Jack Cade

Jack Cade d. 1450, English rebel. Of his life very little is known. He may have been of Irish birth; some of his followers called him John Mortimer and claimed he was a cousin of Richard, duke of York. In 1450 he appeared as the leader of a well-organized uprising in the S of England, principally in Kent, usually known as Jack Cade's Rebellion. The protests were mainly political, not social, although the 14th-century Statute of Labourers (which attempted to freeze wages and prices) was among the grievances. Others were the loss of royal lands in France, the extravagance of the court, the corruption of the royal favorites, and the breakdown of the administration of justice. The rebels defeated the royal army at Sevenoaks, entered London, executed Lord Saye and Sele (who was blamed for the losses in France), and sacked several houses. The government then offered pardon to Cade's men and so dispersed them. Cade himself was mortally wounded while resisting arrest.

Bibliography: See E. N. Simons, Lord of London (1963).

Jack Cade, the Captain of the Commons, romantic tragedy in blank verse by R. T. Conrad, produced in 1835. It was rewritten as Aylmere; or, The Bondman of Kent for Edwin Forrest (1852) and was published in both versions. The story is concerned with the Kentish rebellion of 1450, interpreted from a social and economic point of view, and takes liberties with history in the depiction of Jack Cade, or Aylmere, and his friends and enemies.

Cade, Jack (d. 1450). Leader of Kentish rebellion. Cade's identity remains a mystery. Military experience is suggested by his capacity to organize, lead, and attempt to discipline thousands of men from Kent who began to rise late in May 1450. Cade harnessed a spontaneous movement of protest against the incompetence of Henry VI's government which could not prevent the rebels entering London on 3, July. Here Cade's control of his followers crumbled, and the rebels were persuaded to disperse. Although himself pardoned, Cade remained belligerent and was fatally wounded resisting arrest on 12 July.