From the Yore River the ground ascends to Middleham, now only a
sleepy looking village but called a "town." Above the roof-tops at the
summit of the hill stands the mediæval castle where resided in great
pomp that turbulent noble, Warwick the "kingmaker." Here it was that
he imprisoned Edward IV., the monarch he had helped to put upon
the throne, for daring to marry the widowed daughter of Sir Richard
Woodville in
[Pg 253]
preference to a Nevill. When, the year after reinstating Henry VI. for a
brief space, the great feudal baron ended his career on Barnet
battlefield, his castle at Middleham was handed over by Edward to his
brother Richard, who had also a claim upon it by his marriage with
the
"kingmaker's"
daughter.
Here
"Crookback,"
or
rather
"Crouchback," was living before he usurped the Crown in 1483; and here his son the young Prince Edward died upon the first anniversary,
as a providential punishment for the death of his little cousins in the Tower. Richard, by the way, is said to have had another natural son
who lived into the reign of Edward VI. and died in a small house on the Eastwell estate near Wye in Kent. Richard Plantagenet's death is
duly recorded in the parish register, distinguished by the mark of a V,
which distinguishes other entries of those of noble birth, and a plain tomb in the chancel is supposed to be his place of interment. Until an
old man he preserved his incognito, when Sir Thomas Moyle
discovered that a mason at work upon his house was none other than
a king's son. His youth had been spent under charge of a
schoolmaster, who had taken him to Bosworth field and introduced
him into Richard's tent. The king received him in his arms and told
him he was his father, and if he survived the battle he would
acknowledge him to be his son; but if fortune should go against him,
he should on no account reveal who he was. On the following day in
entering Leice
[Pg 254]
ster a naked figure lying across a horse's back was pointed out to him
as the same great person whose star and gaiter had inspired him with
awe.
The walls of the Norman castle keep are of immense thickness, and
protected without by others almost as formidable of a later date. The
great hall was on the first floor, and the tower where little Edward
Plantagenet was born (the Red Tower) at the south-west corner; but
tradition hasn't kept alive much to carry the imagination back to the
time when the powerful Nevill reigned here in his glory. The escape of
Edward IV. has been made realistic in the immortal bard's King Henry
VI. , and Scene v. Part iii. might be read in less romantic spots than in Wensleydale, with this grand old ruin standing out in the distance like
one of Doré's castles. In this case, distance "lends enchantment," as
Middleham itself is by no means lovely. The ancient market-cross
would look far less commonplace and tomb-like were the top of it
again knocked off. The site of the swine market bears the
cognosance of "Crouchback," which is scarcely a compliment to his memory; but this antique monument is put vastly in the shade by a
jubilee fountain, the only up-to-date thing in the place, and quite out of harmony with the ring where bulls were baited within living
memory.
QUEEN'S GAP, LEYBURN "SHAWL."
In Spennithorne church, near Middleham, there is an ancient altar-
tomb of John Fitz-Randolph, of the family of the early lords of the
castle before the Nevills became possessed of it. Along the font are
several coloured shields of arms of the various families with whom
they
[Pg 255]
intermarried. The nave of the church has an odd appearance, as the
north and south aisles are separated by a series of distinct arches,
the latter Early English, the former pure Norman. A very interesting
thirteenth-century screen was originally at Jervaulx Abbey. On the
west wall there is a large fresco of Father Time, dating perhaps two
hundred years later. The rector must be commended for hanging in
his church a brief summary of the points of interest, and many might
follow this laudable example.