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Roman Catholic relief bills
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Roman Catholic relief bills
The Roman Catholic relief bills were a series of measures introduced over time in the late 18th and early 19th centuries before the Parliaments of Great Britain and the United Kingdom to remove the restrictions and prohibitions imposed on British and Irish Catholics during the English Reformation. These restrictions had been introduced to enforce the separation of the English church from the Catholic Church which began in 1529 under Henry VIII.
Following the death of the Jacobite claimant to the British throne James Francis Edward Stuart on 1 January 1766, the pope recognised the legitimacy of the Hanoverian dynasty, which began a process of rapprochement between the Catholic Church and the United Kingdom. Over the next sixty-three years, various bills were introduced in Parliament to repeal restrictions against practise of the Catholic faith, but these bills encountered political opposition, especially during the Napoleonic Wars. With the exception of the Papists Act 1778 (18 Geo. 3. c. 60) and the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1791 (31 Geo. 3. c. 32), these bills were defeated. Then, finally, most of the remaining restrictions against Catholics in the United Kingdom were repealed by the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 (10 Geo. 4. c. 7).
Under laws passed in the reign of Elizabeth I, any English subject receiving Holy Orders of the Church of Rome and coming to England was guilty of high treason, and any one who aided or sheltered him was guilty of a capital felony. It was likewise made treason to be reconciled to the Church of Rome and to procure others to be reconciled. Any official, civil and ecclesiastical, who refused to take the Oath of Supremacy denying the pope's spiritual jurisdiction could also be tried for treason. Parents were prohibited from educating their children in the Catholic faith.
Saying Mass was punishable by a fine of 200 marks, while attending Mass was subject to a fine of 100 marks. The statutes of recusancy punished nonconformity with the Established Church by a fine of twenty pounds per lunar month during which the parish church was not attended, there being thirteen of such months in the year. Such non-attendances constituted recusancy in the proper sense of the term, and originally affected all, whether Catholic or otherwise, who did not conform.
In 1593 by the Popish Recusants Act 1592 (35 Eliz. 1. c. 2), the consequences of such non-conformity were limited to Popish recusants. A Papist, convicted of absenting himself from church, became a Popish recusant convict, and besides the monthly fine of £20, was prohibited from holding any office or employment, from keeping arms in his house, from maintaining actions or suits at law or in equity, from being an executor or a guardian, from presenting to an advowson, from practising the law or physic, and from holding office civil or military. He was likewise subject to the penalties attaching to excommunication, was not permitted to travel five miles (8.0 km) from his house without licence, under pain of forfeiting all his goods, and might not come to court under a penalty of £100. Other provisions extended similar penalties to married women. Popish recusants convict were, within three months of conviction, either to submit and renounce their papistry, or, if required by four justices, to abjure the realm. If they did not depart, or returned without licence, they were guilty of a capital felony.
The Oath of Allegiance, enacted under James I in 1606 in immediate aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot, required Catholic recusants to declare their loyalty to James. By the Corporation Act 1661 (13 Cha. 2 St. 2. c. 1), no one could legally be elected to any municipal office unless he had within the year received the Sacrament according to the rite of the Church of England, and likewise, taken the Oath of Supremacy. The first provision excluded all non-conformists; the second Catholics only. The Test Act 1673 (25 Cha. 2. c. 2) imposed on all officers, civil and military, a "Declaration against Transubstantiation", whereby Catholics were debarred from such employment. Five years later, the Test Act 1678 (30 Cha. 2. St. 2) required all members of either House of Parliament, before taking their seats, to make a "Declaration against Popery", denouncing Transubstantiation, the Mass and the invocation of saints as idolatrous.
With the Revolution of 1688 came a new crop of penal laws. These laws were more likely to be enforced. The sanguinary penalties of the sixteenth century had, in great measure, defeated their own end but were generally left on the statute book in terrorem. That is, the Elizabethan laws were so harsh that no one was willing to actually enforce them. In 1689, the Papists Act 1688 (1 Will. & Mar. c. 9) substituted a shorter form of the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy, the clause aimed against Catholics being carefully retained. It was likewise ordered that all Papists and reputed Papists should be "amoved" ten miles (16 km) from the cities of London and Westminster.
The Popery Act 1698 (11 Will. 3. c. 4) effective 25 March 1700, offered a reward of one hundred pounds was to anyone who should give information leading to the conviction of a Popish priest or bishop, who was made punishable by imprisonment for life. Moreover, any Papist who within six months of attaining the age of eighteen failed to take the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy and subscribe to the Declaration against Popery, was disabled in respect to himself (but not of his heirs or posterity) from acquiring or holding land, and until he submitted, his next of kin who was a Protestant might enjoy his lands, without being obliged to account for the profits. The recusant was also incapable of purchasing, and all trusts on his behalf were void.
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Roman Catholic relief bills
The Roman Catholic relief bills were a series of measures introduced over time in the late 18th and early 19th centuries before the Parliaments of Great Britain and the United Kingdom to remove the restrictions and prohibitions imposed on British and Irish Catholics during the English Reformation. These restrictions had been introduced to enforce the separation of the English church from the Catholic Church which began in 1529 under Henry VIII.
Following the death of the Jacobite claimant to the British throne James Francis Edward Stuart on 1 January 1766, the pope recognised the legitimacy of the Hanoverian dynasty, which began a process of rapprochement between the Catholic Church and the United Kingdom. Over the next sixty-three years, various bills were introduced in Parliament to repeal restrictions against practise of the Catholic faith, but these bills encountered political opposition, especially during the Napoleonic Wars. With the exception of the Papists Act 1778 (18 Geo. 3. c. 60) and the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1791 (31 Geo. 3. c. 32), these bills were defeated. Then, finally, most of the remaining restrictions against Catholics in the United Kingdom were repealed by the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 (10 Geo. 4. c. 7).
Under laws passed in the reign of Elizabeth I, any English subject receiving Holy Orders of the Church of Rome and coming to England was guilty of high treason, and any one who aided or sheltered him was guilty of a capital felony. It was likewise made treason to be reconciled to the Church of Rome and to procure others to be reconciled. Any official, civil and ecclesiastical, who refused to take the Oath of Supremacy denying the pope's spiritual jurisdiction could also be tried for treason. Parents were prohibited from educating their children in the Catholic faith.
Saying Mass was punishable by a fine of 200 marks, while attending Mass was subject to a fine of 100 marks. The statutes of recusancy punished nonconformity with the Established Church by a fine of twenty pounds per lunar month during which the parish church was not attended, there being thirteen of such months in the year. Such non-attendances constituted recusancy in the proper sense of the term, and originally affected all, whether Catholic or otherwise, who did not conform.
In 1593 by the Popish Recusants Act 1592 (35 Eliz. 1. c. 2), the consequences of such non-conformity were limited to Popish recusants. A Papist, convicted of absenting himself from church, became a Popish recusant convict, and besides the monthly fine of £20, was prohibited from holding any office or employment, from keeping arms in his house, from maintaining actions or suits at law or in equity, from being an executor or a guardian, from presenting to an advowson, from practising the law or physic, and from holding office civil or military. He was likewise subject to the penalties attaching to excommunication, was not permitted to travel five miles (8.0 km) from his house without licence, under pain of forfeiting all his goods, and might not come to court under a penalty of £100. Other provisions extended similar penalties to married women. Popish recusants convict were, within three months of conviction, either to submit and renounce their papistry, or, if required by four justices, to abjure the realm. If they did not depart, or returned without licence, they were guilty of a capital felony.
The Oath of Allegiance, enacted under James I in 1606 in immediate aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot, required Catholic recusants to declare their loyalty to James. By the Corporation Act 1661 (13 Cha. 2 St. 2. c. 1), no one could legally be elected to any municipal office unless he had within the year received the Sacrament according to the rite of the Church of England, and likewise, taken the Oath of Supremacy. The first provision excluded all non-conformists; the second Catholics only. The Test Act 1673 (25 Cha. 2. c. 2) imposed on all officers, civil and military, a "Declaration against Transubstantiation", whereby Catholics were debarred from such employment. Five years later, the Test Act 1678 (30 Cha. 2. St. 2) required all members of either House of Parliament, before taking their seats, to make a "Declaration against Popery", denouncing Transubstantiation, the Mass and the invocation of saints as idolatrous.
With the Revolution of 1688 came a new crop of penal laws. These laws were more likely to be enforced. The sanguinary penalties of the sixteenth century had, in great measure, defeated their own end but were generally left on the statute book in terrorem. That is, the Elizabethan laws were so harsh that no one was willing to actually enforce them. In 1689, the Papists Act 1688 (1 Will. & Mar. c. 9) substituted a shorter form of the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy, the clause aimed against Catholics being carefully retained. It was likewise ordered that all Papists and reputed Papists should be "amoved" ten miles (16 km) from the cities of London and Westminster.
The Popery Act 1698 (11 Will. 3. c. 4) effective 25 March 1700, offered a reward of one hundred pounds was to anyone who should give information leading to the conviction of a Popish priest or bishop, who was made punishable by imprisonment for life. Moreover, any Papist who within six months of attaining the age of eighteen failed to take the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy and subscribe to the Declaration against Popery, was disabled in respect to himself (but not of his heirs or posterity) from acquiring or holding land, and until he submitted, his next of kin who was a Protestant might enjoy his lands, without being obliged to account for the profits. The recusant was also incapable of purchasing, and all trusts on his behalf were void.