Jesuits, etc. Act 1584 facts for kids
| Act of Parliament | |
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| Long title | An act against Jesuits, seminary priests, and such other like disobedient persons. |
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| Citation | 27 Eliz. 1. c. 2 |
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Status: Repealed
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| Revised text of statute as amended | |
The Jesuits, etc. Act 1584 was an important law passed by the Parliament of England in 1584. It was created during a time called the English Reformation, when England was changing from being a Catholic country to a Protestant one.
This law ordered all Roman Catholic priests to leave England within 40 days. If they stayed, they could be punished for high treason, which meant being put to death for betraying the Queen. The only way they could stay was if they promised to obey Queen Elizabeth I.
People who helped hide these priests, or knew about them and didn't tell the authorities, could also face serious punishments. They might be fined, put in prison, or even executed.
If someone was trained as a Jesuit (a Catholic religious order) in another country, they had to come back to England within six months. Once they arrived, they had two days to promise loyalty to the Queen. They also had to take an oath required by the Act of Supremacy 1558, which said the Queen was the head of the Church in England. Not doing this was considered treason. Even if they took the oath, they couldn't go within 10 miles of the Queen for 10 years without her written permission. Breaking this rule was also treason.
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How the Law Was Used
During Queen Elizabeth I's Time
This law was used very strictly during the last years of Queen Elizabeth I's rule. At first, the English government might have thought that just sending priests away would solve the "Catholic problem." However, they soon decided that harsher actions were needed.
Between 1584 and 1603, about 200 English Catholics died because of these laws. Most of them were priests. The government said that no one was being punished just for their religion. They argued that during the war with Spain, all English Catholics, especially priests, might be disloyal.
Even after England defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588, the strict rules didn't stop. The war with Spain continued for many more years.
One well-known lay person (someone not a priest) who suffered under this law was Margaret Clitherow from York. In 1586, she was accused of hiding priests. She refused to speak in court, probably to protect her children from being questioned or tortured. She was then executed in a very cruel way, by being pressed to death. This kind of severe punishment for a lay person, especially a woman, was unusual.
After Queen Elizabeth I
After Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603, the law was used less and less. The new kings, from the Stuart dynasty, generally preferred religious toleration. Also, the Treaty of London in 1604 ended the war with Spain. This meant there was no longer a clear reason to think English Catholics were working for an enemy country.
King James I agreed to a new law in 1604 that made the 1584 Act even stronger. Some priests were put to death because of this. However, King James himself said he was against executing priests. There was a short period of strong anti-Catholic feeling after the Gunpowder Plot in 1605. But this feeling mostly faded away by 1612.
Prosecutions against ordinary Catholic people for hiding priests stopped around 1616. Many local officials, like sheriffs, didn't want to enforce the law against their Catholic neighbors. For example, in 1678, a Welsh squire named Thomas Gunter openly said he had kept a priest during Oliver Cromwell's time and would continue to do so. This relaxed attitude made it hard to enforce these strict laws against wealthy Catholics.
Between 1618 and 1625, no priests were executed. Only one was executed between 1625 and 1640. After a short period of harsh punishment during the English Civil War, only two more priests were executed between 1646 and 1660.
The Popish Plot Scare
After King Charles II came to power, he was more open to the Catholic religion. The government often just told priests to leave England, but they didn't really expect them to obey. The 1584 law was almost forgotten.
However, in 1678, a panic called the Popish Plot began. This led to the law being used strictly again. Even though the King had Catholic sympathies, the public was so scared that he had to enforce the laws. A royal order in November 1678 said all priests should be arrested. They were not given the usual 40 days to leave the country. Instead, they were to be held for trial. This started a harsh crackdown on Catholic priests for the next two years. Priests who had lived peacefully in England for decades suddenly faced the death penalty.
Some priests from Scotland and Ireland were supposed to be exempt if they were just passing through England. Even during the Popish Plot, some priests were found not guilty for this reason. However, an Irish priest named Father Charles Mahoney was executed in 1679, even though he said he was on his way to France.
If a priest could prove they had taken the Oath of Allegiance to the King, they might unofficially receive a pardon. During the Plot, requests for mercy were usually refused. But in a few cases, like David Kemiss and William Atkins, the accused were spared because they were very old.
The government didn't seriously try to punish ordinary people for hiding priests during this time. They issued warnings, but no action was taken against people like Thomas Gunter, who had priests arrested in their homes.
The strong anti-Catholic feelings slowly faded. In June 1679, the King ordered that all priests sentenced to death after June 4 should be given a temporary reprieve. This reprieve eventually became permanent for those priests. However, it was too late for those already sentenced. Over the summer of 1679, at least fourteen priests were executed or died in prison. By 1680, the persecution continued to lessen.
After the Popish Plot
When the openly Catholic King James II became king in 1685, all persecution of Catholics stopped. After the Glorious Revolution of 1688, there was another rise in anti-Catholic feeling. This led to one last strict law, the Popery Act 1698. This law tried to make the 1584 Act stronger. It offered a reward of £100 to anyone who caught a Catholic priest. This was like a bounty for catching priests. However, the law also said that priests would face lifelong imprisonment instead of the death penalty.
There is little proof that the 1698 Act was strictly enforced. It seems that the number of English Catholics decreased in the 1700s more because of financial penalties, like a double land tax on Catholics, rather than direct persecution.
When the Strict Laws Ended
The parts of the 1698 Act that offered rewards for catching priests were removed by the first law to help Catholics, the Papists Act 1778. However, this 1778 Act caused a new wave of anti-Catholic feeling. This led to the Gordon Riots in 1780, where many people died. This reaction might have delayed further help for Catholics.
But by 1791, the government felt it was safe to finally make the Catholic priesthood legal. The Roman Catholic Relief Act 1791 repealed the old Elizabethan laws. It became lawful for priests to act as priests in England and to celebrate Mass, though under strict rules.
A Court Case from 1995
The execution of a Catholic priest in 1594 under the Act became the subject of a court case 401 years later. In 1995, a church in Durham wanted permission to put up a memorial plaque for the dead priest. Even though the 1584 Act had been repealed, the priest's conviction had not been officially overturned. So, the court could not allow the memorial.
The court said that since the priest was "lawfully convicted of high treason" and had not received a pardon, they could not approve a memorial.
However, in 2008, a different court in Oxford (with the same judge) decided not to follow that earlier decision. This was because the Church of England's calendar of festivals already allowed for the commemoration of English saints and martyrs from the Reformation era. The judge felt it would be inconsistent not to allow a memorial for similar people.
Learn More
- High treason in the United Kingdom
- Religion Act 1580
- Safety of the Queen, etc. Act 1584 (27 Eliz.1, c. 1)
- Penal law (British)
