Noble Escapes and Common Helpers
After the execution of Charles I in 1649, England was governed as a Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector. However, Charles Stuart, the eldest son of the late king and heir to the throne, was determined to reclaim his father’s throne. In 1651, Charles, with the support of his followers, raised an army and sought to challenge Cromwell’s forces. The two sides clashed at the Battle of Worcester, where Charles’ army was defeated. In the aftermath of the battle, the prince narrowly escaped capture, fleeing the battlefield and embarking on a perilous journey to evade the Commonwealth army, which launched a widespread manhunt to apprehend him.
In the wake of his escape, numerous pamphlets and reports began to circulate, each offering a version of Charles’s flight. These accounts, often sensationalized, tell stories of how the prince was aided by sympathetic commoners who risked their lives to help him evade capture. While some accounts were more fantastical than others, the examples below highlight the role of ordinary people in assisting the prince’s escape.
A ballad printed after the Restoration of Charles II, titled The Royall Oak: OR, The Wonderfull Travells, Miraculous Escapes, Strange Accidents of His Sacred Majesty King Charles the Second, relates an adventurous version of Charles’ escape, incorporating elements of heroism, disguise, and divine favor. According to the ballad, after the battle, Charles was forced to hide in a royal oak tree, a moment that would later become a symbol of his return to the throne. During his flight, he was also aided by a courageous woman, Mistress Lane, who played a pivotal role in ensuring his escape.
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- After Worcester most fatal fight,
- When that King Charles was put flight,
- When many men their lives laid down,
- To bring their Sovereign to the Crown,
- The which was a most glorious sight;
- Great was his Majesty’s convoy
- whom God in mercy would not destroy.
- In Worcester battle, fierce and hot,
- His horse twice under him was shot;
- And by a wise and prudent thrift
- To save his life was forced to shift,
- Without difficulty it was not:
- Providence did him safely convey
- whom God in mercy would not destroy.
- And being full of discontents,
- Stripped off his princely ornaments,
- Thus full of troubles and of cares,
- A knife cut off his curled hairs,
- Whereby the hunters he prevents:
- God did in mercy him convoy
- So that they could not him destroy.
- A chain of gold he gave away
- Worth three hundred pounds that day,
- In this disguise by honest thrift
- Command all for themselves to shift,
- With one friend both night and day:
- Poor Prince alone to Gods convoy
- His foes they could not him destroy.
- These two wandered into a wood
- Where a hollow oak there stood,
- And for his precious lives dear sake
- Did of that oak his palace make,
- His friend towards night provided food,
- So their precious lives the did enjoy
- whom God in mercy would not destroy
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- And relates King Charles his miseries,
- Which forces tears from tender eyes;
- Mistress Lane entreats him earnestly,
- For to find out his Majesty,
- And him to save she would devise,
- Unto her house, they him convoy,
- whom God in mercy would not destroy.
- King Charles a livery cloak wore then,
- And became a serving man,
- And westward rode towards the sea,
- Intended transported to be,
- And Mistress Lane, now please he can,
- Which was the King’s safest convoy,
- whom God in mercy would not destroy.
- An accident of great renown,
- As they were for to ride through a town,
- A Troop of Horse stood ‘cross the street;
- Then jealousy the King did greet,
- And Fortune seemed on him to frown,
- He thought the Fates would him annoy,
- whom God in mercy would not destroy.
- The Captain commanded his men,
- To th’ Right and Left to open then,
- For harmless travelers he them did take
- And an interval for them did make,
- And so they passed on again
- Unto King Charles’s no small joy.
- whom God in mercy would not destroy.
- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
- After many weeks in jeopardy,
- He was wafted into Normandy,
- The God of Heaven for his person cared,
- The Ship-Master had a great reward.
- Thus the good Prince from hence did fly,
- To suffer hardship he was not coy.
- Which now will be this nations joy.
We learn from the printed testimony of Charles Stuart’s trumpeter, Mr. William Sanditch, that after the Battle of Worcester, the “King of Scots” (a term used by Royalists for Charles after Scotland crowned him their king in 1651) escaped with the help of the highway robber, James Hind, who provided changes of clothes and horses. The historical accuracy of the narrative is questionable, but the story centers the criminal trickster in Charles’ escape.
By letters from Yorkshire on Saturday night last, it is advertised that divers of the gentry and officers that escaped from the late fight at Worcester with Charles Stuart were apprehended on the 17th instant in Hallifax. And amongst the rest Mr. William Sanditch, the King of Scots’ trumpeter, who upon examination confessed that his Master [the King], with the Duke of Buckingham, Scout-master Gen. Hind (the great Robber), and six more made an escape about 3 of the clock in the morning. And being asked in what habit [the King] used to attire himself in this his forlorn pilgrimage, [the trumpeter] answered that “[the King] changed his apparel every other day, sometimes riding in a gray suit, sometimes in black, and sometimes in buff.” Then Col. Lassels asked him how he could procure all these. He replied, “by the means of Scoutmaster Hind, who not only did this, but also procured fresh horse every day, as occasion required.” And the trumpeter further declared that his Master had disguised his hair and had cut off his black lock. The Colonel replied, “A fair Omen for his head.” But after some time spent in examination of him and others, they were all committed to safe custody, till the further pleasure of the Parliament be known therein.
This third excerpt relates the cunning pranks of James Hind, including his role in the escape of Charles Stuart after the Battle of Worcester. Hind became a celebrity during the Commonwealth period, and entertaining narratives featuring the folk hero were hot sellers in the book trade.
Hind having conversation with a Scholar of Magdalene College in Oxford.
Leaving his horse half a mile out of the Town, [Hind] went to see his friend and put on a gown like a scholar. And now he walks to Oxford, where he meets a country fellow, who for all his disguise knew [Hind] and went and told the guard that there was Hind. The soldiers presently seized on him and began to pull him. “Gentlemen,” said he, “I am very like the man you speak of, but I am a scholar here.” The soldiers, seeing his hair short and in so civil an habit, did forbear to press on him too much. Hind, when he had liberty said, “Gentlemen, I have many friends in town, and you would do me much discredit. Here is twenty shillings for you to drink, and let no people follow me.” And so he went into a house to drink, having only two soldiers to attend him, where he feigned himself very hungry and gave the soldiers good drink and good meat and twenty shillings apiece. But he, making an excuse to untruss a point, left his gown on the table, but he stayed not long, but leapt over a pale, and went the back-way out of the town, and left his gown and the soldiers to pay a saucy reckoning
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There was a general report that James Hind was Scout Master-General to the Scotch King. But this was uncertain, for many fables were raised of him, some beyond his deserts and some below his spirit. There were many flying speeches that Hind should be the man who should convey away the Scotch King from the fight at Worcester and that he should bring him to London, where he went for Holland. But if this were true, he hath done things not to be parallelled. But if not true, he hath the name of it. All that can be said of him that was good, is that he was charitable to the poor, and was a man that never murdered any on the road, and always gave men a jest for their money.