David McGrory - Foul Deeds & Suspicious Deaths in Coventry

I t appears that the earliest reference to a foul deed in Coventry was in 1143 when Earl Robert Marmion of Tamworth, a man described as being great in warre, rode into Coventry with a force of men. Marmion, a supporter of King Stephen entered the city in late August, headed straight for the priory of St Mary and is said to have driven the monks from the building. Once the building was occupied, Marmion constructed fortifications around it, which included the digging of trenches and mantraps. Meanwhile the men of the Earl of Chester, Ranulf Gernon, watched from nearby Coventry Castle but did nothing, perhaps because they were awaiting reinforcements.

As nothing was happening Marmion, known for his arrogance and bravado, took to riding out alone each day, parading his defiance before the castle. This was all very well until one day the earls men unexpectedly began to pour forth from the castle gate and Marmion in a sudden panic galloped back toward the priory. He did not, however, make it to safety as he came crashing down into one of his own mantraps. There are two accounts of what happened next, one says that he lay in the ditch some hours with a broken leg before being dispatched by a cobbler. Another version, which is probably nearer the truth, is that being injured and unable to escape he was eventually spotted by a common foot soldier who decapitated him. So ended the life of the great Earl Marmion, headless in a Coventry ditch.

Interestingly, Marmion was attacking the castle of an ally, for Ranulf Gernon was also on the side of Stephen. Why did he do it? It seems that Ranulf Gernon had promised to give Coventry to Marmion, but had probably changed his mind. This claim was later put forward again by Marmions sons. Another interesting fact concerning this event is that in 1938 when the Blue Coat School was being underpinned, parts of the priory entrance came to light. During the dig a group of skeletons was found, huddled against an old stone wall. Several of the remains showed cuts in their skulls caused by swords. The question is who were these men thrown into a roughly dug pit against an old wall, by the main entrance to the priory? Could they be men who died during the attack, and if that was the case, why after the event were they not given a proper burial? Alternatively, and most likely, it appears that no one knew they were there, and that these men were deliberately hidden. Perhaps Marmions act of driving the monks from the priory was more violent than was supposed and the consequences were hidden from prying eyes, not to come to light until accidently discovered over 700 years later.

Soldiers of the time of Earl Marmion and the Earl of Chester. Two, like Marmion, had lost their heads!

A skeleton being unearthed during a Shelton dig in the 1930s. Albert Peck

The priory was the scene of other deaths and suspicious incidents. In 1185 Gerard le Pucelle, Bishop of Coventry, died suddenly and was buried in the great Chapter House. Talk after his death suggested poison being the tool of his fate, administered by an unknown hand. He was soon followed by someone who may have been responsible Hugh de Nonant. Nonant was an advisor to King Richard I; he also held the post of Sheriff of Staffordshire. He acquired the bishopric without election by paying cash to Richard. Consequently the monks disliked him, but not as much as he disliked them, for Nonant was a notorious monk hater. He was once noted as saying, If I had my way there would not be a monk left in England. To the devil with all monks.

One of his first acts was to ignore a papal decree and move his chair to Lichfield, home to secular canons, not monks. From there he changed his title to Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield. His malice quickly bore down on the monks of Coventry as he began to cut down their food supply and illegally took their possessions. He also took power from the Prior, making himself all-powerful.

This led to an event that was described by Richard of Devizes, thus:

On a certain day, when the bishop was superintending the workpeople at Coventry, this monk (from Burton) stood close at his side, with the bishop resting on him familiarly. To whom the bishop said, Is it not right and proper, my monk, even in thy judgement, that the great beauty of so fine a church and such a splendid edifice, should rather be appropriated to gods than devils? And while the monk was considering these words, he went on: I call my clerks gods, and my monks devils. And thereupon wagging his finger on his right hand towards his clerks, who stood about, he continued, I say ye are gods, and ye are all children of the Highest. And then he turned again to the left, and concluded to the monk, But ye monks shall perish like devils, and as one and the greatest of your princes ye shall fall away into hell, because ye are devils upon earth. Verily, if I should have to officiate for a dead monk, which I should loathe to do so, I should commend his soul to the devil, not to God.

As he said these words a block of stone fell from the church tower missing Nonant by inches, but smashing out the brains of the monk beside him. An accident maybe, but what happened next makes one think it deliberate. Soon after this Nonant held a synod at the priory and an argument broke out between him and the monks; this resulted in him being attacked by them before the high altar and being struck on the head with the crucifix.