Finding the Fugitive King a Ship (Finale)

Up until now, our fugitive King, Charles Stuart, has hidden in a tree, fought off a deranged miller, crouched in a priest’s hole, sparred with a Republican smith, and ridden past a sea of enemy dragoons, all while picking up lessons on the speech and comportment of a country fellow. He’s had a busy time of it, but now we get to the final stretch. Our King must find a ship. After Charles had left the Nortons of Abbotsleigh, he arrived at Trent, the home of a close acquaintance, Colonel Frank Wyndham, who set to work to find him a…

Finding the Fugitive King (Part 2): Moseley Old Hall

The trusty Penderells (see Part 1) brought Charles to the next safe house five miles away in Wolverhampton. Moseley Old Hall was the home of Sir Thomas Whitgreave, a papist and former Royalist officer who had last fought at Naseby in 1645. The hour was midnight in the wee hours of Monday, the 8th of September. Thomas greeted Charles at the manor’s orchard door. On hand was the King’s friend, Lord Henry Wilmot (see below), and the Whitgreave’s priest, Father Huddleston. Introducing the King to a Catholic priest was a bit risqué considering that practicing Catholicism was against the law. But…