Tombland

‘I remember the wretched cottagers and smallholders I represented at the Court of Requests for years, till Richard Rich took my post from me,’ I said quietly. ‘Even when I won a case – and there were a good many – I knew they were but a drop in the ocean of injustice.’

He nodded approval, then sighed. ‘My legs are tired. I have been walking around the camp since dawn, interviewing the newly elected governors. Let us sit down.’ I looked at his clever, determined face, his large solid figure, but remembered he was a decade older than me.

We seated ourselves opposite each other at the table. ‘What do you hope to achieve, Captain Kett, at the end of it all?’

‘A return to the fairer times of the past, but more than that. A share for the common people in the appointment of local officials, and in future enclosure commissions, which should be made permanent.’

‘So that authority in the locality is no longer limited to the gentlemen and officials?’

Kett spoke with sudden force. ‘Are we not showing here that we do not need the gentlemen to govern ourselves? I know you doubt the great men of the land will accept that, Master Shardlake, but I believe the Protector is with us, and our camps across England will persuade the Council they must accept. This is no Peasants’ Revolt or Cade’s Rebellion, desperate military uprisings against the rulers. This is different.’

Again I thought, He is naive, he does not understand that all the Protector truly cares about is the Scottish war. I took a deep breath and said, ‘Captain Kett, may I speak frankly?’

He spread his work-roughened hands. ‘Everyone in this camp may speak freely. Even those who oppose what we are doing will be allowed their voice at our new place of assembly. We are calling it the Oak of Reformation, is that not a wonderful name?’

I thought, ‘Oak of Reformation.’ These days that carried a double meaning: reformation of the Church, or the welfare of the State, or both. It was cleverly ambiguous. I framed my reply carefully. ‘Most of the King’s Council, and all men of status, believe it to be God’s law that the head should govern the foot in society, and those who are not gentlemen – who do not need to do manual work for their living – should not govern. I am with you in my heart, but I fear you underestimate the power and hostility of those in power.’

I feared Kett might be angry, but he answered calmly. ‘Those rules are not God’s law, but men’s. They have led to desperate injustice, and must be remedied. We do not wish to overthrow society, but reform it – and the only way to do that is to give the common people some say.’ His voice hardened. ‘And to let the gentlemen know, when they return, that their powers, which they have abused, are not limitless. The days when a man had to remove his cap and bow and scrape before being even allowed to address his lord are over.’

I ventured a smile. ‘Though from my recollections, Norfolk men were less inclined to servility than most.

‘True,’ Kett said, ‘but that can only help so far when true power lies with the landlords. See there –’ he pointed to a little clock set on the table. ‘That was taken from one of the manor houses on the way here. Something so simple, so necessary in a camp like this, so we might tell the hour – yet beyond the means of all but a few who are here. And a new hour has struck, Master Shardlake, decreed by God, true Reformation both of religion and of the earthly world. That is why I say the name of our assembly place is a wonderful one.’

I answered. ‘Can any of us truly know that such an hour has struck?’

Kett looked at me intently, then said quietly, ‘I was a loyal Catholic once, friend to the old Abbot of Wymondham. He was a good man, I named my son after him, but I see now that in religion he was wrong. After the abbey went down a new preacher came to Wymondham, a true Protestant, Henry King. Gradually, I came to see that he was right. I began to study the Bible, and now see that true Christianity lies in faith, and struggle for a true Commonwealth.’ He shook his head. ‘I have spent too much of my life building up treasures.’

I smiled sadly, and began to quote some lines: ‘ “I regarded little God’s Word, but gave myself to vanities and shadows of the world. I forsook Him, in whom is all truth, and followed the vain, foolish imaginings of my heart.” ’

Kett looked at me with interest. ‘That is exactly right. Who said that?’

‘The late Queen Catherine Parr, in her Lamentation of a Sinner .’

‘Ah, she was a friend to true religion.’ He leant forward eagerly. ‘You have true Bible faith, like her?’

‘Once I did, but now I am uncertain in all things.’

‘Do you think Queen Catherine would have supported what we are doing?’

I shook my head sadly. ‘No. I think she would have seen you as rebels and rioters, as her brother-in-law Sir William Herbert did when he put down those who rebelled against him in May.’

‘Most cruelly, I am told.’

‘Yes.’