Chapter I: Front Matter

THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE
1536–1537

AND

THE EXETER CONSPIRACY
1538

IN TWO VOLUMES
VOL. I

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

C. F. CLAY, MANAGER

=London=: FETTER LANE, E.C.
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=New York=: G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
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_All rights reserved_

THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE
1536–1537
AND
THE EXETER CONSPIRACY
1538

BY

MADELEINE HOPE DODDS

(Historical Tripos, Cambridge)

AND

RUTH DODDS

VOLUME I

Cambridge:
at the University Press
1915

Cambridge:
PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A.
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN

NOTE

The authors wish to express their most sincere gratitude to Miss Myra Curtis, Professor A. F. Pollard, Mr I. J. Bell of the British Museum, Mr H. R. Leighton, the Rev. J. Wilson, and Mr T. C. Hodgson for their kind and valuable help in the preparation of this book.

The documents transcribed by the authors from the originals have been given in the original spelling; in those which have been taken from printed copies the spelling has been modernised.

The spelling of proper names of persons and places is that used in the Index to the Letters and Papers of Henry VIII.

M. H. D.
R. D.

_July 1915._

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
I THE TURNING-POINT 1
II PLOTS AND TOKENS 14
III AFFINITY AND CONFEDERACY 28
IV FACTS AND RUMOURS 63
V THE RISING IN LINCOLNSHIRE 89
VI THE FAILURE OF LINCOLNSHIRE 117
VII THE INSURRECTION IN THE EAST RIDING 141
VIII THE PILGRIMS’ ADVANCE 168
IX THE EXTENT OF THE INSURRECTION 192
X THE MUSTERS AT PONTEFRACT 227
XI THE FIRST APPOINTMENT AT DONCASTER 241
XII THE FIRST WEEKS OF THE TRUCE 273
XIII THE COUNCIL AT YORK 308
XIV THE COUNCIL AT PONTEFRACT 341

MAPS

I MAP OF ENGLAND SHOWING THE AREAS OF DISAFFECTION _To face p._ 1
II CENTRAL LINCOLNSHIRE „ „
III THE MAIN ROADS FROM LONDON TO THE NORTH „ „
IV THE EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE „ „
V THE NORTHERN COUNTIES „ „

ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS

PAGE

=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].)

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