A Cruel Fate by Lindsey Davis

Author:Lindsey Davis [Davis, Lindsey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Published: 2014-02-03T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

A Plea to the King

More than forty rebel prisoners remain in Bridewell prison, up to the ankles in their own piss and shit. Martin Watts is there, still alive but suffering badly. Pressed up against his comrades, unable to move, he must stand in that foul place, in the dark, day and night.

Sometimes he wants to die and end it. But he hangs on grimly. He will not allow Marshal Smith the joy of killing him.

When they have been in the dungeon for two weeks, they begin to hope for change. Somehow they have written and smuggled out a petition to the King in Oxford and a letter to Parliament in London. Their treatment by Smith is now known in the outside world. Parliament orders their letter to be printed. The misery at Oxford Castle can no longer be ignored by the royalist high command.

This is the age of political writing. When Parliament first took a stand against the King’s high-handed ways, censorship was stopped. At first, no one saw how important that would be. There is no way back. Words are the chief weapon in the civil war. All kinds of people are writing and publishing. Anyone can rush into print and cry out their thoughts. Other people are eager to read what they say.

One person who has suffered for his writing is John Lilburne, now held with the officers at Oxford Castle. He will become one of England’s most famous radicals.

Another is called Edmund Chillenden. He too will become a champion of liberty – he will be a founding member of the Levellers, a fierce radical group. His time in Bridewell will help shape his views and make him ready to defy tyranny even at the risk of his life. What life is there, anyway, for the men buried alive in this foul dungeon?

So details of their plight become public. The passionate plea for an end to their abuse is probably the work of Chillenden. He dares not own up to it, for fear of Marshal Smith. Smith suspects him, though, and tries hard to prove that he wrote the letter.

When the dire list of Smith’s tortures reaches the King, an order is given for an enquiry into the truth of the document. Six prisoners from Bridewell are sent for. Chillenden is among them.

Martin is not. He has to wait in the hell-hole at Bridewell, praying that the six men will be believed. By now he knows better than to hope.

********

After what feels like an endless wait, the six men who went to give evidence return and are shoved back down into the dungeon. The guards’ jeers tell what has happened. No one in the King’s court will take any notice. The King himself will ignore their plight. There will be no let-up in their torture. Smith has got away with it.

Martin manages to squeeze himself through the rest and come nearer to Edmund Chillenden, so he hears the story. Squashed close together in the dark, their voices are low and intent.

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