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Pictish Stones

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The Picts, or ‘Painted People’ lived in Scotland, north of the Firth of Forth during the early Middle Ages. They were a society formed of a warrior elite and a lower farming class. Most of what we know about them is because of the Romans. The Picts themselves left no written records of their own. However, they did leave elaborate carved artwork on monumental or symbol stones reflecting their Pagan beliefs of the fourth century and later journey to Christianity. Many of these stones, up to 20% of the them in fact, they can be found in Aberdeenshire. Nor is it clearly understood what the purpose of the stones might have been. It is possible that the stones might have been some kind of commemorative marker or an indication of land ownership.

Many stones can be found in or near churches where they were found, reflecting that sites of worship have a long and complicated history. The example at the top of the post can be found at the museum in Perth. The stone with the cross was found face down in St Madoes Churchyard in the Carse of Gowrie. It wasn’t the only Pictish Stone I came across. There’s another example at Dunkeld Cathedral – which happens to be on the opposite of the River Tay from all that remains of Birnam Wood, made famous in Shakespeare’s Scottish play – ‘he shall never vanquished be, until Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill Shall come against him.’

The symbols on the decorated stones have been categorised and there are about 50 commonly used symbols including mirrors, combs, horses, deer, salmon and geese. For more information as well as some stunning pictures visit (opens a new tab) https://www.digitscotland.com/what-do-the-pictish-symbols-on-scotlands-carved-stones-mean/

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Joseph Bampfield – womaniser, bigamist, spy – unlikely (very) short term guardian of a prince.

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BOL93904 Portrait of James II (1633-1701) in Garter Robes (oil on canvas) by Lely, Peter (1618-80) (school of); 121.5×99.5 cm; © Bolton Museum and Art Gallery, Lancashire, UK; English, Wikipedia

Well this is embarrassing – what happened to an entire month! I hope that all History Jar readers have had a good summer with plenty of history to keep them entertained. I’ve been researching Colchester, Nottinghamshire and the Stuarts – which perhaps explains the prolonged pause. I’ve also been drawing a parish map for where I live which took a bit longer than I anticipated but which I’ve thoroughly enjoyed doing. For those of you who spotted that someone in the family was doing their GCSEs this year – I’m delighted to report that she passed with flying colours and is now poised to begin her A level history – the Luddites will be beckoning, and I’m quite looking forward to exploring the Pentrich Rebellion.

So today – where am I at? I’d like to introduce you to Joseph Bampfield – a man who was probably born in Devon and who had something of a shady employment history. He first appears in the Bishops’ War against the Scots in 1639 as an ensign when he was still only 17 years old. By September 1642 he was a major in the Royalist army – when he was captured by forces loyal to Parliament. In December he escaped custody and in January 1643, still only about 19 years old, was commissioned as a colonel by Charles I. He turns up in the southwest throughout the rest of the year but in December was at Arundel trying to capture the castle there. Unfortunately having been given command of the castle he was himself besieged and once again taken prisoner having surrendered in January 1644. After a spell in the Tower he was released on parole…which he promptly broke. He turned up in Oxford and rejoined the royal court.

In 1645 having had a somewhat colourful career he became one of Charles I’s couriers and intelligencers. Which is where he really enters my current field of interest. In April 1648 he was in London where on the night of 20 April Bampfield helped James Duke of York, who was 14 years old by then, to escape his custodians at St James’ Palace dressed in women’s clothes. James knew Bampfield by sight and was apparently trusted by the king to fulfil his task helped by Anne Murray. The pair landed in the Low Counties at Zealand on 22 April.

Bampfield returned to London would go on to have a bigamous relationship with Anne – he told her his wife, who he married when he was very young, was dead. In reality the pair had been estranged since almost the beginning of the First Civil War but whether Bampfield truly believed his wife to be dead or it was just a convenient lie is another matter entirely. Anne would eventually become Lady Halkett.

The spy continue to serve the royalist cause but fail to gain King Charles II’s – or more importantly Lord Clarendon’s trust- after he fled to Holland. He was also forced to fight a duel with Anne’s brother-in-law who was not amused by Bampfield’s deception. By 1652 he had returned to England but was politely asked to leave the country. He spent the next few years roaming Europe, including a spell in Vienna. He wrote an account of his career in 1685. By then he had lived his life as a professional spy and there were several versions of events to choose from as well as many variations of his name. In summing up he was something of a rogue who lived by his wits.

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Little History of Derbyshire – in the window!

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Well this is very exciting – I’m in the window of Waterstones in Derby! The History Press publication The Little History of Derbyshire is in the window…yes I did a little dance of happiness and have been photographed standing next to it.

Someone asked me how much I enjoyed writing it – and the answer is that I absolutely loved it the research process. I guess one of the things we’re all slightly guilty of is not visiting places on our own doorsteps, so it was a real pleasure to revisit locations I hadn’t been to for years and others that I’d never seen. I also became fascinated by the importance of geology and the development of infrastructure which impact on the prosperity of different locations as well as their evolution as settlements. Derbyshire is quite unusual in that there was no dominant noble family for many centuries after the de Ferrers earls of Derby blotted their copy books and Henry III ordered that Duffield Castle should be demolished, thus removing the county’s largest and most significant keep. Instead, more middling families assumed roles and responsibilities within the county working for the Dukes of Lancaster and, in due course, Lancastrian monarchs. By the fifteenth century Derbyshire’s gentry, of which there were about 30 families, were both prosperous and influential.

And the other thing I really enjoyed was turning my hand to some pen and ink drawings to illustrate the book. This pair didn’t make it into the book. It’s a quick sketch of the Thomas Cokayne and his wife Dorothy in St Oswald’s Church, Ashbourne. The Cokaynes were one of the gentry families who played a significant role in Medieval Derbyshire. Thomas was in the household of the 5th Earl of Shrewsbury, he took part in Henry VIII’s Rough Wooing in 1544 and was knighted by Edward Seymour for his part in it – notably the burning of Edinburgh. In 1587, he was one of the gentleman warders of Mary Queen of Scots on the orders of the 6th Earl of Shrewsbury. The following year, again on the orders of Shrewsbury, he joined other members of the Derbyshire gentry, as justices of the peace, recruiting men and arming them in preparation for the Spanish Armada.

Power and the people – still going – the Enlightenment and beyond

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I seem to have been posting about authority and various challenges to it for months! It’s not surprising really since the GCSE covers 800 years of history. We’ve challenged authority from a feudal perspective, the Barons’ War versions 1 and 2; Simon de Montfort and the revolting Peasants with a quick dash through the Wars of the Roses. The Tudors saw us look at a couple of popular risings against the Tudor throne – focusing mainly on dissolving monasteries and the Pilgrimage of Grace. This led neatly to Divine Right and Parliamentary authority.

The English civil war saw the development of political radicalism – I didn’t spend much time on the Levellers although I did spend a while executing Charles I and looking at some of the negatives of the Commonwealth. Essentially the execution of Charles led to a new discussion about royal authority and the right to representation – hence the American Civil War. The French Revolution is another episode that saw changes in the relationship between the monarch and his people but thankfully its only the impact of the French Revolution on the British mindset that a student would be required to know. Absolute monarchy and dictatorship have much in common. Society’s structure was deemed unfair compounded by economic problems in an age of radicalism and enlightenment – hey presto and welcome to the republic swiftly followed by social and economic consequences in the UK and radical thinkers demanding a little bit more equality in Britain.

The Enlightenment saw people explore the idea of humanity, their relationship with God and the Church, and of course, liberty. We haven’t covered reform and although I will be coming back to it for the blog this week, my GCSE historian is rapidly running out of time. So just think of this as an introduction or a sprint to the finish depending on your frame of mind.

The Nineteenth century saw the extension of the franchise after radical groups protested. Radical speakers addressed huge rallies – 60,000 people attended one event in Manchester. The result was the Peterloo Massacre of 1819 and the government who was afraid of a French style revolution introduced various acts to prevent large gatherings. George III was afraid of reform – not only because of the French but because of the loss of America (he was king from 1760 and yes he’s the mad one and we don’t have time to discuss whether he was or not).

The most significant act is the Great Reform Act passed in 1832 but many of the working population were still excluded. Essentially before the reform act many urban areas did not have representation because industrialisation had changed population patterns; there were rotten boroughs – Old Sarum is the famous one – no one lived there but it had an MP. There were also things called pocket boroughs – that were in the pockets of rich men. Women didn’t get a vote, there was not secret ballot and working class men didn’t get a vote either, – and that remained true after the reform act. You had to have property worth £10 to vote and it still wasn’t a secret ballot.

This led to the Chartist movement which developed in London in about 1836 and was most active across the following decade until 1848. They were alarmed about the new machinery coming into factories as well as working conditions and their lack of representation. They wanted constituencies to be the same size, for there to be an election every year and all men to have the franchise. They also wanted a secret ballot. They also argued that MPS should have wages because up until that time you had to be wealthy. At first they were peaceful but in 1839 when their requests were rejected they became more violent.The secret ballot was achieved in 1872 but it was 1918 before all men got the vote.

Alongside all that GCSE students need to know about the Anti- Slave movement and abolitionism, the Corn laws and the Anti-Corn law league, social reform and factory reform, the development of trade unionism, the Tolpuddle Martyrs and the match Girls’ strike – and various dockers’ strikes. The corn laws were repealed in 1846 as a result of the potato famine – the first time that a government had acted in the interests of the poor rather than the wealthy.

They need to know about nineteenth century factory conditions, the development of workers’ rights and the General Strike of 1926 as well as the Industrial Relations Act of 1971, swiftly followed up by the so-called Winter of Discontent and the banning of flying pickets in the 1980s not to mention closed shops and the Miners’ Strike of 1985. If that weren’t enough, and remember there are other units of study, they also need to know about women’s suffrage, suffragists, suffragettes and the Pankhursts. And once they’ve got that under their belts they need to understand about the development of Britain’s multi-racial society and minority rights – protest comes in the form of the Brixton Riots (yes folks that’s on the history syllabus and isn’t current affairs anymore) and they also need to know about the Scarman Report.

Oh yes and having learned all of that, GCSE students have a question paper that lasts an hour, with 4 questions. The first question is about a source – it could be a cartoon or a document about any of the areas covered. The next question focuses on a specific topic e.g. the Brixton riots while the third question asks candidates to compare two different episodes. The fourth question is worth 16 marks and requires candidates to draw on their knowledge from across 800 years such as the question below which was asked I think in 2022. I think we can safely say that GCSE History has not become easier over the years!

Have ideas, such as equality and democracy, been the main reason for protest in
Britain?
Explain your answer with reference to ideas and other factors.
Use a range of examples from across your study of Power and the people: c1170 to
the present day.



The Little History of Derbyshire

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I can’t say how much I enjoyed the research and writing this book, especially as I was permitted to include some of my own pen and ink drawings. Please share with any one who you think might be interested. And follow the link below to a blog post that I have written for the History Press. If you’d like to buy the book click on the image.

https://thehistorypress.co.uk/article/ten-things-or-thereabouts-you-may-not-have-known-about-derbyshire

Picture short: The millstones of Derbyshire

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There are some 1,500 or so discarded millstones left where they were hewn from the rock. This one can be found at Padley Gorge. The millstone grit from which Derbyshire’s famous edges were formed were used to make mill stones. Hathersage once boasted five mills sharpening pins and needles, and of course, Sheffield, used the millstones for sharpening blades. There were all millstones to crush ores. And then the introduction of different kinds of rollers ended the industry almost overnight.

John Skelton – poet and royal tutor

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  In 1490 Skelton, who was Cambridge educated,  dedicated a translation of Virgil’s Aeneid to Prince Arthur and in 1494 wrote a poem on the subject of Henry’s creation as Duke if York.  In 1495 his patron’s second son, Thomas Howard, married Elizabeth of York’s sister, Anne, and Skelton entered the royal household soon afterwards.[i]   As Henry moved from the infancy into child hood, this usually happened at around the age of 5 or 6 years, he was removed from the care of women and his education began in earnest.  Unlike Prince Arthur, Henry did not have a separate household.  He grew up at Eltham with his sisters and where his mother frequently resided.  During 1499, Sir Thomas More took Rasmus to visit the royal house at Eltham. Erasmus wrote to the king praising Skelton’s work. At some point after November 1499 the poet left his employment with the prince and took up a post as a parish priest in Diss, Norfolk by 1504. He probably received the rectorship of the parish, which was in the gift of Lady Margaret Beaufort, in around 1502.[ii]

In 1512-1513 Skelton, who returned to court after Henry VIII succeeded to the throne began to style himself as a ‘poet laureat’. A new priest was appointed to the living at Diss even though Skelton was still the rector there.  Both Erasmus and Caxton had a good opinion of him but Skelton made enemies at court because of his satirical attacks on the authority of the state and the Church. When he fell afoul of Cardinal Wolsey the poet was removed from his post and briefly imprisoned. He would later claim sanctuary in Westminster where he could be found living in 1518.

[i] Pollnitz, p.43[ii] Sobecki, p.396

#unstitched coif – the outcome!

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I learned so much from my own small part in the project and am really looking forward to seeing what other people made of the design. If you’re in Sheffield before Christmas take some time out to have a look. And remember, the linen which is 54 threads to the inch and from Milan is not so fine as the fabric worked on by Tudor and Stuart embroiderers, nor did they have the benefit of electric lights, modern equipment or prescription glasses!

Coifs on exhibit using blackwork embroidery techniques represent approximately 300 hours of work each – which goes someway towards explaining why a couple of trunks of clothing could equate to the value of a small estate during the early years of the seventeenth century (and also why I did no gardening this summer.).

Half way with the 17th century coif – almost.

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Time to move the coif along on the frame. It’s taken me longer than I hoped to get to the half way stage and now I need to be careful about over tightening the linen as I don’t want to damage the stitching I’ve done already. I’ve also taken the opportunity to experiment with a grey thread for my plan if I have time to make it my own. Unfortunately, it only gains the depth of colour I want when it is used in satin stitch, so back to the drawing board.  

This will be the last post about my theory with regard to the flowers of the Mary garden – I’m curious as to how the bugs fit in to the story. I know that the cycle of life caterpillar, larva and moth or butterfly provides us with rebirth and resurrection but I’m not sure about the beetles. I do wonder if there’s a linked symbolism that perhaps explains why there are no bees, grasshoppers or snails.

The list of plants:

Borage– (which is about to appear on my canvas) – it was believed borage brings courage – so I can see why it might be an essential. However, back to the concept of the Mary Garden – it also goes by the name St Joseph’s Staff.

Carnation  – is one of the oldest known garden plants. The Romans were rather keen on them.  Pink ones are associated with motherly love. Apparently, they sprang from Mary’s tears as she watched Christ carry the cross. Red ones are symbolic of blood and if you’re Holbein you stick them in pictures as a symbol of betrothal or salvation thanks to Christ’s resurrection. The image below is the portrait of Simon George.

Columbine – see post on Granny’s bonnet. But also known as ‘Our Lady’s shoes’. According to a legend the flowers were said to have sprung up wherever Mary’s foot touched the ground on her way to visit her cousin Elizabeth

Daffodil – see post on daffodil.

Marigold – see post on marigold.

Roses – divine love, martyrdom – associated with Mary, sometimes called the mystical rose. I was thrown art the start of the project because the first thing I thought was Tudor rose, but then I’m not a catholic and I don’t live in the seventeenth century with a handy guidebook.

Strawberries – the leaf has three parts so might be associated with the Trinity – it’s also called the ‘Fruitful Virgin’.  Medieval art sometimes depicted Mary with strawberry plants (I feel a hunt for an example coming on at some point). In Norse mythology it was associated with the goddess Freya and was simply transferred into Christian culture.  Expanding the theme a little, it is also the emblem of righteous men – the fruit of good works.

Violet – humility, innocence, purity – sometimes known as ‘Our Lady’s Modesty.’  St Bernard described Mary as ‘the violet of humility.’ It can also refer to the passion of Christ.

I don’t think I’ve left anything off the list. I’m still looking for a book or journal article about secular embroidery linked to English Catholicism but am having no joy. I may expand the search into stump work which was popular during the same period. I have discovered a book entitled A Garden Catechism which details 100 plants in Christian tradition which I will be getting.  I think I may be hooked.  

A complete list, should you feel the urge, can be found here and Castle Bolton Garden has a very interesting online article as well:

Click to access plants-for-a-larger-mary-garden.pdf

Ferguson, George, Signs and Symbols in Christian Art (Oxford: Oxford University Press)

Crows….in heraldry and their symbolism

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Medieval bestiaries included birds and there are some examples that remain well known. Pelicans were thought to draw blood from their own breasts to feed their chicks – this translated as Christ’s sacrifice for the redemption of mankind. It’s a popular carving in churches. Doves haven’t changed very much and eagles were a symbol of resurrection because of its high flying.

Crows were devoted family birds and on occasion were described as an example of good parenting practise although they were also associated with death and war – something of a mixed message. The Twa Corbies was a popular medieval ballad and Shakespeare got in on the act as well -with crows and ravens as harbingers not only of death but also of defeat and planned murder. So I don’t think that the crow like bird on the unstitched coif is linked to any of those particular images – apart from the good parenting – I can’t imagine many women would want to associate themselves with war or defeat.

Ravens are, of course, rather important in the Tower of London as it is said that if they depart that England will fall. It derives from the idea of ravens keeping guard – making them much more benevolent than the ones that turn up in dreams and on battlefields.

There is a possibility my bird might be a heraldic image – corbie rampant regardant (standing upright looking back over its shoulder). A Complete Guide to Heraldry by Fox Davies identifies the raven as a significant bird. The Corbet family of the Welsh Marches have a raven on their coat of arms from the French Le Corbeau – it’s a canting allusion i.e. a pun. And the arms of the Yorkshire Creyke family is also a raven or crow as is the Korwin arms (think you can see the theme here). Unfortunately the Corbet ‘corbeau’ isn’t looking over its shoulder and the Creyke crest looks like an angry eagle with a hint of swan (probably a bad image I’m studying). The Isle of Anglesey has some very fine crows on its coat of arms and I love the raven on the arms of the episcopal see of Manchester (see below) but I don’t think that the bird on the unstitched coif is a heraldic bird although I did when I first saw it.

The next option is that it comes from an existing book of the period in much the same way that many of Mary Queen of Scots designs come from Gessner’s Icones Animalium, published in Zurich, 1560. The problem is that the coif dates to the seventeenth century by which time there was a wider range of printed material available for someone to use as inspiration for their own embroidery.

Of course, it might not be a corvid – it could be something else entirely?

Miller, Dean, Animals and Animal Symbols in World Culture