Gentry politics of southern England, 1461-1485, with reference to the crisis of October 1483

TL;DRAbstract

The main concern of this thesis is to examine the gentry of southern England during the Yorkist period and to attempt to answer two basic questions: who were the rebel gentry and why did they rebel? - in the context of 'Buckingham's rebellion' of October 1483. Part 1, 'Sources and Interpretations' sets out the sources of our knowledge of the revolt, the limitations of the evidence, and what, over five hundred years, historians have made of the rising. The aim of Part 1 is to unravel the main facts, and to identify and resolve (provisionally at this stage) important points which are under dispute. Part 2, 'The Rebellion', introduces the disaffected areas in the South and the major landholders among the aristocracy. It introduces a sample of rebels and explores their power and patronage within the regions and at court, and the representative nature of the group as gentry leaders of southern society. In addition, Part 2 provides an assessment of the scale and seriousness of the rebellion.

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