VI rush onward in their course with whirlwind rapidity, CHAI and enervate the mind with amazement as a sirocco prostrates the body. So were the old ecclesiastical A.D. 1536 establishments of England prostrated with amaze- Most ment in the time of Cromwell's odious vicegerency, , an amazed and perfectly unable to offer an effective resistance, stupor whether for evil or for good. Notwithstanding this general prostration, there were, however, some energetic attempts to stop the progress of destruction, and Cromwell was not without good reason for the caution with which he prepared the country for a second great spoliation. For several months, the northern counties of England were in a chronic state of rebellion, and very serious danger to the King and his government ensued. seized with The movement, eventually called the "Pilgrimage Rebellion of Grace," began at Louth in Lincolnshire, on Mon quiets, and for the causes specified on his Grace's behalf to advertise you, that unless there had been overtures made by the said houses that have resigned, his Grace would never have received the same; and that his Majesty intendeth not in any wise to trouble you, or to devise for the suppression of any religous house that standeth ; except they shall either desire of themselves with one whole consent to resign or forsake the same or else misuse themselves contrary to their allegiance. In which case they shall deserve the loss of much more than their houses and possessions; that is, the loss also of their lives. Wherefore in this you may repose yourselves, giving yourselves to serve God devoutly, to live like true and faithful subjects to his Majesty, and to provide honestly for the sustentation of your houses, and the relieving of poor people with the hospitality of the same; without consumption in the north VI CHAP day, October 2, 1536, and arose directly out of the visitation which had again been ordered by CromA.D. 1536 well as vicegerent of the King in ecclesiastical matters. One of the commissioners was expected at Louth on the above day, and preparations were made which show plainly what the object of his visit was known to be. On the evening before his arrival, It begins after the Sunday services were over, the silver proat Louth cessional cross belonging to their noble church was but fails carried on to the town green, and there used as a rallying standard for those town's-people who were prepared to resist his authority. They collected in force, and returning to the church gathered all its riches-chalices, vestments, jewels-into the nave, where an armed guard was set over them until daybreak. When the commissioner appeared early in the morning he was received with the ringing of the alarm bell, and this was the first note of a religious rebellion which well-nigh thrust Henry VIII. from his throne. This first rising failed, indeed, for want of a leader of a leader, but Sir William Fitzwilliam, who was sent to report respecting it, wrote home to Cromwell that in every place from London to Lincoln all the people, old and young alike, were heard wishing Godspeed to the rebellion in Lincolnshire, while not a voice among the common people was heard on the other side. Without a leader all the zeal in the world could not, however, prevent disintegration ; and when the Duke of Suffolk arrived with his troops he found that the rebellion had worn itself to pieces in a fortnight, so that there was no force to oppose. for want But the fire soon broke out again in Yorkshire, and this time a leader was found, though one too gentle and irresolute to ensure continued success. A VI country squire named kaben Aske, of Howden CHAP in Yorkshire, was at the head of this rising, and he had around him many of the northern gentry, some A.D. 1536 zealous as himself, others only half hearted; among whom were Lori Darcy, Les, Archbishop of York, Lord Hussey, Sir Robert Constable, and Sir Christopher Danby. The objects of this outbreak were stated in a proclamation which was issued by Aske and his friends at the outset in the following terms :— tion "Masters, all men to be ready to-morrow, and this night, Aske's and in the morning to ring your bells in every town, and to proclamaassemble yourselves upon Skipwith moor, and there appoint your captains, Master Hussey, Master Babthorp, and Master Gascoygn, and other gentlemen: and to give warning to all beyond the water to be ready, upon pain of death, for the commonwealth; and make your proclamation every man to be true to the King's issue and the noble blood; to preserve the Church of God from spoiling, and to be true to the Commons and the wealths. And ye shall have to-morrow the articles and causes of your assembly and petition to the King, and place of our meeting, and all other of power and common wealth. In haste, &c." Almost all Yorkshire, Lancashire, and the bishopric of Durham, gathered round Aske at this call, and he began his march southward, headed by some of the monks bearing, as banner of the "Pilgrimage of Grace," a standard marked with the five wounds of Christ. The demands made were, as before, for Demands the restoration of the dissolved monasteries, the of the remission of the heavy burdens imposed on the clergy, the repeal of the statute of uses, the expulsion from office of Cromwell, and "other villein blood," and the deprivation of Archbishop Cranmer, Arch X rebels tions to the re CHAP bishop Brown3 (of Dublin), Hilsey, Bishop of RoVI chester, and Longland, Bishop of Lincoln. Those A. D. 1536 who were thus banded together had the badge of the five wounds on their sleeves; and declared themselves to be entering on their pilgrimage neither for slaughter nor profit, but for the restoration of the Provoca Church to its ancient position. Nor was it only the which led sight of the ruins by which they were already surrounded which provoked their resistance to the new visitation, for reports were rife about further changes; as for instance that no two churches were to be left standing within five miles of each other (a terrible prospect in a county so abounding in churches as Lincolnshire); that nothing more valuable than tin chalices were to be allowed them; and that the King was about to impose a tax of six and eightpence upon every wedding, burial, or christening. bellion This Archbishop carried his arrogance to such an extent that the King himself wrote a letter of severe rebuke to him on July 31, 1537, threatening to remove him from his office if he did not conduct himself better. [State Papers, ii. 480.] His clergy refused to preach at all rather than preach up the Royal Supremacy as ordered [Ibid., 539]: but as Lord Butler wrote a despatch highly commending Archbishop Brown on March 31, 1538 [Ibid., 564], he may have mended his manners and become more gentle with them. State Papers, i. 482. There is a ring of probability about these reports, considering what devastations really took place, what extortions were made, and how many "tinnen pottes" replaced the silver and gold chalices in later years. The latter one was probably connected with some injunction respecting parish registers; for on April 20, 1539, Sir Piers Edgcomb writes that there is dangerous discontent about these in Devonshire and Cornwall, and that the general imposition of them by Cromwell's Injunctions to the Clergy in 1538 was supposed to portend fresh taxation. [Ibid., 612.] Such a tax was actually levied by 6 & 7 Wil liam III. cap. 6, when an archbishop was obliged to pay a duty of £20 on his marriage, and £12, 10s. annually afterwards; while a similar tax of £50 was imposed on his burial, and £10 on the burial of his wife; other members of society paying in proportion. By 23 Geo. III. cap. 67, a stamp duty was also imposed upon the registration of baptisms, &c. PARISH REGISTERS originated in the monasteries, and on the suppression of the latter it was necessary to issue injunctions for their maintenance by the clergy. rary VI This experience of recent spoliations and prospect CHAP of others coming upon them was a strong stimulus to those who had not yet been convinced that A.D. 1536 splendid churches and hospitable abbeys were a disadvantage to the populations among which they were situated. Badly generalled as they were, some Temponotable successes were achieved by the rebel forces; try the York and Hull, the two most important towns in rebels Yorkshire, being occupied, while Scarborough and Skipton castles were besieged for some weeks, with good hope that they would ultimately be taken. South of the Humber they advanced as far west as Doncaster; and in the north-west of the great county, they passed beyond the Tees into Durham and Westmoreland. As far as circumstances would permit, they restored all the monasteries on their march; but the few monks who were free to return to them Sad atfound nothing but empty ruins, the destruction of tempt to the roofs for the sake of the lead being always a monas. principal object of the commissioners." The King collected his forces from the midland All monasteries kept their obituary books, as did also the Colleges at Oxford and Cambridge. In these were entered the deaths of all connected with the house, and probably with its dependent churches. Actual parish registers existed in France as early as 1308, but it is uncertain to what extent or in what form. Cardinal Ximenes instituted them in Spain in 1497. The antiquarian Cole mentions an English parish register of Hormead Magna beginning in 1537, "thirty-seven years after their first institution in 1501, 16 Henry VII." [Cole's MSS., Br. Mus.]; and copies of entries as early as 1528 exist in registers of later date. Probably they gained than 1538. 5 "The lead by estimation is valued at m", the bells at iiij” viii"." Supp. of Mon., Camd Soc., 163. "I have taken down all the lead of Jervaulx, and made it in pieces of half fothers, which lead amounteth to the number of eighteen score and five fothers, with thirty and four fothers and a half that were there before." Ibid., 164. restore the teries |