Insurrection Read online

  Sir Robert Tyrwhyt (or Tyrwhitt) of Lincolnshire played a role in suppressing both the Lincolnshire uprising and the Pilgrimage of Grace. On 15 October 1537 he is recorded as being present at Prince Edward’s christening.91 Between 1536 and 1547 he was rewarded with two dozen grants and leases. His first grant was the dissolved monastery of Stainfield in Lincolnshire: he received the house, site and 662 acres of land in 1538.92 John Freman expressed his disappointment to Cromwell in October that the farm of Bardney, Lincolnshire – which he had sought for himself – had been given to Tyrwhyt.93 In July 1538, Tyrwhyt was appointed as Justice of the Peace for Lincolnshire, alongside Sir William Parr.94 In December of the following year, Tyrwhyt was granted the former priory of Unforth in Lincolnshire and many other farms and lands, together with the rents from the tenants. Tyrwhyt advanced at Court and was a gentleman of the Privy Chamber by 1540. He acquired a number of other lands, manors and grants in Lincolnshire and Peterborough in August 1542. The following year, Tyrwhyt was appointed steward and bailiff of various properties, in addition to receiving life grants for a number of lands and a water mill in Bedfordshire.95

  Like William Parr, Tyrwhyt benefited from a family connection with Queen Katherine Parr, was knighted and was the queen’s Master of Horse by 1544. At the end of that year, he was also appointed as steward and bailiff of Kimbolton in Huntingdonshire. Tyrwhyt was elected as Knight of the Shire for Lincolnshire in 1545 and on 12 July 1546, he was given the responsibility of keeper of Thornton manor, including the ‘mansion’, park and all the deer therein. Shortly before King Henry’s death, Tyrwhyt was granted an annuity of 58s 2d out of lands in Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire which were in the king’s possession as a result of the minority of William Coggan. Tyrwhyt was given the wardship.96

  Tyrwhyt was subsequently returned as Knight of the Shire for Huntingdonshire in 1554 and 1559. Thus he continued to prosper during the reigns of Edward VI (he purchased Leighton Bromswold, a manor of Lincoln Cathedral and 2,400 acres of land, pasture and marsh), Mary I and Elizabeth I. He acquired further property in Huntingdonshire and sat at Elizabeth’s first parliament before retiring to Leighton Bromswold where he died in May 1572.97 Tyrwhyt had gained a good deal in material wealth and enhanced status. From a member of the Lincolnshire gentry, he rose to become a gentleman of the Privy Chamber, the queen’s Master of Horse and a Knight of the Shire. His social prestige was significantly raised as a result. His daughter married Henry Darcy, Sir Arthur’s heir. Here we see evidence of loyal gentry families consolidating their positions and demonstrating their unwavering loyalty and reliability in the region.

  Following the Lincolnshire Rising and the Pilgrimage of Grace, John Uvedale, who was loyal throughout the Pilgrimage, was appointed to the newly constituted Council of the North as its secretary and was the keeper of a new, specially designed signet.98 In May 1537, he was sent to survey Bridlington and Jervaulx abbeys and as a member of the council assisted Norfolk with the examinations of those accused of sedition and treason, including the Vicar of Mustone in December 1537.99 Around this time, however, on 10 December, he wrote to Cromwell assuring him of his old and steadfast friendship. Uvedale requested that he might be allowed a position at Court, under the king or Prince Edward. He stated that he would rather serve in that capacity for £40 a year than in the North for £100. Here, like Arthur Darcy, is evidence of Uvedale’s dissatisfaction with life in the North. The lure of the South, or the Court, was obviously a characteristic in the personalities of some members of the northern gentry. We also see a clear indication of a patron–client bond. Appealing to Cromwell’s evangelical tendencies, he maintained that he might be able to set forward some of Cromwell’s good and godly purposes.100 This plea fell on deaf ears, apparently, for Uvedale was to spend the remainder of his career based in the North. Uvedale and Darcy were obviously required to remain in the North as part of the northern gentry necessary for the effective governance of the region.

  In 1538, he was part of the council under the Bishop of Llandaff, and in 1539 he was appointed a commissioner to supervise the surrenders of five priories in Yorkshire.101 In April 1540, shortly before Cromwell’s fall, Uvedale wrote to the Lord Privy Seal thanking him for the gift of a stallion (a characteristic expression of gratitude). He wrote another letter to Cromwell around this time congratulating him on his creation as Earl of Essex. Uvedale stated that he rejoiced in Cromwell’s increase in honour.102 Here the use of effusive language is manifest evidence of the patron–client relationship at work. Uvedale asked Cromwell for a house and parsonage at Marrick and was eventually granted this request, together with other lands in 1541, interestingly after Cromwell’s demise.103

  John Eland, Mayor of Hull, had been instrumental in capturing John Hallam in the renewed revolts in January 1537 and he advised the king of the ‘very truth of the taking of that traitor’.104 At the end of January 1537, he expressed his delight at the king’s benevolence in a letter to Cromwell. Eland confirmed that he had received the king’s letters, together with £20 for capturing the traitor Hallam and his accomplices. He reassured Cromwell of his best efforts in subduing anyone who misbehaved after the king’s pardon. He stated that the king’s aid to the town of Hull was ‘so abundant’ and his letters so ‘comfortable’ that the town would ‘doubt not’ to keep it surely.105

  In May, the Duke of Norfolk sent Eland to Cromwell with a letter stating that nobody had been of better service in the apprehension of Hallam and requesting favour for the bearer.106 Eland was subsequently knighted. Here is a clear example of Eland being bound to Norfolk by virtue of his knighthood.107 The following July saw Eland appointed as a Justice of the Peace for Yorkshire; he was also granted the parcel of Elley Rectory in Hull. In 1540 and 1541, he and his wife were granted tithes in Analby and Wolfreton.108 He was also appointed as overseer of the king’s works in Hull in 1541 but died on 6 May the following year. His will, made shortly before his death, gave his wife a life interest in his lands in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire and goods worth £112 – his heirs were five of his kinsmen.109 Thus Eland died a wealthy country gentleman. From being Mayor of Hull and loyal during the risings, he amassed wealth and land. His enhanced status as a knight and Justice of the Peace can be attributed directly to his conduct in 1537.

  John Dudley’s conduct during the Pilgrimage of Grace may well have been a contributory factor in laying the foundations for his family’s advancement well into the reign of Elizabeth (despite his own fall and execution under Mary I). In November 1534, Dudley was Knight of the Shire for Kent in Parliament. When the Lincolnshire Rising broke out, he was appointed as one of fifteen commanders under the Duke of Norfolk and in charge of 200 men.110 He was appointed sheriff in Staffordshire in October 1536 and was another who was part of the reception committee to greet Anne of Cleves in late 1539. He received grants of lands, including a priory and rectories in Staffordshire and lands in Northamptonshire, in 1541.111 Dudley was subsequently sent to Calais as deputy to Arthur Plantagenet, Viscount Lisle (an illegitimate son of Edward IV). Further grants of manors and lands ensued in 1542, and in March of that year he was elevated to the peerage and created Viscount Lisle, following the disgrace and death of Arthur Plantagenet, with a grant of 20 marks a year.112 With tensions rising with the Scots in the autumn of 1542, the king decided to send Dudley to the Borders and appointed him Warden of the Marches.113

  Dudley continued his political career and loyal service for the remainder of Henry’s reign and was granted manors and lands that had previously belonged to Queen Jane Seymour in August 1543.114 This was followed with an enormous list of grants in May 1544. These included a hospital and manor in Burton, Leicestershire, and the hospital of St Giles in the Fields, London. In addition, there were three lordships and manors and a rectory in Derbyshire; two manors and lordships in Norfolk; a rectory, four manors and lordships in Lincolnshire; the rents out of two rectories in Leicestershire; and a rectory in Feltham, Middlesex. Dudley was also granted Everley Wood in Stafford
shire – which had previously belonged to George, Duke of Clarence, Edward IV’s brother – in June 1545.115

  Dudley was a pivotal figure in the manoeuvre or ‘device’ in attempting to interfere with the succession on Edward VI’s death, with the objective of preventing Princess Mary from succeeding to the throne. He failed miserably and was executed for treason on 22 August 1553. His wealth at death was land to the value of approximately £86,000 and an inventory of goods worth £10,000.116 Dudley was a spectacularly wealthy nobleman, who had been minor gentry at the time of the Pilgrimage. His rise was meteoric: he was, after all, a relatively minor figure in the autumn of 1536. It may be stretching the point, but the fact that he was demonstrably loyal at a crucial time perhaps laid the foundations for his future advancement. He was a man, perhaps fortuitously, in the right place at the right time, and obviously a man of undoubted ability. He was appointed as sheriff as a result of the rising and then became a peer, Lord High Admiral, Privy Councillor, Knight of the Garter, an earl, a member of the regency council and, finally, a duke. He eventually overreached himself, but had risen to become an incredibly wealthy noble by the time of his death.

  Thus far, the role, reward and rehabilitation of the northern gentry has been concentrated on. It is now time to examine the parts played by some leading nobles and ascertain what benefits their loyalty to the Crown during the rising may have brought them.

  Although Lord Thomas Darcy was the most outspoken of the northern nobility, he was by no means the most powerful. The five powerful and influential northern earls were Northumberland, Westmorland, Cumberland, Derby and Shrewsbury, and none were directly involved in the Pilgrimage. Their positions were, in reality, ambivalent and it can be argued that they decided on a policy of inertia at best. The Earl of Northumberland died in 1537. His nephew, Thomas Percy (son of Sir Thomas who was executed following the Pilgrimage) was restored to the peerage and became the 7th Earl of Northumberland in 1557.117 However, he inherited his father’s Catholic beliefs and somewhat reckless, or brave, characteristics.

  Percy was one of the prime movers in the 1569 Northern Rebellion and was prominent in the restoration of the Mass at Durham and Ripon. It is not the place here to discuss the details and chronology of this rebellion, but it was a failure. Northumberland fled and was eventually captured by the Scots who delivered him to York, where he was beheaded on 22 August 1572.118 Sir Thomas Gargrave reported Northumberland’s last profession of Catholic faith and refusal to ask Queen Elizabeth’s forgiveness. Percy was advanced as a martyr by the English Catholic bishops and beatified by Pope Leo XIII on 13 May 1895: the grounds were primarily his Catholic declaration on the scaffold.119 So, although the Earl of Northumberland was loyal to the Crown in 1536, his heir revealed himself as very much his executed father’s son in his religious and rebellious behaviour.

  The Neville Earl of Westmorland did not involve himself in the Pilgrimage but his son, Lord Neville, did march from Durham to Pontefract and finally to Doncaster. He is recorded as being present at the Pilgrims’ Council in early December 1536, together with Lords Darcy, Lumley, Scrope, Latimer and Conyers.120 As the earl himself was not involved, Smith has argued that he was able to use his influence to save Neville clients and supporters from serious harm. Thus, Westmorland was fulfilling his role as a patron by protecting his clients. Among this group were Robert and Richard Bowes, as well as John, Lord Latimer and his brother, Marmaduke.121

  A stand-out name among this group must be Lord Latimer; he was, at this time, married to Katherine Parr who came to be known for her evangelical sympathies. It is most unlikely that her husband, nineteen years her senior, shared his wife’s convictions in 1536, as is revealed by his attendance at Pontefract and his will – he instructed that a priest should sing for his soul for forty years. He also bequeathed alms for ‘poor folks’.122

  The Neville Earl himself remained aloof and used his loyalty in a bid to further enrich himself. In April 1538, he wrote to Cromwell asking for a farm and nunnery in Yorkshire that had previously belonged to Sir John Bulmer and was worth £50 a year.123 Sir John had been attainted and executed for his part in the Pilgrimage. Here again, we see the link between retribution and the possibility of reward. The earl followed this up with another request in February 1539 for Blauncheldone Abbey: the earl stated that he was aware that Sir Reynold Carnaby and others were going to petition for it, but he wanted it for himself.124 He was, however, unsuccessful in this regard. Westmorland died in 1549 and was succeeded by his son, Henry, the 5th Earl (d. 1564), a prominent supporter of Mary I, and in turn by Charles Neville, the 6th Earl. Charles, raised a Catholic, brought a degree of infamy to the family name through his undoubtedly significant contribution to the Northern Rising in 1569.125 As in the case of the Percys of Northumberland, a loyal peer in 1536 did not guarantee a loyal noble in 1569.

  Edward Stanley, 3rd Earl of Derby was the grandson of Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby, whose intervention at the Battle of Bosworth Field had been critical in securing Henry Tudor’s victory. The earl was about 27 years old at the time of the Pilgrimage of Grace and the commons of Lancashire expressed sympathy with those in Lincolnshire. It was generally perceived that the ‘young’ earl was of the same religious persuasion. Smith has described Derby as ‘intriguing’ in that he gave no indication of his political views and appeared to waver at the start of the Pilgrimage; this, again, appears to be an inherited family trait. He was, though, married to the Duke of Norfolk’s daughter and in the end, Lancashire did not rise.126

  On 10 October 1536, the king informed Derby of the traitors assembled in Lincolnshire and stated that, although prepared for them and confident that they would be subdued, the earl should be prepared as the outcome was uncertain!127 Mixed messages indeed: if Edward ran true to the Stanley form (waiting on the sidelines in order to see the most likely victor), he might well have wavered and been tempted to join the Pilgrimage.

  According to the Dodds, Thomas Stanley, a priest who was related to the earl, used all his influence to persuade Edward to join the rebels. The Dodds maintained that it was believed that the priest had been successful in his efforts ‘for a time’ but that when it came to it, he ‘chose to serve the king’.128 This is exactly what happened and it can be argued that the rest was mere speculation and supposition. Derby remained steadfast and loyal to the Crown, and on 19 October Henry informed Derby that, contrary to previous instructions to join up with the Earl of Shrewsbury, he was to proceed immediately to Sawley to repress an insurrection there. Derby was to apprehend the captains and have them executed immediately or sent to Court. Derby was instructed to take the abbots and monks with violence and have them hanged in their ‘monks apparaul’ and ensure that no town or village began to assemble. ‘And doubt you not but that we shall remember your charges and service.’129 Here again, Henry appears to have relished the retribution at his command – the reiteration of the link between loyalty and reward.

  Derby obviously fulfilled his duties conscientiously, as is demonstrated in a further letter from the king on 28 October. Henry thanked Derby for his diligence and wrote that he would remember him and that his posterity would rejoice; manifest evidence of the patron–client relationship between sovereign and vassal. Henry gave explicit instructions as to how the earl should proceed in the event that he found the abbot and monks restored again at Sawley. They were, he said, to be hanged on long pieces of timber or from the steeple. The king emphasised the fact that he wanted the ringleaders to be made an example of and the remainder reminded of the king’s mercy.130

  Derby, however, was not inundated with grants from the Crown in the years following the Pilgrimage. There appears to be only one record of a grant in 1542 of a monastery with woods and pastures in Leeke, Staffordshire.131 It seems apparent from this survey that it was the loyal gentry who were the main beneficiaries of material reward.

  Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland, possessed Plantagenet blood through his mother and was one of Henry’s
favourites from early in the reign. During the Lincolnshire Rising and the Pilgrimage of Grace, Rutland was entrusted with the defence of Nottingham Castle. He was appointed to a joint command with the earls of Huntingdon and Shrewsbury and he duly marched promptly to Nottingham and on to Newark, Southwell and Doncaster. However, he was moved to petition Cromwell for additional money in order to carry out his orders. Manners wrote that his base at Nottingham Castle was very expensive and that he had spent almost all of his own money at Doncaster. He stated that although the Duke of Norfolk had sent him £500, a large portion had been spent on paying for gunners at Nottingham and Newark. As a result, he had a little over £300 remaining and had to spend money on the castle on a daily basis. He begged Cromwell to obtain some money from the king.132

  Manners’ stewardship of many monasteries, together with his ancestral claims to the foundation of certain houses, as well as his proven loyalty, worked to his advantage in the wake of the dissolution. By a grant of March 1539, in return for the sale of land to the king, including Elsinges, he received at least fourteen manors (mostly in Leicestershire) and several abbeys, including Rievaulx and Beverley, Yorkshire, and Belvoir Priory and Croxton, Leicestershire.133 Rutland was lord chamberlain to Jane Seymour and was also named as one of those appointed to receive Anne of Cleves in November 1539, together with the Earl of Derby, Sir John Dudley, Arthur and George Darcy, William Parr and Sir Robert Tyrwhyt. He was also appointed chamberlain to Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard. Following the fall of Thomas Cromwell, Rutland acquired his former offices of warden of the forests beyond the Trent and steward of Halifax manor, Yorkshire, for which he received an income of £100 a year.134