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| Holy Day Gathering |
Short version: The text is 81A of James Childs ballads. The dates are after 1543 but before 1607. (This time frame is dominated by the Reformation from Catholic to Protestant England under Henry VIII.) The setting is a church in the English/Scottish borderlands. The origin of the story is the subject of this post. We believe a historical incident inspired this ballad and the basic version is something like this:
The wife of a Lord from Barnard Castle and a Musgrave family member 'hooked up' at Durham Cathedral while on vacation (holiday). Her husband heard of it, killed Musgrave, slaughtered his wife, and buried them on his land.'.
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| The center of Barnard Castle, village in County Durham |
We attempt to support our case below by looking at the options to celebrate a 'high holy day.'
Barnard Castle
Barnard Castle village is twenty miles away from Little Musgrave and twenty-five from Durham Cathedral. It's almost the half-way point between Little Musgrave and Durham.
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| Barnard Castle, County Durham |
Barnard Castle is a market town in Teesdale, County Durham, England. It is named after the castle around which it grew up. Wikipedia Today. the structure"...is a ruined medieval castle situated in the town of the same name in County Durham." Wikipedia
Great and Little Musgrave
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| Saint Mungos Church Bromfield, England |
Both Musgrave villages shared one church. (It's) forty-five miles from Durham Cathedral.
Crookdale, England
Our ancestor at this time was Cuthbert Musgrave from Crookdake (now Bromfield), Cumbria, England. He was seventeen years old.
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| Saint Mungo's exterior |
"Cuthbert Musgrave...is found referred to in 1543 as holding the manor and hamlet of Crookdale by knightly service at the age of seventeen, being born in 1526. Reference is also made to his holding of lands in many other places." American Family Musgrove page 59
Cuthbert, the great-grandson of Mungo Musgrave and a landowner at seventeen, would regularly worship at Saint Mungo's church.
"St Mungo's Church is in the village of Bromfield, Cumbria, England. ...The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building." Wikipedia
His home was seventy miles from Durham Castle.
Entertainment in the Middle Ages - Holidays and Festivals
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| Bards and minstrels |
"The monotony of Medieval daily life during the Middle ages was alleviated by the various types of entertainment, festivals, and holidays. ...The Medieval entertainers of the Middle Ages included Jesters, Mummers (Masked or costumed merrymaker or dancers at festivals), Minstrels and Troubadours, acrobats and jugglers and conjurers." lordsandladies.org
In this post, we've presented the small parish churches, which everyone attended on Sunday. We reported the distance between Barnard, Musgrave, and Crookdale, England. For the reivers, this is a comfortable ride. So, would a young man with land holdings spend their 'high holy day' - a big holiday vacation - at his small, local church? Or would he be adventurous; grab a hawk, mount a horse and head to the most famous Cathedral in the area? And what about a beautiful young, but neglected, Lady? Where would she go?
Durham Cathedral
"Durham Cathedral,... home of the Shrine of St Cuthbert, is a cathedral in the city of Durham, United Kingdom. ...(and) holds the relics of Saint Cuthbert, transported to Durham by Lindisfarne monks in the ninth century, the head of Saint Oswald of Northumbria, and the remains of the Venerable Bede." Wikipedia
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| Saint Cuthbert's shrine |
Young singles flock to Daytona Beach and Mardi Gras for vacation, and the human libido hasn't changed. We don't think the ballad's events happened at a small church. Instead, we believe there were so many people, all in carnival mode, that this could happen and be covered up.
So how do we know about it now? Who squealed? We'll look at Little Musgrave's page, Lord Barnard's 'merry men' and the many traveling minstrels at Durham Cathedral for the answer in our next post.
Meanwhile, check out the video of the most famous church in Northern England.
Durham Cathedral
Part of a series on The Ballad of Little Musgrave.
1. Distinguished Surname 4. Versions 7 Origin.
2. Border Reivers 5. History 8. Author
3. Ballad 6. Text 9. Story
10. Minstrels
Have you been following this series on the Ballad of Little Musgrave? Do you have any thoughts on it? Tell me below in the comment section.
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