A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



Notwithstanding the indignation with which the King's declaration 

 on the contents of the ' Black Book Jl was received in parliament, the 

 arts of diplomacy counselled prudence in framing the Act of Suppres- 

 sion. In order to allay the fears of the bishops and mitred abbots in 

 the House of Lords, it was resolved to suppress only the smaller 

 monasteries with a revenue under 200 a year. The preamble of 

 the Act (37 Henry VIII. cap. 28) sets out the reason for parliamentary 

 interference with the property and organization of the church. The 

 monasteries, marked out for destruction, are stated to have been guilty 

 of ' manifest synne, vicious, carnall and abhominable lyvyng ' on the 

 evidence of ' the compertes * of the late vysytacions as by sondry cred- 

 yble informacions.' But the larger houses, which were for the present 

 exempted, were equally plunged in nameless infamy by the ' compertes ' 

 of the late visitation, though, according to the same Act, ' relygyon is 

 right well kept and observed, thankes be to God, in the great solempne 

 monasteryes of this realme.' It is manifest that the statutory reasons for 

 parliamentary action were fraudulent and that the court party had got 

 up the alleged irregularities for the purpose of passing the Bill through 

 both houses. In our own district the exemption of the Act affected 

 only the abbey of Holmcultram and the priory of Carlisle, but all the 

 other smaller communities, Lanercost, Wetheral, St. Bees, Calder and 

 Shap, the nunneries of Armathwaite and Seton, and the friaries of Car- 

 lisle, Penrith and Appleby were swept away. 



The dissolution of the smaller houses of religion caused unrest and 

 indignation throughout the country. Insurrection broke out in Lincoln- 

 shire and soon spread to the north. The rising in Yorkshire assumed 

 such alarming proportions that the King was advised to treat with the 

 rebels in a conciliatory spirit. An account of the Pilgrimage of Grace, 

 as the rebellion was called, may be read in any history. But the notable 

 feature of the rebellion in Cumberland was the entire absence of men of 

 position from the movement. The rabble had no leaders. Even the 

 parish clergy stood aloof. It is probable that the monks secretly fomented 

 the disaffection ; but if so, with the exception of the abbot of Holm- 

 cultram, they did not show themselves in the open field. The indiffer- 

 ence of the clergy provoked the commons to a white heat of exasperation. 

 It was openly discussed ' that they shuld never be well till they had 

 striken of all the priestes heddes, saying they wold but deceave them.' 

 A special grudge was felt against two or three of them. Chancellor 

 Towneley, who was rector of Caldbeck, though his parishioners were 



i The Black Book does not exist in its entirety, but supposed fragments of it may be found at the 

 Record Office and British Museum (L. and P. of Hen. VIII., vol. x. 364 ; Cotton MS. Cleopatra, E. iv. 

 147 ; Lansdowne MS. 988, f. l). The portion relating to Cumberland and Westmorland has been often 

 printed (Trans. Cumbld. and Westmorld. Archaeol. Soc., iv. 88-90 ; Monasteries of Cumb. before Dissolution, 



PP- 45-7)- 



3 For various reasons some writers have doubted whether the contents of the Black Book were ever 



read in parliament. There is now no doubt upon the point. Bishop Latimer says that ' when their 

 enormities were first read in the parliament-house, they were so great and abominable that there was 

 nothing but " down with them " ' (Sermons, Parker Soc., p. 123). In the Act of Suppression ' the com- 

 pertes of the late vysytacions ' hold a prominent place. 



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