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

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

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