“Sweet Teviot, on thy silver tide The glaring bale-fires blaze no more: No longer steel-clad warriors ride Along thy wild and willow’d shore: Where’er thou wind’st, by dale or hill, All, all is peaceful, all is still, As if thy waves, since time was born, Since first they roll’d upon the Tweed, Had only heard the shepherd’s reed, Nor started at the bugle horn.”
_Introduction to Canto IV of the_ _Lay of the Last Minstrel._
In the foregoing pages I have brought before the reader many historical notices of Bridgnorth from a very early period down to the reign of Edward III; but I regret that I have been able to collect only a very few from the commencement of that reign to the era of the Reformation, and still fewer between that period and the time of the Civil Wars; but the few which I have been able to collect respecting these intervals, though of minor importance, may not be without their interest, inasmuch as they serve to connect our town, however slightly, with some of the memorable events in English history.
The reign of Edward III. is one of the most brilliant in the annals of England. The military prowess of the nation, directed by the genius and intrepidity of the King himself, and by the youthful heroism of his son Edward, the Black Prince, acquired a fame which has never since been eclipsed. This enterprising monarch had not been many years on the throne before he invaded the territories of France, and there obtained triumphs, so marvellous, when the superiority of the enemy’s forces is considered, that the names of his victories, _Cressy and Poictiers_, are “household words” with Englishmen, even in this day. It is very possible that some of the men of Bridgnorth may have taken part in these famous battles; for it appears from a public document, that just before the invasion of France by King Edward, a writ was sent to Bridgnorth, as well as to other towns in Shropshire, for raising a small contingent to the war. In this document it is stated that “Sir Roger de Strange of Knockin, John Aston and others, as chief persons within the County of Salop, were summoned to raise 40 men at arms, within the said County, and 30 Hobelers within the town of Salop; 10 Hobelers in Ludlow; 6 in Wenlock; 10 in Bridgnorth; 4 in Newport; and 40 in the rest of the County.”—(_History of Shrewsbury, p. 163, note 1._) The _men at arms_ were horsemen who wore a complete suit of armour, and were mounted on strong war horses, answering to our heavy dragoons; the _hobelers_ were light-armed horsemen, who rode on “hobbies,” or small fleet horses, and were in the armies of the ancient English what the troops of light cavalry are in ours. They served the same purpose for Edward in his French campaign that our light brigade did for us in the famous charge at Balaklava. I do not know whether any man from Bridgnorth was among those gallant 600; but I know that some of our townsmen were exposed to other perils in the Crimean campaign, and met them with a fortitude that did no dishonour to their ancestors, who were enrolled under the banner of the Black Prince.