Jack Cade's Rebellion

Jack Cade's Rebellion was a popular revolt in 1450 against the government of England, which took place in the south-east of the country between the months of April and July. It stemmed from local grievances regarding the corruption, maladministration and abuse of power of the king's closest advisors and local officials, as well as recent military losses in France during the Hundred Years' War. Leading an army of men from south-eastern England, the rebellion's leader Jack Cade marched on London in order to force the government to reform the administration and remove from power the "traitors" deemed responsible for bad governance. Apart from the Cornish rebellion of 1497, it was the largest popular uprising to take place in England during the 15th century.

Despite Cade's attempt to keep his men under control, once the rebel forces had entered London they began to loot. The citizens of London turned on the rebels and forced them out of the city in a bloody battle on London Bridge. To end the bloodshed the rebels were issued pardons by the king and told to return home. Cade fled but was later caught on 12 July 1450 by Alexander Iden, a future High Sheriff of Kent. As a result of the skirmish with Iden, the mortally wounded Cade died before reaching London for trial. The Jack Cade Rebellion has been perceived as a reflection of the social, political, and economic issues of the time period and as a precursor to the Wars of the Roses which saw the decline of the Lancaster dynasty and the rise of the House of York.

Quotes

• They sey that owre sovereyn lorde is above his lawys to his pleysewr, and he may make it and breke it as hym lyst, withe owt eny distinction. The contrary is trew, and elles he shuld not have sworn to kepe it.
  • "A proclamation made by Jacke Cade, Capytayn of the Rebelles in Kent", copied by John Stowe, and printed in Three Fifteenth-century Manuscripts, ed. J. Gairdner (London: Camden Society, new series, 28, 1880), p. 94

• The law servyth of nowght ellys in thes days but for to do wrong, for nothyng is sped almost but false maters by coulour of the law for mede, drede, and favor, and so no remedy is had in the cowrt of conscience in eny wyse.
  • "A proclamation made by Jacke Cade, Capytayn of the Rebelles in Kent", copied by John Stowe, and printed in Three Fifteenth-century Manuscripts, ed. J. Gairdner (London: Camden Society, new series, 28, 1880), p. 96

• We wyll that all men knowe we blame not all the lordys, ne all tho that is about the kyngs person, ne all jentyllmen ne yowmen, ne all men of lawe, ne all bysshopes, ne all prestys, but all suche as may be fownde gylty by just and trew enquery and by the law.
  • "A proclamation made by Jacke Cade, Capytayn of the Rebelles in Kent", copied by John Stowe, and printed in Three Fifteenth-century Manuscripts, ed. J. Gairdner (London: Camden Society, new series, 28, 1880), p. 96

In fiction

• Be brave, then; for your captain is brave, and vows reformation. There shall be in England seven halfpenny loaves sold for a penny. The three-hooped pot shall have ten hoops, and I will make it felony to drink small beer. All the realm shall be in common, and in Cheapside shall my palfrey go to grass. And when I am king, as king I will be,—
  • Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2, act IV, scene 2, Cade

• The thing that would have best suited the circus side of my nature would have been to resign the Boss-ship and get up an insurrection and turn it into a revolution; but I knew that the Jack Cade or the Wat Tyler who tries such a thing without first educating his materials up to revolution grade is almost absolutely certain to get left. I had never been accustomed to getting left, even if I do say it myself. Wherefore, the “deal” which had been for some time working into shape in my mind was of a quite different pattern from the Cade-Tyler sort.
  • Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889), Ch. XIII

External links

• "Speeches (Lines) for Jack Cade in 'Henry VI, Part II'", OpenSourceShakespeare