 Local and personal reasons for the rising are thought to have played as much a part as court politics in the motivations of the noble participants, the main ones of which with Cumbrian links were Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland, Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland (an M.P.for Westmorland) and Leonard Dacre (who rebelled in 1570).However, the main instigators were the lesser gentry who resented loss of power and status, as well as disaffected Catholics.