Kett's Rebellion1549

By applying a method of combining historical analysis the discussion, this dissertation takes the1549Kett's Rebellion as the theme, describes the history of the rebellion, analyzes the social crisesduring the reign of Edward VI, and makes some discussion, conclusion and comments on the causes,rules and impacts of social disturbances.Kett's Rebellion took place during the reign of Edward VI which was one of the most dramaticperiod of England's social reform and an important stage of England's transformation from feudalismto capitalism. Kett's Rebellion was a violent protest against the oppression of the gentries, which wasled by a rich yeoman freeholder and participated by the city freemen, craftsmen, businessmen, smallholders and vagabonds, with the aim of pursuing social justices. As the most typical and most maturerebellion during the "commotion time", Kett's Rebellion was the manifestation of England's socialcrises in1549which were caused by the social reforms and development such as enclosure movement,religious reformation, price inflation, and population and social issues. The uprising has had a veryimportant influence on the development of British politics and it is also a landmark event the British"popular politics". By analyzing the occurrence of the social crises, the author holds that the popularpolitics takes five forms of revolution, rebellion, riot, petition and consensus.The dissertation is divided into two parts in four chapters. The first two chapters form the firstpart, in which the nature of Kett's Rebellion is analyzed; the latter two chapters is the second part,making analysis of the social crises and "popular politics". The contents are as follows: Chapter Igives analysis on the courses of the rebellion, discussing the background and conditions of therebellion, the process and reasons for its failure; in Chapter II the author analyzes the reasons forKett's participation, the actions of Kett's government and the rebels, the nature of Kett's petition, thecomposition of the rebels and the relationship between Kett's Rebellion and other disturbances inEngland, and summarizes the nature of the rebellion as well; Chapter III dissects the causes of thesocial crises during the reign of Edward VI from aspects such as land problems, religious reformation,prices and social problems; in Chapter IV the author engages in analyzing the features of the"commotion time" and exploring the connotation, pattern and discourse of popular politics–commonwealth.