Anne Percy, Countess of Northumberland (née Somerset; 1536 – 17 October 1596) 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. Family Lady Anne was born in 1536, the daughter of Henry Somerset, 2nd Earl of Worcester and Elizabeth Browne, daughter of Sir Anthony Browne and Lucy Neville. She had four brothers and three sisters. Anne's mother had been a lady-in-waiting to the queen consort Anne Boleyn and one of the main informants against her; she was also rumoured to have been a mistress of King Henry VIII. Anne was a devout Roman Catholic. Marriage and issue On 22 June 1558, she married Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland, one of the most powerful nobles in Northern England, and like Anne, he practised the Catholic religion. He was the nephew of Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland, the former suitor of Anne Boleyn. Together they had five children: Elizabeth Percy (1559–1643), married Richard Woodroffe Thomas Percy (born and died in 1560) Lucy Percy, married Sir Edward Stanley, by whom she had issue, including Venetia Stanley, wife of Sir Kenelm Digby. Joan Percy, married Lord Henry Seymour Mary Percy, abbess (1570–1642) Northern Rebellion In the autumn of 1569, together with Jane Howard, Countess of Westmoreland, Anne planned and instigated the uprising carried out by the disgruntled Catholic gentry of Northern England against Queen Elizabeth I, which became known as the Northern Rebellion. (See main article: Northern Rebellion) Anne and her husband exchanged letters and gifts with Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary sent Anne a paternoster of scented gold pomander beads which the Pope had sent to her, and an enamelled silver necklace. Anne sent Mary a locket given to her by a Spanish courtier of Mary