Chapter X: Part 10

[42] Rishanger, the chronicler for St. Albans, puts the case for the national party:--

“The king that tries without advice to seek his people’s weal
Must often fail, he cannot know the wants and woes they feel.
The Parliament must tell the king how he may serve them best,
And he must see their wants fulfilled and injuries redressed.
A king should seek his people’s good and not his own sweet will,
Nor think himself a slave because men hold him back from ill.

For they that keep the king from sin serve him the best of all,
Making him free that else would be to sin a wretched thrall.
True king is he, and truly free, who rules himself aright,
And chooses freely what he knows will ease his people’s plight.
Think not it is the king’s goodwill that makes the law to be,
For law is steadfast, and a king has no stability.
No! law stands high above the king, for law is that true light
Without whose ray the king would stray and wander from the right.
When a king strays he ought to be called back into the way
By those he rules, who lawfully his will may disobey
Until he seeks the path, but when his wandering is o’er,
They ought to help and succour him and love him as before.”

(Translated by F. York Powell.)

[43] “The new form of government bears evidence of its origin; it is intended rather to fetter the king than to extend or develop the action of the community at large. The baronial council clearly regards itself as competent to act on behalf of all the estates of the realm, and the expedient of reducing the national deliberations to three sessions of select committees, betrays a desire to abridge the frequent and somewhat irksome duty of attendance in parliament rather than to share the central legislative and deliberative power with the whole body of the people. It must however be remembered that the scheme makes a very indistinct claim to the character of a final arrangement.”--Stubbs.

[44] A board of twenty-four--half chosen by the king and half by the barons--had laid a body of resolutions before the Oxford Parliament, and the first of these resolutions declared that all castles and estates alienated from the crown should be at once resumed.

[45] “The first time, as far as we know, English was used in any public document.”--Blaauw, _The Barons’ War_.

[46]

“End, O Earl of Gloster, what thou hast begun!
Save thou end it fitly, we are all undone.
Play the man, we pray thee, as thou hast promised,
Cherish steadfastly the cause of which thou wast the head.
He that takes the Lord’s work up, and lays it down again,
Shamed and cursed may he be, and all shall say Amen.

Earl Simon, thou of Montfort, so powerful and brave,
Bring up thy strong companies thy country now to save,
Have thou no fear of menaces or terrors of the grave,
Defend with might the nation’s cause, naught else thine own
needs crave.”

--Rishanger, _Political Songs_.

[47] Stubbs.

[48] “The Song of Lewes”--_Political Songs_.

[49] I am indebted to my friend Fr. Bede Jarrett, O.P., for this interesting and, I believe, hitherto unpublished suggestion.

[50] It was to a Dominican Convent at Montargis that Simon’s widow, the Princess Eleanor, retired after the fatal battle of Evesham.

[51] An appeal was lodged at Rome by several English bishops against the threatened excommunication, but the papal legate himself became pope early in 1265, and, as Pope Clement V., was the strongest enemy of Simon and the national cause. It was only after Evesham and the death of Simon that Clement urged a wise policy of mercy on Henry and the royalists.

[52] “In this year, while Edward, the king’s son, was still held in ward in the Castle of Hereford, dissension arose between Simon, Earl of Leicester, and Gilbert, Earl of Gloucester....

“For which cause the old friendship was turned into hate, so much so that neither the consideration of his oath nor former devotion could thenceforth pacify the said Gilbert.... An endeavour was made by certain prelates to restore the Earls of Leicester and Gloucester to their former union; but they could in no wise succeed.”--W. Rishanger.

[53] J. R. Green, “The Ban of Kenilworth,” _Historical Studies_.

[54] “The triumph over Earl Simon had been a triumph over the religious sentiment of the time, and religion avenged itself in its own way. Everywhere the earl’s death was viewed as a martyrdom, and monk and friar, however they might quarrel on other points, united in praying for the souls of the dead as for ‘soldiers of Christ.’”--J. R. Green, “The Ban of Kenilworth,” _Historical Studies_.

[55] _Chronicles of Melrose._

[56] _Ibid._

[57] Wright, _Political Songs_.

[58] See J. R. Green, “Annals of Osney and Wykes,” _Historical Studies_.

[59] “The project was clearly to set up a new order of things founded on social equality--a theory which in the whole history of the Middle Ages appears for the first time in connection with this movement.”--Gairdner.

[60] It may be said that to-day the idea of political and social equality is generally accepted and that of brotherhood denied. In the fourteenth century brotherhood was esteemed, but equality was a strange, intruding notion.

[61] “The bias of Wyclif in theory and practice is secular, and aristocratic, and royalist: it is not really socialistic or politically revolutionary,”--Figgis, _Studies of Political Thought_. Nevertheless, many writers have tried to discredit Lollardy by associating it with social revolt, just as others have tried to discredit John Ball by making him out a “heretic,” and a follower of Wycliff.

[62] Froissart seems to be mainly responsible for the belief that this John Tyler became the great leader of the movement, confusing him with Wat Tyler, of Maidstone, the real leader. Several writers allege the indecency of the tax-collectors.

[63] “Tyler, according to Walsingham, was a man of ready ability and good sense. Save in some excesses, which, perhaps, were politic, possibly unavoidable, and certainly exaggerated, the rebels under him are admitted to have kept good order, and to have readily submitted to discipline.”--Thorold Rogers. To Froissart Tyler appears merely as “a bad man, and a great enemy of the nobility.”

[64] “Fearful lest their voyage should be prevented, or that the populace should attack them, they heaved their anchors and with some difficulty left the harbour, for the wind was against them, and put to sea, when they cast anchor for a wind.”--Froissart.

[65] Two names at least have been preserved--Squire Bertram Wilmington of Wye and John Corehurst of Lamberhurst.

[66] Seven years later this Earl of Salisbury, fleeing from Henry Bolingbroke, was hanged in the streets of Cirencester at the hands of the people.

[67] This law of Winchester was the statute of Edward I., 1285, which authorised local authorities to appoint constables and preserve the peace. Tyler’s aim was to strengthen local government in the counties, making them as far as possible self-governing communes.

[68] “It was in the preaching of John Ball that England first listened to the knell of feudalism, and the declaration of the rights of man.”--J. R. Green.

[69] “Observe how fortunate matters turned out, for had the rebels succeeded in their intentions they would have destroyed the whole nobility of England, and after their success other countries would have rebelled.”--Froissart.

[70] See Durrant Cooper--_John Cade’s Followers in Kent_.

[71] “These two bishops were wonder covetous men, evil beloved among the common people and holden suspect of many defaults; assenting and willing to the death of the Duke of Gloucester, as it were said.”--(_A Chronicle of Henry VI_). According to Gasgoigne--_Loci e Libro Veritatum_--the people said of Ayscough: “He always kept with the king and was his confessor, and did not reside in his own diocese of Sarum with us, nor maintain hospitality.”

[72] “He himself asserted that he had been a captain under the Duke of York, and that his real name was Mortimer, which may possibly have been true, for there were several illegitimate branches of the house of March.”--Professor Oman, _Political History of England_.

[73] “A young man of a godly nature and right pregnant of wit.”--Holinshed. Shakspeare’s farcical account of the rising in _King Henry VI._, Part II., is, of course, entirely misleading.--See the author’s _True Story of Jack Cade_.

[74] See the letter of John Payn in the _Paston Letters_. But Payn wrote fifteen years afterwards, and seems to have been a person of no very scrupulous honesty.

[75] A special act of parliament was passed in 1452 to cancel all that Cade had accomplished.

[76] Cocke was a well-known supporter of Henry VI. and a man of note. He was sheriff of London 1453, alderman in 1456, and mayor and M.P. 1462–3. Knighted by Henry in 1465, he fell from his high estate when Edward IV. was king, and languished in prison on a charge of high treason, only escaping with his life on payment of £8,000.

[77] “What answer to this demand was returned I find not, but like it is the same was granted and performed; for I find not the said captain and Kentishmen at their being in the city to have hurt any stranger.”--Stow.

[78] When, by order of the Privy Council, the Exchequer seized all Cade’s goods, these jewels were sold with the rest. They fetched £114, and a payment of £86 7s. was subsequently made to the Duke of York. So the crown made some profit on the transaction, but Malpas was unrecompensed.--See Devon’s _Exchequer Rolls_.

[79] “Whereof he lost the people’s favour and hearts. For it was to be thought if he had not executed that robbery he might have gone far and brought his purpose to good effect.”--Fabyan.

[80] This church has long been pulled down. It was absorbed into St. Saviour’s parish the following year. St. Margaret’s Hill is now part of High Street, Borough, and the present St. George’s Church stands near the site of old St. Margaret’s Church.

[81] _Acts of Privy Council_, 1451.

[82] “In the interests of truth, I must declare at the outset that I cannot find the very slightest foundation for the assertion of Stapleton, copied by Cresacre More and many others, that in the course of time their friendship cooled. Abundant proofs of the contrary will appear.”--Rev. T. E. Bridgett, _Life and Writings of Sir Thomas More_.

[83] “Indeed, it was he who pushed me to write the _Praise of Folly_, that is to say, he made a camel frisk.”--Erasmus to Ulrich von Hutten, 1519.

[84] “He had a purpose to be a priest, yet God had allotted him for another estate, not to live solitary, but that he might be a pattern to married men: how they should carefully bring up their children, how dearly they should love their wives, how they should employ their endeavour wholly for the good of their country, yet excellently perform the virtues of religious men, as piety, charity, humility, obedience and conjugal chastity.”--Cresacre More.

[85] Erasmus to Ulrich von Hutten.

[86] “It is clear that Sir Thomas had a little Utopia of his own in his family. He was making an experiment in education, and he was delighted with its success. The fame of his learned daughters became European through the praises of Erasmus, and was so great in England that in 1529, when they were all married ladies, they were invited by the king to hold a kind of philosophical tournament in his presence.... More will ever stand foremost in the ranks of the defenders of female culture.”--Rev. T. E. Bridgett, _Life and Writings of Sir Thomas More_.

[87] “He most warily retired from every opposition but that which conscience absolutely required. He displayed that very peculiar excellence of his character, which, as it showed his submission to be the fruit of sense of duty, gave dignity to that which in others is apt to seem to be slavish.”--Sir James Mackintosh, _Life of More_.

[88] “Parliament is discussing the revocation of all synods and other constitutions of the English clergy, and the prohibition of holding synods without express license of the king. This is a strange thing. Churchmen will be of less account than shoemakers, who have the power of assembling and making their own statutes.”--Chapuys, _Letters and Papers of Henry VIII._ (Rolls Series).

[89] Chapuys, _Letters and Papers of Henry VIII._ (Rolls Series).

[90] _Lives of the Chancellors._

[91] _Letters and Papers of Henry VIII._ (Rolls Series).

[92] Roper.

[93] “To More a heretic was neither a simple man erring by ignorance, nor a learned man using his freedom in doubtful points: he was a man whose heart was ‘proud, poisoned, and obstinate,’ because he denied the Divine guidance of the Church while he claimed special Divine inspiration for himself.”--Rev. T. E. Bridgett.

[94] More’s _English Works--Apology_. It is only thirty years after his death that Foxe suggests More as a persecutor. All the evidence is in the opposite direction.

[95] Sir James Mackintosh, _Life of More_.

[96] See Dr. Jessop, _The Great Pillage_.

[97] _See State Papers, Domestic, Edward VI._

[98] The common lands engrossed in the 15th and 16th centuries were the farm lands cultivated in common by the peasants. The enclosure of the commons was left to a later date, and took place between 1760 and 1830.

[99] This Flowerdew had distinguished himself at the destruction of the abbey at Wymondham by Henry VIII., by tearing off the lead from the roof of the church and pulling down the choir, for the sake of the stones, after the people had raised a large sum of money for the king in order to save the church.

[100] “By bearing a confident countenance in all his actions the vulgars took him (Ket) to be both valiant and wise and a fit man to be their commander.”--Sir John Hayward, _Life of Edward VI._

“This Ket was a proper person to be a ringleader of mischief, for he was of a bold, haughty spirit, and of a cankered mind against the Government.”--John Strype, _Ecclesiastical Memorials_.

[101] These two “were partly fain to agree, lest they being out of favour and place, others might come to bring all out of frame that now might partly be well framed, and the rather they assented to keep the people in better order during answer from the prince.”--Nicholas Sutherton.

[102] “That a populous and wealthy city like Norwich should have been for three weeks in the hands of 20,000 rebels, and should have escaped utter pillage and ruin speaks highly for the rebel leaders.”--W. Rye, _Victoria County History of Norfolk_.

[103] A few years later, and John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, now Duke of Northumberland, again visited East Anglia to proclaim his daughter-in-law, Lady Jane Grey, Queen of England. No one rose at his call. Neither peasant nor landowner responded to the proclamation; and John Dudley, Earl of Warwick and Duke of Northumberland, died, as his father before him had died, convicted of treason, beheaded by the executioner’s axe on Tower Hill. It was August 22nd, 1553, just four years after the suppression of the peasants’ rising in Norfolk when Northumberland was put to death.

[104] “Robert Ket was not a mere craftsman: he was a man of substance, the owner of several manors: his conduct throughout was marked by considerable generosity: nor can the name of patriot be denied to him who deserted the class to which he might have belonged or aspired, and cast in his lot with the suffering people.”--Canon Dixon, _History of the Church of England_.

In 1588 a grandson of Robert Ket was burnt as a Nonconformist heretic by order of Elizabeth.

[105] The three were Oxford men. Sir John Eliot was at Exeter (1607), Hampden at Magdalen (1609) and Pym at Broadgate Hall, afterwards called Pembroke (1599).

[106] “In Eliot’s composition there was nothing of the dogmatic orthodoxy of Calvinism, nothing of the painful introspection of the later Puritans. His creed, as it shines clearly out from the work of his prison hours, as death was stealing upon him--_The Monarchy of Man_--was the old heathen philosophic creed, mellowed and spiritualised by Christianity. Between such a creed and Rome there was a great gulf fixed. Individual culture and the nearest approach to individual perfection for the sake of the State and the Church, formed a common ground on which Eliot could stand with the narrowest Puritan.”--S. R. Gardiner.

[107] Eliot’s argument “was a claim to render ministerial responsibility once more a reality, and thereby indirectly to make parliament supreme.”--S. R. Gardiner.

[108] “He (Eliot) was to the bottom of his heart an idealist. To him the parliament was scarcely a collection of fallible men, just as the king was hardly a being who could by any possibility go deliberately astray. If he who wore the crown had wandered from the right path, he had but to listen to those who formed, in more than a rhetorical sense, the collective wisdom of the nation.”--S. R. Gardiner.

[109] “His (Hampden’s) distinction lay in his power of disentangling the essential part from the non-essential. In the previous constitutional struggle he had seen that the one thing necessary was to establish the supremacy of the House of Commons.”--S. R. Gardiner.

[110] Clarendon.

[111] “The same men who, six months before, were observed to be of very moderate tempers, and to wish that gentle remedies might be applied, talked now in another dialect both of kings and persons; and said that they must now be of another temper than they were in the last parliament.”--Clarendon.

[112] The Nineteen Propositions fairly express the views of Pym and Hampden at this time on the supremacy of the Commons. The main proposals were the authority of parliament: in the _sole_ choice of the ministers of the crown, in the regulation of state policy, in the management of the militia, in the education of the royal children, in the remodeling of the discipline of the Church of England; and the guardianship by parliament of all forts and castles. It was of first importance in Pym’s mind that parliament should have the control in military matters. Without the power of the sword the House of Commons could not ensure the personal safety of its members or the privileges of free debate against the enmity of the king. To command the army was to govern the country.

[113] See G. P. Gooch, _History of Democratic Ideas in the Seventeenth Century_.

[114] “By its injudicious treatment of the most popular man in England, parliament was arraying against itself a force which only awaited an opportunity to sweep it away.”--G. P. Gooch, _History of Democratic Ideas in the Seventeenth Century_.

[115] “Advocating direct government by a democratic Parliament and the fullest development of individual liberty, the Levellers looked with suspicion on the Council of State as a body which might possibly be converted into an executive authority independent of parliament, and thoroughly distrusted Cromwell as aiming at military despotism. Well-intentioned and patriotic as they were, they were absolutely destitute of political tact, and had no sense of the real difficulties of the situation, and, above all, of the impossibility of rousing the popular sympathy on behalf of abstract reasonings.”--S. R. Gardiner, _History of the Commonwealth and Protectorate_.

[116] S. R. Gardiner.

[117] The movement “had sprung into existence in response to a widely spread apprehension that the victory of the people might be rendered fruitless. Its call had found an echo in the ranks of the army, and by its admirable organization it had insisted that the leaders should hear what it had to say. It had powerfully influenced their conduct and had introduced a radical element into their programme. When this had been done, the soldiers felt that its _raison d’être_ as a separate party had come to an end. The battle had been fought, and the victory, at least for the time, had fallen to Ireton.”--G. P. Gooch, _History of Democratic Ideas in the Seventeenth Century_.

[118] “In other words, not only Cromwell and Ireton, but also Fairfax, who had recently been elected a member of the House, were to be summarily cashiered.”--S. R. Gardiner, _History of the Commonwealth_.

[119] See the pamphlet “A Petition of Well-affected Women,” 1649. There is something curiously familiar in the exhortation to the women.

[120] “Unfortunately his friends, in petitioning for his release, rested their case on the ground that all sentences given by a court-martial were made illegal by the Petition of Right and the law of the land. Such a doctrine would have dissolved the army into chaos, and when Lilburne and Overton wrote to Fairfax, threatening him with the fate of Joab and Strafford, all chance of pardon was at an end. Lockyer firmly believed himself to be a martyr to the cause of right and justice.”--S. R. Gardiner, _History of the Commonwealth_.

[121] See Whitelocke’s _Memorials_, “The Army’s Martyr,” “A True Narrative,” and “The Moderate” (1649).

[122] “So die the Leveller corporals. Strong they, after their sort, for the liberties of England; resolute to the very death.”--Carlyle.

[123] Lilburne’s attitude to Winstanley’s propaganda was similar to the attitude of the political Chartists in the 19th century to Robert Owen’s socialism.

[124] “Then ensued a scene, the like of which had in all probability never been witnessed in an English court of justice, and was never again to be witnessed till the seven bishops were freed by the verdict of a jury from the rage of James II.”--S. R. Gardiner.

“In a revolution, where others argued about the respective rights of king and parliament, he spoke always of the rights of the people. His dauntless courage and his power of speech made him the idol of the mob.”--Professor C. H. Firth, “Lilburne,” _Dictionary of National Biography_.

[125] See L. A. Berens, _Digger Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth_.

[126] _Clarke Papers_, vol. ii.

[127] Government rarely distinguishes between different schools of agitators.

[128] Between 1710 and 1867 the number of acres so enclosed was 7,660,439.

[129] _Clarke Papers_, vol. ii.

[130] See Graham Wallas, _Life of Francis Place_.

[131] “Disappointment bitter and wide-spread was following closely upon the inevitable failure of the extravagant expectations and overheated hopes which the agitation for parliamentary reform had kindled.”--F. York Powell, _The Queen’s Reign: a Survey_.

[132] See Graham Wallas, _Life of Francis Place_.

[133] Herbert Paul, _History of Modern England_.

[134] _Ibid._

[135] “Want of leaders and organization, and the great difference in objects among the Chartists themselves, led to their failure. For a while Chartism was stayed.”--Professor T. F. Tout, _England from 1689_.

[136] The differences between the two became more acute when Feargus O’Connor started his land colonization schemes a few years later. O’Brien opposed these schemes, which all ended in heavy financial losses, and urged sticking to political reform. From 1842 O’Brien was practically outside the Chartist movement, though it was not till 1848 he formally retired. He died in poverty in 1864, after giving some help to the middle-class radical movement for household suffrage.

[137] A similar impulse fifty years later brought “Labour Churches” into existence.

[138] “The ministers had met the Chartist outbreaks with strong, repressive measures, and here they had the concurrence of parliament, which had no sympathy with the movement. The House of Commons, indeed, had little understanding of the processes that were maturing outside its walls. The industrial and the social evolution went on almost unnoticed by statesmen and politicians absorbed in the party controversy.”--Sidney Low and Lloyd Sanders, _Political History of England_, 1837–1901. See also Hansard’s _Parliamentary Debates_ for these years.

[139] “The least satisfactory feature of English life in 1846 was the condition of the labouring classes. Politically they were dumb, for they had no parliamentary votes. Socially they were depressed, though their lot had been considerably improved by an increased demand for labour and by the removal of taxes in Peel’s great Budget of 1842. That was the year in which the misery of the English proletariat reached its lowest depth.”--Herbert Paul, _History of Modern England_.

[140] Stephens, a “hot-headed” Chartist preacher, put the case as he, a typical agitator of the day, saw it in 1839: “The principle of the People’s Charter is the right of every man to have his home, his hearth, and his happiness. The question of universal suffrage is after all a knife-and-fork question. It means that every workman has a right to have a good hat and coat, a good roof, a good dinner, no more work than will keep him in health, and as much wages as will keep him in plenty.”--See R. G. Gamage, _History of the Chartist Movement_.

[141] Charles Kingsley, who is said to have signed the petition, gives his view of April 10th in _Alton Locke_.

[142] See Hansard, June, 1849.

INDEX

Adam of Marsh, Franciscan friar, friend of Grosseteste and
de Montfort, 120, 130

Aldrich, an Alderman of Norwich, 229, 231

Alexander III., Pope, 45, 56

Anselm, Abbot of Bec, 8;
called to court of William II., 8;
appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, 9;
refuses to give up church lands, 11;
firm attitude at Council of Rockingham, 15;
semblance of peace with the king, 16;
leaves England, 18;
returns at request of Henry I., 19;
his services to the king, 21;
dispute with the king, 23;
reconciliation, 26;
his death and character, 27–30;
his birthplace, 30

Appleton, William, 161

Ayscough, Bishop of Salisbury, impeached for treason, 174;
murdered at Erdington, 175

Bailey, John, hanged by Cade, 184

Ball, John, itinerant priest from York, preaches social
revolution, 143;
released from Maidstone prison by Wat Tyler, 153;
preaches to Tyler’s followers at Blackheath, 153;
hanged as a rebel, 167

Barton, Elizabeth, “Holy Maid of Kent,” 206

Becket, Thomas, his parentage, 33;
early years, 34;
appointed Chancellor of Canterbury, 34;
ordained priest and appointed to Archbishopric, 38;
dispute with the king, 41–45;
yields to king’s demands at Council of Clarendon, 47;
refutes charges at Council of Northampton, 49;
leaves England and appeals to the pope, 55;
reconciliation with the king, 57;
lands at Sandwich, 57;
ill-will of the bishops, 58;
Henry’s sudden rage, 59;
his murder, 63;
his canonisation, 64

Belknap, Chief Justice, 147, 148

Berksted, Stephen, Bishop of Chichester, 128

Bigod, Hugh of Norfolk, 121

Bigod, Roger, 126

Boniface of Savoy, Archbishop of Canterbury, 110, 131

Bradshaw, John, 297

Buckingham, Duke of, 249, 250, 251, 252

Burdett, Sir Francis, 313

Burley, Sir Simon, 148, 163

Cade, Jack, leader of the revolt of Kentish commons, 1450, 173;
uncertainty as to real name and family, 176;
marches to Blackheath at head of 46,000 followers, 177;
draws up and presents petition to Henry VI., 178;
no answer returned, 178;
withdraws to Sevenoaks and defeats small body of Henry’s
troops, 180;
gathers reinforcements in Kent, 181;
Henry VI. treats with him fruitlessly, 181;
enters London without opposition, 182;
preserves strict discipline in his force, 184;
forced to levy toll for support of his followers, 185;
after first good reception London turns against him, 187;
unsuccessful fight for London Bridge, 187;
treats with Henry’s representatives, 188;
many of his adherents return to their homes, 189;
refuses to lay down arms till parliament issues legal pardon, 189;
proclaimed a traitor, 189;
defeated at Queenborough, 189;
dies fighting as a fugitive, in Sussex, 189;
head exposed on London Bridge, 190

Cartwright, John, enters Navy and begins promising career, 308;
it is cut short by his siding with the Americans at outbreak of
war, 1776, 308;
trains the Nottinghamshire Militia, 309;
pioneer of political reform, 310;
writes and speaks on the subject, 310;
unsuccessful efforts to enter parliament, 312;
at age of 80 charged with sedition and fined, 313;
known as “Father of Reform,” 315

Catherine of Aragon, 203

Cantilupe, Bishop of Worcester, 122, 126, 133

Cantilupe, Thomas, Chancellor, 128

Cave, Robert, 148

Chalton, Sir John, Lord Mayor of London, 183

Charles I., 250 _et seq._, 280, 282

Church, Corporal, 286

Clarendon, Earl of (quoted), 262

Clarendon, Council of, 46

Clarkson, Thomas, 313

Cocke (or Cooke) Thomas, friend to both Henry VI. and Cade, 182

Cod, Thomas, Mayor of Norwich, 228, 229, 231, 232, 233

Coke, Lord Justice, 252

Colet, Dean of St. Paul’s, 199, 212

Conyers, Dr., Vicar of St. Martin, Norwich, 231

Cranmer, Archbishop, 204

Cromwell, Oliver, 279 _et seq._

Cromwell, Thomas, 208

Crowmer, Sheriff of Kent, 180;
arrested and sent to Tower, 181;
beheaded by Cade’s orders, 184

Curtis (Girste, or Ghirstis) City Merchant, 186

De Burgh, Hubert, 95, 107

De Gray, John, Bishop of Norwich, 81, 82

De Morville, Hugh, 59–63

Derby, Henry, Earl of (afterwards Henry IV.), 157, 163, 170

Despenser, Henry, Bishop of Norwich, 168

Des Roches, Peter, Bishop of Winchester, 82, 94, 107, 108

De Tracy, William, 59–63

De Valence, William, 123, 132

Eadmer (quoted), 6, 7, 14, 17, 26

Edward, Prince, son of Henry III., afterwards King-Edward I.;
takes oath of reform to barons, 123;
takes Gloucester in civil war, 126;
taken prisoner at Battle of Lewes, 127;
escapes to Welsh marshes, 132;
intercepts de Montfort’s relief force at Evesham, 133

Eliot, John, enters parliament as member for St. Germans, 249;
knighted and becomes Vice-Admiral of Devon, 249;
captures the pirate Nutt, but eventually finds himself in Marshalsea
prison over the affair, 250;
released and is returned for Newport, 1624, 250;
quarrels with Buckingham and insists upon his impeachment, 251;
imprisoned in Tower in connection therewith, but soon released, 251;
refuses forced loan and again imprisoned and deprived of
Vice-Admiralship, 252;
carries Petition of Right, 252;
attacks policy of Laud, 252;
supports John Rolle in refusing payment of taxes, 253;
summoned before Privy Council, imprisoned for fourth time,
and fined, 255;
remains passionately loyal to House of Commons, 256;
health gives way in confinement, 257;
dies in the Tower, 1632, 257;
his son’s appeal for his burial at Port Eliot, Cornwall,
refused, 257

Erasmus, 193, 194, 197, 202, 211, 212

Essex, Earl of, 267

Ethelmar, half-brother to Henry III., 106

Everard, 297, 298

Fairfax, General, 298, 299

Falkland, Lord, 265, 266

Finch, Chief Justice, 262

Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, 206, 207, 208

FitzOsbert, William, called Longbeard; his early life, 72;
lays his grievances before Richard I., 72;
defies Archbishop Hubert, 73;
his arrest and death, 75

FitzStephen, W. (quoted), 35, 49, 53, 59

FitzUrse, Reginald, 59–63

Flowerdew, Sergeant, 222, 223

Frost, 321

Fulke, follower of Ket, 235

Fussell, 328

Gilbert, Earl of Gloucester, 126, 128, 131, 132

Gough, Matthew, 186

Green, J. R. (quoted), 91, 92

Green, Squire of Wylby, 222

Gregory IX., Pope, letter to, from Grosseteste, 102

Grindcobbe, William, supporter of John Ball in Hertford, 143, 146;
follows Wat Tyler, 149;
at Mile End, 159;
hanged at St. Albans, 167

Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln, born in Suffolk of humble parentage,
goes to Oxford, rises to foremost honours there, and becomes
bishop, at sixty, 101;
institutes reforms at Oxford, 102;
befriends Dominican and Franciscan friars, 102;
withstands Henry III.’s rapacity, 104;
attends council in London, recites grievances of Henry III.’s
misrule, 107;
resists seizure of English Church revenues by Innocent IV., 108–111;
refuses canonry of Lincoln to pope’s nephew, 111;
Cardinals uphold Grosseteste against Innocent IV., 112;
makes appeal to whole realm on behalf of rights of English
Church, 113;
dies, 1235, and is buried in Lincoln Cathedral, 113;
Edward I.’s application for canonization refused, 113

Gunnell, Tutor in Sir Thomas More’s family, 199

Hales, Sir Robert, Treasurer to Richard II., 146;
advises no conference with Tyler’s followers, 154;
beheaded on Tower Hill, 160

Hampden, John, refuses to pay ship-money, 258;
case decided against him, 259;
acts with Eliot against Buckingham, 261;
strong influence in House of Commons, 262;
prominent work in Long Parliament, 263;
impeached for high treason, 265;
takes refuge from Charles in city, 266;
prepares for war, 266;
raises regiment of infantry in Bucks, 267;
mortally wounded at Chalgrove, 268

Hazlerig, 265, 288

Henry I., 19–26

Henry II.; appoints Thomas Becket Chancellor of England, 34;
their close friendship, 35;
determines to appoint Thomas to the archbishopric, 36;
his dispute with Thomas, and its cause, 41;
draws up the Constitutions of Clarendon, 46;
his dissatisfaction with the result, 48;
charges Thomas with corrupt practices, 48–54;
his sudden rage and hasty words, resulting in the murder of the
archbishop, 63

Henry III.; appeals for money at Council of Westminster, 1244, 104;
confronts bishops with Innocent IV.’s letter exhorting them to give
liberally, 104;
bishops evade coercion, 105;
king again tries in 1252, 106;
bishops, led by Grosseteste, refuse, 106;
his miserable misrule, 108;
dealings with Simon of Montfort in Gascony, 118–120;
his financial difficulties reach climax, 1257, 120;
continued quarrels with barons, 122;
obtains dispensation from promises to barons, 124;
civil war is declared, 126;
defeated by Simon of Montfort, and peace made, 1264, 127;
war again breaks out, 132;
is victorious, 137

Henry VIII., 197, 201, 202, 203, 207, 208

Holland, Sir John, 159

Holles, 265

Horne, Alderman, 182

Horne, Alderman, supports Tyler, and welcomes him to London, 156

Hotham, Sir John, 267

Howe, Lord, 308

Hugh of Lincoln, 77

Herbert of Bosham (quoted), 38, 58

Iden, Alexander, 189, 190

Innocent III., Pope, 77, 81, 83, 95

Innocent IV., Pope, 104, 106, 110, 111, 113

Ireton, General, 280, 286

Islip, Archbishop of Canterbury, 144

John, King, refuses to acknowledge Stephen Langton’s appointment to
archbishopric, 81;
seizes estates of Canterbury, and drives chapter into exile, 82;
is excommunicated, 83;
meets primate at Winchester and is formally absolved, 85;
strife with barons, 86;
his campaign to recover lost Angevine provinces, 87;
capitulation to the barons, 90;
signs the Great Charter, 91;
his death, 95

John of Gaunt, calls parliament at Northampton, 147;
his unpopularity with the people, 151;
his palace of the Savoy and its valuable contents destroyed, 157

John of Salisbury (quoted), 56

Jones, Ernest, 324;
joins Chartist movement at 27, 325;
son of an officer and educated abroad, 325;
works with Feargus O’Connor, 325;
attends Chartist convention, 327;
addresses large meetings in London, 328;
arrested, tried, found guilty of seditious speech and
imprisoned, 328;
on his release Chartist movement declining, 329;
contests Halifax unsuccessfully, 330;
gives support to advanced radicals, 330;
stands twice unsuccessfully for Nottingham, 330;
dies suddenly at the age of 50, 330

Kemp, Cardinal, Archbishop of York, Chancellor to Henry VI.,
187, 188, 190

Kent, Earl of, 159

Ket, Robert, landowner in Norfolk, a tanner by trade, 223;
sympathies on the side of the people, 223;
offers to lead the movement against enclosures of land, 224;
he is eagerly accepted as captain, and leads large army towards
Norwich, 224;
issues manifesto attacking landlords, 225;
advances to Mousehold, and his force increases to 20,000, 228;
sends statement to Edward VI., 229;
king replies by herald, 229;
sets about organising and victualling his followers, as he is not
content with vague promises, 230;
arrests landowners, 231;
repudiates king’s “pardon” as being a just and innocent man, 232;
his arrest ordered by king’s messenger, but impossible in the
presence of his followers, 232;
friction arises between Norwich authorities and the rebels, 232;
fight ensues, Norwich in his hands, 233;
unsuccessfully opposed by Marquis of Northampton, 234;
commands in Norwich for three weeks, 235;
disappointed at rising not becoming general, 236;
negotiates with Earl of Warwick, sent to suppress revolt, 237;
abrupt conclusion, and battle follows, 238;
his mistaken tactics and defeat, 239;
his followers surrender to Warwick, 239;
his flight and capture, 239;
tried, found guilty of high treason and condemned to death, 241;
hanged in chains in Norwich, 241

Ket, William, 223, 239, 240, 241

Knolles, Sir Robert, 156

Knyvett, Sir Edmund, 236

Langham, Simon, Archbishop of Canterbury, 144

Langland, Robert, 145

Langton, Stephen, appointed to archbishopric of Canterbury against
King John’s wishes by Innocent III., 81, 82;
is driven into exile by the king, 82;
returns six years later, 85;
starts the movement for the Great Charter, 86;
frames articles for the Charter, 90;
disagreement with papal legate, 94;
works for preservation of peace during early years of Henry
III.’s reign, 95;
his character and place in history, 96

Laud, Archbishop, 252, 253, 256, 257, 260, 262, 272

Legge, John, 147, 160

le Despenser, Hugh, Justiciar, 126, 128, 134

Lilburne, John, apprenticed to a cloth merchant in London and becomes
friend of Prynne, 278;
charged before Star Chamber with circulating unlicensed books, and
sentenced to be whipped, pilloried, and imprisoned, 278;
released by order of Long Parliament, 278;
fights at Edgehill and Marston Moor, where he is taken
prisoner, 278;
leaves army in 1645 rather than take the Covenant, 279;
resists the tyranny of parliamentary government, 279;
heads the party in the army called the Levellers, 281;
again imprisoned and released in 1649, 282;
writes pamphlets against the government and is again
imprisoned, 284;
petition presented to parliament for his release, 284;
tried for treasonable writings, 287;
fined and banished, 288;
goes to Holland, and returns, without permission, to London,
in 1653, 289;
arrested and acquitted, 289;
again imprisoned by Cromwell for two years, 290;
converted to Quakerism, 290;
released and pensioned, 290;
dies at Eltham, 290

Litster, Geoffrey, follower of John Ball in Norfolk, 143, 146;
his death, 168, 217

Looney, 328

Lovett, 319, 322

Luard (quoted), 101–2

Lyons, Richard, 161

Macaulay, Lord (quoted), 264

Malpas, Philip, 185

Martin, Papal Legate, 110

Matthew of Westminster (quoted), 127

Maurice, C. E. (quoted), 95

Mendall, John, a name by which Jack Cade was known, 175

Moleyns, Bishop of Chichester, supporter of Duke of Suffolk, killed at
Portsmouth, 174

Montfort, Henry of, eldest son of Earl of Leicester, 133, 134

Montfort, Simon of, second son of Earl of Leicester, 132, 133

Montfort, Simon of, Earl of Leicester, son of first Earl of Leicester,
marries Eleanor, sister of Henry III., and widow of Earl of
Pembroke, 117;
boyhood passed in France, 117;
leaves for crusades, distinguished career in Palestine, 118;
returns in 1242, 118;
works with Grosseteste in his reforms, 118;
goes to Gascony for five years (1248–53) and deals with turbulent
nobles, 118;
saves Gascony for English crown, and restores order in the
province, 119;
Henry III.’s ingratitude, 119;
recognized leader of the barons on his return to England, 120;
successful in “Mad Parliament,” 1258, 122;
as “foreigner” yields castles of Kenilworth and Odiham, 123;
fresh difficulties with Henry III. in carrying out Provisions of
Oxford, 124;
civil war imminent, 1264;
and many bishops and barons desert Simon, 125;
offers £30,000 to king to make peace and adhere to Provisions of
Oxford--proposal rejected, 126;
Battle of Lewes won by Simon, 126;
peace made, 127;
draws up new scheme of reform, the precursor of later representative
government, 129;
fresh disturbances and defections, followed by renewal of war, 132;
Battle of Evesham, and death of Simon, 134;
interred in Evesham Abbey, 134

More, Sir Thomas, born 1478, member of Cardinal Morton’s household,
leaves there for Oxford, and later studies law in Lincoln’s
Inn, 193;
friendship with Erasmus, 194;
spends four years with Carthusians, 195;
leaves Charterhouse, marries and enters parliament, 195;
opposes Henry VII.’s exactions, 195;
Under-Sheriff for the City, 196;
embassies to Flanders and Calais, 197;
enters Henry VIII.’s service, and rises rapidly to highest offices
of State, 197;
happy domestic life, 198;
withholds support from king on his divorce from Catherine of
Aragon, 203;
resigns chancellorship, 205;
declines to be present at Anne Boleyn’s coronation, 206;
unsuccessful attempt to implicate him in the “treason” of Holy Maid
of Kent, 206;
finds himself unable to take oath denying papal supremacy, and is
sent to Tower, 207;
indicted for treason, 208;
sentenced to death, 209;
beheaded on Tower Hill, 210;
beatified, 213

Mortimer, name by which Jack Cade was popularly known, 176

Mortimer, Roger, 132

Newton, Sir John, Governor of Rochester Castle, taken prisoner
by Tyler, 149;
sent with message from Tyler to the king, 154

Nicholas, papal legate, 86

Norfolk, Duke of, 202

Northampton, Council of, 48

Northampton, Marquis of (William Parr), 234

Oastler, 323

O’Brien, James Bronterre, 320, 321, 322

O’Connor, Feargus, 320, 323, 329, 330

Otho, papal legate, 109, 110

Overton, Richard, 284

Palgrave, Sir Francis (quoted), 22, 23

Pandulf, papal legate, 83, 94

Pankhurst, Mrs., 336

Pankhurst, Christabel, 336

Paris, Matthew (quoted), 100, 105, 108, 113, 117, 124

Parker, Matthew, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, 231, 232

Perkins, Corporal, 286

Petibone, John, 232

Place, Francis, 314, 319, 320

Powell, Professor York (quoted), 30, 65, 91, 121, 135

Prince, 284

Pym, John, enters House of Commons, 1614, 260;
conspicuous in “Short Parliament,” 260;
supports Eliot in Buckingham’s impeachment, 261;
becomes leader of parliamentary party, 261;
canvasses England on horseback before “Long Parliament,” 261;
opens charge of impeachment against Strafford, 262;
active work in parliament, 263, 264;
makes overtures to the queen, 263;
impeached for high treason, 265;
takes refuge in city from Charles, 266;
secures Portsmouth and Hull for the parliament, 266;
his “solemn league and covenant” accepted by parliament, 269;
dies, 1643, and buried in Westminster Abbey, 269

Rich, Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury, 106;
retires to Pontigny, 1240, and dies, 109

Richard II., agrees to interview with Tyler, 154;
allows himself to be dissuaded, 155;
sends to Tyler for written statement of grievances, 157;
agrees to a meeting at Mile End, 159;
assents to Tyler’s requests, 160;
second meeting at Smithfield, 162;
again agrees to Tyler’s demands, 164;
after Tyler’s death personally disperses his followers, 166;
the danger passed, rebels fiercely punished, 167;
formally annuls charters granted to Tyler, 168;
his death, 170

Richard the Breton, 59–63

Richard, Earl of Cornwall, half brother to Henry III., became King of
the Romans, 118

Richard, Earl of Gloucester, 121, 122, 124

Rishanger, Chronicler for St. Albans (quoted), 121, 134

Rockingham, Council of, 13, 15

Roger of Wendover (quoted), 88

Roper, William, son-in-law to Sir Thomas More, 195, 196, 202

Roper, Margaret (his wife), 198

Russell, Lord John, 321, 326, 329

Sadler, 323

Salisbury, Earl of, counsels Richard II. not to interview Tyler, 155;
at Smithfield, 163;
his death, 170

Sanders, Henry, 297

Say-and-Sele, Lord, treasurer to Henry VI., impeached for
treason, 174;
arrested and taken to Tower, 181;
beheaded by Cade’s order, 184

Scales, Lord, guardian of prisoners in Tower, 182;
in conjunction with mayor and corporation opposes Cade, 186

Seldon, 252

Shaftesbury, Lord, 323

Sharpe, 328

Sheffield, Lord, 234

Sibley, Alderman, 156

Somerset, Protector, 221, 236

Stafford, Archbishop of Canterbury, Chancellor to Henry VI.,
181, 187, 188

Stafford, Sir Humfrey, 180

Stafford, Sir William, 180

Standish, Ralph, 165, 166

Steward, Augustine, 234, 235

Strafford, Earl of, 252, 256, 262, 263

Straw, Jack, priest in Essex, follower of John Ball, 143;
acts as lieutenant to Wat Tyler, 149;
hanged without trial, 167

Strode, 265

Sudbury, Simon, Archbishop of Canterbury, 144;
his palace at Canterbury ransacked by Tyler, 152;
Lambeth palace stormed by Tyler and records destroyed, but building
uninjured, 156;
beheaded by Tyler, on Tower Hill, 161

Suffolk, Duke of, chief minister to Henry VI., 173;
impeached as a traitor, 174;
beheaded, 174

Suffolk, Earl of, President of Richard II.’s council, 155,
163, 167, 170

Sutherton, Leonard, 232

Tonge, Alderman, 156

Theobald, Archbishop, 33, 34, 36

Thompson, Corporal William, 285

Thompson, Cornet, 286

Tressilian, Sir Robert, 167, 170

Tyler, John, 148, 149

Tyler, Wat, chosen captain of peasants at Maidstone, 149;
his recorded history can be followed for eight days only, 150;
his followers at first moderate, 151;
at Canterbury, 152;
bursts open gaol at Maidstone and releases Ball and other
prisoners, 153;
sets out for London at head of 30,000 men, 153;
encamps at Blackheath, 153;
sends Sir John Newton with message to Richard II., 154;
interview refused, 155;
he marches on London Bridge, and destroys adjacent property, 155;
keeps his followers under strict discipline, 156;
demands interview with the king, 158;
conference at Mile End, 159, 160;
invites king to meet him again, at Smithfield, 162;
his demands agreed to, 164;
in sudden scuffle draws dagger, strikes Walworth, and is mortally
wounded in return, 165;
his head exposed on London Bridge, 166

Urban, Pope, 18, 19

Vernon, 328

Vincent, 321

Von Hutten, Ulrich, 193

Warwick, Earl of, High Chamberlain to Henry VIII., 236–240

Walter, Hubert, Bishop of Salisbury, afterwards Archbishop of
Canterbury, 69, 70, 73, 76, 77, 81

Walter of Coventry (quoted), 85

Walworth, William, Mayor of London, owns London houses of
ill-fame, 155;
the same destroyed by Tyler, 155;
attempts to fortify London Bridge, 155;
urges king and council to action, 157;
at Smithfield, 163;
wounds Tyler mortally, 165;
knighted by Richard, 166

Walwyn, 283

Warham, Archbishop, 197

Watson, a Norwich preacher, 229

Waynfleet, William, Bishop of Winchester, 188

Wellington, Duke of, 326

Wentworth (see Strafford, Earl of).

Weston, Chancellor of the Exchequer, 252

Wilberforce, William, 313

William I., his character, 3;
condition of country under, 3–5;
death, 5

William II., his character, 5;
condition of England under, 6;
appoints Anselm to Archbishopric of Canterbury, 10;
his quarrel with Anselm, 11–13, _et seq._;
his death, 19

Williams, 328

Windebank, 262

Winstanley, Gerrard, 286;
leader of the “Digger” movement, 293;
born in Lancashire, but settled in London as a trader, 294;
fails, and retires to the country, 294;
publishes pamphlets, social and religious, 295;
first action of the “Diggers,” 297–8;
appeals to General Fairfax against interference, 299;
receives little notice, 300;
makes further active efforts, 300;
movement suppressed, 300;
little known of him later, 301

Wollstonecraft, Mary, 336

Wolsey, Cardinal, 197, 201, 202, 203, 208, 217, 222

Wraw, John, supporter of Ball in Suffolk, 143, 146;
follows Wat Tyler, 149;
at Blackheath, 153;
returns to Suffolk to announce rising, 153;
is hanged as rebel, 167

_The Westminster Press (Gerrards Ltd.), Harrow Road, London, W._

Transcriber’s note:

Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they were not changed.

Simple typographical errors were corrected; unpaired quotation marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left unpaired.

Illustrations in this eBook have been positioned between paragraphs and outside quotations. In versions of this eBook that support hyperlinks, the page references in the List of Illustrations lead to the corresponding illustrations.

Footnotes, originally at the bottoms of pages, have been collected and placed just before the Index of this eBook.

The index was not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page references.