Wyatt's Rebellion (1554): Revolt Against Mary I's Spanish Match

Wyatt’s Rebellion was a rising in January and February 1554 against Queen Mary I’s plan to marry Philip of Spain. Led by the Kentish gentleman Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger, several thousand rebels marched on London but were defeated at the city gates on 7 February. The failed revolt sealed the fate of Lady Jane Grey and put Princess Elizabeth in the Tower, while Mary’s Spanish marriage went ahead.

Background: the Spanish match

Mary I came to the throne in July 1553 after defeating the attempt to make Lady Jane Grey queen. Aged 37 and unmarried, she needed an heir to secure the Catholic succession. Advised by her cousin, Emperor Charles V, she chose his son Philip, heir to Spain, the Netherlands and much of Italy.

Many English people disliked the idea. They feared that a foreign king would dominate England, appoint Spaniards to office and drag the country into Habsburg wars against France. Parliament petitioned Mary to marry an Englishman, and Stephen Gardiner, her chancellor, favoured Edward Courtenay, a descendant of Edward IV. Mary rejected the petition and announced her choice.

The conspiracy

In late 1553 a group of gentlemen planned simultaneous risings for March 1554 in four areas: Kent under Wyatt, Devon under Sir Peter Carew, Leicestershire under Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, and the Welsh borders under Sir James Croft. They hoped to replace Mary with Elizabeth, perhaps married to Courtenay.

The government learned of the plot in January, partly from Courtenay himself under questioning by Gardiner. The conspirators had to act early and without preparation. Carew’s rising never started and he fled abroad; Croft did nothing; Suffolk failed to raise significant support and was captured. Only Kent rose.

Wyatt’s march

Wyatt, son of the poet Sir Thomas Wyatt and owner of Allington Castle near Maidstone, raised his standard at Maidstone on 25 January 1554 and gathered men at Rochester. Mary sent the elderly Duke of Norfolk against him with a force including the London trained bands, known as the Whitecoats. At Strood on 29 January many of these Londoners deserted to Wyatt.

With perhaps 3,000–4,000 men, Wyatt advanced on London. On 1 February Mary went to Guildhall and made a speech appealing to the loyalty of the citizens, refusing to flee the capital. It was a turning point: London prepared to defend itself.

Wyatt reached Southwark on 3 February but found London Bridge barred and defended. He marched upriver, crossed the Thames at Kingston on the night of 6–7 February and came into London from the west. By then many of his men had gone home, tired, hungry and discouraged by the failure to enter the city. There was a brief skirmish near Charing Cross and St James’s, and some royal troops wavered, but the citizens did not rise for Wyatt as he had hoped. Royal troops let him pass and then closed in behind. At Ludgate the gates were shut against him, and he surrendered near Temple Bar.

Reprisals

The government’s revenge fell quickly. Lady Jane Grey and her husband Guildford Dudley, already condemned for treason, were beheaded on 12 February. Suffolk followed on 23 February. Around 90–100 rebels were hanged in London and Kent, though several hundred others were pardoned.

Wyatt was tried and beheaded on Tower Hill on 11 April 1554. On the scaffold he declared that Elizabeth and Courtenay had known nothing of his rising.

Elizabeth was arrested and taken to the Tower of London on 18 March 1554. No firm evidence against her was found. In May she was moved to house arrest at Woodstock in Oxfordshire, where she remained until 1555.

Consequences

Mary married Philip at Winchester Cathedral on 25 July 1554. The marriage treaty limited Philip’s powers in England and barred Spaniards from English offices, but England was later drawn into Spain’s war with France, which led to the loss of Calais in 1558. The couple had no children.

With the political opposition crushed, Mary’s government restored papal authority and revived the heresy laws, leading to the burnings of the Marian persecutions from 1555.

Timeline

• 1553, November: Mary refuses Parliament’s petition to marry an Englishman.
• 1554, 12 January: The marriage treaty with Philip is concluded.
• 1554, 25 January: Wyatt raises the standard of rebellion at Maidstone.
• 1554, 29 January: The London Whitecoats desert to Wyatt at Strood.
• 1554, 1 February: Mary rallies London with her Guildhall speech.
• 1554, 7 February: Wyatt is stopped at Ludgate and surrenders.
• 1554, 12 February: Lady Jane Grey is executed.
• 1554, 11 April: Wyatt is executed on Tower Hill.
• 1554, 25 July: Mary marries Philip at Winchester.

Why it matters

Wyatt’s Rebellion was the most dangerous challenge to Mary I’s rule and nearly reached the heart of London. Its failure strengthened her hand and cleared the way for the Spanish marriage and the Catholic restoration. It also cost Jane Grey her life and brought the future Elizabeth I closer to the scaffold than at any other moment.