But unpopular as Henry was, Cromwell was looked upon as the evil genius of the throne. It was he who had inspired the divorce of Katharine, the disinheriting of Mary, the suppression of the monasteries, the execution of those who denied the royal supremacy, and the introduction of such heretics as Cranmer and Latimer into the sees of Canterbury and Worcester. In the south, the general discontent was paralysed by dread, but the hardy, frugally living people of the eastern and northern counties knew no fear. The dissolution of the smaller monasteries was the signal for revolt. The Canons of Hexham fortified their house. One of their number appeared in armour on the leads, and declared to the King’s Commissioners, that the twenty inmates would all die before they would yield, and the Commissioners thought it prudent to withdraw. But the Lincolnshire men rose first. The rebels in the east numbered at the outset from forty to fifty thousand men, and their ranks swelled daily. They would undoubtedly have carried all before them, had not the leaders of the King’s army been as prompt as they were efficient. The Duke of Suffolk swept up from the south, the Earl of Shrewsbury from the west, and the King himself would have headed a third contingent, had it been necessary. But no sooner were Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Suffolk subdued, than Yorkshire, Lancashire and all the northern counties were up in arms. Soon, Skipton Castle, held by the Earl of Cumberland for the King, was the only spot north of the Humber that Henry could count upon. If the rebels had triumphed, there is no doubt that Mary would have been placed on the throne.[204]