In pre-industrial times the season of Christmas extended well beyond 25th December and the 6th January into Candlemas, 40 days after Christmas Day.
It was time with limited daylight and limited work that could be done on the land. Custom saw Lords of Misrule appointed- Toby Belch in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is the most well-known fictional character.
It was a time for Carnival and sometimes revolt.
One such revolt took place in Norwich in early 1443. The precise date is not clear but it may well have been in late January. Certainly a Government inquiry was ordered into the events which reported in late February.
A local merchant John Gladman, was appointed King of Christmas- again the period not as closely defined as now- and rode around Norwich with an attendant crowd. The purpose was to highlight a dispute between the local population and authorities and the Church.
The most recent study notes:
The two sides in a long-running dispute over rights and resources between on the one hand the City of Norwich, as represented by the mayor, most of the council, and many common citizens, and on the other the powerful Cathedral Priory, seconded by neighbouring monastic institutions, regional magnates and a faction within the city oligarchy. It culminated on 25 January 1443 when a crowd of commoners initiated a siege of the Priory, trying in vain to break down its gates. When after a few days order was restored, the crown instigated the formal inquisition…..
See Tom Pettitt, Carnevale in Norwich 1643:
(PDF) Carnevale in Norwich, 1443: Gladman’s Parade and its Continental Connections
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