Lincolnshire 1536: heresy, schism or religious discontent?

Margaret Bowker

doi:10.1017/S0424208400005829

Lincolnshire 1536: heresy, schism or religious discontent?

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2016

Margaret Bowker

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Margaret Bowker*: Affiliation:
University of Cambridge

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The Pilgrimage of Grace has received much attention: besides the massive study of the Misses Dodds, both professor Knowles and professor Scarisbrick have devoted many detailed pages to it, and its importance as a challenge to the Henrician régime is not in question. What continues to perplex generations of scholars is why an outbreak of this kind should have occurred in the autumn of 1536, and whether the explanations for it should be primarily (though not necessarily exclusively) sought in the fields of administrative, economic, social or religious history. If religion is the key, is the Pilgrimage best understood as a rebellion by ‘conservative’ catholics who disliked the recent religious innovations, or of progressives who sought for further and more far-reaching reforms? Is it a heretical or schismatic movement or neither? The problem was clearly stated in a paper to this society by professor Dickens, and it has been the subject of local studies and detailed papers ever since. These studies have focused attention on the importance of regional differences in the Pilgrimage. They have shown clearly that our understanding of it will not be advanced further unless we are prepared to attend to these differences, and to the whole structure of local politics which accompanied them.

Type: Research Article
Information: Studies in Church History , Volume 9: Schism, Heresy and Religious Protest , 1972 , pp. 195 - 212

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0424208400005829 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1972

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References

^{page no 195 note 1} , [M. H. and Dodds, R.], [The Pilgrimage of Grace 1536-1537 and the Exeter Conspiracy 1538,] 2 vols (Cambridge 1915)Google Scholar. Knowles, [D.], [The Religious Orders in England, the Tudor Age] (Cambridge 1959) pp 322ffGoogle Scholar. Scarisbrick, J. J., Henry VIII (London 1968) pp 338ffGoogle Scholar.

^{page no 195 note 2} For a short narrative and selection of documents on it, together with a map see Fletcher, A., Tudor Rebellions (London 1968) pp 21–47, 118-34Google Scholar.

^{page no 195 note 3} Dickens, [A. G.] [‘Secular and Religious Motivation in the Pilgrimage of Grace’] SCH, IV (Leiden 1968) pp 39 ffGoogle Scholar.

^{page no 195 note 4} Notably, Christopher, Haigh, The Last Days of the Lancashire Monasteries and the Pilgrimage of Grace (Manchester 1969)Google Scholar. Smith, R. B., Land and Politics in the Reign of Henry VIII: the West Riding of Yorkshire 1530-46 (Oxford 1970)Google Scholar. Davies, [C. S. L.], [‘The Pilgrimage of Grace Reconsidered’,] PP, XLI (1968) pp 54ffGoogle Scholar.

^{page no 196 note 1} James, [M. E.], [‘Obedience and Dissent in Henrician England: the Lincolnshire Rebellion 1536’,] PP, XLVIII (1970) pp 3ffGoogle Scholar.

^{page no 196 note 2} Ibid p 32.

^{page no 196 note 3} Dodds, 1 p 91 follows Gasquet, F. A., Henry VIII and the English Monasteries (London 1893) p 45 Google Scholar. I am exceedingly grateful to professor Elton for his help in untangling these commissions, and with the whole paper.

^{page no 196 note 4} 26 Henry VIII, c. 19.

^{page no 196 note 5} L[etters and] P[apers, Foreign and Domestic of the Reign of Henry VIII,] ed James, Gairdner, XI (London 1888) no 853 Google Scholar.

^{page no 196 note 6} PRO E.36/118 p 7.

^{page no 196 note 7} LP XI, no 970.

^{page no 197 note 1} Ibid no 585.

^{page no 197 note 2} LP XII (1) no 380.

^{page no 197 note 3} Gee, [H.] and Hardy, [W. J.], [Documents Illustrative of English Church History] (London 1896) p 269 Google Scholar.

^{page no 197 note 4} LP XI no 975.

^{page no 197 note 5} LP XI no 1110.

^{page no 197 note 6} L[incoln] R[ecord] O[ffice], Register 26 fols 276-76V. Gee and Hardy, p 271; for a discussion of the attitude of the articles to saints days, see below, pp 208ff. The letter for the abrogation of holidays appears to have been issued at Chertsey, 11 August 1536. Chichester Record Office, Register Sampson, Ep/1/1/6 fo 3. I am grateful to Mr Stephen Lander for this reference.

^{page no 197 note 7} Dodds, 1, p 91.

^{page no 197 note 8} James, p 19.

^{page no 197 note 9} LP XI no 705.

^{page no 197 note 10} Ibid no 828 (v).

^{page no 198 note 1} LRO LCC fols 167-72V; Vij. 1 fols 96, 154-5V.

^{page no 198 note 2} LP XII no 380.

^{page no 198 note 3} Hill, J. W. F., Tudor and Stuart Lincoln (Cambridge 1956) p 25 Google Scholar.

^{page no 198 note 4} PRO E.36/118 p 9: one Surdon of Lincoln ‘clarke to Peter Afford Registrer of the Arsedeconrye of Lincolne’ (sic) was accused.

^{page no 198 note 5} Dodds, 1, pp 90-1.

^{page no 199 note 1} LP XI no 780 (italics mine).

^{page no 199 note 2} LP XII (1) no 70.

^{page no 199 note 3} LP XII (1) no 581.

^{page no 199 note 4} His name is sometimes given as Thomas.

^{page no 199 note 5} PRO E.36/118 p 5; LP XI no 973; XII (1) nos 70, 581; LRO Register 23, fol 130V.

^{page no 199 note 6} LP XII (1) no 380. The king in his own hand appears to have noted in connection with the part taken by a friar in Hallam’s rebellion that ‘this knave is to be taken and, well examined, to suffer’. Ibid no 370.

^{page no 200 note 1} LP XI no 854.

^{page no 200 note 2} Ibid no 853.

^{page no 200 note 3} Ibid no 972.

^{page no 200 note 4} LRO Register 25 fol 23.

^{page no 200 note 5} PRO E.36/118 p 4 (LP XI no 975).

^{page no 200 note 6} Ibid p 5.

^{page no 200 note 7} LP XI nos 854, 972.

^{page no 200 note 8} PRO E.36/118 p 6 (LP XI no 975).

^{page no 200 note 9} LP XI nos 568, 975, XII (1) no 380.

^{page no 200 note 10} PRO E.36/118 p 2.

^{page no 200 note 11} LP XI no 967.

^{page no 200 note 12} LP XII (1) no 70.

^{page no 201 note 1} LP XI nos 805, 828, 853, 967, 968, 972, 975; XII (1) no 70.

^{page no 201 note 2} PRO E.36/118 pp 1, 2, 10.

^{page no 201 note 3} LP XII (1) no 192.

^{page no 201 note 4} LP XI no 974; XII (1) no 380.

^{page no 201 note 5} LP XI nos 828, 975.

^{page no 201 note 6} LP XI no 828; XII (1) no 581.

^{page no 201 note 7} LP XI nos 805, 827, 828, 967; XII (1) no 70.

^{page no 202 note 1} Chapter Acts of the Cathedral Church of St Mary of Lincoln 1320-36, ed Cole, R. E. G., LRS, XII (1915) p XV Google Scholar.

^{page no 202 note 2} Bowker, [M.], [The] Secular Clergy [in the Diocese of Lincoln 1495-1520] (Cambridge 1968) pp 23ffGoogle Scholar. Compare James, p 20. Mr James suggests Mackerell was ‘a more familiar representative of authority than the absentee bishop’. The phrase is more appropriately applied to the bishop’s chancellor and vicar general, John Rayne. (James, p 14 where his name is incorrectly given as Robert.)

^{page no 202 note 3} LRO Register 26 fols 26-53 suggest that Michaelmas ordinations were usual but not invariable.

^{page no 202 note 4} LRO Register 26 fol 53; LP XII (1) no 702.

^{page no 202 note 5} LRO Vj.5 passim.

^{page no 202 note 6} Bowker, Secular Clergy, p 90.

^{page no 202 note 7} LRO Vij.1 passim.

^{page no 202 note 8} Ibid fol 87V.

^{page no 202 note 9} See for example, LRO Vij.1 fols 88V, 89, 146V, 147V.

^{page no 202 note 10} 21 Henry VIII c. 13.

^{page no 203 note 1} LP XII (1) no 481.

^{page no 203 note 2} PRO E.36/118 p 8.

^{page no 203 note 3} LP XI nos 828 (xiii), 967, 970, 973; XII (1) nos 70, 380.

^{page no 203 note 4} LRO Register 26 fol 31.

^{page no 203 note 5} Ibid fols 35-63.

^{page no 203 note 6} Bowker, Secular Clergy, pp 42ff.

^{page no 203 note 7} LRO Vij. 1 fol 156.

^{page no 203 note 8} Notably the incumbents of Belleau, Belchford, Biscethorpe, Conisholm, Donington on Bain, Farforth, Gaiton, Harrington, Hatton, Manby, Miningsby, Rothwell, Scartho, Snelland, Sotby, Stewton, South Somercotes, Thoresway Welton.

^{page no 204 note 1} 26 Henry VIII c. 3.

^{page no 204 note 2} Bowker, Secutar Clergy, p 61.

^{page no 204 note 3} LRO Register 25 passim.

^{page no 205 note 1} Namely Alford, Cockerington, Elkington, Gaiton, Halington, Saleby, Snelland, Scothern, Sotby, North Somercotes, Welton. LRO Register 23 fols 67, 126, 128, 130, 130V, 146V, 148V; Register 27 fols 21V, 59V, 83V; Vij 1, fol 149V.

^{page no 205 note 2} Namely, Biscethorpe, Donington on Bain, Hainton, Hatton, Louth, Miningsby, Rothwell, Tetney, Nether Toynton. LRO Register 23 fols 36, 91, 103, 143V, Register 25 fols 16, 23; Register 27 fols 51, 53, 59.

^{page no 205 note 3} Namely Belchford, Belleau, Conisholm, Farforth and Harrington. LRO Register 27 fols 25, 46V, 55V, 57V, 60V.

^{page no 205 note 4} Bowker, Secular Clergy, pp 70ff.

^{page no 205 note 5} LRO Register 26 passim; between 1530 and 1536 an average of sixty-five men were ordained priest in a year compared with an average of one hundred and twenty-six between 1514 and 1520.

^{page no 205 note 6} For a discussion of the fate of the religious of the diocese see Hodgett, G. A. J., The State of the Ex-Religious and Former Chantry Priests in the Diocese of Lincoln 1147-74, LRS, LIII (1958) pp xiffGoogle Scholar.

^{page no 205 note 7} LP XII (1) no 380.

^{page no 206 note 1} LP XI no 828 (2); PRO S.P/1/109, fol 2.

^{page no 206 note 2} LP XI nos 828(1), 853, 854, 967, 968, 970, 972, 973; LP XII (1) no 170.

^{page no 206 note 3} LP XI no 975 summarises the statement contained in PRO E.36/118 p 7.

^{page no 206 note 4} LP XI no 534.

^{page no 206 note 5} LP XII (1) no 70.

^{page no 206 note 6} Davies, p 70.

^{page no 206 note 7} Lincoln Wills 1505-1530, ed Foster, C. W., LRS, X (1918) pp 170–210 Google Scholar.

^{page no 207 note 1} For the exact order of events see Sybil, Jack ‘The Last Days of the Smaller Monasteries in England’, JEH, XXI, 2 (1970) pp 97ffGoogle Scholar.

^{page no 207 note 2} LP XII (1) no 380, see also James p 15 note 54. Tene = teen, meaning ‘hurt’ (OED).

^{page no 208 note 1} Thomas, Fuller, The Church History of Britain (London 1837) 11, bk V, cent XVI, pp 86-7Google Scholar.

^{page no 208 note 2} LP XI no 553.

^{page no 208 note 3} James, pp 14-5.

^{page no 208 note 4} James, p 15.

^{page no 208 note 5} LP XI no 970.

^{page no 208 note 6} LP XI no 828 (1).

^{page no 209 note 1} LP XII (1) no 380.

^{page no 209 note 2} Dickens, p 51.

^{page no 209 note 3} Davies, p 63.

^{page no 209 note 4} LP XII (1) no 970; James has also remarked upon the doctrinal commitments of Kendale (James, p 16).

^{page no 209 note 5} LP XII (1) no 70.

^{page no 210 note 1} LP XI 975; PRO E.36/118 p 7.

^{page no 210 note 2} Compare LP XII (1) no 370.

^{page no 210 note 3} LRO Register 27 fol 57V.

^{page no 210 note 4} LP XII (1) no 70 (XI) (italics mine); Longland was concerned about preaching against the papacy, see LP IX no 349.

^{page no 210 note 5} Davies, p 69.

^{page no 211 note 1} LP XII (1) no 70.

^{page no 211 note 2} For a discussion of these articles see Dickens, A.G., The English Reformation (London 1964) p 175 Google Scholar; compare Hughes, P., The Reformation in England (London 1956) 1, pp 350ffGoogle Scholar.

^{page no 211 note 3} LP XII (I) no 70; PRO E.36/118 p 10.

^{page no 211 note 4} LRO Vij. 1 fol 92.

^{page no 211 note 5} LP XI nos 672; 975; LRO Vij. 1 fols 149v, 154.

^{page no 211 note 6} LP XI no 968.

^{page no 211 note 7} LRO Vij. 1, fol 149.

^{page no 211 note 8} LRO Register 23 fol 67.

^{page no 211 note 9} PRO E.36/118 p 6.

^{page no 212 note 1} Davies, p 58 suggests other causes for their disgust.

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