Editing Peasants' Revolt (section)

====Eastern England====
[[File:Abbeygate In Bury St Edmunds.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Photograph|The Abbey Gate of [[Bury St Edmunds Abbey]], stormed by the rebels on 13 June]]
While the revolt was unfolding in London, John Wrawe led his force into Suffolk.<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=122}}</ref> Wrawe had considerable influence over the development of the revolt across eastern England, where there may have been almost as many rebels as in the London revolt.<ref>{{harvnb|Powell|1896|pp=41, 60–61}}</ref> The authorities put up very little resistance to the revolt: the major nobles failed to organise defences, key fortifications fell easily to the rebels and the local militias were not mobilised.<ref>{{harvnb|Powell|1896|pp=57–58}}</ref> As in London and the south-east, this was in part due to the absence of key military leaders and the nature of English law, but any locally recruited men might also have proved unreliable in the face of a popular uprising.<ref>{{harvnb|Powell|1896|p=58}}; {{harvnb|Tuck|1987|pp=197–198}}</ref>

On 12 June, Wrawe attacked Sir Richard Lyons' property at Overhall, advancing on to [[Cavendish, Suffolk|Cavendish]] and [[Bury St Edmunds]] in west Suffolk the next day, gathering further support as they went.<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|pp=122–123}}</ref> John Cambridge, the Prior of the wealthy [[Bury St Edmunds Abbey]], was disliked in the town, and Wrawe allied himself with the townspeople and stormed the abbey.<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|pp=123–124}}</ref> The Prior escaped, but was found two days later and beheaded.<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=124}}; {{harvnb|Powell|1896|p=19}}</ref> A small band of rebels marched north to [[Thetford]] to extort [[protection money]] from the town, and another group tracked down Sir [[John Cavendish]], the [[Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales|Chief Justice of the King's Bench]] and [[Chancellor (education)|Chancellor]] of the [[University of Cambridge]].<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=124}}; {{harvnb|Powell|1896|p=12}}</ref> Cavendish was caught in [[Lakenheath]] and killed.<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|pp=124–125}}</ref> John Battisford and Thomas Sampson independently led a revolt near [[Ipswich]] on 14 June.<ref name=Dunn2002P126>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=126}}</ref> They took the town without opposition and looted the properties of the [[archdeacon]] and local tax officials.<ref name=Dunn2002P126/> The violence spread out further, with attacks on many properties and the burning of the local court records.<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=126}}; {{harvnb|Powell|1896|p=24}}.</ref> One official, Edmund Lakenheath, was forced to flee from the Suffolk coast by boat.<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=126}}; {{harvnb|Powell|1896|p=21}}</ref>

Revolt began to stir in [[St Albans]] in [[Hertfordshire]] late on 13 June, when news broke of the events in London.<ref name=Dunn2002P113>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=113}}</ref> There had been long-running disagreements in St Albans between the town and the local [[St Albans Abbey|abbey]], which had extensive privileges in the region.<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|pp=112–113}}</ref> On 14 June, protesters met with the Abbot, Thomas de la Mare, and demanded their freedom from the abbey.<ref name=Dunn2002P113/> A group of townsmen under the leadership of [[William Grindecobbe]] travelled to London, where they appealed to the King for the rights of the abbey to be abolished.<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=114}}</ref> Wat Tyler, then still in control of the city, granted them authority in the meantime to take direct action against the abbey.<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|pp=114–115}}</ref> Grindecobbe and the rebels returned to St Albans, where they found the Prior had already fled.<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=115}}</ref> The rebels broke open the abbey prison, destroyed the fences marking out the abbey lands and burnt the abbey records in the town square.<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|pp=115–117}}</ref> They then forced Thomas de la Mare to surrender the abbey's rights in a charter on 16 June.<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|pp=117–118}}</ref> The revolt against the abbey spread out over the next few days, with abbey property and financial records being destroyed across the county.<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=119}}</ref>

[[File:Back of the Old Court, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Photograph|[[Corpus Christi College, Cambridge|Corpus Christi College]]'s Old Court, attacked by the rebels on 15 June]]
On 15 June, a revolt broke out in [[Cambridgeshire]], led by elements of Wrawe's Suffolk rebellion and some local men, such as John Greyston, who had been involved in the events in London and had returned to his home county to spread the revolt, and Geoffrey Cobbe and John Hanchach, members of the local gentry.<ref name=Dunn2002P127>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=127}}</ref> The University of Cambridge, staffed by priests and enjoying special royal privileges, was widely hated by the other inhabitants of the town.<ref name=Dunn2002P127/> A revolt backed by the Mayor of Cambridge broke out with the university as its main target.<ref name=Dunn2002P127/> The rebels ransacked [[Corpus Christi College, Cambridge|Corpus Christi College]], which had connections to John of Gaunt, and the [[Church of St Mary the Great, Cambridge|University's church]], and attempted to execute the university [[bedel]], who escaped.<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=128}}</ref> The university's library and archives were burnt in the centre of the town, with one Margery Starre leading the mob in a dance to the rallying cry ''[["Away with the learning of clerks, away with it!"]]'' while the documents burned.<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|pp=128–129}}</ref> The next day, the university was forced to negotiate a new charter, giving up its royal privileges.<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=129}}</ref> Unrest then spread north from Cambridge toward [[Ely, Cambridgeshire|Ely]], where the prison was opened and the local Justice of the Peace executed.<ref>{{harvnb|Powell|1896|pp=45–49}}</ref>

In Norfolk, the revolt was led by Geoffrey Litster, a weaver, and Sir Roger Bacon, a local lord with ties to the Suffolk rebels.<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=130}}; {{harvnb|Powell|1896|p=26}}</ref> Litster began sending out messengers across the county in a call to arms on 14 June, and isolated outbreaks of violence occurred.<ref>{{harvnb|Powell|1896|pp=27–28}}</ref> The rebels assembled on 17 June outside [[Norwich]] and killed Sir Robert Salle, who was in charge of the city defences and had attempted to negotiate a settlement.<ref name=Dunn2002Powell1896P29>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=130}}; {{harvnb|Powell|1896|p=29}}</ref> The people of the town then opened the gates to let the rebels in.<ref name=Dunn2002Powell1896P29/> They began looting buildings and killed Reginald Eccles, a local official.<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|pp=130–131}}</ref> [[William de Ufford, 2nd Earl of Suffolk|William de Ufford]], the [[Earl of Suffolk]] fled his estates and travelled in disguise to London.<ref name=Dunn2002P131>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=131}}</ref> The other leading members of the local gentry were captured and forced to play out the roles of a royal household, working for Litster.<ref name=Dunn2002P131/> Violence spread out across the county, as prisons were opened, Flemish immigrants killed, court records burned, and property looted and destroyed.<ref>{{harvnb|Powell|1896|pp=31–36}}</ref>