Catholic Challenge to the Religious Settlement (Edexcel GCSE History)

Did the Catholics Pose a Significant Threat to Elizabeth’s Religious Settlement? - Summary

After the five-year reign of the Catholic Mary I, Catholics were unhappy with the succession of Elizabeth in 1555. As a Protestant, Elizabeth would change England’s official religion back to Protestantism. 

Elizabeth’s Religious Settlement needed to resolve the issue of religion within England. She had to make the Church of England more Protestant without offending her Catholic subjects. Catholics held important positions in government, especially in the House of Lords. Many affluent lords and earls in the North of England were Catholic. The Pope encouraged Catholics to fight against Protestantism.

The majority of England’s Catholics accepted the Religious Settlement. Catholic rebels caused more of a threat to Elizabeth’s safety than the Puritans. With the Pope’s encouragement, she faced an armed rebellion from the Northern Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland. Elizabeth used force to end this revolt. This signified how important the upholding of the Religious Settlement was to Elizabeth. The revolt marked a change in how Elizabeth dealt with English Catholics.

Reaction of the Papacy

• The Catholic Church launched the Counter-Reformation movement in Europe. The Pope aimed to:

  • Support local Catholic communities

  • Punish those he considered heretics

  • Encourage Catholics to attack Protestants. This included Protestants in positions of power

  • Rid the Catholic Church of corruption

• In 1566, the Pope instructed all Catholics not to attend Church of England services

  • The papacy motivated but did not lead the Catholic disobedience in England

• According to the Religious Settlement, there were severe punishments for those who refused to attend Church of England services. Punishments for repeated recusancy included:

  • Fines

  • Imprisonment

  • Loss of property or job

  • Death (in extreme cases)

• In practice, many Catholics avoided punishment

  • Elizabeth ordered the authorities to not look too closely into recusancy

  • Elizabeth wanted to avoid creating martyrs for the Catholic cause

• As a result, the papacy had a limited impact on the stability of Elizabeth’s reign

The Revolt of the Northern Earls

• Recusancy was very popular amongst the Catholic nobility

  • Historians estimate that one-third of the English nobility did not attend Church of England services

  • The North-West of England contained the majority of recusants

• The earls of Northumberland and Westmorland were angry with Elizabeth’s Religious Settlement

  • Under Mary I, they had gained wealth and power

  • Under Elizabeth, they no longer had influence in the royal court

    • Elizabeth created many new nobles that did not stem from the ancient aristocratic families of England. These included Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester and Sir William Cecil

• Northumberland and Westmorland decided to launch a revolt against Elizabeth in November 1569 

  • Many northern Catholics rallied behind the earls

  • The rebels took Catholic Mass at Durham Cathedral

  • The earls of Northumberland and Westmorland marched an army south and reached Bramham Moor (north of Leeds)

• The Revolt of the Northern Earls ended in defeat

  • The majority of England’s nobility, with the exception of the Duke of Norfolk, remained loyal to Queen Elizabeth

  • The Earl of Sussex ended the revolt using royal troops

  • The rebels retreated on 24th November 1569 and the Earl of Sussex ended the revolt on 16th December

• Elizabeth aggressively punished the Revolt of the Northern Earls

  • She ordered hundreds of executions of the northern rebels. The public executions demonstrated Elizabeth’s power over England

  • The capture and execution of the Earl of Northumberland occurred in York. His head was displayed on a spike on the city’s gates

  • Westmorland escaped and fled to the Spanish Netherlands under the protection of Phillip II of Spain

• The Revolt of the Northern Earls showed that Elizabeth:

  • Despite concessions, some English Catholics still wanted to depose her. Catholics posed a significant threat to the stability of England

  • Needed to monitor and regulate her Catholic subjects more rigorously to avoid further threats

  • Was willing to use violence against her subjects to protect her monarchy

What affected how Elizabeth responded to the Catholic threat? 

• Many influential people in England were Catholic

  • The Catholic nobles in the North-East of England had the wealth and influence to pose a serious challenge to Elizabeth’s authority

  • The Revolt of the Northern Earls proved that some Catholic nobles wanted to depose Elizabeth. They wanted to replace her with the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots

  • Dissent within the upper hierarchy of Elizabethan society affected how she could govern England

    • The House of Lords contained many Catholic bishops. They could prevent certain policies from becoming law

• There was a larger proportion of Catholic subjects in England than Protestants

  • A charismatic Catholic leader could unite the English Catholics against Elizabeth

  • If too many of England’s nobility were Catholic, Elizabeth could lose control over large regions of England 

• Elizabeth faced a genuine Catholic challenge from Mary, Queen of Scots

  • If Elizabeth could make the majority of Catholics happy, they would be less willing to support Mary’s claim to the English throne