Elizabethan Religious Settlement: Catholic Challenge

Who were Church Papists?

• Loyal to Elizabeth, willing to accept her as Supreme Governor.

• Dislike radical change to traditional patterns of worship and were also conversative.

• Believed Mass & other Catholic sacraments were crucial.

• Probably the majoirity of the Engkish people, especially north of London, were Church papists.

• Included 8000 lesser clergy who took the Oath of Supremacy.

Who were Recusants?

• Refused to attend Church services.

• Some refused the 1559 Oath of Supremacy.

• 1582 - 1939 known recusants.

• 1/3 of peerage and a sizeable section of the gentry were recusants.

• No attempts to identify recusants until late 1570s.

• Recusant priests offered the Catholic sacraments to the people. Some worked as chaplains to the gentry, celebrating Mass in ther houses, while others established underground churches for their former pashioners.

Who were Seminary Priests?

• Trained for priesthood in Douai, France, first seminary founded in 1568 by William Allen.

• First arrived in 1574, 438 Seminary Priests returned, 98 were executed. They were protected by the Catholic gentry.

• Young men were taught that it was their duty to return to England to work for the salvation of souls and, if necessary, to seek martyrdom in order to re-establish Catholicism.

• Arrival in Dover made their task harder, as it was the area with the fewest Catholics - Haigh.

Who were the Jesuits?

• Catholic missionary order, founded in 1534 to destroy heresy.

• Carried out rigorous spiritual exercises designed to train and discipline the human mind.

• Took a special oath of allegiance to the Pope.

• There were far fewer Jesuots than seminaryy Priests.

• Arrived from 1580.

• Vigorously opposed religious compromise & denounced the laxness of the previous decades. Insisted that every Catholic should obey the Pope first.

• They also insisted that the Catholic community should keep itself completely separate from the Elizabethan Church.

What happened in 1567 with the Change of Policy toward Catholics?

• Pope instructs English Catholics not to attend Anglican services.

• Duke of Alba led 10,000 soldiers to the Netherlands, fear of Catholic Invasion.

What happened in 1568 with the change of policy towards Catholics?

• Mary, Queen of Scots, arrived in England.

• A seminary was established by William Allen in Douai, Netherlands, to train missionaries to go to England and support the Catholics. First four arrived in England in 1574. By the 1590s, there was over 100.

What happened in 1569 with the change of Policy towards Catholics, 1567-72

• Rebellion of the Northern Eals, conspiracy to marry Duke of Norfolk to Mary, Queen of Scots.

What happened in 1570 with the change of policy towards Catholics

• Pope Pius excommunicates Elizabeth (Papal Bull Regnans in Excelsis), all English Catholics were free of any oaths of loyalty to her.

What happened in 1571 with the change of Policy towards Catholics?

• Ridolfi Plot, another plot to place Mary on the throne.

• New Treason Act introduced, denial of Elizabeth’s supremacy of the importatio of the Pope’s excommunication punishable by death.

What happened in 1572 with the change of Policy towards Catholics

St. Bartholomew Day massacre in France, fear French Catholics would turn their attention to heresy in England.

What was the Reaction to the Catholic Threat in 1580?

• Jesuits began to emerge, the first two being Edmund Campion and Robert Parsons.

What was the reaction to the Catholic Threat in 1581?

• Camion executed.

• ‘Act to retain the Queen’s majesty’s subjects in their due obedience’ passed by Parliament, failure to attend mass incurred a 200 mark fine and a year’s imprisonment, failure to attend Church incurred a £20 monthlu fine.

What was the reaction to the Catholic Threat in 1583?

Throckmorton Plot, highlighted that action must be taken by Parliament.

What was the reaction to the Catholic Threat in 1585?

• ‘Act against Jesuit seminary priests and other disobedienjt persons’ - All Catholic Priests enfored to leave the country within 40 days, otherwise would be deemed as high treason. Most of the 150 Catholic Priests executed in Elizabeth’s reign were convicted under this Act.

What happened in 1588 in reaction to the Catholic Threat?

• 31 Catholic Priests executed.

What happened in 1602 in reaction to the Catholic Threat?

• Futher proclamation enforcing all Jesuits to leave the country.

What was the state of Catholicism in England by 1603?

• Estimated 10% of the population had Catholic sympathies, 2% active recusants.

How dangerous was Mary, Queen of Scots?

• She was kept under a form of House Arrest for almost 20 years.

• She was eventually executed on 8th February 1587 at Fatheringhay Castle, after her involvement in the Babington Plot.

• The Council’s intelligence system, orgainsed by Sir Francis Walsingham was highly effective against Mary’s Catholic Plots.

• Mary was always under strict control. E.g. During the Northen Rebellion, Mary was moved from Derby, so that the rebels wouldn’t be able to arrest her.

Evaluation: Mary did pose a serious a serious threat to Elizabethin both a religious and political sense.

Mary’s position was weakened by the fact she was utterly discredited in Scotland.

She never commanded enough active support at home or abroad for her to seriusly threaten Elizabeth.

What was the Archpriest Controversy (1598-1602)

The Appointment: In 1598, Pope Clement appointed George Blackwell as ‘Archpriests to oversee all secular priests in England. He was a close ally of Jesuits and was instructed to consult them on all major decisions.

Resistance: Many secular priests, known Appellants, were outraged. They felt the appointment lacked proper legal authority and fear it gave the Jesuits - whom the viewed as dangerous political radicals - too much control.

Competing Visions:

• The Jesuits (led by Robert Persons) saw England as an ‘missionary field’ & were willing to support foreign invasions or the Pope’s power to depose Elizabeth to restore Catholicism.

• The Appellants represented ‘conservative’ English Catholics who wanted to remain loyal subjects of the Queen while practicing their faith privately.

What was the ‘Pamphlet War’ and Government Involvement about the Archpriest Controversy?

• Goverment Manipulation: Elizabeth’s government, particularly Bishop Richard Bancroft, saw the dispute as a way to divide and conquer the Catholic threat. He secretly provided the Appellants with access to printing presses and protection to publish attacks against the Jesuits.

• Protestation of Allegiance: In 1602, thirteen Appellants signed a ‘protestation of allegiance’ to Elizabeth, explicitly stating they would defend her against any invasion, even one ordered by the Pope.

What was the Resolution & Significance about the Archpriest Controversy?

The Pope’s Compromise: In 1602, the Pope confirmed Blackwell’s position but forbade him from consulting the Jesuits, effectively limiting their influence.

Significance for A-level: The Controversy is important because it proved the English Catholic community was not a unified ‘monolith’. It showed that many Catholics were politically loyal to the Tudor state despite their religious differences, which eventuallly helped the government justify focusing it’s harshest persecution only on ‘traitorous’ Jesuits.