Miscreants MISCREANT Pronunciation: 'miskreeunt Definition: [n] a person without moral scruples Synonyms: reprobate Also known as: black sheep, degenerate, deviant, deviate, offender, pervert, scapegrace, wretch, wrongdoer.

Humphrey Kynaston Humphrey Kynaston is the 16th great grand uncle of the Molloys.He was the brother of Margaret Kynaston, 16th great grandmother of the Molloys. If you go to the village of Myddle, some seven miles to the north-east of here, you will see what remains of my birthright - a single crumbling tower of the once sumptuous castle I inherited from my father Sir Roger Kynaston. Legend has it, quite rightly, that I led a dissolute and riotous life which put me in great debt. That was how I became to be known as 'Wild' Humphrey Kynaston, but I don't think it would be proper for me to embarrass you educated folks with a detailed account of my antics. Suffice it to say that I squandered my money till there was none left and neglected the property in the most irresponsible manner. Now most historical journals of your day will say that I was outlawed in 1491 for my debts. This is not strictly true - there was the small matter of the murder of one John Heughes at Stretton in that particular year for which I, and two others, were indicted for the said heinous crime. True, I struck the first blow with a lance but then Thomas, my half-brother, pitched in with a sword stroke and then Robert Hopton finished it off with a pike. They said that I struck what was the fatal blow and thus the onus of the murder rested upon me, whereupon I immediately decamped, remained in concealment and was in consequence outlawed. Reports will show that no less than three dozen persons of all ranks of society did after the murder 'feloniously receive, comfort, feed, lodge and maintain' me and my co-accused. Among these was my father, Sir Roger, two others styled gentlemen, one tailor, one baker, one sherman, two drapers, three chapmen, one bower, one mercer, one yeoman, one drover and twenty husbandmen. That such men should have been capable of assisting and sheltering men known to have been guilty of murderous outrages was beyond belief, it was said. Thus I was an outcast and made my way to Nesscliffe where I could take refuge from the Sheriff's men in the woods there. I soon found shelter in a cave in the sandstone rock and this was to be my home for many years. You can visit it today and will indeed do so a little later. May also have been known as the highwayman, Red Kynaston. It is rumored he nailed the shoes on his horse the wrong way round so people couldn’t tell if he was coming or going. The cave he mentions may be referred to as “Kynaston Cave”.

Eleanor Cobham, Duchess of Gloucester is the 19th great grandmother of the Molloys from GODWIN’S “Lives of the Necromancers” This was a period in which the ideas of witchcraft had caught fast hold of the minds of mankind; and those accusations, which by the enlightened part of the species would now be regarded as worthy only of contempt, were then considered as charges of the most flagitious nature. While John, Duke of Bedford, the eldest uncle of King Henry VI., was regent of France, Humphrey of Gloucester, next brother to Bedford, was Lord Protector of the realm of England. Though Henry was now nineteen years of age, yet as he was a prince of slender capacity, Humphrey still continued to discharge the functions of sovereignty. He was eminently endowed with popular qualities, and was a favourite with the majority of the nation. He had, however, many enemies, one of the chief of whom was Henry Beaufort, great-uncle to the king, and Cardinal of Winchester. One of the means employed by this prelate to undermine the power of Humphrey, consisted in a charge of witchcraft brought against Eleanor Cobham, his wife. This woman had probably yielded to the delusions which artful persons, who saw into the weakness of her character, sought to practise upon her. She was the second wife of Humphrey, and he was suspected to have indulged in undue familiarity with her before he was a widower. His present duchess was reported to have had recourse to witchcraft in the first instance, by way of securing his wayward inclinations. The Duke of Bedford had died in 1435; and Humphrey now, in addition to the actual exercise of the powers of sovereignty, was next heir to the crown in case of the King’s decease. This weak and licentious woman, being now Duchess of Gloucester, and wife to the Lord Protector, directed her ambition to the higher title and prerogatives of a queen, and, by way of feeding her evil passions, called to her counsels Margery Jourdain, commonly called the Witch of Eye, Roger Bolingbroke, an astrologer and supposed magician, Thomas Southwel, Canon of St Stephen’s, and one John Hume, or Hun, a priest. These persons frequently met the duchess in secret cabal. They were accused of calling up spirits from the infernal world; and they made an image of wax, which they slowly consumed before a fire, expecting that, as the image gradually wasted away, so the constitution and life of the poor king would decay and finally perish. Hume, or Hun, is supposed to have turned informer, and upon his information several of these persons were taken into custody. After previous examination, on the 25th of July 1441, Bolingbroke was placed upon a scaffold before the cross of St Paul’s, with a chair curiously painted, which was supposed to be one of his implements of necromancy, and dressed in mystical attire, and there, before the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Cardinal of Winchester, and several other bishops, made abjuration of all his unlawful arts. A short time after, the Duchess of Gloucester having fled to the sanctuary at Westminster, her case was referred to the same high persons, and Bolingbroke was brought forth to give evidence against her. She was of consequence committed to custody in the castle of Leeds, near Maidstone, to take her trial in the month of October. A commission was directed to the lord treasurer, several noblemen, and certain judges of both benches, to inquire into all manner of treasons, sorceries, and other things that might be hurtful to the king’s person, and Bolingbroke and Southwel as principals, and the Duchess of Gloucester as accessory, were brought before them. Margery Jourdain was arraigned at the same time; and she, as a witch and relapsed heretic, was condemned to be burned in Smithfield. The Duchess of Gloucester was sentenced to do penance on three several days, walking through the streets of London, with a lighted taper in her hand, attended by the lord mayor, the sheriffs, and a select body of the livery, and then to be banished for life to the Isle of Man. Thomas Southwel died in prison; and Bolingbroke was hanged at Tyburn on the 18th of November. Another account: Eleanor was the Duke's mistress and second wife after he divorced his first. She was alleged to have induced Humphrey to marry her (in about 1428) by means of witchcraft, in which she was aided by Margery Jourdemayne ("the Witch of Eye"). The English Chronicle of the Reigns of Richard II, Henry IV, Henry V and Henry VI Written Before the Year 1471 (ed J S Davies, London 1856) says "by such medicines and drinks as the said witch made", so cosmetics did not enter into the matter. When accusations were levelled at Eleanor in 1441 the charge was actually treason, which was a far more serious charge than dabbling in witchcraft which, in 15th century England, was viewed by the Church as mere delusion (it only became heresy in England after the publication of the Malleus Maleficarum in 1486 which, under Papal direction, started all the persecution of later years). Bolingbroke and Southwell were the first accused, and Bolingbroke confessed that he had worked his "nigromancy" against the king at the behest of Eleanor. She had asked him to look into the future to know "to what estate she should come", which obviously referred to her husband's chances of succeeding to the throne. "She was clearly also suspected of attempting to shorten the king's life " (Kelly p.221). Before Archbishop Chichele's court, on 25 July, she pleaded 'not guilty' to the 28 charges objected against her, but on the following day Bolingbroke was brought forward as a witness, whereupon Eleanor "knowledged some points at that time, the number of five" (The Brut, or, The Chronicles of England ed Brie, 2, London 1908, MS F, pp.478-9). Unfortunately Kelly does not state which counts she admitted, nor does he say whether The Brut indicates this. The trial was adjourned while inquests were instigated in the king's name, four in the City of London and others in Middlesex. I have not detected any reference to the king requiring her life to be spared at this point, nor was she yet convicted. As a result of the inquests she was indicted for felony and treason in both jurisdictions. The London indictment is in the Public Record Office, and here she was accused of plotting to make herself queen, with the assistance of Bolingbroke and Southwell. The plot consisted of contacting demons and casting the king's horoscope, "even though according to the determination of Holy Church and the teaching of divers doctors it was forbidden to any liege of the king to make such calculations about kings and princes without their consent" (Kelly p.224). N.B. This was the charge ("forecasting") levelled by Richard III against Elizabeth Woodville and her blood adherents in his letter of 10 June 1483 securing armed support fromYork. Eleanor was brought back to the ecclesiastical court on 19 October to answer to "sorcery / nigromancy / witchcraft" charges (various sources describe different charges, but please note that heresy was not among them). Bolingbroke, Southwell and Jourdemayne testified against her. According to Brut, p.480, she now denied all the charges, saying the only purpose of the magical consultations was in order to have a child by the duke; but according to another source (which I take to be the English Chronicle) "some she denied and some she granted". This sounds as though she denied any treasonous or felonious intent, but admitted employing sorcery to become fertile. Since the witch Margery suffered the extreme penalty (apparently for recidivism), perhaps Eleanor also confessed to using her skills to entrap the duke. Eleanor was duly convicted (of "false sorcery and witchcraft")and submitted to the bishops' correction: she abjured and performed the prescribed penance. As Kelly points out, "this form of penance was confined neither to sorcery nor heresy, but was in fact a common punishment visited upon convicted adulterers and fornicators" (p.227). She was then committed to the ward of Sir Thomas Stanley for the rest of her life. Also, significantly, her marriage with the duke was annulled on the grounds that she had coerced him into marrying her by means of sorcery. This is generally viewed as an important precedent, and was evidently in the minds of Richard's supporters when charging Elizabeth and her mother with bewitching Edward IV into his Woodville marriage. Thus, from a Ricardian standpoint, the only two witchcraft allegations of Richard's against Elizabeth (i.e. the only two substantiated in official records) are based on sound foundations: it was forbidden to forecast the life expectancy of kings and princes (and hence the Protector); and as regards the Woodville marriage, this was rendered voidable if one party had been coerced by whatever means, whether you call it witchcraft or intoxication through the administering of drugs or potions, etc. The other alleged charge of witchcraft, on 13 June 1483 at the time of the arrest of Hastings, comes to us through the kind offices of Polydore Vergil and Thomas More. It does not appear in Mancini, in Crowland, or even in Rous.