Pilgrimage of Grace

On October 13, 1536, the Pilgrimage of Grace began in Northern England as protest against King Henry VIII's break with the Pope. An excerpt from the article:

"The first trouble, the Lincolnshire Rising, began in Louth, Lincolnshire in October 1536 CE when an ordinary church procession developed into a mass protest march. The grassroots members joined the movement after persistent rumours had swept across the North of England that, after the closure of monasteries, parish churches would be next on the king's hit list. There was a fear that the king would, at the very least, plunder churches for their valuables such as gold crosses. Traders, meanwhile, feared that the local fairs held to celebrate saints' days might be repressed. There were even rumours that baptisms, marriages, and burials would all receive a new tax. Government commissioners had already been visiting the north to assess what was available for confiscation and if the Injunctions were being enforced.

The rebels first began by opening up some of the closed-down monasteries. This was welcomed by many commoners who derived employment and charity from them. Henry responded by sending an army to deal with the protestors in Lincoln who duly dispersed by 18 October. However, news caught on of the protest and it became even more serious in the cities of York and Pontefract where the castle was taken over. Protestors now gathered under their banner, the 'Five Wounds of Christ' and called themselves the 'Pilgrimage of Grace for the Commonweal'. Members swore the following oath of allegiance to the cause:

To take before you the cross of Christ and your heart's faith to the restitution of his church and the suppression of heretics' opinions. (Miller, 105-6)."