ii6 LAND REFORM 



advisers. "Their cry was against the Duke of 

 Lancaster and the ministers who held the king in 

 durance, especially the Archbishop, the Chancellor, 

 and Sir Robert Hales, the Treasurer."^ They burnt 

 and sacked the duke's palace — the Savoy. The gold 

 and silver plate and other valuables found there they 

 threw into the Thames, and the jewellery they de- 

 stroyed. No man was allowed " on paine to lose his 

 head, to take anything for his own use." One of their 

 number having secreted a silver vessel, " they hurled 

 him and the piece of plate into the fire, saying that 

 they sought justice, and were not thieves and rob- 

 bers.'"^ 



The poorer citizens of London sympathized with 

 them, and threatened to burn the city if the gates 

 were closed against them. Great excesses and crimes 

 were committed, and those who had advised the king 

 not to meet the rebels at Blackheath were caught and 

 beheaded. 



The king afterwards met the insurgents at Smith- 

 field and told them that he had satisfied the men 

 of Essex, and that he "would grant them the like 

 form of peace if it would please them to accept there- 

 of." V/at Tyler, however, demanded that the king's 

 promises should be confirmed by letters and charters. 

 It is recorded that "Wat Tyler their Captaine a 

 crafty fellow of an excellent wit but lacking grace " 

 bore himself insolently at this interview, and indulged 

 in threats and made extreme demands. Walworth, 

 the Mayor of London, stabbed him unawares ; those 

 who attended the king surrounded Tyler so that his 

 followers, who were some distance off, should not see 



^ Stubbs' "Constitutional History," Vol. II, p. 457. 

 « Stow's " Chronicles of Eng^land." 



