When 50,000 northerners marched under their banners in 1536, England witnessed its largest rebellion since the Peasants' Revolt. The Pilgrimage of Grace wasn't merely a protest—it was a defining moment that threatened to unravel the English Reformation and return the kingdom to Rome.

Professor Peter Marshall, renowned Tudor historian from Warwick University, takes us deep into this extraordinary episode where religious devotion, political power, and regional identity collided with explosive results. 

Henry VIII's desperate quest for a male heir led him to break with Rome, setting off changes that rippled far beyond the royal bedchamber. What began as a "change of the English Church's CEO" rapidly transformed into something more radical—monasteries dissolved, shrines dismantled, and traditions questioned. For northerners especially, these weren't abstract theological matters but direct attacks on community identity.

When the rebels and royal forces faced off across the River Don, England's religious future hung in the balance. A providential rainstorm, false royal promises, and factional divisions among the rebels ultimately preserved Henry's reformation. 

Peter is brilliant in exploring the paths that led to the English reformation and to the rebellion that came within a whisker of stopping it in its tracks and tumbling Henry from his throne.

You can send a message to the show/feedback by clicking here. The system doesn't let me reply so if you need one please include your email.