Reformation, taxation and enclosure were causes of the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536. During the reign of Henry VII rebellions including the Lovell/Stafford rising, the rebellion in favour of Lambert Simnel and the Perkins Warbeck rebellion were all related to the dynastic upheavals of the fifteenth century. it wasn’t really just about bloodlines by that time, it was also about power and influence at court – who would help the king to govern. But even they had more than one cause.

Taxation and enclosure: this could be a localised problem as with the Yorkshire rebellion of 1489 that saw the murder of the Earl of Northumberland. The same was true of the Cornish Rebellion of 1497 that was then followed up by the Cornish commons joining with the Perkin Warbeck Revolt. The most well known of the rebellions associated with enclosure was Kett’s Rebellion in Norfolk in 1549 during the reign of Edward VI. Local taxation, rent rises and enclosure of common land led to risings based on social and economic need – but they weren’t necessarily a major threat to the Tudors because they were regional rather than national. Where the rising was contained in one area it was easier to put down.

Religion: The Pilgrimage of Grace is the most obvious example, but in 1554 when Mary Tudor, a.k.a. Bloody Mary, was on the throne Wyatt’s Rebellion aimed to place Elizabeth on the throne because she was protestant.

The Tudors always feared rebellion but they centralised government, used propaganda and had a secret service. The real problem with any rebellion was if it was backed by a foreign power like the French, Spanish or the papacy. One of the reasons Henry VIII was so alarmed by the Pilgrimage of Grace was because there was a potential threat from Catholic nobles who wanted Princess Mary restored to her rightful place in the succession. Taken together with the support of the gentry (not always given willingly) and the clergy it was perhaps the biggest challenge to Tudor authority. The Pilgrimage of Grace is something studied at school because it was the biggest rebellion that expressed anti-Reformation beliefs.

Henry VIII and Thomas Wolsey continued with their programme of closing the monasteries but it was only during the reigns of Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I that opinions completely polarised. Reformers became gradually more radical, while Catholics wanted to keep to their traditional values. It was one of the reasons that the presence of Mary Queen of Scots in England was difficult for Elizabeth. The Scottish queen was recognised by many catholics as England’s legitimate monarch and it led to prolonged plotting against Elizabeth.

Religious contention would lead, in 1605, during the Stuart era, to the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 which aimed to kill James I and his heir, destroy the Protestant parliament and leave the way clear for a Catholic restoration. The plotters intended to place James’ daughter Elizabeth Stuart on the throne, convert her to catholicism and ensure that she was married to a Catholic husband. In 1701 the Act of Settlement finally drew the matter of the religion of the succession to a conclusion – the monarch had to be Protestant or Parliament wouldn’t recognise their right to rule. Ultimately in 1714 George I became King of England because he was the nearest in line to the throne from among the potential claimants who was a Protestant. Of course, that didn’t stop the Catholic heirs of James II (who had been deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1688 – his son James (the Old Pretender) and his grandson Charles (Bonnie Prince Charlie, a.k.a. the Young Pretender) attempting to regain the throne for the Catholic branch of the Stuart family in the Jacobite rebellions of the eighteenth century.

And of course, in between the times – the seventeenth century saw the English Civil Wars, which is where we will be going next.