England in the Days of Old Part 5

John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, was tried, and executed on June 22nd, 1535, nominally for high treason, but, as a matter of fact, because he would not be a party to the king's actions. Shortly before his execution the Pope sent to him a Cardinal's hat. Said the king when he heard of the honour to be conferred upon the aged prelate, who was then about seventy-seven years old, "'Fore heaven, he shall wear it on his shoulders then, for by the time it arrives he shall not have a head to place it upon."

Fisher met his death with firmness. At five o'clock in the morning of his execution he was awakened and the time named to him. He turned over in bed saying: "Then I can have two hours more sleep, as I am not to die until nine." Two hours later he arose, dressed himself in his best apparel, saying, this was his wedding day, when he was to be married to death, and it was befitting to appear in becoming attire. His head was severed from his body, and after the executioner had removed all the clothing, he left the corpse on the scaffold until night, when it was removed by the guard to All Hallows Churchyard, and interred in a grave dug with their halberds. It was not suffered to remain there, but was exhumed and buried in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula in the Tower. The head was spiked on London Bridge. Hall and others record that the features became fresher and more comely every day, and were life-like. Crowds were attracted to the strange sight, which was regarded as a miracle. This annoyed the king not a little, and he gave orders for the head to be thrown into the river.

A similar offence to that of Fisher's brought to the block a month later the head of a still greater and wiser man, Sir Thomas More. He was far in advance of his times, and his teaching is bearing fruit in our day. His head was placed on London Bridge, until his devoted daughter, Margaret Roper, bribed a man to move it, and drop it into a boat in which she sat.

She kept the sacred relic for many years, and at her death it was buried with her in a vault under St. Dunstan's Church, Canterbury.

[Ill.u.s.tration: AXE, BLOCK, AND EXECUTIONER'S MASK. (_From the Tower of London._)]

We learn from the annals of London Bridge, that in the year 1577, "several heads were removed from the north end of the Drawbridge to the Southwark entrance, and hence called Traitors' Gate."

Heads of priests and others heightened the sickening sight of the bridge.

We may here remark that Paul Hentzner in his "Travels in England," written in 1598, says in speaking of London Bridge:--"Upon this is built a tower, on whose top the heads of such as have been executed for high treason are placed on iron spikes; we counted about thirty."

Hentzner's curious and interesting work was reprinted at London in 1889.

Sir Christopher Wren completed Temple Bar, March 1672-3, and in 1684 the first ghastly trophy was fixed upon it. Sir Thomas Armstrong was accused of being connected with the Rye House Plot, but made his escape to Holland, and was outlawed. He, however, within a year surrendered himself, demanding to be put on his trial. Jefferies in a most brutal manner refused the request, declaring that he had nothing to do but to award death. Armstrong sued for the benefit of the law, but without avail. The judge ordered his execution "according to law," adding, "You shall have full benefit of the law." On June 24th, 1683, Armstrong was executed, and his head set up on Westminster Hall; his quarters were divided between Aldgate, Aldersgate, and Temple Bar, and the fourth sent to Stafford, the borough he had formerly represented in Parliament.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MARGARET ROPER TAKING LEAVE OF HER FATHER, SIR THOMAS MORE, 1535.]

Sir John Friend and Sir William Perkins, on April 9th, 1696, suffered death at Tyburn for complicity in a conspiracy to a.s.sa.s.sinate William III., and on the next day their heads crowned Temple Bar. John Evelyn in his Diary wrote, "A dismal sight which many pitied."

In May, 1716, the head of Colonel Henry Oxburg was spiked above the Bar.

He had taken part in the rising of Mar.

The head of Councillor Layer was placed on the Bar in 1723, for plotting to murder King George. For more than thirty years Layer's head looked sorrowfully down on busy Fleet Street. A stormy night at last sent it rolling into the Strand, and it is recorded it was picked up by an attorney, and taken into a neighbouring tavern, and according to Nicholls, it found a resting place under the floor. It is stated that Dr. Rawlinson "paid a large sum of money for a subst.i.tute foisted upon him as a genuine article." He died without discovering that he had been imposed upon, and, according to his directions, the relic was placed in his right hand and buried with him.

The Rebellion of '45 brought two more heads to Temple Bar. On July 30th, 1746, Colonel Towneley and Captain Fletcher were beheaded on Kennington Common, and on the following day their heads were elevated on the Bar.

Respecting their heads Walpole wrote on August 15th, 1746, "I have been this morning to the Tower, and pa.s.sed under the new heads at Temple Bar, where people made a trade of letting spying-gla.s.ses at a halfpenny a look." The fresh heads were made the theme of poetry and prose. One of the halfpenny loyal sightseers penned the following doggerel:--

"Three heads here I spy, Which the gla.s.s did draw nigh, The better to have a good sight; Triangle they are placed, And bald and barefaced; Not one of them e'er was upright."

We reproduce a curious print published in 1746 representing "Temple Bar"

with three heads raised on tall poles or iron rods. The devil looks down in triumph and waves the rebel banner, on which are three crowns and a coffin, with the motto, 'A crown or a grave.' Underneath was written some wretched verses.

[Ill.u.s.tration:

"Observe the banner which would all enslave, Which ruined traytors did so proudly wave, The devil seems the project to despise; A fiend confused from off the trophy flies.

While trembling rebels at the fabrick gaze, And dread their fate with horror and amaze, Let Briton's sons the emblematick view And plainly see what to rebellion's due."

COPY OF A PRINT PUBLISHED IN 1746.]

It is recorded in the "Annual Register" that on "January 20th (between two and three a.m.), 1766, a man was taken up for discharging musket bullets from a steel cross-bow at the two remaining heads upon Temple Bar. On being examined he affected a disorder in his senses, and said his reason for doing so was his strong attachment to the present Government, and that he thought it was not sufficient that a traitor should merely suffer death; that this provoked his indignation, and that it had been his constant practice for three nights past to amuse himself in the same manner. And it is much to be feared," says the recorder of the event, "that he is a near relation to one of the unhappy sufferers." On being searched, about fifty musket bullets were found on the man, and these were wrapped up in a paper with a motto--"Eripuit ille vitam."

Dr. Johnson says that once being with Goldsmith in Westminster Abbey, "While we surveyed the Poets' Corner, I said to him:--

'Forsitan et nostrum nomen miscebitur illis.'

(Perhaps some day our names may mix with theirs). When we got to Temple Bar he stopped me, pointed to the heads upon it, and slyly whispered:--

'Forsitan et nostrum ... miscebitur _Istis_.'"

One of the heads was blown down on April 1st, 1772, and the other did not remain much longer. The head of Colonel Towneley is preserved in the chapel at Townely Hall, near Burnley. It is perforated, showing that it had been thrust upon a spike. During a visit on May 21st, 1892, to Towneley Hall by the members of the Lancas.h.i.+re and Ches.h.i.+re Antiquarian Society, the skull was seen, and a note on the subject appears in the Transactions of the Society.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TEMPLE BAR IN DR. JOHNSON'S TIME.]

The heads of not a few Scotchmen were spiked on the gates of Carlisle, and some romantic stories have come down to us respecting them. One of these we related in our "Bygone England," and to make this account more complete we may perhaps be permitted to reproduce it. "A young and beautiful lady,"

so runs the tale, "came every morning at sunrise, and every evening at sunset, to look at the head of a comely youth with long yellow hair, till at length the lady and the laddie's head disappeared." The incident is the subject of a song, in which the lovesick damsel bewails the fate of her lover. Here are two of the verses:--

"White was the rose in my lover's hat As he rowled me in his lowland plaidie; His heart was true as death in love, His head was aye in battle ready.

His long, long hair, in yellow hanks, Wav'd o'er his cheeks sae sweet and ruddy; But now it waves o'er Carlisle yetts In dripping ringlets, soil'd and b.l.o.o.d.y."

Many persons in Hull supported the lost cause of Henry VI., but the governing authorities of the town gave their support to Edward IV., and those that were on the side of the fallen king met with little mercy at the hands of the local Aldermen. Mr. T. Tindall Wildridge, who has done so much to bring to light hidden facts in the history of Hull, tells us that the Aldermen in 1461 agreed that the head of Nicholas Bradshawe, for his violent language, be set at the Beverley Gate--the gate that was at a later period closed against Charles I., when he desired to enter Hull.

A number of the inhabitants who would not renounce their allegiance to the House of Lancaster were ordered to leave the town on pain of death. "Among these outcasts," says Mr. Wildridge, "was a women, who, coming back again, was subjected to the indignity of the thewes (tumbrel or hand-barrow, in which scolds were customarily wheeled round the town previous to being ducked); she was thus led out of the Beverley Gate."

On the walls and gates of York have been spiked many heads, and with particulars of a few of the more important we will bring to a close our gleanings on this gruesome theme, though not one without value to the student of history.

Richard Scrope, Archbishop of York, strongly opposed the accession of Henry IV., and warmly advocated the claims of the Earl of March. A conspiracy against the king cost him and others their lives. It is recorded that the king directed Chief Justice Gascoigne to condemn the Archbishop to death. As might be expected from an upright judge who cast into prison the king's son for contempt of court, he firmly refused to be a party to a barbarous and unjust action. Another judge was quickly found ready to obey the king's behest, and the requisite condemnation was obtained. Scrope was beheaded on June 8th, 1405, in a field between Bishopthorpe and York. Thomas Gent, the old historian of York, gives a sympathetic account of the execution: "The poor unfortunate Archbishop was put upon a horse, about the value of forty pence, with a halter about its neck, but without a saddle on its back. The Archbishop gave thanks to G.o.d, saying, 'I never liked a horse better than I like this!' He twice sang the Psalm _Exaudi_, being habited in a sky-coloured loose garment, with sleeves of the same colour, but they would not permit him to wear the linen vesture used by bishops. At the fatal place of execution he laid his hood and tunic on the ground, offered himself and his cause to Heaven, and desired the executioner to give him five strokes, in token of the five wounds of our Saviour, which was done accordingly." This is the first instance of an English prelate being executed by the civil power. Lord Mowbray, Earl Marshal of England, Sir William Plumpton and others who were mixed up in the conspiracy were beheaded. The heads of the Archbishop and that of Mowbray were spiked and put up on the city walls.

On the last day in the year 1460 was fought the battle of Wakefield, which ended in a victory for the house of Lancaster. Richard, Duke of York, the aspirant to the throne, and many of his loyal supporters were slain, some so severely wounded as to die shortly afterwards, and others taken prisoners to be subsequently beheaded. The Duke's head was cut from his body, encircled by a mock diadem of paper, and spiked above Micklegate Bar, York, with the face turned to the city:--

"So York may overlook the town of York."

The head of the young Earl of Rutland, murdered by Lord Clifford, was also set up at York. The headless bodies of the unfortunate pair were quietly buried at Pontefract.

The heads of the following Yorkists were also set up at York "for a spectacle to the people and also as a terror to adversaries:"--The Earl of Salisbury, Sir Edward Bouchier, Sir Richard Limbricke, Sir Thomas Harrington of London, Sir Thomas Neville, Sir William Parr, Sir Jacob Pykeryng, Sir Ralph Stanley, John Hanson, Mayor of Hull, and others.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MICKLEGATE BAR, YORK.]

The Lancastrians did not long enjoy their victory. Richard's son, the Earl of March, succeeded to his father's t.i.tle and claimed the right to the English crown. On Palm Sunday, March 21st, 1461, the forces of the Red and the White Roses met at Towton-field. The battle raged during a blinding snowstorm, and the Yorkists gained a complete victory. Edward then proceeded to York and entered by Micklegate Bar. Here the saddening sight of the head of his father and other brave men who had fallen fighting for his cause were displayed, also that of his brother. He had them removed, and in their stead, to still keep up the ghastly show, were placed the heads of his foes at Towton, and amongst the number the Earl of Devons.h.i.+re, Sir William Hill, the Earl of Kyme, and Sir Thomas Foulford.

Shakespeare notices this act of retaliation in _Henry VI._ (Part III., Act II., Scene 6).

"_Warwick_: From off the gates of York fetch down the head, Your father's head, which Clifford placed there: Instead thereof, let this supply the room; Measure for measure must be answered."

Edward had the heads of his father and his brother taken to Pontefract, placed with their bodies, and then with great pomp the remains were removed to the church at Fotheringay and there reinterred.

An attempt was made in 1569 to dethrone Elizabeth, and place in her stead Mary Queen of Scots. The leaders of the revolt were the Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland. It ended in failure, and was the last trial with arms to restore the Papal power in England. The leaders for a time made their escape, but the government, with a vengeance that has seldom been equalled, cruelly punished the ma.s.ses. Men were hanged at every market-cross and village-green from Wetherby to Newcastle, the large part of the north from whence the rebels had come. The Earl of Northumberland managed to evade capture for nearly two years by hiding in a wretched cottage. He was betrayed and brought to York. On August 22nd, 1572, he was beheaded, and he died, we are told, "Avowing the Pope's supremacy, and denying subjection to the Queen, affirming the land to be in a schism, and her obedient subjects little better than heretics." The Earl's head was spiked above Micklegate Bar, where it remained for about a couple of years, and then it was stolen in the night by persons unknown.

After the defeat of the Jacobites at Culloden on April 16th, 1746, the Duke of c.u.mberland on his route to London visited York, and left behind him a number of prisoners. On November 1st, ten of the rebels were hanged, drawn, and quartered, and a week later eleven more suffered a similar fate. The head of one of the unfortunate men, that of Captain Hamilton, was sent to Carlisle. The heads of Conolly and Mayne were spiked over Micklegate Bar, York, and eight years later were stolen. A reward was offered for the detection of the offenders. The following is a copy of the notice issued:--

"York, Guildhall, Feb. 4, 1754.

"Whereas on Monday night, or Tuesday morning last, the heads of two of the rebels, which were fixed upon poles on the top of Micklegate Bar, in this City, were wilfully and designedly taken down, and carried away: If any person or persons (except the person or persons who actually took down and carried away the same) will discover the person or persons who were guilty of so unlawful and audacious an action, or anywise hiding or a.s.sisting therein, he, she, or they shall, upon the conviction of the offenders, receive a reward of Ten Pounds from the Mayor and Commonality of the City of York.

"By order of the said Mayor and said Commonality, JOHN RAPER, Common Clerk of the said City and County of the same."

A tailor named William Arundel and an accomplice were found guilty of the crime. In addition to being fined, Arundel was committed to prison for two years.