2D - Opposition and conformity: the Western Rebellion
The rebellions of 1549 exposed serious weaknesses in Somerset's government, but they did not express one shared response to religious reform. Compare the Western and Kett's rebellions, then examine how reformers secured outward conformity and why the Protestant Church of 1553 remained vulnerable.
The Western Rebellion and religious resistance
The compulsory introduction of the 1549 Prayer Book brought change directly into parish worship. At Sampford Courtenay in Devon, the new service was used at Whitsun on 9 June; opposition developed on the following day, when parishioners demanded a return to the old service. Wider unrest in Devon and Cornwall drew together communities with religious and other grievances.
Religious demands became prominent. Rebels wanted the Latin mass and traditional ceremonies, defended the Eucharistic practices threatened by reform, and called for restoration of the Six Articles. Their developed programme also sought renewed provision from former abbey and chantry wealth for religious communities and intercession. These demands challenged the direction of Edwardian reform, rather than merely complaining about the performance of a particular minister.
Language contributed to resistance. Some Cornish participants could not understand English and rejected the new English service. Yet they demanded Latin services, not simply translation into a language all could understand. Familiar ritual, religious authority and local identity therefore interacted. It is too narrow to explain the rebellion as a misunderstanding about English alone.
Taxation, prices and resentment of wealthy men also contributed to mobilisation. Demands developed during the rising, and surviving versions or government replies do not capture every participant's original motive. Religious aims are especially visible in the later articles, but the people who joined could combine attachment to traditional worship with anger about material conditions.
The rebels besieged Exeter, but the city resisted and John Russell's government forces defeated the rising in August, including fighting around Clyst and at Sampford Courtenay. Heavy casualties and subsequent executions demonstrated the Crown's willingness to enforce the new settlement. Suppression established the government's military advantage; it did not prove that defeated communities accepted the Prayer Book's doctrine.
Kett's Rebellion and the commonwealth
Kett's rebellion began around Wymondham in Norfolk in July 1549, amid attacks on enclosure. Robert Kett, himself a landholder, joined the movement and became its leader. Thousands assembled at Mousehold Heath outside Norwich, organised a camp and developed demands directed against abuses of landholding and local power.
Enclosure grievance
A complaint about restricting access to land or converting its use in ways that harmed customary rights or livelihoods. Opposition to enclosure did not require rejecting every fenced field or every existing enclosure.
The rebels' articles attacked further enclosure and the domination of resources by powerful landholders, while allowing exceptions such as expensive saffron cultivation. Complaints about rents, grazing and servile obligations expressed an ideal of a more just commonwealth. Their appeal to the King and Protector assumed that central authority should correct abuses committed by local elites.
Their religious demands differed sharply from the Western programme. The articles called for clergy capable of preaching God's word and for better local pastoral provision. They appealed to Christian language when requesting freedom from bondage. Accounts of worship at the camp describe use of the new services. This supports a distinction between demanding a better reformed Church and demanding restoration of the Latin mass, although it cannot establish identical beliefs among all participants.
The government initially struggled to regain control. Forces under the Marquis of Northampton failed at Norwich; John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, then led the successful campaign. The rebels were defeated at Dussindale on 27 August. Kett was executed in December. Their defeat reinforced the state's authority and Dudley's military standing while adding to the crisis that brought down Somerset.
The rebellion is therefore significant to religious history even though its central grievances were agrarian and social. It shows that rebellion against the government did not always mean opposition to the religious direction of reform. A movement could accept elements of Protestant worship while violently resisting the behaviour of landholders and officials.
Comparing opposition in 1549
The two rebellions shared a political setting: an expensive government, economic pressure, grievances against powerful men and a young King whose authority could be distinguished from that of his advisers. Their religious aims nevertheless require different explanations.
| Comparison | Western Rebellion | Kett's Rebellion |
|---|---|---|
| Prominent religious aim | Restoration of traditional worship and conservative laws | Better preaching and pastoral provision |
| Central grievance | Religious change combined with taxation, prices and local resentment | Enclosure, landholding and abuses of local power |
| Relationship to royal authority | Rebels could claim to defend the King's true religion against advisers | Rebels appealed for royal correction of local abuses |
| Result | Military defeat and repression | Military defeat and repression |
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