lizzy and the northern earls xx Flashcards
(12 cards)
Politics and stuff
- Cecil was Elizabeth’s chief minister
- Cecil did have rivals at court, but were never outright enemies
- His chief rival was Lord Dudley, Earl of Leicester - but they sometimes agreed on political matters and only ever wished the other ‘cowed’ or ‘retired’.
Northern Earls
- Pro-Catholic earls - Westmorland and Northumberland
- Had been side-lined by the Elizabethan regime and had limited political/court influence
- Annoyed that Elizabeth put non-northerners in charge of the Council of the North and northern regions
- Earl of Sussex = President of the Council of the North
- James Pilkington, an enthusiastic protestant and Southerner, was appointed Bishop of Durham
Maryyy, Queen of Scots
- Mary Stuart was directly descended from Henry VII, Lizzy’s closest living relative
- Married three times, had a son (heir), which Lizzy did not have
- 1568, was forced to abdicate her throne and flee to England, inspiring a 20 year long political crisis
Mary’s assorted plots (or just plots involving her)
- The Norfolk Plot, where him and his faction felt he should marry Mary (he was powerful, she had claim to the throne) and overthrow Elizabeth. Elizabeth found out, and was understandably,,, irritated
- Aimed also to get rid of Cecil and replace him with catholic sympathetic minister
What to do with Mary??? hmmm
- If Mary was released, she could send her to Scotland (inciting civil war) or to France (where the French would probably return with a military to overthrow Elizabeth). Not a great option.
- If Mary remained under house arrest, she could be watched and her movements controlled. However, danger of plots and domestic threats
Some preferred a third option, like Cecil and Walsingham - just chopping her head off. But Liz was reluctant to execute a fellow Queen (great chain of being, etc, etc)
- Mary also couldn’t be condemned as a traitor beacuse she wasn’t,,, ENglish,,,
Why did Northern Earls rebel due to Norfolk Marriage plot???
- Norfolk fled court, but eventually handed himself in to Liz
- Northumberland was unwilling to rise in support, Westmorland was
- The pair feared they’d be arrested too, so ended up revelling in the winter of 1569
- Shock to Liz, and a reminder that there were still parts of the country that refused to accept her religious settlement
EVENts of THE REVOLT!!!
- Around 6,000 joined the rebellion
SIEGE OF DURHAM
- Irritated by Pilkington who was enthusiastically and noisily protestant. He and his family had to flee dressed as beggars
- Took the Cathedral, tore down all evidence of Protestantism and held Catholic mass which was v illegal
- Had hopes of marching down to Tutbury
SIEGE OF BARNARD CASTLE
- The influential landowner, Bowes, refused to join the rebels, so 5,000 of them surrounded the castle
- Bowes put up a good fight with 400 men, but had a lack of food supplies
- 11 days, forced Bowes to retreat into the Keep. Starvation caused 200 men to climb over the walls to join the rebels, and Bowes had to surrender
Sussex!!!
- Earl of Sussex, who was president of the Council of the North, ended up trapped in York with only 400 horsemen compared to over 5,000 rebels (inc 1600 horsemen)
- Rebels controlled so much that he stopped contacting London for fear of interception of his letters
Dacre and the end of stupid rebellion
- 10,000 men marched north under Warwick - and the earls panicked, disbanded, and ran off to Scotland
- Dacre continued the rebellion a month later in January 1570, and was squished near Hexham by Lord Hunsdon
- They kinda just marched around the North and harassed a man at Barnard Castle
Why did the Northern Earls fail?
- Their leadership sucked, it was incoherent and aimless. They were men driven to revolt out of despair
- It was in midwinter when there was limited food and poor weather
- The midlands and south didn’t overly care for the issues of the North
- Strong military forced under Hundson and Sussex took ‘em out
Impact of the thingy
- Westmorland escaped abroad but Northumberland was captured and executed. Norfolk was executed too
- Nearly 800 were tried and convicted of treason, only 450 were actually hanged though
- Spurned more rigorous enforcement of the Act of Uniformity and regular + thorough visitations
- 1570, Pope Pius V issued a papal bull where Liz was excommunicated from the Church, increasing tensions. Elizabeth responded by just persecuting people, like Jesuits
Catholicism and Protestantism
- ‘Via Media’ - middle way!!
- 1559 - Elizabethan Church settlement. Reaffirmed royal supremacy, though was deliberately vague in some areas to settle Catholics/Protestants. Some didn’t like - like Westmorland/Northumberland
Settlement was abandoned in 1570:
- Mary’s arrival and detention in 1568
- Rebellion of the Northern Earls in 1569-70
- Excommunication in 1570
- Post-settlement, became far more protestant. Non-attendance at local parish churches became harshly punished
- Countries formed colleges or seminaries to train priests that were sent off to England to spread Catholicism - counter-reformation from Europe
- Puritans didn’t like it either
