THE
HISTORY OF LOUGHBOROUGH FROM THE TIME OF THE BRITONS TO THE MIDDLE OF THE
NINETEENTH CENTURY
Chapter 5, Pt
2 The family of the Beaumonts
In: ‘Loughborough
Monitor’ 1 December 1864, pg 5
Pt 2 - The
fourth Lord Beaumont and the Crusade against the Clementists - Joins John of
Gaunt to recover Castile - Goes to the famous Tournament at St. Inglevere - Captain
of Carlisle, &c. - Entertains Richard II at Beaumanor whilst the Court was
at Nottingham and his Marshalsea at Loughborough - A Trial arising out of Court
Etiquette - Second visit of Richard II to Beaumanor - His Hunting - Wickliffe,
and William of Swynderby - Beaumont sent to France.
____________________________________
Henry, the
third Lord Beaumont, has little or no history attached to his name, but his son
John, by his marriage with Margaret, daughter of John de Vere, Earl of Oxford,
was in every way a remarkable man. His father died when he was only nine years
old, in 1370, and left him to struggle into notability by his own efforts. We
first hear of him in one of those Papal wars which form so important a part of
the history of earlier times. There was a schism in the Papacy. The election of
the Archbishop of Bari to the Papal chair under the name of Urban VI, so
incensed the Cardinals, that, after the first professions of fealty, they
forsook the city, went through a form of excommunication against him, and
elected Robert of Geneva as Clement XII. The pontifical war began in earnest.
Anathemas and bulls were bandied about from one to the other like shuttlecocks.
England took
the side of Urban, and in 1382-3, bulls were issued to all the Prelates in
England, and the crusade was preached throughout every diocese. It was, no
doubt, preached in St. Peter's Church [1], Loughborough, and some of the
contributions of Lord Beaumont's tenants there helped to make up the 25,000
francs collected in England. Lord Henry Spencer, Bishop of Norwich, a
descendant of the Dispensers whose history has already been given, was made commander,
and the youthful Lord John Beaumont was one of the Champions of the Church who
joined him, and solemnly swore to make war on the Clementists and on them only.
They entered
Flanders, and when about to attack the town of Dunkirk, a council of war was held,
and Lord Beaumont and Sir Hugh Calverley took the side of mercy. The Flemings,
they said, had done no positive wrong to them, were, in fact, Urbanists like
themselves, and ought to be treated fairly and honourably. An English herald
was sent to inquire what Pope they obeyed, and the man was murdered before
their own eyes immediately he arrived, and before he could deliver his message.
This insult aroused them like a young soldier's first wound, and they caught
all the maddening passion of war. They attacked the place and soon captured it.
The Crusaders
were, however, subsequently alarmed by a powerful army under the King of France
which came against them, and they took refuge in Bourbourg. Here, the young
Lord Beaumont, with one hundred men at arms and three hundred archers,
commanded a part of the town. After a bloody defence the town capitulated, and
the English returned home, and were somewhat indifferently received on their
arrival. No doubt some of Lord Beaumont's own archers from Beaumanor and Loughborough
accompanied him in this campaign, and fought by his side in this valiant but
unsuccessful defence. We say no doubt, but we might put it stronger. There was
not then any system of military recruiting like that now in vogue, and each
officer of note collected his own men from his own retainers and tenantry, and
frequently made express agreement with the King as we shall see further on in
our history.
Early in 1386
a magnificent expedition sailed from the English shore under John of Gaunt,
Duke of Lancaster, also called King of Castille and Leon, to recover the
Kingdom of Castille. Lord Beaumont joined the expedition previous to its
departure from Plymouth, but his name does not figure much in the various
sieges, although he is mentioned by Froissart [2] as one of the company who
entertained the Duke of Portugal on his meeting Lancaster at the bridge of Pont
de More, between Monccao [3] and Melgacco [4], the luscious description of which is in
Froissart's best manner. When the army was disbanded on account of its general
ill-health, Lord Beaumont returned home.
During his
absence some individuals, jealous of his growing position and power, had begun
to stir up an evil-feeling towards him in the King's mind, and he appears to
have suffered a temporary banishment from the court upon his return, as a
presumed evil counsellor to the King.
While the
peace between England and France remained unbroken, three French knights, Sir
Boucicaut the younger, Lord Reginald de Roye, and Lord de Saimpi, with the
chivalry characteristic of their time, proclaimed that they would hold a
tournament at St. Inglevere, near Calais, and engage to maintain themselves
singly against all comers. The challenge created quite a sensation in England,
and many knights accepted it. Lord Beaumont was one of them. He was the fourth
knight who advanced to the lists on the opening day.
He "came
forward," says Froissart, who calls him both Sir John and Sir Henry, and
Lord both, with a carelessness peculiar to him, and which later historians have
copied, "and sent to have the
target of Sir (Lord) Boucicaut touched, who was instantly ready to reply to the
call, having not dismounted from the tilt with Lord Clifford. The Lord Beaumont
did not manage his lance well, and hit Boucicaut on the side; but Sir Boucicaut
struck him so full in the middle of his shield that it drove him to the ground,
and continued his course. Lord Beaumont was raised up by his attendants and
remounted. The Lord de Saimpi then presented himself, and they tilted two
courses without hurt to either.”
In the year
1389, Lord Beaumont was made Admiral of the Northern Fleet and Warden of the
Border Marches, or as he is styled, Captain of Carlisle. In the latter capacity
he displayed his usual boldness. He made a raid forty miles into Scotland,
engaging in alternate extravagances of devotion and hostility. He captured the
town of Fowyke, and brought home much booty and many captives.
Circumstances
of some importance in the history of the town happened about this time. Richard
II was making one of his royal progresses from London to York, in 1387, and
established his court at Nottingham Castle. During this time his Marshalsea was
held in the town of Loughborough; that is, his Marshall sat in judgment there
upon all suits between members of the King's household and others, and such
crimes as might be committed within the verge of the Court for the time being.
Meanwhile the King himself [was] with his distinguished subject and Counsellor,
Lord Beaumont, at his house at Beaumanor. The King hunted in Charnwood Forest,
and probably in the Loughborough Parks, as yet unstocked with anything but game
by needy and parsimonious graziers.
Upon one of
these six days a street affray occurred in Leicester, and as it became a
question of court etiquette to know whether Leicester might be considered
within the limits of the King's Court, a jury from the neighbouring towns was
empanelled to ascertain the fact. From Loughborough itself, John Church, Peter
Toone, and Richard Cartwright, "men of most repute and substance,"
were chosen; from Hathern, Randolph Squirs, John Digby, and Richard Weston;
from Cotes, John Russell, and Richard Cotes; and from Wymeswold, Simon Joyce,
Richard Peale, and Edward Blount. The trial was held at Loughborough, and the
witnesses came thither from Leicester before them. The crime of killing anyone
within the precincts of a King's Court was usually a very heinous one, the
punishment of which was more than ordinarily severe. There appears to have been
in this case some doubt as to whether Leicester was really within the limits of
the Court, and under the circumstances the jury, we believe, came to a very
merciful conclusion in the matter.
Richard II
appears to have been so well pleased with his visit to Beaumanor and the
pleasantnesses of a forest probably new to him, that he paid a second visit to
Lord Beaumont in two years afterwards, in 1390. This progress appears to have
been one of enjoyment entirely. The Duke of Lancaster proclaimed a royal hunt
at Leicester, and there was a large gathering of the "magnates of the
King," says Knighton, writing from Leicester Abbey. These were the
Archbishop of York, the Duke of York, the Duke of Gloucester, the Earl of
Arundell, Lord John Holland, Earl of Huntington, with many other lords. That
they must have hunted in Charnwood, Beaumanor, Loughborough Parks, and
elsewhere, is very clear from the terms Knighton uses. The hunting was to be at
Leicester, in the Forest, and the preserved enclosures or parks (defensa),
and in all the lands thereabouts. It does not require much stretch of
imagination either to conceive the fact or the wonderment it would create
amongst the country people.
On the
Thursday following the King moved towards Nottingham, and passed the night with
Lord Beaumont at Beaumanor. It is singular that Knighton does not give the name
of this place, but simply says, "He passed the night with the Lord of
Beaumonde, near Lowteborowe." Unfortunately, there are no accounts of
Royal progresses extant of so early a date, or we might have been able to have
given more details concerning Richard II’s two visits to our neighbourhood, and
his progresses through the town [5].
We have now
to pass to a little episode in the religious history of the town. In his
various perambulations through this country, the great Wickliffe [sic] had
several times visited Loughborough, and preached here, and his bold yet
reverent mien had won for him the good estimation of his hearers, if it had not
secured their conviction. The church was like all others then; it had many
images of the Saints for the people to pray to, but as yet there was no open
Bible that they could read. The people were religious enough in their way, and
do not seem to have been much moved by his exhortations. He found an able
follower in William of Swynderby, or the Hermit, a man of unknown birth and
origin, who lived in a cell in the woods outside the walls of Leicester, and
issued thence to the neighbouring towns, reproving the fair sex for their gaieties,
and the priests for their vices and place and money-hunting
He visited
Loughborough several times, preaching from the market cross with all the
fervour of an apostle. We do not know whether the fair sex here was as giddy
and as finely dressed as in their county town, but if they were, they would
most assuredly receive from him the same stern and stinging reproof. With his
remarks upon the place and money-hunting vices of the clergy they could well
agree, for although now without a recognised pastor, they had recently been
familiar with two instances of pluralism in their midst.
In 1366, John
de Leek not only held the living of St. Peter's [6], then taxed at 44 marks,
but the prebend of Somerleye, in the Church of Chichester, taxed at twelve
marks, and another in the free chapel of Windsor, taxed at 40 shillings. In the
same year, also, John de Worshopp was complained of on the same ground, he
holding the church of Loughborough, a canonary at Lincoln, and the Prebendary
of Lowth taxed at 70 marks. Swynderby soon aroused an opposition strong enough
to test the strength of his own mind and principle. He was cited, in 1389, to
appear at Lincoln, and went, many of his friends going with him "some of
whom were the most considerable of the inhabitants of Leicester." Three
Friars were his accusers. Swynderby could not deny what he had done, but he
showed the white feather and promised to do penance and recant. Our admiration
of the man ceases from that moment, and we can only pity him and be as
charitable with him as possible. Stephen de Syresham, vicar of Barrow, was to
accompany him on his barefooted tour to the places at which he had preached.
They came to Loughborough, and there, where he had taught so differently
before, the poor crushed man stood up and read that memorable recantation of
his:
"I,
William Swinderby, priest, although unworthy of the Diocese of Lincoln,
acknowledging one true Catholic and Apostolic faith of the holy church of Rome,
do abjure all heresy and error repugning to the determination of the holy
mother church, whereof I have hitherto been defamed; namely, the conclusions
and articles above prefixed, and every one of them, to me judicially objected,
by the commissary of the reverend father in Christ and Lord John, by the Grace
of God, Bishop of Lincoln; and do revoke the same, and every one of them, some
as heretical, some as erroneous and false; and do affirm and believe them to be
so, and hereafter, will never teach, preach, or affirm publicly or privily the
same. Neither will I make any sermon within the diocese of Lincoln, but asking
first and obtaining the license of the aforesaid reverend father and lord, the
Bishop of Lincoln. Contrary to the which, if I shall presume hereafter to say
or do, to hold or preach, I shall be content to abide by the severity of the
canon, as I have judicially, by the necessity of the law, sworn, and do swear,
&c."
This appears
to have been his last public act, and he who might have shone for ever as a
lesser light beside the bright Morning Star of the Reformation, came crashing
down to dull earth a charred and smouldering meteoroid, without even one bright
streak across the heavens in his descent to make us think more kindly of him,
and forgive him his traitorous humiliation.
In 1391,
Richard II evinced the confidence he reposed in Lord Beaumont by selecting him
as one of the ambassadors he sent to Paris to negotiate concerning his marriage
with Isabella, the daughter of Charles of France. She had been previously
betrothed to the son of the Duke of Brittain, and it required no little
discrimination on the part of the ambassadors so to open their message as not to
incense the King, her father, at the outset, and so frustrate the whole scheme.
They were, however, treated everywhere with the greatest honour and respect.
They were
lodged at the Croix du Tiroir in Paris, and their horses, six hundred in number,
with the customary attendants on foot, amounting (according to the monk of St.
Denis) to 1,200 persons, occupied the whole of that and part of another street.
Three hundred crowns had been voted by the French to defray the expenses of
this multitude during their stay in the city. A treaty was eventually signed
agreeing to the marriage of Isabella to King Richard. Her dower was fixed at
80,000 crowns, and she was to be allowed when she had reached her twelfth year
to dissent from the arrangement if she chose.
The Earl
Marshall of England espoused her as proxy for the King, and from that time she
became in name at least Queen of England. Although only in her eighth year,
"it was a goodly sight to see her behaviour," says Froissart,
"for all that she was but young, right pleasantly she bore the part of a
queen." The real marriage which took place some years afterwards, it is no
part of our story to give an account of; suffice it to say, that in Froissart
as much as will satisfy any curious member of the sex so fond of such scenes
and themes may be found for the seeking, and is very readable. This negotiation
was Lord Beaumont's last public act, and he died in 1397.
 |
| All Saints with Holy Trinity |
____________________________________
NOTES
[1] St Peter’s
is the church we now refer to as All Saints with Holy Trinity
[2] A
French-speaking poet and historian from the Low Countries
[3] Modern day known as Monção
[4] Modern day known as Melgaço
[5] More
information would be useful, as if the King were heading to Nottingham from
Loughborough, Beaumanor is hardly on the way.
[6] All
Saints with Holy Trinity
____________________________________
Transcribed
and presented here with the kind permission of the British Newspaper Archive. https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/
____________________________________
Posted by
lynneaboutloughborough
With apologies for
typos which are all mine!
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