Objectives, Duration and location
Duration
Irish rebellions took longer to put down since Dublin administration had to wait for
instructions from London
Munster Rebellion 1569 took 4 years to repress
Rebellions near London didn’t take long to repress -> Essex only took 12 hours and
Wyatt’s 18 days.
Location
Mainly northern and southwestern counties
East Anglia
Province of Ulster, Munster in Ireland
None in Wales
Pro Yorkist areas: Yorkshire and Worcester
Some chose same areas -> symbolic
E.g. Cornish chose Blackheath just as Wat Tyler and John Ball had done
E.g. Oxfordshire – Enslow Hill just as anti-enclosure protestors had done before
Some went outside local church
Targeted towns for demonstrations
E.g. Cornish – Exter and Kett – Norwich
Southwest England
Resented interference in everyday life
Somerset contributed to most rebels that marched to Blackheath 1497 and proved
unwilling to supply troops to suppress rebellion in Devon
Celtic language spoken there -> Cornishmen resented English
London
Objective to reach Whitehall -> seat of central gov in London
Warbeck got to Taunton
Wyatt got to Ludgate
Essex got to Fenchurch street
Leadership
Royal claimants
Had to be led by prince of royal blood or royal claimant
, Simnel – Richard III nephew
Warbeck – Duke of York
Lady Grey – great granddaughter of Henry VII
Nobility and gentry
Earls – Tyrone, Kildare, Desmond
English nobles – Lovel, Dacre, Essex
Often denied involvement and claimed that they were pressured
Needed nobles as leaders
E.g. Cornish = Lord Audley and Yorkshire = Lord Darcey
Clergy
Rarely led a revolt
Were involved in drawing up the demands for pilgrimage of grace
Vicars of Louth, Brough, Brayton supported Lincolnshire and pilgrimage of grace
Vicars of St Clare, St Uny and Poundstock travelled to Exeter – Cornish
Lawyers
Thomas Flamak – Bodmin
Thomas Moigne – Lincoln
William Stapelton – East Ridding of Yorkshire
Robert Aske – pilgrimage of grace
Commoners
Few were led by them
1549 revolts
Ketts Rebellion – Thomas Underhill was a tailor
Oxfordshire Rebellion – local servants and tradesman
Amicable Grant – husbandmen, urban artisans and rural peasants
Strategy and Tactics
Dynastic Rebellion
Draw monarch out of capital and either forced to abdicate or be
killed in battle
Until London had been seized no rebel leader could claim victory
Had to have alternative claimant ready to rule
E.g. Yorkists had pretenders, Northumberland had Lady Jane Grey,
Wyatt had Princess Elizabeth and Northern Earls wanted Mary Stuart