Depth Study 2 - The Western Rebellion Flashcards Preview

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Flashcards in Depth Study 2 - The Western Rebellion Deck (19)
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1
Q

What is the 1549 Western Rebellion also known as?

A
  • The ‘Prayer Book’ rebellion.
2
Q

Under what Monarch did the Western Rebellion apply?

A
  • Edwards VI
3
Q

What religious demands did the rebels have?

A
  • Wanted to restore traditional religious practices, such as holy bread and water. (Restoration of the six articles)
  • Restoration of traditional doctrines, such as transubstantiation and purgatory.
  • Release of imprisoned Catholic preachers, Richard Crispin and John Moreman.
  • Restoration of the Latin Mass (which they didn’t understand) instead of the English mass (which they also didn’t understand) (Repeal the Act of Uniformity)
  • Restoration of Catholic Chantries which protected the Cornish language and culture.

(However, there were no demands for the restoration of Papal authority.)

4
Q

What socio-economic factors contributed to the Western Rebellion?

A
  • Sheep & Cloth tax. (Very applicable to the West counties due to their proclivity for farming.)
  • Concerns about enclosure
  • Rebels attacked and robbed the gentry on St Michael’s mount.
  • Murder of gentlemen, William Hellyons. He was the only gentleman to resist/
5
Q

What city did the rebels attempt to besiege in the Western Rebellion?

A
  • Exeter
6
Q

How did the government in Exeter prevent its citizens from joining the rebels?

A
  • Selling cheap food and firewood to the rebels, in an attempt to stop them from joining the rebels.
7
Q

What political factors caused the Western Rebellion?

A
  • Demanded the restoration of Cardinal Pole as a political leader to the King’s council.
  • This created fears that the Yorkist movement was starting back up.
8
Q

How were the rebels in the Western Rebellion violent?

A
  • Murdered William Heyllonsm, the only gentleman to resist
  • Shouted ‘Kill the Gentlemen’ at Bodmin
  • Murdered William Body, the Church inspector.
  • Unwilling to negotiate with the local gentry, despite some having sympathy with the rebels religious demands.
  • Attempted to besiege Exeter, the regional capital.
  • Willing to encounter government forces in clashes at Clyst St Mary, Heath and Sampford Courtenay.
9
Q

How did a local power vacuum allow the Western Rebellion to develop?

A
  • Courtenay family fell, which left a power vacuum in Devon.
  • This caused Lord John Russell, his replacement, to have insufficient time to develop a power-base in the local area.
  • Absence of a powerful local family allowed unrest to spread.
10
Q

How did Peter Carew inflame the situation?

A
  • He was sent by the King to negotiate with the rebels, he was a protestant sympathiser, so his actions only inflamed the situation.
  • He was reprimanded back to London.
11
Q

How did the actions of the government contribute to tension?

A
  • Burning barns at Crediton by government forces.
  • Comments by the Gentry, ‘scum of the whole country’. This turned more commoners against the ruling classes and drove them to violence.
12
Q

What size was the rebel army?

A
  • 5000 men.
13
Q

How did the Rebel army display a sign of peace?

A
  • Marched under the banner of the ‘Five wounds of Christ.’
14
Q

How was the Western Rebellion a serious threat to the Government?

A
  • Direct challenge to religious policies.
  • Minority Rule - this angered many as they did not believe Somerset had the authority to change religion.
  • The government also faced unrest in East Anglia (Ketts) and was trying to finance a war with Scotland and France.
  • Rebels forced the government into battle.
  • Prolonged. (June-August 1549)
  • Lord Russell has just 300 men
  • Government was slow to respond to rebellion. Somerset was not aware the JP’s had failed to maintain order.
  • The scale and severity of the punishments dished out in Exeter after the rebellion suggests the government saw it as a threat.
15
Q

Was the size of the rebellion a threat?

A
  • While 5,000 men was a capable force, they failed to meet up with other rebel groups, which limited the size of the force.
  • It was significantly smaller than the Pilgrimage of Grace.
  • Government actions made the threat worse.

however, Lord Russel only had 300 men under his control

16
Q

How was the location of the Western Rebellion a threat?

How was it not a threat?

A
  • West county had a tradition of unrest. (1497 Cornish rebellion.)
  • Local Power Vacuum. Even the Mayor of Bodmin joined the rebels.
  • Cornwall was cut off from the rest of the country and had significant linguistic and cultural differences with the rest of the country.

Didn’t leave the South West and challenge the power base in London

17
Q

why did the articles have a religious dimension?

A

they were drawn up by the clergy

18
Q

How did the rebels show their hatred of the gentry?

Why did they hate the gentry?

A
  • Rebels attacked and robbed the gentry on St Michael’s mount.
  • Murder of gentlemen, William Hellyons. He was the only gentleman to resist.
  • Shouted ‘Kill the Gentlemen’ at Bodmin
  • The fall of the Courtenay family had created a vacuum and left the populace without the discipline or loyalty instilled by nobles in other regions.
19
Q

How were the Western rebels not threatening?

A
  • 5000 men was a fairly small force (compared to POG) and they didn’t link up with any other forces.
  • Having failed to take Exeter, the rebels didn’t march on London.
  • The rebel did not aim to overthrow the monarch - they wanted religious and economic change which was easier for the monarch to ignore.