THE ILLUSTRIOUS LORDSHIP OF YARDLEY FROM 973 AD TO THE PRESENT DAY

AREA

Yardley today forms the center of one of Britain’s foremost cities, Birmingham. It has Many spectacular features and buildings, which have been passed down as a legacy from the past Lords and their subjects and this is what makes this the fabulous area that it is today.

Yardley is actually a vast area, covering about 7900 acres. This makes it one of the largest regions covered by a Lordship Title and about ten times the size of the average. Moreover, as of 1906, it was actually officially incorporated into the heart of the city of Birmingham, so that the Lord is also Lord of Birmingham, one of England's largest cities and conferring upon the Title enormous dignity, cachet and prestige. Yardley has its own train station (and transport museum), several woods and idyllic lakes, schools dating back centuries and yet has maintained its friendly ambience from centuries back. The houses vary from the simple cottages of olden times, where the workers returned home after a hard day in the field, to the great majestic homes built during the last century, when huge prosperity and wealth first bit the area. This Title can not be bettered for location, history or name.

To experience the warmth of the region, one could not do better than to pay a visit to the Ancient Church of the region - tradition over past centuries has been for the Lord to have his seat of honor in the front pew, should he so wish. Here every Sunday the locals gather in their best outfits, sing songs of praise then, after the service, group together in huddles for the obligatory cup of coffee and exchange of weekly gossip. For many, after returning back home to one of the many fine cottages of the area, a rich lunch of roast beef, Yorkshire pudding and potatoes makes the end of a perfect morning.

There are many old public houses in the area. One can sit down as a total stranger in one of their fine oak-paneled rooms, and within a short time, be talking to the locals as if you have known them for years. The people are extremely friendly, unpretentious and down to earth and accept others for what they are. Of course, the traditional ale of the region helps break all barriers and on a cold winter's night, what could be more relaxing than sitting before the glowing embers of the pub fireplace, partaking of the fine local Birmingham brews and exchanging tall tales with the locals?

Other sites worth a visit include the Grand Union Canal, running through Yardley. Today, one can hire a longboat and take a long, leisurely cruise between the narrow canal banks, perhaps just traveling a few miles a day whilst the waters lap gently at the side of the boat. There are many fine restaurants dotted along the canals and it can be a great delight, after making one's way through mile upon mile of gently winding canal to tie up the boat at one of these old riverside establishments and have a peaceful meal outside, watching the pleasure boats float by.

The History of the Lordship of Yardley

This ancient Title holds a very special place in British history. Not only is it one of the very oldest surviving Titles in the whole of the United Kingdom (if not the world), but so great is its standing that it has been re-awarded by the monarchs of England no fewer than three times to subjects who have shaped the future of the British Isles. England of 1000 years ago was quite different from now - even the temperature was different and much warmer than today for temperatures have dropped in the last millennium. Life was very simple for most people, consisting of work, more work, church attendance on Sundays and a few feast days each year. Those who ruled society respected good virtues, such as loyalty, honor, honesty and helping others. Farming settlements were spread throughout the country. At a few of the prominent places, such as London, other major cities and Yardley, the farmers gathered together at regular intervals to hold markets, sell their goods, such as fine cattle, vegetables, salted beef, pies and other delights. The country was really reforming after the Romans had left, nearly 500 years beforehand and recovering from the barrage of attacks from the Danes and other tribes from continental Europe. Here then, one summer day in the year 965 in the settlement of Yardley, a man by the name of Odo, dressed in a monk's habit was presiding as the Abbott of Pershore Abbey. He was a brilliant scholar, and thoroughly educated in the classics. That day, a Royal envoy appeared from nowhere to see him. The envoy must have caused a stir, as rather than wearing the colorless cloth worn by the masses, he dressed in red velvet. With him, the envoy had brought a horse and bore a command for the Lord to visit the seventeen year old King Edgar. Of course, he obeyed and when he arrived in the King's presence, all was made clear. The wise and open-minded young monarch gazed upon him and explained that he had no experience and sought Odo, along with others, as an advisor so that he might rule well

Odo left Yardley for many years, traveled the country and made treaty after treaty, entered into negotiation after negotiation and brought to the Isles a general state of peace and prosperity. He worked particularly closely with Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury at that time. Throughout he had one dream that he did not let go of : to unify England under one ruler as it had been under the Romans. 972 AD brought his chance. After many days of conference with the King, he set off and held meetings with all the neighboring monarchs - the five Welsh Princes, the Scottish King, the King of Cumberland, the Norwegian King who occupied the isles off the coast and the Danes in Ireland and dotted throughout the country. Finally, an envoy called Oswald was sent to Rome to meet the Pope, where an accord was also made. The result of these negotiations had greater effect on England as a nation than any before or since. On Whitsunday, May 11th 973, in the ancient town of Bath, King Edgar entered the church where Archbishop Dunstan and the Archbishop of York awaited him at the altar. Odo stood looking on amongst the congregation. The King entered the church wearing his crown but laid it aside as he knelt before the altar and fell upon his knees before the Archbishop. Dunstan then began the 'Te Deum”. At the conclusion of the hymn the bishops raised the King from his knees; the King then took an oath that the Church of God. and all Christian people should enjoy true peace forever, that he would forbid all wrong and robbery to all degrees, and that he would command justice and mercy in all judgments. Then the consecration prayers were said, the archbishops anointed him, and all joined in the shout 'Let the King live forever.' Dunstan next invested him with the ring and sword of state, placed the Crown on his head and the scepter and rod in his hands, and both the Archbishops enthroned him. In this special ceremony, all the nations of England bonded together as one, with one King receiving their recognition and the blessing of the Pope. This was the founding of England as we know it today.

This achievement beyond comparison was an event that had come from the mind and actions of' Odo, for no other reason than for the love of his great country. King Edgar, desperate to show his sincere appreciation and gratitude, and indeed that of the nation, offered him lands and possessions. all of which he turned down. He offered him the most beautiful of jewelry, but Odo said “What use was this to a man of the cloth?” and thus turned that down too. Finally, King Edgar offered him something which he just could not turn down - the Title of Lord of his beloved Yardley. How could he refuse this when, as ruler of this beautiful region, he had an opportunity to bring such happiness to the people of Yardley? And so, in the year 973, over 1000 years ago, as they hoed their fields and gathered their crops, the people of Yardley, heard news that their adored Abbott would at long last be returning, not just as Abbott but also as their Lord.

He settled down to a quiet life as Lord of Yardley. On a regular basis, he held a Court Leet and a Court Baron wherein he ensured that no wrong in his domain was left unrighted and guided his subjects on how they could improve their crops, till the soil better and generally improve their well-being.

When Odo died, the Title was passed downwards for the next two centuries amongst the Abbots of Pershore. Life remained very quiet in Yardley but this did not stop the Lords from making a significant contribution to the history books of England - for the monks of Pershore, under the Lord's direction, recorded the Chronicles of Pershore. It is from these ancient texts that a great deal of today’s recordings of what went on in the England of that time came from. Of course, this was helped by the fact that as Lords, the Abbots were privy to many of the secrets of state and official goings on in government and were themselves summoned from time to time to the presence of the current King, who would seek their advice on religious or political issues.

Times changed with the Norman invasion in 1066 by William the Conqueror, and society did as well. The Title moved from the possession of the Abbots in the 1150s to the ownership of the de Limesi family. Hawice de Limesi was Lord in 1162. He was a good friend of Thomas a Becket and frequently discussed matters of state with him. It is well known that Henry II had Thomas a Becket, his former minister and Archbishop of Canterbury, murdered - what is not so well known is that Hawice had spent days pleading with Thomas not to take the position of Archbishop, as he knew that Thomas' conscience would not allow him to compromise on his religious principles, and this was something that King Henry would not accept. As it turned out, this was sadly what happened and Thomas was slain by a group of Knights whilst clinging to his altar. Had Hawice’s advice been followed, then the path of English church history might well have changed. Becket's murder halted changes which, had they taken place at this early stage, would have weakened the Pope's power in England and there might have been no need for the reformation and breaking off of links from Rome in the 1530s.

Hawice died in 1195 and passed the Title to his son, Geoffrey. Records are sketchy at this time, but it is known from Court Rolls (records kept of the Lord's court) that the Title went from Geoffrey to his son Geoffrey to his son Ralph de Limesi and from him to his daughter Felicia. She married Robert, who was Lord in 1244. We know this as in those days, fresh meat was a scarce commodity and hunting required a Royal permit - this was known as the right of free warren and in that year, 1244, the Lord was granted this right. As a kindly man, he allowed his subjects to hunt on his lands at certain times, so that they might taste meat more than once a year.

Felicia and Robert had no children and so left the Title to her Uncle, Ralph, in 1261, who in turn passed it into the hands of the Beauchamp family. William de Beauchamp, Lord in 1268, held another Title as well (that of Earl of Warwick) and conducted his affairs from Warwick castle, still one of the most impressive castles in the land. His son, Guy Beauchamp who came into his father's possession circa 1290, was a tremendously brave man. He fought in the great battle against the Scots at Falkirk in 1298. Guy in this first battle went in extremely scared, naturally enough. He had heard many tales of the ferocious Scots, who rumor had it, would eat their foes should they capture them. And so, months beforehand, he had spent his spare hours in training, learning to fight in hand to hand combat. When the fateful day finally arrived and it was decided that it was time to fight, he thought initially of fleeing the site of the battle, as a terrible nausea rose in his stomach. But then, shouts arose and fighting broke out all around him. From necessity, he plunged into the thick of the battle. A fellow Lord was struggling against two huge kilted Scotsmen, who were setting upon him with their mighty swords. The Lord jumped in to the rescue and with a single blow, decapitated one of the Scotsmen. So shocked was the other Scot by the sudden reverse in his fortunes that he did not have time to deflect the dagger-blow aimed at his abdomen by the Lord. The Lord survived the battle, and moreover from this point on in his life, a strange sense of calm overtook the Lord. He rea1ised that at any point death might overtake him, so there was little point in worrying

about anything. His untimely death, at forty-three, was lamented by the chroniclers as that of a 'discreet and well-informed man' (Chiron. I. 236), whose wise advice had been invaluable to the powers that be, and who had been unanimously supported by the country .

John, his son, succeeded him and indeed he too inherited the steel nerves of his father. He fought in the naval victory off Sluys in 1340. Most impressive though was his involvement at the battle of Cressy in France on 26 August 1346. This was one of the greatest victories in English history. The Lord held such high standing with the monarch that he was given the great honor of carrying the Royal Standard (which of course meant that the French enemy all made him their target). At the same time as holding the standard, he also let loose quiver upon quiver full of arrows on the French and was such a fine shot with the longbow that it was said that he in that battle killed over 30 French Knights. He was a man of great honor and bravery and in recognition of this bravery the King made him one of the original twenty-five Knights of the Garter (really a reinvention of the Knights of the Round Table).

In 1360, he passed away and the Title went to his brother Thomas, who had fought alongside him in battle. Thomas, his son then inherited the Title in 1369 and he became involved in a long series of campaigns against the King, for the Lords of Yardley have always been ones to stick up for what they believe in, whatever the consequences. He himself had the family Coat of Arms designed and it has been passed down with his family ever since. In 1401 he died and was succeeded by his heir Richard - actually in a bequest to his son, he left him a bed of silk, embroidered with bears and his Coat of Arms so that he might be reminded of his station in life and his ancestral origins every time he went to bed.

Richard's Godfather was King Richard II (after whom he was named) and the King in the Lord's early years loved to cradle the young little fellow in his arms. When he grew up, the Lord followed the family's military traditions. He jousted at the coronation of Joan, wife of Henry IV and proved his mettle by knocking no fewer than six other Knights off their horses - in fact, this enabled him as well to claim their suits of armor and he had a splendid collection after the event. When Owen Glendower raised a huge force to overthrow the monarch (as celebrated in Henry IV Part I by Shakespeare), he not only put the Welsh roadman to flight but personally captured his standard. His life from this point was like a fairy tale and his bravery and intelligence made him one of the foremost subjects in the country. In 1408 he obtained leave of the King to visit the Holy Sepulchre or shrine in the Holy land. He crossed the Channel and then went on to Paris, where at Whitsuntide he was the guest of Charles VI. The King out of respect for the Lord threw a feast in his honor, and afterwards gave him a herald to conduct him through his realm to Lombardy. Here he was soon met by another herald, dispatched by Sir Randolph Malatete. The Knight challenged him to armed combat at Verona because he had heard of the Lord's reputation and believed that there was no greater Knight than himself. The Lord accepted and after performing a pilgrimage to Rome, the combat took place. Richard was a fantastic fighter. Whereas most in his day fought through brute strength, Richard fought by turning the strength of his opponents back onto themselves. Within minutes he bad subdued the belligerent Knight and indeed, he was on the point of killing his opponent outright, when Sir Galeot of Mantua, the onlooker and overseer of the match cried 'Peace.' and put an end to the combat. He went on to Venice where the Doge received him in state, and in the course of time reached Jerusalem. He performed his vows and set up his arms on the north side of the temple. While in the Holy City, he is said to have received a visit from the Sultan's lieutenant who said that he was familiar with the story of his ancestor, Guy of Yardley which 'they had in books of their own language.'

From Jerusalem he returned to Venice, and after traveling in Russia, Lithuania, Poland, Prussia, Westphalia, and other parts of Germany, he returned to England in 1410. The King immediately retained him to serve with his son Henry, Prince of Wales. That same year he also joined with the Bishop of Durham and others to negotiate with the Scots. In 1413 he was Lord High Steward at the coronation of Henry V, and was soon afterwards appointed a commissioner, both for an alliance with Burgundy and for a truce with France (Rymer, ix. 34-38). In the begriming of the year 1414, he was very instrumental in suppressing the LoIlard uprising and about this time there are references to him as being named the Deputy of Calais (ib. 111). On the 20th of October in the same year, he was commissioned to go to represent England at the council of Constance. He lived a good many years more, was a confidante of the monarchy and was even left by Henry V the task of overseeing the education of his son, the future Henry VI.

After living a long and fruitful life, Richard died peacefully in 1439, having returned to Yardley for a quieter existence. His son and heir Henry lived only for another six years until his demise, but in that time was created a Duke and the premier Earl of England. He died in 1445 and left the Title and his vast fortune to his daughter Anne. She quietly ruled as Lady of Yardley and remained a spinster all her life. When Henry VII came to the Throne, she passed the Title on to him so that it might not be lost, as she had no heirs.

And so Henry VII became the Lord of Yardley in the year 1487. The fact that a King was also a Lord can only really be understood by first understanding the English Title system. All land and titles were granted in return for service to the King, but if these were returned to the King, for whatever reason, then he himself would receive the feudal dues (payments made by subjects to the Lord) himself. So Henry VII was Lord and following his death in 1509, Henry VIII was Lord. He of course was England's most famous monarch and not surprisingly, between his six wives, overturning of the Church and his arguments with his Ministers such as Wolsey and Cromwell, he did like to "get away from it all." One of the places that he went to for such a purpose was Yardley and the story even has it that he dressed up incognito, pretending to be no more than a country gentleman as he walked the region and even visited a few ale-houses. One tale tells of how he set off for Yardley. When there with his chancellor, Thomas Wolsey, and several other individuals, he decided to go for a walk. They were dressed in a "low-key" manner, and did their best to look like commoners. As they walked along, a peasant looked on at them in great wonderment, for try as they might, the King and his company just did not look like commoners. "Who are you?" he asked. The King replied as only he could, "Well, I'm the King of England, this is the Chancellor, this gentleman is the Spanish Ambassador and this man is the Archbishop of Canterbury." Of course, the peasant did not believe them, which is exactly what Henry had intended all along!

In 1533 he re-granted the Title to his ex-wife Katherine of Aragon and upon her death in 1536, it descended to her daughter Mary. Mary however, didn’t last very long in the Title. John, Duke of Northumberland, had his eye on the Title and her estates and when in a strong position, confiscated them both. But he was soon put to death for treason. Mary came to the Throne and regained the Title. She granted it to Edward Sutton (also Baron of Dudley), whose family had originally made their fortune by shipping wool and spices around the world - in fact one investment of his involved gambling his entire fortune on obtaining a cargo of spices from the spice islands by sending a ship around the Cape of Good Hope. The only drawback was that no one knew exactly where the spice islands were! Nonetheless, he filled a ship with tradable goods and set sail. They sailed for months and his crew, though close on despair, stuck by their master. Eventually, the weather improved and a group of islands appeared on the horizon. They landed bearing gifts of beads, paintings and musical instruments and were greeted by dark people wearing brightly colored garments. They soon began to trade and when he returned, his ship was so full of the precious spices (without which the bland food of the day was practically uneatable) that he became one of England's richest men.

He lived in Yardley for a number of years until the Title descended to his son, also Edward. By 1616, the Title was in the hands of the de Lacy family, who were remarkable merchants and privateers. The entrepreneurs of the seventeenth century lost not just their wealth if things went wrong, but their lives. He had a fleet of what could best be described as part of the English Merchant Navy and at worst (or as far as England's enemies were concerned), pirates. They sailed the Mediterranean, looking for Spanish or French treasure and trade ships, fired their canon upon the enemy sails so that the ships were immobilized and then leaped over the bows, brandishing their muskets and cutlasses. The de Lacys accumulated a vast fortune in the process but came close to their deaths on many an occasion. This really was how foreign policy and wars were fought at that time, and it is interesting that in those days, entering war could be a highly profitable venture. Fortunately for the de Lacys, they came out of their enterprises on the right side and for the next thirteen years, lived in Yardley in fine style. Upon John Lacy's death in 1629, the Title came into the hands of their friends, the Grevis family.

Thomas Grevis (1629 -52) was a friend of King Charles I and a fellow collector of works of art. His collection was rivaled by few and the two spent days together, pawing over their different collections. During the civil war, he was a major financier of the King and was fortunate not to lose his head like the King. At one point, Grevis actually melted down all the family silver to help out his Majesty, and gave the King bricks of their former cups and treasures.

Richard, his brother succeeded him and kept a very low profile as he wished to keep his life intact. He held the Title until 1688. Thereupon, Benjamin Grevis came into the Title and with it decided to put some of his rights as Lord into use. As Lord, he owned the subsoil and any excavations that took place could not happen without his blessing. He made great plans for digging a grand canal, but these did not come to fruition until his son and great grandson made the dream a reality. His grandson and great grandson all worked on the idea but the technology was just not available until the late eighteenth century when Thomas Telford came on the scene. He was the greatest engineer of the time but it was only when John Taylor, a successful local manufacturer, bought into the area and became Lord that the canal got moving.

John, another self-made man was close friends with Dr. Samuel Johnson, the writer of the dictionary, and he subsidized the schools in the area, as he remembered the start he had been given in life by a kindly man who had paid for his education. Johnson loved him, and considered him 'a very sensible, acute man,' with a strong mind; but his talk was of 'bullocks'. and his habits were 'by no means sufficiently clerical.' Taylor owned the finest breed of milch-cows in England. His 'great bull' is a constant subject of jest in Johnson's letters. Boswell and the doctor came to Ashbourne on 26 March 1776, driving from Lichfie1d in Taylor's 'large, roomy postchaise, drawn by four stout, plump horses, and driven by two steady jolly postilions.' He lived to a fine old age and brought great happiness to the region. Indeed, he was the largest employer in Birmingham, with a staff of five hundred and it was him and his family that provided S. Lloyd with the start up capital for what is now known as Lloyds Bank Plc, having initially been named Taylors and Lloyds Bank.

The Taylors have continued to pass down the Title and over the last two centuries have overseen the transition from the position of Lord as a guardian of the people of Yardley to that of a father figure. There have been great changes in Yardley due to the industrial revolution which modernized the region. Yet it is wonderful that, despite all the changes, the Lords of Yardley have kept the sense of community that exists in their region of rule.

At the beginning of this century, Richard Taylor, Lord at the time, was one of the foremost "men behind the scenes." He was well known for his skills in arranging political deals and was always to be seen with the leading political figures of the time, such as Gladstone and in later years, Lloyd George. In this capacity he would come to know Sir Derwent Hall Caine, the great uncle of a future Lord of Yardley who at the time was a big supporter of Lloyd George, arranging much of the Prime Minister’s campaign trips by airplane.

An interesting story is told of this time, for the beginning of heavy taxation and the fall in land prices affected the wealth of the Lords considerably. As a result, Richard found himself not as wealthy as he had been in previous years. However, he thought about this problem hard and long and then remembered a fabulous cloth that he had seen on a journey that he had made to Egypt a few years before. He decided that this was the substance upon which he would rebuild his future fortune. He set sail for Egypt and some weeks later arrived in Cairo. There he went to the remote bazaar where he had found the cloth some years before. Among the many booths he met an old bearded man, sitting astride a vast pile of the cloth he so desired. He arranged to buy thousands and thousands of yards of the beautiful material that shimmered like gold when held up to the light. The old man agreed and Richard went back to England, equipped with some sample material. When he arrived, full of excitement, he went immediately to the offices of the finest clothier in the country. However, the tailors were used to vast numbers of salesmen who turned up, trying to ply them with their goods. He met only a very lowly buyer in the company. The Lord quoted a price of £1 per yard for the cloth, which was triple the price he had paid for the cloth and still very cheap. The tailor looked at it with a cursory glance and turned it down "as it was not of sufficient quality."

The Lord went away heart broken but then started to think about the meeting, and as he thought about it, he developed a cunning plan. A few days later, he sent a third party along to the tailors, who stated that he had come from the Lord of Yardley (for he had not told them about his Title) and wished to see the head of the firm, as he had cloth that cost £15 per yard. News spread around like wildfire and excitement grew in the firm - was this cloth spun of gold itself? No one had ever heard of such expensive cloth. The head of the firm appeared and the beautiful material was unrolled before his eyes. Upon seeing the fabulous cloth, the man decided that he had to have it. He offered the Lord twelve pounds a yard. However, the Lord said no, adding that he could not sell at that price and moreover, if they wanted to buy, they had to buy at least 1000 yards of each cloth - and the Lord had fifteen different varieties of each cloth! A deal was struck and literally overnight, the Lord remade his fortune.

Richard lived a good many years more in great prosperity and was a regular benefactor to the local people. When he passed away, he let the Title descend in his family until it was transferred to the current holder, Nicholas Mouravieff-Apostol, a descendant of the famous Decembrist Russian family of the same name and Great-grandson of the noted Manx novelist Sir Thomas Henry Hall Caine.

The Title allows its holder a number of rights and priviledges as well as responsibilities. For more on these issues, go to the Benefits Section.