s, but all did
not labour under such reproaches; many were objects of reverence in
their own districts, and centres of hospitality and charity. It would
have been wonderful if their violent destruction had not excited
popular discontent. And this temper was shared by those who enjoyed
the chief consideration in the provinces. Among the nobles there were
still men like Lord Darcy of Templehurst, who had borne arms against
the Moors in the service of Isabella and Ferdinand: how offensive to
them must innovations be which ran counter to all their reminiscences!
The lords in these provinces were believed to have pledged their word
to each other to suppress the heresies, as they called the Protestant
opinions, together with their authors and abettors. The country
people, who apprehended yet further encroachments, were easily stirred
up to commotion; collections of money were made from house to house,
and the strongest men of each parish provided with the necessary
weapons: in the autumn of 1536 open revolt broke out. A lawyer, Robert
Aske, placed himself at its head; he set before the people all the
damage that the suppression of the monasteries did to the country
around, by diverting their revenues and abstracting their treasures.
In a short time he had gained over the whole of the North. The city of
York joined him; Darcy admitted him into the strong castle of Pomfret:
in that broad county only one single castle still held out in its
obedience to the government: then the neighbouring districts also were
carried away by the movement: Aske saw an army of thirty thousand men
around him. He took the road to London to, as he said, drive base-born
men out of the King's council, and restore the Christian church in
England: he called his march a 'Pilgrimage of Grace.' But when he came
into contact with royal troops at Doncaster he paused; for it was not
a war, which would cost the country too dear, but only a great armed
remonstrance in favour of the old system that he contemplated. He
contented himself with presenting his demands--suppression of
heresies, restitution of the supreme charge of souls to the Pope,
restoration of the monasteries, and in particular the punishment of
Cromwell with his abettors, and the calling of a Parliament.[130]

When we consider that Ireland was in revolt, Cornwall in a state of
ferment, men's Catholic sympathies stirred up by foreign princes, it
is easy to understand how some voices in the King's P