Ruth's Blog

The Lincolnshire Rising was the beginning of a turbulent time for King Henry VIII and England. Following the break with the Rome, the Catholic church and the dissolution of the monasteries in May 1536, unrest in England was beginning to grow. By taking down the monasteries and stripping them of their land and wealth, hundreds of years of traditions and ceremonies were being destroyed. During the Tudor period this was very important as the church was a much bigger part of every-day life than it is today.

Louth in 1536 was a wealthy town that had many, well established guilds. They had helped to pay for the new church spire which was built in 1515. It was so grand that when commissioners of the crown visited in September 1536, they commented that it was ‘fit for a king.’ The commissioners also warned the priests that their learning and thinking was too radical and made people worried that their money was not going to the church. The monks at Louth Park Abbey feared that worse was to come.

The vicar, Thomas Kendall took hold of this fear and preached about it in the church which led to word spreading. This bubbled over into protesting and a list of demands.

They objected to:

• Dissolution of the Monasteries
• Diversion of money from the church
• Promotion of Cromwell
• Promotion of bishops who had ‘subverted the faith of christ’
• Bad advisors

Despite their demands, the rebels were keen to show their loyalty to King Henry and blamed his ‘advisers’ for the bad policies. Taking to the streets, they carried a banner that pictured the ‘five wounds of Christ’, which was representative of their five demands. The unrest spread into neighbouring counties, in particular Yorkshire which had the religiously important city of York at its centre.  The unrest grew so much that it became the ‘Pilgrimage of Grace’ which would go on to be the largest rebellion of the Tudor period. Arguably, Henry had to meet the demands of the rebels because of their sheer size, particularly the gentry who were swiftly pardoned. The ringleaders, including Thomas Kendall of Louth, were executed at Tyburn.

There is a plaque that commemorates this opposite the entrance to St James’ Church. Lincolnshire Day, held on the 1st October, also remembers this occasion. This year, a presentation will be released with more information on the Lincolnshire Rising to celebrate it significance!