Editing Bloody Assizes (section)

==History==
There were five judges: [[William Montagu (judge)|Sir William Montague]] ([[Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer]]),<ref name="whiles">{{cite book|last=Whiles|first=John|title=Sedgemoor 1685|publisher=Picton Publishing|location=Chippenham|year=1985|edition=2nd|isbn=978-0-948251-00-9}}</ref> [[Robert Wright (judge)|Sir Robert Wright]],<ref name="whiles"/> [[Sir Francis Wythens]] ([[Court of King's Bench (England)|Justice of the King's Bench]]),<ref name="whiles"/> [[Creswell Levinz|Sir Creswell Levinz]] ([[Court of Common Pleas (England)|Justice of the Common Pleas]])<ref name="whiles"/> and [[Sir Henry Pollexfen]], led by [[Lord Chief Justice of England|Lord Chief Justice]] [[George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys|George Jeffreys]].
[[File:Bloody assizes.jpg|thumb|right|A 19th-century artist's impression of Judge Jeffreys presiding over the "Bloody Assizes".]]
Over 1,000 rebels were in prison awaiting the trials, which started in the Great Hall of [[Winchester Castle]] in [[Winchester]] on 26 August.<ref name="whiles"/> The first notable trial was that of an elderly [[gentlewoman]] named Dame [[Alice Lisle]].<ref name="som"/> The jury reluctantly found her guilty and, the law recognising no distinction between principals and accessories in [[treason]], she was sentenced to be [[Death by burning|burned]]. This was commuted to [[decapitation|beheading]], with the sentence being carried out in Winchester market-place on 2 September 1685.<ref name="whiles"/>

From Winchester the court proceeded through the [[West Country]], and conducted a brief hearing in [[Salisbury]], where there were no rebels to be tried for high treason, on 1 September 1685.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://test.warwalks.com/2018/09/01/salisbury-september-1-1685/|title=An account of the Salisbury Assize Court of Lord Chief Justice Jeffrey|date=1 September 1685|publisher=Life and Times of the Duke of Monmouth|access-date=6 December 2020}}</ref> The court went on to the main centres of rebellion holding assizes at the Antelope Hotel in [[Dorchester, Dorset|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 Town Hall|Wells Market and Assize Hall]] on 23 September 1685.<ref name="The Bloody Assize">{{cite web|url=http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/archives/ASH/Bloodyassize.htm|title=The Bloody Assize|publisher=Somerset County Council|access-date=21 October 2012|archive-date=7 August 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807090558/http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/archives/ASH/Bloodyassize.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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]].<ref name="britex">{{cite web |url=http://www.britainexpress.com/History/battles/sedgemoor.htm |title=The battle of Sedgemoor |access-date=21 November 2007 |work=Britain Express }}</ref><ref name="The Bloody Assize"/> Of more than 500 prisoners brought before the court at Taunton between 17 and 19 September, 144 were hanged and their remains displayed around the county to ensure people understood the fate of those who rebelled against the king.<ref name="exmoor">{{cite web |url=http://www.everythingexmoor.org.uk/_T/Taunton_Castle.php |title=Taunton Castle |access-date=21 November 2007 |work=Everything Exmoor |archive-date=5 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080505033305/http://www.everythingexmoor.org.uk/_T/Taunton_Castle.php |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Some 800–850 men were [[penal transportation|transported]] to the [[West Indies]]<ref name="som">{{cite web |url=http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/archives/ASH/Bloodyassize.htm |title=The Bloody Assize |access-date=17 December 2015 |work=Somerset County Council |archive-date=7 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807090558/http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/archives/ASH/Bloodyassize.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> where they were worth more alive than dead as a source of cheap labour<ref name="emn">{{cite web |url=http://www.earlymodernweb.org.uk/emn/index.php/archives/2004/11/from-the-dnb-the-bloody-judge/ |title=George Jeffreys (1645–1689) |access-date=20 February 2008 |work=Early Modern Notes }}</ref> (the novel ''[[Captain Blood (novel)|Captain Blood]]'', and the later movies based on it, graphically portray this punishment).  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 [[Jail|gaols]] at that time. A woman named [[Elizabeth Gaunt]] had the distinction of being the last woman burnt alive in England for political crimes.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.strum.co.uk/twilight/shepton5.htm |title=The Bloody Assizes |access-date=20 February 2008 |work=From Watford Gap to Camelot }}</ref>

Jeffreys returned to London after the Assizes to report to [[James II of England|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]]".<ref name="emn"/>

After the [[Glorious Revolution]], Jeffreys was incarcerated "for his own safety" in the [[Tower of London]],<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Epk_EQAAQBAJ&pg=PT357  |title=London's Riverside Pubs, A Guide to the Best of London's Riverside Watering Holes|first= Tim|last= Hampson|year= 2019|publisher=IMM Lifestyle Books|isbn=978-1607654506}}</ref> where he died in 1689. His death was probably due to his chronic medical history of kidney and [[bladder stone]]s leading to an acute infection, [[kidney failure]] and possibly [[Bacteremia|toxaemia]].<ref name="emn"/>

Writing as recently as 1929, Sir John C. Fox<ref>Fox was Vice-Chairman of Oxfordshire Quarter Sessions and had been Senior Chancery Master of the Supreme Court.</ref> said:<blockquote>
Even to the present day, the mothers of West Somerset control their unruly offspring by threatening to send for 'Judge Jeffreys'.<ref>Sir John Fox, ''The Lady Ivie's Trial'', (Oxford University Press, 1929), xlix.</ref></blockquote>