Oxfordshire rising of 1596

The Oxfordshire rising took place in November 1596 under the rule of Queen Elizabeth I of England during times of bad harvest and unprecedented poverty. A small group of impoverished men developed a plan to seize weapons and armour and march on London, hoping to attract "200 or 300... from various towns of that shire".[1] They met on Enslow Hill on 21 November, but without any of the assumed support were quickly arrested,[2] and tortured due to suspicions of a wider conspiracy. A year later two of the men were hanged, drawn, and quartered for their treason.[2]

  1. ^ Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 'Queen Elizabeth - Volume 261: December 1596' in Mary Anne Everett Green (ed.) Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Elizabeth, 1595-97 (London, 1869), pp. 313-327
  2. ^ a b [1], J.A. Sharpe, ‘Social Strain and Social Dislocation, 1585-1603’, in John Guy (ed.), The Reign of Elizabeth I: Court and Culture in the Last Decade (Cambridge, 1995), pp.192-211, pp. 198-9.