All words Any words Exact phrase

who began to look with a friendly eye towards the old faith were
shocked by the adoption of such means, and when they found themselves
face to face with the necessity of selecting between an Anglo-Spanish
party and Elizabeth, they decided to throw in their lot with the
latter. The discovery of the Babington plot for the rescue of
Scotland's queen led to the death of its author and the execution of
the lady in whose favour it had been planned (1587). The news of
Mary's execution created a great sensation both at home and abroad. To
prevent hostilities on the part of Mary's son, James VI. of Scotland,
or of the Catholic sovereigns on the Continent, Elizabeth, pretending
to be displeased with her ministers for carrying out the sentence,
ordered the arrest of Davison the secretary to the council, and had
him punished by a fine of £10,000 and imprisonment in the Tower.
Philip II. was not, however, deceived by such conduct, or influenced
by the overtures made for peace. Elizabeth's interference in the
affairs of the Netherlands, the attacks made by her sailors on Spanish
territories and Spanish treasure-ships, and the execution of Mary
Queen of Scotland determined him to make a final effort for the
overthrow of the English government. The great Armada was got ready
for the invasion of England (1588). But the Spanish ships were not
destined to reach the English harbours, nor the Spanish soldiers whom
they carried on board to test their bravery and skill in conflict with
Elizabeth's forces on English soil.

Though there is no evidence either from English or Spanish reports
that Catholics in England welcomed the Armada, since both Lord
Burghley[38] and Philip II. were convinced that Spain could not rely
on their co-operation, and though in many parts of the country
Catholics volunteered for service to fight the invader, the government
determined to wreak its vengeance on the helpless victims in prison.
Within three days six priests and eight laymen were executed near
London (August); nine priests and three laymen were put to death in
October, and before the end of the year thirty-one had suffered the
terrible punishment reserved for traitors, merely because they refused
to conform. The prisons were so full of recusants that new houses were
opened for their detention. The government reaped a rich harvest by
the heavy fines inflicted on the wealthy Catholics and took pains,
besides, to annoy them at every turn by domiciliary visits in search
of concealed priests. Yet the reports from the country, especially
from such places as Lancashire and Cheshire, showed that the Papists
were still dangerously strong. A new proclamation was issued against
seminary priests and Jesuits (1591). Nine priests and two laymen had
been put to death in the previous year (1590), and in 1591 fifteen
were martyred, seven of whom were priests and the rest laymen.
Throughout the remainder of Queen Elizabeth's reign Catholics in
England were not allowed to enjoy peace or respite. If priests, they
were by that very fact liable to be hunted down and condemned as
traitors; if they were laymen of substance, they were beggared by
heavy fines imposed for non-attendance at the English service, or
punished by imprisonment, and if they were too poor to pay a fine they
could be driven from the kingdom for refusing to conform. Apart
altogether from the immense sums levied on Catholics by fines and
forfeitures, and from the number of people who died in prison either
from confinement or torture, one hundred and eighty-nine were put to
death for the faith under Elizabeth, one hundred and twenty-eight of
whom were priests; and yet, notwithstanding this persecution,
Catholics were still comparatively strong at the death of Elizabeth,
and the supply of clergy showed no signs of being exhausted. Over
three hundred and sixty priests were in England attending to the wants
of their co-religionists in 1603.

Unfortunately the dissensions among the Catholic party in England and
on the Continent did more harm to their cause than Elizabeth's
persecutions. The close co-operation of Allen and Persons with Spanish
political designs for the overthrow of Elizabeth and the invasion of
England was as distasteful to a large body of the lay Catholics in
England as it was to many of the clergy.[39] Though serious disputes
had broken out long before, it was only after the death of Cardinal
Allen in 1594 that the crisis reached a head. Many of the secular
clergy objected warmly to the influence of the Jesuits, and ugly
controversies broke out in England and in the English colleges abroad.
Persons and his friends were supposed to be plotting in favour of the
succession of a Catholic to the throne on the death of Elizabeth,