19 October 1536 – Henry VIII Gets Tough on the Pilgrimage of Grace Rebels

Henry had been really shaken by the events first in Lincolnshire and by now in York and Lancashire and then Pontefract. The letters above show a mixed practical approach of taking over the methods of rebellion, taking the horse and harness, and taking over the means of rebellion to prevent further actions by the commons in Lincolnshire where the actual trouble was over within a couple of weeks. It then shows the more ruthless side of the King; a King who ironically was himself insecure and afraid at this time as this was the worst threat to his authority and to his reign since it began thirty years beforehand. Henry was six years old when his own father faced rebellion on several fronts, the city of London was attacked and his mother had to flee in the night with him and his sisters to the Tower. He must have seen the entire thing again and relived it; this affected his mind, his response and his actions all through this period of northern rebellions.

Henry’s threats to the familes of the commons is terrible; terror is meant to be the end result and that should horrify us; but by this time, in LIncoln the main threat was over, so the letter is more bluster than actual orders to carry out such actions. In any event, Suffolk does not have the arms or the men to supress over 10,000 rebels; the money is even too late. However, in Yorkshire things would be much worse than this, and there reprecusions would follow that struck fear for the following generations.

Henry did supress the Yorkshire rebellion: the Pilgrimage of Grace with some measure of severity, though, even though he did not kill thousands of men, women and children as depicted in the Tudors. Susanna Lipscombe puts some of his extreme anger and reaction to rebellions to signs that he is turning into the latter tyrant. There are varied reasons given for the change in personality; including the bang of the temperol lobs, the brain damage and of course the fallout from his marriage and his execution of Anne Boleyn. Earlier groups of rebels had been dealt with in much more measured ways, through negotiations, pardons, spectacular pardons in fact, agreements and petitions, with token executions only. The famous May Day Riots of 1517 was one such act of mercy and theatre, although some dozen or so youths were brutally hung drawn and quartered before the King intervened. Now those days were over and Tudor rebellions from this day forth would always be treated with severity by Henry, Elizabeth, Edward and to a much lesser degree Mary.

In Yorkshire the forces were 30,000-40,000 for the rebels and Shrewsbury had about 8,000, so Henry’s injunctions to attack were more in hope than reality as here Norfolk who took charge was forced to negotiate. We all know the story that followed; a meeting is arranged, the rebels under Aske gain the support of Lord Darce at Pontefract and take charge also of York. All sorts of promises are made to make sure the rebels go home and negotiations follow to prevent them from marching on London. Henry to gain time duped Aske into coming with others to present a petition and invited to court for Christmas. Aske gives Henry his reasons and is well treated, given a rich coat by the King and spent New Year with Henry and the Court before coming back north. A second rising broke out and Cromwell moved to prosecute the rebels. The King was given the excuse that he needed to send in the troops, this time with adequate forces and the trials began. But not with impunity and not with the bloodiness of the Tudors. Most trials were fairly conducted by the standards of the day; were conducted lawfully, most executions only after proper legal proceedures. The number of executions is hotly debated, but some historians include in that some 700 that were injured or killed after the seige at Carlisle in which the attackers were stormed. It is actually unknown the number that were killed, but most were taken prisoner, so the figure was not 700. In Lincolnshire it is believed that about 127 were executed and 216 in Yorkshire and other places, taking the figure to about 341 in total. Yes, this is a ruthless act, but this was a ruthless age and rebels were not shown mercy, they were a threat; Kings did not deal with terrorists as some were often seen as. But compared to the actual number in the field, it also shows restrait and in fact Henry complained as the Dukes refused to execute rebels to the fullest extent of the law; merely hanging them or beheading them instead of the full sentence of hanging, drawing and quartering. Having said this, to make sure that the message was not forgotten some poor souls were hung in their own gardens, on hill sides, monks were hung from the beams of Sawley Abbey and in one place more than 70 died in, with most villages feeling the horror of the retributions.

The gentry had supported the risings and a number were also beheaded; Lords Darce and Hussey were beheaded and Aske, seen as the leader and the most rebellious was in some twisted variety of the KIng’s hung in chains for three days from the walls of the towers of York Castle.

This was a brutal response to what in the north was seen as a religious pilgrimage, but the pilgrims had also used violence and it was taken as a serious threat. However, its repression was not untypical, nor the most cruel in contemporary history or since. In Germany some 25,000 peasants were hunted down and killed after the revolts of 1525. Edward’s administration repressed at least three similar rebellions in Kent and the Prayer Book Revolt or 1549 with similar if not more severity. Mary, faced with a rebellion to attempt to stop her from coming to the crown with mercy and wisdom, she showed mercy to most of the Wyatt rebels, the leaders only being executed and a third rebellion, 100 at most were executed, many leaders were actually pardoned even though they rebelled three times. Elizabeth did not meet rebels with love, she tried and executed them the same as any other King or Queen. 700 plus where executed after the northern rebellion of 1569. Elizabeth may have been beloved by the majority of her subjects and she may have tried to show love to most of her people; but she certainly knew how to order a brutal execution when she had to.