Category: December

Francis Drake

9/12/2022

Following his departure from Plymouth in the November of 1577, strong winds and fog in the English Channel hampered Sir Francis Drake's first attempt to reach the Americas. This bad weather had forced Drake into the Cornish port of Falmouth from where his fleet returned to Plymouth to make repairs.

It was today that Drake, once again, set sail as captain of the Pelican, which would be renamed the Golden Hind on a voyage in the August of 1578.

Replica of Golden Hind, is moored in the harbour of the seaport of Brixham in Devon.

Drake's fleet contained five ships, the Pelican and the Elizabeth were the larger ones. The Elizabeth, who was captained by John Winter, was separated from the fleet at the Straits of Magellan. The three other smaller vessels were the Marigold, Swan, and Benedict. Only Drake's Golden Hind completed the voyage.

As captain, Sir Francis Drake was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the world, he returned home to England on the 26th September 1580 with a cargo hold of spices and enough treasure to pay off the country's foreign debt.

Drake's journey was classed as the 'Secrets of the Realm' and those involved were sworn to secrecy on the pain of death!

Sir Francis Drake was rewarded a year later with a knighthood and a miniature painting, by court artist Nicholas Hilliard, which is now known as the 'The Drake Jewel.'

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Thomas Becket

29/12/2017

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The subject of the life and death of Thomas Becket is one the most written about and studied in history, and nearly everybody knows of this man's death at the hands of four murderous knights.

Stained glass window of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral

Thomas Becket was the son of wealthy city merchant Gilbert Becket, who saw to it that his son was well educated. Becket became Chancellor and good friend of Henry II. His patron was Theobald of Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury. Only a few months following Theobald's death in 1161 Becket was nominated as Archbishop of Canterbury and took up this position following the conformation by royal council on the 23rd May of 1162. As Archbishop of Canterbury, he became a strong defender of the Church and the rights of those under him and this was the beginning of his fall from grace.

His quarrel over the role of church and crown with Henry II ended in his horrific death at the altar of Canterbury Cathedral. It was on this very day in 1170 that Hugh de Morville, Reginald FitzUrse, Richard le Brito and William de Tracey, knights of Henry's court stormed into Canterbury Cathedral and murdered Becket, slashing him repeatedly with their swords.

At the time Becket's death provoked widespread outrage, but soon he had a cult following and there was talk of miracles.

The four knights had misinterpreted Henry's angry rantings as an order for sanctioned murder and it is still unclear whether it was Henry's intention to have Becket killed or not, but the blame for his death did land firmly on his shoulders. In punishment, Henry was banned from taking Mass until he had completed a penance and following this, the king promised to provide money for two hundred knights to go on Crusade.

The four knights who took Becket's life left for Scotland were excommunicated on the 25th March 1171 and exiled to Jerusalem after which they disappear. It is thought that after nearly fifteen years fighting in the holy land they each returned home to their respective manors, other stories have them being buried at a Templar church on the site of the Temple of Solomon.

In the three images above you can see depictions of the death of Becket, the first can be found on the south porch of Chartres Cathedral. The carving is dated to between 1194 and 1230. The second is an ivory representation of Becket's martyrdom dated to around 1400 and the third can be found in a manuscript held by the British Library.

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Consecration of the Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster

28/12/2017

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There has been a religious building on or near the site of Westminster Abbey since Saxon times and one even earlier if the legend of the conversion of the Temple of Apollo into a Christian church is to be believed. However, the origins of the building we have come to know have its roots in the time of Edward the Confessor.

It was during his exile in Normandy that Edward vowed to make a pilgrimage to Rome if he should ever take the throne of England. Edward did become king but he soon became concerned that the country would be vulnerable to attack, and this prevented him from fulfilling his vow. Pope Alexander III, however, released him from this promise on the condition that he built an abbey in honour of St. Peter.

Edward was good to his word, he re-endowed and enlarged a small Benedictine monastery on the banks of the River Thames to create his new church, work began in the years between 1042 and 1052.

Edward's church the Collegiate Church of St Peter was consecrated on the 28th December in 1065. Of the construction, a monk of the French Abbey of St Bertin’s wrote:

“Outside the walls of London … stood a monastery dedicated to St Peter, but insignificant in buildings … . … The king , therefore … gave his attention to that place, for it both lay hard by the famous and rich town and also was a delightful spot, … … decided to have his burial place there. Accordingly, he ordered that out of the tithes of all his revenues should be started the building of a noble edifice, worthy of the Prince of the Apostles; so that, after the transient journey of this life, God would look kindly upon him, both for the sake of his goodness and because of the gift of lands and ornaments with which he intended to ennoble the place. And … there was no weighing of the costs, … so long as it proved worthy of … God and St Peter”.

Only one image of the confessor's church exists and this can be seen depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry where we can see a workman placing a weather vane on its roof. King Edward was a deeply religious man, it was for his devotion to God he received his name the Confessor, maybe this is why we can also see the hand of God appearing through the clouds in a gesture of blessing.

As the date of the abbey's consecration approached, Edward's health deteriorated and he was too ill to attend. Only eight days later the king was dead. Edward's church survived until the reign of Henry III when it was demolished and work on the present Westminster Abbey began in 1245.

Henry's Gothic masterpiece was consecrated on 13th October 1269.

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Battle of Radcot Bridge

18/12/2017

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Radcot Bridge is the first bridge over the River Thames as it enters the county of Oxfordshire, it is also reputed to be the oldest bridge on the river. The Patent Rolls in the reign of King John state

'Sciatis nos recepisse in custodiam et protectionem nostram fratrem Aylwin qui reperacionem pontis de Redeot
suscepit et homines et res suas'.'

"Know that we have received in the custody and protection for our brother Aylwin, who took Redeot
reperacions (?) the bridge of the people and their property"

In the history of medieval warfare, this ancient crossing of the Thames has been mentioned twice.

One incident that took place in 1645 was a civil war skirmish, the Royalist vanguard of Lord George Goring, who was on an order to join Charles I's troops at Oxford, came across a small parliamentary force scouting the area for a place to cross the Thames which resulted in the bridge coming under the control of the Royalist party. The first and not dissimilar skirmish took place in December of 1387 when the Royalist forces of the Earl of Oxford were defeated by the army under the command of the Lord Appellant.

The crisis that had come to a head at Radcot Bridge had really begun ten years previous when ten year old Richard of Bordeaux had become King Richard II. At the centre of the troubles was Richard's reliance on favourites - a group of young nobles of his own age, two of which would find themselves on opposing sides, they were Robert de Vere, who would lead the royalist forces at Radcot Bridge and Thomas Mowbray who would be one of the five members of the Lords Appellant. Mowbray, of course, would eventually feel the wrath of the king years later, however, Richard would stay loyal to Robert de Vere.

Robert de Vere, the 9th Earl of Oxford received the Earldom when he was nine years old, and it is easy to see why the two boys formed a friendship, their fates were linked by the loss of their fathers and the sudden 'gift' of money and power- all the things that can lead the young astray. In the year of Richard's ascension to the throne, Robert de Vere was knighted along with the king, Henry, the Earl of Derby, the future Henry IV and Richard's uncle Thomas of Woodstock. As the days of Richard's minority turned into years, resentment and anger in court was building, Richard resented his ambitious uncle John of Gaunt, and his favourites envied Gaunt's power and status - it has been suggested that Robert de Vere was the ringleader of a plot to murder Gaunt. Robert de Vere benefited greatly from his friendship with the king he was given his own rooms in Richard's castles, granted estates, gifts and other nobles' inheritances. He was also given the title Marquess of Dublin, yet he never set foot in Ireland.

At the royal table, favourite Robert de Vere can be seen sitting on the right of Richard II

By the end of 1387, the Lords Appellant had Robert de Vere at the top of their list of traitors, however, it was not just the king's younger friends who were targeted, Richard's Chancellor, Michael de la Pole, was second on that list.

Pole owed his place in Richard's court to his father William, who had supplied ships and lent money to Richard's grandfather Edward III. William de la Pole didn't benefit greatly from the association with the royal family but Michael did, he was placed in Richard's court to advise but was really manipulated by the charismatic young king. He too was rewarded by but found himself on the wrong side at the wrong time - a family trait it seems.

By December, the Lord Appellant numbered five their case against Richard's favourites ended in a charge of treason. Michael de la Pole was impeached, but despite Richard's involvement he was forced to flee to France, however, Robert De Vere, with more bravado than military experience, stood his ground.

Fosse Way heading away from Stow on the Wolds

Robert de Vere raised an army of about five thousand men, they headed for Northampton but their way was blocked, and he was forced to take another route along the Fosse Way to Stow on the Wold. In the third week of December, he had reached Radcot Bridge, but at this crossing over the Thames, he was intercepted by the small force of Henry Bolingbroke, who in order to impede de Vere's progress broke the central navigation arch - a grant of pontage (a toll raised for repair to buildings and bridges) was issued in 1393 to repair the damage. At this point suggested 14th-century chronicler Thomas Walsingham, de Vere nearly turned tail and ran but was 'encouraged' to continue with the fight by his men. It was Walsingham who also suggested that de Vere was homosexual. Robert de Vere's force was encircled and after a short clash of weapons he was quick to realise the danger of his position, he soon abandoned his men, leaving many of them to the mercy of their enemy and made his cowardly escape by crossing the river, supposedly in disguise, and headed to the Netherlands.

A year later, in what has come to be known as the Merciless Parliament he was found guilty of treason, and a death sentence was passed in his absence.

Robert de Vere spent the rest of his life in exile, thus avoiding the executioner's blade. He died in 1392, leaving Richard II bereft.

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Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector

9/12/2017

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Oliver Cromwell, you either love him or you hate him, there seems to be no in-between. It was on the 16th December in 1653 that he became Lord Protector.

I have always been confused by Cromwell, he was a man with the right ideas for reshaping Stuart England, but his strict religious beliefs only offered the country one way to achieve it.

It seems to me that Oliver Cromwell was stuck at a fork in a road, often proceeding in one direction only to change his mind before he reached his destination. As the head of the Council of State with advisers he had appointed (not a good start,) Cromwell wanted the people of England to follow the word of god, but with the freedom to think for themselves. He understood the importance of a strong parliament, he wanted its members to be honourable and trustworthy, men that the population would trust and support at a time of crisis, Cromwell considered this the way forward. Fine values you could say, however....

Cromwell was a Janus, the parliament he set up he dismissed on two occasions when they disagreed with him, he wanted a government with the authority to control, but kept a large army to suppress if necessary, he wanted people to be comfortable in their beliefs, but forced them to follow a strict Puritan regime, coming down hard on the population if they stepped out of line.

Oliver Cromwell's parliament had ordered the execution of Charles I for his belief in the right of succession then insisted that his son step into his shoes. Cromwell didn't fully understand, until it was too late Shakespeare statement

"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown."

Oliver Cromwell, I feel, was a man with the right basic ideas who failed to realise that applying them would not be easy.

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Emperor Commodus

31/12/2016

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Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus Augustus was born on the 31st August 161 in Rome to Marcus Aurelius and Faustina his cousin. He was a twin, but his brother died at the age of three.

Most of us will remember him as Commodus, he was Emperor of Rome from 180 to 192.

I know my Roman Emperors from Augustus to Nero, throw in Valerian, Trajan and Hadrian but after that I'm on shaky ground. I only know of Commodus from watching Ridley Scott's film Gladiator, in which Joaquin Phoenix depicts Commodus. In Scott's brilliant film, Commodus is viewed as a bad emperor, murdering his father, usurping the throne, lusting after his sister and worst of all he defiantly has it in for poor old Maximus, whom he is terribly jealous of.

So was Commodus as wicked as we see in the film? Well, according to Cassius Dio, in his History on Ancient Rome he was

"not naturally wicked but, on the contrary, as guileless as any man that ever lived. His great simplicity, however, together with his cowardice, made him the slave of his companions, and it was through them that he at first, out of ignorance, missed the better life and then was led on into lustful and cruel habits, which soon became second nature."

What I have read about him, I'm not so sure he was right!

Those plotting against him thought so too, Commodus died on the 31st of December 192 from a second attempt to assassinate him. His mistress poisoned his food but he managed to vomit it out of his system. He was eventually strangled later that day in his bath by his personal trainer on the order of his chamberlain.

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Family History: The Mohun and de Tracy Families.

29/12/2016

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While researching my medieval family history I have found numerous examples of the loss of reputation, land and
wealth - all that has taken one generation to accumulate, taken away by the next. The de Tracy and the Mohun family are
just one example. During the reign of King Stephen, the ancestors of William de Tracy, one of the murderers of Thomas Becket, feature in my family history, they benefited from the downfall of my ancestors, the Mohuns.

The de Tracy's held at least two baronies in Devon, that of Barnstaple and Bradninch. The Mohuns held the barony of Dunster
in Somerset.

For his part in an uprising in 1139, William Mohun has gone down in history as a man both hated and feared by the
population of the West Country, most of Williams ‘bad press’ appears in the ‘Gesta Stephani’ or ‘The Acts of Stephen’ a
12th century study of English history. According to this work, Mohun and other West Country rebels, ravaged the country
in order to obstruct the king.

He (King Stephen) also gave orders to Henry de Tracy, a skilled soldier, oft approved in the hazards of war, that acting
n his stead, because he was called away to other business, he should with all promptitude and diligence bestir himself
against the enemy. Henry therefore, in the Kings absence, set forth from Barnstaple, a town belonging to him and
enjoying privileges granted to him by the king, and made vigorous and determined attacks on his foes, so that he not
only restrained their wonted sallies and the unbridled, marauding raids in the neighbourhood, but also captured a hundred
and four horsemen in on cavalry encounter. At length, he so reduced and humbled William (Mohun) that he was able
to abandon further hostilities against him and to leave the country more peaceful and free from such disturbance"

My ancestor died in obscurity, and his family suffered as a direct result of the loss of 104 of his knights to Henry de Tracy.
As Mohun’s disgrace left the next generation to suffer the consequences of his actions, the De Tracy family were, for
a generation at least, rising stars, but like the Mohuns, the de Tracys too fell out of royal favour, William de Tracy, as we
have seen in a previous post, was one of the four men who had heard Henry II’s outburst "Will no one rid me of this t
urbulent priest?’ and then had gone on to murder Becket at Canterbury Cathedral, as a result the De Tracy lands in Devon
were forfeited to the crown.

In the image you can see Dunster Castle, that fell into disrepair, and its surrounding land during the time of the Anarchy.

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History Bites: Richard I Captured

20/12/2016

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On this day in 1192, King Richard I was captured in the Austrian town of Vienna whilst on his way home from crusade by King Leopold V of Austria.

Following his departure from the Holy land in the October, Richard the Lionheart was travelling in a disguise when he was captured and imprisoned. The English king was held hostage until February 1194, a ransom was eventually paid to release the king, part of which was used to build the Austrian town Wiener Neusdadt.

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Sir Humphry Davy

17/12/2016

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On the 17th December 1778, one of Cornwall's famous sons, Sir Humphry Davy was born in Penzance.

Davy was educated in Cornwall's county town of Truro, and this was followed by an apprenticeship to a
Penzance surgeon. In 1797, Davy took up chemistry, and was taken on as an assistant at the Medical Pneumatic Institution
in Bristol. It was here he experimented with various new gases by inhaling them which nearly cost him his life on more than
one occasion, eventually though, this experimentation led to the discovery of the anesthetic effect that we know as
laughing gas.

In 1815, George Stephenson from Newcastle, claimed he was the inventor of a safety lamp for the use in coal mines but
it is Davy who is credited with the invention. This lamp allowed coal to be mined from deep coal seams reducing the dangers
of explosions from methane gas. The lamp, consisted of a wick with the flame enclosed inside a mesh screen, Davy
discovered that if the mesh was fine enough, it would not ignite the methane.

Sir Humphry Davy died in Geneva, Switzerland, on 29 May 1829

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Francis Drake

Thomas Becket

Consecration of the Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster

Battle of Radcot Bridge

Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector

Emperor Commodus

Family History: The Mohun and de Tracy Families.

History Bites: Richard I Captured

Sir Humphry Davy

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