How serious were the 1549 rebellions?

Question 1

Why did the majority of riots in this period involve the destruction of hedges?

Answer 1

• exclusion of commons from traditional sources of food came at time when inflation made purchasing commodities extremely high (wheat prices quadrupled)
• state of alarm was felt throughout England and these riots did have the potential to escalate to that of Kett’s or the Prayer Book Rebellion

Question 2

What reveals the extent to which Somerset was prepared to make concessions to the protestors and to encouraged those involved that the ‘Good Duke’ would redress their grievances?

Answer 2

• Somerset wrote directly to the protestors (either in own name or that of the king)

Question 3

Whose views did the Kett’s rebels reflect?

Answer 3

• evangelical thinker John Hales

Question 4

What was the very radical idea that the Kett’s rebels underlyingly believed?

Answer 4

• Protestant commonwealth

- property should be used for benefit of all rather than exclusive use of few wealthy people

Question 5

What was the motivation for the minor disturbances in Oxfordshire, Hampshire and Yorkshire?

Answer 5

• resentment of the changes brought in by the Prayer Book

Question 6

What is a key theme linking the two rebellions?

Answer 6

• looking back to a previous age (although some of Kett’s rebels did accept the new prayer book unlike those in the Western rebellion)

Question 7

What summarises how the rebellions were different?

Answer 7

• Western rebels wanted religious settlement of Henry to be respected until Edward came of age
• Kett’s rebels sought a return to the economic relationship of 1485

Question 8

What do the two rebellions really emphasise?

Answer 8

• Western - how far religious reforms were accepted in the south-west
• Kett’s - how in the rest of England there seems to have been little resistance and there were other issues of more immediate concern

Question 9

Most historians agree that the coup which removed Protector Somerset was made directly possible by the rebellions and Somerset’s handling of them. Why?

Answer 9

• his support of anti-enclosure measures disastrously earned him the widespread reputation of being a friend of the commons
• failure to crush the rebellions quickly sealed his fate

Question 10

How did North’s role in the rebellion benefit him?

Answer 10

• his successful military suppression of Kett’s rebellion added to his own political credibility and status
• able to use this to gain extra support when he became ruler in January 1550

Question 11

How did the rebellion impact foreign policy?

Answer 11

• desperate need for troops required Somerset to drastically scale down his favoured policy of garrisoning the border with Scotland
• French also took advantage of England’s internal domestic turmoil by declaring war and besieging Boulogne in summer 1549