Last week I was in Scarborough on the Yorkshire coast to give a talk about King John. Next week I'll be travelling further north to give the same talk in Hexham, which sits on the line of Hadrian's Wall in Northumbria.
King John was a frequent visitor to the north and visited Scarborough and Hexham on several occasions. Checking this morning, I found this description of his itinerary in 1201 by the contemporary northern chronicler Roger of Howden, which makes mention of both towns. It also shows the extraordinary lengths to which John was prepared to go in search of money.
'In the month of February, at the Purification of St Mary [2 February], King John of England and his wife, Queen Isabella, were at Scarborough, from which place the king proceeded as far as the borders of his kingdom, and went through the land, and put the subjects of his kingdom to ransom, that is to say, compelled them to pay fines. When he came to Hexham, he heard that at Corbridge there was a concealed treasure, on which he made people dig there; but nothing was found apart from some stones, sealed with brass, iron and lead.'
John's own letters show that he was indeed in Scarborough on 3 February, and travelled up the coast as far as Bamburgh before heading south to arrive in Hexham on 16 February. He stayed in Hexham for four days, presumably engaged in the search for buried treasure at nearby Corbridge described by Howden, before moving on to Carlisle. Howden's comments about the king demanding fines from his subjects is also borne out by the king's financial records. During this visit, for example, John extracted £100 from the citizens of York on the grounds that they had not welcomed him into their city with sufficient honour.
You can get tickets for my talk in Hexham here. Bring a shovel.
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