Five years after the date of this triumph the King was here again, but under very different circumstances. The aspect of his fortunes had become completely clouded, and the hopes, that had flushed his breast as he crossed the Severn in pursuit of his discomfited enemies, were exchanged for bitter disappointment and anxious forebodings; and he entered our Castle on this occasion, not as a victorious general, or an acknowledged king, but as a fugitive and an outlaw, on whose devoted head a price was set. His faithless Queen, who added political treason to private criminality, had joined in a conspiracy with Mortimer and other disaffected Barons, and had summoned a parliament for the purpose of deposing her husband. The act of deposition was easily passed. The king was virtually dethroned, and feeling, as well he might, that his life was in jeopardy, he anxiously looked out for some place of refuge, where he might remain in safety till his friends brought him succour; and judging from its position and its strong natural defences, that Bridgnorth Castle would afford him a secure retreat, he took refuge in it. This circumstance is recorded by an ancient historian,[18] who mentions that in this dangerous crisis of his affairs, when he had reason to dread personal violence from his enemies, the unhappy monarch resolved to betake himself to some well fortified place, where he might be safe till his friends should send him succour; and that he chose Bridgnorth as admirably adapted to the purpose. Therefore, after nightfall, he left his place of concealment, wherever that may have been, and entered into a small boat with a few of his attendants, and having crossed the Severn took refuge in our Castle. How long our loyal fortress shielded him from the conspirators is not known; but, after a time, they discovered his retreat, and dragged him from it—took him prisoner first to Kenilworth, thence to Berkley Castle, in Gloucestershire. The sequel is well known to every reader of English history. After suffering from those, in whose custody he was placed, every kind of indignity and insult which their malice could heap on him, he died under the hands of merciless assassins, whom they hired to despatch him, a death of extreme torture. [18] Cum ad extremum omnia timeret, nec quicquam tam calamitosum putaret quod non in suam fortunam cadere posse videretur, statuit in locum aliquem munitum se abdere, ibidemque expectare, dum amici opera et armis juvarent: itaque noctu cum paucis suorum per Sabrinam noviculo vectus ad oppidum Brygnorthum in arcem, quæ ibidem egregie posita est, clam recepit. _Polydore Virgil._ _Lib._ XVIII, _p. 357_.