Bloody Assizes

There is more to this whole event, but the short version is that the Duke of Monmouth attempted a rebellion to seize power, and Azariah Penny was part of it.

After the rebellion, which was a pretty sloppy affair that was suppressed, uh, Monmouth was put to death, and 600 of his followers faced their accusations in a series of trials known as the Bloody Assizes.

Azariah Penny, like the rest of them, was tried for high treason.

He was found guilty, and he was sentenced to death.

isn't

it a power of language and it's also we're into the realm of prefiguring again because we said you know saxon is saying a gibbet is a rare thing in england by the time the monmouth rebellion is over and the bloody assizes of judge jeffries have come in england or certainly the southwest of england will be awash with gibbets for a time

And on that ominous note, we are going to pause it there.

We will be back with Micah Clarke, not next episode, but the episode after, because next time we have an interview show for you.

In 1603, Sir Walter Raleigh was tried for treason in this hall.

In 1685, Judge Jeffreys held part of his infamous Bloody Assizes here after the Monmouth Rebellion, sentencing Dame Alice Lyle to death for sheltering fugitives.

Behind the hall, Queen Eleanor's Garden offers a peaceful medieval-style herb garden.

Return to the top of the high street to reach the grade one listed West Gate, one of only two surviving medieval gateways into Winchester.

Oh.

Judge Jeffreys of the Bloody Assizes.

Hmm.

Look at those eyes, gray and merciless.

His soldiers under a dreadful man called Kirk tortured and murdered in a terrible manner the poor rebels who escaped from Sedgemoor.

Judge Jeffries followed next, and so many people did he kill, such terrible things did he do, that his journey through the country was forever after called the Bloody Assize.

Assize means court of justice.

At certain times in England, judges make what is called a circuit, or journey through the country, when they hear what wrong things people have done, and when they judge and punish.

Meanwhile, Jeffreys' correspondence to James Tsai contained remarks such as, "The whole West should know that we will not tolerate rebellion." That language underscores how political considerations overrode procedural safeguards.

There is a broader context of the bloody assizes being part of an imperial strategy.

By stamping out a Protestant revolt in sixteen eighty-five, James aimed to demonstrate that any challenge, religious or political, would not succeed against royal authority.

In fact, historians argue that the severity of Jeffreys' judgments was deliberately designed to make the Crown appear strong enough to deter future uprisings in Ireland and Scotland as well.

Yet we should resist simplifying Jeffreys as a one-dimensional character.

He was both an agent of the king's policy and an individual who used his power with zeal, reflecting the tension within early modern courts.

In concluding our exploration, it is essential to keep in mind that the bloody assizes were a manifestation of how a monarchy could marshal the judicial system for political ends, a theme recurrent across British history, from Tudor trials to the 20th century tribunals.

They also demonstrate that violence, when codified through law, can both deter rebellion and breed lasting resentment, thereby influencing political trajectories long after the last verdict has been read.

Not satisfied by the horrors of the military executions which had followed the battle of Sedgemoor, he sent into the western counties Chief Justice Jeffries, a judge who had earned his favour by his unscrupulous violence and cruelty, to punish all who had had any share in the insurrection.

This circuit is commonly known as the Bloody Assize.

Three hundred and twenty rebels were hanged, eight hundred sold into slavery beyond the sea.

Even the Queen and her ladies were not ashamed to profit by the sale of these unhappy victims.

On the fifteenth of July, Monmouth was executed in the street outside the Tower, his head displayed for all to see as a warning to any other would-be usurpers.

In the following weeks, the bloody assizes swept up around a thousand supporters.

Many were transported to New England or condemned to drawing and quartering.

The rebellion's failure did little to dampen the religious tension, but it set a precedent for how the state would later deal with dissent during the Glorious Revolution and beyond, showing that popular support could be mobilized yet still toppled by a disciplined standing army.