THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE

THE DISCONTENT AND UPRISINGS LEADING UP TO THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE

The Pilgrim protesters and the origin of their grievances, can be traced back to when Henry VIII of England had cast off his first wife, Katherine of Aragon and the way in which he did it.

In 1531, Katherine had been banished from court amid immense public anger. Overwhelming public opinion, throughout the country, including London, was staunchly on her side.

The Protestant Reformation had been rumbling on in Europe since 1517, when Martin Luther, had nailed his; Ninety Five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences, to the door of the All Saints Church, in Wittenberg, Saxony.

In Europe, reformation of the Church was looked on favourably by a large section of the ordinary common people, especially in northern European countries. Although it is highly unlikely that people could even envisage, what was being unleashed, for over a hundred years to come. Or even if they even wanted the reforms to go as far as they did go.

The European reformation, was both a political and theological reformation. In England, Ireland and Wales, it was not. In these countries, the common people were very wary of what was happening in Europe.

A breakaway from Rome, they most certainly did not want. Unlike in Europe, the English reformation was brought about initially by changes in policy.

In his desperation to obtain an annulment of his marriage to Katherine of Aragon, thereby clearing the way for him to marry Anne Boleyn, but unable to obtain it from Pope Clement VII, Henry VIII summoned Parliament in 1529, in order to deal with the annulment.

In 1534 Henry VIII of England was declared to be the Supreme Head on Earth of The Church of England, in order that he could have his marriage to Katherine of Aragon annulled and so be free to marry Anne Boleyn.

It was the complete break with Rome. Anne Boleyn, was loathed. On one occassion she had narrowly escaped being seized by an angry crowd of very hostile women, as she dined at a house beside the river Thames.

With the execution of Bishop John Fisher and Sir Thomas More, her standing in the public's eyes was at its lowest. She was often referred to as "The King's whore" or "naughty paike" meaning prostitute. The tyranny of Henry's government had up until now, always been blamed on her.

However, with her arrest and subsequent farcical trial, which was based on trumped up charges, followed by the obviously pre-determined verdict of treason and her execution, public opinion turned firmly against Henry, and was moved to sympathy for her.

There was a lot of anger over the rise of Thomas Cromwell, especially among the Aristocracy, but also much anger over the roll he had played in the break with Rome and in his position in overseeing the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

There were several economic grievances too. The gentry were concerned about the new Statute of Uses. There were many fears of new taxes being imposed and the harvest of 1535 had led to high food prices.

The Pilgrimage of Grace, was the culmination of a series of widespread popular uprisings, which had started late in 1536 and finished early in 1537. A London barrister by the name of Robert Aske was elected to lead this latest protest.

The series of uprisings were carried out, in protest against what many people considered to be the draconian Religious, Economic and Political policies of Henry VIII of England and his chief Minister, Thomas Cromwell.

The Religious grievances, stemmed from Henry VIII's break with Rome and the Dissolution of the English Monasteries. These policies alienated huge swathes of the population, not just in the north of the country, but in many places away from the City of London.

People did not want these reforms. Neither did they want the widespread destruction, of immensely popular shrines. They had been erected by their ancestors over the centuries, out of sheer respect for many, much loved and revered Saints.

Ordinary people and much of the nobility were fervent believers in the old rituals and depended on the English Monasteries for all their religeous devotions. The REAL reasons behind these so called reforming policies were nothing short of Sacriligious in their eyes.

It was sheer greed. As the immense fortune, which Henry VIII had inherited from his father dwindled, having been spent on his military ambitions and his love of palaces and the high life at court, so did Henry's eyes wander.

He saw the wealth in the Monastic Settlements and the emptiness of the Royal Coffers.

The series of uprisings which occurred in late 1536 and early 1537 were collectively known as the Pilgrimage of Grace, although there was in fact only one Pilgrimage of Grace. That was the uprising which drew protesters from all over the North to York in the months of October, November and December 1536.

THE LINCOLNSHIRE UPRISING.

It had begun as a protest only against the suppression of these Religious houses and in no way was it intended against the King. It rapidly spread to nearby towns however, gaining support from protesters who now began demanding more.

These demands now included, as well as an end to the Dissolution of the Monasteries; an end to taxes in peacetime; an end to the collection of a subsidy; an end to the ten articles; the repeal of the Statute of Uses; a purge of heretics in government.

With support from the local gentry,an estimated forty thousand demonstrators descended on Lincoln and occupied the Cathedral. Freedom to continue the practice of worshipping as Catholics and the protection of the treasures of all Lincolnshire Churches, were demanded.

The uprising dispersed when King Henry sent word that if they did not, then they would face the full force of the men, which were at the disposal of Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, already on its way and ready to dispatch justice instantly.

Henry had previously made it known, that anyone who dared show any disloyalty to the King, would be shown no mercy.

Two of the main leaders of the uprising, the Vicar of Louth and a certain Captain Cobbler, were captured and hanged at Tyburn, in London. The King though, now faced a far more serious threat in York, which delayed the capture of the other Lincoln leaders.

However, most of them were rounded up in the course of the following year and met the same fate. This Uprising in Lincolnshire had the effect of encouraging other protesters to join the more widespread Pilgrimage of Grace.

THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE.

Immediately after the Lincolnshire Rising failed, the real Pilgrimage of Grace began. It was on 13th October 1536 that Robert Aske, at the front of nine thousand followers, entered and placed under occupation the city of York.

Aske, who was the youngest son of Sir Robert Aske of Aughton, which is situated near Selby in Yorkshire, came from an old Yorkshire family. Extremely gifted as an orator, he resided as a lawyer, at the Inns of Court in London.

Although the majority of the protesters that made up the Pilgrimage of Grace were Commoners, they did include among them, many members of the nobility and the gentry. It was suspected that some of these were actually numbered among the organisers.

John Neville, 3rd Baron Latymer, who was the second husband of Katherine Parr, the future sixth and last wife of King Henry VIII, had been widely suspected of collaborating with them, and was summoned to report and explain his actions to the King, before being cleared. Katherine herself was captured by the Pilgrims and held hostage for a while.

The main demands of the protesters who formed the Pilgrimage of Grace, were immediate cessation of the Suppression of the Monasteries and the return of the monks and nuns, the return of the country to Papal Supremacy, and the casting out of Cranmer and all other heretical Bishops.

Up to this point, it was the lesser monasteries and religious houses which had been suppressed. For several centuries, monasteries had been the very backbone of the country.They had provided everything. Schools; hospitals; orphanages; work for tenant farmers; employment for labourers; shelter for the poorest; they provided shelter for travellers, as there were no coaching inns in those days. It was the Dissolution of the Monasteries that heralded their dawn.

This whole policy, which brought about a tremendous transfer of wealth, had brought with it, social and economic chaos. It was a policy driven by the sheer greed of covetous men, who gazed with unquenchable lust on that tremendous wealth.

Was it any wonder, that decent men would be stirred to rise up in protest against such tyranny. The Pilgrimage of Grace was made up of such men.

In order to demonstrate that the protest was honest and of the highest integrity, and to distance the protestation away from any idea that it was an attack on the King, or the King's temporal powers, Robert Aske used the term Pilgrimage of Grace to show it was a journey of protest, undertaken in goodwill and with a sense of propriety and consideration for others. Not just a disorderly and rebellious rabble, which would have frightened away any nobility or gentry who otherwise would have given their support.

An oath, pledging to behave with propriety was required to be taken by every person who participated in the protest. It was binding and any failure to abide by it, by those who took it, would mean eternal damnation.

What they actually swore was to take up the Cross of Christ, Defend the Catholic Church, preserve the King's person and his issue, to strive for the suppression of these heretics and their heresies, to expel villein blood and evil councillors, replacing them with men of decent birth.

The heretics, villein and evil councillors referred to above, they named as Cromwell, Audley and Rich. A villein in medieval England was a serf or an unfree peasant.

Consider the oath that the protesters who made up the Pilgrimage of Grace swore. They were demanding nothing more than that which was theirs before King Henry had begun his tyrannical and murderous revolt against the Church.

They were also swearing unquestionable, unswerving loyalty to their King. They did not show this allegiance to his royal government. Their intense dislike for Cromwell and the others was palpable.

He wanted to believe that once Henry saw the protest as being what it was meant to be, i.e. a spiritual, Pilgrimage of Grace, being undertaken by his loyal, but distraught subjects, he would, reconsider and reverse his previous policies.

The support for the Pilgrimage of Grace was widespread, men from Northumberland, Durham and Lancashire joined the Yorkshiremen.

Once inside the city of York, Aske and his followers from the Pilgrimage of Grace, expelled the King's newly installed tenants, from the houses they had occupied. The expelled monks and nuns were then allowed to return, and Catholic observance was quickly re-established.

One week after entering the City of York, the Castle at Pontefract, which was under the control of Thomas Darcy, 1st Baron Darcy de Darcy, fell to the pilgrims on 21st October without a shot having been fired. Lord Darcy was attainted and then beheaded on 20th June 1538 for this alleged surrender.

Pontefract castle is suspected to have witnessed the murder of King Richard II in 1399 and it was alleged to have been the place where King Henry VIII's fifth wife, Queen Catherine Howard first committed adultery with Sir Thomas Culpeper, a crime for which she was subsequently executed.

Both Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk (Anne Boleyn's uncle,who presided over her trial) and George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, were ordered north by King Henry to put down the uprising, but, only able to muster eight thousand men between them, they would be facing an army, estimated at about forty thousand men. They were heavily outnumbered.

Fortunately for the royal force, Robert Aske was not looking for a battle, it was a negotiated settlement he desired. By so doing he had saved the skin of Henry VIII.

The royal leaders agreed to open negotiations with the rebel leaders at Doncaster, where Robert Aske had stationed about threequarters of his forces. It was at these negotiations that Robert Aske was tricked into disbanding his forces.

Henry, had authorised the Duke of Norfolk to promise a general pardon, secondly an assurance was given that a Parliament would be held at York within a year and thirdly, there would be a reprieve for the abbeys until that Parliament had met.

Trusting in the King's promises and Norfolk's offer of an escort for a rebel deputation to travel to London with their demands, Robert Aske disbanded his forces in the Pilgrimage of Grace. Aske sent his envoys to London with the demands, whilst remaining in Yorkshire himself.

The King received the demands, but then started to stall, with the intention of wearing the rebels down. He did not reply to them for several weeks, with the excuse that he needed clarification to certain details.

What he hoped for, was that as the pilgrims would tire of waiting, unrest would begin to show, with disputes breaking out and eventually an impatient response to his delaying tactics, thereby giving him all the excuse he needed to punish them severely.

He suggested that the Pilgrimage of Grace leaders again meet with Norfolk, with the object of setting down a clearly written, detailed set of demands.

This time he instructed Norfolk, in whichever way he thought fit to end the rebellion once and for all.

The rebel leaders met at Pontefract and drew up their demands which were then presented to Norfolk who agreed that if the rebels disbanded:The King would receive their demands.They would be discussed in a freely elected Parliament.A pardon would be given to all participants in the Pilgrimage of Grace.

It was the loyalty of Robert Aske to Henry VIII of England which saved the King's unworthy hide, not the cunning of Norfolk. The Pilgrim leaders were convinced they had won a great victory.

At the King's invitation, Aske travelled down to London to enlighten him about the true feelings of his subjects, in order that any future problems could be identified and resolved thereby avoiding any trouble.

The King was still stalling, he had already made up his mind that the north was going to be punished. What he wanted from Aske was as many names as he could get. His justice was going to be swift and terrible.

In January 1537, Robert Aske returned to a Yorkshire filled with impatience, suspicion and foreboding. The promised pardons had not as yet materialised. Cromwell, Cranmer etc. were still in office. There was no sign of the Dissolution of the Monasteries coming to an end, no sign of the return to Papal authority.

Norfolk, fearing the King would suspect him of sympathizing with the pilgrims, needed to prove his loyalty. He would be judged on the way he handled proceedings from now on.

He used a rebellion, led by Sir Francis Bigod, which took place in Cumberland and Westmorland in January 1537 as an excuse for his actions, even though Robert Aske and the Pilgrims had condemned Bigod.

With all the Pilgrims disbanded and in complete disaray, Norfolk positioned himself to strike. With no chance of fighting Norfolk, the leaders of the Pilgrimage of Grace obeyed the King's orders to go to London for questioning.

Despite the promises of a pardon, several of the Pilgrim leaders were under arrest and two juries in Yorkshire sworn in to decide whether they should be tried in London. In a completely heartless manoeuvre, Norfolk who picked the jury, forced the relatives and friends of the accused to sit on the jury.

This unbelievable act of cruelty was designed to test their loyalty. They were now essentially being forced to sign the death warrants of their relatives and friends, as there was not one chance they would be spared in a trial which took place in London.

Not surprisingly, they were all found guilty of treason, by conspiring to deprive the King of his dignity, title, name, and royal state, namely of being on earth the Supreme Head of the English Church.

Most of them were executed in London, but Aske was taken back to Yorkshire, where he was dragged through the streets and hanged by chains from the walls of York Castle, as a warning to others who may have harboured any thoughts of rebellion.

It is not known how many members of the Pilgrimage of Grace were eventually caught and executed, but a very conservative estimate puts the figure at over two hundred and fifty, with some estimates much more than that.

The Pilgrimage of Grace was an extremely serious threat to the reign of Henry VIII of England. It would have been nearly impossible for Him to have mustered an army big enough to take on the thirty five to forty thousand Pilgrims. The anger that was directed against Henry and his government was nationwide and not just confined to the north.

It is an absolute certainty that, had the Pilgrims marched south for London, their ranks would have swelled twofold, if not more. Another danger would have been for the Pope, who had immense support in England to have sided with the Pilgrims, for a foreign nation could easily have seized the opportunity to invade.

The biggest ally Henry VIII had, was Robert Aske himself. He was a great leader, but was loyal to the King.

All the Pilgrimage of Grace set out to do was to try to reverse the policies of the previous seven years. They wanted to bring England back to what it had been before Henry and his tyrannical regime had begun to change things.

Ironically, instead of halting and reversing the policies of Henry VIII, the Pilgrimage of Grace speeded the process up. With no one left to oppose him, he could very much do as he pleased.


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