Category: On This Day - Meandering Through Time

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 boarder and were soon marching through neigbouring Devon. By July, Hopton had lead 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.

John Singer Sargent and the National Trust

12/1/2017

12th January 1856: The Birth of John Singer Sargent and the founding, by three Victorian philanthropists Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley, in 1895 of The National Trust. Bringing the two events together is actress Ellen Terry.

Ellen Terry is shown here in the role of Lady Macbeth in a painting by John Singer Sargent. Terry first performed this role in 1888 and it was here that Sargent was inspired by Terry's appearance and persuaded her to sit for the portrait. Oscar Wilde, who saw Terry's arrival at Sargent's Chelsea studio, remarked.

'The street that on a wet and dreary morning has vouchsafed the vision of Lady Macbeth in full regalia magnificently seated in a four-wheeler can never again be as other streets: it must always be full of wonderful possibilities.'

The dress itself is now the property of the National Trust and is one of the most important items they hold. The emerald and sea green gown is made up of the iridescent wings of the Jewel Beetle which the insects naturally shed as part of their life cycle.

Below is Terry wearing the dress in the above mentioned play.

Today it is well over one hundred years old, sadly due to over handling, the fabric is now very weak and a shadow of its original self.

The National Trust in England, Wales and Northern Ireland "look after a quarter of a million hectares of land, 775 miles of coastline, and thousands of archaeological monuments and historic buildings, large and small. Every year many millions of people enjoy the special places in our care."

Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Malborough.

18/10/2016

Being a beautiful, clever and articulate woman was what made Sarah Churchill the woman she was, however these
attributes in conjunction with her friendship with Queen Anne, lead to a massive quarrel and ultimately her dismissal
at the beginning of 1711.

Sarah was not afraid to speak her mind, but she was also unable to control her feelings when she did not get what she wanted.
Sarah was the wife of John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, her quarrel with the queen resulted in the loss of her place in
court, her dismissal from her position as Mistress of the Robes among others, and the replacement in the queens affections
by Abigail Masham. Her husband's demand for the position of captain generalship for life was the straw that broke the
camel's back and he felt the toe of the royal boot twelve months following Sarah's ejection.

The Duke of Malborough, for Queen Anne at least, represented all that was wrong with the country at that time. The fall out from the Spanish succession crisis had hit England hard. The people of England had become very sick of the fighting and
they had also become sick of paying for it.

Sarah and John Chruchill were shrewd, capable and wealthy and classic examples of those who got too big for their boots.

The Duke of Malborough died in the June of 1722 and was buried at Westminster Abbey. Sarah Churchill died on the 18th October 1744 at Marlborough House. Following her burial at her beloved Blenheim, John Churchill's body was taken from
his resting place and re interred alongside her.

Edward Seymour

10/10/2016

On the 11th of October 1549, Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset was arrested and brought before King Edward VI at Richmond.

The events leading to the civil unrest of 1548, such as Kett's Rebellion and the Prayer Book Rebellion a year later, were
laid firmly at Seymour's door. Edward Seymour was in favour of religious reform and against the system of enclosure which affected the livelihood of those living and working on the land, however Seymour's ideas for social reform were frowned
upon by the likes of John Dudley, the Duke of Northumberland, who gave his support to the wealthy landowners.

In the July of 1549 Seymour received a letter criticising the way he had dealt with the problem

"....would to God, that, at the first stir you had followed the matter hotly, and caused justice to be ministered in
solemn fashion " however the letter went on to state "there was never man that had the hearts of the poor as you have!"

Although William Paget, the author of the letter was understanding and sympathetic, and Archbishop Thomas Cranmer was on Seymour's side, there were few others who would stand up to be counted. Three months later, Edward VI's council, the very same council who had made Seymour Protector of the Realm only two years before, laid the foundations for a take over by John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland.

Dudley was chief puppeteer, pulling the young kings strings in order that England dance to his tune.
Within a few months, Dudley took his place as head of the kings council and within four years Dudley would place his
daughter in law, Lady Jane Grey, on the throne of England.

Seymour was eventually released after spending just a few months in a cell of the Tower of London, he made an attempt to overthrow Dudley without success and on the 22nd January 1552, Edward Seymour found himself on the scaffold on
Tower Hill.

In June 1553, Edward VI's Devise for the Succession was signed by over a hundred nobles and members of the royal council,
in it he named his cousin Lady Jane Grey as his heir, and disinherited his half sisters Mary and Elizabeth.

John Dudley's plan had come to fruition.

meanderingthroughtime.weebly.com/history-blog/the-duke-of-northemberland-and-the-devise-for-the-succession

Isabella of Angouleme

8/10/2016

There seems to be a bit of a disagreement among historians as to the reasons King John married his second wife Isabella of Angouleme, some say it was born out of lust, others out of the need to control the areas that neighboured Angouleme.
John, it has been said, took an immediate fancy to Isabella, the daughter of Audemar the Count of Angouleme, and was
quick to make a play for her. John certainly loved women, he was unfaithful to both his wives and kept numerous mistresses, some of them married women, so it is easy to believe that he was determined to have her and was not going
to take no for an answer.

There was a big difference in their ages, John was twenty-two and Isabella, just a child of twelve when they married on the 24th of August 1200. The birth of their first born suggests that the king may have respected her tender age and stayed out of the marriage bed till at least the end of 1206.

Following their marriage the couple arrived back in England, where on the 8th October 1200, Isabella was crowned at Westminster Abbey.

The view that most historians put forward, that King John was a tyrant and a thoroughly bad chap with absolutely no
redeeming features, makes it difficult to find anything positive to say about his twelve year marriage to Isabella, but from
what I have read it looks to be an exact copy of that of John's parents Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. John was a philanderer, so was Henry, Isabella a been a strong and forceful woman, so was Eleanor.

Soon after John's death in 1216, Isabella left her children, the youngest just a year old, in the care of the English court, and made a new life for herself with a new husband in her home of Angouleme.

Halt! Who Goes There?

16/9/2016

Did you know that on the 16th September 1485, following his victory at the Battle of Bosworth, the Yeoman of the Guard,
the bodyguard of the English Crown we know as Beefeaters, were established this day by King Henry VII.

Apart from talking to tourists and keeping the Tower ravens in check the Yeoman of the Guard are also the keepers of the
Queens Keys.

The Tower of London stands proudly on the banks of the River Thames, guarding our nations capital as it has done
for the last nine hundred years. The tower has been a Royal Palace, a fortress, a place of execution, an arsenal, a Royal Mint, it has of course been a prison holding prisoners such as William the Count of Mortain in 1106 and the Kray twins in 1952 before being taken else where. So with its thick stone walls, its armed guards and huge towers you would expect it to be secure, and of course it is. Every evening, the main gates of the Tower of London are secured by the Chief Yeoman Warder and his armed guard. This event, that has taken place every night without fail for over 500 years, is called the
Ceremony of the Keys.

The Chief Yeoman Warder in his distinctive red coat and Tudor hat emerges from the Byward Tower carrying The Queen’s Keys and a lantern, he walks into Water Lane and is joined at Traitor’s Gate by his armed guard, a salute is given then they proceed to the outer gates. The Chief Yeoman Warder proceeds to lock the series of large gates, outermost first and walks back along Water Lane and back towards Traitor’s Gate, where he is stopped by a sentry and asked to prove his identity.
After confirming that he carries The Queen’s Keys, he walks through the Bloody Tower archway to where the main body of
the guard is assembled. The guard present arms, the Chief Yeoman Warder raises his hat and calls
“God Save Queen Elizabeth” followed by an Amen from the guard. The keys are then taken to the Queen's House for safekeeping accompanied by the Last Post.

This wonderful ceremony has only been delayed once when during WWII a bomb knocked the warders off their feet. It has never been cancelled.

Coronation of Richard I

3/9/2016

King Richard I was crowned this day at Westminster Abbey in 1189.

The Bodleian Library in Oxford holds an account of the coronation that gives the names of those who were in attendance and a description of the event. In the account, the chronicler records Richard as the Duke of Normandy and writes how he lead the procession with

"triumphal chanting."

Richard took the oath and then anointed himself, taking the crown from the alter on which it sat. According to the chronicler, the crown was so heavy that two earls helped support it above the kings head. Interestingly, during the ceremony a bat flew around Richard's head and a strange pealing of bells could be heard an

'evil omen'

writes the chronicler. It is easy with hind sight to say that the recorder of the coronation was correct in his assumption, as it turned out he was. Richard I was a selfish and cruel king and a favourite of his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine. He only spent six months of his ten year reign in England claiming it was

"cold and always raining"

He bankrupted the treasury to fund his hobby........crusading. He famously said

"I would sell London itself if only I could find a rich enough buyer."

Richard's brother, later King John, was left to pick up the pieces. Could you run a country effectively with an empty treasury? John, was not perfect by any means, he was seen as the evil villain, a view which continues to this day.

Richard however still remains an iconic figure. A hero king? A good king?

I think not!

Lady Alice Lisle

2/9/2016

Just two weeks after the Battle of Sedgemoor, Lady Alice Lisle, whose husband had played an important part in the
execution of Charles I, gave shelter to Richard Nelthorpe and John Hicks, two supporters of the Duke of Monmouth
at her home of Moyles Court in Hampshire.

The following day Nelthorpe and Hicks were discovered and arrested as was Alice Lisle.

Alice was charged with harbouring traitors and sentenced to death by Judge Jeffrey's, the notorious 'Hanging Judge.'
Jeffrey, who has gone down in history as a hard, bitter and vengeful man, replied when he was questioned about Alice's sentence, that he would have found her guilty

"even if she had been my own mother"

A hard man indeed. Alice was sentenced to be burnt at the stake, however because of her rank James II ordered it changed to beheading, she was executed on the 2nd September 1685, she was 78 years old.

William Lilly

2/9/2016

Sitting with his astrological charts and book of symbols is seventeenth century astrologer William Lilly.

Lilly was the author of such works as Christian Astrology, The Prophecy of the White King and Monarchy or No Monarchy.
These books contained predictions that made him famous and very wealthy. Lilly had begun to study astrology in 1632
when he was aged thirty, stating that his interest in the subject was

"whether there was any verity in the art or not."

Leicestershire born, Lilly attended Ashby de la Zouch grammar school taking easily to English and Latin which later
enabled him to study classical astrology. His ambitions to attend university followed by a life in the church was put on
hold when his father had money troubles, but within a year he had left his home county for London.

Lilly began charting significant events that took place between Charles I and Parliament, convinced that the movements
of the stars influenced the decisions made, and in 1644 he published Merlinus Anglicus Junior. By 1659, Lilly's work
was popular reading and his annual almanac sold around 30,000 copies a year.

His predictions of specific events eventually got him into trouble. It was in the aforementioned Monarchy or No Monarchy
that he predicted the Great Plague and the Fire of London, which later he was accused of starting it to prove his point!

In defense of this he said

"I conclude that it was the finger of God only; but what instruments he used thereunto I am ignorant."

Later in his career he was ridiculed by the likes of Samuel Pepys, he was forced to retire to his home in Surrey where
he used his skills in the practice of medicine.

William Lilly died in 1681.

Waltheof, Earl of Huntingdon and Northhampton.

31/5/2016

wIn the bottom left of my photograph taken at Crowland Abbey in Lincolnshire, you can see a representation of Waltheof.

Following the Harrowing of the North, William the Conqueror set his sights on East Anglia, where men like Waltheof and Hereward the Wake were resisting Norman forces, eventually though, Waltheof accepted Norman authority and was rewarded for this with an advantageous marriage to the Conqueror's niece, Judith of Lens.

Five years later, Waltheof was suspected of being involved in what has come to be known as the Revolt of the Earls.

Historians differ over what exactly his involvement was, the Anglo Saxon Chronicle state that he one of its ringleaders, while Orderic Vitalis and William of Malmesbury suggest that he knew of the revolt but had sworn an oath to keep quiet. It was inevitable though, that news of Waltheof's actions would come to the Conquerors attentions, and when it did Waltheof confessed his guilt to the conqueror in person.

Ignoring the Earl's words, William the Conqueror ordered that he be tried, he was found guilty and sentenced to death.

Following a year in prison Waltheof was executed on the 31st May 1076 at St. Giles's Hill, near Winchester. His decapitated body was thrown in a ditch, however it was later recovered and buried in the chapter house of Crowland Abbey where it lay, untouched, for sixteen years until in 1092.

That year a fire in the chapter house forced Ingulph, Abbot of Crowland, to have Waltheof’s body moved elsewhere. On
opening the coffin it was said that the Earl's corpse was found to be intact, his severed head re-joined to the trunk.