HENRY VIII
LINCOLNSHIRE RISING + PILGIMAGE OF GRACE- 1536
*The reformers = Thomas Cromwell + Cranmer*
*Rebels were rebelling against the ‘evil counsellors’ + not Henry*
CAUSES/ AIMS
RELIGIOUS:
*Most significant*
- Cromwell’s attacks on traditional practices threatened centuries of Catholic belief.
1536 = Cromwell issued set of Injunctions to the English Clergy = attacked traditional
practices = pilgrimages/ relics/ worship of saints.
Caused anger + fear.
- Undermining these traditions also threatened what people thought would happen to their
souls after death.
- People believed in heaven/ hell/ purgatory as real places.
1536 Act of Ten Articles = attempt to define the doctrine of the new English Church.
- Dissolution of the monasteries + actions of gov. officials = spark for rebellion = Henry raised
£1.3 million from this.
- Trigger for local risings = closure of smaller monasteries.
- Increased vagrancy.
- Catholic Church supported anger behind dissolution = wider discontent about general
political direction of Cromwell + Cranmer.
- Calling it a ‘Pilgrimage’ = suggests a religious motivation = reduces any suggestion of
committing treason.
- Rebels carried a banner making it clear they were rebelling in God’s name.
SOCIO-ECONOMIC:
*Somewhat significant*
- Northern parts of England often suffered from social + economic hardship.
- Exacerbated by gov. demands for taxation + the 1534 subsidy.
- Subsidy hit the North hard as it coincided with 2 years of poor harvest + bad weather.
- The North had growing resentment towards gov. intrusion in the localities.
- Tenants were angry about the demands placed on them by their landlords = entry fines +
enclosure where farmers forced off their lands.
- Explains why poor peasants + agricultural workers joined = effected the most by economic
hardship.
POLITICAL:
*Least significant*
- Pilgrimage was a result of a court-based plot by the conservative faction.
- Aim = restore Princess Mary to the royal succession + remove Cromwell.
- Involvement of gentry + nobility = desires to try moderate the rebellion from within as it was
too large to control with armed forces.
- 1535 Act of Uses = Henry + Cromwell’s attempt to prevent landowners avoiding financial
demands made by the king as their feudal overload.
- Monarch had right to the guardianship of the tenants lands.
- Most momentum for the rebellion came from below = the commons trying to recruit gentry.
- Mainly affected rebels with land/ property.
- Rebels used the word ‘commonwealth’ in their demands = showed they were rebelling for
the good of the realm + acting for the common good = not out of self-interest.
LINCOLNSHIRE RISING + PILGIMAGE OF GRACE- 1536
*The reformers = Thomas Cromwell + Cranmer*
*Rebels were rebelling against the ‘evil counsellors’ + not Henry*
CAUSES/ AIMS
RELIGIOUS:
*Most significant*
- Cromwell’s attacks on traditional practices threatened centuries of Catholic belief.
1536 = Cromwell issued set of Injunctions to the English Clergy = attacked traditional
practices = pilgrimages/ relics/ worship of saints.
Caused anger + fear.
- Undermining these traditions also threatened what people thought would happen to their
souls after death.
- People believed in heaven/ hell/ purgatory as real places.
1536 Act of Ten Articles = attempt to define the doctrine of the new English Church.
- Dissolution of the monasteries + actions of gov. officials = spark for rebellion = Henry raised
£1.3 million from this.
- Trigger for local risings = closure of smaller monasteries.
- Increased vagrancy.
- Catholic Church supported anger behind dissolution = wider discontent about general
political direction of Cromwell + Cranmer.
- Calling it a ‘Pilgrimage’ = suggests a religious motivation = reduces any suggestion of
committing treason.
- Rebels carried a banner making it clear they were rebelling in God’s name.
SOCIO-ECONOMIC:
*Somewhat significant*
- Northern parts of England often suffered from social + economic hardship.
- Exacerbated by gov. demands for taxation + the 1534 subsidy.
- Subsidy hit the North hard as it coincided with 2 years of poor harvest + bad weather.
- The North had growing resentment towards gov. intrusion in the localities.
- Tenants were angry about the demands placed on them by their landlords = entry fines +
enclosure where farmers forced off their lands.
- Explains why poor peasants + agricultural workers joined = effected the most by economic
hardship.
POLITICAL:
*Least significant*
- Pilgrimage was a result of a court-based plot by the conservative faction.
- Aim = restore Princess Mary to the royal succession + remove Cromwell.
- Involvement of gentry + nobility = desires to try moderate the rebellion from within as it was
too large to control with armed forces.
- 1535 Act of Uses = Henry + Cromwell’s attempt to prevent landowners avoiding financial
demands made by the king as their feudal overload.
- Monarch had right to the guardianship of the tenants lands.
- Most momentum for the rebellion came from below = the commons trying to recruit gentry.
- Mainly affected rebels with land/ property.
- Rebels used the word ‘commonwealth’ in their demands = showed they were rebelling for
the good of the realm + acting for the common good = not out of self-interest.
