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Mowbray Legacy & Acknowledgements
A
chance conversation about one of England’s great families, who in the Middle
Ages had lived in the Isle of Axholme, Lincolnshire, set me on a course that
would reveal local connections with great British leaders, American Presidents
and a sprinkling of Hollywood’s greatest-ever stars, as well as our present
Queen, two wives of Henry VIII, and a host of other famous people, including
Pocahontas, the Princes in the Tower, an early American pirate, Diana, Princess
of Wales, and the Duchess from Alice in Wonderland.
However, for
the most part,
using our imagination as to what the Mowbrays looked like will have to be the
order of the day. Try to picture hairy and haughty Robert de Mowbray in chains
before the walls of Bamburgh Castle on the brink of having his eyes put out, or
the dreadful plight of eleven-year-old John locked in the Tower of London with
his terrified mother while his father was being hanged at York; and never forget
the indomitable Katherine Neville, the Mowbray dowager who resided at Epworth
and married a twenty-year-old as her fourth husband when she was nearly seventy!
The
Mowbrays were involved in just about everything that happened in England for four hundred
years, from the Battle of Hastings to the Wars of the Roses, and played their
part in its development as a nation.
The
book that resulted from my wanderings up and down the country is not attempting to present itself as a
definitive or academic account; its aim is to act as a resource for the local
community by clarifying what the Mowbrays achieved nationally and what their
connection was with that part of Lincolnshire known as the Isle of Axholme. As
always, my researches have taken me to places in this lovely country of ours
that I had no idea existed and have brought me into contact with some
wonderfully friendly, interesting and helpful people it has been my great
privilege to meet, and whom I cannot thank enough for their contributions,
encouragement and support.
Marilyn
Roberts May 2004 (Marilyn Roberts was born in Lincolnshire and has lived there for the greater part of her life. She was educated at Scunthorpe Grammar School, Didsbury College, Manchester, and the University of Hull, from where she was awarded a Master’s Degree in the History and Administration of Education in England and Wales.) Acknowledgements Grateful
thanks are due to the following: Helen
and Arthur Beaumont of Epworth, for the enormous amount of help they have given
me in and around the Isle of Axholme. Matthew
Blackbourn of the Royal Armouries, Leeds, for information on medieval warfare
and on the Mowbray family. Stan
Boor, former Lord of the Haxey Hood, for information about the Haxey Hood game
and on Haxey Church. Adam
Brace of York Minster Library. Jennifer
Carr, who has encouraged my endeavours for so many years. John
Clark, Curator of Medieval History at the Museum of London. John
Blythe Dobson of Winnipeg, for guiding me to the American genealogy books. Revd
Ian M.G. Friars, Rector, Long Melford Church, Suffolk, for permission to
photograph the stained glass window depicting the duchesses of Norfolk. Joanne Griffith, Custodian, Mount Grace Priory, for discussing the similarities and differences between the Low Melwood charterhouse and that at Mount Grace, North Yorkshire. Pauline
Harvey of Epworth, for information on the Mowbray tiles. The
Lord of the Haxey Hood (Philip Coggan) and his team for 2003. Robert
Helmerichs, for information leading to articles on Geoffrey of Coutances. Professor
Richard Holmes of Cranfield University (Royal Military College of Science), for
help in locating information on the Battle of Neville’s Cross. Christine
Hopwood of the Friends of York Minster, for her kind hospitality and help with
the York connections. Stanley Johnson of Epworth, for the pedigree of H.M. Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
Chris Keating, City University, London, for his invaluable computer skills. Staff
at the Mechanics’ Institute Library in Epworth. Andrew
Milson, formerly Curator of the Old Rectory in Epworth, for introducing me to
the subject of the Mowbray family. The
late Miss
Elizabeth J. Nall of Hoveringham, for information on the Goushill tomb. Stephen
O’Connor of the National Archives (formerly Public Record Office), for his
attempts to locate the Mowbray Deed. Derek
Palgrave of the Palgrave Society, for information on the pirate Palgrave
Williams. Sara
Rodger, Assistant Librarian to the Duke of Norfolk, for information on Richard
Fitzalan. Dr.
Mike Rogers of Lincolnshire Archives, for locating and translating the Thomas
Mowbray document of 1392, and to the Archives for permission to reproduce the
document here. Staff
at Scunthorpe Public Libraries. Tony
Scupham-Bilton, for most of the Molesworth/de Havilland family links. Gordon
Simpson of Gordon Video Services, Scunthorpe. Staff
of The Society of Genealogists, London Wendy
Sterry for assistance with the Norfolk connections. Ron
Thornton of Owston Ferry, for access to the Carthusian Monastery at Low Melwood.
Tower
of London – former assistant curator Jeremy Ashbee, now of English Heritage. Eileen Wallace, Castle Secretary, Arundel Leigh Wetherall Dickson of the Churches’ Conservation Trust, for information on the Mowbray stained glass in the Holy Trinity Church in York and permission to photograph the same. Thanks also to the staff at the York City Archives, the Borthwick Institute in York and the North Yorkshire Archives in Northallerton for making searches of their indexes and
to William Hodges of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, who tried to
locate the original information on Lady Anne Mowbray’s wedding.
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For more information, or to comment on the website, email: info@queens-haven.co.uk You may require extra fonts to view this website correctly; to check please click here. Copyright M. Roberts 2006
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