The Traitor’s Apprentice (Background)

If you visit Ryedale, North Yorkshire, you will find some wonderful old houses and castles in that beautiful corner of England, but you will not find one called Wrathby.

Peel (or pele) towers, such as that which forms the basis of Wrathby, were built across the north of England and southern Scotland from around 1300 until 1600, sometimes replacing existing wooden built defensive points. With border raids going in both directions and penetrating quite deeply behind the frontiers, these strongholds provided their local communities with secure places to retreat to at need. These towers were also homes and when the need for them as defensive structures reduced, some became incorporated into proper houses. You can find examples of peel towers northwards from Lancashire and North Yorkshire, in England and all across the south of Scotland.

Sir Thomas Fairfax and William Cavendish, Earl of Newcastle, both of whom make fleeting appearances in The Traitor’s Apprentice are the only characters in this book who are based on historical characters.

There was indeed a real attempt by the leading lights of Yorkshire to secure peace in their county despite the inexorable march to war. The Treaty of Neutrality was signed on 29 September 1642 between Lord Ferdinando Fairfax of Cameron, the leading Parliamentarian and the man appointed to command the army of Parliament in the county, and Henry Bellasis, son of Sir Thomas Bellasis, Lord Fauconberg of Yarm, representing the Royalist faction. Both men were ‘knights of the shire’, Members of Parliament for Yorkshire.

Although a noble attempt, it was doomed to failure. Men like John Hotham (one of the Hothams who had denied Hull to the king that summer) saw it as no reason not to continue hostilities. Even as the treaty was being negotiated, he seized Doncaster and with the ink barely dry on the page, he attacked Cawood Castle taking it for Parliament. At the same time, many Royalist sympathisers were in ongoing communications with the Earl of Newcastle, petitioning him to march south and protect them in a letter dated but three days before the treaty was signed. The final nail in the coffin of the treaty came on the 4 October, when Parliament denounced it saying those who had signed it had no authority to do so.

Another casualty of the onset of war was justice.

The breakdown of the legal system was rapid. At this time the most serious cases with capital punishment such as murder, rape, burglary and forgery were heard in the assizes courts. These were organised as six circuits across the country with judges from London visiting the county towns. The outbreak of war saw these circuits suspended and the administration of justice in most places in the countryside fell into abeyance or upon the shoulders of the local justice. Almost inevitably in many places, military commanders became de facto justices and military governors were granted—or took upon themselves—powers to enforce martial law on civilian populations.