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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 October 2016
During the reign of Elizabeth I Catholicism ceased to be the religion of the majority and became that of a small minority. In County Durham, the ecclesiastical settlement of 1559 met with little open opposition, except from a few of the leading clergy, but religious conservatism or ‘survivalism’ together with the ‘bastard-feudal Catholicism’ of the house of Neville remained strong until the Northern Rising of 1569. Thereafter Catholic recusancy emerged slowly amongst the former rebel gentry, under the influence of the Louvainists and seminary priests, but was contained by Government pressure. By the end of the reign the strains produced by persecution were shown in the conflicts amongst the Catholic clergy but ‘seigneurial Catholicism’ within the household régime remained the religion of a minority of the gentry and their dependants still associated with the house of Neville.
My thanks are due to Dr Ann Forster, Mr G. C. F. Forster and Rev. Vincent Smith for their help in the research involved in this paper.
2 For the terms ‘survivalism’, ‘bastard-feudal Catholicism’ and ‘seigneurial Catholicism’ see John, Bossy, ‘The Character of Elizabethan Catholicism’, in Crisis in Europe, 1560–1660, ed. T. Aston (London, 1965), pp. 223–5.Google Scholar
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7 V.C.H. Durham, 2, p. 36; C.R.S. 5, p. 221; C.R.S. 53, p. 53.
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10 Anstruther, The Seminary Priests I: Elizabethans; Foley, English Jesuit Records.
11 James, pp. 137–39; C.R.S. 5, pp. 220–39; C.R.S. 4, pp. 34–35; The Troubles of our Catholic Forefathers, ed. Morris, J., 3 vols (London, 1872–77), 3, pp. 187–94;Google Scholar S.P. 12/99/55; P.R.O., Exchequer Various Accounts, E. 137/133.
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18 Foley, 3, p. 63; Morris, Troubles, 3, pp. 155–7, 169–71; P.R.O., S.P. 12/244/8, 1; E. 135/12/2.
19 Trimble, Catholic Laity, pp. 245–8; P.R.O., E. 377/6/2; 7/6; 9/3, 7, 13, 17, 19, 20;/10/4; /14/7; /17/9.
20 Newcastle Reference Library, Greenwell Deeds, Waterhouse Deeds.
21 Birt, Elizabethan Settlement, p. 534; Trimble, Catholic Laity, pp. 147–58; V.C.H. Durham, 2, p. 40; C.R.S. 22, pp. 118–19; C.R.S. 53, pp. 45–55; C.R.S. 18, pp. 41–110, 156–212; P.R.O., S.P. 12/155/35; /244/8, I; E. 377/9; Records of the Palatinate of Durham, Durham 17/1/2.
22 C.R.S. 53, pp. 45–55.
23 P.R.O., Durham 17/1/2.
24 V.C.H. Durham, 2. p. 39; Foley, 4, pp. 61–62.
25 Strype, Annals of the Reformation, 4 vols (Oxford, 1820–24), 4, pp. 480–2;Google Scholar C.R.S. 18, pp. 76, 79; Morris, Troubles, 2, p. 93; 3, pp. 167, 325–6; Surtees, R., History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham, 4 vols (London, 1816–40), 1, p. 83; 2, pp. 74–75, 148;Google Scholar 3, p. 163; Foley, 3, pp. 61–62, 73, 106–08, 180, 804; Foley, 6, pp. 7, 219; Foley, 7, pp. 270; P.R.O. S.P. 12/99/55; /244/8, I; E. 68/645/195; 377/9/2, 4, 5, 9, 11, 14, 18; /14/17; /17/1.
26 Morris, Troubles, 3, pp. 105, 203, 210, 213; Foley, 3, pp. 61–62.
27 C.R.S. 5, p. 221.
