Yew Tree Chronicles 10 The Restoration of the Monarchy

THE YEW TREE CHRONICLES
The Restoration
It was, I admit it now, a great relief to almost everyone when King
Charles II was restored to the throne. Not because anyone felt any
great need to have another rich, power wielding megalomanic
lauding it over us so convinced of their God given powers. But the
division it had caused up to that point in these here parts was
frankly so exhausting it made me want to lie down. Obviously I
can’t lie down I can only stand upright. The day you see me lying
down get out the axe. Gosh, I can’t believe I just said that. Put
away the axe, do not come anywhere near me with the axe.
Where was I? Ah yes, for instance the villagers of Swallowcliff were
still not talking to the villagers of Ansty and some of them were
inter-married! That whole Roundhead versus Royalist thing caused
us nothing but grief. And on top of it all life had become drained of
colour. All that piety. Life just felt dreary. With the King back, it was
like the sun suddenly shone a little brighter. Colourful clothes were
once more a thing after the many years of austerity in the fashion
department. Festivals, plays, song, dancing, all were once again
allowed and even encouraged. All of which would have been music
to my ears if I had any.
But it has to be said some local characters fared better than
others. John Bradshaw for instance. He was gifted the Fonthill
estate for services to the Parliamentarian cause after he tried and
sentenced Charles I in his role as President of the High Court of
Justice. Showing himself to be remarkably vengeful the newly
crowned Charles II had Bradshaw, who had already died from
natural causes in 1659, and having remained a staunch republican
to the end, dug up, and alongside Cromwell’s corpse, hung in
Tyburn. Their heads were then chopped off and put on spikes as a
warning to anyone thinking regicide was a good idea, and as we
still have a Royal Family - it obviously worked!
That gave the locals lots to talk about over a pint in the fairly new
alehouse on Church Street, appropriately named The Crown. But
whereas Bradshaw was on the losing side, another local Edward
Hyde did marvellously well by being on the winning side. His father
Lawrence was born and died at Hatch House. His son Edward
would go on to be a key advisor to Charles II and Lord Chancellor
of England and for a time one of the most powerful men in
England. It wasn’t all plain sailing and didn’t end particularly well
for him, but eventually his daughter Anne Hyde would go on to
marry King James II and became mother of Queens Mary and
Anne.
Of course as a tree I had no business in taking a side. That is just
not the way of a tree. I have always taken an overview, literally. I
looked down on all these events and characters and tried my
hardest not to judge. I could see Tisbury was quietly prospering
whether from the wool trade or the quarrying of Chilmark stone. We
were immune to fires in London and sometimes even survived
some of the worse plagues unscathed. The Nadder flowed by, the
birds sang and nested and I looked gorgeous.