Chapter 2 - Why did rebellions fail? Flashcards
Why did rebellions fail?
Leadership Government action Military action Provincialism Lack of support
Why did rebellions fail – leadership?
- Age of the leader: Simnel too young, Northumberland and Westmorland too old to inspire loyalty or provide charisma needed to lead a major rebellion
• Indecisive or lacking strategy: less effective e.g. Wyatt indecisive and failed to advance quickly on London when he might have succeeded, NEarls had no clear plan – didn’t realise how long it would take to reach Tutbury and unaware that Mary Queen of Scots had moved
• Ineffective leaders less likely to attract support or wrong type: NE unable to attract support because lacked funds to pay supporters = 600 desertions and Simnel failed to realise support from Irish nobles and ‘wild tenants’ would discourage many English from joining when they travelled south.
Why did rebellions fail – Government action?
Government deployed a strategy of playing for time, offering pardons to all but the ringleaders, and agreeing to discuss grievances on the condition that the rebels dispersed.
• Once this occurred, no matter what promises the government made, the likelihood that the rebels’ complaints would be addressed was slim
• The Lincolnshire rebels implored Aske in Yorkshire not to bargain with the Duke of Norfolk, as earlier the Duke of Suffolk duped them and their rising and accomplished nothing.
• The Western rebels suspected a deal was going to be done when gentry leaders met Devon JPs outside Exeter in 1549.
• Kett was discouraged from holding private talks with the Earl of Warwick as his supporters feared he might be tempted to make a deal.
• The authorities knew that the longer a rebellion continued, the more likely it would end in failure. The possibility that the rebels would quarrel, desert or betray their cause increased as food supplies run out and living conditions deteriorated.
Why did rebellions fail – Military action?
Dynastic rebellions could only be successful if the monarch was defeated or killed in battle, and at Stoke (1487), Blackheath (1497), and Cambridge (1553) the thrones of Henry VII and Mary were at risk.
• However most protesters tried to avoid a military, confrontation
• Aske (1536) wrote to the rebels at Clitheroe Moor ordering them not to fight the Earl of Derby’s troops.
• Aske had a following of 40,000 at Pontefract, but had no wish to do battle with the Duke of Norfolk’s troops assembled nearby.
• Both Arundell at Exeter and Kett at Norwich felt the same way, but once a royal army had gathered enough men, such that its commander believed victory was certain, there was only going to be one winner.
• Lack of funding for rebels resulted in inadequate cavalry, weapons, ammunition and supplies, whereas government troops could bide their time until they were ready to attack.
• If foreign mercenaries supplemented the latter, as occurred at Clyst and Dussindale in 1549, the more hardened professional army was likely to prove victorious.
Why did rebellions fail – Provincialism?
Rebellions failed on account of their provincialism.
• Most aimed to resolve local grievances and had no desire to link up with other disaffected areas or to broaden their appeal.
• Only on one occasion were rebels known to have made contact with protesters some distance away, when the Exeter rebels made overtures to demonstrators in Winchester, Hampshire, in July 1549, the latter was discouraged from marching to their assistance.
• Understandably, the government felt more anxiety the nearer a rebellion got to London and this increased the rebels’ chances of success.
• In practice, however, only the Cornish revolt (1497), Wyatt’s rebellion (1554), and Essex (1601) came within striking distance of Whitehall.
• In each case, the government withstood the challenge, loyal troops disperse insurgents and the insurrections ended in failure.
