The Duke of Monmouth: The Bastard Son
by James Crofts, later Scott, was born in Rotterdam on nine April, 1649, he was the illegitimate son of the future King Charles II and his then mistress Lucy Walter. He was always his father’s favourite and as such considered himself the rightful heir to his throne. He was to attempt to make this happen by force of arms and end up executed on the orders of his uncle.
Monmouth and James had a long history of mutual antipathy. Monmouth had served under James when he was Admiral of the Navy, and he came to hate his nephew, this strutting peacock of a man who had such a very high opinion himself. He had been promoted by his father to positions in the army well beyond his capabilities, and James always had a suspicion that Charles was grooming his illegitimate son to be his heir.
Charles II died on 2 February, 1685, and James was crowned King to public acclamation and oaths of loyalty from the great and good of the country flowed in. None of this deterred Monmouth from trying to claim what he thought was rightfully his by force. In June, 1685, he landed at Lyme Regis in Dorset, but he had brought very little with him. He had assumed that as the Protestant hero the people would rise up in his support, they did no such thing. Even locally, the people did not exactly flock to his cause. Even so he managed to rustle up an army some 4,000 strong. He was crowned King in Chard, Somerset, and again on 20 June, in a more formal ceremony at Taunton. James, in the meantime, had despatched an army under the command of his leading General, John Churchill, to quell the rebellion. Monmouth’s army was made up mostly of farm workers and artisans, ill-disciplined and poorly armed, often only with pikes and pitchforks. In an attempt to even up the odds, Monmouth decided upon a night-time attack on the Royalist camp. His army, however, was incapable of making such a difficult manoeuvre. As they fumbled around in the dark they were outflanked by the Royalist cavalry and routed. Monmouth, seeing all was lost, fled leaving his troops to their fate. A 1,000 of the rebels were killed and 500 captured, at the cost of 300 Royalist troops. The Battle of Sedgemoor was the last pitched battle fought on English soil. Monmouth had escaped to Ringwood in Hampshire, desperate to take ship for the Continent, but he was captured soon after dressed as a peasant and hiding in a ditch. Returned to London he was charged with treason, and despite falling to his knees and begging for his life, his uncle remained unmoved. On 15 July, 1685, he was executed on Tower Hill, it taking 8 swipes of the axe to remove his head.
This was not to be the last act of this tragedy, however. The people who had supported Monmouth’s cause and then been so readily deserted would now face the consequences. The infamous Judge Jeffreys was appointed by James to root out and punish the seditious people of the west country. At his “Bloody Assizes” at Taunton he sentenced more than 1300 people to either transportation to the colonies or to be hanged, drawn and quartered.
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