was entirely deserted by the inhabitants, who had fled under the idea that the enemy would give no quarter. Bishop Morton also fled, with all the ecclesiastics of Durham, on the day after the battle of Newburn, leaving the cathedral in the hands of the invaders, who seized at once upon the revenues of the see. Still the spirit of loyalty remained strong in the palatinate, and when in 1641 Charles I. left his capital and threw himself upon the fidelity of his northern subjects, yeomanry and gentry rallied in crowds around his standard. In Nov. 1642 the 4 northern counties were formed into an association for the king's service. On Dec. 1 in the same year a skirmish took place at Pierce Bridge, when the Marquis of Newcastle successfully forced a passage through the Parliamentarians, on his march towards York. On Jan. 19, 1644, the Scottish army crossed the Tweed to assist the Parliament, and marched upon Newcastle. The suburb of Sandgate was fired by the royalists, to prevent their enemies from attacking the town under cover, and two days afterwards, by a sudden sally, they routed a party of the Parliamentarian horse at Corbridge. The Scots remained before Newcastle till the 22nd, after which they crossed the Tyne at the fords of Ovingham, Bywell, and Eltringham, and marched to Sunderland, which they entered on March 4. The following days were occupied in a series of skirmishes with the royalist troops under the Marquis of Newcastle at Boldon, Shields, and Hylton, after which, despairing of a general engagement, he drew off his troops towards Durham, when the Scots advanced gradually to Easington, Durham, and Ferryhill. The marquis was soon after recalled to York, and marched thither by Auckland, Barnard Castle, and Piercebridge, when the rear of his army encountered the Scots near Darlington with some loss. On July 2 the battle of Marston Moor completed the ruin of the royalist cause in the north, and on the 29th of Oct. Newcastle was taken by the Scots after a gallant defence. The bishopric of Durham, abandoned by the royal troops, now fell entirely into the hands of the Parliament, and was governed by commissioners, among whom Sir Arthur Haslerigg acquired the name of Bishop of Durham, from his extensive purchase of episcopal lands, sold by order of the Parliament.

Meantime Bishop Morton, protesting in 1641, was impeached for high treason, and only saved from imprisonment in the Tower by his age and infirmity. He died in poverty and obscurity in 1659.

An "ordinance" of Oct. 9, 1646, for the abolition of episcopacy, was followed by one for the sale of the bishop's lands, and at the same time the ancient palatine Courts of Law and Equity were suspended. In May, 1646, Charles I. surrendered himself to the Scots, who carried him with them to Newcastle, and, being betrayed by them to the Parliament, he was removed to Holmby House, by way of Durham and Auckland. In May, 1648, a last futile attempt was made by the royalists to seize some of the strong places in the northern counties: at this time Raby Castle underwent a siege. In 1650 a petition was presented to Parliament, praying for the endowment of a large school or college in the north, out of the revenues of the late dean and chapter of Durham; and