Conflict at Amesbury Priory

 

A short article on the Medievalists.net recounts the troubles that beset the communal life of the nuns of Amesbury in Wiltshire at the turn of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It can be read at The Kidnapping Scandal at Amesbury Priory

Despite its slightly sensationalist style, reminiscent of Coulton the story is intriguing and the article sent me to the detailed Wikipedia account of the history of the foundation at Amesbury Abbey. It also sent me to the comprehensive history in the Victoria County History of Wiltshire vol iii (1956) which can be seen at Houses of Benedictine nuns: Abbey, later priory, of Amesbury

These give more detail about the disturbing events at the monastery in these years and of the troubled times of the Prioress, Sibyl Montague. It is necessary to read all three accounts to begin to assemble a clear picture of the events that are described. That said they all seem to miss out the political context of the events at the time of the Epiphany Rising of 1399-1400 - also also possibly in respect of the calendar regarding Archbishop Arundel who did not return from exile until midsummer 1399.

 

Putting the evidence together it appears as if the former Prior took advantage of the situation when the Prioress had inevitably lost the support of her brother John, third Earl of Salisbury, and closely identified with King Richard II, with his execution at Cirencester in the wake of the failed Epiphany uprising. A high profile monastic house for either men or women was closely enmeshed in the political and social world of its day.

Amesbury, claimed by Malory in the Morte d’Arthur as the place of retirement of Queen Guinevere, enjoyed a high profile as a house of the Fontevrault sisterhood and as the home chosen by, or for, various female members of the Royal house. This gave the monastery prestige, and these ladies appear to have retained their own high status within the convent and Order. A woman of aristocratic birth like Sibyl Montague would doubtless fit in well in such a community. The whole story of the abbey and the later priory is fascinating, and worthy of a full history on its own.

The only evidence above ground today of Amesbury Priory is the parish church. Wikipedia has an account of the building at Church of St Mary and St Melor, Amesbury and the VCH article also discusses the original status of the building. It is certainly not a typical rural parish church, as I realised when I visited it many years ago. On the basis of the physical evidence and the record evidence as well as the observations of antiquarians it looks as if it was the church for the original community of nuns and then after 1177 was assigned to the community of priests and for the use of the parish, and that a new nuns church and claustral buildings were erected to the north, close to the successor country house known as Amesbury Abbey.

Possible portrait of Lady Jane Grey - a postscript

Following on from my recent post about the return to Wrest Park of what has been in the past, and is now once again, being considered to be a contemporary portrait of Lady Jane Grey,

The Art Newspaper has now drawn attention to the fact that thisidentification was being advanced almost twenty years ago in connection with a major the 2007exhibition on portraits of the period.

The article can be seen at Revelation over last surviving portrait of England’s ‘nine day queen’ was made 20 years ago, art historian says

The evidence that the portrait has undergone significant damage and repainting as perceptions changed as to the status of the sitter makes me wonder if the simple white coif was substituted for the more elaborate French hood as an indication of what she wore to her execution.

The Galloway Hoard in context

I have posted several times about the Galloway Hoard, deposited within a long lost timber building about the turn of the ninth and tenth centuries and which was found in Kirkcudbrightshire in 2014

The magazine Discover has an article which draws upon the recent deciferment of the runic inscription on an arm bracelet which identifies the hoard as the property of a community. It then sets out, guided by an expert from the National Museums of Scotland, to offer an interpretation of various aspects of the carefully buried objects and whether the objects were loot concealed by Vikings or if they might be wealth garnered through trade with or by the Vikings in an area whose political allegiance was shifting between different rulers at the time.  

The article can be read at Mystery Solved for the Galloway Hoard Runes of the Viking Era

Skeletons from Stirling Castle

I came upon a new video from the History Hit website about the interpretation of three skeletons found in what appears to be the site of the original chapel in Stirling Castle. They have been carbon dated to the period 1296 to 1357, which puts them in the time of the Scottish War of Independence down to 1328, or the later conflict in the 1330s when King Edward III backed Edward Balliol in his partially successful attempt to gain the Scottish crown against the minority government for King David II. I would imagine the more likely time that these individuals died was in the period up to the siege of Stirling Castle that culminated in the battle of Bannockburn in June 1314. All three skeletons show extensive signs of trauma at the time of death, and this is brought out very well by the expert’s analysis of the bones and the damage they had sustained. 

There may be the possibility from the evidence of slight genetic abnormalities that the three  were related. There is also a case made that they were of sufficient rank or status to be buried within the chapel, and presumably at a time when it was not possible to remove bodies to the nearby parish church or to a family estate.

It will be interesting to see what further  historical DNA testing or scientific tests may reveal about these three individuals or indeed if they can be identified as happened with another skeleton found at Stirling who turned out to be an English commander from the fourteenth century. I do not know if the fragmented nature of the skulls would allow for facial reconstructions.

The video can be seen at Medieval Skeletons Reveal Brutal Final Moments

It makes for some quite gruesome but very interesting watching.

Bbok review: Reassessing ‘Butcher’ Tiptoft

Sir John Tiptoft: 'Butcher of England': Earl of Worcester, Edward IV's Enforcer & Humanist Scholar

Peter Spring. Pen & Sword Military. 2018

A valuable study marred by trivial errors

John Tiptoft Earl of Worcester is famous for two things - as the ‘Butcher of England’ as Constable of the realm and as one of the first English humanists. This book is the first about him in virtually eighty years and bridges the gap between those two not inconsistent aspects of his life.

It is a valuable addition to fifteenth century studies for both the academic and the wider interested public - and it is not about Richard III - whom the author ventures ( brave man ) to see as guilty….

Spring draws attention to much that is new or specialised - the importance of Tiptoft as a government minister in the 1450s and again in the 1460s - his studies in Italy, his apparently Italianesque house at Brassingbourne, and the events in Ireland that surround the execution of the Earl of Desmond in 1468.

A lot of research has gone into this book and it has an excellent bibliography.

Having said all that it seems a little churlish to turn to the limitations of the work. As a book it needed better copy editing - we have Dartmouth for Dartford several times, Lionel of Clarence is said to be the son, not the brother of John of Gaunt, surnames not always consistent, and as with so many books it is awkward in its use of ecclesiastical church terminology - most notably several references to the “coronation” of Archbishops of Canterbury….

At times the style gets too tabloid - words such as “schmooze” and “nincompoop” irritate, as do the use of Brexit analogies which are pushed too far and are too simplistic.

Too often the text is repetitive as to stressing Tiptoft’ importance and abilities.

On the whole I would be very positive. Much in the book is not easily available. There is new material, it is wide ranging, informative, evocative of Tiptoft’s era. It is a rounded view of one man’s life and of his times, its culture in all senses. The analogy it makes with Thomas Cromwell is thought provoking.

Does Peter Spring make Tiptoft human? Yes. Does he make him likeable? Probably not.

Originally posted on Amazon on 3.7.2021

How not to represent the Norman Conquest

My last post was about historical costume based on records from the thirteenth century. Before moving on to other topics, and quite by chance, I came upon a video about historic dress as it is so often misrepresented by film and television makers from the Welsh Viking. Its creator is an archaeologist and a re-enactor of early mediaeval military life. Those of his videos I have seen are well researched and informative.

 

His latest one was inspired by the forthcoming television series.”King and Conqueror” about the events of 1066, and revolves around the two central figures of King Harold II and King William I. Based upon a series of pre-transmission photographs the Welsh Viking proceeded to do one of the most devastating critiques of the costumes assigned to the leading characters. Indeed it was a veritable hatchet job on the production values, worthy of any combatant at Stamford Bridge or Hastings.

The numerous comments from online viewers are entirely supportive of what he is saying about the glaring errors in the costumes and armour of the characters. I certainly felt, had I ever been inclined to watch the series, that it definitely is not worth it.

The video can be seen at The Costuming in "King and Conqueror" Looks Terrible. Like, Really Terrible.

Dressing a thirteenth century Countess of Leicester

Medievalists.net has a short article about the clothing recorded as having been purchased for Eleanor de Montfort, Countrss of Leicester, in 1265, the year which saw the death of her second husband Simon, and their eldest son, Henry, at the battle of Evesham. The youngest child of King John, and hence sister of King Henry III, by birth and marriage she was at the centre of the political disputes which dominated the middle and later years of her brother’s reign.

The article, which has a useful and impressive come on by the mini bibliography as well as links to other articles on medieval women’s attire, can be seen at Inside Eleanor de Montfort’s Lavish Medieval Wardrobe

Wikipedia has a biographical account, with all the appropriate links, of the Countess, at Eleanor of England, Countess of Leicester

John Maddicott’s acclaimed biography of Earl Simon discusses the fact that the Montforts wore russet or similar simple fabrics when at their country estates and castles as, he argues, an aspect of their lifestyle influenced by Franciscan ideals. He also makes the point that Countess Eleanor was still keen on her finery, as per Adam Marsh’s letter. If this choice of simple attire was a conscious choice then it was perhaps rather more than the thirteenth century equivalent of “smart casual” or “dressing down ”, or indeed modern photographs of aristocrats posing in immaculately ironed jeans and tee shirts in the grand rooms of their ancestral homes for newspaper articles.

Gypsum burials in Roman Yorkshire

In my home area a feature of third and fourth century Roman funerary practice were gypsum burials in which the deceased person was placed in a stone coffin which was then filled up with liquid gypsum - what we would call Plaster of Paris - and then interred.* This may have been because the gypsum could be made from the rocks of the  magnesium limestone ridge which runs north to south through the area, and along which run the lines of several major Roman roads. The coffins tend to be robust, cut out of millstone grit from the area to the west.

Such gypsum burials are not uncommon in England, but the highest concentration is in and around York. Similar burials have been found in Europe and North Africa.

Investigators in York have pioneered research by means of scanning of a number of these burials.

The BBC News website has now reported about a new study that is being undertaken into twenty two of these burials that have been found in or close to York ( Eboracum ), Castleford ( Legiolium or Lagentum ) and Doncaster ( Danum ). Because of the gypsum details of clothing as well as of the body are recorded - analogous to the casts of victims from Pompeii.

The investigation and its potential is introduced at Project investigates mysterious Roman burials in Yorkshire

The York Museums Trust website has an illustrated catalogue entry about a child’s burial discovered in the nineteenth century, which has clear evidence of the shroud material which can be seen at Gypsum Burial | York Museums Trust

An earlier BBC News report from 2023 can be seen at Details of 'unusual' Roman burial ritual revealed by 3D scans

The Smithsonian Magazine has an article about the Roman practice and the modern research at Why Did the Romans Cover Bodies With Gypsum?

The recent discovery of a gypsum burial during work on the A47 near Peterbough is covered by The History Blog at Roman gypsum burial in stone coffin found during highway construction and by Popular Mechanics at Archaeologists Are Stumped After Finding a Peculiar Liquid Burial in an Ancient Roman Cemetery

There is a more detailed archaeological report about the burial and the others associated with it from Headland Archaeology at Roman cemetery uncovered on the A47 Wansford to Sutton dualling scheme

* I do not think this is a service still provided by local undertakers.

A medieval episcopal ring found in a Norfolk field

One of my regular readers has very kindly forwarded to me an article in today’s Daily Mail about the discovery and impending sale at auction of what appears to be a striking medieval episcopal ring.

The ring was found by a metal detector in a field at Shepdham in central Norfolk and it is dated to the late twelfth or early thirteenth centuries. It is known that by the early thirteenth century the bishops of Ely had a manor house at the village, so the likelihood is that the ring has an Ely provenance.

The central stone is a sapphire and the similarity to that from the grave of Archbishop Walter de Grey, who held the see from 1215 to 1255, is made in the article. Looking at the photographs it does rather look to have been designed to go over episcopal gloves.

Presumably because it is assumed to have been lost it is not being preserved as treasure trove and will be auctioned. This is the type of item one hopes will be bought by a public institution so that it can be made available, and visible, to researchers and the wider community.

The illustrated article about the ring and its recovery can be seen at Medieval 'bishop's ring' found in field is set to fetch up to £18,000

Lady Jane Grey back in the news

The return of a portrait once believed to be of Lady Jane Grey, but then considered not to be of her, to Wrest Park has led to new research into the painting and the view that, after all, if could well be of her. Although damaged and considerably affected by restoration and apparent overpainting the panel has been dated by dendrochronology  to the period 1539 to 1571, the right time for the painting to have been done in her lifetime. The fact that it had been deliberately defaced might well suggest that happened following the events of 1553-4. The face appears to agree with written descriptions of her. The subsequent renovation might suggest that occurred when she was being presenter as a Protestant martyr, with less emphasis on her noble status as was originally the case.

In recent years what is now referred to as the

‘Streatham’, which was acquired by the  National Portrait Gallery in the 1990s, has become for the moment, the accepted contemporary image of Lady Jane. It is apparently a late sixteenth century copy by an indifferent artist of a lost original, and similar to the ‘Houghton’ portrait, which can be seen at The Tudors ~ The Houghton Portrait

The history and context of the Streatham painting is discussed on Wikipedia at Streatham portrait

Sir Roy Strong in the 1960s concluded that an NPG full length portrait was of the ‘Nine Days Queen’ but this is now universally accepted as actually being of Queen Catherine Parr.

David Starkey favoured in the 1990s a miniature now in the Yale Centre for British Art as the sole surviving image, and he is very critical of the authenticity of the ‘Streatham’ image. However the miniature has not gained universal acceptance as being of Lady Jane.

The history of these and other portraits that have been suggested as being, or possibly being, of her is set out in considerable detail by the Katherine the Queen website in the appropriate section at The Tudors

There are in fact a considerable number of candidates for being a portrait of Lady Jane, and they cannot all be of her. The real questions lie in deciding which are the more likely amongst so many candidates, many of which are copies. 

The Duckett portrait is accessible in full colour on Wikimedia at Lady Jane Grey – The Duckett Portrait.

The painting at Wrest does have resemblances to the Northwick Park painting, which may represent what the original intention of the artist was. It can be seen at Lady Jane Grey Northwick Park.

The new research on the Wrest portrait is illustrated in a series of articles from different newspapers, including the Daily Mail at The real face of Lady Jane Grey revealed?, by the Daily Telegraph at Is this the real face of Lady Jane Grey?, by the Guardian at Sole portrait of England’s ‘nine-day queen’ thought to have been identified by researchers, and by the Independent at Researchers think they’ve unearthed the only portrait of England’s ‘nine-day queen’

The more specialised source Artnet reports on the story at Is This The Only Portrait Of Tudor Queen Lady Jane Grey? 

The identification proposed for the Wrest Park portrait is challenged by J. Stephan Edwards, who has written a comprehensive study of the attributed portraiture of Lady Jane, on his well researched and presented website Some Grey Matter, and that, and much else about the life and death of Jane, can be seen at Re-Visiting the Wrest Park Portrait: A Rebuttal - Lady Jane Grey

The National Trust website for the later family home of the Greys, descendants of Lady Jane’s uncle, at Dunham Massey in Cheshire has a section on portraits of Lady Jane at 

Called Lady Jane Grey, Queen (1537–1554), possibly Lady Mary Neville, Lady Dacre (1524-c.1576)

When it comes to literary portraits Lady Jane Grey was made into a Protestant Martyr by John Foxe, and so successfully that, reinforced by nineteenth century romanticism, it remains an image that is hard to question.

One writer who has challenged the received image is the American writer Susan Higginbotham. A lawyer by training she writes historical novels about England in the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, as well as about the US Civil War. I have not read any so far, though I have one in my pile of books to read, but from her website it is clear that she seeks to be historically accurate and balanced in her work. That website susanhigginbotham.com is both an excellent resource to correct the failings of so many other novelists writing historical fiction and also displays a nice line in ironic humour. The ‘Humor’ section is well worth perusing.

From her various posts about Lady Jane Grey Lady Jane Grey, the Abused Child challenges the image of her as the mistreated daughter of brutish and unfeeling parents. Fifteen Aids to Grey Is a humorous, nay sharply edged, critique of the way historical novelists have written about her life. As the modern saying has it, Enjoy.

Both with the suggested portraits and the literary evidence any assessment of the ‘Nine Days Queen’ will depend to a great extent on the preconceptions and sympathies of the investigator. It is a story that is test for all interested in understanding the events of those tumultuous years.

Shrovetide celebrations

In addition to the liturgical beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday with the imposition of ashes in some places in England the week after Quinquagesima is still marked by traditional boisterous celebrations to let steam off before the austerities of Lent. Carnival never seems to have become an established custom in this country but a number of towns have retained, or revived, medieval popular sporting entertainments to mark the beginning of the penitential season.

Two years ago I wrote about The Olney Pancake Race and The Shrove Tuesday Atherstone Ball Game

I also included the link to the Wikipedia article about Shrove Tuesday Football Ceremony of the Purbeck Marblers

Last year I wrote Shrove Tuesday fun and games

This year the Shrovetide event which has caught the interest of the media is from Derbyshire with coverage of the Ashbourne Royal Shrovetide Football game, which is reported upon by the BBC News website at Down'Ards win Ashbourne Royal Shrovetide Football game

Quite apart from this splendly anarchic and indeed historically interesting survival of the Shrovetide game Ashbourne is very well worth visiting as an attractive and historic market town. It was one which saw the proclamation of King James III in 1745 as the Jacobite army advanced towards Derby. The great architectural glory of the town is the medieval church of St Oswald, which in addition to being a very fine building, has a magnificent array of tombs from several eras and a very rare survival in an original brass plaque recording its consecration in the twelfth century. 

Evidence from the Civil War siege of Sheffield Castle

The continuing archaeological investigation of the site of Sheffield Castle has yielded important physical evidence of a tactic to repel besiegers. This is in the form of surviving sharpened stakes which were driven by the Royalist defenders into the moat to  impede the Parliamentarian attackers. Although such stakes are known to have been used re only evidence so far had been soil marks. The Sheffield evidence is the first recorded instance of the stakes actually surviving.

The discovery is described on the website of Wessex Archaeology at Team excavating Sheffield Castle unearth the first surviving examples of 17th-century Civil War abatis in castle moat

There is a shorter article about the excavations from Heritage Daily at Archaeologists uncover rare civil war defences at Sheffield Castle

The discovery is also covered by Archaeology Magazine at  Seventeenth-Century Wooden Stakes Unearthed at Sheffield Castle and at Rare 17th-century Civil War defenses unearthed at Sheffield Castle

The BBC News website has an account of the excavation of the castle at Sheffield's first surviving Civil War stake defences revealed

A Donatello sculpture found in Slovakia

ArtNet reported yesterday the discovery of a bust by the fifteenth century Florentine sculptor Donatello in a small museum in Slovakia. The carving is a portrait of Cecilia Gonzaga and is thought to have travelled to what was then northern Hungary through a family marriage.

The survival of the work is fortuitous considering its treatment since 1945, and one must hope indeed that it receives a new setting appropriate to its importance.

The article about the work, with a photographic scan of the sculpture can be seen at Donatello Masterpiece Identified After Decades in Storage

Wikipedia has a short account of the family estate and house where the sculpture was kept until 1975 and which can be seen at Spišský Hrhov

Viking age culture on the Cumberland coast

The website of Popular Mechanics has a report  of the discovery by a community archaeological excavation at Silloth on the coast of Cumberland of a sizeable late Viking era hall. This would have been at the centre of what was probably a substantial farm.

The article also refers to archaeological work at the church in Workington after a fire in 1994 which revealed a rich deposit of Anglo-Viking age sculpture. The article has a link via Academia to the detailed and illustrated report on these discoveries by the archaeologists involved in the work.

Together these discoveries are filling in our hitherto limited knowledge of this area in the century and more before it was conquered by King William II.

The Popular Mechanics article, with its links, can be accessed at 50 Volunteers Dug Up a Farm and Discovered an Ancient Viking Structure

Book reviews

The other day I posted about the fact that I had a book review in the latest copy of Mass of Ages, and regular readers may recall that when I resumed blogging last summer I wrote then that I hoped to include some book reviews amongst future posts.

With these things in mind I have now decided to try and include reasonably regularly reviews of books I have read. For a while I have posted reviews on the.Amazon website of books I have purchased from them and I will aim to share some, if not all, of these on this site. In those cases I may revise them slightly. I will also write about other books I have read which may be of interest to my readers.

More thoughts about Old St Paul’s

After I wrote my post about Old St Paul’s I realised I had forgotten another important source, the copperplate map dated to 1553-59.

Although no original printed copy survives three of the copper plates used to print it have been rediscovered in recent years. The most recent find was in 1997 and that is the one which shows St Paul’s with its spire. A noteworthy feature are the tress and one must presume grass around Paul’s Cross and the tree the north-west end of the cathedral. Closes with trees and freeware were not just the setting of cathedrals such as Salisbury and Wells but also of urban centres such as London and Exeter.

The copperplate map showing St Paul’s in the reign of Queen Mary I

Image: Lost London Churches Project