ABSTRACT
The first insurrections of Cornishmen against the Edwardian Reforma-tion, in 1547 and 1548, sprang from fear of the loss of church goodsand the intense unpopularity of the government’s agent, William Body. Body was an unscrupulous and avaricious careerist, and also a former close friend and agent of Thomas Cromwell (Arthurson, 2000: 70-1). Although not an ordained clergyman, Body had obtained the archdeaconry of Cornwall in 1537 from Thomas Winter, Wolsey’s illegitimate son, who was in debt to him. The Bishop of Exeter challenged Winter’s right to transfer the archdeaconry to Body for a term of thirty-five years, and in 1541 the bishop’s agents tried to prevent his collection of the clergy’s procurations at Launceston. Body replied by a writ of praemunire against the bishop’s official, which was successful.
