Pilgrimage Of Grace Analysis

What are the short term significance of The Pilgrimage of Grace, 1536?

The Pilgrimage of Grace, 1536, was a rebellion which was the result of Henry VIII’s religious reforms which aimed to provide Henry with more control of the church. The Pilgrimage of Grace is significant in many aspects. These are that it was the first rebellion to have religious causes, the rebellion united the whole of the north of England and that, it is the first rebellion to have demands presented from the rebels and that it posed a great threat because of its scale, the pardon for the rebels came with conditions. The most important aspects are that the rebellion had such a strong common cause, it was able to unite the North of England and that it was the first rebellion

to have religious causes.
One highly significant aspect of the Pilgrimage of Grace was that it was remarkable because it was the first rebellion, in the Tudor Period, to have religious causes. The religious reforms, for example ‘taking away of any goods of parish churches’2, which Henry VIII put in place angered many people. The north was highly catholic and so the dissolution of the monasteries revealed how seriously they took their religion. The oaths of the rebels give evidence to how religion was the major factor for the rebellion. ‘Ye shall not enter this our Pilgrimage of Grace for the commonwealth, but only for the love that ye do bear unto almighty God’. This is corroborated by Hall’s chronicles ‘[the] men had bound themselves to each other by their oath to be faithful and obedient to their captain’1. The ‘Oath of Honourable Men’ and ‘their insurrection should extend no further than to the maintenance and defense of the faith of Christ and the deliverance of holy church’ was written for the rebels to show their commitment to the cause. This source give a substantial amount of weight to the argument as the oath was not to be seen by anyone other than the rebels and it is not meant for persuasion, rather declaration of dedication. The oaths would have been written or created by the leader, Robert Aske, a well-educated English lawyer. Hall was also in a high position when writing his chronicles, however, his position meant that he was sympathetic to Henry VIII and so the chronicles can only give a limited extent of weight. This weakens the argument marginally as they might have exaggerated the oaths to radicalise the rebels and the chronicle to make the rebels look more hostile and Henry to look more favourable. This shows that this is a highly significant element as it was remarkable because it was the first rebellion that was caused by religious causes.
An equally significant element of the Pilgrimage of Grace was that it was revealing because it united the North of England for a common cause. Edward Hall wrote, ‘the northern men had assembled themselves into a huge and great army of warlike men, to the number of 40,000’ . This is corroborated by a letter sent from Henry VIII , the size of the rebellion was so great that ‘we have already sent out the duke of Suffolk... with 100,000 men, horses in foot, in harness with munitions and artillery’. This shows that the rebellion was so big that Henry VIII had been threatened enough to send a large army to sort it out as the size of the rebellion would be enough to overthrow him. Both sources give a moderate amount of weight as they both have the benefit of experiencing the rebellion first-hand. However, Henry’s letters are personal opinion and so he wouldn’t want to broadcast any threat he might have felt especially to people he was trying to persuade to help him and instead tried to show himself as being ruthless, whereas Hall’s chronicles are a factual account of the rebellion and so provide an academic analysis and so should be factually accurate. In addition to this, at the time, Hall was in a position of power in the law, also, in his chronicles he presented Henry VIII ‘in a very favourable light’ and so despite the nature of the source being a factual account, he is in a position to sympathise and make Henry look more favourable than the rebels. This weakens the source and so it cannot give much weight, which is similar for Henry VIII’s letter. This shows that the common cause is a greatly significant element because it reveals to us that it was a strong cause and united the North of England.

A less, but still reasonably, significant element of the Pilgrimage of Grace was that it was remarkable as it was the first rebellion, in the Tudor Period, to have demands from the rebels. The Pontefract Articles was a list of demands that the rebels wanted. This shows that they were organised and precise with what they wanted. These demands were mostly focused on their religious beliefs, wanting to stop the religious reformations and the dissolution of the monasteries, such as ‘4. The suppressed abbeys to be restored to their houses, lands, and goods.’ And ’18. The privileges and rights of the church to be confirmed by Act of Parliament…’ The demands were to be considered by parliament and so this shows that they were taken very seriously. This is supported by a letter from Robert Aske to Henry VIII in 1537, where Aske tells Henry that ‘the commons of Yorkeswold, Beverly, and Holderness were disposed for new commotions.’ This means that people were prepared to join another rebellion because their demands had been taken by parliament, as nothing had happened. The letter from Aske and Pontefract Article’s purpose are to persuade Henry VIII to stop his religious reformations and the dissolution of the monasteries. This means that, with the letter particularly, some content might have been exaggerated to hurry Henry with a decision about whether he would stop the religious reforms or not. This could also be suggested as Henry received the Articles in December 1536 and the letter from Aske was sent on 12th January 1537. The letter indicates a certain amount of desperation and hence why he would exaggerate the letter. This weakens the source but still makes it reasonably significant in indicating the remarkability that it was the first rebellion to have demands presented from the rebels.
A similarly significant element of the Pilgrimage of Grace was that it was remarkable because it posed a vast threat due to the scale of the rebellion.

Hall described the rebels as being ‘a great army of warlike men… to the number of 40,000 men’1. This is similar to the views of Henry VIII as is evident from many letters from himself to his associates. As he makes threats at the rebels, e.g. ‘the abbot and certain of the chief monks to be hanged on long pieces of timber’ . This shows that the rebels were a big enough threat to Henry VIII and his religious beliefs that he would send ‘100,000 men’2 and a band of his loyal subjects to stop them. Hall and Henry VIII would give similar views of the rebels as, at the time, Hall was in a position of authority for Henry and so if he hadn’t have had an identical view he would have ended up being executed. This weakens Hall source considerably. Similarly for Henry’s letters, if he was seen sympathising with the rebels he wouldn’t have had any support in stopping the rebellion and would have been seen as a weak king, which would have encouraged more rebellions. This means that the sources are quite weak in giving support that the rebellion was threatening as the sources are meant to give the perception that Henry was strong against the rebellion and not threatened by it. Also, one of Henry’s letters is from the beginning of the rebellion and so it is good at showing how he felt at the start but it is chronologically limited so it

cannot show how he felt by the end. This is indicative of the fact that the size of the Pilgrimage of Grace posed a great threat was remarkable and reasonably significant.
Lastly, one slightly significant aspect of the Pilgrimage of Grace was that it was revealing because the pardon for the came with conditions.

In a letter from Henry VIII to Robert Aske, Henry talks about his ‘faithful and obedient subjects’ and in another how Aske and the rebels should be ‘repentant’7. This is supported by a further letter from Henry VIII to the Earl of Derby, where he acknowledges that the rebel’s actions were ‘proceeded from ignorance’ . This reveals that Henry knew that he couldn’t punish all of the 40,000 rebels and so by giving the rebels and pardon that came with conditions, he was able to control the actions of the rebels and show his authority without killing anyone. All of Henry’s letters were written at the end of the Pilgrimage of Grace, which means that he had the benefit of being from the time of the uprising and so he has direct knowledge and as they are letters they are not for a great number of people to see and so it can be said to give a snapshot of the rebellion. However, it may have been exaggerated to show Henry in a more merciful light. This shows that the Pilgrimage of Grace was revealing because the pardon for the rebels came with conditions, which was the first time it had happened in Henry VIII’s

reign.
In conclusion, from the evidence provided, it is suggested that the most significant element of the Pilgrimage of Grace is that it was the first rebellion in the Tudor period to have religious causes. This is because it leads to the other significant elements. Religion meant that it was a common cause for the whole of the North, meaning it posed a big threat, the great threat meant that they were able to make demands and Henry VIII had to make conditions on a pardon. This means that each factor is not just significant to the rebellion as a whole, but significant to all the other crux’s too.