Blog Archives - Meandering Through Time

Christopher Marlowe

26/2/2017

Christopher Marlowe was an English playwright and poet, he was born in Canterbury to shoemaker John Marlowe and his wife Catherine, he was baptised on this day in 1564. Marlowe's life, his work and his death are all steeped in mystery, rumour and myth with questions such as, Was he really William Shakespeare? Did he write Shakespeares plays? Was he a spy? Was he murdered? being asked.

He of course wasn't William Shakespeare, but they were born in the same year. Marlowe attended the King’s school in Canterbury after which he went to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. His frequent and lengthy absences from university and a letter that remarked on his “good service” to Elizabeth I on “matters touching the benefit of his country” play their part in the theory he was spying for Francis Walsingham.

The theory that Marlowe wrote parts of Shakespeare plays seems to be true though. Henry VI, Parts One, Two and Three are among as many as 17 plays that are thought to contain the works of other playwrights including Marlowe.

So what of the rumours of Marlow's death? These say that he was stabbed to death, he was killed in a drunken fight, and the reasons for his death has been speculated upon too - he was murdered by a rival in love, Elizabeth put out a contract on him.

My favourite play, Dr Faustus of course, a play about a man who sells his soul for twenty years of knowledge and power. Today, we use the term “Faustian bargain” which is in reference to any deal made for a short term gain that comes with a great cost.
All fascinating stuff !

The Bloody Assizes

25/2/2017

On the 19th August in 1685, trials began in Winchester that have come to be known as the Bloody Assizes.

On trial were over one thousand men - rebels who took part in the Monmouth Rebellion. Nearly all would die the horrible death by hanging, disembowelling and quartering, others were transported to the West Indies.

The judges were Sir Henry Pollexfen, Sir Creswell Levinz, Sir Francis Wythens, Sir Robert Wright and Sir William Montague and at their head, Lord Chief Justice George Jeffreys.

Judge Jeffreys was a hard, bitter and vengeful man, who Gilbert Burnet in his History of My Own Time writes of Jeffrey.

"His behaviour was beyond anything that was ever heard of in a civilized nation. He was perpetually either drunk or in a rage, liker a fury that the zeal of a judge. He required the prisoners to plead guilty. And in that case he gave them some hope of favour, if they gave him no trouble; otherwise he told them, he would execute the letter of the law upon them in its utmost severity."

Whether you were old and female made no difference as Lady Alice Lisle would find out to her cost.

meanderingthroughtime.weebly.com/history-blog/category/battle-of-sedgemoor

The Execution of Henry Howard

24/2/2017

The 19th January 1547 saw the execution of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. He had been charged with high treason and found guilty.

Howard has been branded 'reckless and arrogant' and he was a bit of a rebel in his youth. He had a noteworthy military career and was a religious reformer, a suspected supporter of Anne Askew who perished at the stake for her religion only six months previous. Like Howard, Askew had Thomas Wriothesley as her interrogator, and at her death she quoted one of Howard's poems.

Henry Howard was the last noble to be executed during the reign of Henry VIII. He had been sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn, but this was later commuted to beheading, his father, the Duke of Norfolk was luckier, he escaped the executioners blade only because Henry had died before the execution could be carried out.

Henry Howard was first buried at All Saints Church in Barking, however his remains were later removed by his son to the church of St Michael the Archangel in Suffolk.

You can see his beautifully decorated tomb you can see below in my photographs from 2018.

You can read more about Henry Howard here

meanderingthroughtime.weebly.com/history-blog/trial-of-henry-howard

The Medieval Knight

23/2/2017

Many a medieval armed knight, once dismounted, was forced to fight his foe in hand to hand combat fully encased in heavy armour. No doubt his enemy was wielding either a pole weapon or hammer, ready to bludgeon and impale. He might strike with his sword, the sharpness of which would be enough split him in two.

This image gives us an idea of how ferocious these fights were. Despite what we may think, these men were not involved in brutish slogging matches, they were not awkward or clumsy, these medieval men had plenty of technique that needed practiced foot work.

A medieval fight between two equally skilled knights could be over and done with in less than thirty seconds with one fatal blow, the less they were trained the longer it would take. They warded off their opponent with mixture of strength and defensive moves, the power behind a direct strike of sword on sword must have been immense, a direct strike would be the death of one, leaving the other exhausted and weakened to face another armed, blooded, sword wielding opponent!

Death of Humphrey Duke of Gloucester

22/2/2017

In the BBC's series The Hollow Crown: Henry VI Part One, Humphrey Duke of Gloucester was sympathetically played by Hugh Bonneville, a very good choice I think, his portrayal gives us a glimpse of the real man.

It was this day in February 1447 that Humphrey died from a stroke, although there were suggestions that he was poisoned.

"Humphrey" writes author Matthew Lewis "was a well-liked figure who was popular with the common man and retained sympathy for the House of Lancaster as the government of his nephew became increasingly unpopular and out of touch with the country. The policy of eliminating those closest to the throne thrust Richard, Duke of York to prominence as Humphrey’s natural successor, caused those who had looked to Humphrey for a lead to turn their focus from the House of Lancaster and made York, not unreasonably, frightened of meeting the same fate simply by reason of his position. Perhaps paranoia was a part of the makeup of Henry VI’s mental issues even at this early stage, perhaps the Beauforts were manipulating him to improve their own prospects or perhaps it was a little of both. Whatever the reason, it backfired on Henry and the Beauforts, dragging England into a bitter and prolonged civil war."

You can read more about the Duke of Gloucester in Matthew's blog here

mattlewisauthor.wordpress.com/2016/01/05/the-fall-of-humphrey-duke-of-gloucester/

Owen Glendower

16/2/2017

One thousand four hundred, no less and no more,
   Was the date of the rising of Owen Glendower;
   Till fifteen were added with courage ne’er cold
   Liv’d Owen, though latterly Owen was old.

These words were written by Lo Goch or Llwyd, Owen Glendower's bard.

George Borrows writes in his work The Welsh and Their Literature that Lo Goch

"composed this ode two years before the great Welsh insurrection, when he was more than a hundred years old. To his
own great grief he survived his patron, and all hopes of Welsh independence. An englyn, which he composed a few days before his death, commemorates the year of the rising of Glendower, and also the year to which the chieftain lived."

Welsh hero, Owen Glendower was proclaimed Prince of Wales in 1400 and is still remembered and revered today as a man who will one day return and free the Welsh from English oppression.

It was through Borrow's work, that I first learnt about Welsh poets such as Lewis Glyn Cothi and Hew Cae Llwyd, his writings were an aid in my research into the life of my ancestor Thomas Vaughan who was executed at Pontefract in 1483. Borrows work was useful too when I was researching my paternal ancestry, giving me an insight into my Welsh ancestry and a look at the towns and villages these ancestors once inhabited.

George Borrow's work, I feel, is much overlooked but it is historically important, therefore I have included a link to the George Borrows Society.

georgeborrow.org/static/georgeBorrowSociety.html

NB Since writing this blog I have completed the story of my ancestor Thomas Vaughan, you can read it here.
meanderingthroughtime.weebly.com/thomas-vaughan-an-introduction.html

Battle of Torrington

16/2/2017

In what could be called a bit of a coup, Sir Ralph Hopton replaced Sir Richard Grenville at the head of the West Country royalist forces when Grenville refused to serve under Hopton and resigned his commission.

Beginning in the spring of 1643, Hopton's five Cornish regiments had defeated the Parliamentarian forces on Cornwall's border and were soon marching through neighboring Devon. By July, Hopton had led his forces in two battles, one at Crediton and at Landsdowne, where Hopton was injured. In 1644 Hopton, successfully defended Devizes from an attack by William Waller's forces and two years later he had taken up a defensive position in the Devon town of Torrington.

It was on the 16th February 1646, that Ralph Hopton faced the army of Thomas Fairfax in what is known as the Battle of Torrington.

A popular general, Thomas Fairfax, who was nearly twenty years younger than Hopton, had lead his troops to victory at the Battle of Nantwich in 1644, Naseby in 1645 and Colchester in 1648 and at thirty-two he had been appointed Commander in Chief of the New Model Army.

The 16th February 1646 turned out to be wet and cold, the combined forces of about seventeen thousand men fought on the narrow streets. No doubt the inhabitants of Torrington thought the bloodshed would never end, but end it did when gunpowder, that was stored in the parish church, was ignited by a stray spark. The explosion killed many from both sides effectively ending the battle. Ralph Hopton ordered to retreat, he and the remaining royalist army escaped back into Cornwall where he finally surrendered to Fairfax in Truro on 14 March.

The Battle of Torrington marked the end of Royalist resistance in the West Country.

Treaty of Truro

16/2/2017

Following the Royalist loss at the Battle of Torrington in Devon on the 16th of February 1646, the terms for surrender of the Royalist army were formally agreed and the Treaty of Truro was signed on the 14th March.

Sir Ralph Hopton's royalist forces met Thomas Fairfax's in the village of Tresillian in Cornwall at Tresillian Bridge, Fairfax's headquarters were situated just a few yards away in what is now the Wheel Inn.

You can read about the Battle of Torrington on my website at

meanderingthroughtime.weebly.com/history-blog/battle-of-torrington

Was King Alfred Great?

15/2/2017

The discovery of jewellery and silver ingots in a field in Oxfordshire in October of 2015 has put the Anglo-Saxon period under the microscope, historian's suggesting that we should look again at how Alfred is perceived and whether he is entitled to hold the title of great.

The above mentioned find is known as The Watlington Hoard and it contained rare Anglo-Saxon silver coins that were stamped with images of two Roman emperors along with the faces of Alfred and Ceolwulf, the last king of Mercia who died in 879.

These coins are evidence that both men worked together to rid the country of the Viking's, but the suggestion that Alfred wasn't as great as we have been led to believe I would have to disagree with. Alfred's double success at Edington are a case in point, they show his skill as a warrior and a diplomat. Under Alfred, England took the first tentative steps to becoming a civilised, literate and an united country.

As the old adage states, history is written by the victors, and Ceolwulf, who may well have been an effective leader, was not just out gunned, he was out shined.

Alfred achievements were great, therefore, and in my opinion, it is a title deserved.

However, the Victorian cult of King Alfred is in part to blame for how we see Alfred today. To the Victorians, Alfred was a perfect symbol of their perfect nation, but this was a double edged sword, by glossing over their failings, (bad housing conditions, infectious diseases and the early deaths of the poor) with the use of paintings, poems and heroic stories to represent heroic kings, no only show how great was the divide between rich and poor it served to muddle our understanding of Alfred and the time he lived in.

February 12th, 2017

12/2/2017

On the 15th February 1382, the Earldom of Suffolk fell into abeyance on the death of William Ufford when he collapsed and died whilst climbing the stairs into Parliament.

Ufford was highly regarded, he carried the royal sceptre at the coronation of ten year old Richard II and was a councilor during the king's minority and was one of Richard's men who put down the Peasants' Revolt in 1381.

Three years after Ufford's death, part of the family estate and the Earldom of Suffolk passed to Michael de la Pole, William's cousin via sisters Catherine and Margaret Norwich, mother's to Pole and Ufford respectively. However, the vast majority of the Suffolk estate passed in accordance to Ufford's will to his sister Cecily, the wife of John Willoughby of Eresby in Lincolnshire.

William's father Robert, was granted the Earldom of Suffolk in its second creation in March 1337 and they take their name from their manor in Ufford in Suffolk, being descended through the family of Peyton. The Ufford name died along with William in 1382, their bloodline however continued through three daughters.

The descendants of the de la Pole and the Willoughby families play important parts in history. Michael de la Pole's grandson William was blamed for the loss of French territories Maine and Anjou, a scapegoat who was exiled and murdered in 1450. The Willoughby's, in the form of Robert Well's, fought against Edward IV at Losecoat field in 1470 and fourteen year old Catherine Willoughbly would marry Charles Brandon.

William Ufford was buried at Campsey Priory, in Campsea Ashe, Suffolk.