Proclama-
tion by the
rebels.
Outbreak of
revolt.
ij6 Constitutional History. [chap.
and the peculiar oppressions of the commons of Kent. The
leader took the name of John JIortimer, and declared himself
to be cousin to the duke of York. Se found means to collect
round him, from Kent, Surrey and Sussex, a force to which
he gave a semblance of order and discipline, and which was
arranged very much as it would have been if called on to serve
under the regular local administration1. He proclaimed that
he came to correct public abuses and remove evil counsellors.
His manifesto contained fifteen articles of complaint and five of
redress. The complaints included the threatened devastation
of Kent in revenge for Suffolk’s death, the heavy taxation, the
exclusion of the lords of the royal blood from the king’s presence
and the promotion of upstarts, the abuse of purveyance, the
false indictments by the king's servants who coveted the estates
of the accused, false claims to land promoted by the king’s ser-
vants, the treasonable loss of France, the expense of suing for
the allowance of the barons of the Cinque Ports, extortion of
sheriffs in farming offices, excessive fines and amercements of the
green wax, the usurpations of the court of Dover castle, undue
interference with elections, illegal appointment of collectors of
taxes, and the burdens of attending the county court. The
articles demanded were a resumption of demesne, the banish-
ment of the Suffolk party and’ the return of the duke of York
to court, the vindication of the fame of duke Humfrey ; Suffolk
and his party were made answerable for the death of Glouces-
ter, cardinal Beaufort, and the duke of JVarwick, as well as for
the loss of France ; the last article was a demand for the
abolition of the abuses noted in the complaint.
The outbreak took place in Whitsun week whilst the king
was still at Leicester. On the ɪst of June Jack Cade encamped
at Blackheath. On the 6th Henry reached London. On the
ɪɪth, with 20,000 men, he marched on Elackheath, from whence
Cade had retreated2 ; on the 18th a part of the royal force was
1 ‘ They chesse them a Captayne, the whyche Captayne Compellyd allé the
gentelly⅛ to arysse whythe them ; ’ Gregory, p. J90. Cf. Stow, pp. 388, 39ρ.
2 At Elackheath the king ordered all his liege men should ‘ avoid the
field ;, Cvhereupon the rebel army dispersed. The next day he went in
pursuit to Greenwich, and Stafford was killed at Sevenoaks ; the king
хунт.] Richard, of York. 157
cut to pieces at Sevenoaks : but the spirit of mutiny broke out Encounter
in the rest1 ; the king was obliged to send the treasurer to the forcés wtthɪ
Tower, either to appease the mutineers or to save the minister, the rebβls'
Deserted by his army the unhappy king retired to Kenilworth ; Hemy
the mayor and citizens of London offered to stand by him, but Kenilworth.
Henry had no confidence either in them or in himself. On his
departure the rebels returned ; Cade entered London on the 3rd Cade ɪɪɪ
PTI , London.
of J αly, and on the 4th the treasurer was seized and beheaded.
On the 5th, in a battle on London bridge, the rebels were
defeated and the city freed from their presence. The chancellor
then offered pardons already sealed to Cade and his followers.
The pardons were accepted ; the rebels dispersed ; Cade to
plunder and ravage, the more honest followers to their own
homes. His subsequent conduct was not such as to justify his
pardon, and no pardon could have a prospective validity to cover
his new crimes. A reward 2 was set on his head, and he was soon u<π., kiιie<ι
after killed in Kent. The disturbances did not end here. Anarchy
was spreading from the moment that Henry was seen to be in-
competent. In Wiltshire bishop Ascoush of Salisburv had been other d⅛-
r . “ turhances.
murdered in June. The malcontents ɪn Kent elected a new
captain after Cade’s death; but the government speedily recovered
from the panic in which they had fallen, and the severe execu-
tions which followed attested the sincerity of the alarm 3.
347. It is now that Richard duke of York first comes pro- Thednkeof
minently on the stage. He was about forty years of age, and
had been for fifteen years in public employment as regent of
France or lieutenant of Ireland4. In both capacities he had
slept at Greenwich but the lords went home soon after. Then, according
to Gregory, another captain, who had taken the name of the former, led
his force up to Blackheath and forced their way into London, where, on
the 4th of July, they beheaded lord Say. Gregory, pp. 192, 193.
1 Chron. ed. Giles, p. 40 ; Fabyan, ρ. 623. 2 Rymer, xi. 275.
3 On Cade’s rebellion see Gairdner, preface to Paston Letters, vol. i.
pp. Iii-Ivi sq. ; Sussex Archaeological Collections, vols, xviii, xix ; Rogers,
Loci, e Iibro Veritatum Gascoigne, pp. 188 sq.
4 i Regent was of all that longed to the fyng.
And kept full well Normandy in specyall,
But Fraunce was gone afore in generall;
And home he came at seven yere ende agayne
⅛ With mekell love of the lande certayne∙, Hardyng, p. 399.
⅛ He had been a good and popular ruler in Ireland, where the house of