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ASKE BECOMES LEADER.
formidable proportions. Its leader was a man of
more than ordinary courage and ability,— Robert
Aske, the son of a Yorkshire gentleman of ancient
descent and high connexions. Aske happened to be
in Lincolnshire when the outbreak took place, and
must have entered into it with no small amount of
zeal,
for the district between the Humber and Kirton
was placed under his command. When Suffolk
entered Lincoln it was clear that the power of the
Lincolnshire rebels was broken, and Aske made his way
back into Yorkshire. He there found that addresses,
issued without his authority, but purporting to bear
his signature, were posted in all public resorts, calling
upon the people in impassioned terms to rise in
defence of the Church and of their own means of
living, and to bind themselves by the same oath which
had been imposed by the leaders of the Lincolnshire
rising. Aske's name was well known, and these
forged addresses did their work. The bells were rung,
calling the people to arms, and beacon fires were
lighted on all the points of vantage from the
Humber to the Cheviot Hills. All the towns in
Yorkshire and the other northern counties were in a
state of wild excitement, and Aske had literally no
choice in the matter save to accept the position forced
upon him and accept the leadership of that which
was rapidly becoming no inconsiderable army. The
Pilgrimage of Grace was making its onward march
in the great shire of York.
The king now wrote to Lord Darcy of Templehurst,
as he had previously done to Lord Hussey, repudiating
the idea which prevailed that he intended to