It is the summer of 1549 and rebellion is in the air. The catalyst: publication of the first Book of Common Prayer, and the requirement that church services must now be delivered in English. Men and women of Devon and Cornwall rise up to defend their Catholic faith, resulting in a summer of revolt and bloodshed, and the loss of around 4,000 lives. Exeter is besieged for five long weeks, the city walls straining against the efforts of the rebel armies. Lord Russell is charged by the young Edward VI’s regency council to put down the revolt, which he does, crushing the protesters in a series of battles, before rounding up their leaders to await their bloody punishments.

And how do we know about this series of tumultuous events? On a local level, the testimony of John Hooker is the key source for historians of the Western Rising, also known as the Prayer Book Rebellion. During the Siege of Exeter, he was living within the city, and subsequently wrote down his eye witness account of what happened. In his new book ‘A murderous midsummer’, historian Mark Stoyle calls him ‘the first and most important chronicler’ of the disturbances, although he warns that his ‘accounts also contain biases and distortions’.

‘I JOHN HOOKER, the Writer hereof, was present’

Hooker was born in around 1527 to a prominent Exonian family. He was an antiquarian and civic administrator, and went on to hold a number of important civic posts in the city. The summer of 1549 evidently occupied his mind for some time, as he wrote a number of different accounts, some of which survive in manuscript form today. One such account was published in 1587, within his lifetime, in Holinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland. He worked this account into a manuscript entitled ‘The Description of the Cittie of Excester’. It was from this version that Exeter printer Andrew Brice published the first part of ‘The antique description and account of the city of Exeter’ in 1765, and it is a copy of this book that is held by the Devon and Exeter Institution library today. It is divided into three parts, the first being a history of the city, the second a study of the Cathedral, and the third outlining the roles of the city’s civic administrators. This publication was funded by a long list of subscribers, suggesting significant interest in its content.

 ‘they came, being in Number about Two Thousand Persons, to the City, upon the second of July, 1549, first making Proclamation, that if the City would not yield, and join with them, they would enter with Force and take the Spoil of it.’

Hooker’s account of the Western Rising is rich in detail of the fighting, and builds a vivid picture of the violence and hardships of the Siege of Exeter. He also gives a very interesting insight into the divided beliefs held by the inhabitants of the city. He himself was a fervent Protestant, opposing many of the views held by the rebels. He criticised those who ‘would rather wallow in the old Dregs and Puddles of old Superstition, than to be fed and refreshed with the wholesome and heavenly Manna’. Nevertheless, a number of people who lived in Exeter did hold Catholic beliefs and sympathised with the rebel’s cause. Hooker reported that the rebels held a number of secret conferences with those living inside the city walls. In some cases these divisions bubbled over into real violence. In one incident, ‘the Mayor upon an Occasion assembled all the Commoners unto the Guildhall’. One Catholic, named Richard Taylor, a clothier, aimed a shot with his bow and arrow but missed, and ‘he struck his own and best Friend, JOHN PETER’ who then died.

He also tells of how the rebels planned to set fire to the Westgate of the city of Exeter, digging a tunnel under it which they then filled with a number of flammable items. They were foiled in their plans by some of the city’s residents, who filled the tunnel with water. They also blocked the city’s water supply, although Hooker remarked that thankfully Exeter had a plentiful supply of springs. Other methods were more damaging, and a number of houses in the suburbs were burnt.

Exeter’s inhabitants suffered not only from the violence of the siege, but also from being cut off from supplies, leading to famine. The rebels’ blockade meant that ‘no Man could pass to or from the City without their Sufferance’. ‘Bakers and Householders were driven to seek up their old store of Puffins and Bran, wherewith they in Times past were wont to make Horse-Bread, and to feed their swine and poultry’. When the rebels were defeated, and ‘Corn, Cattle and Victuals’ could be brought into the city, Hooker described how this was ‘to the great Relief and Comfort of the People therein’.

In his description of the aftermath, Hooker’s account of the execution of the vicar of St. Thomas is particularly striking. He evidently admired the man, named Robert Welsh, calling him ‘a very good Wrestler’ who ‘shot well both in the Long Bow and also in the Cross bow’, and who ‘was a Companion in any Exercises of Activity, and of a courteous and gentle Behaviour’. As punishment for his part in the rebellion, a pair of gallows were set up at top of the tower of the church of St. Thomas. When ‘the Stage perfected for this Tragedy, the Vicar was brought to the Place, and, by a Rope about his Middle, drawn up to the Top of the Tower, and there in Chains hanged in his Popish Apparel’.

When you next look up at the church tower in St. Thomas, or admire Exeter’s city walls as you sit peacefully drinking a coffee, you can think of the uprising of 475 years ago, and of the rebels who trod the same ground as you tread. You can also thank John Hooker, for telling us all about it.

Sonia Llewellyn, Librarian

 

The following books are available to view in the Devon and Exeter Institution library:

John Hooker, The antique description and account of the City of Exeter : in three parts, (1765). Classmark S. W. Cupboard 1765 HOO

Mark Stoyle, A murderous midsummer : the Western Rising of 1549, (Yale University Press, 2022). Classmark AB1 06.5 STO

Raphael Holinshed, Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland. In six volumes, (J. Johnson, 1807-1808). Classmark B 20.7-12