Though contemporary sources tell us that hundreds of people participated in the riot on the night of 30 April to 1 May 1517, we know the names of only some fifty-four men for whom copies of prosecution notes survive.
- Rioters named as indicted in the Chancery Precedent Book
- Rioters by occupation type
- Rioters by specific occupation
- Rioters with records of execution, 5-7 May 1517
- Rioters pardoned on or around 7 May 1517
Rioters named as indicted in the Chancery Precedent Book
Source: unless otherwise indicated, TNA, Chancery Precedent Book [CPB], C 193/142, fols. 51r-55r.
| Surname | Name | Occupation | Summary | Executed | Pardon |
| Ade or a Dee | Robert | pinner | Listed as indicted, but no indication of execution or of pardon. No evidence found in any other records before or after 1517. | ||
| Alday | William | waxchandler | Indicted and executed in Cheap, 5 May. | ✓ | |
| Aldwyn | Thomas | mariner | The CPB includes an exchange of letters between the king’s council and the clerk of the court of the Mayor and Aldermen of London, regarding the punishment of two mariners, Thomas Aldwyn and Richard Rankyn, convicted in London and sentenced to hang, though their crimes seem to have involved robberies on the king’s highway in Hertfordshire. They were to be executed in Hertfordshire on 28 May. Included amongst the entries relating to Evil May Day, their offences may have been related in some way to the riot. | ✓ | |
| Aleyn | William | tailor | The CPB records a pardon for him and five others (Richard Pette, poulterer; Thomas Pette, skinner; William Swyft, brewer; William Aleyn, tailor; Henry Johnson, brewer; Henry Myndrym, brewer), only two of whom (the Pette brothers) are otherwise named in the CPB. The pardon, for treason, is dated 14 May, for all offences between 12 April and 14 May. | ✓ | |
| Anderson | James | sherman | Executed at St. Martin le Grand, 5 May. | ✓ | |
| Baker | Gervase | tailor | Listed as indicted, but no indication of execution or of pardon. May have survived: possibly the same as the Gervase Baker, upholster of St. Margaret Breadstreet, London, who in Michaelmas 1518 was mainprised to appear before King’s Bench in Hillary 1519, along with three other people (TNA, KB 29/150, m. 28). | ||
| Baker | Thomas | fuller | Listed as indicted, but no indication of execution or of pardon. No evidence found in any other records before or after 1517. | ||
| Blanchard | George | skinner | Listed as indicted, but no indication of execution or of pardon. No evidence found in any other records after 1517, but before 1517 in the Skinners’ records: he was apprenticed to Nicholas White, skinner, in 1504; he was the son of Walter Blanchard, citizen and draper of London, and was apprenticed for nine years, but there is no indication he entered the freedom when he finished his term. He would have been in his late twenties in 1517 (GL, MS 30719/1, fol. 25v). His apprentice-master White had a series of legal conflicts with Thomas Pette (see above p. x-ref). | ||
| Borell | Richard | cooper | Executed at Blanchappelton 5 May. The Coopers’ Quarterage Book indicates that Borell was apprenticed in 1512-1513, to Alexander Palmer; also apprenticed the same year to Palmer was John Emery. In 1517, Borell was about five years into his apprenticeship, in his late teens. In July 1518, the wardens of the Coopers brought his apprentice-master Palmer to the mayor and aldermen, complaining that he had committed many misdemeanors, had been fined by them £5, and refused to pay. Possibly this was a fine assessed for his servant’s involvement in EMD. GL, MS 5614A, Coopers’ Quarterage Book, accounts 1512-13; LMA, Rep. 3, 222rv. | ✓ | |
| Browne | Nicholas | labourer | Listed as indicted, but no indication of execution or of pardon. No evidence found in any other records before or after 1517. | ||
| Chaundeler | Thomas | leatherseller | Listed as indicted, but no indication of execution or of pardon. No evidence found in any other records before or after 1517. | ||
| Coke | William | leatherseller | Listed as indicted, but no indication of execution or of pardon. No evidence found in any other records before or after 1517. | ||
| Colle | James | carpenter | Listed as indicted, but no indication of execution or of pardon. No evidence found in any other records before or after 1517. | ||
| Colyar | John | skinner | Listed as indicted, but no indication of execution or of pardon. No evidence found in any other records before or after 1517, including in the Skinners’ records | ||
| Danyell | William | cordwainer | Executed at Bishopsgate, being led there from the Tower, originally sentenced as traitor but by mercy of the king “only hanged.” Definitely not the same as the William Danyell, skinner, who had, on 30 April, been warned by the mayor and aldermen not to attack strangers and not to allow his servants to go out “Maying.” That Danyell was not indicted and clearly survived the riot (see above p. x-ref). | ✓ | |
| Darby | Henry | skinner | Executed at Cornhill 5 May. He was apprenticed to skinner Henry Clerk in 1515-16 (GL 30727/2, fol. 95v); this would have made him very young, prob mid-teens, in 1517. | ✓ | |
| Depford | Richard | barber | Listed as indicted, but no indication of execution or of pardon. No evidence found in any other records before or after 1517. | ||
| Derbyshyre | Richard | hosteler | Executed at the Bread Street Counter, being led there from the Tower, originally sentenced as a traitor but by mercy of the king “only hanged.” | ✓ | |
| Dowgan | John | cooper | Listed as indicted, but no indication of execution or of pardon. The Coopers’ quarterage books note that John Dowgan was apprenticed with William Barnum in November 1510. This would likely make him in his early twenties in 1517. No evidence found in any other records after 1517. GL, MS 5614A, Coopers’ Quarterage Books, accounts 1510-11. | ||
| Embryson | William | skinner | Listed as indicted, but no indication of execution or of pardon. Probably the same as William Emerson, apprenticed to skinner Henry Clerk in 1516-17. An ambiguous entry relating to his apprenticeship in 1520-21 may indicate that he survived the prosecution of the riot. GL, MS 30727/2, Skinners’ Accounts, fols. 108v-109r, 176v. | ||
| Fulley | Robert | sherman | Listed as indicted, but no indication of execution or of pardon. No evidence found in any other records before or after 1517. | ||
| Gibson | Thomas | Executed at Cheap with the traitor’s death, as a clipper of money, on 5 May. The relationship between his case and the riot is unclear. In Hillary 1515 a Thomas Gybson, mercer (of London?) swore a £20 recognizance for good behaviour before the chief justice of KB. TNA, KB 29/146, m. 43d. No record of a money-clipping prosecution found. | ✓ | ||
| Gold or Golle | Richard | weaver | Listed as indicted, but no indication of execution or of pardon. No evidence found in any other records before or after 1517. | ||
| Horsepole | John | tailor | Listed as indicted, but no indication of execution or of pardon. No evidence found in any other records before or after 1517. A John Horsepole, draper, appears in the Drapers’ records, entering the freedom soon after the riot. Unless his trade was misidentified in the CPB it is unlikely to be the same man, especially as the draper Horsepole was specially commissioned to join the night watch to guard against riots in late June 1517. Drapers’ Hall MS WA3, Wardens’ Accounts 1508-47, fols. 63r, 124r; MS MB 1/A, Court of Assistants’ Minute Book 1515-30, p. 57. | ||
| Howdon | George | skinner | Executed at Aldersgate, being led there from the Tower, originally sentenced as a traitor but by mercy of the king “only hanged.” George Howdon was apprenticed as a skinner in 1510; son of Robert Howdon of Tollerton, Yorkshire, blacksmith, he was apprenticed to John Rede from 1 Nov. 1510 for 8 years, meaning he was still an apprentice, and probably in his early 20s, in 1517. GL, MS 30719/1, fol. 46r; MS 30727/2, fol. 17rv. | ✓ | |
| Hutton | Nicholas | leatherseller | Listed as indicted, but no indication of execution or of pardon. No evidence found in any other records before or after 1517. | ||
| Jacson | Simon | baker | Listed as indicted, but no indication of execution or of pardon. No evidence found in any other records before or after 1517. | ||
| Johnson | Henry | brewer | The CPB has a pardon for him and five others (Richard Pette, poulterer; Thomas Pette, skinner; William Swyft, brewer; William Aleyn, tailor; Henry Johnson, brewer; Henry Myndrym, brewer), only two of whom (the Pette brothers) are otherwise in the CPB. The pardon, for treason, is dated 14 May, for all offences between 12 April and 14 May. He is possibly the Henry Johnson who entered the Brewers’ from another craft in 1510. Guildhall Library, MS 5442/2, Brewers’ Company Wardens’ Account, 1508-41, accounts 1510. | ✓ | |
| Johnson | Robert | sawyer | Listed as indicted, but no indication of execution or of pardon. No evidence found in any other records before or after 1517. | ||
| Knesebett | Thomas | barber | Listed as indicted, but no indication of execution or of pardon. No evidence found in any other records before or after 1517. | ||
| Langley | George | tailor | Marked as guilty; but not specified as having been executed in the CPB, though most likely to have been the man who was hanged with Lincoln before the last-minute reprieve arrived, as Langley was condemned along with the Pette brothers, and Hall names Shirwyn and the Pette brothers as those respited at the gallows. As there is also other evidence that Shirwyn and Thomas Pette were alive later in 1517, the best guess is that it was Langley who was executed with Lincoln before the reprieve arrived. Hall, Chronicle, 589-90. | ✓ | |
| Lincoln | John | haberdasher, broker | Executed at Cheap with traitor’s death; another man was hanged along with him (probably Langley) and three or more others were to be executed, but were reprieved by the last minute arrival of the dean of Salisbury with commutation. According to Hall (Chronicle,, 588-90) and to the prosecutory materials in the CPB, Lincoln was the instigator of the riots. Lincoln, a haberdasher, had been active in various civic offices, for instance as master of the ordnance for the City in 1508 and 1514 (Rep. 2, fols. 40v, 41r, 183r, 186r); in the 1500s as a commissioner of weights and measures (Journal 11, fol. 261v; TNA, KB 27/978, rex. m. 7d; KB 27/980, rex mm. 11d, 12d; KB 27/981, rex mm. 13d, 20, 21d; KB 27/982, rex mm 4d); by late 1516, as “searcher of and for” goods foreign bought and sold, for which he was granted a livery in late 1516 (Rep. 3, fol. 118v). | ✓ | |
| Marfeld | John | sherman | Executed at Cheap along with Gibson; originally sentenced as traitor but by mercy of the king “only hanged.” | ✓ | |
| Marten | Richard | chaplain | In a list of men who were indicted along with John Lincoln. His is the only individual indictment that survives in the King’s Bench records. It indicates that on 26 May he was brought before the duke of Norfolk and other justices from the Tower, and charged with treason under the Henry V statute. He pleaded not guilty, but was found guilty by jurors. The judges however remitted him back into the custody of the Lieutenant of the Tower while they considered the matter. In early July 1519, he appeared again in King’s Bench in the custody of the Lieutenant of the Tower (having presumably been there all along) and presented a pardon from the king, dated 24 May 1519. TNA, KB 9/478, mm 7-8; KB 27/1032, rex m. 8; KB 29/151, mm 13, 16d; C 66/633, m. 9. May have been involved in a Chancery suit 1529-32 (a Richard Marten, chaplain), C 1/682/27. | ✓ | |
| Myndrym | Henry | brewer | The CPB has a pardon for him and five others (Richard Pette, poulterer; Thomas Pette, skinner; William Swyft, brewer; William Aleyn, tailor; Henry Johnson, brewer; Henry Myndrym, brewer), only two of whom (the Pette brothers) are otherwise in the CPB. The pardon, for treason, is dated 14 May, for all offences between 12 April and 14 May. Henry Myndrym apprenticed as brewer in 1515 (GL, MS 5442/2, Brewer’s accounts for 1515) and would thus have been in his mid-teens in 1517. | ✓ | |
| Pette | Richard | poulterer | Found guilty but reprieved at the gallows according to Hall, and the CPB has a pardon for him and five others dated 14 May (his brother Thomas Pette, poulterer; William Swyft, brewer; William Aleyn, tailor; Henry Johnson, brewer; Henry Myndrym, brewer). He appears with his brother in some lawsuits at King’s Bench (where he bailed his brother from a felony charge) and at Common Pleas where both were sued by a Norfolk bocher in 1516. Hall, Chronicle, 588-90; TNA, KB 27/1021, plea mm 97, 98d; CP 40/1013, m. 361. | ✓ | |
| Pette | Thomas | skinner | Found guilty but reprieved at the gallows according to Hall, and the CPB has a pardon for him and five others dated 14 May (his brother Richard Pette, poulterer; William Swyft, brewer; William Aleyn, tailor; Henry Johnson, brewer; Henry Myndrym, brewer). Hall also indicates that “Bettes” – in context, likely Thomas – was imprisoned along with Stephen Studley and “Stephenson” on 28 Apr. (Hall’s Chronicle,588-90) The Skinners’ apprentice records show that Pette gained his freedom in 1509, so that by 1517 he was probably in his early 30s. He took two apprentices in 1509 and 1511: first John a Swynebourne of Yorkshire; secondly Robert Forthey of Chichester, who was apprenticed for eight years and thus should still have been an apprentice at the time of the riot. (GL, 30727/2, fol. 30v INCOMPLETE). He also took on Richard Richardson in 1520-21 (GL 30727/2, fol. 176r), indicating some continuing activity as a skinner after the riot, although he does not appear again in the guild records nor in any other civic or royal court records I have found. Before the riot both he and his brother were sued in Common Pleas in Hillary term 1516 for a debt of £4 by a Norfolk bocher. GL, MS 30719/1, fols. 43r, 44v, 49v; MS 30727/2, fols. 30v, 176v; TNA, CP 40/1013, m. 361. Before the riot, probably around 1516, Pette brought a Chancery suit against a fellow skinner, Nicholas White, a more senior member of the guild (loosely dated 1515-18, internally datable to around August 1516). In the suit Pette complained that he had been harassed by White by suits both before the mayor, aldermen, etc. in the City of London and at quarter sessions held at the New Abbey by the Tower. Although he had been acquitted he nonetheless was attached and put into the Marshalsea at Nicholas White’s instigation; in his petition to the Chancellor he asked for a writ of corpus cum causa to appear before the chancellor, for which a date of 18 August [1516?] was given. Matching up with this are entries on the plea side of King’s Bench, where Nicholas White sued Thomas Pette for inducing servant George Lark or Lake to steal from him on several occasions between October and December 1515. As White does not indicate in his bill of accusation, Larke was White’s own recently enrolled apprentice [GL, MS 30727/2, fols 95v-96r). In Michaelmas 1516, probably after his Chancery bill was considered, Pette appeared before King’s Bench on the accessory charge and was put to bail to Richard Pette, his brother, and John March of London, barber. This case continued through the next several terms until Easter 1518 before ending unconcluded. This included Pette’s appearing personally in Easter term 1517 on the third week of Easter – which should have meant somewhere between 6 and 12 May. TNA, C 1/435/18; KB 27/1021, plea mm 59d, 97, 98d. | ✓ | |
| Peyte | Thomas | barber | Listed as indicted, but no indication of execution or of pardon. No evidence found in any other records before or after 1517. | ||
| Pottes | Thomas | pinner | Listed as indicted, but no indication of execution or of pardon. No evidence found in any other records before or after 1517. | ||
| Ragge | Thomas | tailor | Executed at Algate, being led there from the Tower, originally sentenced as a traitor but by mercy of the king “only hanged.” | ✓ | |
| Rankyn | Richard | mariner | See entry for Thomas Aldwyn above. | ✓ | |
| Robynson | Thomas | baker | Executed at Ludgate, being led there from the Tower, originally sentenced as a traitor but by mercy of the king “only hanged.” | ✓ | |
| Shirwyn | William | tailor | In a list of men who were indicted along with John Lincoln. Hall says that Shirwyn was amongst those brought to the execution site at the Cheap standard when Lincoln was executed, but the others were all reprieved. Though the CPB does not list Shirwyn amongst those who were pardoned alongside the Pette brothers on 14 May, he must have been pardoned at some point as other court cases involving him continued after May 1517. In Michaelmas term 1516, Shirwyn had brought a suit in King’s Bench against Henry More of Henham, Suffolk, yeoman, alleging assault; More counter-sued Shirwyn and several other men for violating the statute of maintenance. These cases both carried over the following terms into 1518, including Easter term 1517; at a court date of around 29 April all the defendants in the maintenance case including Shirwyn were represented by their lawyer, but Shirwyn’s name continued to be included over the subsequent terms. TNA, KB 27/1021, plea mm 7, 81d; KB 27/1022, plea mm 8, 24; KB 27/1023, plea m. 23d. | ✓ | |
| Stalwyll | William | brewer | Listed as indicted, but no indication of execution or of pardon. No evidence found in any other records before or after 1517. | ||
| Stone | William | labourer | Listed as indicted, but no indication of execution or of pardon. No evidence found in any other records before or after 1517. | ||
| Swyft | William | brewer | The CPB has a pardon for him and five others (Richard Pette, poulterer; Thomas Pette, skinner; William Swyft, brewer; William Aleyn, tailor; Henry Johnson, brewer; Henry Myndrym, brewer), only two of whom (the Pette brothers) are otherwise in the CPB. The pardon, for treason, is dated 14 May, for all offences between 12 April and 14 May. William Swifte apprenticed as a brewer in 1509; if a 7-year apprenticeship, would have been just finished in 1517. He does not show up in records after this enrollment as an apprentice. GL, MS 5442/2, Brewers’ accounts for 1509. | ✓ | |
| Tamme | James | skinner | Executed at the Poultry Counter, being led there from the Tower, originally sentenced as a traitor but by mercy of the king “only hanged.” Not found in the Skinners’ records. | ✓ | |
| Tayllour | Richard | brewer | Listed as indicted, but no indication of execution or of pardon. No evidence found in any other records before or after 1517. Not found in the Brewers’ records. | ||
| Tompson | Edward | currier | Executed at Newgate, being led there from the Tower, originally sentenced as a traitor but by mercy of the king “only hanged.” | ✓ | |
| Walker | William | sherman | Listed as indicted, but no indication of execution or of pardon. No evidence found in any other records before or after 1517. | ||
| Ward | Richard | yeoman | Listed as indicted, but no indication of execution or of pardon. No evidence found in any other records before or after 1517. | ||
| Whetherhale | Christopher | labourer | Listed as indicted, but no indication of execution or of pardon. No evidence found in any other records before or after 1517. | ||
| Whyte | John | cap-thicker | Listed as indicted, but no indication of execution or of pardon. No evidence found in any other records before or after 1517. |
Indicted Rioters by Occupation Type
| Craft Workers | 44 |
| Labourers | 3 |
| Mariners | 2 |
| Chaplain | 1 |
| Yeoman | 1 |
| Merchant | 1 |
| Unidentified | 1 |
| 53 |
Indicted Rioters by Specific Occupation
| Skinner | 7 |
| Tailor | 6 |
| Brewer | 5 |
| Sherman | 4 |
| Barber | 3 |
| Labourer | 3 |
| Leatherseller | 3 |
| Baker | 2 |
| Cooper | 2 |
| Mariner | 2 |
| Pinner | 2 |
| Cap-thicker | 1 |
| Carpenter | 1 |
| Chaplain | 1 |
| Cordwainer | 1 |
| Currier | 1 |
| Fuller | 1 |
| Haberdasher/ Broker | 1 |
| Hosteler | 1 |
| Poulterer | 1 |
| Sawyer | 1 |
| Waxchandler | 1 |
| Weaver | 1 |
| Yeoman | 1 |
Rioters with records of execution, 5-7 May 1517
Sources: TNA, C 193/142, fols. 51r-55r; Hall, Chronicle, 590. Almost certainly others were also executed in the weeks following 7 May 1517, but no records survive.
| Name | Occupation | Manner of Execution | Evidence of career stage | Place of Execution |
| William Alday | waxchandler | Traitor’s death (5 May) | Cheap | |
| James Anderson | sherman | Traitor’s death (5 May) | St. Martin’s | |
| Richard Borell | cooper | Traitor’s death (5 May) | Apprentice from 1512 | Blanchappelton |
| William Danyell | cordwainer | Hanged (5 May) | Bishopsgate | |
| Henry Darby | skinner | Traitor’s death (5 May) | Apprentice from 1515 | Cornhill |
| Richard Derbyshyre | hosteler | Hanged (5 May) | Bread Street Counter | |
| Thomas Gibson | Traitor’s death (5 May) | Cheap | ||
| George Howdon | skinner | Hanged (5 May) | Apprentice from 1510 | Aldersgate |
| John Marfeld | sherman | Hanged (5 May) | Cheap | |
| Thomas Ragge | tailor | Hanged (5 May) | Algate | |
| Thomas Robynson | baker | Hanged (5 May) | Ludgate | |
| James Tamme | skinner | Hanged (5 May) | Poultry Counter | |
| Edward Tompson | currier | Hanged (5 May) | Newgate | |
| John Lincoln | haberdasher | Traitor’s death (7 May) | Likely liveried; age 40+ | Cheap |
| George Langley | tailor | Unclear (7 May?) | Cheap |
Rioters pardoned on or around 7 May 1517
| Name | Occupation | Pardon | Evidence of career stage |
| Richard Pette | poulterer | at gallows (according to Hall); record of pardon dated 14 May in CPB | Adult (sued in CP in 1516; serves as surety 1516) |
| Thomas Pette | skinner | at gallows (according to Hall); record of pardon dated 14 May in CPB | Gained freedom 1509; likely early 30s; himself had apprentices (none of whom amongst those indicted) |
| William Shirwyn | tailor | at gallows (according to Hall); not in record of pardon dated 14 May in CPB | Adult (party to litigation in King’s Bench 1516-17) |
The four others below were included in the text of a pardon, dated 14 May 1517, granted to Richard Pette and Thomas Pette and, as Hall indicates that “diverse others” were to have been executed with Lincoln, may also have been included in the gallows pardon granted to the Pettes and Shirwyn on 7 May.
| William Swyft | brewer | at gallows? record of pardon dated 14 May in CPB | Apprenticed 1509; either just finished apprenticeship or about to finish |
| William Aleyn | tailor | at gallows? record of pardon dated 14 May in CPB | |
| Henry Johnson | brewer | at gallows? record of pardon dated 14 May in CPB | |
| Henry Myndrym | brewer | at gallows? record of pardon dated 14 May in CPB | Apprentice from 1515 |
Evil May Day 1517 