Cornish Rebellion of 1497

Cornish Rebellion of 1497
Date 1496 – 17 June 1497 Location Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Surrey and Kent, Result Victory for the Crown; execution of rebel commanders; enslavement, imprisonment and/or fining of rebels.
Belligerents
Cornish, Devonian, Somersetian and possibly other rebels	Kingdom of England
Commanders and leaders
James, Baron Audley   Thomas Flamank   Michael An Gof	Henry VII Giles, Lord Daubeny
Strength
at least 15,000	at least 25,000
Casualties and losses
probably 200–2,000 dead	unknown

The Cornish Rebellion of 1497 (Cornish: Rebellyans Kernow) was a popular uprising by the people of Cornwall. Its primary cause was the response by the impoverished Cornish populace to the raising of war taxes by King Henry VII to raise money for a campaign against Scotland.

Tin miners were angered as the scale of the taxes overturned previous rights granted by Edward I of England to the Cornish Stannary Parliament, which exempted Cornwall from all taxes of 10ths or 15ths of income.

In 1496, after disagreements regarding new regulations for the tin-mining industry, King Henry VII suspended the privileges of the Stannaries.

In late 1496 the council approved a forced loan to which Cornwall contributed a disproportionately large share. The primary cause of the rebellion was Henry VII's tax levy to pay for a war against the Scots. The terms of the levy violated the Stannary Charter of 1305 which prohibited taxes of 10ths and 15ths from being raised in Cornwall. Cornwall had already contributed significantly to the Scottish expedition, even though it was not affected by any border incursions.

The first stirrings of protest arose in the parish of St Keverne on the Lizard peninsula, where there already was resentment against the actions of Sir John Oby, provost of Glasney College in Penryn, and the tax collector for that area. In reaction to King Henry's tax levy, Michael Joseph (An Gof), a blacksmith from St. Keverne and Thomas Flamank, a lawyer of Bodmin, incited many of the people of Cornwall into armed revolt against the King. The rebels included at least two former MPs, Flamank (MP for Bodmin in 1492) and William Antron (MP for Helston in 1491-92). An army some 15,000 strong marched into Devon, attracting support in terms of provisions and recruits as they went.

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