The Boar and the Peacock
Non-fiction: the first biography of Sir James Tyrell, devoted supporter of Richard III and the man accused of the Princes in the Tower's murder.
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Exploring English History's Most Enduring Mystery...
Did Sir James Tyrell really murder the Princes in the Tower? Find out in my latest book, The Boar and the Peacock, which will be released on November 15th 2026 and is currently available to pre-order.
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September 2026
THIS MONTH'S BLOG
November 2026
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BANASTRE?
There is a curious postscript to the Duke of Buckingham’s failed attempt to depose Richard III in the autumn of 1483. After the worst storms in living memory had scattered his army of reluctant Welshmen, Buckingham had sought shelter with one of his trusted retainers, a man named Ralph, or Rafe, Banastre. Though often described as a servant, Banastre was actually a man of some substance. He and his family resided at Lacon Hall, near Wem in Shropshire, and his father had been sheriff of that county. Unfortunately for the fugitive Buckingham, King Richard put an enormous price on the rebel duke's head and Banastre was tempted:
"He [Richard] made proclamation that what person could shew and reveal where the Duke of Buckingham was, should be highly rewarded: if he were a bondman, he should be enfranchised and set at liberty; if he were of free blood, be should have a general pardon, and be remunerate with a thousand pounds."
Image Below: Buckingham trying to cross the flooded River Severn, from A Chronicle of England, (published 1864)
The passage above is taken from Hall’s Chronicle, published posthumously in 1548, but Hall was a Tudor loyalist who was often “economical with the truth” when it came to Richard III. Hall also makes mistakes, such as calling Buckingham’s betrayer “Homfrey” rather than Ralph:
“While this busy search was diligently applied and put in execution, Homfrey Banaster (were it more for fear of loss of life and goods, or attracted and provoked by the avaricious desire of the thousand pounds) he betrayed his guest and master to John Mitton, then sheriff of Shropshire, which suddenly with a strong power of men in harness apprehended the Duke in a little grove adjoining to the mansion of Homfrey Banaster, and in great haste and evil speed conveyed him, apparelled in a pilled black cloak, to the city of Salisbury, where King Richard then kept his household.”
According to local lore, Buckingham was arrested whilst digging a ditch, disguised as a peasant, and he would not leave Salisbury alive. The duke was executed on the 2nd of November 1483 in the courtyard of an inn called the Blue Boar (later known as the Saracen's Head). This ancient tavern was torn down in the 1700s but what happened to Banastre?
Image Right: the field near Lacon Hall in Shropshire where tradition says the Duke of Buckingham was arrested (Wikimedia Commons)
According to Hall, Buckingham’s treacherous underling never received his thousand pounds and his only reward was a small farm in Kent which had been part of the rebel duke’s vast estates in Southern England. Banastre’s children, however, suffered grievously for the father’s treachery:
“Whether this Banaster betrayed the Duke more for fear than covetous, many men do doubt: but sure it is, that, shortly after he had betrayed the Duke his master, his son and heir waxed mad, and so died in a boar's stye; his eldest daughter, of excellent beauty, was suddenly stricken with a foul leprosy; his second son, very marvellously deformed of his limbs, and made decrepit; his younger son, in a small puddle was strangled and drowned; and he, being of extreme age, arraigned and found guilty of a murder, and by his clergy saved. And as for his thousand pound, King Richard gave him not one farthing, saying that he which would be untrue to so good a master would be false to all other. Howbeit, some say that he had a small office or a farm to stop his mouth withal:”
As deliciously gothic as this passage may be, Hall’s account is somewhat at odds with the facts and a royal warrant dated 13th of December 1483 proves that Richard was more or less as good as his word. Though there is no mention of the promised thousand pounds, Richard presented Banastre with the prosperous Manor and Lordship of Yalding, in Kent, as a reward for his “loyalty”.
Image Left: the title page of the 1550 edition of Hall's Chronicle (Wikimedia Commons)
The document making this grant has survived and it reads as follows:
"RICHARD, &c. To all and singular, the officers, ffermors [farmers] and tenants of the Manor and Lordship of Yalding, with the appurtenances in our County of Kent, late belonging our great rebel and traitor the Duke of Buckingham, and by reason of his rebellion now in our gift and disposition, and to all other our subjects these presents, for to see or hear, greeting. With ye that in consideration of the true and faithful service which our well-beloved servant Rauff Banastre squire now late hath done unto us for and about the taking and bringing of our said rebel into our hands, We have given unto the said Rauff and his heirs male forever the said manor and lordship with the appurtenances; he and his said heirs yielding and paying as well the rents, services, and duties going out of the same Manor with the appurtenances, as unto Thomas Jebbe yearly £4 for term of his life, according to our letters patents to him made; and after the decease of the said Thomas, the said Rauff and his said heirs to pay unto us and our heirs for ever the said £4 for Castle ward unto our Castle of Rochester; and have commanded the said Rauff to enter into the same manor and lordship, and the revenues of the same, grown and to grow, since Michaelmas last past, to receive and take to his owin us. Wherefore we will and charge you that unto him in executing the effect of this our said gift and grant ye be obeying, aiding, answering, and assisting, as ye and every of you will avoid our grievous pleasure at your perils. Given under our signet at our City of London the 13th day of Decembre the first year of our Reigne.”
Image Below: map of Yalding c.1318 (Maidstone Council)
Banastre's lordship was confirmed the following year by an entry into the Patent Rolls, which is the official record of the royal will. These decrees include appointments to official positions, military commissions and the award of pardons as well as land grants:
“THE KING TO ALL [and] TO RALPH BANASTRE - to whom, etc., greeting. Since not only the nobility of one's lineage but also the equity of justice, especially in the case of Kings and Princes, prompt one to reward those who have served well with fitting recompense, know therefore that, in consideration of the singular and faithful service which our beloved liegeman and servant, Ralph Banastre, has previously rendered to us, not only by upholding our right and title (by virtue of which we have recently, with God’s help, attained the Crown of this our realm of England), but also by suppressing the treasons and malicious acts of our rebels and traitors who had long since stirred up a treacherous insurrection within this same realm, and in consideration of the good and faithful service to be rendered to us and our heirs (the Kings of England) by the said Ralph and his heirs, for the defence of ourselves and our aforesaid realm against any traitors, enemies, and rebels whatsoever, as often as the need may arise in times to come: We, of our special grace, have given and granted, and by these presents do give and grant, to the aforementioned Ralph the manor of Yalding, in our county of Kent, of an annual value of fifty pounds; to have and to hold the said manor, with its appurtenances, together with the issues, profits, and revenues thereof, etc.” - Witness the King at Westminster, the 10th day of August. By writ of Privy Seal, and of the date aforesaid, etc.
Image Below: artist's reconstruction of Yalding c.1335 (Spartacus Educational)
Though not worth anywhere near £1,000, the Lordship of Yalding was substantial and it is described in Domesday as follows:
“Richard de Tonebridge holds Ealdinges [Yalding], and Aldret held it of king Edward [the Confessor], and then and now it was taxed at two sulings. The arable land is sixteen carucates. There are two churches [Yalding and Brenchley] and fifteen servants, and two mills of twenty-five shillings, and four fisheries of one thousand and seven hundred eels, all but twenty. There are five acres of pasture, and wood for the pannage of one hundred and fifty hogs.”
Image Right: the medieval Twyford Bridge, at Yalding is so called because it once spanned two fords. (Wikimedia Commons)
Though the exact size of a medieval carucate varied, it is generally taken to be the equivalent of 120 acres, meaning the manor at Yalding may have covered around 2,000 acres in total. This was more than enough land to provide a comfortable income yet Hall was right about one thing, Ralph Banastre did not enjoy his new found wealth for long. Two years after the duke's failed rebellion, Richard III was killed at Bosworth and the victorious Henry Tudor returned all the lands sequestered from the 2nd Duke of Buckingham to his son, Edward, who became the 3rd Duke of Buckingham. Banastre had to surrender Yalding and it seems he retired to his Shropshire estates where he lived out his days in obscurity.
Nothing more is heard of Ralph Banastre until an entry in the 'Feet of Fines' for Shropshire, for the year 1503. This records a final agreement made in the King's Court at Westminster concerning the Manor of Lakyne (Lacon) between Ralph Banastre and his wife Katherine, whereby the manor, consisting of 1,100 acres and six messuages with appurtenances in Lakyne, Wemme, Sydenhale, and Henstoke, was settled on Ralph and Katherine for their lives, and after their decease upon eight members of their family. Sadly their relationship to Ralph Banastre is not specified so we do not know if his heirs were his children or more distant relatives. Nevertheless, the Manor of Lacon remained in the Banastre family until the late 1600s, after which it was acquired by the Earls of Bradford.
Sources
Hall, Edward, The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancastre and Yorke (Hall’s Chronicle) [London 1809, edition], p394-5
Ellis, Sir Henry, Original Letters Illustrative of English History Third Series Volume 1 [London 1846], p100
Lyon, William, Chronicles of Finchampstead, [London 1895], p179-185
Patent Roll 557. 2 Richard III, Part I, m. 7 (20). August 10, 1484.
Public Record Office, 18 Henry VII, 5 June 1503
Hasted, Edward, The history and topographical survey of the county of Kent, second edition, volume 5 [Canterbury 1798], p158-160
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