The actions of the rebels during the rebellion also suggest it occurred for religious reasons. The rebels headed for Durham cathedral where they tore up the protestant prayer book and held a catholic mass. These religious actions clearly indicate that they were unhappy with the religious situation in England at the time and by ripping up the prayer book symbolises they are attempting to change things. The rebels headed south and whilst in Ripon and Hartlepool they raised the banner of the 5 wounds of Christ, which had been used as an emblem during the pilgrimage of grace in 1536 against Henry V111. At this stage the rebellion seemed very religious as the rebels showed their loyalty to Catholicism.
The Northern rebels had tried to gain further religious support from the pope and also hoped for Spanish support. They requested the pope excommunicated Elizabeth so anyone who was afraid to join in the rebellion could do so with the knowledge that they would still go to heaven. However the papal bull of excommunication came too late for the Northern Earls, only after the rebellion had been quashed. Also there was the suggestion that Spanish support was on its way, however this statement was found to be false. Phillip II didn’t have any enthusiasm for putting Mary Stuart on the throne largely due to her connections with France.
Although initially the Northern rebellion seemed to be down to religious disagreements, there is evidence to suggest this is not the only reason the Northern Earls wanted Mary to take over Elizabeth’s position on the throne. During the Tudor period the Northern Earls powers had been significantly reduced, this angered them immensely; two of the leading northern families, the Percy’s and the Neville’s were slowly becoming powerless and even falling into poverty. With such successful ancestors, the Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland were not willing to let their powers slip away which is why they conspired with Norfolk and joined the rebellion.
Elizabeth was gradually giving their duties to Protestants who she trusted, for example the Earl of Northumberland was deprived of the ward ship of the middle march to a protestant. The Northerners also were unhappy with the eradication of the Feudal system which took away even more of their powers. Not only did they hope to marry Mary and Norfolk, they also hoped the rebellion would overthrow William Cecil, Elizabeth’s secretary of state. They hoped the marriage would be used as a lever to force him out of office. Cecil was extremely Anti-catholic, in a catholic succession he saw the destruction of the Cecil’s and triumph for the devil. The Northern Earls and others in a fraction of court felt Cecil and other upstarts were elbowing them out of place and power and hoped the rebellion would sort this out. They particularly hated Cecil due to his seizure of Phillip of Spain’s treasure ships in 1568 which ended relations with Spain.
Another reason for the Northern Rebellion of 1569 was the fact that nobility agreed to stick together, when Norfolk initiated the plot others joined him out of respect. Also Westmorland was related to him, he was Norfolk’s brother in law. Perhaps if Norfolk didn’t have somewhat powerful support as this the rebellion would not have got off the ground. The ideas for the rebellion did not originate when in church or anywhere remotely connected to religion but in court where the Nobles questioned the succession, argued that they deserved their powers and was plotting ways of getting rid of Cecil.
To conclude, although religion did play a part in the rebellion of 1568-69 it was clearly not the only reason for the unrest of the Northern nobility. Power was a big cause, their pride was dented and they wanted to be powerful like their relations gone before them. The North was indeed largely Catholic and they hoped if England was to get a catholic queen in the form of Mary Stuart then the situation for them would become better, not only religiously but politically as well as socially.