Chapter 7: Rebellion and unrest 1547-58

Question 1

What were the social and economic problems in the mid-Tudor period?

Answer 1

Population rise 
Inflation and rising prices 
Enclosure 
Decline in living standards 
Poverty and vagrancy 
Rising rent 
Poor harvest 
Influenza and epidemics

Question 2

Population rise

Answer 2

Why was it a problem?

• 1525-51 pop. rose by about 0.7 million -> agriculture unable to keep up with demands
• Young population: more people to feed but children do not work

How serious was it?
-fairly serious as food rose which affected people particularly in bad harvests
BUT also a sign of prosperity

feeds into all other issues

Question 3

Inflation and rising rents

Answer 3

• grain prices rose faster than meat etc. and grain = staple diet
• serious: people couldn’t afford to eat and feed themselves

Question 4

Enclosure

Answer 4

-landowners often ignored the rights of others -> disquiet

Serious: less jobs for people, fewer crops grown -> less food meant prices rose

Question 5

Decline in living standards

Answer 5

-estimates that half the population were unable to support themselves

More issues with food prices, food availability and opportunity

Question 6

Poverty and vagrancy

Answer 6

rising prices meant that many peasants found themselves in poverty, since wages struggled to keep up with rising prices. Dissolution of the Monasteries removed institutions that helped poor and lessened employment. Large no. of vagrants

Serious: increase in crime and begging (no police force) forced gov. into harsher methods -> 1547 Vagrancy Act condemned vagrants to slavery for 2 years for 1st offence and life for second.
NOT SUPPORTIVE OF POOR

Question 7

Rising rent

Answer 7

landlords chose to increase rent from 40 shillings -> £40 etc. (payed more than people earned)

Serious: increase poverty and homelessness ->crime
-Coinage = debased: bad for peasantry

Question 8

Poor harvests

Answer 8

Drove price of food up even more
6 years in period saw bad harvests
failed to provide sufficient food

Serious: people live in subsistence economy (earn just enough to live off -> if jobs lost etc. then nothing to keep them going)

Question 9

Influenza and epidemics

Answer 9

spread quickly due to living conditions
no monasteries to help the sick -> die or stay sick for a while

Serious: reduce population and ability to work -> less food

Question 10

In what way did the social and economic problems contribute to unrest?

Answer 10

greed of the nobles:

• enclosure (nobles kept enclosing)
• rent crisis (nobles kept raising rent)
• people challenging deference (power struggle between gentry and common people)
• actions of gov. (debased coinage -> inflation, enclosure -> inflation) => gov. were contributing to poverty
• Somerset established commissions in 1548+49 to tackle enclosure and these failed. Then issued proclamations to force landowners to reverse their policy.
• > Somerset lost support and landowners ‘illegally enclosed’ anyway (defiance of landowners/ nobles and inability of gov. caused enclosure which caused unrest)
• > people did not believe they were defying deference and believed Somerset was on their side and not the side of the landowners

Question 11

Reasons for political unrest

Answer 11

1549 political instability:

• lack of true royal authority (not Ed but Regency Council)
• Somerset ruling by decree (not the real king) -> against DROK

Long-term foundations:
-social and economic issues (enclosure, rising rent, debasement of coinage)

Question 12

Why was there a rising in Devon and Cornwall?

Answer 12

Social causes (attitudes to rich - class crisis)
Economic causes (price rises, enclosure)
Political causes 
Religious causes (Catholic vs Protestant)

Question 13

Social causes

Answer 13

• rebels considered gentry their enemies and attacked/ robbed them (killed William Hellyons etc.)
• widening gap between rich and poor
• gentry implemented unpopular religious policy
• nobility exploited peasantry (raised rents, abandoned ‘good lordship’)
• William Body burnt grain

Question 14

Economic causes

Answer 14

• sheep and cloth tax threat
• gentry gained financially from Dissolution of Monasteries and Chantries -> now exploit poor by raising rents and enclosing land

Question 15

Political causes

Answer 15

• gap between peasants and gentry
• gentry exploited peasants
• Cornish rebels attacked and killed some nobles
• In Exeter, rich worked to prevent rebels taking city

Question 16

Religious causes

Answer 16

• 1547 William Body (Protestant sympathiser) was attacked. When he destroyed images he was murdered at Helston
• Peasants gathered at Bodmin to protest the Act of Uniformity (prelude to disturbance at Stampford Courtenay)
• wanted Six Articles back
• wanted mass in Latin
• wanted images returned
• wanted belief in Purgatory
• 1549 New Prayer Book

Question 17

Where the causes a threat?

Answer 17

Not threatening monarchy directly (religious reasons = major cause) but actions of nobles cause rebellion to escalate (rebels actually kill some gentry)

Due to Somerset ruling in place of Edward, people feel able to disrupt mechanisms of law and order that have been in place for years by killing/attacking nobles and disturbing the peace.

Question 18

Social causes of the rebellion in East Anglia

Answer 18

• social structure of society attacked
• > nobles + gentry using power over peasants
• > rebels complained when those below the gentry kept doves and rabbits
• > some wanted an end to serfdom
• > ‘no lord of a manor shall use common land’
• > anger at ruling class (killed Lord Sheffield)

Question 19

Economic causes

Answer 19

• concerns about rising rents to counter inflation
• valuable crop saffron was being enclosed
• gentry manipulated foldcourse system (where gentry graze sheep on peasant’s fallow and unsown land) - gentry extended time sheep graze
• gentry put sheep on common land (force peasants off)
• concerns about fishing rights, open rivers, coastal fishing industry
• wanted price of meadow ground lowered
• disliked enclosure

Question 20

Political causes

Answer 20

• rebels attacked running of local government and criticisms officers of the Court of Wards and local officials (feodary + escheator) as they used their positions to make gains
• rebels @ Mouseheath arranged themselves orderly

Question 21

Religious causes

Answer 21

• demands = more Protestant
• wanted priests resident in parishes
• wanted priests not capable of preaching removed

Question 22

Why did the Western Rising fail?

Answer 22

Weaknesses of the rebels:

• illegally fortified Crediton
• besieged Exeter for 6 weeks but failed to succeed (those in Exeter came out to join them etc.)
• 4000 men died in battle
• cause of rebellion (religion) was not a threat to the throne
• outnumbered by royal army

Strength of government actions:

• when Body murdered, they hung, drew and quatered 10 men (rational response)
• Mayor of Exeter John Blackalleheld held off the rebels in Exeter
• Somerset replaced incompetent Carew with Lord Russel (Lord High Admiral + President of Council of West)
• experienced Lord Grey brought more troops and ultimately defeated rebels on 3rd August and then again on 16th
• 8000 man royal army
• military strength overwhelmed rebels (full scale)

Strength of rebels:

• weakness of gov. (incompetent, slow royal response)
• managed to fortify Crediton

Question 23

Why did Kett’s Rebellion fail?

Answer 23

Weakness of rebels:

• Kett moved men from higher Mousehold Heath to valley of Dussindale (moved down by Warwick’s cavalry) -> vulnerable
• Northampton managed to take back Norwich temporarily with 1500 men

Strength of gov. actions:

• small force of 1500 under Northampton temporarily re-captured Norwich
• gov. managed to assemble larger army of 12,000 under the Earl of Warwick and on 23rd August fought rebels
• 26th August: foreign mercenaries strengthened force
• Warwick cut supply lines to rebels
• killed 3000 rebels
• Kett= killed for treason
• easily crushed other camps in Suffolk
• 20 rebels accepted pardon
• military strength overwhelmed rebels

Strength of rebels:

• gov. incompetence
• efficiency of organisation (16,000 men)
• disturbed law and order
• killed gov. officials
• took Norwich twice

Question 24

How much of a threat was the Western Rebellion? WAS

Answer 24

• Aims: destabilised gov. foreign policy -> question tax collection
• gov. had to move troops from Scotland - weakened their FP
• took numerous battles to defeat rebellion - invited 8000
• tactics: besieged Exeter - took a great force to remove them
• too slow to muster an army so rebellion was allowed to grow in size
• outcome - D&C did not have to pay tax

Question 25

Western Rebellion wasn’t a threat?

Answer 25

- no support from nobles - lacked military experience - tactics: localised - not a direct threat to crown because it was not near London - limited success in tactics - failed to gain support from major city - limited defensive position - gov. had access to military power - muster an army - capital punishment for rebels

Question 26

Ketts Rebellion was a threat

Answer 26

- gov. resources were already stretched - had to bring troops from Scotland and mercenaries -> gov. slow to react - offered pardons: encouraged rebels to continue - tactics: rebels able to take Norwich (major city) organised a major map that had military characteristics - scale of rebellion: 16000 from a cross section of society - rebels were prepared to engage in battle - strong possibility rebellions would be defeated

Question 27

Ketts rebellion was not a threat

Answer 27

-no aim to remove monarch lack of support from sig. nobility poor strategy from Kett - have uo stronghold Northumberland sent to suppress rebels ‘blood bath’ but at great financial cost to crown capital punishment for rebels outcome: enclosure continued was not taken as an opp. to reform social issues

Question 28

Why did Northumberland launch the Lady Jane Grey plot?

Answer 28

Edward’s rapidly declining health - only then was it possible for Northumberland to gain anything from LJG (social and political) aware that position under Mary would be limited and likely excluded from power (political and religion) believed he had support due to instability of Somerset’s rule - N restored law and order and restored finances (political and social) believed support would come from those who feared power loss during Catholic reformation (religion) female rule feats (only when Edward = ill was changed from ‘male heir’) (social)

Question 29

Why did Wyatt rebel?

Answer 29

``` Marriage Religion Xenophobia (anti-Spanish) Economic Political ```

Question 30

Marriage

Answer 30

once marriage announced, rebellion began => situation not cause people believed Mary would be dominated by Husband Wyatt stressed marriage as bad in propaganda Wyatt claimed marriage treaty was never guaranteed xenophobia

Question 31

Religion

Answer 31

Wyatt tried to stay away from religion due to divisive nature in a torn country (may have restricted support if full Prot.) leaders = Prot. sympathisers & receive advice & received advice from Prot. bishops Maidstone (gen. support) = rel. radical no Catholic prominent members and rebels attacked property of Gardiner -> Catholic Bishop

Question 32

Xenophobia

Answer 32

- hatred of foreigners and people believed court would be dominated by Spaniards => believed England would be dragged in war - believed there would be no power available for English propaganda that was anti-Spanish => appeared to nationals easy for Wyatt to exploit fears of Spanish interference

Question 33

Economic

Answer 33

decline in Kent Cloth trade -> unemployment many rebels = from Cranbrock (suffered from slump) many rebels had trade (not really economic?)

Question 34

Political (faction)

Answer 34

fears of Spanish influence with no power for English many changed local office and removed power of many Edward supporters -> many believed rebellion only way to claim back power -> people lost position of influence leaders of rebellion had prominent positions under Edward and attempted to keep LJG on throne

Question 35

Northumberland threatened Mary

Answer 35

had potential to remove legitimate monarch = LJG gov. action = weak -> no camping - > William Paget in gov. W/ Mary Mary feared mass executions would cause more unrest LJG only killed after Wyatt

Question 36

Northumberland did not threaten Northumberland

Answer 36

country did not want to fully support Mary acted as legitimate queen, issued proclamations and rallied supporters on both sides of rel. divide divine right => support Mary’s actions save monarchy -> political skill changed social attitude against rebellion (feared mobs and disorder)

Question 37

Wyatt threatened the monarchy

Answer 37

had potential to remove legitimate monarch => Wyatt reached city gates of London Mary had to rely on loyalty of nobles to save her (some nobles deserted her) marriage = unpopular London= close to queen gov. action after = weak -> no widespread campaign after Wyatt defeated. small disturbances = serious -> panic

Question 38

Wyatt did not threaten stability of monarchy

Answer 38

laid siege to Cooling Castle and delayed attack on London -> gave Mary time country did not want to fully support unable to gain support from prominent figures divine right => support Mary ignored advice and forced rebels to the capital (TP in Wyatt’s failure) Mary’s actions saved monarchy => political skill change in social attitude against rebellion following 1549 property owned = too much to loose

Question 39

Why was the monarchy able to survive the mid-Tudor crisis?

Answer 39

Mary of Northumberland supporters deserted him when he left London -> political class wanted to avoid civil conflict and chaos of WofR foundations of state strong enough to survive rule of minor and ambitions of Somerset and Northumberland Tudor monarchy = legitimate for 50 years by Edward -> divine right meant attempts to alter succession were unpopular most people willing to accept religion of monarch and accept the change. people also realised near the end of Mary’s reign that she would die soon most put loyalty above religious beliefs to avoid conflict and conformed to change state responded to social and economic problems and took greater responsibility to prevent further conflict