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by Dodds, Madeleine Hope; Dodds, Ruth
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Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #77706.
The work is a scholarly compilation by Madeleine Hope Dodds and Ruth Dodds that gathers and transcribes primary sources on the 1536‑37 Pilgrimage of Grace and the 1538 Exeter Conspiracy. The opening pages are dominated by formal acknowledgments to contemporary scholars and museum staff, followed by a detailed note on the handling of original spellings versus modernised text. A contents list outlines fourteen chapters that trace the political backdrop, the unfolding rebellions in Lincolnshire and the East Riding, and the subsequent councils and musters, supplemented by maps of the affected regions. The authors begin Chapter I with a “Turning‑point” essay that situates the uprisings within Henry VIII’s domestic and fiscal crises, offering a concise survey of parliamentary politics, the king’s marriage alliances, and Thomas Cromwell’s rising influence.
Written in a measured academic voice, the book reflects early‑20th‑century historiography, employing exhaustive footnotes, contemporary citations, and occasional linguistic commentary on period spellings. Its style is dense yet clear, favoring careful analysis over narrative drama. Readers with a serious interest in Tudor England, especially those studying Henry VIII’s religious reforms, the socioeconomic forces behind the northern rebellions, or the intricacies of early modern English governance, will find the volume a valuable reference. It also appeals to scholars of legal and archival history who appreciate the meticulous presentation of original documents alongside modern interpretation.
The opening · free to read
=3= For influence on elections in the King’s favour, see “History,” October 1914, A. F. Hattersley, “The Real Position of the Duke of Norfolk in 1529–30.”
=50= For Thomas Monkton read William Monketon.
=79= The church plate of Hull. This method of securing the value of the church plate to the parish became fairly common in the later part of Henry VIII’s reign and during the reign of Edward VI. See Cox, “Churchwardens’ Accounts” (the Antiquary’s Books), pp. 133, 140–1.
=91= For the commission to the clergy see Usher, “The Rise and Fall of the High Commission,” pp. 15–21.
=116= Note E. The Sir Marmaduke Constable mentioned was Sir Robert’s brother, not his cousin.
=123= Composition of the royal and the rebel forces. See Cox, “Churchwardens’ Accounts” (the Antiquary’s Books), pp. 325–7, for the parish soldier and the parish armour.
=145= “Four docepyers.” Not “deceivers,” as suggested, but “douzepers,” great men. See New English Dictionary, and Lydgate, “Minor Poems” (Percy Society), p. 25:—
“Where been of Fraunce all the dozepiere, Which in Gaule had the governaunce?”
=149= The commons of Howdenshire attacked the house of Sir Marmaduke Tunstall, the Bishop of Durham’s nephew, but “some more sober than the residue” prevented any serious damage. See “Richmondshire Wills” (Surtees Society), p. 288 n.
=184= Spoiling of Blytheman’s house. Colins was afterwards accused of being the chief plunderer. See L. and P. XII (1), 1264.
=203= Oxneyfield is close to Darlington, where it seems that the townspeople rose and joined the rebels. The dean of the collegiate church commended one of his servants who “was the safeguard of my life, for else I had been betrapped by the commons ere I had known.” “Richmondshire Wills” (Surtees Society), p. 40 n. Cf. below, vol. II, p. 94.
=208= The lordship of Middleham, which had belonged to Warwick the Kingmaker, on his death and attainder was granted by Edward IV to Richard Duke of Gloucester, afterwards Richard III. (Gairdner, “Richard III,” p. 22.) It is well known that Richard married Warwick’s daughter Anne, co-heiress with her sister Isabel, and thus obtained a claim to the lordship not only by grant but also by inheritance. He and his wife were very popular at Middleham, which he called his home (ibid. pp. 28, 259). When Richard in his turn was killed and attainted, Middleham escheated to the crown, but, Anne and her only child being dead, Warwick’s line was now represented by the Countess of Salisbury, the daughter of Anne’s sister Isabel, who was married to the Duke of Clarence. This expression of affection for the old line may therefore be a reference to the Poles.
=209= “Merlione.” This is a misreading of “Meliore,” i.e. Mallory. The leader of the siege of Skipton was not a peasant with a feigned name, but a member of the family of Mallory.
=213= For Guisburn read Guisborough, as on p. 71. It is not quite clear whether this incident happened at Guisburn or at Guisborough, but the latter seems the more probable.
=233= “St Saviour’s of Newburgh.” The Priory of Newburgh was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, but the canons possessed “the girdle Sancti Salvatoris, which, as it was said, was good for those in child birth.” (L. and P. X, p. 137.) This relic was kept in St Saviour’s chapel at the Priory, where many pilgrims resorted. (L. and P. XII (2), 1231.) Probably Newburgh was called St Saviour’s after the most famous relic which it possessed, though it was really St Mary’s, just as Durham was called St Cuthbert’s, though it also was dedicated to the Virgin.
=233= The message to Darcy from Shrewsbury’s camp. After the rebellion was over, when even the executions were almost at an end, Christopher Lassels, who was imprisoned in the Tower with Aske, was heard to say that Aske had told him “very sure tokens” by which the man who sent the warning might be recognised. This remark of Lassels was reported to Cromwell on 22 July 1537, but there is no record to show whether any arrest was made on Lassels’ information. (L. and P. XII (2), 321.)
=237= For “Sir Robert Bowes of Barnard Castle, and his sons” read “Robert Bowes and his brothers.”
=266= The deposition against Hogon is printed in full, with illustrative notes by Furnivall, in “Ballads from MSS,” vol. I, pt 2, p. 310 (Ballad Society).
=273= Hutton of Snape, probably a misreading of Snaith.
=281= Pickering’s poem is printed by Furnivall in “Ballads from MSS,” vol. I, pt 2, p. 301 (Ballad Society). The editor states that it was published at Ripon in 1843, with a preface by J. R. W. I have not seen this last version, but it appears that neither Furnivall nor J. R. W. knew the author of the poem and its occasion, though they conjectured correctly that it referred to the Pilgrimage of Grace.
=317= Henry VIII and the letter. Cf. Chapuys’ despatch of 3 November 1533:—“On 25 October Henry had received Gardiner’s letter of the 17th, in which the bishop reported that Clement had refused to dispose of the matrimonial cause in the offhand manner that had been suggested. Henry became pale with anger and crushed Gardiner’s letter in his hand, exclaiming that he was betrayed, and that the King of France was not the true friend he had thought. He continued for some time to swear at the pope, and could not regain his equanimity.” (L. and P. VI, 1392.)
=364= As late as 1596 it was maintained that the long bow was superior to firearms (Sir H. Knyvet, “Defence of the Realme,” 1596), but on the other hand as early as 1515 in a paper relating to Ireland it was stated that “the wild Irish and English rebels of all the land doth dread more and feareth the sudden shot of guns much more than the shot of arrows or any other shot of kind of weapon in this world.” (L. and P. II (1), 1366, printed in full Furnivall, “Ballads from MSS,” I, pt 1, p. 38 [Ballad Society].)
In order to see the rebellion of 1536–7 in its true perspective it is necessary to make a preliminary survey of the political position in England before the first rising took place. At the end of July 1536 Henry VIII’s domestic relations were more settled than they had been for the last ten years. The execution of Anne Boleyn on 19 May had been followed by his marriage with Jane Seymour, who was indisputably his lawful wife. The parliament which met on 8 June declared the two children of the King’s former wives, Mary and Elizabeth, illegitimate, and settled the succession to the crown upon the issue of the King’s latest marriage: that failing, the King was empowered to determine his heir himself either by will or by letters patent[1]. It was believed that the object of this statute was to bring into the succession Henry’s illegitimate son, Henry Duke of Richmond, who, however, died on 23 July[2]. After his death the situation with regard to the succession was practically the same as it had been before the divorce of Katherine of Arragon was proposed. The King was legally married, but it was considered unlikely that Queen Jane would have a child, and unless he acknowledged Mary, his heir by blood was the King of Scotland, whose claim was exceedingly unpopular in England. If the King died it was certain that Mary would be chosen by the nation as their queen, whether she was legitimate or illegitimate. Moreover the power to offer her hand in marriage might be useful to her father in foreign affairs.
A reconciliation between the King and his daughter was effected in July[3], and the greater part of England would have rejoiced if the matter had gone still further[4],—if Henry had acknowledged Mary, beheaded Cromwell, burnt Latimer and the heretic bishops, and reconciled himself with the Pope, who in return would certainly have been willing to recognise Queen Jane and her possible children. Apart from all other objections to this change of policy, however, there was one fatal obstacle; the King could not afford it.
The characters of the Tudor Kings have made so deep an impression on English history that it is easy to explain the events of their reigns by attributing everything to their personal traits, but Henry’s need of money was due to something that lay deeper than his own extravagance and rapacity. The whole of Europe was undergoing great economic changes, in consequence of the discovery of new trade routes and the importation of gold and silver from America, which depreciated the value of the coinage. Prices rose and the spending power of any fixed sum of money diminished. As the royal revenues were almost entirely customary and therefore fixed, it followed that the King was growing poorer while the expenses of government were constantly increasing as the nation emerged from feudal into modern life[5].
One of the most deeply-rooted feudal theories was that “the King should live of his own,” that is, that the ordinary revenues derived from the crown lands, the customs and feudal dues, should serve for the ordinary needs of the government, and that taxes should be levied only in time of war, or to meet extraordinary need. This theory had seldom corresponded to facts, and it was now quite untenable, but the tax-payer naturally cherished it. Henry’s taxation had already aroused great discontent, but the need for a sufficient revenue did not grow less, and the King could not afford to give up the money which, as supreme head of the Church of England, he diverted from the Pope, or the still more considerable sum that he hoped to derive from the suppression of the monasteries. But while the great mass of the nation desired nothing so much as the remission of all taxes, the educated classes were beginning to realise that this would not be such a very desirable state of affairs. The idea was just beginning to emerge that if the King did not need money he would never call a parliament, and that the liberties of the nation depended on its control of taxation. When the King declared that if only the wealth of the monasteries were in his hands he would never ask his people for money again, there were a few who saw that the King’s wealth was a much more serious danger than the King’s poverty[6].
The state of affairs on the continent permitted Henry to do as he pleased, for Francis I had again attacked Charles V, and the Pope could do nothing while his two champions were cutting each other’s throats. Henry therefore continued to carry out the policy expressed in the acts of his two last parliaments, the long parliament which met in December 1529 and was dissolved in March 1536, and its brief successor which met in June and was dissolved in July 1536.
A word must be said about the composition of these parliaments. A Tudor House of Commons was not, of course, representative in the modern sense of the word, for it consisted exclusively of country gentlemen and wealthy merchants, who were in most cases appointed by a small close body rather than popularly elected. The influence of the crown, exercised through the sheriff or through some local magnate, was paramount at the nomination of members, and it does not seem to have been resented, so long as the chosen candidate was a well-known man in the district for which he was appointed. The electors were willing that the King should choose the man most pleasing to himself among perhaps a dozen equally eligible persons, but gentlemen and burgesses alike resented the “carpet-bagger,” the stranger sent down from the court, who knew nothing of the place and despised the provincials whom he nominally represented[7]. They also objected to members who held government posts, and, curiously enough, bye-elections were considered an abuse, as it was maintained that when a member died his seat ought to remain vacant until the next general election[8].
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