and his friends were brought by torch light through a secret way vnder
ground, beginning far off from the sayde castle, till they came euen to
the Queenes chamber, which they by chance found open: they therefore
being armed with naked swords in their hands, went forwards, leauing the
King also armed without the doore of the Chamber, least that his mother
shoulde espie him: they which entred in, slew Hugh Turpinton knight,
who resisted them, Master John Neuell of Home by giuing him his deadly
wound. From thence, they went towarde the Queene mother, whom they found
with the Earle of March readie to haue gone to bedde: and hauing taken
the sayde Earle, they ledde him out into the hall, after whom the Queene
followed, crying, _Bel filz, bel filz, ayes pitie de gentil Mortimer_,
Good sonne, good sonne, take pittie vpon gentle Mortimer: for she
suspected that her sonne was there, though shee saw him not. Then are
the Keyes of the Castle sent for, and euery place with all the furniture
is yeelded vp into the kings handes, but in such secret wise, that none
without the Castle, except the kinges friendes, vnderstoode thereof. The
next day in the morning verie early, they bring Roger Mortimer, and other
his friends taken with him, with an horrible shout and crying (the earle
of Lancaster then blind, being one of them that made the showt for ioy)
towardes London, where hee was committed to the Tower, and afterward
condemned at Westminster, in presence of the whole Parliament on Saynt
Andrewes euen next following, and then drawne to the Elmes and there
hanged on the common Gallowes. Whereon hee hung two dayes and two nights
by the kinges commaundement, and then was buryed in the Gray Fryars
Church.[129]
It has been frequently said that Mortimer was the first person executed
at Tyburn. The French Chronicle of London says, “Sir Roger Mortimer, and
Sir Symon de Bereford, who was of his counsel, were drawn and hanged at
London”; and in a note Mr. Riley adds that he “is said to have been the
first person executed at Tyburn, but according to Roger of Wendover,
William Fitz-Osbert, or Longbeard, was executed there in 1196.” Dr.
Lingard says that Mortimer “was executed at Tyburn, the first, as it is
said, who honoured with his death that celebrated spot.” The reader now
knows that not only Longbeard, but Constantine Fitz-Athulf, had certainly
been here executed, and also probably others mentioned in these Annals.
It may be taken for granted that the new gallows erected in 1220, and
the old gallows replaced by them, had not stood idle. In the century and
a half during which the gallows had stood at Tyburn, hundreds, if not
thousands of unrecorded executions must have taken place here.[130]
=1345.= The murder of Sir John of Shoreditch.
Sir John of Shoreditch was a doctor of laws, advocate and knight, a man
of great eminence in his profession. This may be inferred from the fact
that, in 1343, he was sent, with others, as envoy to the Pope to complain
of papal exactions.
In the year 1345, writes the chronicler, on the tenth of the month of
July, Sir John, of the king’s council, was secretly suffocated by four of
his servants at a certain house of his near Ware. These four servants,
suspected and apprehended, confessed their crime, and on the eighteenth
day of the same month, being the Sunday before the festival of St.
Margaret, they were in London drawn, hanged, and beheaded, and their
heads were set up on Newgate, on poles.[131]
The punishment thus inflicted was the penalty of petty treason, of which
they were guilty in killing their master. Tyburn is not mentioned as the
place of execution.
=1347.= The Scotch king, David II., the earl of Fife, and the earl of
Menteith were captured. Fife and Menteith were sent to London and tried.
From Calais Edward III. sent the judgment to be pronounced on these two
“traitors and tyrants.” In accordance with the sentence, Menteith was
drawn, hanged, disembowelled. His head was set on London Bridge, and the
quarters sent to various parts of England. The sentence was not carried
out against Fife, as being allied to the king in blood.[132]
This is the sentence as given by Rymer:—
Si est agarde q’ils soient Ajuggez Traitres, &, come Traitres & Tirantz
atteintz, Traynez, Penduz, Decolez, & lour Corps Quartirez, & lour Chiefs
mys sur le Pount de Loundres, & les Quarters mys a les Quatre Principals
Villes du North (c’est assaver) a Everwyk, Noef Chastel sur Tyne,
Kardoil, and Berewyk, de les y pendre haut par Cheines, en ensample &
terrour des Traitres & Tirantz celles Parties. Tyburn is not mentioned.
=1377.= Sir John Menstreworth, accused of embezzling from the king large
sums allotted to him for the pay of soldiers, fled to France.
About this time (April), writes the chronicler, was captured Sir John
Menstreworth, a traitorous knight, who had fled to Pamplona, a city of
Navarre. Brought to London, he was first drawn, then hanged: finally his
body was divided into four quarters, which were sent to four principal
cities of England; and his head was fixed on London Bridge, where it
remained for a long time.[133]
=1386.= And that yere the goode man at the sygne at the Cocke in
Chepe, at the Lyttyll Condyte, was mortheryd in hys bedde be nyght,
and therefore hys wyffe was brente, and iiij of hys men were hangyd at
Tyborne.[134]
The Grey Friars Chronicle says that three servants were drawn and hanged.
This is the record of a terrible judicial error. The Chronicles tell the
story, some under the year 1386, some under 1391. We may suppose that
the dates are those respectively of the commission of the crime and the
discovery of the real criminal. Stow thus tells the whole story in his
“Summary,” ed. 1598:—
The good man of the Cocke in Cheap at the little conduit was murdered in
the night time by a thiefe that came in at a gutter window, as it was
knowne long after by the same thiefe, when he was at the gallowes to
be hanged for felonie, but his wife was burnt therefore, and three of
his men drawne to Tiburne, and there hanged wrongfully. One of the old
chroniclers, after telling the story, adds, “and that was ruth.” What
more can be said in presence of such a calamity?
=1388.= The struggle for power under the rule of the boy-king, Richard
II., ended in the utter rout of one of the two factions. “Appealed of
treason” by their successful rivals, the archbishop of York, the duke
of Ireland, and the duke of Suffolk, sought safety in flight. Let Stow
tell the fate of chief justice Tresilian, of Nicholas Brembre, the City
chief of the vanquished faction, and of others of less note. The end of
Tresilian has a curious resemblance to that, three hundred years later,
of another great lawyer, lord chancellor Jeffreys. Each had conducted
a bloody judicial campaign. After the suppression of the revolt of the
peasants, Tresilian had sentenced to death John Ball, and, as averred by
an old chronicler, had condemned every one brought before him, whether
guilty or not. Tresilian, like Jeffreys, was captured in a disguise.
Here, indeed, the parallel ends. Jeffreys died a prisoner in the Tower,
and thus escaped the doom of Tresilian. This is Stow’s narrative:—
The foresaid Lords being fled as is aforesaide, Robert Trisilian a
Cornishman, Lord chiefe Justice to the King, had hid himselfe in an
Apothecaries house in the Sanctuary neere to the gate of Westminster,
where he might see the Lords going to the Parliament, and comming forth
thereby to learne what was done, for all his life time he did all things
closely, but now his craft being espied was turned to great folly. For
on Wednesday the seuenteenth of February he was betraied of his owne
seruant, & about eleuen of the clocke beforenoone, being taken by the
Duke of Glocester, and in the Parliament presented, so that the same day
in the after noone hee was drawne to Tyborne from the Tower of London
through the Citie, & there had his throat cut and his bodie was buried in
the gray Friers Church at London. This man had disfigured himselfe, as if
he had beene a poore weake man, in a frize coat, all old & torne, and
had artificially made himselfe a long beard, such as they called a Paris
beard, and had defiled his face, to the end hee might not bee knowen but
by his speach. On the morrow, was executed sir Nicholas Brembar, who had
done many oppressions, & caused seditions in the Citie, of whom it was
saide, yᵗ whilest he was in full authoritie of Maioralitie, hee caused
a common payre of Stockes in euery ward, and a common Axe to be made
to behead all such as should bee against him, and it was further said,
that hee had indited 8000. & more of the best and greatest of the Citie,
but it was said that the said Nicholas was beheaded with the same Axe
hee hadde prepared for other: this man if hee hadde liued, hadde beene
created Duke of Troy, or of London by the name of Troy.
On the fourth of March Thomas Vske, Undershriue of London, & Iohn Blake
Esquire, one of the kings household, were drawne from the Tower to
Tyborne and there hanged and beheaded, the head of Thomas Vske was set vp
ouer Newgate, to the opprobry of his parents, which inhabited thereby.
Also on the 12. of May … Sir Iohn Bernes knight of the kings Court a
lustie young man, was in the same place [Tower hill] beheaded, sir Iohn
Salisburie knight was drawne from the Tower to Tyborne and there hanged.
Some of the accounts state that Brembre was hanged at Tyburn, but
Knighton says that he was beheaded on Tower Hill, the king having
stipulated with Parliament that he should not be drawn nor hanged.
Walsingham says that Little Troy was the new name intended to be given by
Brembre to London.[135]
=1399.= In this year took place several executions for the murder of the
Duke of Gloucester at Calais. John Hall was charged with having kept
the door of the room when the Duke was done to death by being smothered
in a feather-bed. On October 17th “the lordes were examyned what peyne
the same John Halle hadde desyrved ffor his knowyng off the deeth off
the Duk off Gloucestre: and the lordes seyden, that he were worthy the
moste grete peyne and penaunce that he myght have. And so the Juggement
was that the same John Halle shulde be drawe ffro the Tour off London to
Tyborne, and ther his bowelles shulde be brent and affterwarde he shulde
be hangid and quarterid and byhedid. And his heede y-brouht to the same
place, wher the Duk off Gloucestre was murdred.”[136]
=1400.= After the deposition of Richard II. and the coronation of Henry
IV. a conspiracy was formed to surprise Henry at a tournament to be
held at Windsor in December, 1399. The plot was made known by the Earl
of Rutland, one of the conspirators. Henry collected an army in London,
and set out for the rebels’ camp near Windsor. The rebels retreated to
Cirencester, where they were overthrown. According to the Chronicle of
London (1827), Sir Thomas Blount, Sir Bennet Shelley, Thomas Wyntreshull,
and about twenty-seven others, were executed at Oxford. “Afterwards was
taken Sr. Bernard Brocas, Sr. Thomas Schelley, Maudelyn parson, Sr.
William Fereby prest: and there were drawen, hanged, and beheded at
Tyborne.” There is, however, great confusion in the various accounts.
The Grey Friars Chronicle, for instance, says that Sir Bernard Brocas
was beheaded in Cheapside. In Chroniques de Waurin, and in a manuscript
in the Bibliothèque Nationale, is a long account of the execution of Sir
Thomas Blount. Reference has sometimes been made to it as illustrating
the cruelty of the times. Cruel enough they were: so cruel that there
existed no need to overcharge a narrative. But this account of the
execution is clearly in great part a work of imagination. Sir Thomas is
represented as sitting, disembowelled, near the fire in which his bowels
had been burnt, and in this condition he holds a long conversation with
Sir Thomas Erpingham. Finally, the executioner asks Sir Thomas whether he
would like to drink. Sir Thomas replies, “Nennil, car je ne le scauroye
où mettre.”[137]
The partisans of the deposed Richard refused to believe that he was dead:—
=1402.= In the meane time while the kyng was thus occupied in Wales,
certain malicious and cruel persons enuiyng and malignyng in their
heartes that king Henry contrary to the opinion of many, but against
the will of mo had so shortely obteigned and possessed the realme and
regalitie, blased abrode & noised daily amongest the vulgare people
that kyng Richard (whiche was openly sene dead) was yet liuying and
desired aide of the common people to repossesse his realme and roiall
dignitie. And to the furtheraunce of this fantasticall inuencion partly
moued with indignacion, partely incensed with furious malencolie, set
vpon postes and caste aboute the stretes railyng rimes, malicious meters
and tauntyng verses against King Henry and his proceedynges. He beyng
netteled with these vncurteous ye vnuertuous prickes & thornes, serched
out the authours, and amongest other were found culpable of this offence
and crime, sir Roger Claryngdon knight, and eight gray Friers whiche
according to their merites and desertes were strangeled at Tiborne and
there put in execution.[138]
Walter de Baldocke, formerly Prior of Laund in Leicestershire, a ninth
minorite friar, and a servant of Sir Roger, were also executed.[139]
=1404.= The olde Countesse of Oxford, mother to Robert de Vere Duke of
Ireland did cause such as were familiar with her, to brute throughout
all the parts of Essex, that king Richard was aliue, and that he should
shortely come & chalenge his olde estate and dignitie. She caused many
harts of silver, and some of golde to be made for badges, such as king
Richard was wont to bestowe on his knights, Esquiers & friends, that
distributing them in the kings name, she might the sooner allure the
knights, and other valiant men of the Countrey, to be at her will and
desire.
Also the fame and brute which daily was blazed abroad by one William
Serle, sometimes of K. Richards chamber, that the same King Richard was
in Scotland, and tarryed with a power of French & Scottishmen, caused
many to beleeue that he was aliue. This William Serle had forged a priuie
Seale in the said Richards name, and had sent diuers comfortable letters
vnto such as were familiar with K. Richard, by which meanes, many gaue
the greater credit to the Countesse, insomuch, that some religious Abbots
of that country did giue credit vnto her tales who afterward were taken
at the Kings commaundement and imprisoned, because they did beleeue and
giue credit to the Countesse in this behalfe, and the Countesse had all
her goods confiscate, and was committed to close prison: and William
Serle, was drawn from pomfret, through the chiefest Citties of England,
and put to death at London.[140]
=1424.= The Parliament sitting in this year “ordained that what prysoner
for grand or petty treason was committed to ward, & after wilfully brake
or made an escape from the same, it should bee deemed pettie treason.”
Sir John Mortimer lay in the Tower, accused of divers points of treason.
“Which John Mortimer, after the statute aforesaid escaped out of the
tower, and was taken againe vpon the tower wharfe sore beaten and
wounded, and on the morrowe brought to Westminster, and by the authoritie
of the said parliament, hee was drawne to Tyburne, hanged & headed.”
(Stow, Annals, p. 365.) Stow refers to Hall, who says: “In the tyme of
which Parliament also, whether it were, either for deserte or malice, or
to auoyde thynges that might chaunce, accordyng to a prouerbe, whiche
saith, a dead man doth no harme: Sir Iohn Mortimer … was attainted of
treason and put to execution: of whose death no small slaunder arose
emongest the common people.”[141]
=1427.= Ande that same yere a theffe that was i-callyd Wille Wawe was
hangyd at Tyborne (Gregory’s Chronicle, p. 161).
Insignificant as this record appears, it is really of great interest. As
the present annals show, ordinary crimes and their punishment received
little or rather no attention from the chroniclers. We have now traversed
two and a half centuries since the first recorded execution that we can
put to the account of Tyburn. We have found but one case, that of the
terrible tragedy of the murdered cook of Chepe, and the judicial error
resulting in the execution of four or five innocent persons, in which the
actors or sufferers were of humble rank. Gregory’s Chronicle is supposed
to have been written by William Gregory, skinner, mayor of London. It
is certain that the author was a citizen of London. Being this, the
phases of daily life in London would naturally have for him a greater
interest than for the monk who looked on the world from the scriptorium
of his monastery. To the fact that Gregory was a citizen of London we
doubtless owe this notice—too brief—of Wille Wawe. The hanging of thieves
was too common to attract attention. We shall admit the probability that
Wille was distinguished from the rest of his tribe by superior daring or
success: had he, perhaps, robbed the author of the Chronicle?
=1437.= Also the same yere on William Goodgrom, of London, corsour, for
scleynge of a man of court in Hosyere Lane be syde Smythfeld, was hangen
at Tybourne (Chronicle of London, 1827, p. 123.)
A coursour, or courser, was a dealer in horses. (Riley, “Memorials of
London and London Life,” p. 366 and note.)
=1441.= Roger Bolinbrooke, a great Astronomer, with Thomas Southwell,
a Chanon of Saynt Stephens Chappell at Westminster, were taken as
conspiratours of the Kings death, for it was said, that the same Roger
shoulde labour to consume the kings person by way of Negromancie, &
the said Thomas should say Masses in the lodge of Harnesey park beside
London, upon certaine instruments, with the which the said Roger should
vse his craft of Negromancie, against the faith, and was assenting to the
said Roger, in all his workes. And the 5. and twentith day of July being
Sun-day, Roger Bolinbrooke, with all his instruments of Negromancie,
that is to say, a chayre paynted wherein he was wont to sit, vppon the
4. corners of which chayre stoode foure swords, and vppon euery sword an
image of copper hanging, with many other instruments: hee stoode on a
high Scaffolde in Paules Churchyard, before yᵉ crosse, holding a sword
in his right hand, and a scepter in his left, arrayed in a maruellous
attire, and after the Sermon was ended by maister Low Byshop of
Rochester, he abiured all articles longing to the crafte of Negromancie
or missowning to the faith, in presence of the Archb. of Canterbury, the
Cardinall of Winchester, the byshop of London, Salisbury and many other.
On the Tuesday next following, dame Elianor Cobham, daughter to Reginald
Cobham Lord of Stirbrough: Dutchesse of Glocester fledde by night into
the Sanctuary at Westminster, which caused her to be suspected of treason.
In the meane time Roger Bolinbrooke, was examined before the Kings
Counsaile, where he confessed that he wrought the saide Negromancie at
the stirring and procurement of the said Dame Elianor, to know what
should befall of her, and to what estate she should come, whereuppon shee
was cited to appeare before Henry Chicheley, Archbishop of Canterbury.
Henry Beaufort bishoppe of Winchester Cardinall: Iohn Kempe Archb.
of Yorke Cardinall: William Ascothe bishop of Salisburie, & other in
Saynt Stephens Chappell at Westminster, there to answere to certaine
Articles in number 28. of Negromancie, witch-crafte, sorcerie, heresie,
and treason, where when shee appeared, the foresaide Roger was brought
forth to witnes against her, and said, that shee was cause and first
stirred him to labour in the sayd Art. Then on the 11. of August, shee
was committed to the ward of Sir John Steward, Sir William Wolfe Knights,
Iohn Stanley Esquier, and other, to be conueyed to the Castle of Leedes,
there to remaine till 3. weekes after Michaelmas.
Shortly after a commission was directed to the Earles of Huntington,
Stafford, Suffolke and Northumberland, the treasurer sir Ralph Cromwall,
Iohn Cornwall, Lord Fanhope, sir Walter Hungerforde, and to certaine
Judges of both Benches, to enquire of all manner of treasons, sorceries,
& other things that might be hurtfull to the Kings person, before whome
the sayde Roger, and Thomas Southwell, as principals, and Dame Elianor
as accessary, were indicted of treason in the Guilde Hall of London.
There was taken also Margery Gurdemaine a witch of Eye besides
Westminster, whose sorcerie and witchcrafte the said Elianor hadde long
time vsed, and by her medicines & drinkes enforced the Duke of Glocester
to loue her, and after to wedde her, wherefore, and for cause of relapse,
the same Witch was brent in Smithfield, on the twentie-seauen day of
October.
The 21. of October, in the Chappell beforesaid, before the Byshops, of
London Robart Gilbart, of Lincolne, William Alnewike, of Norwich Thomas
Brouns, the sayde Elianor appeared, and Adam Molins Clarke of the Kinges
Counsell read certaine articles obiected against her of Sorcerie and
Negromancy, whereof some shee denyed, and some shee granted.
The three and twentith of October Dame Elianor appeared againe, and
witnesses were brought forth and examined: and she was conuict of the
saide Articles: then was it asked if she would say any thing against the
witnesses, whereunto shee answered nay, but submitted her selfe. The
27. day of October shee abiured the articles, & was adioyned to appeare
againe the ninth of Nouember. In the meane tyme, to wit, on the 26. of
October Thomas Southwell dyed in the Tower of London, as himselfe had
prophesied that he should neuer die by Justice of the Law.
The 9. of November Dame Elianor appeared before the Archbyshop & other,
in the sayde Chappell, and receiued her penance, which shee perfourmed.
On Monday the 13. of November, she came from Westminster by water, and
landed at the Temple bridge, from whence with a taper of waxe of 2.
pound in her hand, she went through Fleetestreete, hoodlesse (saue a
Kerchefe) to Pauls, where shee offered her taper at the high Altar. On
the Wednesday next shee landed at the Swan in Thamis streete, and then
went through Bridge-streete, Grace church streete, straight to Leaden
Hall, & so to Christ church by Aldegate. On Friday she landed at Queene
Hiue, and so went through Cheape to Saynt Michaels in Cornehill, in forme
aforesaid: at all which times the Maior, Sherifes, & crafts of London,
receiued her and accompanied her. This beeing done shee was committed to
the ward of sir Thomas Stanley, wherein shee remained during her life
in the castle of Chester, hauing yeerely 100. markes assigned for her
finding, in the 22. of Henry the sixt, shee was remoued to Kenilworth,
there to be safely kept whose pride, false, couetise, and lechery, were
cause of her confusion.
The 18. of November Roger Bolingbroke, with Sir Iohn Hum priest, &
William Woodham Esquier, were arraigned in the Guildhal of London, where
the said Iohn and William hadde their Charters, but Roger Bolingbroke was
condemned, and had iudgement of Sir Io. Hody, Chiefe Justice of the Kings
Bench, and the same day he was drawne from the Tower to Tyborne and there
hanged and quartered: and when the said Roger should suffer, he sayd
that he was neuer guilty of any treaso̅ against the Kings person, but he
had presumed too far in his cunning, whereof he cryed God mercy: and the
Justice that gaue on him iudgement liued not long after.[142]
=1446.= Iohn Dauid appeached his master William Catur, an armorer
dwelling in S. Dunstons parish in Fleetstreet, of treason, & a day being
assigned them to fight in Smithfield, yᵉ master being welbeloued, was so
cherished by his friends & plied so wʰ wine, that being therwith ouercome
was also vnluckely slaine by his seruant: but that false seruant (for he
falsely accused his master) liued not long vnpunished, for he was after
hanged at Tyborne for felony (Stow, p. 385).
Shakespeare has taken this incident for a scene in the Second Part of
King Henry VI. Act 2, sc. 3, where the armourer is called Horner, and his
servant Peter. In the play, Horner, smitten to death, is made to confess
his treason.