Kett's Rebellion in Norfolk

1549

A Norfolk tanner named Robert Kett led a rising of commoners against enclosure of common pastures. Sixteen thousand protesters camped on Mousehold Heath outside Norwich for six weeks, governing themselves under an oak tree. The rebellion was crushed by German mercenaries, and Kett was hanged from Norwich Castle. The twenty-nine articles of demands reflected both economic grievance and Protestant reform ideas among East Anglian commoners.