John Constable (died 1537) was a leader of the Pilgrimage of Grace uprising.
Biography[]
John Constable was one of four knights named "Constable" who took part in the "Pilgrimage of Grace" in 1536. He was from Holderness, and he was a brother of Robert, another leader of the rebellion. Constable did not trust King Henry VIII's promises of a general pardon or holding a special parliament in the north, and he decided to lead the rebels on to Carlisle, even after Robert Aske returned with news that the King was sending Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk to negotiate with the rebels. His army was destroyed when the Duke of Suffolk ambushed it outside of the castle, and Constable and his fellow rebel leaders were captured; even those who had refused to take part in the second uprising were charged with treason. In 1537, Constable and the other rebel leaders were executed, and the heads of Constable, Lord Darcy, and Charlie Raw were mounted on pikes, side-by-side.