The Full Story
For centuries, English villagers had used common land to graze animals, gather wood, forage for food. Then the landlords started enclosing it. Fences went up. Commons became private property. The poor had nowhere to go.
In July 1549, Robert Kett, a Norfolk landowner, led a rebellion. Not against enclosure in principle. Kett himself had enclosed land. But against unjust enclosure, against the arrogance of the gentry, against a system that was destroying rural communities.
16,000 rebels gathered at Mousehold Heath outside Norwich. They captured England's second-largest city. For six weeks, they governed themselves, holding courts, hearing grievances, issuing proclamations.
Their demands were remarkably specific: landlords should not enclose commons, rents should be fair, clergy should be educated and resident, the law should apply equally to rich and poor.
The Earl of Warwick crushed the rebellion with German mercenaries. Kett was hanged from Norwich Castle. Hundreds of rebels were killed.
But enclosure remained controversial for centuries. Kett's rebellion showed that ordinary people would fight for their traditional rights, even against hopeless odds.
Why This Matters
Kett's Rebellion was a protest against enclosure, the privatisation of common land that dispossessed millions over the following centuries. The rebels lost, but they articulated grievances that remained unresolved for generations.