Ketts in History

                       

A.   Robert and William Kett

Wymondham background  

           

Wymondham is a historic market town nine miles south of Norwich in the County of Norfolk, England.  The town is recorded in the Domesday Book as "Wimundham" and was well established before Norman times. In 1615 many of the town's buildings were destroyed in a widespread fire and now the oldest remaining 15th century building is the Green Dragon Inn, seen in the first of the above pictures.   Wymondham's Market Cross, in the foreground of the second of the above pictures, was built in 1617 and now houses the town's Tourist Office.

There is evidence of the Kett family having settled in Wymondham around 1066 - the year William the Conqueror was crowned King of England.

It is believed the Ketts were of Danish extraction; one descendant claims the family can be traced back to Toka from Denmark in 970 AD.  

Wymondham Abbey

   Wymondham Abbey was founded as a Priory in 1107 by William D'Albini, Chief Butler to King Henry the First. The Abbey was both the parish church of the town and the home of a community of Benedictine Monks until 1538.   Richard Kett (1395 – 1476) was an Alderman of the Abbey’s Guild of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin. Thomas Kett (1460 - 1536), grandson of Richard, continued the family tradition of close association with, and support for, the Abbey and there still exists a receipted bill by the Brotherhood of our Lady’s Light for the burning of Candles at his Funeral Mass in the Abbey in 1536.  Thomas Kett and his wife Margery had five sons who survived to adulthood:  William, John Senior, John Junior, Robert and Thomas.  

Robert Kett (1492 – 1549), son of Thomas and Margery, was closely associated with Wymondham Abbey acting as a Server at Mass and sharing other Church duties with his brother William Kett (1485 - 1549) who had responsibility for certain Ornaments and the Candles in the Abbey.  Almost all of the published Kett family trees relate to the descendants of Robert's and William's brother Thomas Kett (1500 – 1553) but Robert and William earned their own place in English history, as did Thomas’s son Francis Kett (c.1547 - 1589) who died a religious Martyr, burned at the Stake in Norwich during the reign of Elizabeth The First (see section B below).

England in 1549
In 1549, the year of “Kett’s Norfolk Rebellion”, England 's King was the eleven-year-old Edward VI, for whom his uncle the Duke of Somerset acted as Regent.  England was at war with France and Scotland , taxation was heavy, and in the countryside there was great unrest among poor people whose livelihood was threatened by a growing practice among local landlords of fencing off what had been previously "common" land.   The resentment of the poor in the early part of 1549 was expressed mainly in rioting and destruction of the newly-erected hedges and fences.

Robert Kett
Robert Kett was a Tanner by trade, but by 1549 he was also one of the main landowners in Wymondham, a prominent and law-abiding citizen. Since 1519 he had been married to Alice Appleyard of Braconash and they had five sons.

William Kett, brother of Robert
William Kett was a Butcher and Grazier and had two shops in Wymondham as well as owning property there; like Robert he was a respected pillar of the community.  Research reveals only one son, Thomas who died in 1545 leaving William two grand-daughters, Cassandra and Elizabeth, then aged 14 and 11 years.

The Norfolk Rebellion
On 6 July 1549 , a large crowd gathered in Wymondham for the Annual Two-Day Fair. As well as being a time for festivity it was an opportunity for townspeople to discuss mutual concerns, and inevitably bitter feelings were expressed about recent land enclosures which prevented smallholders from grazing their animals on common land.

The fermenting discontent erupted on 7th July 1549 when an angry mob descended on the nearby village of Morley and pulled down fences erected there; then the protestors set off for the neighbouring village of Hethersett to pull down more fences, this time on the property of John Flowerdew, the local Crown Agent.   Flowerdew (a long-time adversary of Robert Kett) was quick to point out that Robert Kett also was guilty of encroachment on common land at Wymondham, and he offered 40 pence to the mob to go and pull down Kett's fences.   When the crowd reached Robert Kett’s property and he heard their complaints, his response was to agree that they had a just case, whereupon he joined them and helped to uproot his own fences, at the same time offering to lead them in a Norfolk-wide protest.  Later Robert Kett made a speech at his house indicating his readiness to be the leader of the peasantry, and that speech is recorded as follows:

“I am ready to do whatever not only to repress, but to subdue the power of great men, and I hope to bring it to pass ere long that as ye repent your painful labour, so shall these the great ones of their pride. Moreover, I promise that the hurt done unto the public weal and the common pasture by the importunate lords thereof shall be righted.

Whatever lands I have enclosed shall again be made common unto ye and all men, and my own hand shall first perform it. Never shall I be wanting where your good is concerned.  You shall have me if you will, not only as a companion, but as a captain, and in the doing of so great a work before us, not only as a fellow, but for a general standard bearer and chief.  Not only will I be present at your councils but, if you will have it so, henceforth I will preside at them.”     

   At Robert Kett's bidding, on 9th July 1549 a crowd assembled at an oak tree on the Common outside Wymondham.  The reputed oak tree, now 400+ years old and propped up with wooden and iron supports, sits on the side of the old road from Wymondham to Norwich and is identified by the sign:  "Kett's Oak 1549".   

Addressing the gathering at the oak tree on that July day in 1549, Robert Kett urged his listeners to join him on a march to Norwich declaring:

"I refuse not to sacrifice my substance, yea my very life itself, so highly do I esteem the cause in which we are engaged."

Among the many who responded to his call was Robert's strongest supporter and his right-hand man, his brother William Kett.   As word spread throughout the county of Norfolk , more supporters rallied to the cause and when Robert set up his Camp at Norwich it contained 10,000 - 15,000 followers.

The Six-Week Campaign
Robert Kett did not acknowledge that he was a rebel, naively believing that the King in London would sympathise with his desire to reform local government in Norfolk , and he wrote a petition to Edward VI seeking (unsuccessfully) the King’s support for his cause.  History acknowledges that Robert acted with restraint and moderation in the conduct of his Camp at Norwich , but the King's advisers condemned him as a rebel and a traitor, and ensured a few months later that he and his brother William paid the penalty of those days.

For six weeks from 9 July 1549 the name of Robert Kett dominated life in Norfolk .  Having led his march to Norwich he established a disciplined Camp at Mousehold Heath - high common land overlooking the city. The Mayor and City Council of Norwich offered no resistance and expressed willingness to debate with him his proposed programme of reform.  His forces held the city and defeated a Royal army sent to dislodge him on 1st August 1549 ; on 24 - 25 August 1549 Kett's followers severely mauled another Royal army larger than the first.  But defeat came finally at the Battle of Dussindale on 27 August 1549 when nearly 3,000 of Kett's men were killed.  Robert and his brother William were captured the next day and imprisoned in the Tower of London while awaiting trial.  On 29 November 1549 they were found guilty of treason and originally sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn Gallows in London , but subsequently it was decided to execute them in their own county, as a deterrent to other potential rebels.  On 7th December 1549 Robert was hanged at Norwich Castle and in the ensuing months his body rotted in a gibbet outside the Castle walls.  On the day Robert died, William was hanged from the West Tower of Wymondham Abbey. Their lands and properties were confiscated by the Crown. 

20th Century recognition of Robert Kett

   In 1949 at the entrance to Norwich Castle, Norwich City Council placed the above Robert Kett Commemorative Plaque " ...in reparation and honour to a notable and courageous leader in the long struggle of the common people of England to escape from a servile life into the freedom of just conditions."  

w       In 1988 the British Classical Composer, Sir Malcolm Arnold, produced his own tribute  -  “The Robert Kett Overture, Opus 141”.

w       In 1999 Wymondham held a week-long Festival marking the 450th anniversary of The Kett Rebellion.  

w       Wymondham Town Sign (carved by Harry Carter) has at the top of its front panel a carving representing Wymondham Abbey, beneath which is depicted Robert Kett in 1549 at Kett's Oak, rallying followers to his cause.

w       Wymondham's Robert Kett Junior School and the Robert Kett Inn are named for the town's most famous son.  

w       The Countryside Commission in Norfolk advertises a walking area between Wymondham and Norwich as "Kett's Country".   

   At the entrance to Norwich City Hall is a bronze carving depicting the hanging of Robert Kett in 1549.   

  B.   Francis Kett

Francis Kett, nephew of Robert and William and son of their brother Thomas, was born about 1547.  In 1563 he was admitted to Corpus Christi College , Cambridge , gaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1569 and a Master of Arts postgraduate degree in 1573.  He was a Fellow and Tutor of the College until his resignation in 1580.

Francis Kett shared the fate of many of his time who were martyred for their religious beliefs when, on 14 January 1589 , he was burned at the Stake in Norwich .

Extracts from Encyclopaedic references to Francis Kett:

(i)  “In 1589, Francis Kett was burned alive. His only crime was his insistence that the Jews would some day return to their land, an idea he claimed to have received from reading the Bible.”

(ii)  “ England : Between 1548 and 1612 we have a thin line of anti-Trinitarians, either executed or saved by recantation. Those burned were …… Francis Kett (1589), physician and author….”

(iii)  “MARLOWE, CHRISTOPHER (1564—1593) English dramatist and the father of English Tragedy, matriculated at Corpus Christi College, on the 17th of March 1571, taking his B.A. degree in 1584, and that of M.A. three or four years later.  Francis Kett, the Mystic, burnt in 1589 for heresy, was a Fellow and Tutor of his College, and may have had some share in developing Marlowe’s opinions in religious matters.”