Catholicism Under Elizabeth I

History: Edexcel A Level England, 1509-1603, topic 2.2.3

The Catholic Threat

After the first decade of Elizabeth’s reign, Catholicism became more of a threat. Much of this was tied up with the changing international situation.

Despite parliament passing stricter laws against Catholics in 1563, Elizabeth I saw to it that they weren’t fully implemented. These laws included:
Failure of office holders to take the oath of supremacy a second time was now punishable by death.
The penalty for saying mass was now death.
Private masses, especially in gentry and noble households, were ignored as long those people also attended the Church of England.

Spain was persecuting Dutch Protestants. Alba had a large army in the Netherlands and Philip II aimed to stamp out heresy.
Mary, Queen of Scots came to England (1568). She was the focus of several plots to overthrow Elizabeth I.
William Allen founded the Douai seminary (1568) for Catholic Englishmen to become priests who would return to England. They would first arrive in 1574.
The Pope excommunicated (excluded from the Catholic Church) Elizabeth I in 1570. This meant Catholics were free to disobey her.

A new Treason Act in 1571 made denying Elizabeth I’s supremacy and bringing in copies of the papal bull excommunicating, acts of high treason.
Elizabeth I blocked attempts to increase the punishments for recusancy (Catholics refusing to attend Church of England services).
By the late 1570s worsening Anglo-Spanish relations and continued plotting around Mary, Queen of Scots heightened fear of Catholics in England.
Jesuit priests began arriving in England in 1580. They were seen as more fanatical and threatening.

Surveillance and arrests of English Catholics also increased after the Throckmorton (1583) and Babington (1586) plots.
In 1581 the first Jesuits were executed.
A new law increased fines for recusancy to £20, impossible for ordinary people to afford.
In 1585 parliament passed an act which gave Catholic priests 40 days to leave England or be executed.
Overall nearly 150 Catholic priests were executed under Elizabeth I, although most were simply imprisoned in a specially built gaol.

Mass was still held in secret, mainly for the gentry.
Douai priests were reluctant to support Philip II, unlike the Jesuits. They said Philip II’s agenda was not simply religious.
Catholicism was dying out among the ordinary people. The war against Spain helped this process. People’s instinct was to support England and Elizabeth I.
By 1603 Catholicism in England is estimated to have been at 10% with perhaps only 2% actively worshipping.

Despite parliament passing stricter laws against Catholics in 1563, what did Elizabeth not want to do?
Catholic Threats to Elizabeth I in the 1560s