Cisalpine Club facts for kids
The Cisalpine Club was a group of Roman Catholic laymen (regular people, not priests) formed in England in the 1790s. They wanted to promote a way of thinking called Cisalpinism. This group was important in the public discussions about giving more rights to Catholics, a movement known as Catholic Emancipation.
What was Cisalpinism?
Cisalpinism was a new way of thinking for English Catholics. Before this, many Catholics strongly supported the Stuart family (often called the "Old Pretender") to be king. They hoped that if the Stuarts returned to power, their Catholic faith would be stronger in England. This support for the Stuarts was known as Jacobitism.
However, around 1766, things began to change. The Pope stopped recognizing Charles, the Stuart heir, as a ruler. This helped separate the Catholic faith from the Jacobite movement. Because of this, English Catholics started to accept the current ruling family in England.
Some Catholics also began to question if their church leaders had been too strict in the past. They felt that some rules had been made by the Pope in Rome and didn't fit well with English national ideas. Bishop John Talbot Stonor helped convince many Catholics to accept the Hanoverian kings.
The Catholic Committee
Many Catholics were willing to take the Oath of Allegiance, which was from the time of King James I. Some even thought the Oath of Supremacy could be understood in a way that didn't go against their Catholic faith. These ideas were central to the Catholic Committee, which worked from 1782 to 1792 to achieve Catholic emancipation.
The main leaders of this committee were Lord Petre and Sir John Throckmorton. Both came from old Catholic families who had faced difficulties under strict laws against Catholics. They were strongly supported by Charles Butler, a lawyer who worked as the committee's secretary.
Many wealthy Catholic families, who often supported the Church, agreed with the committee's goals. Some priests, especially in London, also supported them. Bishop Charles Berington was on their side, and Father Joseph Wilkes was a committee member who strongly backed their efforts.
In 1788, Lord Stanhope, who was an Anglican (a member of the Church of England), wanted to help the committee. He believed that the main problem for Catholics was the idea that the Pope had too much power over them, especially the power to remove kings. So, he wrote a "Protestation" that strongly rejected these ideas. The committee agreed to this Protestation and asked all Catholics to sign it.
It was difficult to get the bishops to sign, but they eventually did. However, two bishops later changed their minds and withdrew their signatures. John Milner, who had signed, later became a strong opponent of the committee.
The Relief Act and the Club
The hard work of the Catholic Committee led to the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1791. This law gave Catholics more rights. An early version of the law included a very strong oath based on the 1789 Protestation. However, the bishops, led by Charles Walmesley, strongly opposed this oath. After much debate, it was removed from the bill, and a simpler Irish Oath from 1774 was used instead.
Since the final law didn't fully include the ideas of the Protestation, a new group was formed to keep those ideas alive. This new group was called The Cisalpine Club. Other people, not just those from the Catholic Committee, were invited to join. The club's main goal was "to resist any ecclesiastical interference, which may militate against the freedom of English Catholics." This meant they wanted to stop church leaders from interfering with the freedom of English Catholics.
Some members were not happy that the club struggled to get along with the Pope's representatives (called apostolic vicars). So, a few important members left to form their own group, called the Roman Catholic Club.
The Cisalpine Club usually had between forty and fifty members. They met a few times a year in London, and each meeting started with a dinner. At one meeting in 1795, the only thing written in the notes was to buy a large barrel of wine!
At first, the club was active in Catholic affairs, even though they said they didn't represent all Catholics. They helped protect Catholic interests in several ways. For example, they helped set up a school at Oscott. This school was managed by laymen, even though the headmaster was a priest chosen by the bishop.
After a few years, the Cisalpine Club stopped doing much active work and became mostly a dining club. As more people joined, their original Cisalpine ideas seemed to become less important. It soon lost its influence in Catholic matters.
The bishops were naturally cautious about the club at first, even though its members often gave a lot of money to Catholic charities. In March 1796, the club collected money for French people who had moved to London because of problems in France. In May 1801, they decided that if their usual meeting day was a fast day, they would meet the following Tuesday instead.
In 1808, the club wanted to remove a specific member. Since their rules didn't allow them to expel anyone, all the members agreed to leave the club and then start a new group later. However, the person they wanted to get rid of claimed all the club's belongings, which mostly meant the wine left in the cellar!
Over time, their Cisalpine ideas became less strong. They started to get along well with Bishop William Poynter (who was a bishop from 1803 to 1826). He only wished they would change the club's name.
Daniel O'Connell, a famous Irish leader, was suggested for membership. But at a meeting in May 1829, he was rejected because of a disagreement with the English Catholic Association. Soon after the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 was passed, the members formed a new club in 1830. They called it the "Emancipation Club," and it continued for seventeen more years before finally closing down.
See also
- Thomas Weld (of Lulworth)
- John Milner
