The Pilgrimage of Grace rebellion of 1536/37 , ( Bigod 's Rebellion of February 1537 involved Cumbrian participation ) , had many causes : high prices , harvest failure , the loss of charitable help due to the Dissolution of the Monasteries , resentment against tithes , against grasping landlords and against religious changes . In Cumbria , especially around the Cockermouth and Penrith areas , the main factor seems to have been rapacious landlords , with the added animosity between the Dacres and the Cliffords preventing an early stop to trouble . ( The Tudor policy of ' divide and rule ' as regards the northern nobility helped to further local animosities and weak rule such as this ) . Clark , however , thinks that religious motivations were more involved in Cumbria than economic ones . The rebels reopened the monasteries that had been shut down in 1536 , for example . Eventually , the two main noble families came together and Henry Clifford raised the rebel siege of Carlisle with Dacre help . Most of the Cumbrian gentry and clergy refused to back the rebels , of whom 74 from Cumbria were executed
Pilgrimage of Grace
Pilgrimage of Grace
History of Cumbria