A history of England principally in the seventeenth century, Volume 1 (of 6)Ranke, Leopold von
History
A history of England principally in the seventeenth century, Volume 1 (of 6)
Ranke, Leopold von
England -- Civilization -- 17th century; Great Britain -- History -- Stuarts, 1603-1714
In a short time he had gained over the whole of the North. The city of
York joined him; Darcy admitted him into the strong castle of Pomfret:
in that broad county only one single castle still held out in its
obedience to the government: then the neighbouring districts also were
carried away by the movement: Aske saw an army of thirty thousand men
around him. He took the road to London to, as he said, drive base-born
men out of the King's council, and restore the Christian church in
England: he called his march a 'Pilgrimage of Grace.' But when he came
into contact with royal troops at Doncaster he paused; for it was not
a war, which would cost the country too dear, but only a great armed
remonstrance in favour of the old system that he contemplated. He
contented himself with presenting his demands--suppression of
heresies, restitution of the supreme charge of souls to the Pope,
restoration of the monasteries, and in particular the punishment of
Cromwell with his abettors, and the calling of a Parliament.[130]
When we consider that Ireland was in revolt, Cornwall in a state of
ferment, men's Catholic sympathies stirred up by foreign princes, it
is easy to understand how some voices in the King's Privy Council were
raised in favour of concession. Henry VIII, a true Tudor, was not the
man to give in on such a point. He upbraided the rebels in haughty
words with their ignorance and presumption, and repeated that all he
did and ordered was in conformity with God's law and for the interests
of the country; but it was mainly by promising to call a Parliament at
York that he really laid the gathering storm. But at the first breach
of the law that occurred he revoked this promise;[131] if he had
relaxed the maintenance of his prerogative for a moment, he exercised
it immediately after all the more relentlessly. He at last got all the
leaders of the revolt into his hands, and appeared to the world to be
conqueror. But we cannot for this reason hold that the movement did
not react upon him. His plan was not, and in fact could not be, to
incur the hostility of his people or endanger the crown for the sake
of dogmatic opinions. True, he held to his order that the Bible should
be promulgated in the English tongue, for his revolt from the
hierarchy, and demand of obedience from all estates, rested on God's
written word: nor did he allow himself to swerve from the legally
enacted suppression of the monasteries; but he abandoned further
innovations, and an altered tendency displayed itself in all his
proclamations. Even during the troubles he called on the bishops to
observe the usual church ceremonies: he put forth an edict against the
marriage of priests (although he had been inclined to allow it) from
regard to popular opinion. The importation of books printed abroad,
and any publication of a work in England itself without a previous
censorship, were again prohibited. Processions, genuflexions, and
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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