Pilgrimage of Grace

What was the Significance of the Pilgrimage of Grace?

• Seen as a failure for years
• Rebels apparently failed in their aims
• Clear warning sent across the kingdom by their slaughter at Carlisle (Feb 1637) and subsequent retributions
• They failed to save the monasteries
• Main target of their complaint, Thomas Cromwell, was still in power
• Political power remained in London – the promised parliament in the North never met

Michael Bush (historian)

• He says the Pilgrimage was a success
• Believes it achieved many of its aims
• Greatest rebel success was in raising such a large force
• Larger than any other Tudor rebellion and could have defeated the royal forces if it had tried – but that was never the aim of the leadership
• The force was there to intimidate and pressurise the king
• The sheer scale of the rising must have acted as a warning
• At a time when there was no other way to register protest, it represents large-scale dissatisfaction with the regime
• The large  numbers raised enabled the pilgrims to put pressure on the king at a number of crucial moments
• They chose to reach a negotiated settlement in October and December

The Settlement

• Represented a massive climb-down for the Crown
• Suggested the second meeting because they hadn’t the force to challenge the rebels
• Had to allow a free and general pardon for all the rebels
• There were no exceptions and the king was unable to apprehend the ring leaders

Specific Successes for the Pilgrims

• Secured the promise of a free parliament in the North
• Also, a promise that until it met nothing would be done to implement the policies the rebels objected to
• It meant the smaller monasteries restored by Pilgrims were allowed to stand - against the king’s wishes
• Further changes in religious policy followed 

The Bishops' Book 1537

• Restored conservative practices
• Recognised the 4 lost sacraments absent from the 10 Articles of 1536
• Also, an attack on those most Protestant of practices; radical preaching and clerical marriage
• Real prospect of a conservative reaction and it could be argued that any intended religious revolution had to be postponed until Edward VI reign

Other Matters

• The Pilgrims stopped the collection of the subsidy
• Made it clear that any further financial changes would be unacceptable
• Any further moves towards a Tudor revolution in government were abandoned
• This may have weakened the position of the rebels’ major cause of complaint – Thomas Cromwell
• The 2 policies with which he is most closely associated were abandoned ie a) administrative reform and b) religious innovation

Agrarian Grievances

• The rebels from Cumberland and Westmoreland had objected to the increase in entry fines
• This was resolved in the rebels’ favour; the cost being fixed at twice the rent
• This was exactly the amount demanded by the rebels in the December petition

Michael Bush (historian)

‘In these respects, then, the formation of the pilgrim armies in October 1536 has to be appreciated not only as a spectacular achievement in itself but also as a major influence upon religious, political, fiscal and agrarian changes of the time.’