Craven and Its Part in the Pilgrimage of Grace

Craven and its part in the Pilgrimage of Grace

The conduct of the monastic orders had long been the target of criticism although early attempts at reform had been unsuccessful. During the first 20 years of Henry the Eighth’s reign some small religious houses were closed, with the nuns and monks being relocated to houses that had space for them. This was a process led by the Bishops themselves, Bishop Alcock of Ely and Bishop Fisher of Rochester for example used the sale proceeds to endow colleges at Cambridge. When Richard Fox, Bishop of Winchester proposed to build a college at Oxford for young monks of his cathedral priory, his friend Hugh Oldham, Bishop of Exeter advised him to abandon the plan and in its place to fund a college for secular priests:

'Shall we build houses and provide livelihoods for a company of bussing monks, whose end and fall we may live to see? No, no; it is more meet a great deal that we should have to care and provide for such who by their learning shall do good in the Church and commonwealth'

Oldham's advice was not ignored and in 1516 Bishop Fox founded Corpus ChristiCollege, Oxford. Cardinal Wolsey did not think things were as bad as Bishop Oldham implied but he did recognize that some of the monasteries were not able to do their jobs. So, in 1524 he appealed to Pope Clement VII for authority to dissolve a number of 'certain exile (poor)' and small monasteries, and to appropriate their revenues and properties for founding Cardinal college at Oxford together with a preparatory or nursery college in his native place, Ipswich.

Pope Clement VII allowed Wolsey to suppress twenty-eight houses in which the number of inmates had dwindled to single figures. In only five was there a community of eight or more, and the net income in all but six was less than £200 a year. The total revenue of these houses amounted to about £2,300. The man entrusted with all aspects of the legal business of these suppressions was Thomas Cromwell. Although the King received complaints about the conduct of Cromwell and the other agents assigned to the suppression, Wolsey assured him that the complaints were unjustified. Wolsey closed 29 religious houses and endowed a grammar school in Ipswich and ChristChurchCollege, Oxford.

This was achieved without rebellion or protest; indeed the majority could see the reasoning behind it. There had been a general disaffection with the monasteries during the preceding decades, especially by those with any political clout and particularly in the south of England.

By the 1530's, at the time of Henry's breach with Rome, monasteries were looked upon as one of the great bulwarks of the papal system; the monks had been called "the great standing army of Rome". But now Henry was trying to influence the way people thought, the beliefs that underpinned their behaviour and the manner in which they conducted their social affairs. In April 1535 "all supporters of the pope's jurisdiction" were ordered to be arrested. On the 20th April the priors of the Charterhouse of London, Beauvale and Axholme, and Dr. Richard Reynolds of the Bridgettine monastery of Syon, were arrested. They were charged with "denying the King to be supreme head of the EnglishChurch" and on May 4 they were put to a traitor’s death at Tyburn, hanged in their religious dress, against all precedent for the execution of criminous clerks, priesthood and monarchism. On June 19 three more members of the London Charterhouse were similarly executed. Following these executions were the executions of Bishop Fisher on 22 Jun 1535 and Thomas More on 6 Jul 1535 both of whom had been convicted of refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy.

Only about one sixth of the wills written between 1521 and 1536 mentioned the monasteries, those that did dealt only with unfinished business such as forgotten tithes. For example Robert Somerscales, in his will of 1554 "gave and bequeathed" to the high alter for forgotten tithes linen clothes to the value of 3s 4d. That he included this clause 18 years after the dissolution speaks volumes for his personal beliefs. It demonstrates that people will not conform to imposed patterns of behaviour and might explain why Henry VIII was furious in 1541 to find that there were still shrines in place. The physical presence of the monasteries was gone but their essence continued.

Some townships in Yorkshire had the accepted model of a unified village and parish but this was not the case in Craven as in much of upland Yorkshire. Parishes stretched for miles and embraced several settlements or townships. In the Skipton Chantry of the Rood the incumbent was to help the curate as "the parish is of great circuit" and in another passage "the parish is great and wide, there is one priest and one curate to serve 1300 people", at Waddington in the parish of Mitton the priest and curate of the chapel there served half the parish which was some 3 miles from the parish church where there lived a population of 600 in the mid 1530s. The chapel of Bank Newton lay one mile from the church of the extensive parish of Gargrave. At the chantry of Saint Nicholas in Ilkley the chantry priest was to help the curate because "the parish is of great circuit and a river called the Wharfe passes through and continues through the middle of the parish and often when the river floods the curate, being in one part of the parish, cannot come to the church for two days". In Burnsall there were two parsons in the parish church and one in each of the two chapels of ease at Rylestone and Coniston "the said parish church in a moorish country and the number of housling people 1200".

Clergy were thin on the ground and benefices were poor. Archbishop Lee in 1535 complained that graduates would not accept northern livings because of their inadequate stipends. Again, Robert Somerscales, in his will of 1554 provides evidence for this "I will that Sir Richard Somerschalles my sonne shall have for his portion of goods £6 13s 4d yf he have not a livinge in the Southe partes of £10 or upward, and in the northe partes of £4 or upward". This large discrepancy cannot solely be justified by higher costs of living. The “south parts” clearly means London and the southeast.

Archbishop Lee also maintained that he had to ordain men of little education who were merely honest and sufficiently able to administer the sacraments. The friars undertook preaching as the secular clergy were seldom capable. The chantry certificates demonstrate the diversity. At Skipton one incumbent was a 42 year old schoolmaster who taught 120 scholars and was described as a good grammarian but he also had to serve the Chantry of our Lady in Kildwick to supplement his income; on the other hand both the incumbents at Waddington were unlearned as was the incumbent of Long Preston; those at Mitton, Broughton and Gargrave were "indifferently learned". At Giggleswick where the number of housling people (communicants) was 1200 Richard Somerscales was "somewhat learned"; Richard Carr was "well learned and taught at the grammar school there" whereas poor seventy year old Thomas Thomson was not only unlearned but hadn't been paid for three years. Thomas Yeadon had been the vicar of Clapham but he appears to have transferred to GiggleswickChurch in 1541. He with the other Giggleswick clergy played an active part in the disturbances to come.

Archbishop Lee of York believed that the less well educated were not fit to preach and the Duke of Norfolk expressed the view (in the post mortem that followed the Pilgrimage of Grace) that if three or four preachers had been active in the north the Pilgrimage might have been avoided. It was thought that preaching in the appropriate way would condition the minds of men to acceptance of the new evangelism. However, Lee, for a number of reasons was keen not to see a repetition of the preaching wars that had occurred elsewhere, preferred the status quo and, to some extent, suppressed debate. The people were receptive to what little information was forthcoming and rumours spread quickly.

During the early summer of 1535 there were two incidents in Craven aimed primarily at slowing the rate of enclosure being undertaken by some landholders. John Catterrall the lord of Rathmell had his enclosures pulled down by the tenants of Percy the Earl of Northumberland in Giggleswick and by the Abbott of Furness's tenants in Stackhouse. The three townships shared common pastures.

Nothing more would have been heard of this event had not Sir Richard Tempest of Bowling mentioned in passing in a letter to Cromwell dated 13th June 1535 that "A riot had been committed by three or four score persons who have cast down houses, dykes and hedges about Giggleswick"[i].

A second incident occurred at Airton in Malhamdale, John Lambert, the new owner, enclosed some lands on the moor for his own use. His owntenants and those from neighbouring townships pulled them down.

Tempest attached little importance to the incidents but both Cromwell and the King did. The king ordered that Tempest and Chaloner with the earls of Westmoreland and Northumberland should act to repress the disturbances. Henry Clifford (first earl of Cumberland and Lord of Skipton) was not asked to help as he was in London at the time but, in the event, it was Henry Clifford himself, Sir Richard Tempest (Clifford's associate and friend), Sir William Babthorpe and Robert Chaloner (Clifford's counsel) who heard the case brought by John Lambert (Clifford's clerk of courts) at Gisburn during January 1536. The tenants were indicted and bound to allow Lambert to make a partial enclosure. This did not endear Clifford to his Craven tenantry.

In 1534 Thomas Cromwell had been appointed as principal secretary to the King. Cromwell was not from a knightly family. He had become wealthy through trade and money lending before turning to politics as a servant to Cardinal Wolsey. From there he moved to the service of the King who found him to be a loyal servant, a man of ability and totally without scruples. This suited the King but not the people. The people expected their leaders, for want of a better word, to possess "class", to be high born and to maintain high standards. During the uprisings of 1536 the people co-opted their natural leaders to their cause. But, in a nutshell Cromwell was "common", of low extraction and greedy. He was universally hated. There were rumours in September 1534 that Cromwell was urging the King "to distribute between the gentlemen of the kingdom the greater part of the Church revenues, that he might thereby gain the hearts and affections of his subjects".

The Reformation Parliament assembled for the last time in February 1536 and its most significant legislation was the passage of the bill for the dissolution of the smaller monasteries, those worth £200 per year or less. In early 1536 Layton and Leigh (two of Cromwell’s most notorious agents) visited the North. Within two months they claim to have surveyed all the monasteries there.

At this point it is appropriate to look at some of the personalities who were around at the time and who, on one side or the other, were involved in the disturbances of Craven during this period.

Firstly is Thomas Lord Darcy. He was of gentry stock from TempleHirst near Selby. He was a good soldier and was made constable of Bambrough and captain of Berwick. Darcy was the Duke of York's deputy in the East and Middle Marches. He was ennobled in 1505 and made knight of the garter in 1509. He was married to Edith the widow of Lord Ralph Neville son and heir of the third earl of Westmoreland. He was steward of lands in CountyDurham and some key West Riding lands of the Duchy of Lancaster. He was no friend of Cardinal Wolsey. Darcy purchased a confraternity of the Austin Friars in 1511 and obits of the Friars Preachers and the Carmelite Friars of York during the 1520s. He paid fees of £3 6s 8d each to the observant Friars of Newark, Newcastle upon Tyne, Richmond, Greenwich, Hampton and Canterbury. These houses had opposed the King's divorce and the royal supremacy. All had been dissolved in 1534. He was undoubtedly conservative as was to be expected of a man approaching 70. Thomas was beheaded at Tower Hill on the 30th June 1537.

Thomas, Lord Darcy's younger but more able son was active in Craven throughout the period. As the younger son he could not expect much in the way of inheritance but he had the King's ear and was a bit of a wheeler-dealer, as Hoyle says "he was a man about whom there was always a whiff of sharp practice".

Thirdly is Sir Richard Tempest of Bracewell in Craven and Bowling near Bradford. Like Darcy he was a steward of some key Duchy of Lancaster estates in the West Riding and Clitheroe. Together, they influenced the lands that surrounded Craven. Tempest's estates within Craven included Bracewell, Paythorne, Horton in Craven, Pathnell, Hebden, Conistone, Thorpe, Burnsall, Malham, Broughton, Kettlewell, Coniston Cold, Skipton, Waddington, Easington and Skelshaw.

Tempest was prominent in the court of Henry VII; he remained at court after the king’s death and was known to Henry VIII. His last service to the king was to serve as a juror on the panel of 1536 that convicted Henry Norris, Mark Smeaton and others of adultery with Anne Boleyn. Richard Tempest had acquired a great deal of power and wealth but appears insecure. He was not to be trusted in his affairs and was Machiavellian in his dealings. There was a concentration of unbridled power in the hands of one corrupt individual. He was implicit in a number of murders some carried out by his son Thomas. One illustrates something of the nature of the man. John Ward was an estate officer of the Prioress in Esholt where in 1522 he apprehended Thomas Tempest for hunting on their lands; he took back a deer that Tempest had killed. Tempest harboured a grudge and set up a trap. A message was sent to Ward saying he should expect a friend for supper and lodging. Instead ten assassins (including Tempest) arrived and assaulted and wounded him. They carried him back to his house where, before leaving, they fired arrows through the windows and killed John Ward. This part of the family considered themselves above the law, indeed they administered the law. Events and justice conspired against Sir Richard and he died a prisoner in the Fleet in 1537.

Richard Tempest should not be confused with Nicholas Tempest his younger brother who lived at Bashall in Craven. Nicholas was born around 1483 and married Elizabeth or Isabell Bannister, the widow of Richard Banister in 1510. Nicholas was the guardian of the properties of Nicholas Bannister (born 28th February 1501 at Altham) the son and heir of this Richard Banister. At the end of May 1523 he and the under sheriff of Lancashire were appointed by Lord Darcy to take care of the escheated estates of Lord Monteagle of Hornby whose heir was a minor. In 1529 Nicholas with Sir John Townley and Richard Bannister acted as commissioners for enclosing the town fields of Padiham near Whalley. Nicholas Tempest was hanged on the 25th May 1537.

Perhaps the most important player in Craven, though not in the uprisings, was Henry Clifford the first Earl of Cumberland 1493 to 1542. Henry was the son of Henry 10th Lord Clifford who died in 1523 aged seventy. The younger Henry went to court during the latter end of the reign of King Henry VII and became a great friend of his son Henry, the future Henry VIII. He was created an Earl in 1525 and in 1537 he received the Garter, both appear to have been the personal gifts of the King. He married as his second wife Margaret Percy the daughter of the 5th Earl of Northumberland who held the manors of Settle, Giggleswick, Langstrothdale and Long Preston. Clifford was steward for Percy in these townships, the rents from which had been granted to him by Percy as dower for his daughter. Additionally, as his own inheritance he held the Honour of Skipton and the large Barony of Westmoreland. The lands of Craven supported about 20 knights’ service tenants but Clifford was by far the largest landholder.

Sir Stephen Hammerton (born about 1490) was the heir to a family that had been established in Craven since at least 1284. They held lands in Wigglesworth and Hellifield from the Prior of St John of Jerusalem and Hammerton and Knowlsmere from the King as part of the Duchy of Lancaster. The Somerscales were tenants of Hammerton. Stephen was married to Elizabeth the daughter of Sir Ralph Bigod knight. They had a son Henry who died shortly after his father "of a broken heart" says Whittaker. Stephen was executed in 1537 and all his lands (except Hellifield) were taken by the King. Hellifield was the property of his mother and so remained with the family but Hellifield Peel, their castellated manor house, stayed with the King until 1545 when George Brown bought it. George had married Alice the widow of John Hammerton. In 1553 Sir Arthur Darcy knight bought Hellifield Peel and then sold it in 1556 to John Redman. John Redman's son, Francis, married Margaret the granddaughter of Stephen Hammerton and in 1560 they sold it to John Hammerton the son of Richard, Stephen's younger brother. The family thus regained the manor of Hellifield and their former residence but they had lost the lands in Wigglesworth etc. forever.