King Richard II of Bordeaux and Lichfield

    King Richard II was born in1366 in the Archbishop’s Palace of Bordeaux in Aquitaine (an area covering much of central and southwest France) and died in1400 in Pontefract Castle, He reigned from 1377 to 1399 and was a frequent visitor to Lichfield.

 

Richard II from the Wilton Diptych. Kneeling in prayer would have been an appropriate pose for Richard. Wikimedia Public Domain

 

Richard Scrope was a papal chaplain and an auditor to the Curia in Rome[1] at a time when much of Europe recognised the alternative pope, Clement VII, residing in Avignon, south-east France.[2] In 1385, he was elected Bishop of Chichester, but this was rejected by Richard II. Instead, on 18 August 1386, the Rome pope Urban VI, promoted him to be the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry[3] and consecrated him on the following day; Richard must have agreed to this elevation.[4] Scrope was enthroned in Lichfield on 29 June 1387. Richard (aged 21) with Anne of Bohemia his queen (also aged 21), the Archbishops of York and Dublin and various earls and knights attended the enthronement. The ceremony was followed by a huge feast in the bishop's palace,[5] which must have stretched the resources of the Close. This first visit to Lichfield must have impressed the young king. It would not be surprising if Richard at this time, or in his later visits, associated himself with some architectural feature at Lichfield.[6] Richard was a keen Christian and supporter of the church.

In the same year,1387, Richard granted a licence to seven petitioners to amalgamate two pre-existing guilds in Lichfield. The new guild had a chaplain to pray for the king and his queen and give a blessing for the bishop. By the late fifteenth century the guild had increased membership including clergy and notables from the city.

 

Richard II with orb and sceptre on the west front of the cathedral.

 

 Richard spent Christmas at Lichfield in 1397, staying until mid-January, including celebration of his birthday. He visited Lichfield at least six times in 1398. Anne his wife had died four years previously and he had politically married a child princess of France allowing a thirty-year truce; probably the greatest of his achievements. Some of his opponents had been removed and perhaps Richard now felt secure, but he still felt it necessary to reside in a fortified cathedral. He is recorded being at Lichfield on 8, 17–20 January, 24–27 May, 22–26 June, 8 September, 25 December to 6 January 1399 and it is possible the stays were longer than recorded. Lichfield would have been a good residence for Richard to pursue his love of hunting in the surrounding forest.

             On 2 June 1398, the pope moved Richard Scrope to be Archbishop of York probably on the recommendation of Richard. The king then forwarded his friend and chaplain John Burghill, to be bishop at Lichfield.[7] He was installed at Lichfield on 8 September 1398 and the enthronement was attended by three archbishops, Canterbury, York, and Dublin, (who was also Dean of Penkridge), five bishops, four dukes, and four earls. The fully robed clergy met the new Bishop at the west end of the Close and were surprised to find him bare-footed. Burghill was a Dominican (Black) Friar and this was a demonstration of his belief in asceticism, later his detractors described it as miserliness. They then filed to an atrium at the west end door.[8] This was possibly both an extension inwards and outwards of the central doorway.[9] Oaths were said in the atrium before the party processed to the high altar for the commission. A feast followed in the palace to which all the cathedral clergy were invited.

  

West front drawing from ‘The Builder’, (1891), February 7, 108–9. It shows a pair of buttress foundations discovered under the paving outside the west front, probably during Scott's work in 1850s.[10] The rubble foundation between the end pillars was revealed in 2000.[11] Was this part of an outward and inward projecting atrium/narthex?

 

 

Photograph of foundation revealed in 2000.

 

            In 1398, Archbishop Roger Walden ordered celebrations on the feast of St Chad.[12] This could have been at the behest of Richard and supported by the new Bishop of Lichfield. It shows Richard’s strong interest in the power of saints and their intercessory power.[13] It could go some way to explain why Richard was a frequent visitor to Lichfield.

     He returned for Christmas in 1398, lodged in the palace and received a papal nuncio and an envoy of the Eastern Emperor, Manuel II. Tournaments with jousting were held daily, probably up to his birthday in 1399, and a banqueting hall was built next to the great hall of the palace. Richard in the last two years of his reign increasingly became extravagant and autocratic, believing his kingship was divine. He announced to Parliament no restraint could legally be put on him. This high ambition, punitive taxation and execution of rivals standing in his way now made many enemies. He had a bodyguard of 400 bowmen,[14] which must have stretched the residency in the Close. Parliaments were held around the Midlands, but never in London or inexplicably at Lichfield.

 

Richard II at Westminster Abbey in mid-1390s, Wikipedia Public Domain

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Richard II by unknown artist, 16th century. Oil painting in the National Portrait Gallery, allowed with thanks.

     On 1 June 1399, Richard landed in Ireland to restore his dwindling authority. This was an opportunity for his exiled and dispossessed enemy, Henry Bolingbroke, to return from France. Richard hurriedly returned, but could not raise any support. On 19 August, Richard surrendered to Henry Bolingbroke (later Henry IV) at Flint Castle, promising to abdicate if his life was spared. Both men then made their way to London, broken by a short stay at Lichfield. On the evening of 23 August, the party arrived at Lichfield. That night Richard attempted to escape through the window of the large tower (most likely the north-east tower and part of the Bishop’s Palace) in which he had been lodged,[15] but was recaptured in an adjoining garden. He was removed from the Close and transferred to the house of the Archdeacon of Chester, on the corner of Beacon Street and Shaw Lane. Ten or twelve armed men kept close guard over him day and night, and Richard complained that he was not even allowed a change of clothes.

 

North-east tower remains.

On arrival in London, 1 September, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. A commission, including Archbishop Scrope,[16] a friend of Richard, visited the king and agreed (reluctantly?) on his imprisonment. Richard was later moved to Pontefract Castle and died (some say starved to death?) on or around 14 February 1400, aged 34. His interment at the Dominican friary church at Kings Langley in Hertfordshire was conducted by his friend, Bishop John Burghill.[17] Afterwards, Burghill became a great benefactor leaving much to the cathedral, and this was warmly commemorated after his death in 1414.

           When the Lady Chapel was built a screen was erected across the cathedral behind the high altar and west of Chad’s shrine. Wyatt found part of the screen when he was joining the choir to the Lady Chapel in 1788.[18]  During the Victorian renovation 'a rayed rose and hart' was found on one piece of the old screen and could have been the emblem of Richard and Anne.[19] An inn in Sadler Street was named the White Hart.

 

Is this the hart emblem remarked upon by Robert Bridgeman? On the canopy there are several sculpted roses.

There are a number of 14-century chapter houses, York, Lincoln, Westminster and Salisbury are examples, in which there is a Marian connection. At Lichfield, above the door is a triangular painting of ‘The Assumption of St Mary’. In the bottom right corner stand several ‘Black Friars’, clearly showing their black cappa or cloak above their white habit. This suggests Bishop Burghill arranged this painting and gives a date around 1398–1414. St Mary is surrounded by angels and the two at knee height have adult faces. The one on the left of the painting appears to be wearing a crown. The one on the right appears to be a woman. It would be plausible to assume they are Richard and Anne. Perhaps, then the figure to the bottom left is the dean, Thomas de Stretton. If this is verified, it is a remarkable painting.

 

Assumption of Mary painting.Revealed in the Victorian removal of limewash. 

 

Figures left and right of Mary. Superimposed is the head of Richard II from The Wilton Diptych.

Richard is positioned on the right hand of Chad on the west front. He would have liked that.

[1] He was also a friend, with family connections, with the Earls of Northumberland, the Percy family.

[2] The Western Schism. England recognised the Roman pope. Wales, Scotland, France and Spain did not.

[3] H.E. Savage, The Church Heritage of Lichfield, Unpub. St Chad’s Day Address (1914) claimed the title from 1386 was transposed to Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry. He also stated the electing body at Coventry no longer existed. The addition of Chester to the title had ceased in 1350. H. Wharton, Anglia Sacra Volume 1.,(London: 1691), 450, has ‘Ricardus Scrope. Episcopus Lichfeldensis & Coventrensis. His predecessor Walterus Skirlaw also has this order, but his predecessor Robertus Stretton (449) gives priority to Coventry. Richard II must have agreed with this new form of title.

[4] J. Gould, ‘Lichfield and Richard II’, Staffordshire Archaeological and Historical Society Transactions, (2001), 39, 16–21, from which much of this post has been constructed. See also J. Tait, 'Scrope, Richard', Dictionary of National Biography, li (1897), 144-47. The burgesses of Lichfield appear not to have accepted Scrope’s elevation especially if decided by the King.

[5] Lichfield Dean and Chapter Acts Book, i, f. 15v.

[6] J. Gould (2001), 22. A White Hart is depicted on the timber ceiling of St Mary’s Hall, Coventry.

[7] H. Wharton, Anglia Sacra. Volume 1. (London: 1691), 451.

[8] This description of the ceremony comes from H. E. Savage, Bishop John Burghull, (note the misspelling), an A. C. Lomax publication (Lichfield: 1924), 1–24. It was taken from the Chapter Acts Book, 52–3.

[9] Beneath the flagstones outside the west end large door has been found a stone buttress foundation. It is not known when this atrium (narthex?) was built and demolished. This is referred to by W. Rodwell, Lichfield Cathedral: Conservation Plan. Unpub. report in Cathedral library (2006), 5. Rodwell believed there was a previous large, lower, west front. See also note 7.

[10] The buttresses are mentioned by W. Rodwell, Notes on the 'gallery' and other features at the west end of the nave. Unpub. assessment in Cathedral Library, (1989). Rodwell’s view was they would fit perfectly an early 13th-century west front; and at the same time invite closer comparisons between Lichfield and Wells.

[11] W. Rodwell, Revealing the history of the Cathedral: 3. Archaeology in the nave. Unpub. paper in the Cathedral Library, (2000).

[12] D. Wikins, Concilia magnae Britanniae et Hiberniae a Synodo Verolamensi. (1737) Volume 3, 235. See also H. E. Savage, (1924), 5.

[13] N. Saul, Richard II (New Haven and London: 1997), 142–3.

[14] Ibid, 393.

[15] There are some accounts that have Richard escaping from the Archdeacon’s House. H. E. Savage (1924), see note 10, had Richard imprisoned in the fabled town Castle in Castle Dyke Street and Frog Lane. T. Harwood, The history and antiquities of the church and city of Lichfield. (London: 1806), 292, has him in the south-west tower where there is now Newton’s building. It is possible there were members of the Close who helped him to escape.

[16] Some years later, Scrope opposed Bolingbroke and was beheaded at York.

[17] Thomae Walsingham Historia Anglicana, ed. H. T. Riley (Rolls Series, 1846), 246.

[18] J. Britton, The history and antiquities of the See and cathedral church of Lichfield, (London: 1820) 32. In The carvings of Lichfield Cathedral. (2010), Cathedral booklet, 11, it is suggested the sedilia either side of the altar contains part (the canopy) of the 15th-century screen. It is made of Bath limestone and invites the question of where was it sculpted? Its rich detail would have been appropriate for being near to Langton’s Lady Chapel.

[19] See note 3, J. Gould, (2001), 18.

King Penda of Mercia deserves a statue

It was not until the reign of Penda, c.626–655, that the Mercian kingdom became a great power.[1] His sons brought the kingdom together which then lasted with varying power for around 350 years. Bede described Penda as ‘a most energetic member of the royal house of Mercia, who ruled over that nation for twenty-two years (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle has 30 winters) with varying success’.[2] Yet a statue on the front of the cathedral was considered unwarranted by the Victorians and Bede considered him a pagan and together with the whole Mercian race an idolator.[3] Nennius stated he was victorious through the arts of the Devil.[4] His death was written as being justified. Many writers, including recent ones, have little to say about him and sometimes start their history of Mercia with his sons.[5] There are few artistic images of the king and some confuse him with Peada, his son, and his statue on the front of the cathedral.

He was the first Mercian warlord to reign over a large kingdom, but how he rose to power and why he went hostile is obscure. Blaming his heathenism will not do. He was the son of Pybba[6] (was he ever a king?), thought to have been born c. 606 (some quote a later date), able to trace his genealogy to Woden (fabricated?),[7] married to Cynewise (either a West Saxon or Welsh princess) and had sons named Peada, Wulfhere and Æthelred and daughters named Cyneburh, Cyneswith and possibly Cynethryth.[8] The name of Penda is obscure with no convincing Anglo-Saxon or Brittonic etymology. His life history has been set out in detail, but includes many uncertainties.[9] Documents show he killed five other Saxon kings[10] and was implicated in the death of two others. On average he fought a battle (skirmish?) every three years of his reign; does this justify calling him a blood-thirsty warrior? His defeat of so many kingdoms and associated plundering, especially in Northumbria, suggest he would have amassed a large collection of Anglo-Saxon treasure (Staffordshire Hoard?). Knowing his last battle included a confederation of 30 warbands, each with their royal leader (Bede called them duces regii), of which some were kings, shows he acquired power, status and wealth.

His first known battle was with the West Saxons in 628 at Cirencester where he possibly gained control (imperium) or tribute from the Gloucestershire area. If his birth date is correct, that makes him 22 years old and now a recognised tribal leader. The area might indicate where he hailed from, though a little further north at Worcester has been suggested. He and his sons could have resided at Repton and this too might have been his homeland. Penda’s origins have been much considered with no conclusion.

He supported his brother-in-law, the Gwynedd King Cadwallon ap Cadfan (Bede called him King of the Britons), at the battle of Hatfield (Hæthfelth) Chase in October 633, thought to have been near Doncaster. King Edwin of Northumbria was killed and this could have meant any tribute was now reversed and paid to Penda. The kings of Lindsay (Lincolnshire) might also have been tributaries. Penda captured Eadfrith, the son of Edwin, and gave an oath to keep him hostage, but a few years later Eadfrith was murdered on Penda's orders.[11] Between 635 and 642 there were no known conflicts involving the Mercians, they were formidable.  

On 5 August 642 he defeated the Northumbrians again and killed their King Oswald at the battle of Maserfield at a site thought to be Oswestry. This was in alliance with the Welsh King Cynddylan of Powys. The reason for this battle are unclear, but Oswald had penetrated deep into Mercia and, perhaps, Penda was defending his kingdom or that of the Welsh. It now encouraged him to greater hostility and he gained imperium in the south-east, east Anglia and southern parts of Northumbria. Greater Mercia was now feared over much of England (south coast of Wessex to the river Humber and perhaps beyond?) and was in a close alliance with Wales. Bede could not bring himself to describe Penda’s extensive proto-kingdom and covertly show his pagan gods were more effective. He omitted Penda from his list of kings wielding imperium over the southern English. Later Wessex accounts would not label him a bretwalda or chief-king. Yet Stenton expressed it as Penda the most formidable king in England.[12] As Tyler pointed out this was an imperium, not a regnum.[13] That is, Penda was an overlord receiving tribute and giving out gifts to his supporters and not a king in control of all matters.[14] His kingdom contained many sub-kingdoms each with their own royal leader.

 

King Oswiu from a floor roundel in the presbytery.

Penda’s final battle followed another invasion of Northumbria. He took a large warband with 30 royal leaders (duces regii triginta) in support. Why this occurred is unclear, perhaps, he was preventing the Northumbrian King Oswiu from reunifying his kingdom. He chased Oswiu northwards and besieged him at a place called Iudea.[15] Clearly, Oswiu was weak and avoiding any battle. The siege was once thought to be at Stirling, but is now more likely to have been a fortress placed on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth. Oswiu tried to escape by offering treasure, in reality it was tribute, to Penda, described as “an incalculable and incredible store of royal treasures”, and according to Bede he did not take it. A Welsh monk, Nennius, writing in the 9^th century believed he took it.[16]

King Oswiu carrying his royal treasure. Statue from the northwest doorway.

 According to Bede, Penda now returned southwards and reached the river Winwæd (or Uinued) where some sort of battle with Oswiu ensued on Monday, November 15 in 655 (this date has been queried) and resulted in Penda’s death. His defeat has been explained by being taken by surprise, by his army being weakened with defections, by drowning when the river flooded or by an act of God (Christian antiquarians saw it as the final demise of paganism[17]).  It has been much written about.[18] Bede wrote more were drowned than destroyed by the sword in battle.[19] Bede’s account raises many strategic difficulties. Penda’s army was much larger, it had already chased Oswiu northwards and demanded a reward of treasure and Penda was now exiting the kingdom of Northumbria. We are told Oswiu re-gathered his military, chased Penda southwards, re-engaged him and exacted revenge; a story full of comeuppance and little sense. Bede tempered this reversal of fortune by adding the river was in flood; it was the reason why battles in November were avoided.

 

 Penda drowning at Winwæd. Shaun Campbell –Scamps

      The location of Winwæd, a river, river crossing, or field by a river, has teased writers and many suggestions have been offered.[20] Here is another. Assuming Penda marched his army southwards along Roman roads taking the shortest route from Northumbria to Mercia suggests he travelled along Dere Street and then Ryknild Street. The line of this road is known from Boroughbridge in North Yorkshire and its passage southwards towards Wetherby. It probably crossed the river Wharfe at Newton Kyme or Tadcaster. From here the road is uncertain, but there is a short length of Roman Ridge Road that would take his army to Castleford, the Saxons called it Casterford, where the Roman ford crosses the river Aire. Winwæd has been interpreted to be the Old English words winnan, meaning strife and wæd, meaning ford and this describes the crossing at Castleford. Crossing was hazardous and was done on days when the water level was low, otherwise it led to strife.

 

Location of the Roman ford crossing of the River Aire at Castleford. Not to be forded today.

 Bede said the Winwæd was “in the region of Loidis” and this is most likely to be somewhere near Leeds and the Cock Beck. This is a tributary of the river Wharfe and where it crosses the York Road has been pinpointed and called Penda’s Fields. It is also likely, Loidis refers to the people of the river Aire, which then connects with Castleford.

 

The problem with Bede’s account of Penda’s battles is he avoids recognition that regicide was frequent and killing rivals often occurred. Dismembering your arch-rival was a convention, not some pagan practice. Christian kings also dispatched rivals in a barbaric way. It might have been a different narrative if Penda had been baptised, but there was no bishop or known church in Mercia in his time and it would have weakened his drive for power to have adopted his rival’s faith. Penda was behaving in ways common to other numerous pre-Christian kings. Despite this Penda allowed missionaries into his kingdom towards the end of his reign and appears to have had no objection (politically it had advantages) to his sons (and daughters?) being baptised. Moreover, Mercia remained a growing Christian community and unlike elsewhere this did not relapse. The charge of Penda being a Woden-worshipping heathen and that determined his kingship is a distortion. He was a warrior king defending and increasing his kingdom; acquiring earthly territory in which he could wield some kind of dominance and exact tribute. His military success was based on knowing how to hold an army together, combining units from across the kingdom.

At the height of his power, c. 650, many of his subjects owing tribute to Penda would have had to visit his court. There is no record of this or where his court was located. It is quite possible his court moved around, an area within the boundaries of Northampton, Repton/Tutbury, Lichfield, Hereford and Worcester might be conjectured (over-kingdom of the Middle Angles?).[21] Perhaps, this was an integrated collective of warrior-centres, that was absent in Northumbria and it had better inter-communication than in East Anglia and Wessex. Penda’s military advantage was in having cooperation from compliant sub-kings and considerable ‘petty-kings.’

There is a good historical and sociological case for exchanging the statue of King William the Conqueror from the west front of the cathedral for one of Penda! There is evidence the Mercian culture under Penda’s kingship was more open, fairer, inclusive and diverse than ever it was with William.[22] Tyler expressed his court as probably multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-sectarian.[23] There is an account of Penda listening to his wife’s advice; women were often held to be equal to their husband and sons. Penda’s Mercia lasted centuries, William’s Norman epoch, 1066–1154, did not last a century and it left a very divided country, with Lichfield marginalised. In the list of disagreeable English monarchs, Penda is low down.

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[1] F. M. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England (Oxford and New York: 1989), 202.  

[2] J. McClure and R. Collins, Bede. The Ecclesiastical History of the English People (Oxford: 2008), 104; Historia Ecclesiastica (HE) Book 2, chapter 20. There is disagreement when his kingship started.

[3] Ibid 105, HE 2, 20.

[4] In Historia Brittonum, said to have been written by Nennius, c. 828.

[5] D. Tyler, ‘An early Mercian hegemony: Penda and over-kingship in the Seventh Century’. Midland History. (2005), 30, 1, 1–42.

[6] Somewhere between 594 and 603 King Pybba is thought to have conquered some part of Mercia. One record stated he had twelve sons.

[7] Anglo-Saxon Chronicles (except version E).

[8] William of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontificum Anglorum, early 12th-century, 214, chapter 180, has different spellings. In his Chronicles of the Kings, 72, chapter 4, he asserts another son called Merewalh.

[9] A. Whitehead, Mercia. The rise and fall of a kingdom. (Stroud: 2020), chapter 1; S. Zaluckyj, Mercia. The Anglo-Saxon kingdom of central England. (Logaston: 2001), chapter 3.

[10] Edwin of Northumbria in 633, Oswald of Northumbria in 642, Anna of East Anglia c.654, Ethelwulf, Anna’s brother and Ecgric , kinsman of Rædwald in 637. He had Eadfrith, son of Edwin, murdered, was implicated in the death of East Anglian kings, 636/7, and forced Cenwealh od Wessex into exile

[11] McClure and Collins (2008), 105. H. E. 2, 20.

[12] Stenton (1989), 83.

[13] Tyler (2005), 11.

[14] This might be the cause of his downfall. To keep giving, he had to keep receiving and this meant frequent plundering. See J. Cambell, The Anglo-Saxons, (London: 1982), 54–5.

[15] See Stenton, Anglo=Saxon England, 84, quoting Nennius.

[16] Taking tribute was the most likely reason for Penda’s advance on Northumbria. Penda would have had to offer gifts to his supporting kings and their warriors. Artefacts found in seventh-century barrow burials in the Peak District, the territory of the Pecsæte, are highly suggestive of gifts given and later buried according to Tyler (2005), 16.

[17] The overthrow of Penda meant the end of militant heathenism and the development of civilization in England is a paraphrased summary from Stenton. See Stenton (1989), 177.

[18] For a recent appraisal see P. Dunshea, ‘The road to Winwæd? Penda’s wars against Oswiu of Bernicia, c. 642 to c. 655. Anglo-Saxon England. (2016), 44, 1–16.

[19] Does this correlate to Moses and the Red Sea?

[20] A. Breeze, ‘Notes and documents. The Battle of the Uinued and the River Went, Yorkshire’, Northern History (2004), 41, 2, 377–383.

[21] Dumville expresses it as, “A Mercian over-kingdom has seemed to be the work almost of one man, King Penda, who emerges from Midland proto-history in league with Britons as an implacable opponent of Bernician and Deiran expansionism and a voracious conqueror of England between the Thames-Severn line and the Northumbrian frontier. ‘Greater Mercia’, as his construction has come to be known. See D. N. Dumville, ‘Origins of the Kingdom of the English’. In R. Naismith and D. A. Woodman (eds.), Writing, Kingship and Power in Anglo-Saxon England. (Cambridge: 2017), 71–121. ‘The Tribal Hidage,’ 7th–9th century, is essentially an assessment list of peoples in Middle-Anglia, up to twenty-three often tiny political units stretching in an arc from southern Lincolnshire to eastern Oxfordshire. It might be a later description of territory once the homeland of Penda.

[22] Tyler (2005), 2, considered Penda’s supremacy represented a flexible but essentially conservative reaction to the new strategies of power which Christian ideology and Christian churchmen were providing for other seventh-century kings.

[23] Ibid, 24.