Identifier: countiesofenglan01ditc (find matches)
Title: The counties of England, their story and antiquities
Year: 1912 (1910s)
Authors: Ditchfield, P. H. (Peter Hampson), 1854-1930
Subjects: Great Britain -- History England -- Antiquities
Publisher: London : G. Allen
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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Henry VI. (only one of many English kings who visited
Durham) came to the shrine of St. Cuthbert at a time
when his dominions had been cut short upon the
Continent, and were still further menaced by the Scots.
In the bitter days that followed, when he was driven from
his throne, he took refuge in the Bishopric, whilst his
brave wife went to the Continent to seek for troops to
enable him to regain the crown. Even rectories were
fortified in those days, for men had to take one side or
the other, and to defend their property against bands of
marauders. Of religious trouble and dispute, Durham
had no large share at that particular time, though else-
where the ferment caused by the Lollard Movement was
producing much unrest. The Bishopric was too much
under the control of the Church to allow much freedom
of thought. Yet there were isolated instances of Lollard
sympathy, exceptions to prove the rule, which were
instantly repressed by ecclesiastical authority.
Dynastic trouble did not end when Henry VII. and his

Text Appearing After Image:
BARNARD CASTLE

DURHAM 31

wife, Elizabeth, united the Red and White Roses. The
Bishopric men, indeed, had no desire to rise against the
strong government which the King set up in England;
but they were caught in the tide of rebellion which was
set going by Simnel and Warbeck. It was to stem this
tide that Henry placed Richard Fox as Bishop of Durham
in 1494. This prelate, the Kings tried friend, fortified
afresh the castles of the See, and placed garrisons in them
to check the advance of Warbeck through the northern
counties. Fortunately, the invasion followed another line
to the Battle of Stoke, and the men of Durham were
spared the anxiety of decision. But Fox, keeping
vigilant guard in his fortresses, was instrumental in con-
cluding that alliance which was destined eventually to
unite the English and the Scots as one nation. Henry's
young daughter, Margaret, was affianced to James IV. of
Scotland, and in 1503 passed right through the Bishopric
on her way to her northern home. Nowhere in all the
long progress did the Princess receive a warmer welcome
than in Durham, from the moment she entered the
Bishopric at the Tees to the moment she crossed Tyne
Bridge from Gateshead into Newcastle.

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