Nature 1 - Location

Question 1

Why did most rebellions take place in the peripheral religions of the Kingdom?

Answer 1

• They were furthest away from the central region in London and the king was more dependent upon local nobles and gentry to maintain order .

Question 2

Why was the North a frequent place of rebellion? +examples

Answer 2

• At the start of the period, it was a Yorkist stronghold as it had been Richard III’s seat of power.
• Region’s particularism in not paying taxes.
• Lovell Rebellion, Northern Earls.

Question 3

What motivated the south-west to rebel?

Answer 3

• They didn’t care about dynastic issues but resented the increased role of the central government, particularly with regards to taxation.
• Cultural and linguistic differences, particularly in Cornwall, may have given the region a sense of difference and encouraged resistance to taxation and religious innovation.

Question 4

What motivated East Anglia to rebel?

Answer 4

• There was a strong tradition of unrest, with outbreaks in 1381 during the Peasants’ Revolt.
• Enclosure riots in 1525 and attacks on the gentry in 1540, before the major uprising in 1549. The rebels established a series of camps in places where local government was administered, such as Bury St Edmunds.

Question 5

Explain how the location of Ireland encouraged rebellions?

Answer 5

• The distance from London and the difficulty of sending troops encouraged unrest.
• This grew as the period progressed because the government increased its control over the region- Challenging the traditional clan power of families such as Tyrone, O’Neill, and Fitzgerald. The attempt under Elizabeth to introduce Protestantism and the plantation system caused further problems.

Question 6

Give examples of where Major towns and cities were the focus for the location of rebellions

Answer 6

• Cornish and Wyatt Rebellions marched on London, while Essex also conducted his rebellion at his London home.
• During the Pilgrimage of Grace, the Rebels seized York, the regional capital of the North.
• The Northern Earls entered the religious centre of Durham to restore mass in 1569.
• In 1549, Kett’s rebels seized Norwich, the regional capital of East Anglia.
• The Western Rebels besieged Exeter, the regional capital of the south-west, although they failed to take it.

Question 7

Give examples of the traditional location of rebellions.

Answer 7

• Blackheath - Cornish Rebels went to Blackheath in June 1497, where the Peasant’s revolt had gathered in 1381.
• The Western rebels in 1549, started at Bodmin, as had the Cornish rising of 1497
• The Oxfordshire rising of 1596 gathered at Enslow Hill, which had been the site of a gathering in 1549

Question 8

How did the nobility influence the location of rebellions?

Answer 8

• Areas were more likely to witness unrest if the relationship between the nobility and inhabitants was poor.
• This was seen in 1549 in the West Country where Lord John Russell had newly replaced the Courtenays and in East Anglia where the Howards had fallen from power.
• Where control was strong, unrest was limited, for example in Sussex where the Earl of Arundel ruled.