Prayer Book Rebellion

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The Prayer Book Rebellion, Western Rising or Western Rebellion was a popular revolt in Cornwall and Devon, in 1549. In 1549 the Book of Common Prayer, presenting the theology of the English Reformation, was introduced. The change was widely unpopular amongst religious conservatives — particularly in areas of traditionally Roman Catholic religious loyalty, for example, in Cornwall and Devon. Along with poor economic conditions, the attack on the Church lead to an explosion of anger. In Cornwall, rebel forces gathered. In response, the Lord Protector the Duke of Somerset, ordered an army composed largely of (German and Italian) mercenaries sent to impose a military solution.

In June 2007 the Bishop of Truro, Bill Ind, apologised for the Church's role in the massacre of thousands during the suppression of the Prayer Book rebellion, renouncing the act as an "enormous mistake".^[1]

Contents 1 History 1.1 Causes 2 Sampford Courteney and the immediate beginnings of the uprising 2.1 "Kill all the gentleman" 2.2 Confrontations 3 Bishop of Truro apologises for Church role in Cornish massacre 4 See also 5 References 6 External links 7 Bibliography 7.1 Primary sources 7.2 Secondary sources

[edit] History

[edit] Causes

In the late 1540s the government of the very young Edward VI —he was nine years old when he acceded to the throne in 1547— introduced a range of legislative measures as an extension of the Reformation in England and Wales, the primary aim being to remove those practices and change that theology of the Church of England that were perceived as being too Roman Catholic.^{[citation needed]}

In 1549 the Book of Common Prayer, reflecting the theology of the English Reformation while keeping much of the appearance of the old rites —although the offertory that (in the Sarum rite) had taken place during the gradual was abolished— replaced, in English, the four old liturgical books in Latin. The change was unpopular amongst religious conservatives, particularly in areas of traditionally Roman Catholic religious loyalty, for example, in Devon and Cornwall.^[2]

Some commentators believe that the roots of the rebellion can be traced back to the Cornish Rebellion of 1497 and the subsequent destruction of monasteries from 1536 through to 1545 under Henry VIII which brought an end to the formal scholarship that had sustained the Cornish and Devonian cultural identities.^{[citation needed]} The dissolution of Glasney College and Crantock College played a significant part in fermenting opposition to future cultural reforms. Apart from being missed as centres of indigenous culture, these institutions would have been seen by many as being a bridge to the Celtic past and a link to the ancient Celtic Christianity of their forefathers.^[2] In any case, scholars like Stoyle have noted that the Catholic Church had "proved itself extremely accommodating of Cornish language and culture" and that government attacks on the traditional religion had reawakened the spirit of defiance in Cornwall, and in particular the majority Cornish-speaking far west.^[3]

When traditional religious processions and pilgrimages were banned, commissioners were sent out to remove all symbols of Roman Catholicism. Within Cornwall, this task was given to William Body, whose perceived desecration of religious shrines led to his murder on April 5, 1548 by William Kylter and Pascoe Trevian at Helston.^[2]

Immediate retribution followed with the execution of twenty eight Cornishmen at Launceston Castle. One execution of a "traitor of Cornwall" occurred on Plymouth Hoe — town accounts give details of the cost of timber for both gallows and poles. Martin Geoffrey, the priest of St Keverne, near Helston, was taken to London. After execution his head was impaled on a staff erected upon London Bridge as was customary.^[2]

[edit] Sampford Courteney and the immediate beginnings of the uprising

The new prayer book was not uniformly adopted, and in 1549 the Act of Uniformity made it illegal, from Whitsunday 1549, to use the old Latin prayer books. A number of magistrates were given the task of enforcing the change.^{[citation needed]} Following the enforced change on Whitsunday 1549, on Whitmonday the parishioners of Sampford Courtenay in Devon compelled their priest to revert to the old service. The rebels argued that the new English liturgy was "but lyke a Christmas game." This claim was probably related to the book's provision for men and women to file into the quire on different sides in order to receive the sacrament, which seemed to remind the Devon men of country dancing.^[4] Justices arrived at the next service to enforce the change. An altercation at the service led to a proponent of the change (William Hellyons) being killed (by being run through with a pitchfork) on the steps of the church house.^[5]

Following this confrontation a group of parishioners from Sampford Courtenay decided to march to Exeter to protest at the introduction of the new prayer book. As the group of rebels moved through Devon they gained large numbers of Catholic supporters and became a significant force. Marching east to Crediton, the Devon rebels lay siege to Exeter, demanding the withdrawal of all English manuscripts. Although a number of the inhabitants in Exeter sent a message of support to the rebels, the city refused to open its gates. The gates were to stay closed because of the siege for over a month.^[2]

[edit] "Kill all the gentleman"

Both in Cornwall and Devon, the issue of the Book of Common Prayer seems to have been the straw that broke the camel's back. To decades of oppression were lately added two years of rampant inflation, in which wheat prices had quadrupled.^[6] Along with the rapid enclosure of common lands, the attack on the Church, which was felt to be central to the rural community, lead to an explosion of anger. In Cornwall, an army gathered at the town of Bodmin under the leadership of its mayor, Henry Bray, and two staunch Catholic landowners, Sir Humphrey Arundell of Helland and John Winslade of Tregarrick.^[2]

Many of the gentry sought protection in the old castles. Some shut themselves in St Michael's Mount where they were besieged by the rebels, who started a bewildering smoke-screen by burning trusses of hay. This, combined with a shortage of food and the distress of their women, forced them to surrender. Sir Richard Grenville found refuge in the ruins of Trematon. Deserted by many of his followers, the old man was enticed outside to parley. He was seized and the castle ransacked. Sir Richard and his companions were imprisoned in Launceston gaol. The Cornish army then proceeded to march east across the Tamar border into Devon to join with the Devon rebels near Crediton.

The slogan "Kill all the gentleman and we will have the Six Articles up again and ceremonies as they were in King Henry's time" highlights the religious aims of the rebellion. However, it also implies a social cause (a view supported by historians such as Guy and Fletcher). That later demands included limiting the size of households belonging to the gentry — theoretically beneficial in a time of population growth and unemployment — possibly suggests an attack on the prestige of the gentry. Certainly such contemporaries as Thomas Cranmer took this view, condemning the rebels for deliberately inciting a class conflict by their demands: "to diminish their strength and to take away their friends, that you might command gentlemen at your pleasures".^[7] Protector Somerset himself saw dislike of the gentry as a common factor in all of the 1549 rebellions: "indeed all hath conceived a wonderful hate against the gentlemen and taketh them all as their enemies."^[8]

The Cornish rebels were also concerned with the use of the English language in the new prayer book. The language-map of Cornwall at this time is quite complicated, but philological studies have suggested that the Cornish language had been in territorial retreat throughout the middle ages.^[9] Summarising these researches, Stoyle says that by 1450, the county was divided into three main linguistic blocs: "West Cornwall was inhabited by a population of Celtic descent, which was mostly Cornish speaking; the western part of East Cornwall was inhabited by a population of Celtic descent, which had largely abandoned the Cornish tongue in favor of English; and the eastern part of East Cornwall was inhabited by a population of Anglo-Saxon descent, which was entirely English speaking."^[3]

In any case, the West Cornish reacted badly to the introduction of English in the 1549 services. The eighth Article of the Demands of the Western Rebels states: "and so we the Cornyshe men (whereof certen of us understande no Englysh) utterly refuse thys newe English".^[10] Responding to this, however, the Duke of Somerset asked why the Cornishmen should be offended by holding the service in English rather than Cornish, when they had before held it in Latin and not understood that?^[2]

[edit] Confrontations

In London, King Edward VI and his Privy Council became alarmed by this news from the West Country. On instructions from the Lord Protector the Duke of Somerset, one of the Privy Councillors, Sir Gawain Carew, was ordered to pacify the rebels. At the same time Lord John Russell was ordered to take an army, composed mainly of German and Italian mercenaries, and impose a military solution.

The rebels were of many different backgrounds, some farmers, some tin miners, and some fishermen. Many would have been proficient in Cornish wrestling and hurling, and the Cornish were considered experts in the field of archery.^{[citation needed]} The Cornish also appear to have had a significantly larger militia than other areas of a similar size.^[2]

Confronations then took place at Fenny Bridges (where the result of the conflict was inconclusive, and around 300 on each side were reported to have died), and subsequently at Clyst St Mary (where over a 1,000 rebels were reported to have been killed).

On 5 August, the final engagement came; the rebels were outmanoeuvered and surrounded. Lord Grey reported himself that he never in all the wars that he had been did he know the like. A group of Devon men went north up the valley of the Exe, where they were overtaken by Sir Gawen Carew, who left the corpses of their leaders hanging on gibbets from Dunster to Bath.

The Cornishmen under Arundell along with a number of the surviving Devon rebels re-formed and took position back at Sampford Courtenay, the village some fifteen miles north west of Exeter where the rebellion had started. Russell advanced with his troops, now reinforced with a strong contingent of Welshmen. After a desperate fight stormed the village on the evening of 17 August, the rebels were broken; many escaped including Arundell, who fled to Launceston. There he was to be captured and taken to London with Winslade, who was caught at Bodmin.

1,300 died at Sampford Courtenay, 300 at Fenny Bridges, over 1000 were either shot or burned to death in Clyst St. Mary, 900 bound and gagged prisoners had their throats slit (in 10 minutes) on Clyst Heath, 2000 died the next day at the battle of Clyst Heath. In total over 5,500 people lost their lives in the rebellion. Further orders were issued on behalf of the king by the Lord Protector, the Duke of Somerset, and Archbishop Thomas Cranmer for the continuance of the onslaught. Under Sir Anthony Kingston, English and mercenary forces then moved throughout Devon and into Cornwall and executed or killed many people before the bloodshed finally ceased. Proposals to translate the Prayer Book into Cornish were also suppressed.

The loss of life in the prayer book rebellion and subsequent reprisals as well as the introduction of the English prayer book is seen as a turning point in the Cornish language, for which — unlike Welsh — a complete bible translation was not produced. Research has also suggested that prior to the rebellion the Cornish language had strengthened and more concessions had been made to Cornwall as a "nation", and that anti-English sentiment had been growing stronger, providing additional impetus for the rebellion.^[11]

[edit] Bishop of Truro apologises for Church role in Cornish massacre

In June 2007 the Bishop of Truro, Bill Ind, said that the massacre during the vicious suppression of the Cornish Prayerbook rebellion more than 450 years ago was an "enormous mistake" which the Church should be ashamed of.^[1] Speaking at a ceremony at Pelynt, acknowledging the "brutality and stupidity" of the atrocities on behalf of the Church of England said:

"I am often asked about my attitude to the Prayerbook Rebellion and in my opinion, there is no doubt that the English Government behaved brutally and stupidly and killed many Cornish people. I don't think apologising for something that happened over 500 years ago helps, but I am sorry about what happened and I think it was an enormous mistake"

[edit] See also

• Pilgrimage of Grace
• Religion in the United Kingdom
• Jenny Geddes, precipitator of a later rebellion in Scotland leading to the Wars of the Three Kingdoms including the English Civil War
• List of topics related to Cornwall

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• 1549 Prayer Book Rebellion
• Prayer Book Rebellion March
• The Prayerbook Rebellion - Etched in Devon's memories
• The Western Rebellion in Devon
• Keskerdh Kernow 500
• Prayer Book Rebellion
• 1497 and 1549 Rebellions
• Britain's radical past

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Primary sources

• John Hooker, Description of the citie of Excester, ed. Walter J. Harte, J. W. Schopp and H. Tapley-Soper, (Devon and Cornwall Record Society Publications, vol. 11), 3 pts., Exeter: Devon and Cornwall Record Society, 1919-1947
• Nicholas Pocock, (ed.), Troubles connected with the Prayer Book of 1549, Camden Society, new series, vol. 37, 1884

[edit] Secondary sources

• Ian Arthurson, "Fear and loathing in West Cornwall: seven new letters on the 1548 rising," Journal of the Royal Institute of Cornwall, new series II, vol. 3, pts. 3/4, 2000, pp. 97-111
• Margaret Aston, "Segregation in church," in: W. J. Sheils and Diana Wood, (eds.), Women in the Church, (Studies in Church History, 27), Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1990, pp. 242-281
• Julian Cornwall, The revolt of the peasantry, 1549, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1977
• A. H. Couratin, "The Holy Communion, 1549," Church Quarterly Review, vol. 164, 1963, pp. 148-159
• Eamon Duffy, The voices of Morebath: reformation and rebellion in an English village, New Haven, Conn.; London: Yale University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-300-09825-1
• Anthony Fletcher and Diarmaid MacCulloch, Tudor rebellions, 5th ed., Harlow: Pearson Longman, 2004 (pp. 52-64). ISBN 0-582-77285-0
• Diarmaid MacCulloch, Thomas Cranmer: a life, New Haven, Conn.; London: Yale University Press, 1996 (pp. 429-432, 438-440). ISBN 0-300-07448-4
• Roger B. Manning, "Violence and social conflict in mid-Tudor rebellions," Journal of British Studies, vol. 16, 1977, pp. 18-40
• Joanna Mattingly, "The Helston Shoemakers Guild and a possible connection with the 1549 rebellion," Cornish Studies, vol. 6, 1998, pp. 23-45
• Frances Rose-Toup, The western rebellion of 1549: an account of the insurrections in Devonshire and Cornwall against religious innovations in the reign of Edward VI, London: Smith, Elder, 1913
• Mark Stoyle, "The dissidence of despair: rebellion and identity in early modern Cornwall," Journal of British Studies, vol. 38, 1999, pp. 423-444
• Valdo Vinay, "Riformatori e lotte contadine: Scritti e polemiche relative alla ribellione dei contadini nella Cornovaglia e nel Devonshire sotto Edoardo VI," Revista di Storia e Letteratura religiosa, vol. 3, 1967, pp. 203-251
• Joyce Youings, "The south-western rebellion of 1549," Southern History, vol. 1, 1979, pp. 99-122