Editing Enclosure (section)

==={{anchor|ENCLOSURE_RIOT}}Enclosure riots===
After the Black Death, during the 14th to 17th centuries, landowners started to convert arable land over to sheep, with legal support from the [[Statute of Merton]] of 1235. Villages were depopulated. The peasantry responded with a series of revolts. In the 1381 [[Peasants' Revolt]], enclosure was one of the side issues. However, in [[Jack Cade's rebellion]] of 1450 land rights were a prominent demand and by the time of [[Kett's Rebellion]] of 1549 enclosure was a main issue, as it was in the [[Midland revolt|Captain Pouch]] revolts of 1604-1607 when the terms "[[Levellers|leveller]]" and "[[Diggers|digger]]" appeared, referring to those who levelled the ditches and fences erected by enclosers.{{sfn|Fairlie|2009|pages=16–31}}

[[D. C. Coleman]] writes that "many troubles arose over the loss of common rights" with resentment and hardship coming from various channels including the "loss of ancient rights in the woodlands to cut underwood, to run pigs".{{sfn|Coleman|1977|page=40}}

The protests against enclosure were not just confined to the countryside. Enclosure riots also occurred in towns and cities across England in the late 15th and early 16th century. The urban unrest was distributed across the whole of the country from York in the north, to Southampton in the south and Gloucester in the west, to Colchester in the east.{{sfn|Liddy|2015|pages=41–77}} The urban rioters were not necessarily agricultural workers but consisted of artisanal workers such as butchers, shoemakers,
plumbers, clothmakers, millers, weavers, glovers, shearmen, barbers, cappers, tanners and glaziers.{{sfn|Liddy|2015|pages=41–77}}

====Midland Revolt====
{{further|Midland Revolt}}
In May and June 1607 the villages of Cotesbach (Leicestershire); Ladbroke, Hillmorton and Chilvers Coton (Warwickshire); and [[Haselbech]], Rushton and Pytchley (Northamptonshire) saw protests against enclosures and depopulation.{{sfn|Hindle|2008|pages=21–61}} The rioting that took place became known as the [[Midland Revolt]] and drew considerable popular support from the local people.{{efn|name=leic|The people involved in the protest were not just the dispossessed tenants of depopulated Midland villages but also included urban-dwellers struggling to make ends meet in the towns, especially Leicester and Kettering.{{sfn|Hindle|2008|pages=21–61}}}} It was led by John Reynolds, otherwise known as 'Captain Pouch' who was thought to be an itinerant pedlar or tinker, by trade, and said to have originated from [[Desborough]], Northamptonshire.{{sfn|Hindle|2008|pages=21–61}} He told the protesters he had authority from the King and the Lord of Heaven to destroy enclosures and promised to protect protesters by the contents of his pouch, carried by his side, which he said would keep them from all harm (after he was captured, his pouch was opened; all that was in it was a piece of [[mouldy cheese]]). A curfew was imposed in the city of Leicester, as it was feared citizens would stream out of the city to join the riots.{{efn|name=leic}} A [[gibbet]] was erected in [[Leicester]] as a warning, and was pulled down by the citizens.{{sfn|Hindle|2008|pages=21–61}}{{sfn|Wood|2001|pages=118–119}}

====Newton Rebellion: 8&nbsp;June 1607====
{{see also|Midland Revolt}}
The [[Midland Revolt#Newton Rebellion|Newton Rebellion]] was one of the last times that the non-mining commoners of England and the gentry were in open, armed conflict.{{sfn|Monbiot|1995}} Things had come to a head in early June. [[James I of England|James&nbsp;I]] issued a proclamation and ordered his deputy lieutenants in Northamptonshire to put down the riots.{{sfn|Martin|1986|pages=166–167}} It is recorded that women and children were part of the protest. Over a thousand had gathered at [[Newton, Northamptonshire|Newton]], near Kettering, pulling down hedges and filling ditches, to protest against the enclosures of Thomas Tresham.{{sfn|Monbiot|1995}}

The Treshams were unpopular for their voracious enclosing of land – the family at Newton and their better-known Roman Catholic cousins at nearby [[Rushton, Northamptonshire|Rushton]], the family of [[Francis Tresham]], who had been involved two years earlier in the [[Gunpowder Plot]] and had by announcement died in London's [[The Tower of London|Tower]]. Sir Thomas Tresham of Rushton was vilified as 'the most odious man' in [[Northamptonshire]]. The old Roman Catholic gentry family of the Treshams had long argued with the emerging Puritan gentry family, the Montagus of [[Boughton House|Boughton]], about territory. Now Tresham of Newton was enclosing common land – The Brand Common – that had been part of Rockingham Forest.{{sfn|Monbiot|1995}}

[[File:Newton rebellion stone (geograph 4105909).jpg|thumb|right| Memorial stone commemorating those killed in the Newton Rebellion at the former church of St Faith.]]
Edward Montagu, one of the deputy lieutenants, had stood up against enclosure in Parliament some years earlier, but was now placed by the king in the position effectively of defending the Treshams. The local armed bands and militia refused the call-up, so the landowners were forced to use their own servants to suppress the rioters on 8&nbsp;June 1607. The royal proclamation of King James was read twice. The rioters continued in their actions, although at the second reading some ran away. The gentry and their forces charged. A pitched battle ensued in which 40–50&nbsp;people were killed; the ringleaders were hanged and quartered.{{sfn|Hickel|2018|pp=76–82}} A much-later memorial stone to those killed stands at the former church of St Faith, [[Newton, Northamptonshire]].{{sfn|Monbiot|1995}}
{{blockquote|NEWTON REBELLION<br/>
8th June 1607<br/>
This stone commemorates the<br/>
Newton Rebellion of 8th June 1607<br/>
During this uprising<br/>
over 40 Northamptonshire villagers<br/>
are recorded to have been slain<br/>
whilst protesting against the enclosure of common<br/>
land by local landowners<br/><br/>
May their souls rest in peace.<br/>
<small>(''Inscription on memorial stone at St Faiths'.)''</small>
|source={{harvnb|Calder|2009}}}}

The Tresham family declined soon after 1607. The Montagu family went on through marriage to become the [[Duke of Buccleuch|Dukes of Buccleuch]], enlarging the wealth of the senior branch substantially.{{sfn|Monbiot|1995}}

====Western Rising 1630–32 and forest enclosure====
{{main|Western Rising and disafforestation riots}}
Although [[royal forests]] were not technically commons, they were used as such from at least the 1500s onwards. By the 1600s, when Stuart kings examined their estates to find new revenues, it had become necessary to offer compensation to at least some of those using the lands as commons when the forests were divided and enclosed. The majority of the disafforestation took place between 1629 and 1640, during [[Charles I of England]]'s [[Personal Rule]]. Most of the beneficiaries were royal courtiers, who paid large sums to enclose and sublet the forests. Those dispossessed of the commons, especially recent cottagers and those who were outside of tenanted lands belonging to manors, were granted little or no compensation, and [[Western Rising and disafforestation riots|rioted in response]].{{sfn|Sharp|1980|p=57}}