Tombland

Kett continued, pausing after each sentence to let his words be carried back: ‘ ... We can no longer bear such great and cruel injury! We will rather take arms than endure it! Nature has provided for us, as well as them; has given us, too, a body and soul. We have the same form, are born of women like them! Why should they have a life so unlike ours!’

There were loud cheers, and weapons were raised. ‘Radical stuff,’ I murmured.

‘All across the land men rise against the enclosures for sheep, and the other iniquities heaped upon us by the landlords, like the encroachments on common land and the illegal raising of our rents. Soon the Protector’s commissioners will arrive, and we shall ensure justice is done. We will ourselves rend down the fences, fill up the ditches, and make a way for men into the common pasture! We will suffer no more to be pressed with such burdens! We shall petition the Protector with our ills, and get good answer, like the people of Essex!’

There were more cheers, ringing to the wide blue sky till Kett raised his hands for silence.

‘I promise that the harms done to the public weal by the lords shall be righted.’ He paused, surveyed the crowd, then continued, ‘Soon, we shall camp and rest. We shall feed ourselves from the countryside, arm ourselves against the gentlemen. As for those we have made captive, we shall try them according to law; there will be no undue violence or murder. That is their way! Let us show the Protector we can govern ourselves, without the gentlemen!’ He took a deep breath, then continued, louder than ever. ‘I myself sinned in raising enclosures on my land, but I have with my own hands made them common again.’ He paused, then said, ‘You shall have me, if you will, not only as a companion, but also as captain; and in doing the great work before us, not only as a fellow, but also for a general, standard-bearer and chief. Not only will I be present at all your councils, but, if you will have it so, henceforth I will preside at them! Before all things else do I put your deliverance, and for this I will spend not only my goods, but my very life, so dear to me is the cause on which we are embarked! Now, do you swear on your oath, before God, to remain and work together until our work is done?’

There was a deafening chorus: ‘We do!’ I drew a deep breath; nothing was more binding, more powerful, than a man’s oath before God. Kett raised a fist. ‘And so, my friends, to Norwich!’

Another cheering roar, and Kett took off his cap and waved it.

Beside me Barak said quietly, ‘Looks like they’ve found a leader.’

I nodded. ‘Everything was about enclosures, though. What of the hurts of the towns?’

‘He’s following the Protector’s agenda. Hoping to get his support.’

‘It may not end there,’ I said.

‘The start is good enough for me.’

I leaned in closer, speaking intently. ‘What are you doing, Jack? You have a wife and children in London!’

‘Don’t be a fool! I’m being watched, same as you are. I couldn’t get away and run to Tamasin, even if I wanted to. Like you, I’m surviving as best I can now we’re caught up in this.’

‘But you believe in it.’

He looked at me with sudden fierceness. ‘It’s time something like this happened. Don’t you agree?’

‘I don’t know what to think.’

‘Then let it play out.’

The men were settling into line again, amidst a buzz of excited conversation. Barak stood and made his way back down towards the baggage train. Vowell looked at me suspiciously. ‘What were you two whispering about?’

‘Jack has a wife and children in London.’

‘In times like these, ties of the heart are best forgotten.’

‘Are they?’

* * *

WHEN WE REACHED the turning for Brikewell, two dozen armed men peeled off from the main crowd and disappeared down the lane. Barak was with them, no doubt as a guide. I watched anxiously; if the twins and their friends fought back, blood would be spilt.

Just afterwards the head of the procession reached the bridge across the River Yare. We were more than halfway to Norwich. The crowd, which I estimated now at perhaps two thousand, slowed almost to a halt as men crossed the narrow bridge, though some boys swam across, the cool of the water no doubt a relief, for it was near midday. I was glad to sit again for a while, watching the path to Brikewell. Vowell was called away to some duty, and the old soldier Hector Johnson came and sat beside me, no doubt sent in Vowell’s place to watch me. He wore a sallet helmet and a sword at his waist now. ‘A hot day,’ I said neutrally.

He grunted. ‘You get used to marching in the heat when you’re a soldier. I was at the battle for Boulogne, then at Portsmouth when the fleets battled in the Solent.’

‘I was there too,’ I said quietly.

He laughed scoffingly. ‘You were never a soldier.’

‘I had friends who were. A captain of archers particularly. He went down on the Mary Rose .’