6.2.2

March to London

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March to London

The rebels in Kent began to march to London on the 11th June, meeting up with the rebels in Essex and Sussex on the way. They assembled at Blackheath, just south of London, gathering weapons as they went.

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King Richard hears

  • King Richard, having heard about the rebels' advance, moved from Westminster to London and set up his council in the Tower of London.
  • He was joined by important noblemen such as Lord Treasurer Robert de Hales, his mother Queen Joan and the Archbishop of Canterbury Simon Sudbury.
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King Richard outnumbered

  • King Richard didn't have a big army and most of the experienced military leaders were abroad at the time.
  • The King knew he would probably lose a battle against the rebels who outnumbered him.
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Bishop of Rochester mediates

  • King Richard sent the Bishop of Rochester as his representative to go to the rebel camp and try to persuade them to go home.
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The Reverend John Ball incites the crowd

  • At the rebel camp, a priest named John Ball gave a passionate speech.
  • He asked the crowd, "when Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?"
  • This showed the rebels' anger at the way they were treated by the gentry and nobility.
  • But he also created the slogan "With King Richard and the true commons of England" which showed their loyalty to King Richard.
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Rebels don't back down

  • The Reverend John Ball rejected the offer from the Bishop of Rochester to go home peacefully, instead saying that the rebels would continue to march to London.

Jump to other topics

1The Medieval World: 450-1450 AD

1.1Anglo-Saxon England

1.2The Contest for the English Throne

1.3Conquering the Holy Land, 10-96-1396 AD

1.4King John

1.5The Magna Carta & Parliament

1.6The Black Death

2Worldviews

3The Empire of Mali

4The Renaissance & Reformations, 1500-1598 AD

5The British Empire, 1583-1960 AD

6The Peasants' Revolt

7Religion in the Middle Ages

8Slavery, 1619-1833 AD

9The English Civil War, 1642-1660

10The Industrial Revolution, 1750-1840

11US Independence, 1775-1783

12The French Revolution, 1789-1815

13The British Empire, 1857–1930

14Suffrage

15World War 1, 1914-1918

16The Inter-War Years, 1919-1939

17World War 2, 1939-1945

18The Cold War, 1947-1962

19Civil Rights in the USA, 1954-1975

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