The sheryf, in lyke sorte, at mydnyght lefte his house. My lady sayethe there shal be no trobbell, but I wyll no more truste any words, and therefore I praye you have good spyall what is become of them, and advertyse with spede. Some thynk they be gone to Richmondshyre. I have not yet hard from the Corte. Other matter I have not presently. At York, in haste, 10 Nov. 1569, at mydnyght, Your assured frend, Original, Bowes's MS. No. 4, Vol. I. T. SUSSEX. Sir G. Bowes to the Earl of Sussex, 10th Nov. My bownden dewty premised: pleaseth your good Lordship to be advertised, that this daye, in the afternoon, the Erle of Northumberland, armed in a previe cote, under a Spanishe jerkyn, being open, so that the cote might be seane, and a stele cappe covered with grene velvet, is returned to Bransbeth,† with viii with him, all armed with previe cotes and daggs; and in another company returned to Bransbeth, Francis Norton,§ and divers of his brethrene, and Capitaine Rede, with twenty-nine horse, all armed; * The Countess of Northumberland. † Brancepath Castle, belonging to the Earl of Westmoreland, where the insurgents assembled. Pistols. $ Eldest son of Richard Norton, of Norton Conyers, Esq. Captain Reed, afterwards Sir William Reed, of Fenham, appears in a very doubtful character here. He was one of the Captains of Berwick; and had a grant from the Queen, twenty-third of October, 3rd Elizabeth, of the forts of Holy and Ferne Islands. (Original Grants.) In a letter to the Council, 8th April, 1569, from Berwick, he says, he is a suitor for repairing the fort in Holy Island, "considering the Quenes Majestie hath been at great charge in fortifying of the walls about the rocks, to the height of four yards."-State Papers. On the breaking out of the Rebellion, Captain Drury, Marshall of Berwick, writes to Cecil, 13th Nov. "the gen and in the third companye returned Markenfield,* with one which is supposed to be the Sheriffe of Yorkshyre, and in ther company thirty horse[men], all armed in corslets, under jerkins. And sure there hath beene verie evell reports made by some of the chiefe of [the] cownsell of the Erle of Northumberland, and great speche is nowe of their evell intents, and marvelous fear aryseth here in these parts; for they passe in troppes, armed and unarmed, so fast up and 66 tleman Porter and I agreed to send some more strength to the fort in the Holy Island, the Captain being absent, and as sy thence appeareth, in Yorkshire."-State Papers. Sir George Bowes finds him in suspicious company on the 10th. Constable, the Spy, whose testimony alone should be received with caution, says, Christopher Norton, who was Reed's soldier, told me an illfavoured tale of him," and said, if he "had been so faithful a man of his promise as men judges him to be, he had been, ere now, amongst us." And Cecil, writes to Sir Ra. Sadler, 8th Dec. that he thinks it needful that Captain Reed should be "taken, and committed to saff custody.”— Sadler, v. 2, p. 56. On the 19th Dec. Lord Hunsdon, Governor of Berwick, writes to Cecil that he has committed him to ward, and has given the charge of Holy Island to others; and asks "what shall be don to Capt. Rede and Gyfford, whom I have had in ward these fourteen dayes? I desire to know?" Not receiving a reply, and taking a warm interest in favour of Cap. Reed, he writes to the Queen, 13th Jan. 1569-70, and boldly says, "Captain Reed desyers your Majesties favor, only yn hys just cawse and trothe to your Majestie, and thinketh himself hardly delt withall, to be condemned without tryall; and defyse all the world, or any man, than towch or spott hym any way, with any sparke of untrothe too your Majestie, eyther by deede, knowledge, consentyn, or conselement, and desyers only hys purgacyon, whyche yor Majestie cannot well deny to hym." His representations having proved unavailing, he writes again to Cecil on the 3rd April, 1570. "For as much as I perceve that the suspycyon whych the Quenes Majestie hath conseyved yn Cap. Reede dothe contynew, I have sent hym too the Coorte to answer anything that may be objected against him, praying you too deale so for hym as yf he be not justley too be chargyd with any offence, that he may not be lyngard thare, but be sent down agayne, for trewley I wold be lothe too myse hym at thys tyme."-State Papers. With such a determined friend as Lord Hunsdon, there seems little doubt that his peace was made in due time; and, in 1579, in consideration of his service, "his lease of Fenham was confirmed." He was knighted by the Earl of Leicester in Holland, and was honoured with a visit from King James, in 1603, and died soon afterwards. -See Raine's History of North Durham, p. 176, for an interesting history of Sir William and his family. * Thomas Markenfield, of Markenfield, County of York, Esq. He was one of the principal instigators of the Rebellion. After the discomfiture of the Earls, he was received at Branksome, and shortly after escaped over sea. downe the contrethe, that no man dare well stirre any where; and it is everie owre loked that they will do some evell enterpryse, and as it is supposed presently, as to morowe, [will] make open stirre; but this is verie uncertaine, and yet everie man that is not something smattered, is so affrayed, that men dare not lye in ther owne howses; for there are few howses of suche gentelmen as hath kept from dealing with them, that they have not vewed. And with much adoye, I hold that the people fleethe not with their cattell, such a generall feare there is; and that they will make open spoile of all suche as wyll not aryse with them, and many fleethe in dreade; and fleethe in dreade; and yet for any thinge that in certaintye I can perceave, they gather rather for their owne saifety then to annoye; for they are not, as I well knowe, above three hundred that all they and their partakers can be of the sodayne, and this nomber, or neare there aboute, are there together. And all of their faction stand readye, which exceede not (for I consyder by the musters laytly made) three hundred more, that hathe any armor or weapon, yet they presentlye sweepe up all maner of weapons and armor, that can be gotten for money; for this daye they boght all the bowes and arrowes in Barnard Castell, and, as I heare, at Durham. But trewly so farre as I can learne, the gentelmen and people this waye are bent to serve the Quene's Majestie with great dewtye and obedience, yf they may knowe to whome, or what waye they shall drawe. And sure it ware verie requysyte, in my opynyon, that if thes men make any further assembly, that there were some shew made of the Quenes party, that the people may drawe unto, as for fear of spoile the number of the confederates should be increased. But I rest ready to serve her Majesty, as frome your L. I shall be directed; havinge as good regard to my owne saifetye as I maye, without makinge any assembly at all; and [am] marvelously disapointed of my armour and weapon, a great part whereof is still at Newcastell, which, I feare, I can not now readyly come by. I much desyre to knowe what I shall do yf they showld further attempt: yf Comberland, (being, as it is credibly informed) promised to followe Leonard Dacres,* (I meane Gilsland) shall assemble to these. But nowe presentlye as it is advertised me, that their enterpryse shall be set furthe before Sunday, and that showld be to make open call of men for alteration of religion, and to spoile such as wyll not followe their dyrections, and prove if this wyll move the multytude to followe them, and yf it will not, they have a shippe ready to passe away; but this is but a report, delyvered upon great uncertainty. Another is, that without doing of evil they will [go] in to Northumberland, and lye at Alnwycke,† or, as some sayeth, at Iland,‡ and this is muche spoken. But in my poore opynyon, it is mete that the moneye to be sent to Barwycke, staye, to yt be seene what way they will take. And thus havinge trowbled your Lordship with a long letter to no great effecte, resting [to] serve the Quenes Majestie as I shall be directed, according to my bownden duty, I humbly take my leave. From my house at Streatlam, at midnight, the xth of November, 1569.-Orig. Cotton MS. Calig. B. IX. 349.-Copy, Bowes's MS. No. 3, Vol. II. Sir George Bowes to the Earl of Sussex, 12th Nov. My bownden dewtye premised: pleaseth your Lordshipe to be advertysede, that for sewrtye the Erlles of Northumberlande and Westmerland ar together at Branspethe, and with them, or at Tyrsdell, hard by, at Francis Bullmer's § howse, ar the Sheryve of Yorksher and Mr. * Uncle to George, the last Lord Dacre, who died 17th May, 1569. He was a zealous partizan, and was attainted. See Appendix. The splendid baronial castle of the Earls of Northumberland. § Francis Bulmer, of the family of Bulmer of Wilton, in Cleveland, lived at Tursdale, in the parish of Kelloe. He married Katherine, one of the daughters of Richard Norton, of Norton Conyers, Esq. yet his name does not occur as an abettor or participator in the "rising" of the Earls. His eldest son and heir, Anthony, was suspected, and was imprisoned in Durham jail, where he remained on the 1st January, 1569–70, and, though not attainted, yet he received a pardon in March, 1574 — Privy Seal Records. * Markenfeld, whose companye ridethe armed with corsletts and spears, and hathe ryden to and fro betwixt [Brancepath] and William Norton's hows twyse, so that they occupye the streets in [a] maner daye and nyght, butt delleth with no man. There [are] sundry tropes of twenty, or thereabouts, latly come forth of Yorkshyer, and direct their course to Branspethe, but yt ys not as yett knowne what theys are; but I truste, by tomorowe at nyght, to understand and knowe the names of all the jentylmen that kepethe the Erlles' or anye of the others' companye. And yett ther ys verye strayt watche and ward; and this daye ys appointyd to be at Branspeth all that anye of them in [any] manner can make, in ther armor; but what actyon they intend I know not, but ytt shall nott sooner be uttered to any nomber, but I truste to be advertysed. But sewer yt is loked verye generally that to-morowe, or this daye, they will sett forthe what soever they pretend to doye, and shewe ther force, which is nott, when yt is wholly gathered, by that I can lerne, above six hundred men, and thereaboutes. They will be together this daye, or nyght, but dowting what myght happen to my selfe, whom theye greatlye menace, I have put my selfe and my howsehold only, into Barnard-castel Castel, and hath spoken with His son, Sir Bertram, grandson of Francis, (knighted by King James April 13, 1603) was a gallant, gay, and expensive cavalier, who, after basking in the beams of the English court, until his butterfly wings had lost a large portion of their gold dust, shrunk into the crysalis state, in a coat of mail and steel murion. He raised a regiment of foot, which he led to the wars in the Low Countries, where, on one occasion, his men deserted him; and the gallant knight was left in a wet ditch, where he was taken prisoner by the Spaniards, and part of his lands were sold to pay his ransom. He returned to England, and died in Elvet, where he was buried at St. Oswald's, 6th May, 1638. His manor-house at Tursdale (now a moated farm-house) still retains vestiges of ancient gentility; and a paved coach road, from the neighbouring village of Cornforth, bears to this day the name of " Barty's-path." His descendants were reduced to great poverty; and one of them, Bertram Bulmer, in 1726, kept the cock pit and bowling green in Gray's Inn Lane, and had in his possession a splendidly illuminated family pedigree. * Another of the sons of Richard Norton, Esq. He is stated to have lived at Hartforth, in the North Riding. D |