13/06/2021 Evil May Day - Wikipedia

Evil May Day

Evil May Day or Ill May Day is the name of a riot which took place in 1517 as a protest against
foreigners living in London. Apprentices attacked foreign residents. Some of the rioters were later
hanged[1] although King Henry VIII granted a pardon for the remainder following public pleadings
from his wife, Catherine of Aragon.[2]

Contents
Causes
The riot
The aftermath
Notes
External links

Causes
In the early part of the reign of King Henry VIII, Londoners came
to resent the presence of foreigners (called "strangers"[3]) arriving
from the continent, especially immigrant Flemish workers[4] and
the wealthy foreign merchants and bankers of Lombard Street.[5]

According to the chronicler Edward Hall (c. 1498–1547), a

fortnight before the riot an inflammatory xenophobic speech was
made on Easter Tuesday by a Dr Bell at St. Paul's Cross at the
instigation of John Lincoln, a broker. Bell called on all Beginning of the Riot in Cheapside
"Englishmen to cherish and defend themselves, and to hurt and
grieve aliens for the common weal".[6] Over the following two
weeks there were sporadic attacks on foreigners and rumors abounded that "on May Day next the city
would rebel and slay all aliens".[6]

The mayor and aldermen, afraid of any possible disturbances, announced at 8:30 pm on the 30 April
that there would be a 9:00 pm curfew that night. John Mundy, a local alderman, travelling through
Cheapside on his way home that night, saw a group of young men after the curfew. Mundy ordered
the men to remove themselves from the streets to which one replied: "Why?" Mundy replied: "Thou
shalt know" and grabbed his arm to arrest him. The man's friends defended him and Mundy fled "in
great danger".[6]

The riot
Within a few hours, approximately a thousand young male apprentices had congregated in Cheapside.
The mob freed several prisoners who were locked up for attacking foreigners and proceeded to St
Martin le Grand, a liberty north of St Paul's Cathedral where numerous foreigners lived. Here they
were met by the under-sheriff of London, Thomas More, who attempted in vain to persuade them to
return to their homes. As soon as More had calmed them, however, the inhabitants of St Martin
started to throw stones, bricks, bats and boiling water from their windows, some of which fell on an
official who screamed: "Down with them!"
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This sparked panic in the mob and they looted foreigners' houses there and elsewhere in the city. The
Duke of Norfolk entered the city with his private army of 1300 retainers to suppress the riots.[7] By 3
am the riot had died down, and three hundred people arrested were pardoned. However thirteen of
the rioters were convicted of treason and executed on 4 May, and John Lincoln was executed three
days later. This account by Hall is mirrored by a letter to the Venetian doge written five days after the
riot.[8] While the mob were on the rampage, Sir Richard Cholmeley, the Lieutenant of the Tower of
London furiously ordered the firing of some of the Tower's artillery at the city, drawing the ire of the
city elders.[5]

In other versions the rioters closed the city gates to prevent the King's guard from being reinforced
and then temporarily took control over the city. King Henry was woken up in the middle of the night
at his residence in Richmond and was told of the mayhem ensuing in the capital. Then forces under
the command of the Duke of Norfolk (or the Earl of Shrewsbury and Duke of Suffolk) and his son the
Earl of Surrey finally arrived in the city and seized prisoners.

The aftermath
By 5 May there were over five thousand troops in London.[9] When the prisoners had an audience
with King Henry in Westminster Hall, the nobility then got on its knees to plead for a pardon for the
prisoners. Henry announced the pardon after his wife, Catherine of Aragon, appealed before him to
spare the lives of the rebels for the sake of their wives and children. At this the prisoners "took the
halters from their necks and danced and sang".[10]

Notes
Citations

1. John D. Bareham Tudor History, The Mastermind Quiz Book (Editor: Richard Morgale)
2. Sybil M. Jack, ‘Wolsey, Thomas (1470/71–1530)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford
University Press, 2004; online edn, January 2012.
3. Jones, Jonathan (16 July 2020). "Where are the bones of Hans Holbein? I spent lockdown solving
art's grisliest mystery" (https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/jul/16/bones-hans-holbei
n-lockdown-arts-grisliest-mystery-plague-london-renaissance). The Guardian. Retrieved 24 July
2020.
4. E. W. Ives, ‘Henry VIII (1491–1547)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University
Press, 2004; online edn, May 2009
5. Chamley, Benson (June 2003). "Sir Richard Cholmondeley, Cheshire's most famous unknown".
The Family History Society of Cheshire Magazine.
6. Rappaport (2002), p. 15
7. David M. Head, 'Howard, Thomas, second duke of Norfolk (1443–1524)', Oxford Dictionary of
National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, September 2012.
8. Rappaport (2002), p. 16
9. Carolly Erickson, Great Harry: The Extravagant Life of Henry VIII (Robson Books, 2004), p. 148.
10. Fergus Linnane, The Encyclopedia of London Crime (Sutton Publishing, 2005), p. 88.

References

Carolly Erickson, Great Harry: The Extravagant Life of Henry VIII (Robson Books, 2004); ISBN 1-
86105-638-9.
Fergus Linnane, The Encyclopedia of London Crime (Sutton Publishing, 2005); ISBN 0-7509-
3303-8.

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Steve Rappaport, Worlds Within Worlds: Structures of Life in Sixteenth-Century London

(Cambridge University Press, 2002); ISBN 0-521-89221-X
Jasper Ridley, Henry VIII (Penguin Classics, 2002); ISBN 0-14-139124-3.

External links
Noble, Graham. "'Evil May Day': Re-examining the Race Riot of 1517" (http://www.historytoday.co
m/graham-noble/%E2%80%98evil-may-day%E2%80%99-re-examining-race-riot-1517). History
Review, 2008. At History Today.

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