| Judge Jeffries of the 'bloody
assize'.
For many years Judge Jeffries was the bogeyman of history especially
in the West Country where he is remembered for the part he played in the
'Bloody Assizes' following the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685. Legend has it
that he was more often drunk shall sober a, debauchee and had an
unpredictable temper and would rant and rave at those unfortunate enough
to be brought before him - but - considering that he suffered intense
pain and discomfort from recurring kidney and bladder stones it is
hardly surprising (too bad if you happened to appear on an 'off day'!).
Even after his death in 1689 the legends continued, one being that he
was walled up in a house in Dorchester where he had held what was,
perhaps, the bloodiest of the assizes. Another is that he was executed
in Taunton and his body buried at Stocklinch, minus its head! The events
leading up to the Bloody Assizes started on the 11th June 1685 when
James, Duke of Monmouth, the illegitimate son of Charles II and
pretender to the throne, landed at Lyme Regis with a small band of men.
By the following week had arrived in Taunton, been declared king and
presented with flags embroidered by the maids of Taunton pupils of
Mistress Susanna Musgrave and Mistress Mary Blake (a plaque
commemorating this event can seen at the bottom of the High Street). The
uprising was a disaster and it was only a matter of weeks before James
was captured, taken to London and executed by Jack Ketch, who,
unfortunately for James, had to take several blows with his axe before
the deed was done.
The Assizes started at Winchester on 25th August 1685. There were
five judges - Baron Montagu, Baron Wright, Justice Wythens, Justice
Levinz and Sir Henry Polexfen, led by Lord Chief Justice Jeffreys. It
was here that the trial of Dame Alice Lyle took place. From Winchester
they proceeded to Dorchester and on to Taunton before finishing up at
Wells on 23rd September. More than 1400 prisoners were dealt with and
although most were sentenced to death about 300 only were hanged or
hanged, drawn and quartered. Some 600 were transported to the West
Indies where they were worth more alive than dead as a source of cheap
labour. Others were imprisoned to await further trial although many did
not live long enough, succumbing to 'Gaol Fever' (Typhus) which was rife
in the insanitary conditions common to most English gaols at that time.
The Taunton Assize took place in the Great Hall of Taunton Castle (now
the home of the Somerset County Museum). Of more than 500 prisoners
brought before the court on the 18th/19th September, 144 were hanged and
their remains displayed around the county for all to see and know what
happened to those who rebelled against the king. The 284 who were
transported were treated worse than slaves as, unlike slaves who had to
be bought and paid for, they cost nothing and were therefore expendable.
This may seem a cruel and bloody period in our history, but even into
the 1800's people were still being imprisoned, executed, and transported
for rioting and rebellion. Jeffreys returned to London after the Assizes
to report to the king who rewarded him by making him Lord Chancellor (at
age of only 40), 'For the many eminent and faithful services to the
Crown' - -he eventually died in the tower of London in 1689, the cause
of death probably due to his chronic medical history of kidney and
bladder stones leading to an acute infection, kidney failure and
possibly toxaemia.
There is more to this man than 'blood and thunder' and his life story
is well worth reading. A portrait of Lord Chief Justice Jeffreys,
painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller hangs in the Monmouth Cabinet in the
Great Hall of Taunton Castle where he presided over the Bloody Assize
315 years ago. After looking at the contents of the cabinet which also
contains artefacts from the battles of Sedgemoor (the last battle fought
on English soil), spend a few minutes looking around - try to imagine
what it was like on that September morning - a vast bare room with no
central heating, no electric light and probably no plaster on the grey
stone walls beneath a heavy timbered roof. The cold light of morning
coming through the great windows and falling on the rich robes of the
Lord Chief Justice and his colleagues as and your friends shuffle across
the cold flagstone floor to hear your fate from the lips of the most
feared man in England.
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