From the border situation of Shrewsbury to a hostile country, it was considered of much importance to our early monarchs, and consequently became the scene of many a negotiation and contest with the Welsh, whose frequent incursions were most harassing.
The Princes of North Wales having been long uneasy neighbours to the Kings of England, John thought it expedient to hold a council here to make a treaty with Llewelyn the Great, the then Prince of Wales. In the year 1202 the king gave Llewelyn his natural daughter Joanna in marriage; and, as if in gratitude to his father-in-law, he soon recommenced hostilities against him, and marched with a numerous body of his vigorous subjects from the Cambrian wilds to Shrewsbury, which he succeeded in taking without much resistance.
The town, however, did not long continue under the subjection or possession of its new masters, they being dispossessed by Henry III. who on more than one occasion kept his court here.
In 1234, Richard, Earl Marescall, being told that Henry intended to seize him when he repaired to parliament, fled to Llewelyn, and they both appeared before Shrewsbury with a powerful army, and burned part of the suburb of Frankwell, returning to the mountains laden with the spoil of the inhabitants, many of whom they had barbarously murdered.
Henry III. with his forces again marched to Shrewsbury in 1241, where he remained a fortnight, when David relinquished all lands Llewelyn had seized from the late king in the war between him and his barons.
In 1256, Henry, wishing probably to attach himself in the favour of the burgesses, in order to make their town a bulwark against Wales, granted them two new charters on the same day; he likewise summoned his army here; and in 1260 great activity was evinced in fortifying the town, in consequence of a rupture which was speedily expected from the aggression of the Welsh Prince.
Edward the First resided here in 1277, whither he transferred some of the supreme courts of justice. In 1282 David joined Llewelyn, who again took up arms, which compelled Edward to return to Shrewsbury with his courts, where he had assembled his army, which remained some months.
David, 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, where a parliament was assembled to meet Sept. 30th, being “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. It is supposed they met in the chapter house, or refectory of the abbey, where David was tried and cruelly condemned to be dragged at a horse’s tail through the streets of Shrewsbury, and to be afterwards hung and cut down while alive, his heart and bowels burnt before his face, his body quartered, and his head sent to London to accompany that of his brother Llewelyn.
Revenge, it may be said, is sweet; but how often does it occur that the gratification of resentment over a fallen enemy transmits his encomium to posterity.
The town, being strongly fenced, was visited by Edward in 1322, where he was honourably received by the inhabitants, who went out to meet him clad in armour; he continued here for several days, about which time many of the nobility had assembled to witness a grand tournament.