The Two Ralphs

The Two Ralphs

Simon Rogerson

June 17th, 2024

The Friends of Severus Hill are a community led organisation trying to save that hill as a green space and wildlife haven for the benefit of the city of York. My colleague Liam, as a local resident, is involved with the project and also acts as their pet geologist giving expert advice on the ice driven formation of the hills west of the city of York. Geology, like meteorology and a number of other earth sciences is a relatively new branch of science but people have always tried to explain the world around them given the information available to them. One infamous example was Archbishop James Ussher (1581-1656) who calculated that the Earth was created on 22 October 4004 BC. At around 6 pm. It's easy to sniff at statements like that but given the same information he had, I challenge you to do better.

One of the real mysteries of Severus Hill (also sometimes called Severus Howe) is why it is called Severus Hill. Tradition has it that it was the site of the funeral pyre for Roman Emperor Septimius Severus who died in York in the year 211. That funeral was certainly a grand affair, for proof you need to look no further than (near) contemporary writer Cassius Dio who wrote how "his body, arrayed in military garb, was placed upon a pyre, and as a mark of honour the soldiers and his sons ran about it; and as for the soldiers' gifts, those who had things at hand to offer as gifts threw them upon it, and his sons applied the fire."

But does that mean that the funeral took place on Severus Hill? Dio doesn't mention any hill, or even York, but he does then go on to talk about the ashes being placed in a "urn of purple stone, carried to Rome, and deposited in the tomb of the Antonines" so it is clear that the funeral took place locally so that the ashes could then be taken home.

So when does the hill in Holgate first get tagged as the place of he funeral? What follows is the result of a short amount of search engine activity, lacks any sort of professionalism, academic rigour or definitive conclusions and is not meant as anything more than a bit of fun. But if that interests you then keep reading.

The first significant history of York was the book Eboracum by Francis Drake published in 1736. Actually the book's full name is Eboracum, or, The history and antiquities of the city of York, from its original to the present times. Well in truth the book's full name (in keeping with naming conventions of its day) runs to a full 81 words but we have limited space to recreate it all here. Drake himself was not the sailor who enjoyed bowling in Plymouth but a York based surgeon, antiquary and (though not relevant here) a massive fan of the Freemasons. 

So what does Drake say about Severus Hills? Well he addresses it head on and is very clear about his beliefs. Apparently Severus' "grateful army with infinite labour, raised three large hills in the very place where his funeral rites were performed." Oh dear, not a good start but his conclusion is that  "From all which testimonies, and the constant tradition of the inhabitants of York , we have no room to doubt but that these hills were raised for the reason aforesaid." OK, so we can discount his idea that these were man made hills but why is he so convinced that he has the right spot? Very usefully, Drake cites older writers to justify this constant tradition. First he quotes how "The learned primate, in his chronology, tells us that the corps of this emperor was laid on the funeral pile, in a place which, to this very day, retains the name of Severus Hill". And who was this Learned Primate? Well following Drake's footnotes tells us that he is talking about none other than Archbishop Ussher. A modern geologist like Liam quoting Ussher favourably would come as quite a turn up for the books but in this case the primate's words are gratefully received.

But then Drake goes further back in time with his references which brings us to The Two Ralphs. These two are not, as you might suspect, a budget knock-off version of The Two Ronnies but instead a pair of writers who both lived in the late 12th Century. One of these was Ralph de Diceto (c. 1120 – c. 1202) who Drake quotes directly as "sed eo tandem a Pittis perempto requiescit Eboraci, in monte qui ab Severus-Ho vocatus est." For those whose Latin is as good as mine, Drake translates this as "Severus being slain by the Picts at York, was buried in a hill called from him Severus-Ho". Unfortunately, as of yet, we've been unable to find this quote to verify it or put it in more context but it is still a very exciting thing to read. Let's also tactically ignore for second the fact that Severus died of natural causes rather than being killed by The Picts and move on to Ralph Niger (c. 1140 – c. 1199) who, like his name sake, wrote a chronology of the history of the world. An uploaded version of a 19th century publication of his 12th Century work (written in Latin) can be found here and does contain the (perhaps suspiciously similar) line "Severus requiescit Eboraci in monte qui ab eo Severe" or "Severus rests at York on the mountain which is named Severus from him". Wonderful stuff. Again, more context would be needed before any definitive conclusions can be made but wonderful stuff none the less.

The story might have changed over the years, from the the burial place of Severus to a deliberately built monument on the spot of the funeral pyre to a natural hill being a possible site of the funeral pyre but none the less, we have these quotes giving us a clear link going back more than 800 years between the name of the hill and funeral place of the Emperor.

Of course, despite living a looooooong time before us, The Two Ralphs were writing around a millennium after the funeral took place. More than enough time for stories to change or even be created out of whole cloth but whatever the truth, it is a very interesting little tale.