The Stranger in Shrewsbury / or, an historical and descriptive view of Shrewsbury and its environs

by Thomas J. Howell

This battle, which fixed the house of Lancaster on the throne during three reigns, is among those of the first importance recorded in ancient English history, and may be named as the first of those conflicts between the white and red roses, which some years after deluged the nation with some of its best blood, and filled it with intestine ravages and divisions.

Owen Glyndwr had the mortification to be obliged to remain inactive at the head of his troops at Oswestry, from whence he retired on hearing of Percy’s defeat: and although he afterwards attempted, he was unable to regain the independence of his native country.—He died in Herefordshire in 1414. Henry returned thanks to heaven for this brilliant victory, and founded the collegiate church at Battlefield on the spot where it is probable most of the slain were buried.

During the fatal quarrel between the houses of York and Lancaster, which is computed to have cost the lives of eighty princes of the blood, and to have almost entirely annihilated the ancient nobility of England, Shrewsbury remained steadily attached to the Yorkists, and previous to the battle of St. Albans, Richard Plantagenet, duke of York wrote to his “right worshipful friends the bailiffs, burgesses and commoners of the good town of Shrewsbury,” requesting assistance in his enterprise for the recovery of his throne. After his defeat and death at Wakefield, his son Edward, earl of March, appeared in Shrewsbury, entreating a supply of men to revenge his father’s death. With an army of 23,000 men chiefly raised in this neighbourhood, he obtained a decisive victory at Mortimer’s Cross in Herefordshire, from whence advancing rapidly to London he was shortly afterwards proclaimed king. Edward, duly sensible of the strength and inviolable attachment of Shrewsbury to his cause, committed the care of his queen to its inhabitants, and during her residence here she twice lay in at the convent of the Black Friars, and was delivered of Richard and George Plantagenet, the former of whom was murdered in the Tower through the cruelty of his uncle Richard III. and the latter died young.

In 1484, Henry Stafford, duke of Buckingham, having entered into a conspiracy for the purpose of depriving Richard of a throne which he had acquired by such manifold injustice, and his endeavours being frustrated, fled to the house of one Bannister, at Shinewood, near Wenlock, in order to concealment, but notwithstanding Bannister was indebted to the duke for the property he enjoyed, unable to withstand the temptation of so large a reward as £1000, basely betrayed him to John Mitton, esq. then sheriff of the county, who conducted him to Shrewsbury, where Richard shortly after arrived, and feasted his eyes with the execution of his enemy.

The crimes of Richard were so horrid and so shocking to humanity that the natural sentiments of men, without any political or public views, were sufficient to render his government unstable; and every person of probity and honour, earnest to prevent the sceptre from being any longer polluted by the bloody and faithless hand which held it, at length united in favour of the earl of Richmond. This nobleman set sail from Harfleur, in France, on the 7th of August, 1484, and landed at Milford Haven, in Pembrokeshire, without opposition, with about 2000 followers. He directed his course to that part of the kingdom in hopes that the Welsh, who regarded him as their countryman, and who had been already prepossessed in favour of his cause by means of the late duke of Buckingham, would join his standard. Richard, not knowing where to expect his antagonist, took post at Nottingham, and purposed to fly on the first alarm to the place exposed to danger. He had appointed sir Rice ap Thomas and sir Walter Herbert to defend the coasts of Wales; but the former joined Richmond, and the latter made scarcely any resistance. The earl advanced towards Shrewsbury, which was the only convenient place at which he could cross the Severn, but very unexpectedly found the gates shut against him; and on his demanding entrance by his herald, he was refused, “the head bailey, Maister Myttoon, being a stoute wyse gentilman,” saying, “that he knew no kynge, but only kynge Richard, whose lyffetenants he and hys fellows were; and before he should entir there, he should go over hys belly, meaninge thereby, that he would be slayne to the ground, and that he protested vehementlye on the othe he had tacken; but on better advice, Maister Myttoon permitted the kynge to pass; but to save his othe, the sayd Myttoon lay alonge the grounde, and his belly upwardes, and soe the sayd erle stepped over hym and saved hys othe.” Previous to his reaching Shrewsbury his army scarcely deserved that name, from their wretched appearance and small numbers; but being joined by sir Gilbert Talbot with 2000 of the tenants of his nephew, the earl of Shrewsbury, together with several gentlemen of rank, his cause began to wear a favourable aspect, and marching on with his army, now amounting to about 6000 men Richmond gained the brilliant and decisive victory of Bosworth; Richard perishing by a fate too mild and honourable for his multiplied and detestable enormities.

It is supposed by some that that plague, the sweating sickness, which broke out here in 1485, originated among Henry’s foreign levies; it afterwards infested the kingdom at different periods for 60 years: and, according to Mr. Pennant, Shrewsbury particularly felt its ravages, 1000 nearly dying per day at one period.

Henry was not unmindful of the reception he met with here, and, when quietly seated on the throne, several times visited the town, particularly in 1495, when he was sumptuously entertained in the castle by the corporation.

Nothing worthy of note in the history occurs from this period until the struggle between the Parliament and Charles I.; the former for their privileges and the rights of the people, and the latter for arbitrary power as a despotic monarch. Charles, determined to try the force of arms, erected the royal standard at Nottingham, the open signal of discord and civil war throughout the kingdom. Whilst many of the large towns and corporate bodies took part with the parliament, a great proportion of the nobility and gentry sided with the king; the latter was the case with the Salopians. Not meeting with the support which he expected in the vicinity of Nottingham, Charles after a little hesitation pursued his march to Shrewsbury “in regard of the strong and pleasant situation of it, one side being defended by the Severn, the other having secure passage into Wales;” having received information that the place was entirely devoted to him.

At Wellington the king passed one night, and on the following morning made a rendezvous of all his forces on the plain beneath the Wrekin. His orders having been read at the head of each regiment, he placed himself in the midst of his army, and that he might bind himself by reciprocal ties, he solemnly made the following declaration in their presence; “I do promise, in the presence of Almighty God, and as I hope for his blessing and protection, that I will, to the utmost of my power, defend and maintain the true reformed protestant religion, established in the church of England, and by the grace of God, in the same will live and die. I desire that the laws may ever be the measure of my government, and that the liberty and property of the subject may be preserved by them with the same care as my own just rights. And if it please God by his blessing on this army raised for my necessary defence to preserve me from the present rebellion, I do solemnly and faithfully promise in the sight of God, to maintain the just privileges and freedom of parliament, and to govern to the utmost of my power, by the known statutes and customs of the kingdom, and particularly to observe inviolably the laws to which I have given my consent this parliament. Mean while, if this emergency and the great necessity to which I am driven, beget any violation of law, I hope it shall be imputed by God and man to the authors of this war; not to me, who have so earnestly laboured to preserve the peace of the kingdom. When I willingly fail in these particulars, I shall expect no aid or relief from man, nor any protection from above; but in this resolution I hope for the cheerful assistance of all good men, and am confident of the blessing of Heaven.” Had Charles previously acted up to this declaration, he would not now have been placed in such a critical situation.

Although the tyrannical proceedings of the king had induced many of the Salopians to look upon his cause in an unfavourable light, yet his mild and amiable behaviour won on the inhabitants generally, so much so that a considerable number enrolled themselves as volunteers in his service. In order to give efficiency to his troops and maintain his cause, a mint was established here for the purpose of coining the plate which had been presented to him by various public bodies and private individuals; but at such a low ebb were the mechanic arts at this period, that scarcely £1000 per week could be coined.