Catholicism and Community in Early Modern England: Politics, Aristocratic Patronage and Religion, c.1550–1640

by Michael C. Questier

• ISBN13: 9780521860086
• ISBN10: 0521860083
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-06-05
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This is a study of the political, religious, social and mental worlds of the Catholic aristocracy from 1550 to 1640. Michael Questier examines the familial and patronage networks of the English Catholic community and their relationship to the later Tudors and Stuarts. He shows how the local history of the Reformation can be used to rewrite mainstream accounts of national politics and religious conflict in this period. The book takes in the various crises of mid- and late Elizabeth politics, the accession of James VI, the Gunpowder Plot, religious toleration and the start of the Thirty Years War and finally the rise of Laudianism, leading up to the civil war. It challenges recent historical notions of Catholicism as fundamentally sectarian and demonstrates the extent to which sections of the Catholic community had come to an understanding with both the local and national State by the later 1620s and 1630s.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	ix
Preface	xi
Note on the text	xiii
List of abbreviations	xv
Introduction	1	(29)
The fate of the records	9	(6)
Recapturing the Catholic community	15	(5)
The Catholic aristocracy as patrons and leaders	20	(10)
The local setting	30	(38)
The enforcement and limits of the law against Catholic nonconformity	42	(18)
Kinship networks in early modern aristocratic and gentry local political culture	60	(6)
Conclusion	66	(2)
The emergence of a Catholic dynasty: the Brownes of Cowdray	68	(41)
Marriage alliances and the Brownes	73	(28)
Catholic politics, family politics	101	(8)
The Brownes, Catholicism and politics until the Ridolfi plot	109	(41)
The accession of Elizabeth	117	(7)
The issue of loyalty	124	(5)
Diplomatic service and domestic opposition	129	(13)
The 1568 political crisis and the 1569 rebellion	142	(8)
The Brownes, Catholicism and politics from the 1570s until the early 1590s	150	(31)
The Anjou match	153	(4)
Radical and `moderate' Catholicism in the 1580s	157	(12)
The queen visits Cowdray	169	(9)
Conclusion	178	(3)
The entourage of the first Viscount Montague	181	(26)
The function of the entourage	181	(26)
A period of transition	207	(26)
The household at Battle Abbey and the Lady Magdalen's entourage	207	(26)
The 1590s to the Gunpowder plot	233	(55)
The second Viscount Montague starts to look about himself	233	(11)
The entourage strikes an oblique blow for tolerance	244	(6)
The appellant dispute (1598--1602) and the emergence of the second Viscount Montague as a Catholic leader	250	(9)
The viscount and the appellants	259	(6)
The accession of James Stuart	265	(14)
The Gunpowder plot	279	(7)
Conclusion	286	(2)
Catholic politics and clerical culture after the accession of James Stuart	288	(27)
The role of the clergy	293	(6)
`The conversion of England'	299	(9)
Catholicism and the issue of hierarchy	308	(3)
The politics of clerical residence	311	(3)
Conclusion	314	(1)
The household and circle of the second Viscount Montague	315	(26)
Chaplains	317	(13)
Divisions within the entourage	330	(9)
Conclusion	339	(2)
`Grand captain' or `little lord': the second Viscount Montague as Catholic leader	341	(46)
The pro-episcopal lobby makes its move	344	(11)
Montague confronts the regime	355	(27)
The court, mid-Jacobean politics and the Brownes	382	(5)
The later Jacobean and early Caroline period	387	(46)
The 1621 parliament	388	(12)
The consecration of William Bishop as bishop of Chalcedon	400	(9)
The 1624 parliament, the French match and the death of William Bishop	409	(5)
The priests and the diplomats	414	(3)
Richard Smith succeeds William Bishop	417	(8)
Richard Smith enters upon his domain	425	(3)
The end of the honeymoon period	428	(3)
Conclusion	431	(2)
The second Viscount Montague, his entourage and the approbation controversy	433	(40)
Episcopal government and a rhetoric of order	435	(7)
The second Viscount Montague's role in the controversy	442	(20)
Denouement	462	(5)
The visit to Douai	467	(3)
Conclusion	470	(3)
Catholicism, clientage networks and the debates of the 1630s	473	(26)
`Bustling Chalcedon is dead in the nest'	473	(6)
Patrons and priests in the 1630s: English Catholicism redefines itself	479	(10)
The king, the Laudians, the puritans and the Catholics	489	(10)
Epilogue: the civil war and after	499	(13)
Appendix 1 The Brownes in town and country	512	(8)
Appendix 2 The families of Browne, Dormer, Gage and Arundell	520	(6)
Index	526