King's progress

[pwholt]

A query which I hope someone can offer some help, please.

When King James I made his progress from Edinburgh to London in 1603, immediately after the death of Good Queen Bess, what route did he take through Yorkshire to reach York? I'm trying to establish whether he might have passed anywhere near an ancestral village, to give the villagers a thrill to talk about for the rest of their lives, perhaps. Suggestions of sources to check would be appreciated. pwholt

[Coromandel]

'A Narration of the Progress and Entertainment of the King's most Excellent Majesty, with the Occurents happening in the same Journey' begins on p.15 of Stuart Tracts, 1603-1693, the full text of which is on Google Books. It looks like quite a detailed account.

Try British History Online too: there are searchable transcripts there of many useful works, e.g. the Calendar of State Papers series. You can browse by region and date, or search for particular text.

Even if you don't find what you were looking for, there's lots of other fascinating material!

[BeeE586]

There is a problem with British History Online; you start by looking for one thing, then something else looks interesting and you cross check that with someting else and two hours later you have had a lovely time and read some jolly interesting stuff but completely forgotten what you were looking for in the first place.

Be warned.

Eileen

[olliecat]

That book that Coromandel found should do you very well. The site I've given you a link for below broadly documents the route. It should give you some idea if he is likely to have passed near to your ancestral village.

King James I left Edinburgh on April 5 1603 and then ...

"April 6 to Berwick.
April 8 to Withrington, Sir Robert Cary’s.
April 9 to Newcastle.
April 13 to Durham.
April 14 to Walworth, sixteen miles from Durham where he was entertained at the house of a lady, Mrs. Genlon.
April 15 to Thomas Topcliffe and afterward Sir William Engleby’s.
April 16 to York.
...."

www.
lordverulam.org/dic_part3K.html

[pwholt]

Many thanks for your responses. I shall check out the books in due course, and the website given by olliecat. From the summary of his journey given above, it looks like James travelled down the route of the A1 of his day which is rather far to the west of my ancestors. Your suggestions are appreciated. pwholt

[olliecat]

I'm curious, where were your ancestors living in 1603?

[pwholt]

They were living at Settrington, a village near Malton. It was a manor which had belonged to Sir Francis Bigod until it was confiscated as a result of his activities in the Pilgrimage of Grace; it then became a royal manor and was given to Matthew, Earl of Lennox, the husband of Margaret Douglas, (grandmother to King James I). Several of my families are mentioned in the Survey of the Manor of Settrington 1603. Although it was a royal manor again when James I made his progress, the survey makes clear that the manor house was not in a fit state for a royal visit. (Perhaps I've not used the phrase "royal manor" correctly, but it did belong to the crown.) pwholt