hether as a reply to this measure or not, Parliament passed more
stringent laws against Catholics. Cecil's policy, inherited from
Thomas Cromwell, to centralize and unify the state, met with threefold
opposition; first from the papists who disliked nationalizing the
church, second from the holders of medieval franchises who objected to
their absorption in a centripetal system, and third from the old nobles
who resented their replacement in the royal council by upstarts. All
these forces produced a serious crisis in the years 1569-70. The
north, as the stronghold of both feudalism and Catholicism, led the
reaction. The Duke of Norfolk, England's premier peer, plotted with
the northern earls to advance Mary's cause, and thought of marrying her
himself. Pope Pius V warmly praised their scheme which culminated in a
rebellion. [Sidenote: Rebellion, 1561] The nobles and commons alike
were filled with the spirit of crusaders, bearing banners with the
cross and the five wounds of Christ. At the same time they voiced the
grievance of the old-fashioned farmer against the new-fangled merchant.
Their banners inscribed "God speed the plough" bear witness to the
agrarian element common to so many revolts. Their demands were the
restoration of Catholicism, intervention in Scotland to put Mary back
on her throne, and her recognition as heiress of England, and the
expulsion of foreign refugees. Had they been able to secure Mary's
person or had the Scotch joined them, it is probable that they would
have seceded from the south of England.

But the new Pilgrimage of Grace was destined to no more success than
the old one. Moray, Regent of Scotland, forcibly prevented assistance
going to the {335} rebels from North Britain. Elizabeth prepared an
overwhelming army, but it was not needed. The rebels, seeing the
hopelessness of their cause, dispersed and were pursued by an exemplary
punishment, no less than eight hundred being executed. Three years
later Norfolk trod the traitor's path to the scaffold. His death
sealed the ruin of the old nobility whose privileges were incompatible
with the new regime. In the same year a parliamentary agitation in
favor of the execution of Mary witnessed how dead were medieval titles
to respect.

[Sidenote: Papal Bull, February 25, 1570]

Too late to have much effect, Pius V issued the bull _Regnans in
excelsis_, declaring that whereas the Roman pontiff has power over all
nations and kingdoms