Page:History and characteristics of Bishop Auckland.djvu/37

 20 HISTOBY OF BISHOP AUCKLAND. Yeomanry, and now known as " the Bowes' Manuscripts"* — ^we find that the following number of persons, in addition to twenty-one of the inhabitants of Bishop Auckland, five of whom were executed, joined that ill-starred expedition : — Joims. BzsoimB. Faiye on the Hill ... 16 ... 6 Weste Merington (Westerton). . . 4 ... 1 MyddyU Merington 4 ... 1 Eldon 6 ... Byers Qrene 4 .. 1 16 ... 4 Bolam 8 ... 2 Ingleton 13 ... 3 Staynedioppe 44 ... 7 Rabye ... . 27 ... 6 Tuddey (Tudhoe) ... . 10 ... 2 Whytworfh 3 ... 1 Saynt Elen Ankeland. 12 ... 2 JODHD. MXMOVTMD, Cockefeilde ... ... .. , ... 16 3 Newton Cappe ■•• .. . ... 2 1 Eskam ••. ,, . ... 3 1 HamKterleye ... >.. ,, . ... 4

Lyndsecke ... ., . ... 11

Elmyden Bawe >.. .. ... 9 2 Wyllington ... .. •• . ... 6 1 WestAukland • ..< ... 3 1 Evenwodde ... ,, .•« ... 4 1 Mydryge ,, ... 7 2 Bedworthe ... ,, ,, ... 6 1 Aykcliffe... ... . .. ..« ... 21 3 Branspeth ... .. ... 3

The rebellion, which spread itself not only through Northumberland, Westmoreland, and Durham, but the northern parts of Yorkshire, and which was an attempt to re-establish the Catholic religion, by bringing about a matrimonial alliance between the Duke of Norfolk and Mary Queen of Scots, was headed by the Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland, backed by the principal part of the landed gentry of the North.t They mustered at Brancepeth Castle on the 28th November, and laid siege to Barnard Castle the next day, which was defended by Sir George Bowes. The siege lasted ten days, and on the eleventh he surrendered with all his men, numbering about 400. The following rhyme, known to most people in this locality, took its origin from this celebrated siege : — A coward, a coward of Barney Caade, Dare na come out to fight a battle. How this enterprise terminated, which (Sir C. Sharp, in his " Memorials," says) "was begun with- out foresight, conducted without energy, and ended in dastardly and inglorious flight — entailing on the families of those concerned lasting misery, and inflicting on the leaders attainder, proscription, and death" — are matters of general history ; sufl&ce it to say, that there was scarcely a town or village in this neighbourhood but what sent its victims to the scaffold. Sharp gives the number of executions in the Darlington Ward as 99 ; Easington Ward, 20 ; Stockton Ward, 25 ; Chester Ward, 20 ; Durham City, 28 ; Constables of the County, 44 ; Serving Men, 34. The Earl of Westmoreland escaped to Flanders, then in possession of Spain, where he died under the protection of the Spanish Monarch. The Earl of Northumberland — ^less fortunate — was betrayed by a vassal with whom he had taken refuge, and executed at York The measures of Elizabeth against the inferior rebels were vindictive in the extreme ; and it is said her partisan. Sir, George Bowes, boasted that between the Tyne and York there was hardly a village which had not yielded a victim to Elizabeth's fears or revenga We give the following letter from Sir George Bowes to the Earl of Sussex, who was then Lieutenant-General of the army in the north, copied from the Bowes' MSS., as given in " Sharp's Memorials" : — Sis Oeobob Bowbs to thb Eabl of Sussbx, 12th Noyxmbeb. My bownden dewtye premised : pleaseth jour Lordshipe to be advertysede, that for sewrtye the Erlles of Northumberlande and Westmerland ar together at Branspethe, and with them, or at l^nradell, hard by, at Frands Bnllmer^s howse, ar the Sheiyve of Torksher and Mr. Markenfeld, whose oompanye ridethe armed with oorsletts and Teiled in considerable mystery— are now deposited at Streatlam CastTe^ and form eighteen folio Tolnmes, with perfect indexes to the whole. t Sir Balph Sadler states : '* There be not in all this coontrey ten gentilmen who do favour and allowe bf Her Majestie's proceeding in the canse of religion. The 'aintient faith' still lay like lees at the bottom of men's hearts ; and if the Tessel was ever so little stirred, cAme to the top." Digitized by Google
 * ThoRe cnrions old docoments— which illastrate and throw a light upon a portion of British Eiitory which had hitherto 1