Religious And Political Reasons For Tudor Rebellion

Whilst religion and political factors were clearly a key motivation for many rebels, economic factors such as taxation and enclosures are the main cause which sparked rebellion. During Henry VII and VIII reign the economic situation was tight due to the costly wars with France and Scotland, alongside poor harvests and debasement of the coinage meant that people struggled to afford their basic needs. “It was an accepted principle that the king should only tax his people for the needs of war or in other exceptional circumstances…in fact an Act of 1483 declared that non-parliamentary taxation was illegal”. This law therefore makes it understandable why individuals and communities felt angry when the Tudors introduced subsidies “an apparently arbitrary demand made under the new system.” The result of taxations led to a popular dislike expressed through violence and “in the period of 1485-1547 there were eleven recorded cases of assaults on tax collectors” The evidence provided by Fletcher and MacCulloch reinforces their argument that economic tensions were at the

It attracted the largest number of protesters in comparison to the other factors with a constant tension between Protestants and Catholics. Furthermore, political factors such as factions and succession contributed to uprisings throughout and after the Tudor period. However, taxation and enclosures were consistently present in rebellions and was a wide spread problem that affected all parts of society. This enabled a range of classes to unite and justification to join rebellions, which they may not otherwise have joined, therefore strengthening Fletcher and MacCulloch’s argument that economic factors are the main cause of rebellion in Tudor England, and not religious change, like the Dodd sisters suggest. Although, the importance of this factor still cannot be