Jack Cade

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Depiction of the revolt from 1830

Jack Cade (alias) John Mortimer ; († July 12, 1450 at Heathfield , East Sussex ) was an English rebel who defeated King Henry VI. aspired to. He led an army against London. After the capture and sack of London, the rebels were defeated and dispersed in a battle at London Bridge .

Life

Cade's exact origin is unknown. Some sources state that he was of Irish descent but grew up in Sussex . His profession is also controversial. Some sources say he was a doctor, others say he was a soldier who fought in France. In Sussex he is said to have murdered a pregnant woman in 1449. He then fled to France , but soon returned to England and lived in Kent under an assumed name.

Allegedly he was related to Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York . This assumption is based on the fact that he used the name John Mortimer as an alias. By using the Duke of York's maternal surname, Cade gives his consent to the claims that York might have had on the English throne.

In the spring of 1450, the residents of Kent protested against what they believed to be an incompetent ruler, unfair taxes, corruption and the detrimental economic effects of the ultimate loss of France. Cade wrote a manifesto , The Complaint of the Poor Commons of Kent . This included not only the complaints of the common people, but also of several members of parliament, lords and magnates.

rebellion

In early June 1450, around 20,000 rebels gathered at Blackheath, southeast of London . The rebel army consisted mostly of peasants. They were also joined by shopkeepers, artisans, a good number of soldiers and sailors (returned from the war against France via Kent) and some landowners. When the king sought refuge in Warwickshire , the rebels moved to Southwark , where they made camp. On July 3rd they crossed London Bridge; Lord High Treasurer James Fiennes, 1st Baron Saye and Sele and other confidants of the king were captured and beheaded. Many of the rebels, including Cade, then plundered the city, despite having promised several times not to do so.

When the rebels made their way back across the bridge to Southwark before dark, city authorities made preparations to prevent them from entering again. The following day, around ten o'clock in the evening, the rebels were stopped on the bridge by the city militias. The battle on the bridge lasted until about eight in the morning, and the rebels had to withdraw with heavy losses.

After the battle, Archbishop John Kemp , the Lord Chancellor , negotiated with the rebel leader. He got Cade to send his followers home by issuing official pardons and promising to comply with the demands made in the manifesto. But a week later - the rebel army had since disbanded - Cade learned that the government had considered him a traitor and had put a bounty on him . Cade escaped, but was ambushed a little later and was killed. His body was taken to London and quartered there , whereupon the individual parts were displayed in different cities. His head was impaled on a stake on London Bridge. Though the rebels were pardoned, 34 of them were also executed after Cade's death.

Afterlife

Jack Cade is a character in the second part of William Shakespeare's drama Henry VI. In a conversation with one of his followers Cade says the now famous phrase: "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers" ( Let's kill us first all lawyers ).

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Trevor Royle: The Wars of the Roses; England's first civil war. Abacus, London 2009, ISBN 978-0-349-11790-4 , p. 195.
  2. ^ The Complaint of the Poor Commons of Kent . ( Wikisource )
personal data
SURNAME Cade, Jack
ALTERNATIVE NAMES John Mortimer
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English peasant leader
DATE OF BIRTH 15th century
DATE OF DEATH July 12, 1450
Place of death Heathfield, East Sussex