Rebellion and unrest

• Socio-economic issues in the mid-Tudor period:

  • population rise
  • inflation and rising prices
  • enclosure
  • decline in living standards
  • poverty and vagrancy
  • rising rents
  • poor harvest
  • influenza and epidemics
• The 1540s witnessed a dramatic rise in prices. Prices were 68% higher in 1530 than in 1508.
• In order to finance wars against France and Scotland, Henry and Edward had debased the coinage. Wages failed to keep up with the price rises , resulting in reduced standard of living, with estimates suggesting half the population was unable to support themselves.
• Six years of the 1540s saw harvests that failed to provide food for a subsistence economy.
• The dissolution of the monasteries had removed an institution that helped the poor and enclosure lessened employment and reduced arable land.
• A depression to the cloth trade in the 1540s increased poverty levels.
• The large number of vagrants in the 1540s meant the government, lacking a police force, was often forced into harsh measures to prevent vagrants from being involved in unrest. The 1547 Vagrancy Act condemned vagrants to slavery for two years for a first offence and for life for a second.
• In order to finance war against Scotland, Somerset continued debasement policy, resulting in rising inflation.
• Somerset established commissions in 1548 and 49 to look into enclosure. Landowners blocked any attempt to legislate on the issue, forcing Somerset to issue proclamations forcing landowners to reverse their policy.
• Somerset’s proclamations on enclosure lost him the support of the landowners, and meant the lower orders saw him as their champion. When the legislation failed, they often took the law into their own hands and threw down what they considered illegal enclosures, believing Somerset would support their actions.
• Protector Somerset lacked the trappings of royalty authority to bolster his position. Unpopular policies could be more easily challenged.
• The late Spring and Summer of 1549 saw unrest in much of central and southern England. At least 25 counties saw unrest. Most of the risings were put down by the local gentry, but two required the use of government troops.
• Religious reasons for Cornish Rebellion:

  • traditionally called Prayer Book rebellion - suggests it was religiously motivated.
  • 1547 - William Body, local archdeacon and Protestant sympathiser, was attacked in 1548 when attempted to supervise destruction of images, and was murdered at Helston
  • 1549 - significant number of peasants gathered at Bodmin to protest against Act of Uniformity
  • Larger disturbance at Sampford Courtenay on Whit Monday against the New Prayer Book
  • by 20 June Devon and Cornish rebels United at Crediton
• Demands of Cornish rebels mainly religious but also mentioned sheep and cloth tax. The rebels made it clear the gentry were their enemies.
• Cornish rebels attacked and robbed gentry at St Michael’s Mount and shouted ‘Kill the gentlemen’ at Bodmin.
• Devon rebels killed William Hellyons, member of the gentry who had resisted them. They attacked and plundered Trematon Castle.
• During the siege of Exeter in the Cornish Rising, the mayor was concerned the Exeter poor would hand it over to the rebels. The more wealthy citizens organised a continual guard and poor relief. This prevented the rebels gaining control of Exeter.
• The gentry gained financially from the dissolution and were now implementing unpopular religious policy. This demonstrates how the socio-economic tensions in country life linked to the religious grievance of the Cornish Rising.
• Events of Kett’s Rebellion:

  • started as an enclosure riot in Norfolk
  • rioters angry at local lawyer John Flowerdew who had bought and started to demolish the local abbey and enclosed land.
  • Kett quickly assembled 16,000 rebels
  • local forces and the offer of pardon were unable to disperse them
  • the government sent 14,000 troops under the Marquis of Northampton, but he was defeated
  • the Earl of Warwick was sent, leading to the massacre of the rebels outside Norwich
• Agricultural demands of Kett’s Rebellion:

  • complaints about gentry manipulation of food-course system - where the gentry grazed their sheep on the peasant’s fallow land
  • common land - gentry had been putting large numbers of sheep onto common land, forcing peasants off
  • concerns about fishing rights
• Economic demands of Kett’s Rebellion:

  • concerns about rising rents as landowners attempted to put them up to counter inflation
• Religious demands of Kett’s Rebellion:

  • demands were more Protestant - at Mousehold Heath they brought in ministers who would preach and use New Prayer Books
• Social grievances of Kett’s rebellion:

  • attacked gentry as landlords
  • running of local government - officials used position to make gains in the land market
  • conservative - accepted right of gentry to keep doves and rabbits but complained when those socially below gentry did
• Kett’s Rebellion’s dislike of gentry and local government can be seen in the setting up of an alternative system at Mousehold Heath. Leaders were able to maintain order and prevent mob rule, issued commissions for food and drink and administered justice at the ‘tree of Reformation’. Gentry were executed at these trials.
• Kett’s rebels brutally beat to death Lord Sheffield, further evidence of their anger towards the ruling class.
• There is evidence of opposition to enclosure in Lincolnshire, Hertfordshire, Cambridge, Suffolk and Kent.
• Religion appears to have been the primary cause for rebellion in areas such as Oxford, Hampshire and Yorkshire.
• Some disturbances were easily put down by local gentry. The Earl of Arundel in Sussex met the rebels at Arundel castle. He set up tables and fed them and found out the causes of their grievances. Upon discovering the gentry were at fault, he ordered them to mend their ways and the rebels were satisfied. Matters were similarly dealt with in Derbyshire, Shropshire, and Nottingham.
• During the battle of the Western Rising, 3000 rebels were killed in battle. This was followed by executions without trials and the confiscation of property.
• When putting down Kett’s rebellion, troops had to be sent from Scotland and mercenaries employed. When Warwick arrived at Norwich he had a force of 12,000 men. Kett abandoned his camp at Mousehold. On the 27 August the rebels were slaughtered, with 3000 killed on the battlefield.
• Unlike after the Western Rising, after the Kett’s rebels defeat they were treated leniently. Although Kett was tried and hanged for treason, there were only 49 further executions.
• As a result of unrest in 1549, the government was forced to abandon its policy in Scotland to use full military force against its own people.
• The aims of the rebels in 1549 was not to overthrow the monarch, but bring about policy changes. The rebels didn’t advance on the capital and although they were large in numbers, they were no match for government forces.
• The fall of Somerset did not end the unrest. There were disturbances in 1550 in the West Country, Nottingham and Kent.