Catholic Threat

Question 1

tolerance to Catholicism in the early years of Elizabeth’s rule

Answer 1

• Parliament did pass stricter laws against Catholic in 1563, but Elizabeth didn’t fully implement them
• these laws included the failure of office holders to take the oath of supremacy a second time being punishable by death, and the penalty of saying mass being death
• private masses were ignored as long as the people also attended the Church of England, especially for gentry households

Question 2

Catholic treat - 1560s

Answer 2

• Spain was persecuting Dutch protestants
• Alba had large army in the Netherlands
• Philip II wanted to get rid of heresy
• Mary Queen of Scots came to England in 1568 and was the focus of several plots to overthrow Elizabeth
• Douai seminary was founded in 1568 by William Allen for Catholic Englishmen to become priests
• the priests would begin to arrive in England in 1574
• Elizabeth was excommunicated from the Catholic Church in 1570
• this meant Catholics were allowed to disobey her according to the Pope

Question 3

Catholic threat - 1570s

Answer 3

• New Treason Act (1571)
• made denying the supremacy act and bring copies of the papal bull acts of high treason
• Elizabeth blocked attempts to increase the punishment for Catholic refusing to attend services at the Church of England, known as recusancy
• fear of Catholics was heightened in 1570s by worsening Anglo-Spanish relations and more plotting surrounding Mary Queen of Scots
• in 1580 the Jesuit priests began arriving in England
• they were seen as more fanatical and threatening

Question 4

Catholic threat - 1580s

Answer 4

• after the Throckmorton plot in 1583 and the Babington plot in 1586, surveillance and arrests of English Catholics increased
• Jesuits were being executed in 1581
• recusancy fines were increased to £20 by a new law, which was impossible for an ordinary person to afford
• Catholic priests were given 40 days to leave England or they would be executed thanks to a new act implemented by parliament in 1585
• nearly 150 Catholic priests were executed under Elizabeth overall

Question 5

Catholic threat - 1590s

Answer 5

• mass held in secret, mostly by the gentry
• Douai priests did not want to support Philip II, saying that his agenda wasn’t simply religious
• by this point Catholicism was dying out in ordinary people
• this process was aided by the war against Spain
• the instinct of English people was to support their country and queen
• Catholicism is England is estimated to have been at 10% by 1603, with only around 2% actively worshipping

Question 6

Northern Rebellion - causes

Answer 6

• Elizabeth didn’t let the Duke of Norfolk marry Mary Queen of Scots, another plot to removed Elizabeth from the throne
• there were a number of catholics in the north who were hostile towards protestants in the south who controlled many northern affairs
• a lot of the Earl of Northumberland’s land has been confiscated by Elizabeth
• she then gave the land to his rival in the north and a protestant from the south, which he did not like at all

Question 7

Northern Rebellion - what happened

Answer 7

• Earl of Westmorland and Earl of Northumberland, two Northern noblemen, rebelled against Elizabeth
• the two earls held an illegal Catholic mass in Durham Cathedral in November 1569
• 4600 men marched alongside them as they headed south
• the Earl of Sussex raised troops against them, causing them to disperse

Question 8

Northern Rebellion - consequences

Answer 8

• Northumberland was executed
• Westmorland escaped to France
• Duke of Norfolk was imprisoned
• the plot was aimed at increased the independence of the northern nobles, but actually
  led to increased repression and government control in the region
• Henry Hastings was made the leader of the Council of the North
• he was a puritan