CHAPTER XIII.— THE REBELLIONS OF THE POOR COMMONS
"The English labourer, then, in the sixteenth century, was almost simultaneously assailed on two sides. The money which he received for his wages was debased and the assistance which his benefit society gave him in times of difficulty, which allowed him loans without interest, apprenticed his son, or pensioned his widow, was confiscated. All the necessaries of life rose … in the proportion generally of 1 to 2, while the wages of labour rose to little more than from 1 to 1. His ordinary means of life were curtailed. … He lost his insurance also, the fund destined to support him and his during the period of youth and age, when work is not open … or has become impossible."—Rogers, "Six Centuries of Work and Wages."
THE people rebelled. As early as the autumn of 1547 isolated disturbances began—bands of people pulled down fences. The first were "about Northall and Cheshunt." Perhaps, being so near London, they influenced the savage "Bill for Vagabonds and Slaves" (so it is called on the Commons Journals), Doubtless, enclosers would have been glad enough to hang all the vagabonds they had made ! In the spring of 1548 small sporadic risings broke out in other places, till it was clear that something must be done. The little band known as Commonwealth's Men—to which Latimer, Lever, and the elder Hales belonged—were protesting on behalf of "the poor Commons." Somerset, whatever we may think of the rest of his conduct, was now the champion of the people. He was moved, by the "Supplications " addressed to him in the name of the commons, to appoint a Commission of Inquiry into Enclosures, and to issue his proclamation of 1st June 1548. It is a terrible document. It speaks of the "insatiable greediness" by which land that was heretofore tilled and occupied with so many men is now in one or two men's hands, "so that the realm is brought to a miraculous desolation, houses decayed, parishes diminished, the force of the realm weakened," and Christian people driven from their houses by sheep and bullocks. But the Commission only went into some of the home counties, and not many on it, besides Hales himself, were in earnest to
