Rebellion

Question 1

overview

Answer 1

The year 1549 was perhaps the worst year of the whole of the Tudor period. There were major rebellions in East Anglia and the southwest as well as considerable levels of disorder across the whole country. To make things worse - Somerset’s government found it difficult to cope with the rebellion due to the war with Scotland. Most of the risings died down because of insufficient support, and prompt action from Local nobility and gentry such as the Earl of Arundel who managed to calm matters down in Sussex, but problems still existed in the South West

Question 2

how did John Guy describe the summer of rebellions 1549

Answer 2

‘the closest thing Tudor England came to a class war’

Question 3

what were the two rebellions under Edward

Answer 3

Western Rebellion 1549
Ketts Rebellion 1549

Question 4

religious motives of the Western rebellion 1549

Answer 4

The rebellion mainly stemmed from opposition to the Book of Common Prayer, which was brought about by the 1549 Act of Uniformity, an act which ordered the clergy to employ several protestant reforms such as having mass in English.

Question 5

where did the Western rebellion rise

Answer 5

The rebellion rose in traditional catholic parts of England - cornwall and Devon after William Body was killed for attempting to remove Catholic images from the Church.

Question 6

what did the Western rebels want - religous

Answer 6

The rebels wanted a complete reversal of religious reforms which were destroying the way the people experienced religion, the traditional rituals of church services and the lack of the Church’s role in the community. This is evidenced by their slogan - ‘we will have the 6 articles up again’ which was a set of injunctions passed by Henry VIII in 1539 that reaffirmed traditional catholic teachings.

Question 7

Western rebels articles of protest

Answer 7

The rebel’s articles of protest had 13 religious demands which rejected Protestantism and demanded the return of some forms of catholicism. They rejected the new prayer book, bibles and services in English and they demanded the return of papal relics, images and chantries.

Question 8

economic causes of the western rebellion

Answer 8

The economic problems associated with the mid-Tudor crisis can be argued as a subsidiary cause of the Western rebellion. They were motivated by grievances over taxation, somerset had placed a tax on sheep to try to deal with enclosure. As Cornwall and Devon were areas of sheep farming, this tax affected farmers. The rebels constituted of poor people mainly, who depended on arable farming. Economic issues were an underlying problem given the state of finances

Question 9

what is meant by social issues

Answer 9

This refers to issues to do with class antagonism, division and local identity

Question 10

social causes of the western rebellion - local identity

Answer 10

Distrust between locals and the gentry was arguably a cause of the rebellion. Local gentry arrived at mass to enforce the Act of Uniformity, one was killed - William Body for doing so, this suggests that the gentry was seen as enforcers of unpopular government doctrine and not on the side of the people. Considering that Cornwall and Devon always saw themselves as independent, this suggests this even more.

Question 11

social causes of the western rebellion - gentry

Answer 11

The phrase ‘kill the gentleman’ was shouted by rebels at Bodmin. Many of the gentry sought protection in old castles which were eventually besieged and plundered by rebels. For example, the Tremation castle where Sir Richard found refuge was seized and ransacked. Their demands suggest an attack on the gentry as they requested limiting the size of the household belonging to the gentry particularly after they gained all the monastic land after the reformation, doing so would result in money being funnelled to the poor.

Question 12

western rebellion level of threat

Answer 12

Though there was no march on London, the rebels brought the south-west to a standstill and waited for the government to come to them, it was difficult to put down and it required significant military force from Lord Russel

Question 13

nobility sent to put down Western Rebellion

Answer 13

Lord Russel

Question 14

how many battles did it take to put down the western rebellion

Answer 14

5

Question 15

the battles fought to put down the western rebellion

Answer 15

Battle of Fenny Bridges and Woodbury Common were inconclusive though Lord Russel took a large number of criminals
Battle of Clyst St Mary - 1000 rebels killed with LR gaining an advantage
the rebels regrouped in the Battle of Clyst Heath with 2000 soldiers getting killed, rebels were eventually put down in the Battle of Samford Courtenay though they proved to be a threat to Lord Russel and required a lot of military force, despite being a relatively small population. Though it can be argued that Somerset was distracted by the Kett’s rebellion and war in Scotland as a result couldn’t put it down quickly

Question 16

overview of the Ketts rebellion

Answer 16

Inflation was a significant issue, rising prices were not matched with rising wages due to the cost of war with Scotland, the decline in the cloth market and population increase led to falling standards of living and increased poverty. All of this when coupled with enclosure and nobility causing damage to crops can cause popular discontent amongst the common people.

Question 17

economic causes of the ketts rebellion

Answer 17

The grievance of the rebels was enclosure and inflation as well as other widespread economic and social problems. The lower classes were unhappy about enclosure and they wanted a return to collective farming on common land, there was also anger about the gentry abusing the Norfolk fold course system, while it gave the gentry the right to graze sheep on common land, the gentry abused the system by increasing the amount of time sheep were allowed to graze for, this caused the sheep to trample on winter harvests which aggravated the rebels as Tudor England was going through a time of poor harvests. The rebels also took down the fences of wealthy landowners and their petitions included ‘restriction of the raid economic change and the prevention of the abuse of communal resources’ this shows the extent to which the agricultural crisis and somerset economic reforms have caused problems

Question 18

social causes of the Ketts Rebellion

Answer 18

Kett’s rebellion also stemmed from class antagonism. There were complaints by the rebels over greedy landlords increasing rents and the rebels specifically called on the king to put the local nobility back in line. The rebels wanted to control the power of the gentry as they were frustrated by their local government. Particularly the nobility and their abuses of the Norfolk fold course system. They also resented high rents from local landlords such as Sir John Flowerdew. The gentry were disregarding laws put in place for the good of the poor and were also tone-deaf to their economic position by increasing rent which caused more discontent

Question 19

religious causes of the Kett’s rebellion

Answer 19

While it wasn’t a major underlying cause there were some possibly religious elements of the Ketts rebellion. The rebels embraced the religious reforms but some felt that the rate of change was too slow and reforms should go further, some of their articles of protest contained more protestant demands. They demanded better-educated clergy and the remodel of the values of the clergy. These were protestant demands all of which echoed Somerset’s religious stance and Edward’s religious radicalism

Question 20

how many rebels were involved in the Ketts Rebellion

Answer 20

16,000