Cornish and Yorkshire Rebellions (Basic Notes/ Description)

Background

• Not all of the challenges to Henry VII's rule were from dynastic causes, such as pretenders (Warbeck/ Simnel), but started within England as a result of the Kings demands for money.
• These emphasised how easy it was to make generally lawful and content countryfolk rebel.
• According to Rodgers and Turvey, these rebellions 'did influence the way in which Henry responded to dynastic challenges.'

The Yorkshire Rebellion, 1489

• In the Parliament of 1489, Henry was granted a summary of £100,000 to go to the aid of Brittany. This was to be raised through a kind of income tax, but this new method of collection caused widespread resentment.
• The tax was so greatly resented, Henry actually only received 27% of his target.
• Yorkshire, which was still suffering the effects and poverty brought about by the bad harvest of 1488, resented the tax. This feeling was further worsened by the fact that counties to the north of them were exempted from the tax, purely because they were excepted to defend the country from Scottish invasion. They also felt that they already paid for defence of the realm through local taxes to maintain the Marcher Borders.
• Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, was responsible for collecting in the tax.
• Percy put forward the case of the Yorkshiremen to the King, but with no success, and when he returned, Northumberland was murdered. This was likely to be because he was unpopular in the area anyway, and had supported the tax. Another potential culprit was John Ergamont who went on to be the leader of the rebellion.
• The Earl of Surrey defeated the rebels on the outskirts of York, and Ergamont, the leader, swiftly fled to Flanders. The King travelled North to Yorkshire, and pardoned most rebels who had been arrested, but still failed to collect any more tax.
• After this he faced no more trouble in the North, as the new Earl of Northumberland was only a child, and therefore a ward of the crown. The Earl of Surrey was appointed as Lieutenant, and his loyalty…