History Of Britain - The Cornish Rebellion 1497

History Of Britain - The Cornish Rebellion 1497

The history of Britain has always been complicated by ethnic rifts. This sounds like something that could have been said yesterday, about splits in the Arab world, or cultural divides in Asia. However it has been a recurrent problem with the British Isles, as well

In 1497 things boiled over in Cornwall !

The Cornish Rebellion was a violent revolt by the people of Cornwall. Its primary cause was the response of people to the raising of war taxes by King Henry VII on the relatively poor county of Cornwall, to raise money for a campaign against Scotland motivated by brief border skirmishes that were inspired by Perkin Warbeck's pretence to the English throne. A particularly important industry was tin mining and the Cornish tin miners were angered as the scale of the taxes overturned previous rights granted by Edward I of England.

In reaction to King Henry's taxation, Michael Joseph, a blacksmith from St. Keverne and Thomas Flamank a lawyer of Bodmin, incited many of the people of Cornwall into armed revolt against the King.

An army some 15,000 strong marched into Devon, attracting support in terms of provisions and recruits as they went. As contemporary writers said, apart from one isolated incident at Taunton, where a tax commissioner was killed, their march was 'without any slaughter, violence or spoil of the country'.

From Taunton, they moved on to Wells, where they were joined by their most eminent recruit, James Touchet, the seventh Baron Audley, a member of the old nobility and an accomplished soldier. Despite this welcome and prestigious acquisition of support, An Gof, the blacksmith, remained in command of the army. Audley joined Thomas Flamank as joint 'political' leader of the expedition.

After issuing a declaration of grievances, the army (having damaged the cathedral by using its West front for target practice), left Wells and marched to Winchester via Bristol and Salisbury, remarkably unopposed as they progressed across the south of England. At this point, having come so far, there seems to have been some questioning of what exactly should be done. The King had shown no sign of willingness to concede the issue and, far from home, there must have come to the leadership the belated cold realisation that only force of arms would resolve the matter one way or the other. Flamank conceived the idea of trying to broaden the rising; to force the monarch into concessions by mobilising wider support for the Cornishmen. He proposed that they should head for Kent, 'the classic soil of protests', the home of the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 and Jack Cade's rebellion, to rally the volatile men of Kent to their banner. It was a subtle and ambitious strategy—but sadly misinformed. Although the Scottish War was as remote a project to the Kentishmen as to the Cornish, they not only refused to offer their support but went so far as to offer resistance under their Earl. Sadly disillusioned, the Cornish army retreated and some of the men quietly returned to their homes. The remainder, let go the pretence of acting against the King's ministers alone - they were prepared to give battle against the King himself.

Moving into Surrey, the Cornishmen fought a small engagement with approx 500 mounted spearmen, of the Kings army..... he was testing their resolve !

Down to 10,000 men, the Cornish revolt was eventually taken on by the Kings whole army. He had pulled back troops, that were heading for Scotland, which meant that he could now field an army of 25,000, greatly outnumbering, the poorly armed rebels.

On Saturday 17th June, The Royal forces were divided into three 'battles', two under Lords Oxford, Essex and Suffolk, to wheel round the right flank and rear of enemy whilst the third waited in reserve. When the Cornish were duly surrounded, Lord Daubeney and the third 'battle' were ordered into frontal attack.

Being ill-armed and ill-led, and without horse or artillery, the Cornishmen were, with no great difficulty, cut in pieces and put to flight. Estimates of the Cornish dead range from 200 to 2000 and a general slaughter of the broken army was well under way when An Gof gave the order for surrender. He fled but only got as far as Greenwich before being captured. The less enterprising Baron Audley and Thomas Flamank were taken on the field of battle.

It was all over.

In due course, severe monetary penalties, extracted by Crown agents, affected sections of Cornwall for years to come, perhaps even having repercussions in the present day. Prisoners were sold into slavery and estates were seized and handed to more loyal subjects. The remaining rebels that escaped went home ending the rebellion. An Gof and Flamank were both sentenced to the traitor's death of being hanged, drawn and quartered. However they "enjoyed" the king's mercy and were allowed to hang until dead before being decapitated. They were executed at Tyburn on 27 June 1497. An Gof is recorded to have said before his execution that he should have "a name perpetual and a fame permanent and immortal". Thomas Flamank was quoted as saying "Speak the truth and only then can you be free of your chains".

Audley, as a peer of the realm, was beheaded on the 28th June at Tower Hill. Their heads were then displayed on pike-staffs ("gibbeted") on London Bridge.