Jane Lane and the Royal Miracle

Giveaway on Good Reads!

2012-01-18T13:16:00.001-08:00

There are 20 copies of The September Queen to give away on Good Reads! Thanks to my publisher, Berkley.

http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/19581-the-september-queen

Tudor and Stuart Christmas Recipies and Traditions

2011-12-23T10:34:00.000-08:00

Greetings, all - I hope you're having a splending holiday and that the New Year is happy and healthy for you.

Thanks to my fellow historical fiction author Stephanie Dray for having started the wonderful Foodie Fridays feature on her blog, with historical recipies. Here is my little piece about Christmas food and traditions in 16th and 17th century England.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1oFoS1/www.stephaniedray.com/2011/12/23/christmas-recipes-from-tudor-and-stuart-england/

Last post on Penguin Books blog this week - the Royal Miracle.

2011-12-02T09:37:00.001-08:00

Thanks to my publisher for hosting me on the blog this week. Here's the third of my three posts:

http://community.penguin.com/_The-Royal-Miracle-by-Gillian-Bagwell/blog/5541825/150186.html

Another post on the Penguin Books blog

2011-11-30T11:17:00.000-08:00

The second of my three posts on the Penguin Books blog is now up:
November 30 - Penguin - The Author's Desk blog
http://community.penguin.com/_The-Royal-Oak-by-Gillian-Bagwell/blog/5534872/150186.html?SMC-PTWT2011
"The Royal Oak"

November 28 - Penguin – The Author’s Desk blog
http://community.penguin.com/_When-You-Cant-Get-There-from-Here-by-Gillian-Bagwell/blog/5527330/150186.html
"When You Can't Get There from Here"

Post on Penguin blog - recreating a journey distant by time and space

2011-11-28T15:51:00.000-08:00

Today the first of my three posts on the Penguin Books blog is up!

http://community.penguin.com/_When-You-Cant-Get-There-from-Here-by-Gillian-Bagwell/blog/5527330/150186.html

There will be two more this week!

Guest post - 17th century memorabilia - and giveawy of September Queen

2011-11-22T11:24:00.001-08:00

Thanks to Patty Woodland at Broken Teepee for hosting me on today's stop on my blog tour for The September Queen.

Here's the link to my guest post on seventeenth century memorabilia, and Patty's giveaway of one copy of the book!

http://www.brokenteepee.com/2011/11/guest-post-and-rafflecopter-giveaway.html

Blog post on recreating a journey

2011-11-18T16:26:00.001-08:00

Thanks to Tinney Heath and her new blog Historical Research for hosting me today for my post "The Next Best Thing to Being There - Recreating a Journey.

http://historicalfictionresearch.blogspot.com/2011/11/next-best-thing-to-being-there.html

Another great review for The September Queen!

2011-11-16T13:22:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Svea Love at A Muse in the Fog for a lovely review for The September Queen!

“[A] novel that will thrill and enchant you. The connection between Charles and Jane was so strong that I could have been reading a pop-up book, watching them come to life on each page … The September Queen is a novel that will appeal to all readers of historical fiction, and is one I'll recommend for years to come.” – 5 stars!

http://muse-in-the-fog.blogspot.com/2011/11/review-september-queen-by-gillian.html?spref=tw

Guest post - "Portait Miniatures"

2011-11-15T20:44:00.001-08:00

Thanks to A Muse in the Fog for hosting me for today's stop on the blog tour - a guest post on portrait miniatures:

http://muse-in-the-fog.blogspot.com/2011/11/guest-post-gillian-bagwell-author-of.html

Guest post and giveaway on Crazy for Books!

2011-11-14T10:43:00.001-08:00

Hi, dear readers,

You can read my guest post on the Royal Miracle and enter to win a copy of The September Queen at Crazy for Books!

http://crazy-for-books.com/2011/11/guest-post-giveaway-with-author-gillian-bagwell.html

Q&A and giveaway on Unusual Historicals!

2011-11-13T14:58:00.003-08:00

Thanks to Unusual Historicals for hosting me on today's stop on my blog tour - a Q&A and giveaway of The September Queen! Here's the link:

http://networkedblogs.com/pUWcm

Guest post on Historically Obsessed - "Priest Holes"

2011-11-12T16:48:00.001-08:00

Thanks to Elizabeth Johnson at Historically Obsessed for today's stop on my blog tour!
Here's the link to my guest post on priest holes:

http://historicallyobsessed.blogspot.com/2011/11/guest-post-gillian-bagwell-priest-holes.html

Guest post - "The Royal Oak" on Historical Tapestry

2011-11-11T16:44:00.001-08:00

Thanks to Historical Tapestry for hosting me today!

http://historicaltapestry.blogspot.com/2011/11/royal-oak-by-gillian-bagwell.html
guest post - "The Royal Oak"

"September Queen" excerpt on Unusual Historicals!

2011-11-10T16:09:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Unusual Historicals for hosting me today for an excerpt from The September Queen! A guest post and giveaway will follow on Sunday.

http://unusualhistoricals.blogspot.com/2011/11/excerpt-thursday-september-queen-by.html

New Guest post - "The Most Romantic Ride of All Time?" and Q&A

2011-11-09T10:47:00.000-08:00

Hi, dear readers

More stops on the blog tour for The September Queen!

This is the link to my guest post "The Most Romantic Ride of All Time?" on Season for Romance!

http://theseasonforromance.com/wordpress/2011/11/the-most-romantic-ride-of-all-time/

And here is the link to the Q&A with the wonderful Kayla Posney of the Pittsburgh Historical Fiction Examiner, who has given me such lovely reviews for both my books!
http://www.examiner.com/historical-fiction-in-pittsburgh/10-questions-with-historical-fiction-author-gillian-bagwell

Wonders and Marvels guest post - The Royal Miracle

2011-11-07T16:41:00.000-08:00

Hi, readers,

The most recent stop on my blog tour is a guest post on Wonders and Marvels on the Royal Miracle - Charles II's escape after the Battle of Worcester.

http://www.wondersandmarvels.com/2011/11/the-royal-miracle.html

Nice review; "Royal Oak" guest post, and giveaway of "September Queen"

2011-11-04T08:55:00.000-07:00

Dear readers,

Have you ever heard of a pub or something called the Royal Oak? This is where the name comes from!
Lori's Reading Corner is hosting me today for a guest post and giveaway of The September Queen!
http://www.lorisreadingcorner.com/2011/11/guest-post-giveaway-with-gillian-bagwell.html

And here's a very nice review that will appear in the print edition of the Historical Novel Review:

THE SEPTEMBER QUEEN (US) / THE ROYAL EXILE (UK)

Gillian Bagwell, Berkley, 2011, $15.00, pb, 352pp, 9780425243237 / Avon, July 2012, £7.99, pb, 400pp, 9781847562593

Jane Lane, daughter of an affluent Royalist family during Cromwell’s Commonwealth, longed for adventure over respectable marriage. This she found when the young king, Charles, showed up in her kitchen with a plan that required her to play a role in his great escape after the Battle of Worcester. Though cleverly disguised and with a document for her safe passage in hand, the king still faced imprisonment, trial, and execution if caught and Jane’s family would be suspect and penalized accordingly. Regardless, the Lanes of Bentley were adamant in their desire to help king and country.

Not surprisingly to those familiar with Charles’s reputation, he and Jane developed a relationship during their sojourn that would last throughout his years of exile. Jane ultimately had to flee the country and join the ragged courts who were hangers-on in Paris and the Netherlands. There she met and befriended such personages as Mary of Orange and Elizabeth of Bohemia, as well as Charles’s first love, Lucy Walter.

The true story of the courageous woman who helped Charles II escape is one of the few not often told of the Merry Monarch. Though congenial and possessing that irresistible sense of humor, this Charles is not the romantic hero throughout the story, but only a man surviving day to day and making promises to his light-o’-loves – a practice for which he became famous later in his reign. The real hero in this tale is the ever-patient and admirable protagonist, Jane Lane. Her story – her survival and constancy through unthinkable hardships and impossible circumstances – is one that shouldn’t be missed!

Arleigh Johnson

September Queen blog tour to date - giveaways, reviews, guest posts

2011-11-03T11:29:00.000-07:00

Hi, readers,
Here are the links to all the blog tour events to date for September Queen! Many more to come over the next couple of weeks.

October 27 - Historical Fiction Connection
http://www.hf-connection.com/2011/10/giveaway-amazing-untold-real-life.html
guest post "The Amazing Untold Real-Life Adventure of Jane Lane" and giveaway

October 28 - Pittsburgh Historical Fiction Examiner
http://www.examiner.com/historical-fiction-in-pittsburgh/book-review-the-september-queen-by-gillian-bagwell
great review!

October 31 – Peeking Between the Pages
http://www.peekingbetweenthepages.com/2011/10/guest-post-with-gillian-bagwell-author-of-the-september-queen-giveaway.html
guest post "Jane Lane and the Royal Miracle" and giveaway

November 1 - Seductive Musings
http://seductivemusings.blogspot.com/2011/11/giveaway-september-queen-by-gillian.html?zx=1e8e86a0ff75085a
giveaway and excerpt

November 1 - Passages to the Past
http://www.passagestothepast.com/2011/11/guest-post-by-gillian-bagwell-author-of.html
guest post "Riding Pillion" and great review!

November 2 - Savvy Verse and Wit
http://savvyverseandwit.com/2011/11/guest-post-the-next-best-thing-to-being-there-by-gillian-bagwell.html
guest post "The Next Best Thing to Being There" and giveaway

November 2 - Scandalous Women
http://scandalouswoman.blogspot.com/2011/11/guest-post-author-gillian-bagwell-on.html
guest post "The Girl Who Saved the English Monarchy" and giveaway

November 2 - My Book Addiction
http://mybookaddictionandmore.com/2011/11/03/a-visit-and-giveaway-with-gillian-bagwellauthor-of-the-september-queen/
Guest post "Jane Lane and the Royal Miracle" and giveaway

See you on line!

Gillian

Two guest posts and giveaways of The September Queen!

2011-11-03T10:11:00.000-07:00

Hi, friends,
Continuing my blog tour for The September Queen today with two new guest posts and giveaways:

Guest post "The Girl Who Saved the English Monarchy" and giveaway on Scandalous Women:
http://scandalouswoman.blogspot.com/2011/11/guest-post-author-gillian-bagwell-on.html

Guest post "Jane Lane and the Royal Miracle" and giveaway on My Book Addiction:
http://mybookaddictionandmore.com/2011/11/03/a-visit-and-giveaway-with-gillian-bagwellauthor-of-the-september-queen/

There will be more to come over the next two weeks!

Guest posts, reviews, and giveaways

2011-11-02T13:29:00.000-07:00

Hi, dear readers,]

The September Queen was released yesterday, and the first guest posts, reviews, and giveaways in my blog tour are now up:
October 27 - Historical Fiction Connection
guest post and giveaway
http://www.hf-connection.com/2011/10/giveaway-amazing-untold-real-life.html

October 28 - Pittsburgh Historical Fiction Examiner
http://www.examiner.com/historical-fiction-in-pittsburgh/book-review-the-september-queen-by-gillian-bagwell
review

October 31 – Peeking Between the Pages

http://www.peekingbetweenthepages.com/2011/10/guest-post-with-gillian-bagwell-author-of-the-september-queen-giveaway.html

guest post and giveaway

November 1 - Seductive Musings
http://seductivemusings.blogspot.com/2011/11/giveaway-september-queen-by-gillian.html?zx=1e8e86a0ff75085a
giveaway and excerpt

November 1 - Passages to the Past
http://www.passagestothepast.com/2011/11/guest-post-by-gillian-bagwell-author-of.html
guest post

Thanks!
Gillian

Giveaway on Writerspace Halloween Mash!

2011-10-30T10:51:00.000-07:00

Hi, dear readers,

Please join me and dozens of your favorite authors at the 2011 Halloween Mash at Writerspace tonight from 8pm ET to 11pm ET. We’re giving away 100s of fantastic prizes -- Kindles, autographed books, gift cards and more. The more who enter, the more Kindles will be awarded! You don't have to be present to win, but you must be registered. I'm giving away a copy of The September Queen, which will be released on Tuesday! To register and for details visit http://www.writerspace.com/halloween/

September Queen blog tour dates

2011-10-25T08:24:00.000-07:00

Hello, friends,

I have quite an exciting blog tour lined up in connection with the November 1 release of The September Queen. I'm thrilled to be working again with so many of the wonderful bloggers who promoted The Darling Strumpet. Here's what's up so far, but check back because there are still dates to be added:

October 27 - Historical Fiction Connection
http://www.hf-connection.com/2011/10/giveaway-amazing-untold-real-life.html
guest post "The Amazing Untold Real-Life Adventure of Jane Lane" and giveaway

October 28 - Pittsburgh Historical Fiction Examiner
http://www.examiner.com/historical-fiction-in-pittsburgh/book-review-the-september-queen-by-gillian-bagwell
great review!

October 31 – Peeking Between the Pages

http://www.peekingbetweenthepages.com/2011/10/guest-post-with-gillian-bagwell-author-of-the-september-queen-giveaway.html

guest post "Jane Lane and the Royal Miracle" and giveaway

November 1 - Seductive Musings
http://seductivemusings.blogspot.com/2011/11/giveaway-september-queen-by-gillian.html?zx=1e8e86a0ff75085a
giveaway and excerpt

November 1 - Passages to the Past
http://www.passagestothepast.com/2011/11/guest-post-by-gillian-bagwell-author-of.html
guest post "Riding Pillion" and great review!

November 2 - Savvy Verse and Wit
http://savvyverseandwit.com/2011/11/guest-post-the-next-best-thing-to-being-there-by-gillian-bagwell.html
guest post "The Next Best Thing to Being There" and giveaway

November 2 - Scandalous Women
http://scandalouswoman.blogspot.com/2011/11/guest-post-author-gillian-bagwell-on.html
guest post "The Girl Who Saved the English Monarchy" and giveaway

November 2 - My Book Addiction
http://mybookaddictionandmore.com/2011/11/03/a-visit-and-giveaway-with-gillian-bagwellauthor-of-the-september-queen/
Guest post "Jane Lane and the Royal Miracle" and giveaway

November 4 - Lori’s Reading Corner
http://www.lorisreadingcorner.com/2011/11/guest-post-giveaway-with-gillian-bagwell.html
guest post "The Royal Oak" and giveaway

November 5 - In the Hammock
http://inthehammockblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/giveaway-september-queen.html
giveaway

November 7 - Wonders and Marvels
http://www.wondersandmarvels.com/2011/11/the-royal-miracle.html
guest post "The Royal Miracle"

November 9 - Season for Romance
http://theseasonforromance.com/wordpress/2011/11/the-most-romantic-ride-of-all-time/
guest post "The Most Romantic Ride of All Time?" and giveaway

November 9 - Historical Fiction Examiner
http://www.examiner.com/historical-fiction-in-pittsburgh/10-questions-with-historical-fiction-author-gillian-bagwell
Q&A

November 10 - Unusual Historicals

http://unusualhistoricals.blogspot.com/2011/11/excerpt-thursday-september-queen-by.html
excerpt

November 10 - Broken Teepee
http://www.brokenteepee.com/2011/11/book-review-september-queen-by-gillian.html
review

November 11 - Historical Tapestry
http://historicaltapestry.blogspot.com/2011/11/royal-oak-by-gillian-bagwell.html
guest post "The Royal Oak"

November 11 - Historically Obsessed
http://historicallyobsessed.blogspot.com/2011/11/guest-post-gillian-bagwell-priest-holes.html
guest post - "Priest Holes"

November 13 - Unusual Historicals
http://networkedblogs.com/pUWcm
http://unusualhistoricals.blogspot.com

Q&A and giveaway

November 14 - Crazy for Books
http://crazy-for-books.com/2011/11/guest-post-giveaway-with-author-gillian-bagwell.html
guest post "The Royal Miracle" and giveaway

November 15 - The Muse in the Fog
http://muse-in-the-fog.blogspot.com/2011/11/guest-post-gillian-bagwell-author-of.html
guest post - "Portait Miniatures"
great review!

http://muse-in-the-fog.blogspot.com/2011/11/review-september-queen-by-gillian.html?spref=tw

November 18 – Historical Research
Guest post – The Next Best Thing to Being There – Recreating a Journey
http://historicalfictionresearch.blogspot.com/2011/11/next-best-thing-to-being-there.html

November 22 - Broken Teepee
Guest post - Seventeenth Century Memorabilia
http://www.brokenteepee.com/2011/11/guest-post-and-rafflecopter-giveaway.html

November 28 - Penguin – The Author’s Desk blog
http://community.penguin.com/_When-You-Cant-Get-There-from-Here-by-Gillian-Bagwell/blog/5527330/150186.html
"When You Can't Get There from Here"

November 30 - Penguin - The Author's Desk blog
http://community.penguin.com/_The-Royal-Oak-by-Gillian-Bagwell/blog/5534872/150186.html?SMC-PTWT2011
"The Royal Oak"

December 2 Penguin - The Author's Desk blog - The Royal Miracle
http://community.penguin.com/_The-Royal-Miracle-by-Gillian-Bagwell/blog/5541825/150186.html

October 16, 1651 - France - at last

2011-10-18T22:09:00.000-07:00

On October 15, Charles, with Lord Wilmot, finally boardedCaptain Tattersall’s boat and set sail for France. But, in keeping with the events of the pastsix weeks, there was one final scare, as Charles described to Samuel Pepys in1683.

“The next morning a little before day we saw the Coast. But the tyde fayling us and the Winde comeingabout to the South-West, we were forced to come to an Anchor within 2 Myles ofthe share, till the tide of Flood was done.

Oostend fisheman/privateers

“We found our selves just before an Harbour in France calledFeckham [Fécamp], and just as the tyde of Ebb was made, espied aVessell to Leeward of us, which by her nimble working, I suspected to be anOstend-Privateer. Upon which I went to myLord Willmott, and telling him my oppinion of that ship proposed to him ourgoeing a Shoare in the Little Cock-Boate, for feare they should prove soe, asnot knowing but finding us goeing into aPort of France (there being then a Warr between France and Spaine) they mightplunder us and possibly carry us away and sett us a-shoare in England; theMaister himselfe had the same opinion of her being an Ostender, and came to meto tell me soe. Which though I made itmy business to diswade him from, for feare it should tempt him to sett sayleback againe with us for the Coast of England, yet soe sensible I was of it thatI and my Lord Willmott went both on shoare in the Cock-Boate, and goeing upinto the Towne of Feckham stayed there all the Day to provide horses for Roan[Rouen]. But the Vessell which had soe affrighted us proved afterwards only aFrench sloop.

Rouen in 1680

“The next day we got to Roan to an Inn (one of the best inthe Towne) in the Fish-Market, where they made difficulty to receive us,takeing us by our Cloathes to be some Theeves, or persons that had beene doeingsome very ill thing, untill Mr. Sandburne a Merchant (for whome I sent) cameand answered for us.

One particular more there is observable in Relacion to thisour Passage into France, that the Vessell that brought me over had noe soonerLanded me, and I given her Maister a Pass, for feare of meeting with any of ourJerzey-Friggates, but the Winde turned soe happily for her as to carry herdirectly for Poole, without its being knowne that she had ever beene upon theCoast of France.

17th century drawing of St. Hillary's Gate into Rouen

“We stayed at Roan one day to provide our selves betterCloathes and give notice to the Queene my Mother (who was then at Paris) of mybeing safely Landed. After which settingout in a hired coach I was mett by my Mother with Coaches short of Paris, andby her conducted thither, where I safely arrived.”

Rouen, with buildings that would have
been there when Charles was

Charles arrived in Paris on October 20. He had been on the run, and in fear for hislife, since September 3. As of October29, there were rumors in England that he had been lost at sea, as there hadbeen so many rumors since the Battle of Worcester about where he might be. But on October 30, newspapers in Englandproclaimed the momentous news that he was at the French court, where he was welcomedby his mother, Queen Henrietta Maria; his brother James, the Duke of York; andhis youngest sister Henrietta Anne, affectionately known as Minette.

Charles's mother, Queen Henrietta Maria

Against all odds, and despite innumerable and overwhelmingdifficulties, many times when he came close to being discovered, and the factthat he was recognized by dozens of people who could have claimed a vast rewardfor turning him, Charles had outrun and outwitted Cromwell and Parliament. The next eight and a half years were to be hard,with constant penury and frequent despair. But when Charles once again set foot on English soil, on May 25, 1660,it was as king, returning in triumph to a nation joyful at his Restoration.

The six weeks that came to be known as the Royal Miracle because Charles so many times escaped what seemed to be certain disaster were an enormously formative period in his life. When he returned to the throne, he rewarded the many people who had helped them, and told the story of his adventures for the rest of his life.

Charles II, with his brothers
riding into London in May 1660

If you're just joining us...

2011-10-18T19:46:00.000-07:00

Welcome, readers from Good Reads and anyone else who's just found me! If you're interested in reading about Charles's six-week odyssey trying to escape after the Battle of Worcester, go back to the post about September 3, 1651, and follow on from there!
Also, I plan to be adding more photos and other images to some of the earlier posts, so anyone who's been reading might want to check back in a week or two.

Thanks for reading!

October 15, 1651 - Farewell to England

2011-10-17T20:49:00.000-07:00

Colonel Gounter had persuaded Charles and Lord Wilmot to liedown and get some rest late on the night of October 14, and in the wee hours he“called them up, shewing them how the tyme went by my watch. Horses beeing ledby the back way toward the beach, we came to the boate and found all readie.”

Charles described this last leg of his journey throughEngland, from Brighton to Shoreham, to Samuel Pepys in 1683. “About 4 a Clock in the morning, my selfe andthe Company before named went toward Shoram, takeing the Maister of the Shippwith us on horseback, behinde one of our Company, and came to the Vessellsside, which was not above 60 Tunn.”

Map of Charles's route
from Allan Fea's 1897 The Flight of the King

Gounter, who it seemed had finally achieved the nearimpossible in finding passage for the king away from England, recalled hisfinal moments with Charles.

“Soe I tooke my leave, craving his Majesties pardon ifanything had happened through error, not want of will or loyaltie. How willingly I would have waited further butfor my family (being many), which would want mee; and I hope his Majestie wouldnot, not doubting but in a very little tyme hee should bee where he would.”

"A proclamation for the Discovery and
Apprehension of Charles Stuart, and other
Traytors his Adherents and Abettors"

Gounter, like the many other people who had sheltered andhelped Charles over the six weeks since the Battle of Worcester, had risked hislife for the king, as he would have been arrested and executed for treason ifwhat he had done became known to Parliament.

“My only request to his Majestie,” Gounter recalled, “wasthat he would conceale his instruments, wherein their preservation was soe muchconcerned. His Majestie promist noebodyshould knowe.”

Charles was no doubt ready to drop with exhaustion andstress, and probably wanted desperately to be aboard in case anything elseshould go wrong. “It being low Water,and the Vessell lying dry, I and my Lord Willmott got up with a ladder into herand went and lay downe in the little Cabbin, til the tide came to fetch us off.

“But I was no sooner gott into the Shipp and Layn downe uponthe Bedd, but the Maister came in to me, fell downe upon his Knees and kist myhand, telling me that he knew me very well, and that he would venture Life andall that he had in the World to sett me downe safe in France.

“Soe about 7 a Clock in the Morning it being High-Water, wewent out of the Port. But the Maisterbeing bound for Poole laden with Sea Coole, because he would not have it seenefrom Shoram that he did not goe his intended Voyage; but stood all the day witha very easy sayle toward the Isle of Wight (only my Lord Willmott and my selfeof my Company on board), and as we were sayleing the Maister came to me anddesired me that I would perswade his Men to use their endeavours with me to gethim to sett us on shoare in France, the better to cover him from any suspicionthereof.

Shoreham by J.M.W. Turner

“Upon which I went to the Men (which were 4 and a Boy) andtold them, truely, that we were 2 Merchants that had some misfortunes and werea Little in Debt, that we had some money owing us at Roan in France and wereafraid of being arrested in England, that if they would perswade the Maister(the Winde being very faire) to give us a Tripp over to Diepe or one of thoseports neere Roan, they would oblige us very much; and with that I gave them 20sto drinck. Upon which they undertook tosecond me if I would propose it to the Maister, soe I went to the Maister andtold him our condicion, and that if he would give us a Tripp over to France, wewould give him Consideracion for it. Upon which, he counterfeited difficulty, saying that it would hinder hisVoyage. But his men, as they hadpromised me, Joyned their perswacions to ours, and at last he yeilded to settus over.

“So about 5 a Clock in the afternoon (as we were in sight ofthe Isle of Wight) we stood directly over for the Coast of France, the Windebeing then full North.”

Colonel Gounter stood watching from the shore. “At 8 of the clock I saw them on sayle, andit was the afternoon before they were out of sight. The wind (O providence!) held very good tillnext morning to ten of the clock.”

Charles didn’t know it yet, but his friend and faithful allythe Earl of Derby, who had accompanied him on his desperate flight fromWorcester to Whiteladies on the night after the battle, was executed fortreason on the same day the king was finally making his way toward France.

A miniature of Charles by Samuel Cooper
from The Flight of the King

And there is little doubt that Charles would have sufferedthe same fate if he had been captured. To the end, luck was with him. Gounter marveled, “I was not gone out of the towne twoe houres butsouldiers came thither to search for a tall black man, 6 foot and 2 incheshigh.”

October 14 - 1651 - so close and yet...

2011-10-16T23:44:00.000-07:00

Charles went to bed on the night of October 13 at the homeof Colonel Gounter’s sister and her husband, Thomas Symonds. According to Gounter, “the King slept wellall night; and by breake of day, the Colonel putting twoe neats-tongues [oxtongues] in his pocketts, which he thought they might neede by the way, theysett out and began their journey.”

Charles was traveling with Gounter and his cousin ThomasGounter, and Wilmot and his man Robert Swan. Colonel Phelipps made for London, to make arrangements for money to bewaiting for the king at Rouen. (I’m not sure how he managed this, but apparently he must have had some financialcontact in London who could make the necessary arrangements clandestinely.)

Arundel Castle

“They were no sooner come to Arundel hill, as they rodeclose by the castle,” but they nearly ran into the Governour, Captaine Morley,who was out hunting. “The Colonel, the better to avoid them, it being a steepehill they were to goe downe, presently alighted, and his company … did as hedid, and soe happily they escaped them. The King, being told whoe it was, replyed merrily: ‘I did not like hisstarched mouchates.’” (I think this means moustache, but haven’t been able toconfirm that! It sounds as if Charles’sspirits were good, as it seemed that he might actually get out of England soon.)

“So wee came to Howton,” Gounter continued, “where onhorseback wee made a stop at an ale-house for some bread and drinck; and thereour neats-tongues stood us in very good steede, and were heartily eaten. From thence, being come to Bramber, wee foundthe streetes full of soldiers, on both sydes the houses, whoe unluckily, and unknowento mee, were come thither the night before to guard. But luckily (or rather, by a special providence)were just then come from their guard at Bramber-bridge into the towne for refreshment. Wee came upon them unawares, and were seenebefore wee suspected any thing.”

Bramber Bridge
from Alan Fea's The Flight of the King

Charles’s heart must have sunk to see the troops – it was arepeat of the situation he had encountered at Stratford-upon-Avon and Bridport,though it was good they had left their post guarding the bridge.

“My Lord Wilmot was readie to turne back, when I stept inand said: ‘If wee doe, wee are undone. Lett us goe on boldly, and wee shall not be suspected.’ ‘He saith well,’ said the King. I went before, he followed, and soe passthrough without any hinderance.

“It was then betweene three and fower of the clock in the afternoone. Wee went on, but had not gone farre but a newterror possessed us: the same soldiers riding after us, as fast as theycould. Whereupon the King gave mee ahem. I slackt my pace till there werecome up to mee, and by that tyme the soldiers were come, whoe rudely passed byus (beeing in a narrow lane), soe that we could hardly keepe out sadles forthem; but passed by without any further hurt, being some 30 or 40 in number."

Another close call, and just when safety was almost insight!

Bagshall's house, Beeding
from The Flight of the King

“When wee were come to Breeding, a little village where Ihad provided a retreatement for the King (one Mr. Bagshall’s house), I wasearnest that his Majestie would stay there a whyle, till I had viewed thecoast. But my Lord Wilmot would by noemeanes, for feare of those soldiers, but carried the King out of theroade. Soe wee parted: they were theythought safest, I to Brighthemston, being agreed they should send to mee whenfixed anywhere and readie.”

Eventually Charles, Wilmot, and Swan followed Gounter toBrighton, where, as Charles recalled “we were to meete with the Maister of the ship,as thinking it more convenient for us to meet there, then just at Shoram wherethe ship was.”

Gounter reached the rendezvous first. “Being come to the said Brighthemston, Ifound all cleere there and the inne (the George) free from all strangers attthat tyme. Having taken the best roomein the house and bespoken my supper, as I was entertaining myselfe with a glassof wine, the King, not finding accommodation elsewhere to his mind, was come tothe inne. And upp comes myne host (oneSmith by name) ‘More guests,’ saith he to mee. He brought them up into another roome, I takeing no notice. It was not long, but drawing towards the Kingsroome, I heard the Kings voice saying aloud to my Lord Wilmot: ‘Here, Mr.Barlow, I drinck to you.’ ‘I knowe thatname,’ said I to myne hoast… ‘I pray enquire, and whether he was not a major inthe Kings army.’”

The host having confirmed that Barlow/Wilmot was the man whoGounter thought he was, and forestalling any suspicion on the part of thelandlord, Gounter “made a motion to joyne companie and because my chamber wasthe largest, that they would make use of it: which was accepted, and soe weebecame one companie againe.

King's Head, No. 9 West Street, Brighton, demolished in 1934
It was formerly the George, and may have been the inn at which Charles waited at Brighton

“At supper, the King was cheerfull, not shewing he leastsigne of feare or apprehension of any daunger, neyther then or att any tymeduring the whole course of this busines. Which is noe small wonder, considering that the very thought of his ennemies,soe great and soe many, soe diligent, and soe much interested in his ruine, wasenough, as long as he was within their reach and as it were in the very middestof them, to have daunted the stoutest courage in the world.”

Now another complication arose. As Charles told Samuel Pepys in 1680, themerchant Mançel who had negotiated with Captain Tattersall had onlybeen told that his passenger was a gentleman who had escaped fromWorcester. But the king “observed thatthe maister of the vessel looked very much upon me. And as soon as we had supped, calling theMerchant [Mançel] aside, the Maister told him that he had not dealtfairly with him: for though he had given him a very good price for the carryingover that Gentleman, yet he had not been cleare with him, for says he, he isthe King, and I very well know him to be soe. Upon which the Merchant denying it, saying that he was mistaken, theMaister answered, I know him very well, for he tooke my ship, together withother fishing Vessels at Bright-Hempson in the yeare 1648 (which was when Icommanded the King my Fathers Fleete, and I very kindly let them goeagaine). But sayes he to the Maister, benot troubled at it, for I thinck I doe God and my Country good service inpreserveing the King, and by the grace of God I will venture my life and allfor him, and sett him safely on shoare (if I can) in France.

“Upon which the Merchant came and told me what had past betweenthem; and thereby found my selfe under a necessity of trusting him. But I tookenoe kind of notice of it presently to him. But thinking it convenient nott to let him goe home, least he should beasking advice of his wife or any Boddy elce, we kept him with us in the Inn,and satt up all night drinking beer and takeing Tobacco with him.” Charles didn’t want a repeat of what hadhappened with Stephen Limbry at Charmouth.

Drinking and takeing Tobacco

But the evening’s alarms were not at an end. Charles recalled “And heere I also runanother very greate danger… for as I was standing after supper by theFire-Side, leaneing my hand upon a Chaire (and all the rest of the Companybeing gon into another Roome) the Maister of the Inn came in and fell a-talkingwith me, and just as he was looking about and saw there were no boddy in theroome, he upon a suddain kissed my hand that was upon the back of the Chaire,and said to me, God bless you, where soe ever you go; I doe not doubt before Idye but to be a Lord, and my Wife a Lady. So I laughted and went away into the next Roome, not desireing then anyfurther discourse with him, there being noe Remedy against my being known byhim, and more discourse might but have raised suspicion. On which consideracion I thought it best forto trust him in that manner, and he proved very honest.”

Gounter also described the incident, which he found verydistressing. “Supper ended, the Kingstood his back against the fyer, leaning over a chaire. Up comes mine host … runs to the King,catcheth his hand; and kissing it, said, ‘It shall not bee said but I havekissed the best man’s hand in England.’

Brighthelmstone by J.M.W. Turner

“He had waited att the table att supper, where the boatemenalsoe sate with us, and were then present. Whether he had seene or heard anything that could give him any occasionof suspicion, I knowe not. In verydeede, the King had a hard task, soe to carrie himself in all things that hemight be in nothing like himselfe, majestie beeing so natural unto him, thateven when he said nothing, did nothing, his very looks (if a man observed) wereenough to betray him. It was admirableto see how the King (as though he had not beene concerned in these words, whichmight have sounded in the eares of another man as the sentence of death) turnedabout in silence, without any alteration of counternance or taking notice ofwhat had beene said.

“About a quarter of an hower after, the King went to hischamber, where I followed him, craved his pardon with earnest protestation thatI was as innocent, soe altogether ignorant of the cause how this hadhappened. ‘Peace, peace, Colonell,’ saidthe King, ‘the fellow knowes mee, and I him. He was one … that belonged to the back-staires to my Father. I hope he is an honest fellow.’”

The king was lucky, and the host and Captain Tattersall wereamong the many people over the course of his adventures who recognized him butdidn’t give him away.

Still, things didn’t progress smoothly that night. Gounter asked Tattersall “in what readiness hewas. He answered hee could not off thatnight, because, for more securitie, he had brought his vessel into a creeke andthe tyde had forsaken it, soe that it was on the ground… [A]ll the whyle thebusiness had beene in agitation, to this very tyme, the winde had beenecontrarie. The King then opened thewindowe, tooke notice that the wind was turned, and told the master of the ship,Whereupon, because of the wind and a cleare night, I offered 10li. More to the man to get of that night. But that could not bee.”

Posy ring given to Captain Tattersall by Charles II
from The Flight of the King

Gounter also recalled that though Tattersall kept his mouthshut, he wanted more money, and the carefully laid plan almost fell apart atthe last minute. “When we thought wee had agreed, the boateman starts back, andsaith ‘Noe,’ unlesse I would ensure the barke. Argue it wee did with him how unreasonable it was, beeing soe well paid&c., but to noe purpose, soe that I yielded at last and 200li. was his valuation, which was agreedupon. But then, as though he had beeneresolved to frustrate all by unreasonable demands, he required my bond. At which, mooved with much indignation, Ibegan to bee as resolute as he, saying, among other thing, there were moreboates to bee had besides his; if hee would not, another should, and made asthough I would go to another.

“In this contest, the King happily enterposed: ‘Hee saithright (saith his Majestie),’ a gentlemans word, especially before witnesses, isas good as his bond. At last the man’sstomach came downe; and carrie them he would, whatever came of it; and beforehe would be taken, he would runn his boate under the ater. So it was agreed that about twoe in the nightthey should bee aboard.

“The boateman in the meanetyme went to provide fornecessaries, and I persuaded the King to take some rest. He did, in his cloaths, and My Lord Wilmotwith him, till towards twoe of the night.”

October 13, 1651 - Charles as "Brother Roundhead"

2011-10-13T22:24:00.000-07:00

At two o’clock in the morning of October 13, Charles leftHeale House by the back way to meet Colonel Phelipps for the clandestinejourney to Shoreham, where Captain Tattersall was to be waiting with his coal-brigSurprise, to carry the king tosafety.
Phelipps was bringing the king’shorse from where it had been hidden at a neighbor’s house, but according to hisaccount, he “came to the place at the time appointed, but had the misfortune tohave the King’s horse, at the entring of the meadowe gate, to breake his bridleand run upp the river – which, after some short time, with noe small trouble,he recovered and brought back. Andhaving in some tolerable manner amended what had bin broken, the King and theCollonel sett forward to Brighthempson.”

As the king later told Samuel Pepys, he and Phelipps were to meet Gounterand Wilmot “some 14 or 15 Myles off on my way towards Shoram, and were to lodgethat night at a place called Hammelton, 7 Myles from Portsmouth, because it wastoo long a Journey to goe in one day to Shoram.”

The plan was that Charles would spend the night at the homeof Mr. Hyde or possibly with Gounter’s sister, but Wilmot and the Gounters neededa plausible reason to be seen riding around while they waited for Phelipps andthe king. So, as Gounter recalled, “theLord Willmot, Colonel Gounter and Captaine Thomas Gounter, being alltogetheratt dinner, agreed to ride upon the Downes. The Colonel, for a blinde, went to Hambledon, hard by, to give hissister a visit, and there borrowed a brace of grey-hounds,” telling her “thathis Cozin Gounter and other gentlemen were upon the Downes and had a mind tohave a course att a haire. And ‘twaspossible, if they did not beate to farre and should stay out late, they mightall come and bee merry with her that night… ‘If you doe, you shall be heartily welcome,’was her answer.

Hunting fallow deer with greyhounds

“The Colonel brought the greyhounds, and beate with my Lordand his cozin untill his tyme served, and then left them, resolving to ride untillhe mett the King. And just as he came toWarneford townes-end from old Winchester, he met Colonel Phillips conducting theKing. Beeing near the houses, theColonel ridd by them and tooke noe notice, went to an inne in the towne, calledfor some beere and tooke a pipe, and stayed soe long, that they were atop oldWinchester before he overtook them.”

Drinking and smoking in a 17th century inn

Having “directed them the safest way,” Gounter went to findWilmot, and all the men gathered. Whenthey reached “Brawde-Halfe-Penny, a little above Hambledon, the King spake tothe Colonel: ‘Canst thou get mee a lodging hereabout?’ The Colonel told him that his Cozin Hyde’shouse aforesaid was taken up for him and was very convenient, beeing neere andin the way. But whether his Majestiethought it to publick a place, or what other reason I know not, hee said, ‘knowyou noe other?’ ‘Yeas, may it please your Majestie, I know divers yeomanly menwhere for a night we may be welcome. Andhere is one whoe married my sister, whose house stands privatly and out of theway. ‘Lett us goe thither,’ said theKing.

Pension granted to Robert Swan, Lord
Wilmot's man, after the Restoration

“Whylest wee were consulting this affaire, Captaine ThomasGounter … and Swan, my Lord Wilmot’s man, ridd scouting about Broade-Halfe-penny… the Colonel conducting the King, my Lord Willmot, and Colonel Robert Philippsto his sisters house, a private way and the backside of Hambledon, it being buthalfe a mile from the place aforesaid.”

The party arrived at the home of Gounter’s sister at “aboutcandlelighting.” She brought them “wine,ale, and biskets … with a very cheerefull countenance, as though the Kingspresence had had some secret influence upon her [and she] suspected nothing lessethen that a king was present.

“In an hower’s space wee went to supper, being all settpromiscuously att a round table: and having halfe-supt, in comes the Colonel’ssister’s husband, Mr. Thomas Symones, whoe, as it plainly appeared, had been incompany that day. ‘This is brave,’ saidhe, ‘a man can noe sooner be out of the way, but his house must be taken upwith I know not whome.’”

Symonds welcomed his brother-in-law Gounter, but “peeping inthe King’s face, said of him, ‘Heer’s a Round-head’; and addressing his speechto the Colonel, said, ‘I never knew you keepe Round-heads’ company before.’ To which the Colonel replyed, ‘’Tis noematter; he is my friend and, I will assure you, no dangerous man.” Att which words, he clapt himself downe in achaire next the King, and tooke him by the hand, shaking him, and saying ‘BrotherRoundhead, for his sake thou art wellcome.’ …

Roundheads, with their cropped hair on the right,
Royalist Cavaliers, with their long hair, on the left

“Now and then he would sweare before he was aware, for whichthe King reprooved him, ‘O deare brother, that is a ’scape: sweare not, Ibeseech you.’ Nevertheles, in that humorhe was, hee plyed us hard with strong waters and beare…

A punch bowl that Charles presented to the
Symonds family after his Restoration

"Supper being ended, it beeing tenn of the clock, theColonel began to bethinck himself that the King had ridd neere fourty milesthat day, and was to undergoe a very hard journey the next; and how to get theKing out of his company and to bed, he could hardly devise. Yet the Colonel whispered his kinsman in theeare, saying … “hee is a Round-head indeede, and if wee could gett him to bed,the house were our owne, and wee could bee merry.’ Hee readily submitted, and the Colonelpresently (leaving the Lord Wilmot behind) conducted the King and Colonel Rob.Philips (whoe lay in the Kings chamber) to bed.

October 12, 1651 - a ship for the king

2011-10-12T19:08:00.001-07:00

Early on the morning of October 12, Colonel Phelipps leftLawrence Hyde’s house at Hinton Daubney and rode to Heale House near Salisburywhere Charles was hidden. “After 4 or 5 days [at Mrs. Hyde’s house],” Charlestold Samuel Pepys many years later, “Robin Phillipps came to the House, and acquaintedme that a Shipp was ready provided for me at Shoram, by Coll. Gunter.”

His description is surprisingly matter-of-fact, consideringwhat he had been through over the five and a half weeks since he had fled Worcester. But maybe he was recalling that after so manyfailures he couldn’t quite believe he was really about to make his escape. Or maybe his recollection of the actual newsis a little off, as according to Colonel Phelipps he informed Dr. Henchman ofthe plan, and “the same evening, Dr. Henchman went to Heale to give notice ofthe success and to prepare the King to bee ready at the meadow-gate openinginto the river, where Coll. Philipps would bee by three of the clock in themorning with a leade-horse for the King.”

The coal-brig Surprise by Willem van Velder the Elder
after Charles converted it to a yacht which he kept moored near Whitehall

According to Richard Ollard’s The Escape of Charles II After the Battle of Worcester, “NicholasTettersell, master and owner of the coal-brig Surprise (thirty-four tons),” who was to carry the king to safety, “wasa native of Brighton and an experienced Channel seaman. He belongs to a type, now all but extinctsince the decay in the last fifty years [Ollard was writing in 1966] of theinshore fishery and the coastal trade, which altered perhaps less than anyother in our society between the Norman conquest, and the death of QueenVictoria … not only because of the obvious fact of geography but by the natureof the life they led, isolated from the world behind the harbor and untouchedby social and technological change. ColonelGunter had recognized this when he told Wilmot that though he had lived all hislife next door to these people he knew absolutely nothing about them.”

A small coal-brig usually used for fairly short trips out ofa tiny place like Shoreham was probably not the kind of vessel Charles hadfirst thought of when he conceived the idea of escaping from England by sea,but it was probably better that he would travel that way than in a larger shipfrom a more prominent port, which were much more conspicuous and likely to besearched.

An old print of a collier, or coal-brig, unloading

According to a post by Iain MacFarlaine, (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8546308), Tattersall or Tettersell in later years bought the Old Ship Inn and was High Constable of Brighthelmstone. Mr. MacFarlainen posted the photo below of the churchyard of St. Nicholas Church in Brighton where Tettersell is buried.

Iain MacFarlaine's caption to this photo says
"Captain Tettersell's grave is just to the left of the red door."

His headstone reads, in part, "Captain Nicholas Tettersell, through whose prudence, valour and loyalty Charles the Second King of England and after he had escaped the sword of his merciless rebels and his fforces received a fatall overthrow at Worcester Sept 3 1651 was ffaithfully preserved and conveyed into Ffrance, departed this life the 26th. day of July 1674. Approved ffaith honour and loyalty, In this cold clay he hath now tane up his station, At once preserved ye church the Crowne and nation, When Charles ye Greate was nothing but a breath, This valiant soule slept between him and death, Usurpers threats nor tyrant rebells froune, Could not affraight his duty to the Crowne, Which glorious Act of his for Church and State, Eight Princes in one day doth Gratulate, Professing all to him in debt to bee, As all the World are to his Memory."

Iain MacFarlaine's photo of Tattersall's gravestone

October 10 and 11, 1651 - Another new plan - will this one succeed?

2011-10-11T23:33:00.000-07:00

Charles spent October 10 and 11 as he had spent the dayssince October 6, hidden in the secret little chamber at Heale House, with Mrs.Hyde and her sister bringing him food, and waiting for further news.

On the morning of Friday, October 10, Colonel Gounter, oncemore having had very little sleep, set out from his house to Chichester to meetFrancis Mançel or Mansell, the French merchant who he hoped would beable to provide a ship to get the king out of England. “The marchant being destitute of a horse,”Gounter lent him the horse that Mr. Hyde had lent him the previous night and borrowed one for himself from his cousin Captain Thomas Gounter, who he sent toLord Wilmot to report on how plans were progressing.

Brighton in the late 18th century

Colonel Gounter and Mansell arrived at Brighthelmstone (nowBrighton) at about two o’clock, but “the seaman [Mansell] chiefly depended on”had gone to Chichester, where he was to pick up some freight. Fortunately, “asProvidence would have it,” Captain Tattersall was touching at Shoreham, onlyfour miles from Brighthelmstone. Gounterpersuaded Mansell “to send to him immediately to come to him upon earnestbusiness,” and asked Mansell to handle the negotiations, such matters “beinghis affaire and trade … promising the marchant to make good and pay himwhate’re he should agree for, but withall desired to get it as low as he could.”

Brighton in the early 19th century

Tattersall insisted “he would knowe what he should carrie,or he would not treate,” so Mansell told Tattersall what Gounter had told him –that he would be carrying as passengers a couple of gentlemen who had to getout of England because they had been involved in a duel. By two a.m. on Saturday, October 11, Gounter,Mansell, and Tattersall had “made a parfect agreement.” Tattersall would get sixty pounds “in hand,before he tooke them into the boate,” and on Tuesday, October 13, he “was tobee in readiness upon an hower’s warning and … to stay there under pretence offraughting his barke, to see all things in readiness against the Colonel andhis twoe friends arrival.”

Gounter had to go make arrangements to get the king toShoreham, but “privatly promised the marchant to defray all his charges, and togive him fifty pounds as aforesaid for his peynes, which was afterwards accordinglydone….

1583 map of southern coast of England
"Brighthelm" at right and "Shoram" to its left

“All things agreed upon, the Colonel tooke leave of themarchant about 3 of the clock, with all expedition to give my Lord Wilmot thisaccount.” He arrived at Hyde’s house,where Wilmot had been staying, between eight and nine that night, only to learnthat Wilmot and Thomas Gounter had gone to the home of a Mr. Browne, a tenantof Hyde who had married Thomas Gounter’s sister. But Hyde was home, as well as Colonel Phelipps, “in hischamber goeing to bed, who was very inquisitive to knowe how things stood.”

Shoreham

When Gounter told Phelipps the much-hoped for news that “allthings were well and in a readines … the noble Colonel Philipps replyed, ‘Thoushalt bee a sainct in my almanack for ever.’” Hyde urged Gounter to stay the night, but “he knew he was expected, andcould not in honour but give his account without delay.”

Church of St. Mary de Haura, Shoreham
the name means St. Mary at the Harbor
It was falling into disrepair even in the 17th century

Phelipps insisted on accompanying Gounter to tell LordWilmot the good news. When Gounter “hadsaluted him and given him a full account of all the proceedings, the noble Lordwas infinitly pleased and satisfied.” They agreed that Phelipps would go to fetch the king, “by reason thatColonel Gounter was much tyred, and would need rest for further imployement.”

It seemed that finally things were going as hoped.

Two reviews for "The September Queen"!

2011-10-11T13:21:00.000-07:00

I'm thrilled to say that there are already two reviews out for The September Queen!

“An extraordinarily engrossing read! ... it had everythingthat I look for in a novel – drama, romance, danger and adventure. I devouredit in two sittings.”

5 Stars! - Passages to the Past
http://www.passagestothepast.com/2011/10/review-and-giveaway-september-queen-by.html

“Gillian Bagwell did an exceptional job at writingJane and Charles' on-the-run romance. Charles not only seduces Jane, but thereaders as well… The September Queenis a love story that will stay with you long after you finish the novel.”

Fresh Fiction

http://freshfiction.com/review.php?id=31005

October 9, 1651 - Colonel Gounter resorts to a Frenchman

2011-10-09T16:16:00.000-07:00

Chichester Cathedral

Colonel Gounter had spent all day on October 8 riding withLord Wilmot in a so far fruitless endeavor to find a ship for the king. When he got home “betwixt one and twoe of theclock” on the morning of October 9, he “layd downe upon his bed; and after twoehoures rest, rose from bedd and went immediately to Chichester to meete hiskinsman, Captain Thomas Gounter … according to appointment. From whome he received this accoumpt: thatboth he and his kinsman Mr. William Rishton, a loyall gentleman and one engagedall along in the warre under the Colonel’s command, had endeavored all theycould, but without success.

“Then the Colonel bethought himselfe, and conceyved the nextand best expedient would be to treate with a French marchant, one that usuallytraded into France, and went to one Mr. Francis Mançel, a stranger thento the Colonel and only knowen unto him by name, as casually he had mett him withseverall other companies, pretending to give him a visitt and to be betteracquainted with him. [Mançel] received himcourteously, and enterteined him with a bottle or twoe of his French wine andSpanish tobacco.

A 17th century Dutch merchant ship
Francis Mançel's business probably involved similar vessels.

“After a whyle, the Colonel broke the business to him,saying, ‘I doe not only come to visit you, but must request one favour of you.’ He replyed, ‘Anything in his power.’ Then the Colonel asked him if he couldfraught a barke; ‘for,’ said he, ‘I have twoe speciall friends of mine, thathave been engaged in a duell; and there is mischief done, and I am obliged to getthem off if I can.’

A duel. With mischief done.

“Hee doubted not but he could, att such a place attBrightemston in Sussex. The Colonelprest him then to goe with him immediatly, and if he could effect the business,he would give him fifty pounds for his peynes. But it being slowe faire day there, and his partner out of the way, hecould not possibly untill the next day, and then, he promised him faithfully,he would goe with him and doe his best....

“Then the Colonel, whoe had promised the noble Lord Willmotan accoumpt at Mr. Hyde’s house aforesaid once in 12 or 24 hours att thefurthest, repaired thither accordingly and told him all was done. The noble Lord approved, and like the way wondrouswell.

“It being very late, and very darke and boistrous weather, theColonel took his leave. His horse being allmostspent, borrowed a horse of his kinsman Mr. Hide, who lent him his faulknershorse, being, as it seems, the best he had then; which served to carrie himhome.”

October 8, 1651 - Charles hides, others seek

2011-10-08T21:46:00.000-07:00

Charles had returned to Mrs. Hyde’s house on the afternoonof October 7 after visiting Stonehenge with Colonel Phelipps. As he told Samuel Pepys many years later, “Iwent up into the hideing hole, that was very convenient and safe, and stayedthere all alone (Robin Phillipps then going away to Salisbury) some 4 or 5dayes, sometimes Mrs. Hide and sometimes her sister bringing me meat.”

Charles II in about 1651

According to the 1664 book Miraculum Basilicon or The Royal Miracle, the hiding hole was “a certain private place,which they had made in the time of the Wars, to hide their Jewells, and otherGoods of greatest consequence.”

Entrance to a hiding place in a summer house nearthe King's Arms
in Salisbury, said to have been used by Royalists during the Civil Wars

Meanwhile, efforts continued to find him a boat. Colonel Gounter “contenting himself with verylittle sleepe that night, rose very early the next morning, being Wednesday,the 8^th of Octobre, as he had promised the Lord Wilmot, and rode toEmsworth, a place twoe miles from him and by the sea side, passing throughBoorne. Hee tooke an old servant of hisformerly, John Day, a trustie man and verie loyall subject, whoe was related toseamen of very good accoumpt whoe with their barkes used to lye there. But they being out of the way, could doe notgood there….

A dogger, or fishing trawler, the kind of boat that
Charles's friends were trying to find to carry him to safety

Having failed to make any progress at Emsworth, Gounter setoff for home to report to Wilmot, “whoe had promised not to stirre till the Colonelcame; but being impatient of any delay, had left the Colonells house, soe thatthe Colonel met him within halfe a mile of it, and gave him an accoumpt of hismornings worke, that nothing could be done where he had been.

“The noble Lord and the Colonel rid on, and went toLangstone, a place by the sea, and where boates use. As he was riding along, [Wilmot] putt hishand in his pocket and missed his money, for comming away in haste from theColonel’s house, he had left it behind him in his bedd. Immediatly, he sent his man Swan for it. The Colonels ladye, hearing my Lord was gone,which shee much wondered att, had beene in his chamber and found the bedd open,and in the middle a black purse full of gold, which shee had secured and gaveit the man when he came for it.”

Gold coin of reign of Charles I

The purse of money that Wilmot had left lying in his bed atRacton was the hundred pounds that Giles Strangways had given FrankWyndham for the king’s use, and it would have been a disaster if Wilmot had left itsomeplace less secure.

When Gounter and Wilmot got to Langston, “we attempted allwee could, but in vain. The noble Lordand the Colonel eate oisters there, and then they parted, the noble Lord to Mr.Hydes house aforesaid, there to expect the accoumpt of the Colonel’sproceedings, the Colonel home and immediately employed his kinsman CaptaineThomas Gounter … to inquire of severall other places and to meete the Colonelnext day att Chichester, to give him an accoumpt – all which the Colonelimparted that night to my Lord Willmot att Mr. Hyde’s house at Hinton Daubneyaforesaid.

An oyster seller - oysters were cheap, plentiful
and popular in 17th century England

"After supper, the Colonel took his leave of the Lord, itbeing a very dismall night for winde and raine, which made the Lord very muchto importune the Colonel to stay. But herefused, replying that delayes were dangerous; and let the weather be what itwould, he had a sure guide. The Coloneltouched att his owne house by the way, betwixt one and twoe of the clock thatnight.”

October 7, 1651 - Heale House and Stonehenge

2011-10-07T17:27:00.000-07:00

Now thatCharles was safely hidden at Heale House and expected to be on a boat to Francesoon, Juliana Coningsby and the Wyndhams’ servant Henry Peters returned toTrent on October 7. Charles waspretending to be Colonel Carliss’s servant, but Mrs. Hyde thought that in orderto evade curious eyes, it would be better if they both left in the morning asif for good. So, as Charles told SamuelPepys, “Robin Phillips and I tooke our Horses and went as farr as Stoneheng;and there we stayd looking upon the stones for sometyme.”

Stonehenge

According toPhelips, they “rid about the Downes, and tooke a view of the wonder of thatcountry, Stoneheng, where they found that the King’s Arithmaticke gave the lyeto that fabulous tale that those stones cannot be told [meaning counted] aliketwice together. But this ariseing wasthe effect rather of convenience than curiositie, for that day being a faire atSalisbury, Mistris Hyde gave leave to all her servants to goe thither, whilestthe King, who went away in their sight with Coll. Phelipps in the morning,after his toure taken about the Downes, returned to Hele again that afternoonin theire absence.”

Phelips hadto make contact with Colonel Gounter about Charles’s passage, so “that sameafternoon [he] having safely delivered the King into the hands ofDr. Henchman in the field nere Hele, went that evening (leading the Horse theking rode on) to his most faythfull friend Mr. Jones his house at Newton-Tony.”

Racton House, Col. Gounter's home, in 1789
from Alan Fea's The Flight of the King

Meanwhile,Lord Wilmot had already reached the home of Colonel Gounter at Racton As Gounter recalled, “Betwixt eight and nineof the clock at night, the Colonel came home. Entering in att his doore, the Colonel’sladye mett him and told him there was in the parlour a Deavonshire gentlemansent by Mr. Hyde aforesaid about a reference ‘which none besides yourselfe candecyde.’ At the Colonel’s coming in, hefound his Devonshire gentleman setting at one end of the chimney, [his brother]Captaine Thomas Gounter att the other, and his lady (which was gone in before)in the middle. The gentleman rose and salutedhim.

Col. Gounter in 1642

“The Colonelpresently knew him to bee the Lord Wilmot. Which the noble Lord perceyving, tooke the Colonel aside to the windowe:‘I see you know mee (said he); do not owne mee.’” Throughout his journeys, Wilmot continued tobe surprised that people who knew him recognized him, even though he was not indisguise.

“After abottle of sack, which afforded some matter of discourse by reason of twoewasps, or rather hornets, which came out at the opening, a short collationbeing made readie as soon as could [be] … my Lords man, one Swan, comming in towaite, whispered his master in the eare and told him my Lord Wentworth’s boyPonie was without, and wished him to be carefull, for feare the boy shouldknowe him.”

Aftersupper, “the noble Lord and Colonel being alone, he broke the busines unto theColonel with these words, sighing: ‘The King of England, my maister, yourmaister, and the maister of all good Englishman, is neere you, and in greatdistresse. Can you helpe us to a boate?’The Colonel, looking very sadly, after some pause said, ‘Is he well? Is hesafe?’ He said ‘Yeas.’ The Colonel replyed, ‘God be blessed.”

Wilmot toldGounter that the plan when he had left Salisbury was that the king should bebrought to Gounter’s house on Wednesday. Gounter was very willing to help, but told Wilmot “for all he lived soneere the sea, yet there was noe man living soe little acquainted with”seafaring men, but he would do all within his power.

Interior of Racton House in 1789

When he leftWilmot and went to his bedroom, he found that his wife was very suspicious. She was sure that Wilmot was not the Mr.Barlow he claimed to be, and that his presence surely meant danger. He tried to reassure her that all was welland she didn’t need to worry, but she said “Shee was confident there was morein it then soe, and enough, shee doubted, to ruine him and all his family,’ …breaking out into a very great passion of weeping.”

So, “theColonel … tooke a candle, pretending to goe into the next roome; but privately tomy Lord Wilmot.” He told Wilmot howupset his wife was and asked permission to let her know what was going on. Wilmot agreed. Gounter explained the situation and “wiped theteares of his ladyes eyes, whoe, smiling, said ‘Goe on, and prosper. Yet I feare you will hardly doe it.’”

Mrs. Hyde of Heale House

Back at Heale House, Charles was safelyensconced in a hiding hole, and no one but Mrs. Hyde and her sister knew he wasthere.

October 6, 1651 - from Trent to Salisbury

2011-10-06T16:55:00.000-07:00

After a stay of ten days at Trent, following his originalstay of several days, Charles was finally ready to set out once again, hopingthat the newest plan to get him safely out of the country would succeed.

At about ten o’clock on the morning of Monday, October 6, asAnne Wyndham wrote, “his majesty took leave of the old Lady Wyndham, thecolonel’s lady [Anne herself], and family, not omitting the meanest of themthat had served him; but to the good old lady he vouchsafed more than ordinaryrespect, who accounted it her highest honour that she had three sons and onegrandchild slain in the defence of the father, and that she herself, in her oldage, had been instrumental in the protection of the son, both kings of England.

“Thus his sacred majesty, taking Mrs. Juliana Coningsbybehind him, attended by Colonel Robert Phelips and [Wyndham’s servant] Peters,bad farewell to Trent, the ark in which God shut him up when the floods ofrebellion had covered the face of his dominion.”

The party “went under the conduct of Coll. Phelipps inprivate ways,” Phelips recounted, “(all that country being well known to him)nere 40 myles that day to the house of the Widdow Hyde at Hele, 3 myles distantfrom Salisbury, a very discreet gentlewoman. Hither was Dr. Henchman come before from Salisbury to provide for theirereception.”

Thomas Blount's Boscobel describes the journey. "The travellers passed by Wincanton, and near the midst of that day's journey arrived at Mere, a little market town in Wiltshire, and dined at the George inn; the hoast, Mr. Christopher Phillips, whom the colone knew to be perfectly honest.

The George Inn, Mere
from Alan Fea's The Flight of the King

"The hoaste sat at the table with his majesty [Charles was once more pretending to be Will Jackson, this time a servant of Phelips], and ... told the colonel, for news, that he heard the men of Westminster (meaning the rebels), notwithstanding their victory at Worcester, were in a great maze, not knowing what was become of the king; but (says he) it is the most received opinion that he is come in a disguise to London, and many houses have been searched for him there: at which his majesty was observed to smile.

Interior of the George Inn, Mere
from The Flight of the King

"After dinner, mine hoast familiarly asked the king 'if he were a friend to Caesar?' to which his majesty answered, 'Yes.' 'Then,' said he, 'here's a health to King Charles,' in a glass of wine, which his majesty and the king both pledged.... And his majesty, since his happy return, has been pleased to ask 'What was become of his honest hoast at Mere?'"

According to Alan Fea's 1908 The Flight of the King, "Once more upon their way, the road to Salisbury is in a direct line, nearly due east, but in the seventeenth century this part of the country was but little enclosed, so that the journey to Heale could be accomplished if necessary without hardly touching a village."

In the evening they reached Heale House, on the banks of theAvon near Amesbury in Wiltshire. This was the home of Mary Hyde, widow ofLaurence Hyde, the eldest brother of Sir Robert Hyde, Justice of Common Pleas,and a cousin to Charles’s chancellor Edward Hyde, and so a staunchly Royalistlady.

In 1680, Charles told Samuel Pepys, “I came into the Housejust as it was almost dark (with Robin Phillips only) not intending at first tomake myselfe knowne. But just as Ialighted at the Doore, Mrs. Hide knew me, though she had never seen mee butonce in her life, and that was with the King my Father, in the Army, when wemarched by Salisbury some yeares before in the time of the Warr. But she being a discreet Woman took noe noticeat that time of me, I passing only for a friend of Robin Phillips’s, by whoseadvice I went thether.

Old fireplace at Heale House
from The Flight of the King

“At supper there was with us Frederick Hyde, (since a Judge)and his sister in law a Widdow, Robin Phillips, my Selfe, and Dr. Henshaw(since Bishop of London) whome I had appointed to meet me there.

“While we were at supper I observed Mrs. Hyde and her BrotherFrederick to looke a little earnestly at me, which ledd me to beleive they mightknow me. But I was not at all startledat it, it having been my purpose to lett her know who I was. And accordingly after supper Mrs. Hyde cameto me, and I discovered my selfe to her, who told me shee had a very safe placeto hide me in, till we knew whether any ship was ready or noe. But she sayd it was not safe for her to trustany Boddy but her selfe and her sister, and therefore advised me to take myHorse the next morning, and make as if I quitted the House, and returne againabout night. For she would order it soe,that all her servants and everybody should be out of the House but her selfeand her sister, whose name I remember not.”

September 25 – October 5, 1651 - a second stay at Trent

2011-10-05T15:19:00.000-07:00

Charles arrived back at Trent with Frank Wyndham and JulianaConingsby on September 24. It had nowbeen three weeks since the Battle of Worcester, and he was seemingly no closerto getting out of England than he had been when he arrived at Whiteladiestowards dawn on September 4. Rumors ofwhat had become of him were flying and there were printed accounts of hishaving escaped to Scotland and of his having been killed at Worcester. There were also persistent rumors of hisbeing somewhere in disguise, possibly dressed as a woman, or even wearing a redperiwig and serving under a Roundhead gentleman in Cromwell’s army.

Autumn foliage near Trent Manor

Now once more an escape had fallen through and he had to try to come up with anew plan. He was fortunate to have the Wyndhams working to find a way to helphim get out of the country, as they had more connections than others who hadhelped him, and were able to keep him concealed while they worked on hisbehalf. As it turned out, Charles remainedhidden in the house through October 5, occupying his time by boring holes ingold coins to give as souvenirs and cooking his own meals at the fireplace inLady Wyndham’s room.

The garden of Trent Manor from Charles's room

Fortuitously, Frank Wyndham’s brother-in-law Edward Hyde, a cousin of Charles's chancellor Edward Hyde, cameto dinner at Trent on the day the king returned there. He happened to mention to Frank that he hadseen Colonel Robert Phelips at Salisbury. The Phelipses were a well-known Royalistfamily who had had their estates sequestered because of their support ofCharles I, and it seemed likely that they might be able to help the king. Wyndham consulted with Charles, who agreedthat Robert Swan, leaving to join Lord Wilmot at Salisbury, where Wilmot hoped to find a way to get Charles out of the country, should instruct Wilmot to makecontact with Robert Phelips.

Col. Francis Wyndham
from The Flight of the King

Wilmot reached Salisbury on September 25. As Wyndham had previously suggested, he wentto the King’s Arms, sent for Wyndham’s relative John Coventry, and explainedthe king’s predicament.

John Coventry's House, Salisbury
from The Flight of the King

Coventry sentfor Colonel Phelips, who fortunately knew Wilmot as well as Wyndham. Even so, it was risky discussing thingsopenly, so Coventry went into the next room to smoke a pipe of tobacco withHewett, the landlord of the inn, leaving Wilmot and Phelips to talk privately.

Interior of the King's Arms, Salisbury
from The Flight of the King

Wilmot asked Phelips “whether he could help a gentleman indistress out of the kingdome.” Phelips was a little cold, and soon itcame out that he had heard that Wilmot had been too friendly with the Earl of Argyll’sfaction, to the detriment of the king. At this, Wilmot told Phelips that notonly was that not true, but that it was the king who needed hisassistance. Phelips was astonished, and dismayed at the difficulty of finding a way to get Charles to safety, butagreed to do whatever he could.

When Coventry returned and asked, “Well, gentlemen, are youagreed?” they said they were. Beforeparting, the three men shared a bottle or two of wine, and Wilmot regaled themwith the story of what had happened at Worcester and since then. Wilmot sent Henry Peters back to Trent toreport to the king “this joyful message … that he doubted not … to be able insome short time to effect his desires.”

The next day, September 26, Phelips went to Southampton tospeak to a merchant named Horne who he thought could be of assistance, but didn’tmanage to connect with him until the next day. Phelips told Horne he needed a ship to take him and a friend or two toFrance. Horne, no doubt understandingthat whatever was going on needed to be handled discreetly, said he knew acaptain who was “soe honest a fellow that I would trust ten thousand lives, ifI were master of as many, in his hands,” and that he would speak to him. Phelips instructed him, “Doe not only speakewith him but come to some agreement with him.” Horne replied, “I will, andbecause I would not have you appear soe much in the towne I will bring him toyou to morrow by 3 of the clock in the afternoon to Redbridge.”

Whenthey met the next day, the master of the ship agreed to carry some passengersto France for forty pounds. Phelips gavehim twenty pounds to provision his boat and hire his crew, and the masterpromised that his vessel would be at anchor between Southampton and CalshotCastle by the following Wednesday, October 1.

Meanwhile, Wyndham had also enlisted the help of hisneighbor, Captain Thomas Littleton, and Littleton had gone off to Hampshire tosee if he could find a ship for the king. He spoke to a Mr. Standish, whointroduced him to a ship captain who agreed to take Lord Wilmot and somefriends away from England. But when ColonelPhelips’s brother Edward Phelips arrived at Trent with the news that hisbrother had hired a boat at Southampton, Littleton’s efforts were put on hold.

Since plans seemed to be moving along well, Charles’sfriends wanted him close at hand. Theythought he could safely hide at Heale House, about three miles fromSalisbury. This was the home ofMary Hyde, the widow of a cousin of Charles’s chancellor, and “aworthy discreet loyall lady.”

The King's Arms, Salisbury
from The Flight of the King

On October 1, Coventry’s chaplain John Sellick arrived atTrent with a letter for Charles, informing him of the latest developments. “In answer to which the king wrote back, thathe desired all diligence might be used in providing a vessel, and if it shouldprove difficult at Hampton; trial should be made farther; that they should beascertained of a ship before they sent to remove him, so that he might run nomore hazards than what of necessity he must meet with in his passage from Trentto the place of his transportation.”

Ancient outbuildings at Trent Manor

Unfortunately, when Colonel Phelips arrived on October 1 forthe rendezvous with the master of the bark he had hired, he learned that thevessel had been pressed into service to carry provisions to Cromwell’s fleet atJersey. Thinking it unwise to makefurther attempts to hire a boat there, he went back to Salisbury and consultedwith Wilmot, John Coventry, and a cleric named Humphrey Henchman, who had beenejected as Canon of Salisbury Cathedral during the wars, and after Charles’sRestoration became Bishop of Salisbury and London.

Humphrey Henchman
painted by Sir Peter Lely

These gentleman now decided to extend their effortseastward, and to see if they could hire a boat on the Sussex coast. Both Phelips and Henchman knew a Colonel GeorgeGounter, who lived at Racton, near Chichester. Gounter was married to Katherine Hyde, a first cousin of Charles’schancellor and sister-in-law to the Mrs. Hyde at Heale House. So Katherine’s nephew Lawrence Hyde of HintonDaubnay in Hampshire was sent to Gounter with a letter asking for his help.

For some reason Wilmot decided to speak to Lawrence Hyde himself,and set off with his trusty man Robert Swan. On his way to Hinton Daubnay, he went to see Thomas Henslow at Burchant,near Titchfield, the home of the Earl of Southampton, one of Charles I’s mostloyal supporters. Henslow got a messageto Southampton, who offered to do all that he could to find a ship for the king.

When Wilmot arrived at Lawrence Hyde’s house he encountered CaptainThomas Gounter, a cousin of Colonel George Gunther, who took him to meet GeorgeGounther at Racton.

Charles's chancellor Edward Hyde
about 1648-55

Meanwhile, Colonel Phelips had setoff for Trent to convince Charles to move closer to the scene of theaction. On Sunday, October 5, accordingto Anne Wyndham, Phelips "came from the Lord Wilmot and Mr. Coventryto his majesty with this assurance, that all things were ready, and that he hadinformed himself with the most private ways, that so he might with greaterprobability of safety guide his majesty to the sea-side. As soon as the king heard this message, heresolved upon his journey. ColonelWyndham earnestly petitioned his majesty that he might wait on him to the shore;but his majesty gave no grant, saying it was no way necessary, and might provevery inconvenient. Upon the renewingthis request, the king commanded the contrary, but sweetened his denial withthis promise, that if he were put to any distress, he would again retreat toTrent.”

September 24, 1651 - a wild goose chase

2011-09-29T23:34:00.000-07:00

The wee hours of September 24, 1651 found Charles holed upin the top floor of the George Inn at Broadwinsor with Lord Wilmot, Frank Wyndham,and Juliana Coningsby, unable to go anywhere because the inn was full ofParliamentary troopers who had stopped on their way southward.

An innyard in Shropshire

Once more Charles had had a carefully laid plan fall apart. When the soldiers finally left near dawn,according to Anne Wyndham, “His majesty having with an evenness of spirit got throughthis rough passage, safely anchored at Broadwinsor … at length enjoying somerest, he commands the colonel [Wyndham] to give his opinion what course was tobe taken, as the face of affairs then looked. The colonel (seeing forces drawn everywhere upon that shore) thought itvery hazardous to attempt anything more at Dorsetshire, and therefore humbly besoughthis majesty that he would be pleased to retreat to Trent: he hoped his majesty wasalready satisfied in the fidelity of his servants, and that he doubted not hismajesty might lie securely in that creek, till it was fair weather and a goodseason to put forth to sea.”

Wyndham suggested that his servant Henry Peters shouldaccompany Lord Wilmot to the King’s Arms at Sarum (Salisbury), “where he and many of hisfriends had sheltered in the time of troubles.” Peters would put Wilmot in touch with Wyndham’srelative John Coventry, “with whom he had kept intelligence, in order to theking’s service, ever since his majesty had set foot in Scotland, and Wyndhamassured Charles that Coventry “would think himself highly honored to correspondin this matchless employment, the king’s preservation.”

King's Arms, Salisbury, about 1908
drawing from Alan Fea's The Flight of the King

Salisbury and Trent were thirty miles apart, and messengerscould easily be sent to and fro to keep the king informed of plans to get himout of the country. So Wilmot and Peters set off northeast toward Salisbury,and Charles rode north and a little west with Frank Wyndham and JulianaConingsby.

Now – how did it happen that a party of soldiers had beenpursuing the king the previous day?

After Charles left the Queen’s Arms at Charmouth, Wilmotdiscovered that his horse had cast a shoe, and he asked the ostler at the innto take it to the blacksmith. Accordingto William Ellesden’s account, the smith, a man named Hammet, said, “This horsehath but three shoes on, and they were set in three several counties, and oneof them in Worcestershire.”

A suspicious blacksmith

As it happened, the ostler was “one of Captain Macy’ssoldiers, a notorious knave,” working at the inn to make a little extra money. His curiosity had already been aroused thenight before when Wyndham and Peters “went out so late at night toward the seaside,and … the rest of the company, during their absence, were more private thantravellers are wont to be, and perhaps inspired and prompted by the devil, [he]suspected one of these guests to be the king.”

The smith’s words only confirmed the ostler’s suspicions, andhe told the landlady of the inn what he thought. She, who might already have guessed the samething, “very passionately rebuked the ostler for these insolencies, hoping bythat means to put a stop to his (as she judged) treasonable projects.” But the ostler would not be put off, and soughtout the local parson, the Reverend Doctor Benjamin Westly, thegreat-grandfather of John Wesley, founder of the Methodist movement.

The parson, however, was praying, and would not bedisturbed. The ostler, worried about losing his tip if he wasn’t there whenWilmot’s horse was ready for him, went back to the inn. But after Wilmot had left, the ostlerreturned to Westly, now done praying, and confided his suspicions. Both of them confronted the landlady, whoseems to have been related to Mistress Quickly of Falstaff’s local, the Boar’sHead Tavern in Eastcheap.

Mistress Quickly, right, watches Falstaff

Westly: Why how now, Margaret? You are a maid of honor now.

Landlady: What mean you by that, Mr. Parson?

Westly: Why, Charles Stuart lay last night at your house,and kissed you at his departure; so that now you can’t but be a maid of honor.

Landlady: I’faith, you are a scurvy, ill-conditioned man, togo about to bring me and my house into trouble. But if I thought it was the king, as you say it was, I would think thebetter of my lips all the days of my life; and so, Mr. Parson, get you out ofmy house, or else I’ll get those shall kick you out.

The parson and the ostler now went off to the justice of thepeace, “and earnestly pressed him to raise the county by his warrants…. But he …thinking it very unlikely that the king should be in these parts, notwithstandingall the parson’s bawling and the strong probabilities upon which theirconjectures seemed to be grounded, utterly rejected his council, fearing lesthe should make himself ridiculous to all the county by such an undertaking.”

The ostler finally did what he should have done in the firstplace, and went to his commanding officer. Captain Macy (or Massey, dependingon the account), no doubt keenly conscious of the thousand pound reward for theking’s capture as well as his duty, “having no sooner received the report ofthese surmises, and information on what horses and in what equipage, and whichway the persons suspected made their departure from Charmouth …instantlyresolves to leave no means unattempted, that with the least show of probabilitymight conduce to his majesty’s attachment.

“In pursuance of which he presently mounts, and settingspurs to his horse, in a full career he rides toward Bridport, where, at hisarrival, after a little inquiry made, he was given to understand that somepersons, with whom the descriptions he had received most exactly suited, haddined at the George that day, but not long before his coming were departedtowards Dorchester. This, therefore, wasthe next place to which he posted … which he no sooner entered, but (as if hehad been to execute some warrant for the apprehending the most notorious felonin the kingdom … he searched all the inns and alehouses in the town.”

Oliver Cromwell
who very much wanted to capture Charles

According to Anne Wyndham, “the report of the king’s beingat Charmouth was grown so common, that the soldiers … searched the houses ofseveral gentlemen who were accounted royalists, thinking to surprise him.” Pilisdon, the home of Sir Hugh Wyndham, FrankWyndham’s uncle, “was twice rifled."

Sir Hugh Wyndham

A young lady of the mid 17th century
not looking much like Charles II

"Theytook the old baronet, his lady, daughters, and whole family, and set a guardupon them in the hall, whilst they examine every corner, not sparing either trunkor box. Then taking a particular view oftheir prisoners, they seize a lovely young lady, saying she was the kingdisguised in woman’s apparel. At lengthbeing convinced of their gross and rude mistake, they desisted from offeringany further violence to that family.”

Just as alarmingly, Captain Ellesden, who had undertaken tofind a ship for Charles but perhaps was now trying to hedge his bets, arrivedat Pilisdon, “and enquired of Sir Hugh and his lady for the king and colonel, confidentlyaffirming that they must needs be there.”

But, as Ellesden wrote triumphantly (much later, when it wassafe once more to be a Royalist), “God … was graciously pleased to make thisfurious hunter to overrun the game he hunted for.”

Macy and his men didn’t get to the George at Broadwinsor,and by the next day, Charles had once more safely reached Trent Manor, where hecould bide his time in Lady Wyndham’s chamber with its priest hole.

September 23, 1651 - more close calls!

2011-09-28T23:55:00.000-07:00

On the night of September 22, 1651, Charles sat up late atthe inn at Charmouth with Lord Wilmot, Frank Wyndham, Juliana Coningsby, andWyndham’s servant Henry Peters, waiting for the boat that was to come in on the tidearound midnight and carry him to safety.

As Anne Wyndham recounted, “they remained all nightexpecting; but seeing no long-boat, neither hearing any message from the masterof the ship, at the break of day the colonel returns to the inn, and beseechesthe king and the lord Wilmot to haste from thence… The lord Wilmot was desirousto stay behind a little, promising to follow the king to Bridport, whence hismajesty intended to make a halt for him.”

But of course once more nothing went right. Setting out from Charmouth with Wyndham andJuliana Coningsby, one of the travelers Charles passed on the road was a manwho had been a servant to his father, and who also knew Wyndham, and obviouslyrecognized both of them. Fortunately,the man was discreet enough not to greet them and so draw attention to them.

The George Inn at Bridport around turn of 20th century
photo from 1908 edition of Alan Fea's The Flight of the King

Further adventures lay ahead when they got to Bridport. As Charles told Samuel Pepys many yearslater, “just as we came into the Towne, I could see the Streets full ofRedd-Coates, Cromwells Soldiers (being a Regiment of Coll. Haynes’s … (1500 mengoing to imbarke to take Jerzey) at which Franck Windham was very muchstartled, and asked me what I would doe. I told him that we must goe impudently into the best inn in the Towneand take a Chamber there, as the only thing to be done, because we shouldotherwise miss my Lord Willmott…. So we Rodd directly into the best Inn of theplace and found the Yard very full of Soldiers. I alighted, and takeing the Horses thought it the best way to goeblundering in among them, and lead them through the middle of the Soldiers intothe Stable, Which I did and they were very angry with my for my rudeness.

Inn yard of Queen's Head, Southwark, 1880
the yard of the inn at Bridport was probably similar

“As soon as I came into the Stable I took the Bridles offthe Horses, and called the Ostler to me to help me give the Horses someOates. And as the Ostler was helping meto feed the Horses, Sure, Sir (Sayes the Ostler) I know your face. Which was noe very pleasant Questian to me,but I thought the best way was to ask him where he had lived? Whether he hadalwayes lived there or noe? He told me, that he was but newly come thether,that he was borne in Exeter and had been Ostler in an Inn there, hard by oneMr. Potter’s a Merchant, in whose House I had laine in the time of War. Soe I thought it best to give the fellow noefurther occacion of thinking where he had seen me, for feare he should guessright at Last.

“Therefore I told him, Friend, Certainly you have seene methere at Mr. Potters, for I served him a good while, above a yeare. Oh, sayes he, then I remember you a Boythere, and with that was putt off from thinking any more on it but desired thatwe might drinck a Pott of Beere together. Which I excused by saying that I mustgoe waite upon my Maister, and get his dinner ready for him, but told him, thatmy Maister was goeing to London and would return about three Weekes hence, whenhe would lye there, and I would not faile to drink a pott with him.”

Another view of the yard of the Queen's Head, Southwark

Judging Bridport too dangerous to stay in now, as soon asthe party had eaten, “we rode out of Towne as if we had gone upon the Roadetowards London, and when we gott 2 Myle off, my Lord Willmott overtooke us, hehaving observed while in Towne where we were, and told us that he beleived theShipp might be ready next night, but that there had been Some mistake betweenhim and the Maister of the Shipp.”

At this point occurred one of the many incidents that ledthe whole saga of Charles’s escape to become known as the Royal Miracle. As the king and his companions made their waytoward Bridport, a company of soldiers was on their trail. How and why that came to pass I will save foranother post. But the king and his partywere feeling spooked, and decided to leave the main road whenever they had theopportunity, and find their way back to Trent. So when they came to Lee Lane, a small track branching off the main roadnear Bradpole, they took it, although none of them knew the area. They were to learn later that taking thisalternate route had saved them from certain capture by the troop of cavalry thathad thundered by only a few minutes after they left the Dorchester Road. This bit of serendipity came to be known as theMiraculous Divergence.

1911 re-enactment of the Miraculous Divergence
West Dorset Pageant, July 20, 21, 22
from A.M. Broadley's The Royal Miracle

Stone placed by A.M. Broadley, 1911
to commemorate the Miraculous Divergence

Having taken an unfamiliar road, Charles and his companionsdidn’t know where they were when they reached a village out in the country aboutfour miles from Lyme. Wyndham went in tothe inn, the George, to make inquiries, and by good luck it turned out that he knew theinnkeeper, and knew him to be a staunch Royalist. He told the man that he and hisbrother-in-law, Bullen Reymes, who Wilmot strikingly resembled, had brokentheir paroles by being more than five miles from home and needed a quiet placeto spend the night. The innkeeper putthe party in the top story of the inn and brought them supper himself.

George Inn, Broadwindsor
drawing by Alan Fea, from The Flight of the King

Now came another scare. A detachment of the Cromwellian Colonel Haines’s regiment, on its way tothe coast to ship for Jersey, arrived at the inn at Broadwindsor. Now Charles and his companions weretrapped. But as happened so often duringhis odyssey, a piece of bad luck was balanced with an astonishingly good one,at least for the king. A woman with thesoldiers went into labor. The local authoritiesfound out about it, and fearing the parish would end up bearing the costof caring for the mother and child, they arrived at the inn to confront thesoldiers, and “there arose a very hot conflict.” While the poor woman was in labor in thekitchen, “this dispute continued till such time as … they were to march to theseaside.” So everyone who might havetaken notice of the fugitive king was too busy to notice him. Once more, Charles had dodged a bullet.

Outbuilding at George Inn, Broadwindsor
drawing by Alan Fea from The Flight of the King

September 22, 1651 - off to Charmouth

2011-09-26T17:17:00.000-07:00

On September 22 Charles set out for Charmouth, with JulianaConingsby riding pillion behind him as Jane Lane had done, so that he seemed tobe her manservant. As Anne Wyndhamwrote, Colonel Frank Wyndham “was his majesty’s guide, whilst the Lord Wilmot,with [Wyndham’s servant] Peters, kept at a convenient distance, that they mightnot seem to be all of one company.

“In this manner travelling, they were timely met by CaptainEllesden, and by him conducted to a private house of his brother’s among thehills, near Charmouth. There his majestywas pleased to discover himself to the captain, and to give him a piece offoreign gold, in which in his solitary hours he made a hole to put a ribbon in.”

Ellesden's Farm
from the 1908 edition of Allan Fea's The Flight of the King

Captain Ellesden accompanied the royal party to the Queen's Arms, the little inn at Charmouth, to wait in the room that Peters had reservedfor the supposed runaway bridal party.

The Queen's Arms as it appaeared in the early 19th century
from The Flight of the King

The plan, as Charles told Samuel Pepys years later, was that StephenLimbry’s boat was “to come out of the Cobb at Lyme, and come to a Little Crickthat was just by this Village,” and that Limbry would send the “Boate a Shoareto take is in at the said Creck and carry us over to France, the winde beingthen very good in the North.”

Interior of the Queen's Arms
from The Flight of the King

About an hour after Ellesden took leave of the king, accordingto Anne Wyndham, “came Limbry to the inn, and assured the colonel all thingswere prepared, and that about midnight his long-boat should wait at the placeappointed. The set hour drawing nigh,the colonel, with Peters, went to the sea-side (leaving his majesty and theLord Wilmot in a posture to come away upon call.”

The Queen's Arms
from The Flight of the King

September 20 and 21, 1651 - a new plan!

2011-09-22T22:48:00.000-07:00

After more setbacks, Charles now had a new plan. His host Frank Wyndham had arranged for aboat to put in at Charmouth on the night of September 22, which would carry theCharles and Wilmot to a waiting ship bound for France.

Wyndham’s first idea had been that the king’s party shouldtravel to Lyme during the day and then go to Charmouth after dark. But Captain Ellesden had pointed out thatthere would be a fair in Lyme that Monday, and though a crowd of people mightmake one more stranger less obvious, it was likely that the recent proclamationof a reward for the king’s capture would be repeated at the fair. It would be safer for Charles and Wilmot togo directly to Charmouth and wait at the inn there until the boat came in.

But, as Anne Wyndham wrote, “Necessary it was that hismajesty and all his attendants (contrary to the use of travellers) should situp all the night at the inn at Charmouth; that they ought to have command ofthe house to go in and out at pleasure, the tide not serving till twelve atnight.”

Charles and Wilmot were now old hands at cooking upingenious schemes. On Saturday,September 20, “Henry Peters (Colonel Wyndham’s servant) was sent to Charmouthinn, who inviting the hostess to drink a glass of wine, told her that he serveda very gallant master, who had long most affectionately loved a lady in Devon;and had the happiness to be well loved by her; and though her equal in birthand fortune, yet so unequal was his fate, that by no means could he obtain herfriends’ consent, and therefore it was agreed between them that he should carryher thence and marry her among his own allies; and for this purpose his masterhad sent him to desire her to keep the best chambers for him, intending to beat her house upon the two and twentieth day of that month in the evening, wherehe resolved not to lodge, but only to refresh himself and friends, and sotravel on either that night or very early next morning. With this love story (thus contrived andacted), together with a present delivered by Peters from his master, thehostess was so well pleased, that she promised him her house and servantsshould be at his master’s command.”

Charmouth, a village near Lyme on the Dorset coast, wasabout 28 miles southwest of Trent. Charles needed a way to get there without drawing suspicion. Riding with Jane Lane in the persona of herservant Will Jackson had successfully allowed him to hide in plain sight before,but unfortunately, Jane and her cousin Henry Lascelles were now gone. Fortunately, Lady Wyndham’s niece JulianaConingsby was at the Wyndhams’ house, and she was cast in the role of therunaway bride, with Wilmot as her groom, and they would ride with the king whenthe time came.

St. Andrews Church from the window of Charles's room at Trent Manor

But the day of departure was not yet, so Charles remained inLady Wyndham’s rooms at Trent Manor. Thebeautiful medieval church of St. Andrews stands only a few hundred feet fromthe manor house, and its steeple is clearly visible from the room where Charleswas staying. As he recounted to SamuelPepys years later, “One day dureing my stay at Trent I heareing the Bells ring(the church being hard by Frank Wyndham’s house) and seeing a Company gotttogether in the Church yard, I sent downe the maid of the House (who knew me)to enquire what the matter was. Who returning, came up and told me; that therewas a Rogue a Trooper come out of Cromwells Army that was telling the peoplethat he had killed me, and that that was my Buffe-Coate which he had thenon. Upon which most of the Village beingFanaticks, they were ringing the Bells and makeing a Bone-fyer for joy of it.”

A buff coat - Victoria and Albert Museum
Made of suede and worn as protection by soldiers, for hunting, etc.

The Rose and Crown, Trent

The king’s reaction to this horrifying story was, “Alas,poor people.” The celebration at hissupposed death must have been sobering, and increased his sense that he was farfrom home free.

Also only a stone’s throw from Trent Manor was – and is –the Rose and Crown, an inn and tavern that was built as lodging for the men building the steeple of the church in the fourteenth century.It would certainly have been a gathering place for the locals and any visitors, including the many Parliamentary soldiers in the area and in nearby Sherborne, and that Saturday night, after the rowdy gathering outside the church, was particularly dangerous.(Heather, the present landlady of the Rose and Crown, told Alice and me that Royalist troopers – ghosts – still gather in the pub at night. They’re friendly, she says, but still, she doesn’t go downstairs when she senses they’re there.)

The back of the Rose and Crown, Trent

Heather, the landlady at the Rose and Crown,
who introduced us to Mrs. Hohler at the manor house

Rose and Crown
the old part, where the ghosts sit

Dinner at the Rose and Crown
one of the best meals I've had anywhere!

Steps at church in Trent

But not all the neighbors were enemies. Anne Wyndham related that “Upon the Sundaymorning after the king came to Trent, a tailor of the parish informed thecolonel that the zealots (which swarmed in that place) discoursed over nightthat persons of quality were hid in his house; and that they intended to searchand seize them; and therefore he desired the colonel (if any such there were)to convey them thence, to avoid surprisal. The colonel (rewarding the good man for his care and kindness towardhimself and family) told him that his kinsman (meaning the Lord Wilmot) was notprivate, but public in his house (for so his lordship pleased to be), and thathe believed he would show himself in the church at the time of prayers.

St. Andrew's Church, Trent

Chest at St. Andrew's Church, Trent - note date of 1629

“When the honest fellow was gone, the colonel acquaints theking what passed between himself and the tailor, and withal besought hismajesty to persuade the Lord Wilmot to accompany him to church, thinking bythis means, not only to lessen the jealousy, but also to gain the good opinionof some of the fanaticks, [as Wyndham] … seldom came to that place sincefaction and rebellion had justled out and kept possession against peace andreligion.”

St. Andrew's Church, Trent

“…These reasons, joined with his majesty’s command,prevailed with his lordship; and (though he thought it a bold adventure, yet)it not only allayed the fury, but also took out the very sting of those wasps,insomuch that they, who the last night talked of nothing but searching, begannow to say that Cromwell’s late success against the king had made the colonel aconvert.”

Side of carved pew, St. Andrew's Church, Trent

Apparently the ruse worked. No one came to search Trent Manor, and later, “all being now quiet aboutthe home, the colonel’s lady (under pretence of a visit) goes over to Sherbornto hear what news there was abroad of the king. And towards evening, at herreturn, a troop of horse clapt privately into the town. This silent way ofentering their quarters, in so triumphant a time, gave a strong alarm to thiscareful lady whose thoughts were much troubled concerning her royal guest. A stop she made to hearken out what broughtthem thither, and whither they were bound, but not one grain of intelligencecould be procured by the most industrious enquiry. When she came home, she gave his majesty anaccount of many stories, which like flying clouds were blown about by thebreath of the people, striving to cover her trouble with the veil ofcheerfulness. But the king … was earnestto know the cause of her discomposure, and to satisfy his majesty’simportunity, she gave him a full relation of the troop at Sherborn, at whichhis majesty laughed most heartily, as if he had not been in the leastconcerned.”

“Yet upon a serious debate of the matter, the colonel andhis lady supplicated the king to take a view of his privy chamber into which hewas persuaded to enter, but came presently forth again, much pleased that, uponthe least approach of danger, he could thither retreat with an assurance ofsecurity.

View out of closet with priest hole
Trent Manor

Detail of wood paneling at Trent Manor

“All that night the colonel kept strict watch in his house,and was the more vigilant because he understood from Sherborn that the troopintended not to quarter there, but only to refresh themselves and march. Andaccordingly (not so much as looking toward Trent) about two of the clock thenext morning, they removed toward the sea coast. This fear being over, the king rested all thetime of his stay at Trent, without so much as the apprehension of adisturbance.”

September 18 and 19, 1651 - safe at Trent Manor

2011-09-19T11:19:00.000-07:00

On the dayafter Charles arrived at Trent with Jane Lane and Henry Lascelles, it seemedthat he was close to finally escaping from England. Frank Wyndham expected to be able to find aboat to carry the king away, so Jane and Henry set off for home in Staffordshire after nine eventful days riding with Charles.

A 1660 broadsheet recounting Charles's escape

Wyndham rodeto Melbury to seek help from Sir John Strangways, and found Sir John’s son,Colonel Giles Strangways. Anne Wyndhamlater wrote, “They walked into the park adjoining the house, where ColonelWyndham imparted the reason and end of his present visit. Colonel Strangways’ answer was, that he wasinfinitely grieved, because he was not able to serve his majesty in procuring avessel according to expectation; that he knew not any one master of a ship, orso much as one mariner that he could trust, all that were formerly of hisacquaintance in Weymouth being for their loyalty banished and gone beyond thesea; and in Pool and Lime he was a mere stranger, having not one confident ineither. A hundred pounds in gold hedelivered to Colonel Wyndham, to present to the king, which at his return, bycommand, was deposited in the hands of the Lord Wilmot for his majesty’s use.”

View of garden from Charles's room at Trent

Wyndham wentback to Trent to give Charles the gold and convey the bad news that the Strangwaysfamily had not been able to provide a boat, but that Giles Strangways had toldhim that “one Captain William Ellesden of Lime (formerly well known unto him)with his brother John Ellesden … had conveyed over into France Sir John Berkley(afterward Lord Berkley) in time of danger.” Ellesden was apparently a merchantwho had been a captain in the king’s army during the war, rather than being anaval captain.

“To thiscaptain, therefore, his majesty sends the colonel, who … took an opportunity totell him that the Lord Wilmot had made his escape from Worcester, that he layprivately near to him, and that his lordship had earnestly solicited him to usehis utmost endeavors to secure him from the hands of his pursuers.” According to Charles, Wyndham was “forced toacquaint him that it was I that was to be carryed out.”

Berries growing in Trent

At any rate,according to Mrs. Wyndham, “the captain very cordially embraced the motion, andwent with the colonel to Charmouth (a little place near Lime), where, at aninn, he brought to him a tenant of his, one Stephen Limbry, assuring thecolonel that he was a right honest man and a perfect royalist. With this Limbry, Colonel Wyndham treatedunder the name of Captain Norris, and agreed with him to transport himself andthree or four friends into France. Theconditions of their agreement were: that before the two and twentieth day ofthat instant September, Limbry should bring his vessel into Charmouth road, andon the two and twentieth, in the night, should receive the colonel and hiscompany into his long-boat from the beach near Charmouth, from thence carrythem to his ship, and so land them safe in France. This the colonel conjured Limbry to performwith all secrecy, because all the passengers were of the royal party… Limbry’ssalary was sixty pounds, which the captain engaged to pay at his return fromFrance, upon sight of a certificate under the passengers’ hands of theirlanding there.”

Wyndham then“came back to his majesty and the Lord Wilmot, to Trent, who at the narrationof these passages, expressed no small contentment.”

View of garden from Charles's room at Trent

Charles wasspending his time at Trent cooped up in Lady Wyndham’s chamber, cooking food forhimself and boring holes into coins to give to people as souvenirs, and nodoubt trying to believe that somehow he would actually be able to get out of the country and to safety.

September 17, 1651 - Charles arrives at Trent

2011-09-18T17:47:00.001-07:00

Trent Manor, 2009

Charles, Jane Lane, and Henry Lascelles arrived at Trent on September 17. Colonel Francis and Anne Wyndham had gone for a walk that morning to keep an eye out for the king. When Charles spotted them he called out, “Frank! Frank! How dost thou do!”

Road near Trent Manor

“By which gracious pleasances the colonel perceived,” as his wife wrote later, “that though his majesty’s habit and countenance were much changed, yet his heroic spirit was the same, and his mind immutable.”

Wall and yard at rear of Trent Manor

The Wyndhams welcomed Jane Lane and Henry Lascelles at the front of the house, ostensibly as visiting relatives, while Charles was brought in quietly, probably by taking the horses around back in his persona as Jane’s servant Will Jackson.

Trent Manor, 2009

“The colonel (to avoid the jealous eyes of some neighbors) instantly conveyed the king and Mrs. Lane into the Lady Wyndham’s chamber, where the passions of joy and sorrow did a while combat in them who beheld his sacred person; for what loyal eye could look upon so glorious a prince thus eclipsed, and not pay unto him the homage of tears? But the consideration of his majesty’s safety, the gracious words of his own mouth confuting the sad reports of his untimely death, together with the hope of his future preservation, soon dried them up.”

During my research trip in the autumn of 2009, Margaret Hohler, the present owner of Trent Manor, graciously welcomed my friend Alice and me not only into her home but into her own bedroom, where Charles spent his time at Trent. It is a charming and beautiful sun-filled upstairs room with honey-colored wood paneled walls and a window looking out over the garden and the nearby St. Andrews Church, which will figure in the story in the next couple of days.

The room where Charles stayed at Trent Manor

Me in the room with the priest hole
photo by Alice Northgreaves

Hatch over priest hole

Closet with priest hole,
looking out into bedchamber
from The Flight of the King

There is a smaller room off the main bedchabmer, with a closet-sized room in which there is a hatch in the floor leading to the priest hole.

Looking into the priest hole at Trent Manor

When Charles was at Trent, a staircase obscured
the entrance to the little room with the priest hole

The lovely Mrs. Hohler in the door of
another bedroom at Trent Manor

There are outbuildings still standing that would have been there in Charles’s time, including a dovecote, a structure containing holes in the wall for doves or pigeons to roost in.

Outbuildings at Trent Manor

The dovecote

Dovecote ceiling

Wilmot and his man Swan also arrived at Trent, and once again there was a conference about how to get Charles out of the country. Wyndham said that Sir John Strangways "who had given many testimonies of his loyalty, having two sons, both of them colonels" for Charles I, and wholived four miles away at Melbury Court, was likely to have connections to people in the coastal trade or maybe even own some boats that might be used for the king’s escape. He proposed to ride the next day to consult Sir John.

Interior wall of the dovecote

Barn or stables at Trent Manor

Then Wyndham, who had only recently been paroled from imprisonment in Weymouth for political reasons, “entertained and encouraged his majesty with this remarkable passage of Sir Thomas Wyndham (his father), who, not long before his death (in the year 1636), called unto him his five sons (having not seen them together in some years before) and discoursed … of the loving peace and prosperity the kingdom had enjoyed under its three last glorious monarchs … and notwithstanding the strange mutations and changes in England, he showed how it pleased God, in love to our nation, to preserve an undoubted succession of kings to sit on the regal throne. He mentioned the healing conjunctions of the two houses of York and Lancaster, and the blessed union of the two crowns of England and Scotland, stopping up those fountains of blood which, by national feuds and quarrels kept open, had like to have drowned the whole island.”

Another view of Trent Manor

Old Wyndham went on to tell his sons “We have hitherto seen serene and quiet times, but now prepare yourselves for cloudy and troublesome. I command you to honour and obey our gracious sovereign, and in all times to adhere to the crown; and though the crown should hang upon a bush, I charge you forsake it not.”

At Trent Manor, 2009
photo by Alice Northgreaves

Cobbles in yard behind Trent Manor
photo by Alice Northgreaves

Apparently the Wyndham boys hadn’t weren’t familiar with the story of the crown left hanging on a bush when Richard III was killed on the field at Bosworth, and Henry VII plucking it up, for when their father left, they were “in deep consultation what the meaning should be of ‘the crown hanging upon a bush.’” But the main message was clear, and Frank told Charles, “Certainly these are the days which my father pointed out … and, I doubt not, God hath brought me through so many dangers, that I might show myself both a dutiful son and a loyal subject, in faithfully endeavoring to serve your sacred majesty in this your greatest distress.”

Looking out the window of Charles's room at Trent

It may have been when Charles arrived at Trent that he learned several pieces of bad news. His friend the Earl of Derby, who had suggested Boscobel as a hiding place, had been arrested shortly after parting from Charles as they fled from Worcester, had been charged with treason, and would shortly be tried, which would certainly end in his execution.

William, Duke of Hamilton

On September 12, the day Charles had arrived at Abbots Leigh, the Duke of Hamilton had died of the wounds he sustained during the Battle of Worcester. And on September 16 the Council of State had issued an order for the apprehension of Charles Stuart.

William, Duke of Hamilton

September 15 and 16, 1651 - Castle Cary and Trent

2011-09-16T18:08:00.000-07:00

View from grounds of Abbots Leigh

The timing of the events at Abbots Leigh is a little unclear. It may have been on Monday, September 15 rather than Sunday when Ellen Norton miscarried her baby and an excuse had to be found for Jane to leave.

In any event, the morning after that, Charles set out for Trent, accompanied by Jane Lane and Henry Lascelles. They planned to spend the night at the home of Edward Kyrton, steward to William Seymour, the Marquess of Hertford. The Marquess had had been a privy counselor to Charles I and was one of four peers who remained with the king through his trial and acted as pallbearers at his funeral. He had also commanded troops at several important actions during the war and been governor to young Charles, then Prince of Wales. In that capacity, he had declined to agree to Parliament's order to ensure that Charles "bee not carried out of the kingdome," and as of 1651 he had been ordered to remain at one of his houses in Wiltshire, and his eldest son Lord Beauchamp was imprisoned in the Tower from April to September 1651. His steward was likely to provide a safe haven for the fugitive king.

Castle Cary, October 2009

The George, Castle Cary

Kyrton lived at Castle Cary, a village about thirty miles south of Abbots Leigh. When Alice and I were following in Charles and Jane’s footsteps in the autumn of 2009 and trying to discover where Kyrton’s home had been, we followed what had served us so far in looking for locations – we went into the pub in Castle Cary to ask.

The patrons of the George directed us to Ansford, an adjoining village, saying that the house was covered with bushes or ivy. We found what we think was the house, called Laydocks. It is on a hill with sweeping views, and Glastonbury Tor is visible in the distance, prompting me to have Charles comment upon it in my book.

Road in Ansford where Kyrton's house is

The house where Charles stayed at Ansford - I think!

View from house at Ansford
Glastonbury Tor in the disance somewhere

Sign at Laydocks, the house supposedly belonging to Edward Kyrton

Wilmot had stopped at Castle Cary on his way to Trent to let Kyrton know that three people needing quiet accommodation would be arriving later that day. Kyrton certain would have known Charles, so it’s likely Wilmot acknowledged that it was the king who would be staying in the house.

On the other hand, Wilmot’s ideas about when to be secretive were a little odd. As Charles was riding with Jane and Henry Lascelles to Castle Cary, Wilmot was making his way to Trent. When he got to the home of Francis Wyndham, he sent in Henry Rogers, the man accompanying him who was servant to the sister of Anne Wyndham, Francis’s wife.

Outbuilding at Trent Manor, October 31, 2009

According to Mrs. Wyndham’s account, Rogers told Wyndham “that a gentleman, a friend of his, desired the favour of him that he would please to step forth and speak with him. The Colonel enquired of Rogers whether he knew the gentleman or his business. [Rogers] answered no; he understood nothing at all, but only that he was called by the name of Mr. Morton.

Trent Manor, October 31, 2009

Then, without further discourse, the Colonel came forth, and found the gentleman walking near the stable, whom, as soon as he approached (although it was somewhat dark) he saluted by the title of Lord Wilmot.

Brick outbuilding at Trent Manor

His Lordship seemed to wonder that he should be known; but it was nothing strange, considering the Colonel’s former acquaintance with him, being one of the first that engaged under his command in his late majesty’s service; besides, his Lordship was not in the least altered, except a hawk on his fist, and a lure by his side, might pass for a disguise. This confidence of his Lordship really begat admiration in the Colonel, calling to mind the great danger he was in, and whose harbinger he was; for he advertised the Colonel that the King himself was on his way to Trent, intending that very night to lodge at Castle Cary … hoping by God’s assistance to be with him about ten of the clock next morning.”

Old outbuilding at Trent Manor

Yard at rear of Trent Manor

Showing how slowly and inaccurately news traveled, Wyndham had heard that Charles had been killed at Worcester, so “At this joyful news the Colonel was transported … and giving God thanks for his wonderful mercy, he assured his Lordship, That for his Majesties preservation he would value neither his life, his family, nor fortune, and would never injure his Majesties confidence of him; Not doubting, but that God who had led his Majesty through the midst of such inexpressable dangers, would deliver him from all these barbarous threats, and bloody inventions of his enemies. With these & suchlike expressions, the Colonel brought the Lord Wilmot into his parlour, where he received an exact account of his Majesties condition & present affairs.”

Hall and stairs of Trent Manor today

Wyndham had a large household – twenty-six people, which probably included quite a lot of servants – and the fewer of them who would be around for the king’s arrival the better. The only people let into the secret were his wife, his mother Lady Wyndham, her visiting niece Juliana Coningsby, two maids named Eleanor Withers and Joan Halsenoth, and a serving man named Henry Peters. Wyndham made plans to get everyone else out of the way the next morning, planning to lodge the king in his mother’s rooms, “where the servants might wait with most freedom upon his Majesty” and where “a safe place is provided to retreat unto, in case of search, or imminent danger.” Charles had found another house with a priest hole.

Trent Manor

September 14, 1651 - an unexpected tragedy

2011-09-14T22:51:00.000-07:00

View downhill from Abbots Leigh

Lord Wilmot, making his way from Packington to Abbots Leigh with his man Robert Swan, had run across an old friend, Captain Thomas Abingdon, who accompanied Wilmot to the home of his friend John Winter at Dyrham, only a few hours’ ride from Wilmot’s destination. Winters in turn had sent his servant Henry Rogers to guide Wilmot and Swan to Abbots Leigh. John Pope, the butler at Abbots Leigh, had intercepted them on the night of September 13 and lodged them in the village so Wilmot would not be recognized by members of the household who would be sure to ask questions about Worcester and might put two and two together if they noted the strange dark serving man who had arrived with Jane Lane.

Road at Abbots Leigh

When Pope learned that there would be no ships for France or Spain leaving from Bristol within a month, Charles once more had to come up with a new plan. Pope had sneaked Wilmot into the house late on Saturday night, and Charles conferred with them about what to do now.

Pope reminded him that Trent, a village in Dorset not far from the southern coast, was the home of Francis Wyndham, an ardent Royalist and the brother of Sir Edmund Wyndham, who had been governor of Bridgwater during the war, and whose wife Christabella had been nurse to Charles when he was a boy.

Charles II as a young boy with his siblings

Pope suggested that Francis Wyndham would surely be willing to shelter the king and help him find a boat from one of the southern fishing ports. And fortuitously, Rogers’s mistress, Mrs. Winter, was the sister of Francis Wyndham’s wife, so he could go along as guide.

Present house at Abbots Leigh, October 2009

Stone wall with ivy, Abbots Leigh

A new plan was now put into action. Wilmot and Swan would ride ahead to Trent to alert the Wyndhams, and the next day, Charles would set out with Jane, Henry Lascelles, and Rogers, spending a night at Castle Cary before arriving in Trent.

Trees at Abbots Leigh

But that afternoon, an unexpected tragedy struck that threw a further complication into Charles’s escape. The original purpose of Jane Lane’s trip to Abbots Leigh had been to be there when her friend Ellen Norton gave birth to her first baby. But on the afternoon of Sunday, September 14, Ellen "fell into Labour and miscarry'd of a dead Child, and was very ill."

17th century anatomical model of
pregnant woman possibly used by midwives
Wellcome Library, London

As Charles recalled, they “could not tell how in the world to finde an excuse for Mrs. Lane to leave her Cousen in that condition,” but “it was not safe to stay longer there, when there was soe greate resort of disaffected Idle people.” Charles couldn’t leave on his own – Jane was part of his disguise, and it would look very suspicious if her serving man rode off suddenly without her. Moreover, Wilmot had already left, and if Charles did not arrive at Trent as expected, it was likely that Wilmot, Wyndham, and others might put themselves in grave danger riding back to find him.

Charles, consulting with Lascelles, came up with a scheme worthy of a Restoration comedy: “to counterfeit a Letter [to Jane] … to tell her that her Father was extreamly ill and commanded her to come away immeadiately for feare that she should not otherwise finde him alive. Which letter Pope delivered soe well while they were all at Supper, and Mrs. Lane playing her part soe dexterously, that all believed Old Mr. Lane to be indeed in great danger, and gave his Daughter the Excuse to goe away with me the very next morning early.”

Jane Lane
from The Flight of the King

Poor Ellen. Poor Jane. None of the men who wrote their versions of these events set down how the women felt, but it is a matter of recorded fact that when the party set out in the morning, Jane was not riding behind Charles, but on the other horse, with her cousin Henry. Too heartbroken and angry to ride with the king is what that looks like to me.

September 13, 1651 - danger at Abbots Leigh

2011-09-13T23:08:00.000-07:00

Present building at Abbots Leigh

Saturday, September 13 began with a scare, and I don’t think I can improve on Charles’s description of the day’s events.

The buttery was the place where the butts, or barrels,
of beer were kept, and could be used as an informal eating place.

“I rose pretty early, haveing a very good Stomach, and went to the Buttery-Hatch to gett my Breakefast, where I found Pope and 2 or 3 other men in the roome, and we all fell to eateing bread and Butter, to which he gave us a very good Ale and Sack.

The buttery hatch was where food and drink could be
handed outfrom the buttery.
Buttery Hatch, Clive House, Shrewsbury

And as I was sitting there, there was one that looked like a country fellow satt just by me, who talking gave soe particular an Account of the Battle of Worcester to the rest of the Company, that I concluded he must be one of Cromwell’s soldiers. But I asking him how he came to give soe good an Account of that Battle, he told me that he was in the King’s Regiment. By which I thought he meant one Coll. Kings Regiment. But questioning him further, I perceived that he had been in my Regiment of Guards in Major Broughtons Company, that was my Major in the Battel. I asked him what kinde of a man I was, to which he answered by describeing exactly both my Cloathes and my Horse and then looking upon me he told me that the King was at least 3 fingers taller than I. Upon which I made what hast I could out of the Buttery, for feare he should indeed know me, as being more afraid when I knew he was one of our owne Soldiers then when I took him for one of the Enemys.So Pope and I went into the Hall, and just as we came into it, Mrs. Norton was comeing by through it. Upon which, I plucking of my Hatt, and Standing with my Hatt in my hand as she past by, I observed, just as I was putting off my Hatt, that Pope looked very earnestly in my Face. But I tooke noe notice of it, but put on my Hatt againe, and went away, walking out of the House into the field.

By "hall" Charles meant the great hall, a common feature of \
medieval and Tudor houses, such as this one at Gainsburgh Hall, Lincoln

I had not been out half an hower, but comeing back I went up to the Chamber where I lay; And just as I came thether, Mr. Lassells came to me, and in a little trouble said What shall we doe? I am affraid Pope knows you, for he says very possitively to me that it is you, but I have denyed it. Upon which I presently without more adoe asked him whether he was a very honest man or noe; whereto he answering me that he knew him to be soe honest a fellow that he durst trust him with his Life, as having beene always on our Side, I thought it better to trust him then goe away leaveing that Suspicion upon him; and thereupon sent for Pope and told him that I was very glad to meete him there and would trust him with my life as an Old acquaintance.

"Upon which, being a discreet fellow he asked me what I intended to doe, for sayes he, I am extreamely happy I know you, for otherwise you might run greate danger in this House. For though my Maister and Mistress are good people, yet there are at this tyme 1 or 2 in it that are very great Rogues, and I thinck I can be usefull to you in any thing you will command me. Upon which, I told him my designe of getting a ship (if possible) at Bristoll, and to that end bad him goe that very day immeadiately to Bristoll to see if there were any Shipps goeing either to Spain or France that I might get a passage away in.

View from grounds of Abbots Leigh

Brick outbuilding at Abbots Leigh, October 2009

Abbots Leigh, stone wall in garden

Portrait of Charles on snuff box he gave to Jane Lane

I told him also that my Lord Willmot was comeing to meet me here (for he and I had agreed at Coll. Lanes, and were to meete this (very) day at Nortons); upon which, Pope told me that it was most fortunate that he knew me and had heard this from me, for that if my Lord Willmot should have come hither he would have beene most certainly knowne to Severall people in the House; and therefore he would goe and accordingly went out and mett my Lord Willmott a Myle or two off of the House, carrying him to an Ale-House not farr off, where he lodged him till it was night, and then brought him hither by a back Door into my Chamber, I still passing for a Serveing man.”

Trees at Abbots Leigh

Jane Lane

September 12, 1651 - adventures in Bristol

2011-09-12T22:14:00.000-07:00

Charles with Jane Lane and Henry Lascelles

17th century Bristol

On Friday, September 12, Charles, Jane Lane, and Henry Lascelles were on the last day of their ride toward Abbots Leigh, but it was also the most dangerous part of their journey. They would have to pass through Bristol, which was not only a port city likely to be closely watched, heavily populated by soldiers, but also where Charles had spent a lot of time during the war. Now he was a 21-year-old man rather than the boy of not quite sixteen who had left, but still it was risky.

Part of Millerd's 1673 plan of Bristol

They rode southwest from Cirencester without incident, passing through Tetbury and Chipping Sodbury before they entered Bristol by Lawford’s Gate.

St. John's Gate, another of the medieval gates of Bristol

Charles was curious to see what had become of the fortifications made to Bristol by the Royalists after the surrender to Cromwell, and insisted on a detour. He got lost, and had to ask for directions. Nevertheless, he and his companions passed through the city unmolested and by late afternoon, reached Abbots Leigh, the home of Jane’s friend Ellen Norton, about three miles outside the city.

The Gatehouse at Abbots Leigh
about 1770

When they rode up to the great home, perched atop a hill, a game of bowls was in progress on the lawn, and several observers were gathered to watch. They had already determined that it would be best to keep Charles away from the many servants of the household, so Jane told her friend that her man Jackson was getting over an ague and was still weak, and asked that he be given a comfortable room with a fire, or “this boy will never recover.” Charles thought that “my late Fatigues and want of meate had indeed made me look a little pale.”

Two views of Abbots Leigh in about 1770. It was torn down in 1814 to make way for a new house.

Mrs. Norton’s solicitousness presented unanticipated dangers. Her butler, John Pope, who directed the maid Margaret Rider to see that Charles got supper and a posset, had not only been a servant to Thomas Jermyn, who had been Groom of the Bedchamber to Charles when he was “a boy at Richmond,” he had also served under Jane Lane’s uncle Colonel Hervey Bagot at Lichfield during the war, so he had certainly seen the king many times. Moreover, Dr. Gorge, a physician and parson who came to examine Jane’s ostensibly sick servant, had been chaplain to Charles’s father, Charles I.

At least Charles knew that he was among ardent Royalists. And he was anticipating Lord Wilmot's arrival at the house any time, and expected that Wilmot would quickly be able to find a ship to carry them both to safety in France or Spain.

Broadsheet showing the Battle at Worcester,
Charles with the Penderel brothers, Charles
riding withJane Lane and Henry Lascelles
and the boat to France.

September 10 and 11, 1651 - Charles Rides with Jane Lane

2011-09-10T22:20:00.000-07:00

Charles arrived at Bentley Hall around midnight on Tuesday, September 9. The Lane family was not Catholic, so there was no priest hole, so he likely spent the night in servants’ quarters, or possibly in the main house.

Bentley Hall in 1686. Summer house on the left,
banqueting house and stables on the right.

Miniature of Col. John Lane and
pouncet box given to Jane Lane by Charles

The Lanes of Bentley Hall became involved in the king’s escape because Jane Lane, who was probably about 25 years old at the time, had a pass allowing her and a serving man to travel to visit a friend at Abbots Leigh, near Bristol.

The original plan had been that Charles would make his way to Wales and find a ship from there, and that his friend Lord Wilmot would ride with Jane, pretending to be her servant, and he would set sail from Bristol. But now it was the king himself who would be riding with Jane, in the persona of Will Jackson, the son of a tenant farmer of the Lanes.

Jane Lane about 1652.
This portrait hangs at Mosely Old Hall and is used
by gracious permission of the National Trust.

On the face of it, the plan seemed wildly implausible. Charles was Public Enemy Number One to Cromwell’s government. He was six feet two inches and dark complexioned – not at all typical looking – there were soldiers looking for him everywhere, and there were notices posted in every village in England describing him – and noting the likelihood that he would be in disguise – and offering a vast reward for turning him in. Moreover, his travels up to this point, only a few miles at a time, had taken place secretly and at night. Now he would be riding a hundred miles in broad daylight on publicly traveled roads.

Stables at Bentley Hall, about 1908

Sometime before dawn on September 10, Charles bathed, shaved, trimmed his hair more neatly, and put on the Sunday-best grey broadcloth suit of clothes that a tenant farmer’s son might own. He also got a pair of shoes that fit him.

Stables at Bentley, about 1908, from The Flight of the King.
It was here that Charles's and Lord Wilmot's horses were hidden
while Wilmot was at Moseley, which was close to the road.

In the morning, the party was ready to set out. Jane Lane was to ride with Charles, and her cousin Henry Lascelles, a Royalist soldier, was going along for extra protection. But a last-minute complication was that Jane’s sister Withy and her husband John Petres decided to ride with Jane for the first part of her journey, making their way home to Buckinghamshire. And they didn’t know that the servant accompanying Jane was actually the fugitive king.

An old print showing Jane Lane, riding pillion
behind Charles, and Henry Lascelles

Hunting and hawking

Jane’s brother John and Lord Wilmot were to set out shortly after the first party, ostensibly going to visit John’s friend Sir Clement Fisher (and Jane's future husband) at Packington in Warwickshire for some hunting. That way they could catch up to the king and his companions but stay at a distance, so they could have the royal party within sight for a few hours. Throughout the king’s travels, Lord Wilmot, though he was a wanted man, disdained to wear a disguise, saying it would “look frightfully.” A hawk on his wrist was as much of a costume as he was willing to put on, which at least in this instance was suitable.

Packingon Old Hall
Jane's home after she married Sir Clement Fisher in 1663.

Packington Old Hall, Meriden, Warwickshire, where Wilmot
and John Lane went to see Jane's future husband, Sir Clement Fisher.

Jane Lane was to ride pillion behind Charles. This was a common mode of transportation for centuries – the man riding astride the horse and controlling it, his female passenger behind him, seated facing sideways on a pillion, a pad or saddle which was attached to the rear of the saddle and secured under the horse’s tail with a crupper, and her feet on a little shelf called a planchette hanging down to one side.

Steve and Jean Emmit. She is riding pillion.
As you can see, the lady has to snuggle up to the man. Sexy!

Photo provided by Natalie Wooldridge.

The first test of the king’s disguise came immediately. He offered his arm to Jane to help her onto the horse, but he gave her the wrong arm. Her mother asked her brother scornfully what simpleton he had got to accompany Jane that didn’t know how to help a lady mount.

Photos of pillions from In the Saddle,
provided by Mike Glasson of the Walsall Leather Museum

The sun rose on a clear and beautiful day, and Charles must have felt more hopeful than he had since before the battle. Jane, Henry, and the king were to spend the first night in Long Marston, at the home of the Lanes’ cousins John and Amy Tomes. They rode southwest from Bentley, through Darlaston, Pleck and Quinton. But less than two hours after they had left, Jane’s horse threw a shoe. This was the equestrian equivalent of a flat tire – it simply wasn’t possible to ride very far without having the horse re-shod.

Fortunately, not far ahead lay the village of Bromsgrove, and a blacksmith. (During my research trip in 2009 my friend Alice and I were directed to the Black Cross as being the inn to which the smithy was attached).

Alice in front of the Black Cross, the inn
at Bromsgrove

The old smithy at the Black Cross at Bromsgrove

As Charles was posing as a servant, it was up to him to take the horse to be attended to, which he almost certainly had never done, and here he was to come face to face for the first time with people who might recognize him. The Penderels had coached him so that he moved more like a countryman than a king, and, as he was apparently a gifted mimic, he could imitate the local accent. He decided to see how well he could so, and described the incident to Samuel Pepys many years later.

Blacksmith's shop; early 20th century

"As I was holding my Horses Foot, I asked the smyth What Newes? He told me that there was noe newes that he knew of since the good newes of the beateing of the Rogues, the Scots. I asked him whether there was none of the English taken that joined with the Scots. He answered that he did not heere that that Rogue Charles Steward was taken. I told him that if that Rogue were taken he deserved to be hanged more then all the rest for bringing in the Scots. Upon which he said that I spoake like an honest man, and soe we parted.”

Jane Lane riding pillion behind Charles
from a painting at the Houses of Parliament

The party resumed its journey without event until about a mile before they got to Stratford-Upon-Avon, when an old woman in the fields by the side of the road called out to Charles, “Don’t you see that troop of cavalry ahead, Master?” Did she know who he was? He didn’t know. The worse problem was that there was a troop of horse stopped about half a mile ahead, “the Horses eateing some grass by the wayside, staying there … while their Muster-Maister was providing their Quarters. Mrs. Lanes sisters Husband … seeing this Troop of Horse just in our way, sayd, that for his part he would not goe by them, for he had been once or twice beaten by some of the Parliament Soldiers, and he would not Runn the venture again. I heareing him say soe begg’d Mrs. Lane softly in her Eare, that we might not turne back but goe on, for that the Enemy would certainly send after us to enquire who we were, if they should see us turne. But all she could say in the world would not doe, but her Brother-in-law turned quite round and went into Stradford another way, the troop of Horse being there just getting on Horse-back.” The king’s party had no choice this time but to ride among the cavalry blocking the narrow road, but this was the first of many times when Charles passed right under the noses of soldiers who were looking for him but failed to recognize him.

17th century cavalryman.
Photo from Xerones's photostream on Flickr.

The home of Jane's cousins John and Amy Tomes

Once over the River Avon, Jane’s sister and brother-in-law branched off toward their home, so that now Charles was accompanied only by Jane Lane and Henry Lascelles. They reached Long Marston, a little southwest of Stratford-Upon-Avon, without further problems, but at the home of Jane’s cousin, Charles had another adventure in everyday living. As a servant, his place was in the kitchen. The cook asked him to wind up the jack, a mechanical device used to turn a spit over a fire on which meat was roasted. He grasped the handle but turned it the wrong way, prompting the cook to snap, “What countryman are you that you know not how to wind up a jack?” Charles, thinking on his feet, said that he was a poor tenant farmer’s son, and that his family didn’t often eat roast meat, and when they did, they didn’t use a jack.

Fireplace in the Tomes house, Long Marston

Jack in the kitchen at Long Marston

Once more the king had successfully passed as someone far different than he was, and they were a third of the way to Bristol.

Tomes house in about 1908
sketch from The Flight of the King

Chipping Camden
old stone marketplace stall
October 2009

The next day was mercifully less eventful. Charles, Jane, and Henry Lascelles travelled on, south and west, through Chipping Camden and Stow-on-the-Wold, reaching Cirencester by nightfall. They stayed at the Crown Inn just off the marketplace, Charles sharing a bedroom with Henry, who of course gave the king the big bed and took the servant’s pallet for himself.

Cirencester in an old print

Fire iron in Crown Inn, Cirencester
with royal coat of arms, probably dating from 17th century

When Alice and I were following in Jane’s and Charles’s footsteps in the autumn of 2009, we had a couple of funny incidents involving the Crown Inn. We passed through the town on our way to Bristol, stopping only for a short walk around the market area. I popped in to a pub to use the loo, and we were on our way.

Cirencester marketplace, October 2009

Over the next day or two, I reread some of the accounts of the trip and noted that the Crown Inn was where our travelers had stayed. When we went back through Cirencester, we wanted to find the Crown – and discovered that it was the very place I’d ducked into a couple of evenings earlier. This time we stopped and had a meal and a pint there.

Interior of Crown Inn, Cirencester

I told the bar man about my book, and following Jane and Charles, and he proudly said, “That’s the window he jumped out of.” Baffled, I asked why Charles should have jumped out a window. I forget the exact answer, but I think it had to do with Bonnie Prince Charlie, who probably never stayed there. But a good story, nonetheless.

The Crown, Cirencester
Photo by Alice Northgreaves

Wall of church, Cirencester

Church wall, Cirencester

Church at Cirencester

Wheelbarrow outside church at Cirencester.
Note the stone cobbling of the marketplace.

September 9, 1651 - "The traitor, Charles Stuart"

2011-09-09T20:04:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, September 9, was a day in which the king’s position, already dangerous, grew considerably more so. Parliament issued a proclamation headed “A Reward of a Thousand Pounds for the Capture of the Traitor Charles Stuart,” which was to be posted all over England. The broadsheet went on, “For better discovery of him take notice of him to be a tall man above two yards high, his hair a deep brown, near to black, and has been, as we hear, cut off since the destruction of his army at Worcester, so that it is not very long. Expect him in disguise, and do not let any pass without a due and particular search, and look particularly to the by-creeks and places of embarkation in or belonging to your port.”

Charles in about 1651

The net was tightening. And that afternoon, Thomas Whitgreave heard that soldiers were approaching Moseley Hall with “Southall the priest catcher.” The king climbed into the priest hole, but that was no guarantee he would not be found, and his capture would certainly mean his death. Whitgreave made a bold gamble. He threw open all the doors of the house to show that he had nothing to hide, and met the soldiers when they arrived. They accused him of having been at the Battle of Worcester, but he denied it, and neighbors gathered to attest to the fact that Whitgreave had not been away from home at the time of the battle.

Of course the soldiers searched the house anyway, but didn’t discover the priest hole. One of them approached an ostler working in the yard and told him he could earn an easy thousand pounds by turning the king in. Luckily, the man didn’t know that Charles was hiding only yards away. Eventually the frustrated searching party left, but it was clear that every hour Charles remained in the neighborhood increased the likelihood he would be taken. Fortunately, all was in place for him to be moved to Bentley Hall that night and to depart in the morning.

Entrance to the chapel at Moseley Hall

Moseley Hall, view through garden gate
October 2009

Late that night, John Lane rode to Moseley and waited near a stile. Whitgreave met him there and then brought him to the corner of the orchard and went inside to get the king. Charles took leave of old Mrs. Whitgreave, Thomas’s mother, who gave him some almonds and raisins to take with him. He had already been given a catechism which he had admired as being a very pretty book. The night was cold, and Huddleston begged the king to take his cloak, which the king accepted, promising to send it back. Then John Lane, Lord Wilmot, Wilmot’s serving man Robert Swan, and the king set forth for Bentley, about eight miles away, arriving around midnight.

Bentley Hall in 1685

September 8, 1651 - safe at Moseley Hall

2011-09-08T22:33:00.000-07:00

Moseley Old Hall

Charles arrived at Moseley Hall late at night on Sunday, September 7, and stayed up until 4 or 5 a.m. eating biscuits and drinking sack with Thomas Whitgreave, the owner of Mosely, and Father John Huddleston, and giving them a long account of what had happened during his time in Scotland, the march toward Worcester, the battle, and what had happened to him since. Finally, with day breaking, he slept, with Huddleston and Whitgreave keeping guard.

"King's Bedroom" at Moseley Old Hall
from The Flight of the King

Back of Moseley Old Hall, October 2009

Moseley Hall in the 19th century

Moseley Hall, October 2009

In the morning, Whitgreave sent away his servants, except a Catholic maid, who was told only that a relative of the family who had escaped from Worcester was taking shelter in the house. Whitgreave then dispatched John Penderel to Bentley Hall to ask John Lane to bring Wilmot’s horses to the marle pit near Mosely about midnight so Wilmot could go to Bentley Hall and finalize the plans for the king’s journey to Bristol with Jane Lane.

Door of Moseley Hall, October 2009
Charles describes this door in his account

The attic of Mosely Hall, October 2009
the window looks down onto the road

Charles spent the day in the attic of the house, from which he could look down at the road and watch the wretched remains of his army making their way northward. The road passes so close by the house that Charles recognized one man from his own regiment of Scottish highlanders. Some of them came to the house, and Mrs. Whitgreave fed them and nursed them as best she could. They told her that they were subsisting on pea straw, cabbage stalks, and whatever they could find. The English had not been happy to have an army of Scots in their midst, and the poor soldiers were not only starving and in danger of capture, and likely transportation to near-slavery in the West Indies, but were subjected to hostility and abuse by the residents of the country.

Moseley Hall, October 2009
looking toward gate onto the road

Mrs. Whitgreave had been taken into the secret of the king’s identity and sat with him at dinner at his insistence. There were three young boys in the household, who had been excused from their lessons and posted to keep a sharp eye out for Cromwell’s soldiers. They didn’t know who the stranger at the table was, but he was amused when one of them urged the others, “Eat hard, boys, for we have been on the lifeguard and hard duty this day.” One of the boys was named Palin, and according to the guide at Moseley Hall, he was an ancestor or distant relation of Michael Palin of Monty Python fame.

Moseley, entrance to the Long Walk
from The Flight of the King

Garden at Moseley Hall, October 2009
photo by Alice Northgreaves

That afternoon, the Parliamentary Colonel Ashenhurst and a party of his soldiers stationed at Codsall arrived at Whiteladies. They had heard the king was hiding there, and had been guided there by a captured Royalist soldier. They tore the place apart and roughed up Charles Giffard, but of course they didn’t find Charles. Enraged at having been led astray, they seriously beat the captive soldier.

The news of this event reached Moseley and raised the already high stakes in the dangerous game being played by the king and his supporters. With Cromwell’s men searching the neighboring houses, it was imperative that the king must be gotten out of the area as soon as possible. It was agreed that Wilmot would tell John Lane that night that they must get the king to Bentley Hall the next night, and set off for Bristol the following morning. And Lord Wilmot told Whitgreave that if Whitgreave should be taken and tortured, he should confess all he knew about Lord Wilmot’s actions, hoping that might satisfy his inquisitors and spare the king.

September 6 and 7, 1651 - The Royal Oak

2011-09-08T00:15:00.000-07:00

At about 3 a.m. on Saturday, September 6, Charles and Richard Penderel arrived at Boscobel, very close to Whiteladies, from which they had set forth on Thursday evening. The king stayed in the woods near the house while Penderel went in to reconnoiter.

Boscobel in 1798

Entry to priest hole, Boscobel

It turned out that another refugee from the Battle of Worcester was already there – Colonel William Carliss, who had been in Worcester to the bitter end, having seen the last man killed before he made his escape. Carliss, another local Catholic, had also thought of the priest holes at Boscobel, and had made his way there over three days, hiding in the fields to evade the Parliamentary cavalry patrols scouring the countryside.

Priest hole, Boscobel

Hatch into priest hole at Boscobel House

Looking down into priest hole, Boscobel House

Boscobel House, turn of 20th century, from The Flight of the King

Richard Penderel and his brother William brought Charles into the house, and after learning from William that Wilmot was being sheltered at nearby Moseley Hall, Charles summoned Carliss and consulted with him about what they should do, as day was coming on. Carliss told the king “that it would be very dangerous for me either to stay in that House or to goe into the Wood (there being a great Wood hard by Boscobel), that he knew but one way how to pass the day, and that was to get up into a great Oake in a pretty plaine place, where we might see round about us; for the Enemy would certainly Search all the Wood for People that had made their Escape.”

The successor to the Royal Oak

The rear of Boscobel, October 2009

William’s wife gave Charles some bread and cheese and made him a posset of milk and small beer. Just as important, she did what she could to ease the agony of his feet. She heated water while Colonel Carliss helped Charles take off his shoes and stockings, which were sopping wet and full of gravel. There were no shoes in the house that would fit the king, but Mrs. Penderel put hot embers in the wet shoes to dry them, and after bathing his bloody and blistered feet, gave him clean stockings.

William Penderel at the age of 84

Dawn was breaking, so Carliss and the king, carrying some bread, cheese, and small beer, used William Penderel’s ladder to climb “up into a greate Oake that had been Lop’t some 3 or 4 Yeares before, and being growne out again very Bushy and Thick, could nott be seen through.” From their perch, they could see “soldiers goeing up and downe in the thickest of the Wood, searching for persons escaped.”

The descendant of the Royal Oak, October 2009

Charles had now spent three days and nights with very little sleep, and with nothing now to do but hide, he went to sleep on the broad branch of the oak, lying on a couple of pillows that had been handed up into the tree and resting his head on Carliss’s arm. After a while, Carliss’s arm grew so numb that he couldn’t hold onto Charles and keep him from falling out of the tree. He had to wake the king, but was worried that if he spoke, he might be heard by the searching soldiers. So he pinched the king, waking him silently.

Charles and Carliss in the Royal Oak
from Isaac Fuller's series of paintings

Boscobel House, October 2009

Boscobel House and outbuildings, October 2009

While Charles and Carliss hid in the tree, Richard Penderel went to Wolverhampton to buy wine and biscuits for the king, and another brother, Humphrey, went into Shifnal, using the excuse of paying a levy to find out what the news was. While he was handing over the money, a Parliamentary colonel came in. Cromwell’s soldiers had some reason to think the king had been in the neighborhood, and finding that Humphrey lived near Whiteladies, the colonel began to question him. Thinking fast, Humphrey said that a group of Royalist gentleman had been at Whiteladies on the morning after the battle, but they were no long gone and he didn’t know if the king had been among them.

Post-Restoration broadsheet
about the Penderels's help to Charles

When it was dark, Charles and Carliss came down out of the tree – which came immediately to be known as the Royal Oak – and ravenously ate the chicken dinner that Mrs. Penderel had prepared. Charles was alarmed to hear Humphrey’s news, especially that a reward of a thousand pounds was offered for his capture. This was an enormous amount of money – enough to support a country family comfortably for years – literally a king’s ransom. But the Penderels assured him that nothing would induce them to give him up. And he had no choice but to trust them.

Boscobel House, October 2009
photo by Alice Northgreaves

Charles must have felt relieved and relaxed, for he sat in an arbor on the grounds of Boscobel and drank wine.

The bed at Boscobel in which Charles slept

Bedroom in which Charles slept at Boscobel

After supper, Carliss had asked the king what he would like for dinner the next day, Sunday. Charles said he’d fancy some mutton, not realizing that it was a luxury for his simple hosts. There was neither mutton in the house nor sheep belonging to William Penderel, and it would call attention to the household to go to buy it, but here were ways around this problem.

Chicken in the yard at Boscobel House

On Sunday morning William Penderel and Carliss picked out one of the best sheep belonging to a neighbor, and Carliss stabbed it with his dagger. They brought it into the cellar and hung it up. When dinner time came, the king himself cut some of the mutton into what he called Scotch collops, and he and Carliss worked together to fry them with butter, giving rise to a jocular dispute as to who was the master cook.

Carliss's arms, including three crowns
and the Royal Oak. After the Restoration,
Charles permitted him to change his name
to Carlos, i.e., Charles

Alice Northgreaves at Boscobel House, October 2009

Me, visiting Boscobel in October 2009
photo by Alice Northgreaves

Entrance to priest hole at Moseley Hall

The Penderels had arranged with Thomas Whitgreave of Moseley Hall, where Wilmot had been staying, that Charles would go there. So late that rainy Sunday night the brothers, armed with clubs and woodsmen’s billhooks, took him there, riding on Humphrey’s mill horse, because by this point his feet were too damaged to walk the eight or ten miles to Moseley.

The Penderels with Charles of Humphrey's mill horse
by Isacc Fuller

On the way, Charles complained jokingly that the horse was "the heaviest dull jade" he'd ever ridden. Humphrey retorted, "My liege, can you blame the horse to go heavily when he has the weight of three kingdoms on his back?" Charles appreciated the humor, and when the Penderel brothers were summoned to Whitehall to be honored after the Restoration, they reminded the king of the job.

The Penderels accompanying Charles
from a 1660 broadsheet

It had been decided that Charles should go on foot from Pendeford Mill, with only John and Richard Penderel and their brother-in-law Francis Yates accompanying him to Moseley. When they got there, Charles dismounted and set off, getting a few paces before he realized that he was taking leave of William, Humphrey, and "Trusty Dick" Penderel, who had risked their lives for him. He ran after them and apologized, "My troubles make me forget myself. I thank you all." The brothers kissed his hand and disappeared into the night.

The Penderels' marks, in lieu of signatures

At Moseley, Lord Wilmot was waiting anxiously for the king's arrival. He had not told his host, Thomas Whitgreave, who it was that he would be sheltering, but Whitgreaves probably had a good idea already. Whitgreave later recalled that when Charles and his companions finally arrived at the door, the king was so effectively disguised that Whitgreave could not tell which of the men he was, "only I knew all the rest."

Richard Penderel

Charles was reunited with Lord Wilmot, who whisked him upstairs to the room of Father John Huddleston, who tutored the boys of the house and acted as chaplain, while Whitgreave took the others into the buttery for something to eat. When Huddleston brought Whitgreaves up to his room, Wilmot announced, "This gentleman is both your master, mine, and the master of us all." Whitegreave and Huddleston knelt and kissed the king's hand, and showed him the priest hole off Huddleston's bedroom.

The priest hole at Moseley

I visited Mosely near the end of a day, and had the privilege of walking through the rooms alone after having gone around with a tour. It gave me chills to kneel on the floor and peer down into the very space where Charles hid. It was perhaps four feet square, maybe five, and probably not four feet high, and it can’t have been comfortable, especially for a man who was six feet two, but it would provide safety.

Father Huddleston, seeing that Charles was wearing a very coarse shirt, now filthy from the exertions of the last few days, offered the king his own shirt, as well as clean stockings, and Whitgreave fetched biscuits and sack. Refreshed by food and drink and more comfortable clothes, Charles declared himself ready for another march, and said, “If it shall please God once more to place me in the head of but eight or 12,000 good men, men of one mind, and resolved to fight, I shall not doubt to drive those rogues out of my kingdom.”

Thomas Whitgreave of Moseley Hall

Wilmot, thinking Charles safely on his way to Wales, had planned to ride with Jane Lane of nearby Bentley Hall to Bristol, where he could board a ship, but the king's return changed everything. Now it would have to be Charles who rode with Jane, disguised as her manservant – an alarming proposition, given the king’s striking appearance, the Parliamentarians’ frantic efforts to find him, and the terrible temptation of that thousand pound reward.

Proclamation offering £1000 reward

for capture of Charles

September 5, 1651 - a fruitless trip to Madely

2011-09-06T21:00:00.000-07:00

On September 4, Charles had set out at dusk with Richard Penderel from Hobbal Grange with the plan of getting to Wales, where he could board a ship. The way was not easy, especially since Charles was wearing shoes that were much too small for his large feet.

The road between Boscobel and Whiteladies, October 2009

At about midnight or one a.m. they came to a mill bridge over a stream. As Charles recalled, they “could see the miller … sitting at the mill door, he being in White Cloathes, it being a very dark night. He called out, ‘Who goes there?’ upon which Richd. Penderel answered, ‘Neighbors goeing home,’ or some such words. Whereupon the miller cryed out, ‘If you be neighbors stand, or elce I will knock you down.’ … The miller cryed out, ‘Rogues, Rogues,’ and thereupon some men came out of the Mill after us, which I believed was Soldiers. Soe we fell running … up the lane as long as we could Runn, it being very deep and very dirty; Till at last I badd him leap over a hedge and lye still to heare if any boddy followed us. Which we did, and continued lyeing down upon the Ground about half an hower; when hearing noe body come, we continued on our way on to the Village upon the Seavern.”

Countryside near Whiteladies

Penderel suggested that it might be safer for them to take refuge, and that he knew a man named Wolfe in Madely whose house featured a priest hole. So on they went for another couple of hours. But Charles was cautious and when they reached Wolfe’s house, he “would not goe in, till I knew a little of his minde, whether he would receive soe dangerous a Guest as me; and therefore stayed in a Feild under a hedge … commanding him not to say it was I, but only to ask Mr. Woolf whether he would receive an English Gentleman, a person of Quality, to hide him on the next day till we could travel againe by night.”

Courtyard of Wolfe's house, Madeley

Penderel knocked on the door, but when he told Wolfe he had a man with him who had escaped from the battle at Worcester, Wolfe said “it was soe dangerous a thing to harbor any boddy that was knowne, that he would not venture his Neck for any man, unless it were the King himself.” When Penderel said that in fact it was the king who was with him, Wolfe said “he should be very redy to venture all he had in the World to Secure” him.

Wolfe's house in Madeley, from The Flight of the King

Interior of the barn at Madely
from The Flight of the King

One the fugitives were in the house, Wolfe said he was sorry to see Charles there, as there was a company of militia in the town, and they had a guard at the ferry to examine anyone attempting to cross. Moreover, Wolfe said, it would be dangerous for Charles to hide in his house because the priest holes had been discovered, and would certainly be searched if the house was searched.

Wolfe gave the king and Penderel some cold meat, and they spent the rest of the night and all the next day in the barn, hiding behind some corn and hay. In the evening, Woolf’s son, just released from being a prisoner at Shrewsbury, arrived home. As soon as it was dark, father and son brought Charles and Penderel some more meat. Charles asked whether they thought he could cross over the Severn into Wales, which they advised him “by noe means to adventure upon, because of the Strict Guards that were kept all along the Severne where any Passage could be found for preventing any Boddyes escapeing that way into Whales.”

Upon hearing this discouraging news, Charles decided he had no other choice but to go back to Boscobel or Whiteladies, where he should be able to reconnect with Wilmot, and execute his original idea of making for London.

There was discussion of whether Charles and Penderel should ride, but they decided it would be less noticeable and safer to walk, so poor Charles, his feet now covered with blood blisters, set out with Penderel for the long walk back.

When they came to the mill where the miller had pursued them the night before, having “noe mind to be questioned a second time,” Charles asked Penderel how deep the river was and whether he could swim. Penderel said “it was a Scurvey River, not easy to be past in all places, and that he could not swimm.” Charles investigated, and finding that the river was “but a little above my middle,” he took Penderel by the hand and helped him across, and they continued through the night toward Boscobel and Whiteladies.

Ruins of Whiteladies, October 2009

Arches at Whiteladies, October 2009
photo by Alice Northgreaves