A Student's History of England, v. 2: 1509-1689: From the Earliest Times to the Death of King Edward VIIGardiner, Samuel Rawson
History
A Student's History of England, v. 2: 1509-1689: From the Earliest Times to the Death of King Edward VII
Gardiner, Samuel Rawson
Great Britain -- History; Great Britain -- History -- Outlines, syllabi, etc.
prevail, the Queen's authority must be got rid of. If the Queen's
power was to prevail, the Pope's authority must be got rid of. In
=1580= two Jesuits, Campion and Parsons, landed. They brought with
them an explanation of the Bull of Deposition, which practically
meant that no one need act on it till it was convenient to do so.
They went about making converts and strengthening the lukewarm in
the resolution to stand by their faith.
20. =The Recusancy Laws. 1581.=--Elizabeth in her dread of religious
strife had done her best to silence religious discussion and even
religious teaching. Men in an age of religious controversy are eager
to believe something. All the more vigorous of the Protestants were
at this time Puritans, and now the more vigorous of those who could
not be Puritans welcomed the Jesuits with joy. There were never many
Jesuits in England, but for a time they gave life and vigour to the
seminary priests who were not Jesuits. In =1581= Parliament, seeing
nothing in what had happened but a conspiracy against the Crown,
passed the first of the acts which became known as the Recusancy
laws. In addition to the penalties on reconciliation to Rome and the
introduction of Bulls, fines and imprisonment were to be inflicted
for hearing or saying mass, and fines upon lay recusants--that is to
say, persons who refused to go to church. Catholics were from this
time frequently subjected to torture to drive them to give
information which would lead to the apprehension of the priests.
Campion was arrested and executed after cruel torture; Parsons
escaped. If the Government and the Parliament did not see the whole
of the causes of the Jesuit revival, they were not wrong in seeing
that there was political danger. Campion was an enthusiast. Parsons
was a cool-headed intriguer, and he continued from the Continent to
direct the threads of a conspiracy which aimed at Elizabeth's life.
[Illustration: Hall of Burghley House, Northamptonshire, built about
1580: from Drummond's _Histories of Noble British Families_, vol.
i.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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