The Protestant Fear

As Protestantism became the religion and identity of the English nation, Catholicism had come to be known as foreign and on the basis with absolutism and tyranny. According to Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries, Catholics were distant, unfamiliar, unknown, unwanted, different, and in the case of English nationalism, the most inferior beings in the country. The Catholics were to close and threatening for comfort causing much fear among the Protestants. Why the fear? Why the complete and utter panic that came over Protestants when a Catholic was near?

Catholicism acted as the enemy in resistance to which English nationalism was first established. Over the 16th and 17th century, the English people's fear of Catholicism gradually switched from a religious matter to a political matter. Anti-Catholicism in England has its beginning with the English Reformation under Henry VIII. The English Reformation began as a long running dispute between the Papacy and Henry VIII over Henry's claimed control over the English people. The English Reformation was really based on Henry VIII's desire for an annulment from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, which the pope refused to reward. The political differences between Rome and England allowed the increasing religious disputes to be brought to the front of the reformation. These series of acts led to the separation of the pope and the entire Catholic Church in England.

In 1570, Pope Pius V sought to oust Elizabeth with the papal bull Regnans in Excelsis, which declared her a heretic and purported to release her Roman Catholic subjects from allegiance to her. The bull "excommunicated Elizabeth, deprived her of 'her pretended title' to the crown, and absolved Catholics from their obligations to the government. English Catholics were placed in an impossible situation" of which loyalty to Rome meant disloyalty to the crown of England.1 The majority of Catholics in England were loyal to the crown, but some bad apples were keeping the Catholics under suspicion.

The invasion of England by the Spanish Armada has been cited as an attempt by the Catholic King of Spain, Philip II, to put into effect the Pope's ruling to remove Elizabeth I, and to enforce a claim to the throne. The goal was to reestablish England as a Catholic state. The invasion was a complete failure, and gave faith to the Protestant cause across England.

An episode that further escalated anti-Catholicism in England is the Gunpowder Treason and Plot. The plot was a failed attempt by a group of English Catholics to kill King James I, his family, and most of the Protestant nobility in a single attack by blowing up the Houses of Parliament. The plotter's plan was to kill the king, attempt to establish a Catholic monarch, and restore Catholicism as the religion of England. King James was terrified of the plot, but he was uncertain to criticize Catholics just yet, which brought on fear amongst the Protestants. "The most vehement criticism of Catholics and Catholicism has come during periods when the critics feared, often with good reason, that the authorities were inclined to treat Catholics leniently."2 If the plot had succeeded, the massacre of Catholics at the hands of resentful Protestants would have been evident. No Catholic ally would have been able to help them with the Protestant reaction. The murder of his parents gives Charles I a long-lasting hatred of Catholics further strengthening the anti-Catholicity of the country. "The Gunpowder Treason plotters, a fanatical fringe of the Catholic community, were characterized in a way to suggest that committed Catholics were deluded political subversives willing to massacre Protestants, overthrow state authority, and bring in foreign invaders."3 The Gunpowder Treason and Plot was an attempt to eliminate the Protestants through the government especially the king, Parliament, and the upper class elite.

The Irish Rebellion of 1641 was a bloody battle between native Irish Catholics and English Protestants. The rebellion was sparked off by a Catholic fear of an invasion of Ireland by anti-Catholic forces of the English Parliament. Chaos followed resulting in the English Civil Wars which the Catholics were blamed for. In the 1650s, the rebellion was crushed by Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army. "The Irish Rebellion was largely responsible for creating the image of Catholics as treasonous, ruthless, and murderous."4 Catholics proved to be ruthless in their quest to destroy Protestantism. "The alleged atrocities committed by the Irish Rebels on English Protestants in Ireland are part of a tradition of anti-Catholic propaganda."5

The Great Fire of London of 1666 was blamed on the Catholics, and Protestants claimed "that Catholics had started the blaze and armed themselves in order to overthrow Protestantism."6 The unexpectedness of the fire, and the speed at which it spread, led to rumors of arson amongst the Protestants, and they had no better scapegoat then the Catholics. Afterwards, panics spread and there were riots in several towns around the country. Before the fire began, a London priest had proclaimed that the fire was "come upon this land and people for their forsaking the true Roman Catholic religion, and shaking off obedience to the Pope, and if they would return to the Church of Rome the Pope would rebuild the City at his own charge."7

In 1678, an English clergyman named Titus Oates announced that he had allegedly uncovered a plot, called the 'Popish Plot', to murder King Charles II of England and replace him with James, his Roman Catholic brother. A Protestant panic ensued with many Catholics put on trial for treason. "The twenty-four Catholics who were executed during the Popish Plot crisis were scapegoats for the forces of 'popish tyranny'- that is, royal absolutism. Thus Charles was forced to allow the trials and executions to run their course. Exclusion of James II from the crown may have been the goal of the parliamentarians who supported the prosecution of the 'plotters', but James was not only a Catholic threat to English religion and national security but also someone who would extend his brother's drive to royal absolutism."8

Protestants claimed that the Catholics were a group of people which in secret were trying to undermine the Protestants, and were more loyal to the Pope than they were to their own government. For this reason, in 1678, British laws known as the penal laws were established to uphold the establishment of the Church of England against Roman Catholics, by handing out punishments and civil disabilities against Catholics.

Many causes can contribute to the Protestant fear of Catholics during the 16th and 17th century. "Anxiety over national politics was the indispensable background for panics but local and particular factors must be introduced to explain the transition from mere uneasiness to a conviction that local Catholics were actually in rebellion."9 Protestant tensions during this period could have been caused by strange acts from Catholics, or an unusually large number of Catholics gathered in one area. Protestants linked unusual friendliness among their dissenting Roman Catholic neighbors with preparations for revolt. Many recusants, Roman Catholics who broke the law by refusing to attend Church of England services in England, caused high tensions amongst many Protestants. "Panics were however more than simple conjunction of national tension and local novelties in Catholic behavior. Despite their small numbers nationally there were parts of England where recusants possessed sufficient strength for an uprising to be within the bounds of possibility."10

Protestants concerned over the amount of candles or lights seen burning after dark in Catholic housing raising suspicion that the Catholics were preparing a revolt. "Unusually large consumption of food might indeed be an indication that something was stirring in the Catholic community - though not necessarily a conspiracy."11 Catholics were acquiring more alarming purchases than just food like guns, gunpowder, swords, and other kinds of weapons. "By the purchase of food or arms, or by allowing a Protestant to see all their family and servants gathered together Catholics risked inadvertently starting panics."12 If Catholics would sell property or possessions, Protestants would question what the money was for. If Catholics moved into an area with a greater Catholic population, Protestants would fear that an uprising was in the works. These kinds of actions would cause panic amongst the Protestants, but these actions were for good reason according to Catholic logic. "Homilies, puritan sermons, and recantation pamphlets, therefore tended to present Catholicism as an offence to true religion rather than a threat to its very existence."13

When great tension arose, Catholics could feel suspicion and prejudice being thrown at them. "Some might consult with recusant friends and leave the district. Others might resolve to brave the matter out obtaining cash, arms, and extra food. What Protestants would see was a flurry of unusual activity among papists. The stereotype of Catholicism was drawn upon to interpret this behavior and talk of a 'conspiracy' followed."14

A national uprising by Catholics was highly improbable due to the lack of numbers, but many Catholic groups with good amounts of people were scattered around the country. These groups were big enough to command power over Protestants, and cause an uprising. "This paranoiac fear of Catholicism was intensified by the obstinate durability of the Catholic community. Although by the death of Elizabeth I in 1603, it was clearly a minority of the population, it never proved possible to eliminate it entirely."15

Panics would also escalate over the pressure from foreign Catholics. "The North of England tended to be anxious over papists coming from Scotland; the West and North-west looked out across the Irish Sea; and in the South geography and history prompted thought of a Spanish or sometimes a French invader."16 The greatest fear was of an Irish invasion sweeping across the English countryside with an even greater fear of English Catholics getting involved with the invasion. King Louis XIV of France "confirmed the assumption of many Englishmen that Catholicism was always to be identified with absolute monarchy, and that it was the aim of the Catholic Church to impose this form of government on the whole world."17 The fear of France was due to Louis XIV absolutist views on establishing a Catholic domain in Europe. The English feared that a powerful Catholic country such as France would use its great military strength to inflict Catholicism on England similarly the same way that Spain tried with the failed Spanish Armada invasion. The English people thought Catholic rule would mean the loss of their property, their parliamentary form of government, and their religion. Catholicism was seen by the English people as a threatening force from France.

Panics also dealt with political views between Catholics, Protestant, and the English Parliament. Political "fear of Catholics resulted basically from an assumption that they wished to change by force the Protestant character of the State."18 Anti-Catholicism could conceal political views without creating hostility supplying a guide to the unfamiliar political world. "As Catholicism became more intense and definite, as families became more solidly and unitedly Catholic, its diffused influence over a large section of the upper classes faded away."19

The strength and determination of anti-Catholicism at all levels of society was one of the most striking features of sixteenth and seventeenth century England. Anti-Catholicism was involved with everyone from the working masses to the rich. The amount of anti-Catholic fears rose and fell according to the political situation of the time. "The possibility that English Catholicism posed any real threat to Protestant England has been discounted not only on the grounds that the English Catholics were numerically weak, but also because they are (correctly) perceived as for the most part politically quiescent by the early seventeenth century."20 Catholics were blamed for all hardships during the 16th and 17th Century from religious, to political, and to warfare.

Protestants from the lower classes to royalty greatly feared and had an extreme hatred of Catholics. English monarchs and Oliver Cromwell used this fear to bolster the suppression of uprisings by Irish rebellions, Spanish invasions, and French absolutism. Many Catholics were opposed to English and Protestant intolerance precisely on the grounds that Catholics were entitled to exactly the same political and religious liberty as English Protestants. Anti-Catholicism during the 16th and 17th Century expressed commonality with Protestants on the European continent experiencing domination. Protestants feared Catholics due to the fact that they posed a threat to their lives religiously and politically.

Bibliography:
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England: Pearson, 2000.
Hibbard, Caroline. Charles I and the Popish Plot. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: North

Carolina Press, 1983.
Kenyon, John. The Popish Plot. London: Phoenix Press, 1972.
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Discourses in Early Modern England. Notre Dame, Indiana: Notre Dame Press,

2005.
Nicholls, Mark. Investigating Gunpowder Plot. New York: Manchester, 1991.
Roberts, Andrew. What Might Have Been? London: Weidenfeld, 2004.
Shagan, Ethan. Catholics and the 'Protestant Nation'. Manchester, England: Manchester,
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Footnotes:
1 John Coffey, Persecution and Toleration in Protestant England, 1558-1689 (Harlow,
England: Pearson, 2000), 85-86.
2 Mark Nicholls, Investigating Gunpowder Plot (New York: Manchester, 1991), 47.
3 Arthur Marotti, Religious Ideology & Cultural Fantasy: Catholic and Anti-Catholic
Discourses in Early Modern England (Notre Dame, Indiana: Notre Dame Press,
2005), 133.
4 Marotti, Religious Ideology & Cultural Fantasy, 132-133.
5 Ibid, 149.
6 John Coffey, Persecution and Toleration in Protestant England, 1558-1689 (Harlow,
England: Pearson, 2000), 183-184.
7 John Kenyon, The Popish Plot (London: Phoenix Press, 1972), 13.
8 Marotti, Religious Ideology & Cultural Fantasy, 159.
9 Carol Wiener, Past & Present: The Beleaguered Isle - A Study of Elizabethan and Early
Jacobean Anti-Catholicism (Oxford, England: Past and Present, 1971), 44.
10 Wiener, Past & Present, 47.
11 Ibid, 45.
12 Ibid, 46.
13 Ibid, 38.
14 Ibid, 47.
15 Kenyon, The Popish Plot, 5.
16 Wiener, Past & Present, 49.
17 Kenyon, The Popish Plot, 2.
18 Wiener, Past & Present, 54.
19 Ibid, 33.
20 Caroline Hibbard, Charles I and the Popish Plot (Chapel Hill, North Carolina: North
Carolina Press, 1983), 4.