Catholic Challenge to the Religious Settlement (Edexcel GCSE History)

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

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 influenced 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, except for 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 Elizabeth that:

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

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

  • She 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