Question 1
Evaluate the interpretations in both of the two passages.
Explain which you think is more convincing as an explanation of the nature of the Pilgrimage of
Grace.
Passage A
The rebellion was overwhelmingly popular and spontaneous. There was no gentry conspiracy. None was found at the time, nor can one be discovered now. However, the gentry were first forced into offering leadership and then strove hard to establish their grip over the movement. The dynamic heart of the rising, whether in Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, or the fringes of Lancashire and Cumbria, lay with the commons. Whilst every local movement had its own identity, the determination to rise came from two sources.
Firstly, the rumours of the destruction of parish religion which circulated in the summer of 1536 (the closure of parish churches, the confiscation of church goods, the threatened taxation of baptisms). Secondly, word of the rising elsewhere. The movement in the East Riding of Yorkshire and the central area of the West Riding of Yorkshire saw itself as being a part of the Lincolnshire rising. The risings in Craven [part of North Yorkshire], Lancashire and Cumbria were a response to the movement in Richmondshire [part of North Yorkshire], although it is not possible to say with certainty whether the rising there took place in reaction to the news of Lincolnshire.
Whilst the gentry secured control of the movement by the end of October and used it to try and buy concessions to appease the commons, all the 1536 movements were, in the first days, movements in which the bonds of obedience to social superiors were cut or, perhaps it is truer to say, reversed: the rebels expected the gentry to do their bidding. In the second phase of the rebellion, the gentry won a competition for the leadership with the rebels but found themselves faced with the problem of leading an enthusiastic rank and file, who would accept elite authority so long as it was advancing their interests.
R. Hoyle, The Pilgrimage of Grace, published in 2001.
Passage B
Adapted from Reform and Reformation, G. Elton. pages 264 and 266-7, Arnold, 1977. Item removed due to third party copyright restrictions.
[30]
Answer
