At the beginning of the 12th century, two years after the accession of Henry I., signs of disloyalty manifested themselves at Shrewsbury. Roger de Belesme, son of Roger Earl of Shrewsbury, who is described as “a rash and discontented young man,” was in favour of the pretensions of Duke Robert to the crown. He carried his views to the length of rebellion, and, to be prepared for emergencies, fortified his castles in Shropshire, and built a wall on each side of Shrewsbury Castle. One portion of this wall stands now on the Dana, another in Water Lane, and another along the Severn footpath on the Wyle Cop side of the railway bridge. Henry, who had himself reached the throne by an act of usurpation, declared “the rash young man” a traitor, and prepared to execute vengeance upon him. He marched through Bridgnorth, capturing it, to Shrewsbury, with a force of 60,000 soldiers, to besiege the town. Three days he gave the governors of the castle to consider whether they should lay down their arms, and threatened that if the Castle were not delivered to him at the end of that time, he would attack it and hang every person he seized therein. The Earl surrendered, implored the mercy of this merciless king, acknowledged his crime of treason, and was banished to Normandy by Henry who took possession of the town “to the general joy,” says one, “of all the people.” Henry granted the town a Charter, and there followed a succession of 32 Royal Charters to the second year of the reign of James II. The earliest Charter preserved in the archives of the Corporation is dated November 11th, 1189, the first year of Richard I. During the civil wars between Stephen and Matilda, or the Empress Maud, as she is sometimes called, Baron William Fitz Allen, governor of the town, and sheriff of the county, who resided in the castle, espoused the cause of the Empress; but the town, after some resistance, was taken by assault, the baron’s estates forfeited, and several of the garrison hanged. Allen himself was compelled to escape and left the castle in possession of the king, who had conducted the siege in person. Allen fled to Matilda, and when she was finally necessitated to take refuge in Normandy he repaired to the court of France, where he remained until the accession of Henry II., when he returned, and all his estates, with the government of Shrewsbury, were restored to him.