Lecture notes
Tudor Rebellions
The document looks at all Tudor Rebellion focusing on causes, events, threat level and why they were defeated. Ideal to complement Tudor course or help with NEA.
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Key Theme: Rebellion and Disorder in England 1485-1603Three essays will draw on a different one of the four content paragraph of syllabus, although may test more than on content
paragraph. You answer two of the essays.
This theme focuses on the nature and extent of rebellion and disorder (such as tax revolts and anti-enclosure riots) in England
during this period. Candidates should consider the danger which they presented to successive governments and the effects of
rebellion and disorder on governments. The theme does not include ordinary crime.
Content
The main causes of rebellion and disorder: faction, the succession, religion, enclosures.
The frequency, nature and cause of localised disturbances.
The maintenance of political stability and the response of Tudor governments to the threat of disorder.
Rebellions to be studied are: Simnel and Warbeck, the Cornish Rising, the Pilgrimage of Grace, Ket’s Rebellion, Wyatt’s
Rebellion, the Rebellion of the Northern Earls, Essex’s Rebellion.
Note: Candidates are not expected to demonstrate a detailed understanding of the specification but are expected to have
knowledge of the main developments and turning points relevant to the theme.
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,Timeline
1485 Accession of Henry VII
1486: Henry VII married Elizabeth of York; Lord Lovel’s revolt; rising by the Staffords
1486-7: Simnel’s rebellion
1489: Anti-tax riots in Yorkshire
1491-7: Warbeck’s rebellion (de Facto Act 1495)
1495: Execution of Sir William Stanley
1497: The Cornish Rebellion
1499: Executions of Warwick and Warbeck
1504: Statute against retaining; purge of the Suffolk family and its associates (Suffolk himself surrendered by Burgundy 1506
and executed 1513)
1509: Accession of Henry VIII
1513-25: Various localised ant-tax riots
1521: Execution of Buckingham
1525: Disturbances caused by the Amicable Grant
1528: Widespread unrest across East Anglia
1534: Act of Supremacy passed
1536-7: Pilgrimage of Grace (over 200 executed); Council of the North reorganised
1538: Executions of the surviving Yorkists
1539: Act of Six Articles passed
1540-6: Increase in frequency and violence of hedge-breaking riots
1542-3: Wars with Scotland and France begin
1547: Accession of Edward VI; heresy laws repealed; Chantries Act passed
1549: The Western rebellion; Ket’s rebellion (over 50 executed)
1553: Northumberland’s abortive coup and Mary’s accession
1554: Wyatt’s rebellion and other risings (over 100 executed)
1555: Burning of heretics began
1558: Accession of Elizabeth I (reigned to 1603)
1568: Mary Queen of Scots fled to England (executed 1587)
1569-70: Rising of the Northern Earls (over 800 executed); Council of the North strengthened
1570: Excommunication of Elizabeth I by Pope Pius V
1571: Second Treasons Act
1595: Earl of Tyrone began Irish rebellion
1596: Various localised anti-enclosure riots
1599: arrest of Essex
1601: Essex’s rebellion; Poor Law Act (revising 1597 Poor Law Act)
MARKSCHEMES?
For top levels on causation put a range of factors. Bring in factors not mentioned in the question.
Make links and connections.
Make sure you have a wide breadth of support across the whole period.
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, Key Theme: Rebellion and Disorder in England 1485-1603
This theme focuses on the nature and extent of rebellion and disorder (such as tax revolts
and anti-enclosure riots) in England during this period. Candidates should consider the
danger which they presented to successive governments and the effects of rebellion and
disorder on governments. The theme does not include ordinary crime.
Rebellions to be studied are: Simnel and Warbeck, the Cornish Rising, the Pilgrimage of Grace, Ket’s Rebellion,
Wyatt’s Rebellion, the Rebellion of the Northern Earls, Essex’s Rebellion.
A. What threats did Henry VII face?
The main threat came from the two ‘pretenders’ to the crown, Simnel and Warbeck. These were boys who were set up as
either Edward IV’s sons (probably murdered in the tower in 1483 but their bodies were never revealed to the public) or as the
imprisoned Earl of Warwick. The pretenders challenged Henry’s claim to the throne and attracted dissatisfied nobles and
foreign rulers who wanted rid of Henry. Henry also faced a range of other threats.
1485 Accession of Henry VII
Henry dated his accession to the day before the Battle of Bosworth, since this enabled him to deal with his opponents from the
battle as traitors. His coronation took place on 39 th October. Henry VII himself was attainted, but he was discharged by the
justices of the Exchequer.
Parliament was opened in November 1485 and used to pass attainders against Henry’s enemies. This meant that their land was
confiscated for Treason and thus benefited Henry financially, as well as weakening his enemies. Richard III and 28 leading
Yorkists were attainted, and attainders on Lancastrian supporters were removed.
1486: Henry VII married Elizabeth of York
Henry had undertaken to marry Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, while in exile. Henry was careful to marry Elizabeth
of York in January 1486 to win support, but he did it after his coronation in October 1485 so that no-one could say that the
marriage was his justification for becoming King.
Elizabeth was daughter of Edward IV so the union symbolised reconciliation between the families of Lancaster and York. This
helped to win over moderate Yorkists. When Arthur was born in 1486 the two families were combined establishing a future and
a sense of permanence to the union.
There were 8 children born in total but only 3 survived to become adults. Three did not even survive long enough to leave
names.
Security remained a problem for most of Henry’s life because of conspiracies and mortality amongst his children. He knew few
people actively supported him, so he quickly appointed men of proven worth to his cause and formed a body guard of 200
‘yeomen of the guard’.
Henry came to the throne after 24 years of Yorkist rule, so there were bound to be many who resisted him. They aimed to
overthrow him with Yorkist claimants or invent spurious ones (the pretenders). The Yorkists were not so much motivated by
loyalty to York, but more fears of the uncertainty of life under Henry. Previous Lancastrian rulers had not inspired confidence.
None of the plots gained much support in England and Wales, so the main danger was that they won support from abroad. Thus
Henry’s foreign policy was closely linked to security issues.
1486: Lovell Rebellion
This rebellion began at Easter and was led by Yorkist supporters Viscount Francis Lovell, Humphrey and Thomas Stafford.
They had been in sanctuary at Colchester since the Battle of Bosworth Field, but broke out in spring 1486. Lovell had been a
close servant of Richard III.
They hoped to provoke an insurrection, but failed completely and the rebellion collapsed quickly. Lovell disappeared
to France and the Staffords sought sanctuary again, but this time Henry seized them anyway. Humphrey was executed but
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, Thomas was pardoned. The rising was weak, but would have alarmed Henry since he would not know before how much
support it might attract.
1487: Simnel’s rebellion
Lambert Simnel appeared in Ireland in 1486. He was born in Oxford, but resembled the younger son of Edward IV, Richard
Duke of York. His teacher, a priest called Richard Symonds, taught him to claim that he was Richard and he went to Ireland
where Symonds decided instead the Simnel would be the imprisoned Earl of Warwick. It is possible that John de la Pole was
involved in the plot from an early stage, perhaps planning to further his own claim at a later date.
Simnel was proclaimed King of England in Ireland with the support of Yorkist lords like the Earl of Kildare (Gerald
FitzGerald). The Earl of Kildare had in effect become the King of Ireland and his family chose to adhere to the Yorkists in
order to keep their position.
The plot was amateurish because Henry immediately produced the Earl of Warwick in London, although the plotters
claimed that this Earl of Warwick was the imposter. However Simnel had the support of 2000 German mercenaries from
Margaret of Brugundy, and John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln also joined the rebellion to further his own claims, as did
Viscount Lovell, who returned from exile in France.
The force invaded England in 1487 but did not gather much support in the North which had recently suffered in the
Wars of the Roses. John de la Pole, probably Viscount Lovell, and several other Yorkist leaders were killed at the Battle of
Stoke, which is seen by many as the last battle of the Wars of the Roses, but Henry showed he could judge the nature of his
enemies well by pardoning Simnel and offering him work in the royal kitchens. He ended up as a royal falconer.
1489:Yorkshire rebellion
This rebellion was against tax raises attempted by Henry to pay for his campaign in Brittany. It was located in the area around
Thirsk, and the Earl of Northumberland was killed trying to put the rebellion down.
1491-7: Perkin Warbeck
Perkin Warbeck appeared in Ireland in 1491 aged 17, claiming first to be the Earl of Warwick, and then to be Richard of
York, the youngest son of Edward IV, though he later admitted that his real name was John Osbeck and he was born in
Tournai. He was probably encouraged by Margaret of Burgundy and the Earl of Kildare, and then Charles VIII of France
recognised his claims and welcomed him at the French Court. His aim was probably to embarrass Henry and divert him from
Charles’s plans to annex Brittany, where Henry was beginning to interfere.
The decision to impersonate one of the Princes was a good one since there death could not be proved. In November
1492 however Charles made peace with Henry in the Treaty of Etaples so Warbeck had to move on to Burgundy. Margaret of
Burgundy trained Warbeck with recollections of Edward IV (her brother) and the Yorkists. Warbeck was thus under the
protection of Archduke Philip of Burgundy and his father Maximilian, the Holy Roman Emperor. Still, this breathing space
gave Henry a chance to deal with the English end of the conspiracy, executing one of Warbeck’s supporters, Sir William
Stanley in 1495.
When Warbeck landed in 1495 at Deal in Kent but he failed to gain support and so went instead to Scotland where he
was supported by James IV who probably thought he was genuine, giving him his own cousin to marry. This alliance made the
rebellion particularly threatening to Henry.
Warbeck invaded England with Scottish soldiers in September 1496, but was horrified by the soldiers’ brutish behaviour, and
eventually gave himself up to Henry in 1497, confessing to whom he really was. This achieved what Henry wanted so Warbeck
was pardoned and kept at court, but when he tried to escape he was put in the Tower in 1498, and then finally executed in 1499
along with the Earl of Warwick for an alleged escape plot. This may have been made up by Henry’s agents to enable them
to get rid of two troublesome individuals.
1495:
Stanley was a noble magnate who had supported Henry at the Battle of Bosworth Field, and then became Lord Chamberlain.
However he was executed for supporting Warbeck.
1497: Cornish Rebellion
This was the second tax rebellion of Henry’s reign. It was caused by his attempts to raise money to protect himself Warbeck’s
attacks from Scotland. The rebels, whose leadership was inefective, were still able to march all the way to London because
Henry was pre-occupied with Warbeck and Scotland.
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