Leaders in challenge: Robert Aske and Sir Francis Bigod

Robert Aske (1500-37)

Robert was the son of Sir Robert Aske of Aughton, near Selby in Yorkshire. He was a London lawyer with powerful family connections, being a cousin of Henry Clifford, Earl of Cumberland.

Aske never intended to join - let alone lead - a rebellion. He stumbled into the Lincolnshire Rebellion while travelling through the country to London for the beginning of the law term.

Aske was captured and persuaded to join a band of rebels at Sawcliff. Soon Aske was taking the lead in decision-making and organising the rebel bands in the north of the country. Having made contact with the main rebel group at Louth, Aske then travelled to Yorkshire to raise support for the rising there. Recruiting 10,000 men, Aske then entered the city of York where he issued a proclamation that laid out the aims of the rebellion - to preserve and defend the Church.

The Pontefract Articles

Following the collapse of the Lincolnshire revolt, Aske drew up his own list of grievances, wrote his own oath and gave the movement the title of the Pilgrimage of Grace. Aske advanced from York to Pontefract Castle, which he took after a short siege. Among those captured in the castle were its constable, Thomas Lord Darcy, Edward Lee, Archbishop of York, and a number of Yorkshire gentry. Darcy and some of the gentry were persuaded to join the rebellion and they helped Aske draw up the Pontefract Articles, which called for:

  • the legitimisation of Princess Mary (the eldest daughter of Henry VIII and the future Queen Mary I);

  • Cromwell and the others among the King’s ‘evil councillors’ to be dismissed;

  • a meeting of parliament in York;

  • an end to the closure of the monasteries;

  • the restoration of links with the Pope.

The end of the rebellion

A royal army of some 4,000 men under Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk was sent by the King to deal with the rebels. However, Norfolk faced a rebel force of over 30,000, so he played for time. The Pontefract Articles were presented to Norfolk, who agreed to issue a pardon and the promise of a parliament to be held at York. Aske accepted the King’s invitation to go to Court over Christmas 1536 - but while Aske negotiated an agreement, a renegade member of the gentry, Sir Francis Bigod, led a new rising in January 1537. Aske was blamed for the renewal of rebellion in Yorkshire and was arrested, tried and hanged at York in July 1537.

Sir Francis Bigod (1507-37)

Sir Francis Bigod was the son of Sir John Bigod of Hinderwell, Yorkshire. He was an unlikely rebel because he was a Protestant and had been one of Cromwell’s agents in the north. He was a Justice of the Peace and a member of the Reformation Parliament. Bigod even helped compile the Valor Ecclesiasticus and enforced royal supremacy. However, unlike Cromwell, Bigod wanted monasteries reformed rather than dissolved. Bigod initially opposed the Pilgrimage of Grace but after his capture by the rebels he was persuaded to join their cause.

Distrustful of the King and doubtful that Aske would succeed in gaining royal acceptance of the Pontefract Articles, Bigod revived the rebellion in Yorkshire. Bigod’s men were defeated and he fled to Cumberland, where he was captured. He was tried and hanged in June 1537.