The Wyatt Rebellion Begins

On the 25th January 1554, what has come to be known as the Wyatt Rebellion began with a proclamation read out in the market square of Maidstone -

'Forasmuch as it is now spred abrode and certainly pronounced by the lords chancelour and other of the counsell, of the Quenes determinate pleasure to marry w. a stranger: etc we therefore write unto you, because you be our neighbors, because you be our frandes, and because you be Englishmen, that you will joyne with us, as we will with you unto death in this behalfe, protecting unto you before God...'
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Thomas Wyatt's plan was to remove Mary from the throne of England and replace her with Elizabeth who would then marry West Country nobleman Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devon.

By the end of January 1554, Sir Thomas Wyatt and the four thousand men marched to Blackheath, south-east of the City of London to secure the advancements of 'liberty and commonwealth' that had been threatened by 'the Queen's determinate pleasure to marry with a stranger.’

The rebellion was a failure, on entering the city Wyatt's rebels were outnumbered by the queen's forces and Wyatt was captured.