Leaders of the People: Studies in Democratic HistoryClayton, Joseph
History
Leaders of the People: Studies in Democratic History
Clayton, Joseph
Democracy; Great Britain -- History
So the keys of the city were presented to Cade, and at five o’clock
on the 2nd of July the Captain of Kent, mounted on a good horse, rode
across London Bridge, followed by all his army. In Cannon Street, in
the presence of Sir John Chalton, the Lord Mayor, and a great multitude
of people, Cade laid down his sword on the old London Stone and
declared proudly, “Now is Mortimer lord of this city.” At nightfall
he returned to his headquarters, the White Hart, a famous inn in
Southwark, and next morning was betimes in the city. That day sentence
was passed on Lord Say-and-Sele and on his son-in-law, Sheriff Crowmer.
They were removed from the Tower by Cade’s orders, taken to the
Guildhall, tried and condemned for “divers treasons,” and for “certain
extortions,” and executed forthwith. Say was beheaded at the standard
in Cheapside, and Crowmer at Mile End, and so bitter was the public
feeling against these two men, and so fierce the popular hatred, that
their heads were carried on poles through the city, and made to kiss in
ghastly embrace before being placed on London Bridge.
These, with a third man named John Bailey, who was hanged with Cade’s
permission for being a necromancer and a dabbler in magic and the black
arts, were the only persons put to death while Mortimer was lord of
the city. At Southwark, where the commons were now encamped, as at
Blackheath, theft in the popular army was treated as a capital offence,
and two or three “lawless men” were hanged. It was inevitable if
discipline and good order were to be obtained in so vast a company that
punishment should follow sharp and swift on all who brought discredit
on the rising.
Lord Say and Sheriff Crowmer being dead, the city fathers saw no
further purpose in Cade’s lordship, and they dreaded being called upon
to contribute to the support of his army, for they knew that Cade
needed money for his men. To the everlasting credit of the commons no
charge was laid against them of riot or disorder. The city was in
their hands for three days, yet no harm befell the citizens. On their
captain alone has blame fallen for the events of those days in July.
The difficulties of the man were immense. He had rendered no mean
service to the state by calling attention to the ills that plagued
the country, and proposing remedies. He had roused a large body of
Englishmen to demand a better government, and by the sharp method of
the times he had got rid of a bad minister and a corrupt sheriff, so
that public life was at least the healthier for the deliverance from
two of its oppressors. And now he had this army of 50,000 men, all
needing food and shelter--an orderly, well-disciplined body, no mob
of mercenaries--and the city of London, with all its wealth, gave him
nothing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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