Tombland (The Shardlake series Book 7)

by C. J. Sansom

  Next morning Northampton made another offer of pardon. It was reported that a crowd was gathered outside Pockthorpe Gate to the north, but when the Herald arrived there his offer of pardon was rejected, the argument being repeated that the rebels were loyal subjects in no need of pardon.

  This was a feint; just then the rebels had entered the city across Bishopsgate Bridge. To avoid being trapped in Holme Street, with the fifteen-foot-high walls of the Cathedral Close on one side and the walls of the Great Hospital on the other, the rebels brought down the Great Hospital walls.13 This would have needed artillery, fired this time with some skill. The rebels were thus enabled to reach the broad square of Palace Plain. Here Northampton’s forces were soundly beaten, Lord Sheffield killed, and the remains of Northampton’s army fled, together with many richer inhabitants of the city, some in their lightest garments to disguise their status. Sotherton reported that a large part of the city around Bishopsgate Bridge was set alight, but the violent thunderstorm late on 1 August doused the fires. Northampton and his army retired to Cambridge.

  The government army had been too small and poorly commanded, while the Italian mercenaries proved disappointing. The rebels had shown considerable skill as well as courage. Sotherton puts the rebel death toll at about 400. This might be as many as one in twenty of the camp-men, and again must have brought much grief to the camp.

  GROWING ISOLATION: 1–24 AUGUST

  The defeat of Northampton’s army was the high-water mark of the rebellion. Throughout August, in sometimes rainy weather, the rebels retained firm control of Norwich, but neighbouring camps were going down, and a second, major attack from Mousehold on Yarmouth failed on 17 August, a counter-attack capturing six cannon and thirty rebels. Meanwhile news of the preparation of another army from London, far larger and better commanded, would have reached the camp. The Mousehold men must have felt increasingly isolated.

  Norwich was now thoroughly occupied, with Augustine Steward back in formal charge, but men from the camp holding all important positions.1 The cathedral was occupied. Again, there were several days of looting; rebels calling out ‘a Cod’s head for a penny’ to frighten the richer citizenry, while houses were broken into and looted, sometimes under the pretext of search being made for Northampton. Augustine Steward’s own house was broken into; however, the men were ordered off by a rebel in authority, indicating that Kett soon re-established control over his men in the city; indeed Steward was authorized to send sometimes unsympathetic preachers to the camp – although the richer citizens of Norwich must have remained in a state of considerable fear.

  On the 11 August a proclamation declared forfeit all the property of the Western rebels, who were decisively defeated at Sampford Courtenay on the 16th – savage reprisals against the population followed. Pardons and money were carried to the three camps in Essex, and two in Kent. Six leaders of the Essex camps were later executed.2 The majority of the smaller camps were going down.

  THE COMING OF WARWICK’S ARMY

  Around 20 August the Earl of Warwick’s army set out from London. Again, numbers vary according to the sources, but 10,000 men is a reasonable figure. The army consisted of local levies but also professional soldiers, including Captain Drury, who had experience of the Scottish wars, and some 1,500 landsknechts. These Swiss or German mercenaries were among the most feared troops in Europe, and were the strongest and most experienced of soldiers, employing heavy horses, long pikes and arquebuses, which in close formation could deliver deadly volleys.1

  The original plan had been for Somerset himself to command the army, but he changed his mind and placed John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, in command. Dudley was the second man on the Council, an experienced and highly successful soldier both on land and sea, a very different prospect from Northampton. It may be that Somerset changed command since leading the force against the rebels himself could finally have destroyed his reputation as a ‘friend of the poor’, but if so, it was another mistake, because Dudley’s victory greatly enhanced his own reputation. The army set out on 20 August, linked up with the remnants of Northampton’s army at Cambridge, then moved on to Norfolk and by the 23rd had reached Wymondham. On Mousehold the mood must have been a mixture of fear, anger and above all determination. Given the skill the rebels were to show against a serious professional army, good use must have been made of the month of August for intensive training. This would only stiffen the resolve of those about to fight.

  But what of those unable to do so – those wounded from earlier battles, the unfit, the elderly and women? In Tombland I have imagined these groups as being sent away before Dudley arrived. This is reinforced by the fact that the rebels planned to burn the camp beforehand if they had to give battle.

  How hopeful were those who remained? There had been every chance of defeating Northampton’s small, weak army, but Warwick was a very different prospect. Determination to do or die must have been mixed with doubt, especially among the better-off yeomen, who had most to lose. It is quite possible that August saw a shift in power in the camp towards the younger, more radical element, with the least to lose. Kett retained his leadership throughout but, as we shall see, there are signs that perhaps by the very end he was no longer fully trusted.

  There must, inevitably, have been deserters who preferred to go home rather than face death – this too may have shifted the balance of power in the camp. It would be easy for them to get out, as the wide frontiers of Mousehold Heath were impossible to police effectively.

  What would the rebels do if they won? It is interesting that, when it later became clear that they would have to give battle outside Norwich, they brought down the walls of the northern part of the city.2 This denied the walls as a position from which government forces could attack them. In Tombland I have speculated that they may have further intended, had they won the final battle, to sweep on into north Norwich, where they had support among the citizens, then perhaps afterwards to try to reinstate the camps of the South-East, possibly even march on London to face the Protector himself. This seems the most likely plan that the optimists might have envisaged.

  As Warwick approached the city, the rebels shored up the walls.3 This does not mean that they did not envisage more street fighting in Norwich – they did, and were to be extremely effective – but it presented an extra barrier for Warwick’s forces. If he broke in and fighting inside Norwich failed, the fallback was to give battle in open country, where the rebels had the advantage of being able to choose the site, which must have been well prepared.

  There has been discussion in recent years over where the battle site might be, focused on the discovery by the archaeologist Anne Carter of a site named ‘Dussing’s Deale’, three miles east of Norwich, in eighteenth-century records, which she argued presented suitable terrain.4 Previously most writers followed Sotherton, who states that the site of the battle was at ‘Dussens Dale’ which was ‘not past a myle of[f]’.5 Since Warwick left from Coslany Gate in the north of the city, however, the destination was surely likely to be to the north – if he had intended to follow a rebel march to the east he would have left from one of the southern gates. Such a long march would have been hard for him, but equally so for the rebels. I think Leo Jary’s argument that the battle site was directly north of Norwich, and a mile from Kett’s headquarters at St Michael’s Chapel, is correct. It accords with the sources and makes military sense. He also points out that the name Dussin is not uncommon in Norfolk.6 Meanwhile the idea, originating with Sotherton, that the rebels were influenced in their choice of battle site by a prophecy can be dismissed: everything we know about the rebels in battle indicates their decisions were based on careful planning.

  The country gnoffes, Hobb, Dick, and Hick,

  with clubs and clouted shoon,

  Shall fill up Dussyn dale

  with slaughtered bodies soone.7

  THE FINAL BATTLES: 24–27 AUGUST

  On 24 August Warwick, camped three miles from Norwich where he was awaiting
the arrival of the mercenaries, once more sent a Herald to Norwich. Augustine Steward suggested that another offer of pardon be made to the rebels. Warwick agreed to this, and sent the Herald back to try and negotiate it.1 Steward must surely have acted on Kett’s instructions. Kett sent some forty horsed rebels, who returned to the camp with the Herald, a trumpeter and two aldermen (and, from what transpired, clearly some soldiers as well). When the Herald arrived outside Bishopsgate Bridge the sound of the trumpet fetched a large number of rebels. Kett himself was not present at first.

  The Herald addressed the group. Many removed their caps and cried ‘God save King Edward’ (the camp’s loyalty to Edward had never been in question). He was then joined by Kett with a further body of men. The Herald announced that the King had sent down the Earl of Warwick with power to suppress the rebels, but ‘if they would . . . humbly submit themselves to ye Kings mercy hee woulde graunt to them his Highness pardon for life and goods Kett only excepted’. If they refused, Warwick would not depart until he had ‘vanquishd them with the sword’.

  Sotherton records that although many trembled, others said that they might seem fair words but that afterwards they would be hanged, others again that the Herald was not sent by the King at all but was an agent of the gentleman ‘putting on him a piece of an old cope for his cote armour’. Clearly, the camp was in no mood to surrender. However, Kett was allowed to lead the Herald to another part of the camp to repeat his message.

  Then a tragedy occurred. A boy in the crowd bared his backside at the Herald; as shown in Tombland, this was a standard Tudor insult, but one of the men with the Herald immediately shot the boy dead with a currier (a small arquebus). He must have been a soldier, with a fire already lit. I have made Simon Scambler the victim of this real event in Tombland. We have no idea who the boy actually was.

  This was the end of any slim prospect of negotiation. Rebels rode through the wood calling out ‘our men are kylled by the water syde’. The Herald rode back towards Norwich. Kett accompanied him, apparently intending to return with him to Warwick, but he was followed and surrounded by a rebel company saying ‘whither away, whither away, Master Kett; if you goe, we will goe with you, and with you will live and dye’. This sounds like suspicion on the part of the camp-men that Kett had decided to try and carry negotiation further despite the will of the camp. The Herald told him to stay with his men, and rode away.

  Warwick now brought his army up to the gates and, having been apprised by Augustine Steward that entry could easily be gained through one gate, the ‘Brazen Gate’, quickly broke through, while Steward ordered the neighbouring Westwick Gate to be opened.

  This (hardly unexpected) about-face by Steward allowed Warwick to make a surprise entry into the city. He and his troops reached the market square where some fifty rebels were captured and later hanged. At about three in the afternoon of this eventful day, the baggage carts and artillery entered the city.

  The rebels gathered in Tombland and divided into companies to begin street fighting. The government forces’ lack of knowledge of the streets had already caused their artillery train to lose its way, and in Tombland it was subject to a rebel assault. Most of the artillery was captured and taken to Mousehold, and later used by the rebels. By now there was fierce fighting in the streets; in one encounter near St Andrew’s Hall rebel bowmen gave a good account of themselves, but were surprised by Captain Drury with a band of handgunners and set to flight. Elsewhere, the rebels shot down the tower off Bishopsgate Bridge, but after a further skirmish Captain Drury won back the position. At the end of the afternoon they had been driven from the city, retreating to Mousehold. To the south of the city large areas were set on fire.

  Next day, the 25th, Kett’s forces attacked again and at one point gained control of both the north and south of the city, although fierce fighting forced them again to withdraw. At this point Warwick planned to blow up the bridges connecting the north to the rest of the city, and the city authorities, seeing no end to the destruction, begged him to leave. If he had, this would probably have given victory to the rebels, certainly bringing Norwich back under their control. However, he refused, demanded the authorities’ loyalty, and compromised by blowing up only one bridge. He also set up a system of billeting troops on householders.

  On the 26th the landsknechts arrived. There was no fighting that day; the rebels realized that having lost Norwich and, critically, access to supplies at the market, they would soon run out of necessities. Somerset confirms this was his strategy in a letter to Philip Hoby, ambassador to the Holy Roman Emperor.2

  On Mousehold Heath, therefore, the rebels decided to give battle at their chosen site of Magdalen Hill, on the lower slopes of the heath, not far from the city’s northern walls – marching over mainly even ground to a spur of the heath that gave them the advantage of high ground, with the sun behind them and in the eyes of Dudley’s forces.3 Probably as a symbol to friend and foe that there was no turning back, on the night of the 26–27 August they burned the camp. They had erected a defensive line of stakes facing the direction government forces would take, built protective earthworks to prevent a flanking movement from the west, and had erected a gun-flat for their twenty cannon,4 which now outnumbered Warwick’s. Behind the stakes, facing the front rank of the army, the gentleman prisoners were chained together as a human shield.5 Early in the morning of 27 August, the landsknechts having arrived, Warwick’s army marched out of Coslany Gate and turned right to face the rebels.

  There is dispute about the numbers involved in the battle; certainly Warwick kept his English footmen in Norwich, going into battle with the horsed English forces and landsknechts.6 I therefore suggest a figure of some 5,000 men, mostly professional soldiers, well horsed, armed and armoured, some with handguns, facing perhaps 6,000 rebels, less well armed, less well armoured and with fewer of the vital junior officers, but with a crucial advantage in artillery, and on the high ground.

  With troops drawn up, a final offer of pardon was made (perhaps because of the looming fate of the gentlemen) but instantly rejected. Battle was joined, first blood going to the rebels when Gunner Captain Miles shot and killed Warwick’s standard-bearer. The chained gentlemen managed somehow to escape and run away.7

  It is important to stress that Dussindale seems to have been a narrow victory. It lasted from early morning until around four in the afternoon.8 Rebel prowess was admired by Warwick’s son, who later wrote, ‘the battle was so manfully fought on both sides, it could hardly be judged which side was likely to prevail.’ It involved savage, close-quarter fighting, until the rebel lines were finally broken and large numbers fled, being pursued and cut down by Warwick’s troops. Kett himself fled the field. However, a large body of rebels, seeing the others cut down, continued fighting for some time behind makeshift defences until Warwick himself came and granted a pardon.9

  THE AFTERMATH

  Neville estimated there were 3,500 dead at Dussindale; Edward VI’s Journal gives 2,000. Vengeance on the rebel leadership was swift and harsh. The following day trials under martial law were held, and nine leading rebels were immediately hanged, drawn and quartered for treason at the Oak of Reformation. Many others were hanged. Heads were set on poles around Norwich, as I described in Tombland.1 Meanwhile the earl ordered the bodies of the slain to be buried. The bodies were stripped, in accordance with the practice of the time, and the rebels’ property was afterwards sold in Norwich Market.2 This implies that somewhere under the battlefield, now part of suburban Norwich, there may lie mass graves containing the bodies of those slain at Dussindale. At a guess, these would have been buried six feet down, deeper than the twentieth-century foundations of the modern houses. There may be nothing left but bone; it would be interesting to know if advances in forensic archaeology may allow these to be traced.

  Robert Kett, meanwhile, was captured some miles away; his brother William was also taken. For the time being they were held in the Guildhall prison. The rulers of Norwich celebrated victor
y with a church service and possibly a masque on the 28th (an annual church service at St Peter Mancroft church was to continue until 1667). Dudley’s emblem of the bear and ragged staff was set over the city gates.

  Many of the now freed gentlemen demanded, as the rebels had feared, a ferocious revenge on the survivors. Warwick admonished them severely: ‘He knew their [the rebels’] wickednesse to be such as deserved to be grievously punished, and with the severest judgement that might be. But how far will they goe? Will they ever shew themselves discontented, and never pleased? Would they have no place for humble petition; none for pardon and mercy? Would they be Plowmen themselves, and Harrow their own lands?’3

  This actually seems to have settled things; afterwards the surviving Mousehold men returned home, and for the most part landlords seem to have been content to return to the status quo ante, although no doubt unrecorded acts of private vengeance were taken.4 Somerset remained in Norwich until 7 September, dealing with claims for compensation, hearing accusations, and dealing with convicted prisoners.5 Robert and William Kett were taken to London and tried for treason; afterwards Robert was hanged in chains from Norwich Castle, and William from the steeple of Wymondham church.

  This was the end of the rebellion, but not of its consequences. Within weeks, Warwick led an effort to overthrow the Duke of Somerset. Somerset took the King to Windsor and called on the common people to support him. Amazingly, after the destruction of the rebellions, several thousand still answered his call. However, with the return of the leaders of the Western army, he had no chance. He surrendered the King to the Council in October and was put in the Tower. He was later released and returned to the Council until a somewhat murky plot resulted in his execution in 1552. His achievements may be summarized as galloping inflation, 11,000 rebel dead in England, 15,000 Scottish soldiers at Pinkie and an unknown number of English and Scottish soldiers, and Scottish civilians killed thereafter, during his failed war. Nothing else.