| Plots and Rebellions in England 1558-1585 The period 1558-1585 saw many plots and rebellions in England. Naturally these were feared by the Elizabeth I's government, but were not necessarily unexpected. Tudor monarchs faced many threats in the form of regional rebellions or attempts to depose them. These rebellions were a resul;t of many different factors and usually a combination of several. These included economic hardship, forighn policy, religilous and political factors, foreign policy and factional conflicts. During Elizabeth's rign political opposition was mainly associated with religious and regional issues. It is likely that Elizabeth had learnt from the rebellions during her father Henry VIII's reign as well as in Edward VI's and Mary I's. She was a highly educated woman and would have noticed which methods of dealing with rebellion worked best and of the danger signs she must be aware of.. Elizabeth was a cautious queen and was conscious of the likelihood of rebellion. Until late in her reign a successor had not been decided upon. As Elizabeth was a Protestant queen in a predominantly Catholic country the threat to her from rebels was greatly increased. She had many opponents and enemies. The first point to consider when deciding how great a threat rebellions posed to the Elizabeth is to question how stron Catholicism weas in England in 1558. This would indicate how strong support would be for a religious based uprising against the queen. At the beginning of the reign most opposition came from the Catholic Bishops in the House of Lords. Elizabeth had a relaxed policy towards Catholics though and the first decade of her reign was peaceful. The reason for this was that she ahd no way of enforcing her religious policy and had other concerns such as poroblems with foreign policy. Elizabeth's main concern was to maintain England's independance in Europe. There was also little intervention from the Pope, mostly due to Philip II who still hoped of remaining allies with England and who had a great deal of control over the Pope. Although there was little persecution of Catholics and Elizabeth seemed to have a tolerant attitude towards them Murphy sees religion as the primary motive for the Northern Rebellion in 1569. He points out that Mary was the focus for all plots against Elizabeth as she ahd the strongest claim to the throne. Mary was also popular at the time as she was a Catholic. Murpht states thatthe rebellion of the Norther Earls can be seen as an "opposition to the Elizabethan Church Settlement". There is evidence to support this view. The rebels used a banner displaying the Five wounds Of Christ and when they arrived at Durham Cathedral they celebrated Catholic mass and destroyed all evidence of Protestantism. This was supported by the Pope, who was to issue a papl bull declaring that Elizabeth was excommunicated from the Catholic church. This encouraged Catholics to rebel against Elizabeth. The view that religion was the main reason for the Northern Rebellion is supported by Fletcher and MacCulloch. They noticed that there was strong Catholic presence in those who launched the rebellion. Thomas Markenfeld and Dr. Nicholas Morton had both visited Europe and had become enthusiasts of the Catholic Counter-Reformation and Richard Norton who had actually taken part in the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536. By looking at the Northern Rebellion in detail it is easier to decide how great a threat it actually posed to the Elizabethan government. In 1568 Mary Stuart arrived in England. She had been deposed from her throne in Scotland and expected support in the north. After ten relativelt peaceful years Elizabeth now had a major concern. Mary had the strongest claim to the throne once Elizabeth died and this meant that she was the focus of plots developed by Elizabeth's enemies. Elizabeth dealt with Mary by putting her under house arrest to reduce the damage that she could do. There are various viewpoints on what actually caused the Northern Rebellion. Fletcher and MacCulloch see it as "an appendage to conflicts at Court about the Norfolk marriage proposal.". This is a common view and the planned marriage between Mary and Norfolk does seem to be an important factor. By contrast, more recent historians such as David Morcombe and S.E.Taylor believe that it was due to regional crisis. They suggested that the northern nobility felt insecure as their power had steadily been reduced since the reign of Henry VIII. It does seem that the nobility's influence had been reduced slightly, especially over the enclosure issue. It is likely that this contributed to feelings of discontentment in the north but it is unlikely that this was the only reason for rebellion. In Dawson's opinion foreign policy was a major factor leading to rebellion. Relations between England and Spain had been relatively diplomatic and peaceful until the seizure of the Spanishg treasure in 1568. This was a major turning point as foreign policy had a direct effect on domestic policy. Elizabeth's most important advisor William Cecil had ordered the sreizure of the Spanish treasure and the Duke of Norfolk and Earls of Arundel and Pembroke hoped to persuade Elizabeth that Cecil was harmful and should be dismissed. Their aim was to re-establish good relations with Spain and to return England to Catholicism. They hoped to achieve this by marrying Mary to Norfolk, establishing Mary as Elizabeth's successor. Surprisingly this plot actually gained support from Protestants; the Earl of Leicester and Sir Nicholas Throckmorton. They were not concerned with the Cecil issue, but hoped that the marriage would result in Mary being returned to Scotland, becoming a Protestant and creating an alliance. The fact that leading protestants were involved, for whatever reasons shows that it was not purely a religious plot, as suggested by Williams. He believed that the Northern Earls rose against Elizabeth to defend the old religion. It is useful to look at an opinion from the time. Sussex, the Lord President of the Council of the North interpreted the causes as "some specially respect the Duke of Norfolk, some the Scottish Queen, some religion and some perhaps all three." This indicates that each individual or group had different motives for joining the rebellion, but all believed that the marriage between Norfolk and Mary would improve the situation in England. The plot was unsuccessful. Elizabeth discovered the details in September and Leicester confessed. Norfolk fled from court without permission as he could have been found guilty of treason. He later returned to Court, asking for forgiveness. Norfolk had sent a message to his northern allies asking them not to attempt a rising. The Earls of Westmorland and Northumberland knew of the plot and saw Norfolk leaving Court as a signal to rebel. The rebellion was also unsuccessful and the rebels were defeated in mid December by Hundson's army. Mary's supporters of the rebellion had already left as they had given up hope of succeding, especially as there were such poor weather conditions. Although the rebellion was put down relatively easily it was a threat. The government was frightened by the rising, although the danger was only brief. The rebel army only had 6000 men as many potential supporters had chosen not to participate. When Sussex stood up aginst the rebels they soon caved in. The rising ahd been planned too quickly and there had been no communication with Spain, seeking help. Elizabeth had no standing army though and constantly had susupicions about the loyalty of her advisors. Although the rebellion does not appear to have been a threat, it involved Mary and therefore threatened Elizabeth's reign. Elizabeth could not afford to approach it with a relaxed attitude. After the rebellion, in a letter to Hundson Elizabeth wrote " I doubt very much, my Harry whether that victory were given me, more joyed me, or that you were by God appointed the instrument of my glory; and I assure you that my country's good the first might suffice, but for my heart's contentation the second pleased me..." This shows how much of a threat Elizabeth had felt the rebeeelion was and the amount of reilief she felt at defeating the rebels. It also reveals her strong and consistent belief in the Protesant faith. Overall, the Northern Rebellion did Elizabeth's government no harm. It showed how successful the government was at dealing with rebellion and how Elizabeth was capable of dealing with events efficiently. Even the north had proved incapable in troubling the government. Elizabeth did imprison Norfolk, but he was released in August 1570. Norfolk was a constant threat to the government throughout this period and had been re-arreseted by 1571 for his involvement in the Ridolfi plot. Roberto Ridolfi was a Florentine banker living in London. He was the link in a plot involving Mary Queen of Scot, the Duke of Norfolk, Lord Lumley, de Spes the Spanish ambassor in London, Philip and the Pope. The plot involved landing 6000 Spanish troops at Harwich who would who would join Catholics in a rising tooverthrow Elizabeth and make Mary queen, with Norfolk as her husband. Fortunately for Elizabeth the plot was uncovered by Cecil before it could be put into action. Norfolk was convicted of treason and executed in June 1572. Parliament demanded the execution of Mary as well as Norfolk. This would prevent further plots involving Mary. The status and the power of those involved in the Ridolfi plot was potentially fatal for Elizabeth. It was only by her exceptional intelligence networks that the plot was discovered. With such a degree of support it is likely that the Ridolfi plot would have succeeded if it had not been discovered and prevented so effectively. Elizabeth was aware that her reign was her reign was still under constant threat and could not afford to relax and ignore any potential threats. To increase the security of her reign Elizabeth introduced the Treasons Act in 1571 which made it high treason to deny royal supremacy. This made it much more dangerous for people to overthrow her as they faced certain exection for treason. After the execution of Norfolk in 1572 there was a more peaceful decade. The Elizabethan government did not face another major threat until the Throckmorton Plot in 1583. Francis Throckmorton was from a Catholic family in the Midlands. He joined a plan, created by the Duke of Guise for French armies to invade Scotland and England and to help English Catholics crown Mary. Again, this plot seemed to have religious motive, suggeseting that even by this late stage in Elizabeth's reign Protestantism was not as well established or respected as possible. The Throckmorton plot was to be financed by Philip II and the Pope, who both wanted to re-establish Catholicism in England. The plan was not a great secret and was soon discovered by Francis Walsingham who inserted a spy in the French embassy. Walsingham found out that Throckmorton's role was as a link to Mary. Throckmorton was arrested and then tortured until he confessed, he wa then executed. Mendoza, the Spanish ambassador in London who knew of the plot, but ahd not informed Elizabeth was expelled. Mary was spared from executon again. The Throckmorton plot was a fairly major threat to the Tudor Dynasty. As with the Rebellion of the Northern Earls and the Ridolfi plot it was grievance-led and focused on religious change. |