Anne Percy, Countess of Northumberland

Who was Anne Percy, Countess of Northumberland?

Anne Percy, Countess of Northumberland was an English noblewoman and one of the instigators of the Northern Rebellion against Queen Elizabeth I of England. To avoid punishment for her prominent role in the failed insurrection, Anne, along with her infant daughter, was forced into exile in Flanders, where she spent the rest of her life involving herself in Catholic plots and maintaining contact with the other English Catholic exiles. In Liège while living on a pension from King Philip II of Spain, she wrote Discours des troubles du Comte du Northumberland. Her husband Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland, who had led the rebellion, was executed for treason. Three of her daughters were left behind in England and raised by their paternal uncle, Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland.