When the rebels took Norwich.

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Warning: It’s an extra-long issue today, so let’s get the admin out of the way early.

Are you busy on Sunday, 31st May? There’s a Norwich Pub Tour happening between 2pm - 6pm. Learn about Norwich’s most interesting stories (including the one I’ll share today) through the eyes of its famous pubs. Pints optional.

The story of Kett’s Rebellion is pretty well-known. Including it in a newsletter called “Secret Norwich” is a bit like including the works of Immanuel Kant in an Argos catalogue - there isn’t really a place for it.

And yet, though Kett is ubiquitous in these parts, it’s entirely possible that, somewhere between Kett’s Heights, Kett’s Hill and The Robert Kett pub in Wymondham, the details of the actual story have eluded you.

So, here’s how a band of unskilled Norfolk peasants left a mark on England’s second city that is still felt today.

Setting the scene.

1549 in Norfolk. By sheer coincidence, and definitely not the work of some cosmic machinations that we can’t possibly understand, 1549 is exactly 300 years after the opening of the Adam and Eve pub (1249), and exactly 300 years before James Blomfield would be executed for the double murder of Isaac Jermy Snr and Jr (1849). A murder he had planned in - you guessed it - the Adam and Eve pub. (I’ve already done a newsletter about that murder, which you can read here, if you’re interested.)

A 12-year-old Edward VI sits on the throne - presumably more of a high chair than an actual throne - and things aren’t exactly going well.

The peasants are angry. Life was short enough, oppressive enough and disease-riddled enough for them as it is, and to top it all off, the common land they depended on for their livelihoods was being fenced off by wealthy landowners in a process called “enclosure”.

They’d had it. In the summer of 1549 (the lesser-known, but still excellent, Bryan Adams B-side), a small group of brave rebels from Wymondham decided to tear down these fences. One of their first stops? The property of a wealthy yeoman called Robert Kett.

Meet Robert Kett.

Perhaps the most fascinating part of this story happens before it really gets going.

Robert Kett was rich. Not Alan Sugar rich, but y’know, he’d buy his clothes from Gallyons if he were around today. Yet, upon seeing a group of peasants attacking the fencing around his land, his instinct wasn’t to drive them away with violence or bribery.

Instead, he did something that perhaps nobody else in his shoes would’ve done. He went out and talked to them.

So moved was Kett by their arguments that, remarkably, he joined them in tearing down his own fences. Maybe he was bored. Maybe - at the age of 57 - this was his equivalent of buying the expensive sports car. Regardless, he and his brother, William, became the unofficial leaders of the rebellion.

Unlike the peasants, the Ketts could read and write. They had some clout. The small, Wymondham-based rabble of disorganised anger was growing into something far more legitimate. And it had turned its sights on Norwich.

Camping on Mousehold Heath.

Robert Kett and his rebels marched towards Norwich, picking up other disgruntled peasantry from the villages and towns along the way. Famously, they met under an oak tree on the road between Wymondham and Hethersett called Kett’s Oak.

This tree is still there today, and is part of the “50 Great British Trees”, a list of 50 significant trees selected by the British Tree Council in honour of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee. Importantly, it’s not the same tree as The Oak of Rebellion - another oak tree in Mousehold Heath from which rebels were hanged in the days following the rebellion’s defeat. That was cut down in the 1900s.

On Friday, 12th July, Kett and his rebels reached Mousehold Heath, which would become their military camp for the next six weeks.

If you’re picturing cosy campfires, freshly barbecued rabbit and medieval folk songs, think again. There were reportedly 16,000 rebels camped on Mousehold Heath, probably outnumbering the population of the city (12,000-15,000).

The camp would’ve been a metropolis looming over Norwich’s periphery. A metaphorical gun to its head.

Robert Kett’s unofficial HQ was set up in St Michael’s Chapel - the remnants of which can still be visited today if you go to Kett’s Heights.

Kett’s demands.

In the first few days after setting up camp, Kett and his rebels drew up a list of 29 demands. These demands, known as “Kett’s Demands Being in Rebellion”, are still preserved today. You can see them at the British Museum in London, but assuming you can’t just pop over to the British Museum for a perusal, you can read them here.

If you can’t be bothered to decipher them, there are four central themes:

• To limit the power of the gentry

• To restrain rapid economic change

• To prevent the overuse of communal resources

• To remodel the values of the clergy, echoing Somerset’s religious radicalism

By this point, the King had heard all about the rebellion. On 21st July, he sent a messenger from London, who proclaimed the gathering on Mousehold a rebellion (fair enough, really) and offered a pardon.

Robert Kett rejected this pardon on behalf of his crew because, as far as he was concerned, they’d done nothing wrong.

This didn’t go down well.

Now officially rebels against the King, the city readied its defences. Though Kett offered a truce the next day, it was swiftly rejected. A battle was on the cards.

The invasion of Norwich.

Kett’s men invaded the city on 22nd July. Rather than use the well-defended bridges, the rebels instead swam across the stretch of river between Cow Tower and the Red Lion pub. It must’ve been quite startling for the diners in Zaks.

Despite coming under some fire, they quickly overwhelmed the city’s defences. In a desperate attempt to salvage the situation, the same messenger who had offered a truce the previous day tried again. It was rejected again, and the messenger was forced to return to London.

And thus Norwich was effectively surrendered to the rebels. Robert Kett was, for the time being, in charge of England’s second-largest city. Blimey.

The King responds

Things weren’t exactly plain sailing for Kett. Firstly, the city was big. Organising a rabble of rebels to defend its walls was no easy feat. So, when word came that the King was sending 1,400 men to retake the city, Kett felt it best to return to the high ground of Mousehold Heath and lay siege on the city from there.

The weeks that followed involved a supporting cast of various men named after towns and cities in England, including Lord Sheffield, the Earl of Warwick and the Marquess of Northampton. I’ll relay the events that unfolded by focusing on each of these in turn:

William Parr, The Marquess of Northampton

The Brother of Katherine Parr (Henry VIII’s last wife), William was sent to Norwich by the King right after the rebels had first invaded, accompanied by 1400 men.

He was sort of successful, at first. He and his men battled with the rebels in the streets and alleys around Tombland, and though they took heavy casualties, they managed to stave off Kett’s siege for about a week.

But it didn’t last. On August 1st, his senior commander was killed in battle, and he was forced to order a retreat from the city.

Edmund Sheffield, AKA Lord Sheffield

Speaking of his senior commander, meet 28-year-old Edmund Sheffield. He was among the initial 1,400 men fighting under William Parr, and stayed at The Maids Head during the battle, which must’ve been nice. Breakfast included, one assumes.

On August 1st, he was part of a battle with the rebels outside the Old Hospital, where he was knocked off his horse. Used to the etiquette of battle, he removed his helmet as an act of surrender. But unfortunately for Edmund, he wasn’t fighting men accustomed to such etiquette, and an opportunistic butcher took the opportunity to whack him round the head with a cleaver.

The story goes that he was taken to the Adam and Eve pub, where he succumbed to his wounds. He still haunts the pub to this day, apparently. His death meant the symbolic defeat of William’s 1400 men.

John Dudley, the Earl of Warwick

Learning of William’s defeat, the King decided he should take Kett’s rebellion more seriously, and sent 14,000 men to sort it out. These men were led by the experienced John Dudley.

After skirmishes throughout the city, the final battle took place on 27th August. It was a bad one for the rebels, who lost thousands of men. By comparison, Dudley’s army lost around 250.

The rebellion was over. So what happened next?

The aftermath.

Robert Kett and his brother, William, were found hiding in the village of Swannington the night after the final battle. They were both taken to the Tower of London, which, in those days, usually meant bad news.

Found guilty of treason, the Kett brothers were transported back to Norwich. Robert Kett was hanged on the castle walls in December. His brother was taken to Wymondham, where he was hanged from the west tower of Wymondham Abbey.

Though Robert Kett was vilified in the years, decades and even centuries after the rebellion, sentiment towards him shifted in the 1800s. He’s now considered a hero. In fact, there’s even an engraved stone plaque that commemorates him on the very building in which he was hanged:

As a side note, John Dudley was beheaded four years later, in 1553. His final words were pretty lyrical: “I have deserved a thousand deaths”. William Parr would die of old age in 1571. Elizabeth I paid for his funeral herself.

Aside from the many beers, pubs and places named after Robert Kett, he is survived by an intact lineage that still roams Norwich’s streets today. All told, Kett’s Rebellion remains one of the most significant peasant uprisings England has seen, and may well have paved the way for the rebellious spirit that Norwich still embodies today.

Not bad for a bored yeoman.

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See you next time,

Secret Norwich