Who Led the Pilgrimage of Grace?

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Who led the Pilgrimage of Grace? The Pilgrimage of Grace was a period of many uprisings, which occurred throughout the north. Many individual leaders, occurring on a very localized scale, led these uprisings. They were not plotted by noblemen from their castles or by local leaders throughout the north. The Pilgrimage developed over four stages. The first was the almost spontaneous rising of the commons, encouraged by the clergy and various local leaders. Then came the period of opportunism, when nobles and discontented gentry saw their opportunity to involve themselves with the chaos and confusion in an attempt to see their grievances addressed. Then came disintegration, the nobles fleeing unwilling to participate in an outright rebellion. Finally, retribution, where Henry, desperate to find a culprit to blame brought a reign of Terror upon the men he believed were involved. The chaotic course of events, the contradictions of the depositions and the indiscriminate nature of the punishments all indicate the disjointed nature of leadership of the Pilgrimage of Grace. The Pilgrimage of Grace saw strong local leadership in its initial phase. The leadership was very localized in terms of its geography, issues and nomenclature. The term ‘Pilgrimage of Grace’ was initially coined by Aske and refers exclusively to the rising in Yorkshire between October and December 1536. The term has come to encompass all the insurrections that took place in the north between 1536 and 1537. The insurrectionists did not initially rise for a united cause under the banner of the Five Wounds of Christ. The risings were certainly sparked by news of one another but not for the same reasons. The rebellions, which occurred in Cumberland and Westmorland seemed more a protest against increased rents and size of one-off payments, which their landlords demanded. The rebellions in Lincolnshire were
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