Religious grievances rather than political and social discontent explain why rebellions broke out in England in both 1549 and 1554 Essay Example

Religious grievances rather than political and social discontent explain why rebellions broke out in England in both 1549 and 1554 Essay In 1549, two rebellions broke out in England, the Kets and the Western (Prayer Book) rebellion. There was no single cause of these rebellions. Religious, political and social factors all intertwined to create distress resulting in the rebellions. Religious policies initiated by Somerset continued to make their impact of the country. The prayer book rebellion was a catholic rebellion so religion was obviously important. The Kets rebellion was against rising rents, entry fines and over grazing of the common lands. This shows how social discontent may be the reason they broke out. In 1554, Wyatts rebellion broke out which publicly was against the Spanish marriage. However there were underlying religious factors as well. Source A only touches on religious reasons because the main causes of the rebellion were rising rents, entry fines and over grazing of the common lands. The debasing of the coinage led to the rising prices and social distress. It says We pray that all freeholders and copyholders may take the profits of all common lands and the Lords not to use the commons or take profits from the same. Lords using the commons led to overgrazing. This shows social discontent did help cause the rebellions. We will write a custom essay sample on Religious grievances rather than political and social discontent explain why rebellions broke out in England in both 1549 and 1554 specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Religious grievances rather than political and social discontent explain why rebellions broke out in England in both 1549 and 1554 specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Religious grievances rather than political and social discontent explain why rebellions broke out in England in both 1549 and 1554 specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The Kets rebels were against the enclosure of common lands but in East Anglia there had not been that much enclosure so it was just an excuse to rebel. Source A says that if priests and vicars were unable to preach the words of God then their parishioners should be able to choose another priest. This indicates they wanted to raise standards of the clergy so religious grievances was a factor in causing the Kets rebellion. However religion was not a main cause of the Kets rebellion. Kets rebels accepted the prayer book but would have liked it to be more radical so religious grievance wasnt important unlike in the Western. The Western rebellion resented the Prayer Book and was against the Edwardian reformation. They didnt like the fact the Prayer Book was written in English rather than Latin. They couldnt understand the London dialect. Source B says We will have the mass in Latin as before. Religious grievances rather than political and social discontent may explain the reasons for the Western rebellion breaking out but not all three of the rebellions. Source B also says how they want images in every church, dont want the new service and that Cardinal Pole should not only be freely pardoned but recalled from Rome. The rebels were of a lower class than the gentry and hated the government officials who were desecrating their churches. They wanted monastery lands to be restored. Even in the Western rebellion there was other factors leading to it but religion was very important. The economic and social distress was the reason the commons rebelled so readily against the Prayer Book. Source B only comments on religious factors but it was the clergy who drew up the rebels demands for the western rebellion so therefore are going to concentrate on the religious factors. In the year before the rebellions their had been a hot summer and crops had failed. Possibly 40% of the population lived on or below the poverty line. Things were made worse by price increases. The introduction of the sheep tax in Devon caused rioting because the commons couldnt afford to pay it. Source C says You ask for a relief (tax) granted to us by Parliament on cloth and shearing sheep to be remitted, saying we have no need for it. The king even recognises the dislike of it. The economic and social distress helped fuel the anger for the rebellions. There also was influence from political factors. There was intense unpopularity of the governments agent, William Body who was eventually killed of the 6th April. He was disliked as identified with the new religious policy so religious factors are important as well. The sources are only about the Kets and Western rebellion not Wyatts. The public aim of the Wyatts rebellion was to stop the Spanish marriage. However historian such as Fletcher and MacCulloch believe that religion was the reason why rebels wanted to stop Marys marriage. The rebellion was led by the reforming faction of Edwards reign which suggests religion was important. Wyatts couldnt use religious factors as the aim of the rebellion because this would split the country as some of the population was still Catholic. This would therefore limit his support. If Wyatts rebellion had been successful, Elizabeth would become Queen and she was Protestant anyway. Wyatts knew there was already wide-spread resentment of the Spanish marriage so used this to gain support. This indicates religious grievances do help explain why the Wyatts rebellion broke out. Some people thought the marriage was a political mistake as through the marriage she could give England away to a foreign empire. However the marriage treaty meant Philip had no power to rule England, he couldnt take Mary or their children out of the country without the consent of the council or drag England into Spanish wars. Also the nobility could resist the marriage to protect their own power and self-interest. Unlike the uprising in 1549, this was a political conspiracy among the elites and there was little popular support. The rebellion was led by Croft, Carew and Wyatt who all held important offices at court. They feared the Spanish influence would endanger their own careers. This shows political discontent helped to provoke the Wyatts rebellion. Overall, although religious grievances do help explain why rebellions broke out in 1549 and 1554, there are other important factors. Religious grievances were very important especially in the Kets and Wyatts rebellions but no single factor caused all the rebellions. Each rebellion started for different reasons. Poverty was worsening because of the debased coinage leading to inflation and price increases. This caused distress which help fuel the rebellions. Kets rebels accepted the pray book so religious grievances wasnt a main cause. The western rebellion resented the Prayer Book and was against the Edwardian reformation but the economic and social distress was the reason the commons rebelled so readily against the Prayer Book. For this rebellion religious grievances was an important factor in why it broke out but political and social discontent was also important. In Wyatts rebellion political discontent of the leaders, religion grievances and social discontent were all important for causing the rebellions. Religious, political and social factors all intertwined to create distress resulting in the rebellions.