Penal Laws and Relief Acts

Tags

acts, charles II, elizabeth I, emancipation, george IV, geroge III, james I, mary II, recusancy, relief, william III

I extracted the following list from The Recusant Historian’s Handbook by J A Hilton (follow the link for the full text).

I ‘ve added the names of the ruling monarch at the end of each entry.

• 1559, Act of Supremacy: Monarch supreme governor of Church of England, clergy to take oath of supremacy on pain of deprivation. [ Elizabeth I ]
• 1559, Act of Uniformity: imposed Book of Common Prayer, one shilling fine for failure to attend church on Sunday. [ Elizabeth I ]
• 1563, forbidden to defend papal supremacy on pain of Praemunire (forfeiture of property). [ Elizabeth I ]
• 1571, treason to call monarch heretic or schismatic, treason to introduce papal bulls. [ Elizabeth I ]
• 1581, treason to convert or to be converted to Catholicism, fine of £20 per month for recusancy. [ Elizabeth I ]
• 1585, treason for Jesuits or seminary priests to enter the country. [ Elizabeth I ]
• 1587, susected recusant who failed to appear for trial incurred guilt. [ Elizabeth I ]
• 1593, recusants restricted to within five miles of their homes. [ Elizabeth I ]
• 1605, convicted recusants to receive Anglican communion once per annum on pain of fine and eventual forfeiture of property. [ James I ]
• 1605, recusants barred from office and professions. [ James I ]
• 1678, recusants barred from parliament. [ Charles II ]
• 1692, recusants incur double land tax. [ William III and Mary II ]
• 1699, recusants barred from purchasing or inheriting land. [ William III ]
• 1778, Relief Act: Catholics permitted to own land. [ George III ]
• 1791, Relief Act: Catholic clergy permitted to exercise ministry. [ George III ]
• 1829, Emancipation Act: Catholics permitted to hold office and to sit in parliament. [ George IV ]

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