Compare and Contrast the Western Rebellion and Kett's Rebellion in terms of Causes and Threat.

Have a little read: ... Compare and Contrast the Western Rebellion and Kett's Rebellion in terms of Causes and Threat. The year 1549 in which both rebellions took place was a troublesome year for the Lord Protector, at the time, Somerset. It was plagued with bad harvests, inflation, poverty and war. These factors made 1549 a watershed year for rioting and rebellion. Though these are the only two rebellions that posed a serious threat, they were definitely not unique. There were outbreaks throughout the country ranging from Leicestershire to Gloucestershire for most of the year. Somerset's style of leadership was not suited to this atmosphere and had in not been Warwick; he would have been ousted by someone else it was only a matter of time. Though the rebellions had different motivations and causes, some parallels can be drawn. For instance, they both had local grievances that they wished to voice and neither could have been handled at a local level. In fact, what distinguished the two rebellions from the rest during the grave year was its ability to grow beyond a local level and in effect become a more serious threat to the government. In addition, the Western rebellion may have been considered more serious since firstly, the government realised its existence too late and was slow to act against it, and secondly, it eventually led to the coup by Warwick. However, had it not been for Kett's rebellion the Western rebellion would not have been so pivotal. Furthermore, the engagement of the troops with Kett's rebellion put Somerset in such a weak position. A key problem and grievance of both rebellions was inflation. Somerset's continued policy of debasement of the coinage sent prices rocketing, as well as the underlying problem of population increase that created a situation in which demand outstretched supply. This was also contributed to by the bad harvests during the previous and current year. Inflation manifested itself in different ways for each of the rebellions. For Kett's rebellion, rack-renting became an important problem especially for the commoners who were affected the most by it. In the Western rebellion however, sheep tax was of great worry since the collapse of the Antwerp market had already made business hard. Enclosure was another common grievance that linked the two rebellions. Here Somerset's position compromised his leadership and encouraged further unrest. Being sympathetic towards the rebels cause he set up the Enclosure Commission in 1547. It