POLITICAL HISTORY 



accompanied by two cardinals and his brother Henry, the bishop and his party 

 were attacked by Gilbert Middleton at Rushyford, some ten miles south of 

 Durham. The cardinalswere robbed of everything they possessed, and Beaumont 

 and his brother were carried captive, the former to Morpeth and the latter to 

 Mitford Castle in the north of Northumberland, and held to ransom."' So ! 

 daring were these freebooters that six days later Middleton and some of his 

 men appeared in Durham Cathedral during service, spoke to the earl of 

 Lancaster, and were allowed to return unmolested. In the sequel the 

 bishop and his brother were ransomed and Middleton was captured and 

 executed. ^^° 



The other incident occurred the following year (131 8), when Richard 

 Marmaduke lord of Horden and the most important official in the Palatinate 

 was killed by Ralph Neville, the Peacock of the North, on Framwellgate 

 Bridge right under the castle of Durham, and the murderer was allowed to 

 go unpunished."^ 



The early years of Beaumont's episcopate were marked by one serious 

 invasion. Early in 1322 the Scots, having overrun the eastern districts, made a 

 feint of crossing the Tees and invading Richmondshire. Deceived by this feint 

 many of the inhabitants who had fled to Cleveland for safety returned home 

 by sea, and were surprised by the Scots who suddenly returned the way they 

 had come."^ 



The year 1327 witnessed another though a less disastrous invasion by 

 the Scots. In July 4,000 Scottish knights and squires with some 20,000 

 light horse under Sir Thomas Ranulph earl of Moray and Sir James Douglas 

 crossed the Tyne and started to ravage the rugged western, districts of the 

 Palatinate. Edward III, who had reached Durham with a considerable force 

 about the middle of the month, started for Stanhope near the head of 

 Weardale where the Scots were encamped. His spies soon brought word 

 that the enemy were in retreat, and the king made a forced march to 

 Haydon Bridge, on the River Tyne, in the hope of cutting off their retreat. 

 On arriving at the Tyne, however, no signs of the Scots could be found, and 

 some days were spent in futile reconnaissance. The king then offered knight- 

 hood and lands of the value of j^ioo a year to the man who should bring 

 him intelligence of the whereabouts of the Scottish army. On 3 1 July, 

 whilst the army was advancing down the valley of the Derwent to Blanch- 

 land, a squire, Thomas Rokeby by name, galloped up to the king with the 

 news that the Scots still lay at Stanhope. The English army was immedi- 

 ately halted, and next day marched over the moors of Stanhope Common, 

 down into the narrow valley of the Wear, where on the southern bank they 

 were confronted by the enemy drawn up in battle array. So strong was the 

 Scotch position that the English dared not attack ; but Douglas, with some 

 two hundred followers, penetrated one night into the English camp up to 

 the king's tent, the cords of which they cut, and retreated with but little 

 loss, after having killed some three hundred of the English. For three days 



» 



'" Bates, Northumb. 157. 



''° Script. Ties (Surt. Soc), 100. There appears to have been some understanding between Middleton 

 and the earl of Lancaster ; Bates, op cit. 157. 



'" Surtees, Hist. Durham, i, 26 ; Gesta Edwardi de Carnarvan (Rolls Ser.), ii, 56. Marmaduke was the 

 bishop's steward, then and till the middle of the fifteenth century the most important administrative official of 

 the bishop. Lapsley, op. cit. 77. '" Script. Tres (Surt. Soc), 102. 



157 



