Bloody Assizes

thumb|[[Portrait of Judge Jeffreys by John Michael Wright]]

The Bloody Assizes were a series of trials started at Winchester on 25 August 1685 in the aftermath of the Battle of Sedgemoor, which ended the Monmouth Rebellion in England.

History

There were five judges: Sir William Montague (Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer), Sir Robert Wright, The court went on to the main centres of rebellion holding assizes at the Antelope Hotel in Dorchester on 5 September 1685, Exeter Guildhall on 14 September 1685 and the Great Hall of Taunton Castle on 17 September 1685, before finishing up at Wells Market and Assize Hall on 23 September 1685. More than 1,400 prisoners were dealt with and although most were sentenced to death, fewer than 300 were hanged or hanged, drawn and quartered.

Some 800–850 men were transported to the West Indies where they were worth more alive than dead as a source of cheap labour. Others were imprisoned to await further trial, although many did not live long enough, succumbing to 'Gaol Fever' (typhus), which was rife in the unsanitary conditions common to most English gaols at that time. A woman named Elizabeth Gaunt was the last woman burnt alive in England for political crimes.

Jeffreys returned to London after the Assizes to report to King James, who rewarded him by making him Lord Chancellor (at the age of only 40), 'For the many eminent and faithful services to the Crown'. Jeffreys became known as "the hanging judge". where he died in 1689. His death was probably due to his chronic medical history of kidney and bladder stones leading to an acute infection, kidney failure and possibly toxaemia. said:<blockquote>

Even to the present day, the mothers of West Somerset control their unruly offspring by threatening to send for 'Judge Jeffreys'.</blockquote>

Bloody Assizes

History

See also

References

Further reading