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m. 369d. John Hoton, vicar of the church of Holym (near Hull) defendant, debt 40s.

New Numbers. Octave of Purification B.V.M., 14 Hen. VI

(9th February, 1436).

m. 20d. Nicholas Clerk, parson of the church of Spofford, defendant, debt 18 li.

m. 21d. Thomas Wilton, parson of the parish church of Seszay, v. William Monkton, vicar of the church of Topclyff, debt 9 li. 13s. 4d.

m. 41d. Robert Bery and Richard Pollard, executors of the will of John Prikloue, late parson of the parish church of

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magna leghis," London Diocese, deceased, alias John Prikeloue, late Canon and Prebend of Bugthorp, plain

tiffs, v. John Alott of Bugthorp, clerk, and Thomas Alott of Skirpenbek, yeoman, debt.

m. 43. Thomas Tod, vicar of the church of Staynton in Cleveland, defendant.

XII.

THE PARTICULARITEES OF PLAITE.1

Wyrksope. Fyrste a paire of syluer candlestickes. Item one sensour of syluer. Item one shyp of syluer. Item fyve chalyces. Item ij cuppes wt couers, gilt. Item ij saltes wt j couere. Item xij siluer spones. Item iiij aile cuppes.

Thaugustine Freers of Tikhill. Item ij little chalices.

Gray Freers at Doncastre. Item iij chalices. Item ij crewettes. Monckbretton. Item j crosse of wodd, plated wt siluer. Item an oder wodd crosse, plated wt siluer, having the iiij evangelistes enameled. Item fyve chalices. Item j little pixe gylt. Item ij crewettes. Item j gret squair salt wt couer, parcell gilt. oder squair salt wout couer, parcel gilt. Item xij spoones. j standing piece wt couer, gylt. Item j pounced piece. Item ij little flat pieces. Item iij masors. Item j goblet wt couer, parcell gilt.

Thaugustine Freers of Pountfret. Item one little chalice.

Item j

Item

The whyte Freers of Yorke. Item iij chalices. Item j crosse, gilt. Item j flatt piece. Item iij masors. Item j salt. Item xij spones. Item j pixe of y(vor)ie.

Graye Freers in Yorke. Item iij chalices. Item ij crewettes. Item x spones. Item ij masors. Item j round salt, parcell gilt.

1 Henry VIII State Papers, xiii (2), no. 1172. This inventory is attached to a valuation of the properties of the diffe

rent priories which were surrendered 30 Henry VIII.

Item j wodd crosse, plated wt syluer. Item j standing masour, wt band and foote, siluer gilt. Item j little standing cuppe. Item j nutt wtout couer,

gilt.

Blak Freers in Yorke. Item a band of siluer. Item j crosse of siluer. Item iij chalices.

Augustine Freers in Yorke. Item ij chalices. Item vj sponez. Yorke Androo.1 Item i chalice.

j

Byland Mon. Item j sensour of siluer. plated wt siluere. Item j payr of crewettes.

Item j wodd crosse,

Item iij christals in

siluer. Item j pyxe, gilt. Item x chalices. Item j standing cupp wt couer, gilt. Item j basone wt ewer. Item j goblet wt couer, gilt. Item ij saltes wt couer, gilt. Item j ale cup wt couer, gilt. Item j ale cup wt couer, white. Item j goblet, gilt. Item ij nuttes wt fete and couers, gilt. Item j pounced piece wt couer, white. Item ij playne pieces wt j couer. Item iiij masors. Item j little Item xiij spones.

masour.

Ellerton. Item j chalice.

Ryvals. Item [j] basone wt ewer, white. Item j goblet wt couer, gilt. Item j pounced piece wt couer, white. Item j gret salt wt j couer, parcel gilt. Item ij saltes wt j couer, parcel gilt. Item ij doseyne spones. Item x chalices. Item j hand, gilt. Item j hedd, gilt. Item j wodd crosse, plated wt siluer. Item j crouche of siluer. Item j mitour of paest, set wt perles.

Item ij sensours, Item j wood crosse,

Kirkham. Item ij candlestickes, parcel gilt. parcel gilt. Item ij crewettes wt j couer. plated wt siluer gilt. Item j text wt a crucifix, Mary and John, gilt. Item j text wt our Lady, gilt. Item j text wt saenct Katherin, gilt. Item ij wodd boxes, plated wt siluer. Item vj chalices. Item j little bason. Item j standing spice plate wt couer, gilt. Item [j] standing cup wt couer, parcel gilt. Item ij saltes wt couers, parcel gilt. Item j nut wtout couer, parcel gilt. Item vij flat pieces. Item xxx sponez. Item v masors.

XIII.

LETTER REGARDING THE SIEGE OF YORK.

The following letter is published by permission of Mr. Scrymgeour-Wedderburn, hereditary royal standard-bearer of Scotland, who is descended from both the writer and the recipient. The writer was James Scrymgeour, second Viscount Dudhope, a title conferred on his father by King Charles in 1641. He 1 The Gilbertine house of St. Andrew, in Fishergate.

was mortally wounded at the then imminent battle of Marston Moor on the 2nd, and died on the 24th of July, 1644.

It was addressed to Alexander Wedderburn, clerk of Dundee, who is said to have been knighted by King Charles in 1642 (Dict. Nat. Biog.). If that date is correct, he does not seem to have assumed the title in 1644. He was of Blackness, Forfarshire, and died in 1676. W. S.

For my much respectd frend

Mr Alexr Wedderburne,

Iclerk of Dundee.

Sr I have red yors & thanke you for ye remembring of yor friends here. I hop befor this all yor troubles in Scotland salbe setled. The condition of or affaires here ar thus. Wee ar still lying about York, yett maior Leslie upon Satterday was a fourthnight marched to ioyne wt ye earle of Manchester wt 2000 horses & 500 dragounes. they have not had any rencounter as yet wt Prince Robert bot ar still attending his motions. Ther is great noyse of him here of his comming to raise ye sieg at York, bot I hop in God he sall not be able to do it, for ye earle of Manchester hath already togedder 7000 foot & betwixt 3 & 4 thousand horses of his owne besidis these yt ar gone from this to him. Upone intelligence of Prince Roberts comming to Lancaster upone Satterday last Sr Jhone Meldrum was divertit away wt my lord Casiles regiment & ane english regiment to assist or friends in lancashir lest they sould suffer by prince Robert. That same day Sr Thomas Fairfax was sent to ye earle of Manchester to consult wt him qt sould be ye fittest way to suppresse Prince Roberts armie & give it sould be thocht fitt he sould stay in those places wt my lord Manchester. Since or comming here wee have cleared ye passage to Hull & taken in Cawood castell upon ows & aires mouth, which is one of ye strongest places in england. Wee hear yt the King is marching toward londone & if he can goe in in a fair way to ye parl: he will doe it, for he wilbe content to subscryve any articles they will present to him prouyding Scotland be left out in the treatie. The earle of Manchester came yeesternight to or leaguer. This is all I can writt for ye present. Lett me heare from you at all occassiones in doing qrof I sall continue

from ye leaguer at York ye 28 of May, 1644.

Yor most affectionat friend,

dudope.

THE CASTLES OF THE NORTH RIDING.

BY WILLIAM M. I'ANSON.

THE North Riding of the county of York is bounded on the north by the river Tees, which separates it from the county of Durham; on the west by the county of Westmorland; on the south-west by the West Riding; on the south-east by the river Derwent and the East Riding; on the east by the North Sea. Its greatest length from east to west is about 78 miles; its greatest breadth from north to south is about 45 miles; it contains 1,362,560 acres, and, considered as a separate county, is exceeded in area only by the West Riding (1,766,664 acres), and by the counties of Lincoln (1,693,550 acres) and Devon (1,667,154 acres).

There is, perhaps, no county in England in which the gradual evolution of mediæval military architecture can be better studied than in this extensive and beautiful tract of country. We need not expect to find examples of every type of castle in any one county; this would be asking too much. It is true that we possess no Juliet keep1; that we have only one good example, that of Pickering, of what is usually, if erroneously, known as a Shell keep; that we have but one example, that of the very ruinous castle of Kilton, of a Keepless castle2; that we possess

1 The earliest type of stone keep was the rectangular, of which the famous tower of Langeais (Touraine) is the earliest example. The writer understands that the leading French antiquaries are agreed that this tower dates from the last decade of the tenth century, and this was his own impression after a very careful examination of it. This type of keep, at a later date, was, to a certain extent, superseded by the Juliet or circular keep, of which Conisborough, Pembroke, and Orford may be cited as typical examples. advantages of the circular over the rectangular form are obvious. The angles of a rectangular keep were always a source of weakness, as it will be readily understood that it would be much easier to dislodge masonry at any one of the four angles of a rectangular tower than at any point on the circumference of a circular keep. This vulnerability

The

was clearly shown at Rochester in 1215 when King John captured the tower by dislodging masonry at and undermining the south-east angle (Roger of Wendover, ann. 1215). When, in 1225, this tower was repaired by Henry III, he replaced the rectangular turret at the south-east angle by a round turret. Moreover, it is obvious that the circular form of the Juliet naturally gave the defenders a much more complete range of fire than could be obtained from a rectangular tower.

2 In the castles of the keepless type, the keep or citadel was abandoned altogether, or only retained, in a modified form, as the largest of the mural towers, the fortress depending for its defence upon a lofty and massive wall of enceinte thoroughly enfiladed by boldly projecting mural towers. The majority of the Welsh castles are of this type.

no genuine example (although Middleham may, perhaps, approximate more or less closely to that type) of a Concentric castle.' But here our limitations cease. In all the other types of castle the North Riding is unusually rich. Scattered all over the district, or county as one prefers to term it, are the earthworks which are all that now mark the sites of the majority of our Norman castles; in the great fortress of Richmond we possess one of the finest examples of an eleventh century castle not only in England but in Europe; no other county, with the possible exception of Northumberland, can compare with the North Riding in its collection of early Plantagenet rectangular keep castles. Of the later castles, of what we may term the quadrangular palace-fortress" type, the grim but stately castle of Bolton-in-Wensleydale is, in the opinion of the writer, the finest example in England. Of the other types of late castles and of fortified manor-houses, we possess a large number of examples.

And yet how little has been written on the subject of our North Riding castles. Practically all that we possess are short descriptions, somewhat inadequately illustrated, from the pen of the late Mr. G. T. Clark, of Bowes (Mediaval Military Architecture, i, 259–264), Helmsley (ii, 100-108), of the keep only of Middleham (ii, 293–300), of Pickering (ii, 368–375), of Scarborough (ii, 458–467), and of Richmond (Yorks. Arch. Journal, ix, 33), an exceedingly able account of Gilling Castle (John Bilson, Yorks. Arch. Journal, xix, 105-192), Mr. Milward's article on Richmond (Arch. Inst., v, 41), Mr. Loftus Brock's article on the same castle (Journal of the British Arch. Assoc., xliii, 179), the late Dr. T. Horsfall's account of Snape Castle (Notes on the Manor of Well and Snape, pp. 87-101), an account of Kilton Castle (Yorks. Arch. Journal, xxii, 55-125), and short papers on Richmond (J. F. Curwen, Cumberland and Westmorland Antiq. and Arch. Soc., vi, 326–332), and Scarborough (East Riding Antiq. Soc., 13-17).

And what applies to our North Riding castles applies equally to those of the West and East Ridings. It is not that we do not possess men well qualified to deal with our castles; one of the most energetic members of our Society is, perhaps, the most trustworthy authority in England on mediæval architecture.

1A genuine concentric castle may be described as two keepless castles one set within the other, the highest and most effective development of medieval mili

But

tary architecture. Beaumaris is the finest example of this type in Great Britain.

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