A HISTORY OF NORFOLK and swordsman of prowess. He travelled much, and it was no doubt during his wanderings in Italy that he conceived the idea of building a house in the Grecian style on the top of St. Leonard's Hill, on the site of St. Leonard's Priory, given to his father on the dissolution of the monasteries, but of which no remains now exist. This site commands the city, which is, as it were, at its feet, and it is noteworthy that Stow ^ attributed Howard's execution to his presumption in erecting two ' bastilions ' on the top of' Mount Surrey,' as the earl called his house, ' so as to overawe the city.' It is true that the excuse given for the execution was the bearing of the supposed arms of Edward the Confessor. However, whether it was the annoyance felt by Henry at the ignominy which attached to him by his match with Katherine Howard, whether it was the assumption of the Confessor's arms, or the planting of cannon against the city, the poet-earl was summarily convicted of treason and executed in January, 1547, his life being the last taken by the king, who was then near his end. Howard's father, the duke of Norfolk, just escaped death, and, though kept in ward during the reign of Edward VI, was restored to property and honours by Mary. The history of Norfolk during the reign of Edward VI is practically made up of the history of Kett's rebellion, the spoliation of the ornaments of the different churches, and, in the economic sphere, the growth of the worsted and woollen trades. The rebellion, however, is the only point which concerns us here. On several occasions in the foregoing pages attention has been drawn to the growing dissatisfaction and discontent of the lower classes, and especially of those concerned in agriculture. It has been seen how utterly lawless many of the nobles and squires were in their dealings with men of their own class, and it is easy to guess how entirely they would disregard the rights of those who were their tenants, and especially of such of them as were not ' free ' in blood. The growth of the wool industry had greatly increased the value of pasturage, and many a common which had afforded food for the hogs and the geese of the manor-tenants was arbitrarily enclosed by the lords under the general doctrine that provided he left ' enough ' for the commoners he could enclose the rest. The extent which constituted a sufficiency as viewed from opposite standpoints furnished, of course, the crux of -the whole situation. For ten years before the great rising there had been ominous signs of disturbance. One John Walker" of Griston in 1540 was going about repeating the tactics of Litester's rebellion, and saying that — if three or four good fellows would ride in the night and cry in every town they passed through 'To SwafFham ! To SwafFham ! ' that by morning there would be 10,000 assembled at least and that it would be a good thing if there were only as many gentlemen in Norfolk as there were white bulls. Mutterings and rhymes passed from mouth to mouth. One ran : — The county gnofFes Hob, Dick, and Hick, With club and clooted shoon Shall fill the vale of Dussin's dale With slaughtered bodies soon. ' Two artificial mounds certainly exist to this day. They were probably formed on sloping spurs of the old hill. ' F. W. Russell, Keth Rebellion in Norf. 8. 494
