“The rebellions of 1549 were the most important turning point in introducing legislation in response to unrest.”

Question 1

Turning point in religious policies.

Answer 1

• Tudors were unwilling to reverse or change the religious policies.
• Caused rebellion particularly between 1536 and 1569.
• Rebellion often encouraged monarchs to press ahead with their religious reforms more resolutely.
E.g.
1549:
- Western: instead of abandoning the English Prayer Book, published a more Protestant one.
- Religious legislation that followed the 1549 rebellions was arguably not as pivotal as the in response to 1536.

1536:

• Participation by abbots and monks convinced Henry VIII that continued presence was a security risk.
• Supported Cromwell’s move to dissolve the larger monasteries in 1537 to 1538.
• Key turning point in religious legislation: set an increasing pace for religious change for both Henry VIII and other monarchs.

Later:

• Less significant and far-reaching religious legislation, compared to that of 1536
• Mary, despite Wyatt’s rebellion, simply stepped up her campaign against heretics.
• Elizabeth, after the Northern Earls’ rebellion in 1571, introduced penal laws specifically against catholic recusants.

• Overall whilst the rebellions of 1549 did inflict religious change, as a result of unrest, they were not as revolutionary and decisive and simply followed the legislation that arose from the rebellion of 1536.

Question 2

Turning point in political policies.

Answer 2

• Consistent legislation introduced in response to unrest.
• Henry VII:
Weaken the threat of nobles:
- 1487 Star Chamber Act, which established additional legal powers to deal with nobles.
- Act of Livery and Maintenance which limited the number of servants and private armies
- However these were not a crucial turning point in legislation.

1549:
- Turning point in political legislation/
- Act for the Punishment of Unlawful Assemblies and Rising of the King’s subjects: high treason if 12 or more people gathered to alter existing laws or tried to kill or imprison a privy councillor or refused to disperse within one hour.
- No previous Tudor government had produced such an exhaustive political deterrent until this.

However:

• Amicable Grant 1525: reformed the council of the North’s membership & increased its power so that all sheriffs and JPs to take their orders from it.
• Similar reforms after the Northern Earls rebellion.

• Therefore whilst the 1549 rebellions were central in furthering political legislation in regards to punishment and deterrence, they were not influential in one of the key areas of political reform in the same way that other rebellions throughout the period were.

Question 3

Turning point in social and economic policy.

Answer 3

• Tudor governments took note of social and economic that problems provoked unrest in 1549 and 1596.

1536:

• Reform through the abandoning of the 1534 subsidy.
• Limited in their legislative attempts to combat the social and economic problems.

In contrast,
1549:
- Pivotal legislation: far-reaching, dealt with a wider range of issues.
- Like in 1536, the Subsidy Act was repealed.
- Additional repeal of the Vacancy acts.
- Dealt with the issue of enclosure of common land, which had been an issue in some regions in 1536, yet it was the 1549 unrest that led to its resolve.

Oxfordshire:

• Elizabethan council was just as revolutionary.
• Introduced legislation based upon religious duty in which all bishops were ordered to give sermons that advertise a good work the government was doing to help the poor.
• Prosecuted seven leading Oxfordshire landowners that enclosed local common wasteland in 1597: more disciplinary approach than the 1549 rebellions had produced.
• Like Edward, acts to further deal with the social distress:
• “Act against the decaying of towns and houses of husbandry”
• “Act of the maintenance of husbandry and tillage”.
• 1596, taxation not dealt with.

Therefore:
- Whilst 1596 was also a turning point in the introduction of legislation in response to unrest, the 1549 rebellions were equally pivotal and arguably had a wider ranging, hence more impact than those of 1596.

Question 4

Conclusion

Answer 4

• Rebellions had varying degrees of effect in different areas of legislation.
• Whilst religious change was brought about by the 1549 rebellions, it is undeniable that the 1536 Pilgrimage of Grace had a more significant impact.
• Similarly in terms of political legislation, the 1549 rebellions had a significant impact in introducing reform, however other rebellions in the period that had more far-reaching political effects such as those which reformed the Council of the North.
• Finally, in regard to social and economic legislation the 1549 rebellions were the most important turning point in legislative terms, yet the 1596 rebellion closely followed.
• Concerning the period as a whole, a mixture of rebellions were key in producing a turning point in legislation and there was no single revolt that could be narrowed down to be the main turning point.