aske

Robert Aske and the Pilgrimage of Grace

         I am often amazed by how many people are unaware of Robert Aske and the Pilgrimage of Grace. Due to the fact that most of the history regarding the Tudor period has been written by biased Protestant historians who tend to give the impression that the "reformation" was welcomed with great relief by the oppressed masses of English people, yearning for deliverance from the corrupt, foreign Church of Rome. In fact, the truth is quite the opposite, and the greatest proof of this is the Pilgrimage of Grace led by Robert Aske.
          It was in 1536 that King Henry VIII of England; having already put away his lawful wife and queen, Catherine of Aragon, and entered into an illegitimate union with Anne Boleyn after breaking with Rome and naming himself second only to God in authority; that he also began the persecution of the monasteries. Henry VIII had always been a very lavish man, with little or no self-control, and the treasury of England was all but empty as a result. The dissolution of the monasteries was the King's way of increasing his wealth, grabbing all of the property of the Church in England and removing the religious as a focus of resistance to him after his defiance of the authority of the Pope. His chief advisors, Thomas Cranmer and Thomas Cromwell, both of whom can only be described as horrible and corrupt individuals, assured King Henry that the people would welcome the removal of these bastions of power for the "corrupt, decadent Romanists".
          What actually happened was quite the reverse. The monasteries, as Robert Aske himself pointed out very well, were the only support the peasants of Renaissance England had. It was they who, aside from leading in religious matters, passed on learning, cared for the sick, gave alms to the poor, even maintaining public works that the government ignored. When Henry VIII seized the land of the monasteries, it made him, one man, owner of about 1/3 of all property in the country. Chapels were looted and desecrated, priceless chalices stolen, works of art destroyed or carried off and much of the land given out to Henry's elite circle of friends, many of whom simply moved into the empty abbeys to become their own personal palaces. The people, particularly in the devoutly Catholic north, were not prepared to tolerate this and turned for leadership to Robert Aske; a lawyer and former lieutenant in King Henry's army.
          Robert Aske, a very upright and well-spoken man, did not instigate the rebellion, which had broken out effectively on October 2, 1536 in Lincoln. He was on his way back to York from London and didn't know about the uprising until he arrived. In fact, as a loyal servant of his King, he had first tried to talk the enraged people out of taking any drastic action. However, when confronted with the situation, he ulmitately decided that there was nothing to do but resist, and Aske was prevailed upon to become the leader of the uprising, though in an unofficial capacity. By the 10th he had become the "Chief Captain" of what he termed "the Pilgrimage of Grace", which by now numbered some 10,000 armed and faithful Englishmen.
          The name, "Pilgrimage of Grace", though confusing to some, is extremely important as it explains the very Catholic nature of this uprising. Robert Aske never meant this to be a violent revolution, that would go against everything he believed in, and furthermore, opposition to the King's anti-Catholic campaign was so widespread, it didn't seem that violence would be needed at all. Their aim was not to overthrow King Henry, all of the pilgrims remained absolutely loyal to the monarchy, but was simply an effort to rally the people of England together, to show the King that they did not approve of what had been done, as they saw it, in his name by his Protestant ministers Cranmer and Cromwell. Surely, they felt, once the King had dismissed these wicked men and could see what harm their policies had caused, all would be put back in order. This was not a violent rebellion, but a pilgrimage of non-violent resistance. Robert Aske insisted on that point and although some tried to make it out to be horrific revolution, only one man was killed in the uprising.
          Aske first marched on York, a center of Catholic support and soon more and more men were arriving from all over Yorkshire, Northumberland, Durham, Cumberland and Westmorland. At their height, Robert Aske had 30,000 men under his command, easily the most formidable internal obstacle Henry VIII ever confronted, and perhaps even more of a threat than anything he ever faced from Scotland or France as well. The most he could respond with was 10,000 men under the Duke of Norfolk, which obviously could not have posed much of a threat to Aske's army of devout followers and the even greater section of the population they represented. Norfolk realized this, and as Aske was anxious to avoid bloodshed, both agreed to meet and discuss what terms could end the pilgrimage peacefully.
           At first, Norfolk was reluctant to agree to anything, and it seemed that open hostilities might break out anyway. Then, on December 6th, Aske himself, along with his subordinates, met with Norfolk and pleaded with him, on their knees, to avoid bloodshed by simply calling a Parliament so that the problems of the people could be openly discussed and expressed. This time, Norfolk; acting on behalf of the King, agreed to this and all of the demands of the pilgrims. Greatly relieved and confident that his King would do right by them all, Robert Aske returned to his army, told them the good news and had them all disperse to await the calling of the northern parliament. Aske himself, as a show of good will, had been invited to court by Henry VIII to smooth out their troubles.
          Sadly, Aske was not dealing with honest men. As soon as their powerful army had been dispersed, and with Aske away in London, Henry VIII duplicitously ordered all of the leaders to be arrested, the peasants disarmed and Catholicism firmly suppressed throughout the region. On July 12, 1537 Robert Aske himself was executed in the most brutal fashion, during his absence the same had been done to his subordinates. It was a tragic and wicked end to what had been a noble and heroic enterprise. Yet, even though they were undone by the dishonesty of their enemies, the Pilgrims of Grace had proven an important point about the true nature of the so-called "reformation" in England. They, along with Robert Aske would join such later peasant army heroes such as those of the Vendee, the Sanfedisti, Andreas Hoffer of Austria and the Cristeros of Mexico in Catholic history. Such heroes reveal the lie that traditional authority is only for elites and provide for all of the Faithful a shining example of courage and devotion to Christ and His Church.