Course:History 344 Nasty Families/Religion/Catholics and the Government

The recusancy laws against Catholics in England are well documented. What isn’t as well documented is the frequency that these laws were actually enforced. Most people assume Stuart Governments enforced these laws when they were on the books, and yet they were actually enforced rather infrequently.(1) Often times there were actually private arrangements between the local governments and known Catholics to pay a smaller fee to them, in exchange for not being taxed/persecuted under the recusancy laws.(2) Central Governments were not concerned with making recusancy laws a prime money-maker, nor were they particularly worried about the Catholics, and the idea that they were violent or trying to upset the country. Especially when it came to the Catholics battled with the Jesuits, they gained major support from the Government. They maintained an alliance with the government into the restoration period that included Government printing of propaganda against the Jesuits.(3) Catholic Bishops were given much more toleration than Jesuit priests were afforded.(4) The English government and particularly Charles I did not seem to have an issue with the “rudimentary hierarchy” over English Catholics (5) The fear of Catholics was mostly a state of mind, and did not actually result in much violence against them. Even when Catholics were attacked more often than not it was not their religion but something of more value that was at stake, as opposed to being about their religious beliefs.

1. Hibbard, Caroline M. "Early Stuart Catholicism: Revisions and Re-Revisions." The Journal of Modern History 52 (March 1980): 4 2. (Hibbard March 1980, 4) 3. (Hibbard March 1980, 25) 4. (Hibbard March 1980, 26) 5. (Hibbard March 1980, 27)