Gild of Freemen of the City of York

Tom Gibson has been a member of the Gild Court for several years now and has an interest in the history of York and it's surrounding areas. The following articles have been rewritten and edited specifically for use on this web site and should not be reproduced without the express permission of the Gild.

Saint Juccundas

The Battle of Fulford

The Daylight Ghost

The Ghosts of Bedern

Saint Juccundas
York has its fair share of saints but none I think had a story as strange as Saint Juccundas.

Juccundas was a fat Jolly wealthy citizen of York. He loved a celebration but needed little excuse to get drunk. He was a merchant in 14th century York and his story starts one May at the celebrations for the Mayor Making. This popular generous man had one embarrassing Fault when drunk he sang loudly religious songs. On the night in question he had caused so much embarrassment to his friends they had left him. Juccundas was left wandering the cities streets alone late at night, he couldn’t remember where he lived but knew it had large heavy doors and his feet had taken him to them every time before so he was relieved to find himself at just such a set of doors. Singing at the top of his voice he hammered on the doors for his servants to let him in.

Unfortunately these were not the doors to his house but the doors to the religious house of St Leonard’s and the monks inside were not pleased at the noise of Juccundas knocking. As they drew near the door however their anger turned to worry as they could hear the singing, this was obviously a deeply devoted man outside and from the hammering on the doors needed urgent help. The monks flung open the doors and Juccundas fell in.

It was obvious to the monks of this poor order that here was a wealthy man in need of some help, they carried him in and he agreed to join their order. They took him to his cell and left him to sleep.

Next Morning Juccundas awoke to find to his surprise that he was now a member of York’s poorest order of monks and his wealth now belonged to them. Being a pragmatic man he decided to make the best of it and over the following year became a well-regarded brother paying great attention to his devotions and caring well for the sick. However at the end of that first year came another mayor making and the sounds of the cities celebrations filtered through the walls of St Leonard’s. By the evening it was too much for Juccundas and he stole away into the city.

He found his old friends who welcomed him back and plied him with drink and soon Juccundas was again singing and drunk.

Back at St Leonard’s the monks realised He was missing and the prior sent out search parties. It was many hours before Juccundas was found, in a heap in the corner of a tavern. The monks fetched a barrow and wheeled Juccundas back to the prior who flew into a rage. Brother Juccundas was a disgrace he had betrayed the order and must be punished and so he was taken to the wine cellar placed in a cell with a jug of water and loaf of bread and the door was bricked up.

Some Hours later Juccundas awoke in Darkness, he couldn’t find the door so he started kicking at the walls until one collapsed and he emerged in the grounds of St Mary’s Abbey next door and that is where the monks of the abbey found him.

The abbot of this wealthy abbey welcomed him and Juccundas soon settled into a much more comfortable life than he had endured for the past year. He had a much easier time tending the Abbey’s gardens and showed all how reliable he was, Juccundas was happy.

A year later the Abbey’s wine keeper died, this was not a job for a member of the order however although a fellow monk Juccundas was from another order and had shown the Abbot how trustworthy he was and so he was given the task. Well our hero was overjoyed and celebrated. Unfortunately it was in his usual manner and he was found under a barrel of wine drunk and singing. The monks immediately took him back to the hole in the wall he had come from place bread and water in then sealed the hole.

In St Leonard’s there was great sadness as the prior had died so the monks sent the youngest of the number to the wine cellar so they could have one drink to celebrate the life of their beloved prior. As he entered the cellar this young monk froze in fear, he could hear a familiar voice singing from behind a wall, was it a ghost?

He called for the other monks who also looked fearful at the sound. That’s Juccundas they whispered as they cautiously approached the wall. Yes that was definitely his voice but he was dead by now. They decided to investigate and tore down the wall they had built the year before and there was Juccundas alive and well. They saw to fresh bread and water, it was a miracle surely and they dragged Juccundas out of the cell crying, “our new prior is here, tell all of the miracle of Saint Juccundas our new prior.” Back to top

The Battle of Fulford
The events of 1066 led to massive change across the country but not just due to the battle of Hastings. There were two other battles just as significant but less well known and had the result of either been different then Hastings may not have happened at all.

To understand the battles one needs to know what led to them. The death of Edward the confessor left a vacuum of power a vacuum filled by his successor Harold Godwin son a rich influential man who was popular, however his claim to the throne was in dispute, most famously by William of Normandy also known as William the bastard. It was said that Edward had promised the English throne to him several years before however as there was little evidence of this his claim was discounted. The other contender was only in the race through his own Jealousy. This was Tostig, Harold’s brother.

Tostig left England and sought allies amongst the Norse to conquer Harold’s Kingdom. He successfully persuaded King Harald Hadraada to use his army for the invasion and in return Hadraada would rule the north from York and so a great army was formed and set sail across the north sea. They reached Orkney and sailed down the east coast gathering men in sympathetic Scotland, raiding the coastal towns of England destroying Scarborough en route reaching Fulford on a warm September day.

For the defenders of the city it must have been a terrible sight, 7000 Viking warriors ranged against them. On Hadraada’s signal the Vikings advanced banging their weapons against their shields, shouting abuse. The Berserkers in the lead. Berserkers were Vikings who fought naked and drugged and had been known to wrestle rocks when they ran out of enemy, they cared not whether they lived or died.

At first the 5000 or so defenders held there ground but then Tostig’s flank of Vikings joined in the cities troops were trapped in a pincer movement only marshy ground and the river to their rear. Some fled along the river, others drowned in the marsh, the Vikings advanced using the bodies of the fallen to give firm ground over the marsh, the city of York had fallen.

The Vikings took hostages from the city and marched on to the road junction at Stamford Bridge to the East of York and there awaited the ransom and protection money from land owners.

Word had reached King Harold of the invasion and he rallied his troops to march north, he arrived too late to influence the battle of Fulford but Five days after that battle he arrived at Stamford Bridge. He had the element of surprise the Vikings were not expecting him so soon and had left a third of their army at Riccall where they had landed and because of the heat were not wearing their armour.

Harold famously tried for peace possibly half heartedly by offering seven feet of English soil in which Hadraada could be buried. When this was turned down he attacked. One large Viking stopped the attack at the narrow bridge killing any who tried to cross until one of Harold’s men found a boat in which he floated under the bridge and thrust a spear into the Viking from beneath. Harold’s army charged the Vikings with abandon; the river ran red from the blood. Both Hadraada and Tostig were killed; the Vikings were defeated and fled back to Riccall chased by the English. It is recorded that over 400 Viking ships had arrived at Riccal but after the battle there were only enough Vikings left to sail 4 away.

The Victory was Harold’s; his brother was given the courtesy of being buried in York Minster and his army celebrated. It was at this time that word reached Harold of the Norman invasion in the south. Next day he led his army to Hastings and was defeated.

It is interesting to note that in fact all the armies involved were basically different tribes of Vikings, English, Scandinavian and French. Had the Vikings lost at Fulford then Harold’s army would have been fresh against Williams Army and the Normans could have been defeated on landing. Had Hadraada won at Stamford Bridge then in all likelihood he and William would have divided the country between them Tostig ignored. How different our history would have been.

As it is it took William two years to reach York and then a year to capture it, his army marching in on Christmas day 1069, they promptly destroyed the city and all land north to Durham as punishment. Rebuilding the city with two castles using the city as his military HQ as the Romans 1000 years earlier had done. Back to top

The Daylight Ghost
Often the locations of chilling hauntings, Churches are certainly atmospheric. All Saints Pavement is a much altered building and official place of worship for the cities guilds. In times gone by a fire in its lantern tower guided travellers to the safety of the city but it wasn’t the only welcome that waited.

For many years a stunningly beautiful young woman with long hair would appear dressed in white to great coffins as they arrived at the church door. Unusually this apparition would appear during the day to all present, her appearance was accepted although mystery still surrounds her identity. Perhaps this girl had been denied a Christian burial and was seeking to correct this. Perhaps she simply wished to welcome those and ensure their rest or maybe she was awaiting the casket containing someone she knew.

We shall never know for sure, her appearances stopped abruptly and she has not been seen for many years. Let us hope she has found peace at last. Back to top

The Ghosts of Bedern
Bedern Hall was once part of a large complex of buildings stood here and formed the home of the Minster’s vicars choral only two buildings from the numerous structures remain. The chapel is in need of attention but the great Hall is restored and used by three of the cities gilds including the freemen, as there home. The period in between is not so glorious though. When the site was abandoned by the vicars in 1574 the whole area deteriorated as all and sundry began to occupy the buildings, by the 1800s Bedern was a notorious slum.

However in the mid 1800s the hall and adjoining buildings were converted into a children’s workhouse known as the York Industrial Ragged School over seen by a master. This man was paid to round up orphaned children and put them to work, he was also paid to feed and cloth them however this avaricious man used as little of this money for the care of the children as possible, as he grew richer large numbers of the inmates were dying. Too idle or greedy to bury the small bodies he stored them in a cupboard until the stench was so bad he was forced to dispose of the bodies.

However in the winter the ground was too hard to dig even a shallow grave and he was forced to just let the bodies rot in the cupboard, for months the man kept adding the newly dead children to the store and soon they began to pile up. The master grew convinced he could hear the screams of the dead from the cupboard, as the days passed his conscience gnawed at him driving him mad. One night it all became too much and he ran through the workhouse with a large knife slaughtering the remaining children, next morning he was found surrounded by bodies the knife clutched in his hand.

The master was carted off to an asylum where he spent the rest of his life. Occasionally children are seen in areas they shouldn’t be only to fade away as the living approach however passers by often report hearing children’s laughter late at night, laughter that changes dramatically to screams.

In fact it is not clear which building in the Bedern area was used for the school it may have long since been demolished. Certainly the events are recorded however, I have been regularly visiting the area for many years and have never heard the haunting and don’t know anyone who has to my knowledge. I leave it to you to decide whether or not that side of it is true. Back to top