Shakespeare's Kings (80 page)

All
too
soon,
Henry
himself
had
reason
to
regret
Suffolk's
departure. Within
three
weeks
of
the
Duke's
death,
at
Whitsuntide
1450,
the almost
universal
dissatisfaction
at
the
weakness
and
incompetence
of the
government
had
brought
the
people
of
Kent,
East
Sussex,
Essex and
Surrey
to
the
point
of
insurrection.
Their
leader
was
a
man
named Jack
Cade,
of
whose
origins
we
know
next
to
nothing;
it
seems
clear, however,
that
he
was
by
no
means
the
uneducated
thug
of
Shakespeare's play.
The
fact
that
after
the
rebellion
his
'goods,
lands
and
tenements, rents
and
possessions'
were
forfeited
and
his
blood
declared
corrupt suggests
that
he
is
more
likely
to
have
been
a
member
of
the
local squirearchy;
and
this
is
further
borne
out
by
the
obvious
willingness
of many
landed
gentry
of
the
same
or
similar
class
to
follow
his
banner.
It

1. According to Hall, 'the capitayne of the same barke with small fight entered into the dukes shyppe, and perceyuyng his person present, brought hym to Douere Rode, & there on the one syde of a cocke bote caused his head to be stryken of, and left his body with the head vpon the sandes of Douer, which corse was there founde by a chapelayne
of his
, and conueyed to Wyngfield college in Suffolke, and there buried.' Oddly enough, however, while the collegiate church of Wingfield possesses fine tombs
of his
father the second Earl and his son the second Duke,
of his
own tomb there is ho trace.

seems probable, too, that he had fought in the French wars, where he had acquired valuable military experience. In such circumstances it may seem surprising that he should have claimed to be John Mortimer, descendant through the Earls of March of Lionel, Duke of Clarence, third son of Edward III. He seems to have genuinely believed this himself; he certainly had no difficulty in convincing the vast majority of
his followers.

Assembling at various points during the last days of May, the rebels - they included one knight, eighteen squires, seventy-four 'gentlemen', the Mayor of Queenborough and the Bailiff of Folkestone — marched on London and on
i
June pitched their camp at Blackheath. Henry, who had been attending a session of Parliament at Leicester, dissolved it at once and rode quickly to the capital, arriving six days later at St John's, Clerkenwell; and on
17
June he and his Council gave careful consideration to Cade's grievances. The King, it was claimed, had given away so many of the Crown lands that instead of living on their revenue he was forced to levy disproportionate taxes on his subjects. Moreover, those responsible for collecting these taxes bought and sold their offices instead of being appointed by Parliament. But Parliament itself was no longer properly representative, since elections were all too frequently managed by the local magnates, who imposed their own nominees. A yet greater degree of corruption was evident in the judiciary. Finally, the loss of the King's lands in France had been the result of criminal mismanagement, and the 'traitors' responsible were still unpunished. To remedy these ills the insurgents demanded that the King should resume possession of all the Crown lands; that the Dukes of York, Exeter, Norfolk and Buckingham should be relieved of their positions of power; that parliamentary elections and the administration of justice should be reformed; and that the Statute of Labourers, whereby those who demanded more than a certain wage were savagely penalized, should be repealed at once.

There was nothing unreasonable about any of this, and it should not have been impossible for the Council to have given a sufficiently encouraging reply to have persuaded the rebels to return contentedly to their homes. Instead, it rejected the demands out of hand and sent in the army to restore order. At this point, however, another serious mistake was made: the army was split in two. Several detachments were deputed to escort the King to Blackheath, and only a relatively small
force
to
deal
with
Cade
and
his
followers.
This
force
pursued
them
as far
as
Sevenoaks
—
where,
however,
the
rebels
suddenly
wheeled
round and
attacked,
killing
twenty-four
of
the
King's
men
including
the
two leaders,
Humphrey
and
William
Stafford.
When
the
news
reached Blackheath
the
remainder
of
the
army
mutinied,
and
it
was
only
with difficulty
that
Henry
was
able
to
retire
with
his
attendant
lords
to Greenwich.
A
few
days
later
he
fled,
seeking
refuge
at
Kenilworth
Castle
in
Warwickshire.

After
this,
the
rebellion
spread
rapidly:
northward
to
East
Anglia, westward
as
far
as
Hampshire
and
even
Dorset.
In
Wiltshire
the
Bishop of
Salisbury,
who
had
officiated
at
the
King's
wedding,
was
seized
after mass
and
murdered
by
his
own
parishioners.
Meanwhile
on
3
July the
self-proclaimed
Mortimer,
wearing
a
gown
of
blue
velvet,
a
gilt head-piece
and
the
gilded
spurs
of
a
knight,
made
his
triumphal
entry into
London,
a
sword
carried
in
state
before
him.
On
the
day
following he
publicly
beheaded
two
of
the
King's
most
hated
advisers
-
whom, as
a
sop
to
the
rebels,
Henry
had
already
sent
to
the
Tower:
Lord
Say and
his
son-in-law
Crowmer,
the
Lord
Sheriff
of
Kent.
All
might
still have
been
well
for
him
had
he
not
ill-advisedly
allowed
the
plunder
of the
house
of
the
staunch
Lancastrian
Philip
Malpas,
one
of
the
few
City Aldermen
to
have
opposed
his
entry.
The
prospect
of
further
profitable looting
encouraged
the
rabble
to
join
him,
while
law-abiding
citizens grew
anxious
at
this
new
turn
of
events
and
began
to
withdraw
their support.
They
appealed
for
help
to
Lord
Scales
and
Matthew
Gough, who
held
the
Tower
in
the
King's
name;
and
at
ten
o'clock
in
the evening
of
Sunday
5
July
these
two
advanced
with
their
garrison
in
an attempt
to
regain
possession
of
London
Bridge.
The
ensuing
battle continued
all
night;
Gough
was
killed,
but
neither
side
could
prevail over
the
other.
Finally
the
rebels
set
fire
to
the
bridge
and
withdrew to
Southwark,
where
they
broke
into
the
King's
Bench
and
Marshalsea prisons
and
released
all
the
inmates.

Now
at
last
the
government
decided
to
negotiate,
nominating
for the
task
Archbishop
Kemp
-
himself
a
man
of
Kent
-
and
William Waynflete,
who
had
succeeded
Beaufort
as
Bishop
of
Winchester. These
two
met
Cade
at
St
Margaret's
church,
Southwark,
where
they received
his
petitions,
granting
to
him
-
in
the
name
of
John
Mortimer —
and
to
all
his
followers
a
free
pardon
on
condition
that
they
should at
once
disperse
peacefully
to
their
homes.
Many
did
so;
a
number
of
others,
however,
persuaded
by
Cade
that
their
pardons
were
worthless until
they
had
been
ratified
by
Parliament,
followed
him
to
Rochester and
attacked
Queenborough
Castle
on
the
Isle
of
Sheppey.
This
was his
second
mistake.
A
bill
of
attainder
was
immediately
issued
against him,
this
time
in
the
name
ofjohn
Cade,
his
pardon
being
simultaneously declared
invalid
since
it
applied
specifically
to
Mortimer.
Suddenly,
his support
evaporated.
He
fled
in
disguise
to
East
Sussex
-
where
a
few days
later
the
recently
appointed
Sheriff,
one
Alexander
Iden,
ran
him to
earth
in
a
garden
at
Heathfield.
Cade
defended
himself
as
best
he could,
but
was
killed
resisting
arrest;
on
1
5
July
his
body
was
delivered to
the
Council
who
ordered
it
to
be
drawn
and
quartered,
the
quarters being
sent
respectively
to
Blackheath,
Salisbury,
Gloucester
and
Norwich.
The
head
was
impaled
on
a
lance
and
exhibited
on
London Bridge,
facing
towards
Kent.
Shortly
afterwards
a
tribunal
-
which included
both
Archbishops
—
sat
in
judgement
over
the
insurgent
leaders at
Canterbury.
Eight
of
them
were
sentenced
to
death.