Masters Theses

Date of Award

12-1989

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

History

Major Professor

Paul J. Pinckney

Committee Members

Carol Lansing, John Bohstedt

Abstract

Anti-Catholic attitudes in seventeenth century England have been wel1-documented except for one brief period, from 1660 to 1673. Were anti-Catholic attitudes just as prevalent in this period as in the rest of the century? Was anti-Catholicism an intense, irrational fear caused by the association of Catholicism with past national crises, as suggested by other historians? These questions were investigated at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, during a sixteen-month period, from August, 1988 through November, 1989. Publication of books and pamphlets on Catholics and Catholicism between 1660 and 1673 as found in Wing's Short-Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Ireland, Wales, and British America and of English Books Printed in Other Countries. 1641-1700 was correlated with four potential crises from the same years.

The results showed a high degree of correlation between crises involving the government (such as King Charles II's two attempts to allow toleration for religions other than Anglicanism), and when Catholics appeared to have done direct damage to the nation (as in the great Fire of London) and an upsurge of anti-Catholic literature. Correlation was low when the crisis was a natural phenomenon from which supposed Catholic conspirators could not profit (the plague of 1665).

This anti-Catholicism was not irrational. The literature of antiCatholicism was, rather, a legitimate expression of wariness and concern over a religion that was the state religion of England's two V most powerful rivals, France and Spain. It was further exacerbated by rumors (which had basis in fact) that King Charles II was considering converting to Catholicism, a move many English people feared would start them on a path to an Absolutist monarchy, which conflicted with English traditions of partial representative government, as practiced through Parliament. Thus, anti-Catholicism may have been an extreme reaction to national upheavals, but it was not irrational.

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