Fortunately for Henry, Queen Jane roused no domestic or foreign
animosities; Charles V. and Francis I. were at war; and the pope's and
Pole's attempt to profit by the Pilgrimage of Grace came too late to
produce any effect except the ruin of Pole's family. The two risings of
1536 in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire were provoked partly by the
dissolution of the monasteries, partly by the collection of a subsidy
and fears of fresh taxation on births, marriages and burials, and partly
by the protestantizing Ten Articles of 1536 and Cromwell's
_Injunctions_. They were conservative demonstrations in favour of a
restoration of the old order by means of a change of ministry, but not a
change of dynasty. The Lincolnshire rising was over before the middle of
October, the more serious revolt in Yorkshire under Aske lasted through
the winter. Henry's lieutenants were compelled to temporize and make
concessions. Aske was invited to come to London and hoodwinked by Henry
into believing that the king was really bent on restoration and reform.
But an impatient outburst of the insurgents and a foolish attempt to
seize Hull and Scarborough gave Henry an excuse for repudiating the
concessions made in his name. He could afford to do so because England
south of the Trent remained stauncher to him than England north of it
did to the Pilgrimage. Aske and other leaders were tried and executed,
and summary vengeance was wreaked on the northern counties, especially
on the monasteries. The one satisfactory outcome was the establishment
of the Council of the North, which gave the shires between the Border
and the Trent a stronger and more efficient government than they had
ever had before.
The "Six Articles."
Fall of Thomas Cromwell.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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