SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY 



In the following spring the Peasants' Revolt broke out, and it would 

 seem as if the ferment of the rebellion had been already at work at 

 Harmondsworth. 78 



It is unnecessary to repeat here the account of the burning of the 

 Savoy, of the Temple, of the Hospital of St. John at Clerkenwell, of the 

 manor house of the Hospitallers at Highbury, of the properties of the 

 under-sheriff of Middlesex at Eybury, Tothill, and Knightsbridge, and 

 of the climax of the rebellion at Mile End, 79 which have no special con- 

 nexion with the county, belonging rather to the general history of the 

 revolt. 



Although there does not appear to have been anything like a 

 general Middlesex rising, there is evidence of sporadic outbreaks on 

 several manors, and the Middlesex men must have taken their full share 

 in the rebellion, for the list of exclusions from the general pardon is 

 longer for that small county than for any other, except for London itself. 80 

 Twenty-three Middlesex rebels were excluded from the amnesty, from 

 fifteen different parishes, 81 but so far as the evidence goes only two of them 

 were convicted and outlawed ; eleven were subsequently acquitted in 

 1386-7, and the remainder were, it must be supposed, never brought to 

 justice, as there is no record of their conviction or acquittal. Of the two 

 who were outlawed, 83 Peter Walshe held a cottage and ij acres in Chis- 

 wick, and was found to possess no goods or chattels ; of the other outlaw, 

 Thomas Bedford of Holborn, the goods seized by the escheator were 

 valued at 4^., being chiefly small household utensils most of them ' debil.' 

 Only one other rebel figures in this Middlesex escheator's account : John 

 Stackpole, described as of Middlesex, was beheaded as one of the prin- 

 cipal insurgents in the Corpus Christi rising, and is mentioned in an 

 inquiry carried out by the sheriffs in November, 1382, as being with 

 Walter Tyler, one of the leaders of the rebels at Blackheath. His goods 

 and chattels are valued at i8j., amongst them being a red and green 

 cloth gown worth 8s. and ' unius cithere et gyterne, precium i6</.' 8S 

 William Peche, clerk of St. Clements, accused of being with the rebels 

 at Knightsbridge, Eybury, and Tothill ; John Hore, of Knightsbridge, for 

 burning the under-sheriffs' houses ; Robert Gardiner (or Rob. Poltayne 

 gardener) of Holborn, accused of joining in the burning of St. John's 

 Clerkenwell, of slaying seven Flemings there and stealing a cup, and 

 Thomas Clerke of Algate Street, butcher all pleaded the general pardon; 

 and John Norman of Hammersmith, John Smart and John Neue of 

 Lilleston, and John Brewer of Hoxton do not appear to have been caught 

 at all. 84 Thus it will be seen that Middlesex was no exception to the 



78 See Appendix I. " See ' Political History.' * Rot. Par/. (Rec. Com.), iii, 1 1 1. 



81 This hardly seems sufficient justification for Prof. Oman's statement (Peasants' Revolt, 91) that 

 ' inhabitants of almost every parish in Middlesex ' are to be found in the list of exclusions. 



63 P.R.O. Coram Rege R. East. 9 Ric. II, m. 2 (rex), m. 16 (rex) r. d.; Trin. 9-10 Ric. II, m. 8 

 (rex) ; Mich. 10 Ric. II, ms. 20 (rex), 23 (rex) d. and 25 (rex) ; Hil. 1 1 Ric. II, m. 7 (rex) ; Esch. 

 Acct. 5-6 Ric. II (John de Newinton). Bona et catalla proditorum. 



83 Reville, Soutevement des Travailleurs, pp. Ixxvi note 2 and 192 ; Esch. Accts. as above. 



84 P.R.O. Coram Rege R. Hil. 5 Ric. II, m. 9 (rex); Trin. 5 Ric. II, m. 34 (rex); Mich. 8 Ric. II, 

 m. 14 (rex) ; Trin. 6-7 Ric. II, m. 2 (rex); Mich. 6 Ric. II, m. 15 (rex) d. 



83 



