Bartholomew Steer
Encyclopedia
Bartholomew Steer was an unsuccessful rebellion leader in Oxfordshire
, England
. He was a carpenter, born in Hampton Poyle, Oxfordshire, brother to a weaver. In 1596
, the area was suffering through famine
and increasing poverty. The weavers and carders
were severely affected by enclosure
laws, and Steer, although he claimed upon his arrest that he was free and not in any want, lived in the midst of a great deal of suffering.
He was well aware of the history of rebellion in Oxfordshire, and he agitated his fellow workers to rebel against the enclosures. John Walter says that Steer "preached the politics of Cockayne
" to hungry people. The goal of the uprising Steer organized was to tear down the fences and then to attack the landlords who maintained the enclosures, the law officers who enforced the enclosure act, and then to march with the people down to London
, where the disaffected apprentices would join with them to demand change. There would be, he said, common ownership and access at that time.
In November of 1596, Steer and four other men met and waited for the crowd to join them, but it failed to materialize. They were soon arrested, and Steer was put in Newgate Prison
, where he was interrogated by Sir Edward Coke
. The royal authorities were very concerned with this suspect rebellion, and Coke authorized the use of torture on Steer. The confession of the plans to murder came from torture, as Steer's initial plans were probably only to tear down the turnstiles and march. When the group went to trial in June of 1597, Steer was not present. Given the defiance of his testimony, even that delivered under torture, it is almost certain that he was dead, either of his ordeal or prison conditions, by that point.
Although Steer's rebellion never occurred, the reaction to its rumor and attempt was out of proportion. Historians have since gravitated toward his account as an illustration of populist resentment against enclosure and material conditions in late feudalism
.
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. He was a carpenter, born in Hampton Poyle, Oxfordshire, brother to a weaver. In 1596
Little Ice Age
The Little Ice Age was a period of cooling that occurred after the Medieval Warm Period . While not a true ice age, the term was introduced into the scientific literature by François E. Matthes in 1939...
, the area was suffering through famine
Famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...
and increasing poverty. The weavers and carders
Carding
Carding is a mechanical process that breaks up locks and unorganised clumps of fibre and then aligns the individual fibres so that they are more or less parallel with each other. The word is derived from the Latin carduus meaning teasel, as dried vegetable teasels were first used to comb the raw wool...
were severely affected by enclosure
Enclosure
Enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on common land. Once enclosed, these uses of the land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be common land. In England and Wales the term is also used for the...
laws, and Steer, although he claimed upon his arrest that he was free and not in any want, lived in the midst of a great deal of suffering.
He was well aware of the history of rebellion in Oxfordshire, and he agitated his fellow workers to rebel against the enclosures. John Walter says that Steer "preached the politics of Cockayne
Cockaigne
Cockaigne or Cockayne is a medieval mythical land of plenty, an imaginary place of extreme luxury and ease where physical comforts and pleasures are always immediately at hand and where the harshness of medieval peasant life does not exist...
" to hungry people. The goal of the uprising Steer organized was to tear down the fences and then to attack the landlords who maintained the enclosures, the law officers who enforced the enclosure act, and then to march with the people down to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where the disaffected apprentices would join with them to demand change. There would be, he said, common ownership and access at that time.
In November of 1596, Steer and four other men met and waited for the crowd to join them, but it failed to materialize. They were soon arrested, and Steer was put in Newgate Prison
Newgate Prison
Newgate Prison was a prison in London, at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey just inside the City of London. It was originally located at the site of a gate in the Roman London Wall. The gate/prison was rebuilt in the 12th century, and demolished in 1777...
, where he was interrogated by Sir Edward Coke
Edward Coke
Sir Edward Coke SL PC was an English barrister, judge and politician considered to be the greatest jurist of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. Born into a middle class family, Coke was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge before leaving to study at the Inner Temple, where he was called to the...
. The royal authorities were very concerned with this suspect rebellion, and Coke authorized the use of torture on Steer. The confession of the plans to murder came from torture, as Steer's initial plans were probably only to tear down the turnstiles and march. When the group went to trial in June of 1597, Steer was not present. Given the defiance of his testimony, even that delivered under torture, it is almost certain that he was dead, either of his ordeal or prison conditions, by that point.
Although Steer's rebellion never occurred, the reaction to its rumor and attempt was out of proportion. Historians have since gravitated toward his account as an illustration of populist resentment against enclosure and material conditions in late feudalism
Feudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
.
Further reading
- Fox, Adam. "Rumour, News and Popular Political Opinion in Elizabethan and Early Stuart England." The Historical Journal (1997), 40: 597-620 Cambridge University Press.
- Walter, John. "A "Rising of the People"? The Oxfordshire Rising of 1596." Past and Present (May 1985) 90 - 143.