A small building on top of a sandstone outcrop in Chester
has an interesting – if unlikely – legend attached to it. This is known as the “Anchorite’s
Cell” or “The Hermitage”, and it has that name because it was once occupied by
reclusive monks who lived there cut off from the outside world so that they
could devote their lives entirely to prayer.
The building seen today probably dates from the mid-14th
century, although there is no definite information about this. It is, however,
certain that if there was an anchorite cell here any earlier than this, it
could not have been the current building.
There is a legend that the cell was occupied in the 11th
century by a very well-known person. This was the former King Harold II, whom
history relates lost his life at the Battle of Hastings, being replaced on the
throne of England by William the Conqueror who then reigned, from 1066 to 1087,
as King William I. Tradition has it that Harold died after being struck in the
eye by an arrow that then pierced his brain
So how could Harold have been a hermit living in Chester
after apparently being killed at Hastings? You may well ask!
The legend was originally put about by Gerald of Wales
(Giraldus Cambrensis) who lived from 1146 to 1223 (or thereabouts). It also
appears in a document entitled “Vita Haroldi” from roughly the same time. There
are real doubts over the trustworthiness of both sources, which flatly contradict
accounts from much closer to the date of the Battle of Hastings.
The legend relates that Harold, despite being seriously wounded
– including the loss of an eye! – was taken in by the monks of Waltham Abbey,
healed of his injuries and allowed to wander far and wide until he ended up at
Chester.
It is quite possible that that an elderly monk turned up much
later at the same abbey and claimed to be the long-lost Anglo-Saxon king. The
abbey authorities, being no friends of the Norman succession, might have
welcomed the chance to spread some “fake news” and gleefully committed the
hermit’s story to paper. The same might well be true of Gerald of Wales.
After Hastings, the Normans swept north in a brutal campaign
to eliminate all opposition. This included building castles to show the locals
that resistance was futile. One such castle was built in 1070 less than a mile
from where – apparently – the former King Harold was living as a hermit. If this
were so, could he really have escaped detection?
It does sound like a very tall story!
© John Welford
The name John Hardyng might perhaps be better known if one
of his employers, King Henry V, had not died at the age of 35 and thus rendered
much of Hardyng’s hard work useless.
John Hardyng was born in 1378 and educated in the
Northumberland household of Sir Henry Percy, who was nicknamed “Hotspur”. This
gave him plenty of experience of warfare, given the closeness of the Scottish
border and the frequent raids that took place across it.
In 1399 the Percys supported the successful campaign of Henry
Bolingbroke against the reigning King Richard II, and John Hardyng played a
full part in the rebellion. However, relationships between the new king (Henry
IV) and the Percys later broke down, leading to the Battle of Shrewsbury of
1403. Hotspur was killed but John Hardyng survived and was pardoned by King
Henry.
Henry IV died in 1413 and was succeeded by his son, who
reigned as King Henry V. John Hardyng served the new king faithfully in the latter’s
campaign against France.
Henry planned to turn his attention to Scotland once he had
finished with France, and in 1418 John Hardyng was given a special mission,
namely to travel round Scotland and gather information that would be useful in
a future invasion. He was also tasked with finding proof that Scotland’s claim
to independence was without foundation.
Hardyng’s mission lasted for three and a half years. During
that time he surveyed the routes into Scotland, the places on the coast that
could be used by an invasion fleet, the strengths and weaknesses of various
castles, and the agricultural resources that could be exploited by an invading
army. He also acquired documents that supported England’s claims over Scotland.
In 1421 John Hardyng was forced to flee from Scotland,
having made too many enemies, but the information he was able to present to
King Henry would have been invaluable had an invasion ever taken place.
However, Henry’s early death put paid to any such ambition,
and the new king, Henry VI, was never in any position to make use of John
Hardyng’s work.
Hardyng was now in the unfortunate position of having done
exactly what had been asked of him but without any reward for his efforts. He
became a pensioner at an Augustinian Priory and continued to press King Henry
VI to honour the promise made by his father. This eventually led, in 1440, to
Hardyng being granted an annuity worth ten pounds a year.
Hardyng spent the next twenty years writing a history of
Britain that made good use of his earlier career as a spy, as well as
continuing to claim that England had every right to conquer Scotland.
He died in 1465 aged 87, which was a remarkably advanced age
at that time. He would probably have made a much larger impact on British
history had England actually subdued Scotland as a result of his work.
© John Welford
