Sunday 27th June, 2021
Look forward to seeing Cornish Patriots at Flamank Plaque in Bodmin tomorrow at 11am then moving on to Footbridge for Yes Kernow at 1pm.
Banners will be brought along by me.
The footbridge is between Malcolm Hoskin Plant Hire and the National Trust Car park on Turfdown Road:
www.google.com/maps/search/tufnell+road+bodmin/@50.4506234,-4.6961573,16z
MICHAEL "AN GOF" AND THE FIRST CORNISH REBELLION
Michael Joseph "An Gof" - ("An Gof" is the Cornish word for blacksmith) and Thomas Flamank, son of a Bodmin landowner and London lawyer, led the Cornish rebellion of 1497 (Rebellyans Kernow).
Michael Joseph was born in the village of Saint Keverne located on the Lizard Peninsula, where he grew up to be the village blacksmith.
Virtually nothing, aside from this, seems to be known about him.
In fact, it's not even clear why St Keverne and why the local blacksmith ended up being the one who started the rebellion. Unfortunately many sources are missing or do not exist.
The rebellion was due to the collection of a tax by King Henry VII to finance the invasion of Scotland against the pretender to the throne, Perkin Warbeck.
Cornwall believed this war had nothing to do with them, and under the leadership of Michael Joseph and Thomas Flamank, a local lawyer and former member of parliament, thousands marched from Cornwall to London to express their grievances to the king.
The unpopular tax was collected by Commissioners specifically sent, and the commissioner in charge of collecting the tax on the Lizard Peninsula was a certain Sir John Oby, rector of Glasney College, in Penryn. Although the poorest were exempt from paying the tax, some debt collectors were strict, and Sir John Oby was especially so.
This zeal on his part may have been one of the reasons why the inhabitants of St. Keverne revolted first.
'An Gof 'and Flamank led a badly armed army to march on London. In fact, even though the rebellion was branded as "high treason", it seems that he only wanted to petition and fire the two responsible for the King's taxation policy: Cardinal John Morton and Sir Reginald Bray.
The army that moved from Cornwall numbered 15,000, crossed the River Tamar, Devon, in Somerset they killed a commissioner and continued the march towards the gates of London. The rebels flocked to Blackheath, which was then just outside London. They were armed with sticks, pitchforks, pikes, bows and some guns.
On 17 June 1497 they were surrounded by the army of the king, composed by 25.000 men. The Battle of Deptford Bridge was short but bloody: at least 2,000 Cornish rebels died.
'An Gof 'fled to Greenwich after the battle, seeking refuge in a monastery, but was captured and sent to the Tower of London.
Flamank and Joseph were executed in Tyburn 10 days later, on June 27. They were hanged, drawn and quartered, undergoing the same spree that faced William Wallace. Their heads were displayed on pikes on London Bridge.
Every year, up to this day Cornwall remember the rising and on the 500th anniversary a statue of "An Gof" and Flamank was unveiled in St. Keverne.