10 HISTORY OP BISHOP AUCKLAND. his day, and anxious to remove the various obstacles, which in his time stood in the way of education. And Auckland, no doubt, stood pre-eminently forward in learning during his episcopate. Bradwardine, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury ; and Benworth and Segrave, afterwards respectively Bishops of London and Chichester, are enumerated as his chaplains, and as taking part with him in the post-prandial dissertations, which were daily held at his tabla Bury was tutor to Edward III., also high chancellor, and in 1336, treasurer of England. On the day of his enthronement he entertained, in the hall of the Castle of Durham, the King and Queen of England, the Queen Dowager of England, the King of Scotland, the two metropolitans, and five other Bishops, seven earls with their ladies, aU the nobility north of the Trent, with a vast concourse of knights, esquires, and other people of distinction, amongst whom were many Abbots and other members of religious orders. Bishop Bury was succeeded in the See of Durham by Thomas Hatfield in 1336. By the stirring events which took place during his episcopate, we are enabled to obtain a few faint gleams of the history of our town and neighbourhood. In 1319, during the siege of Berwick by Edward II., the Earl of Moray and Lord Douglass had entered England with 10,000 choice men, and penetrated almost to the city of York. In 1323, on the excursion of Robert Bruce into England, a party of Scots, whilst the inhabitants were in their beds, surprised the suburbs of Durham, which they reduced to ashes. The walls of the city having been neglected and become ruinous, were restored and put into a state of defence by Bishop Beaumont, who, iu that year, received a severe censure from Edward for his negligence in matters so important to his Palatinate. In 1342, David, King of Scotland, invaded England by the eastern border with an army of 53,000 horse and foot, and coming to Newcastle lay about it all night. Early the next morning the townsmen saUied forth to reconnoitre the enemy, of whom they slew great numbers by surprise, and brought back with them the Earl of Moray, whom they had taken prisoner in his tent The next morning the Scots assaulted the town, but Sir John Neville, then captain of the castle, making a most vigorous defence, they were compelled to raise the siege. They then marched on towards Durham, which they took by storm, after a siege of seven days. They there embrued their hands in the horrid massacre of all ages and both sexes ; spoUed and plundered the sacred places, and put the religious to miserable deaths. Such events as those above narrated were a prelude to the battle of Neville's Cross, a full account of which we transcribe from " Richardson's Local Historian's Table Book," prefacing it by statiag that on the night previous to the battle, which was fought on the 17th October, 1346, an army of 16,000 men lay encamped in Auckland Park. But an event of this kind would scarcely be looked upon as such a great novelty in those days as it would in more modem times, as it was an age of tumult and fighting, when the whole country had been overrun by the Scots, spreading bloodshed and piUage wherever they went. On October 17th, 1346, was fought the battle of the Red-hills, commonly called the " Battle of Neville's Cross," near Durham. David, King of Scotland, assembled one of the most powerful armies which had ever crossed the border, and whilst Edward was prosecuting his victorious career in France, invaded England by the western marches. The first effects of the storm fell on the little Tower of Liddel. Walter Selby, the governor, surrendered at discretion, after a brave defence ; and David, with a strange inhumanity, ordered him to be beheaded on the spot. After burning the Abbey of Lanercost, the Scots pursued their usual route through Cumberland and Tynedale. They sacked the Priory of Hejham, but spared the town, reserving it as a deposit for their future plunder. The same orders were issued as to Darlington, Durham, and Corbridge. After crossing the Tyne and Derwent, David halted at Ebchester, and the next day encamped, without meeting with serious opposition, at Beaurepaire, three miles west of Durham. The northern nobles, meanwhile, exerted the remaining resources of the country with vigour and despatch, and before the middle of October an army of 16,000 men was assembled, under the Archbishop of York, the Bishops of Durham, Lincoln, and Carlisle, the Lords Neville and Percy, and the Sheriffs of York and Northumberland. David, heedless of the approaching danger, continuedat Beaurepaire, indulging in the pageantry of war, and wasting the country around Durham. On the 1 6th of October the English forces lay in Auckland Park ; the next day they moved forward at day-break, and, after gaining the rising Digitized by Google
