Rebellions, Punishment, and Justice in the Elizabethan Era

Abstract

In 1569, eleven years after Queen Elizabeth I’s accession to the throne, two major rebellions occurred under her reign: the Northern Rebellion in Northumberland, England, and the first Desmond Rebellion in Ireland. These were not the first or last plots to overthrow the Queen’s rule, but they proved to be defining moments for Elizabeth as the Protestant Queen. Elizabeth was faced with the tasks of suppressing these rebellions, carrying out equitable means of justice and punishment, and preventing future rebellions by maintaining loyalty. Elizabeth’s reaction to these two rebellions was strongly influenced by money, politics, and fear, and had direct consequences on the future stability, or lack thereof, of northern England and Ireland. Analyzing the roles of figures in this rebellion, like James Fitzmaurice FitzGerald, Mary Queen of Scots, and the Pope, helps reveal the motivations behind Elizabeth’s decision-making. Literary commentary, notably Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene and A View of the Present State of Ireland, also speaks to the Queen’s judicious approach to justice, and the driving forces behind her foreign and domestic policy post-rebellion. In the wake of these two rebellions, and as a consequence of the Queen’s reaction to these rebellions, Elizabeth saw relative peace and stability in the North; in Ireland, however, she was faced with a series of rebellions to come, specifically the Desmond Wars, which directly rooted from the first Desmond Rebellion.