Pilgrimage of Grace | |||
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Part of the European wars of religion | |||
Date | October 1536 – February 1537 | ||
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Caused by | The English Reformation, dissolution of the monasteries, rising food prices, and Statute of Uses | ||
Goals | The reversal of the Act of Supremacy, restoration of Mary Tudor to the line of succession, and removal of Thomas Cromwell | ||
Resulted in | Suppression of the risings, execution of the leading figures | ||
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Lead figures | |||
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The Pilgrimage of Grace was a popular revolt beginning in Yorkshire in October 1536, before spreading to other parts of Northern England including Cumberland, Northumberland, Durham and north Lancashire, under the leadership of Robert Aske. The "most serious of all Tudor period rebellions", it was a protest against Henry VIII's break with the Catholic Church, the dissolution of the lesser monasteries, and the policies of the King's chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, as well as other specific political, social, and economic grievances.[2]
Following the suppression of the short-lived Lincolnshire Rising of 1536, the traditional historical view portrays the Pilgrimage as "a spontaneous mass protest of the conservative elements in the North of England angry with the religious upheavals instigated by King Henry VIII". Historians have observed that there were contributing economic factors.[3]