146 LAND REFORM 



against the power of the landed aristocracy, in an 

 endeavour to stop, if possible, the decay of England's 

 rural population. 



Political offences and court intrigues are usually 

 given as the cause of the Protector's fall. No doubt 

 these were the nominal means by which his ruin was 

 wrought. It was on the charge of felony that he 

 was convicted and condemned to death, but the forces 

 behind and underneath which made the prosecution 

 successful were undoubtedly agrarian. The landed 

 aristocracy, and especially the "new nobility" (the 

 " new men " to whom the spoils of the Church had 

 fallen), were alarmed at the policy of protecting the 

 peasantry and yeomanry which the Protector had 

 adopted. Their evil practices of confiscation would 

 be checked, and restitution be demanded if that policy 

 were carried out. In their eyes, therefore, the action 

 of the Protector was an offence to be neither condoned 

 nor forgiven. These were the motives which led them 

 to support, with all their great strength, the intrigues 

 of the Earl of Warwick (afterwards Duke of North- 

 umberland), the bitter and vindictive enemy of 

 Somerset, whose place he wanted and whose ruin he 

 was determined to effect, and to use every means to 

 that end. 



It must be admitted that the action of the Protector 

 was an earnest of his intentions. On his own authority, 

 without consulting his colleagues, he first issued a 

 proclamation, couched in strong terms, demanding 

 that " they who had enclosed any lands accustomed 

 to lie open, should, upon a certain pain, before a 

 day assigned, lay them open again." This proceeding 

 " highly incensed the offenders." 



His next step was nothing less than a declaration of 



