Richard Farendale
c 1357 to 20 December 1435
A
medieval soldier who fought in the armies of Richard II and Henry V
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c 1357 to 20
December 1435
A veteran soldier of the armies of Richard II, Henry IV and Henry
V who fought in the French and Scottish Wars |
|
Tales of
archers and men at arms who fought with Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V and
an observation post in the home of the Nevilles and Richard III from which to
view the Wars of the Roses |
1357
Richard Farendale, son of William and Juliana Farendale
(FAR00036),
may have been born Sheriff Hutton
in about 1357 (See the Will of William (FAR00036)).
If he was 78 when
he died then he may have been born in about 1357 which makes sense with his
father’s will.
1380
We know from his
will in 1435, that Richard Farendale bequeathed a
grey horse with saddle and reins and his armour, comprising a bascinet, a
breast plate, a pair of vembraces and a pair of rerebraces with leg harness. He appears to have been
impressively armed for military service when he died, so it seems likely that
he pursued a military career.
A bascinet was a
medieval combat helmet:
Vembraces or vambraces
were armoured forearm guards:
A rerebrace was a piece of armour designed to protect the
upper arms (above the elbow):
So he was well
armoured by the time he died in 1435.
There was a
Richard Farnham or Farneham, listed in records of medieval
soldiers, who joined an expedition to France as an archer on 28 June 1380
under the captaincy of Sir William Windsor, and the command of Thomas of
Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester. It is not certain that this was him, because the
spelling of the surname is different, but this was a time of fluidity in
surname spellings. Given his military equipment listed in his will, 55 years
later, it seems likely that Richard would have started a military career at
about this time. He would have been about 23 at this time. Whilst we cannot be
certain, it is possible, perhaps even quite likely, that this was Richard in
his early military exploits in France.
Before
the Hundred Years War, warfare was rooted to the principles of chivalry, with
which commoners were not participants. By the 1320s experienced soldiers fought
on foot alongside commoners. Ideas of feudal service were replaced by
professional soldiers, who undertook operations contrary to the chivalric code
including ambush, siege, raids, looting, burning, rape. The archers were the
prime example of new commoner forces, firing arrows which could easily
penetrate knights’ armour. The commoners were given opportunities to accumulate
significant wealth through war booty, and ransoms, as well as their pay.
1380
was in the midst of a crisis in the French Wars in the time of Richard II. The
Peasant’s Revolt of 1381 arose due to high taxes required to fund the French
Wars. Richard II was not a popular King, and the cost of these French wars were
not welcomed at home.
Richard’s
commander, Thomas of Woodstock had been in command
of a large campaign in northern France that followed the War of the Breton
Succession of 1343–1364. During this campaign John IV, Duke of Brittany had
tried to secure control of the Duchy of Brittany against his rival Charles of
Blois.
John
returned to Brittany in 1379, supported by Breton barons who feared the
annexation of Brittany by France. An English army was sent under Woodstock to
support his position. Due to concerns about the safety of a longer shipping
route to Brittany itself, the army was ferried instead to the English
continental stronghold of Calais in July 1380.
As
Woodstock marched his 5,200 men east of Paris, they were confronted by the army
of Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, at Troyes, but the French had learned
from the Battle of Crécy in 1346 and the Battle of Poitiers in 1356 not to
offer a pitched battle to the English. Eventually, the two armies simply
marched away. French defensive operations were then thrown into disarray by the
death of King Charles V of France on 16 September 1380. Woodstock's chevauchée continued westwards largely unopposed, and in November
1380 he laid siege to Nantes and its vital bridge over the Loire towards
Aquitaine.
However,
he found himself unable to form an effective stranglehold, and urgent plans
were put in place for Sir Thomas Felton to bring 2,000 reinforcements from
England. By January, though, it had become apparent that the Duke of Brittany
was reconciled to the new French king Charles VI, and with the alliance
collapsing and dysentery ravaging his men, Woodstock abandoned the siege.
1397
Seventeen years
after the French campaign in which Richard Farndale likely took part, Ralph Neville, John Neville’s son, supported Richard
II's proceedings against Richard’s former commander Thomas of Woodstock and the Lords Appellant, and by way
of reward was created Earl of Westmorland on 29 September 1397. Richard
Farndale was an inhabitant of Sheriff Hutton in the lands of Ralph Neville.
Joint
administration of his father’s Will was
granted on 13 March 1397 or 1398, so he may have been about 40 then, as the
eldest of three siblings.
Sheriff Hutton (Shyrefhoton)
1400
Given the likely
ages of his children, perhaps he married in about 1400. There is no mention of
his wife who may have pre-deceased him.
There was a
Richard Farendon who was archer and man at arms in a
Scottish Expeditionary Force who appeared in Retinue Lists on 24 June
1400. This could have been Richard. By this time he would have been in his
early forties. He held his horse and armour until his death in 1435, so it
seems likely that he became an experienced soldier who may have joined the many
armies of this time, when called upon to do so. The Nevilles were key players
in national affairs, so it seems likely that he would have been encouraged to
join national armies when called to do so.
The
English invasion of Scotland of August 1400 was the first military campaign
undertaken by Henry IV of England after deposing the previous king, his cousin
Richard II. Henry IV urgently wanted to defend the Anglo-Scottish border, and
to overcome his predecessor's legacy of failed military campaigns. A large army
was assembled slowly and marched into Scotland. Not only was no pitched battle
ever attempted, but the king did not try and besiege Scotland's capital,
Edinburgh. Henry's army left at the end of the summer after only a brief stay,
mostly camped near Leith (near Edinburgh) where it could maintain contact with
its supply fleet. The campaign ultimately accomplished little except to further
deplete the king's coffers, and is historically notable only for being the last
one led by an English king on Scottish soil.
Although
Henry had announced his plans at the November 1399 parliament, he did not
attempt a winter campaign, but continued to hold quasi-negotiations 'in
which he must have felt the Scots were profoundly irritating.' At the same
time, it appears that the House of Commons was not keen on the forthcoming war,
and, since extravagance had been a major complaint against Henry's predecessor,
Henry was probably constrained in requesting a subsidy. At this point, parliament
was clearly still opposed to a Scottish war, and may even have believed a
possible French invasion the imperative issue. In June 1400, the king summoned
his Duchy of Lancaster retainers to muster at York, and they in turn brought
their personal feudal retinues. At this point, with the invasion being obvious
to all, the Scots attempted to re-open negotiations. Although Scottish
ambassadors arrived at York to meet the king
around 26 June, they returned to Scotland within two weeks.
Although
the army was summoned to assemble at York on 24 June, it did not approach
Scotland until mid-August. This was due to the gradual arrival of army supplies
(in some cases, with much delay — the King's own tents, for example, were not
dispatched from Westminster until halfway through July). Brown suggests that
Henry was well aware of the delays these preparations would cause the campaign.
At some point before the army left for Scotland, the muster was met by the
Constable of England, Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, and the Earl
Marshal, Ralph
Neville, Earl of Westmorland. Individual leaders of
each retinue present were then paid a lump sum to later distribute in wages to
their troops: Men-at-arms received one shilling a day, archers half that, but
captains and leaders do not appear to have been paid at a higher rate.
Richard Farendale of Shyrefhoton came
from Sheriff Hutton in the lands
of Ralph Neville, so there is strong evidence that this was the same person as
Richard Farendon who joined these Scottish Wars..
The
army left York on 25 July 1400 and reached Newcastle-upon-Tyne four days later;
it was plagued by shortages of supplies, particularly food, of which more had
had to be requested before even leaving York. As the campaign progressed, bad
weather exacerbated the problem of food shortages, and Brown has speculated
that this was an important consideration in the short duration of the
expedition.
It
has been estimated that Henry's army was around 13,000 men, of which 800
men-at-arms and 2000 archers came directly from the Royal Household This was
"one of the largest raised in late medieval England;"
Brown notes that whilst it was smaller than the massive army assembled in 1345
(that would fight the Battle of Crécy), it was larger than most that were
mustered for French service. The English fleet also patrolled the east coast of
Scotland in order to besiege Scottish trade and to resupply the army when
required. At least three convoys were sent from London and the Humber, the
first of which delivered 100 tonnes of flour and ten tonnes of sea salt to
Henry's army in Scotland.
Henry
crossed the border in mid-August. Given-Wilson has noted the care Henry took
not to ravage or pillage the countryside on their march through Berwickshire
and Lothian. This was in marked contrast to previous expeditions, and
Given-Wilson compares it specifically to the 'devastation wreacked' in last such campaign, by Richard II in 1385.
This he puts this down to the presence in the English army of the earl of
Dunbar, whose lands they were. Brown has suggested the king envisaged ... a
punitive expedition' with either a confrontation or such a chevauchée
that the Scots would be eager to negotiate. In the event, they offered no
resistance as the English army marched through Haddington.
Common
during the Hundred Years War, the chevauchée was an
armed raid into enemy territory. With the aim of destruction, pillage, and
demoralization, chevauchées were generally conducted
against civilian populations.
However,
Henry's army never progressed further than Leith; there the army could keep in
physical contact with the supporting fleet. Henry took a personal interest in
his convoys, at one point even verbally instructing that two Scottish fishermen
fishing in the Firth of Forth were to be paid £2 for their (unspecified)
assistance. However, Henry never besieged Edinburgh Castle where the Duke of
Rothsay was ensconced. By now, Brown says, Henry's campaign had been reduced to
a 'war of words.'
By
29 August, the English army had returned to the other side of the border.
1402
Although
the 1400 campaign ended the Wars directly into Scotland, the Scvottish Wars
continued with encounters south of the Border. Shakespeare’s play Henry IV Part
1 opens with word brought to the King in about 1402, a few years in to the new
Lancastrian dynasty of Henry Bolingbroke, son of John of Gaunt, then Henry IV,
of the Wars with Wales and Scotland.
The
Battle of Holmedon Hill was a battle between English
and Scottish armies on 14 September 1402 in Northumberland. The battle was
recounted in Shakespeare's Henry IV, part 1.
Here
is a dear, a true-industrious friend,
Sir
Walter Blunt, new lighted from his horse,
Stained
with the variation of each soil
Betwixt
that Holmedon and this seat of ours,
And
he hath brought us smooth and welcome news.
The
Earl of Douglas is discomfited;
Ten
thousand bold Scots, two-and-twenty knights,
Balked
in their own blood, did Sir Walter see
On Holmedon’s plains. Of prisoners Hotspur took
Mordake,
Earl of Fife and eldest son
To
beaten Douglas, and the Earl of Atholl,
Of
Murray, Angus, and Menteith.
And
is not this an honorable spoil?
A
gallant prize? Ha, cousin, is it not?
(Henry
IV Part 1, Shakespeare, Act 1, Scene 1)
We
don’t know whether Richard was still part of the army at this stage, but we get
a Shakespearean flavour of these times.
1415
It is possible
that, as a veteran soldier, Richard might have later fought in Henry V’s
Agincourt campaign.
I
haven’t yet found him in the list of known soldiers at Agincourt. Sir Nicholas Harreis’
History of the battle of Agincourt, and of the expedition of Henry the Fifth
into France, in 1415; with The roll of the men at arms, in the English army,
1832 includes a Roll of the men at arms at Agincourt, p394. There is
no Richard Farendale listed, unless he was Richard Fulshull (p336), a Lancer in the retinue of the Earl of
Marche, or Richard Fythian (p344). It doesn’t seem
likely that these were the same man.
But to these lists of named individuals were unnamed lists of
lances and archers, so he could have been amongst these ordinary unlisted
soldiers. And if he wasn’t at Agincourt, he may have been in the other battles
in those French campaigns. Living firmly within the Neville lands, it seems
likely that he would have fought in the King’s battles with France. The family
also originated from the lands of the wife of the Black Prince and the lands of
the Stutevilles and the Mowbrays.
Background to Agincourt
After the Norman Conquest, a subject of the King of
France was also King of England. The Dukes of Normandy were frequently in
dispute with their neighbours, including the Dukes of Brittany. By the
thirteenth century, the French noble lines were eager to drive out the English
from their Norman lands. During John’s reign, the English lost their Norman
lands, and from the reign of Henry III, there was a desire to win back the
Norman lands. Edward III died in 1377 having failed to do so, his son the Black
Prince having died in 1376, leaving Richard II as King, to be overthrown by
Henry IV of the Lancastrian line., who reign was marred by constant civil war.
When Henry V became King in 1413, his ambitions to
restore English interests in France would also serve to unite the warring
factions at home.
The Agincourt campaign
In 1415, the 29 year old Henry V launched his
invasion of Normandy. He landed not on the wider French lands, but in Normandy,
reinforcing his ambitions to restore the lands which the English believed to be
theirs. He landed with a huge army of 12,000 men.
A quarter of those were men at arms, who wore heavy
armour and had a horse. Men at arms were paid 1s to 2s a day, depending on
their status.
Three quarters of the force were archers, paid only
6d a day. They were cheaper, and acted as a force multiplier. They were armed
with the longbow. They could should a rapid rates (12 to even 20 arrows a
minute), accurately over long distances.
Henry’s army initially besieged the town of
Harfleur, which is modern day Le Havre, at the mouth of the Seine, the launch
site of previous Viking raids on Paris. There was a long siege at Harfleur,
and Henry V directed the siege himself, using artillery effectively against the
walls. The inhabitants of Harfleur eventually surrendered.
The siege of Harfleur ended in September as the
campaigning season was coming to an end. However Henry V decided to march home
through Normandy via Calais, perhaps to demonstrate his new hold on Normandy.
He challenged the rather pacific and lazy Dauphin to single combat, which was
declined. Henry left perhaps 1,200 men to garrison Harfleur and had lost
perhaps 2,000, so he had perhaps 8,000 left.
|
Once more unto the breach,
dear friends, once more, Or close the wall up with our
English dead! In peace there’s nothing so
becomes a man As modest stillness and
humility, But when the blast of war
blows in our ears, Then imitate the action of the
tiger: Stiffen the sinews, summon up
the blood, Disguise fair nature with
hard-favored rage, |
Then lend the eye a terrible
aspect, Let it pry through the portage
of the head Like the brass cannon, let the
brow o’erwhelm it As fearfully as doth a gallèd rock O’erhang and jutty his confounded base Swilled with the wild and
wasteful ocean. Now set the teeth, and stretch
the nostril wide, Hold hard the breath, and bend
up every spirit |
To his full height. On, on,
you noblest English, Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof, Fathers that, like so many
Alexanders, Have in these parts from morn
till even fought, And sheathed their swords for
lack of argument. Dishonor not your mothers. Now attest That those whom you called
fathers did beget you. Be copy now to men of grosser
blood |
And teach them how to war. And
you, good yeomen, Whose limbs were made in
England, show us here The mettle of your pasture.
Let us swear That you are worth your
breeding, which I doubt not, For there is none of you so
mean and base That hath not noble luster in your eyes. |
I see you stand like
greyhounds in the slips, Straining upon the start. The
game’s afoot. Follow your spirit, and upon
this charge Cry “God for Harry, England,
and Saint George!” |
(Henry V, Shakespeare, Act 3, Scene 1,
The Gates of Harfleur)
The French army blocked the English advance on the
Somme, but the English crossed. The armies eventually met around 45 miles south
of Calais, at Agincourt. Henry placed his bowmen in a V shape on either
flank. The l,ongbowmen were a known threat to the
French. A tradition evolved after the battle that the French threatened to cut
off the middle two fingers of any bowmen captured to stop them firing again,
and the archers responded to the French with the defiant V sign. The French
planned to take the archers with their cavalry, but Henry ordered his archers
to take the initiative to advance until they were in range and then fire into
the French horses and soldiers, depriving them of the opportunity.
|
We would not die in that man’s
company That fears his fellowship to
die with us. This day is called the feast
of Crispian. He that outlives this day and
comes safe home Will stand o’ tiptoe when this
day is named |
And rouse him at the name of
Crispian. He that shall see this day,
and live old age, Will yearly on the vigil feast
his neighbors And say “Tomorrow is Saint
Crispian.” Then will he strip his sleeve
and show his scars. |
Old men forget; yet all shall
be forgot, But he’ll remember with
advantages What feats he did that day.
Then shall our names, Familiar in his mouth as
household words, Harry the King, Bedford and
Exeter, Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury
and Gloucester, Be in their flowing cups
freshly remembered. |
This story shall the good man
teach his son, And Crispin Crispian shall
ne’er go by, From this day to the ending of
the world, But we in it shall be rememberèd— We few, we happy few, we band
of brothers; |
For he today that sheds his
blood with me Shall be my brother; be he
ne’er so vile, This day shall gentle his
condition; And gentlemen in England now
abed Shall think themselves
accursed they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint
Crispin’s day. |
The French lost perhaps 10,000 whilst the English
were said to have lost only 100 to 200. Amongst the dead was Richard Duke of
York, father of Richard of York who would become to nemesis of the
Lancastrians, but at this stage the Yorkists were loyal to the King.
After the victory, Henry marched to Calais and
besieged the city until it fell soon afterwards, and the king returned in
triumph to England in November and received a hero's welcome. The brewing
nationalistic sentiment among the English people was so great that contemporary
writers described first hand how Henry was welcomed
with triumphal pageantry into London upon his return. These accounts also
describe how Henry was greeted by elaborate displays and with choirs following
his passage to St. Paul's Cathedral.
Henry V returned to London in triumph and paraded like a Roman Emperor.
Support for the King mean that Parliament eagerly voted new taxes to fund
further campaigns against the French. Agincourt also fomented support for the
new Lancastrian dynasty.
1417
The 1417 campaign
The victorious conclusion of Agincourt, from the
English viewpoint, was only the first step in the campaign to recover the
French possessions that Henry felt belonged to the English crown. Agincourt
also held out the promise that Henry's pretensions to the French throne might
be realized. Henry V returned to France in 1417 to establish his reconquest of
Normandy.
Richard Farndale was descended from the poachers
of Pickering Forest only a hundred years previously. It was such men who certainly
inspired the stories of Robin Hood and whose
archery skills would foresee the bowmen of ordinary folk who would one day
fight at Agincourt.
Richard might have been about 58 years old by this stage, so if he
was part of a medieval army, he would have been an old soldier. However if it
was he who had fought in France in 1380 and in Scotland in 1400, it is likely
that this old soldier had become a campaign warrior. His impressive armoury
which he left at his death suggests an old campaigner who had risen to possess
the armoury of a man at arms. He seems to have alternated between being an
archer and a man at arms.
There is a separate page which explores possible
candidates for Farndale ancestors amongst medieval armies.
There was a
Richard Farndon who was an archer mustered in the Garrison at Harfleur under
Thomas Beaufort, Earl of Dorset and Duke of Exeter in 1417. The Siege
of Harfleur from 17 August to 22 September 1415 had preceded the Battle
of Agincourt on 25 October 1415. So the town would have been garrisoned in
the following years. It was at the gates of Harfleur that Henry V had delivered
his inspiring speech in 1415:
Could Richard
Farndale of Sheriff Hutton have been inspired by Henry’s words? It is tempting
to think that Richard might have participated in the wider campaign from 1415
to 1421. If he was indeed a semi professional
soldier, this seems likely. On the other hand, he may have joined the post
Agincourt campaign in 1417. It might be that after the losses sustained during
the 1415 campaign, older veteran soldiers were called upon to fill gaps in the
ranks, which might make sense of Richard forming part of the post Agincourt
garrison at Harfleur.
The 1417 record
of Richard Farndon at Harfleur might indicate that Richard Farndale, who we
know from his will was a military man, was an old veteran fighting in those
campaigns, either part
of the 1415 Agincourt campaign and continuing in the wars that followed, or
joining the English force after Agincourt in their subsequent campaign up to
1421.
The principal
consolidated source for participation in the Agincourt campaign is the
University of Southampton databases on the
English Army in 1415 in their data on the Soldier in Medieval England.
1419
The
victory at Agincourt inspired and boosted the English morale, while it caused a
heavy blow to the French as it further aided the English in their conquest of
Normandy and much of northern France by 1419. The French, especially the
nobility, who by this stage were weakened and exhausted by the disaster, began
quarrelling and fighting among themselves. This quarrelling also led to a
division in the French aristocracy and caused a rift in the French royal
family, leading to infighting.
Margorie
Farndale (executor to Richard’s will) might have been
born in about 1419 (FAR00049).
Her birth date is estimated, so whilst she could have been conceived during
some home leave if Richard was engaged throughout the Agincourt campaign, or
her year of birth might have been different if Richard was campaigning
throughout.
1420
By
1420, a treaty was signed between Henry V and Charles VI of France, known as
the Treaty of Troyes, which acknowledged Henry as regent and heir to the French
throne and also married Henry to Charles's daughter Catherine of Valois.
1421
Agnes Farndale, Richard’s second daughter, might
have been born in about 1421 (FAR00050).
Richard Farendon or Farndon appeared again in the list of medieval soldiers,
as part of a Standing Force in France as a foot soldier (Man at arms) and as an
archer, under Richard Woodville the elder (1385 to 1441) and Richard Baurchamp,
Earl of Warwick.
1421 was the year
of the Battle
of Bauge, the defeat of the Duke of Clarence and his English army by the
Scots and French army of the Dauphin of France. The battle took place on 22
March 1421 during the Hundred Years War. The Duke of Clarence, King Henry V’s
younger brother commanded the English army. The Earl of Buchan commanded the
Franco-Scottish army. The English army numbered around 4,000 men, of whom only
around 2,500 men took part in the battle. The Franco-Scottish army comprised
5,000 to 6,000 men.
On the other hand
Richard Woodville (or Wydeville) (later the First
Lord Rivers and father of Elizabeth Woodville later wife of the Yorkist Edward
IV), under whom Richard Farendon served, was granted
various domains, lordships and bailiwicks in Normandy in 1419 and 1420,
culminating in 1421 with appointment as Seneschal of the province of Normandy.
Richard
Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick held high command at sieges of French towns
between 1420 and 1422, at the sieges of Melun in 1420, and of Mantes, to the
west of Paris, in 1421-22. The more significant siege was of Meux to the east
of Paris.
In
1420 the town of Melun in France surrender to King Henry V. The siege had
rumbled on since June and had been fairly dramatic at times, with close combat
taking place literally beneath the walls as the besiegers and the garrison dug
mines and countermines in an attempt to bring the siege to an end. James I of
Scotland was present at the siege, brought to France in 1420 to be Henry's
trump card against the Scots serving on the Continent.
Siege
of Melun from a late 14th century manuscript
The
siege of Meaux was fought from October 1421 to May 1422 between the English and
the French during the Hundred Years' War. Paris was threatened by French
forces, based at Dreux, Meaux, and Joigny. The king
besieged and captured Dreux quite easily, and then went south, capturing Vendôme and Beaugency before
marching on Orléans. Henry then marched on Meaux with an army of more than
20,000 men. The town's defence was led by the Bastard of Vaurus,
by all accounts cruel and evil, but a brave commander all the same. The siege
commenced on 6 October 1421, mining and bombardment soon brought down the
walls. Many allies of King Henry were there to help him in the siege. Arthur
III, Duke of Brittany, recently released from an English prison, came there to
swear allegiance to the King of England and serve with his Breton troops. Duke
Philip III of Burgundy was also there, but many of his men were fighting in
other areas: In Picardy, Jean de Luxembourg and Hugues de Lannoy,
master of archers, accompanied by an Anglo-Burgundian army attacked, in late
March 1422 and conquered several places in Ponthieu and Vimeu
despite the efforts of troops of Joachim Rouhault
Jean Poton de Xaintrailles
and Jean d'Harcourt while in Champagne, Count Vaudemont was defeated in battle by La Hire. Casualties
began to mount in the English army, including John Clifford, 7th Baron de
Clifford who had been at the siege of Harfleur, the Battle of Agincourt, and
received the surrender of Cherbourg. Also killed in the siege was 17-year-old
John Cornwall, only son of famous nobleman John Cornwall, 1st Baron Fanhope. He died next to his father, who witnessed his
son’s head being blown off by a gun-stone. The English also began to fall sick
rather early into the siege, and it is estimated that one sixteenth of the
besiegers died from dysentery and smallpox while thousands died thanks to the
courageous defence of the men-at-arms inside the city. As the siege continued,
Henry himself grew sick, although he refused to leave until the siege was
finished. Good news reached him from England that on 6 December, Queen
Catherine had borne him a son and heir at Windsor. On 9 May 1422, the town of
Meaux surrendered, although the garrison held out. Under continued bombardment,
the garrison gave in as well on 10 May, following a siege of seven months. The
Bastard of Vaurus was decapitated, as was a trumpeter
named Orace, who had once mocked Henry. John Fortescue was then installed as
English captain of Meaux Castle.
It seems likely
that Richard Farndale took part in some or all of these siege campaigns around
Paris in 1421.
If these records
are indeed Richard Farndale of Sheriff Hutton, then he appears to have been an
old soldier who campaigned with Henry V, and perhaps built up his small wealth
on campaign.
1422
Henry V died in 1422 and
left a nine month old baby son, Henry VI. The inter noble rivalry
would soon pick up again.
Henry VI had no father
to guide him to Kingship and he relied on his advisors. He became timid and
passive and focused on religion. At this point in history, the nobility needed
strong leadership to control their ambitions. After the expensive battles in
France, financial resources were depleted. The young king was easily controlled
by the rival noble families.
This unpopularity would
ferment displeasure with the Lancastrian dynasty, which under Henry V had been
so popular, and would give stir up a Yorkist uprising.
The Yorkist cause was
most strongly supported by the Nevilles of Sheriff Hutton. Cecily Neville
married Richard, Duke of York, the main protagonist of the Yorkist cause. Their
son, Edward IV would found the Yorkist dynasty in 1461. Richard Neville, Earl of
Warwick, the King Maker, was the main political strategist to the Yorkist
cause, at least in the early stages of the Wars of the Roses.
Richard
was about 65 by this time, too old perhaps to take an active role himself.
However he lived in Sherif Hutton, at the heart of the cauldron that started to
bubble amongst the Yorkists. As a proud old soldier of Henry V he was likely to
have been appalled at the failures of Henry VI, stirred on no doubt by his
landlords, the Nevilles. In the last dozen years of his life, we can imagine
Richard over dinner with his daughters spitting with rage at where things had
got to under Henry VI, and yearning for the new glamour of the Yorkist cause.
In an old chest in his bedroom perhaps, his armour of bascinet, breastplate and
arm and leg fittings must have lain. His grey horse rested in the stables. He
probably would have put them on and rode out with the Nevilles if he had been
asked to do so.
However
at this stage Henry VI was just a young King, not yet a hopeless adult one and
the Wars of the Roses did not kick off until 1455, twenty years after Richard’s
death. He would leave his three daughters to live through the years of Yorkist
and Lancastrian rivalry. We only know their names. Perhaps they were passive
witnesses to the events which would follow. Perhaps their husbands and their
sons engaged in those Wars. We don’t know.
Richard’s
armour was bequeathed to the church, to pay for his funeral. Perhaps when the
civil war kicked off, they were taken by some other man at arms who likely
fought with the Yorkists, under the Neville banner.
1423
Alice Farndale, his third daughter, might have
been born in about 1423 (FAR00051).
1435
The Will of Richard Farendale, proved at
Sherifhoton 21 Dec 1435.
‘In the name of God Amen, 8th December 1435. I Richard Farndell
being of sound mind make my will in this manner. Firstly, I bequeath and
Commend my soul to God Almighty, My Creator, and my body to be buried in my
said Parish Church.
Item. I bequeath a grey horse with saddle and
reins and my armour, viz: a bascinet, a breast plate, a pair of vembraces and a
pair of rerebraces with leg harness as my mortuary payment. And I bequeath 3
lbs of wax to be burned around my body on the day of my burial.
Item. I bequeath to the Vicar of my Parish Church
6s 8d and to every chaplain taking part in my burial service Mass, 4d.
And I bequeath 26s 8d for mending a service
book for the use of the parish church.
And to the fabric of the Cathedral Church of
St Peter York, 12d.
And I bequeath to my daughter Margorie at her
marriage 10 marks, if she live to be marriageable age. And if she die before
she arrives at her years of discretion, I wish the said 10 marks to be divided
equally between my daughters Agnes and Alice.
And I bequeath to Joan Brantyng 40s and a bed.
And to the four orders of friars mendicant of
York 20s and two quarters of corn to be divided in equal portions.
And to John Pyper 2s.
And as regards the rest of my funeral
expenses, I wish them to be paid at the discretion of my executors.
The rest of my goods, not bequeathed above, my
debts having been paid, I bequeath to the said Margorie, my daughter, to be
divided among them in equal parts.
And I make the said Thomas Robynson and John
Couper and Margorie my daughter, my executors, faithfully to implement the
terms of my will.
Witnesses; Robert, Vicar of the Church of Hoton,
William Huby of the same, John Burdley of the same and many others.’
Administration granted to Thomas and John on 21st
December 1435 with rights reserved for similar administration to be granted to
Margorie.
(Translated from Latin text of Will held at York.
Prob. Reg. 3/441).
Richard Farndale therefore died between 8 and 21
December 1435.
York Prerogative & Exchequer Courts, Will;
Language: Latin; Will date: 8 Dec 1435; Probate date: 21 Dec 1435; Reference code: ProbReg 3; Folio: 441r, York Medieval
Probate Index, 1267-1500
(York Wills)
Richard’s Armour and horse:
His grey Horse
His bascinet His
breastplate
His vambraces His rerebraces
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