Somerset
on Trial:
Personality and Politics
Somerset
on Trial:
Foreign Policy
Somerset
on Trial:
Economy and Finance
Somerset
on Trial:
Religion
Somerset
on Trial:
The uprisings of 1549
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Somerset
on Trial
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Ye
Prosecution, led by ye Duke of Northumberland:
You really didn't
handle all those rebellions well, did you?
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Ye
Defence, speaking for himself:
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Considering I
was so stretched at the time, I think I handled them very well indeed.
After all, I not only had Scotland and France to think about, and deploy
troops to, but to decide which particular of the many rebellions was the
most serious. It was a real summer of discontent, that one. |
| If you hadn't
got yourself such a reputation as a man of the people, they wouldn't have
let their discontent show and risen up. |
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For goodness'
sake. I can't help what the commons think about me. And anyone in power
must deal with enclosures, tax and religion. They are important issues.
That's why people get so vexed by them. Besides, I left others to deal
with those matters. I had a more important one to occupy me. |
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You mean the war. Yes,
well, you thought too much about the war. If you hadn't summoned the
leading county gentry to Windsor in July to talk France, they could have
restored order to the countryside.
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The war was a
pressing matter. And the gentry are our captains. What was I supposed to
do? |
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You could have
supported the nobles and gentlemen whom you did send to squash the
rebellion, like Lord Russell. Or me, for that matter.
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Hmph. If some
of them, namely the Marquis of Northampton, hadn't been so incompetent, I
wouldn't have had to send extra support. |
| If you'd been
more decisive, they would have known early on what to do. |
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I won't ask
you what you'd have done in my place. I know. You told me on your return
from Norwich. |