POLITICAL HISTORY 



one of the most staunch supporters of the house of Lancaster. He was twice 

 married. The issue of his first marriage, who succeeded to his Durham 

 estates, followed in his footsteps, John the only son of the second earl being 

 killed at the battle of St. Albans in 145 i whilst fighting for Henry VI. The 

 more distinguished children of his second marriage with Joan Beaufort 

 daughter of John of Gaunt as a rule were Yorkists. With the exception of 

 his son Robert, who was bishop of Durham from 1437 to 1457, and does not 

 appear to have shared the ambitious and intriguing spirit of his brothers, the 

 members of this branch ceased to be directly connected with Durham. It is 

 probably greatly due to the influence of the Durham branch of the Neville 

 family — whose extensive territorial possessions extended over the greater part 

 of the western portions of the county, including the castles of Brancepeth and 

 Raby — that the Palatinate was a Lancastrian stronghold."'' 



Though during the struggle much fighting took place in both Yorkshire 

 and Northumberland, there is no record of any action being fought in 

 Durham. 



To Fordham succeeded Bishop Skirlaw (1388— 1405), who although 

 not a politician is stated to have connived at the Percy Rising in 1403, which 

 the earl of Westmorland refused to join, and by his operations prevented 

 the earl of Northumberland from joining his son Hotspur at Shrews- 

 bury. When therefore two years later the earl of Northumberland again 

 attempted to rebel, he tried to rid himself of the earl of Westmorland, but 

 the attempt to surprise him in Sir Ralph Eure's castle at Witton le Wear 

 failed."' After this rising several persons were executed at Durham, but none 

 of them appear to have belonged to the county."* 



Bishop Langley's long episcopate (1406—37) was a period of peace, save 

 for a slight disturbance at Barnard Castle."" The principal interest of his 

 episcopate lies in the action he brought to protect the Palatinate rights from 

 infringement. An attempt had been made under a commission from the 

 king's Chancery to take an inquest at Hartlepool, which was within the 

 Palatinate. Langley petitioned, and the matter came before Parliament. At 

 the hearing Sir William Eure, counsel for the king, alleged that the bishop's 

 claim to have Jura regalia between the rivers Tyne and Tees by prescription 

 was bad, as Richard I was seised of the manor and wapentake of Sadberge. 

 Still Langley prevailed, and the Palatinate rights were fully acknowledged."* 



In 1457 Laurence Booth was appointed bishop in succession to Robert 

 Neville. As a Lancastrian Booth had a difficult part to play when, after 

 the battle of Towton (1461), the Yorkist party became supreme and the 

 north the centre of the struggle. Though Barnard Castle was held by the 



""' For the history of the Nevilles see the excellent series of articles in the Diet. Nat. Biog. on the various 

 members of the family. Also Surtees, Hist. Dur. iv, 149. It should be mentioned that Richard earl of 

 Warwick, the king-maker, became entitled to Barnard Castle in right of his wife Anne Beauchamp. 



'«3 Wylie, Hist, of Hen. IF, ii. 178. "^ Ramsay, I'ori and Lane, i, 92. 



'" In 1426 Sir John Jonson is pardoned for assembling an armed crowd of malefactors at Barnard Castle. 

 Dur. Cursitor R. E. Langley, m. 15. 



■** Pari. R. (Rec. Com.), iv, 427. The whole case is most interesting. Eure's allegation would appear 

 to be fatal to the bishop's claim ; but Langley, who had three times been Chancellor, was a man of influence, 

 and under the Lancastrian rule there was no tendency to cut down the Palatinate privileges. Langley also 

 brought a successful action against the mayor and community of Newcastle on Tyne for the southern part of 

 the River Tyne and the bridge over it between Newcastle and Gateshead. Spearman, Inquiry, lo ; Script. 

 Tres (Surt. Soc), App. No. clxxxii. 



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