NORTHAMPTON. 
‘provided that no univerfity fhould aaa eftablifhed here. 
It is, however, a manifeft indication e importance at- 
tached to North 
ood iaptlen in the pas year of Edward a the 
ious, that in th this reign a 
saa was paffed for their total expulfion from the kingdom, 
for the confifcation of their property. Edward I 
fences refided at Northampton in great fplendour; and 
on his death a parliament was held here to fettle the cere- 
monial of his burial, and the marriage and coronation of his 
fucceffor. Another parliament met here in 1317, in which 
an impoftor, John Poydras, fon of a tanner at Exeter, was 
brought to trial for affirming that he was the real fon of 
Edward I., and that the ns was a carter’s fon, and fub- 
ftituted at nurfe in his 
t ard III., the mayor, 
bailiffs, a burgefles of Noataaaton cae the royal 
licence to hold an annual fair for twenty-eight days ; ehh 
air is now difcontinued. In this reign feveral Sear 
were held ’ ere. e la A eens that affembled at 
thampton was 
vifited by queen Elizabeth in 1563, and by king Charles I. 
in 1634: it was ravaged by the plague in 16373 and in 
1642 was feized by the parliamentary forces, b 
was fortified; the fouth and weft bridges being converted 
into draw-bridges, and additional works aa up in the 
defencelefs places. In the north-eaft t of the town 
b' The 
town fuffered greatly by a gina hag 63. North- 
ampton has fultained fome fevere lo y fire ; 
but thefe have ultimately proved beneficial to de place, 
for the uniformity and fubftantial character of the hoc. 
width of the fen s, and general arrangement of the town, 
are all to be attributed to thofe calamitous events. Ac- 
cording = i — — moft of the houfes were 
made of w: his time. idfummer day, 1566, 
fire feces feveral houfes : bt the mott memorable oc- 
operty was eltimated at 150,00 cool. 
dwelling-houtes were then burnt, and more than 700 famikies 
ther at deprived of their habitations and property. 
ion was foon inttituted, and 1t appears, i a lift of 
benefadtions, that above 26,606) were raifed for the fuf- 
fere 
caftle, and by baftion towers. ln the w 
weft, had rooms or dwellings over 
them, and that to the eaft, according to Bridges, ‘* was the 
faireft of all,” being lofty, and embellifhed with fhelds, 
arms, and other ornaments. eer of this was a 
{maller gate or a ea the Durn Gate. B 
qu uifition taken in the of Edward I., it es ‘thet 
the walls were eee ; and at different places had iteps 
to afcend them. Like the walls round the city of Chetter, 
thefe ferved sae : eased ha . ~ infirm and indif- 
pofed inhab were accutto take the air,’ 
They alfo onal the beit footpath in in ae winter, from 
epe. 
of yerth be inate afore the peat al t fome 
fortrefs was erected at Northampton before the None a 
conquelt, may be inferred from the events that occurred 
here during the Saxon and Danifh dynafties ; but of that 
building no accounts have defcended to the prefent times. 
It is; however, recorded, that Simon de Senliz, or St. Liz, 
the firft earl of Northampton of that name, aa a caltle 
he Welt Gate of 
1 
barrier on the weftern fi In ’s reign it wa 
po y the crown; was afterwards entrufted to 
fome conftable or caltellan appointed by the fovereign 
between Henry IIT. an 
But in the civil war of 1264, 
it in the occupation of the confederate 
Bolg under the banner of the earl of Leicefter, whofe 
fon, on de Montford, was then its governor. The kin 
havin 
garrifor urprife, were, oa: a 
sara difplay of ones complete eh dtcomfte, and fur- 
endered themfelves prifoners o this s capitulation 
were included fourteen of the mo a noice barons an 
knights bannerets, pe forty inferior knights. 
thus reverted to the crown, till, in the 3 
Thomas Wake, then theriff, claimed the cuftody of it as 
annexed to the county, and belonging to his jurifdiétion ; 
en, to have b 
giv 
Within the caftle was a royal free chapel, dedicated to 
t. - Previous to the year 1675, this fortrefs was 
molifhed; a 
Robert Hafelrig, efq. in whofe family it fill remains. It 
appears, sane — the account of Norden, aa even in 
e year 1593 the caflle was much de sp ae: 8 
oe “ The towne,” fays he, “is a “faire ann 
with, 
