Oath of Allegiance of James I of England
Encyclopedia
The Oath of Allegiance of 1606 was an oath
required of subjects of James I of England
from 1606, the year after the Gunpowder Plot
of 1605 (see Popish Recusants Act 1605
); it was also called the Oath of Obedience . Whatever effect it had on the loyalty of his subjects, it caused an international controversy lasting a decade.
read:
condemned the formula:
James then asserted that his oath was not meant to encroach upon anyone's conscientious convictions. Hereupon minimizers began to maintain that the words of the oath might be interpreted by the intention of the law-giver, that the oath might therefore be taken.
, wrote in defence of the oath. Some English Catholics, for instance William Bishop, explicitly rejected the deposing power, but refused the oath.
There were unintended consequences. According to Patterson::
Calvinists, Gallicanism
in France, the aftermath of the Venetian Interdict
, and the uncertain Catholic orthodoxy of the Vienna court of Emperor Rudolph II.
and Matthew Sutcliffe
, as a necessary measure in the wake of the Gunpowder Plot, and invoking the legal principle rebus sic stantibus. This opinion clashed with that of Robert Parsons in his Treatise tending to Mitigation (1608), and of Catholics who argued that no Mary Queen of Scots was disrupting the dynastic position. No one was more closely identified with the Jesuit role in the English mission than Parsons, and he was already a central figure in the polemics around it. He turned on Morton and Edward Coke
, choosing his ground as the use of authorities. William Barlow
made mischief by suggesting Parsons in any case was second fiddle to Robert Bellarmine
. Parsons blasted Barlow over a side issue, the 12th-century exhumation of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor
, with Johannes Cuspinian
, Helmoldus, the Chronicon Urspergense of Konrad of Lichtenau
, Johannes Nauclerus
, Carolus Sigonius
, Severin Binius
, Baronius and Petrus Diaconus
.
, then head of the English Catholic secular clergy
, had at first disapproved of the oath, then allowed it, then after the pope's Brief disallowed it again, and finally being arrested and thrown into prison, took the oath, relying on James's statement that no encroachment on conscience was intended, and recommended the faithful to do the same. The pope then issued a new Brief (23 August 1607), repeating his prohibition.
Bellarmine wrote a letter (18 September 1607) to Blackwell, an acquaintance from Flanders many years previously, reproaching him for having taken the oath in apparent disregard of his duty to the pope. Blackwell had survived the archpriest controversy of a few years before; and he had also navigated the aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot
as leader of the English Catholics, but at the cost of a complex explanation of why they could take the oath in good conscience. His position satisfied neither the Pope, who condemned it within days of Bellarmine's letter and replaced Blackwell by George Birkhead
(February 1608), nor the English government, who imprisoned him. The matter moved into the public sphere, with Bellarmine's letter being thrown back as material to the pretensions of the papal deposing power. Blackwell was informed that his canonical faculties
would be taken away if he did not retract in two months. This, however, he refused to do, and he continued to defend his opinion for three years before he was finally suspended.
, Richard Bancroft
and James Montague
. The cardinal answered with a Responsio, using the pseudonym Matthaeus Tortus (i.e. Matteo Torti or Torto, his chaplain); he portrayed James as smooth in past correspondence with the papacy, but delivering little in practical terms. This accusation raked up a matter from before James's accession to the English throne; James Elphinstone, 1st Lord Balmerino
was disgraced and sentenced to death, having related the story of a 1599 letter he had sent to the Vatican as being his responsibility, James as king of Scotland not having read it. The sentence was not carried out, however.
Andrewes replied to Bellarmine in Tortura Torti (1609); James politicised the whole debate with his Premonition in the same year, dedicated to the Emperor Rudolph II and all the monarchs of Christendom
. In it James now dropped his anonymity, and posed as the defender of primitive and true Christianity.
of the Book of Revelation
. In the Premonition James had shifted to a more equivocal position. His view was that the identification could not be required as a matter of faith. He spoke of it as conjectural; but as a belief to which he was committed, at least as long as the interference in temporal matters persisted. He balanced these statements with concessions on the Pope's spiritual status. Half of the book dwelled on this topic, expressed in terms offensive to Catholics. James's approach seemed to be a bargaining chip, or feeler for negotiations, to the diplomat Antoine le Fèvre de la Boderie.
, De potestate papae (1609). Barclay's views were on the Gallican side, and Bellarmine's answer, Tractatus de potestate summi pontificis in rebus temporalibus (1610), gave offence to French Gallicans; it was publicly burnt in Paris by a Decree of 26 November 1610.
In reply to a posthumous treatise of Barclay, Bellarmine wrote a Tractatus de potestate summi pontificis in rebus temporalibus. It reiterated his assertions on the subject of papal power, and was prohibited in France
. Another prominent rejection of Bellarmine's claim of papal superior authority was made by philosopher Thomas Hobbes
in the third and fourth book of his Leviathan
.
's answer to James was the Defensio fidei (1613), a major statement of the Catholic position, and also an important landmark in political thought. It suffered the same fate as Bellarmine's Tractatus, through an arrêt of 26 June 1614; but this decree was eventually withdrawn at the request of the Pope.
On the other side were:
The main years of the controversy were 1608 to 1614, but publications connected with it appeared until 1620.
, Arrowsmith, Herst, Gervase, Thomas Garnet
, Gavan, and Heath; the last two left writings against it. Another illustration will be found in the history of George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore
, whose attempt to settle in Virginia
, where the oath had been introduced in 1609, was defeated by it. His son Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore
, on the other hand, ordered his adventurers to take the oath, but whether he insisted on this is uncertain.
Charles I of England
generally recognized that Catholics could not conscientiously take the Oath of Supremacy, and frequently exerted his prerogative to help them to avoid it. On the other hand his theory of the Divine right of kings
induced him to favour the Oath of Allegiance, and he was irritated with the Catholics who refused it or argued against it. Pope Urban VIII
is said to have condemned the oath again in 1626, and the controversy continued. Preston still wrote in its defence; so also, at King Charles's order, did Sir William Howard (1634); this was probably the future Catholic martyr. Their most important opponent was Father Edward Courtney, who was therefore imprisoned by Charles. The matter is frequently mentioned in the dispatches and the "Relatione" of Panzani, the papal agent to Queen Henrietta Maria.
The Sorbonne
, on 30 June 1681, shortly before approving the Gallican articles, censored the English oath, and found in it very little to object to.
Oath
An oath is either a statement of fact or a promise calling upon something or someone that the oath maker considers sacred, usually God, as a witness to the binding nature of the promise or the truth of the statement of fact. To swear is to take an oath, to make a solemn vow...
required of subjects of James I of England
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
from 1606, the year after the Gunpowder Plot
Gunpowder Plot
The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was a failed assassination attempt against King James I of England and VI of Scotland by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby.The plan was to blow up the House of...
of 1605 (see Popish Recusants Act 1605
Popish Recusants Act 1605
The Popish Recusants Act 1605 was an Act of the Parliament of England which quickly followed the Gunpowder Plot of the same year, an attempt by English Roman Catholics to assassinate King James I and many of the Parliament....
); it was also called the Oath of Obedience . Whatever effect it had on the loyalty of his subjects, it caused an international controversy lasting a decade.
Overview
The oath was proclaimed law on 22 June 1606. It contained seven affirmations,, and was targeted on "activist political ideology". The clause against the papal deposing powerPapal deposing power
The papal deposing power was the most powerful tool of the political authority claimed by and on behalf of the Roman Pontiff, in medieval and early modern thought, amounting to the assertion of the Pope's power to declare a Christian monarch heretical and powerless to rule.Pope Gregory VII's...
read:
- "I, A.B., do truly and sincerely acknowledge, &c. that our sovereign lord, King James, is lawful and rightful King &c. and that the pope neither of himself nor by any authority of Church or See of Rome, or by any other means with any other, has any power to depose the king &c., or to authorize any foreign prince to invade him &c., or to give licence to any to bear arms, raise tumults, &c. &c. Also I do swear that notwithstanding any sentence of excommunication or deprivation I will bear allegiance and true faith to his Majesty &c. &c. And I do further swear that I do from my heart abhor, detest, and abjure, as impious and heretical this damnable doctrine and position,--that princes which be excommunicated by the pope may be deposed or murdered by their subjects or by any other whatsoever. And I do believe that the pope has no power to absolve me from this oath. I do swear according to the plain and common sense, and understanding of the same words &c. &c. &c" (3 James I, c. 4).
Papal objections
On 22 September 1606 Pope Paul VPope Paul V
-Theology:Paul met with Galileo Galilei in 1616 after Cardinal Bellarmine had, on his orders, warned Galileo not to hold or defend the heliocentric ideas of Copernicus. Whether there was also an order not to teach those ideas in any way has been a matter for controversy...
condemned the formula:
It cannot be taken, as it contains many things evidently contrary to faith and salvation.
James then asserted that his oath was not meant to encroach upon anyone's conscientious convictions. Hereupon minimizers began to maintain that the words of the oath might be interpreted by the intention of the law-giver, that the oath might therefore be taken.
Catholic views of the time
Some Catholic writers, such as Thomas PrestonThomas Preston (monk)
Thomas Preston was a Benedictine monk.He studied in the English College in Rome and became a Benedictine at Monte Cassino and was sent to England on mission....
, wrote in defence of the oath. Some English Catholics, for instance William Bishop, explicitly rejected the deposing power, but refused the oath.
Current views
There is a range of views among contemporary scholars about King James's intention in requiring the oath. These include:- (Programmatic) to forward a wider theological and ecumenical project (Patterson);
- (Persecuting) to give grounds for bearing down on English Catholics who faced the dilemma of swearing or not (Questier);
- (Anti-papalist) to target supporters of papal temporal authority (Somerville); or
- (Assertive) to assert his own spiritual authority (Tutino).
There were unintended consequences. According to Patterson::
James himself did not give up his vision of a peaceful and united Church at home and abroad which he had unfolded to Parliament at its opening session in 1604. But in defending the Oath of Allegiance, he allowed himself to be drawn into a bitter Europe-wide theological controversy.
Controversy
After a slow start, controversy over the oath ramified. By the beginning of 1609 it had begun to touch on a whole range of European issues: English Catholics, RhinelandRhineland
Historically, the Rhinelands refers to a loosely-defined region embracing the land on either bank of the River Rhine in central Europe....
Calvinists, Gallicanism
Gallicanism
Gallicanism is the belief that popular civil authority—often represented by the monarchs' authority or the State's authority—over the Catholic Church is comparable to that of the Pope's...
in France, the aftermath of the Venetian Interdict
Venetian Interdict
The Venetian Interdict of 1606 and 1607 was the expression in terms of canon law, by means of a papal interdict, of a diplomatic quarrel and confrontation between the Papal Curia and the Republic of Venice, taking place in the period from 1605 to 1607...
, and the uncertain Catholic orthodoxy of the Vienna court of Emperor Rudolph II.
Attack on Parsons
The oath was strongly supported by Thomas MortonThomas Morton (bishop)
Thomas Morton was an English churchman, bishop of several dioceses.-Early life:Morton was born in York on 20 March 1564. He was brought up and grammar school educated in the city and nearby Halifax. In 1582 he became a pensioner at St John's College, Cambridge from which he graduated with a BA in...
and Matthew Sutcliffe
Matthew Sutcliffe
Matthew Sutcliffe was an English clergyman, academic and lawyer. He became Dean of Exeter, and wrote extensively on religious matters as a controversialist. He served as chaplain to His Majesty King James I of England. He was the founder of Chelsea College, a royal centre for the writing of...
, as a necessary measure in the wake of the Gunpowder Plot, and invoking the legal principle rebus sic stantibus. This opinion clashed with that of Robert Parsons in his Treatise tending to Mitigation (1608), and of Catholics who argued that no Mary Queen of Scots was disrupting the dynastic position. No one was more closely identified with the Jesuit role in the English mission than Parsons, and he was already a central figure in the polemics around it. He turned on Morton and Edward Coke
Edward Coke
Sir Edward Coke SL PC was an English barrister, judge and politician considered to be the greatest jurist of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. Born into a middle class family, Coke was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge before leaving to study at the Inner Temple, where he was called to the...
, choosing his ground as the use of authorities. William Barlow
William Barlow (Bishop of Lincoln)
William Barlow was an Anglican priest and courtier during the reign of James I of England. He served as Bishop of Rochester in 1605 and Bishop of Lincoln in the Anglican Church from 1608 until his death. He had also served the church as Rector of St Dunstan's, Stepney in Middlesex and of...
made mischief by suggesting Parsons in any case was second fiddle to Robert Bellarmine
Robert Bellarmine
Robert Bellarmine was an Italian Jesuit and a Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was one of the most important figures in the Counter-Reformation...
. Parsons blasted Barlow over a side issue, the 12th-century exhumation of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry IV was King of the Romans from 1056 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 until his forced abdication in 1105. He was the third emperor of the Salian dynasty and one of the most powerful and important figures of the 11th century...
, with Johannes Cuspinian
Johannes Cuspinian
Johannes Cuspinianus , born Johan Spießhaymer , was an Austrian humanist, scientist, diplomat, and historian. Born in Spießheim, near Schweinfurt in Franconia, of which Cuspinianus is a Latinization, he studied in Leipzig and Würzburg...
, Helmoldus, the Chronicon Urspergense of Konrad of Lichtenau
Konrad of Lichtenau
Konrad of Lichtenau was a medieval German chronicler from Swabia.Konrad was born to a noble Swabian family and spent time at court, before he becoming a Premonstratensian in Rome at the court of Innocent III...
, Johannes Nauclerus
Johannes Nauclerus
Johannes Nauclerus was a 16th century Swabian historian and humanist. He was born Johann Vergenhans to a noble man of the same name...
, Carolus Sigonius
Carolus Sigonius
Carolus Sigonius was an Italian humanist, born in Modena.Having studied Greek under the learned Franciscus Portus of Candia, he attended the philosophical schools of Bologna and Pavia, and in 1545 was elected professor of Greek in his native place in succession to Portus...
, Severin Binius
Severin Binius
Severin Binius was a German Roman Catholic priest, historian and critic.-Life:He studied at the gymnasium of St. Lawrence, in Cologne, and later taught in the same school for several years...
, Baronius and Petrus Diaconus
Peter the Deacon
Peter the Deacon was the librarian of the abbey of Montecassino and continuator of the Chronicon Monasterii Casinensis, usually called the Montecassino Chronicle in English. The chronicle was originally written by Leo of Ostia...
.
The case of Blackwell
The archpriest George BlackwellGeorge Blackwell
Father George Blackwell was Roman Catholic Archpriest of England from 1597 to 1608.-Biography:Blackwell was born in Middlesex, England about 1545, perhaps the son of the pewterer Thomas Blackwell. He was admitted as a scholar to Trinity College, Oxford on 27 May 1562...
, then head of the English Catholic secular clergy
Secular clergy
The term secular clergy refers to deacons and priests who are not monastics or members of a religious order.-Catholic Church:In the Catholic Church, the secular clergy are ministers, such as deacons and priests, who do not belong to a religious order...
, had at first disapproved of the oath, then allowed it, then after the pope's Brief disallowed it again, and finally being arrested and thrown into prison, took the oath, relying on James's statement that no encroachment on conscience was intended, and recommended the faithful to do the same. The pope then issued a new Brief (23 August 1607), repeating his prohibition.
Bellarmine wrote a letter (18 September 1607) to Blackwell, an acquaintance from Flanders many years previously, reproaching him for having taken the oath in apparent disregard of his duty to the pope. Blackwell had survived the archpriest controversy of a few years before; and he had also navigated the aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot
Gunpowder Plot
The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was a failed assassination attempt against King James I of England and VI of Scotland by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby.The plan was to blow up the House of...
as leader of the English Catholics, but at the cost of a complex explanation of why they could take the oath in good conscience. His position satisfied neither the Pope, who condemned it within days of Bellarmine's letter and replaced Blackwell by George Birkhead
George Birkhead
George Birkhead or Birket, alias Hall, Lambton, and Salvin was an English Roman Catholic priest, archpriest in England from 1608.-Life:...
(February 1608), nor the English government, who imprisoned him. The matter moved into the public sphere, with Bellarmine's letter being thrown back as material to the pretensions of the papal deposing power. Blackwell was informed that his canonical faculties
Canonical faculties
Canonical faculties, in the canon law of the Roman Catholic Church, are ecclesiastical rights conferred on a subordinate, by a superior who enjoys jurisdiction in the external forum...
would be taken away if he did not retract in two months. This, however, he refused to do, and he continued to defend his opinion for three years before he was finally suspended.
Bellarmine drawn in
James attacked Bellarmine early in 1608 in a treatise Triplici nodo, triplex cuneus, the title of which identified it in a learned fashion as an answer to the missives sent to Blackwell. It was published anonymously in English around February 1608, and was then translated into Latin and French. It was the work of James, supported by advice from Lancelot AndrewesLancelot Andrewes
Lancelot Andrewes was an English bishop and scholar, who held high positions in the Church of England during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I. During the latter's reign, Andrewes served successively as Bishop of Chichester, Ely and Winchester and oversaw the translation of the...
, Richard Bancroft
Richard Bancroft
Archbishop Richard Bancroft, DD, BD, MA, BA was an English churchman, who became Archbishop of Canterbury and the "chief overseer" of the production of the authorized version of the Bible.-Life:...
and James Montague
James Montague (bishop)
James Montague was an English bishop.-Life:He was the son of Sir Edward Montague of Boughton, and grandson of Edward Montagu....
. The cardinal answered with a Responsio, using the pseudonym Matthaeus Tortus (i.e. Matteo Torti or Torto, his chaplain); he portrayed James as smooth in past correspondence with the papacy, but delivering little in practical terms. This accusation raked up a matter from before James's accession to the English throne; James Elphinstone, 1st Lord Balmerino
James Elphinstone, 1st Lord Balmerino
James Elphinstone, 1st Lord Balmerino was a Scottish nobleman and politician, disgraced in 1609.-Life to 1605:He was the third son of Robert Elphinstone, 3rd Lord Elphinstone, by Margaret, daughter of Sir John Drummond of Innerpeffray, and was born about 1553...
was disgraced and sentenced to death, having related the story of a 1599 letter he had sent to the Vatican as being his responsibility, James as king of Scotland not having read it. The sentence was not carried out, however.
Andrewes replied to Bellarmine in Tortura Torti (1609); James politicised the whole debate with his Premonition in the same year, dedicated to the Emperor Rudolph II and all the monarchs of Christendom
Christendom
Christendom, or the Christian world, has several meanings. In a cultural sense it refers to the worldwide community of Christians, adherents of Christianity...
. In it James now dropped his anonymity, and posed as the defender of primitive and true Christianity.
Antichrist
James insisted that Andrewes included in Tortura Torti references to the idea that if a Pope meddled with the temporal allegiances of Catholics, this was with indication of an identification of the AntichristAntichrist (historicism)
Antichrist is the view among certain historic Reformation communities that the papacy or the Pope is the Antichrist. This article is a general overview of the Antichrist in the eschatological view of historicism....
of the Book of Revelation
Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...
. In the Premonition James had shifted to a more equivocal position. His view was that the identification could not be required as a matter of faith. He spoke of it as conjectural; but as a belief to which he was committed, at least as long as the interference in temporal matters persisted. He balanced these statements with concessions on the Pope's spiritual status. Half of the book dwelled on this topic, expressed in terms offensive to Catholics. James's approach seemed to be a bargaining chip, or feeler for negotiations, to the diplomat Antoine le Fèvre de la Boderie.
Gallicanism involved
After this, Bellarmine published, now also using his own name, his Apologia pro responsione ad librum Jacobi I (1609). James opposed to this a treatise by a learned Scottish Catholic, William BarclayWilliam Barclay (jurist)
William Barclay was a Scottish jurist.-Life:He was born in Aberdeenshire in 1546. Educated at the University of Aberdeen, he went to France in 1573, and studied law at the University of Bourges, where he took his doctor's degree...
, De potestate papae (1609). Barclay's views were on the Gallican side, and Bellarmine's answer, Tractatus de potestate summi pontificis in rebus temporalibus (1610), gave offence to French Gallicans; it was publicly burnt in Paris by a Decree of 26 November 1610.
In reply to a posthumous treatise of Barclay, Bellarmine wrote a Tractatus de potestate summi pontificis in rebus temporalibus. It reiterated his assertions on the subject of papal power, and was prohibited in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. Another prominent rejection of Bellarmine's claim of papal superior authority was made by philosopher Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury , in some older texts Thomas Hobbs of Malmsbury, was an English philosopher, best known today for his work on political philosophy...
in the third and fourth book of his Leviathan
Leviathan (book)
Leviathan or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil — commonly called simply Leviathan — is a book written by Thomas Hobbes and published in 1651. Its name derives from the biblical Leviathan...
.
The Salamanca School
Francisco SuárezFrancisco Suárez
Francisco Suárez was a Spanish Jesuit priest, philosopher and theologian, one of the leading figures of the School of Salamanca movement, and generally regarded among the greatest scholastics after Thomas Aquinas....
's answer to James was the Defensio fidei (1613), a major statement of the Catholic position, and also an important landmark in political thought. It suffered the same fate as Bellarmine's Tractatus, through an arrêt of 26 June 1614; but this decree was eventually withdrawn at the request of the Pope.
Ramifying contributions
Many secondary writers joined the fray. On the Catholic side were:- Cardinal Duperron, Leonard Lessius, Jacob GretserJacob GretserJacob Gretser was a celebrated German Jesuit writer.-Life:Gretser was born at Markdorf in the Diocese of Constance. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1578, and nine years later he defended publicly theses covering the whole field of theology...
, Thomas FitzherbertThomas FitzherbertThomas Fitzherbert was an English Jesuit.-Early life:His father having died whilst he was an infant, he was, even as a child, the head of an important family and the first heir born at Swynnerton, where his descendants have since flourished and still remain Catholics...
, Martin Becan, Gaspar Scioppi, Robert Persons, Adolph Schulckenius (who according to Somervogel is an independent writer, not a pseudonym for Bellarmine, as has been asserted), Nicolas CoeffeteauNicolas CoeffeteauNicolas Coeffeteau was a French theologian, poet and historian born at Saint-Calais.He entered the Dominican order and lectured on philosophy at Paris, being also ordinary preacher to Henry IV, and afterwards ambassador at Rome....
, Andreas Eudaemon Joannes.
On the other side were:
- Andrewes, William BarlowWilliam Barlow (Bishop of Lincoln)William Barlow was an Anglican priest and courtier during the reign of James I of England. He served as Bishop of Rochester in 1605 and Bishop of Lincoln in the Anglican Church from 1608 until his death. He had also served the church as Rector of St Dunstan's, Stepney in Middlesex and of...
, Robert BurhillRobert BurhillRobert Burhill or Burghill was an English clergyman, known as a prolific controversialist.-Life:He was born at Dymock, Gloucestershire, and entered Corpus Christi College, Oxford, on 13 January 1588, proceeding B.A. on 5 February 1591, M.A. on 12 December 1594, B.D. on 7 July 1603, and D.D. on 2...
, Pierre du MoulinPierre Du MoulinPierre Du Moulin was a Huguenot minister in France who also resided in England for some years.-Life:Born in Buhy in 1568, he was the son of Joachim Du Moulin, a Protestant minister in the Orleans area...
, the poet John DonneJohn DonneJohn Donne 31 March 1631), English poet, satirist, lawyer, and priest, is now considered the preeminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His works are notable for their strong and sensual style and include sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs,...
(in his Pseudo-Martyr of 1610) and especially the Benedictine Roger Widdrington, vere Preston. Most of the Protestant books written in Latin, together with all the publications of Preston and Barclay, were put on the Index Librorum ProhibitorumIndex Librorum ProhibitorumThe Index Librorum Prohibitorum was a list of publications prohibited by the Catholic Church. A first version was promulgated by Pope Paul IV in 1559, and a revised and somewhat relaxed form was authorized at the Council of Trent...
.
The main years of the controversy were 1608 to 1614, but publications connected with it appeared until 1620.
Subsequent history
The oath was used against the Catholics Drury, Atkinson, Almond, John ThulisJohn Thulis
John Thulis was an English Roman Catholic priest. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1987.-Life:...
, Arrowsmith, Herst, Gervase, Thomas Garnet
Thomas Garnet
Saint Thomas Garnet was a Jesuit priest. He is the protomartyr of Saint Omer and therefore of Stonyhurst College. He was executed at Tyburn and is one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.-Thomas Garnet's family:Thomas Garnet was born into a prominent family...
, Gavan, and Heath; the last two left writings against it. Another illustration will be found in the history of George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore
George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore
Sir George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, 8th Proprietary Governor of Newfoundland was an English politician and colonizer. He achieved domestic political success as a Member of Parliament and later Secretary of State under King James I...
, whose attempt to settle in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, where the oath had been introduced in 1609, was defeated by it. His son Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore
Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore
Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, 1st Proprietor and 1st Proprietary Governor of Maryland, 9th Proprietary Governor of Newfoundland , was an English peer who was the first proprietor of the Province of Maryland. He received the proprietorship after the death of his father, George Calvert, the...
, on the other hand, ordered his adventurers to take the oath, but whether he insisted on this is uncertain.
Charles I of England
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
generally recognized that Catholics could not conscientiously take the Oath of Supremacy, and frequently exerted his prerogative to help them to avoid it. On the other hand his theory of the Divine right of kings
Divine Right of Kings
The divine right of kings or divine-right theory of kingship is a political and religious doctrine of royal and political legitimacy. It asserts that a monarch is subject to no earthly authority, deriving his right to rule directly from the will of God...
induced him to favour the Oath of Allegiance, and he was irritated with the Catholics who refused it or argued against it. Pope Urban VIII
Pope Urban VIII
Pope Urban VIII , born Maffeo Barberini, was pope from 1623 to 1644. He was the last pope to expand the papal territory by force of arms, and was a prominent patron of the arts and reformer of Church missions...
is said to have condemned the oath again in 1626, and the controversy continued. Preston still wrote in its defence; so also, at King Charles's order, did Sir William Howard (1634); this was probably the future Catholic martyr. Their most important opponent was Father Edward Courtney, who was therefore imprisoned by Charles. The matter is frequently mentioned in the dispatches and the "Relatione" of Panzani, the papal agent to Queen Henrietta Maria.
The Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
, on 30 June 1681, shortly before approving the Gallican articles, censored the English oath, and found in it very little to object to.