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Battlefield Church 1
The Battle of Shrewsbury 2
Relics of the Battle 7
Foundation of the Church and Chantry 8
Roger Ive’s Will 10
Dissolution of the College 12
Description of the College, temp. Edward VI. 13
The Seal of the College 14
Masters of the College 15
Description of Battlefield Church 15
Its Dimensions 15
The Tower 16
The Windows 17
The Bells 19
Our Lady of Pity 19
The New Vestry 21
The Corbet Monument 21
The Restorations of 1749 and 1861 22
The Vicarage House 24
Incumbents of Battlefield 24
Illustrations 26
_BATTLEFIELD CHURCH_, _SALOP_.
BY THE REV. WM. GEO. DIMOCK FLETCHER, M.A.
F.S.A., VICAR OF ST. MICHAEL’S, SHREWSBURY.
Battlefield Church owes its foundation to the success achieved by King
Henry IV. at the battle of Shrewsbury. That prince, who as Duke of
Hereford had been banished in 1398 for ten years by Richard II., returned
to England in the following year, on the death of his father, John of
Gaunt ostensibly to claim his estates which the King had seized. He was
joined by the Percies, Nevills, and other barons, and marched towards the
west of England. Bristol having been captured, and the King shortly
afterwards made prisoner, Henry avowed his design of seizing the crown,
the Duke of York supporting him. Accordingly, the King was compelled to
sign a deed of renunciation to the crown, and a parliament was summoned
to meet at Westminster 30 Sept. 1399, at which Richard’s cession was read
and approved, and the sentence of deposition solemnly passed, and the
estates of the realm forthwith consented that Henry should reign over
them. Although Henry’s claim to the throne was ridiculous, as opposed to
that of Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, who was not only great-grandson
of Lionel of Antwerp, but his father Roger Mortimer had been as far back
as 1385 declared by the King presumptive heir to the throne, still this
revolution and elevation of Henry IV. to the throne was a national act,
and the Lancastrian Kings must not therefore be considered as usurpers.
The inhabitants of Shrewsbury, and of the county of Salop generally,
assented to Henry’s accession “most joyfully, with their most entire will
and heart,” as their own words, preserved on the Rolls of Parliament,
show.