In July 1522 he was made a member of the Council of the North; in October he was made deputy warden of the East Marches, and his brother-in-law William Dacre suggested that, young as he was, he should be made warden the same year.
Northumberland was constantly ill with an ague-a feverish, shivery illness-and was burdened with debt, and yet had to keep up an establishment and engage in fighting on his own account.