The New Murrey and Blue blog

Yesterday’s post (https://murreyandblue.org/2024/09/10/henry-vis-luck-of-muncaster/) was about the adult Henry VI, but today I’m concerned with the infant Henry. It begins with the anchoress Emma Roughton at All Saints-North Street, York.

In this link https://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/ancient-sites/early-christianity/the-parish-church-of-all-saints-north-street-york/ Emma’s cell is described thus  “….The anchorhold [cell] at All Saints North Street had two stories and was in the churchyard adjoining the west end of the north aisle and one of the squints or small windows she used to witness mass can still be seen….” So in the above illustration it’s just out of sight around the far corner on the west wall, abutting and overlooking the north aisle.

The mysteriousbritain link also says: “….All Saints is considered to be York’s finest medieval church and has one of the best stained glass displays in Britain. It was also here in the early 15th century that the anchoress, Emma Roughton, had several intriguing visions of Our Lady, visions of political importance….”

I knew nothing of the Benedictine nun, Emma Roughton, whose name is variously Roughton, Raughton, Rawgton or Rawghton, and I was interested to learn more. The mysteriousbritain link features Emma, and you can read more about her here https://allsaints-northstreet.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/SOM-talk-april-07.pdf.

In 1421 Emma announced seven prophetic visions of Our Lady, including the approaching death of Henry V (see https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henry-VI-king-of-England). Our Lady also told Emma that Henry V’s yet-to-be-born son, Henry VI, should be crowned in England and France. Emma was further instructed that Richard Beauchamp, 13^th Earl of Warwick, (born 25 or 28 January 1382, died 30 April 1439), see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Beauchamp%2C_13th_Earl_of_Warwick, to whom Henry V willed the task of educating the child, was the best man to continue overseeing the new king throughout his minority, i.e until he was sixteen. Henry VI was only nine months old when his father died on 31 August 1422. Warwick, would give faithful service all his life and eventually die in 1439, when Henry VI was seventeen.

The more hardened among us might question visions. After all anyone could make such claims, but Warwick certainly believed her, and would often seek her advice about what to do regarding England’s political and military situation. She was greatly respected.

Warwick also consulted Emma on more personal matters, such as his own lack of a male heir. These visits have been described by John Rous. (* see links at the end of this post)

Emma’s advice regarding the earl’s desire for a son was that he should “….found a chantry in the chapel of the hermitage of Guy’s Cliff, on the western bank of the River Avon about a mile and a quarter from the town of Warwick….The chapel was duly founded in 1423, with a dedication to St Mary Magdalene, and is still standing today (owned and used by freemasons). Richard Beauchamp’s son was born on 22nd March 1425, a fact quoted by John Rous who sees it as validation of Emma’s prophetic gifts….”

Well, what do you think? Might the Countess of Warwick have given birth to the all-important male heir on that date anyway? As for the prediction of Warwick’s importance to the new king and the realm, wouldn’t that too have happened even without the visions? The earl was a very powerful and prominent magnate with all the religious piety and military experience that a man like Henry V would regard as essential for the education of the next King of England. And in his will Henry had already selected Warwick for the initial responsibility. So, did Emma really see Our Lady? Was she honoured with such holy visions and prophecies? Or was it imagination brought on by religious fervour and the straitened circumstances under which she lived….?

These matters are always hard to interpret with any certainty. I don’t know whether I believe or not, because it’s the same with fairies, ghosts, etc. Without having seen them for myself, who am I to pooh-pooh those who claim they have? Not having seen them doesn’t mean they don’t exist, only that I haven’t seen them, which is rather different.

The story of Warwick and Henry VI is only one aspect of my research into All Saints-North Street, because there is still the mystery of the precise whereabouts of Emma’s cell. But one thing IS beyond all doubt, Richard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, certainly knew where the cell was and was able to consult Emma there.

If you go here https://seearoundbritain.com/venues/sarah-the-shrine-parish-church-of-all-saints-north-street-york/pictures you can see a great many excellent photographs of the church, both inside and out. And the following article is very interesting and detailed  https://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/york/vol3/pp3-48.

To learn more about anchorites/anchoresses in general try https://www.thecollector.com/medieval-anchorites-immured-walled-up-alive/.  

For information about John Rous:

(1) https://sparkypus.com/2023/01/29/john-rous-author-of-the-rous-roll-warwickshire-antiquarian-chantry-chaplain-and-turncoat-extraordinaire/comment-page-1/. This article was reblogged here as https://murreyandblue.org/2023/06/29/john-rous-author-of-the-rous-roll-warwickshire-antiquarian-chantry-chaplain-and-turncoat-extraordinaire/comment-page-1/.

(2) I cannot find an online version of his Historia Regum Angliae (History of the Kings of England). However, there is an English translation of it in this book Richard III and His Early Historians, 1483-1535: Amazon.co.uk: Hanham, Alison: 9780198224341: Books.

(3) The British Library holds a digitised version of the Rous Roll, contact details for which can be found at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/a/A13530819.

(4) I found Rous’s diary online here https://archive.org/details/diaryjohnrousin00greegoog/page/n4/mode/2up.