Editing Kett's Rebellion (section)

==Events from 12 July 1549==
[[File:Woodward's Map of Norwich (1500).jpg|thumb|right|A map of 16th-century [[Norwich]], from [[Samuel Woodward]]'s ''The History and Antiquities of Norwich Castle'' (1847)]]

The truce between the city and the camp was ended on 21 July by a messenger from the King's Council, [[York Herald]] Bartholomew Butler, who arrived at Norwich from London, went with city officials to Mousehold, proclaimed the gathering a rebellion, and offered pardon. Kett rejected the offer, saying he had no need of a pardon because he had committed no treason. York Herald lacked the forces to arrest the rebels and retreated into Norwich with the Mayor. Kett and his followers were now officially rebels; the authorities therefore shut the city gates and set about preparing the city defences.{{sfn|Land|1977|pp=78{{ndash}}79}}

===Fall of Norwich===
On 22 July 1549, Kett proposed a truce but the offer was rejected by the city authorities and the rebels commenced an attack on Bishopsgate Bridge. They charged down from Mousehold and began swimming the Wensum between the [[Cow Tower, Norwich|Cow Tower]] and Bishopsgate. The city defenders fired volleys of arrows into the rebels as they crossed, but could not stop the attack and Norwich quickly fell to the rebels.<ref>Hoare 2002, 40</ref> The rebels captured guns and other military supplies and set up guards at strategic points. The York Herald offered a second pardon to the rebels. It was again rejected and the Herald left for London, leaving England's second largest city in the hands of a rebel army. There was no random violence. Civic leaders were taken to Mousehold and imprisoned in Surrey House. Mayor Codd was released and stayed in the rebel camp, while his deputy [[Augustine Steward]] remained in the city.<ref>Hoare 2002, 41</ref>

===Attacks on the rebels===
The King sent the [[William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton|Marquess of Northampton]] with about 1,400 men, including Italian mercenaries, to quell the rebellion. As he drew near to the city he sent forward his herald to demand the surrender of the city. Deputy Mayor Augustine Steward consulted Mayor Codd, who was still on Mousehold and then opened the city gates to Northampton's army, the rebels having withdrawn back to the safety of the high ground overlooking the city. Kett had already seen how difficult it was to defend miles of walls and gates and thought it more prudent to allow Northampton's small army to defend the city while he again laid siege to it.<ref>Hoare 2002, 44</ref>

On the night of 31 July, the Royal army made its defensive preparations and started patrolling the city's narrow streets. Around midnight alarms rang out, waking Northampton. It appeared hundreds of rebels were using the cover of darkness and their knowledge of the maze of small streets and alleys around Tombland to launch hit-and-run attacks on Royal troops. After three hours Northampton's men had driven off the rebels, who suffered heavy casualties.<ref>Hoare 2002, 45</ref> 

By 8 am the following morning, 1 August, the ramparts were strengthened between the Cow Tower and Bishopsgate, so [[Edmund Sheffield, 1st Baron Sheffield|Lord Sheffield]] retired to The Maid's Head inn for breakfast. A little after this, Northampton received information that the rebels wished to discuss surrender and were gathering around the Pockthorpe gate. Sheffield went with the Herald to discuss this apparent good turn of events with the rebels. On arrival, Sheffield found no rebels at all. It appears to have been either a false rumour or a diversion, as at that point thousands of rebels again began crossing the River Wensum around Bishopsgate.<ref>Hoare 2002, 45</ref>

Northampton's main force was in the market place. As the attack developed, he fed men through the streets into a growing and vicious street battle across the whole eastern area of the city. Seeing things going the rebels' way, Sheffield took command of a body of cavalry and charged the rebels across the cathedral precinct, past St Martin at Place Church and into Bishopsgate Street. Outside the Great Hospital in Bishopsgate Street, Sheffield fell from his horse into a ditch. Expecting then to be captured and ransomed, as was the custom, he removed his helmet, only to be killed by a blow from a rebel, reputedly a butcher named Fulke.<ref>Hoare 2002, 45-6</ref> With the loss of a senior commander and his army being broken up in street fighting, Northampton ordered a retreat.<ref>Hoare 2002, 46</ref>

[[Image:John Dudley (Knole, Kent).jpg|thumb|The [[John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland|Earl of Warwick]] led the force that defeated the rebels]]
The [[John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland|Earl of Warwick]] was then sent with a stronger army of around 14,000 men including mercenaries from Wales, Germany, and Spain. Warwick had previously fought in France, was a former member of the [[House of Commons of England|House of Commons]] and subsequently the [[Privy Council of England|Privy Council]], making him a strong leader. Despite the increased threat, the rebels were loyal to Kett throughout and continued to fight Warwick's men.<ref>Hoare 2002, 49</ref>

Northampton served as Warwick's second-in-command in the second attempt to deal with the rebel host, this time with a much larger force. Warwick managed to enter the city on 24 August by attacking the St Stephen's and Brazen gates. The rebels retreated through the city, setting fire to houses as they went in an attempt to slow the Royal army's advance. About 3 pm Warwick's baggage train entered the city. It managed to get lost and rather than halting in the market place it continued through Tombland and straight down Bishopsgate Street towards the rebel army. A group of rebels saw the train from Mousehold and ran down into the city to capture it. Captain Drury led his men in an attempt to recapture the train, which included all the artillery. He managed to salvage some of the guns in yet another fierce fight around Bishopsgate.<ref>Hoare 2002, 52-3</ref>

On 25 August the rebels commenced an artillery attack on the walls around the northern area of the city near the Magdalen and Pockthorpe gates. With the north of the city again in rebel hands, Warwick launched an attack. Bitter street fighting eventually cleared the city once again.<ref>Hoare 2002, 56-7</ref>

===Rebels' defeat at Dussindale ===
On 26 August, 1,400 foreign mercenaries arrived in the city. These were German "[[landsknecht]]s", a mix of handgunners and pikemen. With these reinforcements, Warwick now had a formidable army with which to face the rebels. Kett and his people were aware of this, and that night they left their camp at Mousehold for lower ground in preparation for battle.<ref>Hoare 2002, 57-8</ref> During the morning of 27 August, the armies faced each other outside the city. The final battle took place at ''Dussindale'', and was a disaster for the rebels. In the open, against well-armed and trained troops, they were routed and thousands were killed.<ref>Hoare 2002, 60-2</ref>

The location of Dussindale has not been established with certainty, but battlefield debris (musket balls and other lead shot—iron artefacts such as arrowheads having not readily survived{{sfn|Hodgkins|2015|loc=Introduction}}) have suggested Long Valley, Norwich, now a partly built-up area to the north-east of the city centre.{{sfn|Rodgers|2023|p=55}} An alternative location, further to the east, is suggested by Anne Carter of Norfolk Archaeology, who found in parish records references to "Dussings Dale" adjoining the [[Common land |common]] of the village of [[Great and Little Plumstead|Great Plumstead]] ({{Coord|52.63|1.37|display=inline}}).{{sfn|Carter|1984|p=59}}<ref>{{cite map
 |title       =Norfolk LXIV.14
 |year        = 1907
 |scale       =1:2500
 |publisher   =[[Ordnance Survey]]
}}</ref> A [[Map regression|map regression analysis]] published by the [[Council for British Archaeology]] supports Carter's proposition, but its conclusion placed the exact spot some 200 metres to the west.{{sfn|Hodgkins|2015|loc=Carter's Reconstruction}}