Wyatt's rebellion

[1] The rebellion arose out of concern over Queen Mary I's determination to marry a foreigner, Philip II of Spain, and to return England to the Catholic Church and papal authority.

David Loades states that “the main reasons which lay behind the rising were secular and political",[2] but on the other hand Malcolm Thorp notes that “With but few exceptions, the leading conspirators were Protestants, and religious concerns were an important part of their decision to oppose Mary”.

[4] On 16 November 1553, a Parliamentary delegation went to the Queen and formally requested that she choose an English husband,[5] with its obvious although tacit candidate being her kinsman Edward Courtenay, recently created Earl of Devon.

[6] Mary was convinced that the safety of England required her to form a closer relationship with Charles's family, the Habsburgs, and she decided to marry Philip.

[8] This was of particular concern to the landed gentry and parliamentary classes, who foresaw having to pay greater subsidies to cover the cost of England’s participation in foreign wars.

[12] Mary’s convictions were so strong that when Edward’s parliament passed an Act of Uniformity that required all church services to be in English, she continued to have the traditional Latin mass celebrated in her private chapel.

[12] Mary assumed the throne in July 1553 and on August 18 she issued a proclamation that was a major step toward reestablishing papal authority as it “strictly forbade Protestant preaching”.

[14] Those fears of papal restoration were heightened by Mary's pending marriage to Philip, who was considered “the most powerful and the ‘most Catholic’ sovereign in Europe”,[15] although his father did not make him King of Spain until 1556.

[18] However, Wyatt cautioned against using religion as the reason for the rebellion “for that wil withdraw from us the heartes of manye: you must only make your quarrel for ouerrunninge by straungers”.

[21] Wyatt, like many, depended on the Privy Council for offices and income; under Mary, not being a Roman Catholic could put that in jeopardy, and that may also have been a reason why he chose to rebel.

Unlike Wyatt, Croft appears not to have made the same kind of strong statements regarding Mary's marriage to Philip, so his motivation for participating in the rebellion is less clear.

He was not particularly strong in his religious beliefs but probably favoured Protestantism as he did not have any problem supporting Protestant efforts when they were part of his duties while Lord Deputy of Ireland in 1551 and 1552.

[24] Carew (an MP for Devon) was a maritime adventurer, and according to his contemporary biographer, he was "an earnest promoter of God's true religion" and “constant in advancing the Protestant cause”.

[36] By Christmas of 1553, however, it was decided that each of the four leaders would raise rebellion forces in their respective counties, and together they would converge on London, on 18 March 1554, which was shortly before Philip was expected to leave from Spain.

As early as 29 December 1553, Simon Renard, Spain’s ambassador to England, informed Mary of a suspected plot in which “certain persons are trying to persuade Courtenay to seize the Tower of London”.

Mary was alarmed by the number of desertions and their potential threat and demanded that King Henry II of France capture them and hand them over to her, which he refused.

On the morning of 29 January, Suffolk read Wyatt’s proclamation in Leicester, and on the next day, he led his troops toward Coventry where there were others who believed in the rebellion and were expected to open the gates for him.

Unable to defeat the troops from the Council, Croft and his forces set up camp on the bank of a stream to wait for reinforcements that were supposed to be coming from Wales.

[50] Wyatt started the uprising on 25 January 1554 by raising his standard at Maidstone and with the ringing of church bells and the reading of a proclamation there and elsewhere saying that Mary’s marriage to Philip would "bring upon this realm most miserable servitude, and establish popish religion".

The delegates told Wyatt that Mary wanted to understand the cause of the rebellion, which would make him a traitor, since in his proclamations he had called himself true to the Crown.

On the surface, this would seem to have been an attempt at opening negotiations, but the real purposes were to gain time for Mary to increase the strength of her forces and to hear Wyatt state the reasons for the rebellion to help her plan a course of action.

Noailles, the French ambassador, noted that if Wyatt had been able to reach London at the same time as his answer did, the gates would have been open and "the whole population eager to give him welcome".

She shared Wyatt's "insolent and proud answere" and addressed the issue of her marriage to Phillip saying that she was already married to the people of England and that nothing was "more acceptable to my hart, nor more aunswerable to my wyl, then youre aduauncement in wealthe and welfare".

[61] The small number of executions together with the lack of incriminating evidence against Elizabeth led Renard to conclude that Mary was being too lenient with the rebels, making it unsafe for Philip to be in England.

[64] When Wyatt finally was brought to trial, he pleaded guilty to treason, asserting that he never intended any harm to Mary and only wanted to prevent the "comyng in of strandgers and Spanyerds".

Unable to find any credible evidence that Courtenay had committed acts of treason, the government exiled him to Italy where he lived until his death two years later.

Treason trials in the sixteenth century were very one-sided with the normal rules of evidence and procedure ignored as judges, barristers and others involved in the prosecution vied with one another in abusing the accused.

Throughout his trial, he fought the charges brought against him and “dissected the depositions with the skill of a practised pleader.”[86] At one point, Throckmorton commented that he perceived the many questions put to him as “a trap to catch others greater than himself.

[95] Christopher Goodman, a 16th century clergyman, wrote the following:[96] “If it is treason to defend the Gospel and his country from cruel strangers and enemies, then was Wyatt a traitor and rebel.

But if this was his duty, and all others that professed Christ amongst you, then are all such traitors, as did deceive him: and such as took not his part also, when time and occasion by him was justly offered.” Spelling variations are common in early writings, both between documents and within them.