Southampton South East England
1338 was a year that Southampton would never forget. We have various accounts of the French Raid of Southampton, and they do vary, so without being able to read every source, I’ve done my best to give an unbiased view for the events of the 4th or 5th of October, as both sources and historians disagree on which is correct. It was also either 9 o’clock in the morning, or 3 or 4pm in the afternoon. Again, even here, the original sources vary so there are somethings we can’t be sure of. Sources also disagree with the response of the citizens of Southampton. Some sources say they fled in fear, while others state that they fought bravely. Both probably have an element of truth, as people’s responses would have differed. Edward III himself was uncertain what had happened, and so he set enquiries into the raid to try and figure out what had occurred, and in the end, he seems to have been satisfied with the overall response of the citizens of Southampton.
So, what did happen when the French raided Southampton? 49 or 50 French ships, which were well manned, landed on the shore of the town. In 1338, part of the western quayside was not walled or well defended, and the invading vessels are said to have disembarked near the bottom of Bugle Street, but it could be anywhere in the southwestern quayside. The fleet was led by the Admiral of France, Hue Quiéret. The French and Genoese intended on sacking and destroying the town, looting as they went. This attack was due to the War with France, which had begun in March 1337. After the French King, Charles IV, died without a male heir, his nephew, Edward III of England, was his closest blood relative, being the child of Charles' sister Isabella. The French were not about to accept this and chose the old King's cousin, Philip, Count of Valois, to become the new French King. That might have been the end of it, had King Philip not decided to claim Gascony for the French, at which point Edward III decided to press his claim to the French throne, and the 100 Years War had begun.
It was normal for port towns to leave their quayside open and with minor defences, as the water itself was thought to act as a defence. Southampton is somewhat sheltered by the Isle of Wight and Portsmouth, however Portsmouth itself was attacked by the French in March 1338, so perhaps Southampton should have thought more of its defences. We also know that there were already town gates at the bottom of Bugle and French Streets before the raid, so we cannot say precisely where the fleet landed. The attackers may have taken one of the gates by force, or simply stormed the port. Again, sources differ and we have no absolutes.
While the raid was underway in Southampton in 1338, the French and Genoese men were busy looting and pillaging the town. Many of the town’s citizens fled to St. Michael’s church for safety as the invaders raced up Bugle Street and French Street, breaking into the wealthy merchants houses and taking with them what they could carry, before setting the buildings on fire. The townspeople had hoped that the church would protect them, but it did nothing to stop their attackers, who broke into the church and killed everyone inside. As a result of this, the church was later reconsecrated. The raiders would have attempted to burn everything, and it is thought that most of the south western end of the town was destroyed. Burn evidence, from archaeological digs, shows that there are burn areas from this time right through the old town, so it would seem an attempt was made to destroy as much as they could.
Oddly enough, it is the French chroniclers who give support to the resistance shown by the citizens of Southampton. These sources state that there were two or three waves of ships arriving, and it may be that it was after the landing of the second wave that some of the citizens, seeing they were outnumbered, chose to flee. These accounts also mention a loss in numbers of the invading French and Genoese men, so it is likely there was resistance to the invasion. Another chronicle tells us that while the French were waiting for the tide to go out to take them to safety, the citizens of Southampton were regrouping and launched their own counter attack, but that the fleet was already in the process of leaving their shores, and they were too late. The Pipe Rolls of Edward III 1338-1340, is where we hear that the citizens of the town did not stay and fight, but fled when the attack came. This may have been disproven after the inquiry however. Froissart, writing in the 14th Century, tells us that the citizens stormed the French ships but that the tide came in and the boats set off. Perhaps there is some truth in both accounts.
The citizens who survived the attack were severely shaken, and it certainly helped to renew the hostilities between England and France. King Edward III was said to be furious. The French raid had totally disrupted trade, which moved to other ports, and many of the towns’ people were homeless. Local government was failing, and King Edward III sent a military garrison for the town. Some of the royal and town possessions were also taken, as the attackers succeeded in carrying off the Common Seal of the town, the Customs Seals and the weigh-beam. At the time of the raid, the King had 152 tuns of wine stored in Southampton, a tun being the largest size of wine barrel. Most of these were on board a ship ready to take them overseas to the King, who was in Flanders at the time. All but two tuns were looted by the raiders. The King also lost all of the wool he had stored at Southampton, which was awaiting shipment. This was thought to be over 270 sarplars and 136 sacks, something in weight of around 300,000 lbs of wool, which were pledged for security of his debts. None of the King's wine or wool was at this time inside the castle wall, the castle seems to have been left alone, as the wealthy merchants had enough of value for the French to load their vessels.
Edward III was anxious to help the town with its fortifications as quickly as possible. The haste we see in simply blocking up the merchant houses on the western quayside, reflects the pressure that the King placed on the creation of the new defences. This could also be the reason he placed a royal garrison in the town, it could have been to ensure that the defences were built. The king also ordered all the citizens of Southampton to return to the town and aid in its fortification, or risk confiscation of their goods and property which they held there.
The result of not having adequate defences on the south-western quayside of Southampton led to the disaster, and Edward III wanted to ensure such an event such as this would not reoccur, so he ordered a stone wall to be built ‘forthwith towards the water.’ It was decided that many of the houses on the waterfront should have their entry points blocked up, and the front of the buildings turned into dead walls. This part of the work seems to have been done shortly after the raid of 1338. The stone houses which stood on the western quayside were simply incorporated into the new wall, their windows and doors blocked up with stone, but some of the features of the houses can still be seen in the wall. The house known as King John’s palace was one of these houses as well.
This stretch of wall is also the only example we have in England of machicolated arcades. The machicolations, which are the spaces between the main and overhanging walls, allowed defensive missiles to be thrown down on attackers. We are used to seeing this at castle gates but not in town walls.
It was a year before things started to settle again in Southampton. This was helped by the Battle of Sluys on the 24th of June 1339 when the French fleet was destroyed, and by November of 1339 the royal garrison was withdrawn from Southampton. Although there were some further issues in 1340, 1341 and 1346, the town repelled any other attempted attack and they were left to begin to recover, but Southampton’s fortunes had been changed overnight.
Perhaps from our distant perspective, what we can take from the Southampton Raid of 1338 is that history is not an absolute, but a matter of perspective. The story of the raid has been repeated many times, and any tour of Southampton will likely give you absolutes in the quick retelling of the tale, but really there are none to be found here, just a lot of various accounts, many of which differ, leaving us with a lot of maybes. What we do we know for certain, is that the port of Southampton was never quite the same afterwards. Some of the merchants left the area, the wine and wool trade spread to other ports as well, and while Southampton continued to be an important port town, any real resurgence did not come from trade but from war, as for the next 100 years troops on French campaigns would travel through here.
The recovery of Southampton was slowed further by the Black Death, which reached Southampton in 1348, only ten years after the French raid. This caused further depression to the economy of the town. Southampton, being a port town, was one of the earliest towns to be infected with the plague, which was thought to have arrive between June and August of that year. By October there was a noticeable increase in the mortality rate in the town.
The Westgate dates from the 1380’s and led to the west quayside. It had a double portcullis and the slots can still be seen clearly in the archway. It was through this gate that Henry V and his army in 1415, embarked on the largest campaign ever to assemble at Southampton, which led to his victory at Agincourt. Westgate is also thought to be where the pilgrims left Southampton and boarded the Mayflower, before their historic journey to America. The landscape then looked different than it does today, as the water would have come right up to the gate. In the 1920’s and 1930’s, around 400 acres of land was reclaimed and the Western Docks were created.
The Water Gate was partly demolished in 1804, as it was thought to impede the flow of traffic. The gate was leased in 1403 and 1438 for the annual rent of one red rose, in return for the lessees being responsible for the repair of the building, and its defence in time of war. The Watergate allowed access from the bottom of English Street (High Street), at the other end of the street is the Bargate. These landmarks are the northern and southern boundaries of the old town.
The Wool House is located at the bottom of Bugle Street, and is thought to have been built in the late 14th Century, as a wool store for the Cistercian Abbey at Beaulieu. It has had many incarnations over the years, but is currently a very busy pub.
God’s House Gate, which took its name from the nearby hospice, was also built in the 14th Century. Like the Water Gate, it also had a double portcullis and led to the platform quay, which extended southwards for some distance. God’s House Tower was added in the 15th Century, and for many years it was the home of the town gunner and the town’s guns and gun powder were also stored here.
Holy Rood Church was one of the five medieval parish churches inside the walls of medieval Southampton. It had been rebuilt in the 1320’s, and it was here that the Crusaders prayed before leaving for the Holy Land. Many who were part of the armies heading to France in the Hundred Years War also stopped here before setting sail. Philip of Spain attended Mass here in 1554, before proceeding to Winchester to meet Queen Mary. They were married two days later.
Holy Rood Church was destroyed on the 30th of November 1940, when it took a direct hit from a German bomb. The spire was knocked off, and the church was virtually destroyed. The ruins were left to stand, and in 1957 they became a memorial to the Merchant Navy. Under the tower is a memorial to the crew of the Titanic, which was originally unveiled on Southampton Common in 1915.
The medieval hall house which stands next to Westgate, is now known as Westgate Hall, but this building is not quite what it appears. It was actually moved here from St. Michaels Square, where it acted as a cloth hall on the first floor of the building, while the ground floor was an open arcade where the town's fish market was located. The building was moved in 1634, when it was taken apart piece by piece, and relocated to its current location. At this time the ground floor arcade was walled up, creating the building we see today. It was restored in the 1970’s, and today can be hired for weddings and other events.
The Duke of Wellington is one of the oldest pubs in Southampton, and dates back to the 1490’s when Rowland Johnson began brewing beer here. Rowland Johnson called the pub the Brewe House, and it was later known as the Shipwrights Arms, but after the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 it was renamed the Duke of Wellington. The Duke of Wellington pub stands on even older foundations, it has a vaulted undercroft dating to the 12th/13th Centuries. During World War II, the top floor of the pub was destroyed but it still managed to stay open, with the top floor not being rebuilt until 1961.
In 1415, Southampton was a town preparing for war. England did not have a standing navy, so when King Henry V wanted to take an army abroad, he had to commandeer the vessels to do so. The King ordered that all ships of 20 tons or more were to be seized in his name, and compensation would be paid at a rate of 8 shillings a ton, which was a fair amount but was little compensation to merchants who had other plans. Tonnage was a measure of a ship’s capacity. One ton would equal one barrel of wine, weighing 2,240 pounds, so a ship that could carry 20 barrels had a tonnage of 20. Near the Westgate can be seen a replica of a 15th century merchant ship, and while this appears to be a fairly small ship, Henry V had as many as 1,500 ships which he used to get his army to France in 1415. Planning was crucial for a successful campaign. In May of that year, Henry ordered the Sheriff of Hampshire to make provision on the county for the mustering of the army. All around Southampton, and the towns all the way to Winchester, he ordered the brewers and bakers to work under the direction of the undersheriff, to ensure that the army could be supplied. The assembly of 12,000 troops was more than Southampton could support, and so the whole of the county was involved, with sections of solders under different men allocated to nearby towns.
In the summer of 1415, Southampton and the surrounding villages and meadows were filled with soldiers, waiting to board ships which were docked and being loaded in the port of Southampton. Henry V was making his final plans in a campaign which would see the famous victory at Agincourt. It was in these circumstances that a plot to dethrone the King was discovered. Ever since Henry V’s father, Henry IV, took the throne from his ineffective cousin Richard II, the strict line of primogeniture had been interrupted. For some this would always be seen as a potential opportunity, in the right circumstances, but in many ways, these were not the right circumstances, and little wisdom seems to have been employed by those seeking to unseat the King. First of all, if there was ever a time when England was behind a king, it was when he was about to fight the French, and therefore the conspirators would have received little support for their plans. It is somewhat hard to understand the motivations for the Southampton plot, but we can try. The 1415 conspiracy against King Henry V has come to be known as the Southampton Plot, but this wasn’t a group of disgruntled rebels, these were some of the peers of the realm, even if there were not many of them. The leaders of the plot were Richard, Earl of Cambridge also known as Richard of Coinsbrough, Henry, Lord Scrope of Masham and Sir Thomas Grey of Heton.
Richard, Earl of Cambridge, was the instigator of the Southampton Plot. He was the second son of Edmund Langley, who was himself the youngest son of Edward III. He had a claim to the throne himself, but it would have come after Henry V’s claim. He was also married to Anne Mortimer. Anne was the granddaughter of Lionel, Duke of Clarence, who was himself the second son of Edward III. Although Lionel was deceased, had he been alive he would have had a far greater claim to the throne of England than Henry V. His claim was inherited by his heirs, but it was now going through the female line, as he was survived by his only daughter, Philippa the Countess of Ulster. She married Edmund Mortimer, the Earl of March. Their eldest son, Roger Mortimer, inherited the title and estates, he then married Alianore Holland and they had two children who survived to adulthood, Edmund and Anne. Anne was married to Richard of Cambridge, and they were the parents of Richard, the Duke of York, and the grandparents of Kings Edward IV and Richard III. This paragraph, while confusing, explains why the Wars of the Roses happened. For now, we just need to understand who Richard of Cambridge was, before we can begin to understand how he fits into the Southampton plot. The 'why' is harder to determine, although he may be the only one involved who had some sort of reason which we can comprehend. He was created Earl of Cambridge, but he was a second son, and he was given no lands when he gained his title, basically, he was broke. He had trouble even coming up with the required number of men, in 1415, for the French campaign, and had to borrow funds to be able to do so. It wasn’t his son Richard however, that Richard of Cambridge was plotting to put on the throne, it was his wife’s brother, Edmund Mortimer, who in 1415 would have had a better claim to the throne of England than Henry V, if we follow the female line from Edward III. This was something which Edward III himself was doing when trying to claim the French throne. Edmund Mortimer’s father, Roger, had also been the heir presumptive during the reign of Richard II, so the family was not forgotten and they would always be a target of anyone seeking to overthrow the King.
The two other men involved with the Southampton Plot were, Henry, Lord Scrope and Thomas Grey. Henry, Lord Scrope was the eldest son of Stephen Scrope. He was also the nephew of Richard Scrope, the Archbishop of York. He fought with Henry V at the Battle of Shrewsbury, and was appointed Treasurer of England and Knight of the Garter. While the motivations for the plot on the part of Richard of Cambridge may seem odd, those of Henry, Lord Scrope seem to defy logic. Lord Scrope was a favourite of Henry V, but perhaps his reasoning has been lost in the 600 years since the events. There are a few theories however, one being that he was planning to make the king aware of the plot and was only acting in the king’s interest, Edmund Mortimer simply told the king first. This is quite unlikely, as if true, it would have made sense to let the king know in advance rather than risk your life if found out. Another that has been put forward, is that there was no plot at all, but that before Henry V sailed for France he wanted to be rid of any whom he didn’t trust. Shakespeare picked up the theory that it was all a French plot, but he wasn’t exactly a historian, or a contemporary, or anywhere near accurate in other aspects of his histories, however well he could write. The other conspirator, Sir Thomas Grey, although not a peer of the realm was of noble descent. His mother was Joan Mowbray, a descendant of Edward I. His father was also named Thomas Grey, and had been a supporter of Henry IV before he became King. His connection to Richard of Cambridge, was that his 12-year-old son, also named Thomas, was betrothed to Cambridge’s 3-year-old daughter Isabel. Thomas Grey's involvement, through his own admission, was that he wanted to be richer than he was.
The objective of the Southampton Plot was to put Edmund Mortimer on the throne, the trouble was, he didn’t want the throne. Edmund Mortimer was the brother-in-law of Richard of Cambridge, who was married to his sister Anne. He was also the great-grandchild, and heir, of Edward III’s second son, Lionel of Clarence. This meant that he had a better claim to the throne than King Henry V, which would always make him a target for rebellions. When Henry V’s father, Henry IV, usurped the throne from Richard II, Edmund Mortimer was just 8 years of age. After the accession of Henry IV, he and his younger brother were then taken into the royal household and raised with the King's own children. Just a few years later, Edmund’s uncle rebelled against the King. He sided with Owain Glyndwr during the Welsh uprising, and openly declared that his nephew Edmund was the rightful King. Edmund was even kidnapped from Edward III’s custody, but the perpetrators were soon found and arrested. After this, Henry IV kept Edmund a virtual prisoner. He eventually gave Edmund’s warship to his eldest son, Henry, who was only 5 years older than Edmund. Once Henry V took the throne, he released Edmund and gave him back control of his estates. This wasn’t the first time that Edmund had been used in a plot to put him on the throne without his knowledge or permission. This time however, Edmund was not a child, and he did not want to be King. Exactly when he was told about the plot we cannot be entirely certain, but he reported the plot to the king and told him he had only just heard about the plot’s existence on the evening of the 31st of July 1415, while the King was at Portchester Castle.
Upon hearing Edmund Mortimer’s account of the Southampton plot, Henry V’s first act was to summon the plotters to Portchester Castle. Lord Scrope came that evening and was arrested. He willingly told the king everything he knew, he said that he was acting on the Kings behalf and was going to tell him about the events, but had not yet done so. Lord Scrope had been a friend of Henry V’s, and the King may have felt this betrayal more than that of the other men. Whether Scrope’s words were true or not, he would be tried for treason. The King appointed a commission of four Earls, four Barons and two Justices to investigate the plot, and report back their findings in two days’ time. Some of the written testimony the commissioners acquired in their investigations has survived, having been discovered in 1882, at the public records office. So we know they interviewed Lord Scrope first, where he told them all he knew stating it was the ‘first trespass I ever fell’, and he asked for merciful consideration. Richard of Cambridge was interviewed next, only fragments of his testimony have survived but we can gather that he admitted his plan was to take Edmund to Wales to raise a rebellion. He stated that Lord Scrope knew of this, and this may have been the damning evidence that cost Scrope his life. Thomas Grey was the last to be interviewed, but he gave a full and open confession. He left the impression that he was willing to implicate as many people as possible, perhaps thinking this may lessen his own guilt.
Once the enquiry was completed, the men involved were put on trial in front of a jury of 12 men. Trials were different in the Middle Ages, those accused of a crime were not permitted to be present at the trial. All the evidence was shown to the judge and jury, and they would then decide on the guilt or innocence. Once the decision was made, the accused would be brought in only to hear the decision. There are rumours that the trial took place at the Red Lion Inn, but it is far more likely to have taken place inside the castle. Having been found guilty, the men asked for mercy from the King, but none was forthcoming. Cambridge and Scrope, being peers of the realm, were also entitled to a trial by their peers. This trial took place on the 5th of August, the day the fleet had planned to disembark; this was delayed due to the trial. Grey, who was not a peer, had no such recourse and was taken to be hung, drawn and quartered outside Bargate, but having been dragged through the streets, the King relented and allowed him to be beheaded, after which his head would be taken to Newcastle to be stuck on a spike outside the gates. I’m not sure why it couldn’t just be outside the Bargate on a spike, it seems a long way to go just to display a head.
The two remaining men, Cambridge and Scrope, were put on trial by a jury of 20 of their peers. One of these men was Edmund Mortimer, Cambridge’s brother-in-law. Both men were also sentenced to death, both were beheaded at the Bargate, but only Scrope was dragged through the streets before he was beheaded. His head was sent to York to be put on display. Richard of Cambridge was allowed to have his head buried with his body in the St. Julian’s Chapel of God’s House Hospice in Southampton. During the renovations of the chancel floor, the skeleton of a large man with a severed head, which had been placed between his knees, was found. It is thought that this was the skeleton of the Earl of Cambridge, and the remains were reinterred. If Richard of Cambridge had done it all for money, then his impatience lost him everything, as his older brother, Edward, died childless on the field of Agincourt only 2 months after his death. Cambridge’s son, Richard of York, would inherit everything from his father and his uncle.
Edmund Mortimer was granted a royal pardon on the 7th of August, and he accompanied Henry V on his French expedition, which left Southampton on the 11th of August. He didn’t stay long in France though as he became ill with dysentery, and was sent back to England before the battle of Agincourt. After the death of Henry V in 1422, he was appointed to the regency council for Henry VI. He became Lieutenant of Ireland in 1423, but died without issue at Trim Castle in Ireland in 1425. The Mortimer family line died out with Edmund, and all of his estates, and his claim to the throne, were inherited by his nephew Richard, Duke of York, who would become the father of Edward IV and Richard III.
When we think of medieval England, we don’t often think of towns filled immigrants. In fact, we tend to assume that there were none, and that people were more insular then. There were certainly less immigrants living in the countryside than in towns, but even this was not unheard of. The number of people immigrating to England rose after the plague struck in the mid-14th Century, as there was a lack of labour in England. Many of the people who came into England would have arrived at a port town such as Southampton, and some would have stayed there. Controversies over immigration in Britain are not new. A few years ago, some of the top universities in England worked to create England’s Immigrants Project. which established that England was home to tens of thousands of immigrant settlers, who were then known as ‘aliens’, and came to England from all over Europe. The project focused on the period from 1300-1550, and the records show that in the mid 15th Century there were over 300 immigrants living in Southampton. This number is taken from tax records, so anyone not paying taxes, such as wives and children, would not have been listed. This would have been a considerable number, at a time when the population of Southampton is estimated to have been between 3,000-4,000. We have an account from 1450, at which time there was a thriving Italian merchant community in Southampton. We know that there was an anti-immigrant sentiment, which had appeared in London and had spread to Southampton, when a group of men entered the town intent on attacking the Italian merchants. They were stopped however by the mayor, who had been alerted, and had organised patrols and guards around the town to protect them.
By the end of the 14th Century, the town walls were completed and the town was fully defended. Southampton had successfully improved its fortifications, a process that took it a considerable amount of time. When the stone walls were first begun in the 12th Century, its towers and gates were fitted with arrow-loops, and by early 15th Century some of these were being modified as gun ports. Southampton was still increasing its protection in the early 15th Century, when God’s House Tower was built. This new building of God’s House tower was built to strengthen the existing God’s House Gate. It was built to enhance the defences of the gate and to protect the southeast approach, which was the main approach to the town from the sea. The tower was designed to make use of old forms of military technology, but it also added new, state of the art, keyhole gun-ports. At this time, it was at the cutting edge of warfare. God’s House Gate was already present, but this large extension was added with modern improvements in the last quarter of the 15th century, which would be known as God’s House Tower. This building would have greatly strengthened the south-eastern side of the town’s fortifications. The first mention of the name God’s House Tower was in 1424. In 1445, the 15-year-old Margaret of Anjou arrived at Southampton, and stayed for a few days at God’s House Hospice, where she was attended by nuns, before proceeding to Titchfield where she married King Henry VI on the 23rd of April, 1445.
Located in St. Michaels Square, the building known as the Tudor House dates from between 1491 and 1518. In the 13th and 14th Centuries, several row houses stood here, parts of which have been incorporated into Tudor House. This work was done by Sir John Dawtrey, who was Controller of Customs for King Henry VII. He was later in charge of equipping King Henry VIII’s naval ships, including the Mary Rose. Of course, like many very old homes in Southampton, Tudor house also has its own vaults which were used as storage. One of the them has a large Tudor fireplace and it has been speculated that this may have been used as a kitchen, although that would be unusual.
Tudor House was saved in 1886, by William Spranger, who realised its importance and began its repair work. He was an avid collector, who’s objective was to open the house as a museum. He eventually persuaded Southampton Corporation to purchase the house from him, and in 1912 it opened as a museum. Since then, it has undergone extensive refurbishment in the 1990’s and continues to be open to the public as a museum today.
The medieval vaults of Southampton came into use once more during World War II, when many of them were used as air raid shelters, to protect the town's residents. At this time, there was a new stipulation that every vault had to have a second entrance, and so many new stairways were broken through. In the event that the area was bombed, they wanted more than one way of getting people out of the vaults, so we can see some hasty openings made in the vaults for this purpose. If you haven’t had enough of Southampton by now, you can take your own walk through the city by following the walking tour or to see the vaults, contact Southampton Tourist Guides