PEASANT REVOLTS 121 



Walsingham gives the story (repeated by other 

 chroniclers) of the confession said to have been made 

 by Jack Straw, "the ungratious priest," on the eve of 

 his execution. According to that confession, one of 

 the objects of the insurgents at Blackheath was to 

 kill the king and all the knights, squires, and gentle- 

 men who attended him. Jack Straw was taken and 

 condemned to death by Walworth, the Mayor of Lon- 

 don, who afterwards spoke to him in prison as follows : 

 "John, behold thy death is at hand beyond all doubt and 

 there is no way by which thou mayest escape, where- 

 fore for thy soules health tell us to what end ye did 

 assemble the commons ? If ye doe it, it shall redounde 

 to thy soul's health." 



After this so-called confession he was beheaded and 

 his head set on London Bridge alongside of the heads 

 of Wat Tyler and many others. The whole story is 

 unworthy of credence, first because it rests on the sole 

 testimony of Walworth, the chief murderer of Tyler, 

 a time-serving caitiff, who doubtless felt it necessary 

 to invent some justification for the merciless reprisals 

 he was adopting ; and secondly, because it was con- 

 trary to the recorded action of the rebels. 



If Wat Tyler had intended to kill the king, he could 

 easily have done it at Smithfield. But loyalty to the 

 king was preached everywhere, his banners were 

 carried, and most of those who joined the ranks of 

 the insurgents were required to take "an oath of 

 allegiance to King Richard and to the Commons."^ 



^ Holinshed, in referring to Jack Straw's alleged confession, seems 

 to have had some doubt as to its truth. " Sith," he says, " they that rote 

 in those dales may happilie in that behalf misse the truth in construing 

 things according to their affections." Stubbs says, " His reported con- 

 fession is too comprehensive to be veracious." (" Constitutional History," 

 Vol. II, p. 492.) 



