{"id":595,"date":"2014-07-28T16:04:55","date_gmt":"2014-07-28T16:04:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/?p=595"},"modified":"2018-06-19T13:41:15","modified_gmt":"2018-06-19T13:41:15","slug":"julys-flower-durham-welcomes-james-i-and-courts-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/?p=595","title":{"rendered":"July’s Flower: Durham welcomes James I … (and courts controversy)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Author:<\/a>

View of Elvet Bridge<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Portrait<\/a>

Portrait of James I of England in state robes (1566-1625), oil on canvas, by Paul van Somer, c.1620, from the Royal Collection<\/p><\/div>\n

‘William our bishope, hath oppugnant been … Confirme ou<\/em>r graunt good King<\/em>‘.<\/p>\n

This month’s Flower follows on from April’s, both of which concern James I royal visit to Durham in 1617. It too comes from the Order Book of the City of Durham (Durham County Archives ref. Du 1\/4\/4).<\/p>\n

In April’s Flower we noted that behind the scenes of the official welcome of the monarch, there had been a conflict raging in the city between the Bishop and the civic authorities, with each side accusing the other of encroaching on rights accorded by the Charter. On Holy Saturday (19th April), after his ‘official’ welcome by the Bishop and civic authorities on Elvet Bridge, a second, more controversial poem was delivered to the King later in the day and some distance away. The poem below was delivered to the king by a city apprentice, and it outlined some of the injustices felt by the civic authorities in a way that could be disowned if necessary. By putting their complaint into the mouth of an apprentice and at some distance from the official welcome, the city authorities could make the King aware of it in a way that they would be able to disown if necessary.<\/p>\n

[The context:]<\/p>\n

‘After whi<\/em>ch Speech the Maior was called by his
\nMaies<\/em>ties <\/em>gentleman vsher, to take his horse, and to
\nride before his Maies<\/em>tie, Ymediatly vpon whi<\/em>ch comandemen<\/em>t
\nmade by his Maies<\/em>ties <\/em>gentleman vsher, there was at the
\nsame place aboute .40. yardes<\/em> distance, certayne Verses
\nspoken by an apprentice of this Cittie, to his Maies<\/em>tie, as
\nfolloweth, after whi<\/em>ch the Maior was placed, in ranck
\nnext the Sword, and so ride forwardes<\/em> carrieing the
\nCitties Mace to the Church.‘
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

[Text of the second poem:]<\/p>\n

‘To the Kinges<\/em> most Ecellent Maies<\/em>tie
\nDurhams old Cittie, thus salutes our King
\nwhich intertayment, she doth homlie bring;
\nand cannot smyle vpon his Maies<\/em>tie
\nwi<\/em>th shewe of greatnes; but humilitie
\nmakes her expresse herselfe, in moderne guise
\ndeiected to this north, bare to your eyes
\nffor the great Prelate, whi<\/em>ch of late adorde
\nher dignities, and for whi<\/em>ch we ymplorde
\nYour Highnes, aide, to haue contynuance,
\nAnd so confirmd by your dread Souer<\/em>ance<\/p>\n

Yet what our Royall James<\/em>, did graunt herein
\nWilliam ou<\/em>r bishope, hath oppugnant been
\nSmale task to sway downe smalnes, where mans might
\nhath greater force, then equitie or right
\nBut these are only, in you<\/em>r brest included
\nyour subiectes<\/em> knowe them not, but are secluded
\nfrom you<\/em>r most gracious graunt; therefore we pray
\nthat the faire sonne shyne, of your brightest daie
\nwould smyle vpon this Cittie, wi<\/em>th clere beames
\nto\u2019 exhale the tempest of insueing streames<\/p>\n

Suffer not great prince our ancient state
\nby one forcd will, to be depopulate;
\nTis one seekes<\/em> our vndoeing, but to you
\nten thousandes<\/em> heartes<\/em> shall pray, and knees shall bowe
\nand this dull cell, of earth wherein wee liue
\nvnto you<\/em>r name; ymortall prayse shall giue.
\nConfirme ou<\/em>r graunt good King, Durhams<\/em> old Citty
\nwould be more powerfull, so it had James<\/em> pittie’<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(… and here’s a picture of that ‘oppugnant’ bishop, Richard Neile:)\u00a0 \"Richard<\/a><\/p>\n

Richard Neile (1562\u20131640), Bishop of Durham (1617\u20131628) (copy after an earlier painting)
\nby Buscall Fox, from the Auckland Castle collection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘William our bishope, hath oppugnant been … Confirme our graunt good King‘. This month’s Flower follows on from April’s, both of which concern James I royal visit to Durham in 1617. It too comes from the Order Book of the City of Durham (Durham County Archives ref. Du 1\/4\/4). In April’s Flower we noted that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":408,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[25],"tags":[61,16,34,35,59,60,8,18,38],"class_list":["post-595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-flower-of-the-month-2","tag-bishop-of-durham","tag-durham","tag-elvet-bridge","tag-james-i","tag-northeast","tag-performance-history","tag-records-of-early-english-drama","tag-reed","tag-royal-entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/392px-James_I_of_England_404446.jpg?fit=392%2C599&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p67HiV-9B","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}