Catholicism, community and identity in late Tudor and early Stuart Herefordshire

Brogden, Wendy Elizabeth (2018). Catholicism, community and identity in late Tudor and early Stuart Herefordshire. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

Historians have recently taken a renewed interest in the role of the Roman Catholic community within the confessionally divided English post-Reformation state, but the nature of the surviving sources has meant that most work has been directed towards the study of the gentry and the communities around their households. For the Herefordshire area, however, there is evidence in the form of local listings and material, focussing particularly on the Whitsun Riots of 1605, which make it possible to investigate popular Catholicism in some detail.

This thesis seeks to establish, for the period from c.1580 to the eve of the Civil War, the identities and roles of Catholics within their local communities in Herefordshire. It looks at the social profile of Catholics, leadership roles taken by non-gentry Catholics, the relationship of plebeian Catholics to Catholic gentry and the varied types of Catholic community in the county. It considers the influence of the ecclesiastical courts, of Jesuits and seminary priests, and of the Welsh legacy in parishes along the Monmouthshire border. The thesis also explores both the ways that religious divisions played out in local society and the evidence for Catholic ritual practice and what this reveals about mission in the area.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

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