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The Pilgrimage of Grace 1536
A religious uprising in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire
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Headlines are in brown.
Dates are in red.
Hyperlinks to other pages are in dark blue.
References and citations are in turquoise.
Context and local history are in purple.
Geographical context is in green.
Although monasteries and nunneries were
not widely popular, their suppression by Henry VIII led to an uprising in
October 1536 in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. It began in Lincolnshire but then
spread to a more formidable rising in the East Riding of Yorkshire. It came to
be led by Robert Aske.
The causes of the rebellion are not
particularly clear. It was probably a rebellion against change, focused on
taxation.
Over 30,000 folk carrying religious
banners demanded:
·
An
end to the closure of religious houses
·
The
prevention of the merging of parishes and closing of churches.
They also protested
against taxation. They repaired and reopened monasteries themselves.
Sir Thomas Percy of Seamer may have been
a significant leader and Sir Nicholas Fairfax of Gilling appears to have joined
in, along with many from Cleveland.
They occupied York and Hull. They reached Doncaster.
It came to be known as the Pilgrimage
of Grace from their banner showing the five wounds of Christ.
Henry ordered the Duke of Norfolk to
overcome the challenge, but he negotiated with them and promised them pardons.
When the rebellion had subsided, Henry
VIII renounced the concessions and ordered widespread executions.
There was a second more localised rising
in January 1537, called Bigod's Rebellion, under Sir Francis Bigod, of
Settrington, amidst rumours of taxes, when Cleveland was in a ferment.
By February 1537, the rebellions were
over.
Between 1532 and 1540 some 300 folk were
executed on religious grounds.
See also the Pilgrimage
of Grace as it involved Doncaster.
See also South
Yorkshire, the History and Topography of the Deanery of Doncaster in the
Diocese and County of York by Rev Joseph Hunter, 1828, page 16.