Causes of the Western Rebellion (1549)

Causes of the Western Rebellion (1549)

1. Religious

   • 'Prayer Book rebellion'
   • rebels wanted a complete reversal of religious reform
     • destroyed traditional religious experience
     • reversal of policies such as:
       • injunctions and visitations
       • dissolution of chantries
       • removal of religious objects, i.e. images
   • The new Book of Common Prayer- June 1949
     • although moderate, final straw
     • in the vinacular
       • rather than in latin

2. Economic

   • due to expensive garrisons in the war with Scotland, Somerset had to find a way to fund the war
     • texation
       • greater strain on public
       • consequent tax on sheep
         • farmers on marginal uplands of Devon and Cornwall under increasing strain
     • enclosures
       • public land was made private, many farmers lost their jobs

3. Political

   • enclosures
     • government seemed ignorant and uncaring with insensitive legislations

4. Social

   • distrust between peasants and rural labourers
     • 'class antagonism'- Eamon Duffy
       • 'the closest thing Tudor England came to a class war'- John Guy
   • gap between upper class and lower class was made much wider than before