Sir Edmund Shaa

In the reign of King Henry VI. there dwelt in Longdendale a youth who
bore the name of Edmund Shaa. It is claimed by some that he was a
native of Longdendale, but other authorities assert that he was born
in the parish of Stockport. Certain it is that he was connected with
the parish of Stockport, and also with that of Mottram--a connection
which he maintained up to the close of his life. Moreover, the Shaas
were among the earliest of the inhabitants of Mottram of whom we have
reliable record, and the name Shaa, in its modernised form of Shaw, is
still found in the town, and other portions of the parish.

At the period of our story, the Shaas were recognised as a family of
great respectability, though not of much wealth. They probably
belonged to the yeoman class, and for generations had been accustomed
to live on the soil, passing their lives in the open air, varying the
hours of toil with the healthy recreations then common--shooting with
the bow, sword-play, or indulging in the chase. Healthy, manly lives
they led, fearing God, obeying the laws, and paying their way honestly
enough, with a margin left over to provide against a rainy day--but by
no means able to amass any great store of wealth. Besides Edmund Shaa,
his father, John Shaa, had other sons, of whom, however, little is
known.

The boyhood of Edmund Shaa passed like that of other Longdendale
children, exhibiting no signs of extraordinary promise, unless the
bright alertness and the ambitious imaginings of the lad might be
accounted as such. But as he grew older, there came over the boy an
unconquerable aversion to the unchanging life of the country. Not that
the life itself was disagreeable, but the labour seemed all in vain,
never leading to anything better than the humble respectability which
was the highest mark of yeoman rank. Young Edmund Shaa had seen the
trains of noble knights pass by; he had witnessed the huntings in the
forests of Longdendale, when lords and ladies gay rode in grand
attire, on richly-caparisoned steeds, and received every mark of
respect from the country people who assembled to witness the sport.
And to his young brain, it seemed that the best of them all was but a
mortal of flesh and blood and intelligence, like any yeoman's son and
daughter, or even as the hinds. Was not he, Edmund Shaa, as well made,
as shapely, as strong, as keen of intellect as any of the rich
gallants who flaunted themselves in silken attire before his eyes; and
that being so, why should not he, putting his abilities to use, come
to attain a position of power and affluence equal to theirs?

The young lad thought the matter out many a time, and to him there
seemed but one reason--the lack of opportunity. In Longdendale he had
no chance of distinguishing himself. There was no wealth to be won in
Longdendale,--nay, even the very abilities which he knew himself to
possess were not recognised by his fellows--for is it not a worldwide
truism that "a prophet is not without honour save in his own country?"

Then the lad decided in his own mind that he must leave his Cheshire
home, and seek occupation elsewhere, if he was to become anything
better than a yeoman. He accordingly sought counsel of his elders--his
relatives and friends--and made known his ambitions to them. But the
elders only laughed at him, and discouraged his scheming.

"Banish all such dreams from thy foolish pate," said one. "Thou art a
good lad, and a clever one to boot, but the life thy fathers led is
good enough for thee. Lords and ladies are above thy station; thou
wilt have to work for thy living, and, as for holding thy head high,
and bothering thy brains with affairs of State--why, lad, thou art a
fool to think about it."

Such discouragement was kindly meant, but other folk, to whom the lad
told his hopes and longings, were less sympathetic. Some openly jeered
at him, called him a dreamer, denounced him as a conceited fop,
upbraided him with the fault of considering himself superior to other
people, and finally snubbed him and treated him as a snob.

Young Shaa bore all this quietly enough in the presence of his
tormentors; but the bitterness of it was keenly felt by him, and when
alone, he gave way to grief. Often he would seek the quiet of some
secluded spot in the woodland glades of Longdendale, and sob as though
his heart would break, for it seemed that the obstacles in his path
were too great for him to overcome.

One day when he thus lay lamenting in solitude over his fate, a great
weariness stole over him, the hot summer's day overpowered him, and
presently he fell into a doze. Then it was that the good fairies stole
from their tiny palaces under the leaves in the forest, where no
mortal may ever find them even if he looks, and, taking pity upon the
handsome youth who lay sleeping near, decided to help him to achieve
that goal of greatness upon which his soul was set. The little sprites
gathered around him, and whispered in his ears a wondrous tale of the
wealth and honour awaiting in London town all those bold English lads
who dared seek fortune there. They drew phantom pictures of a young
man's struggle in London, of his success by honest industry and skill,
of civic functions in which the young man bore a part, of a grand
procession, where the youth,--now grown to manhood's prime,--was
become Lord Mayor; and to Edmund Shaa, who saw the pictures in his
sleep, it seemed as though the face of that phantom Lord Mayor was his
own face.

Then the fairies sang a song, and the words of the dream song were
these:--

"If thou would'st win great renown,
Make thy way to London town;
Fortune waits to greet thee there
Even London's civic chair;
Lord Mayor of London thou shalt be
--The wielder of authority.
And when thou rulest London town
The King shall beg of thee his crown."

Shaa awoke with a start, sat up, and rubbed his eyes, telling himself
that he had been dreaming--a wondrous pleasant dream,--but to his
charmed ears there still came the sweet strains of the music, and the
words of the fairy song:--

"If thou would'st win great renown,
Make thy way to London town.
London town, London town."

The lad listened awhile, then sprang to his feet with a joyful cry,
and a determined look in his eyes.

"To London town," quoth he. "To London town! Thither I will go, and
nought shall stop me now."

Then with a merry whistle, he made off homewards, and before the sun
set, had completed his preparations for the long journey to the south.

The rest of Shaa's story reads like some romance, and yet it is true.
Once settled in London, he appears to have been successful even beyond
his wildest dreams. He became a member of the goldsmith's company, and
rising rapidly in wealth and civic position, was ultimately appointed
jeweller to King Edward IV.--and this position he continued to hold
under four successive monarchs. In the year 1482 he received the
dignity of Lord Mayor of London, and henceforth he became one of the
most striking and interesting figures in that most dramatic period of
English history. He received the honour of knighthood, and his
influence was sufficiently powerful to render him one of the most
prominent factors in securing the crown of England for King Richard
III.

When Edward IV. died in 1483, it fell to the lot of Shaa, as Lord
Mayor of London, to attend and take part in the funeral ceremonies,
and to receive in great state the infant King Edward V., on his
subsequent entry to the city. This occurred on May 4th, 1483, and is
thus described in the old chronicle:--"When the Kynge approached nere
the citie, Edmund Shaa, goldsmith, then Mayre, with William Whyte and
John Matthewe, Sheriffs, and all the other Aldermene, in scarlette,
with five hundred horse of the citizens in violette, received him
reverentleye at Harnesey, and rydyng from thence accompanyed him into
the city."

Richard, Duke of Gloucester, anxious to seize upon the crown, saw that
the only way to accomplish his design was to secure the sympathies and
support of the city of London. Being at that time Protector, he made
Lord Mayor Shaa a member of the Privy Council, and, after that, he
seems to have had no difficulty in inducing him to enlist his sympathy
and influence on the side of the plotters, and to secure the services
of his brother,--Dr. Shaa--an Austin Friar, and a noted preacher of
his day. The initial steps taken, the Shaas played conspicuous and
important parts in the critical events which followed. Dr. Shaa
preached at St. Paul's Cross against the legitimacy of Edward's
children, and in advocacy of the claims of Richard; and Lord Mayor
Shaa headed a deputation to Gloucester with an offer of the crown, and
after the proclamation he attended as cup-bearer of the King. The
citizens of London, however, began to suspect that the sons of their
late King (Edward VI.) had been murdered, and showed signs of
rebellion, upon which, Richard sent for over 5,000 soldiers to form
his bodyguard, and not daring to levy money for the purpose of
rewarding them, he disposed of some of the Crown property to Sir
Edmund Shaa, who found means to supply the sum required. After the
death of Richard at Bosworth Field, Shaa lived more the life of a
private citizen, though he still continued to hold office as a
magistrate and as the Royal Jeweller, and enjoyed the friendship and
confidence of King Henry VII., until his death. During the latter
portion of his career he had been associated with the most influential
men of his time, honours had fallen thickly upon him, and his
relations had become connected with families whose representatives are
still to be found in the British Peerage, and among the older landed
gentry.

It is pleasing to know that although Sir Edmund Shaa figured so
prominently in great historic events of his day, he did not forget the
northern county that gave him birth. He founded the old Grammar School
at Stockport, and left a considerable sum of money with which to endow
it. He gave a sum of money towards the cost of the building of the
tower of Mottram Church. He also built a chapel in the Longdendale
valley, at Woodhead, to which he thus refers in his will.

"I woll have two honest preestes, one of them to syng his mass and say
his other divine service in a chapel that I have made in Longdendale,
in the Countie of Chester; and to pray especially for my soule, and
for the soules of my father and mother, and all Christian people; and
I woll that he have for his salarie yerely for evermore, the sume of
£4 6s. 8d.; and I woll that the other honest preeste be a discrete
man, and coning in gramer."

The will of Sir Edmund Shaa is a curious yet beautiful specimen of the
old English testamentary document. It begins thus--"In the name of God
be it, Amen. The xxth day of the monthe of Marche, the yeare of our
Lord after tha' compt of the Church of England mcccclxxxvijth, and
iijth yeare of the reigne of Kinge Henry the vijth, I, Edmund Shaa,
Knight Cytezen and Goldsmith and Alderman and Late Mayor of the Citie
of London etc.... First I bequeathe and reccomend my soule to my Lord
Jesus Christe, my Maker and my Redeemer; to the most glorious Virgin
his mother, our Lady Saint Marye; to the full glorious Confessor,
Saint Dunstan, and to the Holy Company of Heaven, and my body to be
buryed in the Church of St Thomas of Acres in London, between the
Pyler of the same Churche, whereupon the image of Sainte Mychel, the
Archangel, standeth before the Auter, there called Saint Thomas Auter,
and the nether ende of the same that is to wit as nigh the same as my
body may reasonably be layed.... And in consideration that I have
bourne the office of Mayoralte of the said City, I will for the honour
of the same City, that my body be brought from my house to the Parish
Church of St. Petery's, in Chepe, where I am a Parysshen as the Manor
is, and from there to my burying at St. Thomas's, of Acres aforesaid,
in descrete and honest wise without pomp of the world, and I will have
xxiiij (24) honest torches to be bourne by xxiiij paide persons to
convey my body from my house to my said Parisshe Churche as the maner
is and so to my burying aforesaid, and I will have the same xxiiij
torches and my honest tapers to be holden in like wise by iiij poor
persons to brenne at my exequies to be doon for my soul as well at my
burying aforesaid as at my Moneth's Mynde to be done for me. And I
will that eache of the torch bearers and taper holders have for their
suche labours to pray for my soule after all my said Exequyes full
doon xxd."

The will then goes on to say--translated into modern English--"And, as
the usage of the City of London, at the burial of one who hath borne
the office of mayoralty is, for the mayor and aldermen, and other
worshipful and honest commoners, to be present in their proper
persons;--to the extent that they may understand that I was a true
loving brother of theirs, and am in perfect charity with them, and
each of them--if it would like the mayor and aldermen and recorder of
the City of London, to be present at my Dirge and Mass of Requiem to
be done for me; I would tenderly desire them, after the said Mass, to
take such a repast as my executors by the sufferance of our Lord God,
shall provide for them; and I will that each of them after his repast,
have of my gift, from the hands of my executors, to remember my soul
among their devout meditations, inasmuch as I am a brother of theirs,
6s. 8d." Among local bequests, the will contained the following--"I
will that my executors, as soon as they may goodly after my decease,
do buy so much Welsh frieze, half white, half black or gray, and
thereof do make at my cost, 200 party gowns; and the 200 party gowns
with 12d. in money along with every gown, I will be given to 200 poor
persons dwelling in the parish of Stopford, in the County of Chester,
whereat 'my fader and moder lyen buryed,' and within the parishes of
Cheadle and Mottram in Longdendale in the said County, and in the
parishes of Manchester, Ashton, Oldham, and Saddleworth, in the County
of Lancaster, by the counsel and advice of the curates of the said
parishes, ... such curates taking counsel with the saddest men dwelling
in their parishes, to the intent that those poor persons should have
them that have most need unto them." He also wills that his executors
make at his cost "sixteen rings of fine gold, to be graven with the
Well of Pity, the Well of Mercy, and the Well of Everlasting Life;
with all other images and other things concerning the same--the rings
to be distributed to certain persons named in the will." He also again
refers to "the saide Church of Stopford" (Stockport) and the grave
therein where the bodies of his father and mother "lyen buried."

Sir Edmund Shaa died on April 20th, 1487, just a month after making
his will, and was buried according to his direction in "the Church of
St. Thomas of Acres in London." He left behind him a widow--Dame
Juliana, one son, Hugh, and two daughters, Katherine and Margaret.
Hugh Shaa did not long survive his father, and died without male
issue. It only remains to be added in conclusion that Shakespeare has
immortalized Sir Edmund Shaa.