England Part III: Fotheringhay and The Marshal

The day after we visited the Angle-Saxon church in Earls Barton, we piled in the car and headed out. Where, I didn't know. Nor did I understand the significance of our destination when we arrived. That information would slowly unfold during our visit.

We ended up in Fotheringhay, a clean, well-kept, ancient village that appears to have been established before William the Conqueror won the crown of England after the Battle of Hastings. As we walked down a wide, shady path to the church, I learned the church was built in the 15th century. When I walked inside that impressive building, I was told Richard III was born in Fotheringhay and Mary Queen of Scots had been held prisoner and was executed in the castle that once stood nearby, and that she might have been buried temporarily in one of the graves beneath the floor.

View of the Church from the Road

Churchyard and One Small Section of the Graveyard

That was all pretty neat stuff for one who loves history, but the big history bomb was dropped a few minutes later.

We'd walked to the end of the street and onto a dirt road. When we reached a fence near a mound where, I was told, Fothinghay Castle once stood, I was informed the castled had once been owned by William Marshal.

William Marshal. THE William Marshal.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm a fan of William Marshal. Born around 1147, he was the first Earl of Pembroke and served as knight under five English kings of the Plantagenet line. He was the absolute epitome of chivalry and loyalty, staying true to his king even when that king wasn't worthy of such loyalty. When Richard I (Richard the Lionheart) tried to usurp his father, Henry II, and take the throne, William went after him. As Thomas Asbridge recorded in his, The Greatest Knight: The Remarkable Life of William Marshal, The Power Behind Five English Thrones:

[William Marshal] spurred straight on to meet the advancing [Duke] Richard. When the [duke] saw him coming he shouted at the top of his voice: ‘God’s legs, Marshal! Don’t kill me. That would be a wicked thing to do, since you find me here completely unarmed.’

In that instant, Marshal could have slain Richard, skewering his body with the same lethal force that dispatched Patrick of Salisbury in 1168. Had there been more than a split second to ponder the choice, William might perhaps have reacted differently. As it was, instinct took over. Marshal simply could not bring himself to kill an un-armoured opponent, let alone the heir-apparent to the Angevin realm, King Henry II’s eldest surviving son.

This excerpt from a David Hume volume on England’s history gives you an idea of how important William Marshal was to England. Spelling is the original author's. The parentheses are mine.

(William Marshal) The earl of Pembroke who at the time of (King) John's death, was mareschal of England, was, by his office, at the head of the armies, and consequently, during a state of civil wars and convulsions, at the head of the government; and it happened, fortunately for the young monarch (Henry III) and for the nation, that the power could not have been intrusted into more able and more faithful hands. This nobleman, who had maintained his loyalty unshaken to John during the lowest fortune of that monarch, determined to support the authority of the infant prince; nor was he dismayed at the number and violence of his enemies.

Sensible that Henry, agreeably to the prejudices of the times, would not be deemed a sovereign till crowned and anointed by a churchman, he immediately carried the young prince to Glocester, where the ceremony of coronation was performed, in the presence of Gualo, the legate, and of a few noblemen, by the bishops of Winchester and Bath. As the concurrence of the papal authority was requisite to support the tottering throne, Henry was obliged to swear fealty to the pope, and renew that homage to which his father had already subjected the kingdom: and in order to enlarge the authority of Pembroke, and to give him a more regular and legal title to it, a general council of the barons was soon after summoned at Bristol, where that nobleman (Marshal) was chosen protector of the realm.

And I stood atop the mound where a castle he once owned stood. I got goosebumps. I may have cried a little. The happiness flowing through me was only surpassed by the arrival of my fourth grandson the following day.

Me (arms raised) thrilled over my momentary connection to William Marshal

It was a great trip.

For more information on Fotheringhay and the events that occurred there, go to  https://thehistoryofengland.co.uk/resource/fotheringhay/https://thehistoryofengland.co.uk/resource/fotheringhay/