Rising of the North

• 1. Elizabethan Succession Crisis

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  In 1558, Elizabeth I succeeded her half-sister Mary I as queen of England. Her accession faced immediate dispute due to the questioned legitimacy of the marriage between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. The Act of Succession 1536 further cast doubt on Elizabeth's own legal standing. Under Henry VIII and his advisor Thomas Cromwell, power gradually shifted from regional institutions to royal control. This centralization policy was encouraged by Elizabeth's counsellors such as William Cecil. Northern border regions felt this shift most acutely. Local nobles lost influence as royal authority tightened its grip across the kingdom.

• 2. Mary Stuart Claim To Throne

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  Opponents of Elizabeth looked to Mary, Queen of Scots, a descendant of Henry VIII's sister Margaret. King Henry II of France initially put forward claims supporting Mary's right to the English throne. Mary upheld these claims after returning to Scotland in 1561. Many English Catholics supported Mary's position as a way to restore Roman Catholicism. This support proved especially strong in Northern England where powerful nobles remained Roman Catholic. Similar risings had occurred against Henry VIII during the Pilgrimage of Grace of 1536. Bigod's Rebellion of 1537 also demonstrated deep northern resistance to religious changes. Supporters hoped for aid from France among Scots and possibly Spain among English Catholics. Mary's position strengthened when her son James was born in 1566. It weakened again when she was deposed in July 1567. She fled to England and remained in custody of the Earl of Shrewsbury under Elizabeth's orders.

• 3. Northern Earls Mobilize Forces

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  Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland, led the rebellion alongside Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland. Seven hundred soldiers assembled at Brancepeth Castle in November 1569. Westmorland and Northumberland occupied Durham shortly thereafter. Thomas Plumtree celebrated Mass in Durham Cathedral during this occupation. The rebels marched south toward Bramham Moor while Elizabeth struggled to raise sufficient forces. She sent the Earl of Sussex, Lord Hunsdon, and Ralph Sadler to York. Hearing that the Earl of Sussex raised a large force, the rebels abandoned plans to besiege York. They captured Barnard Castle instead before proceeding to Clifford Moor. Popular support proved scarce as they moved forward. Sussex marched out from York on the 13th of December 1569 with 10,000 men against the rebels' 6,000. Baron Clinton followed with an additional 12,000 men.

• 4. Military Campaign And Retreat

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  The rebel earls retreated northward after facing overwhelming royal numbers. They finally dispersed their forces and fled into Scotland. Elizabeth had declared martial law to exact terrible retribution on ordinary folk of the Yorkshire Dales. Her demand called for at least 700 executions despite lack of popular support for the Earls' Rising. Contemporary accounts described victims as wholly of the meanest sort of people. Hardly a village escaped the sight of public hanging. Two leaders, the Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland, had fled into Scotland. Northumberland was captured by James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton. He turned over Northumberland to Elizabeth in 1572 who had him beheaded at York. Westmorland escaped to Flanders where he died impoverished. His family lost ancestral homes while his wife Jane Howard fled to the Continent. She lived under house arrest for the rest of her life.

• 5. Leonard Dacre's Ambiguous Role

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  A questionable role played by Leonard Dacre emerged during the rebellion outbreak. He travelled to Elizabeth's court at Windsor to claim heritage of his young nephew, the 5th Baron Dacre. After the latter's untimely death in 1569, this descended to his sisters married to sons of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk. Dacre returned to Northern England ostensibly as a faithful partisan of Elizabeth though intentions remained unclear. He seized Greystoke Castle after rebel retreats began. Fortifying Naworth Castle, he gathered 3,000 Cumbrian troops trying to maintain good relations with the Queen. He held out against a siege by royal army under Baron Hunsdon before attacking retreating forces at Gelt River. Though outnumbered, Hunsdon charged Dacre's foot with cavalry killing 300, 400 men and capturing 200, 300 others. Dacre escaped via Scotland to Brussels where he died in exile.

• 6. Systematic Purge And Executions

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  Some rebels escaped into Scotland while Regent Mar wrote that Agnes Gray, Lady Home, had been busy receiving them. In 1570 Pope Pius V tried to aid the rebellion through excommunicating Elizabeth. The papal bull Regnans in Excelsis declared her deposed but arrived too late for the rebellion. This document 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, to trial for treason. She was convicted by court and executed. Altogether 600 supporters of Mary were executed while many others fled into exile. Norfolk's treason charges included comforting and relieving English rebels who stirred the Rebellion in the North since they fled out of realm. His family suffered imprisonment followed by pardon then re-imprisonment after the Ridolfi plot in 1571 before final execution in 1572.