The timing of the rebellions started when the smaller monasteries were closed down and while commissioners were in the progress of shutting other ones. Some historians also support the view that uprisings started and ended around dissolved monasteries.
Many Monks and clergymen were now starring at homelessness and unemployment and many felt that standing up to the Kings new policy was all they could do – they had nothing left to lose. They didn’t have the skills in the fast paced world and had no financial means to survive and were on very poor pensions.
However, the Monks could easily gain the support of the local people as the Monks had looked after them, and the fact that the Monks would of most probably have come from the surrounding areas.
Even though the Monks could gain the support of the locals, many of them would join the rebellion as they would lose their place of worship and pray; even though they wouldn’t have understood all the changes. They relied on the church for their planning of their year. They enjoyed the Holy Days, as it was a break from the gruelling days of work. Also there was an introduction of taxes on baptism, burial and marriage. Many of the poorer community couldn’t afford this and felt that this would prevent their salvation.
There were also rumours going around, mainly saying that the local parishes were to be closed down and all of the religious items would be taken. This rumour really worried the local people, and for many was the deciding factor about taking the Pilgrims Oath.
If the local churches closed this meant that it was a long walk to the nearest place of worship and the local people had recently bought the religious items, but the Government could easily come and take it away. And if the monasteries were to close many people would have no where to go and learn about god and the bible.
Quite soon, people started to see that the King was moving away from the traditional Catholic methods and starting to take up Protestant views. So, the English people started to attack European and some reformed Bishops in their complaints. However, it was most likely that the gentry were the ones who brought up the names, as the commoners would not of heard of these ‘radical’ people.
Robert Aske named this uprising using a religious name. This meant that many more people would join, as all the people of England didn’t agree with Henry VIII’s new religious policy, thus gaining the most support. Calling it anything else might of stopped the appeal, or destroyed it.
The Political reasons for the outbreak was, firstly caused due to Henry’s attempt to end his marriage with his wife, Catherine of Aragon. This was intensified because of Henrys idea to centralise power, which then meant excluding the north. Thomas Cromwell, who was of no important noble family, carried out the centralising of the power to the south, was just a commoner turned King’s main advisor. Many people, especially in the north, felt that he had no right to be advising the King. Cromwell as well as Richard Richie were made scapegoats for the religious policies of the 1530’s.
Mary had been bastardised by Henry and others, by the divorcing of Cathrine of Aragon. But now Mary had been reinstated as Princess, so this now created a huge rift towards the Boleyn faction. Through out court there had always been a fight between those that supported the Aragon faction, and those who supported the Boleyn faction. But now Mary had been accepted as a true child of Henry VIII, the Boleyn faction now stood to lose their place in Government.
In many ways the rebellion can be seen as a standing of many different groups of people. The demands that Aske presented show this, but most of them are religious based. The risings started due to the taxes, the bad harvest, the introduction of Protestant methods in church, and the dissolution of the monasteries and the dislike of Cromwell and his new policies. Religion, the economy and the political issues of the time all added up to the revolt. However, the amount of people that took part in the revolt depended on the issue that they weren’t happy about. For example, the people that didn’t like the closing of the monasteries. This would have angered nearly everyone living near them and so they would have joined the ‘Pilgrimage’. People going to church and finding that there have been Protestant views entered into the church might find it offensive, but some might gin and bear it.
The fact that it was named The Pilgrimage of Grace seems to hint that Aske and others that started it only felt that it was meant to be a purely religious affair and that the other groups that joined in used this as a front for their anger.
How Serious Was The Threat Of Rebellion To The
Government Of Henry VIII?
In Henrys reign there were three main rebellions. The Lincolnshire Rising, The Pilgrimage of Grace and the Cumberland Revolt. The first and second rebellions were the most serious while the last one was an after thought, trying to use the last of the anger for its cause, but by then, most people had had enough of fighting.
The location of the Lincolnshire Rebellion was in the north of the country. This was not an immediate affect to the English Government, as Cromwell’s plan of moving all power from the north had just been carried out. So, the rebels had to go south to reach any point of power.
The objectives of the Lincolnshire Rebellion were to get rid of the three commissioners that were checking the local monasteries and churches and to find out if the rumours that were around were true. The local people wanted to find out if the local parishes were going to be closed down, the seizure of goods and the introduction of new taxes
The Lincolnshire Rebellion was lead mainly by the gentry, which meant that there was a high level of leadership within the rebellion. So, the rebels could be lead in an organised fashion, and wouldn’t lead to a great panic on a battlefield if it came to it.
The Government was seen as not able to cope with this uprising, as the amount of rebels that joined in took the Government by surprise and the fact that the gentry was leading it. The gentry had managed to gather up to 40,000 rebels, and the Government had no choice but to gather any troops willing to help. This showed that the Government was not yet settled in to its place and that the people of England were not ready to accept a new Government with new ideas.
Unusually, this rebellion was lead and supported by the nobles. Some of these nobles had a seat in Government, and so this shocked many members’ of Government when they learned of this. Also the numbers involved- 40,000 meant that the Government had to react, mainly by force, they could not see a peaceful resolution. But when the royal force arrived all of the rebels had gone home, because Henry had said that all of the leaders would be executed. But weren’t because of the Pilgrimage of Grace.
The Pilgrimage of Grace lead on from the Lincolnshire Rebellion. It started on the 8th October, while the Lincolnshire Rebellion was still happening. What the Lincolnshire Rebellion did was give those who took part in the Pilgrimage of Grace hope and inspiration to stand up to the things they believed in. This second uprising took place south of Lincolnshire, but included many people from the first rebellion.
The rebels in the Pilgrimage came from all walks of life. Including gentry from the north, such as the Percy’s, who weren’t happy with the centralising of power to the south. This time armies were created by donations, mainly from the surrounding parishes.
The rebels took an oath before they joined the Pilgrimage, which said that the King was not an enemy, but his councillors, such as Cromwell and Richie. This taking of the oath united all of the rebels. They felt that what they were doing was a ’team’ effort, and that, what they said in the oath meant that they were not doing anything illegal, but only making a peaceful demonstration about the issues that would affect their lives - dissolving of the monasteries and new taxes.
The objectives were basically the same as the Lincolnshire Rebellion, except that this time, there were a few demands that only affect the gentry – the lose of the ability to give away their land to trustee’s, which stopped the gentry having to pay, as the land was not held freehold.
Even though this rebellion had a smaller number of rebels taking part – 30,000 instead of 40,000 – they were a lot better armed, as everyone had a weapon. This was a huge threat to the Government. They had just managed to stop the last rebellion, but now they had a large number of armed angry pilgrims marching towards Pontefract Castle, after meeting up with Aske’s forces. The Government soon found that it wasn’t prepared for another rebellion of this size, as most of Henry’s forces. In Nottingham another royal force was waiting for orders.
The English Government dealt with the uprising by promising to Aske and other leaders that everyone would be pardoned and that a new parliament would be set up in the north. Also Henry said that he would listen to the demands of the pilgrims. However, Henry never set up a new parliament and never listened to the demands. Soon, after the pardons were ignored and the leaders were executed.
The last rebellion to take place in the north was the 1537 Rising. The nobles in the north soon saw that nothing was going to materialise from the promises Henry made. So they made a plan to capture Hull and Scarborough, however, this failed and the King now had his chance to recover control in the north.
The Government and Henry declared martial law in Carlisle and 74 of the rebels were hanged. Nearly all of the uprising leaders were killed, and so the Government now had control of the north again.
The nobles that had supported the last two rebellions were again there for support and supplies. They included Sir Francis Bigod – who actually started it off, the Percys, Lord Darcy and others, but his time Aske was not a ringleader, as he didn’t approve of this rebellion. But now Aske had gone against the 1537 uprising he now had no control over the area and therefore had no authority to bring order.
The Pilgrimage of Grace was the most serious threat the seat of Government. It showed that the Government hadn’t acquired support all over the English kingdom. Even some nobles in Government weren’t happy with the policies that were being passed through it. The fact that the Government had no power to stop a huge enemy force being created was proof enough that the Government had lost all control in the north. The failure to reassemble another army to attack the 30,000 odd pilgrims also showed as a weakness on their part.
However, the ability to calm down 30,000 rebels without blood shed shows that the Government still could act quickly and very efficiently when they really had to proves that they weren’t completely useless.
The Lincolnshire Rebellion was also a serious threat to the Government. Thanks to Henry, the rebels soon turned and went home. There were 40,000 of them, but not many of them were armed and all ready to fight. The danger of it was the hope and inspiration that this rebellion created for the Pilgrimage of Grace. This rebellion spurred on Aske to form another rebel army, albeit peaceful, but an army nevertheless.
By 1537, the Government and Henry proved that they had learned a lesson from the past few years to act quickly and decisively to extinguish any uprising. Their actions saw the end of Aske and many other important figureheads in the rebellions of October 1536 executed.
If the three rebellions actually lead to a battle, there would have been no doubt that Henry would have been in some trouble, especially if the Pilgrims worked their way down the country towards London. The Government in this instance would be in serious trouble and would have had to give of Government to these peaceful rebels.
