The Sun.
London, England, 1824-01-13 00:00:00

LITERARY NOTICE.

HISTORIC NOTICES in 4eferenee to FOTHERING-
HAY. Ev the Rev. H. K. BONNEY, M.A., Author of the
Life of Bp. Tarnon..—(See the advertisement in our Papei
of Jan. 6.)
It has been well observed by the venerable
Historian of Leicestershire,JOHN NrcHoLLs,
Esq., that " Fotheringhay has been distinguished
beyond any other place in Britain, except the
capita!, by the aggravated misfortunes of Royalty.
And had this ancient town been known only by
the splendid foundation of that great Prince,
Edmund of Langley, whose grandson aspired to
the throne of this kingdom, and which his great
grandson Edward the Fourth, by a more fortu-
nate turn of affairs, actually ascended, it would
have claimed the regard of the historian."
" The work is peculiarly directed to the notice of the travel-
ler : who carrying it to the spot, and finding small remains to
gratify taste or prolong inspection, except the Church, which is
conspicuous above every other object in the vale, may feel no
inferior gratification by tracing in these pages a variety of
character anelevent, which in their day were commanding and
momentous, though the strength of their colours he softened to
our view by the shade of antiquity. , Whether we call to mind
St. Liz raising his mastive towers td_ do honour to his bride,
and protect his possessions, both the reward of the conqueror ;
—or are roused by a more busy scene of vassals, headed by the
factious De Fortibus, surprising the warder by a resolute and
unexpected assault ;—whether we descend to later time, when
the enlightened_ minds of Be. Balliol and Dervorguilla were
here directed to the advancement of learning ;—or the heroic
spirit of Plantagenet, in the plenitude of Baronial power taught
his aspiring sons to " wade through slaughter to a throne ;"
whether the pomp and circumstance of execution, the fatal axe,
the undaunted Sovereign and afflicted attendants, press upon
our imagination, contrasted .with the silence and desolation
that succeeded—we shall in these events find something to
compensate for the absence of the sculptured arch and moulder-
ing battlement." (Pref. p. 6.)
Mr. Archdeacon Bonney has occasionally de-
parted from the rigid rule of the historian, and
relieved the monotony of mere narration, by in-
troducing the language of the muse.
The castle which stood at the eastern extre-
mity of the town was originally built by Simon
de St. Liz, the second Earl of Northampton, at
the close of the eleventh or beginning of the
twelfth century. It came into the possession of
Mary de St. Paul, Baroness de Voissu, daughter
of Guido de Chatillon, and married to Aude-
mare de Valentia, Earl- of Pembroke, who fell
in a tournament on the day of their nuptials ;
whence she is characterized by Gray as the
" Sad Chatillon, on her bridal morn
That wept her bleeding love."—(p. 22.)
It was the birth-place of Richard the Third :
" When from thy lap the ruthless Richard sprung
A boding sound through all thy borders rung,
It spoke a tale of blood—Fair Neville's woe,
York's murd'rous hand, and Edward's future f0e..." (p. 24.)
The Lord of the Castle of Edward the IV.
had housebote, (i. e. an allowance of timber out
of the Lord's wood, for the repair and support of
a house or tenement;) and heybote, (i.e. a liberty
to take thorns and other wood to make and re-
pair hedges, gates, fences, &c.) in Rockingham
Forest ; p. 26. From the residence of a Prince
the Castle became a State prison. The second
last person who entered it as a prisoner, was
the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots who was
gloSely confined here, during the last six months
or her life. Here she wrote on the glass of one
"Of her windows the following distich
" From the top of all my trust,
" Mishap hath laid me in the dust."
"It is from this circumstance particularly, this place
that
attracts the attention of the traveller, and excites in him a desire
of knowing its former state. The beauty, accomplishments,
and hard fortune, of that extraordinary Princess, who w" a
captive eighteen years, have given such an interest to the place
in which she suffered, that the stranger is apt to imagine he
shall find something on the spot to gratify his curiosity : He
will regret that the ground on which it stood, with the surround-
,ing moats, and small fragments of the walls near the river and
on the east of the mount, are the only marks of this once strung
and memorable castle.
The ground plan of the keep we are told was
"in the form of a fetterlock." The fetterlock,
inclosing a falcon, was the favourite devise of
Edward IV. " It once ornamented the windows
of the castle, and remained in most of the win-
dows of the church till the year 1807."—p. 22.
In the description of the castle, in 1625, we find
the following passage : " And so on to the fetter-
lock on the top of the Mount on the North-west
corner of the castle."—p. 30. On the windows
of the Collegiate Church were " Angels playing
on various musical instruments ; the Bohemian
Plume ; anti the falcon inclosed by a fetterlock."
Whilst the House of York was contending for
the crown," the falcon was represented as en-
deavouring to expand its wings, and force open
the lock. When it had actually ascended the
throne, the falcon was represented as free and
the lock open."—p. 47. -
The following interesting description of the
funeral of Richard Duke of York, who fell in
the battle of Wakefield, shews the " great pomp"
with which his body was removed from Ponte-
fract (where firstinterred) to Fotheringhay ; to-
gether with the body of his son Edmund Earl of
Rutland :
" On the 22d of July, 1466, their remains were put into a
chariot covered with black velVet, richly wrapped in Cloth of
gold. and royal habit. At the feet of the Duke stood the figure
of an angel, clothed in white, and bearing a crown of gold—to
signify that of right he was a King. The chariot wail drawn horses, by.
seven trapped to 'the ground, and covered with black,'
charged with escutcheons of that Prince's arms. Every 'reuse
carried a man,, and upon the foremoSt rode Sir John Skipwith,
Who bore the Duke's banner displayed. The bishops and
abbots, in pontificalibus, went two- or three miles before, to
prepare the churches for the reception of the remains.—
Richard Duke of Gloucester followed next after the chariot,
accompanied by several of the nobility and officers of' arms.
.—ln this order they left Pontefract, and that night rested
at Doncaster, where they were received by the convent of Cor-
' defiers, in grey habits. Thence, by easy stages, they proceed-
ed to Blithe; Tuxford-in-the-Clay, Newark, Grantham, and
Stamford ; and on Monday, July 29th, the procession arrived
at Fotheringhay, where the bodies were received by the bishops
and abbots in pontificalibus,' and supported by twelve servants
of the deceased. At the entrance of the church-yard, King
Edward IV., accompanied by several dukes, earls, and barons,
in mourning, was in attendance, who proceeded to the choir
of the church, near the high altar, where there was a hearse,
covered with black, furnished with a great number of banners,
bannerils, and pencils. Under this they placed the Duke and
his son Edmund. The Queen and her two daughters were
present also, in mourning, attended by several ladies and other
persons. ver the image was a cloth of majesty of black
sarsenet, with the figure of our Lord sitting on a rainbow, of
beaten gold, having in every corner an escutcheon of the arms I
of France and England, quarterly, with a valence round the
hearse also, of black sarsenet, fringed half a yard deep, and
ornamented with three angels of beaten gold, holding the
Duke's arms within a garter, in every part above the hearse."
—p.p. 24, 25.
In the will of the Duchess Cicely, who died!
1495, appears the following ;gift to.the College :