Monmouth Rebellion

James Scott, Duke of Monmouth was born in Rotterdam in 1649 to Lucy Walter, when her lover, King Charles II, was living in exile. Many, including James Scott himself, claimed they were married, and the mystery of the ‘Black Box’ purported to contain their marriage certificate persisted until the 18th Century.

Monmouth married Anne Scott, countess of Buccleuch, Created a duke at the age of fourteen, he adopted his wife's name and in 1678, he became captain-general of the armed forces before the age of thirty.

Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, determined to prevent the succession of the King's Roman Catholic brother, the Duke of York, pressed Charles to divorce his barren wife and remarry, or to legitimize the Duke of Monmouth. He founded the infamous Green Ribbon Club, although in 1682 he was tried for treason. Although acquitted, he fled to Holland after the discovery of The Rye House Plot and died there the following year. Monmouth was banished from Court for his involvement in this plot, which planned the murder of Charles II and James Duke of York.

In February 1685, Charles II died and his brother was proclaimed James II.

On June 11th, 1685, Monmouth landed his forces on the Beach near the Cobb at Lyme Regis and local recruits joined his army as it traveled through Somerset on its way to London.

The Kings forces were led by Louis Duras, Earl Feversham a Huguenot. His second in command was John Churchill, (later 1st Duke of Marlborough). After several minor skirmishes, the two forces finally met at midnight on 5th/6th July at Sedgemoor, near the village of Weston Zoyland in Somerset. In the last battle to be fought on English soil, the Rebels were soundly defeated.

Monmouth fled from the battlefield in the company of Lord Grey, hoping to get to the coast at Poole, and a ship to the continent. Disguised as a shepherd, he was discovered shivering in a ditch, under a hedge at Horton. He might have got away with it except for the fact he carried the badge of the Order of the Garter. [His 'George']

Taken to London, Monmouth was subjected to a humiliating interview with his uncle, James II, who refused clemency. There was no trial as Monmouth had already been condemend to death by Act of Attainder. On 15th July, he was executed for treason on Tower Hill. The executioner, Jack Ketch, took several blows of the axe, and before a dismayed and murmuring crowd, Monmouth's head left his body with the assistance of a knife. He was buried in an upright position, beneath the altar in St Peter ad Vincular Church in the Tower, between that of Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard.

The bodies of the Duke of Somerset, Duke of Northumberland, Lady Jane Grey and Lord Guildford Dudley, are also buried there.

To exact his revenge on the West Country for their disloyalty, James II dispatched the Lord Chief Justice, George Jeffreys, Baron Jeffreys of Wem, who orchestrated what came to be known as The Bloody Assize from Dorchester. Approximately 200 people were condemned to death and about 800 transported to the West Indes.

Three years later, in December 1688, the Catholic King James II was forced to flee the country to be replaced by William and Mary. George Jeffreys was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London where he later died.