Catholics in Elizabethan Warwickshire

Abstract

This dissertation examines the Catholic community of Warwickshire during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558--?1603). While local studies of post—Reformation Catholics have been attempted in other English counties, no substantial body of work has been produced for Warwickshire. The research therefore draws heavily on both the primary sources for Warwickshire and the more general secondary works on post--?Reformation Catholicism. The approach has been to identify the Catholics and recusants through the primary sources, such as recusant rolls, commissioners’ reports and State Papers, and endeavour to understand the causes and consequences of recusancy and how this affected the identity of the Catholic individual and community. The principal findings and discoveries demonstrate that the Catholic community of Warwickshire was, in general, detached from its medieval predecessor. Unable to worship freely, they resorted to clandestine and surreptitious practices and proved to be eclectic and fluid with regard to religious doctrine when the occasion demanded. After heightened persecution in the 1580s, the steadfast members of the community tried to avoid detection through several means, including church papism, frequently moving between parishes or counties, and the (often false) promise of conformity when caught.

This dissertation is arranged into six thematic chapters. This method allowed several key aspects of the continuation of Catholicism in Warwickshire to be analysed separately. Chapter 1 introduces the themes explored in the dissertation. Chapter 2 examines the geographical features of Warwickshire and its jurisdictional subdivision and argues that these features protected pockets of Catholic communities from close supervision by the state and church. Chapter 3 investigates the clergy within the county and their effect on Catholics and recusants. The higher and lower reformed clergy, the remaining Marian priests and the missionaries who came to England from 1574 onwards are considered. Chapter 4 looks at the members of the Catholic community themselves, focusing on the gentry and non-gentry. Chapter 5 focuses on the government’s use of monetary fines to deter conservatives from recusancy from 1581 onwards. The reasons for Catholics to choose either recusancy or church papism over conformity are complex and, in the face of fierce persecution, at times inexplicable. Chapter 6 considers the themes of persecution and toleration within the county, and analyses in detail the circumstances of the Somerville Plot of 1583. The understanding of such a community, combined with a comparative analysis of Catholic communities in other counties, offers an original contribution to the study of post-Reformation England.