2. Traitors Under the Treasons Act

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) declared that "if any person or persons...by writing or imprinting, or by any exterior act or deed, maliciously procure or do...anything or things to the peril of your royal person...whereby your highness might be disturbed or interrupted of the crown of this realm, or...to the prejudice, slander, disturbance, or derogation of the said lawful matrimony solemnised between your majesty and the said Queen Anne, or to the peril, slander or disherison of any the issues and heirs of your highness...then every such person or persons...shall be adjudged high traitors, and...shall suffer pains of death, as in cases of high treason."

Furthermore, "if any person or persons...by any words, without writing...maliciously and obstinately shall publish, divulge, or utter any thing or things to the peril of your highness, or the said Queen Ann, or...the issue and heirs...begotten and to be begotten...then every such offence shall be taken and adjudged for misprision of treason; and that every person and persons...being thereof lawfully convicted...shall suffer imprisonment of their bodies at the king's will."

The Act deals with two new forms of treason. Written treason was punishable by death. The penalty for verbal treasons was imprisonment. This distinction was removed in a second Act passed later in 1534.

The First Act of Treasons (26 Henry 8, c. 13) stated that all those were guilty of high treason who "do maliciously wish, will or desire by words or writing, or by craft imagine, invent, practise, or attempt any bodily harm to be done or committed to the King's most royal person, the queen's, or the heirs apparent, or to deprive them of any of their dignity, title or name of their royal estates, or slanderously or maliciously publish or pronounce by express writing or words, that the king should be heretic, schismatic, tyrant, infidel or usurper of the crown."

The legal case that prompted Henry's chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, to rush a revised treason through parliament was that of Elizabeth Barton, known as the "Holy Maid" or "Nun of Kent". Barton claimed to have had visions foretelling King Henry's doom if he set aside Queen Katherine in order to wed Anne Boleyn. She attracted a large following. Important figures such as Lord Chancellor Sir Thomas More, Bishop of Rochester John Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury William Wareham, Papal Legate Cardinal Wolsey, and the the king himself all interviewed her.

Fearing her influence, Cromwell had her arrested and tried for treason by a commission of "oyer and terminer". When the commissioners refused to convict her of High Treason on her spoken words alone, the chief minister turned to a parliamentary "act of attainder", which sent the young nun and four of her closest adherents to their deaths.

Owing to the legal frustrations of the Barton case, draft legislation for a harsher law was submitted to the House of Commons. In early summer 1535, the new act helped convict both Thomas More and John Fisher of High Treason for their refusal to swear the Succession and Supremacy Oaths.

The executions of More and Fisher demonstrated that to question King Henry on sensitive matters, like his divorce of Queen Katherine or his denunciation of the Pope's authority over the Church of England, had now become very dangerous. By creating an atmosphere of apprehension and mistrust, the state only prevented outspoken criticism. Anger against the Act for Suppression of the Lesser Monasteries in1536 was therefore not at first expressed in terms of direct opposition.

A woodcut view of the English Reformation from Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Pope Clementine lies beneath the enthroned monarch's feet. Bishop Fisher offers support. Cromwell stands at Henry VIII's righthand side as befits his favoured adviser. Cranmer, the new Archbishop of Canterbury, presents an English bible to the king.

The Lincolnshire Rising, the forerunner of the Pilgrimage of Grace, began at the church in Louth. According to Thomas Kendal, the vicar of Louth, it started because of a rumour that "men of Hull hath sold their crosses jewels from their church in York to prevent the King's commissioners" from confiscating them. Rumours, called "bruits", were rife at the time and this explanation minimises the vicar's own role in the affair. (Letters & Papers, vol XI, no 970).

A royal proclamation dated 15 October 1536 belatedly recognised the power of bruits. The king's message acknowledged that "rebellions had been stirred up, especially in Lincolnshire, by slanderous rumours to the effect that the King intended to have all the gold in his subjects' hands sent into the Tower to be touched [clipped or devalued], and all unmarked cattalls [unbranded cattle] and the chalices &c. of parish churches, and to exact fines for wedding, christening and burying, and licenses for eating wheaten bread, pig, goose or capon, which were never intended by him or the Council." This statement was already too late.

The vicar's sermon on Sunday 1 October 1536 preached on the pending "visitation" by the King's commissioners, urging parishioners "to go together and look well upon things as should be inquired of the visitation". Following the mass, as the congregation prepared to walk in procession after three silver crosses, Thomas Foster, singer of Louth, announced "Go we to follow the crosses for and if they be taken from us we be like to follow them no more." (L & P XII 380 and XI 828).

News of the vicar's sermon and the singer's words spread throughout the village. Robert Norman, a roper by trade, paid John Wilson a penny to make it known to everyone. By that evening, after evensong, a crowd had gathered at the church choir door. They took the keys from the churchwardens "for saving of the church jewels for safekeeping" and Nicholas Melton, a shoemaker aka Captain Cobbler, placed a watch on the church that night.

On Monday 2 October, after morning prayers, about a hundred people were at the church and the bell was rung to alert all about. Included among them were a number of local clergy also assembled to meet the Bishop of Lincoln's chancellor. These parish priests were "sworn to the oath" ― "to God, the King, and commons for the weal of Holy Church" ― and told to return to their own churches and "ring the common bells". They must have done so, as by the next day numerous other villages had risen, ready to march on the cathedral city of Lincoln. (L & P XII 70 and XI 854).

In truth, while it was the Louth priest's sermon that ignited the revolt, the kindling of clerical discontent was already well-heaped. The part played by the lower or "inferior" clergy is reflected in the Lincoln Articles of Grievance, which were drafted by these "men of worship".

Key phrases (articles 3 and 4) were "that the church should enjoy its ancient liberties" and 

"that the King put an end to the suppression of the monasteries".

In case anyone missed the point, two pointed demands were made (articles 5 and 6). The rebels wanted:

     "the purging of heresy and the removal and punishment of the heretical [Protestant] bishops Cranmer, Latimer and Longland"

     "that the King remove his base-born councillors Cromwell, Rich, Legh and Leyton, and replace them with [Catholic] noblemen".

It is important to note that it was the clerics who took it on themselves to rewrite and clarify the rebel demands. These "men of worship" blamed "the heretical bishops"  and Cromwell's men  for the hated reforms. Their primary concern was the attack on traditional religious practice. This would be remedied by removing those responsible from office.

Although Henry VIII rejected these petitions out-of-hand, there was some political subtlety being applied here. It was not the King's fault. He had been evilly advised. All they wanted was for him to return to his good sense (and the good sense of his well-born lords). They wanted him to restore the Church as it existed at the beginning of his reign.

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REFERENCES:

K Altazin. 2011, 'The Northern Clergy and the Pilgrimage of Grace', Louisiana State University Doctoral Dissertations (Digital Commons), 334pp.

JK van Patten, 1983, 'Magic, Prophecy, and the Law of Treason in Reformation England, The American Journal of Legal History, 27.1, pp 1-32

Letters and Papers: Foreign and Domestic of the Reign of Henry VIII, London 1890, volumes XI & XII

The First Act of Succession, AD 1534 (2 Henry 8, c.22) and The First Act of Treasons, AD 1534 (26 Henry 8, c.13), at 'Transcribed Statutes of the Realm', Luminariam Encyclopedia Project