CLEANSING THE BODY POLITIC

In September 1549, large parts of Norwich lay in ruins. Immediately following the defeat of the rebellion, the city authorities set about its reconstruction. At the same time as they saw to the cleansing of the streets, lanes and open spaces of bodies, dirt and detritus, so the authorities sought to wash the taint of rebellion from the urban body politic. The Chamberlain's accounts provide a detailed picture of their desire to repair, cleanse and purify the city. There was much to be done: the common staithes and the warehouses were burnt. The gates were broken. The city's bridges, so vital to its role as a marketing centre, were damaged. Fighting had been particularly intense in a number of key sites: around the Great Hospital; in Tombland, Elm Hill, Pockthorpe and Bishopsgate; outside Blackfriars Hall and in the marketplace. A substantial number of dwellings had been destroyed, either in the fighting or burnt by the rebels. Amongst the corpses, ashes and ruined buildings, there was work to be had. A number of labourers appear repeatedly in the Chamberlain's accounts, ‘makyng clene the m[ar]ket place’, carrying loads of earth and ‘mucke’, rebuilding the walls, cleaning the guildhall and washing the streets. The enclosing fences around the Town Close fields which the city's poor had destroyed at the beginning of the insurrection were rebuilt. New locks, rivets, planks and hinges were set on the city's gates.