Grace Darling, Heroine of the Farne Islands — John Shaqi
Grace Darling, Heroine of the Farne IslandsFarningham, Marianne
History
Grace Darling, Heroine of the Farne Islands
Farningham, Marianne
Darling, Grace, 1815-1842; Women heroes -- England -- Northumberland -- Biography
William Rufus was not liked better in Northumbria than his father had
been, and Robert Mowbray, Earl of Northumbria, had especial reason to
dislike him, on account of his appropriation of the forest lands. He
was a powerful chief, possessing two hundred and eighty manors, but he
did not attend the Court. This displeased William, who sent forth a
decree that every baron who did not attend the festival at Whitsuntide
should be outlawed. The Earl paid no attention to this; and as he was
engaged with other nobles in a conspiracy to dethrone William, the
monarch brought his army into Northumbria, besieged and took the
fortress at Newcastle, went on to Tynemouth, and then to Bamborough
Castle, to which the Earl had escaped. This castle was impregnable,
but the Earl was decoyed from it, and after going again to Tynemouth,
he was wounded and taken prisoner. But William coveted the Castle of
Bamborough, which was still held by the wife of the Earl. He, Mowbray,
was taken to an eminence in front of the castle, while the Normans
demanded parley with the Countess. She, to save her husband from
having his eyes put out before her face, surrendered the castle to
them, and the Earl was taken to the dungeons of Windsor Castle, and
kept there for thirty years.
In the year 1094 the little Island of Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, had
built upon it a beautiful church and priory, for the Normans introduced
a very superior style of architecture. Edward, one of the monks of
Holy Island, was rich enough to undertake this work. It is said by an
imaginative or credulous historian, that St. Cuthbert still worked
miracles there. "The crowds of thirsty labourers, who had passed over
to the island with materials for the new building, were, by Edward's
interest with St. Cuthbert, enabled for a whole day to drink from a cup
which was never once replenished by mortal hand. And multitudes were
fed by this same Edward without materials."
During the reign of Henry the First a bridge was built at Durham, the
ruins of Hexham were restored, a Leper Hospital was built at Newcastle,
and Northumberland and Durham were generally enriched.
In Stephen's reign, David, King of Scotland, fought a battle with the
English king in Northumberland; and, indeed, the history of the
centuries, to the seventeenth, is full of the accounts of battles on
the border with the English and Scotch, the Dukes of Northumberland
being often at war with the Scottish kings. The battles were
frequently on a large scale, and the bloodshed was frightful, while the
ill-will begotten on both sides of the border was most bitter. King
John met the Scottish king on the borders in the year 1213, and then
the two professed to be reconciled, but very little good came of it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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