History of the English People, Volume III: The Parliament, 1399-1461; The Monarchy 1461-1540Green, John Richard
History
History of the English People, Volume III: The Parliament, 1399-1461; The Monarchy 1461-1540
Green, John Richard
Great Britain -- History
reforms; it denounces the exclusion of the Duke of York and other nobles
from the royal councils; it calls for a change of ministry, a more careful
expenditure of the royal revenue, and for the restoration of freedom of
election which had been broken in upon by the interference both of the
Crown and the great landowners.
[Sidenote: Suppression of the revolt]
The Council refused to receive the "Complaint," and a body of troops under
Sir Humphrey Stafford fell on the Kentishmen as they reached Sevenoaks.
This attack however was roughly beaten off, and Cade's host turned back to
encounter the royal army. But the royal army itself was already calling
for justice on the traitors who misled the king; and at the approach of
the Kentishmen it broke up in disorder. Its dispersion was followed by
Henry's flight to Kenilworth and the entry of the Kentishmen into London,
where the execution of Lord Say, the most unpopular of the royal
ministers, broke the obstinacy of his colleagues. For three days the
peasants entered the city freely, retiring at nightfall to their camp
across the river: but on the fifth of July the men of London, goaded by
the outrages of the rabble whom their presence roused to plunder, closed
the bridge against them, and beat back an attack with great slaughter. The
Kentishmen still however lay unbroken in Southwark, while Bishop Waynflete
conferred with Cade on behalf of the Council. Their "Complaint" was
received, pardons were granted to all who had joined in the rising, and
the insurgents dispersed quietly to their homes. Cade had striven in vain
to retain them in arms; on their dispersion he formed a new force by
throwing open the gaols, and carried off the booty he had won to
Rochester. Here however his men quarrelled over the plunder; his force
broke up, and Cade himself was slain by Iden, the Sheriff of Kent, as he
fled into Sussex.
[Sidenote: York and the Beauforts]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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