Politically motivated rebellions always involved faction. Simnel and Warbeck’s rebellion were both politically motivated due to Yorkist and Lancastrian faction. Faction was of low importance in Henry VII’s reign as Henry Tudor limited it by control of patronage unlike both Elizabeth and Henry VIII who advocated it. They had a divide and rule policy. The most common theme that ran throughout all the politically motivated rebellions was resentment of lowborn ministers, for example, Wolsey in 1525, Cromwell in 1556 and Essex in 1601 wanted to rid parliament of Cecil ‘the caterpillars of the common wealth.’ It was a role reversal as the traditional power elites losing their role and place in society. The rebellions varied in significance as the nobility only rebelled when they felt alienated; the Pilgrimage of Grace 1536, Amicable Grant 1525 and the rebellion of Northern earls in 1569. The foreign policy of 1500- 25 meant that the nobility were appeased but the Amicable Grant of 1525 was a turning point because it was a change in crown policy and people resented the taxation. Another turning point was in 1568 with the arrival of Mary Queen of Scots as she provided a figure head for rebellion;. The rebellion of the Northern Earls was the last major rebellion from the north as people came to accept Tudor centralisation. Ket’s rebellion was the only rebellion that did not involve faction as they spoke of Somerset being ‘the good duke’ but this is not representative of the period as a whole. Faction became more narrowly focused as the period went from being wide (The Yorkist vs. Lancastrians) to personal grievances in Elizabeth’s reign.
Religion, unlike faction was not consistently present throughout the Tudor reign. It was only due to the reformation in 1532 that religion became a factor that linked the previously disparate groups together. During Henry Tudor’s reign there was never a problem with religion as a cause for rebellion, the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536 and the Western Rebellion meant that there was a period of time where the church were losing authority and were no longer able to keep order. The rebels in both rebellions marched under the banner of the five wounds of Christ, showing that they marched under God’s judgement; a particularly strong message .Previously, the church were relied upon to be the ‘moral guardians’ of society thus meaning that when the church lost influence there began a moral decline in England. However after 1559, when Elizabeth introduced the Act of Uniformity order was restored to England, meaning that the rebellions stopped. The churchmen were now less involved in the rebellions as they were forced to accept the monarch as the head of the church and now had to swear an oath of allegiance to the monarch as a direct result of this. Elizabeth’s establishment of the Anglican church and her combination of most Catholicism and Protestantism to create a ‘via media’ managed to appease most of the clergy so religion was no longer the main cause of rebellion which can be seen by the Northern Earls 1569 where religion is not a major cause. In addition, post- reformation saw a rise in self-interest as the gentry began to profit form the dissolution of the monasteries, the gentry’s desire to better themselves meant that the rebels no longer had leaders for their causes meaning that rebellions began to die out all together.
It is for this reason that socio economic factors began to decline as a cause by the end of the period. As at the beginning of Henry VII’s reign, the people resented heavy taxation to fund war which can be seen by both the Yorkshire (1489) and Cornish (1497) anti tax riots where economic causes were of great importance as the people had just recently suffered a bad harvest and were not used to heavy taxation. In the reign of Henry VIII, the Amicable Grant was of great precedence and this in itself was a turning point as after 1525 there is a change in crown policy thus meaning that taxation is no longer the sole cause of rebellion. Between 1536 and 1554there was a general feeling of discontent resulting in Western, Ket’s and Wyatt’s rebellion. This was due to the introduction of enclosure, which ensured that this feeling of discontent was spread throughout the country. Nevertheless, Ket’s rebellion was essentially the last rebellion that saw both the gentry and the commons united. After Ket’s rebellion enclosure was no longer a main cause of rebellion as the gentry were now more concerned with the centralisation of Tudor government. This is because the reformation led to an increased resentment and a widened social gap between the commons and the gentry, as the gentry proceeded to profit from the dissolution of monasteries. The natural ties between the commons and the gentry were beginning to disappear which meant that rebellions with socio economic grievances as their main cause saw a decline. The gentry soon found that the commons were now less willing to fight for them or to support them in their rebellions. There was now a widening social gap that created tension as the gentry attempted to emulate the nobility. As although the Cloth trade in Kent was declining in 1554 Wyatt’s rebellion had no real socio – economic cause and the Northern Earls in 1569 and Essex in 1601 had no socio –economic causes whatsoever.
Overall, political causes were a constant factor throughout the period, and although socio-economic causes were always present, by the end of the Tudor dynasty they began to decline. Both religion and dynasty both had periods of time when they took precedence in rebellions and were of particular importance. But it is throughout the reigns of both Henry VIII and Elizabeth, when faction became more narrowly focused, that political causes are at their most constant and similar.
