In 1139, William Fitz Allan, a powerful baron, was governor of the town and sheriff of the county. During the wars between Stephen and the Empress Maude, this baron espoused the cause of the empress, and with several noblemen opposed the forces of the king. He left the castle, which he had strongly fortified, under the command of a deputy governor, whom he compelled to swear never to deliver his trust to the king. This, however, did not prevent the monarch from taking the castle: after which the king hanged several of the garrison for their contumacy. In 1260 the English army rendezvoused at Shrewsbury, and shortly after the town and castle fell once more into the hands of the rebels. They soon after reverted to their former owners, and the government of the town and castle was conferred by the king on his eldest son Edward. In 1277 the Courts of Exchequer and King’s Bench, during the reign of Edward I., were removed to Shrewsbury, in which place they appear to have been held at least for some months. David, Prince of Wales, the last of the princes of the ancient Britons, having at length become a prisoner in the hands of Edward, in 1283, was sent in chains to Shrewsbury. A writ having been issued for assembling the parliament on September 30th at this place, for the express purpose of taking into consideration the measures necessary to be adopted with respect to this rebellious prince. This is remarkable, as “_the first national convention in which the commons had any share by legal authority_.” Twenty cities and towns, Shrewsbury being one, were directed to send two deputies, and every high sheriff to send two knights. The parliament met in the chapter house, or refectory of the abbey, where David was condemned to be drawn about the town at the tail of a horse, then hanged, afterwards quartered, his bowels burnt, his four quarters sent to York, Bristol, Northampton, and Winchester, and his head fixed near that of his brother Llewelyn, on the Tower of London. Thus, with the death of the last of the ancient British princes, commenced a mode of execution, usually exercised on traitors, disgraceful to humanity, and barbarous in its example.