A visit to Hereford

This summer I visited Hereford for the first time in many, many years.  Hereford is famous for it's cathedral, first started in the 8th century (made of wood, and which the Welsh burned to the ground).  The oldest part of the cathedral dates from the 11th Century.  It is most famous for the Mappa Mundi, a medieval map of the world that dates from 1300.   There is a charge to see the Mappa Mundi, but it is well worth seeing, as is the 'chained library', containing many books hundreds of years old.

Hereford Cathedral

The chained library at Hereford Cathedral.  Books are hundreds of years old.

This plaque in the centre of Hereford commemorates the execution of Owen Tudor.

Owen Tudor was the father of Edmund and Jasper Tudor, grandfather of  the future Henry VII.  He was married to the widow of Henry V, Catherine of Valois.  It was a love match, with the couple marrying secretly in 1429.  He was a former squire in her household.  There are 2 legends associated with the courting couple - one has it that Owen was drunk and whilst dancing, fell into Catherine's lap, whilst another legend says that Catherine saw him bathing in a nearby river - and liked what she saw!  It was a shocking and controversial marriage - Catherine was still very young and the mother of the infant Henry VI.   Fortunately, the couple managed to ride out the storm, and Henry VI was close to his 2 step-brothers, making Edmund Earl of Richmond and Jasper Earl of Pembroke.   Edmund went on to marry the richest heiress in the kingdom - Margaret Beaufort.  Margaret was very young, but despite this found herself pregnant - and widowed - at the age of 13.  That is another story.  As for Owen, he supported his stepson Henry VI, fighting for the Lancastrian cause.  He was captured at the Battle of Mortimer's Cross.  Possibly expecting to be ransomed, he became a victim of the vengeance of the Yorkists, who executed him in the town centre.  The Duke of York, father of the future Edward IV, had recently been killed and his head stuck on the Micklegate Bar in York.  Becoming aware that he was to be executed, Owen is quoted as saying "that hede shalle ly on the stocke that wass wonte to ly on Quene Katheryns lappe".  Owen's head was placed on the market cross, where it was washed and cleaned by an unknown woman who lit candles around it.  His body was buried in Greyfriars Church in Hereford.