Now! Then! 2024! - Yorkshire On This Day

Excerpt

At Knaresborough, on the River Nidd, we saw diverse memorable things; as first, St Robert’s chapel, a little thing having an altar in it, all hewn out of the living rock; on the outside, at the door, is the statue of St Robert, cut out of the rock. The old woman, who in a great measure gets her living by showing strangers thiş chapel, told us many stories out of the legend of St Robert, some of which we thought fit to commit to writing. A legend of this saint is that a certain fellow feigned himself a cripple, had tied up one of his legs, and came to beg something of St Robert, making great complaint of his lameness and poverty. St Robert, being very compassionate and charitable, faith to him, said I have nothing left but one cow, and that give I thee, as freely as ever God gave it me. Whence it is to this day a proverb among them thereabout, “As free as St. Robert gave his cow.” So soon as the fellow took the cow by the horn to lead her away, he proved a cripple indeed, and could not let down his leg. The picture of this is in one of the church windows.

Order the book

Subscribe to the free daily email

To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

Abbreviations:

• ER: East Riding
• GM: Greater Manchester
• NR: North Riding
• NY: North Yorkshire
• SY: South Yorkshire
• WR: West Riding
• WY: West Yorkshire

Comment

Comment

Ray is travelling on the 3rd and 5th, so this and other visits presumably took place on the 4th.

Something to say? Get in touch

Original

At Knaresborough, on the River Nidd, we saw diverse memorable things; as first, St. Robert’s chapel, a little thing having an altar in it, all hewn out of the living rock; on the outside, at the door, is the statue of St. Robert, cut out of the rock. The old woman, who in a great measure gets her living by showing strangers thiş chapel, told us many stories out of the legend of St. Robert, some of which, because we had before heard the story of that saint, we thought fit to commit to writing. King John, then, when he lived in the castle of Knaresborough, sent once for this St. Robert, who happening to be at his devotions in this his chapel, refused to go with the messengers. The messengers returning to the king with a denial, were sent back again to tell St. Robert, that he must leave off his devotions and come to the king, or else that he would fetch him. St. Robert still refusing to go, sent the king an ear of corn, with these words, that he was serving him who made that, and unless he could make such another, he would not attend on him till he had finished his devotions.

A second legend of St. Robert is this. St. Robert going to the king, complained to him that his deer in the forest of Knaresborough did the poor men’s corn much harm; the king merrily asked him why they did not pound them, whereupon St. Robert catcheth two of the stags, and putteth them into the pinfold [OED: A pen or enclosure for stray or distrained livestock; a pound for animals, a fold]. The king, wondering at it, asks him what he would desire in recompense for the poor. The saint answered, only as much land as he could plough round with two stags, in the time of divine service. The king granting his request, he encompassed a great quantity of land, which is now in the occupation of the Slingsbys. The picture of the plough and bucks is in one of the church windows at Knaresborough.

Another legend of this saint is, that a certain fellow feigned himself a cripple; had tied up one of his legs, and came to beg something of St. Robert, making great complaint of his lameness and poverty. St. Robert, being very compassionate and charitable, faith to him, I have nothing left but one cow, and that give I thee, as freely as ever God gave it me. Whence it is to this day a proverb among them thereabout, “As free as St. Robert gave his cow.” So soon as the fellow took the cow by the horn to lead her away, he proved a cripple indeed, and could not let down his leg. The picture of this also is in one of the church windows.

488 words.

Tags

Tags are assigned inclusively on the basis of an entry’s original text and any comment. You may find this confusing if you only read an entry excerpt.

• Cattle (26) ·
• Deer (6) ·
• Enclosure (6) ·
• English folklore (17) ·
• John, King of England (1) ·
• Knaresborough Castle (1) ·
• Knaresborough (6) ·
• Legend (1) ·
• Physical disability (2) ·
• Plough (3) ·
• Proverb (6) ·
• Ray, John (1627-1705) (6), one of the earliest of the English parson-naturalists ·
• River Nidd (5) ·
• Sir Thomas Slingsby, 2nd Baronet (2) ·
• St Robert’s Cave and Chapel of the Holy Cross (2) ·
• St. Robert of Knaresborough (ca. 1160-1218) (2), born Robert Flower, hermit who lived in a cave by the River Nidd at Knaresborough, feast day 24 September ·
• Wheat (14) ·

All tags.

Similar

• 8 February 1745: Pioneering but pennyless philologist Eugene Aram murders a wealthy Knaresborough wastrel
• 7 February 1685: Notables at York await the death of Charles II, planning to prevent anti-papists and other dissidents from disrupting the accession of James II
• 27 December 1132: The foundation of Fountains Abbey by dissidents from St Mary’s, York, retold by a Victorian antiquary using Cistercian chronicles
• 15 January 1873: Mr Fairest details the historical embezzlement and misdirection of charity funds in Ecclesfield (Sheffield), until the audience can take no more
• 27 September 1696: A proverbial Michaelmas rhyme and parade at Scarborough parodies rent collectors
• 18 April 1812: Dressed as a country lass, George Butler recites the West Riding dialect tragicomedy of Richard and Betty at the Theatre Royal, Ripon
• 18 August 1812: Lady Ludd leads bread rioters through the streets of Leeds
• 19 August 1849: The last bull-baiting at Lydgate Wakes, Saddleworth
• 13 December 1795: A smoking-hot meteorite weighing 25 kg imperils labourer John Shipley at Wold Cottage farm, Muston (ER)
• 30 July 1882: On his way to play with the Muker church band, Richard Guy of Hill Top Farm climbs over a wall to inspect a fertile heifer