Given the state of the poorest classes, those with property felt threatened by revolt, a fact not helped by the boom in publishing of sensationalist literature detailing the many 'crimes' of vagrants thanks to new printing technology.
[4] Steer seems to have selected Enslow Hill due to folk memories of a previous rising (centred on resistance to religious reforms) that was suppressed there in 1549: he told one man that the commons had risen and then been "hanged like dogs" after being persuaded to return home, but that he intended to go through with his plan and "would never yield".
[7] Although Norris himself tried to play down the significance of the 'rising', the Privy Council clearly considered this rebellion threatening in the context of the time and the climate of general dissatisfaction, particularly as Robert Burton was taken into custody in London, where he may have been attempting to solicit support among the City apprentices.
Sir Edward Coke advised that the ringleaders were liable for charges of treason, "making war against the Queen", under a 1571 Act, although it appears that not all the statute's legal requirements had in fact been met.
[7] Five principal ringleaders - Steer, James and Richard Bradshaw, Bompass, and Burton - were taken to London tied to the backs of horses and closely guarded to prevent their conversing with one another.
As the authorities were eager to discover if any gentry were involved in the conspiracy, the use of torture was authorised, and Coke pursued the charges with extreme aggression, despite the misgivings of several judges regarding his interpretation of the statutes.
Two plotters, Burton and Richard Bradshaw, were convicted on the treason charge and eventually executed on Enslow Hill, within sight of the enclosures they had wished to remove.