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  Two separate but similar incidents show that the Pilgrimage of Grace was "a rising of the commons". These events marked the start of local rebellions in the East Riding of Yorkshire and the northwest county of Cumbria. They were triggers of small revolts that grew into one large protest against religious change. Rebel John Hallom testified that "in bidding the beads" on the Sunday before St Wilfrid's Day (observed 12 October), the priest at Walton Church (near Beverley) did not mention the feast day. Hallom asked the priest why he left it out "for it was wont to be a holyday here". The priest replied by informing the parishioners that it and other feasts "were put down by the king's authority". After mass the whole parish "was in a rumour and said that they would have their holydays bid and kept as before". From that point on, according to Hallom, "no man could keep his servants at the plow". [ Letters and Papers , v...

Blackstone's Commentary on the Laws of England thunders against "the bloody reign of Henry VIII", when the "spirit of inventing new and strange treasons was revived."  The lawyer describes a contemporary method of execution that emphasised the special disgrace and notoriety of that crime, as if hanging traitors was not enough. It required: 1.  That the offender be drawn to the gallows.  2.  That he be hanged by the neck, and then cut down alive. 3.  That his entrails be taken out, and burned, while he is yet alive. 4.  That his head be cut off. 5.  That his body be divided into four parts. 6.  That his head and quarters be at the king's disposal.   With this horrific deterrence in mind, it is clear that any extended definition of High Treason would be of public concern. In fact, successive Acts passed in 1534 did increase the reach of  treasonous behaviour, and quite significantly. The First Act of Succession ( 25 Henry 8, c. 22 ) decla...

Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII occurred in two stages. The first move took place during 1535 and 1536 with the "suppression" of 213 "lesser" monasteries. The second phase, from 1537 until 1540, saw the "surrender" of the remaining religious houses through a process of "negotiating". Marking the dividing point of the alternate systems of "closure" was a series of rebellions in the north of England, collectively called the Pilgrimage of Grace. It was the quashing of these revolts, and severe punishment of the ringleaders, that enabled the King's officers to proceed from "suppression of the lesser monasteries" to the peaceful "surrender" of the rest. In the aftermath of the Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and Cumberland uprisings, some 216 rebels were executed for treason, including at least six abbots, 38 monks, and 16 priests. Many of them suffered the ultimate sentence:       "And on 25 day of May 1...

        "At the time of European colonial arrival in the late eighteenth century, Aboriginal populations in Australia were observed to have strong classificatory kinship systems, complex cultural and symbolic landscapes based on geographic totemism (the 'Dreaming'), distinctive graphic art systems, land rights in the form of ritual property, and formalised exchange systems.       This view seems in marked contrast to archaeological records from the late Pleistocene and early Holocene, which show a sparsely populated, highly mobile society with extensive open social networks, implying significant changes took place in the mid to late Holocene.       A number of studies have suggested that many technological and social innovations occurred in the last 2,000 years, in response to population pressure and climatic variability, including a shift to broad spectrum diets, longer residence times at well-resourced localities, seed-grinding, trade ...