![ASKE, Robert (c.1501-1537, leader of the PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE). Autograph letter signed ('by me Robert Aske capitan by the consent of the baronage & coialtie [communaltie]'), addressed to the Brethren of the monastery [i.e. priory] of Watton in Yorkshire, end of October, 1536, 'Masters all, I do asertaigne you that about Thursday or Friday I will be with you at your hous & in the mesme season then to order yor selfe discretly & before God & then ye shall have our prior assigned you such as ye shalbe contented with & this to do as I shall be your servaunt in the fayth of Christ', one folded sheet, 175 x 200mm, address on verso.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/1995/CKS/1995_CKS_05424_0303_000(103234).jpg?w=1)
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ASKE, Robert (c.1501-1537, leader of the PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE). Autograph letter signed ('by me Robert Aske capitan by the consent of the baronage & coialtie [communaltie]'), addressed to the Brethren of the monastery [i.e. priory] of Watton in Yorkshire, end of October, 1536, 'Masters all, I do asertaigne you that about Thursday or Friday I will be with you at your hous & in the mesme season then to order yor selfe discretly & before God & then ye shall have our prior assigned you such as ye shalbe contented with & this to do as I shall be your servaunt in the fayth of Christ', one folded sheet, 175 x 200mm, address on verso.
Robert Aske was the principal leader of the insurrection in the North of England in 1536, caused immediately by the act of Parliament dissolving the lesser monasteries, but reflecting the disaffection of the nobility and unrest of the lower orders under the social conditions. The rising began in Lincolnshire, and in October 1536 spread to Yorkshire, when Aske coined the name 'Pilgrimage of Grace'. The Gilbertine priory of Watton, near Beverley, a house of 60 to 80 monks and nuns was a hotbed of the insurrection. The prior Robert Holgate, appointed by Thomas Cromwell, fled South, with all the money he could lay hands on and left the brothers and sisters of the house with less than forty shillings to succour them. Aske rode to Watton to help arrange the affairs of the priory, arriving on 1st November and persuaded the brethren to elect the sub-prior Dan Harry Gyll to take the defaulter's place. Aske subsequently went to London to declare the causes of complaint to Henry VIII, was apparently pardoned, but executed in 1537.
A remarkable and unrecorded document of the Pilgrimage of Grace. Cf. M.H. and R. Dodds, The Pilgrimage of Grace 1536-37, Cambridge 1915, particularly vol.I p.285.
Robert Aske was the principal leader of the insurrection in the North of England in 1536, caused immediately by the act of Parliament dissolving the lesser monasteries, but reflecting the disaffection of the nobility and unrest of the lower orders under the social conditions. The rising began in Lincolnshire, and in October 1536 spread to Yorkshire, when Aske coined the name 'Pilgrimage of Grace'. The Gilbertine priory of Watton, near Beverley, a house of 60 to 80 monks and nuns was a hotbed of the insurrection. The prior Robert Holgate, appointed by Thomas Cromwell, fled South, with all the money he could lay hands on and left the brothers and sisters of the house with less than forty shillings to succour them. Aske rode to Watton to help arrange the affairs of the priory, arriving on 1st November and persuaded the brethren to elect the sub-prior Dan Harry Gyll to take the defaulter's place. Aske subsequently went to London to declare the causes of complaint to Henry VIII, was apparently pardoned, but executed in 1537.
A remarkable and unrecorded document of the Pilgrimage of Grace. Cf. M.H. and R. Dodds, The Pilgrimage of Grace 1536-37, Cambridge 1915, particularly vol.I p.285.