the Wyatt rebellion and the imprisonment of Princess Elizabeth.
The Wyatt rebellion was a popular protestant uprising in England, named after Thomas Wyatt, the rebellion broke out over protest on Queen Mary I’s marriage to Phillip of Spain, as many English feared of England converting back to Catholicism The rebellion was led by nobles, the most notable ones being Sir Thomas Wyatt from Kent, sir peter Carew from Devon, Sir James Croft from Herefordshire and the duke of Suffolk.
The nobles planned to remove Mary as monarch, instate Elizabeth as queen and arrange for Elizabeth to marry Edward Courtenay.
The protest failed terribly. The ‘uprisings’ in the Midlands and the West Country were the most humiliating failure as almost nobody there gave Carew and the Duke of Suffolk the support they needed for success. Although the people shared the same concern about Mary marrying a foreign power, they stayed loyal to their queen. Those in the Midlands feared committing treason, while many in the West were Catholic.
The Imperial Ambassador, Simon Renard, had heard rumours about the revolt and informed the Lord Chancellor, Stephen Gardner, of his worries. Gardner brought in Courtenay for questioning as Renard had mentioned his name. Gardner’s interrogation was apparently uncompromising and Courtenay was intimidated by this. Edward Courtenay told Gardner all that he knew about the plot against the queen, so that the government knew about the conspiracy, and what they planned to do, even before it had begun.
Due to this, the princess Elizabeth was imprisoned at the tower of London, on the 18th of March 1554 on charge of treason.
On the 17th March, 1554, two of Mary I’s Councillors, Winchester and Sussex, arrived at Elizabeth’s household to take her to prison by water. This was when Elizabeth wrote, perhaps the most famous letter in history, the ‘Tide Letter’. The letter is called such because as Elizabeth wrote this letter to her sister the tide turned, making it impossible to take Elizabeth to the Tower that day. Elizabeth’s letter gave her just a little extra time at home but the letter didn’t budge her most stubborn sister, the queen.
The following day Elizabeth was taken from Whitehall to the Tower of London by boat, along the Thames. Elizabeth was taken to the Tower Wharf, as the tides were too low to go through the traitor’s gate. Elizabeth was imprisoned in the royal palace in the inner ward of the Tower of London, the same place her mother was imprisoned in May of 1536.
Due to a lack of evidence and extreme support for the young princess, Elizabeth was released on the 19th of May, 1554, exactly 18 years after her mother’s death.
click here for more tudor history
Click here for Elizabeth’s tide letter
