The Gunpowder Plot and Lord Mounteagle's Letter Part 29

But the Bishopthorpe tradition is worthy of a respectful hearing.

My friend, Mr. William Camidge, F.R.H.S. (than whom no man now living in York has a greater, if indeed as great, knowledge concerning the City's antiquarian lore) tells me in a letter, dated the 5th of November, 1901, that in old Thomas Gent's "_Rippon_" (1733) there is mention made of Bishopthorpe as being Guy's birthplace. Gent says, "The house opposite the church[A] is said to be the birthplace of Guy Faux."

[Footnote A: _I.e._, the _old_ Bishopthorpe Church. The present Bishopthorpe Church is a handsome structure of recent date, at the entrance to the village from York.]

Mr. Camidge continues: "I found, a few years ago, rooted in the minds of the oldest inhabitants of Bishopthorpe, the positive a.s.surance that Guy Fawkes was born at Bishopthorpe, and the site of the house was indicated by several persons. I found one of the descendants of the former owner of the house, who a.s.sured me that her father always held that Guy Fawkes was born in the house; that my informant's great grandfather maintained the same; and that for two or three generations they had shown the house as the place of Guy Fawkes' birth. The site of the house is now a pleasure-garden; but a stone was put in the ground to mark the site."

Now it is a remarkable fact that in almost all, if indeed not quite all, of those places where there has been a strong local tradition to the effect that the Gunpowder conspirators had some a.s.sociation with a particular spot, subsequent investigation has found the tradition to be well authenticated. (This was pointed out by David Jardine sixty years ago.)

Yet the strongest argument against the Bishopthorpe tradition is that Guy's baptismal register is to-day found at the Church of St.

Michael-le-Belfrey, in the City of York.

Now, in the time of Elizabeth, as Dr. Elze has pointed out in his "_Life of Shakespeare_," a child would be _baptized on the third day after birth_. Hence, on the whole, I cannot personally accept the Bishopthorpe tradition as to the _birthplace_ of Guy Fawkes.

It is, however, more than possible that as a babe in arms Guy Fawkes may have _lived_ at Bishopthorpe. For the Act of Uniformity, whereby the York Court of High Commission had been established, would bring much legal work to his father, Edward Fawkes; and that the latter found it convenient to have a house in close proximity to his Grace the Lord Archbishop of York, a leading member of the High Commission, is one of the likeliest things in the world.

In these circ.u.mstances, then, the present-day inhabitants of Bishopthorpe may still lay the flattering unction to their souls (if they wish so to do) that Guy Fawkes drank in his mother's milk in their picturesque Yorks.h.i.+re village, on the banks of the n.o.ble Ouse.

Mr. J. W. Knowles, of Stonegate, York, another gentleman well versed in York's antiquities, informed me in August, 1901, that a Mr. John Robert Watkinson, of Redeness Street, Layerthorpe, York, held a tradition that Guy Fawkes' birthplace was in the house adjoining the Minster Gates.

Accordingly, some little time afterwards, I wrote to Mr. Watkinson, who at once kindly replied in a letter, dated 22nd October, 1901, as follows:--

"My reason for thinking that the house in High Petergate, at the corner of the Minster Gates, ... is the house where Guy Fawkes was born, is this:

"Some fifty years ago I was working at the same house when an old Minster mason, named Townsend, told me it was the house where Guy Fawkes was born. Job Knowles, an old bell-ringer and watchman at the Minster at the time Jonathan Martin set the Minster on fire, also told me it was the same house.

"It is an Elizabethan[A] house, but it has been re-fronted, which you would see if you went inside and looked at the wainscotting and the carved mantel-piece."

[Footnote A: In a subsequent letter, Mr. Watkinson, who is a Protestant, tells me that he is in the seventieth year of his age, and that he is descended collaterally from Thomas Watkinson, of Menthorpe, near Selby, the father of "the Venerable" Robert Watkinson, priest, who suffered martyrdom at the London Tyburn in 1602, two years before the Gunpowder Plot was hatched.]

Edward Fawkes died, aged forty-six, when his son, Guy, was not quite eight years old. He was buried in the Minster on the 17th January, 1578-9. About twenty-seven years afterwards this Yorks.h.i.+re citizen's thrice hapless child--by nature a tall, athletic man, but then, by torture of the rack, so crippled "that he was scarce able to go up the ladder"--met on the shameful gallows-tree, and on the quartering block, in the Old Palace Yard, Westminster, over against the Parliament House, the terrible death of a condemned traitor. The whole world knows the reason why.

Mistress Edith Fawkes, Guy's mother, was married a second time to a gentleman named Dennis Bainbridge. He was connected with the John Pulleyn, Esq., of Scotton, near Knaresbrough, and the probabilities are that Mr.

and Mrs. Dennis Bainbridge, and that lady's children by her first husband, namely Guy, Elizabeth and Ann Fawkes, all lived by the favour of the young squire, John Pulleyn, in patriarchal fas.h.i.+on, at Scotton Hall. The Pulleyns and the Bainbridges were Roman Catholics, and their names (along with the names Walkingham, Knaresborough, and Bickerd.y.k.e) occur in Peac.o.c.k's "_List of Roman Catholics in Yorks.h.i.+re in 1604_," under the t.i.tle "Parish of Farnham." The name Percy, of Percy House, is not found in Peac.o.c.k's "_List_."

[If the Bainbridges did not live at Scotton Hall, they may have lived at Percy House, hard-by the Hall. Percy House is now owned by Mr. Slater, of Farnham Hall, the property of the relatives of the late Charles Shann, Esquire, of Tadcaster.]

It is, therefore, easy to understand how it came to pa.s.s that the mind of young Guy Fawkes became impregnated with Roman Catholicism. For man is a creature of circ.u.mstances.

Yorks.h.i.+re abounded in Roman Catholics in the time of Elizabeth (see the "_Hatfield MSS._" and numerous other contemporary records). Such was especially the case with the district round about Knaresbrough and Ripon.

And recollecting that many Yorks.h.i.+remen had suffered a b.l.o.o.d.y death for their conscientious adherence to their religion between the years 1582 and Easter, 1604, when the Gunpowder Plot was hatched, one ceases to marvel at such a psychological puzzle as even the mind of Guy Fawkes.--See Challoner's "_Missionary Priests_" and Pollen's "_Acts of the English Martyrs_," already frequently referred to.

["The Venerable" martyrs, Robert Bickerd.y.k.e, Peter Snow, Ralph Grimston, Francis Ingleby, and John Robinson (some priests, others laymen) came from Low Hall, Farnham; "at or near Ripon;" Nidd, near Scotton; Ferensby and Ripley respectively. While the "Blessed" John Nelson came from Skelton, York, and the "Blessed" Richard Kirkeman from Addingham, near Ilkley (both priests). All these men suffered death for legal treason or felony based upon their religion between the years 1578 and 1604. And, therefore, according to the laws that govern human nature, such events were sure to tell an impressive tale to a man like Guy Fawkes. Princes and statesmen should avoid, as far as possible, inflicting punishments that impress the imagination. Moreover, an inferior but potent objection against all religious persecution is found in the wisdom enshrined in the exclamation of Horace, "O imitators, a servile crowd!"]

The following testimony of Father Oswald Tesimond, one of Guy Fawkes' old school-fellows, along with John Wright and Christopher Wright, at Old St.

Peter's School, in the Horse Fayre, Gillygate, York, where Union Terrace now stands, will be of interest.

Fawkes was "a man of great piety, of exemplary temperance, of mild and cheerful demeanour, an enemy of broils and disputes, a faithful friend, and remarkable for his punctual attendance upon religious observances."

His society was "sought by all the most distinguished in the Archdukes'

camp for n.o.bility and virtue."--Quoted by Jardine in his "_Narrative_," p.

38.

How sad to think that such a man should have so missed his way in the journey of life as to become so demoralized as to join in the Gunpowder Treason Plot; nay, _in intention_, to be the most deadly agent in that Plot. What can have caused, in the final resort, such a missing of his way, and have wrought such dire demoralization? Echo answers what?

Yet nothing more clearly shows that Guy Fawkes deserved all the punishment he got than the fact that he returned to his post in the cellar, where the thirty-six barrels of gunpowder were, after no less than _three_ distinct warnings that the Government had intelligence of the Plot. One warning was given him on Monday, the 28th October, at White Webbs, by Thomas Winter; a second, on Sunday night, the 3rd November, by Thomas Winter, after the delivery of the Letter to the King; and the third, on Monday, the 4th November, after the visit to the cellar of the Earl of Suffolk and Lord Mounteagle, of which visit Fawkes informed Thomas Percy.--See Lingard's "_History_."

Copies of the three following Deeds given in Davies' "_Fawkeses, of York_," will be read with interest. One of the Deeds is an "Indenture of Lease;" the second, an "Indenture of Conveyance;" and the third, a "Deed Poll," whereby Dennis and Edith Bainbridge release all right to Dower in Guy Fawkes' real estate that he "heired" from his own father, Edward Fawkes; all the property was outside Bootham Bar, in the suburbs of York.

In "_The Connoisseur_," for November, 1901, is given a fac-simile of the "Conveyance." Thomas Shepherd n.o.ble, Esq., of Precentor's Court, York, one of York's most respected citizens, saw these Deeds sixty years ago in York, he informed me on the 5th of November, 1901; and Mr. n.o.ble then told me he had no doubt that the fac-simile given in "_The Connoisseur_" of the "Conveyance" is a fac-simile of one of the doc.u.ments he saw _more than half a century ago_.

The Pulleyns, Pulleines, Pulleins, or Pullens (for the family spelt their name in all four ways) bore for their Arms one and four azure, on a bend between six lozenges or, each charged with a scallop of the first, five scallops sable: two and three azure, a fess between three martlets.--See Flower's "_Visitation of Yorks.h.i.+re_," Ed. by Norcliffe.

Flower gives the Pulleyns, of Scotton, first, and then the Pulleyns, of Killinghall, near Harrogate.

Walter Pulleyn, the step-grandfather of Guy Fawkes, is given as a Pulleyn, of Scotton. Walter Pulleyn married for his first wife Frances Slingsby, of Scriven; for his second wife Frances Vavasour, of Weston, near Otley. One branch of the Vavasours, of Weston, settled at Newton Hall, Ripley, which, embosomed in trees, can be seen to-day by all those who drive from Harrogate,[A] through Killinghall and Ripley, on towards Ripon. Their son was William Pulleyn, who married Margaret Bellasis, of Henknoll; and _their_ son and heir was John Pulleyn, almost certainly the John Pulleyn, Esquire, of Scotton, given under the Parish of Farnham, in Peac.o.c.k's "_List of Roman Catholics in Yorks.h.i.+re in 1604_."

[Footnote A: How lovely is this drive from Harrogate to Ripon on a bright, balmy summer-morn! How amiable the fair sights and sounds that greet from all sides the traveller's eye and ear! What historic memories well-up in the heart as Scotton Banks, on the right hand, and Ripley Valley, on the left, appear through charming sweet vistas never-to-be-forgotten!]

Flower's "Pedigree" shows that the Pulleyns, of Scotton, had intermarried with the Ruddes, of Killinghall; the Roos, of Ingmanthorpe, near Wetherby; the Tankards, of Boroughbridge; the Swales, of Staveley; the Walworths, of Raventoftes, Bishop Thornton; the Coghylls, of Knaresbrough; and the Birnands, of Knaresbrough; one and all old Yorks.h.i.+re Catholic gentry.

Flower also shows in his "Pedigree" of the Pulleyns, of Killinghall, that James Pulleyn, of Killinghall, married first Frances, daughter of Sir William Ingleby, of Ripley; and secondly Frances Pulleyn, daughter of Walter Pulleyn, of Scotton. They must have been cousins in some degree.

Among _their_ numerous children were Joshua and William, both Roman Catholic priests.

The "_Douay Registers_" (David Nutt) show that Joshua Pulleyn was ordained priest in 1578. He returned to England on the 27th August of that year. He was educated at Cardinal Allen's[A] College in Douay. His brother, William Pulleyn, was ordained in 1583, at the same time as the future martyr, "the Venerable" Francis Ingleby, afterwards the friend of "the Venerable"

Margaret c.l.i.therow, of York, and for harbouring whom, along with her spiritual director, Father John Mush, belike of Knaresbrough, Margaret c.l.i.therow was indicted in the Guildhall, York, at the Lent a.s.sizes of 1586.

[Footnote A: Cardinal Allen had been a lay canon of York Minster during the reign of Philip and Mary. He was a Lancas.h.i.+re man, being a native of Rossall, near Blackpool.]

In 1578 the College of Douay was transferred by Cardinal Allen to Rheims (or Reims), where it remained for twenty-one years, when it was transferred back to Douay. Fathers William Pulleyn and Francis Ingleby were educated at the College at Rheims (or Reims).--See "Order of Queen Elizabeth," dated last day of December, 1582, in Appendix _postea_ where Reims is mentioned in connection with the popish missionary priests it was then sending forth into the City of York.[A]

[Footnote A: Miss Catharine Pullein, of the Manor House, Rotherfield, Suss.e.x, courteously tells me in a most interesting letter, under date 13th May, 1901, that from the _inq. post mortem_ the above-named Walter Pulleyn died in 1580. That his son William, whose wife was a Bellasis, died before his father, so that in 1580 John Pulleyn (the one mentioned in Peac.o.c.k's "_List for 1604_") was the young squire. In 1581 or 1582 John seems to have married. He suffered from the infliction of fines for popish recusancy, and appears to have left Scotton between 1604 and 1612.

(Scotton Hall is to-day (1901), I believe, owned by the Rev. Charles Slingsby, M.A., of Scriven Hall, near Knaresbrough. The tenant is Mr.

Thrackray.)]

There is a tradition to this day at Cowthorpe (or Coulthorpe, as it is p.r.o.nounced by ancient inhabitants), near Wetherby, that Guy Fawkes was wont to visit that old-world village (until recently so quaint from its thatched farm-houses and cottars' dwellings, and but little changed belike since the days of "Good Queen Bess").

This tradition is certainly probably authentic; for a Roman Catholic family, named Walmsley, at that time lived at Cowthorpe Hall, a dignified "moated grange" between the Nidd and the historic "Cowthorpe Old Oak." Guy Fawkes, possibly, many a time and oft, may have stabled his horse at the old Hall when, after fording at Hunsingore the shallow Nidd, he traversed the pleasant fields betwixt Cowthorpe and Ingmanthorpe, near Wetherby, where dwelt the family of Roos, who were, as above stated, allied by marriage to Guy's friends, the Pulleyns, of Scotton.

Lastly; so intelligent a Yorks.h.i.+re lad as was, beyond all doubt or cavil, the son of Edward Fawkes and Edith his wife--the lad whose manly but delicately-formed handwriting may be seen to-day by all who have the privilege of obtaining a sight of the precious doc.u.ment fac-similed in a well-known monthly periodical for November, 1901[A]--must have visited, I opine, Ribston Park, between Knaresbrough, Hunsingore, and Cowthorpe (where had been in mediaeval times a celebrated Preceptory of the Knights Templars, the record of whose deeds against "the infidel Turk" may have fired Guy's imagination from his earliest years). Moreover, Richard Goodricke, Esquire, of Ribston, had married Clara Norton, one of chivalrous, old Richard Norton's daughters, of Norton Conyers; and this, to the popish youth, would be an additional attraction for going to view Ribston Hall, its chapel, park, and pale.[B]

[Footnote A: "_The Connoisseur._"]

[Footnote B: Richard Norton fled to Cavers House, Hawick, in the Border Country of Scotland, and afterwards to Flanders, where he died.--See "_Sir Ralph Sadler's Papers_," Ed. by Sir Walter Scott.]

The Goodrickes derived the Ribston Estate (which included the Manor of Hunsingore and the Lords.h.i.+p of Great Cattal) from Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk, William Parker fourth Lord Mounteagle's great-great-grandfather.

The Goodrickes were akin to the Hawkesworths, who again were akin to the Fawkeses, and likewise to the Wards (see _ante_). The Ribston branch of the Goodrickes died out early in the nineteenth century--Sir Harry Goodricke being the last baronet. The ancient Ribston, Hunsingore, and Great Cattal demesne is now owned by Major Dent, of Ribston Hall, near Knaresbrough.

From _"The Fawkes Family of York."_