A Comprehensive History of Norwich

by A. D. Bayne

During this reign the plague raged with great violence in the city and county. On July 12th, 1625, the king issued a commission to the mayor, &c., to scour the city ditches, to remove all nuisances in and about the city, to repair the walls and turrets, and to tax all residing in the several wards, according to their ability, toward the work; it being thought very necessary, in order to stop the plague which had been brought from Yarmouth, and begun to spread here. The mayor had previously requested the bailiffs at Yarmouth to order all the wherrymen to carry no infected persons dwelling in their town to the city. Constables of every ward gave notice that no person coming from London should be entertained without notice given to the aldermen of their ward; and watch was set at every gate, day and night, to hinder all persons coming from infected places entering the city, and the carriers were commanded to bring no such persons, nor any wool whatever. Notwithstanding all this caution, the plague began to spread, so that on July 23rd, the aldermen of every ward appointed “Searchers” in each ward, to be keepers of such persons as were suspected of being infected. The bellman warned all the citizens to take their dogs and swine outside of the walls, on pain of being killed. On July 30th, the watch of the gates ceased, it being known that the plague raged within the city. Twenty-six persons died of it in that week; and before August 11th, it had so much increased, that it was resolved that every alderman should have power to send his warrants to the city treasurers to relieve the infected persons; and the plague abated that very week. Orders were issued that the doors of all persons who died of the disease should be nailed up and watched. Every one who begged about the streets was whipped, because all the poor were then relieved, so that no one had any excuse for begging for food.

In 1634, under date of March 23rd, a letter signed by the king, was directed to the mayor, sheriff, and aldermen, requiring their constant attendance at the sermon preached every Sunday morning, either in the Cathedral or Green yard, and that they would be there at the beginning of the service, after the manner observed in the city of London; and that none be absent without the consent of the bishop. On this point a court was held, and it was ordered that the mayor and court should constantly meet at the Free School, and thence proceed to church agreeably to his majesty’s instructions; the king having great regard for their spiritual welfare.

THE CIVIL WARS.

The first parliament of the reign of Charles I., in 1625, has been severely censured on account of the penurious supply which it doled out for the exigencies of a war in which its predecessors had involved the king. Nor is the reproach wholly unfounded. A more liberal proceeding, if it did not obtain a reciprocal concession from the king, would have put him more in the wrong. But the Puritans in parliament formed a majority, and were determined not to vote money without a redress of what they deemed to be grievances. The king finding he could not obtain the supplies he required from the House of Commons, determined to rule without a parliament, and to raise money by some other means. Hence the contests between the king and the parliaments, which were often called and soon dissolved. This served only to aggravate the embarrassments of the crown. Every successive House of Commons inherited the feelings of its predecessor, otherwise it would not have represented the people. The same men, for the most part, came again to parliament more irritated and difficult of reconciliation with the sovereign than before. Even the politic measure, as it was fancied to be, of excluding some of the most active members from seats, by nominating them sheriffs for the year, failed of the expected success because all ranks partook of a common enthusiasm.

In 1642, July 12th, the parliament voted and declared the necessity of recourse to arms, and on the 29th of the same month, Moses Treswell was apprehended for attempting to enlist men into the king’s service, after having been forbidden to do so by the corporation. The citizens supposing that this act would be deemed a declaration against their sovereign, ordered a double watch to be set in every ward, and a provision of all military stores to be made. They received a letter from the parliament thanking them for their great services in sending up Captain Treswell, and exhorting them to raise the militia, and to prevent anyone from levying troops within their jurisdiction without consent of parliament. Soon afterwards, the king issued proclamations requiring the assistance of his subjects against the rebels, but no regard was paid to them in Norwich. On the other hand, the magistrates ordered a general muster of the trained bands and volunteers, and put the city into the best state of defence, fearing an attack from the gentlemen of Norfolk and Suffolk who had declared for the king. As a further proof of their zeal they sent fifty Dragoons for Colonel Cromwell’s regiment, which composed part of the troops under Lord Grey of Wark, raised for the preservation of the peace in the associated counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, and Huntingdonshire. As soon as these had marched, the magistrates raised a hundred more dragoons, and to mount them, gave orders for seizing the horses of those citizens who favoured the cause of the king, and who were called malignants. On March 13th, the city raised fifty more Dragoons, and on March 26th, 1643, a hundred men were ordered to be raised and sent to Cambridge to re-enforce the associated army. The weekly contribution levied by parliament on the county was £1250 in the following proportions: Norfolk £1129, Norwich £53, Lynn £27, Yarmouth £34 16s. 5d., Thetford £5 11s. 9d. On April 2nd, being Easter day, Captain Sherwood marched to Lynn with a hundred volunteers to secure that town from any sudden surprise by the king’s forces. On August 12th, a meeting of the associated counties was appointed on account of the danger with which the city was threatened by the approach of the enemy, and the castle was ordered to be fortified. Lincolnshire was also admitted amongst the associated counties. Lynn was garrisoned by the forces of the parliament, and fortified at the expense of the Association. On November 18th, four of the Court, representing the Association, were fined £10 each for want of expedition in collecting the proposition money, and the Earl of Manchester ordered the immediate assessing and levying of such sums of money as should have been raised by any edict of parliament. This stringent commission was carried out by force of arms.

In 1643, it having been agreed between the English and Scotch commissioners that £100,000 should be immediately advanced to the Scots, to enable them to put their army in march for England, an order was sent down to Norwich for levying £6000, part of the said sum in the following proportions; in Norwich, £265; in Yarmouth, £174; in Lynn, £132; in Thetford, £27 18s. 9d., and the remainder in the county of Norfolk.

By order of the Court, on March 9th, 1644, seven pictures, taken from St. Swithin’s Church, the Angel and Four Evangelists from St. Peter’s, Moses and Aaron and the Four Evangelists from the Cathedral, and other paintings, were publicly burnt in the Market Place. A committee was appointed to “view the churches for pictures and crucifixes,” in consequence of which, these over-zealous Reformers committed all kinds of outrages and excesses by destroying monuments in the churches, and burning valuable paintings, as stated by Bishop Hall in his “Hard Measure,” a pamphlet on the proceedings of the Puritans. On Christmas eve, 1645, the mayor issued orders to all the city clergy commanding them neither to preach, nor to administer the sacrament, in their respective churches on the day following, and to the inhabitants, charging them to open their shops as on other days; so little did the Puritans in that age understand the principles of toleration.

In 1648, a petition was presented to the mayor, &c., signed by 150 persons, praying for a more speedy and effectual reformation, and complaining that their faithful ministers were discouraged and slighted; the ejected ministers countenanced and preferred; old ceremonies, and the service book constantly used, and the directory for worship almost totally neglected; and further praying, that the ordinances against superstition and idolatry might be put in strict execution; “so, shall the crucifix on the cathedral gate be defaced, and another on the roof of the cathedral neere the west door in the inside, and one upon the free school, and the image of Christ on the parish house of St. George at Tombland be taken down, and many parish churches more decently made for the congregations to meet in.” The mayor, John Utting, paying little regard to this petition, was sent for to London, and Mr. Alderman Baret put in his place. After he was gone, the common people, having a great affection for the mayor, went to the committee house, then on the site of the present Bethel, where the gunpowder was kept, and set fire to ninety-five barrels, which killed and wounded about one hundred persons and greatly damaged the adjacent buildings. For this outrage six of the perpetrators were hanged in the Market Place.

On January 30th, 1649, King Charles was beheaded at Whitehall. Soon after the death of the king the House of Commons published a decree to forbid the proclaiming of Charles Stuart, eldest son of the late king, or of any person whatsoever, on pain of high treason; and afterwards enacted that the kingly office should be abolished as unnecessary, burdensome, and dangerous; and that the state should be governed by the representatives of the people without king or lords, and under the form of a Commonwealth.

In 1650, on discovery of an intended insurrection in Norfolk in favour of King Charles, which was to have broken out on October 7th, several of the conspirators were apprehended and tried at the new hall, in Norwich, before three judges, commissioned by the parliament for that purpose. Their sitting continued from December 20th to December 30th, and they condemned twenty-five persons, who were all executed, some of them at Norwich and others in different parts of Norfolk.