Analyze the Concerns and Goals of Participants in the Pilgrimage of Grace and Those Who Opposed It.

The Pilgrimage of Grace was a march by dissidents of the Henry VII in order to protest the way the country was ruled and the Religious reformation England was undergoing. Marchers were unhappy with a parliament they believed to be corrupt, at the fact that England had split from the Catholic Church and that Scots and robbers were roaming the countryside. The opposition to the march on the other hand included the King, his court and the nobility and they wished to disperse the marches and to restore order. The marches took place in the north eastern parts of England where Royal influence was not as strong. The Pilgrimage of Grace and the goals of the marchers and opposition not only give us a glimpse of England in the Early 16th century but show how willing the English people were to have a reformed government ruling for the people like Oliver Cromwell’s after the English civil war.

One of the 1st and foremost goals of the marchers was to protest Henry VIII decision to split England from the catholic church and to proclaim himself head of a new English Church which was ruled solely by the King or Queen of England. The Oath of honorable men was taken by marchers during the pilgrimage. It begins, “ You shall not enter into our Pilgrimage of Grace for worldly gain, do so only for your love of God, for the Holy Catholic Church militant,”(Doc1) The marchers were primarily Catholics angered at their King’s decision to change their countries religion on a whim. The also sent a petition to the King and his council which included pleas for him to abolish the works of Reformists like Luther from England, to restore the land and authority of the Catholic Church in England and to have Thomas Cromwell condemned for treason. (Doc5) The marchers were angry at the King, his recent decisions and his council and chose to show it by marching.

A secondary goal of the marches was to gain reforms in English government which included: a parliament that actually represented the...