Margaret Clitherow

 

Picture this: We're in the hustle and bustle of York Shambles window shopping after lunch at the King's Inn, and by pure chance are stopped directly by a quaint little plaque dedicated to a Margaret Clitherow. As you can see by the above there isn't a great deal mentioned as to why it is here or who she was, but thanks to research we now know of the woman known as The Pearl of York.

Margaret Middleton, who later became Margaret Clitherow when she married in 1571, was a normal woman. She was born in 1556, the youngest child of Thomas and Jane Middleton, and once she married inherited two step children and went on to have three of her own. The family resided at what is today 10-11 The Shambles quite happily.

She converted to be a Roman Catholic in 1574 even though her husband belonged to the Established Church, but his husband supported this change as his brother was a Roman Catholic priest. But back then times were different, she was fined for not attending church services and her husband paid these, but then she was imprisoned for this crime three times.

Here first stint in the nick was in 1577, the next two followed at York Castle to the point that her third child was born while she was in prison. But not all was bad, Margaret learnt how to read and write while banged up!

Some of you may be familiar with the Jesuits, etc Act 1584 which made assisting priests a capital offence. Well this is exactly what Margaret did. She risked her life by providing some rooms for priests to hide in. One was by her house and when her house was being watched she rented another elsewhere. They were sustained by her, and even mass was celebrated in secret. In the end Mrs Clitherow's house became one of the most important hiding places for fugitive priests in the area to hide. Local legend has it that she even housed them in the Black Swan, right under the very noses of the Queen's agents who lodged their too.

All went wrong when she sent her eldest boy, Henry, abroad to train to be a priest. Her husband was summoned to explain why Henry went to France and as a precaution on the 10th March 1586 the house was searched. It is noted that a frrightened boy revealed the location of the priest hole where the outlaws had been hiding, but it doesn't note if this was one of the Clitherow boys.

As a result, Margaret was arrested for the crime of harbouring Catholic priests. She refused to plead which prevented the case from going to trial and forcing her children to testify against her, this also avoided torture. Margaret was then sentenced to death for her crime.

On Good Friday of 1586, Margaret Clitherow, mother to three children and pregnant with her fourth, was crushed to death at the Toll Booth, Ouse Bridge in York. We have opted not to go into the details of her death, despite the fact they have been noted, as it is a bit distressing and horrific. What we will tell you is that her body was buried in secret in accordance with Catholic rites. Her husband John, remarried for a third time after the execution and remained a Protestant.

Following her execution, her tale was recorded in John Mush's 'Trewe Reporte of the Lyfe and Marterdome of Mrs Margarete Clitherowe' which was completed within three months of her death. Gerard Manley Hopkins, an English poet and Jesuit priest also wrote a poem honouring her and was found among other incomplete poems following his own death.

Thanks to her bravery in the fact of death over religious persecution, Margaret was beatified in 1929 by Pope Pius XI and then canonised in 1970 by Pope Paul VI. Rather grimly, a religious relic, supposedly her hand, can be found in the Bar Convent in York. Her shrine, which must be what we have pictured is at 35-36 The Shambles which is where her husband's butchershop once was, however it might have actually have been opposite as the street was renumbered in the 18th century, and the shrine was placed after...

So to recap, she died at Ouse Bridge and there is a memorial plaque there for her now, her body was hidden and buried in secret, seemingly minus her hand which has been kept as a religious relic, there is a shrine for her where they think she once lived, and she has become the most remembered saint of York.

Pretty amazing stuff for a woman who hadn't set out really to do anything special except save some lives.