Tombland

‘I think so. But there is another royal Herald with the army, and apparently he is to be sent to Norwich this morning to talk to the city, no doubt to try and obtain its peaceful surrender. I am going down to Norwich now.’ Kett studied me keenly. ‘And you are staying, whatever comes next?’

‘Yes. Barak and Nicholas, too.’

‘There are rumours going around the camp that you and young Overton are spies.’

‘Set by Toby Lockswood, no doubt,’ I said grimly.

‘The story is you met with gentlemen in Norwich, passed information about our strength to Warwick.’

‘It is evil nonsense, Captain Kett.’

He continued looking at me steadily, then said, ‘Yes, I think it is.’ He turned his face to the city. ‘I shall ride down to Norwich. I will allow Augustine Steward to meet with this Herald, see what he wants. If it is to talk to the men, let them decide.’ He shook his grey head. ‘Though the odds now –’ He broke off.

At that moment three soldiers on horseback drew up, leading a horse for Kett. He mounted, and together they rode down to Norwich.

* * *

SEVERAL TENSE HOURS passed. I learned only later that day of events in the city. Kett persuaded Augustine Steward and another senior city official to meet the Herald outside the walls. They in turn suggested to the Herald that the camp be offered a pardon on condition of surrender. I never knew whether or not Kett was party to that. In any event, the Herald rode back to Intwood to consult the Earl of Warwick, then returned to confirm he would offer a pardon to all save Kett. He was readmitted to the city, together with a trumpeter and a small party of Warwick’s soldiers, including several men carrying curriers – small arquebuses – while a man behind brought a container holding the live coals to light them. Some forty of Kett’s men, on horseback, accompanied them across Bishopsgate Bridge. I heard Kett had returned to camp separately.

In the camp we heard the loud blast of a trumpet. This brought a huge number of camp-men, many armed, running downhill to where the Herald’s party stood by the riverside. Barak and Nicholas and I were among those who went down, together with Natty. I saw Simon Scambler some way off, with a group of young men. I recognized those who had tormented him the other day, but they all seemed on friendly terms now.

Most of the camp had assembled in a massive show of force, some on horseback; I saw the Herald, gorgeously robed, ride across the bridge, accompanied by Augustine Steward and the little retinue of soldiers. I recognized the commander of the arquebusiers; it was Captain Drury, whom I had encountered in London; a senior officer in Warwick’s party, he had doubtless come to weigh up the opposition.

At sight of the Herald, many in the vast crowd shouted out, ‘God save the King!’ As ever, I thought, both sides claim loyalty to the eleven-year-old boy in London.

Augustine Steward asked the camp-men to separate into two groups to allow the Herald through, so that his words could be heard by as many as possible. They did so, and accompanied by his soldiers the Herald rode a little way up the hill, then stopped, right in the middle of the sea of rebels. Like his predecessor, he did not lack courage. A large, solid man in his fifties, he had a commanding, haughty expression. He began by commending the men for their declarations of loyalty to the King. Then, with an extravagant gesture, he unrolled a sealed and decorated paper, and began to read, in a loud, resonant voice.

I listened, horrified. The tone of his address was even more savagely insulting than the one inflicted on us by the previous Herald the month before. I saw the expressions on the faces of some camp-men turn from hope to fierce anger, though a small minority also looked scared. The Herald accused them of being a violent, horrible company, guilty of cruelty and despoliation and condemning to prison many worthy and excellent persons – at this there was a discernible murmur of fury. He called his audience men of detestable madness, disloyalty, and mischievous treason. At the end he said the King’s mercy was such that despite all this, a pardon would be offered to those who surrendered now, all bar Kett himself, but if they did not accept, the King had commanded the Earl of Warwick to pursue them with fire and sword .