No wonder that the condition of the laborer had become impossible.
The demands of the eastern rising, centering at Norwich, bordered on communism.

The first was for the enfranchisement of all bondsmen for the reason that Christ had made all men free.

Inclosures of commons and private property in game and fish were denounced and further agrarian demands were voiced.

The rebels committed no murder and little sacrilege, but vented their passions by slaughtering vast numbers of sheep.

All the peasant risings were suppressed by the government, and the economic forces continued to operate against the wasteful agricultural system of the time and in favor of wool-growing and manufacture.
[Sidenote: Execution of Somerset, January 22, 1552] After five years under Protector Somerset there was a change of government signalized, as usual under Henry VIII, by the execution of the resigning minister.