Protest against Misrule and Extravagance: Cades Rebellion

Events of the year 1450 give us an insight into the popular discontent aroused by this selfish strife for power and booty, and the powerlessness of the king and parliament. That the classes below the nobles looked with increasing ill-will upon these feuds, with their resulting extravagance, misgovernment, extortion, and moral degeneration among all the officials of the realm, is evident from what is known as Cade's rebellion. This movement was participated in by men of gentle rank as well as yeomen, by merchants, craftsmen, boatmen, and laborers, a few of the clergy, and local officials. Though finding its chief centre in Kent, Sussex, and Essex, it spread into Hants, Dorset, and Wilts, where local grievances were at the bottom of the movement. In general, the uprising was purely political in character, and was in the interest of those who were opposed to the existing government, notably in the interest of the duke of York, who from selfish or other motives had at this time come forward as the representative of the popular cause. More particularly it was a protest against the squandering of the king's revenues, and the heavy taxes, due to the wars, against the oppression by the sheriffs, the corruption of officials, the appointment of debased judges, the interference of the nobility in the elections, and the loss of France, which ruined the maritime trade and diminished the export of wool and cloths into Flanders. Kent protested most strongly, because there industry and trade had made exceptional progress.

Under a captain of Kent, who called himself Mortimer, cousin of the duke of York, but who is better known as Jack Cade, the men of Kent rose in military fashion, as if duly summoned by the constables. They advanced to Blackheath and presented their grievances to the king. On June 18 a battle was fought at Sevenoaks, where the king's troops were defeated. Henry yielded to the rebels and dismissed certain obnoxious officials, Say, the chief treasurer, and Crowmer, sheriff of Kent. During the first week of July the rebels occupied London, and unwilling to await the course of royal justice, beheaded both Say and Crowmer. Eventually, however, they were got out of the city, and receiving letters of pardon from the king dispersed to their homes. Cade was afterward captured in Sussex and executed.

The Wars of the Roses: I (to 1460). Struggle of Parties to control the King

The uprising of Cade was clearly a protest against the Lancastrian government, and in the interest of that party which was opposed to the ministers about Henry VI. Of this party the head was Richard, Duke of York, who in 1424, after the death of his uncle, the earl of March, became the heir to the throne. It has been sometimes thought that he was directly or indirectly influential in Jack Cade's rebellion. However this may be, he returned in 1450 from Ireland, where he had been sent as the king's lieutenant, and marched on to London, where he offered himself as the adviser of the king, presenting a petition for the better organization of the government. For the moment Henry accepted his support and advice; but on the return of Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, whom Henry had made regent of Normandy, and who was cordially hated by the people, the king turned to the older favorite, and restored him to power in the council. From 1450 to 1453 the rivalry between York and Somerset continued, until a series of events occurred which turned the balance in favor of York. On July 3, 1453, Guienne, the last territory in France, was lost, and in consequence Somerset was disgraced and imprisoned. Henry VI became insane, and a regency was necessary. And lastly, Queen Margaret gave birth to a son, an event which destroyed York's claim to the throne, but made it easier for the advisers of the king to accept York's leadership. In 1454 the duke was proclaimed by parliament the Protector of the Kingdom.

Unfortunately the king recovered, and Margaret of Anjou, self-willed and headstrong, determined to drive out the man who was threatening to dominate at court where she had ruled for years. York was dismissed, Somerset was released, and once more the Lancastrians were in full control. Then it was that York determined to gain power by force. Withdrawing to the north, he gathered to himself the earls of Salisbury and Warwick, and attacked the forces of the king and Somerset at St. Albans, May 22, 1455. The Yorkists were successful and Somerset was slain.

Declaring that his acts were directed against the bad advisers of the king, the duke of York was pardoned by Henry, and when, later in the year, the king again became insane, was for the second time declared Protector by parliament. Again the king recovered his health in 1456, again was York dismissed. But this time, as the king took the government into his own hands, and as Margaret of Anjou suffered her husband to rule alone, there was no pretext available for a Yorkist movement. For two years the king governed, and each year the condition of the kingdom became worse. Attacks were made by the Scots on the north and by the French on the south, oppression prevailed within, and insecurity was felt everywhere. All realized that the conditions were unbearable, and in 1458 an effort at reconciliation between the parties was made. This reconciliation lasted for a year, but as long as Margaret of Anjou had any influence the peace could not be kept. The party lines were too sharply drawn, the hatreds and ambitions too well defined for a permanent agreement to be reached.

Trivial causes were enough to bring matters to a crisis. In 1459 a quarrel between the servants of the king and those of the earl of Warwick brought on civil war. The earl of Salisbury, father of Warwick, won a victory in a skirmish at Bloreheath, September 22, 1459, and immediately the Yorkists gathered their forces, determined to decide the issue by arms. But the king, by appealing to the loyalty of his people, by promising pardons to those who opposed him, and by threats, managed to break up the Yorkist army. The duke, in despair, fled to Ireland, while Warwick and Salisbury, after many vicissitudes, reached Calais. The Yorkist leaders were attainted.