The Pilgrimage of Grace, 1536-1537, and the Exeter Conspiracy, 1538, Volume 2 (of 2)

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"The Pilgrimage of Grace, 1536-1537, and the Exeter Conspiracy, 1538, Volume…" by Madeleine Hope Dodds and Ruth Dodds is a historical account written in the early 20th century. It examines the northern rising against Henry VIII’s religious and political changes and the government’s response, culminating in the aftermath and the related Exeter plot, using official correspondence, instructions, and eyewitness reports to reconstruct events. The opening of the volume follows the second Doncaster negotiations between the rebels and the King’s commissioners, showing Henry VIII’s shifting instructions to Norfolk and Fitzwilliam—designed to delay, divide the rebels, and avoid binding concessions. Robert Aske leads a deputation of forty (gentry and commons) that secures a general pardon and a promise of a “free” parliament, while the crucial sticking point is the monasteries; Norfolk, lacking authority, intimates they may stand provisionally until parliament, a point later evidenced in letters and local practice. The commons at Pontefract first cheer, then balk, before Aske calms them and the pardon is read; badges are cast off and royal grievances (rents, seized ship) are addressed. Henry’s first anger cools into policy: he neither ratifies nor repudiates the implied monastic deal, lets heralds proclaim a conditional pardon in irksome terms, and plans a northern parliament and the Queen’s York coronation as cover for musters. He courts the gentry (summoning Aske to court and treating him graciously) while provoking the commons with tax collections, sermons, and the printed royal reply, which reignites grievances. Meanwhile, some houses are informally reoccupied by monks pending “order,” parish clergy remain militant, and local frictions over rents and tithes reveal how fragile the peace is. (This is an automatically generated summary.)