Henry Clifford, 10th Baron Clifford

Lady Anne Clifford, suo jure 14th Baroness Clifford, who wrote the first history of her family

Popular belief later held that as a boy of seven, Clifford was spirited away from his home in Skipton Castle following his father's death. For his own protection, so it went, his mother sent him to live in Londesborough on the property of a trusted family nurse where he employed himself tending the family's sheep. Whenever his mother believed him likely to be discovered he would be moved. Precisely where to is unknown, but both Yorkshire and Cumberland are possible; in the latter case, for example, Clifford's father-in-law held estates in Threlkeld.[22] This supposedly gave Clifford the soubriquet "shepherd lord".[23][24] The story seems to have originated with the 16th-century antiquarian Edward Hall and been reiterated by Lady Anne Clifford, in her 17th-century family history. The early modern historian Jessica Malay, argues that "with Edward IV on the throne (elder brother of the Earl of Rutland) and the Clifford hereditary lands forfeit, the Clifford dynasty was threatened with extinction".[20] Lady Anne was, she says, "keen to emphasise the role of women in the survival of the Clifford dynasty", and as such created a "dramatic narrative" in which Margaret deliberately defies the crown for the sake of her dead husband's heir. Anne clearly believed that King Edward sought revenge for the murder of his younger brother, which put young Clifford's life in danger.[20][note 3] Malay suggests that, while Anne Clifford believed the story of the shepherd's family taking her ancestor in, modern historians generally discount it as folklore, to greater or lesser degrees.[20] It has received some traction; the 19th-century genealogist George Edward Cokayne accepted the story of Clifford's being "(for security against the disfavour with which his family was viewed by the reigning house) concealed by his mother" and raised as a shepherd,[19] as did the antiquarian J. W. Clay in a 1905 article for the Yorkshire Archaeological Journal.[28] The scholar R. T. Spence also repeated the story in his 1959 University of London PhD thesis on the later Cliffords (writing that Clifford was "brought up as a Shepherd boy to escape the fate of his father's victim").[29] Three years later Dickens (in his edition of the Clifford Papers) described how Clifford "aged about seven, lay in real danger and was brought up first as a shepherd".[21][note 4]

The topographer Thomas Dunham Whitaker expressed doubt as to the 'shepherd lord' story's veracity in 1821.[31] More recently, the historian K. B. McFarlane has gone further, arguing that it was probably "apocryphal",[32] and J. R. Lander calls it "very dubious indeed".[33] James Ross has pointed out that Clifford was pardoned by Edward IV in 1472 and could hardly have been in danger from the King thereafter. Further, he notes, as early as 1466[34] Clifford was named publicly as receiving a bequest of a sword and a silver bowl by Henry Harlington of Craven.[1] This argues that the young lord could not have been difficult to find, comments Ross. He also, though, suggests that Clifford may well have kept a low profile after Towton, if only temporarily: "it may not have been with a shepherd, but surely Clifford was in hiding in secret somewhere".[34] Malay also suggests that "in all likelihood, he spent only a few years in rural retreat" in Cumberland.[20] Clifford's biographer Henry Summerson, writing in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, also refutes the theory, "later stories to the contrary notwithstanding, that the seven-year-old Henry Clifford was ever pursued by vengeful Yorkists". Summerson notes, for example, that Hall wrote that Clifford—due to his upbringing by remote shepherds—was illiterate. In reality, says Summerson, Clifford "was later to be not just literate but even bookish, owning volumes on law and medicine". Summerson agrees that "it may be that the Clifford heir thought it prudent to keep a low profile" in the early years of the new regime.[1] While the medievalist Vivienne Rock subscribes to the theory that Clifford grew up ill-educated, she agrees that in later life "he did become an able administrator for his substantial estates".[35][note 5]

Ross described the Clifford estates—centred on Cumberland, Westmorland, Durham and Yorkshire—as "valuable and strategically important in the troubled north".[18] The 9th Baron had never, though, been as wealthy as some of the neighbouring families, such as the Darcys.[37] His 1461 attainder prevented his son from inheriting, but in 1470 King Edward was forced from the throne and into exile, and Henry VI was returned to the throne.[38] The Earl of Warwick—now aligned with the House of Lancaster against Edward—was in charge of the government,[1] and his brother, John, Marquess Montagu, was granted the Henry Clifford's wardship during his minority.[39] Summerson posits that this was a chance for Clifford to regain his inheritance.[1] There was probably insufficient time to press his claim, however, as both Nevilles were killed at the Battle of Barnet on 14 April the following year.[1] Edward IV's victory at Barnet, and at the Battle of Tewkesbury a few weeks later, destroyed the remnants of Lancastrian resistance and returned Edward to the throne. Despite Clifford's Lancastrian connections, he seems never to have been in any danger at this time, as on 16 March 1472 Edward granted him a royal pardon.[1] This was despite an attempt by Clifford's brother Thomas to raise an—albeit unsuccessful—pro-Lancastrian rebellion in Hartlepool.[40] Henry Clifford was duly allowed to inherit the estates of his maternal grandfather, Henry Bromflete, Lord Vescy—who had died in 1469—but not yet his Clifford patrimony.[41] Further, as his mother was still alive, a third of his inheritance—her dower[note 6]—remained out of his control until her death in 1493.[1]

Clifford made a natural ally for King Henry, and soon became one of his most trusted men in the north.[50] Summerson suggests that Henry had little choice in restoring Clifford to his traditional regional position, as Northern England had been firmly Yorkist for over 20 years, first under the Nevilles and then under Gloucester. The latter had made Yorkshire his powerbase.[1] Clifford, already loyal to Lancaster and then Tudor, was an obvious choice to act as the King's man, and Henry gradually increased Clifford's power. On 2 May 1486[54] Clifford received the stewardship of the Lordship of Middleham and bailiwick of the Honour of Richmond.[1] The former had been one of Richard of Gloucester's most important headquarters.[55] After Richard took the throne, he granted it to Sir John Conyers,[54] one of Gloucester's closest advisers;[56] both Middleham and Richmond had been Neville strongholds before that.[57] Conyers seems to have been placed in Clifford's custody around this time, although relations between the two men seem to have improved: Clifford later jointly shared in a £1,000 bond to the King for Conyers's good behaviour.[58] In October 1486 Clifford sat on a commission to "levy for the King, all profits arising from the King's manors and lands in the counties of Westmorland and Cumberland, the lordship of Penrith and the forest of Inglewood" in expectation of an invasion by Scotland.[59]

The city of York jealously guarded its liberties, and traditionally rejected all interference from the outside unless it was perceived as absolutely warranted.[60] This resistance troubled Clifford throughout his career. During the Yorkist rebellion of 1487, which attempted to place Lambert Simnel on the throne (as a pretender for Edward IV's second son, Richard of Shrewsbury) Clifford was responsible for guarding the city. He reinforced the garrison with 200 of his men at arms;[61] when the rebel army passed close by, Clifford followed it to Braham.[note 7] He attempted to engage it on 10 June, but was beaten off.[62] He camped in Tadcaster overnight,[61] where word was brought to him that a small force of rebels, led by Lords Scrope of Masham and of Bolton[63] had launched an assault on Bootham Bar. This forced Clifford to withdraw back to York and face the rebels[62] on 13 June.[63] The subsequent encounter was not an unqualified success, notes Summerson; Clifford was defeated in a scuffle outside the gates, and lost all his baggage.[1] The military historian Philip A. Haigh writes that Clifford was "utterly disgraced" and R. W. Hoyle describes his efforts as a "fiasco".[37][61] The city scribes "laconically recorded the disastrous outcome", writes Anthony Goodman, and emphasised how the King's man in the north "had signally failed" to contain the rising.[64]

Meanwhile, the King's army under John de Vere, Earl of Oxford, had won a decisive victory over the rebels at the Battle of Stoke 16 June 1487.[65] Clifford was again given responsibility for the safety of York,[66] and he claimed "captenship" over the city, an assertion the city rejected.[67] In 1488 Clifford and Lady Anne both joined the city's Corpus Christi Guild. This does not seem to have restored Clifford in the eyes of the city officialdom, as the following year they again refused him entry, claiming that his intentions threatened the city's liberties. This may well have been prescient, suggests Summerson, as in 1513 Clifford attempted to claim the city's troops for his own army.[1] In 1489 the townspeople, "denyed the entrie of the Lords Clifford and othre, that in nowise noon othre gentilman of what degreor condiconhe he of be suffred to enter this the Kyngs Chaumbre and so all to be excludet and noon to have reule bot the Maiour, Aldermen and the Shireffs".[68] The city's statement came just before rebellion again broke out in Yorkshire, this time against heavy taxes. The commons overran the city and refused to allow Clifford or the sheriff, Marmaduke Constable entry. Instead, the citizens not only allowed the rebels to enter, they provided them a degree of military assistance.[66][note 8] The medievalist David Grummitt comments that the city's reluctance to allow Clifford either office or military assistance is in stark contrast to the fervour with which they served "our ful gode and gracious lorde the duc of Gloucestre" as both Duke and King.[67]

Clifford was in London in 1494 when he and the King's second son, Prince Henry,[69] among others, were made Knights of the Bath.[1] Clifford spent much of the remainder of the decade on service in the north. Although he never held office on the border,[37] he led a major campaign in 1497,[1] besieging and capturing Norham Castle from the Scots.[41] Clifford was probably a member of the Council of the North around the turn of the century. This body was under the nominal leadership of Prince Arthur and managed by the Archbishop of York, Thomas Savage.[1][note 9] Clifford's lordship of the north, posits Summerson, was reciprocal: Henry extended royal power in the region by strengthening Clifford, and likewise, Clifford strengthened and augmented his own position through royal service.[1]

Skipton Castle, the traditional seat of the Clifford family, in 2014

Clifford, although a figure of political and social influence, only ever had regional interests.[37] His approach to his estates was generally positive, suggests Summerson. Clifford regularly travelled between Westmorland and Yorkshire (visiting manors "where no Clifford had been seen for a quarter of a century") and took the opportunity to rebuild and repair castles and other properties as he did. These he funded with traditional feudal dues, such as offices, wardships and marriages that were within his purview. His determined augmentation of his estates occasionally led to summonses before the royal council for enclosing land.[1] Conversely, Clifford attempted to build good relations with his tenants and neighbours through financial generosity and hospitality, such as in 1521, when he held a "great Christmas" at Brough Castle.[1][note 10]

On occasion, Clifford made the enmity of his neighbours as a direct result of his royal service. For example, it was often to the Crown's advantage that, where possible, it influenced civic elections in favour of royal candidates. A particularly important such office was that of the city recorder. In the early years of Henry's reign the administration of York, as the capital of the north, keenly interested the King. Its regional position, combined with a history of Yorkist loyalism, made it, the scholar James Lee suggests, a "touchstone for loyalty to Henry".[73] The King attempted to impose his own man, but the city council disagreed. Clifford then attempted to intercede for the King, but to no avail, and in the end a compromise candidate, John Vavasour, was elected.[73] Summerson notes that Clifford's attempts to insert himself into local politics were "not always well-received". Summerson highlights Clifford's declaration in 1486 to the Mayor and Common Council that he intended "to mynistre as myn auncistres haith done here to fore in all thinges that accordith to my dewtie". In response, York's officials "firmly" informed Clifford that he had no such duty as his ancestors had never wielded such authority.[1] Clifford also attempted, unsuccessfully, to influence the civic celebrations the city organised for the King's first visit to York later the same year. He wished, says Lee, to show the King the degree to which he was in control now that he had been returned to his family's traditional position; he was told by Vavasour that the city would do as it saw fit.

Brougham Castle became one of Clifford's favoured residences.

[73]

In 1487 the Earl of Oxford had been granted the wardship and marriage[74] of the 17-year-old[75] Elizabeth Greystoke, granddaughter and sole heiress of Ralph, Baron Greystoke. Oxford soon sold the rights (worth nearly £300 per annum) to Clifford. Within a short time, though, Elizabeth was taken from Clifford's custody ("without leave asking, and not without peril to his person"[75]) by Thomas, Lord Dacre.[74] By 1491, relations between the two men had deteriorated to the extent that the King personally prosecuted them both in the Star Chamber for rioting; they were each fined £20.[76] King Henry was more likely to have been concerned, in cases such as these, with bending his tenants-in-chief to his political will than the revenue these forfeits added to his Exchequer.[77] Hicks has suggested that this behaviour made Clifford less trustworthy in Henry's eyes as a crown agent.[78] In 1496 the Captain of Carlisle, Henry Wyatt, wrote to the King[79][note 11] expressing, as Agnes Conway calls it, his "poor opinion" of Clifford. Wyatt considered Clifford's wife, Lady Anne St John, to be a more able administrator than her husband, whom he considered inefficient, and told the King so plainly.[81]

Clifford's success at improving his finances eventually placed him in the top third of the English nobility and enabled him to successfully create new connections and strengthen existing ones. This he achieved through both marriage alliances with, and retaining among, the local gentry.[1][note 12] Clifford was also a major patron to local abbeys, monasteries and priories. To Bolton Priory,[1] for example, he donated a manuscript now known as A Treatise of Natural Philosophy in Old French.[84][note 13] Other houses included Gisborough, Mount Grace and Shap; Mount Grace was particularly favoured.[1][note 14] Clifford was a regular correspondent with the heads of other houses, including Byland, Carlisle, Furness, Holmcultram and St. Mary's, York.[87] His extensive patronage did not always bring him success in his political negotiations with them. In 1518, for example, the Dean of York, Brian Higton wrote to Clifford explaining why he had refused to accept Clifford's favoured nominee as parish priest of Conisbrough Church:

Where ye dide of laite presente your clerk unto the church of Conesburgh of your patronege, surely I cane nott (of my conscience) admytte hym to itt, fore his connyng is mervyllus slendure. I haue scyne few prestis so symple lernede in my life. If itt please you to commande some of your lernede chapplens to oppoise hym in your presence, I dowte not butte ye shall perceyue the truth. And fore the lakk of his lernynge (Which is manifesteo) I do putte hym bakk, ande fore noyne oder cause, nor at no mannys desire or motlon.[88]

The Battle of Flodden as envisaged by a Victorian engraver

War with Scotland broke out again in 1513 when the Scottish King, James IV, declared war on England. James intended to honour the Auld Alliance with France by diverting Henry VIII's English troops from their campaign against the French, against whom England was a member of the Catholic League in the War of the League of Cambrai, supporting the Pope. Henry VIII had also opened old wounds by claiming to be the overlord of Scotland, further angering the Scots.[100] The first—and as it turned out, the only—engagement of the Scottish campaign was fought at Flodden on 9 September.[41] Clifford brought 207 archers and 116 billmen from Yorkshire under his banner of the Red Wyvern[101] and commanded the vanguard.[41] King James was killed in battle, and Clifford captured three Scottish cannons which he took to "decorate" Skipton Castle; the contemporary Ballad of Flodden Field refers to "Lord Clifford with his clapping guns".[100]

In 1521, the Emperor Charles V resumed war with Francis I. King Henry offered to mediate, but this achieved little and by the end of the year England and the Empire were aligned together against France.[102] Clifford provided 1,000 marks[note 19] towards funding the campaign,[19] one of the highest sums the crown received.[41]

Clifford is known to have married twice. Possibly at the end of 1486[1]—and certainly by 1493[104]—he had wed Anne St. John of Bletsoe Castle.[note 20] She was the daughter of Sir John St John and Alice, daughter of Sir Thomas Bradshaigh of Haigh.[19] Anne's grandmother was Margaret Beauchamp, the mother of Margaret Beaufort, making Anne half-cousin to King Henry VII.[105] It is probable that the King and his mother had a hand in arranging Anne's marriage to Clifford.[106] Their relationship does not seem to have been peaceful, and this probably exacerbated the King's disfavour of Clifford.[1] Clifford's marriage problems were in part due to his conspicuous infidelity, which caused sufficient tension between him and Anne that their separation was suggested.[28] Anne's chaplain began negotiating this with the King and Lady Margaret Beaufort, who went as far as to offer Anne and her daughters a position in Margaret's household[106] expressing the wish that Anne "shall come up and attend upon my Lady".[107] In the event, the crisis passed and Clifford and Anne stayed together until her death in 1508.[1] She was buried in Skipton Church.[28]

By July 1511,[1] Clifford had married Florence Pudsey, widow of Thomas Talbot. She was the daughter of Henry Pudsey of Berforth and Margaret Conyers, daughter of Christopher Conyers of Hornby.[19] Clifford and Lady Florence were enjoined to the confraternity of Guisborough Abbey.[1] Their marriage, too, was fraught with difficulties, and Florence sued her husband in York consistory court for the restitution of conjugal rights. In doing so, suggest the scholars Tim Thornton and Katherine Carlton, "she did not perhaps expect her own conduct to be brought into question".[108] Clifford, though, in his turn, accused her of adultery with a member of his household,[1] one Roger Wharton. Wharton, under examination in court, confessed that "I will never denye ffor a man may be in bedd with a woman and yett do noo hurte". Thornton and Carlton continue, "in one simple statement, Wharton shed light upon the sexual mores of the Clifford household".[108] Wharton also accused Clifford of having an extra-marital relationship with one Jane Browne, also of his household.[109]

Clifford had several illegitimate children by a number of mistresses,[1][note 21] including two sons, Thomas and Anthony.[109] They both later received positions within the family, Thomas becoming deputy-governor of Carlisle Castle in 1537,[112] and Anthony being appointed steward of Cowling, Grassington and Sutton. Both were also made master foresters of Craven.[113] Thomas and Anthony may have been illegitimate, but Clifford considered them men of "substance, education and experience [and] gentlemen", and provided for them in his will.[114]

From his first marriage to Anne he left two sons,[1] his heir Henry, and Thomas.[84][note 22] With Anne, he also had four daughters,[1] and by Florence, another daughter.[28] A number of these married into the Bowes family of Streatlam, Co. Durham.[115][116][117] Clifford's heir and namesake was born around 1493, and was raised at court with the King's son, the future Henry VIII.[note 23] The relationship between father and son appears to have been as turbulent as that between Clifford and his wives, with a relationship "strained to breaking point", suggests Dickens.[119] In 1511, Clifford complained that young Henry was both wild and a wastrel, who dressed flamboyantly in cloth of gold, "more lyk a duke than a pore baron's sonne as hee is".[1] He protested about "the ungodly and ungudely disposition of my son Henrie Clifforde, in such wise as yt was abominable to heare it".[119] Among his complaints was that Henry had threatened Clifford's servants and disobeyed his father. Clifford also alleged that his son had assaulted Clifford's old servant Henry Popely, had damaged and stolen Clifford's possessions and had sought to retain important men from Clifford's "countree" for himself. He had also harmed Clifford's close relations with local religious institutions, said Clifford, by stealing tithes and beating their tenants and servants.[note 24] The King, meanwhile, had ordered Clifford to pay £40 to his son towards his upkeep at court, which Clifford had done. Clifford had urged his son "to forsake the dangerous counsels of certain evilly-disposed young gentlemen".[119] Clifford's exhortations were not wholly successful, as on at least one occasion his son was incarcerated in the Fleet Prison.[120]

Summerson suggests that Clifford was to a degree culpable for his son's behaviour, considering that if he "had ideas above his station, the responsibility was largely his father's, who not only placed him at court but also set about marrying him into the high aristocracy".[1] It is also probable, suggests Dickens, that Clifford's own frugality towards his son's expenses encouraged his heir's behaviour,[120] perhaps combined with irritation at his father's longevity.[1] Furthermore, Dickens asserts, young Henry's sojourn at court forced a great distance between him and his father, which prevented him from learning at first hand the responsibilities he would at some point be expected to take up in the north. Young Henry also appears to have fallen out with his stepmother Florence.[119] It was intended that he marry Margaret, daughter of George, Earl of Shrewsbury, but she died before the betrothal. In 1512 young Henry married Margaret Percy, daughter of the Earl of Northumberland,[1][note 25] which further augmented the Clifford family's wealth and influence in the north-east.[123]

The remains of Barden Tower in 2008

Historians have speculated on Clifford's personality. Summerson, for example, suggests that Clifford was often an abrasive individual, particularly to his tenants and regularly caused the very kind of social disorder that he was expected to suppress.[1] Ross has speculated that Clifford's early years, particularly "the impact of Towton ... must have been profoundly shocking and traumatic",[124] while Goodman has suggested that Clifford's solo attack on the 1487 rebels at Brougham indicates a chivalrous streak, as personal bravery was a highly prized quality.[125] Micheal K. Jones and Malcolm G. Underwood have described Clifford as "eccentric", possibly on account of his upbringing.[104]

Clifford is known to have had an interest in astrology, astronomy and alchemy.[41] A major eclipse crossed England in 1502, for which occasion Clifford is supposed to have built Barden Tower as an observatory. The astronomer S. J. Johnson has speculated that it was his witnessing the eclipse that sparked Clifford's interest in the subject, "in which he did greatly delight".[126] It is likely that Clifford's obsession with the skies—which led him to spend most of his time as a recluse in Barden Tower—was the cause of his wife's consistory suit for her conjugal rights.[127] In Barden, says Jones and Underwood, Clifford led a "strange, reclusive existence".[107]

Clifford had religious interests also and in 1515 spent a large sum on a new chapel, which was intended to be as extravagant as possible.[128]