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Harry Isley and his son and the two Knyvetts,77 were
defeated, and sixty prisoners were taken.
Sir Thomas Cheyney with Sir Thomas Moyle and other gentlemen of East
Kent, after sending the queen’s proclamation to Canterbury, Dover, and
other towns along the coast, arranged to meet Lord Abergavenny and Sir
Robert Southwell at Dartford on 7 February. By that time the failure of
the Kentishmen in London was complete, and many prisoners had been sent
to the Tower, most of whom were afterwards executed.78 On the
17th several captains and twenty-two of the common rebels
were taken into Kent to suffer there.79 In spite of numerous
petitions, the queen caused ‘five score of the most guilty to be put
to death,’ though ‘she granted a general pardon to a multitude of
people in Kent.’ Wyatt was not executed until 11 April, and in the
meantime Sir John Browne and others ‘laboured to make him confess
concerning the Lady Elizabeth and her servant Sir William St. Loo’;
but he remained staunch and their efforts were fruitless.80
The county suffered heavily throughout the reign in the matter of
executions for religion, and the noblemen and gentlemen of Kent
frequently had the disagreeable duty imposed on them of assisting the
sheriff when ‘persones condempned for heresie were appointed to
suffer.’81 In 1555 there were disturbances in Kent and
the May games were prohibited,82 while the mayor of
Canterbury was thanked for his diligence in apprehending the players and
committing them to ward.83 ‘Seditious words’ were again the not
unnatural consequence.84
A more congenial occupation was found in the last year of Mary’s
reign, when a thousand men were levied in Kent to co-operate with King
Philip for the recovery of Calais and the relief of Guisnes.85
Sir Thomas
Cheyne’s offer to go over and join the king was accepted. In a letter
dated from Dover Castle 23 January he describes the hurry of preparation
in the county, and complains of the lack of arms and ammunition and of
the difficulty of clothing the forces.86
The change signified by the accession of Elizabeth was signalized in
Kent by the appointment as sheriff, 23 November 1558, of Thomas
Wotton, who had been imprisoned for religion under Mary. Next summer the
queen made a progress through the county and was entertained by Lord
Cobham at Cobham Hall on 17 July.87 In this year the stigma
which may be said to have attached itself to the county since Wyatt’s
rebellion was removed by the restoration to Maidstone of the
privileges (including that of sending members to parliament) which had
been confiscated in consequence of its share in the insurrection. In the
parliament of 1562-3, two members each were returned by the county, by
Canterbury, Rochester, and the borough of Maidstone.88
77 Cal. S.F. Dom. 1547-8o, p. 58. ‘Three of the Cobhams’
were taken prisoner, with Wyatt, Brett, Knevett, Rudstone, Isley, and
other chief captains. Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. X, pt. iv, 449
78 On 10 February Sir Robert Southwell wrote to the Council of the arrest
and committal of various prisoners, some to Allington Castle, some to
Maidstone Gaol. He proposed to occupy Allington Castle, Wyatt’s
residence, himself. Cal. S.P. Dom. 1547-80, p. 60.
79 Machyn, Diary,
80 Cal. S.P. Dom. 1547-80, p. 61.
81 Acts P.C. v,
154.
82 Ibid. 151.
83 Ibid. vi, 110.
84 Cal. S.P. Dom. 1547-80, p. 98.
85 Ibid.
86 Ibid. The Kentishmen seem to have worn a white uniform, as the queen
writes wishing that the ’white coats for the Kentish soldiery had been
ready.’
87 On 4 September 1573 she again honoured Cobham with a visit, although in
the previous year he had been temporarily confined in the Tower on
suspicion of complicity in the plot for marrying Mary Stuart to the Duke
of Norfolk. In this progress of 1573 Thomas Wotton also entertained her
at Boughton Malherbe.
88 Return of Members of Parlt. (Rec.
Com.). It had first returned
members in the parliament of 1552-3. Ibid. |