Page:The English Peasant.djvu/39

 The rulers of England, the men who had done the people these horrible wrongs, now maintained their power by the aid of Italian and German mercenaries, scourges of whom the German proverb said, "Rather the Turk than the Landsknecht."

Let anyone read the story of the rebellion of the Peasants in Norfolk, as given by Holingshed, whose sympathies may be judged from the fact that he describes his poor countrymen as "vile wretches and cruel traitors " for slaying an Italian mercenary; and such reader must be very blind, or prejudiced, if he does not see that the Norfolk men had a better cause than any that English troops were ever employed to defend; and that these 16,000 "ungratious unthrifts," conducted the struggle with admirable order, and displayed at last an obstinate gallantry worthy of the Highlanders at Waterloo.

The insurgents demanded a removal of the King's evil councillors, a prohibition of enclosures, and a redress of the wrongs of the poor. They associated three or four middle class persons of approved respectability (one was the Mayor of Norwich,) with Robert Ket, their leader, and gave them a certain obedience as representatives of the King, whom throughout they professed to serve. They had also for chaplain the Vicar of St. Mary's, in Norwich, who offered up prayers morning and evening that they might have prosperous speed. Preaching went on every day from the Oak of Reformation, and the insurgents even listened to preachers who tried to induce them to give up their enterprise. They had a small parliament of their own, two deputies being chosen from every hundred, twenty-six different hundreds being represented. Contributions were levied on the gentry in the neighbourhood after the manner of more orthodox armies, they manacled some of the more unpopular gentlemen and put them in prison, and took possession of Norwich, where they had many friends.

Parr, Marquis of Northampton, was sent against them; but though he got into Norwich, they defeated him and his Italians, and in the melée Lord Suffield was slain. At last the Earl of Warwick, the most unscrupulous of the whole set of adventurers who called themselves the King's Council, came down to Norwich with a thousand German landsknechts in his army. He got possession of Norwich, but could hardly keep it, the people constantly