Pilgrimage of Grace
A banner bearing the Holy Wounds of Jesus Christ, which was carried at the Pilgrimage of Grace
Location	York, Yorkshire, England
Date	October 1536–February 1537
Attack type	Uprising and subsequent suppression
Perpetrators	Thomas Cromwell, Vicegerent in Spirituals to Henry VIII Henry VIII of England
Participant	40,000 pilgrims
Defenders	Robert Aske Thomas Darcy, Baron Darcy Robert Constable Sir Francis Bigod

The Pilgrimage of Grace was a popular rising in York, England during 1536, in protest against Henry VIII's break with the Roman Catholic Church and the Dissolution of the Monasteries, as well as other specific political, social and economic grievances. It was done in action against Thomas Cromwell. Technically the term Pilgrimage of Grace refers specifically and inclusively to the uprising around York, though sometimes it is used in relation to the risings in general which took place around Northern England; first from Lincolnshire, twelve days before the actual Pilgrimage of Grace.

Lincolnshire Rising[link]

The Lincolnshire Rising was a brief dissent of Roman Catholics against the establishment of the Church of England by Henry VIII and the dissolution of the monasteries set in motion by Thomas Cromwell's suggested plan of asserting the nation's religious autonomy and the king's supremacy over religious matters.^[1]

It began at St. James Church, Louth, after evensong on 1 October 1536, shortly after the closure of Louth Abbey. The uprising was only against the attempt to suppress the religious houses, these being Catholic, and was not against the king himself.^[1] It quickly gained support in Horncastle, Market Rasen, Caistor and other nearby towns.^[1] Angry with the actions of commissioners, the protesters/rioters demanded the end of the collection of a subsidy, the end of the Ten Articles, an end to the dissolution, an end to taxes in peacetime, a purge of heretics in government, and the repeal of the Statute of Uses. With support from local gentry, a force of demonstrators, estimated at up to 40,000, marched on Lincoln and, by 14 October, occupied Lincoln Cathedral. They demanded the freedom to continue worshipping as Catholics, and protection for the treasures of Lincolnshire churches. It was led by a monk and a shoemaker, and involved 22,000 people.^[2]

The moratorium effectively ended on 4 October 1536, when King Henry sent word for the occupiers to disperse or face the forces of Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, which had already been mobilised. By 14 October, few remained in Lincoln. Following the rising, the vicar of Louth and Captain Cobbler, two of the main leaders, were captured and hanged at Tyburn.^[1] Most of the other local ringleaders met the same fate over the next twelve days, with a lawyer from Willingham being hanged, drawn and quartered for his involvement.^[1] Soon, however, the Lincolnshire Rising helped inspire the more widespread Pilgrimage of Grace.

Pilgrimage of Grace, the early Tudor crisis[link]

The movement broke out on 13 October 1536, immediately following the failure of the Lincolnshire Rising, and at this point was the term 'Pilgrimage of Grace' used. The causes of the expostulations have long been debated by historians, but several key themes can be identified:

• Economic grievances. The northern gentry had concerns over the new Statute of Uses. The harvest of 1535 had also led to high food prices, which may have contributed to discontent.
• Political grievances. Many people in northern England had disliked the way in which Henry VIII had 'cast off' Catherine of Aragon. Although her successor, Anne Boleyn, had been unpopular, both as Catherine's replacement, a rumoured Protestant and a Southerner, her execution in 1536 on trumped-up charges of adultery and treason, had done much to undermine the monarchy's prestige and the king's personal reputation. There was also anger at the rise of Thomas Cromwell, who was 'base born', and thus strongly objected to by the aristocracy.
• Religious grievances. The local church was, for many in the north, the centre of community life. Many ordinary peasants were worried that their church plate would be confiscated. There were also popular rumours at the time which hinted that baptism might be taxed. The recently released Ten Articles and the new order of prayer issued by the government in 1535 had also made official doctrine more reformed. This went against the conservative beliefs of most northerners.

Pilgrimage of Grace

Robert Aske was chosen to lead the insurgents; he was a London barrister, a resident of the Inns of Court, and the youngest son of Sir Robert Aske of Aughton near Selby. His was an old Yorkshire family from Richmondshire (Aske Hall). In 1536 Aske led a band of nine thousand followers, who entered and occupied York. There he arranged for the expelled monks and nuns to return to their houses; the king's newly installed tenants were driven out and Catholic observance resumed. The success of the rising was so great that the royal leaders, Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk and George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, opened negotiations with the insurgents at Scawsby Leys near Doncaster,^[3] where Aske had assembled between thirty and forty thousand men.

Henry authorised Norfolk to promise a general pardon and a Parliament to be held at York within a year, as well as a reprieve for the abbeys until the parliament had met. Trusting in the king's promises, Aske dismissed his followers.

Suppression[link]

In February 1537 a new rising took place in Cumberland and Westmorland called Bigod's Rebellion (not authorised by Aske) under Sir Francis Bigod, of Settrington in the North Riding of Yorkshire. Upon this the king arrested Aske and several of the other leaders, such as Darcy, Constable, and Bigod, who were all convicted of treason and executed. Aske was hanged in chains from the walls of York Castle as a warning to other would-be 'rebels'. Sir Francis Bigod, Sir Thomas Percy, Sir John Bulmer, Sir Stephan Hamilton, Sir Nicholas Tempast, Sir William Lumley, Sir Edward Neville, Sir John Constable, Sir William Constable, Sir Robert Constable, Adam Sedbar, Abbot of Jervaulx, the abbots of Barlings, Sawley, Fountains abbeys and the prior of Bridlington were executed in June and July 1537. In all, 216 were put to death; lords and knights, half a dozen abbots, 38 monks, and 16 parish priests.^[4] The loss of the leaders enabled the Duke of Norfolk to quell the rising and martial law was imposed upon the demonstrating regions, ending predication.

Successes and failures[link]

The Lincolnshire Rising and the Pilgrimage of Grace have traditionally been seen as complete failures. They did, however, achieve several results that suggest otherwise.

Contrary to popular myth, there were some partial successes because of the rebellions:

• The government postponed the collection of the October subsidy. This had been a major grievance amongst the Lincolnshire organisations.
• The Statute of Uses was negated by a new law, the Statute of Wills.
• Four of the seven sacraments that were omitted from the Ten Articles, were restored in the Bishop's Book of 1537. This marked the end of the drift of official doctrine towards Protestantism. The Bishop's Book was followed by the Six Articles of 1539.
• An onslaught upon heresy was promised in a royal proclamation in 1538.

Failures[link]

• England was not reconciled to the Catholic Church, except during the brief reign of Mary I of England.
• The dissolution of the monasteries continued unabated, with the largest monasteries being dissolved by 1540.
• Great tracts of land were seized from the Church and divided among the monarchy and its supporters.
• The moves towards official Protestantism achieved by Cromwell were not reversed except during the five-year reign of Mary I of England (1553–1558).

See also[link]

• Thomas Darcy, 1st Baron Darcy de Darcy, beheaded because of his involvement.
• John Hussey, 1st Baron Hussey of Sleaford, beheaded because of his involvement.
• John Longland, Bishop of Lincoln during the period.
• Prayer Book Rebellion
• Somerset Herald, murdered in 1542 by William Leech of Fulletby, fugitive ringleader of the Lincolnshire rising.
• Rising of the North

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• John Buchan (1931). The Blanket of the Dark (Hodder and Stoughton, London).
• H. F. M. Prescott (1952). The Man on a Donkey.
• Geoffrey Moorhouse (2002). The Pilgrimage of Grace.
• M. L. Bush, "The Tudor Polity and the Pilgrimage of Grace." Historical Research 2007 80(207): 47–72. Issn: 0950-3471 Fulltext: Ebsco

External links[link]

• A summary of two historians' (Guy and Elton) perspectives on the Pilgrimages of Grace can be found at William Howard School
• "Pilgrimage of Grace". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12084b.htm. 
• HistoryLearningSite.co.uk – The Pilgrimage of Grace
• TudorPlace.com – The Pilgrimage of Grace (1536/7)
• Luminarium.com – Pilgrimage of Grace
• Hoyle, R.W. (2001). The Pilgrimage of Grace and the Politics of the 1530s. Oxford University Press. pp. 407. ISBN 0-19-925906-2. http://books.google.com/books?id=wBPcpP6Y4esC&pg=PA159&lpg=PA159&dq=hussey+sleaford+catholic#PPA407,M1. 

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pilgrimage of Grace". Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company. 

Jane Seymour
Queen consort of England
Tenure	30 May 1536 – 24 October 1537
Proclamation	4 June 1536
Spouse	Henry VIII of England (1536-1537)
Issue
Edward VI of England
House	House of Tudor (By Marriage)
Father	John Seymour
Mother	Margery Wentworth
Born	c. 1508
Died	24 October 1537 (aged 28-29) Hampton Court Palace
Signature
Religion	Catholic

Arms of Seymour: Gules, two wings conjoined in lure or

Jane Seymour (c. 1508 – 24 October 1537) was Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII. She succeeded Anne Boleyn as queen consort following the latter's execution for trumped up charges of high treason, incest and adultery in May 1536. She died of postnatal complications less than two weeks after the birth of her only child, a son who reigned as Edward VI. She was the only one of Henry's wives to receive a queen's funeral, and his only consort to be buried beside him in St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, as she was the only consort to have a male heir.

Early life[link]

Jane Seymour was born at Wulfhall, Savernake Forest, Wiltshire, the daughter of Sir John Seymour and Margery Wentworth. Through her maternal grandfather, she was the great-great granddaughter of King Edward III of England through Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence.^[1] Because of this, she and King Henry VIII were fifth cousins. She was a half-second cousin to her predecessor Anne Boleyn, sharing a great-grandmother, Elizabeth Cheney.^[2] Her date of birth is a matter of debate. It is usually given as 1509 or even 1510, but it has been noted that at her funeral, 29 women walked in succession.^[3] Since it was customary for the attendant company to mark every year of the deceased's life in numbers, this implies she was born in 1508, or 1507 and she had not yet celebrated her 30th birthday.

She was not educated as highly as King Henry's previous wives, Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. She could read and write a little, but was much better at needlework and household management, which were considered much more necessary for women.^[4] Jane's needlework was reported to be beautiful and elaborate; some of her work survived up to 1652, when it is recorded to have been given to the Seymour family. After her death, it was noted that Henry was an "enthusiastic embroiderer".^[5]

She became a maid-of-honour in 1532 to Queen Catherine, but Jane may have served Catherine as early as 1527, and went on to serve Queen Anne Boleyn. The first report of Henry VIII's interest in Jane Seymour was in early 1536, sometime before the death of Catherine of Aragon.

Jane was noted to have a child-like face, as well as a modest personality.^[6] According to the Imperial Ambassador Eustace Chapuys, Jane was of middling stature and very pale; he also commented that she was not of much beauty. However, John Russell stated that Jane was "the fairest of all the King's wives." ^[7] Polydore Vergil commented that she was "a woman of the utmost charm in both character and appearance."^[8]

Marriage[link]

King Henry VIII was married to Jane at the Palace of Whitehall, Whitehall, London, on 30 May 1536, just eleven days after Anne Boleyn's execution. She was publicly proclaimed as queen consort on 4 June. She was never crowned, due to a plague in London where the coronation was to take place. Henry may have been reluctant to crown Jane before she had fulfilled her duty as a queen consort by bearing him a son and a male heir.^[9]

As queen, Jane Seymour was said to be strict and formal. Her motto was "Bound to obey and serve." ^[10] She was close to her female relations, Anne Stanhope (her brother's wife) and her sister, Elizabeth. Jane was also close to the Lady Lisle along with her sister-in-law the Lady Beauchamp. Jane considered Lisle's daughters as ladies-in-waiting and she left many of her possessions to Beauchamp. Jane would form a very close relationship with Mary Tudor. The lavish entertainments, gaiety, and extravagance of the Queen's household, which had reached its peak during the time of Anne Boleyn, was replaced by a strict enforcement of decorum. For example, she banned the French fashions that Anne Boleyn had introduced. Politically, Seymour appears to have been conservative.^[11]

The Six Wives of Henry VIII
Catherine of Aragon
Anne Boleyn
Jane Seymour
Anne of Cleves
Catherine Howard
Catherine Parr

Her only reported involvement in national affairs, in 1536, was when she asked for pardons for participants in the Pilgrimage of Grace. Henry is said to have rejected this, reminding her of the fate her predecessor met with when she "meddled in his affairs".^[12]

Jane put forth much effort to restore Henry's first child, Princess Mary, to court and heir to the throne behind any children that Jane would have with Henry. Jane brought up the issue of Mary's restoration both before and after she became Queen. While Jane was unable to restore Mary to the line of succession, Jane was able to reconcile her with Henry.^[13] Eustace Chapuys wrote to Charles V of Jane's compassion and efforts on behalf of Mary's return to favour. A letter from Mary to Jane shows that Mary was grateful to Jane. While it was Jane who first pushed for the restoration, Mary and Elizabeth were not reinstated in the succession until Henry's sixth wife, Queen Catherine Parr, convinced him to do so.^[14]

In early 1537, Jane became pregnant. During her pregnancy, she developed a craving for quail, which Henry ordered for her from Calais and Flanders. She went into confinement in September 1537 and gave birth to the coveted male heir, the future King Edward VI of England on 12 October 1537 at Hampton Court Palace.^[15]

Death[link]

Custom dictated that the Queen did not participate in her children's christening. Consequently, Edward was christened without his mother in attendance on 15 October 1537. Both of the King's daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, were present and carried the infant's train during the ceremony.^[16] After the christening, it became clear that Jane Seymour was seriously ill.^[17]

Jane Seymour's labour had been difficult, lasting two nights and three days, probably because the baby was not well positioned.^[18] According to King Edward's biographer, Jennifer Loach, Jane Seymour's death may have been due to an infection from a retained placenta. According to Alison Weir, death could have also been caused by puerperal fever due to a bacterial infection contracted during the birth or a tear in her perineum which became infected.

Jane Seymour died on 24 October 1537 at Hampton Court Palace at Kingston upon Thames.^[11]

Funeral[link]

Jane Seymour's arms as queen consort^[19]

Jane Seymour was buried on 12 November 1537 in St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle after the funeral in which her stepdaughter, Mary, acted as chief mourner. Jane was the only one of Henry's wives to receive a Queen's funeral.^[11]

The following inscription was above her grave for a time:

Here lieth a Phoenix, by whose death

Another Phoenix life gave breath:

It is to be lamented much

The world at once ne'er knew two such.

After her death, Henry wore black for the next three months and did not remarry for three years, although marriage negotiations were tentatively begun soon after her death. She was Henry's favourite wife because, historians have speculated, she gave birth to a male heir. When he died in 1547, Henry was buried beside her in the grave he had made for her, on his request.^[11]

Legacy[link]

Two of Jane's brothers, Thomas and Edward, used her memory to improve their own fortunes.^[11] Thomas was rumoured to have been pursuing Lady Elizabeth, but married the Dowager Queen Catherine Parr instead after the King's death. In the reign of the young King Edward VI, Edward Seymour set himself up as Lord Protector and de facto ruler of the kingdom. Both brothers eventually fell from power, and were executed.^[11]

In film[link]

• In 1933, Wendy Barrie played Seymour opposite Charles Laughton's Henry VIII in Alexander Korda's highly-acclaimed film The Private Life of Henry VIII.
• Seymour is a minor character in Hal B. Wallis' 1969 Oscar-winning Anne of the Thousand Days. She was played by Lesley Paterson, opposite Richard Burton as Henry VIII.
• As part of the 1970 BBC series The Six Wives of Henry VIII, the episode entitled "Jane Seymour" presented her as a shy but honest introvert, devoted to her husband. Henry was played by Keith Michell, and Seymour by Anne Stallybrass. The previous episode "Anne Boleyn" displayed Jane as fully knowing the damage her relationship with King Henry was doing.
• In 1973, this interpretation was repeated in Henry VIII and his Six Wives, in which Keith Michell reprised his role from the BBC drama; on this occasion Seymour was played by Jane Asher.
• Seymour was played by Charlotte Roach in David Starkey's documentary series on Henry's Queens in 2001.
• Seymour is a supporting character in the BBC television drama The Other Boleyn Girl, played by Naomi Benson opposite Jared Harris as Henry VIII and Jodhi May as Anne Boleyn.
• In October 2003, in the two-part ITV drama Henry VIII, Ray Winstone starred as the King. Jane Seymour was played by Emilia Fox.
• In The Simpsons episode "Margical History Tour," Seymour is portrayed by the shrill-tongued Miss Springfield during Marge's retelling of Henry's reign. Henry (portrayed by Homer) quickly orders Seymour's beheading after hearing her annoying voice.
• Anita Briem portrays Seymour as lady-in-waiting to Anne Boleyn in the second season of the television series The Tudors, produced for Showtime. In the third season of the same series, when Jane Seymour becomes Queen and later dies, the part is played by Annabelle Wallis.
• Seymour was played by actress Corinne Galloway in the 2008 film The Other Boleyn Girl.

In books[link]

• Is the main character in Carolly Erickson's novel 'The Favoured Queen' which follows her from her appointment as lady-in-waiting to Catherine of Aragon right up to the time she herself becomes Henry's consort.
• Appears in a background role in The Dark Rose, Volume 2 of The Morland Dynasty, a series of historical novels by author Cynthia Harrod-Eagles.
• A minor character in Philippa Gregory's popular novel The Other Boleyn Girl. Jane is a devout girl seen by the Boleyns as their rival family at court.
• Appears in Alison Weir's debut novel Innocent Traitor and her second The Lady Elizabeth.
• Is the subject of the novel Plain Jane: A Novel of Jane Seymour (Tudor Women Series) by Laurien Gardner (Sarah Hoyt).
• Appears as a lady serving both Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn in Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, which ends with hints of her coming prominence. A planned sequel, The Mirror and the Light, is expected to tell her story.^[20]

In music[link]

• As Giovanna Seymour, she appears in Gaetano Donizetti's opera Anna Bolena.
• Rick Wakeman recorded the piece "Jane Seymour" for his 1973 album The Six Wives of Henry VIII.
• The English ballad "The Death of Queen Jane" (Child #170) is about the death of Jane Seymour following the birth of Prince Edward. The story as related in the ballad is historically inaccurate, but apparently reflects the popular view at the time of the events surrounding her death. The historical fact is that Prince Edward was born naturally, and that his mother succumbed to infection and died 12 days later. Most versions of the song end with the contrast between the joy of the birth of the Prince and the grief of the death of the Queen.

From version 170A:

The baby was christened with joy and much mirth,

Whilst poor Queen Jane's body lay cold under earth:

There was ringing and singing and mourning all day,

The Princess Elizabeth went weeping away

• The ballad is included in Loreena McKennitt's Barley album.
• The song "Lady Jane by The Rolling Stones is rumoured to be about Jane Seymour and her relationship with Henry VIII.

Historiography[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Books solely on Jane Seymour are scarce, but two biographies of the Queen have recently been published. The first is a scholarly biography by Pamela Gross, while the second, by Elizabeth Norton, is more accessible to the average reader. A third book, William Seymour's Ordeal by Ambition, is in part a biography of Jane.

Jane was widely praised as "the fairest, the most discreet, and the most meritous of all Henry VIII's wives" in the centuries after her death. One historian, however, took serious umbrage at this view in the 19th century. Victorian author Agnes Strickland, who wrote multi-volume anthologies of French, Scottish, and English royal women, said that the story of Anne Boleyn's last agonised hours and Henry VIII's swift remarriage to Jane Seymour "is repulsive enough, but it becomes tenfold more abhorrent when the woman who caused the whole tragedy is loaded with panegyric." Hester W. Chapman and Eric Ives resurrected Strickland's view of Jane Seymour, and believe she played a crucial and conscious role in the cold-blooded plot to bring Anne Boleyn to the executioner's block. Joanna Denny, Marie Louise Bruce and Carolly Erickson have also refrained from giving overly sympathetic accounts of Jane's life and career. It should be noted that Ives, Bruce, and Denny are biographers of Anne Boleyn as opposed to Jane Seymour.

On the other hand, historical writers like Alison Weir and Antonia Fraser paint a favourable portrait of a woman of discretion and good sense - "a strong-minded matriarch in the making," says Weir. David Starkey and Karen Lindsey are relatively dismissive of Jane's importance in comparison to that of Henry's other major queens (Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Parr), though they refrain from claiming that she was the cause of the unfair trial. They further state that it was unlikely Jane could accomplish as much as her predecessors or her successors because her reign had been relatively short and spent mainly pregnant or unwell.

Lineage[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• "Jane Seymour". Find A Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1966. 
• A quick over-view of Jane's life, with a good portrait gallery as well
• A more in-depth historical look at Jane's life and times
• A geo-biography tour of the Six Wives of Henry VIII on Google Earth
• The text of the ballad The Death of Queen Jane
• Photo of Seymour waxwork Flickr
• A 1996 interview with Anne Boleyn's most respected academic biographer, E.W. Ives in which he offers his interpretations of Anne Boleyn but also speculates on the role Jane played in Anne's downfall