CITY OF DURHAM 



The erection of the new foundation in 1541 

 has been described elsewhere.^' Not the least 

 important part of the establishment was the 

 reconstitution of the ancient grammar school.^* 

 Further changes took place in the cathedral 

 in the autumn, when many of the relics were 

 turned out and the shrines were broken dovvn.^ 

 In December, as two bills ^' in the Cathedral 

 Library still attest, the place where St. Cuthbert's 

 shrine had been was levelled and covered in 

 with a marble slab." 



Gloomy years now followed. War broke 

 out with Scotland in 1542, and the passage of 

 troops to and fro kept the city in excitement. 

 Special requisition was made on the townsfolk 

 for transport service,-* and Tunstall came 

 down to the castle to superintend the levies. 

 Next year rumours were brought in of a French 

 fleet off Hartlepool,^' and some confused story 

 about local insurrection.^" In 1544, one of the 

 most severe in the long series of plagues befell 

 the city and neighbourhood.'* 



So the reign of Henry passed to its close. 

 In Edward's first year, the pressure of drastic 

 change was felt in the dissolution of Kepier 

 Hospital, and particularly in the suppression 

 of the Corpus Christi gild, round which so 

 much of local trade had centred.'^ The old 

 plays and functions came to an end now entirely, 

 or, at all events, in large measure. The citizens 

 saw with curious eyes, if not with indignation, 

 the visitors sent round in the summer of 1547 

 to inaugurate the changes. Next year, in 

 connection with Scottish affairs, a commission 

 from London came to search the palatinate 

 records in Durham. It was soon after this 

 that the city became an important item in the 

 programme that the Duke of Northumberland 

 was scheming. The intention was to make 

 Durham the capital of a northern principality 

 over which the duke was to preside, whilst 

 his son Guilford Dudley should be Prince 

 Consort in the south to Lady Jane Grey ruling 

 in London. In forwarding this design, the 



" V.C.H. Dur. n, 32. 



^* The chief authority for the history is Mickleton 

 MS. xxxii, Ivii, Ixix. See further below. A good 

 summary is in Durham School Register. 



^* We get the date of the spoiling of the shrine 

 as March 1538 from the movements of the com- 

 missioners as foUowed in the State Papers, and the 

 date of the general destruction of shrines (R. VV. 

 Dixon, Hist. 0/ Ch. 0/ England from Abolition of Roman 

 Jurisdiction, ii, 12-72). The description is in Rites 

 of Dur. (Surt. Soc), 102. 



2" Printed in Dur. Acct. R. (Surt. Soc), 741-2. 



*' The date of the paving is given in the bills named 

 in the text. 



^* L. and P. Hen. Fill, xvii, 1040. 



29 L. and P. Hen. Fill, xviii (i), 755, 814. 



3» Ibid. 884. 3' Ibid, xix (0,931. 



S2 Rites of Dur. (Surt. Soc), 69. 



duke meant the castle to be the residence of 

 the new northern ruler, suggesting that ' his 

 Majesty receive both the castle which hath a 

 princely site, and the other stately houses which 

 the bishop hath in this county.' The king 

 did resume all the episcopal property in Durham 

 and elsewhere, but he did not make over to 

 Northumberland his heart's desire.*' 



The reign of Mary soon restored what had 

 been torn from the see in Durham. The 

 palatinate power was restored to the bishop, 

 and he regained the castle as well. The queen 

 granted him the patronage of the prebends, 

 and so instituted a right which gave the bishop, 

 for the time being, the opportunity of filling 

 the stalls with men agreeable to himself. When 

 in 1554 the papal jurisdiction was restored, 

 Durham hailed it with satisfaction. Great 

 festival was held at the cathedral and the biU 

 still exists for ' Expens. maid the day that the 

 proclamation and bonefyrs war maid for the 

 receyving of the Pope in this realm agayn.' ** 



The interest of the early years, at all events, 

 of the long reign of Elizabeth is largely religious, 

 and will not be dealt with in detail here. The 

 sympathies of the city were very clearly with the 

 Marian order, which was now altered. In the 

 queen's first year the city formed one of the 

 centres of the great ecclesiastical visitation. ** 

 The visitors made it abundantly evident that 

 the government would brook no opposition, so 

 that the citizens probably made up their minds 

 to bide their time in the hope that one more 

 rapid revolution of the wheel would bring back 

 what the visitors were driving away. It was in 

 a city so actuated that the planning of the 

 Northern Rebellion in 1569 kindled new hope 

 and interest. Every notice of Durham during 

 the closing months of that critical year indicates 

 suppressed excitement and strong antipathy 

 towards the government. The moment the 

 control of the government was relaxed the 

 inhabitants very largely joined in with the in- 

 surrection and were willing participators in the 

 events which centred round the cathedral. 

 When the premature movement had collapsed 

 in the gloomy winter days Durham bore a fore- 

 most part in the vengeance that followed. The 

 unfortunate Earl of Westmorland lost the houses 

 which he held within the city. In this way the 



'•^ The story is more fully told in Engl. Episcopal 

 Palaces (Province of York), 161. For the general 

 connection, see R. \V. Dixon, op. cit. iii, 487, 506. 

 Northumberland's preposterous letter is in S. P. Dom. 

 Edw. VI, XV, no. 35. 



'* Engl. Episcopal Palaces (Province of York), 163. 

 The triple arrangement of prebendal hospitality, 

 alluded to in later days as first, second, and third 

 class, is seen for the first time in the document there 

 quoted. The bill is in the Treasury documents. 



'5 F.C.H. Dur. ii, 34. 



29 



