Power-hungry
Not even satisfied with this authority, however, in 1082 Odo made a bid to purchase the papacy, causing a split with William, who arrested his half-brother himself. Odo was tried and imprisoned for sedition, and only released following William’s death.
But a leopard never changes its spots, and Odo was soon causing trouble again, leading a revolt against the new King - William Rufus. Again Kent suffered at Odo’s hands, as the revolt was played out on Kentish soil. Odo and his supporters ravaged the royal possessions in the county, as well as those of Lanfranc, but Rufus soon crushed the rebellion, which ended with siege of Rochester Castle, and Odo was exiled from England for good.
There was no other Earl of Kent after Odo: despite his tyrannical behaviour and the unrest he created, Odo had served his purpose, securing the county and defending the coast while the Norman kingdom was still vulnerable in its infancy. Odo’s final split with William should not disguise the fact that he was almost indispensable to his half-brother’s government.
And yet, in Kent, Odo’s ruthlessness and arrogance won him only enemies. The legend of his final surrender at Rochester is perhaps the most fitting testimony to his unpopularity in Kent. As he left Rochester castle the jeers of his English subjects demanded the hangman’s noose - Odo’s harsh rule had left a bitter taste amongst the men of Kent.
Wat Tyler
Walter or Wat Tyler was the leader of the peasant's revolt. He was born in 1320 in the village of Boxley in Kent. A contemporary chronicler, Froissart records that he was 'indeed an ungracious patron'
Wat Tyler is the most important of several individuals who led the peasant’s revolt in 1381. His involvement is said have begun following his murder of a tax collector who assaulted his daughter. It is impossible to confirm this story that was originally quoted by the historian John Stow was taken from the St Albans chronicle that has since been lost.
The records have allowed historians to record the progress of events with some accuracy. The revolt began in Dartford on the 4th and 5th of June. There were also disturbances recorded in Maidstone and North Cray. The rebels, as they were referred to by the authorities, then moved to Canterbury.
A group led by Tyler seized the Sherriff of Kent outside Sittingboune and burnt his official documents. From Canterbury the increasingly large armed moved to Maidstone where they released the radical preacher John Ball on the 11th of June. Through other parts of Kent the message of the rebellion had spread.
There few records surviving from this period but it is known that a proclamation from Tyler and Jack Rakestraw was made in St Johns church on Thanet urging people to attack local officials.
By the 12th of June Tyler and his followers were on Blackheath threateningly close to London. The King, Richard II, travelled to Rotherhithe on the 13th to meet Tyler but did not land. Not surprisingly there were concerns about his safety. It may be that this failure to meet resulted in the rebels moving on London. On the 14th a large group entered the city from Essex.
The rebels seem to have been well organised and it seems that Tyler exerted considerable control over the rebels urging them to obey his orders. He certainly suggested attacks on the churchmen in the city urging people, according to the Walsingham, Chronicon Angliae, to 'shave the beards of the abbot, prior and monks'.
The major target on their first day in the city was the Savoy Palace, home of the Duke of Lancaster, John of Gaunt. The palace was attached but not looted as might be expected by an unruly mob. This discipline did not however stop several murders of unpopular individuals. The financier Richard Lyons was killed.
On the 14th Tyler met the King at Mile End. There were discussions about the granting of charters of freedom, presumably between Tyler and King Richard. Quite possibly at roughly the same time, rebels stormed the Tower of London and seized the archbishop of Canterbury, Simon Sudbury, Robert Hales, the prior of the hospitallers and treasurer of England. They were taken to Tower Hill and executed.
At this point some of the rebels began to leave London. Tyler remained and on the 15th met the King at Smithfield. The Anonimalle chronicle claims Tyler was summoned to meet the King who was accompanied by William Walworth, the mayor of London and Sir John Newton, the constable of Rochester Castle. According to this source Tyler rode up to the King, dismounted and spoke to him saying, 'Brother, be of good comfort and joyful, for you shall have, in the fortnight to come, forty thousand more commons than you have at present, and we shall be good comrades'
What followed according to the Anonimalle chronicle was the trading of insults, rude behaviour before the King and a deliberate series of attempts to antagonise Tyler. Tyler stabbed Walworth in the neck and in the scuffle that followed Tyler was cut down by Ralph Standish. The King quickly took the initiative and approached the rebels. They must have been given a pardon such that they left without a fight as there are no records of a serious clash between the Kings followers and the mob. The rebels left London and the revolt ended. It was only after this that retribution was meted out on those involved.
Tyler may have died at Smithfield although one account describes him being taken to the hospital of St Bartholomew.
It was from here that the account records that Walworth, finding the wounded Tyler, took him out of the hospital and executed him.
Legend of the Grey Dolphin
On the tomb of Sir Robert de Shurland in Minister Abbey is a horse's head. Legend says it represents Grey Dolphin, the horse who saved him, then later caused his death.
As the legend goes, in 1327 Sir Robert, in a fit of anger, murdered a Monk. Realizing his crime, he set out to beg the king Edward III, for mercy.
At the time the king's ship was detained off the island of Sheppey, and Sir Robert rode his horse into the water out to the king's ship. He met them about two miles out to sea, and begged the king's forgiveness.
The king was impressed at his daring swim, and forgave him for his crime. Sir Robert swam back, and when he reached the shore an old woman (who some say was a witch) told him the very horse that had just saved him with that magnificent swim, Grey Dolphin, would later kill him.
To prove her wrong, Sir Robert drew his sword and hacked off his steed's head. He was sure that was the end of her silly prediction.
About a year later, Sir Robert was walking on the same beach and came upon his dead horse's bones protruding from the sand. He gave them a kick of contempt and tragically a piece of bone cut through his boot and entered his foot.
He died days later of infection and on his deathbed hi final words were "Tell the old hag to go to ...." but the sentence remained unfinished as he breathed his last.
Eastwell Manor, built by a Prince?
Richard Plantagenet was a bricklayer or stonemason, employed by Sir Walter Moyle's son, Thomas, on the rebuilding of Eastwell Manor. Records state Sir Thomas Moyle, was much struck by a white-bearded man his mates called Richard.
There was a mystery about him.
In the rest hour, whilst the others talked and threw dice, this old man would go apart and read a book. There were very few working men who could read in 1545, and Sir Thomas on this fine morning did not rest till he had won the confidence of the man It is said the book Richard was reading was in Latin, which was a language reserved for the highborn.
The mason told Sir Thomas he was brought up by a schoolmaster.
"From time to time, a gentleman visited who paid for his food and school and asked many questions to discover if he were well cared for.
Richard went on to describe being taken to Bosworth Field and meeting his father for the first time.
On the day of the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, the then king, Richard III, summoned a young boy named Richard the king said: "I am your father, and if I prevail in tomorrow's battle, I will provide for you as befits your blood. But it may be that I shall be defeated, killed, and that I shall not see you again Tell no one who you are unless I am victorious."
Sir Thomas Moyle, listening to
this wonderful story, determined that the last Plantagenet should not want in his old age.
He had a little house built for him in the Park and instructed his steward to provide for it every day. Richard resided there until he died in 1550 aged 81 and his resting place is in the nearby St Marys church.
Was he the son of a King? Was this beautiful manor house really built by a prince and once heir to the throne? Or just a fantasist with an assumed name. The grave is still there in the churchyard of St Marys church Eastwell.
Twin Sisters of Reculver
This is a legend that concerns the origin of a byname for the Reculver Towers as the "Twin Sisters". The towers of the Church are known as "the Twin Sisters" and at one time had an additional spire on the top of each tower.
The body of the Church which had stood on the site in varying forms since 669 A.D. was demolished in 1809 but the towers were left as a navigational aid for shipping and were eventually maintained by Trinity House. The spires on top of the towers were finally removed sometime around 1880.
The legend, which is a little long and complicated can be summarised as follows:
According to this, late in the 15th century (Middle Ages) there were two orphaned daughters of Sir Geoffrey St Clare, twin sisters named Frances and Isabella. Frances became prioress of the Benedictine priory of Davington, near Faversham, while Isabella remained a ward of Abbot John of St Augustine's Abbey, in Canterbury, who also happened to be the sisters’ uncle.
Isabella was then betrothed to Henry de Bellville, but unfortunately he was fatally wounded when fighting for Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, in 1485. Isabella then joined her sister, "took the veil", and became a nun.
Fourteen years later, Frances was taken ill. The sisters made a vow that, if Frances recovered, they would go on pilgrimage to give thanks at the Shrine of Our Ladye Star of the Sea in Broadstairs.
Frances recovered, so they set off on their promised pilgrimage. They sailed from Faversham, but their ship was caught in a storm and ran aground on a sandbank near Reculver called "The Horse". Frances was soon rescued, but Isabella was left on the wreck until daylight. Though she to was then rescued, she died of exposure in her sister's arms.
Frances completed the vow to make offerings to the shrine at Broadstairs, and then restored Reculver church, also dedicated to St. Mary, adding spires to the towers, which were known thereafter as the "Twin Sisters".
A re-invention of the story is in the Ingoldsby Legends, where two brothers, named Robert and Richard de Birchington, are substituted for the two sisters.
Martyr's Field Road, Canterbury
During the 5 year reign of Queen Mary I, 1553-1558, the eldest daughter of Henry VIII and only surviving child of Catherine of Aragon, the fourth crowned monarch of the Tudor dynasty and is remembered for restoring England to Roman Catholicism.
In the process, she had 283 Protestants burned at the stake in the Marian Persecutions, for their refusal to attend religious reforms, earning her the title of "Bloody Mary. 62 of these Protestants were put to death in Kent.
Canterbury saw more martyrdoms than any place except Smithfield in London. John Bland, the vicar of Adisham was often thrown into prison for preaching the Gospel. In November 1554 when he objected to a Roman Catholic Priest celebrating mass at Adisham he was arrested and imprisoned.
When he refused to submit to the authority of the Pope, he was sentenced to death by the Bishop of Dover, and he was burned in Canterbury on 12 July 1555. Three men were burnt along with Bland. One of them was a local man, Nicholas Shetterden.
The memorial erected at the Martyrs’ Field Road, Canterbury to the memory of the forty-one Kentish martyrs was unveiled on Saturday 10 June 1899 by Lord George Hamilton MP.
The inscription on the monument reads:
"‘In memory of forty-one Kentish martyrs, who were burned at the stake on this spot, A.D. 1555-1558. For themselves they earned the Martyr’s crown, and by their heroic fidelity they helped to secure for succeeding generations the priceless blessing of religious freedom. ‘Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints’."
The site was secured and the monument was erected by public subscription, A.D. 1899 ‘Lest we forget’.
Margery Polley of Pembury was burnt at Tonbidge in July 1555; she was the first woman martyr of Mary’s reign. A drinking trough was erected in the village of Pembury, in July 1909.
Some locals who live in Martyr's Field Road or nearby believe that some screams can be heard at certain times, and in some cases they cease to walk past the monument on some evenings. Many local students are weary of this place.
THE 41 MARTYRS
John Bland (Vicar of Adisham), John Frankish, Nicholas Shetterden, William Coker, William Hopper,
Henry Lawrence, Richard Collier, Richard Wright, William Steere, George Carmer, Robert Streater,
Antony Burward, George Bradbridge, James Tuttey, John Webbe, George Roper,
Gregory Parke, John Lomas, Anne Albricht, Joan Sole, Joan Carter, William Waterer, Stephen Kempe,
William Hay, Thomas Hudson, William Lowich, William Prowting, John Fishcock, Nicholas White, Nicholas Pardue,
Barbara, Final, Bradbridge's Wife, Alice Benden, John Corneford, Christopher Browne, John Herst,
Alice Snoth & Katherine Knight.
Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe, England's top playwright was born in Canterbury (two months before his contemporary William Shakespeare) to shoemaker John Marlowe and his wife Catherine. His date of birth is not known, but he was baptised on 26 February 1564, at St George's Church.
The church was gutted by fire in the Baedeker raids of WWII and was demolished - only the tower is left, at the south end of Canterbury's High Street. The town’s main theatre, The Marlowe is also named after him.
Marlowe attended The King's School in Canterbury (where a house is now named after him) and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he studied on a scholarship and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1584.
In 1587 the University hesitated to award him his master's degree because of a rumour that he had converted to Roman Catholicism and intended to go to the English college at Rheims to prepare for the priesthood. However, his degree was awarded on schedule when the Privy Council intervened on his behalf, commending him for his "faithful dealing" and "good service" to the Queen.
Marlowe's works include: Dido, Queen of Carthage (c.1586) Tamburlaine, parts 1 & 2 (c.1587-1588) The Jew of Malta (c.1589) Doctor Faustus (c.1589, or, c.1593) Edward II (c.1592) & The Massacre at Paris (c.1593)
(The following Prologue is taken from the 1st part of Tamburlaine)
From jigging veins of rhyming mother-wits,
And such conceits as clownage keep in pay,
We'll lead you to the stately tent of war,
Where you shall hear the Scythian Tamburlaine
Threatening the world with high astounding terms,
And scourging kingdoms with his conquering sword.
View but his picture in this tragic glass,
And then applaud his fortunes as you please.
"You must be forced from me ere you go. A thousand horsemen! We five hundred foot! An odds too great for us to stand against. But are they rich? And is their armour good!" (Tamburlaine Part 1, Act 1, Scene 2)
On May 30th, 1593, Marlowe had spent all day in a house in Deptford, owned by Widow Eleanor Bull, and together with three men: Ingram Frizer, Nicholas Skeres and Robert Poley. Witnesses Skeres and Poley testified that Frizer and Marlowe had argued over the bill (famously known as the 'Reckoning') exchanging "divers malicious words". While Frizer was sitting at a table between the other two, Marlowe was lying behind him on a couch.
Marlowe snatched Frizer's dagger and wounded him on the head. In the ensuing struggle, Marlowe was stabbed above the right eye by Ingram Frizer, killing him instantly. A jury concluded that Frizer acted in self-defence, and within a month he was pardoned.
Marlowe had been
under arrest a few days before and was due to appear before the Privy Council. Given the murky inconsistencies concerning the account of Marlowe's death, a theory has arisen cantered on the notion that Marlowe may have faked his death and then continued to write under the assumed name of William Shakespeare. However, academic consensus rejects alternative candidates for authorship, including Marlowe.
Marlowe's death is alleged by some to be an assassination for the following reasons:
Abridged Legends of Kent Page 2
