ave enclosed shall again be made common unto
ye and all men, and my own hands shall first perform it. You shall have me,
if you will, not only as a companion, but as a captain; and in the doing of
the so great a work before us, not only as a fellow, but for a leader,
author, and principal."

Ket's leadership was at once acclaimed with enthusiasm by the thousand men
who formed the rebel band at the beginning of the rising. The news spread
quickly that Ket was leading an army to Norwich, and on July 10th, when a
camp was made at Eaton Wood, every hour brought fresh recruits. It is clear
from Ket's speeches, and from "The Rebels' Complaint," issued by him at
this time, that the aim of the leaders of the Norfolk Rising was not merely
to stop the enclosures, but to end the ascendancy of the landlord class for
all time, and to set up a social democracy.

Ket's address at Eaton Wood was revolutionary:

"Now are ye overtopped and trodden down by gentlemen, and put out of
possibility ever to recover foot. Rivers of riches run into the coffers of
your landlords, while you are par'd to the quick, and fed upon pease and
oats like beasts. You are fleeced by these landlords for their private
benefit, and as well kept under by the public burdens of State, wherein
while the richer sort favour themselves, ye are gnawn to the very bones.
Your tyrannous masters often implead, arrest, and cast you into prison, so
that they may the more terrify and torture you in your minds, and wind your
necks more surely under their arms.... Harmless counsels are fit for tame
fools; for you who have already stirred, there is no hope but in
adventuring boldly."

"The Rebels' Complaint" is equally definite and outspoken. It rehearsed the
wrongs of a landless peasantry, and called on the people to end these
wrongs by open rebellion. The note of social equality is struck by Ket
throughout the rising.

"The present condition of possessing land seemeth miserable and
slavish--holding it all at the pleasure of great men; not freely, but by
prescription, and, as it were, at the will and pleasure of the lord. For as
soon as any man offend any of these gorgeous gentlemen, he is put out,
deprived, and thrust from all his goods.

"The common pastures left by our predecessors for our relief and our
children are taken away.

"The lands which in the memory of our fathers were common, those are
ditched and hedged in and made several; the pastures are enclosed, and