ASKS, ROBERT (d. 1537), English rebel, was a country gentleman who belonged to an ancient family long settled in York shire. In 1536 Aske led the insurrection called the "Pilgrimage of Grace." Marching with the banner of St. Cuthbert and with the badge of the "five wounds," he occupied York on Oct. 16, and on the 2oth captured Pontefract Castle, with Lord Darcy and the archbishop of York, who took the oath of the rebels. He caused the monks and nuns to be reinstated, and refused to allow the King's herald to read the royal proclamation, announcing his in tention of marching to London to declare the grievances of the commons to the sovereign himself, secure the expulsion of coun sellors of low birth, and obtain restitution for the church. Aske, followed by 30,000 or 40,000 men, marched on Doncaster, where lay the Duke of Norfolk with the royal forces, which, inferior in numbers, would probably have been overwhelmed had not Aske persuaded his followers to accept the King's pardon and the prom ise of a Parliament at York, and to disband.
Aske then went to.London under the guarantee of a safe-con duct and was well received by Henry. He put in writing a full account of the rising and of his own share in it ; and fully per suaded of the King's good intentions returned home Jan. 8 7 bringing with him promises of a visit from the King to Yorkshire, of the holding of a parliament at York, and of free elections. Shortly afterwards he wrote to the King warning him of the still unquiet state not only of the north but of the midlands, and stat ing his fear that more bloodshed was impending. The same month he received the King's thanks for his action in pacifying Sir Fran cis Bigod's rising.
But the new rising had given the court an excuse for breaking off the treaty and sending another army under Norfolk into York shire. Possibly in these fresh circumstances Aske may have given cause for further suspicions of his loyalty, and in his last con fession he acknowledged that communications to obtain aid had been opened with the imperial ambassador and were contemplated with Flanders. In any case Aske was persuaded to go to London on false assurances of security. He was arrested in April, tried before a commission at Westminster, and sentenced to death for high treason on May 17; on June 28 he was taken back to York shire, being paraded in the towns and country through which he passed. He was hanged at York in July, expressing repentance tor breaking the King's laws, but declaring that he had promise of pardon both from Cromwell and from Henry. Aske was a real leader, who gained the affection and confidence of his followers. See Henry VIII. and the English Monasteries, by F. A. Gasquet (1906) ; Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII., vol. xi. and xii.; English Hist. Rev., v. 33o, 55o (account of the rebellion, examination and answers to interrogations) ; Chronicle of Henry tr. by M. A. S. Hume (1889) ; Whitaker's Richmondshire, i. 116 (pedigree of the Askes) .