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23rd October 2015: Agincourt 600 in Herefordshire
Local links to the battle and ways to mark the anniversary in 2015
As the commemoration of the Battle of Agincourt, 25th October 1415 approaches, thoughts have turned to Hampton Court, Leominster as the Herefordshire house with the most obvious connection to the anniversary. Burford, near Tenbury Wells, and Stapleton Castle, near Presteigne also have close links to the battle.
Sir Rowland Leinthall
John Leland, touring Britain in 1535, wrote that Hampton Court had been ‘sumptuously erected’ by Sir Rowland Leinthall using money earned from the ransoms of French prisoners taken at the Battle of Agincourt. We know that King Henry V did indeed grant these ransoms as gifts to those who had served him in the French campaign, and it may be that Leinthall did benefit in this way, but I have not yet found any contemporary primary evidence of that.
Rather Leinthall’s wife, née Lady Margaret FitzAlan lost her brother during the campaign. Thomas FitzAlan, Earl of Arundel was married but had no heir. His was one of the richest and most powerful families in the country and was closely related to the Lancastrian line. Thomas’ death on 13th October 1415, his thirty-fourth birthday, led to the sharing of his wealth between his three sisters.
In the year 2000, the compilers of the annual Sunday Times Rich List attempted a rich list for the entire first millennium since 1066. Second on that list was Lady Margaret’s grandfather, the thirteenth earl, whose wealth was estimated to have been the equivalent (in 2000) of £48 billion. The family had since fallen from favour and lost much of its land, but Thomas had been rehabilitated by Henry V, and a third share of the remainder would have been a generous bequest. It seems likely therefore, that this is how the Agincourt campaign financed the building of Hampton Court.
Sir Rowland contributed between eight and a dozen men at arms and thirty-three to thirty-six foot archers to the Agincourt campaign. The king gave Leinthall and others jewels, plate and other items as security for the wages that they were paying their men on behalf of the king. Leinthall survived to return to Herefordshire. In December 1415 he was granted by Henry V income from the Mortimer family’s estates at Wigmore ‘in consideration of his great expenses on the king’s last voyage’. (Calendar of Patent Rolls, 6th December 1415)
Leinthall continued to benefit from royal favour and largesse under Henry V and his son Henry VI, until Leinthall’s death in 1450.
Sir John Cornwall
The most important Herefordshire connection with Agincourt is probably that of Sir John Cornwall (c1364-1443) of a junior line of the Barons of Burford near Tenbury Wells. Cornwall was considered a model of contemporary chivalry, had proved himself in combat, and was a Knight of the Garter. He married Henry IV’s sister, Elizabeth after he had caught her eye at the York Tournament of 1400. He was known as ‘The Green Knight’.
Cornwall mustered thirty men at arms and ninety archers for Henry V’s new campaign in the summer of 1415. At the siege of Harfleur that preceded Agincourt, Cornwall carried out reconnaissance for his nephew the King, and when the army marched north towards Calais, from early October, Cornwall was heading one of its three divisions.
At Agincourt itself, Cornwall is said to have captured two French noblemen. He was certainly granted the ransoms of Peter de Reux, Marshal of France, and Louis de Bourbon, Count of Vendome. With these he was later able to build Ampthill Castle, Bedfordshire. It is said that before this new home was built, he spent time at his castle at Stapleton, near Presteigne in north-west Herefordshire. It was here, in the great hall, that he displayed his Agincourt armour.
Cornwall too benefited from further titles and gifts, becoming Baron of Fanhope (Fownhope, Herefordshire) and a Privy Councillor to Henry VI in 1433, and Baron of Milbroke in 1442. He, like Leinthall, continued to be active in France. Cornwall had his only son, aged seventeen, at his side at the Siege of Meaux in early 1422, when he had the horror of seeing the boy's head blown off by stone shot. Cornwall’s only other child was a daughter, Constance, who was contracted to marry John FitzAlan, whose father had claimed the Arundel title after Thomas’ death in 1415. As if to seal this triangle of families, Sir Rowland Leinthall’s daughter, Elizabeth, married Thomas Cornewall, 6th Baron of Burford, a young cousin (three times removed) of Sir John Cornwall.
Family alliances of this kind were indeed typical of the period, but cemented too through service on the battlefield.
Hampton Court is open this week-end from 10.30am-5pm with tours during the day.
The remains of Stapleton Castle are privately owned but can be visited on Sunday, 25th October. The owner, Trefor Griffiths, will be giving tours at 11am and 2.30pm followed by tea and cake. On the evening before, at 7.30pm there will be a talk and (Medieval) refreshments at The Judge’s Lodging, Presteigne by Dr Charles Kightly. Each event costs £10 but a combined ticket may be bought for £16. To book a ticket, telephone The Judge’s Lodging on 01544 260650.
The Cornwall tombs, including that of Sir John’s wife Elizabeth, are spectacular and survive at St Mary’s Church, Burford, Herefordshire.