Part 7

Shrewsbury is supposed to have been built by the Britons, between the years 520 and 594, as a refuge from the Saxons, who levelled their ancient fortress of Wroxeter with the ground, and forced them to retreat beyond the Severn; which river then became the boundary of the kingdom of Mercia, the most considerable of all the kingdoms of the Heptarchy. On this subject, the celebrated historians of Shrewsbury, Messrs. Owen and Blakeway, observe: We conceive that our town was built after the Saxon invasion; but that it owed its foundation to the Britons. We cannot claim any pretensions to the dignity of a Roman station. No vestige of that imperial people has ever been discovered within its circuit. But a few miles lower down the river, at the present village of Wroxeter, was the flourishing town of _Uriconium_; and here, doubtless, after the Romans had finally withdrawn their forces from the island, the Britons continued to occupy the seats deserted by their ancient masters, until they were driven from them by superior force, to the time of which we may approximate within no very wide range of years. We are in possession of the valuable poems of Llywarc Hên,—valuable, notwithstanding their great obscurity, for the few rays of light which they scatter over the darkest period of our history. He was a prince of the Cambrian Britons; who, pressed by the Northumbrian Saxon, retired towards the end of the sixth century to his countrymen in Powis, among whom he is said to have protracted his life to the unusual extent of 145 years, deriving thence the epithet of _hen_ or the _old_. His writings contain several proofs of his acquaintance with the district now called Shropshire. Its streams, Severn, and Morlas, and Tern; its mountains, Digoll, Nescliff, and Digon; its towns, Baschurch, Ercall, Hodnet, all appear in his poems. And when he speaks also of _Pengwern_, and when it is known that this was the Welsh name for Shrewsbury, we need not doubt that he designed by that to mark our town, and consequently that it had then arisen.

At the time the Britons abandoned Wroxeter, the situation of Pengwern was 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.”