A March on London: Being a Story of Wat Tyler's Insurrection Read online

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  "EDGAR STRUCK HIM A BUFFET ON THE FACE WHICH SENT HIMREELING BACKWARDS."]

  A MARCH ON LONDON BEING A STORY OF WAT TYLER'S INSURRECTION

  BY G. A. HENTY

  PREFACE

  The events that took place during the latter half of the fourteenthcentury and the first half of the fifteenth are known to us far betterthan those preceding or following them, owing to the fact that threegreat chroniclers, Froissart, Monstrelet, and Holinshed, have recountedthe events with a fulness of detail that leaves nothing to be desired.The uprising of the Commons, as they called themselves--that is to say,chiefly the folk who were still kept in a state of serfdom in the reignof Richard II.--was in itself justifiable. Although serfdom in Englandwas never carried to the extent that prevailed on the Continent, theserfs suffered from grievous disabilities. A certain portion of theirtime had to be devoted to the work of their feudal lord. Theythemselves were forbidden to buy or sell at public markets or fairs.They were bound to the soil, and could not, except under specialcircumstances, leave it.

  Above all, they felt that they were not free men, and were not evendeemed worthy to fight in the wars of their country. Attempts have beenmade to represent the rising as the result of Wickliffe's attack uponthe Church, but there seems to be very small foundation for theassertion. Undoubtedly many of the lower class of clergy, discontentedwith their position, did their best to inflame the minds of thepeasants, but as the rising extended over a very large part of England,and the people were far too ignorant to understand, and far too muchirritated by their own grievances to care for the condition of theChurch, it may be taken that they murdered the Archbishop of Canterburyand many other priests simply because they regarded them as beingwealthy, and so slew them as they slew other people of substance. Hadit been otherwise, the Church would not have been wholly ignored in thedemands that they set before the king, but some allusion would havebeen made for the need of reforms in that direction.

  The troubles in Flanders are of interest to Englishmen, since there wasfor many years an alliance, more or less close, between our king andsome of the great Flemish cities. Indeed, from the time when the firstVon Artevelde was murdered because he proposed that the Black Princeshould be accepted as ruler of Flanders, to the day upon whichNapoleon's power was broken forever at Waterloo, Flanders has been thetheatre of almost incessant turmoil and strife, in which Germans andDutchmen, Spaniards, Englishmen, and Frenchmen have fought out theirquarrels.

  G. A. HENTY.

  CONTENTS

  I. TROUBLED TIMES

  II. A FENCING BOUT

  III. WAT TYLER

  IV. IN LONDON

  V. A RESCUE

  VI. A CITY MERCHANT

  VII. DEATH TO THE FLEMINGS!

  VIII. A COMBAT IN THE TOWER

  IX. DEATH OF THE TYLER

  X. A FIGHT IN THE OPEN

  XI. AN INVITATION

  XII. THE TROUBLES IN FLANDERS

  XIII. A STARVING TOWN

  XIV. CIVIL WAR

  XV. A CRUSHING DEFEAT

  XVI. A WAR OF THE CHURCH

  XVII. PRISONERS

  XVIII. A NOBLE GIFT

  XIX. WELL SETTLED

  ILLUSTRATIONS

  "EDGAR STRUCK HIM A BUFFET ON THE FACE WHICH SENT HIM REELINGBACKWARDS."

  EDGAR TALKS MATTERS OVER WITH THE PRIOR OF ST. ALWYTH.

  "IN A MOMENT EDGAR'S SWORD FELL ON THE RUFFIAN'S WRIST."

  THE LORD MAYOR STABS WAT THE TYLER IN PRESENCE OF THE BOY-KING.

  EDGAR AND ALBERT ARE KNIGHTED BY KING RICHARD.

  THE TWO YOUNG KNIGHTS CHARGE DOWN UPON THE PANIC-STRICKEN CROWD.

  SIR EDGAR AT LAST SURRENDERS TO SIR ROBERT DE BEAULIEU.

  THE PRISONERS MAKE THEIR ESCAPE OVER THE ROOFS OF YPRES.

  A MARCH ON LONDON