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Catholic persecution in the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Elizabeth I: By: Elenah Zwiegers
Without doubt, the Tudor monarch most associated with religious persecution is Queen Mary I. Popularly bestowed upon Mary, is the epithet “Bloody Mary”, a reputation which I feel is unfair (as will be explored in an extensive post late this summer). However, rarely, are the Catholic persecutions in the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Elizabeth I considered.
Henry VIII:
It is necessary to first clarify that Henry VIII was a Catholic for his whole life. Indeed, he left the Roman Catholic Church in 1533, but he did not abandon the Catholic faith. Essentially, he was no longer a Roman Catholic who was loyal to the Pope etc., but an English Catholic who denounced the Pope.
This meant that in Henry’s reign, both Roman Catholics (Papists - due to their support for the Pope) and Protestants, were persecuted.
Two particularly famous men who were persecuted for their Catholic faith in the reign of Henry VIII, are Sir Thomas More and Bishop John Fisher. Following Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne Boleyn, both More and Fisher refused to accept Anne Boleyn as Queen on a religious basis. While More was willing to accept Anne as “legal Queen”, both men believed that Henry’s marriage to his first wife Katherine of Aragon was valid (because the Pope had asserted such) and that she was Queen, not Anne. As a result, both men were executed in 1535 - indeed, they had disobeyed Henry’s orders, but the reason behind them disobeying, had been their Roman Catholic faith.
The Pilgrimage of Grace rebellion in 1536 is also worthy of mention. During this rebellion, thousands of Roman Catholics/Papists, gathered against Henry, hoping to restore Roman Catholicism to England.
Initially, the rebellion was too successful for Henry to control it, he promised the rebels pardons and reassured them that he would look into their demands. Yet, when Henry had reasserted his control, he had the main rebels seized and executed (such as Robert Aske). About 200 other rebels were also killed.
Overall, Henry condemned 81 people to death for heresy. This doesn’t mean that his persecution didn’t extend further. It became treason not to accept the Church of England as a religious authority, and so what was really religious persecution, was covered up to an extent.
Edward VI:
During the reign of Edward VI, the English Common Book of Prayer was introduced. It was determined that everyone had to abide by this book and essentially by Protestantism.
Clearly, many Catholics were unhappy about this. The Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549 broke out against this, a rebellion which resulted in 5,500 executions. These people were most likely largely Catholic, since the rebellion was very much against Protestantism.
The fact it was illegal to be a Catholic in Edward’s reign, meaning that Mass and other Catholic rituals were abandoned. Perhaps this shows that in a way, anyone who was Catholic at heart was being suppressed and persecuted.
Elizabeth I:
It is difficult to know the full extent of Catholic persecution under Queen Elizabeth I. This is largely because Elizabeth executed many Catholics, claiming that they had committed treason - yet, this was merely a way of trying to ensure that she was not seen as a religious persecutor - even though she was.
In 1585, Elizabeth even introduced a law which declared that any priest found in England, was guilty of treason. This was overtly attacking Catholics. Indeed, it was also considered treason to help shelter a priest (which probably only Catholics would’ve been willing to do).
Around 250 Catholics seem to have been executed in Elizabeth’s reign based purely upon
their religion.
Overall, it is clear that Henry VIII, Edward VI and Elizabeth I, all executed/persecuted Catholics. Despite this, Mary I bears the epithet “Bloody Mary”, probably largely based upon Elizabethan propaganda which painted her in such a way (in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs for example). As a side note (if anyone wanted to compare figures), Mary I executed around 280 Protestants in her reign.
There’s of course the argument that Elizabeth I and Henry VIII ruled much longer than Mary. Yet, Eamonn Duffy’s research shows that heretical executions declined towards the end of Mary’s reign - the violent regime seemed to be working. Most people in England were already Catholic and so, there were actually few heretics left for Mary to kill. This meaning, that perhaps Mary wouldn’t have killed many more people at all if she’d lived longer. Was Mary really bloodier than the other Tudor monarchs when it came to religious persecution?
With thanks for the wonderful article credit to:
tudorhistory1485_1603
Catholic persecution in the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Elizabeth I:
Without doubt, the Tudor monarch most associated with religious persecution is Queen Mary I. Popularly bestowed upon Mary, is the epithet “Bloody Mary”, a reputation which I feel is unfair (as will be explored in an extensive post late this summer). However, rarely, are the Catholic persecutions in the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Elizabeth I considered.
Henry VIII:
It is necessary to first clarify that Henry VIII was a Catholic for his whole life. Indeed, he left the Roman Catholic Church in 1533, but he did not abandon the Catholic faith. Essentially, he was no longer a Roman Catholic who was loyal to the Pope etc., but an English Catholic who denounced the Pope.
This meant that in Henry’s reign, both Roman Catholics (Papists - due to their support for the Pope) and Protestants, were persecuted.
Two particularly famous men who were persecuted for their Catholic faith in the reign of Henry VIII, are Sir Thomas More and Bishop John Fisher. Following Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne Boleyn, both More and Fisher refused to accept Anne Boleyn as Queen on a religious basis. While More was willing to accept Anne as “legal Queen”, both men believed that Henry’s marriage to his first wife Katherine of Aragon was valid (because the Pope had asserted such) and that she was Queen, not Anne. As a result, both men were executed in 1535 - indeed, they had disobeyed Henry’s orders, but the reason behind them disobeying, had been their Roman Catholic faith.
The Pilgrimage of Grace rebellion in 1536 is also worthy of mention. During this rebellion, thousands of Roman Catholics/Papists, gathered against Henry, hoping to restore Roman Catholicism to England.
Initially, the rebellion was too successful for Henry to control it, he promised the rebels pardons and reassured them that he would look into their demands. Yet, when Henry had reasserted his control, he had the main rebels seized and executed (such as Robert Aske). About 200 other rebels were also killed.
Overall, Henry condemned 81 people to death for heresy. This doesn’t mean that his persecution didn’t extend further. It became treason not to accept the Church of England as a religious authority, and so what was really religious persecution, was covered up to an extent.
Edward VI:
During the reign of Edward VI, the English Common Book of Prayer was introduced. It was determined that everyone had to abide by this book and essentially by Protestantism.
Clearly, many Catholics were unhappy about this. The Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549 broke out against this, a rebellion which resulted in 5,500 executions. These people were most likely largely Catholic, since the rebellion was very much against Protestantism.
The fact it was illegal to be a Catholic in Edward’s reign, meaning that Mass and other Catholic rituals were abandoned. Perhaps this shows that in a way, anyone who was Catholic at heart was being suppressed and persecuted.
Elizabeth I:
It is difficult to know the full extent of Catholic persecution under Queen Elizabeth I. This is largely because Elizabeth executed many Catholics, claiming that they had committed treason - yet, this was merely a way of trying to ensure that she was not seen as a religious persecutor - even though she was.
In 1585, Elizabeth even introduced a law which declared that any priest found in England, was guilty of treason. This was overtly attacking Catholics. Indeed, it was also considered treason to help shelter a priest (which probably only Catholics would’ve been willing to do).
Around 250 Catholics seem to have been executed in Elizabeth’s reign based purely upon
their religion.
Overall, it is clear that Henry VIII, Edward VI and Elizabeth I, all executed/persecuted Catholics. Despite this, Mary I bears the epithet “Bloody Mary”, probably largely based upon Elizabethan propaganda which painted her in such a way (in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs for example). As a side note (if anyone wanted to compare figures), Mary I executed around 280 Protestants in her reign.
There’s of course the argument that Elizabeth I and Henry VIII ruled much longer than Mary. Yet, Eamonn Duffy’s research shows that heretical executions declined towards the end of Mary’s reign - the violent regime seemed to be working. Most people in England were already Catholic and so, there were actually few heretics left for Mary to kill. This meaning, that perhaps Mary wouldn’t have killed many more people at all if she’d lived longer. Was Mary really bloodier than the other Tudor monarchs when it came to religious persecution?
With thanks for the wonderful article credit to:
tudorhistory1485_1603
Catholic persecution in the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Elizabeth I:
