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
How did personality clashes impact the Western rebellion?
- William Body intensified the antagonism felt towards the religious changes due to his heavy-handed approach
Other than Body attempting to destroy images, what else caused further disquiet in the region?
- dissolution of the chantries
- undermining of the local guilds which supported masses and prayers for the dead, and provided lights for rood and images
Where did the army of rebels from the south-west (this was after Cornwall and Devon had united at Crediton and Carew tried to calm them) settle themselves?
- congregated and camped outside Clyst St Mary, occupying the main road to Exeter
Why was Peter Carew not a suitable choice to deal with the rebellion?
- he was an evangelical
- rather than pacify the rebellion it was inflamed
After Carew, Lord Russell was appointed to restore law and order. What limitations did he face?
- had an inadequate force
- by 2nd July the rebels numbered 2000 and were advancing on Exeter behind the banner of the Five Wounds of Christ
What significance does the banner have?
- connects this rebellion with that of the Pilgrimage of Grace which was grounded in religious causes
- visually strong symbol of the faith
As the rebels marched on Exeter and the mayor refused their demands, what happened?
- siege of Exeter began (citizens of Exeter defended city for about 6 weeks)
- demands of the rebels were delivered to Somerset
What three factors may have motivated/ impacted Somerset’s actions?
- leniency
- lack of awareness of the seriousness of the threat
- military requirements elsewhere
When and how did Lord Russell accomplish the regaining of Exeter?
- 28th July - was urged to attack and regain control
- accomplished with arrival of 1,000 extra troops under Sir William Herbert
Having gained the regional capital, where did Russell march? What was the result?
- through rebel stronghold of Sampford Courtenay with 8000 men
- fight by rebels had little chance of success, rebellion collapsed, reprisals began
How many men were said to have been killed in the rebellion? Who is a poignant example?
- 4000 men
- Robert Welsh (vicar of St Thomas in Exeter) - hanged on the gallows erected on his Church tower in his vestments with a ‘holy water bucket, a sprinkler, a sacring bell, a pair of beads and other such popish trash hanged about him’
- immediate retribution followed with the execution of twenty-eight Cornishmen at Launceston Castle
Why was enclosure a contributing factor to the rebellion?
- government’s attack on enclosure through recent poll taxes on sheep was a particular concern in a region which had been enclosed
- where majority of farming was pasture rather than arable
- rumours that taxation would be extended to other livestock may have sparked discontent
- evidence: complaints about taxes and food prices featured in the initial demands list
How did the rebel demands challenge gentlemen?
- challenged their position and their right to employ servants
Why did the rebels object to the sale of chantry land?
- attacking those who were profiting from the sale of Church land
What was arguably another key issue for the rebels?
- interference of the government in a fiercely independent region
- loath to accept new laws from a central government geographically distant from them
- up until 1549 government influence had been weak but Somerset’s financial and religious policies presented a serious challenge to this independence
Where were the three places of confrontations between government forces and the rebels?
- Fenny Bridge
- Clyst St Mary
- Clyst Heath
What shows the resilience and commitment of the rebels?
- they remained strong to the end
- even after defeated on the battlefield, Russell (leader of government forces) had to deal with rearguard action and pockets of resistance until 3/4,000 killed
How can religion be seen clearly as the central issue that sparked the rebellion?
- list of articles demanded reintroduction of Catholicism
- to be achieved through: reinstatement of the Act of Six Articles, use of Latin, Communion in one kind, prayers for the dead, mass every Sunday
- widespread response of ordinary people in reaction to removal of images - may have been provoked by unfamiliarity, no doubt that religion had changed significantly
How was their cultural independence a possible cause of the rebellion?
- argued that the Catholic Church had “proved itself extremely accommodating of Cornish language and culture” and government attacks on the traditional religion had reawakened the spirit of defiance in Cornwall
- Cornish resistance to English cultural aggression
- Glasney College had recently been dissolved - perhaps the dissolution of this ancient cultural centre provoked unrest among native speakers
- protect ancient culture and language
- majority of the Cornish people spoke Cornish and viewed English as the language of those who threatened the independence of their region
- Latin was the universal language of worship, understood to be a shared language with all people in Christendom
