The Pilgrimage of Grace 1536

Today is the 490th anniversary of the beginning of the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536. This followed on from the Lincolnshire Rising which had collapsed a fortnight beforehand. The what extent they were actually linked remains unclear, and they may be an instance of similar circumstances producing similar, but distinct, events.  

        

   

A surviving embroidered badge of the Five Wounds from the Pilgrimage 

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As I wrote in my article about the Lincolnshire Rising the Pilgrimage of Grace is one of those events which people either so know about, more especially perhaps if they are northerners, or they do not know about it or dismiss as just a conservative, reactionary movement in opposition to the progressive moves of King Henry VIII and his dreadful lackeys, Cromwell and Cranmer. ….

Wikipedia has a very general and rather superficial account at of the movement at Pilgrimage of Grace

We have a great deal of contemporary source material available but it requires time to read it. A knowledge of the region and places involved helps to locate it not just geographically but also spiritually and culturally.

Although there was strong support in Craven and in north Lancashire, Westmoreland and Cumberland, which might be considered ‘backwoods’ areas the  Pilgrimage began in the prosperous lowlands of the East Riding east of the Ouse and similar areas across that Riding and the West Riding. These were areas much more similar to the eastern Midlands and southern England, and with an inbuilt tradition of being independent-minded, and like the Lincolnshire men who had risen only weeks earlier.

Could it have succeeded? I think the odds were ultimately stacked in favour of the Crown and central government. Like the smaller Lincolnshire uprising it appears to have broken down behind the seeming front of unity, especially after the truce arranged at the end of the year. Those like Sir Francis Bigod who started another uprising early in 1537 played into the government’s hand and enabled the King to call off the truce and go on the offensive.

Although there was aristocratic support there was not the type of leadership from a great magnate or magnates which had proved so potent in the previous century with regional and factional rebellions. We do not really know what discussions took place in  private over a sizeable area beforehand, and the historical debate continues as to who was behind the movement.

Was Robert Aske, like Thomas Moigne in Lincolnshire, the leader or the legally trained spokesman for what was in part a movement by the social and religious elite, but was also a genuinely popular movement?

Any hoped for foreign intervention was lacking, though how likely this was is highly debatable given the international situation. Nor can one see how such an operation could have been mounted, especially at short notice.  

King Henry could have abided by the truce, but again one must ask was that ever likely? It had been negotiated by the Duke of Norfolk who probably sympathised with the Pilgrimage’s aims, yet he was also bound to the King and safeguarding his own position in East Anglia and elsewhere.

In a time when the popular voice could only be heard by rebelling its chances of success were slim without support in other regions. Once the initial impact wore off the momentum changed and the balance of advantage passed to the government in London.

Retribution was severe, with executions continuing into the summer of 1538.

As with the members of the Lincolnshire Rising we can  appreciate the zeal to maintain the traditional faith, and to remedy socio-economic grievances, and say of the Pilgrims that at least they tried to save their way of life and faith.