a possible French landing. King Edward IV immediately arrested the 12th Earl along with his oldest son Aubrey de Vere (who was married to the daughter of the 1st Duke of Buckingham), Sir John Tuddenham and Tyrrell. They were convicted of high treason before the Constable of England, John Tiptoft, 1st Earl of Worcester. Aubrey was executed on Tower Hill on 20 February 1462. Tyrrell followed three days later, and then Oxford on 26 February 1462.

The other William Tyrrell, was from Beeches in Rawreth, Essex, and like his namesake, survived Northampton and Towton without attainder. He was married firstly to Anne Fitz Simon, the daughter of William Fitz Simon, by whom he had his son and heir, Sir John Tyrrell, and secondly Philippe Thornbury, the daughter of John Thornbury. He also seems to have been in the retinue of the Earl of Oxford and was probably with him when he slain at the Battle of Barnet in 1471

John de Ashton or Assheton (died 1508),

John was the son of Sir Thomas, King Henry’s alchemist, and would become Knight of the Shire for Lancashire in 1472.

Sources

J.S. Roskell, Parliament and Politics in Late Medieval England.

W.A Shaw. The Knights of England  Vol 2 (London 1906) p. 12

M. Hicks. Edward V: The Prince in the Tower

M. Hicks. Richard III and His Rivals: Magnates and Their Motives in the Wars of the Roses

 

Latest News, Meetings, Northampton history, Uncategorized, Wars of the Roses

Next Society Meeting

Our next meeting will be at 7:30pm  Thursday 31 July at the Marriott Hotel, Eagle Drive. Harvey Watson from the Battlefields Trust will be talking about Northamptonshire’s other Wars of the Roses battlefield – Edgecote in 1469.