Catholic Restoration and Persecution

Catholic Restoration

September 1553 Protestant churchmen such as Cranmer**,** Bradford**,** Rogers**,** Hooper and Latimer were arrested and imprisoned.

October 1553: The First Statute of Repeal restored the Church to the position that it had been in during the last years of Henry VIII's reign.

• Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon's marriage was declared valid.

• Edward VI's religious laws were abolished.

• Mary I wanted to go further but was advised against it by her main supporters. 1554: Catholic bishops replaced Protestant bishops.

• All bishops were ordered to adhere only to legislation passed in the reign of Henry VIII.

• Latin became the language of the Church again and clerical marriage was outlawed.

• Mary I required the papal blessing to fully restore Catholicism. Cardinal Reginald Pole returned to England as papal legate. November 1554: The Second Statute of Repeal restored England's religious position to that of 1529, complete with Papal authority.

• Heresy laws as they were under Henry VIII were also restored.

Outcomes

• Religious innovations since 1529 were withdrawn.
• Mary I failed to restore monastic lands and monasteries.
• English monarch and Parliament continued to exercise great control over the Church.
• Only papal authority, not supremacy, was restored in the kingdom.

Catholic Persecution

• The restoration of the heresy laws by parliament put the lives of the Protestants in England at risk.
• Prominent Protestants were tried for heresy and executed when found guilty.
• The burning at the stake began on 4 February 1555.
• Some of the leading Protestants who were executed were Hooper**,** Ridley**,** Latimer and Cranmer**.**
• Between 1555 and 1558, an estimated 284 religious executions were carried out.

Heretic burnt at the stake

Outcomes

• Around 800 Protestants fled to the continent in exile.
• Protestant martyrs inspired the committed resistance to Catholicism.
• Mary I's popularity suffered.