Pilgrimage of Grace

The Pilgrimage of Grace was significant in the short term, as it was the first major religious rebellion. Extracts from Robert Aske's examination are excellent examples of how the leaders of the Pilgrimage felt about the actions of the King that led to the Pilgrimage of Grace. Aske said that Henry's actions would destroy all the good work that the monasteries in England were doing. The Extracts therefore suggest the Pilgrimage of Grace was about preventing the destruction of the monasteries in England. Similar to the extracts from Robert Aske's examination, extracts from The Pilgrims Ballad reveal what the Monks of Lancashire thought about the Pilgrimage and what King Henry was doing to the Churches of England. The Monks of Lancashire supported the Pilgrimage, as they believed the actions of King Henry; the dissolving of Monasteries and the removal of valuable and priceless relics from Churches and Monasteries; were wrong and immoral. The two extracts provenance affects their reliability. Robert Aske's examination extracts could have been altered after the event, to make Robert Aske appear more heroic, strong willed and courageous in voicing his opinion about the King's actions. Therefore the extracts aren't as reliable as they appear. The Pilgrims Ballad is far more a reliable source than the extracts from Robert Aske's examination. The Pilgrim's Ballad was sung by all the Pilgrims, so although the Ballad was duplicated several times, the message in the Ballad was never lost. Therefore, the Pilgrims Ballad is fairly reliable as a contemporary source providing evidence that the Pilgrimage of Grace was the first major religious rebellion.

The Pilgrimage of Grace was significant in the short term, as it was a rebellion that had a large number of rebels. According to one secondary source; Geoffrey Moorhouse ; the number of Pilgrims surmounted to 30, 000. Edward Hall a Tudor chronicler also recorded that the number of Pilgrims peaked at 30,000. However according to one secondary source , the number of Pilgrims was greater than 30,000, the actual number was 40,000. Another secondary source suggests that the number was even greater, with 30,000 Pilgrims were based at Scawsby Leys near Doncaster, whilst a further 12,000 were based at Pontefract. What has to be taken into consideration however is that the actual number of Pilgrims isn't known, as throughout the Pilgrimage, Pilgrim's died from illness, left the Pilgrimage as their businesses, farms, family were suffering, and some people joined the Pilgrimage. The source which best estimates the number of Pilgrims, is Hall's chronicle, as it is the only contemporary source, and Edward Hall wrote his Chronicle not long after the Pilgrimage of Grace ended, so therefore would have an estimation of how many rebels took part in the Pilgrimage of Grace.