Sunday, March 10, 2013

Thomas Underhill and the Prayer Book Rebellion

Thomas Underhill[viii] of Sampford Courtenay was engaged in the Cornish rebellion also known as the Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549. Many protested the new English prayerbook because English was not commonly spoken at the time. Thomas Underhill was one of many local leaders that protested introduction of a prayer book in English.[ix] He was a village tailor at the time. Underhill was said to have forced William Harper, rector of Sampford Courtenay[x], to don his vestments and hold Mass instead of Cramner’s new service. In the ensuing argument, another villager was killed.[xi] Religious conservatism was one of the single greatest factors influencing the rebellion.[xii] Other factors including economic ones influenced the rebellion too. A tax on sheep was opposed by clothiers, so much so that rebel articles demanded a remission of the taxes on sheep and cloth.[xiii] Thomas Underhill was one of nine signatories to the articles. [xiv] Thomas Underhill died in fighting to follow in the Battle of Sampford Courtenay.[xv] In the period following the rebellion Roman Catholicism did not disappear, though was not practiced in the open. Others converted to Puritanism, Anabaptism, and Quakerism.


Thomas Underhill who died in the fighting of the Cornish Rebellion in 1549, also had a father by the name of Thomas Underhill.

Laurence Underhill was recorded giving a charitable bequest to the poor of Sampford Courtenay, Devon in 1625.[xvi] He was admitted to the Middle Temple on October 24, 1626.[xvii] This may be the same Lawrence Underhill, who was heir of Lawrence Underhill, Sr. late of Awton Gifford, Devon.

Editor's Note: There is no known relationship between Thomas Underhill and other members of the Underhill family known to be alive and active at this time.

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