The Percies, we have seen, strongly supported Henry IV. on his first
landing in England, and cordially assisted him in the events which led to
his becoming king. Their friendship, however, was not of long duration.
A variety of causes led to the formidable rebellion, which culminated in
the battle of Shrewsbury. In July, 1402, the Scots invaded England, but
were defeated by Henry Percy (called “Hotspur”), at Homildon Hill, on
September 14th, and the Earl of Douglas and other nobles were taken.
King Henry issued a writ eight days later, forbidding the Earl of
Northumberland to dispose of his prisoners; and this was one cause of
offence. They may too have been offended at Henry’s refusal to allow
them to treat for the liberation of their kinsman, Sir Edmund Mortimer,
uncle to the young Earl of March, from the hands of Owen Glyndwr; and
they may have relented at the part they had acted against King Richard.
Probably meaner motives actuated them, for King Henry left them to
conduct the Welsh and Scottish wars on their own resources, and Henry
Percy complains in a letter dated 26th June, 1403, remaining among the
Privy Council Records, that “£20,000 and more” was owing to himself and
his father on that account; their claim was left unpaid. The winter of
1402 was spent by the Percies in strengthening their party. They entered
into a treaty with Owen Glyndwr, the Welsh chieftain, who, with
remarkable success, had taken up arms against the English, and had
repelled three formidable armies led by the king in person, for the
overthrow of Henry IV. Historians have usually treated this insurrection
as having been set on foot to dethrone King Henry, and to restore Richard
II. if alive, or if dead to place Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, upon
the throne of England.
The Earl of Northumberland was ill, and remained at Berwick; but his son,
Henry Percy (Hotspur), with the Earl of Douglas and a great army, early
in July, 1403, set out on his long march for Shrewsbury, where he had
arranged to meet Glyndwr. He passed through Cheshire, where his army was
reinforced by a number of the gentlemen of that county, who had always
been attached to the memory of Richard II., and came to Stafford, where
his uncle, the Earl of Worcester, joined him.
Percy’s army probably marched from Stafford, and entered Shropshire on
its eastern side, passing through Newport by High Ercall and Haughmond
Hill, and so arrived at Shrewsbury some time on the evening of the 19th
July. They marched down the Castle Foregate, but finding that the king
had only a few hours before entered the town, and seeing the royal
standard floating over the Castle, Percy withdrew his forces to the
Bull-field, an extensive common, which stretched from Upper Berwick to
the east.
King Henry was at Burton-on-Trent, with an army which he had assembled
against the Welsh, when he heard of the confederates’ hostile movements,
and immediately marched towards Shrewsbury. On the 17th he was at
Lichfield, and taking the Watling St. Road, he probably entered the town
on the 19th over the English Bridge. By this course he secured the
passage of the Severn, and prevented Owen Glyndwr, who had advanced with
his forces to Oswestry, from crossing the river and effecting a junction
with Percy.
Percy is said to have slept on the evening of the 19th at the mansion of
the Bettons at Upper Berwick, on the site where Mr. Edgerley’s residence
now stands. Tradition says that he cut the outline of his hand on a
panel with a pen-knife, and a wise woman prophesied that the Bettons
should retain their estate so long as they kept the panel. The Bettons
are said to have lost the panel in the present century, and they have
parted with their estate also.
As the king had nothing to gain by delay, it was clearly his interest to
fight before Glyndwr could bring up his forces, and especially as his
army was superior in numbers to Percy’s. And so it seems probable that,
early on the morning of the 20th July, he sent a body of troops, under
the nominal command of Prince Henry, then 14 years old, to come up with
Percy at Upper Berwick, if possible; whilst he himself with the main body
marched along Castle Foregate and the Hadnall Road, ready to proceed,
either towards Upper Berwick and so hem Percy in between his two
divisions, or to intercept his retreat should he attempt to march to the
east. Percy broke up in some disorder, and marched by Harlescot and
Albright Hussey to Hateley-field, probably with the intention of
retreating through Hodnet and Market Drayton northwards, but finding a
retreat impracticable in the face of a superior force, no course remained
for him but to turn at bay and fight.
Percy accordingly marshalled his forces, posting a portion of them behind
a field of peas, in order to afford some obstacle to the royal attack.
They were chiefly stationed on the north side of the present Church, in a
field called the Hateleys. Tradition says that Percy called for his
favourite sword, but being told that it was left behind at Berwick, of
which village he had not till then learned the name, he turned pale and
exclaimed, “I perceive that my plough is drawing to its last furrow, for
a wizard told me in Northumberland that I should perish at Berwick, which
I vainly interpreted of that town in the north.”
The king’s forces were divided into two columns, of which he commanded
one in person, and entrusted the other to his son. The field on the east
of the church is called the King’s Croft, and here perhaps were ranged
the troops which the king himself commanded.
When the armies were drawn up, facing each other, waiting for the signal
to begin, the Abbot of Shrewsbury left the royal army and came to Percy,
in the hope of effecting peace between the two parties. On behalf of the
king he offered pardon to Percy and his adherents, if they would lay down
their arms, and a redress of grievances. The stern temper of the Earl of
Worcester however rejected all attempts at conciliation; and both sides
flew to arms. The two armies were not equal in numbers. Percy had
14,000 men, including a large force of Cheshire archers. The royal array
was probably nearly double that number; for 40,000 men are said to have
been engaged in the battle.
The battle commenced by a fierce discharge of arrows on both sides, and
raged with violence. Percy, with the Earl of Douglas and some thirty
others, in the heat of the battle, bent on the king’s destruction,
valiantly forced their way into the centre of his forces. At one period
Henry’s van was broken, his standard overthrown; his son Prince Henry was
wounded in the face by an arrow; Edmund, Earl of Stafford, Sir Walter
Blount, and three other persons armed like the king, were slain; and the
king himself was unhorsed, and likely to be slain, had he not been
withdrawn from danger by Dunbar, the Scottish Earl of March. At an
important moment, Henry brought up his reserve, which seems to have
turned the scale; and Percy himself was killed by an unknown hand, either
by a spear, or by an arrow which pierced his brain, alone, and surrounded
by his foes. The king at once took advantage of this, and shouted aloud,
“Henry Percy is dead;” and the insurgent forces gave way and fled in
every direction. The battle had lasted three hours.
On Henry’s side, 3,000 are said to have been wounded, and about 1,600
slain, including Edmund Earl of Stafford, Sir Hugh Stanley, Sir John
Clifton, Sir John Cokaine, Sir Nicholas Gausel, Sir Walter Blount, Sir
John Calverley, Sir John Massey, of Puddington, Sir Hugh Mortimer, Sir
Richard Sandford, and Sir Robert Gausel. On Percy’s side the loss of
those slain in the battle or pursuit has been estimated at 5,000,
including Sir John Massey, of Tatton, and 200 knights and gentlemen of
Cheshire. The Earl of Worcester, Sir Richard Venables, and Sir Richard
Vernon, were taken prisoners, and beheaded on the 21st at the High Cross
at Shrewsbury. Worcester’s head was set up over London Bridge; his
headless body is conjectured to have been buried in the Leyburnes’ tomb
in the chapel of the Holy Trinity in St. Mary’s Salop. Percy’s body was
at first decently interred by his kinsman Lord Furnival; but was
afterwards taken up, and placed for public exhibition between two
millstones near the pillory in Shrewsbury, and then beheaded and
quartered, and portions sent to several towns in England.
The dead were buried in a large trench or pit made on the field of
battle, near the spot where the church was afterwards built. Many years
ago, when a drain was made to carry off the wet from the Corbet vault in
the small close lying on the north side of the chancel, the workmen cut
through large masses of human bones. Many others, some in leaden
coffins, were found lying underneath the flooring of the church, when it
was being restored, about 1860. No doubt numbers of the slain were
interred in other fields and meadows in the neighbourhood. Many persons
of note, who perished in the battle, were interred at the Augustine
Friars and Friar-preachers in Shrewsbury.
A few fragments of armour, spurs, and other relics, have been from time
to time dug up on the site of the field of battle, but in comparatively
small quantities. At Sundorne Castle are preserved two helmets and
several cuirasses, swords, pikes, &c. Mr. Pountney Smith possesses a
cast-iron cannon-ball, about three inches in diameter, and weighing
nearly 4lbs; and another gentleman residing in Shrewsbury has a sword.
Grose in his _Military Antiquities_ gives an engraving of a bill, or more
probably a gisarme. Two shields were ploughed up in the year 1823.
In the field on the south side of the church are a number of mounds and
ditches. Are these earthworks connected with the field of battle, or are
they foundations of the college buildings, or mounds for the burial of
those slain in the battle, or are they merely old gravel-pits? The
matter is worth investigation.
Owen Glyndwr is said to have been unable to ford the Severn and join
Percy, owing to the waters being swollen. Tradition makes him to have
ascended the branches of a lofty oak at Shelton, whose venerable trunk
still remains, and there to have waited the issue of the battle. Another
account states that he was at the time besieging Caermarthen, and was not
near Shrewsbury.
The battle of Shrewsbury was one of the decisive battles in the history
of England. Had Percy been successful, and the King defeated, the
Lancastrian dynasty would probably not have occupied the throne of
England. What turn the course of events would then have taken, it is
impossible even to conjecture. Henry’s victory established the
Lancastrian dynasty on the throne for nearly 60 years.