Jack Straw (probably the same person as ''John Rakestraw'' or ''Rackstraw'') was one of the three leaders (together with
John Ball and
Wat Tyler) of the
Peasants' Revolt
The Peasants' Revolt, also named Wat Tyler's Rebellion or the Great Rising, was a major uprising across large parts of England in 1381. The revolt had various causes, including the socio-economic and political tensions generated by the Blac ...
of 1381, a major event in the
history of England
England became inhabited more than 800,000 years ago, as the discovery of stone tools and footprints at Happisburgh in Norfolk have indicated.; "Earliest footprints outside Africa discovered in Norfolk" (2014). BBC News. Retrieved 7 February ...
.
Biography
Little is known of the revolt's leaders. It has been suggested that Jack Straw may have been a preacher. Some have argued that the name was in fact a pseudonym for
Wat Tyler or one of the other peasants' leaders; all of them appear to have used pseudonyms, adding to the confusion.
[See Brie, F. W. 'Wat Tyler and Jack Straw', in ''The Historical Review'', v.21, 81 (January, 1906). Brie states that "the Continuator of Knighton held this view ..and that two or three ballads and several fifteenth-century chroniclers ..speak of Jakke Straw being killed by Walworth at Smithfield .e. in the same manner as Wat Tyler"]
Several chroniclers, including
Henry Knighton, mention Straw, though Knighton erroneously confuses him with Tyler.
Thomas Walsingham
Thomas Walsingham (died c. 1422) was an English chronicler, and is the source of much of the knowledge of the reigns of Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V, and the careers of John Wycliff and Wat Tyler.
Walsingham was a Benedictine monk who ...
stated that Straw was a priest and was the second-in-command of the rebels from
Bury St Edmunds
Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton ...
and
Mildenhall.
[Preest, D. (ed., transl.) ''The Chronica Maiora of Thomas Walsingham, 1376-1422'', Boydell, 2005, p.148] This story is most likely a result of confusion with a John Wrawe, an unbeneficed priest who was formerly the vicar of Ringsfield near
Beccles
Beccles ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the English county of Suffolk.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . The town is shown on the milestone as from London via the A145 and A12 roads, north-east of London as the crow fl ...
in
Suffolk
Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include ...
, and who seems to have led the Suffolk insurgency.
[Walsingham, p.142] Walsingham also states that Straw and his followers murdered both notable local figures in Bury and, after reaching the capital, several of its
Flemish
Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...
residents, an accusation also made by
Froissart. However, according to information in the church of St Mary in
Great Baddow, in
Essex
Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...
, England, Jack Straw led an ill-fated crowd from the churchyard there to the risings, and he is elsewhere referred to as the leader of the men from Essex (as opposed to
Tyler, who led the rebels from Kent).
Straw is generally supposed to have been executed in 1381 along with the other main figures of the Revolt. Froissart states that after Wat Tyler's death at Smithfield, Straw (along with John Ball) was found "in an old house hidden, thinking to have stolen away", and beheaded.
The Chronicles of Froissart
' ed. Macaulay, transl. Bourchier, p.82 Walsingham gives a lengthy (and most likely invented) confession in which Straw states that the insurgents' plans were to kill the king, "all landowners, bishops, monks, canons, and rectors of churches", set up their own laws, and set fire to London.
[Walsingham, pp.147-148]
The later chronicles of
Raphael Holinshed
Raphael Holinshed ( – before 24 April 1582) was an English chronicler, who was most famous for his work on ''The Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande'', commonly known as ''Holinshed's Chronicles''. It was the "first complete printe ...
and
John Stow
John Stow (''also'' Stowe; 1524/25 – 5 April 1605) was an English historian and antiquarian. He wrote a series of chronicles of English history, published from 1565 onwards under such titles as ''The Summarie of Englyshe Chronicles'', ''The ...
, in addition to detailing the confession, repeat a story, originating in the 15th-century account of
Richard Fox, that Jack Straw, alias John Tyler, was provoked into his actions by an assault perpetrated on his daughter by a tax collector.
[Archer, I. W. 'Discourses of History in London', in Kewes, P. (ed) ''The Uses of History in Early Modern England'', University of California Press, 2006, p.218]
Jack Straw in English culture
Whether Straw was a real person, a pseudonym for Tyler, or simply a result of confusion on the part of chroniclers remote from the events they were describing, he went on to become a part of the popular narrative of the revolt.
Jack Straw and the other rebel leaders are introduced in
John Gower
John Gower (; c. 1330 – October 1408) was an English poet, a contemporary of William Langland and the Pearl Poet, and a personal friend of Geoffrey Chaucer. He is remembered primarily for three major works, the '' Mirour de l'Omme'', '' Vo ...
's ''
Vox Clamantis
''Vox Clamantis'' ("the voice of one crying out") is a Latin poem of 10,265 lines in elegiac couplets by John Gower (1330 – October 1408) . The first of the seven books is a dream vision giving a vivid account of the Peasants' Rebellion of ...
'' Book I Chapter XI.
The defeat of the rebels is covered in Chapter IXX. Macaulay's notes to ''Vox'' include Thomas Fuller's translation of the Chapter XI passage.
Gower's lines were parodied by
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...
.
Straw is mentioned in ''
The Nun's Priest's Tale
"The Nun's Priest's Tale" ( Middle English: ''The Nonnes Preestes Tale of the Cok and Hen, Chauntecleer and Pertelote'') is one of '' The Canterbury Tales'' by the Middle English poet Geoffrey Chaucer. Composed in the 1390s, it is a beast f ...
'' of ''
The Canterbury Tales
''The Canterbury Tales'' ( enm, Tales of Caunterbury) is a collection of twenty-four stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. It is widely regarded as Chaucer's '' magnum opus ...
'', as the leader of a mob targeting foreign workers:
[Geoffrey Chaucer, ''The Canterbury Tales'' (Penguin Classics, 2005), p. 618.]
Straw was central to an anonymous 1593 play dramatising the events of the Rising, ''
The Life and Death of Jack Straw''. In the modern era, the rather confused reporting of events was briefly satirised in Sellar and Yeatman's parody of
Edwardian
The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...
-era popular history, ''
1066 and All That
''1066 and All That: A Memorable History of England, Comprising All the Parts You Can Remember, Including 103 Good Things, 5 Bad Kings and 2 Genuine Dates'' is a tongue-in-cheek reworking of the history of England. Written by W. C. Sellar and R. ...
'', stating that the peasants revolted "in several reigns under such memorable leaders as Black Kat, Straw Hat,
John Bull
John Bull is a national personification of the United Kingdom in general and England in particular, especially in political cartoons and similar graphic works. He is usually depicted as a stout, middle-aged, country-dwelling, jolly and matter- ...
and What Tyler?", with objectives including "to find out
..which of them was the Leader of the Rebellion".
[p. 43. The names are presumably a humorous garbling of those of 15th-century rebel ]Jack Cade
Jack Cade's Rebellion was a popular revolt in 1450 against the government of England, which took place in the south-east of the country between the months of April and July. It stemmed from local grievances regarding the corruption, maladmi ...
, Straw, John Ball, and Wat Tyler.
Straw was commemorated in the name of a
pub on the edge of
Hampstead Heath
Hampstead Heath (locally known simply as the Heath) is an ancient heath in London, spanning . This grassy public space sits astride a sandy ridge, one of the highest points in London, running from Hampstead to Highgate, which rests on a band ...
, London, which closed in 2002. The
Jack Straw's Castle Jack Straw's Castle may refer to:
* a place associated with Jack Straw's Lane, Oxfordshire
* Jack Straw's Castle, Hampstead
Jack Straw's Castle is a Grade II listed building and former public house in Hampstead, north-west London, England.
The s ...
, reputed to be the highest pub in London, took its name from a story that Straw addressed groups of rebels on the Heath from a
hay wagon which became known as "Jack Straw's Castle".
Full Pint Issue 6
'', CAMRA
The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is an independent voluntary consumer organisation headquartered in St Albans, England, which promotes real ale, cider and perry and traditional British pubs and clubs. With just under 155,000 members, it is ...
North London. Retrieved 21-10-08.
The British politician
Jack Straw
John Whitaker Straw (born 3 August 1946) is a British politician who served in the Cabinet from 1997 to 2010 under the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He held two of the traditional Great Offices of State, as Home Secretary ...
(born John Whitaker Straw, 1946) adopted the name "Jack", allegedly after the rebel leader.
[O' Grady, S. ]
Jack Straw: Diplomatic hard man
' (para 8), ''The Independent'', 29-09-01.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Straw, Jack
1381 deaths
14th-century English people
English rebels
English revolutionaries
Peasants' Revolt
People whose existence is disputed
Year of birth unknown