Western Rebellion Flashcards
What was the main trigger of the Western rebellion in Cornwall?
- resentment arising from the hatred of the commissioner William Body
- arrogance of the investigation into chantries created a swirl of rumours and fears about church goods being confiscated
What happened to William Body (Archdeacon of in Cornwall in 1548?
- Body’s destruction of church images prompted group in Helston to murder him
What was the final straw for the people of Cornwall on Whitsunday in June 1549?
- introduction of the New Prayer book
What was the main trigger of the Western rebellion in Devon?
- use of the new Prayer book
How did the rebellion take hold in Cornwall?
- protestors assembled at Bodmin
- led by Humphrey Arundell
- list of articles were compiled
- crowd then marched to Devon
How did the rebellion take hold in Devon (Sampford Courtenay)?
- rebels persuaded priest to deliver traditional Catholic mass and moved to join forces from Cornwall to Crediton
Give an example of a gentleman who tried to calm the rebels in Devon and was hacked to pieces?
- Hellier
What role did Sir Peter Carew play?
- leading gentleman in Devon
- rode to meet combined force at Crediton
- aggravated the situation as he was a known Protestant and his tense meeting with rebels almost turned violent when a barn was set alight
What eventually happened to Sir Peter Carew?
- he fled back to Exeter and London
How was the first government response limited?
- Somerset was acting on inadequate information
- he only had limited resources at his disposal
- he was struggling to… suppress enclosure riots in the Midlands, maintain adequate forces on Scottish border,
watch for French aggression - called upon Lord Russell to find peace but could only give him a small army
What are the three causes of the Western rebellion?
- religious grievances
- economic factors
- personality clashes
How did economic factors impact the Western rebellion?
- in early stages of rebellion the economic grievances figured more highly - by time of second list of demands, Robert Welsh was leading and his theological concerns were heavily reflected (he was the vicar of St Thomas - was still preaching against the reformed religion and continuing to use the Romish rites and ornaments in his services)
- complaints about taxes on sheep and cloth generated rumours about further taxes on other animals
- in initial demands, there were complaints about taxes and food prices
Why are the ruling classes always concerned about protests?
- no police force or standing army to suppress
- only the thin threads of duty and deference kept the common people in order (explains harsh punishments)
- viewed commons as essentially irrational, stupid, fickle
- failed to see that most rebellions were remarkably peaceful/ passive (government suppression tended to spark any physical violence)
- believed their positions would be threatened (in actuality, rebels never wanted that)
As Lord Russell could only be provided with a small army, he avoided direct confrontation with the rebels - give a brief overview of the timeline how
- 8th July: made last attempt at a settlement with the rebels
- 12th July: reinforcements led by Lord Grey - delayed by another uprising in Oxfordshire
- 28th July: (once he was pressured by Somerset) - Russel began an advance against the rebels
- 3rd August: Russell’s army = aided by the arrival of forced of Lord Grey
How did religious impact the Western rebellion?
- unquestionably the central issue
- list of articles demanded reintroduction of Catholicism through reinstatement of Act of 6, use of Latin, Communion of one kind, prayers for dead, Mass every Sunday
- widespread response of laity to the removal of images was perhaps provoked as much by unfamiliarity of new practises as by the doctrinal/ political issues behind them
- introduction of new Prayer Book showed how much religious had changed