Peveril Castle

Peveril Castle (also Castleton Castle or Peak Castle) is a ruined 11th-century castle overlooking the village of Castleton in the English county of Derbyshire. It was the main settlement (or caput) of the feudal barony of William Peverel, known as the Honour of Peverel, and was founded some time between the Norman Conquest of 1066 and its first recorded mention in the Domesday Survey of 1086, by Peverel, who held lands in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire as a tenant-in-chief of the king. The town became the economic centre of the barony. The castle has views across the Hope Valley and Cave Dale.

William Peveril the Younger inherited his father's estates, but in 1155 they were confiscated by King Henry II. While in royal possession, Henry visited the castle in 1157, 1158, and 1164, the first time hosting King Malcolm IV of Scotland. During the Revolt of 1173–1174, the castle's garrison was increased from a porter and two watchmen to a force led by twenty knights shared with the castles of Bolsover and Nottingham. The Earls of Derby had a claim to the Peveril family's estates through marriage, and in 1199 William de Ferrers, the fourth earl, paid 2,000 marks for the Peak lordship, although the castle remained under royal control. The closest Peveril Castle came to seeing battle was in 1216, when King John gave the castle to William de Ferrers, but the castellan refused to relinquish control. Although they were both John's supporters, the king authorised the earl to use force to evict the castellan, who eventually capitulated, although there is no evidence that the castle was assaulted.

In 1223 the castle returned to the Crown. In the 13th century there were periods of building work at the castle, and by 1300 its final form had been established. Toward the end of the 14th century, the barony was granted to John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. Having little use for the castle, he ordered some of its material to be stripped out for re-use, marking the beginning of its decline. From the time of John of Gaunt to the present day, the castle has been owned and administered by the Duchy of Lancaster. Peveril Castle became less important administratively, and by 1609 it was "very ruinous and serveth for no use". In the 19th century, Sir Walter Scott featured the castle in his novel Peveril of the Peak. The site is situated in a national park, and cared for by English Heritage. Peveril Castle is protected as a scheduled monument and a Grade I listed building.

## History

Peveril Castle stands on a limestone outcrop overlooking the west end of Hope Valley, in the midst of an ancient landscape. Overlooking the head of the valley, 2 km to the west, is Mam Tor, a Bronze Age hill fort, and 2 miles (3 km) to the east at Brough-on-Noe is the Roman fort of Navio. The valley formed a natural line of communication and had extra importance due to valuable mineral resources in the area, particularly lead.

### From the Norman Conquest

The small Hope Castle lay halfway along the valley. The castle's founder, William Peveril, was a follower of William the Conqueror and was rewarded for supporting him during the Norman Conquest. The first mention of him in England records that in 1068 he was granted the new castle at Nottingham by William the Conqueror, who was in the process of subduing the Midlands and northern England. An unsubstantiated legend states that Peveril was William's illegitimate son. By the Domesday Book of 1086, Peveril had become a powerful landowner, with holdings in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. The exact year he founded the castle is uncertain, although it must have been started by 1086 as it is recorded in the Domesday Book, one of 48 castles mentioned in the survey and the only one in Derbyshire. The castle was recorded as standing at Pechesers which has been translated as both "Peak's Tail" and "Peak's Arse". Although the earliest Norman castles were usually built in timber, Peveril Castle seems to have been designed from outset to be built in stone.

William Peveril had custody of royal lands such as the district of Hope, and although he had his own estates, he relied on continued royal favour to maintain power in this way. In 1100 the new king, Henry I, granted William "his demesne in the Peak". Thus the Peak became an independent lordship under William Peveril's control, and the castle became an important centre of administration for the area, allowing the collection of taxes. Castleton benefited from the castle's new status and began to grow as the lordship's economic heart. William Peveril died in 1114 and was succeeded by his son, William Peveril the Younger. In the civil war known as The Anarchy between King Stephen and the Empress Matilda, Peveril backed the losing side and his fortunes suffered after his capture at the Battle of Lincoln in 1141. In 1153 Peveril was suspected of attempting to poison Ranulf de Gernon, 4th Earl of Chester. In 1153 the future King Henry II accused Peveril of "plundering and treachery" and threatened to confiscate his estates and hand them over to the Earl of Chester. Two years later Henry, now king, followed through his threat. The Earl of Chester was dead by this time, and the king kept the property for himself. Once under royal control, Peveril became the administrative centre of the Forest of High Peak.

William Peveril the Younger died in 1155, and as his only male heir had predeceased him, the family's claim on the confiscated estates was taken up by the husband of William's daughter, Margaret Peveril. Margaret had married Robert de Ferrers, 2nd Earl of Derby. King Henry II visited Peveril Castle three times during his reign. During the first visit, in 1157, he hosted King Malcolm IV of Scotland who paid homage to Henry after ceding Cumberland and Westmorland to the English king. Henry II visited again in 1158 and 1164. When a group of barons led by Henry's sons Henry the Young King, Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany, and Prince Richard, later Richard the Lionheart, took part in the Revolt of 1173–1174 against the king's rule, the king spent £116 on building work at Peveril and Bolsover Castles in Derbyshire. The garrison was also increased. Previously Peveril was guarded by two watchmen and a porter, but this was expanded to a force led by 20 knights shared with Bolsover and Nottingham castles during the revolt. After the revolt ended in 1174, further steps were taken to improve Peveril Castle, and the Pipe Rolls (records of royal expenditure) show that between 1175 and 1177 £184 was spent on building the keep. Building in stone was expensive, and though Peveril's keep was small, moderately-sized stone castles such as the contemporary Orford could cost thousands of pounds. Henry II's average income during his reign has been estimated to be around £10,000 per year. As few documents have survived, it is uncertain when parts of the castle were built, and archaeological investigations have been unsuccessful in dating the stonework. Henry II died in 1189 and was succeeded by his son, Richard the Lionheart. Soon after his coronation, Richard granted the lordship of the Peak, including the castle, to his brother John. While Richard was on crusade, John rebelled and on his return Richard confiscated the lordship.

John became king in 1199 after Richard's death. William de Ferrers, 4th Earl of Derby maintained the claim of the Earls of Derby to the Peveril estates. He paid King John 2000 marks (£1333) for the lordship of the Peak, but the Crown retained possession of Peveril and Bolsover Castles. John finally gave Ferrers these castles in 1216 to secure his support in the face of country-wide rebellion. However, the castellan Brian de Lisle refused to hand them over. Although de Lisle and Ferrers were both King John's supporters, the king gave Ferrers permission to use force to retake the castles.

### Henry III

The situation was still chaotic when King Henry III became king after his father's death in 1216. Although Bolsover fell to Ferrers' forces in 1217 after a siege, there is no indication that Peveril was assaulted, and it is likely that Brian de Lisle negotiated his surrender. Ferrers only had possession of the lordship until King Henry III came of age. When the time came he was reluctant to hand over the property, and after an initial deadlock the Crown took control in 1223. Although contemporary Pipe Roll records of expenditure at Peveril survive, they do not specify how the money was spent. As a result, it is unclear what constitutes maintenance and what marks substantial construction work; however, Richard Eales, who wrote the 2006 English Heritage guidebook, suggests that there were two periods of building, when sums spent were larger than usual: £54 in 1204–1207 and £67 in 1210–1212. The medieval historian Sidney Painter estimated that in about 1200 there were only seven magnates in England whose annual income exceeded £400 and a knight could easily live on £10 to £20 per year.

The rest of the 13th century was relatively peaceful, and records show that Peveril Castle was maintained by the Crown. In 1235, in preparation for the king's visit, the north wall and bridge were repaired. After significant work in 1250–52 (£60 spent), 1272–1275 (£40) and 1288–1290 (£151), it is likely that the castle buildings were complete by 1300. King Henry gave Prince Edward (later King Edward I) Peveril Castle along with the County Palatine of Chester with the royal holdings in Wales and Ireland. Some of the lands, including Peveril, were made part of Eleanor of Castile's dower, to come into her possession should her husband, Prince Edward, die. At this time, the Peak lordship was worth around £300 a year. At the outbreak of the Second Barons' War in 1264, Peveril Castle was occupied by Robert de Ferrers, 6th Earl of Derby. Simon de Montfort pressured King Henry III into giving him Peveril, although it was recovered by the Crown after De Montfort's death in 1265. The castle was returned to Eleanor's dower, and as she predeceased her husband the lordship returned into royal hands. Its income was used to provide for members of the royal family such as King Edward II's queen, Isabella of France, and their children, and royal favourites such as Piers Gaveston. In 1331 Edward III gave the lordship to his wife, Philippa of Hainault. It was given to John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey, in 1345. After its return to the Crown, the estate was given to John of Gaunt, Edward III's third surviving son, partially in exchange for the Earldom of Richmond.

### The Lancastrians

John of Gaunt's ownership marked the start of Peveril Castle's decline. He was the richest nobleman in England and held several castles. As Peveril Castle was relatively unimportant, John decided not to maintain it and in 1374 gave orders to strip the lead from the buildings for re-use at Pontefract Castle. It was inherited by his son Henry Bolingbroke, later King Henry IV, and remained under royal control, administered by the Duchy of Lancaster. During the 15th century, Peveril became less important as administrative functions were moved elsewhere. Although other castles administered by the Duchy of Lancaster were repaired in 1480, there is no indication that this happened at Peveril. A survey conducted for the Duchy in 1561 revealed that Peveril was in a state of decay, and as a result, along with Donnington, was one of two castles that were subsequently abandoned. The castle however hosted local courts until 1600. A survey in 1609 found that Peveril was "very ruinous and serveth for no use". At some point in the post-medieval period the keep's facing stone was removed from three sides. The steep slope prevented the removal of the stone from the fourth side. At one point, the castle was used to house animals.

### Modern era

With the advent of the railways in the 19th century, the area became a tourist attraction. The Duchy of Lancaster undertook maintenance in the 19th century to ensure the castle's condition did not deteriorate further, mostly by clearing rubble and adding mortar. Sir Walter Scott's 1823 novel Peveril of the Peak, set in the mid 17th century, described the castle ruins.

In 1932 the Duchy gave custody of the castle to the Office of Works, while retaining ownership. The site is today cared for by English Heritage, the successor to the Office of Works. The surrounding landscape has been protected as a national park since 1951. The castle is a scheduled monument, which means it is a "nationally important" historic building and archaeological site which has been given protection against unauthorised change. It is also a Grade I listed building (first listed in 1985), and recognised as an internationally important structure. It has been described as "perhaps the finest medieval landmark of the Peak District", and architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner remarked that it is "By far the most important castle in the county – in fact the only one of importance". Before Duffield Castle in the south of the county was destroyed in 1266 it had one of the largest keeps in England, though only the foundations survive.

Film of Peveril Castle in 1945 is held by the Cinema Museum in London. Ref HM0365.

## Layout

Peveril Castle in Castleton is roughly triangular in shape, about 90 by 65 m (295 by 213 ft), on top of a hill overlooking the Hope Valley. The land slopes steeply away from the castle's perimeter, forming an almost sheer face to the south east, and the winding approach from the north is the most practical way to the castle. Not only was the site naturally defensible, but its prominence would have allowed the castle to be a highly visible symbol of the builder's power. The town of Castleton provided supplies to the castle. It commands views of Hope Valley below and Treak Cliff, Mam Tor, Black Tor, and Lose Hill. The castle was entered through the gatehouse to the east. Its design was simple, 7 m (23 ft) wide with a passage 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) across. Little survives, although earlier drawings contain details of mouldings that suggest the structure was built in the 12th century, perhaps by Henry II or King John.

The curtain walls enclosing the castle show the multiple phases of construction at Peveril, with stonework from the Norman period – differentiated by the use of opus spicatum – to modern repairs. The walls were surmounted by walkways, which next to the gatehouse would have stood about 5 m (16 ft) above the ground level immediately outside the castle. In the 12th century, a tower projecting less than 2 m (6 ft 7 in) was added to the north wall. In Eales' opinion, it "would have been of limited military value, compared with the boldly projecting towers of later castles" which allowed defenders to deploy flanking fire along the base of the walls. The land within the castle slopes downwards from west to east. Water storage would have been a concern for the garrison of the castle, but how they procured water is uncertain.

The southern curtain wall is a modern replacement along the line of the medieval wall. There are the remains of two round or semi-circular towers projecting from the wall. Enough of one tower survives that one can see the use of Roman tiles in the construction, probably from the fort of Navio 2 mi (3 km) away. It is uncertain when these towers were built, although it is thought they may date from the 13th century. Foundations mark the position of buildings abutting the south wall, probably the old hall and a chapel. A document from 1246 recorded a chapel at the castle; the remains of the easternmost building against the south wall are assumed to mark the site of the chapel, as they are oriented roughly east–west. Foundations at the west end of the north wall mark a large building: probably a hall where the lord of the castle would have eaten and entertained high-status guests. It is unclear when the new hall was built, probably replacing the old hall in the south of the castle, although an "old hall" was mentioned in a document of 1251, implying there was also a new hall by that time. The kitchen and food stores would have stood at the east end of the hall, although little remains of those structures. Buildings were also constructed against the west curtain wall, probably high-status apartments. Although the main approach to Peveril Castle was from the north, there was also a gate in the west, reached via a bridge spanning the gorge and linking the castle with an enclosure on the other side. As it has not been excavated, the exact form the enclosure took is uncertain. Its purpose is also a matter of speculation, whether it was an elaborate outer bailey for defence or used for storage and stabling.

The keep occupies the southern corner of Peveril Castle. Construction probably began in around 1176, instigated by Henry II. Its plan is square, measuring less than 12 by 12 m (39 by 39 ft), and the parapet is 15 m (49 ft) above the keep's base; as the ground is uneven, on the other side it rises 10.5 m (34 ft) above ground level. It is smaller than contemporary royal keeps such as those at Dover and Scarborough Castles. Today the exterior is coarse, but originally the facing would have been smooth; the south-east side, where the steep natural slope prevented removal of the facing stone, gives an idea of how it may once have appeared. A projection in the south-east face of the keep housed a garderobe. As was usual with Norman keeps, Peveril's was entered through the first floor and was accessed by a staircase. This entrance level would have been a large public room and the basement used for storage. A narrow staircase in the east corner allowed access to the basement and the wall walk around the top of the keep.

## See also

- Castles in Great Britain and Ireland
- List of castles in Derbyshire
- Grade I listed buildings in Derbyshire
- Listed buildings in Castleton, Derbyshire

Ruined 11th-century castle overlooking the village of Castleton in Derbyshire

Tourist attractions of the Peak District


Scott Feldman

Scott Wynne Feldman (born February 7, 1983) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs, Baltimore Orioles, Houston Astros, Toronto Blue Jays, and Cincinnati Reds.

After going 25–2 in his first two years of college baseball, he was drafted in the 30th round by the Texas Rangers in 2003. Feldman had Tommy John surgery later that year. He followed it up with a minor league career in which he had a 2.70 ERA, and held batters to only 6.6 hits per 9 innings, pitching almost exclusively in relief.

After pitching out of the bullpen while bouncing back and forth between Texas and its Triple-A affiliate in 2005–07, Feldman converted to a starter in 2008. He established himself in 2009 with a breakout season for the Rangers. He was 17–8, tied for 4th in the American League in wins, and tied the major league record with 12 victories on the road. As the Reds' Opening Day starter in 2017, he became one of 52 pitchers to have started Opening Day for at least three major league teams.

## Early and personal life

Feldman was born in Kailua, Hawaii, and grew up in Burlingame, California. He is Jewish, as is his father, and the family belonged to Peninsula Temple Sholom in Burlingame for a period of time. His father, an FBI agent who grew up in a Pennsylvania coal mining town and played college baseball at Duquesne, coached Feldman in youth baseball in Northern California.

The 6-foot-5-inch (196 cm) Feldman was big from an early age. "His second-grade teacher made a comment to my wife that it was like 'Alice in Wonderland,' because Scott was always too big for his seat", his father recalls.

As for Feldman's road to the major leagues, "The dream started off like any other kid", Feldman said. "You’d think about it as you were watching games in front of the TV, and you’d think about it playing in the neighborhood park with your friends. You always hope, but you just don’t know if it's ever going to happen."

He went to Lincoln Elementary, Burlingame Intermediate School, and later Burlingame High School in Burlingame, where he pitched a no-hitter. Feldman led the Peninsula Athletic League in batting average in his junior year. He was overweight in high school; at one point he was up to 265 pounds (120 kg).

In 2018, Feldman was one of 42 players born in Hawaii to have made it to the majors. In 2014, he and Jerome Williams joined Brian Fisher (1990) and Sid Fernandez (1997) as the only Hawaiian-born players to ever pitch for the Astros.

## College

Feldman lost 40 pounds (18 kg) before the start of his freshman year at the College of San Mateo, and walked on to the team. In two seasons, he went 25–2, with a 1.30 ERA and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 8-to-1. "When Feldman pitched", said Bulldogs coach Doug Williams, "the game was 95% over." He earned Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year honors both as a freshman in 2002 and as a sophomore in 2003, and was also an All-American both years. "He has a gift", Williams said.

Picked in the 41st round (1,241st overall) of the 2002 Major League Baseball Draft by the Houston Astros, he did not sign. He was then drafted again, in the 30th round (886th overall) of the 2003 Draft by the Texas Rangers, 13 rounds behind future teammate Ian Kinsler, and this time he signed with the Rangers after they offered him a lucrative contract.

## Minor leagues

Feldman underwent reconstructive elbow surgery for a torn ulnar collateral ligament in October 2003. In his four appearances in 2004 for the Arizona League Rangers in the Arizona League, he pitched seven scoreless innings. He began the 2005 season with the Single-A Bakersfield Blaze, but after nine scoreless innings in relief was quickly promoted to the Double-A Frisco RoughRiders.

On July 28, 2005, Feldman and two teammates threw a perfect game against the Corpus Christi Hooks. It was the first combined nine-inning perfect game in Texas League history, and the third overall. Feldman was tasked with getting the last three outs, and with two outs in the ninth he let the count get to 3–1. "I was just telling myself, 'Don't walk him,'" Feldman said. "Once it got to 3–1, I threw it right down the middle. If they got a hit, they got a hit. But they're not going to break up a perfect game on a walk." The batter grounded out. On July 31, the three pitchers shared the Texas League Pitcher of the Week Award.

With the RoughRiders, he held opposing batters to a .202 batting average in 46 relief appearances, led the team with 14 saves (which tied for fifth-most in the league), and had a 2.36 ERA. For the 2005 season, between the two teams he had a 2.06 ERA and 17 saves in 52 appearances, all in relief. Baseball America tabbed him as having the best control of all minor league pitchers in the Rangers' organization.

Prior to the 2006 season, MLB.com beat reporter T. R. Sullivan opined that Feldman was the Rangers' top minor league relief prospect. In 2006, in 23 relief appearances for the Rangers' Triple-A affiliate, the Oklahoma RedHawks, he had a 1.98 ERA, and in 2007 in 21 relief appearances for the team he had a 4.50 ERA. Later in 2007, he pitched in the Arizona Fall League, to work on a new three-quarters delivery.

In 2008, as the Rangers decided to convert Feldman to a starter, he started and won a game for Frisco, taking a perfect game into the fifth and a no-hitter into the seventh ("For my first start, it was a lot of fun", Feldman said). He also started and won the two games that he pitched for Oklahoma.

Overall, through 2008 Feldman had a minor league career ERA of 2.70 in 153.1 innings in 105 games (all but six as a reliever), and gave up on average only 6.6 hits per every 9 innings.

## Major leagues

### Texas Rangers (2005–2012)

#### 2005: Breaking in

Feldman was a late-season call-up in 2005. "The night before, I didn’t sleep a minute. I didn’t know what to expect, but when I walked in [the locker room], I saw a lot of the guys I had seen on TV all these years, and was like, 'Holy cow, I’m in the big leagues'", he remembers.

He made his major league debut against the Chicago White Sox on August 31, 2005. In eight relief appearances with the Rangers, he compiled a record of 0–1, with an ERA of 0.91 in 9.1 innings of work. He struck out Aaron Rowand for his first Major League strikeout.

#### 2006: Brawl

Towards the end of the spring training in 2006, Feldman was feeling confident that he was going to make the parent club's 25-man roster. A week before Opening Day he was called into Manager Buck Showalter's office. But instead of telling Feldman he had made the team, for the first 10 minutes Showalter and the team's pitching coach Mark Connor spoke on and on about how Feldman had had a solid spring training — but needed to work on some things. Feldman couldn't believe it but eventually thought, "Holy smoke, I’m going down [to the minors]." Suddenly, unable to continue the prank any longer, Showalter burst out laughing: "Pack your bags, rookie, you’re coming with us!"

During the regular season, Feldman bounced back and forth between the Rangers and Oklahoma.

The national spotlight shone briefly on Feldman on August 16, 2006, when he sparked a bench-clearing brawl in the ninth inning of a game between the Rangers and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Tensions between the two division rivals were already high after two Ranger starting pitchers — Adam Eaton and Vicente Padilla — had been ejected in previous games that month for throwing at Angel hitters, along with Texas manager Buck Showalter. Before Feldman took the mound in relief, on a night with a game-time temperature of 101 °F (38 °C), two Angel pitchers (Kevin Gregg and Brendan Donnelly) had already been thrown out of the game for hitting Ranger batters, and Angel manager Mike Scioscia and acting manager/bench coach Ron Roenicke had been ejected as well.

Feldman hit Angel second baseman Adam Kennedy in the buttocks with a fastball with two outs and the Rangers up 9–3. Kennedy charged the mound as the 6-foot-5-inch (1.96 m) Feldman stood atop it and threw down his glove. When Kennedy, who is 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m), reached him, Feldman punched him in the armpit. An announcer describing the fight said, "[Feldman] even punches like he throws — sidearm and underhand." "I didn't charge him", Feldman said in his defense. "I couldn't just stand there." Feldman was suspended for six games. As to others' reactions, Feldman said: "Everybody is telling me to take boxing lessons."

In 36 relief appearances in 2006, he had an ERA of 3.92. In games that were late and close, Feldman held the sixteen batters he faced hitless.

#### 2007: First win

Feldman was in the Rangers' 2007 spring training camp, and won the final spot in the Texas bullpen. He picked up his first Major League victory on April 11 in his 47th big-league appearance. "I'll always remember it, no doubt about it", Feldman said.

He was sent down, however, on May 1. That began a trend, as he was called up and send down five more times during the season.

He made some changes in his delivery in September. Instead of throwing sidearm, he raised his arm angle and threw from a three-quarters delivery, which pitching coach Mark Connor observed gave him more sink on his fastball and downward movement on his breaking ball. "This has a chance to be pretty good", Connor said. "He was busting his fastball 94–95, the ball was sinking, and his four-seamer was cutting."

He was 1–2 for the season, with a 5.77 ERA in 29 games. He held the first batter he faced in each game to a .160 batting average, and his "ground ball:fly ball ratio" of 1.39 was the highest on the team.

#### 2008: Conversion to starter

In spring training in 2008, Feldman changed his release point, and used the three-quarter delivery that he had begun to use late in 2007. Manager Ron Washington noted: "It makes his ball heavier, and his movement a little more pronounced."

In late March, he was one of three pitchers vying for one long relief spot on the team, though the Rangers also began experimenting with converting him to be a starter. General Manager Jon Daniels observed: "Toward the end of spring training something clicked with his new [three-quarter] arm slot." On March 22, despite Feldman's success with his new, higher arm angle, the Rangers optioned him to Oklahoma, where he was a starter. In April he bounced back and forth between Texas and Frisco.

In his first Major League start, on April 13, he allowed three runs in six innings and did not receive a decision. "Feldman was outstanding", manager Washington said. "He hung in there and battled." Feldman recorded his first major league hit on June 13 against Óliver Pérez of the New York Mets.

On August 12, against the Boston Red Sox, he allowed 10 runs in the first inning (a team record). This was the first time a major league pitcher gave up at least 12 runs without taking a loss since Gene Packard of the St. Louis Cardinals did it on August 3, 1918).

T. R. Sullivan of MLB.com wrote towards the end of the season: "He's going to win the bronze medal for innings pitched on the Rangers this season. ... He has exceeded all expectations, and his lack of history as a starter makes it difficult to figure where this great experiment is headed." General Manager Daniels noted: "Feldman has really saved our pen this year, and he wasn't a guy we were counting on in the beginning of the season." The Rangers wanted to limit his use towards the end of the seaton, but had to keep him in the rotation because of injuries to the other pitchers.

For the season, he was 6–8 in 25 starts and three relief appearances, over 151.1 innings — just two innings fewer than he had pitched in his entire minor league career. He also led the Rangers' pitching staff in quality starts (13), quality start percentage (52%), strikes looking (29%), "grounded into double plays" (24), and "grounded into double play rate" (21%). His 13 unearned runs tied for the third-highest total in the AL.

During the off-season, club president Nolan Ryan emphasized conditioning for the Rangers pitchers. Feldman and nine other of the team's top young pitchers were brought to Arlington in November for a week-long conditioning camp. "It's different", Feldman said. "In the past, it was a little more of 'this is what you need to do, now go out and do it.' Most guys would do it, but this is their way of overseeing it and making sure everybody is ready."

#### 2009: Breakout season

The Rangers decided that Feldman would begin 2009 as a middle reliever, and Kris Benson would be a starter. "Feldman makes us a better team in the bullpen", explained Washington. "He goes down there with better stuff than he had before." Feldman was disappointed at the change.

Within a month Benson was injured, however, and Feldman took his place in the rotation on April 25. "I'm excited", said Feldman. "I love starting." At the suggestion of pitching coach Mike Maddux, he changed his windup to a full windmill. He remained in the rotation thereafter. In early May, Washington noted: "He has real life on his fastball, his slider is harder than it has been, his breaking ball is much crisper, and he's getting a good feel for his changeup. He's got four pitches he can throw over the plate."

Feldman began the 2009 season 5–0. He sported better mechanics and a different repertoire (a new and improved cut fastball), threw 1–2 mph harder, and kept the ball down — forcing more ground balls. "Scott Feldman has been great since we put him in the starting rotation", said Manager Washington. "He always does what you need him to do, keep you in the ballgame."

At the All Star break, despite not having moved into the starting rotation until nearly a month into the season, Feldman was 8–2, led the AL in won-lost percentage (.800), and was 9th in hits per nine innings (7.75) and walks + hits per inning pitched (1.18). "He's going to get better", said Nolan Ryan on July 20, noting Feldman's youth and his recent change in pitching style.

On July 25, Feldman outpitched Kansas City All-Star and AL ERA leader Zack Greinke with eight innings of four-hit, shutout ball, leading the Rangers to a 2–0 victory. "Feldman matched the best pitcher in baseball", Washington said. "I’m so happy for him. Two pitchers went at it pretty good, and our's won the battle." The eight innings were Feldman's major-league high, as he mixed in a changeup, curveball, and slider with his fastball.

As of the end of July, opposing batters were hitting .228 against Feldman (and only .217 in his starts), the fourth-lowest batting average in the league. In his starts through the end of July he had a 3.04 ERA, and 12 of his 17 starts were quality starts.

After he beat the Mariners on short (three days') rest at the beginning of August for the team lead in wins, Seattle manager Don Wakamatsu said: "I thought Feldman was awfully tough. I have seen this kid, and he gets better every year. I think you have to tip your hat."

As of mid-August, Feldman's cut fastball was the most effective in the major leagues. And it was the third-most-effective pitch overall, behind only Tim Lincecum's change-up and Clayton Kershaw's fastball. While in 2008 he used his cutter 13.4% of the time, in 2009 he was throwing it 30.4% of the time. The only starting pitchers who were throwing cutters more often were Brian Bannister, Doug Davis, and Halladay.

The press began to take notice. On August 14 Matthew Berry of ESPN noted that: "since April 25, when Scott Feldman ... rejoined the Rangers' rotation, only Justin Verlander has more wins than Feldman's 12." And two days later, Phil Rogers wrote for The Chicago Tribune: "Scott Feldman is creeping into consideration for the bottom of Cy Young ballots."

On August 23, Feldman threw seven scoreless innings while allowing only four hits in a win over the Tampa Bay Rays. It was his 13th win of the season (tied for third in the AL) and put his season record at 13–4. It was Feldman's ninth road win of the season (bringing him to 9–1 on the road), tying him with Sabathia for best in the AL. The win put the Rangers two games ahead of the Rays in the AL wild card standings, and one game behind the Red Sox. His career-high 11 strikeouts were the most by a Ranger since Matt Perisho struck out 12 in 1999 (see video of parts of Feldman's 11 strikeouts). Commenting on Feldman's last strikeout, Carlos Peña said: "I was on second base, and I saw a pitch that he made to B. J. [Upton], and I was like, 'Wow.' I thought to myself, 'That's unhittable right there.'" Rays manager Joe Maddon called Feldman's performance "the best-pitched game against us all year", in spite of Mark Buehrle's perfect game against them earlier in the season.

On August 29, he again held the opposition scoreless, this time the Twins for 5.2 innings in a 3–0 victory. "His ball was definitely moving all over the place, with a great breaking ball", Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "He throws a nasty cutter, and the ball sinks. He was tough on us." It was good for his 14th win of the season (tied for second in the AL behind Sabathia), raising his record to 14–4. His cutter was more dominant than any other thrown over a single season since Baseball Info Solutions first began collecting cutter data in 2004.

On September 4, he extended his scoreless streak to 18.1 innings before giving up a run to the Baltimore Orioles in the sixth inning at Camden Yards; that was the only run he gave up over 6.2 innings in a 5–1 win, to bring his record to 15–4. It was also his 11th road victory (matching the club record held by Rick Helling (1998) and Padilla (2008)), and he matched the club record set by Bobby Witt (1990) with his 7th consecutive road win of the season. Evan Grant, writing for D Magazine, asked rhetorically: "At some point, RHP Scott Feldman is going to have to enter the Cy Young Award conversation, isn't he?"

On September 9, Feldman threw seven innings of shutout ball against the Cleveland Indians, leading Texas to a 10–0 win. He struck out five, while giving up five singles, raising his record to 16–4, and tying Sabathia and Verlander for the AL lead in victories. He became the first Rangers pitcher to win 16 games since Kevin Millwood in 2006. It was his seventh win in a row, eighth straight road victory (a new Texas record), and 12th road win overall in 2009 (another new club record, and tops in the AL). "I'm not doing anything different on the road than I am at home", said Feldman, who had allowed only one run in the last 26.1 innings. "The preparation is the same. I think it's a pretty humbling game, so you can't get too high or too low." He became the first Rangers right-hander to allow just one run over four consecutive starts. Outfielder Marlon Byrd said: "When you have your ace on the mound, you expect to win. You get a couple of runs early, and you feel you have a 'W' in hand. He has been unbelievable this year when he steps on the mound. ... He just keeps getting better."

The Boston Herald reported: "Scott Feldman started the season in the bullpen. He'll end it as a Cy Young Award candidate." Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune referred to him as " an under-the-radar Cy Young candidate." And Jennifer Floyd Engel of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram wrote: "Is there a more likable "stud player" on any of the locals than Scott Feldman? Dude is amazing, wins freakishly a lot on the road, is Boy Scout-ishly dependable, has been an ace on what is really a pretty good staff, and is humble as hell. He's certainly deserving to be in Cy Young conversations." Manny Navarro of The Miami Herald also referred to him as a Cy Young Award candidate.

Through September 10, he was leading the AL in won-lost percentage (.800), tied with Sabathia and Verlander for the league lead in wins (16), had the 3rd-lowest "slugging percentage against" (.359; behind Félix Hernández and Greinke), was tied for 4th in double plays induced (20), and had the 7th-lowest "OPS-against" (.670). Feldman was holding lefties to a .220 batting average, and as a starter he had kept batters to the 2nd-lowest batting-average-against on balls that they had put in play (.261) among AL starters (behind only Washburn), had the 4th-best ERA in the league (3.10; behind Greinke, Hernández, and Halladay), was tied for the 4th-lowest batting-average-against (.236), had stranded the 5th-highest percentage of runners (78.3%), and had the 5th-highest ground ball/fly ball ratio (1.48). He had the most effective cutter of all major league starters, and had thrown it 33% of the time (behind only Brian Bannister (52%) and Halladay (42%) among AL starters). Feldman had also pitched at least five innings in all but one of his 26 starts in 2009. As of mid-September, Feldman's cutter was still the third-most-effective pitch in the major leagues, behind only Tim Lincecum's changeup and Randy Wolf's fastball.

For the season, Feldman was 17–8 with a 4.08 ERA in 34 games, 31 of them starts. Despite not having become a starter until the end of April, he tied for 4th in the American League in wins, and only four pitchers in the majors had more victories. His club-record 12 victories on the road tied the major league record. Feldman became the third player in Rangers history to win at least 17 games in 31 starts or fewer, joining Kenny Rogers (17 wins in 31 starts in 1995) and Ferguson Jenkins (18 wins in 30 starts in 1978).

He was named the Texas Rangers' Pitcher of the Year for 2009 by the Dallas-Fort Worth Chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

#### 2010: Opening Day starter

The Rangers and Feldman agreed to a \$2.425 million, one-year contract in January 2010, thereby avoiding arbitration.

On March 27, manager Ron Washington announced that Feldman would be the opening day starter for the Rangers. On April 2, the Rangers signed Feldman to a two-year, \$11.5 million extension through the 2012 season, with a \$9.25 million option for 2013.

Feldman was 7–11 for the season, as he started 22 games and pitched seven games out of the bullpen.

#### 2011; Injuries, and scoreless postseason

Feldman, had microfracture surgery performed on his right knee during the off-season. To rehab, he made two appearances for the Double-A Frisco RoughRiders and eight appearances for the Triple-A Round Rock Express. On July 8, he was transferred from the 15-day disabled list to the 60-day disabled list. He was outrighted to the minors on July 13. However, on July 14, after he cleared waivers, Feldman rejected the assignment giving the Rangers the option of activating him from the disabled list or releasing him. They opted to activate him off the disabled list, which re-added him to the 40-man roster.

In 2011, Feldman was 2–1 with a 3.94 ERA for Texas in 11 games, two of which were starts. In 32 innings he gave up 25 hits, while walking 10 and striking out 22. He limited left-handed hitters to a .155 batting average.

Brought in during the first game of the playoffs against the Tampa Bay Rays, he pitched three scoreless innings, allowing two hits while striking out four. In Game 2 of the ALCS he pitched 4+1⁄3 scoreless innings in relief, allowing the Detroit Tigers only one hit and no walks. He became the third pitcher in 20 years to throw at least four scoreless innings of relief in a postseason game. He pitched another scoreless inning in Game 4, and through the first two rounds of the postseason his playoff record was 8.2 innings pitched with nine strikeouts, three hits, and no walks.

In the first game of the World Series, he pitched another 1.2 innings of scoreless baseball to extend his postseason record to 10.1 scoreless innings pitched. Only eight relief pitchers had pitched more scoreless innings in a postseason, with Goose Gossage holding the record (14.1 in 1981). His postseason record in 2011 was 10.1 innings pitched with 10 strikeouts, 4 hits, and no walks.

#### 2012

In 2012, Feldman was 6–11, with a 5.09 ERA in 123.2 innings. He had a 96/32 K/BB ratio. He walked one-or-fewer batters in 10-straight starts; the only Ranger with a longer single-season streak was Ferguson Jenkins with 12-straight starts in 1974.

He became a free agent on October 30, 2012, when the Rangers declined his \$9.25 million 2013 option.

### Chicago Cubs (2013)

On November 27, 2012, Feldman signed a one-year deal with the Chicago Cubs worth \$6 million with a possible \$1 million in additional incentives. General Manager Jed Hoyer indicated that the team planned to use him as a starter. On May 24, 2013, Feldman hit his first career home run off of Cincinnati Reds pitcher Bronson Arroyo. He was 7-6 with a 3.46 ERA for the Cubs until he was traded mid-season.

### Baltimore Orioles (2013)

On July 2, 2013, Feldman and Steve Clevenger were traded to the Baltimore Orioles for pitchers Jake Arrieta and Pedro Strop. There, Feldman reunited with his first big league manager, Buck Showalter. His first start was on July 3, 2013, against the Chicago White Sox, a game the Orioles won 4–2 although Feldman did not get the decision. Feldman had his best start as an Oriole August 18, and was borderline dominant the entire outing. Through his first six innings, Feldman had allowed just two hits, while not allowing a single run to score. The Orioles took the victory 7–2 against the Rockies. He improved upon that outing by tossing the first complete game shutout of his career on September 6, holding the White Sox to 5 hits.

He finished the season with a combined 12–12 win–loss record and 3.86 ERA in 30 starts that included one shutout. He allowed only a .234 opponent's batting average, tied for 10th-best in the Major Leagues among righty pitchers, and a .207 average with two outs. After falling behind batters 2–0, he held them to a .131 average, the lowest in the Major Leagues.

### Houston Astros (2014–2016)

Feldman signed a three-year, \$30 million contract with the Houston Astros after the 2013 season.

He was the Astros' opening day starter, and beat the New York Yankees by blanking them into the seventh inning. On August 30, 2014, Feldman threw a 3-hit shutout against the Texas Rangers, giving up just 1 walk while striking 5. The Astros went on to win 2–0, winning the Silver Boot for the club for the first time since 2006.

For the season, he was 8–12 with a 3.74 ERA (the lowest over a full season in his career), in 29 starts (tied for the club lead). He was tied for sixth in the AL in complete games (2). He threw the highest percentage of curveballs among all Major League pitchers (28.9%), ahead of Sonny Gray. At 6'7, Feldman was the third-tallest pitcher in Astros history behind Randy Johnson (6' 10") and J. R. Richard (6' 8"). He received the Astros 2014 Darryl Kile Good Guy Award, voted by the Houston Chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. After a successful 2014 season, Feldman struggled in 2015 and in 2016, the latter having him sent to the bullpen by the Astros.

### Toronto Blue Jays (2016)

On August 1, 2016, Feldman was traded by the Astros to the Toronto Blue Jays for minor league pitcher Guadalupe Chavez. He struggled in 14 appearances for Toronto, pitching to a 2–1 record, 8.40 ERA, and 14 strikeouts in 15 innings. Feldman was on the Blue Jays' Wild Card and Division Series rosters, but was left off their Championship Series roster.

### Cincinnati Reds (2017)

On January 26, 2017, Feldman signed a one-year, \$2.3 million contract (on which he earned an additional \$1.7 million in incentives) with the Cincinnati Reds. Feldman was originally assigned to pitch out of the bullpen, but with an injury to Homer Bailey, Feldman was given a chance to audition for the Reds' rotation. The preparation for the Reds' rotation made Feldman withdraw from Israel's national baseball team during the 2017 World Baseball Classic.

On March 20, Feldman was named the Reds' Opening Day starter. Having started Opening Day for the Rangers in 2010 and the Astros in 2014, he became the 52nd pitcher to start Opening Day for at least three major league teams. In the first three months of the season he had a 3.78 ERA in 97.2 innings, but then a knee injury led to him pitching in significant pain in the final four months of the season, and allowing 18 earned runs in 13 innings. He had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee to clean out damaged cartilage in August that ended his season. In 2017, Feldman was 7-7 (including one shutout), with a 4.77 ERA, in 21 starts (which led the team), and had the best strikeout rate of his career (7.5 per 9 IP). Feldman elected to become a free agent on November 2.

## Pitching

Feldman is a three-quarters pitcher with a sinker, a low-to-mid-90s fastball, a hard dropping slider, a curve, a changeup, and a 90 mph cut fastball.

He changed the angle of his arm from sidearm to three-quarters in September 2007. In August 2009 a scout described him as having three "above-average pitches", and a "filthy" cutter.

## Jewish heritage

As of March 2007, Feldman was one of 13 Jewish baseball players in the major leagues, along with teammate Ian Kinsler. He was featured in the edition of Jewish Major Leaguers Baseball Cards, licensed by Major League Baseball, commemorating the Jewish major leaguers from 1871 through 2008. He joined, among others, Kinsler, Brad Ausmus, Kevin Youkilis, Ryan Braun, Gabe Kapler, Jason Marquis, John Grabow, Craig Breslow, Scott Schoeneweis and Jason Hirsh. In 2009, Feldman was named the Jewish Major Leaguers Pitcher of the Year, in a year in which he had more wins than any other Jewish pitcher since Steve Stone in 1980. Through 2017, he was seventh of all Jewish major leaguers in career strikeouts, behind Barry Latman, and seventh in career wins, behind Dave Roberts.

## See also

- Houston Astros award winners and league leaders
- List of major league baseball players who had Tommy John surgery
- List of select Jewish Major League Baseball players
- List of Houston Astros Opening Day starting pitchers
- List of Texas Rangers Opening Day starting pitchers

American baseball player (born 1983)

American expatriate baseball players in Canada

Baseball players from San Mateo County, California

Sportspeople from Honolulu County, Hawaii


The Quarrymen

The Quarrymen (also written as "the Quarry Men") are a British skiffle/rock and roll group, formed by John Lennon in Liverpool in 1956, which evolved into the Beatles in 1960. Originally consisting of Lennon and several schoolfriends, the Quarrymen took their name from a line in the school song of their school, the Quarry Bank High School. Lennon's mother, Julia, taught her son to play the banjo, showed Lennon and Eric Griffiths how to tune their guitars in a similar way to the banjo, and taught them simple chords and songs.

Lennon founded a skiffle group that was briefly called the Blackjacks, but they changed the name before any public performances. Some accounts credit Lennon with choosing the new name; other accounts credit his close friend Pete Shotton with suggesting the name. The Quarrymen played at parties, school dances, cinemas and amateur skiffle contests before Paul McCartney joined in October 1957. George Harrison joined in early 1958 at McCartney's recommendation, though Lennon initially resisted because he felt Harrison (14 when he was introduced to Lennon) was too young. McCartney and Harrison attended the Liverpool Institute.

The group made an amateur recording in 1958, performing Buddy Holly's "That'll Be the Day" and "In Spite of All the Danger", a song written by McCartney and Harrison. The group moved towards rock and roll, causing several of the original members to leave. This left Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison, who performed under several other names, including Johnny and the Moondogs and Japage 3 before returning to the Quarrymen name in 1959. In 1960, the group changed their name to "The Beatles" (chosen for its double meaning and as a wink to Buddy Holly's band, "The Crickets"). The name was conceived of late at night by Lennon and Stuart Sutcliffe, by then the group's fourth member, and introduced to the other two the next day. They were initially booked as "The Silver Beetles" by local clubs who saw it as a more sellable name than "The Beatles" and went on to be the best-selling music act of all time.

In 1997, the four surviving original members of the Quarrymen reunited to perform at the 40th anniversary celebrations of the garden fête performance at which Lennon had first met McCartney. Since 1998, they have performed in countries outside the UK and released four albums. Three original members still perform as the Quarrymen.

## History

### Formation and early performances

In the mid-1950s, there was a revival in the United Kingdom of the musical form "skiffle" that had originated in the United States and had been popular in the US in the 1920s, '30s and '40s. In addition to its popularity among British teenagers as music to listen to, it also spawned a craze of teenage boys starting their own groups to perform the music. One of the primary attractions was that it did not require great musical skills or expensive instruments to be played. Early British skiffle was played by traditional jazz musicians, with the most successful British proponent of the genre in the 1950s being Lonnie Donegan. The Quarrymen's initial repertoire included several songs that Donegan had recorded. When Lennon wanted to try making music himself, he and fellow Quarry Bank school friend, Griffiths, took guitar lessons in Hunt's Cross, Liverpool, although Lennon gave up the lessons soon after, as they were based on theory and not actual playing.

As Griffiths already knew how to play the banjo, Lennon's mother showed them how to tune the top four strings of their guitars to the same notes as a banjo, and taught them the chords of D, C, and D7, as well as the Fats Domino song, "Ain't That a Shame". They practised at Lennon's aunt's house (called Mendips) at 251 Menlove Avenue where Lennon lived, or at Griffiths' house in Halewood Drive. They learned how to play Lonnie Donegan's "Rock Island Line", "Jump Down Turn Around (Pick a Bale of Cotton)", "Alabamy Bound" and "Cumberland Gap", and later learned how to play two of Elvis Presley's first hits, "That's All Right" and "Mean Woman Blues".

Lennon and Griffiths decided to form a skiffle group in November 1956. This initial line-up consisted of Lennon and Griffiths on guitars, Pete Shotton on washboard, and school friend Bill Smith on tea-chest bass. The group, initially called the Blackjacks, quickly changed their name to the Quarrymen. Both Lennon and Shotton have been credited with coining the name Quarrymen after a line in their school's song: 'Quarrymen, old before our birth. Straining each muscle and sinew.' The choice of name was tongue-in-cheek as Lennon regarded the reference in the school song to "straining each muscle and sinew" as risible. Smith's tenure in the band was extremely short, and he was replaced in quick succession by Nigel Walley, Ivan Vaughan, and Len Garry throughout late 1956 and early 1957. Also during this period, drummer Colin Hanton and banjo player Rod Davis joined the group. This group of Lennon, Griffiths, Shotton, Garry, Hanton, and Davis formed the first stable line-up of the group.

The group first rehearsed in Shotton's house on Vale Road, but because of the noise, his mother told them to use the corrugated air-raid shelter in the back garden. Rehearsals were moved from the cold air-raid shelter to Hanton's or Griffiths' house — as Griffiths' father had died in WWII, and his mother worked all day. The band also often visited Lennon's mother at 1 Blomfield Road, listening to her collection of rock and roll records by Elvis, Shirley and Lee's "Let the Good Times Roll", and Gene Vincent's "Be-Bop-A-Lula" which they added to their repertoire. After his tenure on tea-chest bass, Walley became the group's manager. He sent flyers to local theatres and ballrooms, and put up posters designed by Lennon: "Country-and-western, rock n' roll, skiffle band — The Quarrymen — Open for Engagements — Please Call Nigel Walley, Tel. Gateacre 1715". Walley managed to secure the group several paid engagements throughout the spring of 1957, including one at The Cavern Club. A jazz club at the time, the Cavern tolerated skiffle as it was considered an offshoot of jazz. Lennon, however, began leading the band in several rock and roll numbers, prompting the club's manager to send up a note ordering the group to "cut out the bloody rock".

In July 1957, Canadian impresario Carroll Levis held a talent contest in Liverpool, the winners of which would appear on the television series Star Search. The Quarrymen played Lonnie Donegan's "Worried Man Blues", and were loudly applauded, but a group from Wales (called the Sunnyside Skiffle Group) "jumped all over the stage" and outshone the static Quarrymen, and were asked by Levis to fill in the last few minutes of the contest with a second song. Lennon argued heatedly with Levis backstage, saying the Sunnyside Skiffle Group had brought a bus full of supporters with them, and were given "the upper hand" advantage by Levis. After the competition, Levis used a clap-o-meter (a machine to measure the decibels of the audience's reaction to the groups) as they were asked to walk back out onto the stage. The Quarrymen and the Sunnyside Skiffle Group tied by both reaching ninety on the meter, but after a second test, the Quarrymen lost by a small margin.

### Paul McCartney joins the group

On 6 July 1957, The Quarrymen played at the St. Peter's Church Rose Queen garden fête in Woolton. They first played on the back of a moving flatbed lorry, in a procession of floats that carried the Rose Queen and retiring Rose Queen, Morris dancers, Boy Scouts, Brownies, Girl Guides and Cubs, led by the Band of the Cheshire Yeomanry. At 4:15, they played on a permanent stage in the field behind the church, before a display by the City of Liverpool Police Dogs. They were playing "Come Go with Me" when Paul McCartney arrived, and in the Scout hut after the set, Ivan Vaughan introduced McCartney to Lennon, who chatted for a few minutes before the band set up in the church hall for their performance at that evening's "Grand Dance". McCartney demonstrated how he tuned his guitar and then sang Eddie Cochran's "Twenty Flight Rock", Gene Vincent's "Be-Bop-a-Lula", and a medley of Little Richard songs.

Vaughan and McCartney left before the evening show which started at 8 o'clock. During the performance, there was an unexpected thunderstorm, which made the lights go out. Bob Molyneux, a young schoolmate from Quarry Bank, recorded part of the performance on his Grundig TK8 portable reel-to-reel tape recorder. The tape included versions of Lonnie Donegan's "Puttin' On the Style" and Elvis' "Baby Let's Play House". In 1963, Molyneux offered the tape to Lennon via Ringo Starr, but Lennon never responded, so Molyneux put the tape in a vault.

As they were walking home after the evening performance, Lennon and Shotton discussed the afternoon encounter with McCartney, and Lennon said that perhaps they should invite McCartney to join the band. Two weeks later, Shotton encountered McCartney cycling through Woolton, and conveyed Lennon's casual invitation for him to join the Quarrymen, and Vaughan also invited McCartney to join. McCartney said he would join after Scout camp in Hathersage, Derbyshire, and a holiday with his family at the Butlin's holiday camp in Filey, North Yorkshire. Shotton and Davis both left the Quarrymen in August, feeling that the group was moving away from skiffle and towards rock, leaving their instruments superfluous. When McCartney returned from holiday, he began rehearsing with the Quarrymen, playing songs such as "Bye Bye Love" (The Everly Brothers) and "All Shook Up", which Lennon and the group had been trying to learn, without success.

McCartney made his debut with the band on 18 October 1957 at a Conservative Club social held at the New Clubmoor Hall in the Norris Green section of Liverpool. Lennon and McCartney wore cream-coloured sports jackets, which were paid for by the whole group—Walley collected half a crown per week from each member until they were paid for — and the others wore white shirts with tassels and black bootlace ties. To the irritation of the other group members, McCartney endlessly practised the lead guitar intro to "Raunchy". The Quarrymen continued to play sparse gigs throughout the autumn of 1957, mostly for local promoter Charlie McBain. During this period, the group almost entirely excised skiffle from their repertoire, focusing on covers of songs by rock and roll singers such as Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Little Richard, and Larry Williams, and the Quarrymen's sound increasingly relied on harmony singing between Lennon and McCartney. An extremely important influence for them at the time was Buddy Holly and his group the Crickets. Around this time, Lennon and McCartney both started writing songs influenced by Holly – Lennon's "Hello Little Girl" and McCartney's "I Lost My Little Girl" – and both were impressed with each other's efforts. The two young men began writing together.

### George Harrison's entry and recording

After McCartney's poor performance on lead guitar at the Conservative Club, the group needed another guitarist to accommodate their new rock-focused repertoire; McCartney recommended his school friend George Harrison. Harrison first saw the group perform on 6 February 1958 at Wilson Hall, where McCartney introduced him to Lennon. Harrison subsequently auditioned for The Quarrymen in March at Rory Storm's Morgue Skiffle Club, playing "Guitar Boogie Shuffle". Lennon thought Harrison (having just turned 15) was too young to join the band, so McCartney engineered another meeting on the upper deck of a Liverpool bus, where Harrison played "Raunchy" for Lennon. After McCartney's constant advocacy, Lennon allowed Harrison to join the Quarrymen as lead guitarist. Harrison's entry into the Quarrymen shifted the group even more away from skiffle, in addition to ending Lennon's use of banjo chords. Around this time, John Duff Lowe, another school friend of McCartney, joined the group on piano.

With Harrison's entry, the Quarrymen now had four guitarists. Lennon and McCartney suggested to Griffiths that he instead buy a bass guitar, but Griffiths refused because of the expense. The two subsequently convinced Nigel Walley, still acting as the group's manager, to fire Griffiths. Walley regretted the incident, and as a result gradually severed his ties with the Quarrymen. Around this same time, Len Garry contracted tubercular meningitis, and spent seven months in the hospital, never playing with the group again. This left Colin Hanton as the last of the group of Lennon's Quarry Bank classmates that originally comprised the group. In March, McCartney bought an Elpico amplifier with two inputs, and he and Harrison added pickups to their guitars, giving the Quarrymen an electric sound for the first time.

Percy Phillips operated a studio called Phillips' Sound Recording Services at 38 Kensington, Liverpool, between the kitchen and a front room that served as an electrical goods shop. Actors from the Liverpool Playhouse often stayed in the room above the studio, and were asked by Phillips to record monologues and poems. Phillips had just turned 60 years old when Harrison heard about the studio from guitarist Johnny Byrne of the Raving Texans, who had recorded a version of "Butterfly" there on 22 June 1957. The Quarrymen booked a recording session on 12 July 1958. They recorded straight to disc, as tape would have been an extra expense. The sound was recorded live by a single microphone in the centre of the room, and Lennon suggested that Hanton put a scarf over the snare drum to lower the volume. They first recorded "In Spite of All the Danger" a McCartney original (credited as McCartney/Harrison) followed by Buddy Holly's "That'll Be the Day". Both feature Lennon on lead vocals. When the recording was finished, Phillips handed the group a fragile 78rpm record, which was passed around the band for one week each, or lent out to friends. It was later lost until Lowe rediscovered it in 1981, and sold it to McCartney for an undisclosed amount. The recordings would later be issued on the Beatles' album Anthology 1.

### "The rhythm's in the guitars"

Soon after the recording session, Hanton had a fight with the rest of the group and quit. Lowe too lost contact with the group after leaving Liverpool Institute, leaving the Quarrymen as just a trio of guitarists: Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison. Lennon's mother was killed in a road accident on 15 July 1958, dealing him a devastating emotional blow. The group remained mostly inactive throughout the summer, as Lennon took up a job in a restaurant at the Liverpool Airport. McCartney and Harrison, meanwhile, went on holiday hitchhiking in Wales, playing with a local skiffle group called the Vikings. Although Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison remained extremely close, the trio only performed a handful of times in the last months of 1958. When asked why they had neither a drummer or a bass player, they would respond "The rhythm's in the guitars."

In the fall of 1958, the group had another chance to audition for Carroll Levis, nearly a year and a half after the Quarrymen's first Star Search. For the audition, the group changed their name to Johnny and the Moondogs. Lennon was without a guitar, his having broken recently. Johnny and the Moondogs passed the first heat of the competition in Liverpool, and were invited to appear in the finals in Manchester. The group performed Buddy Holly's "Think It Over" to positive reception, but were unable to stay until the end of the competition to receive the results. As they were leaving, Lennon saw a cutaway electric guitar by the stage door, picked it up and walked off with it, later saying that the trip "wasn't a total loss."

Following their Star Search audition, Johnny and the Moondogs changed their name to Japage 3 (combining letters from each of the member's names: John, Paul, and George). Lennon had a friend from art school, named Derek Hodkin, who owned a tape recorder, and Lennon convinced him to record the group (along with McCartney's brother Mike on drums). The group then asked Hodkin to act as their manager, and he agreed. Despite Hodkin's management, bookings for the group dried up. Harrison began a stint as rhythm guitarist in the Les Stewart Quartet, who had a weekly club engagement. By May, Japage 3 was defunct, although the three continued to see each other socially, and Lennon and McCartney continued to write songs together.

### The Casbah Club and name change to the Beatles

In the summer of 1959, Mona Best decided to open a club in her cellar, and offered the Les Stewart Quartet a residency if they would help convert the cellar. Harrison and fellow Quartet guitarist Ken Brown, however, missed a show, causing Les Stewart to fire the two and drop the residency. This caused distress to Best, but Harrison offered a solution: he recruited Lennon and McCartney to play, and they returned to calling themselves the Quarrymen. After helping Best finish converting the cellar, the new four guitarist line-up of the Quarrymen (Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Brown) opened the Casbah Coffee Club on 29 August 1959. The opening night performance was attended by about 300 local teenagers, but as the cellar had no air conditioning and people were dancing, the temperature rose until it became hard to breathe. The Quarrymen were afforded the use of Brown's three input amplifier (which, along with McCartney's Elpico, meant that all four guitarists were electric), and sang through one microphone connected to the club's small PA system.

The group continued their Casbah residency into the new year, occasionally securing other gigs. In January, Brown grew ill and was unable to play the show. Best, however, insisted that the Quarrymen still pay Brown, but Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison refused; the incident resulted in the loss of their residency at the Casbah and Brown's departure from the group. Shortly after, however, Lennon convinced fellow art school student Stuart Sutcliffe to purchase a bass guitar and join the group. The group had no bookings, but began rehearsing vigorously to allow the musical novice Sutcliffe practice on his new instrument.

In early 1960, the Quarrymen returned to Phillips' Sound Recording Services to record Lennon's new original song "One After 909", although this recording does not survive. Around the same time, the three made a rehearsal tape at McCartney's home. Harrison was absent (as he had an apprenticeship), and the tape features several jams and original songs, including the McCartney instrumental "Cayenne". With few gigs during this period the group often wrote letters to secure bookings, several of which survive. The four disliked the Quarrymen name, and went through several others during this period, including Los Paranoias. By March 1960, Lennon and Sutcliffe came up with a new name: the Beatles. The Beatles (after several line-up changes, including adding Mona's son Pete Best on drums) continued to perform around Liverpool and in Hamburg, Germany, before being signed to Parlophone Records in 1962.

### Reformations: 1994 to present

Since the break-up of the Beatles in 1970 and the murder of John Lennon in 1980, members of the Quarrymen have reunited several times. From 1994 to 1995, Rod Davis and John Lowe recorded an album with studio musicians. This album, Open for Engagements, was released in 1995 under the Quarrymen name.

The surviving members of the 1957 line-up of the Quarrymen reunited in 1997 for the 40th anniversary of their performance at the 1957 Woolton village fete, which was the location of the first meeting of Lennon and McCartney. All five surviving members from that day, Pete Shotton, Rod Davis, Len Garry, Eric Griffiths and Colin Hanton, performed. Following this, the group continued to perform, undertaking tours of the UK, the US, Germany, Japan, Russia, Cuba and other countries. The group's repertoire focuses on the skiffle and early rock and roll they played in their original incarnation with the added roots rock historical perspective of illustrating how American roots music inspired the nascent Beatles.

In 2000, producer and the Beatles' historian Martin Lewis produced the group performing the Del-Vikings song "Come Go with Me" (the first song McCartney recalled hearing Lennon sing on the first day they met) for use on the soundtrack of the Michael Lindsay-Hogg film Two of Us, a film about the last day that Lennon and McCartney saw each other in April 1976.

Eric Griffiths died in 2005, and Pete Shotton retired, owing to ill-health. Shotton died in 2017. As of 2016, Davis, Garry, and Hanton continue to perform around the world. Lowe occasionally performs with them. In September and October 2010, the band undertook a US tour celebrating the 70th birthday of their founder, Lennon. They appeared in a charity concert for Amnesty International honouring Lennon in New York City on Lennon's birthday, Saturday 9 October 2010. From 2016 former Beatles bassist Chas Newby performed with the band. He died in May 2023.

Since their 1997 reformation, the Quarrymen have recorded three albums, consisting mostly of covers of 1950s rock and skiffle.

## Members

Current members

- Colin Hanton – drums (1956–1959, 1997–present)
- Rod Davis – banjo (1957); guitar, vocals (1994–1995, 1997–present)
- Len Garry – tea-chest bass (1957–1958); vocals, guitar (1997–present)
- John Duff Lowe – piano (1958); keyboards (1994–1995, 2005-present, has been a regular guest, although not a constant member. Not played with them since 2017), vocals (1994–1995)

Former members

- John Lennon – vocals, guitar (1956–1960; died 1980)
- Eric Griffiths – guitar (1956–1958, 1997–2005; died 2005)
- Pete Shotton – washboard (1956–1957, 1997–2000; died 2017)
- Bill Smith – tea-chest bass (1956)
- Nigel Walley – tea-chest bass (1956; Subsequently, became "manager" 1956–1958)
- Ivan Vaughan – tea-chest bass (1956–1957; died 1993)
- Paul McCartney – vocals, guitar (1957–1960)
- George Harrison – guitar, vocals (1958–1960; died 2001)
- Ken Brown – guitar (1959–1960; died 2010)
- Stuart Sutcliffe – bass guitar (1960; died 1962)
- Chas Newby – bass guitar (2016–2023; died 2023. Newby also played bass with the Beatles briefly from 1960 to 1961)

### Timeline

## Discography

Studio albums

- Open for Engagements (1994) (Kewbank Records KBCD111) (John 'Duff' Lowe & Rod Davis)
- Get Back – Together (1997) (Q Records QMCD 7011) (Eric Griffiths, Len Garry, Rod Davis, Pete Shotton & Colin Hanton)
- Songs We Remember (2004) (BMG Augusta Records AUCK15001) (Eric Griffiths, Len Garry, Rod Davis & Colin Hanton)
- Grey Album (2012) (Generate Records 885767482517) (Len Garry, Rod Davis & Colin Hanton)

Live albums

- Live At The Halfmoon Pub Putney (2005) (Colin Hanton, Len Garry, Rod Davis & John 'Duff' Lowe)
- The Quarrymen Live! In Penny Lane (2020) (Colin Hanton, Len Garry, Rod Davis & Chas Newby)

DVD

- The Band That Started The Beatles (2009) (Star-Club Records GRDVD091) (Len Garry, Rod Davis & Colin Hanton)

Other recordings

- "That'll Be the Day" and "In Spite of All the Danger" (both recorded in 1958) are available on the Beatles album Anthology 1 (1995).
- A number of home rehearsals featuring Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Sutcliffe were recorded in early 1960. Three of these were released on Anthology 1, while others have appeared on various bootlegs.
- A 2000 recording of "Come Go With Me" was featured in the film Two of Us.
- A Unreleased Recording of "Maggie Mae" being used in the film 'Looking for Lennon' (not to be mistaken with the 2009 film "Nowhere Boy")

British skiffle/rock and roll group, by John Lennon 1957


Robert Kaske

Robert Earl Kaske (June 1, 1921 – August 8, 1989) was an American professor of medieval literature. He spent most of his career at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where he was the Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities, and where he founded one of the preeminent medieval studies graduate programs in North America. His published output included lengthy interpretations of Beowulf, and of poems and passages by Dante and Chaucer, and frequently constituted leading studies. Kaske particularly enjoyed solving cruxes, with articles on problematic passages in works such as Pearl, Piers Plowman, the Divine Comedy, The Husband's Message, The Descent into Hell, and Beowulf.

Born in Cincinnati and a straight-A student in high school, Kaske studied liberal arts at Xavier University and joined a variety of student literary organizations there. He was a four-year member of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps, and was commissioned a second lieutenant before his 1942 graduation; much of the next four years was spent with the Army in the South Pacific during World War II. While there he read a story about a dusk-to-dawn conversation between two professors and, entranced by the prospect of such intellectual discussions, decided on an academic career. Kaske enrolled in the English literature program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) on the back of the G.I. Bill, received his master's in 1947, and his PhD in 1950.

From 1950 to 1963 Kaske held posts at Washington University in St. Louis, Pennsylvania State University, UNC, and the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, rising from lecturer to full professor along the way; he termed his departure from UNC as the time he "published himself out of paradise". A visiting professorship at Cornell in 1963 became permanent in 1964, and Kaske remained at the university for the rest of his life.

A popular and "Falstaffian" professor, Kaske, along with the medieval studies program he founded, was credited by colleagues with producing the backbone of the discipline's next scholastic generation. His editorial imprint was visible in the works of many, including former students and those who submitted papers to the journal Traditio, which he edited. Over the course of his career he collected what one former student termed "most of the awards and honors possible for a medieval scholar", including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Council of Learned Societies, and two Guggenheim Fellowships.

## Early life and education

Robert Kaske, who went by Bob, was born on June 1, 1921 in Cincinnati, Ohio. His parents were Herman C. Kaske, a postal clerk with the United States Postal Service, and Ann Rose Kaske ( Laake). Robert Kaske attended St. Martin's, a Catholic elementary school, and later the boys prep school Elder High School, where he received straight As across four years of English, Latin, and religion, and missed only a single day of school. While there he worked on the school newspaper and the yearbook, won the school's Latin contest, and played baseball; he graduated from the modern English course in 1938. In a yearbook filled with humorous projected jobs for the graduates, such as "dog-catcher" and "pretzel-twister", Kaske was an exception: "Robert Kaske, Editor."

After graduating from high school, Kaske matriculated at Xavier University, where he studied the liberal arts. Kaske was a four-year member of the Heidelberg Club, which described itself as intended "to further interest in the language, culture, history and transitions of the Germanic peoples". In his sophomore year Kaske began a three-year stint with the Xavier University News, writing the column "Quid Ergo?" Taken from Seneca, the Latin name of the column meant "So what?"; Kaske described his topics as "touching on literature, politics, philosophy, economics, history, school affairs, slapstick, slapstick and slapstick", and involving "a schoolboy telling the world what is wrong with it".

That year he also joined The Athenaeum and the Mermaid Tavern, an undergraduate literary paper and literary club, respectively. He became editor in chief of the former his senior year, and "Host" of the latter. Kaske still spoke fondly of the Mermaid Tavern, where students presented their literary works and discussed those of the masters, in his later years. As a junior, a year in which he was inducted into the Jesuit academic honorary fraternity Alpha Sigma Nu, he joined the Masque Society, a theatrical group; he played Peter Dolan in a school production of Father Malachy's Miracle that year, and as a senior appeared in another play, Whispering in the Dark. Between his junior and senior years, Kaske spent much of the summer writing radio scripts. Also as a senior Kaske cofounded the Philosophy Club, a society for students interested in philosophical research, and joined The Traditionists, a literary club which that year devoted their meetings to reading Dante's Inferno. He placed sixth or seventh in an intercollegiate writing contest the same year. Kaske graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts on June 3, 1942.

### World War II

Kaske had joined the Reserve Officers' Training Corps in his first semester at Xavier, and even before his graduation was ordered to active service. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army's field artillery on May 25, 1942, and ordered to report to Fort Thomas for a physical examination and assignment, with a furlough to account for his June commencement. Speaking to Kaske and 24 others, the commencement speaker, Archbishop John T. McNicholas, stated "[m]ay I assure the Second Lieutenants of this graduating class that the Archdiocese of Cincinnati is proud of them. It is happy to know that Xavier University is not only teaching theoretical patriotism, but that it is actually serving our country in the greatest crisis in its history."

Kaske served as a platoon leader and company commander with the 819th Tank Destroyer Battalion, taking him to ports in the United States, Hawaii (including Black Sand Beach), the Palau Islands (Peleliu and Angaur), and the Mariana Islands (Guam and Saipan). During a leave at the end of 1943, while stationed at Fort Hood, he served as a best man at a wedding in Cleburne, Texas, took out his own marriage license a week later, and married in January. His wife was Mildred Mae Reinerman, a 21-year-old bookkeeper. But the leave was short and in March 1944 Kaske's battalion departed California aboard the USS General G. O. Squier, headed for Hawaii. By 1945, Kaske was in Peleliu, where the 819th searched for remaining Japanese soldiers, defended the airstrip, and shelled Japanese-held islands. Kaske was discharged from the Army on June 1, 1946, having risen to the rank of first lieutenant.

### Graduate studies

As a student at Xavier, Kaske had anticipated a business career, possibly in advertising. That changed while filling time at the end of the war on a coral island in the Pacific, when he read a story about two professors engrossed in conversation from dusk to dawn; as the sun rose, one professor regretfully said he needed to prepare for class, and the other replied that he had been so absorbed he forgot he was not in his own house. Entranced by the prospect of such engaging intellectual conversations and aided by the tuition benefits afforded veterans by the G.I. Bill, Kaske set out for an academic life.

After talking it over with Father Paul Sweeney, a professor of English at Xavier and founder and patron of the Mermaid Tavern, Kaske entered the English literature program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) in 1946. As at Xavier, Kaske wrote for a student paper, Factotum, including poems, and at least one short story: "Sergeant Hinchey's Homecoming", about a veteran regaling an unsuspecting church group with ribald tales from service in Hawaii, Angaur, Texas, and Kwajalein. Under the direction of Hardin Craig, Kaske wrote his Master's thesis on George Chapman's tragedies, receiving his degree in 1947. If not for Craig's departure to the University of Missouri, wrote the medieval scholar (and former Kaske student) Emerson Brown Jr., Kaske might have become a Renaissance scholar. Instead, under George Coffman's direction, he wrote his Ph.D. dissertation on the Late Medieval poem Piers Plowman and graduated in 1950.

## Career

Kaske was hired as an English instructor at Washington University in St. Louis by April 1950, before his June dissertation defense. He began teaching a variety of courses in medieval language and literature, including studies of Dante. At Washington, Kaske found the intellectual engagement he had been looking for, including with colleagues Vladimir Jelinek and Ernst Abrahamson. He also began to publish, with articles on Piers Plowman in each of 1951, 1952, and 1957. In 1952 he was promoted to assistant professor, and in 1955 he was awarded a research grant for study during the summer.

Kaske left Washington University in 1957, then taught at Pennsylvania State University from 1957 to 1958. He left Pennsylvania to return to his alma mater UNC, where he began his associate professorship on September 1, 1958. An article on the epic poem Beowulf was published in the university's journal Studies in Philology shortly before his arrival, followed in 1959 by another article on Piers Plowman. A year later, Kaske was awarded a grant by the American Council of Learned Societies to work on a book, provisionally titled The Heroic Ideal in Old English Poetry. In 1961 Kaske was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to study heroism and the hero in Old English poetry, and served as secretary of the Modern Language Association's Middle English group. Kaske enjoyed packed classes and the esteem of his colleagues at UNC, but soon began receiving attractive offers from other institutions. After three years Kaske left for the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, where he was hired as a tenured full professor on September 1, 1961, with a starting annual salary of ; he would henceforth term this move the time he "published himself out of paradise".

### Cornell

In the fall semester of 1963, Kaske, who later admitted he was "looking around" and anxious to leave Illinois, took a six-month visiting professorship at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. The following year, Cornell made an offer for a permanent position, which Kaske accepted; he remained there for the rest of his life. In 1968—a year in which he was first listed in Who's Who in America—Kaske was awarded another grant by the American Council of Learned Societies, this time to travel to England and search for the sources of imagery in poems by the unknown Gawain Poet. Another grant by the organization followed in 1971, for further research into the heroic ideal in Old English poetry, and that year Kaske participated in a symposium on Geoffrey Chaucer held at the University of Georgia. During 1972–73 he was a Faculty Fellow of the university's Society for the Humanities, and in 1974 he was named the Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities, succeeding Herbert Dieckmann [de]. In 1975, he was appointed chief editor of the journal Traditio, and in 1977, he again won a Guggenheim Fellowship, this time to undertake research on the sources and methodology for the interpretation of medieval imagery. In 1984–85, the National Endowment for the Humanities awarded Kaske a Fellowship for Independent Study and Research; he intended to use it to complete a manual for scholars of medieval literature. As part of the fellowship Kaske directed a seminar on "Latin Christian Tradition in Medieval Literature", which presented the material from the book Kaske was working on.

At Cornell, Kaske founded a medieval studies graduate program, which Old English scholar Fred C. Robinson said came to become "one of the great seminaries of medieval scholars in North America during the latter part of the twentieth century". The program required all medieval literature students to take courses and intensive examinations in at least four medieval languages and literatures, and to have or learn French, German, and classical and medieval Latin, in addition to two semesters of Latin palaeography; some "survivors" termed it the "Parris Island of medieval studies". Just Kaske's introduction to medieval studies, a semester-long seminar, drew students from Yale and other universities, while the overall program, his colleagues said, "produced a group of scholars who have become the backbone of the next generation in medieval studies, and who, in their collective achievement and their dedication to the pedagogical and scholarly ideals of their mentor, constitute Bob's true monument".

Kaske was known for his loyalty to his students, and his love of learning and teaching. Kaske was described as a "Falstaffian figure", and popular with students. "If we were students all of the time," Brown wrote, "Robert Kaske was a teacher all of the time." Students would frequently drop by Kaske's house unannounced to seek his input, bibliographic references, or access to his rich library, which Kaske amassed over the years despite his modest background and academic salary. Even once graduated, Kaske would continue to edit students' drafts; meanwhile, he "even turned the letter of recommendation into an art form".

Around 1960, Kaske joined a panel discussion in which he defended patristic learning—the study of early Christian writers—as a way of interpreting vernacular literature. The discussion was published, and republished, in essay form, and gained Kaske a reputation as a strident proponent of using medieval learning to understand the literature, as opposed to the "New Criticism" school of thought that argued that medieval poetry should be read in a contextual vacuum. The reputation overlooked the balance Kaske struck between focusing on careful reading of the literature, and bringing in exegetical information where prudent. Kaske nonetheless firmly believed that such contextual learning remained one of the most promising ways to make new discoveries about the meaning conveyed by literary works. Listening to Kaske lecture for two hours on "How to Use Biblical Exegesis for the Interpretation of Medieval Literature" at the Dartmouth Dante Institute in 1985, Madison U. Sowell wrote that "I learned more in one exhilarating afternoon about the 'nuts and bolts' of using biblical commentaries to interpret medieval literature than I had in three-and-a-half years at my Ivy League graduate school." He was a "master" at combining "insight and scholarly rigor", wrote Brown, joining "imagination in literary interpretation with the painstaking historical research required to gather supporting evidence". On top of this, a colleague wrote, Kaske added "a kind of native intuition about what a medieval poet might want to say".

## Awards and distinctions

Kaske, Brown wrote, "received most of the awards and honors possible for a medieval scholar". These included two Guggenheim Fellowships, a grant and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities, a grant from the American Philosophical Society, a Senior Fellowship at the Southeastern Institute of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, a fellowship at Cornell's Society for the Humanities, and grants-in-aid and a fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies. He served on the editorial and advisory boards of Speculum, The Chaucer Review, A Manual of the Writings in Middle English, and Traditio. In 1975, Kaske was appointed chief editor of the latter journal, and elected Councillor in the Medieval Academy of America; seven years later, he was elected a Fellow of the Academy. In 1986, a Festschrift was published in Kaske's honor. The work was titled Magister Regis: Studies in Honor of Robert Earl, playing off of the name of Kaske's Border Collie, Rex.

## Personal life

Kaske and his first wife had a son, David Louis. But "the war left him little time for domesticity", Brown later wrote, and the marriage was over by 1958. That year Kaske married again, this time to Carol Vonckx, an English scholar who herself became a professor at Cornell. On January 10, 1966 they had a son, Richard James; at the time of his death, Kaske also had three grandchildren. He died of a brain tumor on August 8, 1989, at his Ithaca home on North Quarry Street. A funeral was held on August 26, at Ithaca's Immaculate Conception Church, and a memorial service on 21 October at Sage Chapel, with contributions suggested to the university library's Dante-Petrarch or Icelandic collections.

## Publications

Kaske published more than 60 works throughout his career, including articles, chapters, reviews, and a book; most of these were listed in his 1986 Festschrift. Even among his shorter works, his output frequently constituted seminal studies. Kaske particularly enjoyed solving cruxes, producing what Robinson termed "some of the most dazzling literary explications of this century". These included articles on problematic passages in works such as Pearl, Piers Plowman, Dante's Divine Comedy, Chaucer's "The Summoner's Tale", The Husband's Message, The Descent into Hell, Troilus and Criseyde, Le Jeu d'Adam, and Beowulf, and on the correct reading of engravings on spoons found in the seventh-century Sutton Hoo ship-burial. He also penned lengthy interpretations of Beowulf, and of poems and passages by Dante and Chaucer. Kaske's imprint was also evident in the works of others, including former students whose papers he marked up and returned, and those who submitted works to Traditio. "If we were working in the sciences," Brown wrote, "where team research is routine, Bob Kaske's bibliography would be many times its present length."

In 1988 Kaske published Medieval Christian Literary Imagery: A Guide to Interpretation, which colleagues referred to as a "magisterial work" that served as "the crowning achievement of his scholarly career". The work focused on Kaske's craft—using the available tools and sources to do the kind of scholarly explication that he himself did—and Kaske saw it as an extension of his teaching career.

### Books

### Articles

\* Edited and republished in

\* Abridged and added to in

\* Revised and republished in

### Chapters

\* Abridged in ; and in

\* Reissued with an addendum on page 206 in

\* Abridged in

### Reviews

- - A "review article," reviewing A Preface to Chaucer: Studies in Medieval Perspectives, by D. W. Robertson Jr.

### Other

American medieval literature professor (1921–1989)

Deaths from brain cancer in the United States

United States Army personnel of World War II

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni