Rising of the North

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The Rising of the North or Revolt of the Northern Earls was an unsuccessful uprising against Elizabeth I of England in 1569 by Catholics of Northern England. Its objective was the deposition of Elizabeth and coronation of Mary I of Scotland as Queen of England.

The rebellion was led by two members of the great Northern nobility: Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland and Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland. They were instigated in part by Leonard Dacre, who was playing a double game. As heir-male of George Dacre, 5th Baron Dacre of Gillesland, he hoped to betray the conspirators and obtain, as a reward, the lands held by his nieces, the co-heirs of Lord Dacre. The rebel Earls occupied Durham and had Mass sung in the cathedral there by the old rites. They marched south to Bramham Moor, while Elizabeth struggled to raise forces sufficient to confront them. However, hearing of a large force being raised by the Earl of Essex, the rebels abandoned plans to besiege York, and captured Barnard Castle instead. They proceeded to Clifford Moor, but found little popular support. Essex marched out from York on December 13, 1569 with 7,000 men to their 4,600, soon followed by 12,000 under Lord Clinton. The rebel Earls retreated northward before him and finally dispersed their forces, fleeing into Scotland.

The treachery of Dacre was discovered, and he gave battle with 3,000 Cumbrians against a detachment of the royal army under Lord Hunsdon. Dacre was vanquished, but escaped to die in exile in Flanders. As a result, Raby Castle was lost by the Neville family. The Earl of Westmorland was attainted, but escaped to Flanders and died impoverished in Spain. The Earl of Northumberland fled into Scotland, was imprisoned there, and turned over to Elizabeth in 1572, being summarily beheaded in York. Various lesser personages and Catholic priests also fled into exile or were executed.

Pope Pius V aided the Catholic Rebellion by excommunicating Elizabeth and declaring her deposed in a Papal Bull. The Bull of Deposition, Regnans in Excelsis, was only issued in 1570, arriving after the rebellion had been put down. After the Bull of Deposition was issued, however, Elizabeth chose not to continue her policy of religious toleration. She instead began the persecution of her religious enemies, leading to various conspiracies to remove her from the throne.

Neville's wife Jane Howard had more to do with raising the troops than he did. She hoped to arrange the marriage of her brother, Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, to Mary Queen of Scots and put them both on England's throne. Despite being the first to urge the rebels to rise up, she expected Elizabeth to pardon her when they failed — instead, Neville fled to the continent, she lived the rest of her life under house arrest and Thomas was imprisoned but then forgiven, only to fall in the Ridolfi Plot.