Crowley on the Causes of Ket's Rebellion
| Artifact Summary | |
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| Artifact type | |
| Creator/author | Crowley |
| Date | 1550 |
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Entry
[From The Way to Wealth, in Select Works of Robert Crowley, ed. J. M. Cowper (E. E.T.S., 1872), pp. 132-33, 142-46.] The causes of Sedition muste be roted oute.
If I shuld demaunde of the pore man of the contrey what thinge he thinketh to be the cause of Sedition, I know his answere.
He woulde tel me that the great fermares, the grasiers, the riche buchares, the men of lawe, the marchauntes, the gentlemen, the knightes, the lordes, and I can not tel who ; men that haue noname because they are doares in al thinges that ani gaine hangeth vpon. Men without conscience. Men vtterly voide of Goddes feare. Yea, men that liue as thoughe there were no God at all! Men that would haue all in their owne handes ;
men that would leaue nothyng for others ; men that would be alone on the earth; men that bee neuer satisfied. Cormerauntes, gredye gulles ; yea, men that would eate vp menne, women and chyldren, are the causes of Sedition ! They take our houses ouer our headdes, they bye our growndes out of our handes, they reyse our rentes, they leauie great (yea vnreasonable) fines, they enclose oure commens ! No custome, no lawe or statute cankepe them from oppressyng vs in such sorte, that we knowe not whyche waye to turne vs to lyue. Very nede therefore constrayneth vs to stand vpagaynst them ! In the countrey we cannot tarye, but we must be theyr slaues and laboure tyll our hertes brast, and then they must haue al. And to go to the cities we haue no hope, for there we heare that these vnsaciable beastes haue all in theyr handes. Some haue purchased, and some taken by leases, whole allyes, whole rentes, whole rowes, yea whole streats and lanes, so that the rentes be reysed, some double, some triple, and some four fould to that they were wythin these xii yeres last past. Yea, ther is not so much as a gardengrownd fre from them. No remedye therfore, we must nedes fight it out, or else be brought to the lyke slauery that the French men are in !
These idle bealies wil deuour al that we shal get by our sore labour in our youth, and when we shal be old and impotent, then shal we be driven to begge and craue of them that wyl not geue vs so muche as the crowmes that fall from their tables. Such is the pytie we se in them ! Better it were therfore, for vs to dye lyke men, then after so great misery in youth to dye more miserably in age ! Nowe if I should demaund of the gredie cormerauntes what thei thinke shuldbe the cause of Sedition, they would saie:The paisant knaues be to welthy, prouender pricketh them ! They knowe not them selues, they knowe no obedience, they regard no lawes, thei would haue no gentlemen, thei wold haue al men like themselues, they would haue al thinges commune! Thei would not haue vs maisters of that which is our owne !
They wil appoint vs what rent we shal take for our groundes! We must not make the beste of oure owne !
These are ioly felowes ! Thei wil caste doune our parckes, and laie our pastures open ! Thei wil haue the law in their own handes ! They wil play the kinges ! They wyll compel the kinge to graunt theyr requestes ! But as they like their fare at the breakefaste they had this laste somer, so let them do againe.
They haue ben metely well coled, and shalbe yet better coled if they quiet not them selues. We wyll tech them to know theyr betters. And because they wold haue al commone, we wil leaue them nothing. And if they once stirre againe, or do but once cluster togither, we wil hang them at their own dores !
Shal we suffer the vilaines to disproue our doynges ? No, we wil be lordes of our own and vse it as we shal thinke good!' Ohgood maisters, whatshuld Icalyou? Youthathaue no name, you that haue so many occupacions and trads that ther is no on name mete foryou ! You vngentle gentlemen ! You churles chikens, I say! Geue me leue to make answere for the pore ideotes ouer whom ye triumphe in this sorte. And this one ENCLOSURES AND THE COUNTRYSIDE thing I shal desire of you that ye report me not to be one that fauoureth their euel doinges (for I take God to witnes I hate boeth theyre euell doinges and youres also), but geue me leaue to tel you as frely of your faultes, as I haue alreadi told them of theires. And for asmuch as you be stronge and they weake, I shall desire you to beare with me, though I be more ernest in rebuking your faultes then I was in rebuking theirs.
True it is, the pore men (whom ye cal paisaunte knaues) haue deserued more then you can deuise to laie vpon them. And if euerye one of them were able and shoulde sustaine as much punishment as thei al were able to sustaine, yet could they not sustainetheplagesthat theihauedeserued. Butyet, if their offence wer laied in an equall balaunce with yours (as no doubt thei are in the sight [of] God), doubt not but you should sone be ashamed of youre parte. For what can you laye vnto their charge, but they haue had examples of the same in you ? If you charge them wyth disobedience, you were firste disobedient. For without a law to beare you, yea contrarie to the law which forbiddeth al maner of oppression and extortion, and that more is contrarie to conscience, the ground of al good lawes, ye en- closed frome the pore theire due commones, leauied greater fines thenheretofore haue bene leauied, put them from the liberties (andin amaner enheritaunce) that they held by custome, and reised their rentes. Yea, when ther was a law ratified to the contrary, you ceased not to finde meanes either to compel your tenantes to consent to your desire in enclosinge, or else ye found such maistership that no man durste gaine say your doinges for feare of displeasure. And what obedience shewed you, when the kinges proclamations were sent forthe, and commissions directed for the laying open of your enclosures, and yet you lefte not of toenclose stil ? Yea, what obedience was this which ye shewed at such time as the kinges moste honourable counsell, perceiueinge the grudginge that was emong the people, sent forth the second proclamation concerning your negligence, or rather contempte, innot laieinge open that which contrari to the good estatutes made in Parliament you had enclosed ? It appeareth byyour doinges that there was in you neither obedience toyour prince and his laws, nor loue to your contrei. For if there had ben obedience in you, you wold forthwith haue put al his laws in execution to the vttermost of youre power. And if you had loued your contrei, woulde you not haue preuented the great destruction that chaunced bi the reasone of your vnsaciable desire ? I am sure you be not rulars in your contrey, but ye can se before what is likely to folowe vpon such oppression, and especiallye in a realme that hath hertofore had a noble and a valiaunte comminalti. But graunt ye were so beastish, yet haue you not lacked them that haue tolde you of it both by wordes and writtinges. You haue ben tolde of it I saye, and haue had the threatninges of God laied plainlye before your eies, wherein you must nedes se the vengeaunce of God hanging ouer your heades for your lacke of mercy...
Well, I wyl burden you no more wyth youre faultes, leaste perhappes you can not wel beare them. But thys I shall saye vnto you :-You shall neuer the soner be gentlemen for your stout oppression, nor the later haue thynges in priuate for that ye let youre tenauntes lyue by you vpon theyre laboure. And thincke not to prospere the better in youre vnsatiable desyre, for that you tryumphe so lordelyke ouer the poore caytyfes, that, beynge seduced by the vayne hope of vyctorye promysed theym in piuyshe prophecies, haue greatly offended God by rebellion: for the greater their offence is, the greater shall your plage be when it commeth. For you haue bene the only cause of theyr offence.
If he, therfore, that is the occasion of one mans fallyng vnto any kynd of vyce, were better haue a mylstone tied aboute hys necke and be cast into the depe sea wythall, what shalbe thought of you that haue bene the occasion of so many mens fallyng into so detestable synne and trespasse agaynste God, as to disturbe the whole estate of their contrei with the great perill anddaunger of their anointed kyng in hys tender age, whose bloud (if he had perished) should haue bene required at your handes, as the bloud ofal them that haue perished shal ?
ENCLOSURES AND THE COUNTRYSIDE
