Sir Robert Harling (died 9 September 1435) was an English early member of the

landed gentry The landed gentry, or the gentry (sometimes collectively known as the squirearchy), is a largely historical Irish and British social class of landowners who could live entirely from rental income, or at least had a country estate. It is t ...

, a soldier, and political strongman. The

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

villages of

East Harling East Harling is a village in the civil parish of Harling in the Breckland district of the English county of Norfolk. East Harling is located east of Thetford and south-west of Norwich on the banks of the River Thet. History East Harling ...

, West Harling, Harling Market and

Larling Larling is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Roudham and Larling, in the England, English county of Norfolk. Larling is located north-east of Thetford and south-west of Norwich. History Larling's name is of Anglo-Saxons, ...

were greatly under his control. He married Jane Gonville, whose father established what was to become

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, commonly known as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348 by Edmund Gonville, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and ...

. He died on the feast of Gregory, fighting under

John, Duke of Bedford John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford (20 June 1389 – 14 September 1435) was a medieval English prince, general, and statesman who commanded England's armies in France during a critical phase of the Hundred Years' War. Bedford was the third son ...

, during the

Hundred Years' War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a conflict between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France and a civil war in France during the Late Middle Ages. It emerged from feudal disputes over the Duchy ...

. Bedford died less than a week thereafter. He is buried in the East Harling Church, of which his coat of arms is a main feature. An anonymous Parisian chronicler described how Harling's body was prepared for transportation to Norfolk. He wrote: "His arling'sbody was afterwards cut up and boiled in a cauldron at the St. Nicholas cemetery until the flesh came off the bones. These were then carefully cleaned and packed in a chest to be taken to England. The flesh, the entrails and water were buried in a big grave at the St. Nicholas cemetery." His daughter, Anne, married William Chamberlain (d. 1462), a soldier, and later Sir Robert Wingfield ( Member of Parliament for Herts, comptroller of the House of

Edward IV Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...

Footnotes

Further reading