one of eminent natural strength. We must not estimate the degree of
protection imparted to the place by the Severn from our ideas by the
condition of the river in the present advanced state of cultivation.
Whenever any country is thinly inhabited, trees and shrubs spring up in
the uncultivated fields, and, spreading by degrees, form large forests,
which, confining the exhalations of the soil and obstructing the course
of streams, cause the rivers to overflow and stagnate into lakes and
marshes. The Severn, on the eastern side of Shrewsbury, formerly ran in
five channels, and spread into a marshy lake from the foot of Wyle Cop as
far as the site of the Abbey. Thus the fugitives were protected by the
deep bed of the river, its sinuous windings, and the morasses of its
banks, where they might shroud themselves in the underwood which hid the
foot, and the thickets which crowned the summit of the lofty and
peninsular knoll now covered by the capital of Shropshire. How long the
fugitives remained in possession of their new seat it is vain to enquire.
But they were followed hither by the Saxons, who reduced the place to
ashes, and the elegy of Llywarc calls upon the maidens of Pengwern “To
quit their dwellings, and behold the habitation of Cynddylan, the royal
palace of Pengwern, wrapped in flames.”
The importance of the peninsular situation of Pengwern could not long
remain without an occupant; and a few years after its destruction under
Cynddylan, we find it inhabited by a king of Powis, the capital of his
kingdom, and even ranking among the twenty-eight cities of Britain. The
kingdom of Powis at this time comprised the south-western parts of the
counties of Cheshire, Flint, and Denbigh, the whole of Montgomeryshire,
with portions of the counties of Radnor, Brecon, and the adjoining parts
of Shropshire, as far as the river Severn. Of the state of the town,
under its native princes, we possess no information. The arts of civil
life, which the Britons had cultivated under their Roman masters, had
totally disappeared in the course of three centuries of uninterrupted
warfare. A ditch, or a rude rampart of unhewn logs, inclosing a few
hovels for the residence of the prince and the offices of religion, some
wattled huts, with a fold or two for sheep and cattle, probably composed
the whole of Pengwern Powis. On the invasion of the Saxons, the new
possessors gave it the appellation of _Scrobbes-byrig_—a fenced eminence,
but overgrown with shrubs.
King Ethelred, in the year 1006, kept his court at Shrewsbury; and in
1016 the inhabitants revolted to the Danish chief, Canute. They were
afterwards compelled to return to their allegiance, and were severely
punished for their defection by Prince Edmund, son of Ethelred. Alphelm,
a prince of the blood, having been invited by Edric, duke of Mercia, and
son-in-law to Ethelred, to a banquet at Shrewsbury, and afterwards to a
hunting party, was treacherously murdered during the chase by one Godwin,
a butcher of the town, whom Edric had hired for the purpose. This
circumstance probably gave rise to a custom prevalent during the reign of
Edward the Confessor, of twelve of the principal persons keeping guard
over the king’s person when he came down to Shrewsbury, and the same
number attending him whenever he went out a hunting. In this reign
Shrewsbury had two hundred and fifty-two houses, besides the mint, which
was under the direction of three officers, who were compelled to pay into
the royal treasury twenty shillings at the end of every fifteen days,
while the money was current. After the Norman conquest, Owen Gwynedd,
Prince of Wales, laid siege to Shrewsbury; but William the Conqueror, who
had just returned from a visit to his native country, in order to quell
the rising tumults which everywhere began to threaten his British
dominions, soon raised the siege, and punished the English chiefs, while
he took ample vengeance on the Welsh. In this reign, Roger de
Montgomery, the relation and favourite of the Conqueror, was created Earl
of Shrewsbury, Arundle, and Chichester, and had a grant of nearly the
whole of the county of Shropshire, besides a hundred and fifty manors or
lordships in other parts of the kingdom. In one of the deeds
transferring these manorial grants, Roger styles himself _Rogerius_, _Dei
gratia_, _Scrobesburiensis Comes_—Roger, by the grace of God, Earl of
Shrewsbury.
At the Doomsday survey, 1086, Shrewsbury is styled a city, and the Abbey
is said to have been founded where the parish church of the city stood.
This book also contains a summary of several municipal laws, customs, and
usages, for the internal regulation of the place, and for increasing the
king’s revenues. The amount of taxes at this period was £20, of which
the king had two-thirds and the sheriff one, Hugh de Montgomery, who had
succeeded his father Roger in the earldom of Shrewsbury, having been shot
by an arrow from the skilful hand of Magnus, King of Norway, was
succeeded by his brother, Robert de Belesme. Earl Robert united with the
party who opposed the pretensions of Prince Henry, son of William Rufus,
and espoused the claims of Robert, Duke of Normandy. He afterwards broke
out into open rebellion, strengthened his castles in Shropshire, and at
Shrewsbury built and fortified a flank wall, from each side of the castle
across the isthmus, down to the side of the Severn. Upon this, the earl
was publicly declared a traitor, and King Henry marched against him with
a considerable force. The surrender of Bridgnorth to Henry induced the
earl to quit Shrewsbury, and to commit its defence to three generals and
eighty soldiers hired expressly for the purpose. With the assistance of
a few Welsh, with whom he had made peace, he frequently disturbed the
royal forces, till, being much harassed, he was compelled to return to
Shrewsbury. Soon afterwards, the town was surrounded with an army of
60,000 men; and Robert de Belesme had scarcely seated himself in the
castle, when the king demanded the immediate surrender of the place,
threatening, in case of refusal, in three days to besiege the town, and
hang every one found in the castle. The earl, perceiving that he had no
forces to withstand the attack of the king, confessed his treason,
implored the royal clemency, and sent the keys of the castle by the hands
of Ralph, Abbot of Seez, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, which the
king accepted, and banished the restless earl to Normandy. The spirit of
revenge and ambition, however, rekindled in his breast, and he contrived
once more to appear in arms against Henry; but was at length taken
prisoner, and ignominously conveyed in chains to England, where he ended
a miserable life a close prisoner at Wareham.
In 1139, William Fitz Allan, a powerful baron, was governor of the town
and sheriff of the county. During the wars between Stephen and the
Empress Maude, this baron espoused the cause of the empress, and with
several noblemen opposed the forces of the king. He left the castle,
which he had strongly fortified, under the command of a deputy governor,
whom he compelled to swear never to deliver his trust to the king. This,
however, did not prevent the monarch from taking the castle: after which
the king hanged several of the garrison for their contumacy. In 1260 the
English army rendezvoused at Shrewsbury, and shortly after the town and
castle fell once more into the hands of the rebels. They soon after
reverted to their former owners, and the government of the town and
castle was conferred by the king on his eldest son Edward. In 1277 the
Courts of Exchequer and King’s Bench, during the reign of Edward I., were
removed to Shrewsbury, in which place they appear to have been held at
least for some months.
David, Prince of Wales, the last of the princes of the ancient Britons,
having at length become a prisoner in the hands of Edward, in 1283, was
sent in chains to Shrewsbury. A writ having been issued for assembling
the parliament on September 30th at this place, for the express purpose
of taking into consideration the measures necessary to be adopted with
respect to this rebellious prince. This is remarkable, as “_the first
national convention in which the commons had any share by legal
authority_.” Twenty cities and towns, Shrewsbury being one, were
directed to send two deputies, and every high sheriff to send two
knights. The parliament met in the chapter house, or refectory of the
abbey, where David was condemned to be drawn about the town at the tail
of a horse, then hanged, afterwards quartered, his bowels burnt, his four
quarters sent to York, Bristol, Northampton, and Winchester, and his head
fixed near that of his brother Llewelyn, on the Tower of London. Thus,
with the death of the last of the ancient British princes, commenced a
mode of execution, usually exercised on traitors, disgraceful to
humanity, and barbarous in its example.
In the 20th of Richard II. the parliament was adjourned from Westminster
to Shrewsbury. On the king’s arrival, he gave a sumptuous feast to the
peers and commons in the abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul. The parliament
was held in the Chapter House, and so numerous were the members and their
retinues that Speed calls this “THE GREAT PARLIAMENT.” It was certainly
an important one. Chester was on this occasion made a principality, and
among the articles of accusation afterwards brought against the king by
Henry Bolingbroke were the oppressive laws which it enacted. The next
account on record relative to this place is the memorable BATTLE of
SHREWSBURY; the skirmishing of which began under the walls of the castle
gates, but the principal scene of action was at Battlefield. This
engagement between Henry IV. and the Earl of Northumberland, fought on
the plains and heaths of Battlefield and Albright Hussey, was one of the
most important recorded in English history. The origin of the quarrel
was a mandate from the monarch to the earl not to ransom his Scottish
prisoners taken at Homedon, which that nobleman deemed an infringement of
his rights. The jealous policy of Henry in this proceeding, and his
ingratitude for the services which raised him to the throne, roused the
indignation of Northumberland, and inflamed the high soul of his son,
Lord Henry Percy, whose warlike disposition had gained him the
characteristic appellation of Hotspur. Thomas, Earl of Worcester,
younger brother to Northumberland, participated in their discontents,
entered into their views of revenge, and offered his assistance to
overthrow the usurper whom they had united to establish. Hotspur, who
was the life of the conspiracy, released and made a friend of his valiant
rival, Douglas, entered into a correspondence with Glyndwr, and reared
the standard of rebellion, around which all his vassals and adherents
rallied. He was joined by a powerful army from Scotland, under Earl
Douglas and other chiefs, who, impelled by a rooted animosity to the King
of England, warmly espoused the cause of the conspirators. Henry, who
was apprised of their movements, placed himself at the head of a body of
troops, and hurried into Shropshire, having previously ordered his sons,
the Prince of Wales and Lord John of Lancaster, and his steady adherent,
the Earl of Westmorland, to meet him with reinforcements at Bridgnorth.
Aware that every thing depended on celerity of movement, he took
possession of Shrewsbury, just as the forces of Lord Percy were preparing
to assail it. Owen Glyndwr having mustered a numerous levy of Welshmen
at Oswestry, sent off a detachment of 4,000, but, on being apprised of
the king’s success, thought proper to suspend the march of his main body.
Had the valour of Hotspur been tempered by discretion, he would have
paused until the junction of his ally had given him better assurance of
success. His army consisted of 14,000 chosen men; but the king’s army is
said to have been nearly double that number. Had Glyndwr made good his
engagements, the armies would have been about equal. Percy, however, had
confidence in his own prowess, and his experience of that of his compeer,
Douglas, banished every doubt of victory from his mind. His ardour
received a momentary check from the following incident, which strikingly
exemplifies the universal superstition of the times:—In preparing for the
field, he called for his favourite sword, when he was informed that he
had left it at the village of Berwick the preceding night. The name of
the place startled him, and heaving a sigh, he exclaimed, “Alas! then, my
death is near at hand; for a wizard once told me that I should not live
long after I had been at Berwick, which I thought was a town in the north
so called. Yet, I will not be cheaply won.”
The abbot of Shrewsbury and one of the clerks of the privy seal, were
sent by the King to offer pardon to Hotspur if he would lay down his
arms, but to no purpose. Percy completed all his military arrangements,
and stationed his troops in a field still called the Hateleys—the royal
forces occupying ground immediately opposite. A flourish of trumpets,
mingling with the contending shouts of “St. George and victory,” and
“Esperance Percy,” was the signal of onset, which was answered by a
tremendous discharge of arrows from both sides. The Scots, who were too
impatient to fight at a distance, rushed with great fury upon the centre
of the royal army, and threw it into disorder; but the King hastening
with fresh succour rallied his broken troops and recovered their ground.
He frequently exposed himself in the thickest of the battle, which indeed
he might the more safely do, since he had diminished the chances of
personal danger, by investing several of his knights in regal
habiliments. Events soon proved the prudence of the stratagem. Percy
sought him in every part of the field, and Douglas with equal impetuosity
slew three of these mock-monarchs with his own hand. The fight extended
from Berwick westward, to the vicinity of Haughmond Abbey in the east,
and continued for three hours with various success. The bravery of the
King was nobly seconded by the valour of his son, Prince Henry, who that
day performed his noviciate in arms, and gave earnest of the future glory
of Agincourt. The Scottish champion, seconded by Hotspur, made another
furious attack on the royal station—slew the standard bearer, and came
within a sword’s point of the king, who fled for his life. In one of
these charges Hotspur was shot through the brain by an arrow, and fell
gloriously in the midst of his foes. Shortly after his army gave way on
all sides, and a total rout ensued. Douglas fled, and being hotly
pursued, he was thrown down from his horse while taking a desperate leap
on Haughmond-hill, and seized by the enemy. Phillips, the historian,
says, “1,600 royalists were slain, and 3,000 wounded; on the side of
Percy 6,000 were killed, among whom were Lord Percy and most of the
knights and gentlemen of Cheshire; there fell on that day 2,291 men of
note.” Henry having put a period to the slaughter, halted to return
thanks on the field of battle, and decreed the erection of a collegiate
church at Battlefield. The pious gratitude of the victorious monarch but
ill accorded with the punishment he subsequently inflicted on the
vanquished. The Earl of Worcester, Sir Theobald Trussel, and Sir Richard
Vernon, were executed at the high cross of Shrewsbury, and their heads
exposed to public view on London bridge. Hotspur’s body, which was found
among the slain, was placed between two mill stones, in the market place,
after which it was quartered, and hung on the gates of Shrewsbury, and
other places in the kingdom. The King released Douglas without ransom,
because he feared the Scots would avenge the death of a man so dear to
them, and from similar motives he afterwards accepted the submission of
Northumberland.
During the contest between the houses of York and Lancaster, which
deluged England with blood, almost to the total extinction of her ancient
nobility, the town of Shrewsbury espoused the party of the White Rose.
In the records of the corporation is preserved a letter from Richard,
Duke of York, requesting the burgesses to assist him with men in the
enterprise he meditated of removing his rival, Somerset, from power.
After his defeat and death at Wakefield, his son Edward, Earl of March,
went to Shrewsbury, and obtained in its neighbourhood a powerful levy,
which enabled him to revenge his father’s cause, in the great victory of
Mortimer’s Cross. He was shortly after proclaimed king. The attachment
of the inhabitants, and the great strength of the town, induced him to
choose it as the asylum for his queen during the subsequent vicissitudes
of the war. Whilst she resided here she had two sons, Richard and George
Plantagenet; the latter died young, and the former, with his elder
brother, Prince Edward, was, according to history, murdered in the Tower,
at the instigation of their uncle, the Protector. On the usurpation of
the crown by Richard III. his agent, the Duke of Buckingham, deserted him
and fled into Wales, where he took up arms, and endeavoured to excite a
general insurrection against the tyrant whom he had formerly served.
Being abandoned by his followers, he fled in disguise into Shropshire,
and concealed himself in the house of his steward, who, tempted by the
price offered for his apprehension, betrayed him to John Mytton, sheriff
of the county. He was immediately taken to Shrewsbury, where, by the
king’s peremptory order, and without trial, he was executed on a scaffold
erected before the High Cross.
The despotisms of Richard soon alienated the hearts of his subjects, and
disposed them to receive his rival, the Earl of Richmond, with open arms.
That prince, afterwards King Henry VII., landed at Milford Haven in
August, 1485, with a force of about 2,000 men. The Welsh, who regarded
him as their countryman, flocked to his standard and gave him every
assurance of support. Having mustered his army he determined to march
for Shrewsbury. On arriving at the Welsh bridge, he found the place in a
posture of defence; and on summoning the town he was unexpectedly refused
admittance by the head bailiff; a curious conference ensued, of which an
account is given in a manuscript belonging to the school library. “The
head-bailey Maister Myttoon, being a stout wyse gentilman, on demand
being made of entrance, answered, sayinge that he knew no kynge but only
kynge Richard, whose lyffetenants he and his fellows were; and before he
should entir there, he should go over his belly, meaning thereby, that he
should be slayne to the ground, and that he protested vehemently on the
othe he had tacken; but on better advice Maister Myttoon permitted the
kynge to pass; but to save hys othe, the sayd Myttoon lay along the
ground, and his belly upwards, and soe the said erle stepped over hym and
saved his othe.” The earl was first proclaimed king on his entrance into
Shrewsbury; the inhabitants testifying their joy at his coming, and their
vows for his success. He is said to have lodged in a house in the Wyle
Cop, three doors below the Lion Inn. In 1488, when quietly established
on the throne, he paid a visit to Shrewsbury, in testimony of his
gratitude for its services to his cause; and in 1490, he, with his Queen
and Prince Arthur, were present at a solemn festival, and attended mass
in the collegiate church of St. Chad. Five years after, Henry again
visited the town, and was nobly entertained in the castle by the
corporation. The spring of the year 1551 was fatally distinguished by
the commencement of a dreadful epidemic in this town called the “sweating
sickness.”
In the year 1642, the ill-fated Charles I. came hither from Nottingham,
at the head of his army, which was here amply reinforced and provisioned.
The King was joined by Prince Rupert, Prince Charles, and the Duke of
York, and many other noblemen and gentlemen of the neighbouring counties.
Charles set up a mint here, at which was coined money for his own use,
from the voluntary contributions of plate which were sent by the
inhabitants and others. The corporation about this time filed a bill in
Chancery against Richard Gibbons, late mayor, and Thomas Challoner,
schoolmaster, who kept the keys of the free school chest, to recover the
sum of £600, which they had surreptitiously taken from the funds of the
charity, and lent to his Majesty. It appears the bill was dismissed
without any relief, but it took the right honourable the Commissioners of
the Great Seal eleven years before they could decide on its rejection.
What, however, of justice was wanting to the plaintiffs in this cause was
made up in assurances of thankfulness, and gracious promises by the royal
receiver, who had given his note of hand, to refund the money whenever it
should be called for. Some time after the king’s arrival he summoned the
gentlemen and freeholders of the county, and addressed them in the
following terms, on a plot of land called the Soldiers’ Piece, now
converted into a race course:—“It is some benefit to me, from the
insolence and misfortunes which have driven me about, that they have
brought me to so good a part of my kingdom, and so faithful a part of my
people. I hope neither you nor I shall repent my coming hither; I will
do my part that you may not; and of you I was confident before I came.
The residence of an army is not usually pleasant to any place, and mine
may carry more fear with it, since it may be thought (being robbed and
spoiled of all my own, and such terror used to fright and keep all men
from supplying me), I must only live upon the aid and relief of my
people. But be not afraid, I would to God my poor subjects suffered no
more by the insolence and violence of that army raised against me (though
they have made themselves wanton even with plenty), than you shall do by
mine. And yet I fear I cannot prevent all disorders; I will do my best;
and this I promise you, no man shall be a loser by me, if I can help it.
I have sent hither for a mint; I will melt down my own plate, and expose
all my land to sale or mortgage, that if it be possible, I may not bring
the least pressure upon you. In the meantime, I have summoned you hither
to do that for me and yourselves, for the maintenance of your religion,
and the law of the land (by which you enjoy all that you have) which
other men do against me. Do not suffer so good a cause to be lost, for
want of supplying me with that, which will be taken from you by those who
pursue me with violence. And whilst these ill men sacrifice their money,
plate, and utmost industry to destroy, be you no less liberal to
preserve. Assure yourselves, if it please God to bless me with success,
I shall remember the assistance that every particular man here gives me
to his advantage. However, it will hereafter (how furiously soever the
minds of men are now possessed) be honour and comfort to you, that with
some charge and trouble to yourselves, you did your part to support your
king and preserve the kingdom.” During the king’s residence here he kept
his court at the Council House. The Princes Rupert and Morris were
stationed with the army, which exercised in the fields near the Hall.
The king caused the castle gates to be repaired, pulled down many houses
near the castle, and brought the water from the Severn up to the gate, by
means of a draw bridge. He also built a strong fort at the upper end of
Frankwell, in which he planted cannon.
Sir Michael Earnley was governor of the castle in 1644, and during the
storming of the town by the parliamentary forces had command of the
garrison. At this time, Colonel Mytton, a soldier of great valour, was
governor of a small garrison at Wem, and general of Cromwell’s army in
this county. Having made two unsuccessful attempts, on the night of the
3rd of February, he came with his forces consisting of two hundred and
fifty foot, and the same number of horse, and marched towards Shrewsbury,
where they arrived about three o’clock on Saturday morning. Eight
carpenters went up the river in a little boat, and landed within the
enemy’s breast work, under the castle hill on the east side. The
sentinels, after some pause fired upon them, but they very soon sawed
down so many of the palasades as gave the men a free passage.