Tombland

Command of the army sent from London was given to William Parr, Marquess of Northampton, who had risen solely because he was Queen Catherine Parr’s brother. He was a courtier, not a soldier. The same is true of his deputy, Edmund, Baron Sheffield. Sheffield seems to have been a young gentleman thug – he and three relatives once attacked his brother-in-law’s mistress, disfiguring her to break up their relationship. ⁸

The army probably consisted of a mixture of professional soldiers and men conscripted from other areas. ⁹ Local gentry who had fled returned, together with some high government officials, and formed the junior leadership. Interestingly Sir Richard Southwell, who can only have returned to London recently from Norwich, was also there. The army not only lacked serious professional commanders, but was far smaller than the camp – around 1,500, and including a number of Italian mercenaries. ¹⁰ Most government forces were engaged in Scotland and against the Western and Oxfordshire rebellions, and Somerset perhaps thought that as 1,500 men had put down the Oxfordshire rebels, the same number might suffice for Norwich.

On 31 July, having possibly put down the camp at Thetford along the way, Northampton arrived outside Norwich. Another Herald was sent to call for the city’s surrender: Augustine Steward smartly passed the buck to Mayor Codd, under guard at Surrey Place, who agreed to allow Northampton’s forces in. As he was a prisoner this must have been with Kett’s authority. Northampton’s forces entered without resistance, Southwell bearing the city sword before him, and settled down for the night. ¹¹ They had walked into a trap.

Before nightfall, a small group of Italian mercenaries scouting outside the Norwich walls encountered a group of rebels. One was captured (the episode is reimagined in Tombland ), and he was hanged from the walls of Surrey Place. ¹² The mood on Mousehold was becoming fierce, hardly surprising given the prospect of a savage battle the next day. Northampton’s armies settled down for the night, the majority of them in the Market Square which was lit by a huge bonfire, while others patrolled the city and attempted to strengthen the walls. The patrols, in the narrow, hilly streets in pitch darkness, faced a formidable task. Now the trap was sprung; rebels opened fire with their cannon against the city’s eastern defences, following this up with a mass night assault through the streets. However, despite fierce street fighting, the rebels failed to dislodge the soldiers and were forced to retreat.

Next morning Northampton made another offer of pardon. It was reported that a crowd was gathered outside Pockthorpe Gate to the north, but when the Herald arrived there his offer of pardon was rejected, the argument being repeated that the rebels were loyal subjects in no need of pardon.

This was a feint; just then the rebels had entered the city across Bishopsgate Bridge. To avoid being trapped in Holme Street, with the fifteen-foot-high walls of the Cathedral Close on one side and the walls of the Great Hospital on the other, the rebels brought down the Great Hospital walls. ¹³ This would have needed artillery, fired this time with some skill. The rebels were thus enabled to reach the broad square of Palace Plain. Here Northampton’s forces were soundly beaten, Lord Sheffield killed, and the remains of Northampton’s army fled, together with many richer inhabitants of the city, some in their lightest garments to disguise their status. Sotherton reported that a large part of the city around Bishopsgate Bridge was set alight, but the violent thunderstorm late on 1 August doused the fires. Northampton and his army retired to Cambridge.

The government army had been too small and poorly commanded, while the Italian mercenaries proved disappointing. The rebels had shown considerable skill as well as courage. Sotherton puts the rebel death toll at about 400. This might be as many as one in twenty of the camp-men, and again must have brought much grief to the camp.

GROWING ISOLATION : 1–24 AUGUST

The defeat of Northampton’s army was the high-water mark of the rebellion. Throughout August, in sometimes rainy weather, the rebels retained firm control of Norwich, but neighbouring camps were going down, and a second, major attack from Mousehold on Yarmouth failed on 17 August, a counter-attack capturing six cannon and thirty rebels. Meanwhile news of the preparation of another army from London, far larger and better commanded, would have reached the camp. The Mousehold men must have felt increasingly isolated.