Pilgrimage of Grace

Pilgrimage of Grace
Part of the European wars of religion
A banner bearing the Holy Wounds of Jesus Christ, which was carried at the Pilgrimage of Grace
Date	October 1536 – February 1537
Location	Yorkshire, England
Caused by	The English Reformation, dissolution of the monasteries, rising food prices, and Statute of Uses
Goals	The reversal of the Act of Supremacy, restoration of Mary Tudor to the line of succession, and removal of Thomas Cromwell
Resulted in	Suppression of the risings, execution of the leading figures
Parties
Traditionalists Peasantry Establishment reformers
Lead figures
Robert Aske  Thomas Darcy  Sir Robert Constable  Sir Francis Bigod  Duke of Norfolk Henry VIII
Number
~50,000[1]

The Pilgrimage of Grace was a popular revolt beginning in Yorkshire in October 1536, before spreading to other parts of Northern England including Cumberland, Northumberland, Durham and north Lancashire, under the leadership of Robert Aske. The "most serious of all Tudor period rebellions", it was a protest against Henry VIII's break with the Catholic Church, the dissolution of the lesser monasteries, and the policies of the King's chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, as well as other specific political, social, and economic grievances.^[2]

Following the suppression of the short-lived Lincolnshire Rising of 1536, the traditional historical view portrays the Pilgrimage as "a spontaneous mass protest of the conservative elements in the North of England angry with the religious upheavals instigated by King Henry VIII". Historians have observed that there were contributing economic factors.^[3]