Wyatt's Rebellion was a limited and unsuccessful uprising in England in early 1554 led by four men, one of whom was Thomas Wyatt the Younger. It was given its name by the lawyer at Wyatt's arraignment, who stated for the record that "this shall be ever called Wyatt's Rebellion". 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. The uprising failed, with consequences for the rebels that ranged from death to forgiveness.
Causes
David Loades states that “the main reasons which lay behind the rising were secular and political", 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”. This difference of opinion is not surprising, given the complex interrelationship between religion and politics in 16th-century England.
Politics
Apart from the contested reign of Empress Matilda, Lady of the English and the brief and disputed reign of Lady Jane Grey, Queen Mary was the first woman to (successfully) reign in England in her own right. While the English expected her to marry, there was a general consensus that the queen should not marry a foreigner, since that could lead to the interference of a foreign power in English affairs. On 16 November 1553, a Parliamentary delegation went to the Queen and formally requested that she choose an English husband, with its obvious although tacit candidate being her kinsman Edward Courtenay, recently created Earl of Devon. But Mary’s cousin the Emperor Charles V, also king of Spain, saw that an alliance with England would give him supremacy in Europe; he sent his minister to England to propose his son Philip as a person whom the religious and political interests of the world recommended for Mary.
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. A marriage treaty was presented to the Privy Council on 7 December 1553, and even though the terms clearly favoured England and included several safeguards, many still thought that England would be drawn into Philip's wars and become a mere province of the Habsburg Empire. 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. Most also knew the stories of the torture and cruelty endured by prisoners of the Spanish Inquisition, and there were even those "who had suffered from the rack of the inquisitors" themselves.
It was not just the English who were alarmed by the pending marriage of Mary and Philip. France, too, feared an alliance between England and Spain. Antoine de Noailles, the French ambassador to England, "threatened war and began immediate intrigues with any malcontents he could find". The Venetian ambassador Giacomo Soranzo formed an alliance with Noailles, and was later accused of taking an active part in the rebellion. Before Christmas in 1553, anti-Spanish ballads and broadsheets were circulating in the streets of London.
Religion
Mary I was known to be devoted to the Roman Catholic faith, and many feared she would restore the pope as the head of the Church of England and reverse the anti-papal religious policies put in place by her father, Henry VIII, and continued under his successor, Mary's half-brother Edward VI. Mary had “bitterly disapproved of the changes made in the form of worship” by Henry, and “regarded the cause of the pope as her own”. 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. When this was expressly forbidden, Mary appealed to Charles, who “went to the extreme of threatening England with war if Mary's religion was interfered with”.
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”. This not only confirmed the fears of Protestants, it raised the concern of most others who were opposed to Rome and did not want to see the pope at the head of the English church again.
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”, although his father did not make him King of Spain until 1556.
Other
Beyond the beliefs of the leaders, the rebellion acted as a way for the lower classes to voice their frustrations. Specifically, yeomen, husbandmen, and urban workers were able to express social and economic frustrations through the rebellion. Though the unrest was not universal, it was symptomatic of a wide range of discontent among the English population.
Participants
The key insurgents were Thomas Wyatt, Sir James Croft, Sir Peter Carew, and Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk.
Sir Thomas Wyatt
Wyatt owned large areas of land in Kent and had great influence there. Although Wyatt initially seems to have supported Mary and did declare her to be queen, he was against her marriage to Philip, saying that it would lead to the “most miserable servitude, and establish popish religion”. 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”. As an apparent aside, he did go on to say, "in counsel, as unto my friend", that the sole goal was a return to Protestantism.
Wyatt has been described as “hot-headed" with a reputation for being wild and impetuous, and once spent a month in the Tower of London for participating in a street riot in London. At one point, he and his neighbours in Kent had put together a plan for a local militia, and that gave Wyatt a way to quickly mobilise armed forces. 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.
Sir James Croft
James Croft came from an influential Herefordshire family. 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. While there, he was to “set forth God's service, according to our ordinances” including imposing the Anglican Prayer Book in the Irish Church. Croft's military career and service are likely to have informed his decision to participate in the rebellion, and he would have had the same concerns as Wyatt with respect to his future financial well-being. This concern would have been even greater for Croft since he was clearly out of favour with Mary well before the rebellion.
Sir Peter Carew
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”. The Spanish ambassador reported to Philip that Carew was "the greatest heretic and rebel in England" and noted how in Parliament, he supported Courtenay as Mary's potential husband (the Courtenays were a Devon family) and opposed the restoration of the Catholic religion. Like Wyatt and Croft, Carew also feared a Spanish marriage would endanger his career.
Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk
The list of conspirators also includes the Duke of Suffolk (based for part of his life in Leicestershire) who was "an hearty Friend unto the Gospel" and continued to profess it until his death" He was the father of Lady Jane Grey, who had been proclaimed queen by the Privy Council after the death of Edward VI in an abortive attempt to prevent the accession of Mary.
William Thomas
William Thomas was an avowed Protestant who was known as a “hot gospeller” and is viewed by some historians as the original leader of the rebellion.
Edward Courtenay
Edward Courtenay was the great-grandson of Edward IV. He also was the imprisoned son of the Marquis of Exeter and the grandchild and last living Plantagenet. In the eyes of his countrymen, Courtenay’s long confinement had given him “graces of mind and body” and he was the preference of many who wanted Mary to marry an Englishman.
Other rebels
Although the total number of insurrectionists is known to have been much higher, the names of some 750 have been found in various records, often with their status or trade and their parish. The roles they played in the rebellion are mostly subject to conjecture, but some of the more well-known are Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, who is quoted as saying he "wished it Were lawfull for all of ech Religion to live safelie according to their conscience,” along with Sir Henry Isley, Lords John and Thomas Grey (brothers of Suffolk), Sir Nicholas Arnold, and Leonard Digges, a mathematician.
Plan
A number of historians have named Thomas as the original leader of the rebellion, with his plan involving the assassination of Mary by John FitzWilliams. There are differences in the chain of who told whom about the plot, but Wyatt ended up learning of it. He was so against the idea that he set out to beat FitzWilliams (or Thomas, depending on the historian).
Around 26 November 1553, a different plan began to evolve, led by Wyatt, Croft, Carew and Suffolk. The first idea was for there to be an uprising in Devonshire where Philip was expected to land and where Carew and Courtenay had resources to call upon. 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. They would then replace Mary with her half-sister Elizabeth, who would then marry Courtenay. Meanwhile, a fleet of French ships would prevent Philip of Spain from reaching England.
Several historians mention a “voice in the wall” in connection with the rebellion. There is no agreement as to whether this was a planned part of Wyatt’s Rebellion or something done by others coincident with it. In each case, however, it involves a young girl, Elizabeth Croft, hidden in the wall of a house in London and pretending to be a spirit. Among other things, she would denounce Mary and Philip, Catholic mass and confession. She was ultimately discovered and confessed to her role. It does not appear that Elizabeth was related to Sir James Croft, as there is no-one named Elizabeth who would have been of the right age in the genealogy in O. G. S. Croft's "The House of Croft of Croft Castle."
Rebellion
To be successful, the rebellion needed many participants, and rumours quickly spread with varying degrees of accuracy. 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”.