The Rising of the North of 1569, also called the Revolt of the Northern Earls or Northern Rebellion, was an unsuccessful attempt by
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
nobles from
Northern England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...
to depose Queen
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...
and replace her with
Mary, Queen of Scots
Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567.
The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scot ...
.
Background
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".
El ...
succeeded her half-sister
Mary I
Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. Sh ...
as queen of England in 1558. Elizabeth's accession was disputed due to the questioned legitimacy of the marriage of her parents (
Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
and
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and of her execution by beheading for treason and other charges made her a key ...
), and Elizabeth's own questioned legitimacy due to the
Act of Succession 1536. Under Henry VIII and his advisor
Thomas Cromwell
Thomas Cromwell (; 1485 – 28 July 1540), briefly Earl of Essex, was an English lawyer and statesman who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false charge ...
, power was gradually shifted from regional institutions to royal control. This course was encouraged by Elizabeth's counsellors such as
William Cecil and a policy of centralization was the approach favoured by Elizabeth herself at least in regards to the northern border region.
Opponents of Elizabeth looked to
Mary, Queen of Scots
Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567.
The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scot ...
, the descendant of Henry VIII's sister
Margaret
Margaret is a female first name, derived via French () and Latin () from grc, μαργαρίτης () meaning "pearl". The Greek is borrowed from Persian.
Margaret has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular througho ...
. The claims were initially put forward by Mary's father-in-law, King
Henry II of France
Henry II (french: Henri II; 31 March 1519 – 10 July 1559) was King of France from 31 March 1547 until his death in 1559. The second son of Francis I and Duchess Claude of Brittany, he became Dauphin of France upon the death of his elder bro ...
, and Mary upheld them after her return to Scotland in 1561.
Many
English Catholic
The Catholic Church in England and Wales ( la, Ecclesia Catholica in Anglia et Cambria; cy, Yr Eglwys Gatholig yng Nghymru a Lloegr) is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See. Its origins date from the 6th ce ...
s, then a significant portion of the population, supported Mary's claim as a way to restore Roman Catholicism. This position was especially strong in
Northern England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...
, where several powerful nobles were Roman Catholics; there had been similar risings against Henry VIII; the
Pilgrimage of Grace
The Pilgrimage of Grace was a popular revolt beginning in Yorkshire in October 1536, before spreading to other parts of Northern England including Cumberland, Northumberland, and north Lancashire, under the leadership of Robert Aske. The "most ...
of 1536 and
Bigod's Rebellion of 1537. Supporters of Mary hoped for aid from France (among Scots) and possibly Spain (among English). Mary's position was strengthened by the birth of her son,
James
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguat ...
, in 1566 but weakened again when she was deposed in July 1567. Following this, she fled to England and at the time of the Rising was in the custody of the
Earl of Shrewsbury
Earl of Shrewsbury () is a hereditary title of nobility created twice in the Peerage of England. The second earldom dates to 1442. The holder of the Earldom of Shrewsbury also holds the title of Earl of Waterford (1446) in the Peerage of Ireland ...
, on Elizabeth's orders.
Rebellion under Northumberland and Westmorland
![Neale(1818) p1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Neale%281818%29_p1.262_-_Brancepeth_Castle%2C_Durham.jpg)
The rebellion was led by
Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland
Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland (18 August 154216 November 1601) was an English nobleman and one of the leaders of the Rising of the North in 1569.
He was the son of Henry Neville, 5th Earl of Westmorland and Lady Anne Manners, second d ...
, and
Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland
Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland, 1st Baron Percy, KG (152822 August 1572), led the Rising of the North and was executed for treason. He was later beatified by the Catholic Church.
Early life
Percy was the eldest son of Sir Thomas ...
. Seven hundred soldiers assembled at
Brancepeth Castle
Brancepeth Castle is a castle in the village of Brancepeth in County Durham, England, some 5 miles south-west of the city of Durham (). It is a Grade I listed building.
History
A succession of buildings has been on the site. The first was a Norm ...
. In November 1569 Westmorland and Northumberland occupied
Durham Durham most commonly refers to:
*Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham
*County Durham, an English county
*Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States
*Durham, North Carolina, a city in No ...
. Thomas Plumtree (see right) celebrated
Mass
Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...
in
Durham Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham, commonly known as Durham Cathedral and home of the Shrine of St Cuthbert, is a cathedral in the city of Durham, County Durham, England. It is the seat of t ...
. From Durham, the rebels marched south to
Bramham Moor, while Elizabeth struggled to raise forces sufficient to confront them. But, hearing of a large force being raised by the
Earl of Sussex
Earl of Sussex is a title that has been created several times in the Peerages of England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. The early Earls of Arundel (up to 1243) were often also called Earls of Sussex.
The fifth creation came in the Peera ...
, the rebels abandoned plans to besiege
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
, and captured
Barnard Castle
Barnard Castle (, ) is a market town on the north bank of the River Tees, in County Durham, Northern England. The town is named after and built around a medieval castle ruin. The town's Bowes Museum's has an 18th-century Silver Swan automato ...
instead. They proceeded to Clifford Moor, but found little popular support. Sussex marched out from York on 13 December 1569 with 10,000 men against the rebels' 6,000, and was followed by 12,000 men under
Baron Clinton
Baron Clinton is a title in the Peerage of England. Created in 1298 for Sir John de Clinton, it is the seventh-oldest barony in England.
Creation and early history
The title was granted in 1298 to Sir John de Clinton, a knight who had served ...
. The rebel earls retreated northward and finally dispersed their forces, fleeing into Scotland.
Leonard Dacre's resistance
A questionable role in the rebellion was played by
Leonard Dacre
Leonard Dacre (by 1533 – 12 August 1573) was an English nobleman, one of the promoters of the Northern Rebellion against Queen Elizabeth.
Life
He was the second son of William Dacre, 3rd Baron Dacre of Gilsland and brother of Thomas Dacre, 4t ...
, an early sympathiser of Mary. At the outbreak of the rebellion, he travelled to Elizabeth's court at Windsor to claim the heritage of his young nephew, the 5th Baron Dacre. After the latter's untimely death in 1569, this had descended to his sisters, all married to sons of
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, (Kenninghall, Norfolk, 10 March 1536Tower Hill, London, 2 June 1572) was an English nobleman and politician. Although from a family with strong Roman Catholic leanings, he was raised a Protestant. He was a ...
. Dacre returned to Northern England, ostensibly a faithful partisan of Elizabeth, but his intentions remain unclear.
After the retreat of the rebels, he seized
Greystoke Castle
Greystoke Castle is in the village of Greystoke west of Penrith in the county of Cumbria in northern England. ().
Details
In 1069, after the Norman conquest the English landlord Ligulf de Greystoke was re-granted his land and he built a woode ...
and fortified his own
Naworth Castle
Naworth Castle, also known or recorded in historical documents as "Naward", is a castle in Cumbria, England, near the town of Brampton. It is adjacent to the A69, about east of Brampton. It is on the opposite side of the River Irthing to, and ...
, where he gathered 3,000 Cumbrian troops and tried to keep up the appearance of good relations with the Queen. He held out against a siege of the royal army under
Baron Hunsdon
Baron Hunsdon is a title that has been created three times.
It was first created in 1559 in the Peerage of England for the soldier and courtier Henry Carey. His grandson, the fourth Baron, was created by Viscount Rochford in 1621 and Earl of D ...
but then attacked the retreating army at
Gelt River
The River Gelt is a river in Cumbria, England and a tributary of the River Irthing.
The source of the Gelt is close to Cumbria's border with Northumberland, where it rises (as New Water) at Butt Hill. The stream runs down Geltsdale Middle in ...
. Though Hunsdon was outnumbered, he charged Dacre's foot with his cavalry, killing 300–400 and capturing 200–300 men. Dacre escaped via Scotland to
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, where he died in exile.
Reprisals
Some of the rebels escaped into Scotland.
Regent Mar
John Erskine, 6th Earl of Mar (died 28 October 1572) was a Scottish aristocrat and politician. He was the custodian of the infant James VI of Scotland and Regent of Scotland.
Erskine was a son of John Erskine, 5th Lord Erskine and Lady Margaret C ...
wrote that
Agnes Gray, Lady Home, had been a busy worker to receive the rebels. Two of the leaders, the Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland, had fled into Scotland. Northumberland was captured by
James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton
James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton (c. 1516 – 2 June 1581, aged 65) was the last of the four regents of Scotland during the minority of King James VI. He was in some ways the most successful of the four, since he won the civil war that had b ...
, and turned over to Elizabeth in 1572, who had him beheaded at York. After having been hidden at
Ferniehirst Castle
Ferniehirst Castle (sometimes spelled Ferniehurst) is an L-shaped construction on the east bank of the Jed Water, about a mile and a half south of Jedburgh, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, and in the former county of Roxburghshire. It ...
, Westmorland escaped to Flanders, where he died impoverished. His family lost their ancestral homes and his wife,
Jane Howard, also fled to the Continent. She lived the rest of her life under house arrest. Her brother, the Duke of Norfolk, was first imprisoned, then pardoned. He was imprisoned again following the
Ridolfi plot
The Ridolfi plot was a Roman Catholic plot in 1571 to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I of England and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots. The plot was hatched and planned by Roberto Ridolfi, an international banker who was able to travel betwee ...
in 1571 and finally executed in 1572. Norfolk's treason charges included "comforting and relieving of the English rebels that stirred the Rebellion in the North since they have fled out of the realm." Altogether, 600 supporters of Mary were executed, while many others fled into exile.
Queen Elizabeth declared martial law, exacting terrible retribution on the ordinary folk of the Yorkshire Dales, despite the lack of any popular support for the Earls' Rising, with her demand for at least 700 executions. The victims of this purge were, as a contemporary account said "wholly of the meanest sort of people", so that hardly a village escaped the sight of a public hanging.
["Yorkshire Moors and Dales" Marian Sugden & Ernest Frankl, The Pevensey Press, 1987]
In 1570,
Pope Pius V
Pope Pius V ( it, Pio V; 17 January 1504 – 1 May 1572), born Antonio Ghislieri (from 1518 called Michele Ghislieri, O.P.), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1566 to his death in May 1572. He is v ...
had tried to aid the rebellion by excommunicating Elizabeth and declaring her deposed in the
papal bull ''
Regnans in Excelsis
''Regnans in Excelsis'' ("Reigning on High") is a papal bull that Pope Pius V issued on 25 February 1570. It excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I of England, referring to her as "the pretended Queen of England and the servant of crime", declared h ...
'', but the document did not arrive until the rebellion had been suppressed. The bull gave Elizabeth more reason to view Catholics with suspicion. It inspired conspiracies to assassinate her, starting with the Ridolfi plot.
In 1587, Elizabeth brought
Mary, Queen of Scots
Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567.
The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scot ...
, to trial for
treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
; she was convicted by the court and executed.
See also
*
Desmond Rebellions
The Desmond Rebellions occurred in 1569–1573 and 1579–1583 in the Irish province of Munster.
They were rebellions by the Earl of Desmond, the head of the Fitzmaurice/FitzGerald Dynasty in Munster, and his followers, the Geraldines and ...
*
Prayer Book Rebellion
The Prayer Book Rebellion or Western Rising was a popular revolt in Cornwall and Devon in 1549. In that year, the ''Book of Common Prayer'', presenting the theology of the English Reformation, was introduced. The change was widely unpopular, ...
*
Pilgrimage of Grace
The Pilgrimage of Grace was a popular revolt beginning in Yorkshire in October 1536, before spreading to other parts of Northern England including Cumberland, Northumberland, and north Lancashire, under the leadership of Robert Aske. The "most ...
References
Further reading
* Fletcher, Anthony, and Diarmaid MacCulloch. ''Tudor rebellions'' (
Routledge
Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...
, 2015).
* Kesselring, Krista. ''The Northern Rebellion of 1569: Faith, Politics and Protest in Elizabethan England'' (Springer, 2007).
* Lowers, James K. ''Mirrors for rebels: a study of polemical literature relating to the Northern Rebellion, 1569'' (University of California Press, 1953).
External links
* http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Documents/NorthernRebellion.htm
* http://www.timetravel-britain.com/05/July/raby.shtml
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rising of the North
Tudor rebellions
Conflicts in 1569
Conflicts in 1570
16th-century rebellions
16th-century military history of the Kingdom of England
1569 in England
1570 in England
Northern England
Catholic rebellions
Elizabeth I
Mary, Queen of Scots