DBQ PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE

The Pilgrimage of Grace participants were Catholics who were against the Protestant Reformation. They made armed demonstrations and protests from 1536 to 1537 against Henry VII, head of the Anglican Church, and Thomas Cromwell his Lord High Chancellor. Cromwell implemented a series of policies that included the confiscation of Catholic Church lands. The goals of these participants were to stop the Protestant Reformation and give more rights back to Catholics. They had concerns with the protestants growing more powerful and having a protestant King in Henry the VII. The goals of the Pilgrimage of Grace were to give power back to the Catholic Church in Europe and take credibility from Proestants, but instead their concerns of the Protestant Reformation overshadowed them and their goals were not reached. The "Oath of Honorable Men" the participants must take says, "You shall not enter into our Pilgrimage of Grace for worldly gain. Do so for the love of God, for the Holy Catholic Church militant....(Doc. 1)." This oath shows that the members of the Pilgrimage must only protest for the Catholic Church, not for their own gain. The members must do this through their love for God. At the time protestants and catholics had very different views and religion was a source of tension, even though both groups are Christians. In a petition presented to the King's Council, written by Robert Aske in December of 1536, many things are asked of the Council. "To have the supreme head of the Church be the Pope in Rome as before (Doc. 5)." Henry VII had become the head of the Church by the Act of Supremacy in 1534. The demonstrations and protests of the Pilgrimage of Grace were in part reactions to this act. The Pope had been the face of the Church for past centuries. Now, the King, a protestant political figure head, was also the leader of the Church. This was a major concern of the Catholics who started these armed demonstrations. After the petition, a random pamphlet attributed to