Rising of the North The Rising of the North of 1569 , also called the Revolt of the Northern Earls or Northern Rebellion , was an unsuccessful attempt by Catholic nobles from Northern England to depose Queen Elizabeth I of England and replace her with Mary , Queen of Scots . Background . When Elizabeth I succeeded her sister Mary as Queen of England in 1558 , her accession was disputed due to the disputed legitimacy of the marriage of the Queen ' s parents - Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn . Opponents of Elizabeth turned to Mary , Queen of Scots , as the descendant of Henry ' s sister Margaret Tudor . The claims were initially put forward by Mary ' s father - in - law , King Henry II of France , but Mary upheld them after her return to Scotland in 1561 . Many English Catholics , then a significant portion of the population , supported Mary ' s claim as a means of relief from religious persecution . This position was especially strong in Northern England , where several powerful nobles were Catholics ; there had been similar risings against Henry VIII ; the Pilgrimage of Grace of 1536 and Bigod ' s Rebellion of 1537 . Supporters of Mary hoped for aid from France and possibly Spain . Mary ' s position was strengthened by the birth of her son , James , in 1566 but weakened again when she was deposed in July 1567 . Rebellion under Northumberland and Westmorland . The rebellion was led by Charles Neville , 6th Earl of Westmorland and Thomas Percy , 7th Earl of Northumberland , who in November 1569 occupied Durham and celebrated Mass in Durham Cathedral . Such public Catholic worship had been prohibited by the Protestant Queen Elizabeth . Westmorland ' s wife , Jane Howard , played an active part in the rebellion , hoping to arrange a marriage between her brother Thomas Howard , 4th Duke of Norfolk and the prospective Queen Mary . From Durham , the rebels marched south to Bramham Moor , while Elizabeth struggled to raise forces sufficient to confront them . But , hearing of a large force being raised by the Earl of Sussex , the rebels abandoned plans to besiege York , and captured Barnard Castle instead . They proceeded to Clifford Moor , but found little popular support . Sussex marched out from York on 13 December 1569 with 7 , 000 men against the rebels ' 4 , 600 , and was followed by 12 , 000 men under Baron Clinton . The rebel earls retreated northward and finally dispersed their forces , fleeing into Scotland . Leonard Dacre ' s resistance . A questionable role in the rebellion was played by Leonard Dacre , an early sympathiser of Mary . At the outbreak of the rebellion , he travelled to Elizabeth ' s court at Windsor to claim the heritage of his young nephew , the 5th Baron Dacre . After the latter ' s untimely death in 1569 , this had descended to his sisters , all married to sons of the Duke of Norfolk . Dacre returned to Northern England , ostensibly a faithful partisan of Elizabeth , but his intentions remain unclear . After the retreat of the rebels , he seized Greystoke Castle and fortified his own Naworth Castle , where he gathered 3 , 000 Cumbrian troops and tried to keep up the appearance of good relations with the Queen . He held out against a siege of the royal army under Baron Hunsdon but then attacked the retreating army at Gelt River . Though Hunsdon was outnumbered , he charged Dacre ' s foot with his cavalry , killing 300 - 400 and capturing 200 - 300 men . Dacre escaped via Scotland to Flanders , where he died in exile . Reprisals . Of the rebellion ' s leaders , the Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland had fled into Scotland . Northumberland was captured by the Earl of Morton and turned over to Elizabeth in 1572 , who had him beheaded at York . After having been hidden at Ferniehirst Castle , Westmorland escaped to Flanders , where he died impoverished . His family lost their ancestral homes and his wife , Jane Howard , also fled to the Continent . She lived the rest of her life under house arrest . Her brother , the Duke of Norfolk , was first imprisoned , then pardoned . He was imprisoned again following the Ridolfi Plot in 1570 and finally executed in 1572 . Norfolk ' s treason charges included " comforting and relieving of the English rebels that stirred the Rebellion in the North since they have fled out of the realm . " Altogether , 600 supporters of Mary were executed , while many others fled into exile . Pope Pius V had tried to aid the rebellion by excommunicating Elizabeth and declaring her deposed in the bull " Regnans in Excelsis " , but the document did not arrive until the rebellion had been suppressed . The bull gave Elizabeth more reason to view Catholics with suspicion . It inspired conspiracies to assassinate her , starting with the Ridolfi plot . In 1587 , Elizabeth brought Mary , Queen of Scots to trial for treason ; she was convicted by the court and executed . The execution of this anointed Queen was a factor contributing to Spain ' s attempted invasion by the Spanish Armada the following year .