Cornish rebellion of 1497

The first stirrings of protest arose in the parish of St Keverne on the Lizard peninsula, where there already was resentment against the actions of Sir John Oby, provost of Glasney College in Penryn, the tax collector for that area.[9][10] In reaction to King Henry's tax levy, Michael Joseph (An Gof), a blacksmith from St. Keverne and Thomas Flamank, a lawyer of Bodmin, incited many of the people of Cornwall into armed revolt. Flamank formulated the aim of the rebellion as being to remove the two servants of the king seen as responsible for his taxation policies: Cardinal John Morton (the Lord Chancellor) and Sir Reginald Bray (the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster).[11] This emphasis created some room to argue that the uprising was not treasonous, but petitionary in nature.[12] The rebels included at least two former MPs, Flamank (MP for Bodmin in 1492) and William Antron (MP for Helston in 1491-92).

An army some 15,000 strong marched into Devon, attracting support in the form of provisions and recruits as they went.[13] In Devon, however, support for the rebellion was far lower than in Cornwall, probably because the stannaries there had accepted new regulations in 1494, and had avoided the penalties inflicted on their Cornish counterparts. [14]

Entering Somerset, the rebel army came to Taunton, where it is reported that they killed one of the commissioners of the subsidy, i.e. a collector of the offending tax.[15][16] At Wells they were joined by James Touchet, the seventh Baron Audley, who had already been in correspondence with An Gof and Flamank. As a member of the nobility with military experience he was gladly received and acclaimed as their leader. The rebels then continued towards London, marching via Salisbury and Winchester.[17][18]

King Henry had been preparing for war against Scotland. When he learned of the close approach of the West Country rebels to London, and of their strength, he diverted his main army of 8,000 men under Lord Daubeny to meet them, while a defensive force under the Earl of Surrey was sent to the Scottish border. Daubeny's army camped on Hounslow Heath on 13 June. At the same time, there was general alarm among the citizens of London, many of whom mobilised to defend the city. The next day, a detachment of 500 of Daubeny's spearmen clashed with the rebels near Guildford.[19]

Until then, the rebel army had met virtually no armed opposition, but neither had they gained significant numbers of new recruits since passing through Somerset. Now instead of approaching London directly they skirted to the south, since Flamank believed they would gain popular support from Kent, on the far side (south-eastern side) of London. Accordingly, after Guildford they moved via Banstead to Blackheath, an area of high ground south-east of the city, which they reached on 16 June. No Kentish uprising had materialised, however. On the contrary, forces of Kentish men had been mobilised against them under loyalist nobles, the Earl of Kent, Lord Abergavenny, and Lord Cobham.[20]

Since the King had now mustered a large army in London, the outlook for the rebels was clearly grim, and there was much dismay and disunity among them that night in their camp on Blackheath. An Gof was adamant in preparing for battle. But many wanted to give themselves up: the original call to arms had not always been to commit the treason of direct warfare against the King, but to make him change his chief advisors and taxation policies. There were thousands of desertions from the insurgency that night.[21]

The Battle of Deptford Bridge (also known as Battle of Blackheath) took place on 17 June 1497 on a site in present-day Deptford in south-east London, on the River Ravensbourne, and was the culminating event of the Cornish Rebellion. After leaving the West Country and approaching London, the insurgency had failed to attract enough new support or to move quickly enough to catch the king unprepared. The insurgents were now on the defensive. The king had mustered an army of some 25,000 men while the rebels, after late desertions, were down to 10,000 men or fewer. They also lacked the supporting cavalry and artillery arms essential to the professional forces of the time.[22]

The king had spread word that he would attack the rebels on Monday 19 June, but in fact he did so early on the 17th. He regarded Saturday as his "lucky day". His forces were composed of three battalions, deployed so as to surround the high ground of Blackheath where the rebel army had camped and where its greater part was still positioned. [23]

The strongest of the king’s battalions, under Lord Daubeny, attacked along the main road from London. This involved crossing Deptford Bridge (near the point where Ravensbourne River becomes Deptford Creek before joining the river Thames). The rebels were well enough prepared to have positioned guns and archers there, which inflicted severe casualties on the company of spearmen under Sir Humphrey Stanley tasked with securing the bridge. Stanley's company nevertheless succeeded in driving off the gunners and archers, killing some of them.[24]

Lord Daubeny now led the attack up into the rebels' main position on the heath. So bold was his leadership that he became separated, surrounded by the enemy, and temporarily captured. The rebels could have killed him, but actually let him go unhurt. Overwhelmingly outnumbered, surrounded, poorly trained and equipped and lacking cavalry, their fight was now hopeless and their concern was probably to minimise the reprisals that would follow the battle.[25]

The rebels were routed. Of their leaders, John Flamank and Lord Audley were captured on the field of battle. Michael Joseph (An Gof) fled, apparently to seek sanctuary in the Friars' Church (near the former palace where the Greenwich Old Royal Naval College now stands), but was intercepted before he could enter.[26]

After the battle, the King toured the battlefield, knighting the most valiant of his soldiers, and then returned over London Bridge into the city, where he similarly rewarded a few others, including the Mayor, for their services in guarding London and feeding the army. Then he attended an impromptu service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral.[27]

It was proclaimed that soldiers who had taken rebels prisoner could privately ransom them, and keep or sell their possessions.[28]