In May 1593, the poet and playwright Christopher Marlowe is killed in a pub brawl in Deptford. Although the cause seems to be a dispute about a bill, some people think he may have been disposed of because he knows too much – he once worked as a spy for the government, and has been charged with atheism.

If Marlowe's death is the result of a plot, no one would be surprised. Tudor England is thick with conspiracies. Sir Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth's principal secretary in the 1570s and 1580s, runs a network of spies who are constantly on the look out for plots and treason. Sometimes, they even fabricate the evidence.

At the root of most plots is a mixture of discontent with religion and fear of economic change. In Catholic Mary I's reign, for example, a dead dog with its ears cropped is thrown through the window of a royal palace with a note saying that all Catholic priests should be hanged.

At the same time, ordinary people become so desperate because of poverty or changes in religious practices that revolts are common. Most massive popular risings are very conservative in nature.

The Pilgrimage of Grace

While the Reformation policies of Henry VIII's government in London are popular in the south-east, other parts of the kingdom resent changes to their time-honoured lifestyle. The Pilgrimage of Grace begins with a 1536 revolt in Louth, Lincolnshire, and develops into a widespread northern rising against the new religious ideas.

Triggered by the dissolution of the smaller monasteries, it spreads to Yorkshire, Cumberland and Westmorland. It involves about 30,000 men, and is made up of an uneasy alliance of peers, gentry and peasants from the north of England, with Yorkshire clothiers soon coming to the fore. The rebels, who carry the symbol of the five wounds of Christ and call themselves 'pilgrims', are led by Robert Aske, a Lincolnshire attorney. They adopt the medieval approach to rebellion of protesting their loyalty to the king while, at the same time, attacking his 'evil counsellors'. But Henry VIII plays for time, offering pardons, and divides the gentry from the commoners. By spring 1537, most of the rebels have dispersed and Henry arrests and executes Aske. Some 74 other rebels were hanged.

Kett's rebellion

In 1549, there are two rebel armies in the field. One is in the west – a peasant rebellion that follows an uprising in Devon and Cornwall. It peters out after a few weeks.

Meanwhile, in East Anglia, a rebellion led by Robert Kett, a Norfolk tanner and small landowner, cries out for relief for 'your [Edward VI's] poor commons'. Anger at the dissolution of the monasteries and the exploitation of people by rich lords, who enclose common lands for their own use, boils over into a riot, which escalates into a full-scale uprising.

Unusually for a peasant rebellion, Kett imposes strict discipline on his forces, which camp at Mousehold Heath in Norwich for six weeks. But Protector Somerset sends troops to occupy the city, then an army – stiffened by foreign mercenaries – cuts the rebels to pieces at the battle of Dussindale. Kett is hanged at Norwich.

Wyatt's rebellion

In January 1554, as the nation hears rumours of Mary I's marriage to Philip II of Spain, she becomes unpopular – and fear of foreign domination spreads. Sir Thomas Wyatt, son of the poet (see The arts), raises a rebellion in Kent. Although other parts of the country fail to rise, Wyatt leads 3,000 rebels to London. He never manages to get past the City walls: Mary rallies support, the rebels are dispersed and he's executed on 11 April.

Letters from Wyatt to the 21-year-old Princess Elizabeth are discovered, and she is taken to the Tower of London. For two months, she is imprisoned, protesting her innocence, before finally being released. Moved to Woodstock, she scratches a message on a window: 'Much suspected of me: Nothing proved can be. Quoth Elizabeth, prisoner.' In the purge following the rebellion, Lady Jane Grey is executed.

Northern Rebellion

In 1569, there is yet another rebellion. Following the flight to England of Mary Queen of Scots the previous year, the duke of Norfolk and other nobles plan to depose Elizabeth I and make Mary queen. One of the most serious risings on behalf of the old Catholic religion, it is popular in the northern counties, where rebels again carry the banner of the five wounds of Christ, celebrate Mass in Durham cathedral and destroy Protestant Bibles. But it is put down, its leaders beheaded and 400 rebels hanged.

Throckmorton plot

The most dangerous of several conspiracies to free Mary Queen of Scots, this plot is hatched by Francis Throckmorton, son of a disgraced chief justice. He spends the early 1580s on the Continent, then returns to act as a go-between for Mary and Mendoza, the Spanish ambassador in London. In November 1583, he is betrayed and arrested. Papers discovered in his study, and confessions extracted on the rack, provide evidence of a plot to invade England. Throckmorton is executed.

Babington plot

In 1586, Anthony Babington – a young Catholic gentleman from Derbyshire who serves the imprisoned Mary Queen of Scots as a page – is contacted by John Ballard, a Catholic priest. His plan is to kill Elizabeth and free Mary. But the plot is monitored by spies working for Sir Francis Walsingham, who intercept the coded letters between Babington and Ballard. Gilbert Gifford, another Catholic, is recruited by Walsingham.

When enough evidence is amassed, Babington is executed, and the conspiracy is used by Elizabeth's councillors to persuade her that her cousin Mary Queen of Scots is an incorrigible plotter who must be tried for treason. Reluctantly, Elizabeth agrees and Mary is executed early the following year.

Essex's rebellion

On 7 February 1601, at the Globe theatre, the earl of Essex, a disgraced royal favourite, sponsors a performance of Shakespeare's Richard II, whose theme is the usurpation of royal authority. On the following day, soon after the Sunday sermon at St Paul's Cross, he blasphemously leads a 300-strong band of noble followers and their armed men from Essex House through Ludgate and into the City, shouting: 'Murder, murder, God save the queen!' Claiming that England is being sold to the Spanish, Essex hopes that Londoners will rally to help him in his bid to restore himself to royal favour. They don't.

More a failed demonstration than a rebellion, this is the era's last attempted coup. Essex is immediately arrested and is executed on Tower Hill less than a month later, while his old rival, Sir Walter Ralegh – who is captain of the Guard – looks on.

What a riot

In 1596, a Somerset crowd seizes a load of cheese, claiming that 'rich men had gotten all into their hands and will starve the poor'. Such small riots are a frequent occurrence. They tend to be quite orderly, and are only called riots because those involved are lower class and take the law into their own hands.

Tudor riots usually have specific local goals and are expressions of moral protest. They tend to be either food riots or enclosure riots.

Food riots target people who are believed to be hoarding food in times of scarcity or who are putting up prices unfairly. They generally involve a crowd grabbing food and punishing exploiters of the poor.

Enclosure riots are sparked off when greedy landlords enclose common land – previously used by poorer people to graze their animals – by planting hedges to keep people out. Usually, the riot involves tearing down hedges and grazing livestock on the lands.

Some reports suggest that women were also active in riots.

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