STAC* 040 404 AN HISTORICAL of tihnmier, Illustrative ot' the ROMANCE OF KENILWORTH. WITH FIVE PLATES. By HUGH USHER TIGHE, Esq. 'iul Edition, with considerable Additions. PRICE SEVEN SHILLINGS. Ex Libris C. K. OGDEX AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF CUMNER; With some Particulars of the Traditions respecting THE DEATH OF THE COUNTESS OF LEICESTER; Also AN EXTRACT FROM ASHMOLEs ANTIQUITIES OF BERKSHIRE, Relative to that Transaction and Illustrative of Romance of To which is added AN APPENDIX, Containing THE ORIGINAL BALLAD OF CUMNER HALL, AND OTHER INTERESTING MATTER. BY HUGH USHER TIGHE, ESQ. Of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. SECOND EDITION. OXFORD, PRINTED AND SOLD BY MUNDAY AND SLATTER, HERALD OFFICE, HIGH-STREET; SOLD ALSO BY T. H. WHITELEY, 3, PATERNOSTER-ROW, LONDON. 1821. INTRODUCTION. THE deep interest so deservedly felt, and so openly evinced for every production which emanates from the highly-gifted " Author of Waverly," reflects a corresponding interest on every subject connected with a Tale on which the finest feelings of the mind are unavoidably concentrated. These sentiments, so universally ex- cited by the perusal of this Author's former Tales, can assuredly not have w A.2 2015153 IV INTRODUCTION. been lessened by his last production of " Kenihvorth," which, perhaps, from the circumstances of the case, from the melancholy story of a very young and lovely woman contend- ing with villany and treachery, and struggling with the most trying hard- ships and privations, appeals more closely to the human heart, and is more calculated to excite the warm emotions of pity, than any of his earlier works. It is on the preva- lence of these feelings, that I venture to hope, that some account of Cum- ner, where the scene of this fasci- INTRODUCTION, nating story is principally laid, and the narration of the facts, as given by Ashmole in his Antiquities of Berkshire, may not be deemed ut- terly devoid of interest. Scenes, characters, and incidents, in themselves trivial, or which had perhaps obtained an ephemeral ex- istence, and then subsided into ob- scurity or oblivion, derive from the powerful talent of description, pos- sessed by this Author, a splendour which does not intrinsically belong to them, and a sort of classic sanctity, VI INTRODUCTION. which attracts us to them with feel- ings of the liveliest curiosity ; of this, Cumner is a strong instance : an obscure village, mentioned only in old topographical works as the scene of the tragic end of the unfor- tunate wife of Leicester, and now, by the efforts of genius, rendered more remarkable, in the nineteenth century, as having been the scene of that catastrophe, than it was in the sixteenth, when that catastrophe actually occurred. My residence in Oxford has enabled me to visit this interesting spot, and I have myself INTRODUCTION. Vll experienced an enthusiasm, while standing amid the wreck of those scenes so accurately and beautifully described, which cannot fail of being felt, but which it is impossible for language adequately to define. I annex the facts of this melan- choly story, as related by Ashmole, and which is alluded to in the latter part of " Kenil worth." The same narration, in the same words, may be found in Anthony Wood's MSS. in the Ashmolean Collection; so that it is probable that Ashmole INTRODUCTION. borrowed his account from him. It is curious to observe the difference of the quaint and meagre style of the learned and indefatigable An- tiquary, when compared with the highly embellished language, and richly wrought imageries of the Nar- rator of the same events at the pre- sent time. In allusion to one circumstance, which makes a prominent figure in " Kenil worth," there is no reason to suppose that an inn, designated " the Black Bear," flourished in INTRODUCTION, IX Cumner in the reign of Queen Eli- zabeth ; but the spirit of romance has penetrated that retired spot ; the pride of reputed ancestorial re- nown, and the solicitations of some romantic Members of this University have triumphed, and the sign of ' ' the Black Bear ' ' has been recently affixed to the public-house in the village, with the name of " Giles Gosling" inscribed beneath it. I have taken every pains that a limited period allowed me, to obtain all the information I could procure for my work; and if my account, concise X INTRODUCTION. as it is, is enabled to interest or sa- tisfy any one's curiosity respecting the now-much-talked-of village of Cumner, I shall feel most deeply gratified. H. U. TIGHE. AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF CUMNER. CUMNER, situated in Berkshire, in the Hundred of Hornier, and Deanery of Abingdon, is built on the brow of a hill, commanding a very extensive view over the counties of Oxford and Gloucester. The parish extends about five miles in length, four in breadth, and contains many little tributary hamlets, of three, four, or five houses each.* The number of houses in the village of Cumner and its dependent hamlets, amounts to about a hundred, and the inhabitants of the whole * Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica, vol. iv. 1'J HISTORICAL ACt ol'NT parisli do not exceed five hundred and fifty. The Hundred of Hornier, or as it is written in old records., Hornemere, was granted to the Abbey of Abingdon, (which afterwards became one of the wealthiest monastic institutions in the kingdom, *) by Edward the Confessor. Previous to this magnificent proof of royal favour and piety, Ceadwalla, king of the West Saxons, gave twenty hides to the Abbey, some parcels of which lay in Cumner. In the year 968, King Edgar bestowed on this foundation thirty tenements, with lands belonging to them. From these, and many other grants from our ancient * Its revenues in 1117 were valued at nearly two thou- sand pounds a year. OF (TAINKU. 1:> -s, every part of the Hundred of Hor- nier was found, at the Reformation, to he in the possession of the Abbey of Abiii- don : and Leland tells us., that from Eynsham to Dorchester, the whole country belonged to that monastery. Of this extensive district, Cumuer was honoured with signal marks of the favour and munificence of the members of this powerful body. The ruins of several stone crosses, which may still be seen in dif- ferent parts of the parish, remain monu- ments of its monastic possessors, and of their predilection for this salubrious spot. Here the superiors of the society had a cell, or place of retirement, called Cum- ner Place. Some authorities mention it as " a place of removal " for the monks, 1* HISTORICAL ACCOUNT in case of am- epidemic or contagious disease infecting the town of Abingdon.* In the year 1538, Thomas Rowland,, the last Abbot of Abingdon, on the suppres- sion of monasteries, surrendered all the extensive possessions of this convent into the hands of King Henry VIII. and amongst them the lands of Cunmer fell to the crown. In 1546 the king, by letters patent^ granted to George Owen, Esq. and John Bridges, Doctor in Physic, " the lordship, manor, and rectorial tythes " of Cumner, with all its rights and ap- e ' purtenances ; and particularly the capi- " tal messuage called Cumner Place, and (f the close adjoining, called Curnner " Park, and the three closes called Saf- * Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica. Ashmole's Anti- quities of Berkshire, vol. i. . OF (TMNKK. 15 " fron Plottys." From this period it lias passed, by various grants, into the family of the Earl of Abingdon, to whom the parish now belongs. The ancient mansion-house of Curmier Place adjoined the west end of the church- yard. A heap of stones, and the foun- dations, now scarcely discernible, are all that remain of that venerable structure, where monks alternately prayed and feasted, and where beauty mourned the alienated affections of a faithless husband, and suffered a violent death ! This dread- ful catastrophe, revolting to humanity, is related fully by Ashmole, who has bor- rowed his account from the original one of Anthony Wood. This narration I have annexed, and though it combines all the 16 HISTORICAL ACCOUNT principal incidents of (hat melancholy tale, I am enabled to illustrate it by some additional remarks from other authorities. Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, so dis- tinguished among the wise statesmen and handsome courtiers that thronged the court of " England's maiden Queen/' giving way for once to the softer sensi- bilities of his really noble disposition, united himself to Ann, the only daughter and heiress of Sir John Robsert, Knight, of Sisterne, in the county of Norfolk.* This union of affection was, for political rea- sons, kept secret, and the daughter of an obscure Knight, elevated to share the rank and honours of the first nobleman * Anthony Wood's MSS. Dugdale's Baronage, vol. ii. p. 222. In Augustine Vincent's (the Windsor Herald) Catalogue of English Nobles, I find her styled Amie. OF CUMNF.K. in England, had little cause to complain of a temporary concealment. But in a mind so warped as Leicester's,, his ruling- passion soon stifled every other emotion, and the finer feelings of his nature were made subservient to that towering ambi- tion to which he had already so exclu- sively devoted himself. Imagining that the partiality of the Queen, then in the zenith of power and beauty, might induce her to grant him a participation of her regal dignity, he determined that his inno- cent wife should not prove a bar to his aggrandizement. Intent on freeing him- self from these bonds, he persuaded his confiding and unsuspecting Countess to remove to the house of one Anthony Forster,* a retainer of his own, and at * Ashmole's Antiquities of Berkshire Dugdale's Baron- age, vol. 2. B 18 HISTORICAL ACCOUNT that time his tenant* at Cumner Place, Of the atrocious attempts of Sir Richard Varnejj and his accomplices, on the life of this unfortunate lady, and their too * From the following passage in Wood's Annals, vol. ii. ]>. 149, it appears, that Anthony Forster was a man of some importance : " Soon after the new Warden comes to Oxford, and the next day being the 30th of March, (1502,) came with Dr. Babington, the Vice-chancellor, Dr. \Vhyte, Warden of New College, and others, to Morton College gate, where, meeting him, certain of the Fellows gives them letters, under seal, from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Patron of that College, that he should be admitted Warden thereof; but the Fel- lows not agreeing at that time to give answer to his desire, deferred the matter to the 2nd of April : which day being come, he appears again at nine of the clock in the morning-, accompanied with the before-mentioned persons, Henry Noreys of Wytham, Esq. and ANTHONY FORSTER OF CUM- NORE, GENT." In the same volume, p. 231, Wood, speaking of the Earl of Leicester's character, states, " that by the potency he had in the kingdom, and so consequently in the University, all persons were at his devotion, and nothing passed therein but he had intelligence by certain favourites that he enter- tained. Of these, the chief were, Dr. Walt. Baylie, Dr. Martin Culpeper, &c. The first, through his means obtained a fair estate, yet, towards his latter end, when he refused to consent to the making away of his Countess at Mr. Anthony Forster's house, in Comnore, was removed from his favour." OF CUMNER, I'J successful completion, a succinct ac- count is given by Ashmole. This cruel murder was perpetrated on the night of Saturday, the 8th of September, 1560,* and the corpse of their wretched victim was precipitated down a flight of stone stairs, which led from the long gallery to the hall below, under the hope that it might give a plausibility to a tale by which they intended to conceal their crime. She was at first buried privately in Cumner Church, but some inquiry being about to be instituted concerning this mysterious transaction, her body was taken up, and solemnly re-buried in St. Mary's Church, Oxford, according to Anthony Wood, " at the upper end of the chancel," though no stone now remains to * Anthony Wood's MSS. 1658. 20 HISTORICAL \CCOUNT mark tlic grave of this victim of insatiate ambition.* There is a tradition still ex- tant in the parish of Cumner, that the corpse of the unhappy Countess was found at the bottom of the stairs^ with a nail driven into her head. From this time the vengeance of heaven appears to have fallen,, not only on the perpetrators of this atrocious murder, but also on the house in which it was com- mitted. After the death of Forster, Cumner Place was long uninhabited, and stories are still prevalent among the inha- bitants of Cumner of the spirit which frequented the deserted mansion : * In the annexed account of Cumner, taken from Cough's Camden, it is stated that a monument was erected to her memory in St. Mary's Church. OF HMNKR. Anil in that manor no\v no more Is cheerful feast and sprightly ball ; For ever since that dreary hour Have spirits haunted Cumnor Hall. Cunnwr Hull. The apparition was said to appear in the form of a young and beautiful woman, superbly attired, and was mostly seen on the steps, the immediate scene of the bar- barous act. The tradition of the place relates, that the ghost was at last removed from the house, and laid to rest in a pond at a short distance from it. This venerable monastic structure, hav- ing been long untenanted, was repaired about a century ago, for the reception of a farmer and his family. Report asserts that a journeyman carpenter, who was at that time employed by his master to take down some of the buildings, discovered a HISTORICAL ACCOUNT small trunk filled with gold coins, con- cealed in a chamber adjoining* the long gallery. He left the neighbourhood of Cuniner soon afterwards. About eleven years ago, the house again falling into a dilapidated state,, it was taken down by the present owner, the Earl of Abing- don, and the site of Curnner Place is all that now remains of the favoured retreat of the powerful ecclesiastics of Abingdon. From inhabitants of the place, who re- member the edifice standing, and from several old authorities, I have collected the following description of it : This ancient structure, which was of considerable extent, was built round a court or quadrangle of about seventy-two feet in length, and fifty in breadth. The principal entrance was on the north side, OF ( TMNEU. under an archway, with rooms on cither side of it ; above these, " the long gal- lery" extended the whole length of that side of the building. At the west end of this apartment, the flight of stone stairs, at the bottom of which the body of the un- fortunate Lady Leicester was said to have been found, led down to the quadrangle, and great hall of the edifice, which was at right angles to the long gallery. Over a room beyond the hall was the apartment celebrated by the name of " Lady Dud- ley's Chamber;" and indeed so great an interest had the fate of that hapless Lady excited, that the whole place is still gene- rally called at Cumner, " Dudley Castle." On the south side were some apartments which bore traces of superior magnifi- cence, but which were in a state of dila- 2* HISTORICAL ACCOt NT pidation, when this scat of the wealthy Abbots became the residence of the indus- trious farmer. In the hall of this monkish edifice* which was converted into a granary, was a large, old stone chimney-piece, on which were carved two mitres, and between them the name of 3! $. in ancient characters. At one end of it were the arms of the Abbey of Abingdon, and at the other, a shield. | " About four years ago, (says Dr. " Buckler,;};) the arms of the Abbey were * Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica. t Lyson supposes the date of the hall and chapel of Cumner Place, from the style of the windows, to have been as early as the fourteenth century. t Dr. Buckler's (the Vicar of Cumner,) Replies to Rowe Mores' Queries to the Clergy of Berks. Aug. 17, 1759. OF (TMMCK. '2.') " to be seen prettily painted in the re- " mains of the glass of one of the \vin- e< dows. But some careless hand,, or the " fingers of some admirer of antiquity,, " has robbed us of them. Over a door- " case in this hall is this date, 1575. " Over the great gate at the entrance of " the court, in the front of the house, is " the following inscription : JANUA VI1VE VERBUM DOMINI. " ANTONIUS FORSTER. 1575." The windows of this hall are still ex- tant in the church at Wytham, where they were removed by Lord Abingdon, and the gateways above-mentioned form the entrance into the church-yard at the same place. The boundaries of what was formerly the garden may still be traced. 1 JG HISTORICAL ACCOUNT, \r. What is now called cc the Park'' contains about twenty-five acres,, but at the time when Cumner was more highly favoured., it is conjectured, from various circum- stances., that it extended to the boundary of the next parish, a distance of nearly three quarters of a mile from the house. The rustic simplicity of Cumner, so characteristic of an English village, can- not fail of interesting all those whose curiosity may induce them to visit a spot, which alike possesses charms for the anti- quary and lover of romance. ACCOUNT OF CUMNER, FROM COUGH'S CAMDEN. Curnner, a small town pleasantly situated on a hill, is a mineral purging water. The west door of the church is in the Saxon style. The Abbot of Abing- don had a manor here ; and a mansion- house with the arms of the Abbey on the Hall chimney-piece. When it was oc- cupied by Anthony Forster, who is buried, and has a brass in the church, the wife of the Earl of Leicester was supposed to have been privily made away with in it, being found at the bottom of the stairs, \< < OINT OF ( t MNER..V. with her neck broken ; and though the body was taken up by the coroner,, no discovery was made at the time,, and she was hand- somely re-interred in St. Mary's Church., Oxford, where slie lias a monument ; but by the confession of some concerned, it afterwards came out. The chamber called Dudley's was shewn in this house in Ashmolc's time." DUDLEY lEARIj OY JLEICE STEP.. r awn {Snjr M-sJ fy 7Z'JzfA&rs. from afatrzlinff in tte Sa afterwards flung her down a pair of stairs, and broke her neck, using much violence upon her ; but jet, however, though it was vulgarly reported, that she by chance fell down stairs, (but yet without hurting her hood, that was upon her head,) yet the inhabitants will tell you there, that she was conveyed from her usual chamber, where she lay, to another, where the bed's head of the chamber stood close to a privy postern door, where they, in the night came and stifled her in her bed, bruised her head very much, broke her neck, and at length flung her down stairs, thereby believing the world would have thought it a mischance, and so have blinded their villany. But, behold the mercy and jus- tice of God in revenging and discovering this Lady's murder ; for one of the per- 3t ASHMOU1S ANTIQl'ITIKS sons that \vas a coadjutor in this murder, was afterwards taken for a felony in the Marches of Wales, and offering 1 to pub- lish the manner of the aforesaid mur- der was privately made away with in the prison by the Earl's appointment. And Sir Richard Varney, the other, dying about the same time in London, cried miserably, and blasphemed God, and said to a person of note (who has related the same to others since,) not long before his death, that all the devils in hell did tear him in pieces. Forster likewise after this fact, being a man for- merly addicted to hospitality, company, mirth, and music, was afterwards ob- served to forsake all this, and being af- fected with much melancholy and pensive- ness, (some say with madness,) pined and ()! BERKSHIRE. .'15 drooped away. The Avife too of Bald Butler, kinsman to the Earl, gave out the whole fact a little before her death. Nei- ther are the following passages to be for- gotten : That as soon as ever she was murdered, they made great haste to bury her before the Coroner had given in his inquest, (which the Earl himself con- demned as not done advisedly,) which her father Sir John Robertsett (as I sup- pose,) hearing of, came with all speed hither, caused her corpse to be taken up, the Coroner to sit upon her, and further enquiry to be made concerning this busi- ness to the full ; but it was generally thought, that the Earl stopped his mouth, and made up the business betwixt them, and the good Earl to make plain to the world, the great love he bare to her while 36 ASHMOLE'S ANTIQUITIES. alive, what a grief the loss of so virtuous a lady was to his tender heart,, caused (though the thing by these and other means was beaten into the heads of the principal men of the University of Ox- ford,) her body to be reburied in St. Marie's Church in Oxford, with great pomp and solemnity. It is remarkable, when Dr. Babington (the Earl's chaplain) did preach the funeral sermon, he tript once or twice in his speech, by recom- mending to their memories, that virtuous lady so pitifully murdered, instead of say- ing so pitifully slain. This Earl, after all his murders and poisonings, was himself poisoned by that which was prepared for others, (some say by his wife,) at Cornbury Lodge, (though KARL OF LEKKSTER. Baker in his Chronicle would have had it at Killingworth.) Anno. 1588." Extract from a small Volume in the Bodleian Li- brary, printed in 1584, entitled, " The Copie of a Leter, wrytten by a Master ofArte ofCambrige, to his Friende in London, about some Proceed- inges of the Erie of Leycester and his Friendes in England. 1 ' P. 27. " Onlie for the present I must advertise you that you may not take holde so exactlie of al my L. doinges in women's affaires, neither touching their Marriages, neither yet their husbandes. te For first his Lordship hath a speciall fortune, that when he desireth anie wo- man's favor, then what person soever standeth in his way, hath the luck to die quicklie for the finishing of his desire. As 38 KARL OF LEICESTER. for example : when his Lordship was in full hope to marrie her Ma: and his own "Wyfe stood in his light, as lie supposed ; he did but send her asid, to the house of his Servaunt Forster of Cumner by Ox- forde, where shortlie after she had the chaunce to fal from a paire of stares, and so to breake her neck, but jet without hurting of her hoode, that stoode upon her heade. But Sir Richard Varney who by commaundment remayned with her that daye alone, wyth one man onlie, and had sent away perforce al her servauntes from her to a market two miles of, he (I say) with his Ma. can tel how she died, wh. Man beins: taken afterward for a fellonie O in the Marches of Wales and offering to publish the maner of the said murder, was made awaye privilie in the Prison. And KARL OF LEICESTER. Sir llicliard himself dying about the same time in London, cried piteouslie and blas- phemed God and said to a Gentleman of worship of nivne acquaintance, not long before his death, that al the Divels in hell did tear him in peeces. The wyfe also of Balde Butler, Kinsman to my L. gave out the whole fact a little before her death. But to return unto my purpose, this was my Lordes good fortune to have his wyfe die at that tyme when it was like to turne moste to his profit." ACCOUNT OF THE MARRIAGE OF THE EARL OF LEICESTER, TO AMIE ROBSART, WITH SOME NOTICES OF HER FAMILY, &C. ! HE following highly satisfactory and interesting: account of the rarlv life of the o K Earl of Leicester, is extracted from the " Biographia Britannica." It is the more curious, as it refutes, on the authority of some of our principal historians, the ac- count of the clandestine union of that nobleman with the unfortunate daughter of Sir John Robsart, but which gives such additional interest to the history of her wedded life, as related by the Author of the Romance of " Kenihvorth." From AMIE ROBS ART. 41 this account too, it is evident that she was descended from illustrious ancestors, the representative of a noble family, and the heiress of extensive property. o I ANTHONY FOKSTF.K. 5,3 the virtues which most adorn the human character ; and from the historical narra- tive of his participation in the murder of the Countess of Leicester at his own house, proves how little reliance is to be placed on monumental panegyrics. The inscription under his figure is as follows : ntoniug tforfter, generic 0enerofa propaeo, Cumnerae ^omintig SBarc^erienCj* erat : Hrmiger armijjero projjnatug patre ffifcijarao, alopien0^ etat. tirpe bcata fati^, prole feeata fati.S JBater 3;oanni.^, meDiaque aetate ftobeiti