devastated the land. As a result of flooding, the extraction of peat declined and the records change from peat-digging accounts to descriptions of fen, marsh, fisheries and the importing of sea-coal from the north-east of England. Over a long period the battle to obtain peat and clay from the pits was steadily lost, as they become water-logged and then permanently flooded and all memory of the origin of the new 'broads' was lost. In the wars between King John and his barons Roger Bigod garrisoned Norwich Castle against the king, who in 1216 on his retreat from Lynn lost his baggage in The Wash. Norfolk returned members to parliament in 1290, and in 1298 the county and the boroughs of Kings Lynn, Norwich and Great Yarmouth returned each two members. The story of Julian of Norwich (1342 – c. 1429) also dates to this period. She is noted as being the first woman to have written a book in English. The Battle of North Walsham occurred on 25 or 26 June 1381. It marked the end of military resistance in Norfolk during the Peasants' Revolt. The rebels led by the 'King of the Commons' Geoffrey Litster were defeated by a force led by Henry le Despenser, Bishop of Norwich: the site is one of only five known battlefields in Norfolk. Another legend from Norfolk dating to this period is the Pedlar of Swaffham. The legacy of this tale can be seen to this day in the choir area of the church. Here stand two wooden pews. One has the carvings of a pedlar and his dog, the other of a woman looking over the door of a shop. Norfolk during the Tudors and the Stuarts Ketts Rebellion (1549) After the enclosures of local landowners around Norfolk were destroyed, thousands of people joined Robert Kett in a march on Norwich, forming a large organised camp at Mousehold Heath in July 1549. The rebellion was largely in response to the enclosure of land, the theft of common resources, and the general abuses of power by the nobility. After a failed attempt by the authorities to disperse them on the offer of a general pardon, Norwich's city gates were shut to the rebels, who nevertheless managed to breach the defences and occupy the city. In London, the government responded to the crisis by sending the Marquess of Northampton to regain Norwich, who initially