Sir James Harrington of Hornby ( – 22 August 1485) was an English
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...
and
soldier
A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer.
Etymology
The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...
who was a prominent
Yorkist
The House of York was a cadet branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet. Three of its members became kings of England in the late 15th century. The House of York descended in the male line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, t ...
supporter in
Northern England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...
during the
Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These wars were fought bet ...
, having been
retained
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a retained firefighter, also known as an RDS Firefighter or on-call firefighter, is a firefighter who does not work on a fire station full-time but is paid to spend long periods of time on call to respond to em ...
by
Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury, who was brother-in-law to the head of the House of York,
Richard of York. He was the second son of
Sir Thomas Harrington, who had died with
the king's father at the
Battle of Wakefield in December 1460. James himself had fought with Salisbury at the
Battle of Blore Heath in 1459, where he had been captured and imprisoned by the
Lancastrians until the next year. He was a significant regional figure during the reign of King Edward IV, although the early years of the new king's reign were marred by a bitter feud between him and the Stanley family over a castle in Lancashire. On the accession of
King Richard III
Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Batt ...
in 1483, he was appointed to the new king's
Household
A household consists of two or more persons who live in the same dwelling. It may be of a single family or another type of person group. The household is the basic unit of analysis in many social, microeconomic and government models, and is i ...
, and as such was almost certainly with him at the
Battle of Bosworth Field two years later. It is likely that he fell in battle there, although precise details of his death are now unknown.
Early years
![Blore Heath Plaque - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Blore_Heath_Plaque_-_geograph.org.uk_-_8184.jpg)
His family held extensive estates in both
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
and
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...
, as did one of the biggest noble families of the region, the
Nevilles. Between the late 1450s and 1460s the Harringtons had a close relationship with them: "The Harrington brothers
erefeed by Warwick, and their father had been feed by Salisbury," as
Rosemary Horrox has pointed out. He was a retainer and councillor to
Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stron ...
, and was granted
duchy of Lancaster
The Duchy of Lancaster is the private estate of the British sovereign as Duke of Lancaster. The principal purpose of the estate is to provide a source of independent income to the sovereign. The estate consists of a portfolio of lands, properti ...
leases by him, with his father, Sir Thomas. He was in the
Earl of Salisbury
Earl of Salisbury is a title that has been created several times in English and British history. It has a complex history, and is now a subsidiary title to the marquessate of Salisbury.
Background
The title was first created for Patrick de S ...
's army when it was ambushed by the Lancastrian
Lord Audley near
Blore Heath
The Battle of Blore Heath was a battle in the English Wars of the Roses. It was fought on 23 September 1459, at Blore Heath in Staffordshire. Blore Heath is a sparsely populated area of farmland, two miles east of the town of Market Drayton in ...
, in Shropshire, on 23 September 1459. Although a Yorkist victory, Sir James and his father, along with Warwick's brother
John Neville were captured after the battle, at
Acton Bridge
Map of the civil parish of Acton Bridge within the former borough of Vale Royal
Acton Bridge (formerly Acton) is a village and civil parish in Cheshire, England. Located within the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester on the River Weav ...
, and sent to
Chester Castle
Chester Castle is in the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. It is sited at the southwest extremity of the area bounded by the city walls. The castle stands on an eminence overlooking the River Dee. In the castle complex are the remaining part ...
. Harrington was pardoned on 29 March 1460, but Neville was not to be released until the Yorkist victory at the
Battle of Northampton in July 1460. However, with James's elder brother John, Sir Thomas later died with
Richard, Duke of York at the
Battle of Wakefield on 30 December 1460. Following the victory of
Edward IV at the
Battle of Towton
The Battle of Towton took place on 29 March 1461 during the Wars of the Roses, near Towton in North Yorkshire, and "has the dubious distinction of being probably the largest and bloodiest battle on English soil". Fought for ten hours between ...
on
Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels. Palm Sunday marks the first day of Hol ...
, 29 March the next year, Sir James was made the King's
escheator
Escheat is a common law doctrine that transfers the real property of a person who has died without heirs to the crown or state. It serves to ensure that property is not left in "limbo" without recognized ownership. It originally applied to a ...
for Yorkshire. Following his death, Sir Thomas's
feoffee
Under the feudal system in England, a feoffee () is a trustee who holds a fief (or "fee"), that is to say an estate in land, for the use of a beneficial owner. The term is more fully stated as a feoffee to uses of the beneficial owner. The use ...
s transferred his estates, that his daughters were due to inherit, to James in 1463, a decision that would consume the next eleven years and ultimately have grave consequences for James and his family. On 13 July 1465 he assisted with the capture of the by-now fugitive
Henry VI by being the instrument of persuasion that induced
Sir Thomas Talbot of
Bashall, and
Sir Richard Tempest of
Bracewell, who were sheltering the King, to betray him. For this he received one hundred marks (£66) for expenses, and a reward of one hundred pounds.
Feud with Lord Stanley
![Hornby Castle, Lancashire (4)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Hornby_Castle%2C_Lancashire_%284%29.jpg)
When James's brother
Sir John Harrington fell at Wakefield, he left as his
heirs
Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officia ...
his two daughters, Elizabeth and Anne, who were four and five years old at the time, which meant their wardship was automatically in the hands of the Crown to dispense. Edward duly did so, to
Thomas, Lord Stanley in November 1461, but James and his brother
Sir Robert, in attempt to keep the inheritance for the family, effectively disallowed the King's grant and imprisoned (or, kept in custody) the two girls, as
Anthony Goodman noted, "contrary to their will, in divers places." Along with the girls, Sir James also seized
Hornby castle,
Lonsdale, which was the chief residence contained in the inheritance, but which also included Brierley, and some manors originally granted him by his father's feoffees, including George Neville, in 1463. The dispute was more complicated than merely theft and kidnapping. Harrington claimed that, in law, his father's estates were held in
tail male
In English common law, fee tail or entail is a form of trust established by deed or settlement which restricts the sale or inheritance of an estate in real property and prevents the property from being sold, devised by will, or otherwise alien ...
, in which case they could only be passed through the male line and the actions of Sir Thomas's feoffees would be illegal, and the inheritance remain with him; Stanley, however, claimed them to be held in
fee simple, ''viz'' through the female line as well. In October 1466, Stanley obtained a grant to sue in the King's Court, but the matter was not dealt with until 1468, when a commission found against Harrington and he and his brother were committed- "temporarily", Ross noted- to the
Fleet Prison.
The political crisis between Edward and the earl of Warwick between 1469 and 1471 put the legal case on hiatus. During the
readeption of Henry VI
The Readeption was the restoration of Henry VI of England to the throne of England in 1470. Edward, Duke of York, had taken the throne as Edward IV in 1461. Henry had fled with some Lancastrian supporters and spent much of the next few years in ...
in 1470, they held Hornby against Stanley, who as yet had been unable to take possession of it. On 5 March 1471, Warwick showed himself willing to take Stanley's side, and despatched the royal cannon ''Mile Ende'' from
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
to help him
besiege
A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characterize ...
Hornby castle.
When Edward returned from exile on 14 March 1471, Harrington was one of the first (and one of the few) northern knights to openly join him, meeting him at
Doncaster
Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...
(or possibly
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...
) with 600
men-at-arms and
Sir William Parr. After Edward's victories at the Battles of
Barnet and
Tewkesbury
Tewkesbury ( ) is a medieval market town and civil parish in the north of Gloucestershire, England. The town has significant history in the Wars of the Roses and grew since the building of Tewkesbury Abbey. It stands at the confluence of the Ri ...
in April and May respectively, at which Harrington may have fought, the case was reheard the next year. By April 1472, the King was involving himself personally and imposed a settlement. Harrington still did not, as Ross has put it, "give up"- even though the award was in Stanley's favour. Harrington, in the face of a
royal commission in June, was still in possession of Hornby, having "stuffed and enforced it with men and victuals and habitements of war;" said a contemporary chronicler; the Harringtons still occupied it in August 1473, when Edward was forced to send his
Sheriff to condemn their actions as being "in contempt of his lawes," as the record said. Although they were eventually forced to surrender Hornby to Edward Stanley, they retained Farleton and Brierley. Harrington remained in the King's favour, and accompanied him on the
1475 invasion of France, to which he brought twelve men-at-arms and one hundred archers. He was appointed to a
Commission of the peace for the
West Riding
The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...
of Yorkshire the same year; the most obvious reason for this being, Ross suggests, was that they were still "trusted Yorkist servants" and the King had a reluctance to alienate his own supporters.
Stanley, having finally gained possession of the girls along with a grant of their marriageability, promptly used it, and married them off to his relatives, for example, Anne was married to his fifth son,
Edward, and Elizabeth to John Stanley, his nephew.
Throughout the dispute, Harrington resided at his manors of
Farleton and
Brierley, and was given permission to
crenelate the latter in 1480.
Relations with Richard III
![Hundred of Amounderness](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Hundred_of_Amounderness.png)
His connection with Gloucester, who aided him in his feud with Stanley, in late 1469, when the duke of Gloucester, as he then was, was appointed
forester
A forester is a person who practises forestry, the science, art, and profession of managing forests. Foresters engage in a broad range of activities including ecological restoration and management of protected areas. Foresters manage forests to ...
of
Amounderness
The Amounderness Hundred () is one of the six subdivisions of the historic county of Lancashire in North West England, but the name is older than the system of hundreds first recorded in the 13th century and might best be described as the nam ...
,
Blackburn
Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...
, and
Bowland, and Harrington was
Steward of Amournderness
hundred
100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101.
In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...
. He then became Gloucester's deputy-Steward for Bowland. Following Edward's successful 1471 campaign, he was
retained
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a retained firefighter, also known as an RDS Firefighter or on-call firefighter, is a firefighter who does not work on a fire station full-time but is paid to spend long periods of time on call to respond to em ...
by Gloucester and became a member of his personal council, which put him in proximity to the King. He served with Gloucester on his
border campaigns of 1480 and 1482. Horrox has suggested that Richard's accession in 1483 gave the Harrington the opportunity to re-open the inheritance dispute, and "by implication" intended to have it re-adjudicated in their favour. As she points out, they were by now fully committed to Gloucester's
Affinity
Affinity may refer to:
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* Affinity Equity Par ...
(to the extent that James's brother Robert was involved in the arrest of
William, Lord Hastings on 13 June 1483), and James was appointed chief forester of Bowland in February 1485.
Death
Sir James Harrington was not mentioned by any contemporary
chroniclers
A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and l ...
as being present at Bosworth on 22 August 1485, and this has led some historians to believe he was present but survived. However, the Harrington family tradition holds that he died there, and the later ''
Ballad of Bosworth Field'' claimed he, with other northern knights, brought "a mighty many" there; he was certainly excluded from the general pardon of 1486 and attainted in 1487. He then disappears from the records. According to
Rosemary Horrox, there are no more references to any "James Harrington", except his Cambridge-educated nephew who fought for
the rebel earl of Lincoln at the
Battle of Stoke
The Battle of Stoke Field on 16 June 1487 may be considered the last battle of the Wars of the Roses, since it was the last major engagement between contenders for the throne whose claims derived from descent from the houses of Lancaster and Yo ...
, was
attainted and then
pardoned before becoming
Dean of York
Dean may refer to:
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Titles
...
and dying there in 1512.
As a
Knight of the Body, and a member of the King's Household, it is likely that Sir James Harrington took part in Richard's fatal charge, and may have been his
standard bearer
A standard-bearer, also known as a flag-bearer is a person (soldier or civilian) who bears an emblem known as a standard or military colours, i.e. either a type of flag or an inflexible but mobile image, which is used (and often honoured) as a ...
. If he did survive the battle, it seems probable that he was dead by 1488, having been "admitted to allegiance" in 1486, proposed
J.R. Lander, but dying "too poor, it is said, to pay Chancery clerks for his pardon." Ultimately, says Horrox, "even if James senior survived, the family had been extinguished as a force."
Family
Sir James Harrington had a (possibly
illegitimate
Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as '' ...
) son, John, whom he made his heir before departing on the Scottish campaign of 1480, and whom Richard III had made an esquire of the household. His widow Elizabeth wrote to her second husband some time after Bosworth expressing the belief that the boy had been poisoned ("a little before
ror more probably a little after" that battle, reports Baldwin) by her ex-brother-in-law Edward Stanley, who, having received James's estates from his attainder, wished to ensure that John would not be able to seek its reversal. Horrox also notes that John was "reputedly poisoned."
Official positions and titles
* High Sheriff of Lancashire 1466-7 and 1475-6
* Steward of Bradford 1471
*
MP for Blackburn 1467-8, and in 1478 (his brother Robert had held the same seat in 1472-5)
* Knight of the Body to Edward IV from 1475 and Richard III on his accession
*
Vice-constable of England, 1482
[Dockray, K., 'The Political Legacy of Richard III' ''in'' Griffiths, R.A. & Sherborne, J. (eds.), ''Kings and Nobles in the Later Middle Ages'', New York 1986, p. 220]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrington, James
Year of birth missing
1485 deaths
Knights of the Bath
People of the Wars of the Roses
English military personnel killed in action
Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Lancashire
15th-century births
High Sheriffs of Lancashire
English MPs 1478
English MPs 1467