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 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES
 
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 - «5
 
 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL 
 PALACES 
 
 (PROVINCE OF YORK) 
 
 CONTRIBUTED BY 
 
 N. NIEMEYER, OXFORD HONOURS SCHOOL 
 
 OF MODERN HISTORY; MARION WESTON; 
 
 HENRY GEE, D.D., F.S.A. ; M. E. SIMKINS ; 
 
 ADA RUSSELL, M.A. (Vict.) 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 R. S. RAIT 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 JAMES POTT & COMPANY 
 
 191 1
 
 Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson & Co. 
 At the Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh
 
 •' 
 
 (Jtofe 6# *0e (Botfor of 
 fjfc J&erie* 
 
 THIS book derives its inspiration from work 
 done for the " Victoria History of the Coun- 
 ties of England," to the editor of which, 
 Mr. William Page, it owes much. The his- 
 torical students, who for the last few years have been 
 making original investigations for this county history, 
 have, from time to time, found many intimate records 
 of the life of the past for which the plan of the 
 " History ' allowed no place. A series of volumes, 
 of which I undertook the general editorship, was 
 therefore projected, in order to enable this interesting, 
 and often picturesque, material to be used to good 
 purpose. The series includes one volume on the 
 Episcopal Palaces of the Province of Canterbury, one 
 on the Episcopal Palaces of the Province of York, and 
 one on the Royal Palaces of England, with an extra 
 volume on the Royal Palaces of Scotland, suggested 
 by, but unconnected with the work done for the 
 " Victoria History." In the present volume, I have 
 been fortunate in securing the co-operation of the Rev. 
 Dr. Gee, the Master of University College, Durham,
 
 vi NOTE BY EDITOR OF THE SERIES 
 
 who now presides over the ancient episcopal castle, the 
 history of which he here narrates. 
 
 For the selection of the palaces the general editor 
 is responsible : the opinions expressed are those of 
 the contributors themselves. 
 
 ROBERT S. RAIT. 
 
 New College, Oxford, 
 September 1 9 1 1 .
 
 Cotrtenfe 
 
 PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
 
 BISHOPTHORPE. 
 
 DURHAM CASTLE. 
 
 AUCKLAND CASTLE. 
 
 ROSE CASTLE. 
 
 N. Niemeyer, Oxford Honours 
 School of Modern History 
 
 Marion Weston 
 
 Henry Gee, D.D., F.S.A. 
 
 M. E. Simkins 
 
 Ada Russell, M.A. (Vict.) . 235 
 
 32 
 101 
 201 
 
 INDEX 
 
 3°7
 
 Bief of Jffuefraftone 
 
 DURHAM CASTLE (THE BISHOP'S PALACE, A.D. 
 
 
 1700) ....... 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 From an old print in the British Museum 
 
 
 THE PALACE, CHESTER 
 
 Facing p. 12 
 
 THE PALACE, RIPON 
 
 18 
 
 BISHOP'S COURT, MANCHESTER 
 
 24 
 
 BENWELL TOWER, NEWCASTLE .... 
 
 3° 
 
 BISHOPTHORPE PALACE ..... 
 
 48 
 
 Engraved by H. Winkles from a drawing by 
 J. P. Neale 
 
 
 BISHOPTHORPE PALACE 
 
 93 
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 
 
 168 
 
 BISHOP AUCKLAND PALACE IN 1 728 
 
 ,, 202 
 
 From an engraving by S. N. Buck 
 
 
 AUCKLAND CASTLE 
 
 228 
 
 ROSE CASTLE IN 1 7 39 
 
 236 
 
 From an engraving by S. N. Buck 
 
 
 ROSE CASTLE 
 
 3°4
 
 jMrobutforg Cfapttv 
 
 THE object of an introduction of this kind 
 is to complete the work, by giving some 
 account of the episcopal palaces which are 
 not treated separately. Its scope is there- 
 fore a wide one, and episcopal palaces of different 
 types will be dealt with. In the first place, there are 
 the residences belonging to York, Durham, Carlisle, 
 Chester, and Sodor, the sees of old foundation ; then 
 follow the London houses of these sees ; and, last 
 and least interesting, the palaces of the modern group 
 of bishoprics, Ripon, Manchester, Liverpool, New- 
 castle, and Wakefield. 
 
 The term " episcopal palace," applies properly to 
 the bishop's residence in his cathedral town, so that 
 within each see this palace must be given precedence 
 over the numerous other houses which the peripatetic 
 housekeeping of mediaeval bishops required. At York, 
 however, the palace lost its importance comparatively 
 early. It extended along the whole north side of 
 the Minster. It seems most probable that it was 
 begun soon after the Conquest by Archbishop Thomas, 
 once a clerk of William the Conqueror. In the 
 twelfth century it was constructed anew by Arch- 
 bishop Roger (i 154-81), who also founded the 
 chapel of St. Sepulchre at the gates of the palace. 
 Little further detail has been preserved as to its 
 
 A
 
 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 history. It was enlarged by Walter Gray (1216-54), 
 who was apparently the last to improve it. When 
 Bishopthorpe had become the usual residence of the 
 archbishops, York Palace grew less important. The 
 lead was stripped from its roof; and Archbishop 
 Young (1560-68) pulled down the great hall. The 
 remaining rooms were let, and gradually fell into 
 complete ruin. 
 
 The castle of Cawood eclipsed York Palace in the 
 picturesqueness of its history. It belonged to the see 
 from the tenth century, and was perhaps an occasional 
 residence of the archbishops from the same date. The 
 old buildings were destroyed, and the castle built by 
 Archbishop Giffard (1266-76). In 1255 the arch- 
 bishop entertained Henry III. and his court at Cawood. 
 About fifty years later, Edward I. borrowed the castle 
 as a residence for Queen Margaret, his second wife, 
 who lived here during the summer of 1300, when the 
 king was in Scotland. It is also probable that Queen 
 Isabella, wife of Edward II., was staying at Cawood 
 during the siege of Berwick in 13 19, when James 
 Douglas formed a plan to carry her off. The plan 
 was revealed by a spy captured at York, and the 
 queen was hastily escorted by the archbishop to 
 Nottingham. 
 
 Towards the end of the century Alexander Neville 
 (1374-88) "repaired the castle of Cawood, having 
 various buildings in it reconstructed, and adding new 
 towers " ; between 1408-23 Archbishop Bowett rebuilt 
 the hall with polished stone at his own cost, and covered 
 it with lead. The castle must have been a very fine 
 house, for in 1423 there was Bowett's hall, well 
 furnished with tables and seats, with tablecloths, 
 "qwyssyns," and covers, and a chamber, similarly 
 adorned ; a chapel, a library of thirty-three volumes,
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 
 
 pantry, spicery, livery, plateroom, kitchen, brewhouse, 
 bakehouse, butlery, and stables. 
 
 Cardinal Kempe, Bowett's successor, built a fine 
 gallery, and added to the offices ; and repairs and 
 additions were made by Archbishop Savage (i 501-7). 
 When he died in the castle, he left the following 
 curious collection of goods : three cupboards worth 
 13d. ; a pot standing in a furnace, 3s. 8d. ; stuff in the 
 brewhouse worth 103s. 4.6.. ; a pair of organs worth 
 40s. ; and " Potecary stuff" worth £6, 16s. iod. 
 
 The connection of Wolsey with Cawood will be 
 touched upon elsewhere. Long after his fall, in 
 September 1541, the king stayed at Cawood with 
 Queen Catharine Howard, and a young gentleman 
 of the chamber, Thomas Culpeper, in his train ; an 
 ominous conjunction, and subsequently fatal to the 
 queen. Privy councils were held there on the 4th 
 and 5th of September, and futile negotiations were 
 carried on for a meeting between Henry and James 
 of Scotland. 
 
 The Archbishop of York was bound to the Church 
 and King's party in the early seventeenth century ; and 
 in 1642 a Royalist garrison was thrown into the castle. 
 " Mr. Hotham," a Parliamentary commander, marched 
 out of Selby to Cawood, " the proud Archprelate of 
 York's seat, which was well fortified, fifty musketeers 
 being within it under a Scottish commander . . . and 
 two pieces of ordnance which they also had within 
 the castle. Yet such was the resolution of the said 
 Captain Hotham to take it by assault, that they 
 within yielded the castle upon quarter." Never- 
 theless, Cawood was retaken by the Royalists, who 
 held it until the spring of 1644, when "the most 
 noble Lord Fairfax . . . took Cawood Castle . . . 
 with divers of the Marquess of Newcastle's forces
 
 4 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 and much armes and ammunition therein." Two 
 years later, the castle was demolished, under an Act 
 of Parliament. 
 
 A less famous house, which was quite as frequently 
 used by the archbishops, was Southwell. This was 
 apparently used as a residence as early as 1050; and 
 the archbishops were often here in the thirteenth 
 century. The house lay on the south side of the 
 church, and the ruins were traceable in 1801. It was 
 then still possible to show that the rooms of state lay 
 to the east, with the lodgings on the south, the offices 
 west, and the chapel and great hall on the north. 
 The hall must have been that built by Cardinal 
 Kempe, as he is said to have " done many devices of 
 great cost " there, and an angel bearing his arms was 
 to be seen on the east end. Soon after Kempe's time, 
 Archbishop Rotheram (1480- 1500) built new kitchens 
 at Southwell, and the house was in constant use until 
 it was surrendered to the king by Archbishop Lee in 
 November 1542. The possession of Southwell was 
 irksome to Queen Mary, and in 1556 she re-granted 
 the mansion-house and manor. The house was not as 
 much used after this time as it had been formerly. 
 Archbishop Sandys (1577-89) was the last to in- 
 habit it. 
 
 The case of York illustrates the difficulty of limit- 
 ing "episcopal residences," when the archbishops 
 moved from one estate to another, living in the manor- 
 houses in turn. After the fourteenth century this 
 mode of life gave way ; and although it is easy to 
 show that many places were once archiepiscopal resi- 
 dences, it is not so easy to prove the date at which 
 they dropped out of the list, and relapsed into the 
 condition of rural manor-houses. Thus there are 
 many houses which in the thirteenth century ranked
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 
 
 with Southwell and Cawood, without having much of 
 interest in their later history. 
 
 Of Scrooby, in Nottingham, a historian wrote in 
 1677, " Here, within memory, stood a very fair palace, 
 a far greater house of receit and a better seat for pro- 
 vision than Southwell. ... It had a fair park belong- 
 ing to it." 
 
 The house was constantly used by the archbishops 
 in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. It was 
 surrendered to Henry VIII. in 1545, but was restored 
 by Edward VI. in 1553. It remained in use until the 
 episcopate of Archbishop Sandys (1577-89), who 
 procured a lease of it to his son, Sir Samuel Sandys, 
 " since which (time) the house hath been demolished 
 almost to the ground." 
 
 Another Nottinghamshire house was Laneham, 
 which is chiefly known from the archbishops' letters 
 of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. From 
 these it is clear that Laneham was a not infrequent 
 residence ; for example, Archbishop Corbridge was 
 here in 1300, and Archbishop Greenfield in 1306. 
 In later records of the see, the house at Laneham does 
 not appear. It was probably abandoned before the 
 end of the fourteenth century. 
 
 There was a manor-house at Otley, which was used 
 by Archbishop Gray (1216-54) early in the thirteenth 
 century. Hardly any details have been preserved con- 
 cerning the house, beyond the fact that it stood at the 
 north end of the town. The episcopal registers prove 
 that it was constantly used until the early part of the 
 fourteenth century. In 1 319, when the Scots were 
 ravaging Yorkshire, about the time of the Battle of 
 Mitton, the manor of Otley was devastated, and the 
 house, presumably, destroyed. It must have been rebuilt 
 soon after, for it was a favourite abode of Archbishop
 
 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 Bowett (1408-23). He built new kitchens here; but 
 his building was almost certainly alteration, and not 
 new construction. Bowett spent more time here than 
 his predecessors had done, and there is a curious record 
 of his connection with the place ; among the desperate 
 debts due to him at his death was £60 from creditors 
 on the lands round Otley. From this time the mansion- 
 house seems to have fallen into disuse. 
 
 Not all the manors laid waste by the Scots in 131 9 
 recovered as Otley did. Sherburn was not so favoured. 
 The manor-house is said to have been a residence of 
 the archbishops since the tenth century. It was ruined 
 by the Scots, and what remained of the building was 
 removed by Archbishop Thoresby (1352-73), who was 
 elected to the see some thirty-three years after the 
 devastation. 
 
 Sherburn was probably half residence and half farm, 
 like most of the manor-houses of this time. Details 
 of its management in 1 304 show that it was a purely 
 agricultural estate, and the only building of which 
 particular mention is made is the ox stall. 
 
 It is probable that the archbishops had a house at 
 Ripon, although they may possibly have been staying 
 in the monastery when they dated their correspondence 
 from Ripon. Yet there is this to be said, that they 
 owned the large manor of Ripon, and as they kept 
 a resident bailiff, who must have had a house, they 
 probably lived on their own ground when they came 
 to the town. In 1304 the "bailiff's room" at Ripon 
 was repaired, and this implies that it was but one room 
 in the manor-house. 
 
 In 1 147 Archbishop Henry Murdac attempted to 
 enter York, but not being accepted by King Stephen 
 or by the men of York, was obliged to retreat to 
 Ripon, whence he anathematised his antagonists. Arch-
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 
 
 bishop Thomas died here in iioo; and both these 
 cases point to an archiepiscopal residence. On the 
 other hand, when Walter Gray visited Ripon, his 
 chief act was to " enshrine the bones of St. Wilfred 
 worthily," and this brings him into connection with 
 the monastery. In 1304 the king's justices and other 
 " men of the king " were entertained at Ripon by 
 the custodians of the archbishop's estate, at a cost of 
 £4., 9s. 1 if d. ; possibly they were staying in the manor- 
 house. In 1 3 19 the Scots devastated the manor of 
 Ripon, but the house must have been rebuilt, as the 
 place was frequently visited by the archbishops, especi- 
 ally by William Zouche, whose will was dated here 
 in 1349. As late as 141 5 Archbishop Bowett was in 
 residence at Ripon. 
 
 Another manor near Ripon, Bishop's Monkton, was 
 occasionally used by the archbishops in the fourteenth 
 century, but its claim to be an episcopal residence is 
 of the slightest. 
 
 Of Bishop's Wilton, and of Bishop's Burton also, 
 the memorials are very insufficient. Both seem to have 
 been used in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, 
 and both were surrendered to Henry VIII. in 1542-43 
 by Bishop Lee. Moreover, both were included in the 
 re-grant made by Queen Mary to Archbishop Heath. 
 But it is hardly likely that an archbishop would live 
 in these rural manor-houses as late as the sixteenth 
 century. 
 
 There remain the two Gloucestershire houses of 
 the see, Churchdown and Oddington. They were 
 awarded to the archbishop after long litigation in the 
 Curia in 1 1 5 1 , and confirmed to him by the Abbot of 
 Gloucester in 11 57. They were used as residences in 
 the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when there was 
 an economic reason for the archbishop's wanderings.
 
 8 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 Archbishop Gray visited both houses, and so did 
 Archbishop Walter Giffard as late as 1270. There is 
 no subsequent notice of further residence in either 
 place. Both Churchdown and Oddington were sur- 
 rendered with other manors of the see in 1542, and 
 were restored to Archbishop Heath in 1556. 
 
 Durham Castle was the episcopal palace of the 
 Bishops of Durham. The first castle was built by 
 William the Conqueror, who must have given it into 
 the hands of Bishop Walcher almost immediately. 
 It is, however, proposed to treat of this episcopal 
 stronghold separately. Of the lesser palaces of the 
 Bishops of Durham, one of the most important was 
 Northallerton. The house here was probably visited 
 by the bishops at intervals from the beginning of the 
 twelfth century. It is not quite clear, however, 
 whether at that date they had a manor-house as well 
 as the castle of Northallerton ; it is possible that the 
 house was only built after the demolition of the castle 
 by Henry II. The bishops certainly resided here in 
 the thirteenth century. Allerton was the scene of 
 some very aggressive acts on their part. In 1300, 
 when the bishop and the prior and convent of Durham 
 were at variance, the bishop, who was then at Aller- 
 ton, called a meeting of his partisans among the 
 monks. He ordered them to elect a prior, but un- 
 fortunately for him, they did not agree in their delibera- 
 tions. He was not to be beaten, and appointed his own 
 candidate to be prior without further ado. For these 
 arbitrary proceedings the bishop was afterwards sen- 
 tenced to pay a large compensation. In 1329 Allerton 
 was again the scene of an ecclesiastical combat. The 
 Archbishop of York alleged his right to visit it, but 
 the bishop moved thither with an armed force, ready 
 to kill the archbishop if he came there. The latter
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 
 
 preferred spiritual weapons, and excommunicated the 
 bishop ; and the matter was only ended by expensive 
 proceedings. 
 
 Northallerton was constantly used by the bishops 
 throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. 
 In 1503 Princess Margaret slept here on her way to 
 Durham ; and Leland describes it somewhat later as 
 being strong of building and well moated. By 1568 
 it had become ruinous, and was characterised by a 
 fantastic traveller as " a receptacle for bats and 
 buzzards." 
 
 The bishops had another palace at Hoveden before 
 the end of the twelfth century. When William 
 Longchamps of Ely attacked Hugh de Piuset in 1 190, 
 he ordered him to remain at Hoveden, and not to quit 
 it on pain of treason. De Piuset died here in 1 1 95. 
 The house was much used during the thirteenth cen- 
 tury ; and in the fourteenth, Bishop Skirlaw (1388- 
 1405) carried out improvements. He built the hall, 
 and parts of the west wing, on which his arms were to 
 be seen in the eighteenth century. Cardinal Langley 
 (1406-37) built the western gates, and a "beautiful 
 lodge adjoining," on which was his coat of arms; 
 this was also standing at the end of the eighteenth 
 century. Leland described the palace, standing near 
 the church ; " the first part at the centre is of tymber, 
 the other three moste of stone, part of brick." It does 
 not seem to have been used by the bishops after the 
 sixteenth century. 
 
 Bishop's Middleham (not to be confused with 
 Middleham Castle) was another episcopal seat. It is 
 said to have been the favourite residence of Bishop 
 Anthony Bek (1283-1310-1 1), and it was frequently 
 visited by the bishops in the fourteenth century. 
 Bishop Kellewe died in " the lesser chamber in his
 
 io EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 manor at Middleham " in 1 3 16 ; about the same time 
 the grounds included a park, garden, and orchard. 
 The bishops ceased to live here probably before the 
 fifteenth century ; and the house fell by degrees into 
 complete ruin. In 1794 the remains of the walls were 
 visible, and the ground plan of a square tower could 
 be traced on a mound to the south of the town. 
 
 Stockton was another favourite manor-house. The 
 Hall at Stockton is mentioned in the Boldon Book, 
 drawn up in 11 83. "The chapel of our manor of 
 Stockton " was often used for official business, as in 
 131 3, when the bishop heard a suit there between the 
 convent and the Archdeacon of Durham. The manor- 
 house was repaired by Bishop Barnes, who died in 
 1587, and was inhabited ten years later by Bishop 
 Matthew. Bishop Morton took refuge at Stockton 
 for a short time during the Civil War; but the house 
 was no longer very habitable. The Parliamentary 
 Commissioners, reporting upon its state in 1647, wrote 
 " that the bishop's castle situate at the south end of 
 the town by the river Tease (sic} is ruinous and in 
 great decay. . . . The castle hath had a great moat 
 about it, but the same is now for want of cleaning 
 filled up in part, and within that moat hath heretofore 
 been orchards and gardens, but all destroyed. . . . 
 There hath likewise been a park, but the same hath 
 been disparked." The lands of the estate were sold, 
 and the castle was completely dismantled. 
 
 The see of Sodor and Man is one about which 
 little is known ; about the episcopal residence at Kirk- 
 michael the information is even less. The bishops 
 may not have come to Kirkmichael until the end of 
 the twelfth or the beginning of the thirteenth century. 
 A charter of Bishop Nicholas, given in 1193, mentions 
 the episcopal seat at Sodor. The old palace at Kirk-
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER n 
 
 michael seems to have been of primitive construction, 
 with massive walls, and ditches and mounds of an early 
 type. If these indications are not misleading, the re- 
 mains which were visible in the eighteenth century may 
 have belonged to the thirteenth-century building. This 
 was known in early times as Orrey's Tower, and was 
 clearly a defensive building adapted to the purposes of 
 a dwelling-house. It was probably a tower, and little 
 more, throughout the Middle Ages. Historians have 
 commonly said that Bishop Simon, "of blessed memory," 
 died in this tower in 1247 ; and this may well be so, 
 although the annalist says vaguely that he died at the 
 church of St. Michael (Kirkmichael). In the thirteenth 
 century some at least of the bishop's acts were dated 
 from the abbey of Rushen, perhaps a safer residence 
 than the isolated tower. But by the middle of the four- 
 teenth century, Kirkmichael was the place of meeting 
 of the synod, so that it was probably the regular epis- 
 copal seat. In a confirmation given in 1 505 by the 
 Earl of Derby and Lord of Man to the bishop, " the 
 land of the church of St. Michael " is mentioned without 
 any reference to the palace, which must have been in 
 use. About this time complaints grew loud as to the 
 poverty of the see, against which the bishops made a 
 hopeless struggle. Henry VIII. tried to remedy it by 
 allowing the bishopric to be held together with the 
 deanery of Chester and two English benefices in com- 
 mendam ; an expedient which could only have a tem- 
 porary effect. In 1577 Bishop Merrick wrote that 
 he had received the benefice " with that amplitude of 
 endowments which it could be found from its records 
 to have enjoyed at its highest, which nevertheless 
 scarcely ever exceeded ^100; and out of this I should 
 have assigned some portion to the repair of the build- 
 ings." Yet, he adds, this revenue appeared magnificent
 
 12 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 in relation to the others of the island. As long as no 
 one would give the see a proper endowment, this con- 
 dition of things was inevitable; and again, in 1610, 
 Bishop Philips lamented the condition of his " ruinous 
 bishopric," on which he had spent 200 marks in one 
 year. Under these circumstances, the see was not con- 
 sidered an ecclesiastical prize. In 1660 Chancellor 
 Hyde wrote to Dr. Barwick, to whom it had apparently 
 been offered, implying that he might gain a high char- 
 acter for humility if he accepted it. 
 
 In consequence of their poverty, the bishops seem 
 to have done little more than keep Bishop's Court in 
 repair. In 1684 the executors of the late Bishop 
 Bridgeman had to make good dilapidations to the in- 
 coming Bishop Lake. A jury of workmen set down 
 ^30 as the cost of taking down and re-edifying part 
 of the tower at Bishop's Court, with other repairs ; but 
 the executors escaped payment of this amount, on the 
 plea that they were obliged to do no more than put 
 the tower in repair. All the money which could be 
 wrung out of the Earl of Derby or " the charity of 
 the Church of England " was now required to preserve 
 the cathedral ; and little was done at Bishop's Court 
 until the eighteenth century. Bishop Wilson, who 
 arrived in the island in 1697, found the house a ruin. 
 He rebuilt it almost entirely, and it was probably at 
 this period that a chapel was added, in which synods 
 were held ; this chapel was in existence at the end of 
 the eighteenth century. At the later end of that age, 
 the powers of renovation at last attacked Bishop's 
 Court. About 1780 the tower was demolished by 
 Bishop Mason, who modernised the house at consider- 
 able expense. In 1797-98 Bishop's Court "was not 
 very striking in appearance, yet possessing every de- 
 sirable appendage. His lordship's domain is exten-
 
 as 
 w 
 
 in 
 
 K 
 
 o 
 
 w 
 u
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 13 
 
 sive, about 300 or 400 acres. The house has been 
 modernised by the present Bishop [Crigan]. . . . The 
 garden and walks are pleasing, and the detached offices 
 convenient." At the same time are mentioned the posts 
 erected in the garden to mark the mound from which 
 Bishop Hildesley watched the action between Captain 
 Elliot and Admiral Thurot in 1760. The house was 
 altered again in the early nineteenth century by Bishop 
 Murray (1814-27), who completed the demolition of 
 the old buildings. He removed part of the ancient 
 walls which had surrounded the tower, and levelled 
 the mounds and ditches. Bishop's Court received 
 further alterations at the hands of Bishop Powys, 
 who died in 1877; he added a chapel, in memory 
 of Bishop Wilson. 
 
 The Bishopric of Chester was founded at a time 
 when bishops no longer moved from one manor-house 
 to another ; and consequently the residence at Chester 
 was the bishop's only house, and a true type of an 
 episcopal palace. 
 
 In 1 541 Henry VIII. assigned a mansion in the 
 monastic buildings to the newly-created Bishop of 
 Chester. He gave the first or outer hall, with its 
 great kitchen and its offices ; the second or inner hall 
 "with all its members" ; the chapel, and the bedroom 
 above it called the chapel chamber ; another bed- 
 room, " late of the abbot," with a more private room 
 next to it ; the great bedchamber, and two rooms on 
 the two stories of the tower. He also gave the 
 abbot's parlour, the new kitchen and two rooms 
 between it and the monastery gate, the aumbry, and 
 the walled garden lying under the windows of the great 
 bedchamber. There were also stables and other offices 
 lying a little apart, as it seems; and special mention 
 was made of the cellars, which were the longest-lived
 
 i 4 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 of all these monastic buildings, as they were still 
 remaining in 1882. They adjoined the west part of 
 the north aisle of the cathedral. 
 
 The bishops inhabited the palace, whose rooms 
 were thus catalogued, with little recorded change far 
 into the seventeenth century. The position of Chester 
 on the high road to Wales and Ireland made its bishops 
 great entertainers, and occasionally they had royalty 
 among their guests. In September 1642 Charles I. 
 passed through Chester, and lodged in the palace for 
 five days. Just three years later Chester was the 
 furthest point reached by the king in his attempt to 
 join Montrose after Naseby. 
 
 The palace suffered but little at the siege of Chester, 
 for the Parliamentary cannonade was ineffective. But 
 during the Commonwealth the bishops were ousted, 
 and the palace was roughly used. In 1649 tne g reat 
 hall was stripped of its lead, and laid open to decay. 
 In December 1650 the palace, with all its furniture, 
 was sold for ^1059 to two speculators in episcopal 
 property. At the Restoration, the bishop recovered 
 his property, and returned to live in the palace. 
 It must have been commodious enough, although the 
 great hall and cloisters were unrepaired ; for in August 
 1687 James II. with his train was lodged here for five 
 nights. He was received at the palace gates by the 
 cathedral clergy and Bishop Cartwright, the lively and 
 loyal, whose conscience apparently felt no uneasiness 
 when the king subsequently went to mass in the castle. 
 The assiduous bishop "waited at his cushion until he 
 saw him to bed," and attended at the levee the next 
 morning, after which James went to the cathedral 
 to touch for the Evil. That evening Cartwright 
 supped with my lord Feversham in his chamber, 
 having previously entertained a select few in his
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 15 
 
 study. The next morning the king held his levee 
 at six o'clock, and started for Holywell, while the 
 bishop, Lord Feversham, Lord Tyrconnell, and 
 Lord Churchill retired to the study to drink coffee. 
 When the king returned in the evening, he took 
 Cartwright into his closet for half-an-hour, and a 
 conversation ensued, in which both parties had politi- 
 cal ends to serve. When the visit ended, two days 
 later, the bishop was probably the better satisfied of 
 the two. He had obtained the nomination of a 
 Fellow of All Souls, and was assured of further 
 royal " instructions," whereas the king found a 
 stubborn temper both in the corporation and beyond 
 it, with which he openly expressed his displeasure. 
 
 In the first half of the eighteenth century little 
 was done to make good dilapidations, and the hall 
 and cloisters fell away. The monastic offices, although 
 built " of mouldering red stone," were sufficiently well 
 preserved. About 1742 the bishop began to fit up 
 the old and decayed chapter - house as a library. 
 Apparently, however, the palace was too ruinous to 
 be saved ; and Bishop Keene rebuilt it entirely in 
 1752-53. He used the site, and may have followed 
 the plan of the older house. The bishops lived in 
 this new palace for about a hundred years. After 
 the episcopate of Bishop Graham (1848-65) it was 
 abandoned; and in 1866 the new palace upon Dee- 
 side was formed from Deeside House and the arch- 
 deacon's house. The old palace was sold to the dean 
 and chapter, and the buildings were pulled down 
 in 1874. 
 
 Rose Castle, the chief seat of the Bishops of 
 Carlisle, will receive separate treatment. There 
 remain, of the houses of this see, only two, one at 
 Horncastle in Lincolnshire, and one at Melbourne
 
 1 6 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 in Derbyshire ; both occasional residences of the 
 bishop. The Bishop of Carlisle, indeed, had more 
 than ordinary need of houses at some distance from 
 his cathedral town, which was exposed to all the 
 storms of border history. 
 
 The manor of Horncastle was sold by Ralph 
 de Rhodes to Walter Mauclerk, the third Bishop 
 of Carlisle, to whom it was confirmed by Henry III. 
 in 1229-30. Horncastle had once been a Roman 
 station, and the bishop's manor-house stood at the 
 north-west corner of the square of the old camp. 
 An eighteenth-century plan represents the old house 
 as a long building with two gables on the south 
 side, and a double-gabled dormer window above the 
 door. This old house was demolished about 1770. 
 
 The bishops made most use of the house during 
 the fourteenth century. Bishop Ross lived at Horn- 
 castle in 1 33 1, when Rose Castle was an impos- 
 sible place of residence ; and again in the reign of 
 Richard II. the state of the border drove the bishops 
 southwards. 
 
 In the sixteenth century Horncastle passed out 
 of the bishop's hands for a time, as it was sold in 
 January 1553 to Edward, Lord Clinton. But it 
 was recovered for the see early in the reign of Mary ; 
 and Bishop Aldridge died at the manor-house of 
 Horncastle in 1555. This seems to be the last 
 evidence that the bishops inhabited it. They granted 
 leases of the house to Queen Elizabeth, and then 
 to James I. ; and when Horncastle was the basis of 
 the attack on Bolingbroke Castle before the fight at 
 Winceby, no mention is made of the bishop's house. 
 Although it belonged to the see much later, the 
 house was abandoned as an episcopal residence. 
 
 The later Bishops of Carlisle had a residence in
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 17 
 
 Derbyshire, for which they also had to thank Walter 
 Mauclerk. He acquired the rectorial manor of Mel- 
 bourne, the greater part of which parish belonged 
 to the royal manor of Melbourne. The king con- 
 firmed the bishop's possession of his estate for life in 
 1227. Early in the reign of Edward I. a jury 
 accused Bishop Walter of having enlarged his manor 
 by adding to it various cottages belonging to the 
 king's property. A further confirmation must have 
 been granted, as the bishops continued to hold it after 
 Mauclerk's death. There is little positive evidence as 
 to the bishops' residence at Melbourne ; the negative 
 proposition, that after the sixteenth century they did 
 not live here, is easier to prove, for the house was held 
 on lease from this time. From the reign of Charles I., 
 when the lessee was Sir John Coke, the Secretary of 
 State, the Coke family occupied the house ; and the 
 bishop transferred his rights to the reigning Coke in 
 1 70 1, in return for a perpetual rent. 
 
 The London episcopal houses are more interesting 
 in some respects than the provincial houses ; to the 
 topographer, because some of them have had strange 
 vicissitudes and strange successors, and to the historian, 
 because the bishops came to London to attend Parlia- 
 ments and councils, and some of these assemblies are 
 connected with the episcopal " inns." 
 
 More than any bishop, the Archbishop of York had 
 need of a London house, both as the second spiritual 
 lord, and as the holder of a distant see. And this 
 first consideration made his hospice the scene of 
 official acts, and gave it some of the colour of a 
 court. 
 
 Hubert de Burgh, the great Earl of Kent, held 
 certain houses in Westminster, which he sold to 
 Archbishop Walter Gray in 1244. The property 
 
 B
 
 1 8 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 extended probably from the present Whitehall, or a 
 little further north, down to the Thames. The 
 house must have been a stately one, before the end 
 of the thirteenth century ; for it was borrowed by 
 Edward I. when the royal palace at Westminster was 
 burnt. It was here that, in June 1297, Blanche, widow 
 of the king's brother, Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, 
 made fealty to Edward L, and gave him her oath that 
 she would not marry again without his consent. 
 Edward had a room appropriated to his use ; in 
 the autumn of 1302 the Chancellor, the Dean of 
 Chichester, who was starting on an embassy beyond 
 the seas, surrendered the Great Seal to the king's 
 own hands, "in the king's chamber in the lodging 
 of the Archbishop of York at Westminster." 
 
 As late as 1305 Edward was still living there. 
 The archbishops clearly used the Westminster estate 
 as a residence only, as no profits arose from it. This 
 plaintive declaration was made by its "keeper" in 
 1317, and again in 1373-74. Although it was called 
 a manor in 1353, it was evidently no more than the 
 archbishop's house and the surrounding buildings. 
 The terms " archiepiscopal inn " or " hospice," fre- 
 quently used in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, 
 convey a better image of the place. 
 
 As befitted an archbishop's house, there was a 
 chapel here as early as 1297. In the fifteenth century 
 the palace must have been a fine one. Archbishop 
 Kempe (1426-52), who became a cardinal in 1439, 
 had an elaborate household, which must have required 
 plenty of accommodation. Early in the sixteenth 
 century the inn, now becoming known as York Place, 
 housed Archbishop Wolsey. He came thither as 
 archbishop in 15 14; and on Sunday, November 18, 
 of the following year, he started from York Place to
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 19 
 
 receive the dignity which puts an archbishop within 
 reach of the papacy. Attended by a train of nobles 
 and gentlemen, he proceeded to the abbey, where the 
 cardinal's hat was set upon his head with fitting 
 ceremonies. The whole company then returned to 
 the new cardinal's " place, which was well sorted in 
 every behalf, . . . the hall and chambers garnished very 
 sumptuously with rich arras, a great feast was kept." 
 The king, the queen, and the French queen dowager 
 (Henry's sister Mary) were present. Of such guests, 
 York Place became the continual resort, " against whose 
 coming there wanted no preparation of goodly furni- 
 ture, with victuals of the finest sort that could be had." 
 A gentleman of the cardinal recorded how Henry 
 visited Wolsey "suddenly" one evening, as one of a 
 foreign embassy ; how Wolsey divined the king's 
 presence, but guessed Sir Edward Neville to be the 
 man to whom he should surrender his place, and how 
 the jest, being discovered, ended in a gigantic supper, 
 succeeding another, only less mighty, for the earlier 
 guests. 
 
 This hospitality had its graver side. It was to 
 York Place that ambassadors came to wrangle over 
 treaties, and English agents to make their reports. 
 Envoys began and ended their visits with calls at 
 York Place ; and there they were entertained when 
 their labours were successful. Thus in 151 8, at the 
 conclusion of peace and alliance with France, the 
 Court and the ambassadors were regaled with a supper, 
 which excelled any given by Cleopatra or Caligula, in 
 the phrase of the cultured Venetian envoy. 
 
 These entertainments required a large style of 
 housekeeping. Of the 800 functionaries, high and 
 low, space forbids the enumeration ; but the list shows 
 the elaborate plan of the house. The hall, the great
 
 20 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 and privy chambers, and the gallery were the cardinal's 
 living rooms ; but in the background were the hall- 
 kitchen, spicery, scullery, pantry, larder, butlery, 
 cellars, ewery, wardrobe of beds, chandlery, laundry, 
 buttery and bakery. There were large stables, and 
 private stairs to the Thames. Wolsey's chapel may 
 have been the same as that of 1297. It is not quite 
 certain whether these details belong to the time before 
 or after Wolsey's rebuilding. He started on his 
 embassy to France in 1525 from his "new house"; 
 and in 1527 his agent reported, "Your buildings at 
 York Place go forward." In May 1528 Wolsey was 
 living at Durham Place, as "the hall at York Place 
 was now in building, my lord's grace intending most 
 sumptuously to repair and furnish the same." 
 
 He was back at York Place again during the 
 sitting of the Legatine Court (May to July 1529), 
 and he returned there before the beginning of the 
 Michaelmas term. On the second day of term 
 the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk came to him to 
 demand the Great Seal. He refused to surrender it 
 without the sanction of royal letters, but when the 
 dukes brought them, he gave up the Seal " in the 
 gallery of York Place, at six o'clock on the 19th 
 of November." His last days at York Place were 
 busy with preparing the house for the king. He 
 went through the accounts of his officers, and left 
 behind him great treasures in stuffs, besides the rich 
 arras on the walls. In the " Gilt Chamber " and the 
 Council Chamber adjoining the gallery, cupboards and 
 tables were set out with an abundance of plate almost 
 incredible. On each a book was left, describing the 
 contents. 
 
 By Wolsey's subsequent surrender, York Place 
 became the king's property. The Archbishop of
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 21 
 
 York was obliged to use his Battersea house until 
 Queen Mary gave Suffolk House in Southwark to 
 Archbishop Heath. He caused the house to be 
 pulled down, and the site to be built over with small, 
 remunerative tenements. He then bought another 
 mansion, called after its last two occupants, Norwich 
 House or Suffolk Place, where the archbishops lived 
 until the end of the century. It was then held on 
 lease from the see until 1623, when Archbishop Toby 
 Matthew transferred " York House " to James I. in 
 exchange for certain rural manors in Yorkshire. 
 
 The house at Battersea, which was little used 
 during the prosperous times of York Place, dated 
 from the fifteenth century. In 1461, Laurence Booth, 
 then Bishop of Durham, bought lands in Battersea 
 from Lord Stanley. A house was already built there, 
 but Bishop Booth must have pulled it down, as he 
 built a new mansion-house, later known as Bridge 
 Court. It must have been a place of some pretension, 
 as the king gave him license to enclose it with walls 
 and towers, and to make a park there. After his 
 buildings were finished, Bishop Booth granted the 
 estate to the Dean and Chapter of York, as trustees 
 for the archbishop, so that the latter might use 
 Bridge Court as his town house. The need for it 
 does not seem to have been great, though the arch- 
 bishop seems to have used it for the transaction of 
 business. Thus in 1530 resignations and collations 
 were made here as well as at York Place. But Wolsey 
 did not reside here often, if ever. There is a story 
 that he entertained the king here, when Henry saw 
 Anne Boleyn for the first time ; but there seems little 
 evidence to support it. The cardinal granted the use 
 of Bridge Court to one John Oxenhyrde, who had 
 married his kinswoman. Afterwards he gave a
 
 22 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 promise to Sir Thomas More, that if his son-in-law, 
 " Young Daunce," should have to leave his house, 
 he should occupy it. Young Daunce took advantage 
 of this promise about the time of Wolsey's fall ; and 
 in 1530 the latter received the complaint of Mrs. 
 Oxenhyrde, that she had been expelled from the house 
 and knew not where to go. Wolsey set Thomas 
 Cromwell to work on the case, and it is to be hoped 
 that he gave the Oxenhyrdes redress. 
 
 After York Place had passed into the king's 
 hands, Battersea became more important. Archbishop 
 Holgate was living here when he was arrested in 
 1553, and the soldiers took away rich jewels belong- 
 ing to him. Among them was a golden mitre with 
 pendants set with diamonds and sapphires, and 
 the archbishop's silver seal, and his signet, a gold 
 antique. 
 
 The lands round the house were let about this 
 time, but the provisions of the lease point to the 
 occasional residence of the archbishops. Trouble with 
 the lessee ensued in the reign of Elizabeth ; but the 
 archbishop made good his rights, and the house re- 
 mained in possession of the see. After the sixteenth 
 century, however, the archbishops do not seem to 
 have resided there. In 18 14 a large part of the old 
 house, including the " Painted Chamber," had just 
 been pulled down. 
 
 The Bishops of Durham probably had a town 
 house at an early date. The first mention of it occurs 
 in 1 197, when the see was vacant, and its lands in the 
 custody of the king. Robert of Rockingham received 
 20s. a year for " keeping the bishop's house in 
 London," and an extra 17s. 6d. for repairs done to 
 the walls round it. About 12 12, when the see was 
 again vacant, the house is mentioned in records. In
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 23 
 
 this year repairs had raised the expenses of keeping 
 it to £iS, 1 6s. iod. It probably stood on the same 
 site as the later Durham House, " on the south side 
 of the Strand, in the liberties of Westminster, by Ivie 
 Bridge." The usual statement that it was built by 
 Thomas of Hatfield, who was elected to the see in 
 1345, probably refers to a complete rebuilding. A 
 chronicler writes that the bishop constructed the 
 episcopal hospice in London with a chapel and 
 chambers in the most costly way. He certainly 
 instituted chaplains to celebrate service in the house 
 in 1380. It was no doubt the building of Bishop 
 Hatfield which was in use in the fifteenth century. 
 Privy Councils were held there not infrequently in the 
 reign of Henry VI. In May 1434 it was at a Council 
 held in the great chamber of " Duresme's Inne " that 
 the feud between Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, 
 and John, Duke of Bedford, came to a head. The 
 latter read an exculpation of himself from Gloucester's 
 charges, but the Duke Humphrey found that many 
 things contained in it touched his honour, and was 
 prepared to give his written answer. The quarrel 
 showed no signs of exhaustion as long as either 
 party could command speech or parchment, but the 
 king confiscated all the documents and assured the 
 dukes that the honour of either was undamaged, and 
 that he held them both to be his good and faithful 
 uncles. Several other Councils were held in this year 
 at the Bishop of Durham's house, and at one at least 
 the king was present, and declared with his own voice 
 that ^6000 due to Cardinal Beaufort should be repaid 
 to him. 
 
 Duresme's Inn was not always an entirely peaceful 
 residence. In 1474 the bishop did some of his work 
 as Chancellor at his own house, and on one occasion,
 
 24 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 when a culprit was brought before him in his hall, 
 certain armed misdoers came in and rescued the 
 accused, making one prisoner, whom they took away 
 with them, and grievously wounding another of the 
 bishop's men. While Wolsey was Bishop of Durham 
 he used Durham Place but little. In 1528, however, 
 he moved there while York Place was being altered, 
 and his negotiations for the Decretal Commission were 
 carried on from Durham Place. At his fall the house 
 was not conveyed to the king, but belonged to the 
 bishop a few years longer. It was, however, worth 
 the king's taking, and in July 1536 the bishop ex- 
 changed it with him for the house of Coldharbour, 
 in Thames Street. 
 
 Henry altered Durham Place, which became a 
 residence of Edward VI. before his accession, after 
 which he granted it to Elizabeth for life. 
 
 Coldharbour had been a great baronial house since 
 the fourteenth century. It adjoined All Hallows-the- 
 Less, against which its arched gate of entry was built. 
 When the Bishopric of Durham was dissolved, in the 
 last year of Edward's reign, Coldharbour passed away 
 to the Earl of Shrewsbury. The see was refounded 
 by Mary, who granted the bishop the reversion of 
 Durham Place after Elizabeth's death, and in 1603 
 he obtained it under this grant. The great man- 
 sion was more than large enough for the moderate 
 households of the seventeenth century. Bishop Niele 
 (1617-27) was able to lodge his own train and to give 
 houseroom to the Bishop of Rochester, and to his friend 
 Laud, first as Dean of Gloucester and then as Bishop 
 of St. David's, " so that the house passed by the name 
 of Durham College." Bishop Morton was confirmed 
 in his see in the chapel of Durham House in July 
 1632, and this was not without a prophetic fitness, as
 
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 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 25 
 
 his unhappy episcopate was peculiarly associated with 
 Durham Place. In the end of 1641 he was accused 
 of treason, but the accusation being dropped he retired 
 to Durham House in May 1642, and spent his time 
 there " attending his devotions and studies." In 1645, 
 after further imprisonment, he again withdrew thither, 
 having scarcely means wherewith to live, as his 
 revenues had been sequestered. He was voted an 
 annuity of £800, of which he received nothing beyond 
 a bill on the Exchequer for ^1000. On this he sub- 
 sisted at Durham House for some time, until he was 
 turned out by the soldiers who came to garrison it. 
 It was the last place he could call his own, and he 
 went into the country for economy's sake — a pathetic 
 figure, old, devout, with very little worldly wisdom 
 and less worldly wealth. When his stock was visibly 
 near its end, he encountered a good Samaritan, Sir 
 Christopher Yelverton, with whose family he lived 
 until his death. 
 
 The last years of his tenancy of Durham House 
 must have been by favour of the Earl of Pembroke, 
 to whom the house had been conveyed by Act of 
 Parliament in 1641. A rent-charge of ^200 was 
 reserved to the see. After this, of course, the bishops 
 resided at Durham Place no longer. 
 
 The history of the London house of the see of 
 Carlisle is somewhat fragmentary. Early in the six- 
 teenth century the bishop occupied " Carlisle Place," 
 west of Temple Bar ; but how long this house had 
 belonged to the see is quite uncertain. Carlisle Place 
 is said to have been the seat of the Earls of Worcester, 
 from whom it passed to " Henry, Duke of Beaufort." 
 This must have been Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somer- 
 set, who was beheaded in April 1464. Hence Carlisle 
 Place cannot have belonged to the bishops much before
 
 26 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 the end of the fifteenth century, and it may not have 
 been the first residence which they owned in London. 
 Be this as it may, Carlisle Place was constantly in- 
 habited by the bishops in Henry VIII. 's reign. A 
 valuation of the temporalities of the see gives a few 
 details about it : " The bishop has certain lands and 
 rents in Middlesex outside Temple Bar in London 
 called Carlile Place (sic) worth by the year £16, os. 4d." 
 About 1537 Thomas Cromwell appears to have had 
 designs upon the house for himself or a friend. In 
 that year the bishop, Robert Aldridge, wrote to him 
 from Carlisle Place, expressing his submission in the 
 matter of one Mr. Whalley, Cromwell's servant; he 
 reminded Cromwell that he had spoken of this matter 
 " at Nette, when Cromwell was minded to have lain at 
 Carlisle House in London." He added, that much 
 was offered to him for the lease, which he seemed 
 inclined to grant, although " his predecessors had left 
 nothing unlet for more years than he or his successor 
 would probably see." Whatever aims Cromwell may 
 have had do not seem to have been compassed, for 
 the house finally passed from the see of Carlisle by a 
 triangular transaction, confirmed by an Act of Parlia- 
 ment of 1539. By this exchange the Bishop of Carlisle 
 gave his house " without Temple Bar " to Lord Russell, 
 and received the " place " of the Bishop of Rochester 
 in Lambeth. The Bishop of Rochester in turn obtained 
 the mansion-place of Lord Russell at Chiswick ; and 
 in so far had the worst of the bargain, as he received 
 the house furthest from the court and city. Lord 
 Russell was to pay the Bishop of Carlisle an annual 
 rent of £16, which was a very fair charge, judging by 
 the valuation of temporalities already quoted. 
 
 The new house lay in Lambeth Marsh. It was 
 apparently a somewhat unpretentious place, and the
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 27 
 
 bishop did not live there for long. He quitted it 
 during the reign of Edward VI., and the house was 
 subsequently let on lease. Like other episcopal posses- 
 sions, it was confiscated during the Commonwealth, 
 and was sold to one Matthew Hardy in February 
 1647 by the commissioners for the sale of bishops' 
 lands, on which occasion it fetched the modest sum 
 of ^220. After it was restored to the see in 1660, 
 Carlisle House seems to have been let to strange 
 tenants. It was successively a pottery, a tavern, and 
 worse, if reputation does not belie it. By the end of 
 the eighteenth century, however, it had returned to 
 gentility, and an academy for young gentlemen was 
 established there. By this time, also, the old house 
 had almost entirely disappeared, what remained being 
 incorporated with a more modern dwelling-house. 
 
 In the province of York a third type of episcopal 
 palace is represented. Five of its sees — Ripon, Man- 
 chester, Liverpool, Wakefield and Newcastle — have 
 been created since 1830, in consequence of the growth 
 of population in these industrial areas. And in these 
 sees the bishops' residences have little of the interest 
 of association ; their history does not concern itself 
 with warrior bishops and besieging armies, but with 
 Orders in Council, and that calm, beneficent body, the 
 Ecclesiastical Commissioners. 
 
 The earliest of these sees is that of Ripon. The 
 bishopric was founded in February 1838, and the 
 bishop and Commissioners at once took up the plans 
 for a palace. Lands belonging to Bramley Grange 
 Farm, near Ripon, were bought for a site ; and further, 
 the Archbishop of York and his lessee gave up to the 
 bishop a house called Day House, with its grounds, 
 in Northley Fields. Presumably the two purchases 
 adjoined. Day House seems to have been an incon-
 
 28 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 spicuous place, as it is not mentioned by a historian 
 of Ripon in 1832 ; and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners 
 must have removed the old buildings, as they under- 
 took the construction of new ones. In July 1839 
 they allotted j£ 10,000 to " erect and complete " certain 
 houses, offices, and outbuildings, already begun under 
 their sanction. By April 1841 the palace was almost 
 finished, but the Commissioners had to allow a further 
 sum of ^2000 before it could be occupied. In the 
 autumn of the same year the bishop moved in, but in 
 March 1842 a final payment of ^1500 had to be made. 
 After this, the palace was unaltered until 1 847, when 
 Archbishop Harcourt presented the Bishop of Ripon 
 with a fine chapel, which was built at his expense. 
 For nearly twenty years nothing further was done ; 
 in 1865 a few slight alterations and improvements 
 were made. 
 
 The palace of the Bishop of Manchester has had a 
 more varied history. When the see was founded the 
 Ecclesiastical Commissioners were not prepared with a 
 house for the bishop, so that, in February 1849, an 
 Order in Council sanctioned the hiring of a temporary 
 house, at a rent not exceeding .£400 a year. This 
 arrangement held good until 1854, and seems to have 
 been more satisfactory than the subsequent one ; for 
 in this year the Commissioners bought a manor-house, 
 Mauldeth Hall, with about thirty-four acres of land, 
 in Heaton Norris — a purchase which was not very 
 fortunate, as the hall was more than five miles from 
 the central part of Manchester, and was an expensive 
 place to keep up. These defects seem somewhat 
 obvious, but there were others, as there was not suffi- 
 cient accommodation for clergy or for candidates for 
 the ministry. Nevertheless, Bishop Lee lived here 
 throughout his episcopate, and died here in 1869. His
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 
 
 successor, Bishop Frazer, endured the disadvantages 
 until 1872, when he put forward the pleas of expense 
 and distance, which the Commissioners could not but 
 uphold. Early in the year arrangements were made 
 for the sale of Mauldeth Hall, and the purchase- 
 money was used to buy Broughton House from 
 Mr. Murray Gladstone. This house had the great 
 advantage of being but two miles from the centre 
 of the city, and it was also a convenient place, needing 
 little alteration, and less upkeep than Mauldeth Hall. 
 In 1873, £1100 was spent to fit it for the bishop's 
 habitation, and this seems to have covered all that was 
 necessary. Dr. Frazer changed the name of the house 
 into Bishop's Court, which it has kept ever since. 
 
 The see of Liverpool was founded in April 1880, 
 under the terms of the Bishoprics Act, 1878. No 
 official residence was given to Bishop Ryle at his entry, 
 but when his house was finally chosen the mistake 
 made at Manchester was avoided. No. 1 9 Abercromby 
 Square, which had previously been occupied by the 
 Haytian consul, became the bishop's residence — a sub- 
 stantial town house, lying conveniently in the city. 
 This house is still the bishop's palace. 
 
 Newcastle has perhaps been more fortunate in its 
 episcopal palace than any of the foregoing towns. 
 Benwell Tower has the advantages of comparatively 
 modern buildings and the interest of old associations. 
 The Tower, and a small chapel belonging to it, formed 
 the country house of the Priors of Tynemouth before 
 the Dissolution. When the monastery was surrendered 
 to Henry VIII., its possessions were sold piecemeal, 
 and Benwell Tower came ultimately to the family of 
 Shaftoe in the reign of Elizabeth. The Shaftoes were 
 a prolific and thrifty race, and the house continued in 
 their hands until the end of the eighteenth century.
 
 30 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 Whether they were Puritan or whether they were 
 indifferent does not appear, but during their possession 
 the chapel fell into disuse and finally decayed away. 
 About 1779 the last Shaftoe, who, contrary to the 
 family tradition, had an only daughter, sold the house 
 of Benwell Tower ; and the purchaser was a man whose 
 character and appearance of wealth gave reason to 
 suppose that he would pay. This was the notorious 
 Andrew Bowes, whose adventures with his second wife, 
 the Countess of Strathmore, are only to be likened to 
 those of Barry Lyndon. Mr. Shaftoe's daughter was 
 the sufferer, as Mr. Bowes evaded payment, and mort- 
 gaged the estate heavily to raise the purchase-money. 
 While trying many devices to find it, Bowes would 
 never take the obvious one of selling Benwell Tower, 
 for which he had a liking. He never resided there, 
 however, and no repairs were made, for his wife's 
 fortune was always employed in his personal and 
 immediate expenses. The mansion-house decayed 
 more and more, but Bowes would neither mend or 
 end it, and continued to hold it until his death in 
 1 810. Benwell Tower was then sold, and passed 
 through several hands. About 1825 a Mr. Walker, 
 then the owner, built a new house, the "elegance" 
 of which must have been a more cheerful sight than 
 the unrepaired antiquity of Bowes' mansion. 
 
 The bishopric of Newcastle was founded in May 
 1882, and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners were re- 
 lieved of the burden of finding an episcopal residence. 
 Mr. J. W. Pease, a banker, bought Benwell Tower 
 and gave it to the new bishop. The house was pre- 
 sumably the building of 1825, and little alteration 
 seems to have been necessary. In 1883 changes were 
 made which can only have been slight, as the cost to 
 the bishop was ^650.
 
 £ 
 
 o
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 31 
 
 The see of Wakefield, like Liverpool and New- 
 castle, was created under the Bishoprics Act of 1878. 
 In 1888 the Ecclesiastical Commissioners were satisfied 
 that Wakefield could fulfil the financial and other 
 conditions laid down in the Act. They accepted a 
 guarantee that a house should be provided for the 
 bishop within five years, or that ^500 a year should 
 be allowed to him in lieu of it. On these terms the 
 see was founded by an Order in Council. Already, in 
 1888, funds had been raised for the palace ; the York- 
 shire Ladies' Committee of the Ripon Diocesan Con- 
 ference provided more than £ 10,000. 
 
 Nevertheless, the palace was not ready until quite 
 the end of the five years' term ; and the bishop lived 
 at Thornhill, near Dewsbury, until 1893. "Bishops- 
 garth" at Wakefield was ready for his occupation in 
 that year.
 
 (§\0§opt§ovyt 
 
 BISHOPTHORPE is the name of a quiet little 
 village situated nearly three miles from York 
 on the right bank of the river Ouse, which, 
 like a silver ribbon, winds its way southwards 
 through the lovely vale of York, until it finally reaches 
 the Humber and loses itself in the North Sea. This 
 village was originally called Thorp Christchurch, 
 Thorp-super-Usam, or Thorp-juxta-Eboracum, and 
 subsequently Thorp St. Andrew, or St. Andrew- 
 thorpe, from the dedication of its church, which 
 belonged to the Priory of St. Andrew, York ; but 
 shortly after the manor came into the possession of 
 the Archbishops of York it acquired the name of 
 Bishopthorpe, by which it has been since known. 
 
 The Scandinavian word " Torp," or Thorpe, 
 indicates the probability that Bishopthorpe was a 
 Danish settlement. At the time of the Norman 
 Conquest it shared in the general devastation of the 
 surrounding country, as the entry relating to it in the 
 Domesday Survey amply proves. 1 The land was stated 
 to be then waste, and greatly reduced in value since 
 the time of Edward the Confessor. Two out of the 
 three carucates at which it was assessed were in the 
 hands of Richard, son of Erfast ; the remaining carucate 
 belonged to Robert Malet. Bishopthorpe was after- 
 wards divided among various proprietors, from whom 
 a large part of the village, together with the manorial 
 
 1 Dom. Bk. (fac. edit.), 47, 59, 82 b. 
 32
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 33 
 
 rights, were purchased by Walter Gray, the thirty- 
 third Archbishop of York. 
 
 Here is the beautifully situated archiepiscopal 
 residence, which has attained its present splendid pro- 
 portions through a long series of alterations and addi- 
 tions dating from its first erection in the early part of 
 the thirteenth century. Although often so called, it is 
 not, properly speaking, a palace, and this designation, 
 which should be reserved for an episcopal house 
 situated in a cathedral city, has been relinquished 
 within recent years. 
 
 Bishopthorpe was not the oldest residence belonging 
 to the see of York, as Archbishop Roger had built one 
 on the north side of the Minster about the middle of 
 the twelfth century. This, however, survived only 
 until the Reformation, and the chapel, now used as the 
 library of the cathedral, is the only substantial relic of 
 its former magnificence. The archbishops also had 
 mansions at Cawood, Ripon, Southwell, Whitehall (the 
 latter called York Place until the time of Henry VIII.), 
 and other places, altogether numbering perhaps over 
 seventeen. All these have now passed away, leaving 
 Bishopthorpe the only official residence of the see. 
 
 Although greatly transformed, the present mansion 
 has actually grown from Walter Gray's original struc- 
 ture, much of which is still preserved. The building 
 is so closely associated with this archbishop that some 
 account of "the greatest prelate of the century in 
 which he lived," as he is described by Canon Raine, 
 will not be out of place. 
 
 Various authorities have disagreed as to his 
 parentage, but it seems almost certain that he was a 
 younger son of John and Hawise de Gray of Rother- 
 field, the representatives of a rich and important 
 family. He was educated at Oxford, and having 
 
 c
 
 34 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 entered the Church, obtained his subsequent prefer- 
 ments from King John, with whom he was a great 
 favourite, owing, it seems, to an obsequious manner, 
 which did not fail to delight that monarch. Although 
 he does not appear to have been a student, Gray was 
 an eminently practical man, and this disposition stood 
 him in good stead when, having succeeded the wild 
 and careless Geoffrey Plantagenet, who left the pro- 
 vince of York " a barren wilderness," he was able to 
 transform it into a "fruitful garden." From his early 
 years he gave great attention to secular affairs, and in 
 1205 paid the king five thousand marks for his 
 appointment to the office of Chancellor of England, 
 which he retained until his consecration to the 
 bishopric of Worcester in 12 14. He fully justified 
 the confidence which King John reposed in him, and 
 firmly adhered to his sovereign during his fierce quarrel 
 with the barons, being present at Runnymeade as one 
 of his advisers when Magna Carta was signed. 
 
 A few days afterwards John made his first en- 
 deavour to procure his favourite's election to the arch- 
 bishopric of York, which had been vacant since 1207. 
 The king had in the meantime been appropriating the 
 revenues, as was his custom, but the necessity for a 
 new head of the northern province was becoming more 
 and more obvious. The Chapter, however, were 
 desirous of appointing Simon de Langton, brother of 
 the Archbishop of Canterbury, and persisted in their 
 refusal to elect Gray on account of his illiteracy. 
 John appealed to the Pope, and the controversy was 
 settled by his decision that Gray should be elected, 
 although he demanded from the latter the sum of ten 
 thousand pounds for his assent. This large amount 
 may have crippled the resources of the primate during 
 the first years of his archiepiscopate, and was possibly
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 35 
 
 the cause of certain parsimonious dealings with the 
 poor of which he has been accused. His liberality to 
 the churches of York and Ripon, and on the occasion 
 of the marriage of Alexander III. of Scotland to the 
 daughter of Henry III. in 1252, are well known. 
 
 Gray occupied the primacy for forty years, a longer 
 time than any of his predecessors or successors. He 
 was a good organiser, and his administration of the 
 province was wise and energetic. He is the first of 
 the archbishops whose official acts are recorded in the 
 register at York. They have been edited by Canon 
 Raine, and bear witness to the order and system ob- 
 served by the primate. He continued to be a great 
 statesman as well as a great ecclesiastic. After the 
 death of King John he secured the confidence of 
 Henry III., and was left in charge of the kingdom 
 during the latter's absence abroad. " In every im- 
 portant event which took place in the history of 
 the nation," says Canon Raine, " Gray was more or 
 less concerned." Towards the end of his life he 
 showed his growing dissatisfaction with the king's 
 misgovernment, a fact that is rather to his credit than 
 otherwise, as the diplomacy which characterised the 
 first part of his career was probably not altogether 
 disinterested. The affairs of State seem to have preyed 
 upon his mind, and his health began to give way. At 
 last, at the invitation of the Bishop of London, he 
 went to the palace of Fulham in search of rest, but 
 had only been there three days when he died on 1st 
 May 1255. 
 
 Archbishop Gray's acquisition of the manor of 
 Bishopthorpe took place about 1226. The pretty 
 village was within easy reach of the cathedral city 
 either by road or river, and no doubt formed a most 
 attractive site for a country residence. Here he built
 
 36 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 a manor-house with a chapel, and secured the property 
 to the see by vesting it in the Dean and Chapter 
 of York as perpetual trustees for the use of himself 
 and his successors. This precaution was rendered 
 necessary owing to the practice, initiated by Henry II., 
 of purposely keeping a see vacant, sometimes for years, 
 and appropriating its revenues to the royal exchequer. 
 
 The interesting document by which Archbishop 
 Gray preserved Bishopthorpe for the see is dated 1241. 
 By it he granted to the Chapter of York his mansion 
 in Thorpe St. Andrew, and all that he had there " on 
 the south side of the water course called Caldicotesike, 
 which runs from the wood by the sheepfold into the 
 fish-pond and thence into the river Use, together with 
 the watermill on the fish-pond and all the land of the 
 prebend of Bicehill, and the rent of money and hens 
 and all things, except a chief mansion assigned to the 
 prebend of Cnaresburgh," with other lands, on con- 
 dition that the Chapter granted the property to the 
 successors of the archbishop for a rent of twenty 
 marks, payable to the treasurer of York, who was to 
 bestow the money as follows : six pounds to be paid 
 to a chaplain, who was to be appointed by the Dean 
 and Chapter, or, if there were no Dean, by the Chapter, 
 to say mass in the chapel of Thorpe St. Andrew for 
 the souls of King John, the archbishop, and all the 
 faithful departed ; twenty shillings for lights at Whit- 
 sun ; on the anniversary of the archbishop, three 
 shillings to every canon of York who attended the 
 funeral ceremony, two shillings to every vicar, twelve 
 pence to every deacon and subdeacon, and three pence 
 to each clerk of the choir ; the remainder was to be 
 given to the poor on that day "by the view of the 
 Chapter." During any vacancy of the see the Chapter 
 were to hold the property and pay the treasurer the
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 37 
 
 twenty marks ; if any succeeding archbishop refused 
 to take it over and become responsible for the charge, 
 the Chapter were to retain it until an archbishop 
 chose to appropriate it with the charge. The charter 
 concludes with the declaration that any who violate it 
 are excommunicate. 1 
 
 Imagination can picture the manor-house thus 
 virtually, though not absolutely, given to the see of 
 York by Archbishop Gray as it existed in his time. 
 Built in the Lancet Gothic style, as the beautiful and 
 now restored chapel indicates, the central portion con- 
 sisted of the great hall running north and south, which 
 is now used as a dining-room, with a passage to the 
 west. The walls were of stone, and a stone bench 
 encircled the hall, which was then far more lofty 
 than it is now, with no rooms above. The masonry 
 of a large entrance-door, through which the archbishop 
 would pass after alighting from his barge, can still 
 be traced. Another door connected the hall with the 
 chapel which constituted the south wing, running east 
 and west. The roof was pitched and gabled, and 
 below was a crypt, probably forming another chapel, 
 the old principle being, as Canon Keble explains, that 
 " consecration extended from earth to sky, and the 
 existence of bedrooms above or larder below would 
 have been thought a desecration." 2 North of the 
 dining-hall were two small rooms, doubtless the 
 private sitting-rooms of the archbishop ; and under- 
 neath all these were large kitchens and offices. Above 
 the two little rooms were one or two small bedrooms 
 for the use of the archbishop and any important 
 visitor. Private sleeping apartments were in those 
 
 1 The document is given in full in the Register of Archbishop Gray, 
 printed by the Surtees Society, pp. 192-95. 
 
 2 Bishopthorpe, 59.
 
 38 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 days regarded as a luxury and by no means a necessity 
 for the ordinary members of the household, who were 
 obliged to be contented with plank beds laid on tressels 
 in the great hall, or even with the rush-strewn floor. 
 
 There is little to be said about Bishopthorpe 
 for the next two centuries and a half. The mansion 
 remained practically as Archbishop Gray left it, and 
 while interest naturally centres round the successive 
 occupants, only occasional references to the house itself 
 occur, and these, as a rule, either when it was in need 
 of repair, or when letters or orders are dated from the 
 manor, showing that the archbishops were in residence 
 on specified days, or, later, when ordinations were held, 
 as may be supposed, in the chapel. 
 
 The archbishops, when it happened that they were 
 in their province, divided their time between Bishop- 
 thorpe and their other manors. The prelates of the 
 age, like their sovereigns, led a migratory life, and 
 were seldom more than a few days in one place. They 
 travelled from one residence to another with great 
 pomp and ceremony, accompanied by numerous re- 
 tainers, who carried their master's wardrobe and plate 
 and a great deal of the furniture with which his several 
 manor-houses were fitted up. 
 
 Gray was succeeded in the archbishopric by a man 
 of very different character, the learned and saintly 
 Sewal de Bovill, whose name only once occurs in 
 connection with the State. He was Dean of York 
 when nominated by the Chapter for the promotion. 
 Henry III. did his best to obstruct his election, being 
 determined to seize the temporalities of the see. 
 " I have never had them before, and they shall not 
 slip through my fingers yet," he said. 1 He justified 
 his objections on the ground of an irregularity in 
 
 1 Matthew Paris (Rolls Ser.), v. 516.
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 39 
 
 Bovill's birth, but the latter was supported by the 
 Pope, and Henry was bound to give his assent. The 
 primate's tenure of the archiepiscopate was short, and 
 the end of his life was a martyrdom which had been 
 foretold by his master at Oxford, Edmund de Abing- 
 don, who was afterwards canonised. Bovill, although 
 naturally patient, bitterly resented the custom of 
 giving English preferments to foreign priests, and 
 refused to submit to the Pope's appointment of an 
 Italian cardinal to the deanery of York. His protest 
 subjected him to a grievous persecution ; he was 
 suspended from office, and finally excommunicated. 
 It is uncertain whether the papal ban was ever 
 removed, but Bovill sank under his troubles, and as 
 a dying man entreated the Pope not to tyrannise over 
 the Church, " For the Lord said to Peter, ' Feed My 
 sheep,' and not ' Shear them, skin them, tear out their 
 entrails or eat them up.' " l On the Easter Day before 
 his death in 1258 Bovill made a great feast for the 
 poor, but withdrew from it himself in order to take 
 a part in the services of his chapel. 
 
 Little is known of Godfrey de Ludham, the next 
 Archbishop of York, who received the temporalities 
 of his see on 1st December following the death of 
 his predecessor. It is worthy of notice that a Sir 
 Walter de Ludham, Knight, probably a relative, was 
 among the witnesses to Archbishop Gray's grant of 
 Bishopthorpe to the Chapter of York. 
 
 No registers are extant of these last two arch- 
 bishops, and there is nothing to show how often they 
 made use of their residence at Bishopthorpe. 
 
 After the death of Archbishop Ludham in 1265 
 the see was vacant for more than a year, during 
 which time the manor-house would devolve upon 
 
 1 Matthew Paris (Rolls Ser.), v. Si 6.
 
 4 o EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 the Chapter according to the charter of Archbishop 
 Gray. 
 
 In October 1266 Walter Giffard was translated 
 to York from the bishopric of Bath and Wells. He 
 was at that time Lord Chancellor of England, but gave 
 up the appointment on his promotion. He presided 
 over the see until his death in 1279, was " a strict 
 and fearless reformer of abuses in days when there 
 were many offenders and startling deviations from 
 discipline and order," 1 and seems to have been in 
 every respect able and energetic in discharging the 
 duties of his office. From his register 2 it does not 
 appear that he was often at Bishopthorpe, but he 
 dated orders from the seat in September 1270 
 and in September 1275. His participation in State 
 affairs necessitated his frequent absence from his 
 diocese, for although he had resigned the chancellor- 
 ship he continued to be a member of the royal 
 council after he became archbishop, and his presence 
 was constantly required in London and the south 
 of England. 
 
 His successor, Archbishop William Wickwaine, 
 was a man whose stern and unyielding nature spared 
 neither himself nor others. He took as little part 
 as possible in public affairs, and during his six years' 
 tenure of the archiepiscopate devoted himself to his 
 province. His itinerary, which is shown by his 
 register, 3 proves that he constantly resided at Bishop- 
 thorpe, the quiet riverside mansion being no doubt 
 agreeable to his austere and thrifty disposition. It 
 is possible that he was here visited at least on one 
 occasion by Edward I., who seems to have been at 
 Bishopthorpe on 12th January 12 84.* 
 
 1 Raine, Fasti Ebor., 304. 2 Printed by the Surtees Society. 
 
 8 Printed by the Surtees Society. 4 Cal. Close R„ 1279-88, p. 286.
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 41 
 
 In 1283, actuated probably by his own experience 
 of want of money when he became primate, Arch- 
 bishop Wickwaine made a wise and useful provision by 
 arranging that each archbishop should leave a certain 
 quantity of stock on his several estates for the benefit 
 of his successor. 
 
 After his death in August 1285 the king seems 
 to have taken possession of the Bishopthorpe estate, 
 together with the rest of the property of the see, 
 but a claim was evidently made against him by the 
 Dean and Chapter, and it was delivered up to them 
 in October of that year. 1 
 
 The same thing occurred after the death of the 
 next archbishop, John Romanus, or Le Romeyn, 
 who occupied the see from 1286 to 1296. An 
 inquiry into the case was made, and the ordinance 
 of Archbishop Gray recited, whereupon the king 
 commanded John de Lythegrenes, the guardian of 
 the archbishopric of York, " not to intermeddle 
 further with the manor of Thorpe St. Andrew." 
 
 Romanus as archbishop conscientiously discharged 
 the duties of his office, and all accounts show him 
 to have been a great student and theologian, but he 
 was constantly involved in some quarrel, and was a prey 
 to the vice of avarice. According to the York his- 
 torian, Thomas Stubbs, however, he was hospitable 
 and munificent beyond all his predecessors or successors, 
 kept up a great revenue, and was always zealous for 
 the welfare of the Church. 3 He left little wealth, 
 and died in the king's debt. 
 
 Although his successor, Henry de Newark, was 
 elected to the archbishopric in 1296, he was not 
 consecrated until 1298, and died in the following 
 
 1 Cal. Close A\, 1279-88, p. 379. a Ibid., 1288-96, p. 486. 
 
 8 Historians of the Church of York (Rolls Ser. ), ii. 409.
 
 42 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 year. A short vacancy followed, and it again appears 
 to have been necessary to release the guardians of the 
 archbishopric from any responsibility with regard to 
 Bishopthorpe. 1 The Dean and Chapter took pos- 
 session until the election of the new archbishop, 
 Thomas de Corbridge, who survived only until 1 304. 
 During his tenure of office the city of York became 
 a place of great importance, owing to the northern 
 war, which was raging furiously. The royal family 
 were frequently in the neighbourhood, and it is very 
 probable that they visited the archbishop's seat at 
 Bishopthorpe, although no record has been found 
 to prove this. Among the extracts made by Canon 
 Raine from the register of Archbishop Corbridge is 
 a mandate directed to the vicar of Bishopthorpe, and 
 dated 15th February 1303, against certain persons 
 who had broken into the treasury there and " carried 
 away, among other things, charters and memorials 
 relating to our Church." 
 
 In December 1304 William de Grenfeud, or Green- 
 field, a man distinguished as a scholar and a prelate 
 as well as a courtier and a statesman, was nominated 
 to the see of York. The Scotch wars continued to 
 necessitate the constant residence of the court at 
 York, which increased on the one hand the political 
 importance of the archbishop, but on the other his 
 anxieties and expenditure. In 1309 he was obliged to 
 raise one hundred men on his manor of Hexham for 
 service against the invaders, and about the same time 
 was requested by King Edward II. to entertain at his 
 house at Bishopthorpe his nephew Gilbert de Clare, 
 Earl of Gloucester and Hertford, who afterwards fell 
 at Bannockburn — no small matter when the number 
 who would be included in his train is considered. 
 
 1 Cal. Close J?., 1 296- 1302, p. 268.
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 43 
 
 However, as a compensation for this last exaction, 
 the king assured him that it should not be a prece- 
 dent for imposing a similar charge upon him and 
 the Church of St. Peter of York on any future 
 occasion. 1 This hospitality was no doubt the cause 
 of the necessary repair of the manor-house, for which, 
 as well as for the repair of his palace at York, the 
 archbishop furnished sufficient money to the cus- 
 todian in 1310. 2 He was again directed to provide 
 men for Scotland in 131 1. 3 Three years later, when 
 the king fled to York after the fatal battle of Bannock- 
 burn, he was entertained in the archbishop's palace 
 in that city. Greenfield was foremost among those 
 who attempted to rescue England from her mis- 
 fortunes, and in 131 5 was excused from Parliament, 
 as he was engaged in defending the marches against 
 the Scots. 
 
 During the war the archbishop had been called 
 upon to take a very unwelcome part in the suppression 
 of the Knights Templars who had been attacked by 
 Clement V. In 13 10 and 131 1 he was obliged to 
 proceed against the noble brotherhood, but showed 
 his sympathy with them by every means in his power. 
 He was present at the Council of Vienne, where the 
 Order was finally dissolved in I3i2,and in the autumn 
 of that year announced through his official at York 
 that it no longer existed. 
 
 Greenfield died at his manor-house at Cawood, in 
 1 31 5, and was buried in the eastern side of the north 
 transept of York Minster, under a striking though now 
 much defaced monument. 
 
 The archbishopric was vacant for nearly two years 
 after his death, as the consecration of his successor, 
 William de Melton, was delayed until September 1317, 
 
 1 Cal. Pat. R., 1307-13, p. 195. 2 Raine, op. cit„ 390. 3 Ibid., 368.
 
 44 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 owing, it seems, partly to the death of Clement V. and 
 partly to intrigues among the cardinals. In the mean- 
 time the Dean and Chapter of York, whose claim 
 was admitted by the king in 131 6, 1 entered into the 
 Bishopthorpe estate until the new primate took posses- 
 sion of it. During his tenure of office, which lasted 
 for nearly twenty-three years, he was often visited by 
 royalty at this manor-house, particularly in 1322 and 
 1323 by Edward II., 2 with whom he was a special 
 favourite, and who speaks of him as having been in his 
 service from his boyhood. 
 
 Melton, although of humble birth, was a man of 
 great ability and untiring energy. From the accession 
 of Edward II. until 131 5 he was comptroller of the 
 king's wardrobe, and held several other civil appoint- 
 ments, at the same time receiving a variety of ecclesias- 
 tical preferments. His nomination to the see of York 
 was due to royal influence, and in this, as in all other 
 capacities, he justified the confidence which Edward 
 placed in him, proving himself not only a diplomatic 
 statesman but a wise and able churchman. The war 
 with Scotland engaged a large share of his attention, 
 and he is said to have personally taken part in the 
 famous "White Battle of Myton " of 1319, where 
 invaders and prelates met in desperate combat, and 
 where the latter were finally entirely routed. 
 
 The English reverses at last led to a treaty of peace 
 with the Scots, which was arranged at Bishopthorpe on 
 30th May 1323. It was on this occasion that Henry 
 de Beaumont, a member of the king's council, was 
 guilty of great rudeness and flippancy when called 
 upon to discuss the truce. " When the king enjoined 
 each of those present singly, including Henry, to give 
 
 1 Cal. Close R., 1313-18, p. 259. 
 
 2 Cal. Pat. R. ; Cal. Close R. ; Cal. Chart. R. Edw. II. passim.
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 45 
 
 their advice, the said Henry, with an excessive motion 
 and irreverent mind, answered the king frequently that 
 he would not counsel him in this behalf. The king, 
 being moved by such an answer, ordered him to leave 
 his council, and Henry in leaving the council said as 
 he had said before, and that it would please him more 
 to be absent from the council than to be present. 
 Whereupon the king ordered the magnates and others 
 of his council to advise him concerning doing judgment 
 on Henry in this behalf, especially as Henry was his 
 liege man and baron and was sworn of his secret council, 
 and was required to advise the king upon such an 
 arduous matter specially touching the king and his 
 realm." 1 The result of his childish behaviour was 
 that Henry was committed to prison for contempt 
 and disobedience. The deliberations were carried on 
 without him, and the king on the same day ordered 
 a thirteen years' truce with the Scots to be proclaimed 
 and observed. 2 The court was still at Bishopthorpe on 
 6th June when the king wrote from here to Charles, 
 Count of Valois, concerning a marriage between his 
 eldest son Edward and the count's daughter. 3 
 
 The last unhappy days of Edward II. were a 
 source of great distress to the archbishop, and although 
 he continued at court he refused to attend the coro- 
 nation of Edward III. Later on, however, he seems 
 to have accepted the new government, and although 
 accused of complicity in the plot headed by Edmund, 
 Earl of Kent, he was acquitted. During the young 
 king's expedition to the north in 1327, Archbishop 
 Melton entertained the queen-mother and her younger 
 children in his palace at York, and assisted the cor- 
 
 1 Cal. Close A'., 131S-23, p. 717. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 718 ; Cal. Pat. A'., 1321-24, p. 264. 
 
 3 Cal. Close A\, 1318-23, p. 713.
 
 46 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 poration to erect fortifications to safeguard the city. 
 When the army returned he was appointed by the king 
 to treat for peace with Scotland. With the Bishop of 
 Ely he officiated at the marriage of Edward III. with 
 Philippa of Hainault, which took place in York Minster 
 in 1328, and which caused such a tumult of joy. 
 
 A pathetic event, illustrating the severity of the 
 age, is connected with Bishopthorpe, and may be re- 
 lated here, as it occurred about this time. It appears 
 that a little girl of under eleven years of age was accused 
 of robbery in the village, and being brought before the 
 steward and marshals of the household was convicted 
 and " committed to the prison of the Marshalsea until 
 of an age to undergo judgment." Afterwards, how- 
 ever, on the intercession of Queen Philippa, she was 
 pardoned " in consideration of her tender age." * 
 When it is remembered that in those days hanging 
 was the punishment for theft, the barbarous cruelty 
 of imprisoning a little child until she should be old 
 enough to be tried for her life is almost incredible ! 
 
 Archbishop Melton's official life was drawing to a 
 close. In 1 33 1 he was appointed a justiciar for enforcing 
 observance of the truce with Scotland, and in the follow- 
 ing year was empowered to open Parliament at York. 
 His last recorded trust in connection with the State was 
 the committal to his keeping of the Great Seal during 
 the temporary absence of the Bishop of Winchester, then 
 chancellor. He had more than once had charge of it in 
 the reign of Edward II., and on this occasion it appears 
 that he received it in the bag which customarily pro- 
 tected it, under the seal of the bishop, and took it with 
 him to Bishopthorpe. 2 The primate survived until 
 1 340, passing away at Cawood in April of that year. 
 
 Numerous extracts have been made from his 
 
 1 Cal. Pat, P., 1327-30, p. 257. - Cal. Close P., 1333-37, p. 129.
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 47 
 
 register by Canon Raine, which throw much light on 
 the variety of his duties. He kept up the state which 
 befitted his position, and although he has never been 
 accused of oppressing the poor, he accumulated con- 
 siderable wealth, and was lavish in his expenditure and 
 in charitable gifts. It was found, however, after his 
 death that he had allowed the episcopal residences to 
 become more or less dilapidated. One of the most 
 striking examples of his generosity was his munificence 
 to York Minster, to which large additions were made 
 during his archiepiscopate. 
 
 His successor, William la Zouche, was a member 
 of an illustrious family, as his name is sufficient to 
 prove, although his parentage is not actually estab- 
 lished. His relations with Edward III. were cordial, 
 and he received many civil and ecclesiastical appoint- 
 ments, among them the treasurership ; but when he 
 became a candidate for the archbishopric of York, he 
 was nevertheless strenuously opposed by the king, 
 who nominated his secretary and favourite, William 
 de Kildesby. The contest, which was referred to the 
 Pope, delayed a settlement for two years, but Zouche 
 was at last consecrated by Clement VI. at Avignon on 
 7th July 1342, and in the following December was 
 enthroned in his cathedral. An entry in the register 
 of the see transcribed by Canon Raine authorises the 
 receiver at York to pay the money required " to repair 
 our houses at York to be ready for our installation 
 banquet." * The archbishop's wisdom and modera- 
 tion in dealing with matters connected with his pro- 
 vince must have been unusually great, for, as has 
 been observed, " his was essentially a reign of peace, 
 and no controversy seems to have disturbed it." 
 Nothing even is heard of the immemorial contention 
 
 1 Raine, op. cit., 443. * Ibid., 442.
 
 48 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 between the Primates of York and Canterbury with 
 respect to the carrying erect of the separate crosses of 
 each in the province of the other. 
 
 The first few years of Zouche's primacy seem to 
 have been occupied by him in discharging the duties of 
 his office. His temporary retirement from State affairs 
 was possibly due to the cloud which had arisen between 
 him and the king on account of his election, but sub- 
 sequent difficulties with the ever-restless Scots soon 
 proved to Edward that the northern primate was 
 indispensable, not only as a prelate, but as a warrior. 
 In 1346 he was made one of the wardens of the 
 marches while the king was pursuing the French 
 campaign, and was appointed a Commissioner of Array 
 for the northern army. When the Scots invaded 
 England in the autumn of that year the archbishop 
 unhesitatingly took the field, and, cheering on his 
 men by prayers and benedictions, led them on to the 
 victory of Neville's Cross, which so signally wiped out 
 the disgrace of his predecessor's defeat at Myton. 
 Queen Philippa is also said to have been present at 
 this famous battle, where David Bruce, the King of the 
 Scots, was taken prisoner. Drake says of her that 
 " though a woman, she showed in this case such 
 courage and conduct as was worthy the wife and 
 mother of such a husband and son. She got what 
 forces she could together at York, and thence marched 
 in person with them against the enemy." x The king 
 showed his gratitude to the archbishop by begging 
 him to continue his successful guardianship of the 
 marches, and in November 1350 granted him a 
 general pardon on account of the magnitude of his 
 services. The archbishop, who had been for some 
 time suffering from a serious disease, died at Cawood 
 
 1 Eboracum, 105.
 
 s 
 
 o <£, 
 - -Si 
 ^ -8 
 
 s 
 S
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 49 
 
 in July 1352. He was interred in the nave of his 
 cathedral instead of in the chapel there which he had 
 begun to build, and in which he desired to have been 
 laid to rest. His relatives appear to have been most 
 negligent as to his last wishes, and in 1353 his 
 successor, Archbishop Thoresby, was obliged to order 
 an inquiry concerning the dilapidations of the houses 
 and woods belonging to the see, and the damages done 
 by his executors. 
 
 The new primate, John de Thoresby, has been 
 described as " one of those great and good men who 
 were the glory of the fourteenth century." l He was 
 a scholar and a man of taste, and is noted for the 
 encouragement he gave to learning in an age which 
 was decadent in manners and morals, for the disin- 
 terestedness of his public service, and for the ardour 
 and piety of his private life. At an early age he won 
 distinction as a lawyer, and while merely an acolyte he 
 was instituted to a benefice in Yorkshire. Archbishop 
 Melton became one of his patrons, and he obtained 
 rapid preferment. His connection with the primate 
 no doubt brought him into notice at court, and he 
 was frequently employed in State affairs, was appointed 
 Master of the Rolls in 1341, given temporary charge 
 of the Great Seal in 1343, and appointed to the chan- 
 cellorship in 1349, a few months before he was trans- 
 lated from the bishopric of St. David's to that of 
 Worcester. Almost immediately after the death of 
 Archbishop Zouche, in 1352, the Chapter of York 
 unanimously elected Thoresby to fill the vacant post, 
 and he was appointed by the Pope in October of that 
 year. He had already found that his civil duties 
 absorbed too much of the time and attention he 
 wished to devote to his bishopric, and on his acces- 
 
 1 Raine, op. cit., 449. 
 
 D
 
 50 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 sion to the primacy he determined to dissociate him- 
 self as soon as possible from State affairs. He resigned 
 the Great Seal in 1356, and in that year evidently took 
 up a more permanent residence at York, the ceremonial 
 of his numerous ordinations usually taking place either 
 in the Minster or at Bishopthorpe. Thomas Stubbs 
 describes Thoresby as a great peacemaker. " Idem 
 vero archiepiscopus lites et contentiones ubique dele- 
 vit." x One of his first acts as primate was to settle 
 the ancient dispute between Canterbury and York as 
 to the right of bearing the cross, and an agreement 
 was entered into at Westminster in April 1353, and 
 confirmed by the Pope in 1354, by which certain 
 distinctions were made between the two archbishops 
 and their relative status defined, on the whole in 
 favour of Canterbury, but each was to be allowed 
 henceforward to carry his cross erect in the province 
 of the other. 
 
 In all his dealings Thoresby was animated by a brave 
 and earnest spirit, and waged war against the ignorance 
 and vice of the age. He ordered an exposition of the 
 Creed, the Ten Commandments, the Seven Sacraments, 
 Seven Deeds of Mercy, Seven Virtues, and Seven 
 Deadly Sins, to be drawn up and issued both in 
 Latin and in English for the edification of the clergy 
 as well as the laity. The English version is printed in 
 the Vicaria Leodensis 2 of Ralph Thoresby, who ob- 
 serves that " we may justly admire that in the reign 
 of Edward III. the courage and piety of one man 
 should accomplish what could not without much 
 difficulty and bloodshed be effected in Henry VIII. 's 
 reign, when it was indulged by Act of Parliament as a 
 special favour that a nobleman and gentleman might 
 
 1 Historians of the Church of York (Rolls Ser.), ii. 420. 
 
 2 Pp. 213-35.
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 5 1 
 
 have the Bible read in their houses ; that noble ladies, 
 gentlemen, and merchants might read it themselves, 
 but no men or women under that degree. Nor could 
 the Bible be read in English in any church, nor so 
 much as in private by any artificer or husband- 
 man, &c." 
 
 The completion of York Minster was one of 
 Archbishop Thoresby's special aims. He gave several 
 large sums of money to the fabric fund, and in 1 36 1 
 caused his manor-house at Sherburn to be pulled down 
 to provide the Minster with stones. He also con- 
 structed a Lady-chapel, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, 
 in which he safeguarded the remains of six of his 
 predecessors. 
 
 Bishopthorpe was apparently one of his favourite 
 habitations, and in 1 364-65 he added a new chamber to 
 the building. He was taken ill at this house in the 
 autumn of 1373, and on 12th September he summoned 
 a notary to his bedchamber to draw up his will. He 
 died here on 6th November, and was buried in the 
 Lady-chapel at York which he had erected. The 
 good archbishop must have been sorely missed, 
 especially as his successor proved a contrast to him- 
 self in every way. 
 
 From the accounts of him that exist, it may be 
 inferred that Alexander Nevill, who belonged to a 
 powerful northern family, paid little attention to his 
 province, was dictatorial and overbearing, and con- 
 stantly engaged in dissensions. Immediately on his 
 arrival at York, after his consecration in 1374, he 
 quarrelled with the Dean and Chapter. He also 
 quarrelled with the citizens of York, and with the 
 canons of the collegiate churches of Beverley and 
 Ripon. During his primacy, although he did, it is true, 
 make several presentations to the church, nothing was
 
 52 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 done towards the building of the new choir in the 
 Minster. He was a trusted friend of the headstrong 
 young king, and was perpetually at court, to the great 
 annoyance of Gloucester's party. Richard was at last 
 obliged to give way to the latter, and promised that 
 the archbishop and his other advisers should be called 
 to account. Upon this Nevill escaped to Flanders, 
 and, after having been pronounced guilty by the next 
 Parliament, was outlawed and deprived. He ended 
 his days as a parish priest at Louvain. 
 
 Archbishop Nevill seems to have taken some 
 interest in the residences of the see. He repaired his 
 castle at Cawood, added new towers, and gave two 
 small bells to the chapel. At Bishopthorpe he evi- 
 dently entertained the king, as in 1383 stonemasons, 
 carpenters, and other workmen were sent at the 
 primate's expense to repair the house preparatory to 
 a royal visit. 1 The king was again at York in 1385 
 on his way to Scotland, and the visit is memorable for 
 a sad event, which took place " in the fields near 
 Bishopthorpe." 2 
 
 The incident is thus graphically described by 
 Raine : " A quarrel began between the retainers of 
 Sir John Holland, the king's half-brother, and those 
 of Sir Ralph Stafford, the son and heir of the Earl of 
 Stafford. One of Holland's servants was killed by an 
 arrow, and when his master heard the news, he rushed 
 wildly out of his lodging, eager for revenge. Young 
 Stafford, who had nothing to do with the brawl, un- 
 happily came in his way, and was at once killed. The 
 slayer fled to Beverley for sanctuary, and the king 
 deprived him of his offices and lands, and banished 
 him from the kingdom. Holland's mother, the Fair 
 Maid of Kent, was so troubled at the disaster that she 
 
 1 Cal. Pat. P., 1381-85, p. 297. 2 Drake, op. cit., 105.
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 53 
 
 took to her bed and died in four or five days. He was 
 afterwards pardoned at the intervention of the Duke of 
 Lancaster." 
 
 On one occasion, while the archbishop was " busy 
 with the affairs of the realm at the king's side," his 
 palace at York and his manor-houses at Bishopthorpe 
 and Cawood were broken into by robbers, who took 
 away property to the value of £1000, and so threatened 
 his servants that they dared not serve him. The arch- 
 bishop lodged a complaint against the evil-doers in 
 1386, and the king issued a commission of inquiry into 
 the affair — with what result has not been ascertained. 1 
 
 After the flight of Alexander Nevill the see was 
 vacated by the action of the Pope, who translated him 
 to St. Andrews, thus depriving him in effect of any 
 benefice whatever, as the Scots upheld the schismatic 
 Pope Clement VII., and refused to acknowledge the 
 authority of Urban VI. In April 1388 the chancellor, 
 Thomas Arundel, third son of the Earl of Arundel, 
 was appointed to the archbishopric of York. He had 
 been consecrated to the bishopric of Ely when only 
 in his twenty-second year, probably through the in- 
 fluence of the noble family to which he belonged. He 
 had but a few years' connection with the northern 
 province, as he was translated to the see of Canterbury 
 in 1396. Whilst at York he is said to have been 
 a great benefactor to the church and manors of the 
 see, spending a great deal on building and on the 
 repair of the several archiepiscopal houses. 2 He also 
 made his first attempt to stem the tide of Lollardism, 
 against which he waged war throughout his life. The 
 removal of the Courts of King's Bench, Common Pleas, 
 and Exchequer from London to York in 1392 is some- 
 times attributed to the influence of the archbishop, 
 
 1 Cat. Pat. P., 1385-89, p. 172- 2 Drake, op. cit., 436.
 
 54 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 who was desirous of promoting the interests of his 
 cathedral city. 
 
 The successor of Archbishop Arundel was Robert 
 Waldby, who in early life is reputed to have been 
 a monk, but having gone abroad in the train of the 
 Black Prince, he pursued his education at the Univer- 
 sity of Toulouse, where he studied languages, natural 
 and moral philosophy, and theology, and where he was 
 finally appointed professor of divinity. Prince Edward, 
 who was always a patron of learning, gave him his first 
 preferment to the bishopric of Ayre in Aquitaine. In 
 1390 or 1 39 1 he was translated to the archbishopric of 
 Dublin, and subsequently became Chancellor of Ireland, 
 and in 1395 he was transferred to Chichester. In the 
 following year he was promoted to the see of York, 
 but his tenure of office was brief, as he died a few 
 months later. 
 
 The name of the next archbishop, Richard le 
 Scrope, will ever be associated with Bishopthorpe, 
 owing to its great hall having been the scene of the 
 tragic circumstances connected with his death. The 
 archbishop, who was a member of a powerful York- 
 shire family, owed all his preferments, including his 
 promotion to the northern primacy, to Richard II., and 
 although he seems reluctantly to have assented to the 
 king's deposition, his loyalty to Henry IV. rested on no 
 sure foundation, and he was easily though unhappily 
 persuaded to join the rising in the north organised by 
 Northumberland, Mowbray, and others. Scrope was 
 a man of high character, and there is no reason to 
 doubt the integrity of his motives. He was evidently 
 actuated by hopes of reform when he published ten 
 articles against the king, and authorised them to be 
 affixed to the doors of the churches in York and other 
 places. Numbers flocked armed into the city, and
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 55 
 
 were cheered and encouraged by the archbishop, who 
 led out his " priestly rout " to join the forces of the 
 discontented nobles. They encountered the royal 
 army at Shipton Moor on 29th May 1405, but being 
 deceived by the treachery of Westmorland, or, accord- 
 ing to some accounts, of Lord FitzHugh, the arch- 
 bishop agreed to a conference, and his followers dis- 
 persed. Scrope, now at the mercy of his enemies, was 
 immediately arrested and hurried with his confederates 
 to Pontefract Castle, and from thence to Bishopthorpe, 
 where they were kept as prisoners until 8th June, the 
 day fixed by the king for their trial. The Archbishop 
 of Canterbury hastened to the scene, and arriving on 
 the same morning thrust himself into the royal pre- 
 sence to plead for his brother primate. Nothing, 
 however, would satisfy the revengeful king but the 
 immediate execution of Scrope, and he called together 
 the commission which he had appointed in the great 
 dining-hall, where his prisoner was made to stand 
 bareheaded before his accusers. It was in vain that 
 the Chief Justice Gascoigne absolutely declined to take 
 part in the sacrilegious act, bravely answering Henry's 
 command to pronounce sentence against him by these 
 words : " Neither you, my lord the king, nor any 
 liege man of yours in your name, can legally, accord- 
 ing to the rights of the kingdom, adjudge any bishop 
 to death." The king, greatly incensed, ordered Sir 
 William Fulthorpe, a man learned in the law but no 
 judge, to act as president, and he, mounting on a high 
 stage erected in the hall, declared the archbishop a 
 traitor, and condemned him to death. The protesta- 
 tions of the primate, who asserted that his sole desire 
 in joining the conspiracy had been to defend his people 
 against oppression, were unheeded, and divested of his 
 episcopal attire he was " set on a sorry horse of the
 
 S6 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 value of forty pence, without a saddle, and with his 
 face to the tail, and was led in this manner to the 
 place of his execution," * a field of barley between 
 Bishopthorpe and York. There he knelt down, and, 
 after asking the pardon of God for all his sins, 
 bestowed his forgiveness upon the executioner, and 
 desired him to give him five blows with his sword, in 
 commemoration of the five chief wounds of our Lord. 
 His last words were, " Into Thy hands, O most sweet 
 Jesus, I commend my spirit," and the executioner then 
 with five strokes severed his head from his body. 
 
 The crime struck horror throughout the land. 
 Portents are said to have followed his death, and the 
 king was attacked with leprosy the same night. Dr. 
 Stubbs writes of the occurrence : " English history 
 recorded no parallel event ; the death of Becket, the 
 work of four unauthorised, excited assassins, is thrown 
 into the shade by the judicial murder of Scrope." 
 The archbishop's remains were carried to the Minster 
 and interred in the Lady-chapel, and the offerings 
 made at his shrine were afterwards devoted to the 
 rebuilding of the central tower which had recently 
 fallen, so that " even in his death Scrope contributed 
 to the upraising of that glorious edifice which he had 
 never neglected during his life." It was during his 
 archiepiscopate that the rebuilding of the choir was 
 resumed and completed. After his death the see 
 remained vacant for two and a half years. At last, 
 after some divergence of opinion between the Dean 
 and Chapter, the Pope, and the king as to a suitable 
 candidate, Henry Bowett, the king's nominee, was 
 appointed, and occupied the primacy until 1423. 
 Before his accession he had been the king's confidential 
 agent, and served him in various capacities, but after 
 
 1 Drake, op. cit. 438-39.
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 57 
 
 his translation to York he retired from public affairs, 
 and occupied himself with the duties connected with 
 his province. " With Henry Bowett," says Raine, " a 
 new era begins in the registers of the archbishops." 
 Henceforward, until the close of the fifteenth century, 
 " they contained little more than the ordinary procedure 
 of the diocese." J One act of bravery and patriotism 
 in his old age has been recorded. In 141 7, when the 
 king was absent in Normandy and the Scots seized 
 the opportunity to invade England, the archbishop, 
 although so infirm that he had to be carried in a chair, 
 determined to accompany the army of defence, and by 
 his courageous example and exhortations contributed 
 not a little to their success. Bowett built the great hall 
 at Cawood and new kitchens at Ottley, but left no 
 mark at Bishopthorpe. His will 2 was dated at this 
 last residence, but he died at Cawood. 
 
 The next archbishop, John Kempe, afterwards 
 made a cardinal, was too absorbed in political affairs 
 to give much attention to his ecclesiastical duties, and 
 seldom visited Yorkshire, where he was very unpopular. 
 However, he was not neglectful of the manor-houses 
 belonging to the see, and although he did nothing at 
 Bishopthorpe, he almost entirely rebuilt Southwell, and 
 erected the gate-house at Cawood, which is still stand- 
 ing, and is adorned by his arms with the cardinal's hat. 
 Kempe ruled over the province from 1426 till 1452, 
 when he was translated to the see of Canterbury. A 
 portrait of him has recently been painted by his descen- 
 dant, Mr. C. E. Kempe, the well-known artist, and 
 designer of the beautiful windows in the chapel. It 
 now hangs in the dining-room at Bishopthorpe. 
 
 The career of William Booth, who occupied the 
 
 1 Historical Papers and Letters from the Northern Registers (Rolls Ser.), 
 Introd. p. xiv. 2 Printed in Test. Ebor. (Surtees Soc), i- 398.
 
 58 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 see of York from 1452 until his death at Southwell in 
 1464, was uneventful. He is said to have spent a 
 great deal of money in repairing the palaces of South- 
 well and York. 
 
 The early promotion and subsequent misfortunes 
 which pursued his successor, George Nevill, were 
 largely due to his relationship with Warwick the 
 " King-maker," after whose defection from the House 
 of York the archbishop, although he could never be 
 persuaded to take a very enthusiastic part against 
 Edward IV., was naturally regarded by him with 
 distrust. George Nevill was a younger son of Richard, 
 Earl of Salisbury, and was designed for the Church at 
 an early age, the growing importance of his family 
 assuring him of speedy advancement. He could not 
 have been more than fourteen years old when he was 
 collated to the " golden prebend " of Masham in York 
 Minster. At the age of twenty or twenty-one he was 
 elected Chancellor of the University of Oxford, a posi- 
 tion which he held for four years, and when about 
 twenty-three he was nominated to the bishopric of 
 Exeter, receiving the temporalities of the see a year 
 later, although his consecration was delayed until he 
 was twenty-seven. 
 
 In 1460 he obtained the Great Seal in the name of 
 Henry VI., but on his transference of loyalty to 
 Edward IV. became chancellor to the new king. In 
 1464 Nevill was translated from Exeter to York, and 
 was enthroned on 15th January of the following year. 
 On that day he gave a most sumptuous installation 
 feast, " the greatest entertainment," says Drake, 1 " that 
 ever subject made." A list of the " monstrous quantity 
 of edibles " which has been preserved, 2 renders further 
 
 1 Op. cit. y 444. 
 
 2 Hearne, Collections (Oxford Hist. Soc), ii. 342.
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 59 
 
 comment unnecessary! It comprised: "Wheat, 300 
 quarters; Ale, 300 tunne ; Wyne, 100 tunne ; of 
 Ipocrasse, one pipe; Oxen, 104; Wild Bulls, 6; 
 Muttons, 1000; Veales, 304; Porkes, 304; Swannes, 
 400; Geese, 2000; Capons, 1000; Pygges, 2000; 
 Plovers, 400 ; Quails, 100 dozen ; of the Foules called 
 Rees, 200 dozen ; Peacocks, 104; Mallards and Teals, 
 4000 ; Cranes, 204 ; Kydds, 204 ; Chickens, 2000 ; 
 Pigeons, 4000 ; Conies, 4000 ; Bitterns, 204 ; Heron- 
 shawes, 400; Fessants, 200; Partridges, 500; Wood- 
 cocks, 400; Curlews, 100; Egritts, 1000; Staggs, 
 Bucks, and Roes, 500 and more ; Pasties of Venison 
 cold, 4000; Parted Dishes of Gelly, 1000; Plain 
 Dishes of Gelly, 3000 ; Cold Tartes baked, 4000 ; 
 Cold Custards baked, 3000 ; Hot Pasties of Venison, 
 1500; Hot Custards, 2000; Pikes and Breams, 608; 
 Porposes and Seals, 12 ; Spices, sugered Delicates, and 
 Wafers, plenty. Besides all sort of fish in prodigious 
 plenty." Such display was calculated rather to impress 
 the beholders with the power and wealth of the Nevill 
 family than with the piety of the new archbishop. 
 The absence of the king and queen from the banquet 
 was significant. Stubbs, in commenting upon the 
 accession of the primate, says, "The point at which 
 the fortunes of the Nevills thus reached their zenith 
 almost exactly coincides with the moment at which 
 the political relations of the king and court are totally 
 altered by his marriage." 1 The newly-made queen, 
 Elizabeth Wydville, was very displeasing to the Nevills. 
 Warwick's influence waned with his loyalty, and dur- 
 ing his absence in France in 1467, Edward dealt his 
 first blow at the family by depriving his brother of the 
 chancellorship. In return Warwick and the arch- 
 bishop connived at, if they did not instigate, the 
 
 1 Constitutional Hist., iii. 215.
 
 60 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 rebellion which began in Yorkshire in 1469, and after 
 the defeat and capture of the king he was conveyed 
 by the latter as a prisoner, first to Warwick Castle and 
 then to Middleham in Yorkshire. His escape is 
 sometimes attributed to the courtesy of the archbishop, 
 " whom he had talked over by fair speeches and pro- 
 mises," and who suffered him " to walk abroad, and 
 even to hunt at his pleasure, with what number he 
 pleased to attend him " ; but, however that may have 
 been, the primate shortly afterwards returned to his 
 former allegiance, and after the flight of Edward to 
 Holland in 1470, was again made chancellor in the 
 name of Henry VI. 
 
 The following year was fatal to the Nevills. 
 Warwick was killed at Barnet, and King Henry died 
 or was murdered in the Tower. The archbishop 
 contrived to make his peace with Edward, and thought 
 himself restored to favour, when the king suddenly 
 took his final revenge. He was invited, or invited 
 himself, to hunt at Moor Park, where Nevill had a 
 house which he had lately built. " The archbishop 
 upon this hastened home to make suitable provision 
 for such a guest, and omitted nothing that might do 
 the king honour in his preparations. Skilful in sump- 
 tuous entertainments, he made his provision accordingly, 
 and to grace it with proper decorations sent for all the 
 plate he had in the world, most of which he had hid 
 at the time of Tewkesbury and Barnet fields, and 
 borrowed also much of his friends." l On the day 
 before the king's arrival was expected he summoned 
 the archbishop to Windsor, where he was arrested, and 
 sent, first to Calais, and afterwards to the castle of 
 Guisnes, where he was imprisoned for four years. The 
 king seized his estates and confiscated all his plate, 
 
 1 Drake, op. cit., 445.
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 61 
 
 money, furniture and other movables to the value of 
 £20,000. Among them was a very precious jewelled 
 mitre, which Edward broke up to make a crown for 
 himself. The archbishop was finally liberated through 
 the influence of his friends, but the strain of his cap- 
 tivity had broken down his health, and he returned 
 to his see " with anguish of heart to think of his 
 former condition, compared to the present, having, not- 
 withstanding his liberty, little left to support himself on, 
 the king having received the profits of his temporalities 
 during his confinement." 1 Though still in the prime 
 of life, he died a few months later at Blyth in Northum- 
 berland, worn out in body and mind. Foss says of 
 him : 2 " He is spoken of as a patron of scientific men ; 
 but no literary character can counteract the unfavour- 
 able sentence which every honest man must pronounce 
 against him, on the manifest proofs which his life 
 offers of fickleness, deceit, and treachery." 
 
 Very shortly after the death of Nevill the king 
 secured the translation of Lawrence Booth, half-brother 
 of the former Archbishop Booth, from the see of 
 Durham, which he had occupied for twenty years, 
 to that of York. He lived only until 1480, but, 
 although his tenure of the primacy lasted such a short 
 time, he is remembered as a benefactor to the see, to 
 which he presented the manor of Battersea and the 
 house that he built there. He died at Southwell, 
 his favourite residence, and was buried in the colle- 
 giate church by the side of his brother, Archbishop 
 William. 
 
 Bishopthorpe was one among many buildings which 
 profited during the archiepiscopate of the succeeding 
 prelate, Thomas Scot, or, as he is more commonly 
 known, Thomas Rotheram, the latter surname, which 
 
 1 Drake, op. cit., 445. 2 Judges of England, iv. 453.
 
 62 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 was taken from the name of his birthplace, having 
 been adopted by his family, according to a custom 
 which still appertained. The archbishop left his 
 mark in many places, and is renowned as a benefactor 
 of both Oxford and Cambridge. The latter university 
 owes its library to him, and his munificence to Lincoln 
 College, Oxford, which was then in a deplorable con- 
 dition, caused him to be styled its second founder. 
 His chief educational foundation was at Rotheram, 
 where he established and richly endowed the College 
 of Jesus, which survived until the suppression of 
 chantries under Edward VI. It was a noble illus- 
 tration of his love of his birthplace and of learning ; 
 and the confiscation of the greater part of the en- 
 dowment is one of the disgraceful acts that attended 
 the Reformation. 
 
 After his translation to the see of York, in 1480, 
 Rotheram devoted great attention to the manors be- 
 longing to it. He erected a large kitchen at White- 
 hall, and at Southwell he built a pantry, bakehouse, 
 and other rooms overlooking the river. But it was 
 upon Bishopthorpe that he bestowed his chief care, 
 and the first great addition to the manor-house since 
 its erection, more than two centuries before, was due 
 to him. He more than doubled the accommodation 
 by adding a new wing on the north side, which became 
 the chief habitation of the archbishops until the time 
 of Drummond. This wing was afterwards described 
 by Archbishop Sharp, who says it included the apart- 
 ments which in his day were used as the dining-room 
 and drawing-room, and his own study and bedroom, 
 as well as the state rooms, which accommodated royal 
 and noble visitors. The doorway into the room, which 
 was designated " the hall " by Sharp, is still surmounted 
 by the Rotheram arms, three stags, carved in stone ;
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 63 
 
 and a shield with his arms quartered with those of the 
 see, the pall and crosses, adorns the inner arch of the 
 housekeeper's room. 
 
 The archbishop who thus improved the mansions 
 belonging to his see was not conspicuous for his atten- 
 tion to its spiritual needs, being so often "prevented 
 by various and arduous duties to the king and the 
 realm from coming in person to his diocese." He 
 was, in fact, more remarkable as a statesman than as 
 a prelate, as was so often the case with ecclesiastics of 
 the Middle Ages who obtained the highest prefer- 
 ments. Throughout his career he showed an un- 
 wavering devotion to Queen Elizabeth Wydville, to 
 whom he probably owed the favour of Edward IV. and 
 his appointment as Keeper of the Privy Seal, in 1467. 
 In the following year he became Bishop of Rochester, 
 and was subsequently promoted to Lincoln. In 1474 
 he was made Chancellor of England, an office which 
 he held until after the death of Edward, when he 
 shared in the downfall of the queen. A touching 
 though indiscreet example of Rotheram's fidelity was 
 displayed after the capture of her son, the boy king, 
 by Gloucester. The tidings reached the queen at 
 night, who immediately fled into sanctuary at West- 
 minster with her other son, the little Duke of York. 
 The archbishop also heard the news on the same night 
 by a messenger from Lord Hastings, who declared that 
 the king was in no danger, and that all would be well. 
 " Be it as well as it will," answered Rotheram, " it will 
 never be as well as we have seen it," and calling up his 
 servants before daylight, he hastened to the queen with 
 the Great Seal in his hands to assure her of his loyalty. 
 The chronicler, Grafton, has described how he found 
 her sitting alone on rushes, all desolate, and did his 
 best to cheer her. " Madam," quoth he, "be of good
 
 64 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 comfort, and I assure you, if they crown any other king 
 than your son, whom they now have, we shall on the 
 morrow crown his brother, whom you have with you; 
 and here is the Great Seal, which in like wise as your 
 noble husband delivered it over to me, so I deliver it 
 to you for the use of your son." The tender chivalry 
 which prompted this surrender was indefensible on 
 grounds of State, and calmer judgment obliged him to 
 send for the Seal a few hours later. But although it 
 was restored to him, the error gave a handle to his 
 enemies. A few days after he was deprived of the 
 chancellorship by the council which appointed Glou- 
 cester Protector, and after the meeting of the Black 
 Council, on 13th June, was thrown into prison. On 
 6th July the coronation of Gloucester as Richard III. 
 took place, and about the same time Rotheram, having 
 made his submission to the usurper, was liberated. 
 But whether he was not at once admitted to favour, 
 or whether he contrived to avoid the ceremony, the 
 fact remains, that although the king and queen were 
 received at York by the citizens with great splendour 
 shortly afterwards, and although they stayed at the 
 archbishop's own palace at York, he himself was not 
 present on the occasion. The king, wearing his crown, 
 went in solemn procession to the Minster, where high 
 mass was celebrated, but the Bishop of Durham was 
 the officiating prelate. In spite of this, Rotheram 
 appears once or twice again in connection with public 
 affairs, and it has even been suggested that he was 
 made use of in the shameful negotiations for a marriage 
 between Richard III. and his niece Elizabeth, who 
 afterwards became the wife of Henry VII. The story 
 of the archbishop's participation in the affair is pro- 
 bably, however, a piece of mere scandal. The history 
 of the last years of Rotheram's life is rather obscure,
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 6s 
 
 and it is doubtful to what extent he secured the favour 
 of Henry VII. He was present, though not in ponti- 
 ficals, at the creation of Prince Henry as Duke of 
 York, on ist November 1494, and the three days' 
 jousting which followed. Scroby and Cawood seem 
 to have become the favourite residences of his old age, 
 and tradition asserts that he died at the latter place of 
 the plague. This was on 29th May 1500. He was 
 buried in the Minster on the north side of the Lady- 
 chapel, under a monument of marble which he had 
 erected. His tomb was examined about 1735, and a 
 vault was discovered underneath it. Within the tomb 
 was a curious wooden head, which Drake says was " a 
 piece of extraordinary sculpture for that age " ; 1 but 
 whether it was a representation of the archbishop's 
 own, or that of some titular saint, the historian was 
 unable to determine. The head, which at that time 
 had a stick through the neck, can still be seen in the 
 vestry of the Minster. Rotheram's will, which con- 
 cludes with a solemn profession of faith, was most 
 elaborate, and is marked by a touching sense of his 
 unworthiness, as well as by the strange terror of 
 purgatory which belonged to his age. Among his 
 numerous bequests he left to the see of York a 
 splendid mitre worth five hundred marks, to take 
 the place of the one that had been destroyed by 
 Edward IV. 
 
 Little can be said of the next two rulers of the 
 primacy, the first of whom, Thomas Savage, seems 
 to have been entirely neglectful of his duties. A 
 trusted servant of Henry VII., he was generally 
 occupied either at court, or, when in the country, 
 by hunting, a pastime of which he was immoderately 
 fond. He did indeed spend a great deal of money on 
 
 1 Op. cit., 447. 
 
 E
 
 66 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 his residences at Cawood and Scroby, but their claim 
 to his attention was that they were his favourite 
 hunting centres. He is said to have given great 
 offence in the province of York by being enthroned 
 by deputy, and sending down his fool to amuse the 
 household. He occupied the see for seven years, 
 and died at Cawood on 3rd September 1507. 
 
 Christopher Bainbridge, though not so utterly 
 devoid of personal qualifications as his predecessor, 
 was a man of sour disposition and violent temper, 
 and to the latter he probably owed his sudden death. 
 His civil and ecclesiastical appointments included the 
 mastership of the Rolls, the chancellorship, the deanery 
 of York, and the bishopric of Durham. In 1508 he 
 was promoted to the archbishopric of York, but was 
 very shortly afterwards sent as ambassador to the 
 court of Rome by Henry VIII. to settle a dispute 
 between Pope Julius II. and Louis XII. of France. 
 The Pope rewarded him in 1 5 1 1 with a cardinal's 
 hat for persuading Henry to take his part in the 
 quarrel. Bainbridge was in Italy in 15 14, when he 
 met his fate. According to one account he took into 
 his service a priest named Rinaldo de Modena, whom 
 he struck in a sudden fit of passion, an insult so deeply 
 resented by Rinaldo that he avenged it by a draught 
 of poison. Rinaldo was cast into prison, but drank 
 poison himself to escape a more shameful death. 
 Another version of the story is that Rinaldo con- 
 fessed that he poisoned his master at the instigation 
 of the Bishop of Worcester, who was the resident 
 English ambassador at the court of Rome, and was 
 jealous of Bainbridge. The bishop was able to 
 exonerate himself after inducing Rinaldo to retract his 
 confession, and the latter stabbed himself in prison. 
 
 Bainbridge was succeeded by the great Cardinal
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 67 
 
 Wolsey, a man more renowned in other capacities 
 than as Archbishop of York, although, in name at 
 least, he occupied the see from 15 14 until his death 
 in 1530. During part of that time he held con- 
 currently first the bishopric of Durham and then the 
 bishopric of Winchester. Wolsey's humble origin, his 
 learning and ability, his devotion to the king's service, 
 his rapid promotion, and his sudden fall, are well 
 known. For the northern province he had neither 
 time nor attention to spare. He was installed by 
 proxy, never came to his cathedral city, and never, so 
 far as is known, visited Bishopthorpe, where, however, 
 a knife and fork and a small picture are preserved as 
 memorials of him. Whether he would at any time 
 have come so near as he did if it had not been for his 
 virtual banishment at the time of his fall, is a matter 
 that naturally cannot be decided. As it was, he was 
 sent down to his diocese after his disgrace, through 
 the influence of the nobles who feared his restoration 
 to favour, and took alarm at his return towards 
 London from Esher. He had already been per- 
 suaded, though with the greatest reluctance, to 
 deprive his successors of York Place at Westminster 
 by conveying it to the king. Not daring to refuse 
 the demand, he made the surrender to Sir William 
 Shelley, but concluded his protest with the words, 
 " Therefore I charge your conscience to discharge 
 me, and show his Highness from me, that I must 
 desire his Majesty to remember there is both heaven 
 and hell." * The account of the cardinal's journey 
 to the north is described in a most interesting manner 
 by his gentleman-usher and biographer, George Caven- 
 dish. The Duke of Norfolk insisted on Wolsey's 
 speedy departure from Richmond, whereupon the 
 
 1 Cavendish, Life and Death of Thomas Wolsey, 1901 edit., p. 154.
 
 68 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 cardinal sent a pitiful entreaty for money to the 
 king through his ever-faithful friend, Thomas Crom- 
 well. "Thomas," he said, "it is time to be going, 
 therefore I pray you go to the King and tell him that 
 I would go to my benefice at York but for lack of 
 money, and desire his Grace to help me to some; for you 
 may say the last money I had from his Grace was too 
 little to pay my debts, and to compel me to pay the rest 
 of my debts is too much extremity, seeing all my goods 
 are taken from me. Also show my Lord of Norfolk 
 and the rest of the Council that I would depart if I had 
 money." The Lords assigned to Wolsey a pension of 
 iooo marks from Winchester, and the king, who was 
 attached to him at heart, sent him a liberal gift of 
 ,£ 10,000, at which he " did not a little rejoice. Forth- 
 with," continues Cavendish, " there was preparation 
 made for his going. He had with him in his train 
 one hundred and fifty persons, and twelve carts to 
 carry his goods, which he sent from his college at 
 Oxford, besides other carts for the carriage of his 
 necessaries for his buildings. He kept his solemn 
 feast of Easter at Peterborough, and upon Palm Sun- 
 day he bore his palm and went in procession with the 
 monks ; and upon Thursday he made his Maundy, 
 having fifty poor men, whose feet he washed and 
 kissed ; and after he had dried them, he gave every 
 one of them twelve pence and three ells of good 
 canvas to make them shirts, and each of them had 
 a pair of new shoes and a cask of red herrings. Upon 
 Easter Day he rode to the Resurrection, and that day 
 he went in procession in his cardinal's vestments, and 
 having his hat on his head, and sung the High Mass 
 there himself solemnly. After his Mass, he gave his 
 benediction to all the hearers, and clean remission. 
 From Peterborough he took his journey into the
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 69 
 
 north, but made some stay by the way, and many 
 things happened in his journey too tedious here to 
 relate. At the last he came to Scroby, where he 
 continued till Michaelmas, exercising many deeds of 
 charity. Most commonly every Sunday, if the weather 
 served, would he go to some poor parish church there- 
 abouts, and there would say the Divine Service, and 
 either said or heard Mass, and then caused one of his 
 chaplains to preach the Word of God to the people, and 
 afterwards he would dine in some honest house in the 
 town, where was distributed to the poor alms as well of 
 meat and drink, and money to supply the want of meat 
 and drink if the number of poor did exceed. About 
 Michaelmas next he removed from thence to Cawood 
 Castle, within seven miles of the city of York, where 
 he had much honour and love from all men, high and 
 low, and where he kept a plentiful house for all comers. 
 Also he built and repaired the castle, which was much 
 decayed, having at the least three hundred persons 
 daily in work, to whom he paid wages. And while 
 there all the doctors and prebends of the Church of 
 York did repair to my Lord according to their duties, 
 as unto the chief head, patron, and father of their 
 spiritual dignities, who did joyfully welcome him 
 into those parts, saying it was no small comfort 
 unto them to see their Head among them, who had 
 been so long absent from them, being all that while 
 like fatherless and comfortless children for want of 
 his presence, and that they trusted shortly to see 
 him amongst them in his own church : to whom he 
 made answer that it was the especial cause of his 
 coming to be amongst them as a father and a natural 
 brother." It may be questioned whether any one 
 present secretly doubted the sincerity of this last 
 remark, or wondered why the desire of their head
 
 70 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 to be amongst them had not shown itself before ! 
 Wolsey was destined never to see his cathedral church 
 or to be personally installed, for on the Friday before 
 the day fixed for the ceremony the Earl of Northum- 
 berland suddenly arrived while the cardinal was having 
 dinner at Cawood Castle, and arrested him on a charge 
 of high treason. This last blow was fatal to the 
 cardinal, whose health was already in a weak state. 
 His sad journey towards London was broken several 
 times, and at Leicester Abbey, on 29th November 
 1530, he passed away. He was buried in the Lady- 
 chapel of the monastery the following morning, when 
 it was found that he wore a shirt of hair next his skin, 
 underneath "an over-shirt of fine holland." 
 
 A few years after his death, Bishopthorpe, which 
 had been neglected by the archbishops for so long, 
 became the headquarters of the new primate, Edward 
 Lee, whose misfortune it was to witness and take a 
 certain reluctant part in the early stages of the Refor- 
 mation upheaval. Lee was the king's almoner, and 
 had already been employed on several embassies when, 
 in December 1 53 1, he was elected to the see of York 
 and enthroned by proxy. At that time he was being 
 used by Henry in the disgraceful proceedings con- 
 nected with the divorce of Queen Katharine ; and, 
 although he could not conscientiously support the 
 king in the matter, the expenses in which his promo- 
 tion to the archbishopric involved him constituted one 
 among many reasons why he should do his utmost to 
 please his sovereign. In the previous June he had 
 been a member of the deputation sent to persuade the 
 queen to give up her rights. Her reception of the 
 delegates, as recounted by Chapuys to the Emperor 
 Charles V., 1 redounds to her credit and to the con- 
 
 1 Cal. State Papers, Dom., v., No. 287.
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 71 
 
 fusion of the ministers, not one of whom was able to 
 withstand the dignified restraint of her conduct and 
 her arguments. Lee was one of those who incurred 
 a severe reproof at her hands for his attitude on 
 the occasion. 
 
 For the first two or three years after his accession 
 the archbishop had no leisure to visit his diocese ; 
 but on 1st April 1534 he was enthroned in person, and 
 from that time until 1536 resided at Bishopthorpe, 1 
 and was largely occupied in making visitations to the 
 religious houses over which he had jurisdiction. It 
 cannot be doubted that his aim was to disprove 
 calumnies and show the generally satisfactory state 
 of morals and conduct in the monastic establishments, 
 in order to preserve them, if possible, from the dissolu- 
 tion which he could not help seeing was imminent. 
 Lee's position was a difficult one. On the one hand, 
 he owed his promotion to the king, and on this and 
 other grounds was anxious to avoid offending him ; 
 on the other, he was a prominent opposer of Erasmus 
 and the new learning, and was known to be in favour 
 of the Roman system. Finally, he succumbed to his 
 desire to retain the king's approbation, and even 
 went so far as to acknowledge the royal supremacy, 
 though not until he was forced to do so. 2 In 1542 
 he surrendered the manors of Beverley, Southwell, 
 Skidby, and Bishop-Burton to the crown ; but as 
 he received lands in return which had belonged to 
 certain suppressed priories, the see lost little by the 
 alienations. Two years later he died, and was buried 
 in York Minster. 
 
 The king took care that Lee's successor should be 
 a man who would assist him to carry out the work of 
 
 1 Yorks. Arch. Journal, xvi. 425. 
 
 2 Letters and Papers, Hen. V 'III., passim.
 
 72 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 the Reformation, and to this end appointed Robert 
 Holgate, who had been one of his chaplains, and in 
 1538 elected President of the Council of the North. 
 In January 1545 he was promoted from the see of 
 Llandaff to that of York. Henry had chosen his 
 instrument well, for within a month of his accession 
 Holgate alienated to the crown sixty-seven manors 
 belonging to the archbishopric, receiving in exchange 
 thirty-three impropriations and advowsons, which were 
 the spoils of the Dissolution. By these and similar 
 transactions he acquired, at the expense of the see, 
 greater personal wealth than any prelate in England. 
 He then decided to marry, and had his banns published 
 in 1549 at Bishopthorpe. The lady was Barbara 
 Wentworth, who was said to have been betrothed 
 and actually married in her childhood to a certain 
 Anthony Norman. During the reign of Edward VI. 
 the latter claimed her, but an inquiry into the matter 
 seems to have been decided in favour of the arch- 
 bishop. The accession of Queen Mary naturally 
 occasioned Holgate's downfall. At the end of 1553 
 he was dispossessed of his ill-gotten riches and com- 
 mitted to the Tower, and in the following year was 
 deprived of his archbishopric on the score of his 
 marriage. His misfortunes displayed his cringing 
 and servile disposition ; he implored for pardon, 
 declaring that he had been persuaded to marry in 
 case Northumberland should call him a papist, and 
 that he very much repented his offence. He urged 
 that he was not so much to blame as other bishops 
 under arrest, " they being much further gone amiss 
 in religion than he was, and with obstinacy." After 
 about a year and a half he was at last released, but 
 only lived for a few months longer. Among the few 
 praiseworthy deeds ascribed to him are his foundation
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 73 
 
 and endowment of three grammar schools, at York, 
 Old Malton, and Hemsworth, where instruction in 
 Latin, Greek, and Hebrew was to be free. There is 
 also a story that the cause of his surrendering a 
 Lincolnshire benefice and going to London, where he 
 was taken into the king's favour, was a dispute with 
 Sir Francis Ayscough, who brought a vexatious law- 
 suit against him. It happened in later years, when 
 Holgate was President of the Council of the North, 
 that Ayscough was concerned in a suit which was tried 
 by him, and was agreeably surprised to find his cause 
 supported by his former adversary, who explained his 
 partisanship by " saying merrily to some of his friends 
 that he was more obliged to Sir Francis than any man 
 in England, for had it not been for his pushing him to 
 London, he had lived a poor priest all his days." 
 
 Nicholas Heath, his successor, is a very attrac- 
 tive character, and although his connection with the 
 northern primacy lasted only a few years, he managed 
 to recover so much of the property which had been 
 alienated as to cause it to be said that the see of York 
 owed to Queen Mary and this archbishop more than 
 a third part of its revenues. 1 Heath procured the 
 restoration of Ripon and many other manors of which 
 the see had been denuded by Holgate, and built York 
 Place, in the Strand, out of the proceeds of the sale of 
 Suffolk Place, which the queen had given him in com- 
 pensation for Whitehall. He was appointed chancellor 
 by Mary, and retained the office for a short time under 
 Elizabeth, to whom he rendered valuable services 
 when she first came to the throne, although he soon 
 came into collision with her on the religious question. 
 The archbishop refused to tamper with his conscience, 
 or to take the oath enjoined by the Act of Supremacy, 
 
 1 Browne Willis, Survey of the Cathedrals, i. 46.
 
 74 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 and was consequently deprived in 1559. For a short 
 time he was committed to the Tower, but Elizabeth 
 appreciated the honesty of his motives, and was not 
 ungrateful for his support at her accession. He was 
 soon afterwards liberated, and retired to a small estate 
 in Surrey, where " he spent the remainder of his days, 
 unmolested, in a studious and religious manner, and 
 free from harbouring any thoughts of faction or 
 revenge." 1 
 
 Thomas Young, who was appointed to the see of 
 York a few months after the deprivation of his prede- 
 cessor, was the " first Protestant archbishop." Although 
 his character is not very commendable, he seems to 
 have been a consistent reformer, and was remarkable 
 for his " painful forwardness in setting forth the true 
 religion." On one occasion he dared even to " ad- 
 monish and counsel the queen with regard to her 
 method of life and conduct," but his advice was not 
 well received, as she was " highly incensed, and treated 
 him with great roughness and many hard words, and 
 threatened to prosecute him." 2 Young's besetting sin 
 was avarice, and " his chief care, whilst he sat arch- 
 bishop, was providing for himself and family by settling 
 the estates of the best prebends upon them." 3 He 
 was twice married, and it was to procure an estate for 
 his son that he committed the sacrilegious act which is 
 the greatest stain on his reputation. He commenced 
 the destruction of York Palace by demolishing the 
 great hall to obtain the lead from the roof, which he 
 sent by sea to London, where it was sold for ^1000 ; 
 but as he was cheated out of the money by the Earl 
 of Arundel his cupidity brought him nothing but dis- 
 
 1 Drake, op. ciL, 453. 
 
 2 Cal. State Papers, Spanish, 1558-67, p. 553. 
 
 3 Drake, op. cit., 454.
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 75 
 
 honour. Young died in 1568, having ruled the see 
 for seven and a half years. 
 
 The next archbishop, Edmund Grindal, has been 
 commemorated by Edmund Spenser in his "Shepheard's 
 Calender " for May and July under the name of Al- 
 grind. In the latter month he is referred to in the 
 following charming lines : —   
 
 Morrell. But say me, what is Algrind, he 
 
 that is so oft bynempt? 
 Thomalin. Hee is a shepheard great in gree, 
 
 but hath bene long ypent. 
 One daye hee sat upon a hyll, 
 
 (as now thou wouldest me ; 
 But I am taught, by Algrind's ill, 
 
 to love the lowe degree) ; 
 For sitting so with bared scalpe, 
 
 An Eagle sored hye, 
 That, weening his whyte head was chalke, 
 
 A shell fish downc let flye : 
 Shee weend the shell fish to have broake, 
 
 but therewith bruzd his brayne ; 
 So now, astonied with the stroke, 
 
 he lyes in lingring payne. 
 Morrell. Ah ! good Algrind ! his hap was ill, 
 
 but shall be better in time. 
 Now farewell, shepheard, sith thys hyll 
 
 thou hast such doubt to climbe. 
 
 Grindal, although he rose to positions of consider- 
 able importance under Queen Elizabeth, and had un- 
 usual opportunities of guiding the Church during the 
 first difficult years of her reign, signally disappointed 
 the hopes that were placed in him, not on account of 
 his character, which was above reproach, but because he 
 was too weak to take up a definite attitude at a time 
 when a leader was indispensable, and too scrupulous 
 and conscientious to fall in with the shifting policy of 
 the queen. He was recommended by the Archbishop
 
 76 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 of Canterbury for the see of York because " he was 
 not resolute and severe enough for the government 
 of London," and was accordingly elected in 1570. In 
 the northern province his work, which was chiefly 
 directed against the Romish party, was more congenial 
 to him, and his wisdom and tact enabled him to pursue 
 his aim of rooting out superstitions without causing any 
 unnecessary dissension. He presided over the see for 
 five years, but after the death of Archbishop Parker 
 was removed to Canterbury, where, however, he failed 
 to achieve the religious settlement that was hoped for 
 by the queen and Cecil. He came into opposition 
 with Elizabeth on the subject of " prophesyings " and 
 preaching, and was suspended for six months. Although 
 afterwards reinstated Grindal became afflicted with 
 blindness, and was about to resign his office in con- 
 sequence. He died, however, before the arrangements 
 could be completed, in July 1583. 
 
 In the butler's room at Bishopthorpe is a small 
 pane of glass with Grindal's arms and his name, and 
 the date, 1570. 
 
 After his translation to Canterbury in 1576, Edwin 
 Sands or Sandys, a zealous Puritan, was appointed his 
 successor. He was a man "marvellously ill-favoured," 
 and of a quarrelsome disposition, and his tenure of the 
 primacy is marked by a series of disputes, in which he 
 immediately became involved. As soon as he arrived 
 in the north an attempt was made to induce him to 
 give up Bishopthorpe, which was coveted as a suitable 
 residence for the Presidents of the Council of the 
 North. Fortunately he was successful in resisting 
 this encroachment, but only with great difficulty. 
 The President of the Council, the Earl of Hunting- 
 don, evidently went so far as to take possession of 
 the house, for he wrote a letter from Bishopthorpe,
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 77 
 
 dated 1st April 1577, in which he says that he is 
 leaving, and intends in fifteen days to " yield up all, 
 full sore against my wife's will." In the same year 
 the archbishop visited the see of Durham, which was 
 then vacant, and embroiled himself with the clergy. 
 He also made many other enemies, among them Sir 
 Robert Stapleton, who seems, however, to have been 
 the greatest offender in the dissensions that arose be- 
 tween them. It is said that he was anxious to obtain 
 advantageous leases from the archbishop, and en- 
 deavoured to force his hand by devising a malicious 
 slander against him. Sandys at first yielded to avoid 
 a scandal, but when Stapleton continued to blackmail 
 him, he exposed the affair and managed to clear him- 
 self. On one occasion Stapleton related that a scene 
 of " violent recrimination " took place between the 
 Archbishop of York and a certain Mr. Sysson in 
 an orchard at Bishopthorpe. According to his own 
 account, Stapleton interfered, and was drawn into 
 a personal contest with Sysson, but they were evi- 
 dently accused of being accomplices, as Stapleton 
 denied " that this strife was feigned in order to 
 draw on a composition." x 
 
 Sandys was twice married, and by his second wife 
 had seven sons and two daughters. He died in July 
 1588. Fuller says of him that he was "an excellent 
 and painful preacher, and of a pious and godly life, 
 which increased in his old age ; so that by a great and 
 good stride, whilst he had one foot in the grave, he had 
 the other in heaven. He was buried in Southwell ; 
 and it is hard to say whether he was more eminent 
 in his own virtues, or more happy in his flourishing 
 posterity." 2 
 
 1 Cat. State Papers, Dom., 1581-90, p. 98. 
 
 2 Church History (edit. Brewer), v. 141.
 
 78 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 Sandys was succeeded by John Piers, who was 
 translated from Salisbury to York in 1589. The 
 following admirable account of him is given by 
 Drake: 1 "He is said to be a man that was master 
 of all kinds of learning, and beloved by every one for 
 his humanity, excellent behaviour, and generosity. The 
 last of which virtues he exercised to such a degree that 
 he scarce left at his death sufficient, as is said, to erect 
 a monument to his memory. The small one set up in 
 the church for him having been placed there, as the 
 inscription intimates, by Dr. Bennett, one of his grate- 
 ful chaplains and testamentary heir to what he left 
 behind him. In his younger years, when he resided 
 on a small living in Oxfordshire, he fell into an excess 
 of drinking and keeping mean company ; but upon 
 being admonished of it by a grave divine he quite 
 forsook that course, and followed his duties so hard 
 that he deservedly attained to great honours and 
 preferments. He was in great favour with Queen 
 Elizabeth, who made him her almoner ; and he must 
 be a wise and good man whom that thrifty princess, 
 says Fuller, would trust with the distribution of her 
 monies. He lived and died with the character of one 
 of the most grave and reverend prelates of his age ; 
 and, after his reduced life, was so abstemious that, 
 in his advanced years, when his constitution required 
 such support, his physician could not persuade him to 
 drink any wine. So habituated he was then to sobriety, 
 and bore such a detestation to his former excess. 
 
 " This primitive bishop lived in a state of celibacy 
 all his days ; and died at Bishopthorpe, 28th September 
 1594, having leased nothing from the Church nor hurt 
 its revenues." 
 
 Archbishop Matthew Hutton, his successor, passed 
 
 1 Op. at., 456.
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 79 
 
 a good deal of time at Bishopthorpe. He was too 
 old a man when he was promoted to the primacy, 
 at the advanced age of sixty-six, to care for much 
 travelling ; the palace at York was no longer used 
 as a residence, and his most natural home would 
 be Bishopthorpe, the nearest to the cathedral of 
 the archiepiscopal seats. This prelate was of very 
 humble origin, and owed his high preferments to his 
 reputation as a scholar and a theologian. His great aim 
 as archbishop was the suppression of Popery, " which 
 was very prevailing in the northern parts," but he depre- 
 cated every kind of persecution, and one of his last 
 public acts was a letter to Lord Cranborne recom- 
 mending a relaxation of severity towards the Puritans. 
 In the early part of 1598, when Sir Robert Ker of 
 Cessford, a servant of the King of Scotland (afterwards 
 James I. of England), and warden of the east marches, 
 was sent to England " for answering of divers attempts 
 and wrongs done by the part of Scotland," the queen, 
 realising that he was a man of great account, both 
 by his birth and by office, and one able to be either a 
 good or a bad neighbour to England, thought it neces- 
 sary that he should be " brought and stayed in some 
 remote part in England from the Border." 1 She 
 therefore sent him to York, and requested the arch- 
 bishop to detain him at Bishopthorpe, where she de- 
 sired that he should be safely guarded, that no one 
 should hold any communication with him, except 
 in the presence of that gentleman whom the arch- 
 bishop should appoint to wait upon him, and that 
 he should not be allowed to walk abroad, except 
 privately, near the house. Sir Robert remained in 
 durance as a guest of the archbishop until May. 
 He seems to have been treated with every considera- 
 
 1 Hutton Correspondence (Surtees Soc), 121.
 
 8o EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 tion, and to have honourably accepted the courtesy. 
 In one of his letters to Lord Wilfoughby, the arch- 
 bishop expressed the opinion that Sir Robert would 
 not make any attempt to escape, and the latter after 
 his liberation wrote a letter to his host, on 14th June, 
 which commences : " May it pleis zour Grace. I 
 determinit, quhen I sinderit frome zow, before now 
 to have returnit sum signe of myndfulnes in me to 
 be thankfull for the ressonabill curtessies and un- 
 deservit favouris that I resavit of zour Grace at my 
 being in zour hous of Bischopthorpe." l 
 
 One of Archbishop Hutton's experiences is senten- 
 tiously related by Fuller, 2 who says : " One of the 
 last times that ever he preached in his cathedral was 
 on this occasion : The Catholics in Yorkshire were 
 commanded by the queen's authority to be present 
 at three sermons, and at the two first behaved them- 
 selves so obstreperously that some of them were forced 
 to be gagged before they would be quiet ; the arch- 
 bishop preached the last most gravely and solidly, 
 taking for his text John viii. 47 : ' He that is of God, 
 heareth God's words ; ye therefore hear them not, 
 because ye are not of God.' " 
 
 Archbishop Hutton died at Bishopthorpe in 
 January 1606. His successor, Tobias Matthew, was 
 renowned for his wit, or, as Sir John Harington 
 expresses it, his " cheerful sharpness in discourse." 
 He was a most celebrated preacher, and was a great 
 favourite both with Queen Elizabeth and King James. 
 The former was greatly attracted by his handsome 
 person and sparkling humour, and showed him much 
 preference. She is said to have been equally kind to 
 his wife, on whom she bestowed " a fragment of an 
 unicorn's horn " ! Mrs. Matthew was " a prudent 
 
 1 Hutton Correspondence (Surtees Soc), 135. 2 Op. cit., v. 355.
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 8 1 
 
 and provident matron," and " is memorable likewise 
 for having a bishop to her father, an archbishop to 
 her father-in-law, four bishops to her brethren, and 
 an archbishop to her husband." This lady, after the 
 death of Archbishop Matthew, gave his valuable library 
 to the Dean and Chapter of York. 
 
 James I. paid a visit to Bishopthorpe on his way to 
 Scotland in 1617, and was received with great welcome 
 by the archbishop and Mrs. Matthew. The king could 
 heartily enjoy a joke, and the banquet in the great hall 
 would undoubtedly be a merry one, enriched by the 
 most cheerful conversation and brilliant repartee. 
 
 For all his love of fun, the primate never trespassed 
 on episcopal gravity, and although he gave so much 
 attention to his preaching, " he neglected not his proper 
 episcopal acts of visitation, confirmation, ordination, 
 &c." * As a statesman Matthew was wise and diplo- 
 matic, but he retired from political life in his last 
 years. He died at Cawood, greatly regretted, in 
 March 1628. 
 
 The name of Archbishop George Monteigne is 
 associated with Cawood rather than Bishopthorpe, 
 where he left no mark. Monteigne was born at 
 Cawood, and is supposed to have been the son of a 
 small farmer. It is said that he determined as a 
 boy to become Archbishop of York and to possess 
 Cawood Castle, an ambition which he realised in 1628. 
 There is a story that he owed his final promotion to 
 his wit. He was not so great a favourite with 
 Charles I. as with King James, and when the see of 
 York became vacant by the death of Archbishop 
 Matthew, Monteigne feared that he would lose the 
 coveted prize. It happened, however, that the king 
 was discussing the question in his presence, when 
 
 1 Thoresby, Vicaria Leodiensis, 165. 
 
 F
 
 82 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 Monteigne, who had shortly before been elected to 
 Durham, quietly observed, " Hadst thou faith as a 
 grain of mustard seed, thou wouldst say unto this 
 mountain " (laying his hand upon his own breast), 
 " Be removed into that sea." The apt quotation 
 appealed to the king's sense of humour, and he duly 
 rewarded him with the translation. The archbishop 
 died, however, in October of the same year, and was 
 interred, according to his desire, in Cawood Church. 
 
 Samuel Harsnett, Bishop of Norwich, was appointed 
 in November, but enjoyed the archiepiscopal dignity 
 only until 1 63 1, when he died and was buried "with- 
 out pomp or solemnity " in the parish church of 
 Chigwell. Like his predecessors, he made it one of 
 his chief objects to check the steady progress of the 
 Puritan party, and was even on one occasion denounced 
 as a papist. Harsnett's character was not without a 
 stain, for having at one time held the mastership of 
 Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, " he was ejected out of 
 the same for some scandalous practices, which were so 
 flagrant against him, being exhibited in fifty-seven 
 articles, that he was glad to quit his mastership to 
 prevent farther inquiry." 1 
 
 The see of York had been vacant for nine months 
 when Richard Neile, Bishop of Winchester, was nomi- 
 nated by Charles I. Eachard says 2 that this man, by 
 his merit alone, " passed through all the degrees and 
 orders of the Church of England, having been school- 
 master, curate, vicar, parson, chaplain, Master of the 
 Savoy, Dean of Westminster, Clerk of the Closet to 
 two kings, Bishop of Rochester, Lichfield, Lincoln, 
 Durham, and Winchester, and lastly, Archbishop of 
 York." He was not a scholar, but was a man of much 
 
 1 Willis, op. cit., i. 55. 
 
 2 History of England, Book i. p. 185.
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 83 
 
 address, great practical ability and common sense, as 
 well as hard-working and conscientious. He was 
 exceedingly popular, and it has been said of him that 
 " he became prominent and successful where greater 
 men failed." He was sincerely attached to Arch- 
 bishop Laud, and might have shared the same fate 
 had he not died in 1640, before the "evil day" came. 
 
 On 27th May 1633, Archbishop Neile entertained 
 Charles I. at Bishopthorpe, who there knighted his son, 
 Sir Paul Neile. The son of the latter, William Neile 
 the mathematician, was born at Bishopthorpe during 
 his grandfather's occupation of the house in 1637. 
 
 Archbishop Neile was succeeded by his enemy, 
 John Williams, the rival of Laud, who is equally well 
 known as a politician and an ecclesiastic. He was 
 made Lord Keeper after the fall of Bacon in 1621, 
 was committed to the Tower in 1637 on a charge 
 of suborning false evidence in a trial, released by the 
 Long Parliament in 1640, but again committed to the 
 Tower in 1641 for presenting a protest to the king 
 which was damaging to the House of Commons. 
 
 In the meantime Williams had been translated by 
 Charles I. from Lincoln to York. In May 1642 he 
 was released on bail on condition that he should not go 
 into Yorkshire during the distractions there. However, 
 he broke the agreement, stole away to York where the 
 king was, and was enthroned in June. The Civil War 
 broke out soon afterwards, and Williams was obliged 
 to desert Cawood, which he had fortified, and fly to 
 Conway, his native place. Like other bishops, he was 
 deprived, and after the murder of the king lived in 
 retirement until his death in 1650. 
 
 During the ten years which followed, the see of 
 York remained vacant. Bishopthorpe had been sold 
 by the Parliament to Colonel Walter White in 1647,
 
 84 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 f° r £$ 2 5> At this time the centre part of the house 
 was probably very much in decay, but it does not seem 
 to have been restored by Colonel White, who, according 
 to Archbishop Sharp, contented himself with adding 
 two wings on the south side of Rotheram's edifice. 
 Keble says 1 that he "must have lengthened the main 
 wing as well, for Rotheram's building did not go far 
 enough for the further projection to be added to it," 
 and he also notes that the old cellars of the wing, now 
 disused, show exactly where Rotheram's building ends 
 and White's begins. The passage next to the house- 
 keeper's room was probably built at this time. The 
 additions and improvements were continued by Arch- 
 bishop Accepted Frewen, who was installed at the 
 Restoration. Of Puritan ancestry, as his Christian 
 name indicates, he was an old man when he was ap- 
 pointed to the primacy, and lived only a little over 
 three years longer. During that time he restored the 
 oldest part of Bishopthorpe, rebuilding the dining-hall, 
 which was in a ruinous condition and open to the sky, 
 and adding the beautifully panelled ceiling. He also 
 rebuilt the rooms above it, and made considerable 
 alterations and additions to the desecrated chapel, 
 which he fitted with a pulpit and high pews. His 
 initials, A. F., and the date, 1662, are still to be seen. 
 Frewen died at Bishopthorpe, and was buried under the 
 east window of York Minster. 
 
 He was followed by Richard Sterne, who had been 
 a loyal adherent to Charles I. and chaplain to Arch- 
 bishop Laud, whom he supported on the scaffold. 
 The sad-faced Archbishop Sterne occupied the primacy 
 from 1655 until 1683, and during that time "his 
 whole behaviour was worthy of the high station he bore." 
 He added to the stables at Bishopthorpe, and built a 
 
 1 Bishopthorpe, 72.
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 85 
 
 laundry-house, which is no longer in existence. The 
 residence was finally the scene of his death. The 
 communion plate of York Minster had been stolen 
 during his primacy, and in his will he left his own 
 plate, which had been used in Bishopthorpe Chapel, to 
 take its place. The archbishop's one regrettable act 
 was the alienation of Hexgrave, near Southwell, from 
 the see of York. 
 
 John Dolben, the next archbishop, had taken part 
 as a youth in the Royalist cause, and was twice severely 
 wounded. At Marston Moor he received a musket- 
 ball in his shoulder while carrying the colours, and in 
 the siege of York his thigh-bone was broken. His 
 bravery in battle was equalled by his courage as a 
 churchman, for during the Commonwealth he defied 
 the penal laws, and loyally maintained the services of 
 the proscribed Church of England. In 1662 he was 
 promoted to the deanery of Westminster, and it was 
 during his residence that the Great Fire of London took 
 place. The occasion must have caused the ardent 
 spirit of his youth to flame anew. He ordered out 
 the Westminster scholars, and led them to the thrilling 
 scene, where with their help he largely contributed to 
 the saving of St. Dunstan's Church. 
 
 The dean's preaching at the abbey was far-famed, 
 and crowds flocked to hear him. He has been immor- 
 talised by Dryden l in his " Absalom and Achitophel," 
 in these words : 
 
 " Him of the western dome, whose mighty sense 
 Flows in fit words and heavenly eloquence." 
 
 Dolben was elected to the archbishopric of York in 
 1683, and received with universal acclamation, but, 
 sadly enough, he only lived to preside over the see for 
 
 1 Works (edit. Scott), ix. 243.
 
 86 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 three years. About Easter time, 1686, he contracted 
 smallpox, and died within a few days at Bishopthorpe. 
 This archbishop effected an improvement in his house 
 here by paving the courtyard with pebbles. 
 
 The character of his successor, Thomas Lamplugh, 
 has been blackened by Wood, 1 who accuses him of 
 being a successful time-server in days when it was 
 necessary to make great sacrifices for the sake 
 of loyalty and conscience. Other evidence suggests 
 that these criticisms are exaggerated, but Lamplugh, 
 though undoubtedly a Royalist at heart, and the re- 
 cipient of many favours from Charles II. and James 
 II., was one of the first to swear allegiance to William 
 of Holland. The see of York had been vacant for 
 more than two years and a half when, in 1688, Lamp- 
 lugh was appointed by King James, as a reward for his 
 having conveyed the news of the landing of the Prince 
 of Orange. He was officially translated from Exeter 
 three days before the king's flight, and was enthroned 
 by proxy shortly afterwards. The temptation to 
 transfer his loyalty to William must have been great, 
 and Lamplugh succumbed to it. In the beginning of 
 March of the following year he received the tempo- 
 ralities from the new king, and in April assisted at his 
 coronation. He did not long enjoy the dignity of his 
 high position, as he died at Bishopthorpe in May 169 1. 
 According to Le Neve 2 he made " the screen in the 
 hall at Bishopthorpe, and paved it with stone." He 
 was interred in the south choir of the Minster. By 
 his will he bequeathed to the succeeding archbishops 
 of York his private communion plate for their use in 
 Bishopthorpe Chapel. 
 
 Two months after his death, John Sharp, one of 
 
 1 Athenae, iv. 878 ; Life and Times (Oxford Hist. Soc), i. 365. 
 
 2 Lives of Protestant Bishops^ 277.
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 87 
 
 the most beautiful and lovable characters that ever 
 adorned so noble a dignity, was consecrated to the see. 
 Although he became the faithful friend and adviser of 
 Queen Anne, he was little concerned with political life, 
 and devoted himself to ecclesiastical matters, in which 
 his wisdom and rectitude were unfailing. 
 
 During the reign of William and Mary he was 
 offered a choice of the sees of which the non-jurors 
 had been deprived, but he refused to accept any of 
 them as long as they lived. Macaulay wrote of him 1 
 that he was " the highest churchman that had been 
 zealous for comprehension, and the lowest churchman 
 that felt a scruple about succeeding a deprived prelate." 
 As a preacher Sharp deservedly acquired a great reputa- 
 tion. His son, Dr. Thomas Sharp, who wrote his bio- 
 graphy, 2 says that he would not " venture upon so great 
 a work " (as preaching) " without having prepared the 
 diction as well as the matter. He never thought he 
 could take too great precautions, or too much pains, 
 in composing his sermons (some of which he corrected 
 more than once)." Sharp was a man of liberal tastes, 
 and according to his son, " he loved poetry all his life." 
 His hobbies were the collection of coins and gardening, 
 and this last inclination led him to take the greatest 
 interest in his home at Bishopthorpe. The grounds 
 were carefully laid out under his personal supervision, 
 and the beautiful lime avenue was planted by him. In 
 the summer the archbishop spent much of his time in 
 the open air, performing his devotions " either in his 
 garden or in the adjoining fields and meadows." His 
 " Temple of Praise " was a grass walk walled in by 
 magnificent yew hedges, which shadowed it through- 
 out almost the whole day. Adjoining it on the east 
 was a little maze or wilderness, which was another very 
 
 1 Hist, o) England, iv. 43. 2 Edit, by T. Newcome.
 
 88 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 favourite place of retirement. It is a matter of great 
 regret that these secluded corners, so loved by the 
 good archbishop, have not been preserved as memorials 
 of him. 
 
 An example of Sharp's generosity was his raising 
 almost a third of the necessary sum for the repair of 
 York Minster, a great part of which was burnt in 
 171 1. He occupied the see for nearly twenty-three 
 years. His care for it is shown by his obtaining a 
 promise from the queen to nominate Sir William 
 Dawes as his successor, a promise which she faithfully 
 carried out after his death in 17 14. He was interred in 
 the Lady-chapel in the Minster under a monument on 
 which an elaborate epitaph was inscribed by his friend, 
 Bishop Smalbridge. 1 In one of the manuscript books 
 carefully compiled by Archbishop Sharp is a list of 
 part of the equipment of Bishopthorpe house and 
 chapel. A large piece of tapestry with the story of 
 Ananias and Sapphira worked upon it, which then 
 hung at the altar, and of which mention is made, has 
 since disappeared. The archbishop's black-letter Bible 
 is still preserved at Bishopthorpe. 
 
 Sir William Dawes, who was duly elected within 
 a month of his predecessor's death, belonged to an 
 ancient family which had been very wealthy until 
 their fortune was dispersed in the service of Charles I. 
 The father of the archbishop was rewarded by Charles II. 
 with a title which descended to Sir William after the 
 death of his two elder brothers. This prelate is 
 described by his contemporary Drake 2 as being " of a 
 noble and majestic personage, and a sweet and engaging 
 behaviour, kind and respectful to his clergy, and human 
 to all the world." He is said to have made great 
 improvements at Bishopthorpe while it was in his 
 
 1 It is given in full in Drake's Eboracum, 467-68. - Op. cit., 469.
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 89 
 
 possession, but there is nothing to show the actual 
 scope of his work. Canon Keble, quoting the records 
 of the manor-house, says that his housekeeper, Mrs. 
 Newton, " embezzled the chapel litany desk, covered 
 with purple damask and gold fringe." The arch- 
 bishop died in 1724, after ten years' conscientious 
 government of the see. 
 
 No one could have been a greater contrast to the 
 aristocratic gentleman, Archbishop Dawes, than Lance- 
 lot Blackburne, who succeeded him in the primacy. 
 The stories told about his wild youth, although doubt- 
 less very exaggerated, could not have been altogether 
 without foundation, and in spite of his subsequent 
 advancement the reputation gained in his early years 
 clung to him throughout his life. The rumour that 
 he was at one time a pirate arose from the fact that 
 shortly after his ordination he went out to the West 
 Indies, serving, it is said, as chaplain on board a buc- 
 caneering ship sent to prey on the Spaniards. His life 
 was, in any case, certainly not a blameless one, and in 
 1702 the reports circulated about him, whether slan- 
 derous or not, forced him to resign the sub-deanery of 
 Exeter, to which he had been appointed in 1695. He 
 was, however, restored two years later, and obtained 
 rapid preferment, becoming Dean of Exeter in 1705, 
 Bishop in 17 17, and Archbishop of York in 1724. 
 Scandal attributed this last promotion to the gratitude 
 of George I., who was stated to have been united in 
 marriage with the Duchess of Munster by Blackburne. 
 
 The following horrified reference to the laxity of 
 the archbishop's views occurs in a letter written by 
 Dr. William Stratford to Edward Harley, afterwards 
 Earl of Oxford : " Do you hear that your new 
 Northern Metropolitan [Blackburne] continued his 
 journey so upon his going down as to travel from
 
 9 o EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 Doncaster to Bishopthorpe on Sunday? It makes no 
 little noise in this part of the world, which is not used 
 to such freedoms as pass in the Southern climate." x 
 Walpole, writing of the prelate, says, " The jolly old 
 Archbishop of York . . . had all the manners of a 
 man of quality, though he had been a buccaneer and 
 was a clergyman ; but he retained nothing of his first 
 profession except his seraglio." Whatever may have 
 been the chief distinction of the manners of a man of 
 quality in his day, those of Blackburne were evidently 
 gay and ready, if also deplorably free. On one 
 occasion, Queen Caroline inquired whether Butler, the 
 author of the Analogy, were dead. " No, madam, he 
 is not dead, but he is buried," answered Blackburne, 
 alluding to his secluded life at Stanhope. This reply 
 resulted in Butler's speedy summons and preferment. 
 One of the stories told of the archbishop is that the 
 notorious Dick Turpin was for some time his butler at 
 Bishopthorpe. 
 
 Blackburne died in London in 1743, and was 
 buried in St. Margaret's Church, Westminster. He 
 was followed by Thomas Herring, who was translated 
 from Bangor. Herring straightway made a progress 
 through his new diocese, and writing to his friend 
 William Duncombe in the September after his appoint- 
 ment says, " I am confident I have confirmed above 
 thirty thousand people " — a somewhat astonishing 
 statement. He was no less vigorous and energetic 
 as a statesman than as a churchman, and was a 
 thorough-going Whig. The rebellion of 1745 broke 
 out while he was at York, and he took a conspicuous 
 part against Prince Charles Edward, stirring up his 
 province to support the new Government, not only by 
 preaching, but by every means in his power. Owing 
 
 1 Hist. MSS. Com., Portland, vii. 401.
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 91 
 
 to his exertions ,£4.0,000 was raised in his diocese, 
 and the Jacobites of Yorkshire were restrained from 
 joining the insurrection. The archbishop's translation 
 to Canterbury in 1747 rewarded him for his services at 
 this perilous juncture. 
 
 Bishopthorpe is said to have been much improved 
 under his care. A letter 1 from his nephew, Thomas 
 Herring, dated from here 19th June 1743, affords some 
 impression of the house as it then was : " I am at 
 present," he says, " under the hospitable roof of an 
 archbishop, of which I can send you no regular 
 account, for it was built at a time of day when men 
 paid more regard to convenience than to uniformity ; 
 and therefore it would be in vain to attempt an exact 
 description of it. The rooms are very large, and 
 furnished in character ; and that apartment where I 
 now sit to write is ornamented with the adventures of 
 Samson, curiously wrought in old tapestry, the work, 
 perhaps, of some religious dame. In one of the bed- 
 chambers, on each side of the chimney, there are two 
 cherubims weeping most bitterly ; and the story says 
 that when the carver was asked by somebody how it 
 entered into his head to represent them crying, his 
 answer was that he appealed to the Te Deum for the 
 propriety of what he had done. Upon the whole it is 
 a most agreeable house, and pleases me better than if 
 it had been designed by Lord Burlington, or any other 
 genius of the age." 
 
 Matthew Hutton, who occupied the primacy from 
 1747 until 1757, when he was translated to Canter- 
 bury, was a lineal descendant of his namesake, the 
 former Archbishop of York. He evidently made 
 some additions to Bishopthorpe, as the date, 1747, on 
 a stone outside the present kitchen, bears witness. 
 
 1 Printed in Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, ii. 536.
 
 92 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 The northern primacy, when it was vacated by 
 Hutton, was filled by John Gilbert, a man who, 
 according to Horace Walpole, 1 was " composed of 
 that common mixture, ignorance, meanness, and arro- 
 gance." On the news of his promotion the bells at 
 York were rung backwards in detestation of him. He 
 made little mark during his pontificate of four years, 
 being indeed oppressed by ill-health throughout that 
 time ; but at Bishopthorpe a good deal remains to 
 commemorate him. Canon Keble, quoting from 
 Dixon's 2 MSS., says that he "altered the windows 
 in the large dining-room, laid the floor in the hall 
 with Roche Abbey stone and black marble, repaired 
 the staircase in the hall, and ornamented the walls and 
 ceiling like the old drawing-room above stairs (after- 
 wards the library of Archbishop Markham) ; and in 
 the place where the pigeon-house formerly stood he 
 built a wash-house, and over it a laundry." He seems 
 to have given the archbishop's stall to the chapel, 
 " which," says Canon Dixon, " previously to the 
 alterations in 1840 had over it a clumsy canopy sup- 
 ported by two pillars, which, when the curtains were 
 drawn, had very much the appearance of a four-post 
 bed. This, from the coat-of-arms over the chair, may 
 safely be assigned to the taste of Archbishop Gilbert." 
 
 It was, however, the next archbishop, Robert Hay 
 Drummond, " a man of parts and of the world, and 
 a dignified and accomplished prelate," who made the 
 greatest changes and enlargements at Bishopthorpe 
 since the original manor-house had been first added 
 to by Rotheram. Drummond practically trans- 
 formed the entire residence, and the alterations made 
 by him were great improvements as far as convenience 
 
 1 Memoirs of George II, ii. 374. 
 
 2 Canon Dixon was at one time Vicar of Bishopthorpe.
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 93 
 
 was concerned, but the taste of the period proved a 
 hopeless drawback to any true artistic design or con- 
 tinuity in the construction of the new buildings. 
 Indeed, the preservation of the old character of the 
 house does not seem to have occurred to the architect, 
 Thomas Atkinson of York, who preferred to adhere 
 to the fashionable Strawberry-Hill style of the age, 
 and reproduced a semblance of Gothic architecture 
 entirely wanting in its spirit. The entrance gateway 
 which he built in 1765, partly from stone taken from 
 the ruins of Cawood, is a striking example of this. 
 Drummond pulled down the old stables and built 
 the present ones, including a coach-house, brewhouse, 
 bakehouse, and living-rooms, on the other side of the 
 gateway. He demolished the old Early English west 
 front of the house, and threw the whole forward, 
 adding the present drawing-room and business-room, 
 and greatly enlarging the entrance-hall. The servants' 
 hall and other offices were built underneath, as well as 
 new rooms above, and a flight of stone steps leading 
 up to the main entrance under a somewhat florid 
 porchway was also constructed. The archbishop, 
 who loved the old house, spared no pains in remodel- 
 ling it. Nor did he neglect the chapel and the garden. 
 The latter he laid out anew, and the chapel windows 
 he filled with stained glass, probably putting down 
 the black and white marble pavement at the same 
 time. Drummond's generosity was one of his most 
 attractive characteristics, and he was renowned for his 
 open-handed hospitality. The death of his wife in 
 1 773 was a grievous blow, from which he never 
 recovered. He died three years later at Bishopthorpe, 
 and was buried under the altar of the parish church, 
 according to his desire, with as little display as 
 possible.
 
 94 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 His successor, William Markham, occupied the see 
 of York for nearly thirty-one years, from 1777 until 
 1807. He did not confine his attention to his diocese, 
 and took no small share in public affairs. In the same 
 year that he was consecrated to York he was appointed 
 Lord High Almoner and a member of the Privy 
 Council. Contemporary writers allude to his hot 
 temper, his pompous bearing, and especially to his 
 commanding presence. He was a friend of Lord 
 Mansfield, and narrowly escaped from the Gordon 
 rioters when they attacked the latter's house in London. 
 He was also very intimate with Edmund Burke, until 
 the trial of Warren Hastings severed their friend- 
 ship, and he is said to have corrected and revised 
 Burke's Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of our 
 Ideas on the Sublime and the Beautiful. Markham' s 
 attention to Bishopthorpe was chiefly directed to the 
 kitchen garden of seven acres. According to a writer 
 of 1788, he "built a large icehouse, an exceedingly 
 good, convenient pinery, and a flued wall 181 feet 
 in length." 
 
 Archbishop Edward Vernon, afterwards Harcourt, 
 who succeeded him, had an even longer tenure of the 
 primacy, which extended to nearly forty years. He 
 lived, universally respected and esteemed, to the age 
 of ninety, and during the reigns of five sovereigns. 
 He customarily spent about four months of the year 
 at Bishopthorpe, where he enlarged the beautiful 
 grounds, laid out by Drummond, by taking in the 
 old " coney-garth," or warren. He also made several 
 additions to the house, one of which, the story of 
 nurseries built above the chapel, is greatly to be 
 regretted. The chapel itself he fitted with oak sittings, 
 at the same time removing the white paint from the 
 old oak pulpit. He built the present library and the
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 95 
 
 rooms above it, and probably raised the eastern part of 
 Rotheram's wing. 
 
 The older inhabitants of the village still remember 
 the kind archbishop and his wife, Lady Anne, who 
 dispensed such lavish hospitality, and on Tuesday and 
 Friday of every week gave away two loaves of bread 
 and a threepenny-piece to the poor who flocked to 
 their gates. Archbishop Harcourt's large private 
 fortune enabled him to do a great deal of good 
 work, and he contributed large sums to the resto- 
 ration of York Minster, which was twice burnt in his 
 time. 
 
 About two years before her accession as queen, 
 Princess Victoria, to the delight of the villagers, spent 
 nearly a week at Bishopthorpe with her mother, passing 
 much of the time at York, and on Sunday attending 
 the service at Bishopthorpe Church. 
 
 Archbishop Harcourt, who was much lamented, 
 died on 5th November 1847, in the room on the 
 north side of the dining-room. He was followed by 
 Thomas Musgrave, the son of a tailor at Cambridge, 
 who is said to have made clothes at one time for 
 Archbishop Harcourt, and to have once brought his 
 boy Thomas to Bishopthorpe, which the latter was 
 destined to enter the second time as primate. His 
 father was wealthy enough to give him a sound 
 education, sending him to the first-rate grammar 
 school at Richmond in Yorkshire, and afterwards to 
 Trinity College, Cambridge, where he attained no 
 little distinction. The liberality of his political views 
 ensured his appreciation by the Whig Government, 
 and having entered the Church, he obtained rapid 
 preferment. In 1848 he was enthroned as primate 
 in York Minster, and for twelve years administered 
 the affairs of the see with moderation and good sense,
 
 96 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 though strongly opposed to any kind of reform. He 
 was fond of retirement, and was greatly attached to 
 his garden and farm at Bishopthorpe. During his 
 residence the Italian garden to the north of the 
 house was laid out under the direction of Nesfield 
 the artist. 
 
 The name of Archbishop Charles Longley is more 
 closely associated with Canterbury than with York, 
 where he spent two years only, from i860 till 1862, 
 when he was translated to the southern province. His 
 successor was the much-beloved Archbishop William 
 Thomson, who sat for over twenty-eight years, and 
 despatched all the affairs of the see with indefatigable 
 zeal. His tastes were scientific rather than classical, 
 and as a youth he had interrupted his studies at Oxford 
 by the composition of a treatise on logic, called Out- 
 lines of the Laws of Thought^ which attracted great 
 attention. On his accession to the primacy he found 
 the reputation of the Church in the north at a very low 
 ebb, the number of clergy and places of worship utterly 
 inadequate to the rapidly increasing population, and a 
 general feeling that the Church was an archaic and 
 useless institution. Thomson devoted himself to the 
 removal of this opposition, and by invariable attend- 
 ance at all public meetings, by argument, preaching, 
 and constant appeals to the northern good sense, he 
 gradually won the affection and esteem of all classes, 
 and converted indifference to his ideals into enthusiasm 
 both for them and for himself. At Sheffield, where on 
 his arrival there was only one church for eight thousand 
 inhabitants, he was particularly successful among the 
 manufacturing population, whose attention he riveted 
 by his first speech in defence of the English Church. 
 His views were liberal and tolerant, and on one occasion 
 he expressed the opinion that in matters of doctrine or
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 97 
 
 ritual it was necessary to consider, not whether a man's 
 views were in absolute harmony with the teaching of 
 his Church, but whether they were so divergent as to 
 preclude any possibility of toleration. Thomson also 
 took a vigorous and prominent part in all ecclesiastical 
 legislation, and was regarded as a leading authority. 
 His labours at last broke down his health, and he died 
 on Christmas Day 1 890. He was buried in the church- 
 yard at Bishopthorpe, his pall being carried by the 
 working men of Sheffield, on whom he had made so 
 profound an impression. 
 
 Various improvements were made at Bishopthorpe 
 while he lived there. The old fish-pond between the 
 house and the church was drained and planted with 
 shrubs. New windows and skylights were introduced 
 into the house. A gasometer was erected in the 
 stableyard, which supplied the house and church until 
 gas was laid on to the village from York in 1867, 
 and a water-tower was built, which was used until 
 1898. 
 
 In the autumn of 1866 the Prince and Princess of 
 Wales spent two or three days at Bishopthorpe, and 
 occupied the large rooms in the north wing. 
 
 Archbishop William Connor Magee, who had ac- 
 quired a brilliant reputation as an orator, both in the 
 pulpit and in Parliament, succeeded to the primacy at 
 the beginning of 1 89 1 , but occupied it only for the 
 few remaining weeks of his life. Although he lived 
 at Bishopthorpe for such a short time, he left his mark 
 there by more than one convenient alteration. The 
 lift from the basement to the upper story is due to 
 him, and he closed Archbishop Frewen's door from 
 the dining-room to the chapel, making the present 
 one, which leads from the hall close to the earliest 
 doorway of Archbishop Gray.
 
 9 8 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 Archbishop Magee died in London, and was buried 
 in the cathedral at Peterborough, where he had pre- 
 sided as bishop for over thirty years. On his death, 
 Bishopthorpe became the home of the revered Arch- 
 bishop William D. Maclagan, who relinquished it only 
 at the beginning of last year. Under his careful 
 superintendence much was done to suit the house 
 to modern needs; the chapel, above all, was restored 
 in the most perfect taste, and rendered the now 
 beautiful little oratory, consecrated for centuries to 
 the service of God, in which the incense of prayer 
 may worthily be offered up. The archbishop's chief 
 addition to the house was a large room, built in 
 1894, which can accommodate about two hundred 
 people, and is particularly useful for meetings and 
 gatherings of all kinds. He also improved the 
 library by removing part of the north wing, 
 which shaded it from the light, and constructed a 
 wooden staircase leading from a door in one of the 
 Early English windows to the river terrace. The 
 chapel is essentially the least altered part of the old 
 thirteenth-century manor-house, and the restoration 
 and decoration have been carried out with a due 
 regard to its time-honoured foundation and ancient 
 design. The crude stained glass put in by Arch- 
 bishop Drummond was replaced by the exquisite 
 workmanship of Mr. Kempe, and a new east window 
 made, to correspond with the old and beautiful series 
 of Lancet-Gothic windows in the south wall. The 
 floor was lowered ten inches, and three steps added 
 to the sanctuary, which was paved with polished black 
 and white marble set in squares. All traces of paint 
 were removed from the walls, the arcading and stone 
 bench around were restored, and the doorway which 
 once formed the entrance into the great hall was re-
 
 BISHOPTHORPE 99 
 
 opened. Oak panelling was made to harmonise with 
 Archbishop Frewen's work, and the unsightly heating 
 apparatus removed and replaced by a new one in the 
 crypt. The ceiling, now flat on account of the nur- 
 series built overhead by Archbishop Harcourt, was 
 coloured in squares of red and green, embellished 
 in the sanctuary with gold. The whole work is 
 greatly to be admired, and is a fitting memorial of 
 the archbishop who for so many years filled his high 
 position with so much earnestness and devotion, and 
 has now said a last and sad farewell to the home 
 which he loved. 
 
 One of the most interesting features of Bishop- 
 thorpe is the collection of pictures, including an 
 almost complete series of portraits of the archbishops 
 from Wolsey onwards, which hang in the spacious 
 dining-room. Some of them are magnificent pictures, 
 notably the portraits of Lamplugh and Dawes by 
 Kneller, Markham by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and 
 Herring, which is said to be by Hogarth. There 
 are fine pictures of Longley by Richmond, and 
 Thomson by Ouless. The portrait of Accepted 
 Frewen by an unknown artist is not one of the 
 best, but hangs, as that of the restorer of the dining- 
 hall should, in the place of honour above the mantel- 
 piece. The little picture of Wolsey is done on 
 wood. 
 
 The entire gallery forms a splendid addition to the 
 noble inheritance of the new archbishop, Dr. Cosmo 
 Gordon Lang, who was enthroned in York Minster in 
 January of last year. Fair and stately as his abode is, 
 the thought of entering into a house with nearly a 
 hundred rooms might almost inspire a feeling of lone- 
 liness in the heart of a bachelor who took up his work 
 with less energy and courage. The peaceful situation,
 
 ioo EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 however, the far-stretching and beautifully-wooded 
 grounds, and the rush of the broad river below the 
 eastern windows, all add to its charm, and cannot fail 
 to win the affection of the newly-installed ruler of the 
 northern province.
 
 ©urPam Castk 
 
 "This is a burg renowned throughout Britain, 
 Established on high, stones round about 
 Wondrously piled. Wear floweth round, 
 A stream mighty in flood. And therein dwell 
 Full many kinds of fish 'neath its waters. 
 
 In that burg also, well-known to mankind, 
 
 Is the holy Saint Cuthbert with the head of Oswald, 
 
 Pure king, Lion of the English, and Aidan the Bishop, 
 
 Eadbert and Eadfrith — illustrious companions. 
 
 Herein with them is Ethelwold the Bishop, 
 
 With Bede the great bookman, and Bosil the Abbot, 
 
 Who kindly instructed Cuthbert the pure-heart 
 
 In learning, and he well received instruction. 
 
 And there abide for the Saint in the Minster 
 
 Unnumbered relics, 
 
 Which (honoured by many marvels as the book telleth) 
 
 Are with God's servant awaiting the Judgment." 1 
 
 SUCH is the earliest known description of the river- 
 girdled peninsula, on which, in the eleventh 
 century, the castle of Durham was first planted 
 to hold and defend the position. To this 
 peninsula the ordering of secular and religious authority 
 were transferred from two older Northumbrian centres, 
 in which the rule of king and of bishop had been 
 exercised for several centuries before Durham became 
 the seat of civil and ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Perhaps 
 it may give clearness to our story of the castle if some- 
 thing is said first of all concerning that earlier stage of 
 
 1 Translated literally from a Saxon description of Durham, preserved in 
 a twelfth-century copy of Simeon of Durham, in the University Library at 
 Cambridge. Printed in the Rolls Series edition of Simeon, i. 221. The 
 translation is by the Rev. Henry Ellershaw, Professor of English in the 
 University of Durham.
 
 102 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 Northumbrian history when sceptre and crozier were 
 wielded elsewhere than at Durham. 
 
 A glance at the map of England will show on the 
 east coast, not far from Berwick-upon-Tweed, Bam- 
 burgh and Lindisfarne, the primitive homes of royal and 
 religious dominion among the Anglians of the North. 
 On the rocky promontory of Bamburgh, King Ida built 
 his castle at the coming of the English, and his Anglian 
 successors ruled there after him for many a year. Even 
 to-day the mediaeval and modern representative of that 
 chief castle of the old Northumbrian royal house still 
 overhangs the waves that break below it. 
 
 Lindisfarne, or Holy Isle, was given by King 
 Oswald to St. Aidan in the seventh century, when 
 the Northumbrians accepted the Christian faith. Here 
 his episcopal successors ruled, and established Chris- 
 tianity in the districts which we now call Northumber- 
 land and Durham. The body of St. Cuthbert, a saint 
 more renowned than even St. Aidan, was their chief 
 treasure, and was jealously guarded in the monastery 
 church at Lindisfarne until troublous times came upon 
 the monks. 
 
 It is then to Bamburgh and to Lindisfarne that we 
 must look for the origin of that double sovereignty 
 which, in the eleventh century, was united in the hands 
 of the prelate whom the Conqueror placed in Durham. 
 The origin of the transfer of the two jurisdictions to 
 Durham is to be found in the disaster which befell 
 Northumbria when the force of Danish invasion came 
 upon it. That calamity altered all the relations of 
 Church and State in the district, and indeed changed 
 the whole course of history in the north of England. 
 First the Lindisfarne clergy fled from Holy Island, 
 when the rage of the Danes swept over the coast, and 
 carried with them the body of St. Cuthbert :
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 103 
 
 " From sea to sea, from shore to shore, 
 Seven years St. Cuthbert's corpse they bore." 
 
 And when those years of wandering were over, the 
 congregation of St. Cuthbert, as the community were 
 called, settled at the old Roman town of Chester-le- 
 Street, where for 1 1 3 years the shrine was a much- 
 sought centre of pilgrimage, to which privileges and 
 rights were given by successive kings. Meanwhile 
 the old Northumbrian line at Bamburgh came to an 
 end when the Danes built up a great Danish king- 
 dom with its capital at York. But if the royal house 
 reigned no longer in the castle of Ida, the fortress con- 
 tinued to be in the main the citadel of the Earls of 
 Northumbria, who were first set up by the Danes, and 
 through whom the conquerors ruled over the English 
 folk. 
 
 So the land between Tweed and Tees settled down 
 in comparative peace under its native viceroys, who 
 ruled in the name of the Danes, until at the close of 
 the tenth century a great turning-point in the history 
 of the Danish invasions is reached. In those last years 
 of the century, when the hearts of churchmen were 
 possessed by expectation of the speedy end of the 
 world, fresh incursions of Danes took place. The 
 attempt was now deliberately made to conquer Eng- 
 land once for all, and to incorporate it into a great 
 Scandinavian empire. 
 
 It was the rumoured approach of the earliest 
 bands connected with this enterprise that led to the 
 beginnings of Durham history. The story, as it was 
 afterwards treasured up at Durham, told how the con- 
 gregation of St. Cuthbert at Chester-le-Street deter- 
 mined to flee with the body of the saint to Ripon, 
 which once for a brief time had been his home. So 
 the uprooting of the whole establishment was carried
 
 io 4 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 out, and as they did in later days from fear of the 
 Scots, so now in terror at the Danish advance men and 
 cattle alike took the road, and crossed the Tees into 
 Yorkshire. 
 
 The year was 995, but long before it ran out, 
 the instant alarm began to yield, and the congrega- 
 tion determined to return to Chester-le-Street. Un- 
 fortunately we have no really contemporary account 
 of how St. Cuthbert came to Durham, and are de- 
 pendent upon the story which aged men who had 
 taken part in the coming handed on and perpetuated 
 there. At all events the two chief actors in the scene 
 are the Bishop Aldhune and his son-in-law, Uchtred 
 the Earl of Northumbria. Legend has been spun 
 round the few facts that have come down to us, yet 
 it is not impossible, perhaps, to brush away the web 
 and to discover what lies below. The land was still 
 disturbed, and all sorts of rumours were afloat, whilst 
 many thought that the end of the world was near. 
 We need not take seriously the story of the halting 
 car, the fast and prayer, and then the divine revela- 
 tion. May we not readily see that the earl was 
 unwilling that the sacred relics should leave the 
 district again, and that he desired them to find some 
 safe resting-place in his dominions ? Chester-le-Street, 
 despite its Roman walls, its sanctuary and privilege, 
 was clearly no longer tenable before a new generation 
 of invaders, who recked nothing of sacred bond or 
 curse. But those who fared north along the Roman 
 road that led from the Tees to Chester-le-Street knew 
 well the woody steep of Dunholm, which Nature had 
 so splendidly fortified. And here it was decided, 
 probably, between Uchtred and Aldhune, that the 
 resting-place of the saint should be fixed. It is not 
 improbable, too, that other considerations induced the
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 105 
 
 earl to select an impregnable position for what was 
 now to be, in place of Chester-le-Street and of Lin- 
 disfarne, the citadel of Christianity in the north of 
 England. The power of the earl had recently been 
 cut short by the cession of Cumberland to the Scots, 
 who had pushed south the frontiers of the Lothians, 
 and it is a plausible suggestion that Uchtred desired in 
 addition to Bamburgh a more southerly fortress to 
 help in holding the district. But, be this as it may, 
 the whole retinue which had followed the bier from 
 Ripon now turned aside, and bore the body of the saint 
 across the river and up the precipitous banks to the 
 one spot at the summit which was then free from the 
 dense wood that grew in profusion there. 
 
 The congregation took possession of their new 
 refuge with all solemnity, whilst Earl Uchtred busied 
 himself to make the place habitable. Exercising his 
 sovereign authority, he called on all men living between 
 Coquet and Tees (the limits at the moment of his 
 jurisdiction, it would seem) to repair to Durham and 
 cut down the wood, and to make ready the saint's 
 abode. Houses were built, and before long the White 
 Church, the first stone church at Durham, was com- 
 menced by the ready co-operation of Uchtred's people. 
 The sacred domain of the congregation between the 
 Tyne and the Wear, which had long since been be- 
 stowed upon the followers of the saint, was at once 
 increased by gifts and further endowments, and thus 
 the famous patrimony of St. Cuthbert grew towards 
 its mediaeval dimensions, when it included the greater 
 part of the county of Durham, with Islandshire, 
 Norhamshire, and Bedlingtonshire in Northumber- 
 land, and also Crayke, Allertonshire, and Howdenshire 
 in the county of York. 
 
 So the crozier came to Durham, and as the Durham
 
 106 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 chronicler truly says : " In such wise even to the present 
 day the episcopal see together with the saint's body has 
 continued in this place, the see which at the first had 
 been set up in the Island of Lindisfarne by King Oswald 
 and Bishop Aidan." As for the city itself, walls were 
 built round it, and the shrine of St. Cuthbert soon 
 became even more attractive in its new home than it 
 had been at Chester-le-Street, or at Lindisfarne. 
 
 We have still to see how the sceptre came to Durham. 
 Let us pass over the troublous years that tested the 
 strength of the new walls, with the barest mention of 
 their character. There were renewed invasions of the 
 Danes, whilst at least three sieges were pressed by the 
 Scots, who at Carham in 1018 inflicted a crushing 
 defeat upon the people of St. Cuthbert, and cut short 
 the northern boundaries of the earl's dominions. Yet, 
 even so, there were intervals of peace, and the reign 
 of Canute is probably responsible for the restoration 
 of much that had been damaged or destroyed in the 
 days of the Danes. Fresh endowments were made 
 by Canute and Athelstan, which served to establish 
 and enrich the Cuthbertine community. But the years 
 passed on, and at last the Norman invasion opens a 
 chapter of desperate resistance, of submission made 
 and forgotten, of treacherous bloodshed, and then ends 
 with the story of that blackened, ruined Northumbria, 
 in the midst of which Durham Castle first took its 
 rise. It was in the autumn of 1066 that William 
 of Normandy fought the battle of Hastings, and at 
 Christmas in Westminster Abbey he was hallowed 
 as King of the English. Although the Archbishop 
 of York crowned the Conqueror, there were few in 
 Northumbria, at all events, who meant to submit. 
 We can imagine how the citizens of Durham sought 
 for news, and what busy, eager questioning there was
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 107 
 
 as to the future. Nowhere did a more strong and 
 ardent patriotism inspire the hearts of Englishmen, 
 and when the Earl of Northumbria submitted to 
 William and was appointed to act as his lieutenant 
 in the north, a fierce and determined rebellion broke 
 out. The Northumbrians took advantage of the 
 absence of the king in Normandy, and planned a 
 general massacre of the Normans in England. The 
 idea was to join hands with the Danes, and to place 
 Edgar Atheling upon the throne of England. Such 
 was the news that came to Normandy, and brought 
 William back to deal with this really formidable re- 
 bellion. The northerners heard of his arrival, and 
 so great was the spell of the Conqueror that the 
 scheme practically collapsed. But some of the fiercer 
 spirits, if we may trust a Norman chronicler of repute, 
 fled to Durham, whose walls had already more than 
 once withstood a siege, and set to work to erect as 
 strong a castle as they could within the city precincts, 
 and so to make assurance doubly sure. Durham was 
 now the very heart of the English cause in the north. 
 Gospatric, the new earl, was only one of several great 
 nobles who rallied the Northumbrians to resist the 
 advance of William. Their chance of success might 
 seem to promise well, for the people of the district had 
 never yet owned the Conqueror as lord, whilst the 
 adhesion of Malcolm, King of Scotland, cemented a 
 wide and compact opposition extending from York 
 right into Scotland. But once more when news came, 
 not now of William's arrival in England, but of his 
 stern and massive march as far as Warwick, the 
 Northumbrians, for all their brave array, began to 
 melt away. The earl and Edgar, and other repre- 
 sentatives of the English cause, fled into Scotland, 
 and the rest, after lingering on within the fastness of
 
 108 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 Durham, took refuge in various corners where they 
 thought that the Normans could not penetrate. 
 Meantime William had reached York, where several 
 submissions were made, and among those who did 
 homage was the Bishop Ethelwine — up to this time, 
 apparently, with all his people a steadfast opponent 
 of the Normans. 
 
 But the hearts of the men of Durham were not 
 with their bishop. William had found out that he 
 could not trust Englishmen in places of importance, 
 and so he appointed as Earl of Northumbria Robert 
 Comine, one of his own followers. The tragedy that 
 followed was never forgotten by conqueror or by 
 people. The new earl came to Durham with a force 
 of 700 men, and lodged with his only friend in all the 
 hostile city, Bishop Ethelwine. But how could the 
 men of Durham accept a foreign earl, when even in 
 Danish days a native Northumbrian ruler had always 
 been their chieftain ? Next morning, before dawn 
 came on that cold winter's day, the inhabitants rose 
 and murdered the earl's soldiery until the streets ran 
 with blood, and every place seemed full of corpses. 
 The bishop's house was close to the church apparently, 
 and in no connection with the castle, whatever it may 
 have been, which the malcontents had built a year or 
 two before. Vengeance for the massacre was delayed, 
 but it could not be long delayed, for the Northumbrians 
 were already rallying again to the banner of Edgar 
 Atheling, their chosen prince of the old English line. 
 When, then, the patriot forces concentrated at York, 
 William began to move his forces, and came upon the 
 city, slaying, capturing, or putting to flight the whole 
 army of the English. Durham itself, for the present, 
 was left untouched, and the legend of later days ran 
 that the troops of William were unable to reach the
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 109 
 
 city owing to some Egyptian darkness which the 
 intercession of St. Cuthbert had produced. Probably 
 the king's services were required in the south, and 
 no doubt, the chosen warriors, apart from the ecclesias- 
 tics of Durham, had suffered condign punishment at 
 York. 
 
 Later in this year the implacable resentment of 
 the northern English towards the Normans was ex- 
 hibited when another rising took place in favour of 
 Edgar Atheling. The prospect of success seemed so 
 bright that the cowed and broken northerners plucked 
 up heart, and joined the troops of Danes who poured 
 into the country. All the people joined in exultingly, 
 and their short-lived joy was long remembered. Again 
 William marched, and this time there was to be no 
 premature clemency, and no turning back. He meant 
 to teach English, Danes, and Scots alike that no resist- 
 ance could prosper, and to teach it once for all. It 
 may be doubted whether the ordinary reader of Eng- 
 lish history takes in the full extent and horror of the 
 ruthless Norman vengeance. The sack of York was 
 pitiable enough, but it was only the beginning of woes. 
 Every historian of the period unites to picture the 
 scene in the most lurid colours, and when we place 
 together the various local lines of tradition that they 
 have handed down, we read surely the most pitiful page 
 in English history. The Durham monk who preserved 
 the Durham recollection says that the harrying of 
 Northumbria, which lasted the winter through, whilst 
 men were slain and houses were burnt, produced an 
 unequalled scene of misery. " It was dreadful," he 
 tells us, " to see human corpses all rotting in houses, 
 streets, and highways, whilst the stench filled the air 
 with deadly exhalations, for all the people being cut 
 off by the sword or by famine there was none left to
 
 no EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 bury them. The land was nothing but a dreary waste 
 for nine years, with none to till it. Between York and 
 Durham there was not one inhabited town ; only lairs 
 of wild beasts and haunts of robbers struck terror to 
 the hearts of all wayfarers." The Norman chronicler 
 tells us how William " in the fulness of his wrath 
 ordered the corn and cattle, with the implements of 
 husbandry, and every sort of provisions, to be collected 
 in heaps and set on fire till the whole was consumed, 
 and thus destroyed at once all that could serve for the 
 support of life in the whole country lying beyond the 
 Humber." Nor did conscience let William forget his 
 cruel action. In his death-bed discourse, a rhetorical 
 composition based, no doubt, on his actual words, the 
 Conqueror is represented as saying : " I fell on the 
 English of the northern counties like a ravening lion. 
 I commanded their houses and corn, with all their 
 implements and furniture, to be burnt without dis- 
 tinction, and large herds of cattle and beasts of burden 
 to be butchered wherever they were found. It was 
 thus that I took revenge on multitudes of both sexes 
 by subjecting them to the calamity of a cruel famine ; 
 and by so doing, alas me ! became the barbarous 
 murderer of many thousands, both young and old, of 
 that fine race of people." 
 
 The harrying of Northumbria was confined to the 
 district between Durham and York, so that the city 
 of Durham was now the boundary between the old 
 patrimony of St. Cuthbert (Tyne to Wear) and the 
 devastated district extending from the Wear to 
 the Ouse. Of that wide belt of desolation William 
 of Malmesbury said some years later : " The ground 
 for more than sixty miles (about the distance from 
 York to Durham), totally uncultivated and unproduc- 
 tive, remains bare to the present day."
 
 DURHAM CASTLE in 
 
 But to return to the Conqueror. Ethelwine the 
 bishop fled to Lindisfarne with the body of St. Cuth- 
 bert when he heard of the Norman approach, and left 
 his cathedral to become a hospital for the sick and 
 dying who were borne thither for sanctuary. And 
 this was the scene which William witnessed when 
 for the first but not the last time he saw Durham. 
 With the spring Ethelwine came back, but only to 
 find himself deposed and outlawed on charges which 
 are rather obscure, yet seem to indicate that William 
 could not trust his loyalty. It was indeed part of the 
 king's policy at this time to exclude Englishmen from 
 important posts and to put foreigners in their places. 
 After an interval, a successor was appointed, and for 
 the first time in the history of the see a bishop from 
 over the seas was appointed. It is interesting to deter- 
 mine the motives of the choice. Walcher was not a 
 Norman (perhaps it was unsafe to place a Norman 
 in Durham), but a man from Lorraine. This was 
 a district, in part corresponding to the modern king- 
 dom of Belgium, and according to Dr. Freeman its 
 history was such that Englishmen could not regard 
 its inhabitants as utter aliens. With the Church of 
 Luttich (Liege), with which he had been connected, 
 the Normans had long had some correspondence, and 
 at least one bishop of William's appointment had been 
 educated there. Possibly, too, the wide sway and 
 peculiar jurisdiction of Luttich were thought to be 
 a good training school for one who was to rule over a 
 see that in its constitution and arrangement was already 
 unusual. Walcher himself was worthy of the post, 
 and is described by the Durham historian as " of 
 noble birth, of no slight attainment in divine and 
 human learning." He also mentions the bishop's 
 reverend white hair, and his excellent life and integrity.
 
 ii2 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 So Walcher was consecrated at Winchester, and sent 
 with all possible honour to Durham, Gospatric, the 
 disaffected Earl of Northumbria, being bidden to 
 convey the new prelate in state from York to his 
 diocese. And thus for the first time, probably, a 
 Bishop of Durham crossed the Tees to take pos- 
 session of his see. This function was the last in 
 which Gospatric took his part as earl. In the same 
 year, 1072, Waltheof, a young Normanised English- 
 man of the old Northumbrian line, was appointed 
 earl. Waltheof had pursued a chequered career, 
 sometimes in favour, and sometimes in disgrace, yet 
 generally a favourite with English and Normans too. 
 He had recently been induced to make a final sub- 
 mission to the king, and was probably marked out 
 as earl, not only because he represented the old 
 Northumbrian house, but because he had become 
 half a Norman by residence abroad and by association 
 with the conquerors. 
 
 It is on Waltheof and Walcher that we must now 
 fix our eyes, for the one was the builder of Durham 
 Castle, and the other was its first occupant. Both 
 came to a violent end in those unsettled days. At 
 his consecration, when Walcher drew all eyes to him 
 by his venerable appearance and his ruddy countenance, 
 the widowed queen of Edward the Confessor ex- 
 claimed, " What a goodly martyr we have here ! " — 
 a prophecy which the event brought to mind. How- 
 ever impressive he might be, and however pompous 
 his entrance into Durham, it could avail nothing in 
 the face of the fact that he was a foreigner. Waltheof 
 was a great contrast to the prelate. He cannot have 
 been much more than twenty-three years of age, "with 
 deep chest, muscular arms, and in his person tall and 
 robust." A strong and almost romantic friendship
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 113 
 
 grew up between the old bishop and the earl. It 
 would almost seem that they occupied Durham 
 together, for no mention is made of Bamburgh. 
 Just for three years they were associated together, 
 and Waltheof supported Walcher by his presence in 
 church synod, and by giving effect to the bishop's 
 monitions for the good of the Church. Durham Castle 
 is an evidence of that friendship, for the castle was 
 built by Waltheof for the special protection of the 
 bishop and his retinue. The earl knew the hostility 
 of the men of Durham, and desiring no repetition 
 of the Comine scene, he overawed by his presence and 
 his castle any thought of rising. We have no plan 
 and no description of Waltheof's buildings, but the 
 evidence of the existing fabric and a rather later 
 account help us to fill out the design. We must 
 imagine a barbican and entrance gate through which 
 access is gained to a courtyard. In front rises a square 
 and massive tower, in which the Norman chapel and 
 the first Norman hall were situated. To our left 
 (where the kitchen now stands) there is another 
 equally massive tower. To the right, upon the motte 
 or mound, the Norman keep ascends. All these main 
 buildings are united by curtain-walls, whilst the angles 
 of the general plan are marked by rounded turrets. 
 The building was begun in 1072, and William, return- 
 ing that year from a march into Scotland, must have 
 seen, when he came to Durham, the beginnings of the 
 Norman castle. Norman masons and Norman archi- 
 tects, possibly under the king's sanction, must have 
 been sent for by Waltheof to carry out the work. 
 To this visit of William belongs one of the most 
 curious and persistent of Durham legends. He can 
 have had little reverence for St. Cuthbert, round whose 
 shrine such desperate resistance to the Norman had 
 
 H
 
 ii 4 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 gathered inspiration. And when the story tells us 
 of his professed scepticism, of rough threats, and of 
 a sudden miraculous stroke that convinced the king, 
 we shall not be treating the legend cavalierly if we 
 understand that he actually thought of demolishing 
 the shrine and dispersing its disaffected guards, when 
 a sudden attack of malarial fever (not an unknown 
 visitant at Durham) wrought on his fears, roused 
 the voice of conscience, and compelled him to get 
 outside the patrimony of St. Cuthbert as quickly as 
 possible. After this he confirmed every privilege of 
 the cathedral, and so established anew not merely 
 ancient customs and rights, but the sanctity and 
 prestige of Durham. 
 
 It is scarcely likely that Waltheof saw the com- 
 pletion of the castle. He was executed in 1075, in 
 consequence of rash participation in a design against 
 William. His fate invested him with a halo, and his 
 grave at Croyland became a centre of pilgrimage. 
 Bishop Walcher was thus left single-handed, with 
 none to trust save his own retinue. The vacant earl- 
 dom was now bestowed upon Walcher, and it does not 
 seem impossible that William had designed this. At 
 all events, for the first time in the history of Durham 
 we get the union of chief secular and religious 
 authority in the hands of a bishop. There is indeed 
 nothing to prove that any bishop held this double 
 power before Walcher, wide as the estates of the 
 bishop may have been long before this. Clearly it 
 was centred at the castle, from which the see and the 
 earldom in Walcher's time were both administered. 
 It cannot, however, be said that the bishop proved a 
 great success. There were many difficulties, and more 
 than one hint suggests that everything was disorganised 
 owing to the recent pillage and famine. Exaction
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 115 
 
 seems to have taken place, and this, combined with the 
 insolent presence of the Norman soldiers of the earl- 
 bishop, served to intensify his unpopularity. At last 
 the murder of an important Englishman was thought 
 to be by his connivance, and resentment rose to fever- 
 height. Walcher had no fear. He left the shelter of 
 his castle, where he might have been safe, and faced a 
 tumultuous assembly of his tenants and dependents at 
 Gateshead. Here some of the officers who were most 
 obnoxious were put to death, and the bishop himself, 
 venturing out to the angry mob, was seized and killed, 
 whilst their leaders shouted, " Schort red, god red 
 (Short reckoning, good reckoning); slae ye the bischop." 
 Then the mass of them broke away from the church 
 door where this took place, and rushed off over the 
 intervening few miles to sack and destroy the hated 
 castle at Durham. The building had been begun only 
 eight years before, but the fortifications, at all events, 
 were complete. For three full days the crowd strove 
 to take the fortress, but in vain. Vengeance soon 
 followed this act of rebellion against William, and the 
 countryside was laid waste, not this time to the south 
 of the Wear, where all was still desolate, but north- 
 ward, we must suppose, towards the Tyne. This 
 done, a garrison of Norman soldiers was placed in the 
 castle to overawe the men of Durham. 
 
 The castle had successfully withstood the first 
 siege. Walcher's successor was a genuine monk, 
 William of Carileph, a monastery in Maine. He 
 did not hold the earldom, but his powers were ample. 
 In his days a great change took place, when the old 
 Cuthbertine congregation was dispossessed, and Bene- 
 dictine monks were established at Durham. Up to 
 this time the canons seem to have been secular, living 
 on their own estates and coming to Durham, perhaps,
 
 n6 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 in turn. But under the direct sanction of the great 
 reforming Pope Hildebrand, Carileph succeeded in 
 obtaining license for the alteration. In this way we 
 get the origin of the famous Benedictine Priory of 
 Durham, whose glory grew until the dissolution of 
 the house in 1539. Soon after this act, however, 
 the bishop fell into disfavour with William Rufus, 
 and was exiled to Normandy. During his absence 
 Rufus seized upon the castle, which underwent its 
 second siege a year or two later, when Malcolm made 
 an inroad into Northumbria and surrounded the city. 
 Once more the fortifications, which had already with- 
 stood the murderers of Walcher, proved to be too 
 strong for the Scots. Carileph returned shortly after 
 this, and set to work to build that noble Norman 
 cathedral which forms as well a turning-point in the 
 history of Lombardic architecture as the special glory 
 of the north of England. He would seem to have 
 devoted to its building the revenues of the abbey of 
 Waltham, which the Conqueror had made a special 
 grant to Walcher for the building of the castle. 
 
 Flambard was the next bishop, and his episcopate 
 is a time of no little glory in the annals of Durham. 
 He cleared the crowded space between castle and 
 cathedral ; he built the bridge below the castle, and 
 fortified it ; he gave the castle a new line of defence by 
 building a wall from the Norman apse of the cathedral 
 until it reached the keep ; he organised the finances 
 and administration of the bishopric. But what most 
 impressed his age was the translation of the shrine of 
 St. Cuthbert to the spot which it has ever since 
 occupied at the east end of the church. From this 
 moment, whatever may have been the prestige of St. 
 Cuthbert, it increased rapidly, and that concentration 
 of north-country pilgrims began which we see reflected
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 117 
 
 in the pages of Reginald of Durham, a twelfth-century 
 monk, who wrote a book of the wondrous deeds of 
 healing performed in connection with the saint. Cer- 
 tainly the great fortress, the massive walls of the city, 
 and the majesty of the growing cathedral, must have 
 impressed the visitor in no ordinary degree. It was in 
 Flambard's days that a young south countryman called 
 Laurence came to Durham. He had been trained in 
 Waltham Abbey, which, as we have seen, had a Durham 
 connection. Waltham was now a college of regular 
 canons, but Laurence desired to become a monk, and 
 that was why he came to the north. Geoffrey Rufus, 
 Flambard's successor, marked the ability of Laurence, 
 and made him his chaplain and advanced him to high 
 position in the administration of the see. From 
 writings which he afterwards composed, we get a 
 glimpse of the life and even of the amusements of 
 the bishop's retinue. There were not merely the 
 offices of religion, but pastimes such as Christmas 
 revels in the castle, or the chase of the wild boar ; 
 and Laurence knew well the points of horse and 
 hawk. He describes, too, the country round Durham 
 — its forests, its great hunt in Weardale, its wolves and 
 boars, its fish and fowl, its silver ore, its famous breed 
 of horses, its corn and honey. He has a genuine 
 enthusiasm for the rich, productive country, unspoiled 
 as yet by modern mining and coke-ovens. 
 
 But a sad change came over the Durham that 
 Laurence loved. We have reached the period of 
 anarchy that followed the death of Henry I. in 1 135. 
 There were two parties : the one followed Stephen, 
 and the other supported the Empress Maud. Bishop 
 Geoffrey took the side of Stephen. David, King of 
 Scotland, naturally upheld his own niece Maud, but 
 not entirely for her own sake. He saw in the divided
 
 n8 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 interest his own opportunity, and he planned to win 
 over the bishop, or, failing that, to make himself 
 suzerain of the earldom of Northumbria. Terrible 
 years of battle and bloodshed followed, in which the 
 tide of success ebbed and flowed. At one point it was 
 only the swift occupation of city and castle by Stephen 
 that saved Durham from siege, if not from sack. At 
 another stage the Scots encroached to the Tees, but 
 left Durham untouched, and pushing on into York- 
 shire were beaten back at the Battle of the Standard, 
 when Archbishop Thurstan of York rallied the York- 
 shiremen to defend their territory under the sacred 
 banners of St. Peter, St. Wilfrid, and St. John of 
 Beverley. Next year in Durham Castle a convention 
 was signed, which recognised David's son Henry as 
 Earl of Northumberland, but reserved to the Bishop 
 of Durham all the rights of the patrimony of St. 
 Cuthbert, which had been violated in the last four 
 years of warfare. But this convention was only a 
 breathing-space. After the Battle of the Standard, 
 William Cumin, the chancellor of King David, had 
 been for a time imprisoned in Durham Castle, where 
 his gaoler was none other than Bishop Geoffrey, who 
 in former days had been the friend and patron of 
 Cumin. This Cumin (an ominous name in Durham) 
 soon became the centre of one of the most remarkable 
 episodes in Durham history. In 1141 the bishop lay 
 dying in his castle, and was visited by him. In a 
 moment, all the outline of a daring plan suggested 
 itself to the ambitious imagination of the visitor. It 
 was nothing less than that Cumin, who was probably a 
 deacon only, should be the next Bishop of Durham. 
 But this meant the reopening of the whole question 
 of Scottish authority, together with the rival claims of 
 Stephen and Maud, which had been settled in Durham
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 119 
 
 Castle two years before, when the convention was 
 signed. Eagerly King David took the matter up, and 
 when the bishop died Cumin was sent to seize the 
 temporalities of the see, which Maud confirmed to 
 him. So Cumin took up his residence in the castle, 
 and sought the recognition of the chief men of the 
 bishopric, and above all of the monks, with whom 
 the election lay. For two years this mock bishop 
 secured himself in the castle, and, if he failed to win 
 over the monks to his side, he was able to impose 
 upon the unwary by forged papal recommendations 
 purporting to come from Pope Innocent II. But at 
 Rome the true state of affairs was known, and a man- 
 date was sent bidding the loyal monks to make their 
 election at York, as Durham was in the hands of 
 Cumin. They were able to elude the vigilance of the 
 pseudo-bishop's emissaries, and William of St. Barbe, 
 the Dean of York, was elected, and then at Winchester 
 consecrated with all dignity by no less than ten prelates. 
 Cumin's rage was beyond control when he heard of his 
 rival. But the castle was his, and troops apparently 
 were at his command, and he could overawe the monks 
 in the cathedral. War began between the true and 
 the false bishop, when William found that men were 
 ready to flock to his banner. He took up his position 
 by the Church of St. Giles, on a lonely spot overlook- 
 ing the city, to which the monks contrived to send 
 a message of confidence and loyalty. But Cumin 
 detected their envoy, and stormed the cathedral, and 
 turning out every monk of whose allegiance he was 
 doubtful, proceeded to silence the sacred offices and 
 to desecrate the building. The city, too, was full of 
 scenes of horror, where rapine and murder stalked 
 unchecked. Bishop William had tried an unsuccessful 
 assault upon the castle, and then fell back, it would
 
 120 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 seem, because he was afraid of being cut off by the 
 really strong outposts which the troops of Cumin held 
 on the main approaches to Durham. But William 
 was in communication with prelates and potentates 
 outside the bishopric. The Archbishop of York and 
 the Bishop of Carlisle joined him in a parley with 
 Cumin, but to little purpose, until their arguments 
 were reinforced by the unexpected adhesion of David's 
 son, Henry, Earl of Northumberland. At last the 
 troops of the earl, joined by the retainers of some of the 
 greatest barons of the bishopric, pushed on to Durham, 
 where Cumin's men did their last act of mischief in 
 firing the houses which nestled for protection below 
 the great walls of the fortress. Cumin saw himself 
 unable to face the growing opposition to his indignities, 
 and finally, when the Archbishop of York and the 
 Bishop of Carlisle accompanied Bishop William into 
 Durham, Cumin made a repentant submission to his 
 rival, and surrendered the castle, which had been held 
 by him for nearly three years. 
 
 No one took a more anxious interest in the fate 
 of castle and cathedral in those days of blasphemy 
 and rebuke than Laurence the monk. The one 
 benefit of that stormy usurpation to ourselves is the 
 fact that Laurence has left us some description of 
 Durham as it had been under Bishops Flambard and 
 Geoffrey, and Durham as it was when Cumin turned 
 it into a den of thieves. He, no doubt, was one of 
 those whom Cumin drove out of the cathedral, and 
 his own sufferings added pathos to the account which 
 he wrote of his old home and surroundings. His 
 poem takes the form of a dialogue between himself 
 and two friends, Peter and Philip, to whom he details 
 one spring morning, after his return to Durham, the 
 anarchy of the reign in general, and in particular the
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 121 
 
 recent misery of Durham. From the lamentations 
 of Laurence, however, we may pass to his incidental 
 picture of the castle as he knew it before leaving it 
 at Bishop Geoffrey's death. He gives a general sketch 
 of the peninsula, its encircling wall, its three gates, its 
 lofty position, its impregnable character, and its pre- 
 cipitous river banks. Then, in heavy and often turgid 
 monkish Latin verse, he describes his old home into 
 which Cumin intruded himself. The general scheme, 
 as the building had been built by Waltheof and to 
 some extent altered by Flambard's wall, it is not 
 difficult to follow, but the details are sometimes per- 
 plexing. Laurence is writing verse, and the exigence 
 of metre frequently leads him to choose a word which 
 is obscure, and sometimes ambiguous. Some passages 
 will always remain for archaeologists to dispute with 
 authorities on mediaeval verse. An attempt may be 
 made to give in verse some idea of what Laurence 
 says, but those who wish to fix his meaning on details 
 must have recourse to the poem itself: * — 
 
 " Upon the motte the keep sits like a queen, 
 With threatening aspect reckons all her own. 
 Grim from the gate below, straight up the mound, 
 A wall makes for this donjon's pleasant site. 
 Whilst to the upper air the keep ascends, 
 Massive within, without in brave array. 
 Within, a base three cubits thick doth rise, 
 A base compact of solid earth beat bard ; 
 Above this looms the fortress higher still, 
 Conspicuous and comely in its show. 
 'Tis seen to rest on twice two pillars here, 
 Each firm-knit angle boasts a pillar too, 
 Whilst at the sides connecting walls unite, 
 And each one ends in frowning curtain wall. 
 Then from the building to the battlement 
 A stair gives easy access by its steps, 
 And thus arriving at the top the way 
 
 1 Edited by Dr. Raine for the Surtees Society, 1858, vol. Ixx.
 
 122 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 Gives frequent access to the summit there. 
 The keep itself presents a rounded form : 
 Position, art, conspire to give it grace. 
 Hence to the castle downward looks a bridge 
 Affording quick return both up and down, 
 Wide as it is, descending to the base 
 With narrow steps, not headlong in its flight. 
 Beside it from the keep a wall runs down 
 And turns its face toward the setting sun, 
 Then bending back right up the air-swept bank 
 Comprises in its course an area large, 
 Until at last it feels the northern blast 
 Strong as before, and gains the keep once more. 
 
 The space surrounded by this lofty wall, 
 By no means void, of buildings holds a store ; 
 Two mighty palaces, with many a vault beneath, 
 Attest the skill of their artificers. 
 Here, too, there gleams on columns six upreared 
 The chapel, not too large but beautiful. 
 Here room joins room, and house joins house, 
 For everything and every one its use. 
 Here vestments, sacred vessels, polished arms 
 Arrest the eye. Here money, meat, and bread 
 Are stored — fruit, wine, and beer ; whilst purest flour 
 Has its own place, and yet in all the array 
 Of clustered buildings none is idle here. 
 The castle's inner court unoccupied 
 Contains a well of water always full. 
 
 • • •   • • 
 
 There is a gate of lofty height so strong 
 That few, nay women weak, could hold it safe. 
 In front a bridge is laid across a moat 
 And stretches widely to the other side. 
 Till safely flanked with walls it meets the green 
 Where joyous youth so often held its sports. 
 The castle wall wards off the northern blast 
 So does the keep upon the lofty mound ; 
 Another wall runs from the keep full south 
 Protracted to the church's eastern bound." 
 
 The keep needs little explanation. It was first built, 
 perhaps, by the fugitives mentioned above, in 1069. 
 It was round, and rested upon pillars, though the 

 
 DURHAM CASTLE 123 
 
 character of the base is obscure, and may be explained 
 by some concrete foundation. From the corners of 
 the keep curtain walls descend, one of which, as we 
 have seen, was built by Flambard, and is probably 
 the one specially named in the concluding two lines. 
 Down below is the castle proper, which connects by a 
 series of steps with the keep. Another of the walls 
 connecting with the angles of the keep sweeps round 
 towards the west, and bends back on the southern side 
 until it reaches the keep again. This wide expanse 
 encloses the main buildings — two vast square Norman 
 towers, one of them containing the Norman chapel 
 (no hall is mentioned), the other, perhaps on the west, 
 comprising the chief store-rooms. Between these is a 
 vacant space with a well, and that has been recently 
 discovered. Two gates are mentioned — the one on 
 the north side with which the big wall from the keep 
 connects ; the other where its modern representative 
 still stands, between the cathedral and the castle. The 
 northern gate was finally destroyed in 1820. The 
 Palace Green (Place-Green is the correct form), to 
 which the drawbridge gives access, had been cleared 
 by Flambard, and is still the chosen playground 
 of Durham children. The garrison was, almost 
 obviously, quartered in the keep, and here the dun- 
 geons were to be found. Their locality is further 
 fixed by the book of Reginald the Monk, written in 
 Pudsey's time, to which some reference has already 
 been made. He describes the imprisonment of a 
 certain malefactor within the castle in such terms 
 that the only possible identification is clearly in- 
 dicated. Incidentally Reginald also mentions not 
 merely the prison in the keep, but the lofty battle- 
 ments with their warders, the sentinel on duty at the 
 barbican, the porter sitting before the doorway, the
 
 i2 4 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 massive entrance gates with their heavy bar, and the 
 mint of the bishop. This last was a special privilege 
 bestowed upon Bishop Geoffrey as a reward for his 
 allegiance to King Stephen. 
 
 But the reference to Reginald is a slight anticipa- 
 tion. We must return to Laurence. When William 
 of St. Barbe died in 1153, Laurence had already been 
 elected Prior of Durham, and we may well believe 
 that no other monk in the house was a possible rival. 
 The prior and his monks probably desired a strong 
 bishop, and their choice fell upon Hugh Pudsey, a 
 nephew of the late king, and therefore cousin of 
 Henry II. The fidelity of Durham to the House of 
 Stephen made the election natural, but great opposi- 
 tion was manifested, and the famous St. Bernard him- 
 self was brought into the dispute. Pudsey, however, 
 was duly consecrated, and entered upon that long 
 tenure of office which left an ineffaceable mark upon 
 Durham, and upon the development of what we must 
 now begin to call the palatinate power of the bishop. 
 In the very early days of his episcopate a grave disaster 
 befell the castle, in a conflagration which spread from 
 the city below and gutted the north side, and probably 
 the west of the fortress. The calamity appears to 
 have been predicted by St. Godric, the hermit of 
 Finchale, whose cell was frequently visited by those 
 who desired to consult the saint, and even by Bishop 
 William himself. No doubt the fire described by 
 Reginald is the same. He tells us how fire was 
 always dreaded at Durham, as indeed it still is to- 
 day. On this occasion the flames ravaged the buildings 
 (no doubt erected since Cumin's destruction of the 
 suburbs) on the north side of the peninsula, whilst a 
 strong north wind drove the sparks right over the 
 castle, despite the frantic efforts made to prevent damage
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 125 
 
 by them. Some of the most important parts of the 
 building were thus destroyed, including probably the 
 Norman hall of Waltheof, and all the store-rooms and 
 chambers to which Laurence makes such detailed 
 reference. The chapel was unharmed, and the keep 
 was spared, thanks to the banner of St. Cuthbert, 
 Reginald tells us, which was borne across from the 
 cathedral by the monks and suspended from a spear. 
 The sadly injured castle apparently bore the signs of 
 its desolation for many a long day. 
 
 A further loss of prestige now occurred. The 
 reign of Henry II. witnessed a vigorous attempt of 
 the King of England to push up the frontiers of 
 his realm to the Tweed. His grasp of the northern 
 counties was at first firmly maintained, and his recog- 
 nition of the bishop's rights and authorities was ample. 
 But in 1 173 came the rebellion of Prince Henry, who 
 fixed his eyes upon the northern extremity of the king's 
 wide dominions as a possible bribe to the King of Scot- 
 land for his co-operation in the prince's scheme. In this 
 way all the old ambitions of David to achieve an effective 
 suzerainty over Northumbria were revived, and William 
 the Lion of Scotland lent a ready ear to the rebel prince. 
 It was Pudsey's opportunity to show himself valiant for 
 the king, but he made the fatal step of declaring his 
 neutrality, and offered no protest or opposition to the 
 advance of William into Northumberland : 
 
 "Then says King William : ' Hear, my knights. 
 Throughout Northumberland I will take my way : 
 There is no one to oppose us ; whom should we then fear ? 
 The Bishop of Durham (behold his messenger) 
 Informs me by his letters he wishes to remain at peace. 
 Neither from him nor his forces we shall have disturbance.'" 1 
 
 For this passive part in the rebellion Bishop Pudsey 
 
 1 From the Chronicle of Jordan Fantosme, 11. 531-36. Surtees Society, 
 vol. ii. p. 27.
 
 126 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 had to pay an ignominious penalty in the surrender of 
 his three great castles, Norham, Durham, and North- 
 allerton. The people of Durham had to witness the 
 march in of a royal garrison, who took possession of 
 Durham Castle, which seems at this period to be called 
 consistently the Tower of Durham, a title which bears 
 out the destruction caused by the fire some twenty 
 years previously. But Pudsey got the castle back 
 again during the next few years, yet only to lose it 
 once more in 1181, when he angered the king over 
 some demand made. It is to this period of recovery 
 that we may, with great probability, refer the restora- 
 tion of Durham Castle. Elaborate building was under- 
 taken by the prelate, which more than restored its 
 early glory. Thirty years of comparative peace had 
 brought the patrimony of St. Cuthbert to a pitch of 
 prosperity which it had never yet known. The ravages 
 of Cumin and the more distant harrying of Odo were 
 forgotten at last, and men rejoiced in the dignity and 
 prestige that this able bishop had brought to the 
 bishopric. It is, indeed, probable that this name 
 " bishopric " was now first associated par excellence with 
 the various members of the territory of St. Cuthbert 
 in Northumberland, Durham, and Yorkshire, a name 
 which the district retained until a period within living 
 memory. What caught the imagination in Pudsey's 
 time is the considerable accession to the bishop's power, 
 contributed by the special circumstances of the day. 
 Pudsey had long desired to go on crusade to the East, 
 and had made large collections for the purpose. The 
 design was stimulated by the fall of Jerusalem in 1 1 87. 
 When Richard succeeded to the crown in 11 89, the 
 king conceived that plan of unprecedented magni- 
 ficence which is associated with his name. He knew 
 Pudsey's wish, and soon began to negotiate with him,
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 127 
 
 as he did with other great lords, for the sale and 
 transfer of lands and rights which might be turned into 
 money. To the south of Durham lay the wapentake 
 and manor of Sadberge, which had never been merged 
 in the patrimony of St. Cuthbert. King Richard, 
 therefore, proposed to make over to the bishop for 
 a money consideration the earldom of Northumbria, 
 which had of late been so greatly coveted by Scotland, 
 and to round off the possessions of St. Cuthbert by the 
 addition of Sadberge. Thus, once more, as in the days 
 of Walcher, Durham became the seat of the bishop's 
 double power, religious and secular, and Pudsey ruled 
 supreme from the Tees to the Tweed, though for a 
 brief period only, as further difficulties with the king 
 soon resulted in the loss of his newly-acquired dignities. 
 It is no improbable suggestion that the restoration of 
 the castle is connected with the added prestige of Pud- 
 sey at the beginning of Richard's reign. At all events, 
 to some such time we refer the building of the door- 
 way which led into a Norman hall cut up into various 
 rooms in later days. This doorway is one of the 
 most remarkable specimens of late Norman work in 
 England. It displays three concentric arches, which 
 are richly moulded, and exhibit a striking contrast to 
 the simple decoration of the capitals in the chapel, 
 which are a century older. Of the three arches, the 
 outer one has a number of panels octagonal in shape, 
 and very deeply sunk ; the second may be described 
 in heraldic language as billety ; whilst the last has 
 square panels. Both the second and the third are 
 decorated with beading. The tympanum so formed 
 must have had at one time a hood of some kind to 
 cover it, for it has been successfully shielded from the 
 weather. The shafts at the side had no such protec- 
 tion, and have been much injured, and indicate a good
 
 128 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 deal of repair, which has spoiled the rose and lozenge 
 mouldings which decorated the spaces between the 
 shafts. We must imagine a large double staircase (of 
 which the footing has been recovered) leading from 
 the courtyard to this doorway, so giving access to 
 Pudsey's hall. The splendid preservation of this rich 
 doorway is partly due to the fact that it was closed at 
 one time, and continued so to be until Bishop Barring- 
 ton opened it out — discovered it in fact — at the begin- 
 ning of the nineteenth century. Whose ill-taste hid 
 up Pudsey's work we do not certainly know, but it 
 must have been done after the gallery of Bishop 
 Tunstall was built in the sixteenth century, for he 
 left a large window to light up the beauties of the 
 doorway. Not improbably Bishop Crewe is the cul- 
 prit. It may be added that Pudsey built nobly else- 
 where in the diocese, and that in almost every case 
 structural defects manifested themselves, so that the 
 Galilee in the cathedral and the north side of the 
 castle have caused much trouble and expense in later 
 days. We are able to specify the individual on whom 
 the blame rests. Richard the Engineer, whose name has 
 come down to us in more than one document, was a 
 magnificent architect but an inferior engineer, and it 
 is no doubt due to his imperfect skill that such grave 
 structural errors were committed in Pudsey's buildings. 
 If we try to restore in imagination the general character 
 of Pudsey's work in the castle, we must picture a large 
 Norman hall to which his doorway gave entrance. 
 On the northern side were the ordinary rounded 
 windows, some of them enlarged in a much later 
 century, when the hall has been cut up into various 
 rooms. Above it was a second hall, reached by a 
 staircase still existing, perhaps divided from it, but 
 more probably looking into it as in the keep at New-
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 129 
 
 castle. This upper story was known as the Constable's 
 Hall, and here dwelt the constable, who was one of the 
 chief officers of the palatinate. Some of its decora- 
 tion still survives, though it has been badly treated in 
 modern times. 
 
 With Pudsey the twelfth century nearly ran out, 
 and a full hundred years followed, which left little or 
 no permanent mark upon the castle. Yet more than 
 one royal visitor was entertained here : King John 
 twice over in 12 16, when he came to deal with the 
 recalcitrant barons of the north ; King Henry in 1255 ; 
 and Alexander of Scotland in 1272. There were 
 anxious passages on several occasions between the 
 bishops and the great barons, like the Balliols of 
 Barnard Castle, the Nevilles of Raby, and others 
 as well, who strove in those long years of Henry's mis- 
 rule to shake themselves free in one way and another 
 from the bishop's authority. It may serve to show 
 how deeply Flambard and Pudsey had driven the 
 foundation on which the great authority of the 
 mediaeval Bishop of Durham now rested, that on the 
 whole these important barons failed to free themselves 
 of the bishop's control. His disputes with them, 
 however acrimonious, ended in his favour, and were 
 allowed by the king without question. The sad lack 
 of documents, which the historian of twelfth and 
 thirteenth century Durham has to lament, prevents us 
 from being able to trace the development and organisa- 
 tion of the bishop's power, but it is quite clear that he 
 had since Walcher's time come to hold over the 
 bishopric an autocratic sway like that of a king. 
 And so all his quarrels with barons and others re- 
 semble the feuds between the king and his barons in 
 the larger realm outside, with this difference, that the 
 Bishop of Durham was able to dictate terms, whilst 
 
 1
 
 130 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 the barons of England imposed their demands upon 
 King John and King Henry. 
 
 All this development of control over his dominions 
 meant the concentration of an enormous amount of busi- 
 ness in and around Durham Castle. The precincts must 
 have held not merely the residence of a large staff of 
 officials who administered the palatinate jurisdiction, 
 but as well a number of offices in which law was adminis- 
 tered, finance controlled, military and naval organisation 
 directed. The result of this centralisation of mani- 
 fold departments at Durham was natural enough, in 
 that the bishop resided less and less at the castle save 
 on occasions of state, so to speak, when some great 
 visitor was received there, or when a banquet was given, 
 or when invasion was threatened. Probably another 
 reason for the bishop's preference for his castle at 
 Stockton, or his manors in Bishop Middleham, Dar- 
 lington, and elsewhere, is to be found in the growing 
 importance of the Prior of Durham. The lands of the 
 prior, as opposed to the lands of the bishop, had first 
 been divided by Carileph. Poor enough at the end of 
 the eleventh century, the monastery lands had increased 
 in value and in extent in the meantime, and with them 
 the prestige of the prior. But Durham was not large 
 enough for two kings to reign within her, and thus 
 the bishop kept away from possible conflict and 
 jealousy between monastery and castle, save when 
 special circumstances brought into unquestioned pro- 
 minence his own authority and dignity. One survival 
 from the wreck of mediaeval documents still exists in 
 the shape of Bishop Kellaw's magnificent register of 
 the palatinate, which was probably drawn up within 
 the castle, and is our chief means of information as to 
 the varied business of the bishop's dominions. From 
 it we are able to conjecture the general character of
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 131 
 
 the somewhat earlier days, when this complexity of 
 affairs was growing up. 
 
 Before the thirteenth century ended a new chapter 
 opened in the history of the castle. The days of 
 internal disputes between bishop and barons and 
 bishop and monastery were, generally speaking, a 
 time of peace, so far as external troubles were con- 
 cerned. During the reigns of the first three Edwards 
 troubles with Scotland constitute a large portion of 
 general English history, and the Palatinate of Durham 
 bore the brunt of those troubles. The great storm fell 
 in the fourteenth century, when few years were with- 
 out a record of raid, but some preliminary showers 
 descended as early as 1277, when the Scots began to 
 encroach. From this point the bishop's castles came 
 into prominence, and Durham must have changed its 
 aspect from a peaceful hive of business to a garrison 
 centre, from which troops were pushed up to do service 
 within the bishopric. During all these Scottish troubles 
 the Bishop of Durham was treated by the English king 
 as responsible for the peace of the Borders, and we must 
 suppose that, in earlier documents now lost, this duty 
 and service had been recognised and accepted. 
 
 Foremost of the prelates at this time was Antony 
 Bek, more soldier than bishop, who took the field 
 himself against the Scots when his more peaceful 
 measures failed to secure the match he desired between 
 Prince Edward and Margaret, the child-queen of the 
 Scots. Had this match been carried out the whole 
 history of the Borders might have been different, but 
 it was reserved for a later Bishop of Durham to suc- 
 ceed where Bek failed, and to negotiate that marriage 
 of another Margaret, which ultimately led to the union 
 of the crowns of England and Scotland. The unhappy 
 years of interregnum that followed the death of the
 
 132 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 little Margaret proved the opportunity of Edward of 
 England, who claimed the kingdom of Scotland in 
 1296. It was in this personal visit to Scotland that 
 Edward came to Durham, and it is very tempting to 
 connect with the king's presence at the castle the 
 inauguration of the large hall, which is still its chief 
 glory. Documentary evidence is wanting, but archi- 
 tectural testimony fits in very well with the date named. 
 The truncated window on the western side, for in- 
 stance, is of thirteenth-century date, and that by itself is 
 enough to bring back the building to the time of Bek, 
 and to refer it to him instead of Hatfield, to whom it 
 has often been ascribed. With the exception of the 
 window referred to, the internal fittings of the hall 
 have been greatly altered and adapted, and, as we shall 
 see, the length of the room was shortened by Fox 
 about 1499. The original dimensions were: height, 
 45 feet, length 132, breadth 36. Underneath it we 
 may still see the original oak beams, and the arches on 
 which it rests. The latter are of earlier date, and 
 belong, no doubt, to Pudsey's restoration, or possibly 
 to the first work of Waltheof. But despite all the 
 liberties taken with it at different times, the hall 
 remains as probably the finest English hall of that 
 particular period. Its earliest use would be for those 
 occasions of ceremony which Bek, " of that state and 
 greatness as never any bishop was, Wolsey excepted," 
 knew well how to make the most of, as when King Ed- 
 ward came to Durham, or Balliols or Nevilles did their 
 homage on bended knee. That such functions were 
 held here seems to be indicated by one chronicler, who 
 speaks of two thrones of royal dignity, one at either 
 end of the hall, though it is a little difficult to see 
 what their relation may have been. 1 
 
 1 The one, perhaps, was for secular state and the other for ecclesiastical.
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 133 
 
 The fourteenth century wore on with gathering 
 gloom. Almost every year rumours of Scottish in- 
 vasion were rife, and every officer in the castle was 
 thrown into a state of deep anxiety. Messengers 
 arrived from the king with urgent demands — now 
 the bishop was to remain within the palatinate "as 
 a brazen wall against the Scots " ; now he was to 
 lend his sovereign money ; now he was to levy men 
 and to march ; now he was bidden to direct the 
 offering of prayers for the army's success. At this 
 time there was no continuous garrison kept within 
 the castle. Durham was a small city, and the castle 
 could not house a large number of soldiers. There 
 was, however, a carefully regulated service of castle- 
 ward, and in connection with this some of the bishop's 
 tenants concerned had to come up to Durham and 
 serve during so many days. They held houses near 
 the Bailey, and the condition stipulated in the lease 
 set out their obligation of personal service. Various 
 sections of the town wall were under the special care 
 and maintenance of certain tenants. Such duty must 
 have been onerous enough in the days of which we 
 speak. In 1312 Bruce dashed with his mobile forces 
 through the bishopric, and is even said to have burnt 
 the city itself, though this more probably means the 
 houses outside the walls. The castle had kept Cumin 
 secure nearly two hundred years before, and it is not 
 likely that the warlike Bek suffered its defences to 
 deteriorate. But the Scots, victorious at Bannockburn 
 in 1 3 14, were soon in the north again, and in 1316 
 they made a foray near Durham, and wreaked their 
 will on the prior's beautiful refugium at Beaurepaire, but 
 they did not attack the city only three miles distant. 
 How far they had forced themselves into the bishopric 
 as a perpetual menace was seen in 1323, and again in
 
 134 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 1325 and 1326, when royal orders came to the bishop 
 to provision his castles, Durham being named par- 
 ticularly. 
 
 Edward III. inherited the legacy of the northern 
 warfare which had descended to him from his father 
 and grandfather. But where the second Edward failed 
 his son succeeded. Just before the battle of Halidon 
 Hill, in 1333, where the tide of war turned in favour 
 of the English, an interesting Durham episode took 
 place. Edward was in Durham, where Prior de 
 Couton entertained him instead of Bishop Beaumont, 
 who was probably away from Durham. Queen Philippa, 
 a frequent companion of her husband during his cam- 
 paigns, arrived within a few days at the abbey, not 
 doubting her welcome, and took supper with the king. 
 But she did not know the Durham custom, and when 
 she sought the king's chamber, her presence within the 
 monastery was judged to be a grave violation of rule. 
 Some monk plucked up courage to tell the king, who 
 counselled his wife to rise and seek some other lodging 
 for the night. Unwilling to anger St. Cuthbert, she 
 threw a cloak over her shoulders and hurried off 
 through the abbey gate, and passing along the Bailey 
 and Lyegate, soon made her way to the castle, where 
 we may hope the constable gave her a better reception. 
 Within three months of this visit Edward won the 
 battle of Halidon Hill, and so began to retrieve past 
 disasters. How far bishopric musters took part we 
 do not know, but some years later, in 1346, Durham 
 men who held the centre gave a good account of them- 
 selves at Neville's Cross, just outside the city. Intense 
 local interest was naturally taken in what is sometimes 
 called the Battle of Durham, and the tomb of the 
 bishopric baron, Ralph Neville, who won the day, is still 
 to be seen in Durham Cathedral. The great event in
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 135 
 
 the battle was the capture of David Bruce, the King of 
 Scotland, who in all probability was first taken to the 
 castle before being lodged at Ogle. The same year 
 had been signalised by the victory of Crecy two months 
 earlier, and the double event brought more glory to 
 England than any previous record of arms. 
 
 Bright visions were conjured up in the months that 
 followed, but they soon faded away before the terrible 
 gloom which the Black Death brought in its train. 
 Durham records give us a very detailed account of the 
 plague and its effect. It is not too much to say that 
 the whole palatinate was thrown into an almost hopeless 
 state of disorganisation. Some mention has been made 
 of the bishop's stewards and others who lived in or 
 near the castle and administered the episcopal lands. 
 They had to face a state of things which is without 
 parallel in the history of Durham. The peasants had 
 died off in hundreds, and others in sheer misery fled 
 from the desolated lands, which went without tillage 
 during the awful visitation. Some showed a spirit of 
 insubordination, and refused the services that they owed, 
 and were brought to Durham and thrown into prison 
 within the castle until they should come to their senses. 
 The generally submissive spirit of the peasantry changed 
 from this point, and the duties of the bishop's officers 
 became proportionately onerous in dealing with men 
 who were pushing out of serfdom into they scarcely 
 knew what, displaying in the process an increasing 
 ill-will and reluctance towards bailiffs and others. 
 
 The Bishop of Durham during the dark days was 
 Hatfield, whose throne in the cathedral is the throne 
 of a king, and is symbolic of the massive power of the 
 palatinate at that time. He was not much at Durham, 
 yet he left his mark upon the castle, where he " re- 
 newed the buildings which had perished or decayed
 
 136 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 through lapse of time, and he built afresh the bishop's 
 hall, and the constable's hall, along with other build- 
 ings in this same castle." Such is the ambiguous 
 record, but it receives a very plausible explanation if 
 we understand the " bishop's hall " to mean not Bek's 
 great hall, which was scarcely a century old (though 
 Hatfield probably altered some of the windows in it), 
 but the hall of Pudsey, to which the twelfth-century 
 doorway described above gave access. No doubt that 
 older building needed repair along with the constable's 
 hall above it, and needed it because Pudsey's engineer 
 was at fault. But Hatfield did another piece of works 
 at the castle. He replaced the keep by a more ample 
 structure, which was used for a hundred years until the 
 time of Bishop Fox, and then fell slowly and surely 
 into decay, until at last it became a menace to the 
 houses below. Possibly Hatfield's keep may have 
 been adapted to hold a garrison of soldiers. In his 
 episcopate a serious theft occurred at the castle, when 
 in 1369 a sum of no less than ^2500 (an enormous 
 amount in those days) was stolen out of the treasury 
 of the bishop. It is tempting to connect the robbery 
 with a large treasure-chest, which is still an object of 
 curiosity within the building, and exhibits obvious signs 
 of rough usage. Bound with hide and stout iron, it 
 must have resisted the efforts exerted, and, as we can 
 still see, only yielded its contents after saw and hatchet 
 and brute force had been employed. Thirteen years 
 afterwards the unnamed culprit was forgiven. Bishop 
 Hatfield died in 1382. A few years later, when Bishop 
 Skirlaw of Bath and Wells was translated to Durham, 
 a survey of the bishopric was made, and a valuable 
 piece of evidence for our knowledge of the castle 
 precincts is thus made available. It tells us that the 
 officials of the chancery and of the exchequer had their
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 137 
 
 dwelling-houses outside the castle proper, and on the 
 west side of Palace Green. Close by them was the 
 hall of justice. There were also a granary, a large 
 barn, and other rooms as well, and these stood in front 
 of the old gaol, which was on the same western side. 
 Opposite them, on the east side of the green, were the 
 mint and other offices, which apparently had been turned 
 into dwelling-houses for the chancellor, the constable, 
 and the mint-master. Skirlaw introduced an important 
 change when he began to build afresh the north gate 
 of the castle, to which with its long annexes he trans- 
 ferred the gaol. Bishop Langley, his successor, seems 
 to have completed the work that Skirlaw began, though 
 he has generally had the credit of building the whole 
 north gate. A building for the exchequer court, 
 separate from the single court of justice, was to 
 come rather later. 
 
 We now pass into the fifteenth century. It can- 
 not be said that the gloom which had so long rested 
 upon Durham lifted for any very long interval. 
 Pestilence, war, and dynastic confusion were frequent 
 visitors. Ecclesiastically the interest lies in the echo 
 of the theological strife which absorbed the attention 
 of so many in the first thirty years of the new century. 
 Writs came now and again to the bishop to keep his 
 eye on persons suspected of Lollardy, and more than 
 one clergyman was denounced to Skirlaw and his 
 successor " for publicly teaching erroneous doctrine," 
 or "for heretical depravity." But Durham was not 
 greatly troubled with such influences. Bishop Langley 
 was appointed cardinal — the only Durham cardinal, save 
 Wolsey, who never came to Durham. Langley was 
 much in evidence in the city, where he gained a great 
 reputation not only as builder but as the father of his 
 people, to whom he showed in many ways a very kindly
 
 138 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 spirit. In his day help was freely extended to persons 
 in sudden affliction whether by loss, bereavement, or 
 personal injury. An episode of some importance in 
 his episcopate was the visit of James I. of Scotland to 
 the castle in 1424 when the long imprisonment of the 
 young king ended, and his return to Scotland was pro- 
 vided for in the Treaty of Durham. The palatinate 
 was somewhat naturally Lancastrian. Its strong Church 
 connection helped to this end, and Langley no doubt, 
 who had been Lord Chancellor, was appointed partly 
 for political reasons in order to preserve peace on 
 the Borders, and the ascendency of the Lancastrian 
 house. 
 
 When the cardinal died, a Neville was made 
 bishop. But there was no faltering in the loyalty of 
 the bishopric. Neville was of peaceful disposition, and 
 played a leading part in more than one truce with the 
 Scots, when Durham was the place chosen for parley 
 and convention between representatives of both nations. 
 It is even likely that his family connection was utilised 
 for bringing influence to bear upon the great clans 
 of the north to whom he was related. Certainly 
 troubles had arisen from time to time when hunting- 
 parties had been made the occasion of a border raid, 
 and an attempt was made to take away all such need- 
 less causes of strife between the two nations, for which 
 the great families were mainly responsible. In his 
 palatinate Bishop Neville fully maintained the usual 
 state to which the bishops had accustomed the castle. 
 It is said that the household of an earl in the fifteenth 
 century averaged 130 persons, but the Bishop of 
 Durham had a larger retinue, to say nothing of the 
 soldiers whom he could muster on occasion. There 
 were now not merely the officers of the palatinate and 
 of the household of whom we hear from the twelfth
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 139 
 
 century onwards, but various new servants appear. 
 Neville makes mention of an armourer within the 
 castle, and of a master of the horse. Long before 
 this we have esquires, grooms, pages ; and special 
 bequests made to such servants seem to have included 
 entertainment for a month after the funeral at the ex- 
 pense of the late bishop's estate. The custom of set- 
 ting up the bishop's arms was now common. Langley 
 and Skirlaw had both adorned their work with their 
 achievements. When Bishop Neville cleared away 
 certain buildings on the west side of Palace Green 
 and erected his exchequer buildings there, he set 
 before it the Neville bull, which still stands over the 
 doorway. 
 
 A picturesque event of Neville's episcopate was 
 the visit of Henry VI. to the castle in 1448. The 
 glory of the reign of Henry V. was already a mere 
 memory, and Englishmen regarded ruefully the decline 
 of their country's prestige. And now in June and 
 July first Alnwick and then Warkworth had been 
 burned by the Scots. Under these circumstances the 
 king came on pilgrimage to Durham about Michaelmas. 
 He visited the tomb of St. Cuthbert in state, and on 
 Michaelmas Day " was present in person at first vespers, 
 at procession, at mass, at second vespers." The king's 
 progress on this occasion seems to have made a pleasant 
 impression upon him, for when on his return he reached 
 Lincoln, he wrote the following letter: — 
 
 " Right trusty and well-beloved : We greet you 
 heartily well, letting you wit that, blessed be Our 
 Lord God, we have been right merry in our pilgrimage, 
 considering three causes. One is how that the Church 
 of the Province of York and Diocese of Durham be 
 as noble in doing of divine service, in multitude of 
 ministers, and in sumptuous and glorious building as
 
 i 4 o EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 any in our realm. And also how our Lord has radicate 
 in the people His faith and His law, and that they be as 
 Catholic people as ever we came among, and all good 
 and holy, that we dare say the first commandment may 
 be verified right well in them : Diligunt Dominum Deum 
 ipsorum ex totis animis snis ex tota mente sua. Also they 
 have done unto us all great heartily reverence and 
 worship as ever we had, with all great humanity and 
 meekness, with all celestial, blessed, and honourable 
 speech and blessing, as it can be thought and imagined, 
 and all good and better than we had ever in our life, 
 even as they had been caelitus inspirati. Wherefore we 
 dare well say it may be verified in them the holy saying 
 of the prince of the Apostles, St. Peter, when he sayeth : 
 Deum timete regem honorific ate. Qui timent dominum et 
 regem honorificant cum debita reverentia. Wherefore the 
 blessing God gave to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, de- 
 scend upon them all. Written in our city of Lincoln 
 in crastino Sti Lucae Evangelistae 1448." 
 
 Alas ! the pilgrimage availed little, so far as the 
 immediate object was concerned, for within four days 
 of the writing of this letter the English, under the 
 younger Percy, were defeated with great slaughter at 
 Sarke Water, whilst in the year following the French 
 practically regained Normandy. Troubles were hem- 
 ming Henry in on every side, and the Yorkist party 
 strove to gain adherents, whilst the Lancastrians rallied 
 their forces to fight for the king. So in the year 1457, 
 when the see of Durham was vacant and sides were 
 being taken for the White or the Red Rose, Margaret, 
 the valiant queen of the poor distracted Henry, strove 
 to get a Lancastrian bishop elected in the person of 
 Laurence Booth. But everything went against the 
 Lancastrians. In the anxious days that followed the 
 Battle of Towton the fugitive Lancastrians gathered
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 141 
 
 in the bishopric and beyond it. But ordinary business 
 was not suspended in Durham, though the bishop must 
 have had some anxious thoughts as to his future. A 
 fugitive document exists which shows how routine 
 went on in the castle. In days of peace there can have 
 been no more important occasion than the annual audit, 
 and we can see from the mention made in this paper 
 how the castle was cleaned and repaired, and how stores 
 of hay, coals, candles, and so forth were purchased. 
 At such a time the bishop himself was usually present, 
 and no doubt there was much good cheer and festivity 
 whilst the various officers rendered to the receiver- 
 general in the great hall their carefully made accounts 
 for rents of all lands through the palatinate. De- 
 faulters were even imprisoned in the North Gate, 
 and in this particular year the sub-gaoler received ten 
 shillings for good custody of fraudulent collectors. 
 But the audit of 1461 was, for the present, the last 
 festival for the bishop. Next year the brave queen 
 returned from her quest of troops, and entering 
 Northumberland, captured some Yorkist strongholds. 
 Men began to fortify their houses with or without the 
 bishop's licence, in order to withstand roving bands on 
 either side. Margaret hoped against hope, whilst 
 many life-long Lancastrians went over to the other 
 party. Edward himself came north to direct the 
 movement which was to sweep the Lancastrians out 
 of Northumberland. He reached Durham Castle early 
 in December 1462, but here he was laid low by a 
 humiliating attack of measles — " sykenesse of masyls," 
 an old manuscript calls it — and had to stay not only 
 over Christmas, but until the campaign was ended. 
 What was said by the bishop and his unwelcome guest 
 when they met, as it may be presumed they did meet, 
 in the castle, there is no record. But it is certain that
 
 t 4 2 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 the bishop was treated as disaffected, and that Edward 
 seized upon the temporalities, which were not given 
 back to Booth until he had purged himself of suspicion, 
 and was restored to royal favour after the final collapse 
 of the Lancastrian cause in the north some two years 
 later. During part of this time a garrison was placed 
 within the castle by the king " for the safe custody 
 of castle and city"; and as it cost £106, 3s. iofd. 
 for wages and general maintenance, during a period 
 of seven months only, the force must have been 
 considerable. 
 
 As we approach the reign of Henry VII. it is 
 a little puzzling to find several mentions of the decay 
 of the Bishop of Durham's castles, if Durham is to 
 be numbered amongst those in such a condition. 
 Richard III., for instance, on more than one occasion, 
 wrote to the Pope and cardinals in order to get some 
 reduction made in the fees payable by Bishop Sher- 
 wood on account of first-fruits and other dues, the 
 reason given being that the burden of the Scottish 
 war was too heavy a charge for the bishop to bear. 
 The king says that the castles and towers belonging 
 to the Church at Durham are in such a ruinous 
 condition, partly owing to former neglect, and partly 
 owing to the devastation committed by the Scots, that 
 the revenues of several years would not be sufficient to 
 restore them. It may be correct to except Durham 
 Castle from the general condemnation, since the work 
 of Hatfield and Langley was so recent, but it is 
 probable that on the west side overlooking the river 
 the Norman portion of early date needed repair. 
 At all events, no distinct mention of any restoration 
 in that particular part occurs so far in any known 
 authority. The position of affairs demanded careful 
 fortification. The palatinate had practically declared
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 143 
 
 for Richard, and as long as he was on the throne 
 there was no fear of trouble in the bishopric. When 
 Henry VII. became king, the hearts of the men of 
 Northumberland and Durham could not at once feel 
 the inspiration of loyalty to a prince whom they 
 considered a usurper. Sherwood himself was of more 
 than doubtful loyalty, and the obscurity that lies 
 upon his episcopate prevents us from reading the 
 story of his disgrace. As soon as he died, Henry 
 appointed to office in the castle men whom he could 
 trust. Next he translated to Durham in 1494 Bishop 
 Fox of Bath and Wells, his own long-tried friend and 
 counsellor. Fox was to be the repairer of the breach. 
 Fox reached Durham at a critical juncture. 
 Perkin Warbeck had been plotting with the Duchess 
 of Burgundy in view of his projected invasion of 
 England, and soon made his way to Scotland, where 
 James IV. received him with effusion and gave him 
 in marriage the beautiful Lady Catharine Gordon. 
 Between the Pretender and the King of Scotland 
 schemes for an English war were discussed, and 
 James readily undertook to help Warbeck with 
 troops. Fox -began his very necessary repairs by the 
 complete restoration of Norham Castle, and it is 
 probable that similar work was already in hand at 
 Durham. In the midst of such preparations rapidly 
 pushed on, the bishop received an urgent message 
 from the king, bidding him make the following pro- 
 clamation throughout the bishopric : " Forasmuch 
 as the king our sovereign lord hath perfect under- 
 standing that his ancient enemies the Scots, continuing 
 in their noted malice against our said sovereign lord, 
 and this his realm and subjects of the same, intend 
 with their power to invade this his said realm some 
 time of the month of September next coming, pro-
 
 i 4 4 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 posing in their said invasion to do to the subjects of 
 our said sovereign lord nigh inhabited to the marches 
 against Scotland all the hurt and annoyance to them 
 possible, our said sovereign lord . . . chargeth and 
 commandeth all and every of his subjects inhabited 
 within the bishopric being betwixt the age of sixty 
 and sixteen that they and every of them prepare 
 themselves in their best and most defensible array, 
 and be ready to give their attendance under his right 
 trusty and well-beloved cousin the Lord Neville." 
 The date is August 30, 1497, and the form of the 
 document denotes the gravity of the situation. Such 
 a missive was unusual, though not without parallel, 
 for we can trace somewhat similar directions at other 
 crises of grave national peril. As a rule the bishop 
 summoned the musters on his own initiative, but 
 a commission of array like this was ordained by the 
 king himself. Fortunately it was a demonstration 
 merely, for the Scots did not invade England at this 
 time, and Fox was instrumental in arranging a treaty 
 with King James, which was to last for seven years. 
 
 In the early days of this peace the vision which 
 had once come to a Bishop of Durham two centuries 
 earlier floated before the mind of Bishop Fox. Bek 
 had failed to marry Edward II. to the infant Margaret 
 of Norway ; Fox was now commissioned to arrange 
 a match between Margaret of England and James of 
 Scotland. The negotiations were protracted, and 
 many things happened before the marriage was cele- 
 brated, though it was arranged in 1499. To those 
 who have studied Border history of this time, and 
 are aware of the " grete extorciens, roberes, murders, 
 and other great exorbytances and myschieves " which 
 are characteristic of the palatinate in those troubled 
 days, it will be almost irresistible to connect the story
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 145 
 
 of the rebuilding at Durham Castle with this match 
 which Fox had so much at heart. It may be presumed 
 that the works had been pushed on, and now in this 
 auspicious year they were practically completed, so 
 that the new buttery hatch bore not merely the legend 
 of the bishop, Est Deo gratia, with his pelican, but the 
 date 1499. Much alteration had taken place in 
 Bek's hall, where Fox took away one of the " seats of 
 regality," to which reference has been made, and 
 shortened the southern end, converting the space so 
 gained into a buttery with a pantry. He also made 
 the two curious pulpits at the same end, which were 
 designed, we are told, for trumpeters or musicians ; 
 but, as they are not large enough for anything like 
 a band, we may suppose that toast-masters or pipers 
 are intended. But the most important change was 
 the reconstruction of the Norman tower on the west 
 side of the castle over the river. In this Fox placed 
 a kitchen as ample and noble as that of the prior 
 and convent, and it is still used to-day as the castle 
 kitchen. The finished work must have been im- 
 pressive, and indeed a contemporary letter from Lord 
 Darcy to the bishop describes quaintly a visit to the 
 castle in August 1499. Darcy was at this time 
 Captain of Berwick, and was returning to his post 
 after a fortnight's hunting in Yorkshire. " My lord, 
 both I and my lady wass in all your new warkes 
 at Doresme, and veryly they are of the most goydly 
 and beste caste that I hav seyn after my poyr mynd, 
 and in especyall your kechyn passeth all other." The 
 letter goes on to say : " We have huntyd ther with 
 Mr. Chandler and Mr. Tresorer, but in goyde faithe 
 we and our servants and dogs wass so were we myght 
 not, and therefor I was so bold oppon your lordschip 
 that I had of your veneson bothe with me and sent 
 
 K
 
 146 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 to Berwicke." The allusion to hunting is interesting, 
 for it shows that the great officials had power to enter- 
 tain in the bishop's absence. The deer were no doubt 
 in the bishop's park at Frankland. 
 
 Princess Margaret was a mere child when the 
 marriage with James was arranged. At last King 
 Henry deemed that he might send away the youthful 
 bride to her northern home, and possibly the postpone- 
 ment of the wedding until the summer of 1503 was 
 due to the queen's intercession. Elizabeth died in the 
 early part of the year, and the pomp and circum- 
 stance of the progress towards Holyrood, together with 
 the warm welcome that greeted Margaret all along the 
 route, were suggested by a desire to give the mother- 
 less child a great send-off. A long account of " the 
 Fyancells of Margaret " was compiled by Somerset 
 Herald, who was present throughout. In every town 
 through which the gay procession passed there was 
 sumptuous entertainment, all the chief men turning 
 out with their retinue in livery to do proper honour 
 to the princess. As they came northwards the bride 
 stayed at the Bishop of Durham's manor-house in 
 Northallerton, and again at Darlington. At last she 
 approached Durham. The Bishop of Durham, her 
 host on the two previous nights, was already a 
 member of the train, having accompanied the prin- 
 cess from the south. 
 
 And now " in fayre ordre she was conveyed to the 
 Church, the officers of arms, sergeants of armes, trom- 
 petts, and mynstrells going before her. At the gait 
 of the Church was my Lord the Byschop of the sayd 
 place, and my Lord the Prior, revested in Pontificales 
 with the convent all revested of ryches copps in 
 processyon with the crossys. And there was apoynted 
 a place for to kiss them. . . . After this sche was
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 147 
 
 noble conveyd to the Castell wher her lodging was 
 prepared and drest honnestly. And every ychon 
 retourned agayn to hys repayre. The 21st, 22nd, and 
 23rd days of the said monneth sche sejourned in the 
 said Place of Durham, wher sche was well cheryscht, 
 and hyr costs borne by the said Byschop ; who on the 
 23rd day held nolle Hall, and dowble dynner, and 
 dowble soupper to all commers worthy for to be 
 there. And in the said Hall was sett all the Noblesse, 
 as well Spiritualls as Temporalis, grett and small, 
 the wich was welcome for this was hys Day of In- 
 stallacyon." 
 
 Such was the reception of Princess Margaret in the 
 castle, and no royal visit of state to Durham occurred 
 for a hundred years, when, as we shall see, the great- 
 grandson of the little bride came to the city. But 
 before we look on to the sequel one or two points in 
 the account of this reception call for remark. Who 
 was the Bishop of Durham ? Fox left Durham in 
 1 501, for an account survives of expenses incurred in 
 removing his effects from Auckland to Durham and 
 Newcastle. His successor was appointed in the same 
 year, 1501. Margaret's visit to Durham took place 
 two years later, and yet Bishop Fox has always been 
 associated with her entertainment at the castle. The 
 key to the difficulty is found in the last line of the 
 quotation given above. Fox had been enthroned in 
 the cathedral on July 23, 1494, so that, it is ob- 
 viously Fox and not Severs, his successor, who keeps 
 the anniversary. It is tempting to believe that, by 
 some arrangement between the two bishops, Severs 
 stood aside for the occasion, and permitted Fox, the 
 friend and godfather of the princess, to entertain her 
 in the castle which he had restored, and to entertain 
 her at an almost regal banquet when he took leave of
 
 148 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 all his old friends in the north of England. The 
 unusual phrases " whole hall," " double dinner," and 
 " double supper," may mean that the great hall was 
 not large enough, and that this keeping of open house 
 required the use of the hall of Pudsey as well, or of 
 that other hall in the keep which the chronicler tells 
 us that Fox began but did not complete because he 
 was translated to Winchester. 
 
 The great banquet in 1503 seems, as we look back 
 upon it, to have been a kind of farewell to the 
 mediaeval glories of Durham. A new century had 
 opened which was to bring great changes to bishopric 
 and city, so that the Durham of 1603 is hard to 
 recognise when compared with the Durham of 1503. 
 The happy auguries of peace, however, which greeted 
 the union of Stuart and Tudor are now remembered in 
 the light of the proverbial irony of history, for within 
 ten years of that glad acclaim all was stir and excite- 
 ment within the castle in preparation for the expedition 
 to withstand a new Scottish invasion. James IV. had 
 been persuaded by the French to enter England with a 
 large force, and to trouble the kingdom whilst Henry 
 and his best men were fighting the wars of the Holy 
 League in France. Ruthall, the new bishop, who was 
 scarcely ever in Durham, gave orders to press on the 
 fortifications at Norham as soon as he heard of what 
 was contemplated, and a special indulgence was 
 obtained for the benefit of those who were willing 
 to lend aid to the building. When he heard that the 
 Scots were actually crossing the border, he hurried 
 over from France, where he was in attendance upon the 
 king, and made his way to Durham in order to super- 
 vise the array of the bishopric musters. From Durham 
 Castle he had the joy of writing the well-known 
 letter in which he described to Wolsey the victory at
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 149 
 
 Flodden. " This victory has been the most happy 
 that can be remembered. All believe it has been 
 wrought by the intercession of St. Cuthbert, who 
 never suffered injury to be done to his church un- 
 requited. . . . My folks under St. Cuthbert's banner 
 brought home his (the king's) banner, his sword and 
 his ' gwyschys,' that is to say, the harness for his 
 thighs." Those trophies were placed in the cathedral, 
 where the banner was hung in the Nine Altars until 
 the dissolution of the monastery some thirty years 
 later. 
 
 The bishop went on from Durham to Auckland. 
 The visit to the north proved to be an expensive one 
 for him, not only in the way of stores and preparations 
 " against the transit against the Scots," but in the lavish 
 entertainment which his rare presence in the bishopric 
 made appropriate. No doubt the recent success, in 
 which the men of Durham played no small part, 
 induced the rather miserly prelate to open his purse- 
 strings more widely than usual. There is a curious 
 entry in the bishop's accounts which shows how costly 
 a Scottish invasion was : " Paid Oct. 20 to William 
 Glenny of Durham 20s. for the carriage of ^800 of 
 money to Newcastle with three horses, together with 
 6s. 8d. paid for the expenses of William Bichbourne, 
 Robert Wright, and Robert Bentley, servants of John 
 Rakett, being at Newcastle in delivering the said 
 money to Lord Surrey, and the telling it for 4 days, 
 by command of my Lord Bishop." So long a time 
 did it take to count out the pennies which went to 
 make up the whole sum of what, it may be presumed, 
 is the bishop's contribution to the expedition. An 
 extant letter sets out his grievance in regard to what 
 he was called upon to pay at this time. After a refer- 
 ence to the rebuilding of Norham, he says : " I lyf a
 
 150 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 pore lyfe till it be fynished. The hospytalities of this 
 countray agreth not with the buylding so greate a 
 warke, for thatt I spend here wold make many towris 
 and refreshe my ruynous howses. I broght hider 
 with me viii tunne of wyne, and Our Lord be thankyd, 
 I hafe not two tunne left at this houre, and this is 
 faire utterannce in two moneths. And schame it is to 
 saye how many befs and motons have been spent in my 
 hous, besids other fresh meats, whete, malt, fysche, 
 and such baggags. On my fayth ye wold marvayle if 
 my pastures had not been sum what stockyt byfore 
 behynd, for ccc persons some day is but a small 
 numbre, and of these days have I many, beside 60 or 
 80 beggers at the gate ; and this is the way to keepe a 
 man poore." 
 
 It may be added that Ruthall was not generally 
 considered to be poor, and a story, which is no doubt 
 apocryphal, was current in Durham at a rather later 
 date, and found its way into the local chronicle, 
 showing what the bishop's reputation was. Ruthall, it 
 appears, had been commissioned to make a return of 
 taxable values, probably with reference to a proposed 
 assessment in order to meet the expenses of the French 
 wars. When the completed survey was brought to 
 the king, the bishop most unfortunately presented 
 another book, similarly bound, in which the full inven- 
 tory of his own estate was set out. This indicated, 
 says one tradition, personalty to the value of nearly 
 ,£100,000, for Ruthall was considered to be the richest 
 subject in England. The mistake amused the king, 
 and may possibly have suggested to him that plunder 
 of church estates which was afterwards committed ; 
 but the bishop took it so much to heart that the 
 incident contributed to his death, which took place 
 soon afterwards. The occurrence may indeed have
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 151 
 
 hastened the end, but in all probability troubles in the 
 palatinate were as much the cause of death as his own 
 chagrin. The Scots had been troublesome for a year 
 or two, and in 1522, when Henry, in alliance with 
 Charles V., was fighting against France, they openly 
 strove to repeat the attempt which had ended so 
 disastrously at Flodden, but to repeat it without its 
 failure. Commissions of array were issued, and pro- 
 clamation made throughout the bishopric " that all the 
 king's subjects are from time to time to keep good 
 watch upon the highways." All laggards, moreover, 
 were to be sought out and punished. It was in the 
 midst of this new turmoil that Ruthall died in London. 
 He was, as has been said, little at Durham, and is 
 chiefly remembered there now because the fine bench- 
 ends in the castle chapel bear his arms. They were 
 originally placed at Auckland, and their transference 
 to Durham will be recorded in its due place. It may 
 be noted here that Ruthall seems rather to have 
 affected heraldic display, since special mention is made 
 after the fall of Wolsey of a purchase from the 
 executors of Ruthall of " arras bordered with the arms 
 of St. Cuthbert and of Ruthall, and other hangings." 
 
 Wolsey followed Ruthall, and was almost certainly 
 enthroned at Durham by proxy. He was already 
 Archbishop of York and Abbot of St. Albans, and 
 had an interest in not a few other ecclesiastical prefer- 
 ments. He was Bishop of Durham for about five 
 years, but his enormous preoccupation with State busi- 
 ness prevented him from coming within his northern 
 diocese. Yet he knew all that was going on in the 
 palatinate. Bishop Ruthall had carefully trained and 
 introduced to Durham a young Cambridge man called 
 William Franklyn, whose rise and influence were an 
 imitation, not wholly unsuccessful, of the rapid
 
 152 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 advancement of Wolsey himself. He held a great deal 
 of local church preferment, and then by degrees, as 
 he proved himself a good man of business, came to 
 the highest secular offices in the palatinate. He saw 
 clearly that his own profit lay in the direction of 
 making himself indispensable to Wolsey, to whom he 
 wrote as follows : "I can be wele contentyd at myen 
 own cost and charge, without putting your grace to 
 any peny cost, every yere to brynge up all your receitts 
 as wele of the bishopricke as of the see of Yorke ; and 
 evermore when it shal be requysyte I shall resort to 
 Duresme to assist your officer ther and for loking to 
 your profetts in such wise as your grace shal be sub- 
 stantially truly and well servid." Served in this way 
 by a man of great ability upon the spot, it was possible 
 for Wolsey to absent himself from the castle, whilst 
 Franklyn, who lived there, or had rooms there, was 
 diligent in supervising the administration of the 
 bishopric. We have in Franklyn's correspondence 
 proof of his activity, and now and then gain a side- 
 light on the way in which the treasurer suggested 
 some suitable candidate for a vacant office, and so 
 skilfully arranged the personnel to his own convenience. 
 Now it is the priory of Tynemouth, now the chan- 
 cellorship, now the mastership of the mint which 
 has thus to be filled, and in each case Franklyn or 
 some other sends a letter-missive from the castle to 
 London with the name proposed and an account of its 
 suitability. 
 
 But office brings some responsibility, however care- 
 lessly it may be borne, and Wolsey must have had no 
 little concern in the urgent representations which came 
 up from Durham, and could not be entirely ignored. 
 The Scots, rarely quiescent, were a considerable source 
 of annoyance during Wolsey's absentee episcopate, and
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 153 
 
 Franklyn's letters give particulars from time to time 
 of their inroads, and of the measures proposed to dis- 
 perse the danger. He has gone round, for instance, 
 to the chief towns — to Durham, to Sedgefield, to New- 
 castle — in order to appeal to the gentlemen of the 
 bishopric, who are to meet at the castle and discuss the 
 levy of extraordinary musters to meet the urgency of 
 the occasion. Again, there is correspondence about 
 the pestilent Tynedale robbers, who have raided 
 Northumberland, and have even pressed on their 
 audacious freebooting right into the bishopric itself. 
 On one occasion Sir William Eure collected 300 
 of his personal friends to harry the thieves and 
 to track them right up to their lair. And Wolsey 
 had perforce to listen to the recital of what his 
 representatives were doing, and to endorse it or 
 to suggest some better course. It is scarcely won- 
 derful, then, that when Fox died in 1528, Wolsey 
 wrote to the king and suggested transference to Win- 
 chester. The revenues of Durham were princely, but 
 the outgoings were likewise princely, and Wolsey 
 pointed out that in annual value Durham and 
 Winchester were of very similar amount. So the 
 translation took effect, but in the palatinate Wolsey 
 was regretted, for, wealthy man that he was, the pre- 
 late composed the old grievance that always agitated 
 the men of Durham, by paying them for service against 
 the Scots. It was a standing contention that the free- 
 men of the bishopric were not bound to serve beyond 
 Tyne and Tees without pay, and Bek had allowed this, 
 but it was constantly forgotten, so that men were forced 
 to fight outside the limits of the palatinate. Wolsey's 
 concession, after recent musters of array which had 
 ignored the right, was therefore particularly acceptable, 
 and as a letter written from the castle puts it: "The
 
 i54 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 liberties of St. Cuthbert will be kept as they never have 
 been before." 
 
 After Wolsey's translation, the same officers ruled 
 in Durham, but the revenues are said to have been 
 bestowed upon Anne Boleyn. Cuthbert Tunstall was 
 the next bishop. His long connection with the see, 
 his troubles, his Christian name, perhaps, gave him a 
 deserved popularity in the diocese. But, above all, his 
 character, with its calm wisdom so rarely forgotten, 
 made a deep impression all through the north of Eng- 
 land as time went on. He was very little in Durham 
 during the earliest days of his episcopate, but after- 
 wards many things tended to bring him to the north, 
 as we shall see. The religious and political troubles 
 which first absorbed his attention took him away for 
 long intervals, during which he exercised a restraining 
 influence in London, where Parliament was registering 
 the king's imperious will, and altering the whole con- 
 stitution of Church and State. During this earlier 
 period his favour with the king came and went. In 
 1532, when the royal supremacy was under discussion, 
 Tunstall was, from his position and personal ascen- 
 dency, an important man to win over to the views of 
 the king and of Cromwell. He did not acquiesce at 
 once, and messengers were sent to Durham, Auckland, 
 and Stockton, where the bishop, no doubt, had been 
 staying, in order to seize upon any " books bearing on 
 the king's cause." Occasion was taken to make an 
 inventory of the bishop's movables in each place, but 
 the visitors were surprised that they found " so few 
 writings and such a little household stuff." In 1535, 
 when the visitation of the monasteries was in progress, 
 Tunstall was again in residence, and received the visitors, 
 who were able to assure Cromwell that he had been 
 exerting his influence to good purpose in the bishopric
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 155 
 
 in preaching up the royal supremacy, " so that no part 
 of the realm is in better order than his diocese." The 
 visit to Durham made such an impression upon Layton, 
 one of the visitors, that he frankly said, "the country 
 round Durham has thrown off allegiance to the Pope." 
 The dissolution of the smaller monasteries did not 
 affect the bishopric, where the predominance of the 
 great Benedictine priory had successfully kept away 
 all monastic rivals, saving, of course, its dependent cells 
 at Finchale, Jarrow, and Wearmouth, though one or 
 two friaries existed at Hartlepool, and a nunnery at 
 Neasham. But the bishopric men took up warmly the 
 demonstration which goes by the name of the Pil- 
 grimage of Grace. This rising consisted of two separate 
 movements, the one at the end of 1536 and the other 
 in 1537- The earlier outbreak was the more for- 
 midable, and if the rebels had known when to strike 
 they would have overcome the small army sent against 
 them. So far as the bishopric men are concerned, it 
 is difficult to see why they rose with such alacrity to 
 the number of three or four thousand men. The 
 solution is probably found in the fact that the rising 
 was the ventilation of many grievances, and that they 
 protested not merely against the surrender of the 
 smaller houses in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, but 
 against the whole reign of terror under which the 
 country had found itself, and not least against social 
 disorganisation. The Durham men rebelled against 
 their rents, and one prisoner, a servant of Sir Ingram 
 Percy, stated in examination that the commons of the 
 bishopric sent his master a letter in the name of 
 " Captain Poverty." The bishop's manor of Howden 
 in East Yorkshire had been wholly sympathetic, and 
 Constable, the steward of the liberty, took a prominent 
 part in what followed. How the word passed on over
 
 156 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 the Tees northward is not clear. Probably Darcy, 
 whom we have already connected with Durham, com- 
 municated with his friends the famous barons of the 
 palatinate — Neville, Latimer, and Lumley. Darcy 
 was now seventy years of age, and his force unabated. 
 The Durham nobles just named were in the field 
 at once, and passing through the city claimed and 
 obtained the banner of St. Cuthbert from its resting- 
 place in the cathedral. Tunstall was not in the castle, 
 and so the voice that had been exerted so eloquently 
 a year or two before on behalf of the supremacy was 
 silent now. Lumley sent off word to Auckland that 
 it would be wisdom for the bishop to escape, but a 
 noisy rabble anticipated his action, and rushed off to 
 the bishop's house to find that Tunstall had already 
 fled at midnight to Norham. Upon this they set to 
 work, and broke into the palace and robbed his goods, 
 and then followed the main body of the pilgrims into 
 Yorkshire, where parleys and promises brought this 
 stage of the proceedings to an end by Christmas. 
 
 With the beginning of 1537 the rising broke out 
 again under Bigod, a Yorkshireman of influence, who 
 wrote urgently to the men of the bishopric to come 
 forward once more. But whatever sympathy may 
 have been shown towards his appeal, it was short-lived. 
 In March, Norfolk came to Durham Castle to try the 
 rebels who were lying in the jail there. With him 
 came Tunstall, who had spent the last five months in 
 some apprehension at Norham, and did not dare move 
 to Durham until Norfolk arrived. During part of 
 March and April the great assize was held, and 
 examination of witnesses and prisoners was carried 
 out. It was decided that some two dozen should be 
 executed in chains near their dwellings in and around 
 Durham, a sentence which was duly carried out.
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 157 
 
 Amongst the condemned within the city was a priest 
 who had been a ringleader of the Tynedale thieves, 
 and had led his robber band into the bishopric for the 
 purposes of pillage whilst the fighting men were away 
 in Yorkshire. A few months later, when this exhibi- 
 tion of severity might be supposed to have taken due 
 effect, the Lord Chancellor sent down his proclamations 
 of pardon to the men of the north. But men talked 
 notwithstanding, and report of seditious speech in 
 Durham was overheard and carried up to London. 
 
 The assize conducted by Norfolk, in which Tun- 
 stall played a subordinate part, forms a landmark in 
 the history of the castle and of the palatinate. King 
 Henry had designed some limitation of the authority of 
 the bishop, and in this administration of justice we see 
 the plan in operation. A year before the final pardon 
 was pronounced, an act of some importance had come 
 into force, marking the transition from the unrestricted 
 prerogative of old days to the diminished powers of a 
 later age. Under that act the bishop lost his inde- 
 pendent judicial power. Hitherto he had been a 
 virtual king appointing his own judges, but from this 
 point the judges within the palatinate were to be 
 appointed in the king's name. In other words, so far 
 as the judiciary went, the king's authority and not the 
 bishop's stood behind the whole administration of law. 
 One of the grievances of the rebels who came from the 
 bishopric in 1536 was the abolition of Durham liberties, 
 and this loss of the bishop's judicial independence may 
 have been partly in their mind. However, the rebellion 
 gave Henry the excuse for a further blow at the 
 palatinate power by the election of the Council of the 
 North, which had been contemplated as far back as 
 1535. The king appointed this new method of
 
 158 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 governing the four northern counties for the purpose 
 of defence, execution of justice, and finance. A 
 particular duty was to carry out the dissolution of 
 monasteries. It did not, as a matter of fact, supersede 
 any official or court already existing within the castle 
 precincts, but it could do so at any moment by 
 summoning any judicial, financial, or military case to 
 be despatched before it. Its relation to the palatinate 
 machinery may be illustrated by the relation of the 
 Church of Rome to the mediaeval Church of England. 
 There was a perpetual likelihood that any cause of 
 importance would be summoned away to the central 
 authority. One practical effect of the new council was 
 that Tunstall was for some time rarely in Durham. 
 The king made him the first president, partly by way 
 of compensation for any loss of authority. 
 
 From this point until the end of the reign the 
 castle recedes from view. We get in 1539 a glimpse 
 of the agitated discussion that must have been going 
 on all over the country when at dinner in hall the 
 question of monastic surrender is the subject of con- 
 versation, and one present declares that the Prior of 
 Mount Grace will never give up his house. But not 
 only did the prior surrender, but the Prior of Durham 
 signed the deed along with his monks before 1539 ran 
 out. Chantries, hospitals, and cottages within the 
 bishopric also began to fall before the death of Henry. 
 Tunstall did not come to Durham, or utter a word of 
 protest so far as we know, though possibly he may 
 have considered that the substitution of dean and 
 canons for prior and monks would be no bad exchange. 
 Amongst the earliest surrendered chantries was one in 
 Durham Castle, which had no very long history behind 
 it, and was probably discontinued when Walcher's old 
 Norman chapel was given up for its successor.
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 159 
 
 In 1 542 Durham was once more in excitement 
 over a Scottish expedition, and Tunstall, as President 
 of the Council of the North, came down in person to 
 superintend the levies. Again the palatinate officers in 
 Durham were hard at work over the necessary arrange- 
 ments, as when, for instance, special requisition was 
 made in the city and elsewhere for carts to convey stores 
 towards Scotland. The great victory at Solway Moss 
 recalled the glories of Flodden, but the war lingered on 
 for the best part of a year. Tunstall stayed on in the 
 north during this anxious time, and superintended the 
 works which were in progress both at Durham and 
 Auckland, but chiefly at the former. In Durham 
 Castle he built a new chapel, which is an interesting 
 example of debased Perpendicular. He also caused 
 an approach to it to be built, and this is still known as 
 Tunstall's Gallery. Accounts for the year 1541-42, 
 which still survive, show that of a total of ^"334, 4s. 1 id. 
 spent upon building, the greater part went towards the 
 new gallery ; but it is not clear whether the chapel was 
 already built, or whether it came later. Yet one point 
 is beyond dispute, that the oak stalls now in the 
 Tunstall chapel at Durham were not transferred to it 
 until 1547 or 1548. The entry exists under those 
 years: "To Robert Champne, etc., 17 days in taking 
 down of the stalles in the hye chapell [at Auckland] 
 and sortynge of them, and dyghtinge and dressinge 
 of them, and helpinge to convey them to Durrani 
 39s. 8d." No doubt it would be about this time 
 that Tunstall undertook other alterations in the castle. 
 He renewed the sides of the gate-house, and very 
 likely took away the remains of the Norman barbican 
 which stood in front of the gateway itself. He cer- 
 tainly placed the double doors there, which are still in 
 use. He also brought a fresh supply of water into the
 
 160 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 castle. It seems probable that the old Norman well 
 had been tapped in some way, or at all events that the 
 supply was insufficient. The matter had received 
 some attention in the previous century, and was des- 
 tined to prove a matter of anxiety again. 
 
 In the early days of Edward VI., Protector Somer- 
 set sent down to Tunstall requesting him to make 
 search in the palatinate muniments at Durham for 
 precedents as regard the homage of the Scottish 
 kings to the King of England. A contemporary 
 reference indicates other documents stored at Durham 
 House in London. The allusion to archives, then 
 probably intact within the castle precincts, suggests 
 the passing observation that one of the great difficul- 
 ties in dealing with the continuous history of castle, 
 or palatinate, or see, lies in the pillage and destruction 
 of parchments and papers which have taken place from 
 time to time during the last three or four hundred 
 years. The scanty remnants that survive the waste of 
 centuries show how well the records of Durham must 
 once have been kept. We are now chiefly dependent 
 upon State documents for such information as we can 
 glean about persons and events. Unfortunately they 
 fail us as regards the changes that must have come to 
 pass during Edward's short reign, and we are unable 
 to trace Tunstall with any certainty. He was still 
 President of the Council of the North, and the one 
 fact that comes clearly into the light, where everything 
 else is so dark, is the plot which was set on foot to 
 degrade Tunstall from his position in the north of 
 England. A malign influence was at work in all this, 
 and as a later Act of Parliament declares, it " proceeded 
 only upon untrue surmises and false accusations of 
 such as were partly enticed and provoked thereunto 
 by the sinister and corrupt labours of . . . ambitious
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 161 
 
 persons." At the moment the general story ran that 
 the Bishop of Durham was guilty of treasonable prac- 
 tices against the king. The charge must have been very 
 skilfully put together, and the wonder is that it was 
 not indignantly repudiated at once, but the miscreant 
 behind it all knew how to proceed. So it came to pass 
 that on a flimsy accusation Tunstall was imprisoned in 
 the Tower at the end of 1 5 5 1 for having " consented 
 to a conspiracy in the north, for the making a rebel- 
 lion." After ten months he was sent for and examined, 
 and deprived of his see. Those ten months had 
 given the adversary opportunity to mature his designs. 
 Northumberland (for the event points to him as the 
 arch-plotter) now came forward and tried to get 
 Home, the new Dean of Durham, appointed to the 
 bishopric. The duke's letter gives the clue to the 
 whole tangled skein : "And then for the north; if his 
 Majesty make the Dean of Durham Bishop of that See, 
 and appoint him one thousand marks more to that he 
 hath in the Deanery ; and the same houses that he 
 now hath, as well in the city as in the country, will 
 serve him right honourably. So may his Majesty 
 receive both the castle which hath a princely site, and 
 the other stately houses which the bishop hath in this 
 country to his Highness, and the Chancellor's living to 
 be converted to the Deanery, and an honest man placed 
 in it ; the Vice-Chancel lor to be turned into the 
 Chancellor, and the Suffragan who is placed without 
 the King's Majesty's authority, and also hath a great 
 living, not worthy of it, may be removed, being neither 
 preacher, learned, nor honest man ; and the same 
 living with a little more to the value of it, an hundred 
 marks, will serve to the erection of a bishop within 
 Newcastle. . . . Thus may his Majesty place godly 
 ministers in these offices, as aforesaid, and receive to 
 
 L
 
 1 62 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 his crown ^2000 a year of the best lands within 
 the north part of his realm." Here we have an out- 
 line of one side of the proposal in which the king's 
 benefit is made to be the ostensible end of what is 
 suggested. But we know better. Two or three 
 months earlier Northumberland had written to the 
 king with the direct request for the palatinate jurisdic- 
 tion of Durham, and had not gained his petition. He 
 had been appointed Warden-General of the Marches, 
 and in this capacity dreamed the dream that began his 
 undoing. He doubtless saw the possibilities of his 
 new position joined with the ampler powers that might 
 be gained by holding the palatinate jurisdiction. Two 
 men stood in his way ; the one Tunstall and the other 
 the Dean Whitehead. The latter, a man of wide 
 influence, was removed by death, and Tunstall was 
 removed by treachery or something very like it. And 
 the duke's scheme soon went on towards that realisa- 
 tion which it never reached. A bill was introduced 
 into Parliament early in 1553, and was hurried through 
 in a few days. Following the line suggested by the 
 letter quoted above, the see of Durham was divided 
 into two, one at Durham, and the other at Newcastle 
 (a plan constitutionally carried out in 1884), and 
 further the palatinate was dissolved : " Be it therefore 
 enacted," ran the Act, " that the said Bishopric of 
 Durham, together with all ordinary jurisdictions there- 
 unto belonging and appertaining, shall be adjudged 
 from henceforth clearly dissolved, extinguished, and 
 determined." Thus everything was made over to the 
 king, and the sole reservation, so far as the bishopric 
 lands went, was that of " manors, lands, tenements, 
 and other hereditaments of the clear annual value of 
 two thousand marks," and the same for Newcastle to 
 the value of one thousand marks.
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 163 
 
 Durham Castle and all the other see-houses now 
 belonged to Edward VI., for it was expressly provided 
 that all " honours, castles, manors, lands, tenements, 
 etc., shall be adjudged and deemed to be in the King's 
 Majesty's royal and actual possession." But North- 
 umberland had other views, and it seems clear enough 
 in the light of the event that he intended the " castle 
 which hath a princely site, and the other stately 
 houses," to be his own residences, from which he might 
 rule as a Duke of Northumberland indeed over his 
 wardenship of the marches, and, when he could get 
 it transferred, over the palatinate of Durham. Such 
 were his northern plans. In London he seized upon 
 Durham House, and there in May his son, Guilford 
 Dudley, was married to the Lady Jane Grey. In 
 July he manipulated the "Device of the Succession," 
 whereby the crown was diverted to Lady Jane Grey and 
 her consort. It was a stupendous ambition. A Dudley 
 was to rule the north of England from Durham 
 Castle, and the wife of a Dudley was to be Queen of 
 England at Whitehall. 
 
 It would be interesting to know what was said and 
 done in Durham when news came down of what 
 Parliament had enacted, but no hint has come to light 
 of anything that took place in the city until the reign 
 ended. Meanwhile the young king died, England did 
 not rise to place Lady Jane Grey upon the throne, and 
 before the year closed Northumberland had paid the 
 penalty of his guilt. Parliament, too, had assembled, 
 and the Act so lightly passed for the dissolution of 
 the palatinate in March was abrogated in November. 
 So Tunstall was restored to his see, and regained the 
 castle with all other residences and privileges as he 
 held them before his imprisonment two years since. 
 Next year, when the papal jurisdiction was restored,
 
 164 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 and public proclamation of the fact was made in the 
 city and cathedral, the people of Durham showed pretty 
 well what the general sympathy had been in the days 
 when they dared not speak. The following bill has 
 been found in the treasury : — 
 
 Expens. maid the day that the proclamation and 
 bonefyrs war maid for the receyving of the 
 Pope in this realm agayn as folowith : — 
 
 First paid for three bottells of wyn in Doctor 
 
 Watson's chambre ..... xiid. 
 
 Item paid for two gallons of ayle dronken in the 
 
 garth \\d. 
 
 Item paid for walnotts bought .... Wild. 
 
 Item paid for one Tarr barrell bought . . mid. 
 
 Item paid for wyn and ayle expend by the 
 
 servants at Nicholas Turpyn's . . . iiiu. 
 
 Item paid to two mynstralls .... viii^. 
 
 Sum . . . vis. xd. 
 
 Dr. Watson was the new dean of Mary's appointment, 
 so that the bill discloses a carefully- ordered festivity 
 for three classes of guests, who were thus entertained 
 at the expense of dean and chapter. No doubt a 
 similar celebration was enacted on the other side of 
 the cathedral at the expense of the bishop. One little 
 act of grace on Mary's part should be noted, for she 
 made over to the bishop the presentation to the pre- 
 bends in the cathedral, so that he would be able to 
 place near his castle at Durham men who were person- 
 ally acceptable to himself. It had always been possible 
 for a bishop to find himself a stranger in Durham out- 
 side his own residence, owing to the predominance of 
 the prior with his large patronage. 
 
 Probably no one felt more a stranger than the first 
 Elizabethan bishop, who came to Durham in 1561. 
 And this was probably the reason that Pilkington lived
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 165 
 
 chiefly at Auckland, whence he wrote the most pitiful 
 appeals to Cecil. He held a sadly attenuated power. 
 For nearly two years the queen had absorbed the 
 revenues, and when Pilkington was at last consecrated 
 he found that nearly one-half of the bishop's lands 
 were reserved for the queen, and though some were 
 given back, she continued her usurpation of others, 
 and demanded a heavy rent-charge from the bishop. 
 This treatment was naturally derogatory to the bishop's 
 dignity, and in general estimation he was regarded as a 
 shadow of a true Bishop of Durham, and accordingly 
 sent a bitter complaint : " In my judgment this I see, 
 that here needs rather authority and power to be given 
 than taken away. They understand the taking away 
 of the bishop's living whereby his power is the less, 
 and so less is he regarded." In Durham itself Whit- 
 tingham was placed as dean. He had lived in exile 
 at Geneva during Mary's reign, and married a French 
 Huguenot lady of some distinction called Catharine 
 Jacquemayne. She was in thorough sympathy with 
 the Calvinistic doctrines they had both learnt at 
 Geneva, and in Durham the dean and his wife strove 
 to effect a reformation, as they understood it, to the 
 great disturbance of society in the city. 
 
 The Elizabethan order of things was endured and 
 not accepted in Durham. Pilkington had pointed out 
 that " the worshipful of the shire " were in opposition 
 to him, and they lost no opportunity of showing their 
 disdain for a prelate who used none of the pomp to 
 which the earls palatine had accustomed the district. 
 We may imagine the scorn and ridicule that were 
 heaped upon the new regime, and how dislike smouldered 
 whilst men hoped for some change to take place. At 
 last, in 1569, the ill-disguised opposition of the whole 
 palatinate was suddenly revealed when the " Rising of
 
 1 66 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 the Earls " took place. For the second time within a 
 generation the bishopric sprang into rebellion, and, as 
 one who took part in it said, this proved to be " the 
 greatest conspiracy in this realm these hundred years." 
 The active leaders were the Earl of Northumberland 
 (son of the Percy attainted after the Pilgrimage of 
 Grace) and the Earl of Westmoreland. Both these 
 noblemen were popular in the north, and Westmore- 
 land was a large landowner in the county. But, in 
 fact, nearly all the best-known gentlemen joined the 
 enterprise. The idea was first sketched out in Sep- 
 tember at a country-house party near York, when for 
 a whole week Northumberland, Westmoreland, and 
 all the principal north-country magnates enjoyed the 
 hospitality of the Lord President. Plans were laid, 
 and the original design was to rise at the beginning of 
 next year. But there were too many in the plot, and 
 people began to talk, and then the bishop heard of it. 
 He very prudently went away to London, and in his 
 absence events were precipitated. Under the light 
 of the October moon at Brancepeth the retainers of 
 Lord Westmoreland were diligently drilling in the 
 park. By degrees their preparations matured, and on 
 the 14th, about four o'clock in the afternoon, there 
 rode into Durham from Brancepeth Castle a troop of 
 sixty horsemen in full armour. There is no hint of 
 opposition. Framwellgate Bridge was opened to them, 
 and they clattered up the steep ascent to the great 
 north gate of the castle. For all we know, the porter 
 raised the heavy gate, and the soldiers passed by 
 the houses of chancellor, vice-chancellor, seneschal, 
 constable of the castle, and all the other officers of 
 the palatinate without check and without protest. 
 Indeed the general sympathy of all in authority seems 
 to have been assured. What the Puritan dean and
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 167 
 
 his prebendaries said we do not know. At all events, 
 they were powerless to resist. The horsemen entered 
 the cathedral, took the Bible and Prayer-book, and 
 tore them in pieces, pulling down the communion 
 table in the nave. Then a mass meeting of citizens 
 was held, probably on the Palace Green outside the 
 castle, and it was announced that the restoration of 
 the old religion had " the queen's " full approbation. 
 But they meant Mary Queen of Scots, whom they 
 designed to marry to Norfolk, and to place upon the 
 throne of Elizabeth. A guard of the townspeople 
 was set, which suggests that some of the castle officers 
 were loyal still ; and then, after the exciting events of 
 the afternoon, the earls and their horsemen rode back 
 to Brancepeth. 
 
 The earls had now established " the old and 
 Catholic faith," as they phrased it, in the capital of 
 the palatinate. They at once marched south to release 
 Mary, and so to make her queen. We need not 
 follow them as they marched on, entering the churches 
 and destroying Prayer-books and tables, or tell again 
 the story of their hasty retreat from Yorkshire into 
 the bishopric ; but a word may be said of one final 
 scene in that extraordinary ten days before the troops 
 of Lord Sussex swept the rebels out of Durham into 
 Northumberland. On St. Andrew's Day, the fifteenth 
 anniversary of the great reconciliation of 1554, a solemn 
 mass was sung in the cathedral in the presence of the 
 Earl of Northumberland, and on Advent Sunday all 
 the citizens were summoned to be present at a great 
 service of absolution. The week that followed saw 
 processions and services in the old style, while in 
 all the churches the broken stone altars were put 
 back. Two workmen who were reluctant to help 
 were marched across to the castle gaol and committed
 
 1 68 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 to custody. But the triumph of the earls was brief. 
 It is probable that when they fell back on the pala- 
 tinate and seized the port of Hartlepool they expected 
 ships and troops from Alva, and that they intended to 
 make the bishopric a stronghold, from which they 
 might win the rest of England to the old religion. 
 They miscalculated, and the rebellion collapsed at 
 the approach of the army led by Sussex. But the 
 palatinate bore the brand of the rising for many 
 a long day. Rigorous ecclesiastical proceedings were 
 taken, and punishment inflicted upon the citizens 
 who had taken part in the rising. In some cases 
 the extreme penalty was paid, and thirty of the 
 townspeople were "appointed to die," though it seems 
 doubtful whether all of these were executed. But the 
 rebellion gave the queen excuse for a further blow at 
 the palatinate power when she claimed for the crown 
 the forfeited estate of the Nevilles and others who had 
 been concerned. Until this time all such forfeited 
 lands had been the right of the bishop, but Elizabeth 
 secured the passing of an Act of Attainder which gave 
 her the lands and goods of the fifty-eight persons con- 
 cerned, an accession of wealth which was considerable. 
 Then some famous barons of the palatinate, whose 
 ancestors had so often done homage to the mediaeval 
 bishops in the castle hall, disappeared from the county. 
 But the " milk of the dun cow," as a late legend 
 calls the Durham revenues, was so palatable to Queen 
 Elizabeth that she tried to obtain more of it. Under 
 Bishop Barnes further estates were demised to the 
 queen at rents which were probably low, and in some 
 cases ludicrously so. Meanwhile Pilkington had let 
 the see-houses fall into decay, and although no speci- 
 fication of particulars can be found, it is very likely 
 that Durham Castle is included in the condemnation.
 
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 DURHAM CASTLE 169 
 
 At all events Barnes proceeded against Pilkington's 
 executors for dilapidations. As for himself, this bishop 
 did nothing to revive the dimmed glories of the pala- 
 tinate. He undertook " some charges at the castle of 
 Durham," but we are in ignorance as to their nature. 
 Possibly they refer to mere repairs, and possibly to 
 preparations for his own wedding, which took place 
 within the castle chapel, where he was married to 
 a Frenchwoman, who is called in the register Jane 
 Dillycot (Delacourt). But by this time the castle, 
 which seems to have no other association with Barnes, 
 must have been reduced to a mere set of offices — in 
 part for the work of chancellor, sheriff, and escheator, 
 in part for the examination of persons arraigned 
 before the ecclesiastical court over which the bishop's 
 brother presided. Certainly the gaol was not unused, 
 and Durham Castle in Elizabeth's reign must have 
 been almost synonymous with prison to ordinary 
 persons. The last twenty years of the sixteenth 
 century brought their own excitements. In the 
 Armada year the Earl of Huntingdon sends a receipt 
 for 200 corslets and 200 pikes supplied to the in- 
 habitants of Durham, possibly to arm a bishopric 
 band in case of a Spanish descent. But the chief 
 foreign invasion of that period was the more peaceful 
 incursion of Jesuits and seminary priests, who came to 
 the bishopric in great numbers. Ecclesiastical com- 
 missioners and others in authority were urged again 
 and again to hunt them down. And in this way the 
 dungeons in the castle began to fill not with debtors 
 only, like the poor man, aged a hundred years, who 
 petitions for release on one occasion, but with seculars 
 from Douai, and Jesuits from Louvain, who landed 
 at some northern port and preached through the 
 diocese until they were chased and caught and
 
 170 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 conveyed to Durham. Puritans, too, came under the 
 notice of the " searchers," who were placed as spies 
 in different places. Thus Sanderson, a well-known 
 delator, laid information against a Newcastle preacher 
 for indiscreet exposition, and " meeting him in Dur- 
 ham in my Lord's great chamber, took him by the 
 bosom, and gave him very evil speeches, saying he 
 would report him to the Council." It cannot, indeed, 
 be said that the close of Elizabeth's reign was an 
 attractive time with all this baiting of priest and 
 Puritan, and an ominous element in the situation, 
 so far as the north went, was the recurrence of Border 
 troubles. In 1595 a letter written by the Secretary 
 of the Council of the North mentions that " the people 
 daily murdered by the Scots (and no revenge nor 
 restitution made) are utterly dejected in spirit and 
 in courage . . . roads, incursions, and frays [are] more 
 common into the Bishopric than heretofore on the 
 Border." Three years later, too, the keeper of Dur- 
 ham Gaol, being under examination, describes the 
 robberies perpetrated in the bishopric by the Scots. 
 
 With the advent of the House of Stuart in 1603 
 we reach the centenary of Margaret's visit to the castle. 
 Another procession is approaching Durham, and this 
 time from the north, not, as in 1503, from the south. 
 Castle, cathedral, and city have changed greatly in the 
 hundred years. The power of the bishop has waned, 
 the city is governed by a mayor, the castle has lost 
 much of its prestige. The great-grandson of Margaret 
 is passing to what he playfully termed the " land of 
 promise," and the dream of Bek, which Fox dreamed 
 again, is about to reach its fulfilment. How different 
 the scene ! No mitred prior, no monks in copes, no 
 mediaeval guilds greet King James. But let us hear 
 the chronicler. " When he came near, the magistrates
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 171 
 
 of the city met him, and behaving themselves as others 
 before them, it was by his Highness as thankfully 
 accepted. And passing through the gates whence his 
 Excellence entered the market-place, there was an 
 excellent oration made unto him, containing in effect 
 the universal joy conceived by his subjects at his 
 approach, being of power to divert from them so great 
 a sorrow as had lately possessed them all. The oration 
 ended, he passed towards the bishop's house, where he 
 was royally received, the bishop attending his Majesty 
 with an hundred gentlemen in tawny liveries. Of all 
 his entertainment in particular at the bishop's, his 
 merry and well-seasoned jests, as well there as in other 
 parts of his journey, all his words being full of weight, 
 and his jests filled with the salt of wit, yet so facetious 
 and pleasant, as they were no less gracious and worthy 
 regard than the words of so royal a Majesty, it is 
 bootless to repeat them, they are so well known." 
 Unfortunately no fuller record has come down to us, 
 though it would be interesting to know some of the 
 sayings and doings of " the wisest fool in Christen- 
 dom ' during the entertainment served to him by 
 Bishop Matthew in the large hall that night. 
 
 King James did not forget the castle. About nine 
 years later than the visit just recorded he was much 
 perplexed by an attachment which sprang up between 
 his cousin, Arabella Stuart, and William Seymour. No 
 match could have been less acceptable to the monarch, 
 for the union of these two noble families would inevi- 
 tably tend to strengthen the claims which both the 
 young people possessed of a distinct title to the 
 crown. The marriage was privately celebrated, and 
 when James heard of it he put Seymour into the 
 Tower and placed Arabella under surveillance, which 
 was not strict enough to prevent secret correspondence
 
 172 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 with her husband. Thinking nothing of the misery 
 he was inflicting, James now determined to place 
 Arabella beyond all possible reach of Seymour, and 
 for this purpose put himself into communication with 
 Bishop James of Durham. It was agreed between 
 them that Arabella should be taken to Durham Castle, 
 and that the bishop should escort her thither with a 
 sufficient retinue. The negotiations took some time, 
 and in the interval, we may suppose, rooms would be 
 prepared for the reception of the fair prisoner in the 
 castle. It is not impossible that seventeenth-century 
 changes in the rooms over the Norman chapel which 
 were carried out may have been conceived in readiness 
 for the coming of Arabella. But, be that as it may, 
 she never arrived in Durham. When the bishop was 
 ready to start, the luckless prisoner was far from well, 
 and it was with the greatest difficulty that she reached 
 Highgate, where she collapsed. Six days later they 
 succeeded in getting her a few miles farther on, but at 
 Barnet she was deemed too ill to be moved, though 
 James said that if he was King of England to Durham 
 she should go sooner or later. Three months' respite 
 were granted her, whilst the bishop continued his 
 journey to Durham alone, and Arabella used well the 
 time of her convalescence. A gentleman named Mark- 
 ham managed things for her, and by his arrangement 
 she slipped away in man's attire, intending to meet 
 her husband and reach the Continent. But the plan 
 unfortunately miscarried, for Arabella was captured 
 and taken to the Tower, where she lost her reason, and 
 died eventually after four years' imprisonment. Mean- 
 while the bishop, after his considerable anxiety, was not 
 a little disconcerted by the news that came to him. 
 He took it all so much to heart that he fell ill, and 
 when at last fairly convalescent wrote to Salisbury to
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 173 
 
 say that he intended to visit Bath " to recover from his 
 attendance on Lady Arabella." 
 
 King James came again to Durham a year or two 
 after his cousin's death in the Tower. He was now 
 pursuing his fateful journey to Scotland, where he was 
 destined to foster the growth of that religious ill-will 
 which came to maturity twenty years later. There had 
 been some doubt as to whether he would come over 
 from Auckland, where he was staying with the bishop. 
 But on Good Friday a royal messenger rode into the 
 city and informed the mayor that his Majesty would 
 make a state entry next day. A good deal of un- 
 recorded history lies behind the pageant which was 
 then enacted, and it will be enough to say that bishop 
 and citizens were on bad terms, which the coming of 
 the king did not tend to improve. There had been 
 quarrels over the city charter, the people pleading 
 royal sanction, and the bishop claiming his sole right. 
 The king seems to have sided with the citizens, and to 
 have shown them almost undue honour. He passed 
 on, however, to cathedral and castle, where he took 
 occasion to rate the bishop soundly. The persistent 
 tradition in Durham, where the king's anger is still 
 recorded, ascribes it to the quality of the castle beer, 
 which was not to his liking ! It is far more probable 
 that King James indulged his love for lecturing his 
 subjects, and rated the bishop for his behaviour to the 
 people of Durham. At all events, the poor man was 
 so much exercised by the scolding he received that 
 " he retired to Auckland and died of a violent fit of 
 stone and strangury, brought on by perfect vexation." 
 When he was buried, some three weeks after his enter- 
 tainment of the king in the castle, there were actual 
 riots in the city, and these were only quieted when 
 report went round as to the successor whom the king
 
 174 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 had appointed. A possible link between the visit of 
 King James to the castle and our own days may be 
 found in the handsome mantelpiece which was restored 
 some years ago to one of the tapestried chambers. It 
 has excellent carving, and bears the arms of King 
 James and Bishop James. There are smaller achieve- 
 ments representing the coats of contemporary palatine 
 officials. 
 
 Amongst the retinue of the king at Durham 
 during the visit first recorded was Richard Neile, 
 Bishop of Lincoln, one of the foremost prelates of the 
 time. He had been in evidence during the four days 
 spent at the castle, and so, perhaps, became known to 
 the citizens, who were pleased with his elevation. He 
 was connected with the new Arminian school of 
 thought then rising into prominence, and was destined 
 to begin an ecclesiastical revolution in Durham, which 
 made the city the talk of the religious world for the 
 next generation. That is a story which need not be 
 told here ; but what does concern us is the magnificent 
 taste which was characteristic of Neile, and was dis- 
 played almost at once when he entered upon the see of 
 Durham. Our informant is Heylyn, who in his life 
 of Laud tells us that when the bishop arrived he dis- 
 covered that the palaces were in great decay, and set 
 about restoring them. No doubt they needed it, for 
 there had been little enough money to spare, and no 
 great restorer since Tunstall. Barnes only patched, 
 and the three bishops who followed left no record for 
 repairs, whilst James had the reputation of being close- 
 fisted. Neile did a great deal at Durham, where he 
 laid out a considerable sum of money, though we have 
 no particulars. All we certainly know is that he cut 
 short the great hall, and turned the northern end of it 
 into a suite of rooms to which access was gained from
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 175 
 
 a turret built by Tunstall and destroyed in 1665. 
 This was poor taste according to modern ideas, but 
 Neile probably sacrificed the dignity of a hall which 
 was perhaps too large for his own use in order to 
 increase the accommodation of the castle for purposes 
 of entertaining guests. The keep was probably unin- 
 habitable, and the available number of rooms cannot 
 have been large. He was an excellent host, and he no 
 doubt desired to spread his influence in the north as he 
 did in the south, by large hospitality. In London he 
 made much of Durham House, where Laud and others 
 were often with him, and laid the schemes which were 
 to effect such a change in the Church of England. No 
 doubt he desired to draw men round him at Durham 
 in the same way, and although he was bishop for only 
 ten years before his translation to York, he changed 
 the complexion of the whole chapter in that short 
 time. This great transformation, with the ceremonies 
 and innovations that went with it, attracted notice in 
 Parliament, and led to a bitter strife, after Neile left, 
 between Peter Smart, a prebendary, and the rest of the 
 chapter. All England may be said to have rung with 
 the clamour that was raised. It had not subsided when, 
 in 1633, Charles I. paid a visit to Durham in connec- 
 tion with his momentous progress to Scotland. On 
 this occasion great preparations were made, roads 
 mended, parish collections levied, and at last the 
 king came to the castle attended by the bishop. 
 Charles had already seen Durham as a boy, when he 
 had stayed with Bishop Matthew at Auckland. He 
 was to see it more than once in later life. Of the 
 visit in 1633 a careful record was made by John Cosin, 
 who was then a prebendary, and was made king's 
 chaplain during the royal stay at the castle. Morton 
 gave up the castle entirely to the use of the king, and
 
 176 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 retired to the deanery, where he gave a dinner in 
 Charles's honour. The real master of the ceremonies 
 was Laud, at the moment Bishop of London, who 
 walked beside the king when he went to the cathedral, 
 and regulated all the details of the function. It is 
 not hard to discover that a good deal of significance 
 was connected with the king's presence in castle and 
 cathedral. It was evidently intended to serve as a 
 general endorsement of the changes which had taken 
 place in service and in personnel. Charles was particu- 
 larly careful to speak with warm approbation of the 
 late Bishop Neile, now archbishop of the province, 
 and to commend all he had done for the castle as room 
 after room was visited and traces of Neile's work were 
 pointed out. Of Durham and its castle at this time 
 there is a quaint account in the well-known " Relation 
 of a short Survey of 26 Counties, by a Captain, a Lieu- 
 tenant, and an Ancient . . . begun on 11th August 
 1634." It is a document as useful as it is interesting, 
 but the actual information it gives about Durham is 
 meagre, though the description of the cathedral and 
 its surroundings has some noteworthy touches. " The 
 minster, the bishop's castle, and the heart of the city 
 stand on an hill. She is environed and nigh girt 
 round by the river Wear. . . . There it stands the 
 bishop's prince-like castle, built by William the Con- 
 queror, with his legal courts of judicature, exchequer, 
 chancery, court of pleas, etc., etc., the large brave 
 deanery with the prebends', chancellor's, and church- 
 men's houses and buildings." The three soldiers had 
 little idea that day how soon the sumptuousness of the 
 residences would be impaired ! 
 
 Shadows soon began to fall. In 1635 the bishop 
 had correspondence with the authorities, and made 
 a report to the council concerning train-bands, arms,
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 177 
 
 powder, beacons, and other military matters. A month 
 or two before this report was sent from Durham Castle, 
 Phineas Pette came northwards, and after lodging at 
 the post-house in Durham with homely entertainment, 
 he "attended the Bishop of Durham with his com- 
 missions and instructions, whom he found wonderfully 
 ready to assist him." Pette was at the time engaged 
 in the reconstitution of the navy, which Charles was 
 attempting. Next year the plague fell upon the city 
 with terrible severity. Meantime in Scotland resent- 
 ment was growing, and from the end of 1637 Scots 
 flocked to sign the Covenant, and soon took up arms. 
 After unwilling hesitation Charles came north in 1639, 
 and a generation of bishopric men unused to war were 
 rallied to take part in the Bishop's War. The king 
 came to the castle at the end of April, and Morton 
 came over to entertain him. A council of war was 
 held in the hall, and plans were discussed ; but on this 
 occasion there was to be no fighting, for the pacifica- 
 tion of Berwick patched up a peace. Nor was there 
 much fighting a year later, when the uneasy peace was 
 broken, and the Scots crossed the Tweed. The English 
 intention of carrying the war into Scotland was soon 
 restricted by the pressure of events, for it was now 
 seen that defence was all that remained. Durham was 
 a city of stirs as troops hurried through and quarters 
 were requisitioned. It was so full that, as the assize 
 time drew near, Bishop Morton was in some alarm 
 about finding suitable lodging and provision for the 
 judges. Twenty troops of horse were quartered 
 within three miles of the city. At last the Scottish 
 plan of invasion was complete, and what some had 
 thought to be a mere " northern crake " proved to be 
 a crusade. The ill-disciplined army of Conway offered 
 no effective opposition to Leslie at the ford of New- 
 
 M
 
 178 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 burn. The English troops broke and ran. Appre- 
 hension in Durham was quickened to consternation, 
 when that night the fleetest of the horse dashed over 
 Framwellgate Bridge into the city. The cavalry 
 poured in during the next few hours, and the foot 
 followed when the day dawned. There was no thought 
 now of holding the city, though the magazine in the 
 castle had been replenished, for it had been frankly 
 recognised at the outset that the old fortress could not 
 withstand the growing precision of artillery. It was 
 therefore abandoned, but indeed it was already a de- 
 serted city. A general exodus of the chief inhabitants 
 began as soon as the result of Newburn was known. 
 The aged bishop went out from the castle to which he 
 was never destined to return, and found his way to 
 Stockton. The dean and the prebendaries had left 
 the college, expecting no mercy from covenanting Scots. 
 The Dean Balcanquhal, a renegade Scotsman, spurred 
 so fast to the south, that the proverb, " Run away, Dr. 
 Bokonky," was long afterwards applied by grammar- 
 school boys to any breathless fugitive. " As for the 
 city of Durham," says an eye-witness, " it became 
 a most depopulated place. Not one shop for four 
 days after the fight open ; not one house in ten that 
 had either man, woman, or child in it ; not one bit of 
 bread to be got for money, for the king's army had 
 eaten and drunk all in their march into Yorkshire. 
 The country people durst not come to market, which 
 made that city in a sad condition for want of food." 
 As for the castle itself, it seems to have been occupied 
 at once by Leslie, the Scottish general, and to have been 
 held by him until the Scots evacuated England in 1641. 
 The city was practically a military depot of the Scots 
 during the same period. 
 
 A darkness now gathers round the castle, which it
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 179 
 
 is very difficult to penetrate. The Scots left in 1641, 
 and Durham was exultant, but the Long Parliament 
 frowned down its royalism, until in 1644 the Scots 
 came back, seized the city, and held the palatinate for 
 three years after the Battle of Marston Moor. At 
 the end of that time Charles passed through Durham 
 again, but this time as a prisoner on his way to 
 Holmby House, and there is no record of any stay 
 in the city. During these troubled days the cathedral 
 was silent, and the offices of the palatinate were in 
 a state of chaos, sometimes filled in the regular way, 
 sometimes superseded by commissioners appointed by 
 Parliament, or by committees under the same authority. 
 The episcopal funds were seized, and parcels of the 
 lands were sold. Royalist gentry fretted beneath the 
 tyranny, and were bold to meet and encourage one 
 another when they could, but the king's execution cast 
 them into deep dejection, from which they did not 
 recover until the religious tyranny of the Protectorate 
 led to the Royalist risings of 1655. Within a few 
 months of the death of Charles, and under an Act 
 legalising the sale of the bishops' estates, the site and 
 buildings of the castle were sold to Thomas Andrews, 
 the day after his appointment as Lord Mayor of 
 London. Soon after this an Act was passed to knight 
 him, but it does not appear that he came to Durham 
 or that he made use of the buildings. Indeed our 
 next notice seems to suggest that the castle was passed 
 on by him to some other owner. At all events, in 
 1650 it is stated to have belonged to "Mistress 
 Blakiston." Her tenure of it is connected with one 
 of the most distressing episodes in Durham history. 
 After the Battle of Dunbar in 1650 some 9000 
 prisoners were marched into England. Their fate is 
 described with some detail by Sir Arthur Haselrig, who
 
 180 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 had been operating with Cromwell in the north and 
 recently bought the Auckland Castle estate. The 
 prisoners not otherwise disposed of were marched to 
 Durham, where the empty cathedral church seemed to 
 offer a barracks for their accommodation. About 3000 
 were counted in at the north door, but dysentery had 
 already broken out amongst them. " I sent many 
 officers," says the writer, " to look to them, and 
 appointed those were sick should be removed out the 
 cathedral church into the castle, which belongs to 
 Mistress Blakiston, and provided cooks, and they had 
 pottage made with oatmeal, beef, and cabbages, a full 
 quart at a meal for every prisoner. ... In the castle 
 they had very good mutton broth, and sometimes veal 
 broth, and beef and mutton boiled together, and old 
 women appointed to look to them in the several rooms. 
 There was also a physician to let them blood, and 
 dressed such as were wounded, and gave the sick 
 physic." The letter was written on the last day of 
 October, about eight weeks after Dunbar, and at the 
 moment 500 were sick in the castle, 600 were alive in 
 the cathedral, and 1600 were dead, whilst the remain- 
 ing 300 were partly officers sent away to Newcastle, 
 and partly soldiers for whom Haselrig was able to find 
 suitable employment. 
 
 It is pleasant to turn to a better use which was now 
 proposed for the castle and the other buildings. A 
 talk of establishing a university in connection with the 
 cathedral had led to definite plans in the reign of 
 Henry VIII., but they fell through. A scheme for 
 a very elaborate college at Ripon had been drawn up 
 in the reign of Elizabeth, but at length came to nothing 
 despite the large amount of time and trouble expended 
 upon it. Copies of this scheme were available, and it 
 no doubt helped to direct the ideas of those who pro-
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 181 
 
 moted the formation of Durham College. It cannot 
 fail to occur to those who read the petition of " mayor 
 and citizens of Durham and gentlemen of the northern 
 counties," that not the least stimulating circumstance 
 in drawing up the address was the desire to see the 
 stately buildings of Durham rescued from degradation 
 and probable ruin. It was intended to make the castle 
 an integral part of the college : cathedral and prebendal 
 houses being likewise part of the original endowment. 
 Revenues accruing from certain manors, and from all 
 the dean and chapter livings, were bestowed upon the 
 college, and an imposing professoriate was appointed. 
 Such was the material side of the establishment after 
 negotiations protracted over six or seven years. There 
 is a tradition that the scheme was actually floated, that 
 it "thrived apace" for two years, and then fell to pieces 
 at the Restoration. It would be interesting, if true, 
 to think of undergraduates lodged in the castle nearly 
 two hundred years before the University of Durham 
 was founded, but the confident assertion of Hutchinson, 
 the Durham historian, lacks proof. Indeed the proba- 
 bilities are that the castle was left to go to rack and 
 ruin for the present. The proposed college incurred 
 the unmitigated scorn of Fox the Quaker, who passed 
 through Durham in 1657. He "came to Durham," 
 he tells us in his Journal, " where was a man come down 
 from London to set up a college to make ministers 
 of Christ as they said. I went with some others to 
 reason with this man, and so let him see that to teach 
 men Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, and the Seven Arts, 
 which was all but the teachings of the natural man, was 
 not the way to make them ministers of Christ. . . . 
 When we had thus discoursed with the man he became 
 very loving and tender, and after he had considered 
 of it he never set up his college." It can scarcely be
 
 1 82 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 thought that the criticism of Fox caused the collapse 
 of Durham College. The downfall of the plan was 
 due to the opposition of Oxford and Cambridge, both 
 universities presenting petitions to Parliament which 
 proved fatal to the design. 
 
 At the Restoration the old order was brought back 
 with wonderful ease. The Presbyterian Church had 
 been organised in the county with more detail than in 
 most other parts of England, and under the influence 
 of the Sunderland Lilburnes a bitter hatred of the 
 prostrate Church of England was inspired. All this 
 was outwardly suppressed in the Royalist triumph that 
 followed. Charles during the vacancy of the see elected 
 to all the vacant palatinate offices, and the old machinery 
 which had been inactive for so many years was set going 
 again. A waterspout bearing the arms of the see with- 
 out those of any bishop, suggests that necessary repairs 
 in the castle were commenced at once before the new 
 bishop entered the diocese. Cosin, who as prebendary 
 fled at the approach of the Scots in 1 640, was appointed 
 to be bishop. No better choice could have been made, 
 for few knew Durham better or loved it more than the 
 new prelate, who had learned much in many ways during 
 the years of exile. 
 
 All the see lands and houses were at once resumed 
 without payment or acknowledgment, and the modern 
 apologist of the Church of England finds it difficult to 
 get over a transaction which ignored the vast sums 
 of money that Haselrig, for instance, had paid for 
 what Parliament alienated. The manor of Auckland 
 cost the intruder more than £6000, and the manor 
 of Wolsingham nearly ^7000. So far as the castle 
 is concerned, Cosin was the most effective and wise of 
 all restorers, and the buildings owe very much to his 
 knowledge of the place, his good taste, and his personal
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 183 
 
 care. We are able to follow the details of his alterations 
 from year to year, since the papers in which everything 
 is specified with scrupulous care were collected by 
 Mr. Mickleton, the Durham antiquary. There must 
 have been a stupendous list of necessary repairs over 
 and above the new buildings which were erected, and 
 Durham must have re-echoed with hammer and axe for 
 many years. An earlier note which has been preserved 
 shows that even before Bishop Morton's time (1632), 
 " dilapidations committed and sustained by Bishop 
 Howson only " were considerable, including " the 
 gatehouse ready to fall." A cryptic allusion in Cosin's 
 own writing shows that the decays of the Civil War 
 period were likewise extensive, for he speaks of " the 
 rebuilding of Durham Castle, which the Scots spoiled 
 and ruined with gunpowder." The exact reference of 
 the " gunpowder " has never been satisfactorily ex- 
 plained. A letter of Sancroft speaks of his rebuilding 
 his prebendal house, " which was demolished during the 
 late rebellion." A list of expenses incurred by the 
 prebendaries shows that the restoration of other houses 
 was even more extensive, so that the general conclusion 
 of rebuilding and repairing on a very large scale seems 
 to be established. Cosin was happy in being able to 
 obtain excellent workmen in Durham, and the boast 
 that until recent days the castle was made in Durham 
 was worthily maintained. His correspondence with 
 Miles Stapleton his secretary, Thomas Arden his 
 steward, and others, relating to the work in progress, 
 enables us to follow the various stages — the porch or 
 " frontispiece " leading into the hall, the flagging for 
 the hall floor, the cant buttresses supporting the hall, 
 the wainscot of the gallery, the new water-supply, the 
 containing wall of the court, the new wall leading to 
 the exchequer, the terraces cut in the keep mound, the
 
 1 84 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 refurnishing of the chapel that Tunstall built. All 
 these are minutely regulated. But the chief glory of 
 Cosin's work was the great oak staircase which was built 
 in the north-western angle of the courtyard. It probably 
 took the place of a turret built by Tunstall. The 
 bishop gave careful directions as to its construction, 
 fearful lest its size might spoil the symmetry of the 
 quadrangle. This danger was not obviated, but the 
 magnificence of the staircase within as it rises tier 
 above tier to the summit compensates for any external 
 loss. 
 
 Cosin never got the real pleasure out of his restored 
 castle which he so well merited. He was constantly 
 absent in London, and when he came to the north 
 was rarely very long in Durham. A contest with 
 the citizens over parliamentary representation greatly 
 diminished the popularity he had won when he first 
 came back as bishop, and from that time he rather 
 avoided the city. Yet when he came, says Durham 
 tradition, he was liberal enough in his hospitality, and 
 even in his absence allowed the castle to be used by his 
 officers for important travellers. In this way the 
 Scottish commissioner passing through with a large 
 retinue in 1670 was splendidly entertained. His 
 successor, Bishop Crewe, profited by the lavish outlay 
 of Cosin. Careful management of the episcopal estates 
 was improving them greatly, and a number of contri- 
 butory causes helped to swell the revenue. Crewe 
 was therefore the richest bishop since the Reformation, 
 and when in 1697 he succeeded to his father's barony, 
 his wealth was very considerable. He extended Tun- 
 stall's chapel, and adapted some of the older rooms in 
 the castle. Thus in 1677 Monmouth, not yet a rebel, 
 came to Durham. Two years later the Duke and 
 Duchess of York came on a visit, at the very time that
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 185 
 
 the " Exclusion " agitation was commencing, and 
 Shaftesbury was bringing in his bill. They were 
 received by the bishop with all possible honour, and 
 this fact, combined with later friendship and corre- 
 spondence, brought Crewe into at least temporary 
 unpopularity, which was stimulated by his sympathy 
 rather later with the Declaration of Indulgence. 
 However, a memorial of the royal visit is still pre- 
 served in the castle, where a portrait of James II. by 
 Kneller, and another of Mary of Modena by Lely, 
 hang in a suite of rooms which Crewe adapted, if he 
 did not build them. Close by them is a portrait of 
 Judge Jeffreys, who went the Northern Circuit (accord- 
 ing to the old arrangement) in 1685, an d visited 
 Durham. And, once more, in the neighbourhood of 
 these pictures hangs a curious representation of the 
 castle as it was in Crewe's time, showing the gateway 
 before Wyatt's restoration of it, and the Norman 
 windows on the south side of the building before 
 Trevor altered their shape and plated over the weather- 
 beaten stones with eighteenth-century ashler. In the 
 courtyard stands the bishop's coach drawn by six black 
 horses, whilst the trumpeter waits near to give signal 
 of departure. 
 
 An amusing story has been preserved in connection 
 with Crewe, and a scene which took place at the door- 
 way of the castle just mentioned. The bishop's action 
 over the Declaration of Indulgence was warmly re- 
 sented, and when he came down to Durham in 1687 
 with the express purpose of using personal influence to 
 promote the reading of the Declaration, he summoned 
 Dr. Grey and Dr. Morton to come and confer with 
 him at the castle. They were both prebendaries 
 holding important benefices, and Dr. Grey was a 
 highly important personage owing to family con-
 
 1 86 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 nection and character. What manner of leave-taking 
 followed the interview may be best described from a 
 contemporary document : " He (Bishop Crewe) pressed 
 Dr. Grey (the great ornament of the Church of Dur- 
 ham), and Dr. Morton, to read King James's declara- 
 tion for a dispensing power in their parish churches, 
 which they declining and arguing against it he angrily 
 told Dr. Grey his age made him doat : he had forgot 
 his learning. The good old doctor briskly replied 
 he had forgot more learning than his lordship ever 
 had. ' Well ' (said the bishop), ' I'll forgive and rever- 
 ence you, but cannot pardon that blockhead Morton, 
 whom I raised from nothing." They thereupon took 
 their leave of the bishop, who with great civility 
 waited upon them towards the gate, and the porter 
 opening the wicket or postern only the bishop said, 
 ' Sirrah, why don't you open the great gates ? ' ' No ' 
 (says the Reverend Dr. Grey), ' my lord, we'll leave 
 the broad way to your lordship, the strait way will 
 serve us ! 
 
 Crewe kept his episcopal jubilee in 1720, and 
 died next year. A replica of a familiar portrait of the 
 bishop, taken probably soon after he came in for the 
 Crewe title, hangs in the dining-room, now the college 
 common room. His arms impaled with those of the 
 see are to be seen on two or three waterspouts, and 
 also in the castle chapel. After his long association 
 with the buildings they fell into comparative neglect 
 in Talbot's time (1721-30). This bishop was un- 
 fortunate enough to raise a tempest of ill-feeling 
 against him before he entered the diocese. It was 
 thought that he was trying to arrange leases and 
 renewals in favour of his own family, so that the 
 resentment of all sorts and conditions of men was 
 stirred in a way which finds its most exact parallel
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 187 
 
 in the storm which broke over Bishop Villiers a century- 
 later when he appointed his son-in-law, Mr. Cheese, to 
 the vacant rectory of Whitburn. Talbot consequently 
 deserted Durham in favour of Auckland Castle. Here 
 he gathered round him a band of young men of talent 
 and distinction whom he promoted to important 
 benefices. Butler, Rundle, Seeker, Benson were thus 
 brought into the diocese, and a tradition of personal 
 distinction was attached to the prebends in the cathe- 
 dral, which he filled by appointing such men as Seeker. 
 Talbot's portrait hangs in the common room, and his 
 arms are placed with others upon the east front of the 
 hall, suggesting that some kind of repair of that part 
 of the castle was undertaken in his episcopate. His 
 hatchment is displayed on Cosin's staircase. 
 
 The same neglect that seems to have characterised 
 Talbot's tenure of the see was remarked by a visitor 
 to the castle during the episcopate of Bishop Chandler. 
 Lady Oxford, travelling to Scotland in the famous year 
 1745, describes her impressions as follows: "Went to 
 the bishop's palace, which stands on a very high hill, 
 and might be made a very fine place, but at present 
 wants a great deal of repair. Went to Bishop Cosin's 
 library. There are a good collection of books, but no 
 care taken either of them or of the room, which seems 
 to be in some danger of falling." The fact is that 
 Crewe was too old in his later days to come often to 
 Durham, whilst Talbot cannot be proved to have 
 done much beyond attaching his arms to the hall. 
 But the great difficulty in these days was the menacing 
 condition of the whole of the north front, apart from 
 other portions of the buildings. Chandler had a 
 surveyor sent down from London about 1742, by 
 whose direction chain bars were run through the 
 building from north to south, and timbers were added
 
 1 88 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 to prevent the roof from thrusting out the walls. 
 The keep was already ruinous, having never been used, 
 it is believed, since the time of Bishop Fox. 
 
 When Butler was appointed bishop in 1750, one of 
 his earliest cares was to press on with the work which 
 Chandler had done imperfectly. A careful survey of 
 the castle was made, and as a result the buildings were 
 put into at least a tolerable state of outward repair. 
 The decay which his predecessor had obviated so un- 
 successfully was mainly in the central building, and 
 was due to the defective skill of Pudsey's engineer 
 some six hundred years before. Pudsey depended 
 upon sheer weight to keep his massive edifice erect. 
 By the time that Butler put his hand to the work the 
 north wall was nearly three feet out of the perpen- 
 dicular in one part, and the whole of the wing, accord- 
 ing to one account, seemed to threaten collapse. Butler 
 came to the diocese in 175 1, and stayed for a very 
 brief time, it would appear, within the castle. The 
 north wall was rebuilt, and various other changes and 
 improvements were made by him. A correspondence 
 between him and Mr. Sanderson Miller of Radway has 
 recently come to light, and in this we find the grave 
 author of the Analogy discussing the most prosaic 
 details of ornamentation and arrangement. The exist- 
 ing character of the common room is entirely due to 
 the conference between the bishop and Mr. Miller, to 
 whom Butler eventually gave leave to do practically 
 what he pleased, in these terms: "I must beg Mr. 
 Miller to settle the whole plan as he thinks best, with- 
 out giving himself the trouble of writing any more 
 about it. ... I am sure I shall be pleased with the 
 room in whatever manner Mr. Miller pleases to finish 
 it." Alas ! Bishop Butler never saw the result of the 
 architect's journey to Durham, for there is no proof
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 189 
 
 that he ever came again to the north. A later hand 
 sums up as follows the alterations attributed to Butler : 
 " He pulled down the old tapestry hanging in the 
 dining-room behind the gallery, and stuccoed the walls 
 with ornaments below the cornice, and added some 
 large foliages on the joining of the compartments of 
 the roof. He enlarged and made new the windows 
 looking northwards on to the grass-walk out of that 
 dining-room in the Gothic taste, and made an hand- 
 some Gothic chimney-piece of stone. He took down 
 a considerable part of the outside wall of the castle 
 facing the north, which overhung the perpendicular line 
 several inches, and in the place of the wall so thinned he 
 built it up with square stones well cramped with iron. 
 He also floored the great west dining-room above 
 stairs, and new stuccoed the senior judge's apartments, 
 and made new fireplaces in them." 
 
 All these changes may have been planned by Butler 
 during his brief stay in 1 75 1 , but it is scarcely probable 
 that they were completed before his death in June 1752. 
 Indeed, the arms of Bishop Trevor, his successor, placed 
 above the grate in the " senior judge's apartments," 
 suggest that the alterations proposed by Sanderson 
 Miller were completed by Trevor. The notes just 
 quoted go on to say that Trevor " finished the outside 
 wall of the castle on the right hand going out of the 
 castle on to the terrace walk, and in 1756, to the right 
 hand of the north door, placed in the wall the coat-of- 
 arms of the bishopric impaled with those of Butler, 
 three cups upon a bend cottised." One prominent 
 feature of the castle is certainly due to Trevor, and 
 that is, the refacing of the south front. This had been 
 described in Butler's survey as so weathered that not 
 one single stone remained undecayed. The exact 
 fashion of the twelfth-century Norman work which
 
 190 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 Trevor covered over may be seen in the painting of 
 the castle belonging to Crewe's time. The waterspout 
 still bears Trevor's initials, arms impaled, and the date 
 1754. He did not, however, reside much at Durham, 
 and the whole tendency, so far as the castle went, was 
 to restrict its use to the occasional visits of the bishop 
 at assize time, or to take part in some special function. 
 
 Egerton, who held the see from 1771 to 1787, 
 was at pains to improve the breakfast-room inserted by 
 Bishop Neile within the great hall. Neile's suite of 
 rooms so placed were probably those used by the 
 bishop at this time, whereas the so-called senior and 
 junior judges' apartments were mainly used by the 
 judges of assize. And this arrangement was, no 
 doubt, maintained until the castle was handed over 
 to the University of Durham and Neile's rooms were 
 cleared out of the hall. A series of engravings appa- 
 rently placed by Egerton in the rooms used by him still 
 hang elsewhere within the castle. Egerton made himself 
 very popular with the citizens of Durham by granting 
 a new charter in 1780, the previous charter having 
 been suspended. His aristocratic connections (grand- 
 son of the third Earl of Bridgewater and husband of 
 a daughter of the Duke of Kent) brought him much 
 into London society, and when he was at Auckland 
 the house was generally full of guests, but he was 
 rarely at Durham. 
 
 As the bishops enlarged and beautified the castle 
 and park at Auckland, Durham Castle proved increas- 
 ingly a heavy burden, and in consequence the neglect 
 previously referred to continued. The mere living- 
 rooms received most attention, whilst other parts fell 
 into decay. The great north-east tower near the gaol 
 and below the keep, which had been built in the four- 
 teenth or fifteenth century, collapsed in Egerton's
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 191 
 
 time, and no attempt was made to rebuild it. Above 
 this the keep, which had been surveyed by Butler 
 with a view to keeping out the weather, was entirely 
 neglected, so that in 1789 Bishop Thurlow had the 
 top stories pulled down, leaving the lower part, which 
 fell more and more into ruin until it was rebuilt by 
 the university in 1841. The prisons, which were 
 situated in the great North Gate, descending from 
 thence towards the river, were still maintained, and 
 were visited by Howard in 1774, which was, curiously, 
 the same year in which the north-east tower fell. In 
 his report he says : " The debtors have no court ; their 
 free wards in the low jail are two damp, unhealthy 
 rooms, 10 feet 4 inches square. They are never 
 suffered to go out of these unless to chapel, and not 
 always to that ; for on a Sunday when I was there I 
 missed them at chapel. They told me they were not 
 permitted to go thither. No sewers. At more than 
 one of my visits I learned that the dirt, ashes, &c, had 
 lain there many months. The felons have no court, 
 but they have a day-room, and two small rooms for an 
 infirmary. The men are put at night into dungeons, 
 one 7 feet square for three prisoners ; another, the 
 Great Hole, 16^ by 12 feet, has only a little window. 
 In this I saw six prisoners, most of them transports, 
 chained to the floor. In that situation they had been 
 for many weeks, and were very sick. The straw on 
 the stone floor was almost worn to dust ! Long con- 
 finement, and not having the king's allowance of 2s. 6d. 
 a week, had urged them to attempt an escape, after 
 which the jailer chained them as above. Common side 
 debtors in the low jail, whom I saw eating boiled bread 
 and water, told me this was the only nourishment some 
 had lived on for nearly twelve months. On several of 
 my visits there were boys, thirteen and fifteen years
 
 1 92 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 of age, confined with the most profligate and 
 abandoned." 
 
 The gaol with its unrecorded suffering is the worst 
 part of the history of the castle. Occasional glimpses 
 of a wretchedness, regarded then as a cruel necessity, 
 are all that we get to illustrate the life of the prisoners. 
 Newcastle, Morpeth, and Durham contained the three 
 northern gaols, and at no time can the list of those 
 imprisoned at Durham have been small. The bishops 
 clearly never thought themselves responsible for the 
 state of these unfortunate persons, beyond sending 
 them an occasional benefaction or a meal. In Cosin's 
 accounts such gifts are of common occurrence, and did 
 we possess the household rolls of other bishops, we 
 might find that they were an established custom. As 
 late as 1796 — that is to say, more than twenty years 
 after Howard called men's attention to the state of the 
 prisons in England — a petition was drawn up by the 
 debtors in the North Gate. They describe their misery, 
 and beg the sheriff" to assist them " at this extreme time 
 of need, being shut up in this gloomy prison, and con- 
 fined with the refuse and most abandoned of mankind." 
 
 Reforms worked slowly, and though under Bishop 
 Barrington an excellent jailer, Mr.Wolfe, was appointed, 
 he was not able to ameliorate the external conditions 
 to any considerable extent. The prisoners had better 
 food, but their surroundings did not improve. A 
 detailed visit paid by the philanthropist Neild in the 
 early years of the nineteenth century has been described 
 by him. Wolfe had converted one of the rooms into 
 a soup-kitchen, which he managed chiefly by contribu- 
 tions from the bishop, dean, and prebendaries. The 
 last-named he persuaded to commute " a profuse 
 dinner to the prisoners in the gaol at the time they 
 severally kept their residences " into a money payment
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 193 
 
 of five guineas each. The result was that a large sum 
 accumulated, with which the soup-kitchen was main- 
 tained, and a good dinner was provided twice a week 
 not only for the gaol but for the Bridewell (on the 
 river bank near Elvet Bridge), whilst any little surplus 
 went to extinguish the small debts for which some 
 of the inmates had been imprisoned. All that was 
 well, but Neild goes on to say that the five cells in 
 which the felons slept " are to be numbered amongst 
 the very worst in the kingdom, and the descent 
 to them is by a flight of forty-one steps from 
 the men's day room." He gives the dimensions of 
 the Great Hole which Howard described, and adds : 
 " There is a part of this prison which seems to have 
 escaped the vigilance of the excellent Howard. This 
 is a third dungeon, on the same level with but divided 
 by a passage from the Great Hole. I expressed a 
 desire to see it, and the turnkey fetched the keys. 
 This dungeon, totally dark, is 7 feet by 6 feet 7 inches, 
 and 7 feet 9 inches high. In the middle of the floor 
 is a large massy wooden grated trap-door, strongly 
 clouted with iron, and with apertures 4 inches square. 
 Guess my surprise, when this door was lifted up, by 
 another dungeon presenting itself. ... I descended 
 into the lowest dungeon of all by eleven stone steps, 
 which is 10 feet by 9 feet, and 7 feet high to the 
 crown of the arch. . . - Though there was no ventila- 
 tion whatever in this dungeon, I found it perfectly dry, 
 and less disagreeable than the arched landing-place 
 above it. . . . When the prison was built this place 
 must have been intended as an oubliette." Neild com- 
 pletes his account of the felons' prison by saying, " I 
 have often wished a new gaol was at this place." 
 Public interest was aroused in England generally by 
 Neild's account of the various prisons he visited, and 
 
 N
 
 194 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 it is by no means impossible that the demolition of the 
 castle gaol was partly due to his description. At all 
 events, a new gaol was begun in 1 809 in Old Elvet, 
 but the prisoners were not moved from the castle until 
 1 819. In the following year the great archway span- 
 ning Saddler Street was taken down, and the gaol was 
 demolished, though some of the cells still exist below 
 the houses in Saddler Street. 
 
 But to return for a moment to a rather earlier date 
 in connection with the castle. John Wesley was a 
 frequent visitor to Durham, where his " Society " flour- 
 ished exceedingly. In 1780 he passed through the city 
 on his return from a tour in Scotland, and on this 
 occasion, for the first time, found opportunity to enter 
 the castle. He says : " In the afternoon we took a 
 view of the castle at Durham, the residence of the 
 bishop. The situation is wonderfully fine, surrounded 
 by the river, and commanding all the country ; and 
 many of the apartments are large and stately : but the 
 furniture is mean beyond imagination ! I know not 
 where I have seen such in a gentleman's house, or a 
 man of five hundred a year, except that of the Lord 
 Lieutenant in Dublin. In the largest chambers the 
 tapestry is quite faded, beside that it is coarse and ill- 
 judged. Take but one instance : in Jacob's vision you 
 see on the one side a little paltry ladder, and an angel 
 climbing it in the attitude of a chimney-sweeper ; on 
 the other side Jacob staring at him from under a large 
 silver-laced hat ! " The particular piece of tapestry 
 which called down upon it Wesley's criticism is no 
 longer in the castle, but its companion breadth, no 
 doubt, still hangs on the wall of the senior judge's 
 room along with other scenes from the lives of the 
 patriarchs. Wesley's evidence, however, is valuable 
 as showing the increasing neglect to which more than
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 195 
 
 one reference has been made. No doubt, when the 
 assizes were held, furniture was brought over from 
 Auckland for the time being. 
 
 Bishop Barrington, who did so much in many ways 
 for the diocese, made, at all events, one alteration which 
 catches the eye of every visitor. Cosin replaced the 
 gate-house, but lapse of time had necessitated further 
 restoration. Unfortunately Barrington put himself 
 into the hands of Wyatt, who sketched out a recast of 
 the building. He probably took down and reset the 
 Norman arch, rehung the gates, preserved the groining 
 of the doorway above them, and then over all this 
 lower stage he built afresh two upper stories in the 
 worst style of the time. But he had one piece of good 
 fortune, for in making some alterations in Tunstall's 
 gallery he discovered Pudsey's grand doorway, which 
 had been covered up for a long period, probably since 
 the days of Bishop Crewe. 
 
 With the episcopate of Van Mildert, who came to 
 Durham in 1826, we reach the close of the long con- 
 nection of the castle with the Bishops of Durham. It 
 was marked by a banquet in which an unconscious 
 farewell was taken of the older history, much as 
 the banquet of 1503 was a farewell to the mediaeval 
 history of Durham. In 1827 the Duke of Welling- 
 ton was making a round of visits in the north of 
 England. Wherever he made his appearance in this 
 triumphal progress he was received with acclamation. 
 The streets were decorated, addresses were presented, 
 and speeches were made in towns and villages, and at 
 night, balls and parties were given in his honour, and 
 the houses illuminated. At one stage of the journey 
 the duke was the guest of Lord Ravensworth, at 
 whose house a large house-party assembled to meet 
 the hero. Sir Walter Scott, always attached to Durham,
 
 196 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 and no infrequent visitor, was one of the Ravensworth 
 guests, and drove over to take part in public and 
 private proceedings arranged to do full honour to the 
 duke in Durham. Fortunately Sir Walter has given 
 us some account of what took place in the castle : 
 
 " October 3 : Went to Durham with Lord Ravens- 
 worth betwixt one and two. Found the gentlemen of 
 Durham county and town assembled to receive the 
 Duke of Wellington. . . . The duke arrived very 
 late. There were bells, and cannon, and drums, 
 trumpets and banners, besides a fine troop of yeo- 
 manry. . . . We dined about one hundred and forty 
 or fifty men, a distinguished company for rank and 
 property : — 
 
 ' Lords and dukes and noble princes, 
 All the pride and flower of Spain.' 
 
 We dined in the old baronial hall, impressive from its 
 rude antiquity, and fortunately free from the plaster 
 of former improvement, as I trust it will long be from 
 the gingerbread taste of modern Gothicizers. The 
 bright moon streaming in through the old Gothic 
 windows contrasted strangely with the artificial lights 
 within. Spears, banners, and armour were intermixed 
 with the pictures of the old bishops, and the whole 
 had a singular mixture of baronial pomp with the 
 grave and more chastened dignity of prelacy." 
 
 Dr. Phillpotts, then a prebendary, and later Bishop 
 of Exeter, was another of those present, and has left in 
 a letter a mention of the banquet which has its own 
 interest : " Sometimes I doubted whether the hero or 
 the poet was fixing most attention. The latter, I need 
 hardly tell you, appeared unconscious that he was 
 regarded differently from those around him, until the 
 good bishop arose and proposed his health."
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 197 
 
 Ten years of great political excitement followed 
 this virtual farewell to what the castle had been. 
 Change was in the air ; the Emancipation Bill and 
 the Reform Bill were passed. A clamour was raised 
 against the Church and its wealth, and not least against 
 the wealth of the diocese of Durham. The bishop 
 himself pressed on Dean and Chapter the foundation 
 of the University of Durham, which was established in 
 1832. To the new institution the bishop proved its 
 most kindly patron, and crowned his munificence by 
 drawing up a scheme for the virtual surrender of the 
 castle to the university, to take effect at his death. 
 The bishop had warmly welcomed Archbishop How- 
 ley's bill to empower chapters and others to surrender 
 lands and endowments for church purposes. This Act 
 eventually led to the formation of the Ecclesiastical 
 Commission. After the bishop's death the Commis- 
 sioners formally proposed that the Bishop of Durham 
 for the time being " shall hold the castle of Durham, 
 including all the precincts of the said castle, and all 
 the houses, buildings, lands, tenements, and heredita- 
 ments heretofore known or accepted as parcel of the 
 said precincts, and all rights, privileges, ways, ease- 
 ments, and advantages thereto belonging, in trust for 
 the University of Durham." One or two special 
 provisos were attached to the proposal. It was stipu- 
 lated that " all such officers of the palatinate of 
 Durham as have performed for thirty years now last 
 past and now do perform the duties of their respective 
 offices in any building within the said precincts " should 
 continue to occupy those buildings " so long as any of 
 those duties shall remain to be performed by the 
 officers who held their offices at the time of passing 
 the Act for separating the palatinate jurisdiction from 
 the bishopric of Durham."
 
 198 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 To the further fortunes of the castle we shall 
 return in a moment, but the mention of the separation 
 of the palatinate jurisdiction introduces us to another 
 great change which must be duly emphasised. What 
 the palatinate power was in the days of its glory we 
 have seen in connection with Bek and Hatfield. 
 What it was when the Tudors resumed its judiciary 
 authority and began to cut it short we have also seen. 
 That somewhat abridged prestige continued until 1836, 
 when the Act alluded to was passed, enacting that 
 from henceforth all the palatinate privileges should be 
 vested in the Crown. Until this time the old courts, 
 the old offices, the old names had been continued, and 
 the business side of the little kingdom went on very 
 much as before, administered from the same general 
 centre as heretofore in the precincts of Durham Castle. 
 A list of the officers in 1820 will show how varied the 
 machinery must have been : — 
 
 Court of Chancery and Exchequer. — Chancellor, 
 Registrar, Deputy - Registrar, Cursitor, Examiner, 
 Attorney-General, Solicitor-General, Auditor, Deputy- 
 Auditor, Receiver-General, Exchequer Bailiff. 
 
 Court of Pleas. — The Judges of Assize, Prothono- 
 tary, Deputy Prothonotary, Sheriff, Deputy-Sheriff, 
 Clerk of Peace, Clerk of Crown, County Clerk, 
 Deputy County Clerk, Gaoler. 
 
 Coroners. — Darlington Ward, Stockton Ward, 
 Easington Ward, Chester Ward. 
 
 Stewards and Officers of Ha /mote Courts. — (1) County 
 at large, including Bedlingtonshire, Deputy ditto, Clerk, 
 Deputy-Clerk ; (2) Allertonshire ; (3) Howdenshire ; 
 various Under-Stewards. 
 
 Stewards of the Boroughs. — Durham, Darlington, 
 Auckland, Stockton, Gateshead, Sunderland. 
 
 Bailiffs of Manors or Boroughs. — Darlington, Auck-
 
 DURHAM CASTLE 199 
 
 land, Evenwood, Stanhope, Wolsingham, Whickham, 
 Lanchester, Stockton, Sadberge, Middleham, Coatham, 
 Mundeville, Chester, Bedlington. 
 
 Durham Castle. — Constable, Steward, Porter. 
 
 Auckland Castle and Park. — Keeper. 
 
 Darlington Manor-house. — Keeper. 
 
 Forester and Keeper of Weardale. 
 
 Keepers of Woods. — Birtley, Auckland, Frankland. 
 
 These diversified offices were often bestowed in twos 
 and threes upon the same man. Sometimes they were 
 sinecures. Others were posts of considerable trust and 
 emolument. Others still were paid in kind, or by 
 some small money payment. Many of the holders 
 were rarely in Durham. Others were local gentry of 
 position. Others, like the permanent officials of the 
 courts, and also the coroners, resided near the castle. 
 When the Act of 1836 was passed this temporal side 
 of the palatinate, which had been so long centred in 
 the castle, was variously distributed. The Court of 
 Pleas was maintained until 1873, and was then 
 abolished. The Court of Chancery still exists. All 
 the estates were administered by the Ecclesiastical 
 Commissioners, and the officers were rearranged at 
 their pleasure. Durham Castle went to the university ; 
 Auckland Castle to the bishop, who thenceforward 
 was paid a fixed annual income by the Commissioners. 
 
 Such was the rearrangement of 1836, and by it the 
 temporal glory of the Bishop of Durham was lost. 
 The castle entered upon an entirely new chapter of 
 history. It was at first the one college in the new 
 University of Durham. For some years it was termed 
 in the calendar " The University College," but when 
 Hatfield Hall was instituted in 1 846 the article was 
 dropped, and it has been called ever since University 
 College, though the time-honoured name " castle " has
 
 200 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 never departed from the ancient buildings, whose 
 inmates are still " Castle Men." No one can deplore 
 the use to which the castle has been put during the 
 last seventy years. Its condition until that time had 
 too often been one of lifeless neglect, save under the 
 occupation of Crewe, or some other bishop who 
 loved Durham for its own sake. It may be questioned 
 whether during the long centuries of its history the 
 fabric has ever been so carefully tended as in the recent 
 years of its occupation by the university. Large sums 
 of money have been expended upon it. In 1841 the 
 modern keep took the place of the ruinous pile that 
 had lingered so long upon the mound. In 1846 
 Neile's additions to the hall were taken away, and its 
 proper length restored. In 1905 the central part, 
 which had given such trouble to Chandler and Butler, 
 was once more rendered secure, and ought to outlast 
 not a few of the years to come. Held in trust by the 
 Bishop of Durham for the university since 1837, the 
 buildings have, in 1908, been transferred by Act of 
 Parliament to the Council of the Durham Colleges.
 
 F] 
 
 (ftucftfcmb Cwtk 
 
 ROM Darlington to Acheland, 8 good Miles 
 by resonable good Corne & Pasture. 
 
 "A Mile a this side Akeland Castelle I 
 cam over a Bridg of one great Arch on Gaun- 
 delesse, a Praty Ryver rising a vj Miles of by West : 
 and running by the South Side of Akeland Castelle 
 goith a little beneth it to the great Streame of Were. 
 
 " Gaundeles rising by West cummith by Westake- 
 land, by S. Helenes Akeland, by S. Andreas Akeland, 
 & by Bishop Akelande. 
 
 " The Towne self of Akeland is of no Estimacion, 
 yet is ther a praty Market of Corne. 
 
 " It standith on a praty hille bytween 2 Ryvers, 
 whereof Were lyeth on the North Side, and Gaunde- 
 lesse on the South, and a narrow shot or more benethe 
 they meet and make one streame, and run to the Este : 
 and ech of these Rivers hath an Hille by it. So that 
 Bishops Castelle Akeland standith on a little Hille 
 bytwixt 2 great. 
 
 " There was of very auncient a Manor Place log- 
 ging to the Bishop of Duresme at Akeland. 
 
 "Antonius de Beke began first to encastellate it. 
 He made the great Haulle. Ther be divers Pillors of 
 Blak Marble spekelid with White. And the exceding 
 fair gret Chaumbre with other there. 
 
 " He also made an exceeding goodly Chapelle ther 
 of Stone welle squarid, and a College with Dene and
 
 202 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 Prebendes yn it. And a Quadrant on the South West 
 side of the Castell for Ministers of the College. 
 
 "Skerlaw, Bishop of Duresme, made the goodly 
 Gate House at entering ynto the Castelle of Akelande. 
 There is a faire Parke by the Castelle having falow 
 Dere, wild Bulles and Kin." 
 
 The words used by " that famous antiquary John 
 Leiland," in his "Itinerary Begunne about 1538," 
 to describe the castle and town, give the best possible 
 idea of the position of this most beautiful episcopal 
 residence. At what precise date some kind of build- 
 ing was first to be found on the " little Hille bytwixt 
 2 great " we do not know, but there is no lack of 
 evidence to support his statement that there was a 
 " Manor Place " here " of very auncient." The name 
 indicates the original character of Auckland — a land 
 of oaks — doubtless forming part of the great forest of 
 Weardale. About a mile north is Binchester, the 
 undoubted site of an ancient Roman station ; the 
 Roman Causey crossed the Deor Street or Forest Way 
 (as the Saxons called the Roman road known as the 
 Northern Watling Street), just below North or Bishop's 
 Auckland, and on Toft Hill are traces of ancient 
 earthworks, which suggest the existence of some kind 
 of stronghold, some fort and entrenchments, even 
 before the coming of the Romans. These are now so 
 broken up that it is difficult to say what they originally 
 were, but Bailey, writing in 1779, said that one side 
 of the camp was 140 yards in length. The church 
 of St. Andrew, Auckland, commonly called South 
 Church, contains very interesting Anglo-Saxon remains, 
 portions of a cross, &c, which probably date as early 
 as 700. The two Aucklands (Alclet duas) are 
 mentioned by Symeon of Durham as part of the 
 territory of St. Cuthbert not restored by successive 
 Northumberland earls after being mortgaged by
 
 00 
 N 
 
 5 ^ 
 
 p 
 
 -
 
 AUCKLAND CASTLE 203 
 
 Bishop Aldhun and all the congregation of St. Cuth- 
 bert to " Ethred eorle, et Northman eorle, et Uhtred 
 eorle." This suggests that the warlike Northumber- 
 land lords set a high value on this hillside settlement 
 in " the bishop's high forest between Tyne and Tees." 
 According to the same authority it was King Canute 
 who procured their restoration to the Church. 
 
 We cannot, unfortunately, go to Domesday Book 
 for information about Auckland, as the bishopric, 
 being a palatinate, was omitted from the survey, and 
 our earliest account of it is to be found in the Boldon 
 Buke, a survey made only a century later, for Bishop 
 Hugh Pudsey, in 11 83. Though this contains no 
 direct reference to a mansion at Auckland, the 
 enumeration of services due by the tenants here and 
 on neighbouring properties suggests that Auckland 
 and Durham ranked even then together as the chief 
 residences of the princely bishops of Durham. These 
 services themselves furnish us with an attractive picture 
 of the half-pastoral, half-forest life of the Auckland of 
 this bygone day, when the bishops of the mighty pala- 
 tinate were warriors and statesmen first, and church- 
 men in their moments of relaxation and leisure. It is 
 as a resort at such moments that Boldon Buke presents 
 Auckland to us in its most picturesque aspect. We 
 have the services to be performed by tenants at the 
 bishop's great hunt, and certain " yolwayting " services, 
 by which it is thought some form of castle guard at 
 the manor in which the bishop spent Christmas is to be 
 understood. What these were we can only conjecture, 
 but as it seems clear that they must have represented 
 some sort of watch at Yuletide, it is interesting to note 
 that they are incident to tenure in this manor only, and 
 are not to be found anywhere else in the county. In 
 various districts the services of tenants include the 
 carting of corn, wood, wine, &c, to Durham and
 
 2o 4 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 Auckland, and all the villeins of Stanhope were bound 
 to carry venison to Durham and Auckland, which 
 seems to point to regular residence by the bishop at 
 both places as an established custom. 
 
 The great hunt or big autumn battue was an elabo- 
 rately organised affair. For a time the bishop and his 
 train lived in the forest (to whose density at this date 
 we have the testimony of a reference later to the 
 roe hunt there), and it must have taxed the resources 
 of the country-side to provide food and service for 
 them. The villeins of Auklandshire had to find on 
 these occasions one rope for each oxgang of land they 
 held, to make the bishop's hall or temporary lodging 
 in the forest, of the length of 60 feet and of the breadth 
 within the posts of 1 6 feet, with a buttery and a hatch, 
 and a chamber and a privy, as well as a chapel of the 
 length of 40 feet and of the breadth of 1 5 feet. They 
 had also to make their part of the fence round the 
 lodges. The men of Stanhope had to build and furnish 
 the kitchen, larder, and kennel. The villeins of Auck- 
 land had on the departure of the bishop a whole tun 
 of beer, or a half one if it remained [if he remained 
 away ?] and had of charity two shillings. 
 
 The winding of the horn, the groups of brilliantly 
 clad huntsmen making their way through the glades 
 of the autumn forest, these are the thoughts that come 
 uppermost in reading this record of life in twelfth- 
 century Auckland. But other services had to be paid : 
 the boon-days, the mowing, the making of the hay, the 
 leading it, the reaping, the carrying of the corn, the 
 hens and eggs to be rendered, as likewise the cow in 
 milk, the cartloads of wood, the toll of beer, the pay- 
 ments of cornage, averpenny, wheat, &c, the mill- 
 stone to be found for the mill, fill in the details of the 
 life pictured for us, year in, year out, from Yuletide and
 
 AUCKLAND CASTLE 205 
 
 its " yolwayting," to Michaelmas, and its equally mys- 
 terious Michelmath dues, and back again. An un- 
 familiar sight is recalled by the obligation of Elstan, 
 the " dreng," to find four oxen to cart the bishop's 
 wine. This "dreng' had to go on the bishop's 
 errands between Tyne and Tees at his own cost. 
 
 The great hunt did not exhaust the forest obliga- 
 tions of the villeins. They had " to guard the aeries 
 of the hawks which are in the district of Ralph the 
 Crafty," and, with the farmers, to attend the roe hunt 
 at the summons of the bishop. 
 
 All the villeins and farmers had to work at the 
 mills of Auklandshire ; and we are reminded of what 
 must have been a festive occasion for the whole com- 
 munity by their obligation to make eighteen booths at 
 the fair of St. Cuthbert. Other touches are added to 
 the picture by the mention of Luce MakerelFs house 
 near the orchard of the lord bishop, and of the Monk 
 Cook's land within and without the park. Bishop 
 Pudsey's grant of land to Monk Cook is given in the 
 Feodarium of Durham Priory, and mentions three acres 
 within the Old Park. His property appears again in a 
 grant of Bishop Philip of Poitou (1 195-1208), who 
 granted him " thirteen acres of our moor at Auckland 
 between Blindervelle and the land of Robert the 
 Falconer," " in exchange for thirteen acres which we 
 have included in our park." The Old Park occurs 
 again in a deed of 1248. 
 
 It was not until Bishop Anthony Bek that any 
 building achievements at Auckland were considered 
 worthy of record. But a previous building of very 
 considerable claim to dignity may well have sunk into 
 insignificance before the " sumptuous " erection which 
 Robert de Greystanes attributes to this powerful prelate, 
 whose anxiety to possess a castellated manor-house may
 
 206 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 not have proceeded merely from a desire to find em- 
 ployment for his opulent revenues. It is curious that 
 Greystanes does not use any term suggestive of castella- 
 tion or fortification, and that we have no contemporary 
 authority for Leiland's statement that Bek encastel- 
 lated the manor-house ; but a fortified residence may 
 well have been felt to be desirable by one who had to 
 contend with his sovereign as well as for him, who had 
 so long and serious a quarrel with the prior, and whose 
 duty, as bishop palatine, of defending the bishopric, 
 brought him into conflict with its sturdy inhabitants, 
 who resented as an infringement of their rights being 
 called to serve beyond its limits against the Scots, who 
 were threatening to overrun them. " The men of the 
 franchise of Durham between Tyne and Tees " peti- 
 tioned the king against Bishop Anthony in 1302, and 
 must have made out a good case against the ministers 
 of the bishop for violation of ancient rights and 
 customs in connection with the " pleas of the forest of 
 Auckland," and with " the court of the free chase of 
 Auckland," for they were promised redress as to 
 " approvements made within the free chase and with- 
 out, to the grievous hurt of the said good folk, who 
 had not free entry or outlet, or sufficient pasture for 
 their free tenements," and it was agreed that four men 
 chosen by the bishop, and four chosen by the common- 
 alty, should settle these delicate matters. Such disputes 
 between bishop and commonalty were common enough 
 at this time, but it required all the courage of the 
 sturdy Durham folk to stand up against their powerful 
 bishop. The woodlanders may have had the support of 
 the bishop's enemy, the Prior of Durham, who in 1305 
 charged Bishop Anthony with unjustly preventing the 
 tenants and villeins of the convent from taking timber 
 in the wood of Auckland.
 
 AUCKLAND CASTLE 207 
 
 In 1 31 1, the year following Bishop Bek's death, 
 120 acres of waste land in the Old Park of Auckland 
 were acquired by John de Penreth ; and a dispute as 
 to the tithes of the Old Park is recorded in 1325. 
 Deeds of this period refer to the Wood of West 
 Auckland, the moor and waste of West Auckland, 
 the mills of West Auckland, the mill of North 
 Auckland, and the fulling mill of Auckland. An 
 indulgence of 13 14 speaks of a new bridge about to 
 be rebuilt over the Wear at Auckland by William 
 Brak' and others. 
 
 Bishop Anthony's munificence had not been con- 
 fined to the beautifying of his manor-house. We are 
 reminded of another element in Auckland life by the 
 fact that he refounded that college in close vicinity to 
 the castle, which it is said that Bishop Carileph (1080- 
 95) had instituted at St. Andrews to receive the 
 secular priests turned out of Durham. This collegiate 
 establishment was charged by Bek with providing for 
 daily service in the manor-house at Auckland. It 
 appears as if at some later date this college was 
 removed within the castle walls, perhaps by Bishop 
 Boothe (1457-80), as his chancellor mentions "the 
 new college" and its repairs, and Bishop Fox (1494- 
 1528) constitutes a sacrist "in the collegiate chapel 
 within the manor-house " ; and so it came to have its 
 " quadrant on the south-west side of the castle " as 
 Leiland tells us. 
 
 We have to wait until the episcopate of Richard de 
 Bury before we can glean any information as to the 
 details of the " sumptuous " structure whose sur- 
 roundings it has been possible in this fashion to re- 
 construct. But before that date opportunities are 
 vouchsafed to the historic imagination of calling 
 up scenes very characteristic of the princely bishops
 
 208 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 whose magnificence had a worthy setting in the stately 
 pile. 
 
 In 1209 and 13 10 King John visited the castle. 
 In 131 1 an act of Bishop Kellawe upon his citation 
 to the council of Pope Clement VI. was dated from 
 the chamber l of the lord bishop in his manor of 
 Auckland, and in the following year the same chamber 
 witnessed the sending forth of a challenge by him to 
 all persons to contest his rights if they had any claim 
 so to do. That year Robert Bruce was wasting the 
 bishopric, and a letter from Bishop Kellawe to the 
 Bishop of St. Andrews on 23rd May 131 3 men- 
 tioned that certain ambassadors to Scotland from 
 Pope Clement VI. and Philip, King of France, had 
 been entertained at Auckland by him. The ravaging 
 of the north by the Scots brought King Edward III. 
 and Philippa his queen to the castle in 1335 and 1336, 
 when they were the guests of the courtly and scholarly 
 Richard de Bury, formerly the king's tutor, and the 
 friend of the poet Petrarch, whose acquaintance had 
 been made by the bishop on one of his many embassies 
 to the Continent. The steward's accounts show him 
 to have spent only five weeks at Auckland in 1335, but 
 to have expended much on hospitality then. 
 
 Very pleasant associations are evoked by the name 
 of this lover of books, who surrounded himself with 
 transcribers and illuminators, and whose munificence 
 to the Auckland poor must have made him a welcome 
 visitor to his castle. He distributed five marks to 
 them whenever he travelled between Durham and 
 Auckland. In spite of truces this bishop must have 
 lived in continual expectation of a Scottish invasion 
 until his death took place here on 24th April 1345. 
 
 1 Raine in his history points out that chamber frequently means a whole suite 
 of apartments : we should therefore think of the bishop's suite and king's suite.
 
 AUCKLAND CASTLE 209 
 
 It was the battle of Neville's Cross, fought in the 
 following year (17th October 1346), on the Red Hills 
 near Durham, where King David and most of the 
 Scottish nobility were taken prisoner, that put an end 
 to their ravaging for many years. A letter from the 
 prior and convent of Durham to the bishop, Thomas 
 Hatfield, at that date, gives a dramatic account of the 
 whole English army, under the Archbishop of York 
 and other magnates (the prior does not deign to 
 mention by name any magnate but his archbishop), 
 " assembling secretly in your park of Auckland," where 
 they spent the night preceding the battle, the Scotch 
 having taken up their quarters at the prior's summer 
 residence, Bear Park, three miles off. Though absent 
 at this critical moment, we have the evidence of a deed 
 " datum in castro nostro de Aukland viij die mensis 
 Martii anno domini Millesimo cccxlvto et pontificatus 
 nostri primo," l to show that Bishop Hatfield had 
 already been in residence earlier in the year. This is 
 the earliest use of the word castle as applied to Auck- 
 land in such a deed. 
 
 It is from a bailiff's roll of the manor for 1337, 
 the fifth year of Richard de Bury's episcopate, the 
 earliest bailiff's roll now in existence for any of the 
 manors of the see, that we obtain our first information 
 as to domestic details in the castle. It contains a 
 valuable account of repairs and work done here, as 
 does also another bailiff's roll for 1350, the fifth year 
 of Bishop Hatfield's episcopate. Both these interesting 
 documents have been printed by the Surtees Society 
 in the same volume as the survey made during the 
 episcopate of Bishop Hatfield (1345-81), from which 
 additional information as to holders of land, tenant 
 
 1 In a confirmation made by Bishop Neville, 1445, of charters belonging 
 to Keyper Hospital we find this grant included. (Surtees Soc, 1895, p. 208.) 
 
 O
 
 210 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 services rendered, &c, can be obtained, and a transla- 
 tion of them and of later rolls is to be found in Raine's 
 History of Auckland Castle. From the bailiff's rolls, 
 besides much miscellaneous expenditure on walls and 
 windows, gutters and roofs, we can extract precious 
 elements of the human drama, perceive some traces of 
 the humbler human lives whose centre was the great 
 castle. The ravages of the Great Plague are to be felt 
 in its effects on the customs and services due from 
 tenants, the value of whose labour was no longer 
 represented at the later date by the money payments 
 for which these had been previously commuted. And 
 yet in the autumn of 1 350 the bailiff of the lord bishop 
 apparently managed to exact many services from them 
 at the old rate, though in some instances even he failed 
 to do so. There was no open rebellion of the peasants 
 here, but it may well be believed that tenants who did 
 not dare to defy the authority of the bishop's bailiff 
 would have been glad enough to evade it, and early in 
 the year there occurs an entry which shows that, whether 
 from this cause, or from fear of the plague, certain 
 tenants had tried to flee from the land of the lord bishop 
 and go elsewhere. " From wickedness and from malice 
 aforethought they gave in the iron shoes of their 
 ploughs at Auckland on Thursday next before the 
 Feast of Pentecost. For which cause they were arrested 
 and imprisoned at Durham till Saturday the night of 
 Trinity." A whole world of speculation is opened up 
 by the laconic statement. 
 
 The accounts of Peter de Midrigge, Bishop Bury's 
 bailiff in 1337, give the cost of repairs to the steward's 
 room and the hall, the great chapel and little chapel, 
 the lord's (bishop's) room, the turret, the yard by the 
 old bakehouse (this to be " plastered against the coming 
 of the lord "), the granary, the long stable, the great
 
 AUCKLAND CASTLE 211 
 
 stable, the candle-house, the king's room, the gable of 
 the king's room, the brew-house, and the salt-house ; 
 for making a chimney in the turret, and repairing the 
 chimney in the lord's room ; for mending the lock of 
 the great gateway; for plastering the yard at the eastern 
 gate ; for mending the great stone wall at the west of 
 the manor, and the stone wall behind the grange ; for 
 making a hedge garden {gardinum de haya) within the 
 court next the brew-house. The charges for window 
 mending are interesting. We have the expenses for 
 mending the glass windows of the great chapel against 
 Christmas ; for plastering the windows of the kitchen ; 
 for three ells of canvas bought for the glass window in 
 the gable of the hall against Christmas ; for one ell of 
 canvas bought for the window of the chamber over 
 the gateway; and Walter the glazier is paid for mend- 
 ing the glass windows in the gable of the hall. Very 
 numerous and costly are the entries in connection with 
 the kitchen, and as these include two fir trees for 
 scaffolding, the early fourteenth-century shafts to be 
 seen in the kitchen at this day in all probability form 
 part of an apartment for whose building we have the 
 accounts actually here before us. Outside, two carpen- 
 ters are paid for two weeks' work at mending two 
 bridges in the park, the bridges of Coundonnburn and 
 EggisclyfFburn, and a considerable sum is spent also 
 on the park palings and enclosures, mention being made 
 of the close under the hall. It is noticeable that this 
 bailiff speaks of the manor or hall, not of the castle. 
 
 Roger de Tikhill, Bishop Hatfield's bailiff in 1350, 
 mentions the orchard under the castle, and the orchard 
 near the Gaunless; though the steward in 1337 had 
 declared he had no fruit to account for, there being 
 then neither fruit nor tree. In addition to the lord's 
 room, the chapel, the king's room, and other previously
 
 212 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 mentioned rooms, he refers to the great grange, to the 
 chamber at the east gate, the room at the end of the 
 hall, and the chamber over the south gate. A stone 
 window is to be made in the western part of the hall, 
 bars of iron supplied for it, and also glass windows for 
 it and all the other windows of the hall. 
 
 We do not know in what year of Bishop Hat- 
 field's episcopate his survey of the bishopric was made, 
 but the copy which survives was apparently transcribed 
 in 1 38 1, the year after his death, as it contains a 
 reference to the halmote court held at Auckland 
 manor in the previous year. It mentions the nether 
 orchard on the bank under the castle wall on the 
 southern side, and a plot acquired for enlarging the 
 great garden of the lord bishop. Among meadow 
 names it gives the Leyes, Hallmedow, and the Stile ; 
 it refers to nine acres at Gaytbrigg and four at Brakes- 
 bank, and four at the eastern gate reserved for game. 
 There is a reference to a parcel of the park opposite 
 the Burnemilne. It contains the same regulations as 
 to forest services, the construction of the bishop's 
 lodging at the great hunt, &c, as Boldon Buke ; but 
 "the ward of Auckland" is substituted for "the 
 district of Ralph the Crafty "' in the directions as to 
 the aeries of the hawks. Roger de Tikhill's accounts 
 show a large sum to have been spent on building 
 a stone wall round the park, and for making 340 
 roods of ditch round the meadows within the park, 
 with " ryles " from the lord's wood to complete the said 
 work : a memorandum states that he is bound to com- 
 plete the whole enclosure of the park. 
 
 Another chamber in the castle mentioned by name 
 at a later date, is the inner chamber in which Cardinal 
 Langley's death is recorded in 1437. His accounts 
 show that some repairs were executed by him, but these
 
 AUCKLAND CASTLE 213 
 
 do not seem to have been important. They contain a 
 reference to the postern gate opening on to the highway 
 on the south side of the chapel, and to a passage ex- 
 tending from the " parlour " to the east end of the 
 chapel. This " parlour " was mentioned in the accounts 
 of the clerk of the works for 1378, when a reference 
 also occurs to " my lord's chamber on the north of the 
 small garden within the manor-house." The accounts 
 for 1387 give the cost of a new under frame for my 
 lord's chamber, and of many repairs to outbuildings. 
 
 Building operations at the castle were on certain 
 occasions on a sufficiently magnificent scale to deserve 
 special recognition by the Durham chroniclers. We 
 are told of Bishop Walter Skirlaw (138 8-1 405) that 
 he " built the bridge of Auckland ; he also erected the 
 great stone gates at Auckland from the foundation to 
 the summit of the same building at his own expense." 
 Of Bishop Lawrence Boothe (1457-76) we hear 
 that he " built all the stone gates of the college at 
 Auckland and all the other buildings annexed to the 
 gateway on both sides at his own expense." Building 
 seems sometimes to have been used in the sense of 
 repairing by historians of the castle. 
 
 Wars and rumours of wars filled the latter end 
 of the fifteenth century, and the castle's history must 
 have been as distressful and calamitous as might be 
 expected at such a period if we are to believe a letter 
 of 1484 printed in Rymer's Fcedera, and not regard it 
 as a mere piling up of excuses. It is written by 
 Richard III. to the Pope at his appointment of 
 John Sherwood as bishop, and pleads for an abate- 
 ment of the fees payable by the bishop at Rome upon 
 his elevation, on the ground that in the bishopric he 
 had so many castles and other places to maintain at 
 his own expense, especially in the present most grievous
 
 2i 4 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 war with the most fierce and hard nation of the Scots. 
 The letter states that the castles and towns belonging 
 to the Church at Durham were in so ruinous a con- 
 dition, partly through the negligence of preceding 
 bishops and partly through the devastation committed 
 by the Scots, that the revenues of several years would 
 not suffice to restore them. Any attempts this bishop 
 may have made at restoring them do not appear to 
 have been considered worthy of remark. But Bishop 
 Fox (1494-1501), in spite of the active part he was 
 forced, as bishop, to take in arraying the county 
 against a threatened invasion of the Scots, and of his 
 activity in diplomatic service to his sovereign, is said 
 to have enclosed the deer park. 
 
 It was Bishop Ruthall who finally took in hand the 
 repairs that seem to have been so urgently needed, and 
 who started the building of a great dining-hall which 
 he did not live to complete. A delightfully homely 
 picture of his life at Auckland is suggested by a few 
 chance words we have from his pen in the course 
 of very eloquent protestations to Wolsey as to the 
 cost of " refreshing his ruynous howses " in the 
 county. In spite of his great wealth, all his groans 
 seem by no means uncalled for, in view of the heavy 
 burden of hospitality he shows himself charged with, 
 and when it is remembered what his activity in 
 arraying the county, putting its defences into good 
 order, and in providing men-at-arms when he accom- 
 panied the king to France, must have cost him. 
 
 Writing from Auckland to Wolsey on 24th 
 October 15 13, a month after Flodden Field, as to 
 the re-edifying and strengthening of Norham Castle, 
 he says : " But, Maister Almoner, the hospitalitie of 
 this countray agrethe not with the building of so great 
 a worke ; for that I spend here would make many
 
 AUCKLAND CASTLE 215 
 
 towris and refreshe my ruynous howses, the lyke 
 wherof I trow never Cristenman lokyd on, onlesse they 
 had be pullyd down by men of warre." He assures 
 Wolsey that he will return hither after he has seen the 
 king, "if the wars continue here, and if it be his 
 pleasure." And from attendance on his Majesty we 
 drop to the expenses of housekeeping at the castle, 
 and the consumption of wine there is dilated on for 
 sympathy. Eight tuns of wine had he brought with 
 him, " and, our Lord be thankyd, I have not two 
 tunne left at this howre. And this is fair utterance in 
 two monethys. And schame it is to say how many 
 befis and motons have ben spent in my hows sens my 
 cummyng, besides other fresh acats, whete, malt, fysche, 
 and such bagages. On my faith ye wold marvayle." 
 Had not his fortunes been " somewhat stored before," 
 frugal man, he "would have been much behind; for 
 three hundred persons some day is a small number, 
 and sometimes sixty or eighty beggars at the gate." 
 " And this is the way to keep a poore man in state." 
 
 Ruthall is accused of having been avaricious. It 
 is said that on one occasion he sent in to King Henry 
 VIII. accounts dealing with his own estates in mistake 
 for certain accounts of his Majesty's realm, and that 
 Wolsey, who was aware of the mistake, handed the 
 wrong documents in to the king with the laughing 
 comment that these, if they did not show him what 
 he wanted, would at least tell him where to go for 
 what he did want. The bishop is said to have been 
 ill with chagrin at having the extent of his possessions 
 thus exposed. It is perhaps not unreasonable to 
 imagine that so intimate a knowledge of the state of 
 his wine cellar at Auckland as he displayed, may not 
 have been unconnected with some tendency to parsi- 
 mony on his part, but it must be remembered what
 
 216 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 point would be given to the jest of my Lord Almoner 
 with his sovereign by the fact that the exposure was 
 made to very covetous eyes indeed. 
 
 Ruthall's building operations at the castle are the 
 subject of some illuminating correspondence published 
 in the Letters and Papers of King Henry VIII. In 
 August 1 5 19 we find Thomas Strangways, who filled 
 the post of comptroller of the bishop's household, 
 protesting to the bishop that " there was never so great 
 works so sumptuously and curiously wrought in so 
 many parts within all the king's realm with so little 
 money as I have demanded." After Ruthall's death, 
 Wolsey, whose tenure of the see from 1523 to 1529 
 does not seem to have been accompanied by any 
 expenditure on the castle, appears to have deprived 
 Thomas Strangways of even the money assigned to 
 him by Bishop Ruthall as legitimately due to him for 
 his services. In 1530 we have the comptroller's angry 
 complaints against Wolsey concerning the wardship of 
 one George Bowys, which had been bequeathed by the 
 late bishop to Strangways " in reward for his labour 
 and expense on the repairs at Auckland," in another 
 document described as " eight years' service done to 
 the bishop without fee or reward." Strangways states 
 that Wolsey had demanded the wardship from him in 
 return for a payment of ^600. Echoes of Wolsey's 
 might and power come down to us in Strangway's 
 confession that he had not dared to refuse him, though 
 it was worth much more than ^1000. But when even 
 the meagre £600 was withheld, the unfortunate man 
 was reduced to making suit for its recovery, and it is 
 to this we owe the survival of all documents connected 
 with the affair. Many heartburnings must have gone 
 into the erection of the great dining-hall, whose 
 magnificent bay window or oriel forms a principal
 
 AUCKLAND CASTLE 217 
 
 feature of the eastern front. Its upper part was com- 
 pleted by Bishop Tunstall (1530-58), the impaled 
 arms of the two bishops and of the see being an 
 important part of the rich decorations of the great 
 window. Perhaps we have in this correspondence of 
 Strangways some explanation of the statement made 
 by Tunstall in his will, that he found the houses 
 belonging to the bishopric in such a state of disrepair 
 that he " had not a house at his first coming to lie dry 
 in," " and by great art and labour " repaired them, 
 his accounts showing that he lost no time in doing 
 this at Auckland, ^42, 3s. 4d. for repairs occurring in 
 the roll of the clerk of the works in 1531. 
 
 The great breach with Rome was not accomplished 
 without outspoken resentment on the part of the 
 bishopric (or county) of Durham. Bishop Tunstall, 
 the friend of Erasmus, and himself so learned that 
 Godwin says of him " that there was scarce any kind 
 of learning in which he was not excellent," had the 
 courage even to protest against Henry's assumption of 
 the title of supreme head, and to urge that it might be 
 perverted to scandalous meanings. Few men can have 
 experienced more of the chances and changes of for- 
 tune than were to be the lot of this highly esteemed 
 bishop as the pendulum swung from one extreme to 
 the other in the ensuing years. It is the comment of 
 the historian Hutchinson, in describing at a later date 
 the stripping of the bishops of the see of their greatest 
 palatine honours, that by that time Tunstall had 
 probably been disciplined by the tyrant into passive 
 obedience. Of the methods pursued by the tyrant's 
 instruments Auckland was to witness an example, and 
 in the Letters and Papers a description survives of a 
 hasty and secret but thoroughgoing search to which 
 the castle was subjected in his absence, in May 1532.
 
 2i 8 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 It is impossible even at this day to read without indig- 
 nation of the ransacking scenes which the old walls 
 must have witnessed at the hands of those who were 
 all eagerness to please his Majesty or his subservient 
 tool Cromwell. On 2nd May 1532 the Earls of 
 Westmoreland and Cumberland and Sir Thomas 
 Clifford wrote to Cromwell that on receipt of the 
 king's letters they had repaired without delay to the 
 house of the bishop at Auckland, where his chief 
 abode was, and where most of his substance lay. 
 Their letter tells him how secretly they proceeded, 
 taking from the chancellor, surveyor, and Dr. Ridley 
 the keys of the bishop's lodgings and studies, which 
 they rigorously searched. They are profuse in lamen- 
 tations because they found but little household stuff 
 or writing of importance, at which they marvel in so 
 studious a man. They think he must have been " pre- 
 vented " long ago. The disappointment at not unearth- 
 ing portable property of value is a sinister touch. 
 
 Four years later another letter to Cromwell, this 
 time from Thomas Legh, whose methods at the visi- 
 tation of the monasteries, prior to their dissolution, 
 gained him so unenviable a reputation, shows that the 
 bishop had been constrained to put in practice the 
 wisdom of making friends with the mammon of un- 
 righteousness. Bribe-taking, even bribe-taking to ex- 
 cess, is laid to the charge of the unspeakable Dr. Legh, 
 so the bishop's largesse must have been generous indeed 
 to call forth so unctuous a letter from such a source. 
 Of the scenes by which the passing of the old order was 
 accompanied at Auckland the letter affords also a valu- 
 able example. It was written on 26th January 1536, 
 and informs Cromwell: "It would be long to tell you the 
 gentle and lowly entertainment of the Bishop of Durham, 
 meeting us at our entry into his diocese three or four
 
 AUCKLAND CASTLE 219 
 
 miles from his house [Auckland Castle], with a great 
 company of his servants, and on our leaving him, con- 
 ducting us from Auckland more than half the way to 
 Durham Abbey. Both we, our servants, and our com- 
 pany had large rewards, thus setting an example to the 
 people, and especially the abbots, of their duty towards 
 their prince, and how they ought to accept him as 
 their Supreme Head." 
 
 The most respected of the bishops at this dread 
 time might find he had no alternative but to promote 
 the very measures against whose adoption he had 
 previously protested, but there were others in the 
 bishopric of a more stubborn disposition. The Pil- 
 grimage of Grace had many sympathisers in Durham, 
 and Auckland had witnessed a very considerable 
 mustering of rebels in the course of Bigod's Re- 
 bellion, which took place earlier in the same month 
 of January 1536. George Lumley, son and heir of 
 Lord Lumley, was among those who joined Bigod's 
 enterprise, and it is from his evidence, given when 
 he was a prisoner under examination in the Tower, 
 that we learn what took place. He says that he 
 and his father had fled to Newcastle because they had 
 heard the commons were up, that the bishop had 
 fled from Auckland at midnight, and that it would 
 be best for them to get into some safe place ; from 
 Newcastle he seems to have been recalled by hearing 
 that his father's goods would be spoiled unless he 
 went to Lord Latimer. Alarmed for the safety of 
 his father's property, the younger man repaired 
 to Lord Latimer, whom he found at Auckland, 
 with eight or ten thousand men mustering before 
 the bishop's house. Lord Latimer asked him to send 
 word to his father to " come in," and gave him the 
 oath. We learn also that " Sir James Strangwishe,
 
 220 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 young Bowes, Sir Ralph Bowmer, and another knight 
 that married with and dwells nigh Lord Latimer, 
 came in with companies." Asked as to the causes of 
 the insurrection, he declared them to be the pulling 
 down of abbeys and reports of taxes on christenings 
 and weddings, and " that no poor man should eat 
 white bread." He adds that " a tall, lusty man " 
 had said at this muster at Auckland : " I hear say 
 that the king doth cry eighteenpence a day, and I 
 trust that we shall have as many men for eightpence 
 a day," and that he thinks this was the Abbot of 
 Jervaulx ; his chaplain carried bow and arrows. 
 
 Whatever example the bishop might set " to the 
 people, and especially the abbots, of their duty towards 
 their prince," it had not been humanly possible to 
 repress altogether some explosion of resentment felt 
 by "commons" and priests alike at the suppression 
 of the monasteries. But the Abbot of Jervaulx was 
 one of the first to expiate his contumacy with the loss 
 of his head, and a whole batch of rebels were hanged 
 at Durham. The royal vengeance was very terrible, 
 and crushed out the embers of revolt quickly. The 
 doom of the abbeys was sealed. The stables at Auck- 
 land l would not henceforth be called upon to accom- 
 modate the twenty horses and more required to convey 
 the retinue of servants that accompanied the prior on 
 his visits to the castle. Its floors were no longer to be 
 trodden by the sandals of monkish visitors. It was 
 no longer to witness the comings and goings of the 
 priests from the college within its gates, which now 
 became the property of the bishops, after falling into 
 
 i See Dwham Household Book (Surtees Soc), Bursar's Accounts, p. 12 ; 
 the prior's expenses at Auckland (Feb. 1530-31) with 20 horses, 17 servants, 
 and 2 chaplains, for one night : p. 245 ; the prior's expenses at Auckland with 
 16 horses, and again with 18 horses (1533-34): p. 244; "my" expenses at 
 Auckland, and for 8 brethren (novices) for ordination, with 20 horses.
 
 AUCKLAND CASTLE 221 
 
 the hands of the king. Tunstall was appointed to 
 preside over the Council of the North, which carried 
 out the dismantling of the monasteries, administered 
 justice, and looked to the defences of the county. 
 Many military and judicial consultations must have 
 taken place under his roof. It sheltered the great 
 bishop as he received blow after blow from King 
 Henry ; until the bishopric was suppressed under the 
 boy king, Edward ; again, after his restoration to 
 favour under Queen Mary, whose orders to levy 
 forces for the borders, especially horses, we find 
 him informing her he had already anticipated, in a 
 letter dated here 7th August 1559; and witnessed 
 the final rebuff reserved for his extreme old age — 
 Elizabeth's intimation that she would have no use 
 for his services. No successor of his, not even in 
 the bitter days of the Civil War, could ever again 
 witness quite such violent revolutions of fortune's 
 wheel as Cuthbert Tunstall. During his tenure of 
 the see he contributed a great porch and scullery to 
 the castle, as well as his share in the completion of the 
 dining-room ; and is said to have built for the recep- 
 tion of Scottish prisoners or hostages that part of the 
 building known as " Scotland." He put the castle into 
 a general state of repair, according to the chronicler. 
 
 The Elizabethan bishops had the same difficulties 
 to deal with at Auckland as their contemporaries 
 throughout the kingdom — hindrances to religion in 
 the diocese, obstinate recusants, and the queen's in- 
 satiable demands upon Church property. To content 
 her Majesty on the one hand, and on the other to avoid 
 rousing the ill-will of neighbours from whom contri- 
 butions had to be procured for the defences of the 
 county, or a measure of conformity they were in no 
 wise inclined to give, must at times have made life at
 
 222 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 Auckland somewhat harassing. Bishop Barnes, who 
 died at Auckland 24th August 1587, after having 
 " always chiefly resided there," in a letter to the all- 
 powerful Burleigh of nth February 1575/6, com- 
 plained to him that the " stubborn churlish people of 
 the county of Durham defaced him by all slanders, 
 false reports, and shameless lies." Bishop Hutton, 
 in January 1594/5, declares that he would rather 
 "give up his post and live a private life, where he 
 would have little to do but pray for the queen's most 
 excellent majesty," than comply with her wishes con- 
 cerning a certain lease. Bishop Matthew takes up 
 the cudgels for his bishopric in 1596, and protests 
 that " no county in the north is so charged with service 
 as the small handful of the bishopric of Durham." 
 In a letter to Secretary Cecil, of 1601, he laments that 
 " there has been great unkindness between the chief 
 commanders in these parts," and seems to have found 
 great comfort in the company of one John Gibson, 
 who has just paid him a few days' visit at Auckland, 
 because Gibson appears to be more ready and glad to 
 be employed by Cecil than the inhabitants of the 
 bishopric. We hear of a court held by the chancellor 
 upon a stone in the courtyard of the castle in 1579, of 
 institutions by the bishop in " le dyning chambre " in 
 1584, and can thus localise happenings of regular 
 occurrence ; but it is perhaps not unnatural that at 
 this time there is nothing to tell of great occasions or 
 of extensive building operations at the castle. 
 
 The seventeenth century, however, was an eventful 
 one in its story. In 1625 the Court of High Com- 
 mission began to hold, " in an upper chamber in the 
 manor-house of Auckland," those trials of ecclesiastical 
 causes which were to contribute in so lamentable a 
 degree to the exasperation that culminated in the
 
 AUCKLAND CASTLE 223 
 
 Civil War. Before the great explosion took place, the 
 magnificent old building enjoyed one final scene of 
 splendid ceremony in 1633, when Bishop Morton 
 entertained King Charles I. on the occasion of his 
 visit to Scotland to receive his crown and hold a 
 Parliament in a manner befitting so dignified a mission. 
 Hutchinson says that the bishop's sumptuous enter- 
 tainment of the king cost him ^1500 a day. The 
 great edifice must have been in every way set in order 
 and prepared to be worthy of its royal guest, as Bishop 
 Neile (1617-31) had spent nearly ^3000 upon it in 
 repairs. Of the state kept up on all occasions by 
 Bishop Morton we have several notices. He is said to 
 have brought up many poor scholars in his house, to 
 have had very much plate, and to have been served at 
 his table in very great state, all in silver. Sir William 
 Brereton, whose travels have been published by the 
 Chetham Society, gives an interesting account of 
 a visit to him in 1634, and of the great hospitality 
 maintained by him in " an orderly, well-governed 
 house," of whose grandeur he gives some idea by 
 enumerating its two chapels, the one over the other, 
 the lower made use of on Sabbath days, its three 
 dining-rooms, fair-matted gallery, and " dainty stately 
 park." The fated king, who had on a previous oc- 
 casion, as a little boy travelling into England from 
 Scotland shortly after his father's accession, broken his 
 journey for a time with Bishop Toby Matthew at the 
 castle, was to return to Bishop Auckland in 1646/7, 
 after Bishop Morton had been expelled by the Parlia- 
 mentarians. The abode which had afforded him such 
 loyal hospitality, was then in the hands of his enemies, 
 and he, with the soldiers who guarded him, was lodged 
 in a rough inn. The pre-Commonwealth bishops of 
 Durham seem to have been distinguished by the alto-
 
 224 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 gether superior way in which they discharged the 
 episcopal duty of hospitality. Perhaps the reason that 
 Charles, in his delicate childhood, was entrusted for 
 a time to Bishop Matthew, may be found in the 
 excellence of Auckland housekeeping in his time. Of 
 Mrs. Matthew we hear that she " was a very gallant 
 woman and a great housewife, insomuch that those 
 who had a desire to bestow good breeding upon their 
 daughters thought themselves happv, and that they 
 had more than half bred their daughters, if they could 
 get them entertained with Mrs. Matthew's service. 
 She sewed a very stately and rich bed, and presented 
 it to the queen, who kindly accepted it." 
 
 Another Stuart visitor destined for the castle by 
 James was Arabella Stuart, whose imprisonment in the 
 care of Neile's predecessor, Bishop James, was to have 
 been passed here. But she refused to be banished to 
 the wilds of Durham. This bishop may literally be 
 said to have been a martyr to the Stuart temper. He 
 speaks of himself as going to Bath to cure ill-health, 
 solely brought on by his attendance on her, and Surtees 
 says that his last illness was brought on by the scolding 
 administered to him by James I. at Durham ; and that 
 the bishop went back to Auckland to die there, scolded 
 to death, three days after it took place. 
 
 Whether sympathies are Royalist or Parliamentarian, 
 there can be but one mind about the treatment meted 
 out to ancient buildings, especially those of an eccle- 
 siastical, or worse still, episcopal character, by the 
 Puritans. Auckland, in spite of Bishop Neile's ex- 
 penditure in repairs, does not seem to have escaped 
 the universal fate of defacement and destruction. On 
 8th March 1647 it was sold to that foremost Parlia- 
 mentarian, Sir Arthur Haselrigg, for ^6102, 8s. n|d. 
 A survey made preparatory to this sale is given in full
 
 AUCKLAND CASTLE 225 
 
 by Raine in his history of the castle. This speaks of 
 it as "a very stately manor-house," with two chapels 
 to it, one over the other, built of stone and covered 
 with lead. It makes a special mention of the stately 
 gate-house, and says the several courts, yards, and 
 gardens within the wall cover about five acres. The 
 rooms then in existence must have been very much the 
 same as those mentioned in an inventory taken at 
 Bishop Neile's translation to Winchester in 1628. 
 The park has not much timber older than the Com- 
 monwealth, and Cosin says that Sir Arthur " left 
 never a tree or pollard standing " ; but in fairness to 
 him it must be noted that Sir William Brereton, whose 
 interesting account of his visit in 1634 has been before 
 referred to, said there was much store of wood, but 
 little timber. 
 
 Of the building it would perhaps be safe to say 
 that, if he did not demolish all that was laid to his 
 charge, the whole structure fell into neglect and dis- 
 repair while in Sir Arthur's possession. When Bishop 
 Cosin, after the Restoration, set to work to restore 
 the castle, it would appear, however, from the word- 
 ing of his accounts, that others had had their share 
 in the business of ruining it. Surtees says Sir Arthur 
 " plucked down the old pile and Anthony Bek's 
 chapel, and began a new palace within the east curtain 
 wall, but the whole of this new building Cosin, from 
 some strange superstition, pulled down, and reared 
 almost from the ground the whole palace which now 
 exists on the scite of the old castle." This " strange 
 superstition " as Surtees so contemptuously calls it, 
 is somewhat differently treated by Camden, who, in 
 his Britannia, says that Bishop Cosin, because Sir 
 Arthur Haselrigg's palace had been sacrilegiously 
 built with the materials of the old chapel, pulled it 
 
 p
 
 226 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 down, and built other apartments to what remained 
 of the old. He further states that the old hall, 
 75 feet long by 32 broad, and 35 feet high, remains, 
 and other good offices. It is stated in " a view of the 
 estate of the bishopric of Durham," given in Cosin's 
 correspondence, that "the usurpers Sir Arthur Hesel- 
 rigg and others had ruined " the castle, but the details 
 of rebuilding expenses show that Camden's account 
 rather than Surtees' is the correct one. Whether 
 we incline to agree with " strange superstition " as 
 a description of Cosin's action, or to apply the term 
 " sacrilege " to that of Sir Arthur, it is not impossible 
 to understand the feeling that " plucked down " the 
 palace the latter had erected. This is described by 
 Dugdale, who says Sir Arthur " intended to build 
 a new structure of a noble fabric, all of one pile, 
 taking for his model the curious and stately building 
 at Thorpe, near Peterborough, a large, square, four- 
 storied edifice, which Chief Justice Oliver St. John, 
 after the murder of Charles I., erected partly out 
 of the cathedral at Peterborough." 
 
 At a later date sacrilegious hands were to attack 
 with stucco and whitewash stately apartments which 
 in the name of improvement and restoration suffered 
 treatment not much less injurious than they had 
 endured at the hand of the Puritan. But though 
 we may set this humiliating reflection in the scales 
 to soften our indignation, it would not be easy to 
 forgive Sir Arthur Haselrigg, " the former faire 
 chappell " of Bishop Anthony Bek, if he really pulled 
 it down to furnish himself with material for a residence 
 of the latest fashion. But opinion is extraordinarily 
 divided on this question. Raine, in his history of 
 Auckland Castle, strongly argues in favour of Cosin's 
 having repaired and not rebuilt the old chapel, though
 
 AUCKLAND CASTLE 227 
 
 this is in direct opposition to the statements made in 
 the accounts of Cosin's expenditure published in his 
 correspondence. Raine perhaps shows himself some- 
 what over-anxious to contradict all previous historians, 
 to defend Sir Arthur Haselrigg, to minimise the 
 damage done by him, and to criticise unfavourably 
 Cosin's building operations. He maintains that Cosin 
 used Sir Arthur's new structure only for repairing the 
 castle, not at all for the chapel ; that it was not Sir 
 Arthur who destroyed Bek's chapel, and that no such 
 demolition generally can be laid to his charge as he has 
 been accused of. 
 
 It is never possible to read without a thrill of the 
 home-coming of Cavalier families after the Restoration. 
 Though there is no such home-coming to record in the 
 case of Auckland Castle, Bishop Morton having died in 
 1659 at the ripe age of ninety-five, we are inclined to 
 sympathise as if the old building had been a sentient 
 thing to be cherished, when we read of the zeal with 
 which repairs and rebuilding were put in hand as soon 
 as Bishop Cosin was able to set about the operation. 
 Certainly if the old stones had been sentient things, 
 and conscious of the animosity or contempt they had 
 roused, they would have understood that whether the 
 work now done was altogether judicious or not, much 
 loving care at least was expended to atone for the 
 neglect which cannot be denied, even if the " spoiling 
 and ruining " has been exaggerated. 
 
 Bishop Cosin was appointed to the see in December 
 1660, and in September of the following year his 
 secretary, Myles Stapylton, is able to write to Mr. 
 William Sancroft of the installation of the episcopal 
 household at the castle ; a letter from the bishop him- 
 self to the same correspondent in that month even 
 mentioning the presence of his daughters there. The
 
 228 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 secretary's letter, dated 6th September 1661, after 
 telling of the bishop's coming, states that all his goods 
 are safely arrived, that " his library is a setting up, the 
 greatest part of the bookes he hath here being up 
 already, and the rest will be set up in a day or two's 
 time ; the place he hath chose for it is the long gallery 
 at Awkland." It is clear that Surtees altogether over- 
 estimated the demolition for which Sir Arthur Hasel- 
 rigg was responsible. 
 
 An account of the bishop's expenses to 1668, 
 published in his Correspondence, says that by that 
 date he had expended .£17,500 in repairing and 
 rebuilding Auckland Castle and the castle of Dur- 
 ham, which latter " the Scots spoyl'd and ruined with 
 gunpowder." Of this sum " ^"6000 was expended in 
 erecting from the ground and consecrating a faire large 
 new chappell at Auckland Castle, the former faire 
 chappell there having been totally pulled down by 
 Sir Arthur Haselrigg." This new chapel, with all the 
 splendid inventory of books, plate, and ornaments for 
 the service of the altar with which he adorned it, was 
 to furnish his last resting-place, and it was here, under 
 a stone on the floor, that he was buried in 1672, all the 
 country assembling to do honour to the loyal and warm- 
 hearted churchman who had so munificently cared for 
 his Auckland home. 
 
 No details had been too small for him to attend 
 to, and in one of his letters we find him giving minute 
 instructions about the gravelling of its paths. The 
 park, from which we find Bishop Morton, in the very 
 last year before the Rebellion, despatching so many 
 presents of venison to Viscount Conway and others, 
 had lost its herd of wild bulls and its bucks. The 
 bishop not only did much replanting, he stocked it 
 again with deer, though not with the bulls — or bisons,
 
 < 
 
 o 
 
 u 
 
 <
 
 AUCKLAND CASTLE 229 
 
 as they were described in the survey of 1647. This 
 speaks of them as all destroyed but two or three. 
 So with the Rebellion had disappeared the " bulles 
 and bukkes ' mentioned as early as 1503 by Bishop 
 William Sever, and the bulls have never been re- 
 placed. 
 
 The deeds and letters relating to Cosin's work, 
 published in his Correspondence and in Raine's history 
 of the castle, though they give abundance of instruc- 
 tions, are not on all points explicit enough to clear up 
 the questions of damage done respectively by Sir 
 Arthur Haselrigg's " plucking down " and Cosin's 
 repairs and renovations, but show to what a complete 
 remodelling the then existing buildings were in many 
 cases subjected. 1 The existence of more than one 
 chapel, dining-room, great room, &c, add to the 
 difficulty of elucidating this matter. 
 
 An elaborate account of the ceremonies with 
 which, after his death in London in 1672, his body 
 was brought to the chapel at Auckland, is to be found 
 in a letter from George Brereton to Secretary William- 
 son, of 30th April 1672. 2 "On Saturday, the 27th, 
 the greatest part, and especially the chief of the gentry 
 of the county palatine, with many of the clergy, met 
 the corpse at the River Tees. When they came within 
 a mile of Durham, the proceeding being ordered in the 
 like sort as it was in London, the chief mourner and 
 his six assistants put on their gowns and hoods, and at 
 
 1 Cf- Correspondence, ii. 366. By articles of agreement of 3rd March 
 1663, John Langstaffe, of Bishop Auckland, freemason, agreed " before 29th 
 September next to take down the aishler in Sir Arthur Heselrigg's building 
 and remove it, and take away all the old buildings before the great chamber 
 or hall (now used for a dining-room) at Auckland Castle, and bringe up the 
 front wall of the said great chamber or hall with rustic aishler of the said new 
 building, and remove the windows from the backe side of the said great 
 chamber to the fore side of it, and make the one newe windowe of the same 
 forme on the east side . . ." &c. 
 
 * 5. P. Dow, 1671-72, p. 397.
 
 2 3 o EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 the entrance of the city the Mayor and Aldermen stood 
 in their liveries within the west gate, and then followed 
 the hearse to the castle, where the whole company 
 alighted from their horses, and the prebendaries, 
 whereof the Bishop of Bristol was one, received them. 
 Thence they went to the church to evening prayer, in 
 this solemn manner : First, two conductors in black 
 gowns with staves in their hands; then the poor people 
 of the hospitals of Durham and Auckland founded by 
 the deceased ; next, servants to gentlemen, esquires, 
 and knights, all in mourning ; next, divers clergymen 
 of the diocese in their canonicals ; after them five 
 chaplains, and next the Bishop of Bristol in his epis- 
 copal robes ; then the great banner carried by Miles 
 Stapleton, Esq., the crozier by York Herald, and 
 the mitre by Norroy King-at-Arms, before the corpse, 
 which was borne by eight men in gowns, the pall lying 
 thereon being supported by four of the prebendaries, 
 and the bannerols by four gentlemen of quality, the 
 chief mourner and his six assistants following it, and 
 after them the Mayor and Aldermen of Durham, with 
 a multitude of the gentry residing thereabouts, the 
 whole choir of the cathedral in their habits meeting it 
 also, and falling into the proceedings next after the 
 chaplains, and thus going to the upper end of the 
 body of the church ; the conductors, poor people, and 
 servants dividing themselves, so that the rest, entering 
 the choir, placed the corpse in the midst, where it 
 continued till Monday morning, and was thence 
 solemnly carried to Bishop's Auckland in the same 
 manner as into Durham, and as fully attended, all 
 the deputy lieutenants of the county palatine being 
 there ; at which place the proceeding was made from 
 the Market Cross on foot to that sumptuous and 
 beautiful chapel by him likewise built, and furnished
 
 AUCKLAND CASTLE 231 
 
 with gilt plate and other utensils for the altar there 
 to the value of £1000, left by him to his successors 
 for sacred purposes in that chapel for ever, where, 
 after a sermon by Dr. Isaac Basire, one of the preben- 
 daries of Durham and Archdeacon of Northumberland, 
 it was interred with all due rites by the before-men- 
 tioned Bishop of Bristol." 
 
 The bishop, in addition to the sums already shown 
 to have been spent by him at Auckland, bequeathed to 
 his successors the college adjoining the castle, which 
 Sir Arthur Haselrigg had purchased from the owners 
 and forfeited to the king, who graciously bestowed it 
 upon the bishop in his private capacity. The gift of 
 this place, " so near adjoining to Auckland Castle that 
 the bishops cannot conveniently live there without it," 
 added considerably to the comfort of residence at the 
 castle. 
 
 We are fortunate in possessing one more vivid little 
 picture, of an intimate and domestic character, of pro- 
 ceedings in the castle at a supremely critical moment 
 in the history of the English Church and English 
 nation. When James II. issued his Declaration of 
 Indulgence, refusal to read it was general in the dio- 
 cese, though the dean, Denis Granville, who followed 
 James into exile, and the bishop, Nathaniel, Lord 
 Crewe, were remarkable for the zeal with which they 
 had supported the king's measures. In a copy of 
 Granville's Remains, belonging to his friend the non- 
 juring scholar and antiquary, Thomas Baker, there 
 occurs the following note, which throws an interesting 
 light upon the course events took in the castle on this 
 memorable occasion: "When the king's Declaration 
 was appointed to be read, the most condescending 
 thing the bishop ever did with me, was coming to my 
 chamber (remote from his), to prevaill with me to
 
 232 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 read it in his chapel at Aukland ; which I could not 
 do, having wrote to my curate not to read it in my 
 living at Long Newton. But he did prevaill with the 
 curate at Aukland to read it in his church, where the 
 bishop was present to countenance the performance. 
 When all was over, the bishop, as a penance, I pre- 
 sume, ordered me to go to the dean, as archdeacon, 
 and require him to make a return to court of the names 
 of all such as had not read it, which I did, though 
 I was one of the number. 1 ' A more suggestive 
 description of the position in which the English 
 clergy were placed at this moment could not well be 
 imagined. 
 
 The bishop suspended thirty ministers in his diocese 
 for their refusal to read, but subsequently justified the 
 charges of time-serving which had previously been 
 brought against his assiduous promotion of the pro- 
 jects of James, by the promptitude with which he 
 proceeded to transfer his allegiance to William III. 
 It was in the year of the Revolution that Bishop Crewe 
 erected the organ and organ-loft in the chapel, but his 
 generosity in money gifts and bequests, great as it was, 
 at Auckland as elsewhere, cannot obliterate the memory 
 of his servility and disloyalty. 
 
 The old castle has not been destined again to 
 witness such epoch-making incidents as have been 
 recorded in these pages, though the change which 
 raised it from the official rank of country mansion of 
 the bishopric to that of the palace of the see, when, 
 in 1832, Bishop van Mildert resigned his palace at 
 Durham to found the new university there, was indeed, 
 in its own way, an almost revolutionary innovation. 
 By this change the castle, the only one remaining 
 unconfiscated of the six castles and eight manorial 
 residences of the ancient bishopric of Durham, had
 
 AUCKLAND CASTLE 233 
 
 assigned to it an importance of which its vast extent, 
 and its truly palatial situation on the lofty eminence 
 that overlooks such a splendid park and magnificently 
 wooded landscapes (as well as its long career as rival 
 with Durham in the affection of its bishops), renders 
 it in every way worthy. 
 
 All that has to be recorded in those later happy 
 years, which atone for their lack of history by their 
 abundance of peace and quiet, is mainly of an architec- 
 tural interest. With historic buildings, neglect can be 
 salutary or the reverse, and the same may be said of 
 the benevolent attentions of the improver. Auckland 
 has had its share of both kinds of neglect and attention. 
 In 1737, that indefatigable traveller, the second Earl 
 of Oxford, wrote of it as a fine old building, but very 
 much out of repair; he adds, " The chapel a very good 
 one, and finely fitted up by Bishop Cosin, but nothing 
 done to any part of it since his time ; there is a very 
 large dining-room upstairs, and there has been a very 
 long gallery, but great part of it is now converted into 
 bed-chambers." This was the second occasion on 
 which he had visited the place : on a previous visit, in 
 1725, he had been chiefly struck by the way in which 
 he had found Bishop Cosin's arms everywhere, both in 
 the windows and on the walls of the palace and chapel, 
 and with the inscription recording the rebuilding by 
 him over the south gate. On both occasions he did 
 not fail to remark the extreme beauty of the little 
 park and of its situation and surroundings, as well as 
 the fortunate way in which the building is sheltered 
 from the east wind by the large hill which screens it. 
 
 . The neglect of which the earl writes was followed 
 by a period of attention. Bishop Trevor (1752-71), 
 who probably found the castle as Cosin left it, and as 
 it appears in the plate dated 1728 in Raine's history,
 
 234 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 began the present south front; and the Gothic archway 
 by which the park is entered from the town, where 
 Skirlaw's gate formerly stood, was built by him in 
 1760. His successor, Bishop Egerton (1771-87), 
 finished the south front begun by him, repaired the 
 great room, erected a lodge and gate at the north-east 
 entrance, lowered the walls of the court and bowling- 
 green which had been rebuilt by Bishop Butler in 1750, 
 and extended the park walls. Bishop Shute Barrington 
 (1791-1826) spent much money on renovations which 
 were carried out under the directions of James Wyatt, 
 who considerably reduced the height of the great 
 drawing-room by erecting a stucco ceiling, and en- 
 closed the south front by a stone screen or range of 
 low pointed arches, with a large central gateway. 
 Various alterations and restorations were made in 
 the chapel by Bishop van Mildert (1827-28) and 
 Bishop Lightfoot (1879-89).
 
 (Roee Caetfe 
 
 WHERE the sluggish Caldew winds among 
 fertile meadows on its way to the Eden 
 stands Rose Castle, the seat of the Bishops 
 of Carlisle. Built in the local red sand- 
 stone, weathered and stained by time, it still (although 
 restored in a style of architecture not altogether 
 pleasing) forms a Turneresque picture, standing above 
 terraced lawns and gardens that slope down into a 
 wooded valley, with a surrounding landscape circled in 
 the distance by a long belt of famous hills. To the 
 south rise the great peaks of the Lake District, Skiddaw 
 and Helvellyn, to the south-east Saddleback, to the 
 east Crossfell, to the north the Northumbrian moors 
 and the Cheviots, and to the west, abruptly descending 
 to the Solway, the Great Criffel. The castle in this 
 sheltered vale could only tell to the learned eye that 
 its perfect peace is quite a recent picture, that nearly 
 every darker current of English history has washed up 
 to its abbey-like walls. James VI., looking at the 
 Johnstones' home at Lochwood Tower, is said to have 
 exclaimed, from the somewhat narrow royal point of 
 view, " The man who built this must have been a 
 knave in his heart ! " and the pious antiquarian, as 
 he enters the precincts of Rose Castle under the old 
 gateway, with its sunk embattlement, and looks at 
 the Strickland Tower, the early building about which 
 the subsequent dwelling rose, to his left, might very 
 
 well reflect that the people among whom a bishop's 
 
 235
 
 236 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 habitation needed to be of this strength must have 
 been a knave in its heart. The history of Rose Castle 
 is, as long as they existed, interwoven with that of the 
 Borders, of which Carlisle, the head of the bishopric, 
 six miles away, was the military centre. Situated at 
 the edge of the country which the Norman kings were 
 able to conquer, Cumberland was for some time after 
 the Conquest a subject of dispute between England and 
 Scotland, and afterwards its whole history was coloured 
 by the fact of its position as a Border county. 
 
 Carlisle had been destroyed by the Danes in 877, 
 and was not restored until the end of the eleventh 
 century by the second of the Norman kings. The 
 Saxon Chronicle relates that William Rufus went north- 
 ward with a large army to Carlisle, restored the city 
 and drove out Dolfin, its governor, built the castle, 
 garrisoned it, returned south, " and mickle many 
 churlish folk with wives and cattle thither sent to 
 dwell in the land to till it." This castle built at Car- 
 lisle commanded the passage of the Eden and the old 
 Roman road from Scotland into the plain of York, 
 while about twenty miles to the north-east was Bew- 
 castle, the other key to Scotland and Cumberland, on 
 the second Roman road. These two castles guarded 
 the western marches so far as armies were concerned ; 
 and for " moss-troopers " the natural path to and fro 
 also lay through this district, in the valley formed 
 by the Eden between the Pennine range and the 
 mountains of Cumberland. William Rufus therefore 
 introduced southern settlers, and built many castles to 
 defend these parts ; and Henry I., after trying the 
 effect of an earldom of Carlisle, established in n 33, 
 no doubt with this political view, the bishopric of 
 Carlisle, then with the rest of Cumberland under the 
 ecclesiastical jurisdiction perhaps of Durham, perhaps
 
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 ROSE CASTLE 237 
 
 of Glasgow, both sees claiming it. Henry, moreover, 
 married the Scottish king's sister, and carefully pre- 
 served peace. On his death, however, David I. of 
 Scotland, partly under pretext of aiding his niece, the 
 Empress Matilda, to obtain the English throne and 
 partly to enforce his son Henry's claim to the earldom 
 of Northumberland as heir of Siward, obtained the 
 help of many of the English barons and invaded 
 England as far as Yorkshire, ravaging as he went. 
 He received a crushing defeat at the Battle of the 
 Standard in 1 1 38, and in 1 1 57 Henry II. persuaded 
 his successor, Malcolm IV., to renounce his claim to 
 Northumberland, Cumberland, and Westmorland. 
 
 The Scots did not again interfere in England until 
 the revolt of Henry II. 's sons in 1 174, when William 
 the Lion came south to give his aid to the rebellious 
 princes. There were further difficulties in the early 
 thirteenth century, but there was no important breach 
 with Scotland from this time until Edward I.'s un- 
 disguised attempt to annex it to the English Crown, 
 and the ruthless severity of his methods set the sword 
 permanently between the two nations. Taking ad- 
 vantage of the dispute over the Scottish succession, 
 Edward I. established his overlordship over Scotland, 
 and then managed to make the English yoke even 
 more galling than it necessarily was, with the result 
 that his nominee, Balliol, finally tried to throw it off, 
 and made an alliance with Philip IV. of France, 
 against whom Edward was at war. In revenge the 
 English king marched north, attacked the rich and 
 important town of Berwick-on-Tweed by land and by 
 sea, and massacred its inhabitants: 17,000 persons, it 
 is said, were put to the sword, and for two days " the 
 city ran with blood like a river." The churches, as 
 usual in Border warfare, were plundered and defiled.
 
 2 3 8 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 From the time of this raid of 1296 until the 
 accession of the King of Scotland in 1603 to tne 
 throne of England, the flame of war between the two 
 kingdoms was ever ready to burst forth. If the Scots 
 lacked any just cause for invasion they always found 
 such pretexts as the misfortunes of the dynasty of the 
 Red Rose, or, with perfect impartiality, the efforts of 
 Perkin Warbeck to re-establish in his own person the 
 dynasty of the White Rose ; and, until the Reforma- 
 tion alienated Scotland from France, the latter nation, 
 in the event of a war with England, could always count 
 on a distracting sally from the former. As the 
 English put the point of honour in punishing every 
 Scottish raid, and the Scots in returning every English 
 raid, the Borders were, from the beginning of the 
 fourteenth to the end of the sixteenth century, no 
 place for men who were at the same time peaceful and 
 honest. The constant and simple plan of each army 
 was to burn and destroy as far within the enemy's 
 country as it could get, but sometimes also to lay 
 waste its own borders and retire, so that the invading 
 force should be compelled to do likewise for lack of 
 sustenance. Thus peculiarly exposed, the history of 
 any place on the Borders is quite different from that of 
 other English and Scottish towns. 
 
 The counties of Northumberland and Cumberland 
 on the English side, Berwickshire, and Roxburghshire, 
 Dumfriesshire, Peebles, and Selkirk on the Scottish 
 side, formed the frayed edges of the two kingdoms. 
 They were divided into east, middle, and west marches, 
 over which were placed wardens, by the English over 
 the English counties, by the Scots over the Scottish, 
 the wardens generally being of local families. The 
 heads of the famous Douglas clan, one of whom as 
 " a dead man " won the battle of Otterbourne, were
 
 ROSE CASTLE 239 
 
 almost hereditary wardens on the Scottish side, and 
 after the fall of the house of Douglas in 1455 the 
 office was, until the end of the sixteenth century, in 
 the hands of one or other of the great Border houses 
 that succeeded to the fame of the Douglases — the Scotts 
 of Buccleuch, the Kerrs of Cessford and Farniehurst, 
 the Homes, Maxwells, and Johnstones, all famous 
 names in Border history and legend. The Kerrs or 
 Scotts were generally wardens of the middle march, 
 the Homes and sometimes the Earls of Angus of 
 the eastern, and the Maxwells or Johnstones of the 
 western. On the English side the office of warden 
 of the western marches was often in early times in 
 the hands of the Bishops of Carlisle, that of the eastern 
 usually in those of the Percies. 
 
 The private feuds of these families were even more 
 responsible for the horrors of Border life than was the 
 constant open warfare. There were feuds between the 
 Scotts and Kerrs, the Maxwells and Johnstones, the 
 Graemes and Armstrongs of Liddesdale (just to the 
 north of Carlisle), the Redes and Halls of Redesdale, 
 and in Tynedale between the Herons and Carnabies ; 
 and when the great Northumbrian house of Percy was 
 not engaged in combat with the Douglases across the 
 Border, it was generally at feud with the Nevilles at 
 home. 
 
 Harry Percy, " the Hotspur of the north," in the 
 early fifteenth century, had a reputation that stirred 
 envy in Prince Henry of England in his better 
 moments : he " kills me some six or dozen of Scots at 
 a breakfast, washes his hands, and says to his wife, ' Fie 
 upon this quiet life ! I want work.' ' O my sweet 
 Harry,' says she, ' how many hast thou killed to-day ? ' 
 ' Give my roan horse a drench,' says he ; and answers 
 4 Some fourteen,' an hour after ; ' a trifle, a trifle.'
 
 2 4 o EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 The crown of Border anarchy was the raid of the 
 obscure cattle-thief. To control the Borders, special 
 laws were made for the marches, and the sixteenth- 
 century codes reminded Dr. Hodgkin of those of the 
 barbarians who overran the Roman empire, the chief 
 provisions of both being against cattle-lifting and the 
 feud. It is true that, when England and Scotland 
 were at peace, Border thieves were supposed to be 
 handed over by the respective wardens, but the latter 
 seem often to have connived at their misdoings, and 
 there was until 1552 a strip of land between the Esk 
 and the Sark (again not very far from Carlisle) which, 
 as it was claimed by both nations, was known as the 
 Debatable Land, where the " broken men " of both 
 countries found refuge. Here flourished outlawed 
 families like the Graemes, who — 
 
 " Sought the beeves that made their broth 
 In England and in Scotland both." 
 
 The ladies of the Scotts of Harden had spurs for 
 dinner when the larder was empty, and the house- 
 wives of Cumberland laid a sword on the table. One 
 of the best tales of Border life is that of the rescue of 
 "Kinmont Willie' 1 ' by the bold Buccleuch. Kinmont 
 Willie, one of the most, redoubtable Border thieves, 
 had been, for some reason, taken prisoner by the 
 English during the truce between England and Scot- 
 land in 1596, and was imprisoned in Carlisle Castle, 
 no doubt to swing later on the spot known fondly to 
 the moss-trooper as " Hairibee." He was saved from 
 his natural end, however, by the daring of Buccleuch, 
 who, with his clansmen, rescued him under the very 
 eyes of the warden, and got clear of Carlisle by fording 
 the Eden swollen by rains. As the English saw the 
 Scottish horses struggling to land on the further bank
 
 ROSE CASTLE 241 
 
 they could only rub their eyes and conclude that 
 Buccleuch was the son of a witch. But, for this deed, 
 James VI. was summoned by his imperious relative to 
 surrender the bold Buccleuch, who was brought before 
 the queen and questioned, in the most awful Tudor 
 way, how he dared to storm her castle of Carlisle. It 
 is a tradition in the Buccleuch family that their bold 
 ancestor replied in the grand manner : " What is there, 
 madam, that a brave man dare not do ? " — a reply that 
 might have served as a motto for the Borders and was 
 well calculated to delight Elizabeth. She turned to her 
 attendants and remarked without exaggeration : " With 
 10,000 such men our brother of Scotland might shake 
 the firmest throne in Europe." 
 
 The knights of Branksome Hall, the poet tells 
 us — with exaggeration — 
 
 " Lay down to rest 
 With corslet laced, 
 Pillow'd on buckler cold and hard ; 
 They carv'd at the meal 
 With gloves of steel, 
 And they drank the red wine through the helmet barr'd." 
 
 Particularly barbarous and rude were the middle and 
 western marches, where agriculture gradually became 
 disused. Although numerous strong castles guarded 
 these regions, each individual had to be in many ways 
 his own policeman, and there were developed, in very 
 early times, castellated manor-houses and the peculiar 
 strongholds known as pele towers, Norman keeps on a 
 small scale. Into the " barnkyn," or wooden palisade 
 surrounding these peles, the neighbouring herdsmen 
 drove their cattle, when the lights flashing from tower to 
 tower along the march told of an enemy's coming raid. 
 The Bishops of Carlisle probably lived in their 
 cathedral city in the twelfth century. In 12 17, when
 
 242 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 Carlisle was in the hands of the Scots, the Government 
 of Henry III. wrote to the Archbishop of York to 
 beseech him to improve the state of the Church of 
 Carlisle, as "the bishop is in the utmost need, and 
 hardly has where to lay his head." Four years later 
 Bishop Hugh of Carlisle had leave to take twenty 
 oaks in the Forest of Inglewood for building his 
 houses at Carlisle, and in 1230 Henry III. granted 
 Walter Mauclerk, then bishop, the old barony of 
 Dalston, that is, the manor of Dalston, the advowson 
 of the church, the whole soke with the woods and 
 mills and the forest. In this grant the manor of 
 Rose, or La Rose as it was then called, was no doubt 
 included, for in this year Geoffrey de la Rose, servant 
 of the Bishop of Carlisle, is mentioned in a patent roll. 
 This mention of Geoffrey has not been hitherto noticed, 
 and dates the bishop's house earlier back than diocesan 
 historians have thought. Moreover, although it is 
 possible that the bishop had already built a manor- 
 house here, the mention in 1230, the year of his ac- 
 quirement of Dalston, makes it more probable that 
 he had merely taken over an existing building on the 
 site. Camden assigns a Roman station to this spot. 
 " Rose Castle," he says, " is probably on the site of 
 Congavata, where the second cohort of the Sergi kept 
 guard, for Congavata signifies in British ' the valley of 
 the Gavata,' now contracted into Caude." 
 
 As England did not yet comprise Cumberland, 
 there is no Domesday record for these parts, and we 
 do not know if the manor of La Rose existed in Saxon 
 or Norman times; and this casual allusion in 1230 
 seems to be the earliest hint of its existence. 
 
 The episcopal residence throughout the thirteenth 
 century, however, was chiefly at Linstock, a place about 
 two miles away from Carlisle, in the parish of Stanwix.
 
 ROSE CASTLE 243 
 
 Here Bishop Irton died in 1292 ; here in 1294 Bishop 
 HaJton entertained the Archbishop of York and his 
 suite; and here Edward I. and his second wife, 
 Margaret of France, were guests in 1307. 
 
 The bishops had also a house at Newcastle, and 
 they acquired in the fourteenth century residences far 
 away at Horncastle in Lincolnshire and at Melbourne 
 in Derbyshire, where throughout the Middle Ages they 
 were accustomed to fly for shelter when Scottish in- 
 vasions made their chief seat untenable. Bishop Irton 
 was resident at Rose in 1282, and a man was im- 
 prisoned here on a charge of murder in 1287. From 
 nth September to 15th October 1300 Edward I. 
 made it his headquarters ; Queen Margaret stayed 
 here, and from here the king issued the writs for 
 his famous Parliament at Lincoln. 
 
 The first bishop of this see, ^thelwulf, Prior of 
 Nostell in Yorkshire, and confessor of Henry I., in- 
 augurated the connection of the bishopric with Border 
 history. In 1 1 36 Stephen had to appease David I. by 
 giving the earldom of Carlisle to his son Henry, and 
 the Scots drove out Bishop vEthelwulf, and made 
 Carlisle the point of support for their ravages into 
 Tynedale and Yorkshire. iEthelwulf appealed to the 
 papal legate, who went with him to Carlisle and per- 
 suaded David to restore him ; but after his restoration 
 TEthelwulf found it expedient to conduct himself as a 
 nominee of David rather than of Stephen, 
 
 The existence of /Ethelwulf's successor, Bernard 
 (1156-86), was questioned by Le Neve and others, 
 because, during the subsequent vacancy of the see, 
 its custody was for some time given to the foreign 
 prelate, Bernard, Archbishop of Ragusa or Sclavonia, 
 and it has been thought that there had been no Bishop 
 Bernard but the latter. As Chancellor Ferguson,
 
 244 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 however, points out, there are charters by Bishop 
 Bernard of Carlisle in the registers of the religious 
 houses of Wetheral and Lanercost long before the 
 date at which the custody of the bishopric was given 
 to Archbishop Bernard. 
 
 The whole history of the bishopric during the 
 thirteenth and fourteenth centuries might almost be 
 given in a list of Border raids. William the Lion 
 vainly besieged Carlisle during Bernard's episcopacy, 
 in his invasion of 1173-74. Henry II. was at Car- 
 lisle in 1 1 86, the year of Bernard's death, and offered 
 the see to Paulinus of Leeds, who declined it, although 
 the king offered to raise its revenues by 300 marks 
 yearly, and the vacancy lasted (not counting an ex- 
 communicated clerk elected by the Chapter) until 
 1 2 19. In 1200 King John granted its revenues to 
 the above-named Archbishop of Sclavonia, in 1205 
 gave them to Alexander de Lucy, and in 12 14 first to 
 Aymery, Archdeacon of Durham, and then to the 
 Prior of Carlisle. 
 
 Alexander II. of Scotland in 12 16 captured Carlisle, 
 and the English Government wrote to the Archbishop 
 of York to complain that the canons of Carlisle (sub- 
 sequently for] these wrong-doings substituted by more 
 amenable prebendaries) were adherents of the King of 
 Scots and of other enemies of the realm, had submitted 
 to Alexander II. and paid him fealty, although he was 
 interdicted and excommunicated, and at his instance 
 had chosen an excommunicated clerk as their bishop, 
 although it was so important to England that the 
 head of this Border Church should be a friend ; and the 
 archbishop was besought to improve the state of this 
 Church, " as no suitable person can be found to take 
 that bishopric." The papal legate Gualo ended the 
 long vacancy in 12 19 by appointing one of the many
 
 ROSE CASTLE 245 
 
 foreigners who were to hold English sees during the 
 reign of Henry III. — Hugh, Abbot of Beaulieu in 
 Burgundy. Bishop Hugh was one of the sureties for 
 the truce made at York between Henry III. and Alex- 
 ander II. Directed, no doubt, by the Archbishop of 
 York, who had been requested by the king to dis- 
 possess the canons of Carlisle in favour of the new 
 prebendaries, he won this epitaph from the hand of a 
 neighbouring monk at Lanercost Priory : " Hugh, 
 Bishop of Carlisle, who cruelly dispersed the chapter 
 of that church and fraudulently divided its possessions, 
 died of surfeit (ingurgitatus) by the judgment of God 
 at the abbey of La Feste, in Burgundy, as he was 
 returning home from the Roman Court, without 
 viaticum and miserably, on Ascension Sunday." The 
 cause of this uncharitable judgment, suggests Hutchin- 
 son {History of Cumberland), was that the bishop, soon 
 after his accession to the see, had caused the convent 
 of Lanercost to relinquish a reserved rent, issuing out 
 of the church of Burgh-upon-Sands, as not having 
 been obtained by canonical rules. 
 
 Walter Mauclerk, who succeeded in 1223, was 
 presumably the first episcopal owner of La Rose. A 
 prebendary of Carlisle and also Sheriff of Cumberland at 
 the time of his nomination (those were the days of mixed 
 functions), he continued to hold the latter office after 
 he had received the episcopate. He had been John's 
 ambassador to Rome when the case between the king 
 and the barons was set before the Pope, and was subse- 
 quently high in Henry III.'s favour. He was made 
 treasurer in 1232, but shortly afterwards fell into 
 disgrace through the intrigues, it is thought, of Peter, 
 Bishop of Winchester. Walter Mauclerk set out for 
 Rome to appeal to the Pope because he was deprived 
 of the office of treasurer of certain custodies previously
 
 246 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 granted him by the king and £100 in silver; but was 
 arrested by the king's officers on board a vessel at Dover. 
 The Bishop of London, who was a witness to this out- 
 rage, excommunicated all concerned in it. Mauclerk 
 ultimately regained the king's favour, but he resigned 
 his bishopric in 1246 and became a Preaching Friar 
 at Oxford, where he worthily ended his days in 1248. 
 His successor, Sylvester de Everdon, was the first 
 but not the last Bishop of Carlisle to give way to the 
 weakness of admonishing kings. Bishop Merks is 
 said to have wasted his advice on Richard II., as 
 Ussher did on Charles I. Everdon had been Henry 
 III.'s chancellor, and hesitated to take this bishopric 
 when it was ofFered him in 1246, being, as he said 
 (" and probably not without cause," remarks his bio- 
 grapher), unworthy, but finally made up his mind to 
 accept it. Rather unaccountably, he and Boniface, 
 Archbishop of Canterbury — the queen's uncle and a 
 Savoyard, who spent nearly all his time in Savoy and 
 merely collected the revenues of his English see — with 
 Aymer de Valence, the Bishop-elect of Winchester, a 
 Lusignan, half-brother to the king, whose election was 
 long opposed and caused general scandal, and William 
 Bingham, Bishop of Salisbury, an unlearned bishop, con- 
 sented to be deputies from the bishops to the king, re- 
 questing him to respect the liberties of the English 
 Church, particularly in the matter of elections. As 
 angry as he was no doubt surprised, Henry III. answered, 
 according to Matthew Paris, that the charge was true ; 
 he grieved for it, and was repentant. Moreover, he 
 would correct his past errors and commit no wrong in 
 future. Canterbury, Salisbury, and Winchester, were all 
 unworthy men whom he had raised, and they were his 
 accomplices, and had better resign to save their souls. 
 Turning to Everdon he said, "And you, Sylvester
 
 ROSE CASTLE 247 
 
 Carlisle, who for a long time were in the Chancery, it 
 is well known to all that you were the least of my 
 clerks, although I have preferred you to be bishop over 
 many theologians and reverend persons." He wound 
 up by bidding them all " Repent and resign lest you 
 should be eternally damned ; and I, chastened and saved 
 by such an example, will henceforth take care to pro- 
 mote no unworthy person." 
 
 Succeeding kings were of no finer material ; and it 
 is doubtful if Bishop Merks (whose story will be 
 related further on) might with safety, even if he had 
 been so inclined, have made the speech he is purported 
 to have made to Richard II. 
 
 The four bishops refrained from resigning their 
 charges, but seven years later Sylvester de Everdon 
 fell from his horse and broke his neck. Thomas 
 de Vipont, a member of the family of the Earls of 
 Westmorland, was bishop from 1255 to 1258. Robert 
 de Chauncy, his successor, had been physician to Queen 
 Eleanor, and was at the time of his nomination to the 
 see of Carlisle, Archbishop of Bath. Like Walter 
 Mauclerk, he was Sheriff* of Cumberland, but had been 
 superseded in this office by 1272, when the acting 
 sheriff lodged information with the Lord Chancellor 
 that the Bishop of Carlisle had forbidden his tenants 
 to swear fealty to the king. The bishop successfully 
 disproved this charge, and subsequently, on the occasion 
 of the sheriff* distraining the Abbot of Holme Cultram 
 in his diocese for payments to the Crown, took the 
 opportunity of excommunicating his quondam foe — 
 a short-lived satisfaction, for the excommunication was 
 revoked by a writ of prohibition. He won the good 
 word of his neighbours at Lanercost, who pronounced 
 him to be " an ardent upholder of the dignity of the 
 Church, a lover of mankind, prompt to do kindness,
 
 248 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 and, as the whole world could attest, open-handed and 
 generous." On Chauncy's death in 1278 the canons 
 of Carlisle elected William de Rotherfield, Dean of 
 York, to be bishop, but again the offer of this see 
 was rejected. The prior and convent thereupon, 
 without waiting for a second conge d'ilire from the 
 king, elected Ralph de Irton, Prior of Guisborough, 
 and were consequently summoned to pay 500 marks 
 to the king for this irregularity. The matter was 
 ultimately referred to the Pope, who quashed the 
 election as uncanonical, but proceeded to duly appoint 
 Irton, and the king confirmed the election on the 
 payment of £100 by the Chapter. Ralph de Irton 
 (bishop from 1280-92) was a commissioner for the 
 collection of tenths in Scotland, one of Edward I.'s 
 commissioners to consider the matter of the Scottish 
 succession, and one of the plenipotentiaries appointed 
 to contract a marriage between Prince Edward of 
 Eno-land and the Maid of Norway. He again was 
 in no very good odour with the monks of Lanercost ; 
 and when, in 1280, the clergy of the diocese granted 
 the bishop the tenths of their churches for two years, 
 the monkish scribe broke out into Latin verse on 
 their wrongs : " Desolate flock, long time " (two 
 years) " widowed of a pastor, he ought to nourish, 
 not to fleece you ! Desolate flock, ill-fed, you ought 
 now to be comforted, not oppressed ! '" and at the 
 bishop's death, after a long bitter journey in the snow 
 from the Parliament in London to his palace at Lin- 
 stock, the scribe wrote for his epitaph : " A clever and 
 prudent man, and very avaricious, who turned visitations 
 of his churches into wells of profit for himself, and 
 dishonestly extorted every year throughout his diocese 
 a mulct from simple priests for completing the fabric 
 of the great church of his see."
 
 ROSE CASTLE 249 
 
 John Halton, Prior of Carlisle, who was appointed 
 bishop in 1292, took a great part in Edward's Scottish 
 wars, was sent many times as ambassador to Scotland, 
 and in 1297 was appointed Warden of Carlisle Castle, 
 an office he held for many years. In revenge for 
 Edward I.'s doings at Berwick, a Scottish army had 
 crossed the English Border, ravaged Redesdale and 
 Tynedale, burned the monasteries of Lanercost and 
 Hexham and the surrounding villages, and driven 
 home a great booty. Edward, however, marched 
 forward, won his great victory at Dunbar, and soon 
 had all Scotland at his feet and all its fortresses in 
 his hands. Robert Bruce swore fealty on the sword 
 of St. Thomas in the cathedral of Carlisle in the 
 presence of Bishop Halton. Then followed the War 
 of Scottish Independence under the leadership of 
 Wallace, who won back the whole of Scotland within 
 the twelvemonth, only to lose it again by 1304 and 
 his life in 1305; but under Robert Bruce, who was 
 crowned in 1306, the Scots made a new attempt to 
 rescue their country. The Bishop of Carlisle was now 
 appointed one of the commissioners to absolve all 
 persons guilty of offences against the Scots, whether 
 wounding the clergy or spoiling churches ; and in 
 Carlisle Cathedral the papal legate, Cardinal Petrus His- 
 panus, " revested himselfe and the other bishops which 
 were present, and then, with candels light and causing 
 the bels to be roong, they accursed, in terrible wise, 
 Robert Bruce, the usurper of the crowne of Scotland, 
 with all his partakers, aiders and maintainers." 
 
 During a truce in the war, in 13 14, Edward, 
 brother of Robert Bruce, burst with an army into the 
 vale of the Eden, and stayed three days at the bishop's 
 house at Rose, while he sent the greater part of his 
 army to burn all the surrounding towns and churches,
 
 250 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 take captives, and lead away the cattle they should find 
 in the Forest of Inglewood and its neighbourhood. 
 They struck no blow at Carlisle, because it was so well 
 manned. They must have emptied the bishop's fish- 
 ponds and driven away his deer in their course, for in 
 1319 Edward II. gave an order for him to have fifty 
 pickerels from the king's lake of Ternewathelan, in 
 the Forest of Inglewood, for stocking the fishponds at 
 La Rose, and to have twelve hinds and twelve does 
 from that forest for stocking his park there, as these 
 had been destroyed by the Scots. " The Scots did all 
 these evils," writes the Lanercost chronicler, revealing 
 the audacity of Scottish hopes, " because the men of 
 that border would not pay them tribute." In con- 
 sideration of the great services and sufferings of the 
 aged bishop, he was allowed in 131 8 to appropriate 
 the church of Horncastle in Lincolnshire, which was 
 of his gift, that he and his successors during the 
 Scottish raids might have a haven of refuge and be 
 able to support themselves. John Halton was one of 
 the plenipotentiaries to treat with Robert Bruce in 
 1320; but in the following year Bruce led a new 
 invasion of England, and began by again laying waste 
 Cumberland. He burned all Allerdale, the bishop's 
 house at Rose was again given to the flames, and he 
 spoiled the monastery at Holme Cultram, " although 
 his father's body was buried there." At Lancaster, 
 where he sacked the religious houses of the Domini- 
 cans and Franciscans, he was joined by another army 
 under the Earl of Murray and Lord James Douglas, 
 and together they plundered and burned until they 
 came round again to Carlisle, which they surrounded 
 for five days, "trampling down and laying waste by 
 themselves and their animals as much of the corn as 
 they could," and returned to Scotland after a successful
 
 ROSE CASTLE 251 
 
 circular tour of rather over three weeks. Edward II. 's 
 invasion in 1322 found the country still desolate, and 
 moreover Robert Bruce repeated his raid in this year. 
 
 The temptation to Bishop Halton to secede to the 
 Scottish side must have been almost as great as that to 
 which his predecessor had succumbed, as is shown by 
 the case of Andrew de Harcla, who, having defended 
 Carlisle against Bruce in 131 5, and been created Earl 
 of Carlisle by the king in reward for his valour and 
 loyalty, finally deserted to King Robert. The ven- 
 geance of Edward II., however, soon fell, and Harcla, 
 betrayed, met the horrible fate of treason. He was 
 hanged, drawn, and quartered ; one quarter was sus- 
 pended from the top of the tower of Carlisle, another 
 from the top of the tower of Newcastle, a third on 
 York Bridge, a fourth at Shrewsbury, while his head 
 was reserved to adorn London Bridge. In the month 
 of Harcla's death, March 1323, a truce for thirteen 
 years was made between England and Scotland. 
 
 Besides all the bishop's troubles with the Scots, he 
 had his mansion outside the north gate of Newcastle 
 thrown down by the bailiffs and burgesses of that town 
 in 1298, and they took a piece of his land for the town 
 ditch. He died in 1324, and the Chapter of Carlisle 
 proceeded to elect William Airmin, Canon of York ; 
 but the Pope set aside their election, and appointed 
 John Roos (or Ross). Bishop Roos complained that 
 he had no residence capable of accommodating himself 
 and his household. The clergy of the whole bishopric 
 were in 1327 discharged the payment of all dues to 
 the Crown for tenths owing to their impoverishment 
 from Scottish inroads, for the Scots had taken advan- 
 tage of the death of Edward II. to make a new 
 invasion, despite the truce. England acknowledged 
 the independence of Scotland by the Treaty of
 
 252 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 Northampton, but this treaty was repudiated by- 
 Edward III. on attaining his majority, and he adopted 
 the Scottish policy of his grandfather. On the death 
 of Robert Bruce in 1329 he recognised Edward Balliol 
 as King of Scotland, and sent an English force to help 
 him to obtain possession of his kingdom. The English 
 victories of Dupplin Moor and Halidon Hill followed, 
 and besides supremacy over the whole of Scotland 
 Edward obtained for himself the Border counties, 
 with Haddington, Edinburgh, and Linlithgow. The 
 opposition of the Scots to Balliol, however, was so 
 general that he had soon to take refuge in England, 
 and beseech help from his overlord. Bishop Roos 
 died at Rose in 1332. He is remembered as having 
 ill-treated the prior and convent of Carlisle, seizing 
 their rents and appropriations, and on a trivial pretext 
 excommunicating the prior. He was succeeded by 
 this prior, John de Kirkby, the great warrior-prelate 
 of Carlisle. 
 
 John de Kirkby's episcopal parts were quite thrown 
 into the shade by his military gifts, although, like 
 Robert de Chauncy, he probably fulfilled this most 
 important duty of a mediaeval bishop, the keeping up 
 of a great hospitality. One can imagine that armed re- 
 tainers sat at his table on the dai's as in some baronial 
 hall, and that " the sheep and the beeves and the 
 kine " that smoked on his board may have quite well 
 been, like the repasts of the neighbouring lairds and 
 lords, driven over from the opposite border. He in 
 1336 obtained the king's leave to fortify his house at 
 La Rose, but perhaps never availed himself of it, as 
 will be explained later. He mounted a Cumberland 
 nag in 1337, and led a contingent to aid in an English 
 raid into Teviotdale and Nithsdale, where he burnt and 
 laid waste in a thorough manner for twelve days, when,
 
 ROSE CASTLE 253 
 
 vehement rains and floods preventing its further pro- 
 gress, the whole party returned merrily to Carlisle. 
 For this deed, we are told, the Scots held the Bishop 
 of Carlisle in the greatest detestation, and, in their 
 return raid, turned aside, after burning the hospital of 
 St. Nicholas in the suburbs of Carlisle, to burn the 
 bishop's manor at Rose " and everything on their way 
 there." 
 
 The luck of the Scots had, for a short spell, 
 turned. Edward III. was engaged in France, and not 
 only did they manage to win back many of their 
 strongholds, but to do a good deal of damage on the 
 English borders. 
 
 In the year of David II. 's return to Scotland, John de 
 Kirkby, who was by this time a warden of the marches, 
 was again pardoned payments to the exchequer for 
 tenths, " in consideration of his unwearied labours and 
 heavy losses in the king's service " in this office. 
 Soon after, however, David's army was defeated, and 
 he captured, at the Battle of Neville's Cross ; and in 
 1 345 the indefatigable Bishop Kirkby helped to raise the 
 siege of Edinburgh, then in English hands, and assisted 
 in repelling an invasion of Cumberland. In a fray in the 
 latter the bishop was unhorsed, but managed to mount 
 again and put the foe to flight. In the following year, 
 nevertheless, the greater part of Cumberland, again 
 including Lanercost Priory and the unfortunate manor 
 of Rose, was burnt and destroyed by the enemy. 
 Bishop Kirkby cannot have been a very edifying, and 
 was probably a very rough, possibly a very extortionate 
 bishop. Anyway, like Bishop Halton, he had his 
 enemies at home. He and his suite were attacked by 
 his flock at Penrith in 1333, and four years later were 
 mobbed and wounded by rioters in the suburbs of 
 Carlisle at Caldewstones. On his death in 1352
 
 254 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 another dispute sprang up as to the nomination to 
 the see. The Chapter obtained the king's licence in 
 the regular way, and elected John de Horncastle ; but 
 the Pope consecrated Gilbert de Welton, whose ap- 
 pointment was confirmed by the king. 
 
 Edward III. in 1355 proclaimed himself the suc- 
 cessor of Balliol, and made the invasion remembered as 
 his "Burned Candlemas" in the Lowlands of Scot- 
 land; and in 1356, anticipating Scottish reprisals, 
 Gilbert de Welton obtained from the king the second 
 licence to fortify Rose, which is from this time called 
 a castle. The facts that in 1 346 the Scots were said 
 to burn the "manor" not the castle of Rose, and that, 
 even if Bishop Kirkby had commenced the work of 
 fortification, it was probably thrown down at this time, 
 rather point to Strickland's Tower having been for- 
 tified by Bishop Welton, not by Bishop Kirkby. Chan- 
 cellor Ferguson, in the Transactions of the Cumberland 
 and Westmorland Archaeological Society, has given an 
 account of the architectural history of Rose Castle 
 (in which, however, he says that Bishop Kirkby's work 
 of defence was " doubtless continued by his successor, 
 Gilbert Welton"), and as these Border manor-houses 
 were all much of the same form, we can make some 
 sort of a picture of what Rose Castle must have been 
 like at this time. The Strickland Tower still shows 
 all the features of the old Border pele-tower. They 
 were complete houses in themselves, and were usually 
 composed of three stories of but one room in each, 
 and there was no communication between the outside 
 and the ground floor excepting through a trap-door in 
 the usually vaulted roof of the latter. This ground 
 floor had no other openings than loopholes, was only 
 used for storage, or a dungeon, and could only be 
 entered by the foe by making a breach in its massive
 
 ROSE CASTLE 255 
 
 walls. Once in, the invader would proceed to smoke 
 out the occupants of the upper stories. The owner 
 and his family entered at the first floor, which was 
 sometimes reached by a long ladder drawn in after 
 them, sometimes by an external stone staircase. To- 
 day a very beautiful stone stairway leads from Paradise 
 Walk at Rose Castle to the ivy-clad Strickland Tower. 
 This first-floor room filled even more than the place 
 of the great hall of a mediaeval house. It was the 
 general eating and dwelling room, kitchen, and servants' 
 bedroom ; and moreover, as in the Strickland Tower, 
 often had a recessed bay that served as an oratory. 
 A piscina for holy water in the wall of the recess still 
 marks its purpose. The room above was a sleeping- 
 room for the family and a state reception room. Above 
 all was a small circular watch-tower that soared like a 
 fine chimney-stack over the rest of the building. 
 The top of the containing wall was fretted by crenel- 
 lations or embrasures, through which missiles or 
 molten lead might be poured down on the enemy ; 
 and the windows throughout were often merely 
 loopholes. 
 
 These towers were frequently found outside, but 
 not connected with, fourteenth-century houses, and to 
 them the family took their last retreat, and there made 
 their last stand against the invader. The wooden 
 palisade of earlier times was replaced by trenches, or 
 deep wide moats round thick stone walls embattled like 
 the towers. The only approach was by the drawbridge 
 let down from an embattled entrance-gate, where the 
 warder kept watch from his room over the gate. 
 Other towers were built on the wall, and the whole 
 was often again surrounded by another wall with 
 towers, drawbridge, and moat. During the thirteenth 
 and fourteenth centuries, however, the house itself
 
 256 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 developed, and tended to be built right round a quad- 
 rangular courtyard. The most important room in the 
 house was the hall, so important that it became the 
 generic name for manor-houses. In it was lived the 
 promiscuous domestic life of the Middle Ages. It 
 commonly occupied the whole height of the building, 
 and was in the centre of the principal front, opposite 
 you as you entered the courtyard under the gateway. 
 In the smaller rooms there were fireplaces, but the hall 
 was lighted by a great fire in the middle of the room 
 with an outlet for smoke in the roof. The stone or 
 tiled floor was covered with straw or rushes,- on which 
 the servants or strangers who received the hospitality 
 of the house slept at night. At one end of the hall 
 was the dais where the chief dining-table was set. 
 Long tables stood against the two sides ; and over the 
 screen that separated the hall from the entrance passage 
 at the servants' end was a minstrel's gallery. The hall 
 at Rose Castle in the fourteenth century was to the 
 south of the Strickland Tower and to the east of the 
 courtyard. On the north side of the courtyard was 
 the council chamber, called Great Paradise, with a room 
 or cellar under. To the west of this council chamber 
 was the chapel in its present position, with the con- 
 stable's tower and portcullis beyond. On the south 
 side of the courtyard were the kitchen and offices. 
 These buildings all stood within the inner wall, and 
 were surrounded by an outer turreted wall, in which 
 was the gatehouse, that is still standing, though the 
 warder's room is gone. The whole was surrounded 
 by a moat, and a fountain in the centre of the court- 
 yard supplied the inhabitants with water. The informal 
 " Old English Garden " was a great feature in the 
 precincts of fourteenth-century manor-houses, but it is 
 unlikely that Bishop Kirkby or Bishop Welton cul-
 
 ROSE CASTLE 257 
 
 tivated rose and lily, hollyhock and peony, for the 
 ever-present foe to trample under foot. 
 
 Bishop Welton was one of the commissioners ap- 
 pointed to treat for the ransom of King David of 
 Scotland; in 1359 he was a warden of the western 
 marches, and in 1360-61 a commissioner in the 
 negotiations to establish peace between England and 
 Scotland. On Welton's death the prebendaries of 
 Carlisle, again with the king's licence, elected one of 
 their number, Thomas de Appleby, and again the Pope 
 declared the election void, but then, as his predecessor 
 had done in the case of Irton, himself, in 1363, ap- 
 pointed Appleby. Bishop Appleby also was a warden 
 of the western marches, and a commissioner for pro- 
 claiming on the Borders the articles of a truce with 
 France and Scotland. 
 
 Owing to Edward III.'s difficulties in France, 
 a truce of fourteen years was made in 1369 between 
 England and Scotland, and it was renewed in 1380; 
 but Border forays still kept war smouldering until 
 it was stirred up again in 1385 by an invasion of 
 Richard II. and a simultaneous Scottish invasion of 
 Cumberland. Both parties laid waste all the country 
 behind them, and as the Borderers, according to their 
 custom, retired with their cattle and household goods 
 into their forests and morasses, the English army had 
 shortly to retire for lack of provender, and was reduced 
 to a state of famine before it saw again the green 
 valleys of Yorkshire. 
 
 Richard II. after this was busy enough at home, 
 and Border affairs were abandoned to the Percies, 
 whose whole energies were employed in keeping at 
 bay the Douglases. In the famous skirmish at 
 Otterbourne " proud Percy " was led captive away, 
 and Earl Douglas, though slain, won the day by his 
 
 R
 
 258 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 name. After this fight until the accession of 
 Henry IV., England and Scotland were technically 
 at peace, but Henry IV., immediately after his ac- 
 cession, invaded Scotland to obtain the homage of 
 Robert III. ; and the replies of the Scots soon gave 
 the Percies an opportunity to revenge at Hamildon 
 Hill the shame of Otterbourne. 
 
 In 1 406 came the capture of Prince James of Scot- 
 land by Henry IV., and occasional raids took place 
 until James was released on the death of Henry V. 
 The Scots throughout the fifteenth century helped the 
 enemies of England, however, and Border life con- 
 tinued much on its old plan. 
 
 On Bishop Appleby's death in 1395 the persistent 
 Chapter elected William Strickland, but were com- 
 pelled to accept instead, in 1396, Robert Reed, Bishop 
 of Dromore, a Dominican friar, who, however, was 
 translated in the same year to the see of Chichester, 
 and gave place to the monk of Westminster, Thomas 
 Merks. Almost as plainly as the Strickland Tower, 
 the magnificent rose-gardens of Rose Castle tell one 
 side of the history of the bishop's house. The first 
 bishop who came into possession probably adorned it 
 with carved and painted roses, the symbol of the 
 Virgin Mary, patron saint of his church of Carlisle, 
 and so the house came to be called La Rose, for there 
 is no better explanation of its name. Old writers have 
 suggested that this was given from the British name 
 Rhos, a marshy place, or from the sweetness of its 
 situation, or from the colour of its walls. Rose, how- 
 ever, is not situated in a marshy place ; the second 
 guess is a little far-fetched ; and in the third case we 
 should have almost expected it to be called the Red Rose, 
 for roses are not confined to one colour. Uncommon 
 as was in the Middle Ages the practice, now so usual,
 
 ROSE CASTLE 259 
 
 of calling houses by fancy names, the almost disused 
 custom of christening rooms was common ; and Rose 
 in 1230 was little more than a room. A sculptured 
 flower on the fourteenth-century gateway announces its 
 title, and to-day the gardens are full of the device. 
 The hedge of York and Lancaster roses, which, says 
 Canon Venables, " can never be forgotten by those 
 who have been fortunate enough to see them in their 
 July glory," recalls to the learned eye, in the same way 
 as the border of a mediaeval manuscript recalled the 
 illustrated history to the unlearned eye, the tale of the 
 semi-mythical Bishop Merks, the prophet of the Wars 
 of the Roses. This prelate, probably one of the most 
 evil influences on the life of the reckless and irrespon- 
 sible Richard II., is described in three chronicles as the 
 king's companion in his most dissolute ways, " in pota- 
 tionibus et aliis non dicendis." He rarely, probably 
 never, visited his diocese, as he was so much employed 
 by the king both in his pleasures at home and in his 
 business abroad. The one creditable fact of his life 
 preserved by history is that he alone of Richard's sup- 
 porters spoke on the king's behalf in the first Parlia- 
 ment of Henry IV., when there was question of further 
 sentence on Richard; and he is at least an exception to 
 this one of his greatest panegyrist's aphorisms — 
 
 "The evil that men do lives after them, 
 The good is oft interred with their bones ; " 
 
 for, 200 years after his death, he was remembered only 
 as the pattern of a loyal subject. The Merks myth 
 seems to have been first formed round a doubtful 
 nucleus of historical fact by the loyal subjects of the 
 Tudors. It was created by Walsingham, mentioned 
 by Hall, and Holinshed invented, in the Thucydidean 
 manner, a long speech for the Bishop of Carlisle.
 
 260 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 In the paraphrase of this speech in Shakespeare's 
 play, Richard II. (entered at Stationers' Hall in 1597), 
 the moral of loyalty is impressively drawn : the bishop 
 braces the passive king to fight for the cause of royalty, 
 with the lofty sentiments of some Becket or Wolsey — 
 
 " My lord, wise men ne'er sit and wail their woes, 
 But presently prevent the ways to wail. 
 
 Fear and be slain ; no worse can come to fight, 
 And fight and die is death destroying death ; 
 Where fearing dying pays death servile breath." 
 
 Again, when Norfolk's return is mentioned, 
 Carlisle has one of the gems of the play to utter — 
 
 " That honourable day shall ne'er be seen. 
 Many a time hath banish'd Norfolk fought 
 For Jesu Christ in glorious Christian field, 
 Streaming the ensign of the Christian cross 
 Against black pagans, Turks and Saracens, 
 And, toil'd with works of war, retired himself 
 To Italy ; and there at Venice gave 
 His body to that pleasant country's earth, 
 And his pure soul unto his captain Christ, 
 Under whose colours he had fought so long." 
 
 Finally, when Bolingbroke announces his intention of 
 ascending " the regal throne," the bishop makes his 
 famous speech — 
 
 "Marry, God forbid ! 
 Worst in this royal presence may I speak, 
 Yet best beseemeth me to speak the truth. 
 Would God that any in this noble presence 
 Were enough noble to be upright judge 
 Of noble Richard ! then true noblesse would 
 Learn him forbearance from so foul a wrong. 
 What subject can give sentence on his king? 
 And who sits here that is not Richard's subject ? 
 Thieves are not judged but they are by to hear, 
 Although apparent guilt be seen in them ; 
 And shall the figure of God's majesty,
 
 ROSE CASTLE 261 
 
 His captain, steward, deputy, elect, 
 
 Anointed, crowned, planted many years, 
 
 Be judged by subject and inferior breath, 
 
 And he himself not present? Oforfend it, God, 
 
 That in a Christian climate souls refined 
 
 Should show so heinous, black, obscene a deed ! 
 
 I speak to subjects, and a subject speaks, 
 
 Stirr'd up by God, thus boldly for his king. 
 
 My Lord of Hereford here, whom you call king, 
 
 Is a foul traitor to proud Hereford's king : 
 
 And if you crown him, let me prophesy, 
 
 The blood of England shall manure the ground, 
 
 And future ages groan for this foul act • 
 
 Peace shall go sleep with Turks and infidels, 
 
 And in this seat of peace tumultuous wars 
 
 Shall kin with kin and kind with kind confound ; 
 
 Disorder, horror, fear and mutiny 
 
 Shall here inhabit, and this land be calPd 
 
 The field of Golgotha and dead men's skulls. 
 
 O, if you raise this house against this house, 
 
 It will the woefullest division prove 
 
 That ever fell upon this cursed earth. 
 
 Prevent it, resist it, let it not be so, 
 
 Lest child, child's children, cry against you ' Woe ! ' " 
 
 Political interest had greatly changed since the days 
 of Bishop Merks. Under Henry VIII., uniting as he 
 did the blood of York and Lancaster, there could no 
 longer be any dispute about the succession, any rival or 
 pretender to the Crown. Encouraged, almost enforced, 
 by the Tudors, a universal loyalty to the monarch 
 sprang up, and became a religion that all the mistakes 
 of the first two Stuart kings could not destroy, that 
 was only disabled when the Protestant revolution 
 started by Henry VIII. overturned Charles I. in 1649, 
 and died a hard death in the cold-blooded common- 
 sensed middle of the eighteenth century. Inspired 
 partly by time-serving, partly by devotion, everybody 
 referred to Oueen Elizabeth with Oriental unctuousness. 
 Bishop Robinson of Carlisle, in 1601, shortly after the
 
 262 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 staging of his great predecessor, ended a letter to 
 Secretary Cecil by praying for the preservation of " the 
 spring of our joy and breath of our nostrils." 
 
 Nevertheless, so afraid was Queen Elizabeth of 
 similar plots against her own state and person that in 
 a play treating of such a subject an apotheosis of the 
 loyal bishop was mere prudence. Sir John Hayward 
 published the first part of his History of Henry IV. 
 in 1599, and got into great trouble with the queen, 
 who insisted that his treatment of the deposition of 
 Richard II. had a political bearing and that she was 
 meant by Richard II., suspected the Earl of Essex, her 
 old favourite, of inspiring its production, had Hay- 
 ward tried before the Star Chamber and imprisoned, 
 and wished to have him racked until he confessed the 
 truth. Francis Godwin, Bishop of Llandaff, completed 
 the legend of Thomas Merits in his history of English 
 bishops {De Praesulibus, published in 1601). The fate 
 of Merks as known to history is that, after the Parlia- 
 ment of 1399, whether on account of his speech there 
 or for subsequent plotting, he was committed to the 
 custody of the Abbot of St. Albans, who was ordered 
 by writ of 28th October 1399 to deliver him into 
 the hands of the bearer, that he might appear before 
 the king and council. He was degraded from his 
 bishopric, was translated by the Pope to a see in 
 Greece, and, as there was in his new diocese " no 
 clergy or Christian people " and the bishop was " in 
 notable poverty," Henry IV. in 1401 gave him leave 
 to acquire from the Pope benefices, other than bishop- 
 rics, worth 100 marks yearly, and later on gave him per- 
 mission to acquire benefices worth 300 marks yearly. 
 He was instituted rector of Todenham in Gloucester- 
 shire in 1404, and died incumbent of this country living 
 in 1409. Shakespeare thus gives Henry IV. 's sentence,
 
 ROSE CASTLE 263 
 
 making even " cankred Bolingbroke " bear witness to 
 the bishop's merits — 
 
 " Carlisle, this is your doom : 
 Choose out some secret place, some reverent room 
 More than thou hast, and with it joy thy life, 
 So, as thou liv'st in peace, die free from strife; 
 For, though mine enemy thou hast ever been, 
 High sparks of honour in thee have I seen." 
 
 Godwin, however, invented this version : " Per- 
 adventure," he says, " in some kinde of favour and 
 admiration of his faithful constancy (for vertue will 
 be honoured even of her enemies), peradventure also 
 to this ende, that by forcing him to live miserably 
 they might lay a punishment upon him more grievous 
 than death, which they well saw he despised, the 
 Pope (who seldom denied the king any request that 
 he might afford good cheape) was easily entreated 
 to translate forthwith this good bishop from the see 
 of Carlisle, that yielded him honourable maintainance, 
 unto Samois in Greece, whereof he knew he should 
 never receive one penny profit. He was so happy 
 as neither to take benefit of the gift of his enemy, nor 
 to be hurt by the masked malice of his counterfeit 
 friend : Disdaining (as it were) to take his life by his 
 gift that took away from his master both life and 
 kingdom, he died shortly after his deliverance, so de- 
 luding also the mockery of his translation, whereby 
 things so falling out, he was nothing damnified." 
 
 A hundred years later the supporters of the cause 
 of the Pretender again dragged Bishop Merks's name 
 from oblivion. Dr. Higden, who wrote a treatise 
 called A View of the English Constitution, and made in 
 it an allusion to the conduct of Bishop Merks, called 
 forth an anonymous reply, entitled The Hereditary 
 Right of the Crown of England Asserted, in which the
 
 264 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 bishop's conduct is alluded to as " so glorious an 
 example of Fidelity and Fortitude." This book, in 
 its turn, called down the wrath of the prolific pam- 
 phleteer, White Kennett, Bishop of Peterborough, in 
 the form of letters to the then Bishop of Carlisle. In 
 these letters, for the Jfirst time in its existence, doubt 
 was thrown on the Merks myth. Kennett showed, 
 indeed, that the evidence for Merks even being present 
 at the Parliament in which he is said to have made his 
 great speech is not of the most satisfactory. He 
 carried scepticism too far, however, for a contemporary 
 and accurate chronicle, the Tra'ison et Mort de Richard 
 II., narrated, as its editor points out, that in this 
 Parliament the Bishop of Carlisle alone, among the 
 king's supporters, spoke on his behalf; and, although 
 he cannot have made any speech very much like the 
 speech he is purported to have made on that occasion, 
 it is possible that Bishop Merks has a rightful claim 
 to this one good deed, of all his good and bad deeds, 
 that men have remembered. 
 
 His successor at Carlisle, in 1400, was the William 
 Strickland whom the Pope had rejected in 1396, but 
 now provided without waiting for the royal assent. 
 Henry, however, would not acknowledge him until he 
 had been elected by the Chapter. The new bishop 
 secured an enduring monument at Rose Castle by 
 rebuilding the old pele tower and giving his name 
 to it. He also contributed to the fabric of Carlisle 
 Cathedral, and was a benefactor to the town of Penrith, 
 where he founded a chantry and provided a water- 
 supply by building a watercourse. He died in 141 9, 
 and was succeeded by Roger Whelpdale, formerly 
 Provost of Queen's College, Oxford, and author of 
 books on logic and mathematics. 
 
 This was a great change for Carlisle, whose bishops
 
 ROSE CASTLE 265 
 
 had hitherto been soldiers and statesmen, but had 
 counted no learned man. He was, moreover, suc- 
 ceeded by a series of scholars. William Barrow, 
 Bishop of Bangor, was translated here on Whelpdale's 
 death in 1422. He was commissioner for entering 
 into a truce with the Scots at Hawden Stank. He 
 died at Rose Castle in 1429, and was succeeded by 
 Marmaduke Lumley, one of the Durham Lumleys. 
 Lumley suffered so much from the depredations of 
 the Scots, that it is said he was straitened to support 
 his episcopal dignity. He was translated in 1449, 
 however, from this exposed station to the more 
 peaceful and profitable see of Lincoln. 
 
 His successor, Nicholas Close, Chancellor of the 
 University of Cambridge, had already been employed 
 to conclude a treaty with the Scots, and was subse- 
 quently commissioned to see that it was observed by 
 the wardens of the marches. In a political poem 
 of 1450, which gives the names of friends of the 
 Government who were most hated by the people, 
 he is mentioned — 
 
 " The bisshop of Carlyle shal synge Credo ful sore ; 
 To suyche fals traitours come foule endynge." 
 
 Close was not kept long in durance vile at Rose. He 
 was translated to the see of Coventry and Lichfield in 
 1 45 1, and was succeeded by William Percy, a son of 
 the Earl of Northumberland, at Carlisle. Percy, also, 
 was Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He 
 died in 1462, and was succeeded first by John Kings- 
 cott, who was bishop for one year, and then by Richard 
 Scrope, who died in 1468. 
 
 Edward Story, chaplain and confessor to Elizabeth 
 wife of Edward IV., and again Chancellor of the 
 University of Cambridge, followed. He was trans-
 
 266 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 lated to Chichester in 1477. Richard Bell, Prior of 
 Durham, was the next bishop, and built the tower at 
 Rose called by his name. His successor, in 1496, 
 was William Senhouse, or Sever, Abbot of St. Mary's, 
 York, who in 1502 was translated to the see of 
 Durham, and died in 1505. It was now that England 
 under Henry VII. began to offer Scotland the hymeneal 
 offices of the priest as an alternative to the sword, and 
 Bishop Senhouse was in the commission to treat of the 
 marriage of Margaret Tudor to James IV. of Scotland, 
 that in 1603 was to bring about the union of the 
 crowns of England and Scotland. 
 
 Roger Leyburn, Master of Pembroke Hall, Cam- 
 bridge, and for some time Archdeacon and Chancellor 
 of Durham, was the next bishop. He died in 1507, 
 and John Penny, Abbot of Leicester and Bishop of 
 Bangor, was translated to Carlisle. During his episco- 
 pate English and Scots met each other in hostile array 
 by land and sea, and the Borders continued to flourish 
 on desolation. Invading England in aid of France 
 after the formation of the Holy League, James IV. 
 was defeated and slain at Flodden with the flower of 
 his nobility; but Henry VIII. 's ambitions lay on the 
 Continent, and he never thought of following up this 
 victory ; and war once more degenerated into raids 
 often secretly encouraged, and sometimes officially led, 
 by the wardens of the marches. There is no further 
 record of the burning of Rose Castle, however, as the 
 Tudor wardens of the marches were at least strong 
 enough to protect the immediate neighbourhood of Car- 
 lisle. The wars that subsequently touched Carlisle and 
 Rose Castle were due to the loyalty of the district to the 
 Stuarts, and to the cropping up in a different way of the 
 old connection of the bishops with dispossessed Royalties. 
 
 John Penny died in 1520, and John Kyte, Arch-
 
 ROSE CASTLE 267 
 
 bishop of Armagh, received in 1521, through Wolsey's 
 influence, the titular archbishopric of Thebes and 
 the bishopric of Carlisle. Bishop Kyte is a minor 
 example of fidelity to lost causes. A personal friend 
 of Wolsey's, the cardinal in his prosperous days 
 " conversed freely " with Kyte, who followed the path 
 Wolsey was forced to pursue in the matter of Henry 
 VIII. 's divorce. Afterwards, when the cardinal was 
 living in poverty at Esher, Kyte sent him " dishes to 
 eat his meat in and plate to drink in, and also his 
 clothes to occupy." Kyte had been ambassador to 
 Spain in 15 19, and was in 1522 appointed councillor 
 and treasurer to the warden of the marches, Lord 
 Dacre, who was organising inroads into the northern 
 kingdom. He writes in this year to his patron, in the 
 note of low cunning beloved of Tudor statesmen 
 (when they were not, on the other hand, giving utter- 
 ance to sentiments of superhuman loftiness), that 
 Philip Dacre, Sir William Percy, Lord Ocle, and four 
 knights, with men from Berwick and elsewhere to the 
 number of 2000, slew Lanse Kerr, one of the worst 
 Borderers in Scotland, and forty persons with him, and 
 brought his son and heir and a great prey in safety to 
 England, losing but one man. Would Wolsey send 
 them letters and thanks ? and when " slack " they must 
 have money. If Wolsey would send no letters of 
 thanks the bishop must give them money. In June 
 he wrote to complain that English thieves did more 
 damage than the Scots, and to ask for 1000 bowmen 
 to be sent to the Borders near Carlisle. " There is no 
 man which is not in a stronghold," he wrote, "that 
 hath or may have any cattle or movable in surety 
 through the bishopric" — Durham — "and from the 
 bishopric till we come within eight miles of Carlisle, 
 all Northumberland, likewise Exhamshire " — Hexham-
 
 268 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 shire — " which longeth to your grace worst of all ; for 
 in Exham self every market day there is fourscore or 
 ioo strong thieves, and poor men and gentlemen seeth 
 them which do rob them and their goods, and dare 
 neither complain of them by name, nor say one word 
 of them. They take all their cattle and horse, their 
 corn as they carry hit to sow or to the mill to gryne, 
 and at their houses bid them deliver what they will or 
 they shall be fired and burnt." 
 
 Kyte had no sympathy with the Reformation, but 
 the thin thread of the episcopal history of Carlisle 
 runs in and out of the series of great events that 
 changed mediaeval into modern England. Whatever 
 may have been the reasons that led Henry VIII. to 
 wish for a divorce from Katharine of Aragon, the 
 incident served to show the king what an obstacle 
 the Papacy might be in the way of his imperious will. 
 He never had any desire for doctrinal change. 
 Edward VI. was a true Protestant, as Mary Tudor 
 was a true Catholic ; but neither Henry VIII. nor his 
 younger daughter were touched by Puritanism, with 
 its terror of idolatry. They liked to see in their own 
 chapels the crucifix, the candles burning at the feet of 
 the saints, and the high altar before which the Host 
 was elevated. There was one thing, however, that 
 they liked better, and that was power. The Crown 
 must be the supreme source of jurisdiction, and as this 
 was incompatible with the limits claimed by the papal 
 jurisdiction, England had to be rid of the Papacy. 
 
 It was only the fact that the Reformation was in 
 the air that enabled Henry VIII. and Elizabeth to cut 
 England adrift from Rome, but they themselves had 
 no wish for help from the Reformation, and afterwards 
 only adopted reformed usages in a limited way, when 
 compelled by their political necessities. They sought
 
 ROSE CASTLE 269 
 
 only to bring the Church directly under their rule, to 
 make it an instrument of government instead of a 
 State — and often a hostile State — within the State ; but 
 the religious history of the sixteenth century is that of 
 the gradual creeping in of Puritanism. Henry VIII. 
 began by attacking Wolsey for the abuse of his 
 legatine powers, and then demanded that both Houses 
 of Convocation should recognise himself as the " Pro- 
 tector and Supreme Head of the Church and clergy 
 of England." Parliament decided that " the king's 
 Majesty hath as well the care of the souls of his 
 subjects as their bodies, and may by the law of God 
 by his Parliament make laws touching and concerning 
 as well the one and the other " — a decision that severed 
 the national Church from the universal Church. The 
 king altered his coronation oath so as to swear not 
 generally to uphold the rights of the Church, but to 
 uphold the rights of the Church of England, and laid 
 the question of his divorce before the two Houses of Con- 
 vocation. Cranmer declared his marriage with Katharine 
 of Aragon to have been void from the beginning, the 
 Pope's dispensation invalid; and early in 1533 the 
 king married Anne Boleyn. The universities declared 
 that the Pope had no authority in England by divine 
 right, the papal revenues in England were transferred 
 by Act of Parliament to the Crown, Peter's Pence 
 abolished, and the bishops forbidden to receive their 
 pallium from Rome. The king added to his titles 
 " Supreme Head on earth of the Church of England," 
 and he was given by Parliament the right of visitation 
 over the Church. All these measures were merely 
 constitutional, but, with the Pope and emperor set 
 against him, Henry VIII. was compelled to turn for 
 allies to the natural enemies of the emperor, the petty 
 princes of Germany, among whom Puritan practices
 
 270 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 were full-blown. English ambassadors attended the 
 meeting of the Schmalkaldic League in 1535, in which 
 it was agreed not to recognise the great council 
 announced by the Pope ; and the new allies wished 
 England to follow them in a reformation of doctrine 
 of which the Scripture was to be the only standard. 
 Henry VIII., under German influence, now gave 
 licence for the free circulation of the Bible, and or- 
 dained that a copy should be placed in every church. 
 Bishoprics were given to men who, like the existing 
 Archbishop Cranmer, had the new theological views, 
 and in the Convocation of 1536 the worship of 
 images, the use of indulgences, and the doctrines of 
 transubstantiation and purgatory, were declared to be 
 contrary to Scripture, which was all that a man needed 
 for salvation. 
 
 Finally the king laid ten articles before the Con- 
 vocation, by which the Bible and the three oldest Creeds 
 were stated to be the only sources, and three Sacra- 
 ments only, baptism, penance, and the Lord's Supper, 
 were recognised, though the Real Presence in the bread 
 and wine of the Sacrament and the invocation of saints 
 were not yet made heresies. These articles were to be 
 explained to the laity, and children were to be taught 
 in English the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten 
 Commandments. The whole aim was to admit the 
 light of common day into the Church. The king now, 
 however, proceeded to put into use the power of 
 visitation given him by his Parliament. The religious 
 houses in the country, especially in the north, still 
 preserved their loyalty to Rome, and moreover their 
 riches made them well worth plundering ; but the 
 charge on which they were suppressed was that they 
 sheltered immoral or irreligious living. They were 
 called upon to surrender, and their possessions were
 
 ROSE CASTLE 271 
 
 
 confiscated. This action at last brought home to the 
 common people that a great religious revolution was 
 proceeding in their midst. The north of England at 
 once rose, and under the banners of St. Cuthbert and 
 the Five Wounds marched south, with Robert Aske as 
 their leader, in the Pilgrimage of Grace, " to go to 
 London on pilgrimage to the king's Highness, and 
 there to have all the vile blood of his Council put from 
 him and all the noble blood set there again ; and also 
 the faith of Christ and His laws to be kept, and full 
 restitution to the Church of all wrongs done unto it." 
 They were readily dispersed by promises ; but they 
 very shortly gave the king a pretext for severely 
 punishing them. The Bishops of Carlisle were very 
 small cogs in these great wheels. All the religious in 
 the diocese of Carlisle except those of Holme Cultram 
 and St. Mary's, Carlisle, were turned adrift, and the 
 Pilgrimage of Grace found many partisans in Cum- 
 berland, the inhabitants in their inconsequent way 
 regarding their own shrines with great reverence, 
 although they were always quite willing to destroy 
 those of their neighbours. Sir Thomas Wharton 
 wrote to Cromwell that one riot was found to have 
 been at the command of the Bishop of Carlisle ; and 
 the temperate suggestion was made that it would be 
 well to send some of " the most virtuous and learned 
 men of the kingdom to preach and teach in all parts 
 there, and to appoint the Bishops of York, Durham, 
 and Carlisle to be present at their sermons." 
 
 The punishments meted out to the lay rebels were 
 far more severe, and more in keeping with the Tudor 
 nature. Martial law was proclaimed in Cumberland, 
 Westmorland, Durham, and North-west Yorkshire ; 
 and Henry VIII. wrote to say that Clifford and Dacre 
 were to cause "such dredfull execution to be doon
 
 272 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 upon a good nombre of th' inhabitants of every toune, 
 village, and hamlet, that have offended in this rebellion, 
 as well by the hanging them up in trees, as by the 
 quartering of them and the setting of their heddes and 
 quarters in every toune, greate and small, and in all 
 suche other places, as they may be a fearfull spectacle 
 to all other hereafter, that would practice any like 
 mater." 
 
 Soon the great religious houses met the fate of 
 the smaller ones. Bishop Kyte died in 1537. He 
 was as well cut out for the pursuits of peace as of 
 war. A letter from Sir William Kingston at Black- 
 friars in 1536 to Lord Lisle throws light on the 
 bishop's simple life. The letter encloses a purse of 
 wood for Lady Lisle " so that it may endure to keep 
 money, for almost I can wear none purse for lack of 
 money, and I have done with play, but with my lord 
 of Carlisle, penny gleek, this is our pastime." Kyte, 
 like his patron Wolsey, was a great builder, and to 
 him is due the very beautiful Tudor tower on the 
 west of the old quadrangle at Rose. On the tower is 
 his monogram, and his arms impaled with those of his 
 archbishopric of Armagh. He is said to have built 
 the whole western side of the quadrangle, and pro- 
 bably, says Ferguson, divided the great hall, cutting 
 off a private dining-room from one end, constructed 
 private apartments for himself in his new wing, and 
 built the long gallery that was then coming into fashion 
 and was such a feature in Tudor and Jacobean houses. 
 These galleries, it is thought, were used for display 
 of collections of armour or art treasures, or for indoor 
 exercise. Rose Castle became, indeed, such an eligible 
 residence that one warden of the marches chose to 
 turn out Bishop Meye and lie here instead of at 
 Carlisle.
 
 ROSE CASTLE 273 
 
 Under Kyte's successor, Robert Aldridge, the "Old 
 Learning " came into fashion again. The Pilgrimage 
 of Grace seems to have given the king pause. He 
 enforced the changes that he had already made, but 
 forbade the marriage of priests, subjected theological 
 publications to a severe censorship, and looked with a 
 favourable eye on the old religious ceremonies. In 
 1539 the retrograde Bill of the Six Articles was passed, 
 approving of the doctrine of the Real Presence, private 
 masses, auricular confession and vows, and forbidding 
 the marriage of priests and the giving of the cup to 
 the laity. After the king's disappointment with Anne 
 of Cleves, Protestant doctrines fell into complete dis- 
 favour, and their upholders were sent to the block. 
 Aldridge was one of the bishops who supported in 
 Parliament the Statute of the Six Articles. Whereas 
 the king confounded many of the bishops, including 
 the Archbishop of Canterbury, with his learning, York, 
 Durham, and Carlisle were, for the first time since the 
 changes, able to show themselves " honest and well- 
 learned men." Bishop Aldridge, a scholar of the new 
 type, was a great friend of Erasmus's, by whom he was 
 described when a young man as " a youth of smooth 
 eloquence," and with whom he carried on a learned 
 correspondence in the universal tongue that saved the 
 mediaeval scholar so much labour at languages, Latin. 
 All the Tudors delighted in the use of this scholarly 
 speech, and in 1527 Aldridge had been employed by 
 his university to compose three letters in Latin to 
 Henry VIII. He collated manuscripts for his friend 
 Erasmus, whose guide he was when the latter was in 
 England. Leland the antiquary, who was his con- 
 temporary, and may have visited his castle of Rose, 
 though he mentions it very cursorily in his Itinerary 
 (" Bishop Kight built hit very fresh " is the sole 
 
 s
 
 274 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 remark that he makes), sang the praises of Aldridge's 
 "arts and eloquence" in Latin verse in his Encomia 
 Virorum Illustrorum. He was appointed schoolmaster 
 at Eton in 1 5 1 5, and in 1540, although as bishop he 
 had charge of the treasure for the fortifications at 
 Carlisle, he chose to appear at the king's Privy Council 
 held at Windsor, " rather to linger at Eton than for any 
 just cause," and exposed himself to the callous command 
 to return to his diocese " for the feeding of the people 
 both with his preaching and good hospitality." A 
 scholar, possessed by the burning " fever of the spirit " 
 of the humanists of that time, Aldridge must have 
 suffered a living death among the dull wits of his 
 Cumbrian flock, who, as some one said, equalling the 
 Caribs in the art of stealing, resembled the Hottentots 
 in ignorance and brutality. Aldridge's attitude to the 
 Reformation reminds us of the contemporary English 
 scholar, Sir Thomas More ; but, unlike More, he was 
 no candidate for martyrdom, and managed to live un- 
 molested through the many religious choppings and 
 changes almost until the accession of Elizabeth. 
 
 Henry VIII., however, had destroyed for ever the 
 religious unity of his kingdom. Protestant ideas, 
 which had feebly raised their heads at the printing of 
 Tyndale's Bible, had been crushed, but thus deliber- 
 ately reintroduced, germinated, and began to show 
 signs that they would be the great question of the 
 age and of many succeeding ages in England as on 
 the Continent. Questions that were only matters of 
 statecraft to the powers that be became questions of 
 their soul's salvation to the earnest-minded subjects of 
 the Tudors. On the death of the king, the supreme 
 power fell into the hands of a reformer, Edward's VI. 's 
 uncle, Protector Somerset. Cranmer had for the first 
 time a free hand. Bishops were forced to preach
 
 ROSE CASTLE 275 
 
 against the Pope, feast-days, and pilgrimages, and to 
 inculcate faith not works ; and an ardent attack was 
 made on image-worship. The Six Articles were re- 
 pealed, and the Common Prayer-book was drawn up 
 as the definitive expression of Anglican feeling. As 
 the time was not yet ripe for Puritanism, however, 
 there were revolts and demands for the restoration 
 of the Mass, the Sacraments, the images of the saints, 
 and the religious houses ; but they were easily put 
 down by the strong Protector. Even on Somerset's 
 fall the enthusiastic Puritanism of the king kept the 
 movement in progress, and persecuted foreign Protes- 
 tants fled to England, where they were welcomed and 
 allowed to disseminate their doctrines. Calvinistic teach- 
 ing was encouraged ; the doctrine of the Real Presence 
 in the Sacrament fell into disfavour ; high altars were 
 removed from churches, and plain wooden communion 
 tables, put in their places, reminded the participant that 
 the Lord's Supper was onlya commemorative observance. 
 Already the great question of Church government, 
 that was to be of such importance in the succeeding 
 century, the dispute between Episcopalians and Presby- 
 terians, was heralded. Mary Tudor on her accession 
 immediately stopped all secularisation of the Church, 
 unedited preaching, and interpretation of the Bible. 
 Catholic bishops were restored, Protestants imprisoned, 
 the Mass and images restored to the churches, and the 
 Book of Common Prayer abolished. After the sup- 
 pression of Wyatt's rebellion the queen led her people 
 back into the fold of the Pope, and revived the laws 
 against those that strayed. Then followed the martyr- 
 doms that the pilgrims of 1537 had demanded, and 
 that would no doubt have been popular enough at 
 that time, but, less than twenty years later, raised 
 a storm of popular horror, so much ground had
 
 276 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 the Reformation gained. Elizabeth, on her accession, 
 found that she had at once to make some concessions 
 to Puritan feeling, and so forbade the elevation of the 
 Host in the Mass. Again the Crown was made " in 
 all causes, as well ecclesiastical as civil, supreme." 
 Protestants who had fled abroad during the evil days 
 of Queen Mary returned, built up in the faith by their 
 communion with their fellow-believers over the seas, 
 and ready to labour at the work of reformation at 
 home. Throughout her reign Elizabeth found it 
 necessary to placate the Puritan party. The Prayer- 
 book of Edward VI., with some modifications, that 
 made it less offensive to Catholics and maintained 
 the Real Presence, was enforced by the Act of Uni- 
 formity ; and the queen ordered the removal of images, 
 and allowed, although she held it in disfavour, the 
 marriage of priests. In most points of ritual, how- 
 ever, she clung to the old ways. The thing that she 
 really cared about was to secure the royal supremacy over 
 the Church, and none might hold a public office, ecclesi- 
 astical or lay, who would not recognise this. Thirteen 
 bishops and many of the clergy resigned because they 
 could not bring themselves to do so. 
 
 Bishop Aldridge of Carlisle died in 1556, and was 
 succeeded by Bishop Oglethorpe, who crowned Queen 
 Elizabeth when, the see of Canterbury being vacant, 
 the Archbishop of York, and possibly the Bishop of 
 Durham, refused to do so. This service Elizabeth 
 always remembered with gratitude, and afterwards 
 said, when receiving Bishop Robinson's homage for 
 the bishopric of Carlisle, " that she must ever have 
 a care to furnish that see with a worthy man, for 
 his sake who first set the crown on her head." 
 Bishop Oglethorpe, however, was a Catholic in his 
 heart, refused the following year to take the Oath
 
 ROSE CASTLE 277 
 
 of Supremacy, and was deprived. From this time 
 reforming bishops sat in the northern see, and Carlisle 
 Cathedral soon showed advanced Puritan usages, to 
 the great distaste of the diocese. The bishopric was 
 offered, on Bishop Oglethorpe's deprivation, to Ber- 
 nard Gilpin, rector of Houghton-le-Spring in Durham, 
 and a well-known member of the reforming party ; but 
 he declined it, as he was wisely unwilling to put his 
 own house in order. He had there, he said, many 
 friends and relations " at whom I must connive in 
 many thinges, not without hurte to myselfe, or else 
 deny them manie thinges, not without offence to 
 them." In the end another Protestant, the York- 
 shireman John Best, was elected, and tried to force 
 Puritanism down the throat of an obstinately Catholic 
 people. At his general visitation in 1 561, it is said, 
 many of his clergy refused to appear and take the oath 
 of allegiance to him, and, protected by Lord Dacre 
 and the Earl of Cumberland, continued to elevate 
 the Host in their parish churches. The bishop com- 
 plained that " God's glorious gospel " could not take 
 effect in the counties under the rule of Lord Dacre 
 and the Earls of Cumberland and Westmorland. 
 He wrote to Grindal, the Bishop of London, that 
 there was a great dearth of preachers in his diocese, 
 and that he had no help from his cathedral church, 
 where the prebendaries were all " ignorant Priests, or 
 old unlearned Monks, put in at the dissolution of the 
 monasteries " ; and one of them had fled abroad, as 
 many of the papists now did. Since Best had been 
 bishop, Grindal wrote to the queen's secretary he 
 " had met with very ill dealings in that country, 
 replenished with Papists and such like : which perhaps 
 was the cause that Bernard Gilpin prudently declined 
 the bishopric . . . And there were two especially of
 
 278 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 whom he complained. Grindal thought," writes 
 Strype, " that if these were touched by the authority 
 of the Lords, it would be a terror to the rest ; for, 
 as he said, ' there were marvellous practices to deface 
 that bishop in his lawless country, and by him, the 
 cause ; ' meaning, that by defacing him, they intended 
 to deface the cause of the reformed religion itself." 
 In the end Bishop Grindal, himself a Cumbrian, of 
 Coupland, " obtained a commission for the Church 
 of Carlisle ; wherein he was appointed the chief, if 
 not only commissioner : but he sent to Smith {i.e. 
 Sir Thomas Smith the Dean, I suppose) to solicit 
 the secretary that he might have two or three more 
 joined in commission with him. And this commission 
 I make no doubt," continues Strype, " our bishop 
 managed with the most earnest application, to do 
 service to his superstitious country and to give a 
 countenance and authority to the godly bishop there 
 in the promoting of good religion." 
 
 Mary, Queen of Scots, took refuge in England in 
 1568. Flying without a single woman attendant, she 
 crossed the Solway in an open boat and came to Car- 
 lisle, where, by Elizabeth's order, she was detained. 
 Looked upon as the champion of Catholicism and by 
 English Catholics as the rightful owner of the crown, 
 Mary's vicinity had a good deal to do with the Rising 
 of the North in 1569 in favour of the old faith. The 
 people burned the Common Prayer-book and the 
 English translation of the Bible, and re-established 
 the Mass. The hated Bishop Best, left in charge of 
 Carlisle Castle, only escaped death at the hands of the 
 rebels by the timely return of Lord Scrope. The 
 Reformation made great strides after the suppression 
 of this rising. Best had at one time Queen Elizabeth's 
 licence to arm himself and his dependents against the
 
 ROSE CASTLE 279 
 
 inhabitants of his diocese ; but Richard Barnes, his 
 successor (1570-77) was better able to maintain his 
 authority. Barnes had been one of Grindal's chaplains, 
 and his reforming policy is identical with that of 
 Grindal. Grindal had even had scruples about accept- 
 ing the bishopric of London because of the Popish 
 pomp and circumstance that would thereby be entailed 
 on him, and had particularly objected to his prelatical 
 garments. He had decided, however, to wear the 
 garments, but always to preach against them. Em- 
 ployed by the queen in the visitation of the north to 
 enforce the Oath of Supremacy, he had taken care 
 to have "all the utensils and instruments of supersti- 
 tion and idolatry demolished and destroyed out of 
 the churches where God's pure service was to be set 
 up ; such as the roods, that is the images of Christ 
 upon the cross, with Mary and John standing by ; 
 also images of the saints, tutelaries of the churches, to 
 whom they were dedicated, Popish books, altars, and 
 the like." Under his former chaplain all the plate 
 and vestments of the churches in the diocese of Carlisle 
 were done away with or dispersed, and cups replaced 
 popish " chalices " for the Communion. The next 
 bishop, John Meye, was one of the commissioners in 
 Cumberland of the Court of High Commission, to 
 which Elizabeth had delegated her supremacy over 
 the Church. Before him were brought even such 
 offences as ringing a bell in time of flood to provoke 
 people to prayer. Under Henry Robinson, bishop 
 from 1598 to 1616, mentioned once or twice above, a 
 man was put to death at Carlisle for exercising his 
 functions as a Roman Catholic priest. Henry Robinson 
 died of the plague at Rose Castle in 16 16. Robert 
 Snowden, bishop from 1616 to 1621, was, it is thought, 
 the first married Bishop of Carlisle.
 
 280 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 With the accession of James I. a change began in 
 the relations of the spiritual and temporal power. 
 Through Scottish influence and the growth of Puritan 
 feeling the Tudor Church settlement was threatened, 
 and the Presbyterian party that gained ground believed 
 as firmly as the Catholics did that the Church should 
 be independent of and even superior to the State, that 
 God alone was Head of the Church, and that in any 
 other hierarchy differences could only be in degree, 
 not in kind. James I., although a firm Protestant, 
 had been so disrespectfully treated by the Presbyterian 
 party in Scotland, who called him " God's silly vassal," 
 that he hated it, and had come to the conclusion " no 
 bishop, no king." It was inevitable that the English 
 Presbyterians should be disappointed when, at the 
 Hampden Court Conference in 1603, the king thanked 
 God "for bringing him into the promised land where 
 religion was purely professed, where he sat among 
 grave, learned, and reverend men, not as before, else- 
 where, a king without state, without honour, without 
 order, where beardless boys would brave him to his 
 face," and refused even to discuss a change in Church 
 government. James's clemency to Catholics nearly 
 caused Puritan discontent to blaze forth. When, under 
 Charles I., Puritanism had grown stronger still, and the 
 king was even more firmly convinced that it was to his 
 interest to keep it down, the great Civil War came. 
 James I., strengthened by his English position, had 
 already reintroduced episcopacy into Scotland, but 
 the legislative power of the Scottish Church remained 
 in the General Assembly of the clergy. Under 
 Charles I., Laud became the king's adviser, Scottish 
 sees began to be filled with men of English episco- 
 palian ideas, and the king made an attempt to enforce 
 the English liturgy. The beginning of the end came
 
 ROSE CASTLE 281 
 
 from Scotland, when Charles I. and Laud issued for 
 the Scots the English Prayer-book, modified so as to 
 accentuate the points that the Scots objected to in 
 it. Its enforcement was the signal for riots, and an 
 anti-episcopalian army gathered at Berwick, won the 
 "First Bishops' War" in 1639, and then dictated 
 their own terms. In the " Second Bishops' War " 
 of 1640 the Puritans in the English army refused 
 to fight their co-religionists, and the victory of the 
 Scots decided the final victory of Presbyterianism in 
 Scotland. Strengthened by Scottish support, the 
 English opposition now compelled Charles I. to im- 
 peach Laud, and to consent to the execution of the 
 other minister of his despotism, Strafford. The 
 bishops of Carlisle until this time had kept pace 
 with the country. Richard Milburne was only bishop 
 for three years (1621-24). His successor, Richard 
 Senhouse, chaplain to Charles I. when Prince of 
 Wales, and to James I., and preacher of Charles I.'s 
 coronation sermon, was killed by a fall from his horse 
 (like Sylvester de Everdon) in 1626. Francis White, 
 who was consecrated Bishop of Carlisle in 1626, made 
 himself famous for his writings against Papists. The 
 great day of the polemical pamphleteer was beginning, 
 and White, employed by James I. to dispute in his 
 place against the Jesuit Fisher, wrote such pamphlets 
 as The Romish Fisher caught in his owne Net. He and 
 his elder brother, Dr. John White, were in their turn at- 
 tacked by treatises bearing such felicitous titles as White 
 dyed Black, titles so characteristic of the literary style 
 of the seventeenth-century polemical writer. Barnaby 
 Potter, who was in 1628-29 consecrated Bishop of 
 Carlisle, is connected with the relieving interest in this 
 serious century. He was on terms of intimacy with 
 the Caroline poet Herrick, and the praises of his two
 
 282 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 beautiful daughters, Amy and Grace, were sung in the 
 Hesperides, the face of " Handsome Mrs. Grace Potter" 
 receiving this quaint commendation : — 
 
 " In all that admirable round, 
 There is not one least solecism found." 
 
 Although Potter also had been chaplain to Charles I. 
 before his accession, and was afterwards his chief 
 almoner, he approved of Strafford's attainder, and 
 took the popular side in the religious disputes. Three 
 officers on tour in the northern counties in 1634 came 
 to Carlisle, visited its cathedral, and complained of 
 its Puritan usages. The cathedral, they said, was 
 " nothing near so fair and stately as those we had 
 seen, but more like a great wild country church ; as it 
 appeared outwardly so was it inwardly, ne'er beautiful 
 nor adorned one whit. The organs and voices did 
 well agree — the one being like a shrill bagpipe, the 
 other like a Scottish tune. The sermon, in the like 
 accent, was such as we could hardly bring away, 
 though it was delivered by a neat young scholar, sent 
 that morning from Rose Castle, the bishop's mansion, 
 which lies upon Rose and Caldew rivers — one of the 
 bishop's chaplains, to supply his place that day. 
 The Communion also was administered, and received 
 in a wild unreverent manner." 
 
 Bishop Potter died early in 1 642, before the outbreak 
 of the Civil War, and his successor, James Ussher, 
 Archbishop of Armagh, to whom Charles I. in this 
 year gave the bishopric of Carlisle in commendam, because 
 his Irish possessions were destroyed by the revolt there 
 against Strafford's rule, really played to that king the 
 part ascribed to Thomas Merks towards Richard II. 
 He tried to find a solution of the great question of 
 Church government that was exercising everybody's
 
 ROSE CASTLE 283 
 
 mind, and suggested an arrangement that almost threw 
 over episcopacy to save the ship of state, an arrange- 
 ment that Charles I. afterwards declared himself will- 
 ing to accept. By it the mistrusted bishops were only 
 to be primi inter pares, superintendents of councils of 
 presbyters, and not to act without their advice. 
 Shortly afterwards the king, " betrayed by his Privy 
 Council, deserted by his judges," appealed to five of 
 his bishops, among whom was the Archbishop of 
 Armagh, for counsel in the matter of Strafford's 
 attainder ; and " even in that day of dereliction and 
 terror, two of those bishops rose superior to all the 
 alarms of earthly evidence, and did advise their wretched 
 sovereign not to do anything against his conscience, 
 and those two were Archbishop Ussher and Bishop 
 Juxon [Bishop of London]." Afterwards, when it 
 was spread about that Armagh had persuaded Charles 
 to consent to Strafford's attainder, the king in a great 
 passion replied " that it was false, for after the bill was 
 passed the Archbishop came to me saying with tears in 
 his eyes, ' Oh sir, what have you done ? I fear that this 
 act may prove a great trouble to your conscience, and 
 pray God that your Majesty may never suffer by the 
 signing of this bill.' " 
 
 Ussher attended on Laud from the time of his 
 attainder till his end on the scaffold, bore him many 
 messages from the king, and was engaged to take 
 him these last words from Strafford : " Desire the 
 archbishop to lend me his prayers this night, and to 
 give me his blessing when I go abroad to-morrow, and 
 to be in his window, that by my last farewell I may 
 give him thanks for this and all his former favours." 
 Ussher knelt beside Strafford in his last devotions on 
 the block, and then went to report to the king " that 
 he had seen many die, but never saw so white a soul
 
 284 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 return to his Maker." His name was included in the 
 Ordinance (20th June 1643) summoning the West- 
 minster Assembly of Divines, but he refused to attend, 
 and preached against the legality of the Assembly, 
 summoned as it was without the consent of the king. 
 The Commons " proceeded to inflict the severest 
 punishment they could upon him, by confiscating his 
 noble library, then deposited at Chelsea College," and 
 he of course subsequently lost, like other bishops, the 
 revenues of his see. Dr. Parr's account of the arch- 
 bishop's behaviour at Charles I.'s execution inevitably 
 recalls the attitude of his predecessor on the question 
 of the trial of Richard II. He was staying at Lady 
 Peterborough's house near Charing Cross on the day of 
 the king's execution, and " divers of the Countesse's 
 gentlemen and servants got upon the leads of the 
 house, from whence they could see plainly what was 
 acting at Whitehall. As soon as his Majesty came 
 upon the scaffold some of the household came and 
 told my Lord Primate of it, and askt him if he 
 would see the king once more before he was put to 
 death. My lord was at first unwilling, but was at last 
 perswaded to go up ; as well out of his desire to see 
 his Majesty once again, as also curiosity, since he 
 could scarce believe what they told him unless he saw 
 it. When he came upon the leads the king was in his 
 speech ; the Lord Primate stood still and said nothing, 
 but sighed, and lifting up his hands and eyes (full of 
 tears) towards Heaven, seemed to pray earnestly ; but 
 when his Majesty had done speaking, and had pulled 
 off his cloak and doublet, and stood stripped in his 
 waistcoat, and that the villains in vizards began to put 
 up his hair, the good bishop, no longer able to endure 
 so dismal a sight, and being full of grief and horror for 
 that most wicked fact now about to be executed, grew
 
 ROSE CASTLE 285 
 
 pale and began to faint ; so that if he had not been 
 observed by his own servant and some others that 
 stood near him (who thereupon supported him) he 
 had swooned away." 
 
 Subsequently the archbishop's widespread fame as 
 a scholar led Cromwell to extend to him his protec- 
 tion. In 1654 he was nominated as one of fourteen 
 bishops to draw up a list of fundamentals in religion 
 as a basis of toleration, but he declined to act. On 
 his death, two years later, he was buried, by the Pro- 
 tector's order, in Westminster Abbey. Nicolson and 
 Burn, the historians of Cumberland, say that Cromwell 
 gave Ussher this tribute " out of an honourable respect 
 to so learned a champion of the Protestant cause " ; but, 
 remarks Hutchinson, " he was a wretch whose soul 
 could not be touched with such sentiments ; hypocrisy 
 or some low and selfish view entitled him to display 
 this honour and pomp at the interment of a man 
 whom he and his creatures had starved to death." 
 The historian of the Restoration, Bishop Burnett of 
 Salisbury, wrote of Ussher, that " he had a way of 
 gaining people's hearts and of touching their con- 
 sciences that look'd like somewhat of the apostolical 
 age reviv'd," but " he had too gentle a soul to manage 
 that rough work of reforming abuses : and therefore 
 he left things as he found them. He hoped a time of 
 reformation would come. . . . But though he prayed 
 for a more favourable conjecture, and would have 
 concurred in a joint reformation of those things very 
 heartily, yet he did not bestir himself suitably to 
 the obligations that lay on him for carrying it on : and 
 it is very likely that this sat heavy on his thoughts 
 when he came to dye, for he prayed often and with 
 great humility that God would forgive him sins of 
 omission." The Irish primate seems to have had the
 
 286 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 scholar, almost the Hamlet temperament, and the part 
 he played in his stirring times, though an honourable, 
 was an ineffectual one. But he was celebrated then, 
 and is still used, for his historical researches. He 
 threw new light on to early Irish history and on to 
 the history of the creed, the Ignatian problem, and 
 other patristic points ; and his name is still to many 
 people a household sight (as his system of scriptural 
 chronology was employed in the Authorised Version 
 of the English Bible), and is the greatest connected 
 with the bishopric of Carlisle. 
 
 Ussher had restored the Royalist traditions of the 
 bishops. The diocese had all along been sympathetic, 
 and the city itself and the bishop's castle also remained 
 faithful throughout. Carlisle Castle was garrisoned 
 for Charles during both Bishops' Wars, and as the Scots 
 entered England by Berwick, and for a long time the 
 main current of the Civil War rolled away from Cum- 
 berland, it became a camp of refuge for the king's 
 party. In October 1644, however, manned by a 
 garrison of 700 men, it was besieged by the Scottish 
 commander, General Leslie, on his way back from 
 capturing Newcastle, with a force of 4000. Failing 
 to take it by storm, Leslie sat down and starved out 
 the garrison. The heroic defenders, with a spirit 
 which may well be contrasted with that of a hundred 
 years later, were in the following June eating dogs, 
 rats, and hempseed, with a very occasional slice of 
 horse, and held out eleven days after the defeat of 
 the king at Naseby had taken away all hope of their 
 being relieved. Even then they kept up the traditions 
 of the best days of the Borders by plying the solemn 
 Scotch envoys with their one remaining cask of ale 
 until the latter were too drunk to treat. 
 
 After the surrender of Carlisle, Colonel Hevering-
 
 ROSE CASTLE 287 
 
 ham's regiment turned aside to Rose Castle, which was 
 said to be a strong place, and was defended by its con- 
 stable and a garrison of twenty or thirty men. Rose 
 Castle at this time was still built in the mediaeval way on 
 its quadrangular plan. It had five towers, and was sur- 
 rounded by a turreted wall. It was captured by the 
 parliamentary forces, and subsequently used to detain 
 Royalist prisoners. Carlisle Castle was garrisoned by 
 the Scots, who pulled down and mutilated most of the 
 cathedral buildings in order to destroy popery, and also 
 to obtain materials for the repair of the city defences. 
 The Cavaliers made an attempt to reconquer Carlisle 
 in the autumn of 1645, but failed. 
 
 All England was now in the hands of the Scots and 
 the parliamentary forces, but Carlisle was evacuated at 
 the end of 1646, in return for a sum of money paid 
 by the Parliament to the Scots, for the former had 
 begun to feel anxious at this encroachment of the latter 
 on England. 
 
 In 1647 the English army presented its ultimatum 
 to Charles I., insisting on the abolition of episcopacy. 
 Charles I. refused to agree, fled to Carisbrook Castle, 
 and was kept there as a prisoner. In 1648 Royalist 
 risings commenced and the second Civil War began. 
 The Cavaliers seized Berwick-on-Tweed and Carlisle. 
 Sir Marmaduke Langdale, the Royalist colonel-general 
 of the five northern counties, appointed a Cumberland 
 gentleman, Sir Philip Musgrave, commander-in-chief 
 in Cumberland and Westmorland and governor of 
 Carlisle. " Sir Philip went to the Borders and some 
 of his countrymen came secretly to him, and by his 
 order sixteen men entered Carlisle, and presently made 
 themselves masters of the place. . . . There was then 
 so great rain and unusual! high floods, as Sir Philip 
 could by no means pass the rivers until May the first
 
 288 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 (this he apprehended to be ominous), but at his coming 
 to Carlile, many gentlemen of the county, and from 
 severall other parts, came speedily thither," and the 
 castle was garrisoned by the Scots, now, however, in 
 the royal interest ; for the Scots were alienated from 
 the Parliament since it had deserted Presbyterianism. 
 The parliamentary forces held Penrith, and in June Sir 
 Marmaduke Langdale's forces met another Royalist 
 army under the Duke of Hamilton at Rose Castle and 
 marched south. Hamilton, however, the last hope of 
 the Royalists, was defeated by Cromwell at Preston on 
 August 17, and the second Civil War came to an 
 end. On 1st October following Carlisle surrendered. 
 Rose Castle, like Carlisle, had again came into Royalist 
 hands and was manned with forty men. It was besieged 
 by a commanded party of 200 foot. The governor 
 refused two summonses to surrender and the castle 
 was then stormed and taken after a siege of two hours. 
 It was burned by order of Major Cholmley, and never 
 received again its turreted wall and never again was 
 built round its old quadrangular courtyard. " Rose 
 Castle, the bishop's best seat," wrote Fuller, " hath 
 lately the rose therein withered, and the prickles in 
 the ruins thereof alone remain." It is difficult to 
 decide into which of the two sieges of Rose Captain 
 Philip Ellis fits. After the Restoration, in 1662, it 
 was certified to the king that Captain Philip Ellis, of 
 Rose Castle, Cumberland, was zealous and orthodox, 
 had raised troops at his own expense for the late king, 
 served four years without pay, was at the siege of 
 Carlisle, stood a siege in his own castle, which was 
 taken, lost more than ^3000, was imprisoned for 
 twenty-six weeks, and subsequently refused all offers 
 of service from the Parliament. At the sales of 
 bishops' lands in 1649 Colonel Heveringham, or
 
 ROSE CASTLE 289 
 
 Heveningham, above-mentioned, one of the high 
 court of justice that in the preceding January had 
 tried Charles I., purchased the manors of Dalston, 
 Rose Castle, and Linstock, the possessions of the 
 see of Carlisle, and is said to have had the offices at 
 Rose Castle newly fitted up for his own habitation. 
 At the Restoration Heveringham, who had refused to 
 sign Charles I.'s death-warrant and petitioned the Lords 
 four times for mercy, was sentenced to death. He 
 was reprieved owing to the efforts of his relations, the 
 Careys, Earls of Dover, but he was kept prisoner at 
 Windsor Castle until his death in 1678. 
 
 The restored bishopric now became the reward of 
 faithful Royalists. It was first offered, in 1660, to Dr. 
 Richard Gilpin, rector of Greystoke, who refused it 
 because he would not sign the Solemn League and 
 Covenant ; and then to Richard Sterne, who had been 
 Master of Jesus College, Cambridge, and chaplain to 
 Archbishop Laud. He was arrested and imprisoned, 
 as Cromwell, then a burgess of Cambridge, happened 
 to know that he had conveyed the plate of his college 
 to the king at York. He was released, but his livings 
 were taken from him. Preferred to the see of Carlisle 
 in 1660, Sterne soon came into ill odour with the 
 remaining Puritans, and contemporaries and subse- 
 quent historians have painted him white or black 
 according to their religious aspect. " Among all the 
 bishops," wrote the Presbyterian divine, Baxter (author 
 of the still well-known book The Saints' Everlasting 
 Rest), in indignation, after the Savoy Conference, at 
 which the Presbyterian and Episcopalian parties met 
 in 1 66 1 to discuss Church government and the liturgy, 
 " Among all the bishops, there was none had so pro- 
 mising a face as Dr. Sterne, the Bishop of Carlisle. 
 He look'd so honestly, and gravely, and soberly, that 
 
 T
 
 290 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 I scarce thought such a face could have deceived me ; 
 and when I was intreating them not to cast out so 
 many of their brethren through the nation, as scrupuled 
 a ceremony which they confessed indifferent, he turn'd 
 to the rest of the reverend bishops and noted me for 
 saying ' in the nation.' ' He will not say in the king- 
 dom,' saith he, 'lest he own a king.' This was all I 
 ever heard that worthy bishop say. But with grief I 
 told him that half the charity which became so grave 
 a bishop might have sufficed to have helpt him to a 
 better exposition of the word." 
 
 Sterne was translated to York in 1664, and although 
 he had undertaken the very necessary restorations at 
 Rose, and actually rebuilt the chapel, the work had 
 been so badly carried out that it had to be done over 
 again, and he was sued by his successor, the worthy 
 Bishop Rainbowe, for dilapidations. Rainbowe com- 
 plained to the king that his predecessor had had as 
 much money for fines of leases and casualties as might 
 have repaired or rebuilt the castle, but had only fitted 
 up the few rooms that had survived its destruction in 
 the Civil War, and built some outhouses, leaving the 
 rest as a burden to his successor. In the end Sterne 
 was forced to pay £400 as dilapidations. 
 
 Dr. Rainbowe, an example of the best type of 
 priest of that time, had been a staunch and more or 
 less open adherent to royalty, episcopacy, and the 
 liturgy under the Commonwealth. He had lost his 
 Mastership of Magdalene College, Cambridge, but 
 at the Restoration was successively made chaplain to 
 Charles II., Dean of Peterborough, and Vice-Chancellor 
 of the University of Cambridge. Though a good, he 
 was not a great man, but he met, as they used to do, 
 an enthusiastic biographer with a pleasing literary style. 
 In 1664, "beyond his wishes," says this biographer,
 
 ROSE CASTLE 291 
 
 he was elected Bishop of Carlisle. " His truly Primi- 
 tive temper put him upon the declining of that high 
 and honourable Employment in the Church ; the great 
 Care of so many Souls as would thereby be devolved 
 upon him, affrighted and deterr'd him a while from em- 
 bracing that Honour which so many court in vain. . . . 
 Overcome at last with the Desires and Arguments of 
 his Friends, he accepted of that Honourable Dignity." 
 The trouble about dilapidations in which he was almost 
 immediately embarked with his metropolitan was, we 
 are told, " both repugnant to his Meeke Nature, and 
 was (in his Thoughts) unbecoming Persons of that 
 Sacred Character." After this suit was concluded he 
 rebuilt the chapel at Rose Castle and made several 
 other additions and conveniences there. " But tho' 
 these Edifices were costly as well as Troublesom ; yet 
 there was another sort of Building which he was more 
 intent upon, the Building of God's Church in the 
 Spiritual Sense." He determined in his own life to 
 set his clergy " a Copy as legible as his human Frailties 
 would permit it to be written." " Pursuant of his 
 Pious design, he Preached not only in his Courses at 
 the Cathedral, but often there also upon occasional 
 days ; as also frequently at his own Chappel at Ross 
 [Rose], at Dalston Church, and the adjacent Chappels, 
 till hindred from this performance by the Gout ; the 
 Racks of this were not probably more troublesom than 
 their Consequence." He made the paths of religion 
 into pleasantness by giving about 20s. to the poor at 
 Carlisle, when it was his turn to preach there, " that 
 his liberality might tempt them to listen to his Doctrine. 
 His allowance to the Poor of Dalston Parish (within 
 the limits of which Rose-Castle stands) was 30s. a 
 Month, besides what was given them at his Castle- 
 Gates, and to Sick People ; not to mention what was
 
 292 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 given them at Sacraments, and upon other Occasions. 
 In Dear Years, when his own stock of Corn was spent 
 he ordered Barley to be bought at 12s. or 14s. per 
 Bushel, and to be given to the Poor ; which came then 
 in such great numbers to the Gates, that the Porter 
 who served them, having sometimes the curiosity to 
 tell them, affirmed, that he often serv'd Seven or 
 Eightscore people in one and the same day." " How 
 often," exclaimed the preacher of his funeral sermon, 
 " have the Loins of the naked blessed him, for being 
 warmed with the fleece of his Sheep." " The Govern- 
 ment of his private Family," continues the biographer, 
 "was modelled in imitation of that of the Church; 
 that is, Regular. Four times a day was God publickly 
 call'd upon by Prayers in that Family ; twice in the 
 Chappel, which part his Lordship's Chaplains per- 
 form'd ; and twice in the Dining-Room ; the later 
 of these, at Six in the Morning and Nine at night, was 
 the usual Task of our Right Reverend and Worthy 
 Prelate himself, if not disabled by Sickness. As if he 
 who was the Master of the Family, would open it 
 every Morning, and lock it up every Night, by the 
 Key of Prayer." After an episcopate of nearly twenty 
 years, the King of Terrors found the good bishop pre- 
 pared to receive him, " not as an Enemy, but as a 
 welcom Friend " ; only, we are pathetically told, 
 " He had indeed begged of God that he might over- 
 live Lady-Day, because it would much conduce to the 
 Profit of his then Consort, and since Mournful Widow. 
 And this seems to have been granted to him, since he 
 survived the return of that time no more than one 
 day." This last story shows that the bishop's bene- 
 factions had entailed the life of poverty on himself 
 and his family. 
 
 Rainbowe's successor, Thomas Smith, is remembered
 
 ROSE CASTLE 2 9> 
 
 as a great benefactor of Carlisle city and see. As 
 Dean of Carlisle he had rebuilt the deanery and 
 presented the cathedral with an organ, so that the 
 parishioners no longer had to listen to the instrument 
 likened by the three officers to the bagpipes : and as 
 bishop he endowed Carlisle Grammar School, the 
 Chapter library, and the cathedral treasury. Altogether 
 he spent over ^5000 in buildings and charities. He 
 altered the house and stables at Rose, and built a new 
 tower and court walls there and a pigeon-cote. All 
 over the country Jacobean architecture, with its pic- 
 turesque juxtaposition of classical and Gothic details, 
 was giving way to a more correct use of the orders of 
 architecture ; but Cumberland seems never even to 
 have heard of the orders of architecture, for Thomas 
 Machell, Vicar of Kirkby Thore and a local historian, 
 claims to have been the first who introduced " regular " 
 architecture into these parts. He assisted Bishop 
 Smith in rebuilding Rose Castle. "He seems," says 
 Ferguson, " to have made a new central front en- 
 trance into what was formerly the Constable's Tower, 
 to have formed his door with cornice and frieze over, 
 balanced in due course with windows on each side : to 
 have inserted similar windows in the Bell Tower." 
 
 Bishop Nicolson, who in 1702 followed Bishop 
 Smith, and who had been Secretary of State to 
 Charles II., was in a different way a benefactor to his 
 diocese through his literary labours. Bishop Rainbowe 
 had been a good scholar, but it was almost in the 
 mediaeval schoolman's way. Bishop Nicolson inaugu- 
 rated the more modern type of bishop, who is of lay 
 importance and uses his leisure in the service of secular 
 scholarship. He himself published a collection of 
 Border Laws in 1705, and his collections of MSS. 
 relating to Cumberland have been used in all succeeding
 
 294 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 histories of that county. He is said to have been 
 " a drinking fellow and boon companion " at Oxford, 
 but was a great worker ; and he reminds us of the 
 delightful divines that Thomas Love Peacock drew, 
 who managed to be worthy pastors of the flock of 
 Christ and yet Epicuri de grege porci. Chancellor 
 Ferguson has thus drawn Nicolson's character from 
 his hitherto unpublished journals : " A man of great 
 personal strength, capable of riding enormous distances, 
 and who thought nothing of preaching in the cathedral 
 and of then walking out to Rose ; who, as archdeacon, 
 spent his holidays in hunting, and was not above taking 
 an interest in a cock-fight " (by the by, there is a cockpit 
 belonging to Rose Castle) : " fond of a good dinner, a 
 scholar, an antiquary, a linguist, ambitious and pushing, 
 afraid of no one, a man who would have his own way." 
 At the time of the fall of the Stuarts in 1689, he 
 was only Archdeacon of Carlisle, but a great power in 
 the diocese, and addressed a sensible and characteristic 
 letter to the clergy, many of whom were staunch 
 Jacobeans : " The short of our case is, the late king 
 was pleased unexpectedly to leave us ; and their pre- 
 sent Majesties have stepped into the throne as the 
 next lawful successors. And where is the mischief of 
 all this ? You and I are not called upon to give our 
 assent to every vote that is passed in either House of 
 Parliament in the management of this matter, and I 
 hope we never shall. But I think we ought thank- 
 fully to join in the last result of their councils, that 
 William and Mary, Prince and Princess of Orange, are 
 honestly and legally seated on the English throne. 
 And this may be done without an unnecessary acquaint- 
 ing the world with our opinion whether the royal 
 dignity has devolved upon them by right of succes- 
 sion or they have obtained it by a new grant from the
 
 ROSE CASTLE 295 
 
 people." He is said to have been a Tory in early 
 life, but changed in order to court "ye figure of ye 
 Loggerhead at Lambeth," and indeed got into trouble 
 for his officiousness in the Whig interests. The 
 election at Carlisle caused immense and quite modern 
 excitement, and Bishop Nicolson is said to have 
 threatened his cathedral choir with dismissal if they 
 did not vote for the Whig candidate, Montague. The 
 bishop was very nearly disturbed in his house at Rose 
 by the feeble Jacobite rising of 171 5. 
 
 The Scots, still faithful to the Stuarts, entered 
 England this way to reinstate the Pretender, James 
 Stuart, on the English throne. The bishop wrote to 
 Archbishop Wake that the rebels had acknowledged 
 their intention of paying him a visit, " and to that end 
 hovered a whole day on the banks of the Eden, five 
 miles below Carlisle. But as Providence ordered the 
 matter, the rains had then so swelled the waters there, 
 that they were not fordable. This preserved my beef 
 and mutton for the present. They sent me word that 
 these provisions were only kept in store for the Earl of 
 Mar, who they said would assuredly be with me in ten 
 days' time. His Honour (or Grace) is not yet arrived ; 
 and I begin now to fancy that he'll hardly ever bring 
 any great retinue this way. . . . Our greatest danger, 
 as we think, is from the return of the poor hungry 
 Highlanders, should they be scattered into parties (as 
 'tis ten thousand to one but they will be) by General 
 Wills, and left to make the best of their way back to 
 their own old reeky cells in the Braes of Athol." If 
 the " poor hungry Highlanders " had returned by way 
 of Rose, one imagines that the bishop would have given 
 them an example of the Church militant in the eigh- 
 teenth century. One can see him merrily discovering 
 the lance that Bishop Kirkby bore when he laid aside the
 
 296 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 crook, and, calling out in his clerkly way, " Give them 
 the beef and mutton ? Pessimo medius fidius exemplo ! 
 Pro arts etfocis ! that is, for beef and mutton and fires 
 to roast them," sally forth like the Reverend Gilbert 
 Folliot, when Captain Swing burst into Chainmail Hall, 
 and put the " rascally rabble " to flight. 
 
 Bishop Nicolson was translated in 1 7 1 8 to London- 
 derry, and succeeded at Carlisle by Samuel Bradford, 
 who, says Chancellor Ferguson, " found his way down 
 to his see about a year after he had been appointed, 
 and spent a fortnight in making a visitation of it." 
 He was translated to Rochester in 1723, and succeeded 
 by John Waugh, who was in 1734 succeeded by Sir 
 George Fleming, fifth son of Sir Daniel Fleming of 
 Rydal, Westmorland. Sir George Fleming died at the 
 advanced age of eighty in 1747. He was historically 
 incorrect enough to make no movement for the White 
 Rose in the '45. In November 1745 Charles Edward 
 Stuart landed on the coast of Scotland, and with a few 
 raw and undisciplined troops marched south to Carlisle. 
 On November 9 the Mayor of Carlisle was sum- 
 moned to provide billets for 13,000 of the prince's 
 soldiers, but refused to do so ; whereupon the Young 
 Pretender's forces besieged the city, which, unused to 
 war as it had grown, surrendered on the 15th follow- 
 ing. James III. was proclaimed king at the market 
 cross, and the prince received the keys of the city. 
 An indignant Georgian patriot wrote a lampoon on the 
 incompetent deputy to whom the incompetent mayor 
 had resigned his charge, a lampoon that swelled to its 
 climax in the apostrophe — 
 
 " O front of brass, and brain of ass ! " 
 
 This great success was the only one of the war. 
 The prince's army swelled by the way, and he arrived
 
 ROSE CASTLE 297 
 
 safely at Derby, and was himself eager to press onward 
 to London, but was obliged to take the advice of his 
 generals and fall back on Carlisle. From this time the 
 Jacobite cause was doomed, and Charles Edward, ac- 
 cepting his fate, on December 21 left a garrison in 
 Carlisle that there was no gleam of hope of relieving. 
 At the end of the month, the Duke of Cumberland, at 
 the head of George II. 's army, entered the city. The 
 rebel garrison could obtain no conditions of surrender, 
 but it was not until the autumn of the following year 
 that the ninety-six prisoners of war met their end on 
 Gallows or Harriby Hill, the old " Hairibee " of the 
 moss-trooper. Rose Castle, according to Sir Walter 
 Scott, had had its share in these adventures. After 
 the capture of Carlisle by Prince Charlie, a detach- 
 ment of his troops is said to have gone on to Rose, 
 as they had heard that it was worth plundering. On 
 being informed, however, that the birth of the bishop's 
 granddaughter had just taken place within its walls, 
 Captain Macdonald, its leader, mercifully refrained 
 from making any further entrance than into the coach- 
 yard, where he and his men were regaled with beef, 
 cheese, ale, and other cheer. On hearing that the 
 infant was at that moment being christened, the 
 captain took the white cockade from his bonnet : 
 " Let her be christened with this cockade in her cap," 
 he said ; " it will be her protection now, and after, if 
 any of our stragglers should come this way : we will 
 await the ceremony in silence." The heroine of this 
 episode, Rosemary Clerk, narrated it in 1817, an d 
 stated that the white cockade was still carefully pre- 
 served, and that she had been taught by this event to 
 respect all Scotchmen, and Highlanders in particular. 
 With black ingratitude, however, she afterwards gave 
 it to George IV.
 
 298 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 The prince is said, but very improbably, to have 
 nominated, while he was there, a young priest called 
 Cappoch to be Bishop of Carlisle. This priest, ac- 
 cording to a libellous Life and Character, written by 
 " a gentleman who attended the prisoners at Carlisle 
 both before and after their condemnation," was a 
 mixture of Friar Tuck, Autolycus, and a Byronic 
 hero. At school he had been "so unlucky" that 
 his master could not manage him, and had gained 
 so bad a character in Manchester, his native place, 
 " that no Body would have any Concern with him." 
 He went to the University of Oxford, and, after being 
 sent down, led a variously disreputable existence, 
 " associating only with Nonjurors and Jacobites, and 
 all such as were disaffected to the Government." He 
 forged a bishop's handwriting in order to recommend 
 himself as a curate, and became chaplain in the Man- 
 chester Regiment of the Young Pretender's army. 
 As chaplain he had been more dissolute than any 
 of the prince's soldiers. " After he was made Bishop 
 of Carlisle by the Young Pretender, whenever he 
 preach'd or read Prayers, he us'd to wear a Hanger 
 by his side, and patrol'd the Walls of the castle every 
 night with a Firelock, the same as the rest of the 
 Rebel Officers." He was taken prisoner by the Duke 
 of Cumberland at Carlisle, but was quite undismayed. 
 He spent his time in Carlisle Gaol instructing his 
 fellow-prisoners how to cut their irons by means of 
 a case knife, a drinking glass, and a silk handkerchief; 
 and by that means seven of them got loose. When 
 the " bishop " (probably, it is suggested, this was 
 a soubriquet given him at the mess of the Manchester 
 Regiment) was informed that he was to die, " it made 
 very little impression upon him." He jeered at those 
 who were downcast. " Ye puppy," he observed to
 
 ROSE CASTLE 299 
 
 one (using the very word of Autolycus), " we shan't 
 be tried by a Cumberland jury in the other world." 
 The anonymous biographer unwittingly shows, even 
 on his own statements, that Cappoch had more in 
 him than he chose to let appear, and this baffling 
 speech shows that he was no more a subject for the 
 moralist in the street than for a Cumberland jury. 
 After he was tied to the gallows he read a treason- 
 able sermon, prayed for the Pretender, his son, and 
 all the Stuart family, called King George a usurper, 
 handed his sermon to the sheriff, and underwent his 
 penalty. He and the other offenders were hanged 
 for seven minutes, drawn in the antique way, before 
 their own eyes, and their heads placed on Carlisle 
 Tower. The surgeon to whom he is said to have 
 sold his body on the eve before his trial for two 
 shillings and a bottle of wine, perhaps made a fair 
 bargain. 
 
 The '45 gives for the first time a sentimental 
 association to Carlisle. While the Scottish Borders 
 are still haunted by the ghosts of those whose bodies, 
 slain in war or feud, lie deep in Yarrow, so that 
 Wordsworth wandering by the literary stream longed 
 for the merry minstrel's strain, the great fortress-city 
 by the Eden, the point from which all the destroying 
 armies set forth and the place where one and all the 
 captured Border thieves met their end, in defiance, 
 moreover, of the implication of two famous beatitudes 
 on peoples that leave no annals and have few laws 
 but obey them, managed to be called, until most of 
 her troubles were over, " Merry Carlisle." The '45 
 gave her a ballad such as were spun in the " dowie 
 dens of Yarrow." The maiden who is seeking her 
 lover comes upon all that remains of him stuck on 
 Carlisle gate.
 
 300 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 " His lang, lang hair in yellow hanks 
 
 Waved o'er his cheeks sae sweet and ruddie ; 
 But now they wave o'er Carlisle yetts 
 In dripping ringlets clotting bloodie. 
 
 My father's blood's in that flower top, 
 My brother's in that harebell blossom ; 
 
 This white rose was steeped in my luve's blood, 
 An' I'll ay wear it in my bosom. 
 
 When I first cam by merry Carlisle, 
 Was ne'er a town sae sweetly seeming ; 
 
 The white rose flaunted o'er the wall, 
 The thistled banners far were streaming ! 
 
 When I cam next by merry Carlisle, 
 O sad, sad seem'd the town, an' eerie ! 
 
 The auld, auld men came out and wept ; 
 ' O maiden, come ye to seek yere dearie ? ' " 
 
 This ballad marks the change in the spirit of the 
 age. One of the greatest charms of the early Borderers 
 was the lightness in which they held their lives. Even 
 a hundred years before, the maiden would not have 
 found Carlisle sad and eerie after a batch of execu- 
 tions. The starving garrison at the end of the Civil 
 War summoned up spirit enough to play practical 
 jokes. But now the prosperous, civilising years had 
 done their work, made bloodshed less common 
 and more feared. The predatory priest who dared 
 to assume the title of Bishop of Carlisle was the 
 last person to swing with a jest in his mouth on 
 " Hairibee." 
 
 In the following year Richard Osbaldeston, Dean 
 of York, royal chaplain, and one of George III.'s early 
 tutors, was consecrated Bishop of Carlisle. He was 
 very little at Rose Castle, and was in 1762 translated 
 to the see of London. Dr. Lyttleton, who succeeded 
 him at Carlisle, was furious at the condition in which
 
 ROSE CASTLE 301 
 
 Rose Castle had been left. Before he came down his 
 servant wrote him this delightful letter : — 
 
 " I know not how to proseed to get this house in 
 any order for your Lordship's coming, hear is a great 
 deail wants to be Done, Severall windows being very 
 Bad, Ready to fall, Several Dores not fit to Stand, 
 Espeachily in the Brewhouse, where the Derns and 
 Dore are Just Dov/ne, the flowrs Extraimly bad, in 
 Sume of the Rums Large hols and Sunk Just Ready 
 to Brack through. ... I have Considred abought 
 Hanging the Rums, and as there is Space betwine the 
 walls and the Hangings and the Rats are so very 
 plenty thay will most Likley Eate the Hangins at the 
 first putting up ; and I find all the Bords yousd 
 abought this house are from the Trees Cut downe 
 hear, if I Could get Some thin Bords to put the Paper 
 upon it wold be Dryar and Secure from the Rats, and 
 I believe not much more Expence. ... I am very 
 Loth to Trouble your Lordship with what I Sopose 
 cannot be Recalld, yet I thinke it my Duity to Say 
 your Lordship has not had Justes Done you in the 
 appraisment of the Goods, it is not Possabil for me to 
 menchon how many yousless and Worthless things 
 hear be, but hear is a ould painted oyle Cloth with 
 very great hols in it ; the maid in the House says it 
 never was yousd in ye Late Bishops time, but Cramd 
 into a Littel Closset ; it is of no valle, but it is vailed 
 to your Lordship at 12 shelings. there is fore plain 
 Shelves in a Closet by your Lordship's Bedchamber 
 maid of the Bords, timber Cut Down hear ; I believe 
 a man wold put them up in two Days, thay are vail led 
 at ^3.10.0 — in Shorrt it is all of a peece, the Best and 
 only furniture fit for your Lordship is the Mahogany 
 Tables and Drayrs and 1 2 very ordenery Chiars in the 
 Best Paller, but new by the Last Bishop, hear was not
 
 302 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 a pot or Saspan in the Kitchen but what was as Black 
 with inside as with out, Eait out with Rust and 
 Canker. ... I gave your Lordship account of the 
 Beads before, I only wish your Lordship Could Seein 
 them when I Did, they are all aird and cleand as well 
 as they Can be, but thay will only be ould Rags. . . . 
 The Chimlys have not beein Sweept for Severall years 
 past till now. . . ." 
 
 Two months later, the new bishop, by this time 
 installed in the scene of desolation, where, as in the 
 Giaour's palace — 
 
 " The lonely spider's thin, grey pall 
 Waves slowly widening o'er the wall," 
 
 wrote to his brother of London to complain that the 
 wines in the cellars of Rose, sold to him as sound, 
 proved in great part " as sour as berjuice," and closed 
 his epistle with the rather petty postscript : — 
 
 " I should have been obliged to your Lordship to 
 have told me that you would not leave your Chaplain's 
 old Surplice in the Chapel here, that a new one might 
 have been provided against my coming. My Chaplain 
 has been forced to read Prayers without one ever since 
 I came, and this in the sight of half the County, who 
 have been to visit me." 
 
 Osbaldeston replied that he was concerned at the 
 sourness of the wine, that his agent should restore 
 the money, and that having spent ^iooo, or perhaps 
 double that sum, at Rose Castle and elsewhere in the 
 bishopric, he had not expected to be called on in 
 the rude manner he was for dilapidations. He added 
 a postscript that he had found no surplices at Rose, 
 nor indeed books, cushions, or other furniture proper 
 for the chapel, which, with part of the communion 
 plate he left there, was not of less expense to him than
 
 ROSE CASTLE 303 
 
 the sum of £100, "and this I judge the County of 
 Cumberland knows, and is visible to that half of it 
 that has visited you." 
 
 The spirit of the combatants now became hotter. 
 As the Bishop of London directed that the claret in 
 the castle should be distributed amongst his friends 
 in Cumberland as a present, the Bishop of Carlisle 
 wrote to accuse him of insinuating that the wine was 
 not sour, and to say that such a suspicion raised his 
 contempt more than his anger. He had only taken 
 over the claret as a favour, he said, and the port had 
 to be filtered before it could be drunk ; but was he to 
 pay so expensive a compliment as to make no demand 
 for dilapidations, although they mounted to ^200 or 
 £300? To this long letter the Bishop of London 
 laconically replied that the sum demanded in the 
 estimate, " tho' seemingly demanded, I suppose, is not 
 expected to be paid, as it never will be by, my Lord, 
 your most humble servant, Ric. London." 
 
 Carlisle spiritedly replied that it might be of im- 
 portance to both of them, " but will certainly be so to 
 your Lordship, that the Dilapidations be settled soon, 
 for the House suffers by every Storm (a whole window 
 and much glass beside being blown out of the frames 
 before 1 left Rose), and the Banks of the River 
 (allready in a ruinous condition) will receive much 
 more damage by the winter Torrents, and the Demand 
 on this Article be proportionately increased." 
 
 Bishop Lyttleton is said to have repaired Strick- 
 land's Tower and to have built a new kitchen. He 
 was succeeded in 1768 by Edmund Law, in whom the 
 see of Carlisle obtained the ministrations of a great 
 light in Georgian theology. He was a Whig, a latitu- 
 dinarian, and a disciple of Locke, whose works he 
 edited in 1777. Master of Peterhouse, and professor
 
 304 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 of casuistry at Cambridge, the publication in 1745 
 of his Consideration of the State of the World with regard 
 to the Theory of Religion marked the start of the 
 " Cambridge School " of theology, of which Paley was 
 a still greater light. It is recorded that he almost 
 invariably spent the summer months at Rose Castle, 
 as he was fond of the natural beauty of the place, and 
 " it restored him to the country, for which he had 
 a great attachment." After his death, in 1787, John 
 Douglas was for four years Bishop of Carlisle, and was 
 then, no doubt to his joy, translated to Salisbury, so 
 much nearer to London. Douglas was by way of 
 being a man of letters about town. He was a member 
 of the " British Coffee House Club," and of the 
 " Literary Society," to which Burke, Johnson, and 
 Goldsmith belonged, that met at the Turk's Head 
 in Gerard Street, Soho. He had written in 1750 a 
 pamphlet vindicating Milton from the charge of 
 plagiarism made by William Lauder, a Scottish school- 
 master ; and as his advice afterwards led to the laying 
 of the Cock Lane Ghost, he became quite celebrated 
 for his detective powers. Goldsmith poked mild fun 
 at him in Retaliation as — 
 
 "The scourge of impostors, the terror of quacks." 
 
 He took down the great oak Jacobean staircase and 
 landing at Rose Castle, and replaced it by one in fir, to 
 give the hall " a more neat and modern appearance." 
 
 After him, in 1791, came Vernon, "the first," 
 says Chancellor Ferguson, "of a series of Bishops of 
 Carlisle, Vernon [Vernon Harcourt], Goodenough, 
 Percy, Montagu Villiers, Waldegrave, and Goodwin, 
 who lived at Rose Castle, made it their home, bound 
 up with their dearest family interests, and did not
 
 < 
 
 u
 
 ROSE CASTLE 305 
 
 reckon it a mere summer residence." Vernon Har- 
 court became Archbishop of York in 1808, and was 
 succeeded by Dr. Goodenough, Dean of Rochester, 
 who is mentioned in Mathias's Pursuits of Literature as 
 " good Palasmon, worn with classick toil." Besides 
 being a prominent preacher, Dr. Goodenough was a 
 distinguished botanist, and his herbarium, for long in 
 Carlisle Museum, is now at Kew Gardens. " Traditions 
 still linger," writes Chancellor Ferguson, " of the stately 
 presence and commanding figure of Dr. Goodenough 
 as he appeared for the first time in his cathedral." 
 He was the last Bishop of Carlisle to wear a wig. 
 
 Bishop Hugh Percy succeeded him in 1827, and 
 is largely responsible for the castle at Rose as it now 
 stands. He called in the pioneer of the Gothic revival, 
 Rickman, and rebuilt much of the palace, including 
 Rainbowe's chapel, in the Gothic manner, spending, 
 it is said, £40,000 of his own money on the gardens 
 and outbuildings. The terraces and rosary were 
 planned and set out for him by the noted horticulturist, 
 Sir Joseph Paxton. Bishop Percy was a bishop of the 
 Nicolson type, in the fainter nineteenth-century way. 
 A practical farmer and a judge of horses, he used to 
 drive four-in-hand from Rose Castle to London to take 
 his seat in Parliament. He was succeeded in 1856 
 by Villiers, in i860 by Waldegrave, and in 1869 
 by Harvey Goodwin. With these four Bishops of 
 Carlisle, again to quote Chancellor Ferguson, " the 
 courtly Percy, the aristocratic and unfortunate Villiers, 
 the saintly Waldegrave, and the hard-working and 
 energetic Goodwin, a new regime came in ; the dry 
 bones were made to live, churches were built, livings 
 augmented, abuses reformed, religious and charitable 
 organisations founded." Bishop Goodwin was suc- 
 ceeded on his death in 1 892 by John Wareing Bardsley, 
 
 u
 
 306 EPISCOPAL PALACES OF YORK 
 
 and he in 1905 by the present Lord Bishop, John 
 William Diggle. 
 
 All old houses are haunted by memories, but Rose 
 Castle possesses a visible revenant in the old Tudor 
 tower on the west front. One Pettenger hanged him- 
 self in its upper room ; and still, if by midnight you 
 stray on the terrace beneath, you may discern the form 
 of his ghost looking out of — 
 
 " The lattice that flaps when the wind is shrill," 
 
 and you may see the long cord hanging from his neck. 
 This hangman's rope is not an unfitting device for the 
 secular history of Carlisle ; but the more pleasant and 
 proper symbol of its ecclesiastical history is the one it 
 adopted, the flower of the Rosa Mundi, the rose in the 
 garden beside you. 
 
 [The authorities for this article, besides original sources and 
 local historians, are chiefly : Chancellor Ferguson, History of 
 Carlisle (Diocesan Histories) ; Canon Venables, Episcopal 
 Palaces of England ; Dictionary of National Biography ; Rose 
 Castle {Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland 
 Archaeological Society) ; Notes 6° Queries^
 
 JnUj 
 
 Abingdon, Edmund de, 39 
 ^Ethelwulf, Bishop of Carlisle, 243 
 Aidan, Bishop of Durham, 102, 106 
 Airmin, William, Canon of York, 251 
 Aldhun, Bishop, 104, 203 
 Aldridge, Robert, Bishop of Carlisle, 
 
 16, 26, 273, 274, 276 
 Alexander II., King of Scotland, 244, 
 
 245 
 
 III. 129 
 
 Alexandra, Queen of England, 97 
 
 All Hallows-the-Less (London), 24 
 
 Allerdale, 250 
 
 Allerton, 8-9 
 
 Allertonshire, 198 
 
 Alnwick, 139 
 
 Andrews, Thomas (Lord Mayor), 
 
 179 
 Angus, Earls of, 239 
 Anne, Queen of England, 87 
 
 Boleyn, Queen of Henry VIII., 
 
 21, 154, 269 
 
 of Cleves, Queen of Henry 
 
 VIII., 273 
 
 Appleby, Thomas de, Bishop of Car- 
 lisle, 257, 258 
 
 Arden, Thomas, 183 
 
 Armstrongs, family of, 239 
 
 Arundel, Thomas, Archbishop of 
 York, 53-54 
 
 Aske, Robert, 271 
 
 Atheling, Edgar, 107-110 
 
 Athelstan, 106 
 
 Atkinson, Thomas (Architect), 93 
 
 Auckland (Akeland) : 
 
 Blindervelle, 205 
 
 Borough, 198-199, 230 
 
 Brakesbank, 212 
 
 Bridge, 207, 211, 212, 213 
 
 Auckland, Burnemilne, 212 
 
 Castle, 149, 151, 154, 156, 
 
 165,187,195,199, 
 201-234 
 
 Bakehouse, 210 
 
 Bowling-green ,234 
 
 Brew-house, 2ir 
 
 Chapel, 211, 213, 
 
 223, 225, 
 228, 229, 
 230-231, 
 232, 233, 
 
 234 
 
 Bek's, 225, 
 
 226-227 
 
 Great, 210 
 
 Little, 210 
 
 Court, 234 
 
 Descriptions of, 
 
 201-202, 233 
 
 Destruction of, 2 18, 
 
 224 
 
 Gallery, 223, 228, 
 
 233 
 
 Garden, 211, 212, 
 
 213, 225 
 
 Gate - house, 202, 
 
 225 
 
 Gates, 211, 213, 234 
 
 Eastern Gate, 211, 
 
 212 
 
 North-east Gate, 
 
 234 
 
 Postern Gate, 213 
 
 Skirlaw's Gate, 
 
 234 
 
 South Gate, 212, 
 
 233 
 
 West Gate, 230 
 
 Granary, 210 
 
 Grange, 211 
 
 307
 
 3 o8 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Auckland Castle Hall, 201, 210, 21 1, 
 212, 226 
 
 Orchard, 211, 212 
 
 Porch, 221 
 
 Quadrant, 202, 207 
 
 Repair sand Altera- 
 
 tions to, 159, 190, 
 
 209, 
 214- 
 223, 
 227, 
 
 212-213, 
 217, 221, 
 225, 226, 
 
 228-229, 
 
 233-234 
 
 Rooms of, 211, 212, 
 
 225, 229, 233 
 
 Bishop's Room, 
 
 210, 211, 213 
 
 Dining-hall, 214, 
 
 216-217, 221, 
 222, 223, 229, 
 
 233. 234 
 
 King's Room, 
 
 211 
 
 Kitchen, 211 
 
 Parlour, 213 
 
 Scullery, 221 
 
 Steward's Room, 
 
 210 
 
 Sale of, 180, 224- 
 
 225 
 
 Salt-house, 211 
 
 "Scotland," 221 
 
 ServicesofTenants, 
 
 203-205, 210 
 
 South Front, 234 
 
 Stable, 210, 211, 
 
 220 
 
 Surveys, 209-210, 
 
 211 -212, 224- 
 225 
 
 Turret, 210, 211 
 
 Church of St. Andrew 
 
 (South Church), 202 
 College, 201-202, 207, 213, 
 
 231 
 Court, Chancellor's, 222 
 
 Halmote, 212 
 
 Fair of St. Cuthbert, 205 
 Forest : 
 
 Court of the Free 
 
 Chase, 206 
 
 Great Hunt, 204, 
 
 205, 212 
 
 Pleas, 206 
 
 Hallmedow, 212 
 
 Auckland Hospital, 230 
 
 Leyes Meadow, 212 
 
 Manor, 182, 209, 212 
 
 Market, 201 
 
 Mills, 204, 205, 207 
 
 Moor, 205 
 
 North, 202 
 
 Park, 199, 202, 205, 209, 
 
 212, 214, 223, 228, 
 
 233 
 
 Close, 211 
 
 Enclosure of, 211, 
 
 212, 234 
 
 Old Park, 205, 207 
 
 Stock, 228-229 
 
 Survey of, 225 
 
 Plague at, 210 
 
 St. Andrews, 201 
 
 St. Helens, 201 
 
 Stile Meadow, 212 
 
 West, 201 
 
 Wood, 199, 206, 207 
 
 Aymery, Archdeacon of Durham, 244 
 Ayscough, Sir Francis, 73 
 
 B 
 
 Bainbridge, Christopher, Arch- 
 bishop of York, 66 
 Baker, Thomas (Antiquary), 231 
 Balcanquhal, Dean, 178 
 Balliol, family of, 129, 132 
 
 Edward, 252 
 
 John, 237 
 
 Bamburgh, 102, 103 
 Bannock burn, Battle of, 133 
 Bardsley, John Wareing, Bishop of 
 
 Carlisle, 305 
 Barnard Castle, 129 
 Barnes, Richard, Bishop of Durham, 
 
 10, 168-169, 222 
 Barnet, 172 
 Barrington, Shute, Bishop of Durham, 
 
 128, 192, 195, 234 
 Barrow, William, Bishop of Carlisle. 
 
 265 
 Barwick, Dr., 12 
 Basire, Dr. Isaac, 231 
 Bath, 173, 224 
 Battersea, 21-22, 61 
 Battle of the Standard, 118, 237 
 Beaufort, Cardinal, 23 
 
 Henry, Duke of Somerset. 
 
 25
 
 INDEX 
 
 3°9 
 
 Beaumont, Henry de, 44-45 
 
 Lewis de, Bishop of Dur- 
 ham, 134 
 
 Beaurepaire, 133 
 
 Bedford, John, Duke of, 23 
 
 Bedlington, 198, 199 
 
 Bek, Anthony, Bishop of Durham, 
 9, 131-132, 153, 201, 205, 206, 207, 
 225, 226 
 
 Bell, Richard, Prior of Durham, 266 
 
 Bennett, Dr., 78 
 
 Bentley, Robert, 149 
 
 Benwell Tower, 29-30 
 
 Bernard, Bishop of Carlisle, 243-244 
 
 Bernard, St., 124 
 
 Berwick-on-Tweed, 177, 237, 281, 
 287 
 
 Best, John, Bishop of Carlisle, 277, 
 278 
 
 Beverley, 51, 52, 71 
 
 Bewcastle, 236 
 
 Bicehill, Prebend of, 36 
 
 Bichbourne, William, 149 
 
 Bigod's Rebellion, 156, 219, 220 
 
 Binchester, 202 
 
 Bingham, William, Bishop of Salis- 
 bury, 246 
 
 Birtley Wood, 199 
 
 Bishop's Burton, 7, 71 
 
 Bishopsgarth (Wakefield), 31 
 
 Bishop's Middleham, 9-10, 130 
 
 Bishop's Monkton, 7 
 
 Bishops' War, the, 177, 281, 286 
 
 Bishop's Wilton, 7 
 
 Bishopthorpe Palace, 32-100 
 
 Additions and 
 
 Repairs 10,43, 
 51,52,62,84, 
 85,88-89,91, 
 92, 93 - 95. 
 , 97-99 
 
 Chapel, 86, 88, 
 
 92, 94, 98 
 — Garden, 94, 96 
 Hall, 86 
 
 Library, 94, 98 
 
 Robbery at, 53 
 
 Sale of, 83-84 
 
 Tapestry, 91 
 Truce at, 44-45 
 
 Black Death, 135 
 
 Blackburne, Lancelot, Archbishop of 
 
 York, 89-90 
 Blakiston, Mistress, 179, 180 
 
 Blindervelle (Auckland), 205 
 
 Blyth (Northumberland), 61 
 
 "Bokonky, Dr.," 178 
 
 Boldon Book, 10, 203, 212 
 
 Boleyn. See Anne Boleyn 
 
 Bolingbroke Castle, 16 
 
 Boniface, Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 
 246 
 Booth, Laurence, Bishop of Durham, 
 21, 140-142, 207, 
 
 213 
 
 Archbishop of York, 
 
 61 
 
 William, Archbishop of York, 
 
 57-58 
 Bovill, Sewal de, Archbishop of York, 
 
 38-39 
 Bowes, Andrew, 30 
 Bowet, Henry, Archbishop of York, 
 
 2, 6, 56-57 
 Bowmer, Sir Ralph, 220 
 Bowys, George, 216 
 Bradford, Samuel, Bishop of Carlisle, 
 
 296 
 Brak', William, 207 
 Bramley Grange Farm, 27 
 Brancepeth Castle, 166, 167 
 Branksome Castle, 241 
 Brereton, Sir William, 223, 225 
 
 George, 229 
 
 Bridge Court (Battersea), 21 
 Bridgeman, Henry, Bishop of Sodor 
 
 and Man, 12 
 Broughton House, 29 
 Bruce, David. See David II. 
 
 Robert. See Robert Bruce 
 
 Buccleuch, the bold, 240, 241 
 
 Burgh-upon-Sands, 245 
 
 Burgh, Hubert de, Earl of Kent, 17 
 
 Burgundy, Duchess of, 143 
 
 Burke, Edmund, 94 
 
 Burnett, Gilbert, Bishop of Salisbury, 
 
 285 
 Bury, Richard de, Bishop of Durham, 
 
 207, 208, 210 
 Butler, Joseph, Bishop of Durham, 
 
 90, 187, 188, 200 
 
 Caluewstones (Carlisle), 253 
 Caldicotesike, 36 
 Cambridge, 62
 
 3io 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Canute, King, 106, 203 
 Cappoch (Priest), 298-299 
 Carham, Battle at, 106 
 Carileph, William of, Bishop of Dur- 
 ham, 115-116, 130, 207 
 Carisbrook Castle, 287 
 Carlisle, 236, 242, 291 
 
 Bishopric, 15-17, 25-27, 236 
 
 Canons of, 244, 245, 248, 
 
 257 
 
 Capture of, in 1216, 244 
 
 Castle, 236, 240, 241 
 
 Cathedral, 264, 287, 293 
 
 Chapter Library, 293 
 
 Civil War at, 286, 287, 288 
 
 Deanery, 293 
 
 Devastation of, 250 
 
 Earl of. See Harcla 
 
 Earldom of, 236, 243 
 
 Gaol, 298 
 
 Grammar School, 293 
 
 Hospital of St. Nicholas, 253 
 
 Mary Queen of Scots at, 
 
 278 
 
 Museum, 305 
 
 Pretender at, in 1745, 296, 
 
 297 
 
 Prior of, 244, 252 
 
 Siege of, 1173-74, 244 
 
 Tower of, 251 
 
 Carlisle Place (London), 25-27 
 Carnabies, family of, 239 
 Cartwright, Thomas, Bishop of 
 
 Chester, 14-15 
 Catherine Howard, Queen of Henry 
 
 VIII, 3 
 Cawood Castle, 66, 81, 93 
 
 During the Civil War, 
 
 83 
 
 Gate-house, 57 
 
 Great Hall, 57 
 
 History of, 2-4 
 
 Repairs to, 52 
 
 Robbery at, 53 
 
 Wolsey at, 69 
 
 Cecil, Sir William, 165, 222, 262 
 Champne, Robert, 159 
 
 Chandler, Edward, Bishop of Dur- 
 ham, 187-188, 200 
 Charles I., King of England, 246, 280, 
 281, 283, 284, 286, 287 
 
 at Auckland, 223, 224 
 
 at Bishopthorpe, 83 
 
 at Chester, 14 
 
 Charles I. at Durham, 175, 177, 179 
 
 II, 182 
 
 Chauncy (Chause), Robert de, Bishop 
 
 of Carlisle, 247-248, 252 
 Cheese, Mr, 187 
 Chelsea College, 284 
 Chester, 14, 199 
 
 Abbey, 13-14 
 
 Deanery, 11 
 
 Episcopal Residence at, 13 
 
 Ward, 198 
 
 Chester-le-Street, 103, 104 
 Chigwell, 82 
 Chiswick, 26 
 Cholmley, Major, 288 
 Churchdown, 7 
 Churchill, Lord, 15 
 
 Clare, Gilbert de, Earl of Gloucester 
 
 and Hertford, 42 
 Clement V., Pope, 43 
 
 VI. 47, 208 
 
 Clerk, Rosemary, 297 
 Clifford, Sir Thomas, 218 
 Clinton, Edward, Lord, 16 
 
 Close, Nicholas, Bishop of Carlisle, 
 
 265 
 Cnaresburgh. See Knaresborough 
 Coatham, 199 
 Cock Lane Ghost, 304 
 Coke, family of, 1 7 
 
 Sir John, 17 
 
 Coldharbour, 24 
 
 Comine, Robert, Earl of Northum- 
 
 bria, 108 
 Conway, Viscount, 228 
 Cook, Monk, 205 
 Corbridge, Archbishop, 5, 42 
 Cosin, John, Bishop of Durham, 175, 
 
 182-184, 187, 192, 225, 226-231, 
 
 233 
 Council of the North, 157-158, 170, 
 
 221 
 Council of Vienne, 43 
 Court of High Commission, 222-223, 
 
 279 
 Couton, de, Prior of Durham, 134 
 Cranborne, Lord, 79 
 Cranmer, Thomas, Archbishop of 
 
 Canterbury, 269, 274 
 Crew, Lord Nathaniel, Bishop of 
 
 Durham, 128, 184-186, 187, 200, 
 
 231-232 
 Crigan, Claudius, Bishop of Sodor 
 
 and Man, 13
 
 INDEX 
 
 3 11 
 
 Cromwell, Oliver, 180, 2S5, 289 
 
 Thomas, 22, 26, 68, 154, 
 
 218, 271 
 Croyland, 114 
 Culpeper, Thomas, 3 
 Cumberland, 105, 250, 253, 257 
 
 William, Duke of, 297, 
 
 298 
 Cumin, William, Bishop of Durham, 
 
 liS-121 
 Cuthbert, St., 102, 103, 104, ioy, 
 
 in, 113, 114, 115, 156 
 
 D 
 
 Dacue, Lord, 267, 277 
 
 Philip, 267 
 
 Dalston, 242, 289, 291 
 Darcy, Lord, 145-146, 156 
 Darlington, 130, 146, 198, 199, 201 
 David I., King of Scotland, 1 17-1 19, 
 
 237>243 
 II. 135, 209, 
 
 253 
 
 Dawes, Sir William, Archbishop of 
 York, 88-89 
 
 Day House, 27 
 
 Debatable Land, 240 
 
 Declaration of Indulgence, 185-186, 
 231-232 
 
 Deeside House, 15 
 
 Delacourt. See Dillycot 
 
 Deor Street, 202 
 
 Diggle, John William, Bishop of Car- 
 lisle, 306 
 
 Dillycot (Delacourt), Jane, 169 
 
 Dolben, John, Archbishop of York, 
 85-86 
 
 Dolfin, 236 
 
 Douai, 169 
 
 Douglas, family of, 238-239, 257 
 
 James, 2 
 
 Lord James, 250 
 
 John, Bishop of Carlisle, 304 
 
 Drummond, Robert Hay, Archbishop 
 
 of York, 92-93 
 Dryden, John (Poet), 85 
 Dudley, Guildford, 163 
 
 John, Duke of Northumber- 
 
 land, 161, 162, 163 
 Dunbar, Battle of, 179-180 
 Duncombe, William, 90 
 Dunholm (Durham), 104 
 Dupplin Moor, Battle of, 252 
 
 Durham Abbey, 219 
 
 Archdeacon of, 10 
 
 Assizes at, 195 
 
 Bishopric : 
 
 Origin of, 126 
 
 Separation of, 162 
 
 Survey of, 136- 
 
 137, 226 
 
 Bridge, 1 16 
 
 Framwellgate, 166, 
 
 178 
 
 Bridewell, 193 
 
 Castle, 8, 101-200 
 
 Archives at, 160 
 
 Barbican, 159 
 
 Buttresses, 183 
 
 Castle ward, 133 
 
 Chantry, 158 
 
 Chapel, 123, 151, 158, 
 
 159, 169, 184 
 
 Description of, 121- 
 
 124, 176, 187, 194 
 
 Destruction of, 183 
 
 Doorway (Pudsey's), 
 
 195 
 
 Dungeons, 123 
 
 Fire at, 124-125 
 
 Foundation of, 101, 
 
 107, 113 
 
 Gallery, 128, 183 
 
 Tunstall's, 
 
 159. 195 
 
 Gaol, 137, 141, 167- 
 
 168, 169, 170, 191- 
 194 
 
 Gate-house, 159,183, 
 
 195 
 
 Gates, 123 
 
 North Gate, 137, 
 
 141, 191, 192 
 
 Gateway, 127-12S, 
 
 159, 185, 194 
 
 Hall, 137, 148, 174, 
 
 183,190,196, 
 200 
 
 Bek's, 132, 145 
 
 Constable's, 
 
 129, 136 
 
 Hatfield, 199 
 
 Pudsey's, 128, 
 
 136, 148 
 
 Keep, 122-123, '36, 
 
 148, 175, 183, 188, 
 191, 200
 
 312 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Durham Castle Library, 187 
 
 Porch, 183 
 
 Pulpits, 145 
 
 Repairs to, 116, 126- 
 
 127, 135-136, 141. 
 143. US, IS9-IDO, 
 169, 174-175- l82 - 
 184, 187, 188-189, 
 195, 228 
 — — Rooms : 
 
 Breakfast - room, 
 
 190 
 
 Common Room, 
 
 188 
 
 Dining-room, 189 
 
 Kitchen, 145 
 
 Senior Judge's 
 
 Apartments, 189 
 
 Sale of, 179 
 
 Siege of, 115, 116 
 
 Staircase, 184, 187 
 
 Tapestry, 189, 194 
 
 Tower, 145, 190-191 
 
 Treasury, 136 
 
 Tunstall's Turret, 184 
 
 Water-supply, 159— 
 
 160, 183 
 
 Well, 160 
 
 Cathedral, 116, 167, 176, 
 
 180 
 
 Church, the White, 105 
 
 City, 170, 173, 176, 190, I9 8 . 
 
 230 
 College, 24, 180-182, 220 
 
 Hospital, 230 
 
 Mint, 124, 137, 152 
 
 Palace Green, 123, 137, 167 
 
 Palatinate : 
 
 — — Abolition of Liber- 
 ties, 157, 162 
 
 Judicial Adminis- 
 
 tration of, 157- 
 158, 162, 176, 
 198 : Chancery, 
 137, 176, 198, 
 199 ; Court of 
 Pleas, 176, 198, 
 199; Ecclesiasti- 
 cal Court, 169 ; 
 Exchequer, 136- 
 
 137, 139. 176, 
 183 ; Halmote 
 Courts, 198 
 Muniments, 160 
 
 Durham Palatinate, Officers of, 197, 
 198, 199 
 
 Revenues, 168 
 
 Plague at, 177 
 
 Prior of, 146, 158, 164, 206, 
 
 220 
 
 Priory of, 115-116, 130, 155, 
 
 205, 209 
 
 Sack of, 119 
 
 Sadler Street, 194 
 
 Treaty of, 1 38 
 
 University, 180-182,190,191, 
 
 197, 199, 200, 232 
 Durham House (London), 23, 160, 
 
 163, 175 
 Durham Household Book, 220 
 Durham Place, 20 
 
 E 
 
 Easington Ward, 198 
 Ecclesiastical Commission, 197 
 Edgar Atheling, 108, 109 
 Edinburgh, 252, 253 
 Edward I., King of England, 2, 237 
 
 at Bishopthorpe, 40 
 
 at Durham, 132 
 
 at Linstock, 243 
 
 at Rose, 243 
 
 at Westminster, 18 
 
 II., King of England, 248, 
 
 250, 251 
 
 at Bishopthorpe, 43, 44- 
 
 45 
 III., King of England, 46, 252, 
 
 254, 257 
 
 at Auckland, 208 
 
 at Durham, 134 
 
 IV., King of England, 60,141- 
 
 142 
 
 VI., King of England, 160, 
 
 163, 268 
 
 at Bishopthorpe, 97 
 
 at Durham Place, 24 
 
 Egerton, John, Bishop of Durham, 
 
 190-191, 234 
 Eleanor, Queen of Henry III., 247 
 Elizabeth, Queen of England, 75, 76, 
 
 165, 168,241, 262, 268, 
 
 276, 279 
 
 Coldharbour granted to, 
 
 24 
 
 Horncastle leased to, 16
 
 INDEX 
 
 3 l 3 
 
 Elizabeth Woodville, Queen of 
 Edward IV., 59, 63-64 
 
 of York, Queen of Henry 
 
 VII., 146 
 Elstan, the " dreng," 205 
 Elvet Bridge, 193 
 Erasmus, 217, 273 
 Erfast, Richard, son of, 32 
 Ethelwine, Bishop, n 1 
 Ethred, Earl, 203 
 Eure, Sir William, 153 
 Evenwood, 199 
 Everdon, Sylvester de, Bishop of 
 
 Carlisle, 246-247, 281 
 
 Fair Maid of Kent, 52 
 
 Fairfax, Lord, 3 
 
 Ferguson, Chancellor, 243-244, 254, 
 
 272, 293, 294 
 Feversham, Lord, 14, 15 
 Finchale, 124, 155 
 Fire of London, 85 
 Fisher, the Jesuit, 281 
 FitzHugh, Lord, 55 
 Fiambard, Bishop of Durham, 1 16— 
 
 ii7> 123 
 Fleming, Sir Daniel, 296 
 
 Sir George, Bishop of Car- 
 lisle, 296 
 Flodden, Battle of, 149, 214, 266 
 Folliot, Rev. Gilbert, 296 
 Fox, Richard, Bishop of Durham, 132, 
 136, 143-H8. 188, 
 207, 214 
   Bishop of Winchester, 
 
 153 
 
 George, 181 -182 
 
 Frankland, 146 
 
 Wood, 199 
 
 Franklyn, William, 151- 153 
 
 Frazer, James, Bishop of Manchester, 
 
 29 
 Frewen, Accepted, Archbishop of 
 
 York, 84 
 Fulham, Palace of, 35 
 Fuller, Thomas, 288 
 Fulthorpe, Sir William, 55 
 
 Gascoigne, Chief Justice, 55 
 Gateshead, 115, 198 
 
 Gaundelesse (Gaunless, Gaundeles), 
 
 River, 201, 211 
 George I., 89 
 Gibson, John, 222 
 Giffard, Walter, Archbishop of York, 
 
 2, 8, 40 
 Gilbert, John, Archbishop of York, 
 
 92 
 Gilpin, Bernard, Rector of Houghton- 
 le-Spring, 277 
 Dr. Richard, Rector of Grey- 
 stoke, 289 
 Gladstone, Mr. Murray, 29 
 Glenny, William, 149 
 Gloucester, Abbot of, 7 
 
 Earl of. See Clare 
 
 Humphrey, Duke of, 23 
 
 Godric, St., 124 
 
 Godwin, Francis, Bishop of Llandaff, 
 262, 263 
 
 Goldsmith, Oliver, 304 
 
 Goodenough, Samuel, Bishop of Car- 
 lisle, 304, 305 
 
 Goodwin, Harvey, Bishop of Carlisle, 
 
 3°4> 3°5 
 Gordon, Lady Catherine, 143 
 
 Gospatric, Earl of Northumbria, 112 
 Graeme, family of, 239, 240 
 Graham, John, Bishop of Chester, 15 
 Granville, Denis, Dean, 231-232 
 Gray, Hawise de, 33 
 
 John de, 33 
 
 Walter, Archbishop of York, 2, 
 
 5. 7,8, 17,33-38 
 Greenfield (Grenfeud), William de, 
 
 Archbishop of York, 5, 42-43 
 Grey, Dr., 1S5, 186 
 
 Lady Jane, 163 
 
 Greystanes, Robert de, 205, 206 
 Grindal, Edmund, Bishop of London, 
 
 277-278, 279 
 
 Archbishop of York, 
 
 75-76 
 
 Gualo, 244 
 Guisnes, 60 
 
 H 
 
 Haddington, 252 
 
 Halidon Hill, Battle of, 134, 252 
 
 Hall, family of, 239 
 
 Halton.John, Bishop of Carlisle, 243, 
 
 249-251, 253 
 Hamildon Hill, Battle of, 258 
 Hampton Court Conference, 280
 
 3H 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Harcla, Andrew de, Earl of Carlisle, 
 
 251 
 Harcourt, Lady Anne, 95 
 
 Edward Vernon, Arch- 
 bishop of York, 28, 94- 
 
 95, 304-305 
 
 Hardy, Matthew, 27 
 
 Harington, Sir John, 80 
 
 Harrity Hill (" Hairibee"), 240, 297, 
 300 
 
 Harsnett, Samuel, Archbishop of 
 York, 82 
 
 Hartlepool, 155, 168 
 
 Haselrig, Sir Arthur, 179, 180, 182, 
 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 231 
 
 Hatfield, Thomas of, Bishop of Dur- 
 ham, 23, 132, 135-136, 209, 211, 
 212 
 
 Hawden Stank, 265 
 
 Hayward, Sir John, 262 
 
 Heath, Nicholas, Archbishop of York, 
 7> 8, 21, 73 
 
 Heaton Norris, 28 
 
 Hemsworth Grammar School, 73 
 
 Henry I., King of England, 236-237 
 
 II., King of England, 8, 125, 
 
 237, 244 
 
 III., King of England, 2, 16, 
 
 129, 242, 245, 246 
 
 IV., King of England, 258, 
 
 259, 262 
 
 V., King of England, 258 
 
 VI., King of England, 23, 60, 
 
 139-140 
 
 VII., King of England, 65, 
 
 143, 146, 150 
 
 VIII., King of England, 11, 
 
 13, 66,70-71, 72, 157, 
 217, 218, 221, 261, 268, 
 269-270, 271, 273 
 
 at Cawood, 3 
 
 at York Place, 19 
 
 Durham House acquired 
 
 by, 24 
 
 Heron, family of, 239 
 
 Herring, Thomas, Archbishop of 
 York, 90-91 
 
 Hertford, Earl of. See Clare 
 
 Heveringham (Heveningham), Colo- 
 nel, 286 287, 288-289 
 
 Hexgrave (near Southwell), 85 
 
 Hexham, 42 
 
 Hexhamshire, 267-268 
 
 Higden, Dr. , 263 
 
 Highgate, 172 
 
 Hildebrand, Pope, 1 16 
 
 Hildesley, Mark, Bishop of Sodor 
 
 and Man, 13 
 Hodgkin, Dr., 240 
 Holgate, Robert, Archbishop of York, 
 
 22, 72-73 
 Holland, Sir John, 52 
 Holm by House, 179 
 Holme Cultram, 247, 250, 271 
 Holy Isle. See Lindisfarne 
 Holyrood, 146 
 Home, family of, 239 
 Horncastle, 15 -16, 243, 250 
 
 John de, 254 
 
 Home, Dean of Durham, 161 
 
 Hotham, Captain, 3 
 
 Hoveden, 9 
 
 Howard, Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, 
 
 20, 156, 157, 167 
 Howden, 155 
 Howdenshire, 198 
 Howley, William, Archbishop of 
 
 Canterbury, 197 
 Howson, John, Bishop of Durham, 
 
 183 
 Hugh, Abbot of Beaulieu, 245 
 
 Bishop of Carlisle, 242 
 
 Hutton, Matthew, Archbishop of 
 York, 79-81, 
 
 Bishop of Dur- 
 ham, 222 
 Hyde, Chancellor, 12 
 
 Inglewood, Forest of, 242, 250 
 Irton (Ireton), Ralph de, Bishop of 
 
 Carlisle, 243, 248 
 Isabella, Queen of Edward II., 2, 45 
 
 Jacquemayne, Catherine, 165 
 James I., King of England, 172, 224, 
 235, 241, 280 
 
 at Bishopthorpe, 81 
 
 at Durham, 1 70- 1 7 1, 173 
 
 Horncastle leased to, 16 
 
 "York House" trans- 
 
 ferred to, 21
 
 INDEX 
 
 3i5 
 
 James II., King of England, 14-15 
 
 I., King of Scotland, 138. 
 
 See also Stuart 
 
 IV., King of Scotland, 143, 
 
 146, 149, 266 
 
 William, Bishop of Durham, 
 
 172-173, 224 
 Jarrow, Cell at, 155 
 Jeffreys, Judge, 185 
 Jervaulx, Abbot of, 220 
 John, King of England, 129, 208, 
 
 244 
 Johnstone, family of, 235, 239 
 Juxon, William, Bishop of London, 
 
 283 
 
 K 
 
 Katharine of Aragon, Queen of 
 
 Henry VIII., 70-71, 268, 269 
 Keble, Canon, 37 
 Keene, Edmund, Bishop of Chester, 
 
 IS 
 
 Kellawe (Kellewe), Richard, Bishop 
 
 of Durham, 9-10, 1 30-131, 208 
 Kemp, John, Archbishop of York, 18 
 Kempe, Cardinal, 3, 4 
 
 Mr., 98 
 
 Mr. C. E., 57 
 
 Kennett, White, Bishop of Peter- 
 borough, 264 
 
 Ker, Sir Robert, 79 
 
 Kerr, family of, 239 
 
 Kerr, Lanse, 267 
 
 Kildesby, William de, 47 
 
 Kingscott, John, Bishop of Carlisle, 
 265 
 
 Kingston, Sir William, 272 
 
 " Kinmont Willie," 240 
 
 Kirkby, John de, Bishop of Carlisle, 
 252-253, 254, 256, 295 
 
 Kirkmichael, 10-12 
 
 Knaresborough, Prebend of, 36 
 
 Knights Templars, 43 
 
 Kyte (Kite), John, Bishop of Carlisle, 
 266-267, 272 
 
 Lambeth, 26-27 
 
 Lamplugh, Thomas, Archbishop of 
 
 York, 86 
 Lancaster, 250 
 Lanchester, 199 
 
 Laneham, 5 
 
 Lanercost Priory, 244, 245, 248, 
 
 253 
 
 Lang, Dr. Cosmo Gordon, Archbishop 
 
 of York, 99 
 Langdale, Sir Marmaduke, 287, 288 
 Langley, Thomas, Bishop of Durham, 
 137-138 
 
 Cardinal, 9, 212 
 
 Langstaffe, John, 229 
 Langton, Simon de, 34 
 Latimer, Lord, 219, 220 
 
 Laud, William, Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, 83, 84, 175, 
 280, 281, 283 
 
 Bishop of London, 176 
 
 Bishop of St. David's, 
 
 24 
 Laurence the Monk, Prior of Dur- 
 ham, 117, 120-122, 124-125 
 Law, Edmund, Bishop of Carlisle, 
 
 303-304 
 Layton, 155 
 Lee, Edward, Archbishop of York, 
 
 4, 7, 7o-7i 
 
 James Prince, Bishop of Man- 
 
 chester, 28 
 Legh, Dr. Thomas, 218-219 
 Leicester Abbey, 70 
 Leland, John, 9, 202, 207, 273 
 Leslie, General, 286 
 Liege (Liittich), 111 
 Lightfoot, Joseph Barber, Bishop of 
 
 Durham, 234 
 Lilburne, family of, 182 
 Lincoln College (Oxford), 62 
 Lindisfarne, 102, 106 
 Linlithgow, 252 
 Linstock, 242, 248, 289 
 Lisle, Lady, 272 
 
 Lord, 272 
 
 Liverpool, 27, 29 
 
 Loch wood Tower, 235 
 
 London Bridge, 251 
 
 Long Newton, 232 
 
 Longchamps, William, 9 
 
 Longley, Charles, Archbishop of York, 
 
 96 
 Louvain, 169 
 Lucy, Alexander de, 244 
 Ludham, Godfrey de, Archbishop of 
 York, 39 
 
 Sir Walter de, 39 
 
 Lumley, George, 219
 
 3'6 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Lumley, Marmaduke, Bishop of Car- 
 lisle, 265 
 
 Lythegrenes, John de, 41 
 
 Lyttleton, Charles, Bishop of Carlisle, 
 300-304 
 
 M 
 
 Macdonald, Captain, 297 
 Machell, Thomas, Vicar of Kirkby 
 
 Thore, 293 
 Maclagan, William D. , Archbishop 
 
 of York, 9S 
 Magee, William C, Archbishop of 
 
 York, 97-98 
 Maid of Norway, the, 24S 
 Makerell, Luce, 205 
 Malcolm III., King of Scotland, 107, 
 116 
 
 IV., King of Scotland, 237 
 
 Malet, Robert, 32 
 
 Manchester, 27, 28-29 
 
 Mansfield, Lord, 94 
 
 Margaret, Queen of Edward I.. 2, 
 
 243 
 
 Queen of Henry \ I., 140- 
 
 141 
 
 Tudor, Princess. 9, 144, 
 
 146 148 
 Markham, William, Archbishop of 
 
 York, 94 
 Mary, Queen, 24, 164, 26S 
 
 Grants by, 4, 7, 21 
 
 of Modena, Queen of James II., 
 
 184-185 
 
 Queen of Scots, 167, 27S 
 
 Masham, Prebend of, 58 
 
 Mason, George, Bishop of Sodor and 
 
 Man, 12 
 Matthew, Mrs.. So-81, 224 
 
 Toby, Archbishop of York, 
 
 21, 8o-8l 
 
 Bishop of Durham, 
 
 10, 171, 175, 222, 
 223, 224 
 Mauclerk, Walter, Bishop of Carlisle, 
 
 16, 17, 242, 245-246, 247 
 Maud, Empress. 117-118, 119, 237 
 Mauldeth Hall (Heaton Norris). 28 
 Maxwell, family of, 239 
 Melbourne (Derbyshire), 15-16, 17, 
 
 Melton, \\ illiam de, Archbishop of 
 York, 43-47. 49 
 
 Merks, Thomas, Bishop of Carlisle, 
 
 246-247, 258, 259-261, 262-264, 
 
 2S2 
 Merrick, John, Bishop of Sodor and 
 
 Man, 11-12 
 Meye (May), John, Bishop of Carlisle, 
 
 272, 279 
 Mickleton, Mr. (Antiquary), 183 
 Middleham, 60, 199 
 Midrigge, Peter de. 210 
 Milburne, Richard, Bishop of Carlisle, 
 
 281 
 Miller, Mr. Sanderson, 188-189 
 Monmouth, James, Duke of, 184 
 Monteigne, George. Archbishop of 
 
 York, 81-82 
 Moor Park, 60 
 More, Sir Thomas, 22, 274 
 Morpeth, 192 
 
 Morton, Dr., Prebendary of Dur- 
 ham, 185, 186 
 
 Thomas, Bishop of Durham, 
 
 10, 24-25, 176-178, 183, 
 223, 227, 228 
 Mount Grace, Prior of, 158 
 Mundeville, 199 
 Munster, Duchess of, 89 
 Murdac, Henry, Archbishop of York, 6 
 Murray, George, Bishop of Sodor 
 
 and Man, 13 
 Musgrave, Sir Philip, 287-28S 
 Myton, Battle of, 44 
 
 N 
 
 Neasham, 155 
 
 Neild, Mr. (Philanthropist), 192-193 
 Neile, Richard, Archbishop of York, 
 82-83 
 
 Bishop of Durham, 
 
 24, 174, 176, 190, 
 200, 223 
 - Sir Paul, S3 
 William (Mathematician), 83 
 
 Nesfield, Mr. (Artist), 96 
 
 Neville, family of, 129, 132, 168, 239 
 
 Alexander, Archbishop of 
 
 York, 2, 51-53, 138-139 
 
 Charles, Earl of Westmor- 
 
 land, 166, 277 
 
 Edward, Sir, 19 
 
 George, Archbishop of York, 
 
 58-61 
 
 Ralph, Baron, 134
 
 INDEX 
 
 VI 
 
 Neville, Richard, Earl of Warwick, 
 
 58, 59, 60 
 Neville's Cross, Battle of, 48, 134, 209 
 Newark, Henry de, Archbishop of 
 
 York, 41 
 Newburn, Ford of, 177-178 
 Newcastle, 149, 153, 219 
 
 Episcopal Residence at, 
 
 27, 29-30, 243, 251 
 
 Erection of See at, 161- 
 
 162 
 
 Gaol, 192 
 
 Siege of, 286 
 
 Tower of, 251 
 
 Newton, Mrs., 89 
 
 Nicholas, Bishop of Sodor and Man, 
 
 10 11 
 Nicolson, William, Bishop of Carlisle, 
 
 293-295 
 Nithsdale, 252 
 
 Norfolk, Duke of. See Howard 
 Norham Castle, 126, 143, 148, 149- 
 
 150, 156, 214-215 
 Norman, Anthony, 72 
 Northallerton, 8-9, 126, 146 
 Northampton, Treaty of, 251-252 
 Northley Fields, 27 
 Northman, Earl, 203 
 Northumberland, Duke of. See Dud- 
 ley 
 
 Earl of. See Percy, 
 
 Uchtred 
 
 Earls of, 103 
 
 Raid of, 153 
 
 Northumbria, 102-103, 106, 108-IIO, 
 
 115, 125 
 
 Earl of. See Comine, 
 
 Gospatric, Waltheof 
 Norwich House, 21 
 Nostell, Prior of, 243 
 Nottingham, 2 
 
 O 
 
 Ocle, Lord, 267 
 
 Odington, 7 
 
 Ogle, 135 
 
 Oglethorpe, Owen, Bishop of Carlisle, 
 276-277 
 
 Old El vet, 194 
 
 Old Malton, 73 
 
 Orrey's Tower (Kirkmichael), II 
 
 Osbakleston, Richard, Bishop of Car- 
 lisle, 300, 301, 302, 303 
 
 Oswald, King, 102. 106 
 
 Otley, 5, 57 
 
 Otterboume, Battle of, 257, 258 
 
 Oxenhyrde, John, 21 
 
 Mrs., 22 
 
 Oxford, Lady, 187 
 Lincoln College, 62 
 
 Pacification of Berwick, 177 
 
 Paris, Matthew, 246 
 
 Parker, Matthew, Archbishop of 
 
 Canterbury, 76 
 Parr, Dr., 284 
 Paulinus of Leeds, 244 
 Paxton, Sir Joseph, 305 
 Peacock, Thomas Love, 294 
 Pease, Mr. J. W., 30 
 Pele Towers, 241, 254-256 
 Penny, John, Bishop of Carlisle, 266 
 Penrcth, John de, 207 
 Penrith, 253, 264, 288 
 Percy, family of, 239, 257, 258 
 
 Henry, 239 
 
 Hugh, Bishop of Carlisle, 304, 
 
 305 
 Sir Ingram, 155 
 
 Thomas, Earl of Northumber- 
 land, 166, 167 
 
 William, Bishop of Carlisle, 
 
 265 
 
 Sir William, 267 
 
 Peterborough, Lady, 284 
 
 Cathedral, 226 
 
 Petrarch, 208 
 Pette, Phineas, 177 
 Philip IV. of France, 237 
 Philippaof Hainault, Queen of Edward 
 
 III., 46, 48, 134, 208 
 Philips, John, Bishop of Sodor and 
 
 Man, 12 
 Phillpotts, Dr., 196 
 Piers, John, Archbishop of York, 78 
 Pilgrimage of Grace, 155, 219, 271 
 Pilkington. James, Bishop of Dur- 
 ham, 164-169 
 Plantagenet, Geoffrey, 34 
 Pontefract Castle, 55 
 Potter, Amy, 282 
 
 Barnaby, Bishop of Carlisle. 
 
 281, 282 
 
 Grace, 282 
 
 Powys, Horace, Bishop of Sodor and 
 Man, 13
 
 3*8 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Preston, 288 
 
 Pudsey (Puiset), Hugh, Bishop of 
 Durham, 9, 124-129, 188, 203, 205 
 Puiset. See Pudsey 
 
 R 
 
 Raby Castle, 129 
 Rainbowe, Edward, Bishop of Car- 
 lisle, 290-292, 293 
 Rakett, John, 149 
 Ralph the Crafty, 212 
 Ravensworth, Lord, 195-196 
 Red Hills, 209 
 Rede, family of, 239 
 Reed, Robert, Bishop of Dromore, 
 
 258 
 Reformation, the, 217, 268-272, 278- 
 
 279 
 Reginald the Monk, 123-124, 125 
 Rhodes, Ralph de, 16 
 Richard I., King of England, 126- 
 127 
 
 II., King of England, 52, 
 
 246, 247, 257, 259, 260, 
 262, 264 
 
 III., King of England, 64, 
 
 142, 213 
 
 Son of Erfast, 32 
 
 the Engineer, 128, 188 
 
 " Richard II." (Play), 260-263 
 
 Rickman, Mr. (Architect), 305 
 
 Ridley, Dr., 218 
 
 Rinaldo de Modena, 66 
 
 Ripon, 6-7, 27-28, 33, 51, 73, 103, 
 
 105, 180 
 Rising of the Earls, 165-168 
 Rising of the North, 278 
 Robert Bruce, 133, 208, 250-251, 
 252 
 
 III., King of Scotland, 258 
 
 the Falconer, 205 
 
 Robinson, Henry, Bishop of Carlisle, 
 
 261, 279 
 Rockingham, Robert of, 22 
 Roger, Archbishop of York, 1, 33 
 Romanus (Le Romeyn), John, Arch- 
 bishop of York, 41 
 Rose, Geoffrey de la, 242 
 Rose Castle, 15, 235-306 
 Alterations and Addi- 
 tions to, 289, 290, 291, 
 2 93. 303. 305 
 
 Rose Castle Brew-house, 301 
 Burning of, 250, 266 
 
 Chapel, 256, 290-291, 
 
 305 
 Cockpit, 294 
 
 Courtyard, 256, 288 
 
 Description of, 256-257, 
 
 301-302 
 
 Fishponds, 250 
 
 Foundation of, 242, 252, 
 
 254 
 
 Gallery, 272 
 
 Garden, 258, 305 
 
 — Gate-house, 256 
 
 Gateway, 259 
 
 Hall, 256 
 
 Moat, 256 
 
 Paradise Walk, 255 
 
 Park, 250 
 
 Pigeon-cote, 293 
 
 Portcullis, 256 
 
 Quadrangle, 272 
 
 Rooms, 272 
 
 Council Cham- 
 ber, 256 
 
 Dining - room, 
 
 272 
 Kitchen, 256, 
 
 3°3 
 Siege of, 287, 288 
 
 Stables, 293 
 
 Staircase, 304 
 
 Towers, 287, 293 
 
 Bell Tower, 
 
 266, 293 
 
 Constable's 
 
 Tower, 256, 
 
 2 93 
 
 Strickland's 
 
 Tower, 235, 
 
 2 54»255. 2 5 6 - 
 264, 303 
 
 Tudor Tower, 
 
 272, 306 
 
 Manor of, 242, 253, 258, 289 
 
 Ross, John, Bishop of Carlisle, 16, 
 
 251-252 
 Rotheram (Scot), Thomas, Arch- 
 bishop of York, 4, 61-65 
 
 College of Jesus at, 62 
 
 Rotherfield, William de, Bishop of 
 
 Carlisle, 248 
 Rufus, Geoffrey, Bishop of Durham, 
 1 17, 118, 120-122
 
 INDEX 
 
 3*9 
 
 Rushen, Abbey of, 1 1 
 
 Russell, Lord, 26 
 
 Ruthall, Thomas, Bishop of Durham, 
 
 148-151, 214-216 
 Ryle, John C, Bishop of Liverpool, 
 
 29 
 
 Sadberge, Wapentake and Manor, 
 
 127, 199 
 Sancroft, William, 183, 227 
 Sandys, Edwin, Archbishop of York, 
 
 4. S> 76-77 
 
 Sir Samuel, 5 
 
 Sarke Water, 140 
 
 Savage, Thomas, Archbishop of York, 
 
 3. 65-66 
 Saxon Chronicle, the, 236 
 Schmalkaldic League, 270 
 Sclavonia, Archbishop of, 244 
 Scot, Thomas. See Rotheram 
 Scott, Sir Walter, 195-196, 297 
 Scott, family of, 239, 240 
 Scroby, 65, 66, 69 
 Scrooby (Nottingham), 5 
 Scroop. See Scrope 
 Scrope, Lord, 278 
 
 Scrope (Scroop), Richard le, Arch- 
 bishop of York, 
 
 54-56 
 Bishop of Car- 
 lisle, 265 
 Sedgefield, 153 
 
 Senhouse, Richard, Bishop of Carlisle, 
 281 
 
 (Sever), William, Bishop of 
 
 Carlisle, 147, 229, 266 
 Sever. See Senhouse 
 Seymour, Edward, Duke of Somer- 
 set, 160, 274-275 
 
 William, 171, 172 
 
 Shaftoe, family of, 29-30 
 Sharp, John, Archbishop of York, 62, 
 84, 87-88 
 
 Dr. Thomas, 87 
 
 Shelley, Sir William, 67 
 
 Sherburn, 6, 51 
 
 Sherwood, John, Bishop of Durham, 
 
 142-143, 213-214 
 Shipton Moor, Battle of, 55 
 Shrewsbury, 251 
 
 Simon, Bishop of Sodor and Man, 1 1 
 Skerlaw. See Skirlaw 
 
 Skidby, Manor of, 71 
 Skirlaw (Skerlaw), Walter, Bishop 
 of Durham, 9, 136-137, 202, 213, 
 
 234 . 
 Smalbridge, Bishop, 88 
 Smart, Peter, 175 
 Smith, Thomas, Bishop of Carlisle, 
 
 292-293 
 Snowden, Robert, Bishop of Carlisle, 
 
 279 
 Sodor and Man, See of, 10 
 Solway Moss, Battle of, 159 
 Somerset, Dukes of. See Beaufort, 
 
 Seymour 
 Southwark, 21 
 Southwell, 4, 33, 57, 58, 61, 62, 71, 
 
 77 
 
 Spenser, Edmund (Poet), 75 
 
 St. Albans, Abbot of, 262 
 
 St. Andrews, Auckland. See Auck- 
 land 
 
 St. Andrewthorpe (Bishopthorpe), 32 
 
 St. Barbe, William of, Bishop of Dur- 
 ham, 1 19-124 
 
 St. Dunstan's Church (London), 85 
 
 St. Helens, Auckland. See Auck- 
 land 
 
 St. John, Chief Justice Oliver, 226 
 
 Stafford, Sir Ralph, 52 
 
 Stanhope, 199, 204 
 
 Stanley, Lord, 21 
 
 Stanwix, 242 
 
 Stapleton, Miles, 183, 227, 228, 230 
 Sir Robert, 77 
 
 Stephen, King of England, 117-118, 
 
 243 
 Sterne, Richard, Archbishop of York, 
 84-85 
 
 Bishop of Carlisle, 
 
 289. 290 
 Stockton, 10, 130, 154, 178, 198, 
 
 199 
 Story, Edward, Bishop of Carlisle, 
 
 265-266 
 Strafford, Earl of. See Wentworth 
 " Strangwishe, Sir James," 219 
 Strangways, Thomas, 216, 217 
 Stratford, Dr. William, 89 
 Strathmore, Countess of, 30 
 Strickland, William, Bishop of Car- 
 lisle, 258, 264 
 Stuart, Arabella, 171, 172, 224 
 
 Charles Edward, 90, 143, 296. 
 
 297
 
 320 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Stuart, James, Prince (afterwards 
 James I. of Scotland), 258 
 James, Duke of York (after- 
 wards James II. of Eng- 
 land), 184-185 
 James (Pretender), 295 
 
 Suffolk House (Southwark), 21 
 
 Suffolk Place, 21, 73 
 
 Sunderland, 198 
 
 Swing, Captain, 296 
 
 Sysson, Mr., 77 
 
 Talbot, William, Bishop of Durham, 
 186-187 
 
 Ternewathelan, Lake, 250 
 
 Teviotdale, 252 
 
 Thomas, Archbishop of York, I, 7 
 
 Thomson, William, Archbishop of 
 York, 96 
 
 Thoresby, John de, Archbishop of 
 York, 49 
 Ralph, 50 
 
 Thornhill (near Dewsbury), 31 
 
 Thorp Christchurch (Bishopthorpe), 
 32 
 
 Thorp-juxta - Eboracum (Bishop- 
 thorpe), 32 
 
 Thorp, St. Andrew (Bishopthorpe), 
 
 3 2 > 36, 41 
 
 Thorp-super-Usam, 32 
 
 Thorpe (near Peterborough), 226 
 
 Thurlow, Thomas, Bishop of Durham, 
 191 
 
 Thurstan, Archbishop of York, 118 
 
 Tikhill, Roger de, 211, 212 
 
 Todenham (Gloucestershire), 262 
 
 Toft Hill, 202 
 
 Towton, Battle of, 140 
 
 Trevor, Richard, Bishop of Durham, 
 185, 189-190, 233-234 
 
 Tunstall, Cuthbert, Bishop of Dur- 
 ham, 128, 154-164, 217-221 
 
 Turpin, Dick, 90 
 
 Turpyn, Nicholas, 164 
 
 Tynedale Robbers, 153, 157 
 
 Tynemouth, Priors of, 29, 152 
 
 Tyrconnell, Lord, 15 
 
 U 
 
 Uchtred (Uhtred), Earl of Nor- 
 thumbria, 104, 105, 203 
 
 Ussher, James, Bishop of Carlisle, 
 246, 282-286 
 
 V 
 
 Valence, Aymer de, 246 
 Van Mildert, William, Bishop of Dur- 
 ham, 195, 232, 234 
 Venables, Canon, 259 
 Vernon. See Harcourt 
 Victoria, Queen of England, 95 
 Vienne, Council of, 43 
 Villiers, Montagu, Bishop of Carlisle, 
 
 3°4, 3°5 
 Bishop of Durham, 
 
 187 
 Vipont, Thomas de, Bishop of Car- 
 lisle, 247 
 
 W 
 
 Wakefield, 27, 31 
 
 Walcher, Bishop of Durham, 8, III- 
 
 "5> 158 
 Waldby, Robert, Archbishop of York, 
 
 54 
 
 Waldegrave, Samuel, Bishop of Car- 
 lisle, 304, 305 
 
 Walker, Mr., 30 
 
 Walpole, Horace, 90, 92 
 
 Walter the Glazier (Auckland), 21 1 
 
 Waltham Abbey, 116, 117 
 
 Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria, 112- 
 
 Warbeck, Perkin, 143-144, 238 
 
 Warkworth, 139 
 
 Warwick Castle, 60 
 
 Earl of. See Neville 
 
 Watling Street, 202 
 
 Watson, Dr., Dean of Durham, 164 
 
 Waugh, John, Bishop of Carlisle, 296 
 
 Wear, River, 201 
 
 Weardale, 199, 202 
 
 Wearmouth, 155 
 
 Wellesley, Arthur, Duke of Welling- 
 ton, 195-196 
 
 Wellington, Duke of. Sec Wellesley 
 
 Welton, Gilbert de, Bishop of Car- 
 lisle, 254, 256, 257 
 
 Went worth, Barbara, 72 
 
 Thomas, Earl of Straf- 
 ford, 281, 282, 283 
 
 Wesley, John, 194 
 
 West Auckland. See Auckland
 
 INDEX 
 
 321 
 
 Westminster, 17, 50, 284 
 
 St. Margaret's Church, 
 
 90 
 Westmorland, Earl of. See Neville 
 Wetheral, 244 
 Whalley, Mr., 26 
 Wharton, Sir Thomas, 271 
 Whelpdale, Roger, Bishop of Carlisle, 
 
 264 
 Whickham, 199 
 Whitburn, Rectory of, 187 
 White, Francis, Bishop of Carlisle, 
 281 
 
 Dr. John, 281 
 
 Colonel Walter, 83-84 
 
 White Battle of Myton, 44 
 Whitehall, 33, 62, 73 
 Whitehead, Dean, 162 
 Whittingham, Dean of Durham, 165 
 Wickwaine, William, Archbishop of 
 
 York, 40-41 
 Wilfrid, St., 7 
 Williamson, Secretary, 229 
 William I., King of England, 8, 106, 
 107-110, 113, 115 
 
 II., King of England, 116, 
 
 236 
 
 the Lion, King of Scotland, 
 
 125, 237, 244 
 Williams, John, Archbishop of York, 
 
 83 
 Willoughby, Lord, 80 
 Wills, General, 295 
 Wilson, Bishop of Sodor and Man, 
 
 12, 13 
 Winceby, 16 
 Winchester, 112, 119 
 Wolfe, Mr., 192-193 
 
 Wolsey, Thomas, Cardinal, 3, 18-20, 
 21-22, 24, 67- 
 70,148-149,214- 
 215, 216, 267, 
 269 
 Bishop of Durham, 
 
 I5I-IS4 
 Bishop of Win- 
 chester, 153 
 Wolsingham, 182, 199 
 Woodville. See Elizabeth Woodville 
 Wright, Robert, 149 
 
 James (Architect), 195, 234 
 
 Wyatt's Rebellion, 275 
 
 Yelverton, Sir Christopher, 25 
 York, Archbishops of, 17-22 
 
 City, 45, 103 
 
 Sack of, by William I., 
 
 108-110 
 
 Siege of, 85 
 
 Duchess of. See Mary of 
 
 Modena 
 
 Duke of. See Stuart 
 
   Grammar School, 73 
 
 Minster, 47, 51, 56, 85, 88, 95 
 
 Truce of, 245 
 
 "York House," 21 
 
 York Palace, I, 53, 58, 74 
 
 York Place, 18-22, 33, 67, 73 
 
 Young, Thomas, Archbishop of York, 
 
 75-76 
 
 Zouche, William, Archbishop of 
 York, 7, 47-49 
 
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