Unleashed in Lincolnshire in October 1536 and spreading rapidly across Yorkshire and the Far North, the Pilgrimage of Grace was a popular uprising that represented a “great armed challenge to the Reformation Henriciana". Early modern writers, Madeline Hope Dodds and Ruth Dodds, argued that it was an association of interest groups with their own concerns and priorities. Shortly afterwards, A. G. Dickens supported the Doddsian argument by stating that he saw a "fundamental divergence of interests and attitudes between the nobility and the common people". Hence, CSL Davies offered an alternative argument that emphasized religion as the cause of pilgrimage. Furthermore, Sir Geoffrey Elton argued that the pilgrimage was the result of “Anne Boleyn's unexpected overthrow in the spring of 1536 and Thomas Cromwell's consolidation of power at court and government.” Therefore, historians have and will continue to argue endlessly about the true causes of the Pilgrimage; overall, a combination of factors contributed rather than one overriding cause. Consequently, it is fair to say that the uprising incorporated a mixture of political, religious, social and economic issues. Therefore, economic factors were only partly responsible for the Pilgrimage of Grace. First, politics was partly responsible for the Pilgrimage of Grace; then, in early 1527 King Henry VIII asked for a divorce from Catherine of Aragon. While it is difficult to pinpoint exactly why, the most plausible explanation is his belief that "her marriage was sterile due to its illegality" and Catherine's inability to produce a male heir. This was because Henry claimed that it was blasphemous for him to marry his brother's widow and that he needed a child in order to... middle of paper ......t, principle, out of fear he dabbled in betrayal", came involved in the Pilgrimage of Grace. But Elton's argument is at least useful in the sense that it provides useful insight into popular attitudes during this period. Works Cited Beer, Barrett L. Rebellion and Riot: Popular Disorder in England during the reign of Edward VI (1982). Bush, Michael. 'Up for the Commonwealth': the significance of fiscal grievances in the English rebellions of 1536, English Historical Review 106 (1991). Davies, CSL 'Popular Religion and the Pilgrimage of Grace' in Order and Disorder in Early Modern England , eds. Anthony Fletcher and John Stevenson (1985). Fletcher, Tudor Rebellions (1997). politics of the 1530s (2001)., 2003).