Midland Revolt
Encyclopedia
The Midland Revolt was a popular uprising which took place in the Midlands
of England
in 1607. Beginning in late April in Haselbech
, Pytchley
and Rushton
in Northamptonshire
, and spreading to Warwickshire
and Leicestershire
throughout May, riots took place as a protest against the enclosure of common land
.
The riots drew considerable support and were led by "Captain Pouch", otherwise known as John Reynolds, a tinker said to be of Desborough
, Northamptonshire
. He told the protestors he had authority from the King and the Lord of Heaven to destroy enclosures and promised to protect protesters by the contents of his pouch, which he carried by his side, which he said would keep them from all harm. He urged his followers to use no violence in their efforts to destroy the hated enclosures. 3000 protesters were recorded at Hillmorton
, Warwickshire and 5000 at Cotesbach
, Leicestershire. A curfew was imposed in the city of Leicester
, as it was feared citizens would stream out of the city to join the riots. A gibbet
was erected in Leicester as a warning, and was pulled down by the citizens.
, near Kettering
, Northamptonshire
, to protest against the enclosures of Thomas Tresham, pulling down hedges and filling ditches. King James I
issued a Proclamation and ordered his Deputy Lieutenant
s in Northamptonshire to put down the riots. Women and children were part of the protest.
The Treshams - both the family at Newton and their more well-known Roman Catholic cousins at nearby Rushton
, the family of Francis Tresham
, who had been involved two years earlier in the Gunpowder Plot
and had apparently died in the Tower of London
- were unpopular for their voracious enclosing of land. Sir Thomas Tresham of Rushton was known as "the most odious man in the county". The old Roman Catholic gentry family of the Treshams had long argued with the emerging Puritan
gentry family the Montagus of Boughton
about territory. Now Tresham of Newton was enclosing common land - The Brand - that had been part of Rockingham Forest
.
Edward Montagu
, one of the Deputy Lieutenants, had spoken against enclosure in Parliament some years earlier, but was now placed by the King in the position effectively of defending the Treshams. The local armed bands and militia refused the call-up, so the landowners were forced to use their own servants to suppress the rioters on 8 June 1607. The Royal Proclamation was read twice. The rioters continued in their actions and the gentry and their forces charged. A pitched battle ensued. 40-50 were killed and the leaders of the protest were hanged and quartered.
At St Faith's Church in Newton there is a memorial to the men who were executed. Parish and Assize records have disappeared. The Tresham family declined soon after. The Montagu family went on through marriage to become the Dukes of Buccleuch
, one of the biggest landowners in Britain.
The Newton Rebellion was one of the last times that the peasantry of England and the gentry were in open conflict.
John Reynold's pouch was found after he was captured. It was opened - all that was in it was a piece of green cheese
. Captain Reynolds was hanged.
English Midlands
The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1607. Beginning in late April in Haselbech
Haselbech
Haselbech is a village and civil parish in the Daventry district of the county of Northamptonshire in England. At the time of the 2001 census, the parish had a population of 87 people. At the centre of the village stands Haselbech Hall, a Jacobean-revival mansion, and the village church. Both are...
, Pytchley
Pytchley
Pytchley is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England, three miles south-west of Kettering and near the A14 road. At the time of the 2001 census, the parish's population was 496 people. The village has a Church of England Primary School, a church and a pub. The Pytchley Hunt is a...
and Rushton
Rushton, Northamptonshire
Rushton is a small village and civil parish in Northamptonshire. It is north-east of Rothwell. At the time of the 2001 census, the parish's population was 452 people. The village has a primary school and a pub opposite the village cricket pitch. The village is home to Rushton Triangular Lodge.-...
in Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
, and spreading to Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
and Leicestershire
Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
throughout May, riots took place as a protest against the enclosure of common land
Enclosure
Enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on common land. Once enclosed, these uses of the land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be common land. In England and Wales the term is also used for the...
.
The riots drew considerable support and were led by "Captain Pouch", otherwise known as John Reynolds, a tinker said to be of Desborough
Desborough
Desborough is a town in Northamptonshire, England. It is one of the founding 12 members of the Charter of European Rural Communities and through this has links with 26 other EU member towns and villages...
, Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
. He told the protestors he had authority from the King and the Lord of Heaven to destroy enclosures and promised to protect protesters by the contents of his pouch, which he carried by his side, which he said would keep them from all harm. He urged his followers to use no violence in their efforts to destroy the hated enclosures. 3000 protesters were recorded at Hillmorton
Hillmorton
Hillmorton is an area of the town of Rugby, Warwickshire, it comprises most of the eastern half of the town.Hillmorton was historically a village in its own right, and was mentioned in the Domesday Book as land that belonged to Hugh de Grandmesnil, at one time a market was held in Hillmorton, and...
, Warwickshire and 5000 at Cotesbach
Cotesbach
Cotesbach is a village and civil parish in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. The nearest town is Lutterworth, about to the north. The parish had a population of 212 according to the 2001 census.-External links:...
, Leicestershire. A curfew was imposed in the city of Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
, as it was feared citizens would stream out of the city to join the riots. A gibbet
Gibbet
A gibbet is a gallows-type structure from which the dead bodies of executed criminals were hung on public display to deter other existing or potential criminals. In earlier times, up to the late 17th century, live gibbeting also took place, in which the criminal was placed alive in a metal cage...
was erected in Leicester as a warning, and was pulled down by the citizens.
Newton Rebellion
Things came to a head in early June. Over a thousand protesters had gathered at NewtonNewton, Northamptonshire
Newton, sometimes called Newton in the Willows, is a small village in the Ise valley, Kettering, Northamptonshire. The village is in the civil parish of Newton and Little Oakley which had a population at the 2001 census of 147...
, near Kettering
Kettering
Kettering is a market town in the Borough of Kettering, Northamptonshire, England. It is situated about from London. Kettering is mainly situated on the west side of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene which meets at Wellingborough...
, Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
, to protest against the enclosures of Thomas Tresham, pulling down hedges and filling ditches. King James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
issued a Proclamation and ordered his Deputy Lieutenant
Deputy Lieutenant
In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....
s in Northamptonshire to put down the riots. Women and children were part of the protest.
The Treshams - both the family at Newton and their more well-known Roman Catholic cousins at nearby Rushton
Rushton, Northamptonshire
Rushton is a small village and civil parish in Northamptonshire. It is north-east of Rothwell. At the time of the 2001 census, the parish's population was 452 people. The village has a primary school and a pub opposite the village cricket pitch. The village is home to Rushton Triangular Lodge.-...
, the family of Francis Tresham
Francis Tresham
Francis Tresham , eldest son of Sir Thomas Tresham and Merial Throckmorton, was a member of the group of English provincial catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605, a conspiracy to assassinate King James I of England...
, who had been involved two years earlier in the Gunpowder Plot
Gunpowder Plot
The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was a failed assassination attempt against King James I of England and VI of Scotland by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby.The plan was to blow up the House of...
and had apparently died in the Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
- were unpopular for their voracious enclosing of land. Sir Thomas Tresham of Rushton was known as "the most odious man in the county". The old Roman Catholic gentry family of the Treshams had long argued with the emerging Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
gentry family the Montagus of Boughton
Boughton House
Boughton House is a country house about north-east of Kettering off the A43 road near Geddington in Northamptonshire, England, which belongs to the Duke of Buccleuch.-History:...
about territory. Now Tresham of Newton was enclosing common land - The Brand - that had been part of Rockingham Forest
Rockingham Forest
Rockingham Forest is a former Mediæval royal hunting forest in the East Midlands region of England; most of which was in the county of Northamptonshire but also extended slightly into the neighbouring counties of Leicestershire and Lincolnshire .The forest originally stretched from Stamford down...
.
Edward Montagu
Edward Montagu, 1st Baron Montagu of Boughton
Edward Montagu, 1st Baron Montagu of Boughton was an English politician. He was one of the key founders of what is known today as Guy Fawkes Night through his sponsorship, in Parliament, of the Observance of 5th November Act 1605. His support for King Charles I led to his arrest in August 1642...
, one of the Deputy Lieutenants, had spoken against enclosure in Parliament some years earlier, but was now placed by the King in the position effectively of defending the Treshams. The local armed bands and militia refused the call-up, so the landowners were forced to use their own servants to suppress the rioters on 8 June 1607. The Royal Proclamation was read twice. The rioters continued in their actions and the gentry and their forces charged. A pitched battle ensued. 40-50 were killed and the leaders of the protest were hanged and quartered.
At St Faith's Church in Newton there is a memorial to the men who were executed. Parish and Assize records have disappeared. The Tresham family declined soon after. The Montagu family went on through marriage to become the Dukes of Buccleuch
Duke of Buccleuch
The title Duke of Buccleuch , formerly also spelt Duke of Buccleugh, was created in the Peerage of Scotland on 20 April 1663 for the Duke of Monmouth, who was the eldest illegitimate son of Charles II of Scotland, England, and Ireland and who had married Anne Scott, 4th Countess of Buccleuch.Anne...
, one of the biggest landowners in Britain.
The Newton Rebellion was one of the last times that the peasantry of England and the gentry were in open conflict.
John Reynold's pouch was found after he was captured. It was opened - all that was in it was a piece of green cheese
Green cheese
Green cheese is a name applied to several varieties of cheese that are green in colour. The term was first used in English to mean fresh cheese, not thoroughly dried. The Oxford English Dictionary gives a reference from the year 1542 of the four sorts of cheese...
. Captain Reynolds was hanged.