ABSTRACT
The Pilgrims made complaint against an extensive range of taxes, some real, some rumoured.1 The real taxes came of recent legislation, notably two statutes enacted in 1534 – one granting the levy of a lay subsidy, the other imposing first fruits and tenths upon the clergy – and a third statute enacted in 1536 for the purpose of preventing evasion in the payment of feudal dues. The rumoured taxes sprang from seditious bills that suddenly appeared in late September and early October 1536, nailed to church doors and trees over much of the north. These bills raised the imminent prospect of government impositions on baptisms, food, cattle, ploughs and gold. Irrespective of whether they were real or imagined, these taxes had in common an air of radical and menacing novelty that made them appear not just oppressive but constitutionally improper. Together, they were seen as threatening to sweep away the time-honoured customs that had traditionally protected the wealth of subjects, rich and poor, against government greed.
