Coventry Lammas Day Rebellion 1525 #6: Letter to King Henry VIII

On Sunday 13th August 1525, Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset, Sir Henry Willoughby, Sir Edward Ferrers and Thomas Trye sent another letter to King Henry VIII in regard to their involvement in quelling the Coventry Lammas Day Rebellion of 1525. This also appears on the calendar of State Papers for King Henry VIII.

This letter reveals that the Marquess, Henry, Edward and Thomas and their men had travelled from Astley Castle to Kenilworth Castle, a distance of about 12 miles and intriguingly from a location on the north side of Coventry to one on the south.

Kenilworth Castle, 2006. Photograph taken by Richard Jordan.

They wrote to inform the King that the mayor hand handed over to them the four named people and that they had arranged a court session to try them for their actions in the riot. It was stated that they had decided that the trial would be held at Kenilworth on the following day and that the decision to hold the court out of the town had been made because of “the death”.

By the end of the Rebellion, it is known that some of the rioters were banished, 36 had been arrested and sent to either Warwick or Kenilworth Castles for imprisonment and another seven were sent to Marshalsea prison in London.

In their letter, they also added that they had bound the mayor to keep the peace of the city. It is known that the mayor of Coventry, Nicholas Heynes, was subsequently deposed by Thomas Grey because, rather than punishing the offenders, Heynes had actually sanctioned the riotous behaviour.

Further Reading: "Henry VIII: August 1525, 1-15", Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 4, 1524-1530, ed. J S Brewer, 1875, PD, British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol4/pp691-705

Christian D. Liddy, "Urban enclosure riots: Risings of the commons in English towns, 1480-1525", 2015. Past & Present: A Journal of Historical Studies, 226(1), 41-77. https://doi.org/10.1093/pastj/gtu038

Author - Debbie Jordan, Middleton Hall Volunteer.

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