NPPF: Charles II: Boscobel to Brighton

[Jasper Fidget]

So!  Continuing this mad project of kinboting Kinbote, let's follow Charles
II from Boscobel to Brighton!

After the lost Battle of Worcester, Charles II (the "Merry Monarch"), in the
company of Lord Wilmot (later Lord Rochester), and their guide Charles
Giffard (see Griff and Garh p. 140), made their way to White Ladies Priory
outside of Boscobel (see "Boscobel") in Shropshire County (see notes for
Housman).  This was an Augustinian Priory (see "Rose Court" p. 88) dedicated
to St. Leonard (see "beech trunk" p. 118), the name for which derived in
opposition to a nearby Benedictine nunnery known as Black Ladies, and from
the wearing of undyed habits on the part of its residents (see "alder" p.
116).  

In White Ladies Priory Charles changed his clothes into "a pair of ordinary
grey cloth breeches, a leather doublet and green jerkin" (1) (see "green
jerkin" I forget where).  Having sent Lord Wilmot to scout ahead in the
direction of London, Charles was taken by Richard Penderel, a brother of one
of the White Ladies servants, to hide in a nearby wood (see "wodnaggen" p.
82, "Grindelwod" p. 105) called Spring Coppice.  That night, Charles and
Penderel, intending to find a ferry across the Severn into Wales, traveled
to a small cottage called Hubbal Grange where they rested, ate, and improved
Charles' disguise.  

Charles then adopted the name William Jones, and he and Penderel set out for
Evelith Mill, near Shifnal, where the miller challenged them, forcing them
to run and hide behind a hedge.  Then they traveled to Madeley and a
residence there called Upper House owned by Francis Woolfe, who agreed to
shelter the king in his barn.  They soon learned that all the crossings of
the Severn were guarded by Cromwell's troops, so they decided to return to
Boscobel House to meet up with Wilmot, but not before Charles' disguise was
once again improved, this time by Mrs. Woolfe, who darkened his skin with
walnut juice.  They arrived back at Boscobel around three in the morning of
Saturday, September 6.  Charles returned to hiding in the wood while
Penderel went to the house, finding one of Charles' officers there, Major
William Careless.  

Charles and Careless climbed into a great oak nearby and hid for the
following day (thus the legend of Charles II and the oak tree).  That night,
Charles moved to a priest hole in the attic of the house.  He left Boscobel
on Sunday, September 7, 1651, four days after the Battle of Worcester,
accompanied by the Penderel brothers.  They traveled to Moseley Old Hall and
met up again with Lord Wilmot, then to Bentley Hall where Charles changed
his disguise into that of a serving man.  Then accompanied by the daughter
of the owner of Bentley Hall, one Jane Lane, they made their way finally to
Brighton where they stayed until arranging passage on a boat (a coal brig)
called "The Surprise" (see "Gulf of Surprise" in Note to 149) owned by
Nicholas Tettersell.  (The boat was later renamed The Royal Escape.)  On
October 5th, Charles sailed to France to remain in exile in Europe for most
of a decade.  

Now, on Royal Oak Day, commonly called Restoration Day, it is customary for
a large bough of oak to adorn the front of the King's Head Inn in Brighton.

1: from Charles' own account dictated to Samuel Pepys in 1680, first
published 1766.

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Pepys
http://ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03/sp02g10.txt
http://www.shropshire-promotions.co.uk/L&P-7.html
http://www.sussexhistory.com/charles_ii.htm
http://www.yeoldesussexpages.co.uk/history/brighton/charles2.htm

Jasper Fidget