To What Extent was the rebellion of the Northern Earls the most significant rebellion in the Tudor Period To some extent the rebellion of the Northern Earls was the most significant rebellion in the Tudor period because they had proven to be a serious threat as the rebellion was lead by two of the leading families, Northumberland and Westmoreland.But despite this, I don’t think it was the most significant rebellion because if we put the fact they wanted to release Mary Queen of Scots, there was no purpose to the rebellion because there was no popular enthusiasm to replace Elizabeth with a foreigner or restore the Pope, and also the Earls (Northumberland and Westmoreland) were cowards to a point because as soon as they heard rumours that the queen had summoned massive forces for them, they turned around and headed back north instead of facing them.In my personal opinion, I think that the Pilgrimage of Grace was the most significant because it showed how to raise a large scale rising in a small period of time and it also showed the divided opinions of the people, as there were a variety of reasons; Religion, Political, Social and Economical.The rebellion of the Pilgrimage of Grace, Henry’s reign, was perhaps the revolution in rebellions because although the Lancashire rising had raised 10,000 rebels in 10 days it was going to be like the calm before the storm because the rebels that fought for their beliefs in the Lancashire rising was about to be intensified with the Pilgrimage of Grace. The Pilgrimage of Grace managed to raise 30,000 rebels and actually managed to worry the government because they soon realised that the rebels were going to fight for their beliefs until death.The government was completely caught off guard with this rebellion as they didn’t expect a rebellion so soon after the rebels had been sent home by the Government’s Herald in Lancashire.
In all the Pilgrimage of Grace was one of the better executed and planned rebellions in the Tudor period as they knew exactly what they wanted from Henry with the demands being met. However, Henry played this well because by sending delegations to meet the rebels he had made time to plan what he and the government was going to do.This leads to the rebellion in which government action alone had put down the rebellion, Wyatt’s rebellion in Marys reign. Wyatt’s rebellion was based around the Devon and Cornwall area, and it rose because the rebels were unhappy about the planned marriage of Mary to Phillip of Spain (a foreigner). Their main concern was that they thought that the government would be taken over by foreign interests resulting in increasing fear for the state of politics as many saw any interest by foreign countries was going to end in disaster.Wyatt’s rebellion was put down due to the government’s actions because although the Duke of Norfolk didn’t stop the rebels which were en route to London, Mary’s rousing speech which won the support of Londoners proved to be vital because when Wyatt and part of his force went through Knightsbridge, the villagers let them through but when Wyatt’s force had been forced to stop because it was closed, the villagers attacked them and Wyatt surrendered.
If Mary hadn’t gotten the support of the villagers then Mary would’ve had much bigger problems to deal with.Wyatt’s rebellion is significant in comparison to Northern Earls rebellion because although it was put down due to government action, it was more at fault due to Wyatt not taking the opportunities which presented themselves to him such as the chance to take London when Mary and her government were deciding how to deal the uprising. Also, the French opportunity to invade England was a down fall but that was due to poor leadership by Wyatt because he didn’t really know his next move.This leads on to Kett’s rebellion where Kett refused to accept a pardon on 3 occasions and also made a fatal decision to abandon fortified position on Mousehold Heath led to the defeat of Kett’s rebellion. Kett’s rebellion came about due to increasing anger to Sir John Flowerdew’s in the local community. Flowerdew had put up a fence around a local abbey church which he was now pulling down.
He was also involved in a land dispute with Kett and tried to turn the rioters against Kett, if anything Kett seized the initiative.The rebellion was significant due to the large-scale force of 16000 men that Kett had soon gathered and showed that people were unhappy about the situation they had been put in due to the low quality harvests, the radical change of religion from Catholicism to Protestantism. They were the closest thing Tudor England saw to class war, there was not one cause, there were many. They also showed that the government weren’t prepared for such large scale risings as they had offered pardons, which got rejected.
They then sent in military forces to attack and put down the rebellions. As a whole the rebellion proved not to be a serious threat to overthrowing the monarchy because the demands and actions of the rebels were not intended to threaten the established order. Also, part of the rebellions defeat was that there was no march on London and if they were going to overthrow the monarchy, they had not named an alternative to Edward. The western rebellion had also not named an Alternative to Edward when they rebelled earlier in the reign of Edward.To an extent, the Western Rebellion and Kett’s rebellion are very similar because they both rose from similar parts of the country; it was one of the largest factors in the downfall of Somerset and at the beginning of the rebellion they had limited resources because there were problems overseas in France and also in Scotland.
These show how serious the rebellion was to overthrowing the monarchy, but really it was not really that serious threat because the rebel’s actions and demands made it look like they were not intending to overthrow the monarchy and also there was no call for equality of all classes.I don’t think that the western rebellion was really significant because the government was able to defeat the rebellion with some ease due to Russell avoiding confrontation, and that the rebels were later pushed back with help of Lord Grey’s support. Also the rebellion didn’t prove to be a serious threat to the established order In all, I think the pilgrimage of grace is the most significant because without it happening, the rebellions later on in all the reigns really would have not a clue to raise a good and a large force as the Pilgrimage of Grace showed this and did it very successfully. DAN GREENTREE - DO NOT COPY
