The Bloody Assizes

Judge Jeffreys’s brutal circuit court in autumn 1685, punishing supporters of the Duke of Monmouth’s failed rebellion.

The trials

After Monmouth’s defeat at the Battle of Sedgemoor, James II sent Lord Chief Justice George Jeffreys on a circuit through southwest England to try the captured rebels. The proceedings were swift and merciless. Over 300 people were hanged, drawn, and quartered. Roughly 800 more were transported to Barbados and the Caribbean colonies as forced labor — effectively a death sentence for many.

Jeffreys became synonymous with judicial cruelty. He was later made Lord Chancellor as a reward.

Significance

The Bloody Assizes shocked even people who had opposed Monmouth’s rebellion. The mass executions and transportations became a symbol of James II’s willingness to use extreme force against his own subjects. The memory helped turn public opinion in favor of the Glorious Revolution three years later.

In the novel

The Assizes are part of the violent political world Bob Shaftoe and the other characters navigate in the mid-1680s.