The Story of LondonWheatley, Henry B. (Henry Benjamin)
History
The Story of London
Wheatley, Henry B. (Henry Benjamin)
London (England) -- History
On Sunday, the 5th of July, Cade and his followers remained in Southwark
all day, and in the evening the Mayor and citizens, with a force under
the command of Matthew Gough, occupied London Bridge to prevent the
Kentish men from entering the city. Desperate fighting on the bridge
continued all through the night, from nine o'clock till nine on the
following morning. 'Sometime the citizens had the better and sometimes
the other, but ever they kept them upon the bridge, so that the citizens
never passed much the bulwark at the bridge foot, nor the Kentishmen no
farther than the drawbridge. Thus continued the cruel fight to the
destruction of much people on both sides.'[50] Matthew Gough, John
Sutton, alderman, and Roger Hoysand, citizen, were among the killed.
When the rebels got the worst of the encounter a truce was made. A
conference was arranged, and Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester, and some
others, met Cade in St. Margaret's Church, Southwark. The bishop
produced two general pardons sent by the Chancellor--Cardinal Kemp,
Archbishop of York; one for the Captain himself and the other for his
followers. These were eagerly accepted, as the insurgents were disgusted
with their leader, and they were only too glad to return to their homes.
It seems to have been generally believed that Cade was entitled to the
name of Mortimer, but after this conference the truth got abroad, and
his pardon was necessarily invalidated in consequence of this discovery.
On the 12th of July, therefore, a proclamation of the King was issued
for the apprehension of Cade, and the offer of a reward of one thousand
marks to anyone who should take him alive or dead. Cade escaped in
disguise towards the woody country round Lewes. He was pursued by
Alexander Iden, and captured and mortally wounded by him at Heathfield,
Sussex, on the 13th inst. The place is known as Cade Street, and a stone
with an inscription stands on the site of the capture. Cade's body was
taken to London; his head was placed on London Bridge, and his four
quarters were sent to different parts of Kent. Thus ended this dangerous
rebellion.
The whole history of the origin of the rising is most complicated. Not
only, as already mentioned, were the gentry of Kent on the side of the
rebels, but most of the important persons in Southwark supported them.
There were Richard Dartmouth, abbot of Battle; John Danyel, prior of
Lewes, and Robert Poynings, uncle of the Countess of Northumberland and
husband of Margaret Paston. 'When the pardon time came, a goodly list of
names was recorded, with which it was thought wise to deal
leniently.'[51]
_The Second Part of King Henry VI._, which Shakespeare slightly altered
from _The First Part of the Contention betwixt the two famous houses of
Yorke and Lancaster_, is chiefly concerned with Cade's Rebellion; but it
is sad that such a perversion of history should in any way be connected
with the honoured name of our greatest poet. The libel against Suffolk,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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