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Although the Hundred Years War had not
directly affected the people of England, they had all been paying for it. Obviously it affected them in some way, like men went off to fight, but no fighting
happened in England. All the ordinary people could see, and hear, was that they had to pay more taxes and in return, Mr Wonderful Henry VI, had just lost Normandy.
At this point he hadn’t lost everything but it clearly wasn’t going well. Paying so that the King could lose part of his kingdom didn’t impress the peasants.
A guy called Jack Cade led an army of ordinary folk from Kent and Sussex to London in order to force changes. Nothing is really known about Mr Cade so
I’m afraid I can’t tell you anything about him. He was certainly of the peasant class but he lacked real leadership skills.
When the rebels got to London they entered the city but then started looting and stealing. The citizens of London then turned on the rebels and a
battle was fought on London Bridge. The rebels were defeated but in order to try to stop any further bloodshed, Henry decided to pardon all the rebels and they were told to go home. This most of them did.
Jack Cade fled but was caught and in a small battle was killed.
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