Yorkshire Almanac Yorkshire tax rebels kill Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland, at South Kilvington (Thirsk), leading to a very expensive funeral at Beverley Minster

28 April 1489: Yorkshire tax rebels kill Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland, at South Kilvington (Thirsk), leading to a very expensive funeral at Beverley Minster

Francis Peck. 1779. Desiderata Curiosa. London: Thomas Evans. Get it:

Unedited excerpt

If an excerpt is used in the book, it will be shorter, edited and, where applicable, translated.

	l. s. d.
First, for the balmynge, fencyng and scowering of the corse, with the webbe of led and chest	13 6 8
Item, for the wax of the herse, by estimation	26 13 4
Item, for the tymber and paynting of the herse	5 0 0
Item, for 400 torches, after 2s. 8d. the peece	53 6 8
Item, for a standart	4 0 0
Item, for a baner	3 6 8
Item, for his cote armer of seynet, betyn with his armys	5 0 0
Item, for 12 baners of sarcenet, betyn with my lord’s armys, at 10s. the pece	6 0 0
Item, for 100 pensells of bukeram betyn with my lord’s armys (hole armys) at 1-2d. the pece, for the chaire, herse, and church	3 0 0
Item, to 40 poor men, for the bering of torches on horseback, one day (from Wresill to Lekinfield) 18 myles, at 2s. a man	4 0 0
Item, for 100 men on foote, at 6d. a man a day; viz. from Lekinfield to Beverley 1 day; and at Beverley the day of the burial, 1 day	5 0 0
Item, for the suffrages of 6 churches that will met the corse by the way, after 13s. 4d. the church (besids the torches)	4 0 0
Item, for the rewards to two officers of armys, for their helpe and payne in ordering, the said buriall, at 10l. the pece for coming from London, ther costs and reward	20 0 0
Item, for al maner of dues belonging to the churche where the corse shall rest	20 0 0
Item, for 12 gownes, for lords (after 3 yerds & dimid. in a gowne, at 10s. the yard)	21 0 0
Item, for 20 gownes for gentlewomen (after 3 yerds in a gowne, at 5s. the yerd)	15 0 0
Item, for 24 gownes withe hods, for lords and knyghts (at 10s. the yerd, and after 5 yerds in every gowne and hode) with the executors	60 0 0
Item, for 60 gownes with typets for squyers and gentlemen (at 6s. 8d. the yerd, and after 4 yerds in every gowne and typett)	80 0 0
Item, for 200 gownes for yeomen and headfor….. (after 3s. 4d. the yerd, and after 3 yerds in every gowne)	120 0 0
Item, for 160 gownes of course black, for pore folke, for torch bearers and outher (after 3 yerds in a gowne, and after 2s. the yerd)	42 0 0
Item, for 400 yerds of course black, for hanginge the church & the chapells (at 2s. the yerd)	40 0 0
Item, for 500 priests that will come to the said buriall; if they do not, the outher must be fulfilled the next day; after 12d. the pece, according to the will	25 0 0
Item, for 1000 clerks that comyth to the said buriall, after 4d. the pece	16 13 4
Item, for 100 gownes for gromes & gentlemen’s servants (after 3s. 4d. the yerd, & after 3 yerds in every gowne)	50 0 0
Item, for the dole at the said buriall, after 2d. to every pore body that comyth the day of the burial; [allowing the number of the said poor folks to be, as I presume they were on the said day of burial] 13340, after 2d. the pece, according to the will	123 6 8
Item, for the costs & expences of meat and drinke, & horse-meate, going and comyng to the said buriall (viz. one day from Wresil to Lekinfield, by the space of 18 myles; and one day from Lekinfield to Beverley; & one day tarrying at Beverley, for the buriall; & one day returning from Beverley to Wresil, 18 myles)	266 13 4
Item, for tue mortuaries, his armys, his huishe-men, his maister of the horse, and all such outher things to be had of my lord’s owen store in the house	?
Sum of all the said charges	?

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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.

Comment

The last figure is missing, and so is the total, though George Oliver says the latter was £1037 06s. 8d. (Oliver 1829), or about £900K in 2022.

Percy’s funeral sounds positively modern and dull compared with John Aubrey’s reports on low-income Yorkshire two centuries later:

At the funerals in Yorkshire, to this day, they continue the custom of watching and sitting-up all night till the body is interred. In the interim some kneel down and pray (by the corpse), some play at cards, some drink and take tobacco. They have also Mimicall plays and sports, e.g., they choose a simple young fellow to be a judge, then the suppliants (having first blacked their hands by rubbing it under the bottom of the pot), beseech his Lop: [Lordship] and smut all his face. They play likewise at Hott-cockles.

Esse aliquid manes, et subterranea regna,
Et contum, et Stygio ranas in gurgite nigras,
Atque una transire vadum tot millia cymba.
Juvenal, Satyr II.

The belief in Yorkshire was among the vulgar (perhaps is in part still) that after the person’s death the soul went over Whinny-moore, and till about 1616/1624 at the funeral a woman came (like a praefica [professional mourner]) and sang the following song:

This ean night, this ean night,
every night and all:
Fire and fleet [water] and candle light
and Christ receive thy soul.

When thou from hence dost pass away
every night and all
To Whinny-moor [furze moor] thou comst at last
and Christ receive thy silly poor soul.

If ever thou gave either hosen or shun [Scots: hose and shoes]
every night and all
Sit thee down and put them on
and Christ receive thy soul.

But if hosen nor shoon thou never gave nean
every night, etc.:
The Whinnes shall prick thee to the bare bean
and Christ receive thy soul.

From Whinny-moor that thou mayst pass
every night etc.:
To Brig o’ Dread thou comest at last
and Christ etc.:

From Brig of Dread that thou mayest pass
no brader than a thread
every night etc.: To Purgatory fire thou com’st at last
and Christ etc.:

If ever thou gave either milk or drink
every night etc.:
The fire shall never make thee shrink
and Christ etc.:

But if milk nor drink thou never gave nean
every night etc.:
The fire shall burn thee to the bare bene
and Christ receive thy soul.

(Aubrey 1881)

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Comment

The last figure is missing, and so is the total, though George Oliver says the latter was £1037 06s. 8d. (Oliver 1829), or about £900K in 2022.

Percy’s funeral sounds positively modern and dull compared with John Aubrey’s reports on low-income Yorkshire two centuries later:

At the funerals in Yorkshire, to this day, they continue the custom of watching and sitting-up all night till the body is interred. In the interim some kneel down and pray (by the corpse), some play at cards, some drink and take tobacco. They have also Mimicall plays and sports, e.g., they choose a simple young fellow to be a judge, then the suppliants (having first blacked their hands by rubbing it under the bottom of the pot), beseech his Lop: [Lordship] and smut all his face. They play likewise at Hott-cockles.

Esse aliquid manes, et subterranea regna,
Et contum, et Stygio ranas in gurgite nigras,
Atque una transire vadum tot millia cymba.
Juvenal, Satyr II.

The belief in Yorkshire was among the vulgar (perhaps is in part still) that after the person’s death the soul went over Whinny-moore, and till about 1616/1624 at the funeral a woman came (like a praefica [professional mourner]) and sang the following song:

This ean night, this ean night,
every night and all:
Fire and fleet [water] and candle light
and Christ receive thy soul.

When thou from hence dost pass away
every night and all
To Whinny-moor [furze moor] thou comst at last
and Christ receive thy silly poor soul.

If ever thou gave either hosen or shun [Scots: hose and shoes]
every night and all
Sit thee down and put them on
and Christ receive thy soul.

But if hosen nor shoon thou never gave nean
every night, etc.:
The Whinnes shall prick thee to the bare bean
and Christ receive thy soul.

From Whinny-moor that thou mayst pass
every night etc.:
To Brig o’ Dread thou comest at last
and Christ etc.:

From Brig of Dread that thou mayest pass
no brader than a thread
every night etc.: To Purgatory fire thou com’st at last
and Christ etc.:

If ever thou gave either milk or drink
every night etc.:
The fire shall never make thee shrink
and Christ etc.:

But if milk nor drink thou never gave nean
every night etc.:
The fire shall burn thee to the bare bene
and Christ receive thy soul.

(Aubrey 1881)

Something to say? Get in touch

27 July 1822: An inquest at York finds that John Furnel of the Queen’s Regiment of Foot died of flogging and resulting illness

1 July 1840: The opening of the Hull and Selby Railway terminates the threat to Hull’s port from Goole, Scarborough and Bridlington

1 August 1833: At Kelfield (East Riding), Hannah Beedham fails to fulfil her prophecy of her own death

26 July 1802: Dorothy Wordsworth travels with brother William from Scarborough across the Wolds to Beverley and Hull

5 July 1858: The view from the tower of Beverley Minster

12 September 1865: An unexpected gesture from Richard Scurr, watchmaker, at the Thirsk burial of John Pick Allison, solicitor

2 November 1300: In a pause in the Scottish wars, Archbishop Corbridge of York tells John de Cave and Radulf, bailiff of Beverley, to pursue debasers and deserters

23 April 1642: Having promised parliament to safeguard for it Hull’s crucial arsenal, John Hotham tells it how today he shut the gates of Hull to Charles I

25 October 1417: Without prejudice to Crispin and Crispinian, England celebrates a miracle at the tomb of St John of Beverley during the Battle of Agincourt two years ago

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Comment

What a meal the good archbishop makes of that, and Francis Drake says he got it wrong – St John apparently sweated blood all day (Drake 1736) (via Susan E. Wilson’s study (Wilson 2006))!

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