Cade

Cade, Jack, the Kentish leader of an insurrection in 1450, when, assuming the name of Mortimer, and leading an army of 15,000 to Blackheath, he opened communication with the citizens, some of whom favoured his enterprise, and called on Henry VI. to redress the grievances the people complained of and to dismiss his advisers. After retreating before the army sent against him, he gained a partial victory, and advanced on London, where his men murdered Lord Say. Dispersing upon a promise of pardon, the insurgents left Cade to his fate, and in attempting to escape to the coast he was killed by Alexander Iden at Heathfield in Sussex. Writing in the next century, Shakespeare probably represents faithfully the facts as handed down by tradition, and gives us a graphic picture of both the tragic and the humorous aspects of the insurrection.