The Shadow of the Tower (1972) s01e09 Episode Script

- We don't have that much.
- This says you have.
- Then that is mistaken.
- And this says the same.
The commissioner for the King assessed you for that sum.
The King is never wrong.
Nor are his servants.
- I do not have that much.
- I must take what I can, then.
Here! Did the King assess the dinner from my table, too, Sir John? I have always found that upon the arrival of the tax commissioners the rich become extremely poor.
And the poor find themselves destitute.
Makes my job not unlike that of our heavenly Lord, Jesus Christ, whose progress caused all men to denounce their wealth and embrace holy poverty.
That's blasphemy.
It is a fanciful conceit.
Though I should rather be guilty of blasphemy than of treason! I'm as loyal as you! Are you? Help him, man! Is that the King's will, too, to take away my livelihood by taking away my anvil and my sledges? - Would you rather I took your hand? - Go on, take it! I have no need of it now.
You are discharged of your obligations.
How much of what you've stolen will ever reach the King, Lord Provost? We must account for our acts to one who will sit in judgment on us all, Michael Joseph.
May the Lord God judge you as you deserve, Sir John.
It is not the Lord God I fear, blacksmith.
It's the Lord Commissioner of Taxes.
Do you know the signification of words, Michael Joseph? Most words, sir.
Do you know the word "monopole"? It means the only holder of a trade.
If you hold such a monopole, you may set your own prices.
There is no one to sell against you for less.
Are there many other blacksmiths in your parish of St.
Keverne? None.
But my charge is always just for the work I do.
Even so, there are no other blacksmiths in St.
Keverne? - None.
- At Helston or Erisey? There's a smith at Helford.
Ah.
But for many miles around St.
Keverne and Michael Joseph forges the chains for their snares.
There's not the work for two smiths, sir.
- But for one there's a-plenty.
- Enough.
And before God, you pay your tithes justly and fairly? I give my tenth.
I make no complaint of that.
And you do not starve.
Now, Michael Joseph, if you were King of England and had a war to fight so that your subjects should sleep safe at night, and you had emptied your purse time and time over in order to keep men such as the blacksmith of St.
Keverne safe and in good health, and you had soldiers to pay, would you not ask the good people of Cornwall to help you - by giving their money to your purse? - Sir John Oby took everything! A fair tax I would not protest.
He took all I have.
My anvil, sir, and my sledges! How can I work? Perhaps the necessity will help you to find the money to buy new tools.
You speak as if I had some secret treasure hidden away.
Most men have, to help them on just such days at this.
If the King knew what was being done in his name The King knows.
The King ordered that it should be done.
- Michael Joseph, the smith? - Who are you? Thomas Flamank.
Yes, his son.
His son, Michael, no more than that.
Let me pass.
My father lied when he said the King ordered your forge to be taken.
- The King knows nothing of this.
- Your father is an honest man! My father is the King's servant.
He is serving him.
Then the King did order it.
The King ordered that the rich should pay this tax, not the poor.
What do you mean to do now? Wellwhat can I do? We can tell the King if a friend goes to court.
Sir John Rosewarne of Rosewarne, the Duchy of Cornwall.
He says he fought beside you at Bosworth.
Did he? He's one of Your Grace's most loyal Cornishmen, second in loyalty only to myself.
Are there degrees of loyalty? First in loyalty, second, third? When does it give out? Tenth? Twelfth? Men are loyal or disloyal.
You are loyal absolutely, Sir Richard, I hope.
You know that, Your Grace.
To be less so than absolutely, surely, is to be a traitor.
Is Sir John Rosewarne a traitor? - Your Grace is merry, mm? - No, no, Sir Richard.
Oh.
How do you see your duty to us? - To serve you absolutely and at all times.
- Without question? If Your Grace commanded me to perform some act that endangered my God-given soul, that I would question, but nothing else.
That would be impossible, since all things ordered by us are desired by God and would be saved by grace.
Was the same so of King Richard? He was not King.
Had he been, God would have preserved him from us.
There can be only one king in England, Sir Richard.
Then Sir John Rosewarne is loyal to that king absolutely and most surely, sir.
- Without question? - So I believe, Your Grace.
But he does question us.
My Lord Cardinal.
Sir John Rosewarne petitions His Grace on behalf of the people of Cornwall to grant them relief from the King's lawful taxes, which, says Sir John, they cannot afford to pay.
- Well, Sir Richard? - Your Grace, you know how poor I am.
- You pay your taxes, do you not? - You know that, Your Grace.
Cornish people do not.
They wish to be relieved of them.
- The late wars - There have been no wars for ten years.
I have seen to that.
My kingdom has had ten years to grow rich.
Why should they not now pay their taxes? - I am not Sir John.
- Bring him to us.
Sir John Rosewarne.
Sir John.
Sir Richard Nanfan here has suggested to us that you are a traitor.
Yes, Sir Richard, you said that he was less loyal than you are yourself.
You pay your taxes.
Sir John Rosewarne does not.
Your Grace does me no justice.
- I am as loyal as any subject here.
- Are there other traitors here, then? Are there? I willingly believe it when my loyal subjects refuse me the few duties which they owe.
My Lord King, not one of those for whom I petition is less than a perfect and obedient servant and subject in all things.
But Your Grace's own servants are doing things in Your Grace's name - that are not just.
- It is not in our nature to be unjust.
It is not in a king's nature to do things unjustly, is it? - It is not possible, Your Grace.
- Well, Rosewarne? Our Lord Jesus Christ himself chose Judas Iscariot to be one of his followers, to look after his privy purse, to be close to him.
If our Lord Jesus can be betrayed, then our Lord the King can be betrayed, too.
And there's a Judas serving us in Cornwall, is there, Rosewarne? I should not wish to accuse men who are not here present to defend themselves.
What is the complaint against them? You need not tell us their names.
The tax is levied more against your poor people than against the rich.
The merchants, the yeomen.
Those who have least are forced to give most.
The cups and plates for their dinner are taken to be melted down.
Melted? Cornishmen are accustomed to dine off pewter, Your Grace.
Pewter? They'll be wanting to dine off silver soon enough.
Still the worst part of all is that these taxes are not coming to the King's purse, but line the bellies of the King's servants.
Nanfan, go to Cornwall.
If what Sir John Rosewarne says is true, tax those who are collecting the taxes.
And when you have taxed them, tax them again for the same amount.
And then make your account to me, Sir Richard.
But, Your Grace, my supplication is that the poor should be relieved, not that the rich should be pressed, too.
If you tax the rich, they will tax the poor.
If you squeeze your collectors to make them pay fairly, they will squeeze the people and make them pay unfairly.
Sir John, I have a war to fight.
There are rebels threatening our kingdom from Scotland.
What would you have me do? Leave the rebels to sack and pillage for lack of money to pay my soldiers because you would not have me levy taxes? Your Grace must not take from the Cornish poor.
Where shall I get the money, then? From my enemies? Take my loyal people of Cornwall a message of love and gratitude from me.
When the kingdom is still again they will feel the sunshine.
Is it right that miners who crawl on their bellies all day in the darkness to scratch out a handful of tin should pay for a war against Scotland? Who ever heard of Scotland before this? You think of London as distant, but London is not even half the way to Scotland.
If the Scottish rebels march south and threaten Cornwall, will we ask the King to tax the poor people in Northumberland in our defense? Or would we raise an army ourselves, pay for it ourselves and defeat the enemy ourselves? But the war in Scotland threatens the King's whole kingdom, not one small part of it.
It does not threaten Cornwall.
Cardinal Morton told me that Cornwall is no harder taxed than any other part of England.
You spoke to the cardinal, did you not, Sir John? Many times.
At which of his palaces? He has many palaces, does he not? He has a house in Canterbury, a manor at Lambeth The park at Awlington, the palace at Wisbech, Hatfield House.
Which of these has he given to the King to help pay for the war against Scotland? He's a great man, Joseph.
Has a great man need of so many palaces and a blacksmith not have need of his anvil? My need is greater than Cardinal Morton's need.
The palaces do not belong to Morton but to his state, to the archbishopric.
I hear you spoke to the King of our plates of pewter.
Did you tell him about the miners that swallow grass cos they cannot buy bread? I said some men had pewter that was t If the King knew what went on in his name - I have told him.
- If he could see us in our poverty.
Hungry.
Ill-clad.
If 10 or 20 of us went to the court 10.
20.
D'you think you'd ever see the King, you 10 and 20? Morton would swallow you up.
"What criminal men are those?" says the King, seeing you hang, all 10 and 20, on Tyburn.
"Why," said Morton, "some Cornish rebels that would not pay their taxes.
" - Is that what you want? - Then 50 of us can go.
Even the cardinal cannot hang 50 Cornishmen.
- Why not 500, then? - 500 is an army, Thomas.
- Yes.
5,000, that's a great army.
- That's a rebellion.
No, a rebellion is an armed rising against the King and the peace of the King.
And your 5,000 would not break the peace? Why should we? Do you believe these taxes are to pay for a war against Scotland? D'you know why there is a war against Scotland? Their leader calls himself Richard, Duke of York, and claims the throne.
And is truly called Perkin Warbeck and is a merchant's son from Bretony.
- The King knows that.
- Warbeck has many followers.
But he stays in Scotland, and the King is sending an army to chase him away.
And that must be paid for.
No.
This war is a pretence to squeeze the people.
It isn't even lawful.
These taxes are not lawful, therefore we are not, in law, obliged to pay them.
If men are breaking the law in the King's name and with his authority, what can common people do? Tell the King.
Why so many? 5,000 will seem to be an armed rebellion.
We shall not carry arms.
We shall march in peace.
We shall be a petition that Morton cannot roll up and throw in the fire.
There is no rebellion without force of arms and without the King's peace being broken.
So we shall not carry arms and the peace will not be broken.
Now, every one of you, go home and raise a band of men and send out to all the villages and towns of the duchy.
- We meet here at Bodmin in three weeks.
- They'll want to know who leads us.
You do, Michael.
Michael Joseph, Captain of Cornwall.
Now good night to you all.
Wake up.
- Don't be afraid.
- Oh, sir! I thought - What time is it? - Past the middle of the night.
Rise and dress.
You have a long ride.
What's happened? Fate sometimes gives men gifts that it would be foolish to refuse.
Out of bed and dress yourself.
- You are to ride to Scotland, John.
- Scotland? To the court of King James.
Ask for Richard, Duke of York.
Some call him Perkin Warbeck.
You will call him His Grace, the Duke of York, rightful King of England.
Treat him as if he were king already.
Greet him as Majesty and Grace.
I heard he was a Breton merchant's son.
Soon, with my help, to be King Richard the Fourth of England.
Tell him that Thomas Flamank, your master, is marching on London with an army of 10,000 men.
Tell him that by midsummer I shall be encamped near London.
Where will you raise yourself an army of 10,000 men? - The smith is raising it for me.
- In rebellion against the King? Not in rebellion.
To petition the King to relieve our heavy burden of taxes.
Sir Richard Nanfan? I thought you were in Cornwall, collecting our taxes.
- And who are you? - Edmund Dudley.
I was in Cornwall collecting the King's taxes.
Sir Richard.
4,000? - When we set out, Your Grace.
- Many more by now.
They had not left Bodmin a week ago.
- You rode from Bodmin in a week? - We slept in the saddle, Your Grace.
What sort of men are they? Peasants, miners, craftsmen, some yeomen and Nobles? Some of the older families have sent their sons.
Their leader is Thomas, son of your commissioner, Richard Flamank.
- Not the smith? - No, the smith is their hero, Your Grace.
But their real leader is Thomas, for he leads the smith.
- And Sir John Oby does nothing? - Your Grace.
- Then we shall do nothing.
- Nothing, sir? You.
What is your name, man? Roger Whalley, my Lord.
Do you trust him out of your sight as well as in it? He is steward of my house and park.
Roger Whalley, rest here a few days, then ride out to meet this Cornish army and join them.
When you know something that you must tell me leave them and look for me here.
Is it safe to do nothing, sir? I don't know what to do, Derby.
When Roger Whalley comes back, he'll tell me what to do.
You must not let them carry arms.
If you find any man with bow or sword, take it from him and bring it to me here.
You must carry nothing but our petition to the King.
Your men must not sack or rape or pillage.
If you do not have money, then offer to work for what you need, but do not take.
We must march in peace.
You will find that most men will greet you gently, will love you for your peaceful ways.
No armsThomas? - We mean to march in peace, Father.
- Hm.
To march at all is to break the law.
You will hang for it.
If 50 men walk in peace, doing no harm or damage, from Bodmin to London, there to petition the King, would the King hang them? 50 men do not threaten a king's throne.
5,000 do.
Not 5,000 with no arms, no weapons.
Why are you doing this, Thomas? Because I am your son and you taught me to love justice.
And the King's tax-collectors in Cornwall are not just.
I taught you, above all else, to love the law.
This is no way of showing your love of law.
The tax is unlawful.
What the King ordains cannot be unlawful because the King is the fountain and source of all law.
By the King's own law of scutage, all his vassals must serve 40 days in defense of his realm so he does not need to tax us.
This kingdom is threatened from Scotland.
Ha! The Scottish war is an excuse to raise money, no more.
Where did you send your servant, John? To London, to petition the King.
Then why did he ride secretly? What are you doing, Thomas? - Are you dabbling in treason? - Father.
We do not break the law, we do not break the peace.
- There is no treason in this.
- There's treason in secret embassies.
John has ridden to London.
Then it will do no harm for another to follow him there.
I would never commit treason.
- Nor help another to do so? - That would be treason.
Would you work to prevent an act of treason? If I found it out.
Then go secretly to the King's court at Richmond.
My son says he has sent his servant there with a petition to the King.
If this is true, do nothing but ride back to me and tell me.
If the boy has not been to court give the King this letter from me.
When the King asks, tell himthey do not carry arms - and in this lies the greatest danger.
- Asks what? When the King reads the letter, he will ask a question.
Your answer must be, "They do not carry arms.
" - "And in that lies the greatest danger"? - Yes.
(Clucking, squawking) Have you paid, Martin? Have you paid for the bird? I shall make you pay.
At Exeter already? They amaze me, Derby.
Between 2,000 and 3,000 men of Devon have joined them.
They march like a pilgrimage, with their banners of the holy saints, saying their prayers along the road.
Chanting.
Nobody raped, no church sacked, no manor pillaged, no barn burnt.
They do amaze me.
Lord Daubenay has 8,000 men on the road to Scotland, sir.
So he has.
Now they have 8,000, too.
Yes, they grow in number with every town they pass through.
- I hear the smith is some sort of giant.
- I have heard eight foot tall, sir.
Ah, I'd only heard six foot and a half.
Eight foot is truly magnific.
Well, no doubt the story grows as it marches, sir.
So does his army.
Recall Daubenay.
Now, my Lord Cardinal Your Grace, if they should march into Kent, the men of Kent are wont to restlessness.
The Earl of Kent is my true subject, Derby.
The men of Kent are very loyal to me.
Now, my Lord, let us make sure the men of Kent stay loyal.
They're not sufficiently taxed, I think.
Let us tax them harder.
John Derrant of Brickley with 12 men, John Lippett of Darberton with eight.
William Hughes with 30 men from Ottery St.
Mary.
Some men came today from Silverton or Templeton, I think they were.
They walked the last 50 yards on their knees.
Like it was truly a pilgrimage.
Before we lead them back to their villages, Michael, we shall see Morton and Bray hang at Tyburn.
No 'anging.
We want no hanging.
They're the King's enemies, as they are ours.
D'you want the King's enemies to live? - Yes? What did he say? - He said yes, my Lord.
He sent this.
When you're ready, send it back to him.
Ah, Derby.
My doctor moans all day that I don't get enough exercise.
This stone weighs 20 pounds.
Would you? I think not, sir, at my age.
My Lord Prince? Take it carefully, it's very heavy.
Sir Richard Nanfan and Sir John Rosewarne beg an immediate audience.
Yes? Once more.
Sir John brings a letter from Bodmin, urgently.
- Read it to me.
- It's from Sir Richard Flamank.
- Father of the rebel? - Yes, sir.
Give me a robe.
I'll see them immediately, Derby.
You can dress me later.
- Read the letter, man.
- "From Your Grace's most humble servant "and commissioner of taxes, Sir Richard Flamank.
" Flamank wrote this letter ten days ago, Rosewarne? I rode as hard as I could, Your Grace.
Since he wrote, certain other matters have come to light.
Flamank said this would be so.
Had a petition reached Your Grace from his son, Thomas, I was to return to Bodmin.
There has been no petition.
Tell me, are these rebels dangerous to us? And in what particular are they most dangerous? They do not carry arms, and in that lies the greatest danger.
Sir Richard, bring Rosewarne to the court and find him an occupation.
We thank you for your service, sir.
- Has Daubenay returned? - He's still north of Woodstock, sir.
Then summon Cardinal Morton.
And young Dudley.
Go yourself and come back here immediately.
- Here, sir? - Yes.
Before we are dressed, my Lord.
Not too straight, boy.
I'll do it.
Ah.
Good morning, young Dudley.
God be with you.
God be with Your Grace and keep him safe.
I can see from the state of your apparel, Dudley, that you've been out of bed an hour or two already.
- I rise with the sun, sir.
- And go to bed with the sun? Not always.
When I can.
Last night I was early to bed.
You're a fortunate man, Dudley, to be your own master.
I had to sit up until the Queen chose to go to bed.
Don't tug, boy.
Untwist it with your fingers, if you must.
My Lord.
My Lady.
- Your Grace.
- My Lords.
My Lord, read them what Flamank has written.
The King has had word from the elder Flamank? Who is evidently still loyal to us.
That must be remembered when the accounts come to be settled.
We must not let the father pay the son's debts.
He writes that his son has sent secret embassies abroad.
That his son lies to him of their nature and their destination.
But that he, the father, believes that a messenger has passed from Bodmin in Cornwall to the king in Scotland.
He guesses, my Lord.
There's no doubt he guesses.
But the son now marches at the head of 12,000 men, and more join him at every town and village.
Without doubt, by the time he reaches London he will command 15,000.
Lord Daubenay has 8,000 archers no further than Woodstock.
Yes.
The elder Flamank is a good man, is he not? A very good man, sir.
A good lawyer, an honest judge, a fair assessor of taxes and very careful in his prayers.
- And a good apprehension and intellect? - He's a very able man.
He sent us further word.
He said to ask his messenger in what particular was this Cornish rebellion most dangerous.
The answer was Delphic.
In that they do not carry arms therein lies the greatest danger.
Not carry arms? Then there can be no danger.
Mm.
Well, my Lords, what do we do? Lord Daubenay is at Woodstock with 8,000 men.
If he were to march southwest, towards Taunton, he may cut them off before they reach London.
And cut them down before they have time to arm.
Unarmed, defenseless, peaceful subjects of ours, walking to London to see the King, set upon by the King's men and slaughtered? A rabble, a rebellious rabble! I've spent ten years making this kingdom peaceful, madam.
But they threaten London, sir.
I have killed only those men that would not let me let them live.
I cannot slaughter 15,000 of my subjects who do not bear arms.
But they can take up arms.
Yes.
And if young Flamank did send his message, and this Perkin Warbeck sends an army south against us, what shall we do with 12,000 unarmed men sitting outside London? Thensend Lord Daubenay north with his army.
And Flamank will take up arms and march on London.
What does this Flamank want, my Lords? Is he, too, a rebel, a pretender? He's a cunning, ambitious man of good intellect, it seems.
Then why has he not used it in my service? Why against me? (Elizabeth) If they have two armies, you must raise a second army.
I have little enough to pay for one army.
The taxes for Daubenay's men caused this rebellion.
How can I raise another? But you must put down Flamank and his rabble.
Yes, yes, yes.
What can I do, Morton? I can't upturn ten years of peaceful rule by slaughtering unarmed men.
Let them come.
Then send for their leaders and hang them.
- Hang them? - Yes, sir.
Without leaders, they'll go home.
Hang them? What have they done? We've settled this kingdom in a rule of law.
No man is punished unless he commits some crime.
I cannot hang them.
They've not broken the law or even broken the peace.
Then help them break it.
Your Grace, if these men were honest men, they would truly be no danger.
We know Thomas Flamank is playing a double game.
You cannot attack while you, and you alone, know that Flamank may be plotting treason.
The Cornish rebels are not rebels until they break your peace.
Which the elder Flamank says they do not mean to do.
Then send them someone, Your Grace, to help them break it.
- Sir John Oby.
- Perfect man, Your Grace.
Sir John Oby brought this on us and the Cornish people do not love him.
Yes.
Send Oby to them.
Tell him to say that Cardinal Morton desires that the people should return all loyally and peacefully to their homes.
Tell Sir John to be certain that they do return and let nature have her way with them.
She could be helped so.
Sir John Oby will need no help.
Sit down.
- The King likes youDudley.
- Your Lordship is most kind.
- Do you like him? - My Lord? - Do you like the King? - He's the K Don't mutter nothings with me.
Do you like the King? - He is the King.
- He's a man, Dudley.
Do you like the man that is the King? Once upon a time, he was not even a very good duke.
I remember 20 years ago, in Flanders, he was so full of fear he nearly died of it.
He thought that in every corner, in every doorway, he might be murdered.
He pissed himself with terror.
You like that man? Does the King need men to like him, my Lord? Is respect and obedience not enough? I'm in my 77th year now, Dudley.
In two or three years I shall be dead.
I shall not ride with him against these Cornishmen.
For the first timeI shall hide in the Tower.
If he asks you to ride that is the moment of time to ask him for your abbey.
If he asks me, I shall ride with him.
And from that path there can be no turning aside.
If I serve the King, what have I to fear? I am the most hated man in England.
Not King Henry.
Men curse me when they pay their taxes.
These Cornishmen are marching to ask King Henryto hang me.
You know what he'll do.
One day he may need someone to hang to save his crown.
He's a just, good man.
For ten years, everything the King has done that might make people hate him has been blamed on me.
I am the goat in the desert upon whom the guilt must fall.
If the King desires it I shall die in his service.
Yes.
When the King has finished his prayers and God, in His wisdom, has not told him what he ought to do, he will ask you, Dudley.
When God lets him fall, you must raise him up.
God may fail a king.
Be sure you do not fail him, too.
He could become fearful with great ease if he knew himself ever againalone.
10,000 Cornishmen? My Lord.
- I am the Duke of York.
- Your Grace.
Cornishmen? Where are they from? Cornishmen are from Cornwall, Your Grace.
The Duchy of Cornwall.
And your master is marching from Cornwall upon London? Hm.
The King of Scotland and I marched upon London last month.
It is a six-weeks' ride, Your Grace.
Where is Cornwall? The knee of England, Your Grace, if London is the groin.
Bring us a map, boy.
My master prays that Your Grace and His Grace, the King, will march immediately on London.
My master's army will hold the King of England fast at London and all England will be safe for Your Grace's armies to take.
Your master is very bold, is he not? Why should Henry notdefeat him, then march north and oppose us? My master's army is unarmed, Your Grace.
- The King cannot, therefore, attack him.
- Unarmed? They march as a sort of pilgrimage, to petition the King for the relief of taxes.
Bring us the map here.
Hold it up for us.
- Now, er What's your name? - John, my Lord.
- Servant of Thomas Flamank.
- John.
Show me Cornwall, John.
Here, Your Grace.
- It's a long way from London.
- But nearer than Scotland, Your Grace.
And my master begs that you march immediately.
(Sighs ) Where is your master now? When will hetake London? He will not take London, Your Grace.
He will encamp outside London with 10,000 unarmed men so that King Henry cannot march north and oppose Your Grace's force.
Held fast by a sort of pilgrimage? If I were Henry, an unarmed pilgrimage would not hold me.
My Lordthe crown of England can be yours if you march now.
I think not, boy.
I know King Henry's strength.
Your 10,000 men will not hold him more than a week.
Then he will march north.
No, when I take my throne it must be with a strong army not a pilgrimage.
Fools, rebels, oxen! Sir John Oby! - The traitor Smith.
- No traitor.
- Send your men home, Smith.
- We're going to London to see the King.
Disperse these rebels and the King will spare their lives.
See the King and petition him to relieve us from your oppression.
Cardinal Morton has sent me to disperse you.
(Yells) With care, Sir John.
With care.
We march in peace.
We do no harm to any man.
We do not break the law.
Rebel dogs.
We are loyal subjects.
We do not break the peace! Peace! Come, smith, join your rebel friends in peace! (Screams ) Well, Michael, our pilgrimage becomes an armed rebellion now.
He killed one of us, Thomas.
Peace means you turn the cheek to the blow.
You don't strike back.
Here, do you know the road to Wells? Ride to Heley in the parish of Wells.
Ask for James, Baron Audley.
Give him this and tell him where we are.
Lord Audley of Heley.
Next to Wells.
I shall go to the King and confess.
It need not touch any other but me.
We, Michael.
We, the Cornishmen marching on London.
We have killed the King's officer.
We've murdered the King's servant.
We are all guilty.
If the King wishes, he may cut us all down.
No! We're peaceful! We shall need weapons now.
Anything that a man may take to kill.
- No, that is rebellion! - We are rebels now.
Give these to men that know how to use them.
The arms we took away at Bodmin.
It would have been foolish to leave them there.
Here, brother.
Use this in your defense only, brother.
Something that you must tell me, Roger Whalley? Why, Flamank? Now that the smith has killed one of the King's men, we need a noble leader.
No rebellion can succeed without a leader that commands respect.
Why did you pick on me? Why should you think that I will lead you? The King is ruled by upstarts, my Lord.
Edmund Dudley.
Men that were not born to power but had it thrust upon them by the King.
The men follow you and the smith.
They follow us, my Lord.
We do not lead them.
They have been a rabble.
Now they must become an army.
- How many men? - Near 12,000.
I can raise another 2,000 but that is not enough.
Lord Daubenay commands 8,000 archers.
Between here and London we shall raise more.
And Perkin Warbeck marches from Scotland with an army.
- Warbeck? - The Duke of York, my Lord.
Oh.
Send to the Earl of Kent.
The Kentish men have always been ready to rise against oppression.
We shall give the Duke of York his rightful throne, my Lord.
All of them? They're sacking the whole county, Your Grace.
Most of them are armed only with tools, forks and staves.
- And Audley leads them? - Your Grace.
Thank you, Whalley.
Good.
That's better, Dudley.
Audley's better than Flamank.
Flamank is dangerous.
Audley is a fool.
Thank Roger Whalley for us, will you? The Earl of Kent is at court, sir, praying for an audience with Your Grace.
- Doesn't like the new taxes? - They are very harsh, sir.
Yes, they are.
Dudley, go to the Earl of Kent and say that in recognizance of the great loyalty and service of his Lordship and of his worthy men of Kent, we have graciously relieved them of the burden of taxation so lately laid upon them.
There's no better way of buying loyalty, Dudley.
It costs much less than any other gift.
If Kent had risen and come to us to help them, he might have bought us the same way.
Now, Michaelthis is the Black Heath.
The hill's face is towards London over there.
And we are here.
And Lord Audley? Lord Audley is 2,000 men and a good, noble name no more.
Our leader, Thomas.
The men follow him.
The King's army must come this way, crossing the brook at Deptford Strand.
Our guns and our archers You need not tax your brains with stratagems, Flamank.
- I have already given my orders.
- But, my Lord My guns are here.
My archers are here.
And here.
And here.
And your rabble will meet what is left of the King's army as they try to climb the hill here.
But, my Lord, the higher ground will give the guns and bows a greater length.
When you were an unarmed rabble, Flamankyou were leading.
You are a lawyer, Thomas.
Lord Audley is afamous captain.
- Lord Audley is a famous fool.
- The men trust him.
- And you? - You chose him, Thomas.
And I've always trusted you.
Who are you? One who joined the smith at Bodmin to pray for relief from oppression, to pray in peace.
I did not seek an armed rebellion.
Nor do I wish to fight against the King.
- And you can deliver Lord Audley to us? - Yes, my Lord.
You do not think that that would be a new treachery? Treason against a traitor is never treason.
Hm.
And the smith? - The smith is a good man, sir.
- A good rebel.
He would not be a rebel if he could take another course.
- And you will deliver him to us? - If you will pardon the others.
And Thomas Flamank - will you deliver him to us? It is Flamank who sent me, my Lord, to sue for peace and pardon.
It is he who will lead you to Audley.
- Is he not the greatest traitor of them all? - I think not, my Lord.
Had Flamank come to us, I would have thought him a brave man.
Had he come to us openly.
- I hear he's a very secret man.
- A very honest man, sir.
But not brave, not open.
No, Derby, send this man back to his master.
We shall take Audley and the smith.
We don't need Flamank to give them to us.
We shall take Flamank, too.
Now, my Lords The Thames.
And Deptford Creek.
Herethe hill leading to the Black Heath.
Now, Audley's guns are here here and here.
His archersare here.
All on the lower ground, you see.
They lack the height.
If he commanded here, he would command all this.
And to his rear, he lies wide open.
Nowmy Lord Derby you will cross the creek here and press his center.
The smith and his rabble lie on the flanks and on the heath.
Now, Daubenayyou will march - silently, mind you - to the south and when you hear the guns, attack them here and here, to the flanks and rear.
When they break, pen them in.
Do not let them run.
And, my Lords, there are three plums.
These three, bring to me tomorrow evening at the Tower.
If we take them, sir.
Not "if", Derby.
When.
When.
(Yelps ) - Hang us, Thomas? - (Groans ) The King will hang us.
All we wanted was relief from taxes.
Why should he hang us? - We led an armed rebellion.
- We never meant to carry arms.
We'd never have marched at all if you'd not said we should be peaceful.
I fear he will hang us.
My father fought for your ancestors, sir, and earned rewards that you deny us.
All that we ever ask is the right to serve you.
That right does not belong to any man, Audley.
It must be won.
- My father won it! - And you lost it again.
I do not like killing men, Audley, subjects of mine.
But when they are so foolish as to think that they can win my favor by grasping it with armed rebellion and take the proper yearnings of the common people and forge a weapon of them and serve me thus then there is no hope for them alive and they are better dead.
Learn to be better.
Fool.
He wastes the very air he breathes.
(Drum roll) - Michael Joseph.
- Who are you? I'm the King of England.
- Erwho are you? - I amCaptain of Cornwall.
- And who is Lord Audley? - Nobody.
- And young Flamank? - A lawyer.
- You're the captain? - I am.
That's a brave title, Michael Joseph.
What did you do to earn it? I led my men in peace against a tyrant.
- Am I a tyrant? - Cardinal Morton is.
He's my servant.
Does the King employ a tyrant in his service? - Sir John Oby was a tyrant, too.
- And you killed him.
And without a doubt, you would have killed poor Morton.
Oby slaughtered an unarmed, peaceful man.
He deserved his death.
120 of my loyal subjects are dead today, Michael Joseph.
Had you stayed in Cornwall, they would have been living.
- We came in peace.
- With guns.
With Audley to lead you.
We did not wish to fight, Your Majesty.
- What did you wish for? - Peace, Your Grace.
And justice.
And relief from oppression.
- These three things.
- They would be enough.
Well, you shall have two of them tomorrow, Michael Joseph.
- Two of them? - Peace.
And justice.
- But no relief? - Not from oppression.
Death is oppression of the body though it may free the soul.
- Why must I die? - I wish you no harm, Michael Joseph but when my sheep are scattered I must strike the shepherd.
We meant no harm to Your Majesty.
All we wanted was redress.
And I will harm none of your people.
But they must pay for this war and they must pay their taxes.
You are a hero in Cornwall, Michael.
And you're a brave man.
Do not be afraid when you're drawn to Tyburn.
Your father is a good man, Thomas Flamank.
A good man.
- Do you pray? - My Lord.
Does the Lord God hear you? Does He bring you comfort? Sometimes, my Lord.
Then pray that He brings you comfort tomorrow.
- Sire? - At the scaffold at Tyburn.
I do not hope to hang, Your Grace.
- What do you hope for? - For peace and mercy.
- What did you hope for? - For relief from oppression.
No more than that.
To what court did you send your secret messenger, Thomas? - I sent no - To lie is a terrible sin, Thomas Flamank! To lie is a treason against your own soul.
Here.
Stop.
No more lies.
Tell no lie against your father.
My Lord, hehe was mistaken.
You have no servant, John? You sent him to no place, you gave him no message? You do your soul no good, Flamank.
Confession eases the guilty soul.
I'm not a traitor.
Did you send a servant to any place, with any message? Not a guilty message.
Did you take arms from the Cornishmen in Bodmin and carry them in carts to Taunton and when Sir John Oby was murdered, give them again to your men? I was afraid we would be slaughtered and have no arms to defend us.
Did you send secret embassies to Lord Audley to ask him to lead you? They were not secret! Before Sir John Oby was murdered, did you ask Audley to lead you? The common people needed a leader, Your Grace.
Thepilgrimage.
I hear men came to you, walking on their knees.
I hear they prayed before every town and village and begged the parson's blessing.
I hear they chanted sacred hymns as they walked.
I hear they worked for what they could not buy.
They were good, peaceful men, Your Grace.
Were.
Till you gave them arms, made them rebels, made them fight against their king and turned them to treachery to base, unnatural treason.
Are you a brave man? I think not.
You came in fear to sell us Audley and the smith.
That was not brave.
I am a scholar, Your Grace.
Tomorrow, when you hang, will you be brave? I am to hang, sir? Not for what you've done, but what you made Michael Joseph and the others do.
- And for what you are.
- I am your loyal subject.
Yes, all men fear death.
I fear death.
I once feared it so much that my senses fled from my body.
Death is a terrible thing.
Death is but the end of life, and your life has been shameful.
- What others are to die? - No others.
Do the sheep sin in following the shepherd? - I am afraid.
- Look at the smith.
He's a hero in Cornwall.
Let him be a hero for you.
In Flanders, when I was afraid, I drew my strength from Cardinal Morton.
It seemed to me that he feared nothing.
I did not even tell him why I was afraid.
I watched him.
- But Morton had nothing to fear! - Nor has the smith.
He is used to pain.
Take your strength from him.
Never take your eyes off him.
Swear to me that tomorrow you will watch not the hangman but only the smith.
- As Your Grace pleases.
- Swear it.
In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost.
Amen.
Now tell us, Thomas what did you hope to gain? I wished to sit at the King's side and guide him, Your Grace.
Which king's side, child? (Henry ) The blacksmith is a hero, Dudley, and the people love him.
They do not love Audley.
They do not love a lord.
They do not know Flamank.
They cannot love a man they do not know.
The people followed the smith, Your Grace.
They'll follow the next man less readily.
But you must not punish the people, Dudley.
They now begin to love me.
And if the smith, the Captain of Cornwall, loves me even in his death they will not hate me for killing him.
- Do not be afeard, Thomas.
- (Distant crowd jeering) The King means us no harm.
He He told me we shall have peaceand justice.
He called meCaptain of Cornwall.
He has died unafraid.
Still a hero and loving me.
The people will not be afraid and they will love me, too.
No one under God needs love more than the King, Dudley.
The King needs love.