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The Pilgrimage of Grace: The Rebellion that Shook Henry VIII's Throne

The Pilgrimage of Grace: The Rebellion that Shook Henry VIII's Throne

by Geoffrey Moorhouse (Author)

  • Used

    Hardcover 2002

    $11.86
Synopsis

During the Pilgrimage of Grace for a short time Henry VIII lost control of the North of England and there was a very real possibly of civil war. Protesting the king's betrayal of the 'old' religion, his new taxes, and his threat to the rights of landowners - the poor and the powerful united against their king and his henchman Thomas Cromwell, raising an army of 40,000. The leader of the Pilgrimage was the charismatic, heroic figure of Robert Aske, a lawyer. Under his influence and persuasion most of the Northern nobility joined the rebellion and gathered for battle at Doncaster where they would have outnumbered the king soldiers by 4 to 1. But Aske had an unshakeable belief in justice and fair dealing, which was to prove his undoing. He was persuaded by the king's men to abandon military force and negotiate terms in London. Once there he was arrested, charged with treason and hanged in chains. Another 200 'pilgrims' were executed in the North as a 'fearful spectacle'. PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE is a sensational and tragic story set against a backdrop of medieval politics and religion.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
 Pages: 448
 Edition: First Edition
 Publisher: W&N
Published: 08 Aug 2002
ISBN 10: 0297643932
ISBN 13: 9780297643937
Book Overview: First non-academic account of the story. Stunning broadsheet reviews for Moorhouse's previous books including: For SUN DANCING: 'an audacious achievement' (THE GUARDIAN). For CALCUTTA: 'an outstanding book' (SUNDAY TIMES). For OM: AN INDIAN PILGRIMAGE: 'a lesson in how to write about a foreign culture and an inspiration to read' (Dermot Clinch, THE INDEPENDENT).

Media Reviews
We're getting some fantastic coverage for this title: The pilgrimage has attracted intensive specialist study in recent years. What has been lacking is the coherent narrative that Moorhouse agreeably supplies. As a work of analysis the book is assured and careful, without being particularly ambitious. Hisprincipal achievement is one of evocation. Aided by thoughtfully chosen illustrations, he takes us into the dales and towns where the rebels gathered anddebated and were bloodily suppressed , and recreates the moods and tensions of an episode critical in the survival and development of the Tudor state andin the destruction of an ancient religion and society. Spectator Moorhouseis alert to the horror of mob coercion, but his sympathies are with the commons... His book is likely to reach a wide, non-academic readership. In the current vogue for television-led history, focused depressingly on kings and queens , it is refreshing to be reminded that the soil of Tudor history is composed of the blood, toil and tears of ordinary men and women. Eamon Duffy, Sunday Times Roy Hattersley, The Observer: The Pilgrimage of Grace is history as it should be written... The Pilgrimage of Grace reveals a remarkable talentfor making history come to life through illustrative anecdotes... Geoffrey Moorhouse has done a great service by filling in one of the great gaps in our understanding of England's past. Frank McLynn, The Independent on Sunday says: What went wrong and why did the most significant internal rebellion since 1066 peter out so suddenly? This is the subject of Geoffrey Moorhouse's marvellous historical narrative... a riveting history which blends scholarship andgripping narrative. A new synthesis on the Pilgrimage of Grace was badly needed, but we could hardly have expected it would be as good as this. In the Literary Review, JWM Thomson: Geoffrey Moorhouse's fresh account of that violent event is a reminder of how much it still colours life today.... Moorhouse has made a thorough study of the story, tracing events from the first, brief rebellion in Lincolnshire to the sustained uprising of the people further north. This is no easy task given the patchy nature of sixteenth-century records: however, he presents a convincing picture. It is a tale of old, unhappy, far-off things,/And battles long ago , and Geoffrey Moorhouse tells it well. Geoffrey Moorhouse gives a gripping account of this delicately poised momentin the story of England. His vigorous narrative skills and easy command of great masses of detail make him the ideal popular recounter of this tale, which is too-often scanted in the history books....Moorhouse is encyclopaedic about the religious life and orders of the time, and his intimate knowledge of the ground travelled by the principals and the rebel forces giveshis account great vividness....Moorhouse has produced a fine piece of popular history in the great tradition of Trevelyan and Macaulay, throroughly educative and satisfying. AC Grayling, Financial Times Geoffrey Moorhouse has retrieved some of the voices of the Pilgrims from the interrogations and confessions which followed the collapse of their movement. In doing so, he has done us and them aservice, showing that the history of the losers can be as fascinating as thehistory of the winners. Sunday Telegraph Geoffrey Moorhouse has written anengaging retelling of these momentus events, the great strength of which is its loving familiarity with the landscape and history of northern England. The Guardian And of course especially in North Yorkshire where the author lives, and where some of the rebels were eventually executed, with confirmed coverage including BBC Radio Lancashire, The Dalesman and the Craven Herald plus an interview for Lincolnshire Life. His first event at the Yorkshire Post Lite
Author Bio
Geoffrey Moorhouse is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. His TO THE FRONTIER won the Thomas Cook Award for the best travel book of its year in 1984. He lives in a hill village in North Yorkshire.