Alnwick (Alnewyke) was given a grant of murage dated 1/6/1434.
This was in the form of:-
Wording
Licence, by advice of the council, for Henry, earl of Northumberland, lord of the castle and town of Alnewyk, co. Northumberland, and for the burgesses of the town, to enclose the whole town with a wall and to machicolate and otherwise fortify the said wall. A great part of the town has recently been burned by the Scots with impunity. By p.s. (De includendo murando et battellando villam de Alnewyke)
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1st June, 12 Hen. VI. 1434. Licence was granted to Henry Earl of Northumberland, lord of the town and castle of Alnewick, and to the burgesses thereof, to enclose and build walls round the same, on account of the great danger to which it was exposed from its proximity to the frontiers and marches of Scotland, a great portion of it having been lately burnt by the Scotch - - p. 217
Granted by Henry VI. (Regnal year 12). Granted at Westminster. Granted by p.s..
Primary Sources
Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1907,
Calendar of Patent Rolls Henry VI (1429-36) Vol. 2 p. 345
online copyNicolas, H (ed), 1835,
Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council of England Vol. 4 p. xxxvii
online copy (p. 217 has the French in Record Type)
Secondary Sources
Brooke, C.J., 2000,
Safe Sanctuaries (Edinburgh; John Donald) p. 99
Coulson, C., 1995, 'Battlements and the Bourgeoisie: Municipal Status and the Apparatus of Urban Defence' in Church, Stephen (ed),
Medieval Knighthood Vol. 5 (Boydell) p. 156n150
Turner, H.L., 1971,
Town Defences in England and Wales (London) p. 97 (mistakenly as murage grant.)
Bates, C.J., 1891,
Border Holds of Northumberland (London and Newcastle: Andrew Reid) p. 21
view online
Comments
The licence adds "A great part of the town has recently been burned by the Scots with impunity." The attack had happened 10 years previously in the winter of 1424.
10 years might suggest that the town and the earl needed time to get the resources together to build the needed defences. In particular the funding of the works must have involved prolonged discussion between the earl and the townspeople and the licence may be serving as an article of intent and good faith to cement the negotiations. Civic pride may well still be the root of the desire for a wall and the attack by the Scot may be being used in part as a device, although a genuine fear of attack can not be excluded.
This may have more to do with a desire by the Privy Council to keep the Earl involved in Border affairs.
ALNWICK 4184 6135. Borough 1157x85 (BF, p. 143). 1336 Subsidy £45. Market town c.1600 (Everitt, p. 468). (Letters, S., 2003,
Gazetter of Markets and Fairs in England and Wales to 1516 (Centre for Metropolitan History)
online copy)
Record created by Philip Davis. This record created 10/02/2009. Last updated on 04/01/2013. First published online 5/01/2013.
