The Pilgrimage of Grace

Thirty thousand and a banner

On 1 October 1536 the vicar of Louth in Lincolnshire preached a sermon warning that the commissioners of the king were coming to strip the parish church of its plate. By the next day a shoemaker called Nicholas Melton, who signed himself Captain Cobbler, was leading a crowd that grew to around 10,000 at Lincoln within the week. Their demands were for the monasteries, the old religion, and the removal of Cromwell. The king called them the rude commons of one shire, the most brute and beastly of the whole realm, and they went home when the Duke of Suffolk approached with troops. Yorkshire did not go home. From 8 October a lawyer from the East Riding named Robert Aske gathered a far larger movement that he called a pilgrimage, marched under a banner of the Five Wounds of Christ, took York on the 16th and Pontefract Castle on the 20th, and by the end of the month had around 30,000 men at Doncaster facing around 8,000 under the Duke of Norfolk. Norfolk could not fight them. He talked instead. On 6 December the pilgrims were promised a pardon and a parliament in the north, and on the 8th Aske sent them home. In January a smaller rising gave the king his excuse; by the summer of 1537 around 178 people had been executed, Aske among them. The exam asks why the north rose, why the rising failed, and what followed. This module gives you the dated evidence and the three Paper 2 shapes.

Five words the examiners use

Each definition ends with the moment it mattered, because a bare definition earns nothing in a 12-mark answer.

The rising, in order

Put these six events in the order they happened.

• The Lincolnshire rising begins at Louth and reaches 10,000 at Lincoln before dispersing
• Aske takes York and Lord Darcy surrenders Pontefract Castle
• Around 30,000 pilgrims face around 8,000 royal troops at Doncaster and a truce is agreed
• The Pontefract Articles are drawn up, and Norfolk grants a pardon and promises a parliament
• Bigod attempts a new rising and fails
• Norfolk imposes martial law in the north, and Darcy and Aske are executed

Why did the north rise in 1536?

The north had accepted the break with Rome in 1534 without a murmur. Which explanation best accounts for a rising of 30,000 two years later?

• The dissolution had begun: the Act of March 1536 closed houses that in the north were the landlords, employers, schools and hospitals of whole districts; religious change had reached the parishes with the Ten Articles of July and the Injunctions of August, and rumours said church plate and even baptism would be taxed next; the peacetime subsidy of 1534 and a bad harvest had made money short; and the gentry had their own grievance in the Statute of Uses and a shared hatred of Cromwell, so that for once commons and gentry rose together.
• The north wanted the Pope back and rose to restore him.
• It was a plot to put Princess Mary on the throne.
• The Emperor paid the rebels to distract Henry.

Why it failed: the pilgrims and the king

The question on failure wants both sides: what the pilgrims did wrong and what the king did right. The two columns are the answer.

The role of Aske

Five statements about October to December 1536. Tap the TWO that give evidence of the part played by Robert Aske, as opposed to Norfolk or the king.

• The rising in Yorkshire was given the name of a pilgrimage, an oath was drawn up binding the marchers to the king and the Church, and the banner of the Five Wounds was carried at its head.
• At Doncaster on 27 October the royal commander, outnumbered nearly four to one, offered a truce and undertook to carry the grievances of the north to the king.
• On 8 December, having read the pardon aloud and torn the pilgrim badge from his coat, the leader of the movement told 30,000 men to go home.
• The king received the leader of the pilgrimage at court over Christmas, gave him a jacket of crimson satin, and asked him to write an account of the rising.
• In February 1537 the north was placed under martial law and 74 men were hanged at Carlisle.

Consequences of the rising

Select the THREE statements that are true consequences of the Pilgrimage of Grace.

• Around 178 people were executed in 1537, including Aske, Darcy, Hussey, Constable, Bigod and the abbots of Jervaulx, Fountains, Whalley, Barlings and Kirkstead, and the executions were spread across the north so that each district saw the price.
• The dissolution was speeded up rather than stopped: the abbots who had joined the rising forfeited their houses by attainder, and from 1537 the great houses were persuaded to surrender one by one until the last went in 1540.
• The Council of the North was reorganised in 1537 as a permanent royal council at York, so that the region that had risen was governed more closely than before.
• Cromwell was dismissed to satisfy the rebels.
• A parliament met at York in 1537 as promised.
• Mary was restored to the succession in 1537.

How serious a threat was it?

The 16-mark question on this bullet usually asks how far the Pilgrimage was a serious threat to Henry, or how far it failed because of Aske. The strong answer weighs what the pilgrims could have done against what they did, and dates both. The case for a serious threat. Thirty thousand men was the largest force raised in England since the Wars of the Roses, more than Henry could put in the field; the king had 8,000 and no money to pay more. Every major town in Yorkshire was in pilgrim hands by 20 October, the gentry had joined, and a march on London in November would have met nothing that could stop it. Henry had to promise a pardon to men he meant to hang, which is the act of a king who cannot fight. The case against. The pilgrims never intended to depose Henry and swore an oath to say so; they would not cross the Don; their demands were a list, not a programme; and once the gentry were pardoned the movement had no leaders left to hold it together, so that Bigod in January could raise only a few hundred. This meant that the Pilgrimage was the most dangerous rising of the reign and never a revolution, and a judgement that separates the threat it posed in October from the one it posed by December, and says why the gap opened, reaches the top level.

In the shoes of Aske, Norfolk and the king

Four decisions between October 1536 and February 1537. Choose what was actually done, and notice what each choice led to.

• Late October 1536. You are Aske at Doncaster with 30,000 men. Norfolk has 8,000 across the river, the road to London is open, and your captains want to march. What do you do?
• November 1536. You are Henry. Norfolk reports that he cannot fight and the pilgrims want their monasteries back, Cromwell gone and a parliament in the north. What do you authorise?
• 8 December 1536. You are Aske at Pontefract. Norfolk has read the pardon and promised a parliament. Some captains say the promise is worthless without hostages. What do you do?
• February 1537. You are Norfolk, back in the north with royal authority after the Bigod rising. The king wants the north to remember. What do you do?

From cause to consequence

Because the Act of March 1536 closed the smaller monasteries and the Ten Articles reached the parishes in July, the north believed its whole religion was under attack. Because the _____ of 1536 threatened the inheritances of the gentry, men like Darcy led the commons instead of suppressing them. Because _____ would not cross the Don in October, the largest army in England stood still while the king found his answer. Because the pardon of 6 December was made by a king who did not mean it, the pilgrims went home with nothing in writing but a promise. And because _____ rose in January against the advice of Aske, Norfolk had his excuse, and around _____ were executed by the summer of _____.

The two armies at Doncaster

At Doncaster in late October 1536 the pilgrims had around 30,000 men and Norfolk had around 8,000. By how many men did the pilgrims outnumber the royal army?

The 4-mark question

Question (a) might read: Describe two features of the Pilgrimage of Grace. It is marked feature plus supporting detail, twice. Which answer scores all four marks?

• One feature was its religious character: the marchers swore an oath to the Church and the king, carried a banner of the Five Wounds of Christ, and called themselves pilgrims rather than rebels. Another was its size: around 30,000 men gathered at Doncaster by the end of October 1536, against around 8,000 royal troops under Norfolk, making it the largest rising of the Tudor period.
• It was religious. It was big.
• The Pilgrimage of Grace was a very serious rebellion that frightened the king.
• The Pilgrimage happened because the monasteries were being closed and the north hated Cromwell.

A 12-mark paragraph, marked

Question (b): Explain why the Pilgrimage of Grace failed. One reason the Pilgrimage failed was the refusal of its leaders to fight the king. At Doncaster at the end of October 1536 Aske had around 30,000 men against around 8,000 under Norfolk, and the road to London lay open, but the pilgrims had sworn an oath of loyalty to Henry and Aske insisted they were petitioners, not rebels. He accepted the truce of 27 October and sent the articles south instead of the army. This meant that the one moment at which the rising could have forced the king to do anything passed while the pilgrims waited for an answer, and by the time Norfolk returned with the pardon on 6 December Henry had had six weeks to decide that he would keep none of it. The Pilgrimage failed because a movement that would not use its strength had given the king time to find his. What earned the marks: a cause named in the first sentence; specific support (the numbers, the oath, 27 October, 6 December); the link phrase this meant that; and a closing sentence that returns to the question. Two more paragraphs, on the deception practised by the king and Norfolk and on the Bigod rising that broke the pardon, and the answer reaches the top level.

Write the 12-mark answer

Explain why the Pilgrimage of Grace failed. You may use the following in your answer: Robert Aske; the pardon. You must also use information of your own.

• Support that counts: a date, a number, a name or a place
• Causes of your own: the role of Norfolk, the divided demands of commons and gentry, or the Bigod rising

The 16-mark judgement

Question (c) might read: "The Pilgrimage of Grace was a serious threat to Henry VIII." How far do you agree? A student has written the case FOR. Which is the strongest point to set AGAINST it?

• The numbers were real, but a threat is measured by what an army will do, and this one would not cross the Don: the pilgrims swore loyalty to the king, refused to march when they outnumbered him nearly four to one, and dispersed on a verbal promise, so that Henry was never in danger of losing his throne, only of having to lie to keep it; the Pilgrimage was a serious threat to the policy of 1536 and never to the king, and a judgement should say which the question means.
• It failed, so it cannot have been a threat.
• The Lincolnshire rising collapsed in a fortnight.
• Henry was chosen by God and could not be overthrown.