A recording of this talk,was aired on 22nd February 2021
Starting in 1204, with the birth of democracy and the first Brexit, our speaker, Nick Barrett, outlined earlier unrest in England and the Continent leading up to King John relinquishing lands in France. King John, Henry II’s youngest son, was possibly the most unpleasant king in our history, and his rule became the stimulus for Magna Carta.
1265 The crown was fragile in this era with much unrest and fighting between Simon de Montfort and Henry III. During one battle the King was captured and de Montfort returning to the principles of Magna Carta summoned the Knights of the Shire to attend his Parliament. Each shire choosing two knights from its leading members to represent them in government.
1377 Referring to the Black death of this era Nick said that it has parallels with today’s pandemic. In the 14th century there was an estimate death rate of a third to a half of the population from the black death leading to a breakdown of Feudalism. People threw off their shackles wanting rights for workers and asking to be paid as they no longer wanted to work the land for a master.
1381 Richard II needed to raise money for war but the Poll Tax was resented and resisted by the population leading to riots and the Peasant’s Revolt. Despite not having modern technology word of the uprising was communicated by word of mouth quickly and widespread throughout the country. Workers marched on London as it was the centre of government and power. Although King Richard II was only 14 years old, he met with Watt Tyler’s rebels and quashed the riot. We have an eye-witness account today written by a Frenchman, Jean Froissart in his Chronicles. There are also legal records giving surnames, of our long and distant ancestors, although, they are complicated to read and in Latin.
1450 Jack Cade’s Rebellion. Although, Normandy and other parts of France had been recolonised they were lost again in the reign of Henry VI. Nick called this the second Brexit. Due to Henry VI’s periods of madness the government of the country was mostly in the hands of Protectors. A mob of peasants got together annoyed by the way the government of the country was being handled. Jack Cade rounded them up to march on London. Jack himself was killed but other ring leaders were put on trial and used mythical names such as Oberon, King of the Fairies to protect their true identities. Sources to search are King’s Bench, Court of Common Pleas. TNA have Search Guides covering research in these records which are mostly in Latin shorthand.
1530s the Dissolution saw the uprooting of Society with the closing down of monastic houses which had provided assistance to the sick, poor and elderly. Land grabbing with Henry VIII’s selling off of land had a huge impact on people. There were legal challenges to land donated to the church and Henry even threatened the parish system which made people very uncomfortable. The Pilgrimage of Grace, 1536, started in Yorkshire but soon fanned out to other regions. Nick said there was huge amounts of records around in this century which have been transcribed. State papers, Closed Rolls (private correspondence) Letters Patent and Trial Records. Things never settled down and continued through the Tudor monarchs to the Stuarts.
The World was turned upside down by war with generations of families in England, Ireland and Scotland fighting and continuing through the English Civil war and the execution of Charles I, the Commonwealth period and the restoration of the monarch. The personal rule of James II triggered another civil war. The reign of William and Mary produced uprisings in Scotland who did not want to be ruled by a Dutchman. The exile of the Stuart kings led to two invasions of England one led by Bonnie Prince Charlie marched in to England as far as Derby. Many Jacobite’s were killed at Culloden or dispersed. Scots leaving for new lands around the world. National Records of Scotland, Early Militia records, Army records can be of help with research.
Nick brought us to date with conflicts concerning rights, repression and representation to the 20th century and amongst other Social revolutions, Poll Tax riots again, and the third Brexit.
Report by Tricia Baxter