The Pilgrimage of Grace was an uprising in 1536 where people in Northern England fought back against the new religion being imposed on them, and threatened the political stability.
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Episode Transcript:
Hello, and welcome to the Renaissance English History Podcast. I’m your host, Heather Teysko. We’ve been spending a lot of time in recent episodes discussing the reign of Henry VIII, and the advisors who are shaping his policies. Today I’m going to discuss the Pilgrimage of Grace. If anyone listening has watched The Tudors on Showtime, you’ll remember that the Pilgrimage of Grace was a huge situation for Henry, and was one of the contributing factors to the fall of Thomas Cromwell.
When we talk about uprisings and various events going on outside of London, it’s important to remember that the many counties in England operated very much like individual countries. For many people in Yorkshire, the country of Scotland with whom England was very often at war, was actually closer to them in philosophy and character than many parts of their own country. London was 200 miles away, a journey of at least a week on roads that were unpaved, and of often uneven remnants of Roman roads, a thousand years old. They were inhabited by outlaws, so traveling was dangerous. Most people never traveled more than a few miles from their home and rarely left their village, if at all. The politics and religious reforms going on in London were about as familiar as the Spanish colonies in America.
When thinking about this uprising, it’s also important to remember that in most towns, the monastery was a school, hospital, would distribute alms to the poor, and would even shelter and feed many people who couldn’t afford to take care of themselves. When monasteries were dissolved, those functions weren’t just taken up by charities and nonprofits, there was simply a lack of services. It’s very easy for us to look back with our 500-year old hindsight and smugly discuss the corruption of the monasteries and the selling of the indulgences. But for many people in many parts of England, the monks treated them well and were a source of community and peace.
By the mid-1530s, Henry had fully broken with Rome over who was the Head of the Church in England. In 1534, Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy, which made Henry the Supreme Head of the Church of England. At the same time, Thomas Cromwell began his plans to dissolve the monastery and reappropriate their vast wealth to the crown. Also in 1534, Cromwell received permission to have his staff visit monasteries, and write reports about any deviant behaviors. At the same time, he was making an inventory of all of the money, relics, and land that each monastic house owned. The representatives that Cromwell sent often exaggerated the reports of misconduct, and began petitioning the king to dissolve many of the houses.
In the past, only the Pope would have had the authority to take such an action. But now that Henry was the Head of the Church, he needed to establish a law to allow him to dissolve a monastery. Parliament gave him this authority in the disillusion of the lesser monasteries act, and an initial round of monastic houses were closed in 1535 and 36. It was this initial round that led to the Pilgrimage of Grace in Yorkshire.
The Pilgrimage of Grace was an uprising in Yorkshire in 1536 in response to the break with Rome, and the dissolution of the monasteries. The term is actually often used to describe both the rebellions that took place in Northern England, first in Lincolnshire and then in York. The people who were rebelling were fighting for their way of life that was being threatened by politicians in London and felt disenfranchised. We tend to take religious freedom for granted in most of the Western world. But there was no such thing as religious freedom in Tudor England. Dissent was dangerous, and when the king said that the Pope was no longer the Head of the Church, it meant that the way that people had been worshipping for generations suddenly just had to go overnight, based on what seemed like a whim.
The Lincolnshire Rising started the rebellion off. It was a short uprising of Catholics against the Church of England and the dissolution of the monasteries. It began at St. James’s Church in Louth, after Evensong on October 1, 1536, shortly after the closing of the abbey. The initial uprising was against only the disillusion of the abbey, and not against the king or the church, but it quickly gained support in other towns where people had more political grievances, and began demanding the end of taxes, and other political changes, as well as the end of the dissolution of the monasteries and a return to the Catholic faith. Up to 40,000 people marched on Lincoln on October 14 with support from the local gentry, and they occupied the Lincoln Cathedral, demanding the freedom to continue their Catholic faith then the protection for the treasures in the cathedral.
One quick note on relics, most abbeys had at least one relic that was a huge source of pride for the town, and was also seen as a form of protection. It might sound superstitious to us now, but pieces of the True Cross, Mary’s hair, and various saints fingers were floating all over Europe, finding homes and abbeys where they would be on display for people to pray to. This was one of the big things that Protestants wanted to end. And when a monastery was dissolved, one of the first things many of Cromwell’s men would do was destroy the relics. This was an insult not just to the monastery, but also to the population of the town which took such pride in their relics.
Within a day or two of occupying the cathedral at Lincoln, the rebellion was ending, and only a few people remained. The leaders were caught and hanged, but the rebellion was shortly to come in Yorkshire. The movement broke out, just as the Lincolnshire one was ending on October 13, 1536. At this point, the term Pilgrimage of Grace was used. The causes of the uprising have been debated by historians, but the main themes are economic grievances. The northern gentry had concerns over the new Statute of Uses. There were also popular fears of a new sheep tax, and the harvest of 1535 had also led to high food prices, which may have contributed to the discontent.
Also there were political grievances. The nobility was angry with the rise of Thomas Cromwell, who was “base born”, he wasn’t a nobleman. And also though they were no fans of Anne Boleyn, her execution on false charges of adultery and witchcraft after Henry had cast off Catherine of Aragon to be with her did very little to help his reputation.
And thirdly, there were religious grievances. As I said, the church was for many the center of the community. Many ordinary peasants were worried that their church plates and relics would be confiscated. There were also rumors at the time that hinted that baptism might be taxed. The recently released Ten Articles, and the new order of prayer issued by the government in 1535, was pushing the country more and more towards reform, and northern England was much more Catholic in sympathy.
Robert Aske was chosen to lead the insurgents. He was a London barrister, and a resident of the Inns of Court, and was from an old Yorkshire family. In 1536, he led a band of 9000 followers who entered and occupied York. They arranged for the expelled monks and nuns to return to their houses. The king’s newly installed tenants were driven out and Catholic observance resumed. The success of the rising was so great that the royalist leaders Thomas Howard and George Talbot opened negotiations with the insurgents at Doncaster, where Aske had assembled between 30 and 40,000 men.
Henry authorized Norfolk to promise a general pardon and a Parliament to be held at York within a year, as well as a reprieve for the abbeys until the parliament had met. Aske was even given safe passage to London to answer for the rebellion, and trusting the king’s promises, Aske dismissed his followers. The king did not keep his promises, though.
And in January 1537, a new uprising took place in Cumberland and Westmoreland. This was Bigod’s Rebellion and Aske had tried to prevent it. It was led by Sir Francis Bigod.
Upon this rebellion, the king arrested Aske and several of the other leaders of the Pilgrimage of Grace who were all convicted of treason and executed. Aske was hanged in chains from the walls of York Castle, as a warning to other would-be rebels. In total, all 216 were put to death. Lords and knights, half a dozen abbots, 38 monks, and 16 parish priests. The loss of the leaders enabled the Duke of Norfolk to quell the rising and martial law was imposed on the demonstrating regions.
Contrary to popular belief, there were some partial successes due to the rebellions. The government postponed the collection of the October subsidy. This had been a major grievance amongst the organizations. The Statute of Uses was negated by a new law, the Statute of Wills. Four of the seven sacraments that were omitted from the Ten Articles were restored in the Bishop’s book of 1537. And this actually marked the end of the drift of official doctrine towards Protestantism. And an onslaught upon heresy was promised in a royal proclamation in 1538.
However, the dissolution of the monasteries continued, and by 1540, the largest ones were dissolved. Huge tracts of land (and no that’s not a Monty Python reference) were seized from the church and divided amongst the monarchy and supporters. And the move towards Protestantism that Cromwell had achieved was actually never reversed except for the few years that Henry’s daughter by Catherine of Aragon Mary I was queen.
So that’s it for this episode. And thank you for listening. In the next episode, I’m going to discuss the final years of Henry VIII’s reign, and set the scene for his son Edward to take over as King of England. You can email me story ideas and comments from the blog, which is at englandcast.com. And thank you again so much for listening!
[advertisement insert here: if you like this show, and you want to support me and my work, the best thing you can do (and it’s free!) is to leave us a rating on iTunes. It really helps others discover the podcast. Second best is to buy Tudor-themed gifts for all your loved ones at my shop, at TudorFair.com, like leggings with the Anne Boleyn portrait pattern on them, or boots with Elizabeth I portraits. Finally, you can also become a patron of this show for as little as $1/episode at Patreon.com/englandcast … And thank you!]