Mary, and Thomas Percy - 2

* * *

Life under Elizabeth's Reign

On Elizabeth's accession the earl, whose loyalty to the Catholic Church was known, was kept in the North while the anti-Catholic measures of Elizabeth's first Parliament were passed. Elizabeth continued to show him favour, and in 1563 gave him the Order of the Garter. He had then resigned the wardenship and was living in the South.

But the systematic persecution of the Catholics rendered their position most difficult, and in the autumn of 1569 the Catholic gentry in the North, stirred up by rumours of the approaching excommunication of Elizabeth, were planning to liberate Mary, Queen of Scots, and obtain liberty of worship.





Earl Thomas with the Earl of Westmorland wrote to the pope asking for advice, but before their letter reached Rome circumstances hurried them into action against their better judgment. After the Rising of the North failed, Thomas fled to Scotland, where he was captured by the Earl of Morton, one of the leading Scottish nobles. After three years, he sold to the English Government for two thousand pounds. He was conducted to York and beheaded in a public execution, refusing to save his life by abandoning his religion. His wife survived him, as did four daughters who were his co-heirs. The earldom passed to his brother.

Beatification

He was beatified by Leo XIII on 13 May, 1895, and his festival was appointed to be observed in the Dioceses of Hexham and Newcastle on 14 November.

Children

He and Anne Somerset were parents to five children:

* Thomas Percy (d. 1560).

* Elizabeth Percy. Married Richard Woodroffe of Wolley.

* Joan Percy. Married Lord Henry Seymour. He was a younger son of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset and his wife Anne Stanhope.

* Lucy Percy. Married Sir Edward Stanley. He was a younger son of Edward Stanley, 3rd Earl of Derby and Dorothy Howard. Dorothy was a daughter of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk and his second wife Agnes Tilney.

* Mary Percy (11 June 1570 - 1643). A nun. Founder of Benedictine Dames in Brussels from which nearly all the existing houses of Benedictine nuns in England are descended.

Peerage of England

Preceded by
New Creation Earl of Northumberland
1557–1572
(Forfeit 1571) (Restored 1572) Succeeded by
Henry Percy

External links

Entry in Catholic.org This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.



NAME Percy, Thomas, 7th Earl of Northumberland
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Earl of Northumberland
DATE OF BIRTH 1528
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH August 22, 1572
PLACE OF DEATH York

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Percy%2C_7th_Earl_of_Northumberland"




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Percy%2C_7th_Earl_of_Northumberland


* * *