Rural Discontent II: The Oak of Reformation

Enclosure, Kett's Rebellion, and Liberatory Acorns

This is the first in a mini-series on liberatory agrarian movements throughout history, for my supporting subscribers. Read on for a preview, and become a supporting reader if you’re intrigued. -BB

On the side of the roadway that runs from Wymondham and Hethersett in Norfolk, England there is an ancient and time-battered pedunculate oak (Quercus robur), known as Kett’s Oak. In recent years, attempts have been made to further prolong its life: cement has been poured into a deep split, the trunk bound in iron bands, the top of the deep crevice shingled with tarred felt. As best as we know, this is one of two grand oak trees featured in the story of Kett’s Rebellion; the other tree, cut from the landscape altogether, is the Oak of Reformation, beneath which Robert Kett addressed a group of revolting peasants. The surviving tree is noted for having been the hanging post for several of these men. Kett himself would be hung five short months after the rebellion kicked off, from Norwich Castle, and his brother William from Wymondham Abbey. But not before taking England’s second largest city in pursuit of common land access for the agrarian peasantry of the day.

In the 1540’s, England’s system of agriculture was in crisis. Enclosure, that is, the fencing and privatization of the commons by landowners, threatened the survival and well-being of the peasantry

(My earlier almanac entry on enclosure and the commons is linked at the end– it may be a useful read for the unfamiliar). Commoners had no place to graze their livestock, and increasingly, tenant farmers were kicked off their land so that landowners could engross their holdings, that is, develop monopolies, largely due to the high demand for wool. The lack of land access, combined with inflation, unemployment, and rising rent gave way to hardship, and then grievance. Civil unrest and peasant rebellions became commonplace.