A March on London: Being a Story of Wat Tyler's Insurrection by G. A. Henty (book club reads .TXT) π
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- Author: G. A. Henty
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A MARCH ON LONDON
BEING A STORY OF
WAT TYLER'S INSURRECTION
CONTENTS
PREFACE
A MARCH ON LONDON
CHAPTER I β TROUBLED TIMES
CHAPTER II β A FENCING BOUT
CHAPTER III β WAT TYLER
CHAPTER IV β IN LONDON
CHAPTER V β A RESCUE
CHAPTER VI β A CITY MERCHANT
CHAPTER VII β DEATH TO THE FLEMINGS!
CHAPTER VIII β A COMBAT IN THE TOWER
CHAPTER IX β DEATH OF THE TYLER
CHAPTER X β A FIGHT IN THE OPEN
CHAPTER XI β AN INVITATION
CHAPTER XII β THE TROUBLES IN FLANDERS
CHAPTER XIII β A STARVING TOWN
CHAPTER XIV β CIVIL WAR
CHAPTER XV β A CRUSHING DEFEAT
CHAPTER XVI β A WAR OF THE CHURCH
CHAPTER XVII β PRISONERS
CHAPTER XVIII β A NOBLE GIFT
CHAPTER XIX β WELL SETTLED
PREFACE
The events that took place during the latter half of the fourteenth century and the first half of the fifteenth are known to us far better than those preceding or following them, owing to the fact that three great chroniclers, Froissart, Monstrelet, and Holinshed, have recounted the events with a fulness of detail that leaves nothing to be desired. The uprising of the Commons, as they called themselvesβthat is to say, chiefly the folk who were still kept in a state of serfdom in the reign of Richard II.βwas in itself justifiable. Although serfdom in England was never carried to the extent that prevailed on the Continent, the serfs suffered from grievous disabilities. A certain portion of their time had to be devoted to the work of their feudal lord. They themselves were forbidden to buy or sell at public markets or fairs. They were bound to the soil, and could not, except under special circumstances, leave it.
Above all, they felt that they were not free men, and were not even deemed worthy to fight in the wars of their country. Attempts have been made to represent the rising as the result of Wickliffe's attack upon the Church, but there seems to be very small foundation for the assertion. Undoubtedly many of the lower class of clergy, discontented with their position, did their best to inflame the minds of the peasants, but as the rising extended over a very large part of England, and the people were far too ignorant to understand, and far too much irritated by their own grievances to care for the condition of the Church, it may be taken that they murdered the Archbishop of Canterbury and many other priests simply because they regarded them as being wealthy, and so slew them as they slew other people of substance. Had it been otherwise, the Church would not have been wholly ignored in the demands that they set before the king, but some allusion would have been made for the need of reforms in that direction.
The troubles in Flanders are of interest to Englishmen, since there was for many years an alliance, more or less close, between our king and some of the great Flemish cities. Indeed, from the time when the first Von Artevelde was murdered because he proposed that the Black Prince should be accepted as ruler of Flanders, to the day upon which Napoleon's power was broken forever at Waterloo, Flanders has been the theatre of almost incessant turmoil and strife, in which Germans and Dutchmen, Spaniards, Englishmen, and Frenchmen have fought out their quarrels.
G. A. HENTY.
A MARCH ON LONDON
CHAPTER I β TROUBLED TIMES
"And what do you think of it all, good Father?"
"'Tis a difficult question, my son, and I am glad that it is one that wiser heads than mine will have to solve."
"But they don't seem to try to solve it; things get worse and worse. The king is but a lad, no older than myself, and he is in the hands of others. It seems to me a sin and a shame that things should go on as they are at present. My father also thinks so."
The speaker was a boy of some sixteen years old. He was walking with the prior in the garden of the little convent of St. Alwyth, four miles from the town of Dartford. Edgar Ormskirk was the son of a scholar. The latter, a man of independent means, who had always had a preference for study and investigation rather than for taking part in active pursuits, had, since the death of his young wife, a year after the birth of his son, retired altogether from the world and devoted himself to study. He had given up his comfortable home, standing on the heights of Highgateβthat being in too close proximity to London to enable him to enjoy the seclusion that he desiredβand had retired to a small estate near Dartford.
Educated at Oxford, he had gone to Padua at his father's death, which happened just as he left the university, and had remained at that seat of learning for five years. There he had spent the whole of his income in the purchase of manuscripts. The next two years were passed at Bologna and Pisa, and he there collected a library such as few gentlemen of his time possessed. Then Mr. Ormskirk had returned to England and settled at Highgate, and two years later married the daughter of a neighbouring gentleman, choosing her rather because he felt that he needed
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