29 August 1570: On arriving in Yorkshire, Archbishop Grindal declares war on bloody-minded folk-Catholicism
Detail of a portrait of Edmund Grindal ([English school] 1580).
John Strype. 1821. The History of the Life and Acts of the Most Reverend Father in God, Edmund Grindal, Vol. 1. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Get it:
.Unedited excerpt
If an excerpt is used in the book, it will be shorter, edited and, where applicable, translated.
[Grindal]’s first going down to York was not before the month of August [1570]; the 17th day whereof he came to Cawood, a seat of the Archbishops of York, where he was delivered from his late distemper: but he feared the air of that place, being very moist and gross, as he wrote in a letter to the Secretary. Nor did he much like Bishopsthorp, the other house nearer York, which was reported to him to be an extreme cold house for winter. Yet because he would be near York, to deal in matters of commission, he purposed to remove thither at Michaelmas. He was not received with such concourse of gentlemen at his first coming into the shire, as he hoped for. Sir Thomas Gargrave, with his son, Mr. Bunnie, Mr. Watterton, one of the Savyls, and four or five gentlemen more, met him near to Doncaster, and conducted him unto the said Sir Thomas’s house, where he lodged that night; and the next day met him at his church Mr. Ask, Mr. Hungate, and four or five more inferior gentlemen, and brought him to Cawood. But several came to him soon after, excusing themselves either by their own sickness, or of some of their families; as Sir William Babthorp, Mr. Slingesby, Mr. Goodrick, Mr. Beckwith, and some others: for indeed agues were at that time very universal throughout all that country. Sir Henry Gates was then with the Lord Lieutenant in the north, but came to the Archbishop upon his return.
In what condition he found the people of these parts at his first coming among them, take his own account in his own words, in his letter wrote to the Secretary, August 29:
I cannot as yet write of the state of this country, as of mine own knowledge; but I am informed that the greatest part of our gentlemen are not well affected to godly religion, and that among the people there are many remnants of the old.
They keep holydays and fasts abrogated: they offer money, eggs, etc. at the burial of their dead: they pray beads, etc. so as this seems to be as it were another church, rather than a member of the rest. And for the little experience I have of this people, methinks I see in them three evil qualities; which are, great ignorance, much dullness to conceive better instruction, and great stiffness to retain their wonted errors. I will labour as much as I can to cure every of these, committing the success to God. I forbear to write unto her Majesty of these matters, till I may write upon better knowledge. In the mean time I shall not cease in my daily prayers to commend her Majesty to Almighty God. God keep you. From Cawood this 29th August, 1570.
Yours in Christ,
Edm. Ebor.
By postscript he took occasion to mention some others of the gentry that came to him that day to dinner, namely, Mr. Layton, Mr. Thomas Gowre, Mr. Place, with one Mr. Davel, who dwelt far off, and came only to welcome him: concerning which last he wished there were many such.
Comment
Comment
Are the money and eggs grave goods?
As only the second Archbishop of Canterbury and York, Grindal seems to have acquired his fair share of myths, and none more ridiculous than the following fable by one William Knipe, which has him stabbed in York Minster prior to his arrival in Yorkshire alongside the non-existent Abbot of the dissolved St. Mary’s Abbey by Thomas Wilson aka Mountain, of whom, and of whose remarkable escape attempt and hanging, no other record exists:
July 30th, A.D. 1570.–At Peter’s Prison, York, in the Hall of Pleas, Thomas Wilson, alias Mountain, was tried on an indictment, wherein he was charged with having been guilty of the wilful murder of George de Walton, Abbot of St. Mary’s, on the 13th day of July, 1570, in the Cathedral Church of St. Peter’s, York; also charged for that he on the said 13th day of July, did feloniously stab the Right Reverend Father in God, Edmund Grindall, Lord Archbishop of York, with intent to do him some grievous bodily harm, in the said Cathedral Church of St. Peter, York. He was found guilty after a trial which lasted four days, and ordered to be executed on the 18th of August following. On Monday morning, being the day fixed for the execution of the said Thomas Wilson, alias Mountain, he was taken from the dungeon of Peter’s Prison, at eight o’clock in the morning, to the gallows of the Abbey of St. Mary, Clifton. Since his confinement, he had several times attempted to break the prison, and, after his condemnation, he made a hole through a brick-and-a-half partition, large enough for him to pass into the chapel gallery, from which he astonishingly ascended into another ten feet above, with fetters weighing nearly fifty pounds, and so formed as not to permit one foot to step six inches before the other. Here he broke through a plaster partition, and thus got over the brick ceiling of all the cells, and immediately under the roof of all the building, where he was overheard and soon secured. On searching him, a hooked nail and a bit of tin plate were found. The bit of plate he had whetted to a very keen edge, as a knife, to cut up the stout canvas cover of his bed into long strips. These he had twisted and strongly tied together, so as to form a very stout rope, nearly forty feet long, whereby be intended to make his descent from the roof into the surrounding yard. He was afterwards confined in a dungeon on the ground floor, and so chained that he could not reach any of the walls, and a guard was constantly kept with him. Since then his conduct had been a mixture of rage and disappointment, very unbecoming his situation. He was brought under the gallows at nine o’clock in the morning, where he spent some time in addressing the crowd, after which he twice called out, “God save the Queen,” threw aside his book, and was launched into eternity. After the execution his body was hung in chains on Clifton Ings (Knipe 1867).
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- Dissolution of the monasteries (9), the set of administrative and legal processes 1536-41 by which Henry VIII disbanded Catholic monasteries, priories, convents, and friaries, seized their wealth, disposed of their assets, and provided for their former personnel and functions W/G ·
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- Elizabeth I (1533-1603) (15), ruled 1558-1603, established an English Protestant church W/G ·
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- Grindal, Edmund (ca. 1519-1583) (5), Calvinist Puritan, refugee from Mary, then under Elizabeth I successively Bishop of London, Archbishop of York, Archbishop of Canterbury W/G ·
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Comment
Comment
Are the money and eggs grave goods?
As only the second Archbishop of Canterbury and York, Grindal seems to have acquired his fair share of myths, and none more ridiculous than the following fable by one William Knipe, which has him stabbed in York Minster prior to his arrival in Yorkshire alongside the non-existent Abbot of the dissolved St. Mary’s Abbey by Thomas Wilson aka Mountain, of whom, and of whose remarkable escape attempt and hanging, no other record exists:
July 30th, A.D. 1570.–At Peter’s Prison, York, in the Hall of Pleas, Thomas Wilson, alias Mountain, was tried on an indictment, wherein he was charged with having been guilty of the wilful murder of George de Walton, Abbot of St. Mary’s, on the 13th day of July, 1570, in the Cathedral Church of St. Peter’s, York; also charged for that he on the said 13th day of July, did feloniously stab the Right Reverend Father in God, Edmund Grindall, Lord Archbishop of York, with intent to do him some grievous bodily harm, in the said Cathedral Church of St. Peter, York. He was found guilty after a trial which lasted four days, and ordered to be executed on the 18th of August following. On Monday morning, being the day fixed for the execution of the said Thomas Wilson, alias Mountain, he was taken from the dungeon of Peter’s Prison, at eight o’clock in the morning, to the gallows of the Abbey of St. Mary, Clifton. Since his confinement, he had several times attempted to break the prison, and, after his condemnation, he made a hole through a brick-and-a-half partition, large enough for him to pass into the chapel gallery, from which he astonishingly ascended into another ten feet above, with fetters weighing nearly fifty pounds, and so formed as not to permit one foot to step six inches before the other. Here he broke through a plaster partition, and thus got over the brick ceiling of all the cells, and immediately under the roof of all the building, where he was overheard and soon secured. On searching him, a hooked nail and a bit of tin plate were found. The bit of plate he had whetted to a very keen edge, as a knife, to cut up the stout canvas cover of his bed into long strips. These he had twisted and strongly tied together, so as to form a very stout rope, nearly forty feet long, whereby be intended to make his descent from the roof into the surrounding yard. He was afterwards confined in a dungeon on the ground floor, and so chained that he could not reach any of the walls, and a guard was constantly kept with him. Since then his conduct had been a mixture of rage and disappointment, very unbecoming his situation. He was brought under the gallows at nine o’clock in the morning, where he spent some time in addressing the crowd, after which he twice called out, “God save the Queen,” threw aside his book, and was launched into eternity. After the execution his body was hung in chains on Clifton Ings (Knipe 1867).
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Similar
26 December 1570: Edmund Grindal, Puritan archbishop of York, orders the removal of rood-lofts (and their superstitious images), and the erection of pulpits
27 July 1612: Jennet Preston, the only Yorkshirewoman among the Pendle witches, is found guilty at York of the murder of Thomas Lister of Westby Hall, Gisburn (Ribble Valley)
Comment
Comment
The letter from the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Shrewsbury, the Marquess of Exeter etc. to the King from Doncaster (Hoyle 1985) is better and will be used if Taylor & Francis waive their suggested fee of £80.
A good chronology is to be found in Appendix II of Michael Bush’s Pilgrimage of Grace. Some relevant items:
25th October:
- Middleward of the pilgrim host moves to Hampole; the van moves to Pickburn, overlooking Doncaster.
- Skirmish occurs that morning outside Doncaster, in which government troops are routed, inspiring the Bowes host to consider taking Doncaster immediately. The same day the herald returns with a letter rejecting the pilgrims’ terms and challenging battle unless they disperse. The letter also proposes that, if they disperse, the commanders of the royal army will be suitors for them to the king.
- That evening the pilgrims convene a council at Hampole: the wisdom of war or peace is debated. A policy of negotiation prevails. The rebels accept Norfolk’s original proposal for a meeting in Doncaster. That night heavy rain causes the Don to rise, making it unfordable.
26th October: Norfolk reaches Doncaster in the early hours, without his army.
26th and 27th October: Pilgrim host is arrayed before Doncaster at Scawsby Leys.
27th October: First Appointment at Doncaster is made, A truce is agreed whilst the rebels’ five articles are taken to the king by Norfolk accompanied by the pilgrim leaders, Bowes and Ellerker. It is also proposed that there should be a parliament to consider the pilgrims’ grievances and that a general pardon should be granted.
(Bush 1996)
Swainson quotes Brand who, to fit his superstitious narrative, redates the event to the eve of 28 October, the notoriously rainy feast of the Saints Simon and Jude (Swainson 1873). The addition of resonance to events by their post hoc redating to important feasts may have been common, but I haven’t found any analysis of the practice.
I enjoyed Roy Hattersley’s take on this and other stuff in The Catholics (Hattersley 2017).
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