Revolt of the Northern Earls and Excommunication (1570) PDF

# Revolts and Rebellions in the 16th Century ## The Revolt of the Northern Earls, November 1569 - In November 1569, only a few months after Mary became a prisoner in England, Queen Elizabeth faced the first major rebellion against her rule. - She had ruled for a decade by now, but this rebellion,...

# Revolts and Rebellions in the 16th Century ## The Revolt of the Northern Earls, November 1569 - In November 1569, only a few months after Mary became a prisoner in England, Queen Elizabeth faced the first major rebellion against her rule. - She had ruled for a decade by now, but this rebellion, known as the "Revolt of the Northern Earls", was suddenly a deadly threat to the Queen. ## Revolts and Rebellions in the 16th Century - Revolts and rebellions (the same thing) were fairly common in the 16th century and before. - King Henry VII had faced several large rebellions, and won. - King Henry VIII faced the largest rebellion there had been for 2 centuries, and won. - King Edward faced a huge rebellion, so did Mary. It was difficult for rebels to achieve success in overthrowing the monarch because: - Rebellion against the crown was treason. Punishment for rebels if they failed was the terrifying execution method of being "hanged, drawn and quartered." - Most people automatically were loyal to the monarch due to their incredible power and status as God's chosen ruler. - Gathering support for a rebellion was difficult without being discovered. - A rebel army needed to be formed, armed, trained etc. and it needed to be very large to have a chance of success. All this was hard to achieve. - Rebel armies often fell apart after weeks living in the wild away from families as an army. They could become divided, de-motivated, out of supplies. - Nobles needed to support a rebellion as they could demand the support of the poorer people living on their land. - Gathering support for a rebellion was hard. The motivation had to be shared by huge numbers of the public and inspire them to risk much to rebel. - A rebellion needed to be widespread and in different places to defeat a monarch whose royal forces (while not an army), were very well trained and effective. The monarch had hundreds of armed guards. - Most nobles would often support a monarch and would provide men from their land to join an emergency army fighting for the monarch. - The monarch had control of the nation's weapons' supplies, gunpowder, canon, horses, extra supplies etc. - Tower Hill in London, where people were usually executed. - Hanging, drawing, and quartering. ## The Causes of the Revolt of the Northern Earls, 1569 ### Anger of the individual northern nobles towards Queen Elizabeth - The rebellion was led by a group of northern nobles known collectively as the "Northern Earls." Their motivation to rebel against Elizabeth was important in causing the rebellion. - Many of the northern nobles disliked Queen Elizabeth for different reasons: - Elizabeth had taken lands from the northern Catholic nobles in order to reduce their power and personal wealth. For example, the Earl of Northumberland lost copper mines. - Elizabeth was worried about the loyalty of northern Catholic nobles, who used to have a lot of control over how the North was governed. Elizabeth allowed northern nobles little power and filled the northern counties with loyal councillors who were mostly southerners. For example, the Earl of Northumberland lost his position as "Warden of the Middle March," defending the Scottish border. He was replaced by the Protestant Lord Hunsdon. The southern Earl of Sussex was made "President of the Council of the North." - Northern Nobles had very little presence in the main government. There were few of them in the Queen's Council and few were ministers. The northern nobles wanted more political power and hated the huge amount of power that some councillors and ministers, such as Cecil and Walsingham, had over the Queen. They believed that these ministers and councillors were strong Protestants and were controlling the Queen's religious policies. - The north of England, which was much more rural and wild in Tudor times. - The castle of the Earl of Northumberland. - York, in the north of England, 1570. - The north of England. - Snape Castle, the north of England. ### Northern Catholicism - The rebel leaders, the northern nobles, were strong Catholics. They hated the Religious Settlement and wanted to re-establish Catholicism as the country's religion. Many ordinary northerners also wanted this, as they were Catholics and were prepared to join the fight. ### Fear of invasion by Spain and the chance to make Mary Stuart Queen - The northern nobles believed they were protecting England's future be rebelling against Elizabeth. They believed that, with Mary as Queen, England would be safe from invasion and conquest by the Spanish, which they thought would happen if Elizabeth remained as Queen. - The northern nobles saw the time as right for a rebellion because, now, Mary Stuart was in England. If they could free her and make her Queen, Catholicism would be restored. - Moreover, Elizabeth had still not married and was now 35. There was still no heir and, therefore, no stable succession, which might cause civil war. Mary, still only 26, did have an heir and could remarry. Succession would be safer with Mary. ### The Duke of Norfolk's involvement - The northern nobles, as they secretly planned the rebellion, had an idea to marry Mary to Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk. Norfolk was the noble with the most wealth and status in all of England. He was Catholic. This marriage would ensure Catholicism in England and a good succession for Catholics. - The Duke of Norfolk became involved in the secret plans of the northern nobles. He was keen on the idea of marrying Mary, even though she was a prisoner. Elizabeth had found out that Norfolk wanted to marry Mary, even though she was a prisoner. She had also found out, thanks to her spymaster, Walsingham, that there might be a plan to free Mary and marry her to Norfolk and that several northern nobles might be involved. Worrying that they might be discovered in their plot, the northern nobles decided to hurry up and begin their rebellion. - **The main leaders of the northern nobles about to start the rebellion were:** - The Earl of Westmoreland. - The Earl of Northumbria. - The Earl of Westmoreland. - Mary Stuart in prison. - The Earl of Northumberland. - Durham, where the rebellion began. - The Duke of Norfolk. ## What happened in the Revolt of the Northern Earls? 1. **Fill in the gaps with appropriate words or sentences as we read through the story of the Revolt of the Northern Earls.** - **November 9th** - At midnight, bells were rung at the Earl of Northumberland's castle (Topcliffe) to start the rebellion. The Earl of Westmorland had already gathered his forces at Durham. The rebels had the advantage of … - **November 13th** - The Earl of Sussex, Lord Lieutenant of the North of England, was in charge of controlling the North for Elizabeth. He only had 400 armed royal soldiers to stop the rebels. - **November 30th**– Rebel forces gathered at the coastal town of Hartlepool. The northern nobles had been in contact with the Spanish and were hoping for Spanish … to arrive by ship. They did not come. - **December 14th** - Rebel forces aimed to move further south into the midlands where they hoped to pick up more… - **December 16th** - Queen Elizabeth sent 14,000 soldiers north. The rebel army retreated north because… Elizabeth's men had been raised and supplied by her loyal… - **December 19th** – The Earls of … and … abandoned their army and fled to Scotland. Panic spread among their army, which began to break up. The rebellion was defeated without a major… Elizabeth's government successfully negotiated to… the rebel leaders from the Scots who sheltered them. Many rebel troops had fled homewards; thousands were arrested. 2. **In one word, describe the result of the Revolt of the Northern Earls?** ## Why did the Revolt of the Northern Earls Fail? **1. Number each cause of failure of the Revolt from 7 to 1 in importance. Summarise each cause of failure in no more than 5 words each.** - The rebels failed to attract enough support from Catholics. - Days before the rebellion, the Duke of Norfolk… - The rebellion failed to secure the support of the Spanish… - The rebellion was a regional one… - The rebels never seemed to be sure… - The Earls of Westmoreland and Northumbria… - Elizabeth's government did not panic even… ## Mary Stuart's and Queen Elizabeth's responses to the Revolt of the Northern Earls ### Mary Stuart's response - Mary Stuart had known that the Revolt of the Northern Earls might happen, and about the idea to marry her to the Duke of Norfolk. Mary was told by her servants that the Revolt had failed. This depressed her greatly. Mary would never give up trying to become free and to claim what she believed deep in her heart was her God-given right to be Queen, again of Scotland and of England. The longer she was in prison, the more desperate she became. - She could not be too harsh and violent in her punishment of Catholic rebels or she might lose public support, provoke another rebellion against her, or anger powerful potential enemies abroad, such as the Pope or King Philip II. - 900 rebels were executed (hanging - a lesser punishment). Mostly those who had leadership roles in the rebel army were executed. Other rebels had lands and possessions transferred to the Queen. Westmoreland escaped, but Northumberland was beheaded. Elizabeth allowed the Duke of Norfolk to live. - Mary told of the failure of the Revolt. - Mary's prison in Sheffield. ### Queen Elizabeth's response - Queen Elizabeth had to decide what to do with the rebels. She could not show weakness as this would encourage other rebellions. She definitely had to punish leaders or they would repeat the event. The rebels had committed treason by challenging Elizabeth's religious policy and attempting to overthrow her. This could not go unpunished. - The execution of Northumberland. ## The Excommunication of Queen Elizabeth I, 1570 - The Queen's harsh measures in response to the Revolt of the Northern Earls had extremely important consequences in how Catholic Europe saw her. The Spanish and the French were horrified at this treatment of Catholics. The Pope, Pope Pius V, excommunicated Elizabeth from the Catholic Church. This meant: - Elizabeth was damned to hell and a heretic. - No church services or worship of any kind in England's churches had any validity in God's eyes. - All those who followed Elizabeth were also damned. - **Most Important** - Elizabeth was no longer the true Queen. All true Catholics now had a duty to remove her, and even kill her. Essentially, this gave religious permission for any Catholics to kill her, which would actually please God. - Pope Pius sent a Papal Bull (an official letter from the Pope) around Europe about Elizabeth's excommunication. Catholics committed to removing her, including Philip, now felt that they had the blessing of the Pope. - Excommunications had sometimes happened in the past and the Pope could take them back if the excommunicated person "repented" (apologised for their sins against Catholicism). Elizabeth was not going to do this. As a Protestant, the Pope meant little. English Protestant subjects similarly did not care much. - English Catholics were devastated. They believed they were damned to hell and outside of God's favour unless Elizabeth was removed. - Brutum Fulmen: John OR THE Lhompson BULL OF his Pope Pius V. - The Pope's Papal Bull against Elizabeth. - The excommunication of Queen Elizabeth I.