Royal Links to
Newport Ship uncovered
August 2003
Newport and its Medieval Ship
- An Interim Note by Bob Trett
Bob Trett (Centre) in discussion with George Lambrick(L)
and Paul Flynn MP for Newport West (R)
On the 10th July 1460 Humphrey Stafford, First Duke of Buckingham, was killed fighting on the Lancastrian side in the battle of Northampton. His son, Humphrey Lord Stafford, had died in 1458 and the Stafford inheritance passed to his son, Henry Second Duke of Buckingham, at that time still a minor.
The wealth and lands of the Staffords and the Dukes of Buckingham were vast, and they were among the most powerful members of the baronage in the later medieval period. Included in these possessions was the Lordship of Newport, with its administrative centre in Newport Castle.
A.C. Reeves in his book "Newport Lordship 1317-1536" gives an account of Newport in the middle of the 15th. Century. He says: "Of the Lordship of Newport we have a considerable body of information, even to the point of knowing that a ship called The Swan had its home port at Newport in 1440. It was Humphrey, later to be created Duke of Buckingham, who in 1427 granted a confirmation charter to the borough of Newport."
There are further references to ships having Newport as their home port. The custom accounts for Bristol refer to the Trinity of Newport, master John Thloyd, taking cloth from Bristol to Ireland in 1461, and in 1480 to the Christopher of Newport, master Morris Hagharn, carrying a cargo of fish, hides and mantles from Ireland.[1]
After the death of his grandfather the lands inherited by Henry, Second Duke of Buckingham, went into wardship. The custody of the Lordship of Newport was granted to Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick (a major supporter of the Yorkist cause during the Wars of the Roses), together with several other Stafford territories on 4th. November 1460. However on 11th.May 1461 King Edward IV placed the custody of Newport in the hands of William Herbert, Baron Herbert of Raglan.
On 2nd February1461 Herbert supported Edward at the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross, in Herefordshire. This was a major victory for the Yorkists and Herbert was made Chief Justice and Chamberlain of South Wales. He was created Earl of Pembroke in 1468 as a reward for his capture of Harlech Castle, the last Lancastrian stronghold in England and Wales. He was also a ship owner and in 1465 was granted the wreckage of a great ship of his called the Gabrielle which had been wrecked off the coast of Ireland.[2]
However Herbert was defeated and executed after the Battle of Edgecote on 6th. July 1469 by Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick (‘the Kingmaker’), who had turned against Edward IV. Edward was also captured but later released. On 2nd October 1470 Edward fled to Holland and Warwick released Henry VI from custody and restored him to the throne. The custody of the Lordship of Newport passed back to the Earl of Warwick until his death at the Battle of Barnet on 14th April 1471. Edward regained his throne and the custody of Newport may have passed to the Duke of Gloucester, who was to become Richard III. Henry, Second Duke of Buckingham, came into his inheritance in 1473.
At the end of 1470 Warwick was anxious to defend England and Wales from an invasion organised by Edward, as had happened earlier when an invasion was organised in 1462 by Margaret of Anjou, wife of Henry VI. He had to use his own resources to support the royal household and found it difficult to raise loans. Warwick therefore allowed his ships to indulge in piracy to boost his finances, and large numbers of Spanish, Portuguese and Breton ships were captured.[3] In the event Edward successfully invaded and landed on the Humber at Ravenspur.
Warwick’s private fleet included large ships of up to 350 tons. One of his ships, another Trinity, was captured by pirates from St Malo in 1465 and was possibly returned on the orders of the French King Louis XI. It has been suggested that a ship built at Newport for the Earl of Warwick by John Colt and Richard Port may have been a new ship also called the Trinity that was ceremoniously commissioned on 12th June 1469 at Sandwich.[4] The Newport Ship excavated in 2002 could not have been the Trinity commissioned in 1469 since the Newport Ship was an older ship, partly repaired, but then partly dismantled before being finally abandoned. It remains to be seen whether John Colt and Richard Port’s ship is the excavated Newport Ship.
On the 22nd of November 1469 Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick wrote to Thomas Throkmorton receiver of the lordship of Glamorgan and Morgannwg authorising various payments. These included "to Traherne(?) ap Merik £10 the which he paid unto John Colt for the making of the ship at Newport, to Richard Port purser of the same 53s 4d."
This is likely to be a part payment for work already done on the ship. Warwick also authorised a payment of £15 2s 6d to Matthew Jubber "In money, iron, salt and other stuff belonging to the said ship". Tony Hopkins of the Gwent Record Office, who translated the document, says the "statement has no clear meaning but it probably means ‘in respect of’ i.e. looking after the contents of the ship whilst a refitting is carried out."
This is a strong indication the ship was not new and supports the archaeological evidence from the excavation of the Newport Ship. The large sum paid to Matthew Jubber suggests the ship may have had a very valuable cargo.
The origins of the Newport Ship are still enigmatic. The dating of the shores beneath the ship suggest a date of 1468 or soon after for its final resting place in a tidal creek of the River Usk.[5] However the ship itself is likely to be of an earlier date. As it was clinker built with a curved bow it is probably of North Western European construction, but the ship must have strong Portuguese connections as the coins and pottery found in the bilges are Portuguese, suggesting at one point it had a Portuguese crew. The newer looking beech keel may well be a replacement and could have been inserted in Portugal.
Research is now concentrating on contemporary accounts and other archival evidence. It is not known whether the Newport Ship was captured (perhaps by the Earl of Warwick) or was a trading vessel coming to Newport for repairs. Either way it is likely that it would have been involved in warfare, particularly in view of the helmet pieces, cannon balls and archer’s wrist guard found inside the hull.
Bob Trett
Caerleon,
Newport, South Wales
7th August 2003
[1] E.M. Carus Wilson (editor) ‘The Overseas Trade of Bristol in the Later Middle Ages’ Bristol Record Society Volume 7 1937
[2] Joseph Alfred Bradney ‘The Hundred of Raglan’ in ‘A History of Monmouthshire’. 1914 Page 9
[3] Charles Ross ‘Edward IV’ 1974. Page 161
[4] Michael Hicks ‘Warwick the Kingmaker’ 1998 Pages 250-251
[5] Nigel Nayling Personal communication based on dendrochronological dating.