Day 6

 Day 6

Another great day but not late! Tracy Borman discussed Richard Duke of York and War of the Roses on the bus after we checked out of the Grand York Hotel, to head north.  

Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty and its cadet branch the House of York. His defeat and death at the Battle of Bosworth Field marked the end of the Middle Ages in England.

Richard was created Duke of Gloucester in 1461 after the accession to the throne of his older brother Edward IV. This was during the period known as the Wars of the Roses, an era when two branches of the royal family contested the throne; Edward and Richard were Yorkists, and their side of the family faced-off against their Lancastrian cousins. In 1472, Richard married Anne Neville, daughter of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, and widow of Edward of Westminster, son of Henry VI. He governed northern England during Edward's reign, and played a role in the invasion of Scotland in 1482. When Edward IV died in April 1483, Richard was named Lord Protector of the realm for Edward's eldest son and successor, the 12-year-old Edward V. Before arrangements were complete for Edward V's coronation, scheduled for 22 June 1483, the marriage of his parents was declared bigamous and therefore invalid. Now officially illegitimate, Edward and his siblings were barred from inheriting the throne. On 25 June, an assembly of lords and commoners endorsed a declaration to this effect, and proclaimed Richard as the rightful king. He was crowned on 6 July 1483. Edward and his younger brother Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, called the "Princes in the Tower", disappeared from the Tower of London around August 1483.

There were two major rebellions against Richard during his reign. In October 1483, an unsuccessful revolt was led by staunch allies of Edward IV and Richard's former ally, Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham. Then, in August 1485, Henry Tudor and his uncle, Jasper Tudor, landed in Wales with a contingent of French troops, and marched through Pembrokeshire, recruiting soldiers. Henry's forces defeated Richard's army near the Leicestershire town of Market Bosworth. Richard was slain, making him the last English king to die in battle. Henry Tudor then ascended the throne as Henry VII.

Richard's corpse was taken to the nearby town of Leicester and buried without ceremony. His original tomb monument is believed to have been removed during the English Reformation, and his remains were wrongly thought to have been thrown into the River Soar. In 2012, an archaeological excavation was commissioned by Ricardian author Philippa Langley with the assistance of the Richard III Society on the site previously occupied by Grey Friars Priory. The University of Leicester identified the human skeleton found at the site as that of Richard III as a result of radiocarbon dating, comparison with contemporary reports of his appearance, identification of trauma sustained at Bosworth and comparison of his mitochondrial DNA with that of two matrilineal descendants of his sister Anne. He was reburied in Leicester Cathedral in 2015.

We then visited Hexham Abbey.

Nicola Tallis and Sarah Gristwood

13th century staircase

Model of Hexham

Headed north

Hexham Abbey is one of the earliest seats of Christianity in England. There has been a church on the site of over 1300 years since Elheldreda, Queen of Northumbria granted land to St Wilfrid, Bishop of York in 7674. Only a crypt an apse remains on the original abbey. The current church was rebuilt in 1860. After the Dissolution, the abbey became the parish church of Hexham

I made a brass rubbing there and was excited to have it. I ate with a nice couple from the tour and had wonderful coronation chicken. I had never had it but now I am hooked.I then walked around by myself until we had to get on the bus.

We left Hexham and then arrived at Vindolanda after a talk by Michael Jones and Julian Humphrys about it. It has been a World Heritage site since 1987. It lies just south of Hadrian’s Wall which defined the northern west frontier of the roman empire. Vindolanda was built by the army before Hadrian’s Wall and became an important garrison base for the Wall.

We then arrived at Matfen Hall Hotel. Wonderful and spectacular! That afternoon Julian Humphreys gave a talk on Raiders and Reivers Life and Death on the Borders.

An aerial pic of Holy Island, where we would visit

The grounds of Matfen Hall

Julian's talk

Even the conference room was lovely

The term "Border Reiver" is an anachronistic term used to describe the raiders and bandits who operated along the Anglo-Scottish Border during the late Middle Ages and early modern period. The reivers, as we understand today, emerged in textual and archaeological evidence sometime between 1350 and 1450,^[6][7] with their activities reaching their height in the 16th century during the Tudor period in England and the late Stewart period in Scotland.^[8] They were infamous for raiding, eliciting protection money or taking hostages('blackmail'),^[2] cattle rustling, and lawlessness, where justice was frequently negotiated through arbitration at Truce Days rather than enforced through the peremptory and inescapable punishments mandated by state law.^[9] Many crimes, such as theft and feuding, were treated with less severity due to the ancient customs and culture of the Borderlands, which had evolved over centuries to tolerate and even codify such practices.^[3][4][10]

Although less well-known than Highlanders in Scotland—whom they met and defeated in battle on occasion—^[11] the Border Reivers played a significant role in shaping Anglo-Scottish relations.^[12] Their activities were a major factor in ongoing tensions between the two kingdoms, and their raids often had international repercussions.^[13] There is an emerging historical debate over how great their threat and the extent to which their raids were state-directed rather than purely opportunistic.^{[7][14][8][15]}

The culture of the Border Reivers—characterized by honour, close family bonds, and self-defense—has been said to influence the culture of the Upland South in the United States. Many Borderers migrated as families to America, where their values are thought to have contributed significantly to the region's social structure and political ideologies, with echoes of their influence persisting even today.^[The most famous Border Reiver is Willy Armstrong.

We then had a lovely dinner at Matfen Hall followed by Alison discussing her new book on Cardinal Wolsey. This was my favorite meal. It was very simple chicken but oh so good.

Matfen Hall at night

Our dining spot

The grounds were spectacular

Window from our room

Entry Hall

Our dear bus

Look at this ceiling

Our room. Too bad we never had any time but to sleep!

Thomas Wolsey^[a] (/ˈwʊlzi/ WUUL-zee;^[1] c. March 1473^[2] – 29 November 1530) was an English statesman and Catholic cardinal. When Henry VIII became King of England in 1509, Wolsey became the king's almoner.^[3] Wolsey's affairs prospered and by 1514 he had become the controlling figure in virtually all matters of state. He also held important ecclesiastical appointments. These included the Archbishop of York—the second most important role in the English church—and that of papal legate. His appointment as a cardinal by Pope Leo X in 1515 gave him precedence over all other English clergy.

The highest political position Wolsey attained was Lord Chancellor, the king's chief adviser (formally, as his successor and disciple Thomas Cromwell was not). In that position, he enjoyed great freedom and was often depicted as the alter rex ("other king").^[4] After failing to negotiate an annulment of Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Wolsey fell out of favour and was stripped of his government titles.^[5] He retreated to York to fulfil his ecclesiastical duties as archbishop, a position he nominally held but had neglected during his years in government. He was recalled to London to answer to charges of treason—charges Henry commonly used against ministers who fell out of his favour—but died from natural causes on the way.^[5]

Wolsey lived in a "non-canonical" marriage for around a decade with a woman called Joan Larke of Yarmouth, Norfolk. The edict that priests, regardless of their functions or the character of their work, should remain celibate had not been wholeheartedly accepted in England.^[48]

Wolsey had two children, both before he was made bishop: a son, Thomas Wynter (born circa 1510),^[49] and a daughter, Dorothy (born circa 1512),^[50] both of whom lived to adulthood. The son was sent to live with a family in Willesden and tutored in his early years by Maurice Birchinshaw. He later married and had children of his own. Dorothy was adopted by John Clansey, and was in due course placed in the convent at Shaftesbury Abbey.

Joan Larke (c. 1490 – 1532) was the mistress of the powerful English statesman and churchman in the Tudor period, Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York, and mother of his two illegitimate children.

Following the dissolution of the monasteries under Thomas Cromwell she was awarded a pension.^[51]

Following his rapid promotion, Larke became a source of embarrassment to Wolsey, who arranged for her marriage to George Legh of Adlington, in Cheshire, circa 1519. He provided the dowry.^[49] Henry VIII had a mansion built for Legh at Cheshunt Great House.

Sleep and enjoyed our lovely room!