Treason or Not

Baron Andrew de Harcla is my 23 Great Grand Uncle. In 1311 he was made Sheriff of Cumberland. In 1314 he was in command of English troops during the Battle of Bannockburn.

The Battle of Bannockburn

William Alan

Royal Scottish Academy of Art & Architecture

 

Bannock Burn is a stream that runs through the Scottish country side and connects to the river Forth. Bannockburn is a small town named for the stream not far from Stirling, Scotland. It is the site of a battle between England and Scotland in an attempt at Scottish Independence. Robert de Bruce was King of Scotland and Edward II was King of England. The English Army had over 16,000 foot soldiers and more than 2,000 troops mounted on horses; more than twice the size of the army King Robert had put together. This battle did not end well for King Edward II. He fled Scotland on a ship leaving behind his troops who were slaughtered by the Scots. Only one regiment of men returned to England. A strong force of Welshmen led by my 23 Great Grand Father, Maurice de Berkeley...that is another story.

Robert the Bruce, Stirling Castle by Andrew Smith,

In 1315 King Robert de Bruce lay seige to Carlisle Castle and under the leadership of Andrew de Harcla King Robert's attempt failed.

Shortly after this Andrew was taken taken prisoner by the Scots and held for a very high ransom. It was paid and he was released.

In 1322 Andrew de Harcla was again at battle in the Battle of Boroughbridge with King Edward II against Thomas, Earl of Lancaster cousin to the King. Andrew was rewarded for his bravery, loyalty and service by being made Lord Harcla. Andrew and his men at arms had control of the bridge when Lancaster arrived. Refusing to negotiate with Lancaster and there being no other way to cross the river a battle broke out. Harcla had men deployed on one end of the bridge, along the road and under the bridge forcing Lancaster, his Earls and his troops to cross the bridge slowly in two columns. It was as the Earl of Hereford was crossing that a pikeman under the bridge thrust his pike straight up through the boards, impaling the Earl of Hereford. The piercing screams of Hereford sent a panic through the troops and they fell back from the bridge in chaos. Lord Harcla negotiated peace for the evening with Lancaster and the following day Lancaster surrendered. Several days later the Earl of Lancaster was executed and Harcla was made Earl of Carlisle.

Carlisle Castle

 

But King Edward was not a charismatic ruler and cared little for Earls defending the borders. After only a few months of the King's unresponsivenss to the raiding and pilaging; Baron Andrew de Harcla negotiated his own peace treaty with King Robert de Bruce signed by both on January 3, 1323.

On the 25th of February 1323 Baron de Harcla was arrested for treason for negotiating and entering into a treaty unsanctioned by King Edward with an enemy of England.

On March 3rd, after being denied a hearing Baron Andrew de Harcla was executed. He was bound to a fence like sructure and dragged through the streets. He was hanged by the neck to the point of almost dead. He was then emasculated. He was disemboweled, beheaded and quartered. According to legend, his head was placed on a pike on London Bridge, one quarter of him was left hanging at Carlisle Castle, one quarter went to the keep at Newcastle, another one was piked on a bridge in York and the last piece was piked at Shrewsbury. He was also degraded from knighthood by having his sword ungirded and his spurs clipped.

Coat of arms of Andrew Harcla

His head was displayed in London for 5 years before being taken down. Andrew's brothers John and Michael were also executed. Andrew's son John became a ward of the king. In 1338 Sarah de Harcla, Baron de Harcla's sister petitioned the king for his body to be returned to her for Christian burial. She received just the quarter that had been hung at Carlisle Castle.

Sarah de Harcla, married my 23rd Great Grandfather Thomas de Musgrave making her my 23 Great Grandmother.

Two Valiant Knights

There is a tale about two knights; one a distant relative of mine Sir Michael Musgrave and the other Sir John Armstrong. They were both in love with Isabele Dacre the daughter of Lady Dacre. Isabele had chose to wed, Sir John Armstrong and the heartbroken, disappointed Sir Musgrave vowed to retaliate. On the day of the wedding Sir Musgrave challeneged Sir Armstrong and killed him in battle. The clansmen of Sir Armstrong were filled with rage and killed Sir Musgrave slashing and hacking him into pieces so small that they filled a cook pot with the pieces.

Sir Michael Musgrave Earl of Northumberton was born in Eden Hall near the river Eden in Penrith, Cumberland, England not far from the Scottish border.

Sir John Armstrong was the second son of Lord Alexander Armstrong of Mangerton Castle, Scotland. He was born about 1358 and died August 19 1388. He married Isabella on August 19 1388 in Otterburne.

It is said that this battle at Otterburne was the most valiantly fought and the most severe with over 100 men dying. Both men had been in love with her for over two years before she chose John.

Sir John Armstrong's Marriage
(Part 1)
" As it fell out one Whitsonday,
The Blith Time of the Year,
When every Tree was clad with green,
And pretty Birds sing clear;

The Lady Dacres took her way
Unto the Church that pleasant Day
With her fair Daughter, fresh and gay,
A bright and bonny Lass.

Sir Michael Musgrave in like sort
To Church repaired then,
And so did Sir John Armstrong too,
With all his merry Men;

Two greater Friends there could not be
Nor braver Knights for Chivalry,
Both bachelors of high Degree
Fit for a bonny Lass.

They sat them down upon one Seat
Like loving Brethren dear,
With Hearts and Minds devoutly bent
God's Service for to hear

But rising from their Prayers tho
Their Eyes a ranging strait did go,
Which wrought their utter Overthrow
All for one bonny Lass

Quoth Musgrave unto Armstrong then
Yon sits the sweetest Dame,
That ever for her fair Beauty
Within this Country came

Insooth, quoth Armstrong presently
Your Judgement I must verify,
There never came unto my Eye
A braver boney Lass

I swear, said Musgrave, by this sword
Which did my Knighthood win,
To steal away so sweet a Dame
Could be no Ghostly Sin

That Deed, quoth Armstrong, would be ill
Except you had her right good Will,
That your Desire she would fulfil
And for thy bonny Lass

By this the Service quite done
And home the People past,
They wished a Blister, on his Tongue
That made thereof such haste

At the Church-Door the Knights did meet
The Lady Dacres for to greet,
But most of all her Daughter sweet
That beauteous bonny Lass

Said Armstrong to the Lady fair
We both have made a Vow,
At Dinner for to be your Guests
If you will it allow

With that bespoke the Lady free
Sir Knights, right welcome shall you be,
The happier Men therefore are we
For Love of this bonny Lass

Thus were the Knights both prick'd in Love
Both in one Moment thrall'd,
And both with one fair Lady gay
Fair Isabella call'd

With hunble Thanks they went away
Like wounded Harts chas'd all the Day,
One would not to the other say
They lov'd this bonny Lass

Fair Isbel on the other side
As far in Love was found,
So long brave Armstrong she had ey'd
Till Love her Heart did wound

Brave Armstrong is my Joy, quoth she
Would Christ he were alone with me,
To talk an Hour two or three
With his fair bonny Lass

But as these Knights together rode
And Homeward did repair,
Their Talk and eke their Counterenance shew'd
Their Hearts were clogg'd with Care

Fair Isabel, the one did say
Thou hast subdu'd my Heart this Day,
But she's my Joy, did Musgrave say
My bright and bonny Lass

With that these Friends incontinent
Became most deadly Foes,
For love of beauteous Isabel
Great Strife betwist them rose

Quoth Armstrong, She shall be my Wife
Although for her I lose my life,
And thus began a deadly Strife
And for one bonny Lass

Thus two Years long this Grudge did grow
These gallant Knights between,
While they swooing both did go
Unto this beauteous Queen

And she who did their Furies prove
To neither would bewray her Love,
The deadly Quarrel to remove
About this bonny Lass


As I am hunting the ghosts of the Musgraves who are my kin I came across Lord Gamel de Musgrave who is my 31st Great Grand father and also the 28th Great Grand father of Prince William and Prince Henry of England. Gamel translates to "old man" in Norse. Gamel de Musgrave was born in 1035 in either France or Scotland.

Ghost Coins

After reading an article about coins on the tombstones of Veterans my curiosity got the better of me and …..

It is a custom in some cultures to place coins on the eyes, in the mouth or around the feet of the deceased. Coins also have been found in jars with the cremated remains. Why? Is it to keep their eyes closed, pay a mythological ferryman, to be able to buy goods in the next life?

Magyar tradition whispers down through the ages that covering the eyes with silver, which is most commonly found in coins, will keep the eyes closed and the people looking at the deceased will not see their own death reflected in the eyes of the departed.

There has been much controversy about the Shroud of Turin and whether there may have been coins on the eyelids of the man buried under the shroud. It was not the custom of the Jews, pre- Jesus in Palestine, to place coins on the eyes or in the mouths of the deceased. According to tradition and Jewish custom it is considered disrespectful to look into the eyes of someone who cannot look back at you. In Jewish Palestine the Greek and Roman custom of placing coins with a body to pay a Ferryman to take a Soul or shade across the river Styx was considered Idolatry and against the teachings of the 10 commandments.

Back to the coin images on the Shroud of Turin.  Images of the coins appear to display the images for letters that were linked to Tiberius Caesar.    Which puts them being made during the governorship of Pontius Pilot. The coins were called “widow’s mites” and were very common in Jewish Palestine in 29 AD.       

   

Charon is from Greek mythology. He is the child of Nyx, the goddess of the night who was present at the creation and Erebus, who was darkness. They were brother and sister. He is a ferryman, who takes the shades or souls of the deceased across the river Styx that divides the world of the living from the dead. A coin or obol was placed in or on the mouth of the deceased as payment to Charon for taking them across the Styx. If he did not receive payment the souls would remain for 100 years wondering the shores of the river.  This is where the tradition of placing coins in the mouth comes from.    

                                                          Charon and Psyche by John Roddam Spencer Stanhope

The eyes in death can shut or remain open. The shut eyes give us a sense of peace and open eyes give us a sense of terror. The eyes were closed and weighted until rigor set in and they would stay closed on their own.

Joss paper, hell money, shade paper or ghost money is a tradition from China and Vietnam.  Ghost money is made from paper and created to look like real money and was made of bamboo or rice.  It is divided into three types of ghost money, copper, silver and gold. Copper cash is given to the newly deceased. Gold ghost cash is given to the deceased and also to the lesser gods. Silver ghost cash is given to ancestral spirits and local god and goddess. These have to be given in strict amounts and order so as not to insult the departed. Ghost money is burned at the grave site along with other paper images of items the deceased may need in the afterlife such as a parasol for shade, or a horse to travel on.  This ghost money can be used to bribe officials and administrators in the afterlife to keep you in one level or move you to the next so that you may reach reincarnation faster.

Pennies are thrown on to the grave of Benjamin Franklin at the Christ Church Burial Ground in Philadelphia; the reason “a penny saved is a penny earned” tribute to Benjamin Franklin.

Ghost tales also speak of leaving coins on a tombstone.  If a person you owe money to dies they will haunt you until you have paid them back. Leaving coins on their tombstone before midnight will assure the ghost of your attempt to pay them back.

I am now in the mood to watch Boondock Saints 

A tussle in Sherwood

In 1233 Sir Thomas de Lascelles, Knight, granted to William Blundel and his heirs in a charter a home and land in exchange for his (William's) service and the gift of gilded spurs each year. In medieval England spurs were symbolic of Knighthood.

Crusader’s decorated iron prick-spur, early Christian symbolism. found in central Europe

 Squires wore silver spurs while their knights wore gold or gilded spurs. These golden spurs were buckled to a knights heels usually with reverenat ceremony. They were a sign or rank and pride and to be ordered to remove your spurs was a sign of disgrace. It became the tradition of armies to confiscate the spurs of conquered knights and hang them on display as a war trophy and a sign of victory.

In the Bayeux Tapestry, the riders are clearly wearing spurs. In the Bayeux Tapestry, created around 1077) the riders are clearly wearing spurs.

 

But that is not all interesting I found. In the 1440s Walter Bower wrote a ballad about a historical character/legend who was fighting at the end of a war in 1266 involving the local Barons and King Henry III. This character was from Sherwood Forrest and was known by the name of Robin Hood. In 1267 John de Lascelles was the Sterward of Sherwood Forrest. Records kept by the courts mention this incident in 1267....

....John De lascelles, the steward of Sherwood, caught 2 men, Robert the Monk and Robert of Alfreton with bows and arrows in the forest and took them to Blidworth. (Probably intending to take them to Nottingham Castle in the morning). In the night 20 men armed with swords and bows and arrows burst in, released the men, and beat up Johns servants who were acting as guards. They then went to the stewards house, where they broke the windows and shouted insults at him.

Robert de Bruce, King of the Scots from 1306 to 1329.

 

Robert de Bruce was King of Scotland. (Yes as in William Wallace, Braveheart.) His Grand Father Robert de Bruce was married to Christina de Ireby. Christina was married first to Sir Thomas de Lascelles, Knight.

                                                                                   Gisborne Priory

The de Lascelles family was a benefactor of Gisborne Priory. The family of de Bruce were also benefactors of the Priory at Gisborne. William de Bruce was the first prior and the King of Scotland's grandfather Robert de Bruce is buried at the Priory in Gisborne. There is a famous ballad written in 1475 titled "Robin Hood and Guy de Gisborne". In the ballad Guy de Gisborne is a bounty hunter sent to capture Robin. There are many similarities between Robert de Bruce and legends/myths of Robin Hood. Manuscripts give credit for the founding of the Priory to a Robert de Bruyse in 1129. Could the steward of Sherwood, John de Lascelles, have hired a man named Guy from Gisborne Priory to seek out Robin Hood or perhaps a Robert de Bruce disguised as a Robin de Hod who was attempting to claim the throne of Scotland?

Picot de Lascelles, my 27th Great Grandfather, is mentioned as having been in the entourage of Alan a nephew of William the Conqurer when they invaded from Normandy. He is mentioned as being in the Battle of Hastings and was granted lands in Richmondshire. This land, was taken from three Saxon Lords and was Picot's reward for his brave fighting.

The Lascelles were untitled Nobility in Scotland and donated much land to St. Andrew's Priory.

They were Barons

My daughter is an Assasin's Creed junkie. She is now fascinated with the Knights Templar. She is going to love what I have found.

In Aylesby, Lincolnshire, England there is a road called Temple Lane. Myths abound about naming a street, lane or any type of path Temple as a sign to Knights Templar that they were in the vicinity of fellow Templar. It could be that a business, or a home, or farm, or field, somewhere along the path was the property of a Templar.

Knights Templar playing Chess.

Alphonse le Sage (Alfonso X)

 

The Lascelles family held land in Aylesby, Lincolnshire. My 26th Great Grandfather Sir Roger de Lascelles owned land all around Lincolnshire as well as Yorkshire. In 1185 Picot de Lascelles is mentioned in Knights Templar records as a patron. I have 2 Great Grandfathers named Picot de Lascelles one is Roger's father the other is his son. Sir Roger de Lascelle around 1212 sides with the Barons against King John. As in the scene from the movie Robin Hood with Russell Crowe where all the barons rally against King John.

Sir Richard de Lascelles is a witness to several grants of land by "Knights brothers of the Temple of Solomon." The Templar Knights or Order of the Temple Knights were known as The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon. They were the wealthiest and most powerful of Christian Military Orders. They were considered the most skilled fighters, brilliant financial book keepers and builders of strong fortresses. The first Order consisted of 9 knights.

　

Adam fitzPeter the son of Emma de Lascelles gave the Order of St. Lazarus 4 acres of land in Fairburn, Yorkshire, England. The Knights Templar had a policy stipulating that any of the knights contracting leprosey while in Jerusalem could join the Order of St. Lazarus.

The Templars would pay a pension for each knight admitted to the Order. The symbol of the order is an 8 pointed green maltese cross. The mission is To uphold and defend the Christian faith, to assist and help the sick and vulnerable, to promote and uphold the Christian principles of chivalry and to work for Christian unity. The moto is Atavis et armis (With ancestors and arms)

　Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem
I found this statement about Roger de Lascelles my 2nd cousin who in the 13th centuary was called to Parliment as a Baron... "Roger de Lascelles - our Most Eminent and Supreme Past Pro Grand Master’s ancestor - was called to Parliament as Baron."

　
The Lascelles family came to England with William the Conquerer in 1066. In 1108 in the county of Lincolnshire a Picotus de Laceles is listed on a survey. They were Barons of Messie when they lived in Normandy.