POLITICAL HISTORY 



steeple of the church. His horsemen, composed in great part of ' strong 

 thieves of the Westlands,' that is, of Esk and Line, began to spoil the 

 town and roused the inhabitants to resistance. A skirmish ensued, and 

 Sir Thomas was defeated and forced to retire to Brougham Castle. 1 The 

 rout of the king's forces was the signal for a general rising. Under the 

 command of Nicholas Musgrave and Thomas Tibbee, the heroes of 

 Kirkbystephen steeple, a force of 4,000 or 5,000 men marched to 

 Penrith and Greystoke, where they were joined by other contingents, 

 and ' mayd a sawtt at Carlill the frydday next afor the fryst sowndey of 

 Lent,' 1 6 February 1537. The 'a sawtt' of Carlisle was vigorously 

 repulsed by Sir Christopher Dacre, who fell upon the rebels, scattered 

 them, and took 700 or 800 prisoners. Sir Thomas Clifford atoned for 

 his imprudence at Kirkbystephen by bursting out of the city and 

 following the chase at least twelve miles. The Duke of Norfolk was 

 hastening to the relief of Carlisle, but when he arrived on 19 February 

 nothing was left for him to do but to execute the prisoners.* 



When the news of the overthrow of the rebels reached the king, 

 he was profuse in his thanks to Dacre and Clifford for their acceptable 

 services. The day had come for exacting retribution on those mis- 

 guided men who had dared to question his proceedings. To the Duke 

 of Norfolk he sent the following merciless instructions, which show the 

 fury into which he was thrown by the rebellion : 



We doo ryght well approve and allowe your procedinges in the displayng of our 

 baner : and forasmoche as the same is now spredde and displayed, by reason wherof, 

 tyll the same shalbe closed again, the cours of our lawes must geve place to th'ordenaunces 

 and estatutes marciall : our pleasure is, that, before you shall close upp our said baner 

 again, you shal in any wise cause suche dredfull execution to be doon upon a good 

 nombre of th' inhabitauntes of every towne, village and hamlet, that have offended in 

 this rebellion as well by the hanging of them uppe in trees, as by the quartering of 

 them, and the setting of their heddes and quarters in every towne, greate and small, 

 and in al suche other places, as they may be a ferefull spectacle to all other herafter, 

 that wold practise any like mater : whiche we requyre you to doo, without pitie or 

 respect according to our former letters.' 3 



In obedience to the terms of this commission the work of execution 

 began. Out of 6,000 prisoners seventy-four were chosen as principal 

 offenders and judged to suffer death, the king's banner being displayed. 

 Had the duke attempted trial by jury, not a fifth man of them, he 

 thought, would have suffered. As iron was marvellously scarce in 

 Cumberland, it was necessary that some of the prisoners should be 

 despatched by ropes only ; twelve however would be hanged in 

 chains in Carlisle, and as many more as chains could be made for 

 in their native villages. 4 Chancellor Towneley and the vicar of 



i L. & P. of Hen. Fill. xii. (i.), 419, 439- * Ibid. xii. (i.), 448, 468. 



Ibid. lii. (i.), 479 ; Priory of Hexham (Surtees Soc.), i. pp. cl.-cliii. 



4 Of the seventy-four victims executed,twenty-one were Cumberland men from the districts of Penrith 

 and Cockermouth, the value of their forfeited goods being estimated by Sir Thomas Wharton at only 100 

 marks, and the goods of the Westmorland men at 300 marks (L.&- P. of Hen. V11I. xii. p.], 498, 641). 

 The bodies were left to hang in their respective villages in the sight of their families and friends, no 

 one being allowed to take them down. The wives and daughters of some of the rebels took the bodies 



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